Great news! (But you'll have to look hard to find it)

Here's the rather pessimistic headlines from Yahoo! this afternoon:

Winter weather due to hit parts of Britain again

Jade Goody's husband found guilty of assault

Kids' presenter accused of swearing on live TV

The BBC have a much more balanced view of the world. They draw our attention to misery the world over with:

Hunt for Lahore cricket attackers

Man convicted of killing toddler

Murder police charged with perjury

Northern Rock makes £1.4 billion loss

And of course the good old Daily Mail:

World to end sooner than thought - it's the immigrants who are to blame

Ok, I made that last one up. But the others are true. Well they can't choose the news, you might say. And I would agree. But they can choose how to report it. Many years ago I was told the difference between a reporter and a journalist was that the reporter gave the facts while a journalist gave an opinion backed up by facts. It seems these days the only opinion is that we are all doomed. Now, being raised on a diet of Samuel Beckett I've long ago come to terms with the futility of life. However, rather than wallow in my ontological despair I would much rather focus on the good things in life. I'm not one of those delusional optimists whose legs you could chop off and they'd say how grateful they are because they've always wanted to be able to park closer to the entrance at B&Q but at the same time I don't expect the worst.

So what has this got to do with anything? Well I can't help thinking that given all the doom and gloom in the world a little bit of light relief can be a real competitive advantage to any business at the moment. Do you really want to spend your limited cash with someone who can't muster the enthusiasm to offer a polite greeting when you phone them up with an enquiry? Even the banks (spit) have twigged that talking to their customers like human beings is a way to get their attention and maybe even buy one of their products. It happened in the local branch this morning. A pleasant exchange rather the usual robot like stamping of deposit slips and I'm happily getting an insurance quotation. I've received no end of direct mail from the same bank. Did any of it work? No. But a pleasant few words did.

Try it. Even if you don't get a sale at least you'll feel better for taking your mind off the doom and gloom headlines for a few minutes.

Strange things to do when the kids are in bed

Create your own alien invasion in the dining room using their Ben 10 aliens, a slate place matt, and a bike light.

you don't get a view like this when you work in the city

I remember now...

Like one of those smug cabriolet drivers who get to rub it in our faces for a couple of sunny days a year, the drive to PBHQ this morning reminded me why I suffer 21MPG on a good day, silly insurance, and am single handedly supporting the brake disc industry by driving a Subaru Impreza. This was the view from behind the wheel:

food for thought

Watching history being made and hearing Barack Obama say how 60 years ago his father may not have been served in a local restaurant I wondered if a country whose Presidential Oath ends with the words 'so help me God' will ever elect an atheist.

On the subject of America, I saw Dan Gilbert (of what makes people happy fame) talking about the USA's reaction to 9/11. America's borders have never been more heavily guarded yet, in the 12 months following 9/11, twice as many people as were killed in the twin towers perished in road accidents due to the increased traffic caused by a fear of flying. America was guarding the door while the boogie man was already in the house.

We've grown complacent about people dying on the roads. Nutters flying plane loads of people into a tower block was something we never imagined would happen. Cancer is the same story. 1 in 3 of us will get cancer, so the stats tell us. So where's the war on cancer to rival the war on terror? It doesn't exist. Cancer is a fact of life. 3 out of 4 grandparents. My father-in-law. And statistically at least one of me, the wife, or our two kids will get it.

I put this ad together using clips from YouTube. Post your opinions below.

We won!

Not the usual ranting and drivel that we post here but...just before Christmas we won the brief to rebrand Pennine Yorkshire on behalf of West Yorkshire Tourism Partnership . Over 100 agencies expressed an interest and 61 submitted work. We won.

We're right chuffed.

Schools kill creativity

From ted.com