Author name: David Parkin

I DON’T know about you, but watching the Masters golf just wasn’t the same this year. And you don’t need to be Hercule Poirot to work out why. Holding it in November rather than the traditional slot in early April meant we couldn’t feast our eyes on the flaming azaleas and other blooming delights that […]

I’VE not built the network I have on Linkedin by being particularly fussy when it comes to invitations. While the rump of people I’m connected to I know well or have met at least once, I’ve always been keen to add those I don’t know if they look like they will be an interesting connection.

MY idea for a fantasy dinner party based on the “rule of six” where you are allowed to invite five guests, living or dead, has had a huge response. OK, two people have bothered to send their suggestions. Food entrepreneur Mike Firth said the topic and title of his dinner party would be: “What the

LET’S start with some good news. It was announced this week that the former chairman and chief executive of technology giant 3M has been named as the new chancellor of my alma mater the University of Huddersfield. Sir George Buckley gained a BSc in electrical and electronic engineering from the university in 1972 and went

FAREWELL then Harry Gration. The BBC veteran departed the Look North studio stage left this week after a 42-year career with Auntie. I’m never sure what qualifies someone to be described as a “legend”. I suppose over four decades as a thoroughly nice bloke on the telly must qualify. Mind you, I think becoming a

HERE’S one for you. Who is the rudest restaurateur you have ever encountered? When it comes to Leeds, some might say up until the closure of La Grillade a few years ago, it was an easy choice. But even the irascible Gallic patron of the Wellington Street institution that operated for more than three decades

UP to a couple of days ago, if you had asked me what links I had to the world of organised crime and money laundering, I’d have said watching Goodfellas and McMafia on television. But that was before headlines splashed across the national news this week about a Leeds businessman accused of being a “serial

IF you think you’ve seen the pose above before, then you are right. Kays catalogue circa 1986. I was always struck by some of the nonchalant stances struck by models for the glossy chunky tome that used to drop onto the doormat twice a year. And I’m not talking about the women’s lingerie section. No,

WHAT a difference a day makes. On Tuesday I was basking in sunshine sipping an americano outside a Leeds city centre coffee shop as lawyers and accountants waved cheery greetings. To be fair, most of them were in insolvency which perhaps explains their sunny dispositions. The city appeared to have regained a little of its

I’M on a business development drive. I thought about leafleting firms on industrial estates. I considered putting cards with photos of me in a sexy pose in phone boxes. And if you doubt I can strike a sexy pose, then you are wrong. I used to have a Filipino yoga teacher who taught me quite