I went into Woolies yesterday and you can feel lack of motivation from every member of staff working there. This is the dying throes of a business. I was given a black bin liner for my purchases for Mike's sake! Reading this article Woolworths: Your stories is probably the reason why.
Read More ..."This is a landlocked country. And its formal and informal economies would suffer. Within a week, it would bring the economy on its knees," a senior US official said in Washington on condition of anonymity.
Read More ...Boing! Boing! Boing! Hello, here is the something o'clock news. England has come to a stand-still again due to the half inch of snow that has fallen in the last 24 hours!
Read More ..."Only one group is more miserable than the retailers: the bankers and investment bankers."
Read More ...Peston's blog touches on the the sickness prevalent in corporate Britain. He notes that quite a lot of small to medium companies are in better positions - financially - than the bigger corporations. I can agree with that, I was just two years ago in one of those small businesses. In the good times, the Banks have not been falling over themselves to help small businesses - despite their advertising - and many of the businesses have learnt to look after themselves.
Read More ..."If you're black you ran the risk of getting deposited into a box marked and sellotaped for track and field and entertainment and crime and jail and self-doubt and shame."
Read More ...Well, you could have knocked me over sideways - The administrators of the UK and European arm of bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers are making better money than the bankers. [See Lehman's administrators paid more than the bankers]
Read More ...This storyline has been sitting in my drafts for a while now - actually since this Employers predict redundancy rise news story ran. This was after my comments made on my post Talking up a 'Recession' Storm?. In the last few days, Virgin Media said it plans to cut 2,200 jobs by 2012, while hundreds of jobs are going at the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, as well as at the Yellow Pages directories firm, Yell. Today, we hear BT joins in the employee purge, see BT to shed 10,000 jobs by March.
Read More ...I came across this blog entry The Reason Obamaism Won't Last - in the middle of the euphoria of Obama's election as the president of the USA. Whilst I have my own reservations about the elation of this momentous occasion, I still recognised the significance of this election.
Read More ...Well strike me sideways, I personally thought Obama would not do it, Privately I thought this would be high turn-out at the last minute - of the people that the pollsters will not have expected to vote - to ensure he did not win. So far he is only 4% ahead in the popular vote but the job has been done.
Read More ...Not only have we thrown billions at them to save them from their own greed, we now have to ask the greedy so and sos to pass interest rates back to us. Is something wrong here?
Read More ...Well now if you happen to be an employee of Virgin or BA, here's a hint as to how to get promotion. Put nice comments on 'Facebook' and 'My Space' sites about your employers. I think you may have to exaggerate to rise above the niceness they ooze out of the marketing departments but you are sure to be noticed NOT!
Read More ...A *smile* news story where a British expat, Mark Lewis, who only speaks broken Spanish has become a mayor of a Spanish Town. Councillor Lewis' previous/current post is that of 'Councillor for Animals' (heh?). Who says multi-culturalism doesn't work? The story is at Briton denies Spanish mayor role.
Read More ...Ahem. Went to the gym this evening and must say I struggled to be motivated to get there and to stay there once I got there. Put myself under some pressure to make the effort today since I had not been since Saturday and when I weighed myself this morning, I found I have actually put on weight. This on top of the weight I had put on the last time I checked, not really that bl***dy motivating, is it? I know, I know some people will have me believe that muscle weights more than fat but believe you me, I see no blasted muscle anywhere.
Read More ..."Their behaviour is disgraceful and has no place in a modern democracy." so says Stockport's Councillor Dave Goddard about Stagecoaches' refusal to carry Stockport council-funded adverts entitled "C-charge. Want to Pay? Have your say" on routes between Stockport and Manchester city centre. Stagecoaches' response is that they support the introduction of the congestion charge and are actually using their own buses to carry their message. See the full story at Anger over C-charge bus adverts.
Read More ...You might be wondering why this watchful eye on Zimbabwe and none on the USA. Not quite sure why but the USA elections has not gripped my imagination at all even when it appears it will make history - well at least USA history.
Read More ...'Unbreakable' encryption unveiled. Quantum cryptography is inherently unbreakable.
Read More ...Well I’m doing very well with updating this blog am I? I can’t believe my last post was on the 6th, time has flown by so quickly. I have a number of drafts saved but I have been posting more (other stuff) to my other blog.
Read More ...Ford Motor Company is introducing an innovative new technology - called MyKey - designed to help parents encourage their teenagers to drive safer, use fuel more efficiently and increase safety-belt usage. How about another key for the idiot parents? In fact since the maximum limit in this country is 70mph, how about not selling cars that do anything faster than that ( written whilst ducking from the drivel that will pour from every motorist's mouth )
Read More .......and be counted. Doesn't it make you feel good when someone stands up against wrong and forces some action? It is especially satisfying when it is standing up to the 'authorities' who keep trying to tell us what to do and how to live. You go, guy.
Read More ...Apparently there are some bars offering free drinks to women. Where? Not in Birmingham or Wolverhampton. We, Midlanders, including the female of the species, know how to wet our throats and so the local watering holes do not need to make desperate attempts to get us into their establishments :)
Read More ...'A nation of bankers' is what the Metro headline said. I could not help and think it should have said something completely. Here we are the people who paid to keep them lot in gravy for years and when the stuff hits the fan, guess which muggings have to pay again to safeguard the money the Government failed to take from us. We are paying to safeguard our own savings! If you have £100 in saving, you've just paid over 10 times that amount to make sure you do not lose it.
Read More ...Have failed to look after the physical this week, with the conference in the middle of the week and I have been away for the weekend. For some crazy reason, I chose to go to Liverpool for a weekend break. It was a gamble and I was not sure the wife would approve and we both have been pleasantly surprised. Liverpool, like Birmingham, have had a bad rap. Maybe they deserved the reputation years ago – I remember arriving in Birmingham some 18 years ago. It wasn’t impressive then but it is very pleasant now as is Liverpool.
Read More ...Not sure if I picked this up from somewhere or whether I made it up myself, but for sometime I have been saying that 'you can tell the level of comfort in a society by the headlines of its independent press'.
Read More ...I am really struggling to get into the daily upkeep of this blog. Additionally sometimes I just want to write about something that has no real relevance to self improvement and the four states of the human experience. But when I do, I will try to relate it because if I have to mention it, it must have had an effect. Well here goes for the next installment.
Read More ...Read the latest in this sad saga here - NO LONGER AVAILABLE.
Read More ...Well, occasionally one has to stop and check the results of one’s endeavours. It is the way we measure our successes and failures and I do not think there is a person on this planet that at some occasion has had to re-assess the position one is in. All successful businesses, big or small, do it on a regular basis!
Read More ...So Ireland is officially in recession after 2 quaters of negative growth, 0.3% in the first quarter and by 0.5%in the second. 0.8% in a six month period and the dreaded word 'recession' comes up? Try a Zimbabwean type recessionif you really want to worry people for God's sake. I wish people would behave themselves.
Read More ...Well today I suspect is the start of another round of changes. I mean its only been a month or so when another two or maybe even three marriages of close people appear to heading for the rocks (see previous post). And we have only just moved into this house a few months ago after 12 years in the same house where if I remember correctly less than a year previously, the company I worked for was taken over and we moved offices miles away. Screwed up my fitness schedule that did, as I had to catch a bus and train instead of walk to work since then. If I remember rightly, I started the new fitness regime after I discovered I was actually obese and not the sexy dude I thought I was. I now have joined a gym to get rid of the new fat, another change to my well planned routine!
Read More ...On the BBC news Site Bail-out fears return to markets. The markets are apparently rising on bail-out hopes. Now just wait a minute, I though the whole idea of business was to take a risk and therefore have the potential to make more money than if you left you money in some safe bank account (not that banks are living up to that reputation currently). Now it appears you can have gravy as well have the government bail you out when it all goes pear-shaped. Something is wrong and smells very fishy (with apologies to the fish among you).
Read More ...Applaud Lord Robert Winston, professor of science and society at Imperial College London when he said: "I fear that in this action the Royal Society may have only diminished itself. This is not a good day for the reputation of science or scientists. This individual was arguing that we should engage with and address public misconceptions about science - something that the Royal Society should applaud."
Read More ...Don't know if this is happening to you but I think our lack of a decent summer seems to be going to some people's heads. It is said that the most break downs of marriages and long term relationships happen after Christmas. I think this year's miserable attemptat a summer is taking its toll. All around me couples are having problems and I cannot understand why.
Read More ...This story Housing dip 'slows divorce rate' tells us that the "Housing dip 'slows divorce rate'". Someone is pulling my leg. Have we got so bad that even fights with our spouses are subject to 'economic' conditions?
Read More ...This is the kind of story that warms the cockles of my heart. It shows that despite some leaders (especially those in power) continue postering and plundering, there is a wind of change blowing through Africa - a change that will encourage the millions of the disporia enriching First World nations, to return and start to build a new Africa. The second wind of change will surprise many including the Chinese. The first wind of change refered to by the then British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan led to political independence. The second refers to economic independence that surely must follow, albeit for many a bit late.
Read More ...Article at Workplace unhappiness 'growing'.
Read More ...What's the world coming to? Lots of my generation remembers the "wait 'til dad gets home" threat from Mum when you got you got yourself into trouble. Children all over the world quaked (and in some parts of the world, still do) when these words were said. I was one of the lucky/unlucky ones, Dad wasn't there and Mum dealt with it there and then. Don't know what's worse.
Read More ...Following on the heels that divorce is bad for the environment (if you don't know, because families then live in two residents), a discussion held in the office today reveals that additional fuel will be used to day as husbands throughout the country realise that the wife's 'we won't do anything for Valentines' was not to be taken literally and that the purchase of at least a card or even better a small pressie will lead to a pleasant evening.
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