This is a hot topic at the moment. Not a day has gone by since the end of April that BP has not received negative coverage in the media, both in the U.S. and pretty much everywhere else on the back of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
BP is responsible for what is widely acknowledged to be the worst oil spill in U.S. history and, at the forefront of their public relations campaign for much of the last few weeks, is BP CEO and media punch bag, Tony Hayward. Not an enviable position to be in, by any means.
The explosion on the BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that occurred on April 20th was undoubtedly an operations failure. Mr. Hayward, who has become known via Newsweek as ‘the bumbler from BP’, can not be held directly accountable for this.
But he has done himself few favours in the media spotlight.
Aside from the football itself, one of the quirkier stories to emerge from the World Cup over the last few days has been the arrest - and subsequent release - of two young Dutch women, arising from their attendance at a match involving their national team. The alleged crime was novel.
Ireland’s objector culture, and the seemingly endless regulatory review process, is costing the country very dearly in terms of lost investment and jobs. There is now a growing lack of investor confidence in Ireland’s statutory planning processes, and the Strategic Infrastructure Act under which Bord Pleanala was supposed to speed up the examination and permitting of vital projects, is simply not delivering.
It can now take twelve months and more for the Strategic Infastructure Division of the board to decide whether a particular infrastructural project qualifies for this so-called “fast-tracking” route.
Multi-national corporations look for certainty, whether it is in the field of taxation or regulation. Government at every level is very alert to giving assurances about the sanctity of our 12.5 per cent Corporation Tax Rate. It is now time they showed the same level of concern for the growing impact that regulatory uncertainty is having on would-be investors.
There was a very strong case to be made in support of extending the area of Dublin City Centre to which a 30kph speed restriction would apply. However, the failure of Dublin City Council and the supporters of the initiative to clearly communicate the benefits of the move almost led to its speedy demise.
The Council’s proposals doubled the size of the area of the city centre, where a 30kph zone already applied, creating a 1.5km by 2km square in the special speed zone in the heart of the city centre. The intention was to make the heart of the city centre more pedestrian and bike friendly.
You’ve all heard of Stockholm Syndrome, the very strange phenomenon of hostages becoming entirely dependent on their captors, and developing a deep emotional attachment to them.
Well, in light of recent developments concerning RTE broadcasting bigwigs, Charlie Bird and George Lee - although both will probably be relieved that Willie O’Dea has since decided to hog the news agenda in their stead - I think we are now witnessing the emergence of a parallel phenomenon, which I will call Montrose Syndrome.
We had scarcely gotten over Charlie’s high-profile, televised plea to be unshackled from the tedium and loneliness of a to-die-for Washington assignment to return to the bosom of Montrose, when his erstwhile buddy, George Lee decided to abandon his ambitions to save Ireland from economic ruin and – yes, you’ve guessed it – return too to the Montrose pastures.
One of the best things on television, on any channel, these past few weeks has been the RTE documentary series, The School. Set in St. Peter’s College, in Dunboyne, Meath, the three part documentary - the final episode of which is to be screened this evening on RTE1 - offers a terrific insight into school life in contemporary Ireland and proves the old story telling adage that there are no tales as interesting as those to be found in real life.
However, from a public relations standpoint, questions have emerged about whether the series has portrayed the school and those within it in a wholly a positive light. The school principal has expressed concern over negative aspects of the school being highlighted in the first episode. There has been some heated discussion on Internet forums on whether it is really fair for the programme makers to show footage of pupils being criticised by teachers in private.
Icebergs off the coast of Donegal? Could it really be true? Certainly, even 24 hours ago, it looked like this was the real deal.
Highland Radio yesterday reported as follows: “The iceberg is clearly visible and poses no danger for ships. The island has been capitalising on this latest development, with many visitors over the weekend, and special sightseeing tours being organised. Meanwhile, it’s reported the pubs on the island are offering a special iceberg cocktail containing ice cubes taken from it”.
How deeply ironic that it was the trade union leadership that lifted the lid on the outmoded work practices in the public service as they struggled – and failed – to do a deal with the Government just before the Budget.
The reality is that we are mired in a deep economic crisis. We may have grown wealthy for a few years by building houses and selling them to one another. But we’ve had to wean ourselves off the mind-altering, performance enhancing property bubble. The touchstone of our survival now is production of goods and services that are competitive abroad.
We need social solidarity like never before. We need critical analysis, not hackneyed class rhetoric. We also need real, inspirational leadership, from our politicians and, yes, from trade union leaders too. Leadership based on facts, not fantasy.
Recently, Maclaren, the leading British consumer lifestyle company famed for its ‘premium’ baby pushchairs, announced the recall of approximately one million buggies in the U.S. after it emerged that 12 children had their fingers amputated by the seemingly innocuous hinges on the buggies.
All Maclaren single and double umbrella pushchairs sold in the U.S. in the past decade, including the popular Volo and Techno models, were voluntarily recalled by the company, who announced they were proactively providing customers and retailers with a kit to cover the offending joint on the hinge mechanism.
Now, product recalls are a fact of manufacturing life and can occur in organisations that have the most stringent and rigid quality control standards. But, for a company that prides itself on manufacturing the Rolls Royce of strollers, this is just about as bad as it gets.
Only one story can claim credit for generating 1,558 news articles, along with countless rants over the past week – French striker Thierry Henry’s skillful double handball during extra time in the match against Ireland on Wednesday night last week.
While the event filled the traditional newsprint and broadcast media’s pages and airwaves almost exclusively for the next few days, some of the more interesting parts of the unfolding drama took place on social media channels.
