Recently in media life Category

The ICIS contingent at last night's Chemical Industries Association (CIA) dinner has now recovered sufficiently to be able to string a few words together about the event...

A great time was had by all in the Great Room at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on Thursday evening at the CIA's annual dinner. The CIA had made something of a coup in attracting UK Business Secretary Lord Mandelson to speak. He was a little late and it was generally assumed that he had been involved in the horse trading which saw Baroness Ashton of Upholland (what a great title) become the EU's first High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy and Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy EU President. Mandelson had also been a potential UK candidate for the High Representative post.

He gave a good speech vowing support for the industry in innovation and skills while warning of the "huge challenge of decarbonising industrial chemistry." (Says chemical engineer Simon: "Just how we're going to do that in an industry based on organic chemistry is beyond me, but where there's a will and unlimited science budget there could be a way.")

Numbers were down, but that had to be expected given the dire year we've had. What was noticeable was that a lot of diners stayed in the Great Room to chat after the meal rather than dash off to company hospitality suites (of which there were pitifully few), and it only thinned out at close to 1.00 am.

The CIA used its most important gathering of the year to launch a new "blueprint" for UK chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing. The £60 billion industry helps support 600,000 jobs and makes a big positive contribution to the UK balance of trade and, the CIA feels, deserves wider recognition.

(Event coverage by Nigel Davis, Will Beacham, Simon Robinson, Franco Capaldo.)

Click here for ICIS news articles:

UK chemicals face total re-invention

UK chemical industry at risk - CIA

I've been enjoying the third book of Stieg Larssen's Millenium trilogy. My friend Philippa at Tecnon recommended the first one to me because we both enjoy Henning Mankell's Wallander series, and I was in such a hurry to buy the second book in the trilogy that I ended up buying it in hardback rather than waiting for the paperback to come out in the UK in July 2009. It's a perfect book to read on trains or flights, but it's crazy to go on a shorthaul trip with a book that weighs as much as the rest of your luggage put together.

The third book went on sale on 1 October 2009. It was in every bookshop window in its shiny dark green cover, but only in hardback until the paperback comes out in the UK next year. The list price was a staggering £18.99, although Amazon was offering it for £8 plus postage, and at 600 pages the hardback was prohibitively heavy for carry-on luggage.

I resisted, because I hate to reward this kind of manipulative marketing, but then on the way to Amsterdam for the ICIS Training Seminar in October, I weakened and went in to the WH Smiths bookshop in Heathrow's Terminal 4 to look for it.

As if the whole hardback/paperback scam wasn't annoying enough, the book was sold out and not even coming in to the WH Smith warehouse system, the assistant told me.

I took the Amsterdam flight with just a newspaper for company, but on the way back, on a table outside the Schipol florist next to racks of bulbs, the book was on sale and in paperback. It was still a weighty tome, and not exactly a bargain in euros, but it was one small short-lived consumerist triumph ...

Because last week, while I was in a discount bookshop picking up the new Terry Pratchett to give as a present, I saw that all three Millenium books were packaged together with a ribbon and a large bar of Galaxy chocolate for £21 the lot.

Along with all the other early adopters, I'd been taken to the cleaners, and the ribbon and the chocolate were just the final insult.

Picture his despair when Joe Chang, a die-hard New York Mets fan - who did NOT want to see the New York Yankees win the World Series - got to his desk the morning following their triumph to find it covered in Yankees logos.

His mournful cry of "Noooo!!!" chilled the bones of all who were working in the Park Avenue South NYC offices of ICIS Chemical Business.

The whole EPCA Berlin experience is captured for posterity in this video clip, shot in the lobby of the Berlin Intercontinental and the ICIS suite, and starring familiar faces from the world of petrochemicals as they rush about their business over three days in October 2009. Thanks to Stephen Burns of ICIS Houston for encapsulating the drama and passion of the event in this 2.19 minute video, with a jolly German oompah band backing track.

Glycols are back in the news and not in a good way. I read at the weekend about cats being poisoned when they drink up glycol-based antifreeze in the streets. Keen chemical reporters who set up Google alerts on glycols find that they are regularly sent news items about accidental deaths and even murders. Last year the Blog was shown news of two murder cases involving ethylene glycol (MEG).

On the same theme, a colleague who was following the nylon market, found that she was constantly being alerted to news about people hanging themselves with nylon cord. And another reporter in the ICIS London office has had to stop receiving alerts after coming across some very unpleasant news articles on the use of Butanediol (BDO) as a date rape drug.

Photographer Vincent Bousserez has made a series of exquisite pictures of tiny plastic folk in giant landscapes. The collection has achieved a mass following, and his photographs sell for up to £1,800, according to an article in today's Metro.

Anyone with Asian connections will know all about the cult of pre-wedding photos in exotic and luxurious locations, but one couple has chosen to make theirs unique by having them taken at AirAsia's low-cost terminal in Kuala Lumpur.  

The Blog is full of admiration at this scoop by fellow blogger Barbara Cockburn on Flight, since we both started our blogging careers at the Reed Charity Blogathon two years ago.

The photos remind me that when ICIS and Flight shared a Singapore office in Millenia Tower, romantic couples in wedding dress would come every day to be photographed at the foot of the tower, clearly an auspicious symbol in the Singapore landscape.

(photo: Dennis Yap/Flight)

The Financial Times has thoughtfully emailed the Blog an introduction to the new website for its "How to Spend It" weekend supplement. Full of gorgeous things, it comes just in time for those chemicals executives who spent the weekend sitting around with furrowed brows, wondering just how they were going to spend the worryingly large sums accumulating in their bank accounts.

Fortunately, howtospendit.com "is updated daily with sumptuous images and insightful writing from the magazine, as well as exclusive content and bespoke videos."

Andy Brice from ICB has a few words to say on his newest campaign and blog ...

ICIS Chemical Business is almost a month in to its year-long Education and Recruitment Campaign, and it's already garnered widespread support from many leading trade associations and chemical producers.

It's no secret that the industry is facing a severe labour crisis and there's an urgent need to attract new recruits.

There's a wealth of opportunities for those wishing to pursue a career in chemicals but are students and graduates aware of them? What is your company doing to swell your ranks and how are you reaching out to bright, young talent?

If you fancy sharing news, views or concerns, why not join our online web forum, ICIS connect. http://www.icis.com/icisconnect/groups/recruitment-campaign/default.aspx. There you can take part in discussions, upload videos and documents, and help to address this key issue.

ICIS Chemical Business will be running a series of articles over the coming months - (all ideas and contributions are welcome - email andy.brice@icis.com) and a blog has been launched to highlight the industry's efforts. http://www.icis.com/blogs/recruitment-campaign/

The labour shortage isn't going to go away, so take a moment to share your views. The chemical industry needs YOU!

It's good to see that Lanxess is so delighted at winning the ICIS Company of the Year Award. Most of the Lanxess home page is set aside to celebrate the award, and the press release was translated into several languages. Apparently the employees are thrilled and their customers are impressed too.

"So much effort goes into the Top 100 - which has been a roaring success this year - and the Company of the Year Award and it's hugely encouraging to see the winning company taking the award so seriously. Great brand building for both of us. Lanxess is a worthy winner," says Nigel Davis, editor of Chemical Insight in his praise of Lara Mcnamee and the ICB team who put the list together.