What Lance Armstrong has taught employers about drug testing

25 / 01 / 2013

The sports and wider world have been rocked with shock and sadness that Lance Armstrong, once thought to be the greatest cyclist of his generation, cheated his way to the top. So much has his credibility been undermined that Bradley Wiggins is reported to have expressed strong doubts about Armstrong’s claims that he had not taken performance enhancing drugs in...

A Bug’s Life: Working Together for Success

24 / 01 / 2013

With the current cold weather snap, few self-respecting summer insects will be surfacing above ground for a good many months yet. Bugs!? A bit of a random topic perhaps, but a recent programme got me thinking about the qualities of ants, and in some ways we could learn a lot from them. Ants are hardy souls. We’re not talking Ant...

Long-term Sickness Absence – Is Help Is On the Way?

23 / 01 / 2013

From Emergency Ward 10 in the late 50s, through to Casualty, ER and House MD in more recent times, hospital dramas have been enormously successful TV. Why Hugh Laurie giving a brooding, semi-shaven performance of a grumpy and (let’s be charitable) troubled medic was so popular is beyond me, but there’s no accounting for taste. In reality long term sickness...

Feeling Icy Blue?

22 / 01 / 2013

Blame it on ‘Blue Monday’. The third Monday in January is allegedly the most depressing day of the year. Financial worries, post-Christmas blues, and short daylight hours add up to create a cloud of gloom. This year, we have the freezing weather and arctic conditions which aren’t likely to improve for much of the week. Once you’ve made a snowman...

Snow ploughs, presence and pay

21 / 01 / 2013

The snow finally started to come down in good earnest on Friday in our neck of the woods and although it was powdery and fine, it snowed all day. Most of the main roads were still clear at that point, but smaller side and country roads were becoming more difficult (though a long way from unnavigable). Then yesterday the same...