W.H.Smith have been newspaper and magazine wholesalers for many years. Newspapers send their papers to Smith's, Smith's bundle them up with other papers and magazines and deliver them to all the newsagents in their area.
This week, they changed the name of their wholesale business to Connect because they believe newspapers and magazines will make up less than half of their business in the future.
When I left school as a callow 17-year-old in 1962 I started work at W.H.Smith's main office in Newcastle as a management trainee. My job was to copy the number of weekly magazines each shop received from this week's list on to next week's list: 27 Woman's Own, 30 Beano, 25 Hotspur, 15 Angling Times and so on. This was way before computers and photo-copiers.
If I had stayed there, I could have progressed to an alterations clerk, who took changes phoned through from the shops: Stop 3 Beano, add 2 Dandy. Next step was an accounts clerk, who added up the shops' bills, taking the changes into account. After that, who knows? Manager of the W.H.Smith shop in Whitley Bay station maybe.
But I didn't stay. After six months of copying, I was offered a place as a reporter and sub-editor on The Journal sports desk. £8 a week for covering football, speedway and snooker contests, instead of £4 a week for copying lists.
Nonetheless, Smith's started me off and for that I am grateful.
Wednesday, 19 March 2014
Friday, 7 March 2014
War and peace
Scotland’s devolved parliament is having a referendum to let people decide whether they want to stay part of the UK, or become independent.
Crimea’s devolved parliament is having a referendum to let people decide whether they want to stay part of the Ukraine or join Russia.
Our government says the Scots’ vote is OK, but the Crimean vote is illegal. Why?
Russia has sent troops to Crimea because the Ukraine government has been overthrown by a mob. It is threatening more of the same. Russia doesn’t like the idea of a mob wanting to overthrow a corrupt government.
The West doesn’t like the idea of mobs in its own backyard, but approves of those who do their overthrowing in the Middle East or Ukraine. It says the mob in Kiev is actually a bunch of freedom fighters. The West is threatening sanctions and boycotts because sending troops is so last year.
And the BBC is running 37 days which shows how we went from balmy peace to world war in just over a month because the people in power kept threatening each other.
Monday, 3 March 2014
Bright sparks
Scientists are getting excited about perovskites:
They are more efficient at generating electricity from sunlight than current photo-electric cells and they are cheaper to produce.
The day is nearer when we will be able to generate our own electricity through the sunlight falling on our windows, rather than relying on the energy companies burning fossil fuel to generate it and deliver it to us over miles of cable.
All we need now is a bright spark to develop fridges and cookers which don’t need 240 volts and 13amps, but can operate on much less. Many of the devices in my flat have transformers to reduce 240 volts to 12 or 19. If we are doing the generating, we can do without these transformers.
Us
Nigel Farage told his Ukippers’ conference that he felt uncomfortable on a train from London Bridge because it was several stations before he heard English spoken in his carriage.
He just doesn’t get it.
London is the wonderful city it is because it is a fantastic mix of people from all over the planet. Different, interesting people. People with different cultures, religions and, yes, languages.
It is not us and them. It’s just us.
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