When It Hits the Fan

David and Simon share their advice on how to lead

David and Simon share their advice on how to deal with online abuse.

Amol and Nick use their decades of experience as journalists to discuss the future of news in this special episode of The Today Podcast.

Joining them are Sun editor David Yelland and former No10 communications director Simon Lewis – the duo behind Radio 4’s When It Hits The Fan – to look at what’s happening in journalism, where the future lies for the profession... and why it really matters for us all.

The senior producer is Tom Smithard, the producer is Hatty Nash, research and digital production from Joe Wilkinson. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Jack Graysmark.

David and Simon share their advice on how to deal with backstabbers.

David and Simon share their advice on how to get ahead when you're shy.

David Yelland and Simon Lewis share their tips on dealing with the media

Quick Wins is a series of mini episodes from the When It Hits the Fan team to steer you through your own personal PR in your working life.

In this episode, David and Simon answer listener Joe's question about how to deliver difficult information that people may not want to hear. Getting the tone right is crucial, tell it like it is and be visible.

Producer: Eve Streeter

David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss an extraordinary and terrifying weekend of political drama in the US, with the attempted assassination of Donald Trump crowding out calls for Joe Biden to quit the presidential race. And they reflect on England losing out once more on the main prize at an international football tournament.

How does the invisible industrial complex of spin that quietly hums along, shaping so much of what you see and hear, kick into action in these moments of high public drama? How do communicators use their skill in crafting words - and images - to create history, to fashion phrases that capture moments which live forever? Simon takes us behind the scenes at Number 10 and the Palace.

They reveal two areas of PR not often discussed in public: Loser PR – how to lose in public – and Elder PR – the art of giving Fan-Hitting counsel to very old and very powerful men who are inclined not to listen. Is there an expert in Elder PR at work in the White House?

Producer: Eve Streeter

Just days after Sir Keir Starmer entered Downing Street, David Yelland and Simon Lewis take a special deep dive into what may prove to be a great communications reset at No 10 under the new Prime Minister, with greater transparency at its heart.

But will Sir Keir be able to create the space to govern between the media and his administration? And if he plans to build, build, build, how is he going to manage being very unpopular in a populist era?

Producer: Eve Streeter

With the UK general election upon us, David Yelland and Simon Lewis look at the two sides of campaigning of all kinds – positive PR and negative PR. Who decides whether to go for optimism or fear, and what works? In the great game of persuasion that is PR, connection is key. When Banksy’s migrant boat was carried across a sea of hands at Glastonbury it was a moment of powerful positive communication. But in the world of short-term political campaigning, negative PR can be an equal but opposite strategy.

Also, as many MPs and prospective MPs face the possibility of defeat, David and Simon dsicuss the art of being disappointed in public. How best to lose with cameras whirring?

And the power of being seen in the right place with the right people at the right time – why the PR industry loves Wimbledon.

Producer: Eve Streeter