A day in life of disability, FT offices

July 14, 2018 Ben Yeoh

Why disabled people like me give up on careers (In the FT recently, Niamh Ni Hoireabhaird wrote, it gained her a visit to the Prime Minister's office - demonstrating the platform the FT can give you.):

“…When I was 13, I was diagnosed with a rare, progressive neuromuscular condition called Friedreich’s ataxia. My condition means I find it hard to balance and my energy is low, so for the past two years I have relied on a wheelchair. My cognitive ability and aspirations of a career remain intact, despite the obstacles. In England and Wales nearly one in five people has some sort of disability, so the chances are you know somebody in my position — whether their condition is visible or not. So why do so few of us make it through mainstream education and into the world of work? Now I am 21, my attention should be focused on my degree in French and Italian, and my summer internship in London at the Financial Times. Yet, I am struggling with the practical and administrative problems that go with being disabled. Each day brings low-level difficulties that add up to an overwhelming sense of exhaustion and defeat. It’s no wonder so many of us give up on our ambitions….” The article is behind the paywall, but I can send you a copy if you ask nicely or there are free articles available.

It highlights the daily problems of disability, where the world is set up for typicals. This chimes with this blog from an ASD person (see here on how hard the day can be)

5 lessons autism has taught me. And from Japan, a glimpse inside a 13 year old autistic boy's head.

Playing games, joys of minecraft

June 23, 2018 Ben Yeoh

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Somehow, for most of my life, I’ve played lots of games of all sorts. Theatre games, scrabble (under 9 UK champion type of level), chess (mediocre, enough to get on to school team just about) to running around games particularly with sneak element (eg 40-40) , fighting games (earned a blackbelt), Mah Jong to computer games. One of my open secrets is that I’m a fairly proficient games player across a number of genres – I’m quite good where patience would be a winning strategy. I can hit the top 1% for a number of games (but not the 0.1% of e-sports pros).

I’m fairly proud of having won a Fortnite victory (Victory Royale!) egged on by my 6 year old son, who is way too influenced by YouTubers. First Person Shooters, or reaction time type of games are not my genre, neither are Sports or Racing…

On the less competitive side, Minecraft is amazing and wonderful and everyone in our family gets something different out of it. Interestingly, since being bought by Microsoft it has continued to strengthen as a game and platform (much like LinkedIn has…).

Anoushka has written a lovely blog about it, which you can read here ( 4 min mincraft blog).

The current Arts blog, cross-over, the current Investing blog. Cross fertilise, some thoughts on autism. Discover what the last arts/business mingle was all about (sign up for invites to the next event in the list below).

My Op-Ed in the Financial Times (My Financial Times opinion article) about asking long-term questions surrounding sustainability and ESG.

Some popular posts: the commencement address; by Nassim Taleb (Black Swan author, risk management philosopher), Neil Gaiman on making wonderful, fabulous, brilliant mistakes; JK Rowling on the benefits of failure. Charlie Munger on always inverting; Sheryl Sandberg on grief, resilience and gratitude.

How to live a life, well lived. Thoughts from a dying man. On play and playing games.

A provoking read on how to raise a feminist child.

Grenfell. In memory. A thought about causes.

June 16, 2018 Ben Yeoh

Power of silence. I was reminded about the power of silence when joining for a short time the silent walk in memory of the Grenfell fire. For all the disaster that it is, I can see how it has knitted the community in the North Kensington area together and while the divides ever-present in Kensington remain – I feel some people from all sides have crossed and those divides are being more critically examined. Whether it will amount to much is harder to judge. However, the North Kensington library has been saved for a community value use and pressure post Grenfell has been reported to have played its part (ES article). A few pictures below.

It also reminded me of the power of silence used as rhetoric in Emma Gonzalez’s remarkable speech advocating for gun control. See post on it here.

Silent Walk, in memomry of Grenfell, 2018 (C) B Yeoh

There has been scrutiny as to the scope of the Grenfell inquiry. (Inquiry site here) "The Grenfell Tower Inquiry will examine the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the fire at Grenfell Tower on 14 June 2017. It will establish the facts and will make recommendations as to the action needed to prevent a similar tragedy happening again."

While debates have centred around legal technicalities on the scope, it seems to me that it is the causal degrees to be investigated which are the underlying debate. The terms of reference centre around the immediate first order causes (Grenfell Inquiry terms of reference) whereas there is anger about the first order causes, there is perhaps more fury at the second and third order causes.

The first order causes centre around the cladding, the advice to stay in vs evacuate, and the poor state of repair of parts of the building. There will be debate as to if a sprinkler system would have helped. Although interlinked, in my view, all of those factors will be implicated as a first order cause.

The second order causes relate to council management of social housing, the unheard voices of social tenants and the race to the bottom for pricing on maintenance and construction work.

This level of causality is interlinked with the problems that Carillion has revealed on the poor state of subcontracted work. (This FT article on Carillion (behind paywall), and also see my posts on it here, go over some of the factors in play; plus the government report)

It is also interlinked with the problems of “ownerless companies” or “ownerless assets” which is an expression of the problems of investing for longer term benefits and value; and also the problem of investing into intangible values - the type of items which might be very valuable but hard to price in dollar terms such as the value of good design, communal spaces and deceptively simple matters such as sound proofing or fire proofing.

This then harks to a third order cause. The cultural and sociology-political structures that can over-emphasise well funded, well articulated special interest groups (cf. gun lobby in America) and processes and political decision makers that find it hard to invest in long term intangible matters that don’t relate to political cycles.

There is also likely some uniquely conflicted about land use and planning which pits landlords against tenants, and systemic vs local concerns, and historic elite land ownership. (Martin Wolf, economist, has argued for a Land Value Tax all the back in 2006)

No one wants a wind turbine near them, even if it would benefit the whole country or world.

No one on the edge of a green belt, would want the green belt restrictions loosened, even if that would ease housing and infrastructure pressure.

Few people next to an airport would want it expanded even if there were proven economic benefits to the rat of the country.

Still on the level of the first and second order causes, one solution is listen more closely to the people involved. Use primary evidence and don’t dismiss it.

This can be tough when those involved already feel marginalised or also don’t understand how to make their voice heard in the system.

A second solution is to attempt to put a value on the longer term intangible items which we are currently not pricing. Items such as great urban design with community consultation.

Will this cost more money upfront? Yes. But we should think of it as building more valuable long term assets and also saving us the cost of a Grenfell disaster and the conflicts such as riots that under investment causes.

My Op-Ed in the Financial Times (My Financial Times opinion article) about asking long-term questions surrounding sustainability and ESG.

How to live a life, well lived. Thoughts from a dying man. On play and playing games.

A provoking read on how to raise a feminist child.

Back to School

June 16, 2018 Ben Yeoh

Parents waiting outside a school visit  (C) B Yeoh — Parents waiting outside a school visit (C) B Yeoh

Waiting in a line outside Vincent Square, with my parent hat on, it is a discombobulating experience to go back to your old school of over 30 years ago.

What makes great schools, great? Why is it perceived that it is so hard to replicate what great schools do?*

How much influence do parents and teachers really have on children as compared to all the other forces cajoling, buffering and nurturing our children?

The qualities of curiosity, empathy and creativity - qualities I value in myself and others. How are they nourished in schools ?

How do you shape girls and boys into good women and good men?

I don’t have answers but I do have a few observations and some hope.

On the elite side, my grandfather went to Cambridge presumably as a partial recompense and apology for colonial rule in Malaysia. My father went to Cambridge due to nepotism and a polite letter my grandfather wrote to the Master of the college. I went to Cambridge as I was gifted, worked hard and had extraordinary teachers and educational institutions. I came out with the top first in my year and a scholarship to Harvard. I then learned some of the craft of play writing and poetry, and have ended up a writer and a fund manager.

As a scholar to my school, you can see my name in the 1992 section.

Although the power of elite networks remains strong, I would not have made it to Cambridge on the word of my father. While challenges remain, meritocracy has arguably partially developed. Like the late Hans Rosling’s point in Factfulness large challenges remain but today is better than the past.

I have now toured 3 elite prep schools and continue to interview pupils from elite private schools. I have experience across the spectrum into state and learning disabled education.

I remain hopeful.

In the 1960s, if you studied languages at O-level (16 years old) you would achieve great grammar but you could hardly speak much and would not be able to converse in Paris.

Similarly, for maths your geometry would be great you might know Euclid but you would know nothing of statistics.

Today, the ability to converse and to understand statistics is - rightly in my view – prioritized although the joys of Euclidean geometry are mainly untaught now. Education has evolved.

While walking round these schools listening to teachers and senior staff; hearing the children - seeing the classes – looking at the messages three items stuck me:

Everyone is learning about notions of sustainability

Everyone considers diversity important

An articulation of values and “growth mind set”… learning from failure, happiness before success, with ability comes responsibility…

All these ideas were strongly expressed (whether in state or private) to an extent that I do not recall 30 years ago.

Education has moved on, and it’s for the younger generations to evolve and reject those of them before them (which is why the voter turnout for aged 18-25 in recent local elections, general elections and Brexit are somewhat disappointing)

And so to… with ability comes responsibility…

I do think matters might be very different, if those in the upper tiers of society, and for instance under one measure that would include everyone earning more then £30,000 a year and about 40% of the country did give back a more substantial portion to those in the bottom 60%.

I’m not thinking money. I’m thinking more about time, experience, learnings. Perhaps, we’ve always been so – I haven’t examined closely – but we’re so concerned with the near-by day-to-day, the grind of life, it seems like we struggle to reach out and cross divides. It’s one of the small ideas behind the mingle. If that top 40% gave back 2 hours of time a week to something other than themselves, I wonder what our world would look like.

Source: Factfulness, Rosling (2018) quoting UNESCO

Diving back to education and away from Level 4 rich country concerns, I also see hope in Level 1 country concerns. Look at the rates of literacy, and of children who finish some school. It’s been incredibly positive. Still a lot of work to do, but every reason to think that those trends will continue as basic educational teacher practice start to be embedded in Level 1 countries (alongside basic health practice, electricity, hygiene.)

Dipping back to Level 4 London concerns, I am syncretic over many ideas. I simultaneously hold ideas about educating an elite (and we can see every generation a handful of boys and girls who go on to be country and company leaders trained through this system – which I am a product of) and a comprehensive system. I also have a lot of time for a “home school” ideology , and a “technical-vocational-mastercraftsman-system”. All of these systems have run in parallel with pros/cons for decades and will likely run for decades more (the decline of the UK Mastercraftsman technical system being of detriment, in my view, versus the German continued investment in that system).

Still, watching these young boys and girls, it does feel hopeful. I’m unsure how I feel that there’s no space for Spike here in these institutions. There’s barely a Spike-shaped space anywhere in the world. But, do I see an Oscar space shape with a gentle, quirky boy?

Over 30 years ago, I was 6 years old going on 7 as I started at WUS. Small and not super sporty, I found a second home in the pottery studio. I remember Miss B – her deft kindness in letting a shy quirky thoughtful boy while away break times with some clay (below is one, now somewhat currently broken I made 30 or so years ago) but also her emotional insightful intelligence in when to nudge such a boy into outdoors action.

Many an autumn day,  30 years ago, I would chase leaves falling from this exact tree and try and catch them. — Many an autumn day, 30 years ago, I would chase leaves falling from this exact tree and try and catch them.

This creative thread remains with me today (see clay play post).

A pot I coiled and made about 30 years ago, now ready to be repaired.

Still she is on my list of teachers and mentors I have a lot to be thankful for (Gideon Lester here plus a few others, Adrienne Kennedy here).

I guess this system believes that if you run with the swift, you run faster. Certainly, some fall, and I see, some to never recover. But at least with the cohort I knew and am in touch with, I see they’ve grown from little boys into great men.

Compassion, kindness and honesty.

Curiosity, empathy and creativity.

Service, openness and love.

These - along with independent critical thinking - have been taught to me and I’d wish to teach my children.

*Part of what makes certain schools great are the external speakers and visitors who come. These people can't go everywhere and are often draw to schools in easy to reach places and with strong historic reputations. This is not an easy thing to scale or replicate.

Source: Children's Commissioner (2011), Children and young people's views of education policy.

One concerning systemic note is whether we - adults - are listening enough to what children want from their education. One slowly increasingly positive note over the last decades is the importance of the child but it arguably still lags.

If you consider companies now use customer net promoter scores and via Amazon in level 4 countries we know the 5 star rating of every product... then the rating children give British schools is not brilliant.

Only 1 / 2 enjoy lessons...

And most children can tell when teachers are poor...

This would suggest a simple teacher Net Promoter Score as reported by children could be a useful measure to note and perhaps to incentivise on ?

More thoughts: My Financial Times opinion article on long-term investing and how to engage with companies.

How to live a life, well lived. Thoughts from a dying man. On play and playing games.

If you'd like to feel inspired by commencement addresses and life lessons try: Neil Gaiman on making wonderful, fabulous, brilliant mistakes; or Nassim Taleb's commencement address; or JK Rowling on the benefits of failure. Or Charlie Munger on always inverting; Sheryl Sandberg on grief, resilience and gratitude.

A provoking read on how to raise a feminist child.

Cross fertilise. Read about the autistic mind here.

More emoji equals more happiness

April 8, 2018 Ben Yeoh

Our studies converge on three central findings. First, people use emojis in text-based communication to convey emotional experience. Second, the amount and diversity of emojis causally increases happiness during social interactions. Third, across 122 countries, higher total amount and greater diversity of emoji usage per capita and per user correlate with higher national happiness. Across levels of analysis, our results suggest that both the amount and diversity of digital emotion expression influences well-being.

An academic paper looking - essentially - at emojis :-OOO !! ;-)

Will Smith on Failure. Fail Often. Fail Forward.

April 8, 2018 Ben Yeoh

Fail Forward. Fail Often. "Failure is a massive part of being able to be successful".

Will Smith echoes JK Rowling on the benefits of failure, and also billionaire investor, Ray Dalio.

Dalio's views on mistakes sound very much like Neil Gaiman's view on mistakes, one written by a story teller (I take a look at Gaiman's commencement address extolling mistakes in an earlier post) and the other written by an "investor-philosopher".

Will Smith probably has a larger following than Ray though...

Cross fertilise. Read about the autistic mind here.

More thoughts:  My Financial Times opinion article on the importance of long-term questions to management teams and Environment, Social and Governance capital.

How to live a life, well lived. Thoughts from a dying man.

After a social media break

March 2, 2018 Ben Yeoh

Until relatively recently, I took about an eight year absence from social media. I didn't miss it. I don't miss items I don’t know about and never had. I thought I would observe what I've seen coming back.

I left at – what it now turns out to be – the height of blogging. I look at my old theatre blog roll and vast majority of bloggers have stopped. My little blog here remains mainly for friends and people who've met me, and is my small response to producing the type of content I want to read.

If you don't see the stories you want – write them!

I do miss those blogs. The theatre ones gave me a lively insight from critic to practitioner to audience. What I see now is a shadow of then. Ever pragmatic, I do not see that short era coming back.

I've seen many short form tweets, as noisy and divisive. I have seen pockets of wonder there, Robert MacFarlane's words of the day. The story of Megan Phelps-Roper leaving her religious cult. The way you can dive down into one person's threads of thought. But, despite Phelps-Roper's story, I am with Ray Dalio that we've mostly lost the art of thoughtful disagreement.

The weaponisation of Facebook and its response (with links to thoughtful early investor and critic) was as surprising to me as it was initially to Mark Zuckerberg, but obvious in hindsight (perhaps the clearest but least useful of the 4 sights: oversight, foresight and insight).

Still, I see social media reflect humanity. The best of us, the worst of us. I've seen a post on the death of a partner, next to a birth of a child; the sorrow of a sudden infant death, the joy of a cancer cured; cake recipes next to diets; incredible generosity for a struggling homeless lady next to streams of hate.

I've observed Zuck's stated purpose – of connections – flourish, when bringing together vehicle transport enthusiasts in a way unthinkable 20 years ago.

It's allowed me to reconnect with an early dramaturgical teacher, many theatre people and allowed me insight into disabled and other communities, I would have struggled to find.

Like does seem to connect with like, which leads to less thoughtful disagreement and less creativity to difficult problems; and my small contribution leaning against that is in the Mingle and in pushing for real world connections. Minglers have really enjoyed it.

Taking a step back, like so many tools of human ingenuity, it can be used for good, or used for ill; or used for cat memes.

But, if those who know better, or can do better – if those people step away – then the eco-system will be poorer.

Social media embodies many facets of humanity, it's not going away, and it will be what we make of it, for better or worse.

More thoughts:  My Financial Times opinion article on the importance of long-term questions to management teams and Environment, Social and Governance capital.

 How to live a life, well lived. Thoughts from a dying man.      

If you'd like to feel inspired by commencement addresses and life lessons try:  Neil Gaiman on making wonderful, fabulous, brilliant mistakes; or Nassim Taleb's commencement address; or JK Rowling on the benefits of failure.  Or Charlie Munger on always inverting;  Sheryl Sandberg on grief, resilience and gratitude or investor Ray Dalio on  on Principles.

Hair loss, black hair experience

February 15, 2018 Ben Yeoh

I’ve lost large patches of hair over the last several months. I finally decided it had to go short. One upside it that it allows me to have this meditation on hair.

Hair can be wrapped tightly with our identity. I was surprised by how many readers and friends were unacquainted with the nuances of black women’s hair and why we don’t touch it (here Solange Knowle’s song and video – 19.7m views – and check out the hair).

"Don't touch my hair

When it's the feelings I wear

Don't touch my soul

When it's the rhythm I know

Don't touch my crown

They say the vision I've found

Don't touch what's there

When it's the feelings I wear

They don't understand

What it means to me

Where we chose to go

Where we've been to know..." (Don't Touch My Hair – Solange)

It’s looked at here in a BBC article. I’ve had female friends say many men don’t understand.

Solange further writes this opinion piece here "You and your friends have been called the N word, been approached as prostitutes, and have had your hair touched in a predominately white bar just around the corner from the same venue."

The black hair experience for many is tied tight into culture, discrimination and all the way into slavery and freedom.

Afrua Hirsh writes in Brit(ish) - her book on identity (from her personal view – column here - book link here - ):

“All bodies are not equal, all hair is not equal. My WhatsApp group members still share experiences of being given unwarranted feedback, in a manner that is careful to avoid any mention of the words ‘black’ or ‘Afro’, that we looked ‘more professional’ when we wore our hair ‘the other way’, i.e. straight. We share first-hand dilemmas about life at the Bar (can you reasonably place a barrister’s white horsehair wig at high altitude over a voluminous natural hairstyle?), as a teacher (told you look too ‘young’ with natural hair), or stories we observe around us, like the woman who wore her hair in braids to a job…. interview in 2015, and was told that it was not a suitable hairstyle for selling ‘high end’ products. We noticed when, the following year, the fashion website ASOS announced that box braids, which have been loved by black women for thousands of years, were having a fashion moment –they had become a ‘thing’ –because the model Cara Delevingne, who is white, had decided to wear them. … Black women still experience a penalty for wearing their own hair in traditional, natural styles, one reason why they spend billions of pounds globally on straightening or covering their hair with European hair-textured extensions. Black children in Britain –and around the world –have been told they cannot wear their hair in cornrows or Afro styles to school. 31 When white-owned businesses, such as the Braid Bar, or white celebrities, such as Delevingne or Lila Grace Moss, embrace these styles as mainstream fashion, they often do so on platforms that neither reference nor credit the black originators of the craft, the black women who continue to remain invisible in mainstream fashion and beauty marketing. It’s no surprise therefore that ‘cash-crop cornrows’, as the actor Amandla Stenberg described them, feel to many black women like a further pilfering from the best bits of the black experience. A white child penalised for wearing cornrows to school can just revert to their natural hair again. A black child has to mould themselves into something else, something their institution deems appropriate, at the expense of their cultural identity. Taken together, these experiences leave many black people feeling that their ingenuity is ignored but its creations appropriated when it suits. This doesn’t feel like an exchange, but an ongoing kind of exploitation. There is nothing wrong with exchange –cultural ideas and identities are forever cross-pollinating, merging and evolving

….Black people do not wish to be the ‘gatekeepers’ of black hairstyles, policing the imagined borders between races, monitoring the exchanges that do occur. The debate about cultural appropriation is not about the hairstyles themselves, or Jamaican jerk chicken, now commonly served in restaurants with no black owners or staff, or African print clothes, often seen on the catwalks of European designers who continue to show little interest in black models. It’s about power. As long as black women feel the critical, even disgusted gaze of white, mainstream beauty standards, telling them that their hair, skin, bodies and clothes are strange, primitive or ugly, not worthy of styling, modelling or celebrating, or that their look is unprofessional, or associated with poverty, then the sight of these cultural markers in a white context is never going to feel like cross-pollination.

... It’s going to feel like an act of theft, with the sting of a double standard.”

I’m unsure how far empathy goes. The willingness to share grief perhaps can be shared. Personal grief itself is perhaps too unique and powerful to share.

Losing hair is a form of grief to some. I’m unsure if I’d go so far myself. Nevertheless my hair has been knit as a part of my identity.

Grown too long in teenage years in reaction to a nag from parents to have it short.

Spiky. Messy. Different. In my working years, a reaction to note, I’m not quite the mainstream City finance worker. O Lo No. I’m some thing else.

How do we fool ourselves?

Perhaps fooling ourselves is a very human way of getting on with life.

Donald Trump's Mental Test. Can you pass and be a stable genius?

January 20, 2018 Ben Yeoh

Donald Trump scored a full 30 out of 30 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), which is used by medical professionals to test for dementia.

The 10-minute test was created in 1996, and assesses concentration, attention, memory, language and other skills.

Here is a snippet:

You can see the full test pdf here (only for educational purposes, commercial purposes please see MOCA site above)

(Adding one point if the subject has fewer than 12 years of formal education.

Around 16: cognitive health of an Alzheimer's patient
Around 22: cognitive health of someone with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)

Above 26: Normal 30: Perfect score (Trump scored 30/30)

What is the best diet

January 20, 2018 Ben Yeoh

Showing where the British people have priorities, Michael Wolff’s book on Donald Trump has only reach #2 on the bestsellers in UK (made it to #1 on NYT). It has been pipped to the post by a diet/recipe book ?! by Tom Kerridge.

Kerridge seems to generally advocate a lower carb, lower calorie but still tasty set of foods and recipes.

I’ve been writing a long post on diets and touch upon the diets of some of the long-lived humans of the world in this post on longevity. (Lots of vegetables, don’t over eat, avoid processed foods – so not too different from Kerridge).

I wanted to contrast low carb, super low carb, ketogenic, Mediterranean type diets and point out that much of the data and science was confounded. But after I started writing about it, I realized this meta-study review by Katz and Meller (2014) did a more thorough and expert job – so I put the abstract and link here:

"Diet is established among the most important influences on health in modern societies. Injudicious diet figures among the leading causes of premature death and chronic disease. Optimal eating is associated with increased life expectancy, dramatic reduction in lifetime risk of all chronic disease, and amelioration of gene expression. In this context, claims abound for the competitive merits of various diets relative to one another. Whereas such claims, particularly when attached to commercial interests, emphasize distinctions, the fundamentals of virtually all eating patterns associated with meaningful evidence of health benefit overlap substantially. There have been no rigorous, long-term studies comparing contenders for best diet laurels using methodology that precludes bias and confounding, and for many reasons such studies are unlikely. In the absence of such direct comparisons, claims for the established superiority of any one specific diet over others are exaggerated. The weight of evidence strongly supports a theme of healthful eating while allowing for variations on that theme. A diet of minimally processed foods close to nature, predominantly plants, is decisively associated with health promotion and disease prevention and is consistent with the salient components of seemingly distinct dietary approaches. Efforts to improve public health through diet are forestalled not for want of knowledge about the optimal feeding of Homo sapiens but for distractions associated with exaggerated claims, and our failure to convert what we reliably know into what we routinely do. Knowledge in this case is not, as of yet, power; would that it were so."

Link to Can we Say What Diet is Best for Health

One aspect – mentioned in the review but not in detail - I would point out is that many people can not sustain a keto diet long term, and that unsustainable diets are problematic. Also that part of why keto diets might work for some is that fats have high satiety effects, such that some people on super low carb or keto diets are also on calorie restricted diets at the same time.

Further as a technical point we thought keto diets might have brain effects due to ketones, but it might be due to fatty acid chains instead. There are limited long term studies on keto (though some data from epileptics). As a separate point, there are limited studies on fasting too, or intermittent fasting which have interesting short term data but long-term might be hard. Those looking for more esoteric case studies then Tim Ferris has some interesting thoughts, while not as rigorously tested, he has tested extensively on himself (though at its core his diet is slow-carb mostly, he goes through a lot of other systems which might suit you).

Those interested can look at a few more links below.

In sum, avoid too many processed foods, don’t over-eat (nudge yourself behavioural to achieve this eg fill a plate up 80% and put extra food out of sight) and eat lots of vegetables.

The science on epigenetics and microbiome are also advancing, and I’d be interested to see how that continues to develop.

Studies on keto and low-carb:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29290352 a meta-review suggesting “There is convincing evidence of beneficial effects of controlled trials implementing high-fat, low-carbohydrate diets in both sedentary and obese individuals”, but also advocating longer trial durations needed.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29269890 (2017) another meta review looking at low-carb for diabetes it concludes low carb may be effective but also shows that there’s limited standardization on what low carb means – it also highlights the super low carb (<50g/day) is not realistic, but the low-card (<130g/day) might be OK for compliance. Looking at 18 studies, 15 were considered at high risk of bias.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29263011 a debate on keto, on what the mechanism of action might be in neuro disorders. Traditionally it was thought to be the ketone effect, but some now think it might be a medium-chain fatty acid effect.

Studies on Mediterranean diet:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4179172/ meta-stduy suggesting lower cardio-diabetic risk

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21947643 Athens study on med diet, suggesting benefit on metabolic syndrome

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22999065

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29259973 An overview, with some thoughts on epigenetics and microbiome

Studies on intermittent fasting

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29199853 a review suggesting good evidence in animals, but limited human research, some small trials suggesting benefit but nothing longer-term or gold standard.

This https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26135345 meta- review similar “
Intermittent fasting, alternate-day fasting, and other forms of periodic caloric desistance are gaining popularity in the lay press and among animal research scientists. Whether clinical evidence exists for or is strong enough to support the use of such dietary regimens as health interventions is unclear.” And “Clinical research studies of fasting with robust designs and high levels of clinical evidence are sparse in the literature. Whereas the few randomized controlled trials and observational clinical outcomes studies support the existence of a health benefit from fasting, substantial further research in humans is needed before the use of fasting as a health intervention can be recommended.” Could only look at 3 small trials.

Depression. Purpose. Johann Hari book.

January 8, 2018 Ben Yeoh

"It turns out that between 65 and 80% of people on antidepressants are depressed again within a year." Johann Hari writes in his new book on depression (Guardian article)

That broadly chimes with what I know of the academic literature (see here and here for examples)

But, you also have to flip it. 20% to 35% of people are not depressed after 1 year. If you look at one 15 year long term study, there are some people who seem to fully recover.

Cognitive therapy and other non-drug therapy also have efficacy rates similar or better to drug therapy. Although this still means a majority of relapse after 1 year.

Hari writes in his book about 9 causes which have a social root (and 2 which are biological tendencies, ie genes which make it more likely to suffer).

"We need to feel we belong. We need to feel valued. We need to feel we’re good at something. We need to feel we have a secure future. And there is growing evidence that our culture isn’t meeting those psychological needs for many – perhaps most – people. I kept learning that, in very different ways, we have become disconnected from things we really need, and this deep disconnection is driving this epidemic of depression and anxiety all around us.

Let’s look at one of those causes, and one of the solutions we can begin to see if we understand it differently. There is strong evidence that human beings need to feel their lives are meaningful – that they are doing something with purpose that makes a difference. It’s a natural psychological need."

If you take that writing and compare it posts I have written on gratitude (eg Sheryl Sandberg, see end) and purpose (Oprah Winfrey, many others particularly Emily Esfahani Smith, on the power of meaning and purpose, the post on it here), you see an interesting chime, I think.

Especially when looked at through the lens of a job, which most of the population spend most of their time doing. If you view your jobs as a calling, not a chore, you are happier, more fulfilled.

Hari makes the flip point, an unfulfilled job can and does lead to depression (as can no job).

"Gallup... found that 13% of people say they are “engaged” in their work – they find it meaningful and look forward to it. Some 63% say they are “not engaged”, which is defined as “sleepwalking through their workday”. And 24% are “actively disengaged”: they hate it. Most of the depressed and anxious people I know, I realised, are in the 87% who don’t like their work."

" Professor John Cacioppo of Chicago University taught me that being acutely lonely is as stressful as being punched in the face by a stranger – and massively increases your risk of depression. Dr Vincent Felitti in San Diego showed me that surviving severe childhood trauma makes you 3,100% more likely to attempt suicide as an adult. Professor Michael Chandler in Vancouver explained to me that if a community feels it has no control over the big decisions affecting it, the suicide rate will shoot up"

And so Hari finishes on:

"“This pain you are feeling is not a pathology. It’s not crazy. It is a signal that your natural psychological needs are not being met. It is a form of grief – for yourself, and for the culture you live in going so wrong. I know how much it hurts. I know how deeply it cuts you. But you need to listen to this signal. We all need to listen to the people around us sending out this signal. It is telling you what is going wrong. It is telling you that you need to be connected in so many deep and stirring ways that you aren’t yet – but you can be, one day.”

If you are depressed and anxious, you are not a machine with malfunctioning parts. You are a human being with unmet needs. The only real way out of our epidemic of despair is for all of us, together, to begin to meet those human needs – for deep connection, to the things that really matter in life."

Read Oprah on gratitude and service. Sheryl Sandberg on death, gratitude and resilience. The Power of Meaning a book by Emily Esfahani Smith, the post on it here. Johann Hari writes in his new book on depression (Guardian article)

Hari at his 2015 Ted talk above. There's a side story here about Hari's own quest of redemption after some large misdeeds in the public eye around 2011 (major plagiarism and malicious wiki editing).

How to live longer

January 6, 2018 Ben Yeoh

I don’t want to live to 100. Perhaps, I will change my mind as I grow older. I’m mostly unafraid of dying. I fear for those I leave behind. I partly attribute this to confronting the death of my father, and of my best friend while still studying. This is useful as I likely eat too much to be able to live to 100.

However, anti-ageing an interesting line of research and Laura Deming (who runs a VC fund looking at longevity) has a summary of the major lines of research.

I also find the studies of these old Okinawans intriguing (perhaps they are calorie restricted;, The Okinawans have traditionally kept eating a low-calorie, low glycemic load diet, practicing calorie control in a cultural habit known as hara hachi bu - only eating until they are 80% full). Although it seems the >100 years old population in Japan has peaked.

There is another pocket of super old in Sardinia, Italy. The Sardinian pocket is known for male 100+. (And a researcher postulates that laughter and walking help the Sardinian men ""Sardinian men are famous for gathering in the streets for a laugh every afternoon, something proven to relieve stress - the term "sardonic" originates in Sardinia.") A photo story on Sardinia.

Scroll below for a Ted talk on ageing, below are the sub-headings from Deming's work.

From Deming: Major areas of ageing research

Link to Ted talk here. And transcript here

London Snow

December 10, 2017 Ben Yeoh

London Snow!

These flakes are pretty big for #London #Snow today! pic.twitter.com/spmI9SdUZ0
— Benjamin Yeoh (@benyeohben) December 10, 2017

Sweden immigration integration

December 10, 2017 Ben Yeoh

Speed and size of immigration has real world social integration impacts in Sweden. A story I was told: after one refugee crisis, some refugees ended up in Sweden, some in Minneapolis, US.

(From chatting to a handful of Swedes)

The narrative I heard was that the refugees in Minneapolis (on average) have integrated better (in a shorter time) as more of them had to seek jobs and employment helps social integration (although given time, integration and jobs can be achieved in Sweden). Whereas the refugees in Sweden didn't find / weren't forced to seek jobs under the same type of pressure - This recalls to me psycho-social studies that show working together in increases harmony (esp re: race) - a whole set of studies and questions found here at the Oxford Centre for Intergroup Conflict.

It is also anecdotal evidence in support of a job guarantee policy idea as suggested in a paper by James Montier (see GMO site) and by the left libertarian mmt economist Bill Mitchell (see Bill’s blog, with comprehensive left libertarian economic thinking, an advocate of Modern Monetary Theory).

This idea is potentially stronger than universal basic income because a job gives you skills (both intangible, and measurable) and experiences plus can promote social harmony. Still, there did seem to be broad hope that given time, the new Swedish immigrants will also integrate. The newly arrived need to learn the skills, language etc. to help them find jobs - there are seemingly many who arrive unable to read/write well and that’s a problem.

The anecdotes I heard were not studies. I found a study here and an in depth reporting here on the issues, the two pieces did seem to align broadly with what I heard, suggesting some Swedes at least are abreast of the issues.

If you'd like to feel inspired by commencement addresses and life lessons try: Ursula K Le Guin on literature as an operating manual for life; Neil Gaiman on making wonderful, fabulous, brilliant mistakes; or Nassim Taleb's commencement address; or JK Rowling on the benefits of failure. Or Charlie Munger on always inverting.

Cross fertilise. On investing try a thought on stock valuations. Or Ray Dalio on populism and risk. You can also click on the Carbon tag below.

A lesson from autism here.

Lego House, Billund

December 10, 2017 Ben Yeoh

I can confirm that Lego House, Billund, Denmark is pretty amazing.

he world’s biggest LEGO tree, planted in LEGO House in Denmark. 15 meters tall, made from more than 6 million LEGO bricks, and built by hand, the LEGO Tree of Creativity took almost 25000 hours to complete.

Opened in Sep 2017, it has various zones for building lego embracing games and imagination:

you can shoot your own films, build mini-figs (and take photos), build flowers (and take selfies), build animals (and put them on a vibrating landscape), build cities (and put buildings in an interactive landscape); play on a rescue mission lego robot machine;

see a Lego manufacturing machine and receive a unique combination

It also has an exhibit on the history of Lego, which is fascinating as it explores family, place, culture values but also a corporate turn-around and soul-searching.

There is also a dog taking a wee.

You can see the Lego House website here.

A review of it from the Guardian. It notes " This gleaming ziggurat of fun is the new Lego House, a mind-blowing mecca for fans of the iconic construction toy, designed by BIG, the firm led by young Danish architect Bjarke Ingels. Now heading up a New York-based global empire, working on everything from Google’s new California campus to a Chinese energy firm’s HQ, Ingels sees the project as a homecoming.

“We have finally graduated as Danish architects,” he says proudly. “We have made a brick building – without breaking the brick module in a single place.” Ingels is referring to the rule, particularly observed by meticulous Danes, that you should never cut a brick to fit with your design, but configure the design to fit the brick instead."

And "“This had to be a place where even the most hardcore Lego fans would say, ‘Wow!’,” says Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, Lego CEO, who has been credited with turning the company around after it almost went bankrupt in 2004. “But it’s also about trying to revitalise the town centre, which has been left behind by all the development on the edge of the city, out near the airport. Visitors come to the Legoland and Lalandia theme parks, but they rarely venture into town.”

Here is the making of the Tree.

Cross fertilise. On investing try a thought on stock valuations. Or Ray Dalio on populism and risk. You can also click on the Carbon tag below.

A lesson from autism here.