August 2007 Archives

Despite the usual mad rush for both the newsdesk and the subs after the Bank Holiday this week's Gazette is out on the streets.

It's always difficult when you lose a day out of an already busy schedule but we have still put together a strong paper with a good mix of stories.

This week's Uxbridge splash is a really emotive story and one that I am sure will touch the hearts of our readers.

Christine Laudham is a terminal cancer sufferer and caring colleagues at Wilkinson's in The Mall Pavilions shopping centre in Uxbridge are clubbing together to help give her the chance of a holiday of a lifetime.

We also have comprehensive coverage of all the GCSE success stories from around the borough and a special feature marking the 10th anniversary of the death of Diana,Princess of Wales.

There were several strong local angles to this story most notably that Diana's body's was flown back to RAF Northolt where more than 5,000 gathered to mourn the death of the Princess.

I must say that our community reporter Barbara Fisher's account of how she covered that day makes fascinating reading particularly her account of the horrendous hostility to the press and how they were blamed for the the Princess of Wales's death.

She also describes how our chief photographer Chris Berry was advised for his own safety to stay inside the gates of the airport - it's well worth reading.

I am always pleased to receive comments to my various blogs and was quite excited when I got in on Tuesday morning to see that I had received more than 50.

My joy was shortlived however, when I realised they were all from the same person and just a pile of junk which then took a considerable time to delete.

It seems that someone out there called Sandra had a particularly sad Bank Holiday weekend if the best she could do was fill my email with a load of rubbish comments to just about every blog I have written.

Shock, horror, probe I thought I saw the sun this morning - well at least for a few seconds before it disappeared behind the grey clouds again.

This is the most miserable summer I can remember. I am driving home from work with my car headlights on, people are walking down Uxbridge High Street with their winter coats on and the other night I shivered outside a pub by the River Thames with my drink for a few minutes before retreating inside to the warmth of the restaurant.

Infact, so cold was it that my friend ordered a cup of tea to warm herself up - and it's meant to be the middle of August.

Yes, I have become obsessed by the weather this summer and I am not the only one.

It's the daily talk at Gazette House and I can't remember so many column inches being devoted to it in the national newspapers over the past few months.

I am told their is a brighter outlook on the horizon for the bank holiday weekend and the promise that the sun might make an appearance - I am not sure that my shorts and flip flops will be able to cope!.

Back to this week's Gazette which has now hit the streets and the main Uxbridge edition has a strong splash which I am sure is going to catch readers' attention on the news stands.

It's one of those emotive human interest stories that I genuinely believe people can often relate to and will also talk about.

We also have a fascinating story on page three about an old Second World War bomb being discovered in woods by a couple of treasure seekers who, quite literally almost got the shock of their lives.

Chief reporter Chris Longhurst has also done an excellent job with his first hand account of the Climate Camp Day of Action last Sunday, backed up by some superb pictures.

However, there is not too much time to reflect on this week's issue as it's full steam ahead for the next issue of the Gazette due to the bank holiday weekend and much tighter deadlines than usual.

It might be the end of the week but it promises to another busy day at Gazette House.

This morning I am holding a meeting with my fellow editors from across West London and Bucks where as usual the latest sales figures for our papers will come under scrutiny.

July saw some strong performances from our titles but there is certainly no room for complacency and we will all be looking at ways to improve the sales performance of our papers.

We will also be looking at how successful our websites have been over the past month and measuring the number of page views they have received.

Like the sales of our newspapers it is now just as important to regularly monitor the performance of our websites and also track what stories attract the most traffic through the sites.

This afternoon I will be helping out my colleague Lindsay Coulson with interviews for the position of news editor on the Harrow Observer. We look to have some quite strong candidates for the role so I will be interested to see how they shape up at the interview.

We are already moving ahead with next week's Gazette and have several promising stories on the newslist and will be devoting three pages to the A-level results from schools across the borough.

There are also several strong features we are working on regarding subjects which I am sure will provoke some strong reaction from our readers - more on that next week.

The newsdesk will also be keeping a very close eye on events at the Heathrow Climate Camp over the next few days, especially with some protestors threatening acts of 'civil disobedience' over the weekend.

How many Gazette readers have caravans?

To be honest I don't know and I am not sure I really need to know or care too much.

However, there is someone out there who clearly thinks it's important to Gazette readers. My inbox has been bombarded with press releases warning local caravan owners of severe weather and the potential dangers on the road as they drive off with their caravans for a summer break.

Of course, there will be no mention of it in this week's Gazette and when you actually read the press release it's no more than a massive plug for a company urging caravan owners to check their tyres before setting off.

While on the subject of emails another 'interesting' one to arrive informed me that former darts gods Keith Deller and Eric Bristow are now plying their trade by entertaining people on a minicruise between Hull and Rotterdam.

I for one will not be booking a place on the cruise and I definitely will not be going on a caravan holiday so both emails have now been safely deleted.

We have just put the finishing touches to this week's paper and after a slow start to the week it has finally all come together.

As I mentioned yesterday it was a difficult decision knowing how to cover the Climate Camp at Heathrow which continues to attract mass media interest.

Our photographer Toby got some cracking pictures this morning as more protesters arrived on site and although we have not splashed on the story we have included it on both the Uxbridge and Hayes edition fronts with an in depth look at the camp inside the paper.

We will also shortly be posting some of Toby's pictures on the website and keeping a close eye on developments at the camp over the coming days.

One story that I have a particular interest in this week is the fact that Hillingdon's streets have been named as the second dirtiest in London.

Only last week I was moaning about the disgusting habit of people spitting in the streets and the fact they are littered with chewing gum.

It's easy to criticise the council for the state of our streets, after all they are responsible for keeping them clean. However, quite often despite their best efforts it's the mindless idoits who litter our streets with rubbish who are responsible for the state of them.

Everyone should take some kind of pride in their town and until we can tackle and beat the litter louts it's going to be an ongoing battle keeping our streets clean.

Back to this week's Gazette and as I said earlier after a slow start we have pulled together a good mix of hard news, human interest stories and features coupled with strong splashes for all four editions.

It's often difficult deciding how to cover a big national story which happens on your own patch.

Climate Camp has already attracted hundreds of column inches over the past few days and attracted massive interest from television and other forms of the media.We have also given it considerable coverage in previous issues of the Gazette.

Media interest is intensifying as the campaigners start to set up camp in Sipson Lane and by tomorrow around 2,000 people are expected to be on the camp for a week-long protest against the plans to extend Heathrow Airport.

There is no doubt it's a big story on an issue that affects a lot of people in the borough. However, it's one that we are unlikely to come up with anything new on that will not be covered elsewhere in the media over the next few days.

Yes, we will obviously be covering it in this week's Gazette but, it is highly unlikely it will be our front page splash. I am hoping that we can come up with something different although I have to say that apart from Climate Camp it is a very quiet news week at the moment.

We will certainly be watching events closely at the Camp over the next few days where there has been talk of acts of 'civil disobedience' aimed at BAA and a day of 'mass direct action' is planned for Sunday.

You will also be able to keep upto date with events at the Camp through our website and I would also be interested to hear your views on it via this blog.

PS: I promised I would report back on my son's visit to Jamie Oliver's restaurant Fifteen in London for his birthday celebration. The verdict was that it was a food experience not to be missed and a good time was had by all. However, I am not sure that paying £12 for a large glass of white wine is value for money!

Having realised that National Allotment Week starts next Monday (August 13) I alerted the newsdesk to the fact that this could be a possible feature idea for next week's Gazette.

I was surprised when content editor David Tilley came back and told me that having checked with the council there were almost 40 allotment sites in the borough.

I would certainly not have put the number as that high although I have seen recently that more people, particularly younger ones, are taking on allotments and in some areas there is a long waiting list for patches that become vacant.

Certainly the allotments opposite where I live are a hive of activity every weekend and my neighbour's regular delivery of freshly picked produce to my doorstep most welcome.

It seems that tending an allotment is no longer a pastime for the retired and with this in mind our youthful reporter John Hugill has been dispatched to explore the allotments of Hillingdon today for a feature in next week's paper.

I am not entirely sure how strong his horticultural knowledge is, although he does have a red pepper plant growing near his desk, and I just hope he can tell the difference between a courgette and a cucumber when he starts digging for stories later today.

On the positive side he does seem extremely keen to do the feature but then that might just be because he fancies some time out of the office in the sun and the possibility of some free fresh produce for his tea tonight.

On the subject of the sun I am hoping to get in a trip to the beach in the next day or so...

My son's girlfriend is desperate to go to the seaside while on holiday from Scotland - well they don't see much sun in that part of the world - so I will be packing up the picnic hamper and heading for the sandy shores of West Wittering in Sussex for some sun, sea, sand and possibly a glass of Sangria by the water's edge.

I don't usually get particularly annoyed about things but it has been one of those days when I have got really irritated by people.

Before I go any further let me make it clear it has nothing to do with my work colleagues who have been pulling out all the stops in what is an extremely busy week at Gazette House.

It's the 'others' in Uxbridge who have been annoying me on three fronts:

1. Twice today I have found chewing gun stuck to the sole of my shoes thanks to the filthy habit of people discarding it on the streets of Uxbridge

2. I have witnessed on a nunmber of occasions people spitting in the street - an equally disgusting and totally unnecessary habit

3. Just about every car I seem to have passed the driver has been busy holding and talking on their mobile phone - don't you know it's against the law and highly dangerous

Well, that's my rant over for the day although I have to say that discarding chewing gum, spitting and driving while holding a mobile are three 'offences' enough to make any law abiding citizen angry.

On a more positive note this week's Gazette is safely out and as I said yesterday is one of the strongest papers we have produced for several weeks with some cracking news stories and strong leads on all four editions. I just hope that despite the sunny weather the sales figures reflect the strength of the paper.

My son and his partner are currently down on holiday from Scotland partly to celebrate his birthday. Last night I took them to my local Chinese restaurant for a highly enjoyable meal.

Tonight they are going with my daughter and her partner to Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant in London. I am not sure whether I got the best end of the deal or not - my Chinese will certainly have cost less but will the food and whole eating experience by better at the acclaimed Fifteen.

I will report back and let you know whether Jamie's restaurant really lives up to expectations or if you have already had the pleasure of eating their let me know your views.

It's been a bit of a mad dash to the finishing line today for this week's Gazette - but we got there in the end.

For early August it has been a surprisingly busy news week with a number of big topics for the newsdesk to tackle.

These have included the impact locally of the foot and mouth outbreak, BAA's court challenge to prevent protest around Heathrow Airport during Camp Climate and Mayor Ken Livnigstone's decision to kill of the tramlink for West London.

The end product is a strong paper with some hard hitting news stories and, in my opinion, one of the best issues we have produced for several weeks.

However, I am slightly concerned that the recent fine weather might have driven a lot of people to take last minute breaks in this country and this could be reflected in the sales figures.

I have been proved wrong on several recent occasions with my predictions for sales of the paper so I will be interested to see the figures in a couple of weeks time.

Having finally seen the paper away I have now got caught up with someone who wants to run a competition in the paper for readers to win Barbie Girls consoles - what ever they might be.

I have got involved because we currently don't have anyone to look after our competitions and promotions. It's a task I would love to delegate but somehow I don't think there will be any takers and I just know that it's going to cause me a headache one way or other.

Who says that an editor's life isn't varied!

You can usually judge the weekly sales figures of the Gazette against the strength of the front page story.

It's fair to say that generally when you have a front page splash which relates to a tragic event or major crime you will sell more newspapers.

I have also been looking closely at which stories attract the most hits on our website and once again it's doom and gloom that generally prove the most popular.

If you take the month of July for example the three most viewed articles on the site were:
1. Man accused appears in court (relating to a murder charge)
2. Gang set light to teen in prank
3. Vandals hit auto show site

While some readers argue for less doom and gloom in our papers and on our website, the figures do speak for themselves, tragic events and crime sell papers.

We will be looking more closely at the sales figures of the Gazette this morning when I attend a management meeting which, judging by the agenda, promises to be a long affair.

This will then be followed be several other meetings this afternoon so by the end of the day I will probably need a long sleep in a darkened room!

However, I am starting the day in a positive frame of mind. This is probably mainly due to another morning of beautiful summer sunshine and the fact I enjoyed an excellent curry last night with my daughter at our favourite Indian restaurant.

This was rounded off with a late night glass of red wine in the garden as I watched a most magnificent sun set over the Surrey Downs - it seems that summer has really arrived.