If the UK was a US state, it wouldn’t quite be the poorest per capita. It would be USD400 per person better off than Mississippi. Everywhere else – from Arkansas to Washington – would earn anywhere between several thousand to several tens of thousands more.
Include the cost of an individual's health insurance (and many other public services that Americans are charged for despite their similar tax load) and I think the cards wouldn't be quite so stacked in favour of the USA.
A direct comparison like this can't be made. I'm not even sure where your comparison comes from, the median American income seems to be about $5k lower than the median UK income.
You are right but there's a thing where if one has to worry about the affordability of healthcare one avoids seeing medical expertise at all for fear of crushing cost or debt. That probably isn't put into the normal economic measures though may be reflected in maternal outcomes or lifespan trends per income. A long wait as some complain about in Canada or the UK national healthcare seems like a luxury to many in the USA.
GDP per capita is a terrible way to compare the actual lived experience of the citizens. It's regularly used to make Americans feel better about their lot, given that even the poorest US states tend to have higher GDP per capita than the Canadian provinces and some EU countries that are thrown in America's faces as doing better.
But massive corporations and billionaires don't improve the day-to-day life of citizens. Americans are wealthy on paper but are one health crisis away from destitution.
The median income in America is much higher than almost everywhere else in the developed world. It’s not just a small number of billionaires padding the gdp and pulling up the averages.
GDP per capita is not a measure of actual societal progress. You have societies that don’t have natural gas pipes or potable water and so they buy tanks of propanw and bottles of water which is expensive (higher GDP) but doesn’t give a better quality of living. Instead, if you built the infrastructure then the costs (and GDP) for the same/better outcome would be lower.
For America, we burn a lot of productivity on vehicles that last 10ish years plus the gasoline to drive them. In much of Europe, they get the same/better experience with extensive subways and bike lanes and high speed rail.
- Two-factor authentication (2FA) - Not stipulated
- Access control for any accounts that store sensitive information - Access control policy is required
- End-to-end encryption - Not stipulated
- Training staff in data protection awareness, and a data privacy policy - Training policy is required
For the controls not stipulated in the standard (e.g. 2FA, E2E encryption), you may find you ultimately need them once you do an information risk assessment. As long as you explain clearly why the risk is not significant enough to require it or have good alternate controls, you won't get dinged by the auditor for not having these.
The standards are not incoherent. However by design they need to be abstract to apply across very diverse businesses.
I've implemented ISO 27001 myself (solo dev founder, 6 person company, USD2mn SaaS). The divergence in quality of the implementation depends on whether the company is actually using IS027001/SOC2 as a tool to formally define, implement and monitor information security or finding the path of least resistance to accreditation.
I've successfully implemented ISO 27001 (CTO, Sole Founder, ~USD2mn ARR SaaS Business). Had a small team around me (5 people) but essentially implemented ISO 27001 myself spread out over 6 months.
Would be very difficult to write a complete guide - it's a long journey and accreditation requirements very specific to the business. Do you have specific questions or areas of concern in mind? Been thinking I could write a few blog posts about my experience.
That is technically true. Though the duration and severity did vary (and the definition of recession also varies around the globe). For example the U.K. consider the recession to have lasted 5 quarters whereas in the USA recovery (in some macroeconomic statistics) was faster with the economy being considered to be in recession for just two months. I don’t think a two-month recession is particularly concerning though a repeat of the GFC would be.
UK expat in NL (3 years). Concur wholeheartedly. The Dutch have nailed their SSO app (DigiD) - this is the model to copy.
It eliminates a multitude of steps (sign up, proof of identity, credential management) to accessing any government service from booking COVID tests to paying taxes.
I'm a British software developer and SaaS business owner
I left the UK in 2017 because of Brexit. My company generates about GBP150k per employee. Prior to leaving this was 100% UK workforce. Following my relocation this is <50% and falling as we move to contract-based + remote. That's my n=1 experience with the "brain drain"
When I left the UK, there was a large & growing political/economic divide, unaffordable housing and poor/declining public services. It gave me a lot of stress and anxiety. Having left, I feel more disinvested from how things are turning out in the UK and it's helped greatly with my wellbeing
I've met other brits in my host country that share my n=1 experience. We're all just trying to quietly get along with it really - stay working and raising families
Piggybacking here because you stated a sentiment that really resonates with me.
I left the UK in 2014 for a “1-2yr Max!” Period as my girlfriend was getting her masters degree in Sweden.
The echoes of the Ivestigatory Powers Act and the threat of a looming referendum gave me a little pause on my desire to return, but we both thought it was political posturing so we put aside our worries and continued the plans to return, albeit more apprehensively.
After the result was announced I was upset, a whole bloc was going to close to me, the ruling party (whom I fundamentally disagree with) was going to remove a lot of the checks which kept it accountable, lots of uncertainty- my family suddenly became openly racist (that’s just anecdotal though, certainly not all those who chose leave are racist but my family apparently was) — which is ironic as my mother and I have polish surnames from my great-grandfather who fought in the war and was exiled from Poland for it.
The longer I stayed away the more “detached” I became, the more coldly I looked at the situation and dispassionately assessed statistics and debates. You can’t know from the inside how farcical this whole thing looks.
I naturalised to become a Swedish citizen as soon as the option was available to me, I have no personal stake in the future of my home country anymore.
I’m still “pro-remain” but only because I still think it’s best for the country. I don’t really care that much any longer.
>When I left the UK, there was a large & growing political/economic divide, unaffordable housing and poor/declining public services.
None of those are particular to Brexit. House prices have been unaffordable to many in Britain since the 80s, and even more so, in the 90s. Houses prices are also supply and demand. Since Britain's population has increased by almost 10 million since 1997, demand vastly outstrips supply, especially in the south-east. This affects public services too.
Political divide is an interesting one. Given the two party politics in the UK, plus fringes, and the rise of social media (and Warhol's prophecy), this would also be a problem. Brexit made it worse, but without a crystal ball, it's impossible to say how much worse.
