“JE NE REGRETTE RIEN,” sang Edith Piaf plaintively. “Formidable,” she exclaimed when she first heard it, “this is the song I have been waiting for. It will be my biggest…

EVERYONE LOVES A GOOD MEETING. It gives them the opportunity to nibble a few custard creams, to drink more coffee than is good for them and to play the odd surreptitious…

WHEN WORKPLACE DISCUSSIONS turn into arguments, tempers begin to fray and the atmosphere can quickly heat up. Pretty soon, someone’s going to start shouting. Don’t attempt to shout back. That will…

GOT A COMPLAINT? Good. Then make it. After all, no-one wants to be treated like a doormat. The ability to complain is a fundamental human right. But if you do complain, either…

IT’S A COMMON PROBLEM: you lie awake at night trying to get to sleep, trying to free your mind, but the harder you try, the more elusive sleep becomes. Here’s…

WE’RE ALL USED TO SEEING so-called ‘polite notices’ – which aren’t polite at all, of course; the word is there simply so that, at a glance, we misread the as…

EVERY GENERATION needs its baddies. In the 1940s and 50s, it was Red Indians. In the 60s, it was Nazis. In the 70s and 80s, it was aliens. And in the…

YOU’RE SITTING THERE on a Saturday evening with nothing to do. A friend phones and asks if you’d like to go to for a drink. You think… oh, I really…

I USED TO ENJOY games like Tetris, where you battle against the computer to try to improve your score. But I became increasingly frustrated, as however good you get, you…

THE UPSIDE THERE’S NOTHING ADVERTISING AGENCIES like more than spending their clients’ money. (Actually, that’s not quite true. The one thing they like more is spending a weekend with a naked...