Top ten reasons to be a freelance journalist

By Rebekah Law | Published: January 5, 2012

As a freelance journalist, you can:
1) Choose your topics
If you become a freelance journalist you are able to accept commissions based on your interests and areas of expertise. If you are qualified in a particular sector or have a strong interest in certain topics your writing skills will be invaluable to newspapers, magazines and websites that are seeking to publish in-depth and well-informed articles.

2) Be your own boss
Perhaps one of the most appealing features of working as a freelancer is that you are your own boss. If you are able to self-motivate then this offers you freedom and independence in your working day.

3) Work from home
As a freelancer you can work from the comfort of your own home (or from any location for that matter). You can use your own study with your books around you or take your work to sunnier climes or sit in a mountain lodge to write copy if you so desire. This can be particularly important to those with a family.

4) Choose your own hours
Equally important for family life, you can fit your working hours around your personal life. If you need to be with your children in the early afternoon and evening you can work in the early mornings or late at night. For those without a family, the opportunity to set your own schedule and work the hours that suit you the best is invaluable. For morning-people you can be up and writing at the break of dawn and give yourself more free time in the afternoon. Conversely, if you work best into night then you can give yourself a lie-in. As long as you work effectively to deadlines you can set your own hours.

5) Set your fees
Obviously your rates need to be within certain bounds but once you gain a reputation as an effective and efficient freelancer you can set your own rates. For those with high-level knowledge in a specific area these fees will increase.

6) Control how much you earn
Hard work can pay off as a freelance journalist. The more articles you produce, the more you are likely to earn. A combination of hard graft and expertise is particularly valuable in monetary terms.

7) Interview interesting people
Over the course of a freelance writing career you are likely to meet a wide range of interesting people. This will come through interviews, networking events and general research for a particular piece. No day will be exactly the same and various characters will stroll into your life through your journalistic work.

8) Travel to interesting places
Whether you’re a freelance travel writer or not, it is likely that you will have the opportunity to travel for your research. From Maidenhead to the Maldives your work can take you to a variety of fascinating locations all under the guise of ‘work’.

9) Gain an ongoing education
You may choose to select topics that you have a particular interest in and wish to learn more about. In this way you can use your research and writing as a springboard to an ongoing education.

10) Avoid office politics
For those who don’t appreciate the twists and turns of office politics, freelancing as a writer is the perfect job. There’s no need to endure difficult colleagues or an awkward boss, you are free to get on with your job without interruption.

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Delph Property Investment Reports: Finding a Property

By Rebekah Law | Published: November 17, 2011

Choosing a Location

Introduction

For most people, buying a property is the largest single investment they will make during their lifetimes.

And choice of location is the single most important factor they have to face.

This report will guide you through the process of refining your choice: what issues matter most to you, to your potential tenants and to an eventual buyer? How may the situation change in future?

Once you’ve read this report, you should be more able to see a location through the eyes of a property professional, gauging not only its instinctive appeal to your sensibilities, but its rational market value and commercial prospects.

A property is an asset which can appreciate or depreciate: this report will help you to tell the difference.

Ten factors to help you pick a location

1 Neighbourhood

The most valued neighbourhoods are largely residential. Avoid places that are close to heavy or light industrial property, retail areas such as shopping malls, large transport hubs or other busy areas such as hospitals.

Although you’re looking for a property which will appeal to tenants, beware of locations that have predominantly rented accommodation. Tenants have no long term investment in the real estate, so they may neglect proper maintenance – particularly exteriors and gardens. Seek out properties surrounded by owner-occupied accommodation.

Look for a property which blends into its surroundings. People feel calmer when they’re in their own economic and social group.

Prime example: Richmond in southwest London is the archetypical residential neighbourhood. Mick Jagger, Richard Attenborough and a host of other well-heeled residents can vouch for its friendly atmosphere, proximity to the River Thames and good connections with Central London.

2 Amenities

Draw up a check list of amenities that you’d like: shops, parks, leisure centres, cinemas, restaurants, bars etc. Your ideal investment property will be close to all of them, but not absolutely adjacent to them.

Drive around the area and get a sense of distance: are the amenities within walking distance? Is it an easy and pleasant walk (rather than having to cross a busy thoroughfare)?

One of the biggest amenities you can find is peace and quiet. People like to be close to great facilities, but on a street with little traffic and no loud noises. Be sure to visit your prospective location during working hours: there might be a sawmill behind the garden causing a racket for eight hours a day.

Prime example: Market towns such as Stamford in Lincolnshire have a wealth of amenities within easy reach of the whole community, along with plentiful parks and good transport connections. They are popular with families and get good marks in quality of life surveys. Property prices are modest, compared with the southeast.

3 Schools

If you’re considering buying a property that would suit a couple or family with young children, schools will be a high priority. So research the catchment area of local schools, along with their relative calibre. People will pay a high premium to be in the right area.

But beware: catchment areas are not fixed, they move dependent on the number of applications, so if this is a major consideration, play safe by purchasing well inside the most recent area. Second, don’t forget that some schools improve while others get worse, so make sure your information is up-to-date.

If your prospective property is too small for a family, avoid buying close to a good school because you’ll simply pay a premium which won’t do anything for you.

Prime example: Bishops Stortford in Essex is a charming market town within easy commuting distance of the City of London, with highly regarded state and fee paying schools. Property prices are relatively low, compared to equivalent locations in (for example) Surrey or Buckinghamshire.

4 Crime

Rates for crime in the UK are compiled by the police and can now be accessed by any member of the public, through the Police Crime Map 2.0 (www.police.uk) and local authority information.

This means that prospective buyers can get an accurate picture of the relative safety of the area they’re considering, along with comparative figures for nearby locations (or indeed anywhere else in the UK).

You should also ask local agents and disinterested local people, to get their impressions. Some areas feel safer than others, even if the statistics tell a different story. Find out how often the police patrol the area and whether the crime figures are rising or falling.

Are there grills on residential windows, evidence of drug use, youths hanging around street corners at night or graffiti on buildings? These are signs of low level persistent crime and could make you reconsider the district.

Prime example: Bournemouth, in East Dorset, has the lowest level of violent crime in Britain. This may be due to the high proportion of retirees in the town, but it’s still an impressive figure. Bournemouth is a short ride from the city of Southampton and close to fantastic beaches and countryside.

5 Jobs

As with schools, the employment situation in many locations is dynamic. If a new factory or large office relocated to the area, this could transform its job prospects, just as the loss of a large employer can depress a location.

Look in local papers – maybe going back a couple of years – to spot major prospective changes. Clearly, the more employment opportunities, the more potential tenants and the higher the asking rents you will be able to achieve.

Consider locations that act as residential ‘dormitory’ towns for other cities, such as Darlington for Newcastle, or Warrington for Liverpool. You may find more affluent tenants searching for property in these locations, compared to the actual suburbs of these cities.

Try to match your property type to the likely tenant: if there is a large student population, multi-tenanted properties may be a good choice. (For more details, see Finding a Property, Report 2 – Deciding on the type of Property).

Prime example: The city of Bristol has very strong employment prospects, with vibrant start up companies linked to its universities, lively media companies and traditional industries. A constant flow of companies relocate from London in order to benefit from low costs, excellent facilities and a higher quality of life.

6 Public transport

For working commuters, this is the biggest factor and something that can add thousands of pounds a year to your asking rent. The difference between a five minute walk to the metro or train station and 15 minutes is enormous. Five minutes is bearable, even in heavy rain. Fifteen minutes can be hell. Half an hour on a tube or train is fine; an hour and a half is exhausting.

Figure out the typical working pattern of your prospective tenant: if they will work in the centre of the town or city closest to your property, how will they get to their office? Avoid making them change from one train or bus to another.

Some locations appear to be poorly served by transport, but check out the bus (or tram, in cities like Sheffield) services. They can be surprisingly speedy and efficient.

Prime example: Residents of Finsbury Park, North London, may be no more than three minutes’ walk from overground and underground train stations, with Victoria and Piccadilly tube lines, national rail connections and many buses. Commuters can reach Oxford Circus – right in the centre of London – within 10 minutes.

7 Natural disasters

We all think that natural disasters happen to other people, but if you add up the number of people whose lives have been turned upside down by floods, hurricanes or even heavy snowfall in recent years, it comes to many hundreds of thousands.

You should certainly think twice before buying a property on a known floodplain, such as areas of Gloucestershire or Cumbria. Insurance rates will be high, for good reason, and all your investment in fixtures and fittings could be wiped out in one rainy day. The extra insurance costs will also erode your rental income and could easily rise, if there is a perception that the risk of disasters has increased.

Prime example: Birmingham, dead centre of England, is well insulated from natural disasters. Its waterways are mainly canals, therefore less flood-prone; it’s relatively low and flat, so there’s little chance of snow disruption and has good rail and air links to help you escape if necessary. Nearby Dudley had an earthquake in 2002, however.

8 Road access

If there are few public transport options, make sure that tenants have good road access to the property. Either off-street parking or some convenient alternative. Find out how much a resident’s parking permit will cost and what options there are for visitors.

Proximity to motorways is another plus (although not within earshot). Look for an area with low car crime figures and relatively low congestion. Parts of South London, for example, are constantly gridlocked and nightmarish for drivers.

Prime example: Milton Keynes, famous for its multiple roundabouts, has extremely affordably property prices relative to similar towns. It offers spacious, well-kept houses and apartments with excellent road access to London via the M1 and to neighbouring towns such as Luton (with its growing airport).

9 Airports

Upmarket tenants and high achieving business people plot their locations according to airport proximity. They know that, upwards of 20 times a year, they will get on a flight. So the journey to and from airports will hugely influence their well being.

They don’t want to be next door – that would be too noisy – and they don’t necessarily want to limit their choices to one airport. Londoners, for example, have a choice of five (Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted and City). So a combination of good routes works well.

Look out for new and prospective transport routes to airports. The Heathrow Express, which opened in 1998, reduced the journey time from Paddington station in Central London to the airport from an hour, down to 15 minutes. Property close to Paddington increased in value as a result. The same may be true of the new High Speed Rail link from London to Birmingham via Heathrow, if it is ever built.

Prime example: Watford, to the northwest of London, is extremely well-placed for Heathrow, Luton and Stansted airports. Its location alongside the M25 means that you can drive to each airport within 30 minutes. There is attractive surrounding countryside, a well-stocked shopping centre (Harlequin) and an underground station linking to Central London. It was the birthplace of Geri ‘Ginger Spice’ Halliwell.

10 That je ne sais quoi

What is it that makes people like or dislike an area? I moved to my current address because I wanted to be within walking distance of a restaurant that served mussels. Some people will drop everything to be close to their favourite sports team. Others will swear by a river view (Sir Jimmy Savile insisted that he be buried at 45 degrees, to give him a view of the sea).

Walking through a district will give you some clues. Is there litter blowing about? Are shopkeepers friendly? How does it smell? Do you feel any sense of threat from people hanging around or cruising up and down the streets? What is the mix of shops, businesses and residential? Are some boarded up and derelict?

What was the latest mention of the place in the national press? It could be either ‘Local boy wins Olympic gold’ or ‘Crazed gunman kills twelve in burger bar’. It’s perfectly fair enough to take that sort of impression into account. Everyone else will.

Remember: real estate is a dynamic, shifting asset which will change over time. Sniff the wind and listen to your gut before you part with your money.

Prime example: Ludlow in Shropshire is a perfect gem of a town. It has a ruined castle which hosts Shakespeare plays each summer, along with classical music recitals; it has Michelin-starred restaurants (the most per head of population in the UK) and sumptuous countryside. Birmingham is half an hour’s drive away.

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Golfing drama in Dubai

By David Nicholson | Published: July 27, 2011

(By David Nicholson, published in Mashreq Herald magazine)

As he stood on the approach to the final, decisive hole in this year’s Desert Classic golf tournament in Dubai, South African Ernie Els held his breath.  Ahead of him was an imposing grandstand, packed with thousands of fans, forming a maginificent semi-circle around the opulent green.  Beyond that rose the giant towers of the Kingdom, symbols of its recent emergence as a global centre of business and tourism.

Locked in a showdown with Spanish player Miguel Angel Jimenez, Els was trailing by one shot.  He would need to shoot a birdie [one shot below par] on this par five hole to have a chance of drawing level with Jiminez.  Or so he thought.

Els then summoned his nerve and struck a sublime six iron from 178 yards that pitched and died just 20 feet from the pin.  He then sank this tricky, heart-stopping putt for an eagle three – while Jimenez could only make par – handing the title to Els for a record third time.

After what was the most dramatic piece of golfing theatre in the history of the event, Els – who carded a final round 68 for a total of 19-under par (269) – admitted he was delighted to have again lifted the famous trophy. “The putt was right up there with the best,” said the 35-year old South African after the event.

This kind of gripping viewing has led to an explosion in the options for golfing in the gulf, after Dubai’s government-backed company Nakheel announced that it would develop six new golf courses in the emirate with a total of 96 holes.

Legendary Australian golfer Greg Norman has signed up to help design four of them, including one called Inspiration, which will recreate Norman’s favourite 18 holes from around the world: six from America, six from Europe and six from Australia.  Interest in golf in Dubai has soared after years of the world’s greatest golfers paying visits to compete in events such as the Desert Classic, held each year in Dubai.

Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Colin Montgomery have all graced the tees and greens of clubs such as the Emirates in Dubai, recently named among the world’s top courses in a survey by US-based magazine Golf Digest.  The ballot, which included 1,005 of the best courses around the planet, was decided by a panel numbering over 800 course rating specialists and 22 editors of Golf Digest.
The Golf Digest award came just after Business Traveller magazine named the Emirates Golf Club Best Golf Course In The Middle East for the third consecutive year and is the latest in a long list of awards for the venue, helping to raise the profile of the sport in the region.

The Emirates Golf Club was carved from the Dubai desert in the mid 1980s and stunned those who were sceptical about the idea of an all-grass championship golf course in the hot, dry environment of the Middle East.

But today, 17 years after its 1988 opening, the Club boasts two 18-hole grass courses – The Majlis and The Wadi – and has played host to the PGA European Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic on 14 occasions.

The stunning clubhouse is one of the icons of modern Dubai, and the Emirates Golf Club has officially been ranked among some of the world’s most famous courses outside of the USA including the Old Course at St Andrews, Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia, and Royal Portrush in Ireland which took the top three spots.

Four of the new Dubai courses will be designed around the elements of fire, water, earth and air, while two of Norman’s courses are to concentrate on environmentally friendly design, using local plants and moving as little soil as possible.

Other world famous golfers have joined in the process of designing golf facilities for Dubai. Courses have been built or are under construction by designers and golf stars such as Jack Nicklaus with Ian Baker Finch, Gary Player, and Desmond Muirhead with Colin Montgomerie.  Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club has recently undergone a major redevelopment. The club’s 18-hole, par 71 course boasts a new front nine, re-designed by Thomas Bjorn, providing an even greater challenge. There is also a new nine-hole par three course, a hi-tech studio, a floodlit driving range and extensive short game practice facilities.
The championship standard golf course is the centrepiece of a resort that will incorporate a luxury 225-room Park Hyatt hotel and 92 four-bedroom executive villas, in addition to a 121-berth marina, yacht club, golf clubhouse, restaurants, gym and leisure swimming pool.

“Golf is important. We hope we have proper accommodation and we’re well-organised to receive Americans,” says Pascal Despieres, the French woman who is marketing manager for Dubai Golf, the government’s organisation coordinating golf tourism.

Some months before, Tiger Woods received a great deal of attention for hitting golf balls from the rooftop helicopter pad of the world famous Burj al Arab Hotel, Dubai’s all-suites hotel with gold-plated rooms that can cost $1,500 per night. “Golf is a big plus for Dubai. America has the greatest numbers of golfers, so even if we get 0.5-per cent of Americans to come, it would be good,” says Despieres.

The model for Dubai’s golf course boom is American in style. The eight golf courses and facilities, with more on the way, are conceived and built not in the Spartan fashion of many of golf’s original clubs in the United Kingdom, but rather with the comforts and appointments that Americans added to the game: motorised golf carts, automated GPS yardage devices, beverage carts and half-way houses, comfortable locker rooms and golf shops stocked with quality equipment and fashionable clothes. It is rare to see caddies, however, as there is little demand for them.

Golf visitors to Dubai can be assured of never getting rained-out, but in July and August, temperatures officially reach as high as 52 Celsius. This is a very official temperature since, by law, 52 is the highest number the government allows to be announced (52 Celsius is 125-degrees Fahrenheit).

The temperatures aren’t always extreme, and the heat can be avoided by playing golf at Nad al Sheeba Club, a regulation 18-hole golf course that is open until midnight because it is fully illuminated by floodlights.  “I am sure it is only a matter of time before we build an air conditioned, indoor golf course here,” says Despieres.

Getting the big names to contest the Desert Classic is a publicity coup in itself.  And all the better when there is a dramatic finish, as between Els and Jiminez this year.  No doubt they, and many other stars of the sport, will be back to challenge for the Classic next year, as Dubai continues its ascent of golf’s international ladder.

 

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Scottish sporting estates – living the dream

By David Nicholson | Published: July 27, 2011

(By David Nicholson, published in The Scotsman)

The opportunity to acquire a Scottish sporting estate, somewhere that country sports writer Charlie Jacoby describes as “the best example of sub-Arctic wilderness in the world” is an event that may happen just once in a lifetime, if that.

For a start, there is a severely limited supply.  Most are held by families and passed on from generation to generation.  Estates are commonly transacted ‘off market’, through agents working with contacts who have made their buying intentions known, perhaps years earlier.

“People make a decision to buy one of these in their lifetime, so they want to get the right estate for the next four generations,” says Jacoby.  “You don’t just wake up and think ‘I’ll buy one next year’, it may take 20 years.  And you have to be very, very rich for all of those 20 years.”

Exactly how rich is a good question.  A modest sporting estate of say 1,000 acres in the Scottish lowlands in Galloway might cost as little as £750,000.  For this, you might have some fishing, some pheasant and partridge shooting, along with the chance to fish and shoot on your neighbours’ estates.

“To sustain the dream you’re looking for, the minimum would be 8,000 acres and 20,000 is a proper size,” says Jacoby, who runs www.landgazette.co.uk, with daily updates on issues for country landowners and agents.  A ‘proper’ estate will cost between £3 and £5 million, with annual running costs probably well north of £100,000, depending on how many staff you employ.  The amount of game on each estate contributes to its price, as Jacoby explains.  “Broadly speaking, you will pay £3 to £5,000 per salmon over a five year average, £12 to £15,000 per stag and up to £1,200 per brace of grouse.  So if the estate has five shoots a year with 200 grouse, 25 stags and 50 salmon, it soon racks up the price.”

At the very height of Scottish sporting life are the great royal estates such as Balmoral, which, were it to come onto the market, would sell for perhaps £60 million for the house itself, £6 million for the 130,000 acres, a further £15 million for the fish on the river Dee, the stags and grouse, and then a further premium for the historical associations of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and the current royal family.

Jacoby has himself stalked and shot stags on the Balmoral estate, which gave him a mildly perverse thrill: “You’re aware that every stag you shoot will be one that Prince Charles’s guests won’t be shooting,” he says.  Balmoral is, he says, “the pinnacle of perfection” when compared to almost any other estate.  “The hills at Balmoral look as though they were designed by Landseer, the ferns have a sparkly crystal edge, the weeds are bright emerald green.  It’s nothing like the grey of the Cairngorms.”

Along with the tales of royalty and landed aristocracy comes a wealth of sporting anecdote.  A former Duke of Westminster, knowing that the best fishing on one of his lochs was in a strong north-easterly gale, would require eight ghillies to row his boat to keep it steady enough for him to fish.  Scottish country sportsmen dream of achieving a ‘McNab’ – catching a salmon, shooting a brace of grouse and stalking a stag in the same day.  “And if you sleep with the housekeeper it’s a Royal McNab,” says Jacoby.

Besides getting to know the Scottish land and sporting agents such as George Goldsmith in Edinburgh, Andrew Wylie at Savills in Brechin (www.savills.co.uk) or Robert Rattray of CKD Galbraith in Perth (www.ckdgalbraith.co.uk), aspiring estate owners need to keep their ears pricked for signs that estates could be coming up for sale.  “If you see an estate selling off bits of land, it means their investment is not going well and they may consider selling the whole thing,” says Jacoby.

Otherwise, you need to spend your time shooting with the sons of the Scottish gentry in England and finding out about their school friends, he recommends.  “You want to look for the son of an estate owner who has no interest in hunting shooting and fishing,” he says.  “Or if you’re interested in Cortachy Castle, which is owned by the Earl of Airlie, you could consider marrying one of his daughters.”

Land agent George Goldsmith in Edinburgh, who owns www.sportingestates.com, confirms that demand for Scottish sporting estates is well in excess of demand, although there are generally one or two available for the right price.  He has seen values rise by as much as 70 per cent in the past couple of years, with British, European and American buyers competing for the best locations.

He cites one estate with 20,000 acres in the Highlands, including salmon fishing, stalking, ‘walked-up’ and driven shooting, with a likely price tag of £4-5 million.  Many owners let their estates by the week, charging anything up to £20,000 for the privilege, but few make any real return on their initial investment.  “It’s a lifestyle thing,” says Goldsmith.  “You don’t run a sporting estate as a business.”

Images of billionaire Russian businessmen buying up swathes of Scotland are wide of the mark, according to Goldsmith, although one Russian steel magnate, Vladimir Lisin, bought Aberuchill Castle Estate in 2005 for £6.8 million, a mere drop in his £5.4 billion ocean.   The estate includes a white-turreted, baronial-style main residence with 13 ensuite bedrooms, around a dozen estate houses and cottages and a relatively modest 3,300 acres of land.

Enthusiasm for Scottish sporting estates appears to come in waves, from different nations.  In the 1990s many buyers were from Hong Kong.  Then came the Dutch, personified by philanthropist Paul van Vlissingen, then the Russians.   “The Danes are now very keen,” according to Goldsmith.

The passion for an estate really takes hold when you’re up in the Highlands, says Goldsmith.  “You’re walking the hills and you think ‘God I want to own a chunk of this, and roam free with my road and gun’.  That’s the dream side of it.  Then you just need to get to the position where you can afford it.”

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Boot room to boardroom

By Rebekah Law | Published: July 27, 2011

(By David Nicholson, published in The Wall Street Journal)

“It is a ruthless game. One thing must burn through your body, and that’s the will to win. Without that, you’re dead.”

It was the FA Cup final of 1960: Blackburn Rovers against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Young Dave Whelan for Blackburn, known for his robust approach, went in for a tackle on opponent Norman Deeley. Crack!  His leg was broken and he was carried off the field, with his career as a top flight player effectively over at the age of 23.

It was a “hard but fair” tackle, said Mr. Deeley later. And in the 51 years since that day, Mr. Whelan has repeatedly proved that his hard but fair approach to business can pay dividends. He built up a chain of discount supermarkets in the late 1960s, selling them to Ken Morrison for £1.5 million in 1979.

Mr. Whelan had acquired a small fishing goods store called JJ Bradburns in Wigan in 1977, and then once again expanded the brand until, by 1980, there were seven outlets, rising to 120 when he floated the company in 1994, and more than 400 by 2007, when he sold his interest in the business for a couple of hundred million pounds.

Meanwhile, the opportunity arose to buy Wigan Athletic, next to his boyhood home, which in 1995 was languishing near the foot of Division Three and threatened with going out of business altogether. Two seasons later they won promotion to the Second Division as champions, followed by promotion to the Championship (the second tier division in English football) in 2003, and then finally made it to the Premiership in 2005.

As a player, Mr. Whelan’s broken leg in the 1960 FA Cup Final changed football rules, since substitutes had been forbidden up to that time. His injury helped to convince the authorities that it was unfair to restrict a team to their starting 11 players.

In business, too, Mr. Whelan has been an iconoclast and maverick, competing with rivals such as Chris Ashley at Sports Direct through ruthlessly low prices and margins.  Ashley is also chairman of rival football team Newcastle United, adding piquancy to the relationship.

Over the years, Mr. Whelan has had conflicts with the Office of Fair Trading, which fined JJB Sports £5.5 million in 2005 for price fixing, and with his own employees over pay levels in 2006, which led to a brief strike at the company’s Wigan warehouse.

Now 72, Mr. Whelan grew up in acute poverty, with his father away in the Second World War and only a local boys’ club to keep him out of trouble—he has admitted stealing vegetables from a local farmer’s field. His connection with the local people and the sense of community around the football club is tremendous: “What we’ve done at Wigan Athletic is unique,” says Mr. Whelan. “I grew up a quarter of a mile from here. Every time I come to this stadium it gives me enormous satisfaction.”

Curiously, Mr. Whelan is the only man to have played football in all four English professional leagues and to have owned a club in all four divisions. “It doesn’t half give you some insight into what goes on in the dressing room, in a lad’s head, on the pitch,” he says. “It is a ruthless game. One thing must burn through your body, and that’s the will to win. Without that, you’re dead. In football, you’re up and down that field, some of them running 11, 12 miles in a match. And they’re getting banged, thumped, kicked all over the park. You can see in a flash whether a player has the will, the heart.”

Joys and agonies

Niall Quinn, chairman of Sunderland Football Club, also had a reputation as a tough player, earned over 12 seasons and with several different clubs, along with 92 appearances and 21 goals for his country—the Republic of Ireland. Yet Mr. Quinn’s rise from ballplayer to boardroom member was quite different to Mr. Whelan’s.

Mr. Quinn, 44, wrote in Niall Quinn – The Autobiography (2002): “I learned my trade at Arsenal, became a footballer at Manchester City, but Sunderland got under my skin. I love Sunderland.” The affection has been amply returned, as Mr. Quinn went from being one of the club’s leading scorers in his six seasons, becoming both the manager (temporarily) and chairman in 2006 when he headed the Drumaville Consortium of Irish businessmen who bought a controlling stake in the club.

Mr. Quinn’s management career was brief and poor, losing four league games in a row, followed by defeat in the Carling Cup to lower-league Bury. He stepped down in favor of his old Ireland teammate Roy Keane. This appointment quickly bore fruit, as Sunderland won promotion to the Premier League in 2007. Subsequent managers have taken the club on, with the current incumbent, Steve Bruce, securing them a place well into the top half of the Barclays Premier League so far this season.

Mr. Quinn is a humorous, modest man who donated the entire proceeds of his testimonial match at Sunderland (more than £1 million) to charity in 2003. But his financial brain is as sharp as his old instinct for scoring goals.

He advocates performance-related pay for players, to avoid the disasters which have befallen clubs like Portsmouth and Leeds, paying vast salaries to players, despite getting demoted (and suffering from catastrophic declines in income). He is also vehemently opposed to pubs showing football games on TV illegally. He believes that many thousands of Sunderland fans watch these illegal games in pubs instead of coming to the ground, meaning that the Stadium of Light is rarely sold out and its income suffers as a result.

Just as football fans adore players who try their hearts out for a club, so they love and admire owners who clearly have an emotional attachment to their team.  Besides his energetic promotion of Sunderland and his guardianship of its finances, Mr. Quinn still lives out the joys and agonies of the matches: “I feel every bit of pain that I ever did as a player,” he says.

Deep pockets

As treasurer of the All-Party Parliamentary Football Club and a prominent commentator on finance issues, Member of Parliament Clive Betts argues that it is always helpful to have former players in the boardroom, to help the owners relate to the needs of current players, backroom staff and fans, who may otherwise feel that they are being ignored in favor of making a profit.

Mr. Betts has long been concerned that, with the arrival of extremely wealthy owners, football clubs are becoming detached from their local roots and the communities that turn out to watch them and whose sense of purpose and pride is so often intertwined with their football teams. In order to be a football club owner: “You have to be pretty stupid and have very deep pockets. For some, it is really no more than a hobby, for people who have money to burn. Even in the lower leagues, people can easily spend millions. Very few clubs make money.”

He admires both Mr. Quinn and Mr. Whelan for their understanding of the importance of local issues, of how a club’s fortunes often ride on the devotion and enthusiasm of their fans. If owners lose sight of this factor, a club can lose its way.

A goal keeper in charge

Eddie Davies, owner of Bolton Wanderers, grew up next door to the club and played in goal for the Bolton Boys Federation team.  Having built up the Strix Group, a company making parts for kettles which he sold in 2005 for £300 million, he has devoted his money and time to the club.

Mr. Davies, 64, gradually increased his interest in Bolton from 1999, when he became a non-executive director, until he assumed full control in 2003 and has overseen a period of 10 consecutive years in the Premier League.  Enjoying the business of football club ownership, and bringing pleasure to others, has been reward in itself.  Although he nevertheless admits: “Wouldn’t it be great if you made a huge profit?”  That outcome seems unlikely, for the reasons given by Clive Betts MP, and because Bolton Wanderers has tried and failed to persuade banks to lend it money.  “We don’t have any bank debt any more,” said a senior figure at the club.  “Mr. Davies is effectively our banker and he’s supporting the club.”

Tough negotiator

West Bromwich Albion’s owner Jeremy Peace, by contrast, is forthright in his businesslike approach to football club ownership. He believes that a club has to aim for self sufficiency rather than constantly turning to wealth benefactors for hand-outs. He refuses to spend more on new players than there is in the bank, meaning that West Brom have had to coax the best out of inconsistent players such as Peter Odemwingie, while relying on the proceeds from others such as Diomansy Kamara and Jason Koumas, who have been sold at a profit.

Mr Peace, 54, was educated at Shrewsbury – an elite private school in England – and has worked as an accountant and private equity investor at companies including Morland Securities and Galahad Capital.  Known as one of the toughest negotiators in the business, he took control over the club in 2002 following a bitter boardroom battle with former chairman Paul Thompson, he has fought with successive managers over transfer funds and signing policies and currently has a ‘manager’ – Roberto Di Matteo, whose official title is ‘head coach’ – who appears comfortable with the owner’s approach.

“West Brom is an investment for him and he’s here for the money,” says local lawyer David Billings, who led a rebel group of club shareholders opposed to Mr. Peace’s plans to change the club’s share structure.  “Peace treats West Brom like a private investment company and I don’t think he has lost a battle since going into the club.”

Big profits

At Stoke City, chairman Peter Coates, 73, was the youngest of 14 children born into poverty (like Wigan chairman Dave Whelan) and has taken another unfancied club into the Premiership. But with his Bet365 online bookmaker (co-owned with his children), Mr. Coates probably has the best financial prospects of all the owners mentioned in this feature. The company has annual revenues of an estimated £600 million, 1,100 employees (100 in Gibraltar) and profits of more than £100 million a year.

By contrast, Stoke City continues to lose money, even though it brings great pleasure to Mr. Coates and the people of Stoke.  “I think local community is very important,” he says.  “I’m a Stoke boy. I am pleased to play a part.”

Mr. Coates’s original fortune was made in the catering industry with Stadia Catering, founded in 1968 to supply food to Football Clubs across England.  Renamed Lindley Catering, he sold the company for £17 million in 2001.

So for Coates, the story has not been so much boot room to boardroom, but pie man to chairman.

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Providing blog content

By Rebekah Law | Published: July 27, 2011

Updating web content on a regular basis can be the cornerstone of a website’s success.  At Words on the Web we have extensive experience in writing blog posts and articles to keep corporate websites fresh and at the top of search engine ratings.

We have provided high quality and well-informed blog posts for various property companies, boosting their online profile and engaging their readers.  Recently we have worked with property website, The Advisory, NAI, an international commercial property agency, headquartered in New Jersey, with offices in around 30 countries and Devono, a London-based commercial property company.

The peaks and troughs of the property market are perfect material for regular blog updates and can demonstrate that your business is relevant and has its ‘finger on the pulse’ of the market.

Please see our Blog content tab for examples of our blog writing.

Please see the Client and Global tabs for examples of our work or visit the Contact Us page for further information.

 

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The media and the revolutions

By Rebekah Law | Published: July 27, 2011

Friday 11th March, The Day of Rage, passed without the expected furore.  The Saudi Arabian protest day had a number of “fans” on Facebook (the BBC put the count at 12,000) and new media was at the heart of the campaign to rid the Kingdom of corruption.

The other ongoing revolutions which have swept across the Middle East have been fuelled by the media, reporters have been crucial in describing the scenes and informing others of the events, whilst social media has provided the forum to sound the rallying cry again and again.  Across the Middle East Al Jazeera has come into its own.  Reuters reports that the channels ratings have soared as those in the West, particularly in the United States, believe that the channel is providing the most up-to-the-minute, on-the-spot coverage.  Reporters for the channel have faced harassment, abuse, violence and the destruction of their equipment but they continue to broadcast with a firm belief in the magnitude of this news story.

Facebook and Twitter have allowed information to seep out despite attempts to create a media blackout.  Official communication channels, particularly those within government control can be shut down or tightly controlled to prevent the spread of protest information.  Facebook, Twitter YouTube and Flickr are much harder to bring within a regime’s control and the young protestors have used this to their advantage.  Videos and pictures have been used as catalysts to spark new waves of revolt.  Pictures of violence against protestors have increased anger against the regime whilst videos prove the scale of the revolt and encourage others to join the ranks.  The information disseminated through these channels has given new evidence of the events to counter-balanced official governmental reports.

In Libya footage has been posted online showing violent clashes between protestors and security forces, whilst Twitter has allowed a running-commentary on events.  Whilst the internet is down in many regions the protestors are in phone contact with supporters across the world who are more than willing to relay information on Twitter.  Meanwhile those with access to the internet have posted information about when and where a protest is going to occur.  The “group” or “event” a favourite social tool to publicise a party has become a valuable weapon in the fight against oppressive regimes.

 

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Not content with existing site, AOL purchase Huffington Post

By Rebekah Law | Published: July 27, 2011

The recent sale of the Huffington Post indicates that the value of online content has increased exponentially over the last few years.  Arianna Huffington started the website in the United States, on a “shoe-string” budget with a $1 million investment in 2005.  According to the New York Times, the news website quickly became one of the most visited news forum in the country.  The popularity of the Huffington Post attracted the attention of AOL who offered to buy the company for $315 million, $300 million in cash and the remainder in stock.

Whilst the Huffington Post has been experiencing a significant rise in hits AOL news has been in decline.  The company hopes that this purchase will add to its potential as a news content provider and improve website ratings.  The value of the content is evident, not only in the large sum of money involved in the website purchase but also in the risk AOL has taken.  Proud of its apolitical status AOL has risked its reputation and (albeit dwindling) success by bringing Arianna Huffington on board.  Huffington, known for her satirical and left of the political field commentary, has been made editor in chief of Huffington Post Media Group.  This will allow her to control and direct news content for AOL and is likely to be a marked departure from the website’s traditional style.

 

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HS2 Briefing Paper – David Nicholson

By David Nicholson | Published: July 26, 2011

Introduction

The Department for Transport proposes to build a high speed rail link from London to the Birmingham, the first stage of a new rail system that should eventually link to Manchester, Leeds and on to Scotland.

The project – known as HS2 – was put out for consultation from 28 February until 29 July 2011.  During this period, the proposals have been scrutinised by economists, environmentalists, residents in relevant cities and towns along the route, transport and taxpayer associations among others.

The broad consensus

There is a remarkable degree of consensus among the majority of parties consulted that the HS2 plans are deeply flawed and that they should not go ahead in their present form.

In this paper, we will outline the main objections to HS2 along with the evidence that has been collected to support these objections.  We will also present alternative proposals to HS2, in order to address the underlying issues which the project seeks to remedy.

The stated need

The Department for Transport argues that the existing West Coast Main Line will reach full capacity by 2025.  It proposes to build HS2 in order to provide sufficient capacity for the anticipated growth of passenger numbers beyond this date.

The Coalition Government argues that HS2 will help to address the perceived ‘north-south divide’, in which the north of England suffers economic hardship while the southeast of England enjoys greater prosperity.

The Government believes that HS2 will in addition provide a series of social and economic benefits, through shorter journey times, leading to higher productivity and a reduction of pressure on other rail, air and road routes.

The economic argument

HS2 has released projected figures to show that the economic benefits from shorter journey times to Birmingham will add up to more than £16 billion between the projected launch of the line in 2026 and 2092.  For the extended ‘Y’ line up to Manchester and Leeds, this will be £37 billion.

Yet the majority of these benefits come from time savings for business travellers, whose time is valued at £70,000 per year (current value), rising to £225,000 per year by 2085.  This level of salary growth is questionable.  But even if it were true, it means that the billions proposed for the construction of HS2 will serve as a subsidy to already wealthy people.  Far from the solution to the ‘north-south divide’ that the Government claims.

Regarding productivity gains, many businesspeople work on their laptops during train journeys.  Shorter journeys no longer mean increased productivity, because time is not wasted.

In order to recoup its investment in HS2 – estimated at £53.9 billion at current prices for the entire Y system – passenger fares will need to be higher than the current fares for West Coast Main Line.  Today, businesses are scaling back their premium fare spending and investing instead in teleconferencing and home working.

Projections for future working patterns place more emphasis the use of IT and home working and less on presenteeism and expensive, time consuming business travel for unsure rewards.

At least £750 million has been earmarked for HS2 in the life of this parliament alone, with many billions to follow before a single train has touched the tracks.  All of this investment is based on unverifiable future projections, at a time when the national, European and global economy is in a period of crisis and flux.

The ‘overcrowding’ argument

HS2 has projected that for every two passengers currently travelling on the West Coast Main Line, there will be five making the same journey in 2026.  This increase in numbers is unprecedented and almost certainly false: overcrowding forces passengers to adopt alternative travel arrangements.

Rail travel has increased in popularity over the past decade as the price of fuel (specifically petrol) has risen sharply.  There is no guarantee that this upwards curve will continue, either because fuel becomes cheaper or because cheaper alternatives such as electric powered vehicles become widespread.  Rail passenger numbers would then fall, obviating the need for increased capacity.

Road travel, especially up the M1 and M6, is overcrowded, but HS2 will do very little to change this – the government’s own figures suggest a reduction in M1 traffic of 3 per cent.

There are no current flights between Birmingham and London, so there would be no reduction in air travel along this route, while air passengers from Manchester, Leeds or (far into the future) Scotland are unlikely to change their choices because the train is marginally quicker than before.

When the plans for HS2 were originally announced, 2033 was given as the date when demand would support the viability of the new line.  This has now been shifted back to 2043 – an entire decade later – and analysis shows that the vast majority (88 per cent) of benefits from the project do not apply until the after 2043.

By any measure, 32 years is a very long time to wait for the major benefits to emerge, from any scheme.  Especially one where the benefits themselves are so open to question.

Rail experts fear that although the existing network will experience a reduction in overcrowding as some passengers migrate onto HS2, it will be deprived of investment.  As much as £5.8 billion per year could be lost to the conventional network to pay for HS2.  There could then be a wholesale network reduction programme, along the lines of the Beeching reforms of the 1960s, where thousands of miles of railway lines closed.

As we will argue later in this paper, improvements to the existing rail network would be a far cheaper and more effective solution to the problems of overcrowding, saving taxpayers’ money in the short and medium term and passengers’ money in the longer term.

The environmental argument

While environmentalists have long preferred rail travel to road, since it is less energy intensive, high speed rail has fewer advantages.  Just as driving a car at high speed uses proportionately more petrol, high speed trains use more energy than slower ones.

The Department of Transport’s own 2007 study into the subject, Estimated Carbon Impact of a New North South Line concluded that there were no carbon benefits in a high speed line from London to Manchester.  In 2010, the High Speed Rail Command paper estimated that there could be an increase of 440,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year from HS2.

A further government study, Delivering a Sustainable Railway, calculated that a high speed rail journey from London to Edinburgh would result in carbon emissions of 14kg per passenger, against 7kg per passenger at conventional speeds.

Many environmental organisations have added their objections to HS2, including The Wildlife Trust, Friends of the Earth, The Green Party, the Campaign for the Preservation of Rural England and the National Trust.

Engineering firm Arup, which carried out the engineering work to identify routes for HS2, opposes the chosen route because, the company argues, its construction costs are too high, it does not follow existing motorway routes and has destructive impact on the countryside.

Very many local groups along the proposed route oppose the plans for environmental reasons, arguing that it cuts through a designated area of outstanding natural beauty and through areas of green belt.

These groups include 14 local authorities which line the route and have gathered significant levels of support, including eminent local residents who have been generous funders of the Conservative Party, but now threaten to withdraw their financial support.  The Government’s own Welsh Secretary, Cheryl Gillan, is fiercely opposed to the plans and has said she will vote against them.

The Taxpayers Alliance, representing millions of British people, is adamant that HS2 is a wasteful and irrelevant scheme, calling it a ‘White Elephant’.

The logistical argument

The supporters of HS2 point to similar high speed rail systems in mainland Europe and argue that we need to press ahead in order to ‘compete’ with our continental neighbours.  But the situation in the UK is very different.  Unlike France, our cities are far closer together and are already linked by an efficient rail network.  France is double the area of the UK.

In France, the government wrote off the cost of high speed rail construction, allowing the operators to charge low fares.  The UK Government shows no signs of doing this, as can be seen from HS1 (the Channel Tunnel link), which charges high fares and is under-used as a result.

The proposed HS2 route does not integrate with existing rail routes, making it logistically inefficient: passengers from many areas of the UK will have to make inconvenient and lengthy journeys to join the route, making a nonsense of its shorter journey times between cities.

Equally, HS2’s route deliberately avoids population centres such as Milton Keynes and Luton, in order to shave further minutes off the London-Birmingham time, when serving these cities could have major benefits and improve profitability.

Following existing motorway routes, such as the M40, would minimise disruption to the environment, make it easier to integrate the route with other rail systems and be cheaper to construct.

HS2 does not address the north-south divide, according to experts who have studied the scheme’s logistics: “It simply makes it easier to ferry people to London,” says Dr John Savin.

The Grand Projet argument

Some proponents of the scheme argue that developed countries need Grand Projets like the Channel Tunnel or the Olympic Games to provide employment, to retain skills and to stimulate the economy.  This theme has recurred in 20th and 21st century history from Hitler’s Public Works schemes to the present day.

Yet as the transport writer Christian Wolmar points out, such schemes still need to have a strong raison d’etre: “I don’t think it will change the nature of things; the Channel Tunnel was clearly useful.”  He feels strongly that incremental improvements to the UK’s existing rail system would be far more beneficial and less expensive.

Some alternatives

Many rail transport experts and other interested parties would prefer to see increased investment in the existing rail network, rather than the unproven, hugely expensive gamble of HS2.

They would like to see:

•          An expansion to Euston station, to help it cater for increased demand.  This could be achieved within a few years, rather than the decades needed for HS2

•          High speed trains and tracks incorporated into existing lines

•          Longer, modernised, more frequent trains that can accommodate more passengers

•          An investment in local rail services in the north of England, which would do more to address the north-south divide than HS2 would accomplish

•          Specific improvements to areas of the UK where investment is needed, such as Northampton commuter traffic, the bottleneck in traffic north of Nottingham, or the London to Brighton line

•          Light rail construction programmes to bring more commuters into cities

•          Investment to electrify the UK’s car fleet to reduce carbon emissions and make car travel affordable once more

 

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Freelance journalists

By Rebekah Law | Published: March 28, 2011

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Words on the Web has built up a reputation for high quality copy writing and web content over the last ten years.  Freelance journalists from Words on the Web have provided first-rate content for many leading corporations.  We are very adaptable with a broad range of expertise, having worked with international companies from Hertz to Nokia, BT to Ernst and Young as well as fledgling companies and individuals.

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