Do you love Banksy or hate him?

Pity that so many of the critics are dismissing Banksy's work as trivial, particularly when may dubious offerings are receiving such high acclaim. For me Banksy is establishing a new genre - much like Lautrec who has been credited with being the first to get posters into the artbooks - and of course the controversy over whether it is right to splash such images over other peoples' property adds some further spice. People either love him or hate him, I am definitely in the former category, the fact that much of his work still remains is testament to atleast some appreciation and approval.
http://www.topix.net/forum/source/finding-dulcinea/T2E48J7FAVO11O5NB#lastPost
reports on the alleged unmasking of Banksy; I hope it is a false alarm, as the anonimity is of course part of the charm and "process" once valued by the critical art community

Where will the opportunities come from?

I've just spent what seems like a lifetime on www.linkedin.com putting a personal profile together and sending invitations to all the people that I know; it was a bit like writing Christmas cards, you start out with good intentions to write a short personalised note to each of your friends and then give up use the default message and hit "Invite". You can also get a rather attractive graphic to add to your website which you will see on the right hand side of the blog. It certainly generates rather a lot of email traffic which is rather comforting if nothing else. I've also posted the CV to various job sites: www.monster.co.uk, www.jobsearch.co.uk, www.jobsite.co.uk and www.jobs.ac.uk these all offer to mail you lots of jobs daily. Time to sleep.

Starting Something New

After 21 years with STMicroelectronics and previously INMOS we parted company by mutual consent on 31st July - with two weeks official holiday left to enjoy! I had certainly lost the plot and did not have the ear of the new management team. I hope they can turn things round. There is so much under-used talent at the company, and I think it fair to say that I was not alone in my disenchantment.

So what next? Fortunately I had frequently read Andrew Taylor's column in the Sunday Times detailing his experiences and reflections on life after redundancy for a 53 year old. He managed to reinvent himself as an author and journalist using his quest for a future as the springboard. Whilst finding a job in your fifties may be daunting - and unfortunately, in my case, necessary - it is also a good opportunity to revitalise your life. I had often thought of jacking in my job but never really took it seriously because I had too many financial commitments. Finally the time was right and I took the leap.