The Black 35th

Heard on the news this morning that the 35th week of the year has consistently been the worst in terms of stock market falls....in the UK at least. And I may have misheard, but I think the report said this had been true for pretty much the whole life of the FTSE.

No idea why (back from holiday blues perhaps). But a classic example of herd mentality: once everyone thinks the market will go down in week 35 it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy - who wants to be left with expensive stock when you could by buying it for much cheaper.

I guess the question is, how can we generate positive herd movements, e.g. in areas like climate change - not just thinking something needs to change, but doing something about it.

The armband movement of MPH, Lance Armstrong et al, did a bit of that. Although you always got the sense this was a fashion herd more than anything else.

So what are the triggers then, that will get us all doing the same little something to significant ends?