Comment posted Good appointment to council press office by Integrity? Not in theCondemall.
I can’t say specifically what the A&B press office do but more generally a council press office’s duties will include the likes of:
Dealing with media enquiries.
Producing internal and external communications including things like staff magazines, and also keeping people like MSPs, us punters, other partners etc informed about services and issues.
Maintaining the council website.
Managing the ‘brand’ of the council to ensure consistency.
It is actually an important part of a council and effective if managed well.
Recent comments by Integrity? Not in theCondemall
- Conundrums on ‘Challenge: see what you make of these VisitScotland statistics’
Do you have a link to it? - Russell to make parliamentary statement on rural schools today
To my knowledge nobody is judging parents for their choices but isn’t it wonderful that they still have that choice?ARSN has gone on record many times to say that they are not blanket opposed to school closures, just opposed to closures which do not provide an educational benefit and which are progressed without the interests of the children at their root.
Parents and grand parents will always put what they believe their children’s best interests are first (and rightly so) and it was one of many insulting slurs made by ABC during the closures issue that this was not the case.
Luss is a prime example of a school with a small number of pupils in a small number of classes which thrives educationally, and there are no signs that its pupils are suffering form the issues you mention Islay (however that doesn’t mean it might not be an issue elsewhere). Didn’t stop ABC insinuating that rural schools can produce ‘socially dysfunctional’ children.
- Russell to make parliamentary statement on rural schools today
My reference to Helensburgh appears to have sparked something it was never meant to spark.It was a source of frustration for ARSN that the argument was constantly put forward that rural schools, and rural children, were somehow overly privileged, yet the lack of other council services in rural areas conveniently ignored.
However none of us would have ever entertained the idea of turning the table and, for example, advocating closing or amalgamating urban schools, even if the proposal could have been put forward using the same flawed arguments as ABC used to close the rural ones.
Tim is right to say that ARSN wasn’t political. There were a few blinkered individuals on here who, as soon as an ARSN member supported local schools, instantly assumed we were Mike Russell’s sheep however it was normally by people with a limited understanding of the issue at hand.
Anne is right to say that Helensburgh need to join in, and she knows full well that so do Dunoon, Oban, Luss, Barcaldine etc etc – all she was doing was responding to my reference to Helensburgh (which I made purely because it was the urban area I am most associated with). It was not the demonisation of an area but a call for us to cast off these stupid idea that rural and urban areas can’t work in co-operation with each other.
- Russell to make parliamentary statement on rural schools today
JohnI certainly hope you are right about urban and rural communities not turning on each other. During the previous schools campaign it was staggering how many Helensburgh people were adamant the schools should close (often without ever having bothered to even read the reports or make any effort to ascertain any facts).
The tired, somewhat idiotic, and entirely incorrect argument about rural children getting a private school education and the even more ridiculous one about rural communities bleeding the urban ones of funds was trotted out time and time again.
- UK National Lottery Good Causes in Scotland
AngusApologies for slight rounding as I don’t have exact figures to hand but doesn’t that mean funding has been awarded at about the same % as the population spread?
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Congratulations on your appointment Aileen.
May I on behalf of the Museum thank you for your interest and assistance in our activities.
A new opportunity for you with which I wish you every success.
Kindest regards.
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Congratulation Aileen. I wish you well in your new post.
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Quite why Argyll & Bute Council employ an army of well paid spin doctors when we are told there is no money for essential services is a mystery to me .
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Newsie, is that the same Dunoon Observer that you exclusively revealed was due to close before Xmas last year??
“bunker mentality and dubious practices”? Pffft.
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Now that we have a new appointee to the press office, do we need to continue paying for the absentee, Jo Smith?
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Is this also the same Dunoon Observer that doesn’t report on fatal accidents and never seems to follow up on stories that do not involve ferries?
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Well said JimB. You’re not the only one who notices that the Observer never follows up on reported stories. Most frustrating. This weeks paper was all police reports and courts, golf and bowls ! Then again baybe nothing happened……….
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Good appointment. Aileen is a well known and respected journalist in Argyll, big loss for the Dunoon Observer but ABC needs the quality in these positions. Don’t imagine this administration will give her the same amount of fire fighting the last lot created.
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When the Jo Smith saga eventually comes to some conclusion does this mean everybody who was abused by the press office under the various councillors and officials orders will get their day in court.Anything else is a complete waste of time.
As a interested bystander what exactly does A&B,s press office actually do.
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I can’t say specifically what the A&B press office do but more generally a council press office’s duties will include the likes of:
Dealing with media enquiries.
Producing internal and external communications including things like staff magazines, and also keeping people like MSPs, us punters, other partners etc informed about services and issues.
Maintaining the council website.
Managing the ‘brand’ of the council to ensure consistency.
It is actually an important part of a council and effective if managed well.
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Whilst I wish this lady success in her new appointment, I can’t help thinking that this indeed is a very safe appointment by the council. The Observer’s lack of criticism of A&B over the past few years has been obvious to all, no doubt guided by the fear that they may lose local government advertising (something that should have happened years ago!). Still, looking on the bright side, one less member of staff should help their dire finances.. and probably increase the coverage of golf and bowls!
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Yes newsie, you are welcoming her now, but i wonder how long it will be before you turn on her when she doesn’t want to deal with you. Never mind, no doubt you can make up something and add a gate to the end of it. I wish the woman all the luck in the world, she will need it.
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Our job is calling to account so the answer to your ‘how long?’ questions is as soon as she puts a foot wrong, as with everyone. We’re only ‘for’ Argyll.
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Indeed, but who calls you to account?
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Simon
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Maybe Simon could point out some of the errors in this piece then. I will leave it to him.
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By the look of this site she’s got her work cut out. What few on here seem to have twigged is that Ms McNicol will be required to protect the council’s reputation, just the same as her predecessors will have tried to do. From what I’ve read of Argyll & Bute Council, it has been its own worst enemy, conducting some kind of witch hunt until it had nobody in place to prevent the complete car crash that was the Martha Payne/NeverSeconds fiasco. Ms McNicol is no longer a journalist, she has been employed to act as gamekeeper rather than poacher. No doubt, in due course, she will fall foul of the self-righteous vitriol all too apparent in this blog. Best of luck to her, I wouldn’t have touched the post with a barge pole.
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