My Confirmation

I never talk about my spirituality but
I thought that the wonderful time I experienced last Sunday was worthy of talking about.


Confirmation was really the next logical step for me. I was at a point in my life when I needed to move my faith forward. I didn’t feel it was quite good enough to just drop into the church now and again and only pray when I remembered. I felt I needed to have a relationship with God and a relationship with those that understood what I was feeling. The whole of my life I have been trying to experience that one moment when God appears. The whole of my life I have had good guidance, my Godmother Ruth Harvey, my parents and family and great mentors such as Mrs Carter from Bath Road Church, The Revd Crossland , The Revd Barraclough and now The Revd Simon Stevenette. I have always tried to live by a good moral code, driven by strong values. It is only now I know why I was doing all this. I was taking a journey to today. Christ Church, the people and my worship there has changed my life. The only way I felt I could demonstrate to everyone that I have arrived in this most important wonderful place, was to be Confirmed and start the rest of my life.

Redheads Rule!

I thought in CELEBRATION of the red head gathering in Leeds this April

http://www.redhead-world.net/blogs/entry/The-Great-British-Redhead-Festival-Leeds-April-10-2010

I would put down some thoughts about why the colour red is the most awesome colour in the world.

The redhead community have a huge group on facebook and the redhead group have been the subject of phone app advertising on TV. I am sure it’s set to increase and grow – you should really get to know a redhead!

For most people there is no colour that fires up the imagination and is linked to so many poetic moments as the colour red. Believe it or not, the colour red affects the metabolism, blood pressure, pulse rate and the flow of adrenaline – the colour red keeps us alive.

Red is a primary colour that demands quick attention. In western culture red is seen as both a sign of danger, and a sign of love. A “red list” is a list of people and animals etc which are associated with risk and is used as a signal colour in traffic signs and traffic lights. This meaning is perhaps because blood is red and both humans and animals instinctively associate blood with danger.

In association with blood and the heart, it also has a positive side, the one of love and commitment. The logo of love and passion - the heart.

In design and creative terms, red is a colour that you can combine surprisingly easily with any neutral colour, light beige and gray tones through to chocolate brown and black. But red is also very exciting when you combine it with colours in the spectrum that are close to red such as deep dark purple and orange.

Red can also be combined with green blue and gray blues and used as an attention grabber in painting and graphic design.

Anyway, whoever has their favourite colour as red, wants variety and adventure, they are often jealous, impulsive, passionate, courageous and enthusiastic. If you deal with someone whose favourite colour is red, you will definitely never be bored. If you deal with someone whose hair is the colour red – expect WOW!

DJ Sassy and Camitz Sparkling Vodka

Picture: DJ Sassy

What a spectacular launch of the Apple Bottoms AW10 collection last night at No 5 Cavendish Square, London and what a really fashionable way to celebrate Valentines with Camitz Sparkling Vodka.

The VIP fashion industry guests and celebs were treated to Camitz Sparkling Vodka throughout the evening and brillant sounds by DJ Sassy Pandez.

Sassy is the face of Apple Bottoms and has been described as “Not only the Sexiest DJ in the World, but also the best”. Having DJ’d for Jay Z, Beyonce, Jamie Foxx and Will Smith.

With London Fashion Week commencing this week it was certainly the number one event to be seen at.

Picture: VIPs and Celebs celebrating with Camitz Sparkling Vodka cocktails

Max Clifford - PR or not PR

Richard Morris, a good friend of mine, has founded a brilliant organisation Heropreneurs - http://www.heropreneurs.co.uk/ - it's the UK's first social venture fund which supports the British Armed Forces Community (including dependants and spouses of those killed in action) in starting up new exciting enterprises.

He is a journalist by trade and has written for a wide variety of print media including the Sunday Times, Wall Street Journal, FT, the New Yorker, Independent and me. Richard has also held a number of top blue chip roles. We were both discussing today the latest debate over Max Clifford's role in the John Terry saga. We both agree that there is much more to Max Clifford than meets the eye and to refer to him as a PR can sometimes devalue his worth to our international and British media landsape.


Here is Richard's opinion:

The impression that footballers are a breed apart was emphatically confirmed by the antics of John Terry last week as it was let out he’d accumulated more female baggage than Louis Vuitton.

Now on a par with major entertainment stars, with predictable consequences for their egos, his extramarital affair with the former girlfriend of Wayne Bridge would scarcely be any of our business if it were an aberration. Instead it is just another marked card to chuck on his toppling tower of unwanted publicity.

As if things couldn’t get any worse for him, Veronica Parracel had a powerful tool at her disposal: step forward Max Clifford and no-one rises to a challenge quite like him. Such is Max’s influence that when the News of the World won the newspaper of the year award, rivals complained that many of its stories were ‘Clifford jobs’.

And barely a Sunday goes by when a newspaper splash doesn't have something to do with Max Clifford, which of course included David Beckham's alleged affair with PA Rebecca Loos and Jude Law's alleged liaison with nanny Daisy Wright. Along with clients including Simon Cowell and Peter Jones, of BBC2's Dragons' Den fame, Clifford says three quarters of his business is "conventional PR", representing property businesses and health and beauty companies.

But Max is a much more complex character than just a purveyor of sleaze, as many of his victims have branded him. After bringing up a disabled child - his only daughter Lousie, who has suffered from rheumatoid arthritis since childhood - is also a motivating factor behind many of his decisions. I remember interviewing him for a health magazine some time ago and although he did not criticise the NHS treatment Louise received, he said he had watched with growing anger at what had happened to the health service over the past 20 years.

He does a considerable amount of fund-raising for medical charities including media work for a children's hospice at the Royal Marsden Hospital of which he’s a patron. He also handled the publicity for the Daniels family and helped set up the Rhys Daniels Trust which combats Batten’s Disease - a devastating neurological degenerative childhood disease which leads to an early death - usually 3-4 years from its onset.

A public relations is at times a risky business but when Max Clifford is involved you can bet that the stakes, whether good or bad, are often high.

An interesting link that monitors Clifford's media mentions - http://tiny.cc/0F7cm

Everyone enjoying Brother Snare and Camitz

A great night was had by all of those that attended the Okand event at Zebrano, Soho, London last Thursday and the Camitz Sparkling Vodka went down very well.

Brother Snare and the Okand Girls had a great time.

Remember that tonight there is another huge event. Go to www.okand.com for info.