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Everything is Negotiable featuring Derek Arden

This is my column that will feature in Saturday's Financial Times, which can be found in the entrepreneurship pages of the Money section. You can also find my columns on the FT web site here: http://www.ft.com/mikesouthon

One of the major advantages of an economic downturn is that there are great deals to be had; the challenge is that many of us are very bad at negotiating.

There is clearly an element of 'nature vs. nurture' some of us are clearly genetically more inclined to haggle, while for others the process is more unpleasant and degrading than having teeth pulled.

Is The House of Commons Unrepresentative

Parliament is sovereign. This is demonstrated by Dicey's three test of parliament sovereignty. As parliament can make and unmake any law for example the Treaty of union with Ireland 1800. The second and third part of the test being that parliament cannot bind it successes (Ireland act 1949) and no one can question any law that parliament makes (Railway board v. Pickin)

The House of Lords has to obey parliament. This was established by the 1911 act and the 1949 parliament act. Which curtailed the right of the House of Lords to block a bill that parliament had passed from becoming law. Reaffirming that Parliament is the most powerful organ within the state.

Finding Your Passion

Five years ago, I left the corporate world behind forever. Although I was working my way up the ladder and my skills and experiences were in demand, my passion for working for a paycheck died.

This wasn't the first time I entered the world of entrepreneurialism. In 1983, I ran a small publishing, writing and consulting business, then returned to the corporate arena as an Executive Editor followed by a communications management position at first a large utility and then Starbucks. Unhappy, I left and built a communications consultancy. Again, recruited to fill a VP of Marketing position, I was lured back to the corporate world. That lasted six months.

Best Practices for Commenting - Say What You Mean

Too often we come across badly informed opinions or just sloppy writing in what we are reading on the Internet. The most obvious choice is to move on quickly to our next destination/blog post.

But what if we were to say exactly what we are thinking?

For example that a blog post is incorrect or badly written and cite the relevant sources to back up our information. A critical comment can be ten times as valuable as a general "oh this is interesting" or not commenting at all when you think it is poor.

Comments speak volumes about us all in a positive way be them positive or negative in meaning.

Shopping in America (from Europe)

Shopping from the US with US Unlocked -

I’ve just tried out an interesting shopping service which is pretty unique. You see, living in Europe does have its advantages. One of the problem, however, is that shopping on a U.S. based website can be tricky because many websites will not ship outside the America. Those which do tend to charge a premium for the service; a premium that negates any savings in shopping from them. There’s also a second problem; most credit card verification services require an address to verify that a credit card is legitimate. And if your credit card hasn’t been issues in the U.S., then the verification process is interrupted as the bank cannot verify the card.

Sometimes a one-page Web site is all you need

Sometimes a one-page Web site is all you need - Marketing experts have preached for years the importance of businesses having a Web presence. Yet nearly half of small businesses nationally still do not have a Web site. Why is that? We know that some simply don’t believe in the power of the Web — at least as it relates to their own businesses. I won’t try to change their minds (at least not today). Instead, let’s focus on the small-business owners who do believe in the Web, but view creating a Web site as a complicated, time-consuming project that they are afraid to outsource. Yet they don’t have the time to do it themselves either.