Are you going to stand up against this? #notinmyname
Posted: April 11, 2011 Filed under: Belfast, Do something Now is good, Government, Interesting, Internet, Northern Ireland Leave a commentMore madness over the weekend, hundred’s of people had their travel plans distrubted because of a bomb left under a bridge in Newry on Friday, it took me close to 5 hours to get home from my office in Dublin. I don’t see how cutting off the main road between Belfast and Dublin can somehow work towards a United Ireland, surely if you wanted a united Ireland you would be encouraging cross border travel!
This morning hundreds of more people were delayed getting to work because of a hoax bomb on the M1. It won’t stop me living here, it won’t stop me doing business across the island, it won’t stop me raising my family in this wonderful country.
They must not win, we cannot allow them to win!
If you are stuck in traffic or your journey is delayed because of these people, don’t let it get you down, take some time to enjoy the scenery surrounding you, take some time to talk to the person stuck in the car next to you. Don’t let it get you down, don’t let it anger you because if you do, they win.
We need to stand united against these people, we need a United Ireland, that is an Ireland that is United in standing up against these people.
Watch this video Ruth has put together to learn more about how you can make your stand!
Send your photo to : notinmynamevid@gmail.com , about now is good!
You asked for a United Ireland….. you got one ! #notinmyname
Posted: April 8, 2011 Filed under: Belfast, Northern Ireland | Tags: notinmyname 1 CommentGrowing up in Northern Ireland, you had to learn some things that you might not in other parts of the UK and Ireland, what to do during a bomb scare, how to ‘make a smooth transition’ through security check points, always know clearly if you were asked were you were going and were you came from, don’t go to this or that part of town, always be were you say you are going to be and never, ever tell anyone that Jimmy from down the road is in the RUC.
This was simply because, the RUC was predominately made up of members from the protestant community and republican terrorists killed RUC members. It’s not that Roman Catholics were not allowed to join the RUC but rather certain groups would have seen it as ‘being a traitor’
With the Good Friday agreement however things changed somewhat, The RUC disbanded, a new Police force, the PSNI came into force and crucially Sinn Fein actively encouraged Roman Catholics and Nationalists alike to join up……… And they did……… And it was good. We got a new police diverse police force and the newly formed power sharing government of Northern Ireland got the power to run it. It was ok to be a member of the police and it was ok to talk about it.
That was until Stephen Carroll and Ronan Kerr were brutally murdered for being members of the PSNI by so called republican terrorists. These killings are similar to the killings of police officers that took place in the past, what’s different is that these officers were catholic. Ronan Kerr was one of the last new recruits to come through the 50:50 selection process. A clear message from those behind these shameless attacks that it is not ok for Catholics to join the police anymore.
Because of our so called peace, police officers have talked openly about there jobs and now they are again targets, they have no security, nothing at all, there job is known to their friends, neighbours and their friends friends. They must feel like sitting ducks in what is supposed to be a country in peace.
And for what? A United Ireland? Let’s think about that for a second, a United Ireland…………….. it’s here, it’s alive and well, we might still have a border but something amazing has happened this week in the wake of Ronan’s death, every politician in the land, be they Irish or British, Catholic or Protestant has stood shoulder to shoulder to condemn this killing, Sinn Fien has openly told these people to stop, the Irish Taioseach attended the funeral. An Garda Siochana have sent sympathies to the Kerr family. Young Catholics and Protestants in Derry worked together to clean and remove graffi from Derrys wall’s relating to Ronan’s murder.
Gerald Seymour said in his book Harry’s Game that ‘one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter’ and if that is true then let’s stop giving these people a title they are proud off, lets call them what they are murderers, nothing more.
This is a new Ireland, one were we get along, one were we are not looking over our shoulders, one were our children can play with anyone and not worry about their religious. Power sharing works, we have the best of both we can be British and Irish. Lets not go back……
Can I get a freaking coffee please?
Posted: March 20, 2011 Filed under: Belfast, Business, Do something Now is good, Internet, Northern Ireland, OpenCoffee, Tech, Telecoms | Tags: Arizona, Coffee, mcdonalds, morellis Leave a commentLast night myself and some buddies had the pleasure of attending the Irish Blog Awards in the Europa Hotel, Belfast (great night, enough about that though).
Once the event and eating were over, we decided to head to a pub, then it became apparent that all 4 of us were driving, so no point in heading to a pub on a Saturday night . Let’s get a coffee I thought! The words ‘Great idea’ resounded and we headed to the hip and happening ‘Lisburn Road’ for a coffee because after all, it was only 10.30pm.
First stop, Starbucks by the uni. Shut
Next stop, Arizona (made famous as a place to hang out in the evening and drink coffee), they were open but it was for take out only……… Despite the people sitting down behind us.
On to Morelli”s then. Again, they were open and seemed at first to want us to sit down and enjoy their establishment but then as it turned out, we were only allowed to sit down whilst we waited for our take out coffee. Thanks!
Everywhere else was shut…………… So we went to McDonalds, had some coffee, chatted then went home. Mission complete.
Now you can slag McDonalds all you want but they seem to know how to run a business better than the artisan places we give so much kudos too, incidentally, OpenCoffeeLisburn is only held at McDonalds because it is the only place in Lisburn open at 7am.
Why is McDonalds the only place open? Belfast is supposed to be a bustling European city not a ghost town at 11pm…… Unless you want alcohol that is.
Belfast : City of the future, if you are of retirement age that is.
Whats the Big (Society) idea ?
Posted: March 11, 2011 Filed under: Do something Now is good, Government, Interesting, Internet, Northern Ireland, Scouting | Tags: big society, david cameron 3 CommentsYer Man David Cameron, off coalition Government fame has been chatting about his BigSociety again,
Here are the bullet points from Wikipedia;
The plans include setting up a Big Society Bank and introducing a national citizen service.[4] The stated priorities are:
- Give communities more powers (localism and devolution)
- Encourage people to take an active role in their communities (volunteerism)
- Transfer power from central to local government
- Support co-ops, mutuals, charities and social enterprises
- Publish government data (open/transparent government)
It’s all a bit nuts if you ask me……………………. but it all makes sense. I like it! Society is made up of a random bunch of people and local matters, matter to local people. We all have different skill sets so why can’t we all give just a little bit back to society instead of taking all the time.
I have been doing charity work since I was 14, I started helping out with the Beaver Scouts, now (a few years later) i’m still scouting. I don’t actively run a Friday night group any more but I use the skills learnt in my paid employment to sit on scouting boards, executive committees and also run events. Don’t get me wrong, I love my paid employment but there is something satisfying about helping to educate kids through scouting. Some of my happiest times have been spent in the pissing rain at scout camp. Often I spend more time working for free, than working for money. So why can’t we all do it?
Because we (as a society) are a bunch of lazy, selfish, freeloading morons……. don’t believe me? What have you done today to make you feel proud (yeah)? If you can’t answer that, then you need to do something about it (now will be fine).
One of DC’s idea’s is to have a National Citizen Service, a sort of unpaid bunch of people (manly over 16 years olds) that can help out when the time arises. It’s a great idea, the UK is one of the only EU countries that does not have a civil defense service and I have seen the civil defense do great work in Ireland during the floods.
Northern Ireland is the only UK state that does not have a 4×4 response team, despite calls to set one up. During the Cockermouth floods in England, the 4×4 response team were as vital as the police and army were at getting people safe.
What can I do ? Give your time, like I said, everyone has something to offer and maybe just maybe if we all club together and do just one little thing, give just one thing back then we can make this world bearable for our children.
Stop crying about the cost of beer
Posted: February 19, 2011 Filed under: Business, Do something Now is good, Government, Interesting, Northern Ireland | Tags: cost of beer, nitb, northern ireland hotel trade, profit per pint, vat increase Leave a commentOne of the biggest gripes people complain to me about is the price of a pint of beer and I’m sick of it.
People fail to understand that a 2.5% VAT increase on the top of a pint or 1p on a pint at the budget doesn’t simply mean a 2.5% (or 1p if we are talking about the budget) increase in the cost they pay in the bar.
The hospitality trade has to pay 2.5% vat on every single thing needed to provide you with that pint of beer, heat, light, barware, rent, cleaning products, the list is endless.
A 1p cost on the pint of beer at the budget, is 1p on the barrel price, not the actual price you pay.
In real terms,
A 2.5% increase in VAT results in a 10p rise in the price of a pint
A 1p increase in the cost of a pint at the budget, results in 5p-6p on the price you pay
Last year, in Northern Ireland the average price of a pint of beer was £3.00 and the average profit per pint was reduced to an all time low of 13p………. still think you are being ripped off?
Many pubs and hotels have done their upmost to absorb recent increase’s but with the disastrous weather in Q4, the hospitality trade in Northern Ireland was hit hard. Hotels and bars have had to apply price rises or risk their business failing.
Speaking on this, Colin Neil, Chief Exec of ‘Pubs of Ulster’ The trade body says.
“Unfortunately this is another instance where pubs fair worse than supermarkets, which still retain the margins to absorb the VAT increase whilst selling alcohol below cost. We hope that the coalition government’s plans to introduce minimum pricing in England and Wale and the upcoming consultation on a minimum price for alcohol in Northern Ireland will lead to an end to the pub industry being unfortunately penalised with disproportionate taxes. However current proposals to not go far enough and we call upon the Assembly to lead the way and set an effective minimum price for alcohol in Northern Ireland.”
If you want to see your local bar continue to be there for you in the future, pay a fair price for alcohol and please, please stop crying about the cost of beer……… no one is making you drink it!
It’s wrong that NI Water boss has had to quit
Posted: January 6, 2011 Filed under: Business, Government, Interesting, Northern Ireland | Tags: chief exec, laurence mackensie, ni water Leave a commentLet’s have a look at the facts over the past few days.
1. The company was criticised for failing to prepare properly for disruption following December’s heavy snowfall.
2. Half-a-million litres of water had to be sent from Scotland to Belfast as supplies began to run out.
3. There were complaints from the public about a lack of information from Northern Ireland Water as 40,000 homes and businesses were without supplies at one stage.
4. Phone lines were jammed and the company website lacked up-to-date information.
5. There was more than 10 days of distribution.
OK, so it’s not looking good for NI Water but things fucked up. What NI Water then did was scramble to fix it ASAP and ten days is not to shabby given the problems we had. In an ideal world, this would not have happened in the first place but that’s life. In Dublin, things are much grimmer, their water crisis has been going on 6 weeks and continues so in comparison, NI water did not to bad a job.
What they need to do now, is get their house in order and learn from their mistakes so it doesn’t happen in future and what better person to do this than Laurence MacKensie who has been this all first hand.
A company in crisis needs a good leader and a company that need’s fixed needs a leader that knows what has gone on and can get to the ‘fix’ quicker. A new chief exec will need 3 months to settle in and get his head round what happened before he can make any changes what so ever. 3 months, that is after a 3 month recruitment process.
The Hotel Technology Briefing 2011, Dublin
Posted: January 5, 2011 Filed under: Belfast, Business, Do something Now is good, events, Interesting, Internet, Northern Ireland, Social Networking, Tech, Telecoms, Web 2.0, Web 2.0, Wi-Fi | Tags: betapond, bitbuzz, giant, meetings booker, Social Media Leave a commentFollowing on from the Belfast briefing, we decided to run the event again only a bit bigger and this time in Dublin.
The event is specifically for hoteliers and is a informal place to learn from the speakers and other hoteliers just what is going on with technology that effects their business, without being ‘sold’ to.
Next stop………. London (or Cork)
Isn’t our designer just fantastic ?
Know who your customer is
Posted: January 4, 2011 Filed under: Business, Do something Now is good, Government, Interesting, Northern Ireland | Tags: Business, debenhams, harvey norman, marketing, new business, new marketings, sales Leave a commentI had a meeting this morning in a hotel lounge as I often do and as I waited for my client I eavesdropped on the table beside me (again as I often do)
Beside me sat two gentlemen discussing where would be the best place to launch their ‘new and exciting’ cookware range. They were doing the google dance, listing down potential outlets for their gear.
Garden centres, hardware shops, cooks shops and restaurants were all jotted down but it was settled that the best places to start was the department stores and off they popped to the car to put together two samples sets to take to Debenhams in Belfast and Harvey Norman in Holywood.
What a waste of time, what a waste of money.
Had they bothered to do some more research they would know that both these stores buy centrally. Debenhams in London and HN in Dublin (with Australia pitching in too). Giving a sample set to a store manager in Belfast is a complete waste of time, if it even reaches the purchasing manager he (or she) will think they are idiots for not coming direct to HQ in the first place.
The point I am making is simple. Businesses waste too much time going after the wrong people, if these lads had have spent a little more time researching their potential customer they could have found out who the purchasing people were and set up a pitch meeting. Much more effective and a much better use of time.
It can be daunting going to big firm buyers but know this. It’s buyers jobs to……….. Er buy! But they can’t buy what they don’t know about.
Some achievements in 2010 and some points for 2011
Posted: January 3, 2011 Filed under: Do something Now is good, Interesting, Northern Ireland | Tags: Northern Ireland, personal Leave a commentThis is the second time I have typed this post, the first one got lost in the clouds somewhere. Isn’t technology wonderful?!
Some statistician somewhere worked out (or probably made up) that over 95% of New Years Resolutions are broken within 5 days. To that end I rarely bother making any at all. However last year I did make one, which was that on 1st February I would do my utmost to lose 2 stone in weight, then take it from there. Come 1st February, I stuck to my word and over the course of 2010 I lost over 5 stone but I will write more about that in a future post.
I wanted now to take just a few moments to note some achievements in 2010;
1. Lost over 5 stone (again more on that in a future post)
2. Impregnated my wife with our soon to be 2nd child, I know that doesn’t sound like a huge deal but sometimes these things are not as easy as you might think.
3. Didn’t buy a new car, again this may not sound like much however this is the first year since I have been 17 that I have not purchase a new car. It marks contentment for me with what I have instead of constantly upgrading for a bigger/better model. Plus my car is shit hot!
4. Work wise, I had a good year and secured some major coups for the company which should see us right for a few years.
5. Climbed Donard (more than once), Fat Russell would not have been able to do this.
6. Enjoyed time with Nicole (my wife) and Hannah (my first child). They are truly wonderful people and they deserve medels for putting up with me.
7. Built upon friendships. I have a great circle of friends of old and new from work, scouting, OpenCoffee and CMS. They (along with my family) make me who I am.
8. Became a District Scouting Commissioner. After years of constant moaning, someone called my bluff and put me on the board, with the help of my team, we have achieved much but there is much more to achieve.
9. Visited some wonderful cities, towns and villages across the UK and Ireland. More than I care to count, my word allows me to stay in some wonderful places and I am happy to enough them when I am there.
10. Read more books than the rest of life combined.
11. Got a new dog, Lucy, to annoy my other dog, Jack.
I don’t want to make any New Years Resolutions in 2011, not that I am not happy with the success of 2010’s resolution but because I want to take some more time to evaluate things properly, I have however though, made some points in which a plan for 2011 with formulate from;
1. Loose more weight, about about 1.5 stone will do nicely.
2. De-Clutter my stuff (more on this in a future post)
3. Read more (it’s good for the soul)
4. Write more (it’s also good for the soul)
5. Be more active
6. Love my family more (if it’s possible)
25,000 reasons to tell your VC backer to Foxtrott Oscar
Posted: September 29, 2010 Filed under: Belfast, Business, Do something Now is good, Mobile, Northern Ireland, Social Networking, Tech, Telecoms, Web 2.0 | Tags: banking, loans, ni VC, Northern Ireland, northern ireland funding, start ups, ulsterbank start up loans, VC funding NI Leave a comment
I don’t like VCs
I’ve worked in Telecoms for coming up on 10 years now, in the past 4 years I have moved more into the back end of the business into infrastructure and wholesaling. Most of my competitors are backed by hungry Venture Capitalist firms whereas my business is backed solely by the money we make from clients, clients are our sole reason for existing and clients are what keep us growing.
In the last 24 months, I have also worked closely with start-ups in the new media space through the Princes Trust and Open Coffee
What I have noticed most over the past 24 months in Northern Ireland is that there seems to be a wave of people advocating businesses to go down the VC route for funding to grow or start their business. Read the rest of this entry »
Russell McQuillan 