What does Ben want for Christmas?

Meet Ben…

Ben lives in Worcester, had a tough time with his girlfriend, who had his baby and a paternity test confirms he's the father (OK so that's his story), but she'd rather go back to her ex boyfriend claiming that he's the father, so kicks Ben out. His now ex girlfriend is back with her ex, who does drugs and now she can go back to drugs too. Wondering what kind of life that baby will have? Ben in the meantime loses his job, loses his car and now has to go on a waiting list for a hostel, as its already full.

If he raises enough money, he may be able to get into a B&B for £25 per night, but only if he's really lucky. So far everyone is passing him by and not paying any attention to him, because they're busy buying Christmas presents for their families and rushing through the crowds, snarling at anyone who gets in the way. Ben reckons it will be the cardboard tonight, which he stores behind the yellow grit bin. That's his bed, the pavement is his home, his desk, his kitchen, his front room, the bathroom, oh I forgot to say his hands and fingers have this black and dirty appearance, you know the ones that look like they've really not seen water for a few weeks.

So I share a few pennies and wish him luck, walking away with my shopping bags and wondering and wishing if Ben will ever get that warm bed tonight or whether he will be under his cardboard bed sheltering from the cold.

If you are visiting the Worcester shops, look out for Ben, you'll only miss him if you are rushing selfishly around the shops, thinking only of the presents you still have to buy.

I know Ben isn't alone, there are many others. Happy Christmas Prime Minister!

Is Facebook the new Apple?

Well Facebook have done it. They have silenced the naysayers, the doubters, the fund managers who are still smarting about the dotcom collapse, the users who curse Facebook every day for making changes to the user interface without any regard for them, and the app creators who rely on their business fortunes and hoping for the continued growth of Facebook.

Facebook went public and made billions. Yes indeed someone wrote a cheque to buy loads of shares to make the owners very very rich indeed. (and Priscilla Chan is a very happy girl too!)

If you are reading this then it's an 85% certainty that you have a Facebook account. You may only have one to spy on your kids and then again, you may well be using it to stay in touch with "friends".

How many "friends" do you have? The average suggests you have somewhere in between 100 to 190 based on Facebooks's own research back in November 2011. http://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-data-team/anatomy-of-facebook/10150388519243859

And of those you probably only interact with a maximum of 6 and of those there are probably only 3 that you have a regular conversation with.

Facebook's growth has been phenomenal and unprecedented and there is no sign of it letting up. The power of personal recommendation has just got a 'whole lot' more important with their IPO.

The other day I was reading my newsfeed when I spotted this amazing image of cookies. Yes cookies! And someone had posted a thank you to the 'Campervan Cookies Co.' (http://www.facebook.com/CampervanCookiesCo) for making a great box of cookies for their client. And I loved them (well the look of them), the only thing was the company who had posted the thank you had actually forgotten to put their Facebook business page, so I had to ask for it and of course they obliged, so that I was able to find their page and like them.

So within in the space of a few seconds I was able to connect with a company I had never heard of, didn't even know existed, was so impressed with the recommendation that I was motivated to go and like their page, actually without even having tried the product!

So what do you think? Are you a business owner, consumer, student, charity or parent? Does the fact that Facebook went public affect the way that you will use the service?

Do you feel that you are going to be bombarded by adverts some time soon and will that turn you off?

Are you fed up of the amount of changes they make to the user interface every 6 months?

I would love to hear your views. So feel free to post them in the comments or if you fancy doing this inside Facebook, please go to http://www.facebook.com/stayingaliveuk

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Raise your glasses to Facebook and say Cheers!!

How to Fix the UK!?

A friend of mine (Clare G.) sent me this via email and it put a smile on my face.  I added a few pictures and decided to add it to my blog.  Some ideas not so silly either? Hope it puts a smile on your face too!

Dear British Prime Minister (That’s David Cameron then!)

Please find below our suggestion for fixing the  UK 's economy.

Instead of giving billions of pounds to banks that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan.

You can call it The Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about 10 million people over 50 in the work force. 

Pay them £1 million each severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:

1) They MUST  retire | Ten million job openings - Unemployment fixed 

2) They MUST buy a new British car | Ten million cars ordered - Car Industry fixed 

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage | Housing Crisis fixed 

4) They MUST send their grand kids to school/college/university | Crime rate fixed 

5) They MUST buy £100 WORTH of alcohol/tobacco a week | And there's your money back in duty/tax etc. (Not so sure about this one though!)

It can't get any easier than that! 

P.S. If more money is needed, have all members of parliament pay back their falsely claimed expenses and second home allowances.

And There Is More...

Let's put the pensioners in jail and the criminals in a nursing home. 

• This way the pensioners would have access to showers, hobbies and walks. 

• They'd receive unlimited free prescriptions, dental and medical treatment, wheel chairs etc and they'd receive money instead of paying it out. 

• They would have constant video monitoring, so they could be helped instantly, if they fell, or needed assistance. 

• Bedding would be washed twice a week, and all clothing would be ironed and returned to them. 

• A guard would check on them every 20 minutes and bring their meals and snacks to their cell. 

• They would have family visits in a suite built for that purpose. 

• They would have access to a library, weight room, spiritual counseling, pool and education. 

• Simple clothing, shoes, slippers, PJ's and legal aid would be free, on request. 

• Private, secure rooms for all, with an exercise outdoor yard, with gardens. 

• Each senior could have a PC a TV radio and daily phone calls. 

• There would be a board of directors to hear complaints, and the guards would have a code of conduct that would be strictly adhered to. 

• The criminals would get cold food, be left all alone and unsupervised.  Lights off at 8pm, and showers once a week.  Live in a tiny room and pay £600.00 per week and have no hope of ever getting out. 

Think about this!

More points of contention...

COWS 

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that during the mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow, born in Appleby almost three years ago, right to the stall where she slept in the county of Cumbria?

And, they even tracked her calves to their stalls.  But they are unable to locate 125,000 illegal immigrants around our country.  Maybe we should give each of them a cow?

And Lastly?

Think about this!

If you don't want to share this for fear of offending someone then; YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM!

It is time for us grumpy old folk of Britain to speak up!

There is an Elephant in the Room!

There is some amazing research out confirming that Elephants appreciate that they need to co-operate to achieve a result. Here is a brief exert from the report.

The Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) involved in the study had already been taught that pulling on a rope brought a platform towards them, and a food reward on that platform within reach.

But this apparatus, set up at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang province, presented them with a new twist on that simple task.

One rope was threaded all the way around a platform - like a belt through belt loops - so if one end was tugged, the rope simply slipped out and the platform did not budge.

But if two elephants each took an end of the rope and pulled, the platform moved and that could claim their treats.

"When we released one elephant before the other, they quickly learned to wait for their partner before they pulled the rope," Dr Plotnik told BBC News.

So here is the largest animal on the planet, who is already known for their social abilities, showing us how co-operation and working together as one, will get the job done.

Why is it then that our human nature favours the single endeavour and reward the single executive for their efforts, when clearly they could never have achieved it on their own. I am of course talking about the obscene pay rewards for bankers and indeed senior executives of global companies, who are being rewarded, as if they delivered the profits single handedly.

Now I appreciate that somewhere along the way, someone decided what a reasonable pay package should be for a senior executive and that set the standard, which continued to escalate to ridiculous amounts of money that do not make any real sense at all in this current new Millenium.

Who says that a senior executive has to earn a huge salary to compensate him or her for the stress and pressure of having the top job or even those who are one or two levels below the top job.

People at the very bottom of the organisation have exactly the same emotional stress as someone at the top of the organisation. In fact the higher up you get in an organisation it's not about what you know but more about how you manage people, because your stardom success is totally dependent on how the people below you perform. I would even go as far as saying that someone at the top of the organisation should get paid less and instead receive a performance related modest bonus based on results of the team he/she manages.

I think you get my point. Let's reward people who are truly responsible for delivering results on the frontline and motivate the executives by encouraging great leadership and management through a modest bonus incentive scheme.

The largest animal walking the planet realises how to share his/her success, let's learn from the natural world and take some tips from the Elephant!