Save The Local Newspaper

Local newspapers are a key method of connecting with communities but they are in as much danger as the village post office or pub. Recently Johnson Press publisher of a number of regional newspapers in the UK decided to charge for content online. Newspapers generally have been suffering falling circulations - the UK nationals are down nearly 20 per cent in a decade.

In a recent Guardian column, its columnist Roy Greenslade referred to a number of factors but only referred obliquely to the key factor: the decision made in the late 1990s to put content online for free.

This could be likened to wine producers saying that you can have as much free plonk as you like, but if you want it in a bottle, it is going to cost you substantially more.

Although newspapers may huff and puff and try to charge for content, the genie is well and truly out of the bottle. For example, the BBC has vowed it will never charge for content online, so why go any further for general news? Certainly some specialist papers like the FT and Wall Street Journal may get away with charging, but it will not work for most

Online advertising will never bring in the same money whether it be due to the conservatism of advertising agencies or a perceived general lack of effectiveness.

Newspapers are certainly ailing, but they are not dead. However, they certainly need to reinvent themselves...and quickly.

It would be a shame to lose this quintessential part of community life.

New Conservative Wind Proposals Welcomed

Curtin&Co are pleased to see that Conservative thinking on wind farms has moved positively towards embracing the need for this renewable source.

Greg Clark, the Tories spokesman on the issue of renewable energy, revealed in a speech last week at Oxford University that the old policy of being instinctively averse to the thought of on-shore wind farms has been reversed. This is a very welcome development and shows that all major political parties have recognised the very real need to diversify the energy production in the country.

With the almost inevitable delay in getting the next generation of nuclear power stations up and running we may come to rely on wind energy far more than we currently believe.

Welcome to our new blog

Curtin&Co are delighted to welcome you to our new blog. On this site we hope to provide an insight into the development and regeneration industries. We work on effective community consultation to have good, sound and ethical applications passed through local planning processes. We have a considerable experience in the planning sector, but also possess a unique political mix within the company.

Our political specialists have their fingers on the pulse of current national political positions. I (Antony Calvert) am a prospective parliamentary candidate for a key northern marginal seat for the Conservatives. Robert Evans is a former MEP who served the London region for the Labour party.

We have a number of other very specialised consultants from the world of planning, why not visit our website and check them out?

The company website is www.curtinandco.com.

I hope you find the articles on this blog useful and interesting. If you have any comments, please either respond to the article or email us at antonyc@curtinandco.com.