JamesB reckons I’ve been a bit quiet lately. It’s partly do with final pitch on Wednesday, but mostly to do with organising the stag do in Dusselforf I’ve just returned from. I do not feel too clever. More on that later. By the way, it seems that good cars go to heaven..

I heard a debate on Radio 4 this morning about altruism V selfishness. The question they wanted to answer was; if you acccept Darwinism as the survival of the fittest (I like Tennyson’s description of nature as, "Red in tooth and claw") that should also mean that only the selfish survive. So how can you…

..hope he’s not trying to tell me something.

As part of my pledges on Let’s See What Happens, organised by the irrepressible Mr Paul Colman, I’m in training to swim 100 meters in 1 minute, something I haven’t done since I was fourteen. Not easy as this picture after training shows…. To make it less ego driven and self serving, I’ve decided to…

I’m supposed to be curbing putting things off, yet I found myself in Durham sorting an emergency passport. With four hours to kill while they processed it I wandered around the shops. I stopped in M&S to try on some Autograph for Men clothes. The ads say Bryan Ferry wears them (he doesn’t, his clothes…

Northern Planning summit last night at Runaway Girl in Sheffield. Gemma noticed that the staff were incredibly nice to us. Either they’re that way all the time, which is a nice thought, or they knew we were coming. Let’s face it, if Famous Rob thinks you’re okay you’ve got it made, no wonder they tried…

As the relentless march of web commerce quickens pace, sticking to what you know is not an option for retailers. They ‘ll have to to find new ways to create experiences as opposed to just selling stuff. Nothing new in this line of thinking of course, but I’ve been having a look at ‘Instore Magazine’…

I know we’re supposed to be grumpy at Christmas starting as early as November, but I was in Leeds this week and just loved seeing the lights. A bus drove through this one but I kind of like what it’s produced. Mum and Dad live in Cornwall, so we usually spend Christmas with my in-laws…

As opposed to the "Real Thing (r)".

For Stan Lee😉