‘Tis the season…

…to be with family and friends and have fun and frolics.
So I’ll be going quiet for a few days.
A Merry Christmas to one and all.

A life with CFS/ME

My wife was finally diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome at the start of 2007 after being ill for over a year.
I’ve been wondering whether I should write something about living with CFS/ME, reflecting on the last year.
But, as ever, Rachel has gone one better than me.
Check these short videos out if you have the time.
If you [...]

Norwich Union in a fine mess

Further proof of the “do as I say, don’t do as I do” approach to identity fraud adopted by so many of our financial services companies comes in the form of the £1.26m fine meted out to Norwich Union.
In what proved to be an alarmingly unsophisticated scam, fraudsters were able to steal £3.3m from NU policyholders.
Criminals [...]

Pot and kettle, meet Sir John Major

It doesn’t take the sharpest political mind to point out the bleedin’ obvious.
So Sir John Major’s assertion that Labour has become “institutionally careless” during its 10 years in power does tend to elicit the response: “Hmmm…and?”
Tell us something we don’t know.
But what really singles out the former Prime Minister’s interview are his comments on Labour [...]

Blair finally gets a starring role from Bush

Tony Blair spent so long trying his hardest to please the most powerful political leader in the free world.
Now our illustrious former Prime Minister has a fitting finale to his special one-sided relationship with US President George W Bush.
There are so many elements of this production to admire.
The natural performances of the President himself, Mr Blair, the [...]

Newspapers need to do more than cut and paste

The continued failure of newspapers to truly get to grips with the demands and opportunities presented by new technology has been highlighted in a new report from the National Union of Journalists.
The Shaping the Future study by the NUJ makes for sober reading, for both journalists and senior management.
It adds weight to the argument that [...]

Supermarkets milking the system

The £116m fines imposed on some of our biggest supermarkets and dairy companies for fixing the price of milk, cheese and butter leave a bit of a sour taste.
Sainsbury’s, Asda and Safeway (before it was taken over by Morrisons) admitted liability in principal and so earned themselves lower fines from the Office of Fair Trading.
The [...]

Are there any hiding places left?

I don’t plan to add to the speculation regarding the missing canoeist who returned from the dead.
But amongst many intriguing aspects of this case is the revelation of who found the incriminating photograph of the couple taken in Panama City and how she found it.
It does beg the question, is there nowhere left to hide these [...]

Banks not alone in exploiting CSR

So what does CSR mean to you?
More importantly what exactly does it mean to those who claim to be practicing a socially responsible agenda?
The revelation that some of our biggest banks have been exploiting charity tax laws has shocked many.
But the biggest surprise is surely the fact that they weren’t clever enough to disguise what [...]

Birmingham’s creativity can’t be stifled by politics

There has been talk of late about the growing case for the appointment of a Director to steer the next phase of the growth and development of Birmingham’s flourishing creative industries.
Many of those categorised within this less than satisfactory umbrella term are making their mark nationally and internationally and yet this significant creative and economic [...]