Are English Muslims actually English?01 July 2010Today was the first time that I heard a Muslim in England talk about this as 'our country'; it was surprisingly moving. The lady was describing an initiative to demonstrate their allegiance to the UK. She felt that many citizens may judge the Islamic community and its values on the hostile and violent behaviour of a small group of extremists who do not represent the Muslim communi...
Do public relations professionals know what they are supposed to be doing?06 June 2010How many senior public relations practitioners really know their craft?
Why do so many public relations people seem to fail to properly advise their organisations, to prevent them making the awful mistakes they seem to perpetuate almost daily? A long-time friend and colleague of mine, Lawrence Sear, at the time the managing editor of the Daily Telegraph group of newspapers, on...
Only Euro-idiots care about the Eurovision song contest ....31 May 2010
In Britain, the world's largest broadcast song celebration is universally seen as a farce. Indeed, despite the apparent views of the rest of the 500 million members of EU states, it is only ever presnted in the UK as a ridiculous parade of mediocracy and occasional insanity in popular music. Paul Barnes, celebrated BBC music presenter with a passion for big band, jazz an...
Air-travellers may shun BA over strikes28 May 2010
A new international study of air travellers' views shows many are worried about the industrial relations issues at British Airways.
"Although more than 94% of international frequent air-travellers are aware of the industrial relations problems affecting British Airways, the same proportion of those who have flown BA (also 94%) rated their previous flying experience with the ...
US re-invents Nazi phrase, 'Show me your papers..'03 May 2010
The UK's experiment in multiculturalism has many critics, all from within the UK, most (but not all) from the indigenous ethnic 'English' population. The start of the major influx of others from around the world began with the UK colonising nearly one third of the world and grandly giving these mostly-oppressed peoples the right to British citizenship. This casual hand-out has ...
Will Unite force BA into foreign ownership?24 March 2010Could industrial relations problems lead to the sale of BA to overseas investors?
A leak from a confidential source in the United States has suggested that British Airways is currently looking for a prospective buyer to acquire the whole of the assets and operations of the international carrier. These discussions are being carried out very discreetly by an unidentified third party w...
The 'business success advice' fraud on the internet must be stopped16 March 2010A handful of business success advisers, like Brian Tracy, have actually created, run and built succesful businesses - that is real businesses with real products or services, selling to real people to satisfy their real needs. Most of the others have no skills or expertise beyond selling on the internet.
You may be interested to read the note (asking for his comments on this issue) t...
Democracy is collapsing in Europe ...24 February 2010
The European Union is basically afraid of democracy. The reason is that people do not vote the way the political masters would like. The non-elected Commissioners that rule us are an example.
Even more shocking was the recent selection of two top representatives. Both were unknown and one has never held an elected role anywhere; her political po...
Complacency accelerates the erosion of our freedoms16 February 2010On the marketing forum on the LinkedIn site, I was challenged about my comments on the erosion of democracy in the UK - see my earlier comments in this blog. To see the debate go to: www.linkedin.com
My critic said:
Is this a marketing or political debate? Surely we should begin by debating if your initial ascertation is actually correct, because I don't feel that my democratic r...
Pull UK troops from Afghanistan - and spend the savings on our border control12 February 2010
Whether the "war" in Afghanistan is winnable or not, it is bizarre that British troops are there at all. Logic might support the historical perspective that a country only fights those nations that invade them or threaten to invade them. There can be no doubt that Afghanistan poses a threat to the UK and to other nations – but then so do many other countries around the world. We do no...
The scams that ruin global reputations07 February 2010Can Nigeria (or any other nation) ever be taken seriously when it allows ludicrous scams to damage what little international reputation it may still have. Now it seems, other countries may be picking up the concept, possibly the Seychelles and/or Kenya? See the latest farcical email offer that I have received, below.
Email appeals to greed make me wonder if some people are gul...
Stack the odds against employers and we will all pay05 February 2010
The European Court of justice has decided that workers who fall ill during their holidays could now claim that time back from their employers.
About time, some would say. But save some pity for the poor workers who fall ill. Will they still have to pay for their own holiday flights and hotels costs? This would be grossly unfair, so we must all hope that the court...
Where is my Sandra now?17 December 2009
Sandra, the woman I loved, has died. She is no longer here and, however hard I try, I do not feel we will ever be together again. She was terminally ill for some time and I had the privilege of being her carer, looking after her as she faded away before me. I was at her bedside for those final days, here in our home, as she went slowly away from the world we had both...
Cricket: the fastest bowler in the world, EVER?27 November 2009The celebrated English bowler, Harold Larwood, triumphed in 1932 and 1933 with his incredible bodyline fast bowling. It proved to be the only way to defeat the Australian legendary batsman, Donald Bradman. But the gentleman managers of cricket sought to get the ex-miner working class player to apologise to the Australians for huis devastating and frightening success on the pitch. ...
Treasure that heritage all around you28 October 2009
Stop the destruction of old buildings across the world
For the Olympic games, the Chinese authorities demolished countless precious and irreplacable old buildings in Beijing.
But such sacrilege is not just the way of totalitarian regimes. It is common in the poorer countries of Europe and even, surpisingly, in the US. Do Americans care about their herit...
Why is pharmaceutical public relations failing so badly?16 August 2009Public relations for pharmaceuticals seems to be failing to convince the public of the value and merits of its contribution to health - this is despite its very considerable public health achievements. And it is not doing such a great job with the medical professional and the politicians either, according to many observers. Why? What is wrong?
In a dissertation for her MA degree...
Top PR professionals set record in Dubai04 August 2009A group of experienced public relations professionals meeting at a Dubai workshop led by leading practitioner Roger Haywood have set what is believed to be a new record. They bring the total number of delegates that Haywood has trained face-to-face around the world to 5000.
The occasion was a five day intensive senior workshop organised by the International Institute for Re...
Getting started in public relations03 August 2009 Q. Who would want a career in a business that is misunderstood at best and widely derided at worst ... and whose practitioners are despised even more than estate agents?
A. Thousands of talented, bright young people who seek a professional life where they can make a big difference to the world in which we work and to their own financial future
For a change, here...
Traditional advertising will collapse...22 July 2009Traditional advertising will continue to collapse
..whilst the internet (and public relations) will continue to grow. Advertising in the traditional media must continue to decline and any other view is probably wishful thinking by those with vested interests in this sector. Of course, it has been and will continue to support (and be important to) major marketing and creative indu...
Moonwalk an achievement for mankind or a step in the cold war?18 July 2009
"More people watched the World Cup than our astronauts walk on the moon," quietly observed Leonard Pool to me. It was Monday (as I recall) 21 July 1969 and I was a very young man in my first serious job, on my own training mission, at the head office of Air Products in Allentown Pennsylvania, USA. I was the new and very inexperienced European public relations director for this ...
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