What can we learn from my mate Triathlon Jon (and the Russians)?!
What can a newbie triathlete teach us about solving big problems? And what does my mate Jon have in common with the Russian space programme?!
The branding book everyone has overlooked
My LinkedIn feed has been awash with lists of the great branding and marketing books people read in 2025, but here's one that seems to have passed everyone else by: ‘The Smartest Giant in Town’ by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.
The helpful new side of Christmas wrapping paper
Unrolling some Christmas wrapping paper, I found a wonderfully handy grid on the back that makes measuring and cutting it a snip. Inspired, I penned a poem that celebrates this simple new idea and imagines how it came about.
Spin cycle: when pricing tricks don’t wash
Currys’ TV ads talk about savings in full pounds but fragment prices into digits. Does this verbal pricing breach UK broadcast advertising rules?
When communication fails the tennis-ball test
Throw someone a tennis ball and they’ll hit it. But throw someone ten and they’ll miss them all. The same applies with communication – and that can be a fatal problem.
Breaking the mould: when chocolate design defeats self-control
What happens when a company shatters the convention of grid-based chocolate bars by introducing irregular chunks?!
Have you seen the danger signs?
Here’s a question for drivers and Highway Code buffs: when does a national speed limit sign tell you that you are NOT allowed to drive at the national speed limit?
Toilet habits: three ways of telling people what to do in the loo
Blocked toilets are a nuisance. But if you're responsible for lots of loos, figuring out how to ensure people treat your toilets with care could drive you around the u-bend.
The Plan for Drivers: Pay and dismay?
‘One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.’ Afficionados of The Lord of the Rings will recognise this, but swap ‘Ring’ for ‘Parking App’ and it sums up the car-parking ideas outlined by the goverment in their recent Plan for Drivers.
Are dog-poo signs barking up the wrong tree?
Signs prodding dog owners to do the decent thing and pick up their pooches’ poo typically takes one of two forms: the official approach threating fines and the social approach with polite requests from the community. But perhaps both are barking up the wrong tree.