Last week I turned up at home with a Bentley Arnage Red Label. After many weeks of painstaking research and testdrives across the country I finally purchased a car that I think is an absolute beauty, inside and out. Acres of wood, yards of leather an imperiosu driving position all enclosed within a swooping classic car shape.

Mrs Younger was not a happy camper, especially as she was kept inthe dark. I explained that it is not just “another” car to add to the driveway but a work of card, not unlike an expensive-ish painting that hangs in the dining room.

I am now saving up to put juice in this magnificent beast, which is currently parked on Mother’s drive.

I am advised by my wife that I am having a mid-life crisis.

Any advice on how to treat this alleged condition ?

Ah, here we go again. If you price it to high demand will drop and they’ll tell us “we told you there is no appetite in the investing community”. Price it to be attractive and it’s being given away.

Why can politicians never say “well done ” to their oponents?

I can only assume the posties themselves have more brains than the whingers and accept they work for a company with a long and proud history that has a bright future, and put their striking tendencies behind them, or perhaps I should say behind their union leaders.

Company formation has changed dramatically in recent years, this has particularly affected the default model articles that are commonly used.

One of the biggest shortcomings is the failure to deal with disputes between multiple directors or shareholders. As we all know, the grief and expense of a dispute is one of the worst business nightmares for you and your clients.

At Formations Direct we have the solution with our Advanced Articles. They contain the main elements of a typical shareholders’ agreement, giving your clients peace of mind, potentially saving them thousands of pounds and you can also avoid facing awkward questions.

Terms we hear all the time, from sports reporters to war correspondents. I’m sure you all know the difference between them but do you translate that knowledge well in the execution?

You’re trying to promote your accountancy firm to reel in more clients so naturally you sit down and make a plan with lots of ideas and detail on it. The odds are that it is neither strategic nor tactical, but a wish list of what you want your practice to be and fantastic ideas of what you need to do for execution.

What you actually need is a long hard look at yourself and your client profiles. From here you build your strategy which covers where you want to be in, say 12 or 24 months time. Once this is done you can revise and refine it until you are 100% satisfied that your vision is the true one.

Now you are ready for tactics – how to implement your vision. You can start here. NOTE TO MARC – THIS LINK LEADS TO A ‘PAGE CANNOT BE FOUND’

I have been looking closely at my post , both at home and work over recent months.

At home I can count on one joint of one finger how many personal letters from a friend or relative have arrived. It’s an endless deluge of unsolicited items or bank letters in spite of being on paperless statements. In fact quite often at home I only open the post once or twice a week anyway. At work, very few new instructions arrive by post – anything urgent is emailed or faxed (that’s right – FAXED).

As for cheques, they are fewer so we no longer bank on a daily basis.

Therefore what is the point of a daily delivery? Surely it would cut costs to have deliveries 3 or 4 days a week or even give people the option of collect from a nominated point just like internet deliveries. Perhaps they could pay a fee to Royal Mail for the convenience and in return obtain a discount on items they sell (that was a radical idea by the way).

I think the problem is that the Royal Mail remains a sacred cow and the communist / militant union leaders of the UCW are the proverbial donkeys leading lions who could do well out of share ownership of a modern business with one of the best brands in the country. I can just see it – workers rubbing their hands at the thought of free shares, what a great way to keep warm on the picket line as winter looms.

Once again UKIP steals the headlines by stepping where angels fear to tread. Taking the matter down to a lower level than the board room I remember the early years of my business where around 3/4 of the staff were female. Several years later the trend had reversed itself . There was no particular reason for this swing, it was a matter of the most suited people coming forward for vacancies . Everything has run very smoothly and the only issue was WC designation based on numbers – I kid you not !

But back to the point – is it better or worse for a business to have to hire on basis of quotas , whatever the nature of the quota ? My feeling is that it is a very bad idea as it distorts the labour market and could lead to poor decision making. Perhaps the key is to ensure the “minorities” are given better access to education to improve their chances or perhaps the answer lies elsewhere.

Where do you stand ?