“We act with integrity. We maintain the highest ethical standards and transparency in our work and in our dealings with customers, partners, stakeholders and fellow employees. We keep our commitments. We are honest, fair and trustworthy”.

This is the values statement of which company?

Thomas Cook.

Thomas Cook is guilty of what some would call an Epic Failure.

An Epic. Fucking. Failure.

Commentators have described recent events at Thomas Cook as a PR disaster. This is true. But what we see is not just a failure in communications. It is a substantive failure. A failure in behaviour. A failure in meeting the moral and ethical standards which citizens should demand from modern corporations.

How can anyone trust Thomas Cook when they behave like this? When they fail to do the right thing?

On Wednesday 3 June, I delivered the 2015 Anthony Howitt Lecture at City Hall, London. You can read the full transcript here.