Alan Bunce
Stories by Alan Bunce
Below are recent stories by Alan Bunce
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Last updated: 10 Mar 2010 09:00
Four different bank managers have told me the same thing in recent weeks.
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Last updated: 24 Feb 2010 16:24
IT'S not often I wished I lived in Wokingham. But last week I did.
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Last updated: 15 Feb 2010 10:00
ONE thing most apparent about the Thames Valley's IT firms is their non stop march into the future.
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Last updated: 26 Jan 2010 08:00
The beautiful game is getting ugly
THE longer the current football season goes on the darker the cloud over the game seems to get.
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Last updated: 12 Jan 2010 09:00
There seemed to be only one purpose in the national media coverage of the snow - scaring everyone.
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Last updated: 31 Dec 2009 18:21
ONE prediction for 2010 that's hard to dispute is that we will see increasing use of technology - but equally certain is the fact we will waste a lot of it too.
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Last updated: 14 Dec 2009 22:40
While greedy bankers are getting under everyone's skin, they are not the only ones who want a fortune for little effort.
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Last updated: 2 Dec 2009 08:00
A Sting in the environmental tail
In a world where you are only allowed only one opinion on environmental issues, campaigning celebrities make an interesting contribution.
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Last updated: 18 Nov 2009 23:44
This shade of green doesn't wash
It may be the age of energy efficiency but waste never goes away.
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Last updated: 9 Nov 2009 10:40
Policing a new line in business
A NEW line in business may open up in towns throughout the country if Darlington residents succeed with their private security patrols.
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Last updated: 27 Oct 2009 19:42
Retro, a business of the future
BEFORE the internet I could have wallpapered my house with the number of company brochures sent to this office, which businesses somehow thought we could make into newspaper stories.
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Last updated: 15 Oct 2009 17:56
A university is an unlikely place for entertainment but if last week was anything to go public lectures can be much more interesting than your average film or play.
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Last updated: 3 Oct 2009 11:43
THE biggest name missing from the Thames Valley's cluster of top IT firms has to be Google.
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Last updated: 21 Sep 2009 13:50
Predict the end of the recession
THE TIMES' website offers readers '10 reasons to ignore house price statistics'. A Strange thing to do since the Times and many other papers have been awash with them for years.
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Last updated: 14 Sep 2009 09:26
One of the star attractions at this year's Thames Valley Franchise Show was a humble food van.
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Last updated: 2 Sep 2009 13:46
A CRUMBLING office block in the centre of Reading reveals a depressing truth.
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Last updated: 21 Aug 2009 16:50
TV dragon James Caan and former dragon Rachel Elnaugh backed our We Can Work It Out Campaign this week, prompting thoughts about how business has become an unlikely entertainment source. But it isn't that unlikely.
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Last updated: 7 Aug 2009 09:46
STOOD in a long queue for Ikea to open a few years ago, it occurred to me how much cleverer the Swedish are than us.
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Last updated: 28 Jul 2009 16:13
Why not ask what retailers are up to?
THE fact that broadband speeds advertised such as 'up to 8mbps' are actually less than that, is somehow hitting the headlines as if no-one knew.
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Last updated: 23 Jul 2009 10:01
WHILE corporate hospitality has dropped like a stone in recent times it was interesting to note two contrasting experiences last week.
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Last updated: 17 Jul 2009 17:44
TWO stories this week illustrate how stories can benefit from firms who do not have a press office.
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Last updated: 6 Jul 2009 15:44
The appliance of Thames Valley science
Companies which are focussed on research always seem more interesting than those focussed on profit. Today I joined other guests to visit the newly opened £25million R&D lab at UCB Celltech in Slough.
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Last updated: 24 Jun 2009 18:11
It seems the rash of stories about how bad the recession is, is giving way to stories about how much the decline is slowing down.
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Last updated: 11 Jun 2009 12:32
Entertainer that tops the bill
If only there were more shops like The Entertainer.
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Last updated: 27 May 2009 13:00
I WOULDN'T normally get exercised by National Something-or-Other Week but there is one starting June 1 that most people would probably have sympathy with.
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Last updated: 19 May 2009 14:53
One of the local entrants in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards this year, illustrates one of the thorns in the side to anyone who writes about business in the Thames Valley.
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Last updated: 8 May 2009 14:17
Is the end of the housing downturn in sight?
It seems the housing market, if not recovering, is now falling more slowly.
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Published: 7 Apr 2009 09:30
Short memories in financial reporting
It was a relief to read in the Sunday Express yesterday that the 0.5% interest rate would continue into 2010. Phew.
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Published: 3 Apr 2009 12:30
Networking - it's better than the news
They call it networking but it is really socialising with an agenda. Networking brought me in touch with many estate agents recently and their musings on the housing market are worth reporting.
That's because the transactions those surveys refer to are when sales complete, not at the time the price is agreed. So if you rely on Five Live or the any of the national news services, the latest news is actually December's or January's.
But on this occasion I think they are right.
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Published: 24 Mar 2009 13:54
IT'S rare to have a conversation about the recession without someone referring to the fact we are 'talking ourselves into it'. Usually the media is blamed but in an era when anyone can publish or broadcast, the media is no longer confined to newspapers or TV. So amid the criticism we at Berkshire Media Group have won a lot of praise, thanks to our campaign that is taking a 'glass half-full' approach to what is probably the toughest economic times many of us have ever experienced. We Can Work It Out is aimed at highlighting the positive and helping where we - or our readers - can. The surprising thing is just how many people are doing well. Only last night at a networking function I came across a sports injury treament business expanding, a woman who provides Botox doing very well and a debt recovery business (!) finding ever more clients. There was an artist starting up in business and a new boss of a pub/restaurant with ambitious plans to make it succeed. But it's the old story of a balancing act. Take the rose tinted specs off and within three miles of my house three pubs have closed, the local M&S has just gone and even the estate agents are driving smaller cars. Even my local community centre is living on the edge. So are we heading for depression or will we be climbing out of recession in 12 months? I haven't a clue. As someone said at last week's Connect Reading conference 'economic forcasting was only invented to make astronomy look respectable'. What I do know is a lot of businesses in Berkshire are doing well. If you are one of them, why not let us know? Email me at abunce@berksmedia.co.uk.
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