I’ve just been listening to the last part of a series called “Tony Bennett Presents The Great American Songbook” on BBC Radio 2. The show is available on iPlayer (only until next Sunday – 16th October 2011). There is some great music – but one particular section (around 50 minutes in) got me turning up […]

This is the first blog post at my new home of philobrien.com. Hello to former readers of the Personal Network blog – and welcome to new readers. I hope to cover a wider range of topics here. I am especially keen to comment on what is happening in the worlds of old, new and social […]

One of our family’s treats each year is to attend concerts at the Montreux Jazz Festival. We have been doing this for the last 4 festivals – seeing acts ranging from Adele to Status Quo to Mumford & Sons to Mark Ronson to Alicia Keys. Our children started doing this when they were 9 & […]

Building my personal website has been a stressful experience. It has produced frequent crisis of confidence. I’m not naturally a self-promoter – and I blush as I write this article about narcissism. My “bible” during the build has been Lynda Gratton’s book – “The Shift: The Future of Work is already here”. It’s an excellent, […]

Well there’s nothing more “King Canutish” than trying to stem the tide against human nature! Today, the UK’s coalition government has declared ware on nepotism. See the report here at the BBC website of an interview with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. Regular readers of the blog will have seen a post about British culture […]