Selling England by the pound

Timing, as they say, is everything.

Oh happy circumstance!

Whilst Brown was bonding today with Obama who should finally be announced as the £400m Project Delivery Partner for Crossrail but... US mega firm Bechtel!

Now we know the price of the Special Relationship, it would be interesting to understand precisely what Gordon has secured from Barrack in return.

If it doesn't result in a very large number of "British Jobs for British Workers" then be assured Gordon - it's your pension they'll be after next!

Rudi... a message for you...

The Fact Compiler is unsure whether this is an All Fools' Day spoof or not.

According to the Liverpool Echo...

MERSEYRAIL will give away 10,000 pairs of flip flops to footsore racegoers after Ladies’ Day at Aintree.

The flip flops – branded with the Merseyrail logo – will be handed out by volunteers to women waiting to catch their trains from Aintree station on Friday, and on the day of the Grand National itself.

Either way it doesn't matter.

As the PR who placed the story tipped off the Eye, it gets in!

Good effort the PR team at Merseyrail!

Lager mentality

Telegrammed by our Independent Expert
Are stories about the recession a load of old rubbish?

Overheard on today's largely empty 11:30 Euston to Glasgow.

Rubbish collector to Train Manager: "Well you can tell passenger numbers are going down. Less and less rubbish on the train, not much work to do today. And the working classes aren't travelling - there's hardly any lager cans down the back of the seat."

Memo to Gordon Brown: Instead of the Retail Price Index as a guide to the recession, how about the Virgin Rubbish Production Index?

Arise Sir Kevin?

This from the Oakham Rambler...

As a former practitioner in the art of spin, I agree that Network Rail’s spinmeister-in-chief Kevin Groves deserves a pat on the back for persuading Evening Standard veteran hack Dick Murray to write an-all-too-rare positive story about railways (Network Rail promises £35bn rail revolution, Standard front page 31 March).

However, before prematurely bestowing upon cool-hand Kev the title of PR manager of the decade, let’s wait and see how he handles the media feeding frenzy that will undoubtedly follow the impending announcement of fat-cat bonuses for Notwork Rail directors.

If Kev-the-spin can persuade the baying pack that Coucher and co. deserve a top-up to their already inflated salaries, he will be due a knighthood.

And not just a knighthood. If he can pull off the PR equivalent of raising the Titanic then he should bill Iain for half his bonus as well!

All quiet on the bonus front

***Silence is Golden - as indeed are bonuses***