A new YouGov survey conducted for (and reported in) the Economist confirms that Britain is still an acutely class-conscious society. For example, while 48% of people questioned thought that they would wind up earning more than their parents, only 28% expected to end up in a different social class. And the markers they use for identifying class? Why, occupation, address, accent and income. In that order.

The Financial Times (who else?) spotted another upside of the new airport security regime — an upsurge in ‘duty free’ sales, which had been languishing in recent years because so many of us fly within the EU and therefore derive little benefit from buying in an airport.

Nice New Yorker piece by James Surowiecki about the absurdity of much of what passes for business journalism — this time about the allegedly-terminal problems of Airbus.

What much of the talk about the inherent weakness of Airbus ignores is that, just a few years ago, it was Boeing that looked fundamentally flawed, while Airbus was seen as the future of the industry. Beginning in the late nineties, Boeing’s commercial-aircraft business went into a long and nearly profitless slump. In 2001, Airbus surpassed Boeing in new orders, a lead it maintained until this year. During that period, Airbus’s unusual structure was praised; its insulation from the stock market supposedly allowed it to invest in long-term research and development. Boeing, by contrast, was thought to be trapped in a short-term, cost-cutting mentality, because, as one analyst put it, “the money guys don’t reward long-term thinking and investment.” In 2003, Business Week declared that Boeing was “choking on Airbus’ fumes,” and warned that Boeing’s “slip to No. 2 could become permanent.”

Because we underestimate how much variation can be caused simply by luck, Surweicki thinks,

we see patterns where none exist. It’s no wonder that management theory is dominated by fads: every few years, new companies succeed, and they are scrutinized for the underlying truths that they might reveal. But often there is no underlying truth; the companies just happened to be in the right place at the right time. In 1999, after all, it was hard to find a business book that didn’t hold up Enron as the embodiment of one important principle or other. Of course, some strategies and structures work better than others, but real meaning emerges only over the long term. Let’s give Airbus a few more years of floundering before we decide that it should be put out of its misery.

Amen. Thanks to Lorcan Dempsey for the link.

We came home yesterday evening, courtesy of RyanAir. The flight was bang on time. RyanAir’s bedside manner may leave something to be desired, but they’re terrific at turning round aircraft.

The biggest hassle was finding a way of safely packing delicate gear (MacBook and cameras) in check-in baggage. If the new security regime remains in place (and I suspect it will), then cabin baggage will become a thing of the past. The big irritations of this are (a) having to put mobile phones in the hold — which means that one becomes incommunicado from the moment of check-in; (b) not being able to take a book, a notebook, a camera or even a pen through security.

Daft side-effects of (b) include the fact that passengers departing from small airports like City of Derry are stuck with no means of entertainment while those flying from a big airport like Stansted can buy newspapers, books, pens — not to mention laptops and cameras — to their hearts’ content in the departure area.

Once you get over the anxiety of entrusting a laptop etc. to baggage handling, there are some upsides. Getting people on and off the aircraft is much easier — for both crew and passengers. (It’s actually quite pleasant not having to lug a laptop, cables, etc. around.) Secondly, there will be a new commercial opportunities in (i) ‘disposable’ laptops — ones that you could afford to lose or have smashed; (ii) really robust laptop cases; and (iii) book sales in departure lounges and on board planes.

The kids were really pissed off to be deprived of their iPods during the long wait between check-in and departure. But there was a story somewhere today claiming that the supposed terrorist plot involved using iPods to detonate the explosives. After iTunes comes iBlast?

As someone hoping to fly home tomorrow, I am mightily pissed off by the ‘security alert’ currently paralysing UK airports, which obliges me to entrust my laptop to the tender mercies (not to mention the pilfering habits) of airport baggage handlers. I might be tempted to view it more benevolently if the Home Secretary, ‘Dr’ John Reid, would stop saying that “the main players” in the alleged conspiracy have been arrested. If this is serious, then these guys aren’t ‘playing’. They’re suspects in a deadly serious conspiracy to kill people, not players. And this isn’t a game.

Bah!

… in 1974, Richard Nixon, aka Tricky Dicky, resigned the Presidency of the United States.