You know I am not the greatest fan of using targets to improve the performance of the NHS. In my opinion they have never worked as they are too arbitrary and indeed have distorted service delivery and politicised the service. Both of these have distracted it from providing the services it is designed for and … Continue reading Half a million lives
Disloyalty card
I’ve been going to Dave’s in Morpeth to get my hair cut ever since I moved to the town. That was nearly thirty years ago. Dave reminded me that I was one of his first customers when he had his first shop on the main road North. He’s seen me go from black to grey … Continue reading Disloyalty card
Happy New Year 2019
At the start of last year I decided to publish a list of resolutions. This is something that I don’t normally do but I felt it would be good to keep them fresh in my sights. So how did I do? Here is my 2018 list: Publish my second book ‘Paradigms Lost’. It’s out there … Continue reading Happy New Year 2019
My last blog of the year 2018
The first blog I ever wrote was on 1 January 2012, some seven years ago. Since then I have written just under fifteen hundred pieces and since the middle of that first month have had at least one person read my blog every day. I try not to worry about the numbers, some days they … Continue reading My last blog of the year 2018
What is ethics anyway?
Thinking about ethics does your head in, or at least it does mine. I bought a download of ‘A Short History of Ethics’ by Tim Dalgleish, to try and get a better understanding of the subject and listen to it in the car but miles can pass by without me being any the wiser. The … Continue reading What is ethics anyway?
Seasons greetings
I like this time of year, Christmas, Winter Festival or Festivus, take your preference, yet it is the best of times and it is the worst of times. It is the one time in the year where people, in the main, seem to put their grievances aside and there is a general outpouring of goodwill … Continue reading Seasons greetings
Dissatisfaction sells
We all know it really, it is dissatisfaction that sells. The quenched don’t buy drink, the satiated don’t buy food and once you have everything you need then all that is left is stuff that you don’t. Of course, most of us have passed the point of having met our basic needs a long time … Continue reading Dissatisfaction sells
Corporate Social Responsibility
‘We never use the phrase Corporate Social Responsibility, or the initials CSR at Ringtons.’ said Richard from the Newcastle based tea and beverages company. ‘It sounds too much like a crime. Instead we focus on our business doing good things in the community.’ I was at Muckle LLP for a breakfast event as part of … Continue reading Corporate Social Responsibility
I am an artist
What is art? Not that old chestnut again. Such open questions are almost impossible to answer. Even artists themselves have been struggling for millennia to come up with an explanation and in the end usually resort to saying ‘if I need to explain it to you then you won’t understand.’ Allan Kaprow put it that … Continue reading I am an artist
North East Fraud Forum
I went to my first North East Fraud Forum event last week. There is such an overlap between fraud, cyber crime and business ethics that it was a natural fit with many of the other things that I am involved in. It was also the first time that I had been inside the Virgin Money … Continue reading North East Fraud Forum
Thoughts from a Retired Guerrilla Worker 