There’s only one big lesson in the age of celebrity, spin and schmooze. People only really, deeply care about whether you can do your job. Read on ›

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. Read on ›

There’s an arctic snow storm outside. Even my Dachshund refuses to leave the house. So whilst we’re gratefully holed up in my Swiss home I’m going to write about those losing theirs in the UK. Naturally, I’m interested in the explanations given by the institutions which are turfing them out. Read on ›

A new survey reports that over two-thirds of consumers “would remain loyal to a brand during a recession if it supports a good cause”. Why wouldn’t they say so? And so what? Let’s try a little rebelliousness here. Read on ›

As I dug in to my morning Muesli here on the Zurich lake I caught up with yesterday’s FT. There I read an amusing editorial about Barclays being the listening, theatrical bank that headed off a shareholder revolt by the skin of its teeth. It’s true though: in a very clumsy fashion, Barclays and its shareholders are forging a brave new world. The implications for financial PR are profound. Read on ›

There’s much to learn from the outcome and conduct of the recent US presidential election. But this viral election was surprisingly normal in its arithmetic. Read on ›

I’ve just had Sunday lunch of “Ravioli, suedafrikanische Scampi und weisser Curry” at the Kronenhalle bar in Zurich, haunt of Swiss bankers celebrating deals. The conversation turned to bankers and grovelling. Read on ›

Today’s Observer reports that president-elect Obama is about to appoint a technology Tsar. It says that the new President will be updating Americans weekly on Youtube, a development as revolutionary as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s introduction of regular folksy radio broadcasts. This is to be welcomed. But we should not get carried away. Read on ›

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.” Read on ›

It’s Saturday morning. I’m sitting in the Movenpick drinking coffee. I’ve been shopping in the Bahnhofstrasse. Beneath my feet is one of the biggest hordes of gold bullion in the world. Out of the window I observe the quiet orderliness of Zurich’s Paradeplatz, the hub of Swiss banking. It takes the waiter to bring my attention inside. He’s charged me for a “Gipfeli” I didn’t order. He apologies. Why, it occurred to me then, have the world’s bankers not said sorry for the credit crunch and their part in creating the mess we’re in? Read on ›