Private Email?
by Graham Davies

E mails are a seductive weapon. They are easy to write and even easier to send.

Unfortunately, once you have sent one , you can't take it back. As a former adviser to the PM was telling me recently.

You Tube has ensured that the presentational mistakes of politicians and celebrities will long outlive them. But you don't have to have a high profile to fall foul of the sheer longevity of cyber-communication.

So...take my advice: when you write an email, assume that the 10 people in the world that you would least like to see it, will see it.

Once you have mastered this, you can then work for Gordon Brown.

Apology to Police
by Graham Davies

I would like to humbly apologise to the Tactical Support Group of the Metropolitan Police. The blog I wrote 3 days ago is grossly inaccurate. I wrongly implied that an officer had assaulted a "protestor". In fact, he was an Evening Standard Vendor on his way home from work.

It is this sort of appalling slander that has seen the resignation of a high-profile political adviser over the last 48 hours. I am consumed with anguish, because the officer clearly suspected Ian Tomlinson of Selling Newspapers in an Offensive Manner. Immediate force was necessary to prevent uncontrolled dissemination of tabloid journalism.

The officer in question has now been suspended, but not questioned. We still do not know why he was wearing a balaclava or why he had covered up his epaulettes. I would be shocked if anyone were to suggest that these were ploys to conceal his identity. He was clearly the sort of public servant that wanted to keep his uniform clean even in the midst of a riot.

But we do know why he has not been questioned. Apparently, he is recovering from a heart attack.

I wish the same could be said of Ian Tomlinson.

G20 Death
by Graham Davies

I can hear the policeman's defence in court already: "The protestor was walking away from me in a threatening manner and the way he had his hands in his pockets made me fear for my life. I was forced to defend myself by hitting him with my baton."

There are many people in this country who feel that demonstrators get what they deserve...after all, they should not have been protesting if they didn't want trouble.

Those people are just plain wrong. Tolerance of mass protest is one of the things that distinguishes us from countries like Russia, China, France and a whole host of more demcocratic entities. This country has always presented itself as a haven of free speech. I hope it always will.

Demonstrations have to be policed. But in Britain it has to be done carefully. Because that is what Britain is all about: a country where the Rule of Law is obeyed by citizens and the police.

Fortunately, there is video footage which will be carefully studied by the Police Complaints Authority and the Crown Prosecution Service. This may well lead to a policeman being prosecuted....something which would never happen in the countries mentioned above.

Policemen do break the rules here, but they will not always get away with it.

The British feel that we are better than other countries. It is the Rules that make us better.

Hamilton's Trouser Inferno
by GrahamDavies

William the Conqueror. Alfred the Great. Ivan the Terrible (and his wife Blodwyn the Dreadfully Disappointed).....the concept of Personal Presentational Branding has been around a long time.

But in 2009, it is easier to build up an image quickly, especially a bad one....and it's the bad ones that are the most difficult to shake off.

Lewis Hamilton is just finding this out. I am not an afficionado of motor racing, so the reasons why the Team Director needed Lewis to mis-speak are not entirely clear to me. Lewis himself says that he did it because he was told to.

This is a defence that has not worked in the courts of Law or Public Opinion since Nuremberg in 1946. It does not sound like a good reason for him to set his pants on fire in the pit lane.

This is desperately sad. Hamilton has become a role model for people who strive to succeed despite disadvantaged backgrounds. But the sheer effort he has put into this has been severely devalued because of this latest episode.

He will have to work very hard over a long period of time to re-brand himself again as an Inspiring Champion instead of Lewis the Liar.

Queen of Hugs
by Graham Davies

The content of the speech was trite and obvious. But the pupils of Elizabeth Garret Anderson School were delighted to be given the old you-can-be-whatever-you-want-to-be-if-you-work-hard-and-love-your-parents stuff that their teachers have already told them many times. In fact, they gave her the sort of screamingly hysterical response that once would have been reserved for Boyzone.

Clichés are certainly more effective when they are presented by the First Lady.....even if she did seem surprised that the USA does not have a monopoly on charming, polite and well brought-up schoolgirls.

But it was not her words that the audience wanted. They wanted her touch. It was delightful to see the Secret Service bodyguards pale at the impending stampede when she announced "I do hugs as well". Michelle will never be a speaker that challenges an audience's intellect. But the world does have room for a presenter who is so indisputably, unequivocally and comprehensively nice.

Politics of Porn
by Graham Davies

What is the difference between Politics and Pornography? If you can't jerk off to it....it's Politics.

As I continue my computer-based weekend social life, I am still staggered that Jaqui Smith's Husband bought porn movies at the taxpayer's expense while working in the House of Commons as her assistant...her, um, Right Hand Man.

It is both an ethical and financial misjudgement of enormous proportions. It is staggering that he should spend £20 of public money on porn...because if you type "porn" into Google, you can get immediate access to over 242 million porn websites for free. Apparently.

What was the G20 exactly?
by Graham Davies

The G20 is where the leaders of the 19 richest countries in the world all stare at Gordon Brown and say, "What the fuck are you doing here?"

Here is the comprehensive and highly predictable list of what was decided by these intellectual titans:

• The Recession is a jolly bad thing
• They need to spend lots of money to sort it out
• It would be good for the Stock Market to pose for a jolly photograph with our thumbs up

And that was about it. Of course, it did not really matter what they came up with, as long as they all decided to do the same thing. It was hardly likely that any country was going to be so indifferent to PR as to say, "Bollocks to all of you. We disagree and we're not signing anything". Not even the French.

Clearly World Leaders have their own perspective on what amounts to Value for Money. 36 hours of the summit cost over 20 million pounds. It won't take them long to get through a Trillion.