Today’s Political Headlines include potential criminal offences in Vote Leave, hundreds protesting antisemitism in Labour, universities as ‘safe spaces’ criticised and Stella Creasy attacking high cost credit cards.
Vote Leave members may have committed criminal offences, lawyers say The Guardian reports that lawyers advising the whistleblowers who worked for Vote Leave have said that members of the campaign may have committed criminal offences relating to overspending and collusion. The allegations will be debated in the Commons today, in an emergency debate secured by the Liberal Democrats. Yesterday, Theresa May defended her political secretary Stephen Parkinson, who faced criticism for outing a whistleblower as gay.
Hundreds protest about antisemitism in Labour The Times says that John Mann, the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Antisemitism has warned Jeremy Corbyn that behaviour in some parts of the party is ‘rotten to the core’. Hundreds protested in Parliament Square about antisemitism in the Labour Party yesterday evening, and Corbyn said he was a ‘militant opponent’ of antisemitism.
‘Safe spaces’ criticised by parliamentary report According to The Times, a new report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights tells universities they cannot be ‘safe spaces’ and must allow unpopular and controversial voices to be heard. The committee, chaired by Harriet Harmon, described the concept of ‘safe spaces’ as ‘too broad or very vague’ and warned that they impinged free speech.
Stella Creasy attacks high cost credit cards The Guardian reports that the Labour MP Stella Creasy, who it credits with forcing the Treasury to cap interest rates and fees from payday loan providers, is calling for similar action on high-cost credit cards in order to protect vulnerable consumers. She is backing an amendment to the Finance Bill today, which could lead to a limit if successful.
Simon Stevens says £4bn cash boost would bring back post war NHS The Daily Telegraph reports that Sir Simon Stevens, the head of NHS England, has said that if Theresa May gave the NHS a £4bn cash boost to mark its seventieth birthday, it could return to being the ‘kind of health service we had for the post war period’. Also speaking to the Public Accounts Committee, Sir Andrew Dilnott, who conducted a review into social care, warned that the absence of a cap left pensioners ‘terrified’ about care costs.
New corporate governance code won’t cover executive pay The Financial Times reports that James Wates, the businessman drawing up the Government’s corporate governance code for private companies, has said that the code will not cover executive pay, but ‘may not be a million miles away’ from that for listed firms.
Williamson condemns Russian use of Internet to spread propaganda Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, has spoken to The Times about Russia’s use of troll and robotic accounts online to spread propaganda, branding them the ‘Lord Haw-Haws of the modern era’ and saying that they must be confronted. As the BBC reports, the USA and over 20 other countries have followed the UK’s lead by expelling Russian diplomats.
UK threatens to cripple EU satellite programme In an exclusive, The Sun claims that the UK will cripple the global coverage of the EU’s Galileo satellite programme if it is excluded from it. The UK is to threaten to turn off key infrastructure for the programme on the Falklands, Ascension Island and Diego Garcia.
London-Unattached is a multi-author blog covering a range of lifestyle topics, with a strong focus on food and travel. Founded by Fiona Maclean, London-Unattached covers topics of interest to Generation X and up. Fiona told us about her best travel experiences, working with PRs and meat fruit.
What makes your blog unique?
London-Unattached is a contributor blog or blogazine – I work with six talented individuals, each with a different focus. So, for example, I have one writer who specialises in theatre reviews – she’s an actress and theatre coach for her day job; another is a university lecturer in music and jazz musician. We are all Generation X upward (over 45) so we address a niche that I believe is under represented but has a high disposable income and wants to explore. We all cover food (restaurant reviews and recipe development) and travel.
What’s your biggest aim with the blog/what would you ideally achieve with it? I’d like to get to the stage where we have, say, a quarterly print magazine to complement the online content.
What’s your favourite location in the UK? The Scilly Isles – I went last year and the islands had a wonderful Enid Blyton feel to them – very unspoilt!
What’s your favourite trip abroad? As always, it’s my most recent trip! I’m just back from Rodrigues, a tiny island the size of Jersey, 150 miles north of Mauritius. Although it lacked the ‘resort luxury’ of some of the other destinations I’ve visited, it made up for it in a big way by having totally empty beaches, coral reefs, a plethora of wildlife and some fantastic food (French Creole with a seafood bias)
What’s the best thing about blogging about your travels? Finding places like Rodrigues that I’ve never heard of but which are astonishingly beautiful – and then having the opportunity to share them with other people. Or finding a special feature that I know will be a hook for my readers – in St Lucia for instance, I’d have to highlight the luxury of the resorts as well as the activities, while in Bruges, for me, it was that the food was more than a match for the heritage and architecture.
Best meal you’ve ever eaten? Last year, at Dinner by Heston (sorry to be so obvious – but I still dream of the Meat Fruit!)
What one thing should PRs know about you? I’m more cautious on paper than I am in real life. Generally, given a bit of encouragement, I’ll have a go at things I’d say no to if you asked me ahead of time.
What are the best PR/brand collaborations you’ve worked on? I love doing recipe development projects. I really enjoy being given a challenge and creating something to use a specific ingredient or to pair with a specific wine. I’ve done one recently with Spanish Sherry and a couple with Grana Padano and Prosciutto di San Daniele including this set of festive canapes.
I also like working with a country destination on a long-term basis. One of my first press trips was to Portugal and I’ve subsequently been back every year and now have a wealth of content about a country I love. Last year, I worked with the Czech Republic for the first time, went on two trips to Prague, Pardubice and Brno, produced six blog posts and won their ‘Blogger of the Year award’. I think it takes time to get to know a destination well – so being given the opportunity to go back really helps.
What do you call yourself (Blogger/influencer/content creator)? Freelance writer (I do work on a number of other writing projects, from website development through to writing newsletters and blogging for other people).
What other blogs do you read? Too many to list. For quirky blogs I wouldn’t normally come across, I love the ‘Big up Your Blog’ group. It’s full of passionate and lovely people like Jill Creighton who writes Midlifesmarts and Suzanne Vickery who writes about her experience travelling the world as a House Sitter.
Fiona and her blog are both listings on the Vuelio Database along with thousands of other leading bloggers, journalists, editors and outlets.
https://www.vuelio.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Fiona-Maclean.jpg430760Phoebe-Jane Boyd/uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Vuelio-PR-Comms-Public-Affairs-Logo.pngPhoebe-Jane Boyd2018-03-26 15:06:092018-03-26 15:06:09Food and Travel: Fiona Maclean, London-Unattached
Huge congratulations to all the winners of the PRmoment Awards! It was a fantastic evening with winners across the whole industry, from big name agencies to smaller boutiques and specialist consultants.
We were proud to sponsor the drinks reception, which kicked off the event in style. It was great to see so many talented people in one place, able to let their hair down and celebrate their hard work over the past year. The volume of chat and excitement reached a crescendo by the time the doors opened for the awards.
The evening began with a welcome speech from the founder of PRmoment, Ben Smith. Thank you to Ben and the whole team at PRmoment for a great night. Hosting the awards throughout the evening was the hilarious Ellie Taylor (as seen at the Vuelio Blog Awards 2017!). The awards ceremony began with plenty of laughter, food and drink, but it was the awards and their winners that took centre stage.
Vuelio sponsored two awards: Event of the Year and Public Sector Campaign of the Year. Taylor Herring and Channel 5 scooped Event of the Year for their headline-grabbing pop-up restaurant, ran entirely by nuns serving soup. The pop up not only promoted the Channel 5 series Bad Habits: Holy Orders, but also offered diners a phone amnesty, possibly making it the first Instagram-free restaurant in London!
Kindred for HM Treasury & The Royal Mint won the Public Sector Campaign of the Year award. Kindred were tasked with getting the public and businesses excited for the launch of the new pound coin and did just that with the ‘New Quid on the Block’ campaign.
The only way to end any good awards ceremony is with plenty of dancing and there were many shapes being thrown! Thank you to everyone who attended (especially everyone Vuelio got to speak to) for a brilliant 2018 awards, and well done again to all the winners.
There was no way Brexit would be upstaged for a second consecutive weekend on the Sunday shows, dominating the weekend’s coverage. It was discussed on both Peston and Marr, who each hosted several high-profile guests.
There are allegations that Vote Leave gave money to BeLeave (a group allegedly controlled by Vote Leave) so they could get around spending rules. These allegations came from a whistle blower who was not only in Vote Leave but in a relationship with senior Vote Leave figure, Stephen Parkinson. Stephen Parkinson is now a political secretary for the Prime Minister.
There were different calls for different steps to be taken.
Caroline Lucas (Marr) thinks there should be a police investigation, she does not think the Electoral Commission has either the resource or the power to act. She also referenced the Information Commissioner having to wait a week to get a warrant to enter Cambridge Analytica’s office.
Deputy Labour leader, Tom Watson (Marr) said the ministers that were involved in Vote Leave should answer questions to find out what they knew and when they knew it. Watson backed Lucas’ view that the Electoral Commission needs the powers and resources to further investigate. David Davis (Marr) attempted to calm the matter saying we should wait for the Electoral Commission to come to a conclusion.
Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt (Peston) defended Stephen Parkinson, saying as far as he knew Parkinson works with the highest integrity. Hunt went on to say the legal matters are for the Electoral Commission to decide on.
Ben Bradshaw (Peston) said it is for the Information Commissioner, the Electoral Commission and the police to decide on whether anything illegal happened. Heidi Allen (Peston) called for the facts to be separated from the gossip, on the wider story, she said, ‘the whole thing feels pretty filthy’.
David Davis was not just asked about the Vote Leave issue. He made the following claim on the UK’s future relationship with the EU: ‘It will be a free trade deal, a comprehensive one, the most comprehensive one ever’. Davis went on to say that the deal will not be like Norway’s.
The question of Northern Ireland was, of course, raised. Davis said the preferred and ‘likely’ way of resolving this issue will be the UK getting a customs agreement and free trade agreement making the issue easier to solve. The Brexit Secretary went on to say a backup plan does exist and this plan involves Northern Ireland remaining in the customs union. Marr challenged Davis on this saying that kind of arrangement does not exist anywhere in the world, to which Davis suggested the use of new technology could solve any old problems.
The Shadow Brexit Secretary, Keir Starmer was interviewed by Robert Peston and asked about where the Labour Party thinks the new British passports should be made. Starmer said the new blue passports should be made by a British company. When Robert Peston pointed out this could cost £120 million, Starmer replied by saying ‘To put it to a French company is the wrong thing to have done’.
After Tom Watson said a second referendum was something the Labour Party was open to but not calling for, Starmer had to answer a question on this topic where he made clear it was not a policy Labour were putting forward. Watson was asked about the sacking of Owen Smith; he said that when you join the shadow Cabinet you are bound to collective responsibility and your personal views should be put to the side. Watson said he did not think Corbyn had much choice but to ask Smith to step down. Shadow Transport Secretary Andy McDonald backed up what Watson said, later on Sunday Politics.
One of the biggest non-Brexit stories to come out of the shows was Jeremy Hunt and the NHS. Hunt said he thinks a ‘10-year settlement’ will suit the NHS much better. He said it takes seven years to train a doctor and three to train a nurse, and to be able to structurally plan for this, the NHS needs longer term financial planning. He also said that the public wants more resources for the NHS and this can only really happen when tax is increased and the economy grows.
Hunt also hinted towards making the NHS more efficient in the way data is recorded, explicitly mentioning IT systems. The Health Secretary also dampened speculation that an extra £4bn a year is going to announced for the NHS in the summer, linking back to his earlier comments that he does not like the ‘feast or famine’ way the NHS is currently funded. Hunt didn’t stop there, he went on to set out a policy where mothers would see the same team of midwives through pregnancy and birth. Hunt himself said more midwives will be needed for the policy to become a reality.
Not for the first time since Jeremy Corbyn became Labour leader, the opposition leader’s views on anti-Semitism were questioned. This comes from 2012 when Corbyn defended an anti-Semitic mural on Facebook. The Labour leader has said he was defending free speech and did not realise the mural was anti-Semitic, though he has now said it is. Andy McDonald (this time on Sunday with Paterson) said Jeremy Corbyn has fought anti-Semitic behaviour for a long time. Starmer said the mural was very clearly anti-Semitic and that Corbyn ‘can speak for himself’. Peston thought it would worry people that someone who wants to be Prime Minister did not look closely enough at something before commenting on it.
Check out the Canvas, which has all the reaction and coverage from the Sunday shows, here. Make your own Canvas here.
https://www.vuelio.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Politics-on-Sunday.png430760Daniel Loman/uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Vuelio-PR-Comms-Public-Affairs-Logo.pngDaniel Loman2018-03-26 09:55:462019-02-21 18:24:12Politics on Sunday - Brexit, Vote Leave and the NHS on Marr, peston and Sunday with Paterson
Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed this week includes Facebook’s latest woes, political parties using data, Brand Ant & Dec, Count Dankula and Bumble swiping left on Tinder.
1. Facebook’s $50bn comms disaster
The news that Facebook allows companies to collect and use personal data for commercial gain should be surprising to no one; it’s literally the company’s business model. But the story this week that data firm Cambridge Analytica bought data from a Cambridge professor’s Facebook app to create 50 million profiles – which possibly contributed to Trump’s presidential victory – has hit the public like the elephant in the room on a rampage. We’ve explored the ways in which Facebook has suffered, and covered the four crisis comms mistakes it made.
The biggest of these is the initial absence of Zuckerberg and then his eventual explanatory Facebook post, which has been described as ‘totally insufficient’. (Facebook has now published open letters in a number of newspapers, possibly emulating Bumble, story below).
The alleged breach led to Facebook’s share price taking a big, $50bn-dollar hit – but is this the end of the social giant? (Probably not).
2. Political parties exclude themselves from new data laws
Talking of data being used to profile people for political gain without the individual’s knowledge or consent – the Independent has reported that UK political parties are excluding themselves from the new data laws so they can still use personal data ‘to find out how people are likely to vote’. The Independent directly linked this story to the Cambridge Analytica debacle, but the public outrage (obviously via the front pages of national papers) hasn’t followed.
The Independent reports, ‘All the major parties have agreed to the exemption from new data protection laws, arguing it clarifies their widely recognised right to canvas voters in order to target possible supporters.’
If you’re not a political party, and you’re worried about complying with the GDPR law, check out our comprehensive guide (which is a form-free download).
3. Brand Ant & Dec
Ant McPartlin was charged with drink driving this week after he was involved in a multiple-car collision. The troubled star is back in rehab, leaving his significant other, Declan Donnelly, to present the final two episodes of Saturday Night Takeaway alone. This is an historic moment for brand Ant & Dec – the pair that work exclusively as a duo to the point that they always stand the same way (Ant then Dec), are temporarily split up. Brand Saturday Night Takeaway has to continue for the final episodes, as the finale is competition winners in Orlando (Cat Deeley has been mooted to stand in as co-host, but probably not as Prozac the giggle fairy).
Brand Suzuki has ended its contract with the duo, but will continue to sponsor the programme (family friendly automotive brands generally avoid drink driving ambassadors).
Brands Britain’s Got Talent and I’m A Celebrity are later in the year so may continue as normal if Brand Ant & Dec recovers. Which, as long as Ant gets better, is almost a certainty. In terms of crisis comms, Ant has done everything right: he has been honest, admitted he’s struggling, and gone to rehab. Everyone is communicating about the situation and working together for the best outcome. Ant & Dec’s place in the nation’s hearts seems to be secure.
Long live Brand Ant & Dec.
4. Count Dankula and the free speech debate
Ah free speech and social media. This week the endless debate has a bizarre advocate – YouTuber Count Dankula, who was convicted of making a ‘grossly offensive’ video after he taught his girlfriend’s dog to react to phrases such as ‘Sieg Heil’ and ‘gas the Jews’. The UK doesn’t have free speech laws like the US*, but globalisation (spearheaded by the rise of American-based social media sites) has created the illusion that we do. Count Dankula, real name Mark Meecham, was considered to have committed a crime in line with existing UK law on offense. Open and shut case, right?
Wrong. Conservative West Yorkshire MP Philip Davies is now demanding a debate on freedom of speech. Davies said: ‘We guard our freedom of speech in this House very dearly indeed…but we don’t often allow our constituents the same freedoms.
‘Can we have a debate about freedom of speech in this country – something this country has long held dear and is in danger of throwing away needlessly?’
Once again, the responsibility of YouTube as host of such content is being overlooked. Perhaps Logan Paul and Cambridge Analytica didn’t actually happen.
5. Bumble swipes left on Tinder
Tinder and Bumble are at loggerheads, with Tinder’s owner, Match Group, filing a lawsuit for alleged intellectual property theft. In what is partially a PR war, Bumble has come out fighting with a stinging full-page advert in the New York Times titled ‘Bumble swipes left on Match group/Tinder allegations’. The open letter to Match Group continues the Tinder-swipe theme: ‘We swipe left on you. We swipe left on your multiple attempts to buy us, copy us and, now, to intimidate us.’ [bold text as printed]
Bumble has also scored PR points for making their women-first approach (the app’s USP is that women have to make the first move) very clear: ‘We – a woman-founded, women-led company – aren’t scared of aggressive corporate culture’. The letter uses the alleged ‘bullying’ by Tinder to describe how their platform is designed to be safe for women.
This is a master stroke by Bumble, and even using a traditional newspaper ad to run the advert, is a touch of genius – tying this modern tech company with tradition and therefore traditional values (oh hey Facebook). Obviously Match Group is massive, but Bumble has ensured the ball is firmly in their court (hopefully next week’s Five Things will include an incredible response!).
*For example: offensive comments, inciting hatred, inciting someone to commit a crime and legitimate threats are all illegal in the UK.
https://www.vuelio.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/23-March-.jpg430760Phoebe-Jane Boyd/uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Vuelio-PR-Comms-Public-Affairs-Logo.pngPhoebe-Jane Boyd2018-03-26 08:40:342018-05-31 11:21:00Five Things: Facebook, the GDPR, Ant & Dec, Count Dankula and Bumble swiping left
Today’s Political Headlines include Jeremy Hunt’s call for increased NHS funding, May under pressure over Cambridge Analytica, Corbyn’s antisemitism apology and the UK ‘fighting’ to stay in the EU’s satellite programme.
Jeremy Hunt in call for ten-year deal to fix ‘crazy’ health budget The Timesreports that Jeremy Hunt called health funding ‘crazy’, launched a ‘political offensive’ for a ten-year NHS spending deal and backed moves for a ring-fenced tax on Peston on Sunday. The paper describes this as a ‘direct challenge’ to Philip Hammond. The news comes as 98 MPs, including the chair of the Health Select Committee Sarah Wollaston and 20 other committee chairs, backed a call for a commission on increasing NHS funding.
May under pressure over Cambridge Analytica scandal The Guardianclaims that pressure is growing on the Prime Minister to investigate what members of her cabinet and staff knew about allegations regarding Vote Leave and Cambridge Analyticia. Pro-EU campaign group Best for Britain has written to Theresa May with a series of questions. The Timesadds that the fate of May’s political secretary, Stephen Parkinson, will be decided today after it was claimed that he helped the campaign to cheat spending limits and outed a whistleblower as gay.
Corbyn apologises for ‘pockets of antisemitism’ Jeremy Corbyn has apologised for ‘pockets of antisemitism’ in the Labour party, The Guardiansays. His apology follows an open letter from the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council accusing him of ‘siding with antisemites’. A protest is planned to be held outside Parliament later today.
May fights to stay in EU’s satellite programme The Financial Timesreports that Theresa May is trying to prevent the EU from leaving the UK out of the €10bn Galileo satellite project. The next round of contracts is expected to be awarded in June, but British companies will be excluded in order to protect the security elements of the programme. A senior official described the EU’s approach as ‘outrageous’.
Labour plans to amend Brexit bill to give Parliament more say According to The Guardian, Keir Starmer will use a speech in Birmingham today to announce that Labour is to table amendments to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill which would prevent the UK from leaving the EU without a deal if Parliament rejects the outcome of the Brexit talks. Instead, MPs could pass a motion setting out the next steps, including resuming negotiations.
‘Damning report’ on Government childcare schemes The Financial Timessays that, in a ‘damning report’ published yesterday, the Commons Treasury Select Committee pressed the Government to reform childcare rules in order to boost productivity and to increase the take-up of tax-free schemes. The report also criticised problems with the Government’s tax-free childcare website.
Trump to expel Russian diplomats following spy poisoning The Daily Telegraphreports that Donald Trump is set to expel more than 20 Russian diplomats from the USA, following the poisoning in Salisbury in a move that the paper describes as ‘a significant boost for Theresa May’. Up to 20 European nations may also follow the UK’s lead and expel Russian diplomats.
Councils spend £43m in compensation for injuries caused by damaged roads The Timessays that councils have spent over £43m over five years in settling legal claims brought by people injured on the country’s deteriorating roads. The figures were obtained by the charity Cycling UK, which warns that cyclists are being put at serious risk ‘due to years of persistent underinvestment in our rotting local road networks’. The Government has announced a further £100m will be given to local authorities for maintenance.
Today’s Political Headlines include the EU recalling its ambassador from Moscow, the agreement of the transition period, Owen Smith calling for a referendum on the Brexit deal and the continuation of the passport row.
EU recalls ambassador from Moscow as it agrees Russia ‘highly likely’ to be behind attack As The Timesreports, the EU has recalled its ambassador from Moscow after leaders agreed that it was ‘highly likely’ that Russia was behind the nerve agent attack in Salisbury. In a statement, the leaders said that there was ‘no plausible alternative explanation’. At least five EU countries are prepared to follow the UK’s lead and expel Russian diplomats.
EU leaders to agree on transition period today The Financial Timessays that EU leaders will agree on the transition period at the European Council today and are expected to approve guidelines on negotiating the future relationship. Yesterday, Theresa May told leaders that ‘considerable progress’ had been made in the Brexit negotiations. At home, The Daily Telegraphreports that the UK has taken delivery of the first of five gunboats to protect the UK’s fishing waters after Brexit.
Owen Smith calls for referendum on Brexit deal Owen Smith, the Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, writes in The Guardian that Labour should ‘keep asking if Brexit remains the right choice for the country’ and campaign for a referendum on whether to accept the terms of the Brexit deal. The paper says that Smith’s ‘intervention will reopen the split in Labour ranks’.
Passports row continues The row over the awarding of the contract to produce the new British passports to a foreign firm continues. The Guardianreports the decision to choose the Franco-Dutch firm Gemalco will save taxpayers about £120m and will create around 70 new jobs in the UK. The Daily Mailurges ministers to ‘stand up for Britain’, claims that the current producer, the British firm De La Rue, is threatening to take the Government to court, and alleges that the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, approved the deal without knowing the winner’s identity.
May refuses to intervene over cancer bill According to The Guardian, Theresa May has refused to intervene in the case of Albert Thompson, who has been asked to pay £54,000 for cancer treatment despite living in the UK for 44 years. He has been unable to provide documentary evidence that he has lived in the UK since he arrived from Jamaica as a teenager. The paper claims that there could be tens of thousands of people in a similarly uncertain immigration position.
Committee backs Heathrow’s third runway, but only with safeguards The Financial Times has details of a report by the Commons Transport Committee on Heathrow expansion. While the committee backs the third runway, it argues that it should only be approved by Parliament if the Government imposes strict conditions relating to costs, noise and air quality. It also called for more information on the project’s costs.
Political parties grant themselves exemption from new data protection laws The Independentsays that political parties are about to grant themselves special powers to use personal data to find out how people are likely to vote, despite the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The exemption from new data protection laws has been agreed by all the main political parties as it clarifies their right to canvas voters in order to target likely supporters.
May sets up committee to boost female entrepreneurs The Daily Telegraphreveals that Theresa May is setting up a Downing Street committee to increase the number of women starting businesses, following a campaign started by the paper. The taskforce, which will meet fortnightly, will ensure all Government policy considers the impact on women and increases their role in politics, business and society.
On a long enough timeline, the life expectancy of all social media sites drops to zero. Facebook is suffering, but is this the beginning of the end or just another bump in the road?
The Cambridge Analytica story is known to most people now. The large data company bought 50 million data entries from an academic, who had harvested it off Facebook for the purposes of ‘research’. It then used this data to some, as yet, unclear extent (against Facebook’s rules) to help political movements around the world including, according to its own claims, a contribution to President Trump’s victory.
After months of investigative research by The Observer, an undercover reporter from Channel 4 was able to film CEO Alexander Nix making bold claims that the company led politicians around the world into honey traps and bribing officials. He has since been suspended.
For Facebook, the news was damning. After the report was broadcast, and following work from the Observer and the New York Times, some $50bn was wiped from Facebook’s stock market value.
It has since recovered slightly but at one point was 10% down.
Facebook then made a series of seemingly rookie moves in terms of crisis comms: the company suspended whistleblower Chris Wylie’s Facebook and Instagram accounts; its chief of security Alex Stamos is reportedly leaving the company but nothing has officially acknowledged this; Facebook went into the offices of Cambridge Analytica to ‘investigate’ on the evening of the report, a day before the ICO were able to apply for a warrant; and, perhaps most damaging, Mark Zuckerberg was kept from making a comment until days later.
When a listed company takes a dive on the stock market, with investors and clients threatening to sue, advertisers pulling their ad spend, and governments around the world discussing heavy regulation, a CEO needs to respond swiftly to show someone is in control and the situation is being handled.
Instead, we waited four days for a Facebook post to appear, in which Zuckerberg acknowledged Facebook has ‘a responsibility to protect your data’, and ‘if we can’t then we don’t deserve to serve you’. He explained a timeline of events that led to the crisis, and says that it was a ‘breach of trust between Facebook and the people who share their data with us and expect us to protect it’.
Is this too little, too late though?
This article from MarketWatch certainly thinks so. It quotes Davia Temin, a management consultant who said, ‘This is a totally insufficient response, both operationally and emotionally. Yes, it is prescriptive, yet strangely hollow, limited, unemotional, and lacking any form of apology.’ Temin says that the company should be responding to such a crisis in 15 minutes, because on social media, 15 minutes is an age.
Deleting your Facebook account is now in vogue, thanks in no small part to some big names including the co-founder of WhatsApp, Brian Acton, who tweeted: ‘It is time. #deletefacebook’. WhatsApp, of course, was sold to Facebook in 2014 for $19bn. This issue is damning for the social giant, but as people are pointing out (mostly on Twitter), all the big social companies collect personal data and sell it to advertisers and third parties.
So, if Facebook now fails (and presumably the likes of Twitter, Google and Amazon remain healthy), it will be largely because it didn’t handle its comms correctly to get itself out of this hole.
Obviously, the state of social media, the collection of data and third party access is going to become VERY exciting after the GDPR comes into force. If, for example, the ICO decided Facebook had allowed the data breach through negligence and it was after 25 May – the fine would have been up to $500m.
Imagine.
If you’re unsure about GDPR, and not sure how it’s affecting the comms industry, download out our comprehensive guide.
https://www.vuelio.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Mark-Zuckerberg.jpg430760Phoebe-Jane Boyd/uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Vuelio-PR-Comms-Public-Affairs-Logo.pngPhoebe-Jane Boyd2018-03-22 14:16:062018-03-22 14:16:06Is this the end of Facebook, or just a comms disaster?
Karen Beddow writes Mini Travellers, the family travel blog that frequently gets ranked among the best in the UK. We caught up with Karen to talk about the uniqueness of her blog (according to the views of her readers), the best PR and brand collaborations she’s worked on and working with her kids to make the blog amazing.
What makes your blog unique?
I actually asked this question of my readers a few months ago and I got some lovely replies, a couple of my favourites were: ‘Makes people realise that it is possible to do cool and interesting things as a family’, and, ‘I love the fact that you cover everything from Rwanda to Disney and days out at home; something for everyone’. They put it much better than I could do myself.
What’s your biggest aim with the blog/what would you ideally achieve with it?
In fairness it has already done it as the blog has allowed me to work from home, take the children to school and collect them, and have all the school holidays off to travel.
How do you plan your travels? We plan our travel around flight deals, meetings we have had with PRs, reading lots and lots of other travel blogs that inspire me and sometimes just a gut feel that we have to go somewhere!
What’s the best place you’ve ever been to?
This is a really really hard one. Probably for the experience Rwanda – the whole trip was incredible and we’re off to Malawi as a family at easter as it worked out so well. For relaxation, a villa in Sivota, Greece with Simpson Travel as it just worked on every level.
How do your children feel about the blog?
They absolutely love it and are really proud of it. They know that it brings them great opportunities.
What one place haven’t you been that you want to?
Chile and Argentina – I’ve had two trips that I’d booked that had to be cancelled for different reasons so it is very high up the bucket list.
What’s the best day out in the UK? Oh I think that’s a tough one to answer, so many but for so many different reasons. For us, it is usually a day at a beach with a really big picnic, some sun and lots of friends.
What do you call yourself (Blogger/influencer/content creator)?
Blogger
What other blogs do you read?
Lots and lots but I recently met a couple on a trip to Morzine who are travelling the world and I was genuinely inspired by their amazing story. They were a really lovey couple too.
Karen Beddow and Mini Travellers are both listings on the Vuelio Database along with thousands of other leading bloggers, journalists, editors and outlets.
https://www.vuelio.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Karen-Beddows-mini-travellers-2.jpg430760Phoebe-Jane Boyd/uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Vuelio-PR-Comms-Public-Affairs-Logo.pngPhoebe-Jane Boyd2018-03-22 10:15:282018-03-22 10:17:13Blogger Spotlight: Karen Beddow, Mini Travellers
Today’s Political Headlines include uniting against Russia, Tory party donors revealed as investors of Cambridge Analytica, blue passports being made by a Franco-Dutch firm and the dismantling of the Department for Exiting the European Union.
May to warn EU summit about Russian threat, with decision on Brexit transition due The BBC reports that Theresa May is to tell a summit of EU leaders in Brussels to remain united against Russia’s threat to all European democracies. The European Council summit will also decide whether or not to approve the terms of the Brexit transition period unveiled this week, with Spain raising concerns about Gibraltar.
Cambridge Analytica linked to Conservative donors The Guardianreports that Conservative Party donors are amongst the investors in SCL Group, the parent of controversial firm Cambridge Analytica. Theresa May said yesterday that the Government had no current contracts with the company. The paper adds that Commons Home Affairs Committee Chair Yvette Cooper has called for a full investigation after it emerged that SCL Group had been granted permission to access secret documents by the Ministry of Defence, allowing it to work on two projects.
New blue UK passport to be produced by Franco-Dutch firm The Daily Telegraphreports that Gemalto, a Franco-Dutch company, is expected to win the contract to produce the new blue UK passport. It undercut other bidders, including the British firm De La Rue, by around £50m. Sir Bill Cash, Chair of the European Scrutiny Committee, described the decision as ‘completely wrong and unnecessary’.
Whitehall discusses the Department for Exiting the European Union’s future According to the Financial Times, talks about dismantling the Department for Exiting the European Union after March 2019 have begun in Whitehall. The Cabinet Office, Foreign Office, Department for International Trade and Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are debating which functions they will take over, including talks on UK-EU trade. It is assumed that David Davis will retire from the Cabinet after Brexit happens.
Lords committee says that Government is failing on rural policy The BBC says that a report by the Lords Committee on the Natural Environment and Rural Communities (NERC) Act 2006 claims that the Government is failing on rural policy. It suggests that the policy area should be transferred to the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government, and claims that Natural England has become ineffective.
Boris Johnson and Theresa May row over stop-and-search The Sunclaims that Boris Johnson and Theresa May rowed about stop-and-search policy at Cabinet. Sources said that Johnson suggested the police should carry out more checks, but May, who cut the use of stop-and-search when she was Home Secretary because it unfairly targeted young black men, said that the police had all the powers they needed.
Social Mobility Commission needs extra resources, MPs say The Guardiansays that the Commons Education Committee’s report on the Social Mobility Commission (SMC) has called for the Government to give the SMC additional resources and increased powers, to rename it the Social Justice Commission and to appoint a Cabinet Office minister with specific responsibility for social mobility.
Scottish Brexit Bill expected to be referred to the Supreme Court The Daily Telegraphreports that a row over the SNP’s Brexit Bill is expected to end up in the Supreme Court after it was passed by the Scottish Parliament. Adam Tomkins, a Conservative MSP, challenged the Lord Advocate to refer the bill to the Supreme Court to rule on whether or not it was within the Scottish Parliament’s powers. If he refuses, the paper reports that the UK Government will do so.
Today’s Political Headlines include abandoning the NHS staff pay cap, where is Mark Zuckerberg?, May steps back from further Russia reprisals and the Government suffers defeat on Eurotom.
NHS staff pay cap abandoned The Guardian reports that the Government has abandoned plans which would have seen 1 million NHS staff give up a day’s holiday for a salary increase. Under the deal, staff will see their pay increase by 6.5% over three years, with full details of the package expected to be announced today, marking the abandonment of the pay cap in place since 2010.
Zuckerberg asked to give evidence as Cambridge Analytica scandal deepens The Guardian reports that the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee has written to Mark Zuckerberg, asking him to give evidence on the use of data by Cambridge Analytica. The paper carries further revelations from Channel 4’s investigation of the firm, including boasts about helping Donald Trump’s campaign and using ‘unattributable and untrackable’ advertising. The Times accuses the firm of offering the leader of the opposition in St Kitts and Nevis a bribe in 2010 in an attempt to swing an election and the BBC adds that the firm’s chief executive, Alexander Nix, has been suspended.
May steps back from further Russia reprisals The Financial Times reports that Theresa May has ‘backed away’ from further reprisals against Russia, preferring to target Putin’s associates in the UK and adopting a longer-term approach. Hopes of uniting the west have suffered setbacks after both President Trump and President Juncker congratulated Putin on his election victory.
Government suffers defeat on Euratom in Lords As the BBC reports, the Government was defeated last night when the House of Lords voted to amend the EU Withdrawal Bill so that the UK cannot leave Euratom until a replacement deal is in place. The BBC also carries details of a new report by the Commons Home Affairs Committee, which claims that the transition period may need to be extended to guarantee continued security cooperation. Meanwhile, the Financial Times claims that the EU will offer the City of London ‘appropriate’ market access after Brexit, but only on its terms.
Sick and disabled underpaid benefits As the Daily Mirror reports, a new report by the National Audit Office has found that the Department for Work and Pensions has been underpaying benefits to sick and disabled people by up to £20,000 per person, with an average loss of £5000. Around 70,000 people were underpaid when they moved onto Employment and Support Allowance.
Northern Powerhouse too focused on Manchester, minister says The Financial Times says the Jake Berry, the Northern Powerhouse Minister, has said that the policy’s efforts are too focused on Manchester and other large cities and need to be extended to smaller cities and towns in a move which he called ‘Northern Powerhouse 2.0’.
Hunt sets out seven principles to transform social care Jeremy Hunt gave his first speech since taking control of social care yesterday, outlining seven principles to transform care for the elderly, the Daily Mail reports. A green paper will be published before the summer, but Hunt confirmed that there would be a cap on care costs and suggested an end to the ‘lottery’ which sees dementia patients face higher costs.
Jennie Formby becomes Labour’s new General Secretary The Guardian reports that Jennie Formby, the Unite candidate, has been appointed as Labour’s new General Secretary. She was selected from a shortlist of two, after Momentum founder Jon Lansman pulled out of the race last week. She was backed by Jeremy Corbyn and the paper says that her victory ‘cements’ his control over the party’s senior posts.
Craig Landale is the founder and editor-in-chief of Menswear Style, which won the Best Men’s Lifestyle Blog and Best UK Blog at the Vuelio Blog Awards 2017. We caught up with Craig to find out what it takes to make the UK’s best blog, what you need to be a full-time blogger and the best advice he has for PRs and brands.
We also put Craig on the spot with five quickfire questions – full video below!
Tell us about Menswear Style
Menswear Style started as a hobby. I left my job in Leeds as a digital marketing manager for a big clothing company and I wanted to keep writing content. I quickly started receiving emails from PRs and brands asking me to review their clothing. At first, they were just asking me to review and there was no talk of money but then the blog started to get more hits and traffic. I started to give the blog more consistency and was updating it every other day. I’d say six months into its existence I started to get good traffic, and good partnerships were coming through.
How do you feel about going from a hobby blog to a successful professional blog in such a short time? I think today it wouldn’t happen because the industry is saturated – there’s too many influencers and too many bloggers. In 2012, I think I was just in time to enter when the market wasn’t so crowded. Even when I was working in men’s fashion I would only look at a handful of reputable menswear blogs – sites like FashionBeans, Highsnobiety, HYPEBEAST – I couldn’t have counted more than 10 really. So, I was able to get a good share of voice and get my name out there quite easily.
After a year, I quit doing the consultancy completely and the blog became my full-time job.
What was it like going full time? It was rapid growth at the time. I used to be amazed at the analytics, I would watch the real-time traffic and see articles go viral with thousands on the site. I had studied at the Chartered Institute of Marketing and my experience working in digital marketing meant I could put everything into the blog. That was an advantage I had over some other bloggers, because not many had any SEO or digital marketing experience at the time.
Now the industry has been here for a short while, there’s some rules and guidelines you can follow, but at the time it was unknown territory and giving up my full-time job to leap into the unknown was a bit scary.
I don’t think I could do it today; I’m a father, I have a mortgage – I feel like the battle of the mind would weigh towards a secure paying job.
You said you were making the rules, what do you wish you hadn’t done and what are you glad you did do? I used to spend a lot of time on affiliate marketing, which didn’t really go anywhere – it’s really difficult to make money from it (especially nowadays) so I feel like I wasted a lot of time on that.
I also put a lot of emphasis on banners because back then they made a lot of money, but now there are pop-up blockers and ad blockers, and it’s not something that makes as much money anymore. Even with sponsored content, I didn’t know what to charge – I would pluck a figure out of thin air!
Because I didn’t really know what I should be charging, I massively undervalued myself. I didn’t update my media kit for a few years, but a lot of brands were really honest and would say my prices were way too low.
I thought that until demand was more than I could keep up with, I would keep it low. But I have realised that the perception of having a high price can be higher quality as well – if a brand sees that a price for a sponsored article is a higher price, they feel the value they’re going to get back is good traffic, good engagement and good exposure. Low prices would make them feel like you didn’t have the traffic or engagement.
Now I’m not so cheap but I still give good value.
Well you have the Best UK Blog and you can’t beat that! How do you feel about winning twice at the Vuelio Blog Awards? It was amazing. I’ve been going to the Vuelio Blog Awards since the first year and I’ve always been up against women’s fashion bloggers. At times I think I was the only man in the category. I knew I wouldn’t win that award – the womenswear industry is like the Champions League and menswear is the Championship. That’s just because of the size of the industry – the millions spent by women compared to men, it’s much higher and even though menswear is growing at a rapid rate, it’s still nowhere near.
Luckily for 2017, you brought in the men’s lifestyle category and I thought, I’ve got a really good chance. I was hoping I would win it – I had a feeling Ape to Gentleman could take it because that’s a website I use for inspiration and I know they’re good and reputable. And then I won – and it was a huge relief! Finally, I had won an Award at the Vuelio Blog Awards!
When it came to the final award, Best UK Blog, usually my wife and I try to sneak off just after it’s announced because we’re not night owls (we like to sleep). We were getting ready to sneak out and then it was announced.
It was a massive shock.
I thought it would be a women’s fashion blogger, or interiors or politics – I did not expect it to be menswear. My menswear friends and other nominees were amazed as well and so supportive. We’re a close-knit group – we’re always at the same events and know each other – they thought it was amazing for menswear blogging and the industry. The highest accolade has gone to a menswear blogger, so it’s a victory for all of us.
What’s the menswear blogging community like? When you go to events and on press trips, you bump into the same people and everyone’s friendly. I’ve been doing this since 2012, so I’m one of the older guys. Now I don’t go to as many events as the other guys but when I first started, I went to everything. I was at an event every night of the week with my wife. We used it as our way of socialising in this new city we’d just move to, for free. But now I’m a father, I handpick the events I go to because it can be overbearing. I have a team of freelance writers as well, so I usually pass it down to them.
What’s your day to day? I’m writing content, doing social media, I edit every article that comes in from the team and I take care of the commercial side. I deal with all the brand and PR emails – some have great budgets and I’m happy, some aren’t a good fit so I turn them down. There are some who don’t have a good budget but they’re doing work I admire so I do work for free, but it has to be a brand I really really like. If it’s an up-and-coming brand I might be interested in featuring them.
Who is the competition? Other bloggers are definitely competition. When a brand pitches a brief, they’re going to bloggers and publications. I always want to make sure we get a look in, the engagement we get on social media is fantastic and I want to make sure the brands know about that. I also put the last three months of google analytics performance on the blog so it’s clear for PRs to see what we can achieve. I’m not taking it for granted that anyone would know who Menswear Style is, you can spend a long time getting to know PRs and then they could leave the industry and a new wave of PRs could come in who don’t know you anymore. Especially as I’m going to events a lot less – out of sight, out of mind.
What are your dos and don’ts for PRs? The big don’t is when a brand just sends out a blanket email to everyone and you can tell. The worst is when they forget to BCC and then someone replies and you end up getting hundreds of emails.
Also, if the email is too long. It sounds bad, but when you have lots of email pitches to get through, you want to read one paragraph to find out what they’re after. Some brands come through and they know exactly what they want, and they’re up-front about budget – making it clear if they’re willing to pay or not. I always ask about budget to make sure we both know how to work together.
I have a lot of brands coming back year on year. The majority I’m working with now, I’ve worked with before. The competitions we host are really successful; some brands will come back every year or season to do a competition. The entry method also has opt-in forms, so it’s good for their email marketing, and brands keep coming back for those.
The competition from influencers is also strong, but I’m not so worried about them because what I do and where I make my money is through the blog. They’re making money on social, like Instagram. For me, social is not a commercial stream, it’s a chance for people to see ‘behind the scenes’ at Menswear Style and to share our blogs. I add it on as a sweetener, if a brand books a brand-focused article, which means we write about their brand, we add it on but we don’t do Instagram posting for money. I’m not personally an influencer.
What’s an influencer? An individual that’s living the lifestyle that people like to watch. It’s usually on Instagram, the insta-influencer is rising rapidly. They’re the new celebrity, kids nowadays don’t know traditional celebrities, but they know who influencers are.
I call myself a blogger and digital content creator, when I’m trying to explain my job to people. I think the average guy our age, would probably not realise blogging is a full-time job, and think it’s just a hobby. They probably know you can make money but not enough to replace a salary. But I think teenagers today know this is the career they want. You could probably ask a class of 12-year-olds and half would say they want to be a vlogger, blogger or an insta-influencer. They’ve grown up with technology and they’ve seen it work.
What’s next for Menswear Style? People ask me this and I always say I want to continue – when things are going good, don’t fix it. I’m always tweaking the website, but no drastic changes; the categories are great, the streetstyle is great, it’s all just going great. I might get ‘radical’ ideas, but I they’re always little things being added on, nothing major.
I do want the articles to be a bit longer though. When I first started it was about shorter articles (300 words), but I know longform is coming back and they please Google too. I want stories to be a bit more interesting, not just about a new collection but about the person who made the clothes, the area they were made in or the traditions in manufacturing. Just something more engaging than the bare facts.
Quickfire Five – VIDEO
Craig Landale and Menswear Style are listed on the Vuelio Influencer Database along with thousands of other leading bloggers, journalists, editors and outlets.
Today’s Political Headlines include the Cambridge Analytica story, the Brexit transition period, Corbyn could ‘do business’ with Putin, and the Tories outspending its rivals in the last election.
Cambridge Analytica boasted about swinging elections to undercover reporters As The Guardianreports, executives from Cambridge Analytica, the firm at the centre of the Facebook data breach, ‘boasted of using honey traps, fake news campaigns and operations with ex-spies to swing election campaigns around the world’ to undercover reporters from Channel 4. The broadcaster moved in after months of investigation by The Observer. The Information Commissioner is applying for a warrant to examine the firm’s activities, but the company denies any wrongdoing.
UK reaches agreement with EU on Brexit transition period The UK obtained conditional agreement on the Brexit transition period by ‘offering the EU concessions over sovereignty’, the Financial Timesreports. The progress will be acknowledged at the EU summit on Friday and new guidelines for negotiating the future relationship will be adopted. A colour-coded draft text of the withdrawal agreement show that progress still needs to be made on issues including governance and the Irish border. The Daily Telegraphadds that Jacob Rees-Mogg is to protest the ‘abject betrayal’ of the fishing industry by throwing fish overboard from a boat outside Parliament.
Corbyn would ‘do business’ with Putin Jeremy Corbyn has told the BBC that he would ‘do business’ with Putin, but would challenge him on human rights and act in an ‘assertive’ and ‘demanding’ way with Russia. However, he also called for ‘an absolutely definitive answer’ over the source of the nerve agent used in the Salisbury attack and suggested that the Russians should be given a sample.
Conservatives outspent Labour and Lib Dems combined at last election The Financial Timesreports that the Conservatives spent more than Labour and the Liberal Democrats combined in the 2017 general election. The Tories spent £18.6m, while Labour spent £11m and the Lib Dems spent £6.8m. Detailed analysis revealed that the Tories spent four times more on Facebook advertising than Labour, and twice as much on Google adverts.
Council tax should be scrapped, thinktank says The Guardiansays that a report by the Resolution Foundation calls for council tax to be scrapped and replaced by a progressive levy on property. The think tank claims that in some areas council tax had ended up resembling the poll tax and is highly regressive.
UKIP ‘on brink of bankruptcy’ According to The Guardian, UKIP is ‘teetering on the brink of bankruptcy’ after being presented for a legal bill of £175,000 following a libel action brought by three Labour MPs. If it does not appeal, it will have to find the money in the next fortnight, with the party’s finances reportedly being ‘in a perilous condition’.
Politicians back TheSun campaign to cap credit fees The Sunreports that politicians from across the spectrum are backing its call to ‘end rip-off doorstep lending fees and rent-to-own credit agreements’. The paper cites support from politicians including Lib Dem leader Vince Cable, former pensions minister Ros Altman, Tory backbencher Robert Halfon, Labour’s Stella Creasy, and the co-chairs of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Debt, Yvonne Fovargue and Jonathan Edwards.
One in eight local roads could close within a year due to backlog of repairs Research by the Asphalt Industry Alliance published today, warns that as many as one in eight local roads could be closed to traffic within a year because of a huge backlog of pothole repairs, The Timessays. While Government funding is at its highest level in a decade, the paper says that this is considered ‘too little, too late by some’.
DriveWrite Automotive is a leading auto blog written by Geoff Maxted. Including car reviews and features about the driving life, DriveWrite Automotive recently featured on the Top 10 UK Automotive Blogs. We spoke to Geoff about branching out his writing, issues facing the automotive industry and working with brands.
What makes your blog unique?
I don’t follow the motoring journalist herd, avoiding endless car reviews of vehicles that everyone else is reviewing. I am less concerned with the very latest thing. I am very much trying to present things in an original and varied format that responds to the broad topic of ‘automotive’ and always taking care with grammar and spelling. You won’t find any profanity on my blog.
How and why are you now branching out as a writer?
I am certainly broadening the scope of DriveWrite, although non-automotive work will be on separate blogs in due course. My experience of writing has led me to other avenues and I am now very experienced in writing to order and to a brief, regardless of the topic. I welcome commissions.
What’s your favourite car?
Audi R8 V10. That’s me in the mugshot, driving one.
How important is photography to automotive blogging?
Very important. I am a former lecturer in photography so always strive to make my images as good as possible. I have recently upgraded my cameras and this year will be shooting video for the first time. Video is the way to go now for almost any blogger.
How difficult do you find it to convey an experience in a blog post?
I like to write creatively and don’t find conveying a mood or feeling or experience difficult.
What’s the biggest issue facing the automotive industry? Convincing the public to move with the times. The attempt to persuade people into electric cars for example has been half-hearted in my opinion. They really are good vehicles.
We’ve discovered that for many bloggers, social media has become the new comments section. How important is social media to your blog?
Very. There’s a lot of garbage on social media and it is important to rise above it. The popular mediums are vital to getting the good word out there. Word of mouth still has its place too. You need readers talking to others.
What are the best PR/brand collaborations you’ve worked on?
I can’t really name one. It’s always best to be on great terms with collaborators.
What do you call yourself (Blogger/influencer/content creator)?
It’s what other people call me that’s important. I want to be known as a writer of quality first and foremost.
What other blogs do you read? Leisure time? What’s that?
Geoff Maxted and DriveWrite Automotive are listed on the Vuelio Influencer Database along with thousands of other leading bloggers, journalists, editors and outlets.
This week’s Political Updates, covers moves and changes at all levels of Government.
Government Departments
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Fiona Pollard and Allan Lambert have been appointed as trustees of the VisitEngland board
Rupert Gavin has been reappointed as Chair of the Historic Royal Palaces board
Sally Bolton has been appointed as a member of the UK Sport Board
Department for Transport
Alan Massey will retire as Chief Executive of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency
Ministry of Justice
Russell Aguis has been appointed as an independent member of theJustice Pension Board
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Lord Blencathra, Sue Hartley, Henry Robinson and Marian Spain have been appointed to the board of Natural England. Catherine Dugmore has been appointed as Chair of the Audit, Risk, Assurance Committee
Conor Colgan, James Shouler , Richard Sparey and Steve Thompson have been appointed as Beef & Lamb sector board members of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board
Foreign and Commonweatlh Office
Rob Macaire has been appointed as Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Iran, replacing Nicholas Hopton
House of Commons
Daniel Zeichner has been added as a member of the Petitions Committee, replacing Susan Elan Jones.
Labour Party
Debbie Abrahams has resigned as Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. Margaret Greenwood has taken on the role on an interim basis
Welsh Government
Adrian Cropton will become Auditor General for Wales in July, replacing Huw Vaughan Thomas
European Parliament
This week, the European Parliament will hold committee meetings and group meetings in Brussels.
https://www.vuelio.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Vuelio-Political-Updates-2017.jpg396700Phoebe-Jane Boyd/uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Vuelio-PR-Comms-Public-Affairs-Logo.pngPhoebe-Jane Boyd2018-03-19 11:39:512018-03-19 11:39:51Political Updates 19 March 2018
New York-based Relevance International recently opened its London office and has its sights set on more. With a raft of clients from the luxury, real estate and corporate worlds, Relevance International has come a long way since its launch in 2012 – driven by its founder and CEO, Suzanne Rosnowski.
Relevance’s London office recently announced two appointments, Anita Gryson as associate director and Alice Lacey as account director, and it has been named global public relations agency for The Royal Atlantis Residences in Dubai. So, how does an agency go from seemingly humble beginnings to taking on the world in just six years?
Luxury and prestige brands have a global client base, and it can be a challenge targeting such an expansive audience. For Suzanne, finding this audience and, more importantly, reaching them with the right messaging is an ‘art form’ for which Relevance International has an unwavering passion. Growing a global presence is part of this challenge, and the new London location – coupled with an engaged affiliate network of publicists – aims to tackle it.
We’re delighted that Suzanne Rosnowski will be joining Vuelio for a live webinar on Tuesday 27 March, at 2pm (BST). She will tell us how she grew her agency for the global stage, how US PR differs from UK PR, and why she has her sights set on even more locations across the planet.
Suzanne will also discuss the PR industry more broadly, and has a wealth of experience to talk with authority on everything from social media to the benefits of being a partner at a firm. We will be exploring a huge industry issue – the ethical dilemmas around paid/earned media, with Relevance’s position of not blending advertising and PR, part of their global approach. This is particularly significant when considering the rise of influencer marketing and paying for coverage.
The webinar will also include a live Q&A with the audience, so if you have any burning questions, and want answers from the top, this is the webinar for you.
https://www.vuelio.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Suzanne-Rosnowski.jpg430760Phoebe-Jane Boyd/uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Vuelio-PR-Comms-Public-Affairs-Logo.pngPhoebe-Jane Boyd2018-03-19 11:33:002018-03-19 11:33:00What does it take to be a global PR?
The Sunday political shows were, of course, dominated by Russia. Andrew Marr had Russia’s Ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov on his show, who said that it would be worth questioning why the UK Government was able to identify the Novichok agent so quickly.
Chizhov suggested that to identify the nerve agent it would have to be tested against nerve agents the UK has in its possession. He also gave the defence that the country stopped making chemical weapons in the early 90s and all of their stockpiles of poisons were destroyed last year. The Ambassador said, ‘Russia had nothing to do with it’ when asked about the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. Chizhov also disapproved of Boris Johnson’s manner after Johnson said it was likely Putin personally ordered the attack.
The Foreign Secretary was himself a guest on Marr and he dismissed the idea of the UK being involved in the attack as ‘satirical’. He also argued against the defence given by Chizhov, saying the stockpiling of nerve agents has been something Russia have been doing for the last decade. Johnson was also damming when speaking about the response to the attack, saying experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will test samples.
It turns out Johnson himself played tennis with a lady whose husband was given an award by Vladimir Putin and served in a ministerial position under Putin because she paid £160,000 at a fundraising auction. Marr question whether the Foreign Secretary and the Conservatives more widely were best placed to comment on Russia with links such as these. Johnson confirmed the tennis match, featuring then Prime Minister David Cameron, did take place, but then said that if there is evidence of wealth being gained by corruption, agencies are in place that can withhold that wealth. He clarified that it is not for him to decide who does and does not deserve to hold wealth in the UK, and made clear that Russian people are not the enemy or ‘the object of our wrath’. Johnson is often criticised as not being serious enough for the role of Foreign Secretary, but this interview has gone some way to answering those criticisms.
Shadow Attorney General, Shami Chakrabarti, also appeared on Marr to give further explanation to the response of Labour. She said that if the Government is convinced Putin ordered the attack they must have seen more evidence than the leadership of Labour. Chakrabarti said she agreed with Theresa May that the Russia Government have a responsibility whether they lost control of the nerve agent or directed the attack. The Baroness said that the ‘tone’ of remarks by Jeremy Corbyn have been ‘spun’. She also stressed the need for everyone commenting on the incident to get their tone right.
The discussion on Peston also focused on Russia. If Theresa May was watching, she will have seen more agreement from the Labour Party in the position she took, this time from John McDonnell. The agreement from the main opposition party, including harsh critics like John McDonnell perhaps indicate that May got her response right. The Shadow Chancellor also pointed out that a pattern could be seen with previous attacks on Russian dissidents. McDonnell also responded to criticism the Labour Party have received aimed at their response to the incident saying that Seamus Milne said ‘exactly’ what the Prime Minister said.
Anna Soubry on Peston did not describe John McDonnell in complimentary terms, saying she views him as one of the most dangerous people in British politics.
Chair of the Conservative Party, Brandon Lewis, appeared on Peston and, like Johnson, was asked about links between Putin and the Conservative Party. When asked whether Lewis know whether any donors have links to Putin, he responded by saying due diligence has been done. Lewis then moved onto saying that some of these people have become British citizens after fleeing Putin and are taking up their right to take part in any aspect of British society they want to. When asked whether he felt proud about the remarks Gavin Williamson made last week that Russia should ‘go away and shut up’, Lewis said the intention of the remarks was correct and said everyone has their own way of doing things. When appearing on Sunday with Paterson, Lewis did not wholeheartedly defend remarks by Boris Johnson when he said Jeremy Corbyn had let his country down.
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https://www.vuelio.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Politics-on-Sunday.png430760Daniel Loman/uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Vuelio-PR-Comms-Public-Affairs-Logo.pngDaniel Loman2018-03-19 10:53:222018-03-19 10:53:22Politics on Sunday - 19 March 2018
Today’s Political Headlines include Davis in Brussels, the betting machine cap, Momentum ‘radically transforming’ Labour and Facebook’s data issue.
Davis in Brussels for transition talks amid fears over Irish border pressure The Financial Timesreports that Brexit Secretary David Davis is holding urgent talks in Brussels today to secure a transition deal. Aides say that he is ‘confident’, but there are fears that the UK may be pressured to make new commitments over the Irish border. According to The Guardian, the UK has already abandoned plans to repatriate control of fisheries during the transition period. In The Daily Telegraph, Jacob Rees-Mogg warns that the UK risks becoming a ‘joke nation’ if it cannot sign trade deals during the transition.
Betting machine wagers should be cut to £30 or less, Gambling Commission says The BBC reports that the Gambling Commission has called for the maximum stake on fixed odds betting terminals (FOBT) to be cut to £30 or less, with the maximum stake on ‘slots games’ £2. The advice is part of the Government’s review of gambling machines, with a decision due in the coming weeks.
Momentum ‘radically transforming’ Labour An investigation by The Guardian reveals that Momentum is ‘radically transforming’ Labour. The paper finds that local branches of Momentum are ‘challenging party orthodoxies, flouting national membership rules and fighting to get their activists selected’. The paper also says that there are signs of a fightback against the organisation, with Momentum backed candidate only winning a third of parliamentary selections.
Cambridge Analytica and Facebook under fire over data leak revelations The Timesreports that MPs have called for the privacy regulator to be handled stronger powers to investigate technology companies, following the leaking of the personal data of millions of Facebook users. Damian Collins, chair of the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee has accused Cambridge Analytica of lying to Parliament, and Facebook of misleading MPs.
Johnson under ‘growing pressure’ over garden bridge The Guardiansays that Boris Johnson is under ‘growing pressure’ over the scrapped garden bridge project. Labours’ Shadow Communities Secretary Andrew Gwynne has written to the Foreign Secretary, asking him to provide evidence for his assertion that the journalist Will Hurst criticised the project because he disliked the bridge’s designer.
A&E wait length masked by official figures The Timesreveals that tens of thousands more patients spent more than 12 hours in A&E waiting for a bed last year than revealed by official figures. The discrepancy is because official figures only record the time from a doctor deciding to admit a patient, not from the patient arriving at A&E. Sarah Wollaston, Chair of the Commons Health Committee, warned that long waits raised concerns about patient safety.
Labour to offer ‘more generous’ social care cap The Daily Mirrorreports that Shadow Care Minister Barbara Keeley will pledge to outflank the Tories on social care, implementing ‘a maximum limit on care costs at a more generous level than currently set in the Care Act regulations’. This might include widening the scope of the cap to include costs such as accommodation.
£26m to be spent on breakfast clubs According to The Sun, ministers are to invest £26m in breakfast clubs at 1770 schools around the country. Two charities, Family Action and Magic Breakfast, will be responsible for running the clubs, funded by the new soft drinks levy and due to start this spring.
This week Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed includes new social media laws, Facebook taking responsibility, the Metro’s moment in the Sun, (Fer)Nando’s and BuzzFeed’s unlikely victory.
1. Matt Hancock to rewrite social media laws
Not content with launching his own social media platform, Matt Hancock, the culture secretary, has now suggested the UK could write ‘world-leading’ regulations for technology companies, thanks to Brexit. No longer bound by EU rules, a post-Brexit Britain would be able to create ‘forward-looking’ legislation appropriate for the 21st century. Hancock said new laws would support ‘the innovation and the freedom that these social media platforms bring but also ensures they mitigate better against harms’.
Areas Hancock has suggested the law could be changed include making a new legal status for social media companies between traditional platforms and publishers, changing competition laws and tackling fake news. Hancock doesn’t actually want to make platform owners responsible for the content they publish as he is a platform owner himself. He said: ‘I can’t be liable for what they publish, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to allow them to publish it, because I can only be liable for what I publish.’
Five Things is very excited to see what Matt Hancock’s next plan is to make his time as culture secretary historic.
2. Facebook bans Britain First
Talking of platform owners becoming responsible, Facebook has removed Britain First and its leaders from the platform. The removal was due to the far-right group ‘repeatedly’ violating community standards. The page had achieved over two million likes at the point of its removal.
In a detailed blog post, Facebook explained that people are allowed ‘different views’ and that they are ‘very careful not to remove posts or Pages just because some people don’t like them’. However, Facebook goes on to say: ‘There are times though when legitimate political speech crosses the line and becomes hate speech designed to stir up hatred against groups in our society.’
Facebook gave the group a ‘final written warning’, which was ignored as the group continued to post content ‘designed to incite animosity and hatred against minority groups’.
This decisive action is huge news, because the social media giant has taken a clear action against a page with millions of followers and published its reasoning. There is now little excuse for it not to take action against other, similar rule breakers.
3. Is The Sun setting?
The Metro now has more printed copies in circulation than The Sun, though both have experienced year-on-year falls. The Press Gazette reports the latest ABC figures, which show the Metro’s 1,472,437 copies in Feb, while down 0.25% on 2017, was greater than The Sun’s 1,465,000 – down 8% on 2017. To make matters worse, The Sun’s number includes its Saturday edition, whereas the Metro only prints Monday-Friday.
Ted Young, editor of the Metro, said: ‘This is a massive Metro moment and one which demonstrates the demand for our trusted and loved product with a young, professional audience on their morning commute in every major city every weekday morning. As long as the appetite is there, we intend to remain the largest distributed newspaper in Britain.’
The Sun is still the UK’s best-selling daily newspaper by some margin. Every priced national paper experienced a fall in circulation, the biggest being The Sunday Mirror (-20.18%), Daily Mirror (-19.04%), The Daily Telegraph (-18.06%) and the Sunday People (-17.93%).
4. Nando’s and Fernando’s
Within weeks of Nando’s proving that a potentially reputation-damaging story (their chips coming from McCain) means nothing to loyal Nando’s fans, its back in the news – now accused of attacking a small business. Due to what appears to be copyright infringement, an independent peri-peri restaurant called ‘Fernando’s’, which has a cockerel logo among other similarities, has been asked by the chilli chicken phenomenon to cease and desist.
Fernando’s struck out, claiming Nando’s is ‘threatened’ by its success. Fernando’s owner Asam Aziz, who claims the inspiration for the name is from TV’s Take Me Out, said he is being bullied by Nando’s (full legal name: Nando’s ChickenLand Limited – which sounds like the best theme park ever!).
A Nando’s spokesman tried to reduce the heat, by saying: ‘We are really proud of our brand and we know it means a lot to our customers. That’s why whenever we think there is trademark infringement we try to sort it out amicably’, which seems balanced from a brand that is seemingly untouchable.
5. BuzzFeed wins News Website of the Year
BuzzFeed (LMAO, ROFL, WOW), a viral site famous for listicles, scooped the biggest digital prize at the Press Awards this week winning News Website of the Year. The achievement is huge for a site that launched in 2013 and is more well known for its ‘Which Friends character are you’ type articles than serious journalism. But in recent years, the site has gained a reputation for ‘proper’ journalism particularly in government and politics – breaking a number of stories in the last 12 months and being an outlet for many leaks. Jim Waterson, outgoing political editor, may be disappointed that the Guardian, his next employer, was only awarded Highly Commended in the same category.
Other notable winners include the Financial Times scooping Newspaper of the Year and News Team of the Year (for The Europopulists); the Daily Mail winning Campaign of the Year for ‘Turn the tide on plastic’; Tom Harper, Jon Ungoed-Thomas and Richard Kerbaj who won ‘Scoop of the Year’ for finding porn on Damian Green’s computer; and Mark Townsend of the Observer, who won News Reporter of the Year.
Congratulations all.
https://www.vuelio.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/16-March.jpg430760Phoebe-Jane Boyd/uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Vuelio-PR-Comms-Public-Affairs-Logo.pngPhoebe-Jane Boyd2018-03-16 14:05:572018-03-16 14:05:57Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed – 16 March 2018
Today’s Political Headlines include Corbyn defending his position over the Salisbury poisoning, Google funding supportive think thanks, business leaders demanding a Brexit transition agreement and stay at home mums denied the right to a full state pension.
Corbyn defends response to Salisbury poisoning Jeremy Corbyn has written in The Guardian, defending his response to the Salisbury poisoning, warning Theresa May against ‘rushing way ahead of the evidence’. The paper says that there appear to be divisions on the issue in the shadow cabinet, with Emily Thornberry and Nia Griffith taking tougher stances. Yesterday, as the BBC reports, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said that Russia should ‘go away and ‘shut up’. The Timesreports on the ‘unusual joint statement’ made by the French, German, American and British leaders, condemning Russian for ‘an assault on UK sovereignty’.
Google spends tens of millions of pounds funding think tanks A report seen by The Times, shows that Google has spent tens of millions of pounds funding think tanks that published papers supporting its policy interests. The US Campaign for Accountability report examined five institutions in the UK and Europe, including Nesta’s Research Alliance for a Digital Economy (Readie).
Business leaders stress urgent need for Brexit transition agreement The Financial Timesreports that business leaders highlighted the urgent need for a finalised Brexit transition deal when they met the Prime Minister yesterday, adding that the Irish border remains the biggest remaining obstacle to reaching a transition deal next week. The Guardianclaims that the Government has been asking businesses to sign secrecy agreements when they discuss border issues with it, including no-deal Brexit scenarios.
50,000 stay at home mothers denied right to full state pension Nicky Morgan, chair of the Commons Treasury Committee, has written to officials, raising concerns that 50,000 stay at home mothers may miss out on a full state pension as a result of changes to the state benefit system, owing to what The Daily Telegraphcalls a ‘Government blunder’.
Grenfell Tower doors could only hold fire back for half the intended time Investigators have found that doors in Grenfell Tower were only capable of holding back flames for half of their intended time, as an article in The Sunsays. Sajid Javid told the House of Commons that there was ‘no evidence’ that this was a ‘systematic issue’ and that further updates would be provided by the end of April.
Cambridge Analytica pitched illegal offer targeting foreign donors to Leave.EU The Guardianreports that documents released by the Commons Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Committee show that Cambridge Analytica proposed raising money form foreign supporters on behalf of Leave.EU, in breach of UK election law. However, Leave.EU did not take up the offer. The documents were supplied to the committee by Arron Banks, the campaign’s backer, to rebut claims made by Cambridge Analytica’s chief executive.
Javid becomes fifth MP to receive ‘Punish a Muslim’ package The Timesreports that Sajid Javid has become the fifth MP to receive a suspicious package and a letter calling for a ‘Punish a Muslim’ day. The letters are currently being investigated by counterterrorism police. The other recipients have been Rupa Huq, Rushanara Ali, Mohammad Yasin and Afzal Khan.
GMB criticises reliability of green power sources The Sun carries details of a report by the GMB, which claims that on 65 days last year, turbines supplied less than 10% of their potential for at least half a day, leaving the UK reliant on gas, nuclear and coal. The union’s national secretary, Justin Bowden, said, ‘It is the facts, not the hype, which should determine the UK’s energy policy decisions.’
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