Critics of remote working make the office sound like a veritable utopia, where boundless collaboration is a daily delight, and teams interact seamlessly to produce awesome results, all bound together by intimate vicinity. A far cry from the open plan offices of our reality, stuffed with rows upon rows of workers, forced into silence, nose …
Yes, work is essential for earning a livelihood (in most cases). However, work is not just a means of generating income. There is a reason many of us log into work outside contracted hours, late into the evening or on our days off. Although for comic effect we might describe ourselves as workaholics, I think …
I am sure Quentin Letts’ new book on the lamentable spectre of Brits being bossed about would be utterly hilarious, were it not for 125,000+ covid deaths.
True scholars and sheikhs are not those calling themselves scholars and sheikhs, assigning themselves grand titles. When you encounter the true scholar or sheikh — man or woman — you will know it. By their fruit you shall know them. Those bickering men on YouTube and social media, belittling one another: they are not your …
Want to lead a nation, bring about societal change? Try raising a family first. Think you will be a benevolent ruler? Try being a benevolent parent first. Even if you try to give everything, you will soon learn that is never enough. Then imagine ruling over millions. Young revolutionaries want to change the world. The …
For International Womxn’s Month, my old university’s student union is attempting to challenge patriarchy and misogyny through a series of films and discussions. Their spelling of womxn is not a typo; it is used throughout their programme for the week. This caught my attention, because the university itself is a global authority on world and …
Why is it necessary to belittle your brother, and correct them whenever they speak? 7.8 billion people walk on the earth, around a quarter of whom seem to be linked to Islam in some way. The handful of people you interact with on social media, even if they number a thousand or more, are but …
Emerging from college or uni into a challenging, competitive and disrupted job market… All is not lost. The natural pathway from my undergraduate degree would have been into DfID, the Foreign Office, Oxfam or Unicef. However, I had my head stuffed with so much Edward Said, Noam Chomsky and Arundhati Roy that I graduated disillusioned …
A website stuffed to the gills with personal opinions on Islam, society and the state of the Muslims, now cautions us: “Do not speak about the meaning of the Qur’an based on your personal opinion.” We hope in vain that their nine-hundred and fiftieth opinion piece will therefore be their last, moved now to silence themselves, …
My companions grow weary of my reluctance to own anything anymore. It will be said, “What was that hadith about such and such?” I will reply: “I don’t know.” It will be said, “The Prophet, peace be upon him, said such and such.” I will say: “I don’t know if he said that.” It is …
It turns out that I am probably a workaholic. The blues hit me when I was not working. I often fall sick when I take a day off. Or perhaps that is too simplistic. Perhaps joining a professionals social network heightened my feelings of inadequacy. Comparing yourself to your peers and friends of old is …
Our bright new future enthralled to cloud computing monopolies will serve the shareholders of those companies very well… but the rest of us? Where the idigenenous alternatives? And where the political will to challenge the status quo? The Latvian company, Ascensio System SIA, have demonstrated what is possible with their excellent OnlyOffice platform. But alas …
As we begin to (hopefully) get the upper hand over the virus and restrictions are gradually relaxed, businesses will be asking themselves what is the future of the workplace. Some will be asking themselves whether remote working is the future, while others will already have decided that it definitely is not. I have been a …
Went for a walk yesterday in the nicer (wealthier) part of town. Told my son, yes I do sometimes feel a pang of envy, looking at those lovely big houses; “if only I had worked harder” my perpetual refrain. But my final rejoinder for our lad: “Best to live within your means.” If things do …
Don’t despair of where you are. We can’t always control where life takes us. Take the professional at the top of his field, forced by war to flee his homeland, now working menial temporary jobs in a foreign land. Or the promising specialist who, after breaking her career to raise her children, finds herself stuck …
