A fun column from Jeremy Clarkson in today’s Sunday Times who suggests we think of anyone you know and they’ll slot neatly into one of the characters from Winnie-the-Pooh. He points out that this handy classification system negates the need for any other kind of segmentation, tribe or Acorn group, allowing the nation’s bee keepers to … Continue reading Never mind Acorn, use the Hundred Acre Wood
Category: trends
When the going gets tough, its time to buy lipstick
I’m sure you’ve all read the ‘upsurge in sales for shoe repairers’ stories in the news suggesting that some sectors of the economy actually benefit from a downturn, in this case as people get their shoes repaired rather than splashing out on a new pair. There was also an interesting piece in the New York … Continue reading When the going gets tough, its time to buy lipstick
Worried? You should be.
Worried about the economy or think its all a lot of hot air? A couple of months ago I would have said that we were in danger of talking ourselves into a recession, now I think its clear that we are in for one whether we like it or not: Manufacturing output fell for the … Continue reading Worried? You should be.
Turns out that the Economist was also a Futurologist
Having spent more time wading through his book, it turns out that Robert Beckman (of The Downwave and Into the Upwave fame) was ahead of his time on the technology as well as the economics front: All individual knowledge will become more and more a question of knowing where to look for information...by the year … Continue reading Turns out that the Economist was also a Futurologist
The Downwave Revisited
I found an old copy of ‘Into the Upwave’ by Robert Beckman at home (loving the author pic). It was published in 1988 but some of it is so relevant right now that they might as well save money on economists and read the first few chapters out loud on the Ten O’Clock News … Continue reading The Downwave Revisited
fags and booze
I’ve been wondering – when was the last time anyone launched a new tobacco brand? Since the government got all hardcore on marketing fags, (from the point of view of a non smoker) it looks like its become very difficult for to do any kind of brand based activity in this sector. So if the … Continue reading fags and booze
Age does not define them but their army of helpers does
Yesterday’s Sunday Times carried an article ‘in praise of older women’ by India Knight (whose columns I normally lap up) suggesting that the essence of modern, empowering womanhood is the possibility that we, at 62, could look like Helen Mirren in a bikini. India’s take seems to be that it’s now OK for women in … Continue reading Age does not define them but their army of helpers does
You’ve got to download a song or two
I'm loving the cheese-fest that is I'd Do Anything on BBC1 (the Oliver! talent search successor to last year's Any Dream Will Do). Last Saturday's show saw Samantha belt out Defying Gravity from the musical Wicked. I was on itunes the next day and noticed that the song was suddenly sitting at number 57 in the … Continue reading You’ve got to download a song or two
work-slash-creative lifestyle
The latest issue of The Future Laboratory's fab quarterly magazine 'the' features the Slash/Slash Generation - that 'create empires founded on the cult of their personality'. You know, the DJ-slash-club promoter-slash-tshirt designer late teens and early twenties types. But reading the article, it reminded me that while the coolerati kids might be combining several so-hip-it-hurts roles … Continue reading work-slash-creative lifestyle
blurring boundaries
I just read a great post from Drew McLellan on the blurring of boundaries between our home and work lives. Its not exactly a hot new trend, but an incredibly important one. To my mind, its not just that our personal lives are being invaded by work - in return our working lives are having … Continue reading blurring boundaries