Move over darling

I've just moved this blog over to a new Wordpress site. Far better features. Will redirect the link in time (in between nappy changers) but until then click here to go to the new blog

Ta.

I'm a slave to Ava

Still getting over yesterday's events. (Hope you enjoyed the Twitter feed - the Indie picked up on it.)

Nothing really prepares you for the birth of your first child. For the last nine months, I'd heard the same thing from every parent - it's life changing, it's life affirming (and from the Dad's a line spoken with a wearily knowing - even sadistic - tone - "Mate, you're life will NEVER be the same again. Get your sleep in NOW!")

But when I held little Ave Grace in my arms, I got it.

I, like any other man, have put myself first for the vast majority of my life. This changed when I met Roz but there was still an element of me, me, me.

But as soon as I looked into those little blue eyes, that selfishness disappeared like sunlight heralding the end of a long dark night.

My two ladies come before everything now.

I am just a nappy-changing, bottom-wiping, cash-dispensing slave.

And I'm loving every minute of it.

The Good, the Nad and the Ugly

I've just been tying up the loose ends before going on paternity leave. I did a handover with my partner Alex before popping off to meet my CLP's ward organisers on the European Elections.

Roz has been a saint. She's getting very tired now but has worked so hard to get everything ready for the baby - three days and counting.

But while I was looking online for one of those collapseable prams featured on the Apprentice - we were at that Baby Show when they were filming the episode but were too busy to pop over - I caught up on the latest developments on expenses.

Seems Nadine Dorries is getting a hell of a kicking for yesterday's comments. Now I'm not her biggest fan. I thought she over-egged her victim status over Smeargate and was pretty petty over Gordon's apology letter.

I also thought comparing Expensegate to McCarthyism is pretty spurious - McCarthyism persecuted people's political beliefs not their financial arrangements. Blaming the Fees Office is also nothing but buck passing too.

But I find it remarkable that her blog has been taken down just because it criticizes the Telegraph's owners, the Barclay Brothers. Dizzy has the scoop.

So it's fair to day I don't agree with anything Nadine says. But I absolutely defend her write to say it on the net.

Whether her theory is true or not, is not really relevant. It's an opinion.

What does matter, is that the owners of a paper that has paid £350,000 to a 'whistleblower,' should then silence someone who speaks out against them. That's hypocrisy.

Surely it would have been better just to have left a comment on, or email, Nad's blog. She could then have referred to it, admit she was wrong or carry a clarification.

Blogs might at times run round rings round the dead tree press, but two things are very clear today.

Firstly, papers like the Telegraph are more than happy to dish it out but not so keen to take it.

And secondly, the mainstream media will always have the deepest pockets.

By the way, I predict quite a few more exposes on John Wick and his company tomorrow.

By his own admission in today's Telegraph Wick says: "Several former commissioners of the Metropolitan Police have served on the boards of my companies."

In the light of this, there are legitimate questions to be asked as to why the Met Police decided not to prosecute those who leaked the expenses.

Don't get me wrong. I'm glad MP expenses were going to be published. What get's my goat is that someone has earned a third of a million pounds after hawking these discs around Fleet Street for the last two months and then has the gall to spin themselves as a noble whistleblower.

I think once people realise these expense claims were all going to come out in July anyway, they might start to see this for what it really is.

Handling stolen goods.

Go Third!

I still can't believe that a week today I'm going to be a dad.

These last few months have flown post so quickly. If I'm honest, setting up my business and Go Fourth has taken up a lot more of my time than I'd originally expected.

Spending the last Bank Holiday weekend driving around the north in a Transit Van with Les Dawson didn't exactly win me brownie points with Roz. And running last week's Wage Concern campaign meant a lot of late nights at work too.

But I've been working from home for the last couple of days, finishing the 'nest' and getting last minute baby booty.

I can't help thinking that I'm coming to the end of the first part of my life, where for the vast majority of it, I came first.

But from next Tuesday, I will Go Third - behind a very understanding wife and our beautiful child.

It's not written in stone after all

Shame that the Stone Roses aren't reforming after all. The Mirror had raised all our hopes but Ian Brown and John Squire have both denied it.

But I love the way the guitarist-turned-artist denied the story - he photoshopped his statement onto a piece of his own art (see above.)

Class.

I suppose he's right. It would ruin their timeless appeal. So we'll have to make do with the albums and this hilarious cock-up on the old Late Show that summed up their attitude.

"AMACHERS!"

Vote Mitchell

Alastair Campbell gave advice to Peggy Mitchell in her bid to stand for Walford Council.

Now Peggy has delivered a priceless response. And she's trumped Alastair too - by making it a vlog!

She'll be editing the New Statesman next!

A Hull of a Year (sorry)

I'm off running again. I did 10k yesterday - the first part of the London Marathon as I live in Greenwich.

I've been working quite late with Go Fourth and not been eating healthily. As such I've picked up what my mates in Hull describe as love panelling.

As I was running and wheezing round Woolwich I looked at the date on my watch and I realised it was a year to the day my last run ended.

I really can't believe it's been a year. It was a great experience but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. It took a good few weeks to get over it. Although defeat is something I've tasted for many years as a city supporter, it was still hard not to think of myself as a loser. It took over my life for the best part of six months.Roz was a saint dealing with me.

But looking back on the year that followed, I set up Go Fourth, delivered some great campaigns for my old consultancy, became Chair of Governors of my local secondary, set up my new company and more importantly became a dad to be (baby due on Phil Brown's 50th!)

So in looking back, I wasn't the loser I thought I was after all.

Attack of the Lib Dem Bloggers!

Just written my first blog post over on LabourList about Lib Dems plans to create an 'army of bloggers.'

I wonder if they'd look like this?

When polls get axed

I've commissioned quite a few surveys in my time. It is after all one of the main weapons in the PR practitioner's arsenal.

They're used to highlight that public opinion either supports or opposes a particular issue of interest to your client, who are, of course, providing the 'answer.'

But sometimes, the pesky public doesn't play ball. A perfect example of this was the recent YouGov survey commissioned by the Labour pressure group Compass.

Now Compass totally objects to private investment into Royal Mail and have been running an effective campaign against Peter Mandelson's proposals.

So YouGov polled 911 Labour Party members to find out their views. The survey, paid for by email appeals from Compass to its supporters, was then published in The Guardian with the topline that the party membership were against 'part-privatisation' by three to one.

But the Mail on Sunday has revealed that a few of the questions and answers were left out - notably that Peter Mandelson - the 'Prince of Darkness' was more popular than the supposedly left-wing favourite Harriet Harman.

However, there's an even more interesting question and answer which has not been reported, though if you go to YouGov's site you can see the results in full.

When you're constructing a survey for maximum media 'pick-up,' you look to pose a question with a striking comparison - for example Daleks are more familiar to children than real animals.

Compass tried to do this by asking party members how where they would place three politicians on a left-right political barometer. The three people were Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Peter Mandelson.


It appears they were looking for a classic 'shock' result to show that party members thought Mandelson was more right wing than the Tory leader and therefore his actions as Business Secretary were being perceived as that of a right wing Conservative.

Accept it didn't work out that way. Here's the full result:


In politics, people sometimes talk about parties and politicians as being on the left
or right. Using the scale below, where would you place each of the following on that
scale?

Where would you place yourself on this scale?
Very left-wing 11
Fairly left-wing 35
Slightly left-of-centre 32
Centre 14
Slightly right-of-centre 3
Fairly right-wing 1
Very right-wing 1
Don’t know 5

And where would you place Gordon Brown the Prime Minister?
Very left-wing 2
Fairly left-wing 14
Slightly left-of-centre 43
Centre 20
Slightly right-of-centre 9
Fairly right-wing 4
Very right-wing 1
Don’t know 5

Where would you place David Cameron, the Conservative leader?
Very left-wing 1
Fairly left-wing 1
Slightly left-of-centre 4
Centre 7
Slightly right-of-centre 19
Fairly right-wing 36
Very right-wing 26
Don’t know 8

Where would you place Lord (Peter) Mandelson, the Business Secretary?
Very left-wing 1
Fairly left-wing 6
Slightly left-of-centre 25
Centre 29
Slightly right-of-centre 19
Fairly right-wing 8
Very right-wing 3
Don’t know 10

The problem is, when you choose to be selective in the the survey results you publish, you're then open to accusations of censorship.

My advice would have been that Compass should have made all the results public, even if they were buried away in the Notes to Editors section of a press release or on their website.

That's the problem with the public - they have an annoying habit of thinking for themselves!

Wareing the Movie

How NOT to win an election

In the great state of Alaska (Governor S.Palin) another woman was attempting to get to DC to make a real difference.

Diane Benson, who stood against the pitbull with lipstick for the Governorship in 2006, attempted to become the Democratic congessional candidate for Alaska with the aim to clean up government.

You’d think as a Democrat she’d tie herself to the Obama bandwagon.

But no.

Diane had her own ideas of winning people over and illustrating her ‘experience.’

You may be surprised to discover that she didn’t win over Democrats to become their official candidate. In fact, she was defeated by a substantial margin - a clear 20 percentage points.

I wonder if you can you guess why?

Sophie's poor choice

Stand-in presenters always feel they have something to prove. They start with the presumption that people will assume they are second best, a last minute replacement, a poor substitute.

So standing-in for Andrew Marr was always going to be hard; especially for newsreader Sophie Raworth. But going up against Peter Mandelson in your first big interview was not so much jumping in at the deep end as diving into middle of the Atlantic in a Force Ten gale.

However, Sophie succumbed to the belief that if you do a hard interview and produce a 'defining TV moment' you can make a name for yourself quite easily. Today's 'Andrew Marr' was all about Sophie repositioning herself to be taken seriously and what better way then to get one over Mandelson?

She'd obviously decided to make a big thing about the recent articles questioning his stay on a Russian billionaire's yacht.

Peter could quite easily ask what evidence she had to say that influenced any of his decisions (answer: nothing) otherwise it was just repeating a smear.

So to pull it round, Sophie chose to have a dig about Peter's title, incorrectly suggesting he was the 'Baron of Hartlepool of Foy.'

Peter's response is both cutting and brutally hilarious.

The lesson to all interviewers - do your OWN research.

Click here and scroll to 55 minutes in for the full exchange.

Dear David..

I woke up this morning to discover Gordon Brown has emailed me. He's beginning to make a habit of this.

And I for one, am pretty damn pleased he is.

In the past, the party would solely use emails as the web equivalent of the direct marketing mail.

As such, a member's response would be exactly the same as opening a DM letter - brief scan, see they want money, bin it.

I'm glad to see that's changing.

Yesterday's moves were quite remarkable - well, one certainly was. Watching yesterday's TV and today's papers would normally reinforce those concerns. I see the Daily Mail's headline is 'Arise Lord Sleaze.'

That's why Gordon's email works. It's a personal and intimate communication that has no other agenda other than to explain his decision. Take a look:

Dear David

You will have seen from the news that I have carried out changes in the Government today. I wanted to contact you directly to let you know the thinking behind these changes.

We are living through the first truly global financial crisis that started in America, but where we must in Britain now do everything we can to ensure the stability of our economic system.

Serious people are needed for these serious times. Margaret Beckett has come back into Government and I have also promoted some of our Party’s best new talent to help deal with the new challenges we face.

I want to reconstruct the way we govern to meet these challenges. Therefore I have created a new National Economic Council and put it on a day-to-day footing. It will meet for the first time on Monday.

I have brought back Peter Mandelson from Brussels to lead our Business Department. Peter has been a European Commissioner of great distinction. He has unrivalled experience in international business issues and has built a reputation over these last few years as someone who can get things done.

I believe the changes I have announced today are in the national interest. Our undivided attention must be on the security of millions of families and households who have been facing higher bills and now face the uncertainty caused by the financial failures in America and elsewhere.

Thank you for all that you do.

Gordon Brown

That's quite alright, Gordon. And thanks for all you do too!

The email wasn't edited, censored or misquoted. It simply provided a context and reasoning for the reshuffle. As such, I think it will go quite some way to allaying certain members' doubts.

But moving forward, I'd like to see Labour going much further, taking a leaf out of the Democrats book and telling supporters first.

Obama asked his supporters to register their details to find out who his VP choic was. They then received a text before the journalists - they felt included, special and that they mattered more. (Also, a very clever way of capturing data - I think Obama will be sending a few more texts before the campaign's over!)

So imagine how powerful it would have been for members and supporters to find out about the Cabinet reshuffle BEFORE the media.

When we engage with supporters, they respond well. 2.9 million registered for Obama's texts and Go Fourth - the Campaign for a Labour Fourth Term - had a remarkable reaction at conference which has now been transferred to the social networks.

A party member set up a Go Fourth Facebook group. Within two weeks it's gone from a handful of supporters to 1,400 - that's 100 new friends every day. It now has more Facebook supporters than Compass, Progress and even Conservative Future.

They may not all become active supporters but they will be effective advocates. Studies have shown that those who read blogs and actively use Facebook are seven times more likely to be an influencer or opinion former.

So next time you have a big announcement Gordon, why not send an email with this intro:

Dear David

I've carried out changes to the Government today.

But I wanted you to be the FIRST to know.

Dick Cheney was right!

If only Cheney had listened to errr..himself.



Hat-tip MoveOn.org

Sofa, so good

Sad to hear Fiona Phillips is finally leaving GMTV.

I worked with Fi at GMTV for six years I can testify that those morning starts and overnights are an absolute killer. Lord knows how she's managed 14 years

I remember getting calls from hacks after she and Martin sneaked off to get married in Las Vegas in 1997. I thought it was a wind up but when I rang Frizz, discovered it was true after all. I seem to recall he was a bit worried that people might think they were being a bit LA LA but they never did.

I have fond memories of GM (I met my lovely wife there) and have an awful lot of respect for Fi. She's a very canny and shrewd interviewer and broke the news that Diana had died to millions of viewers.

My twopenneth? I think Frizz and the director of programmes Peter McHugh - who gave me my first break in TV - should get a new presenter in. It's still a great show and even more than the Today programme helps shape the news agenda for the day.

Fi and Eammon were a fantastic double act - and very good journalists - but I think the show's lost a bit of sparkle since they split up. Chemistry is very important - you can't fake it.

She'll be a hard act to follow.

So enjoy the lie ins, Fi - and welcome to the rest of your life.

In this week's Heat magazine...

Yep, I have now seen everything.

I think you can guess what WTF stands for!

Karen's worth her weight in gold

Really pleased to hear Hull's judo legend Karen Briggs is is on the mend after being treated for breast cancer.

Karen runs a judo school on Fountain Road and remarkably hopes to be back on the mat in the next couple of weeks.

I always remember the 1992 Barcelona Olympics judo semi-final, when Karen dislocated her shoulder representing GB.

She could have given up but that wasn't a four time world champion does. So she just wrenched her shoulder back into her socket and carried on in excruciating pain.

Even thinking about it makes me wince, but by god, what a fighter and inspiration to young people.

All the best Karen.

I've been ad

Probably the cleverest ad in years because it doesn't appear to be an ad until the BIG reveal.

Ings Got Talent

Just heard that the kids from East Hull Urban Arts are going into the studio to record their first song.

It's a cover of a modern country ballad Concrete Angel, a song made famous by Martine McBride. It's particularly moving as the song's about child abuse, told from the perspective of a daughter regularly beaten by her drunken mother.

In this age of manufactured pop and transient reality z listers, it's heartening to hear children with genuine talent getting a chance to reach a wider audience.

I defy anyone not to get moist-eyed listening to this clip I recorded last year - though I'm told they're a hundred times better now.

Can't wait to hear them.