Question Time Just before I flew home to Canada I was asked by my inept agent, Tony Robinson OBE, to chair a ‘Question Time’ type debate at a large micro business conference in his home town of Scarborough. Micro businesses (0-9 employees) are, apparently, quite important to the UK. There are 4.5 million of them… MORE >>

Palette , pallet , and palate are three similar words sharing (in most senses) a common etymology that can trip writers up. And in his other hand would be a flat, oval board, held with a handy thumb hole, with small, variously colored glops of paint — a palette. Several other, more obscure senses exist. The adjective palatable means “tasty.” MORE >>

Do you think you live a balanced life? Check out this snapshot of our daily lives to see where you fit in: Snoozing fibs: It appears full-time working American women claim to sleep less than they actually do. When responding to a 2007 National Sleep Foundation poll, women said they clocked about six hours of sleep in an average weeknight. MORE >>

With the advent of cloud computing, advancing mobile technology, and the overwhelming majority of products and services being made available through digital means, the ability to switch to a completely virtual plane of business operations has never been more possible. Hardly. You have to make yourself an example for which others can follow. MORE >>

We don’t know what we don’t know I always chuckle to myself when big companies that sponsor awards to start up and existing small business give, as part of the prize, mentoring or advice from a senior executive in their company. Perhaps it is no laughing matter. Firstly, it’s arrogant to assume that starting and… MORE >>