Balls to Blatter

And so the preening peacock that is Sepp Blatter could hold on no longer.

After weeks of immensely damaging publicity for FIFA which included the arrests of seven leading executives and a similar number of indictments against others with links to world football's governing body, President Blatter chose to fall on his sword.

It is noteworthy that, since the news broke yesterday, FIFA's principal sponsors have been queuing up to trumpet their joy at Blatter's impending departure (which could take up to nine months).    

These are the self-same financial backers who were somewhat more reserved in their public words of condemnation last week when they clearly mattered more. 

So why did he finally chose to "do the decent thing?"

Because he "does not seem to be supported by everyone in the world," as he claimed himself?

Was he suddenly dazzled by the glare of the self-awareness and the personal public relations disaster he had become?

Was more pressure being applied behind the scenes by FIFA's sponsors than the watching world was aware of?

Or was it the fact that - according to informed reports in the United States - no-nonsense investigators at the FBI are now closing in on Blatter himself?

Time will undoubtedly tell, and most likely sooner rather than later.

In the meantime,  VANBAR associates stands ready to assist FIFA in rebuilding its shredded global reputation.   (You never know who reads this).  

A touch of class from Charles Kennedy

On this dark morning when news broke of the sad passing of Charles Kennedy, a letter has emerged which confirms why so many political watchers and others will remember him fondly.

He was principled, he was generous in his manner and - as people who knew him well have said - he was immensely entertaining.

Which brings me to the note.   Unbeknown to many begrudging voters, politicians' postbags - real and virtual - are forever bulging with requests for odd and often surreal information.  Some MPs will choose not to respond to these, but others will.  

So, in case you can't read the content of  Mr Kennedy's reply to Mr Lucas of Berkshire above, here it is:

Dear Mr Lucas

Thank you for your letter of support and question regarding The Muppets.  I am very sorry about the delay in replying.

In response to your question I would like to say that my favourite Muppet is Gonzo.  Even though he is blue he is a nice guy.  

Thank once again for your letter and best wishes.

Yours sincerely

Rt. Hon Charles Kennedy MP

He will be greatly missed. 

Power to the people

The United Kingdom is going to the polls today with turnout already appearing likely to be significantly higher than the 2010 General Election when only 65% of voters exercised their democratic right.

Of course, the outcome is seemingly less predictable than any British election in modern times.

The final clutch of opinion polls indicate that the Conservatives are likely to emerge as the party with most seats, but well short of the 326 required for an overall Commons majority.  

And with the Scottish National Party - set for a landslide north of the border - having made clear that they won't do business with the Tories, there is now a very real chance that Labour Leader Ed Miliband will become Prime Minister as head of a minority government.

Whatever lies ahead in the coming days will certainly be dramatic.  But, for now, there are still lots of votes to chase and no shortage of political careers on the line.  

There can be only 650 winners once the final declaration is made at some point tomorrow, leaving 3,321 candidates with shattered dreams.  

In an era where the reputation of politics and its practitioners is "less than positive," one might wonder why anyone would choose to put themselves in the firing line in the first place.

Some undoubtedly do it because of the perceived glamour or opportunity to enhance their personal status.  But, in my experience, the vast majority choose to stand because they believe they can truly make a difference and want to test their ability to effect change for the better. And for that they should surely be commended, not denigrated. 

Churchill famously said: "Democ­racy is the worst form of gov­ern­ment, except for all the oth­ers."  And as with most of his other pronouncements, he was right.

But my favourite election-related  quote comes from US politician Dick Tuck following his defeat in the 1966 California State Senate election.

"The people have spoken...the bastards!" he announced from the stage after his result was formally declared.

I would have every sympathy should any shunned candidate here express similar sentiments in the coming hours. 

Leeds set for place in General Election spotlight

With just a week to go until we traipse off to our local polling stations, all politically-inclined eyes will be on Leeds Town Hall tonight as David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg face questions from David Dimbleby and an audience of voters.      

Yes friends, it's the BBC Question Time Election Special and it's taking place right here in t'Yorkshire.

It's a heck of a coup for Leeds, which has rapidly become the UK city of choice for major events outside the capital including BBC Sports Personality of the Year and the Tour de France Grand Depart.

If you're not from the city or aren't familiar with the Town Hall - opened by Queen Victoria in 1858 - then tune in to BBC1  at 8pm to see the iconic building in all its splendour.     

And if you are, then switch on anyway for a televisual spectacular which could have a significant impact on the General Election outcome.

Just remember that it'll all be over soon.  Honestly.

Back to the past, if you please

Something of a personal highlight on the General Election campaign trail this morning when - shock, horror - someone gave a very straight answer.

Jovial Sky News Political Editor Faisal Islam was in Edinburgh chewing the fat with a selection of Scottish political players and observers, including esteemed historian Sir Tom Divine.

Sir Tom Divine

With just two weeks to go until polling day, minds are beginning to turn to just how many seats the Scottish National Party will take from the Labour Party north of the border. So, understandably, our Faisal wanted to pick Uncle Tom's big brain.

"You're a historian," the Sky man reminded viewers, before asking Sir Tom, "what's your forecast for the future?"

With a hint of rudeness, the great man responded  blandly: "The future is not my period."

Wonderful.  The future seems like a scary place in any case. 

Liar, liar, campaign's on fire

As a father of two young kids, I am forever making clear that telling fibs is not acceptable.  And, to be fair, it is advice they generally heed.

But with the General Election campaign now moving into overdrive, it seems that some politicians had more flexible parents.

When in vote-winning mode, it is prudent politics to emphasise the positives, go easy on the negatives and seek to avoid talking about issues that you don't understand. 

And never tell downright lies.   

Sadly, whoever is advising the Conservative candidate for Argyle and Bute failed to mention the latter to his or her charge in advance of a debate with the other candidates on BBC Radio 5 Live this morning.

Our Tory friend was arguing with his UKIP opponent who ended up losing her cool - and went for the jugular.

UKIP candidate: "Why did you phone the UKIP office and beg us not to put a candidate up against you?"

Conservative candidate: "No I did not."

UKIP candidate: "Yes you did.  I answered the phone."

There you go kids.  Don't tell lies.     

Seven go to Salford

The eyes of the communications and political worlds (together with a few million others) will be focussed on Salford this evening and the hotly-anticipated ITV Leaders' Debate.

It will be the only time in this General Election campaign when Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour Leader Ed Miliband go toe to toe.  But they will not be alone.  

Because what makes the event so novel is the presence and participation of Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg, the SNP's Nicola Surgeon, Nigel Farage of UKIP, Leanne Wood from Plaid Cymru and Green Party Leader Natalie Bennett.     

And anyone who says they know what's going to happen is lying.  In truth, no one has any idea - which is what makes the whole thing potentially so watchable.

But that will not stop the never-ending queue of talking heads lining up to offer predictions, and mandatory handy hints for participants.

The best advice I've heard thus far comes from the man (missed his name, sorry) who coached Clegg to victory in his famous "I agree with Nick" encounter with Cameron and Gordon Brown five years ago:

"Look confident, don't throw up and claim victory afterwards."

Simples.

The fun starts on ITV at 8pm this evening.  

And they're off

It might come as a shock to learn that the 2015 General Election campaign is only today officially under way. 

Parliament was dissolved shortly after midnight and we no longer have any MPs (although Government ministers do remain in post).  

The parties and their candidates now have less than six weeks to convince you to put your trust in them at the ballot box on Thursday 7 May.  And few people still around can recall a pre-election scenario quite like this.  

Will either the Conservatives or Labour win the 326 seats required for an overall majority or, as most experts predict, fall short?

Will the Liberal Democrats defy their woeful national poll ratings and cling onto enough seats to stay in contention for another term of coalition government?

Will UKIP or the Greens win more seats or simply act as a collective thorn in the side of the 'big three' parties, helping to influence a plethora of left field results across the country?

Or will the SNP's Alec Salmond lord it across Scotland and put himself into the position of king maker, effectively dictating what the next United Kingdom government will look like for the next five years?

But there is another scenario.   

Should both the Conservatives and Labour not win a majority and, for a range of possible reasons, not form a coalition with one or more other parties, the party with the largest number of seats could seek to govern alone.  If they fail, the other would then be given the opportunity to have a go themselves.

But should that government also collapse, only one other option would remain: a second General Election.  

Do not rule this out and, as such, try to not to get too carried away with the all the 'excitement' of the first one. 

Car crash for Clarkson

So now we know; Jeremy Clarkson is gone.

In case you haven't heard, the BBC has this afternoon confirmed that the Top Gear presenter's contract will not be renewed after a physical and verbal assault on his producer.  (The eagle-eyed will have spotted that he hasn't therefore been sacked, rather not re-employed). 

In organisational terms, the BBC seemed to have little choice (other than to actually sack him).  Had an employee struck a colleague in any other large corporation, the expectation would surely be instant dismissal.  

But, in PR terms, the fact that the BBC is publicly funded and the story got "out," well, what else could Director General Tony Hall be expected to do (other than wait 17 days to act)?

Commenting shortly after the news was announced, Clarkson's Top Gear co-presenter James May was asked who he thought might replace Jezza.

He replied that whilst he quite liked working with Clarkson, "I think he's a nob."

Quite.

Budget boxers

This was the traditional photo of Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne as he left 11 Downing Street yesterday to deliver the Budget.

The red box he is holding is not the original version made for William Ewart Gladstone in 1860.  It was retired in 2010 due to its fragility.  Instead, sInce 2011, a new Budget box - commissioned by the National Archives - has been used by Mr Osborne.   

But, like Gladstone's, it belongs to the nation and is very much red.

Fast forward to this morning when, after delivering a farcical Liberal Democrat "Budget" statement to the House of Commons, Danny Alexander turned up on the steps of the Treasury holding his own yellow "Budget" box.

In case you missed it, the Liberal Democrat is Chief Secretary to the Treasury and, in effect, George Osborne's deputy.    But, as a member of Her Majesty's Coalition Government, Mr Alexander is also fully signed up to every jot and tittle of yesterday's Budget.

His attempt to deliver an alternative financial statement to MPs - pushing the boundaries of Parliamentary convention to breaking point - was bizarre enough.  

But the sight of him holding up his toy box - which members of the media later took turns at holding with a smile - tell us only one thing.

Yes, with a mere seven weeks to go until polling day, the election campaign is about to get fully under way.

And we suspect you ain't seen nothing yet.         

Easy, Lionel

10 out of 10 for the PR team at the First Direct Arena in Leeds who have clearly been having fun promoting tonight's Lionel Richie concert on social media.

Earlier today they posted this pic on their official Twitter feed.

Boom!

However, our favourite tweet is this one which appeared yesterday.

You've got to love that.

We could now make a cheap gag about the prospect of tonight's lucky ticket holders "dancing on the ceiling."  But have you seen how high it is? 

Enjoy the gig if you're going.

Falling Madonna

Madonna's undignified downstairs tumble at the BRIT Awards has made global headlines.

But did she mean to fall?

It may seem like an odd question to ask, but it has been posed by some including Chris Evans on his Radio 2 Breakfast Show.

And there is a logic to the argument.  

Remarkable as it may seem, Madonna is now 56 years old and - understandably - her profile and record sales aren't what they once were.  

So might the bruises associated with a bit of prime time stage-diving be a price worth paying to remind you that she's still around.

Apparently not, according to Madge.

In an interview to be broadcast on The Jonathan Ross Show tomorrow evening, the one-time Material Girl described her fall as a "nightmare" which left her with whiplash (and she wasn't even sitting in a parked car).

"I had a man standing over me with a flashlight until about 3am to make sure I was compos mentis," she explained.

She instead blamed what happened on a "wardrobe malfunction" owing to her cape being tied too tightly.  (It happened to Dracula many times).

"Everyone was worried my cape would slide off, so they tied it really tight around my neck," she said.

"I got to the top of the stairs and I pulled the silky string, and it wouldn't come undone.

"I had two choices: I could either be strangled or fall, and I chose to fall."

So she did.        

Expect tickets for her forthcoming world tour to be in even greater demand as a result. 

Twitter twaddle

Twitter can be an invaluable source of information and comment, as well as a very useful promotional tool for any business or organisation wishing to get its message out.  

But it can also be a cesspit of abuse, misinformation and bullying.

This was underlined over the past couple of days when the former Republic of Ireland footballer, Kevin Kilbane, was targeted by trolls upset that he dared speak up against obscene chanting from a small band of West Ham fans.        

Although he didn't attend Sunday's game at Tottenham Hotspur, he heard about the chanting - mocking people with Down's Syndrome - from a friend who was there.  

Kilbane's 10-year-old daughter Elsie has the condition.  And being in the privileged position to do something positive about these things, he rang the Football Association to make his views known.

Top man, top dad - good for him.

The result?  Vile abuse and hideous slurs from a sad procession of dark souls on Twitter. 

But Kilbane was not for having it and yesterday spoke to BBC Radio 5 Live.  You can hear what he said by clicking HERE.  It's worth a listen.

We heard it at VANBAR Towers and offered our support on Twitter.

And a few minutes later, our Tweet was read out live on air.

Suddenly Twitter felt like a mildly better place.  But still a medium where you must tread carefully.  

Preparation, preparation, preparation

It should not be beyond the realms of human understanding to appreciate that proper preparation is a key element for success in any media interview.

It is all the more so if the interview is due to go out live and seasoned LBC interrogator Nick Ferrari is facing you across the desk.

Natalie Bennett

However, someone forgot to mention these basic rules to Green Party Leader Natalie Bennett who had been invited on to talk about her party's General Election manifesto.   

Cue a series of initially harmless questions from Mr Ferrari about affordable housing, a central plank of the Greens' plans to build 500,000 new social homes.    

I'm afraid my words cannot do justice to what happened next.  

I therefore invite you to click onto this LINK - before climbing under your desk.   

Liar, liar, helicopter not on fire

A lesson for kids and adults alike after NBC news anchor Brian Williams was caught telling a porkie pie.

The previously highly-respected presenter had, for some time, dined out on a tale about being shot down in a helicopter whilst covering the 2003 Iraq War. 

However, his story came to grief in the way his helicopter apparently didn’t when a US veteran recalled his own version of events.

Flight engineer Lance Reynolds wrote: "Sorry dude, I don't remember you being on my aircraft. I do remember you walking up about an hour after we had landed to ask me what had happened."

Caught with his pants down (as opposed to his chopper), Mr Williams was forced to grovel with an on-air mea culpa.

"I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago," he told NBC viewers. "I want to apologise. I said I was travelling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire. I was instead in a following aircraft."

Whoops.

The shame-faced journo then explained that he would be voluntarily disappearing from screens “for several days.”  

But he added: "Upon my return, I will continue my career-long effort to be worthy of the trust of those who place their trust in us."

Time will tell whether NBC executives will let him fulfil his pledge.

UPDATE:

NBC have since announced that Brian Williams had been suspended for six months without pay for his "inexcusable" actions.   

The fun case for an Independent North

I was fortunate to be in Leeds yesterday for the launch of the Government's "Long Term Economic Plan for Yorkshire."  

Fronted by the Prime Minister, David Cameron, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, what it lacked in a catchy title, it made up for in detail.  Time - and the General Election - will tell whether it can be delivered.

However, we are regularly told that it's good to think "outside the box."  And when it comes to this kind of high-minded activity, I can think of no better participant than Leeds City Council Chief Executive Tom Riordan, who was also in attendance yesterday .

Tom Riordan

Formerly boss of Yorkshire Forward, Tom is universally regarded as one the White Rose County's greatest thinkers.  But unlike some of the others, Tom also possesses an equally "sophisticated" sense of humour (i.e. he is actually funny).

So, put these elements together and what do you have?  That's right, "The Case For An Independent North by Tom Riordan - LIVE."

Click on THIS LINK and have a watch.  They're five minutes  you'll not regret giving up.

Big Mouth Strikes Again

The world’s grumpiest man is at it again.

Just days after successfully insisting that only vegetarian food is sold to devoted Belfast fans next month, ex-Smiths frontman Morrissey has now binned a gig in Iceland after the venue in Reykjavik refused to ban burgers and hotdogs.

“I love Iceland and I have waited a long time to return,” Mozza told the True to You website.  “But I shall leave the Harpa Concert Hall to their cannibalistic flesh-eating bloodlust.”

Hmmmm. 

This is the same self-proclaimed bloodlust hater who, in the past, said, “I wish Prince Charles had been shot,” described the massacre of 77 innocent people in Norway as “nothing compared to what happens in McDonald's and Kentucky Fried shit every day" and spoke of his “sorrow” at the IRA’s failure to murder Margaret Thatcher in the 1984 Brighton bombing.  

This Charming Man?  Perhaps not.

Churchill: The Greatest Communicator?

It's 50 years today since Sir Winston Churchill was laid to rest.

Over the past few days - and hopefully for a few more to come - newspapers and other media have featured profiles, recollections and analysis of the life and achievements of the man almost universally acclaimed as the Greatest Briton.

I'm not going to attempt to compete with what has already been said by others.

But in the modern age of sound bytes and catchy phraseology, I thought it might be fitting to reproduce a small number of the most famous lines from speeches delivered the Second World War, his finest hour.

Compiled by the BBC Archive, no further pre-explanation is surely required:

"I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."

First speech as prime minister, House of Commons, 13 May 1940

"We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing-grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!"

House of Commons, 4 June 1940, following the Dunkirk evacuation

"Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour'"

House of Commons, 18 June 1940, following the collapse of France

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few"

Tribute to the Royal Air Force, House of Commons, 20 August 1940

"This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense"

29 October 1941

"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

Speech in London following the victory at El Alamein in North Africa, 10 November 1942

The Greatest Communicator as well as the Greatest Briton?

It must surely be so.

The finger of ill fate

We'll be hearing a lot about photo opportunities between now and the General Election as politicians across the Kingdom seek to portray themselves in the best possible light in the quest for votes.

Yes, if hi-vis jackets and hard hats are your things, then you'll be in luck over the next three months should you choose to open a newspaper or switch on your TV in the quest for "news."

But photo opportunities can go very, very wrong.

To illustrate, whether he becomes the next British Prime Minister or not this spring, it is unlikely that Labour Leader Ed Miliband will ever truly live down his spectacular encounter with a bacon sandwich.       

Poor bloke.  Should've stuck to cheese and onion.

But earlier this week Ed's mishap was arguably matched when Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne joined David Cameron on a visit to a cider factory in Somerset.

At first glance, nothing seems amiss.  

But have a look at his other hand - or rather, finger.

Whoopsie. 

It seems most improbable that Mr Miliband ever finished his bacon sandwich.  But it's almost certain that Mr Osborne had a stiff drink after seeing his little faux pas.