Sorry, the publication can not be displayed.

reviewsWAITING FOR THE ETONIANS byNick Cohen | £12.99 | Fourth Estatehe last Etonian prime minister, Harold Macmillan, formed his administration more than 50 years ago in January 1957. When asked what represented the greatest challenge for a statesman, Macmillan famously replied: “Events, my dear boy, events ?. Nick Cohen describes with great clarity and precision most of the events of the past decade that conspire to enable him to predict with confidence that Gordon Brown’s inevitable successor at Downing Street will be fellow old Etonian, David Cameron. From the outset Cohen summarises with great flair the growing scale of excess during the 90s. He captures the debt culture of ‘0% for balance transfers first 6 months’ (followed of course, by 21 per cent APR), and accurately defines the differenceTbetween the chavs and chav nots. A committed socialist, Cohen apologises for the fact that his team were captains on watch when the pack of cards came tumbling down. But sadly he does not delve deep enough into some of the Labour Party’s more embarrassing moments such as ‘foreign policy with an ethical dimension’, ‘the Bernie’, cash for peerages, or ‘Cheriegate’ to name a handful. If this book teaches us anything it is that history repeats itself time and time again. Cash for questions at £5,000 a time under a tired Tory administration in 1994 becomes an inflation-adjusted £120,000 to a Labour peer in 2009. (This latest example is not recorded, but there are many more like it.) The book is a brilliant compilation of recent events that are cleverly intertwined, reminding me how as a nation we have passively lain backreviewed by Lord (Paddy) Gillford, founding partner, Gardant Communications Paddy Gillford was an Etonian from 1974-1979and learnt to accept the ridiculous during New Labour, such as the creeping, crawling police state and criminal-justice reforms and practice (the most recent example being the arrest of Damian Green within the Palace of Westminster). No fewer than 16 prime ministers of Great Britain have been drawn from the playing-fields of Eton in the past 300 years. We sometimes forget the many others who have devoted their life to public service without making it to the top post (Douglas Hurd, for example, or Peter Carrington, the last minister to resign without being pushed in 1982). A wonderfully cynical account of the contradictory world we live in, by telling the truth of New Labour from a socialist standpoint, Cohen’s book makes us Etonians look positively normal and highly electable! PANGET THIS BOOK At a discount Visit www.politicos.co.uk/dod and receive special offers, fast dispatch and efficient customer service. Our online bookshop stocks a wide variety of political books, DVDs and gifts. You can also sign up to a free weekly e-bulletin to read about new and forthcoming publications. The book reviewed here is available at £8.44 (including UK postage and packing)Le Boudin Blanc 5 Trebeck Street | London | W1J 7LT tel (020) 7499 3292 ucked away in Shepherd Market, French restaurant Le Boudin Blanc is a little removed from the bustle of central London. The Boudin Blanc experience is, well, very French. On entering, you are greeted with a ‘Bonjour messieurs!’ and whisked off to your table with a ‘S’il vous plait, messieurs!’ The French are proud of their cooking, and rightly so, and the restaurant clearly sets out to show us English exactly what we’re missing by living – and eating – on our side of the Channel. All of the food on the menu is authentically French and delicious. If you’re not feeling too adventurous the Scottish rib-eye steak is good, but I would definitely recommend taking the plunge and trying something new – the roasted prawns with saffron and herb risotto, braised shank of lamb and veal cutlet are all excellent.TThe wine list comprises France’s best. You are spoilt for choice and, if you have trouble making up your mind, I can recommend, for white, the Pouilly Fumé or, red, the Château Teyssier. The portions are good – I would expect nothing less from a nation that likes its food – and I generally find it difficult to get through a starter, main course and pudding. Two out of three usually does me. I would thoroughly recommend Le Boudin Blanc for wining and dining your clients. Its location in the Shepherd Market ‘oasis’ is a definite plus for me – but remember, it’s only five minutes’ walk from Green Park. In addition to the quality of the food and drink the staff are very attentive but not intrusive. There is no loud music and a healthy hubbub of conversation. The quality of the food and service are reflected in the price – lunch for two with a decent bottle of wine comes to around £120. However, if you’re on a budget, the fixed-price menu represents good value at £14.95. Le Boudin Blanc seems to be holding up in the recession. It was full at my last lunch there – a reflection, perhaps, of the large, satisfied clientele it has built up. PANreviewed by Gabriel Abulafia, director, Green Issues CommunicationsApril 2009 | PublicAffairsNews | 37Ian Hall APRIL 2009www.publicaffairsnews.cinside this issueCelic departs HSBC for Prudential role By IAN HALLPreparing for power How would the Tories tackle their first 100 days? page 18 ‘The register does not work’ View from Brussels PAGE 13 A picture of health? Helen Bradburn pagES 20-21 Ed Vaizey Kevin newsRail regulator bags external affairs supremo Ken Young joins from the Pensions Regulator, which replaces him with former aide to pensions minister Rosie Winterton The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has recruited the Pensions Regulator’s head of communications to head its newly created 18-strong newsAlstom brief for Bell Pottinger Public Affairs Alstom has brought in Bell Pottinger Public Affairs to provide UK lobbying advice. The agency appointment, believed to be the first time the company has handed out a major retained UK PA contract, follows the appointment of a new UK comms director a newsCentrica lures Defra aide Novozymes plans by ian hallFTSE 100 energy giant Centrica has lured Justin Johnson from Defra, where he was specialist adviser to environment secretary Hilary Benn MP. Johnson has taken the role of public affairs manager, reporting to director of public affairs and Euro New-biz round-up Your essential monthly digest of organisations appointing or changing consultanciesSMARTA.COM • G4S • ASSOCIATION OF LICENSED MULTIPLE RETAILERS • AMGEN • LONDON SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY • UCAS Kaup. Singer Fried. depositors’ action group – Bell Pottinger An ‘action group’ of deposito newsEx-Brunswick partner claims HSBC role Banking giant HSBC has made a brace Her role with HSBC marks a a senior appointments to bolster return to an in-house banking job: its international public affairs. before Brunswick she was interim The group has appointed Joanna director of corporate affairs newspeople moves www.publicaffairsnews.cONLINE 20MAREustice joins Allan’s Portland Portland PR last month recruited one of www.publicaffairsnews.c clients, splitting his time between the ONLINE 26MAR the best-known and longest-serving agency and his duties in Cornwall. names in the Conservatives’ PR MediaHow political rivals are faring in the presscommons incheS: Miliband, Clark and Hughes rival PARLIAMENTARIANS’ press coverage – number of mentions 16 Ed Miliband 8 Mar: Sunday papers note that Miliband will warn the Scottish Labour conference that the party and the country face testing timesmed Consultation tracker Your essential monthly digest of new consultations of interest to the public affairs communityON-DEMAND TV • ECO-TOWNS • TICKET TOUTING • GAMING TABLES • ‘CARBON NEUTRALITY’ • MEDICAL DEVICES • APPRENTICESHIPS CONSULTATIONS LAUNCHED IN THE PAST month BBC Trust – ‘Project Canvas’ european news‘EU quarter’ revamp hailed PA pros welcome news that Rue de la Loi area is set to be given makeover BRUSSELS: Lobbyists have given the values they defend and promote on the thumbs-up to news that Brussels’ international stage”. generally ugly ‘European quarter’ is Edelman’s London-based european newseuropean News in brief – EXTRA B-M PREPARES EP ELECTIONS PREDICTOR: Burson-Marsteller (B-M)’s Brussels office is this month launching a website – www. predict09.eu – that will offer updated weekly predictions, based on polling data, of the result of European Parliament elections. The el european newsConference dominated by ‘downturn’ talk BRUSSELS: the EIGHTH EUROtive Andrew Hawkins are pean Centre for Public reproduced below. Affairs (ECPA) annual The conference was conference saw top Eurodominated by talk of the pean professionals gather impact of the recession, at the Berlaymont Are you prepared for the changes about to take place in Brussels? As a political and public affairs communications specialist, Dods can help you to keep track of the personnel and institutional changes that are on the horizon. With this in mind we provide specific services focusing on the elections think-tank newsByrne and Gove at IPPR/PwC debate The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has teamed up with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to launch a three-year work programme that aims to set out the ‘practical steps’ needed to create a ‘smarter, more effective’ state. Their ‘Towards a Smart BAR . RESTAURANT . CAFÉ Located moments from the Houses of ParliamentCatering for events 10-180 people Exclusive Hire Meetings and Conferences Bar and Café Area Four Millbank, London SW1P 3JA Four Millbank, London SW1P 3JA Tel: 020 7233 0032 Tel: 020 7233 0032 Fax: 020 7233 0010 Fax: 020 7233 0010 E opinion – leadereditor’s COMMENT Scottish market typifies agency sector as ’09 q1 ends very time I ask someone working for a PA consultancy how they are coping during the recession, answers seem cloned from the same template: “...clients still need public affairs advice, even if the economy’s lousy. opinion – pan panelQHOT TOPIC: AFTER THE ELECTION... [ Jo Tanner Director, IN-HOUSE PRTHE QUESTION: What would the first 100 days of a Cameron government bring? With the Conservative Party maintaining a healthy lead in the polls, Tory strategists are planning for how to adjust to power after more th opinion – columnistsed vaizeyMP COMMENTkevin maguireJOURNALIST COMMENTWhy it’s becoming tougher to ‘Transparency’ provides lowbe a parliamentary candidate hanging fruit for hungry hacks t’s quite common these days to find prominent figures from the public affairs sector making the move into frontlin Profile – HELEN BRADBURN‘There is a huge amount of potential to do more here’ After 11 years at the NHS Confederation Helen Bradburn left for the top PA and comms role at the Health Foundation. Adam Hill finds her ‘thinking her way’ into the new role here is an electric piano in one of changes of em PROFILE – HELEN BRADBURNPA person now,” she says – after another longish pause. These exchanges are typical of Bradburn’s conversation: thoughtful rather than polished, querying rather than bullish, with responses seeming to arrive newminted rather than off a corporate production line. She should ge PA CONSULTANCIES IN SCOTLANDScot to trot As London-headquartered Mandate Communications recruits well-known Scottish lobbyist Craig Harrow to open an office in Edinburgh, Public Affairs News maps out the consultancy scene north of the border FLEISHMAN-HILLARD Opened in Scotland in Dec 1996 Top PA pe PA CONSULTANCIES IN SCOTLAND M c EWAN PARTNERS Was GJW Scotland in 1999, then McEwan Purvis; has been McEwan Partners since 2007 Directors are Sam McEwan, Jayne Swanson and Jacqueline Jamieson Four staff ‘85 to 90 per cent’ of turnover is from PA Independent, but part of FIPRA network First minister PHARMACEUTICALSPharma chameleons Counterfeit medicines and ‘market access’ are just two of the issues exercising PA professionals in the drugs sector, writes Adam Hill n 2007, more than four million counterfeit medicines were seized at EU borders, a contraband haul up 51 per cent on the previous yea PHARMACEUTICALSthe European Commission and due to be read in the European Parliament this spring. It aims to standardise the current ad hoc arrangements on patients’ rights when they receive medical treatment in other member states. Another is an EU directive on information to patients, taking in is GM FOOD‘Countries have different rea ‘Frankenstein food’? Or an idea whose time has come? Adam Hill reports on the groups battling it out over GM technology there was more discussion in Brussels,” says Moll. “It depends on the local agenda; countries have different reasons to reject it.”AEuropean re GM FOODasons to reject it...’ Policy director Peter Melchett explains: “Our fundamental argument against GM as a technology and GM crops as products is that the technology gives rise to uncertainties and risks.” Yet a large part of the group’s messaging also revolves around downplaying the whole iss EVENT PARTNERNOMINATIONS ARE NOW CLOSEDMONDAY 11 MAYTHE SHORTLIST WILL BE ANNOUNCED ONFOR SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AND TABLE BOOKINGS CONTACT:EMMA STEPHENS Dods, Westminster Tower, 3 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SP +44 (0)20 7091 7677@emma.stephens@publicaffTHURSDAY 2 JULY 2009 www.publicaffairsn recruitment PC ad(PAN)030-4-09-c 3/4/09 11:34 Page 1appointmentsEnterprise Insight Head of External Relations to £45k (possible part-time arrangement available, £ pro-rata) Enterprise Insight increases entrepreneurial behaviour in the UK by equipping people with the confidence, skills and ambition t “Over many years I have drawn upon Steve Atack’s expertise in international executive search for public affairs appointments. We at Microsoft have benefited from his successful completion of a number of demanding recruitment assignments. He rises to his clients’ challenge with discretion, stamina, f electus making the right connectionGood eggs; hand picked and quality assured Electus is the natural recruitment partner in public affairs and corporate communicationsFor an informative, yet confidential, conversation with one of our consultants please call 020 7091 7570 or visit www.electus-group.c recruitment For more jobs visit www.publicaffairsnews.cusCorporate Affairs Manager London or Dublin £ highly competitive This is a varied and challenging role at a global corporate whose issues often cause contentions. This is a position for a robust and well-rounded communications professional wit ePoliti .com Parliament Policy CommunicationPolitical EPolicy Con suCa mventspaigltat ion snC ove ragei Parla menNe tarywsParli am Briefi entary ng Pa persYour route into Parliament ePolitix.com driving the UK’s online political communicationOur services include: Parliamentary news Campaign coverage classifiedThe magazine for MEPs, by MEPs theparliament.com subscribe online POLITICS, POLICY AND PEOPLETo advertise here call......Emma Stephens 020 7091 7677 April 2009 | PublicAffairsNews | 35 bridge_195_60 copy.pdf 16/12/2008 10:57:14classifiedCMPOLITICAL INTELLIGENCE Dods Monitoring is a specialist political information provider delivering real-time monitoring to the political and policymaking community, from multinational corporations to trade associations, government agencies to chari reviewsWAITING FOR THE ETONIANS byNick Cohen | £12.99 | Fourth Estatehe last Etonian prime minister, Harold Macmillan, formed his administration more than 50 years ago in January 1957. When asked what represented the greatest challenge for a statesman, Macmillan famously replied: “Events, my dear bo out and aboutmy life Sophie Sutcliffe Corporate affairs executive News International Newspapers Where do you live? Shad Thames, next to Tower Bridge. So it’s a very civilised 20-minute ‘commute’ to work and ideal for trips to Borough Market on a Saturday. What’s your media diet? Wake up to the Today out and about All group shots are captioned left to right. To include photos of your event, send images to ian.hall@publicaffairsnNewsreader Alastair Stewart OBE (an Action for Children ambassador) and Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families Beverley Hughes MPMarket Research Societ Best In Class James Nason Warwick Smith Chris Lowe Richard Sutcliffe-Smith Robbie MacDuffMerging to makeContact: firstname.surname@coll