- A river runs through it part one - 17th August 2026
- Nigel Farrago - 14th August 2026
- Struck out - 14th August 2026
Our satirical writer Edwin Phillips listens to an absurd table tennis game in a trendy London office, where Public Relations (PR) executives pitch ideas to win points, and one scores with the thought of having a giant inflatable bowel visiting North Wales, which would have been funny were it not true…
Overall Public Relations (PR) company boss: “Let’s play a table tennis game where whoever comes up with the best idea wins a point. Just like in those brilliant television programmes ‘Twenty Twelve’ or ‘W1A’. The PR firm in those episodes is called ‘Perfect Curve’ with ‘Siobhan’ representing people like me, and it was meant to be satire, but they were actually fine examples of what we do…”.
First junior PR executive agrees and serves first: “I’ve got a great idea everybody, which will bring in the punters and highlight bowel cancer – let’s have a giant inflatable bowel come to Wrexham!”.
Second junior PR executive: “That’s a fandabidozy idea. I’m down now.”
First junior PR executive: “Thank you. Yes, I’m ahead. Fifteen love”.
Second junior PR executive: “You are, and I need to come up with something great like that to level the score. I can always go to that other fab PR agency or press office for ‘King Faisal Specialist Hospital (KFSH)’, because they always think of terrific ideas.
“There was that one where they told everybody about winning the famous ‘Webby’ award for helping to engage global audiences”.
“Then there was that idea a few days ago of telling journalists KFSH had been named as the best brand in Saudi Arabia for the FOURTH YEAR RUNNING! Unbelievable!”
First junior PR executive serves the ping pong ball: “Agreed. They are fantastic, but I can top them with my giant inflatable bowel thing. I just can’t stop coming up with brilliant ideas at the moment!
“Maybe we could have stuff coming out of it like a real bowel. That will definitely hit home to people how important this is! Thirty love.
Second junior Public Relations (PR) executive misses the ball: “Darn! that’s such a good idea. It won’t turn people off at all – so they won’t put the whole thing at the back of their minds. I wish I’d thought of it”.
First junior PR executive serves again: “I know – we could invite people into the bowel too, to watch as the stuff comes out. Forty love”.
Second junior Public Relations (PR) executive once more misses the ball: “Cripes! How do you keep managing to come up with such great ideas? I must beat them. Er…how about the best cake in Britain? Does that win me a point?”
First junior PR executive: “No. I’m afraid it doesn’t really cut it.”
Second junior Public Relations (PR) executive looks stoney-faced.
First junior PR executive: “That was a joke by the way. But getting back to my giant inflatable bowel idea, perhaps we could also arrange for young impressionable people to be in the front row watching as the stuff comes out, because they are the future and might get bowel cancer in their life times. Game set and match.”
The memories of our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry’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!
Tomorrow – as Phil has written many times a free and independent media is essential to a functioning society, although this does not exist in many states around the world, with a great believer in this being the legendary newspaper Editor Sir Harry Evans, and now comes news that a Welsh actor is to play him in a drama about his extraordinary life.
