In this guest post by Professor Alan Braithwaite, chairman of LCP Consulting, he looks at the work done with the UK government as it tries to use supply chain practices to avoid the fiasco that occured when it snowed in the UK last year. Time will tell how effective it's been, but Braithwaite's insight into data-modelling and how supply chain principles can be applied to prevent a potentially disastrous situation are particularly interesting.

Hardly a day goes by without a story about US technology darling, Apple. But on a day when its share price rocketed on the news of a 78% rise in quarterly net income (not even CEO Steve Jobs' announcement that he would be taking leave of absence dampened investor confidence) a Chinese pressure group was putting the finishing touches to a report that shines a much murkier light on the technology giant.