Monthly Archives: October 2011

The London 2012 Olympics and monopolies

Posted on October 31, 2011 by

The signing up of exclusive sponsorship deals with major sporting events is not new. When you look at the 1970 World Cup footage (such as here) you’ll see advertising boards dotted around the stadium. Yet as pressures to put on … Continue reading →

Posted in Business economics and finance, Campaigning, protesting and demonstrating, Public administration & policy | 1 Comment

Small stakes in big ideas

Posted on October 30, 2011 by

Natalia and Sam, two of Puffles’ followers who came along to and helped out at PufflesCamp in Brighton, pointed me in the direction of Sponsume. Sam is a Brighton-based music producer, hence his project, New Soul is likely to be of … Continue reading →

Posted in Business economics and finance, Charities and Big Society, Employment and job hunting, Social media | 3 Comments

Qualifications vs portfolios

Posted on October 29, 2011 by

This blogpost follows on from one of the most popular posts on this blog “Life on a piece of paper.”  (As an aside, should the full stop be before or after the closing quotation marks?) For some strange reason, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Business economics and finance, Education, training and exams, Employment and job hunting | 2 Comments

Selling stuff online

Posted on October 28, 2011 by

With the first batch of 10 medium-sized dragon fairies now fully accounted for, I find myself in a situation trying to get my head around the joys of e-commerce. This is a steep learning curve for someone institutionalised by the … Continue reading →

Posted in Business economics and finance, Employment and job hunting, Law and legal issues, Puffles, Social media | 3 Comments

Puffles’ House Rules – a refresher

Posted on October 27, 2011 by

Since the start of 2011, Soph Warnes has very kindly hosted Puffles’ original House Rules which I drafted while I was still in the civil service. I tried to compress a series of “Please don’t get me sacked!/Please keep away … Continue reading →

Posted in Puffles | 3 Comments

More dragon fairies

Posted on October 27, 2011 by

The medium-sized ones (the most numerous) in this photo will be going for £30 each – if you would like one, please tweet your email address to me in a DM (if I’m not following you, please send me an … Continue reading →

Posted in Puffles | 1 Comment

Puffles in the House – more on select committees

Posted on October 27, 2011 by

Some of our public sector institutions need to update their rules in the face of rapid technological change. Job Centre Plus weren’t best pleased to see me tweeting while waiting for my now fortnightly appointment with them on the ground … Continue reading →

Posted in Party politics, Public administration & policy | 3 Comments

MPs’ expenses

Posted on October 25, 2011 by

The one great thing about the MPs’ expenses scandal is that it consigned to the scrapheap a number of very average politicians and provided an opportunity for a cultural sea change in the House of Commons. (Whether this was actually … Continue reading →

Posted in Party politics | 1 Comment

Is middle class no longer magical?

Posted on October 24, 2011 by

What I’m covering in this blog may not come as a surprise to people who identify as being working class or who don’t identify with one at all. Many have been facing problems such as poor standards of housing, high … Continue reading →

Posted in Campaigning, protesting and demonstrating, Party politics | 16 Comments

How Government works – the official guide

Posted on October 24, 2011 by

This post is sort of a perma-link to a recently published guide from Cabinet Office The Cabinet Manual sets out the main laws, rules and conventions affecting the conduct and operation of Government. What’s useful with publications like this is … Continue reading →

Posted in Campaigning, protesting and demonstrating, Party politics, Public administration & policy | Leave a comment