Words Dept.: category

I went to the closing down sale of Danish furniture shop Ilva in Manchester today. Predictably, the place was a lot busier than the two previous times I’ve been there. When Ilva opened its three UK stores a couple of years ago – in Thurrock, Gateshead and Piccadilly – it was supposed to be the [...]

I’ve noticed a rash of new touchy-feely advertising slogans in recent days. It seems all products now have to revolve around us, as people (not just consumers), and how we engage with them on a deep and meaningful level. The message is that these advertisers aren’t faceless mega-corporations pushing out garbage to random, grabbing hordes [...]

Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader, which was launched last November, appears to be undergoing what might be called a soft relaunch with the help of the Guardian. Apparently, nobody likes the expensive, horrible-looking gadget but it’s rated as Bloody Great by, er, Amazon. According to the paper’s report from the US BookExpo trade fair, Amazon CEO [...]

Just set the video for The Devil Wears Primark and found myself recording a shite film called Without a Paddle instead. As mentioned previously, I was quite looking forward to this (notwithstanding the fact that it’s presented by Alexa Chung, who manages to both look and sound annoying, as well as having an annoying name). [...]

It will be depressing if the imminent destruction of the world is allowed to come about while Mondeo man worries about the cost of diesel, as the Guardian suggested yesterday. But at least another vaguely ethical issue seems to be rising up the media agenda like rubbish school dinners and free-range eggs. I’m talking about [...]

Do you wake up in the night sweating about your workflow solutions strategy? Do you fear inherent cyclicality and long for more cohesive and synergistic times? I, personally, don’t. But I did wake up yesterday morning in a hotel in Edinburgh to read on my Blackberry that the parent company of the magazine publisher I work for is [...]

BSkyB discovered a fun way of reporting its “mixed” half-year financial results today. The broadcaster, which announced a £112m net loss because of its pigheaded decision in 2006 to purchase a 17.9% stake in ITV at an hysterically overblown price just to stop Virgin Media doing the same, simply commandeered the business update on Sky [...]