CyberNorth is back at Europe’s largest innovation festival for the second time, following the amazing time we had last year. Northumbrian Water Group’s innovation festivals are big, loud, exciting and very unique events where they gather some of the greatest and most innovative minds from the worlds of business, science, tech, engineering, utilities and customer … Continue reading You should go to Northumbrian Water’s Innovation Festival
Seven years too long
Image thanks to GoneWithTheTwins I remember that fateful day, seven years ago, coming down to check the result on my phone to find that leave had won the referendum. Almost immediately I got a WhatsApp from my youngest daughter asking me what it means. My reply was ‘that’s it, we’re out.’ It wasn’t quite that … Continue reading Seven years too long
Learning your lessons
Sometimes things don’t turn out quite as you had expected. A Tuesday evening in Hexham was one of them. I’ve long got myself hung up on numbers when planning events, worried that nobody would turn up, indeed I often say once there are more in the audience than speakers I can start to relax. But … Continue reading Learning your lessons
Abstain
Abstaining in a free vote in Parliament is a cop out. Yet at the vote on the Commons Privileges Committee’s report into Boris Johnson and his statements to the house on Partygate, over 100 Tory members did just that. In the end it made no difference. The report had found that Johnson repeatedly misled parliament … Continue reading Abstain
A trip to Seamer
I don’t think I had ever been to Seamer before, just on the outskirts of Scarborough. I may have passed through by car as we visited Scarborough as a family when the children were young. They are grown women now so it was some time ago and all I remember was visiting the rock factory. … Continue reading A trip to Seamer
If sovereignty means anything
Image thanks to Discover Magazine One of the biggest problems with having people like Johnson in charge is that they only believe in one thing, themselves. They claim to be fighting for the good of the country and to uphold nebulous concepts such as sovereignty yet have no respect for the conventions and procedures that … Continue reading If sovereignty means anything
Shoe shine
Image thanks tro Shoe Advisor Today I did something I haven't done for a long time. I polished my shoes. I know it was a long time because the polish had dried up in its tins. Instead of being creamy and spreadable it was all dry and cracked like a dried up river bed. Apparently … Continue reading Shoe shine
Doing nothing
Universal basic income is back on the agenda with yet another pilot to test whether or not such a scheme will work. UBI has had more pilots than Ryanair. It has been proven to be beneficial in providing a basic level of income to everyone. The clue is in the name. There remains, however, a … Continue reading Doing nothing
A Digital Durham bag
It was a long, long time ago. Hexham is a nice day out. When we go there we always make our way to our favourite cafe at the Abbey, not for religious reasons but rather to worship their cheese scones. Sometimes it's full and we have to go elsewhere. It’s a nice walk from the … Continue reading A Digital Durham bag
Cancelled
I’ve never been tempted to watch GB News, the non-news news channel, nor Talk TV. The lineup of presenters has never appealed to me yet I get a strong flavour of their position on issues through the regular retweeting of their social media. One of the things that is guaranteed to have steam coming out … Continue reading Cancelled
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 