Something for the weekend
Go geeks go!
Let's face it we're all getting a little bored with the endless "List of Things To Do” publications. Insider's must-do list tends to start with "let's go for a few jars at Metro" and doesn’t seem to progress much further. Most of them are pretty much of a muchness: visit the Grand Canyon, swim with dolphins, learn to juggle, yada, yada, yada. So we'd like to thank Sarah "Seg" Johnson, director of a Shropshire arts group, for her take on the theme - 1001 Geek Things To Do. Seg, who doesn't do these things by half, has already put herself through a 30-Day trial of watching one cult film a day for a month, and then blogging about them. Suggestions for the Geekfest include getting married on a replica of the Starship Enterprise in Las Vegas – vows in Klingon of course; understanding Lost; kicking Eric Clapton's ass on Guitar Hero; and – my favourite - memorising enough digits of pi to be thought impressive but not weird.
A little treasure
The Duchess of Cornwall, Fearne Cotton and Pixie Lott all have something in common. Yes it's obvious! A bit of the Black Country style! Honest! Insider has discovered that all three, as well as a host of other 'slebs', are wearing jewellery designed by Oldbury's own Lora Leedham. Lora's handcrafted rings have featured in mags such as Vogue and Grazia, and she's about to launch a range going into John Lewis stores across the Midlands. And she owes it all to her Midland roots: Lora got started with a small grant from Dudley Council, has stuck with local accountants Crowe Clark Whitehill and works from a studio in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter. And, although Lora's best pieces will soon be going for silly prices and flaunted on red carpets internationally, each one carries a secret little memento of home – because they're all stamped with the Birmingham hallmark.
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 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.
