Man takes a pay cut (voluntarily) and a couple more great BBC Programmes

Strangely excited to hear this morning (from the radio) of a guy who has taken a pay cut so that his staff can receive more, the CEO of  Gravity Dan Price is effectively carrying out a brave experiment on reward.

Seems Dan Price has been influenced by a 2010 report on happiness -good luck to him

What should we pay him?

Other Great BBC Programmes

yesterday I mentioned some must watch TV shows that UK residents can catch on BBC iPlayer well here's two more that i should have mentioned:

Giles Coren brother of Victoria and son of  the late Alan (a one time editor of Punch) - has a somewhat laconic style as well as a strong interest in food and is well suited to being the front-person  the BBC series looking back at how British people's diet   has changed over the last 50 years.

The deceit of the show 'Back in Time for Dinner'  is for a family to rapidly advance though the decades and years looking at Social history with a food-a-centric  gaze - it works well, seem to be a really nice family and the introduction and effect of technology has also introduced an interesting perspective to it.

The other programme which I happened upon pretty much by chance was on a subject I've commented on before the London fashion for extending under the home -well in Ealing I know of a handful of such homes but in Kensington and Holland Park areas it's pretty much endemic.

A  development in Ealing down under 

The difference  is that as you get further into town the basements become more lavish and deeper also the challenges to moving materials in and out.

 Millionaire Basement Wars - certainly showed a class within London that are seriously Mega rich.

Old papers and a couple of fine BBC programmes

As I get older my personal filing system gets increasingly weighted to pension statements and the ancillary reports that come with them - when I worked in TV News I was around at the time that a paperless revolution seemed to be on the horizon, certainly it hadn't arrived when I moved on and I think the same is true of our personal 'business' materials - paperless it isn't.

A step on my academic ladder

A sample of what I collected

Well trying to find some documents I came a cross this advert for my first postgraduate degree which I started (by Distance Learning) when I was living and working in Hong Kong.

What it brought to mind was how difficult I find it not to take courses - next week I'm back at the coal face of Philosophy and will be starting a picture framing at RACC course too - this morning I see that Nick Pearson will be running a course on 20th Century design at OPEN Ealing in May and I'm definitely up for that one too as well as Nick being a great communicator I can see that it will help inform the volunteering I do at The Design Museum.

  TV and Radio

Caught on BBC iPlayer a very considered and worthwhile Panorama about the Suicide of presenter Simon Jack's father  - Male suicide rate remains alarmingly high and the analysis from the programme was that men internalise and fail to communicate - I guess it's a responsibility on all of us to try and correct this and help those around us.

Another great example of the BBC's eclectic range was a programme (another one) about Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah - not the best show about Laughing Len but worth a listen.

we need more balloons 

Making pretty on plot 202 and more planting

I try and keep an eye out on what other allotment plot holders have done to enhance their plots and felt  a deficient  on the frivolous (perhaps) side - I've got some daffodils and generally add some sunflowers.

One pound bargain

The other day in the pound shop I was on a mission to get a piece of trellis and a climbing rose as I thought it could make a nice addition.

After a bit of fixing, and wood protection plus digging I'd managed the majority of the project I've put  compost at roots but need to add further fixings hopefully it'll survive and there'll be some nice bright blooms in the next years or so.

A coat of preserver applied

The one pound rose dug in.

'Strimmer' Battery search.

For my garden strimmer that I use tro keep the paths in order I've been searching for a spare rechargeable battery.
To date Robert Dyas (where I bough the tool) have only been able to give me a small amount of help, telling me that the units were imported from the USA (from Rank Sharp) - Rank Sharp  deal with Chinese producers but so far no update  from them  - if you've got any ideas do let me know.

Strimmer label

The battery

More planting

Peas and Broccoli will soon be ready to be planted out and I've got Courgettes and Kale started now but still lots more to plant - for some reason the water down on the plots has not been turned on so will wait until this happens before a mass planting.

They'll be planted out soon

Even more seeds - Election 2015 volunteering

Even more seeds

Down on 202 a couple of times this week - soft fruit suddenly coming into leaf and weeds doing well too.

Soft fruit spurt

As the growing season starts -the upstairs of 'Highview Towers' begins to resemble a Kew Gardens   germination pod - on the boil now are Sweet Corn and Peppers -more to follow soon I'm sure

Let's get propogating

Even more seeds are started

Election  2015 volunteering 

This week the UK election campaign has undoubtedly been about the Tories looking increasingly ruffled (to my mind) with personal attacks on Labour's Leader - that perhaps failed to accomplish what was desired.

A  birdbrain considers volunteering opportunities (perhaps)

While it might be that the attack can be assigned to one minister in the cabinet it is I understand unlikely that the tone and substance will not have been vetted at the highest level of the Conservative election machine.



For me though the biggest gaff appears to be the Tory 'promise' to  provide time away from the work place for volunteer duties for 'large employers.



I do believe in supporting volunteer organisations but I also recognise that it's nice to have a day or two avoiding work on full pay looking vaguely philanthropic at my employers expense (having done so myself) but I also know that volunteer supported organisations generally want committed and reliable volunteers who will be there more than just 3 days per year.

Blue sky thinking

I am not clear if the primary purpose was to make Eric Pickles  (and Grant Shapps of course)  look even more lost than they would otherwise as they try  and explain the benefits to the health service.

How will volunteer organisations cope with the change, how will the benefits be measured -this does look like a half (at best)baked idea that hasn't been really worked through.





By my reckoning the cost should the ill formed idea come to fruition would be something like a 1.5% hike to the wages bill for qualifying employers - perhaps the age of austerity is over?

The Conservatives are not of course the only party making crazy promises The Pub Landlord is nearly as bad.