30 June 2018
Fighting the Tide
If I’d paid more attention during physics lessons I reckon I could have worked out how to lay some induction coils over the cables and enjoy free electricity. From my rough calculations, it looks to be Pareto-efficient, but probably only because my grasp of Faraday’s Law is so weak I cannot work out who would lose out from my nocturnal coil burying.
3 April 2018
Too Much Information
Where would we be without Google? If I have a question I can get the answer in a few milliseconds. In fact, I can get lots of answers – if I ask Google how long it takes Google to answer a question it comes back with 392,000,000 results in 0.53 seconds.
30 January 2018
Tulips from Amsterdam...
2017 was the year Bitcoin became the investment opportunity of the century or the latest incarnation of tulip mania (depending, I suspect, on whether you had the foresight to buy some or not). As I didn’t buy any, naturally I sit firmly on tulip mania side of the fence, waiting like a tricoteuse for the blade to fall.
1 October 2017
Keeping to the Straight and Narrow
A good starting point for innovation is to look at what you already have and how this can be used differently. This Resource Based View suggests that if you have resources that are both useful and unusual, and you build processes to combine these you will end up with goods or services that are better than the competition.
30 June 2017
Detonation Sequence
What they actually sent were two fire engines, an ambulance, any number of police cars and a mobile incident control vehicle. Within fifteen minutes, half the village was evacuated to the pub where the landlord set up a soup kitchen. At this point no-one had seen the bombs.
10 June 2017
You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off...
And finally, Theresa May’s weak and wobbly performance has demolished any semblance of steeliness – this is no Iron Lady. We can now move from the silly confrontational negotiating stance to one that seeks the best outcome for both us and our long-term European friends and allies. The best negotiations result in a win-win.
Find out more about You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off...
1 April 2017
Foolin’ Around
I’m writing this month’s musings on All Fools Day. It’s past noon. While I seem to have got away unscathed, with the benefit of hindsight, sitting in my car with the doors locked for five hours seems a lot of trouble to go to simply to avoid looking a fool...
14 January 2017
Michelle. ma belle
The cobbler’s children have no shoes; the Ross children have no financial plan and now seemed as good a time as any to begin to put things right.
9 November 2016
If you don't know me by now....
And so another season begins. I rifle through the pile of shirts, hunt down a No.4 and, pushing kit bags to one side, claim my place on the bench to start the ritual pre-game preparation...
13 September 2016
Thinking of selling your business?
Here are 5 key things to consider...
9 September 2016
Rainy Sunday
Sunday afternoons at a boarding school can tend to drag.
6 July 2016
Portfolio management - One political catastrophe at a time
The Brexit vote was a real test for our portfolios...
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24 June 2016
Up, up and Away
So, the battle is over. As bright sunshine pours over the rain sodden field of conflict and the discarded standards of the Leave and Remain camps lie trampled into the puddles...
1 May 2016
Chasing Cars
I once had a 4.2 litre XJ6. It cost about as much as a second-hand Cortina but magically commanded effortless respect...
5 April 2016
Don't be Amazed - Succession can be Successful!
I’m not really sure if I like mazes. Hampton Court was my nemesis – the grim realisation, as I found myself at yet another dead end, that although I knew there must be a way out there was no guarantee I’d find it.
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