A god send for the tourism industry and a god send for newspapers and magazines. Come to think of it a god send for plate and mug makers!
As a confirmed republican I was firmly put in my place a few years back while working on a project for VisitBritain. The client contact, himself a republican, showed me the figures relating to The Monarchy and Tourism. Breathtaking - billions of pounds come into our economy on the back of tourists coming to the UK on the royalty trail. It pretty much dwarfs the civil list.
While I'd still like to take their huge chunks of land away from them I can't argue in terms of the cash generated. I won't be watching on the day but neither will I be waving a placard in anger.
The UK's newspapers and magazines, struggling as they are, will lap up the boost in sales due to commemorative issues, picture specials and giveaways.
So if you are angry about the cost of the wedding just turn off the telly, think of England and all that cash pouring in to our crumbling economy which really does affect each and every one of us!
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Friday, 17 September 2010
Japan Newspapers in Crisis
Excellent article by Roy Greenslade on Japan's newspaper crisis
Japan's Newspaper Industry in Crisis
Now that's a headline I didn't expect to write. For so long Japanese newspapers appeared to be immune to the difficulties faced by the printed press in other advanced economies.
But the situation has changed, due to a 42% decline in advertising spending over the past decade, which has been exacerbated by the global downturn that has hammered the Japanese economy.
The shrinking revenues coincide with a scramble by Japanese publishers to make their online editions profitable and attract a new generation of readers in an ageing society.
"Newspapers are seeing a crisis coming," says Shinji Oi, a professor at Nihon University. "Japan has yet to see the major newspaper bankruptcies and financial troubles that we have seen in the West. But newspapers' business fundamentals are definitely deteriorating."
Overall circulation has slipped by only 6% in the 10 years to 2009, with the top-selling Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper boasting the world's biggest sale of more than 10m copies a day.
Newspapers also remain the preferred source of news in Japan, with total circulation standing at a robust 50.4m daily sales in 2009.
With home-delivery subscription strong, armies of sales staff are always on the lookout for potential new subscribers, offering inducments to new customers such as laundry detergent or tickets to sports games.
Demand for fresh news is met with constantly updated editions throughout the day, with so-called "yomawari" (night watch) reporters doorstepping senior figures until the early hours to generate fresh headlines for their morning editions.
But an apparent failure to capture a younger generation that has grown up with the internet and the concept of free, up-to-the-minute news could prove costly in a greying society.
A survey by the Japan Press Research Institute found that most people under 40 regard an average £25 monthly newspaper subscription fee as too expensive.
Meanwhile, according to Takaaki Hattori, a media law professor at Rikkyo University, a perceived deterioration of quality in pursuit of sensationalism has disappointed readers.
He said that serious journalism was costly and Japanese media had sought to cut editorial spending at the expense of quality reporting (now where have I heard that before?)
And here is yet another similarity with the situation in Britain and the US - the charging-for-content dilemma. Major Japanese newspapers have shied away from establishing full-blown net editions due to reader resistance to pay for news.
Though most publishers have adopted a wait-and-see approach to devices such as the iPad some titles, such as the Nikkei business daily and the Sankei Shimbun have launched apps.
At the vanguard is the Nikkei, which became the first major Japanese paper to launch a full-scale online edition, featuring free and paid-content sections with stories and analysis.
Since its launch in late March, it has acquired roughly 440,000 subscribers, including some 70,000 paid readers by July. But the readership is only a fraction of the print edition's 3m circulation.
Japan's Newspaper Industry in Crisis
Now that's a headline I didn't expect to write. For so long Japanese newspapers appeared to be immune to the difficulties faced by the printed press in other advanced economies.
But the situation has changed, due to a 42% decline in advertising spending over the past decade, which has been exacerbated by the global downturn that has hammered the Japanese economy.
The shrinking revenues coincide with a scramble by Japanese publishers to make their online editions profitable and attract a new generation of readers in an ageing society.
"Newspapers are seeing a crisis coming," says Shinji Oi, a professor at Nihon University. "Japan has yet to see the major newspaper bankruptcies and financial troubles that we have seen in the West. But newspapers' business fundamentals are definitely deteriorating."
Overall circulation has slipped by only 6% in the 10 years to 2009, with the top-selling Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper boasting the world's biggest sale of more than 10m copies a day.
Newspapers also remain the preferred source of news in Japan, with total circulation standing at a robust 50.4m daily sales in 2009.
With home-delivery subscription strong, armies of sales staff are always on the lookout for potential new subscribers, offering inducments to new customers such as laundry detergent or tickets to sports games.
Demand for fresh news is met with constantly updated editions throughout the day, with so-called "yomawari" (night watch) reporters doorstepping senior figures until the early hours to generate fresh headlines for their morning editions.
But an apparent failure to capture a younger generation that has grown up with the internet and the concept of free, up-to-the-minute news could prove costly in a greying society.
A survey by the Japan Press Research Institute found that most people under 40 regard an average £25 monthly newspaper subscription fee as too expensive.
Meanwhile, according to Takaaki Hattori, a media law professor at Rikkyo University, a perceived deterioration of quality in pursuit of sensationalism has disappointed readers.
He said that serious journalism was costly and Japanese media had sought to cut editorial spending at the expense of quality reporting (now where have I heard that before?)
And here is yet another similarity with the situation in Britain and the US - the charging-for-content dilemma. Major Japanese newspapers have shied away from establishing full-blown net editions due to reader resistance to pay for news.
Though most publishers have adopted a wait-and-see approach to devices such as the iPad some titles, such as the Nikkei business daily and the Sankei Shimbun have launched apps.
At the vanguard is the Nikkei, which became the first major Japanese paper to launch a full-scale online edition, featuring free and paid-content sections with stories and analysis.
Since its launch in late March, it has acquired roughly 440,000 subscribers, including some 70,000 paid readers by July. But the readership is only a fraction of the print edition's 3m circulation.
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Life online! Could you do without it?
Great piece from BBC Online about a generation brought up online!
There is now a generation who do not remember the world before the internet took off, and who live out their lives in a slew of public online arenas. But there is also a growing number of people who feel their life online has spun out of control.
Someone born in 1992 will be 18 this year. And in one way or another, their entire life has been lived online.
From birth announcements to e-mails to childhood photos, and now social networks and blogs, traces of a person's whole life could be pieced together online.
For many, a limited conception of privacy is normal, but there are some people who are now having second thoughts about how much of themselves to display to the world.
Daniel Sieberg is one of them. As a television correspondent, he recognizes that social networks had taken over his life before he decided to take the jump, and disconnect.
"Me and my ego got sucked in. Big time. And my relationships suffered," he said in his Declaration of Disconnection posted on the Huffington Post.
"I allowed the passive acceptance of strangers to replace meaningful interaction with the people I know and love. I had become more interested in a wall post here or a poke there."
'Beyond privacy'
Gordan Savicic picked up on the fact that some people feel they have lost control online. He created a service to help people disconnect from social networks.
Based in the Netherlands, the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine is a website that logs into your accounts and deletes all of your data, friend-by-friend and post-by-post.
There is quite a demand for the service.
People just want to get rid [of online profiles] because they noticed they spend way too much time in front of the computer
Gordan Savicic of Suicide Machine
It has had about 90,000 requests so far and there is currently a month-long backlog.
"We figured out that people have advertised so much with their online ego, that basically a kind of avatar persona has been created so actually people start talking about killing someone like it would be a real person," says Mr Savicic.
So it goes far beyond privacy. The more time we spend in the digital world, cultivating our online profiles and virtual networks, according to Mr Savicic, the less time we are spending in our real lives communicating with our real friends.
"People just want to get rid [of online profiles] because they noticed they spend way too much time in front of the computer," says Mr Savicic. "They are basically getting their analogue life back."
Risks and limits
But according to psychiatrist Dr Jerald Block, based in Portland, Oregon, "disconnecting poses some risks".
Dr Block treats patients who use the internet excessively - more than 30 or 40 hours a week.
"If you are heavily active [on the internet], by disconnecting you are losing a significant relationship. Those 30 or 40 hours of time now have to be filled with real life."
Dr Block says some people can find it very gratifying, while others find they are not capable of staying disconnected.
However, he believes the worst case scenario is when the decision to disconnect is made by a third party. "It can be a disaster and can even lead to suicide."
For 23-year-old Giorgio Pagoria, signing up on social networking websites is out of the question. Proud of not being on Facebook, he says social networking sites are too addictive.
"At the beginning you do it for contacts, friendships, event planning, but then you get into the loop and you can't just get out, you become addicted and not in a good way."
Still, Mr Pagoria acknowledges that it can be difficult to remain disconnected in his study abroad programme, called Erasmus, in the Netherlands.
"Here in Erasmus everybody uses it to organize events and if it wasn't for my roommate who is on Facebook I would miss out and I would probably have to use my phone more."
Amplified lives
There are some people who fear they are being changed by a virtual world of status updates and 140 character distillations of their lives.
Clay Shirky on the issues of privacy in social media
If we can't live in the moment without tweeting about it, or broadcasting all of our thoughts to our 2,000 Facebook friends, are we in danger of losing our sense of identity?
Clay Shirky, author of Cognitive Surplus, says the age of the internet may not be changing who we are as people, but it is altering the way we see each other.
"We are a social species, we've always shaped each other's identities.
"What's happened now, is the explicitness, the permanentness, the globalness, the searchability, all of those things have amplified a bunch of those effects."
So how do we navigate this magnified environment we are all operating in now? Mr Shirky's advice is to find balance.
"We should look at the medium and say what are its advantages and disadvantages, and how can we maximise the former and minimize the latter, based on the way the world is right now?"
There is now a generation who do not remember the world before the internet took off, and who live out their lives in a slew of public online arenas. But there is also a growing number of people who feel their life online has spun out of control.
Someone born in 1992 will be 18 this year. And in one way or another, their entire life has been lived online.
From birth announcements to e-mails to childhood photos, and now social networks and blogs, traces of a person's whole life could be pieced together online.
For many, a limited conception of privacy is normal, but there are some people who are now having second thoughts about how much of themselves to display to the world.
Daniel Sieberg is one of them. As a television correspondent, he recognizes that social networks had taken over his life before he decided to take the jump, and disconnect.
"Me and my ego got sucked in. Big time. And my relationships suffered," he said in his Declaration of Disconnection posted on the Huffington Post.
"I allowed the passive acceptance of strangers to replace meaningful interaction with the people I know and love. I had become more interested in a wall post here or a poke there."
'Beyond privacy'
Gordan Savicic picked up on the fact that some people feel they have lost control online. He created a service to help people disconnect from social networks.
Based in the Netherlands, the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine is a website that logs into your accounts and deletes all of your data, friend-by-friend and post-by-post.
There is quite a demand for the service.
People just want to get rid [of online profiles] because they noticed they spend way too much time in front of the computer
Gordan Savicic of Suicide Machine
It has had about 90,000 requests so far and there is currently a month-long backlog.
"We figured out that people have advertised so much with their online ego, that basically a kind of avatar persona has been created so actually people start talking about killing someone like it would be a real person," says Mr Savicic.
So it goes far beyond privacy. The more time we spend in the digital world, cultivating our online profiles and virtual networks, according to Mr Savicic, the less time we are spending in our real lives communicating with our real friends.
"People just want to get rid [of online profiles] because they noticed they spend way too much time in front of the computer," says Mr Savicic. "They are basically getting their analogue life back."
Risks and limits
But according to psychiatrist Dr Jerald Block, based in Portland, Oregon, "disconnecting poses some risks".
Dr Block treats patients who use the internet excessively - more than 30 or 40 hours a week.
"If you are heavily active [on the internet], by disconnecting you are losing a significant relationship. Those 30 or 40 hours of time now have to be filled with real life."
Dr Block says some people can find it very gratifying, while others find they are not capable of staying disconnected.
However, he believes the worst case scenario is when the decision to disconnect is made by a third party. "It can be a disaster and can even lead to suicide."
For 23-year-old Giorgio Pagoria, signing up on social networking websites is out of the question. Proud of not being on Facebook, he says social networking sites are too addictive.
"At the beginning you do it for contacts, friendships, event planning, but then you get into the loop and you can't just get out, you become addicted and not in a good way."
Still, Mr Pagoria acknowledges that it can be difficult to remain disconnected in his study abroad programme, called Erasmus, in the Netherlands.
"Here in Erasmus everybody uses it to organize events and if it wasn't for my roommate who is on Facebook I would miss out and I would probably have to use my phone more."
Amplified lives
There are some people who fear they are being changed by a virtual world of status updates and 140 character distillations of their lives.
Clay Shirky on the issues of privacy in social media
If we can't live in the moment without tweeting about it, or broadcasting all of our thoughts to our 2,000 Facebook friends, are we in danger of losing our sense of identity?
Clay Shirky, author of Cognitive Surplus, says the age of the internet may not be changing who we are as people, but it is altering the way we see each other.
"We are a social species, we've always shaped each other's identities.
"What's happened now, is the explicitness, the permanentness, the globalness, the searchability, all of those things have amplified a bunch of those effects."
So how do we navigate this magnified environment we are all operating in now? Mr Shirky's advice is to find balance.
"We should look at the medium and say what are its advantages and disadvantages, and how can we maximise the former and minimize the latter, based on the way the world is right now?"
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Newspaper Advertising
Media Week reveal who is advertising in the National press this week.
Who is advertising in the national press this week?
Travel companies are targeting those dismayed by the September weather forecast in today's papers with several campaigns aimed at the off-peak holiday crowd.
Tunisia's tourism board takes out full page ads in The Daily Telegraph and The Times tempting readers to visit "the jewel of the Mediterranean".
Morrisons promotes its "Let's Grow" campaign, which encourages schools to grow fruit and vegetables. The campaign has been running for more than a year but continues to be popular with shopping parents.
Charity and volunteer organisation VSO takes out a strip ads in several papers to remind readers how massive an impact volunteering can have in third world countries.
Southern Electric introduces its "iplan" to help customers save energy and money in ads across the press.
The Daily Express gives away vouchers for a free pack of Cathedral City cheddar.
This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk
New Twitter Features
Interesting news from Media Guardian on Twitter changes.
Twitter's self-imposed - and endlessly fascinating - 140-character limit on "tweets" is being tweaked to include pictures and video, the company announced last night.
Although a number of third-party programs which access Twitter's output via its database can already link directly to pictures and videos on other sites, the site itself has so far held back from allowing anything beyond text-only hyperlinks to appear in users' streams.
But now it is following in the footsteps of the biggest social networks Facebook and MySpace, which have made themselves essential to their hundreds of millions of users by becoming a channel for multimedia content.
Twitter has already been famous as a channel for pictures: in January 2009 when a plane ditched in the Hudson river in New York, the first pictures of the plane was propogated via Twitter from Twitpic.com, one of a dozen photo-storage sites that have grown up around the microblogging service which launched in 2006.
Sharp-eyed users had noticed that Twitter tested an "inline media" option in July, apparently as part of a test: officially Twitter said then that it was "a small test of a potential... setting for inline media."
More information can be found at twitter.com/newtwitter
Twitter's self-imposed - and endlessly fascinating - 140-character limit on "tweets" is being tweaked to include pictures and video, the company announced last night.
Although a number of third-party programs which access Twitter's output via its database can already link directly to pictures and videos on other sites, the site itself has so far held back from allowing anything beyond text-only hyperlinks to appear in users' streams.
But now it is following in the footsteps of the biggest social networks Facebook and MySpace, which have made themselves essential to their hundreds of millions of users by becoming a channel for multimedia content.
Twitter has already been famous as a channel for pictures: in January 2009 when a plane ditched in the Hudson river in New York, the first pictures of the plane was propogated via Twitter from Twitpic.com, one of a dozen photo-storage sites that have grown up around the microblogging service which launched in 2006.
Sharp-eyed users had noticed that Twitter tested an "inline media" option in July, apparently as part of a test: officially Twitter said then that it was "a small test of a potential... setting for inline media."
More information can be found at twitter.com/newtwitter
Thursday, 9 September 2010
UK regional newspaper ABC's
Hell's teeth. The latest circulation figures for UK regional daily newspapers makes frightening reading. They all shed readers but some more than 10 per cent in six months. I'd say that was a hemorrhage. Some papers have shed more than 20 per cent. It will soon be all over!
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Slow death of newspapers continues
The 115-year old Hounslow and Brentford Times is no more. Who is next? Will it be a big beast? The circulation of The Observer fell by more than 23 per cent year-on-year in its first full month after relaunching. So what is the future for newspapers?
The News International paywall experiment over at The Times and Sunday Times has already seen a dramatic slump in online visitors - not a surprise.
MEN media cuts ten jobs while taking on five trainees, Trinity Mirror incredibly reports 67% profit by slashing costs! Ludlow Journal dies!
The Times was down 14.8 per cent year on year, the Telegraph dropped 18.5 per cent and The Guardian also dropped 14.8 per cent.No UK-wide national title managed a year on year circulation rise, with the Daily Star yet to feel the benefits of its latest price cut to 10p.
Gloomy times
The News International paywall experiment over at The Times and Sunday Times has already seen a dramatic slump in online visitors - not a surprise.
MEN media cuts ten jobs while taking on five trainees, Trinity Mirror incredibly reports 67% profit by slashing costs! Ludlow Journal dies!
The Times was down 14.8 per cent year on year, the Telegraph dropped 18.5 per cent and The Guardian also dropped 14.8 per cent.No UK-wide national title managed a year on year circulation rise, with the Daily Star yet to feel the benefits of its latest price cut to 10p.
Gloomy times
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
The Times Online - a new future?
I've just had a sneak preview of the new Times and Sunday Times websites. At first glance I have to say they look fantastic. A brave mix of modern and traditional layout, coupled with some clever navigation to ease a smooth journey around the site. Great work.
However, they have GOT to make money out of it. Owners News International nailed their colours to the mast when Rupert Murdoch declared he was going to make his websites pay.
Punters will soon have to shell out to read the times online. In many ways I wish him luck. He has huge power in the media and it would be ironic that the man I opposed as a young journalist should turn out to be the saviour of reporting - but sadly I doubt it.
For a start News International simply has too much competition. I downloaded theiphone app for Metro and it is great. Effectively you are reading the Press Association news feed - the same copy that forms the basis of a great deal of national news reporting. Metro made its name on being free so it can hardly go paid for.
The Times is relying on its highly paid columnists to attract paying customers and what it would refer to as higher quality news coverage. That's a big ask.
Younger readers especially are conditioned now to getting their news for free. The whole industry needs a rethink.. There will always be a demand for material written by good journalists. They need to brainstorm a whole new way of making it pay.
The biggest strength national newspapers, and local ones for that matter, have is their brand. Times, Mail, Echo, Gazette, Post, etc. But time is running out on these brands. As people get older and starting dropping off that powers wanes. Readerships are literally dying and publishers need to act fast to retain the brand value in a whole new way.
Personally I would make local papers virtually free (say 5p a copy) to bag more quality advertising and run the web and hard copies in unison rather than the half way house situation that exists at the moment.
However, they have GOT to make money out of it. Owners News International nailed their colours to the mast when Rupert Murdoch declared he was going to make his websites pay.
Punters will soon have to shell out to read the times online. In many ways I wish him luck. He has huge power in the media and it would be ironic that the man I opposed as a young journalist should turn out to be the saviour of reporting - but sadly I doubt it.
For a start News International simply has too much competition. I downloaded the
The Times is relying on its highly paid columnists to attract paying customers and what it would refer to as higher quality news coverage. That's a big ask.
Younger readers especially are conditioned now to getting their news for free. The whole industry needs a rethink.. There will always be a demand for material written by good journalists. They need to brainstorm a whole new way of making it pay.
The biggest strength national newspapers, and local ones for that matter, have is their brand. Times, Mail, Echo, Gazette, Post, etc. But time is running out on these brands. As people get older and starting dropping off that powers wanes. Readerships are literally dying and publishers need to act fast to retain the brand value in a whole new way.
Personally I would make local papers virtually free (say 5p a copy) to bag more quality advertising and run the web and hard copies in unison rather than the half way house situation that exists at the moment.
Monday, 24 May 2010
Death of the Quango: Cuts, Deficit, Cuts, Quango, Budgets - Happy days!
And there off. After months of talking, waiting, predicting, the cuts are finally here. It's almost a relief that they are finally here.
They spent ages hiding them from us that it was becoming a case of wanting them more the less we knew. If that makes sense. Hurrah! They are here!
Travel Lodge for civil servants and the crappy train carriages like the rest of us - fair do's. Meaningless quangos to go - fair enough. I'm really beginning to enjoy this.
Bye bye Becta - I didn't even know what they did? Apparently they are, soon to be were, the education IT procurement quango! What a laff!
Let's get some more! Someone create aWii game - Get Quango! I thought of it first!!!!
They spent ages hiding them from us that it was becoming a case of wanting them more the less we knew. If that makes sense. Hurrah! They are here!
Travel Lodge for civil servants and the crappy train carriages like the rest of us - fair do's. Meaningless quangos to go - fair enough. I'm really beginning to enjoy this.
Bye bye Becta - I didn't even know what they did? Apparently they are, soon to be were, the education IT procurement quango! What a laff!
Let's get some more! Someone create a
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Cut fuel costs by saving petrol. Easy?
A report in a national newspaper highlighted how many drivers have slipped into bad habits while behind the wheel, which is costing them dear.
Over-revving is a very common way of wasting petrol. Typically drivers let revs run to over 3,000 rpm in a petrol car and 2,500 in a diesel before moving up a gear.
But drivers should be changing up at 2,500 in a petrol car and 2,000 in a diesel. While this might not sound much, the difference can make quite a dent on your fuel tank and in turn your pocket!
Going into too high a gear can also be bad for petrol use as when an engine labours you are using too much fuel.
Negotiating speed bumps badly can also drink petrol as speeding up and slowing down is bad for consumption. Instead drivers should go a steady 15-20mph over speed bumped roads to save fuel.
Speed is also an issue. Driving at 55mph or 65mph makes little difference but as soon as a car goes over 75mph it drinks petrol.
It pays to remember that an efficient driver is a smooth driver as every time you slow down and then accelerate the car uses more fuel. Another petrol saving tip is to keep tyres inflated to the right level.
Annabel Green of national IFA Moneygate said: “A recent fuel economy test drive in The Observer newspaper demonstrated how much could be saved. Based on a monitored test run, the motorist revealed that driving efficiently could save him £7,734 over 10 years driving a mini car and save 16 tonnes of CO2 if he did 15,000 miles a year.
“This is a massive saving. Many people are looking to trim their budgets and this is another example of how it is best to look at all household products and services to cut costs.”
For advice on how to save money go to www.moneygate.co.uk
Over-revving is a very common way of wasting petrol. Typically drivers let revs run to over 3,000 rpm in a petrol car and 2,500 in a diesel before moving up a gear.
But drivers should be changing up at 2,500 in a petrol car and 2,000 in a diesel. While this might not sound much, the difference can make quite a dent on your fuel tank and in turn your pocket!
Going into too high a gear can also be bad for petrol use as when an engine labours you are using too much fuel.
Negotiating speed bumps badly can also drink petrol as speeding up and slowing down is bad for consumption. Instead drivers should go a steady 15-20mph over speed bumped roads to save fuel.
Speed is also an issue. Driving at 55mph or 65mph makes little difference but as soon as a car goes over 75mph it drinks petrol.
It pays to remember that an efficient driver is a smooth driver as every time you slow down and then accelerate the car uses more fuel. Another petrol saving tip is to keep tyres inflated to the right level.
Annabel Green of national IFA Moneygate said: “A recent fuel economy test drive in The Observer newspaper demonstrated how much could be saved. Based on a monitored test run, the motorist revealed that driving efficiently could save him £7,734 over 10 years driving a mini car and save 16 tonnes of CO2 if he did 15,000 miles a year.
“This is a massive saving. Many people are looking to trim their budgets and this is another example of how it is best to look at all household products and services to cut costs.”
For advice on how to save money go to www.moneygate.co.uk
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Cuts for Children - Brown scaremongering?
Now Brown goes for the jugular warning of Cuts for Children. Run - they are after your're kids!!!
Labour attacked Lib Dem plans to axe child trust funds and Tory proposals to scale back child tax credits.
He said the Conservatives are focusing on the "broken society" saying a "stew" of crime, addiction, anti-social behaviour and poverty affects millions of people.
A stew! Not a casserole - a stew! Wow - he appears to be clutching at straws and not Jack Straws either.
To make matters worse for Labour children's TV character Peppa Pig will not appear at one of its election event as the show's distributor wants to avoid "any controversy".
Labour attacked Lib Dem plans to axe child trust funds and Tory proposals to scale back child tax credits.
He said the Conservatives are focusing on the "broken society" saying a "stew" of crime, addiction, anti-social behaviour and poverty affects millions of people.
A stew! Not a casserole - a stew! Wow - he appears to be clutching at straws and not Jack Straws either.
To make matters worse for Labour children's TV character Peppa Pig will not appear at one of its election event as the show's distributor wants to avoid "any controversy".
Hung Parliament - is it so bad? Blog.
Is a threat of a hung parliament really so bad? Tory old stager Ken Clarke inferred that the city would collapse under a hail of indecision. Meanwhile Cameron warns of years of weak Government.
Well - we seemed to do alright during the second world war under a coalition. While the last hung parliament was in the early 70s it didn't last long so really the only real stint during "modern" times was during the war.
Just like then it could be fair to say we are in a state of emergency. Clarke warns of a collapse in City confidence - what about a our collapse in confidence in the City! Let's face it, the parties are so close together they are already practically one consensus Goverment. There's no Michael Foot v Thatcher battle of dogmas here. You could slip a fag packet between the policies of the three main parties - they are effectively arguing over bits and bobs.
Cameron talks of cutting the bloated state but as Thatcher could well remind him it was the building up of the public sector, especially in the North, that held off social collapse in the 80s. He knows that and will cut accordingly. Brown will cut, Clegg will cut - they have to but at a sensible rate. So really, they are all arguing over travelling in feet and inches and not miles.
Vote hung!!!
Well - we seemed to do alright during the second world war under a coalition. While the last hung parliament was in the early 70s it didn't last long so really the only real stint during "modern" times was during the war.
Just like then it could be fair to say we are in a state of emergency. Clarke warns of a collapse in City confidence - what about a our collapse in confidence in the City! Let's face it, the parties are so close together they are already practically one consensus Goverment. There's no Michael Foot v Thatcher battle of dogmas here. You could slip a fag packet between the policies of the three main parties - they are effectively arguing over bits and bobs.
Cameron talks of cutting the bloated state but as Thatcher could well remind him it was the building up of the public sector, especially in the North, that held off social collapse in the 80s. He knows that and will cut accordingly. Brown will cut, Clegg will cut - they have to but at a sensible rate. So really, they are all arguing over travelling in feet and inches and not miles.
Vote hung!!!
Friday, 26 March 2010
Can The Times make it paid online?
So can Murdock really make it pay. In June it will cost £1 a day or £2 a week to get access to the Times and Sunday Times new websites, News Corp said in a statement.
Subscribers to the print versions will get free access to the websites. The Times newspaper costs £1 on weekdays and £1.50 on Saturdays, and The Sunday Times costs £2.
James Harding, editor of The Times, told the BBC that the move was a "big risk, but less of a risk than throwing our journalism away, while Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corp, believes people will pay for good journalism.
It is a massive risk. While there is so much free news out there will people really pay to subscribe. They will have to make it radically improved in terms of web presentation so I wait with baited breath to see what the new sites look like.
Someone had to take the risk and perhaps Murdoch is the one most equipped to give it a try.
News Corp's Wall Street Journal already charges for online content but it is in a niche market. If The Telegraph online remains free will people pay for Times? Difficult but Murdoch is not daft - he is trialing the service with titles that have been propped up financially for years so there is less to lose than say with The Sun which has the best visitor figures for News International.
The latest ABC traffic figures for Times Online - which includes the Times and Sunday Times - saw daily user figures rise 6% to 1.22m, while monthly browsers fell to 20.42m.
Assuming that only 5% of daily users convert to the paywall system - a standard metric for paywalls - that would bring in £1.83m if they each buy a £1 daily pass. At a 10% conversion, it would net £3.66m per month for the two papers. If more chose the weekly pass, the revenues would be lower.
The move follows Murdoch's statement in August last year that that he would introduce charges for all his newspapers, saying that News Corp wanted to prevent readers moving to free sites by making its content better and differentiated from other publishers.
Well the race is underway - who will follow and will it be a success. Who knows but the future of print journalism is at stake. Will the man most journalists once reviled turn out to be the saviour of their sector!!
www.pressgenerator.com
Subscribers to the print versions will get free access to the websites. The Times newspaper costs £1 on weekdays and £1.50 on Saturdays, and The Sunday Times costs £2.
James Harding, editor of The Times, told the BBC that the move was a "big risk, but less of a risk than throwing our journalism away, while Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corp, believes people will pay for good journalism.
It is a massive risk. While there is so much free news out there will people really pay to subscribe. They will have to make it radically improved in terms of web presentation so I wait with baited breath to see what the new sites look like.
Someone had to take the risk and perhaps Murdoch is the one most equipped to give it a try.
News Corp's Wall Street Journal already charges for online content but it is in a niche market. If The Telegraph online remains free will people pay for Times? Difficult but Murdoch is not daft - he is trialing the service with titles that have been propped up financially for years so there is less to lose than say with The Sun which has the best visitor figures for News International.
The latest ABC traffic figures for Times Online - which includes the Times and Sunday Times - saw daily user figures rise 6% to 1.22m, while monthly browsers fell to 20.42m.
Assuming that only 5% of daily users convert to the paywall system - a standard metric for paywalls - that would bring in £1.83m if they each buy a £1 daily pass. At a 10% conversion, it would net £3.66m per month for the two papers. If more chose the weekly pass, the revenues would be lower.
The move follows Murdoch's statement in August last year that that he would introduce charges for all his newspapers, saying that News Corp wanted to prevent readers moving to free sites by making its content better and differentiated from other publishers.
Well the race is underway - who will follow and will it be a success. Who knows but the future of print journalism is at stake. Will the man most journalists once reviled turn out to be the saviour of their sector!!
www.pressgenerator.com
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
House-giveaway and press generator
What do you do when you want to give away your lifestyle - call www.pressgenerwww.pressgenerator.comator.com
Check out our press release which is working its way around the web! The property crash has forced a London man to put his luxury pad up for grabs in a village fete-style competition, as he prepares to move down under. (www.house-giveaway.com)
Australia-bound IT consultant Adam Trutwein is offering a once-in-a-lifetime chance for someone to live an up-market London lifestyle for free, by offering up almost everything he owns as a prize in a ‘how many sweets in the jar’ competition! www.house-giveaway.com.
Up for grabs for a lucky winner in the £20 per entry competition, is a luxury £375,000 fully furnished, two-bedroom apartment in London’s trendy Islington. The apartment, which would be mortgage-free for the winner, is for keeps and is packed full of high-spec goodies such as a 50" HD plasma TV and hand-made Italian furniture.
The winner literally won’t have to spend a penny as full running costs and bills are thrown in for a year – from Sky HD subscriptions and utility bills, to groceries - and there’s even the service of a cleaner!
Adam, 26, explained that he came up with the quirky life-changing package idea after deciding to leave his top city-based IT career behind to follow his own dreams of a fresh start in Australia.
He said: “Making the move to Australia is a fresh start for me and I thought it would be a great idea to offer someone the opportunity to change their life too, particularly as everything seems to be a struggle at the moment.
“Offering up everything I own in a competition provides a wonderful opportunity for someone to kick-start their life in London – be that a new career, a year off having fun, helping out your son/daughter or simply getting that crucial first step on the property ladder.
"The package really does include everything – there’s even a free pass for underground and bus travel thrown in for a year, £200 a week for 1 year in cash and the use of an on-site gym.”
Adam has put the competition in the hands of London solicitors Turbervilles who hold the sealed jar of sweets. All the cash raised will be held by Barclays Bank until the winner is announced.
A total of 30,000 tickets are up for grabs at £20 a go through his website www.house-giveaway.com The closing date will be when the 30,000 tickets are sold or 30th July 2010, whichever comes first.
Adam, originally from Gillingham, added: “The chance of winning this competition far outweigh the odds of winner the national lottery!”
Full details and competition rules can be found online at www.house-giveaway.com
GIVEAWAY FACTFILE
A two-bedroom luxury apartment in London’s trendy Islington worth over £375,000!
A 50’’ HD plasma TV
Fully furnished to a high standard
Free food for a year
All utility bills, service charges and ground rent paid for a year
Services of a cleaner for a year
A year’s free internet, telephone and Sky HD TV subscription
Council tax and TV licence paid for a year
£10,400 in cash
The free use of communal gym and Japanese gardens
A year’s underground and bus travel pass
Adam can be contacted for interview by email at adam.trutwein@mac.com or by mobile phone on 07968759649 or go to www.house-giveaway.com.
Check out our press release which is working its way around the web! The property crash has forced a London man to put his luxury pad up for grabs in a village fete-style competition, as he prepares to move down under. (www.house-giveaway.com)
Australia-bound IT consultant Adam Trutwein is offering a once-in-a-lifetime chance for someone to live an up-market London lifestyle for free, by offering up almost everything he owns as a prize in a ‘how many sweets in the jar’ competition! www.house-giveaway.com.
Up for grabs for a lucky winner in the £20 per entry competition, is a luxury £375,000 fully furnished, two-bedroom apartment in London’s trendy Islington. The apartment, which would be mortgage-free for the winner, is for keeps and is packed full of high-spec goodies such as a 50" HD plasma TV and hand-made Italian furniture.
The winner literally won’t have to spend a penny as full running costs and bills are thrown in for a year – from Sky HD subscriptions and utility bills, to groceries - and there’s even the service of a cleaner!
Adam, 26, explained that he came up with the quirky life-changing package idea after deciding to leave his top city-based IT career behind to follow his own dreams of a fresh start in Australia.
He said: “Making the move to Australia is a fresh start for me and I thought it would be a great idea to offer someone the opportunity to change their life too, particularly as everything seems to be a struggle at the moment.
“Offering up everything I own in a competition provides a wonderful opportunity for someone to kick-start their life in London – be that a new career, a year off having fun, helping out your son/daughter or simply getting that crucial first step on the property ladder.
"The package really does include everything – there’s even a free pass for underground and bus travel thrown in for a year, £200 a week for 1 year in cash and the use of an on-site gym.”
Adam has put the competition in the hands of London solicitors Turbervilles who hold the sealed jar of sweets. All the cash raised will be held by Barclays Bank until the winner is announced.
A total of 30,000 tickets are up for grabs at £20 a go through his website www.house-giveaway.com The closing date will be when the 30,000 tickets are sold or 30th July 2010, whichever comes first.
Adam, originally from Gillingham, added: “The chance of winning this competition far outweigh the odds of winner the national lottery!”
Full details and competition rules can be found online at www.house-giveaway.com
GIVEAWAY FACTFILE
A two-bedroom luxury apartment in London’s trendy Islington worth over £375,000!
A 50’’ HD plasma TV
Fully furnished to a high standard
Free food for a year
All utility bills, service charges and ground rent paid for a year
Services of a cleaner for a year
A year’s free internet, telephone and Sky HD TV subscription
Council tax and TV licence paid for a year
£10,400 in cash
The free use of communal gym and Japanese gardens
A year’s underground and bus travel pass
Adam can be contacted for interview by email at adam.trutwein@mac.com or by mobile phone on 07968759649 or go to www.house-giveaway.com.
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