A RSS Feed from Keeble Hawson for the latest blog posts It is hard to believe that we are now more than six months into our merger but I am pleased to report that the creation of the new firm has been very positively received by our clients and contacts who have welcomed the depth and breadth of our combined services and our renewed focus on delivery of excellent service and relationship building.

]]> Tue, 01 May 2012 11:51:17 GMT The Leveson Inquiry seems to me to be an example of the law of unintended consequences. When the Government set up the Inquiry, I imagine they thought this ought to be a win for them; standing up against the unscrupulous conduct of the media and seeking some quasi-judicial solution or framework for the future relations between the media and just about every other element of society.

]]> Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:55:06 GMT I’m getting old. I know I am getting old; I’m not sure how it happened (ok that bit isn’t true, of course I know how it happened, I just don’t know when it happened) and this time I can’t even blame my kids. The reason I know I am getting old is that I have been left behind by IT. I don’t have a facebook page or an iphone or an ipad. I don’t even know how to send a photo message and I have no idea how you skype. Sometimes I wonder if it is too late already and if I joined facebook now, there will simply be something else which everyone will migrate to and once again I will be left behind.

]]> Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:09:58 GMT At last our merger date has arrived. It has often felt a little strange over the last 3 months when the firms have been technically separate and distinct but knowing that as of 1 October, we will all be together. Now that we are one firm I don’t have to stop myself subconsciously from checking if it is in order for me to enter the non-client areas of our new colleagues’ offices.

]]> Mon, 03 Oct 2011 09:43:05 GMT My holiday seems a very long time ago now. We had two sun-kissed weeks at the coast at the beginning of July but I have almost forgotten them in the excitement which has reigned since we announced our merger with hlw a few days ago. Since our announcement I have spent a lot of time talking to clients, contacts and the media to explain more about what the merged firm will be able to offer to its clients and the strategy it will be following going forward.

]]> Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:32:23 GMT The combined might of Twitter and a MP (surely it can’t be the first time the words “Twitter” and “MP”, or parts thereof, have been used in the same sentence), have done what the whole of the UK tabloid press have been unable to do and that is circumvent the law of privacy by naming someone who it is alleged has been the subject of a super injunction. What have we learnt from all of this?

]]> Fri, 27 May 2011 12:25:40 GMT So the excitement, the colours, the history and the romance of last weekend is over. I am, of course, talking about my team’s glorious back to back promotion to the premier league. In fact, to be honest, watching the game live, knowing we only had to win to be promoted was absolute agony for 40 minutes after we went a goal up – just ask my wife.

]]> Mon, 09 May 2011 10:09:55 GMT This season’s must-have celebrity accessory appears to be the ‘super-injunction’. What intrigued me about this story has been the vociferous complaint from the media about the infringement of the freedom of the press which such injunctions cause (although given the recent stories about illegal phone tapping by certain sections of the media, they do not appear to come with entirely clean hands if I can coin a legal phrase) and that the Prime Minister has weighed into the furore indicating that he is ‘concerned’ about the judiciary making up the law in this area.

]]> Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:03:53 GMT It is just as well that the Bribery Act 2010 has not yet come into force, or there would be two very troubled parents in our house. Recently, (and some people will have become bored with my complaints about this by now – I apologise if that is the case) we have been having trouble getting our 2 year old to sleep through the night. We thought it might be a number of things health related, but a trip to the doctors suggested that whatever the reason, it was not to do with his health.

]]> Thu, 03 Mar 2011 16:54:00 GMT There has been a hiatus since my last blog entry and I have learnt (if I didn’t know already) that there is room in your life for only three things at a time. Usually one of my family, management of the firm and my corporate work is sufficiently on an even keel to enable me to squeeze in my blog as a very modest third element. Over the last couple of months all three elements of my life have been demanding and so this has meant that the one part which does not complain if I ignore it, my blog (leaving aside the reminders from my PA) has had to take a step back. I will try to do better.

]]> Wed, 23 Feb 2011 09:00:33 GMT The Liverpool football club soap opera moved to an Eastenders level of bizarreness this week, when I heard that the board of directors of the club had approved its sale only for this to be ‘blocked’ by the shareholders of the club. When I heard this, I presumed it was some kind of non-event and frankly a PR stunt on the part of those desperate to see the club change ownership.

]]> Fri, 08 Oct 2010 09:15:27 GMT I may be the managing partner of Keeble Hawson but there is absolutely no doubt who is in charge of my house. It’s not who you think either. You might imagine that it is my wife who calls the shots at home (and yes, I did manage to choose the right bathroom tiles in case you are wondering (see earlier blog)), but the reality is that even she has to take orders from the real boss, who is our 2 year old son. The sharp-eyed among you will have spotted that I am therefore 3rd in the order of importance in our house.......out of 3.

]]> Tue, 05 Oct 2010 09:37:06 GMT The TUC has voted for a co-ordinated campaign of industrial action if the Government’s cuts are as dramatic as they have been trailed. The question of cuts (and therefore of industrial action) is particularly relevant to those of us in Sheffield, because the labour market and wider economy is so heavily dependent on the public sector, where the majority of cuts are expected to come.

]]> Thu, 16 Sep 2010 08:51:54 GMT So a tabloid newspaper has reported allegations of match-fixing by a test cricket team. Technically I think the allegation is ‘spot-fixing’ as it was alleged not that the activity directly affected the result, but that it ‘fixed’ a specific moment in the match to enable betting to be rigged.

]]> Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:08:50 GMT I am hors de combat at the moment, struck down in my prime with a debilitating condition. I am not suffering from man-flu or anything like that. No, this is much more serious - I have managed to injure my back by, of all things, bending down to pick something out of a bag.

]]> Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:38:15 GMT So, David Beckham is no longer an England player and Fabio Capello has drawn the tabloid wrath for the manner in which the end of DB’s England career was made known. It has been described as very poor management by Capello and apparently draws into question his ability and fitness to be England manager. This of course is the manager who guided AC Milan, Roma and Real Madrid to sustained periods of success.

]]> Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:00:55 GMT So take your pick; either David Cameron is a straight-talking, no-nonsense politician not afraid to call a spade a spade when it comes to our foreign affairs, or he fundamentally fails to appreciate the finer nuances of political diplomacy and by doing so, puts at risk delicate ongoing negotiations, our international relations and our role as a strategic world power.

]]> Mon, 02 Aug 2010 10:10:14 GMT So Paul the Octopus was right (Spain won the World Cup) and like all true greats should, he has retired at the top.  Leaving aside my understanding that Paul always favoured the right of the two containers (and so more right-handed than psychic), it has demonstrated to me how important foresight is as a commodity.

]]> Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:08:15 GMT This is my first blog entry for a while. I have been away (and you really are away when you go to North Norfolk for your holiday) and I was made to pay by the holiday gods when I returned, because it was straight into a matter which did not complete until 1.30am on Saturday morning.

]]> Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:05:05 GMT June is awards month courtesy of the Insider Dealmaker’s Awards dinner for South Yorkshire to be held on 24 June 2010.

]]> Thu, 03 Jun 2010 09:26:51 GMT I must admit to being worried today. It’s not the question of whether the legislative programme proposed by the new coalition government is too radical (or not radical enough) or whether they have the drive or stomach to see it through or even whether it is the right programme to deliver the real growth in the economy which all of us involved in professional services want to see.

]]> Fri, 28 May 2010 16:04:44 GMT You will have noticed that this blog is called rather unimaginatively ‘the Keeble Hawson’ blog. Inspiration completely failed me when I was asked to name it last week

]]> Thu, 13 May 2010 10:50:47 GMT Sat, 01 May 2010 11:54:07 GMT