ECONOMY WATCH..

  

Who knows where the UK economy is heading?

Public sector employment is falling.  That is, in the main, a good thing.  From where I sit - and it is an educated and informed position - the people I've seen losing jobs in the public sector in the past year or two have been well deserved recruits to the dole lines.  The really good ones, the committed individuals, are still there or left in frustration some years ago.

I wouldn't employ many of the recent redundancies let's put it that way.  These are the people who could never quite grasp that the rest of the world wasn't full of 'training days', extended leave periods for illness and the like.  Almost every email to one of these people would get an instant auto-response saying, "sorry I am out of the office until x and will not be receiving my emails...'

But private sector employment took a hit at the beginning of the recession.  And it hasn't picked itself up yet.  Not even to fill the drop in employment from two years ago let alone to create new jobs for all those useful public sector people now sat at home [at this point the reader should not get unduly concerned for their welfare as many of these people are sat on bundles of (our) cash from very attractive redundancy payments let alone the promise of their cosy public sector, final salary pensions kicking in].

So, here's what the graph looks like with some historical perspective...

Who knows where that line is going to turn - up or down?

In short, nobody.

 

WHAT A DIFFERENCE..

  

..a day makes?

I have set up my Google home page with a widget that tells me on this day plenty of events happened in history..

1791:     Bill of Rights adopted

1890:     Sitting Bull killed while being arrested

1891:     Canadian J. Naismith invents basketball

1892:     Oil magnate and author, J Paul Getty born in Minneapolis, Minnesota

1994:     Netscape Navigator 1.0 released

Anyone remember Netscape Navigator 1.0?  I do, it revolutionised my life at the time, massive improvement in graphics rendering for the few pictures that were out there on the web.  Great search box. Oh those days....

The other stuff is, as usual, very USA-centric.  If anybody knows of a good widget that reports 'on this day in history..' global info drop me a line.  There's also a lot of USA based ones for Android devices and, I am sure, for the Apple iPhone too.

I should, of course, go out and write the app!

15 minutes of fame and all that.

But I probably won't.

 

OH GROW UP..

  
Picture this. Big office building.  Lots of spaces.  Overgrown bushes hiding a reserved for Director of xyx sign.

So I park up and go inside to talk about ways of helping the area retain jobs and create more, etc. The usual thing I do.

Then I come out and this is placed under my windscreen wiper on a flourescent card.

How long did it take you peering out of your window to realise my car wasn't your bosses?  And I did use 'the car park'.  It's all a car park.  Maybe you meant to say would I please use a different space so your fat Director hasn't got so far to walk to the front door next time..

Jobs-worth.  You wanna hope I am able to create those jobs if you lose yours.
 

PRESENTATIONS..

  

As I sit here today working on a presentation for a client next week, I'm horribly reminded of the many, many dry presentations I've had to sit through in my life.

..and then something amazing happens.  And it only takes 5 minutes and 40 seconds (including adverts).

That something amazing is this..

And so less than 6 minutes later I am inspired to do something different and push the boundaries with my next presentation.  Which was never going to be dry and boring in the first place I might add..

Must crack on!

 

MR KIPLING BAKES EXCEEDINGLY SMALL CAKES..

 
Take a look at the picture below.

Nothing wrong with that you say?

Well there is actually.  This is a Kipling's Bakewell Slice.  Bought in the past few weeks and sitting there on the plate ready to eat.  The texture and taste were as good as ever.

However, I've been eating these same cakes since the mid-1980s and as soon as I got it out of the packet and put it on the plate I noticed just how small they've become.  Box in hand in the store you wouldn't suspect it.  But as soon as you place the cake relaitve to another object that you've had a while you get a reference point - and it becomes immediately obvious Mr Kipling is trying to take me for a ride.

This is not limited to Mr Kipling of course.

Have you seen the size of those Cafe Nerro cheesecake slices lately?  And they still want you to part with near enough the same money it would cost for a much more nutritious and filling main course in a reasonable restaurant for a slice and a mug full of coffee dressed up as something exotic and Italian.  Again, don't get me wrong I love a slice of cheesecake and a Mocha as much as the next person in the Costa queue but how much? and where did the cake go?

The same story goes for crisps and chocolate bars too!  Mr Walker (US readers substitute Mr Lays) and Mr Nestle are taking everybody for fools.  And the sad thing is we're falling for it.

As an example here's the same cake, Photoshop'd and made 124% thicker, broader and longer (my estimate - looks about right).  See how it sits on the plate like you used to remember it doing in the 80s?  Now that I don't mind paying for.

As someone who was here at the weekend noted these cakes have gone from Bakewell Slice to Bakewell Slither (thanks Laura).

I'll be baking my own from now on.