What happened to the year? I’d just got used to it being 2019 and now it’s all over. It’s become a bit of tradition for me now to 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 … Continue reading The last blog of 2019
Ice cold in Newcastle
I’ve lived in and around Newcastle most of my life. I was born in North Shields towards the mouth of the Tyne and now live in Morpeth about twenty kilometres or so to the north. Only during the eighties did I live outside of the greater Newcastle area. I love the town. Like all cities, … Continue reading Ice cold in Newcastle
Chasing Rabbits
I’ve been a bit down lately, which isn’t like me. I’m very lucky and am normally in good spirits but not so much in the last few months. My shine has gone off and even Christmas hasn’t the lure that it has had in the past. I can’t put my finger on it but suspect … Continue reading Chasing Rabbits
Parasites
Mother Earth is a sentient creature. Who are we to understand what she thinks? Her timescales are vast, a thousand years are the blink of an eye and the life of a man is a mere tick of the clock. Her thoughts are beyond us, celestial, universal, beyond limits. We, on the other hand are … Continue reading Parasites
Importing health workers
The National Health Service is in crisis, at least that is what we are told every night on our televisions. The number of vacancies has rocketed, with nearly 50,000 nurses short alone and service levels at an all time low. The reasons behind this crisis are many and varied, with underfunding (either deliberate or by … Continue reading Importing health workers
We call this democracy?
Once again we are to be governed by a minority party. In the mother of all parliaments we have a voting system that allows the minority to be in power. In living memory, no party has been elected that has had more than half of the popular vote. The Conservatives nearly made it in 1955 … Continue reading We call this democracy?
‘Tis the season to be planning
One of the odd things about running your own small business is that you have very little time to plan. It is an irony that in an offering that is based upon helping other businesses to plan and strategize better it is something that I find hard to make time for. This, I feel is … Continue reading ‘Tis the season to be planning
Cyber 101 boot camp #3
This is the third and probably last blog that I will get out of this year’s fantastic cyber 101 boot camp that was held at the end of November. The focus of the afternoon was on business function, making sure that you had the right processes, people and, of course, access to money. Once again … Continue reading Cyber 101 boot camp #3
First past which post?
Our voting system is often referred to as first past the post (FPTP). It is supposed to ensure that a single candidate emerges from each constituency and lead to stable governments. We can imagine an election like a horse race, where each candidate starts off with no votes to a finishing post somewhere in the … Continue reading First past which post?
Wash your hands
I learned a lot at last month’s North East Fraud Forum conference, it was a great event. One of the things that has stuck in my mind though was a simple but clever idea from the police presenter. His issue was that the word fraud somehow downgrades or sanitises what it actually is. Fraud is … Continue reading Wash your hands
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 