Mandelson In Norwich

Lord Mandelson avoiding the issue in Norwich ahead of tomorrow's by-election.

Iain Dale on the Norwich North by-election

Conservative pundit and blogger Iain Dale has plenty to say about swine-flu and this week's by-election in Norwich North.

A Twitterer is Iain Dale

Iain Dale is getting a real reputation on Twitter. Here's his latest offering:

Am about to get what is euphemetically called a summer haircut. Meaning I won't have much left at the end of it. Mind you, no change there.

Iain can be found here on Twitter.

Jonathan Gabay on Political Spin

Jonathan Gabay's new book, Soultraders, was featured in this week's JC. Here's a brief extract:

Marketing expert Jonathan Gabay on how our failure to understand propaganda is handing power to extremists

When it comes to political spin, the Israelis have a lot to learn from the Palestinians.

This is the view of marketing expert Jonathan Gabay, who has spent 30 years in advertising and whose new book, Soul Traders, looks at the impact of propaganda on popular culture.

The trouble with Israel’s approach, he says, is that it has not mastered the crucial art of putting across a simple, emotive message. By sending out images of bloodied bomb victims and wailing children to the world’s media, “the Palestinians give a very strong message in a powerful way that gets into the news. Israel gives the complex view. For the intelligentsia it’s great, but who the hell has got the time?”