Open Road

Thursday Jun 25th 2009

M&S Plan A vodcast with Mike Barry

Tuesday Jun 23rd 2009

A reality check: Latin style

For the last five weeks, the Torygraph has been firing relentless salvos on the UK public’s trust in politics.

How disappointing then that we discover that our MPs are actually quite pathetic in the scandal stakes in comparison with one of their European counterparts. .

Step forward Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister.

Monday Jun 22nd 2009

Commons 2.0

The House of Commons remains in dire need of reform, but today’s election of a new Speaker (which as I type is in its second round) shows how much more open Westminster has become over the last few years thanks largely to the internet.

The newly revamped Parliament.uk has been streaming the hustings live from the chamber. Within minutes of candidates’ speeches finishing, the FT had potted summaries of them for those of us that needed a précis. The Guardian gave us another of its entertaining live blogs which you could set to auto refresh every minute. And of course the events of the day were all over twitter under the #newspeaker hash tag. Sarah Mc Carthy-Fry even tweeted who she voted for (John Bercow).

Despite being behind the curve in embracing digital technologies, the Commons has become far more accessible because the people in it (MPs researchers and journalists) have started using the internet. And that in my view is a good thing, but there are still two problems.

Firstly, whilst individual politicians and political parties have realised the value of the internet for online engagement, the government continues to shy away from opening itself up to its citizens, for example by releasing public data like OS maps for free.

And secondly, I get the sneaking suspicion (as yet unconfirmed) that there are more people live streaming the latest series of Big Brother than Margaret Beckett’s plans for Select Committee Reform. All these great innovations are certainly making the jobs of public affairs professionals easier, but are they increasing accountability and participation to the wider electorate?

Friday Jun 19th 2009

Brown still chasing the game

Gordon Brown has managed to save himself again, yet his position as Prime Minister does not appear to be a strong one. I am not hinting at the almost ultimate power of Lord Mandelson but rather, I am concerned about the Labour Party’s lack of control over the political agenda.

The Tories seem to dominate the issue of cutting government spending without evoking the image of the nasty party. The full list of MP’s expenses have finally been officially published but fuel instead of calm the debate about political sleaze and lack of transparency. The Iraq inquiry is now going to be partially public although Brown wanted it to be completely secret. If one looks further into the recent past, one notices the Ghurkha failure.

Labour and Brown frequently have to back away from their initial positions. They seem to lack a feeling for the public mood which overall gives a very weak impression of Brown’s leadership skills. It remains to be seen whether the new appointments in No. 10 will change this but the next issue is already looming on the horizon.

In his Mansion House speech on Wednesday, Chancellor Alistair Darling revealed Labour’s unwillingness to reform the financial system. Labour might be able to brush away the criticism from the Bank of England Governor and they might also be able to prevent any far-reaching changes during the present Brussels summit, but can they ignore recent developments in the US? President Obama just announced a major reform of the financial regulatory system and Labour might soon find themselves chasing the agenda – again. 

Thursday Jun 18th 2009

Fred the Shred & Media Relations

News is just in that Former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Sir Fred Goodwin has offered to reduce his pension by £200,000 a year.

As a tax payer and a citizen I applaud Fred’s decision to return his ill-gotten gains, and can only hope that other bankers follow suit and redistribute the wealth they have appropriated at the expense of our economic wellbeing. But from a PR point of view I am flummoxed.