黑洞社区

What shall I have for dinner?

You would have thought that the chief operating officer of a company with a turnover of 拢12bn would be able to make a speedy decison. Not so Andrew McNaughton, COO of Balfour Beatty. At a dinner last week, McNaughton was so foxed by the menu at Villandry that he couldn鈥檛 choose his meal. It wasn鈥檛 exactly haute cuisine; choices included chargrilled rib eye steak and line caught cod. In the end McNaughton gave up and got a fellow diner, Baroness Jo Valentine to choose for him. It had been a long day. Let鈥檚 hope McNaughton was back on form for work the next day.

Checking out the competition

The back-to-back scheduling of two of the industry鈥檚 annual bashes at Mayfair鈥檚 Dorchester Hotel gave one of my colleagues a unique opportunity to compare the two. The Electrical Contractors鈥� Association dinner featured guest speakers Paul Morrell and Lord Digby Jones, but the main talking point was the end-of-night performance by classical girl-band, Raven. The Chartered Institution of 黑洞社区 Services Engineers trumped this the following night by filling the room with smoke prior to their awards, which was presented by an effusive and entertaining Huw Edwards who began rooting for any nominees - provided they were Welsh. One nil to the CIBSE, I say.

Taking the advantage

Rugby can be a terribly fickle game, with perhaps the most unpredictable ball bounces in sport. Equally uncertain is whether paying for an advertising hoarding at the Six Nations tournament will ever be worth it. Fortunately for Gleeds, Chris Ashton鈥檚 swan dive try against a pitiful Italian side on Saturday was right in front of the QS鈥� pitchside logo, meaning millions of viewers absorbed subliminal messages about cost consultancy as they watched the slow motion highlights that evening. Word has it that the Gleeds partners have a sweepstake on how much exposure the hoarding will get during England鈥檚 next game against France. I wouldn鈥檛 bet on too many tries.

Keep your enemies closer 鈥�

When the government announces it intends to cut your organisation by 35%, having one of the ministers responsible pop round for a visit is unlikely to go down well. So it was when Chris Grayling, minister for employment, paid a visit to the HSE headquarters in Bootle. His welcome was far from warm. Not only that, Grayling arrived over half an hour late and was unable to get round all the various HSE departments - I鈥檓 sure those who missed him were dismayed.

My cup runneth over

London has 108 Livery Companies. At a dinner last week for The Worshipful Company of Constructors, one long-standing and revered tradition proved very popular. The 鈥淟oving Cup鈥� was passed around, following a tradition dating back over 1,000 years. This is a large trophy-like cup, with a lid that is removed with the right hand while another drinks. Why the right hand? Well, it keeps the 鈥渄agger鈥� hand occupied and protects the drinker from assassination. If only a similar ritual could be devised to prevent suicide bidding, the industry might survive another thousand years.