My 1987 CV

front cover of magazineFor some reason, reading Mike Cross’s piece for Daily Finance, reminiscing about the Independent after news that it had been sold for £1, made me dig out my first ever CV.

It is from 1987 and includes my letter to the Independent that triggered my resolve to be a journalist. Read More »

Late pay gripes

This week, instead of being a journalist and trainer, I spent at least a day dealing with late paying clients. It was mainly AOL, which, until today, had not paid a single freelance contributor, despite us working since December.

My company has now been paid more than £10,000 by some clients and we have remittance advices in from others so will be paid by Tuesday. But as of today we have more than £21,000 of invoices outstanding, of which nearly £2,400 is already overdue. That is me lending companies money. Read More »

Tweeting twits

Tweets from #governmentnews are so wrong the person tweeting should be taken out and shot. Journalists should avoid this site because of its inaccurate and misleading information.

Yesterday, 17 January, it tweeted that new donation and funding figures for political parties had been published. This was just baloney. Read More »

Blog or bog off

In the past few days I have worked from my Macbook using mobile internet connections from:

  • The top and bottom decks of double decker buses
  • standing up on a London commuter train
  • Seated on a Virgin train
  • On the overground section on a London tube
  • In a Starbucks and a Pret
  • Standing on Oxenholme and Lewisham stations

I have used a mix of my Vodafone dongle and my BT Openworld account. And that is in addition to several other people’s home wireless broadband networks. Read More »

Sweet William

Wannabe journalist William James deserves a job for his use of Twitter to track down Guardian careers advice panel members during the live advice session this afternoon. Read More »

All of a twitter

Here’s two lists of journalists on Twitter:

Some of these may technically be the journalist’s twitter details but several rarely if ever post.

And I am not on either list – do I want to be?

You’ve got to admire my source

Thanks to a Journalism.co.uk tweet for this.

Journalism.co.uk story (link opens new window)

Coping strategy

I had a bath this morning. I doubt I am any cleaner than the extensive soap and flannel body wash I had standing on one leg each day since I left hospital after my anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee operation on Monday. But I fee completely different.

And how you feel is vital. When you have an injury, illness or something else that knocks you back – especially as a freelance potentially alone for long periods – you need a strategy to cope. Read More »

BNP backs Watts

Mark Watts, candidate for editor of The Journalist, chose to organise a red hunt in the National Union of Journalists and allied himself with a former Ulster Unionist MP, Lord Laird of Artigarvan, to ask a question in the Lords.

Today he has secured the support of the British National Party (BNP) in London. Read More »

A new NUJ

National Union of Journalists (NUJ) members could change the union for the better. But they won’t because the biggest complainers are either too lazy or prefer to complain than to fix what’s broken. Read More »

Mark Watts’ error

Mark Watts’ McCarthyite attack on Rich Simcox as a candidate for the National Union of Journalists’ (NUJ’s) editor was a strange and misguided mistake.

I woke in hospital from my knee operation on Tuesday to two items of bad news: Watt’s email and the fact that my knee was worse than expected, I had lost my cartilage and I had arthritis.

The knee will get better. I am not sure Watts will. Read More »