Oh dear lexoncd, we can see why you feel the need to convince everybody that you're Mr Big. I note your new list of claims purporting to put me straight on issues which I have never raised. In the context of this discussion I have ventured no opinion on whether MAN is doing "well" or "badly". I have not discussed retailers (though I could). I have not discussed Gatwick (though I could). Do keep up! You are trying to shift the arguments to new territory so you can recover some lost dignity following your initial childish rant. Sorry, I'm not buying in to your little game.
You have made a complete fool of yourself calling for "heads to roll" amongst Manchester Airport managers who inherited forecasts which failed to accurately predict the impact of future geopolitical events. I rightly pointed out the absurdity of your stance. Suddenly, you pull out of the air the notion that I am arguing with you about the track record of Gatwick. Keep up? You make it up as you go along. Who do you think you are impressing with your boasts about directorships and doing "rather well" on shares? Maybe others here could make claims of their own but have the good sense not to brag in a distasteful manner.
I'm not taking your bait to argue all manner of newly introduced 'red herring' points which divert the agenda. Nowhere do I 'bleat on' about MAN's 'continual failure to hit targets' before 2008 or at any other time. During our exchange I have not ventured any opinion on this. The topic is the reliability of long-term forecasting in a business context. You now acknowledge the need to take account of known factors and assumptions and to allow for a degree of error. You present this as if I have opposed such notions. Not so. It is you who has ranted that heads should roll because MAG managers of long ago failed to accurately forecast the impact of future geopolitical events. I have championed from the outset the need to view long-term business forecasts with extreme caution. Plan for the future, yes, but with total comprehension that forecasts concerning the health of the global economy years hence can only be wildly speculative. That's fundamental common sense where I come from. Do keep up!
So ... when you were a board director ... did you sack all YOUR senior managers for not forecasting the effects of 9/11 before 9/11 occurred? How about the CDO derivatives crisis? LTCM? Asian currency crisis? SARS? Or is it just Manchester Airport management who should all be sacked for not taking full account of these events before they happened?