Thanks to everyone who helped make TGLW (The Good Lady Wife – Kate) and my joint 50th birthday happen tonight at the Amersham Arms, New Cross. Continue reading
Instagram
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Work-life balance changes with kids
I lost my job the day my son, Joe, was born, so my work-life balance as a freelance journalist has been tied to my children growing up. I’ve given them breakfasts, packed them lunches and cooked them dinners. I’ve got them to school and gone on trips. Continue reading
London underground (tube) maps
TFL map of where London’s trains run
Three versions of the Transport for London (TfL) London Underground tube map produced this year prompted me to post about different tube maps.
The three included maps showing
- The real route of train lines (pdf from TfL)
- The average local rent and the interactive datasource from Find Property
- The station names in German
But actually this kind of post has been done before so instead here are some links (new windows):
- Geoff Marshall’s collection of maps (he was hounded by TfL’s lawyers )
- The Londonist guide to alternative tubemaps
You can also buy lots of maps from TfL, showing such things as The Rugby World Cup, the Paralympics, films and music.
Vodafone a joke
Vodafone CEO Jeroen Hoencamp wants feedback
Tax dodging mobile phone operator Vodafone has possibly the worst customer service in the UK.
Having tempted me (a customer since before I was married in 1993) to stay with the phone company after a 2 hour 20 minute web chat, Vodafone then failed to implement the deal it had offered.
Another 47-minute web chat led to Vodafone telephoning my office in a call that lasted more than two hours, yet still the mobile phone company could not honour the deal. Continue reading
Not being secret
East London Lines: first to report academy status
Governors of Prendergast school – the Leathersellers’ Federation of Schools – have refused to provide details under the Freedom of Information Act about their decision to apply for academy status.
Yet they deny secrecy, claiming to have been open and transparent.
The answers they have provided, along with published minutes and replies to emails over the past five months or so, suggest that the timetable of events was as follows: Continue reading
Do votes count?
52% of the UK population do not vote
David Cameron’s Conservative government secured the backing of 24.4% of the 2015 electorate and just 17.6% of the UK population.
More than four out five people in the UK did not vote Conservative. More than half the UK population (52%) did not (or could not) vote at all. Continue reading
Health websites
Guild of Health Writers
Freelance health journalists should have their own WordPress websites that include photos, images, pictures, audio and video alongside their writing, the Guild of Health Writers heard.
WordPress is a simple-to-use content management system (CMS). It enables freelances to run their own professional-looking website without paying for expensive web design and maintenance. It can costs less than £35 a year. Continue reading
FCA PR queries
FCA press office contacts
I don’t believe the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) press office answered my questions at all. Do you? My email correspondence is in this blog.
The FCA is the super-regulator for the financial services industry. It took a public pounding from MPs and a published report last year over briefing a journalist too much information too early. Perhaps it is being over-cautious now.
There’s a less email-heavy version of this on my business website Wheal Associates (new window), which includes more on the FCA’s problems last year. This post contains the detail of my correspondence. Continue reading
BT complaint fail
Recording calls to BT complaints
If it were not so painful it would be funny: BT’s “High Level Complaints’’ just tried to insist that complaining about follow-up emails after they belatedly fitted a phone and broadband would have to be a separate complaint.
They did this to try to ensure I could not take my original complaints to the ombudsman. They have retracted. But you can see what they were up to and it is despicable. BT’s CEO Ian Livingston, who was at the heart of this complaint, is to quit and become UK trade and industry minister. Uh oh! Continue reading
BT Business fail
Not ready: BT failed to provide phone or broadband
BT Business just failed to move my phone and broadband on the moving date. What a useless service. I am now without remote back up.
In June 2010 I blogged about how we set up the remote back-up system and why it is important to back up remotely in the event that the unthinkable happens. And now, because of BT’s incompetence, I don’t have that working. I could lose everything in the next few days. Continue reading
