Business Diary: October 22

Public relations firms are expected to show their mettle in a crisis, so Diary was pleased to hear that one consultancy has clocked up plenty of work in these penny-pinching times.

However, the Sheffield-based firm which rejoices in the title of Roaring Mouse detected something rather devilish when it totted up its chargeable hours.

It uncovered a figure familiar to all fans of Hammer Horror’s finest.

It turns out that Roaring Mouse sold exactly 666 hours of consultancy work in its first year in business.

James Taylor, the managing director of Roaring Mouse, said he was shaken – but not disturbed – to find the number of the beast staring back at him from the accounts.

But he was quick to stress that his firm is very much on the side of the angels. “Its satanic associations don’t worry me!” he told Diary,

Town makes a date with Christmas

Every year it seems, Christmas arrives a little earlier.

Some people have already had their fill of Christmas TV adverts before the end of August.

However, placing the spirit of Scrooge firmly in his deleted items folder, Diary was pleased to note that, this Christmas, the good folk of Barnsley will be treated to a sight which shows that many small firms are still thriving.

The Digital Media Centre (DMC), which towers over the centre of Barnsley, is about to enter the festive spirit on a grand scale.

Each window will have a number from one to 24 attached to it, so from a distance, the centre could be mistaken for a giant advent calendar. Each window is being sponsored by a local firm.

Amanda Lennon, the regional director for Oxford Innovation, which manages the DMC, said: “It’s creative, we’re pushing boundaries and doing some good while having fun. We’ve sold all of the windows.

“Also, we’re having an ideas grotto at Christmas, which is being supplied by KD Decoratives in Huddersfield.

“It will have similar format to the ideas shed which was held at Easter. It will be a focus for some innovative thinking, collaborations and events.”

The £10.5m DMC, which was originally funded by the now defunct Yorkshire Forward and the European Regional Development Fund, opened in 2007, just before the chaos caused by the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Today, the centre is occupied by more than 40 businesses who are helping Barnsley to shed its outdated “flat cap and whippets” image.

Circling the issues around technology

IMAGINE that the world’s biggest tech companies have been subsumed by one mighty player called the Circle, streamlining search and social media into one seamless system.

Imagine how much power and control that would have over our lives.

This is the plot for Dave Eggers’ new novel, The Circle, which raises questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy and the limits of human knowledge.

The acclaimed North Californian author told Diary: “A lot of times I’d think of something that a company like the Circle might dream up, something a little creepy, and then I’d read about the exact invention, or even something more extreme, the next day.”

He added: “I tried to write a book that wasn’t so much about the technology itself, but more about its implications for our sense of humanity and balance.”

The Circle is published by Hamish Hamilton.

Runner sets the pace to fulfil his passion

DIARY was pleased to hear that last week’s contributor to the My Passion column, Nigel Shaw, from Yorkshire accountants Garbutt & Elliott, achieved his aim of finishing the inaugural Plusnet Yorkshire Marathon in under four hours.

Nigel told Diary: “I was absolutely thrilled to beat my previous marathon attempt by almost 15 minutes to finish in 3 hours 47 minutes.

“I just enjoyed the whole occasion, which was a credit to organiser Mike Tomlinson and his team, who ensured the whole day was a complete success.

“The crowds around York played their part too, especially during the gruelling last four miles.”