SMART CITY FANATIC

There is a problem: environmental and economic concerns continue to clash. If unabated, a crisis looms. And insurance is the first battle ground, it seems? Via litigious possibilities.  Corporate insurance rates are rising due to legal actions related to climate change. In response to the alleged inability of Shell's management and non-executive directors to present a strategy to reduce emissions swiftly, ClientEarth is considering legal action against them.  Environmental difficulties are "a new and substantial issue," according to David Powell, head of technical underwriting at the Lloyd's Market Association, and are "very much on the agenda of D&O underwriters. "Insurers are enquiring more about their clients' climate policies and talking about "enhancements" to those policies.  The Bank of England issued a warning in May that specialised D&O insurance were particularly vulnerable to lawsuits relating to climate change.  According t...

  Ok, yes, that is a leading headline. It is what GOOGLE thinks you want to hear, right?  But what if I told you that travel apps are already facing extinction? Yes, they will always exist in some iteration. But the paradigm is shifting. Incrementally yet dramatically. Implicitly yet definitely. Here's why: 1: Tech changes, frequently.  The moment a new application launches? It has a thousand counterpart competitors, waiting in the wings. What you must ask yourself, therefore, is whether you, as a user want to invest time and perhaps 'fremium' monies, in a tool whose redundancy is all but inbuilt?  2: There are STILL things that apps cannot, or at least do not, as yet 'do'!  Sure, things have improved. An app can tell me at each stage of a journey, which direction / route/method to deploy. Yes, there is indeed, up to the minute updating available when delays or cancellations occur. But why stop there?  When was the last time an app gave you a PRECISE read o...

  Notice. I did not provide a question mark there. Did not even finish the sentence. I know: how rebellious! Truth is, more mundane than any specific grammatical experiment or bid to stand out in the saturated blog-o-sphere. My point is that, the MOMENT I keyed in 'why is my train' on Google, I was greeted neither with philosophical propositions on existence, nor vocal praise posts about 'why is my train so GREAT?'. The majority? ALL. TERRIBLE! As in everything short of 'why is my train so sh#t?!'.  That speaks volumes on the current state of affairs with rail transportation. Seriously. Algorithms do not lie. Facts are never post truth. And the simple fact here is that, statistically, the majority of queries surely are about why train and rail services are failing to satisfy travellers.  Does that mean all train routes are bad? That every carriage is awful? NO! And for the sake of socio-economic sanity? PLEASE STOP this NONSENSE about 'yeah they are gonna re...

 Clue: Smart-City Tech, and YOUR role in said? Might be key to BOTH Problem AND solution! But let's start with WHY there might be an issue here, to begin with.. RIDDLE ME THIS, BATMAN! If 'Da Covid' /Coof etc is all but abated? As in, yes, some spikes here and there, an occasional rogue variant cropping up and so on, but generally, a thing of the recent past?  IF I have been a good citizen, with minimal health risk; solid credit record/rating and no criminal convictions?  THEN WHY IS IT SO RUDDY TOUGH TO GET TRAVEL INSURANCE??   Well. Where to even begin? I can but try. So here we go! 1: MINOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS are STILL medical conditions!  So, if there is even a 1% chance that you have failed to declare or minimised the potential significance of said? INSTA-FAIL! The insurance providers and counterpart travel carriers may be inclined to treat that as an almost absolute certainty. Because they, too, have liabilities and premiums and duties of care to answ...