Welcome to our new blog-based web site – by way of kicking things off, blog-wise, I thought I would do a pen portrait, along the same lines as the one that makes a daily appearance in Birmingham’s daily newspaper, ‘The Birmingham Post.’

The ‘Post’ pen portrait is a bit of a talking point in our office, as it poses a number of standard questions which the subject has to answer – and the problem is that most people give the answers which they probably think ‘Post’ readers want to see.

So, you usually end up with terribly politically correct nonsense – for example, the question ‘Best thing about Birmingham/West Midlands?’ is often answered by some reference to how wonderful the cultural diversity of the place is, and how fabulous that you can be out of the city and into the countryside in about 20 minutes.

 And then there’s the ‘First thing you would do if you were (city council leader) Mike Whitby?’ question – the answers to that range from the ridiculous to the bizarre. For example, someone suggested recently that Whitby should build a Metro system in the sky, to alleviate the transport problems on the ground.

Hmm, yes that sounds perfectly feasible – actually, it reminded me of that old film ‘Fahrenheit 451’, which featured such a system.

Anyway, enough of that, onto the pen portrait:-

 Name: Philip Parkin

 Age: 53 (groan)

 Job title: Partner, Headline Communications

 Best thing about Birmingham/West Midlands? Aston Villa FC

 Worst thing about Birmingham/West Midlands? Birmingham City FC

 First thing you would do if you were Mike Whitby? Get rid of the tramps and ‘Big Issue’ sellers from the city centre – god knows there are enough of them.

 Who are you heroes and why? Jimi Hendrix – the world’s greatest guitarist – and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. We’ll need another Margaret Thatcher to clear up the mess left behind by the current incumbent.

 What was your childhood ambition? I wanted to be an airline pilot – trouble was, I was hopeless at maths, so that idea got canned.

 What are your ambitions now? To win the lottery.

 Central Library: stay or go? Reminds me of the Clash song – ‘If I go there will be trouble, and if I stay it will be double’ …and all that. Yes, if it goes there will be trouble because it just isn’t the right climate to spend millions of pounds on a new library. And if it stays there will be even more trouble, because the current library is such a phenomenally monstrous building.

 Favourite phrase: two from the old Stiff Records of the 1970s – ‘Stiff Records, where money makes money’ and ‘If it ain’t Stiff, it ain’t worth a ****.’ Classic!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed under: Public Relations