This weekend I took a bike ride. Nothing unusual there, but instead of heading down the coast or into the countryside I decided to take one of the national cycle routes that goes through the middle of Newcastle.
The route takes you through Tyneside right into the city centre, then back round in a loop of about 30 miles via a tunnel under the Tyne? Having thought I knew the city pretty well taking this roman inspired route (Hadrian’s cycleway) provided a totally different perspective.
For most people having to talk in public is one of the most nerve shredding things they could ever be asked to do.
Whether it’s a small presentation in front of a couple of colleagues or a speech in front of hundreds of people, the fear of failure can inspire real terror in us all.
Having just become an uncle for the first time I was thinking over some manly, sibling advice to pass on based around my own experiences in the past few years.
With a seven month old and a five year old around the house I suppose people would expect me to be able to pass of some pearls of wisdom when it comes to babies, so here goes.
With the Premier League reaching a thrilling crescendo and a controversial choice for the new England national coach, the time couldn’t be better for me to shoehorn in a clumsy sporting, management metaphor.
Losing and connecting in a Cup Final.
A good football blog from @danslee via @weeklyblogclub.
But Why does everyone have to mention Ronnie bloody Radford whenever the FA cup is mentioned? I’ll let him get away with it this time.
Here’s a guest post by Lindsay Green that first appeared on the fantastic comms2point0 website:
The Holy Island of Lindisfarne, just off the North East coast is beautiful.
It has been the setting for movies, TV shows and is a major religious destination for thousands of tourists heading to Northumberland every summer.
It has also been causing the council a huge headache for some time. Continue reading
Depending on what you were doing last Sunday you may have noticed two hours of prime time national TV devoted to Northumberland.
Not an advert that we’ve funded I should point out, but the second series of ITVs acclaimed detective drama Vera.
While Brenda Blethin’s geordie accent may have caused a bit of debate, the show has given our area a huge boost providing national and international exposure to that all important tourist pound.
The show has proved a huge stage for us to sell Northumberland as a place, with the production largely filmed in the county as well as other parts of the North East.
Continuing with the Likely Lads theme from my earlier pos
t one of the most famous episodes is a great example of how much technology has changed our lives in a single generation.
No hiding place was filmed roundabout the year I was born (1976) and the lads set out to avoid finding out the score of an England game, so they can watch the TV highlights later that night.
Part of the joke is that this should be a relatively easy task to achieve because England are playing in far away Bulgaria and in the 1970s they didn’t have Sky Sports, iPhones or rolling news.
This is repost of a piece 
I did for the fantastic comms2point0 (@comms2point0) blog that I hope some of the public sector readers will be interested in. It’s worth saying again that anyone working in public sector PR needs to be reading that blog every day because it will help, inspire and let you steal perfectly good ideas.
Council magazines may seem like a strange topic for discussion given the amount of time and effort we now spend on social media (see my previous post) but I just wonder if we’re now discarding a tool that’s still got so much to offer in the internet age.
Whatever the format, people still love reading stories that build a narrative about where they live and what interests them.
Given that local authority mags now seem to be the communications equivalent of the bowler hat I’d like to reassess what they can provide, particularly in tandem with social networks. Continue reading
A moving and inspiring guest blog today that deals with some difficult issues around children with disabilities.
Vici Richardson (@vicilou) is a long time friend of ours and has written this blog on the pressures of being a mum and learning about disability. She’s working extremely hard to raise awareness of the condition and explain how others can get involved. Here she describes how her son was first diagnosed with Duchenne:
Its funny isn’t it most people take the healthy bouncing baby scenario for granted. When asked do you mind if its ‘pink or blue’ the common answer is ‘ I don’t mind as long as it’s healthy’.
‘As long as it’s healthy.’ It was a common thing said to me throughout both my pregnancies but more so my second. Truth be known second pregnancy I was dying for a girl, desperate for all things pink and frilly and girly shopping trips.
a day without OJ - A comms, digital & PR blog by Ross Wigham 