Simon's Journal

Film: Shame

2012-01-29T19:32:00.001Z

Steve McQueen's follow-up to Hunger is an icily compulsive portrait of damaged siblings and sex addiction, fuelled by brilliant performances by Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan
Guardian review

Wikipedia entry
Official site
Film 4 site
Carey Mulligan Guardian interview

Film: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

2012-01-29T19:00:00.001Z

Wikipedia entry
Official site

Blog: Study Hacks (Cal Newport)

2012-01-29T18:48:00.001Z

Looks right up my street ..

From the About page
I’m interested in why some people end up leading successful, enjoyable, meaningful lives, while so many others do not. Being a geek, I’m not satisfied with simplistic slogans (e.g., “follow your passion!”) or conventional wisdom (e.g., student success requires stress). Instead, I dive deeper, looking to decode underlying patterns of success.

When I started this project, I was a student. Therefore, much of my early writing concerns the patterns of success followed by remarkable students. I reject the idea that doing well in school requires stressful overwork, and instead promote a philosophy of simplicity: do less, but do what you do much better.
…
Recently, as I’ve moved beyond my student years, I’ve turned more of my attention toward decoding patterns of success in the working world. I’ve come to believe, for example, that “follow your passion” is bad advice if your goal is to end up loving what you do.

Study Hacks blog

Book: “Perfect: 68 Essential Recipes for Every Cook's Repertoire”, Felicity Cloake

2012-01-29T18:02:00.001Z

“How can I make deliciously squidgy chocolate brownies?
Is there a fool-proof way to poach an egg?
Does washing mushrooms really spoil them?
What's the secret of perfect pastry?
Could a glass of milk turn a good bolognese into a great one?

Perfect will answer all these questions and many, many more. Having rigorously tried and tested recipes from all the greats - Elizabeth David and Delia Smith to Nigel Slater and Simon Hopkinson - Felicity Cloake has pulled together the best points from each to create the perfect version of 68 classic dishes. Never again will you have to rifle through countless different books to find your perfect roast chicken recipe, mayonnaise method or that incredible tomato sauce - it's all here in this book, based on Felicity's popular Guardian columns, along with dozens of invaluable prepping and cooking tips that no discerning cook should live without.

Whether you're a competent cook or have just caught the bug, Perfect has a place on every kitchen shelf.”
Publisher’s book page

Official site

Felicity’s Guardian articles

TV: Birdsong

2012-01-29T16:20:00.001Z

Not sure about this 2 part World War 1 drama from the BBC. Certainly well-made but not sure about the chopping and changing of the time periods from the lead character’s life in France before the war and his experiences in the trenches during the war.

Epic love story set against the First World War. As Stephen Wraysford fights in the terrifying death-filled trenches of northern France, he is haunted by memories of a lost love.
…
Epic love story set against the First World War, based on Sebastian Faulks' novel about a soldier who finds himself fighting in the area where he had an illicit affair before the war.
BBC series page

Book: “Ragnarok: the End of the Gods”, A. S. Byatt

2012-01-28T08:52:00.001Z

Read this for the inaugural meeting of the Medusa “branch” of the Leeds Book Club. Took me a while to read and did not get on that well with it. This was probably due to my head not being in a chilled state during redundancy and looking for a job (successfully).

A book about Norse legend which for me was in 3 parts, the first was setting up the leading mythical characters, the second picked up speed and was the main part of the book about the end of the (all) gods and concluding with the author’s comments about the background to her writing the book.

As always for me book clubs are great to read books that you would not otherwise read. Not a great read for me, just OK.

Guardian review
Literary Review review

Ragnarök: the doom of the gods
This Norse saga of the gods destroying themselves is the perfect allegory for 21st-century environmental catastrophe
AS Byatt piece in The Guardian

Birthday tea for Rachael and Isobel at Mamma Mia’s in Bradford

2012-01-25T20:30:00.000Z

Rachael and Isobel’s birthdays fall on successive days so we went out tonight for their birthdays. Isobel really enjoys eating out and especially at Mamma Mia’s so the choice was self-evident.

Great food as always and a very enjoyable evening. The garlic mushrooms may well be the best ones I have ever had, delicious they were.

Linder, the artist with the hex factor

2012-01-23T19:51:00.001Z

The Buzzcocks reference attracted my attention ...

Best known for her Buzzcocks record sleeves and for her friendship with Morrissey, Linder is now exhibited at the Tate. Her montages and unruly performances continue to impress
Guardian article

Tate Shorts (video)

Exhibition: Jeremy Deller, “Poking About”

2012-01-23T07:21:00.001Z

An exhibition from last year …

Jeremy Deller's latest exhibition offers a fresh look at Britain's cultural heritage via a treasure trove of vintage portraits discovered beneath a former photography studio. Devoted to the people and places of Bradford's past, many of the shots are extremely moving, showing immigrants newly arrived in the country posing for pictures to send back to - and reassure - their worried families.
Guardian picture album

Exhibition page

Guardian Interview: Tony Bates, Skype

2012-01-22T17:50:00.001Z

Skype boss found route to Silicon Valley on Piccadilly line
Skype chief executive Tony Bates taught himself programming on the way to work, but must now learn how to make a profit from the web phone service
Guardian interview (September 2011)

Obituary: Esther Gordy Edwards, Key Motown Records executive who helped her brother Berry found the company

2012-01-22T17:40:00.001Z

I am a huge Motown fan …

Guardian obituary (august 2011)

Obituary: Len Ganley, high-profile referee during the heyday of television snooker

2012-01-22T17:18:00.001Z

Len Ganley, who has died aged 68, was one of the highest profile referees in snooker in the 1980s and 90s, becoming almost as familiar a face on television as household names of the day such as Steve Davis, Alex Higgins and Dennis Taylor.
Guardian obituary (August 2011)

All Age Worship prep

2012-01-22T16:45:00.000Z

Stayed after the morning meeting to plan the next All Age Worship event with Ann and Dave, Ben and Lynsey.

Food via Ann.

No idea why but this one proved very difficult to plan but we got there in the end. We are continuing the Olympics theme and the subject next time is “Let The Games Begin” i.e. actually running the races etc.

Holme Christian Community event with Tough Talk

2012-01-21T20:30:00.000Z

This was the second time we have had the Tough Talk team up from London with us. They did a great job again with the stories of their lives and how God has radically changed them plus the weightlifting that ran through the meeting. Great to see the hall full with a range of different people. And a number of people became Christians on the night. A Kingdom event.

Tough Talk site

Video from a Tough Talk event elsewhere:

The Wesley Playhouse

2012-01-21T14:30:00.000Z

Took Han to a party here this afternoon. Great venue for a kids party. Enjoyed the cafe!

Story of how they started:

Fresh Expressions page

Life Group Meeting Notes (James 3)

2012-01-18T22:30:00.000Z

Meeting at Joly and Tracey’s plus Ben, Christine (first time!), Jon, Dave H and Dave E.

Ice breaker was “what is your favourite item of clothing?". Mine was a Skye Batik’s Fisherman’s Smock that I have had for years very muck like this latest design.

Ben led us in worship.

We discussed James 3 with lots of debate.

Closed in open prayer.

Now a (white) iPhone 4 user

2012-01-18T07:35:00.001Z

Last week, my 2nd week in my new job, I was given a work phone after some discussion re whether I could stick with my personal HTC Desire S phone and just use the one phone. Turned out I could get an iPhone 4. Not as excited about that as I would have been in pre HTC user days but good to have as a work phone. When it arrived, turned out to be white!! Could have had it changed to my preferred black but too much faff so I am now a white iPhone 4 user and yet to really get into the features etc. I am sure that will come with time.

Elders Meeting (Social Action)

2012-01-17T22:45:00.000Z

A meeting concentrating on reviewing the financial position of the Care Centre elements of Holme Christian Community with Dave W (CEO) and the Finance Manager. This included reviewing impacts of the latest cuts in Bradford Metropolitan Council’s budget for the forthcoming year.

Sunday afternoon with the Garsides

2012-01-15T18:00:00.000Z

An unexpected invitation for lunch with the Garsides and Ben. Very chilled and some fresh air at dusk and beyond at Oakwell Hall.

Adam’s 30th

2012-01-14T22:20:00.000Z

Whole squad out to Adam’s 30th party at The 6 Acres. Chilled night with chat (mainly with Hilary, Tracey, Eryl, Jon) and a bit of dancefloor action.

with the squad @ Adam's 30th birthday party (@ The Six Acres) 4sq.com/y67T3f

— Simon Fogg (@srjf) January 14, 2012

i do a mean cha cha slide (esp good at handclapping bit) and macarena, as just executed #daddancing #kidspresent #adams30th
— Simon Fogg (@srjf) January 14, 2012

Obituary: Daniel D. McCracken, author of hugely successful textbooks on computing

2012-01-13T19:14:00.001Z

Daniel McCracken, who has died of cancer aged 81, was computing's most successful textbook author. In the 1960s, when computers were beginning to take off, tens of thousands of programmers were urgently needed. Most of them came from other professions and they often learned their new trade using one of McCracken's textbooks. He was a born educator, and his books were peppered with practical examples and exercises that made them good for both private study and university courses.
Guardian obituary (from August 2011)

ReadWriteWeb blog post
New York Times obituary
Wikipedia entry

Obituary: Rosemary Crompton, leading sociologist whose work focused on class inequalities

2012-01-13T19:05:00.001Z

Rosemary Crompton, who has died of cancer aged 69, was one of the leading sociologists of her generation. She was a feminist pioneer, an outstanding teacher, and played a key role in reasserting the importance of studying social class inequalities in a period when many were insisting that "class is dead".
Guardian obituary (from August 2011)

London on Business

2012-01-13T17:00:00.000Z

So 2nd week into new job and off to London with the boss already for a customer meeting, understanding their requirements etc.

Early start for the 7am-ish train from Leeds and in to Kings Cross for 10.

Funny moment when I recognised Victoria Station as location of a famous Jason Bourne scene from the Bourne films.

Good in-depth customer meeting showing screens etc.

Back to Kings Cross and made good time despite late departure due to a lack of a driver.

Home at a surprisingly sensible time was expecting to be very late.

Early start to the weekend.

Medusa, Leeds Book Club: “Ragnarok”, AS Byatt

2012-01-11T22:30:00.000Z

After the book club that I was a member of in Saltaire folded through lack of attenders, I was on the lookout for a new book club and the timing of this new, Medusa, “branch” (?) of the Leeds Book Club (led by Niamh) was ideal.

Good mix of people and ages (11 attenders) for the inaugural meeting. Good discussion on “Ragnarok”. Mixed responses to the book (my comments here) with some not completing the book.

First time I have been to this part of Horsforth, usually just pass through on the ring road. Good venue – the Medusa Bar - and the nibbles were great. Hopefully I will be on time for future meetings to get in the swing from the start.

Interesting method of selecting next book; write book title on slip of paper and one gets pulled out so really is lucky dip with no discussion.

Culture Club: Made in Dagenham (film)

2012-01-08T20:40:00.000Z

Highly enjoyable and well-made film based on a true story.

Good discussion with Mark, Mark’s mum, Tracey, Hilary, Becca and John A mainly about equality issues, pay and conditions in the workplace with lots of personal real life examples plus how to effect change.

Meeting details here.

Holme Christian Community, Bradford: Calendar 2012

2012-01-08T17:10:00.000Z

Worked with Mark on this for a couple of hours this afternoon at church. Quickly sorted and updated in this Google Calendar.

HCC Bradford, Meeting Notes (Hilary Chorley, Sam Kirkby [Mountain Tops and Valleys])

2012-01-08T12:30:00.000Z

Notes from the HCC Bradford morning service

Opened with Psalm 24

Elders prayers led by Hilary, reread 1st 2 verses from the above reading, reminded of these verses by the recent high winds, scary; also commented on the humility of the parents of the Indian student shot dead on the streets of Salford, he was their only son, God knows how they feel, the parents said “our world has ended”. justice and revenge are not the same thing, is that what we should aspire to? Open time of people calling out names of people who we were praying for re health and any other issues, went on for a long time, loads of names! Hilary concluded by reading the words of make me a channel of your peace.

Sermon from Sam Kirkby

I am 21 years old, who has been a Christian less than or more than 21 years?

we honour those who have been faithful over 21 years re well done sticking at it, the best is yet to come, the good old days do not exist

with age comes wisdom

potential for wisdom, love, passion leads to results, not just talking

running/ passion/ wisdom/ purpose: needs to all combine

mountain tops and valleys

Psalm 84: lots of verses from here to quote on cards, verses often taken out of context, but good to encourage people, one day in the house of the Lord better than a thousand elsewhere

God’s place is lovely etc

all good verses but in between bits are verses that may wreck their day

4 x “S”s:-

safety
security
shelter
sustainability

re your home, locks, you are the gatekeeper, you own your place, relax there

Hebrews 13

be ready to welcome guests re entertaining angels

when person comes to the door, welcome depends on who they are and what they are offering; we need to be welcoming all the time and bless people, people should leave our homes more blessed and happier and loved than when they started

who set heart on pilgrimage

what is my journey like? can get too comfy, routine, complacent

valley of Bacca, sounds like an Ikea product name, does not exist, Hebrew term for valley of tears/abandonment

story from trip to South Africa; mountains, rocky, jungle, led by guide who head down, kept going, keep up, ok when light, not stopped little food, poor torches, knew route roughly but knew it would get pitch black before finish, snakes etc came out at night, got further behind leader, arrived at camp, lots of lanterns, camp fire; guide knew how capable we were re fitness, map reading, dangers, how safe path was, cf footprints poem, God with us BUT guide not carrying me, but she was leading us and would have helped us if needed

we say to God you are not even carrying me, are you even close?

blessed is the man whose trust is in you

also when in the valley!!

God is just a bit further ahead, never gives us stuff we cannot handle

mountain top is achievement, nice view, don’t stay there

Matthew 17:1-8: God does not say “no” but changes the subject re “this is My Son”, listen to Him

we can see the valleys from the mountain

BUT stand up do not be afraid

we do need to carry on in the journey

this year there will be many mountain tops, many valleys, many climbs, hold on to God and keep climbing

Psalm 121:1

He will not let your foot slip, He will keep you from all harm

wherever you are, keep hold of these promises from God

collect stuff/people on the journey

wherever we are individually and corporately on the journey, are we willing to take people up the mountain with us

TV: Borgen (Series 1)

2012-01-07T23:10:00.000Z

Watched 1st 2 episodes live as broadcast tonight and hooked from the word go, reminded me of how I felt when watching The West Wing. Classic TV drama series.

Laptop: Dell Vostro 3350

2012-01-06T23:00:00.000Z

The new laptop from work is a Dell Vestro 3350 with 500GB of hard disk which turns out to be more than enough for containing my entire music collection (the first time there has ever been enough space on a laptop that I have used for the music). This was all copied over tonight.

TV: Borgen (Government)

2012-01-06T21:03:00.001Z

i was late to The Killing 2 but ahead of the game with this new Danish thriller that was advertised after #8 of The Killing 2. Being broadcast early 2012.

Borgen is a compelling drama series about the fight for political power and its consequences. Sidse Babett Knudsen plays 40-year-old party leader Birgitte Nyborg who successfully secures a surprise election victory only to discover the biggest challenge of her life is yet to come.

Privately, Birgitte leads a happy family life with her husband and two children. She is a woman with a burning commitment, a big heart and too little time. Her challenge to be a successful politician and remain true to her beliefs will involve personal sacrifice with far reaching consequences for all those involved.
BBC press release

Wikipedia entry

It also stars Mikael Birkkjær (Strange) from The Killing 2.

After The Killing: Danish drama Borgen comes to BBC4 (Guardian)

Life Group: Meeting Notes (James 2:)

2012-01-04T22:30:00.000Z

Met at Joly and Tracey’s with Lynsey, Maria and Dave E.

Ice breaker was our fave Christmas present this year.

Lynsey raving about the Casting Crowns’ album “Come To The Well” and we played the track “Spirit Wind” (lyric) followed by a discussion about that Ezekiel passage (Ezekiel 37).

Read and discussed James 2:14-26. Good discussion on faith and works and our responses to that including getting the balance right.

Ended with open prayer.

Gas Boiler Work

2012-01-04T19:00:00.000Z

The central heating boiler broke down 2 days before Christmas and was not repairable. We got British Gas to do the work and they took just over a day and a half to do a great job of removing the 2 boilers and replacing with a combi boiler for the huge sum of £4.1k after a £400 reduction for replacing a boiler. Much more expensive than 2 cheaper quotes but we had more confidence that the price would be fixed with them and be done quickly and without any fuss. Nice and warm again now!

Elders Meeting: Notes

2012-01-03T22:10:00.000Z

Main topics of discussion were the Inn Churches week at HCC Bradford and reviewing the membership list for removals and contacting people for transfers etc – lots of reminiscing!

New Year. New Job

2012-01-03T08:30:00.000Z

Day 1 of working with Claritas Solutions in Wetherby working out of Bowcliffe Hall. A good opportunity and really glad to be back in work so soon and hoping to be able to make a good contribution to that organisation’s future. Very grateful to the owner for giving me the opportunity.

York Trip

2012-01-02T23:00:00.000Z

Lunch with mum and dad in York and a couple of games of bingo which mum and dad won.

Stopped past McArthur Glen to buy a watch. My old one has gone AWOL, must have dropped off somewhere! New one was only £14.50 and looks better than the old one.

Home and watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Ended the final day of holidays and not having a job by hunting around successfully for docs for my car insurance.

TV: Black MIrror (Episode 3, “The Entire History of You”)

2012-01-02T10:02:00.001Z

Watched this after seeing that Jodie Whittaker was in the cast (a big fan after her performance in “Venus”) as well as the subject matter re our increasingly digital lives.

Charlie Brooker, the writer of E4's Dead Set, returns with a suspenseful, satirical three-part mini-series that taps into collective unease about our modern world.

In the near future, everyone has access to a memory implant that records everything they do, see and hear - a sort of Sky Plus for the brain. You need never forget a face again... but is that always a good thing?

TV: Sherlock (Series 2)

2012-01-01T22:30:00.000Z

Highly enjoyable watch of episode 1, great writing and performances. Also recognised Lara Pulver who starred in the last series of Spooks.

BBC site

Episode 1: A Scandal in Belgravia
Holmes and Watson investigate a case of blackmail threatening to topple the monarchy and uncover links with international terrorism, rogue CIA agents and a conspiracy at the heart of government. However, the Baker Street sleuth finds himself involved on a more personal level when he becomes locked in a battle of wits with Irene Adler, a woman who is as cold, ruthless and brilliant as himself. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman return in the award-winning drama, with Lara Pulver (Spooks) and Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen).
Radio Times

New Year’s Day Lunch

2012-01-01T14:00:00.000Z

HCC Bradford hosted Inn Churches all week this week from Boxing Day with the week culminating in a faith lunch for the church and the homeless who slept overnight in the church hall last night. Lots of tasty food including Ann’s trifle and Rachael’s mains (one with couscous and chicken and the other with Spanish chorizo).

HCC Bradford Meeting Notes: New Year and Resolutions (Mark Woodhouse)

2012-01-01T13:00:00.000Z

Some brief notes from this morning’s meeting at HCC Bradford.

Question: how many of you have made new year’s resolutions?

Video: TV Outnumbered clip on resolutions:

Elder’s prayers (led by Simon Fogg):
(1) started by informing people that Rob Parsons had been awarded an OBE for services to Family Suport and played the following clip:

then asked the congregation to name Christian organisations that they support and what the organisation does (2) played a self-running presentation with the paintings from this morning’s Observer article “The 10 best ... New Year's resolution artworks” (with U2’s “New Year’s Day” as the soundtrack) (3) prayed for the organisations and ourselves as we all start a new year serving others.

VIdeo clip of Paul Weller’s song “Brand New Start” and the lyrics were handed out and discussed

Bible reading: John 3:16-21, we can all have a new start

Video clip from Groundhog Day:

(included part of a Sir Walter Scott poem). Bill Murray’s character believes he is immortal and therefore does not need to change.

Talk: the first day of the rest of your life is today. Currently reading a book that uses as a metaphor us and God as dance partners (Len Sweet’s Soul Salsa) noting that it takes time to get good at dancing!

We closed the service with Guide Me O Thou Jehovah which included a verse new to me (bold below):

Guide me, O thou great Jehovah
Pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but thou art mighty;
Hold me with thy powerful hand:
Bread of heaven
Feed me till I want no more.

Open now, the crystal fountain,
Whence the healing stream doth flow;
Let the Fire and cloudy pillar
Lead me all my journey through:
Strong deliverer,
Be thou still my strength and shield.

When I tread the verge of Jordan,
Bid my anxious Fears subside;
Death of death, and hell's destruction,
Land me safe on Canaan's side:
Songs of praises
I will ever give to thee.

Saviour, come! we long to see Thee,
Long to dwell with Thee above;
And to know, in full communion,
All the sweetness of Thy love:
Come, Lord Jesus!
Take Thy waiting people home.

New Year’s Eve

2011-12-31T23:59:00.000Z

A quiet, chilled end to the year.

Sorted the PC drives out consolidating the 2nd drive’s partitions into 1 that can now take all my music and podcasts.

Made the beetroot/potato gratin recipe again but this time with creamed horseradish that did make a difference.

Rachael was out overnight helping out at Inn Churches at HCC Bradford.

We watched Ponyo,, one of Hannah’s favourite films.

Moved the iTunes library from one disk to the 2nd in the main PC.

In praise of … the coast around Crail

2011-12-31T15:22:00.001Z

Britons fly massive distances to enthuse over coastlines no more alluring than this
Guardian lead article in the regular In praise of … series

Wikipedia entry
Undiscovered Scotland page

Photograph: Eyewitness: Ground Zero, New York

2011-12-31T15:12:00.001Z

Guardian page

Obituary: Gary Speed, manager of the Wales football team and versatile midfielder in the Premier League

2011-12-31T14:39:00.001Z

The Wales football manager Gary Speed, who has died at the age of 42 after apparently taking his own life, was an outstanding footballer and promised to be equally successful in this new phase of his career. But while he had been in charge of the national side for only 10 games, his playing career was long and distinguished.
Guardian obituary

Gary Speed: A football man of principle who engendered huge affection (Guardian article)

Interview: Andrew Rashbass, Chief Executive of The Economist Group

2011-12-31T14:33:00.001Z

Economist's chief executive explains how a mistake transformed his website and why he is relaxed about losing print sales
Guardian article

The Economist

Obituary: Basil D'Oliveira

2011-12-31T14:29:00.001Z

Outstanding England batsman whose barring from a tour to his native South Africa led to its expulsion from Test cricket
Guardian obituary

Wikipedia entry

Martha Kearney: 'I wouldn't think of myself as a Loose Woman'

2011-12-31T14:18:00.001Z

The presenter of BBC's The World at One on career rumours, ageism and preferring Radio 4 to Newsnight
Guardian article

Wikipedia entry

John Arlott's Hampshire BBC film rediscovered (Avington, near Winchester)

2011-12-31T14:08:00.001Z

Archive BBC TV film footage, believed to have been lost, has shown the veteran broadcaster John Arlott's unique reflections on his home county of Hampshire.
BBC page (incl video)

Avington Park

In praise of … John Arlott

2011-12-31T14:04:00.001Z

Basil D'Oliveira listened to Arlott on the World Service and wrote him a letter. Arlott not only read it, but lobbied on his behalf
Guardian lead article in the regular In praise of … series

Wikipedia entry

In praise of … Shirley Williams, British politician and academic

2011-12-31T13:55:00.001Z

The parliamentarian of the year has blazed a trail on female candidates and has great faith in reasonable compromise
Guardian lead article in the regular In praise of … series

Wikipedia entry

Obituary: Cecil Korer, television executive behind Countdown and Treasure Hunt

2011-12-31T13:51:00.001Z

When Channel 4 was launched as a radical alternative to ITV and the BBC in 1982, some were baffled at the appointment of Cecil Korer as programme purchaser and commissioning editor for light entertainment. He represented the old school, having spent more than 20 years at the BBC producing populist programmes such as the gameshow It's a Knockout.
Guardian obituary

2011, the end of R.E.M.

2011-12-31T13:12:00.001Z

A sad loss, R.E.M. are one of my fave bands with Losing My Religion probably in my all time top 10.

After 31 years, REM are no more, after an amicable, mutual decision to split. But is it really what they all wanted? And is it truly for ever?
Guardian interview (includes widget for playing music from their current definitive compilation album)

Wikipedia entry

Losing My Religion (YouTube, Wikipedia)

TV: Lost Christmas

2011-12-31T11:18:00.001Z

We all enjoyed this one-off BBC drama with lots of actors we recognised as well as Eddie Izzard. Great family Christmas programme.

An urban fairytale from the backstreets of Manchester.

On Christmas Eve, everyone is getting ready excitedly for the big day - everyone, that is, except Anthony, a strange, enigmatic being who wakes up in the street, not knowing where he is or what he's there to do. Anthony has a remarkable ability: the power to find the lost.

But is Anthony's ability real, or just an illusion? Who is he and why has he ended up in Manchester at Christmas, just as the snow begins to fall?
BBC programme page

BBC Press Release
Wikipedia entry
Review

The story behind Storify, new real-time curation service

2011-12-31T09:56:00.001Z

Good intro to Storify, what it is and why it is useful.

A tour of Storify
Wikipedia entry

Rob Parsons (Founder, Executive Chairman of Care for the Family) awarded an OBE for services to Family Support

2011-12-31T09:41:00.001Z

Really delighted for Rob, Diane and the whole of the Care for the Family organisation and its stakeholders. I have been aware of Care for the Family for many years through Rob’s involvement with Spring Harvest and we have been partners (supporting the work financially each month) for over a decade now.

Rob is one of the most inspirational and motivational speakers I have ever heard (the last time being as recently as Spring Harvest Minehead Week 3 back in April) and a great storyteller putting the audience at the heart of each and evey story he tells.

Rob is also an author of many books including, memorably for me, “The Heart of Success: Making It In Business Without Losing It In Life” which was one of 2 books that led me to resigning from a consulting job with no job to go to when I was away from home every week and not being with my young family as they grew up.

Found this video now which is a good intro to what makes Rob tick:

And reminded of this video which explains the rationale behind Care for the Family:

Carole Ann Rice’s 12 Days of Christmas for personal development going into 2012

2011-12-30T22:58:00.001Z

Just used Storify for the first time and used it to collate into one place Carole’s tweets from the series, some feedback tweets from me (all positive) and some links to Carole’s web site for contact and bio details. I also sussed out how to embed the “story” from Storify into the blog as you can see below.

… and at last some good news for the Foggs

2011-12-30T16:55:00.001Z

The new replacement combi gas boiler will be going in on Tuesday and Wednesday as per plan after the electrician confirmed that the electrics in the house are up to the job. British Gas had that survey done as a pre-req to the work going ahead. We can’t quite believe it … Currently surviving with one gas heater in front room and an electric heater in the kitchen. Like the good old days ..

Radio: Heart And Soul, Christmas in Norway

2011-12-30T11:52:00.001Z

An amazing radio programme, well worth a listen.

Norway is not a strongly religious country, yet after Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in July, it was the Lutheran Cathedral in Oslo that quickly became the focal point for grieving families and a nation in shock.

Five months on, how do the country, families, and survivors prepare to celebrate Christmas in the light of the most traumatic event in Norway’s history since World War II?
BBC World Service

Post Kidney Stone Test Samples

2011-12-30T09:10:00.000Z

After I passed the kidney stone some time ago, as I was “discharged”, I was told to provide 2 x 24 hour full urine samples for further tests. This was due to me having 2 episodes of kidney stones over the past few years, These did not have to be 2 consecutive 24 hour periods but even so I needed to be around the house to “collect” the samples. Finally managed to do the samples over the past 2 days and took them in to St Luke’s this morning.

What I Learned From Starting Fast Company (Alan Webber)

2011-12-29T17:39:00.001Z

A great list to review and ponder. #10 particularly resonated with me at this time of my career.

It's getting close to the end of the year.
A good time to clean out old drawers filled with even older files.
Here's one I just found: Lessons From Fast Company. It was a speech I gave in Brazil at a program organized by the remarkable Oscar Motomura not long after Bill Taylor and I exited the magazine that we had jointly created.
Here's what my speech notes say.
Blog post

TV: Borgen: Opening Titles

2011-12-29T16:23:00.001Z

Starting in the New Year.

Designer’s Page

Recipe: Xanthe Clay’s Beetroot-stained Smoked Salmon with beetroot and walnuts

2011-12-29T16:04:00.001Z

Recipe (lovebeetroot.com)

Xanthe Clay

Shall We Dance? A Tale of Executives and PMOs (Programme/Project Management Offices)

2011-12-29T15:52:00.001Z

PMOs are frequently closed or restructured with only about half of them surviving for two years. This statistic can most likely be attributed to the fact that either failing PMOs are not flexible enough to keep up with the needs of the company, or they do not communicate their contributions well. PMOs and executives need to work together to keep things running smoothly.
Ecommerce Times article

Leadership Lessons From the Shackleton Expedition

2011-12-29T11:52:00.001Z

Ernest Shackleton's failed quest to reach the South Pole is still a management tutorial in how to face repeated crises. The crew of his ship, the Endurance, was photographed in July 1915 while trapped by an ice floe.
New York Times

Book: “Short and Sweet: The Best of Home Baking”, Dan Lepard

2011-12-29T11:39:00.001Z

Not much of a baker but this could convert me.

The ultimate baking compendium from Dan Lepard, the country's foremost baking guru.

Dan Lepard’s innovative and earthy approach has made him the baker that every top chef wants in their kitchen, and with this utterly dependable how-to-bake book you’ll be baking cakes, pastries, breads and cookies like never before. Collecting together Dan’s best recipes – and mixing science with old-fashioned kitchen wisdom – Dan has tried and tested almost every baking technique out there.

Guiding you through the crispest flatbreads, blue cheese and oatmeal biscuits, gluten-free white loaves, savoury leek and smoked haddock pies, caramel sweets, frostings, simple scones and pumpkin and ginger cupcakes, Short and Sweet uses the newest flours and ingredients and has everything from updates on the classics to the latest in baking for intolerances.

If baking is therapy then Dan is your life coach. He’ll show you how to improve, what to work on, how to take what is just ok right up to brilliant, without a sweat. No wonder he is the country’s cutting-edge baker.
Amazon UK

Author’s Guardian page with links to recipes and articles

Author’s web site

Recipe: Roast Gammon with Blackened Crackling with Citrus, Rum and Raisin Sauce (Delia Smith)

2011-12-29T11:24:00.001Z

Another ham/ gammon recipe to add to the 2 I have already made. Sounds tasty.

Recipe

Via @CaroleAnnRice

Julia Hobsbawm, the world’s first professor of networking

2011-12-29T11:19:00.001Z

Julia Hobsbawm, who currently runs Editorial Intelligence, a think-club for high-powered professionals and the media, will be taking up the post at the Cass Business School, part of City University, in the New Year. The daughter of historian Eric Hobsbawm, Julia worked in PR with Gordon Brown’s wife Sarah before founding Editorial Intelligence in 2005. She will start her tenure with a lecture before offering her wisdom to MBA and MSc students on the art of professional social skills and making connections. Cass is one of Europe’s top business schools, with a foothold in the City of London, and seems thrilled to be diversifying beyond its financial services and actuarial courses.

“There is a growing awareness of the importance of ‘soft skills’ such as networking to business and Editorial Intelligence is a leader in this field,” says Professor Cliff Oswick, head of the management faculty. Hobsbawm expertly gives her profession a cerebral spin. “Networking is a form of intellectual fitness and is as invaluable to productivity — and therefore economic performance — as physical fitness is to overall health,” she says.
Londoner’s Diary, London Evening Standard

Obituary: Václav Havel, Czech playwright and former dissident who led his nation after the collapse of communism

2011-12-29T10:51:00.001Z

When, to the surprise of western chancelleries, central Europe changed utterly in the autumn and winter of 1989, it was a stocky Czech dramatist lately released from prison who produced the abiding metaphor for what had happened. In 1947, after Yalta and Potsdam, said Václav Havel, who has died aged 75 after a long illness, the clock of history had been stopped in his half of Europe – and now it had started again. Havel's own career might resemble the very incarnation of that metaphor – of the notion it encapsulates of communism as no more than a bracket in history, a long deviation from the onward march of capitalism's permanent revolution.
Guardian obituary

Economist obituary

Wikipedia entry

Albrecht Dürer: Portrait of the artist as an entrepreneur

2011-12-29T10:42:00.001Z

How the greatest figure of the northern Renaissance invented a new business model
Economist article

Wikipedia entry
Complete works
Documentary (video)

The benefits of fidgeting and doodling

2011-12-29T10:33:00.001Z

A great article for those of us who get a lot of “stick” for not sitting still while listening to speakers etc and taking notes, doodling etc …

If your audience is fidgeting, it may be a good thing

Via this tweet;

And the gates of heaven keep opening: the benefits of fidgeting and doodling: theglobeandmail.com/life/health/ne… #doodlerevolution
— Sunni Brown (@SunniBrown) December 20, 2011

Book: “Organizations Don't Tweet: A Manager’s Guide to the Social Web”, Euan Semple

2011-12-29T10:28:00.001Z

Practical advice for managers on how the Web and social media can help them to do their jobs better
Today′s managers are faced with an increasing use of the Web and social platforms by their staff, their customers, and their competitors, but most aren′t sure quite what to do about it or how it all relates to them. Corporations Don′t Tweet…People Do provides managers in all sorts of organizations, from governments to multinationals, with practical advice, insight and inspiration on how the Web and social tools can help them to do their jobs better. From strategy to corporate communication, team building to customer relations, this uniquely people–centric guide to social media in the workplace offers managers, at all levels, valuable insights into the networked world as it applies to their challenges as managers, and it outlines practical things they can do to make social media integral to the tone and tenor of their departments or organizational cultures.

A long–overdue guide to social media that talks directly to people in the real world in which they work
Grounded in the author′s unparalleled experience consulting on social media, it features eye–opening accounts from some of the world′s most successful and powerful organizations
Gives managers at all levels and in every type of organization the context and the confidence to make better decisions about the social web and its impact on them

Amazon UK

Publisher’s Book Page

About the Author
Euan Semple is one of the few people in the world who can turn the complex world of the social web into something we can all understand. And, at the same time, learn how to get the most from it.

Ten years ago, while working in a senior position at the BBC, Euan was one of the first to introduce what have since become known as social media tools into a large, successful organisation. He has subsequently had five years of unparalleled experience working with organisations such as Nokia, The World Bank and NATO.

He is a one-man digital upgrade option for us all to download.

This world is changing fast, but he makes sense of it because he understands that the core basics remain the same: community, learning, and interaction. He is a master story-teller who offers a host of practical tales about how this new world can work for real people in the real world.

Learn To Code In One Day

2011-12-28T17:02:00.001Z

A U.K.-based program called Decoded promises to teach n00bs to code in a day. Writer Louise Jack (and many ad industry types) signed on to find out if they can walk in with a civilian's basic web knowledge and walk out with an app.
Fast Company article

Book: “My Last Duchess”, Daisy Goodwin

2011-12-28T16:16:00.001Z

Cora Cash, possibly the wealthiest heiress in 1890s America, has been raised to believe that money will open every door to her. But when her mother whisks Cora to England to secure her an aristocratic match, Cora is dismayed by the welcome she at first receives. The great English houses in which she is entertained are frosty and forbidding, dogged by intrigue above stairs, and gossip below. And it is only when she loses her heart - to a man she barely knows - that Cora realises the game she is playing is one she does not full understand, and that her own future happiness could be the prize.
Amazon.co.uk

Q&A with the author

Profile: Daisy Goodwin, author and television producer

2011-12-28T16:04:00.001Z

Stumbled over Daisy last week for the first time and then see that she “starred” in University Challenge over this Christmas week …

The 48-year-old author on being a tragic teenager, making big decisions and bonding with the Duchess of Cornwall over shoes.
Telegraph article (from 2010)

Daisy Goodwin: A woman of substance
Already TV’s face of poetry, award-winning producer and ‘head girl’ of her own company, Daisy Goodwin has written her debut novel. She talks to Arifa Akbar
Independent article (from 2010)

Web site
Wikipedia entry

Book: “Intimacy”, Hanif Kureishi

2011-12-28T15:38:00.001Z

Hanif Kureishi's latest novel made many reviewers uneasy on its first appearance, because it cuts so painfully near to the bone. If a novelist's first duty is to tell the truth, then Kureishi has done his duty with unflinching courage. Intimacy gives us the thoughts and memories of a middle-aged writer on the night before he walks out on his wife and two young sons, in favour of a younger woman. A very modern man, without political convictions or religious beliefs, he vaguely hopes to find fulfilment in sexual love. No-one is spared Kureishi's cold, penetrating gaze or lacerating pen. "She thinks she's feminist, but she's just bad- tempered," he says of his abandoned wife. A male friend advises him, "Marriage is a battle, a terrible journey, a season in hell and a reason for living."

At the heart of the novel is this terrible paradox: "You don't stop loving someone just because you hate them." Male readers will wince with recognition at the narrator's hatred of entrapment and domesticity, and his implacable urge towards freedom, escape, even loneliness. Female readers may find it a truly horrific revelation. Kureishi is only telling it like it is, in staccato sentences of pinpoint accuracy. By far the author's best yet: a brilliant, devastating work.
Amazon UK

Book: “The Mathematics Of Love”, Emma Darwin

2011-12-28T14:56:00.001Z

From the Suffolk countryside to the old Basque towns of Spain, Emma Darwin's unforgettable debut tells the astoundingly moving story of Stephen, a veteran of Waterloo, whose suffering and secret lost happiness is transformed by love. Gorgeously written, fascinating and engrossing, THE MATHEMATICS OF LOVE is a sexy, heartbreaking, glorious novel by a major new literary star.
Amazon.co.uk

Author’s book page

Author bio

Why the missional movement will fail (Mike Breen)

2011-12-28T12:23:00.001Z

It’s time we start being brutally honest about the missional movement that has emerged in the last 10-15 years: Chances are better than not it’s going to fail.
Mike Breen blog post (from September 2011)

Book: “The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood”, James Gleick

2011-12-28T10:50:00.001Z

In a sense, The Information is a book about everything, from words themselves to talking drums, writing and lexicography, early attempts at an analytical engine, the telegraph and telephone, ENIAC, and the ubiquitous computers that followed. But that's just the "History." The "Theory" focuses on such 20th-century notables as Claude Shannon, Norbert Wiener, Alan Turing, and others who worked on coding, decoding, and re-coding both the meaning and the myriad messages transmitted via the media of their times. In the "Flood," Gleick explains genetics as biology's mechanism for informational exchange--Is a chicken just an egg's way of making another egg?--and discusses self-replicating memes (ideas as different as earworms and racism) as information's own evolving meta-life forms. Along the way, readers learn about music and quantum mechanics, why forgetting takes work, the meaning of an "interesting number," and why "[t]he bit is the ultimate unsplittable particle." What results is a visceral sense of information's contemporary precedence as a way of understanding the world, a physical/symbolic palimpsest of self-propelled exchange, the universe itself as the ultimate analytical engine. If Borges's "Library of Babel" is literature's iconic cautionary tale about the extreme of informational overload, Gleick sees the opposite, the world as an endlessly unfolding opportunity in which "creatures of the information" may just recognize themselves.
Amazon.com

Wikipedia entries for the book and the author
Author’s web site

Book: “Planting Dandelions: Field Notes From a Semi-Domesticated Life”, Kyran Pittman

2011-12-28T10:33:00.001Z

Introducing a writer with a keen eye, a wicked tongue, and an appealing take on family.
In the family of Jen Lancaster and Elizabeth Gilbert, Kyran Pittman is the laid-back middle sister: warm and witty and confiding, with an addictively smart and genuine voice-but married with three kids and living in the heartland. Relatable and real, she writes about family in a way that highlights all its humor, while at the same time honoring its depth.
A regular contributor to Good Housekeeping, Pittman is well loved because she is funny and honest and self-deprecating, because her own household is in chaos ("semi-domesticated"), and because she inspires readers in their own domestic lives. In these eighteen linked, chronological essays, Pittman covers the first twelve years of becoming a family, writing candidly and hilariously about things like learning to maintain a marriage over time; dealing with the challenges of sex after childbirth; saying good-bye to her younger self and embracing the still attractive, forty-year-old version; and trying to "recession- proof" her family (i.e., downsize to avoid foreclosure).
From a fresh new talent, celebrating the joys and trials of a new generation of parents, Planting Dandelions is an entertaining tribute to choosing the white-picket fence over the other options available, even if you don't manage to live up to its ideals every day.
Amazon.com

Book web site
Reading Guide

Author’s web site

TV: Fast Freddie, The Widow and Me

2011-12-27T22:05:00.000Z

Really enjoyed this one-off drama from ITV.

Wikipedia entry
ITV page

Cast interviews:

The 25 Most Influential Business Management Books (Time Magazine)

2011-12-27T20:53:00.001Z

There's never a shortage of new books about how to be more effective in business. Most of them are forgettable, but here are 25 that changed the way we think about management — from the iconic "How to Win Friends and Influence People" to groundbreaking tomes like "Guerilla Marketing" and quick reads like the "The One Minute Manager".
Time site

Book: “Getting Real: The smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web application”, 37signals (2006)

2011-12-27T20:38:00.001Z

Getting Real details the business, design, programming, and marketing principles of 37signals. The book is packed with keep-it-simple insights, contrarian points of view, and unconventional approaches to software design. This is not a technical book or a design tutorial, it's a book of ideas. Anyone working on a web app — including entrepreneurs, designers, programmers, executives, or marketers — will find value and inspiration in this book. 37signals used the Getting Real process to launch five successful web-based applications (Basecamp, Campfire, Backpack, Writeboard, Ta-da List), and Ruby on Rails, an open-source web application framework, in just two years with no outside funding, no debt, and only 7 people (distributed across 7 time zones). Over 500,000 people around the world use these applications to get things done. Now you can find out how they did it and how you can do it too. It's not as hard as you think if you Get Real.
Online copy

The Way I Work: Jason Fried of 37Signals

2011-12-27T20:09:00.001Z

Jason Fried hates lame meetings, tech companies that don't generate revenue, and companies that treat their employees like children. A peek inside his typical workday.
An Inc.com article from November 2009.

Day After Boxing Day

2011-12-27T15:45:00.000Z

Mum and Dad came down for lunch with us and stayed till mid afternoon. All very civilised and chilled. The boys lost (again) at Pictionary – not good. Home made soup and sausage rolls going down well.

Book; “The Scandinavian Cookbook”, Trina Hahnemann

2011-12-27T10:21:00.001Z

Everyone in Trine Hahnemann's family has their favourite Christmas cookie recipe – pepper, vanilla, almond… So in the end she bakes them all
Observer article

Official site

Recipe: Citrus Gravad Lax With Horseradish Cream

Book: “Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good”, Amy Sherman

2011-12-27T09:31:00.001Z

Imagine the scenarios:

a CEO successfully negotiates a corporate merger, avoiding hundreds of layoffs in the process
an artist completes a mosaic for public display at a bank, showcasing neighborhood heroes
a contractor creates a work-release program in cooperation with a local prison, growing the business and seeing countless former inmates turn their lives around
a high-school principal graduates 20 percent more students than the previous year, and the school's average scores go up by a similar percentage

Now imagine a parade in the streets for each event. That's the vision of Proverbs 11:10, in which the tsaddiqim--the people who see everything they have as gifts from God to be stewarded for his purposes--pursue their vocation with an eye to the greater good. Amy Sherman, director of the Center on Faith in Communities and scholar of vocational stewardship, uses the tsaddiqim as a springboard to explore how, through our faith-formed calling, we announce the kingdom of God to our everyday world. But cultural trends toward privatism and materialism threaten to dis-integrate our faith and our work. And the church, in ways large and small, has itself capitulated to those trends, while simultaneously elevating the "special calling" of professional ministry and neglecting the vocational formation of laypeople. In the process, we have, in ways large and small, subverted our kingdom mandate. God is on the move, and he calls each of us, from our various halls of power and privilege, to follow him. Here is your chance, keeping this kingdom calling in view, to steward your faith and work toward righteousness. In so doing, you will bless the world, and as you flourish, the world will celebrate.
Amazon.com

Publisher’s book page

Mike Breen’s Missional Communities series

2011-12-27T09:10:00.001Z

This blog post is a landing page for 23 blog posts that Mike Breen posted earlier this year. Worth a read and follow-on action.

The “Secret Sauce” our churches are missing (Mike Breen)

2011-12-27T09:08:00.001Z

As I’ve observed the “art” of creating extended families over the past 35 years, I’ve noticed that it always takes a combination of two things: PLAY + PURPOSE.
Love this Mike Breen blog post and associated 2 x 2 matrix.

Many men can build a fortune but few men can build a family.
J.S. Bryan

Film: Hugo

2011-12-27T09:01:00.001Z

Martin Scorsese's family friendly fantasy is a cinephile's delight: a beautifully designed homage to the power of the first film-makers
Guardian review

In resourceful orphan Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield, an Oliver Twist-like charmer), Martin Scorsese finds the perfect vessel for his silver-screen passion: this is a movie about movies. After his clockmaker father (Jude Law) perishes in a museum fire, Hugo goes to live with his Uncle Claude (Ray Winstone), a drunkard who maintains the clocks at a Paris train station. When Claude disappears, Hugo carries on his work and fends for himself by stealing food from area merchants. In his free time, he attempts to repair an automaton his father rescued from the museum, while trying to evade the station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen), a World War I veteran with no sympathy for lawbreakers. When Georges (Ben Kingsley), a toymaker, catches Hugo stealing parts for his mechanical man, he recruits him as an assistant to repay his debt. If Georges is guarded, his open-hearted ward, Isabelle (Chloë Moretz), introduces Hugo to a kindly bookseller (Christopher Lee), who directs them to a motion-picture museum, where they meet film scholar René (Boardwalk Empire's Michael Stuhlbarg). In helping unlock the secret of the automaton, they learn about the roots of cinema, starting with the Lumière brothers, and give a forgotten movie pioneer his due, thus illustrating the importance of film preservation, a cause to which the director has dedicated his life. If Scorsese's adaptation of The Invention of Hugo Cabret isn't his most autobiographical work, it just may be his most personal.
Amazon.co.uk review

Wikipedia entry
Official site

The Pen Is Mightier Than The Phone: A Case For Writing Things Out

2011-12-27T08:54:00.001Z

i was aware of the benefits of writing things down and links to the brain, recollection etc and did practice this when I was younger for revision notes and the like. These days I am much more digital and still seeking my “ideal” set up ..

Writing things down, with your actual hands, is just plain better at getting you to remember and execute good ideas. Here's why.
Fast Company article

Questions about becoming a godmother/godfather (Sharon Grenham-Toze aka @glamvicar)

2011-12-26T22:48:00.001Z

Q&A on being a godparent with @glamvicar (aka Sharon Grenham-Toze)

Google’s Think Quarterly Magazine #1: Data

2011-12-26T20:59:00.001Z

At Google, we often think that speed is the forgotten ‘killer application’ – the ingredient that can differentiate winners from the rest. We know that the faster we deliver results, the more useful people find our service.

But in a world of accelerating change, we all need time to reflect. Think Quarterly is a breathing space in a busy world. It’s a place to take time out and consider what’s happening and why it matters.

Our first issue is dedicated to Data – amongst a morass of information, how can you find the magic metrics that will help transform your business? We hope that you find inspiration, insights, and more, in Think Quarterly.
Issue #1

Open publication - Free publishing - More data

Boxing Day

2011-12-26T20:00:00.000Z

Helped to set up (minimally) for the Inn Churches project at HCC Bradford (opening up the hall for 12 homeless people from tonight through to New Year’s Day).

Majority of the day at Michael/DIann/Chloe/FInlay’s.

good time, chat, company, curries, key lime pie at Diann/ Mike's(Rach's bro) this aft/evening #familytime

— Simon Fogg (@srjf) December 26, 2011

Google’s Think Quarterly Magazine #3: People

2011-12-26T13:31:00.001Z

Never before in human history has it been possible for over two billion people to publish their views, access information, discover new ideas and inspire each other. Within three years, over half the people on the planet will share this opportunity. That’s why this edition of Think Quarterly celebrates and examines the points where technology, business and people come together in surprising and exciting ways.

Magazine

Open publication - Free publishing - More google

Google’s Think Quarterly Magazine #2: Innovation

2011-12-26T13:26:00.001Z

Looking at Google’s own innovation processes.

In 2003, a total of five exabytes of data existed. Now we generate that every two days. We are, literally, more creative than ever. Where to begin? Right here. We've curated big ideas from heads of industry, leading experts and our homegrown visionaries -- all to help guide your own thinking. In our inaugural US issue, we focus on Innovation. Where can you break molds and shape the future? We hope this gives you inspiration, insight, and some new ideas of your own. Official website: http://www.thinkwithgoogle.co.uk/quarterly/innovation/

Open publication - Free publishing - More google

Social media tips from grandma

2011-12-26T13:14:00.001Z

Love the photos, boards and the messages …..

Behance post

Art series “Word” designs and commentary on the books of the BIble, Jim Le Page

2011-12-26T13:09:00.001Z

Love these pictures.

Word
Interview

How to Use Google Search More Effectively [INFOGRAPHIC]

2011-12-26T12:21:00.001Z

Mashable article

Book: “The Eustace Diamonds”, Anthony Trollope

2011-12-26T12:15:00.001Z

Following the death of her husband Sir Florian, beautiful Lizzie Eustace mysteriously comes into possession of a hugely expensive diamond necklace. She maintains it was a gift from her husband, but the Eustace lawyers insist she give it up, and while her cousin Frank takes her side, her new lover Lord Fawn states that he will only marry her if the necklace is surrendered. As gossip and scandal intensify, Lizzie's truthfulness is thrown into doubt, and, in her desire to keep the jewels, she is driven to increasingly desperate acts. The third in Trollope's Palliser series, The Eustace Diamonds bears all the hallmarks of his later works, blending dark cynicism with humour and a keen perception of human nature.
Amazon.co.uk

Wikipedia entry

Via Francesca Simon selecting the book as her selection on Desert Island DIscs

Operational and Informational Reporting

2011-12-26T12:07:00.001Z

Information Management article from 2000, via Abid (former colleague)

Guardian’s Ten of the best: Cathedrals in literature

2011-12-26T11:53:00.001Z

I have been “into” cathedrals since reading about why Ken Follett wrote The Pillars of the Earth.

Guardian article