Thursday, June 26, 2008

On the 0628 to Newcastle. Leaving Bury St Eds and a load of guilt behind as Wilf cries and Katy is left to cope with both of them on her own.

Yesterday in Lnd. Visited an interesting org called Make Your Mark in the morning up Covent Garden. Their brief is to promote enterprise in all its forms among young people. But its a long way from Business Link! All cute young things, the latest cuts and Web 2.2. Made me feel about 62. Seriously though it did bring home just how differently the under 25 group live to 15 years ago. A big a gap as between the kids of the early 50s and the Class of 68.

Met Phil Tulsa and Rachel Burkett. Phil is a young man of energy and intelligence - as well as impeccable fashion sense. he leads the social enterprise aspects of MYM. Rachel is a lively and quick ex hack, ex PR who is doing a much better job than I of navigating this new world.

The deal I think is that I will help them on events and web content in exchange for linking all my stuff into MYM. This feels quite a long way from Ambassadors but for that reason quite interesting and new to me.

Lunch with the lovely Astrid Kirchner ex of ACEVO now of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. Another web 2 person she is developing a company called Urbaneer which I am still now only beginning to understand. Its like being an Italian in Iceland this digital divide.

Next up its David Blunkett at the Commons. Thought I might be in for a hard time as he called the mtg. Turns out he just wants us to tread carefully in Sheffield where there is a tricky local voluntary sector. I really warmed to DB, moreso than any pol I have met. He was courteous, wamm, listened and spoke thoughtfully. He looked so much better than in his Ministerial days when he seemed gaunt and permanently pained. we rounded off by agreeing he would doa gig in Sheffield for us one Friday. Three cheers!

The response to my Guardian piece was very positive, much more so than my more staid piece last month. Mails were mostly from men and women of the Left (including a member of the SWP)but I accept praise from any quarter! Nothing from Stephen Bubb yet.

Worked till 1am trying to untangle a muddled bid which arrived with Help written on it yday. Bit late for any real heavy-lifting but I gave it a shot.

Was reading a piece yday about Gordon Browns work schedule. It actually didn't sound that bad. And unlike me he gets to watch whole footie matches. His problem seems to be micromanagement, a lifetime habit that at 57 he may be stuck with. Not a good trait if you are running a nation.

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