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• News that the TUC is in discussion with the Dome organisers to rent the much-maligned exhibition for the International Day of the Worker on 1 May is a bit of a coup for the union movement.
It will certainly irritate the establishment, still smarting from their three-hour queue for the millennium night celebration. "A festival of socialism in a government-sponsored tent - whatever next?" They will be muttering into their gin and tonics.
But if the Dome's teething troubles are still in evidence come the big day, the event will also provide a valuable history lesson to the nation's youth.
Indeed, a likely spectacle at the event could be as rare as a solar eclipse in the 21st Century. Because if there are big queues outside, it will be the nearest we are likely to get to a mass picket ever again.
When winning on people issues just isn't enough
• While stumbling into work last week, I happened to catch a London radio station's "win a once-in-a-lifetime holiday" phone-in competition.
The excited contestant was a British Telecom personnel manager and so overcome was she at having a chance to win the trip, she confessed (to about three million listeners) that she was in fact skiving off work to make the call.
And a very successful bunk it proved to be too, as she won the holiday to California. So what will be her response in future, one wonders, if a member of staff at a return-to-work interview says "well, I was on Countdown on Tuesday and had to call the Who wants to be a millionaire? hotline all day Wednesday".
HR institute goes under down under
• The IPD is in rude good health at present, to the extent that it could run for a whole year on its reserves of cash without any difficulty. But on the other side of the world, one of its peers is not in such good shape.
The Australian Human Resources Institute and its assets go under the auctioneer's hammer next week after going about £400,000 into the red.
The chief executive has gone, and mounting concerns in the boardroom about staff upheaval and cost overruns have led to the closure of offices around Australia and the dismissal of dozens of staff.
The nightmare can be traced back to an ambitious expansion programme undertaken by the AHRI following a report from a firm of management consultants.
Strewth! You would have thought
