Xavier Toby

Using my thought box to produce mind gems. Comedy, writing, opinion, sometimes politics

We care so much about Boston, not just because it happened, but because it could so easily have happened to us.

Raj Gill

Freelance journalist

It wasn't even the school holidays, but with impending Christmas and Hogmanay festivities, we were getting pretty stressed, which is insane considerin...

Dale Bilson

Marketer, blogger, tweeter, amateur author and reluctant green tea drinker

I once bought my dear dad a Father's Day card. He laughed, called me a silly sod, and asked how much money I'd wasted on it. My answer, £4.50, was ap...

Alex Wares

Managing Director at leading search marketing agency Mediarun

It seems that enticing customers in-store is becoming increasingly challenging. Augmented reality could be the solution to the problem and yet, despite its potential, instances of this kind of technology being available to the consumer are still rare throughout UK retail.

Josh Krichefski

Chief Operating Officer at MediaCom

It has been an interesting start to 2013 as far as the retail sector is concerned. We've seen the likes of HMV and Jessops collapse and we've heard all about how the big retailers - supermarkets especially - fared over the competitive Christmas period.

James Emtage

Digital Producer, Director and sometime Writer

One thing is for sure - saying thank you is a nice thing to do. It makes you feel good, and makes the receiver feel valued. We may not subscribe to the hand written parchments of old, with ruler straight lines and wafty words of gratitude penned from inky quills, but we do still subscribe to basics of liking to give and liking to be thanked.

Nicola Six

Eternally grateful to the inventors of vodka

"My place or yours?" He slurred. "You said you had a wine cellar" I replied, already hailing a cab. And thus I woke up in his well appointed South London bachelor pad, still wearing my dress but only one of my six-inch long diamond drop earrings.

Caragh Little

English teacher, book-lover, @TweeterofWit, blogger, lifelong learner

In the last two weeks I've been told to eat nothing at all after about 5pm, nothing at all on two days of each week, five small meals every day; drink tea instead of coffee, coffee instead of tea, and tea made from the leaves of the coffee plant.

Greg Grimmer

Professional Adman, self styled Digerati, frustrated writer

Whilst the written word and audio visual content are (and due to human biology are likely to remain) the most prevalent message type, the combination of touch screen, big data, interactive and click through real-time world of the tablet should bring big benefits to all.

Lewis Shepherd

Freelance journalist and writer

It's now the middle of January, which means that we've been in the New Year now for two weeks and if you're like me then you've been breathing a sigh of relief as you start to get back into your regular routine, as you've waved goodbye to that festive devil that is otherwise known as Christmas.

Vivi Friedgut

Director, Blackbullion: Financial Education

According to Which magazine, almost 50% of Brits funded Christmas 2012 with credit. Be it a credit card, or payday loans, which almost a million families used, there will be millions of people for whom Christmas 2012 is a 2013 problem.

Richard Gomersall

Co-Founder, Insight with Passion

Great customer service costs nothing, it is a state of mind and it comes from business leaders setting their stall out to make it "what's expected" in their organisation. Customers don't always remember the logo above the door, they always remember the person who served them.

Celia Lyttelton

Author and arts correspondent

The highlight of the festivities was 'Oliver Twisted' a satirical and subversive panto at the Tabernacle, off Portobello Road. Written by Peter Jack, 'Oliver Twisted' was worthy of 'Private Eye' at its best, laced with wicked wit and peppered with localized 'in' jokes.

Helen Charman

Second Year English student at Emmanuel College, Cambridge

The inevitable hand-wringing from prominent responsible adults is sure to kick off soon, but rather than tread these tired paths of displaced responsibility, the productive thing to do is to ask why this happens.

Thomas Woodham Smith

Creative Director of Masterpiece London

Back in London and we are mapping out the next few days. The New Year's Eve and a gathering of neighbours, but it is a joy to be home. The smell of the city and the sirens and the multi cultural citizens. I can feel the throb of business and I can't wait for the new year to get going.

Patrick Garratt

Video Games and Tech Journalist

Less than 70 years ago, putting a spoonful of sugar into a cup of tea was a luxury in Britain. Today, a great many of us westerners have everything we could possibly want, but have been so numbed by money and peace that we have little frame of reference for the concept of "need".