Category Archives: Work

Cheerfulness

Posted on May 11, 2013 by

Hard yards at the moment. Much ado at work and plenty on at home. But the top tip of this week comes from the Royal Navy – cheerfulness counts. From the Battle of Trafalgar to the present day, Britain’s Royal … Continue reading →

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Small Pleasures

Posted on February 25, 2013 by

Today the email system at work catastrophically collapsed. Ironic that, as we were at an Away-day discussing our digital strategy. Ho hum. I bumped into one of my team on returning to the office. He commented on the crash in … Continue reading →

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Dearth of Verse

Posted on December 31, 2012 by

A dearth of verse Makes me wonder Whether my inner life Is playing second fiddle To putting myself on the stage I’m living in interesting times And putting my shoulder to the wheel Leaving precious little time For introspection Or … Continue reading →

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I am a Scientist

Posted on December 8, 2012 by

Like most people I guess, I get irritated by folk who are wrong. But unlike most people, I actually don’t mind so much when I am. Perhaps that’s because I believe in a ‘Bayesian brain’. Mash up all the facts, … Continue reading →

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Ground Control to Major Tom

Posted on November 24, 2012 by

This week’s song is Bowie’s Space Oddity. Having had to take to the airwaves – and take on the national news media – at times I’ve felt a bit like Major Tom. Small stuff really – Monocle 24 a boutique … Continue reading →

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A Titian

Posted on November 15, 2012 by

‘A Titian’ I exclaimed today at work and I didn’t need a handkerchief. Presented with two cover designs for a research publication, for me, there was a clear winner. Not the one with a complex assembly of people, the one … Continue reading →

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Dining Alone

Posted on September 24, 2012 by

For possibly the first time in my adult life, I went to a restaurant last week and ate alone. What came over me? As a kid I loved restaurants. When we moved to Holland for my Dad’s work, I went … Continue reading →

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What gets measured…

Posted on September 22, 2012 by

I’d consider myself to have better than average self-discipline. But I have to concede – what gets measured gets done. And it needs measuring often. I didn’t see off my half stone of blubber until I started counting exactly what … Continue reading →

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Average White Male

Posted on September 8, 2012 by

Shock news from the Harvard Business Review this week: men who are ‘agreeable’ suffer a 20% deficit in earnings versus those who are ‘disagreeable’. Add this to one earlier in the year, where men who are slim also suffer a … Continue reading →

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A Moment in the Sun

Posted on September 1, 2012 by

A bit morbid perhaps, but the redoubtable Philosophy Now magazine does throw up some interesting angles on death. Some say, along with religion, that the main reason philosophy exists, is millennia of thinking folk coping with their own mortality. So … Continue reading →

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