At my retirement party from Jazz Services I had to respond to some very kind words from the Chair of Jazz Services, Dominic McGonigal. My response ran along the following lines. After 29 years at the helm of Jazz services it had not escaped my notice that as jazz is so under resourced in terms […]
In 2003 the Labour Government was driving through a Licensing Bill of which the sole purpose appeared to be throwing musicians out of work. The “Two in a Bar” rule, where two musicians could play in a pub with out the landlord having an Entertainment License was tossed out and no musicians in a bar […]
Trumpet player Henry Lowther had a problem with his bank and their pettifogging regulations. The trouble was he could not pay money into his account. Never has the cri de couer of Richard Meldrew rung loud and clear “I don’t believe it”. The banks behaviour to their customers on many occasions falls short of an […]
Chris Hodgkins retires as Director of Jazz Services Ltd. After 29 years at the helm, Chris Hodgkins has taken the decision to retire and step down as Director of Jazz Services Ltd. Chris Hodgkins retires as Director of Jazz Services – press release
September 21, 2013 – 5:26 PM
The Govenrment has announced the sell off of the Royal Mail and the Unions answer is strikes.It is at times like this when we can all see how badly served we are by our politicians and Unions. The Government in Ian Gilmour’s telling phraise is still “Dancing with dogma” and about to foxtrot the universal […]
August 26, 2013 – 3:57 PM
Larry Elliott in the The Guardian, ecoonomics blog Sunday 3 February 2013 17.35 GM wrote a piece “Rock giants offer a sound model for business, says man from the Bank. From HMV to the economic crash: business and policy makers could learn a lot from the big names of pop”. This was repeated in the The […]
August 16, 2013 – 5:28 PM
Will Hutton’s article on the 24th April 2013 Will Hutton wrote an article in the Observer that argued for a redefinition of the creative economy. Hutton’s broad brush neglects to take into account that the arts predominantly operate in niche markets. The arts also operate with “old technologies” – a band on the road playing live every […]
In the Observer on the 14th July 2013 Andrew Rawnsley wrote and article, “The numbers that add up to trouble for political parties”. The article was excellent in charting the decline of the membership of political parties but did not address the reasons for the decline. Albert Hirschman the economist in Exit, Voice and Loyalty […]
On 30th June 2013 The Observer ran article on the “Big Society” network given £1m grant despite failures by Daniel Buffer. The Society Network Foundation was incorporated on 31st August 2010. On the 8th September 2010 a couple of amendments were made to its Articles of Association. On the 14th April 2011 they changed the […]
There was an article in the The Guardian on 29th June 2013 “Meet the new class of landlords who are profiting from Generation Rent” by Patrick Collinson. A crucial factor that was missing from the article was the role of the banks in what is becoming a national scandal. According to the Council of Mortgage […]