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emotional intelligence, interview, politics, self improvement, Uncategorized

How to become a great public speaker

bruceandholly
Three British politicians speaking at separate public events, including Green Party and Greater Manchester signs
A three-panel collage presents prominent British politicians speaking at public events.

With so much rubbish on the freeview channels, I have taken to watching the recent party conferences. I’d much rather be entertained by a great speaker than bore myself watching celebrity game shows. And aren’t there too many of those? Where gameshows and Eastenders’ become the ‘news’. Even though it’s all pretend. Talk about dumbing down! I’ve shown Farage; Polanski and Burnham in the picture because they are the political leaders I most enjoy watching. I don’t have to agree with them to like hearing them speak.

When it comes to presentation, party politics, for me, has never been better. A move away from the complacency of the past. New ideas. New faces. Though for me, some of Andy Burnham’s shine is beginning to wear off. It’s one thing to talk about growth in the economy. But he doesn’t seem to be doing anything to make it happen. Instead there is hesitancy even over the Heathrow Airport expansion, not to mention the Jackdaw and Rosebank oil and gasfields. all of which are supported by the main unions, including the TUC, because of the jobs they will create. When I attended a recent Back Heathrow Airport Event at Hounslow’s Gymkhana Club. I was impressed by the turnout from the Unite and GMB unions. Andy – please listen to them – instead of wittering about Britain rejoining the EU. Kemi Badenoch is for me still the unknown quantity and I look forward to seeing her speak at the forthcoming Conservative party conference. But her promise has for me being marred by her recent support for Joshua Bonehill-Paine becoming a Conservative councillor. Why? What was that all about? Bonehill-Paine might be a reformed character but none of us can erase our past. The damage has been done. But I’ll listen to what Kemi has to say. I hope that she can come up with some real ideas. Gimmicks like abolishing inheritance tax just don’t cut it for me. And wasn’t her predecessor, David Cameron, all about gimmicks? Like ‘localism’. And as leader of the opposition, she has to do more than just ‘oppose’. And as for Ed Davey? Well? What can I say? Falling out of boats is never going to win my vote. I need to know what he stands for. So what is it that makes the three-party leaders shown in the picture so engaging? And what can we learn from them? Here are some suggestions:

  • Be genuinely passionate about your subject. If you are passionate, you don’t have to worry about what you are going to say. The words will just come. A passionate speaker sells emotion.
  • Have you noticed that none of these speakers ever use notes.? Burnham doesn’t even stand behing a rostrum. Glancing at notes means that you break eye contact with your audience. And it is the eye contact which creates the power in a good speech.
  • Structure your speech. Not just a beginning, middle and an end. Remember the salesmans’ acronym AIDA. Say something to get the audience attention. Summarize the theme. Back it up with facts and argument. And finally the call to action.
  • Don’t ramble. You are not a lay preacher. Know what you want to say. Say it. Summarise it. Sit down. Learn to read your audience. When you see them fidgeting. Whispering to each other. Looking up their phones. Have the courtesy to shut up. Don’t wait for people to start walking out.
  • Be heard. You don’t need to tap a microphone if you can throw your voice to the end of the room.
  • Actively look for opportunities to speak. Maybe through your work or special interests. Or join a speakers club.
  • Buy a copy of Dale Carnegie’s ‘The quick and easy guide to Effective Speaking’ [my call to action]
Uncategorized

Empty Homes in England and Wales – House of Lord’s consultation paper

bruceandholly

Following on from my 20th June 2026 post, ‘A Quick Fix to Britain’s Housing Crisis’, The House of Lords has now published its own 14th September 2026 briefing note on the subject ‘ Empty Homes in England and Wales’, prompted by a question from Lord John Bird (Crossbench), asking what assessment the government has made of the potential for a National Empty Homes Strategy to help end homelessness. You will remember John Bird as the founder of the Big Issue, which has probably done more to tackle rough sleeping than anyone else.

The Briefing Note refers to the 1.5 million unoccupied homes in the UK, many of which need major renovation to become habitable and with some being deliberately left empty in the hope that they can increase in value over time. This latter category has been termed a ‘buy to leave investment’. There are other properties whose owners have died and with no obvious beneficiary. The Local Government Association and the Empty Homes Network have stated:

” Every empty home removes a property from the housing market and with it the chance of those on the housing registers to be housed, first time buyers to purchase, or those looking to progress on the property ladder.”

The Briefing {aper also responds to industry stakeholder calls for an empty homes strategy to bring these properties back into use. They argue that unaffordable rents, rising homelessness, record levels of temporary accommodation use and long waits for social housing meant that each empty home represented a missed opportunity to provide settled housing, revitalise communities and make efficient use of existing stock, It is also one of the quickest, greenest and most cost effective ways to increase housing supply. It is argued that an empty homes strategy should include:

  • A fully funded local authority duty to investigate and act on long-term empty homes complaints
  • National initiatives, such as a loan scheme, a national acquisition fund and an enforcement fund
  • Replacing the new homes bonus scheme with rewards for successful empty homes interventions
  • Ring fencing council tax premium revenue for local housing initiatives
  • Developing empty homes specific enforcement powers
  • Reducing stamp duty for purchases where properties are used to meet local demand for social housing and who provide homes for those on a pathway out of temporary accommodation.

Currently local authorities can access funding through the Affordable Homes Program 2021 to 2026 and the Local Authority Housing Fund.

Back in 2018, under the last government, I wrote my own book on the subject titled Housing Regeneration: a plan for implementation, which was published through Routlege. One reviewer said:

“This provides a brief overview of housing and development considerations affecting local authorities from a legal perspective. It’s probably too short to answer all questions that a lawyer may be researching on the matter. Even so, it offers a helping hand navigating some complex issues and in some instances much more than that. I had hoped for material on overarching development agreements which didn’t seem to make an appearance. The chapter on local authority companies was particularly useful. By the standards of law books, this is very cheap, so for the price, 4 out of 5 stars is more than justified.”

Uncategorized

Could AI destroy humanity?

bruceandholly
Technicians monitoring Aurora supercomputer racks in a data center
Technicians monitor Aurora supercomputer racks in a brightly lit, cable-filled data center.

Talk about AI advancing so rapidly that it threatens human existence reminds me of a story which I read in a horror comic back in the 1960s. It concerned a room-sized mega computer which threatened to do just that. But the world was saved when a cleaning lady accidentally pulled out the plug. Another story warned of climate change destruction with the discovery of bent and twisted oil-derricks on the surface of the moon. Excessive oil extraction had sucked the moon dry, Which was why it was now a dead piece of rock. I learned a lot from horror comics. So do I believe that AI is going to kill off humanity?

For me it’s just nonsense talk. Like covid bubbles.

Uncategorized

A Disappointing Evening

bruceandholly
Busy English high street with shops, pedestrians, cars, and church spire
A lively English high street blends historic architecture, local shops, pedestrians, and passing buses.

I sensed that there was something wrong when I walked into Fleet’s Harlington Centre yesterday evening with my two adult sons for their Northern Soul extravaganza. As I needed to catch the last train back to London, I went to reception and asked,

“What time does it finish?”

“It should finish around midnight. The main band comes on at 10 o clock and is scheduled to play for 90 minutes.”

But it was only 7pm? The advertised start time? Doors had opened at 6:30 p.m.. So what were we going to do for the next 3 hours? Nothing much. It would seem. There was no mention of any support band. But I was not going to waste time trying to find out. Listening to a disc jockey playing soul records to a half empty auditorium. I left my two sons sitting in the drinks lounge and walked to Fleet Station.

At around 9:00 p.m. as I was on the train home, I phoned Steve to find out what was going on and what excitement I was missing. Was everything now in full swing? His reply:

“It should be starting in an hour. At the moment there’s just a little disco.”

housing, London, property, real estate, society, Uncategorized

Smart Ways to Slash Your Energy Bills Today

bruceandholly
Offshore oil platform labeled PETRO-AVANT with a burning flare at sunset
An illuminated offshore oil platform rises above the sea beneath a dramatic sunset sky.

You will have heard about the recent increase in the UK energy price cap. Around 4%, And you will have got the usual advice about moving to fixed price tariffs. Maybe saving you £150 a year on the increased cost. Big deal! In this article we focus on some practical ways in which any householder can make a significant reduction in their energy bills simply by reducing their energy usage to what they actually need. Remember that 400 years ago no- one in the UK had even heard of fossil fuels. Yes there were fewer of us. Under 9 million. And remember that in 1650 most working families lived in a single room. And their diet was whatever they could pull out of the ground. Probably quite healthy by today’s standard. Only rich people ate meat. So you didn’t even need an oven. Just something to boil the peas. Or heat the kettle. If you got too cold you might throw a log on the fire. Or just wrap up.

For me, the biggest contribution to reduced electricity use has been the transition from tungsten filament to modern low energy light bulbs. An 85% saving in energy costs. And do you remember those horrible halogen light bulbs which became part of that transition? The blinding white light? Like a pair of car headlights shining in your face. So now we’re all low energy.

I’m not tempted to take up the £7,500 government grant to replace my gas boiler with a heat pump. It feels too much like an emerging technology. Like being asked to invest in a brick phone. I’m just not going to go there. And even heat pumps burn energy. Replacing gas with more expensive electricity. And I’m not sure it would even work. So I’ll wait until something better comes along. And I’m not rushing out to buy an electric car. I can’t remember the last time I filled my car with petrol. It spends most of its time parked up. I only use it occasionally to stop in seizing up. Living in London, means I am able to use my freedom pass to get about. Combining my freedom pass with a senior rail card makes travel very affordable for me. It only cost me £10 to get from West London to Southend. How cheap is that? Even if I didn’t have a freedom pass, I might still choose to use public transport where it is possible and afforable to do so and maybe purchase a network rail card , which is available to anyone. So I don’t understand why the government isn’t doing more to get people out of their cars and use public transport. What did Rachel Reeves do instead in her first budget? Increase the cap on bus fares from £2 to £3. Not 5% or 10%. But a whacking 50% increase. A £3 bus cap may not sound much. But it’s £6 for a return trip. And £12 if there is two of you. Well that’s really going to encourage bus usage!

Nor am I going to install solar panels on my roof. It’s too much of a fire risk. Like charging an e-bike in my back bedroom. How do I know that it’s going to be correctly installed? And what is the real saving? The thing about solar electricity is that it cannot be stored. It is electrical energy which is being produced when we least need it. And yes – I know that plug-in solar panels have just come on the market. But it feels too much like a toy. Even at a cost of £400 for the equipment, the trickle of energy it would produce would take me 5 years to get payback. And I don’t understand why renewable electricity cannot be stored? In the final part of this article I’m going to list out those simple ways in which you can cut your own energy bills. Here they are

  • Don’t keep your central heating on ‘constant’. Time it so that it only comes on when you need it. Maybe for an hour in the morning and again later in the day. Just to take the chill off. You can always put it on for an extra hour if you need it. But don’t keep it bubbling away.
  • Set your living room thermostat to 20°. Does it really need to be hotter? It means your heating will only come on when you really need it.
  • If, like our ancestors, you spend most of your life in a single room, do you need to heat the whole of your house? Maybe invest in an oil-filled radiator for that room. It will only cost about 50 pence per hour to run even if you are running it full blast. Less if you set the thermostat correctly so that’s it switches off at room temperature.
  • Leave your car parked up and use public transport where it is practical and affordable to do so. Avoid the hassle of pay by phone parking when you go into town. I recently treated my adult sons to a network rail card giving them a 1/3 discount on off-peak travel. I still think that the £40 discounted fare is too much for an off-peak return trip for two adults traveling from Farnborough to London Waterloo. But it’s better than £60. And I hate to think what it would cost at peak times.
  • Microwave, microwave, microwave. Instead of using a conventional oven. Even for things which you are not supposed to microwave, like fish. You can always finish it off in the frying pan. Microwaves use a typical 85% less energy than a conventional oven.
  • If you are unlucky enough to have an oil fired central heating system and have seen a 100% increase in cost since Trump’s war with Iran. My advice? Just switch it off. You’ve probably got an immersion heater if you need hot water for a bath. So use that when you need it. But remember to switch it off.