Rick

October 2008 - Posts

• The Ross and Brand row - a sense of perspective please

  Is it just me, or has the whole row about Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross got completely out of hand? OK, what they did was crass and in poor taste but should the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition be getting involved? Was it really necessary... Posted Oct 31 2008, 04:31 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized

• It’s the culture, innit?

  Newsnight’s economics editor Paul Mason is presenting a programme called Credit Crash Britain on BBC2 this evening. As part of his investigation, he discovered an internal document from HBOS, written in 2004, which shows: - the bank knew there was... Posted Oct 30 2008, 01:43 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized

• Link and I’ll link back

  A quick shout for Stonecast, a blog that linked to Flip Chart Fairy Tales recently. Stone Caster’s off-beat take on the world of work makes an interesting contrast to the considered, sober analysis you get here. Ahem! Moving swiftly on. There seem... Posted Oct 29 2008, 07:47 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized

• Hedge fund managers run over by Porsche

  It’s not often that you read the funniest story of the day on the front page of the FT. Forget Brand and Ross; this is much better. There the hedge fund managers were, happily short-selling Volkswagen shares when, suddenly, Porsche announced that... Posted Oct 29 2008, 07:09 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized

• See me in my office

  The stories about Peter Mandelson, George Osborne and David Cameron jetting off to meet bankers, media tycoons and Russian oligarchs on their yachts got me thinking. You can tell a lot about power and hierarchy in an organisation by who goes to see whom... Posted Oct 28 2008, 02:32 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized

• The Noman Conquest: the original leveraged takeover

  Every October, several hundred lunatics celebrate the anniversary of the Norman Conquest by re-enacting the Battle of Hastings. I’m told that it’s a great show. The people who do it train hard and put on a convincing display of medieval warfare... Posted Oct 27 2008, 12:57 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized

• Financial crisis is HR’s fault. Of course!

  HR managers are used to taking the blame when things go pear-shaped. It’s just as well because now they are in the firing line for the credit crunch too. According to Personnel Today, a number of people are pointing the finger at City HR directors... Posted Oct 23 2008, 08:41 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized

• Bonus as usual

  I was having a beer with a friend of mine who happens to be the head of PR at a well known company. He remarked that, in PR terms, the whole financial crisis has been a disaster for the banks. No one from any of the banks or their representative bodies... Posted Oct 23 2008, 06:35 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized

• Powerpoint - making the dull even duller since 1990

  HR Wench is at a conference and, probably along with hundreds of others, is getting sick to death of Powerpoint presentations. Which reminded me of this video by Don McMillan. As he says, Powerpoint can just suck the life out of you.       ... Posted Oct 22 2008, 04:07 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized

• Which employment laws would you dump?

  I meant to comment on this piece by Luke Johnson (yes, him again) last week but then forgot about it until Mike Berry reminded me. I have my own views on this but I’d be interested to know what the readers of this blog think. Do you think, as Luke... Posted Oct 21 2008, 02:51 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized

• Philip Green bashes the banks

  Everyone’s having a go at the banks these days. Philip Green, owner of Top Shop, Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge and Burton’s, has criticised them for being too keen to lend people money. I don’t know why he’s complaining though... Posted Oct 21 2008, 02:08 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized

• Why do we still need the Lloyds HBoS merger?

  I may be missing something here, but if the government is going to pump cash into both Lloyds and HBoS, in return for shares, why does the merger between them still need to go ahead? The rules were only waived to allow it because HBoS was thought to be... Posted Oct 20 2008, 06:40 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized

• They just keep on coming….

  What’s the difference between the UK and Zimbabwe? A few weeks from now, nothing!        Read More... Posted Oct 20 2008, 06:26 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized

• More meltdown mirth

  How do you define optimism? A banker who irons 5 shirts on a Sunday.        Read More... Posted Oct 17 2008, 03:53 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized

• Thanks to Laurie

  A quick thank you to Laurie Ruettimann for saying nice things about me on her blog earlier this week. I’m not sure why she chose to illustrate her post with a picture of Prince Charles in a pub. Perhaps she has an image of me as a suave, wealthy... Posted Oct 17 2008, 01:11 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized