Wimbledon

As ever rocks the country for two weeks, and rightly so. I have been lucky enough to go to the championships virtually every year since I was 14 years old, and only on centre or No 1 courts (due to a father very much involved in tennis).

In that respect I hail the tournament wholeheartedly, it is a fabulous day out. And since improvements to the club over the years have been made, such as the big screen on the mount/hill, screens outside the showcourts and expanded drink and food areas, all the much better for everyone lucky enough to get in the gates.

Yet I have one gripe: Many, many requests from terminally ill children and adults involved in the charity the Willow Foundation (set up by Bob Wilson and his wife after the premature death of their daughter Meg) have fallen on deaf ears at our estmeemed Wimbledon.

With my father's connections with the club and the LTA I wrote a letter asking for their involvement, only for them to say they are committed to other charities and would not consider.

The Willow Foundation grants dying wishes...Wimbledon would not be moved. Given how hard it is for most people who are not dying to get in, surely there should be some inkling of a tender thought for these people?

The LTC Wimbledon is steeped in money. Have a thought.

Climate change/energy use

Climate change has been going on for millions of years.

We had the jurassic, triassic, cretaceous, carbinoferous, devonian, the ice age, the melt-down etc etc etc I could go on however I am not a paleontologist or geologist.

What I am saying is, climate change happens. Right now we are blaming fuel consumption, flouro-carbons, even breathing out too often, on climate change.

So look at the history of our planet. How many dinosaurs drove cars? How much electricity was used to cause the last ice age?

This planet is ever changing and ever evolving. It has been for millions of years.
At the end of the day, what happened to the dinosaurs?

A great big rock hit and that was it, in a few minutes. Life wiped out.

So should we be worried about climate change?

The debacle of the London 2012 disastrix tix goes on...why is that, I wonder?

Well maybe, and my estimated friends from Loughborough (ie: Lord Coe) may know the answer....me thinks, but won't admit (of course):

Maybe because the priority goes to corporates...Why? hmmm.. because of the ec deficit and the fact we got 'landed' with the games just before it became really clear how bad that deficit was going to be....that, hmm.. somehow, maybe, the corps might actually help pay for the games....?

What do you think?

So why choose a former news journalist with a shedload of experience writing for nationals when it comes to PR?

Well, you can train in PR and become a PR exec at one of zillions of agencies around the country. Be someone who has never worked in the press.

Or you can train at newspapers for many years and work your way up and deal with PR agencies with their miniscule actual practical knowlegde of the press from the other side.

OR you can do both.

I know what the press wants, I know how to write it, I don't have to keep phoning up journalists to see if they like my press releases or keep asking them if they are going to use them.

My work for clients gets picked up by the press straight away, so much so, I have to check, check and check the internet because lazy journos who get handed great stories on a plate don't call back. Why should they? I wouldn't.

Oh PR agencies, their treadmill of sales and promotions, their placing of clients on obscure websites and in geek specialist publications which never reach the wider marketplace.

Please don't do journalism.