Action for Happiness

[biffvernon]

http://www.actionforhappiness.org/

 

[Pford75]

Despite being much wealthier, we're no happier than we were five decades ago

Rubbish - I'm very happy...life couldn't be better

Don't need some lefty telling me I'm miserable...

 

[skier-hughes]

and me, I can treat my son to things he needs and sometimes I'll do wants as well, I now live in a big house, in beautiful countryside and don't have to go out to work at silly o'clock each morning.

 

[robgil]

I am actually poorer than I was 5 years ago. They say money cant buy happiness which may be true however a lack of it sure can make a person miserable.
One thing that has just made me smile is my daughters very first full word, which was ''bum''. :lol:

At the same time we've seen an increase in wider social issues, including a worrying rise in anxiety and depression in young people.

Thats because any money the country has is widely spread out amongst old people (sorry lads) who wont let it go and it gets harder and harder for young people to get any of it. An unfair distribution of wealth does not make poorer people happy. ''I am so happy to leave school and go to work for minimum wage which will just about cover my rent whilst my boss owns three houses (that he rents out) and takes 4 holidays a year''.

 

[Penners]

Despite being much wealthier, we're no happier than we were five decades ago

Rubbish - I'm very happy...life couldn't be better

Don't need some lefty telling me I'm miserable...

Sorry, Pford75, but I'm not sure it's lefties to blame. More likely to be a newspaper pitched somewhere to the right of Genghis Khan (I think we know which publication I mean...) :wink:

However, I applaud your sentiments. Life is wonderful. And I trust that, before they start taking 'happy' advice, people will remember the old joke:

"Cheer up," my friend said, "life could be worse."

So I cheered up and sure enough - life was worse.

 

[Flyfisher]

''I am so happy to leave school and go to work for minimum wage which will just about cover my rent whilst my boss owns three houses (that he rents out) and takes 4 holidays a year''.

Hmm. I wonder how 'the boss' got his three houses and the money for 4 holidays a year? Could it be that he actually started on minimum wage after leaving school and worked his way up from there?

Having said that, going to work is an expensive business these days.
Compare a salary to a 5 day week: You spend Mon and Tues working to pay 40% income tax, then carry on until just after lunchtime on Wed to pay NI. If you happen to commute then the rest of Wed can be easily taken up paying (out of taxed income) for travelling costs. Still, at least you can now keep the remainder of what you earn . . . except that all of Thursday's money is needed to pay the VAT on almost everything you spend (out of already taxed income!) and Friday morning is likely spent on all the other sundry taxes and duties, such as car tax, petrol/diesel duty (plus VAT on the duty!), cigs/booze duty (+VAT), energy taxes, insurance taxes, council tax etc. So, although you might be knackered by Friday afternoon, you are - at last - working for yourself.

OK, those numbers will depend on personal circumstances, but it can be a sobering exercise to add up how much income goes straight back to the government in tax of some sort or another. I reckon this is why they keep the tax system so complicated and therefore hide the real figures. So, 20% income tax doesn't sound too bad but 80-90% sounds outrageous - yet, add it all up, and that's what we really pay.

No wonder 'downshifting' is increasingly popular.

 

[Feltwell]

By 'eck FF - there's a cure for happiness if ever I read one!

Especially to a man who is actually very much enjoying the work-free life, but out of necessity is having to seek employment and jump through various hoops to find it (if anyone's an expert on S&OP then let me know, I've got to do a presentation to a potential employer on Friday. Little tip - if you don't know what S&OP means then you're not an expert :wink: )

 

[robgil]

We cant all be bosses. It is getting more and more expensive to live though and as you say , it could get too expensive to commute even a relatively short distance.
And I'm just really having a bit of a moan about stuff today anyhow.

 

[robgil]

By 'eck FF - there's a cure for happiness if ever I read one!

Especially to a man who is actually very much enjoying the work-free life, but out of necessity is having to seek employment and jump through various hoops to find it

Ha , Hop aboard , Ive been sailing this boat for a while now.

 

[Flyfisher]

By 'eck FF - there's a cure for happiness if ever I read one!

Don't shoot the messenger . . . . it's not my fault.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

That's fine. We'll just not pay tax, then moan about the state of the roads, education, healthcare, pointless wars we embark on (OK, I do that), bins not being emptied and no lovely cuddly conservation officer coming round to tell you you can't have that kitchen extension you always wanted...

 

[robgil]

I do all of those things anyway , well , apart from the kitchen extension , I cant afford one of those.
Does this mean I don't have to pay any tax?

 

[LadyArowana]

Especially to a man who is actually very much enjoying the work-free life, but out of necessity is having to seek employment and jump through various hoops to find it (if anyone's an expert on S&OP then let me know, I've got to do a presentation to a potential employer on Friday. Little tip - if you don't know what S&OP means then you're not an expert :wink: )

Isn't it just a fancy way of making sure that there are always plenty of the right sort of kit kats in the right place at the right time and at the right temperature?

Wiki gives a very long winded description, and actually didn't mention kit kats or any other sort of chocolate covered biscuit but I think you probably should in your presentation. Potential employers like to know that the welfare of fellow workers is important to you and that you don't discriminate against a snack simply because of the colour of it's chocolate covering. Very best of luck with everything.

Wiki says "Sales and operations planning (S&OP) is an integrated business management process through which the executive/leadership team continually achieves focus, alignment and synchronization among all functions of the organization. The S&OP plan includes an updated sales plan, production plan, inventory plan, customer lead time (backlog) plan, new product development plan, strategic initiative plan and resulting financial plan. Plan frequency and planning horizon depend on the specifics of the industry. Short product life cycles and high demand volatility require a tighter S&OP planning as steadily consumed products. Done well, the S&OP process also enables effective supply chain management.

A properly implemented S&OP process routinely reviews customer demand and supply resources and “re-plans” quantitatively across an agreed rolling horizon. The re-planning process focuses on changes from the previously agreed sales and operations plan. While it helps the management team to understand how the company achieved its current level of performance, its primary focus is on future actions and anticipated results. Companies that have an integrated business management process use the S&OP process to monitor the execution of the company’s strategies."

 

[biffvernon]

20% income tax doesn't sound too bad but 80-90% sounds outrageous - yet, add it all up, and that's what we really pay.

Perhaps it will make you happy to learn that the 80-90% figure is far removed from the truth. Since the spike of the second world war UK total tax take has been around 40% of GDP, and much of that is not personal taxation. The UK is in the mid-range of nations, less than most European countries, more than the US. Our present government seems to have a policy that favours the US model over the Scandinavian.

 

[Feltwell]

Wiki gives a very long winded description, and actually didn't mention kit kats

That is clearly a distinct gap in it's very long-winded argument (which is almost certainly written by an American by the way). Making sure the right quantity of Kit-Kats are produced, at the right time, to the right quality and specification, and are in the right place stored in the correct way just when they are needed is basically it. Penners (or prehaps Mrs P) clearly has the strategy sorted, albeit on a fairly low volume level compared to say Tesco's.

Frankly S&OP is nothing new, just a fancy way of packaging up making sure that everyone involved knows what the hell is going on!

 

[LadyArowana]

Penners (or prehaps Mrs P) clearly has the strategy sorted, albeit on a fairly low volume level compared to say Tesco's.

Frankly S&OP is nothing new, just a fancy way of packaging up making sure that everyone involved knows what the hell is going on!

I bet Mrs P uses either a 2 biscuit barrel storage system or some fancy "just in time" delivery planning to make sure the Penners household never runs out. You don't think she will be competing against you for the job do you?

 

[Feltwell]

I think the key to Mrs P's success with the Kit Kat availability Key Point Indicator will be her demand planning ability. She clearly has many and varying factors to consider - there will be some historical seasonality but unexpected demand spikes due to domestic woes such as dishwashers breaking down could happen at any time, therefore setting the correct kitchen-level buffer stocks to ensure acceptable on-shelf availability is clearly key. Just In Time is not thought to be an appropriate model to use - the inconvenience of having to satisfy out of business hours demand with this model is too high.

However, note that she may choose to deliberately restrict availability if she recognises that certain areas of Penners plc are expanding in an unplanned, circumferential fashion.

Behave!

 

[Penners]

Isn't it just a fancy way of making sure that there are always plenty of the right sort of kit kats in the right place at the right time and at the right temperature?

'Scuse me, Yer Ladyship... there's only one type of proper Kit-Kat. It's the original four-finger, milk chocolate job. All these fancy orange ones, chunky ones and so on are just jumped up imposters that bring no added inspiration whatsoever to the assessment process.

Wiki says "Sales and operations planning (S&OP) is an integrated business management process through which the executive/leadership team continually achieves focus, alignment and synchronization among all functions of the organization. The S&OP plan includes an updated sales plan, production plan, inventory plan, customer lead time (backlog) plan, new product development plan, strategic initiative plan and resulting financial plan. Plan frequency and planning horizon depend on the specifics of the industry. Short product life cycles and high demand volatility require a tighter S&OP planning as steadily consumed products. Done well, the S&OP process also enables effective supply chain management.

A properly implemented S&OP process routinely reviews customer demand and supply resources and “re-plans” quantitatively across an agreed rolling horizon. The re-planning process focuses on changes from the previously agreed sales and operations plan. While it helps the management team to understand how the company achieved its current level of performance, its primary focus is on future actions and anticipated results. Companies that have an integrated business management process use the S&OP process to monitor the execution of the company’s strategies."

Well, here's my scoring system:

Not using the word "solutions" - 100 points.

Each use of the words "integrated", "focus", "alignment", synchroniz(!)ation" and "horizon" - minus 10 points.

Each use of the phrase "strategic initiative" - minus 50 points.

:roll:

 

[Feltwell]

Penners, you're just not grasping the low-hanging fruit here. :wink:

That Wiki entry was definitely written by an American. Set bullsh1t level to max, Captain!

 

[Flyfisher]

That's fine. We'll just not pay tax, then moan about the state of the roads, education, healthcare, pointless wars we embark on (OK, I do that), bins not being emptied and no lovely cuddly conservation officer coming round to tell you you can't have that kitchen extension you always wanted...

Of course; even I wouldn't advocate not paying taxes - I just think it's quite an eye-opener for people to tot up that actual amount of their income that ends up in government coffers, of which "income tax" is certainly not the major proportion. Clearly, all this tax is required (arguably more is needed) to run the country and all the services and public institutions we've come to expect and rely on. But it's a very expensive business!