Apologies if you’re fed up with apologies, but it seems that we’ve now entered a permanently sorry state of affairs. People seem to be either making apologies or clamouring for others to make them. Hastily arranged press conferences, video apologies, and Parliamentary statements seem to be becoming the norm. We’ve even had ...
I often think it comical How nature often does contrive That every boy and every gal That’s born into this world alive Is either a little Liberal or else a little Conservative. I thought it best to leave out the fal-lal-la’s from WSGilbert’s lyrics, but it...
Of all the words written and spoken about the BBC in recent days, two phrases struck a chord. The first was the PM saying that he didn’t think that the corporation was facing an existential crisis; and the second was the call for someone to get a grip. Both points were, I felt, wrong. Firstly, I do believe that the BBC is facin...
Size, as they say, isn’t everything. Almost 50 years after the publication of Schumacher’s seminal work Small is Beautiful the debate about appropriate size is beginning to take root. Actually, as with many debates about size, that statement is itself a bit of an exaggeration. In reality, the current debate is more abo...
It is extraordinary how so many things in life seem to be either black or white. Despite the complexity of modern society many seemingly want to view every social, environmental, moral, and economic issue as either being from one political standpoint or another. Parties of the centre, and those who proudly nail their colours firmly...
There’s been a spate recently of major high street chains going to the wall. Of all the many reasons behind their demise, one stands out: their inability to compete with internet retailers. Retail, of course, isn’t the only business that is struggling to face the challenges of disruptive technology; whilst the death of newspa...
I am a young executive. No cuffs than mine are cleaner;
I have a Slimline brief-case and I use the firm's Cortina.
You ask me what it is I do. Well, actually, you know,
I'm par...
Three recent news stories have raised questions about the nature of work. Firstly, there is the transatlantic spat between the US tyre company CEO who is declining to take over a Goodyear factory in Northern France because the “so-called workers” only worked three hours a day, spending the rest of the time eating and talking. T...
It’s all too easy to get the wrong end of the stick with networking. Perhaps it’s the memory of the “networking opportunity” coffee breaks at conferences when people you’ve never met sidle up and try to engage you in polite conversation in order to sell you things that you don’t want to buy. These opportunities can be...
For those of us brought up in an era of three TV channels and the test card, the iPlayer is a marvellous innovation. It provides high quality content for use on multiple platforms so that the consumer can choose where, when and how they watch and listen. It is a service of which the BBC can be justly proud. It is, however, as l...
