The Olympic room in The White Swan in Alnwick was a magnificent location to get our Rural Cultural Business Innovation Programme underway. Justin and I have seem to have been planning this for ages and now the day had finally arrived. We had been working with the Creative Fuse Partnership and other creative, digital and … Continue reading Rural Cultural Business Innovation Programme day 1
Convenience sells, convenience costs
In an earlier blog I said that subject of ethics in business had been occupying my mind, especially the failure of Carillion and the noise around the use of single use plastics. I wrote about Carillion in the earlier piece and so I am coming back to plastics. Pollution caused by waste plastics has been … Continue reading Convenience sells, convenience costs
What is your superpower?
What is your superpower? Mine, I think, is in being organised. I have the happy knack, or the annoying habit depending upon your perspective, of being able to dismantle a heap of things to do and reassembling them into a logical set of tasks. Whenever I have something to do (and I mean almost whenever) … Continue reading What is your superpower?
Things will find their own level
Stephen was telling me about a conversation he was having with a friend who had been in marketing for longer than he cared to mention. The subject of new media came up and his friend hit the roof. ‘Don’t talk to me about new media’, he said ‘there is no such thing - there is … Continue reading Things will find their own level
Low Power Wide Area Network
Over the last couple of years I have been involved in a project to create a 5G test bed across the region. The idea being to put the North East at the forefront of this exciting technology, autonomous vehicles and all that. Since leaving my last role however I have stepped away from that and … Continue reading Low Power Wide Area Network
My last blog of the year 2017
I always try to finish off the year with something special to say. All of my blogs try to say something yet the end of the year and the start of the new one is a strange time, a period of reflection and a opportunity for renewal. The world does not know any difference. … Continue reading My last blog of the year 2017
Hanging round universities
In my new life I seem to be hanging round the universities a lot. I was never a stranger as such when I was working at Durham but since then I find myself in all sorts of events at Newcastle, Northumbria and Sunderland University. I am off to Teesside in the new year as well. … Continue reading Hanging round universities
Milton Friedman is out of time
The current economic and social system in which we live, at least here in the anglo-american parts of the globe, is coming to an end. News of its demise may be a little premature yet I can hear its rattle. It is simply unsustainable. Inequality in wealth is growing both in absolute and relative terms. … Continue reading Milton Friedman is out of time
Free press
A free press cannot be free. A press that is given away to its readers for nothing cannot be impartial and free from undue influence. We pride ourselves in this country that we have a free press and that it fulfills the important role of holding governments and other institutions to account. We convince ourselves … Continue reading Free press
Newcastle Scaleup Summit
I am not a scaleup. I am a startup as I have only been going a few months. I’m certain that I really don’t want to scale my business, I am wanting it to stay very much as what is known as a lifestyle business instead. I am clear about that. Why then was I … Continue reading Newcastle Scaleup Summit
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 