I don’t  really but I bet a got your attention. I hate it. If you really know what problem you’re solving and you’re not kidding yourselves with the creative solution (it’s made for the audience not you) it all seems a bit pointless. BUT – it can be used to your advantage.While lots of good…

Back when I was a politics student, Francis Fukuyama’s ‘The end of history and the last man’ was required reading. I remember being impressed with his argument that the idealogical evolution of human beings was over, and western liberal democracy could well be here to stay. The joy of innocence. Back then the cold war…

Oh great, it’s Valentines. While I agree with Rob that I don’t need a day to help to show (or tell me to show) that I think Mrs NP is special, there’s another reason I don’t like this day. Valentines is fine and dandy is you have someone, or a perfect excuse to pop the…

(Picture courtesy of Seb) Having seen Marcus’s post for sausage V bacon,  it’s easy to be complacent about the meat project quarter final (not least because of the amazing pork and mushroom ones I had from my local butcher this week) BUT… The last bacon round was close, we must make sure no one confuses…

Kirsten at work was bouncing up and down the office  on this space hopper: Thinking it looked easy, I had a pop and managed to fall off and twist my knee. I pretended it didn’t hurt, but they’ll be no five a side for a week or so. It reminded me of all sorts of…

I watched a film this weekend where someone had to phone a friend to tell her some bad news. While it was ringing, she repeated to herself, "Don’t pick up, don’t pick up". It made me think of the times I have HAD to phone someone, not text, either I don’t want to talk to,…

I had a little car bump during the drive home Friday night. Since The ice and snow had left the roads in my village like glass, I was driving at glacial pace when the girl behind me lost control and drove into my rear bumper. We exchanged details, both cars and people we’re fine, though…

The other day I got a nice little leaflet from an company that delivers organic, eco friendly boxes. I got a bit excited – I like good food, stuff like this is important to me and companies that do this are rare Up North. Lovely little website, lots of nice stuff. I got very excited,…

I’m reading a rather lovely book by Alex Kapranos- him from Franz Ferdinand – about his food adventures on tour. It’s beautifully written and shows you should be careful when judging what people are capable of – he did quite a few things before getting famous, it shows.  I’m also liking how he demonstrates the…

I’ve had to make some hard decisions this week. It doesn’t matter what it was about, but it’s forced me to think about what’s really important. Once upon a time I would do whatever I wanted, and hang the consequences. That’s fine when you’re young, but when you get older the stakes get higher. You’ve…