Last Saturday I was lucky enough to hear live a lecture by Professor Muhammad Yunus at the wonderful St James Church in Piccadilly London. Professor Yunus was honoured and recognised for this life changing work amongst the poor of Bangladesh with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

I was especially lucky to have had front row seats – and you can see more pictures on my Facebook profile.

It was quite an inspirational day - here was an amazing man with the lofty ambition of eliminating poverty from the world and to one day make it simply non existent - so that we would need “Poverty Museums” to show future generations what life used to be like for the majority of people on earth. They will wonder why poverty existed so long in humankind – and how there could have been so much inequality in the world.

That really is a question that bugs me too so often – why is there so much poverty and inequality in the world. And more importantly what we can do about it?

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We are now in the middle of autumn (fall) here in London and amidst the wind and rain, the colours of the trees are stunning.

The picture above is the copper beech tree in my garden and it has almost shed all its leaves.

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Today’s Observer newspaper has reported how they have found child labour being used in a factory that supplies finished clothing items to clothes retailer Gap.

Gap have immediately promised to look into this and have already taken the item in questions off their racks. All stock will be destroyed.

This is yet again another sign that things are changing with more and more Corporate companies being held accountable for their business practices.

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Something I feel passionately about is people and companies doing the “right” thing.

Recently I have been hearing a lot about financial institutes and the underhand way in which more and more consumers are being drawn into spiralling debts.

We all seem to be living like there is no tomorrow and running up massive debts. Part of the challenge I feel is that none of us were ever taught how best to manage our money. Through my coaching work, this challenge of financial education keeps coming up again and again.

Though school equips us with grammar and algebra, very few of us embark on our adult lives fully conversant with how to make, save and invest money. It takes us many years and costly experiences to learn more, whilst most of us struggle on in financial ignorance.

Slowly but surely I think that is changing with the advent of the internet and the growth of some excellent web resources. We can now all learn about money management and research the options for how best to spend or save our cash.

One such online resource has been set up by Martin Lewis, journalist, broadcaster and researcher extraordinaire. From his best-selling books, TV shows and his website, he has helped literally millions of people save money in various ways.

Best of all is that his website is a free service which is completely impartial and not dictate by any financial institute with it’s own agenda. Martin is leading the fight back against rogue corporates who for too long have had it easy in milking money from their consumers.

I have used the service myself and not only have I made savings by finding the best utilities for my area, but also reclaimed some extravenous bank charges.

Check out Martin’s website today at www.moneysavingexpert.com - the website does what it says. Be sure to susbcribe to the free weekly newsletter.

To get the life you love and live it, a solid financial base is a useful starting point. From today onwards, become smarter about the way you spend your money. Make it happen.

October is Fair Trade Month in the USA. Other countries such as the UK have a Fair Trade fortnight every February.

The idea of such events is to make more people aware of the impact they can make through their purchasing power. I have written at length before about personal social responsibility and it is important that we all make things happen in the world in a positive manner.

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Krispy Kreme doughnuts can be seen in many UK high streets and also sold in UK supermarkets. But as people wake up to just what’s good and what’s not good for their bodies, it is debateable just how well such food products will do in the future.

So right on cue I have just learnt that Krispy Kreme are having serious problems in the USA and UK..

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To end this week and this month on a light hearted note, here is a wonderful story about how a 98 year old woman told her bank what she thought of their service. The bank manager thought it amusing enough to have it published in the Times Newspaper.

As more and more companies become aware of Corporate Social Responsbility (CSR), this story serves as reminder to companies that their customer is their most important asset and not someone to be simply pushed around:-

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It has just been announced that the world’s leading toymaker, US based Mattel has recalled millions of toys worldwide for the second time in two weeks.

It all comes down to the amount of lead in the paint used on these toys, which were made in China. In turn, the Chinese supplier has been blamed for using paint from unauthorised suppliers.

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We are all increasingly become more aware of our responsibility to the environment and the need to save our planet.

Being “Green” may just be in vogue for now, or indeed we may have all embraced this positive change for good.

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One of my recurring themes lately is that there comes a time for all of us to take a stand and push for what you believe in. It was this mind set that allowed me to recently launch my car stickers to encourage drivers to refrain from using their mobile phones whilst driving.

For me, it was time to take a stand and get drivers to zap their phone and not a child.

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