Knowing and Making

I'd guess that most of us are relatively happy to pay more to fly on or around a holiday than at other times. I'm sure those who flew home for Thanksgiving or are planning to do so at Christmas did not expect to get the same price as they would for a Wednesday afternoon in October. Which makes this story  (FT, may need subscription) slightly surprising: India’s government has warned domestic airlines that it intends to crack down on “predatory pricing” after carriers sharply increased fares on popular routes during a recent festival, as overall passenger traffic surges. Indian travellers were outraged during the recent festival of Diwali – Hinduism’s biggest gift-giving holiday – when some carriers charged about Rs25,000 ($550) for a last-minute Delhi-Bombay round trip ticket, a route on which fares usually range from Rs10,000-Rs15,000. The price lift here is substantial (60-100%) but reasonably typical of the uplift on flights or train tickets in the UK market. Is it a si...

Bruce Schneier ( via Farnam Street ) makes the by-now-unoriginal observation * that: ...we pick a defense, and then the terrorists look at our defense and pick an attack designed to get around it. Our security measures only work if we happen to guess the plot correctly. If we get it wrong, we’ve wasted our money. This isn’t security; it’s security theater. Probably true. But then, terrorism isn't exactly "real" either: by design, it's a theatrical exercise too. Or perhaps a reality TV show. The clue is in the name - terrorism isn't designed to kill people, it's designed to make them scared . Thus, if we design this game for terrorists to play, they can win it just by smuggling a bomb through the security measures, regardless of whether it goes off. Notice that all the recently-discovered terrorist plots - the shoe bomber, the underpants bomber, the soft-drinks bomber, the printer-ink bomber - have failed? If the goal is simply to make us worry, make us r...

This slightly sordid but predictable story about the collapse of an airline covers the alleged overspending of the chief executive, the financing of yesterday's bills from today's revenue, and the likely explanation: ultimately, this company collapsed as a knock-on effect from some other airlines, which failed while owing it  money. It's unfortunate for the creditors and those who had bought tickets, but these things happen. The first comment on the BBC story? There has to be something inherently wrong and deficient about Gordon Brown's handling of the UK's financial landscape. "Prudence"???? ...I don't suppose the Company bought tables at Labour Party dinners - or did it? "Prudence" or "Darling Pridence" - Would you trust them to look after a bag of sweeties? The guy just can't get a break.