My son, David, came to dinner last night. It’s a real treat as he lives abroad and, although he comes to London pretty frequently, he’s usually here for multiple work things and I end up hopping over towards him to catch him for a quick drink

It’s a pretty thing, a corona; a crown, an ethereal cloud formation, a chandelier with flickering candles.

A virus.

I have now seen several posts on Instagram from parents of (roughly) 4-year olds ‘graduating’ from nursery school. It’s that time of year.

But what if you had heard the worst news of all? What if the Grim Reaper's arrival had been announced and was now in your calendar? I suspect we all think we know how we might react; some in terror, some in despair, some with grim determination, some with abject denial. 

Let’s have a D&M. That’s a ‘deep and meaningful’ for anyone who hasn’t ever been pinned into a corner at a party by a gin-sodden wreck who has just been dumped by his partner/lost his job/crashed the car. Or possibly all three.

Bearing in mind that I am in a good mood, having my annual Christmas Party tomorrow with friends, family and neighbours and generally feeling very happy with life and very blessed, it seems cruel to find joy in the general carnage caused by the weather.

I had a REALLY exciting call from someone I know today. A possible opportunity has arisen which could massively benefit both of our businesses. It could, of course, cause me to be working all hours God gives for a while but, then again, what's life for if not stretching yourself a bit?

I was over in the US late September, working on my book. There was a group of us authors-to-be and one topic was about choosing the right title. And that's where it all started to horribly wrong. Imagine, if you will, that you have had an idea for a book for several years

Right, I need to vent. I have just had a frustrating session with someone who wants results but doesn't want to do the necessary work.

At the moment I'm working on a variety of projects with clients - literally from start-up to exit. What's interesting is the way things rarely turn out as you expect.

Life is an odd thing. We decide that we know what we know and we settle into that. Well, maybe you don't but I did. I'm fighting that a lot now.

A moral dilemma! Not a big one on the scale of robbing banks or fiddling expenses but a dilemma nonetheless.

Well, it's been a while since the last blog and the reason for that is one of those mysterious tricks that life plays on us.

I met a great chap recently. He runs a successful business, has done for 20 years, and works with global businesses. He knows his onions. He knows his onions so well that big corporates use his company to improve their profits. Nice.

An interesting series of happenings in the last few days. Much as I hate Americanisms, the phrase 'Walk the walk as well as talk the talk' is pretty self-explanatory.

I read a wonderful article in The London Paper this week, written by a recent graduate bemoaning the abuse of graduates in the workplace now, in times of few jobs and limited opportunities.

OK, it was designed to hit all the hotspots - greedy bankers out of touch with the real world of small business. And it was no doubt edited to keep all the nasties in place and entertain - I'm not sure that cleaning toilets and milking cows

Today we read that the Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, now thinks that the recession is deeper and will last longer than first thought.

There is no doubt that losses from the City have not stopped. The big, swathing redundancies seem to have slowed but it's not over by a long chalk and, more importantly, for some ex-City workers, it never will be over.