MENU To the Point with Portland The big questions in media, politics, business and PR, apprehended by leading experts and thinkers in these fields. Sign up to receive To the Point with Portland directly to your inbox Sign up SUBMIT 1 NOVEMBER 2021 30:26 Can COP26 “keep 1.5 alive” and can business meaningfully address climate change? Summits like COP26 have a reputation for amounting to more talk than action, but Gillian Tett’s background in cultural anthropology means she nevertheless sees value in these rituals. The Financial Times' US Editor-at-Large sits down with Portland Partner Mary Pollard to discuss what to expect from the meeting of world leaders and how impactful promises made around climate change will prove to be. The current energy crisis leading to more fossil fuel usage is discussed, along with the lessons for ESG arising from Covid vaccine hesitancy, the role of business vs. governments in tackling the climate crisis, and the need to listen to those with wildly differing viewpoints. Listen on: 14 OCTOBER 2021 36:33 How can business and government work together more effectively? There has long been a feeling that government doesn’t understand the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of business, and business doesn’t understand the processes and realities of government. So how can the two better understand one another? Portland partner Anita Boateng talks this over with Gavin Barwell, a Member of the House of Lords and former Chief of Staff to Theresa May. Listen on: 21 SEPTEMBER 2021 44:50 Politics outside the Westminster bubble After serving on the front bench in the House of Commons, Andy Burnham took a bold career pivot and became the Mayor of Greater Manchester. In the first episode of our second series, he talks to Portland advisor David Davies about the strategic move away from Westminster, effecting change away from London, devolution, and the relationship between mayors and prime ministers. Listen on: 12 JULY 2021 41:07 Communications in flux The comms landscape was undergoing huge changes before the world had even heard of Covid-19, and an array of new dynamics, mediums and incentives now face brands looking to get their stories out into the world. In the final episode of series one, Richard Suchet, Portland Director, sits down with Mark Flanagan, Portland Chief Executive, to consider the new epoch of PR we have entered, and discuss intergenerational values, the alchemy of combining data and insight, and ESG as more than a set of metrics. Listen on: 28 JUNE 2021 47:22 Sport under scrutiny With sports players amassing vast social followings and glossy documentaries attracting millions of viewers on the big streaming services, some sportsmen and women find themselves questioning the utility of talking to the media in 2021. Matt Dickinson, Chief Sports Writer at The Times, has seen first-hand how the relationship between the sports media and the people it covers has changed over the past 20 years. In this episode, he discusses the new dynamic with Ben Wright, a Director in Portland's Sport unit, and makes the argument that there will always be a role for sports journalists, who he sees as providing a level of insight and honest interrogation of facts that platforms like Instagram simply can't. Listen on: 14 JUNE 2021 33:40 PRWeek Editor, Danny Rogers, on cause-related campaigning Social media may have offered brands a whole new way to reach audiences, but it is a high-stakes channel where putting a foot wrong can cause serious damage. In this episode, Portland Creative Director, Leila Mountford, discusses corporate character and cause-related campaigning with Danny Rogers, Editor-in-Chief of PRWeek UK & EMEA and the author of Campaigns that Shook the World, which tracked the evolution of PR and looked at some of the most influential creative campaigns of the last 30 years. Listen on: 1 JUNE 2021 44:17 Denise Lewis on the business of athletics A huge financial gulf exists between football and athletics, with athletes often struggling to secure the resources required to compete at the highest levels, and coaching not being as obvious and viable a retirement plan as it can be for footballers. In this episode of TTPWP, Olympic gold medal winner, Denise Lewis discusses the state of modern athletics, issues of representation and what 'zero tolerance' really means when it comes to performance-enhancing drugs in sport, with Portland consultant and former FA executive director, David Davies. Listen on: 17 MAY 2021 33:13 When does 'purpose' become woke-washing? 'The risk isn't in telling the truth, the risk is in not knowing where the truth lies.' Or so contends David Gallagher, Omnicom's President of Growth and Development, who alongside John O'Brien MBE, EMEA Managing Partner at One Hundred, has written a new book about what it means to be a purpose-led business or leader post-pandemic. Here, the co-authors make the case to Mary Pollard, Portland Partner, that 'purpose' has superseded corporate social responsibility (CSR) and discuss the perils of 'woke-washing'. Listen on: 4 MAY 2021 37:25 Gary Lineker on the business of football Gary Lineker has had not one but two hugely successful careers, first as a footballer who scored 48 goals for England, and now as the most recognisable face in football television coverage. In this episode he speaks with David Davies, Portland Adviser, broadcaster and former executive director of the Football Association. The pair discuss how football is governed, the importance of the sport to UK towns and cities, protecting smaller clubs from the financial might of bigger ones, and whether football needs an independent regulator. Listen on: 19 APRIL 2021 34:19 Can broadcast news be both opinionated and impartial? The resurgence of LBC, the superstar power of newspaper columnists and commentators, the rise of political influencers on Twitter – opinion is a more valuable commodity than news, it seems. As a result, broadcasters (regulated by Ofcom) are being forced to test the boundaries of 'due impartiality' in order to hold on to their audiences. GB News and News UK TV are on the cusp of launching in the UK and they're promising new perspectives and attitudes. Many assume they will be right-leaning. But is it possible to be right wing and impartial? Where does Ofcom stand on news with views? What is due impartiality? And is it something worth fighting for? Roger Mosey, the former Editorial Director of the BBC and Editor of the Today programme (and now Master at the University of Cambridge's Selwyn College) debates these questions with Richard Suchet, Director at Portland Communications and a former News Correspondent for Sky News and LBC. Listen on: 7 APRIL 2021 35:34 Redesigning work for the future "WFH" – businesses have had to swiftly embrace it over the past year, but many still have a long way to go in terms of establishing a healthy flexible-working practice. Emma Stewart MBE joins us this episode, the Co-founder of Timewise, a flexible-working consultancy aiming to tackle the lack of quality part-time jobs. Speaking to Louise Winmill, Senior Partner at Portland, the conversation covers how and when to broach the topic of remote-working with employers, what flexibility looks like for frontline workers, 'hybrid bias', and the need to move flexible-working negotiations from the employment market to the recruitment market. Listen on: 22 MARCH 2021 25:39 Leadership after lockdown Over the past year, Atholl Duncan has been gathering first-hand accounts of 100 days in lockdown from some of the world's leading Chief Executives. Here we quiz the 'Leaders in Lockdown' author – who is also an executive coach and Chairman of Black Isle Group – for the wisdom he extracted from some of the world’s most thoughtful business leaders, along with their predictions for how the working world will change because of COVID-19. Playing host this episode is Portland's UK Chair, George Pascoe-Watson. Listen on: 8 MARCH 2021 50:24 Female identity in the workplace Great strides have been made in workplace equality for women in recent years, but has this led to a period of stagnation? On International Women's Day, Raghd Hamid, Director at Portland, is joined by Jo Coburn, BBC Politics Live presenter, and Salma Shah, former Special Advisor to the Home Secretary, to discuss the dual role of women at home and at work, the expectation of women to be 'nice', falling into the trap of starting emails and meetings on an apologetic/unconfident tone and the gender pay gap. Listen on: 22 FEBRUARY 2021 30:20 Pinky Lilani CBE DL on kindness in leadership Kindness is the difference between a successful leader and a significant one; this is what author, motivational speaker and women's advocate Pinky Lilani CBE DL believes. Founder and chair of several awards recognising excellence in leadership and celebrating women in business, Lilani in this episode speaks to host and Director at Portland, Claire Hardy, about dispelling the idea that kindness is synonymous with weakness, how the best leaders have an agenda bigger than themselves, and effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on women in the (increasingly remote) workplace. Listen on: 8 FEBRUARY 2021 40:44 Saul Klein on why tech is not just for techies Tech jobs are some of the most lucrative in the employment market, but there's a perception that they're only for the extremely tech-literate. In this episode, Saul Klein dispels that myth. A technology investor at venture capitalist firm LocalGlobe, Klein has backed a slew of British start-up successes, including LoveFilm, Improbable, TransferWise and Kazoo. In conversation with episode host James Ashton – a Financial Journalist and Senior Adviser at Portland – Klein also discusses how the UK can stay on top of Europe's tech industry, the "New Palo Alto", and how a £50 billion valuation has become the new £100 million valuation. Listen on: 25 JANUARY 2021 47:56 Alastair Campbell and Jon Sopel on the future of US democracy In our first episode, political strategist and Portland veteran Alastair Campbell chats with journalist and broadcaster Jon Sopel. The BBC's North America Editor covered the entirety of the Trump presidency, along with the turbulent transfer of power to new US president Joe Biden. Here the pair discuss what America might look like under Biden, the weaponisation of the media, conspiracy thinking in the US vs. the UK, and the possibility of a second American civil war. Listen on: 13 JANUARY 2021 02:28 Welcome 'To the point' will answer the big questions in media, politics, business and PR, with help from leading experts and thinkers in these fields. Amid the noise of the modern world, this show from Portland Communications seeks to bring you that increasingly rare thing: clarity. Listen on: SUBSCRIBE FOR OUR LATEST INSIGHTS © Copyright Portland 2021.