Author: philjackman

Lee Jenner’s Enterprise Shorts may have started out as a spoof but are now set to become an overnight internet sensation.  As Lee explains: ‘I’d recently come out of college having finished my Media Studies degree and wanted to create a number of short films that parodied the patronising, nanny-knows-best style of the old Pathé … Continue reading Newsreel revival?

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?  That’s easy.  The first egg was laid by a chicken like creature.  But which came first, the private or the public sector?  That’s a lot harder and I’m not sure there is an obvious answer. Man is a social animal and in all human societies there is … Continue reading Which came first, the private or the public sector?

I have been past your way on many occasions, hurtling through space and time, twisting and turning through its warped fabric.  We share the same sun.   I have passed quite close this time, within twenty eight thousands of your kilometres but distance means nothing to me.  I have been closer though and there have been … Continue reading A near miss

Oh ivy, you and I both knew that this time would come.  You’ve been growing well in the corner of the garden and making it your own but it’s not, it’s mine and it is time to feel the curved blade of my secateurs upon your flesh. But you haven’t made it easy for me.  … Continue reading It’s time to tackle the ivy

So Scotland is thinking of coming out of the union.  A referendum is planned for some time next year and it will be up to the people to decide if their fate lies with London or Edinburgh or even Brussels.  Who knows which way it will swing, probably each way over the months ahead with … Continue reading What about the flag?

I have to say that I enjoyed the first episode of ‘Penguins – Spy in the Huddle’ on BBC1 on Monday in high definition.  The camera work was fantastic especially due to the ingenious penguin cameras. The producers managed to portray these animals in a sympathetic light with just enough use of comedy noises to … Continue reading Locked-in behaviours

I want to deliver bricks.  They are easy to understand, they are nice and firm with defined edges.  They come in a standard length and width.  With bricks you know what you are getting. Yes but I want water.  I’m not sure what I want, it’s not easy to describe but it will come to … Continue reading How many bricks would you like?

Don’t bother with an ordinary e-reader, they are so last fortnight.  What you really need is a ZoinkTM the first ever fully blown experience-reader.  Weighing in at less than 500g and with a 20cm screen it looks at first like many other e-reader products that are available on the market but when you add the … Continue reading e-reader

Robert Francis’ report into failures of the Stafford Hospital has been a wakeup call for the NHS.  The inquiry was undertaken following a higher than expected death rate at the hospital over several years but is it a chink of light for the NHS as a whole?  Is there finally a recognition that the target … Continue reading Is Stafford a chink of light for the NHS?

You’d think that when you are in trouble and an ambulance is called it would arrive quickly and take you to the nearest hospital for you to receive treatment.  It would seem reasonable that the time it takes for the ambulance to arrive is measured and perhaps that there is a target set to judge … Continue reading Call an ambulance