Thanks to Scamp, I’ve found David Bonney’s blog. Thanks to David, my group got first prize at the APG Training Network back in the day. Now, with a rigour that could settle the argument about blogging being bad for planning , he’s posting all sorts of meaty stuff about the power of negative emotion in…

‘ "Economics is not a gay science", wrote Thomas Carlyle in 1849, meaning that it’s concerned with dreary statistics and the measurement of demand and supply. But maybe not any more. The world economy has grown at a rate of 3.2% since 2000. Capitalism is doing well. Or is it? They’re beginning to mix psychology…

On the Radio 4 this morning I heard the results from the what is claimed to be the biggest memory survey ever. They got ten thousand people to reveal their earliest memories, self defining memories and public event memories (I remember where I was when Kennedy died for example). There was lots in this stuff…

Can’t resist getting involved in duck v turkey. I agree with Paul (who’s lovely picture you see above) vote duck, it tastes better and duck fat is THE thing to fry stuff in. Turkey is bone dry in the wrong hands.

Speaking of motorways, the journey home through wind ravaged carnage on the Yorkshire motorways reminded me how risky driving really is. Todays cars are designed to make us feel impregnable. We can drive at high speeds and feel in control, while we’re cocooned in our own little kingdom. People drove far more politely on Thursday…

Sorry, I’m sure you’re as sick of Big Brother as I, but I can’t help it. From ‘good hearted working class girl’ to ‘foul mouthed dimwit’ in the space of few days. Has anything revealed the cruelty of the media better than this sorry spectacle? No one would excuse the bullying meted out to Shilpa,…

This is a brilliant article from The Guardian on the development of motorways in the last 50 years. You’d be pushed to find a more searing example of the changes in our cultural tastes than roadside services. Out with Little Chef and in with M&S Simply Food.

On the drive in this morning I played an old compilation tape. It included these four, in this order. it felt really, really good.  Paint a Vulgar Picture -The Smiths (alledgedly about Paul Young) Perfect Day (Lou Reed) The Killing Moon – Echo and the Bunny Men Under Pressure – David Bowie singing live without…

Before: After:

Thanks to the culmination of darkness, the weather and post Christmas comedown, today is supposed to be the most depressing of the year. So, contrary so and so that I am, I’m rejecting the temptation to pull the duvet over my head and call in sick. Instead, I’m going to be annoyingly upbeat. Reasons to…