Tari's Patch

I seem to have been surrounded by the arts festivals these past few weeks. The Edinburgh International Festival 2013 programme was launched last week so the talk around town is which hot tickets we've all got. It is now supposedly spring but with all this snow, wind and rain, this is good cheerful and 'sunny' talk. Much is being speculated as to whether George Street will again be closed to allow for the Spiegeltent to be put up, and for the street to be transformed into an al fresco buzzing clinking street come July. This is Edinburgh getting ready to prove its place as the world's biggest arts and culture city, hosting a dozen or so Arts Festivals during July/August. The museums and galleries will be competing to put on exhibitions to showcase Scottish artists. While I was in the UAE last week I attended the opening of the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Festival - the Mariinsky Ballet and Orchestra performed at the sumptuous Emirates Palace Hotel auditorium with much g...

I blogged about public apologies and public figures' secrets a couple of weeks back. Gratifyingly it seemed to strike a chord. Since then, more scandals have emerged. Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the head of the Catholic Church in Scotland has had to step down from public life as past sexual misconducts with other priests came to light. Lord Rennard, the former LibDem's Chief Executive and senior activist stands accused of inappropriate behaviour and unwanted harassment of women in the past. First and foremost, the  hypocrisy is foolish. I'm still astounded at the number of public figures  who have a Big Secret yet publicly vilify others for doing exactly the same thing. Cardinal O'Brien didn't choose to espouse the cause of poverty, education, social violence or domestic violence as his main platform during his tenure - all of which are so important and a safe million miles from his secret life. No, he made strong attacks of gay marriage and gay adoptions, all of...

An unexpected by-election will take place in Eastleigh on Feb 28. Yet again, a politician set for a glittering career - possibly to the top leadership position of his party - fell from grace through misdemeanours and reputation mismanagement. Chris Huhne may have lost everything - his political career, family, reputation. Although he eventually pleaded guilty in court for perverting the course of justice, to date, he has not actually made a public apology for what he did. He joins a long list of disgraced politicians (Liam Fox, David Laws, Jeffrey Archer, Jonathan Aitken, Jeremy Thorpe and of course the daddy of them all, Bill Clinton) who have with varying degrees of success, sought public forgiveness and return to normality. Two things always strike me when I read about yet another fall from grace (and mostly they're about money or sex - or both - and yes, they're almost inevitably men).  One , like it or not, responsibility comes with being a public figure. Like it or not...

I went to a fabulous birthday lunch last week at the Michel Roux restaurant in Westminster hosted by Claire Enders, a dear friend who is a powerful networker, mentor and successful businesswoman. There were thirty of us there - only women - from all walks of life; publishers, media, philanthropy, education, banking, the arts. This made me think about women-only worlds and how they have evolved in the past four decades or so, even before Peggy Seeger sang I Wanna be an Engineer in the early 70s. The women's movement in the 60s, 70s and 80s brought women together to share books they have read, to discuss the 'new politics' of power and sexuality, to build each other's confidence when competing with men in the workplace. Germaine Greer, Marilyn French and Betty Friedan were our coffee table books. These days I receive many invitations to women-only events or events organised by women or international conferences on women's leadership. This despite the fact that a...

Three weeks in the Gulf - mostly work with some downtime thrown in. There's been a lot going on in the region and at home. Elections took place in Jordan and Israel, the situation in Syria and Egypt ever worsens, World Economic Forum in Davos, the Australian open tennis championships, floods in Indonesia, Algerian hostage situation, David Cameron and That Slightly Delayed Euro Speech, Lance Armstrong's Oprah confession. Lots of voices to listen to, so how to get the right information with just the right amount of opinion thrown in, and learn more? Needs must, I get to discover new bloggers and tweeters and journalists who tell it the way it is - more importantly who explain the complex interactions in this region.  Al Monitor  has been a great new find. Daily lists pop into my inbox with just enough information on top news to give me a sense of what I want to read.  Sultan Al Qassemi  is my favourite new tweeter-find to supplement my staple diet of  Fareed Za...

Dan Edelman, a giant character and patriarch of the PR world, founder of Edelman Public Relations died yesterday. He and his family - especially his son Richard who took over as CEO in 1996, grew the company to the global size and scale it is today. Founded in 1952, it now operates in 66 countries employing over 4500 people with revenues of $637m. Although regularly courted by potential suitors and buyers, they remain fiercely independent. Dan stayed involved in the company right to the end of his life; the legacy he left behind is kept alive not just by the family, it is also embedded in the institutional memory of the firm. No Edelman employee, however junior, would not know the history and the journey the firm has travelled in its 60-year history. I have long been fascinated by family firms, since observing the difference between the seven years I worked for Edelman running its UK operations and the seven years before that, when I worked for a publicly owned corporation. Like i...

I'm often intrigued as to how best to ascribe 'social' and 'commercial' entrepreneurship to organisations. Mostly, a big gulf which separates 'profit driven' and 'social value driven' so the differentials are plain to see. However, sometimes the dividing line is very fine, making it harder for people working inside such organisations (and stakeholders engaging with them from the outside) to distinguish between the two. As individuals join social entrepreneurial organisations to 'do good' and to 'contribute', this can be a little disconcerting. I found Bright Simons' blog What makes Social Entrepreneurs Different  therefore, very interesting and relevant.