Loneliness is a big problem, especially with older people. According to Age UK around one million people regularly go for a month without speaking to anyone. Half of those aged seventy five and over live alone and ten percent of those over sixty five say they always or often feel lonely. These are sad statistics. … Continue reading Unfolding plans 202 – Loneliness
Unfolding plans 201 – Proving a point
‘You have to prove a point’, that’s what my wife said to me as I made my way out of the door to go to work. It wasn’t a general statement, though that may be true but was more to do with the fact that I wasn’t taking my car to work but that of … Continue reading Unfolding plans 201 – Proving a point
Unfolding plans 200 – Hoary chestnuts roasting
Once again that perennial problem of system specification has raised its head. It is a hoary chestnut yet one I thinking we are making good inroads into cracking. Traditionally when we have decided we have a need for something, a new process, a new system or a new tool we would get a group together … Continue reading Unfolding plans 200 – Hoary chestnuts roasting
Unfolding plans 199 – A jewel in the north
This week I was once again at the Stanley Area Action Partnership. I go there every other month as I am in a tag team with Caroline, another one of the Heads of Service here. It must be six years since I have been going and while at first it seemed a chore I have … Continue reading Unfolding plans 199 – A jewel in the north
Unfolding plans 198 – Connectivity
If there is one thing that will set the North East apart from its competitor regions it will be connectivity. Of course I mean network connectivity rather than motorways, rail and air. These others are very important yet may take a little longer to get where we would like to be. We don’t have a … Continue reading Unfolding plans 198 – Connectivity
Unfolding plans 197 – Visible spectrum of change
There is nothing more magical than a rainbow. (There is nothing faster than a Post Office van but that is another story.) There is something about seeing the ephemeral band of colours splashed across the sky that brings out the spiritual in me. If there was one thing that would make me believe in a … Continue reading Unfolding plans 197 – Visible spectrum of change
Unfolding plans 196 – App hype
There is such hype about apps. Everyone uses them. Everyone has to have them. You’re just not out there if your firm doesn’t have an app. A lot of people agree. There are at least three million of the things to download onto your smartphone or tablet. Beware however as only around five per cent … Continue reading Unfolding plans 196 – App hype
Unfolding plans 195 – let them get on with their jobs.
I finished ‘Maverick’ by Ricardo Semler a week or so back. Mike had lent me the book some time ago and it had been sitting on my shelf waiting to be read. There was something about the cover that made me leave it. Perhaps it was waiting for the right time. Any book though that … Continue reading Unfolding plans 195 – let them get on with their jobs.
Unfolding plans 194 – Hurtling everywhere
I’m hurtling everywhere at twenty nine miles an hour. It doesn’t matter where I go or how fast I seem to go, I end up averaging out at the top speed of a domestic cat. It’s the traffic that slows me down. It has become the bane of my life. It has become an unhealthy … Continue reading Unfolding plans 194 – Hurtling everywhere
Unfolding plans 193 – Buying or selling
We were waiting outside the director’s meeting room in the upper floor of North Tyneside’s office in Cobalt. It was some time ago yet I can recall it vividly. A colleague of mine and I were waiting to be called into a meeting with the directors and neither of us had warmed to the prospect. … Continue reading Unfolding plans 193 – Buying or selling
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 