Witterings from The Burbs

IF you're a Tory

2012-03-24T07:12:00.001+00:00

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing their jobs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting as lack of education;
If you can wait but also apply knee-jerk headline solutions,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies except your own,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating by those that ‘just don’t understand’,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream about re-election – and pretend re-election is not your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with the Media and the Opinion Polls
And treat those two impostors just the same regardless;
If you can’t bear to hear the truth others have spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things others gave their life to, broken,
And stoop and crush 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings and keep them apart
And risk on one turn of pitch-and-toss the winnings of others,
And lose, and start again without conscience
And never breathe a word about their loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To hold your view long after you are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you of substance
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on, I am always right!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings – and avoid the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If no men count with you, but most none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Party and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Tory leader, my son!

So, let's talk about benefits...

2012-02-06T12:01:00.000+00:00

If you're a single male with no dependents don't ever run out of work under this government! A single male, 48 years old finds himself out of work, wrongfully dismissed from a job he was good at by a boss that was in all sorts of trouble with the law. The boss decided one day just to sack him, without cause, reason or notice. He tried to avoid signing on so that he could pick up small bits of work here and there but he was conscious that his rent is £1050 per month and with bills on top he needed to find about £1400 per month to keep on top of things.

A few months later with his savings diminished he became desperate and decided that he had no choice but to see what the authorities could do for him. He signed on online which was pretty simple, he then attended the optimistically named 'JobCentre' where he had to declare that he was available for work etc. As he has a lodger the JobCentre folk advised him that he wouldn't be available for Job Seekers Allowance, even though the lodgers rent only went part way towards the overall cost of running the house. Indeed the rent from the lodger was considered a 'source of income'. So, he still had to sign on every fortnight but would have to claim Housing Benefit from the local council. (This could be a cynical way of keeping him off the JSA stats but who knows..?) The local council was very helpful and immediately granted him about £800 per month which with the lodgers rent meant that he could stop worrying about his home. The council said that his situation would be reviewed in 13 weeks time to see if his circumstances had changed, all this seemed quite reasonable and he was able to focus on finding full-time employment.

13 weeks later his Housing Benefit cheque arrived but instead of the usual £800 it was just £160. He called the council to be told that his situation had been reviewed and that his initial 13 week 'protected period' had passed and that they had scaled his benefit back. There had been no discussion, the review had happened and the decision had been made. There was no recourse. The lady at the council advised that he should find a smaller property, a single roomed property which would obviously mean de-homing the lodger and suffering the expense of moving, finding another deposit, selling some of his furnishings etc (he had the right amount of stuff for a 2 bed house)...he didn't think their solution was viable or sensible but they did add that they would be able to pay him considerably more if he didn't have a lodger, and then he'd also be eligible for Job Seekers Allowance (£67 per week).

He decided that he could probably find work that would pay him £40 per week so signed off. What choice did he have with a £600 shortfall to pay the rent and the restriction of signing on which means you can't earn any money at all before they adjust your benefits...or cancel them entirely!

I read about people on invalidity benefit that have won the lottery, and about families from other countries in £1000 per week properties all paid for by the state...now YOU have read about a true life story of a person that has ALWAYS worked, has contributed huge amounts over the years, that was born and bred here and that has been offered just £40 per week on which to pay his rent and bills and live. Incredible but true...again, I say if you're a single male you better hang on to that job, assuming you have that luxury.

The start of things to come...

2011-10-09T16:31:00.000+01:00

September 13th came around dreadfully slowly, my employer really didn't want me to go, which was flattering but annoying, especially as I was being paid as a consultant with no contract! I played their game and they got 6 weeks notice out of me, ho hum!

TC and I live in the same village so we drove together to the office which was only a few miles away. On arrival I was given a security pass (it was a serviced office with maybe 15 companies in it) and a key to our office. TC had already bought me a nice shiny new laptop and so I started setting that up and installing 'Office' and then I had to add a domain for our email etc (I don't think I mentioned that part of my offering to the new job was that I have quite good IT skills having worked in IT for about 15 years). We had a website. Mr O had commissioned some guy to create a website a couple of months previously, I looked at it, looked at TC, frowned and we both agreed it was rubbish. We also agreed that the company name was a rubbish name for a website and that we needed something much more catchy and marketable. It was becoming obvious already that Mr O had zero idea about marketing but that was fine as TC and I knew what we wanted and needed to do. Mr O was shortly on the phone, apparently he'd had a row with his wife and wanted TC to cancel her car insurance for her Porsche. As it turned out TC looked after all these details for Mr O as I guess it was just easier for him to bark instructions at TC than to try and do something for himself.

That or the next day the email was sorted so that TC could start to receive email on his @companydomain.com address rather than his BTInternet address, a small success but one that started to put us on the map. We were a proper company now. TC was still awaiting confirmation of our VAT number and registration but we had a Consumer Credit Licence and we had Data Protection Registration - things were coming together!

When Mr O called TC about the insurance he didn't ask about me. I think he'd probably forgotten I was starting that day, but hey what can you expect of a busy billionaire? Once we'd got the basic infrastructure sorted out we started drawing up lists of things we needed to cover. It was in these first few days that I began to feel sorry for TC, he'd been doing all this totally on his own to date and everyone needs someone to bounce things off, grab a sandwich with, have an after work drink with...I really thought we were onto something, something that could be great and fun, and profitable, and that people and businesses would like.

At lease it's a job...

2011-10-09T15:30:00.000+01:00

I haven't written about this before but the last 12 months have been a real eye-opener for me, culminating in me now being on the dole and looking for a job. Back in August 2010 I was relatively happy in my job as a Client Engagement Manager for a local 'Green' company that promoted all things that were low carbon, I had some faith in the business model and wasn't looking for a new role. A long standing friend who had been working in the car leasing and contract hire business for many years was telling me over a beer how he's been approached by a wealthy client to set up a new car leasing operation. This client was very very wealthy, allegedly a billionaire. My friend whom I shall refer to as TC was becoming disillusioned in his current role and was seriously considering taking up the clients offer. It would be a well funded business with TC as the MD, it would be local and he would be well paid with all sorts of benefits on the table if the business grew the way the client, whom we shall call Mr O, envisaged. Mr O had set up a similar business overseas which turned over about £700m in 2009 and was still growing.

The future seemed bright for TC, he was spending his time meeting with Coutts and creating business plans, talking to suppliers and 'managing' Mr O's business dealings. It did seem to me, even after just a few conversations with TC that Mr O was very dependent upon him and was very demanding. TC told me that he could manage that aspect of the job and was enjoying being in the lead role with a 'money no object' approach. It wasn't too many weeks before TC advised me that he was looking to hire someone that could assist with the sales and marketing of the business now that the main infrastructure was established. TC didn't pitch to me directly but certainly made me think. Having pondered the conversation we'd had I called TC and suggested that maybe I could help him out to which he replied that he'd be delighted to have me on board but hadn't wanted to try to pull me out of a job that he said I appeared to enjoy. I was excited by the opportunity. I should add at this point that I had also spent many years in the leasing business so knew the ropes and certainly knew how to sell the concept. Indeed I thought that the combination of myself and TC would be very positive as we both knew each other well and trusted each other implicitly. Mr O apparently liked the idea that TC knew me and trusted me. Mr O as it turned out, and not unlike a lot of wealthy or famous people is massively concerned, even paranoid about not being taken for a ride. I met Mr O a couple of times in The Lanesborough Hotel. Mr O is a curious individual. I didn't catch a lot of what he said even though I was sat next to him. He is foreign, he mumbles and still has a strong accent and a limited grasp of English. He smoked continuously and devoured the complimentary Olives as if they were his first meal in several days. I recall he asked me a few things about myself and then resumed his conversation with TC. That was my interview! I had a new job.

Over the next few weeks TC found an online 'business forms' website and downloaded a standard employment contract, we negotiated my salary and once that was agreed TC emailed me the contract to authorise. My start date was to be September 13th.

It'll cost you if you're unfairly dismissed!

2011-10-05T11:13:00.000+01:00

The Government thinks that too many small businesses are being taken to court by disgruntled former employees who believe they have been wrongly or unfairly dismissed. Ok, so there's no denying that we all now live in a compensation and litigation culture, thanks largely to 'no win no fee' lawyers advertising on TV as a result of lax regulation in the USA. Surely though the idea of the legal system being open to all means that those with certain responsibilities have a duty to understand the implications of their actions? I mean, if an employer simply decides to fire an employee for reasons known only to the employer then he only has himself to blame, basically he is being an idiot. The employer has a duty to understand what he can and can't legally do, as with every other aspect of his business. He wouldn't expect to be let off paying his VAT because he was feeling a bit grumpy! The employer, by the very act of employing, needs to know the law and if he or she applies the law the way it is written he or she won't end up in court.

So, anyway, instead of looking at it that way, our Govt has decided to penalise potentially those that have been wronged rather then those that failed to understand their obligations as employers. There will soon be a fee to be paid up front by anyone wanting to take an employer to a tribunal, the fee will only be refunded to the claimant if the claimant wins the case. This will potentially stop genuine claimants from bringing a case and will allow tryrannical employers to wipe their hands of their obligations.

The chances are that the claimant will probably be the poorer of the two parties and so why should they be further penalised? The law should be open to everyone, regardless of how much money you have and this could distinctly drop the ball into the employers court.

More Cameron nonsense

2011-10-05T10:39:00.000+01:00

So our illustrious leader is of the opinion that a whole bunch of UK citizens, who regularly use credit cards, can simply go and pay them off today. He thinks that we have the money just sitting there and he obviously also thinks that we're stupid enough to sit there accruing interest when we COULD just pay off the debt or debts. This is one of two things. The PM utilising a very bad choice of words to make a point about credit or The PM being extraordinarily out of touch with the average man and woman in the street that generally use credit cards to make the month fit into the money or alternatively use cards as a convenient payment method and regularly pay them off each month, the way my Mum does, religiously.

I'm afraid that our PM is just woefully out of touch.

Speed Limits Nonsense

2011-09-30T14:02:00.000+01:00

Ok, so let's look at some facts here. Ignore the Clarksonesque witterings for a minute. Driving at 80mph instead of 70mph will save you about 3 minutes of a one hour journey, it will make your car about 11% less efficient and over a year it would add 20% to your motoring costs. Add to this that as we are constantly told 'Speed Kills' and we will inevitably see more accidents and by virtue more deaths. Increasing the speed limit will NOT put the country back on its feet, it will merely add to the amount of tax we pay on fuel, servicing, tyres etc BUT a lot of people like the idea so it could be a vote winner. Great! And we haven't even mentioned increasing smog and carbon emissions! Oh and how many times can you actually get to the maximum speed limit? Never on the M25, M1, M4, M3, M40 unless it's midnight!

Dale Farm

2011-09-05T11:21:00.000+01:00

In the village where I live we have more than our fair share of travellers, and I have to say that I don't much like it. I don't like seeing Chinese take away cartons strewn over the pavements or left on top of the bin that served as a temporary table. I don't much like the way they take over the car park and I can only imagine how intimidated our senior villagers must feel when out and about. Travellers don't do themselves any favours when they abuse locals and the village and they haven't won any friends here. I also completely agree that the law is the law and that everyone should comply with regulations that however onerous are drawn up by elected representatives to protect the rights and freedom of the communities they serve.

I do however have serious concerns about making 300+ people including over 100 children homeless at Dale Farm in Basildon. Looking back it seems that despite the fact that the UK has some 300,000 travellers, actually being a traveller was outlawed in 1994 under the Major government and local authorities were tasked with taking responsibility for providing land that the travellers could develop as homes and communities, this was probably a knee-jerk reaction to the then 'trendy' uprising of the 'New Age Travellers' who basically had no other cultural claim to being a minority outside of their uniform desire to do nothing and be paid for doing nothing by the state. New Age travellers seem to have faded out but of course the legislation affects the 'genuine' traveller to this day.

Note: Gypsies and Travellers are a long established ethnic group in Britain. Their histories and

traditions stretch back many hundreds of years. Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers are recognised as ethnic groups and are therefore covered by the provisions in the Race Relations Act 1976.

So being a traveller became illegal and laybys became free of caravans. I doubt anybody noticed, and even fewer cared except perhaps for the Local Authorities who now had a bit more work to do. In March 2005 the Government also increased the Local Authorities / Police powers to immediately react to unlawful encampments, these were called Temporary Stop Notices which allow local authorities to act quickly to stop any further development on unlawful sites. So Local Authorites have to take up the slack and have to have sufficient land available for development by travellers where planning permissions would be granted subject to the normal guidelines.

An extract from the guidance is here: Planning for Gypsy and Traveller Caravan Sites

(ODPM 01/06) which contains new guidance in relation to planning for Gypsy and Traveller caravan sites.

The new circular places a duty on local planning authorities to identify land for Gypsy and Traveller sites within their local plans (development plan documents), in line with need. The local authority will be able to put socially rented sites on the land which has been identified and Gypsies and Travellers will be able to apply for planning permission to develop the land privately.

So it would appear that Basildon Council or Essex County Council has been somewhat lax in challenging illegal camping when it first occurred and lax at finding and offering alternative appropriate land so that 10 years later we have the situation we have today. The travellers have been offered council houses apparently but they have rejected them as to accept would split the community up into disparate family groups, something that is contrary to their culture and lifestyle. It's easy to argue that they should take what's been offered but they have power in numbers and for a group that has constantly been marginalized throughout history, albeit primarily due to their constant desire not to conform, it's easy to understand their concerns.

I have heard that £18 million of the Council's budget will be spent ousting the travellers from Dale Farm and that to me sounds like an awful lot of money in these times of austerity to evict people that will have to be rehoused anyway. There has to be a better way, evicting 300+ people in a so called civilised society in 2011 is not the right answer, and I personally believe that their right to shelter comes ahead of planning law.

The local authorities have an obligation to offer alternative land, not just council houses, their obligation whether they like it of not is for the holistic welfare of the travellers, not just for legislating against them and moving them on! From the travellers' perspective, they have openly declared their desire to move somewhere else and if offered appropriate land they will be packed up and on the move in minutes. Who is missing a trick here? Basildon and Essex County get your heads together, find a better and probably cheaper, less controversial solution and let's all move on, in peace!

Social Media for business...how?

2009-08-19T13:41:00.000+01:00

It seems that a lot of businesses think that social media means having a presence on Facebook, a Twitter account and maybe a presence on LinkedIn for some of their executives. Couldn't be farther from the truth, in fact if that's all you're going to do you are digging a hole for yourself that will actually alienate rather than enlighten customers.

The principle behind social media is that the internet is providing a medium for people to socialise. Imagine, as The Cluetrain Manifesto says, that we're back in the middle-ages when people went to markets in their local Town. Why do you think they went? Was it solely to purchase food and drink, clothes and crockery? No, it was a social thing, it was about people getting together and communicating. They also invariably came away with food etc but that was the "end-game" and not the driver. The Industrial revolution changed the way people do business, it went to a Command & Control basis, through production line manufacturing and people clocking in, performing repetitive tasks and then clocking out and going home. The internet is changing things back. Anyone can, with a little effort, talk to anyone anywhere on the planet - there is no clocking in. They will discuss themselves and their families, link to their friends and share photos of their holidays and achievements. They will also, of course, discuss their experiences:- "Don't anyone ever go to Jack's Restaurant in Wooton-by-the-water as it is the worst place on earth for service, and the food was cold, and expensive!" Not the most enlightened comment perhaps, but it could have a devastating affact on Jack's if enough people read it! If someone you know posted that on Facebook and you saw it, would you still go to Jack's?

This is where the medium of being sociable takes off, this where people share experience and this where business has to be very very careful. But, caution aside, if you as a business owner are a good listener, and a listener who acts, you'll probably get away with whatever attempts you make to engage. Remember, it's about the conversation, it's about admitting when things go wrong and doing something about it. Put your company on Facebook, see how many people engage with you, you may be underwhelmed! Put a place on your own website for feedback, monitor it closely, act on whatever is served up, and publicly say what you did, then you're going to start growing a band of followers.

Creating a band of happy followers is the key to sucess. If LargeCorp PLC moved its advertising budget to a listening budget its sales would go through the roof. If you're a smaller business you have an advantage over LargeCorp PLC - you probably have the resources they don't have, you probably have a smaller client base and you possibly have some time but limited budget. The window of opportunity is open to small business, the chance to mix things up and be seen as a better place for people to spend their money is here, grasp it with both hands and reap the rewards!

Trains and stuff

2009-07-25T10:48:00.000+01:00

So now that I have sold the Merc' which was lovely but didn't make economic sense, using it once a week at the most, I am using public transport. The Trainline dot com is supposed to offer up the cheapest routes, quickest connections and just general info on when trains run from sleepy anywhere, in my case Iver in Bucks. The trainline it seems is about as accurate as Mystic Meg. 3 times in one week it was completely wrong. My train down to Devon last Friday should have arrived at 12:30 and at that exact moment I was still in Taunton whilst my 70 year old Mum looked for me in Kingsteignton! Now my Mum, like many I suspect, only switches her mobile on when she wants to make a call, that somehow makes sense to her, anyway because of that I couldn't get hold of her to let her know I was still an hour away! Trainline said Iver to Oxford on a thursday morning, depart at 07:45 arrives 08:56, that's ideal I thought, but it was only a chance conversation with the Romanian ticket clerk that I found out I had to change at Slough or I wouldn't arrive in Oxford until August! Unreal. Sundays are a complete wash-out because trains don't stop in Iver, makes getting on them a bit tricky. I'm getting a lift to Uxbridge later with Rocky, it's only 5 miles or so but on public transport it would take forever, back to cars then! Being ecofriendly isn't always that easy you know.

Local Authority Money Management

2009-03-05T08:26:00.000+00:00

Harlow Council is closing its JobCentre and advice centres because it's out of cash, meanwhile Richmond Council with help from Boris is spending £6m doing up a park. Is it just me or are the priorities slightly wrong here?

AIG

2009-03-04T15:41:00.001+00:00

Lost £40 Billion in 3 months. Maybe it's not your core competence...? Could try something else...?

2009-03-04T08:43:00.000+00:00

So Cadbury is committing that Dairy Milk will carry the Fairtrade Mark by the end of this summer! That is an astounding achievement by The Foundation, well done to all concerned. Ok, so most people know that Cadbury has been a very benevolent organisation since its creation but this is still a massive step given the volume of bars of Dairy Milk that Cadbury sells! I'm not sure what the impact will be on the other more niche Fairtrade chocolate companies such as Divine! My old pal Alistair at Divine has done sterling work over the last few years establishing Divine as the first choice Fairtrade chocolate brand, and he has overcome some huge challenges in that quest.

Fairtrade Only models suffer several challenges:-

1. Their buying power is limited due to their smaller scale, meaning that over and above the increased price they pay for raw material, they also pay more per Kilo for shipping, processing, packing, labelling and marketing.
2. Increased per Kilo costs mean that generally they don't have budgets to "buy-in" the best talent available and often have to hire people with less experience, albeit huge enthusiasm.
3. Their scalability is limited by cash-flow in that even if they land a huge order, can they fund it?

The increasing adoption of Fairtrade as a mainstream practice by the likes of Tate & Lyle, Cadbury and Nestle is all good news for producers in developing economies but what does it do for the sustainability of smaller Fairtrade focused businesses in mature economies? Are we going to see KP or Nobby's go with Fairtrade nuts soon? What would that do for the Fairtrade Only Liberation Foods who have recently launched Harry's Nuts with the comedian Harry Hill?

The real irony here is that the producers will benefit to the detriment of the marketeers that have worked in Fairtrade for years! The Big Boys adopt Fairtrade, it becomes mainstream and 100 people in smaller businesses lose their jobs! How fair is that? Or, does it just say even more about the precarious nature of a Fairtrade Only business? Oh, and just as a final thing to think about...the vast majority of Fairtrade Certified producers don't rely on Fairtrade, they sell their produce on conventional markets as well as to Fairtrade buyers!

Eased Lending Criteria, my arse!

2009-02-19T15:19:00.000+00:00

A very good friend of mine has got themselves into a bit of a pickle with credit cards, only two of them, but one is full and the other is half full. They have a good job that they have had for more than 10 years, and they own their own home with nearly 50% equity, even at the lowest valuation! Black Horse have offered an unsecured loan only at an earth-shattering 20.9% AER - the credit card interest is just over 16% so please tell me how that will help? Add to the above that this person has one of the best Experian reports I have ever seen in my life!

Don't we own half of that Bank? Are they not propped up with OUR money? Are they not supposed to be helping people that have a need?

This is what is really going on folks, the banks have lost fortunes through greed and despite being propped up by our tax money they are now trying to crawl back some of their losses by over-charging the very people that have saved them from their imminent demise! The very people that contributed to their over-inflated bonuses in the good days! "Bankers" indeed, perfect rhyming slang!

2009-02-19T10:19:00.000+00:00

So, redundant huh? Again! The last time was back in the 80's when I and many others were kicked into touch by a highly dubious company that sold rental agreements to Nursing Homes etc. It was a badly run business, focused on greed and blind to the needs of the customer. Reminiscent of where our Banks found themselves recently!

Greed is NOT good, regardless of the movie Wall St! It is not sustainable and only sustainable businesses provide job security which inspires consumer confidence. Most people haven't actually got less money than they had two months ago but what is much different is how confident they are in having that same amount of money next month! It doesn't really matter what the government does with interest rates or VAT, those changes do not inspire confidence, in fact they have the opposite effect and actually stink of desperation!

The only real answer unfortunately is to let the bad businesses fail and support new enterprise that will reflect the changing skills and lifestyles of our population. If that is KFC then let it be.

Trying to hold off a recession is like trying to hold back the tide, you can dam it for a while but then when the dam finally breaks the impact is 10 times worse. There is plenty of evidence of where successive administrations have fought to hold back recession and in all cases they failed. There may have been the odd temporary blip of comfort but in economies where supply continually outpaces demand (see cars, cookers, TV's etc etc) there is always going to be an ultimate price. In economies where demand outstrips supply in the case of food for the global south, then there will always be hardship, outrageous inflation and poverty. The idealist here will comment that there should be some balance with the global north supporting the global south but that flies in the face of market driven economies. Greed will get in the way, again. A symptom of man unfortunately!