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No doubt you will have heard about poor old Cecil the Lion, and how he was killed in a paid hunt by an American Dentist, Walter Palmer.

Regardless of whether it was a legal or illegal hunt, and putting the ethics to one side, (I doubt many people are going to condone it), I wonder what the impact or damage all this negative publicity will have on his business?

There is a cliché that all publicity is good publicity, but I doubt it rings true in this case.

"The dentist is believed to be back in the US, although his exact whereabouts are unknown.

His dental practice in Bloomington, Minnesota has been temporarily closed and a note placed on the door referring visitors to a public relations firm. A protest is due to be held outside the building later.

The firm's social media accounts have also been disabled, after they were flooded with messages from angry members of the public."

Mr Palmer insists he is innocent, had all the correct paperwork, believed what he was doing was legal, and is pursuing "an activity I love and practice responsibly"

The fact his dentist practice is currently shut shows that his hobby/interest has negatively impacted his business, and it looks like he will have a massive online reputation management clear up exercise to sort out, assuming his business survives this?

In true Twitter style, cartoonists have been quick off the mark  @davpope

Has anyone come across this before, where a business owners private affairs has negatively impacted their business?

Anyone had the opposite, and an outside interest has been turned into positive publicity for their business? Maybe a charity run or a sponsorship opportunity?

Good luck, let us know how you get on

I think I'll be waiting a while and let the revised version get rolled out, called 10.1 

Plan B sorted, back up ferry ticket booked. Plan C is to commandeer a fishing boat and go in D-Day style, then come back as a refugee...

Calls for the Army to help out with security are getting stronger and stronger. Seems a sensible short term quick fix.

Long term is treating the problem at source, and dealing with the deteriorating situation in North Africa and the MiddleEast. Maybe a combined universal NATO/UN/Arab League action to reverse ISIS properly rather than the current token approach.

Hmmm that's a lot of politicians and a big table, so no doubt a good 5 years worth of talking before anything got done.

Microsoft have had a bit of a bruising over the last few years. They tried replacing Windows 7, which was (and I think still is) a good platform, with the white elephant Windows 8.

They have watched the explosion of the smart phone from the sidelines, with minimal market share of Windows phones.

The Nokia acquisition which was supposed to be Microsoft's way into the Mobile market didn't work out, and according to the BBC, it wrote off $7.5bn cost and laid off thousands of Nokia employees.

So everything now seems to be hinged on Windows 10. Apparently the last ever major operating system launch from Microsoft. The plan moving forward is to continually develop it by gradually updating it over months and years.

Sounds to me like the standard Patch Tuesday when my lappie grinds to a halt to download the latest barrage of patches from Microsoft

Windows 10 will be a cross device platform, from headsets, mobiles, desktops and tablets and future "wearable technology". Flashing bras and musical boxers?

The idea being that it will be easier for developers to design programs and applications for a single platform.

I do like this bit from the BBC article:

The previous version of the operating system - Windows 8 - was so badly received the company leapfrogged making Windows 9 altogether in an attempt to distance itself from its previous outlook.

So in otherwords you may have only suspected it, but Windows 8 is officially rubbish

Windows 10 launch is a 'new era', says Microsoft boss - BBC News

I've supported the British Tourist industry for too long! Until last year I was a trundling caravanner, proudly clogging up the UK highways  You still find deserted beaches in Cornwall, unfortunately you can't say the same for the roads  

Was planning on hiring a cottage for 2 weeks in this fair nation as we are now caravan-less, (and I'm too old for camping), then realised it was welcome to rip off Britain.

For cheaper than 2 weeks in the UK, I can (including chunnel fare and fuel) have 2 weeks in France, one week outside Djon, then the other on the South Coast. Private holiday houses, own swimming pool, and a pretty good chance the sun will be switched on. Why the UK has to be so extortionate is beyond me.

So we are trying out France with the nippers, which I must admit haven't been to for about 20 years, and if it's any good, then no doubt we will be back. A bonus for the English and Welsh, as France, like Scotland have their schools go back way before ours. So in theory less traffic, but we shall see 

That's assuming we can get over the moat, and then back in again...

Now if you want a quick break away, there's nowt wrong with Skeggie or Blackpool

Hooray, we've been hit with another one

Clive has just been having some fun with them on the phone.

If you get a call from Police Community Clubs, leave your money in your bank account, don't put it in theirs. 

They are not the police, the advert won't be seen by anyone, you won't be changing the world for the better and it's a scam. The North West still seems to a hot bed for these scams 

You look forward to a nice summer break with the family. You've got kids, so obviously are held ransom to the rocketing prices that greets all parents (another topic.. )

But you've saved up, everyone's excited, you're off to the continent and all we need to do is cross that little stretch of water... 

You would fly, but the chances are the Air Traffic Controllers will be on strike, as they know when to cause maximum disruption.

So you opt for the Chunnel, fast, efficent and then it's the open roads of France.

But the French are up to their usual tricks, industrial action and torching lorries. Then of course we have the compounded problem of illegal immigrants who refuse to accept refugee/asylum status in any of the European countries they have passed through, as they are on the yellow brick road to Britain.

Operation stack kicks in, the M20 becomes the UK's largest lorry and car park, thousands more Brits endure holiday misery (not mentioning the poor hauliers who have to regularly endure this).

So what on earth is the answer?

How do we stop refugees dragging themselves and their families half way round the world, passing through multiple wealthy western countries to reach the end of the rainbow, bankrupt Britain?

The French Mayor of Calais reckons it's our fault. We are too soft, illegal immigrants go under the radar in the UK, can work on the black market and we do little to send them back. Our border force seem to be under constant criticism from failing to meet targets. They will argue they are under funded and under resourced. 

The French would like to see the refugee camps in Dover rather than Calais, can you really blame them?

So do we need to be more aggressive as a nation? Are we too soft? If you had escaped from Syria or ISIS persecution, what would you do? Grab your family and head for a better life, I know I would.

Maybe all this anti Euro feeling at the moment is half the problem. If we're not careful, we could end up as the worlds refugee dumping ground. I'm hoping there will be strong leadership and a much tougher stance adopted. It's time for us to stop being held to ransom. Maybe it's time to utilise the Army to protect the corridor into Calais, as clearly the new fences we provided the French are as much good as a chocolate teapot.

Otherwise shove a cork in the tunnel and build a big wall round our moat!

Meanwhile, looking nervously at the Calais chaos and our booked chunnel tickets for a couple of weeks time, maybe it's time for a plan B and book a back up ferry to Dunkirk  We will have a stress free summer holiday if it kills me 

Anyone else gone through or going to be going through the Dover/Calais choke point this summer? If you've been, how did you get on?

Any bright spark come up with a solution? If so I'll retweet to number 10

Originally Posted by sjr4x4

“Can't really criticise as you flagged a typo we has on our business upsell page, and it had been there for years ”

Good to see nothing's changed really  My grammar is still great...

Trust me size means nothing. Once you are one of these lists, you will get bombarded. If you sign up for certain directories, their small print, which you will never read, gives them the right to sell your data on (something we don't and have never done).

Hi Steve 

Moved this thread to the take a break section as you have an intro thread, and don't want to be accused of favouring my name sake 

First time I've seen a name sake on the forum, but us Steve Richardsons are common as muck

When  I worked at IBM, there was another Steve Richardson who worked in a different team, but doing a very similar job. I regularly got invited to meetings and vice versus by mistake, and forever got his emails. Think he was relieved when I left! Just looking on Facebook, there are multitudes of us!

Could be worse, could be a Jones or Smith