Christianity: A History on Channel 4 (Michael Portillo's contribution)

Above: in the county there is considerable evidence of a cult of St Helen among the villages on the southern slopes of the central hills. This fragment of stained glass shows the Emperor Constantine with the text In Hoc Signo Vinces (with this sign will come victory). As well as churches dedicated to Helen (the mother of Constantine) there are Helen farms, Helen wells, Helen woods - and a persistent legend that St Helen came from the area.

Yesterday I watched Michael Portillo's documentary on the Emperor Constantine's adoption of Christianity as an approved religion of the Roman Empire. It was a clever programme, inverting the usual analysis and stating that instead of Constantine converting the Roman Empire to Christianity he had converted Christianity into an mechanism of imperial control (with heavy implication that it has remained an imperial organisation to this day). Michael Portillo had an assured voice throughout the production, with an ability to state with complete confidence even the most shakiest of hypothesis.

Anyone who hadn't examined the period in detail might have been taken in by his cynical comparison of the power-politics of Constantine with the spin-doctoring of modern politicians. There was a lot of Michael Portillo in the commentary ("when I was in the Cabinet", "when I was Defence Secretary", "if I examine myself"). Was it possible Michael Portillo saw himself as a reincarnation of Constantine?

Where the programme fell down was in the details. There were so many errors and omissions that I stopped taking it seriously after the first fifteen minutes. For instance, there was a lot of confused commentary at Ephesus in modern Turkey (was he implying Nike and Artemis/Diana were one and the same?). When discussing the church of the Holy Sepulchre built by Helen in Jerusalem the film showed us the later Crusader church (the Helen structure had been destroyed in 1009 by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah). Michael Portillo listed the "bad" Christian emperors who had persecuted pagans, but failed to mention Julian's revival of paganism 331 - 363. Most dodgy of all, he relied upon "author" Jonathan Bartley for quasi-erudite pronouncements throughout the documentary (a Google search reveals that Jonathan Bartley is a Tory crony from John Major's regime 1991-97).

The biggest ommission of all was the absence of any credible motive. If Constantine wanted a religion he could use as an agent of social control why did he pick on a minority sub-sect of Judaism? The cult of Mithras would have been a much more likely candidate.

At the end of the programme Michael Portillo adopted a kindly-wise tone of voice and told us reassuringly "I believe power is for politicians" Really? I thought power belonged to the people.

Continuously occupied for six thousand years

Sunday morning, and I drove about twenty miles to the undulating countryside at the centre of the county. I slightly misjudged the time, so I was ten minutes late getting to a set of fields effectively in the middle of nowhere. Parking my car, I tagged on the end of a large party being given a tour of the fields.



Above: I was surprised at how many people turned up for the tour (which had been organised by the county's archaeological department). Strong sunshine, but a stiff wind was blowing and the temperature was exactly zero. We started at 10.30 and carried on until 12.30.



Above: the female archaeologist who was leading the walk circulated an aerial LiDAR image which showed the topography of the fields ("that ridge is glacial deposits..."). She emphasised that the fields were originally an island, surrounded by shallow expanses of water and reed marshes ("the reeds would have been higher than your head, so very difficult to get through"). She told us the site had been continuously occupied for six thousand years and contained a Neolithic long barrow, numerous Bronze Age round barrows, medieval monastic remains, a Victorian water company and modern farmers and farm workers.



Above: the main focus of the walk was the monastic remains, but the archaeologist first talked with enthusiasm about the round barrows ("one of the barrows has been excavated and revealed a high-status burial of a man wearing an archer's stone wrist-guard and surrounded by Beaker pottery - interestingly he was buried in a wooden coffin, and around the central grave were later interments of cremated remains, probably family members...").



Above: we went over to the side of the field where a hawthorn hedge provided some protection from the wind. The archaeologist told us the round boundary of the great field was unusual and probably marked the edge of the monastic settlement. Aerial photographs taken in the 1970s were circulated, and these showed evidence of the monastery's layout.



Above: from the aerial photographs a map of the site had been drawn.



Above: although the aerial photographs were fairly clear, on the ground the long grass completely obscured the mounds and bumps - because the site is now protected no farming is allowed and so the grass has grown over the medieval remains.



Above: as we walked around the site wildfowl would suddenly rise up from the ground in front of you. Hares had colonised the area, and their burrowing had thrown up numerous fragments of medieval pottery. Other parts of the site were very waterlogged, and you had to be careful as you walked - the ground was very wet, and if you looked back you could see your footsteps in the spongy grass filling up with water.



Above: fish ponds on the edge of the monastic site.



Above: towards the end of the walk the archaeologist gave way to a local historian who talked about the Victorian water company that operated for a few years on the site. A deep well had been dug by the monks and a naturally-carbonated water (similar to Perrier) had been discovered and marketed as a health drink (the water is rich in lithium which counters depression). The historian held up one of the embossed brown bottles the water had been sold in (notice the cottages in the distance - in one of those houses a carved monumental slab found in the monastic site has been reused as a hearthstone).



Above: some of the marketing of the Victorian company. The company failed, mainly because of the remote nature of the location and the distance from the main centres of population. The farmer who owns the land said the well was still producing water and when the pump is going can produce eight gallons a minute.



Above: the walk ended on this little ridge where we counted the church spires on the horizon. The archaeologist encouraged us to come back to the site on a summer evening ("the owls are flying around, the hares are running through the grass, you can find all sorts of medieval fragments..."). I went back to my car and drove home to lunch (roast beef).

The figures are not good - the past week at work

Monday

I overslept, and by the time I had got up (at 10!) and rung the office, and had a cup of tea the morning had effectively gone.

In the afternoon I worked on my contribution to the 2009 Agency Plan.

Tuesday

I thought it wise to go in early this morning, after yesterday’s debacle. The train was cold. In the office a slight frisson of hostility from the others that I hadn’t put the coffee on (how am I expected to know what the first one in is supposed to do? - I am never usually the first one in).

I spent the morning copywriting. Terry came to my office and told me about a possible new appointment he might make. Andrea was outraged when I mentioned this to her, complaining that she should know first (“Because I’m quiet people like to confide in me” I told her).

Temp Sheila bought cream cakes at lunchtime.

In the afternoon I became concerned about Andrea’s behaviour. She was arguing with both media and clients (the partitions are so thin you can hear every word that is said). Possibly she is under a lot of stress as the figures are not good – although I am meeting my targets (not that they are very demanding).

I stayed on after 5 to make up for yesterday, even though I didn’t really have anything to do.

Wednesday

I had more energy today, and got lots of things done – writing copy, making three separate attempts to get new business, working on a presentation we have coming up.

Also on the new business front the agency (upstairs and ourselves) is producing a newsletter which is to go out to potential customers. This newsletter is to be hard copy and an “interactive” e-mail. Marc (my old boss when I worked upstairs) is in charge of this initiative.

Andrea came back from a visit to a client (our most prestigious, although they don’t give us much work and we never make much money from them). Instead of a meeting she had been given ten minutes in a corner of the client’s Reception. It looks as if we have lost this client and she will have to break the news to Terry.

A result of the downturn is that we all seem to be working together better and acting like a team. Egos have been suppressed voluntarily. In particular Andrea has curbed a lot of her arrogance (she is her own worst enemy).

Thursday

Very quiet today.

Terry, Andrea and myself had a long meeting talking about approaches to potential new customers, and also visits to clients we used to handle.

Friday

An outburst from Andrea about her company car (Aine was on the receiving end). It is not going to be upgraded this year. Patricia (Terry’s PA) came down and had a long meeting with Andrea, suggesting she should apologise to Aine.

Someone seems to be going through my desk on a regular basis – at first I had thought this was my imagination, but now I am sure (from the way things are disturbed, always the same files). It isn’t Andrea as she goes through my desk in front of me. I may start locking the door of my office, although that will annoy the cleaners.

Towards the end of the day a rush of work came in, which was encouraging.

Live Your Life by TI

Above: the video of Live Your Life (song written by TI) was directed by Anthony Mandler. It is an ambitious mini-movie, heavily encoded with biographical details (based on the life of the artist TI, who appears in the film as himself) and is packed with anthropological data. In theme it resembles Friedrich Nietzsche’s Will To Power, and emphasises the importance of taking control.

The pace of the editing (necessarily swift in such a condensed work) contributes to the strong narrative drive. The standard of acting is very high (except when TI throws a punch at an assailant, which is a bit inadequate – but that is the only flaw I have found). I have watched it several times, and each time I notice something new (the furrowed brow expressions, the way hoods should be worn, the serving of Campari in the menacing nightclub etc).



Above: Wayne Rooney on the front of the Sunday Mirror.

The lyrics of Live Your Life include the phrase “Been thuggin’ all my life” (thuggin’ pronounced “tugging”). As far as I can understand “thuggin’” in this context means life in a black American ghetto. The use of the word is different from its British usage.

Prime Minister's Questions 14th January 2009

Above: I never tire of looking at the Puginesque marvel of the Palace of Westminster - there is always some new detail you havn't noticed before.

At lunchtime I half-watched Prime Minister's Questions while I worked through the draft of my 2009 plan (we are all required to write sections of the agency's composite Plan for the coming year).

The Prime Minister insisted that the economic crisis was global (his "no more boom and bust" promise was thrown at him again).

There was much quoting and counter-quoting of a long-gone Tory Chancellor (mirrored later in the day by Baroness Vadera saying she could already see "the green shoots of economic recovery" - some hope).

David Cameron said the government was copying so many Conservative policies they needed a photocopier (how they laughed on the Tory benches).

Nick Clegg called the Prime Minister a copycat for the way he was taking up Conservative initiatives.

The rest just seemed to pass over me until Conservative Richard Bacon asked about welfare standards of imported foreign pork. The association of the name Bacon with the subject-matter pork seemed to have the whole House of Commons tittering. It even provoked a rare (and excrutiatingly leaden) joke from Gordon Brown.

A bottle of red Italian wine

I havn't been upstairs much since I came back, apart from Friday's meeting in Terry's office.

So when I drifted upstairs today, at a loose end, I was presented by Aine with my "Secret Santa" present from before Christmas. I hadn't attended the Secret Santa session as our little sub-agency finished on the Friday whereas upstairs they struggled on until Tuesday. As well as the present there were two late Christmas cards.

The present was a bottle of red Italian wine. I don't usually drink Italian wine as I am trying to learn about French wines (especially Gigondas, which is my favourite red wine). Plus (without seeming ungrateful) Ogio is not likely to be a wine you can learn much about.

It seemed odd opening a Christmas present and cards in the middle of January.

Three o'clock in the afternoon

Above: at three o'clock in the afternoon the moon was already rising above the valley.

I woke this morning and looked at my alarm clock. The time was half-past four. I closed my eyes and went back to sleep.

When I woke again it was broad daylight. I looked at the clock again and it still said half-past four (and had clearly stopped). I picked up my watch from the bedside cabinet and the time was ten - I should have been at work an hour ago!

I rang my boss Andrea (pronouned "On-dray-er") and explained what had happened. I suggested I spent the day "working at home". It was impossible to tell whether she was annoyed or not (I think today is meant to be the most miserable day of the year, and so she may have thought I was "pulling a sickie").

In the afternoon I drove into the local town to collect a package from the Royal Mail sorting office. As I drove back I stopped the car and looked out over the valley. The moon was already high in the sky at three o'clock in the afternoon.

Plough Sunday

Today is Plough Sunday (Epiphany) and tomorrow is Plough Monday – the day when the ploughmen in the county would go back to work after the Christmas holiday. Last year I wrote about the traditional plough jags performed on Plough Monday. This year I thought I would do some research into the Plough Sunday customs that still survive.

Getting up at 7.30 (which I am not used to on a Sunday as I depend on the weekends to catch up on my sleep) I drove eastwards for about an hour until I reached a big river and followed it southwards (the road went along the bank) through a succession of ever smaller villages until I arrived in a settlement so small it wasn’t even on the map.

The weather was milder today than it has been for about a month (by milder I mean a blustery cold wind was blowing, but it wasn’t actually freezing). I parked my car in the small pub car park and walked down to where the High Street (a meandering muddy lane lined with cottages) forked into two. At this junction was the village church.



Above: Pevsner says the church was built in 1756. It was very small and built in a red-brick gothic style. From the road junction it had a two-dimensional appearance, as if it were cut out of cardboard.



Above: just before 10.30 a single bell made a jangling clamour and people walked along all three lanes to the church. Most people stood outside while a small plough belonging to a local farmer was wheeled up to the west door. The lady Vicar, the farmer and various dignitaries posed for photographs with the plough (as you can see, it is a small Victorian plough and would not have been used much in the fields).

Note: my digital camera stopped working at this point and so this photo is courtesy of Mrs Blaney.



Above: everyone went into the church and took their seats – about fifty people in all including a contingent of Young Farmers. The plough was ceremoniously brought in and taken up to the altar rails (Sir James Frazer records similar rituals where the plough is decorated with ribbons, but this one was completely plain). We sang hymns and the plough was blessed by the Vicar.



Above: then the Vicar produced a bowl of soil (presumably from the surrounding fields) and the soil was blessed. Although this ceremony dates back centuries it had a very modern ecological and environmental feel to it. In her sermon the Vicar pursued the environmental theme and told us to “use the power you have as shoppers” to buy local and sustainable goods.



Above: after the formal end of the service the plough was taken out of the church again. A folk duo (a fiddle player and a guitar player) then performed what the Vicar called “Plough Carols” although they seemed more folk songs to do with ploughing. They finished with a fifteenth-century song Speed The Plough which I had never heard before although everyone else seemed to know it and joined in.

Sorry this picture seems so gloomy – there was a problem with my camera. Actually the interior was very light and painted in cream and white. The lighting was modern.



Above: coming out of the church we all walked down the path to the junction where the Morris dancers were waiting (these are the sword dancers – again photo is courtesy of Mrs Blaney).



Above: holding up the traffic (cyclists, horse riders, some four-by-fours) a different group of Morris dancers performed the dance Speed the Plough (which is different from the song).



Above: more of the cavorting Morris dancers.



Above: I only stayed a short while watching the dancers as I needed to get home for lunch (roast pork). I walked back to the Full Moon pub where I had left my car. The wind had dropped and the sun was trying to make an appearance.



Above: the pub was holding a Plough Sunday beer festival. Over sixty different types of beer were on offer. Because I was driving I was only able to have a half (I would have liked to have stayed there all afternoon).

Text of the song Speed the Plough: http://hillshepherd.blogspot.com/2008/05/god-speed-plow-farmers-arms-or-success.html

The dance Speed the Plough (best I could find): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXkgXLiJH6w

Sheila (the temp) jammed the photocopier - the past week at work

Monday

The first day back at work. The cold was unbearable (the bitter fresh cold of the journey to work and the dull cold of the offices before the heaters warmed them up). All of the week the temperature remained below freezing, so that I mostly stayed in at lunchtimes.

The economic situation has made people more careful over spending money. Jo, assistant (“Associate”) Account Executive upstairs, came into our offices to chat, moaning about how much Christmas had cost her. “Despite having a good job I still have to watch every penny” she said.

Julie (admin) complained that Andrea (our boss) was in a “swanning mood” (“she’s just swanning around finding fault with everything).

First day back and I hadvery little to do. In the afternoon I felt incredibly tired.

Sheila (the temp) jammed the photocopier and no-one could fix it (Andrea very tight-lipped and struggling to remove the tiny bits of shredded paper, finally giving in with a snarl and telling Julie to ring the engineer).

Tuesday

Client meetings, one late morning and one late afternoon. I managed to string them out so that I didn’t need to go back to the office afterwards. The cold so intense that I felt dizzy.

Wednesday

I did some media planning and thought about the other projects I have been given.

Terry’s American friend (who we think owns part of the agency) came to the offices. He noticed Andrea had put up one of her certificates on the wall and told us: “I don’t put my certificates up on the wall – the office is too small.” After he had gone Julie said she was sure he was gay because of the shape of his moustache (“it’s like a packet of Pringles”).

Thursday

Since we have returned to work Andrea has become very annoying (or perhaps she was always very annoying, only not to me). A number of times today I thought she was becoming confrontational. In the afternoon she attempted to contact an old client (from her last job) and they told her to get lost, which put her in an exceptionally bad mood.

Chris (does our Accounts part-time) talked frankly about her dissatisfaction at the way the personnel keeps changing, which she finds unsettling. Andrea listened to her with a blank look on her face. The arrival of Andrea’s sub-agency must be an intrusion for Chris as previously she had this side of the floor to herself.

Terry (our MD) came down several times and I revealed to him (casually) that my billings for December were almost twice the target. I always try to keep some small item of positive news for Terry’s visits so that he regards talking to me as a positive experience. Most people just tell him their problems.

In the evening, despite the bitter cold, I went to the west end for a committee meeting of a small educational voluntary group I do some work for. This voluntary group has a social programme which is used to raise funds. I took Andrea with me (she had expressed interest in the group) and she was co-opted onto the committee to help with publicity (the two of us were easily the most competent people on that committee).

Afterwards we went to a bar and over gin and tonics Andrea ran down Rachel (one of the Account Directors upstairs).

Friday

A slow day. I should really have got some research under way, but somehow I couldn’t get motivated. Most of the morning was taken up with the monthly agency meeting held by Terry in his office upstairs (not for the first time I noticed that most of his remarks seemed to be addressed to me instead of Andrea).

Charities

At the beginning of each year I send donations to the sixteen main charities I support. I send them occasional donations throughout the year (plus a few I have monthly standing orders for) but the main bulk goes out early January. I also respond to ad hoc appeals - I can't give much but I try to give something to everyone who asks.

What I find dispiriting is that for some organisations as soon as I have sent them something I get a letter back by return post asking for more. I realise that some charities are run as businesses with professional hard-nosed marketing people in charge of fund-raising (people of a type I know only too well). I realise that direct mail for some charities is as mathematical and formulaic as any hedge fund calculation (and probably someone has worked out that if you make an appeal to someone immediately they have donated you can get them to give again).

But even so, it is dispiriting.

Out Of Sheer Rage by Geoff Dyer

Above: I am currently reading Out Of Sheer Rage by Geoff Dyer. I heard it reviewed on Radio 4 while I was driving and decided on impulse to buy it, and ordered it on Amazon when I got back to the office. It is very unusual for me to do this, since I have so many books waiting to be read that I have imposed a moratorium on new purchases.

The novel is ostensibly about a writer attempting (and failing) to write a biography of DH Lawrence. You might think a book about a writer trying to write a book about a writer is somewhat self-indulgent. However, the book is really about procrastination, inertia and self-delusion, and therefore has some very pertinent points to make that are relevant to my current life.

I hadn't thought much of DH Lawrence before reading this book (although I have liked Bavarian Gentians since I was about fourteen). As a result of reading Geoff Dyer I looked up Lawrence's poem The Snake and have already read it several times. I think it is going to be one of my all-time favourites.

The Snake: http://homepages.wmich.edu/~cooneys/poems/dhl.snake.html

Vivienne Westwood

Above: the Vivienne Westwood shop in the Kings Road – “World’s End”. Although Vivienne Westwood is usually associated with the 1970s, she did some of her most influential work in the early 1980s, developing the “new romantic” look (Kim is drawing parallels between Westwood’s “new romantics” in the 1980s and Dior’s “new look” in the 1940s). In particular Vivienne Westwood designed for Adam And The Ants.



Above: Vivienne Westwood c1987 – make-up by Paul Starr, hair by Kevin Ryan.

Vivienne Westwood pirate design: http://www.fashion-era.com/images/1960-80/west300x20a.jpg

More: http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1231_vivienne_westwood/changing_styles_7.html

And today at the V&A: http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fashion/fashion_motion/westwood/index.html

I don't think anyone takes Adam and the Ants seriously these days, but they have to be seen within the context of their time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtxuPqjSJDc

Henry Purcell, one of our greatest composers

Above: the 1994 Purcell monument by Glynn Williams (in Victoria Street).

2009 marks the 350th anniversary of the birth of Henry Purcell, one of our greatest composers. Many Purcell concerts are planned - I hope to go to at least one. He is said to have invented the musical style "English baroque".

On my way from one meeting to another I got off the tube at Victoria to look at the Purcell monument (by Glynn Williams) in Victoria Street, intending to walk down to Westminster and get on the tube again. This was a big mistake. In the bitter bitter cold Victoria Street stretched ahead of me grey, intimidating and unending - like some DDR-style sieges-allee (a sort of London rival to Berlin's Karl Marx Allee).

More on Purcell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzqNA2VBtT4&feature=related

More on Glynn Williams: http://www.glynnwilliams.co.uk/index.html

5p

Have you noticed how much more frequently you are given a 5p piece in your change?

The inflationary pressure to round up in 10p increments is fading.

And also (although this might just be me) have you noticed when prices are heavily discounted to about a third of their value you find yourself saying: well that's about what it's worth.

Education in the county

This post is a collection of material about the development of education in the county. It is basically work in progress and I might come back and develop it as I discover more information (or again, I might not, depending on whether I am distracted by something else). So this is what Wikipedia would call a "stub" (feel free to contribute your own thoughts, opinions, little-known facts etc).



Above: in the middle ages there was a surprising amount of education available, mainly through schools attached to monasteries. This was available to more or less all ranks of society (Cardinal Wolsey was a butcher's son). The monasteries were often based in remote areas, but from the thirteenth-century onwards the Friars set up schools in most towns in the county.

Friars were urban-based religious orders that worked "in the community" (setting up schools, hospitals, preaching in market places etc). You can often trace their presence through street names. Greyfriars were Franciscans, Blackfriars were Dominicans (or "hounds of God"), Shodfriars wore shoes etc.



Above: following the Reformation there was initally a regression, as the monastic schools were closed. In the decades that followed some of the resources taken from the monasteries were used to set up educational establishments, particularly grammar schools. This blue plaque commemorates the foundation of a grammar school on the old greyfriars site in the small town down on the plain.



Above: view of the grammar school - the original Elizabethan school is the central portion you can see (with the bay window). Additional extensions have been added over the years. The county has kept intact its network of grammar schools (most of these schools in the United Kingdom were merged in the 1970s to form "comprehensives" although even the Labour government has now dropped its support for the comprehensive movement, which makes you wonder what all the fuss was about in the first place).



Above: as well as the grammar schools, local schools were set up in parish churches. This elaborate screen marks the entrance to one of these "church schools". It was basically one room where all the children of the village would be taught together.



Above: inside the old classroom has been kept more or less as it was (the church school survived until the 1920s). You can see the chairs the pupils would sit on, and the "pigeon holes" where they would keep their work. There is even a carpet.



Above: you might wonder what standard of education would be available at these church schools. I think it would have been quite good - for instance, this window commemorates an Assistant Curate at a remote village in the county. The window includes the coats of arms of both Eton College and Trinity College where he was educated, so the education he was able to pass on would have been of a high standard (notice also the rooks and owls in the stained glass - he was a bird-spotter and when the church tower was restored he insisted on special openings so that the owls could continue to nest in the tower).



Above: reading, writing and arithmatic - no "media studies", no national curriculum, no government targets (hope this doesn't sound reactionary).



Above: this exhibit at a history display (in another village, this one up in the central hills) of some of the needlework produced by village girls was quite moving.



Above: the textbooks at this exhibition dealt with agriculture - living so close to nature the children would know the names of plants and animals, the trees in the woods, the fish in the rivers, the birds in the sky.



Above: from the eighteenth-century the process of industrialisation meant movement of population from the rural areas into the towns and cities. The existing education systems couldn't cope with this influx and so charity schools were set up. The "Ragged School" in the county town which provided free education for those too poor to pay (as well as free food and clothes).

The introduction of the state Board Schools from 1870 replaced the need for charitable establishments.



Above: the Anglican church is still very active in educational provision and its role is expanding. In part this is because of the obvious failure of the state education system which has led to many parents abandoning state schools if they can send their children anywhere else (this is includes most of the current "socialist" government). Church schools have been accused of being "elitist" and "selective" but the real reason they can achieve higher standards is probably because their teachers have a greater sense of vocation and work harder than their state school equivalents.

Media planners of the world unite – you have nothing to lose (except your jobs…)

The News Corporation empire is all-pervasive. Among many operations in the United Kingdom the company owns The Sun, the News of the World, the Times and Sunday Times, as well as satellite broadcaster BSkyB. In America the company owns the Fox Network, the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal.

Normally the conglomeration of business enterprises is part of the capitalist system. Business empires rise, business empires fall. However, Rupert Murdoch’s continual interference in the democratic process (“It’s The Sun Wot Won It” etc) makes his media aggrandizement a problem for all of us.

Unfortunately there is little individuals can do about this state of affairs.

We live in a world where newspapers and broadcast channels are all-powerful.

Except that they are not quite all-powerful.

Almost every one of Rupert Murdoch’s companies depends heavily upon advertising revenues.

Take the advertising away and you might be able to kill the publication (and if you can kill some of the publications you can start to reduce Rupert Murdoch’s unhealthy influence).

Which is why I appeal to my fellow ad agency colleagues (especially media planners) to take News Corporation companies off your clients’ advertising schedules. There is enough duplication of coverage that you can almost always make up the gap with other publications. Even a twenty per cent reduction would wound this monster.

This raises the question: is it ethical for media planners to do this? I ask myself this question seriously. Many people are employed by News Corporation and these are real people with mortgages to pay and families to support etc.

At the end of the day you have to ask yourself what is more important?

After Rupert Murdoch the two most important people in the media world are:

Les Hinton, now in control of the Wall Street Journal and one of Rupert Murdoch’s most trusted deputies. I have never met Les Hinton but everything I have read and heard about him suggests he is not a pleasant person. He is not someone who should be manipulating electorates.

James Murdoch is Rupert Murdoch’s son and supposedly his heir. Very interested in the potential of the internet. The only reason for his wealth and influence is the fact that he is his father’s son (and Rupert Murdoch claims to be opposed to the hereditary principle!).

Which is why I say: Media planners of the world unite – you have nothing to lose (except your jobs if your ad campaigns fail through poor coverage, which is why I would advise doing this gently, just a little at a time).

But perhaps I am being paranoid about the Murdoch empire. Perhaps I am seeing conspiracies where none exist. Perhaps Rupert Murdoch is a kindly and benevolent old gentleman using his wealth and influence to benefit all of us…

More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_The_Sun_Wot_Won_It (whether you are a Conservative or Labour supporter, for varying reasons you can agree that the Tories should not have won the 1992 election).

Hit the ground running

I am still at home "on holiday" but I have access by a remote link to my computer at work and have done a couple of hours today so that I am not rushing about on Monday. I hate the phrase "hit the ground running". I am more "hit the ground, roll over in pain, have a rest for a while, then have a cup of tea, then look out the window for a while, then think about doing some work..."

Anyway, I have a "launch" to arrange for one of my clients (they are launching a report). I have done lots of "launches" over the years. At this agency it is quite easy as Cathy Closey works fulltime on Events and will book the venue and do all the admin.

Events is rather a velvet ghetto for Cathy. She started as an Account Assistant and then got promoted to Events, which was quite a big step up for someone who isn't a graduate. But there is no-where for her to go next - if she stays at the agency she will be stuck doing Events, more or less on the same salary.



Above: one of the key factors in a successful "launch" is to get the right venue. The venue has to reflect an attribute of the client. Medical clients I take to the Kings Fund off Cavendish Square as they have a basement room that is just the right size (if the launch flops you don't want a few people rattling around in a big hall - better to book a smaller room and have people standing at the back).



Above: if the subject is vaguely political or connected to lobbying then Millbank Tower is the obvious venue as it is close enough to the House of Commons for MPs to get to easily (you can actually book a Committee Room in the Houses of Parliament, but you need a tame MP to do that and you can't really do it if there is a commercial connection).



Above: sometimes the client will specify a venue. Many times United Grand Lodge has been insisted upon. Inside the building is very art deco in design and the sepulchral appearance is deliberate as it is basically a memorial to all the freemasons who died in the First World War (which makes this Westlife video all the more surprising, but it gives you a good idea of the interior: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzFF3safYjQ).



Above: I am always on the lookout for new venues. Environment and atmosphere count for a lot. If the venue feels wrong the launch is at risk.

More on velvet ghettos: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_Velvet_Ghetto and http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Times+have+changed%3F+IABC+Research+Foundation's+'The+Velvet+Ghetto'...-a099290703

New Year Resolutions

Above: a neighbour has garden plans that go back nearly a hundred years.

First day of 2009, and traditionally a time for New Year Resolutions.

This year I want to get the garden looking nice again.

After the death of our mother (in 2003) my brother and I tried to keep the garden as it was, and failed. Then we tried to keep it “looking tidy” and failed again. We tried to employ someone, and it was a disaster (he advertised as a “gardener” in the local paper, but didn’t have the first idea what to do, and after he had hacked the hedges to pieces I paid him £200 to go away).

I now realise that if I don’t do the gardening myself, no-one else is going to do it for me.

Therefore I resolve to learn all the skills necessary, pay all the money required (despite the recession) and allocate all the hours that are needed.

I will cut the lawns at least once every two weeks, do a “big weed” every three months, put fifty bags of peat onto all the flower beds (yes, I know it’s not very ecological, but I have tried to make our own compost and all I have is seven plastic dustbins of unrotted material).

When the spring bulbs have finished I will tie the leaves up with raffia until they go brown then collect them all up.

I have ordered the bedding plants, and when they arrive I will keep them in the greenhouse until the second week of May (last possible frost) and then put them out all in the same weekend.

I will take cuttings of the regal pelagoniums (I have inherited two hundred named varieties) and pot them up (and pot them up again as they get bigger).

I will deadhead the borders every two weeks.

I will spray the roses every two weeks.

If it doesn’t rain for more than ten days I will get the hose out and water the whole garden including the lawns (if there is a hosepipe ban I will use the water in the cistern under the yard).

So there you go. This is what is going to happen. There can be no excuses.