Prison Phoenix Trust

As many of you know, yoga is part of the fabric of my life. I do it, I teach it, I learn about it.

The Prison Phoenix Trust supports prisoners in their spiritual lives through meditation, yoga, silence and the breath. When I went for a day to learn about their work last year I was very moved by what they do and the people involved in the Trust. I receive a newsletter several times a year.

I was really struck by one prisoner's letter. He uses his breath as the lynch pin for meditation. What he wrote is simple, true and very, very wise.

"In spite of there being a multitude or hundreds of beliefs/religions in the world today, most people want peace without war and good health without loss, hurt or pain. Well-being, peace, is what we all would like, not material items."

The future of Waterstones

There was I thinking about a month ago that I had hit the terrestrial jackpot because we were getting repeat orders from Waterstone's, than it all ground to a halt and our stock levels with Gardners Books remained stubbornly the same.

Well, it seems like we are caught up in a groundhog situation as described here. Perhaps when great turmoil is bubbling beneath the surface, stock ordering is put on hold.

If this is the case, it must be hurting an awful lot of publishers. Especially the smaller ones. Hopefully the whole Waterstone's situation will soon be resolved.

Una giornata bellissima

No, it is not The Publishing Cupboard, but a free picture I got when I reinstalled Adobe Creative Suite. It's almost as beautiful a day as this in Glasgow.

Today I am happy because I have back Indesign, Illustrator and Photoshop which had all gone down the swanny with my melted down hard drive.

Everything is back up and running but without the clutter (which also went down the swanny).

For those studying Italian, check out the BBC La Mappa Misteriosa. You can follow it via the clips. You are part of the action and it is just like being in Italy. Very clever.

Even the big boys can't find customers

On BBC Breakfast today there was a piece on HMV and its woes. Apparently it just isn't getting customers. Their customers are probably the savvy sort of people who go online for everything. And the older generation are quite happy to pick up bits and bobs at the supermarket.

It is a cruel, cruel world out there and the sooner the bosses take action (using the expertise of their staff), the better. Which is what Waterstone's will have to do to do to stop them getting dragged down with HMV. Perhaps Waterstone's should adopt the John Lewis Partnership model and let the employees run the ship using all the resources of a centralised business. I bet it could work.

The terrestrial market for music and books will probably always be there (how many times have I heard people bemoan the loss of Woolworths?), but unless someone stops the rot, customers will have to go to where there are still the shops (back to the supermarkets).

So that is why ...

I was getting no orders from Grant & Cutler, the dependable foreign language bookshop based in Great Marlborough St in London.

It turns out that Foyles have bought them and they have moved to the new site.

Dearie me, the book retailing business is in churning times. I had such a smooth relationship with G & C. I do hope it continues in their new venue. And the best of luck to them.

We need some serious Waterstone's Window dressing

When Dominic Myers took over Waterstone's, I thought one of the first things he would do would be to get rid of those boring old posters that fill all the W's windows. So far, there's been no sign of it when I cycle along Argyle St in Glasgow. I think this month's fare is something pink and to do with Mother's Day.

Why, when such a lot of money and thought is spent on jacket design, are books not displayed in all their glory in the W's shop windows? Plus it would probably be a fun job for someone.

There could even be a bit lateral in what goes into the window. Maybe one week books with blue covers. One week it could be cookery books. One week it could be funny books. One week it could be monsters. Not paid for, of course, or else it looses its fun and independence.

The windows are what people look at and which should entice them in. The posters have always smacked of a corporate cop out. Waterstones, bring out your brightest and best window dressers and bring back a bit of wow factor.

Meno si spende, piu' si spende

As I am staying with mamma, I thought I would share one of her wise old sayings. Translated it means 'The less you spend, the more you spend'. It is probably on a par with false economy.

The trouble is, one doesn't always have enough dosh to buy into the more expensive option.

Out of The Cupboard

This week I'm out of The Cupboard in my home stomping ground, Lancaster. This is where my mother lives and I am staying with her for a week . My mother is 86 and Italian.

I happened to be reading the newspaper and she saw the headline featuring the word Google. The article was about relaxing UK copyright laws.

"What eez google? Eeez it something ee-legal?" She asked.

It is so refreshing to find there are still folk blissfully uaware of the internet.

Hoorah for Amazon!

Now and again I write to Amazon to point out the rather strange behaviour attached to a number of reviews of the Nod offs - Nod off in Portuguese in particular. Anyway, they responded immediately and must have agreed with my assessment and the dodgy reviews have been removed.

Which means that Nod off in Portuguese is now back to 5-stars.

Presumably they have developed the tool for identifying negative behaviour.

For such a massive organisation, they were wonderfully efficient. I had a reply to my email the same day.

So many thanks to Amazon.

What is the way forward?

I watched BBC's Question Time a few weeks ago and Michael Heseltine was on the panel. One of the subjects they discussed was the state of the UK economy and levels of unemployment. As most people know, British manufacturing has all but disappeared. Not the skills involved, just the industry itself. This is because employing people is expensive, it's cheaper to go elsewhere in the world where pay is lower.

The general consensus is that if Britain starts to manufacture things again, then this will be the making of the UK economy once more. Michael Heseltine agreed, but then went on to add that it won't be people making things, it will be robots. So how is that going to help the unemployment situation? I found it rather chilling.

When I went home to visit my mum, I had to catch a taxi the 10 miles to her house and I had a long chat with the driver. When I grew up in Lancaster in the 70s and 80s, Lancaster was the home of a number of light industries: it was a great manufacturer of lino for much of the 20th century. Now all the factories are closed.

Which means many men had to find a different way of earning money. Taxi driving being one of the most popular. Lancaster has too many taxis now. Throw into the equation the eyewatering cost of petrol and taxi drivers could be at crisis point.

I don't know what the answer is. Probably getting people to consume less in general. But the UK economy is now based on people buying things. With no money left over from petrol, food and the like, consumerism is not going to be the way forward. As St Augustine said 'It is better to need less than to have more.' This is something we should all take to heart while we come up with a solution.

ps The pic is of St Augustine, not Michael Heseltine. But I am sure you knew that.

Ho comprato il mio libro!

Nicola Morgan posted a really neat idea for World Book Night, and one where everyone is a winner. Today I duly cycled up to The Hyndland Bookshop and bought this book to give away. I like Adriana Trigiani. Her books are warm and funny with an Italian link spun through them and I am hoping that my recipient will enjoy it too.

I also had a nice chat with David Kinnear of The Hyndland Bookshop about publishing in general. Although not a huge shop, the books are obviously ones that appeal given the number of browsers that were in there.

It is amazing to think that the 3rd largest city in Britain (after London and Birmingham) has only one independent bookshop. Even more amazing, it had just what I wanted.