About Me
- Thank you for visiting my blog
- An urbanist and writer, I have fifteen years of political and economic journalism experience and now specialise in urban policy and communications. Formerly head of the economic service for The Associated Press in Paris and Bloomberg’s chief political reporter in France, I have covered a breadth of industry sectors and political issues working across the globe. Recently, I have focusing on London and West Africa in policy and communications roles for organisations including the Centre for London think tank, the Financial Times and the Town and Country Planning Association. I have an RTPI-accredited masters in spatial planning from the Bartlett (UCL), where I specialised in regeneration with a focus on London’s East End and the Olympic Park area. You can follow some of my thoughts and actions in the planning blog on the right hand side of this page. Underneath the photo, you can click for a link to my CV (with details of how to contact me if you would like to employ me for freelance writing, research, PR or advisory work), or click on journalism for links to sample articles and information about my 2007 book on French politics 'Schizophrenie Francaise.'
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Back to uni
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
London Borough of Hackney CSSI - Making the Most of Tech City Review
This discussion is intended to help LBH understand how it can help the growing digital economy industry on its patch, and find out what support employers / businesses need to harness the opportunities of the potential workforces on its doorstep and tap into the talent and skills of the local community.
I belive passionately in the potential of the digital economy for sections of the population who have traditionally not had the same access to opportunity. The digital economy not only appeals to young people who might be turned off by more conventional careers, but it is also a profession where the best are often self-taught (take Steve Jobs, for example).
In the research I conducted for Centre for London, I found a great willingness among the Tech City entrepreneurs to give back to the community. Although the paperwork and requirements of official apprenticeship schemes might be too onerous for these often very small companies, there are plenty of other ways to engage them: drop in mentoring sessions or individual mentoring coaching were some of my suggestions.
Demos report: Feeling the Effects
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Investing in Nigeria: Special Report 2012
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
Dutch media
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
GEMS Education
Apollo provides ongoing media relations and copywriting support for GEMS education.
Examples of recent coverage include in a two-piece (from London and Nairobi) article in The Guardian, and an opinion piece.
Friday, October 26, 2012
FSB and Tech City
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Kensington & Chelsea
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Tech City and the EU
Just back from a lovely trip to Brussels for the Lisbon Council think tank's 2012 Single Market Entrepreneurs Summit. I was invited after contributing an article on Tech City for the SMEs in the Single Market:A Growth Agenda for the 21st Century publication.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Apollo - and how nice it is to work with lovely people
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Rwanda
Monday, September 17, 2012
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Addiction and families
It is a theme I have been researching for some time for my debut novel, Twisted Ladder, is being represented by the Dystel & Goderich literary agency. It is a study of addiction, and its hereditary implications.
You can read more here about the Demos project.
Friday, August 24, 2012
The Golden Age of French cinema - and other stories
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
More Tech City press
Latest is a short piece I collaborated on for Estates Gazette - as Deputy London Mayor Kit Malthouse said at our launch, maybe not all tech entrepreneurs have heard about Tech City, but 100% of property industry professionals have!
The FT ran a piece the day after the report, and The Observer covered our scenarios for future growth.
The Guardian published a second piece, this time on their local government network by Dr Sean Carey, a social anthropologist leading a research project on Digital Shoreditch for the University of East London. Interestingly, his points about the white-male makeup of the cluster reflect those I made when speaking at the Place East London conference, when I fessed up to my social anthropology roots!
And the academics have been talking, both at LSE's Spatial Economics Research Centre, and at UCL's CASA.
The business community is talking about us too!
Monday, July 9, 2012
Algeria
Monday, July 2, 2012
Tale of Tech City is out!
The report, by myself, Dr Max Nathan and CfL Deputy Director Rob Whitehead, is now available for free download here: http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/ataleoftechcity
Meanwhile, media interest continues unabated, starting with The Guardian, whose Tech Editor Charles Arthur called me yesterday for an interview, the first time since my 2007 book Schizophrenie Francaise was published that I'd been on the recieving end of journalists questions.
At today's event, where Rob was interviewed for BBC London (to feature on the lunchtime news), it was standing room only.
Meanwhile, the regeneration community was paying attention, notably Richard Florida, the 'government's guru' known for his 'creative class' concept, writing in Altantic Cities. Reports also in
in ELR News, and Reneration & Renewal.
The Tech community, of course, had plenty to say, including at Tech World and of course, on Twitter under #techcity.
A piece I wrote for The Tech City Insider on connectivity appeared under the headline Techs and The City, a title we toyed with for the report.
The property industry, who Deputy London Mayor Kit Malthouse said today will determine in which direction the cluster moves, was well represented at the event, and will soon be reading about the report. An article by myself and Sandra Jones of Ramidus Consulting, who has done her own research with the EGi property database, will appear in Estates Gazette on July 14.
No doubt there will be more to come. On Twitter, debate suggests how our report is digested will be important - as well as follow up research on how the cluster can best serve the local community, and on the tech scene more broadly across London and further afield. As TechCrunch Europe Editor Mike Butcher said in a tweet (@mikebutcher) "It's the report after this one that counts."
Thursday, June 28, 2012
A Tale of Tech City
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Place East London
The brief was what could Tech City mean for East London jobs? I said our in-depth analysis shows the much-hyped cluster is larger than anyone had previously thought, but the entrepreneurs within it are less diverse than London SMEs or British digital economy firms. To open access to a wide group requires rethinking the entrepreneurship culture, making financing easier for people without contacts to rich people, encouraging skills training and networking in local populations, and a more female-friendly environment (a theme from my undergraduate anthropology degree).
I came after Sir Robin Wales who spoke about Newham's great efforts - and success - about getting local people into jobs with some of the new employers (not least Westfield) coming to town. GLA Chief of Staff Sir Edward Lister told how the £9-24 billion cost of the Olympic Games will be the "least expensive of the projects" planned to upgrade infrastructure in East London.Newly annointed London Legacy Development Corporation Chief Daniel Moylan closed the event vowing that the park would not become a "shard of prosperity" - like Canary Wharf.
Thanks to the wonderful Jackie Sadek and Ross Sturley for organising a wonderful event.
Africa's Contribution to the Green Economy
Having been to Rio relatively recently, and liking fish and sculptures, I hope some leaders had time to take in this piece of art, made from discarded plastic bottles........
Monday, June 11, 2012
Invest in France
Delighted to say I will be working for the Invest in France inward investment agency as editor of their quarterly magazine. Watch this space for the next edition.....
Monday, June 4, 2012
Individual Responsibility and Drinking
It chimes with my first novel, Twisted Ladder, which examines addiction and the family gene and is being represented by US agents Dystel & Goderich.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Centre for London @ Digital Shoreditch
Monday, May 21, 2012
Russia Post
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
SMEs, Technology and Brussels
Thanks to the fabulous Ann Mettler and Paul Hofheinz for bringing me to Brussels to talk about a few insights from the Centre for London Tech city research project.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
Back to university
Six months after I submitted my dissertation, I was delighted to return to UCL to lecture second years on Tech City, the subject of my research. Invited by my former professor Dr. Nick Phelps after an earlier presentation by Max Nathan, my fellow researcher with Centre for London, it was not only a pleasure to engage with planning students, but also very helpful to organise my thoughts as Max and I (and the CfL team) enter the intensive Brain Crunch part of the research project. It was Friday afternoon on the last day of term and very sunny outside, so I was pleasantly surprised not only by the turnout, but also the way students engaged with the topic. The cool of Shoreditch and the digital industry perhaps held their attention more than government efforts to shape it, which they indignantly pointed out doesn't fit very well with their localism agenda. I hadn't yet discovered this photograph of local design firm 00:/'s proposal for turning the scruffy Old Street roundabout around which the cluster is centred into a sort of Picadilly style circus, but if I had perhaps they might have thought twice about letting the community decide for itself.....
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Emma Vandore reports on the TCPA’s Annual Conference ‘Re-building Britain – Shaping Our Future
This article was published in the January edition of the TCPA journal.
Britain‘s housing crisis – and particularly how reforms to the planning system will address the chronic shortfall – dominated debate at the TCPA’s Annual Conference, held at the beginning of December. In an era of spending cuts, debate at One Whitehall Place centred on concerns over affordable and social housing and the lack of strategic spatial guidance on how many homes are needed and where.
To read the full story, click here.Friday, February 10, 2012
Know Place on Tech City
What began as a spontaneous clustering of start-ups in London’s East End is turning into a global hub of the digital industry – as the government is branding Tech City. It seems to be working. Entrepreneurs I’ve been interviewing for a series of research projects report that government attention is bringing useful visibility and prestige.
The Shoreditch entrepreneurs affect a low-key, British approach, referring to the area as Silicon Roundabout – a reference to the ugly Old Street traffic circle at the heart of the area – but the multimillion pound success of companies such as Last.fm and Tweetdeck belies their modesty. Music website Last.fm was sold to CBS for £140m, and Tweedeck, an application developed to help users manage their Twitter feeds, was bought by Twitter for £25m earlier this year. The hope of the British government, like administrations the world over, is to create an environment that nurtures a home-grown Google or Facebook.
To read the full story, click here.Sunday, January 15, 2012
Know Place
Our website is currently under development. We intend it to become a centre for knowledge and networking for the place-branding community. We've a few projects under development - watch this space!