Prisons, porridge and passive smoking.

Sometimes when you hear a proposal, you just know instinctively that it won't work. A hornets-nest disturbed. Such is the case with the Prison Service's idea that prisons should become smoking-free places. A pilot in 2014 leading to a national programme is prisons from 2015.

Arguments about passive smoking and the rights of non-smokers in public places may carry legitimate weight in mainstream society but with prisons, there are particular issues and contexts which need careful addressing. Prisons are boring places and time passes slowly. Comforters take on a disproportionate status. Drugs abound and if these cannot be controlled what chance the nicotine cousin? Relations between warders and inmates work through consensual conventions, making life a bit easier for everyone. These are likely to be disturbed when a traffic warden view of implementing rules is introduced. Tobacco is a porridge currency, so will its value be inflated when it is banned? If it is successfully banned what other medium of exchange will take its place? By removing an environmental pollutant, unintended consequences may emerge even more difficult to police. If 80% of prisoners do smoke, then weaning them off the drug will be a challenge. Some "cold-turkey" symptoms could just make the behaviour of inmates more problematic. It would be interesting know how many warders smoke. Most of us never see the insides of a prison, so the proposals will be irrelevant to our experience and we will have a marginal interest. Implementing a ban will bring a cost. Better that scarce resources were directed to education and rehabilitation, so that our prison population was not just a revolving door of recidivism.

The Cyprus raid on banks makes putting money under the mattress seem a wise move.

The significance of a situation really hits you when events happen in quick succession. I have just walked up Queen Square in Wolverhampton, passing a number of travel agents on the way. Sale banners tell me of bargain holidays to Cyprus. Fast forward a few steps into bank land in the square and I see a queue at an ATM. Makes one think!

The Captain Mainwaring ( Dad’s Army ) version of the bank disappeared forty years ago. Our 2013 hapless banks, now have a reputation so low that it is hard to think of things getting worse, and then along comes Cyprus.

How would you feel if on £100,000, 3% was siphoned off by the very people you entrusted your money to. I thought with deposits they are supposed to pay you. Makes the ordinary bank robber look good. At least you know where he is coming from.

Banks summarily taking money from your account would be shoplifting in any other walk of life. Add the collapse of banks in 2008, continued bankers’ bonuses and the reluctance of banks to lend to business and we have a heady cocktail. This is an industry in real need of reputation management.

Storing money under your mattress may have been the subject of ridicule in the past - today it might just seem like common sense

Mary Portas' proposals for closed shops. What would a town crier for Wolverhampton be saying?

The announcement that Wolverhampton is to receive £100,000 to help regenerate its centre is welcome news – money for redevelopment always is.  The question is whether the Mary Portas proposals can really counter the longterm flow of retailing to out-of-town sites or the Internet. Once consumers have acquired a taste of how to make their purchases, they tend to want more of the same.

These large and longterm flows in consumer behaviour are likely to go even further.  The reinstatement of retail back into town centres may be like King Canute and the sea. We know why retail moved out and the critical question for the future is: “What are city centres for?”

Now is the time to bring housing back into city centres.  Niche and corner-shop facilities may flourish with a resident population nearby. Continental café cultures failed because this was missing. Having a town-crier for the city is an eye-catcher. More importantly, we need to know what the script might be and will there be anyone to listen?

An Arriva train journey from Birmingham to Wolverhampton. A choice of words and motivation.

Taking a rail journey with Arriva from Birmingham International to Wolverhampton recently, I noticed a guy emptying trash bins and generally tidying the carriage up.

It took me back forty years to when I had a succession of student summer jobs cleaning out trains for the then British Rail. This was the university of life and one certainly knew ones place, as your mop and brush signalled your cleaner status to the public. Never have I felt so lowly. So what you might ask?

Well, this 2012 guy seemed to take pride in what he was doing, going about it with purpose. His body language spoke volumes. Energy and motivation were there to be seen. We got into conversation. We shared some brief anecdotes of our mutual experience separated by the decades.

We said our goodbyes and as we walked away, I noticed some words printed on the back of his working fleece. They read “Train Presentation Team".

Funny how a few words can deliver a different perception of what a job is about. I went through the motions of the job with no thought of why it was being done and for whom. Not much commitment then.

For him the word “presentation” gave a different take on the job compared with my lowly “cleaner” description. The word “ team” would never have crossed my mind. Arriva deserve a pat on the back.

The tragic death of the journalist Marie Colvin in Homs may have a silver lining to it.

Journalism is under the cosh with Leverson and other enquiries. The work of this renowned foreign affairs reporter is a counterpoint to the shabby journalism that has been associated with the incestuous worlds of the tabloids, police and celebrities. The public is now reminded of the fine qualities and acceptable face of professional reporting.

Beyond that there is a bigger prize - the Middle East. Syria is in a log jam and as McCawber noted we are waiting for “something to turn up.”

The deaths of a French photo journalist and a high profile American reporter who was working for the British media brings the Syrian conflict into focus. They highlight the hands-off public position of China and Russia and the horrors of unbridled action by the Syrian government itself.

At a time when these parties may have been hoping for a world impotent to deal with this aspect of the Arab Spring, these deaths will have put the spotlight on them. The best tribute to these journalists is that this spotlighting is not wasted.

3 top things to look for when choosing a professional CV writer.

A professional CV writer combines the skills of a speechwriter, copywriter and journalist. You need a way with words.

Applying for a job in these difficult times is a challenge. All the more reason to make sure that anyone who sharpens your CV, promotes you so that you stand out for the right reasons.

You can buys books by the shelf load about how to get a winning CV. Unfortunately, they tend to focus on format and content. Nothing is said about what you should be looking for in the CV writer.

A CV is a lot more than making an application. It is about influencing the dynamics of the interview, anticipating the questions that arise and the content of your replies. This applies to both public and private sector applications.

Professional CVs do not come cheap. You are paying for the services of a professional communicator. Your prize is enhanced career prospects and the rewards which go with it.


Top Tip Number One. – Meet the CV writer in the flesh.

Make sure you have a person-to-person interview with the CV writer. Give it at least half an hour. If s/he has not met you, how they can understand what you are about, your ambitions and motives? It is amazing how many CVs are created over the phone and with email attachments. You deserve better.

S/he needs to know your aspirations, history, personality and communication abilities. This encounter helps clarify your own thinking and highlight weaknesses and strengths. The interview helps the CV writer get a handle on your industry.

Top Tip Number Two. – Get the CV to shape the interview.

The prime role of the CV is get you an interview. Fail that and all bets are off.

Assuming you are called, the CV has a close secondary objective. It is to help shape the way the interview might go. A professional writer will drop little seeds in the CV so that it encourages the reader to ask a question on what has been said.

You can anticipate the question and shape answers accordingly. You are playing on your territory and there is home advantage.

The killer introductory question is “Talk for a couple of minutes about yourself.” Get this right and it can set the tone for the rest of the interview. Get it wrong and you are in a salvage operation.

Top Tip Number Three. – Make sure your fingerprints are all over the CV.

Each of us has a distinctive communication style whether it is choice of words, vocal delivery or body language. The danger of a stranger writing your CV is that it does not present an accurate picture of you the subject.

The final CV will be a winner if you and the writer have worked on it together. We are talking of several editions. Be careful with words attributed to you which have come from a word bank and are not part of your everyday language. You want to stand out with your personality and humanity coming through. Most important, you need to be able to talk to the CV with ease.