Andy Carter's Blog

Email is dull - sending a letter has more impact

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 03:17:00 -0700

I received a letter this morning.

It's the first for ages. The usual stuff that lands on the doormat is bills, flyers for the local supermarket and its cheap booze deals and a thrice-weekly junk offering from BT inviting me to sign up to its broadband.

BT must have sent me hundreds of these annoying leaflets over the years. I've still not signed up and on point of principle, I never will either. You would have thought it would realise by now.

So, back to my letter.

It was from someone who I respect as a former colleague and value as a good friend. This person had faith in me when they asked me to take on a top role within their organisation.

They could have said what they said in an email or broken it down into bursts of 140 characters and sent it as a message via Twitter. Efficient, yes - but dull and without much impact.

Putting pen to paper (or in this case typing) makes such a difference. I've re-read it several times and intend sharing it with other close friends.

Now, this letter has pride of place in my 'special things to be kept' file.

It prompted me to read some of the other things in there - a letter from the local MP for one of the radio stations I managed - letters from senior councillors who I worked with at Leeds - correspondence from a businessman who I worked with for six months in 1993 ... and the last letter from my dad before he died in 1988.

(That letter still makes me cry by the way even two decades on).

I've also found a letter sent to me by my sister when I was about nine and she was seven while I was away on a school trip to Butlins at Bognor Regis.

(To put this into context, Bognor is about an hour away from Winchester where I lived at the time and despite being there for only a week, my mum wrote to me three times and my dad twice.)

My sister managed just one letter and a picture.

Her correspondence is amusing because it reveals quite a lot about what is going on in the mind of a seven year old.

I'm sure she won't mind me re-printing it:

Dear Andy

I hope you are having a good time. Sorry I did not write to you before because I could not think of anything to say.

[Clearly, she wasn't missing me that much then].

I have got good news for you. I past (sic) my ballet exam and I got highly commended. It was the second highest.

We got a post card this morning, thank-you for it. [A slight diversion from the main topic here].

Maria [my sister's highly competitive cousin] got commended for her ballet exam because she got good all the way through her report and I got very good.

Mummy and daddy are very pleased.

I have got the television in my bedroom, hope you are happy I miss you, please come back soon.

Lots and lots and lots of love, Rebecca [oh perhaps she was missing me after all].

Her ballet exam success was clearly a big deal, because believe me, getting the TV to yourself in your bedroom was a special treat (even in those days when you could only receive a few channels).

Anyway, the moral of my 'story' is this - if the weather's a bit crap where you are this weekend, write a letter to someone you love or care for. I'm sure it will brighten their day.

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Forget ‘sorry’ - ‘goodbye’ is the hardest word

Sun, 29 May 2011 13:09:00 -0700

As you can see, I’ve not written a blog entry for a very long time and as a communications professional who claims to like social media, it probably isn’t good enough.

Well, events of the last few days are of such significance, it justifies my first entry for ages.

It’s been a tough week. Emotionally, a bit of a rollercoaster.

Telling my boss that I was planning to leave my council was bad enough - but 24 hours later when I had to tell my team, it was even worse.

I chose an unsuspecting colleague from another department to practice on first - she must have wondered what had hit her. I’d barely closed the door before the waterworks began.

I’m 38, so this was all a bit embarrassing. However, my colleague reassured me it was OK to cry and that it wasn’t silly.

On that basis, I got my number two in next to warn him what I was about to do.

I remember telling him that I was about to announce a ‘bombshell’ bit of news, but my memory of how I managed to get out the actual detail of my departure is still a bit hazy.

Then, when my team was in the room - all eyes trained on me - it suddenly became really difficult.

My announcement was just a jibberishy splutter and lacked all of the coherency that I had hoped for when I went over the words I wanted to say on the train ride in.

Why so tough then?

I had to deliver my news to a group of people who I’ve come to love and respect after having worked with them almost every day for over three years.

They welcomed me into their PR world in 2008 and I’ve not looked back since.

Their support, dedication and loyalty has been unending and as a team we’ve achieved so much.

Communications at Leeds City Council has been transformed because of their hard work and input.

We’ve been on amazing journey together, but now it is coming to an end.

And that’s why it’s tough - I feel like I’m dumping them by the roadside, while I cruise off on a new adventure. That’s not the case and my team doesn’t think it is either thank goodness.

In fact, they’ve all taken the time to wish me well. I’ve had some fantastic emails and text messages too. It has been all a bit overwhelming frankly.

That's why I think this week does prove the point that saying sorry might be tough for some, but ‘goodbye’ is by far the hardest word - for me anyway.

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What can the BBC afford to get rid of?

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 13:06:00 -0800

I had dinner with a former radio colleague of mine tonight - in fact it’s this man’s fault that I ever got into radio in the first place.

He foolishly once let me go on air during his hospital radio news programme and I was bitten by the broadcast bug.

It was onwards and upwards in my journalist career from there - so thanks Ed!

Ed is now a big cheese in TV news and from his desk at Television Centre helps run the BBC’s news operation. If something exciting or important is happening in any corner of the UK, Ed likely knows about it and has worked out a way of bringing it alive on television.

As is typical - once you’ve caught up on all the news from the 20 years that you’ve not seen each other, a debate about a big ‘issue’ normally starts.

Our chat over a burger at the Westfield shopping centre was no different.

Given the fact that both our organisations are facing significant cuts, we got on to the subject of what we both thought the BBC should get rid of.

I thought that perhaps regional TV news might be for the chop.

I suggested that from next year when ITV doesn’t have to ‘do’ local news, perhaps the Beeb might not bother either.

My debating partner wasn’t convinced. He reckoned BBC regional TV news and local radio output was pretty safe as it didn’t cost a fortune.

So then, what about BBC Three or Four - could they go? I wasn’t too sure and neither was Ed.

Then we got onto the BBC news channel.

Agreement at last! My view: if Sky wants to run an expensive continuous news service and Mr Murdoch is happy to bank roll it, let it/him carry on.

But, with a falling audience and rising repetition we decided that the BBC could switch off the news channel tomorrow and hardly anyone would notice.

Fewer people might not even care.

Ed didn’t favour taking the axe to it wholesale, but did think it could be scaled back - more output shared with BBC world news or maybe no rolling news after 1900.

Sounds reasonable to me. So, BBC. Perhaps that should be your strategy.

Stop doing continuous news, save yourself perhaps hundreds of millions of pounds and only have rolling coverage when there’s genuinely something exciting going on so there’s no need to have correspondents talking bollocks hour after hour end when lots of nothing-ness requires filling.

Job done!

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Andy's Log: December 8

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 12:51:16 -0800

This is an abridged version of my weekly blog which I write for work. The views I express in this log are my own, professional, views as the head of communications but do not necessarily reflect those of the authority itself.

I’m writing my log on Wednesday 8 December. As usual I’m on the train on the way to work. As usual it’s late. However, the train company is blaming the snow for that. The bad weather has been its default excuse for several days now.

I write this on the train because it gives me time to reflect on what’s been going on in the past seven days and it also means I’m not doing it in ‘work time’.

Anyway, today is the anniversary of John Lennon’s assassination.

This morning, the presenter on the BBC Breakfast news programme said something like ‘we reflect on the murder that shocked the whole world’.

I was only half listening because I was cutting up my ham sandwiches at the time, but the use of the phrase ‘shocked the whole world’ struck me.

Did John Lennon’s murder really ‘shock the whole world?’ Surely not everyone in the world was shocked? Actually, it might be that not everyone in the world knew about his assassination given the fact the communications tools and channels that have shrunk our planet to a global village didn’t exist then.

‘Shock’ is an overused cliché – especially by the media. If ‘shock’ was a vinyl record (remember those?) it would be scratched to destruction by now.

Everything is ‘shocking’ these days. I can picture the headlines:

‘Granny mugged in XYZ Town – whole community shocked’

‘Council plans to close libraries: shocked locals react’

It’s a bit like TV news bulletins when they report on the arrest of a person for some terrible crime, like murder. The TV crew interviews the person’s next door neighbour and they say ‘he/she seemed like such a nice person and they kept themselves to themselves …’

What else would they say?

Having said all that, the media can’t possibly use the ‘shock’ word when it comes to telling their readers, viewers or listeners about the cutbacks in local government.

Why? Well, because we’ve been preparing them for weeks about just how bad things are likely to be in future.

Yesterday we organised a press briefing to talk journalists through a report on my council’s future budget which will be discussed at next week’s executive board meeting.

Although missing the detail (we’re still waiting for the government to tell us how much money we’re getting in the formula grant) it makes it clear that having £90 million less to spend next year is going to be a big challenge.

The report to executive board identifies areas where savings are likely to come from: £30m from the wage bill, only doing urgent building maintenance work, closing some buildings and facilities and increased charges ... the ‘bad news’ goes on.

However, what was surprising was the lack of questions from the assembled members of Her Majesty’s press. It could be that they were so ‘shocked’ at what they were hearing they were stunned into silence – or perhaps our revelation was hardly new news, given the fact they are hearing similar stories from lots of other public sector organisations.

In many ways, it would be have been good to be on the front page of the newspaper or leading the TV or radio news bulletin because then we could have driven home the message to residents that things are going to be different.

Elsewhere this week – a debate on who should officially be recognised as a ‘proper’ news gatherer.

At the weekend, I was pointed to a discussion on a journalism website about another city council’s decision to exclude a blogger from a briefing about cuts (like the one we did yesterday).

There was much criticism of the council for its actions.

The basic argument was that this particular person should not have been banned from attending, even though she only reported for an online community news website. Her website, it seems, has a good following.

So, where do you draw the line? Press Card holders only? (holders are formally recognised as bona fide news reporters by the Association of Chief Police Officers so many other organisations do too) Or, do you let/invite everyone in?

My view is there needs to be a good reason why you exclude someone, rather than a reason for letting them in. We have our own community blogger in Leeds in the form of John Baron who writes for the Local Leeds site. We consider him to be a ‘proper’ journalist, so he gets invites.

But, someone who uses a 10-year-old Windows 2000 laptop to write a few words once in a while for their neighbours might not get an automatic right to attend a briefing – unless we’re proposing to close the library at the end of their street!

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Booing from Revolution bar

Fri, 24 Sep 2010 11:20:30 -0700

AndyBoo4.mp3 Listen on Posterous

We're getting down to the 90's groove!

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Booing before a night 'out' with my council leader

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 13:35:42 -0700

AndyBoo2.mp3 Listen on Posterous

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Kay Burley v Chris Bryant on Sky News

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 22:43:44 -0700

A newspaper editor (@PaulJNapier) remarked on Twitter last night: 'I don't usually like to see journalists coming off second best, but Kay Burley deserved this from Chris Bryant'.

I agree.

http://bit.ly/al8hMT

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Andy's Log: July 20th

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:14:49 -0700

This is an edited/shortened version of my weekly blog which I write for work and is published on my council's intranet. The views I express in this log are my own, professional, views as the head of communications but do not necessarily reflect those of the authority itself.

I’m going to refer back to my days as a broadcast journalist once again for the introduction to my log this week.

I used to look after more than 60 reporters and editors who were spread across 27 radio stations and one of my responsibilities, as the group head of news, was to provide legal advice to stations.

Usually it was guidance about how far the envelope could be pushed, but it was often to help out when the station had got into trouble.

Reporters would ring and say ‘I said in the 3pm news that our local mayor’s limo had been seen parked up outside a strip club in the red light district of town and now he’s on the phone saying he’s going to sue for libel … what do I do?’

‘Hire a bloody good lawyer’ was my usual response.

The other issue was contempt of court. For me, contempt of court is the fine line between being able to report on a really juicy story and not annoying the judge to the point where they send you to jail as well.

We got it wrong once and I had to face a really angry judge at Winchester Crown Court who wasn’t at all pleased that we ‘had threatened his trial’ with some rather inaccurate reporting at one of my stations.

I won’t bore you with the detail, but as they say, it was a real ‘squeaky bum’ moment as I stood in the dock and waited for His Honourship (no, I didn’t call him that) to decide my fate. In the end he let me off, but it was a lesson hard learned. It’s an experience I wouldn’t wish on anyone else.

Anyway, newspapers, radio and TV stations often publish or transmit loads of detail about crimes before the suspect(s) go to trial. As the date of the court case approaches, the level of detail comes down and of course, when the trial is underway, the reporting has to be really ‘tame’ in order to ensure that the accused gets a fair hearing free from any ‘influence’ from the media.

I’ve always been interested in the debate about fair trials – is a jury really capable of erasing from their minds what they’ve read about a case in the newspapers, or watched on the TV?

A couple of years ago, the then director of public prosecutions publically said he was convinced they could. They were, he argued, able and should be trusted to only make up their minds about someone’s guilt based on the evidence that was put before them and the court.

This was a crucial pronouncement because it sort of meant the media could almost publish ‘what it liked’ in the run-up to a trial and not influence the jury’s thinking – well according to the DPP anyway.

I’ve never been convinced about his argument and I remain dubious now.

It brings me to a modern twist on this tale, but this time it’s social media.

I acknowledge there are ‘grey areas’ with social media – nothing is truly black and white, but here’s a question. Can social media ‘consumers’ tell the difference between the person and the profession?

Not everyone agrees. Even in our office there were a range of views.

It’s an important point though, because for people, who let’s say use Twitter, for both personal and professional purposes, there’s a danger.

Take me for example. I’m on Twitter. I don’t have loads of followers, but there are a number of significant people who choose to read what I have to say.

Paul Napier is one of them. He’s the editor of the Yorkshire Evening Post. Is he following me as Andy Carter, head of communications or just Andy Carter?

What about the two councillors who are ‘signed up’ to my tweets? Are they following me because of my professional or my personal reflections on life?

I don’t know to be honest, I’ve not asked them – but I think it does mean care is needed.

If you’re using social media – think carefully. An innocent tweet or Facebook status update has the potential to be misunderstood, especially if what you say is in that grey area and it isn’t clear whether you’re being personal or professional at that point.

Having said all that – social media is a fantastic tool and should be used where appropriate.

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Andy's Log: July 14th

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 07:44:21 -0700

When I was the news editor of a radio station in the countryside, I checked the shoe sizes of all of my journalists and bought us all a communal pair of wellingtons.

For my trainee reporter they were far too big and she looked a bit comical in them, but for the rest of us they were fine. The reason I bought them? Our newsroom was in the countryside and farming was an important and big issue for us. The trouble with farming is that it meant mud and none of my journalists wanted their Hush Puppies ruined by a mucky cowshed.

Although I no longer work in the countryside, I could have done with a pair of wellies this last week.

That's because it has been like wading through mud, treacle, or wet concrete.

We (I say 'we' because I suspect most of my team has been involved at one point or another) ... have been dealing with a particular issue.

But because of the secrecy that surrounds this particular issue it was nearly impossible to get the answers we needed to defend the council. For me it felt like we were 'fighting' with one hand tied behind our backs while we were also blindfolded. The fact that we weren't able to get straight answers from our own colleagues was a massive frustration and meant we lost control of the story.

Fortunately, as a result of our experience this week, the head of service and the chief officer concerned are going to review the arrangements so we're in a much better position to deal with this kind of issue when it comes up in the future.

Yes, we have to protect members of staff who might otherwise be exposed to threats and serious danger, but they need to trust their colleagues and be honest with them. After all, we're in this together.

Moving on.

The new minister for local government, Eric Pickles had a few interesting things to say last week when he addressed the local government association conference in Bournemouth.

His speech is here (http://www.communities.gov.uk/speeches/newsroom/lgaconference2010) if you want to have a read. It's worth a look.
I suspect you won't agree with everything that Mr Pickles said, but I do think some of his ideas make sense. Shared services for instance.

One issue I would argue with him is his attack on 'non jobs'. Non jobs aren't exclusive to the public sector.

I did a quick search of a few recruitment sites and it wasn't long before I found an advert for an 'alcohol policy manager' with a salary of over £70,000!

(No, I've not downloaded the application form ...)

Something else that's worth a read, or at least a visit to, is the website set up by the government so we can all suggest ideas about saving money or creating extra revenue. The site is here: http://spendingchallenge.hm-treasury.gov.uk/

Lots of the suggestions are good. For instance, switching off every other street light between midnight and 5am all the way to major changes to benefits which could have the potential to save billions.

Two caught my eye though.

One. 'Sell Australia to the Australians'. The person who logged this idea says the 'Australian prime minister could write a fat cheque and square things at their end'. In the section where you include the benefits of your idea it says 'the Australians would be less dependent on us - which is what they want isn't it?'

The other suggests the idea of restricting tea and biscuits at council meetings, but says 'if you really have to serve biscuits to councillors, make sure they are horrible ones like Custard Creams or Garibaldis'.

I rather like Custard Creams AND Garibaldis!

Finally this week, in this bumper instalment - it's over to my readers. Many of my colleagues sent me comments as a result of last week's log. I’m delighted with their support and encouragement over my decision to have a word with Mr Messy.

On the issue of litter, my colleague Fiona emailed:

"Well done for challenging on the rubbish being left on the train! More people should do that. On why people drop litter - I don't think it helps that people are encouraged to drop litter in railway stations and airports now. There are no bins any more, due to concerns about terrorists leaving explosive devices in them. I've asked in Leeds City Station in the past where I should put my litter and I've been told just to drop it on the platform, because they employ people to pick it up. I actually couldn't bring myself just to drop litter on the floor, so I took it home with me, but it's worth bearing in mind that people get conflicting messages on what to do with rubbish in public spaces. As an aside, I lived in Germany for a few years and they have bins to separate rubbish into four different types on the platforms and in the trains, so it's possible."

Mrs X (she's very shy) also thought challenge was appropriate:

“I have family in New Zealand and have been fortunate to visit them. You do not drop litter anywhere in New Zealand, not because its against the law but because it is a lack of respect. Respect is a very big thing out there. You do not vandalise parks because they belong to the people and it would be a lack of respect. Respect is very much part of their upbringing in school and at home. Consequently as you travel around the country no one throws rubbish from car windows, vandalises public parks and when I was there I did not see any graffiti. All the towns, villages have their own 'domain' (park) and all have workable toilets, clean and usable, and free. They would not dream of vandalising or dropping litter as these 'belong to the community' through rates and if any damage is done the rates would increase. Maybe we should identify how much of the Council tax is used to repair/clean up buildings and streets from vandals and litter louts and respect to be encouraged."

And – my colleague Bernard has had his own encounter with a 'Mr Messy':

"Re your encounter on the train - good for you. It reminded me of a similar incident with me. One lunch-time I was walking down towards Dortmund Square and, as I approached a parked car, the passenger opened the door and put his drinks can on the road at the side of the car. I decided to pick the can up, opened the car door, handed him the can and politely asked if he minded either finding a litter bin or taking his rubbish home. To say that he looked gobsmacked is somewhat of an understatement."

On 'promoting' the work of councillors, my colleague John - who used his blog to ask questions of politicians in the run up to the election - had this to say:

"I found [it] very useful in casting my vote, and I wonder whether we need something similar to explain the various roles of councillors better to the people of the city. Just what can a councillor do for you? What's realistic to expect, and what can't they do? Taking the storytelling approach, maybe we could illustrate the various bits of their work - on behalf of groups and individuals or even in pursuit of the things they believe in - with a few real examples? Maybe even tell the same story from the different points of view of various 'witnesses': a constituent, a councillor and some of the other people involved. This approach could really show off the value of councillors, could increase the understanding of their role and how they work with council officers and other agencies in the city, and encourage the people of Leeds to choose them wisely and make the best use of them."

And on both subjects of litter and councillors, Rory who works in one of my council’s area management team comments:

"Just read your captain's log and your story of Mr Messy. There is a direct link to the new approaches we are implementing to neighbourhood management, community engagement and building sustainable communities. I have attached a copy of the community engagement strategy recently agreed for the inner East Area Committee and the original concept paper on 'Team Neighbourhood' that I hope you find of interest and relevance to the issues you are highlighting in your log. Building sustainable communities has to involve local residents as integral to the process and only if we do so will we stand any chance of changing behaviours. Peer pressure can be very powerful in this regard and I'm sure Mr Messy will be thinking twice before leaving his detritus on the train again, even if he did react defensively/aggressively to your challenge. The Team Neighbourhood work and the role of new community leadership groups (resident groups chaired by the local councillor - see the community engagement strategy attached) approved by the area committees in inner east and inner north east also give a great indication of the work of local councillors at a neighbourhood level and at an area committee level."

Finally, I've agreed to give a plug to a petition which has been launched to 'save' the new generation transport (trolley bus) scheme in Leeds.

The petition has been started by the campaign group '38 degrees'.

Here's the link if you felt you were able to add your support: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/trolleybus

Thanks to Anne (she won't let me say which council team she works in) for tipping me off about it.

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Andy's Log: July 7th

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:02:00 -0700

I travel to and from work on the train and yesterday I challenged a fellow passenger who was in the seat next to me. It was because he left a load of rubbish on his flip down table. I pointed out that there was a bin about 18 inches away.

He didn’t like it – but that’s perhaps no surprise.

I actually thought he was going to hit me. Fortunately, that didn’t happen, possibly because of the presence of the young guy who dishes out the coffee.

Andrew Mason, who’s the chief officer for environmental services in my council, once told me that he couldn’t understand why people drop litter in the street when there’s a perfectly good bin nearby. find that difficult to answer as well.

Interesting then that the most recent survey by the Local Government Association (LGA), which made the news in the last few days, found that most people want (among other things) bin collections and street cleaning ‘protected’ from cuts.

Bin collections I get – after all, someone has got to come and take away the rubbish, but street cleaning got me thinking.

Is it because people still want the ‘right’ to drop litter, chuck cigarette butts away or spill the contents of their stomach over the pavement on a Friday night and have someone else clear up the mess?

What annoyed me the most about Mr Messy is that he didn’t appear to be prepared to take any responsibility for his own actions. He was the one who got on the train with a Cornish pasty, crisps and biscuits – they didn’t appear out of thin air and dump themselves on the table.

Perhaps, if people took more collective responsibility for their actions then we might not need to have colleagues out in the middle of the night clearing Park Row of empty beer bottles and two-for-one drinks flyers for instance. Then there’s the issue of challenge.

OK, perhaps I was wrong to ‘tell off’ a fellow passenger (it was before 7.30am), but sometimes challenge is important.

Right now of course, our council, like many others, is being challenged about spending and being challenged to try and find more savings. That’s the right thing to do because it could be argued (and I agree) that we have a collective responsibility to help get the country out of the place it finds itself in right now.

That brings me on to the project that I’m working on right now.

I – and several colleagues – have been tasked with developing a new model for communications in future. At the very least it will mean better co-ordination of all our comms, PR, marketing and web functions/activities.

There are lots of people to tell about what we’re doing and we’ve deliberately chosen to set up face-to-face meetings and briefings.

It’s no surprise to us (and I’m sure you) that we’re being challenged about the project – the rationale behind it, the reasons why it’s necessary and about our brief to introduce a new corporate approach to communications.

We’ve had some pretty robust arguments in defence of the status quo – but as is often said ‘doing nothing is not an option.’

Eric Pickles, the minister for local government told the LGA conference yesterday (Tuesday) that he wants councils to share more services/functions and that communications should be one of them.

I think it’s a perfectly good idea and there’s no reason why we couldn’t merge with another authority’s communications team. However, we would need to get our own house ‘in order’ before we could consider any merger ideas.

In ‘other news’ … I went to a meeting of political cabinet on Monday night to talk about what my team is doing and to update the leader and colleagues on the project I’ve just mentioned.

I’m pleased to report that they were very supportive of what we’re doing, but they were also quite challenging on a number of issues.

One is accountability. The leader was keen that we do something which highlights the work of councillors and the democratic ‘framework’ they operate in. The idea would be for the people of our city to better understand what councillors do and for people to better understand how they can be involved in how decisions are made.

Finally, we’ve had another ‘plug’ for our plain English work.

It was mentioned in the esteemed publication that is PR Week. One of my colleagues was so excited that her photograph was used, she posted the link to the article on to her Facebook page.

So you don’t have to wade through my colleague’s birthday party pictures and snaps from her holiday to Malaga (I thought she was too old for that anyway) – to find the aforementioned link, it’s here for your convenience: http://www.prweek.com/uk/researchData/login/1013260/

More next week

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Council communicators respond to 'new rules' on local authority newspapers

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:40:46 -0700

The chairman of LGcommunications, David Holdstock has been granted a 'right of reply' to Eric Pickles' article in the Guardian regarding council newspapers.

Read David's defence of our publications here

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Andy's log: July 1st

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:33:44 -0700

This is an edited and shortened version of my weekly blog which I write for work and is published on my council's intranet. The views I express in this log are my own, professional, views as the head of communications but do not necessarily reflect those of the authority itself.

There's so much to talk about this week - council newspapers, public sector websites being cut and reviews of communications functions!

Let's start though with a quick reflection of last week's emergency budget which I mentioned in a previous blog post.

You'll probably recall my wish list - which clearly was based in cloud-cuckoo land. But, to be honest even a doom and gloom list from the Chancellor would have been good. We know that pretty challenging, no, let's be honest and say 'horrific' cuts are on the way, but after last week we're still in the dark really.

I felt he didn't really tell us much!

The spending review in the autumn will hopefully give us the details we need to make concrete decisions. In the meantime there's plenty we can do.

In the next few days the chief executive of my council is going to write to all members of staff to explain how the council is reacting to the budget cuts and what might be on the horizon.

His letter will also ask for their help. Many of our people are involved in delivering front-line services. They're at the 'coal face' and can most likely see where there's potential for savings to be made.

This is a good and welcome way of doing things and means we sort of become masters of our own destiny. We need to face up to the fact that the future is far from bright (it's certainly not orange).

But, if my colleagues and I can collectively come up with some great ideas about how we can minimise the effect of the situation we find ourselves in, then that's got to be a positive.

My team is going to start the ball rolling on this.

We've been asked to lead a review of the council's entire communications functions with a view to making efficiencies across the council.

We're one of several areas of the council that are being looked at. The council’s corporate leadership team has agreed to progress urgent reviews of these and other similar functions in order to rationalise what we do.

For me personally, I think it makes sense given where we find ourselves.

Next this week ... council newspapers.

Eric Pickles, the secretary of state for local government wrote an article in Saturday's Guardian newspaper in which he talked about toughening the rules on local council publications.

He said he wants crack down on those councils that publish something weekly which can't really be distinguished from the local independent media.

Well, here's a revelation - I agree with you Mr Pickles.

By 'those councils' he means, well, just six actually. Most are in London and the southeast. The fact that they are printing and publishing weekly 'freesheets' which include film reviews, TV listings and sports coverage (among other items) is the main reason why they are being targeted for criticism.

The vast majority of local authorities (ours included) publish perhaps four or six times a year and manage to restrict themselves to council information only.

Yes, there is always going to be a debate about whether 15p per edition (in our case) is a good use of taxpayers’ money, but at least we could hardly be accused of damaging the local media.

We’re certainly not trying to chase its limited advertising incomes!

In fact, senior people from the Johnston Press have told me they are entirely relaxed about our paper because they don't feel that their revenues are threatened.

Mr Pickles says in his article: "Local newspapers are absolutely vital to a thriving democracy. They are key to open and transparent government where people can hold their council to account."

I agree entirely and I'm very keen we support our local media. There's no chance my council would ever try and be the 'new YEP'.

Public sector websites now.

The Government announced last week that it is to close numerous public sector websites which it believes are too expensive and don't provide value for money.
One of those in the firing line promotes chips.

Ministers say they are too many sites which appear to be there for 'vanity reasons only' and they have to go.

I'm embarrassed to report that Leeds City Council has dozens of subsites, some of which have sprung up from seemingly nowhere.

However, on this one, we are ahead of Government thinking. Our leaders – political and officer – have already taken a view that the time has come for us to take stock and close down what we don't need anymore.

Clearly, there needs to be some evaluation of these sites, but we know we can't continue to justify the cost of having dozens of websites all over the place.

It'll be easier when we launch our new leeds.gov.uk site next year, because we can start afresh and better plan what content and information we need on it.

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Government 'tightens rules' on council newspapers

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 03:05:00 -0700

I'm a member of the LGcommunications (Local Government) communications group and read with interest the story (there's one example of it here on the BBC website) about the Government's plans to tighten the rules on local councils publishing newspapers.

Frankly this is good news.

It will stop the tiny handful of councils who have managed to get the rest of us tarnished with the same brush, by taking on their local media and publishing something that can't be properly distinguished from another daily or weekly paper.

Given where the country's finances are now, this is a scandalous use of tax payers money by these councils.

Here's how LGcommunications reacted to the story:

David Holdstock, the Chairman of LGcommunications which represents local authority communications said today:
“We welcome the government’s moves to clarify the rules but warn that it won’t solve the problems of local newspapers. We want newspaper groups to flourish but they’ll need to substantially improve their coverage of local life in many areas to win lost readers
“These rules are aimed at minority of largely London based council newspapers, perhaps six in total, out of nearly 350 local authorities producing regular publications. The vast majority of council publications coexist peacefully with commercial newspapers and do a great job in telling their local communities how they can make the best use of local public services
“We’re pleased that the government appear to have rejected the Newspaper Society’s attempts to stop the majority of council publications operating and taking small amounts of advertising, and has recognised that “more information” will be “syndicated online” rather than being forced into be carried in local newspapers
“In a recent report the Audit Commission endorsed the role of local authority newspapers and magazines and in producing them councils are following best practice as recommended by the CLG and Local Government Association.
“As part of this review we will be seeking a commitment from the newspaper industry that they will improve the quality of local reporting which has fallen substantially in terms of quality and quantity over the past decade. We want to see reporters returning to report on council meetings, newspapers based in their locality and not in regional hubs.
“We will also be calling as part of this new settlement for government to allow local authorities to advertise statutory notices in the most cost effective media for the local taxpayer. Too often local newspapers simply don’t have the reach into the community and it would be more efficient and effective to put public notices online.
“There are many good partnerships between local newspapers and their council. LGcommunications will continue to work with newspaper groups to help journalists scrutinise and illuminate the work of local authorities.
Note to Editors
LGcommunications has published a report on the impact of local authority newspapers which can be found here http://www.lgcomms.org.uk/documents/PrvngCommsWrks-ImptOfcnclPubs.pdf
less than 5% of all publications are published fortnightly or weekly – around seven publications
The Audit Commission report on council communications spending can be found here: http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/Pages/councilperiodicalsandothercommunicationwiththepublic.aspx

LGcommunications represents local authority communications teams and has a working group on this issue with representatives of the major newspaper groups.

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Mallard travels on the mainline again

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 13:01:44 -0700

The locomotive which still holds the world speed record for a steam train was back on the mainline today.

But on this occasion Mallard was being towed and wasn't in steam.

She was moved this afternoon from the National Railway Museum at York to the the NRM's base at Shildon in County Durham.

I managed to get a quick shot of both Tornado, Mallard and the class 47 loco Prince William passing just north of a place called Longlands junction.

Tornado and Mallard.mov Watch on Posterous

I'm not really a train buff, but it still impresses me that a steam train ever managed to get to 126 miles an hour.

Hats off to the amazing locomotive engineer Sir Nigel Gresley who designed her.

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Captain's Log: June 22nd

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:23:03 -0700

This is a copy of my weekly blog which I write for work and is published on the council's intranet. The views I express in this log are my own, professional, views as the Head of Communications but do not necessarily reflect those of the authority itself.

Isn't it amazing what you find on work printers?

I have a particular moan that (where there isn't the 'managed print service') too much stuff is printed unnecessarily in the council.

Some people have foot notes on their email signature saying 'think green, do you really need to print this message?' yet we do anyway.

I recently started using a laptop at work which isn't properly set up to print yet. I think I'll leave it that way because it's far too tempting just to hit the Ctrl and P keys.

Having said all that thank you to the colleague who neatly typed out and then printed too many copies of a document called 'wish list' on our floor.

That's because his (I think it's a man) document has given me the starting point for this week's log. His list includes shirts with a 15" collar, boxer shorts, trainers, an iPod sock, underarm spray and 'bicycle accessories'.

Today of course is the government's emergency budget and Chancellor George Osborne may have already risen to his feet in the House of Commons by the time you're reading this. He might have even finished.

Over the last few days the media has been busy speaking to experts, commentators and business people asking them what they'd like to see from the budget. 'Give us your wish list' they've been saying.

That's easy from my point of view I'd like Mr Osborne to tell us that:

1. They've found piles of cash in a cupboard in Number 11 and 'everything is going to be alright'.
2. No cuts are necessary.

3. All local council services are 'safe' and there's no need to panic.
4. In fact, feel free to go and 'splash some cash' on stuff.

Of course, that's not even likely.

So, we're bracing ourselves for some pretty gloomy news and my team and I have been preparing for how we should react.

We've drafted a council response, but we're going to have to flesh it out as the Chancellor speaks because the actual detail of what he'll say isn't available.

At least everyone will get the news at the same time unlike last week when we were given no notice about the government's announcement regarding the scrapping and suspension of a number of capital projects.

For us it meant the Holt Park well being centre was put on hold.

May I say a big thanks to Councillor Lucinda Yeadon who has set the bar for responding to media requests for interviews. I rang her at 2.16pm on Friday afternoon and said 'would you do me a massive favour and go on the TV for me?' She said 'yes' straight away and only then asked what it was about. And she didn't flinch when I said the journalist and her cameraman were already on their way and would arrive at 2.45!

That's what you call a speedy response. Well done Councillor.

We also recorded a quick audio clip of Councillor Yeadon responding to the Holt Park news, which was on the virtual newsroom within an hour of the story breaking. This was fine for all the broadcasters who used it on their bulletins but not so great for one newspaper which said it 'didn't have the technology to play the audio' so could we 'type it out for them instead please?' So much for newspapers embracing the digital world.

In other news I'd like to extend an 'official' welcome to Tom Riordan who began his induction programme today with a meeting with colleagues from the Planning, Policy and Improvement teams. We posted a note on the intranet last week when Tom's proper start date was confirmed. It's August 16th.

By the time you're reading this, it's likely we will also have announced details of the newest edition to the council's senior team. Nigel Richardson has been appointed as our new Director of children's services. Nigel currently works at Hull City Council. See the intranet news pages for more.

Finally - thank you to John Devine from environment and neighbourhoods whose sharp wit is worthy of another mention in this log. Last week, you'll remember that I started my entry with the opening line from Gloria Gaynor's song 'I will survive'. I suggested that my team had said 'you're back' when I returned from my leave.

John emailed to ask whether my team also said:

[We] should have changed [the] stupid lock

[We] should have made you leave your key

If [we] had known for just one second you'd be back to bother me [us].

Very amusing Mr D!

For the record they didn't.

See you on the other side of the emergency budget. Keep calm and carry on.

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Invitation to 'gobbledygook' councillor

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:17:11 -0700

Local government is a small family and it would be wrong of me to poke fun at or criticise another council. But, I couldn't help have a giggle at the story below which a former colleague of mine from the BBC spotted running on the wires tonight.

It's all the more interesting for me because my council is trying to get rid of gobbledygook and our efforts to do so have been highlighted on the BBC's One Show programme.

Here's the story:

A Nottinghamshire council chief has been accused of talking "gobbledygook" after imposing new rules on language banning references to everyday words and phrases, it has been revealed.

Nottinghamshire County Council leader Councillor Kay Cutts banned the phrase "Greater Nottingham" and insisted the phrase "Core City Area" should be used instead.

Her decision emerged through minutes of a private meeting of a new board that covers the area, which includes Nottingham city and several outlying districts looked after by the county.

Previously an informal partnership was in place between the county and city councils but a formal Core City Board was created, holding its first meeting on June 7.

Minutes from that meeting show the leader "banned" use of the term Greater Nottingham. The phrase "core city area" will now be used, council bosses said on Wednesday. Under the heading "language", the minutes from the meeting say: "the leader has banned using the terms 'Greater Nottingham' and 'conurbation'."

But Labour councillor and opposition leader Alan Rhodes branded the move "bureaucratic nonsense" and said the phrase was "gobbledygook".

He said: "This suggests a rather dictatorial stance from the leader of the council. It's just gobbledygook, it doesn't mean anything to anybody. It doesn't give you any sense of place or identity to call it a Core City Area. It's bureaucratic nonsense, it's just local government speak. People will still call it Greater Nottingham, they know what that means.

"It's the kind of jargon that excludes ordinary people from discussions. It makes it exclusive to people who understand what the core city area is and does. It doesn't open itself up to wider discussion. It smacks of inward looking local government."

But Cllr Cutts said: "Relationships between the city and county have never been stronger. On June 7, the first meeting of the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Joint Leadership Board met for the first time. The city and surrounding areas are now represented by the Core City Board. In order to ensure we remain consistent, the authority will now use the term core city area."

Well Councillor Cutts - for a small fee I'd be delighted to come along and give you some plain English advice. Call me!

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Booing about June 21

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 22:23:24 -0700

AndyBoo7.mp3 Listen on Posterous

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Captain's Log: June 16th

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 09:03:40 -0700

As Gloria Gaynor once said (and my colleagues did on Monday)–you're back! Yes, I am (but not from outer space).

Thanks to Phil for looking after things while I was away–but I need to pick him up on one thing. He mentioned ‘HMS Communications’ when he should have known that we’re a ‘starship’.

Way back when (it’s ages ago) I started writing my captain’s log, we played on the Star Trek ‘theme’ and got in as many clichés as we could.

Hence that’s why we’re a starship and not a sailing ship.

You’ll recall that Phil talked about change–change that we’d like to make, or perhaps, given where we are now, change that we’ll have to make.

I’d like to continue that discussion today.

Before I go any further, I need to ask you–dear loyal reader–to brace yourself against a fixed object.

I’m about to say something that even I didn’t expect to.

Ready?

I acknowledge, with some understanding and appreciation, about what the Tax Payers Alliance has been saying in recent days about things like public spending and transparency.

No, you didn’t misunderstand that.

I can see where the TPA is coming from.

It, of course, is an organisation I have been fairly critical of in previous logs, especially over its use of the Freedom of Information Act.

But today, I can see why it takes a particular stance.

Here’s why.

Over the last few weeks the coalition government has been increasingly talking about the ‘pain’ that lies ahead with regard to spending on public services.

We already know about the plans to save £6 billion this year. For us at Leeds City Council it means we’ll be getting £15 million less than we’d budgeted for this year. Coupled with all the other financial pressures we face as a council this is going to be a serious challenge.

Last week, the most senior people in the organisation met for their regular corporate leadership team meeting to discuss how this might be achieved.

Let’s be honest–it’s not going to be easy.

We’ve found efficiencies of £100m over the last five years, so some might argue that we’re pretty lean already. But it’s clear that the future means some, perhaps many, difficult decisions are going to have to be made.

In his first media interview since taking over as leader, Councillor Wakefield was asked about what it is the council will have to stop doing.

Clearly the priority has to be protecting the most vulnerable in our great city.

Cllr Wakefield told me that we should be ‘talking things down rather than up’ and that we all have a role in managing people’s expectations about what services we may not be able to provide in future.

For us as communicators I think that we’re going to find ourselves talking more about the bad news and less about the good news over the coming months.

Sorry to be such a doom and gloom merchant, but we’ve got to be realistic.

I’m sorry to say that cuts are inevitable now.

On a slightly lighter note, I need to offer my thanks to the team of fantastic people in Civic Hall who keep the place sparkling and clean.

I say this because the lid on my fruit salad plastic carton flew open while I was walking back to the office yesterday and the contents ended up on the carpet in the antechamber.

The only thing left in the box was a lone strawberry.

OK, so I was disappointed that no one rushed to my aid and the one colleague who did walk past while my grapes were tumbling across the floor only stepped round them instead of offering to help.

However, hats off to the cleaners because all it took to restore my fruit salad to its original form was a quick rinse under the tap. There was no carpet fluff or other nasties to fish out first.

I suggest that’s down to the vigorous hoovering the carpet gets each day.

Finally, it seems I’ve been rumbled.

Robert from the youth offending service emails:

"Enlightening as ever, but I was amazed to see an apparent slip-up–particularly surprising in the light of Andy’s recent appearance on "The One Show" regarding plain English. So "Taking up the reigns" ??? "Reins", surely, unless Cat was ruling rather than steering! (It’ll come as no surprise to you that I’m well known for my pedantry)."

It’s a fair cop … (did you see what I did there? [what with Robert being from the youth offending team!])–yep, I got it wrong.

Thank you Robert for the gentle reprimand.

But as my mum tells me: ‘Andy you can’t expect to be amazingly brilliant all the time.’ And we all know that mums are always right!

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There's something 'great' about British Railways

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:35:56 -0700

If you're a regular reader of my ramblings you'll know that I live in North Yorkshire.

The North York Moors are on my doorstep (about a 20 minute drive away) but it is a place that I don't get to often enough.

I'm on leave this week, so despite the appalling weather here today, I decided to entrust my life (and my sanity) to public transport to do a bit of exploring of the moors.

At one point I found myself in Grosmont, headquarters of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and where it has its engineering workshops.

You're allowed to wander round to see what is going on. Among the piles of ash, coal, spare parts, rusty relics and oil rags was the locomotive that bears the name of the man most people (myself included) regard as the finest ever locomotive engineer - Sir Nigel Gresley.

He's the man who designed Mallard which to this day still holds the world speed record for a steam train - 126 miles an hour.

It looks like the loco Sir Nigel Gresley is in need of some tender loving care (as you can see below), but fortunately it seems to be getting it from the dedicated people of the NYMR railway.

There was something else that caught my eye.

I've never really properly studied the former British Railways logo, but it was on the side of a another loco parked up in one of the sidings.

I've decided I like it.

There's something great about it in fact.

It's bold.

It's industrial.

It's powerful.

And on the side of a massive great locomotive it kind of has the 'Ronseal effect. You know, it sort of 'says what it does on the tin'.

It's a shame British Railway's reputation was never as great as it's logo was.

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Council 'spin doctoring' under the microscope

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 10:27:00 -0700

I knew this moment would come at some point.

It's a council paying a member of staff a 'high' salary which suddenly gets the attention of the media and a certain Eric Pickles.

Oh, and throw in the Tax Payers Alliance for good measure and you've got a bugger of an issue to defend.

No surprise then that the salary isn't for a social worker, nope, it's for a ... head of communications.

Of course, the East Anglian Daily Times calls them a 'spin doctor' and the Tax Payers Alliance says they'll only be publishing news about how wonderful the council is.

Well, I say well done to Suffolk County Council for defending the need to have a well paid communications person, who far from spending time sending out stuff about how wonderful the council is, will actually be needed to help explain to the people of Suffolk about the 'pain' that lies ahead as the axe falls with regard to public spending.

But, this new head of communications will also have to make sure they can prove their worth (and that of his or her team), use evaluation, insight and intelligence to back up everything they do and never forget that they have as much to do to help the council save money as every other person that works there.

OK, I don't personally think that a head of communications for a local authority needs to be paid more than the Prime Minister, but it's pleasing to see that another council thinks there is a need to invest in communications right now, even if that means just rejigging existing resources.

At the recent LGcommunications national conference in Leeds, my new council leader Keith Wakefield recorded a video in which he acknowledged the need to 'invest in communications' which he told delegates is 'key part of democracy.' You can watch the video here.

That's good to hear Councillor.

Here's how the Press Association is reporting the story above:

A Tory minister has criticised a Conservative Suffolk council's decision to pay a public relations manager between GBP2,000 and GBP3,500 a week.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said Suffolk County Council had not made a "compelling case" for offering its latest head of communications a "super salary".

The council, which in recent years has also been criticised for paying chief executive Andrea Hill more than GBP200,000 a year, defended the move and argued that taxpayers would benefit in the long run.

News of the deal emerged in local newspaper the East Anglian Daily Times. The new boss is due to start a six-month contract later this month.

"We are calling time on this reckless attitude to spending taxpayers' cash on super salaries," said Mr Pickles. Local government must wake up and realise the gravy train is on borrowed time.

"The days of taking the taxpayer for a ride are over. We must deliver value for money and I believe our plans to throw open the books of councils will put an end to wasteful spending. There may well be a compelling case for this salary but so far it hasn't been made."

The Taxpayers' Alliance, which campaigns for better use of public money, also criticised the council.

"Spending on public relations and communications at local council level is far too high already - GBP700 a day for six months will leave Suffolk taxpayers with an astronomical bill, all so that the local authority can tell residents how great they are.

"An age of austerity is coming and the county council should make do with the communications staff they already have. They could easily cut back on the work they do that is targeted at their own residents."

A Suffolk County Council spokesman said: "A temporary head of communications will start on June 14 and whose job will be to implement the recommendations of the recent communications and marketing review. The review will deliver significant savings to the county."

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