Scott Douglas

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The hardest post to write - why grief for the death of a pet dog is so profound

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How to get honey from a stinking, unwanted carcase

How to get honey from a stinking, unwanted carcase

 I don’t want to get all biblical on your ass, but I’m sure you’re passingly familiar with the Old Testament tale of how honey came from the body of a young lion slain by Samson. Well it seems Jenny Morrison may be creating her own tale of triumph in the face of adversity – also with a sugary touch. From the unpleasantly festering carcase of Frank Gilbride’s Newsflash, Jenny has risen anew – and…

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More bad news for Frank Gilbride

More bad news for Frank Gilbride

News reaches me that the staff at Cover Story – Frank Gilbride’s features operation in Northern Ireland – have finally lost the will to live and resigned en masse. Awright, there were only two of them, so the reality is that they have resigned en deux, en brace or en both. Whatever way you pronounce it, this isn’t very en sweet (aye, dreadful pun, I know) for Mr Gilbride who has already consigned…

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Gilbride Watch: Get your claims in quick!

Gilbride Watch: Get your claims in quick!

Following yesterday’s post about Frank Gilbride resurfacing as the G7 Network, it appears the demise of Newsflash has taken an official turn. allmediaSCOTLAND. com has reported that creditors of the defunct press agency have until next week to lodge their claims. I hope the staff who were unceremoniously emptied without any money might now have a glimmer of getting what they are due. A public…

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The Newsflash double act is truly dead - but at least one half can still show their face.

The Newsflash double act is truly dead – but at least one half can still show their face.

One of the most enduring double acts in Scottish journalism is dead. Not just damaged, fractured or requiring a bit of maintenace. Not temporarily suspended, on hold or under review. Not poorly, giving cause for concern or even on the way out. Stone. Cold. Dead. Until today I was too jaded, cynical and downright sceptical to believe the 15-year business relationship between Frank Gilbride and…

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The demise of Newsflash Edinburgh (cont)

The demise of Newsflash Edinburgh (cont)

Brass necks aren’t all that hard to come by – indeed they can usually be found on anyone with a thick skin, few social graces, a lack of self awareness or the ability to demand favours they’ve never earned. But credit to Frank Gilbride for having the shiniest and most heavily polished brass neck I’ve heard about in a very long time. On Friday he dropped the bombshell on staff that he was shutting…

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Frank Gilbride's SECOND public statement since the closure of Newsflash

Frank Gilbride’s SECOND public statement since the closure of Newsflash

I was impressed to find the comment below left by Frank Gilbride on an earlier post. It’s easy to miss or bypass the comments section, so I thought I’d do the decent thing and bump it up to full-blown posts status, so as many people as possible can read it: So your ‘good’ pal forgot to invite to his showbiz bash? Name-droppers, by and large are a pathetic bunch and a total brass-neck, but it…

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Let's Get Ready to Rumble! More grapplings from Newsflash

Let’s Get Ready to Rumble! More grapplings from Newsflash

When Frank Gilbride read the last rites for his Edinburgh-based media agency, Newsflash, there was a particularly telling verse which went along the lines of: “Thou shalt not collect thy redundancy package.” Normal death bed recipients would simply have curled up their toes and conveniently carked it. Not so at Newsflash. The more junior members of staff who were shown the door still see a ghost…

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Gilbride Watch: Frank rises from the ash of 'Flash

Gilbride Watch: Frank rises from the ash of ‘Flash

For those with an interest in Scottish journalism who haven’t yet heard, Frank Gilbride is back on the scene. This momentous event actually took place yesterday so this is a late newsflash (a bit like Mr Gilbride’s ex agency). I’m sure those who were unceremoniously booted from Newsflash with no notice and no pay offs will be interested to hear their former boss has once more graced the Fourth…

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Frank Gilbride's new business partner is a financial expert ... so what advice would he give to the Brasso Kid?

Frank Gilbride’s new business partner is a financial expert … so what advice would he give to the Brasso Kid?

It’s just as well the Brasso Kid Frank Gilbride is a journalist, or he’d be appearing sometime very soon in an expose in the Sunday Mail or the News of the Screws. We’ve all seen the type of story I’m talking about – businessman leaves a trail of financial misery behind in the wake of an unexpected business collapse. Only to resurface a short time later in some new moneymaking scheme, yet somehow…

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Frank Gilbride Watch: the Brasso Kid's Amazing Magic Show

Frank Gilbride Watch: the Brasso Kid’s Amazing Magic Show

Former Newsflash boss (now credit crunch mortgage repo man) Frank Gilbride has proved there is no end to his talents. He’s been outed as something of a conjuror, with the ability to make unwieldy and sizeable objects vanish with just a wave of his wee wand. His remarkable talent was unveiled when the liquidators appointed at Newsflash decided to auction off the only tangible asset left by the…

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Frank Gilbride Watch: Wee Brasso pulls an Apprentice-style CV stunt

Frank Gilbride Watch: Wee Brasso pulls an Apprentice-style CV stunt

If it’s good enough for a winner of TV show The Apprentice, then there’s hardly any surprise that the wee Brasso Kid has jumped on the bandwagon. I am talking, of course, about the shameless over egging of a CV. Apprentice winner Lee McQueen couldn’t have had any idea of the can of worms he was opening up by claiming he’d been at college for two years, when in fact he’d dropped out after four…

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Where there's muck there's Brasso!

Where there’s muck there’s Brasso!

Clack, clack, clack, clack. D’you hear that? Aye, it’s the heartwarming sound of a great, big, ginormouos pair of brass cojones knocking together while their proud owner struts his stuff. Which can mean only one thing. The Brasso Kid has resurfaced. Thanks to SB in Perth who brought my attention to the weekend’s Sunday Post (which otherwise I would have missed), where the good Frank Gilbride was…

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When quotes go wrong: there's something distinctly fishy about this beauty...

When quotes go wrong: there’s something distinctly fishy about this beauty…

Even the best PR people can be tripped up by the rise of business gobbledegook in client messaging.

THE WORLD’S biggest fish farming company has hit the headlines after announcing a change of name.

But that’s not the mouthful that should be of most interest to PR professionals.

I’m not much bothered that the wholeseome-sounding Marine Harvest will now become the rather vanilla, Mowi.  What did…

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The *REAL* secret of 'Free' PR for your business

The *REAL* secret of ‘Free’ PR for your business

A version of this post first appeared on All Media Scotland on April 2, 2013

Image

Get rich quick. Look 10 years younger with one simple trick. Develop rock hard abs in just six weeks.

Yawn. Now I can add to the list of unlikely sales pitches the following – use the power of *free* PR to grow your business.

My quizzical eyebrow started twitching this week, when an email crossed my desk from a…

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The Star Wars guide to the difference between 'smart' and 'wise'

The Star Wars guide to the difference between ‘smart’ and ‘wise’

  Better technology does not mean greater wisdom

Better, faster, higher.

The delights of the modern world just keep improving, don’t they? From food and clothing to technology and entertainment, our choices get ever greater, accessibility gets easier and affordability is more achievable.

Disposable fashion, microwave meals, convenience stores, smartphones. Where would we be without them?

Surely…

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Three little words guaranteed to leave me quivering

Three little words guaranteed to get me quivering

STV Edinburgh launch

We launch tonight.

Three little words from an email which dropped in my inbox a short time ago. And I’m shamelessly excited by them.

For those of you who may have missed the cause of my breathlessness, I fully understand that you might not entirely share my heightened sense of anticipation.

But to a man whose life has been spent in the media (and a great deal of it embedded…

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