Paul Seaman's online review

Warren Buffett said recently on CNBC that the rules of crisis management are get it right, get it fast, get it out, and get it over. For the first time ever, I’m going to push back on Mr. Buffett’s advice. More »

Contrary to popular crisis management mythology, most dramas and disasters aren’t really crises at all. Chin up: things aren’t often really all that bad. More »

Unite trade union leaders representing BA cabin crew are yelling that being told by the High Court that they can’t strike is a “disgraceful day” for democracy. That’s humbug! By declaring their ballot illegal the court did them a favour. More »

The Nuclear Industry Association has just made a daft case about its future. Here’s a bolder, franker reality check PR pitch which might work better. More »

Barclay’s Chief Executive, John Varley, has been brilliant on Sky TV, the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme (and later this week on Panorama). Not a moment before time, we have a senior current banking figure not only talking (that’s very rare) but talking like a human being. More »

Cleared snow from our road. Went to Basel. Got back and my wife said I had a letter from Peter Kurer, chairman of UBS. Whoopee. And yikes. Perhaps he’s suing me over my blog. More »

Wal-Mart’s business and reputation are growing. CEO Lee Scott is leaving the company on a deserved high. There’s a twist: it looks like the “bad” old lean Wal-Mart is what’s doing well, not the reborn touchy-feely version. More »

Last week I had coffee with a PR executive who helped manage Thursday’s UBS shareholders’ meeting in Lucerne. We met at Sprüngli on the Paradeplatz, the branch of the posh chocolate, cake and coffee shop favoured by wives of Zurich gnomes. He gave me an insider’s account of his work to restore trust in the Swiss icon. More »

Yesterday Barclays Bank won the vote to endorse its billions of Arab fund-raising. Its board was attacked from all sides, even by those voting for the deal. Welcome to the world of recession business. Clients are going to have hard cases to sell. That’s our real job. It’ll be exhilarating. More »

Over lunch at the “Weinstube zum Rothen Ochsen” (Red Bull) in Stein am Rhein I catch up on this week’s FT output. I discover the chairman of Channel 4, Luke Johnson, commenting:

“The overriding truth about bad publicity is that it is rarely as damaging as your worst fears. Even Bernard Matthews Farms is prospering again, in spite of taking a battering last year over bird flu. There is a lot of noise out there in the media jungle, and stories soon get forgotten: the bandwagon rolls on.” More »