Thursday, April 02, 2009

Bookmarks this week

Management Today feels the same way as me about Twitter. Thank goodness someone else is talking sense about this twaddle.

I obtained a leaked memo from a major City institution advising staff on what to wear. It suggested a look like this.

Zadie Smith lecture in New York. This is clever stuff about the new world what we're living in.

Marple Athletic Under 10s sponsor enjoys the reflected glory. My friend Ruth Shearn did me a massive favour sponsoring Joe's football team.

Dr Kevin Jones was speaking last night at the CBI dinner. Liked his take on this one. Which is this.

Profundity from David Hepworth on London's shifting population - one third of the population of London were born overseas. That is an incredible statistic.

Andy Dickinson has retired from blogging. Shame. In fact, it's worse than that. He's "fallen out of love with journalism at the moment".

Kevin Roberts with more Lancaster memories. I used to wish I'd gone to Ripley St Thomas School instead of my ever so up its own arse Grammar School.

I saw a bloke on the train back from Leeds today reading the Daily Express, it reminded me that David Quinn blogged on this particularly dreadful newspaper. Very good.

And finally, Newcastle United opt for magic beans bought on the way to market

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've often wondered whether I'd have been better off at Ripley rather than LRGS. I did 'ok' at the Grammar School, but was never gonna be a high flyer, unlike most. I absolutely loved the sporting opportunities (despite the lack of football) and was in my element in the CCF, which served me well in later life. But academically I think I may have been better off at Ripley St Thomas. Would I have been any happier in adult life? Well on the eve of my 40th birthday and with a wonderful little family, I very much doubt it.

That said, I'm really happy that oldest boy Ben is starting at Ripley in September, especially after what Mr Roberts had to say about the school.

Matt said...

How can you say that about 'The Grammar' - I grow fonder of that place by the day. :)

LRGS, 1998

NIGEL HUGHES said...

Predictably, I don't agree with either MT or MT on the subject of twitter. I've commented as such on the Management Today blog:

http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/newsalerts/article/895784/editors-blog-twitter-twaddle-/?DCMP=EMC-Daily%20News

Michael Taylor said...

Nick, Matt,
You get out of life what you're prepared to put in. The sooner you realise that, the better. Takes some of us a while to realise that. The sadness I felt at school was how the bright working class lads all dropped out gradually, by the time of the final year of 6th form... there were hardly any at all. I don't know what the secret is for getting the best out of talented kids, but I felt the snooty atmosphere didn't help. All that said, by the time I got to Manchester University it was another mountain to climb socially and intellectually.

Michael Taylor said...

For the benefit of people who can't be arsed to link, or Twitter users with no attention span, Nigel's comments on Management Today are as follows:

"Criticising twitter for the banal content posted by some users is like daming all journalism as trash based on a handful of articles that have appeared in your least favourite newspaper.

"It misses the point of twitter completely. If you're not interested in a person updating you on the routine details of their boring day-to-day lives then don't follow them. Simple.

"However if, like me, there are a lot of people and organisations whose news and opinions you value, then twitter is an efficient way of tracking what they have to say. Admittedly I could achieve the same through some sort of RSS Feed or news ticker on my desktop or phone but, with twitter, I can also respond, if I feel like it, and engage in conversation on the subject with other people interested in the same topic, if I want to. This is where print media cannot compete.

"I'm also interested in the propensity for users to share information for no apparent other reason than because sharing is what you do with this form of media. This is what irritates some journalists. Their divine right to be the source of all news has been eroded.

"Of course, twitter is indeed a fad. Something else will come along and take its place but that's not the point. Social media is here to stay and twitter is currently the best example of the many different online communities that can be built when an idea gets momentum.

@Ear_I_Am

Anonymous said...

MT
I totally agree with your point about the 'working class lads' at LRGS. But one way or another, many of those lads are doing quite well now, aren't they? What the slightly toffee nosed majority are doing now I don't know and on the whole don't really care!!
All the best
Nick