Liz Hollis

Think the opposite of what you think you should think

2012-01-19T10:17:00.000-08:00

Just picked up a copy of Whatever you think, think the opposite by Paul Arden (Penguin Books, 2006). Arden makes the point that until the Mexico Olympics of 1968 the customary way for a high jumper to cross the bar was with their body parallel to it - the Western Roll. A little-known athlete then turned his back on the bar instead of turning his body towards it. Dick Fosbury set a world record height of 7ft 4.25ins and invented the still-used Fosbury Flop. He jumped higher by thinking the opposite of everybody else. Hmmm. Easily said, harder done...but worth doing.

River Island - don't shop there!

2012-01-03T08:31:00.000-08:00

I am outraged by the customer service - or lack of it - at fashion shop River Island in Norwich. My teenage daughter has just had her ears pierced and I gave her some money to get her first fashion earrings for a party. She came back with some earrings from River Island. But unfortunately - and bear in mind you are not allowed to try on pierced earrings before you buy - when she put them on they were so heavy they were unwearable. They dragged the ear lobe so far down that the hole tugged and gaped and you just couldn't wear them. I've had my ears pierced for years but I couldn't wear them either. At £12.99 I considered that they weren't 'fit for purpose' and went back to the shop. 'These earrings are so heavy they are unwearable. You can't try them on before you buy to discover this. They are unfit for purpose and I would like my money back please,' I say with a smile and what I considered to be a pleasant manner. 'We don't refund pierced earrings', says a surly assistant. I repeat that I don't want to change them because I don't like them, but because they are not fit for purpose. She repeats that they don't refund pierced earrings. I ask to see the manager and she has the same surly, rude attitude. There is nothing doing. They are not listening. They are rude. They don't get they we like the earrings, but can't wear them because they are so heavy they are unwearable. 'Nobody else has complained.'I am feeling humiliated and hot. There is nothing doing. I walk out with no joy. What terrible customer service. It was their rudeness that annoyed. Even if they hadn't been able to change the product, or the law isn't on my side (I'm not sure where I stand on this) they could have been more pleasant. I spend hundreds of pounds in River Island. It's where I buy many of my daughters' clothes and would have bought many of their Xmas presents. I instantly vowed to never ever spend a single penny in their ever again. So for the sake of refunding £12.99 and having a happy customer. They have a very unhappy customer who will never shop their again and has been repeating negative comments about them to anybody who will listen. 'Never shop there' I have told my daughters, and friends, and relatives...terrible customer experience. I decided not to bother writing to the management because if the shop ethos is this rude it probably comes from the top of the company. It wouldn't surprise me if they end up in financial trouble - and I wouldn't care either. River Island - just say 'no'...

Aggregation of marginal gains

2011-11-17T07:22:00.001-08:00

I love the philosophy espoused by Team GB Cycling's psychiatrist Steve Peters (see pic left) and coach Dave Brailsford.

They talk a lot about what they call 'aggregation of marginal gains' - making tiny improvements wherever you can which adds to a constant total improvement. It is the most optimistic and inspiring philosophy for sport

On the Team Sky website http://www.teamsky.com/article/0,27290,17547_5792058,00.html Dave Brailsford explains: "We've got this saying, 'performance by the aggregation of marginal gains,'" Brailsford continued. "It means taking the 1% from everything you do; finding a 1% margin for improvement in everything you do. That's what we try to do from the mechanics upwards.

"If a mechanic sticks a tyre on, and someone comes along and says it could be done better, it's not an insult - it's because we are always striving for improvement, for those 1% gains, in absolutely every single thing we do."

All these tiny gains gradually add up to a larger gain. I'm holding onto this thought in my veteran novice attempts to improve my hockey playing. I motivate myself by making sure that after each training session or match, however down I feel about my performance, that if i can take one tiny thing from it and improve the smallest amount it's moving in the right direction.

Indeed, the marvellously positive ''AMG" mantra as the team cycling coaches call it, applies well to any endeavour in life as well as sport.

Field hockey - my new obsession

2011-11-17T06:26:00.001-08:00

It passed my by at school - I was more interested in gymnastics than standing in the cold on a muddy field. But in my forties I have just discovered field hockey. It's tough starting from scratch and coming up against players who are the same age but have been training solidly since school - or indeed highly skilled younger players. But I keep plodding on trying to improve my skills and I'm now into my second season playing with the second team whenever I get the chance. Not sure what position I should play yet - am usually put in left wing or left half. I'm not just enthusiastic I would say that I have become fanatical about this marvellous sport - probably because it's the first time I have been part of a sports team. There's vast room for improvement but that's part of the appeal - as well as the fitness benefits. There's a lot of failure involved (missed balls, when your team loses, not being selected for the team, injury, messing up a tackle, being outplayed) but the joy of the small successes when they come more than compensate. I've discovered it late in life - but for me it has to be the best sport.

Local newspaper journalists a disappearing breed

2011-05-25T09:39:00.001-07:00

They are shedding 20 more editorial jobs at my local paper the Eastern Daily Press. Must be a high proportion of jobs, as I guess there are only just over a 100 editorial posts at the company Archant anyway.

Couldn't help wondering how many public relations professionals there now are compared to journalists? The ratio of people wanting to create news, compared to those wanting to find out and write about it.

My guess is that there are thousand more PRs now trying to talk to local newspaper journalists - who are working ever harder, with less time to find stories and get out and meet people.

Indeed, Archant suggested that shedding journalist jobs would enable them to 'consolidate' editorial coverage - especially in the digital economy. Also, they suggest that in future journalists will be out in the community more.

Again. I'm wondering how this might happen? Perhaps local village correspondents (hopefully not unpaid, although I fear they might be) will become more important contacts for PRs than local journalists? Liz Hollis

How to come up with ideas

2011-05-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

Ideas are currency for freelance writers. Googling around about better ways to come up with better ideas, I found a tip from Weinburg (with no first name reference unfortunately). It is called the 'fieldstone method'. She or he suggests that if you collected two or three interesting looking stones a day you could eventually build a wall. The analogy is that you should collect ideas in the same way with the aim of leading to bigger and better ideas. They suggest you make a note of two or three things a day that interest or bother you as you go about your day. Eventually, you will start seeing patterns as ideas coalesce (what a great word that is) around some central themes. Creativity and innovation are not about coming up with something completely new in a vacuum, Instead ideas build from other ideas and over time, thanks to your gathering of daily jottings about things that interest/bother you, you will eventually see a trigger for an even bigger idea - a feature, book, programme, website, business idea. Good luck.

Conference - Beyond the Paywall

2011-04-26T04:01:00.000-07:00

Beyond the paywall
How to pay for quality journalism in a digital world?

Conference: 9 May @ City University, 6.30pm, London.

It's time to search for a solution to how journalism can still continue in a digital world. This conference at City University in London looks as if it's going to tackle some of the big questions. With an esteemed panel of speakers, it will be interesting to see what they think...

Chaired by the UK Press Gazette's Dominic Ponsford, the panel is Geordie Greig, Dan Sabbagh and Stevie Spring.

A year ago Emily Bell, head of digital content at the Guardian, condemned paywalls as 'a stupid idea', says Dominic Ponsford.

But now, he adds, the mood around paywalls is changing. The Telegraph is looking at metered access from September and Mail Online is looking at signing up to the Google One Pass digital system.

This will all be debated at the City University conference at 6.30 pm on 9 May.

www.city.ac.uk
www.pressgazette.co.uk

Ridiculous press release from Electrolux

2010-11-29T07:48:00.000-08:00

This ludicrous press release has just come through from Electrolux - you couldn't make it up!

Dear journalist.

To mark the end of the 8 year long development of its latest dishwasher spray arm, AEG is celebrating the significance of the arm in all its glory. Therefore they are now launching the site www.stateofthearm.com paying a tribute to the importance of the arm in the worlds of sports, culture, technology and telling the stories of the engineers behind the development of one of the biggest arms in time.

Please visit our Electrolux Newsroom UK for more information and for high res images:

http://newsroom.electrolux.com/uk/2010/11/29/in-pursuit-of-the-perfect-arm-%e2%80%93-from-guitar-players-to-dishwashers/

Please do not hestitate to call if you have any other questions,

Best wishes

Susan Dean

Electrolux Press Office UK

+44 7778 791373

New magazine for Norwich

2010-11-08T04:27:00.000-08:00

Just received the latest issue of Norwich Magazine - the second installment from East Publishing. There's been a desperate lack of critical analysis and comment in Norwich. Like most evening newspapers, the Evening News is now a shadow of its former self and doesn't do much to debate or hold to account the city's institutions. Sadly, I find it hard to imagine why anybody still buys the Evening News. Sales have plummeted and I think it is only selling the few remaining copies because of the free chocolate 'goody bags' the traders ply around the city. Norwich Magazine is now discussing local politics and news in an intelligent and interesting way so I wish it all the best and hope people buy it and businesses advertise in it. Go and buy a copy - or better still take out a subscription. www.norwichmagazine.co.uk

Press Gazette saved from possible closure

2009-04-22T05:02:00.000-07:00

News in that the much-loved Press Gazette - the trade press for the industry in the UK, has been saved from possible closure after being acquired by publisher Progressive Media. News coverage on the website and on Press Gazette’s network of blogs will apparently resume today and the May issue of the magazine will go out as normal. Press Gazette will also be moving offices this week from Old Street to Paddington. The new address will be announced in due course.

Recipe for writing success

2009-04-19T12:55:00.001-07:00

Writer Adele Parks, 40, described in the Times earlier this year, how she set out to become a writer - and achieved her goal.

Her comments are inspiring, but rather daunting. She has talent but worked hard to succeed. A combination of flair and slog in equal measure.

"Because I was very goal-orientated, I followed the regime that my husband used to train for marathons. He exercised three hours a day, three days a week and five hours at the weekend. I took the same timetable to write and devised a work plan: what I should read, how much I should write and the structure of the book.

"My plan was to drop off the first three chapters and a synopsis to my agent on my 30th birthday. A friend who had been reading my first draft came across an interview with Jonny Geller, of Curtis Brown, who said he liked 10-word pitches.

"So I dropped the work into his office the day before my birthday and with it I put a synopsis with the words...'Anna Karenina meets Bridget Jones but heroine gets to live'. He loved it."

How to deal with rejection as a freelance journalist

2009-04-15T01:49:00.000-07:00

Rejection is an essential part of freelance journalism. But when you are starting out it can be fiendishly difficult to take. When you are pitching out email ideas the worst rejection is not hearing anything at all. You send emails into the ether and nothing comes back - you don't know if the commissioning editor has even seen your idea. Your inbox, no matter how many times you check it, is devoid of commissions.

The next step up in rejections is the "thanks for your idea but it's not for us - good luck with it". When the going is tough, getting one of these in your inbox is better than nothing. Well at least you've heard back and you can cross it off the list as a definite "no". These replies are usually from commissioning editors who have a previous career as a freelancer. They know how tough it is and are keen to let you know the status of your pitch.

However, the "no, we don't want your idea" comes, it can put some new freelancers off completely. But after 10 years freelancing I've come to see it as a game of numbers. When I'm pitching out I literally write the numbers one to 20 - and know that once I've sent out 20 strong ideas, I'll have at least one commission. With experience I've reduced it to about one in 10 or less, but that's only after years of freelancing. However, when the recession was beginning to bite late last summer, I was writing one to 50. The first thing publications do when a recession starts is cut the freelance budget, so this point in the economic cycle is always a challenge.

So don't fear rejection. Without rejection there won't be any commissions. See it as a necessary part of the process and develop a thick skin. You have to receive several rejections to get a commission. Editors are not rejecting you personally, it's just that your idea doesn't fit any of their particular slots that week or month.

If you are starting out I'd suggest that you probably even need to write the numbers one to 100 - and know that somewhere in there, probably long before 100 will be a commission. Just keep sending out the pitches until one of them finds the right home. The better you research the market and hone your ideas to fit the publication, the less numbers you will have to write. You will begin to instinctively understand what a particular editor is looking for and how your knowledge and skills can fit that need.

Andrew Crofts (How to Make Money from Freelance Writing, Piatkus books) says "You will have to get used to being rejected, and you need to have this clearly in mind before you start trying to sell your work. If you are going to be so hurt by rejection that you won't be able to work effectively, then you will have to find another way to earn a living because there is simply no way round it.'

'At the beginning of your career virtually everything you do will be rejected, often with no explanation at all. There is no way of avoiding this and will happen to you over and over and over again..."

"It is the people who stretch themselves beyond their know limits who get rejected most often..."

So get out there and get at least 100 rejections, if you are starting out...tick them all off and somewhere in there will be a "yes".

Journalism "sinks" to new low with yet another bizarre award

2009-04-14T05:48:00.000-07:00

I've blogged earlier about the annual journalism award for writing about turkeys (posted Friday 3 April). Now there's this - a journalism award for the best writing about ceramic tiles and bathroom furnishings. I know journalism is in a poorly state - but this, er, "sinks" to a new low.

Ceramic Tiles of Italy Journalism Award 2009Deadline: 15/05/09Details: This award will recognise the best published article/report on the Italian ceramic tile industry and/or Cersaie 2008 (the international exhibition of ceramic tile and bathroom furnishings).Prize: The prize is a commemorative plaque to be awarded at the international press conference at Cersaie 2009, along with a three-day stay in Rome for two people prior to the conference, with travel, board and lodging paid for.Address: Press Office, Ceramic Tiles of Italy, Viale Monte Santo 40, 41049 Sassuolo ItalyTelephone: +39 0536 818 111 Fax: +39 0536 807 935Email: info@italiatiles.comWeb: http://www.journalism.co.uk/shorturl/GGHWB/

Journalism lecturer job vacancy at Univ of Bedfordshire - £55,000 salary!

2009-04-09T16:06:00.000-07:00

Journalism lecturer wanted in, er, Luton. Salary...£55,000. What!

Recently added random Google ad links to my blog. This one just popped up in the right hand column of ads here - it's for a journalism lecturing job at the University of Bedfordshire. I nearly fell of my chair (this isn't a joke) - when I saw the salary. I know lots of journalists working in the regional press (and on the nationals come to that) and don't know many - or in fact any - on this kind of salary. Get your applications in now. This is totally depressing compared to the salary levels for actually working in journalism. And will the lucky new employee be training new journalists for jobs in the regional press that pay £15,000 to £30,000 - or perhaps training people for jobs that don't exist at all. Indeed, the salaries of some newly qualified journalists are barely better than cleaners. This lecturing salary is a joke, tell me it's a joke...

Faculty of Creative Arts, Technologies & Science
Division of Journalism and Communications
Salary: £46,278-£55,259 per
Full-time
Closing Date: 28 April 2009
Interview Date: 20 May 2009
The University is seeking to appoint a senior journalist to lead its expanding portfolio of courses in journalism and related areas. You will be joining a strong team of professional journalists and internationally-renowned research professors. Our facilities give students state-of-the art television and radio facilities and a fully-equipped newsroom within which to work.
Last year we expanded our range of journalism degree, paving the way for the accreditation of our courses by the Broadcast Journalism Training Council.
Recent substantial experience of multiplatform journalism is essential. Leadership of, or participation in, accreditation of journalism in HE is desirable.

Annoying habits of PRs

2009-04-09T15:53:00.000-07:00

My mobile is ringing. I'm driving in a busy line of traffic. I pull the car up on a kerb, answer the phone, and...

Anonymous enthusiastic female voice: "Hi, is that Liz. Is now a good time."

Me: "No" (Thinks...but does it make any difference what I answer you will carry on regardless anyway.)

Anonymous voice: "Hi, my name is Camilla. I'm calling from Whatever, Whatever- with-the-posh-office-in-central-London Public Relations Company... Did you get my press release? Yes, it was about how green tea can reduce ridges in your nails, now it's summer time. Apparently, Emma Bunton has been seen drinking green tea and she has lovely nails. I was just wondering if you might be interested in writing a story about this?"

Me: Thinks (Er, No. Not if it was the last possible press release on the planet. Get lost, have you seen my inbox full of PR crap - email after email of story-free press releases about stuff I would never ever write about. And PR salaries are probably double journalists (not that I'm bitter. Well actually I am) Have you no idea what a "story" actually is. AAAAGhhhh. Go away Camilla).

Me: Actually says "Oh thanks, but it's not really my kind of thing. But thanks anyway".

AAAAAAAAAAAghhh. I know PRs are told to ring after they have sent a press release, to check the journalist has received it. But how tedious and how ridiculous is this. If it were a story and I were interested in it, I would ring the PR.

Tips for coming up with freelance feature ideas

2009-04-08T02:20:00.000-07:00

As a freelance journalist, my revenue is partly dictated by how many good ideas I can come up with. Not surprisingly, I am obsessed with seeking out ways to up my ideas flow and I have a bookshelf full of 'boost your creativity' books. Here's a few of the ideas-boosting techniques I use.

Power brainstorming
A Moleskine notebook - http://www.moleskine.co.uk/ is ideal for this. Write the numbers 1 to 100, then without thinking about it too much, power through writing a hundred things that are preoccupying, interesting, puzzling or annoying you now. This is a numbers game - but I would expect to find one or two gem ideas in here. Then do it again - another hundred. And again. I guarantee you'll have at least one saleable idea after this exercise.

Email all your friends and ask them what they want to read
Did this recently and it yielded some interesting results. Just send an email to friends, colleagues and anybody else I could think of. I told them I was thinking up feature ideas, and was there anything they would be interested in reading about? Grass roots reader research.

Trade magazines
One of the most lucrative sources of ideas. Many news stories break in trade magazines and professional journals. I particularly love catering and obscure food magazines. Even if they don't give you a direct idea, they will start the thinking process.

Random word pairs game
Here's one for when I'm feeling really stuck. Putting two ideas together can make a feature. Write 30 random nouns around the subject area you specialise in (children, pets, desk, toys). Cut them up and turn them face down. Then play noun pairs. Pull out two and see if you can turn them into a feature idea. I pulled out 'toys' and 'children' and it got me thinking about how children today have way too many toys and probably don't appreciate them. It was a subject I realised I felt strongly about - and there was plenty of new research on it. So ultimately this led to a piece in Guardian Family. The result is posted on the cuttings section of my website www.lizhollis.co.uk

Discover the opposite
One of my favourites for releasing some good ideas. Think of a cliche - such as 'young people go on gap years' - then think if there is material in a feature that shows exactly the opposite can be true. 'Old people on gap years'.

Overheard in a cafe
This one's a little odd, but I've come up with some good ideas this way. Sit in a busy cafe - and listen in on conversations. Making notes in your Moleskine as you go - people will think you are busy writing your latest novel. Unfortunately, for every gem idea, you have to listen to an awful lot of drivel. But if people are talking about something, they'll be interested in reading about it too.

Replay conversations with friends
Hope my friends won't mind me admitting this, but at my desk after a supper or gathering - I go back over the subject areas the conversations drifted over. I can often pick out some feature ideas - or at least some starter points for more research.

Probably the most bizarre journalism award - ever.

2009-04-03T03:25:00.000-07:00

This press release just came in the office. I know journalists love awards - so here's one that's up for grabs...if you're really desperate. A good one for any journalists based in Norfolk - perhaps I'll have a go myself. How about Turkey and Cadbury's Cream Egg Risotto, Turkey Jelly with Quail Ice Cream boules or Turkey and Aniseed Pie. Mmmm...

Press release from FML Public Relations

Here’s a chance to be – British Turkey Recipe Writer of the Year!

British Turkey is inviting entries for the British Turkey Recipe Writer of the Year – and it could be you!

To win this prestigious title, simply send us a copy of your published recipe using British turkey. This can include fresh, frozen, whole birds, crown roast or leg joints, portions such as turkey mince, diced turkey, turkey steaks or breast fillets. It can be a recipe to feed a crowd or an intimate dinner for two. The only rule is that it features turkey and been published (print or broadcast media or website) within the last 12 months.

Judges will be looking for creative, modern and stylish recipes using the different cuts of turkey as the hero of the dish. The closing date for entries is 31^stJuly 2009.

Shortlisted entries will be invited to a glittering black tie dinner at Claridge’s on 24^th September 2009, when the winner will be announced.

Just fill in the form below and post, with a colour photocopy of your published recipe to:

Emma Turner

FML Public Relations

8 High Street

Hurstpierpoint

West Sussex. BN6 9TY

For further information, e-mail emma@fml-pr.co.uk or call 01273 834716 and ask for Emma Turner or Jane Saward.

Name …………………………………………………Tel No…………………………..

Job title ……………………………………………………………………………………

Place of work ……………………………………………………………………………..

Publication which featured recipe ………………………………………………………………………………………………

Date of issue ………………………………………………………………………………

Successful model of profitable web publishing

2009-03-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

A business model for online publishing, outlined in my local paper The Eastern Daily Press, suggests some profitable ways forward for the industry.

According to the EDP Business, entrepreneur Glen White, runs a successful editorial operation at his Norwich and Toronto-based White Digital Media Group.

Apparently, in 2009 revenues are expected to be in excess of £10m. Mr White is based in San Diego, but still has a home in Norfolk.

His company the White Digital Media Group has more than 100 staff - 40 of those based at the Norfolk headquarters.

The EDP had an incisive quote - not - from editor Ben Lobel. "We are doing really well," he said. Hmmm - but why?

"In February (09) we have sold £150,000 worth of advertising just for the UK magazine".

Interesting model. The word from my source who has to find a way past their fag-break salesmen on her way to work every day, is that they have some heavy-hitting, heavy-duty, puffing, Mr Salestastic Men at their slightly grotty HQ in Norwich.

They must be doing some awesome work on the phones. Guess that's what profitable publishing is all about these days - it's impressive.

It's a fascinating business model and I like the look of the online magazines on the website. The pages turn easily and it's quite a comfortable read - not sure if they produce a print version, will have to investigate more.

Link to White Digital Media Group

http://www.whitedm.com/

Tips from a journalism seminar in London - from print to web

2009-03-18T04:39:00.000-07:00

From Mag to Web
Women in Journalism held a seminar last night in London. The panel were Bernadette Fallon, editor allaboutyou.com; Sarah Lindon, senior moderator at guardian.co.uk and Kathryn Corrick, digital media consultant and former manager at newstatesman.co.uk

I went along hoping for some tips on how I can embrace this lovely new technology that seems to putting all us journalists out of work - and possibly even learn how to increase my income by working more on the web.

Yes I can twitter, yes I can facebook and web 2.0 - but most of my income still comes from my pieces in print media. So if anybody can tell me how to make money from the web I'll be very happy indeed. Don't want to be a print dinosaur.

Sadly, didn't learn anything about boosting my income - the three speakers were interesting but seemed to echo what all journalist and publishers know already - that nobody seems to know much about monetising the web - or what a good business model might be.

Bernadette was a good speaker - and explained how the site grew out of a single site bought by NatMags and then used as the She website. Because the readers of Country Living, Coast and other stablemates had the same 35plus female readers, they consolidated the web presence and called it allaboutyou.com - it now serves all these mags.

Bernadette said employment wise there was now a big opportunity for journalists with the right skills to work on web instead. Those skills, she said, were picture awareness (knowing how to use photoshop as well); being able to make a basic video package (at this point I felt sorry for all those TV journalists losing their jobs because we can all make crap web video stuff now) and knowing how to write copy with Search Engine Optimisation terms in it.

About 40% of her content is different from the print mags adn she does have a budget to commission, but you guessed it, it's tiny.

The other interesting thing I learned from this talk was that web people working in the publishing have an inferiority complex next to their print colleagues - they feel unloved and unheard. (Not surprising they are putting us all out of a job and using free writers and punters to contribute free comment). Yes dear Guardian - comment is free - you don't have to pay journalists to produce it!

Sarah the moderator at the Guardian - told us about her job - basically policing reader comments. Learned that it's best if journalists interact with the comments when they have written stuff and post comments back in comment on comments. Just filed to The Guardian so I 'll give it a go when the piece comes out in print - that's assuming I, er, get any comments. It's a good and a very, very terrifying thing that readers can interact with your copy.

Interesting, she spoke about the change from readers being 'consumers' with the journalist as the authority to being 'prosumers' where they interact, debate and take part in a Web 2.0 sort of way.

She said journalists writing for the web tend to have a more conversationalist style, rather than the slightly preachy tones of print journalists. Think I must definitely be from the latter school of journalism.

Journlists, said Sarah; 'Should move away from being experts to being more of a collaborator or a curator.' Found this deeply interesting - can see myself curating lots of opinions, but then a piece doesn't work if you don't take a strong line with it as well.

Kathryn was the last speaker - and raved about a writer called Jeff Jarvis and his thoughts on the web. I'm not sure of the spelling of his name, as I haven't yet checked it out.

She also talked about what we all know - that people expect web content to be free. Apparently, there is a seminar in London on 30 March 2009 called 'Freeconomics' about this - run by Chinwag Digital, but again I'm not sure of spellings on this - so if you're interested you'll have to google. Oh look I'm being all interactive here rather than authoratative.

Kathryn had worked at the New Statesman and nothing had brought in money to the web version, not advertising, not a paid-for PDF version, not micropayments...nothing.

But she did say that one way of making money was EVENTS AND AWARDS --- so I guess you stil have to get people together for a reader event or industry award to get advertisers to sponsor and punters to part with their cash. They just won't buy content off the internet.

She said email is still crucial. You need as many readers email addresses as you can - research shows people like updates from publications they like over email She said Amazon use email updates better than anybody else - just enough to alert you without annoying you.

So that was it - I learned a little more about the web. But I didn't learn how to make money from it. Oh look - I just wrote this blog for free and I'll earn nothing from it - unless you want to send me a free donation of course!

Feedback on this would also be lovely.

Liz

How you can help save the EDP and jobs at the EDP!

2009-03-09T09:13:00.000-07:00

My local paper the Eastern Daily Press is shedding a third of its editorial jobs - 54 jobs. Bosses have been adamant the quality of the paper won't suffer - but how can it continue to function with so many jobs lost. Who will call the local police, council, courts and public bodies to account.

Consensus, among those who oppose the moves to downsize, is that you personally can make a difference.

Below is a statement from National Union of Journalists rep Pete Kelley about what you can do.

Pete Kelley says: 'We need you to contact anyone and everyone you know in the circulation area who you think will share our sense of outrage. We need them to tell the company how much it values our papers, and what it thinks of these proposals. I'm sure I don't need to tell you to be careful what you say in these emails. Do it calmly. Avoid personal insults.
Below is one I've just sent out, following a message of support from a regular columnist... feel fre to use this as a model, if you want. It includes two texts that people are, of course, welcome to quote from or adapt.

We feel strongly that this isn't even primarily about our own jobs, it's about a very serious threat to a part of the local media which plays a vital role in our communities. It's probable that many people haven't even thought about how important well-researched local newspapers put together by professionally-trained journalists are, because they've 'always been there', but we need anyone and everyone you can think of to write/phone/email in to: Archant Norfolk managing director Stephan Phillips and Archant chief executive Adrian Jeakings to protest about this, in their own words and in their own way.
I personally think this company needs to be shamed over what it is planning to do.

Contact address is...
Prospect House, Rouen Road, Norwich NR1 1RE
Phone: 01603 628311

Here also is the NUJ statement about the job losses...
The National Union of Journalists has today (Friday 6 March) hit out at newspaper publisher Archant Norfolk's announcement that it is proposing to axe a staggering 54 jobs within its editorial department.
News reporters are excluded from the process, meaning the blow takes out more than one in three of other editorial staff. They are expected to be handed their leaving date at the end of April, after a consultation process involving elected staff reps and the National Union of Journalists, which is legally recognised at Archant Norfolk for bargaining purposes.
The jobs are taken from a total of 179 full-time equivalent editorial staff. But, once the news reporters are stripped out of the process, the job losses will come from 134 staff remaining.
Stephan Phillips, managing director of Archant Norfolk, made the shock announcement to staff of papers which include the Eastern Daily Press, Norwich Evening News and a stable of weekly papers around Norfolk and north Suffolk, at a packed meeting on Friday evening (March 6th 2009).
NUJ chapel committee spokesman Pete Kelley said staff were first made aware of potential job losses in November, when an editorial review was announced and staff were asked to fill in time-sheets for a week to record their daily tasks.
"We thought possibly 20 to 30 might be affected, but the scale of the announcement has left everybody stunned," he said.
Pete Kelley, who expects to be involved in talks over the coming weeks, added: "Decimated is an over-used word. But all our subs know it actually has a technical meaning. The Romans used to take out one in 10. Romans themselves would have been shocked by the scale of these proposals, which wipe out almost one third of our editorial department, and we - as journalists - will over the coming weeks be asking why very loudly.
"We hope that the communities our journalists serve will also be asking those questions.
"These are hard times for the newspaper industry. That's understood. But to put it in context Trinity Mirror has made 13pc of its workforce redundant since January 2008. In the same time, Johnston Press has cut staff by 12pc. Down the road, our Archant colleagues at Ipswich are in the process of redundancies affecting nearly one in five. All of these are bad enough, but we fail to understand the disproportionate scale of the cuts here.
"Our city paper, the Norwich Evening News, has run a "Love Your Local" campaign which has been picked up by the government and has been brilliantly received. It saved three post offices from closure with the Save Our Post Offices campaign, and helped the puppet theatre stay open. It raised funds to ensure kids who need ambulance treatment in Norfolk are given a teddy bear to calm them down.
"And the EDP has recently run some brilliant, important reports on the bill for city council pay-outs and the failings in privatised home care for the elderly. Last year it highlighted how a secret plan was being proposed that could have flooded huge areas of Norfolk's coastline, and it has been fighting for local business with its successful Shop Here campaign.
"We're producing award winning pictures and websites. On the weeklies side the Lowestoft Journal won the EDF front page of the year award for its Wembley FA Vase special, Wymondham and Attleborough Mercury was recently Newspaper Society Niche Publication of the Year for a special supplement on Wymondham Abbey. The Yarmouth Mercury showed an ABC figures increase last year.
"Our editorial department is a success story valued in local communities and earning national recognition.
"It is difficult for my members not to feel the current economic downturn is being used as an excuse to slash staffing levels... and this at a time when loyal, long-serving journalists will find it extremely difficult to find work elsewehere. The NUJ will be working hard, in talks over the coming weeks, to bring these figures down. We hope local communities will support us."
The NUJ has called a chapel meeting for Monday March 9th at which industrial action will be considered.
The news of the job losses also comes just weeks after chief executive Adrian Jeakings said that it was the company's staff who made Archant a success.
At the annual Archant People Awards ceremony, held in London on Friday, January 23, he said: "The bedrock of the company is formed from the people around the country who every day work to produce our newspapers, our magazines and our websites and they are what makes Archant different.
"We have a track record of successful change and I believe we can survive and prosper in this changing world because we have the best people in the business."

Thoughts on Jeremiah James Colman

I'd like to ask a question on behalf of a man who can't be here today, but who is very relevant to what is happening.... Jeremiah James Colman.
In 1870, Jeremiah was a factory owner who was asked to help set up Norfolk's first daily paper. He's important for two reasons. He's important because the Eastern Counties Daily Press (as it then was called) lost £400 in its first three months... in those times a huge sum. The following year, in 1871, it survived only because Jeremiah guaranteed to cover half its future losses. The paper by then called the Eastern Daily Press didn't turn a profit until 1879.
That's something our profit-focused shareholders and our shareholder-focused group board need to think about. Never for one moment think we're primarily here to make money.
Jeremiah stuck with it because he was a social reformer... introducing revolutionary working practises in his own factory. And he was joined, in starting the paper, by men like Jacob Tillett, campaigning to get all men the vote and for fair access to education.
Before the EDP was first out of the red, it was already attacking the Lord Mayor for refusing to let St Andrew's Hall be used for an agriculultural labourers' meeting.
In more recent times, we have been true to that spirit (see examples above).
Local newspapers - and now websites - matter as much as papers did in 1870. They matter to inform, to campaign, to hold the powerful to account, to dig in and question. They matter to pensioners who write in to tell us they've read the paper for 57 years. They matter to political campaigners who have few other platforms, to playgroups looking for volunteers, to support business and the arts, to fight crime.
What we do here matters to our democracy.
It seems to be becoming an industry mantra that newspapers are dead. I think if Jeremiah James Colman were here today, he'd be angry about that. He'd want to ask what we're doing to challenge that assumption. He'd be asking, if you destroy the slowly built-up teams, the skills and experience in your editorial department, what is left? What is the point?

How to be the most annoying Starbucks customer ever!

2009-03-06T05:12:00.000-08:00

Top ten annoying things to do in a Starbucks' queue.
1. Keep changing your mind about what food you want. "I want a chocolate muffin...no I want the fat free orange cake, no actually the granola flapjack looks lovely"
2. Taste a self-serve wrap, make a face that says 'yuk' and put it back.
3. Ask them to check your change once you've paid and complain they haven't given you the right amount back. Ask the till assistant to recount your change several times.
4. Sneeze on everything. Drop bits of a grizzled paper hanky on the counter.
5. Drop what they've served you and go and get some more instead. Do this several times.
6. While you are in the queue ask for a price on everything - say you've forgotten your glasses.
7. Ask for a calorie count on everything - say it's too fattening and ask for something else instead. 8. When you go to pay attempt to negotiate the bill.
9. Pay in small change.
10. Try to engage the assistant in a long, meaningless conversation while a large queue forms behind you.

Roy Greenslade is giving me nightmares

2009-02-24T06:48:00.001-08:00

I can't be the only self-employed person who is finding it needs huge willpower to keep upbeat and super motivated at the moment. All around is doom and gloom: jobs lost; Roy Greenslade banging on about the death of journalism as we know it; one of the coldest and longest winters for years; Jade Goody's depressing public demise and pundits predicting the election of smug over-blown school boy David Cameron. Trudging through all this one has to keep cheery and keep the ideas and income flowing. It all got to me this morning. Last night I made the mistake of taking Media Guardian to bed for some light reading before I switched off the light. Instead, I found dear Roy Greenslade, as ever, predicting the end of journalism as we know it. Mostly a debate about how sub-editors are no longer needed - journalists should just edit their copy straight to page. Coming on top of the recent anouncement of redundancy of a close friend who was an experienced sub on a London paper - and predicted redundancies at Archant (who knows what that will involve) - it all got to me. Also, I had just been contacted by an enthusiastic undergraduate asking me how he could get into journalism. And I didn't advise him against it because this profession can be like a bizarre kind of calling sometimes - if you were born with a personality that makes you want to find, tell and write - you just can't escape the job. I should probably do something different as journalism seems like it's going out of fashion and it's one of the toughest gigs going at the moment - but I know I'll never give up a job that I love. The upshot of mulling over the present state of journalism was that I couldn't sleep. I moved downstairs to the sofa and watched QVC until I finally drifted off at 4am. Thankfully, although I was tempted when fatigue clouded my judgment, I avoided buying the Yog Easi homemade yoghurt maker, the Gatineau skin care range and a bizarre £10.00 foot massager for the shower. Feel rather tired today, mind you...

Why I love the Co-op

2009-02-17T11:13:00.000-08:00

I've just been emailed by the wonderful co-op, updating me about a new ad they are running this Feb (09) http://www.co-operative.coop/aboutus . I think I can boast that I am probably one of the co-ops biggest fans and I think it's about time it shed it's old-lady, old-fashioned, village-shop, claire-in-the-community image. First the shops are small and easy to access - there isn't the plethora of unnecessary choice that you see in Tesco. A choice that's designed to bamboozle and make you psychologically confused and unhappy (see Prof Barry Schwarz's research on the negative effects of too much choice). They have lots of small stores within communities rather than giant out of town shopping cathedrals. Secondly, the quality of the food is excellent - their own brand products are highly recommended and their fruit and veg quality is high (compared to the mouldy, tasteless crap at Sainsbury's). I simply cannot recommend the co-op highly enough - they are ethically unrivalled and no I'm not being paid by co-op, it's branding just happens to chime with me. What marketers would call a 'love mark' for me. Check it out for yourself. It's probably changed since you last visited.

Sexual Heeling

2009-02-03T05:32:00.000-08:00

Should we be worried about the increasing number of pre-teen girls wearing high heels, make-up and sexy fashions?

They are glamorous, teetering clip-clop shoes and, hurrah, the shop has them in your size. Just one consideration – you are only five years old!

High heels are increasingly popular among five to 12 year-old-girls. Traditional companies like Clarks and Start Rite still make flat, sensible children’s shoes with a modest nod to fashion in the form of a dash of glitter or an appliqué pink flower.

However, shoe shops at the budget end of the market now sell disturbingly sexed-up footwear for little girls: often with alluring style names like the ‘Lambada shoe’ or the ‘Beyonce boot’. Some have staggeringly high heels considering they are designed for preteen girls.

Available in the tiniest of sizes – sometimes even small enough to fit an average three-year-old - they appear intended for everyday wear rather than just parties. Little girls yearn for them, harass their mothers to buy them and sometimes even save their pocket money to afford them. They rank high in most fashion-conscious preteen girls’ pester list.

My daughter is nine. I’d like her to wear sensible, flat pumps or trainers – at least until she’s a teenager - rather than distort her growing feet in the revoltingly sexy high-heeled black boots she spotted online at Barratts shoes.

I’m standing my ground. But it’s tough against a rising tide of sexed-up tweeny fashions that transform preteens into tiny Lolitas with off the shoulder tops, mini-skirts, foundation, lipstick, nail-varnish, earrings and soaring heels.

Walk around any shopping mall on a Saturday and you’ll find a surprisingly large headcount of pre-teens click-clacking in high heels and wearing make-up and fashions more suited to Girls Aloud than primary school pupils.

Lured early into consumer culture, girls age six and seven are now miming to pop videos and experimenting with make-up and grown-up fashion styles. By the age of three most are already adept at dressing their tarty-looking Bratz dolls in provocative outfits.

It’s a worrying new trend that sees tiny children aspire to Bratz-style hooker-chic and sexy outfits – mimicking what they see on their favourite dolls and pop stars. The marketers call this trend KGOY – kids growing older younger. In practice, it means fashions worn by twenty some-things are trickling down to the preteen market.

Pop-star style is definitely the main influence on Adina Rencontre (corr spell), an aspiring model from Rascals Model Agency, in Woodford Green, Essex (***subbing note – must leave reference to Rascals Agency***). She’s just 11, but she wants to look like sultry Latino singer Jennifer Lopez. At the weekend Adina transforms herself into a Tweeny version of her sexy idol by wearing the same skinny black jeans, peep-toe high heels, a black figure-hugging waistcoat and fake tan.

‘I am vain and I dress like J-Lo because she looks good. I like doing my hair and make-up. I get my nails filed and painted every two weeks. I would love to have my belly button pierced but mum won’t let me,’ says Adina.

Her mum Sam Grover, a 41-year-old retail manager, allows Adina to wear heels in the evenings and weekends, but rules them out for school – and bans tight, low-cut tops. ‘You don’t want them to look too grown up when they go out, but it’s hard nowadays because they grow up so quickly.’

Tiny Lauren Halil, from London, has been wearing high heels out in public since she turned five. A year later she’s can now walk in them confidently. Her favourites are a glittery pair of two-inch high slip-ons. She’s also pretty good at applying her make-up and adds a touch of foundation, blue eye-shadow and pink lipstick to complete her look.

‘I love make-up. Out of school I usually wear blue eyeshadow, a bit of pink lipstick and foundation – mum helps me put it on.’

Lauren’s mum Marina Halil, 51, an accountant, bought the foundation from a shopping channel and lets her wear a little because it makes her happy.

‘She is the only one of her friends who has high heels, but I think it depends on the child and how they are. Lauren is steady on her feet and walks well in them – and I never let her wear them with short skirts,’ says Marina.

Make-up mad sisters Ashleigh Gudgeon (corr spell), eight, and 10-year-old Alex have already amassed a gigantic stockpile of glitzy cosmetics. Their passion began when they were made up for a photo shoot for the Power Model Agency, in Norwich (***subbing note – must leave reference to Power Models***). Saturday morning is time for experimenting with their vast collection of tubs, tubes and pots of colour, expertly making their faces to go out shopping in the afternoon.

‘I realized how nice I looked with make-up and now I wear it at the weekends. It makes me feel prettier and mascara makes my eyes show up,’ says Alex. Mum Lisa, 36 a former nurse who now looks after her children full time, lets them wear make-up but worries the girls are growing up too quickly.

‘I’d like them to stay younger for longer, but it’s not going to happen. They are influenced by twenty-something fashion everywhere they look – from the American programmes they watch on tv, to magazines and advertising all around. If I shut them in a room and let them dress themselves I think it would be utterly shocking.’

Helen Haste, professor of psychology at the University of Bath, says children emulate role models. Unfortunately, our society may now be presenting them with unsuitable models in the form of Bratz and sexualized pop videos.

However, she says that sexy clothes may send provocative signals to adults but it’s just innocent mimic play for young girls. ‘They see it as playing, dressing up. But to an observing adult it can send out a sexual message that makes them vulnerable, in their total innocence, to predators.’

‘It’s fun for preteen girls to mess around with lots of make-up and high heels at home – it’s an adult skill that they want to acquire,’ she says. But she suggests that if the look they prefer is Geisha-caked make-up and sexy heels, it’s probably best to let them experiment at home rather than out in public.

Some preteens now look so much like twenty-somethings they can attract unwanted male attention. Cheryl Pennell, 42, from Norwich, was appalled when a man in his twenties tried to chat up her 10-year-old daughter Georgia – mistaking her for a much older girl.

Georgia loves make-up and skinny jeans. She has two piercings in each ear and loves large diamante earrings or hoops. Pop star Rhianna is one of her role models and many of her clothes are passed down from her 20-year-old aunt.

Cheryl admits it is a struggle to contain her daughter’s enthusiasm for grown-up fashions. ‘I try to make her look 10, but it’s hard. I certainly don’t let her wear low cut tops and we don’t let her out on her own in the evenings.

‘We keep a close eye on her, but she’s still been asked if she wants a drink bought for her and the other day a van-load of men were all leering at her. People think she’s a lot older, a teenager. Georgia owns a pair of towering four-inch glitter stilettos, but so far she’s only allowed to use them for dressing up at home.

With cavorting pop princesses and sexually-aggressive plastic-dolls setting the tweeny sartorial agenda in their leather outfits, towering heels, bare midriff and butt-tight jeans, the era of primary age girls happily kitted out in comfortable brogues, frocks and cardigans is long gone.

I have spent these past months tut tutting at my daughter’s passion for heels and bemoaned the passing of traditional 1950s girlswear. But, eventually I concluded that it’s better that my daughter aspires to be a feisty go-getter like Rhianna rather than Anne from The Famous Five – the meek no-hoper I wanted to be when I was her age. As long as she mimics within my controlled limits and that most definitely means no stack heels or caked make-up out in public.

Indeed, Enid Blyton’s modestly attired character represents the mythical ideal of girlhood dressing, with her hand-knitted cardigans and floral dresses. Anne may have looked sweet and innocent, but she’s still no role model either and could inspire nothing in my daughter but life as a timid, helpmeet.

These days a girl needs a little more than that if she’s to tackle the complexity of the modern world. She also needs to be vaguely fashionable if she’s to stay comfortable among her peers. Hmmm. With this in mind, I’ve decided to let my nine-year-old have a modest pair of wedge pumps and some silver sandals for birthday parties with an unassuming heel.

I have also handed her a copy of the Boden catalogue, with its funky fashion trainers in primary colours, rather than the web address to Barratt’s shoes. She would love some spiky heeled boots and pierced diamante earrings, but while I hold the purse strings no pester power will budge me on these. And thankfully, as I write this, she is barefoot in the garden, in a fairy costume from the dressing up box. You are only nine once and there’s a lifetime ahead to teeter in foot-cramping high heels…

Thanks you notes - just say 'no thanks'...

2009-01-27T08:04:00.000-08:00

Apologies before I even start for the Bah Humbug! nature of this post - but I just have to express how much I have come to loathe 'thank you' card sent by post. I hardly ever receive interesting things by Royal Mail - usually just a few red bills, some letters that were meant for the previous occupants of my house and a couple of takeaway pizza menus. So the excitement when one receives a hand-written, what looks like a letter. A letter! Full of news from a friend I've not heard from in a while, maybe? Or perhaps it's an invitation to a party? I'm getting excited as I open it. Or maybe it's a cheque? It looks like an expensive, beautifully designed card - and inside it just says ... 'thanks for the present you gave me.' Could there be a more tedious and disappointing message in the post. It's nice to says thanks for presents - but a quick text or email will do the trick - and I wouldn't be deluded into thinking it was something more exciting. Bah Humbug!

School costumes - just say no

2008-12-20T16:03:00.000-08:00

Thank God the season of festive school plays and 'activities' is finished. This term I have been mostly making a tin soldier's outfit (well actually my mother made this one), a Greek outfit (which unfortunately looked more like a Viking costume), a wonky hand-sewn star for the school Christmas tree - not to mention previous season's Tudor costume, Victorian schoolgirl, Viking sword and shield and, er, Tudor handbag. Now, I think what's going on is that the teacher - knowing my inability with handicrafts - has deliberately chosen my children for the most fiendishly difficult ensembles. Do they think I have nothing else to do in my life? Do they not realise, that like many other busy, busy mothers at the school, I have skirting boards to dust, a watch to wind, QVC to peruse and coffee mornings to attend. Not! Actually, I'm busy writing important features about shopping - check out my latest piece in the Daily Mail 'just what I never wanted' about the ghastliest presents ever. The most fun I ever had writing a feature in my entire journalistic career...

Extreme mothering

2008-12-11T09:53:00.000-08:00

Extreme mothering

I have been sent information from the rather frightening Full Time Mothers campaigning group (FTM). Their website is filled with research justifications about why working harms your child – and why it’s best to be married. And why daycare makes your child a mentallist. Reading through it started to make me feel angry and a little nauseous - actually a lot nauseous. I don't agree with their claims about attachment disorders setting in if you're not with your child all the time. But, today, there's further reports in the press that daycare isn't that great for your child - more ammunition for the FTM campaigners which I'm sure they will use to full effect. Surely, the issue is about allowing women access to the best quality care possible and giving them the choice about how much, if at all, they want to use it. However, the thought of being a FTM, shuffling around with my babies at home all day, does not appeal.

Chanel hell in John Lewis

2008-11-11T07:47:00.000-08:00

As heads of marketing and directors sit around expansive boardroom tables pondering why retail revenue is falling and what they must do about, perhaps they should head into the festive fray and experience customer service - or lack of it themselves. I experienced a tiny but telling moment of bad customer service last weekend. I couldn't have been a more easy sale. I headed for John Lewis' Chanel make-up counter in Norwich with my empty bottle of foundation. It was Sunday and there were no other customers in this section of the shop, let alone at the counter itself. 'I've used this up and I need some more,' I said. The disinterested assistant - peroxide, middle-age, heavy-make up, bored - was checking some product lists. Pen in hand, she looked up and looked dismayed that she needed to attend to me. 'But, I'm not sure exactly what colour I need, whether I might need darker,' I said. Looking yet more annoyed, she squirted three blobs of different coloured foundation on her own hand. I had to lean across and ask if I could test them on myself. She reluctantly agreed. I felt humiliated, embarrassed and as if I was wasting her time. I gave up headed for Debenhams down the road. Here the assistant sat me down, smothered me in reassuring, clucking banalities and tested the foundation colours on my face. Of course, I paid £22 for a pot of foundation. So far away from the John Lewis board room - but such complacency will cost them dearly in sales. I advise them to head for the shop floor and try and buy some foundation from their own Chanel counter - it's not a pleasant experience.

Invisible housework chores

2008-10-29T08:53:00.001-07:00

Women do more housework than men. Studies show it. Disgruntled women know it. Dish washers, microwaves and hoovers may have made it less back-breaking but the spread of tasks is still far from even.

Aside from the traditional, obvious tasks like washing up and cleaning the loo, women’s ‘to do’ list always contains a host of invisible housework chores that nobody notices unless they’re not done, nobody cares about, unless they’re not done, and are never considered when it comes to working out who does what and what’s fair.
Women are responsible for strategy management – that usually means planning evening meals, scheduling children’s appointments, arranging birthday and family parties, buying gifts for relatives, buying gifts for kids to take to parties. An endless thankless list of invisible chores.
A new study shows the gender gap is closing for obvious tasks – like putting the baby to bed, washing up or cooking supper. But there is still a hidden inequality for ‘invisible’ household work.
Indeed, Pamela Smock, a University of Michigan sociologist who also works with the council, said a persistent gender gap remains for what she called "invisible" household work — scheduling children's medical appointments, buying the gifts they take to birthday parties, arranging holiday gatherings, for example.
I’ve always said that my husband may start his job earlier than me, but his ends hours before mine does. Mine doesn’t end until the kitchen is clean, the lunch is prepared for the following day, the phone calls are returned and, tired of running through the mental rolodex in my head of things I still need to do, I finally collapse into fitful sleep often to be woken in the middle of the night by some task I failed to do.

Onion peeling eye mask sign of advanced capitalism

2008-10-28T01:36:00.000-07:00

My brother will be 39 on Saturday. He is impossible to buy presents for because he doesn't want or need anything. And like most of us in the UK, if he does really,really want something he can probably buy it himself anyway rather than having to wait to be given it as a present. So, as is the typical present-buying dilemma, that just leaves fripperies and coming up with new needs and wants that the recipient never dreamed they had. I was delighted then to discover in John Lewis, at a ridiculous £15.99 an 'onion-eye-peeling mask'. Which is little more than a pair of white sun-glasses with clear plastic frames and a little bit of plastic round the sides to stop fumes upsetting our poor little twenty first century wealthy-nation eyes. Seeing this as a symbol of advanced capitalism gone insane, I just had to have it. He needs it as much as he needs a new pair of socks or another box of Thornton's rather grim-tasting chocolates. The perfect present for the person living in modern Britain who has everything. I want one for myself.

Guide to journalistic cliches

2008-10-23T03:55:00.000-07:00

Found this 'guide' on the internet... if you can think of any I should add send them to me at info@lizhollis.co.uk

Reader's Guide to Journalistic Cliches

Controversial: He did something bad but we're not sure what
Scandal-plagued: Guilty
War-torn: We can't find it on a map
Knowledgable observer: The reporter
Knowledgable observers: The reporter and the person at the next desk
Screen Legend: Reporter is too young to remember his movies
Teen idol: Reporter is too old to have heard of him
According to published reports: We got scooped
Embattled: He should quit
Recently: We lost the press release
Shocking revelation: leaked on a slow news day
Highly placed source: one who would talk
Supermodel: picture was printed somewhere
Celebrity: has a publicist
Superstar: has a publicist and an agent
Family Values: right wing idiot
Progressive: left wing idiot
Couldn't be reached for comment: the reporter didn't call until after 5pm
Unclear, uncertain, unknown at press time: no one will tell us
Conflagration: what was a fire in the first paragraph, a blaze in the second and an inferno in the third
Long-time companion: they had sex
Tearful: Could have been crying
Choked up: Definitely could have been crying
Weeping: Tear spotted in one eye
Entrepreneur: Hasn't made it yet, but we're doing a nice story about him
Mogul: Has made it, and we're doing a hatchet job
Hot-button issue: only editors care about it
Towing industry expose: editor got a parking ticket
With news wire services: no original reporting whatsoever

Psychology samples - why always students?

2008-10-16T03:51:00.000-07:00

I look at many psychology papers. It seems to me that most of them carry out their research on 'undergraduate students'. Is this a representative sample - educated, intelligent, young...can we base our psychological understanding of the whole of society on paper after paper that researches this specialised group? Why don't researchers get out in the real world and do study some real people? Unfortunately, when you read a newspaper report about the latest study it usually fails to mention the sample.

Boden appeal vanishes in credit crunch zeitgeist

2008-10-14T09:58:00.000-07:00

I'm fascinated by brands and Boden childrenswear is one that appeals to me. I certainly am not MOR Boden women frolicking on the beach in a shapeless purple sweater and flat pumps. However, the children's catalogue appeals and I usually buy my daughters something from it each season. The new catalogue arrives, they peruse it at huge length ticking off things they like and I pay for one or two items that usually total about £100. The catalogue arrived today but the magic has been broken. It went straight in the bin. It's not as if I have dramatically less money than usual but I've been swept up in the credit crunch zeitgeist that is making me question aquisition of material possessions. I thought about the Boden items I had bought and realised that they weren't actually nicer than much cheaper items from H&M. I was merely buying into the back-story brand psychology of happy children frolicking around in middle-class clothes. Well at the moment Johnnie Boden, I'm sorry but I don't want it and I don't need it. The catalogue is bin fodder and I'm making do with the clothes we have already. Although, come to think of it I did spend £100 on children's clothes in designer store Desigual in Amsterdam last week. Hmmm...

Pimp my fashion

2008-10-10T06:05:00.000-07:00

Red Light Fashion, Amsterdam
Authorities in Amsterdam are cleaning up the red light district in Amsterdam with fashion. Where once there were dodgy mafia sex traffic operations, now there are young designers, bows, satin, totally unwearable designs, dreams of fame in high fashion, hugs and air kisses. I'm just back from a press trip to Red Light Fashion - where we had a guided viewing behind the windows of former canal houses that have been transformed into designer showcases. Designers are using the old tiled beds with their grotty plastic mattresses as sofas and desks and one has even turned a former prostitute's bidet into a fish tank with two black guppy fish gurgling around in it. The fashion houses are slotted between windows of bored-looking prostitutes (I did visit at 11am) and our group of journalists was carefully lined up so we didn't stand in front of the girls, blocking the view for punters. 'They are doing their job too,' we were told. Definitely worth a look if you are visiting Amsterdam.
http://www.redlightfashionamsterdam.com/

Stuck in Blake's Heaven

2008-10-08T04:14:00.000-07:00

Stuck in Blake’s Heaven
A little nostalgia is good for you – but a 30 year obsession with a seventies TV programme means you need to move on

Take a cast of dysfunctional main characters, bind them together with some caustic, ironic dialogue and spangly costumes. Mix well into ever surprising combinations and season with moral ambiguity and an air of disillusionment and you have the wondrous Blake’s 7: one of the best television programmes on the British small screen in the late seventies, early eighties. Apparently, the series is being remade and will reappear on television in 2009.
As a confused 14-year-old, Blake’s 7 was the TV panacea that kept me sane with its scathing and rebellious, yet oddly comforting, presence. Even now listening to the theme tune again for the first time in decades makes my chest tighten with anticipation and excitement.
In 1978, stuck in stultifying rural Norfolk and just on the brink of discovering the nihilism of punk, Blake’s 7 was the perfect vehicle to vicariously offload my nascent cynicism and disillusionment. It was wonderfully contemptuous (with Avon’s sneer sometimes threatening Sid Vicious proportions), yet safe and comforting (rickety sets and sparkling cat suits were hardly scary – nor was watching it at home while eating cheese and salad cream sandwiches).
‘Everyone’s out to get you,’ Vila is told in the penultimate episode of the last series, by which time I now had unforgiving pink hair, an ear lobe triple self-pierced with a safety pin and Crass painted on the back of my leather jacket. ‘I always assume that wherever I go’, Vila replies.
The perfect dialogue for an anti-social disillusioned teenager growing up in Thatcher’s Britain. Quotes to inspire a slight rebel embarking on that fiendishly problematic process of establishing my identity – which when it came to fruition could now probably best be described as, er, caustic, morally ambiguous, disillusioned and with a love of spangly costumes. Perfect then. No wonder I loved Blake’s 7 so much.
But, and forgive me if the exact details of the sound recordist, supporting cast and sub-plots are a little hazy now. For all that was almost, er, 30 years ago. And I’m happy to admit that I have moved on since then. Indeed, I haven’t watched it since. Not once, until a friend kindly loaned me a rather shaky video copy of the last ever two episodes to jog my memory for the purposes of writing this piece.
It was nice to revisit it again but I haven’t actually thought about Blake’s 7 much in the past three decades. I can’t say it has played a big part in my life. Actually, I left it all behind for a progression of new, if admittedly less inspiring, tv favourites: Brookside (hmmm!); This Life; Newsnight Review; Seinfeld, The Sopranos, Jordan and Peter… It may not actually be better quality, or more worthy, but at least I have moved on.
But some people never move on. They stay stuck in a Blake’s 7 time warp, forever pondering the miniscule nuances of every episode, every character, every member of the production team.
So why is it that a few super fans, who loved it so much they just can’t leave it behind where some believe it should stay – back when the seventies melded into the eighties? Why do some fanatics still obsess about it, love it, watch and watch again old episodes, go to Blake’s 7 conventions and feel it was the pinnacle of British television history. And is it actually bad for you to think about Blake’s 7 so much? Well psychology just might have the answer…
Psychologists believe that if you carry a torch for Blake’s 7, you could be succumbing to what researchers have labelled – nostalgic consumer bonding. It might worry friends and family and others who are bored of your obsession, but apparently it’s not dangerous, it’s not catching and it might even be good for you – in moderation.
In the US, Professor Morris Holbrook an expert on marketing at Columbia University, in New York and his colleague Professor Robert Schindler, a business professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, have researched just what it is that makes us fixate on a programme like Blake’s 7.
Their experiments reveal that some people appear to ‘imprint’ on popular products such as television programmes like Blake’s 7.
Mere exposure isn’t enough – so simply watching lots of times won’t do the trick. Rather you have to have some peculiar, and almost spiritual, deep emotional experience of bonding with the programme at the time. You have to associate it with something rather wonderful that you remember doing at the time, or some particularly strong feeling, such as watching Blake’s 7 while your parents praised you for being such a marvellous child, made you feel good and loved and wanted and fed you the most delicious cream cakes you had ever eaten in your life while you watched Blake and Avon roaming around the universe.
Or maybe you watched it while having your first sexual experience? Or more likely for most teenagers imagining your first sexual experience while your hormones surged
This potent cocktail of a favourite consumer product mixed with a good memory, in turn, leads to a powerful, enduring bond in your psyche that renders the programme with a special significance. It’s a done deal and you are inextricably and forever in love with Blake’s 7. . I don’t recall having such an epiphany while watching – which is probably why I haven’t thought about it since, even though I loved it at the time.
If you did, now, for eternity you are hooked on watching episodes of Blake’s 7 and endlessly discussing them for ever more. It’s like a drug – and you may even need to buy extravagantly priced memorabilia from the actual show to feed your addiction. The bond is so deep, you may never even escape. It’s a love thang for Blake and his team that can teleport you right back to the halcyon days of your first delicious experience of watching the original programmes. For Proust is was a bit of a buttery Madeleine cake, for you it’s watching Blake’s 7.
And such reminiscences may actually be good for you. Nostalgia is bitter sweet and we are urged to live in the moment, but apparent the occasional trip down memory lane can actually give your spirits a significant lift. A tiny trigger of Blake’s 7 has the power to unleash a flood of sunny memories that makes you more cheerful and can prove an antidote if you feel blue, according to research from psychologists at Chicago’s Loyola University.
"Reminiscence can motivate you," says Fred Bryant, researcher at Loyola University. More important, it can give you "a sense of being rooted, a sense of meaning and purpose—instead of being blown around by the whims of everyday life."
Researchers at the University of Southampton in the U.K. have also found nostalgia can make you feel happier. Studies by psychologist Tim Wildschut reveal that more nostalgic people report higher self-esteem, less depression and feel more positively about friendships and close relationships.
So nostalgia is good for you – but in small doses! Never any more than 20 minutes a day, according to the psychology researchers. Not in great dollops of all-day splurging, gooey, watching-past-episodes-every-day, having dirty dreams about Avon, obsessive-type of way. A little bit now and then – just to cheer you up on a gloomy day.
So yes, I have moved on, but I guess it won’t do me any harm to keep hold of my newly acquired video of Blake’s 7 if it’s that good for my self-esteem and mood. And while I’m at it, I just might log on to Amazon and order the whole boxed DVD set…but I’ve moved on. And I’ll only watch a bit every now and then, promise…

When not in Russia...

2008-10-07T09:48:00.000-07:00

I have failed to obtain a Russian visa for a press trip next week - along with several other journalists in the party. Apparently, the Russian Embassy are not keen on journalists, but I've had no exact explanation of why. It was a press trip organised by Phillips to showcase future technology in Moscow. This is the second time a trip I have planned to Russia has been called off at the last minute - perhaps I'm just not meant to go there. The last attempt was several years ago. The hotel and flights were booked, but my partner at the time developed a sudden and all-consuming phobia of flying following an air crash (can't remember which one now) where several passengers were killed. I'd even been on a short course to learn a few words of Russian. We cancelled. I gather it's an interesting place - but unfortunately I have yet to visit in person...

Early to bed, early to rise makes Liz...dull

2008-10-02T04:48:00.001-07:00

I've tried it for four weeks now. It seemed like a good idea at the start of the new school year. Getting up at 6.30am, walking the dog in the park. Back home by 7am ready to get the children out of bed and into school uniforms and into the office for 8.45. Four weeks was long enough. Getting up early is so depressing and walking the dog at that time even more grim. I began seeing the same people at the same point on my route EVERY DAY! Aaaagh. The lady in blue wellingtons with the black and white collie, Elsie in her wheelchair taking her King Charles Spaniel past the bowling green, the man jogging in an adidas tracksuit with a black labrador. It was so depressing. I just can't do it anymore. I cannot do the same thing day after day that early without it seeming like a pointless groundhog day. Even worse, by 9pm I'm exhausted and have to go to bed early. All too horrible. I tried to get up even earlier but that was impossible, vary my route - but I soon bumped into new 'park regulars'. Now I know that some people spend their whole lives doing the same thing over and over again. They may find it comforting but I find it profoundly depressing. Standing there throwing the skimmer disk so monotonously, so early in the morning is very wrong for my constitution. I'm genetically hard-wired to get up late. The dog will have to wait for her walk, I'm staying in bed longer.

£6,000 Jimmy Choos - cause of financial collapse?

2008-10-01T06:55:00.000-07:00

A friend of a friend of a friend married this summer 2008. This story is somewhat third hand, but apparently the bride spent £6,000 on their wedding shoes - a luxury villa wedding in Italy, all very chi chi. My first thought was ‘well how on earth do you find somewhere to spend that much money on shoes’. Good quality shoes are so scarce in my home town of Norwich that I wouldn’t actually be able to find any costing that much. Indeed, I could come back from a shopping trip with hundreds of pairs for that kind of budget. Well, apparently these were hand-made, hand-crafted, hand-died, kissed, sweated-over, delighted-in and money in the bank by the esteemed shoe designer Jimmy Choo. The Jimmy Choo. My next question, of course, was how can she have afforded such extravagant shoes which apparently could barely be seen beneath her dress – what does she do for a living? The answer: ‘She does something high-up in banking.’ In a world where a City banker earns such a bonus they have money to burn on exorbitantly-priced shoes, hardly surprising the financial system is collapsing around us. Sadly, I’m not sure hand-made Jimmy Choo’s hold their value as much as cash in a savings account. Just hope for her sake, she didn’t work at Lehmann brothers…

Happy Birthday QVC (UK)

2008-09-30T06:50:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday home shopping
It’s QVC’s British birthday this week (Oct 1).
This global broadcasting phenomenon celebrates 15 years as the UK’s favourite home shopping channel, regularly watched by 22 million households.

Fortuitously, cake and candles are staples on this well-oiled selling machine – favourites include the Lime Tree Pantry afternoon tea variety cake pack (£17.25) or the Yankee Candle Mandarin home fragrance set (£36.10).

Loyal QVC customers have already received a special viewing invite via email to the channel’s Birthday Extravaganza – but, apparently, it’s an open invitation. ‘We’ve loved every minute of these 15 years and we hope you’ve loved them too,’ says the invite.

And loved them we have – to the tune of net UK sales of £352.6 million pounds last year. On the best ever day in the UK channel’s history, December 9 2007, it took more than 100, 000 orders worth £4.8 million.

So what is it about this peculiar mix of Quality Value and Convenience that keeps sales high, despite tough competition from internet and other home-shopping channels? Watch for five minutes and you’ll have the answer.

Life may be confusing, over-whelming and utterly tragic at times – but all is always well and everything makes perfect sense in QV- land. As the intensely ordinary-looking but enthusiastic presenters caress purr and eulogise over an array of mundane products, the viewer is lulled into a state of blissful, distracted contentment.

Here, as you relax to the sound of the casual banter between presenters, the only worry is whether to choose a Joan Rivers bee brooch with topaz crystal on its wings or whether to opt for leopard-print enamelled wings instead. Or maybe buy them both. Decisions, decisions.

Then for extra reassurance you can always check out customer comments on the website. ‘I received this lovely animal bee brooch and created quite a stir at my local town’s annual show,’ said one exceptionally satisfied customer.

Whether you have 2am insomnia, nothing better to do, or so much to do that you don’t know where to start, QVC will show you a world of items that you never knew existed – and that you never knew you wanted so badly. The meaning of life is reassuringly simple in QVC land – it’s shopping.