An abject lesson on digging oneself into a big hole

Poor old Gordon. I didn't think I would ever find myself writing those words but if there was ever a case of digging oneself in deeper and deeper,the Rochdale blunder or Bigotgate as it will probably be known henceforth was an absolute classic. Anyone listening to the Labour supporter's comments about immigration would probably agree with Brown that she did sound a bit of a bigot and plenty of people would have laughed at the blunder and forgotten about it. But not Gordon. He had to go and try and wriggle out of it and ended up having an unscheduled forty minute meeting at the woman's house and writing apologies all over the place. Why? OK he was overheard and nobody likes that but I suspect that a huge number of people would sympathise with him and he just needed to make a very simple apology and move on. Instead he has found himself all over the media over twenty four hours later. An abject lesson in crisis management.



And poor old Greece too. What a beautiful country and what a disaster for them to find themselves in such a financial mess. On the old edict that there's no such thing as bad publicity Greek ministers and diplomats should henceforth insist that all press conferences and interviews are conducted in beauty spots such as this one in the hope that the worldwide publicity will bring the tourists flocking this summer.



Remember at the start of the recession how it felt like the newspapers were revelling in the bad news and talking it up and up until the whole thing became inevitable? I get that horrible feeling that the media are trying to do it again with the current European economic problem. Why are they doing this? Trying to make us all feel better? Or is it just easier to write negatively than it is positively. Come on press barons and media moguls, sort yourselves out and put a more positive spin on things. We can all do without this double dip stuff.



Sitting here in my cell like office I have to communicate with everyone else here by email. I just got one from Marion sending me a great story and video to put on the blog. It's the new John Lewis ad. Would that be the new John Lewis ad that I featured on yesterday's blog Marion? Come on now. Keep up.



Off to Anfield tonight to watch the semi final of the Europa League against Atletico Madrid. Liverpool are such a Jekyll and Hyde side at the moment that it would be a fool who bets on the outcome. My big problem is that it will be standing up all night which plays havoc with my hip. I still don't understand the phenomenon. The view from a seated position is perfect.

Whilst on the subjects of football and Greece what better than to close today with a clip highlighted in today's Guardian. Vassilis Hatipanagis Greece's greatest ever footballer and (as they said in the paper) the best player (probably) you've never heard of.