Friday's Royal Wedding looks like being a generally popular event despite the usual pro and anti monarchist splits. Most people will probably see it for what it is,- a thoroughly British spectacle yet again demonstrating that ceremonial is still something that the UK does best and in unrivalled style. The American pastiche versions don't come anywhere close and the more militaristic productions across the former eastern bloc have a totally different pupose and ambiance.
The noisiest whingeing from the sidelines is coming from those arguing to exclude from the guest lists some,- mainly those whose democratic credentials are currently under stress testing or scrutiny,- and include others, notably the two most recent ex Prime Ministers,- Messrs Blair and Brown ostensibly left out because they are not Knights of the Garter, or indeed anything else. It is true that it might have been more diplomatic to have them along and avoid muttering from the left and the general anti royalist camp, but there could be entirely understandable and non political reasons for their not having received their gold edged cards.
By tradition every summer the current Prime Minister and (so far) wife has been invited to spend a weekend at Balmoral. These are personal invitations from the Monarch and the conventions of good behaviour have dictated that no details emerged afterwards. Well,Cherie Blair rather blew it by revealing that she and several-times-a-night-man Tone hit the sack and she hadn't brought her (non Papally approved)tablets with her. Nothing of course was said by the Palace at the time and one wouldn't expect it .Perhaps it now has been. As for Gordo, maybe another convention is that your dinner table talk doesn't go on too long or anaesthetise the other diners. Could he possibly have got going on economic theory and how he had saved the world? Well, maybe. In that case again no card could possibly convey a Royal frown,- or maybe just the Duke saying "Oh no,for God's sake no".
In true Royal tradition, we will never know.
Thursday 28 April 2011
Saturday 23 April 2011
Tesco-Loved or Hated? A branding problem shared by others.
Yesterday's riots in Bristol triggered off by proposals to open a small Tesco indicate a problem. Despite being Britain's most prolific retailer, Tesco is also pretty much its most hated despite all it does in providing lower food costs,local job opportunities etc. It shares the same sort of problem as Ryanair which has brought low cost travel to more people in more places around the UK and Europe than any other. Partly by being almost everywhere, it is brilliantly successful at selling its product but it is lousy at generating love, affection or even neutrality.
For a while McDonalds teetered on the edge of the same precipice. Many others have been there and either managed to turn back or fallen over the edge. It's not a place you can be for ever,- unless maybe you are a retail bank. Some have arrived at there accidentally and as an unforseen byproduct of their own success while others such as Ratners have , by saying very publicly "our product is crap" have put themselves firmly there. McDonalds in the UK have come back spectacularly thanks in no small part to their former Marketing Director and now CEO, Jill McDonald. Maybe Tesco should go have a word with her accompanied by a delivery van load of cash.In a previous life she was with British Airways, another business currently wandering in the branding wilderness although a relaunch is planned for the autumn. Maybe they should send their van round to her too.
For a while McDonalds teetered on the edge of the same precipice. Many others have been there and either managed to turn back or fallen over the edge. It's not a place you can be for ever,- unless maybe you are a retail bank. Some have arrived at there accidentally and as an unforseen byproduct of their own success while others such as Ratners have , by saying very publicly "our product is crap" have put themselves firmly there. McDonalds in the UK have come back spectacularly thanks in no small part to their former Marketing Director and now CEO, Jill McDonald. Maybe Tesco should go have a word with her accompanied by a delivery van load of cash.In a previous life she was with British Airways, another business currently wandering in the branding wilderness although a relaunch is planned for the autumn. Maybe they should send their van round to her too.
New Voice for Ed
It has been announced that Ed (Mili) is off to hospital shortly to have his adenoids removed. This will enable him to express himself more clearly and acceptably to the masses.
Hopefully for him there will be no lack of clarity should he mutter "and while I'm in it would be good if Balls were also removed".
Hopefully for him there will be no lack of clarity should he mutter "and while I'm in it would be good if Balls were also removed".
Monday 18 April 2011
Ed,- From Milipede to Silipede
Labour's latest TV party political broadcast again features shirtsleeved man-of-the people "I share your pain" Ed "reaching out" to the downtrodden squeezed middle and their children whose futures are now, he says, being trashed by the infamous cuts.
This is somewhat rich,- or should we say poor,-from a man who with his attackdog travelling companion the other Ed ( who seems to be being kept out of sight in the local elections campaign, presumably for fear he might scare the voters) was 110% involved in their master, Gordon Brown's years of borrow and spend for eight years (2000-2008) before any banking crisis hove into view. He was then happy to build up a runaway annual budget overspend with enormous interest payments to be met out of current expenditure far into the future thereby leaving our children in a far worse financial position than any cuts could achieve. Flying in the face of all the evidence, not to mention common sense and the ability to understand basic sums , never mind arithmetic, he just doesn't seem to understand or accept the realities of the dire financial situation he, Balls and Brown left behind in May last year. He then has the effrontery,- or Balls one might say,- to offer the country more of the same. He must assume that the nation is suffering from serious mass amnesia or that it is too stupid to see that a further period of Labour rule under its Brownite clique would risk total financial devastation.
Terrifyingly , there is the possibility of his assessment of the nation's gullibility might just be right, but here we veer into nightmare territory.Let's not think about it.
ps The commercial also contained a fleeting repeat of one of those shots of cuddly Ed flashing through the countryside on a train,- with the First Class headrest covers removed to reassure us that he would never dream of travelling anything other than Standard. After all one has to demonstrate that one is indeed sharing our pain.We look forward to the series of travel shots extending to Ed gasping for air while strap hanging on a packed and static underground train at the height of the London rush."Too much too soon " could be his last gasp as he slid to the floor."Too little too late" might come the retort.
This is somewhat rich,- or should we say poor,-from a man who with his attackdog travelling companion the other Ed ( who seems to be being kept out of sight in the local elections campaign, presumably for fear he might scare the voters) was 110% involved in their master, Gordon Brown's years of borrow and spend for eight years (2000-2008) before any banking crisis hove into view. He was then happy to build up a runaway annual budget overspend with enormous interest payments to be met out of current expenditure far into the future thereby leaving our children in a far worse financial position than any cuts could achieve. Flying in the face of all the evidence, not to mention common sense and the ability to understand basic sums , never mind arithmetic, he just doesn't seem to understand or accept the realities of the dire financial situation he, Balls and Brown left behind in May last year. He then has the effrontery,- or Balls one might say,- to offer the country more of the same. He must assume that the nation is suffering from serious mass amnesia or that it is too stupid to see that a further period of Labour rule under its Brownite clique would risk total financial devastation.
Terrifyingly , there is the possibility of his assessment of the nation's gullibility might just be right, but here we veer into nightmare territory.Let's not think about it.
ps The commercial also contained a fleeting repeat of one of those shots of cuddly Ed flashing through the countryside on a train,- with the First Class headrest covers removed to reassure us that he would never dream of travelling anything other than Standard. After all one has to demonstrate that one is indeed sharing our pain.We look forward to the series of travel shots extending to Ed gasping for air while strap hanging on a packed and static underground train at the height of the London rush."Too much too soon " could be his last gasp as he slid to the floor."Too little too late" might come the retort.
Wednesday 6 April 2011
The Times does Kenya
Yesterday's Times, once billed as "The top people's paper" and a serious, factual source of news and information but now anybody's tabloid though lacking the excitement of a Page 3 girl to cheer us up, eschewed all that's happening in the world, turmoil all over the place, the UK's war of the week etc and instead chose to devote its entire front page and a double page spread inside to alleged events in Kenya 60 plus years ago.
The evil colonials, many of whom left the UK in search of work or better lives during the depressions of the 1920s and before went on to built roads, railways, harbours, hospitals, schools, dispensaries, airports between bouts of beating their employees, servants etc and during the few hours they had when simultaneously awake and sober. At least that is the image of them relentlessly pedelled by the left for many decades. They should of course been able to rely on sitting at home in Britain "on the welfare" rather than going off to fetid swamps and arid deserts etc. to inconvenience the people there,just as their forefathers should have done instead of heading out to abolish slavery, build basic infrastructure and the like. At the very least once having arrived in their chosen place of discomfort, mosquitos, malaria, tropical diseases, buried a fatally diseased wife and child or two, they should have sat down and run focus groups, introduced alternative,- or any,- voting while filling in their performance target returns. As it was, most had little time for such things due to exhaustion from said building things and ,when there was any spare time ,servant and employee beating and gin swilling of course. The lattter, if it ever happened to any large extent, was unlike any servant or child beating or gin swilling that went on in Britain's bigger houses and schools at the time. And whatever they did was of course totally iniquitous and unacceptable to dinner parties in present day Islington, Notting Hill, North Oxford or on days of righteousness in the media.
Whatever the truth, or degree of truth ,of the allegations of happenings in the Kenya emergency, said evil colonials of the 1950s were of course acting in a way which would be unthinkable in today's world.All that sweat, endless days of hard work for low returns often in very basic and uncomfortable surroundings, building things and generally moving forward as well as, yes, trying to keep law and order and in the case of Kenya avoid massacres of white and black alike.
No,now is completely different. This is the 21st century. Our latest adventures completely different. They are in the name of "democracy" with highly paid people on low hour weeks dictated by EU policy sending other people to bomb roads, railways, harbours and any unfortunate who gets in the way if the recipients are ruled in ways we don't like,- even if we were the rulers' friends last month.
What's in a bit of disruption and destruction if it's all in a good cause even if we have never been democratically asked if that's what we want to do? Why haven't we been asked? Well, it's time consuming, expensive, we wouldn't understand the issues and worst of all for our own freedom touting leaders, we might say "no"
Hang on a minute.
Aren't we trying to export democracy in all its facets?
Muddle? Hypocrisy? Selective memory and conscience? Moral compass gone haywire? Where now folks ? Maybe the Times will tell us.In which case switch to the Sun,-at least the Page 3 girl will be smiling.
The evil colonials, many of whom left the UK in search of work or better lives during the depressions of the 1920s and before went on to built roads, railways, harbours, hospitals, schools, dispensaries, airports between bouts of beating their employees, servants etc and during the few hours they had when simultaneously awake and sober. At least that is the image of them relentlessly pedelled by the left for many decades. They should of course been able to rely on sitting at home in Britain "on the welfare" rather than going off to fetid swamps and arid deserts etc. to inconvenience the people there,just as their forefathers should have done instead of heading out to abolish slavery, build basic infrastructure and the like. At the very least once having arrived in their chosen place of discomfort, mosquitos, malaria, tropical diseases, buried a fatally diseased wife and child or two, they should have sat down and run focus groups, introduced alternative,- or any,- voting while filling in their performance target returns. As it was, most had little time for such things due to exhaustion from said building things and ,when there was any spare time ,servant and employee beating and gin swilling of course. The lattter, if it ever happened to any large extent, was unlike any servant or child beating or gin swilling that went on in Britain's bigger houses and schools at the time. And whatever they did was of course totally iniquitous and unacceptable to dinner parties in present day Islington, Notting Hill, North Oxford or on days of righteousness in the media.
Whatever the truth, or degree of truth ,of the allegations of happenings in the Kenya emergency, said evil colonials of the 1950s were of course acting in a way which would be unthinkable in today's world.All that sweat, endless days of hard work for low returns often in very basic and uncomfortable surroundings, building things and generally moving forward as well as, yes, trying to keep law and order and in the case of Kenya avoid massacres of white and black alike.
No,now is completely different. This is the 21st century. Our latest adventures completely different. They are in the name of "democracy" with highly paid people on low hour weeks dictated by EU policy sending other people to bomb roads, railways, harbours and any unfortunate who gets in the way if the recipients are ruled in ways we don't like,- even if we were the rulers' friends last month.
What's in a bit of disruption and destruction if it's all in a good cause even if we have never been democratically asked if that's what we want to do? Why haven't we been asked? Well, it's time consuming, expensive, we wouldn't understand the issues and worst of all for our own freedom touting leaders, we might say "no"
Hang on a minute.
Aren't we trying to export democracy in all its facets?
Muddle? Hypocrisy? Selective memory and conscience? Moral compass gone haywire? Where now folks ? Maybe the Times will tell us.In which case switch to the Sun,-at least the Page 3 girl will be smiling.
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