“Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.”
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The Monday Morning Quote #483
Posted on May 21, 2018 by Alun Rees
“Change the changeable, accept the unchangeable and remove yourself from the unacceptable,”
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British Dental Conference & Dentistry Show Day 2 – plus one absentee
Posted on May 19, 2018 by Alun Rees
A day that seemed less rammed than yesterday but was still busy enough. The competing attractions of sunshine, the FA cup final and a certain high profile wedding didn’t significantly deter the delegates. Indeed some were tuned in to the Windsor nuptials – here are the BACD royalists.
(Some of) the lawyers, sales agents and accountants reported they had experienced a busy day so the sales / purchases market remains buoyant.
Today the freebie grabbers were out in force, many queueing for 40 minutes or more for a “free” toothbrush. Hey ho I am not complaining or criticising. They were there, possibly brought by their practice principal or manager and that’s important. There were thousands of practices unrepresented, whose owners and teams exist in their silos with little or no communication and experience of the greater world of dentistry.
A mention for the busiest looking stand, TePe, where the team were going flat out from start to finish. Their team, many of whom have other “day jobs” as dental nurses or dental hygienists made my day of networking seem very laid back indeed. I know others were probably equally busy but TePe were very visible, situated as they were hard by the entrance.
The discussion about the new NHS contracts which was facilitated by Nigel Jones of Practice Plan and featured Eddie Crouch, Tony Kilcoyne and Henrik Overgaard Nielsen was interesting, if only for the clear disregard that the UK government shows for the dental health of its constituency. This of course is reflected in the way it behaves towards dentistry. The story is one of no commitment to the NHS and the can being kicked down the road and well into the long grass. At one point will the profession refuse to take lower and lower rewards for providing n increasingly challenging and over regulated service?
Certainly the BDA hierarchy were happy with the event and I’m pleased about that, they took quite a risk if only of reputation by getting involved.
One notable absentee from the stands at the NEC was {my}Dentist. At one time they would have had a significant presence where it seemed they wanted to buy any and every practice, they were recruiting from home and abroad and embarking on a march to dominate UK dentistry. Now with tales of contracts returned unfulfilled, practices being sold and wholesale challenges with attracting and keeping dentists their star appears to be (slightly) on the wane. No matter how many hubs and spokes you have it’s not always easy to keep the wheels on the wagon.
Rodericks, BUPA & Collosseum Dental (who thought that one up?) all had a presence.
Unless that career involves practice ownership I presume…
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How to interpret a market plunge….
Posted on February 6, 2018 by Alun Rees
Whether a sudden sharp decline in asset prices amounts to a meaningless blip or something more depends on mass psychology.
“This crash is probably nothing. But they always are, except for the times when they aren’t.”
Nice little piece from The Economist
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The Monday Morning Quote #454
Posted on October 30, 2017 by Alun Rees
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, no one is entitled to his own facts.”
(via Michael Bungay Stanier)
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I never understood modern car loans and now I know why.
Posted on September 14, 2017 by Alun Rees
In the days when I used to borrow money to buy a car I understood what I was doing. Price was £X000 borrow money at Y% over 3 years means you repay £Z every month until you can either enjoy loan free driving for a year or two or start again. Then the game changed instead of a loan you were asked to get involved in a Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) which sounded to me like renting the car.
Hearing my friend Jimmy extolling its virtues because “you can upgrade your Merc every couple of years because you just roll it on” sounded like pass the parcel but when you eventually removed the wrapping you were left with the bill for the party – or no car.
I presumed that I just didn’t understand and went back to driving my second hand, 3-series Beemers until they died beneath me. Incidentally that’s 4 cars in 31 years – total purchase cost £25K.
It seems that I was right about this PCP business and the balloon payment idea is another bubble (hardly surprising) waiting to burst.
From The Conversation:
Are we facing a car loan credit crunch? Here are the facts
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The Monday Morning Quote #440
Posted on July 31, 2017 by Alun Rees
A collection of quotes, aphorisms, sayings, songs or poems to get your week off to a good start.
“Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think.”
The song is earlier than you think.
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