Great Britain, the greatest sporting nation

 

By George Ross

As we know last week was Royal Ascot and this week is the start of the best two weeks in the Tennis calendar. We won’t talk about the football, as we all know it wasn’t going to be the best of tournaments. Even though we went into the Euros with the mindset that the pressure was off, everyone was still saying that we could still go all of the way. Just look at Chelsea. It is this sort of mentality that defines the British outlook. “We aren’t going to do well. But we are really.” It is this reason that we think that we will achieve a lot in sporting events, however we have not.



There are the Olympics to look forward to this year and we have got a great set of athletes who are going to be representing Great Britain. Now that we know that we have a good set of athletes a Nation expects. For example in Beijing four years ago we weren’t expected to do as well as we did and it boosted the profile of the various athletic sports due to be contested this summer. As a nation we tend to build up the expectation only to be knocked back down again. It is a tradition whenever we go into a major sporting event, so I guess I had better do my bit. 


“Come on Andy, this will be your year!”

iPhones and sausage fingers

By Tim Richardson

At a recent meeting I was chatting with Michael who told me how he had recently written a story on an iPad.  We joked about it – until I let slip that I had once written a story on an iPhone.

I was out and about in London and I received an urgent call from a client who needed something written there and then.  Without my laptop to hand, I did the only thing I could.  I tapped it out on my iPhone.

Let me tell you, trying to bash out 250 words on an iPhone – especially if you’ve got sausage fingers like me – is hard work.  But, after much swearing and frustration I did it and sent it off to the client.  I wouldn’t recommend it as a regular method – but it does at least prove that it can be done. 

Coincidentally, only last week I had to sub some copy using my iPhone while I was on a train to London.  To be honest, it wasn’t too bad.  I’m just relieved I’ve never had to tap something out of any length using old-fashioned predictive text. 

Definitely worth the paper it's written on

By Michael Wadley

'Contact of employment'

There we go…a phrase that reaches the places valium can't.

Because employment contracts are boring aren't they? Yes and that's their job. To combine titanic scale dreariness, with deliberately deployed esotericism and the most weaselesque of words possible – all in one big old,  sleep–inducing document.

Well, wake up and smell the caffeine all you employment lawyers and crusty HR departments out there. Cos I reckon your days might be numbered. 

Last week Fides Media shook hands with its first ever bona fide PAYE employee – Ali Clarke. She's brilliant by the way. Anyway we've provided her with a contract which, and I'm confident about this, will change the face of employment law in this country.

Well maybe not, but it certainly  looks like a welcome slap on the backside for all those 28 page finger-wagging tomes , with their 'whilsts' and their 'wherefores' and their 'gross misconduct this' and  'The Company reserves the right to do that' nonsense.

Our Ali has got a contract, produced in the form of a warm and uplifting  letter that speaks to her effervescently and treats her as a friend.

It was beautifully crafted by our wonderful HR advisor, Mara Thorne.  Mara has done a magnificent job here because she has included everything that both 'parties' need including protecting each other and mutual reassurance and understanding. Yet it's done in a fun and truly engaging way. In fact, with its song title cross-heads, crisp and sprightly tone of voice it's a right-rollocking read.

We may well put it up on our website in due course as a warning to all you dullards out there…because we're really proud of this potentially shape-shifting document and I know Ali really likes it too.

So the cat's out of the bag…contracts don't have to be tedious. And that, folks…it's official!

Flying the flag or a step too far?

By Tim Richardson

It’s an issue that is dividing families – heck…it’s even tearing the nation apart. I’m not talking about the rights and wrongs of a doctors’ strike or whether there should be another round of quantitative easing. It’s bigger than that.

The issue is around bunting. Depending on your view, the country is either littered with the stuff or it’s tastefully decorated with the red, white and blue.

Here’s where I have to make a confession. Last Saturday – after discovering that the previous owner of our cottage had left some bunting from the last royal gala – I popped outside and started to hang bunting. Don’t ask me what made me do it. Was it in some hope that ‘The Hump” would do well in Eurovision or that Jensen or Lewis would storm to F1 victory in Monaco? Whoknows?

Whatever the reason, the bunting is up. My wife took one look at it and called it ‘tacky’. She didn’t even tell me to take it down – she did that herself and left just a few strands fluttering in the breeze.

The following day, bunting appeared adorning neighbouring gardens. Quite simply, the stuff is out of control. Bunting done well can be really jolly. Done badly and it makes places look like the forecourt of a second-hand car dealership.

The question now remains: now it’s up, when is the right time to take it down? And that's something that is equally divisive.