Latest media interviews
Latest chat with Mike Graham on discussing the Bank of England interest rate hike and continuing travel restrictions across the world (05 May 2022)
The Bank of England have put up interest rates and you would usually do this to encourage more people to save, or to reduce the amount of money in pockets for those with mortgages linked to the variable rate.
The target inflation rate is around 2-2.5% but inflation running closer to 7%. But what is driving the rising prices is household costs such as energy, food prices, transport costs for their car.
Over the past year interest rates have gone up from 0.1% to 1.0%, and if you have a £150k mortgage over 20 years and on a tracker, your mortgage payments would have gone up £777 per year. It’s closer to £1500 if you live in Greater London.
One thing the Bank of England does need to consider is we are in a world economy and other countries such as the USA are increasing interest rates. So if we do not follow suit, it encourages people to invest money into the dollar, impacting on the value of the pound.
On travel, the UK has dropped all travel requirements but some countries still have them in force. Germany and Spain you cannot travel in if you are unvaccinated or proof of a having had Covid in past 6 months, but for many people they are not having tests to obtain the proof. For Spain if you’re last vaccine was over 270 days ago, so 9 months ago, which will be most who did not have a booster, you have to have another one to be classed as fully vaccinated to go into the country.
This is all madness because the latest data from the ONS shows that those who had their last Covid vaccine between 3 and 6 months ago, they are just as likely to get #Covid19 as someone who is unvaccinated. So the data does not support a segregation of people with differing policies.
Chat with Nick Ferrari on LBC discussing excess deaths across the world (06 May 2022)
No country has come out well in all of this but to overcome differences in how countries record deaths it is important to look at total deaths and those above average.
What is striking is that in the first year of the pandemic the UK fared badly along with Italy and Spain and Germany did not do too bad. But in the second year Germany fared much worse despite being held up as a good example previously.
Politicians such as Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner were premature saying the UK has one of the worst death tolls in Europe, which is not the case when looking at population size and excess deaths.
So far this year we have seen deaths below average for the time of year and things getting back to normal levels.
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About Me
Award winning analytical leader with over 20 years experience of leading multi-disciplinary teams
Two decades leading teams to tell data driven stories with the aim to educate business leaders, policymakers, media organisations, and the public.
Statistician and analyst with 21 years’ experience of leading teams to interrogate and bring data sources together to deliver actionable insights and create business data strategies. I specialise in thinking outside of the box to provide decision makers answers to the problems they have not yet thought of. With skills in the latest cutting-edge data visualisation tools, I have won many awards for communicating insights effectively with nonspecialists, including acting as media spokesperson as well as board-level presentations.
Services
Media Commentator
With over 10 years of providing regular contributions to media shows, I am a go-to person when you need industry insight for your shows.
Regular contributor across the media on platforms such as BBC, ITV, Talk Radio, Times Radio and LBC. View or listen to past interviews through my media page
Data Visualisation
I have won several awards for presentation of data from the United Nations and Royal Statistical Society and was the inspiration behind the Office for National Statistics introducing infographics within publications.
Public bodies and business collect so much data every day but that data is of little use unless it tells a story to influence policy making or business decisions.
In a world where 90% of the information sent to the brain is visual and where we process visuals 60,000x faster than text, data visualisation is critical to provide the valuable context of trends, patterns, and outliers within data.
Data Analysis
Experienced at putting data analysis at the heart of business decisions, I specialise in thinking outside of the box to provide decision makers answers to the problems they have not yet thought of. Vast experience of communicating data analysis at board-level to non experts.
At the ONS I implemented a new business strategy to put the department at the heart of UK health analysis which led to several collaborations that have saved lives.
Using my influencing skills I challenged a policy proposal by the Chancellor of the Exchequer using data analysis which led to them shelving a public sector pay policy.
Leadership and management
I have vast experience of leading and managing teams both within public and private bodies. This includes managing data analysts, economists, researchers, generalists and administrative staff.
During my time within the Civil Service I was selected for the Future Leaders Scheme that identifies the top 1% of talent for extensive leadership training.
I also have completed leadership programmes at the Roffey Park Institute.
