- Blown apart - 23rd April 2026
- Opposites attract - 22nd April 2026
- Late post - 21st April 2026
In a 23 year career with the BBC, and 42 years in journalism (when he was trained to use clear and simple language, avoiding jargon), for our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry, it has always been necessary to deal with Press Officers (PO) and Public Relations (PR) officials, but now comes news of one release which can be followed up in a way which may not have been intended – about a giant inflatable bowel coming to Wrexham.
Throughout every day I must clear The Eye’s public gmail account of dross from Public Relations (PR) officials.
From the best cake in the UK to the greatest sporting event of all time – you name it I’ve had it.
Just now it was a report on ‘Football coaches with the most signings’, declaring: “…the football head coaches who have signed the most players throughout their managerial careers”.
Invariably there is always rubbish from ‘King Faisal Specialist Hospital’ – one of them yesterday was about using AI in health care delivery, and a few moments ago it concerned winning a ‘Webby’ award (whatever that is!), for helping to engage global audiences.
However a release yesterday evening capped them all.
It related to a ‘giant inflatable bowel’ coming to Wrexham next week to raise awareness of bowel cancer.
This is an extremely worthy cause which I endorse, yet I am not sure this is the right way to ‘raise awareness’.
Isn’t it just as likely to turn people off (it certainly does me), so they will put the whole important issue at the back of their minds?
This absurd idea of being visited by a ‘giant inflatable bowel’ puts me in mind of a PR stunt you might get in the hit TV series ‘Twenty Twenty Six’, when, for example, the executive pushing sustainability was forced to explain the information about putting a condom in a goody bag for visitors live on air, but got mixed up and called it a WOODEN condom!
Or perhaps, if you go further back, it might come out of the deranged brain of the character ‘Siobhan’ in ‘Twenty Twelve’ or ‘WiA’ about the BBC.
She was in charge of the PR company ‘Perfect Curve’, and would say “Hers’s the thing”, a lot before proceeding to say NOTHING whatsoever…
In one hilarious scene Siobhan was umpiring in a table tennis match between members of her team, where they would come up with nonsensical ideas to score points!
But they didn’t come up with anything as ridiculous as a ‘giant inflatable bowel’ coming to Wrexham…
The memories of Phil’s decades-long award-winning career in journalism (including some of the comical incidents he was involved with) as he was gripped by the rare disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order it now!
