News blogs and press

Mac's Musings- Strictly Sad Media Crisis
20/11/2008
Another minor media crisis for the BBC as John Sergeant steps lightly out of Strictly Come Dancing with some of the most deft footwork...
Press- Emulating an alter ego
17/11/2008
Emulating an alter ego Media trainer followed his hero up Mount Everest By Shawn Selby We all have alter egos -- real or fictional...
Article- Are your presentations more Gordon Brown than Barack Obama?
16/11/2008
At times of economic uncertainty, voters look to strong leaders to guide us out of our troubles. So with the eyes of the media...
Press- Do Inquiries waste public money?
16/11/2008
A public inquiry has been called after the conviction this week of two men over the death of a toddler who suffered appalling abuse...
Press- Solicitor, Ann Alexander, Turned Broadcaster Puts Public Inquiries in Spotlight
16/11/2008
Public Inquiries cost millions of pounds and make hundreds of recommendations for change -- but are they effective? In the half hour programme for...
Press- Ann goes public on inquiries
04/11/2008
A SOLICITOR from Hale has used her 30 years experience in health-related litigation to examine the role public inquiries play and whether lessons...
Press- Public Inquiries
30/10/2008
Public inquiries are a key tool for learning lessons when things go wrong, whether through disasters, mistakes or abuse. But how exactly do they...
Press- Solicitor turned broadcaster puts Public Inquiries in spotlight
13/10/2008
Ann Alexander has used her 30 years experience in health related litigation to examine the role public inquiries play and whether lessons are learnt...
Press- Commentary on Gordon Brown’s speech to the Labour Party Conference
23/09/2008
Former award-winning BBC TV reporter Alistair Macdonald from media consultancy, Alexander Macdonald, said: "The speech can be summed up in two words; faux passion....
Mac's Musings- Crisis? We’re still banking on you, Mervyn
18/06/2008
Alistair Darling Chancellor of the Exchequer No 11 Downing St 18 June 2008 Dear Alistair Sorry Whoops! Bit of a slip up this month...
Mac's Musings- Protecting your Reputation
17/06/2008
It's been a bad week for reputations. First, we learned that Sir Alan Sugar's chosen apprentice had lied his way to pole position and...
Press- HR brings in crisis training to tackle credit crunch
11/06/2008
A hike in crisis training is the result of HR bosses turning to media tactics as a way of dealing with the economic downturn....
Press- HR brings in crisis training to tackle credit crunch
03/06/2008
A hike in crisis training is the result of HR bosses turning to media tactics as a way of dealing with the economic downturn....
Mac's Musings- Crisis News Management – The China Syndrome 18.5.08
27/05/2008
The part the media play in any crisis is illustrated once again by the parallel tragedies in China and Burma. Give the right message...
Mac's Musings- A Princely Public Image Failure 21.4.08
21/04/2008
Dear Wills The lads down at the Slug and Banker were just wondering if we could borrow your Chinook for a few hours. You...
Mac's Musings- Public Incompetence – Getting the PR Game Right
20/04/2008
Public relations can be an imprecise science, but it never ceases to amaze me how governments and heads of state - with legions of...
Mac's Musings- Public Relations Message – Banking on Clarity
07/02/2008
There's nothing like a good public relations message to make your company's position absolutely clear to the outside world. The Northern Rock crisis has...
Mac's Musings- Public Relations Message – Safety in Training
07/02/2008
I went to Cardiff on the train earlier this week. An otherwise unexciting journey suddenly got more interesting when Arriva Trains Wales announced that...
Mac's Musings- Networking in the Wilderness
27/01/2008
You can net or network anywhere. At parties, business meetings, on trains, in bus queues - even in distant mountain bothies. Bothies are a...
Mac's Musings- Crisis News Management - Hain-style
25/01/2008
I've said it before and I'll say it again: crisis news management is all about protecting your reputation. So why do politicians still get...
Mac's Musings- French Farce
25/01/2008
Trust the French! On the very day that one of our leading politicians stands down after mislaying £100,000 or so, the French have to...
Mac's Musings- Global Networking
22/01/2008
Netting or networking at your local business breakfast is one thing. But one leading solicitor has taken it stage further. While some law firm...
Mac's Musings- No More Porkies
21/01/2008
The lads in the tap room down at the Slug and Bank Manager have suddenly lost interest in Northern Rock. They were ready for...
Mac's Musings- And finally............
17/01/2008
Bong! ITV's News at 10 is back - just like it had always been there and nothing had changed. But one thing has changed...
Mac's Musings- Crisis Management Russian Style: Welcome Back, Cold War
17/01/2008
As I said yesterday, businesses facing a crisis need to manage it in a way that will protect their reputation. If only governments were...
Mac's Musings- Crisis News Management – A Fresh Approach
16/01/2008
Protecting reputation is the cornerstone of crisis news management. So Gordon Brown's approach to protecting the reputation of his Work and Pensions Secretary, Peter...
Mac's Musings- Northern Rock – Sound as a Pound
16/01/2008
Northern Rock. Yep, the lads down at the Slug and Bank Manager talked of little else last night. And they are all solidly behind...
Mac's Musings- What is an 'icon'?
11/01/2008
The term 'icon' has become woefully devalued. Yesterday's Daily Telegraph ran an inside page piece - with a busty picture - of Victoria Beckham's...
Press- Movers: Ann Alexander, trustee, Children's Safety Education Foundation
09/01/2008
Ann Alexander has joined the board of the Children's Safety Education Foundation. Alexander is a lawyer, and is currently representing the severely injured patients...
Press- Lawyer is on track to help businesses
08/01/2008
LEADING Trafford lawyer Ann Alexander has joined forces with a former TV reporter in a new venture. Hale resident Ann and former BBC TV...
Mac's Musings- Political Correctness
06/01/2008
The personal presentation skills of our leading British politicians leave a lot to be desired. Compared with other A List politicians around the world...
Press- Shipman cop takes legal action
03/01/2008
A detective branded 'a liar' following a public inquiry into the bungled Harold Shipman investigation has applied for a judicial review the decision to...
Mac's Musings- 'Should auld acquaintance be forgot.......'
02/01/2008
Netting, networking, making connections - call it what you will - is somehow part of the human condition. And Christmas and New Year seem...
Mac's Musings- Happy New Year!
01/01/2008
I have never been big on New Year festivities. A home-cooked meal, a good book, a small malt whisky and asleep by 10.30pm always...
Mac's Musings- Smiling like a Rat
31/12/2007
I see the Chinese Government is giving presentation skills training to a special corps of hostesses ready for the Beijing Olympics and the Year...
Mac's Musings- Whale of a time - damaging your public image.
21/12/2007
Accidentally damaging your public image is careless; deliberately and wilfully setting out to destroy it is nothing short of extraordinary. Yet Japan has done...
Mac's Musings- Red Card for Good Media Image
18/12/2007
Rape allegations and Premiership football players seem to go hand in hand. None has ever made it to court so we have no idea...
Press- Lawyer Alexander and former broadcaster Macdonald establish new communications consultancy
14/12/2007
Former BBC TV correspondent Alistair Macdonald and lawyer Ann Alexander have launched a new communications consultancy based in the Peak District. The new...
Press- Time to get 'nasty' if we want bypass
12/12/2007
BROADCASTER Alistair MacDonald's message to Ashbourne is clear - we need to "get nasty" If we want to see progress made in our bid...
Press- Ann's firm shows how its done
04/12/2007
HIGH-flying legal eagle Ann Alexander is hoping for soaraway success with a new media training business. The headline-grabbing solicitor has joined forces with former...
Press- Green Fuels Under Fire
01/12/2007
Biofuels - touted as a 'green' alternative and an important industry of the future in northern Lincolnshire - have been slammed by an environmental...
Press- Mike Perls delivers keynote speech at Alexander Macdonald launch
27/11/2007
MC2's managing director, Mike Perls was keynote at an exclusive event held on 26th November to celebrate the launch of media consultancy, Alexander Macdonald....
Press- Forum to probe traffic problems
21/11/2007
AWARD winning broadcaster Alistair Macdonald is joining Ashbourne's fight against traffic problems by heading up a public meeting next month. The journalist, who has...
Mac's Musings- Business Networking - The Right Language
13/11/2007
Business Networking - or netting - is about much more than building the right contacts and knowing how to 'work the room'. In more...
Mac's Musings- Media Profile - Old Lags and Lemmings
13/11/2007
Performance rather than media profile is usually a better quality in our politicians. But sometimes you just can't divorce the two. So the appointment...
Mac's Musings- Media profile - on-line newspapers
10/11/2007
Getting a story in a newspaper takes the news much further than the paper itself these days. The story is likely to appear in...
Mac's Musings- Corporate Social Responsibility
06/11/2007
A couple of months ago I was asked by High Peak CVS, which promotes sustainability among community and voluntary groups, if I could help...
Mac's Musings- Media Profile – Snappy Response for the Little Terrier
06/11/2007
An article about you in the FT really does produce business immediately. Diminutive debt doyen Kerry Bland of Jack Russell Collections and Investigations -...
Mac's Musings- Little Terrier's Media Profile
05/11/2007
For business development and raising your media profile, a quarter page in the Financial Times must rank quite highly. In fact, most firms would...
Mac's Musings- ITV's tarnished media image
19/10/2007
A good media image is every bit as important to media giants like ITV as it is to smaller firms. So how come ITV...
Mac's Musings- China’s Tarnished Media Image
12/10/2007
China's media image took a battering last night on Channel 4 News. Just in case we had somehow got the idea that the regime...
Mac's Musings- Auntie's agonies
08/10/2007
If you've made a mistake, go for the 'quick bleed'. It's a time-honoured maxim when dealing with the media - but one which the...
Mac's Musings- Fashionable Cause
28/09/2007
Creating a good media profile should not be about being seen to do the right thing but actually doing it. So designer Katharine Hamnett's...
Ann's Antics- Broadcast debut on Channel M!
27/09/2007
I've just been on the TV, giving my considered opinion about the state of Britain today. Ok, it wasn't exactly Jeremy Paxman, or even...
Mac's Musings- Rotten Regimes
27/09/2007
You know a regime is really rotten when it doesn't actually care two teak logs about its international image. Step forward Burma. The junta...
Mac's Musings- I'm banking on you, Mervyn
20/09/2007
Mervyn King Top Man The Bank of England 20 Sept 2007 Dear Mervyn Well, it's proving a busy old week for you down in...
Mac's Musings- The Big McCann Question
19/09/2007
The McCann's personal tragedy and nightmare provides little insight into forensic science. But it offers a fascinating view of the workings of the media....
Mac's Musings- The Darling bids for mayhem
17/09/2007
Who on earth is advising the Government on how to handle the banking crisis? Whoever it is, they should be shot. As long queues...