Chris Turner

Latest instalment from our Labour experts on the likely new MPs to watch in key biz sectors. Today it’s the turn of the tech brigade 💻 🤖 https://lnkd.in/eaCenqn7 #ge24

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ALERT FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIRECTORS … As the election approaches, I feel sympathy for in-house public affairs directors. This is their challenge … My Chairman and Chief Executive want my advice on how to deal with a change of government. We have spent the last fourteen years working with a Tory government. Over the last few months we have paid for a table at Labour fundraisers. The reality, however, is that we aren’t really prepared. Help! The incoming government wants to be seen as business friendly. No new taxes and lots of warm words. So a benign political climate. So what do I do to reassure my Chairman and Chief Executive? Do I retain a consultancy which has spent the last two years sponsoring dinners for Labour candidates and openly canvassing for the Labour Party? Or do I retain a consultancy with exceptional consultants who have a deep understanding of how government works and a superb client list? It will be interesting to see which public affairs directors make the right choice. Dealing with a new government is a serious business. This is delicious …😎

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Great sessions today at the Inside Housing Communications conference. Discussing communications post-consumer regulation with Angela Holden Rhys Edwards - MCIPR and Emma Flynn BSc CIHCM CXAC(cert) was a real treat. Followed up by a powerful discussion on the role of communications in setting the anti-racist agenda. A brilliant panel (@cornelius alexander, Yvonne Luu and Elizabeth Bananuka leaving me with much to think about, including the questions we need to ask ourselves when responding to a racist incident like the recent riots. - Am I centring myself or a community? - Do I feel educated enough to respond to this? - How do we centre the right voices? - Beyond response, what actions am i taking? Also a recommendation to read 8 white identities https://lnkd.in/e5ZmZzqM 🍿Finally some inspiring content on using film to reset the housing agenda. 🛞 Lots of food for thought and great to meet so many people in the sector. (and not forgetting the @resource spinning wheel of fortune) Asif Choudry ).

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Drawing on my NYC emergency response days in the Mayor's office, I wrote about the role of debriefing and learning from previous experiences to inform the next one. Some may know it as the "after-action report." I provide a few recommended tips to build your readiness and infrastructure as we head into increasingly turbulent times. But hands down the biggest step any CCO or CMO can take is to build a collaborative culture across teams so that you don't fall victim to unforced errors.

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Key points from today’s useful Government of Jersey Financial Sevices Update: - key development was launch of new Sustainable Finance Action Plan, with progress in coming years across governance, incentives and engagement - retaining competitiveness is a vital focus, including products, skills and overseas visibility - integration of digital and sustainability critical to long term growth - recruitment and attracting talent remains key across sectors - lots of Moneyval and Pillar 2 mentions, but international tax transparency and AML agenda continues to evolve - trade partnerships landscape interesting to track for Jersey into 2025, including the CPTPP Plenty to unpick and follow as we head into 2025…! #finance #sustainability #digital

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The government wants DC schemes to give members more support in making at-retirement decisions to ensure they get the most from their #pension pots. But, as the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association points out in its new guidance paper, there are several important areas that need more clarification. Where do trustees' responsibilities and liabilities begin and end? How will #retirement 'nudges' interact with the ongoing Advice/Guidance Boundary Review? https://lnkd.in/e4cn7mjq

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Have seen too many posts of late where communications teams and PR teams are being dismissed as a wasted resource. This has included senior people coming out and blasting PR spend and other stories of budgets being slashed, and it makes for a difficult read because we do need communications experts and for good reason. Sitting in my home office watching my home town of Pontypridd, South Wales under water following flash flooding and with my family in Spain in Malaga, as the towns there deal with the aftermath of their flooding, just a few weeks ago, and I wonder how any of the disaster recovery I am seeing, could work without experienced communicators and staff pulling together to keep people safe and start the clean-up. That is when communication adds value, when their experience is needed, when there is a crisis, and when the messaging needs to be clear and needs to be helpful. It is just a shame that quite often the value is lost and not seen the rest of the time when they are the eyes and ears of the organisation when they are protecting reputation and positioning organisations to help them work with impact. Too often it is dismissed as a soft skill, a nice to have and a luxury, when without effective communication, nothing, and I mean nothing, works. Sir David Attenborough came out recently and said, “Saving our planet is now a communications challenge. We know what to do, we just need the will.” He recognises the value and importance of communications, it’s all we have and it’s what makes us human. So, trust your communicators, we can help solve the bigger issues. Communication is not just the fluffy stuff, it’s the get to the root of the problem stuff, the take action stuff, it’s the change behaviour stuff and at times, like these, it’s the help in a crisis stuff. 👉 For those interested in helping out the community of Pontypridd, our local MP, Alex Davies-Jones has started a Go-Fund Me page to help raise £10,000 to help those hit hardest. https://lnkd.in/esdtBP_7 Every penny raised will go directly to helping those affected by the floods. Your generosity will provide essential relief, whether it’s helping families replace damaged belongings, supporting local businesses to recover, or assisting with repairs to make homes safe again. Hats off to those communications teams at Rhondda Cynon Taff Council and South Wales Police, which serve Pontypridd, and to all other organisations helping those impacted.

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A really clear message from Fiona Bride at Financial Times Global Pharma & Biotech Conference this morning: 1 - let’s build on our strength as a pro-innovation health system that gets cutting edge therapies to patients 2- let’s do our best for taxpayers by using clinically effective medicines available at lower cost 3- let’s not shy away from the challenge of improving uptake of treatments for large eligible populations, but use tech to lean-in and evolve

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A quick read for those of you with an interest in share plan reform. And those generally curious about how a new government could increase employee engagement and lift productivity.

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A big turnout for a big Budget. Great to have political, market and media heavy-hitters giving their analysis of Labour’s fiscal statement at MHP Group HQ this morning. If you missed it, read our top five takeaways here: https://lnkd.in/eWReUnXb

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Great advice here to involve your people when you are doing and IPO. The Company would not be what and where it is without your people

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The amazing Big Give's Christmas Challenge has become the UK’s biggest public fundraising campaign in 2024 after raising a record-breaking £44.7 million in just one week. It's been a privilege to work on the comms for this campaign with the Big Give team, and I want to thank HELLO! Magazine for being our official media partner, and providing unstinting support in print and online, as well as many other outlets who covered the campaign including Daily Express, LBC, Times Radio and ITV's Lorraine Kelly. If you don't know Big Give, its premise is a very simple one. Any public donations made during its campaigns to participating charities are doubled, thanks to match funding provided by generous funding champions - philanthropists, companies and foundations. This year, 1,267 different charities big and small took part. The total raised marks a remarkable 35% increase from last year’s total of £33 million, and means the Christmas Challenge is now bigger than better-known appeals like Comic Relief and Children in Need. The campaign, which closed today, attracted over 119,000 donations from the public, with 74% of participating charities meeting or exceeding their fundraising targets and 95% of all available match funds being utilised.   This amount raised is particularly notable given the ongoing impact of the cost of living crisis, which has placed additional strain on donors and charities alike. The funds raised will provide crucial support for charities grappling with increased operational costs and soaring demand for their services over the challenging winter period. biggive.org

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Ideally, regulators would be more lean and agile. Too often they become bloated and struggle to size and resource themselves in response to social, economic and environmental changes. I'm looking forward to discussing this at #UKCCC

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Do share this with your networks - we're interested in hearing from 18-30 year olds from all backgrounds and UK places. Doesn't matter whether participants have an interest in economics or not (we really need a mix of people representative of the wider 18-30 population). We have existing outreach programmes for younger (and older!) groups. In this instance, we're trying to recruit 18-30s where we have less representation and insight.

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Ready for the election? Ummmmm. No. Here's something to click on to at least get you started. Then you can always chat to us if you want to sound smarter...or get across what it's going to mean for your business. #election #ukpolitics

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In my team, we've been reflecting on our use of social media in strengthening our crisis communications response. It’s one of those things you hope never happens, but as any communications or PR professional knows, preparation is critical. In my research, I came across the very excellent resource - 'Online Abuse - A Toolkit for the Cultural Sector' - recently published by The Space, which supports arts organisations and artists to develop work and reach audiences online. What struck me is how online abuse – whether targeting staff, stakeholders, or even the organisation itself – is becoming increasingly common. Yet, it’s often overlooked in traditional crisis communications planning. This resource isn’t just for arts and cultural organisations; it’s relevant to anyone managing an online presence. Here’s what it covers: 🟢 To understand online abuse – what the terminology around it means 🟢 To show its impact, with case studies from those who have been victims 🟢 To guide you through what to think about to prepare and protect your organisation 🟢 To introduce the concept of privacy check-ups and explain why they are important 🟢 To give you a checklist of what to think about if you are currently under attack 🟢 To offer a list of external resources that might help you to prepare for or respond to online abuse. If this isn’t already part of your crisis comms planning, it’s worth considering. Have you integrated online abuse into your strategy? What tips or resources have worked for your organisation? #crisiscomms #onlineabuse

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Cybersecurity in focus in September at Adastral Park - followed by the National AI awards. Two top topics for the C suite today.

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Three takeaways from the mayoral elections (beyond the obvious)... 👇 If you're as into local politics as I am, no doubt you've spent the weekend binge-consuming podcasts and other analysis of last week's local and mayoral elections. Naturally, in a General Election year, most of the discussion has focused on what the results could mean for a national vote, but here are my three other takeaways: ♀ Progress on mayoral gender equality - before last Thursday, there were more UK metro mayors called Andy than there were female mayors. But now, Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, the country's first woman elected metro mayor, has been joined by Kim McGuinness in the North East and Claire Ward in the East Midlands. That's still only 25% of the total (and notably Sadiq Khan remains the country's only mayor from an ethnic minority background), but progress is still welcome. Diversity in political leadership leads to different thinking, solutions and outcomes - as Mayor Brabin's focus on safety for women and girls in her Policing Plan shows. As a country we need to do more to encourage people from all backgrounds into politics and local and mayoral government provide a ideal route in. 😐 Disillusionment with the status quo? The steep rise in support for independent and other candidates could be indicative of wider public disengagement in mainstream politics and the two main parties especially. Granted, these results won't be repeated in a General, but combined with reduced voter turnout in many places, it's another sign that people are fed up with our current politics and are looking for real change. If I were a Labour or Conservative politician, I'd be putting democratic renewal and meaningful engagement with the public near the top of my agenda. Corrosion of trust in politicians in the long-term can only be damaging to our democracy and all parties. 🏘 The rise and rise of devolution? Although turnout remains far lower than ideal, this was the first year that the national media and political commentariat really gave mayoral elections the emphasis they deserve. The gripping late result in the West Mids and the sliver of silver lining that Ben Houchen's re-election in the Tees Valley gave an embattled PM all added to the political theatre. Indeed, much has been made of the fact that Lord Houchen's re-election was the result of his personal record of delivery locally, rather than (or despite of) his party affiliation. Both main parties (especially Labour since they now control 11/12 MCAs in England) need to see this as an opportunity to win back trust in politics. By devolving powers out of London to local leaders who can invest in what really matters to local people, voters can see the positive difference that politics can make in their communities and feel a greater stake in the system. Here's hoping for proper devolution that truly empowers places in the #GE2024 manifestos 🤞 #localelections #localgovernment #devolution Social

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