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Should see my Grandma.... proper handlebars

So you actually taking part Barney? If so I hope we will get before and after shots! 

Joking aside, certainly a good cause.

Our man Jan is away for a couple of weeks, so here is a recent one from marketing cartoonist Tom Fishbourne.

Reproduced with permission: marketoonist.com

Looks great Andy, although I'm a little confused. Don't you already show images?

Or have you just switched this on?

Really is good news, 7000 jobs secure.

Pat on the back for the PM

There are a multitude of posts out there about online security, which range from scaremongering to thinly veiled disguised blog posts adorned with affiliate links.

Well I came across a really good resource that's worth a read, and there's no point regurgitating it, so follow the below link if you want some no nonsense and practical ideas to protect both you and your business.

The Motherboard Guide to Not Getting Hacked

Let me know what you think, or shout if you have any questions.

Poor old Vodaphone is officially a customer services disaster, with Ofcom fining them £4.6m for "serious and sustained breaches of consumer protection rules".

Vodafone also failed to act quickly enough to identify or address these problems, which stemmed from the company transferring to a new billing system.3 Only after Ofcom intervened did the company take effective steps to stop pay-as-you-go customers from paying money for nothing, and to reimburse those affected.

Vodafone also breached Ofcom’s billing rules, because the top-ups that consumers had bought in good faith were not reflected in their credit balances.

In a second investigation, we found that Vodafone failed to comply with our rules on handling customer complaints.

Vodafone’s customer service agents were not given sufficiently clear guidance on what constituted a complaint, while its processes were insufficient to ensure that all complaints were appropriately escalated or dealt with in a fair, timely manner.

Vodafone fined £4.6 million for failing customers - Ofcom

According to the beeb, Vodaphone claim a lot of problems were related to a new IT system. Ahh we've heard that old chestnut used a few times

So customer service still very much high on peoples agenda, and to be honest, it's not that really hard to implement. With multitudes of review sites, social media and the odd business forum, there are plenty of avenues for disgruntled customers to vent their dissatisfaction in realtime and for posterity.

So why do so many companies still get it so wrong? If you have a problem, all you want to do is speak to someone, or directed to someone who can deal with your issue fairly quickly, and who can outline and set your expectations.

ie "not a problem, we have all the information we need, let me look into it, and I will be in touch within xyz days". Is it really that hard? Or is it a scalability issue? Big organisations are incapable of instilling a standard customer service ethos across large teams?

For a small business there is no excuse, customer service can make or break you.

For larger businesses there is an opportunity. Surprise us with your professionalism and customer service experience, regardless how bad you used to be, or how bad we think you are 

Well I didn't know there wasn't a jury at the magistrates court 

Bad day or not, that's a fascinating insight behind the scenes Ray. Although I think I preferred my Mary Poppins view of the judicial system rather than your harsh reality.

So the moral of the story is pay for the best brief you can, who will be a more experienced horse trader. Oh and don't be famous 

Of course it is, it's quirky, makes no sense and makes us British

I think it goes back to the First World war, increasing factory productivity and making the most of daylight hours.

People bang on about it every year, and most common argument is that putting the clocks back means it makes it safer for kids in the morning, or is that putting them forward? I dunno all very confusing.

Personally I think it's a pain and should be scrapped, but plenty of folk support it, so no doubt the debate will drag on for generations

Now that's a cat with a mighty fine taste in websites 

Be more impressive if he knew how to fix PC's

For someone who works in the judicial system Ray, I genuinely respect your opinion and I can only offer an opinion from someone on the outside looking in. So maybe I'm being naive.

But I thought trials were open and transparent, and are investigated by the Police etc, and then in court by a jury. The only bit I think is wrong is the media being allowed to report and publish before the verdict is given.

If a celeb is arrested for some terrible crime, the media will have a feeding frenzy doing their own trial by publicity, dragging up all sorts of facts, or kiss and tell stories. Then months later, when the official legal system deems their is enough evidence for a case to go to court, a jury now has to be picked that has been exposed to all this media hype. With the best will in the world, I can't imagine many people not already forming some kind of opinion from what they "think" they already know.

Otherwise you are publicly guilty until proven innocent, which an innocent verdict will mean little to the army of already brain washed tabloid readers.

Maybe the system is flawed by the fact a quality and expensive lawyer can make Jack the Ripper look like Mary Poppins, and it must be terrifying for a victim to have to stand up to a professional and harsh cross examination. But does tabloid, twitter and facebook commentary with continual 24 hour news really help the situation? The BBC have to show artists sketches during the court case, but everyone knows who the alleged person is because they have been all over the newspapers.

Or do we just go for it and have televised courtrooms. Then we can all stream it and watch unfold in real time. Oh gawd maybe Judge Judy is the future... 

It is quite frightening though, when you see how thin the veneer is of a "civilised society". I always think back to the Balkan conflict where neighbours lived next door to each other in harmony, then overnight reverted to ethnic groups and starting murdering each other when the official state ceased to exist. Some of the atrocities just didn't make any sense, and were carried out by young educated people. Look around the world today and there are countless examples.

Maybe trial by media isn't so bad in comparison