Tag: Charlatans
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Whale Being
Unless you are self-employed, you are likely part of a 21st century workforce and will almost certainly been struck by the wave of organisational well-being initiatives. Bosses are frantically setting up helplines, arranging gym discounts, and handing out snack-sized, sample nutty bars among the seemingly more level-headed of interventions. I’ve also witnessed aromatherapists, magicians, and…
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Out of Sleight
Hold my beer – Lord Frost has been elevated to the Cabinet to be the new minister for the EU, and it is not immediately clear whether this is a move for political continuity with our continental chums or a burst of peak trolling. He clearly knows the brief after leading negotiations, but it oozes…
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Wrong End
Folllwing a brief break from the spotlight, Diabolic Cummings is back, this time concerning the £540k contract allegedly passed to his friends without any formal tender process. Sounds ominous. And worse still, the Cabinet Office spunked up some COVID crapola as their justification. Yet, the real battle on wasteful government procurement ought perhaps to focus…
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Face the Music
Without wishing to say, ‘I told you so’, I told you so. Trump’s acquittal was not certain but was certainly overwhelmingly likely on the evidence, or lack thereof. Yet given the bonkers twists and turns of this comedic process, logic and good sense at times appeared discarded at the door. We might have thought that…
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We Aren’t Family
I am no longer forcibly immersed in the excruciating workplace rituals of the modern office, so the occasional petal of pretentious word confetti is generally no truly onerous psychological burden. But the notion of the ‘work family‘ manifestly grinds my gears. It reeks of perverse potential. Matt Hancock just slipped in a reference to ‘our…
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Sky’s the Limit
While COVID might be debilitating ever-increasing numbers of the population, Sky is following up with its own assault on the nation’s mental health, not to mention insulting its intelligence. The TV/Broadband company is now spitting out renewal letters with a twist. Headed, ‘We’re now giving you another 12 months of savings’, it all seems a…
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The Wheels on the Bus
While playground politics trundle on, let’s revert to an old favourite and arguably where the present penchant for political misdirection started to grow arms and legs. You’ve got it – the big, red, Brexit bus and those now infamous words: We send the EU £350m a week / let’s fund our NHS instead When Vote…
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Iceberg Letters
According to well-placed sources, Royal Mail delivers about 14.4 billion letters and, combined with Parcelforce, approximately 1.2 billion parcels per annum. That’s a big old money tree, right there. Yet for a flagship enterprise, they still cannot get the basics right. In spite of ‘exhaustive planning’, some customers may be experiencing ‘slightly longer delivery timescales…
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Far Cycle
If there is one concession to be made in these so-called EU negotiations, it is that both sides have an act that they could take on the road. What a masterclass in double-speak and spin-tastic melodrama. Both camps have known for years how this was all going to play out, and it has been one…
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Abstained Character
Now, I do get the concept of abstention. It is a signal to express disdain for both options of a Hobson’s choice. In other contexts, it is a luxury; a risk-free gesture when a vote one way or another changes nothing. It is used as a ploy to avoid confrontation with opposing, warring factions, but…
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