Flack: 'Notorious', conspiracy, Big thinking and Barack Obama!

PR Week UK, Friday, 14 November 2008, 12:00am,

News of a bitter split reaches us. Just a few weeks after we reported that the 'notorious' Aylesbury Estate had hired Hill & Knowlton, it appears that the relationship has broken down. Why? Because of negative language such as 'notorious' in press coverage. Specifically PRWeek, 17 October. Oops ...

In Guantanamo Bay last week, Ali Hamza al-Bahlul was sent down for life for being Osama bin Laden's PR man. He was found guilty on 35 counts of conspiracy, solicitation to commit murder and providing material support to terrorism. In his defence, al-Bahlul said it was just some project work; he wasn't even on a retainer ...

Congrats to 3 Monkeys chief Angie Moxham, who won the 'battle of the big thinking' event at London's British Library by giving a speech comparing PR with quantum physics. She beat Paul Melody of Freud Communications and Mark Borkowski of Borkowski PR, who brought in an airplane with 'FUCK' branded across its wings and a packet of, ahem, "clitoris allsorts" sweets ...

Birmingham Mail reporter Steve Zacharanda (aka Adam Smith) became a YouTube victim after being caught on camera at the Florida Democrats' bash on US election night, visibly affected by the euphoria over Barack Obama - and the free cocktails. In a brummie twang, he boasted he was cutting and pasting his story from the BBC coverage. Insight PR account manager Louise Abbott, who was also at the event, told us: 'Obviously he jumped the queue for the drinks tokens.'