Etiquette is a strange concept. While some would think that there was a right way of doing something, based on their own notion of manners or social niceties, others will have an entirely different point of view and will act accordingly. Driving is a great example,...
Hospitality is a hard industry to work in. The customer is always right and customers are pickiest about what they eat, where they stay, and how they are treated in the process. I've worked in hospitality, many years ago, and I can still remember being summoned to a...
With every innovation comes those looking to exploit it through manipulation and fraud. Online reviews are no different and the unscrupulous go to great lengths to make money out of the sale and dissemination of fake reviews. In the UK, the Competition and Markets...
Yesterday a Christchurch man was sentenced to 21 months in jail for disseminating the video posted to Facebook by the perpetrator of the March Mosque attacks. His conviction has raised issues and questions about hate speech and free speech and the rights of...
The other day I was driving through a part of Auckland I used to live in, when I first came up from Christchurch, many moons ago. The small assortment of shops remained the same, all apart from one glaring omission - the video store. What had now become yet another...
Last year I had a conversation with the owner of a large plumbing business about online reviews and the ways they helped his business. Apart from the usual generation of more enquiries through online searches where the reviews and five stars were visible, he told me a...
A story in recent weeks got me thinking about the nature of our human species and the ways our evolution appears to be falling behind the fearsome speed of technological innovation. Be warned - this piece contains no spoilers but will further the odd generalisation....
Now that the Australian election is done and dusted and Scott Morrison and the Liberal/National coalition returned to power, it's a good time to pay some attention to a story that emerged a few weeks ago, regarding our cousins across the ditch and their preferred...
Along with millions of children (and adults), I was enthralled with Roald Dahl's magical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the subsequent 1971 film, starring the ethereal Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. Children love many things and two of the most enduring are...
For decades, Boeing has been a leading light in the aviation industry, with a focus on technological advancement,, efficiency and safety. But in the past six months it has struck a potentially devastating issue with one of its aeroplanes after two fatal crashes that...