Todays news that the Bank of England has lowered interest rates by
1.5% to 3% although a good move..... It won't be actioned fast enough
by the banks in time for the festive season..

As a customer with a tracker mortgage I'll benefit, yet the bank did
not action the 0.5% drop last month in time for this months mortgage
payment, which means this months rate drop will not take effect till
January.

The result, less money to spend during the Christmas period, less
money buying goods and services, less demand, more job cuts.

The need? A firework up the backside of the bank that has been quick
to process an interest rate increase and painfully slow to process a
decrease. There is no point in giving a cut unless banks are forced to
process it quickly.

What happens next? I predict a further cut of 1.0% next month, and
that won't be enough. Banks are greedy.

Flicking through the TV channels on Saturday I was surprised to read
on the episode information for 'Waiting for God' on digital channel
G.O.L.D. that actor Graham Crowden, 'Tom' in the show is referred to
as 'The late, great Graham Crowden'.

Surprised to read this a quick search of the Internet Graham Crowden
(an excellent talent) is very much still with us, with an active career.

G.O.L.D. Check your facts before writing false information..

I travelled up to London on Sunday night to meet the guys from the RUGroom project at City College Norwich in preparation for Professor Stephen Heppell’s ‘Be Very Afraid’ on Monday.

The students from RUGroom were showing off their creativity in the form of GeoArt!  

Here is some GeoArt one of the groups made while at the event!:

Wow!  What an event!  I’ve written about it on our digital creativity website!  To read what I wrote, click this link….

 

Am loving the newly launched Google Earth for iPhone. Above is the
Chelmsford offices of Cleveratom. Simply tipping the phone about in my
hand alters the perspective on the screen.

With our work at BAFTA with GeoArt yesterday this all fits very nicely.

Last night after our meal with our latest project partner (BBC Blast)
I really wanted to go on the Manchester Eye but at £4 per person for a
very short ride it's a rip off.

The last two days in Salford have been great. Cleveratom have been
tasked as project managers for the BBC Blast Truck redesign. Hal and I
have enjoyed working with the team to find out what works, needs
improvement and we are now working to redesign the truck and its
associated spaces to fit with learning needs. Youth panel next!

Great fun.

And I thought National Express East Anglia was bad! Whoever specified
a two carriage train from Salford to Stockport to cope with rush hour
really needs an appraisal.

I don't ever remember signing up to receive offer emails from Ryanair
but they arrive almost daily, to the point where Ryanair looks
desperate.

This evening I clicked the link to unsubscribe and was bemused to read
that a further email would be sent to confirm that I had been
unsubscribed when a simple message on the page telling me I'd been
removed is all that was needed.

Here is some free business ideas and advice to both Ryanair and Easyjet.

Ryanair have announced that it will soon be possible to make mobile
telephone calls in flight, Ryanair making money by providing the
connection. Ryanair have finally seen the opportunity to tap into
having a plane full of customers to sell other products and services
(other than tea and Pringles) to on the flight so the could....

Put in screens on seat headrests with access to 30 minute tv shows for
a small fee per show.

Offer on the screens access to the Argos catalogue (and other stores)
so people can order goods while in flight (Ryanair get a cut of the
sale).

Offer me a free flight paid for by advertisers putting targeted
interactive adverts on the screen in front of me.

And finally ... Make it possible for a passenger to book a hotel and
travel while in flight (and take a cut of that transaction). ... TV
screens in headrests don't have to be only about delivering
entertainment.

I wonder how many people fall for these SMS spam messages and miss the
fact that these offers are for messages sent from the web? I bet
people spend a fortune trying to get out of these junk deals.

Why are o2 allowing these messages (which I assume are sent in volume
to lots of their customers) to get through, let me guess, they make
money out of them too even though they cause frustration (and for
some, financial missery) for their customers.

I'm sick of an increased amount of text message spam and spam phone
calls to my mobile.

Genius, best yet. Read it.

I find it amazing that National Express have chosen to promote their new dot2dot shuttle bus service (in their in train magazine) by having a pop at the overcrowded London tube.

I find the overcrowded mainline trains run by National Express could really do with more carriages (see pictures) before they start pointing an ‘overcrowding’ finger at another operator to which they plan to compete with.

I really dislike National Express, does it show?