Real Business

Running this country is just like running one big business.

I saw that Lord Sugar has been quoted as saying of his new Apprentice contestants: “On paper you all look very good but then so does fish and chips”. I start recruiting this week and I have to say my fish and chips look pretty stale and my newspaper soggy.

Here’s a frightening statistic: violence among women aged 15-44 causes more death and disability worldwide than war, cancer, malaria or traffic accidents.

I'm going to stick my neck out here and proclaim this week that women bosses have it rough. And female leaders in the manufacturing sector have it rougher than most.

It's all very well telling people to stop working 60-hour weeks. But when do workaholic entrepreneurs realise it's time to get off the treadmill?

When furniture entrepreneur Jan Cavelle had to let several members of staff go over the summer, she was hit by a tidal wave of verbal abuse. Employment law meant she couldn't fight back.

Just how far has our obsession with style and image gone?

The heavily publicised picture of family businesses being strong on ethics, quality, filial love and long-term principles is, sadly, very rare. Believe me, I would know.

The public sector purse is shrinking. Unemployment’s rising. Are we missing something?

Come on Britain! Come on British government! Above all, come on British manufacturers. Our country needs us.

It's time Vince Cable proved himself – with a complete overhaul of debt-collection systems.

What would happen if people in government actually spent their time concentrating on improvements to the state of Britain? 

I’m not convinced we’re over the worst of this recession. In fact, I’m inclined to believe that all those headlines about economic growth figures came from pre-election government spin doctors, trying to persuade the British public that Labour’s policies had worked a treat.

Doing the BBC Essex Loud Women show on Friday was great fun.

We're approaching the end of the third quarter of our financial year – and we're way, way behind the targets I had set in our business plan, which is a bit grim to say the least.