The note of triumphalism over David Blunkett’s resignation sounded by the Fortier-Quinn camp really tells us quite enough about them. Were not a Sword of Damocles hanging over their future in terms of the ex-Home Secretary’s action to secure access to his son, I’ve a feeling the press would be dealing with them in a…
Roald’s Dahl’s children’s book “The Witches” was dramatised by David Wood several years ago and in its professional productions, especially at Christmas, attracts its fair share of objections as a suitable treat for 7 – 12-year-old theatregoers. The letters arrive, not by the sackload, but enough: Witches = Black Arts = Paganism = The Antichrist…that…
They’ve already crowned themselves king and queen of our out-of-control celebrity culture, but now Posh and Becks are to be deified – it’s official. Well not quite, but our favourite couple might have thought twice before presenting themselves to the public as the mother and father of baby Jesus. No such qualms for Madame Tussaud’s…
Whether it’s football or politics, it usually makes sense to stick with what you know and where you belong, writes Mark Borkowski Speculation that David Beckham plans to embark on a megabucks movie career when the time comes to hang up his golden boots was fuelled recently by the appearance of Tom Cruise at his…
The Prime Minister seems to have been relying too much on the telephone over the past few months, and not enough on professionals who can look him in the face and tell him what he should do. It’s all got quite embarrassing, and never more so than in the last 10 days, when we’ve seen…
When you’re out to win a piece of PR business you start with a credentials pitch. Here you lay out your wares in the most enticing way possible, dangling your USP hypnotically in front of the prospective client so that, with any luck, all resistance becomes futile. Yesterday New Labour Inc. came a-looking for our…
The eerie, blurred video images of the hostage Kenneth Bigley, pleading for his life with the odds so stacked against him, are working hard demoralising us in every living room in the land. The poor man may well suspect that he’s an unwitting pawn in someone else’s publicity stunt, but he probably won’t see the…
Royal StuntWatch: How do you get serious national coverage for your chosen cause? Dress up as a comic book character Love them or loathe them, there’s no denying that members of campaign group Fathers 4 Justice have done an award-winning job in hijacking the nation’s, if not the world’s, attention. As a public relations coup,…
So then, after our completely predictable exit from Euro 2004 during the summer, England’s footballers are now trying to qualify for the World Cup in 2006, and what hard work they’re making of it. They didn’t play too badly against Poland and won the match 2 – 1, but then decided, in an act of…
I feel a touch of tabloid fatigue coming on. The symptoms include sighing deeply and muttering ‘Oh come ON!’ repeatedly. It’s a familiar end-of-silly-season complaint and generally only lasts a morning or two. The Daily Mirror is responsible for my current attack. This paper has a reputation for NOT exactly being a founder-member of the…