05 October 2008
Multimap goes down the toilet (literally)
Your comments are much appreciated as having accurate data on the site is very important to us. Having investigated the issue you reported, we have identified a potential data anomaly. Our data comes from various suppliers and we have forwarded your query to the relevant supplier in order for them to investigate and make any necessary amendments at source. We receive regular data updates and although we are unable to give you a timescale of when this improvement will take place, you can rest assured that any corrections will filter through to the Multimap website in due course.
OK, here's another rather more humourous "anomaly". I entered a postcode to get a map. The correct map came up (surprise!). I then clicked on directions thinking it would use my map position as the starting point. I then entered my destination postcode. However, the initial postcode location wasn't populated from the map search, instead it was blanked off and the "default" postcode used instead. Not content with using the point in London where all distances are measured from, namely the equestrian statue of Charles I at the south end of Trafalgar Square (the original site of Charing Cross), multimap has its own central point of reference.
The actual centre of Multimap's universe is show on the following image (click to enlarge), taken from a screen capture and easily replicated via the above steps.
So now we know from the enlarged image. Not only is the centre of the multimap universe a gentlemen's private part just off King Willy (sorry William) Street, but on a journey to what should be the centre of UK mapping it sends us past Nelson's column and Cockspur Street (that's enough genital references) in a convoluted path apparently going the wrong way down a one way street between stages 3 and 4. All in all, rather a cock up.
I think that the orange advert says it all: "When turning back is out of the question you have to put your trust in what you know". Which is this case is knowing that multimap once again is not the dogs bollocks, rather it belongs in King William's toilet.
Craig
01 October 2008
Correct VAT receipt
The two things that most restaurants leave off is the separately itemised amount of VAT included in the bill and the rate of VAT applicable. If any restaurants are reading and want to know what you need to put on a VAT receipt, please check out the HMRC website.
thanks
Craig
Labels: Business, Restaurants
17 September 2008
bengal indian restaurant bayswater paddington
What must be on a VAT receipt.
Labels: Business, Restaurants
21 August 2008
Scottish handmade silver jewellery
My wife Joscelin is looking to expand her trade in handmade Scottish jewellery. This includes earrings, rings, necklaces, chokers etc in copper wire, hallmarked silver, beadwork etc. Unusual one offs from £30-£300+, free repairs, resizing and cleaning. Stock available on sale or return to retail outlets. Currently items are available in the secret room, WL Morrison, Linlithgow. You can also view some of her silver jewelry on flickr. Time to start thinking about unique romantic Christmas presents?
You'd likely pay a lot more for similar products in Harrods, Jenners or Harvey Nicols ....
Craig
Labels: jewellery, jewelry, Scotland
19 August 2008
How Africa can be richer than the Middle East
With such a valuable resource, maybe Africa will become the New Middle East, not only in terms of power and wealth, but also wars and conflict involving the West.
Craig
Labels: Business, Economy, Green, Viewpoint
13 August 2008
Back to work by working together
Labels: Business, Government, Innovation, Jobs
11 August 2008
Gaelic events at the Edinburgh Fringe 2008
Fiosrachadh an cois seo mu thachartasan Gaidhlig a bhios againn aig Iomall Feis Dhun Eideann am-bliadhna. Feuch an toir sibh iomradh orra dhar cairdean is luchd-eolais gus am faigh sinn aireamhan math de dhaoine gan frithealadh. Thoiribh an aire gur e Sunrise not Secular a tha againn Diluain agus Bannal Dimairt – chan e an taobh eile mar a chaidh a chuairteachadh roimhe. Tha postair agus tha bileagan beaga rim faighinn san Oifis Choimhearsnachd mas urrainn dhuibh gin a chuairteachadh. Moran taing.
Please prefix numbers with 0131 when dialling from outside Edinburgh/from a mobile:
Tuesday 05.08.08 – 7.30pm Gaelic Conversation Circle –
Tollcross Community Centre, 117 Fountainbridge with Calum Cameron. (Cont:
334 7005)
Saturday 09.08.08 – 7.30pm Colmcille Gaelic Week - concert with
highly-acclaimed Gaelic singer and recording artiste Margaret Stewart, with
Ingrid & Allan Henderson, Colmcille Centre, 2 Newbattle Terrace. (Cont:
07906 318561)
Sunday 10.08.08 – 12.30pm Weekly Gaelic service, Greyfriars
Kirk, Greyfriars Place. (Cont: 225 1900).
Monday 11.08.08 – 7.30pm Colmcille Gaelic Week - concert with
‘Sunrise not Secular’ Lewis-based Celtic Rock group – David ‘The Davinator’
Nicolson, Brian Macleod, Ryan ’Ranjad’ Smith, and Michael ‘The Haggis’
Macdonald, plus local artistes, story-teller/bard, Colmcille Centre, 2
Newbattle Terrace. (Cont: 07906 318561)
Tuesday 12.08.08 – 7.30pm Colmcille Gaelic Week - concert with
‘Bannal’ Luaidh group featuring Kenna Campbell, Chrissie Macinnes, Sineag
MacIntyre, Wilma Kennedy, Margaret Callan, Margaret Anne Campbell, Christine
Grant, Tilly Macmillan & Morag Law & local musicians, story-teller/bard,
Colmcille Centre, 2 Newbattle Terrace. (Cont: 07906 318561)
Tuesday 12.08.08 – 7.30pm Gaelic Conversation Circle –
Tollcross Community Centre, 117 Fountainbridge with Calum Cameron. (Cont:
334 7005)
Tuesday 12.08.08 – 12.45pm National Museum of Scotland,
Hawthornden Court, Chambers Street – music from Skerryvore. Free event.
(Cont: 225 7534).
Wednesday 13.08.08 – 7.30pm Colmcille Gaelic Week – BBC Radio nan
Gaidheal recording of “Mo Roghainn Fhèin” with special guests Dolina
Maclennan & Allan Turner in conversation with Mark Wringe about their
favourite Gaelic poems. Plus local singers/musicians. Free admission. Doors
open 7pm. Recording 7.30pm. Colmcille Centre, 2 Newbattle Terrace. (Cont:
07906 318561)
Thursday 14.08.08 – 7.30pm Colmcille Gaelic Week – National Mod
2008 concert led by Mod Gold Medallist James Graham, with Kenna Campbell,
Arthur Cormack, Mairi Macmillan, Lyle Kennedy, Deans sisters, Cumbernauld
Gaelic Choir, Falkirk Jnr Gaelic Choir & local instrumentalists &
storyteller/bard. Colmcille Centre, 2 Newbattle Terrace. (Cont: 07906
318561)
Friday 15.08.08 – 7.30pm Colmcille Gaelic Week - concert
with ‘Daimh’ featuring Calum A Macmillan, with ‘phenomenal instrumental
arsenal’ of Ross Martin, Angus Mackenzie, Gabe McVarish, Col O’Rua & Seumas
Bremner, along with local entertainers & storytellers/bard. Colmcille
Centre, 2 Newbattle Terrace. (Cont: 07906 318561)
Saturday 16.08.08 – 7.30pm Colmcille Gaelic Week - concert with
Internationally-acclaimed piper ‘Fred Morrison along with Matheu Watson,
local musicians, story-teller & bard, Colmcille Centre, 2 Newbattle Terrace.
(Cont: 07906 318561)
Sunday 17.08.08 – 12.30pm Weekly Gaelic service, Greyfriars
Kirk, Greyfriars Place. (Cont: 225 1900).
Tuesday 19.08.08 – 7.30pm Gaelic Conversation Circle –
Tollcross Community Centre, 117 Fountainbridge with Calum Cameron. (Cont:
334 7005)
Tuesday 19.08.08 – 12.45pm National Museum of Scotland,
Hawthornden Court, Chambers Street – songs & music from Mary Ann Kennedy.
Free event. (Cont: 225 7534).
Wednesday 20.08.08 – 7.30pm Comann na Clarsaich Festival Ceilidh at
St. Andrew & St. George’s Church, George Street, with na Clarsairean, Isobel
Mieras & Jim Ferguson & Lothian Gaelic Choir. (Cont: 07906 318561)
Thursday 21.08.08 – 12.45pm National Museum of Scotland,
Hawthornden Court, Chambers Street – clarsach music from Ailie Robertson.
Free event. (Cont: 225 7534).
Sunday 24.08.08 – 12.30pm Weekly Gaelic service, Greyfriars
Kirk, Greyfriars Place. (Cont: 225 1900).
Sunday 24.08.08 – 2.00pm National Museum of Scotland,
Hawthornden Court, Chambers Street – final ceilidh with ceilidh band. Free
event. (Cont: 225 7534).
Sunday 24.08.08 – 8.30pm Edinburgh International Book
Festival, Peppers Theatre, Charlotte Sq. Gdns. Gaelic book launches with
Martin McIntyre & Ian Finlay Macleod. (Cont: 0845 373 5888)
Tuesday 26.08.08 – 7.30pm Gaelic Conversation Circle –
Tollcross Community Centre, 117 Fountainbridge with Calum Cameron. (Cont:
334 7005)
Sunday 31.08.08 – 12.30pm Weekly Gaelic service, Greyfriars
Kirk, Greyfriars Place. (Cont: 225 1900).
Tuesday 02.09.08 – 7.30pm Gaelic Conversation Circle – SNP
Rooms, North St. Andrew St. with Calum Cameron. (Cont: 334 7005)
Sunday 07.09.08 – 12.30pm Weekly Gaelic service, Greyfriars
Kirk, Greyfriars Place. (Cont: 225 1900).
Tuesday 09.09.08 – 7.30pm Gaelic Conversation Circle – SNP
Rooms, North St. Andrew St. with Calum Cameron. (Cont: 334 7005)
Tuesday 16.09.08 – 7.30pm Gaelic Conversation Circle – SNP
Rooms, North St. Andrew St. with Calum Cameron. (Cont: 334 7005)
Saturday 20.09.08 – 7.30pm Argyll Association ceilidh, St
John’s Church Hall, Princes Street (Cont: 453 5766)
Airson tuilleadh fiosrachaidh mu ghnothaichean Gàidhlig ann an Dùn Èideann,
cur fios gu Iain Macleòid, Oifigear Leasachaidh Coimhearsnachd air 07906
318561 no air post-d gu john@andarach.com
For further information on Gaelic activities in Edinburgh, please contact John Macleod, Gaelic Community Development Officer on 07906 318561 or john@andarach.com If you want your contact details added to the community e-mail circulation list, please send a brief message to the above e-mail address. If you know of other Gaelic events/courses etc that could be added
to this list, please let John know.
Regular weekly updates on Gaelic activities in Edinburgh are now also featured in the Stornoway Gazette (newspaper & website).
Labels: Edinburgh, Events, Gaelic, Scotland
08 August 2008
Seeking Senior Project Management / Web opportunities / CTO
Wondering if anyone reading this is hiring a web project manager/ CTO at the moment
You can view my details on my linkedin profile. Looking for contract work UK wide, permanent work in Central Scotland but I would also look at permanent work further afield depending on the opportunity. I'm immediataly available, happy to meet up, chat online before hand. I'll be in London on Tuesday.
thanks
Craig
Labels: Jobs
04 August 2008
UK Government big thinking. National Insurance
Here's a policy which someone who has been chancellor for 11 years should be able to sort out.
Simplify the tax system and make it accountable.
Here's an example - look at what National Insurance is for on the direct gov website.
Then use that explanation to explain why EMPLOYERS who derive only a minuscule benefit from National Insurance need to pay more NI than employees. Employers do not get the pension benefit, employers get only a tiny benefit from sick pay. Employers still have to pay the majority of maternity pay and employers get no benefit towards unemployment benefit through this tax. Indeed as a self employed person in a Ltd company, you end up paying approx 24% in National Insurance even though you CANNOT CLAIM UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT BETWEEN CONTRACTS because "looking for work" whilst out of work is deemed to be paid employment even though you are not being paid whilst doing it.
This nonsense is little better than the equally bureaucratic mess inherited from the Tories. I took my case in 1996 to my MP who now happens to be Chancellor of the Exchequer (i.e. Alistair Darling). This was around the time of Harriet Harman's "send my kids to private school" story:
Letter in The Herald 5-Feb-96
This was published in full as their main letter of the day
Poverty trap bound by red tape
The disproportionate publicity given to a Labour MP's decision to send her child to a grant maintained school is causing the real issues affecting millions of people to be quietly brushed aside by the Conservatives. Here is an example of a "customers" experience of the disastrous state the Welfare system is in after nearly 17 years of Tory rule. They only have themselves to blame. As a "Customer" my response is that the Welfare state is a mass of red tape and I'd like to shop elsewhere, if I could.
Last year I was made unemployed and I registered as such with the unemployment office. It turns out, that despite a 500 a month mortgage, approx. 100 a month in bills and a requirement to buy food to live, I am not eligible for any state aid. I am disqualified from receiving any unemployment because during the year 93/94 I was on the Government's Employment Training initiative and only being credited with National Insurance, not paying it. My other 7 full years of actual contributions count for nothing. I couldn't even get the Welfare State to pay my £70 train fare for an interview because the initial contract was for less than 12 months.
I am disqualified from Social Security as I live with my fiancée and she works 25 hours a week. It apparently doesn't matter that her monthly wage is the same as my mortgage. It costs about 600 a month minimum plus food for us to exist and every month we are going more overdrawn because of the lack of the welfare state. The government defines "full time employment" as 16 hours or week or over and if one of a couple is working this, the other is not eligible for social security or housing benefit no matter what their income is. This definition of "full time employment" is patently ridiculous. If I put on my job applications that I would work 16 hours full time, I'd get laughed at. If I put I'd only work 16 hours a week on my signing on card, I would not get full unemployment benefit. The Government clearly has it both ways.
The "Employment Service" fully accept this problem and numerous people at the Employment service have said "I shouldn't say this but you would be a lot better off if your fiancée gave up her job or moved out". Is it really the Conservative party which believes in "family values" which has created this appalling system - forcing people out of work or splitting up families so that they can afford to eat?
Taking the Conservative philosophy of choice to its conclusion - I believe my paying National Insurance is like obtaining an insurance policy for myself and for the benefit of others. My experience of this system is that the rules are obscure and complex. It eliminates people who need money whilst giving money to those who may be out of work but well off. I would like to opt out of this mess, as I can with a pension scheme, and pay towards a scheme which has clear, easy to understand rules which pays out when I need it. Looking at private redundancy schemes, this is what they offer.
What this country really needs though is a simple system for the unemployed and low paid of adding your income, subtracting reasonable outgoings and then paying all or some of the difference, at a level which gives a guaranteed minimum income but is an incentive to go back to work. No exclusion clauses based on one person's 16 hours work expected to fund a couple. No exclusion clauses based on what happened in the tax year years ago and no automatic benefit for the wealthy whilst genuinely poor people are trying to make ends meet.
The issues surrounding one child's schooling pale into insignificance next to the millions caught in a poverty trap by Conservative Red Tape.
So over 12 years later we still have a state system which means that people out of work can end up being disqualified from receiving any state aid whatsoever because of red tape. Zero income was the sort of thing that national insurance was supposed to eliminate so that people did not end up in poor houses. Zero income does not pay bills. Zero income fuels the credit crunch. In a credit crunch, we need an accountable and fair tax system which ensures that when someone is out of work they are entitled to a minimum benefit, just as when they are in work they are entitled to a minimum wage.
So no more paying 24% national insurance contributions and then excluding people from the very benefits that national insurance was set up to provide. Have a flat rate of NI for all. Abolish employers NI contributions and if necessary adjust the income tax rate accordingly to ensure no employees are worse off. This would result in a fairer and more open tax system. The present alternative of taking a 24% insurance premium and then refusing to pay out for the benefits of that scheme is little better than state theft.
Craig
Labels: Business, Politics, Viewpoint
31 July 2008
Modernising tips: Government starting to take action
There are no regulations covering the practice of mandatory service charges or tips; it is a matter for the individual establishment to decide if they make non-optional charges, at what level the charges are set, and if they include different rules in certain circumstances ie parties over a certain number. Of course, consumers can exercise choice by refusing to dine in the establishment where they consider the charges to be unduly prohibitive. However, where obligatory charges are enforced, they must be set out clearly for the consumer whenever there is an invitation to purchase, ie on a menu card. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (CPRs) 2008, which came into force on 26 May, require traders not to omit material information which the average consumer needs, according to the context, to make an informed choice but is not prescriptive as to how this information must be given (eg in writing). A case could be made that the average consumer is likely to want to know what mandatory charges are included
The Prices Practices Guide which recommends to traders a set of good practices in giving the consumer information about prices in various situations, and takes account of the provisions of the CPRs, advises that where customers are required to pay a non-optional extra charge, such as a service charge, then it should be incorporated within the fully inclusive price wherever possible, also the non-optional charge should be displayed clearly on any price list or priced menu whether displayed inside or outside the establishment. Where, however, an optional sum is suggested for service, it should not automatically be included in the total bill presented to the customer.
Where a service charge or a tip is paid via a bill, it is a matter for the employer to negotiate with the employee how they are shared out. There is no law which sets this out. However, monies paid to a restaurant (eg by credit card) belong to the restaurant in the first instance, and tax is due on tips however they are paid to the waiter. National Insurance Contributions will be due if the tips are paid to workers by the employer.
Craig
Labels: Business, Restaurants, Viewpoint
29 July 2008
Problem with Iprofile: Contact details to log faults
However, the system is extremely buggy, insecure and worse that that it's next to impossible to contact iprofile as they seem to ignore support requests sent through their webform and like so many user-hostile websites fail to publish a support phone number. Non existent customer service? Time for them to "read my blog"!
If you are experiencing similar difficulties with iProfile and want their customer service phone number it is available on the parent group website and just in case you missed it, here it is: 020 7025 0555 (I will also post the variant 02070250555) just to ensure it is picked up by search engines.
I was thinking of launching a startup website where people could log faults and see what faults had been logged, a bit like bugzilla but just as you can search for bugs in bugzilla by project, my idea would be that you could search and log bugs on other people's websites irrespective of whether they used bugzilla or not. Users could then vote on the bugs they wanted fixed first and if the company had any sense, they would look at the lists and do something about it. Here is this morning's batch of iprofile issues:
iprofile.org, bug 1. When I apply for a job, the acknowledgement I get back has someone else's email address in the candidate username link. This is a security risk as it exposes someone else's details (they work at barclaycard). I told you about this bug in May, you eventually responded in May saying the only way to fix it was the rather poor cop out of rebuilding my profile. I reluctantly agreed, however the bug is still present. Why?
iprofile.org, bug 2. My available from date has to be today or a date in the future. I have set it to today's date and I do this whenever I go into iprofile. However, several hours later I find it reset to a date 6 weeks ago in June which means I have to go in and manually change it again. Please fix this bug as it presents misleading information to prospective employers. I see you have also fixed the related bug which changes my jobseeker status from "actively looking" to "not actively looking", however other related problems persist.
I am aware of similar sites such as suggestion box but what I'm after here is more along the lines of a cross between that and utest.
Irrespective of your issues with iprofile, you might like to vote for this idea on reddit, maybe it will get some investors my way and we can start to use crowdsourcing to shame buggy websites into fixing their problems - satisfied users might actually help such sites to make more money?
Craig
28 July 2008
Homecoming Scotland
Labels: Scotland
23 July 2008
Sorting out UK Government data privacy
Craig
Labels: Computing, Politics, Viewpoint
18 July 2008
The demise of the Scottish entrepreneur
I came across this note I posted to the First Tuesday Scotland network on 9th June 2003, over 5 years ago.
It seems not much has changed in that time to support the Scottish Entrepreneur, indeed with this week's announcement things are only getting worse. Sorry to sound so pessimistic but I tell it as it is.
In message <BPEDJNPNLJEFMFCOBAMOIEDDDOAA.gordon@firsttuesday
scotland.com>, Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp <gordon@firsttuesdayscotland.com>wrote:
>
>For about 6 years I have disagreed with the direction of Scottish Enterprise
>as a whole and that is why I left the organisation to set up this network.
>Economies are driven by confidence and positivity, demand and the
>availability of disposable income. Regardless of the expertise of the man at
>the top and the people throughout the organisation SE can only do the
>bidding of the Scottish Parliament and this is where it goes wrong - it suffers
>from public sector thinking - good people hamstrung by red tape and politics.
>
I replied:
The public sector mentality is about as far removed as you can get from the
rapidly moving and flexible environment of being an entrepreneur.
Scottish Enterprise may be headed by a competent individual, but this is little
better than having a competent train driver. If the network operator can't work
the points, you end up permanently on a slow line or a dead end siding.
There needs to be a total change of mindset in the executive and at UK level
before anything serious begins to change.
How about assessing businesses on the quality of the idea, the opportunity it
addresses and the likelihood of success rather than engaging in little more
than a box ticking exercise, or claiming to provide a service for info which can
be easily obtained on line, or assessing businesses based on the number of
birthdays the founder has had?
Scotland is famous for its inventors - people who have changed the world and
been huge successes. What support is there for these people from Scottish
Enterprise? What help in filing for a patent would there be for today's John
Logie Bairds or Alexander Graham Bells or more widely James Dyson or
Trevor Bayliss both of whom had huge obstacles in getting products to
market.
What help would there be in helping the lone entrepreneur with a brilliant idea
if they have little or no resources of their own to do it? Such people would of
course be precluded from the "Proof of concept" funding because this is tied
to working in a research establishment.
Furthermore there is a huge contradiction when it comes down to help for the
entrepreneur. Businesses are supposed to be flexible, geared up for parents
with flexible working needs, geared up for people wanting to work part time,
geared up for distance working etc with all these directives and laws being
passed. So you tick all the boxes for things the executive is saying they want
to promote: "I'm wanting to start up, what help is there for time-poor, cash-
poor parents wanting to work part time in the business while they get going
and keep down a day job and I want to work from home to save money". What
help is there specifically for parents or anyone in these categories? None. The
"Who wants to be an entrepreneur" competition has become "Who wonders
where it went" and The John Logie Baird awards have vanished like the dot in
the middle of the inventor's TV screen. Meantime in the real world where
businesses in 2006 will be prosecuted for ageism in recruitment, we have the
exact opposite going on in the world of the entrepreneur where you can't get
certain awards (e.g. PSYBT) based on whether your partner has had more
than 30 birthdays (even though the main applicant qualifies). Are these to be
made illegal post 2006?
Why does the very nature of how SE lends its funding and help and what help
there is, go almost 100% against what businesses themselves are expected
to do when they employ people? Does no-one do joined up thinking anymore?
Craig
Labels: Business, Scotland, Viewpoint


