Lambing with LEDs

Farming isn't all bad after all, especially if you can produce these fine specimens.

Hat's off to the people who make/are making/made this year's lambing season go well.

The Rutland Correspondent doesn't just blog...

...he's also made it onto his old school's Drama homepage movie. 

Check it here

Who said politics & acting never went together!

We, the people....

...produce a video advertising the 'Tax day tea party', which has the right message, but delivers it in a wholly wrong way.



I like: The idea and the message: Boston tea party as a sense of revolution/protest. Some of the banners too. 'Repeal the pork or your bacon is cooked' and 'tcot report dot com' (of which The Rutland Correspondent is a member: SnudgeB). The child holding the 'I read as much of the Stimulus bill as my congress did' is also a classic.

I don't like: The music, it's a homage to Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, but still, a tad inappropriate. The constant 'we the people' flying across the screen, 'Speak now or forever hold your peace' as a final slogan, and the slightly haunting picture it dubs. The Windows PowerPoint backgrounds at the start

Breaking News: Outen is Out!

Sarah Outen, of 'Rutland's news is a bit like Preston Hill...' fame, has sadly been forced out of her record attempt to cross the Indian Ocean.

The latest can be found here.

I'm sure Raddlemen across the UK will be wishing her well, and hoping she hits the water again soon.

Hello, Afternoon, Morning. I mean, what time is it?

Boris at his best. And a bit of bread and butter PR at the same time.

Viva la Conservatives....

Shooting, Conservatives, Palin and The Rock?

This month's The Field Magazine has a couple of interesting items I can thoroughly recommend reading. The opening story is of how the Olympic shooting team was snubbed by Cherie Blair when they received the opportunity to meet dignitaries at Number 10. The article goes further into how the Olympic Budget has seen shooting's slice slashed by 80%. A temporary shooting ground (quite indicative of the current administration) is to be erected at a cost of £25 million to the tax payer at Woolwich. This comes as Bisley still maintains it's world-renown status following the 2002 Commonwealth games.

The second item comes from the letter's page, where a lady wrote in to inform The Field of friend of the author hitting a right and left at a woodcock ( a very difficult manoeuvre to pull off in shooting). The end of the letter ends as such:

'...the more ladies we can encourage into shooting the more support we can expect from the public at large'

Being a typical PR student, I pondered this end statement. Normally a celebrity spokesperson may add weight to a cause, but more women in a oft-mistaken male-orientated sport? A most interesting idea....

Let's look stateside for some answers. The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) of WWE fame, and a Correspondent recommended auto-bigoraphy, once spoke at the Republican National Convention (much like Conservative Conference Season). A known Republican, he could be seen as a brand champion: 

O. Burns Celebrity Endorsement Formula

'Keen & Clean' celebrity spokesman + product/belief + media channel(s) = air time

air time ÷ new/renewed interest in product/belief = % positively changed public opinion

Perhaps this idea might help our shooting cause. What if someone like The Rock could become a brand champion for one of Great Britain's most traditional of past times. Would that celebrity be willing to take the regular flak from the often left-wing (and possibly there biggest fan base) argument that it is the sport of the rich killing the defenseless for pleasure? I might conclude not. 

What if our brand champion wasn't quite as big as The Rock. What if that brand champion wasn't just one person? Perhaps the author does have the right idea of getting a group of people (in this case, UK women of 18+) to start taking up the sport and championing it's cause....

Then again, would we get a Palin effect? Great ideas, great image, great to start off with, but will it just wither out over time very rapidly? Would our brand champion/champions fit the 'Keen & Clean' part of our equation? Again, I may argue not.

We might find, therefore, that brand champions for shooting are a no-no. Perhaps having pictures of women holding guns is the way forward for the sport. Political Parties may be the stopping point for celebrities to publicly endorse without too much flak. 

One thing is for certain: for the great sport to survive the next ten years, it needs to get more supporters. How to do that without celebrity endorsement?: another blogpost for another day.

A Rutland minute on Blogging and Social Networking 2.25

Our PR class today was taken by another lecturer from the University, who was an experienced blogger and journalist.

As a class we brainstormed the things we had learnt from our blogs, and what we would do to improve/enrich audience and readers. The two words which proved most popular were varied and relevant.

If I was to create a mission statement on what I'd like to achieve with this blog, I might actually struggle. Not simply because I can't think of what to write, but because I might be struggling to put it into 150 words. Much like Twitter's 140 character limit, I think I might need to sort out and compartmentalise my goals.

"I try to be funny, though careful as to my style of humour. One great business lecturer once said that "No one buys from a clown". I try to interest my readers in politics. Particularly so from a conservative viewpoint, as it is often a subject many shy away from socially, but willing to discuss with great account otherwise. I also try to bring news from my home county Rutland, which would mostly go unnoticed in the busy world around it. I also find the blog somewhat personal, even though I were advised not to be overtly life-sharing."

98 Words. Hang on, I just thought I'd struggle to write that. Perhaps I can't quite touch the word count, but it is a very messy statement. 

Perhaps the answer is in the blog sub-title

"Multum In Parvo, Latin for Much In Little" (Rutland's motto)

I do have a lot to say and do, and not a lot to say it in. I do have much to talk about, though find it hard putting it down as a condensed posting. I also have much to say about Rutland, but in a too smaller channel for mainstream media to pick up. Truly, it is Much in Little. So it may not be the most auspicious mission statement, though my county is proud to carry it as it's motto. I too shall be proud to have it as this blog's mantra.

As an aside to today's class, we were also asked to think about Twitter, 5 weeks on from our original opinions. To use my regular lecturer's words from our internal class blog, 'the often dismissive and unflattering' comments we pass about twitter are still fairly prevalent. I would agree to an extent with them, though I am pleased to have found very like minded people on their. My 76 followers are mostly US-Born. Is this good or bad? Who knows. I'm pleased, though, that I have met them online and that Twitter does allow me to see all their happening without digging to deeply into their lives. Perhaps this is Social Networking 2.25? Personal, Online, Global and yet not too personal?!

Rutland's news is a bit like Preston Hill...

On the up-side:This week Sarah Outen, of Oakham, heads into waters known along the the Indian Ocean, and you can follow her progress with her blog live from the boat here. We wish our intrepid Raddleman well.

On the down-side: It was a sad story this week to hear RPC, one of Rutland's biggest employers, is set to make redundancies. Based along the Pilling's Road industrial estate, RPC is well known for it's plastic works within several key industries.

Forget Foggy-Bottom and Pentagon City

The next train at, Platform 1, is for AOL...

Liberal Island Discs

I awoke after last night's PR night out to Desert Island Discs on the radio, with guest Richard Madeley (of Richard & Judy fame). I heard his Who song choice and was thoroughly impressed. I didn't manage to catch the whole programme, and it is one of the few not available as a catch up on the BBC iPlayer.

As I walked into town, I suddenly decided to begin part hum and part sing a couple of Feeder songs. I think I was pondering about some long lost love interest, and one of Feeder's songs, Just The Way I'm Feeling, came into my head and reminded me of her.

Later on, I was doing a due essay for University, and had my music player on Shuffle Play-All. The Jam's (commercially most successful) b-side, Butterfly Collector, came on, as did the Travelling Wilbury's Dirty World.

This had me pondering, if I was stuck on an island full of liberals, what would be my desert island discs (not minding an island to myself, an island of liberals might just send me off the wall). One might argue I'm already on that island, but that's for another blog post, another time.

In typical R4 fashion of maintaining the rules, I'll choose my 8 tracks, a book and a luxury item.

So, which tracks, who by and why? (Links to videos of the song have been included)

1. Just The Way I'm Feeling - Feeder: The track that really switched me on to the band, I vividly remember them in concert. What a band. Reminds me of so much in my life.
2. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana: Bedroom Rock at it's finest, this was the band when I was 14. Their Unplugged session was, in my opinion, their best session and album. This track, though, is their symbol. Kurt = Hero
3. Freestyler - Bomfunk MCs: Hungarian euro dance techno whatsit at its finest. My first ever album, In Stereo, by the band was and still is a real treasure. This classic tune still hasn't lost it's original glory with me. A remixed version, compiled by me and some D of E chums, also helped us when we climbed some distant hills in Exmoor.
4. Cherry Pie - Warrant: Filled with lude humour, innuendo, and a video that can make any man lust after Bobbi Brown, Warrant really get into the 80s hair metal. Released in 1992, this song captures all of the 80s rock you can think of, and doesn't take itself too seriously. One of the two most stable women in my life, the other being Greggs ladies of Fawcett Street
5. Mama Weer All Crazee Now - Slade: A karaoke must and good clean rock & roll. Played all the way up the A6 to Ballathie, and many places since. Anyone can sing along to the simple chorus at the end, and guaranteed to get everyone rocking out the place.
6. Baggy Trousers - Madness: Oakham School in a nutshell. It was 2004 I picked up Madness: The Lot, 6 of their best albums digitally remastered. This track now just makes so much sense. 'Oh what fun we had, but did it really turn out bad?'
7. Stronger - Kanye West (feat. Daft Punk): A strange choice. I'm not usually a fan of rap/r&b etc, but this song makes an excellent fusion of house and rap. It just reminds me of 4 months of my life: September - December 2007. Starting University, I suddenly found life really was Harder Better Faster Stronger. I'd still like to give shout out to P. Diddy, M.O.P, 2pac and a little 50 cent. All of them 20 tracks in my WMP library classed as 'rap', they all have their place. 
8. Round & Round - The Fantasticks: One of the most undiscovered musicals in the UK, this was my last foray on the stage. A truly fantastic musical, full of humour and romance, despair and hope, this song is one of my favourites from it. I played Henry, the aging bald actor who was really about ready to retire from the stage (an ominous sign in my real life, it still nearly brings a tear to my eye).

If they were all about to be washed away, and I could save only one record?: Feeder's Just The Way Im Feeling

My book?: The House Of Cards by Michael Dobbs - The book that introduced me to Politics and Public Relations. I can only dream of one day being in Francis Urqhart's position of power

My Luxury?: Toilet Paper, the no. 1 item that goes into a D of E rucksack any day

And there you have it, The Rutland Correspondent's Liberal Island Discs. Id urge any of my followers to post their Liberal (or Desert) Island Discs on their blogs, it can really surprise you and your friends when music tracks old and new come up for discussion

The train approaching Platform 1...

...is the 07.51 National Express Service to Glasgow Central, calling at...

As I sit in a first class carriage, on my way back to Sunderland, I thought I would take the time to say thanks to all the people at National Express East Coast for making the east coast service a fantastic rail service.

The only real service between Peterborough and Newcastle, NXEC (the old GNER) is a benchmark which other train services should look up to.

How funny that a privatised railroad, often overtly critiscied by the many, really is a dream come true. Ticket prices are very competitve, service is fantastic and the efficiency is most noticeable.

On the subject of trains, don't you wish you had a pair of these?!

I’m not a politician. I’m a businessman, with a sense of history

The Lessons of The Long Good Friday

A very young cast of Pierce Brosnan, Hellen Mirren and Bob Hoskins all star in what is arguably the best British gangster film.

When reading The Spectator (a magazine with mainly right-wing comment) this week, I came across the article on how we have learnt lessons from the film. Below is the video of one of the best scenes in the film, Harold Shand giving his famous speech 

Skip to 1.15, otherwise you may be put off by the story arcs introduced so early on; it's the speech Id like to focus on.

A true visionary, but are we living out his own downfall? By the end of the film, Harry is slowly losing grip on his empire, and the ambiguous last scene is roughly where we are now in the recession

No comment from me this time, I leave that to The Spectator, as I cannot improve on it. 

One final note: Buy this film (£4 from leading retailers), Watch it and enjoy 

Previously along Uppingham's High Street West

While Obama is losing the battle in DC, the Uppingham Raddlemen are triumphing over the town's great 'parking war'. 

Viva la Conservatives

From Clacton to Manhattan, on Social Media Airways' Business Class

Whilst sitting in my Social Media class at university, we came across the story of Kimberley Swann, a 16 year old Essex girl who was asked to leave her employer. Her dismissal was down to her posting as her Facebook status that she was 'Bored at Work'.

Whilst the saying goes 'all publicity is good publicity', the firm at the center of the row, Ivell Marketing & Logistics, has seen a huge rise in groups opposing her dismissal. Just searching for the company on Facebook displays an array of groups that seek to show their near hatred for the company.

As a class, we were asked to pick a firm we know to have a web presence, and do a communications audit on them. Simply put, this is a review of what they say, what we say, and whether its good or bad, on several different platforms. The stipulation: Our only source of information was the internet.

Two of my passions in life are food and the USA. Where better to review than one of my favourite restaurants, the Comfort Diner in Manhattan, NY. Famed for good quality food, and featured in the Rutland Correspondent Recommends listing, it seemed the perfect choice.

Like Spandau Ballet, 'To cut a long story short', I didn't quite lose my mind; I instead found some fairly interesting stuff. 

Having searched Youtube, Facebook, Amazon, Google, Wikipedia, Google Maps, Flickr and Review sites, one great feature was clear: It was nearly all very positive user-generated content. The good people at the Comfort Diner have a website, and very little else which they themselves control. A fanbase internet-wide has formed, without the Comfort Diner doing very much. On being asked 'What would you do if you were the Comms. Dept for Comfort Diner?', I had a typical Raddlemen's answer: Multum In Parvo.

By not publishing as much, and having user generated content, Comfort Diner should have a fantastic press. Much press from little input. Though there would be a lot to be said for not publishing very much either. How do I tell my diners about new menus? How do I tell them about the new Staten Island Diner? Without using some self-publicising, I wouldn't be able to tell them.

While it's good to have great reviews and a huge fanbase appreciating what you do, be it food or clothes, insurance or wealth management, you need to give back to them. Don't be afraid to publish yourself or your product, even if you have a strong and loyal fans.

Perhaps all publicity is good publicity. Like a good pancakes and syrup, pour some publicity over that large mountain of fans.

Photos A'hoy

Some photos of Whitby, as promised

Taken using the HTC TyTN II phone; apologies for poor quality