Hi there Steven,

I'm Simon I work for ICIS, a speciality information, intelligence and news service for the global chemicals industry.

I've always tried to work for magazines or organisations with global or at least European in the title, the travel is better that way.

I started blogging a couple of years ago after a meeting here at work and did it at the same time as my day job on my magazine, now my role's changed and a good part of my day is spent blogging on the Big Biofuels Blog. Biofuels are very big at the moment, and I try to keep a skeptical eye on the sector. I also podcast, with a group of colleagues, we're exploring the opportunities that these type of new media offer.

But it is quite different from most of the rest of my work history which has been spent on magazines written for people working in the polymer and chemicals sectors.

As I'm sure you know we've had the Christmas and New Year celebrations here in the UK and the year is settling down into its routine. It's winter.

We're expecting the possibility of snow later in the week. About 1cm snow is enough to disrupt the trains, roads etc. 2cm would just about stop London, which is frankly pathetic.

I originally come from Derby, home to Derby County Football Club (hooray!) but I've lived in London for 20 years.

The Chinese New Year is celebrated here well enough for me to know that I'm a snake and this is the year of the pig.

I hope you had a good time at home for the New Year.

Simon