Following our earlier entry, concerning the new Prime Minister's tailor, the concept of association, on the principle that if goods and services are good enough for the great and the good then they are good enough for me, remains in the news.
Royal Warrants are, justifiably, highly prized. They are granted to individuals or businesses which have supplied HM The Queen, or TRH The Duke of Edinburgh or The Prince of Wales.
Nobody will have missed the irony that the parting gift of HM The Queen to Gordon Brown, upon his resignation, was a set of photographs in frames supplied by Smythson of Bond Street, of which the wife of the new Prime Minister was, until this week, a director. The coincidence was simply by virtue of the fact that Smythson of Bond Street has held the Royal Warrant since 1964 (and thus, have supplied Her Majesty since at least 1959).
Harrods famously, and in a fit of pique, removed their Royal Warrants from their premises (pictured, left, in a very old photograph), during the public dispute the shop's owner had with our Royal Family. These particular warrants are back in the news following the sale of Harrods to a new owner. I am sure, the new owner will be keen to reverse the poor relationship that exists between Harrods and Buckingham Palace.
Is it important to businesses who their clients are? Yes of course. We publish our client list on this site.
Publishing more information about your clients is always sensitive. Winning a new client is cause for good publicity and should be agreed between supplier and client. And in the search for publicity by both, it is unlikely either would object. But both will want to ensure their company's messages and positioning are correct, complementary and complimentary to one another.
It's not complicated to achieve - if you know what you are doing. You can always call upon some experts to help; our contact details are at the top right of this page. And if you become a client of ours, we will agree how to publicise our new commercial relationship...to our mutual benefit of course.
Much has been written about the politics of our new government; the story has led the news agenda for over a week now, as we have followed the ups and downs of the most exciting election in living memory.
The twenty-four hour rolling news concept means that there is always a hunger for a new angle. In addition newspaper websites now carry video and the availability of news is greater than ever before.
This presents an opportunity for businesses to grasp the hook for their own stories. Two brilliant examples of this were in The Times yesterday. Richard James is a name that I hadn't heard before. It is a Saville Row tailor in London, favoured by our new Prime Minister It transpires that they made the suit worn by Cameron for the, now famous, Rose Garden press conference.
Four paragraphs, in which key messages, about the quality and cut of their suits and the price, were the result of some fast moving work by the Richard James' press officer, in editorial at no cost (we assume) to the tailor. But don't stop there. A further comment came from another commercial enterprise, Marsh and Parsons, a firm of estate agents, about the potential value of the Cameron family home (as seen on a party political broadcast recently). From this article we learn that they are a firm of estate agents specilaising in lettings (at good rates it seems) in the North Kensington area of London.
These are the opportunities your press office or PR consultant should be seeking out on your behalf. If they are not, then pick up the phone and call us. Our contact details are at the top right of this page. Oh and our fees aren't high enough for me to enjoy wearing a Richard James Suit, so your finance director will be happy too.
For some weeks now, I have been growing increasingly frustrated by the lack of responses to emails. This is nothing new. After twenty-five years in the corporate world (since before the advent of email), people have become busier and busier - at least in their own minds.
But the working world has changed in that time. With the arrival of emails and mobile telephones, the worker seems to be permanently attached to the workplace - and contactable. But less productive.
One of the byproducts of this is that people no longer need to make decisions, they just pass it up the line, by phone or email; no decision equals no accountability. Diaries are electronic and, it seems, the average workplace allows unlimited access to everybody's daily schedule. The net result is top executives, already pestered by their subordinates to make decisions they won't make for themselves, now sit throughout the "working day" - just before breakfast until after the kids go to bed - in meetings.
Emails and voice messages? Leave those until about 10pm and only deal with those that are critical. Presumably that includes confirming tomorrow's breakfast meeting.
Why has this happened? Is it that everybody is so important, or so lacking self-confidence?
Blue sky thinking is a horrible American expression. It means, in short, taking time to think about things that aren't part of your normal thought process. Reflect. Consider. Plan. See beyond the perimeter of your normal day.
This week I visited Primrose Hill, pictured above. Rising above Chalk Farm and Regents Park, you can see for miles. It has far-reaching views of every London landmark you can think of. A brilliant place to think and contemplate. What's your next project? What's that next big opportunity? What's that idea that will make your business ? We are here to help Contact us (details on the right hand panel of this page at the top) and we will come and talk to you. Tell you what, there is a bench at the top of Primrose Hill where this picture was taken from. We'll meet you there - and we'll bring the coffee.
As with other consultants involved in parliamentary lobbying, we took a close interest in the coverage of the General Election results last night. With a higher than anticipated turnout, however, results were coming in later than expected. We gave up at 3am but, if truth be told, we did not miss much before tuning back in at 9am this morning.
BBC coverage has moved on a pace since 1979 (pictured) although David Dimbleby was still the anchor.
But, despite the technical wizardry available, instantly, to the host of presenters on hand, one fundamental problem remained. How do you fill the space between 10pm, when the polls closed, and the first result coming in, as expected, from Sunderland. There was a lot of talking and not much to say.
It is worth bearing in mind, these days, that with twenty-four hour news coverage, media outlets have a lot of time to fill. This can be an advantage if your organisation can place a story appropriate to the programme when they have nothing to talk about. Whilst we are not suggesting that for election night, you have only to watch Sky News or the BBC News Channel, to begin to see where gaps could be filled with an imaginative placing of your story. Not sure how to do it? Our contact details are in the right hand panel at the top of this page.
Whenever two airlines merge it is difficult. Airlines have a proud heritage, a corporate history, a generally loyal workforce, a strong brand. So which bits of which airline do you keep and which do you lose? And which name do you use...especially if they two corporations are of similar size?
Today the creation of the largest airline in the world was announced, through the "merger of equals" of United and Continental. Sometimes, as with the
merger in 1970 of British United Airways and Caledonian, the legacy names can be incorporated into the new brand (British Caledonian in their case). But United and Continental could not easily achieve this. However in a masterstroke of marketing, the new airline will use the United name, but the Continental livery, thereby maintaining a substantial part of both airlines' loyal following (both internally and externally).
And, on the day of the announcement, they have already offered artist's impression of what their new aircraft will look like, flying under the strapline "let's fly together". The picture shows the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, for which United will be an early customer.
My previous entry, about the changing face of elections, is supported by further developments out on the hustings...the rather late arrival of the heckler. British politics is all about democracy. It's about being able to talk to your elected representative and, therefore, certainly, talking to those hoping to become your elected representative.
The heckler is one of the ways we can see how our potential representatives handle the cut and thrust of debate and the interaction with the electorate.
Politicians, and for that matter potential politicians, must not expect a sanitised environment in which they are protected from the very people they seek to serve. And they same applies to their response to the media. Like them or not, journalists have a legitimate role in reporting the campaign trail for the benefit of the electorate.
And so why should a heckler be forcibly manhandled from a room for heckling Gordon Brown? You have only to watch the video footage on the many news websites (Google "Julian Borthwick") to see the angry response of party workers when somebody asked Gordon Brown a question. Were they concerned about the PR fallout or just the fact that this was a variation from the strictly stage-managed event?
Slightly more natural was Nick Clegg calling for a heckler at a pub in Malvern to "pipe down" but this heckler was also forcible ejected from the venue. And David Cameron did not escape a small bunch of people calling for British jobs for British people in Stevenage.
This is politics. This is the process. If you don't like the fact people will disagree with some of what you say, don't stand. You cannot have the privilege of debate in the rarified atmosphere of Parliament without getting your hands a bit dirty out on the streets. Apart from anything else, isn't the hustings the fun bit?
More to the point was the delightful story of Gloria de Piero, a former television presenter standing for the seat of Ashfield in Nottingham. She is standing under the slogan of “I will be an MP you can approach.”
A couple of weeks ago, along with two other Parliamentary hopefuls in other constituencies, she was pursued by a Sunday Times reporter. She, and her minders, did everything she could to avoid the reporter. Her response, once cornered, was “But I don’t understand why you’re here. We’re only doing regional press. We can’t do an interview. We’ve been through this.” Why was she so afraid of talking to the Sunday Times? Most PR people would be delighted to achieve such brand exposure and, be under no illusion, a Parliamentary candidate is a brand that needs selling.
So guys, stop hiding, stop being precious and show us what you are made of and why we should elect you. Are your heckler patrols, made up from party workers, there to neutralise opposition? Answer the question...or can't you?
As a small boy, elections had a particularly happy association, as my school was always used as a polling station. The school was closed to pupils and we had an extra day off. But elections then seemed to be far more evident on the streets than they do now. Posters in windows, candidates in high streets on a Saturday morning and cars with loud speakers perched on the roof, allowing the candidate to yell their promises if elected.
It is perhaps a consequence of modern technology, and the eventual agreement by the three main English parties to participate in the televised debates, which has changed this.
Postal communication still seems to be used - although in my own constituency only with any enthusiasm by one party. An almost daily communication has followed from that party, right from the first which was delivered within 90 minutes of the election being called. However I have been offered no poster and I have seen no candidate...pity really I wanted an argument about small businesses, regional development agencies and the BBC. In fact I know the name of only one of those people hoping to be my representative from Friday.
I have already cast my vote, in fact in advance of the last televised debate, thanks to changes in the qualification for postal voting in recent years, but how long before we can embrace technology and be able to vote on line? Sorry but if banks can be trusted to manage my money and allow me to transfer thousands of pounds on line, I am sure my vote could be cast with reasonable security.
And on the subject of the televised debate, I think my prediction was right. The final of the three was the best. The BBC is good at this format, by virtue of having more experience. David Dimbleby was authoritative, the debate had structure and the participants were kept in order, meaning we gleaned more than we had during the previous week's muddled bun fight. The expected fallout of Gordon Brown's Rochdale comments didn't materialise, as he grasped the nettle in his opening comments and it didn't come back to haunt him again.
What is interesting is the media commentary since the debate, and also the change of direction of two newspapers. The Times has fallen squarely behind the Tories but most significant is the move this morning by The Guardian, long standing supporter of the Labour Party, to support the Lib Dems. Their editorial states "If the Guardian had a vote it would be cast enthusiastically for the Lib Dems." One assumes, without the aid of political analysis, that the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph remain Tory followers.
Shortly after ten past three in the afternoon, sixty years ago this Sunday, a BOAC Comet aircraft took off from London Airport heading towards Johannesburg. It was the maiden flight of a jet aircraft and it heralded the dawn of the jet age. Jet aircraft were about to bring flying and foreign holidays within reach of everybody. Flights for the price of a cup of coffee weren't envisaged then, but it wouldn't be long...
Eighteen years later, I made my own maiden flight and it was on board a BEA Airtours Comet from Gatwick Airport, opened only twelve years earlier. I remember little of the flight, which was to Cagliari in Sardinia, apart from being excited by the different airline food (something I still love to this day), and being given a jigsaw puzzle by one of the stewardesses. The puzzle was a picture of the aircraft which I sat and completed on the strange tray table in front of me. No "kids pack" rucksacks in those days.
The whole event had been special, because flying was unusual in those days. A car had picked the family up from home and driven us the twenty odd miles to London's new airport. My dad had bought me a book (The Cow Who Fell In The Canal by Phyllis Krasilovsky, a copy of which I have since managed to acquire), and my parents had taken my brother and me for something to eat in the airport's buffet.
Whether the magic of that day, which is firmly in my mind forty years later, was because it was my first flight, or because it was so different to the modern experience I don't know.
Airports and aircraft journeys still excite me but it is more akin to boarding a bus these days. The recent volcanic ash disruption proved that we have become far too dependent both on flying ourselves, and flights to carry the goods and supplies we crave. Gone are the days when flying was special. The female cabin crew no longer wear pillbox hats and white gloves, and now have to concentrate on a vast logistical operation that includes turnaround times and other commercial considerations. This concentrated and unseen effort ensures that hundreds of millions of us can now take to the skies.
Is this fond nostalgia through rose-tinted spectacles? Flying has lost its caché but is that a bad thing or a necessary consequence of our evolution? What do you think? Click here and tell us.
This is my moment (and that's not just the candidate!)
The media coverage of the General Election is turning out to be good sport. The ground-breaking leaders' debates have been good entertainment so far and this week's looks to be the best. But the local television and radio coverage is by far the most amusing.
It is always humorous when the local broadcasters, be it television or radio, try to get a local angle on a national story or - if they are really lucky - have a national story on their patch. The election provides such opportunity.
The leaders of the three largest English parties have all visited south Hampshire this week and so these observations are non-partisan. And for that matter, the geographical location is irrelevant; the same applies throughout the length and breadth of this great nation, including Wales and Scotland.
The arrival of the leader, in his bus, train or aircraft (depending on party) brings with it an entourage of party officials, advisers and travelling journalists. Already on site are the local candidate and the local press.
The local journalist seizes the moment, particularly if it is for television. He (or occasionally she) is a big noise in the area. On television every night at teatime; stopped in the local Tesco when trying to shop, with requests for autographs; opening village fairs; being guest of honour at school prizegivings and the myriad of other activities that befits a local celebrity. And now the chance to be a local Jeremy Paxman! Putting the leader on the spot with what the journalist thinks are the key questions affecting the area, posed with all the combative style they think Paxman would use, but without the subtlety needed to make it look professional.
And then the local candidate. Whatever is said, whatever is asked, however it is answered, standing there grinning from ear to ear, in every shot, nodding enthusiastically, hanging on every word uttered by the leader or, as they feel both comfortable and authorised to refer to them as, Gordon, Dave, Nick, Alex or Wyn.
Good sport...I can't wait until the local news this evening.
There are occasions when the task set a press officer looks impossible. “Selling in” a story to journalists, when the story is a bit thin on substance, and the journalist in question is a bit short of interest, can result in a lot of effort with little outcome. But that is all part of the job.
“Celebrities” now appoint people or agencies to “look after their PR” and achieve column inches or broadcast minutes for their client . Sherrie Hewson, the reported star of ITV1’s Loose Women chat show, has recently been one such personality to do this. Presumably this will ensure stories such as “Loose Women's Sherrie Hewson and Hannah Waterman clash over Come Dine With Me dinner” continue to appear in the Daily Mail.
Celebrities, sportsmen, politicians -and even television presenters themselves - want a piece of the action when it comes to media coverage. What makes it strange is when they bite the very hand that feeds them. BBC Sport reporter Rob Walker asked a reasonably sensible question of Ronnie O’Sullivan, the snooker player who is just through to his sport’s World Champions quarter finals (not even the finals!). Walker asked for comment that O’Sullivan is often seen to be his own harshest critic. "If someone says that to me again I'm going to stop the interview, because I'm fed up of hearing that," was the response.
Fair enough, now move along. There are plenty of other people waiting to be interviewed. Just watch day time television to see the vast range of fairly unimportant subjects being discussed.
The first mobile telephone (pictured left) was launched in 1973, having been invented by Martin Cooper and manufactured by Motorola. Cooper launched it by standing in a New York street and making a call.
Never did he anticipate the popularity of the mobile. I am sure, also, that he did not foresee the uses it would be put to (diary, address book, encyclopedia, navigation tool, music player...).
The original intention of the mobile telephone was to bring freedom to the user; but is that the case? For the cost of, what is now, a very cheap handset, and limitless calls for a low fixed rate, we are now at the constant beck and call of our employers, our family and friends. How many people do you see engaged in earnest business calls on a Saturday morning, whilst queuing with their family in a supermarket, at the park, outside the cinema?
But mobile phones also mean that our working population are not as good at managing as they used to be. Not so long ago, outside normal office hours, many operational businesses and organisations had a system of duty managers; people who could make a decision away from the office when they were faced with an unusual set of circumstances. It was this role that helped them in the decision making process which would improve their competency as a manager of the future.
Not so any more. As mobile telephones have become ubiquitous, the reluctance of anyone to make a decision has reduced. Instead, it is all too easy to ring the boss and, in getting him or her to make the decision, absolves the caller of the responsibility that goes with the decision making process.
And we may speak to more people but we also seem to meet fewer. Some people that I feel I know, because I talk to them regularly, I have never actually met...I may not even know their surnames.
It became a fad a couple of years ago to have "no email Fridays", perhaps we should apply the same to the use of a mobile telephone.
During the second leaders' televised debate yesterday, hosted by Sky News and mediated by Adam Boulton, their political editor, an amusing Tweet (message published on the Twitter social media website) circulated. It read:
"So nice to give a platform to a minority group. Now the nation knows what Sky News looks like."
Sky, which regularly calls to be considered one of the big boys in news output (as any press officer who has been rung by them will testify), last night had their chance to prove that they were big hitters in the media game.
But they hardly proved themselves capable of hitting the ball into the crowd, let alone out of the park (to continue the baseball metaphor). At times you could be forgiven for thinking that Adam Boulton had either dozed off or had gone for a cup of tea. The leaders seized the opportunity of being unsupervised, to ask one another questions and - in Gordon Brown's own words last night - appear to be like children squabbling in the bath. The "debate" was more akin to a discussion in the pub after a couple of rounds of bitter, the barman having gone off to serve someone else.
Ofcom has already received more than 100 complaints about Sky's Boulton heckling Nick Clegg (in a briefly vocal moment). A further 40 complaints have been received by the regulator about the BBC's alleged lack of impartiality by not allowing the minority parties (PC, SNP, Green etc) from participating in the third debate. The political fisticuffs clearly extend to the broadcasters as much as to the parties.
Next week we see the return to mainstream political reporting with the debate coming from the Midlands, chaired by David Dimbleby and produced by the BBC. With the subject being the economy, it should be the best of the three.
As a proud maritime city, Portsmouth has been strangely quite involved in the recent disruption to air travel. The continental ferry terminal, on the outskirts of the city near the base of the M275, has been one of the few gateways into the United Kingdom still open. Many thousands of foot passengers have been welcomed to the City of Portsmouth over the last six days. And, with the Royal Navy playing its part in the repatriation exercise, this evening some civilian passengers arrived in a very unusual vessel for them - HMS Albion.
But this part of the south coast is not completely unfamiliar to air passengers. We still have Southampton Airport a few miles along the coast. But more interestingly, until 1959, that city also had the Southampton Marine Airport, at Berth 50 of Southampton Docks. BOAC based their Short Solents and Sunderland Mk IV flying boats there; a service which sadly only lasted for two years.
Portsmouth itself had its own airport, opened in 1932. This continued operating until 1973. It closed following two unrelated incidents in which HS48 aircraft skidded off the grass runway and through the boundary fence on the same day.
But the City of Portsmouth, the home of the Royal Navy and the leading maritime city in the UK remains proud of its connections. It is also the UK home of Brittany Ferries, Wightlink, the Gosport Ferry and the Hovertravel service to Ryde, now the only commercial hovercraft operation in the world.
As we enter the fifth day of the closure of UK airspace, and thus UK airports, we are told that the government is to recall ministers from the election campaign and a meeting of that mysterious committee, COBRA, is to be held. COBRA is actually not the committee but the room (Cabinet Office Briefing Room A) in which ministers meet in an emergency. It is also reassuring that yesterday, Theresa Villiers, the Conservative's transport spokesman issued an "eight point plan" to deal with the emergency.
Two things strike me about this. Firstly, why has it taken the government five days to realise that an emergency, which is reportedly costing the aviation industry one million pounds an hour, needs their attention? Secondly, what does Theresa Villiers actually plan to do with her eight point plan, apart from publish it on the Conservative's election campaign website? I really do not know the answer.
I also retract my generalisation about people sitting back and waiting to be rescued. The news bulletins are now carrying more stories of intrepid journeys from as far afield as Moscow and Australia. However, it is not "just like a war time evacuation." What are they escaping from?
The decision to close airspace across Europe last week has shown us a lot about the importance of air travel. Those who pioneered aviation as a form of travel knew how to deal with difficulties encountered on an expedition.
But international travel is accessible to all. We now see that those taking advantage of being able to fly to Europe for the price of a cup of coffee, are not so well equipped to handle problems. We are reliant on air travel but we have also become overly reliant on other people to deal with issues.
There is a sharp contrast between two ancillary stories from the airspace closure. A woman was interviewed by telephone yesterday who was, in her words, "stranded" in the Canary Islands as her airline, Ryanair, like others, had grounded flights. Now in my mind, "stranded" means stuck in the middle of a desert without food and water. Not having to sit by the pool in a four star hotel in the early summer sunshine, wondering how long it is to your next cocktail, the bill for which is, according to travel experts, going to be picked up by the insurance company.
Ryanair is a company that is very good at not over-promising. You get what you pay for, no more, no less. This woman was complaining that her airline was doing nothing to get her home. There was, she whined, no information being given to her and her vast family, except what they could pick up from the (English language) newspapers, internet, radio and television. Sorry lady, but I think Ryanair has nothing to add. It - is - not - their - fault! Take some personal responsibility.
Step forward Dan Snow, everybody's favourite historian from The One Show, for the contrasting story. Dan is co-ordinating a Dunkirk style flotilla of small boats between Dover and Calais, to bring some Brits home from mainland Europe. Inevitably he is overwhelmed - by people wanting somebody else to take responsibility.
David Learmount, Safety and Operations Editor at trade publication Flight International, made a valid point about the volcanic ash. The deprivation of air transport for these last few days is actually demonstrating the value of aviation as a form of transport, and our reliance on it. It is valuable to the economy, to our leisure and to our supply chain. Already newspapers are trying to discover food shortages, stories of delayed post and the loss of other services as a consequence of airspace closure.
And, spare a thought for the airlines. Apart from the economic impact to them, there is a human side. Across Europe there are airline crews waiting in hotels to be able to get back home. Many of these were not expecting to be away from home overnight and are there, four days later, with no change of clothes, toiletries or even a book. They have had to extend childcare by phone, sort out someone to feed the dog, try and arrange for their children to go back to school on Monday, from hotel rooms as far apart as Russia, Poland and Tripoli. When you eventually get back on the aircraft, as with Ryanair, remember it - is - not - their - fault!,
The "Forum of Private Business" is an organisation of which I have never heard. But that may be the reason that it has decided to take on the might of the Coca Cola organisation. It seems that the light-hearted copy on each bottle of Coca Cola's Glaceau Vitamin Water has angered them. The copy, apparently reads "If you've had to use sick days because you've actually been sick, then you're seriously missing out. The trick is to stay perky and use sick days to just, not go in."
The Forum of Private Business has taken offence
They have stated that it is "unacceptable to encourage workers to throw 'sickies' in order to sell a soft drink. A company of the standing of Coca-Cola should know better".
Frankly this can only be a thinly veiled attempt at publicity for an organisation that claims to represent 25,000 businesses (though not Batphone PR London because I didn't know they existed).
If this organisation really thinks that an employee is going to be sufficiently influenced by the copy on the side of a soft drinks bottle, they should be concentrating on giving advice on how to recruit better staff - staff capable of thinking for themselves. They are more likely to help their employer out of the recession.
During the election campaign this blog will, at least try, to be apolitical, commenting on events and communication aspects of the campaign, irrespective of party.
You have to admire the speed of one party in responding to the calling of the election - not that that turned out to be any great secret. The Conservative Party's communications team deployed two teams to Trafalgar Square to be there as Gordon Brown travelled to Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen to dissolve Parliament. As he drove past, the party workers held up placards facing skyward with the message "Vote for Change".
As a consequence, the major news broadcasters, who felt it necessary to use helicopters to record this "historic" journey, could not avoid showing one of the Conservative's campaign messages on national television.
There were interesting comments about this on a website used by communications types. One said that this showed, despite all the hype about this being the first "Facebook election" widely using social networking, that basic methods still work. A fair point.
A second said if this was the best they could do, Labour wouldn't be having any sleepless nights. I suspect the second comment betrays the writer's political beliefs rather than his communications knowledge. Sometimes basic methods work far better than complex strategies using new technology.
There used to be a joke that you could tell you had become middle aged if you walked past a branch of Dunn and Co and saw something in the window you liked.
Dunn and Co was a chain of menswear stores that looked as though it had always been there. Well finished wooden shopfronts, recessed lobbies with extensive window displays and ornate stained glass windows above these displays.
A branch stood for as long as I can remember on the corner of Fife Road and Clarence Street in Kingston upon Thames and another, very similar branch in Sutton High Street, until the chain was swallowed up by the Moss Bros Group in the mid nineties.
The staff were of the old school, like Captain Peacock or Mr Grainger in Are You Being Served?
A company which didn't move with the times and eventually became extinct.
It is a pity they did not stick around long enough to see the advent of the 11th Doctor Who.
There is always something quirky about the Doctor. A long scarf (Tom Baker), cricket attire (Peter Davidson), spectacles and sonic screwdriver (David Tennant). Matt Smith (number 11) it seems is to be known for his Harris Tweed jacket. And so there is a sudden flurry of interest in the 1960's garment, favoured by chalky school teachers and those not so concerned with following fashion. Except it has suddenly become fashionable, thanks to the Doctor and he hasn't even yet been seen on our screens.
The series designer picked out the jacket for the Doctor from a warehouse in Hendon which houses television and theatre costumes for Angels, the BBC's supplier. As soon as pictures were seen of Matt Smith, enquiries began to flood in to the Harris Tweed Authority to identify the weave of tweed and it looks as though the jacket will become a very fashionable line when it goes back into production.
The exact jacket selected for Doctor Who number 11 was originally sold by Dunn and Co (reproductions have now been made for the more risky scenes in the new series). Suddenly, and long after the shops disappeared from our high streets, Dunn and Co has become fashionable.
As a postscript to yesterday's blog about government department branding, does anybody know when the Home Office dropped the royal cipher from their logo? Without it the logo seems to be a bit lost; just the word with a purple arc over it.
When I was involved in publicity for what was then H.M. Customs and Excise, the logo that was used was the crown and portcullis and there was an absolute rule that the crown always appeared at the highest point on a piece of paper when printed. Text or other illustrations could not appear above it.
This concept is generally adhered to, although I note that The Times slips occasionally. When the overall design of the newspaper page moves the Court Circular below the fold on a page, the Royal Coat of Arms is not printed above everything else.
But I suppose that we should be grateful for the fact that The Times publishes the Court Circular at all. In fact only The Times and The Daily Telegraph remain the only two newspapers which still publish the Court Circular. Is this a sign of the times, acknowledging the growth in popularity of celebrity news? What do you think? Click here and tell us.
A report published today by the National Audit Office (once known as the Exchequer and Audit Department) reveals that £200 million has been spent each year since May 2005, reorganising 91 central government departments.
The most reorganised seems to be that once known as the Department of Trade and Industry and - for one week only - was also known as the Department for Productivity, Energy and Industry.
It is likely that following this year's election there will be a similar flurry of name and logo changes and a huge number of purchase orders issued for "brand consultants", graphic designers, signmakers, printers and door nameplate makers.
Part of the problem, which exists in the commercial world as well as central government, is the obsession, now, with having a job title which describes every aspect of your job. And so it is with the old DTI. Know known as the Department for Business, Industry and Skills (BIS), it does broadly the same thing as the old DTI. So why can't we still call it the DTI? So long as we know that it has responsibility for skills, it doesn't need to be in the title, does it? That said, with the constant switching of responsibility from one Whitehall building to another, perhaps we do need extensive department titles just to keep track of who does what and with which and to whom!
Bentalls of Kingston was once a great department store and the flagship of a chain that stretched from Tonbridge to Bristol. The Kingston store, opened by Frank Bentall in 1867, had been under the direction of the family from that first opening through to 2001, when it was bought by Fenwicks. The new owner promptly asset stripped the chain and kept just two stores: the original and one in Bracknell.
The location of the original store, on the corner of Wood Street and Clarence Street was strategic; it dominated the approach road to the town centre from Kingston Bridge, before the building of competitor, John Lewis, caused that road to be diverted. The imposing Aston Webb facade (pictured) is still there but now fronts the Bentall Centre shopping arcade. Bentalls itself moved into smaller, purpose built premises further down the road near the railway.
In fairness to Fenwick, their acquisition of the chain did not affect the demise of this once great store. In 1990, the new, smaller, Bentalls opened and was followed by a huge John Lewis, ironically close to the strategic position of the old Bentalls store.
Both my grandparents had worked in the old Bentalls, in the days when Mr Leonard (Bentall), son of Frank, still walked the floor, picking up pieces of string for future use. Customers spoke to him and staff were a little fearful of him. His principles built the foundations for an incredible store and a huge reputation. Bentalls was a family business in every sense of the word.
When the store relocated and the Bentall Centre opened, a statue of the man who made the business what it was, was placed at the top of the atrium, looking down over the Bentall Centre. Leonard Bentall built the company, the reputation and the heritage and it was right that he should be remembered like this.
When Fenwick bought the store the statue was moved because it "upset the sightlines of the store from the Bentall Centre". All that remains now is a rusty mark where the statue once stood. Presumably this was not cleaned up as it did not affect the sightlines.
I wrote to Bentalls and asked where the statue had been moved to and was told "The statue is now on the 2nd Floor of the Bentalls centre on the walkway to the Bentalls car park". Not the most prominent place, I think, but then profits and sightlines, clearly, have more significance to Fenwicks than the heritage of the store.
Bentalls used an advertisement in the nineteen thirties, with a picture of a policeman responding to an enquiry from a well dressed Surrey lady. "Bentalls, lady? Just follow the crowd". These days the same response would not apply.
Leonard Bentall, and his father Frank, must be revolving in their graves. So long as the movement doesn't upset the sightlines of the store.
Having been involved in public relations for twenty years, I have come across a number of people involved in pubic relations - or at least claiming to be. The level of skill, as you would imagine, differs hugely. Some shine with ability and enthusiasm. Some don't.
Last night I was a guest of the Wessex branch of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations at Southampton Solent University. It was a "Meet the Professionals" evening for those students studying for a PR degree at the university. They were able to meet and talk to those of us in the industry about how we got where we are, what our work involves and what skills we think they need.
The evening began with a presentation by the students about ways in which they can work more closely with the profession. A "speed-dating" format followed where groups of students moved from table to table to meet a different professional at each.
If these young people are the future of our industry, I can say that I am happy and confident that public relations is in safe hands.
All were fluent in their presentation and discussion and all were clearly focused on their career ambitions. They had considered carefully what experience they wanted to gather at which point in their working life and, most interestingly they were commercially aware. They recognised that a future in PR was likely to be more financially viable than a career in journalism, in some cases their first choice.
I am impressed with the attitude and approach of the students and the clear dedication and professionalism of the university and its tutors.
On this website, we publish our ethical policy (click here). One of the points of that policy is "we will support the future people of PR and Communications through education and opportunity". We look forward to doing this with Southampton Solent University.
In 1922 John (later Lord) Reith established the principles of the BBC as being "to inform, educate and entertain" and this remains the mission statement of the corporation. Having worked closely with the BBC in the South, I know the number of times this statement is referred to.
Yesterday a question in a light-hearted interview fulfilled all three of these concepts in one go. The interviewer was Chris Evans (BBC 2 The Chris Evans Breakfast Show) and the interviewee, Brian Cox, presenter of Seven Wonders of the Solar System.
The Mystery Interview section of Evans' programme is meant to be light-hearted, as I say. The production team sets up an interview with a guest but Evans doesn't know who it is. He then has three minutes, without preparation, to interview the guest and make the interview humorous.
Professor Brian Cox is an interesting sort of guy anyway, a highly-qualified physicist who makes science interesting, a former member of pop group D-Ream and, at two years younger than me, annoyingly looks about 25 (but I won't hold that against him).
Chris Evans asked the question "If you were in a hot air balloon with the earth, the sun and the moon, and you had to throw one out, which would it be?" Whilst not exactly a highbrow question, Cox turned it into one by responding, without missing a beat. "The moon, we could manage without for a bit." He then went on to explain why.
I am certain Lord Reith would have approved. I was informed, I learnt, I laughed.
Cox's programme is one of those rare gems that makes understanding science really interesting (also look out for Bang Goes the Theory, next Tuesday). I wish he had been my physics teacher; I might have scraped through with a better grade at O Level (and the C was only achieved by my dad teaching me how to wire a plug the night before the exam!)
Watch out for the second programme (of 5) in the Seven Wonders of the Solar System series, on BBC 2 on Sunday evening. This is the BBC. At its best.
As with many people of my age, as a child I had a National Savings Bank account. A simple blue passbook which we were encouraged to use to learn the basic principles of saving.
In a recent clear out of my filing cabinet, I discovered my passbook for the account which had been opened on 23 October 1978. The balance in the account - which appeared to be still open - was 50 pence. The last transaction was dated 20 October 1980.
I was quite excited when I wrote to National Savings, or NS&I as it is now trendily called. How much interest had accrued over the last thirty years?
Today I received the reply I had been anxiously awaiting. I was rather pointedly told that the account had been closed by NS&I in 2004 and they had written to me to tell me, presumably to the registered address on the account.
Unfortunately I had moved from that address some six years earlier so had not been aware of the news. More importantly I learnt that in the thirty years since last using the account I had earned the grand sum of one penny interest.
I suspect the passbook is worth more than the 51p invested in the account and would probably raise at least that by selling it to a collector of curios on ebay. Whilst the government may be accused of frittering away money on bonuses for the many nationalised banks we now have, we can be certain they are not sparing any cash on lavish interest payments.
Have you any passbooks lurking in the back of your drawers? Click here and tell us.
As an interesting postscript to my piece about the longevity of modern day record keeping, I was interested to read that the provenance of the Yorkshire pudding has been proved.
In an attempt to attain Protected Designation of Origin Status from the European Union, three Yorkshire-based manufacturers have been trying to prove that the Yorkshire pudding does, in fact, hail from Yorkshire rather than being a coincidental description of the pudding. And documentary evidence has been found in the 1747 publication The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse.
It is clearly important to the populace of Yorkshire (who have just achieved similar status for Yorkshire-forced rhubarb) but the status may cause a problem for those pubs and restaurants outside the county who serve the batter pudding.
What this story does prove is the importance of record keeping in a manner which can be accessed by future generations. How, in 263 years time will such arguments be settled, by trying to read the contents of a CD ROM created on what will then be seen as ancient technology.
Already, as one reader of this blog as told me, the problem is with us. Apparently, and I have been unable to verify this story, NASA has lost a lot of early computer records relating to man's trips to the moon, simply because the tapes on which they were recorded had either deteriorated or could no longer be read.
But back to Yorkshire puddings. Do you think they should be given Protected Designation of Origin Status from the European Union, placing them alongside Champagne, Parma ham and Cheddar cheese? Click here and tell us.
In the mid-nineties, by virtue of the fact I was the regional PR Manager for a government department, I was appointed the regional archivist. Among many serious responsibilities for protecting public documents for future viewing, I paid an educational visit to the National Records Office (now the National Archives) at Kew. It is the sort of place that attracts incredibly enthusiastic workers to whom future generations will be very grateful.
An interesting point was raised about developing technology. In the mid-nineties we had not yet settled down to reasonably standard defaults for IT systems (Microsoft Office and Outlook for example). The boffins at Kew were keen to retain several operating systems so that retained electronic files would be able to be read in years to come. For hundreds of years before that civil servants - like me - had written messages by hand on minute sheets on card folders (or "registered files") and these had been sent to vast warehouses for storing. They were obviously easy to read in the future.
I am sure the debate on how to retain modern public documents, continues to rage in the dust free laboratory conditions of the National Archives.
The Times has this week admitted that it has altered an online version of a newspaper article that appeared in print. The article related to reporting of suicides and the alteration was made in light of concerns from The Samaritans about copycat suicides.
This does raise a similarity to the way the future was foreseen by George Orwell in 1949 when his novel 1984 was published. Winston Smith amended records to rewrite history, in the Ministry of Truth, obliterating previous records.
The Times had good cause, they claim, but are they right? Should future generations only see a sanitised and considered revision to the contemporaneous reporting of events of the early twenty-first century, or should they see how we lived, warts and all? What do you think? Click here and tell us.
It is widely anticipated that The Independent and The Independent on Sunday are to be sold to Alexander Lebedev, owner of The Evening Standard, the London based freesheet.
If it goes ahead it might just be the saving of the titles. The Evening Standard, since becoming free has increased its circulation from a quarter of a million to a readership of 1.3 million. The Independent, once having a constitution which prohibited a single powerful majority shareholder, has seen its circulation fall from 400,000 to 186,000. More worrying is that the two titles lose about £10 million a year (or around 15p for every paper sold).
Clearly Lebedev knows a thing or two about reviving flagging newspapers and it will be interesting to see what he does to The Indy. It is rumoured that the editor-in-chief will report into the editor of The Evening Standard. Is this the first time that a national paper effectively will become a subsidiary of a regional paper?
Incidentally, Geordie Grieg, said editor of the Standard and former editor of Tatler, is the latest in an illustrious line of journalists to have run the London title - including Michael Foot (see Political oratory below) who was editor at the age of 28.
Yesterday was National Book Day. With it came the sad statistic that last year 102 independent book shops closed in the UK. Even the likes of Waterstones are feeling the pinch; Borders UK went out of business last year.
Books have always played an important part of my life. As words have been the basis of my income for nearly twenty years and the fact that my father is an author (see www.grahamison.co.uk for further details) you will probably not be surprised.
When I was very small, my father brought home a book for me and a book for my brother, which he had purchased from the Army and Navy Stores in Victoria Street in his lunch hour. My brother got a Sherlock Holmes book and I was given The Secret Seven. Before this, as far as I can recall, books had been read aloud before bed by my Dad.
The Secret Seven changed all that. I started reading it myself that night and then began nagging dad to bring home the next one, then the next until I had read all fifteen. After school a special treat would be to be taken to The Regency Bookshop in Surbiton, a tiny half sized shop with a faint musty smell that still means books to me. One bookcase of Puffin children's books provided a constant supply of reading material and I can still spend hours browsing through a bookshop to this day. Waterstones in Piccadilly is heaven to me.
However efficient Amazon and other internet bookstores may be, you still cannot beat picking up the book and browsing through it. Recently I have completed A Week in December (Sebastian Faulks); Paul O'Grady's autobiography; The Time Traveler's Wife and the even better Her Fearful Symmetry (Audrey Niffenegger) and The Shipping News (Annie Proulx). If you haven't read all of these, then do!
The end of the net book agreement and the sudden monopolisation of bookselling by the internet has put our local booksellers at risk of extinction. Don't let it happen. Support authors. Support booksellers. Buy local. What do you think? Click here to comment.
The death this week of Michael Foot has prompted a number of observations in the press about the way politics has changed over recent years. Michael Foot was, undoubtedly, a great orator, rather than a great party leader. The Times yesterday observed that his death "caused a brief cessation in pre-election hostilities as politics paid tribute to a life so sharply at odds with the spin-dried and airbrushed posturing of the modern era." Apposite.
People would go and listen to Foot's public addresses because of his oratory skills rather than because they agreed with his sentiment. The ability to hold and persuade an audience is something which modern day politicians just can't do. But is this because they don't need to be able to do it? And when did it change? Interestingly another quote in The Times suggests that it was the very election that Foot lost which saw the turning point. While Foot was swaying thousands around the country, Thatcher was swaying millions on television.
Margaret Thatcher was perhaps the last great political orator; remember the "this lady's not for turning" speech, not so much for the content but the delivery. Now think of Tony Blair's comment on the day of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales: "A day like today is not a day for soundbites, really. But I feel the hand of history upon our shoulders."
There was a stark contrast with the tribute paid to Foot by David Cameron which was reported as: "I'm obviously not old enough to have been in the House of Commons at the same time, but reading some of his speeches [they] were incredibly powerful." Not really the stuff to be remembered is it? But another Tory tribute, from Lord Tebbit, once described by Foot as "a semi-house trained polecat" was more amusing: "he did a lot for my career". Only seven words but strikingly superior to Cameron, well thought out with enough double-meaning to make it a quote, rather than a Cameronesque (or Blairite) soundbite.
But communication has changed - and I think for the worse. Another lead story in the papers yesterday was the return to custody of one of James Bulger's killers. Comment on the decision was obviously sought from the mother of James Bulger, Denise Fergus. Once upon a time, the comment would have come from the family's solicitor or a family liaison officer or a friend. Instead The Times reported "Ms Fergus said on Twitter: 'Is this my son's justice?' ". This is not criticising the actions of Ms Fergus. In fact she probably made a very clever move in making her statement in a means that was readily received by the intended audience. What a shame that by using Twitter, her valuable comment is restricted to the 146 character restriction employed by that medium. But that is perhaps all we can cope with these days. What do you think? Click here to comment.
You can generally judge someone's age by the question "who was your Doctor Who?" or "who were your Blue Peter presenters?" I was slightly alarmed to read that Helen Skelton, the Blue Peter presenter who has just completed a kayak journey along the Amazon, in aid of Sport Relief, was born after I stopped watching the show.
But I don't hold that against her. Congratulations to Helen on completion of her epic adventure and for breaking two world records (the longest documented solo journey in a kayak and the longest distance travelled by a woman in a kayak in 24 hours - 75 miles). I can hear the naysayers of the BBC saying that it is our licence fee that was wasted for the coverage that was given to the journey.
Well, Blue Peter itself, of course, covered it, There will be two Blue Peter Specials on March 16 and 17. BBC Radio and BBC News followed the journey with regular contributions into BBC Breakfast. The corporation certainly made the most of the opportunity.
But it also has a responsibility to use its position of influence to encourage and inspire its young audience. On arriving in Brazil Helen Skelton said: "I reckon that you shouldn't shy away from things because they're tough or you might fail. Get stuck in and you never know where you might end up." Good advice for youngsters - and for that matter adults - everywhere. What do you think? Do we get value for money from the BBC? Click here and tell us.
I know that I have become a bit boring at home this week, commenting on the future of the BBC, as foreseen by The Times following their access to the corporation's future size and scope report, to be released shortly.
I also do not get dragged into arguments, with the rest of my family, about public service broadcasting and the way it is funded in this country any more. This is because my views are well known.
BBC 6 Music and their Asian network is to close it would seem and the corporation's long-term future is thrown into doubt by the outcome of this year's general election. The quality of public service broadcasting in this country is second to none internationally. Just sit for an hour in a foreign hotel room and see the quality of output on other nation's broadcasting to see how awful it could be (or for that matter just tune in to Michael Winner's Dining Stars for about three minutes to see the quality that ITV now proffers).
BBC's television, national and local radio, digital radio, podcasts, iPlayer and range of magazines provides exceptional value for money from our TV licence and contributes to the rich cultural mix of the nation. It is our culture, as much as our politics and our education which make the United Kingdom what it is. Throw away part of our national identity at your peril. What do you think? Click here and tell us.
As mentioned earlier this week, the relaunch of The Observer made the news for other reasons. The serialisation of Andrew Rawnsley's book, in the first of the new-look papers, indirectly prompted the furore over the National Bullying Helpline. It is interesting that the charity involved seems to have caused itself more damage in attempting to damage the reputation of the Prime Minister.
Also this week The Times has brought cost-cutting measures of the BBC to public attention.
The Daily Telegraph, last year, jumped in on a developing story to bring about the expenses scandal that saw resignations of The Speaker of the House of Commons, cabinet ministers and will result in a largely experienced collection of MPs after this year's election.
Should newspapers create news or just report it? One cannot help but think that the Freedom of Information Act 2000 has become a useful tool for journalists to stir something up on a quiet news day. Is it the responsibility of the media to create news through aggressive investigative journalism themselves, or is its role to report news created by others? What do you think? Click here and tell us.
The Times yesterday carried three stories vaguely linked. They concerned a dalek from 1985, a pair of football boots and an Indian fountain pen. Any ideas?
The dalek was a television prop, sold at an auction at Bonhams London. The football boots, worn by Sir Stanley Matthews at the FA Cup Final in 1953, sold at Bonhams Chester. The fountain pen is a special edition, created by Mont Blanc, for the 140th anniversary of Gandhi.
The connection was that they all had a strangely high value. The going rate was dalek £20,000; football boots £38,400; fountain pen £16,000 (new and removed from sale in India by law).
Setting aside the dalek which, incidentally was from the downstairs era (in those days they didn't fly and the simple way to escape them was to go upstairs), a pair of football boots and the fountain pen are more or less everyday items. It is the association which adds the value. The expectation for the boots was £8,000 and a fierce battle between two buyers pushed the price up. The pen has been deemed by Indian authorities to be insulting and has been banned from sale. But who would really pay £16,000 for a pen? I write with a (much cheaper) Mont Blanc and whilst I can understand the pleasure of writing with a quality, craftsman produced pen, surely no writing instrument is worth that? And what will you do with the football boots...or the dalek? What do you think? Click here.
Yesterday, The Observer, the oldest Sunday newspaper, relaunched itself and I don't think even they could have foreseen the effect that their first new front page would have on Monday morning's news agenda. The serialisation of Andrew Rawnsley's new book The End of the Party, led the news bulletins this morning and resulted, indirectly, with the resignation of one of the patrons of the National Bullying Helpline.
Setting aside the furore this created what was the rest of the paper like? Well at last we have a Sunday newspaper that doesn't fall apart as you pick it up, divesting endless supplements you have neither the time not the inclination to read, all over the floor of Waitrose. Four parts: News (main paper), the New Review, Sport and Magazine. Sport can be binned, Magazine put aside for later removal of Nigel Slater receipe later (yes he is still there), leaving just two parts. The New Review is printed on quality paper which makes it feel almost American. The News still boasts quality writing, whatever your political persuasion. Plenty to read, well written, well presented and probably likely to be a regular extra to my usual Sunday Times.
Yesterday's news had a story of a dispute for which I can find little sympathy for either party.
Ukrainian football league players from the Shakhtar Donetsk team were, apparently, refused entry to Harrods on the grounds that they were improperly dressed, despite the fact they were, to a man, millionaires. That evening they were playing Fulham FC, owned by Fayed, owner of Harrods.
No amount of money, it seems, can exempt you from the rather pretentious dress code required to enter the lesser of two department stores in Knightsbridge.
Well my advice to the Ukrainian football team is: don't worry you didn't miss anything and you were better off going to Harvey Nichols a few doors down anyway.
I know I am probably contradicting myself a little, having sided with Tesco over the pyjama debate, but there is a difference between wearing nightwear and reasonably normal day wear to do your shopping.
The footballers do join a distinctive club of those refused entry from the shop. British troops in uniform are not allowed to enter Harrods in case they intimidate other shoppers. Any shop with that sort of ridiculous rule deserves to loose customers by the hundreds. And that includes me. I revise my first sentence. I am with the Ukrainians.
Continuing on the subject of relaunches of magazines (see Reader's Digest RIP below), The Observer is relaunched this weekend (again). Although it seems like only yesterday that the new Berliner format came in, it was actually four years ago.
The Observer is the oldest Sunday newspaper and claims to have invented the concept of Sunday
newspapers as we know them today. What I did find surprising is that it only joined The Guardian stable in the nineties.
For some time now there have been rumours of the closure of The Observer, or its relaunch as a magazine. Whatever your political view, The Observer does have quality writing and journalism and it is good that it is set to continue as a newspaper. It's circulation at just over 400,000, is around two thirds that of The Sunday Telegraph and just a third of The Sunday Times but, nevertheless, has a place in British journalism.
Amongst other firsts for the paper was the appointment of the first female editor, Rachel Sassoon in the late 1890s. Unusually, and impossibly by today's standards, Sassoon also concurrently owned and edited The Sunday Times (itself launched as The New Observer).
The jury is out, at least until Sunday. We shall see what the relaunch brings.
One would not have thought that these days the replacement of a car windscreen could be difficult. Unfortunately it is and, to avoid the risk of boring you into submission, I will refrain from telling the full story but just give you the final score
AUTOGLASS 0 AUTOWINDSCREENS 1
Esure, the referee in this dispute, retired injured.
Anyway, suffice it to say that the car now has a windscreen without a foot long crack in it and Autowindscreens has become one of my favourite companies.
I put off until today cancelling the fourth rearrangement of the appointment with the original supplier, Autoglass.
I asked if the call centre had told the local branch that I had, sometime ago, cancelled my original request (which had been mislaid, misfiled, misunderstood and generally mismanaged) to replace the windscreen. I was amused to be told "Yes sir, that appointment has been unsecured" (presumably like the windscreen).
I recalled an earlier, amusing use of jargon by a British Gas technician (it was so long ago, they were still called British Gas) who had come to my home in response to the smell of gas. "Yes, sir, I can confirm a seepage of product".
It is sad news today that, after 70 years, Reader's Digest, the magazine read in doctors' and dentists' surgeries, hospitals and hairdressers the length and breadth of the United Kingdom, has gone into administration.
Akin to Woolworth's, we perhaps never bought Reader's Digest but it was comforting to know that it was there.
The Lady, another longstanding resident of the British newsstand is being revamped under the new stewardship of Boris Johnson's sister (as a resident of Portsmouth, I would suggest they would be well advised to play down that connection). Now 125 years old, The Lady is being restyled and put on glossy paper. WIll this be enough? Will this revamp save The Lady, where similar actions at Reader's Digest have failed.
The print publication market is both flooded and facing difficult competition against the internet. The number of gossip/celebrity magazines seems to be overflowing whilst more traditional magazines are struggling for their very survival.
There is something comforting about buying a magazine, particularly before a long train journey or flight, in much the same way that buying a CD is more satisfying than downloading a track or album from the internet.
Internet editions will never replace printed magazines, but they may just have sufficient impact to see more titles go the way of Reader's Digest...sadly.
Congratulations for the best Valentine's Day story goes to Manchester Airport's press office.
On a ruse to generate PR coverage about security queuing - a difficult subject at he best of times - Manchester Airport's press officers have scored handsomely. Published on the BBC news website is a story about private searches for those passengers planning to propose on a romantic weekend getaway from the northern airport.
Passengers who do not wish an engagement ring to be revealed to their travelling partner, whilst going through pre-flight security, can utter the not so secret phrase "be my Valentine?" Airport Security Officers will then conduct a private search behind a screen, thus keeping the ring a secret.
Mike Fazackerley, Manchester Airport’s Director of Customer Services and Security, explained: “Our security staff are more than happy for passengers to use the secret phrase especially if it avoids ruining a romantic proposal they had planned. We want to make all of our customer’s journeys easier but also to ensure our high standards of security are not compromised.”
Bit of a thin story, but it is topical, gets coverage for a difficult subject and has a romantic twist. Well done MAN.
By pure coincidence, the Daily Universal Register page of The Times yesterday informed me that The World's Original Marmalade Festival is taking place all this week in Cumbria. For more information, see www.marmaladefestival.com. Amongst the events taking place is a marmalade making competition with a number of categories including a military one, for any one serving in, or with family in, the armed forces.
There is also a category for members of the clergy, members of the hotel and catering trade and children. No category for bears though. Paddington is, however, one of the patrons of the event though, so this avoids a conflict of interest,
The informative website gives some history of the major marmalade manufacturers, Tiptree, Frank Cooper, Roses and Robertsons. From the Tiptree page, I learn that my mother is right (no surprise there) there is a marmalade making season at this time of year. Once this season is over, Tiptree switches production to lemon curd (I am hoping at this point that my mother picks up this heavy hint -another favourite of mine!), and also jams and Christmas puddings.
Sarah Cooper, the wife of Oxford grocer Frank, first made marmalade at 84 High Street, Oxford (now marked by a blue plaque) in 1874. It's popularity amongst the university community helped promote it more widely and it was even taken on Scott's Antarctic expedition in 1910 (a precedent followed by Nicholas Patrick, see entry 10 February below). An earlier production was started in Dundee in 1797 by Joseph Keiller (or his mother) but the cities of Oxford and Dundee are fiercely protective of their own types of marmalade and they are both very different.
There is no avoiding the rapid approach of a general election and we shall, of course, be remaining impartial on this subject.
However, it is curious to see the way the media is positioning the major party leaders. The appearance of Gordon Brown on Piers Morgan's Life Stories programme gives a curious insight into the private life of the Prime Minister and further clouds the line between celebrity and politics.
I had thought that Tony Blair's departure from Number Ten would have seen an end to this but seemingly and, I think, through no fault of the political leaders themselves, this is not to be.
How Gordon Brown proposed to his wife, their feelings over the death of their daughter and various less significant issues were discussed over a period of two and a half hours before being edited down to a 60 minute programme.
And this is not the first time that these insights and - with the exception of the discussion of his daughter's death - collections of personal trivia - have come to light. In November 2005 listeners to BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour programme learnt the personal preferences of David Davis and David Cameron, both then running for Tory leadership, on a range of issues from blondes or brunettes, boxers or briefs. Cutting edge interviewing! Then, of course, there was the great biscuit debate, which filled hundreds of column inches discussing which biscuit Gordon Brown preferred in October last year. The other political leaders then joined in by volunteering their preference. Now we learn Gordon Brown is on a banana diet.
Are we interested in this trivia? Does any of it actually affect the way we will vote? If it does then democracy is not as advanced as we all like to believe.
Cast your mind back not so very far, in fact pre-Blair. John Major, Margaret Thatcher, James Callaghan, Harold Wilson, Ted Heath.... Did we know this sort of detail about them? Is politics diluted by the celebrity title-tattle that now invades it? What do you think? Click here to join the discussion.
This morning I returned from an overnight visit to my parents, who live about thirty miles north of here. Despite my early departure, I was indulged with a breakfast of my mother's home made marmalade on toast. Having been dispatched from the parental kitchen with two further jars of this delicacy, my journey was not direct and I arrived home at about 10am, a long enough delay to justify a second breakfast - of toast and mother's marmalade.
I have a particular love of marmalade. My normal choice is Fortnum and Mason's Burlington but even this is not a touch on mum's. I was warned before leaving that marmalade can only be made in February. I am still not sure whether this was a coded message to eat quickly and come back for more or when that's gone it's gone!
Before Christmas I was engaged on a particularly successful health and diet kick and I am keen not to undo that good work, but the marmalade is a temptation too far!
However, it seems I am not alone. Nicholas Patrick, a British born astronaut on board Space Shuttle Endeavour, which blasted off on a 13 day, five million mile journey yesterday, feels the same. Amongst his essential kit for the journey is a jar of his mum's home made marmalade. “Her marmalade is the best and I couldn’t have contemplated going into space without it," he commented before lift off. Now I would argue with the first five words of his claim (he hasn't tasted my mum's) but I agree broadly with the sentiment.
Paddington Bear is perhaps the world's most famous consumer of marmalade and he, too, made it into the news this week. Cambridge University has established a centre for the study of children's literature. Paddington played an important part in my education. My father managed to read most, if not all, of the Paddington books to me and my brother as children, each character recognisable from the voice he employed for their direct speech.
It would be a great pity if the enjoyment I got from the Paddington stories was lost for future generations who are more interested in computer games, Facebook and texting, than in listening to a story read out loud. This may be the case as Cambridge University's centre will also cover the representation of young people in films and video games, along with children's comics.
Whilst you cannot beat the books (read out loud by your father) a close second is achievable from the video of the 1976 television series of Paddington doing a rendition of Singing In The Rain. I am not too proud to say I have this on my iPod in my briefcase. However hard your day has been, watching that on the journey home can only make you smile and everything seem much better. That enjoyment is something that cannot be matched by a computer game!
The curious incident of the Kookaburra and the Vegimite sandwich
In a court in Sydney this week, the judge has ruled in favour of the underdog. The 1982 hit Down Under by Australian band Men At Work it seems picked up some of its tune from an Australian nursery rhyme.
In 1935 Marion Sinclair, a school teacher, composed Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree for a Girl Guides competition. The current owners of Sinclair's rights, Larrikin Music, sued members of Men At Work, and won. It is likely that a substantial amount of royalties will now be paid.
The whole question of copyright is a complex one, particularly now that text, images and music are so freely, and easily, available. How do you prevent others from copying your work? And how do owners of rights to say, a television script, keep track of when it has been repeated on television in the UK or elsewhere? In the old days, if an episode of a drama series, appeared on television it would appear once and that was it. Now it will go on to be repeated two or three times, perhaps in the same week as the original broadcast, then, perhaps a late night viewing on something like BBC Three. Then it could go anywhere. The Yesterday channel has been showing When The Boat Comes In, a series from the seventies. How many times and on how many channels has BBC's Airport been shown, or Warner Brothers' Friends, worldwide?
Well, there are some organisations, such as the Performing Rights Society and the Society of Authors who keep track of the rights of the members. But bear in mind that using your favourite track to accompany a Power Point presentation that you then show at a management conference, copyright needs to be acknowledged or even paid for.
This may seem harsh, but if the work of Marion Sinclair, a school teacher in thirties Australia can bring pleasure to millions worldwide, should that not be acknowledged?
And for those curious about the title of this article, the Vegimite sandwich is a famous line from Down Under (the song, that is, not Australia in general).
I have a degree of sympathy for those who work in the press office of Toyota in the UK. They must be having a bad time of it at the moment. Many people think that the press office can wave a magic wand over a problem and it will go away.
Similarly many think that any organisation that gets a bad press can blame the press office. In fact the press office is only the window dresser for the organisation. If the product or operation is weak, or the organisation faces a major crisis of their own or somebody else’s making (or an act of God), no amount of “spinning”, however professionally done, is going to make it go away completely.
A good press office (and good mutual support of the company’s senior management and directors), however, can make it better than it would otherwise have been. Think about the excellent media handling by Michael Bishop, CEO of British Midland in the immediate aftermath of the Kegworth air disaster.
Toyota, the world’s biggest car manufacturer is in the process of recalling 4.3 million cars worldwide, in connection with the accelerator issue. Newspaper front pages around the world have carried the stories which can be far from comfortable reading for those who own Toyotas or, for that matter, the executives who run the company.
The media are shouting. There is a long list running from a call for an admission of what the problem actually is, through demands for faster action to rectify the issue, to shouts for the head of the company to make a statement and, because of the culture, for him to bow low. The press office, whilst able to counsel the management about how information should be presented, ultimately will be following company direction.
The Times, in the leading article yesterday advised Toyota what they should do. Their advice holds good for any organisation facing a crisis: Firstly, own the problem. Secondly, communicate with customers and explain, as far as possible, what it it knows. Finally, be clear the organisation is putting people before profit. Sound advice.
Reading The Times today, i realised what a sheltered life I must lead. With something as simple as supermarket shopping, I had not appreciated the wealth of humanity I miss simply by being a faithful and regular customer of my local supermarket. That supermarket just happens to be Waitrose.
It is no surprise that Waitrose, part of the John Lewis Partnership, has this week been named Britain's most popular supermarket. A supermarket which boasts taramasalata amongst its Essential range, either has a great sense of humour or knows its customers. I think the latter is closer. And is it not refreshing that the male staff of Waitrose still wear ties and all the staff get to know their regular customers and are not afraid of addressing them as sir or madam?
Waitrose does not have to concern themselves with loyalty cards, loyalty is a value that they have earnt just through doing their job properly. You know that if Waitrose stocks it, it will be good quality and, unlike Sainsbury, if Waitrose stocks it, then it is in stock.
Mark Price, the Managing Director, fondly (by his colleagues and himself) known as the "Chubby Grocer", famously commented in an interview "I think there is a direct correlation between the girth size of the chief executives of food businesses and the quality of food they sell." How can you distrust a man as down to earth as that?
However, I digress. Being a faithful Waitrose customer, I was quite genuinely surprised, no horrified, to learn that customers of Tesco, particularly in the strangely named St Mellons store in Cardiff, are so used to shopping in their pyjamas that the management there has now imposed a dress code.
Call me old-fashioned; I probably am. My grandmother would never leave the house without coat, hat, gloves and handbag (all co-ordinated), This was not a class issue, her own mother having been in domestic service. It was - and, by degrees, still is - the right thing to do.
What on earth possesses people to see the need to be so incredibly lazy that they cannot be bothered to dress, let alone dress properly, to go to the supermarket?
Jeremy Thurlby from Ryde on the Isle of Wight, in a letter to The Times, also published today, commented "Men’s trousers from this [Tesco’s own “leisurewear”] range are undoubtedly pyjama trousers, in which, thankfully, the fly front has been sewn up. I look forward to seeing this range with a new caveat attached: “Not suitable attire for shopping.”
I am pleased to report that I have never seen a pair of pyjamas on sale in Waitrose. ("Sir, you will need to visit John Lewis to purchase those, Waitrose is a supermarket").
I was amused on one occasion, on enquiring if my local branch of Waitrose sold haslet (a cross between corned beef and liver sausage), to be told "I wouldn't have thought so, sir." Standards, rightly so, are everything.
Tesco is absolutely right to eject a customer for wearing pyjamas to shop in their store. What is wrong is that their customers would have thought that it was acceptable to do so in the first place.
Clockwise from top, Adam Crozier, J.D. Salinger and Chris Evans
Last night the death of J.D. Salinger was announced. Born in 1919, Salinger is one of the best known American authors, particularly to students of A Level English Literature (c.1984!). What is particularly interesting is that his famous novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951) was the only novel he ever published. I am sure many more prolific authors would love to have achieved that much fame for just one title. Salinger did also publish two short stories, one of which has the incredible and memorable title Raise High the Roof Beam Carpenters. I must read it.
Today in the news is the announcement that Adam Crozier, currently boss of Royal Mail is to become Chief Executive of ITV. Presumably, as the Royal Mail no longer has a second delivery of post, Crozier may also be considering cutting out repeats at his new employer? And why, Mr Crozier, did I receive a Christmas Card yesterday that had been posted first class on 15th December?
And finally, am I alone? All the hype surrounding the departure of Terry Wogan from the breakfast slot at BBC Radio 2, and the assurances that TOGS in their droves would desert the programme, prompted some "expectation management" that audience figures would decline after Chris Evans took over. Mmm, I for one am glad there is something worth listening to in the mornings on Radio 2 at last. Have I just committed sacrilege? Comment here.
No sooner had I written the blog below, than I received the following press release.
"We’ve strived to embody value, choice and convenience for over 30 years now and have built an extremely loyal customer base. We have a proud heritage of adapting to changing times and giving customers what they want. This brand refresh will enable us to give our customers and our employees a new brand identity which better reflects our dynamic and exciting business. 70% of British households have an --- at home, so unveiling the identity is a fantastic way to celebrate and cement our position, while giving our brand a contemporary look that brings it up to date. Our customers told us that they want a brand that feels relevant today and is well equipped to stay relevant tomorrow.”
Any ideas (a) what it means and (b) what the product is? Let us know by clicking here.
In my previous blog I was pleading for spokesmen put up by companies, to speak normally. A similar need exists amongst my own colleagues, in PR, for the printed press.
For more years that I care to remember now, I have been drafting press releases for other people. One standard rule about a press release is that it should include a quote. Some companies take this too far and include so many quotes you lose track of who is saying what; one seems to work perfectly well.
But with this rule sits another. If you are going to attribute the quote - the accepted practice - then make the quote something the person quoted is actually likely to have said - out loud!
I was slightly sceptical, for example, that, on taking up his place at Plymouth College, Tom Daley, the Olympic diver, actually said: "I’m really looking forward to going to Plymouth College and being with other young people who understand the pressures of high-level competition." Didn't sound like the words of a teenage schoolboy, rather more those of a PR (and one not overly keen on punctuation!).
However, Prince William is obviously a man of his own words. Reported in The Times yesterday, during his successful trip to Australia, Prince William had a conversation with a sixteen year old rap performer. After being complimented by Austin Anyimba, the prince responded “I’ve done something right then. Quite rappy [taste in music]; I normally get the p*** taken out of me for my interest in music.” Not only do I not imagine one of St James's Palace press team saying that, I would like to think the press secretary cringed slightly on hearing it. I do hope so.
And, even if it is not attributed, for heaven sake make sense. In The Times, again, today a "spokesman" for the National Audit Office (so probably just something written in the press release) commented on the one billion pounds being spent on refurbishment of the BBC headquarters, Broadcasting House. Did he really say, out loud, in response to a question: "Our report will look at whether the BBC has followed good practice in identfying the business needs and managing the delivery of the construction programmes."
Think, if he did, how would the said spokesman respond to the casual question posed in the snug of The Red Lion this evening: "What did you think of the match last night?" Suggestions please...click here.
According to the Oxford dictionary authorities there are around a quarter of a million distinct English words in our language. It is a rich lexicon of beautiful, interesting and descriptive words.
Those interviewed on behalf of their company, organisation or - particularly - local authority, would be well advised to draw upon some more of this huge pool.
All too often organisations' spokesmen and women resort to the modular approach of linking one worn out and over-used "buzz-phrase" with another. People don't talk about what they are going to do next, or in the future; "Moving forward..." is churned out. "Obviously" is used to indicate the interviewee knows what they are talking about, usually before a lengthy technical description that nobody else understands. Best of all - or worst depending on your standpoint - is "robust" No, no, no! Plans cannot be "robust"; policies cannot be "robust". Boilers, army tanks, Land Rovers and submarines are robust. Plans and policies are well-thought out and properly tested.
One final point. Repeating the same phrase over and over doesn't make it any more of a good answer. All too often during the recent weather, transport chiefs, local authorities and government ministers have been challenged about their organisation's reaction to the weather. Safety may be the top priority - of course it is. Using it to answer every question doesn't really tell us anything we don't already know.
On Tuesday afternoon snow fell on most of the UK and then continued to fall overnight. Britain, apparently, was "gripped" by the "worst snow for 20 years". Why are we so unprepared for the weather? Train services were cancelled across the board, with no attempt, seemingly, to provide any form of service. Curiously, the police "ordered all buses off the road in Brighton", quoting the inevitable health and safety. One news organisation, albeit hypercritically, got it right by saying that we have become too dependent as a nation. I say hypercritically because the media played their part by spreading apocalyptic tales of doom with reporters dispatched to stand at the side of major trunk roads, on bridges over motorways, at railway stations and airports around the country.
We never used to behave like this.
A Southern train was abandoned at Ashtead in
Surrey. Luckily a television crew was on hand to record the incident. However, you could barely see the snow for railway officials in high visibility jackets, ensuring the safety of the passengers. Presumably the officials had held them on the train whilst a risk assessment was conducted on the sty they were required to climb over to reach the safety of a neighbouring field.
We were encouraged to tune into local radio for advice about transport, travel and weather. Unfortunately, this proved pointless. In Hampshire, the local radio station seemed to think that the most valuable thing they could do was read a list of over five hundred schools, closed by the weather. Is this not a constructive use for your website, Radio Solent, which means you can use airtime for more valuable information for your audience?.
We are more dependent than we used to be; too dependent. The number of people "vox popped" by broadcasters (and my goodness there were enough of those) bleated on and on about how the authorities were ill-prepared, nobody was telling them anything (apart from school closures in Hampshire, which were comprehensively covered) and the emergency services weren't doing enough.
One person, stranded on the A3 at Petersfield, even criticised Hampshire Police for only having four 4x4 vehicles out on that stretch of road! presumably the motorist did not appreciate that Hampshire Police also had to deal with the M3, M271, M275, M27 as well as other significant trunk roads and an airport.
We should all take a little more responsibility for ourselves, help our neighbours, put things in perspective and thank the emergency services and, on the A3, the military, for doing a fantastic job in difficult - and cold - circumstances!
Christmas was spent in New York, staying at the excellent Hilton Millenium hotel, overlooking the site of the former, and soon to be again, World Trade Center. Whilst WTC 7 (pictured left) was the first of the lost buildings to be reopened (in 2006), most attention is focused on WTC 1 the first of the buildings to replace the Twin Towers. WTC1 is now about five floors above ground and was the subject of some clever PR by the American fast food chain Subway in the week before Christmas. A Subway outlet, built into a metal shipping container, has been lifted to the top floor of WTC 1, under construction. As the structure continues to rise, the outlet will be raised, floor by floor.
The whole idea is to save "hardhats", those construction workers engaged on the project, the journey down from the building and across to one of the restaurants around the site to get their meals.
You can read more about Subway's first new restaurant in the new World Trade Center here.
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Michael Foot circa 1930. 
Clockwise from top, Adam Crozier, J.D. Salinger and Chris Evans 
