Fly the Flag

For a variety of reasons we haven't ventured to Old Trafford today - though we will be there in two weeks time for the semi-final against Chelsea.

Also there will be this blog's flag, which was delivered during the week. Parading it in the garden is Joseph, with aching limbs from a nail biting 2-1 win over Stockport Vikings.

John Givens 1963-2007

It's been a sad couple of weeks since I learned of the death of John Givens, a former editor of Yorkshire Business Insider magazine.

John, who before coming to Insider had worked for the Yorkshire Post, had gone on to work at Citywire and more recently at the press office of the Nationwide Building Society in Swindon.

A lifelong Sunderland AFC supporter, he will be missed by many in the media and professional sector in Yorkshire, not least for the football tours he regularly used to organise.

I wasn't that close to "Givo" but we kept in touch. If he ever thought of something that might help someone else he was always kind enough to pass it on. His service was an emotional occasion, well attended by lots of mates and sadly, the children who are now without their father. His family have asked people to donate to Sight Savers, John’s favourite charity, in his memory.

A gush of PR people

Nigel Hughes posts at Ear I Am about what certain PR people of this parish think. I still haven't worked out whether it's a spoof or not, or a joke at my expense.

The journalist most respected by Jo Leah is Michael Taylor.

I was therefore minded of this.

Ten thoughts on....the best parties in the world

My old friend Stuart McGavin always used to say - "we're not here for a long time, but we are here for a good time." It was a full-of-life, very Australian attitude that he embraced right up until he was knocked down and killed in Melbourne after a rugby international in 1997. I miss Stu a lot, he was a proper bloke with a nailed on view of everything. Honest, loyal and kind.

One of our drunken ideas for the future used to be a TV programme on the ten best parties on the world. He went to more of them than I ever did...

The running of the bulls in Pampalona (July)
Never has being chased by crazed animals been so much fun

Hogmany, New year's Eve, Edinburgh
The best way to see in the new year, even when it's chucking it down

Glastonbury (June, but not always annual)
The mud and music

Mardi Gras in Sydney (February/March)
Best party in Australia and a tribute to Aussie machismo

Oktoberfest, Munich (September/October)
Swilling lager and oompah singing

St Patrick's Day in Dublin (March)
A close call, with New York and Boston throwing decent parades, but the original is the best

Beer can regatta, Darwin, Australia (July)
Tins of bear and mad boats in the harbour

Full Moon Party, Haad Rin, Koh Phangan, Thailand (every month)
Druggies on the beach going mental

Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (February/March)
The party city lets its hair down even more than usual

Trinidad Carnival (February/March)
A two day festival of rum and drums. The biggest in the Carribean

Oh my Lord

So Blackpool gets to fight another day. The BBC reports, here, on the close vote in the House of Lords which has failed to rubber stamp the decision of the Casino Advisory Panel to locate a new supercasino in Manchester.

Blackpool got it badly wrong by not bidding for any of the other casinos. Manchester put together a good bid, the panel just made the "wrong" decision. Our prediction: they'll give everybody one, that'll keep them quiet. What a fiasco.

Support your local team

An unashamed sales pitch now for one of the great successes in our local community over recent years: the growth of Marple Athletic Junior Football Club.

With teams starting from Under 7s up to Under 16s the club is gaining a reputation throughout the North West as one of the best run and most successful set ups in junior football. Some age groups even have two teams, A and B, with most if not all currently topping their current leagues and set to perform well in tournaments through the summer months.

The club is run by a mixture of public spirited volunteers and enthusiastic parents but there is also a great opportunity for local businesses to become involved in order for the teams to have kit, trophies and half time oranges!

The club works closely with another successful business in Marple, Footy4kidz, which runs sports courses for children in the area with F.A.Qualified coaches who comply with all safety and statutory police checks, trained in First Aid and with a caring and supportive environment.

The advantages to local businesses include:
- Community involvement in a positive and successful sporting club

- Advertising your business through a popular sports club

- PR opportunities through sponsorship of the club

- Advertising on the club's soon to be revamped website

- Promotion of the business through parents and players bulletins

- Networking opportunities with parents and other club sponsors

There are a range of sponsorship opportunities in each age group. The season tarriff is also follows

Kit sponsor £500

Jacket sponsor £250

Trophy sponsor £100

The club is a great success and we would be proud to support local businesses who support the club.

Manchester, London of the North

By 'eck, I get comments on my blog from all sorts now.

Someone called called "anonymous" was just plain abusive (how brave) and someone called "Armley" (a pseudonym), bizarrely, also got personal. Whatever. He/she took issue with the comment I reported from my presentation to a forum of marketing and PR people from the professional services sector that Manchester is becoming a "London of the North".

Armley spent a good 500 words dissecting a short remark about Manchester's relationship with other cities in the North. Like this, with a reference to what the BBC staff think about Manchester:

"You may have bought into the Manchester regionalist propaganda machine's line that Manchester is a northern Shangri La, a booming cosmpolitan city of international importance that outclasses everywhere in England besides London. They don't; they still think it's a grim, crime-filled milltown shithole."

Who says I have "bought into" that hype? A common theme of this blog is that Manchester is not living up to the story in the glossy brochure. But to not also see the success that is around us is just stupid. Temper that instead with what you hear, as I do, when you go to Carnforth, Blackpool, Burnley and Barrow and hear what people think about the fact that Manchester has won the casino bid, or the Commonwealth Games, or the BBC relocation, or is launching the Manchester Festival, and you hear the resentment in their voices. It's not unjustified either. Blackpool is well hacked off with Manchester. They think Manchester is taking everything. They think Manchester is sucking investment and glory from them and from the rest of the North. It's "the big smoke" with all its airs, graces and pretentions.

Mention Manchester during MIPIM, the international property exhibition, in the company of people from Bradford, Birmingham, Leeds, even Liverpool, and they grind their teeth in frustration.

Then, in the context of professional services, look at how the professional service firms, the private equity houses and the banks have shifted their Northern regional offices to Manchester and closed down in Leeds. Listen to how Leeds complains about the lack of a concert arena and a much smaller Harvey Nichols. It's not me talking, it's the truth.

No, Manchester is NOT London in the sense that London is a massive international capital city of a major economy. Or the sense that London is culturally, economically, politically, physically at the centre of this nation's decision making.

For those reasons - and many more - London is not held in great affection by the rest of the UK. To most people in the UK it's actually a dangerous, expensive and crowded mess that has too much power over the rest of the country. And that same type of resentment is beginning to be directed towards Manchester. That's all.

Ten thoughts on.... PRs and press

I did a meet the editors event last night at the plush HQ of PR company MC2. I was alongside a top chap called Tony McDonough from the Liverpool Daily Post. These were 10 of the questions we were asked and my attempts to answer them.

1 Liverpool and Manchester have a history of being in stiff competition, do you think this is still the case now or is it getting better?
It's getting much better. Liverpool and Manchester peacefully co-exist. I'm always amazed at how very different they are. I think Manchester is becoming the London of the North, however. Investement is therefore being sucked out of Blackpool, Lancashire and Leeds towards this incredible success story.

2 We work for a number of small clients and always put them forward for features. We’ve noticed that although our comments are submitted in plenty of time and are of excellent quality, they usually get bumped out of the feature in favour for the bigger competitors. Can you explain why this happens and also, how to avoid it in the future?
We don't bump out small companies because they're small, but small companies can be cautious.

3 What sort of stories do you get really excited about?
Frauds, overnights successes, political intrigue, hostile takeovers.

4 What makes a good interviewee?
Someone who is prepared to say the unothodox, or the different.

5 Have you ever considered turning to the ‘dark side’ and becoming a PR?
No. But I do PR for Insider all the time.

6 What are your pet hates?
I don't hate anything, I'm a Christian. But London PRs asking if we cover Middlesbrough in North West Business Insider are a little bit irritating.

7 Will the BBC move to Manchester be great news for the media in the region?
I hope so, but I fear not. They are not moving any centres of commissioing power and only one network - Radio 5 - which is the most regionally friendly of them all. I think financial services is a much more important economic success for Manchester.

8 What is the one thing that a PR can do to immediately grab your attention?
Say they've got an exclusive story with unique access just for us.

9 What are the things they do that immediately put you off using their clients?
I never blank a PR company, but you detect trends. Missed opportunities frustrate. We constantly seek stories from successful businesses - metal bashers from Bacup - who only seem to want to talk about what they did on Red Nose Day.

10 Who is the most interesting person you have ever interviewed and why?
In the last year the most interesting people I interviewed were Terry Matthews and Brian Kennedy. They just don't seem to want to stop, and I wanted to find out why.

Dead man's corner

Commuters are facing a dance with death at the blind spot in the tram tracks as you approach Piccadilly station from Canal Street or the courts. This picture here shows a tram having narrowly missed a punter who didn't see the tram coming. Trouble is, you have to stand on the tracks to look around the corner in both directions if you're heading from Piccadilly station. Even when City Inn has been built I can't see the pathway being any safer.

Was lost, but now am found

As well as having a lovely Mother's Day with my Mom and with Rachel, this has been a great weekend. I was confirmed today. I took holy communion at Holy Spirit Church in Marple for the first time. It's been a meandering journey, but I think I belong. All the boys are being brought up Catholic and I thought it was about time to make good my core Christian beliefs and to make complete my own path to peace.

I've been helped along the way by Rachel, a cradle Catholic, and by Stuart Adlington, our Deacon and my sponsor Trevor Martin, a fellow Marple Athletic touchline Dad. I've also been helped enormously over the years by two very wonderful people in the parish; Margery and Peter Mount, who are not only incredible Grandparents to two of my sons, but have been amazingly supportive friends.

The last hymn today was Amazing Grace, one of my favourites.

Where the one-eyed man is king

I bought a magazine last week called Monocle. The breadth of features were incredible, on Chile's economy, German wine, an Afghan radio station, cashmere jumpers, Japan's navy. The Economist in Prada, I suppose.

Is this true, or an urban myth?

A bloke came up to me in Albert Square a few months ago with a long winded story about an argument with his wife, lost his phone, she drove off with his wallet. He needed some money to get to Chester. Get on a train I told him, and tell that to the ticket collector, he'll issue you with a ticket, take your name and you can pay later. He was begging. Just like the bloke with the petrol can that runs around Manchester with his daft story. Ingenious, but he's begging. You either give, or you don't. Personally, I don't.

Then there's this story doing the rounds on email that has also been reported on the BBC's site.

The 32-year-old victim was walking on King Street at about 1800 GMT on Friday when she was approached by a woman. She gave her some change but the offender then grabbed her arm and scratched it with an unknown implement.

The story is harrowing and the implications that there are seemingly civilised, well-dressed muggers with sedatives and syringes is horrific. Two people I know claim they know the woman concerned. Yet I'm still inclined to think it's another urban myth.

Ten thoughts...read them all

This list thing is getting quite hard now. I'm not going to be doing European airports, pretentious magazines or international trade exhibitions. But one of the delights of international travel is the chance to read. Here are ten fiction authors I've read everything by.

Martin Amis - always surprises.

Guy Bellamy - hugely underrated and under valued comic novelist

Julie Burchill - read one you've read them both. Good laugh and a bit smutty.

Mark Timlin - south London private eye who got progressively darker with each book, very influenced by...

James Crumley - Amercian private eye who gets darker still.

John Grisham - because it's easy.

Bret Easton Ellis - Lunar Park is terrific, and I've nearlly finished.

Donna Tartt - Secret History was better than that other one she wrote. Is she Ellis in disguise?

James Hawes - films have been awful, but his books are good fun.

George Orwell - all his stories, like his journalism, are top drawer.

Book review in a lift - Tom Bower's book about Conrad Black

Tom Bower, the master assassin of the rich and famous turns his pen on the former owner of the Daily Telegraph and his wife. Conrad Black, who comes across as self-important and pompous, is on trial for ripping off his shareholders in order to fund a lavish lifestyle. He craved power and influence and a seat in the House of Lords. His five-times married wife, Barbara Amiel craved status and wealth beyond their means. She doesn't sound like a very nice person at all. He just comes across as deluded. Either way Bower doesn't cut either of them much slack. They're suing him now.

The Russians

Reflecting on the international property event I've just been to, MIPIM, the most striking presence was from Russian cities promoting themselves as a destination. There were places I never knew existed, claiming to be Russia's third city. It could almost get as tetchy as the spat to be England's number two.

There, we saw Manchester flag waving with a banner draped over the main exhibition entrance and a large space at the very front. Birmingham fought back with a hamster. Indeed, it's surprising which cities roll out which celebs. Apparently the Brummies had a banging event with Richard Hammond from Top Gear. Bradford were tempting property investors with the chance of a chat to Linda Barker. Liverpool had a Beatles cover band wandering about and Taguey even had a chat to Sir Terry Leahy yesterday afternoon.

Poolside despatches

From technological muppet to a fully paid-up member of the Monacle generation. I'm tapping away at the poolside of the Martinez Hotel in Cannes after flying down last night from Manchester via Munich. I've sorted out wireless and everything.

The only problem is I can't think of anything to say (never stopped me before, I know).

We're hosting a couple of events today. One on investment opportunities in the UK regions, the other on New Towns (like Telford). Wish me luck. Au revoir.

Blue Doom

My football predictions are rubbish, always have been, probably always will be. With one exception that will always be true: Manchester City will never be more than a season away from a crisis.

If you reflect back 7 years to the first time this decade that Manchester City visited Ewood you enter a dark part of my soul and one of the lowest in my life as a Blackburn Rovers supporter. We lost 4-1 in a gutless second half collapse, chaotic ticketing meant our ground was overrun by boozy ecstatic Mancs and the pitch was invaded by them. All that our manager could do was rant as we finished the campaign rooted in mid-table. To make matters worse, Burnley were on the rise again. Everything about our club seemed rotten.

There is no way I could have predicted then any of what has since followed: promotion by an exciting footballing side, three European campaigns, Corrado Grabbi, the Worthington Cup, learning to love Andy Cole, two top six finishes, Tugay, Graeme Souness leaving a club in a better state than what he inherited, another top manager, a team of bully boys, Robbie Savage, Benni McCarthy and a second FA Cup semi-final in three years.

I wasn't reared on thrills and spills but mind numbing mid-table mediocrity, occasional play-off defeats. And Simon Garner.

Even the most optimistic City fans that day knew they were heading back down again in a short space of time. Crisis is in the DNA of the club. Even the windfall of a new stadium paid for by the council and Sport England and the greatest boom in football history has been left in tatters by Kevin Keegan's spending spree. The last two years have been marked by dreary drift. But as David Conn reported in his Wednesday column in the Guardian, something else has gone from City, a part of the soul of the club has gone too.

Once a byword for English fans' bloody-minded loyalty, Manchester City now embody the paradox at the heart of a booming game. While the Premier League's £2.7bn TV deal and exploding interest around the world thrill US investors, at home, in the blue moon heartlands, resentment at the game's direction is turning lifelong supporters away.

The rest is here.

On Sunday the travelling support gave a glimpse of the pride and the passion of the club and its perennially frustrated potential. But without sounding like I'm gloating there was only ever one team going to win. The moment that summed up City's season came ten minutes before the end. Tugay, starved of his enforcer - Aaron Mokeona - won the ball in the centre circle then had time to roll the ball around before he chose which one of three thirty-yard passes to make.

Living in Marple and working in Manchester means I come across a load of City fans who are good friends. After yesterday I genuinely fear the worst. City look like a doomed team while Charlton have hit form. I hope I'm wrong about this, and right about my other prediction that Rovers will lift the FA Cup at the new Wembley having swept past...Middlesbrough.

This sporting life

We've got a problem at Marple Athletic Junior Football Club. We could have worse problems, to be honest, but it's one created by having a successful set up. As most the teams (under 10s, 9s, 8s and 7s) are at the top, or thereabouts, this has caught the eye of scouts. One of the teams is faced with a situation where six of the kids are likely to be recruited by either Stockport County, Oldham Athletic, United or City. This is 7-a-side football by the way and once a kid is signed on for a professional set up they're not permitted to play for their old club with all their old pals.

At a meeting on Thursday night the wonderful people who give up their time to run the set up and the coaching sessions through Footy4Kids - Jason Isaacs, Shirley Booth and Charlie - spelt out the scale of the issues for parents: ferrying around, dealing with disappointment, not playing as many matches, missing friends and the odds of this leading to a football career are still absolutely tiny. On the other hand it's an opportunity to learn skills from a professional set up.

This is going to run and run and I don't quite know what we are being asked to make a collective decision about, or whether we were just being informed of the bigger picture. Meanwhile, my personal interest in the club, Joe and the Under 8s B team, won 6-0 on Saturday and are still unbeaten with just a few games to go.

Ten thoughts on...profound thoughts

Ten Friday thoughts today concern just that. Thoughts.

Many of them I've picked up this week at the wonderful Tom Peters and Charles Handy conference. Some are older than that.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” —Charles Darwin

"Given that we only have one life we can neither compare it to our previous lives, nor perfect it in our lives to come." - Milan Kundera

“One woman can make you fly like an eagle. Another can give you the strength of a lion. But only one in a cycle of lives can fill you with gladness and the wisdom that you have known a singular joy." Deputy Hawk, Twin Peaks

“Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.” —Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life. And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul?" - Matthew 16:25-26

"Imagine. What would you do if you knew you couldn't possibly fail?" Michael Finnigan

"The greatest dangerfor most of us is not that our aim is too highand we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." Michelangelo

"Ready. Fire! Aim. If it ain’t broke ... Break it! Hire crazies. Ask dumb questions. Pursue failure. Lead, follow ... or get out of the way! Spread confusion. Ditch your office. Read odd stuff. Avoid moderation!" Kevin Roberts' credo

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

"To thine own self be f***ing true, son" - Bernard Manning, quoting William f***ing Shakespeare

We are the quarry

When we were unruly teenagers we used to spend summers afternoons at Jackdaw quarry. It was great for diving in and swimming, though I suppose it was very dangrous. It's now a film location and has been used for Emmerdale and a recent TV drama.

A disused quarry near Carnforth – complete with submerged helicopter, boat and oil rig – was chosen as the Lancashire Film Office’s location of the month recently. Based at Jackdaw Quarry, in Over Kellet, near Carnforth, the Capernwray Dive Centre was chosen after Lancashire Film Officer Lynda Banister visited the 11-acre freshwater lake and was mesmerized by the crystal clear water and the beautiful rural setting.