Image thanks to WallpaperCave For three years now, I have published a list of resolutions. This is my fourth. They are not things that I have set my heart on achieving but rather things to aim at. For the year just gone I have given myself three and a half out of the five yet … Continue reading Happy New Year 2021
Last blog of 2020
Image thanks to HR Review Tradition dictates that I now conclude the year with a retrospective blog. It is a trick that the television companies use all the time, by compiling programmes from bits of the previous year’s it saves them time and money and pads out a schedule that may be difficult to fill … Continue reading Last blog of 2020
On the right tracks
I can’t believe I have never blogged about the South East Northumberland Rail User Group, or SENRUG. I must have done but can’t seem to find it. Perhaps I haven’t and if not, it is high time I did. I didn’t start blogging until 2012 and some of the things I am going to talk … Continue reading On the right tracks
Story without end
Sorry but this is another blog about books, sort of. I’ve been getting through a lot of them during COVID and have just finished ‘After Dark’ by Haruki Murakami. His work is described as surrealism or magical realism and I have been on a bit of a streak of his work. Don’t worry, there are … Continue reading Story without end
Fixate on the Gini coefficient
By any standards the United Kingdom is a very rich country. It has the sixth largest economy in the world, when comparing Gross Domestic Product, at 3.32% of global production. Its citizens enjoy, on average, the 24th highest income in the world at $42,526 per capita. Why then are we obsessed with growth? It is … Continue reading Fixate on the Gini coefficient
Geopolitics and cybersecurity
From Business Insider: While US cybersecurity and intelligence officials trained their attention on securing the 2020 election, foreign hackers took the opportunity to wedge another door wide open, carrying out a devastating and unprecedented cyberattack. Details of the SolarWinds cyber attack have emerged over the last couple of weeks in what could be the world’s … Continue reading Geopolitics and cybersecurity
House of competition
The news is so depressing these days. To avoid watching the BBC at 6 o’clock I have been turning over to watch Richard Osman’s House of Games. It’s a funny programme in which four contestants ‘compete’ to win naff prizes by answering inventive and amusing questions. It is supposed to be a light hearted show … Continue reading House of competition
Proximity and trust
Flag of each of the 28 EU Member States, alongside the European flag It’s been a long time since I wrote about Brexit, even though it has never been away from my thoughts. Perhaps, by the time I post this we may well have a deal. There has been a lot of hand wringing and … Continue reading Proximity and trust
Reading your own thoughts
Twice this week I have read my own thoughts in other people’s books. On two separate occasions, one fiction and one non-fiction, I have read things that I have written before. Don’t get me wrong, I am not for one minute suggesting that either of the authors had taken my ideas as their own. There … Continue reading Reading your own thoughts
Male and pale
Bernadine Evaristo I’m male, pale and perhaps a bit stale, or so the saying goes. There is not much I can do about the first two but I hope I can work on the last point. Perhaps there is something I can do though. I could start by thinking about the issues around diversity and … Continue reading Male and pale