On-line bullying persists

The internet and mobile technology generally has been a boon to bullies. As well as Facebook, sites such as Little Gossip – recently shut down because of pressure from schools – provide anonymity to cyber-bullies who can make life hell for their victims. And now there is another such site, Formspring. The comments that are [...]

Do we get the customer service we deserve?

Over the years I have experienced some poor customer service – and not all of it in the former soviet republics (“service without a smile”). Some of the best has been in the USA – and not the “have a good day” or “missing you already” stuff, but the fact that even in a basic [...]

Beauty may only be skin-deep but….

How we look is important but to some people it’s everything. In America 1 in 3 women think the way they look is more important for their self-esteem than intelligence or job performance. Students said they would rather marry an embezzler, a shop lifter, or a drug smuggler than someone who was obese. And 11% [...]

Princess on board – is that really a good thing?

“Have you let kids take over your life?” asked The Times’  Janice Turner – appropriately in the paper’s “Body + Soul” section – as the gist of the article was that they had done just that. As I read the article I was agreeing more and more and getting quite annoyed. (It was in  half-term [...]

So many “friends” yet still lonely?

With “Quit Facebook Day” approaching (31 May 2010) many people are re-examining their relationship with the social networking site Facebook – the site that keeps on sharing. Or over-sharing according to Time Magazine this month (“Facebook – friends without borders”). Some time this month Facebook will officially log its 500 millionth active citizen – a bigger [...]