A political post this morning as I've just gone and placed my vote for Conservative in both the local and European elections...
What a shame that Gordon Brown is so ruled by ego that he cannot see what damage he is doing to both his party and to the country. He was so desperate to become PM that he got rid of the only thing that was good about Labour (Tony Blair) and after a brief honeymoon period everything he has touched has turned to dust. He has no charisma and a smile that looks completely forced. He is a shambles and so is the government.
He should put his ego to one side and realise there is no glory in being PM if no one likes or respects you.
By the way, I took action yesterday on a life aim which I set for myself long ago, I emailed David Cameron and asked if I could stand as an MP for the Conservative Party. Hey presto everything I needed came back within an hour! Whether they will accept me is another matter but I would love to be in a position where I can be a force for positive change in the world. Particularly in creating an enterprise and empowerment culture within the UK.
I will let you know how my dream unfolds...
Have a thrilling Thursday!
Rachel
Showing posts with label Gordon Brown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gordon Brown. Show all posts
Thursday, 4 June 2009
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Thanks a bunch Darling
I'm just incredulous that Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling think that a 2.5% cut in VAT is going to kick start the economy by getting consumers spending again.
Firstly, retailers can't even shift the stuff on 20% off super duper mega discount splurge days.
Secondly, has anyone in the Government ever had any experience actually running a business? If so they would realise that the administrative cost - not to mention the sheer hassle - of changing all their prices (including the cost of re-printing catalogues and menus etc) is an absolute nightmare. And is any retailer really going to reduce their price from £9.99 to £9.78? I think not.
A friend of ours is the retail director of one of Britain's biggest chains. He has 20,000 different products on sale at 300 stores. We've already offered to send our children over to help out with all the re-labelling...
Firstly, retailers can't even shift the stuff on 20% off super duper mega discount splurge days.
Secondly, has anyone in the Government ever had any experience actually running a business? If so they would realise that the administrative cost - not to mention the sheer hassle - of changing all their prices (including the cost of re-printing catalogues and menus etc) is an absolute nightmare. And is any retailer really going to reduce their price from £9.99 to £9.78? I think not.
A friend of ours is the retail director of one of Britain's biggest chains. He has 20,000 different products on sale at 300 stores. We've already offered to send our children over to help out with all the re-labelling...
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
The Chain Reaction
It's not often that I attend conferences where I'm not due to speak, but something urged me to get along to the Chain Reaction event - all about international social leadership - yesterday at London's South Bank.
The attraction for me was a session entitled 'Can Entrepreneurs Change the World?' (to which the answer is of course 'YES WE CAN!') - but I was intrigued to know what the line up of Peter Jones, James Caan and Sir Richard Branson (albeit by video) amongst others made of the debate.
I often make the joke in my after-dinner speeches that Peter Jones rarely bothers to show up at enterprise events unless Gordon Brown is speaking - and true to form an unexpected bonus was the appearance on stage of our very own PM Gordon Brown.
And so we had them. Peter Jones swept in no doubt by his chauffeur driven Maybach to tell us that 'Scarcity is a real driver of innovation' and 'Am I the only one on the positivity bandwagon here?'; James Caan telling us that making money is brilliant because then you have lots to give away to charity like Bill Gates does; and then Sir Richard Branson beamed in via a pre-recorded satellite link where he was clearly sitting on the sun-drenched terrace of his holiday home on Necker Island, telling us how wonderful it is to encourage enterprise.
Finally Gordon Brown joined the debate, who reminded me of a Finance Director I used to have who arrived at every Board Meeting looking a bit shabby and crumpled, so busy scribbling notes on to a bit of a paper during the debate that he didn't really seem to be paying attention to much of what was going on, whose every bit of body language seemed to scream 'No you can't!', only to get up and tell us with as much gusto as he could muster that the UK economy was due to double in the next 20 years and that NOW REALLY IS a great time to be in business.
Meanwhile, back over here in the real world, before I set off for London yesterday morning I opened three emails all about entrepreneurs absolutely on the knife edge brink of bankruptcy, about to lose their homes, and in desperate need of my help (or anybody's help for that matter) while meantime at the weekend my own husband received a letter from his company stating that one person in his team of three at work would be made redundant this week, as a result of the tightening economy. By the way, I don't have an army of PAs handling all my correspondence, plus I go and talk to entrepreneurs around the country at business events every week, so I really do feel that I am at the sharp end of what is really going on.
Maybe I should reassure all of these people that, not to worry, in 20 years' time everything will be OK?
The only speaker who really captured the imagination of the audience yesterday was the fabulous Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project, who spoke with passion about the ability of business to deliver so much more than the constricted City-lead profit expectation of big corporates, whose CSR initiatives are nothing more than a few marketing frills to attract extra shoppers. In other words the current system of capitalism and 'much to few' isn't working - not for business, not for individuals and certainly not for the environment. He would be my vote for PM (or at minimum Minister for Business) any day.
It was a great event and I'm glad I went but all of this left me a bit angry.
Real businesses currently on a knife edge don't need this patronising happy clappy rhetoric from those living in a fur lined sunshine bubble any more.
Firstly we need an urgent law which will suspend the ability of any UK citizen to lose their home until the economy has recovered. And we also need an emergency fund which can intervene to help struggling businesses re-finance in the short term as well as give them advice to help them to restructure and adapt their businesses to get back towards profitability in the long term.
And if I were involved in 'restructuring the global financial architecture' I would start with the premise that capitalism as we knew it cannot be the basis for generating future prosperity for our planet and its people.
The attraction for me was a session entitled 'Can Entrepreneurs Change the World?' (to which the answer is of course 'YES WE CAN!') - but I was intrigued to know what the line up of Peter Jones, James Caan and Sir Richard Branson (albeit by video) amongst others made of the debate.
I often make the joke in my after-dinner speeches that Peter Jones rarely bothers to show up at enterprise events unless Gordon Brown is speaking - and true to form an unexpected bonus was the appearance on stage of our very own PM Gordon Brown.
And so we had them. Peter Jones swept in no doubt by his chauffeur driven Maybach to tell us that 'Scarcity is a real driver of innovation' and 'Am I the only one on the positivity bandwagon here?'; James Caan telling us that making money is brilliant because then you have lots to give away to charity like Bill Gates does; and then Sir Richard Branson beamed in via a pre-recorded satellite link where he was clearly sitting on the sun-drenched terrace of his holiday home on Necker Island, telling us how wonderful it is to encourage enterprise.
Finally Gordon Brown joined the debate, who reminded me of a Finance Director I used to have who arrived at every Board Meeting looking a bit shabby and crumpled, so busy scribbling notes on to a bit of a paper during the debate that he didn't really seem to be paying attention to much of what was going on, whose every bit of body language seemed to scream 'No you can't!', only to get up and tell us with as much gusto as he could muster that the UK economy was due to double in the next 20 years and that NOW REALLY IS a great time to be in business.
Meanwhile, back over here in the real world, before I set off for London yesterday morning I opened three emails all about entrepreneurs absolutely on the knife edge brink of bankruptcy, about to lose their homes, and in desperate need of my help (or anybody's help for that matter) while meantime at the weekend my own husband received a letter from his company stating that one person in his team of three at work would be made redundant this week, as a result of the tightening economy. By the way, I don't have an army of PAs handling all my correspondence, plus I go and talk to entrepreneurs around the country at business events every week, so I really do feel that I am at the sharp end of what is really going on.
Maybe I should reassure all of these people that, not to worry, in 20 years' time everything will be OK?
The only speaker who really captured the imagination of the audience yesterday was the fabulous Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project, who spoke with passion about the ability of business to deliver so much more than the constricted City-lead profit expectation of big corporates, whose CSR initiatives are nothing more than a few marketing frills to attract extra shoppers. In other words the current system of capitalism and 'much to few' isn't working - not for business, not for individuals and certainly not for the environment. He would be my vote for PM (or at minimum Minister for Business) any day.
It was a great event and I'm glad I went but all of this left me a bit angry.
Real businesses currently on a knife edge don't need this patronising happy clappy rhetoric from those living in a fur lined sunshine bubble any more.
Firstly we need an urgent law which will suspend the ability of any UK citizen to lose their home until the economy has recovered. And we also need an emergency fund which can intervene to help struggling businesses re-finance in the short term as well as give them advice to help them to restructure and adapt their businesses to get back towards profitability in the long term.
And if I were involved in 'restructuring the global financial architecture' I would start with the premise that capitalism as we knew it cannot be the basis for generating future prosperity for our planet and its people.
Sunday, 26 October 2008
Harmonism
I was at an All Party Parliamentary Small Business Group breakfast at the House of Commons this week; the subject was 'Growing or green - can businesses expand and stay ethical?'. Gathered were various MPs from all parties as well as entrepreneurs and influential people from various organisations.
One of the speakers was Andrew Valentine - co-founder of Streetcar, a pay-as-you-go car club which provides cars across the country for occasional use. So many people are now using this car share system instead of owning a car that every car they provide takes 6 off the road.
The other was David Boomer Head of Climate Change at the Institute of Directors.
There followed a debate about business and green issues and every time the discussion came down to one thing: MONEY. Eventually I made the observation that the thing that we had to change first before we could make any real in-roads to saving the environment was to move away from Capitalism; that the current financial meltdown had been caused because there was no real value underlying the huge growth of the past decade (all the money was borrowed and we now find never existed), and that given Gordon Brown's ambition to create a new 'global financial architecture' government actually has the golden opportunity NOW to do this.
Stunned silence from all present and then a flippant comment from the chair Andy Love, Labour MP for Edmonton who later blanked me.
After the meeting David Boomer said to me, 'What you said back there was pretty radical, but what I think you were trying to say was that what we need to do is move away from money as the measure for everything and replace it with a measure of true wealth.' Which I thought was a pretty succinct way of putting it.
True wealth = happiness, health, harmony, safety & prosperity, not just for oneself or one's family, but ultimately for everyone in the world.
I was laying in bed during one of my 3am wakeful moments recently, thinking to myself what would I call this new way of being?
Us humans have tried Capitalism, Communism, Facism, Marxism and then of course we have the great religions of the world all worthy, but also the reason for great violence and conflict.
The word I settled on was Harmonism.
Harmonism would celebrate the value of every individual but would have no space for ego.
Harmonism would recognise the desire for abundance, but have no room for greed.
Harmonism would encourage the magnificent energy of every individual but have no place for power.
Its values would be:
COLLABORATION
CREATIVITY
CONSERVATION
COMMUNITY and
CONTENTMENT
After the above thoughts had streamed through to me I went on Google and found a site for Harmonism, already sitting there in beauty and simplicity, saying much the same things.
I looked for the name/s of the person/people behind Harmonism - but there are none on the site. Why am I surprised? Of course there are no names! There don't need to be any.
Do Direct Marketing initiatives and Search Engine Optimisation all you like - a far more powerful way of communicating is to send your positive energy out to the Universe and let others who are tuned in to catch the essence of your thoughts.
Perfect synchronicity.
This is how Harmonism will spread - which is why the 'lightworkers' are simply focusing on helping people raise their vibration so they too can get 'tuned in'.
There IS great change coming, and this is how it will happen.
One of the speakers was Andrew Valentine - co-founder of Streetcar, a pay-as-you-go car club which provides cars across the country for occasional use. So many people are now using this car share system instead of owning a car that every car they provide takes 6 off the road.
The other was David Boomer Head of Climate Change at the Institute of Directors.
There followed a debate about business and green issues and every time the discussion came down to one thing: MONEY. Eventually I made the observation that the thing that we had to change first before we could make any real in-roads to saving the environment was to move away from Capitalism; that the current financial meltdown had been caused because there was no real value underlying the huge growth of the past decade (all the money was borrowed and we now find never existed), and that given Gordon Brown's ambition to create a new 'global financial architecture' government actually has the golden opportunity NOW to do this.
Stunned silence from all present and then a flippant comment from the chair Andy Love, Labour MP for Edmonton who later blanked me.
After the meeting David Boomer said to me, 'What you said back there was pretty radical, but what I think you were trying to say was that what we need to do is move away from money as the measure for everything and replace it with a measure of true wealth.' Which I thought was a pretty succinct way of putting it.
True wealth = happiness, health, harmony, safety & prosperity, not just for oneself or one's family, but ultimately for everyone in the world.
I was laying in bed during one of my 3am wakeful moments recently, thinking to myself what would I call this new way of being?
Us humans have tried Capitalism, Communism, Facism, Marxism and then of course we have the great religions of the world all worthy, but also the reason for great violence and conflict.
The word I settled on was Harmonism.
Harmonism would celebrate the value of every individual but would have no space for ego.
Harmonism would recognise the desire for abundance, but have no room for greed.
Harmonism would encourage the magnificent energy of every individual but have no place for power.
Its values would be:
COLLABORATION
CREATIVITY
CONSERVATION
COMMUNITY and
CONTENTMENT
After the above thoughts had streamed through to me I went on Google and found a site for Harmonism, already sitting there in beauty and simplicity, saying much the same things.
I looked for the name/s of the person/people behind Harmonism - but there are none on the site. Why am I surprised? Of course there are no names! There don't need to be any.
Do Direct Marketing initiatives and Search Engine Optimisation all you like - a far more powerful way of communicating is to send your positive energy out to the Universe and let others who are tuned in to catch the essence of your thoughts.
Perfect synchronicity.
This is how Harmonism will spread - which is why the 'lightworkers' are simply focusing on helping people raise their vibration so they too can get 'tuned in'.
There IS great change coming, and this is how it will happen.
Friday, 10 October 2008
Why We Should Say No To Barclays
This is a bit of a delayed reaction post, in response to the news that Gordon Brown has offered Barclays (amongst other banks) a #7.5 billion refinancing package to get themselves out of their sticky financial situation.
This is the same Barclays that three years ago pushed my company Red Letter Days into administration on the grounds that we were an 'unacceptable risk' and they had to 'answer to their shareholders' - despite the fact they held #4.3 million in cash and other securities against a liability which eventually proved to be little more than #1million.
The same Barclays (which I have since learned through the numerous emails I have received from other entrepreneurs) which has the worst reputation of ANY UK BANK for ruthlessly pulling the plug on great British businesses which could otherwise have been saved.
The same Barclays that just two years ago posted a #7 BILLION PROFIT.
The same Barclays that just TWO WEEKS AGO danced Lehmans up the garden path - only to withdraw at the 11th hour and then go back in to cherry pick the assets, like a graverobber picking over the contents of the coffin while the corpse was still warm.
The fact that we are now offering #7.5 billion of TAXPAYERS' MONEY to bail this greedy, power hungry, ruthless bank out of financial difficulty is a total and utter disgrace and insult to the British people.
I say LET BARCLAYS CRASH - as they have allowed (forced?) so many other UK businesses to crash - then pick the entire business out of administration, sell off the assets and use the #7.5 billion (if it is needed) to supplement any funds which are needed to ensure depositors' monies are protected.
Give the b*stards a taste of their own medicine.
This is the same Barclays that three years ago pushed my company Red Letter Days into administration on the grounds that we were an 'unacceptable risk' and they had to 'answer to their shareholders' - despite the fact they held #4.3 million in cash and other securities against a liability which eventually proved to be little more than #1million.
The same Barclays (which I have since learned through the numerous emails I have received from other entrepreneurs) which has the worst reputation of ANY UK BANK for ruthlessly pulling the plug on great British businesses which could otherwise have been saved.
The same Barclays that just two years ago posted a #7 BILLION PROFIT.
The same Barclays that just TWO WEEKS AGO danced Lehmans up the garden path - only to withdraw at the 11th hour and then go back in to cherry pick the assets, like a graverobber picking over the contents of the coffin while the corpse was still warm.
The fact that we are now offering #7.5 billion of TAXPAYERS' MONEY to bail this greedy, power hungry, ruthless bank out of financial difficulty is a total and utter disgrace and insult to the British people.
I say LET BARCLAYS CRASH - as they have allowed (forced?) so many other UK businesses to crash - then pick the entire business out of administration, sell off the assets and use the #7.5 billion (if it is needed) to supplement any funds which are needed to ensure depositors' monies are protected.
Give the b*stards a taste of their own medicine.
Sunday, 5 October 2008
Mrs Angry of Bakewell
Yes, I am ANGRY.
Why?
Because today a good entrepreneurial friend of mine has told me that he is putting his company into a CVA (Company's Voluntary Arrangement).
Is this because his business is loss making?
No.
It's actually a great British manufacturing company, which turns over getting on for £500k and is profit making every year.
The reason is that the business has fallen behind with their VAT. But instead of HMRCE being willing to negotiate terms, they are forcing the company into the action because of continued threats to send in the balliffs.
OK, OK I realise everyone has to pay their VAT, and if people don't it's not fair on all the rest.
BUT at a time when literally BILLIONS of pounds are currently being pumped in to try to make Britain a more enterprising culture, and encouraging people to go into business, WHY OH WHY are we condemning successful existing businesses to death in this way?
(Only about 5% of companies which set up in the UK go on to become profitable companies like my friend's)
Gordon Brown, Peter Mandelson, PLEASE - you guys need to sort out a more supportive solution for companies that get into trouble rather than just condemn them to death.
Call off the dogs and give these entrepreneurs some help in their time of need - so they can survive and be part of this country's future - not thrown on the scrapheap as another insolvency statistic.
Why?
Because today a good entrepreneurial friend of mine has told me that he is putting his company into a CVA (Company's Voluntary Arrangement).
Is this because his business is loss making?
No.
It's actually a great British manufacturing company, which turns over getting on for £500k and is profit making every year.
The reason is that the business has fallen behind with their VAT. But instead of HMRCE being willing to negotiate terms, they are forcing the company into the action because of continued threats to send in the balliffs.
OK, OK I realise everyone has to pay their VAT, and if people don't it's not fair on all the rest.
BUT at a time when literally BILLIONS of pounds are currently being pumped in to try to make Britain a more enterprising culture, and encouraging people to go into business, WHY OH WHY are we condemning successful existing businesses to death in this way?
(Only about 5% of companies which set up in the UK go on to become profitable companies like my friend's)
Gordon Brown, Peter Mandelson, PLEASE - you guys need to sort out a more supportive solution for companies that get into trouble rather than just condemn them to death.
Call off the dogs and give these entrepreneurs some help in their time of need - so they can survive and be part of this country's future - not thrown on the scrapheap as another insolvency statistic.
Sunday, 21 September 2008
Why things must change...
My last post generated some interesting comments; here's my take on what's going on.
Mass consumerism is a very recent thing, it started post-war and really gathered momentum in the 1970's - suddenly it seemed you could have anything you wanted, but at a price. People started getting very rich - and as those of you have been rich will know - it is very addictive; you always want more.
So us entrepreneurs found cleverer and cleverer ways to entice you to buy more - brilliant marketing, enticing ads, messages that our product would make you sexier, thinner, more attractive. Fashion cycles accelerated and as soon as you had the latest thing, it wasn't the latest thing anymore - so was given to Oxfam. The world's resources started being consumed at an alarming rate.
And of course people's earnings could not keep up with the rampant demand, so a handy little thing called credit was introduced to enable the whole machine to continue being fed. The economy continued to expand, Gordon Brown crowed about his 'stable economy' and 'record growth' and for a while everything in the garden was very rosy.
But in the gold rush for more business, the financial institutions started getting a little reckless and started lending to people who really, really couldn't afford it. And so the inevitable started - defaults on loans, people posting the keys of their houses back through their bank's letterbox, thousands forced into bankruptcy and thousands more choosing it as an easy option to wipe their debt.
And the cancer of this 'sub-prime' debt spread throughout the banking sector as institutions swapped liabilities, undermining the whole financial system.
Hoping the problems were isolated, bits and pieces of government and institutional intervention followed; Northern Rock, Bradford and Bingley, RBS, Barclays, Merrill Lynch, AIG all bailed out in some shape or form. And now the US suddenly finds $800billion to try to solve the problem once and for all, the stock market shoots up, the traders breathe a sigh of relief - and everyone starts gambling again.
But it's obvious that this rampant consumerism can't continue.
There isn't enough money to feed the monster (especially now people are losing their jobs as well as their homes), there aren't enough resources in the world to feed the monster (especially now people are running scared through global warming), there isn't enough time to feed the monster (people are working harder and faster just to stand still) - and what's more, none of it is making anyone happy.
Plus how many crises and wars can the US rustle up the money for before the country itself becomes bankrupt?
Meantime, there is a growing awareness of the unfairness of a 'many to one' system in which capitalism allows a small number of individuals to share the spoils at the expense of the many billions who live on our planet in poverty, too weak to be able to fight their oppressors.
So, to me, the predicted 'Apocalypse' is not anything about an asteroid colliding with Earth, it is about the necessary breakdown of the current way of working to allow a new world order to come in.
My view is that this new world order will be able to meet every one's needs (not greeds) in a much fairer and collaborative way, in harmony with the planet and one another. Already there is an awakening of the 'collective consciousness' which is calling people towards a more spiritual way of existing.
Our human efforts to change things (what one might call the 'low energy light bulb' approach) are not enough to cut it; when the Universe finally delivers the solution mankind needs (and we are just starting to glimpse the changes now) it will deliver in a spectacularly powerful and infinitely intelligent way.
Mass consumerism is a very recent thing, it started post-war and really gathered momentum in the 1970's - suddenly it seemed you could have anything you wanted, but at a price. People started getting very rich - and as those of you have been rich will know - it is very addictive; you always want more.
So us entrepreneurs found cleverer and cleverer ways to entice you to buy more - brilliant marketing, enticing ads, messages that our product would make you sexier, thinner, more attractive. Fashion cycles accelerated and as soon as you had the latest thing, it wasn't the latest thing anymore - so was given to Oxfam. The world's resources started being consumed at an alarming rate.
And of course people's earnings could not keep up with the rampant demand, so a handy little thing called credit was introduced to enable the whole machine to continue being fed. The economy continued to expand, Gordon Brown crowed about his 'stable economy' and 'record growth' and for a while everything in the garden was very rosy.
But in the gold rush for more business, the financial institutions started getting a little reckless and started lending to people who really, really couldn't afford it. And so the inevitable started - defaults on loans, people posting the keys of their houses back through their bank's letterbox, thousands forced into bankruptcy and thousands more choosing it as an easy option to wipe their debt.
And the cancer of this 'sub-prime' debt spread throughout the banking sector as institutions swapped liabilities, undermining the whole financial system.
Hoping the problems were isolated, bits and pieces of government and institutional intervention followed; Northern Rock, Bradford and Bingley, RBS, Barclays, Merrill Lynch, AIG all bailed out in some shape or form. And now the US suddenly finds $800billion to try to solve the problem once and for all, the stock market shoots up, the traders breathe a sigh of relief - and everyone starts gambling again.
But it's obvious that this rampant consumerism can't continue.
There isn't enough money to feed the monster (especially now people are losing their jobs as well as their homes), there aren't enough resources in the world to feed the monster (especially now people are running scared through global warming), there isn't enough time to feed the monster (people are working harder and faster just to stand still) - and what's more, none of it is making anyone happy.
Plus how many crises and wars can the US rustle up the money for before the country itself becomes bankrupt?
Meantime, there is a growing awareness of the unfairness of a 'many to one' system in which capitalism allows a small number of individuals to share the spoils at the expense of the many billions who live on our planet in poverty, too weak to be able to fight their oppressors.
So, to me, the predicted 'Apocalypse' is not anything about an asteroid colliding with Earth, it is about the necessary breakdown of the current way of working to allow a new world order to come in.
My view is that this new world order will be able to meet every one's needs (not greeds) in a much fairer and collaborative way, in harmony with the planet and one another. Already there is an awakening of the 'collective consciousness' which is calling people towards a more spiritual way of existing.
Our human efforts to change things (what one might call the 'low energy light bulb' approach) are not enough to cut it; when the Universe finally delivers the solution mankind needs (and we are just starting to glimpse the changes now) it will deliver in a spectacularly powerful and infinitely intelligent way.
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
Where did it all go wrong?
Fascinating to watch last night's Channel 4 Dispatches programme on Gordon Brown.
Although the answer really is very simple.
Never make the FD the CEO - it always ends in tears.
Although the answer really is very simple.
Never make the FD the CEO - it always ends in tears.
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Enterprise Academy
Brilliant news that Peter Jones has pioneered a new Enterprise Academy backed by Gordon Brown, which will open in 2009.
The UK is on a journey here, and actually if we want to change the culture in my view it needs to start at the beginning of a child's education (and by that I mean from babyhood onwards), and must encompass giving our children the 'positive thinking' tools which foster self-belief, determination and drive. In my experience, if an entrepreneur has these three qualities embedded in their psyche, they don't actually need anything else.
The UK is on a journey here, and actually if we want to change the culture in my view it needs to start at the beginning of a child's education (and by that I mean from babyhood onwards), and must encompass giving our children the 'positive thinking' tools which foster self-belief, determination and drive. In my experience, if an entrepreneur has these three qualities embedded in their psyche, they don't actually need anything else.
Wednesday, 19 December 2007
At last the LibDems get it right...
Thank goodness the LibDems have finally seen the light and voted in a young, sexy dynamic new leader in the shape of Nick Clegg. I loved his acceptance speech - so positive and forward looking. And yes Nick you were spot on, there are so many people who are 'almost' LibDem voters (myself included - I briefly voted LibDem after the men in grey suits deposed Thatcher) that this is exactly where you need to be working.
And shame on Chris Huhne for descending into backstabbing in the contest. I suspect that's what won it for Clegg. I see it all around at the moment - people are moving away from conflict and competition - there is a new spirit of harmony and collaboration dawning.
Put our new man Nick alongside the gorgeous David Cameron and suddenly Gordon Brown is looking like an tired old windbag...
Roll on the next General Election!
And shame on Chris Huhne for descending into backstabbing in the contest. I suspect that's what won it for Clegg. I see it all around at the moment - people are moving away from conflict and competition - there is a new spirit of harmony and collaboration dawning.
Put our new man Nick alongside the gorgeous David Cameron and suddenly Gordon Brown is looking like an tired old windbag...
Roll on the next General Election!
Wednesday, 10 October 2007
The Gordon Brown Shambles
It has been quite amusing to observe the events in politics over the past week and watch just how quickly Gordon Brown has shot himself in the foot so soon after taking over.
I make no secret of the fact that I am a Conservative through and through. As a young career girl working in the City during the '80s the excitement of the Thatcher years was palpable. I also think David Cameron is the greatest thing to happen to the Tories since they lost Thatcher (hugely charismatic, very handsome and I also think he has great integrity). And appearing on stage in a Dragons' Den style policy review panel at last year's Conservative Party Conference with Oliver Letwin, Anne Widdecombe and Michael Brown has to be one of the biggest honours of my career to date.
By contrast to the newly emerging fresher, younger and much more dashing Conservative Party, Gordon Brown looks like a tired old windbag. Nervous and jittery in front of the cameras and always awkward in the presence of the media. None more so than appearing in the desert with the troops in a hot and uncomfortable looking navy suit and blue tie, totally inappropriate for the occasion.
In every Party Political Broadcast and interview he spouts about 'change' and 'building a stronger Britain' - almost as if he hasn't been around for the past decade and had nothing to do with the state the country now finds itself in. The attempt to distance himself from the Blair Government simply isn't working.
The speculation over a possible November Election should have been nipped in the bud as soon as it was aired - not allowed to carry on while Gordon assessed how the polls were unfolding only to back out scared at the last possible moment. It seems to the passive onlooker that 'Being PM' is more important to Brown than any consideration for this country or the opinions of its electorate.
And then to the Inheritance Tax debacle.
Gloriously trumped by George Osborne's announcement last week that the Tories would raise the Inheritance Tax threshold to £1million, yesterday's announcement by Alistair Darling that the threshold would rise to £600k looked like a feeble copycat response, never mind the fact it was probably decided well before the Tory Party Conference. And why wasn't the decision made years before by Brown himself, while he was Chancellor?
In short, during just one week the Labour Party has descended into a shambles, quite simply due to indecisive leadership on the part of their woolly new leader Gordon Brown.
All Cameron & Co have to do now is play the waiting game until they win in 2009.
I make no secret of the fact that I am a Conservative through and through. As a young career girl working in the City during the '80s the excitement of the Thatcher years was palpable. I also think David Cameron is the greatest thing to happen to the Tories since they lost Thatcher (hugely charismatic, very handsome and I also think he has great integrity). And appearing on stage in a Dragons' Den style policy review panel at last year's Conservative Party Conference with Oliver Letwin, Anne Widdecombe and Michael Brown has to be one of the biggest honours of my career to date.
By contrast to the newly emerging fresher, younger and much more dashing Conservative Party, Gordon Brown looks like a tired old windbag. Nervous and jittery in front of the cameras and always awkward in the presence of the media. None more so than appearing in the desert with the troops in a hot and uncomfortable looking navy suit and blue tie, totally inappropriate for the occasion.
In every Party Political Broadcast and interview he spouts about 'change' and 'building a stronger Britain' - almost as if he hasn't been around for the past decade and had nothing to do with the state the country now finds itself in. The attempt to distance himself from the Blair Government simply isn't working.
The speculation over a possible November Election should have been nipped in the bud as soon as it was aired - not allowed to carry on while Gordon assessed how the polls were unfolding only to back out scared at the last possible moment. It seems to the passive onlooker that 'Being PM' is more important to Brown than any consideration for this country or the opinions of its electorate.
And then to the Inheritance Tax debacle.
Gloriously trumped by George Osborne's announcement last week that the Tories would raise the Inheritance Tax threshold to £1million, yesterday's announcement by Alistair Darling that the threshold would rise to £600k looked like a feeble copycat response, never mind the fact it was probably decided well before the Tory Party Conference. And why wasn't the decision made years before by Brown himself, while he was Chancellor?
In short, during just one week the Labour Party has descended into a shambles, quite simply due to indecisive leadership on the part of their woolly new leader Gordon Brown.
All Cameron & Co have to do now is play the waiting game until they win in 2009.
Saturday, 14 July 2007
Tough at the Top
Despite all the criticism, I was fascinated to watch the televised highlights of the Alastair Campbell Diaries this week.
The struggle to implement the 'Big Vision' when dealing with people who can't see much beyond the end of their own nose, let alone anywhere past tomorrow; the emotional highs and lows of the journey; the determination is takes to keep going in the face of huge adversity; the unfairness and bias of the media, and the constant juggle between career ambition and family demands.
All in all, a bit like building a big business really.
The most amazing part was how Tony Blair managed to put on such a charming and persuasive front throughout, when much of the time his blood must have been boiling.
Although I am a dyed in the wool Tory - and a big Cameron fan - I still have a great respect for Tony Blair. He transformed Labour at a time when they were totally unelectable; yes Iraq was probably a mistake, but it's easy to criticise the decision in hindsight. If Saddam had continued in power and committed a few atrocities we would all be complaining why no one took a stand when they had the chance.
In the way of all great leaders, like Thatcher before him, the faceless talentless ones always eventually turn and kill the goose that laid their golden egg. Does anyone seriously think that Brown would have won the election back in 1997? It was Blair who made it possible for him to take power today.
In politics (as in business) momentum, once created, is a great asset - but it's only possible for the free ride to last for so long. It will be interesting to see how long Brown can ride the wave that Blair created for him.
The struggle to implement the 'Big Vision' when dealing with people who can't see much beyond the end of their own nose, let alone anywhere past tomorrow; the emotional highs and lows of the journey; the determination is takes to keep going in the face of huge adversity; the unfairness and bias of the media, and the constant juggle between career ambition and family demands.
All in all, a bit like building a big business really.
The most amazing part was how Tony Blair managed to put on such a charming and persuasive front throughout, when much of the time his blood must have been boiling.
Although I am a dyed in the wool Tory - and a big Cameron fan - I still have a great respect for Tony Blair. He transformed Labour at a time when they were totally unelectable; yes Iraq was probably a mistake, but it's easy to criticise the decision in hindsight. If Saddam had continued in power and committed a few atrocities we would all be complaining why no one took a stand when they had the chance.
In the way of all great leaders, like Thatcher before him, the faceless talentless ones always eventually turn and kill the goose that laid their golden egg. Does anyone seriously think that Brown would have won the election back in 1997? It was Blair who made it possible for him to take power today.
In politics (as in business) momentum, once created, is a great asset - but it's only possible for the free ride to last for so long. It will be interesting to see how long Brown can ride the wave that Blair created for him.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
