Fishburn Hedges

Guy Corbet

Ten years ago Big Brother burst onto our screens with the promise of instant celebrity for anyone who could hold the audience's attention long enough for them to cast a vote.  "Nasty Nick" Bateman was its first tabloid hero, catapulted to fame on the back of his mischievous intrigues.  Jade Goody followed.  To maintain interest as the novelty wore thin, successive series had to court controvers...

Paul Sweetman

Who would be a Labour party manager right now? Just when they are trying to convince members and employees to re-unite and make a fresh start, they face a barrage of revelations from the memoirs of former leading lights. These could really threaten the party’s credibility, at a time when renewed common purpose and unity is required to strengthen credibility.  There are strong parallels for the ...

Ayesha Bharmal

I think it’s probably fair to say that Health Secretary Andrew Lansley hasn’t made a friend out of Jamie Oliver. He used the British Medical Association conference in Brighton last week to criticise the chef’s school dinners campaign, claiming that his method of attempting to change behaviours is flawed. But was he right?According to Lansley, the campaign, which has been running for around ...

Paul Sweetman

The Financial Times today reports on research from the Good Work Commission (a panel set up by the Work Foundation) suggesting that intensity at work is increasing for UK employees, partly because they feel they have less opportunity to shape their own jobs and activities. The research findings will feed into recommendations that the Commission makes this autumn on how work can be made more reward...

Ian Fannon

There was no surer sign of the times than the announcement today that the Government is planning to axe three quarters of its 820 websites.It’s not surprising news, especially to those of us who have worked with Government departments over recent years and witnessed their unswerving commitment to rationalising the Government’s online presence. Such a cull represents an easy win in the battle t...

Andy Berry

So the OFT is to look at the fees charged by investment banks for underwriting.  It’s possible of course that they will conclude that the City has indeed been operating as a cartel and that fees will be required to be charged at lower rates - but that is to miss the point.What is clear is that this is a significant issue for UK companies looking to access capital markets – and for the investm...

Carolyn Abbasi Larkey

Standing on the escalator in the tube on my way home from work the other night and looking at the ‘stand on the right’ sign instructing me to do just that got me to thinking, would we be more likely to walk if the signs said ‘walk on the left’ instead?Ultimately the message is the same, but this would offer positive reinforcement for the walking option instead of the standing option. If my...

Is it legitimate to use paid-for search marketing techniques as part of a crisis communications response? This is a question being asked by many in the media today, in response BP’s decision to use sponsored links to direct people to its information website. This is clearly an emotive issue at present, but it is worth asking the question in a broad sense: should paid-for search be a part of the ...

Simon Matthews

Brave new world? Well, perhaps not yet, but this post-crisis, not-quite-recovery, no man's land certainly feels different. You can't move for talk of responsibility and shared values, for one thing. But a few other things haven’t changed.The FT supplement this week announcing the latest Business in the Community excellence awards rightly points out how the financial meltdown and more recent even...