Ren Harvieu - where you heard it first

At first I thought she was Dusty Springfield, which isn't a bad touchstone for any emerging singer. A powerful voice, possibly tortured, certainly sounding like she'd lived a life less ordinary and one longer than 20 years.

Terry Christian has been stoically playing this Salford chantuese for a couple of years on his Northerners With Attitude programme on Stockport's Imagine FM. Say what you like about Terry (and I have done, here) but he has an incredible ear for a great tune and a nose for an artist with attitude.

I finally bought her album this week - and yes, it's a triumph. She has to be nailed on for the next Bond theme.

Disco legend Donna Summer dies

I'm not going to fake grief at the death of Donna Summer, but I have reflected on how much I like her best songs. I talked about it here and one of the papers has a fine selection here.

My favourite is MacArthur Park - soaring, epic, tragic and occasionally nonsense - seems to sum her life up very well.

We're off to World Scratch Day 2012 tomorrow

I have been very excited by the movement to encourage coding for kids. So much of what is called ICT in schools seems to be using Microsoft products and low level gamification. It's not enough, frankly. I love the idea of the Raspberry Pi and will order one soon. But when it comes to creating content, something some of my lads are very adept at, I was really taken with Scatch, a program and technique developed by MIT in Boston. We're going to a session in Sheffield tomorrow as part of World Scratch Day. An added bonus is it's being run by Stuart, one of my Rovers Podcasting chums, who knows about such stuff. The video shows something of how it works.

Three cheers for Greater Manchester Police

Families gather to cheer City in a booze free Albert Square

Over the last few days I've had three very good opportunities to applaud our boys in blue.

On Saturday the chief constable came to this beautiful part of Greater Manchester - to present two of our lads with a Chief Scouts Gold Award. It was the first time I'd had the chance to talk to Peter Fahy, but was struck by what a decent honest man he seems. His speech was really inspiring and applauded the incredible work that voluntary groups like scouts do for local community cohesion. He also talked about the cuts and the climate we live in - how hard it is going to be to provide public services. He was then setting out to go on city centre patrol where his officers would be breaking up fights at 5am. This 24 hour drinking experiment has failed miserably, Britain can't handle it's drink. It's a problem for the police and sooner or later they're going to have to oppose licences. What a dismal waste of police time.

So, hooray for the dibble.

I tried to buy a bottle of champagne as a present for someone who has helped me out today. I couldn't, because at the request of Greater Manchester Police, the shops in the city centre weren't selling alcohol on the day that Manchester City were parading their Premier League trophy. Any thought that this was excessive prompts a thought back to the rampant Rangers fans drinking all day and urinating over our city 4 years ago. On walking to Piccadilly station and seeing the streams of families and kids in their City kits and flags I thought what a good idea it was to cut off the supply and change the tempo of the parade.

Another big whoo hoo for the cops!

Finally, a bit of a leap here, but let's not forget that the awful story of the grooming of young girls in Rochdale owes a huge thanks to the GMP. The main priority in this case has been to secure a prosecution. Amidst appalling tension the police have managed to get witnesses to testify and with idiots stoking up hatred and playing the race card that can't have been easy. I hope more prosecutions follow. There may be a deep seated racial motive behind the exploitation by Pakistani men of young "easy meat" white girls, but it is wholly wrong to say it's a facet of the Muslim community of Manchester.

Thanks and cheers for the Five -O.

It takes courage and dedication to take these three stances and to see the bigger picture. What a complex and difficult job policing is, and how fortunate we are to have the force we have.

Leaked letter - Mrs Desai's reply to Paul Hunt

There's a letter doing the rounds from Paul Hunt, the deputy CEO of Blackburn Rovers, which he supposedly sent to Ms Desai the matriarch of the Venkys. There's a link to the coverage of it here and here.

Here, this blog can exclusively reveal the reply from Pune.

Dear Paul,


What a terrible web we weave. Your letter has confirmed to me that we have been lied to and misled at every step of the way. We bought a football club to give us publicity and to pave the way for us to open up in Europe. We are proud people who have been made fools of.
Let me address each of your points.

1. Promotion to CEO - It seems that everyone in football wants more. Now you want more money. Why, Paul? What have you done except complain? What difference is a title?

2. Owners to invest in the club - Why must we spend more money? We are always being asked for more money. What for? Don't we have enough players? What do they do all day? Why are they all paid so much, especially the ones who say they are injured. Can't we use the younger ones? And why do we have to pay extra to Salgado and Roberts? Don't play them if it's going to cost us. Who told the bank we weren't good for the money? Was it that John Williams? We were right to get rid of him. If we need some more money, then sell some more players. They are all paid far too much anyway. Balance the books and cut the wage bill.

3. Manager to change. When we bought the club within a short space of time Venkatesh and Belaji saw our beloved Rovers get beaten 7-1 at Manchester United. Our football adviser Jerome Anderson told us we needed to get rid of the manager and put someone in charge who would stop us from getting relegated from the EPL. No-one had explained how this works. This prompted us to get rid of Big Sam and appoint Steve Kean. We were criticised for this and now we are being criticised for sticking with our man and giving him time. Sacking Big Sam cost us a lot of money, I suppose Steve will want a couple of million as well?

4. Trust the executive - bring us in. Why should we trust any of you English business people? You have taken us for fools at every turn - the Walker Trustees, Rothschild, John Williams, Big Sam, Jerome Anderson, you all thought we were fools. None of you have come clean. You have all laughed at us, called us chicken farmers and gossiped about us.

5. PR just from Ewood. Who is this PR consultant you speak of? Don't we have Paul Agnew? What does he do all day? Why didn't you sign David Beckham? Why didn't that get us better PR?

6. Regular visits to India. Another one after a free holiday in Pune. Steve comes over all the time and now you want to come. Why?

7. Regular visits to Blackburn and Premier League games. All we get is abuse when we come over, these poor white faces railing at us like we are peasants and coolies. Now who is in charge? How does it feel to be subjects of an empire? And it is very cold. Nobody warned us of this. You don't still think we bought the club because we like football do you?

8. Hire and Fire. I see what you are doing here, Paul. You want that Williams boy out of the way so you can claim the credit for all the work his Dad did.

9. Lost revenue and brand equity. We are the ones who have lost revenue. What are you doing to stop the protests? How many people know of us worldwide? Millions. How many care about a small town football team? None.

10. Support is necessary. You think we are all fools. You all bleat about relegation and peddle the lie that we didn't know of it. We do, we just don't care. The team will still be playing in the Championship, they can still wear the shirt of the 1995 Premiership champions and make us another chicken commercial. And there won't be as many protests if we cut down the numbers who come along to the games.

And if the staff don't like it, then they can go too. I hear there is high unemployment in Blackburn, if you don't like it, then get a job you like.

Mrs Rao.


POSTSCRIPT - for the avoidance of doubt and as a mark of respect to the THOUSANDS of people who have read this - I can confirm it is a work of fiction.

WANTED - For The Death of Jack Walker's Dream

There are plenty of football club owners who have tasted bitter disappointment - many lose millions, many reduce a large fortune to a small fortune out of a big one. There are plenty too who have seen once proud clubs being destroyed - look at Glasgow Rangers. But few can have had their proud legacy so wantonly destroyed as Jack Walker's has been.

Blackburn Rovers will probably be relegated tonight. I'll be there to witness it and the anger will be high. Much of it will be directed to Steve Kean and his role in managing a failing team. I haven't been part of the protests - not out of support for Kean - but because he isn't the main problem.

Those responsible include the clueless Venky's and their false promises, the manipulative Kentaro boss Jerome Anderson and Steve Kean too for his poor decision making and tactical ineptitude. He isn't going to quit - he wants a pay off like Big Sam got - three year's money and the sympathy vote from his pals in the media and his fellow managers. Always the victim, never his fault.

The current board of Blackburn Rovers have been pretty noticable by their abscence. Apart from a seat on a board of FA blazers, what is Bob Coar for?

Let us not forget too the betrayal of Jack's dream by his trustees. Professional hangers-on who had a duty to uphold a great man's legacy, but who failed in exercising a proper duty of care to supporters and staff at Blackburn Rovers.

When Venky's have stripped the club of its assets, ripped out the parachute payments and shared the spoils with whichever shady partners they have worked on in this "project" to market their chicken, there will still be a football club in a proud town. They are finished as a brand in the UK, forever tainted by association.

The glory days may never come back in an era of oligarchs and petro Sheikhs owning clubs, but if we're honest it's been a great ride that had to end sometime. The challenge now is not to scrabble around for another rich man, but to take the club off these awful people. A club owned by its fans can create loyalty and passion as a sporting totem for a community. Premier League football at Ewood Park may die tonight, but that dream must live on. We owe it to Jack Walker.

POST SCRIPT - I've just got home from the inevitable defeat and relegation at Ewood Park. Everything above is correct and still stands. It is sad, but it's also only football. The thing that most surprised me about tonight was the half hearted nature of much of the protests. It could have been much worse, they could have been more vociferous, but then Blackburn Rovers fans never had much of a violent edge. As far talk of "bouncing back" from the manager, I just shake my head in disbelief. 

Local elections - motivation is everything

If you want something enough, then you have to be prepared to fight for it. If you can't even be bothered to vote - and most people don't - then that seems to suggest a level of discontent. I said in a number of blogs leading up to the election that the ability of the local parties to mobilise their voters and to motivate them to vote would be the key to success. The well drilled Liberal Democrat operation in Marple South dropped four leaflets through our door. The posters around the whole ward outnumbered about 10 to 2 to 1 if not more. The whole place had the feel of a Liberal Democrat safe seat, which it is.

The Conservative campaign was low key. They managed just one printed leaflet on a laser jet home printer. A national drop in votes didn't help, but the one LibDem message that chimed with me was that you just don't hear from the other parties through the year. They are invisible. Even with a chance to unseat a weak incumbent they fluffed it.

The turnout was 810 votes lower than it was a year ago. The Liberal Democrat voters bothered, no-one else did. Something similar happened in the neighbouring ward of Bredbury Green and Romiley. There, the Conservatives lost almost 1000 votes from the previous year while the LibDems held up. There was no swing, or change. Just a deepening apathy.

When there is a chance of change, a desire to make a statement, then voters will turn out. Turnout in another neighbouring ward showed this. Stockport Council's LibDem leader Dave Goddard lost his seat despite his party only actually losing 100 votes from the previous year. The difference was that Labour managed to get 140 more of their supporters to vote because they tasted change was possible.  
I anticipated a real meltdown in Liberal Democrat support across the North. It has happened to an extent, look at Manchester where they were wiped out. They lost all their seats and in places like Higher Blackley, where my pal Malcolm Evans stood for the Tories, the LibDems scraped just 100 votes and were beaten by UKIP and the BNP.

The LibDems have always been the masters of being all things to all people and then they get found out. The brief burst of support in Manchester undoubtedly came as a vote AGAINST Labour's national policies. In Stockport, the support actually seems to be FOR Liberal Democrats as a party with a set of values that a core of voters sign up to. Possibly age has something to do with that loyalty too. Marple's average age is high. There's a loyalty there that the older tribal vote believes in.

But the tricolour Britain that Fraser Nelson described recently plays here too. Swathes of Britain are heartlands for the parties - Labour in the North, Tories in the south, with isolated pockets of SNP and Lib Dem support. This has bred a complacency and a cynicism that saw very little change this week, at a time of discontent.

It's impossible to draw firm conclusions about how this week's election will play out at a General Election in three year's time. The economy will improve. Labour has the chance to get better, because at the moment they working out a fresh vision and a defining message for the future. But politics is also about how individuals and teams react to events. A senior figure in public life said something about the Conservative ministers he encounters. This lot, he said, are always one cock-up away from a crisis. That was back in December and how right those words seem now. They may yet be the architects of their own destruction, creators of the chaos that may engulf them further, or they may be able to pull rabbits out of hats as economic conditions improve. But Labour also have to prove they are fit to govern. Until then, apathy reigns.

For the moment though, the two places I have the biggest stakes in - Marple and Manchester - remain one party states.

Vote for Marple, Vote against cynicism

It's the local elections tomorrow. Here in Marple South we have a choice to vote for a candidate who has taken the local voters for granted and doesn't believe in anything except being in office.

I'm going to reject that tomorrow.

I hope you do too. If you believe in small government, are against waste and want a councillor who will work hard for this community, as he looks to make his mark in politics, then vote for Carl Rydings.

If you want to register your discontent with the coalition government, then don't stay at home and grumble, don't accept the cynical mewlings of the Lib Dems that Labour can't win here. They don't know that. It was said that George Galloway couldn't win in Bradford, and he did. These are extraordinary times in politics. If you support Labour, then support the Labour candidate. Only by seeing evidence of a bedrock of support can Labour build up a functioning campaigning force in this community.

And if you are concerned about immigration and Europe and all those Daily Mail issues, then that's your right. There is a UKIP candidate.

But please vote. I'm not going to give you the reasons why you should vote for Shan Alexander, because I've had four leaflets through my door telling me why and none of the reasons amount to anything. They are just tepid slogans and claims for credit for things that have nothing or little to do with her. It is dog dirt politics of the worst kind and it's time we said enough is enough.

My mates #17 - Laura Wolfe and Anthony Turner

It's been a while since I've randomly shuffled my address book and found a friend to profile on this feature on this blog. Who better today than these two - Laura Wolfe and Anthony Turner, married by love, divided by football. Laura is a raving Manchester City fan and Anthony a slightly jaded United fan. Both great parents and wonderful friends.

I first met Laura through work, she was the director of the Institute of Directors for the North West and I was the editor of Insider. And do you know what - we really didn't get on at all. She was reaching out to all media and I was mildly offended at the status equivalence. Do you know what? She was right. The world does turn smoother if we all work together.

In my defence I was longer in the game than Laura and had seen a few muppets come and go. In time, she skilfully proved a number of things - mainly that she's good at what she does - building networks and creating great events, but also that she values investment in people. Every time I've worked with her I've enjoyed it, and every time I've learned something new. I also hope I've brought something too.

As we've become friends - she memorably came to a dinner at my old school with Kevin Roberts  - I've also got to know Anthony too, which has been brilliant. We've also seen our kids get to hang out together too as we sit in the conservatory and talk for England.

The thing I like about the two of them is just how honest and straight they both are. But also they have a wicked and mischievous sense of humour. How can I not love the creator of an alter ego that is the wife of my alter ego. Confused? All will be revealed eventually.

Tonight it is Manchester City v Manchester United at Eastlands. THE MOST IMPORTANT AND TENSE AND BIGGEST MOST MASSIVE GAME, LIKE, EVER!! Well, not here it isn't, but while me and Rachel keep our allegiances low key, the footballing divide in their house has been the subject of TV documentaries (see above), radio programmes and occasional Twitter rows. Tonight will be a tense one in their household. But love conquers all.

More desperate nonsense from Marple's Lib Dems

I was delighted to see that the latest leaflet from Marple Liberal Democrats have moderated the ludicrous graphs that misrepresented the support of the rival parties in the local elections, just as the Conservatives have used real stats (pictured). I was also pleased that all mention of "Shan's campaign" against a supermarket on Hibbert Lane had been taken out. Good.

But they still claim credit for freezing council tax, which is a central government policy. There are the usual silly claims about small improvements that are of questionable benefit. One of these is the replacement of football posts on Hawk Green. Anyone can see this is a totally unsuitable setting for a football pitch. It can't be used by local clubs, who are struggling to find somewhere to play, and is unmarked. So why have two full sized metal posts? Nonsense.

Just as I was beginning to think the only active candidate was Shan Alexander, who I have written about here, here and here, and who has a few posters around Marple from her supporters, we received a leaflet from Conservative candidate Carl Rydings. It too draws attention to local problems like potholes, but also includes a few positive notes. He doesn't use dreary electoral strategies as the Lib Dems do, but stands up for his Conservative values. I liked his considered stance on the supermarket issue. He is against Asda on Hibbert Lane - but notes the local desire for a different site for a new supermarket.

There was no presence on the main shopping area of Marple today from any candidate, at least not when I was there at the busy time of 12.30. And posters from the Lib Dems in Marple as a whole outnumber Conservative posters. In fact, even Labour do. But Carl's campaign is targetting High Lane. He's been active on the local internet forum too, but wonder how many votes that will garner.

I noticed as well that not only is council leader Dave Goddard up for re-election in Offerton this time, so too is his right hand man Kevin Hogg in Hazel Grove.

It's going to be a close call, but one wonders how much the Conservatives bad fortnight will impact on the confidence of their vote to turn out. And how much the tainted credibility of Shan Alexander will be a factor with local people - Google her name and see what comes up. At the end of the day it's about turnout, how motivated people are to support their candidate.

Aaronovitch v Galloway, Question Time

Question Time last week didn't disappoint. It was a great start to the new series. The order in which I like the panel before they appear is worth listing, because so often it colours how we judge those who are on the programme.

1. David Aaronovitch
2. Sayeeda Warsi
3. Yvette Cooper
4. Tim Farron
5. George Galloway

Here's how I honestly think they did.

1. David Aaronovitch
2. George Galloway
3. Sayeeda Warsi
4. Tim Farron
5. Yvette Cooper

I thought the would be Labour leader was a real let down. She floundered in the teeth of attacks by Galloway. On first sight I thought David Aaronovitch had come off worse from his clashes with the odious apologist for dictators, but while Galloway was front footed in how he attacked "former Communist" and "backside licker" it rather came across as hideous name calling.

Spring clean - new blogs and links added

I've added a couple of new links on the panel and taken off a few defunct ones. If anyone wants me to add a link that they think people who come here will like, please let me know.

Outside In is an excellent and well maintained blog by a teacher called Michael Merrick. He has written widely on politics and Catholicism and does so with a compelling urgency.

Catholic Left does exactly what you'd expect, but also has an incredibly good grasp of local politics round my way.

John Leach does a brilliant blog about entrepreneurship - it's his passion and I love spending time with John and working on our goal of bringing together people with great ideas.

Thought Economics from Manchester-based entrepreneur Vikas Shah has been nominated for a webby award. He is terrific. Some of his interviews are quite mesmerising. "Between them, they have achieved accolades ranging from being one of the first from our civilisation to step foot on the moon, to bringing the telephone to India, inventing the internet, developing countries, changing our understanding of life and the universe, running the biggest sports and film events in the world, ending wars, and more. All interviews are conducted and written by Vikas Shah."


I've also included a link to Respublica, the think tank founded by public intellectual Phillip Blond. I reviewed his thoughtful and challenging book Red Tory here and remain interested in the work of this very intriguing project that addresses varied issues of civic life.


I've also taken off my Facebook profile, which is nobody's business but members of my family and the real friends I have on that social network - instead I've added a link to my LinkedIn profile. 


Finally, there's also Michael Taylor Events - an online journal of events I've been working on. It's going to get busier.

The start-up of you by Reid Hoffman reviewed

This is a great book - just right for me as I embark on a new career with a start-up business. But Reid Hoffman's thesis is broader than that. It isn't a guide for start-ups, but a guide to anyone to adopt that start-up mindset - always be iterating, trying stuff early - 'permanent beta' he calls it.

"We are all works in progress. It doesn’t matter whether you are a recent graduate, a seasoned professional, or a reinventing yourself mid-career. Great people, like great companies, are always evolving. They’re never finished and never fully developed. Each day presents an opportunity to learn more, do more, grow more. Permanent beta is a lifelong commitment to continuous personal growth. It is the mindset of every entrepreneur of life."

He is full of wise and important ideas and stories. As you'd expect from someone who was involved in starting the social network for professionals - LinkedIn - then  he has loads to say about the power of networks. It brought me back to so much of what we picked up on our Silicon Valley Learning Journey.

There's a website for the book and the further ideas he espouses here.

Catholic Left: Local Elections in Marple

There is some excellent analysis of the upcoming local election in Marple by Catholic Blogger, who seems to have a good handle on local issues - there are also predictions of a long night for council leader Dave Goddard.

Catholic Left: Local Elections in Marple: Marple is on the border between Derbyshire and traditional Cheshire; it used to have an Urban District Council but was brought under the aus...

Question Time is back this week

My feelings towards BBC Question Time are complex. Some weeks I just can't bare to watch. Others I find myself cheering at people I don't really agree with, while curling at horror on listening to people I should quite like. Julie Meyer and Owen Jones spring to mind. It's a piece of theatre and sometimes it's a farce.

It's back this week and you couldn't have picked a better line-up to push all of my emotional and political buttons. I genuinely quite like Sayeeda Warsi and David Aaranovitch, most of the time. I think Tim Farron and Yvette Cooper are OK but prone to weasly cynicism. And then there's the arch pantomime villain himself, George Galloway, who's indefatigability I acknowledge, but will never salute.

Should be a good one.     

Hope springs at Swansea

So, a full and shiny new stadium full of optimistic fans, watching a team playing attractive football led by a popular and positive manager under stable ownership.

Those days of 1994 at Blackburn Rovers seem so terribly distant now. But then so too does the team under Mark Hughes that saw a solid side qualify for Europe. As our train took us past Cardiff we saw the scene of a very happy day in 2002, the last silverware won by a Rovers team. When will we ever grace a final again?

Pretty soon the game will be up for Blackburn Rovers at the top level of English football.

For all his positive rhetoric and playing the victim Steve Kean has failed in his mission of creating a young positive team playing attacking football. That dream was exposed as a joke today by a Swansea City team - and a club - that is everything Blackburn Rovers is not.

The home fans sung: "we love our manager" - and so they should. Brendan Rogers is an honest and thoughtful football man who gets the best from his charges. Steve Kean does none of that.

The abject performance summed up everything: no heart from the players, with the exception of David Dunn and Paul Robinson; a somnolent and dejected following of about 1000; and absentee owners who have dismantled the club from top to bottom.

I have no hope of Rovers staying in this league now, none at all, and neither do the players. Rebuilding the club could take 10 years, a period in turmoil, administration and free fall will follow. But more than ever there is the hope that a strong group is ready to rescue the club through supporter ownership and canny management. It can help an "ugly, lovely town" have the lift through football. It's worked for Swansea, as we saw today at the 131st stadium I've watched football at. You have to cling to that hope, because there's nothing else. Not with Venky's, Steve Kean and SEM who have ruined our club.

If you support Labour and live in Marple, then vote Labour

There's a huge cynical lie at the centre of a lot of electioneering. Vote for me, or you'll get the other guy. I fell for it in the Euro elections last year - I voted Green - and yet the awful BNP still got in. I think the Greens are barmy, yet they took comfort from their share of the vote, one of which was cast for entirely negative reasons. Urging a tactical vote is unpleasant. Yet here in Marple the Liberal Democrats are basing their local strategy on it.

The leaflet (above left) includes a hideous chart claiming to show a share of the vote in some unsourced, spurious election. In it, there are just three parties - two of which have a share of vote that looks roughly like 45 per cent and 42 per cent. The third, Labour, is portrayed as having what looks like 12.5 per cent. I've had my ruler out, trust me.

What was the election result in this ward last time? 42, 32, 16, with a 4th party, UKIP trailing on 8 per cent. Even if you are generous and claim the graph is attempting to measure the distance between the parties and starts at 8 per cent and upwards, then it is way off. It exaggerates the Conservative support and diminishes Labour. It is based on nothing except appealing to a negative.

There's a blog here by the great Norman Geras relating to a different election altogether. He says this: "in free elections involving more than two candidates there are a number of options other than voting for one of the front-runners. One can abstain; one can spoil one's ballot; why, one can even vote for a third candidate. These are all perfectly well-known and legitimate electoral practices."

So, there are a myriad of reasons why you should vote for any candidate. Supporting the character of that person, their capacity to serve, an endorsement of the programme of that party.

So, my message to any Labour supporters in Marple is this: if you want to support your party then do so. Don't fall for dismal Liberal Democrat desperation.

In elections you should vote for what you believe in. Here's the thing with the Liberal Democrats round here, especially this candidate - I don't think they believe in anything.

For the love of a good book

I still haven't embraced the Kindle and reading books on electronic pads yet. I borrowed an Android tablet for a couple of weeks and downloaded a few things on to the Kindle App, but just didn't take to it. I'm rather attached to my iPhone though and read all kinds of things on its tiny screen, I like the tactile interface - you can see where this is going, right? Yes, I think I'll get an iPad soon.

But ... I still love a book - and more than that I love hunting around in bookshops. I popped into Blackwells on Oxford Road yesterday. Maybe they just present academic books and the kinds of fiction and general books that academics like in a slightly different way - but it was very absorbing. I found a load of books I would buy, but rather fear they would just join a pile I struggle to get through (see above).

But this is all heading one way, I fear. I could only find a couple of bookshops in downtown San Francisco when I was there last month. All the biggies like Barnes & Noble and Borders? Gone. They have them in malls, but you can see why it's happened. The two books by American authors I had my eye on - I ended up buying them at Heathrow Airport!

But there's this piece in the Atlantic which suggests people are reading more - just not buying books in stores. It would be a crying shame and we must do all we can to use bookshops - I think though they need a new and different purpose - meeting spaces that emphasise the social side of learning and discovery. I notice Waterstones in Manchester have some excellent events coming soon - and Blackwells had one tonight. They won't replace book sales, but they might stimulate more interest in the product and provide a means to acquire more knowledge.

The Catholic Church and Gay marriage - my problem with it all

When I joined the Catholic Church in 2007 it wasn't for an easy life. The moral and ethical stimulus challenges and enriches me in equal measure. I haven't tended to talk about it on this blog too much, and don't feel sufficiently comfortable with the scripture or the doctrine to pour forth. It's also a fact that most people I come across who on hearing I'm Catholic think it's akin to being in a right-wing political party. In so many ways it is so far from that.

To me it veers from being beautifully simple to achingly hard. Yet proper Christian love remains at the centre of it all. Christ's love and the simple message we used to hear at the end of every Mass - "go in peace to love, and serve the Lord". The comma is important.

Here's what the Pope had to say at Easter: "[Jesus Christ] is present as a force of hope through his Church, which is close to all human situations of suffering and injustice."

But here's a thing. At the celebration of Easter our priest's homily took a diversion from a message about Natural Law to one of the core issues of the day - gay marriage.

This is what priests should do - poke at your faith and remind us that it's not just the easy stuff about forgiveness and doing good, but the hard bits too. It was uncomfortable, as it should be. It causes you to reflect and sometimes recoil, as he should do. I make no bones about that, but what follows is where I am at the moment. Homosexuality has always caused a problem for the church, in fact for all faiths for all time, it has been one of the lines in the sand.

Evoking Natural Law brings the issue to the heart of faith, God's gifts and human existence. My difficulty is that I don't see homosexuality as a sin or against that natural law. I see it as a part of some people's human make up - their capacity to love and to share, but with someone of the same sex.

I tend to the view of controversial gay priest Father Bernard Lynch, who said this weekend: "I do feel there is need to witness to the fact that gay is good and gay belongs to God. There are millions of lesbian and gay Catholics who need a witness to the fact that their love is not evil."

So, while it's possible to take all of that on board and still say - "hang on" over accepting marriage between same sex couples in a union blessed by the Church, I find the logic here is towards taking the argument two steps backwards behind that line in the sand on homosexuality itself.  

This isn't my doctrine, this isn't even me saying I have all the answers, as you can see I haven't really said anything, but it's where I am with this issue at the moment. Any guidance gratefully received.

Make Shan History

It was mentioned here that the LibDems in Marple would stoop low to get their candidate Shan Alexander re-elected. This leaflet, pictured, is breathtaking in its cynicism.

Fact: Shan Alexander was a governor of Cheadle & Marple Sixth Form College when the issue of a supermarket was discussed. She never opposed it and she never made public to the voters that gave her the right to be a governor that it was possible.

Fact: The campaign against the sale of the land to a supermarket was led by local people, not councillors. She was taken by surprise by the ferocity of the campaign and has asked local activists to tone down the campaign. She has cynically jumped on the bandwagon. She is pictured, below, right, in the dark top and white trousers facing an angry crowd of local people who started this campaign while the councillors had done nothing but hide behind the usual "leave it to us" and "trust us, we're working behind the scenes" nonsense. This eruption of the "Marple Spring" last year shocked them. Had it not happened and been restricted to a few people I have no doubt they would have ushered Asda through the planning application and heralded their support of Marple as a success for "inward investment" and "job creation". Maybe that's too cynical, but it is the view I hear most frequently.

To call it "Shan's campaign" is a disgrace. It is an insult to all the people in Marple who have given up their time to organise and get 1000 people marching in the streets, putting up posters, filling a rally at Memorial Park and collecting signatures on petitions.

The Liberal Democrats in Marple are well organised and resourceful. I don't doubt they will work hard for their candidate, but claims like this - and there are more - have no place in this election campaign. I would be equally as disgusted if any candidate claimed the "NO to a supermarket on Hibbert Lane" campaign as their own, but I would be surprised. Not so with this candidate or her campaign team.

And another thing, I really dislike the "Labour can't win here" complacency in the leaflets. It bears all the arrogance of a lazy incumbent - it may have a ring of truth to it - but this piece here shows just how the house of cards in Lib Dem Stockport is crumbling.

Make sure you vote in these elections. It's time for change in Marple and Shan Alexander must go.

Rovers relegation run in

Blackburn Rovers have that capacity to surprise me this season. They lose games they ought to win, and have won one game they never expected to - Man United away. I've done the headscratching over the run-in, just as the Daily Mail has here and come to a slightly different conclusion. I think Rovers will end up on 36 points, just as the Mail says, but from different games. By my maths I expect us to finish fourth from bottom with Wigan, QPR and Wolves going down. In my heart, however, I feel doomed.

Quality politicians need real power and influence

Arlene Foster opens the Titanic Belfast, saying "we did it"

Who would be a local councillor? It's a serious question. I've mulled over the central matter in hand on many occasions. I was talking it over with two good friends recently, one is a Labour councillor who has come to it in her forties and is doing very well - partly because she has been experienced in education and local issues in Manchester. The other is a former councillor who doesn't see the point these days and has access to power through a very successful lobbying organisation he leads.

We have a situation in Marple South where a dismal councillor of retirement age is seeking re-election, candidates are here. For many reasons she should call it a day - but she's hanging on. Maybe it's because she's retired that she can supplement her other income with the £25,000 or so she picks up in expenses and allowances. Her opponents include a young man from the Conservative Party- who is at the start of a journey where he hopes to make a difference and represent the people through public service. The incumbent has already dismissed him as "faceless" which is a disgraceful piece of dog dirt Lib Dem politics. Personally, I hope he does well, and uses the energy of his youth and his freedom from wider family responsibilities to get stuck in. Who else would have a go? Professionals in their 30s and 40s with families can't afford to - I'm sure many who have genuinely weighed it up and just don't see elected public service as an option.

This isn't to argue for larger salaries - but it does pose a problem. Maybe there are too many councillors? Maybe there is too much local government? And what structure would work that would aid the one cause I have consistently banged on about all my life - devolution, power and autonomy for the North.

Taking this a step further, I was considering this as I watched the minister for enterprise and tourism in Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster, speaking at a conference I ran recently. She presides over her portfolios with great skill and I was impressed that she is a politician of some stature. Without even getting into the traditions and wings of Ulster Unionism that she comes from, you have to bear in mind that as a qualified lawyer she has other opportunities in her life. I'd estimate that if she were to have moved to England, could well be a Cameroonian Conservative and would easily be ministerial material.

Now, her electorate is only 1.5 million, yet her impact and capacity to improve and enhance the lives of people in Northern Ireland is immense, she makes that point here. Contrast that with the most powerful political jobs in the North of England. Liverpool city council were blessed to have Mike Storey as a capable leader. Beyond that? History suggests it was thin fare. Beyond Sir Richard Leese in Manchester? There is a massive quality gap. There are, I am led to believe, a number of emerging councillors, of which my friend is one, but it all requires a disproportionate investment of time and brainpower to make sure the bins are collected and the schools don't employ psychopaths. I kind of sympathise with the Nicholas Ridley view of local government, to be honest. If you know what it is, fine, if you don't, that's fine too, but you should read your political history more.

Which brings me to the issue of city and borough Mayors. Who would get the job if Manchester has an elected mayor? Probably someone from the local Labour machine, like current leader Sir Richard Leese, just as Joe Anderson is a shoe in for Liverpool mayor. It's a joke and a waste of time. But a city region Mayor, covering the 10 boroughs, with accounatbility to the people, power over the executive that is running skills, education, inward investment, health policy, transport and an airport - that's a job worth having. Just as London's Mayoral contest has attracted two heavyweights like Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone, so too could a city region with a large budget, genuine autonomy over key issues and, nakedly, proper influence.

There might be a Mancunian Arlene Foster out there, we can but hope - but we can also create the structures to attract such talent to public life. Otherwise we just get lumbered with yet more like Shan Alexander.

Marple's Mary Portas Bid

Marple has applied for funding in the government's Portas Pilot scheme. This has to be worth the effort. With a nudge in the right direction and a few more things going on, the centre could start to thrive again. As Di Jackson says in the video, Marple is on a knife edge at the moment.

The bid is modest and realistic, some mentoring and promotional help for existing businesses and two more of the successful street markets. 

There's some coverage of the bid - and Stockport's - here.

Belfast's Titanic Year

The latest trip to Belfast saw the city in a sunny splendour. I do hope the sun shines on the city for the opening of the new Titanic Belfast. We were lucky enough to get a tour around the new shiny visitor attraction and see the ballroom, the splendid entrance as well as the view from the very top. It's a very well appointed facility and has already sold thousands of tickets.

The timing for the opening is perfect, but what happens when the hype dies down, by it's very definition the centenary of the launch of the ship from Harland & Wolff is a singularly significant time and place. Once the hype for the ship dies down, in a year or so, I reckon, the centre will need a new focus, more varied arts and culture, but for now, Belfast is positively basking.

Mayor for Manchester - the wrong question

There are whispers in the shadows that if Manchester doesn't vote to have a Mayor then the city may miss out on things - link here to a weak unsourced BBC story.

An unamed source claims the city would be at a competitive disadvantage.

Pull the other one! When has that ever happened? Surely this City of Manchester Mayor idea is dead in the water? No-one is actively campaigning for it, are they? It is an ill-thought through and wholly unecessary piece of political showboating as far as I can see. Liverpool opted to embrace a city Mayor and got a City Deal out of it. Manchester got a deal on being able to raise finance and have some control over skills development. To threaten the public with weasly scare stories doesn't become a government that seems to genuinely embrace localism.

I mentioned here that I think the TEN boroughs of Greater Manchester ought to have a centrally elected Mayor. The unique governance arrangements where the boroughs have sensibly co-ordinated a strategy led by Association of Greater Manchester Authorities is the City Deal - it is genuinely a breakthrough moment in how the resources in the city region are distributed.

As Sir Richard Leese, leader of the city council said on his blog: "The deal greatly enhances our ability to support the Manchester economy, consists entirely of proposals generated in Manchester, but is only possible because of the willingness of the ten local authorities in Greater Manchester to work together in a way that you will not see anywhere else in the UK."

I signed this letter that appeared in the Manchester Evening News, even though I won't be voting on the issue as I live in the Borough of Stockport. But even the story that covered it managed to peddle the myth that the mayor of Manchester would be "like Boris Johnson in London". No it won't. If it was, then that would be a different argument and one that would definitely be worth supporting.

Marple Conservatives swing into action

I noticed that the Marple Conservatives have named a candidate in the forthcoming election - let me introduce Carl Rydings, who will be standing in Marple South, our ward.

Here is his website. He's also on Twitter @carlryds.

He's put a leaflet out, which has slightly different versions for Strines and High Lane. He's concerned about road surfaces, Lib Dem dominance and high council taxes.

I'll keep up to date as best I can, but as I mentioned in the previous postings, the chances of an independent candidate standing have passed. I would love to step up to the plate and represent this community, but I just can't spare the time, I'm planning a new business, which is going to be an enormous undertaking, and I have a large family. On top of all that, I am juggling all my domestic responsibilities with being a school governor, football club committee member and wishing to do all I can to stop Asda.

I've made my feelings clear on Shan Alexander, she must go. So I await a strong showing from Carl Rydings, the candidate best placed to beat her.

Meeting the Queen

I was delighted to be asked to attend an indoor Mancunian garden party to mark the Queen's visit to Manchester on Friday. There was a fair amount of waiting around, but luckily I ran into Scott Fletcher, (below) who is always good company. We managed to position our selves in a decent spot close to where we reckoned she'd be walking past on her way out. 

It must have been a great day for the kids performing dances and martial arts displays. It was a big deal for the city and for Salford to get a visit from the head of state in her Diamond Jubilee year. I have to say that both the Queen and Prince Phillip looked well - they also managed to look like they really enjoyed themselves on such an exhausting schedule. I know we enjoyed the occasion and the Taekwondo was particularly impressive. 

Anyway, we sidled up to the red rope as she was due to pass and lined up dutiful subjects should. Sir Richard Leese was doing the duties and had in his hand the details of all the people he wanted to introduce the Queen to, including all the people who'd worked so hard on putting the show on. We certainly weren't on his list, though he nodded at us both with a knowing smile. We took that as a cue to back off a touch and just said hello and smiled at Her Majesty even as she passed right by us. It was a big moment for the team who put the event together and we would have been wrong to muscle in.

But we can say we sort of met the Queen, we said hello at close quarters and she smiled back. And let's face it, I've met Prince Charles, spoken to him, shaken his hand had a conversation about windmills and he'd have as much memory of that as his Mother did of two nodding chancers at Manchester Central. 

The North West Economy Debate on BBC1

I was chuffed to bits to be invited to a debate on the state of the North West economy which will be broadcast on BBC1 tomorrow night. Ranvir Singh hosted it, there were two MPs there - Hazel Blears for Labour and David Rutley, the Tory member for Macclesfield - and a mixture of business people from a chip shop owner from Woodley to a manufacturer of aircraft  bits. There were unions, the unemployed, an academic and a few good eggs like Max Steinberg and Andy Leach. It was a real whirlwind of a debate, much punchier than the usual polite business events I'm involved in. It was also quite broad. See for yourself tomorrow night at 11. And let me know what you thought. I know which bits I enjoyed the most.

Learning Journey at Bridge Bank

There are a few videos from the places we visited in Silicon Valley. This is one I did at Bridge Bank in Palo Alto. You can view the others if you click through to my video page.

Contextual intelligence - how it works in Silicon Valley

So, there we were on the 25^th floor of a corporate law firm's offices on Market Street in the heart of San Francisco's Financial District, listening and taking notes in a meeting with Judith Iglehart from the Keiretsu Forum when the door flung open and in burst Randy Williams, the founder and CEO of the angel investing network.

He'd just dropped in to see us after taking a quick break from a screening committee on the floor above, where he'd been chairing a group of 12 heavy hitters and investors from some of Silicon Valley's brightest and best known businesses. He invited us into the room to watch him work. We lined the wall and stood transfixed as they first passed verdict on an entrepreneurial business that had just been in to present a pitch for funding – not clear, said one. Poor presentation said another. They all scribbled down their points on a slip, which would have decided whether the guy had a chance to come back and present.

Next up was a very confident and polished business owner punting his pitch for a modest amount of funding to get his business to the next level. To cut to the chase he had a slick and fast paced presentation but he rambled. He ran way over his time and you could sense the frustration around the table. He performed even worse in the Q&A, he couldn't explain what he needed the money for, or what his exit strategy was, nor could he articulate the differentiating factor in his business.

The discussion, after the pitchee left the room, reflected the obvious frustration they all felt. There was a business idea there, they agreed, but the presentation and failure to answer questions concerned them all. Get him back for some advice – sharpen the idea, said one of the investors. And here's the thing, Randy Williams reckons they'll get the funding from somewhere else. No idea is perfect, no pitch a sure fire winner – do you stick, or twist? That's the risk, this is what angels have to do.

And so this is how business angel financing in the Valley works. This is quickfire, brutal and unforgiving - you can't waste time. You get to the point, you get it across. And if you can't do that in front of a panel of people who want to give you money, what chance would you have with customers. But it's not the structured reality of Dragon's Den, there was a theatricality about it, an energy, a sense of urgency. Another incredible insight.

The last visit of the trip was to Plantronic, a 50 year old company that started making the telephonist head sets the receptionists may wear in Mad Men. What was fascinating about this tour de force was the thought that has gone into how voice technology will change – and how work patterns have changed too. The chief executive Ken Kannappan described it as contextual intelligence – understanding the waves of innovation and social change and being there.

It's been amazing how many themes keeping cropping up again and again with these successful companies – creating an emotional connection between product and consumer, often through design.  

What's the story? Silicon Valley glory

It's difficult to know where to start with summing up our visit to Google's funky downtown San Francisco offices – so I'll follow the money. The business makes 95 per cent of its profits and revenues from advertising. They also give a large number of their 25,000 global workforce tough and aggressive targets – they hire the best people with a gruelling interview process. That's a hard and commercial facet of this powerful expanding business that is disrupting and dismantling the traditional media channels and processes. And they measure absolutely everything, most notably their people through Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).

I bet you weren't expecting to hear that. Certainly the Google presentation and discussion was mainly about the development of their fun creative culture and the strategy in all of their markets ranging from YouTube to Gmail and back through to Adwords and Adsense. Yes, the company give everyone 20 per cent time to work on their own projects. In reality that though is 120 per cent time. Yes, they innovate through accessibility. And yes, genuinely Google stays true to its mantra of making the world's information accessible and organised for everyone. They are tactics that ultimately serve the strategy – all the time, relentlessly. They provide relevance, they innovate to take advertisers ever closer to real opportunities. None of it is an accident.

It is an awesome organisation.

So Jerry Engel starts telling us all a story about the conversation at his book club the night before. There were a few VCs, some entrepreneurs, and him of course a guru of innovation and entrepreneurship and an adjunct Professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley. You know, he says, your typical crew. Wow.

This man is a powerhouse of ideas, a real thinker. He pushed and prodded us all, tied his thoughts into what he knows about Manchester and the potential to create a Graphene Valley in our home city region.

Innovation happens he says when it collides with waves of change – what waves of change are you part of, he asked? Position yourself at the crossroads of innovation and exploration. He went a long way again, to describing how Silicon Valley works.

From the hallowed halls of Berkeley it was then a drive to the Valley past the prime premises of Facebook and Google and into the home of LinkedIn to meet one of the founder Allen Blue.

We signed non-disclosure agreements and so can't say too much about what we talked about. Suffice to say just this – what you see in LinkedIn now is just the beginning and there is so much more to come.

Allen told us the story and we debated the various ways we use the current LinkedIn, there were reasons for why it looks how it does – and if we had anything to say, then here was the guy who was ultimately responsible – so we were saying it to his face! Incredible – just another day on the Learning Journey.

The last stop of the day was at the post-industrial creative factory of ideas that is Obscura Digital, officially the coolest office in the world. where the strikingly handsome Shawn Biega, their VP of sales treated us to a demonstration of innovation and technology in action – how these awesome interactive video wall installation transform a retail experience, but also how they work in hotels, businesses and even as projected light shows on buildings. Yes, these guys have lit up the Coca Cola HQ in Atlanta, a mosque in the United Arab Emirates.

Their mission statement is 'If you can imagine it, we can create it.' They've even lit up the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas with an interactive display of music artefacts, we particularly liked playing with the Beatles and Oasis pieces.

Yes we know the way to San Jose

The team answered in the affirmative the question posed by Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick as we found our way to San Jose to meet Dan Harden of Whipsaw.

It was a damp and rainy day in the Valley, but our spirits were good and we all enjoyed another amazing day.

Whipsaw is a product design company that though small and perfectly formed – just 35 employees – it works on making a wide range of products that users will find lovableand tactile. “There can be glory in anything you can design,” is Dan's philosophy. It was this passion, his love of design that shone through everything he told the group in an illuminating and inspiringsession, but it was also what led him out of Frog Design in 1999 which had got too big, he felt.

Whipsaw is a funky name, he says that's essential in the Valley – a real dynamic intellectual environment – but it also embodies the team ethic –you need two people to pull a whipsaw from side to side.

He was remarkably candid about some of the ways he's worked with clients – even the ones he's been in dispute with – but he was tight lipped on what he's been doing for Google – that G is shaped like a noose for a reason.

But that Valley commitment to excellence has also driven him to embrace the social craft of what they can bring to a business. The world needs to improve so many everyday experiences – the flights we took to get here, driving, even hospital visits. Whipsaw even admitted an intern into hospital to observe the patient experience.

But the group were mesmerised by his retelling of his four experiences with the late great Steve Jobs. He sparked with energy and passion, it's not a surprise that he remains so hand's on in the business, clients want him involved in their projects.

Next stop for nourishment - both mental and gastronomic - was DPR Construction in Redwood City.

You don't get to the exalted heights of 13^th in the Fortune magazine ranking of the Best Companies to Work For by accident. You have to embed excellence into your organisation and be prepared to fire high performers who are jerks. That's what we learned at DPR Construction, a company that takes seriously the wider message of Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Rights and the true value of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This is all vital to understand how the company was formed and the ethics of the founders.

We were here to learn about the company from founder Pete Nosler and of this commitment to teamwork and how they are set up, but this is no hippy colony – DPR work on huge schemes for major customers and work with renowned architects.

But the business also operates at the industry profit margin of a wretched 2 per cent. They manage it, but it's through a large volume of work and through being in control of their projects – they don't do competitive tendering, for example.

But integrity lies at the centre of their world – on time, in full, no second chances. It's folksy, but tough, and a shining beacon deserving of all their glory.

Bridge Bank, our next visit was another stimulating charge. A fair few of the group have bad experiences with their banks – some have kinder words to say about theirs. But for better or for worse none of us have encountered a banker quite like Ed Lambert of Bridge Bank, a key figure in the technology sector in Silicon Valley, who we spent sometime with at his office in Palo Alto.

A tactile and warm hearted individual he embodies the values of the Valley and places a high importance on networks, gut feel, helping others and theValley's secret sauce.

I've never met a banker who manages to quote Roger Daltrey, Voltaire and the Chinese philosophy which decrees that a wise man knows almost everything, but a brilliant man knows everyone. He uses his network to understand the business processes and models of the changing world. He understands the challenges to the banking sector and its diversions into private equity and derivative trading by stressing the importance of a bank's true mission – old world banking in a new world order.

And on the subject ofconnectivity and human understanding he got each of us to tell him who they were – the classic Silicon Valley 2 minute pitch. I don't know whether it was better or worse going next to last; it gave me a lot of time to gather my thoughts, but this incredible group of people are a tough act to follow.  

My Learning Journey in San Francisco

I'm in San Francisco on a Learning Journey, an organised tour around businesses and institutions in California with a group of entrepreneurs from around the UK. It is an incredible life changing experience.

We headed south first thing in the morning to Mountain View in Silicon Valley for the first appointment with Symantec with company evangelist Dale Zabriskie. The security software company is best known for consumer security software product Norton Utilities. The presentation was an expansive overview of the threats to data security and the constantly changing nature of those such perils – from hackers, activists, organised crime and even hostile states. They do this specifically through their three Security Operations Centres (SOC) – one is in Reading – which track what the bad guys do. But we learned too about how Symantec has embedded a culture of innovation into the business to make them able to provide the thought leadership that can maintain their business and on top of their sector and even acquire businesses that give them a strategic edge. And to innovate the key is to fail quickly, take heed, move on. This was evident in how business has started analysing the weight of data now being produced – had you ever heard of a Zeddobyte or a Yottabyte? Big numbers with 24 zeroes. We are a generation that is data rich but information poor, so much we have, but so much is also irrelevant, 75 per cent, Dale suggested. What matters is being able to understand which bits of data require a layer of information that make them intelligent and worth backing up and securing.

Then we headed back to the city to meet Salesforce.com.  It takes balls of steel to cull a chunk of your business at a time of maximum growth. Especially so when you grow by 40 per cent a year, every year, for 13 years. That was just one of the hundreds of anecdotes, insights, facts and spellbinding insights from a trio of presentations and discussions we were part of at Salesforce.com the most innovative company in the world. At the centre was the transformation of the business – essentially an internet based sales CRM management system - into a social enterprise – one that embraces and enhances the social networking revolution and places it at the centre of everything the company does. Woodson Martin kicked us off with his analysis of how the explosion in mobile devices is changing everything – his you can even read this here – 50 ways to become a social enterprise. Part of this is embedded in the ways in which Salesforce have implemented Chatter – essentially a bespoke secure internal communications network that edits out the noise we all suffer from with Facebook and Twitter. It's improved productivity, communication and the flow of ideas – indeed CEO Marc Benioff has tagged these the Chatterati – and radically flattened the whole organisation. Innovation is at the heart of Salesforce and Cloud computing and keeping that edge is what gives the business a premium. Clarence So, senior VP of strategy, spoke to us about how the business fought off various challenges over the years with a characteristic cheeky humour and attitude. One way they do this: how tactics dictate strategy that recognises how many of the best laid plans end up going wrong anyway – tactics and what we learn from them inform our strategy.

To understand the entrepreneurial mindset of Silicon Valley it's important to get your head around the contribution of the universties – in particular Stanford and Berkeley, our next stop off. We were hosted at Stanford by Tom Byers, the head of the technology ventures program. Though the university has a proud legacy of creating businesses in the technology field, the purpose of Tom had worked Symantec beforehand and so had some rubber on the entrepreneurial road. His talk included video presentations from a bunch of his friends – Jack Dorsey, one of the creators of Twitter, venture capital investor Marc Andressen, entrepreneur Steve Blank, evangelist Guy Kawsaki, and Randy Komiser author of Getting to Plan B. He capped it off with a clip of Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's COO and a hot tip to be the first female President of the United States. The themes included business models and planning, as well as some of the the resources are here.

More tomorrow.

Shining a (City) light on a brave new world

Gareth, Nick, Jamie, Will and Jeff

Travelling around San Francisco and taking in the delights of this energetic diverse city has been a journey of discovery and rediscovery. I first walked the steep streets of San Francisco in 1986. One of the reasons I was drawn here as a 19 year old was the spirit of the Beat Poets like Alan Ginsberg and cult author Jack Kerouac. Both have an important cultural legacy here, held up at City Lights bookstore in North Beach.

I support independent retailers and love the curiosity and magic of a bookstore, but I was a little deflated by this visit to City Lights. Amongst the shelves of Anarchist poetry and rows of Noam Chomsky there was no place for two contempary and important books I would like to buy while I'm here - books by Richard Florida and Michael Lewis, both authors with something relevant to say about the world and modern America.

Anyway, ten minutes of browsing and I was off. Back over the road to have a chat to the rest of my party about other things that fascinate us - the new Raspberry Pi, University spin outs, satellite technology and IBM's re-invention. And City Lights wouldn't have any books that had anything to say about any of that. More's the pity.

The toilet politics of the Marple LibDems

The latest pre-election leaflet from our local Liberal Democrat candidate and sitting Councillor is further evidence of her unfitness to hold public office any longer.

Shan Alexander claims credit for a scheme to save a toilet block in Memorial Park and open up other facilities. I thought it was wind up at first. Is this the best they can claim in after running Stockport Council?

Then there is her woolly stance on the planning application by Asda's agents as if it was anything to do with her. Oh, actually it was. She was a Governor of the college, but never said anything about the plan until it was clear where public opinion stood.

The dismissal of potential opponents as "faceless" is a low blow. She has the benefit of incumbency for her profile. An opponent does not, neither do they have the ability to maintain local visibility and be paid £40,000 into her household as her and her husband do.

And who is to say that opponent hasn't been active in local campaigns?

This is the kind of low politics a good mate of mine, a former Labour Councillor, described as "LibDem Dog Dirt politics."

You know where you are with Labour - looking out for the hard up - and the Tory Party in local politics - small business and small state governance. Lib Dems? What matters is what gets them elected. Well, I hope it backfires this time.

Why Pacer trains break down

There's a piece in Private Eye about how poor old Northern Rail are starved of subsidy and investment and that their vile 1980s Pacer trains are prone to breaking down a lot.

I spoke to a guard recently who explained that they often run out of fuel because the driver can't tell how much gas is in the tank. It's guesswork at the start of a shift and they hope for the best.

What a way to run a railway.

Hang the DJ in Cannes

It's been a long time since I was in a DJ booth, but this was too good a chance to miss. Ear to the Ground are an amazingly creative Manchester-based events business. They do ambient and experiental events for clients like Umbro and Manchester City Football Club, as well as pop festivals – I mean, they’re putting on Elbow and Paul Weller at Jodrell Bank this summer. How cool is that?

At the MIPIM property event in Cannes, the team from Groundbreaking who do events in property spaces and liven up public realms – hosted an end of show party. They invite the guests to choose three tracks and play a DJ set. It’s a great idea, and floats the boat of old rockers and young bucks alike – it makes everyone feel that little bit more involved. This was my 10 minutes of fame. I chose a trio of tunes that would have rocked the joint at 2am when everyone was loaded, but simply got a few approving nods from proper veterans of the golden age of late 80′s house music. Ladies and Gentlemen I give you – Eric B & Rakim’s Paid in Full, Joe Smooth’s Promised Land and the epic It’s Alright by Sterling Void. Plenty of memories rekindled, Limbo on a Saturday night in Perth for one.

If you are going to San Francisco...

My favourite American city is San Francisco. I'm delighted to be heading there next weekend. If there are any tips and hints and places to see then I'd be delighted to hear them as I've not been for ten years. I'll be staying in Union Square in the centre of the city and therefore pretty handy. I've got a tour of Alcatraz booked in, which I'd not done before, and I'm not drinking at the moment. Anything else considered.

When I stayed in 2000 I saw an art deco poster from the 1920s. I have never been able to find it online or in any shop in the USA. I also tracked down the poster from an Oasis concert in 1996 I went to and it was rubbish - quite embarrassingly so - and therefore developed a bit of a mission to find some San Francisco art for our home that reminds me of this wonderful city. The fall back position is this poster, left from designers Anderson Design Group.

The new Michael Taylor Events blog

I've started a new blog that records the events I work on. It's now no longer a secret that I'm leaving Insider this year. The story about that is here. While the name of this new blog is not the identity of my new business or anything, it is intended to record what I've learned from each event, what worked and equally what didn't. If anyone wants to have a look, it's here. If anyone wants to talk to me about making their events better and sharper, email me here.

How to enjoy a diet

On the advice of Steve Hoyles, my personal trainer, I've been on a diet. I'm not fat or anything, but I carry a few lumps in the wrong places. I wanted to shift a few pounds and to reap better rewards from the fitness regime Steve's had me on over the last 18 months.

I'm about to enter a busy time of my life - setting up by own business and being available for my family to be a better husband and father. One of the the first things to go is booze, which is a Lent thing as well.

The diet involves cutting out pasta, rice, potatoes and bread. It was hard going in the first week - especially at lunchtimes where everything revolves round a sandwich. It's not the Atkins, by the way, and Steve outlines it on his own website here. The onus is on me to eat lots of vegetables and fruit and be sensible about the sugars and sauces. And to drink loads of water. Certainly our spice rack has never been better used.

It's working. I don't weigh myself, but my definition has improved and the belly has shrunk in two weeks. I'd say I'm probably down to 13 stone, but I'm not that bothered about the number, the more accurate indicator is that clothes fit me, which had got a bit snug. I also have a lot of energy and am sleeping much better. For what I've got to do in the next month, this is just the job.