Updates
I knew there was a chance to see the Northern Lights in northern England last night. I assumed if they were visible they would be near the horizon because we are so far south of the Arctic Circle. I was walking the dog and scanning the horizon and saw nothing. Luckily on the way back home I looked up instead of across. They were much more colourful, pinky-red, than when I saw them in Norway in 2012.
Why is Labour still using the self-defeating, discredited ‘maxed out credit card’ analogy?
In 1942, John Maynard Keynes proclaimed: “Let us not submit to the vile doctrine of the 19th century that every enterprise must justify itself in pounds, shillings and pence of cash income … Assuredly we can afford this and so much more. Anything we can actually do, we can afford.”
Taken me months to get around to this but finally www.garybandy.co.uk points to my Micro.blog site and I can delete the Squarespace one.
Tonight’s live version of Sometimes by James plus choir and orchestra was magnificent. I hope the new album version is even half as good.
Amazing what you can do with an iPhone and some AI software (Luminar Neo in this case). Photo taken at Aysgarth Falls, Yorkshire, England.
Tomorrow is my 58th birthday and I am going to take the day off.
The day after tomorrow is the 18th anniversary of the end of my last full-time, permanent job. Life begins at 40, eh?
Back in 2005 I didn’t know that it would be my last job. I was a local government finance director and I left the job because I wanted two things that it could not give me: variety in terms of content and location.
Over the last 18 years I have moved from interim management to consulting (on outsourcing, mainly) to teaching and writing. I have worked in many different parts of the public sector here in the UK and also done many projects in or for other jurisdictions. This photo was taken in 2017 during an assignment in Sri Lanka.
For many years my answer to the question, would I ever get a ‘proper job’? was you can never say never. However, after all this time, I think the answer is never. I think I would struggle to fit within the confines of an organisation. I have spent too long working for myself, doing things my way, using technology I like, at times and places that suit me. The rise of home working post COVID-19 means it’s possible I could have a job and still be here, but I would still struggle with completing timesheets or having to ask permission to go on a holiday.
It seems, therefore, that the best thing would be to continue doing what I’m doing. It’s worked out well, so far.
