Trust comes naturally to some professions. Take a survey from any country and there will inevitably be a consistent top three in the trusted category: nurses, firefighters and doctors. It makes sense. At their core we have to trust these professions with our health and our safety. Doctors and nurses also provide guidance and comfort in times of need. Down at the bottom? Car salesmen, real estate agents and politicians. These three are primarily transactional relationships. The first two rely on making a sale to ensure their continued existence. It’s obvious there’s some self-interest there, but stories of unethical behaviour…

Over the weekend, the Australian Financial Review profiled one of the victims (story behind paywall) of the alleged Goldsky ponzi scheme, along with ASIC’s apparent lack of action in shutting Goldsky down before too many unsuspecting investors were drawn in. We briefly wrote about Goldsky last year, highlighting well known sportspeople had seemingly been duped into placing their money with the fund, along with some having their names used in fund testimonials. At their very heart,  ponzi schemes are able to exist because of a lack of scruples from the people running the ponzi. That lack of scruples is then…

Neil Woodford has a neck thick like a rugby player and a head shaped like it was chiselled out of granite, it could be mounted somewhere on Easter Island. Imposing is an appropriate word to describe his appearance. Woodford is a man screaming conviction. Charlie Aitken is almost the opposite, but no less memorable. His features are sharp, he’s thin. Hair slicked back, often wearing a smug smirk; he appears supremely confident, giving the impression you should be listening to him. Aitken is a man screaming conviction. While Woodford looks like he could be cracking heads outside a nightclub and…

Wildlife poaching remains a regrettable occurrence in a world that continues to modernise. Driven by lax laws, a demand for ornamental souvenirs and nonsense beliefs that exotic animal parts can cure diseases such as cancer, poaching has remained impossible to stamp out. At the root of poaching is access and money. We don’t have elephants, rhinos or tigers in Australia, so there goes access. More specifically, while still poachable, our wildlife is quite prolific without many parts that can be turned into expensive trinkets. The margin isn’t there. While there is poaching of native wildlife in Australia, we also enjoy…