Lion Steaks

Tax shouldn't have to be taxing

2009-01-06T15:30:00.002Z

I have my first Self Assessment to complete this year. You know the adverts; Adam Wotsit the super science TV presenter sliding through an hourglass meant to demonstrate how insignificant you are to the tax office, you being one of those millions of grains of sand... or something like that. Or maybe Moira Stewart hiding in the cupboard under your stairs letting you know that if you are late you get fined £100 (Forgetting to tell you that you have to have paid the £100 by the same deadline otherwise you also get charged interest on it... surely if you remember to pay the fine on time, you might as well do the form?)

Anyway... so come mid-December I dutifully go online ready to complete my tax return:

STEP 1 - Register
Enter your name (maybe this is easy after all?), Enter your email address. Repeat your email address (whoop! passed that test) and enter your... unique tax reference code. Ah... erm... what's that then? Oh I know, I have a National Insurance Number, that is unique to me and enables them to take money off me, must be that. No.

So you have to telephone the online self assessment tax helpdesk. Who then tell you they can't help you with this and you need to phone your tax office. So you phone your tax office:

ME: (after all the prove it's you questions) Hello, I need my Unique Tax Reference Code.
HMRC: I can't tell you that.
ME: But it's my unique tax reference code
HMRC: Yes, but I can't tell you over the phone, I'll have to post it to you.
ME: But I need to fill out my self assessment form online. Actually I need to register to fill out my self assessment form online
HMRC: Well you should have your UTR code in 7 days time.

Not quite as easy as you make out, is it Moira?

So I get my code, and Christmas comes and goes and back in the office again and sorting the filing and need to do all those things on my to-do list and... ok, I give in, I'll tackle the self assessment.

STEP 1 - Register
Enter your name (maybe this is easy after all?), Enter your email address. Repeat your email address (whoop! passed that test) and enter your... unique tax reference code. Ah that's the code thingy they sent me, tap tap tap. Registered!

Now I can do my self assessment? Well actually no. You have registered, yes, but now you need to enrol.

STEP 2 - Enrol
Enter your Unique Tax Reference code, brilliant, got that. Enter your National Insurance number, brilliant got that... submit.

I'm sorry that's incorrect please try again

It's not incorrect, it's what you sent me. This information seems to be sufficient enough for you to take money from me, how come I can't even make it through registration, sorry, enrollment.

STEP 2 - TAKE 2 - Enrol
Enter your Unique Tax Reference code, brilliant, got that. Enter your postcode this time as the National Insurance number didn't work, brilliant got that... submit.

I'm sorry your postcode is incorrect

It's not. Seriously, I'm quite confident I know where I live.

Please telephone the online helpdesk

Hmm, de ja vu. Either that or I've seen all this before.

ME: I'm trying to register, sorry, enrol for my self assessment but it says my NI number and postcode are incorrect
HMRC: What are putting in?
ME: [personally identifiable information]
HMRC: That's the wrong postcode.
ME: No it's not, it's where I live
HMRC: Yes that is where you live (thank you), but we have a different postcode for you on this system
ME (Hazarding a guess): Is it where I used to live?
HMRC: Yes

Brilliant. So now having passed the registration hurdle, and waiting for my unique tax reference code to be sent to me, having managed to negotiate the enrolment test and passed by using out of date information about myself, can I now please complete my self assessment?

Congratulations no your enrolment. You now need to activate your account. We have posted you an activation code which may take 7 days to reach you

Moira... you and me need to have words.

Rye Harbour

2009-01-04T22:53:00.001Z

Went down to Rye Harbour today for lunch and a brisk walk. Lovely day but really really cold! Had lunch at the local pub 'William the Conqueror' best fish in batter I've ever eaten, cold pub though... we had to sit next to the open fire.

After lunch, we walked up the tarmac (and dog turd covered) path up to the sea. Gorgeous walk, but it was absolutely freezing and by this point, hands ears and face were numb. With the windchill it was even worse on the way back.

Nice day out, but took a long time to thaw out in the car with the heaters on. Would thoroughly recommend Rye Harbour as a day trip out with a dog to walk

Corporate Social Responsibility in Sponsorship

2008-11-20T17:14:00.002Z

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Corporate Responsibility (CR) not be confused with Cause Related Marketing (CRM)... It's got many names and many definitions, and that's just the problem, it means different things to different people and therefore execution of Socially Responsible (SR) Sponsorship can be deemed a failure by a consumer whose interpretation differs from those who activated it. It's enough to make you join the CAAG

I've just listened to a conference on Corporate Responsibility and a lot of it was good to hear, but I think the big picture has been missed!

Corporate Responsibility is about being responsible. FULL STOP. Responsible to your staff, responsible to your customers, responsible to the/your environment, responsible to (do I dare say it) your shareholders... to the business itself.

Greenwash is a popular term used to describe talking about being environmentally friendly whilst not actually doing anything, it means to paint over a non-environmentally friendly policy or business etc. portraying one which is "green". I think most talk about Corporate Responsibility is exactly that... C(S)Rwash.

Everyone talks about how they spend their money in a responsible way... knock knock... hello?... anyone there?... it's not about how you spend your money, its about how you MAKE your money.

Have you made your money in a responsible way? Every decision made should have an appropriate level of "is this decision responsible to [insert as appropriate]". Look at Honda and specifically a conference speech by David Butler. Honda thinks about responsibility from the bottom up, not just in the PR department; what light bulbs do we use in our factories? Where is our electricity sourced from? What percentage of our waste goes to landfill? What transport do the staff use to get to work? What paper are the press releases printed on?

You can't do everything in a positive way, some decisions have to be made for the good and longevity of a business and outcomes can easily be criticised in parts, if not as a whole. BUT you should be using an appropriate level of responsibility in every decision you make.

That is what Corporate Responsibility is.

It's that Friday Feeling

2008-10-24T09:57:00.001+01:00

Oh you know it's going to be a good day when you wake up and it's dark and murky with a drizzle of rain thrown in (down the back of your collar)

Made it to the station in time to catch my train to London only to find the first seat I try has a broken armrest and the second seat, although not visibly broken, turns out to have an idiot installed opposite.

For the next 1 hour 40 minutes the idiot tap dances on my feet, knocks my knees and stands on the top of my shoes gradually increasing pressure and then releasing again.

During all this time he is sifting through a bag of leaflets their 'wedding planner' has given them. Now I'm no expert on wedding planners, but I am the publisher of an online wedding magazine so weddings and their components are not exactly a foreign language to me, BUT SURELY the idea of a having a wedding planner is so that you don't have to sift through all of the leaflets, you don't have to choose between suppliers. SURELY you discuss the ideas you have with the knowledge they have and then they go off and source the suppliers for you to match the desired objectives whilst adhering to your budget.

So whilst puzzling this 3rd party irritation, playing 'name that tune' as it's drummed into my metatarsal, and generally trying to sleep... the idiot decides to phone the fiancée to have an inane conversation over whether he should be looking at the 'groom's pack' he's been given without her?

Now I know mobile phone conversations on trains can be quite annoying in general but at least some are for a purpose, an emergency, or are unavoidable. But Idiot did as Idiots do and proceeded to have one of those "go on, you agree, no I'll agree, no don't disagree, oh I agree" in the style of a "love you more... no, love you more..." drivel drivel drivel

Roll on Saturday

Sponsorship Association of Asia

2008-09-03T14:27:00.004+01:00

Just finished setting up the new website for the Sponsorship Association of Asia. Built in Drupal 6 and utilising various existing modules to create a community based website offering a directory of organisations involved in sponsorship in Asia, an Event Calendar and sponsorship news.

Google Chrome

2008-09-03T09:32:00.001+01:00

Just tried the new Google Chrome browser now. It is very fast and clean.... But one of the things I like about using firefox or the flock browser is that I have all the other stuff going on as well. I use firebug to check my websites, the flock email tool which shows if I have new emails, the flock facebook and twitter bar etc.

A useful tool, but not sure it will be my main browser... Unless it means my work rate goes up :)

Blogtastic

2008-08-29T10:28:00.002+01:00

Have found a renewed sense of enjoyment in core social media this morning, thanks to my friend Suse in the City who had me laughing out loud as I could relate to her post on the PR Agency and Editor relationship.

So here it is... my mid year resolution. I will blog more. er... When relevant. Well... when I can. If I get a chance. If I haven't broken the internet first. Dammit I can see this plan failing already.

Victorian House Blog

2008-07-15T13:45:00.002+01:00

Just launched a new Victorian House blog related to the Victorian house we are buying

A bad hair day? | NewlyWeds-UK

2008-05-01T21:44:00.001+01:00

A bad hair day? | NewlyWeds-UK

A video which had be both amazed and laughing out loud. A bride to be (in a matter of hours) hacks off her own hair just as she is supposed to be ready and looking beautiful!

The video is included at the bottom of an article on wedding hair advice

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Very Expensive + Affordable = Still Very Expensive

2008-04-15T10:33:00.003+01:00

Very Expensive + Affordable = Still Very Expensive

Interesting post from Zoho on the integration of Salesforce.com with Google Apps. I am using Zoho CRM and am very pleased with it and in my mind, just as importantly, I am very pleased with being part of a developing and responsive project, one where you actually get the opportunity to mould the software to your own needs and are not just presented with a 'finished' application.

"Salesforce spends nearly 8 times on sales/marketing as it spends on R&D. Sounds to me a text book definition of “business model bloat”. If you are a customer of Salesforce, it makes you feel really happy that the company spends 8x on selling to you as in writing the code, right?"

Interesting judgement on a business model and I'm not sure what my thoughts actually are... I mean in sponsorship it is important to spend more on the marketing (activation) than on the acquisition of the rights. As a Marketer I think it is all very well having a good product but if nobody knows about it then you will just enjoy it on your own.

[Follow up] Nice comparison document of Zoho CRM with Salesforce

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Jewellers in Bucks

2008-04-14T22:22:00.003+01:00

I'm currently working on a website for Bourne End Jewellers, a jewellers in Bucks.

A family owned business with a jewellery shop in Bourne End and a jewellery shop in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, they are looking to move from a brochure website about the jewellery shop to an ecommerce website, an online jewellery shop to sell the same stock as in the jewellery shops but with a larger number of items in each product line

Olympic Flame Snuffed out - Don't Panic!

2008-04-07T15:11:00.001+01:00

The Olympic Torch was 'switched off' two or three times today in Paris showing that although us Brits think we are good at protesting, the French have had much more practice

But it's o.k., the torch is actually lit from the the lantern (see Flickr photo below) The lantern stays alight even on the plane etc so that's why there was no real panic over the fact the French Police/Officials had to extinguish the flame

Blogged with the Flock Browser

property snake - find falling house prices in your area

2008-04-04T16:36:00.001+01:00

Another bad sign for the housing market:

property snake -- home -- find falling house prices in your area

A website which shows how much individual houses have dropped their prices by!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Sport Event Calendar

2008-04-01T17:09:00.002+01:00

SportBusiness has launched an online Sport Event Calendar listing all Sporting Events worldwide. If you want to add your event to the calendar you can call +44 (0) 207 954 3478

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Melbourne retains title as Ultimate Sports City

2008-03-31T11:17:00.001+01:00

Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria in Australia, has retained its status as the best location in the world to hold a sports event and has been declared Ultimate Sports City 2008.

View Original Article

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Northern Rock cuts mortgages and axes 2,000 jobs - Times Online

2008-03-18T11:57:00.001Z

Not a good time to be buying a house in the UK?

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which is responsible for setting the UK interest rate, is now facing a difficult balancing act of protecting consumers against a deteriorating economy and falling house prices while inflation continues to grow.Last month, the MPC opted to leave interest rates unchanged at 5.25 per cent. In contrast, the US Federal Reserve has made a number of cuts to its interest rate, with the most recent at the weekend which reduced the cost of interbank borrowing by 0.25 per cent to 3.25 per cent.The Bank of England's MPC will next meet on April 9 and 10 to decide whether to cut or hold the UK interest rate.The US Fed is expected to make another reduction this afternoon, with some economists expecting as much as a 1 per cent reduction as America attempts to fight off a full-blown recession.Yesterday, global stock markets oscillated wildly as investors digested the emergency rescue of Bear Stearns by JP Morgan Chase.

Northern Rock cuts mortgages and axes 2,000 jobs - Times Online

I'm not sure if it's a bad time for house buying or not. I mean the interest rates could come down thus making it a great time to take out a new mortgage. But then if house prices continue to fall you could immediately be plunged into negative equity, well ok, not plunged but dipped at the very least. But does any of it matter, by my napkin mathematics, house prices grow a lot over ten year periods, maybe even double. So ride it out you'll be ok in the long run, as long as you can make your mortgage repayments in a difficult climate.

If house prices drop 10% and you're buying up the chain, then it's better for you anyway although your equity takes a hit, the gap is closing by 10%. So forget the days of making huge gains, at least for now, and suck it up and get moving house!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Flock Browser

2008-03-12T10:49:00.003Z

welcome to the social media revolution...

Using my google homepage I was alerted to a Google Groups post from Tim Roll-Pickering about the death of Netscape on the BBC News Website. Having read the story I promptly downloaded and installed the Flock Web browser, plugged in all my details and am very impressed so far. In fact this is my first blog post in about 8 months and that's because Flock has made blog posting much easier!

EventCal Event Calendar

2007-07-25T08:31:00.001+01:00

If you are trying to find things to do or activities for the school holidays, maybe you are looking for events in your area - have a look at www.EventCal.co.uk an online event calendar listing events, gigs, concerts, dog shows, festivals, and many other types of event.

If you are an event organiser, take advantage of the free event listing at www.EventCal.co.uk

Radio Open Source

2007-06-04T10:15:00.000+01:00

If you haven't heard of Radio Open Source, they are "a blog with a radio show" a definite podcast to listen to for the whole blogosphere. Unfortunately, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, one of the funders for the show have decided to not continue their 5 year sponsorship of the program. Therefore in order for a great talk radio show to continue... they need you to donate.

Nobody but you can get Open Source out of a jam.

We’re launching a week-long appeal for support, passing the hat to sustain “the blog with a radio show.”

For Open Source these last two years, it’s taken a global community to build a conversation.

And now we need you as never before: every listener, every guest, everyone who’s ever downloaded a podcast or flavored the site with a comment.

With your encouragement and robust participation, Open Source has become one of the most talked-about experiments in public media — a civil union of online and on-air communities that trust each other to talk about pretty much anything.

So we’re in this together. And now we’re in a bit of an emergency together.

As you may know, we lost a major funder without warning late last year. The University of Massachusetts, Lowell ended a five-year sponsorship agreement in a political shuffle of chancellors.

We’re an independent, non-profit production company, and it has been no small challenge to try to replace half a million dollars a year in six months. We’ve made some progress — a grant from the MacArthur Foundation, not least — and negotiations are underway with several interesting partners.

So the rescue ships are approaching the harbor, and still the wolf is at the door.

We need your help to keep broadcasting through the summer while we try to ink a deal.

If every listener sent one dollar, we’d have more than enough. If just the registered users on our site sent $100 on average, we’d be way over the top. And if you forward this appeal to your ten best friends, we’ll have a vastly bigger base to draw on.

Fraud phone call

2007-04-12T11:09:00.000+01:00

I received a call this morning from an 'Emily' from Red Sky Books. Just wanting to confirm my book donation for the local schools...

I've never heard of Emily before, I've never heard of Red Sky Books, and although it sounds very generous of me, I never donated any books to local schools.

Once quizzed, Emily tells me that I signed up to it in October, and yes there is a cost of £149. She wonders where the mix up must have been, and agrees to check out the details and come back to me. Emily says she can't give out her surname, but she's the only Emily there, and that they are based in Leeds. Website is www.redsky.com and telephone number is 01442 232551.

surprisingly the website and phone number don't exist. Orange can't and won't help and couldn't care less, but if I "report it to the police then Orange's police liason will be in touch". Yes. Quite. I'm sure the police will be keen to hear how I wasn't but could have been a victim of fraud. No crime has been committed, but intent to committ crime - ooh I bet they're right hot on that

Virgin Media and Sky won't share colouring pencils

2007-03-05T09:20:00.001Z

Well there we go. Sky has bullied Virgin media, and Virgin has done
what its Daddy (Richard Branson) would approve of, stood up to the
bully, said no...

...then closed its eyes and waited for the bully to hit them.

Virgin has positioned itself as the underdog. Quite right. They are
the underdog. And they get my support for saying no they won't pay
more to sky, just because they spent too much money on lost and 24.

I don't want virgin to pay any more. I don't want my subscription to
go up. I don't want sky one - if I want to see lost or 24, I'll buy
the dvds (the licensees of which must be rubbing their hands together
in glee). I didn't even know I had sky two, and I'm still not sure I
did. And as for the right wing, daily-mail-esque, minority-bashing,
biased, trivialised, scum-of-society-appealing, excuse for a news
channel - Sky News, well please excuse me while I celebrate that 3.3
million tv customers are spared from being sucked into believing the
trash news that Sky news purvey. Thank goodness that 3.3 million
Virgin TV customers may now be forced to choose one of the other,
hugely better news channels.

BBC News 24 - a good all round channel, but used to be much better.
Has suffered from dumbing down, and succumbing to a tabloid style
presentation and editorial position.

EuroNews - possibly my favourite news channel. They have less scope to
mess about with the news, as it is all footage with commentary. I
don't care for news anchors, I want to see and hear the news.

Al Jazeera news channel. I haven't watched it, it's had some
controversial press, but at least it is kept away from the government
and is not as censored as the other channels.

Anyway, I digress. The point I am trying to make is well done Virgin
Media. Tell Sky to sod off and go and look down the back of their own
subscribers sofas for the money they overspent.

Support our school books for Sierra Leone campaign

2007-02-05T15:13:00.000Z

I noticed an article on the Kent on Sunday website called Support our school books for Sierra Leone campaign. This seems a really worthwhile exercise for people based in Kent. I think that Kent schools should also get involved and use it as an opportunity to learn more about Sierra Leone. With time for the Spring Clean nearly upon us, maybe it's time to ebay your old junk and give the money to not just a good charity, but also one which Kent can create some sort of connection, a connection which can then be leveraged further through visits, video conferencing, phone calls, and best of all, why not combine IT with Geography and use Google Earth for educators

London Array

2007-01-17T14:08:00.000Z

If you are interested in following the news around the London Array then you may be interested in the London Array Blog

The London Array Blog is keeping track of opinion, news, and information about the building of the giant wind farm off the north kent coast/essex coast/out into the thames estuary

Treks, Hikes, Expeditions

2006-11-23T13:17:00.000Z

I'm contacting a few people now to start up trek blogs on the BackAtBasecamp website. BackAtBasecamp is an online magazine for anyone partaking, organising, or involved with treks, hikes, and expeditions - be they charity, commercial or personal.

You can write your own trek blog, letting all your friends, family, and supporters know how you are getting on with the training, and eventually the trek - you can then include your photos too.

The website will include articles and stories from people involved, along with equipment reviews, and event information/ an trek calendar.

If you would like to get involved, write a blog or an article, contact the editor here

Sport Sponsorship

2006-11-16T10:33:00.000Z

Came accross a book on Sport Sponsorship written by a guy called Rob Owen. As someone interested in sponsorship I think it looks a really good overview of the whole discipline and how it fits into the sport industry's wholee financial model.

For anyone studying, learning, or practising in the sport sponsorship world I would highly reccomend it as an excellent read! More information is on his website http://www.SportsSponsorshipBook.co.uk/ or you can by the book from Amazon