Dear money Dear Money, I hope you are well. I wrote my first cheque today in fifteen months and I realised how little we see of each other these days. I must admit that there was a small tear in my eye when I thought of all of the good times that we spent together. … Continue reading Dear money
Cheap fuel?
With the cost of petrol and diesel seeming to rise almost every day you might be tempted to do that extra bit of shopping around to save a penny or two on a litre. Be careful though as most of the time you may as well not bother. Here's why. I've made a lot of … Continue reading Cheap fuel?
Divided people
I am not an expert on what is going in Syria. I have never been there and am unlikely ever to go but what I do know is that I think the world needs to be very careful in how it reports this conflict. From what I can understand, the uprising started following the arrest … Continue reading Divided people
Freedom of information
What is a freedom of information? Is it a place where information lives, like a fiefdom, or a kingdom? Is freedom a collective noun for information, like a pride of lions or a parliament of crows? A freedom of information. Can information ever be truly free? Can it roam the Serengeti of the mind or … Continue reading Freedom of information
An internal market
I think a lot about customer service. I wear my Institute of Customer Services badge with pride. You would think, therefore, that I would be supportive of the concept of the internal market. Well I’m not, at least not completely. The idea of the internal market is that services and functions within an organisation treat … Continue reading An internal market
Pen amnesty
I only use two pens. I have a Parker Duofold fountain pen which I use for work as I think it makes we write better and I have a red pen for marking things off that I have done. Occasionally I use another pen to take a note or to act as a back up. … Continue reading Pen amnesty
In praise of Dickens
Happy birthday Charles Dickens. So much has been written about him already that my few hundred words aren’t going to make much of a difference but here goes. I’ve just finished Great Expectations for the second time. I picked it up having enjoyed the BBC’s adaptation which they showed over the Christmas period. It’s a … Continue reading In praise of Dickens
A bucketful of money
In these straightened times there is a sure fire way of making money. You place a bucket at the end of the local supermarket checkout. There’s a little more to it than that though. Firstly you need to stick a picture on the outside, something that bears a loose relationship to the scheme for which … Continue reading A bucketful of money
Solve your own problems
In many of the organisations in which I have worked, whenever we have been faced with a big issue to resolve, someone always pipes up with ‘What do [insert name hear] do?’ The name to insert is our neighbouring authority, our biggest competitor or our most admired organisation. Everyone agrees that a visit to that … Continue reading Solve your own problems
It’s cold outside
It's cold outside. The mercury has dropped to five below. There is ice on the windscreen. It may even snow today. I think it used to be called winter. I've been keeping an eye on the news and I'm up to date with all of the weather warnings. I've followed all of the advice and packed … Continue reading It’s cold outside
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 