The Tories strike back with tosser campaign?

This week the Conservative party launched a campaign focused on alerted people to the perils of getting into to debt. Very admirable and a clever campaign, but the Tories have a big mountain to climb to convince the public of their change of values have a look @ http://www.sort-it.co.uk/

Tv killed the radio star but what is next

Read this interesting article today

How will we watch TV in 10 years? Leading figures from the television world have given their predictions for how TV will evolve in the coming years - and what it means for viewers.

The way I use iTunes and You Tube now I would have never imagined it even five years ago who knows what the future will hold ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6146244.stm

Being Intentional …

I have been listening a lot over the last few weeks to some Podcast interviews by www.catalystspace.com an organisation founded by Leadership Guru John Maxwell focused on developing young leaders and helping them achieve all their potential.

This months interview was with Kevin Carroll the author of the highly successful Rules of the Red Rubber Ball. He is the founder of The Katalyst Consultancy where his “job” is to nurture and care for the individual and communal inner spirit and to inspire new ways of thinking. He was raised by his grandparents in Philadelphia, Kevin joined the Air Force and then landed a job as the athletic trainer and physical education teacher at The Haverford School in Philadelphia, which quickly led to his job as the head athletic trainer for the Philadelphia 76ers. While at the 76ers, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight tapped Kevin to bring his unique experiences to the sneaker giant and help inspire their creatives. Although no job existed at the time, Knight encouraged Kevin to “hang out” and create the job that would add value to the company. Kevin accepted the challenge and stayed for seven years as “Katalyst.” He was instrumental in helping Nike develop a deeper understanding of athletic product performance, team dynamics and interpersonal communication. He was also the inspiration behind the Lance Armstrong wristband phenomenon. Kevin left in 2004 to found his own brand, The Katalyst Consultancy.

What struck me about Kevin and other people I have heard on this Podcast is they are so Intentional about all their actions and who they work with it has inspired me to continue to seek out the most creative people and companies to work with that I can …

You can find out more about Kevin @

http://www.katalystconsultancy.com/

What would you do with £10

Not many businesses draw up and deliver plans to give money away.
True, there are some clever marketing strategies that allow for customers to win small amounts in their packets of crisps or sweets, but in these campaigns it seems fair to assume the odds are stacked against the consumer.
And in an economy where so many businesses have to answer to shareholders, it's a brave board of directors which recommends giving away a hefty chunk of profits for no apparent gain.
Except that is, where the business is based on a different model such as a social enterprise.
We are fortunate here in Merseyside to have some very fine and successful businesses operating in this way.
The government says there are 55,000 such initiatives across the UK founded with a social purpose and reinvesting profits into the community.
Some people may be surprised by that figure.
It we are to believe messages emerging from HM Treasury, it's a figure which will grow when the Chancellor moves along Downing Street.
Mr Brown has already described this sector of the economy he oversees as a new British success story.
And it looks set to continue.
In the past week a major initiative has been launched to engage young people in initiaives that could create more social enterprises.
Make Your Mark With a Tenner, is a groundbreaking competition that gives 10,000 UK teenagers the chance to show what they can achieve with £10 in just one month.
The private venture is supported by Andrew Reynolds, Patron of The Prince's Trust and founder of The Entrepreneur Channel, who has donated £100,000 to give teenagers the chance to prove they are tomorrow's top socially minded entrepreneurs.
The competition begins on January 29th 2007 and will run for a month, after which the £10 loans are returned and the participants can decide what to do with their profit - keep it or develop their idea to make a positive contribution to society.
Participants will be asked to write 150 words on their experiences: based on the stories submitted, one hundred winners will be chosen; 50 winners will be those who have made the most profit and 50 will be those whose project has made the biggest social impact.
The latter 50 winners will also be eligible for a further £1,000 each, from another fund for young social entrepreneurs.
I hope there is a strong representation from Merseyside schools. As I said, this region is blessed with some really innovative and successful social enterprises.
Let’s have more – and let’s recognise their valuable contribution to our communities and our economy.
Check out the details at http://www.makeyourmarkwithatenner.org/

Make Your Mark

TODAY we find ourselves at the end of Enterprise Week 2006. If the publicity machine driving this Enterprise Week has not made itself heard to you, I'm sure it's not for lack of effort on the organisers' part, but more to do with what our broadcasters and editors believe we want to see and hear.

Their website www.starttalkingideas.org is packed full of events and information on enterprise.

Enterprise Week is a big event. And it's an important one too for a country with an economy that owes so much of its strength to the entrepreneurial spirit of our great industrialists, inventors and downright opportunists.

For example, more than 20,000 pupils, students and employees have this week joined the UK's biggest ever, live enterprise competition. The Make Your Mark Challenge is intended to unleash young people's enterprising ideas on a massive scale, and is backed by leading entrepreneurs and TV programmes like Hollyoaks and Newsround.

Make Your Mark Challenge is Enterprise Week's mass participation flagship event. This year nearly 3,000 teams from schools, universities, further education colleges and workplaces are taking part, making it twice the size of last year's challenge.


And the action is not confined to schools and colleges. Some of the UK's most recognised companies, including British Gas, Royal Mail and Cafédirect are among the 136 teams taking part in the workplace challenge

And here in Merseyside we are playing a major part too.

The campaign "Make Your Mark in Liverpool" was launched at a high profile event at FACT in the city centre this week.

On display were some of the region's best young talent including singers and performers and a demonstration of a computer game developed by students at St Margaret's High School with the support of local real-time interactive 3D software solutions company Lateral Visions.

The campaign aims to promote enterprise culture for young people.

So, why does it matter? Because we need bright ideas and entrepreneurial talent to drive our economy, arguably more so now than at any other time.

The week's not over yet, so ask yourself what your business has contributed.

Did you know......

The AIDS epidemic has become the greatest humanitarian crisis in history? ... By 2010, over 100,000,000 people will have been infected by the HIV virus.... 40 million children, women, and men have already died from AIDS.... More women and children are infected with HIV than men....

AIDS is the #1 killer of adults under the age of 60 in many countries.

What can be done? 1st December 2006 is Worlds Aids Day you can find out more @ www.worldaidsday.org

Log on and see what you can do.

What a difference a day makes

APART from the results, one of the most interesting aspects of yesterday's US polls has been observing how the campaign has unfolded.

With so much of our own domestic party political activity reflecting the US, it's fair to say much of what the American electorate is subjected to today, we will experience tomorrow.

Perhaps the most striking example has been the transformation of the way our major parties now stage their annual conferences.

With each passing year, these become more and more like the rallies so favoured by both camps across the Atlantic. It's also fair to say that the explosion in media technology has transformed every aspect of mass communications - and election campaigns and polls themselves are no exception.

The sophistication of modern communications means political campaigners have very little, if any room for manoeuvre when they are out on the road.


Under the gaze of a dozen or more lenses and microphones, their every utterance is beamed instantly to ever-growing audiences. If they fluff a line, they risk everything. Ask John Prescott all about campaigning on the streets with a posse of media representatives in tow.

And as well as being able to communicate so widely so quickly, the politicians are advised by strategists who can exploit the immense power of these sophisticated information services.

Though they are never likely to admit to making policy decisions "on the hoof", it's undoubtedly true that our politicians and those who surround and advise them, can and do use the web and others modern communications to gauge public reaction and perception.

For example, have a look at www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006

Throughout the US campaign, this CNN site has provided an extraordinary range of detailed coverage, comment and analysis of every aspect of the American campaign. Now, with results posted, the site adds a further dimension to its coverage with a mind-boggling interpretation of voting patterns across the country.

And why, some may ask, is this so significant?

Well, when the most powerful nation on earth goes to the polls it's as well to stay awake.

Think of five factors that are going to be most critical to your business next year and I am pretty sure that whatever your list contains, the colour of the US political map will have a bearing.


World oil reserves and supplies for one are inextricably linked to US-led demand. Higher taxation to curb global warming seems almost inevitable, so what will the US decide to do?

And, arguably most critical of all, where will the US War on Terror lead the world's economy?
America's own voters have made their point. It remains to be seen who was listening and how they will respond.