First Post From A New Job.

So I'm keeping it ultra-short. Going for drinks tomorrow evening near/in Westminster with a Good Egg, colleague in fabianism, and friend, which I'm looking forward to.

it was a horribly cold day today - I was out at 6.30am too! I saw soemthing which looked suspiciously like snow outisde Euston station but did not investigate further. I bloody hope its not snow, anyway.

Will return to political posting later night - gonna fire off some devil's advocacy on the British identities and, specifically, something positive about Englishness (see BBC news on comments from the Welsh Ass. if you want to guess my thoughts).

Update: And its a great and joyous job to do! (note the happy bunnyness lacing this post) :-)


But my blackberry is still playing up. :-(

Scrybe's Job-Related Happy Bunnyness Cont....

The reason I haven't posted today is that it was my first day on my new job. Cue lots of work and commuting oop nawf (well, cventry is north from LDN, lol). In my two trips, I have sussed that the Hammersmith and City line does not function properly until at least 8am - cue frantic phone calls to new boss apologising profusely for enforced lateness as I'd missed my train from LDN). Fortunately, my bosses are delightful and didn't bollock me. :-)

Loving my job. Very pleased to be working with a great and very affable team, and there is sufficient structure to the projects I've been given to start on to make sure I am not left to do an impossible job unsupervised (unlike previous unpaid job). Also loving the bit during work when we were arranging the printing of my business cards. Yay! I get business cards! (Please bear in mind that this is my first foray into the world of business card-possessing).

I'm commuting again tomorrow, so probably wont be posting again until late, but bear with me as I'll get into a rythym and then the regular posts shall return.

I am also, of course, not going to be posting as much over the Christmas period (though I'm not going to do a Hamer Shawcross and give a "temporary farewell" post when there's a chance I may sneak in a post or two more before the new year.

Finally, I'm very much loving having been linked to by Jon Cruddas - take it he's sussed out how to do that now. ;-)

The Happy Bunnyness of a Certain Scrybe Revealed. Fully.

I’ve only just got in*. I’ve been traversing the country today, and my return journey has been spent with a little smile on my little face. Scrybe is a happy bunny. A very happy bunny indeed, and about to tell you why….

Scrybe got “headhunted” – twice**! Both for serious research work!! Hence today’s trip (and the past week or so’s happy bunnyness), which was for an interview for the post I can now say I have accepted. It was, rather, a day spent getting familiar with the team I am working with and the projects I am working on, preceded by a brief “project-placement” and salary negotiation session. The latter was more a case of me sitting there in astonishment as my ideal starting salary was met and then some.

The team all seem to be fairly kewl, and my boss is an absolute legend…you might just recognise him……








Actually, that’s not him at all***, but a representation of him produced by a conveniently present sketch artist. My ‘line manager’ is also a particularly affable chap with whom I chatted prior to the “project placement” sesh.

The other “serious research post” I got “headhunted” for was a project based here…



Alas, I now have to decline that one. This is really a shame, since it was a fantastic research project and, more importantly, would have resulted in me having my own desk in the politics dept. of the university of which I am a recent alumnus (and anyone preparing to shout “Toff!” should recall this) and thus an interesting simple twist of fate (as a Mr. Dylan might sing) which would have seen me working alongside those who not so long ago tutored me. But I have to admit that I love my new job even more than I would love to have seized that once-in-a-lifetime experience.

I also become an occasional “commuter” (see picture below – bonus points for being able to discern the title of the book), which will be fun (for the first week or so, before the novelty wears off), but it does mean me exercising a modicum of responsibility vis avis not getting rat-arsed the night before a commute. A miniscule price to pay for what is, officially, The World’s Greatest Job.










Thus it is that a certain Scrybe’s happy bunnyness (and its social basis) has been revealed. But, for those of you who did not comprehend the nature of my current euphoria, please find it depicted for you in t-shirt form below…..




But!!! There are further reasons for Scrybe’s happy bunnyness. And they are, in no particular order…..

(a) Scrybe’s pseudonym shortly being in print….for researchy type stuff. Sort of.
(b) Scrybe’s general fancying of persons unnamed
(c) Scrybe’s financial security (as guaranteed by TWGJ – see, it does everything!)
(d) Scrybe’s New Series! To be innovatively entitled, “constituency Focus,” it shall, quite surprisingly, consist of a short series of “focus posts” exploring the issues pertinent to, and dynamics of, specific constituencies in and around LDN.


Oh, and soon….I shall know more about Bob Piper’s local area than Bob Piper himself! (This is partially true, but included purely to verify if he is reading…I await some interesting comments).


Now, who's coming to my celebration drinks? :-)




• Admittedly I got in a while a go, but blogger was playing up, so I typed this up in word.

** To be fair, “headhunted” is somewhat misleading, since I am not the only nor the best person in the country to do my job. Suffice it to say that neither post had been advertised and I got first refusal, so to speak, and those recruiting were rather receptive (eager?) about the idea of recruiting me. Update: that is being headhunted, according to Andrew Brown.

*** The pictures are, of course, of legendary supakewl actor Alan Rickman. My boss just resembles him, mannerism wise. Minus the surliness, thankfully. My boss may or may not have a page on the frankly shitty CiF - but even if he does, he still gets the kewl-vote (the kewl-vote is, of course, recognised by all leading psephologists).