Something for the weekend
Little fish, Charles Fish, cardboard box
Closet ravers from Nottingham's business community have been delivered a boost with the news that this year's Hot Property event is changing venues to Gatecrasher. So, if you want to see Matt Smith from JLL in the middle of a foam party with Craig Straw from Innes England then now is the time to buy your tickets. Hot Property gives people in the property and construction industry in Nottingham the chance to indulge in their inner rock star, take to the stage and belt out versions of musical classics, whilst raising money for charity. Tickets are only 20 quid, so pop along to the Hot Property website and contact Nicola Millward to buy yours.
Blood brothers
To the Innes England Insite launch, and after wrestling with a notoriously average bacon bun, we took our seats at the back. Second up was retail specialist and all round bon viveur Matt Hannah, who pulled no punches with his presentation. First slide up was a mutilated body behind a shower curtain, with the legend 'BLOODBATH' underneath. "Bloodbath in 2011!" boomed Matt, "well, not quite." But at least it got our attention. More of this kind of thing, please.
How does it feel when your heart goes cold?
It was Blue Monday this week, of course, so we all needed cheering up a little. Enter Close Invoice Finance who sent us a missive entitled: "SME owners' personal lives take a dip". Oof. Ian Steward, local head of Close Invoice Finance, said: "A huge 82 per cent of business owners in the East Midlands said they believe this recession still shows no sign of abating, and over a third said that their trading conditions have worsened over the last 12 months.
"When asked about their main concerns for the coming year, a fifth of respondents cited the possibility of a double-dip recession, and a further 26 per cent said they're most worried about market volatility.
"Looking at the statistics, it's not really surprising that all this fear and uncertainty is having a negative effect on bosses' private lives, knocking their work-life balance off kilter and affecting their health," he said.
Just what we needed on Monday morning that, Ian.
