quirky

A flickwort, (plural, flickworten, the ‘w’ is pronounced ‘v’ of course) is a German concept. I came across it courtesy of language junkie [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015h1xb] Stephen Fry. The literal translation is “flick words”. It refers to all those unnecessary words you throw in to your

I recently saw a fascinating piece on those that promote proper welfare of vulnerable children. They’d compiled a list of 30 warning signs. These could suggest that a child was being exploited. If any three were witnessed by family and friends at one moment in time, action was likely

[http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/jesus-stolen-and-replaced-by-gnome-in-birmingham-311139] What a story. British humour at its best? I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the world’s largest Frankfurt christmas market outside of Germany when I’ve been to it. And this year saw the centrepiece baby doll mischievously replaced with a garden gnome.

Personal branding. It’s a minefield. And when it doesn’t quite hit the mark, it can be embarrassing. Skynews’ Jeff Randall live had on a couple of ‘treps’ – as the Americans seem to be calling people that set up their own business these days – to discuss the Chancellor’s

Consternation among the chattering classes. London broadsheet The Telegraph reveals that on a daily basis, The Royal Mail now delivers 54 million [http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/edwest/100189644/forget-junk-mail-the-real-evil-is-cold-calling/] pieces of junk mail. That’s just about one mailer for each UK citizen, every single day. Who said

And ad for the latest home coffee machine system. No Hollywood a-listers for this launch. No. Instead, a ‘typical’ cold-caller. Hardly what you’d expect to expose the cutting edge of poor sales-ship. Yet it ably shows what cold callers are up against. The comedy value of being sales-ist is

A couple of studies this week highlighted the contrary nature of people. One discovered how demanding you enter into ‘no smoking [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9675460/Just-say-no-campaigns-could-have-opposite-effect.html] ‘, was more likely to trigger the urge to light up. Another I overheard dissected on some magazine show, went

Here’s terrific insight from global travelling Newsnight anchor, the talented Gavin Esler. Taken from his experiences interviewing the world’s ruling classes, he’s recently penned a tome about what makes a great leader. His conclusion? They all tell very good stories. His favourite story surrounds the driving force