Robot Line Dancing and Defence Spending.

Summary Robots can line dance and cheap mini drones can do air displays, so either can be weaponised to overwhelm conventional weapon systems. Mass use of cheap automated fire units, and much else, are game changing military technologies. They are already happening.  Yet, defence procurement is stuck in the past, presided over by vested interests […]

CV Tips

(Reading Guide. Only bother reading this if I have asked you to. It is generic advice for CV drafters. Lots of folks ask for guidance and I point them here for it before meeting them). CVs play a smaller role in the hiring process than they used to. Technology allows for video interviews and online […]

Death of Stalin: Animal Farm with humans.

One of my heroes, Armando Iannucci, a modern political satirist (Veep and In The Thick of It) has made a film about one of my historical obsessions, Stalin. I had to comment. Most reviews cannot decide if the film is comedy, tragedy or farce and thereby flatter its historical accuracy. The real court of Stalin […]

May’s poor communication + Corbyn’s poor execution =Conservative majority of 59! (Post-Script: Still pretty happy with the analysis but numbers wrong clearly)

Politicians need three things to be successful: attractive policies they can credibly execute and convincingly communicate.  However, 80% of public debate is confined to policy choices which are are irrelevant if they do not happen! Two outlier examples. Michael Gove had innovative school policies, ruthlessly executed but disastrously communicated and so now largely abandoned. Gordon Brown […]

Brexit and Infinite Money.

50 years from now historians will be debating what shaped Britain in 2016 and these factors will shape the aspirant leaders, not vice versa. History is nearly always bigger than the people in it. One of these factors is what money actually is and what social purpose it serves? Only when there is a finite […]

Brexit: Too soon to celebrate or despair.

Clearly, we are in an avoidable mess which is very annoying.  Half the population is very sad, although it is a different half to a week ago. Here are some reasons to postpone  despair or euphoria. (Meanwhile, digital emotional messenger Bandoola hopes to create lots of new love which according to Quantitive Easing theorists will reduce […]

Checklist for entrepreneurs seeking funding.

Pre-Amble Hopefully these questions make meetings between entrepreneurs and investors more efficient. According to ‘Crossing the The Chasm Marketing and Selling High Tech by Geoffrey Moore startups have to cross three ‘Chasms”.  The questions are grouped by Chasm. Definitions Chasm One: Idea to Prototype. This covers those who have an idea or maybe lots of ideas. These ideas […]