Tim Atkinson's Blog, page 60
November 29, 2013
Discussing changes to parental leave on The Jeremy Vine Show
I've done it again. Crossed swords with The Daily Fail, in the person of their parliamentary sketch writer Quentin Letts. At one point he is heard to say, 'there's rather a lot of rubbish being talked here' - meaning, I think, what I'd just been saying (although he did go on to refer to Nick Clegg so perhaps he was talking about him. Or maybe us both?)
Who knows?
But if you missed it and you'd like to, you can hear it here.
Who knows?
But if you missed it and you'd like to, you can hear it here.
EON Energy Saving Toolkit
Sponsored post
The recent energy price increase has again highlighted the importance of using our power wisely. Quite apart from the environmental benefits (reducing carbon emissions, helping to control global warming) being energy smart is becoming a fact of life for everyone, and living in a climate like ours here in the UK can mean never really knowing what the elements are going to throw at you.
So even a night in, especially in winter, isn't always going to be as cheap as it sounds!
The really bad news is that an awful lot of the energy we all use is actually going to waste. The good news is that there's something we can do about it.
E.ON's "No More Than You Need" campaign is all about helping you pinpoint energy wastage in your home, so that you get the benefit of absolutely everything you're paying for, putting money back in your pocket.
The campaign includes a number of ways that you can begin to improve energy efficiency.
First of all, it offers you the chance to host an energy efficiency expert. Comparing your home with others in the area, he or she will assess your home's energy performance, work out where wastage is occurring and recommend the next steps to take.
Secondly, you will be made aware of a number of energy-related discounts and loans that you are free to take advantage of, such as the "Green Deal": a government scheme which provides loans to any energy-saving home improvement, such as double glazing, cavity wall insulation or an energy efficient boiler.
Thirdly, you have the option of exploring and making use of a vast array of helpful tips to improve energy efficiency in the home. These will make you aware of the ways in which you are currently wasting energy and subsequent steps to take to rectify waste.
It really is that easy. Use the EON Energy Saving Toolkit to put money back in your pocket and reduce energy waste today.
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The recent energy price increase has again highlighted the importance of using our power wisely. Quite apart from the environmental benefits (reducing carbon emissions, helping to control global warming) being energy smart is becoming a fact of life for everyone, and living in a climate like ours here in the UK can mean never really knowing what the elements are going to throw at you.
So even a night in, especially in winter, isn't always going to be as cheap as it sounds!
The really bad news is that an awful lot of the energy we all use is actually going to waste. The good news is that there's something we can do about it.
E.ON's "No More Than You Need" campaign is all about helping you pinpoint energy wastage in your home, so that you get the benefit of absolutely everything you're paying for, putting money back in your pocket.
The campaign includes a number of ways that you can begin to improve energy efficiency.
First of all, it offers you the chance to host an energy efficiency expert. Comparing your home with others in the area, he or she will assess your home's energy performance, work out where wastage is occurring and recommend the next steps to take.
Secondly, you will be made aware of a number of energy-related discounts and loans that you are free to take advantage of, such as the "Green Deal": a government scheme which provides loans to any energy-saving home improvement, such as double glazing, cavity wall insulation or an energy efficient boiler.
Thirdly, you have the option of exploring and making use of a vast array of helpful tips to improve energy efficiency in the home. These will make you aware of the ways in which you are currently wasting energy and subsequent steps to take to rectify waste.
It really is that easy. Use the EON Energy Saving Toolkit to put money back in your pocket and reduce energy waste today.
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November 26, 2013
Fatherhood Institute reception at The House of Lords
It's not every day you get an invite to their Lordship's House, to walk through Black Rod's Garden, to enter the Palace of Westminster through the hallowed portals of the Victoria Tower (that's where HMQ arrives by horse-drawn carriage for the State Opening of Parliament, don'tcha know... I was on foot).
Nor am I in the habit of spending a Tuesday evening eating canapés in the company of Sir Tony Robinson (Baldrick), Charlie Condou, Mick Hucknall and sundry other celebrities I either didn't recognise or wasn't introduced to.
The invitation came courtesy of The Fatherhood Institute, the charity dedicated to dads, working to improve our role and status and press for a fairer deal for fathers generally.
As they said in their presentation, their aim is 'a great dad for all' and they'll do all they can to help make it happen - whether that's campaigning for equality of paternity entitlement or educating and supporting dads on a day-to-day basis.
It's a small charity, not as well-known as it ought to be (hence the high-profile guests - myself excluded - and celebrity status of many of it's newly-appointed ambassadors). They want to raise their profile. They want (as their chief executive said) to make the UK like Iceland (which is fine by me, I love Iceland...) in terms both of public expectations and institutional support, they want every child to have a great dad, and they want to help dads do better.
As Tony Robinson said in his speech, '...we're all crap at it but a great dad is someone who aspires to be'. They don't want perfection but they want us all, dads that is, to aim for it.
The irony, of course, is that while we were all listening to all this someone else (in my case, my mum and dad and - when she got home from work - my wife) was at home looking after the kids. Pity they weren't invited, really.
With loos like these I could even have done the children's bathtime...
Nor am I in the habit of spending a Tuesday evening eating canapés in the company of Sir Tony Robinson (Baldrick), Charlie Condou, Mick Hucknall and sundry other celebrities I either didn't recognise or wasn't introduced to.
The invitation came courtesy of The Fatherhood Institute, the charity dedicated to dads, working to improve our role and status and press for a fairer deal for fathers generally.
As they said in their presentation, their aim is 'a great dad for all' and they'll do all they can to help make it happen - whether that's campaigning for equality of paternity entitlement or educating and supporting dads on a day-to-day basis.
It's a small charity, not as well-known as it ought to be (hence the high-profile guests - myself excluded - and celebrity status of many of it's newly-appointed ambassadors). They want to raise their profile. They want (as their chief executive said) to make the UK like Iceland (which is fine by me, I love Iceland...) in terms both of public expectations and institutional support, they want every child to have a great dad, and they want to help dads do better.
As Tony Robinson said in his speech, '...we're all crap at it but a great dad is someone who aspires to be'. They don't want perfection but they want us all, dads that is, to aim for it.
The irony, of course, is that while we were all listening to all this someone else (in my case, my mum and dad and - when she got home from work - my wife) was at home looking after the kids. Pity they weren't invited, really.
With loos like these I could even have done the children's bathtime...
November 25, 2013
Lewis Hamilton does the School Run...
I always said that the daily race to get the kids out of the house and to school on-time would test the skills of the best, so when insurers Allianz invited former Formula One™World Champion racing driver Lewis Hamilton to give it a go I was more than a little intrigued.
The partnership between the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One™ Team and Allianz Insurance dates from 2010 and concentrates on car safety (they explicitly choose to position their branding not on the car, but on key safety devices like seat belts, race overalls and the Head and Neck Device (HANS) instead). In addition, team members, including drivers, provide exclusive F1 insights as well as their personal safe driving advice through the Allianz Drive Safely website and communications programme.
So with Lauren and Jessica ready and waiting, Lewis got a taste of ‘school run stress’. The journey was captured on video and throughout the two excited primary schoolgirls make it as authentic as possible, quizzing Lewis on a wide array of topics and even at one point breaking into a song they wrote especially for him!
And it was raining.
Talk about distracting…
The partnership between the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One™ Team and Allianz Insurance dates from 2010 and concentrates on car safety (they explicitly choose to position their branding not on the car, but on key safety devices like seat belts, race overalls and the Head and Neck Device (HANS) instead). In addition, team members, including drivers, provide exclusive F1 insights as well as their personal safe driving advice through the Allianz Drive Safely website and communications programme.
So with Lauren and Jessica ready and waiting, Lewis got a taste of ‘school run stress’. The journey was captured on video and throughout the two excited primary schoolgirls make it as authentic as possible, quizzing Lewis on a wide array of topics and even at one point breaking into a song they wrote especially for him!
And it was raining.
Talk about distracting…
November 22, 2013
Dr Who meets the Bayeux Tapestry
Happy Birthday Dr Who!
Although I can't claim to be a regular fan (not since the days of John Pertwee anyway) I am a bit of a history fantatic so this Dr Who-meets-Bayeux-Tapestry mash-up by the incredibly talented Bill Mudron is just too good not to share.
I'm sure all Whovians out there will approve…
Although I can't claim to be a regular fan (not since the days of John Pertwee anyway) I am a bit of a history fantatic so this Dr Who-meets-Bayeux-Tapestry mash-up by the incredibly talented Bill Mudron is just too good not to share.
I'm sure all Whovians out there will approve…
What is Project Sunlight?
There has never been a better time to create a brighter future.
So Unilever is launching Project Sunlight - an attempt to create a world where no child goes to bed hungry, where every home has enough water to drink, wash and clean, where preventable diseases are prevented, and where every child lives past their fifth birthday. They don't pretend to have all the answers, but they are inviting you to join them on the journey.
Take action to make a difference at https://www.projectsunlight.co.uk
So Unilever is launching Project Sunlight - an attempt to create a world where no child goes to bed hungry, where every home has enough water to drink, wash and clean, where preventable diseases are prevented, and where every child lives past their fifth birthday. They don't pretend to have all the answers, but they are inviting you to join them on the journey.
Take action to make a difference at https://www.projectsunlight.co.uk
Hot Wheels Super Trackset review
They wanted to build the ultimate Hot Wheels track to race on, but instead of getting kids to test it, they asked the dads.
In a Hot Wheels first, you can now design, build and race on your very own orange track creations. The new Hot Wheels Super Trackset includes 20-feet of track and 30+ construction pieces designed to challenge imaginations and inspire amazing stunts!
Hot Wheels has come a long way since I used to play with it. Mind you, that was a long time ago. It still has the same orange track pieces, connectors, curves, and jumps but now also boasts such things as launchers and a side-by-side gravity-racing clamp to create a range of challenges and high-octane obstacles. There are loads of variations for endless ways to play.
Here's what the dads thought…
In a Hot Wheels first, you can now design, build and race on your very own orange track creations. The new Hot Wheels Super Trackset includes 20-feet of track and 30+ construction pieces designed to challenge imaginations and inspire amazing stunts!
Hot Wheels has come a long way since I used to play with it. Mind you, that was a long time ago. It still has the same orange track pieces, connectors, curves, and jumps but now also boasts such things as launchers and a side-by-side gravity-racing clamp to create a range of challenges and high-octane obstacles. There are loads of variations for endless ways to play.
Here's what the dads thought…
November 20, 2013
Meet the Tesco Toy Team
… especially if you've ever met Charlie (he of the blog title) as you'll be sure to recognise him:
November 18, 2013
It's not the Gettysburg Address
Yes, the famous Fawlty Towers joke (or at least, the event that inspired it) is 150 years old this very day. And anyone with even the slightest interest in words well-written, important ideas or history's great events should spend at least part of today helping blow out the symbolic candles on its birthday cake.
Or maybe that should be wake, not cake? Because they don't - politicians especially - make 'em (that's, political speeches) like that anymore.
In fact, few people seem able to say a lot in a few words, still less as memorably as Abraham Lincoln at the dedication of Gettysburg Cemetery.
You may not know the Gettysburg Address; you might not know who wrote and who delivered it; you may even not have heard of it. But you will almost certainly know one of its iconic sentences...
...Government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth.
In fact, in just a few sentences and in a speech lasting a little over two minutes Lincoln not only summed up the American Civil War but the entire US constitution and most if not all of the aspirations of the free world. Quite something.
The speech came late in the afternoon and followed others now long forgotten at the dedication in Pennsylvania of the cemetery where those who had died at the Battle of Gettysburg four years earlier had perished. But as Lincoln said, rather than a dedication to the memory of the fallen:
'It is for us, the living, to be dedicated to the unfinished work that those who lie here sought to advance...'
Words we might all do well to recall as we draw towards the hundredth anniversary of the First World War next year.
In the meantime, and having already almost equalled Lincoln's word-count without adding anything to the value of the English language and from one brilliant piece of writing to another, I'd better sign off and bid you all 'good morning…'
I said, 'good morning!'
There, that's better. Didn't hurt, did it? I mean, you only had to say 'good morning' - it's not the Gettysburg Address…
Or maybe that should be wake, not cake? Because they don't - politicians especially - make 'em (that's, political speeches) like that anymore.
In fact, few people seem able to say a lot in a few words, still less as memorably as Abraham Lincoln at the dedication of Gettysburg Cemetery.
You may not know the Gettysburg Address; you might not know who wrote and who delivered it; you may even not have heard of it. But you will almost certainly know one of its iconic sentences...
...Government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth.
In fact, in just a few sentences and in a speech lasting a little over two minutes Lincoln not only summed up the American Civil War but the entire US constitution and most if not all of the aspirations of the free world. Quite something.
The speech came late in the afternoon and followed others now long forgotten at the dedication in Pennsylvania of the cemetery where those who had died at the Battle of Gettysburg four years earlier had perished. But as Lincoln said, rather than a dedication to the memory of the fallen:
'It is for us, the living, to be dedicated to the unfinished work that those who lie here sought to advance...'
Words we might all do well to recall as we draw towards the hundredth anniversary of the First World War next year.
In the meantime, and having already almost equalled Lincoln's word-count without adding anything to the value of the English language and from one brilliant piece of writing to another, I'd better sign off and bid you all 'good morning…'
I said, 'good morning!'
There, that's better. Didn't hurt, did it? I mean, you only had to say 'good morning' - it's not the Gettysburg Address…
November 17, 2013
Sunday Supplement: Leap for Joy!
A package from Leap Frog arrives and, as usual, creates a state of high excitement here at Charlie Towers.
If you haven't already heard or if you can't remember, the Leap Frog Leap Pad is quite simply the single greatest toy/game/camera/entertainment capsule we possess. It has the capacity (tried and tested) to render long train or car journeys tolerable, to fire the imagination of my budding photographer/videographer/story-maker as well as to sneakily combine all sorts of educational extras and (rather like disguising the greens on the dinner table) let lots of learning happen while ostensibly only playing. It's wonderful and now the new Leap Pad Ultra it does even more, including LeapSearch - a secure browser that allows children to safely explore the online content they love.
Not that Charlie's little sister has been left out as our parcel also contained both a Mr Pencil stylus and a Creativity Cam.
Now the camera might be a little advanced for her at just a little shy of her third birthday but I'm sure its time will come. If Charlie allows her to use it, that is.
But the pencil is a different matter. Imagine a chunky pencil that can talk! And, of course, help you write.
Mr Pencil works with a free IoS app. and allows the holder to interact in a variety of ways, all designed to gently nurture those basic writing skills in a fun way.
And Eloise loves it. (Not sure I do as it means I go without my iPad for large chunks of the day, but hey! All in a good cause I suppose…)
Anyway, if you're stuck for ideas this Christmas an have some little ones to buy for, look no further.
Highly recommended.
If you haven't already heard or if you can't remember, the Leap Frog Leap Pad is quite simply the single greatest toy/game/camera/entertainment capsule we possess. It has the capacity (tried and tested) to render long train or car journeys tolerable, to fire the imagination of my budding photographer/videographer/story-maker as well as to sneakily combine all sorts of educational extras and (rather like disguising the greens on the dinner table) let lots of learning happen while ostensibly only playing. It's wonderful and now the new Leap Pad Ultra it does even more, including LeapSearch - a secure browser that allows children to safely explore the online content they love.
Not that Charlie's little sister has been left out as our parcel also contained both a Mr Pencil stylus and a Creativity Cam.
Now the camera might be a little advanced for her at just a little shy of her third birthday but I'm sure its time will come. If Charlie allows her to use it, that is.
But the pencil is a different matter. Imagine a chunky pencil that can talk! And, of course, help you write.
Mr Pencil works with a free IoS app. and allows the holder to interact in a variety of ways, all designed to gently nurture those basic writing skills in a fun way.
And Eloise loves it. (Not sure I do as it means I go without my iPad for large chunks of the day, but hey! All in a good cause I suppose…)
Anyway, if you're stuck for ideas this Christmas an have some little ones to buy for, look no further.
Highly recommended.
