“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
So said André Gide. Wise man. It’s in that spirit that I’ve taken a gamble, and handed in my notice at work – I’ll be leaving in the new year.
We’ve completed a couple of major projects recently – a new website for the University of Westminster, and a major HR campaign (both profiled here.) Those two projects close an intensive 32 months which have been packed full of comms, PR, media, and public affairs work. It’s been a fantastically broad and challenging role during a period of intensive change for the University.
The Vice-Chancellor recently announced a new three-year plan, within our vision for 2015. It’s a big plan, and I fully support it. However, I realised quickly that it was going to need constant communication, and it would be best served if the Comms Director could see it through to 2013 at least, and better still to 2015. I’m convinced that it’s best for the University if a new figure takes over in the new year to progress my work, avoiding the disruption of a handover mid-project – and this is the only window to ensure a smooth handover. I’ll miss the great team we’ve built here.
Having declined my manager’s kind offer to try and talk me out of it, I’ve taken a leap in to the unknown. I’m putting together a showcase of my work, and I’m happy to send my CV to anyone who’s interested. Both my current employers and Lord Rennard have offered to act as referees. If you would like to see my CV, or discuss any opportunities, do email me (rob@northumbrian.org.uk) or call me on 07961 814 527.
Lets hope that neither destitution nor consultancy await.
One of life’s simple pleasures is the unexpected sentence, or the overheard snippet of conversation which, when taken out of context, is inspiring or baffling. It’s partly what makes Someone Once Told Me one of the most consistently entertaining sites on the ‘net.
I’ve always said that some day I would compile a book of unexpected sentences, the sort of things that make you say “well, I never thought that would come out of my mouth”, but I like to start small and pilot first – so before the book comes www.twitter.com/adventitiously
Adventitiously will be a 24 hour stream of consciousness, taken completely out of context. It will launch without warning (even I don’t know when I’ll do it), it will consist completely of passing thoughts of mine, things I overhear, or things I say. Nothing will be explained, it’s for you to imply your own meaning to the moments. An example from today might’ve been:
“If it had to be that big, did it have to be that colour?”
It might be hilarious, it may be profound, most likely it will be a complete waste of time. We’ll never know unless we try. Whatever happens, I’d like to gather your reactions around the hashtag #adventitiously. So, if you fancy a day out of context some time soon, please follow @adventitiously now.
“The Victorians who watched the early Lumière films did not only witness a new form of entertainment. For many it would be their first glimpse of their French neighbours, or continental architecture. It was a moment which connected cultures. So it is fitting that in the same building we now teach social sciences, politics, and languages. Just as the Lumière brothers did more than a century ago, we are opening doors and connecting cultures. I can’t wait for the moment when, once again, we will be able to do so with the word “action!”.”
The words of my Vice-Chancellor – I couldn’t have put it better myself.
I’ve been busy today with our team launching a £5m campaign to revive the birthplace of British cinema. The Today programme and the BBC News website were really good to us. There is more news to follow, and campaign updates are being posted to www.birthplaceofcinema.com
Our media monitoring stations (powered by EyeTV) exported an MP3 of the Today programme package, which I’ve hosted using Houndbite:
(c) BBC 2009
Houndbite is simplicity itself to operate – effectively a YouTube for audio files – but I’m surprised the embedded version doesn’t link directly to the same file on the Houndbite site. Still some work to do, by the look of it.
Oh, and yes, that is me playing the organ throughout the piece. Angus Crawford (the reporter) took us a little by surprise when he asked for the organ to be played – I hadn’t played in seven years and had to make something upon the spot to demonstrate some of the quirky features of the Compton organ (you can clearly hear the bells/chimes). I’m afraid it comes across as a little funereal!
There’s so much top-notch work coming out of the government comms teams these days that it comes as a surprise to see them cock up something as straight-forward as a press conference backdrop.
The shot above shows a press conference earlier today:
That could be a short essay behind the PM. It’s not exactly “yes we can”, is it?
“Copenhagen” has been changed in to a mark, with a footprint graphic too small to be clearly seen on screen. It doesn’t really add anything to my understanding, it’s just another message.
The Copenhagen website address is obscured, and there’s a different address on the podium.
Sky News used less than ten seconds of this presser, and there were three too many things fighting for my attention. The end result is that minutes later, I can’t remember a word the PM said.
However, to be fair, looking closely at the photo above it was either a couple of roll-up stands, or the PM with a chandelier growing out of his head – sometimes you have to make the best of a bad lot!
Alarming news from the Guardian tonight http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/oct/12/guardian-gagged-from-reporting-parliament who say that they have been banned from reporting the text of a Parliamentary Question, which is published on the parliament website, and covered by parliamentary privilege.
Lawyers Carter Ruck have secured an injunction which prevents the reporting of this written Question to the Secretary of State for Justice:
Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura.
Carter Ruck are acting as a menace to democracy. If you have a twitter account please post a link to question 61 at http://bit.ly/cpIn5, using the hashtags #Trafigura and #CarterRuck.
Alarming news from the Guardian tonight who say that they have been banned from reporting the text of a Parliamentary Question, which is published on the parliament website, and covered by parliamentary privilege.
Lawyers Carter Ruck have secured an injunction which prevents the reporting of this written Question to the Secretary of State for Justice:
Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura.
Carter Ruck are behaving like a menace to democracy. If you have a twitter account please post a link to question 61 at http://bit.ly/cpIn5, using the hashtags #Trafigura and #CarterRuck.
Leave aside for the moment that trying to injunct information which has been published online is like trying to plug a seive one hole at a time, you may say ‘does it matter? Isn’t Parliament full of expenses fiddling crooks anyway?’ Well, yes it does matter… If any legal outfit is allowed to get away with obscuring or concealing the work of an elected Parliament from the people who elected it, then the potential consequences are far reaching and deeply serious for the politics of this country.
Carter Ruck have gone much too far in this ill-judged attempt to stand between people and Parliament. The injunction must be overturned, and if there’s a decent person anywhere at the top of that company, they’ll publicly apologise for their actions.
