The start of the year was not a good time for online media outlets - but their woes could herald worse news for those who looked to emulate them. In January and February, Buzzfeed and Vice both announced staff layoffs across their digital media teams. This, in itself, would come as no surprise to members of the media and journalism society. Redundancies are a way of life, indeed it was one of the things which my journalism tutor predicted would be a certainty for all of us -

Game of Thrones was on last night. It was the penultimate episode ever. Before I go on, obviously, spoilers. Don't come at me for writing about something which happened on TV last night, you've been warned and I've made my thoughts on spoilers very clear already. So, this morning I woke up having not seen Game of Thrones for this week yet. I was out last night and had set aside time this morning to watch it. I tiptoed onto Twitter, fully prepared to have to dodge a flurry of

The Met Gala 2019 took place last night. The "Oscars of the fashion industry" took its theme from the current Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition Camp: Notes on Fashion. Historically, the theme for the evening has caused problems for guests - in 2014, event chair and Vogue editor Anna Wintour declared Benedict Cumberbatch as the only person who got that year's white tie theme absolutely right. For this year's iteration and its Camp theme, there was something of a style guid

This column originally appeared in DFNI* Late last year, United States Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell described the production of industrial hemp as a “bright spot” for America’s embattled tobacco farmers. It was a marked shift for the man who, in 2014, told a radio station that legalising marijuana would be “giving up”. But the tides are changing in favour of cannabis and hemp. In America, as McConnell acknowledged, that change is a lifeline for farmers struggling wi

This column was originally published in DFNI* Are the days of giant boxes of cigars fading? It is starting to look that way, if the latest murmurings from the industry – and the latest releases – are anything to go by. Before you panic, the products themselves are not getting smaller; cigars are still being released in the various shapes and forms we all know and love. But, as with so many things in the travel retail market, the presentation is changing. Large wooden boxes of

This column was originally published in DFNI* Can you imagine flying to a country just to buy a product in duty free? That is the latest development in the cigar market and it could herald a coming change in the way tobacco companies compensate for the barrage of challenges they face on a seemingly weekly basis. From health concerns to increasing legislation, selling tobacco has never been harder and brands are understandably looking for new ways to boost sales. At November’s

This column was originally published in DFNI* It seems almost lazy to write about the importance of Chinese shoppers for any section of the duty free industry these days. You can hardly move for hearing about how Asia Pacific is driving growth, or the Chinese shoppers are the key to success in the current market. But at a time when the tobacco industry is facing constant challenges, any glimpse of a potential money-maker cannot be missed out. Endless pages have been written a

I'm currently sat in Nice Cote d'Azur Airport having just completed my second Cannes show. The Cannes event is my industry's biggest of the year and it generally leaves a few people rather broken. From the moment the opening cocktail party starts on Sunday, until the show closes on Friday afternoon, it is a rollercoaster of meetings, exhibitions, presentations, cocktail parties and some very late nights. In general you expect to spend about 19 hours of the day awake and most

Cut to city centre street. A battered DeLorean explodes into view in a flash of smoke and flame, it swerves across the road and comes screeching to a halt next to a row of bins. A dazed Marty McFly stagers out of the car and looks about him. Marty: Ok, so, 2018. Doc must be about here somewhere. He looks around and his eyes come to rest on a cinema across the road. Marty: So what films did 2018 come up with? A ninth Star Wars movie, another Predator remake, the tenth superher

Social media is a strange beast. It has been a second nature part of my life for quite a few years, but it still manages to throw up a few surprises. I spend a large amount of my time – both personal and professional – on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. For the first two of those I am fairly confident with what will work and what won’t. But Twitter is a strange beast and that is what I really love about it. Twitter is, to those who live and work on social media, a bit like h

I still remember the feeling; that sinking in the pit of my stomach. My heart was in my mouth and I hardly dared take a breath as the results were announced. I had taken my chance and had my say, but I knew thousands of others around the country had done the same and now the outcome of this decision was in our hands. Had we got it right? What was “right”? Had we thought it through properly? This decision would have consequences and repercussions. In my front room there was ba

Southwark Playhouse is a real jewel in London’s theatrical crown. Over the last couple of years I have seen lots of brilliant shows there, from Pippin to Working. But last night I saw one of the best things I have seen, not just at Southwark but anywhere. I was a late replacement to join S at Southwark for a production of The Rink. It is written by Kander and Ebb, the team behind Chicago, and was tipped by one of S’s friends as “their best musical”. He wasn’t wrong. Musical s

I read something the other day which made me think. Like many other bloggers out there I have blogs which I have followed for ages. They are created by writers who I used as inspiration or a how-to guide when I started out and whose work I still follow and try to learn from. A big one of these for me has been The Londoner. Written by a truly brilliant blogger called Rosie, this is something of a benchmark for personal, lifestyle blogging in my eyes. Recently she wrote a post

Wedding season is upon us. I love weddings, particularly summer ones. What better chance to sit back and enjoy someone else's happiness in the company of family and friends. And maybe a drink and a dance or two. Who knows? But weddings do throw up all sorts of problems with etiquette, from dress to behaviour. First off I'm going to give you two key rules: 1) Ignore everything Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughan taught you in Wedding Crashers 2) All rules only apply about two thirds

So Avengers Infinity War is in the can. By now most of us know that the film's conclusion left quite a few of the Marvel Cinematic Universe dead or vapourised - which, for the sake of argument, I am counting as the same thing. But we know there are a raft of Marvel films still to come in Phase Four and the MCU doesn't have the best record for keeping dead people dead. As the credits rolled, the highest-profile survivors were Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Thor, Nebula, Rocket, Nat

Oh dear Australia, what have you done? Over the weekend news has seeped out that the Australian cricket team tampered with the ball in their latest test match with South Africa. Captain Steve Smith has been banned for one match and fined his entire match fee after admitting the team's "leadership group" came up with a plan for Cameron Bancroft to tamper with the ball using a piece of sticky tape with grit on it. The sporting world - from retired greats to armchair experts - h

The age of vermouth is here. Now it is entirely possible that you have had one of two reactions to that statement: 1. Isn't that the stuff my Grandma drinks? 2. Ver-what now? But have no fear, for you are not alone. A short while ago I was having dinner in Helsinki when my dining companion suggested an aperitif. He was a local so I let him choose and followed his lead. He plumped for a vermouth. Seeing my raised eyebrows he proclaimed, very confidently, that vermouth is set t

"Holy sh*t, it's snowing." I imagine that statement was uttered up and down the country this morning. Possibly slightly more in the South, where we are rather more shocked by the appearance of the trappings of winter. You see it is one of the great British traditions: we are always surprised by the snow. The fact we live in a fairly cold, damp country in the northern hemisphere does not seem to dampen our shock. Nor does the fact that snow has become annually commonplace stop