Sathnam Sanghera



Profile:
Full name: Sathnam Sanghera

Area of interest: Society and culture; Business culture; Media industry; Asian culture

Journals/Organisation: The Times

Email: [mailto:sathnam@gmail.com sathnam@gmail.com] | [mailto:sathnam@thetimes.co.uk sathnam@thetimes.co.uk]

Personal website: http://www.sathnam.com

Website: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/sathnamsanghera

Blog:

Representation: http://www.sathnam.com/Contact

Networks: https://twitter.com/Sathnam



Biography:
About: Previously chief feature writer at the Financial Times

Education: Wolverhampton Grammar School; Christ’s College, Cambridge University: English Language and Literature (1st), 1998 See Alumni - Christ's College, University of Cambridge

Career: First jobs were at a burger chain, hospital laundry, market research firm, sewing factory and a literacy project in New York. Financial Times: graduate trainee, news reporter in UK and US - specialised in the media industries; Chief Feature Writer; joined The Times in 2007
 * see: sathnam.com - Biog

Current position/role: Commentator


 * also writes/has written for: Management Today magazine - car reviewer Motor Mouth column

Other roles/Main role: Author

Other activities:

Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight:
 * AIM magazine - profile: Sathnam Sanghera, from bunny to columnist, 27th August 2007
 * Time Out magazine Interview, by David Batt, 5th March 2008
 * The Asian Writer blog - interview Getting to know Sathnam Sanghera, 13th May 2008
 * How different faiths embrace Christmas - THE SIKH FAMILY: Sathnam Sanghera, a Times writer, spends Christmas with his brother-in-law, who is pictured with one of Sanghera's nephews, in Wolverhampton - The Times, 20th December 2008

Broadcast media: Interview on BBC Radio 4, Midweek - March 12th 2008

Video:

Controversy/Criticism:

Awards/Honours: Young Journalist of the Year: British Press Awards, 2002; HR Journalist of the Year: watson Wyatt Awards for Excellence; Newspaper Feature of the Year: Workworld Media Awards, 2005; Article of the Year: Management Today Writing Awards, 2005

Scoops:

Other:



Books & Debate:


Latest work: If you don't know me by now: a memoir of love, secrets and lies in Wolverhampton OCLC182663543, 2008 (paperback title - The Boy With The Topknot, released April 2009) - shortlisted for the 2008 Costa Biography Award, the 2009 PEN/Ackerley Prize and named 2009 Mind Book of the Year

(see: Sathnam Sanghera learns first hand what readers think of If You Don't Know Me by Now - The author went in disguise to hear his book being ripped to shreds by a Wolverhampton Book Group for BBC Two's Culture Show - The Times, 22nd March 2008) -

Speaking/Appearances: http://www.sathnam.com/Events

Current debate:



The Times:
Column name: Sathnam Sanghera

Remit/Info:

Section:

Role: Columnist and feature writer

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:sathnam@thetimes.co.uk sathnam@thetimes.co.uk]

Website: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/sathnamsanghera

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Tuesday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length:



Articles: 2016

 * We need to talk about why coming second doesn’t mean being second best - I was struck, on the way back from the US this week, by a piece in The Wall Street Journal bearing the headline: “Vodafone Is Satisfied Staying in Second Place” - 16th December
 * Hang the DJ: I have been to too many formal black-tie dinners - Over the years, I have spent many hundreds of hours at formal industry dinners wondering why they are so terrible - 9th December
 * Gig economy can leave you on the rocks if you don’t pick up the vibes - The other day I was, as most writers are most weeks, invited to speak at a literary festival - 25th November
 * Ignore experts who would ban talk of politics at work: it’s the best place for it - Even if you loathe someone’s political point of view it is hard to truly despise them if you have seen them struggle with a vending machine earlier that day - 11th November
 * Support for racial equality at work faces a perfect storm of challenges post Brexit - A great deal has been written about how the decision to leave the European Union has changed the atmosphere on our streets (with a rise in race hate crimes), and in politics (with a sharp veer to the right), but not much on how it has affected business culture - 4th November
 * Why I have an appetite for a slice of an otherwise tasteless pumpkin pie - The genius of SSP is that it is essentially an anti-brand. Everything it does defies marketing convention - 28th October
 * Silicon Valley is packed with weirdos and geeks. What can they teach us about life? - I once got into trouble for taking issue with Steve Jobs’s commencement speech at Stanford on the ground that he was clearly dysfunctional but many modern tech types make Jobs look positively well-adjusted - 21st October
 * I was brought up to revere gold but my passion for it has melted - In a misogynistic Indian culture where even land is sometimes stolen from women, gold is often the only asset an Indian woman can rightfully possess - 7th October
 * People who make a career out of giving careers advice may be wasting their time - couldn’t help but feel sorry for Dennis Parsons, the Liberal Democrat councillor who resigned last week after suggesting that school careers advisers should consider prostitution as a line of work for pupils - 30th September
 * If paper didn’t exist in the digital world, you would have to invent it - I can’t remember the last time I had to remember a password to access a notebook, or when a book last crashed - 23rd September
 * Being afraid to take days off sick is not a healthy state to be in - The briefest glance at what has happened to Hillary Clinton this week ... teaches us that turning up for work when sick is a false economy - 15th September
 * Forget building extra runways - Let’s first fix the appalling transport links to London airports - 9th September
 * The week I tried binary options trading — and lost almost £10,000 - The plan, this week, was to dabble in binary options trading with a small amount of my own money, lose it, and thereby demonstrate the danger and idiocy of the financial fad - 2nd September
 * Let’s beat the drum for the bizarre bonding rituals beloved of business - Apparently, as part of his effort to get developers at Apple to transition from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X, Steve Jobs held a mock funeral for the operating system at the 2002 Worldwide Developers Conference - 19th August
 * The quality of politeness is ever so British but it’s holding us back - 22nd July
 * Andrea Leadsom exaggerating her achievements is just part of City life - cannot pretend not to have enjoyed every single second of the controversy raging over the facts of Andrea Leadsom’s City career - 8th July
 * Blundering politicians provide a painful lesson in how not to resign - All kinds of people have learnt all kinds of painful lessons this week - 1st July
 * We got rid of empire, now we must fight for social equality - So many things about contemporary society, good and bad, can seemingly be explained by the legacy of empire - 10th June
 * Fund manager losing your fortune? Turn to an expert: my Indian mum - I think most British Indian mums of her generation would, in general, be thriving if they were investing in the City today - 15th April



Articles: 2014

 * No names, no pack drill: the delights of app-based banter - 8th August
 * Companies can learn from the best features of schools 1st August
 * Memoir reveals more about being a poor PA than it does about bad bosses - The attention being lavished upon Victoria Knowles’ “explosive” self-published memoir, The PA, has been making me nervous - 25th July
 * Dear workers: To move up in the world, learn to love the group email - 18th July
 * How to put yourself head and shoulders above your colleagues - 11th July
 * Marketing’s current fad for talking gibberish makes no sense at all - 4th July
 * Leaders who want to advance the cause of diversity should do us all a favour - 27th June
 * Backed into a corner, convenience stores have come out fighting - 20th June
 * There’s a whiff of desperation when staff go shoeless - 13th June
 * Luxury is hardly ever worth having, unless you’re upgraded on a flight - 6th June
 * Some free advice about social networking: #youdon’tneedit - 30th May
 * Five easy steps to becoming a male feminist in the modern workplace - 23rd May
 * How I learnt to cry, aged 37 - ‘I find I am crying at everyday scenes. I’m moved to tears in banks, in cafés and on the street’ - 25th January



Articles: 2013

 * Beta male: I want to be alone - I’m a bachelor. No, I don’t want company. Don’t even think about popping round - 5th October
 * Beta male: men’s fashion rules - ‘Straight men never have any fashion sense – all we notice is the amount of flesh on display’ - 14th September
 * ''The joys of leaving the party early' - ‘When invited to a reception at No 10, I go, even though I don’t want to’ - 24th August
 * Speed dating, Punjabi style - ‘As a 35-year-old weed who does not own a car, I am past it in the marriage market’ - 29th June



Articles: 2012


Articles: 2011

 * Boris is no Churchill, but neither is he a part-time mayor for writing a book - Living and working in the real world can sometimes help inspire writing - 31st October
 * Stone Roses rock, getting tickets doesn’t - 23rd October
 * A strange link in the chain - So, what was the prime minister’s office up to during the week that Dr Liam Fox was engulfed by accusations of murky connections to lobbyists, security analysts and defence contractors? - 17th October
 * X Factor shows us Jobs was wrong - You need to watch this TV show for only a few minutes to see why it is sometimes a mistake to pursue one’s dreams - 11th October
 * How to spend it? We’ll show you - What really grated was Quintessentially giving an award for Philanthropist of the Year - 4th October
 * A gift for left-wing WikiLeaks fans - Interest in the memoir of Julian Assange has increased with an appealing air of scandal, surreptitiousness and intrigue - 27th September
 * It’s no surprise that the hyper-achieving have colourful love lives — success and sex are linked - It’s none of our business what people do in their private lives unless they break the law - 20th September
 * Will Kate’s dress end up like Diana’s? - The absurd veneration of Diana’s dresses and artefacts is another illustration of the deification of her memory - 13th September
 * All pop music is black in origin - The complaint that white artists are being celebrated for appropriating black music is an old one - 6th September
 * no crime if a Constable cheats, fakes and steals'' - Our obsession with precise truth and accuracy is beginning to suffocate creative endeavour - 23rd August
 * to Enoch Powell being wrong about Sikhs'' - My community and my home town stand as a testament to the fact that Enoch Powell was not right - 16th August
 * success or failure, Asians just can’t win'' - It’s depressing that in parts of Britain ethnic minorities are seen as a problem - 9th August
 * in a strip club? Pretend to be gay'' - ‘It works: the first stripper, a Hungarian sporting an unconvincing blonde wig, smiles sympathetically and moves on’ - 6th August
 * on the right track to get the UK moving'' - It really is ridiculous that the rail journey from Birmingham to Leeds takes as long as one from London to Brussels - 2nd August
 * off: the dead beat poets’ society loses balance'' - Anything to do with News Corporation is deemed innately evil by certain liberal types - 26th July
 * it’s the internet you should worry about'' - The internet is increasingly a power to be reckoned with, yet the public inquiry appears to have overlooked this aspect - 19th July
 * I have fallen back in love with newspapers'' - Days before Twitter decided that all things Murdoch were evil, I had an experience so chilling that I’ve been off it since - 12th July
 * of Cambridge’s fashion sense is flagging'' - Last week my best friend got married. As the best man I prepared a speech. It began, as tradition dictates, with a compliment about the beautiful blushing bride. In a topical reference to Kate Middleton, I wrote that she “made the Duchess of Cambridge look like Les Dawson”- 5th July
 * blocked me, Jemima? How typically posh of you'' - My online encounter with Khan is an indication of what would happen if discrimination of the posh were outlawed - 14th June
 * S. Naipaul is a rebel without cause'' - It’s important to remember, when considering his outburst, that the Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul doesn’t really like anything - 7th June
 * for extremists? Search me not Margaret Drabble'' - Puzzled as to why security guards choose to check the belongings of bespectacled middle-aged white ladies - 31st May
 * kids need to know their Bible basics'' - Even if you’re not a Christian, it’s important to understand the cultural references of the Bible - 17th May
 * booze, banter — no wonder Ed’s after a hag-do'' - The Labour Party leader is right to invite his partner to his celebration - 9th May
 * posh is your ’hood? Take the Tesco test'' - A tale of two cities: differing reactions to the opening of Tesco stores - 3rd May
 * mental illness, happy ever after isn’t in the script'' - Catherine Zeta-Jones’s battle with bipolar creates more myths than it dispels - 19th April
 * kimono is open: I’ve got mushroom syndrome'' - What have turkey baster and a potato got to do with business? - 12th April
 * histories of dates with no destiny'' - The general response to the sensational tale of Sarah Kemp and George Bentley, who signed up to a website looking for love only to discover in the process of being set up on a date that they were long-lost siblings, seems to have been: yuck - 5th April
 * secret life of a corner shop'' - Exhausting, dispiriting and poorly paid – Sathnam Sanghera gets a job at Kent News in the heart of the Black Country - 2nd April
 * every spiv knows, we’re in the market for despair'' - The Lapland New Forest was essentially a minor fraud case that greatly amused the public - 22nd March
 * night in’ or pigging out? It’s junk either way'' - Fast food will be served with calorie counts — but will that stop British people from eating it? - 15th March
 * says he’s had his Phil. He’s not the only one'' - Phil Collins had a point when he announced his retirement from music the other day with the words “people grew to hate me ... I don’t think anyone’s going to miss me - 8th March
 * this be the end of the Piers Morgan show?'' - British brashness does not come across well in America - 28th February
 * the racists speak out. The debate will do us all good'' - There’s a huge divide between how such issues are discussed in private and how they are discussed in the media - 22nd February
 * me from the tedious tyranny of the iPhone'' - Nokia and Microsoft have quite a job on their hands, but I hope they succeed - 15th February
 * and ye shall find ... an It girl’s Indian quest'' - I’d like to extend my very best wishes to former It girl Alexandra Aitken who has recently changed her name to Harvinder Kaur Khalsa, donned a white turban, and married Indian spiritual teacher - 8th February
 * Or just hacked off by your voicemail?'' - This is the 21st-century equivalent of pretending you’re not in and making your dad take a message - 1st February
 * want to go to this Ugly Bug Ball?'' - There are few meaningful connections to be made at the schmooze-fest in Davos - 24th January
 * sea and stress: the honeymoon should be over'' - Sex and sunstroke don’t mix, so why go on holiday straight after getting married? - 19th January
 * Asian males can be calm over typecasting'' - 11th January
 * value'' - ‘I’ve been mistaken for an EastEnders actor, a cast member of Goodness Gracious Me, an Asian Labour minister and a chauffeur’ - 8th January
 * power'' - Contrary to received wisdom, Sathnam Sanghera confesses that the only thing he ever pulled in a car is a caravan - 1st January



Articles: 2010

 * it’s true: the Hurley bird catches the worm'' - Elizabeth Hurley’s affair with Shane Warne, the Australian king of spin, is over. Who’s to blame? Technology, for starters... - 20th December
 * LRB personals, and with it our GSOH'' - I am heartbroken that this quirky institution is leaving -The news that the personals column in the London Review of Books is ending in February after more than a decade has made me feel the same way I did about MFI’s demise a few years ago: I never went in myself, but am sad about it nevertheless - 18th December
 * like an Indian family — but with no turbans'' - Why is my Punjabi mother so excited by royal weddings? - 27th November
 * blame Bercow, it’s hard to drive a bargain'' - The Commons Speaker’s preference for chauffer driven journeys has raised public eyebrows, but do the numbers actually add up? - 16th November
 * is raising its fees? I can’t drink to that'' - Instead of making students pay so much for their courses, why not flog some of the college plonk? - 13th November
 * freak: Obama’s not a secret Muslim'' - What I did to prove I was a decadent Westerner - 27th October
 * darkies at Downton Abbey: you love it'' - It’ll be all white on the night - 20th October
 * classic car situations we should be testing'' - I was delighted to hear Mike Penning, the road safety minister, announcing changes to the British driving test. About time! - 13th October
 * Wills has put me off having children'' - This posh fashion brand for students and public school students is bewildering - and offensive - 2nd October
 * Places: is it creepy or cool?'' - Despite concerns about personal safety and privacy, the new social networking service will prove wildly popular - 25th September
 * Cambridge University deserves a first in pomposity'' - All the time I was there it made me feel alienated — and it still does - 15th September
 * and fading rock stars'' - Why has the British Chinese community been slow to take offence at Morrissey’s comments on the attitude to animal welfare? - 10th September
 * dating life of the beta male'' - ‘We conducted an entire relationship over text message. I still don’t know what to make of it’ - 28th August
 * boldly go to a Universe where the science is easier'' - The problem with space science in the 21st century: it is utterly impenetrable - 25th August
 * wine? By ’eck, it won’t go down well in Dudley'' - The hilarity of the news in The Times on Monday that, as a result of our warming climate, melons grown in the Midlands are about to go on sale in British supermarkets, was tempered for me by the revelation, in the same piece, that there are now “vineyards, growing as far north as Yorkshire” - 11th August
 * Big Society idea: put the kids to work'' - If it hadn’t been for my factory job I’d have moved on to crime and crack - 4th August
 * with death threats wears a guy down'' - It drove Rushdie so bonkers he said that he’d rediscovered his Muslim faith - 22nd July
 * I’m a scary ethnic type, why do I own a cat?'' - Even white Anglo-Saxons, who will still account for 79 per cent of the British population in the year 2051, have an ethnicity - 14th July
 * lists for creativity just a bit too creative'' - I’m not sure when I began losing faith in lists and rankings. Maybe it was in 2004 when Time magazine compiled a list of the most influential people in the world that featured the historian Niall Ferguson but somehow managed to omit Tony Blair - 12th July
 * all macho men: you don’t have to be gay to love shopping'' - Englishmen attempt to emphasise their masculinity by being hopeless at it - 7th July
 * Top Gear and Clarkson have run out of gas'' - Now the Tories are in power, how much sense does the show make? - 30th June
 * we desperately need new rules of engagement'' - Let’s face it, extravagant wedding proposals are an exercise in narcissism - 24th June
 * off the BBC: it’s old lags’ work scheme is a winner'' - This is Auntie’s best idea since it axed Eldorado - 27th May
 * Labour, but I want the Conservative candidate Paul Uppal to win'' - I’m a Labour voter, but Tory candidate Paul Uppal winning in the Wolverhampton South West constituency would really please me - 5th May
 * Clegg: the blandest politician I’ve ever met'' - The idea that this man is going to re-energise British politics is preposterous - 28th April
 * Eton and Goldman Sachs need is a damn good thrashing'' - People talk of Goldman’s offices in the tone they use for Eton’s playing fields - 21st April
 * Malik: I just called to say I’d love to get wed on the phone'' - This is a practice that should take off in the West - 14th April
 * family has a story — but don't tell me'' - I can’t think of a single revelation produced by a single genealogist that hasn’t made me think: meh - 7th April
 * to explain the web in 7,000 words to your mum in Punjabi'' - Short of interviewing Nick Clegg, it was the most boring thing that I’ve ever done - 31st March
 * Too Poor for Posh School made me weep'' - My life was transformed by an act that’s been reduced to level of a pseudo-Dickensian gimmick on a reality TV programme- 17th March
 * you have nothing to lose but your petitions'' - Stop sneering at the street demonstrations in Greece — we’re not going to change the world by forming Facebook groups - 10th March
 * to see the back of the Asian Network? I'm not'' - The station has failed: it started with an audience of 5,00,000, now its down to 360,000 - 3rd March
 * but chatroulette isn’t my idea of fun'' - I found chatroulette creepy and depressing, like being trapped on the Tube with a bunch of exhibitionist nonentities - 27th February
 * cringe factor on the day that I came out'' - The reason I took so long to tell my parents was that I was terrified of my mother’s reaction - 16th February
 * immigrants should be allowed to stay'' - Those here for five years, who can support themselves and have no criminal record, should get an amnesty - 10th February
 * for single men to massacre Valentine’s Day'' - I were going out with someone, I think I’d dump her just to experience the thrill of being alone on February 14 - 2nd February
 * the end, we’ll pay a high price for this free-for-all'' - The enthusiasm of publishing for the e-book is bizarre. Just look what happened in the music world - 26th January
 * a class of my own when it comes to eating peas'' - The most bewildering thing about the middle class is its reverence towards the upper classes - 19th January
 * politicians by their dress sense'' - MPs dress badly or blandly and picking one over another is like ranking footballers according to their cooking skills - 12th January
 * the car, it’s easier to hop on a bus'' - It 's come to a point where it would be cheaper to hire grown men to carry you around London rather than drive into it - 5th January
 * especially idiotic business moments get my awards for 2009'' - What did surprise me was the quote, next to my name. It was, all in all, a masterpiece of selective quotation - 2nd January



Articles: 2009

 * don’t have to speak the lingo to get the gist'' - We understand more languages than we realise - 23rd December
 * think cats are wonderful, but I don’t want one'' - Even though I consider it unfair, I lack the backbone to tackle the social stigma of single male cat ownership - 15th December
 * Yentob’s breathtaking arrogance'' - Calling Alan Yentob a 'TV maverick' is a bit like labelling Russell Brand 'frigid' or Gordon Brown as 'touch-feely' - 8th December
 * that can trap you on your path to the top'' - I can think of at least 56 things that shouldn’t damage your career development, but do, nevertheless - 3rd December
 * e-mail has become the new snail mail'' - Compared with text messages and instant messaging, e-mail is an incredibly slow and inefficient method of communication - 1st December
 * you suffering from reader’s block?'' UK publishers launch 116,000 titles a year. I seem to trip over most of them on the way to the loo - 24th November
 * me ducks, sweetheart or hinny — it’s better than Satan'' - ‘Inappropriate’ terms of endearment are back causing offence. It’s time to calm down, darlings - 17th November
 * keep me stress-free, no more awareness days, please'' - 'Stress' may be the most meaningless and misued word in the English language - 10th November
 * may not be right for business'' - The corporate world seems to have only just woken up to the appeal of Twitter, but I don't know why it even bothers - 9th November
 * all be gripped by the Grewals'' - The new series is a watershed for those of us who grew up never seeing any brown faces on the telly - 3rd November
 * need to defend kids? The hell there isn’t'' - If this column were about puppies being held in indefinite detention with no judicial oversight, my inbox would be full - 27th October
 * of mirth, not blood, in my home town'' - Wolverhampton was a hotbed of tension in 1968, a year before my parents arrived. Now it couldn't care less about Nick Griffin - 24th October
 * to pixels: are online memorials vile?'' - One site offers customised e-mail alerts to notify users of the deaths of former friends, associates and colleagues - 21st October
 * the magic? Welcome back to dating hell'' - Could you excuse me a minute? My mother gets cross if I don’t call every 30 minutes - 13th October
 * but Breakfast at Tiffany's is simply racist'' - Breakfast at Tiffany’s makes The Black and White Minstrel Show look like a government ethnic minority recruitment campaign - 6th October
 * bookshops, Cliff Richard, pandas . . . your time is up'' - Nothing, it seems, is unworthy of being mourned, celebrated and being subjected to attempts at reincarnation - 29th September
 * long as they take their tablets, the mentally ill pose little risk'' - The effects of schizophrenia on my family have been, and continue to be, harrowing - 22nd September
 * Wolverhampton’s answer to Barack Obama, but finding a voice'' - Here's the story of how, after all these years, I managed to set aside my glossophobia, put on a brave face and speak out - 21st September
 * bright business idea: Dragons’ End'' - Let’s face it, PR opportunities are the reason for their involvement in this show - 8th September
 * can read David Cameron like an open, leather-bound book'' - The Tory leader is a bit like the Smythson brand - 2nd September
 * no beef with part-time vegetarians'' - Thanks to LA trendies, my peculiar dietary habits are suddenly fashionable - 18th August
 * chucking out my Bros single — it’s time to move on'' - This relentless nostalgia is just unhealthy - 11th August
 * rears its noisy head in the British Library'' - All libraries are petri dishes of sexual tension but the BL is extreme - 28th July
 * nothing good about Bollywood'' - It might be popular with everyone from Danny Boyle to Britney Spears, but I’ll always see it as tedious and moronic - 21st July
 * day in paradise as life gets cryptic'' - In the beginning, logging in at work was a simple business - 20th July
 * Martin’s commuter car is an abomination'' - We all know about environmental concerns, but Middle England will always want a bit of James Bond glamour on the road - 14th July
 * can ignore an inconvenient truth, as long as they admit it'' - Memory is unreliable, history is subjective and writers use poetic licence. The crime is in failing to acknowledge it - 7th July
 * vulgar, fat and rude — and I don’t mean Americans'' - Many of the stereotypes that the British propound about Americans are actually applicable to us - 30th June
 * thing at a time: they say your IQ drops by ten points when you start multitasking'' - University tests prove that, if you try to respond simultaneously to e-mails, texts and phone calls, you become dumber - 15th June
 * dating should be like more buying a house'' - Houses tell you about people: if you have no book shelf, you have no no soul; if you have a cellar, you're kinky - 9th June
 * M&S rubber chicken back where it belongs'' - Sir Stuart Rose's disclosure about a rubber chicken raises more questions than answers - 8th  June
 * Sikhism succumbing to fundamentalism?'' - The fatal shooting at a Sikh temple in Austria shows up an ugly schism in a religion built on monotheism and equality - 2nd June
 * etiquette, a minefield in the workplace'' - In general, we human beings spend our lives pretending we're not animals, but in the office the depth of denial is even deeper - 1st June
 * Stephen Fry still deserves our respect'' - Is Stephen Fry a national treasure? - 26th May
 * can children not be spoilt?'' - The moment baby pops out, parents turn into the equivalent of the Milky Bar Kid - 19th May
 * are fine — but music’s better'' - I’d happily swap everything I have for a bit part in a pop moment - 12th May
 * the depressing symbol of Britain's multicultural failure'' - Stick people from different backgrounds in one place and they will have nothing to do with one another - 5th May
 * world's best job? No, thanks'' - Thirty five thousand applied, but being paid to snorkel round the Great Barrier Reef sounds like too much hard work to me - 28th April
 * show will be bad, Jacko - you know it'' - High wire stunts by David Copperfield and a warm-up routine from Shane Richie? - 21st April
 * links Asians, Jews and The Apprentice'' - the values of the stereotypical Jewish Mother are precisely analogous with the values of the stereotypical Asian mother - 14th April
 * dating Mr Liar-Liar will really set your pants on fire'' - Relentless frankness is unsexy - and makes dating about as seductive as arranging a mortgage - 7th April
 * the bankers: I blame Foxtons and Alain de Botton for the credit crunch'' - If I were a sacked banker with a pension pot of £16 million, I'm not sure that I'd give it back - 31st March
 * British way with corpses is best'' - Open-air funeral pyres are a tradition too far - 25th March
 * NHS is great, but I'm still going private'' - NHS or private? It's a silly question, in a way. As with Blur or Oasis? it prompts the counter-query: why the hell not both? - 24th March
 * official: house-buyers get it wrong'' - A new book explains that people make terrible decisions about property: even without mortgage confusion and market fears - 17th March
 * Stanford's crime is trying to make sense of the impenetrable imperial game of cricket'' - This is a game that can be played from morning to dusk for five days without a victor. It is a game that a certain portion of supporters watch in a state of semi-slumber, a game whose most famous trophy contains the century-old remains of a bail kept in a tiny urn - 3rd March
 * means you're going to live for ever - and get away with everything'' - As a normal person, if you do something daft, your mates will never let you forget it - 24th February
 * inertia, promotion, death: all can mark the end of a beautiful 'workship''' - Bitching is the glue that binds workplace friendships. If one of you gets promoted, you drift apart - 17th February
 * renowned column will cure ills and bring back loved ones'' - I remember 1984 and it was never that glamorous. Virgin staff are not that attractive - 10th February
 * is the modern leprosy'' - A well-intentioned campaign risks creating a dangerous myth: that all mental illness is the same - 5th February
 * of being single: why I'm asking my friend to headhunt a wife'' - Last week my colleague and fellow Wulfrunian Caitlin Moran questioned why various men she knew were suddenly keen to get married and, in one case, asking her to headhunt a wife - 4th February
 * the nameless are this shameless, the feedback frenzy has gone too far'' - On three recent occasions the hyperinflationary growth in hyperinteractivity has frightened me - 27th January
 * my alma mater wants my money, it had better come up with a good moral argument'' - Our higher-education establishment has suddenly woken up to the idea of tapping alumni for cash - 20th January
 * Britain a racist hellhole? Despite Prince Harry's comments, I would say no'' - Periodic race rows serve to illustrate to the general public how racism is a dying activity - 13th January
 * can take only so many graphic reports of genocide, murder and rape at 7.34am'' - The average morning is hard enough without being regaled with tales of murder and torture before you've even separated yourself from your hot-water bottle - 6th January



Articles: 2008

 * men on television have real pulling power'' - Watching World's Strongest Man has been a Sanghera family tradition for as long as I remember - 23rd December 2008
 * ye not, tweets can good for you'' - Explaining the appeal of any new technology is like having to explain a joke - 16th December 2008
 * Germaine, I won't let you diss the dish'' - Satellite TV, offering news in Indian languages, opened my parents' eyes to the world - 9th December 2008
 * I'd rather die than visit Dubai'' - Essentially it is Las Vegas without the sex and gambling, which is Las Vegas without a point - 2nd December 2008
 * kids are not revolting'' - Given a little responsibility, children will inflict more misery upon themselves than you might expect - 25th November 2008
 * the bluster; let's be candid about the cameras'' - No one is being frank about the speed-camera debate - 18th November 2008
 * Liberty shows her face I get an allergic reaction'' - If Desert Island Discs is anything to go by, Shami Chakrabarti is the dullest woman in Britain - 11th November 2008
 * under the whip requires a high pain threshold'' - On examination, being an MP looks as attractive as, well, a kidney ailment - 4th November 2008
 * - Why an economic dunce is my new financial adviser - 28th October 2008
 * my enthusiasm for hot cars is cooling'' - My mother won't sit on leather seats, and supercars are inevitably lined with holy cow - 21st October 2008
 * did I learn at uni? Sorry, it's all a bit of a blur'' - University is a monoculture fuelled by booze and an obsession with being ironic - 7th October 2008
 * have so many don'ts. What's a guy to do?'' - Modern man is an impossible position when it comes to seduction - 30th September 2008
 * lowdown on rubdowns: keep your hands to yourself'' - Massage etiquette is bewildering. Is it homophobic to request a woman? Can you object to the music playing in the background? Is it OK to fall asleep? - 23rd September 2008
 * you ever heard a guest complain that a wedding was too short?'' - Increasingly, couples seem determined to make the happiest day of their life last an actual lifetime - 16th September 2008
 * formula for solving Britain's problems: two negatives = a positive'' - Stick coppers on traffic duty; that way traffic keeps moving, councils keep generating revenue and cops are never more than a shout away - 9th September 2008
 * the best catch is a man who loves his mum'' - Research indicates that boys who love their mothers are more likely to be faithful - 2nd September 2008
 * don't hate dogs - they're just rational about them'' - Why we can safely reject the notion that dogs may not like ethnic minorities - 26th August 2008
 * hate to be mates with Robbie Williams'' - Friendships between celebrities and non-celebrities simply won't work - 19th August 2008
 * it's dead famous for, er, its tap water'' - Brum's second-city status becomes a tenet of your world view and self-esteem - 5th August 2008
 * is just a waste of time'' - There's nothing cool about being made to hang around waiting for someone to arrive for a meeting, lateness can be costly - 2nd August 2008
 * trademark rows are the best in the world'' - We may have lost our backbone industrially and creatively, but we are world leaders when it comes to brand infringement bickering - 29th July
 * the wrong loo? It's a sign of today's design delirium'' - Great design is only great if it is both pretty and functional - 22nd July 2008
 * Internet dating is for everyone (except me, of course) - Is getting drunk and pouncing on someone in a pub really less superficial? - 15th July 2008
 * a world of Coleen and Kerry, ‘Andrew Ridgeley' is no longer a valid unit for measuring failure'' - The former Wham! star has discovered something that too many modern-day celebs lack: dignity - 8th July 2008
 * renting beats buying'' - Despite the national obsession with investing in property, those of us forced to rent homes can still build nest eggs - 1st July 2008
 * not sporty, but when it comes to spelling we Indians are the bee's knees'' - Indian culture is fundamentally cerebral. We are a nation of nerds - 23rd June 2008
 * ban on mocking posh people? It's anti-political correctness gone mad'' - Reports that Her Royal Highness, Princess Bea, is being lined up with work experience on a national newspaper nearly had me choking to death on my Coco Pops. How typical of this country's lack of meritocracy! - 17th June 2008
 * Who needs birthdays? - I envied my parents recently when someone inquired, four months before the actual event, how I planned to celebrate my 32nd birthdays? - 10th June 2008
 * The divorce rate in Delhi has doubled: that's worthy of celebratory bhangra - As is so often the case with Indian data, the number doesn't quite withstand analysis - 3rd June 2008
 * Gerry Sutcliffe's inalienable right not to have an opinion - Gerry Sutcliffe, the junior Culture Minister in charge of pub licensing, has been getting a right kicking for telling a magazine that he didn't agree with government policy on taxing beer and spirits, then attempting to backtrack... - 23rd April 2008
 * English and education put me on the right path - The cultural isolation of my Indian immigrant family in the West Midlands during the 1970s and 1980s is probably the kind of thing Lord Goldsmith is seeking to prevent - 12th March 2008
 * Sorry Mum, but I'll marry who I want - Born and brought up in a closed, caste-conscious Sikh community, this young man has gradually adopted Western ways. In an extract from his new book, he explains to his mother why he will defy her and refuse an arranged marriage - (Arts & Entertainment, Book extracts) - 25th february 2008
 * Joining Allah’s war - Stand by for brickbats as Britz puts a human face on British Muslim terrorism. Our critic meets its maker - (Arts & Entertainment, TV & Radio) - 27th October 2007



The Times:
Column name: Business Life

Remit/Info: Business life and culture

Section: Business

Role: Commentator

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:sathnam@thetimes.co.uk sathnam@thetimes.co.uk]

Website: Business columnists

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Saturday

Regularity: alternate weeks

Column format:

Average length: 950 words



Articles: 2010

 * the sheer bliss of being a plumber in Powys'' - There was a time when £100,000 was, unquestionably, an obscene amount of money to pay for someone’s services - 27th September
 * leave? That’s what I call a bed of roses'' - Over the years I’ve envied BBC executives for all sorts of things. For their large, inflated salaries. For their gilt-edged pensions... - 20th September
 * a hotel room? Not on your scruffy teddy’s life'' - The only shocking thing, for me, about the William Hague affair has been the revelation that some people don’t think there’s anything wrong with sharing a hotel room with a colleague while on business - 6th September
 * best-qualified candidate is not always the best qualified'' - I have a highly talented friend who recently failed to get a job she had applied for and was so infuriated by the rejection that she called the employer to ask why. The reply infuriated her still further. She was, according to the nervous man who had interviewed her, overqualified for the position - 30th August
 * to make a dog’s dinner of selecting new staff'' - Over the years I have, in the course of writing this column, found myself evaluating all sorts of unconventional recruitment techniques - 23rd August
 * moving tale of sex and mugs and chewed pencils'' - My initial response to the news that BBC Breakfast is in turmoil after its top presenters threatened to quit if the show moves to Manchester was: get a grip - 16th August
 * nothing to be ashamed of, no reason for regret'' - 9th August
 * intentions are not enough to make a difference'' - Last week, on the day the Prime Minister launched his “big society” initiative to get volunteers to run more public services, I found myself resigning as a trustee from one of the charities I’m involved in - 26th July
 * of the sexes should be consigned to history'' - Ever wondered why there are so few female entrepreneurs in the field of technology? - 19th July
 * demise offers food for thought'' - I was incredibly annoyed to read last week that the Cuban authorities are abolishing a $350 million scheme that for years has given most people free meals at state-run workplace canteens - 6th July
 * at the top for the poker-faced insomniac'' - The business interview that appears in this newspaper on Mondays is accompanied by a box which asks a standard set of questions that include “What does leadership mean to you?” The responses can be disappointing — sometimes gnomic (“being honest”) and frequently clichéd (“allowing my people freedom to excel”) - 28th June
 * burning issue that time has forgotten'' - Just because no one is talking much now about race inequality in business, that does not mean the problem has gone away - 7th June
 * how should you talk to somebody who has just been given the sack?'' -In the past fortnight I’ve found myself chatting to the newly fired on three occasions, an occurrence that doubtless will become increasingly common as government cuts start biting and as the media recession intensifies, and each time have struggled to find the right thing to say - 31st May
 * naked truth about teambuilding'' - I caught five minutes of The Naked Office on Virgin 1. It was clearly a gratuitous excuse to get nudity onto the small screen - 24th May 2010
 * truth about Working Lunch'' - In a week of a euro crisis, the best the BBC business programme could do was to interview a food-mixer maker - 17th May
 * the delights of skilled manual labour'' - 3rd May 2010
 * don’t have to feel like Chiles to be childish'' - 26th April
 * hard day trying to avoid wasting time'' - People who work from home are familiar with the curse of distractions, but office life is even less productive - 12th April
 * envy at work is not necessarily a bad thing'' - 5th April
 * need harsher reality when going undercover'' - TV shows that put executives on the shop floor ignore the truth that some jobs are easy or even unnecessary - 29th March
 * line between success and narcissism'' - 22nd March
 * the message about voicemail'' - 15th March
 * or rentagob? Is there an expert we can ask?'' - 1st March
 * can’t write trust into a contract'' - 22nd February
 * fuss that HR makes about itself far outstrips its contribution to the world'' - 15th February
 * boundaries between work and romance'' - 8th February
 * blogs reek down to their white socks'' - 1st February
 * for our own jobs? We can take a hint, thanks'' - 25th January
 * gets down to nitty-gritty in recruitment'' - 18th January
 * views on both sides over sick leave'' - 4th January



Articles: 2009

 * especially idiotic business moments get my awards for 2009'' - 28th December
 * out of the Woods yet'' - The popularity of the references probably comes down to the fact that golf is more than just a game to many managers - 14th December
 * career break could last longer than you think'' - Sabbaticals might be in vogue but if you reckon you won't miss the company, perhaps the company won't miss you either - 10th December
 * British baker that caters to the average bloke'' - As banks teeter, media companies flounder, entire nations inch towards bankruptcy, Greggs is thriving - 16th November
 * could be taking their work too personally'' - Secretaries who moan that they are having to fufil personal tasks for their bosses should get over it - it's part of the job - 2nd November
 * hard-earned pay is the unkindest cut of all'' - The speed and equanimity with which people have accepted wage reductions has been astonishing - 25th October
 * national need to whinge is cause for complaint for any right-thinking person'' - The fact is there are situations where complaining is pointless and inadvisable - 19th October
 * the positive can be dangerous— what really helps is being lucky'' - Mindless positivity is damaging for all sorts of reasons - 12th October
 * resources departments: I've never understood the point of them'' - If there’s one lesson that has been provided by the economic turmoil of recent months, it is that if there’s an aspect of business that seems opaque, something you don’t quite understand, the chances are that you’re not the only one and you should spit it out - 5th October
 * of the ubiquitous brand that disappears'' - Vodafone keeps on making the same mistakes, spending too much money on marketing, advertising and celebrity endorsement - 28th September
 * hardworking PA can keep us all on our toes'' - For me it wasn’t having someone doing menial tasks that made the real difference but simply having another human around - 14th September
 * grip on its market is going, going ... gone'' - Frankly, anything, up to and including sleeping on an ironing board and eating ready-meals off the floor, is preferable to shopping on eBay in its current state - 7th September
 * and fast lessons for travelling gap students'' - I can’t think of anyone on the face of this planet more in need of PR advice than the family of Shanti Andrews, one of the two British law graduates who falsely claimed that they were robbed in Brazil - 31st August
 * can’t stress this enough . . . no, really, I can’t'' - Last week we learnt that Silvio Berlusconi is beginning a three-week summer holiday with medical treatment to relieve stress and that a Ministry of Defence press officer is claiming that being forced to tell lies about the war in Iraq has left him with a stress-related condition - 10th August
 * is so last year — time to send e-mails'' - The use of BlackBerries, iPhones and other smartphones is going to become acceptable in business meetings - 3rd August
 * to dodge the pitfalls of preparing a CV'' - There may be more advice available than pictures of Paris Hilton naked online, but there is nothing easy about compiling a CV - 13th July
 * Beer’s story illustrates awkward truths for business'' - No one seems to have picked up that, for all Cobra’s glitzy marketing efforts, people rarely drank the stuff - 6th July
 * for girls, fluffy, with heart shapes'' - The main problem in Flirting With Finance is its contention that finance is best understood when compared with romance - 29th June
 * thing at a time: they say your IQ drops by ten points when you start multitasking'' - University tests prove that, if you try to respond simultaneously to e-mails, texts and phone calls, you become dumber - 15th June
 * again or outside the box, jargon is useful'' - Would it not be dull if we all spoke like the Queen? Isn't evolution actually essential to the English language? - 18th May
 * isn’t all that bad; it just takes a little time off to realise there is worse'' - When thousands of job losses are being announced, taking the mickey feels obscene. Those of us still employed should be grateful - 3rd February



Articles: 2008

 * I was just saying to my ice crystals . . .'' - When Robert Peston's sideburns are discussed in the same tone as Britney Spears's midriff, I'm unsure what 'idiotic' means - 27th December 2008
 * of tedium in front of a computer: corporate gaming is just like real life'' - BP and IBM have conducted real business meetings in Second Life and business simulation games are, suddenly, everywhere - 6th December 2008
 * say it all when you say nothing'' - A good work-life balance involves never talking about work when you come home after another hard day - just ask Tony Blair - 22nd November 2008
 * demented stereotype to Shriti the Shriek'' - I need to return to a statement, it was only a footnote in a book, that got me into all sorts of trouble when I made it - 8th November 2008
 * corpses and marketing tips'' - Eveybody's talking about a West Midlands restaurant with more than a few problems in the health inspector's eyes - 25th October 2008
 * Threat to the tribe of management consultants - Africa's Masai people are not an ideal choice as an example to business — in fact as an organisation they are failing - 11th October 2008
 * industry dinners always fail to match up to our great expectations'' - Is there anything in life, apart from Charles Dickens novels, that is - and Stephen Poliakoff dramas, and Newcastle United - in which the gap between hype and reality is as large as it is with the “business dinner”? - 27th September 2008
 * title is just the measure of a job's worth'' - All women marry beneath them. Eighty per cent of success is showing up. Ninety per cent of everything is crud. The quality of food in restaurants is in inverse proportion to the number of signed celebrity photographs on the wall... - 13th September 2008
 * get what you pay for'' - Most experts concentrate on analysing commercial excellence, but it would be more useful if they focused on crap companies - 30th August 2008
 * the JLP really do no wrong?'' - It's true that John Lewis Partnership employees are allocated a slice of profits, but the more you're paid, the bigger your bonus - 16th August 2008
 * of a reformed joker'' - Their is just one problem with enforced business jocularity, put simply, corporate culture and comedy are fundamentally opposed - 19th July 2008
 * there a point to business training?'' - Business training is profoundly moronic as too many of these courses take very simple ideas and attempt to make them sound complex - 5th July 2008
 * power of small talk is a big deal'' - Did you know there are self-proclaimed 'conversation experts' out there who offer two-day seminars in the 'art of small talk'? - 7th June 2008
 * There really is no easy way to say this... - I only caught a glimpse of the headline over someone's shoulder on the Northern Line - “Boss fined for removing wife by e-mail,” it said - but appreciated the significance of the story immediately - 3rd May 2008
 * Wolverhampton v London: tale of two cities and how the young professional seeks a balance - It is not often that I open Forbes magazine and see an article I can relate to, but it happened with the March 24 edition, which featured a piece comparing the merits of three international cities from the perspective of a billionaire - 12th April 2008
 * What became of the stiff upper lip? It seems to have puckered up - I realise it has been a difficult week in business and finance, and you probably don't need any more bad news, but I'm going to give you some anyway - this development is too shocking to ignore - 22nd March 2008
 * Just say 'no' to your boss or heads will roll - I mentioned last week that I was attempting to tackle my workaholicism and received several e-mails in response, nearly all from current and former colleagues inquiring how I could claim to be addicted to work when I evidently did so little - 8th March 2008
 * Not now, I'm still working. Ask me later - A number of years ago... I attended a session of Workaholics Anonymous in London, with the intention of observing proceedings, and then mocking the idea of a counselling group for compulsive workers - 1st March 2008
 * Give me a Tesco over my local fleapits any old day - This Wednesday afternoon I did something totally out of character: I went for a stroll down the closest thing that my district of South London has to a high street - 9th February 2008
 * Work is making you mentally ill - Reports says work is affecting the mental health of thousands every year. How are businesses dealing with anxiety, depression and stress? - (Life & Style) - 5th February 2008
 * Your key, sir... and was that a Cuddilow? - There are few things in life – short of Bob Dylan and owning a classic sports car – where the gap between hype and reality is as extreme as it is with business travel - 18th June 2007

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News & updates:
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Links:

 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sathnam_Sanghera
 * Let us mourn the demise of the mustard-coloured sin bin - Some people make smoking look easy, slipping cigarettes out of boxes, lighting them and enjoying them in cool, seamless movements, but I've never got the hang of it. The first time I tried a cigarette, I threw up. The second time - trying to look cool at a bar - I put a Marlboro Light into my mouth backwards and tried to light the filter. So when, this time last week, I walked into the staff smoking room for my first ever ciggy break, I did so with trepidation - final column of Inside Business (FT) - 4th August 2006