Blog

ONE of the best perks I ever had was a press pass to the Houses of Parliament. The weight of history combined with knowing that you were here in the “Mother of Parliaments” was genuinely awe-inspiring. And the subsidised press bar and restaurant was nice too. I used to take guests for a short tour, […]

THE stand off between the Government and a majority of Yorkshire councils over regional devolution is starting to resemble Monty Python’s dead parrot sketch. You remember the one – where customer John Cleese has bought a parrot which is dead but pet shop owner Michael Palin is trying to convince him it is alive. It

WITH his sombre tone and measured words, Donald Trump struck a strangely presidential figure as he reacted to the Las Vegas massacre, the kind of scene we have rarely seen since the President took office in January. Similar words on his Twitter feed looked oddly out of place, juxtaposed as they were coming closely after

THE sun was threatening to push itself through the clouds above York Racecourse bathing the Knavesmire in an early morning autumnal hue. There is nothing that compensates for having to get up in the dark than arriving at your destination and being inspired by the setting. As I walked out onto the balcony of the

IF I’d known writing about Asda would create so much interest, I’d have done it years ago. As well as being emailed out to more than 7,000 people I also publish this blog on Linkedin. Last week’s set a record with 5,850 views on Linkedin and 146 likes. Interestingly 671 people from Asda read the

THEY used to run a scheme at Asda’s head office in Leeds called the Golden Cone Awards. Staff, or “colleagues” as the supermarket likes to call them, voted for the most effective and popular team members who then were allowed to park in a space marked by a golden traffic cone right outside the front

HULL has really embraced its title of UK City of Culture with a gusto that is impressive. Cultural events are happening on a daily basis throughout 2017 and the East Yorkshire city now provides a case study of how to leverage such an opportunity to maximum benefit. It has been so successful that it has

GOLF is not something I spend much time playing these days but when an invitation was received from David Ansbro, the former UK and European boss of law firm Eversheds, I jumped at the opportunity. David is one of those rare individuals who combine warmth, humour, intelligence and wisdom along with a complete absence of

THE BBC 4 channel had a surprising TV hit on its hands last year when it put a camera on the footplate of a train travelling down the East Coast Main Line. I think I’ve come up with a sequel. I’m going to get a drone to fly over the champagne bar at York Racecourse

EVERY week I spend part of my Friday morning deleting several hundred automatic email out of office replies to this blog. Most of them have the usual message about being away from the office on holiday or on a day off and details of when the person will be back at their desk. You spot