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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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31
OCT
I went to watch Richmond beat Shelford 41-14 on Saturday. For sixty minutes the team looked as though it had had collective brain surgery as it spluttered to score against a lively Shelford side. In the end after the half backs were subbed, the threequarters finally started to move the ball more quickly and a tired Shelford paid the price. Elsewhere Worthing hitherto undefeated lost 49-14 to Hartpury (Gloucester's Academy XV) which makes this weekend's game for Richmond away to Worthing
28
OCT
We held our annual dinner at the Worshipful Company of Innholders' Hall on Wednesday - Simon Hughes MP was our guest speaker. Yesterday I was back at the Hospice to review how we introduce music therapy and this morning I went to another meeting which looked at our overall Comms package. This afternoon, I am visiting a software team who handle eBay accounts.
27
OCT
I love Italy and hope one day to semi-retire there if that's not an oxymoron........talking of oxymoron's what on earth is Burlesque Berlusconi up to? He is am embarrassment to his people. 
26
OCT
In a spirited match at the outstanding Ealing Trailfinders home, Oxford University beat a mix and match XV 19-12 though they were 19-0 up with five minutes to go. To be honest, Ealing were much the better side for long periods of the first half but failed to press home their advantage. Charlton also beat Wycombe Wanderers away 2-1 to go three points clear at the top of Division 1 (old Division 3 to you and me).
26
OCT
Gordon Henderson MP has spent all his life loathing Europe; he's signed petitions, valued Nick Farrange as a politician (UKIP leader) but when he had the chance to represent his views and some of his constituents what happens? He sits in the Chamber for hours, fails to interrupt other speakers and sits on his hands and then votes against his own Government. Some MP then........... 
25
OCT
To show you connect with the "people" you organise an ePetition on the No.10 web site and agree that those with over 100,000 signatures (the California model) should be debated in the House of Commons. So far so good butt hen 100,000 including myself signed the Sheffield Wednesday/Liverpool petition which asked for all the relevant details of the deaths of the Liverpool fans to be put in the public domain. The result - a debate and a result as Theresa May, the Home Secretary agreed to do...
24
OCT
Pity there is no leadership from the Coalition whatsoever on what Europe should look like by 2015 that's because all they want is more local decision making. It cannot be right that MEPs are not answerable to their own domestic Parliaments. Rather than spend yet more eZillions going to Strasbourg once a month for a week (what a waste of tax payers money) they should have to report to their Parliaments to give an account of themselves. It'll never happen, but if it did, it would make...
24
OCT
In yesterday's Mail on Sunday, Sir Clive Woodward was coming back (again) to become the overall coaching head honcho at the RFU..........how does that story fly? What you do is leak a story about Fran Cotton's findings (his report was commissioned by Martyn Thomas as acting CEO) not due until next month without a quote from Fran himself. So who leaked it? The leaking is poisoning English rugby. Does the RFU Council care though? The Blackett Report was very critical of the...
23
OCT
Bailing out a country which clearly isn't fit to be in the the eurozone is a huge mistake. The Greeks should vote to start again and rebuild a modern, democratic state. It may be painful but no more public money should be used.  
23
OCT
It wasn't a classic final in Auckland but New Zealand have at last won again and in the end though the result 9-8 was close the All Blacks were the best side in a poor tournament. That the IRB and the RFU are held in such low esteem is extraordinary and both need to be completely rebuilt from the bottom up. Fat chance. Who would have thought that both of them would rival FIFA for negative column inches?
23
OCT
The Euro was never constituted to act as a "bank" of last resort for its members. The fudge being put together for this week's meetings will cost the EU not just eZillions but prevent growth in all but Germany and push us all into another bout of recession. This tells you that most other members of the Eurozone do not have 21st century banking systems which are properly regulated. That this should still be the case nearly four years after the banking crisis tells you much about the...
22
OCT
At the Comment Awards on Thursday morning, neither The Guardian nor The Indy won a single award rather they were shared 4-4 by the FT and The Times.
22
OCT
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-24000535-standard-wins-commentary-awards.do    http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/times-and-financial-times-dominate-comment-awards/s2/a546432/   http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/10/media-commentator-awards-wilby   http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2011/oct/20/robert-peston-media-events-conferences?newsfeed=true   http://blogs.pressgazette.co.uk/wire/8312...
22
OCT
Editorial Intelligence announces The Comment Awards 2011 www.commentawards.com www.editorialintelligence.com London, 20th October, 2011 The media, analysis and networking business (www.editorialintelligence.com), has announced 2011. In their third year, The Comment Awards online commentators and their editors over the The winners of the 15 categories, and the Chair’s Choice award special breakfast at RIBA, London this morning in front of shortlisted candidates, category...
22
OCT
I went to The Valley this afternoon and saw a classy performance from the Red Robins which saw them 3-0 and half-time when it could easily have been 5-0; in the end though Carlisle were down to ten men for 50 minutes we could not convert more than further chance. Still as we had drawn 2 and lost 1 from our last three games it was good to be back winning again (Crowd 16,700). Huddersfield won 3-1 at home so we are still top by 1 point but they have a better goal difference.
22
OCT
RWC 2011, the seventh since the inaugural event in 1987, will have cost the New Zealand tax-payers at least $40m as that was the guarantee its Government had to pay to ensure they won the rights to host them. That and visits to the UK and Ireland to shore up the votes the night before the secret ballot. By rights, they should have gone to Japan.   The Kiwis have organised and hosted a brilliant RWC but the games have hardly set the world on fire. There needs to be a change...
19
OCT
I went to the CAABU Executive Committee meeting last night. As in all these kinds of organisations we talk less about the political and hot issues and more about our schools' programme and fund raising. You can become a member and join our 500 Club at www.caabu.org  
18
OCT
The first rugby world cup semi finalists in 1987 were France v Wales and NZ v Oz. The play offs saw Wales just beat Oz and in the final NZ overcame France.  The RWC 2011 is an exact mirror of RWC 1987. So assuming it follows that course NZ will be world champions and worthy ones at that and Wales will beat a tired Ozzie XV.
16
OCT
Stephen Jones has shifted his position today in The Sunday Times about the shenanigans inside the RFU and he was supported by Paul Hayward in another article The Observer. Chaos reigns there. It is time to clear the stables out.
16
OCT
This is how bad it is; the Surrey Council member of the RFU has been told to write to all the Clubs in his patch to support Martyn Thomas at the RFU; maybe this is being repeated up and down the land. This is because 100 Clubs have called a Special meeting of the RFU Council to place a no confidence vote in Mr Thomas. If he can garner enough letters of support from clubs he can argue against the 100 Clubs motion. That's not the point. He hired and fired John Steele; he hired Martin...
16
OCT
I have just finished reading The Purple Book: A Progressive Future for Labour which is 18 essays by the party faithful largely responsible for the mess we are now in. It is a sad reflection that aside from Frank Field there is hardly anything in the any of the essays that stands out as being truly radical. We have been in a Blair-Brown time warp for too long. We need to break out from the past which is what Ed Miliband is trying to do.  
16
OCT
I am besotted by all things Bletchley Park; there's nothing enigmatic about my warmth for the men and women who worked so hard for us and broke so many codes during WW2 to shorten it by maybe as much as three years. So another book on life there has just been devoured by YT and jolly good it was too. The extraordinary thing is that so many of the players - both large and small - have kept this very English story to themselves for so long. If you've not been to the HQ - go and see...
16
OCT
I watched Richmond yesterday beat a very good Redruth side 66-7; they were ultimately blown away by our fitness, speed and defence. Sadly Charlton lost their unbeaten record to Stevenage but we are still top of League 1 (just) - will be watching them against Carlisle next Saturday.
15
OCT
End the Twickenham soap opera to revive England's fortunes by Derek Wyatt (Page 11 in FT)    I have been going to see England play rugby for the past 30 years including five World Cups. I don’t recognise the game today to the game I once played. In Sydney on the morning of the England’s Rugby World Cup victory over Australia in 2003 I had to ask Stuart Barnes, the former England fly half and rugby pundit, to explain the new secret to the game. “The team that wins the lineouts wins
15
OCT
There was a goodly audience at the Curzon Mayfair last night to see WoodY Allen's much trailed film: Midnight in Paris. I went with Daisy, my daughter and given the plethora of Lebanese restaurants in and around Shepherd Market, we settled for a snack beforehand. Woody Allen prodigious film oeuvre (he is 75) began in 1965 with What's New Pussycat? (he wrote the initial screenplay) and he has subsequently produced almost a film a year. I remember him first as a stand up...
15
OCT
Derek: -   Thank you very much for giving us your views on House of Lords reform.  We had over 4,100 responses, including over 2,500 separate submissions in people’s own words.   We sent all your submissions to the joint committee on House of Lords reform on Wednesday - it came to 5,409 pages!  Separately, we also sent them our own, somewhat shorter submission, which took into account your responses to the survey we asked people to fill in.   Here’s what we’ve...
13
OCT
Last night I went to hear Melvyn Bragg, Labour Peer, author and media man, give a lecture entitled: The Impact of the King James Bible 1611-2011 which was based on his new book: The Book of Books: The Radical Impact of the King James Bible 1611-2011 which was published back in April. Lord Bragg spoke for just on 75 minutes with a PA system which echoed and so we struggled to hear his lecture clearly which was bitterly disappointing. However, it was enough to make me order...
13
OCT
Incentizen: incentivising the citizen by Derek Wyatt   I subscribe to the 80:20 society. You know 80% of us pay our taxes whilst 20% either employ tax avoiding accountants or don’t work and have no intention of working. We pour policies and £millions at the 20% and hardly acknowledge the silent majority or now, the squeezed middle. Why is this?   Everywhere I shop I am treated as a citizen who needs a small reward to make me want to keep coming back. It started with Green Shield...
12
OCT
I went to my local Labour Party branch meeting last night at the Fabian Society's HQ in Dartmouth Street. Our guest speaker was Hannah Davies from One World Action which sadly is about to close after 22 years as a charity - I wonder how many other charities are in a similar position? One World has championed the rights of women all over the world. We also talked about the new Westminster Car Parking scheme which the Tories seemed to have done a u turn on; clean streets, the NHS
11
OCT
I went to watch both teams last night given I am a member of one and won a Blue back in 1981. Richmond started the liveliest of the two and I was half expecting a comfortable win but then they went off the boil. Oxford attacked from every where and with great elan stole a first half lead and though they tired at the end were comfortable winners notching 44 points in the process. Richmond Vikings 29-44 Oxford University I met Dugald MacDonald, the Dark Blues No.8, who is the son of...
11
OCT
There were horrible scenes in and near Tahrir Square yesterday when the Christian Cops were attacked by Muslim fundamentalists with a score or more left for dead and hundreds injured. Once again the Military intervention was too little too late.
11
OCT
In a few minutes I will be on my feet in the House of Commons calling for the end of the feudal nature of England's land ownership legislation and the enshrining of co-operative housing in law. I will be introducing the Co-operative Housing Tenure Bill under the Ten Minute Rule. It is now harder than ever for young people to find a home of their own and if we are to address this issue it is time to look beyond the traditional options of ownership or tenancy. This Bill would open the way...
11
OCT
http://www.caabu.org/get-involved/500-club
9
OCT
The only thing you learn from history is that you don't learn from history and no where is that more apparent than in Afghanistan which we invaded ten years ago. In our previous three wars there we came second but few politicians let alone our dreadful Foreign Office officials care much for history.   Our troops should come home.
9
OCT
So it will be an Australian v All Black semi-final next weekend. South Africa must wonder how they lost their quarter final match with all that possession but the truth is (and you would often say this about the Springboks) the Wallabies are mentally, the toughest rugby nation. They showed this by taking England to extra time in RWC 2003. They have been to three world cup finals and may yet make a fourth....  
8
OCT
The form teams at RWC 2011 have been NZ, SA  and Wales. Earlier today, France joined the threesome after comprehensively outclassing England. France did to England what they so often do to NZ and whipped them. Wales were a revelation with their attacking and defensive play which overwhelmed a tired Irish XV.  Tomorrow NZ should account for Argentina and unless Australia does a France it looks as if NZ will meet SA in the semi finals next weekend. We shall...
7
OCT
England v France RWC 2011 QF Tomorrow morning 0830 UK time France has yet to beat England in a rugby world cup fixture losing in 1991 (QF), 2003 (SF) and 2007 (SF) though in the dead rubber for 3rd place in 1995 France conclusively won 19-9. France has reached the finals twice in 1987 and 1999 losing to NZ and OZ. So for many of their players tomorrow marks a watershed moment given they have had such a poor start but that's nothing new they lost their opening fixture in RWC 2007 to...
7
OCT
I went to hear Ahdaf Souier speak at a CAABU event last night at the Anglo Arab British Chamber of Commerce in Grosvenor Street last night. She is busy trying to complete her book on Cairo (fifteen years in the making) in time for publication on the anniversary of Tahrir Square on 25th January 2012.  She read some of the extracts from her book to a packed audience. From a British perspective the Military is sitting on its collective hands. This is because they know that if...
6
OCT
THE BEDOUIN in ISRAEL: In The Guardian Talab El Sana, an Arab member of the Israeli Knesset from the Negev region, says that as the Israeli government's plans to relocate up to 30,000 Bedouin from unrecognised villages in the Negev violate international laws and conventions, this issue will be taken to the UN and other bodies. Britain has a particular responsibility and a special role to play. After all, the Balfour declaration – which laid the foundation for the creation of Israel – states
6
OCT
In 2006, I approached Helen Milner, CEO of UK Online, with an idea I had been trying to find a home for, for over five years but had seemingly been defeated by endless Secretary of States of the "Good project but why not find the funding elsewhere?" mentality, the BBC and Ofcom. She loved it and we set about finding a date in 2007 and looking at what it would entail. One Digital Day for the Nation was repeated in 2008, 2009 and 2010 but this year it is much more ambitious and will be...
6
OCT
TOP 10 UNIVERSITIES: a first for CalTech Rank / Institution 1. California Institute of Technology =2. Harvard University =2. Stanford University 4. University of Oxford 5. Princeton University 6. University of Cambridge 7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 8. Imperial College London 9. University of Chicago 10. University of California, Berkeley www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings
2
OCT
England bored themselves but had the last laugh by beating a tired Scotland 16-12 to qualify for the QFs whilst their opponents were sent home for the first time in RWC history. For England they have to drop Tindall and Wilkinson to the bench; the need to resolve their back row which has little creativity and look again at the front row. In the lineouts, Scotland had far too many options and Steve Thompson's throwing in remains a problem. Can they beat France in the QFs next weekend? As...
2
OCT
Once again the RWC 2011 competition has done nothing for the second and third tier countries. The quarter finalists are always going to be teams from the top 10 - witness NZ, Ireland, England, South Africa, Oz, Wales, Argentina and France have qualified (exactly the same teams did so in 2007 except Wales went home early and Scotland didn't). In 2003, the QFs were NZ, England, South Africa, Oz, France, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. So the tournament needs re-ordering. The RFU in its bid...
2
OCT
I went down to the Richmond Athletic Ground yesterday afternoon to watch Richmond beat Old Albanians 42-20 in a National League Division 2 South fixture having woken early to see a turgid England beat Scotland 16-12. Richmond weren't at the races and at half time were down 11-20 but woke up in the second and their fitness and tactical acumen won the day. This keeps Richmond at the top of the table with six wins from six with 30 points with Worthing and Henley...
2
OCT
The Livery companies of the Mercers and the Information Technologists came together last Wednesday at the new Hammersmith Academy which they both have agreed to sponsor to the tune of £3m and £1m respectively. The Academy is wonderfully designed and at present just has Year 7 and 12 students. Through member ship of the ICT Livery Company I am a small donor of the Hammersmith Academy and have agreed to mentor a couple of Year 12 students.
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