Like most people I hope I never have to use the skills I’ve learnt but, if I do, I will have more confidence that I’m doing the right thing. Maybe I really will be the difference between a life saved and a life lost. St John Ambulance reckon that around 150,000 people die each year because of a lack of first aid. In some countries most people do have first aid skills because they are required to learn them at school or as part of their driving test. Perhaps that’s something that should be considered in the UK.

Thankfully I don’t think you need hands on experience of every issue that you do PR for, but, in this case I’m very happy to have it.

Let this be a lesson to anyone who tries to enter the political fray without being sure they can take the heat. It doesn’t take much to ruin a reputation. Just ask the National Bullying Helpine.

Will we all go on Twittering away or will we soon move on to the next big thing?

According to the latest Edelman Trust Barometer, 72 per cent of those surveyed said that being able to trust a company was the most important criterion for coprorate reputation. In the US and much of Europe trust and transparency were more important even than product quality.

Expertise is also seen as being vital for the credibility of information. Industry analyst reports and articles in business magazines were judged the most credible sources of information. Traditional media were ranked as being more trustworthy than social networking sites, blogs or websites.

So if you want to enhance your corporate reputation, as part of a broader public relations plan,  it’s worth targeting trade and business magazines with articles highlighting your expertise and how you can help solve your clients’ problems.

A story in the latest edition of The Economist says: “PR has done well in part because it is often cheaper than mass advertising campaigns [and] its impact, in the form of favourable coverage in the media or online, can also be more easily measured.”

It’s true.  PR is a cost effective tool for helping businesses to raise their profile and manage their reputation.  It’s far more responsive than advertising and can be employed far more quickly.

All businesses should have a communications plan in place.  It makes good business sense.

Fat children often make fat adults and that leads to all sorts of health problems.  All of which cost the NHS huge amounts of money.  Kids really do have to stop eating and start moving. And adults need to set a good example.

I can’t imagine when he wrote it that he genuinely thought that much of it would come to pass. I wonder what he would think if he stepped on to a British Street in 2009 and saw the number of CCTV cameras around or the amount of data that government, shops, banks and so many more organisations routinely collect on us.

Even ‘double speak’ wasn’t too wide of the mark. The MPs expenses scandal has offered up a whole array of ways of not apologising while trying to sound mildy contrite.

Somehow I don’t think that George would be too proud of what he found if he turned up today.

Rumours about the identity of The Stig have been around of course for as long as he, or she, has. It’s been one of the most effective ways for Top Gear to drum up media attention.

Schumacher’s dodgy driving at the end of the show and rumours that it was a way of getting publicity for Barcardi, who apparently pay him to raise its profile, suggest that the real identity of The Stig remains a mystery.

Which is just the way Top Gear likes it. It just goes to show that the most effective ideas don’t have to be the most complicated.