It tells how Cabinet Minister Ed Balls, a close confidante of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, rang up the magazine’s political editor, Fraser Nelson, to complain about an earlier article which had branded the Children’s Secretary “a liar”.

It is not for us to pronounce on the rights and wrongs of the complex dispute over debt between the pair. Readers can make up their own minds.

But it is quite astonishing that Labour’s Mr Balls, who is in charge of the nation’s schools after all, should take the time and trouble to phone up a Conservative journalist and angrily demand that a blog post be withdrawn. Allegedly.

It may reveal something of the judgement and mind-set of those who wield power on our behalf that such tactics can even be considered appropriate. Whatever happened to freedom of the press?

Secondly, and much more importantly, it also reveals that senior figures in the Government have still failed to come to terms with the power of the internet. They just don’t get it.

As Nelson rightly observes:

Five years ago, you could lie like this on the radio and get away with it. Space is tight in newspapers, no one would devote hundreds of words and graphs - as we did - to expose a lie for what is. But the world has changed now. Blogging has brought new, hyper scrutiny. Blogs have infinite space, and people with endless energy, to expose political lying - no matter how small. Your claims can be instantly counter-checked, by anyone. If you stretch the truth, you can be exposed - by anyone. And if you plan to base a whole election campaign on a lie, as you apparently intend to do, then you’re in for a rude awakening.

Whether Balls is in fact ‘lying’ is, for the moment, besides the point. What matters is that the internet has opened up politicians to intense public scrutiny by the crusading, the campaigning and even the slightly deranged. Politicians cannot control it. Nor should they try.

But they must learn to deal with it.

Sensibly.

The fair-trade style Mark has been awarded to Unlimited Potential, after it demonstrated that its work benefitted local people, rather than anonymous shareholders or owners.

Profits made by the company are used to tackle social or environmental issues in the city.

Unlimited Potential, which is one of Sound Communication’s clients, joins other ethical businesses, such as the Eden Project in Cornwall, in winning the new Social Enterprise Mark.

The company, which has a £1million annual turnover and employs 36 staff, is democratically controlled and provides a range of services to promote happiness and health across the City of Salford.

It is the second fastest growing social enterprise in health and social care in the UK.

Chief Executive Chris Dabbs said “We are very proud to have been awarded the Social Enterprise Mark.

“Unlimited Potential strives not only to provide effective services that help people to improve their own lives, but also to be a healthy and happy enterprise that has the best possible impact for people and for a sustainable world.

“We reinvest all of our profits for our social mission.”

Mr Dabbs added: “Social enterprise is a better way of doing business and the Social Enterprise Mark enables us to show people that we are truly motivated for society and the environment.”

Social enterprises are becoming more popular, following  the public mistrust in privately-run banks and businesses.

Recent research showed that consumers are crying out for the Social Enterprise Mark - an independent measure of the ethical base of businesses. Seven out of 10 people prefer to buy from companies who put their profits back into the community rather than into the pockets of shareholders.

The national Social Enterprise Ambassador, Daniel Heery presented the award at the first Social Enterprise North West Trade Fair at Aintree Race Course in Liverpool.

THE fallout over the Damian McBride smear campaign continues apace – not least amongst the Labour Party’s online community.

They are anxious not to panic and throw the baby (new media) out with the dirty bathwater (McBride’s smears) by suddenly rejecting the web-based campaigning epitomised so eloquently by Barack Obama.

The disgraceful online activities of McBride, Gordon Brown’s closest adviser has of course left Labour extremely vulnerable.

So the Fabian Society have put together a comprehensive and commonsense defence of blogs and the blogosphere, assembling a variety of Labour-linked bloggers in its support.

They celebrate the internet as a force for good, empowering people who have been disenfranchised and alienated, giving a voice to those who have been silenced and cannot be heard.

They also put forward an extremely robust defence for using the internet to expose the wrong-doing, lies and hypocrisy of the powerful. We couldn’t say it better ourselves:

“We should challenge the ideas, claims and sometimes the misrepresentations of our opponents…this will become ever more important as the internet makes politics more transparent…we will point out a mismatch between professed principles and policies, or where the evidence does not back up what is claimed.”

Which also prompts us to forecast that a David Cameron Government will be very quickly greeted by a tidal wave of web-based opposition, disproving the notion that Labour supporters lag behind the Conservatives in the digital communication stakes.

The web is a powerful tool for democracy and empowerment – a welcome antidote to the ‘we know best’ approach of command and control public figures. Which is why we love it so much.

No longer can the rich and powerful hide their transgressions behind friendly newspaper barons. Every blogger is a potential Rupert Murdoch (but with considerably less money but hopefully more ethics, obviously).

From a PR point of view, with more than 70 per cent of the population now having access to the internet, new media offers fantastic new opportunities for almost anyone to get their message across. 

Instead of battling to persuade a jaded, overworked, world-weary journalist to cover your positive story - rather than the latest media obsession – the ‘web savvy’ can now reach their target audience directly. And unfiltered by anyone else. You are in complete control of your own message.

Of course, more work needs to be done on spreading the power of the internet to the hardest to reach groups. But great progress is being made.

And as we have seen repeatedly, if the message is good enough, the media will soon come running to you.

Fully realising the benefits of new media requires, of course, considerable technical expertise, coupled with great creative flair and commitment.

But as some of the best bloggers have demonstrated – it can be done.

You can support the Fabian Society statement, Why We Blog here.

THE Pope’s outburst about condoms and AIDS has understandably caused a firestorm of controversy.

An online petition protesting at the Pontiff’s position has now been started by the excellent global campaigning organisation, Avaaz.

It is clear about what Pope Benedict actually said about condoms on his flight to Africa, where 22 million people are infected with HIV.

As the controversy raged, both the BBC and the Times also seemed fairly categoric.

But then a familiar phenomenon took place. It became a process story: about the Vatican’s press office.

Even Radio 4’s current affairs flagship, Today sounded as though it was concentrating on the performance of the Pontiff’s spokesperson.

With senior clerics weighing in, it seemed a bit like shooting the messenger, rather than a serious debate about the effectiveness of condoms in helping combat the spread of AIDS.

Tell you what: Instead of blaming the Pope’s press office, why not change the message?

ANY self-respecting journalist will shudder at the prospect of getting a terse ‘no comment’ from the subject of their latest exclusive.

It’s bad for the reporter (s/he looks easily fobbed off); bad for the story (it looks unbalanced); and bad for the subject (s/he/it looks like they have something to hide).

Our advice to any client, almost whatever the circumstances, would always be: “don’t say nothing, at least say something”.

To stay schtum or refuse to comment can sound the death knell for reputation.

We thought this lesson had been well-learnt by the media-savvy corporate world - until this week.

That was until the giant computer company Fujitsu, the employment agency Kelly Services and Her Majesty’s Customs and Revenue all combined to commit the cardinal sin.

In triplicate.

The occasion? The story which appeared exclusively in the Liverpool Daily Post about 20 agency workers with Fujitsu, who were sacked with just half an hour’s notice after up to eight years service - and without getting a penny in redundancy payments to their names.

We declare our interest at this point: Sound Communication is project managing this North West TUC campaign and produced the press release upon which the Post story was based.

We had been speculating about how the three organisations involved might respond to the accusation of the “exploitation” of the agency workers, working on the multi-million pound Government contract.

This is how the Post prominently reported it:

“Fujitsu, which employs 116 of its own permanent staff at the office which handles tax returns for HM Revenues and Customs, last night refused to comment.

HMRC also refused to comment and Kelly Services did not respond to a request for comment.”

Unfortunate that the well-staffed press offices of all three organisations could not manage to formulate a single sentence in reply to the 20 agency workers. For it leaves the strong impression that the sacked staff were the hapless victims of corporate greed and naked exploitation.

Or as one of the workers remarked to us: “No wonder they didn’t say anything: they can’t defend the indefensible.”

• You can sign-up to Support the campaign for fair treatment for agency workers here

BANKERS appear to have overtaken estate agents and journalists at the top of ‘Professions You Love To Hate’.

The credit crunch, global economic crisis, rising unemployment and job insecurity have all combined to make the banker ‘Public Enemy Number One’.

Although Prime Minister Gordon Brown appears reluctant to start mixing it with the money men, the new President of the United States, Barack Obama, has lost no time in pouring scorn on the greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street.

Obama speaks for many of us who believe the worsening recession and billion pound ‘bail-outs’ have been directly caused by the unregulated speculation and irresponsibility of the financiers.

So it is good to hear of one bank - the Co Op* - which has actually turned away business as a result of its ethical approach.

Since it adopted its ethical policy in 1992, the Co Op has rejected £1billion worth of business from a variety of companies of which it disapproves.

Now, after consulting its customers, it is set to toughen its ethical stance even further by refusing to deal with businesses which deal with, or arm, oppressive regimes; make sell, distribute or sell unethical goods; damage the environment or experiment on animals.

Even the most cynical refugee from the dealing room, cannot deny that the Co Op Bank’s ethical policy has been hugely popular with its customers – and commercially successful.

We wonder what the commercial world would look like if more companies refused to do business with others, purely on ethical grounds?

Perhaps now that we have reaped the whirlwind from the wholly unethical activities of The City, we will in future see other companies paying much more attention to ethical considerations?

And doing business differently.

*Sound Communication banks with the Co Op.

LOCAL newspapers have become amongst the first victims of the global recession with major job losses, pay freezes and closures announced.

Some commmentators are already predicting that the future for local papers is bleak, almost terminal, as they are hit both by the economic downturn and the march of the internet.

Editorial quality is always one of the first things to be sacrificed it seems, as newspaper ‘bean counters’ cut jobs and titles to reduce costs and maintain profits for their shareholders.

Here in the North West, for example, 43 journalist jobs are going at Trinity Newspapers on Merseyside, publishers of the Liverpool Echo and Daily Post; the Guardian Media Group, publishers of the Manchester Evening News, has closed local paper offices all over Greater Manchester and the Newsquest-owned Bury Times is now being moved to Bolton! The same story is being repeated all over the country.

All this when many have long bemoaned the apparent lack of commitment to in-depth reporting from newspaper managements which seem obsessed with celebrity and short-termism.

And at the same time as the axe is being wielded, print journalists are under mounting pressure to master the skills of podcasting, blogs and video-making for YouTube, as their newspaper’s editorial activity effectively shifts on to the internet.

It almost goes without saying, of course, that much of this is not being reported - by local newspapers.

But all is not doom and gloom. Readers of the Bury Times in Greater Manchester have been amongst the most active in protesting about the death of their own local paper.

A group on the social network, Facebook, now has more than 700 members, including the town’s two Labour MPs and its Euro MP. The Facebook group has also had some success in gaining publicity for their cause - and apparently causing great embarrassment amongst the bosses at the parent company, Newsquest.

Whether the Facebook friends will succeed in saving the BT remains to be seen. But the campaign shows that local readers are prepared to stand up for their own local paper and that social networks can be extremely effective ways of enlisting online support.

We can only hope that the cuts in local papers will encourage the birth online of a rash of new locally-based news outlets to rival them.

They want better technical support, more training and stronger creative input to help market their businesses more effectively on the web.

Although most are ‘reasonably’ or ‘very well equipped’ to use the internet, the biggest barrier they face is their lack of knowledge and the ‘techy’ jargon used by experts.

More than 100 start-up enterprises took part in the survey which was carried out by Sound Communication during a series of ‘Marketing on the Web’ workshops we provided for new small businesses.

The survey found that start-ups were well aware of how important the web is to the success of their business.

But they want more practical support - especially with technical issues - and more training. Too often, jargon and gobbledegook gets in the way.

Sound Communication Director, Matt Finnegan said: “There was a real sense of frustration amongst new businesses who want to market themselves more effectively on the internet, but do not have either the time, expertise or the knowledge.

“As the recession tightens its grip and business is done increasingly on-line, these problems are only going to get worse.”

The Sound survey found real demand amongst budding entrepreneurs for practical training sessions and workshops about Search Engine Optimisation, blogs and on-line networks, like Facebook and LinkedIn.

But very few new enterprises were aware that, rather than spending a small fortune on web sites, they can create a blog or use existing social or business networks for free - and market themselves on the internet just as effectively.

Mr Finnegan added: “By far the most popular part of our workshops was how to build a very simple blog in less than ten minutes and gain an instant presence on the internet. It really opened the eyes of business.”

The small businesses who took part were, in the main, limited companies and sole traders, half of whom already had a web presence and used the internet either constantly or a few hours every day.

Seven out of 10 cited lack of knowledge as the biggest barrier to using the internet for their business. Half complained of lack of time and too much jargon.

Two thirds said the single thing that would most help them to use the internet more effectively to market their business, was technical expertise, more training and a stronger creative input.

The workshops were carried out by Sound Communication throughout Greater Manchester on behalf of the advice agency, Business Support Solutions.

MORE than six million people have so far been emailed a spoof video blaming them for electing Republican John McCain as the next President of the United States.

The video is going out to more than 30 new people per second as a direct and personal reminder to them to vote in next Tuesday’s Presidential election.

The spoof video is set after the election and “reveals” that Democratic candidate Barack Obama has lost by just one vote. The ‘missing’ voter is the person receiving the personalised video!

In the spoof news-style video, the missing voter’s name is blazed across headlines in the New York Times, is personally thanked by George W. Bush and is castigated by irate US citizens (including an hilariously foul-mouthed grandmother, pictured above) and a lonely goat herd who now fears his flock is about to be bombed by ‘President McCain’.

The video is witty, irreverent and extremely well done - and it may have the desired effect in helping to Get Out The Vote as well as becoming a global hit.

Research shows that this kind of social “nudging” is extremely effective. The organisers are aiming to reach 10 million people before Election Day in the USA - but look set to easily reach their target.

To see how it works, you can fill in your friends names and send the video to them today.

Send the Spoof Video

As the organisers, MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION say: “Studies show that by far the best way to get people out to vote is to convince them that (a) everyone else is voting, and (b) everyone will know if they don’t vote.

“This video does both—with a smile (or a smirk, in some cases).

“It takes just seconds to send, and it could be the thing that actually pushes a friend of yours to the polls.”

It is entirely coincidental, of course, that Barack Obama will be the beneficiary of this ingenious tactic which sets impeccable new standards in communications and political campaigning.

In the next British General Election, will Gordon Brown or David Cameron try something similar?

At 19.11 on Sunday 24 August, 2008, we received an email headed  ‘Hello’ from Senator Joe Biden, new Vice-Presidential running mate to Democratic candidate Barack Obama.

The Obama campaign’s mastery of the internet and digital communications has already been noted: texting the choice of his No 2 direct to supporters was just the most recent demonstration.

So it was no surprise that, within 24 hours of being nominated, Biden had been plugged straight into the Obama campaign’s huge worldwide database and was sending out a personal YouTube video message.

Ten out of ten for lightning-fast communications and being so web savvy.

But the message was as equally impressive as the medium.

Most British politicians haven’t a clue how to use the internet to communicate, or to engage in conversation with the millions of people logging on. Their woeful attempts to enter the 21st century can be excruciatingly painful to watch. Like your grandad suddenly being ‘cool’.

Sixty-five-year-old Biden’s video message was refreshingly unpatronising to the Obama digital generation.
“I’m deeply honoured to join Barack and the millions of supporters like you, in this movement you’ve built together,” the veteran senator graciously intoned.

He went on to pay tribute to the grassroots nature of the Obama campaign for change.

“I’m here to join the team and follow the example of millions of people who are already organising all across the country….I want to thank you again for making me so welcome as the newest member of this team.”

Cynics may congratulate Obama’s brilliant scriptwriters for their cleverness in constructing such a humble approach for a veteran Washington insider.

But they might also agree that, in politics, the tone adopted is crucial.

And in his first YouTube video, Biden struck exactly the right note.

You can view the video here http://my.barackobama.com/joebidenvideo