When It Hits the Fan

Whether you're a multimillionaire or the son of a King, sometimes it can still feel like everyone is out to get you. And so we turn to Nigel Farage and Prince Harry. Both are dealing with huge PR fallouts on which the dust is nowhere near settling. This week, David Yelland and Farzana Baduel discuss why even the most powerful people claim the whole world is against them. It's certainly a tried and...

Public life would be an awful lot easier if you never had to answer questions from pesky journalists. Or would it? This week, David Yelland and Farzana Baduel look at Andy Burnham's decision to not take questions as he launched his vision for Britain, should he become the next Prime Minister. Pumping out your message on your own terms might sound like the PR dream - but the rapidly changing nature...

Declaring your tax isn't straightforward, as anyone's who ever filled out their own return will know. King Charles probably has someone to help with the scraps of paper and receipts - but he'll still have to deal with a huge amount of scrutiny on becoming the first monarch to reveal their tax bill. This week, David and Farzana discuss why King Charles is going public - and why it was announced alm...

The public is against you, politicians are against you and the emotional argument has been well and truly lost. Which is exactly where the likes of TikTok, Instagram and X find themselves following the Prime Minister's announcement that social media will be banned for under-16s. It's being described by some as big tech's 'tobacco moment'. This week, David and Farzana assess what these companies mi...

When you're routinely described as a crackhead and convicted felon who uses sex workers, it's fair to say your reputation can't get much worse. And so we turn to Hunter Biden. Often labelled the 'black sheep' of the Biden family and a man who's been torn apart in the media. And yet, he is now being lauded (by some) for his attempts at reputational rehabilitation - including a blistering foray on X...

When PR becomes the story, you know you're in trouble. And that's where BP finds itself right now - as the dust begins to settle after a tumultuous week for the company. David Yelland and Lauren Beeching unpick the drama - from the statement announcing the Chairman's shock sacking to the furious response from the man himself. They explain the PR mistakes made by both sides along the way - includin...

Ever felt like your boss doesn't quite hold you in the highest esteem? Pity then, workers at Standard Chartered Bank. CEO Bill Winters described some of them as 'lower value human capital' during a speech to investors. His words came at a time when the bank is getting rid of thousands of positions and replacing them with AI. David and Farzana look at what happens when you say the quiet thing out l...

Not every product launch comes complete with tear gas, police dogs and angry crowds. But those were the scenes at various cities around the world as a new Swatch went on sale. This week, David Yelland and Farzana Baduel discuss whether the chaos that surrounded the launch was PR heaven or hell. Advisors are paid handsomely to try and create such buzz - but can too much hype be a bad thing? On the...

There is an art to resigning. Fall on your sword immediately and you might end up enhancing your reputation. Cling on for months in spite of overwhelming evidence you should quit - and the opposite can be true. This week, David Yelland and Farzana Baduel look at whether the PR rules around resigning are changing. Has the tipping point moved in an age of fragmented media? Certainly the noise from t...

Finding the right words in a high-pressure situation is not easy - especially when the world is watching. But by common consensus, King Charles' speech to Congress was deemed pretty much pitch perfect. This week, David Yelland and Farzana Baduel take you behind-the-scenes, into the writer's room. Who was involved in crafting the words, how did multiple people feed in and yet make it sound like a s...

There are jobs and there are jobs. And then there are jobs like being head of the FBI. So when you're in that role and get accused of excessive drinking and unexplained absences from duty, the reputational risk is huge. This week, David Yelland and Farzana Baduel look at how Kash Patel has handled the claims - from getting into heated verbal battles with reporters to launching a $250m defamation l...

These are busy days in the world of crisis comms. Keeping calm is vital - keeping the public calm is even more vital. David Yelland and Farzana Baduel explain what's going on behind-the-scenes everywhere - from supermarkets and airlines to energy companies - as concern rises that the war in Iran could affect supply lines. They discuss the importance of being like a meerkat - horizon scanning - for...

What happens when you cross enemy lines and join the other side? As King Charles hires a Sky Royal correspondent for a top comms job at the Palace, David Yelland and Farzana Baduel discuss what happens when journalists switch to PR. Crucially, they need to learn how to go from broadcast to mute. No more fabulously indiscreet anecdotes involving the rich and powerful over dinner - they're now your...

In the good old days, if you wanted some favourable PR for a client, you could call up a journalist and take them out for a jolly good lunch. It's not so easy when the thing you're trying to influence is a bot. So is it possible to spin the likes of ChatGPT? This week David Yelland is joined by Lauren Beeching - a crisis management expert with clients that count their followers in millions. They d...

When your country's PR plan relies on the projection of safety and security, how do you keep that image alive when you're under attack? This week, David Yelland is joined by global PR expert Farzana Baduel to examine how countries in the Gulf have managed their comms since the start of the war in Iran. In Dubai especially, social media influencers have been used as foot soldiers in the reputation...

Getting your message out is obviously a cornerstone of PR. But where you put that message is becoming even more important. This week, David Yelland is joined by Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty from the BBC podcast Fame Under Fire. Together they look at the challenge for big institutions - especially the Royal Family - of cutting through. You may think you've been successful if your story gets pick up i...

When you’re in a crisis, you discover very quickly who your friends are. Or perhaps more accurately, who your friends aren’t. This week, David Yelland and Simon Lewis examine how different types of friends are deployed to the PR front line when it comes to reputational combat. When you can't defend yourself in public, you need the right sort in your corner. But not all friends are equal. There's t...

How do you fight a PR battle when everyone's already decided you're the bad guys? That's the problem facing the water industry on the eve of a new Channel 4 factual drama called Dirty Business. The clue is in the title. It focuses on a 10-year investigation into sewage-polluted waters. Sticking to the facts is a basic rule of PR - but when coming up against raw anger and emotion, do you need more...

Some jobs just can't be done. Circumstances, events and a changing world simply make them undoable. This week, David Yelland and Simon Lewis ask whether one such job is communicating on behalf of the Prime Minister. Not just this Prime Minister, but any Prime Minister. After only five months, the PM's Director of Communications, Tim Allan has quit. He's the fourth person to hold the role under Sir...

How close is the Palace to being sucked into the Epstein reputational black hole - again? In this episode David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss the latest revelations from the Epstein files about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Can a reputation ever be so utterly ‘nuked’ that there is no coming back and anyone close gets sucked in? What is the Royal Family's PR calculus to avoid the gravity pull of th...

It started with a bombshell but the aftershocks are only just getting started. This week, David Yelland and Simon Lewis ask whether David and Victoria Beckham's seemingly bulletproof brand is under threat. The cause is of course the incredibly emotional social media outburst from their son, Brooklyn. Theirs is a brand built on family - so what are the PR challenges when threads start to unravel? A...

Reputations supposedly take years to build and seconds to destroy. But what if that's no longer the case? What if the normal rules about earning - and keeping - a reputation simply don't apply any more. This week, David Yelland is joined by Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty, from the BBC podcast Fame Under Fire. Together, they venture into some distinctly dubious corners of the internet to see how public...

When everything's going really well, there's always a lurking fear that it can't possibly last. This week, David Yelland and Simon Lewis look at how the discussion around weight-loss injections is suddenly, subtly shifting. New research suggests that once you come off them, you put weight back on faster than if you'd shed the pounds in a more traditional way. The findings dominated the news agenda...

Call it smoke and mirrors, call it sleight of hand. The best PR is often invisible PR. In this latest episode of our mini-series on the Golden Rules of PR, David Yelland and Simon Lewis look at the risks of showing your workings. Increased transparency is admirable in many cases - but beware of just how much you reveal. A great example from 2025 was the Heathrow Airport crisis. A power outage caus...

Most of us are guilty of it. A problem looms or a crisis kicks off and the knee-jerk reaction is often to ignore it and hope it goes away. Newsflash - it rarely does. In this latest episode of our mini-series on PR's Golden Rules, David Yelland and Simon Lewis explain why doing something is usually better than doing nothing. Two great examples from 2025 involve the BBC and the Royal Family. Both f...