Allison Pearson in the Daily Mail should be removed from that newspaper and installed in Government - why can’t politicians be blessed with the same commonsense… and why can’t our leaders stop behaving like sheep and lead.

Pearson’s column today leads on the horrific case of Munir Hussain, the man who was jailed for beating a burglar senseless after he was attacked in his home and his family tied up. Hussain has been jailed, while the burglar walks free.

Imagine the public reaction if one of our leaders was to get involved and arrange the freedom of this poor man. It is time to act when the law is an ass and do what is right, not what the statute book says.

Likewise the case of the MP who made a claim on expenses for a 30p carrier bag and a 49p pair of rubber gloves. Maybe they are allowed to by the rules, but Sion Simon’s party leader should shame him and insist enough is enough.

Politicians ‘ popularity is at an all-time low - again would it not be showing leadership in these difficult times if they had their holidays cancelled and they were given the same amount of time off as the rest of us?

As for the British Airways suicide squad at Heathrow, surely the airline should be allowed to close. They cannot compete with staff earning 50 per cent more with double the allowances of competitors.

I suspect their stock of aircraft would be snapped up by a entrepreneurial figure - and if he or she advertised for cabin staff and pilots there would be a stampede for the work. Britain would once again have a competitive, large airline.

Simple logic, why can’t our leaders see the commonsense way - make Allison Pearson stand for election, I say. She might go all the way to number 10!

One of the great problems for PR professional is trying to turn the tide of negative publicity when readers of a particular newspaper do not understand the issues at hand.

Take a look at the stories running about the bankers in the newspapers this week. They are all up in arms that the guys who they perceive caused the financial meltdown are now being paid bonuses again.

I suspect that for banks to thrive, deliver value to the shareholders and ultimately pay back the British taxpayer for the bail-out last year, they need to keep the very best talent.

There are as many bad investment bankers as there are good one, but the latter will always command high salaries and big bonuses because the potential upside of what they can do in enormous. If you don’t reward them for their expertise, they will go elsewhere.

The days of £20 million bonuses must surely have gone. Thousands of failed bankers have lost their jobs and many are struggling to find new employment. It is not a case of those who created the problems are back cashing in again, although there will clearly be exceptions.

We should remember our own Government encouraged Lloyds to buy HBOS, a millstone that will take some time to shift from that particular corporate neck.

But readers of most national newspapers love a witch-hunt. The reality is, whether we like it or not, the banks need to prosper for this country to recover. To do that they must retain the best talent and whether you are a footballer or a banker, the top performers are paid for delivering.

The difficulty for the PRs of the banks is the audience has gone deaf… and it suits the Government to promulgate stories about the bad bankers because it covers their own mistakes.

Isn’t it time that instead of looking to the mistakes of the past we look to the future and how we rebuild the institutions we rely on. We are not going to prosper if the banks are run by quit, choirmasters from Shrewburyness.

We need bold leadership… and that costs money.

Reputation management in the media is becoming one of the key areas of our business. Calls come into our office from all over the UK and occasionally abroad too.

We advise people like Sir Fred Goodwin, the American DJ Michael Savage and Gordon Ramsay.

So I appreciate more than most how difficult it is to advise someone like Katie Price. She needs to stop the avalanche of negative publicity, so the chance to speak to Piers Morgan for ITV was a good one.

But although her advisors secured this great platform, they cannot  talk for her. Surely she should have shown humility, she could have admitted mistakes on both sides, instead she ploughed on with a confidence which says I don’t care what people think, I care only about me.

Good advice, the right opportunities, will only work if people are prepared to listen to the experts. Katie needs a reality check because she has good people around her, but only hears her own voice.

Too many celebrities become a target because they become well known in this country. Some take it, some complain, others turn their profile into a real force for good… like our client Duncan Bannatyne.

A decade ago he went to Romania and a friend suggested he visit an orphanage over there. Did he adopt a child in a blaze of publicity like Madonna? No he effectively bought the orphanage, paying for dozens of children to receive better care and a chance in life. Two weeks ago Duncan returned as a guest of honour as one of the orphan girls got married.

Back in Britain he was approached by the Well Child charity - who put nurses into our communities to help parents who have disabled children. The nurses help the parents with the care, to take a break and other practical issues. After two short meeting, Duncan signed a cheque for £165,000 to sponsor a nurse for three years - and even better the local authority have promised to engage that nurse to continue the good work after the three-year sponsored period.

This is how the huge interest in celebrity can be a force for good…

Today I am doing a talk on crisis management to Davies Arnold Cooper, a highly respected legal firm based just off Fleet Street in London. The talk will also be broadcast to Manchester and Madrid simultaneously.

Crisis management is probably needed more now than at any time when companies and individuals are dealing with the media, be it print journalism or broadcast.

Why? Well clearly we are going through difficult times, but I feel that there has been a real change in the media landscape in the last 10 years with a philosophy which seems to suggest it is attack first, ask questions later.

It is my view that anyone in the media spotlight has to go on the front foot. Simply saying no comment leaves a giant void for journalists to fill with their own interpretation of what is going on.

So many clients say to be: It is just not fair, this is my private business, this is not for public consumption, I shouldn’t be a target etc etc

My answer is always there is no point bleating, the media play by their rules and you can either join them or be destroyed by them. Play by their rules, give them a true story or a better story and their appetites will be satiated.

Many high profile celebrities call in media lawyers at every turn and while that is a valid option in extreme cases, it creates huge residual resentment and can often mean the famous are more in the sights of the media big guns than ever before.

Building relationships is essential. If you make friends in the good times, they will look after you in the bad. Many clients only call for help at the moment the media come knocking on the door, while we advocate all-year round relationships whether it be with the business media or national.

Remember you are the best eye witness for your business and you know it better than anyone else and in my experience giving The Press a full explanation, which is balanced and in perspective, often neutralizes a media attack because there are always two sides to a story.

The other common flaw we find is companies so often exclude their communications expert from the top table, so they find themselves trying to defend a corporate reputation without knowing how the story has developed and with a briefing from the chief executive which is inadequate, flimsy and without the bigger picture perspective that allows the department to fight from a position of real knowledge.

Everyone screws up sometimes and too often people in the media firing line try to spin their way out of trouble. The lies and deceit only lead to further analysis, the story runs on and on and often the hole they are digging becomes so big it engulfs the organisation.

Saying sorry is always the best approach, particularly when it is coupled with a well thought out explanation of why the mistake happened. The media feeds on deception so tell them the truth!

Gordon Brown is dead and buried as far as our so-called political experts are concerned, but then newspapers by definition report on the today and not tomorrow.

Clearly with their huge lead in the opinion polls, David Cameron’s Conservative Party are going to take some beating when the General Election is a held next year.

But am I alone in thinking that it is not a forgone conclusion? When we have advised West Ham United or Manchester City, I always say good results will bring great PR, bad results will bring poor PR. Our organization can’t stop a tide of negativity with a few well placed stories.

But success with the economy is not dis-similar to winning football matches. If the green shoots we are seeing now with the currency rates, motoring industry and retail turn into a blooming turnaround, I believe the political landscape could change very quickly.

The key is that now more than ever, Brown needs to show leadership. He needs to act fast and hard if any MP or cabinet minister steps out of line and he needs to be seen to open encourage the authorities to prosecute wayward MPs who have gone too far with their expenses.

If he can do that we might see one of the greatest political comeback in history…

One day I will understand the power of Twitter… and I am getting there. I have struck up an email exchange with three celebrities in recent weeks, but just where is the site going.

Today they announced they will never carry advertising, but I guess that may all change when one of the giants of the internet world comes along and gobbles them up for a few million dollars!

One of the celebrities is debating his/her PR issues and I must say they are extremely complex. Watch this space for developments!

Can a newspaper keep its credibility while claiming it is going to concentrate on good news, like the Evening Standard is doing today. I have to say I think Geordie Grieg, the paper’s likeable editor, is on to something.

I have lost count of the number of people who have said to me recently that newspapers are turning them off with their diet of bad news and attack first, listen to the explanations later.

Do you want to work your nuts off all day at work and then get on a train and be made suicidal by a diet of nothing but shock, horror and drama? Of course bad news sells and of course the truth should not be hidden, but what is the harm in looking for a little light and shade, rather than just pure darkness?

Balance is what we need and I hope the Standard is a roaraway success with his new strategy

As Ashton Kutcher and CNN celebrate passing the million followers mark, we’ve have started ‘twittering’ ourselves!

As you would expect we have plenty to ‘Twitter’ about. Posts so far have ranged from ‘Phil Hall is off to West Ham later’ and ‘Elle is looking forward to being in Dublin at the weekend with Paul Gascoigne for the Turbidy Tonight show!!‘ through to  ‘Natalie just spotted Simon Amstell on Dean Street’. And it has already proved beneficial for staff and PHA Media ‘followers’.

 Twitter has exploded on to the scene in the last couple of months, and is fast becoming a really useful, and very important, PR tool. It is great for helping to build relationships with journalists, clients and other contacts, and can also be used to create PR campaigns for clients which then go on to receive wider coverage in the press.

You can see PHA Media twittering at http://twitter.com/PHAMedia

So Ok! Magazine have issued a tribute edition to Jade Goody… and the establishment media like the BBC and the Guardian will be up in arms. But are they really angry? The truth is they are not, they simply feel it is easy to poor scorn on the issue.

Tonight I did an interview on Radio 5 Live and the interviewer asked: “You have to admit this is in appalling poor taste, it shows that OK! Magazine are only interested in making money.”

That shows such naivety. The reality is this: Jade wanted to make money to leave to her children. OK magazine are not a charity, so they agreed to give her £750,000 provided they could make it back through commercial sales.

The edition that featured her wedding would make around £250,00 profit. They therefore issued this special edition which will make them another £250,000. The rest will be written off under the headline marketing costs - in other words it raised OK magazine’s profile.

Before people criticise OK! you have to understand they are a commercial organisation. Jade agreed to do this while compos mantas and the money is to give her two sons a better life. Call it tacky, call it tasteless… it is her choice and you must respect that in my view and it is not our right to impose our tastes on a brave young lady dying of cancer.