Thoughts

19 June 2017

If I had one bit of advice…

Be more corporate. Said no-one, ever. Certainly not in language and certainly not in the type of behaviour that came to symbolise the nineties and the noughties. However, where corporates have been successful is in the art of making arguments. In recent times, many corporates have been effective in setting out what they stand for as a business. Sport – as an industry – could take heed.

19 June 2017

Sport takes bronze when understanding importance of reputation management

Proper strategic planning on the communications side, whatever the boxing trash talkers or football manager mind gamers may think, will never have anything more than a marginal impact on the outcome of a sporting contest. But it can have a big impact on the way a sporting body, a club, a brand, an individual, are seen; its reputation, built over time.

Panel of experts discussing the general election

16 June 2017

Businesses now need to engage with all political parties

The political landscape has changed forever as a result of the election, according to a panel of experts assembled by Portland. Businesses now need to engage with all political parties, they said. And traditional media has lost its influence.

16 June 2017

Are we witnessing the decline of Europe’s right wing firebrands?

2016 was the year of the right wing populism in Western politics. Trump, Farage, Le Pen and others in their molds saw huge surges in support, if not outright - and often stunning - wins. Voters, tired of starched and sanitised political professionals were attracted to straight-talking anti-establishment figures and for a while, it seemed that the right had a monopoly on charisma.

15 June 2017

Learning Chinese: Media in the 21st Century

To understand media in the 21st Century, we will all, at least figuratively, need to learn Chinese. Traditional media are already feeling the shift. The international re-launch of CGTN – China Global Television Network – marks a turning point in international broadcast journalism.

12 June 2017

Portland welcomes Katrin Kuhlmann to Advisory Council

Katrin Kuhlmann, a global leader and nonprofit executive in the international economic development and trade policy arena, has joined Portland’s International Advisory Council.

09 June 2017

May’s gamble fails

Theresa May will soldier on as a broken-backed Prime Minister facing the prospect of her government collapsing at any moment. She will become a “caretaker PM” - forming a feeble administration with the help of the Democratic Unionist Party and seek to run the country on a day-to-day basis.

09 June 2017

The waning influence of the press

It was the night the press lost the plot. Yesterday, Fleet Street threw its weight behind the Conservatives, with most British newspapers supporting the Tories. The Sun proclaimed: ‘We’ve had enough of Jezza’s rubbish…Vote Tory. Don’t Chuck Britain in the Cor-Bin’.

09 June 2017

Implications for Brexit

In many ways a hung parliament is the very worst possible outcome for the UK's Brexit negotiations. Like everything else, Brexit has been flung into uncertainty, and there are now many many questions. The first question chronologically is whether or not negotiations can realistically commence in formal terms on 19 June. There are hints overnight from Brussels that it might be necessary to delay.

09 June 2017

Political gravity hits the SNP

After the stratospheric results the SNP achieved in 2015 it was likely, if not even inevitable, that political gravity would kick in. Last night they came back to earth with a bump. Defeats for Angus Robertson, their well-regarded Westminster leader and depute leader, Alex Salmond, the former First Minister, and a third of their group of MPs would have been unthinkable even a month or so ago. For sure this election has been a chastening experience for the First Minister and the SNP.

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