On the 1st Day of Cutmas ….

Posted by on Dec 9, 2010 in Blog, university, video | 10 comments I have just spent two days in London and, although I missed the rioutous student demo against tuition fees, I did stumble across some festive students yesterday outside Somerset House who were singing their protests with a parody on our favourite carols.  It’s very mild compared to some of the scenes from today, though I feel students have every right to feel angry as they face a future of...
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The garden of Plas Brondanw

Posted by on Aug 30, 2010 in video | 4 comments I have never before visited a beautiful garden in the middle of a summer’s day and had it all to myself. That was what happened when I stumbled across Plas Brondanw, in North Wales, the beautiful garden created by architect Clough Williams-Ellis, famed for designing the quirky Portmeirion village, which attracts tens of thousands of tourists each year. It was only by chance I learned about...
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Have you climbed Snowdon?

Posted by on Aug 28, 2010 in Personal, video | 13 comments I have just returned from a few sunshine days in Wales and my trip included an ascent up Snowdon – the less strenuous way  with Snowdon Mountain Railway as we had my 83-year-old pa-on-law with us. I was impressed by the scores of determined walkers who trekked to the top, the fittest walking both ways, while others chose either to walk up or down, and take the railway for the other trip. I...
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A Lib Dem vote will only help Gordon Brown

Posted by on Apr 11, 2010 in 2010 general election, video | 2 comments Robert Sturdy MEP and Trevor Ivory, Conservative parliamentary candidate for North Norfolk, explain why a Lib Dem vote is a vote for Gordon Brown. Vote for change, vote Trevor...
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A video tour of the European Parliament

Posted by on Apr 10, 2009 in Headway, PR client, Robert Sturdy MEP, video | 2 comments I thought you might be interested in having a look at some scenes I recorded of the European Parliament in Brussels. When I last visited four years ago, there was much building work taking place to provide accommodation for MEPs and staff from the new eastern European countries. That has now been completed and two new office blocks are linked to the main Altiero Spinelli building on Rue Wiertz...
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The Obama social media dream, and how it happened

Posted by on Mar 30, 2009 in Social Media, video | 4 comments There is still an overwhelming fascination about Barack Obama’s unprecedented use of the social media which took him straight to The White House. He used it to raise a staggering $668 million and on the day of the election, there were 1.2 billion blog posts written about him. Crucially, Obama used YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and blogs to listen to people and respond. He even set up a special...
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Robert Sturdy urges G20 leaders to promote free trade

Posted by on Mar 29, 2009 in PR client, Robert Sturdy MEP, video | 2 comments My MEP Robert Sturdy is a key international trade spokesman and in this video he explains why we need to increase free trade across borders globally and do away with protectionism to help recover from the recession. Is that what G20 world leaders will have in mind when they meet this...
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How can charities survive?

Posted by on Mar 25, 2009 in PR, video | 7 comments This video provides advice from the experts on how charities can use communications to promote their organisations during the economic downturn. It features hot tips from Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow; Mark Webster, Director of Communications with the Charities Aid Foundation; Ted Hart, founder of International ePhilapnthorpy Foundation; and David Senior, Director of Development with ...
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How to pitch a story to a national magazine

Posted by on Mar 24, 2009 in PR, video | 9 comments I heard Victoria Woodhall, deputy features editor for You magazine, Mail on Sunday, give this helpful advice at a charity conference, and asked her to share it via my video. Although it is aimed at the charity sector and describes how they can successfully achieve positive media coverage in a glossy mag, such as You, it is also great advice for the communications industry in general. I hope you...
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The “shame” of having cancer

Posted by on Mar 24, 2009 in PR client, Robert Sturdy MEP, video | 5 comments The “shame” and “embarrassment” some people feel about admitting to having cancer has been described in this video by Jola Gore-Booth, founder of europacolon. “There’s taboo of cancer, there’s still embarrassment. People do not want to admit that they have cancer in Eastern European countries, you are ashamed of it. It means that God thinks you a bad...
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“Deal with Brown, prepare for Cameron”

Posted by on Mar 23, 2009 in Headway, PR, video | 8 comments How should charities communicate and survive the economic downturn? Peter Bingle, chairman of Bell Pottinger Public Affairs had some sound advice – “deal with Brown, prepare for Cameron.” It was uncomfortably political for some of the audience at the conference where Peter spoke, but made sound sense to me. I was attending as chair of trustees for Headway Cambridgeshire, and...
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Jeremy Paxman and The Victorians

Posted by on Mar 21, 2009 in News, video | 4 comments There were no free parking spaces left in Ely on Thursday evening – Jeremy Paxman was in town signing copies of The Victorians in our stunning cathedral – and his fans came out in droves. Paxman was on a charm offensive and made no mention of a co-author, claiming full credit for the book. I understand from today’s papers that another author did most of the writing because...
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Introducing Jonathan and Tom from ConservativeHome

Posted by on Mar 20, 2009 in Social Media, video | 2 comments While I was in Brussels this week I met up with two great guys from ConservativeHome who have an influential role with the online political media scene, partiuclarly co-editor Jonathan Isaby. who has had quite a few scoops recently, the latest on Lynton Crosby running Libertas’ European campaign. Tom Greeves who edits the parliament page is also coming up trumps and these guys are both...
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“Trash to Cash” experts reveal best finds

Posted by on Mar 8, 2009 in Headway, video | 3 comments I spent a fabulous afternoon with my fellow Headway Cambridgeshire trustee Trina Hill and her husband Julius who hosted a “Trash to Cash” sale at their home. We were delighted by the professionalism, good nature and humour of the entire team. When the heavy, brooding Fenland skies opened and released huge pellets of rain the size of glass beads and fearsome gusts of wind, everyone...
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