Frank and Brown

Matthew Earl, head of business services research at Matrix, caused a sensation with a string of warnings about the prospects for Connaught last year. Mark Tincknell, the chief executive accused Earl of “incompetence” but ate his words when his business collapsed into administration. What does Earl say now? He’s keeping his counsel, presumably because the facts rather speak for themselves. But you might just want to keep an eye on Serco and Capita, two more big outsourcers. (more…)

Optimism is a wonderful thing, but there is also such a thing as over egging the pudding. Whilst that might not be the best metaphor, it is worth bearing in mind when debating if the construction industry is in great shape right now or not. (more…)

Having signed off a leader column for FMX that makes reference to the Lib-Con coalition and imminent cuts I’m in the mood to wax lyrical about what George Osborne’s plans might mean and repurcussions further down the line. I accept cuts need to be made, but I lean towards to the Vince Cable (i.e. his views before the election) perspective and I certainly don’t agree with what appear to be punishing restraints on spending across the public sector. (more…)

If the success of a building is measured by the energy and performance of those using it, then Cardiff International Pool must be one of the best. Saturday saw it host the Tiger Bay Open swimming gala – one of three events in 2010. With close to 700 children competing from over 40 clubs in Wales, England, Ireland and even Germany it was great sporting occasion and a test of its design and operation. (more…)

Public relations as an industry and as a profession is meant to be very adaptable, but if you spent some time with PR people, particularly those in medium sized and large firms, you might think you had entered a dusty corporate, almost Dickensian world. So when I read Richard Susskind’s column about the legal profession in the Times last week it struck a chord.

He states that lawyers need to wake up. Their charging structure, the nature of the work, the level of service is all being questioned by clients and challenged by the potential for outsourcing to India and advances in technology. The big issue was to much emphasis being placed on fees and costs. I think that is true of many PR firms. (more…)