What's in a Name?

Or

?

Summer is coming and as the thermometer ushers its way to 20C...posties get their ghostly legs out and everyone starts to strut around Holland Park and Clapham Common with their standard issue ipod and starbucks frappacino I want to give a shout out to the MUST GO destination for Londoners this summer....wait for it....WORMWOOD SCRUBS COMMON!

No No No...I know what you're all thinking but I dont want to hear it...

The place is amazing...

Ok..ok...it does have it's downsides...notorious historicly high levels of crime....being named after a prison (although pretty sure the park was there first) and the fact that it is surrounded by Acton...oh and dodgy men sitting in the shrubbery around the side...although sure Clapham has its moments of madness to...

BUT!

in a time when all the other parks are wilting under the weight of sweaty bods people need to be thinking of alternatives, the scrubs (as I like to call it) has all the footy pitches you could ever want...rugby pitches even...so you can practice johnny wilkinson skills...for the lovers out there it has space to lie in the grass miles from anyone else (watch ou for the dodgy men though as I said) and if you fancy a run well a quick trip around its boundry is more than a match for most people....I admit it in many respects I'm allmost in love with the place....

I admit if you live nowhere near west london its goin to be a bit of a waste of time...but I plead with you all if you get a chance...hop on a tube to East Acton or White City...dont stay long because they are both horrible but go to Wormwood Scrubs for and enjoy it, live it...but dont tell too many people because then it will become crowded and crap...

with Pete Doherty's arrival at her majesty's pleasure over the road it's only a matter of time until the place becomes cool...but just remember...I saw it first...along with those weird men...but for very different reasons I like to think...

You Lookin At Me?

I'm a fan of the movies of Martin Scorsese and even a greater fan of the great acting abilities of the likes of Big Bird and Bert and Ernie so was delighted when they recentley announced they would be collaborating on their next project - pure genius!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiKBoLXg5Cw

A Problem For PR?

I went along to a PR Comms event, this evening at of all places Milbank Towers, looking at PR's role in undermining the integrity of the media. There was some interesting debate, particularly from Nick Davies, author of Flat Earth News who was there to promote his book...looking at the degradation of mass media integrity.

The debate entitled, "The Media Accused", involved Elisabeth Lewis-Jones - president, CIPR, Jon Bernstein - multimedia editor, Channel 4 News and Danny Rogers - editor, PR Week all debating the role PR had had to play in taking advantage of the media's weakness in identifying news of value and truth to the public.

While there was much debate around the extent to which the media had succumbed to the pressures of deadlines and the, "economics of journalism" making itself vulnerable to the opportunistic (or manipulative skills) of PR....depending on what side you were on I found it interesting that the panellists expressed an uncertainty upon the future of the media's relationship with PR.

While Nick Davies presented a very strong thesis in which journalists have been weakened by the increase in stories and a decrease in staff there seemed to be very few answers in what can be done to improve the 'state we're in'.

While a solution was proposed where a private body could reveal the extent to which each newspaper was influenced by PR...Surely a good PR campaign in itself for an independent regulating body...non? There was little hope expressed for the future of the media as it became increasingly at the mercy of the clutches of us, 'manipulative pr's'.

I personally think that allot of value added by the PR community to the media is not all manipulative but perhaps more constructive as Elisabeth Lewis-Jones, president of the CIPR pointed out.

In the near future I think that Google's steps into Universal Search are going to have an increasing role to play in giving the media back it's integrity to an extent particularly in areas of specialized or vertical content where brand value for publishers like The Times and The Guardian will become more important.

While the relationship between PR and the media is an indicative product of what Habermas called the commoditization of mass media it is neither helpful nor effective when borne out in the most unsubtle ways as by the Conservative Party and Labour Party in the pictures above...but I guess they are politicians…as a PR man I wouldn’t understand it's a matter of communication of truth.

Why Blog?

And so it begins...

It's taken me sometime to set up this blog...largely because if there is one thing I cant stand it is people talking about themselves...so I'll try and keep that down to a minimum...If I break this rule at any time then please let me know.

I want this blog to be interesting so will try keep posts short and sweet, just some snippets of things I like, things I dont like and just expereinces from my day to day life....

with a bit of luck perhaps when the wrinkles start to show I can look back and realise I hopefully didnt bore the hell out of everyone!

The one thing I will try to remember is as Plato said, "No Human Thing is of serious importance" and this blog is no exception...so I'll try not to take it too seriously...except for the rants.