Monthly Archives: May 2008

The incredible rudeness of Windows Vista

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George Orwell would have identified with the Big Brother tendencies of Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system.

I switched on my laptop tonight, and wondered why everything was so slow. I popped out of the room and came back to find a message that Windows was going to restart in moments. Panicking – I did NOT want my computer to turn itself off – I clicked ‘postpone’. I then went to turn the kettle on, got distracted – and returned to a dark screen as the laptop restarted itself.

GRRRRR!

It turned out that Vista was installing updates – without asking me if I wanted them, or getting me to decide whether I wanted the laptop restarted.

I presume there’s a way of taking back control. But this kind of software rudeness does nothing to endear Microsoft to me. Now, where’s Apple’s website?

Is Gordon Brown the new John Major?

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May has been the cruellest month for Gordon Brown. Thursday’s defeat in the Crewe and Nantwich by election followed similar embarrassments in the local and London elections three weeks ago. After less than a year, Brown’s premiership is looking doomed.

Comparisons are being made with John Major, who led the Conservatives to their worst defeat since the 19th century in 1997. For much of his last five years in power, Major looked out of his depth, without the authority to pull his party back from the brink. The 1997 general election was, if anything, worse than many pundits and psephologists predicted. So Labour shouldn’t bank on bouncing back over the next couple of years.

I wrote yesterday that many are arguing that the rise of social media means that political parties have to accept that authenticity is the key to successful communication, rather than spin. Labour’s disastrous attempt to dismiss the Tory candidate as a ‘toff’ suggests that the party haven’t kicked the spinning habit. Take this comment from Labour vice chairman Stephen Ladyman:

"He’s a rich man and he won’t understand the problems that people face day-to-day," Labour vice-chairman Stephen Ladyman said.

This was crass and patronising – and hypocritical from a government that increased the tax burden on the poorest by axing the 10p tax rate. Voters are capable of deciding if a candidate is out of touch.

Where did it all go wrong for Labour? How did the high hopes of 1997 turn to ashes? My view is that Labour was handicapped by its failure to set out a compelling vision for the country. The death of ideology may be welcome – most of us never embraced the dogma of left or right – but its replacement by managerialism was never going to capture hearts and minds. Throwing money at public services, as Labour did after 2000, was hardly a philosophy, especially when so many doubted how effectively the money had been spent.

Labour’s other failing was in communications. As I wrote after meeting him in 2006, Alistair Campbell made the critical mistake of not realising that a different approach was needed in government. Campbell’s aggressive style actually prevented Labour from telling its story. The government’s admirable work in helping the poor went untold, which compounded the impact of the terrible mistake over the 10p tax rate. Labour spent a decade bad mouthing the state of public services – small wonder few thought those services may have improved.

If, as seems likely, the Conservatives win a landslide in 2010, a new pattern will have been established in British politics. For the second time in a row, power will have changed hands by a landslide: almost unheard of before Blair’s triumph in 1997. (Labour’s huge victory in 1945 was hardly typical, coming at the end of the second world war, ten years after the previous election. And Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979 with a majority of just 44.) The 1997 and (likely) 2010 big wins suggest something else: that parties are finding it hard to renew themselves in government, and instead become remote and out of touch. But are voters becoming more fickle, switching allegiance as they grow bored with a party? There must be some truth in this, especially as the three main UK-wide parties have lost their distinctiveness.

The other lesson is the danger of alienating grass root supporters. The Thatcher-Major governments were the arch centralisers, ultimately destroying the Conservatives’ base in local government – and demoralising the supporters they needed in the 1997 general election. Labour failed to learn from the Tory mistake, leaving the party vulnerable to a similar wipe-out in local government. The local election results in England and Wales earlier this month suggested that history is repeating itself. This does not bode well for Labour in the next general election.   

Social Media: the new era of authentic communication?

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Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are taking the world by storm. So I was lucky to spend Friday learning more at Don’t Panic’s Guide to Social Media in London.

I’ve got to know Nicky and Andy from Don’t Panic over the last couple of years after they asked me to speak at the CIPR Northern Conference in 2006 – and at Don’t Panic’s first ‘own brand’ events on crisis communications in May 2007 and January 2008. (The imminent birth of our baby means I can’t take part in July’s crisis comms event in my second home, Leeds!) Don’t Panic is a very impressive event management company that has led the way in exploring how social media is changing the nature of PR.

Friday’s event was, in my view, Don’t Panic’s best yet on the ‘new PR’ and social media. Earlier events in 2006 and 2007 for Sunderland University had set the scene in fascinating and compelling fashion without quite moving from theory to ‘how to’ manage PR in the Facebook era. Friday’s event moved things on significantly, with some great examples of how to connect with social media. It also suggested the Facebook world marked the death of command communication (‘this is the truth’) and the triumph of authenticity. In short, companies and political parties can’t hope to control the message. Consumers and voters can now overcome any attempts to spin the message.

This has long been my view of PR. I have always urged my organisations to ‘tell it like it is’. When first direct briefly pulled out of the mortgage market in April because we were overwhelmed by demand, I made sure we said sorry to customers for giving them poor service. After all, we’re famous for getting it right – so why wouldn’t we say sorry when we didn’t live up to our normal standards?

Friday’s event brought together an interesting group of speakers. My favourite was Meg Pickard, head of communities and user experience at guardian.co.uk. Meg explained the Guardian’s journey to interactivity in a social media world. It was interesting that when conference chair Neville Hobson asked who blogged, twittered, was on Facebook (the list goes on), Mary’s hand went up every time.

Graham Googkind from Frank PR gave some classic examples of campaigns that connected with the Facebook generation. My concern was that most of his campaigns seemed to be all about lad culture, belittling women. Perhaps that’s right for his clients. It just seemed horribly anachronistic.

Is rude the new polite?

Quite a few delegates, including Stuart Bruce from Wolfstar, blogged and twittered during the event. It confirmed that social etiquette is changing quickly. Not long ago, conference speakers would have been horrified to see delegates typing on their laptops or texting on their phones or BlackBerries during an event. Now, they’re delighted that their words of wisdom are reported live.

Is politics ready for authenticity?

A decade ago, New Labour was the triumphant icon of the new politics. The party engaged with voters disillusioned with John Major’s Conservatives. An ultra aggressive PR operation hassled the Tories and intimidated the media. Roll forward to the present day and Labour is as stunned by its unpopularity as Major’s Tories were. I’ll write more about this later this weekend in a post reflecting on the Crewe and Nantwich by-election. But the lesson for Labour from the Don’t Panic event on social media is that the era of brutal spin is over. That’s why the crass attack on Tory candidate Edward Timson as a ‘toff’ was doomed. Voters will decide whether they think a candidate is out of touch. They don’t need a party that has swooned before millionaire businessmen to tell them.

Bluebirds do us proud in FA Cup final

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Cardiff City’s FA Cup dream is over. The Bluebirds were unlucky to lose 1-0 to Portsmouth in yesterday’s final at Wembley. But the team did Cardiff, Wales and football proud.

How ironic that a club that won the FA Cup in 1927 through a goalkeeping blunder should lose at Wembley 81 years later to a similar howler by Cardiff keeper Enckelman. Ultimately Portsmouth’s Premier League quality was enough, although City had the best of the first half hour.

I was lucky enough to be at Wembley to watch City’s success in the semi final. I watched yesterday’s final with Mum and Dad in Penarth. After the game ended, my wife Karen asked, "Have you got over the disappointment?" I explained that a lifetime supporting the Bluebirds teaches you to expect and accept disappointment. But the huge consolation is knowing that City have doubled their tally of FA Cup final appearances.

Credit to the FA for agreeing that the Welsh national anthem, Hen wlad fy nhadau, should be played as well as God save the Queen. It was a fine gesture.

The BBC: the poor relation

Watching Cardiff City v Portsmouth in the FA Cup final on BBC tv made me realise how Sky have improved live television coverage of football. Half way through the first half, I wondered how much possession and territory City had enjoyed. Had I been watching Sky, I’d have seen charts and stats. On the BBC? Nothing. I saw just one such graphic, early in the second half. And that was it.

The Guardian’s rant against Boris: the readers’ editor responds

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Earlier this month, I asked whether the media had won the London mayoral election for Boris Johnson. I railed against the London Evening Standard’s relentless barrage of negative stories about rival candidate, Ken Livingstone. I also complained about The Guardian’s lead story in its G2 supplement on election day, which was an unsubtle compilation of quotes saying Boris must not be mayor of London.

This week, The Guardian’s readers’ editor, Siobhain Butterworth devoted her Open Door column to the controversial G2 feature. I’m pleased that the paper is prepared to debate criticism, though on this occasion Butterworth sat on the fence rather than agree or disagree with the criticisms made. (She also used as a subhead an unattributed quote from my email to the paper: "I take huge exception to newspapers telling me how to vote.")

The paper’s response?

"The intention wasn’t to influence voters, G2’s editor told me. "Most of our readers are not Tory voters," she said. "We wanted to reflect the fact that most readers would probably be quite alarmed by the idea of London having a Tory mayor." There was an assumption that because the articles appeared in the features section, rather than the main paper, people would appreciate the irreverent tone. "It was supposed to be fun, in a serious way," she said.

A pretty feeble justification in my view.

Click on the continuation for the text of my email to The Guardian on the subject.

Continue reading →

Cycling into summer

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A weekend graced by glorious weather draws to a close. The longer, warmer evenings have prompted me to get back on the bike, and I feel so much better for exchanging winter lethargy for summer exercise. 

In tonight’s evening heat, I felt good spinning the pedals up the long drag out of Chalfont St Giles. My cycle this evening was a short one, but I love the ride back into the village along the Misbourne valley via Bowstridge Lane. The new-born lambs are in full and delightful voice.

It’s good to read inspirational tales of rather longer cycling adventures. The Guardian’s Two Wheels cycling last week was entitled Adventures of the Night Riders and featured a CTC ride through the night from London to the coast. This is dangerous territory for me. I’ve always loved the idea of cycling through the summer night, although I admit I’ve never yet turned the idea into practice. Another marathon night ride is the Exmouth Exodus from Bristol to the Devon coast, run by Dave Atkinson who was the tour leader on our cycle tour of Umbria four years ago. Back in June 1995 I enjoyed my first true cycling holiday from Wiltshire to the coast at Beer in east Devon – and back.

The idea of cycling those wonderful lanes at night is intoxicating, though the thought of having to make my way back to Buckinghamshire afterwards is just as daunting! Maybe one day…

In praise of mayors – by Bob Skinner

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The success of the London mayoral elections is a vindication of the ‘town mayor’ system, confirming everything I have been saying for many years about its value and how it should be adopted throughout Britain.

I first encountered it fifty years ago when I became the public relations officer for Caerphilly urban district council.

One of my tasks was to organise the town’s twinning with Ludwigsburg in Baden Wurttemburg, Germany.

It was at the formal twinning ceremony that I met my first town mayor – burgermeister – Dr Saur, who had been ‘running’ his town for some years

A graduate of Heidelburg University, he was elected for an eight-year term during which he was responsible for the administration of the impressive castle town.

The makeup of the council was political but, as with all such elections, his was certainly not. He was appointed on the public’s perception of his merits and of his ability to lead a team of members and officers in the best interests of the citizens and the town.

Such was his success that when, sadly, he died a year or so after I met him, it was not only Ludwigsburgers who mourned. When the Caerphilly Ladies Choir visited the town they cried as they sang at his graveside… he had impressed them as he had his townspeople.

Over the years my admiration for the town mayor system was strengthened by my experience in Germany and Japan.

When I first visited Japan to study public relations and public consultation, Governor Minobi had been Tokyo’s acknowledged leader and mastermind for many years, inevitably earning the title, Mr Tokyo. He was known and respected by everyone, partly because his role by-passed and diminished party politics.

The party colour of Tokyo Municipal Government changed from time to time but with him at the helm it made no difference.

He was even bold and confident enough to go out regularly into the city’s teeming streets, with a van and a small team of support staff, actively seeking the views – and the complaints – of the people.

When I got back home and suggested the idea to Lord (Jack) Brooks, then leader of South Glamorgan County Council, he said I was a bloody fool and if I mentioned it again I’d be fired. He was joking – I think.

In Germany, major cities like Stuttgart – twinned with Cardiff – have oberburgermeisters and the smaller towns, burgermeisters, specially trained for a career in local government. Success at the lower level can lead to ‘promotion’ by election to a bigger city and more prestigious – and demanding – role.

But both tiers are important as they run – and are seen to run – their cities and towns.

Stuttgart’s first oberburgermeister, Dr Klett, elected in 1948, served for well over twenty years, leading the war ravaged city back to wealth and its former greatness.

Over the past sixty years that city has had only three oberburgermeisters, one of whom, Manfred Rommel, son of the Field Marshall, was not only revered by his city but also by the people of Cardiff for his openness, honesty and good nature, as well as his efficiency.

These are the type of men – and women – that British towns and cities need.

The town mayor system would increase efficiency, stimulate interest – just look at what London’s election did – and perhaps make local government more open, a less shady and selfish way of public service.

Sadly, from its limited take up so far, I am not optimistic.

Britain, it seems, would prefer to carry on in the same old blinkered, discredited way, breeding resentment, public apathy and equally pathetic turn outs on election days.

Hurray for the taxman – and The Guardian’s David Conn

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The taxman – or, more formally, HM Revenue and Customs – gets more flak than praise. But I totally agree with the Guardian’s David Conn for supporting HMRC’s refusal to allow football clubs to wriggle out of their tax bill when they hit hard times financially.

Conn’s article was about Leeds United’s failure to overturn the 25 point deduction the Football League imposed when they went into administration without agreeing a company voluntary agreement (CVA). Under a CVA, a club’s creditors agree to accept less than the total amount they are owed. But HMRC won’t accept less than the total tax liability, which means that it can scupper a CVA. Without a CVA, the Football League will deduct an additional 15 points on top of the 10 point deduction for going into administration.

Conn rightly points out that footballers still get paid every penny of their inflated salaries – and clubs pick up those breathtaking transfer fees – regardless of a club going into administration.  Like Conn, I think it outrageous that football continues to live the high life way beyond its means – yet expects St John Ambulance and the local community to write off money that is rightfully theirs. HMRC is absolutely correct not to let football off the hook. After all, it’s our money that’s at stake.

Why do politicians only promise to listen when they lose?

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After Labour’s appalling performance in this week’s local and London elections, the party’s top brass responded with an almost unanimous pledge: to listen.

Gordon Brown told the BBC the government had "lessons to learn", but insisted: "My job is to listen and to lead."

Why do politicians only promise to listen when they’ve suffered a crushing defeat? All too often it’s a knee jerk reaction to events, rather than an honest willingness to reconsider unpopular and wrong-headed policies. Just think back to Labour’s so-called Big Conversation, launched in the wake of the Iraq war. Labour’s refusal to listen to what voters were telling them in 2003 played a big part in creating the party’s current unpopularity. And the way it foisted Gordon Brown on the country without a party vote, let alone an election.

(Yes, I do know the British constitution does not require an election when a governing party changes leader. But the voters aren’t bothered about the constitution: all that bothers them is that they’ve been landed with a prime minister they don’t much like.)

If Labour is to have any chance of winning the next election, it has to start acting on what voters are telling them – and quickly. The disaster of the abolition of the 10p tax rate must be a dire warning. I wrote about the 10p tax saga here last month, and was surprised when Stuart Bruce argued in response that "people have been ferociously lobbying for ages. The only difference is that now it has come out into the open." I couldn’t understand how Labour activists had allowed a year to pass before going public. This totally ineffective lobbying was a major factor in ensuring Labour’s comprehensive defeat last week, especially in its heartlands. Anyone who questions this should ask themselves how the Rhondda now has a Tory councillor, and why Labour came third, behind the Lib Dems and Tories, in Cardiff.

The next two years will be fascinating. 

Did the media win London for Boris Johnson?

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Boris Johnson is the new mayor of London, after beating incumbent Ken Livingstone in Thursday’s ballot.

It’s hard to imagine gaffe-prone Boris running one of the world’s great cities. But he will now get the chance to do just that.

Johnson’s win was just the most high profile disasters for Labour as the party’s 15 year dominance of British politics appeared to be coming to an end. But the way the city’s Evening Standard newspaper relentlessly campaigned against Ken reopened the old complaints that Britain’s Tory-supporting press gave the party a huge boost. Almost every day, the Standard billboards carried another anti-Ken story, ranging from accusations that the outgoing mayor was supported by terrorist-sympathisers to talk of sleeze.

It’s hard to judge whether Ken would have won had the Standard not run Boris’s campaign for him. I suspect not, given that Livingstone’s early promise had given way to arrogance and gesture politics over the past few years. His introduction of the congestion charge was a masterstroke, showing that bold policies could be popular. But his inspired response to the 2005 London bombings proved the high water mark of his mayorality. He soon demonstrated an assumption of being above question or challenge, most famously by refusing to apologise for saying a Jewish newspaper reporter had acted like a concentration camp guard. Ken’s fall is a classic example of how even the most popular politicians can become out of touch over time.

I objected to the Standard trying to win London for Boris. Less powerful but just as disturbing was the lead feature in The Guardian’s G2 supplement on election day gathering dozens of people to say why Boris shouldn’t be mayor. The tone was obvious from the intro by Zoe Williams:

"Ach. That floppy hair, and that sodding bicycle. Has any man ever before managed to persuade such a huge number of people that he was such a decent chap on two such flimsy, trivial, irrelevant, modish pieces of ephemera?"

I take great exception to newspapers telling me how to vote. (Though I didn’t have a say in Ken v Boris as we don’t live in London.) Especially when the argument is as shallow as this comment by fashion designer Vivienne Westwood:

"Boris as mayor? Unthinkable. It just exposes democracy as a sham, especially if people don’t vote for Ken – he’s the best thing in politics. Unthinkable."

Democracy as a sham? Let’s just remember that 1,168,738 people voted for Johnson. By contrast, not a single voter had a say when Gordon Brown took over from Tony Blair. That strikes me as a more obvious democratic deficit. But I look forward to the day when newspapers shed their arrogant insistence in telling us who to vote for.

PS: back in 1998, I went to a talk about the proposed new London mayor and assembly. I asked Andrew Turnbull, then permanent secretary of the department of environment and future Cabinet Secretary, whether people would be confused between ‘his’ mayor of London and the ancient office of Lord Mayor of London. Turnbull said he didn’t think that would happen. He was obviously right – though the fact the older role was renamed Lord Mayor of the City of London in 2006 suggests the authorities were concerned to avoid confusion even after six years of Ken Livingstone’s high profile mayorality.