Diabolical Day of The Triffids

When I first immersed myself in adult fiction almost forty years ago most of the books that I read were sci-fi classics by H G Wells, Jules Verne and John Wyndham and I have enjoyed many of these stories retold in other media over the years.

For example, I recently watched the 1995 American film version of John Wyndam's Village of the Dammed (based on The Midwich Cuckoos) and was surprised by how good it was.

And I also loved the take on Jules Verne's From The Earth to The Moon by Warren Ellis in a recent issue of Planetary.

So it was with some joy that I was looking forward to the two part adaptation of Wyndham's Day of The Triffids on BBC 1.

How wrong I was.

The plot, such as it was, was so full of gaping holes and clichés that it actually became funny. Things like finding two small children survivors who immediately start calling the two leads "Mum and Dad", the way that everybody had got hold of sub-machine guns, the amount of time people spent walking through dark woods when they were trying to keep away from the Triffids, and the apparent disappearance of all food and water after the disaster. I could go on.

But for me the real mistake with this adaptation was the minor played by the Triffids. Far from being the things that we were all meant to be scared of they played a mere supporting role to the unexplained and unconvincing evil of the Eddie Izzard character (not from the original book).

Ironically Eddie Izzard's acting was the one redeeming feature of an unbelievably bad programme that simply failed to do any of the things that it promised and unfairly used the worth legacy of John Wyndham to try and justify its existence. If it had (reasonably) not been called The Day of The Triffids then nobody would have watched it and we would all be happier for this.

Grandville was well worth the wait

I bought myself a signed copy of Grandville back in November but as nobody had any idea what to get me for Christmas, myself included, it got squirrelled away and I had to wait for Christmas Day to get it.

I also had to wait for the Christmas Morning visit to relatives and for Christmas Dinner to get out of the way before I could start reading it. And read it I did just as soon as I could.

I had quite a good idea of what to expect from the Comica talk that Bryan Talbot did and from the atmospheric video he created to promote the book and it certainly lived up to those expectations.

Grandville is several things; it's a steampunk thriller, a homage to the English anthropomorphic tradition (Rupert et al) and, most of all, a cracking story with strong characters.

Detective Inspector LeBrock has some familiar traits. He's a maverick who works with a trusty side-kick and he's a detective in the Sherlock Holmes mould. But he's also a badger and that makes him a vicious killer.

It was a touch of genius setting the story in a world where the French won the Napoleonic Wars and Britain has become a semi-autonomous principality of France. This plays well to the natural England v France tensions and gives scope for some amusing anti-English comments from the French characters.

I loved Grandville to bits. There are further adventures of LeBrock on the way, at least two more, and I'm sure I'll love those too. It's nice to have something good to look forward to.

A rare win at chess

I do not win that many games of Chess so please indulge me in rejoicing in this win. I only play chess on Facebook these days and most of these games are against a former fellow member of Weymouth Chess Club, who always beats me.

These loses mean that my chess grade keeps falling so occasionally I accept challengers from other players and I do manage to win some of these games and so my grade recovers a little.

This is one of my recent wins that I particularly enjoyed because of the way it ended. Black had wasted a lot of time moving his queen several times while I developed all of my pieces. Black's last move was e5 (PK4) in an attempt to bring his bishop into play, but it is too late. Can you see what I played? And do not cheat by looking in the moves box!


The winning move, exposes the weakness of Black's position where there is just one rook on hand to protect the king against White's onslaught of a queen, two rooks and a bishop. In a position like this sacrificing a rook, or even a queen, is immaterial as the checkmate is certain.

So the move I played, Rf6 (RB6) is not really a sacrifice, it puts unbearable pressure on h6 and so quickly opens up the Black king. The game quickly ended, 24. Rf6 Qd5, 25. Rxh6 Kg8, 26. Rxg7+ Kxg7, 28. Qg5++.

Space Ritual rock the Inn on the Green

Where does the time ago? Apparently it is three years since Space Ritual last played at the Inn on the Green in Ladbroke Grove. I saw them play twice there in the tail end of 2006 but since then my immersions into their version of space rock have mostly been at the 100 Club, so it was nice to go back to this intimate and friendly venue.

The stage at Inn on the Green has quite a narrow, if reasonable deep, stage which could pose problems for a band with some many members. Space Ritual got round these restrictions by pushing Chris Purdon forward to the dance floor where he was joined by the Fabulous Ms Angel.

This left the stage to (L-R) Mick Slattery, Nik Turner, Terry Ollis, Jerry Richards and Thomas Crimble.

It was great to see Thomas Crimble facing front and with so much space as he is sometimes the secret member of the band hidden at the side behind his keyboards. Here the secret member mantle was passed on to Terry Ollis whose drums where very evident but the drummer himself was right at the back in Nik Turner's shadow.

A band with seven (sometimes eight) members is always going to have problems fitting on to any stage but they did very well here and the loss of one drummer, though regretted, was a good compromise.

The set was a strange mix of the expected delivered unexpectedly.

Expected was the collection of Hawkwind classics, including Brainstorm, Master of the Universe and Orgone Accumulator. Incidentally, none of these featured in the recent Hawkwind tour.

A little unexpected was the emphasis on Hawkwind songs at the expense of their own. Previously we had been treated to most number on Otherworld but there seemed to be much fewer on this occasion. Pleasingly, the title track was included.

The songs had the expected extended instrumental breaks in the middle but they sounded a little different, a little less rocky and a little more funky. I was firmly reminded of Pink Floyd's Money in one song with its staccato theme.

It may have been the song selection or the way they were presented, or even a combination of both, but the flute was rarely used as the saxophone won the battle for Nik's attention. The prominence of the saxophone kept the funky feeling going throughout the set. I was almost dancing at times!

It's hard, and unfair, to compare Space Ritual to Hawkwind, or to Hoaxwind or any of the other bands that feast on the rich harvest of Hawkind's back catalogue, but I'll have a go anyway. Hawkwind rock more, experiment with new songs more and put on a better show overall (because they can afford to) but Space Ritual have more respect for the heritage of the music and for the society that spawned it. There is much more of a community feel about them.

But the best thing about the differences is that both bands are worth going to for different reasons. In the space of a month I saw Hawkwind twice and also two concerts by Space Ritual/Hawklords, without once getting anywhere near thinking that I had had enough of space rock for the moment. And I'm sure that I'll be listening to a lot more space rock in 2010 too.

In fact I may even venture to Darkest Ruislip to see Space Ritual on 5 February but I'll definitely see them on home territory at the Boom Boom Club in Sutton the following night.

Hawkwind at the Shepherd's Bush Empire

For the second year in a row I saw Hawkwind twice on the end-of-year tour, once at The Brook and Southampton to see them close up and personal and then again at their main London gig to savour the full show.

This year, tempted by Arthur Brown being the support act, I got to the venue early enough to get an unexpected place right at the front which, while not being anything like as close as at The Brook, meant that I was a close as you can get and had uninterrupted views for the many photos that I always take at concerts.


Having been centre of stage four days previously, this time I chose to be left of centre so that I could get a good look at Tim Blake who is the most active member of the band but who was largely hidden from me before by his keyboards.

This picture also reveals a violinist who had not been at the previous show, possibly because they could not squeeze him on to the small stage.

Another improvement was the light show which had continually failed in Southampton. Here it worked impressively and added to, rather than detracting from, the overall performance.

The set was, hardly surprisingly, much as at The Brook, though it was hit by the curfew there so we had more songs to enjoy this time.

I tried to keep a track of the set list and this is what I wrote down at the time: Lighthouse, Fahrenheit 451, Sentinel, Space poem, Angels of Death, Silver Machine, the other Mr Tibbs song from last year, what sounded like a new Tim Blake song with an Indian touch, Spirit of the Age, Magnu, Brainbox Pollution, another new Tim Blake song, You'd Better Believe it and Levitation. A brief gap to recharge batteries and to determine the crowd's enthusiasm for more music then it was Right to Decide and, finally, the monumental closer Hassan I Sabbah.


This set list comes with some caveats, like me not knowing the complete 40 years of music in the Hawkwind catalogue and the way that many of the songs drifted off to places to explore new soundscapes before, eventually, returning to the original theme.

There probably were other songs hidden in these long forays but none were that obvious. Though I did think that I was listening to David Brock playing Cabinet Key at one point.

But back to the show and time for a worthy mention for the two dancers, performing here on stilts, who accompanied what seemed like the majority of songs in a dazzling array of sci-fi outfits. They also made good use of the large space across the front of the stage; another advantage of being at the front centre-left!

At Southampton, Hawkwind were a band playing a (very good) concert but at the Shepherd's Bush Empire they were part of a much bigger show that attacked the senses delightfully. This is exactly what I keep going to Hawkwind concerts for.

Arthur Brown casts a spell

It was billed as a Hawkwind Concert with Arthur Brown in support but I would have gone to see Arthur opening for almost anybody, just as I went to see the dismal Def Leppard in June 2006 just because the Sensational Alex Harvey Band opened the show.

Fortuitous circumstances brought me to London early (OK, so it was the ballet) and with nothing better to do before the evening entertainment I joined the queue at 6:30pm and froze for half an hour to get the reward to a place right at the front.

Arthur came on promptly at 7:30 and started in the dark, and wearing a dark face mask, with a stirring rendition of Hard Rain that got the crowd on his side immediately; not that many of us needed any persuading. A familiar song sung with Arthur's familiar strength and texture but supported by unfamiliar musicians.

All the other times that I have seen Arthur in recent years he was ably accompanied by the multi-instrumentalist Nick Pynn but for the current shows he has Jim Mortimore on guitar and drums, and Steve Watts on keyboards sitting either side of him.

The keyboards in particular helped to make the sound richer, fuller and more redolent of the late sixties. The interpretations were not necessarily better that those with Nick but it was refreshing to hear old songs done in new ways.

The rest of the set continued along more familiar lines with songs like Spell on you and Fire. I was also delighted to hear the Victim of love, from his latest album, that slowed the set down nicely in the middle.

Arthur supplemented his great singing with some costume changes (which usually included taking one pair of trousers off to reveal another pair underneath!) and some exaggerated dancing that drew loud cheering from the audience.

But the costumes and dancing were little more than small cherries on the large cake that is Arthur's powerful and dramatic singing voice that enriches any song.

2000AD Prog 2010

As usual, the Christmas issue of 2000AD, the galaxy's greatest comic, is a bumper size issue to sustain readers through the long holiday period when the comic takes a rest (apparently some of the production droids need oiling or reprogramming) and the TV provides scant defence against the onslaught of boredom.

It is an ideal time to jump into the 2000AD maelstrom as the mix of continuing stories and seasonal one-off specials ease you in gently with just enough thrill power to hook you but not too much to fry your brains before they are attuned to the weekly fix.

It has been a very good year for 2000AD; we have had Judge Dredd posted to the Cursed Earth, Nicholas Dante quelled one rebellion and started another, and more great stories about Slaine, Strontium Dog and Sinister Dexter. And a lot more besides.

2000AD remains my favourite comic by quite some margin and I am sure that it will be just as good in 2010 as it was in 2009 and so on all the way back to 1977.

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake at Sadler's Wells (December 2009)

Matthew Bourne first burst onto the dance scene in 1995 with his radical version of Swan Lake at Sadler's Wells that featured male swans. Since then I've seen several of his ballets but I had not seen Swan Lake until the current run back at Sadler's Wells.

Almost as hard to believe is the last time that I saw any version of Swan Lake was in Prague in 1991. At that time I had probably seen it 3 or 4 times in the previous two years because I used to be a season ticket holder for the English National Ballet and the Royal Ballet.

Therefore it is clear that this was a show that I really had to go to.

Matthew Bourne's interpretation of the most famous ballet is both radical and at the same time traditional.

The swans are male, so you get two men dancing the pas de deux that define the ballet, and the choreography is very modern with exaggerated gestures that can look clumsy to traditionalists. Not everybody loves modern dance, but I do.

The music is the very familiar and dramatic cascade of Tchaikovsky melodies and the main theme of the ballet (boy meets swan, boy meets second swan, boy goes back to first swan, they both die) is the same. There is nothing in this interpretation of the story for the traditionalists to get upset about.

I think that it is the modern interpretation of a classic story that makes it a success. Swan Lake is always worth watching but when it is with the original choreography then some of it is a little over familiar and there are no surprises; it's rather like eating McVities Digestives. The new version demands continuous attention and delights and surprises as it sweeps along; it's more like going to a new Indian restaurant.

This is Matthew Bourne and it is Sadler's Wells so it goes without staying that the production is excellent without imposing itself on the dance or the music. It was simply a sumptuous experience and one I hope to repeat next time that it returns to Sadler's Wells.

Hawkwind at The Brook

As they did last year, Hawkwind included The Brook in Southampton in their short Winter tour and also as last year I was there to savour the experience of seeing them up close in a smaller venue than those they play in in London.

Opening the evening was ex-Hawk Huw Lloyd-Langton who played solo acoustic guitar. The songs were long, slow, dramatic and held your attention. Then came a lively blues number for which Huw was joined by Dave Brock on harmonica, Tim Blake on keytar and Richard Chadwick on drums.

And finally we had Hurry on Sundown where Mr Dibs and Niall Hone added their guitars so we had Hawkwind playing a Hawkwind song with Huw joining in. A great transition into the Hawkwind set.

What follower was a rumbustious show that, as usual, dipped in and out of the huge Hawkwind back catalogue, added a few new songs, left out some expected classics but included some others.

Overall the set seemed slightly less rocky and ever so slightly more melodic than last year's, probably thanks to an increased influence from Tim Blake.

Tim contributed at least two songs to the show, the opener was the familiar Lighthouse and this was joined by a new song with an Indian feel. Tim was also the most energetic and involved of the band but that is no surprise given the almost complete lack of movement from the three guitarists.

Richard Chadwick bounced around behind the drums (only a couple of metres in front of me) but was so skilfully hidden by the kit that his undoubted energy was spent largely unnoticed.

I did not try to compile a set list (I might do next time) but some of the other songs that I can remember are Levitation, Silver Machine (unexpectedly played mid-set), Magnu and Angels of Death. There were some very early songs too but I forget which ones!

The set ended with a personal favourite of mine, Hassan-i Sabbah, which started and ended familiarly enough but which was treated to an extended jam in the middle. Wonderful stuff!

The bad news was that took us to 11pm and The Brook's strict curfew and so we were denied an encore but, to be honest, what we had heard was so good that that little disappointment did nothing to hurt the mood.

I mentioned earlier that I might try and get a set list next time; well, that's on Sunday when Hawkwind come to London to weave their magic, this time with Arthur Brown in support.

Concert industriel pour orgue

I am not sure that I need to say much more than to repeat the title of the CD, Concert industriel pour orgue.

From this you can tell that this is industrial music with a grand classical flavour, which hits two of my big buttons in a big way.

Add to this the fact that the musician behind it all, Vladimir Hirsch, is Czech then the appeal to me is obvious.

I have to thank last.fm for discovering Vladimir Hirsch and his music. I told last.fm what music I like and it correctly worked out that I would like this too.

I recently bought this album and another of his, Graue Passion, and they are now cosying up next to Wild Beasts and Placebo on my iPod and they get let out to play when I am working at home.

LIKE 9 - Tales from the SharePoint trenches

I am rather fond of the LIKE (London Information & Knowledge Exchange) events because of their subject matter (more Records / Information / Knowledge Management) and their format. What started as something like a World Cafe has evolved into something more like a dinner party and that means more opportunity for in-depth conversations.

LIKE9 was on the topical and controversial subject of Sharepoint, led by Cerys Hearsey who had plenty of tales to tell from the front-line of the bitter war being fought between IT (Sharepoint lovers) and Business (Sharepoint sceptics).

I'm not sure that I changed my opinion on Sharepoint as a result of the discussions but it was could to hear some stories from other people to reinforce my views/prejudices.

But, as with the TFPL event earlier in the week, the main point of the evening is to mix and chat. This we did at three tables while eating and drinking, having chose what we wanted beforehand so that the bar, The Perseverance, could bring it all at the same time.

The conversations flowed, and we swapped tables a couple of times to change the mix and it all went very well. I remember discussing things like Moonfleet, taxonomies, Crewkerne and selling Information Management. New contacts were made and old ones developed, which is one of the main benefits of events like this. Besides, it's a lot of fun talking to interesting people about things that you are both interested in.

LIKE events are held on the last Thursday of each month and it is no surprised that they are oversubscribed when they are as good as this.

Conversations and canapes

I enjoy developing my Knowledge Management/consulting knowledge and contacts and the best way that I have found to do this at informal evening gatherings organised by Gurteen, TFPL and LIKE.

Due to unfortunate circumstances I was unable to get to the last two TFPL Connect events so I was quick off the mark to book my place on the latest one held in some luxury at the Crowne Plaza hotel close to their Blackfriars offices.

Networking is a key part of these gatherings, the key part actually, so I arrived early to start the mixing. The champagne was an unexpected pleasure but was not actually needed to get the connections and conversations flowing.

After the brief prelude we went into the conference room for the panel discussion on all matters relating to Records / Information / Knowledge Management. I normally sit quietly at these sort of events and let the information sink in and ferment before coming to any sort of conclusion but I surprised myself by making a comment on the very first question.

I suspect that this may have been because I took an early dislike to the line that the panellists were taking that seemed routed in the last century. The second comment I made in my notebook was "not a clue". This became crystal clear on the final, lighter, question on the user of Twitter which all three panellists confessed to not using to the shocked amazement of the audience who vigorously leaped to its defence.

United by the last question, we returned to the reception area to resume the conversations fuelled by some more drinks and some welcome canapés. The socialising went on for a couple of hours and the time whizzed by in a whirl or welcomes, words and wine.

Simply a fabulously interesting and fun evening and I can hardly wait for the next one in February.

Hawklords Implosion

After two aborted attempts earlier this year, the Hawklords Implosion, a memorial concert for Barney Bubbles, final landed with a bang at the 229 Club in Great Portland Street.

The event ran from 3pm to 10pm and featured concerts by The Imperial Pompadours, Inner City Unit, Quintessence and Hawklords, as well as Robert Calvert's play about Jimi Hendrix, The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice. With a line-up like that I was certain to be going!

The afternoon started with us all packed in an unimpressive bunker that looked more as though it was designed to protect Londoners from imminent nuclear destruction rather than entertain anybody. It had a bar though and a Grolsch, even at £3.70 a pint in a plastic vessel, was a welcome relief.

A little while later the truth was revealed and we moved from the cramped ante-room into a proper concert hall with a high stage and lots of space for milling and dancing. As always I headed towards the front.


The Imperial Pompadours were on first with an eclectic set that told a story that I could not follow, not that it matter in the least as the music was good and that is what I was there for.

Nik Turner was back on stage a short while later, this time with Inner City Unit. This was a rockier set and was much appreciated by the crowd most of whom near to me where already very familiar with the music.

Apart from the opening number, which Space Ritual usually play, the songs were all new to me but they were accessible and a lot of fun.

Next it was back into the bunker for the Bob Calvert play. Unfortunately the bunker was very noisy but fortunately I was able to get close enough to the front to hear the two actors. The play impressed me and I'd like to see some performed in a theatre some time.

Quintessence were on the main stage by this time, which helped to clear some of the rowdier elements from the bunker, and I just managed to catch the last part of their last song. That was enough.

Then we had the main act, various Hawkwind legends playing under the name Hawklords with a re-enactment of Space Ritual. With a set list like that and the all-star line-up they could hardly go wrong, and they didn't. It was an excellent and very enjoyable performance. Dancing happened. Lots of it.

I was not too sure what to make of Ron Tree's distinctive vocals but, if nothing else, they served to make the versions quite different from the ones that I am familiar with.

There was time for a little more at the end and I was delighted when we jumped forward a few years to the late 70s' Charisma era with Steppenwolf and Psi Power. And after some input from the happy audience the evening ended with, no surprises, Silver Machine.

It was a long day with plenty of standing and only a packet of mini cheddars for sustenance but boy was it worth it. It was certainly a brave experiment having four sets, and a play, over an afternoon and evening, and it was great to see that bravery so richly rewarded.

BCSA Annual Dinner

As it says on the poster (that I wrote!), "the BCSA Annual Dinner is the main event in the BCSA calendar and while the speakers, refreshments and raffle are important, the evening is really all about meeting and making friends.

"The evening includes a drinks reception, three course set menu with wine, guest speaker and a raffle with many excellent prizes."

And it proved to be as good as I said that it would be!

Unfortunately the atmospheric lighting and the dark walls made it hard to take pictures of the whole room full of happy guests but this one of the table that I was on should give some clue of what the evening was like.

The organiser did her usual good work on sitting me on a table of interesting Slovaks, including somebody from the Slovak Embassy in London, so the evening was full of good conversations as well as good food and drink.

And the evening was made even better by the after dinner, Sam Walters director of the Orange Tree Theatre, who explained his Czech connections in an interesting and entertaining talk. I was pleased to get some time with Sam and his wife to explain how much I like their theatre!

It was a great evening!

The Making of Moo (spoilers)

I have often said that everything at I've seen at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond is at least good and some of it is exceptional.

The Making of Moo is one of the exceptional ones.

Well-meaning colonials are dismayed to learn that in build a new dam to provide power and irrigation they have also killed the local river god. A plan is quickly hatched to create a new god for the locals, called Moo.

The first half of the play shows the three conspirators as they form and enact this plan. Their designs for Moo include a moral code, a history and some stirring songs.

Less involved, and much less interested in being involved, is their native man servant who is in line to be the first figurehead of the new church.

But the plans proceed apace and the first half ends with the colonials putting the finish touches to Moo.

The second half resumes the story two years later when the church of Moo has taken hold, but not as we had expected.

The colonials have stayed and are powerful figures in the church that is intolerant and violent. Vespers is the time when visitors are killed.

The play is an unflattering critique of religion as this extract from the sayings of Moo hints. (I took this photo when going back in for the second half.)

But while the theme of the play is dark and deep it is sugared with a large coating of humour and it is a really funny play throughout.

The combination of the story, theme, humour, acting and staging make this one of the most rewarding things that I have seen at the Orange Tree and I was delighted to be able to tell the director, Sam Walters, this to his face the following evening at a dinner.

In place of cuts - making taxation fairer

My latest foray into the world of politics was another Compass briefing, this time on their recently launched policy paper on taxation that responds to the almost unanimous call to slash cuts with an alternative approach. Hence the title, In place of cuts.

The meeting was held at the Houses of Parliament which is still not familiar enough to be mundane. It amuses me that the security is less there than at the BBC; both x-ray bags but the BBC always find my penknife whereas Parliament never does. After security comes the still impressive St Stephen's Hall then the long walk along grand corridors to the committee rooms with their narrow leather-bound seats.

Professor George Irvin, the main author of the report, introduced the report with three simple slides that analysed the problem and recommended a set of measures that would both increase tax income and make the overall tax system more progressive (the richer you are the more you pay).

This chart clearly shows the problem; the poorest people pay proportionally most tax and while the middle incomes pay progressively more tax this drops off at the high end.

The solutions proposed In place of cuts include a fair degree of tinkering with the tax system to smooth the curve out. I support some of the proposals, such as removing the the upper limit on National Insurance Contributions, but I think the overall problem cannot be fixed by playing around with income tax measures.

This graph tells me that taxation works well for, but only for, the middle income group (on, say, £10k to £80k) and that income tax is not the way to address the anomalies at either end.

One reason why this is the case is that any changes to taxation impact the middle income band as well as the band that you are trying to target.

The other reason is political. Nobody ever voted for tax increases even if they were for rich people only and tax cuts are soon forgotten.

Apart from correcting a few of the current anomalies I would prefer to help the lower end through benefits and schemes like Sure Start (i.e. giving them some things for free) and to tax the high end through, for example, capital and property taxes.

Desert Island Discs with Kirsty Young

The list of podcats that I listen to is fairly stable but does get updated from time-to-time, such as with the recent addition of Danny Bakers BBC Radio 5 show, Robert Elms' BBC London show and the removal of the too voluminous and not quite interesting enough LSE events.

The latest change is the welcome arrival of Desert Island Discs, a mainstay of the BBC Radio 4 schedule for over sixty years. I have listened to it quite a lot but in recent years the timings have not suited my lifestyle so it has slipped me by.

But from today it is available as a podcast so once again I can savour this audible treat. And what an episode to start with, the iconic Morrisey.

A little comedy

Despite the lukewarm reception to the previous Terry The Stand Up's Comedy Night at The Willoughby Arms, the prospect of cheap tickets with a free drink thrown in, and having nothing else to do on a Friday evening, tempted three of us back for another go.

For some reason the function room was set theatre style with lots of seats packed in, rather than the more usual cafe style with a loose arrangement of chairs and tables. This made getting to a seat harder than it should have been and also made the twelve of us in the audience feel like even fewer people than that.

The compere was different from the one at my two previous visits and that was not a good start to the evening or a good omen for what was to follow. Reading lame jokes from your phone is never a good idea and warranted the "Get off" suggestion from my friend.

The first act picked up the pieces well and told some genuinely funny stories in a genuinely funny way. Loved the one about the musical slippers.

Sadly the next act was a disaster. Some excuses for it being her first outing but she had no idea of what she was trying to do and jumped from story to story without completing one or being funny along the way. At one point she read out a real love letter that she had found. No idea why she did this or what reaction she expected from us. She got embarrassment.

A huge leap forward with the next guy whose irreverent set had a poke at some dead people and the Royal Family. What's not to like? The second interval was then taken with a sense of optimism with just the headline act to come.

I was expecting another stand-up comedian to close the evening but we got a man with a guitar doing some comedy songs instead. They were OK but songs do not tend to have punchlines so they amused without prompting much laughter. To be fair, the rest of the audience seemed to enjoy it more than I did and I thought that he was all right.

So we had two good, one all right and two, er, less so. On balance that was just about good enough to get me to go back again, but it was close.

A simple but useful meeting

The last of the rush of Czech and Slovak events was the modest meeting of the BCSA Executive Committee which I am invited to as their webmaster.

These meetings are important for conducting the business of the BCSA which is a charity with a few tens of thousands of pounds to look after but that does not make them interesting.

That said we rattled through the business amiably enough aided by a little wine and the familiar M&S sandwiches. The main topics that we covered were the Annual Dinner later this week, the AGM in April and the events programme for next year. Provided the embassies agree, the Summer Garden Party will be on 19 June and I've made sure that this date is in my diary already!

The spaces in between buildings

This month's meeting of the Kingston upon Thames Society (KSoc) was held jointly with the Kingston Horticultural Society and considered how planting in the spaces in between buildings can improve the look and use of the area.

The talk took the form of a series of photographs of some unnoticed places locally that gave good examples of opportunities taken and missed in make the best of these spaces.

I was particularly interested in this approach as this is very much what I am trying to do with my Ham Photos blog that tries "to show the unusual, the unexpected and the unnoticed". I mentioned this in the open session after the talk and that garnered some interest and I hope to be able to help KSoc to get started on a similar project.

If there were any negatives from the meeting then it was the horticulturists' frequent claim that the trees in the photos softened the impact of the buildings behind them when, at times, I thought that the messy trees obscured the straight lines and impressive walls of the gorgeous building!

But it would be a little harsh to criticise the horticulturists too much for that and the joint working between the two societies to improve both the buildings in Kingston and the spaces between them has got to be good news.

Great Indian food at Origin Asia

Like most English people, I love a curry and I eat them home-cooked, takeaway and in restaurants. And I like to go to different restaurants to try out different dishes.

But for some years now I have been a regular visitor to Origin Asia on the Kew Road in Richmond. It's a couple of miles away but the buses go more or less door-to-door so the journey is easy and the food makes that little effort well worthwhile.

We usually go as a foursome and share all of the dishes each picking one starter and one main meal, all vegetarian of course, which we supplement with a selection of breads and beers.

The food is what we go for and it is always exciting and well prepared. When you are used to the staple vegetable madras/vindaloo it makes a refreshing change to come across items like Aloo Tikki Pithi Wali which is described as a crispy shallow fried patty of mashed potatoes stuffed with spicy chana lentil, and topped with tamarind, mint sauce and yogurt. It tastes as good as that sounds.

I'll continue to go to several other local Asian restaurants but Origin Asia remains the place to go on special occasions, like when friends are around.

PM of Slovakia, Robert Fico, speaks to BACEE

When the British Association for Central and Eastern Europe (BACEE) was wound up in 2008 it was agreed that the name would live on through a series of high-profile lectures organized with UCL's School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies (SSEES).

The event took some time to arrange but in November 2009 the first BACEE/SSEES talk was given by the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico and I took the morning off work to attend.

The original impressions were not encouraging through my western eyes as Robert Fico looks like you would expect a former Easter European Communist (or a Bond villain) to look with his square features, drab suit and bland tie.

But appearances can often be deceptive and in the case they most definitely were as he delivered a very engaging and informative talk that looked back on the successes and failures of the twenty years since the Velvet Revolution.

He claimed democracy and human rights as successes but admitted that the economy and standards of living had not done as well. For example, the average wage in the last year of Communism (1989) was not reached again until 2007.

The root cause for the problems currently faced by Slovakia (and, presumably, similar countries) is that when the Communists were overthrown the only people in a position to take over where those who already had wealth and power. This clique then disposed of state assets to themselves.

The talk covered a wide range of subjects which were presented in a refreshing open and frank way; no sign here of the empty media-trained spin that we are force-fed in the UK.

Fico was equally honest and forthright in dealing with audience questions at the end, two of which resonated with the current situation in the UK; funding and standards in university education and integration of minorities. He made the good point that minorities should learn Slovak (in addition to their own language) not to become Slovaks but in order to work better with the Slovak authorities and political systems in the cause of their community.

Overall Fico impressed me immensely and I felt that he gave a very honest account of the situation in Slovakia today.

It is still a great shame (and a mistake by this government) that BACEE no longer exists as an organisation but it is good that their reputation helped to secure such a prestigious lecture. I expect I'll be taking holiday to catch the next one too.

A long weekend in Prague

I first went to Prague to work in 1991 and spent most of the next two years there and made a few more trips in the following year. Since then the opportunities to go back have been more limited but have all been taken. I've been back for an IBM conference, a proper holiday and to break the journey home from Kiev.

The latest opportunity came thanks to some friends who now live there who offered a good reason for going, somewhere to stay and the prospect of some stimulating company. I just had to go.


I had a reasonably busy schedule for the three days that I was there but there was still plenty of time to do what I like doing the most, exploring the city on foot.

The journey started with a steep climb through the gardens of Vitkov Hill up to the National Monument where Jan Zizka sits motionless on his horse looking over the centre of Prague ready to spring to its defence.

A museum opened in the monument the week that I was there and I had a look at it but all the writing was in Czech so I did not have much clue as to what it was about. Some of the pictures look good though and there were also great views to enjoy.

It seems a little churlish to complain about a museum but I think I preferred Vitvok when there was no real reason to go there so I usually had the place to myself.

From Vitvok I walked roughly due south to the familiar Vysehrad before heading west to the Vlatava and an enchanting walk north back to the city centre past art nouveau splendour.


The Lavka bar, restaurant and club sits in one of the very best spots in Prague, on a spur of land that juts out into the river just south of Charles Bridge.

The garden at the back offers stunning views across Charles Bridge towards the Castle and this is where I usually ended the evening (or, more accurately, started the day) when I was living in Prague.

Sadly the garden was off limits this time due to the restoration work being done to Charles Bridge but the seating outside at the front was a fair alternative and I sat there for a while with a well deserved Gambrinus.

Next door is the Smetana Museum and a statue of the composer sits patiently outside providing yet another attraction for the many tourists who come here to capture the view. I did my Good Samaritan bit and took a photo of an American tourist with the bridge and castle behind her.

As I returned to by beer I tried to guess how many photos were taken there each day but this Fermi problem was beyond me.


Having sat and looked at the castle from a distance it was only natural to go there and take a closer look.

I could have walked up the hill but why bother when a tram can take you there in style?

Bizarrely, for one of Prague's main attractions, the castle has never interested me that much and I have never really explored it - ever.

The district around the castle and the views from the hill are another matter and it was for these reasons that I go there.

I love all sorts of roofscapes. I have particularly fond memories of Venice, Casablanca, Dubrovnik and Li Jiang, and Mala Strana (Lesser Town) deserves to be in this list too. I like the way that the different layouts and styles of the buildings produces interesting shapes that are emphasised by the white walls.


At the end of the day I just had enough time to go almost to the eastern edge of Prague, to Karanska in Malesice, where I and a colleague lived in a company flat.

This was two family flats, one above the other, converted in to one flat. It was enormous and there were some rooms that we never used.

The area is mostly high density housing, as pictured here, but the buildings were in good condition and there was lots of open space and vegetation to make the area attractive rather than oppressive. It's certainly far better than the equivalent housing in the UK.

Also much better is the public transport. Despite being right on the edge of town, getting around is easy as very regular buses (around one a minute at peak times) take you to the metro station about 2km away where the ridiculously fast and smooth trains take you to the heart of Prague in a matter of minutes.

Even more bizarrely than before, this minor road in Prague is on Google Street View whereas the road I live in now in London is not.

Every time that I go to Prague I leave determined to go back again one day. This time was no different.

Bedroom Farce at the Rose Theatre

I've not found the programme at the newish Rose Theatre in Kingston that inviting and so, while I go to the Orange Tree in Richmond regularly, I only made my first visit to the Rose recently.

What finally pulled me in was Bedroom Farce by Alan Ayckbourn who, experience tells me, knows how to be funny.

The surprising initial problem was booking the tickets online with a website that would have felt out of date five years ago. The main problems are that you cannot see which seats you are buying and you have to go right back to the start of the purchase transaction every time you want to look at other options.

The Rose is an oddly shaped theatre due to it being some spare space left to the Council within a block of expensive flats and turning it into a theatre was an after-thought.

As a result the stage protrudes into the auditorium which is not very deep but is high. For some reason there is a pit area at the front with no fixed seating, you are encouraged to bring your own cushion!

My seat on the far left side offered a good view across the stage and of the auditorium.

The play was not what I expected in that it was a comedy but not a farce; no trouser-less men hiding in wardrobes here. The bedroom bit of the title was true though and all the action took place in three bedrooms that were alongside each other on the stage.

There was not much of a plot but there was a lot of humorous dialogue that kept things moving along at a sprightly pace but without reaching the anticipated climax. In the end the lack of a plot, some under-par acting and the nature of the theatre itself left the feeling that a reasonable evening out could, and should, have been much better.

It's going to take something quite special to drag me back to the Rose but I will keep my eyes open for that special thing and am prepared to give the Rose another chance one day.

The Vampire of Prague

Three of my very favourite things are comics, Prague and the art of P Craig Russell so getting all three together is bound to be a winning combination.

The occasion for the inspired confluence is "Hellboy: The Troll Witch and Others", the seventh trade paperback collection in the Hellboy series created by Mike Mignola.

Most of the volume is reprints of the Hellboy comic but The Vampire of Prague was commissioned for the collection and so had not appeared in print before.

It is in full colour but I chose this black and white sample from the few readily available online because it is so distinctly Prague.

The story itself, like most Hellboy stories, is short, mysterious and quirky; almost like Neil Gaiman but with fewer words. That means it is good.

If that is not enough to convince you to investigate this book then knowing that the last story was drawn by Richard Corben should be the clincher!

Stackridge back at the 100 Club

Stackridge put on a good show and they do not get up to London that often so when they do I am likely to be there.

Apparently it is just over a year since I last saw them play, that time at the Boom Boom Club in Sutton. so a return to the 100 Club was long over due.

Other people had the same idea and the place was packed when we arrived during the support act (the less said about them the better).

Luckily many of them succumbed to the lure of the bar when the support finished and I was able to get my usual, but unexpected, place right at the front. I elected to stand right of centre (not that I had that much choice this time due to the large crowd) and that gave me a different view of the band from previous gigs.

The were some changes from previous gigs, a new violinist and some new songs, but both blended in seamlessly and while I missed God Speed the Plough we still got Purple Spaceships over Yatton so all was well in the world.

The full crowd also served to trap the band on stage who were unable to leave between set and encore and were then not allowed to escape until the planned ending, Do the Stanley, was followed by Dora the Female Explorer.

Stackridge entertain joyously and enthusiastically, and nobody can ask for more than that.

Mu's Residence, Li Jiang is magical

It has taken me three months to get around to writing about our last full day in China.

Some of the reason for that was because I had to write about the other twenty days first but the main reason was the difficulty I have had in trying to select just a few photos to capture the mood of the day.

But let's start at the beginning.

Li Jiang had already shown itself to be the prettiest place we visited during our three week tour and so I relished the prospect of a free morning to explore the town on the final day before starting the long journey home via Kunming and Hong Kong.

Our guide suggested that we spend the morning shopping but I had other ideas.

I had bought a map of the town on my arrival and that revealed that in the heart of the old town was a palace, called Mu's Residence. Exploring that was always going to be more fun that looking for cheap fake goods to give people for Christmas.

The streets of Li Jiang would put most mazes to shame and, like a maze, they all look the same too and so, even with a map, finding the palace was bit of a challenge.

On the plus side it was Li Jiang that we were bemused in and so we had pretty buildings and murmuring waterways to engage us as we set about our exploration.

When we got there we were immediately staggered by the scale and the beauty of what we found.

Mu's Residence was based on the Forbidden City and while it is much smaller it is also in a better condition, for example there was an abundance of water and plenty of plants to provide respite from the heat and the sun.

The buildings were magnificent and most are open so you can climb up to the higher floors to get different perspectives on the palace that was like a maze within a maze with its many sections and numerous walkways. Exploring was a real joy.

The large pond was my favourite part of the palace with its collection of rectangular sections that lead you further away from the buildings and deeper in to the garden and the shade.

All of that would have made for an absolutely fantastic morning, but there was more.

At the far side of the palace was a sign to the garden which took you through a building, along a walkway above the streets of Li Jiang and then down through another building.

The garden was small when compared to the palace but was very pretty none the less.

Beyond the garden was another path, this time leading up the tallest hill in Li Jiang. The climb was steep and hard work but was made easier by the frequent seats and the traditional covered walkway that kept the aggressive sun at bay.

The cafe half-way up also helped.

As we climbed the hill we could see increasingly more of the old town and then of the new town beyond it.

The roofs of the old town are wonderfully uniform in shape and colour, almost as if somebody had just scattered some building bricks from a Chinese Lego set (and if there is no such thing as Chinese Lego then there jolly well ought to be).

A proud pagoda sits on the top of the hill looking like an adventurous wedding cake. More climbing here but this time it was inside and with easy steps.

More views and more to marvel at on a day which had already far exceeded any reasonable marvelling quota.

I hope that the images I have chosen here have given you some confidence that this really is one of the loveliest places in the world. The cultural atheists can find more proof and the devotees can find more joy in the full set of photos.

This was the last day of the holiday and it was also the best day. If I could go back to China for just one day then I'd go to Li Jiang and Mu's Residence.

Mathematics and comics

Rather a long time ago now I was in love with mathematics enough to study it at university. I've forgotten most of what I learned there, I cannot even understand the language any more, but the fondness remains.

Another passion that developed at university was for comics. So when I saw that Comica were doing a talk on mathematics and comics I just had to go.

The talk was on the new graphic novel Logicomix and was with the writer and artist on the comics side and the only mathematician anybody knows, Marcus du Sautoy, on the other.

What followed was another exhilarating talk. This was partly due to Marcus' questioning which showed his interest in storytelling, just as he did a year ago at the Royal Society. But good conversations need all participants to play their parts well and author Apostolos Doxiadis and artist Alecos Papadatos certainly did this with their erudite explanations and insights.

The talk itself would have made it a great evening but the icing on the cake was to get Marcus du Sautoy to sign one of his books and Apostolos Doxiadis and Alecos Papadatos to sign my newly purchased copy of Logicomix. Another Xmas present in the waiting.

I was also able to catch organiser Paul Gravett to thank him for the excellent Comica season; thanks I am delighted to repeat here.

A Taste of Slovakia

My third Czech/Slovak event in three days this week was another social, A Taste of Slovakia at the Slovak Embassy.

My BCSA role was just about good enough to get me an invite, though some pleading was also involved!

The tasting involved several wines and a buffet. The wines all came from the region of Small Carpathia in the South West of Slovakia and the few that I tried were all very drinkable.

Sadly I could only stay briefly as I had other events to move on to but I was there long enough to catch up with some BCSA colleagues and to appreciate the event enough to try and blag my way on to the guest list again next year.

Dobre rano, Slovensko!

A showing of the documentary Dobre rano, Slovensko! (Good Morning Slovakia!) was the second BCSA event of the week, this time organised in conjunction with the UCL School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies.

The film was introduced by its producer, Fedor Gal, who played a part in Slovakia's emergence from behind the Iron Curtain in the Winter of 89/90.

Sadly I do not know yet exactly what his role was as technical difficulties meant that we had to watch the film in Slovak, which it may surprise you to learn, is not one of the one languages that I speak.

Luckily the Q&A session was translated so I was able to follow that part easily enough.

I had to leave the drinks reception afterwards fairly early but was there long enough to speak to a few new Czechs/Slovaks who I hope to see at other BCSA events and also to get an offer from Fedor Gal to send me the English version of the film, which I am looking forward too.

Almost all of the retrospectives on 1989 in the UK have focused on Germany and so it was good not just to hear fromCzechoslovakia but actually from the Slovak part.

Enjoying the BCSA socials

A week of Czech and Slovak events kicked off in fine style with our monthly "get to know you social" at the Czechoslovak National House in West Hampstead.

All we have to do is set the date and publicise the event for a mix of people to turn up during the evening for a chat.

Most of us eat there too and I always have a good look at the menu and then choose smazeny syr. I meant to take a photo of it this month but I forgot so here's a picture of my empty plate instead and I'll leave it to your imagination to work out what it looked like before I ate it all!

The food is pleasantly washed down with draught Pilsner Urquell but there is Budvar too for those who require an alternative.

The food and drink are fine but what makes these evenings work is the meeting of people who enjoy an evening out with good company.

Dark we were and golden eyed

The first event that I went to in this year's Comica Festival was a panel talk on the arrival of American comics to the UK via fanzines, conventions and iconic shops like Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed.

I recall that my first visit to Dark They Were was on a trip up to London from Southampton University in '77 for a march against cuts in student grants (anybody else remember student grants?!) when I managed to do some quick shopping before the protesting began.

The shop blew me over with a ground floor packed with science fiction books many of which, like the comics on the floor below, were only available in the UK through a few specialist shops, none of which were in Southampton or Weymouth.

The basement was like Aladdin's Cave for me, except that you can read comics and gold is pretty useless of itself.

The sense of awe must have been blatant and soon I was talking to a helpful member of staff. Back in Southampton just getting comics regularly (from WH Smith) was a challenge and there was no way to get any news about comics. Suddenly I was surrounded by more comics than I could imagine and was talking to somebody who knew what happened in Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2 (featuring one of my favourites, Adam Warlock). I still have a Dark They Were shopping bag somewhere.

But back to present day and the talk. The panel consisted of five people who were heavily involved in the start of teen/adult comics in the UK, as retailers, distributors, fanzine producers and artists. And they were all clearly fans too.

The hyper-active Paul Gravett (the organiser of Comica) sat in the front row and nudged things along when the reminisces threatened to take the talk away from the rather loose script that it was attempting to follow. A little like herding cats but when cats are as cute as this, who cares?

The talk was aided by some period photographs and art work which really helped to recall those days. I was particularly impressed that legendary artist Brian Bolland showed us the cover of his first ever comic, drawn just for fun as a child, in which there was absolutely no sign of the talent or distinctive style that would emerge later.

The panellists were all informative and entertaining, which is always a winning combination, and so I had a rewarding afternoon. This was betrayed by the large grin that I wore throughout.

Talking about comics

I have contented myself so far by just reading comics (and a few books about comics) and have generally avoided fandom activities like conventions and signings, but that is starting to change.

Having dipped a cautious toe into the Comica waters over the weekend I was back for more on Monday night at Islington Central Library where Kevin O'Nell and Paul Gravett talked for two hours about Kevin's life and work.

It seemed that most of the audience were attracted by Kevin's recent, and current, work on the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen but my interest dates back to the first Nemesis the Warlock story published in 2000AD way back in 1980. His distinctive angular style has been attracting deserved attention and praise ever since.

The talk wandered through various themes and we learnt, among other things, that Kevin's first job in comics was removing artists' signatures from pages of the Buster, that League moved from Warner Bros. to a smaller publisher to reduce the threat of being sued for copyright infringements and Marshall Law may yet be a film.

The Great Hall on the second floor of the library was grand but also vast and echoing which made listening to the conversation difficult at times. Fortunately the conversation was easily engaging enough to make the extra effort worthwhile and the two hours flew by and suddenly it was 8pm and we were being evicted sympathetically by the library staff.

Learning about comics

I've been reading comics for the best part of fifty years and been a serious collector for over thirty but I still learnt a great deal about the art from a talk at ComICA by Bryan Talbot.

ComICA is a festival celebrating the best of comics today and it is to my shame that I have not managed to get to one of their events before.

ComICA is organised by Paul Gravett who probably knows more about comics than anybody else around today. His knowledge and enthusiasm drive the festival.

In his excellent talk, Bryan explained some of the approach to and influences in his latest book, Grandville, a detective story with animals!

Without the talk I would have got the cultural references in Grandville to Rupert the Bear and Mucha etc. but Bryan explained so much more about the history of anthropomorphism in the graphic media and the other subtle references he has made to famous paintings and drawings.

Almost as a bonus, Bryan also explained the way that he crafts a page through layouts, the use of colours and action lines that guide the flow between panels.

Bryan demonstrated his storytelling skills in the way that he told the story behind Grandville, he even managed to make PowerPoint look interesting!

The presentation showed us pictures that helped to shape Grandville while Bryan narrated the story.

His knowledge of, well everything, was phenomenal and even reached as far as Racey Helps' Happy Families playing cards - I am sure we used to have a set of these.

I went in to the talk thinking that I knew quite a bit about comics but I learned a great deal in the hour or so and was thoroughly entertained in the process too.

I'll definitely be going to more ComICA events.

Many thanks to Bryan for the talk, to Paul Gravett for arranging it all and to Bryan (again) for patiently autographing every copy of Grandville with a drawing as well as a signature. Why did I agree to have my copy as a Christmas present?!

Alison's House at the Orange Tree

Alison's House, previously unknown to me, apparently won Susan Glaspell the 1931 Pulitzer Prize which gives it some pedigree.

However, I do know of other Glaspell plays staged at the Orange Tree, such as Chains of Dew, and that was incentive enough for me.

I am not sure what the incentive was for everybody else but I was pleased to see that the house was packed for the performance.

Alison was a poetess who died eighteen years ago and now the family are preparing to move out of the house for good. This stirs up memories for the various family members and the nature of these memories becomes more obvious and darker as the story unfolds.

Alison, though absent, provides an anchor for the rest of the family as their frailties unfold and we learn of several love-less marriages and the reactions to these (some stayed, some ran).

The story concerns Alison's reputation as a poetess as the centuries tick-over from the 19th to the 20th but the meat of the play, for me at least, is the view we get of fractured relationships and fractured characters.

The staging of the Orange Tree allows you to experience these fractures up close like no other theatre can; I was less than 1/2m away from the old lady when she died in her chair. That was a rather intense moment!

It almost goes without saying, but I will say it anyway, is that the acting was superb and the direction made the most of the Orange Tree's unique arrangement.

Another excellent night out at the Orange Tree. I am so very lucky to have such a reliable treat so close to home.

What sort of consultant am I?

Our CEO’s all-staff call this week covered the usual wide range of topics, one of which was the switch of terminology from "management consulting" to "business consulting", an issue that Logica and I have both been entwined in for some years.

I started my career in IT as a lowly programmer (I probably would have been asked to make the tea in those days if it was not for the fact that a tea trolley came around twice a day) and the first big step up was to analyst/programmer, which recognised that the understanding of customers’ needs is a rather useful skill. Along with this elevation came some formal training in Business Analysis where I learned lots of diagrammatic tools, such as Entity Relationship Diagrams and Functional Decomposition Diagrams. Tools I still use today.

For the next several years the roles that I had were either labelled Business Analyst or Team/Project Leader but the work always contained a mixture of both and I was happy with either title. Both terms are generally well understood within the industry. This is not true among the regulars down my local pub where I used to say (and still do) that I work in IT, which people interpret as either I write software or I fix PCs. It is too hard, and too boring, to try to correct them so I let these misconceptions lie.

Business Analysts work within projects where you know what it is that you need to analyse but before you can start a project you need to understand the business needs (e.g. the drivers of competition or regulatory changes) and the potential of IT to address them. This is where the Business Consultant comes in and I first called myself this around twelve years ago, when at IBM, and I have used this title on-and-off ever since then.

I think that “Business Consultant” describes what I do well but then I would think that having been in the industry for over thirty years and using the title for a large chunk of that time, but I find that it means next to nothing to anybody else that I speak to; particularly the business people in client organisations who are the main people that Business Consultants need to speak to!

The temptation, therefore, is to use the more generally recognised term “Management Consultant”. Logica did this in 2007 when Logica Management Consulting was introduced as a sub-brand. Ironically, those of us using the brand (it is on my business card) were on the Business Consulting career path.

Using the term Management Consulting gets you around the “what does that mean?” problem that Business Consulting gives but, sadly, the term is recognised mostly for things that I do not do, such as advising on mergers and acquisitions and developing corporate strategy, i.e. the stuff that the “Big Four” consultancies do.

So now we are back to being Business Consultants again, which I think is much the lesser of the two evils and it is now up to us to make that work for us with our clients.

I will also continue to sidestep the issue personally by not including my job title on my business card or in my email signature, both just say who I am and who I work for. What I actually do is something for the client and I to explore.