HomeTasteColumnistsBill Oldfield

Online and off message

IT’S a good thing they’ve finally painted the Forth Bridge with a special paint which means that now, for the first time since it was built, they don’t have to start all over again immediately they finish. Read

Carrot and stick beats ranting

BEING in the food industry, you’d expect me to believe in the carrot and stick approach to management, but not everybody in my position seems to agree. Read

Good food requires getting back to basics

I WAS reminded recently about the first time I connected to the internet. It was some years before Google and I remember marvelling at how quickly the old modem connected (it probably took little more than five minutes) and the speed at which information was downloaded. Read

The dishes that made us great

MAYBE I’d have been better off if it hadn’t happened, but I bumped into an old girlfriend recently. And both “bumped into” and “old” are apt words as she was considerably bigger than how I remember her and much older than I expected. Read

Perhaps it’s time to praise ourselves

IT’S a difficult one this. The recent debacle at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 demonstrates that we seem to love a home-made disaster more than anything; particularly when there are obvious culprits. Read

Reality – alive and kicking

I’VE been running my own businesses for 11 years now and, believe me, the ups and downs certainly teach you a thing or two about life – real life. Read

One wrong word and you’re off the trolley

I KNOW I’m a useless husband but, in mitigation, it’s not my fault. It’s my genes. At least I hope it is – and that there’s not something terribly wrong with me. Read

Keep customers safe from prying ‘eyes’

I’VE just been flying over our house. Not in a plane like you’d expect but courtesy of some government satellite and those nice people who provide Google Earth for free. I love Google Earth. Read

Dishes that stir the dinner memories

WHETHER schooling on its own can turn a little so-and-so into an academic angel or a committed student into a thieving, vandalising, hooligan is definitely up for debate. Read

I’ve done it before but it’s still frightening ...

ONE of my sisters is a teacher, an honourable profession for which she underwent a thorough training, was tested in exams and given on-the-job experience before being let loose within the well-ordered structure that is a school. Read

A natural talent for learning new skills

THERE are some things you’re a natural at and others that you have to be taught. For instance, over the years I’ve discovered by chance that I’m actually quite handy around the house. Read

If you dislike cabbage, blame those Romans

WHATEVER did the Romans do for us? Apart from introducing us to prefabrication, mechan- ised weapons, baths, central heating, aqueducts, sewage systems, cats, glass and street cleaners, as well as libraries, public order, firemen, police and an extended calendar, what did they actually do for us? Read

Why can’t food just be food?

I FOUND myself shouting at the radio. The people in the car next to me on the Tyne Bridge must have thought I was either bonkers or having a major argument on the hands-free. Read

Importance of close teamwork

IT’S all about teamwork. That’s what I was taught at school. It was then reinforced to me during my time in the Merchant Navy and again in other lines of work. Read

Now please remember to think before you eat

HOW do you shop? I mean, what sort of thought process do you go through, if any, when you decide to go out and buy something? Read

We’ve gone right off the boil here

SITTING in my history class in school, probably around the age of 13, I wondered what on earth the kings and queens of England had to do with my plans for extraordinary business success. Read

Pouring oil over troubled waters

HOW times change. I’ve just returned from a week in Italy, and it was one evening, while asking the waiter for some olive oil to pour over and around my carpaccio, that I remembered the first time I came across this idea of oil being liberally applied to the plate for direct consumption. Read

Changing times in restaurant trade

SO you think you can open and run a restaurant. Well many people do. Survey after survey shows that having one’s own restaurant is a dream for many. Read

Can anyone suggest a name for Bill’s plaice?

WHEN setting up a new business, there’s often more effort put into thinking up the name than there is into any one other aspect. Read

Keep it local and keep it real in 2008

I TAUGHT my daughters that they shouldn’t necessarily believe everything they were told. Once they’d left junior school, I instilled into them, to question that which is being told to them and for them to work out what’s real. Read

Culture

Culture magazine May 2008

Culture - May

The May edition of Culture magazine is out now, packed with all the latest arts, theatre and music highlights.Read

Exclusive!

North East Exclusive

North East Exclusive

Read the latest on key people and places in the region, to find the perfect restaurant or simply to indulge those designer shopping habits. Click here to visit the Exclusive website. Read

Shopping Directory

shopping directory

Go shopping in Newcastle

Browse through a selection of advertising promotions and offers from local shops and service suppliers. Read

Your JournalLive

Get involved...

We want your local stories, videos & pics.

Contact & Subscribe

Contact Us

View a full list of The Journal editorial contact details plus advertising and subscription information. Read