tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12609910970692762162009-11-25T22:48:36.072ZGetting business advantage and great return on investment from top quality sales and marketing requires attention to your customer's needs and to the law. <p>There's other stuff, too! There's loads of other stuff. The other stuff may take over!</p>Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.comBlogger627125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-22619927640655250902009-11-25T14:01:00.001Z2009-11-25T22:48:36.264Z

I'm moving home. I have had five removal companies quote for my business. One said "Oh no, Sir, we don't do attics. It's health and safety you see," lost at once. Four others did attics that were boarded, lit and with fixed ladders. One came in at more than double the winner. He dropped £1,000 and still was the highest of the people who do attics. One was just way too much money. Two were

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-81328894231516524252009-11-24T16:11:00.005Z2009-11-24T22:22:27.200Z

I was shown an article, today, on the USA's Family Research Council and their reaction to nominees for the Supreme Court of the United States. And this is, naturally, none of my business. So, always the nosy parker, I decided to take a look. I took a look at what the FRC is, too. This from their web site: Family Research Council (FRC) was founded in 1983 as an organization dedicated to the

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-51404008004813450082009-11-24T00:02:00.000Z2009-11-24T00:02:54.481Z

Oh dear. How embarrassing and shameful

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-63411144856935338682009-11-23T12:41:00.001Z2009-11-23T12:44:54.432Z

What would you think if your medical record escapes and was used as packaging material by a local jeweller? Me, I'd be livid! And that's what happend with records that originated at Papworth Hospital, though the hospital is quick and wise to explain that it cannot be at fault: "Protecting patient confidentiality is extremely important to us at Papworth Hospital and as such we ensure that any

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-56160207493717715732009-11-22T18:27:00.003Z2009-11-22T18:47:49.303Z

For a long time I've felt that something is very unfair. Two girls may hug, kiss, and simply walk hand in hand in public without attracting any adverse comment. Two boys may not. "A Day in Hand" is a campaign for people to take the hand of another person of the same sex, and to try to break this social inequality down. You don't have to be gay, you just have to be brave. And you should get

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-27939372671725095942009-11-22T16:01:00.003Z2009-11-22T16:15:02.236Z

Having run into a minor limitation of Open Office Writer, and one I am sure I could have solved given an infinite number of monkeys, I was discussing OOo (that's the insider abbreviation for the suite or the project or something) with a knowledgeable friend. Let's get one important thing out of the way. I like it, I can use it, and I support the Open Source-ness of it. I also support the

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-13438372966938935732009-11-22T12:46:00.001Z2009-11-22T12:46:47.804Z

I am almost too excited to speak. This blog no longer has only two readers! I have three followers now. Three! This is exciting and of such great moment and import that I've added the Blog Followers gadget. It's deep in the right hand margin. Easy to add, it was damned hard to drag into the place I wanted it. Blogger refused to let me. I must have offended it by daring to have a third reader!

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-77660818096754869522009-11-21T22:22:00.001Z2009-11-21T22:57:55.774Z

Last time we all got hardons, a lot of editors got hardons, and those hardons failed to collide, obviously because it creates a time machine and hardons don't do time that well. Any guesses how many get their hardons right this time round? At least Hadrian's Wall worked well for a while. See the news. Or is that the nudes?

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-254308081191301812009-11-21T19:26:00.004Z2009-11-21T20:07:38.204Z

I know. Never look a gift horse in the mouth. Open Office has zero cost, and M$ Office costs money. And if I don't like Open Office why don't I get M$ Office instead? Well I have M$ Office, too. I just thought that what I want to do as a label task is so pathetically simple that Open Office would handle it. What do I want to do? Oh that's easy. I have a stock of Avery 7651 labels, 65 to a

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-27253921297454345352009-11-21T16:20:00.003Z2009-11-21T16:33:07.997Z

USA, you need a National Health Service.

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-45158269295284159642009-11-20T14:18:00.002Z2009-11-20T19:29:55.369Z

I'll tell you what the words mean to me. Almost nothing at all. When I discovered, or at least started to admit to myself, that I am gay, I hoped for a community which would embrace me and my many foibles. There was none. Instead I found hostility on a messageboard that I used to frequent because I "can't be gay because I married a woman and have a son." I wasn't looking for hostility, I was

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-9217448587909118262009-11-20T14:09:00.004Z2009-11-20T19:27:27.618Z

I started out in life finding being gay to be totally negative. Some of the things that it meant when I was a teenager were: fear of my friends and how they might behave of losing my friends of my parents, and what they would do to me of losing the love I pretended I had from the boy I adored in secret loneliness. I knew no-one else like me isolation, subtly different from loneliness, a feeling

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-83545250051029244562009-11-19T15:04:00.000Z2009-11-19T15:04:22.157Z

A group of friends and I are taking an online political quiz, to be found at Political Compass. I found the outcome somewhat surprising. Let me tell you why before I share my graph with you. I believe in the free market economy, but I believe in regulation to ensure fairness and true competition. I am a capitalist and always will be. I love the ideal of socialism. Everywhere I have seen it

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-52755026883353331972009-11-18T20:09:00.001Z2009-11-19T08:06:16.742Z

The Victorians in England had a lot of very peculiar views. Ok, the petticoats on piano legs were a myth, and the menfolk really weren't as moral as peole believe. Use of prostitutes was widespread, venereal diseases were rampant and the Contagious Diseases Acts were passed to allow what some termed "The surgical rape of women", the use of the law to detain a woman and insert a usually

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-74400516190208740092009-11-18T08:55:00.003Z2009-11-18T12:59:44.923Z

Back in September I ran an opinion piece on The Marketing of Blame. I headlined it thus: I was heartily disgusted to read the Guardian article entitled 'Sex abuse rife in other religions, says Vatican'. The attempt to divert attention from the industrial scale abuse of boys and girls by Roman Catholic priests and nuns is odious, and the language they are quoted as using to try to do so is

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-33481795485000445812009-11-17T17:43:00.002Z2009-11-17T17:43:49.342Z

Until now the UK Information Commissioner's role has been almost pointless and pathetic. Break the law, the criminal law, mark you, and you get a strongly worded letter from a sweet avuncular chap who smacks you on the wrist and says "bed with no supper for you, young fellow me lad!" I'm sure Richard Thomas was as appalled by the lack of power as was Elizabeth France. Who knows what appalled

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-43041269730569425892009-11-17T13:47:00.000Z2009-11-17T13:47:38.873Z

I just had a call from a very persistent telesales operative who gave his company name as Redwood Associates. He knew my name, and. most importantly, knew that this call was forbidden because my phone number is Telephone Preference Service registered. "yeah, I know. I decided to call anyway." he said. What a professional young man he was. He refused to give me the company address and told me I

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-32603833988034979562009-11-17T08:04:00.001Z2009-11-17T13:36:27.700Z

In the news this morning is the UK charity, Barnados, which has highlighted the issue of missing children and their sexual abuse by paedophiles. The news item is shocking and involves the children, some very young indeed, being moved from place to place for sexual purposes. It is highly likely that such reports are factual, though it is tempting, since figures are hard to come by, to wonder if

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-33940346459243456172009-11-16T18:16:00.003Z2009-11-16T21:35:26.409Z

Sometimes an idea arrives just when you're ready to hear about it. This year Anti Bullying Week in the UK is now, starting on 16 November 2009, and I've just watched the BBC's video, aimed at kids. I've no idea how long it's going to stay online, so watch it now. It doesn't work outside the UK, but it really should. So, for my blog reader who's in the USA I'll describe it a little. Liam and

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-6845334935346245332009-11-16T09:57:00.000Z2009-11-16T09:57:24.737Z

It's funny how the mind works. I just typed that headline thinking of the line from the song "It's not the leaving of Liverpool that grieves me..." and that reminded me of Bracknell Folk Club whose grand reopening happens tomorrow. I hope it goes well. Good luck to Steve Primarolo. But The Leaving of Bracknell is coming up very fast indeed. We hope to be in Dartmouth just before Christmas, all

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-16375830422726149682009-11-16T08:18:00.006Z2009-11-16T09:49:34.305Z

I promised I was going Guerilla Gardening, and today was the day. But the weather sucked, and the time of year is sort of all wrong. Even so, I bought the seeds yesterday and today, on my way back from walking to school with She Who Must Be Obeyed, I ventured to sow my seeds, so to speak. None fell upon stony ground, but all, as the instructions said on the packet, fell upon poor ground.  

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-30162473464612106972009-11-15T09:52:00.004Z2009-11-17T08:42:36.715Z

Ever since I wrote about the World Health Organisation I've been following a twitter campaign about circumcision. The thing that interests me is that there are people promoting the event as minor and trivial. That you will have to judge for yourself. You are intelligent and capable of distinguishing what is minor and trivial from what is not. I should not have to repeat that I am not attacking

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-33440490380853308952009-11-14T13:31:00.006Z2009-11-14T21:24:34.456Z

"Were you truly wafted here from Paradise?" "No... Luton Airport!" Campari Luton Airpor.. Watch the ad... And so I was. Luton Airport; an improving little dump of an airport some way north of London, home to the small airlines, the budget airlines, and my starting and ending point for my trip to Israel. No Campari and lemonade for me, but a no frills low cost airline on its newest route. "

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-8933856313157379242009-11-14T11:58:00.000Z2009-11-14T11:58:55.306Z

Over the past several years I have known of a paper, written by a Rabbi, regarding the biblical prohibitions on homosexuality. He showed me the paper a while after he had written it, telling me that I would not understand it, or even, perhaps, be interested in it. It is a learned discussion, some of it very deep indeed, and with that in mind I introduce it to you with its title "Dear David", and

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1260991097069276216.post-30581151843054022052009-11-13T23:28:00.004Z2009-11-14T11:28:08.450Z

The Roman Catholic Church has threatened to cease all charitable services in at least one part of the USA if Gay Marriage laws are passed, says the New York Times. They rely on US politicians having no backbone. That and blackmail. How can the USA allow some cult in Rome to influence how it enacts laws? How? Time to grow a pair along with the backbone, USA.  Not content with concealing the

Tim Trenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00698536468287397610noreply@blogger.com0