Latest news with #governance
The Guardian
6 hours ago
- General
- The Guardian
Grenfell anniversary and a door for Lords
On the eighth anniversary of the Grenfell tragedy ( 14 June), I read that a new front door for the House of Lords has cost £9.6m; the budget in 2013 for the Grenfell Tower refurbishment was £9.7m. Notwithstanding inflation in the interim, that sums up for me the state of governance in 21st-century WolmuthWest Ealing, London Gulls 'are not naturally urban dwellers' writes Richard Ellis (Letters, 15 June), but neither are we. We've adapted to urban life, as have some gulls and other wild species. He complains of the mess created by gulls, but most of the mess in urban areas is generated by DownieGlasgow In reply to 'I'm good' (Letters, 18 June), I tend to say: 'I shall be the judge of that.' And when told to have a good day, I respond with a phrase coined by a German friend: 'I'm sorry, I have other plans.'Deirdre Burrell Mortimer, Berkshire Asked 'How are you?' on US TV, people always reply: 'I'm good'. I long for someone to reply 'I'm evil'.Henrietta CubittCambridge A picture of a cute dog on your front cover (Print edition, 20 June) may be great for sales, but is infuriating for regular purchasers whose usual suppliers have sold out. I only managed to obtain a copy at my fourth attempt!Stephanie HarrisonBedford Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
South China Morning Post
10 hours ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Facing multiple crises, China is stressing resilient governance over ideology
Chinese President Xi Jinping recently commemorated the 120th birth anniversary of Chen Yun, one of the foundational economic planners of the Communist Party of China. Amid the commemoration's celebratory tone, Xi's speech signals a rhetorical shift. The references to communist conviction so prominent in the 2015 address delivered for Chen's 110th birthday were relatively sparse in Xi's remarks from earlier this month. Instead, there was polished language relating to development planning and political resilience. In 2015, Xi's speech commemorating Chen Yun's 110th birthday emphasised unwavering faith in Marxism and communism. Xi also spoke of Chen as a disciplined party member. The between-the-lines message was clear: ideology was to be re-centred as the Communist Party's main source of legitimacy during Xi's first term. This year, Xi portrayed Chen as a model of disciplined governance, praising his ability to grasp key points, set aside time to consider strategic issues and simultaneously balance state-led and market approaches to economic planning. Xi highlighted Chen's 15-character maxim – 'not following superiors and not following books but instead following facts while exchanging, comparing and repeating' – offering it as a guide for cadres navigating today's volatile world. The symbolism is clear: Chen was not just a revolutionary elder but a technocrat who embraced policy logic in uncertain times.
Forbes
10 hours ago
- Business
- Forbes
Debunking Three Cliches Entrenched In The Cybersecurity Industry
JC Gaillard, Founder & CEO, Corix Partners | Board Advisor | Non-Exec Director | Author "The Cybersecurity Spiral of Failure" getty I have been writing about cybersecurity leadership, management and governance issues since 2015. What drove me to writing was primarily the low level of cybersecurity maturity I was coming across in many large firms as part of my day-to-day field work as a consultant. For me, it was difficult to understand why corporations that would have had cybersecurity practices—and budgets—for decades were still struggling with fundamental pillars of good practice, such as identity management or patch deployment. Analyzing and highlighting the dynamics of what I ended up calling the 'cybersecurity spiral of failure' has been at the heart of my work throughout the last 10 years. Another aspect that has been fascinating for me over the past decade is the number of topics that keep coming up cyclically in cybersecurity articles, and how a similar analysis keeps appearing in what has effectively become a typical echo chamber (and it started before generative AI started writing those pieces). In this article, I would like to deconstruct three of these ideas, which in my view embody the problems still facing the cybersecurity narrative and highlight why it is key to avoid shallow and outdated positions on those matters. This is typical of a mindset that goes back to the first decade of this century, in what was still the early days of cybersecurity practices (the first CISO jobs appeared in the late '90s). Many senior executives used to see cyberattacks as low-probability/low-impact events that would be dealt with if and when they occurred, and they often saw compliance requirements as an arbitrary regulatory imposition. CISOs and their consultants built the 'cybersecurity as an enabler' narrative to try to break those deadlocks, in an attempt to reach into some form of business logic. But by doing so, I noticed they were ignoring endemic short-termism and deep-rooted cognitive biases at the heart of the business attitude on the matter, and there is no evidence that the 'enablement' narrative ever worked, beyond generating headlines across the industry. As my organization showed in 2019 when analyzing the cybersecurity evolution across the first two decades of the century, it is the advent of the cloud and the acceleration of cyberattacks it triggered after 2010 that led to a change in perception, with the dominant center of interests for executives shifting from risk and compliance to incidents and breaches. The second decade of the century became truly a 'realization decade,' during which cybersecurity gradually started to be seen as a necessary barrier in the face of real threats: not something that needs to be justified to 'enable' the business to function, but something that needs to be in place to 'protect' the business, its customers, its brand and shareholder value. This is also typical of the same outdated mindset and is often heard, even nowadays, in relation to the CISO reporting line. This is one of the first topics I wrote about in 2015, and at the time, it was already one of the oldest fixations in the cybersecurity industry. It is conceivable that 20 years ago, some CIOs might have followed their business bosses in their low-probability/low-impact assessment of cyber threats and denied CISOs the resources they were asking for. Every CIO has the right to choose the battles they want to fight, and this one was often seen as too difficult. Given the avalanche of cyberattacks we have been seeing over the past 15 years, I don't think this type of attitude is common today, or even sustainable. As a matter of fact, business leaders—most of them—are well aware of the inevitability of cyberattacks, and 'Are we spending enough on cyber?' has become a more common question for CIOs than 'Why do we need to spend on that?' Organizations where this mindset persists often have a deep-rooted problem and may be in denial about the state of their cyber exposure. Wherever you place the reporting line of the CISO in those organizations, the problems will likely remain. This is a more recent line of thought that has emerged throughout the last decade in the face of the sophistication of cyber threats, and this view tends to see security training and awareness development as the central pillar of any cyber strategy. To me, this is short-sighted, even if there is no denying that cybercrime targets people and that social engineering is key in many attack patterns. What is misguided here is to believe that you can change people's attitude at this level by explaining to them what to do or not to do, and broadly speaking, get them to change their attitudes through logic and reasoning. Many unsafe attitudes in the office are rooted in unsafe social practices and cognitive biases, and changing requires a cultural shift, not just training. Fundamentally, you protect what you care about, and it is only a sense of care for the firm, its values and its people that can lead to an embedded desire to protect the firm's data and information assets. That has to start with the leadership team embodying the right example and needs to cascade down from the very top of the organization. So there is indeed a 'human firewall,' but it is a cultural one driven from the top, not one driven bottom-up or sideways by CISOs through tools and leaflets. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
Irish Times
11 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Arts Council stopped three times from spending money on outside partners after botched IT project
The Arts Council was forced to stop spending money with an external partner for a third time in the aftermath of a botched €6.7 million IT project. Minister for Culture Patrick O'Donovan had previously told it to discontinue spending on legal cases pursuing some of the companies involved in the ill-fated project, and it was forced in March to pull a tender for PR advice in advance of Oireachtas grillings on the matter. Now, internal documents seen by The Irish Times show that it was last month also told to stop spending with an external firm of consultants on governance advice. In an email sent on May 21st this year, the department's secretary general Feargal Ó Coigligh reminded Arts Council chair Maura McGrath that the body had been told not to spend on services outside of its routine operational requirements. READ MORE It arose, he wrote, after Ms McGrath told a senior official in the department that a company had been engaged 'in respect of the appearance by the Arts Council at the Public Accounts Committee'. Mr Ó Coigligh demanded a report on the spending with the firm and why it was being undertaken. In response, Ms McGrath said the work being done by the firm did not contravene the earlier order from Mr O'Donovan, and forwarded an email from the firm concerned. It outlined that it was providing assistance in preparing the Arts Council delegation to 'understand and be in a position to fully discharge their statutory and code of practice related accountability obligations during the forthcoming appearance at PAC and JOC [Joint Oireachtas Committee]'. The email outlined that the firm did not provide PR or public affairs advice but instead focused on assisting clients 'understand and properly discharge their governance functions'. Despite several references in the emails to upcoming Oireachtas committee hearings, a spokeswoman for the Arts Council told The Irish Times that preparation was 'managed internally' and said that 'no company, including the one referred to, was engaging in work relating to committees prep'. She said the firm was engaged to supply advice to the Arts Council board and that 'professional services to the board are a separate matter'. The Arts Council outlined that the advice was coming under a pre-existing contract that was run in January 2024. Responding, Mr Ó Coigligh told the Arts Council chair that even though the firm was not providing public affairs or PR advice, he considered 'the work being carried out ... falls outside the routine operational requirements' and no further liability 'should be matured under this contract'. The Arts Council spokeswoman said it is 'confident in its compliance' with directions from the Minister. No further services have been drawn down under the contract since, she said. Elsewhere, the Arts Council has said that its former chair Maureen Kennelly declared a conflict of interest in 2023 when a publisher that released a book of short stories authored by her husband successfully applied for an €80,000 grant from the State agency. The publisher, Doire Press, was awarded the sum in the same year that it published Night Music by Fergus Cronin. A spokeswoman for the Arts Council said: 'In relation to all staff members, including members of the executive, a robust conflict of interest process is also in place. With 8,600 applications received each year, and the many connections that could arise therefore, this is a very necessary part of Arts Council process. A conflict of interest was declared for the Arts Grant Funding application of Doire Press for 2023 by Maureen Kennelly during the decision-making process.'
BBC News
12 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
Charity regulator to investigate crisis-hit Dundee University
Scotland's charity regulator has launched an investigation into the running of the crisis-hit University of Dundee. The university's principal and two senior members of its governing body quit following a damning independent report into the institution's financial collapse and government at the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) will now probe the governance of the university, which is a registered charity, in recent years. The university, which has apologised for its failings, plans to cut 300 jobs in a bid to address a £35m deficit. The report by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), the University of Dundee's main funder, found that university bosses and its governing body failed multiple times to identify a worsening crisis and continued to overspend instead of taking said the problems were "self-inflicted" and it should have been clear to senior members of the university that its financial position "was worse than presented".The OSCR investigation will centre on the actions of these university bosses in their role as trustees of the charity. OSCR has the power to appoint its own trustees if it believes the governance changes now planned by the University of Dundee in the coming months are not up to scratch. It can also ban individuals from being trustees of other charities in Scotland. A statement issued by OSCR said the findings of the SFC's review "indicate that concerns remain about the governance" of the University of added: "That's why we are now opening an inquiry into this charity, so that we can better understand these matters of concern."We look forward to working with the university and its trustees, past and present, to determine whether regulatory action is required."The university is more than six weeks late in lodging its latest financial accounts with OSCR. What went wrong at Dundee University? The SFC report, led by Prof Pamela Gillies, found the main causes of the institution's deterioration included poor financial judgement from university bosses and weak governance from the university court, which is meant to hold senior management to report found that almost £40m of ringfenced money had been spent elsewhere and there had been "a lack of real action" to address an £8m "hole" due to a fall in international student said those in charge of the university's governance should have known well before November last year that there was a were numerous points where "a reasonable person" could have reached a judgement that the university's financial position was worse than presented, it said. The current principal Prof Shane O'Neill and two senior members of the university's governing bodies resigned as soon as the SFC report was O'Neill took over as interim principal in December but he was previously deputy vice was identified in the report along with former principal Prof Iain Gillespie, the chief operating officer and the director of finance as one of the university leaders who "did not cultivate a culture of openness and challenge at all levels".Prof Gillespie, who resigned as the university's principal in December, was said to have had an "overbearing leadership style" and a dislike of potentially awkward confrontations or report said he frequently demonstrated hubris - or excessive pride - in his role, which it said can lead to a contempt towards people who offer criticism - and an obsession with personal image and status. New interim leader appointed The University of Dundee has now appointed Prof Nigel Seaton as its interim principal and vice-chancellor on a short-term Seaton joined the university in May and previously ran Dundee's Abertay University. He said: "The university faces considerable challenges in its recovery from a difficult financial position, and from what I know has been a very difficult period for staff. "I am ready to work with my colleagues and with the university court to set the university on its way to a sustainable and successful future."In response to the funding council report, Dr Ian Mair, deputy chair of the university court, said: "It is evident from the report that there have been clear failings in financial monitoring, management and governance."I understand that this has been an extremely stressful time for staff and students and I offer my sincere apologies for all of the anxiety and uncertainty this situation has O'Neill said he was "truly sorry for the impact this financial crisis has had on many people, particularly our staff and students".The BBC has tried to contact Prof Gillespie for his response to the report.
