Huveaux Comment

Comment included within Scotsman article:
Perhaps of greater significance than what this says about academic and political publishing, is what it says about the on-line learning and electonic publishing markets.

Prior to their £12m deal for Leckie & Leckie, Huveaux spent around £24m on Epic, one of the UKs leading e-learning companies. The idea being that their expertise would generate a leap forward in electronic publishing, whilst also giving Epic a new source of e-learning content.

The revised earnings and drop in Corporate value, suggests that great leap forward has not happened.

What with the news from DA the other week, and the snail like pace with which both public and private sectors are adopting technology, are we ever going to be able to sustain a profitable e-learning industry?

Bird of Prey Conference

According to The Scottish Government website:
The world's largest conference on birds of prey is being held in Scotland for the first time this week on the banks of Loch Lomond.

eBay Sales

A few items listed on eBay:
Kenwood ES416 Espresso Maker
Pioneer DVD player
Nokia 7600 Mobile Phone

Three Teams, 3 Wins

This is the first season in a long time where Cumbernauld have been able to field three senior teams on a regular basis, and whilst the 1st XV are setting their sights on promotion, the 2nd XV have been a bit erratic, but are at least winning more than they are losing. It has however been a difficult start to season for the 3rd XV.

But things are starting to look up for the 3rd XV in their first year of league rugby with a 12 points to nil win against Cartha. And add to this the fact that all three teams were at home this weekend and that all three teams came away with victories, then things certainly seem to be on the up and up at Cumbernauld.

The Needs of the Team

It was a big weekend of rugby, with some significant developments in both local and world rugby.

Both Ireland and Wales (who saw themselves as outsiders for the world cup) find themselves going home early after failing to qualify for the quarter finals, whilst Scotland managed to scrape together a victory against Italy to give themselves a Quarter Final shot at Argentina.

At a local level, Cumbernauld lost all five games at the weekend, with the 1st XV losing by a point after Waysiders scored in the last minute, the 2nd XV were, well, 2nd best against Kilmarnock in a dismal display that highlights the importance of training together and sticking to a game plan. Whilst on Sunday all the youth teams lost, but at least showed they have the potential to improve.

The theme coming from the weekends rugby is playing together as a team though.

Didn't see much of the Welsh game, but from reading the reports it sounds like player power is what determines things, with a 1st half performance which suggests they did their own thing on Saturday, with the coach then being fired almost immediately on their failure to progress.

The Irish have great individually talented players in their squad - some of the best in the world, but were unable to put it together as a team during the World Cup.

Whilst Cumbernauld (well the 2nds and U17s at least) need to define a clearer game plan, and play to the needs of the team.