Jonathan Hirst's Blog

Wanted to share and remind folks of this wonderful poem – If.

jonathanhirst — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:46:22 +0000

IF by Rudyard Kipling

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
‘ Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!

Sometimes great work like these are overlooked or even forgotten and it takes a glimpse on a website or someone to mention it to remind you how brilliant they are.

Hope you enjoyed it as much as me.

Jonathan

(shamelessly copied from www.kipling.org.uk to spread the word)

Blair get’s away with 3% tax bill – how is this right?

jonathanhirst — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:54:22 +0000

There is a warning on this blog post – I do not normally read the Mail. I saw this article printed off and couldn’t believe it so had to delve further – really it’s quite astonishing!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2083827/The-12m-tax-mystery-Tony-Blairs-earnings-soar-42–pays-315-000-HMRC.html

Let’s analyse it – he employs 26 staff on an average of £88,461 each – nice job if you can get it! £850k on rent – where are they based – Buckingham Palace? And a further £8m of unexplained expenses – now we all have an expense account and have some ‘sundries’ occasionally but really is this possible?

There are just too many stories around at the moment of HMRC’s seemingly ‘flexible’ approach to personal and business taxation for the super wealthy and yet those with a modest income have the constant threat of a spot check on their well intentioned tax returns and exorbitant fines if all is not spic and span.

As much as I liked Blair he and his lovely chancellor got Britain in to the mess we are in as an economy and for them both to be swanning around now without a care inthe world, not one ounce of accountability is frankly amazing.

What’s to be done about or tax system in the UK where this type of creative accounting can be left to continue?

Jonathan Hirst

AN OPEN LETTER TO GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL by Frederick Forsyth

jonathanhirst — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:13:09 +0000

Friends – I was passed this by my mentor Tim Watts and have to say it sheds a load of light on the past, current and future state of the euro. As you’d expect from Frederick Forsyth – it’s a bloody good read!

“Dear Madam Chancellor,

Permit me to begin this letter with a brief description of my knowledge of, and affection for, your country.

I first came to Germany as a boy student aged 13 in 1952, two years before you were born. After three extended vacations with German families who spoke no English I found at the age of 16 and to my pleasure that I could pass for German among Germans.

In my 20s I was posted as a foreign correspondent to East Germany in 1963, when you would have been a schoolgirl just north of East Berlin where I lived. I know Germany, Frau Merkel, from the alleys of Hamburg to the spires of Dresden, from the Rhine to the Oder, from the bleak Baltic coast to the snows of the Bavarian Alps. I say this only to show you that I am neither ignoramus nor enemy.

I also had occasion in those years to visit the many thousands of my countrymen who held the line of the Elbe against 50,000 Soviet main battle tanks and thus kept Germany free to recover, modernise and prosper at no defence cost to herself. And from inside the Cold War I saw our decades of effort to defeat the Soviet empire and set your East Germany free.

I was therefore disappointed last Friday to see you take the part of a small and vindictive Frenchman in what can only be seen as a targeted attack on the land of my fathers. We both know that every country has at least one aspect of its society or economy that is so crucial, so vital that it simply cannot be conceded. For Germany it is surely your automotive sector, your car industry. Any foreign-sourced measure to target German cars and render them unsaleable would have to be opposed to vetopoint by a German chancellor.

For France it is the agricultural sector. For more than 50 years members of the EU have been taxed under the terms of the Common Agricultural Policy in order to subsidise France’s agriculture. Indeed, the CAP has been the cornerstone of every EU budget since the first day.

Attack it and France fights back.

For us the crucial corner of our economy is the financial services industry. Although parts of it exist all over the country it is concentrated in that part of London known even internationally as “the City”. It is not just a few greedy bankers; we both have those but the City is far more. It is indeed a vast banking agglomeration of more banks than anywhere else in the world.

But that is the tip of the iceberg. Also in the City is the world’s greatest concentration of insurance companies. Add to that the brokers; traders in stocks and shares worldwide, second only, and then maybe not, to Wall Street. But it is not just stocks. The City is also home to the “exchanges” of gold and precious metals, diamonds, base metals, commodities, futures, derivatives, coffee, cocoa… the list goes on and on. And it does not yet touch upon shipping, aviation, fuels, energy, textiles… enough. Suffice to say the City is the biggest and busiest marketplace in the world. It makes the Paris Bourse look like a parish council set against the United Nations and even dwarfs your Frankfurt many times.

That, surely, is the point of what happened in Brussels. The French wish to wreck it and you seem to have agreed. Its contribution to the British economy is not simply useful nor even merely valuable. It is absolutely crucial. The financial services industry contributes 10 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product and 17.5 per cent of our taxation revenue.

A direct and targeted attack on the City is an attack on my country. But that, although devised in Paris, is what you have chosen to support. You seem to have decided that Britain is once again Germany’s enemy, a situation that has not existed since 1945.

I deeply regret this but the choice was yours and entirely yours. The Transaction Tax or Tobin Tax you reserve the right to impose would not even generate money for Brussels. It would simply lead to massive emigration from London to other havens. Long ago it was necessary to live in a city to trade in it. In the days when deals can flash across the world in a nanosecond all a major brokerage needs is a suite of rooms, computers, telephones and the talent of the young people barking offers and agreements down the phone. Such a suite of rooms could be in Berne, Thun, Zurich or even Singapore. Under your Tobin Tax tens of thousands would leave London.

This would not help Brussels, it would simply help destroy the British economy.

Your conference did not even save the euro. Permit me a few home truths about it. The euro is a Franco-German construct.

It was a German chancellor (Kohl) who ordered a German banker (Karl Otto Pohl) to get together with a French civil servant (Delors) on the orders of a French president (Mitterrand) and create a common currency. Which they did. IT was a flawed construct. Like a ship with a twisted hull it might float in calm water but if it ever hit a force eight it would probably founder.

Even then it might have worked for it was launched with a manual of rules, the Growth And Stability Pact. If the terms of that book of rules had been complied with the Good Ship Euro might have survived. But compliance was entrusted to the European Central Bank which catastrophically failed to insist on that compliance.

Rules governing the growing of cucumbers are more zealously enforced. This was a European Bank in a German city under a French president and it failed in its primary, even its sole, duty.

This had everything to do with France and Germany and nothing whatever to do with Britain. Yet in Brussels last week the EU pack seemed intent only on venting its spleen on the country that wisely refused to abolish its pound. You did not even address yourselves to saving the euro but only to seeking a way to ensure it might work in some future time.

But the euro will not be saved. It is crumbling now. And since you have now turned against my country, from this side of the Channel, Madame Chancellor, one can only say of the euro: YOU MADE IT, YOU MEND IT.”

I think that just about sums it up folks – watch this space!

MP’s Panel with the IOD – A Review

jonathanhirst — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:47:45 +0000

I attended the IOD MP’s Panel event at the Mint Hotel so thought I’d share my experiences, thoughts and musings after the event. Firstly I have to say it was a very well organised event thanks to Charlotte Britton. The Mint Hotel is a great venue and thank goodness it was on a Friday lunchtime as opposed to Monday or Tuesday! I hope the IOD get the message that Thursday/Friday lunches are better times for events than earlier in the week.
The panel consisted of Greg Mulholland, Fabien Hamilton, Kris Hopkins and Terry Hodgkinson and was chaired by Jon Hammond.
The Panel started with some lengthy introductions by the Panel members, particularly the politicians! There seemed to be a lot of the usual white noise and statements about socially responsible employers and the green agenda. I’m not sure whether the politicians had looked at the attendees list before they arrived but I suspect most of the people in the room were SME owners who are all doing their bests to keep their heads above water in difficult economic time – lectures on being ‘socially responsible’ didn’t sit well. Kris Hopkins however made a very good point about the Conservatives demise 13 years ago in that they were good at economy but not good at social. Probably accurate then, have things changed?
Once we’d got the party political broadcasts out of the way time was ticking on so we moved on to the question and answer session. The first question related to a public/private sector initiative that had been set up to inform the government of businesses’ needs. Unfortunately no-one else in the room had heard of it so the dialogue became a bit one-dimensional and moved on.
I then tabled a question relating to the upcoming public sector strikes. In summary, last year the businesses I am involved with were hamstrung by the appalling weather conditions and looking forward to the 30th November with the public sector strikes and a potential ‘winter of discontent’ looming I expressed my concern that at the very time business needed a boost it may be metaphorically having its hands tied. I tabled that I was disappointed that the coalition hadn’t taken a harder stance on this subject and that Labour haven’t approached this issue with more social responsibility and condemned the strikes and the impact they will have on business and therefore UK Plc.
Fabien Hamilton was the first to respond with a vaguely aggressive defence of workers rights and the unfairness of changing employees’ contracts whilst in employment (this was the message but took some time to get to the point). I attempted to give the Right Hon. Gentleman a view from the private sector, that in the heart of the recession in 2009 many companies asked their staff to accept pay reductions to protect jobs. Staff agreed realising the reality of the situation that they were all in it together. I also took issue with Mr Hamilton about his ‘socially responsible employers’ agenda. He obviously had a bee in his bonnet about this which was to be revealed later.
Broadly, Greg Mulholland and Kris Hopkins agreed that the strikes were going to be to the detriment of the UK economy and took no account of the balance between public sector vs private sector pension provisions. There was a small amount of heckling from the audience that many private sector employers had no pension provision at all which is directly opposed to the fortunate position of those in the public sector. Kris pointed out that the moves to change public sector pensions had an aim of creating a financially viable pension structure for the long term which seemed to make sense.
The MD for the Works Recruitment, Craig Burton, then asked a very poignant question regarding AWR (The Agency Workers Regulations). I am familiar with the issues he was raising as I am involved in a number of recruitment businesses however I was a bit staggered that none of the politicians seemed to have a grasp of this issue. They were left to ask very open questions and then suggested that the issues were detailed and sent to them in an email so they could consider them. I am sure if I was the person asking the question I’d be thinking that could be a whole lot of wasted time.
Martin O’Toole from McGrath O’Toole, asked about the frustrating red tape associated with VAT and generally dealing HMRC. He talked through the agonising process of becoming registered for VAT and the lengths he had to go through to prove that he was indeed who he said he was, such as printing off screen shots of his website as our friends at HMRC apparently couldn’t view it themselves! The response across the board from the politicians was a resigned sigh and “Well HMRC is a big old institution and therefore a very difficult ship to turn”. Martin was rightly frustrated that, as a government body, HMRC should echo government policy in its action and reduce all of this red tape so businesses can get on with doing business.
There were other questions with quite specific issues around them that I wasn’t familiar with so unfortunately haven’t been able to recall exactly what they were however I am sure they were important to the people asking the questions and it made for good debate.
In summing up Terry Hodgkinson made a very good point about how the transport infrastructure was critical to the success for the nation and how freight was potentially crippling our motorways. He suggested a potential solution might be to encourage freight to travel through the night rather than in rush hour and throughout the day. He quite rightly commented that the roads were often empty through the night and applying a similar policy to freight that is on the train lines could be beneficial. I have to say I would be completely in agreement!
Fabien Hamilton then had the opportunity to get the metaphorical ‘bee’ out of his bonnet. He went in to a lengthy story loosely based around non-socially responsible employers. His daughter is working for a sports bar on minimum wage plus tips. When the VAT rise was implemented the employer passed the 2.5% increase in vat rise on to the employees by reducing their tips rather than increasing the cost of drinks in the bar (I’m not really sure how this would have worked but bear with me!). This, in Mr Hamiltons view, was a complete injustice as his daughter was trying to save up to join her friend in Canada to open an Art Galley. Now I am sorry if I sound unsympathetic but I am sure that there are many business owners struggling to make ends meet who are doing anything they can to keep their businesses afloat and in turn continue to employ people in the UK.

Overall the event was a big success and stirred up emotions from all sides. Perhaps enhancements to the event could be
1. Restrict the politicians introductions to 2 minutes ?(on a timer!)
2. Promote the event more widely to get a wider audience
3. Choose questions beforehand that have broad appeal and relevance
I will certainly be attending the next ones as if promised they are to be held on a quarterly basis. Thanks again to Charlotte for organising them.

Jonathan Hirst

The Train Really Isn’t Taking The Strain.

jonathanhirst — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:19:23 +0000

I am about to embark on somewhat of a tirade so be warned.

I had the pleasure of visiting a company we have recently acquired in London earlier this week. I was looking forward to a day in London meeting the new team and seeing how I can help them integrate with the business more seamlessly. It seemed to make sense to get the train.

We duly booked an early morning train to Leeds station then from Leeds to Kings Cross. On arriving at Garforth station on a cold and drizzly morning at 6:20am there was already a notification on the electronic board that the train was running late. I was immediately concerned. What if I missed my next train, would my ticket be valid, what if I had to run from one platform to the other when I eventually got to Leeds and didn’t have time to get a Starbucks!! You can see how the stress was building….

We arrived at Leeds station with 10 minutes to spare. I duly went over to an East Coast employee who was standing by the door of a train labelled London Kings Cross and asked if the train was indeed going to London to which he replied rather sarcastically “Not this one”. I then asked his colleague standing with him chatting if she could point me in the direction of the 7am to London which she did, in a manner. I ‘politely’ thanked the other chap for being so helpful and set off.

Having found yet another train with London Kings Cross on the sign in the door, I entered and proceeded to find my seat only to be told that this was the 7:15 and that I was on the wrong train – time was running out. My train was on the other side of the platform so imagine my relief when I was actually sat in my reserved seat and kicking back.

Cue – announcement from the conductor that “This train is cancelled and will run as the 7:15am. This is due to the other train having no crew.” Surely this is the basics of train management. Check your staff are attending and if not have a back up.

Subsequent to this announcement chaos ensued. We now had a peak time rush hour train with 2 loads of passengers. I have to say when I originally walked past the packed standard class carriages before this announcement they were already looking very busy, I hate to think what they were like once all of the 7:15am passengers got on! Even in First Class there were some ticket holders (in excess of £300 per return ticket) sitting ion the floor between carriages!

We arrived at Kings Cross half an hour late with, I imagine, a lot of very irate passengers. But who could they complain to? Has everyone who regularly travels by public transport just become used to this sort of farce?

My day with the new business was great although I embarked on my return journey with some trepidation. The trip from KC back to York was relatively trouble free apart from the wifi being next to useless however I was yet again struck by the deadly delays at York. The crew were very informative in explaining that we had no conductor as she was on another train and that was delayed, hence we wouldn’t be setting off for 15 minutes. At this point I was relieved I had my ipad charger as there’s no way it would have lasted this long with all the delays.

I eventually arrived home at about 7pm.

So, I have some observations and questions. Firstly does everyone just accept that this is the state of our public transport system? Does anyone complain any more? How much money did East Coast rail save by only running one train? I personally feel that the public transport system in this country is grinding to a halt and until there is some committed and prolonged investment in our infrastructure our country will continue to languish in a slow growth state. Disappointing but sadly very likely.

As for East Coast, well, you should be ashamed of yourselves for not being able to provide a crew for one of your trains. If there are fines for this sort of thing on the operating companies then this must be worthy of one.

Jonathan Hirst blogs for fun.

Leeds Boss Sleeps Rough for Homeless Charity

jonathanhirst — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 11:42:25 +0000

On the 29th September I slept rough for the first time (officially anyway) in support of the homeless charity Simon on the Streets.

SOTS have been through a major rebrand over the past few months and created an integrated marketing plan around the sleep out to raise awareness and ultimately generate revenue for the charity. I tasked myself with raising £1000 for them!

The evening started off with a meeting in City Square at 9:30pm. We were all signed in and met up with friends and a few old faces I’d not seen for a while which was really nice. We then went on an escorted walk through the streets of Leeds, led by an ex-service user of the charity.

Simon in the Streets provides outreach support to vulnerable people in the region. Their work is typically about building relationships with people who find it difficult to engage with society. Often these people are drug or alcohol addicts and can have complex mental health issues. As Leeds City Council have a zero tolerance on vagrancy these people need more help than ever to get on the housing or benefits ladders which will hopefully lead them to employment and back in to society.

Paul was our designated guide along with Helen who works for Simon on the Streets. He was a really nice guy who’d obviously been through some harrowing times but had come out of the other end and was well on his way back in to getting employment. He told some heartbreaking stories about his experiences sleeping and living rough and showed us places where the homeless hide out overnight to protect themselves from the elements and other people. He categorically stated that without Simon on the Streets he would not be alive now – a sobering thought.

We headed back to our designated rough sleeping area behind the Parish Church in Leeds City centre where one of my fellow sleepers, Mark Kelly, managed to scrounge a cardboard box that we then shared between three of us. We were massively fortunate that the weather was one of the nicest late September evenings you could have hoped for and so we got in to our sleeping bags in the early hours of the morning and fell in to a rather light sleep.

Jonathan Hirst tucked up for the night

Being used to some creature comforts and having just come back from a rather lavish weekend at the Grand Prix in Singapore I didn’t sleep well at all. Every time I moved in my sleeping bag I woke and as the night wore on the dew came down and, whilst I was warm, things started getting rather damp and therefore cold. Amazingly I was woken by the dulcet tones of the Director of SOTS, Clive Sandle – at 5AM! I could have easily had another couple of hours tucked up in my bag.
Whilst we were in the relatively safety of a group and actually ended up only sleeping for 4 hours there was still an element of trepidation and nervousness leading up to the event and during it. I felt properly rough in the morning as I headed straight on to the office.
Overall it was a very worthwhile experience and further cements my enthusiasm for a charity that receives no government funding and relies on corporate and personal donations. He staff at SOTS work very hard supporting the people that are often unseen in society and that we often choose to ignore.
One final word goes to the businesses that have supported SOTS during this campaign, McGrath O’Toole for the fantastic new branding, First10 for moving this brand on-line in the form of their new website and finally Ptarmigan Bell Pottinger for putting together the PR activity that resulted in amazing coverage in the regional press, on radio and TV.
I hope that the event has raised a significant amount of money for SOTS to help them expand the great work they do. I also hope that the publicity around this will encourage more people to donate to a charity that works tirelessly for the good of vulnerable people in our region.
If you haven’t donated yet but would like to then please go to www.justgiving.com/jonathan-hirst0 or straight to www.simononthestreets.co.uk.
Jonathan Hirst

Your Chance to Sleep With the Boss at Network Marketing!

jonathanhirst — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 15:30:55 +0000

Folks – I know I haven’t been particularly prolific in blogging on this site but I haven’t forgotten you all. I have been spending most of my time on the Network Marketing Blog that you can find HERE.

If you take a look at this post you’ll see that I am massively supporting the charity Simon On The Streets.

I hope I’m not breaching any confidentialities by telling my inner circle that we have got an amazing branding agency on board – McGrath O’Toole to help reposition the charity and also First 10 to do the digital work. Both of these business are well worth talking to if you have any projects where insight, creativity and results are required!

So – getting back to the point. If you want a chance to sleep with me then join me in a big charity sleep out for Simon on the Streets that’s happening on the 29th September.

I’ve written about it on the networkmarketingjobs.com blog however you can also take a look at my Just Giving Page and hopefully donate loads of money so we can do more for the homeless and rootless people in Yorkshire.

Please support me.

Thanks

Jonathan

My first foray on to the “Small Screen”

jonathanhirst — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 15:39:03 +0000

Friends

I thought I’d share this exciting development in the world of Network Marketing as it’s featuring ME! If you’ve known me a long time you’ll remember that in about 1988 I was on a daytime TV program with some friends talking about mens beauty products – hair and beard tints, eyebrow plucking and moisturisers! I blame that program completely for my current bathroom full of Elemis products (well, and my Jeannette!).

I consider myself to have only played a bit part in that program so in 2002 took on a bigger role in the game show “The Class of…” where I was joined by many old class mates from 1986 and Allerton Grange High School in Leeds. I was team captain for the boys where we convincingly trounced the girls in all areas (including transforming “Transformers”!)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/entertainment/classof/show.shtml

So – it was only a matter of time before I took on the starring role and so I give you….(drum roll)… my latest creation. The video is all about writing CV’s to get your perfect job. It’s a serious issue so don’t expect me to be smiling much (I’m not, for some reason). However, do expect to get loads of gems of wisdom if you’re considering putting a CV together!

I hope you all enjoy it. (This bit’s important!) Please can you click “Watch on Youtube” and then ‘like’ it on youtube and also put a comment – all feedback like this on line is really valuable!

Please forward on to friends or family – not that I am a self publicist but more views helps our marketing!

Enjoy!

Jonathan Hirst

Super Bowl Greatest Ads 2011

jonathanhirst — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 10:35:39 +0000

Folks, friends and of course family (apparently my Mum occasionally looks at my blog…)

We posted on the Network Marketing blog recently about great ads during the Super Bowl last weekend so thought I’d share it with you here. The EDS advert that it relates to was forwarded by my good friends at The Barking Lot in Wetherby!

Take a look here…

Hope you enjoy!

Jonathan

Superbowl Greatest Ads

jonathanhirst — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 09:24:13 +0000

You’ve got to love the Superbowl – even if it’s only because of the ads they run during the frequent and extensive ad breaks.

EDS have really gone to town on this one – Wouldn’t you have loved to have the job of Creative Director on this? What would the brief have been? Something along the lines of:

“Create us an Ad for the superbowl, make it about anything, maybe herding cats (they say sarcastically), but link it to our values.”

Which has your best advert of all time been?

Jonathan Hirst