Akpr

10/10/2022

JOHN Simpson, BBC World Affairs Editor, reporting from an underground bunker of a hotel in Kiev at the age of 78.
Were it not for these remarkable journalists, people like my friend Lynne O'Donnell, as well as the teams that support them, the world would not know what is going on in dark places like Ukraine and Afghanistan.
It is one of the great privileges of my career to have been awarded membership of the Frontline Club, whose number includes many war reporters and foreign correspondents.
The club helps to support these brave journalists with practical items like helmets and flack jackets, as well as with first aid and other training.
My hope, at some stage, is to be able to go and see for myself our work in places like Ukraine.

04/10/2022

DURING the leadership campaign Liz Truss made much of her interest in numbers and mathematics.
However, she seems to struggle to understand that as a consequences of the mini budget, for many households, savings made on energy bills, will be more than wiped out by increased costs, especially for those with mortgages.
Does she also not understand that any changes such as to stamp duty to encourage the property market is wasted when people face rocketing mortgage interest increases?
Being good at maths is not the same as understanding numbers as Ms Truss ably demonstrates.

27/10/2021

18/08/2021

THE terrible situation in Afghanistan and the UK’s part in it brings many lessons but little hope that they will be learned.

Many ordinary Afghanistan’s, as well as our brave servicemen and women, have been betrayed and left to their fate. Nothing required the UK and the western powers to get involved but having done so there was an obligation to see it through, not walk away.

Again the UK, like the tragic comic character Hyacinth Bucket, gets involved in these things in a pathetic bid to ‘keep up appearances’ and cling to a past that is long gone.

No longer a great world power economically and militarily, a situation that has existed since the end of world war two, the UK continues with the delusion that it is, to cling to symbolic baubles that it can no longer afford like ‘an independent nuclear deterrent’ that the wise know is neither independent or a deterrent. To believe that we are better off outside the European family of nations working together. To believe that the UK is best served by basking in the dim sunlight of reflected glory as the 'Groom of the King's Close Stool' in our relationship with the USA.

In 1962 the former American Secretary of State Dean Acheson said: ‘Great Britain Has Lost an Empire But Not Yet Found a Role.’ That is as true today as it was 60 years ago and brings a bitter price for the people of the UK and third parties like Afghanistan.

For individuals, as for countries and businesses, coming to terms with a diminished status can be tough but the price of failing to do so is high.

17/08/2021

NOT many may have noticed but the expulsion from Russia of the excellent BBC journalist Sarah Rainsford is bad news.
Sarah is on her second tour in Moscow, having served in Istanbul and Madrid as well as Cuba resulting in her superb book ' Our women in Havana.'
She is a skilled and brave journalist who recently reported from Belarus. Just the kind of person authoritarian regimes do not like.
Journalists, including those of us less well known than Sarah, are at the front line of preserving freedom and holding those in authority to account.

15/08/2021

I FEEL so sorry for the people of Afghanistan, especially the women.
For all who have list loved ones fighting in that country, for all the servicemen and women who have returned with broken minds and bodies.
It has been an exercise in futility and I am afraid anyone who says otherwise is either trying to fool themselves or others, perhaps both.
The pygmies that determine our foreign policy go into these 'adventures' without understanding the consequences and any idea of an exit strategy. Are we or the world any safer for this act of folly, is the future for the people of Afghanistan any brighter than it was 20 years ago?

13/08/2021

AS the perceptive John James in another post observes, for all the terrible things we were told Covid-19 has done to our young people and their education, if the 'A' level and GCSE results are anything to go by, it seems to have actually made them 20 per cent cleverer.

13/08/2021

FRIEND or acquaintance?
A friend asks 'how are you' because they want to know, an acquaintance often uses it as a salutation. Do you feel you can tell them the truth?
Split reverse this. When you ask someone this do you really want to know. If they tell you they feel bad or have a worry or problem do you really want to know, to listen and be supportive?
Using this test most people can probably count the number of true friends they have on the fingers of one hand if they are lucky.

12/08/2021

FRIEND or acquaintance?
A friend asks 'how are you' because they want to know, an acquaintance often uses it as a salutation. Do you feel you can tell them the truth?
Split reverse this. When you ask someone this do you really want to know? If they tell you they feel bad or have a worry or problem do you really want to know, to listen and be supportive?
Using this test most people can probably count the number of true friends they have on the fingers of one hand if they are lucky.

11/08/2021

WHAT do you call someone who sees positives in everything?
Dangerously delusional.
Of course, positivity is a good thing but I hate the fake 'have a nice day' cheerfulness that you get from some people.
The great thing about dogs and cats is you cannot fake it. They know if you are feeling up or down. This little cat that I came across on the golf course, could see I was having a tough day and came and rubbed round me, as cats do, which made me feel a bit better.

10/08/2021

WHEN people ask for an opinion or advice or when we ask the same of others it is worth trying to decide what they or we really want.
Often it is not really advice they or we seek but reassurance and confirmation of what they or we have already decided.
Which ever side of the fence we are on, giving or asking for advice, we should always remember that advisors do just that, advise not decide.

09/08/2021

A WONDERFUL mushroom. Can anyone tell me anything about this wonderful fungus on a tree in a park near my home?
I find the natural world a great stabiliser in a busy professional life.
One day we will all rest in earth and life will go on. Our wealth, status or our material possessions will count for nothing but the memories that people have of us will live on.
These and our genes are the only footprints any of us will leave on the sands of time.

08/08/2021

ANDREW and I had a pleasant working lunch on Friday with our friends and colleagues Nancy Duan and Graham Welland.
We got to puzzling why so many people seem to admire and crave the label 'serial entrepreneur.'
In our, not inconsiderable collective experience, these are usually people who move regularly from one failure to another, often leaving behind a trail of unpaid suppliers and other wreckage.

06/08/2021

I WAS saddened to hear of the death of Roger Vanstone.
It was many years ago when I first met Roger. I cannot say I knew him well but we met periodically for a coffee, glass of wine or a beer and to talk business and sport. As a young man Roger was a good cricketer, on the edge of first class professional standard and he told me he once opened the batting at Lords.
I know he had a long battle with cancer and it was obvious from his social media postings that it was a battle he was bravely losing. Sadly, we did not get to have that last lunch. Rest well in the sweet by and by, big man.

05/08/2021

WHY do I make reference to sport so often on business platforms?
Because it can teach us in business so much.
1. That whilst enthusiasm, dedication and hard work are important for success, they are not in themselves enough.
2. That we can only learn so much from the Internet and books. Having people with knowledge and experience to help us is vital.
3. That practice does not make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.
4. That keeping doing the same thing and expecting different outcomes is madness.
5. That we should have concentrate on what we can control and have the wisdom to recognise what we cannot.
6. That luck is a big part of success or failure but not something on which to offload blame.
7. The importance of humility in success and grace in defeat.
I could go on but enough for now.

04/08/2021

WITH my friend and colleague Paul, a great photographer, who has worked for the national press and many leading corporates.
Great to have him on the team. He is also a fine golfer who has played on the pro tour and is helping me. He has given me some lovely clubs but I wonder if they are wasted on me.
The way I am playing at the moment perhaps Chris Packham has a point: 'golf, walking round, hitting a little ball with a stick, ridiculous.'

03/08/2021

I LOVE the BBC, so never thought I would hear myself say this but I am preferring the Eurosport coverage of the Olympics.
With the BBC, I feel it is too much about the ego of the presenters.
The evening coverage feels like the Clare Balding and Alex Scott show with the sporting action an unfortunate but unavoidable inconvenience.
If the BBC's highest paid 'talent' are a football programme anchor and a Radio 2 pop jockey then something is wrong.

02/08/2021

MOTIVATION and dedication are not the same and often get confused.
Motivation, like all emotions comes and goes, it's waking at 6am on a sunny summer morning, feeling great and going for a run. Dedication is waking at 6am on a cold and wet winter morning, feeling like a bag of you know what and going for a run.
Laziness and rest are likewise not the same thing but often get confused. Rest is essential to good physical and mental health and a vital part of a high performance culture.
Our bodies and minds need rest and recuperation to grow stronger, just as they need hard work.

01/08/2021

WHAT is going on?
People who feel vulnerable are not allowed to take a companion with them to a medical appointment, even if both have been double vaccinated and have no Covid sympthoms.
I thought the purpose of the vaccine programme was to enable people to return to something like normal.
Covid is all around but the vaccines clearly work, hospitalisations and deaths are low.
Everyone should by now have been offered at least one jab and a majority two.
I am sure that now Covid restrictions mean many more people are at risk because of mental health problems and not seeing the GP for none Covid sympthoms than they are from the virus.

31/07/2021

YESTERDAY I started putting some of the old St Paul's Club prints onto digital.
Like taking a tardis back into another world.
So sad that the photographs did not contain dates or other information.

30/07/2021

IF you have not seen it, go to iplayer to watch the Chris Packham programme about his walk near his home.
Yesterday, I decided I needed to get out and hit a few golf balls. My mind was not on it and I was rubbish, so I found a bench, sat down and watched the sun start to set.
As Chris says in his programme, getting out into the countryside and close to nature, can be so important for our physical and mental well-being.

29/07/2021

A HUGE thanks to Abid Khan and Safaraz Ali for inviting me to the first Chutney and Chat since the pandemic.
It was a very special evening at the Tipu Sultan in Birmingham. More like a coming together of friends than a networking meeting, although I know these events do result in much business being done.
A lovely evening full of positivity but also graced with touching speeches by both Safaraz and Abid remembering those that were claimed by this terrible virus and a particular tribute to Nazir Awan, a much loved and respected friend and great supporter of the business community who passed a year ago.
A feature of the evening were short presentations by a number of businesses about the challenges of the Covid pandemic and some inspiring stories of how they had adapted and shown resolve in the face of adversity.
If you like good company, the chance to make contacts and a good curry then Chutney and Chat is the place for you.

28/07/2021

EMILY provided some great music on violin to go with the lovely food at the launch of Dhalings Kitchen.
I think classical music played on solo violin, cello or harp is a really nice soundtrack to most events.

27/07/2021

THANKS to all for the invitation to a special launch in Birmingham City centre yesterday.
It is a story of a new business born out of the pandemic. Hope it goes well.
I cannot remember when I was last with so many people.

26/07/2021

THE young look forward, the old look back and the middle aged look around.
We should be doing all three in our professional and personal lives.
Look back not because we can change the past but we can learn from it, look forward because for almost all, whatever age there is some kind of future, someone aged 98 is statistically more likely to celebrate their 100th birthday than not.
And look around because it is important to stay in the here and now, we are constantly surrounded by threats and opportunities.

25/07/2021

THE Dutch are to women's road cycling what the Brazilians were to football and the West Indies to cricket back in the day.
So hard to know whether to laugh or cry watching them make such a horlicks of the Olympic Road race.
Firstly, by letting a three woman break get 10 minutes up the road and then celebrating gold that turned into a silver, when they discovered the Austrian member of the break had not been caught and had finished two minutes earlier.
Anyone know why that particular soothing bedtime beverage has become code for 'mess up?'

24/07/2021

HIT a few golf balls this morning for the first time in a week.
It was good to be out in some cooler weather.
We hear a lot about the damage that extreme cold can do to elderly people and those with health problems but this also applies when it is very hot.
Keeping hydrated and wear a hat if outside. Not a cap but a proper hat that covers and protects the neck as well as the face, reflects heat and is made from a breathable material. My chapeau is primarily made from paper.

23/07/2021

I HAVE seen a post about a letter the Liverpool manager Jugen Klopp sent to a boy suffering with anxiety.
Perhaps it should remind us all of the importance of taking time to support people going through a tough time.
It does not take long to send a text, write an email or even write a letter but can make a huge difference to someone struggling.
Pick up the phone, if that is appropriate.
Like Jurgen, do not be judgemental but remind the person of positives and that storms pass eventually.
This is not a lecture because it is something I need to be better at.

22/07/2021

I HAVE never been an angler, never will be. I find it hard to be convinced that there is no cruelty involved.
But anglers are great champions of river quality and I can believe that it is a very relaxing way to pass time.
This angler is fishing 10 minutes from my home. Unfortunately, not long after this photograph was taken the pool was hit by a bad algal bloom.

21/07/2021

NOT widely known but people who wear hearing aids are entitled to a disabled rail pass that is also usable on the London underground and for peak time travel.
But it gets even better because the discount also applies to a travelling companion.