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Welcome to my new website

Many of us over 60 are counted out when part-time jobs come up despite our collective wisdom and abilities.

To counter some of this prejudice I have dispensed with sending my CV and have instead created The Complete Picture, an animated ninety second overview of my life to date @ https://vimeo.com/223960456.

 

 

 

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30
JUL
The PM has had an eventful two weeks abroad in USA, Turkey and India. His pronouncements have been spot on: ** We are the junior partner in the absurd special relationship with USA ** Turkey does need to become a full member of the EU ** Gaza is a prison camp ** Pakistan must pull its proverbial finger out over terrorism Yet, his own Foreign Office actively briefed against him. Now is the time to cut it down to size.
27
JUL
Yesterday, Sam Wolfe, of FOSI (she was working for them in DC but shortly she'll be working for them in Paris) came by my house to collect me and my crutches to make sure I made it to the House of Lords for the launch of their GRID see: wwwfosigrid.org.   I was glad she did. I had said to myself that I wouldn't go back to Parliament until October but hey this was the penultimate day of term so what the heck. The GRID is the brainchild of David Miles, the EMEA Director of FOSI,...
27
JUL
Paul Farrelly,MP for Newcastle under Lyme, dropped in with his customary supply of sushi. We're both fans. Paul helped me into Politics back in 1992-3 when I was seeking a borough council seat in Haringey as he was the Secretary of the Hornsey & Wood Green Labour branch. Little did I know then that he was also Stuart Barnes' scrum half at Teddy Hall and we had overlapped at Oxford. Anyway, I was duly allowed to stand as a candidate in Archway ward where we'd never had 2 Labour...
25
JUL
I was approached by a Tory minister to ask if I would like to go on the PM's visit to India this week but felt it ought to go to a more senior person at Tribal where I am an Associate. Nonetheless, Cameron's difference in approach and style to Blair and Brown's first visits are welcomed. Blair went in 2005 but with a small entourage and some business leaders; Brown went before he was anointed and became embroiled in the Shilpa Shetty fiasco during a C4 Big Brother episode: as though he
19
JUL
For aeons and certainly since the end of WW2 we have said that there was a Special Relationship with America. Blair milked it for all he could but essentially if you ask the White House they will cough into their serviettes and laugh quietly about it. They cannot see it nor understand why we keep banging on about it. Consider: WW1 USA was a late entrant (1917) WW2 ditto (late 1941); but USA still fought on in the Far East to keep Russia out of China and Japan The...
12
JUL
Whilst the FIFA world cup has ended after an appalling display by Holland in the final, there is a movement, no more no less, within the elite of the ANC to apply for the Olympics in 2020. This would be complete madness. Cities apply for an Olympics. Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg have higher priorities than applying for and running a games which could cost $3 billion. I hope they come to their senses and decide not to bid.
7
JUL
We have four male candidates all from the same gene pool: David Miliband (favourite) Ed Miliband (second favourite) Ed Balls Andy Burnham and one one-off gene pooler: Diane Abbott The four male candidates usually have a combination of the following: Oxford or Cambridge educated Think Tankery backgrounds No.10, No.11 or DCMS Policy wonkers Teaching and or research including Harvard Shipped-in to safe seats in 2001 or 2005 None have had their hands dirtied by working in
7
JUL
Over the past decade we have had: ** cricket taking the lead (actually it was an independent television company covering Test cricket for C4 which started the revolution) where umpires can ask for television assistance over run-outs but not yet LBWs or stumpings though the technology is there ** rugby league and rugby union referees can ask for television help for disputed tries ** tennis players can ask the unpire for a ruling on whether shots are in or out; they are...
4
JUL
For a company that have a hold on the letter "i" - as in iMac, iPod and iPhone - I watched from the sidelines with amusement when Apple set a hare going on their new "tablet" a year ago. I gave up on the number of classy pundits who guessed wrong. I called it the iFad and in the end was only a letter out.  The iPad as it is better known has been another Apple phenomenon. It might have happened 20 years ago when Apple played with a hand held device called the Newton but then the...
4
JUL
Robin Cook tried to bring some kind of morality back to Foreign Affairs policy in 1997 (doesn't that feel pre-historic). It was a good try but our arms industry is so vast and being Foreign Secretary doesn't give you much say in what the MOD does. William Hague surprised most Tories with a wise and profound speech earlier last week in carving out a new set of principles. He was half right on Europe - what he should have done was to establish a new department outside of the Foreign...
1
JUL
It cannot be too long before Charles Kennedy MP and Sir Menzies Campbell MP lead the Lib Dems out of the coalition back to a Liberal Party. But since that would marginalise still further a "Liberal" party the sensible thing to do would be to seek accommodation with the Labour Party. Clearly, Clegg has been too clever by half in seeking a relationship with the Tories (but brilliant Cameron for pulling it off). In next May's local elections the Lib Dems will come near to exctinction.
1
JUL
MyMP relaunched today with three MPs from the three main parties (well 2.2) now added with a further 17 expected to be up and working on the site between now and Christmas. I went in search of a company that could do an App for me last June, 2009. I already knew Jo Shaw in another existence and when she said she thought her new company - PublicZone - might be interested we were on for it!! From June till December, we worked on the design and content model and eventually launched it in the
1
JUL
I never thought I would hear Gary Lineker refer to Sepp Blater, the head honcho at FIFA, as "Sepp Blater and his cronies" but good for him in at last trying to shed some light on this dreadful body following Frank Lampard's goal or no-goal.  Tennis ( the most conservative of sports), rugby league, rugby union and cricket have shown how new technology can take away elements of human error in umpring or refereeing. And, both the players and the spectators love the changes. Indeed,
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