In this episode, James Kirkup and Jenny Scott look at how organisations talk about gender and sex in their communications, and where that talk goes wrong. They discuss recent election campaign mistakes, media habits, and corporate messaging, and set out what authentic, evidence-based engagement looks like in practice.

James and Jenny use the Makerfield by-election as a case study, breaking down voting patterns by gender and what they reveal about how political and corporate messaging lands differently with men and women.

From there, the conversation moves to platforms and media habits. Men and women consume media differently, and that has direct consequences for where organisations should be spending their communications budget and how they should be writing for each channel.

The hosts warn against the "pink it and shrink it" approach to marketing: superficial gestures, like changing a product's colour or adding generic language about empowerment, tend to reinforce the stereotypes they claim to challenge. They argue for engaging women based on genuine insight rather than tokenism, and extend that argument to representation more broadly, covering how panels, media appearances, and corporate leadership benefit from a real range of voices rather than a single token presence.

The discussion then turns to structural issues, including the pension gap and unequal wealth inheritance, and how organisations can address these through clear, evidence-based messaging rather than vague statements of intent. This leads into a broader point about virtue signaling: James and Jenny argue that public commitments to gender equality only hold up if an organisation's internal practices match them, and that the gap between the two is where most reputational damage happens. They also tackle the question of whether a brand needs a "female face" to reach female audiences, concluding that substance matters more than representation.

The episode closes with practical guidance: how to frame campaigns without patronising the audience, how to watch tone and word choice, and how to campaign on gender issues without crossing into exploitation. They end on the point that runs through the whole episode: communication on gender works best when it starts from data and genuine engagement rather than assumption.

Resources & Links

• Equality Act
• Gender and Media Consumption Data
• Pensions Gap Research
• Elizabeth Stokoe's Work on Communication and Gender
• Dove Campaign on Real Women
• Apella Advisors website

This podcast is hosted by James Kirkup and Jenny Scott. James has over 20 years in high-profile Westminster roles including Political Editor of the Daily Telegraph and Director of the Social Market Foundation. Extensive experience of thought leadership and advocacy work, with a particular focus on the relationship between business, politics and public policy. Continues to contribute regularly to national media outlets as a columnist at the Times and Spectator. Jenny Scott; Former Executive Director of Communications at the Bank of England and co-lead for Bank wide strategy. Advisor to the Governor, sat on the Bank's executive committee and risk committee. Formerly economics and politics correspondent for the BBC and presenter of the Daily Politics. Trustee of Pro Bono Economics.

We'd love to know what you think. Email us at [email protected] and please consider leaving us a review.

This episode was produced by The Podcast Coach.

AI is your newest colleague but is it your biggest communications risk?

In this episode of Little Questions, the podcast from Apella Advisors, hosts Jenny Scott and James Kirkup dive into the growing challenge of artificial intelligence in corporate communications. From AI-generated legal submissions that land firms in court trouble to opinion pieces that editors can spot as machine-written from a mile away, they explore why AI mistakes are quickly becoming a reputational issue for organisations.

Jenny and James unpack a recent case involving a major law firm whose attempt to explain away an AI-related error by blaming a junior employee only made matters worse. They discuss why "throwing the intern under the bus" remains one of the worst instincts in crisis communications, and why human accountability still matters even when technology is involved.

The conversation also examines the strange moment we're living through with AI. Organisations are rushing to adopt powerful new tools, yet audiences, journalists and stakeholders are becoming increasingly suspicious of content that feels too polished, too structured, or just a little bit inhuman. As AI becomes more embedded in everyday business processes, how transparent should companies be about using it?

We'd love to know what you think. Email us at [email protected] and please consider leaving us a review.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

What happens when a casual political joke in a "private" employee Facebook group explodes into a national media crisis?

In this episode of Little Questions, the podcast from Apella Advisors, hosts Jenny Scott and James Kirkup get into the messy reality of modern corporate communications: politics has spilled into absolutely everything. From the water cooler to staff WhatsApp groups, political discourse is no longer just for Westminster lobbyists. It's at the heart of daily organisational life.

Jenny and James look at how seemingly safe spaces like company Slack channels and unofficial staff groups can turn internal banter into external reputational nightmares overnight, drawing on a recent incident involving a Royal Mail postman. They examine lessons from US corporate controversies like Bud Light, and from the UK's own divided political landscape following the Scottish and EU referendums, asking what the culture war actually costs organisations caught in the crossfire.

The episode also tackles the thorny question of corporate activism. From Black Lives Matter to flying the Pride flag, how do organisations decide when to take a stand without starting to look like a political party? And does the modern push to bring your "whole self to work" actually hold up when professional responsibilities and generational divides pull in opposite directions?

Jenny and James land on the same conclusion: clear decision-making frameworks beat panic every time. Know your core company purpose, focus on creating your products or providing your service, and have a plan ready before problems arise. The ultimate rule? Live and let live, but don't take the piss.

We'd love to know what you think. Drop us an email - [email protected] and please consider leaving us a review.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

How does a national newspaper group maintain its edge? On this edition of The Little Questions podcast, we're peeling back the curtain on the quiet power of your inbox, the evolution of business news, and why the era of the silent CEO is officially over.

Guiding the conversation are the podcast's new hosts, Jenny Scott and James Kirkup, both partners at Apella Advisors. Jenny brings her experience as the former Director of Communications at the Bank of England and a BBC economics correspondent, while James offers the perspective of a former national newspaper political editor and think tank director.

They are joined by Chris Williams, Executive Editor at Telegraph Media Group. With over 15 years at the title, Chris oversees the paper's business coverage and has a front-row seat to the radical shifts rocking the industry.

The episode kicks off with the unexpected renaissance of the newsletter. Chris explains how The Telegraph's flagship newsletter reaches 2 million people daily, becoming their most potent tool for subscriber growth by returning to media's 18th-century roots: curated, intimate storytelling.

We also dive into the "growing up" of business news. Readers no longer want dry profit reports; they crave long-form narratives that connect corporate performance to the broader societal pulse. Chris offers a provocative take on AI: while it disrupts search traffic, it may ultimately save traditional media. Because AI requires verified facts to function, high-quality journalism is regaining the leverage it lost during the social media boom.

Finally, Chris issues a challenge to the C-suite: "News abhors a vacuum." He argues that risk-averse leaders can no longer stay silent on socio-political issues. If you don't tell your story, someone else will. He urges comms professionals to move past press releases and reinvest in the oldest tool in the kit: the personal relationship. He also has a spicy thought about CEOs who only communicate via LinkedIn.

We'd love to know what you think. Are you investing time in building and maintaining relationships with journalists? Do you think your C-suite execs should be speaking out publicly more or less in the current climate?

Drop us an email - [email protected] and please consider leaving us a review.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

We're proud to have provided 100 informative, humorous, and occasionally thrilling episodes of Little Questions - the podcast for all of us working with or working in Corporate Affairs, Communications and PR.

To mark our 100th episode, we have gone back into the archives and pulled moments from the conversations that still resonate. In this special episode - the last to be hosted by Matt Young and Andrew Brown - we look back at some of the best moments from our last 100 shows:

PR - is it a trade, an art, a profession - or are we just making it up? The challenge of explaining what you actually do for a living - to anyone, but especially your mother - gets a proper airing.

The CEOs who get it. Amanda Blanc (CEO @ AVIVA) "total brutal honesty, no smoke-blowing please". Henry Englehart (Founder of Admiral), who heard himself discussed in the storytelling episode, asked to come on, and delivered a very direct conversation about leadership communications.

Winners, losers in the world of Comms: Shania Twain. Matt Hancock. Elon Musk. A Jaguar rebrand with no actual plan behind it. Thank You for Smoking. Edina Monsoon. Deciding who you will and won't represent.

And the statistic that still surprises us… some of you have listened to several of the episodes more than once. What are you all doing with your lives!?

Little Questions will remain at batting crease and will be looking to make another 100 episodes. So Apella partners, Jenny Scott and James Kirkup, will shortly be putting on the pads and helmets, and ready to knock up another century of wisdom and wit.

Want to share your thoughts or ideas for future topics? you can get in touch at [email protected]. Please consider leaving us a review.

Andrew Brown; formerly Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance, has more than ten years' experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. He has considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management as well as reputation sentiment analysis and insight. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc.

Matt Young has 25 years of experience across media relations, public affairs, regulatory development, employee engagement, brand development, competition and CSR. Group corporate affairs director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

In a world that occasionally feels like it's teetering on the edge, the demand for "wise counsel" has never been higher.

In this episode of the Little Questions Podcast, we turn the spotlight on advice, the good, the bad, and the confidently delivered but completely wrong.

Because in Corporate Affairs and Communications, advice isn't just part of the job, it is the job. Whether it's guiding reputations through choppy waters, helping leadership navigate tricky moments, or answering the unexpectedly high-stakes question of what a CEO should wear to an awards dinner, we're in the business of judgement.

And most of the time, we get it right.

…most of the time.

Apella Partner Andrew Brown shares some of the best advice he's given (and received), alongside a few moments where things didn't quite go to plan. From genuinely valuable insights to the kind of counsel you politely ignore, and occasionally wish you had, we explore what separates wisdom from hindsight.

Along the way:

• Why demonstrating commercial impact is non-negotiable
• The uncomfortable truth about hiring (and being judged for it)
• When leaders need a "suck it up" moment
• Why getting ahead of an issue matters more than reacting to it
• And some truly questionable guidance that's best left in the past

We also reflect on the reality that even the most experienced advisers get it wrong sometimes and why that's not just inevitable, but useful.

After all, as one famous cinematic strategist once proved… even the most confident advice can have fatal flaws.

Apella partners Andrew Brown and Matt Young host this one and you can get in touch at [email protected]. Please consider leaving us a review.

Andrew Brown; formerly Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance, has more than ten years' experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. He has considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management as well as reputation sentiment analysis and insight. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc.

Matt Young has 25 years of experience across media relations, public affairs, regulatory development, employee engagement, brand development, competition and CSR. Group corporate affairs director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

If your organisation's culture were described anonymously tomorrow, would it match what's written in your annual report?

In this episode of The Little Questions, we explore how culture failures move from being internal concerns to full-scale reputational crises, often catching leadership by surprise, despite long-standing warning signs.

We examine what happens when aspiration outruns operational reality, how purpose language can over-promise, and why boards so often ask, "How did we not see this coming?"

Apella partners Andrew Brown and Matt Young examine why culture scandals so often become governance, trust and market stories, and ask a deceptively simple (little) question: when culture failures hit the headlines, are they HR problems or corporate affairs failures?

Andrew Brown; formerly Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance, has more than ten years' experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. He has considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management as well as reputation sentiment analysis and insight. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc.

Matt Young has 25 years of experience across media relations, public affairs, regulatory development, employee engagement, brand development, competition and CSR. Group corporate affairs director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

You can get in touch at [email protected] and please consider leaving us a review.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

Do you remember when we were told the world was heading inexorably towards globalisation? That technology would dissolve borders, that liberal stability was the model forevermore, and that everything was, more or less, under control?

Yeah. About that.

In this episode of The Little Questions, we're not here to solve geopolitics (there are people far better qualified doing that already). Instead, we take a grumpy, passionate look at how recent stories have been handled - or more accurately, mishandled - from a PR and communications perspective.

From accidental emails and executive ego clashes to corporate silence and spectacularly bad judgment calls, this episode is a masterclass in what not to do when things go wrong.

Joining Apella's Matt Young to mutter into the microphone is Andrew Brown.

What we cover in this episode

• Amazon's accidental email nightmare What happens when job losses are revealed by mistake and why leaning in might not always be the right communications strategy.
• Musk vs O'Leary: PR genius or performative chaos? Ireland's greatest-ever swearer meets Silicon Valley's biggest ego – grab the popcorn for a PR cage-fight masterclass
• Quelle horreur! Why banning children from first class on French high-speed trains tells us more about brand values than policy documents ever could.
• Trust, values and social fracture New research suggesting most Britons don't trust people with "different values" and what that means for brands trying to speak to everyone.
• The Spotify star who might not exist AI artists, manufactured authenticity, and what happens when the audience realises the emperor may have no clothes.
• South East Water's communications disaster Yes, the operational failure was bad. The CEO hiding made it worse. A reminder (again) that visibility, accountability and clarity matter.
• Holiday Inn's 'Waitrose moment' When a brand says "no" to homeless people and why it might be a sign that something more serious is amiss.

If you enjoy a slightly exasperated take on PR failures, corporate ego, and avoidable messes, this one's for you.

Andrew Brown; formerly Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance, Andrew has more than ten years' experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. He has considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management as well as reputation sentiment analysis and insight. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Matt Young has 25 years of experience across media relations, public affairs, regulatory development, employee engagement, brand development, competition and CSR. Group corporate affairs director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

You can get in touch by emailing [email protected] and please consider leaving us a review.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

505 years ago, on this day in 1521, a German monk named Martin Luther stood before the Holy Roman Emperor, representatives of the Pope, and the assembled powers of church and state at the Diet of Worms.

He was asked a simple question: Would he recant his writings?

Luther had already nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to a church door several years earlier. Those ideas had spread. They had caused discomfort. They had challenged authority. And now, at Worms, he was being asked to take them back.

His response, according to tradition, ended with the line: "Here I stand. I can do no other."

In this episode of The Little Questions, Apella partners Andrew Brown and Matt Young mark the anniversary by doing something mildly unwise: convening our own modern-day Diet of Worms. Not the intestinal complaint, but the moment where you're asked to look back at what you've written, said, and believed… and decide whether you still stand by it.

Over the years, it's been suggested - sometimes quietly, sometimes after a drink - that we might harbour a few heretical thoughts about the communications and PR industry. Rather than deny it, we're leaning in.

Some of these theses are provocative. Some are uncompromising. Some may be deeply inconvenient.

And like Luther before the authorities at Worms, we invite challenge, debate, and disagreement. Just don't ask us to recant. Because today, of all days, it feels right to say:

Here we stand.

Andrew Brown; formerly Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance, Andrew has more than ten years' experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. He has considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management as well as reputation sentiment analysis and insight. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Matt Young has 25 years of experience across media relations, public affairs, regulatory development, employee engagement, brand development, competition and CSR. Group corporate affairs director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA. Y

ou can get in touch by emailing [email protected] and please consider leaving us a review.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

Welcome to the fourth annual Little Questions PR Heroes and Villains. This is our excuse to look back over the year that was and consider who nailed their comms and who jumped straight into the proverbial pile of steaming.

In previous years we've considered 'Shania Train', Elon Musk, Flaco the Eagle Owl, Bradford and even Ryan Gosling, well for pretty much just being Ryan Gosling! Joining Jenny Scott to peruse this years shortlist are the Grinches of the comms world, Andrew Brown and Matt Young.

This podcast was hosted by:

Jenny Scott; This episode is hosted by Jenny Scott, partner at Apella. Jenny is a former Executive Director of Communications at the Bank of England and former advisor to the Governor. Jenny was economics and politics correspondent for the BBC and presenter of the Daily Politics. Trustee of Pro Bono Economics.

Andrew Brown; formerly Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance, Andrew has more than ten years' experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. He has considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management as well as reputation sentiment analysis and insight. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Matt Young has 25 years of experience across media relations, public affairs, regulatory development, employee engagement, brand development, competition and CSR. Group corporate affairs director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA. You can get in touch by emailing [email protected] and please consider leaving us a review.

Find out more at apellaadvisors.com.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.