Fishburn Hedges

John Williams

Kerry Katona, Charlie Sheen, Fred Goodwin.  How all our national treasures fail us.  And is there any difference between them?  We create them.  We build them up.  We give them honours.  And then we seem to want to destroy them.  But to punish the wicked, or appease our sense of guilt and remorse?  We voted in droves for the government and for the economic model that culminated in Fred Goo...

Lucy Preston, Fishburn Hedges

One of this week’s Google Doodles caught my eye as it celebrated the 374th birthday of Nicolas Steno, the founder of modern Geology. It got me thinking about the beginnings of the ‘Doodle’, and how they came to be so popular, usually putting a smile on people’s faces but occasionally provoking angry discussion. One thing for sure is that Google is a brilliant self publicist and through rev...

Tim Johns

The US presidential race has officially started.  The Republican Party has kicked off its search for a nominee with, as is its custom, the Iowa caucus.  The state – the size of England but with a population close to that of Wales – can now get back to normal as the coachloads of media and campaigners head off towards New Hampshire.  The presidential hopefuls have spent weeks parading their ...

Jennifer Edwards

I attended the fantastic iq2 if conference last weekend, which featured talks on a range of topics, from the future of sleep to creating sustainable architecture in Antarctica. However, the highlights for me were views on current and future marketing trends, and considering how these could be applied to the work we do at Fishburn Hedges. Paul Kemp-Robertson, co-founder and editorial director at qu...

Phil Drew

'Green consumerism’, to many diehard activists, is an outright contradiction in terms. Since our addiction to ‘stuff’ first landed us in this mess, you can see, on one level, that they’ve got a point. But the truth is humans are hardwired to make, grow, exchange, and treasure ‘things’. This has been so since man began. Even (you might argue, especially) during times of hardship, this i...

Jason Nisse

Now the dust is settling on the UBS rogue trader’s $2bn loss, a few thoughts on the communications issues: 1: The trader, Kweku Adoboli, was part of a team doing “Delta One” trading. This sounds like “Delta Force” - or maybe it should be renamed “testosterone trading”. Investment banks really need to think about their nomenclature. 2: UBS took about 18 hours to tell anyone, and then ...

Jake Richards

The political life of Nick Clegg has been remarkable. A man who two years ago was barely recognised by the public has seen his reputation reach the frenzied heights of Cleggmania during the General Election campaign, only to drop to the depths of embarrassing defeat in the local elections earlier this year. As Parliament reconvenes after the summer break, a further twist could be slowly emerging. ...

Rachel Barrett

And that’s a wrap. After a controversial beginning, a long pause, and an even more contentious conclusion the Health and Social Care Bill has finally ended its journey in the Commons. It was a week in which Nadine Dorries accused Evan Harris of blackmailing the government, the Lib Dems had another wobble and John Healey looked slightly bemused by it all on the Labour benches. We’re all aware o...

Rory Scanlan

In preparation for the new political season, last week the Prime Minister had one of his regular sessions with his advisers to discuss strategy. As his team gathered in Downing Street to plan their approach for the coming months, they would have been wise to leave plenty of time to discuss police reform. The fall-out from the riots, the ongoing News International saga and the implementation of "t...