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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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29
DEC
Social Networking 48 23rd-29th December 2013 Monday - Friday Christmas away Saturday Harlequins v Exeter @ Twickenham Sunday Lunch @ Sumo Fresh
29
DEC
Yesterday, I went to Twickenham alongside 75,000 other supporters to watch Quins beat Exeter with some ease by 22-6. In fact Quins showed plenty of tactical surprises and were much, much better than the score suggested.
28
DEC
Social Networking 47 16-22 December 2013 Monday Chelsea & Kensington Today Christmas Party @ Chelsea Arts Club Dr John Stedman @ RAC Denis MacShane and Calum MacDonald @ Pimlico Tuesday Geoff Bennett @ Pimlico D&J @ Trinity Restaurant Wednesday Kelly Weaver @ C&B Richard Gorman @ Thai Silk John Webster @ RAC Russam Christmas drinks @ Truckles Bump Ian Joseph Melissa Baxter Dallas Pounds Thursday Crowdbnk Board, Strategy & Party @...
28
DEC
Denis MacShane should not have fabricated invoices amounting to £13k and created a shell company. He paid back the moeny he had invoiced. He was sent down for six months. Davis Laws MP broke six rules over expenses claiming £40k. He was suspended by the House authorities but he is now back in Parliament and a minister to boot.   Where is the justice in all this??   
28
DEC
Since 2007. I have spent Christmas time either abroad - usually with my children - or with dear friends in Bath and Cambridge. With Daisy and Jack (I have them every other Christmas) we spent time in Whistler, Vancouver and Nanaimo on Vancouver Island in 2008, in Verbier in 2010 and Vancouver, Nanaimo and Montreal in 2012. Somewhere in between, I snucked away to Malindi on the Kenyan coast and chilled. This year, I spent it with new friends in Wanstead and went
28
DEC
2013: A year of people-powered change Derek, It can often feel like it's impossible to change the things around us. When these people started their petitions on Change.org what they were asking for seemed impossible but thousands of you helped them to victory. Here are just a few of the highlights from a year of winning on Change.org in the UK: January: 1.5 million people using Change.org in the UK. February saw Mary Seacole kept on the national curriculum (36,235 signatures)...
23
DEC
We had a small celebration on Saturday evening at Heston Blumenthal's restaurant at the Mandarin Hotel, Knightsbridge.  It was a feast for foodies and we loved it. 
21
DEC
Last week saw the end of series 3 of Borgen on BBC4; it was brilliantly scripted and beautifully acted with lots of nuanced pieces.  First it was the Swedes with Wallander then the Danes with The Bridge and Borgen (and The Killing soon).....what price a dark murder series from Helsinki and something from Norway?? 
20
DEC
Tech Support, Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend to Husband and noticed a distinct slowdown in overall system performance, particularly in the Flower and Jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend. In addition, Husband un-installed many other valuable programmes, such as Romance and Personal Attention and then installed undesirable programs such as Rugby, Football, Sailing and Continuous TV. Conversation no longer runs, and Housecleaning simply crashes the...
20
DEC
Tuesday Family @ Trinity Restaurant, Clapham Wednesday Russams @ Truckles, Bloomsbury Thursday Crowdbnk @ Kensington Wine Rooms, Kensington
17
DEC
Social Networking 46 9th-15th December Monday Allison Swan @ Physio Trinity Board @ Trinity Hospice Bump Katharine Jackson David Clarson Peter Gluckman Dr Tim Ladbrooke Iain McGourty Geraldine Walters Dallas Pounds David Coggins Sarah Gray Tuesday James Hibbert @ D2K Bump Lynn Murray Nik Slingsby @ Goya Wednesday Viv Bird & Huw Shanks @ BookTrust Baljit Dhanda @ Cork & Bottle Anthony Lilleyman @ Cork & Bottle Jonathan Price @ Thomas...
17
DEC
I went to the Varsity match last Thursday and saw a great game of rugby. The Dark Blues won easily 33-15 even though they were down to 14 men for much of the second half (a first sending off ever)..... The crowd was noisy and supportive....I sat with Dugald MacDonald the old Springbok and Oxford captain and he was pleased as punch when his son came on at half time to claim his Blue.
17
DEC
On Friday, my children joined me at The Wentworth in Aldeburgh for a long weekend. We played golf, walked to Thorpeness and had our customary fish and chips......and slept and slept.
10
DEC
The fuss about MPs pay is back in the news again. IPSA the organisation created in the heat of the MPs expenses which was an error in itself - the three leaders - Brown, Cameron and Clegg were trying to out do themselves in the testosterone stakes. It was a huge mistake. All that needed to be done was wrap the Allowance system into an MP's salary and the whole issue would have gone away for good. Instead, IPSA was set up free of the hands of the politicians and now they have...
10
DEC
After Nelson Mandela the ANC failed to become a political party or understand what that meant and remained in all senses still in denial. Thabo Mbeki followed NM but he couldn't hold a candle to him and wasn't a patch on his father who was in prison with Madiba. If Mbeki was a disappointed Zuma has been woeful.  There is one man who ought to lead South Africa and that is Cyril Ramaphosa. 
9
DEC
Social Networking 45 2nd-8th December 2013 Monday Great Retail Revival Board Bump James Hibbert Keata Murray Anthony Barry Robin Kadrnka Volunteers Awards @ Trinity Hospice Bump Lynne Agers Dallas Pounds Sir John Ritblat @ Home Bump Gill Webber Tuesday Geoff Bennett @ Pimlico James Arbuthnot @ Portcullis House Bump Ian Pearson David Clarson Heather Miles James Thellusson Keata Murray Gill Webber Ayan Mitra Wednesday 64 Dennis MacShane @ Pimlico Shops...
8
DEC
Hard & Soft Power by Derek Wyatt   Shortly, we shall be celebrating, if that’s the appropriate word, the centenary of the beginning of World War 1, the war to end all wars.   The statistics are horrific – 37 million were killed (military and civilian). The Russian Empire lost over 3 million soldiers and had a further 4 million injured. The French also suffered with 1.3 million military deaths and 4.2 million injured whilst we Brits lost nearly 900,000 and had 1.6m
6
DEC
I met Nelson Mandela twice: in 1992 at a dinner at the Dorchester and in 1993 at a private dinner given by Anthony Sampson at his house in St John's Wood.   In 1984, I had founded the Campaign for Fair Play to stop the British Lions tour to apartheid South Africa in 1985, which was successful; at the time there was only a handful of sportmen and women in the UK prepared to put their head above the parapet - John Taylor, Peteer Roebuck, Donald Woods and Vic Marks-
6
DEC
Let us remember that Margaret Thatcher thought that Mandela was a terrorist. That her Tory Cabinet opposed economic sanctions against the vile white racist government  
6
DEC
Our rugby and cricket authorities have never apologised for playing white only sides in South Africa throughout the 1940s, 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. Shame on them. Their silence on Mandela's death is hardly surprising.
3
DEC
On Sunday last, we went to see Man Tran at Ronnie Scott's. All their shows at RS were sold out! They were in quite brilliant form and it seeemd a long time since I saw them first at The Octagon in Reading in 1979 or 1980......
3
DEC
On Saturday afternoon, I gave up my Barbarians v Fiji tickets to attend the selection of the candidate for the Westminster and London cities constituency for the Labour Party. I was supporting Nik Slingsby and I was very pleased that he won the nomination.
3
DEC
Why BBC4 has Borgen on at 6pm on a Saturday evening is a mystery to us all but the two two hour event is a must watch in our household(s) where Sunday afternoon is now our regular fix. Episode 5 was so real but we felt episode 6 just fell beow our high expectations.......role on Sunday.....
3
DEC
As a patron of RIBA I was given a private showing last night of Sir John Ritblat's redesigned hosue in Regent's Park yesterday evening. It is quite astonishing and you need to use the search to see it........
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