Snow job to no job
I am in the PR racket, after a fashion, so at the risk of jeapardising any future job applications I make, I will point out this little nugget from Hansard:
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much the Meteorological Office has spent on (a) public affairs firms and consultants and (b) external public relations companies in the last five years; and on which firms the money was spent.
Kevan Jones (was spelling a struggle for his parents?) has come up with a table of figures, which boils down to around £27,000 in 2004, £1,250 in 2005 and thereafter nada for external PR. As Jones notes, "Payments to external public relations companies relate to the provision of general PR support and advice. The Met Office no longer uses external public relations companies for this purpose".
I am struggling to imagine the job of the PR bods - sidling up to strangers at parties and enthusing wildly about the Met Office? Answering phone calls from outraged members of the public who have been hailed upon despite the forecast being for 'scattered showers and sunny intervals'? Or maybe explaining in words of one syllable that the Met Office merely reports rather than makes the weather?
Whatever it was that the PR folk were doing, it cannot have been of much value if the Met Office was prepared to ditch them even in a time of flush budgets.
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much the Meteorological Office has spent on (a) public affairs firms and consultants and (b) external public relations companies in the last five years; and on which firms the money was spent.
Kevan Jones (was spelling a struggle for his parents?) has come up with a table of figures, which boils down to around £27,000 in 2004, £1,250 in 2005 and thereafter nada for external PR. As Jones notes, "Payments to external public relations companies relate to the provision of general PR support and advice. The Met Office no longer uses external public relations companies for this purpose".
I am struggling to imagine the job of the PR bods - sidling up to strangers at parties and enthusing wildly about the Met Office? Answering phone calls from outraged members of the public who have been hailed upon despite the forecast being for 'scattered showers and sunny intervals'? Or maybe explaining in words of one syllable that the Met Office merely reports rather than makes the weather?
Whatever it was that the PR folk were doing, it cannot have been of much value if the Met Office was prepared to ditch them even in a time of flush budgets.
Labels: Where your money goes
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on Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 9:15 am.
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Maybe some morons are angry at the Met Office for not predicting the recession?
Morons, that's one thing we will never be short of.
Cue the regular Frank Zappa quote: "Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe".
I can see it now..."Want some decent sunshine, guvn'r? Going cheap. Special deal just for you"
Hmmph.
I'll never buy a second-hand monsoon from a guy with a 'tash, I can tell you.
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