After a month of parties, Phil makes a Swift exit

Phil, fifth from left on the bottom row, with Howden colleagues

One of Fleet Street’s most likeable characters, Phil Swift, was due to shuffle off into retirement this month. But in truth he didn’t shuffle at all - he went out with several large bangs. I guess it is hardly surprising that, despite being 67, a man who has worked for newspapers for almost half a century knows how to throw a good bash. I was working a long way from the party venues in Howden so couldn’t go (I was disappointed, but my liver was so happy). One event was fairly civilized with speeches and a meal, with Swifty true to form picking up the tab. Most of the revellers were in bed by 4am. But my spies tell me that at another one there was early-morning shirt swapping, people locked in cupboards and plenty of drinking shenanigans. The landlord gave up at 2.30am and Swifty baled out at 4.30am. Others didn’t turn-in until 7.15am. Some night, some stamina.

Charles Griffin's caricature

One of the highlights was a caricature of Phil by Daily Mirror cartoonist Charles Griffin. Charles and Phil worked together at the Mirror but had not seen each other for 20 years. One of Phil’s colleagues, Kay Harrison, sent a snatched picture of Phil to Griffin who replied saying: 'Thanks for the picture of Phil's dad. Now can I have one of Phil?'
Other gifts included an inscribed lighter from one of his former trainees Laura Wileman, a ball made of elastic bands to remind him of when they used to play late night indoor cricket matches in the Mirror newsroom, enough wine to start a business, books and Bose headphones.
I first met Phil when he joined PA Training a decade or so ago. I was able to use him as a senior consultant - doing production and training work, particularly in Ireland - and we became good friends.

Phil receives gifts at his desk

Phil’s career began as a Daily Mail news sub. He then spent more than 20 years at the Daily Mirror, sub-editing, chief sub-editing and night editing - before becoming features editor and deputy editor. He also worked at the People, the Sunday Mirror and Today. Up until his retirement he had been working for the Press Association team in Howden which was producing the Mirror’s pages.
Phil was a great newspaper production man - but he was also an excellent trainer. It is a testament to his popularity and mentoring skills that his many leaving parties were attended by dozens of people less than half his age - many of them his former trainees. I wish him a long and happy retirement - though I suspect he won’t be putting his feet up just yet.

Fancy learning to sub?

I am running an intro to subbing course in London for the Press Association next Tuesday and Wednesday. It should be a fun two days that look at the nitty gritty of what modern subs do. We will be doing some text-editing, rewriting, a bit of grammar if you need it, headline writing, use of pictures, captions and an intro to layout on InDesign. There are a few places left if anyone is interested. You can book a spot by emailing shirley.kelly@pressassociation.com. 
I am also running a two-day layout and design course on June 12 and 13. Might see you there.

Subbing hubs turning full circle?

Traditional subs? Hubs? Reporters writing directly to the page? Outsourcing? Working from home? In the last few months I have been working with newspapers who are all taking a different approach to how they produce their titles. At the Daily Mail I have been training subs in the usual way - text editing, accuracy, rewriting, headlines and layout. This week I have been with those at the Press Association who are producing the Daily and Sunday Mirrors and the People. With big-hitting former Mirror subs now on the PA team, it is a project that has settled down and is working smoothly. Indeed I have stolen a headline from sub Kay Harrison on Polly Hudson's column - Daybreak's Christine Bleakley: The secret diary of Adrian's moll - for my headline course. I have also been at the Hull Daily offices, not working on the hub, but training 80 reporters to write headlines. The conclusion, not surprisingly, is that bright reporters can be taught to create good publishable headlines. It is certainly right that editors examine the way their newspapers are produced. If I was editing these days I would definitely put my editorial energy into the content and look at ways to reduce the 'processing'. We all know, of course, that in many cases the motivation is not to shift manpower to the reporting side but to cut costs. There has been much written about this and there will be much more to come. Here is the latest contribution Why the hubs will turn full circle  from my old editor Allan Prosser in this month's InPublishing magazine. As usual Allan doesn't sit on the fence. Here is a couple of extracts: 

In the Gadarene rush to impose manufacturing process on their titles, publishers have destroyed value, thrown away knowledge, and vandalised their assets. In many cases they should be ashamed, not that shame is a common characteristic of the newspaper business. More importantly, very few managers who have overseen this damage would last a week in the real world of competitive industry.

No edition of this magazine would be large enough to accommodate the account of howlers, inaccuracies and plain stupidities which have emerged through the centralisation of production and the so-called focus on efficiency through delayering the checks and balances which existed before the move to what has infamously been called “one touch publishing.  

Strident stuff. Your thoughts, as always, are welcome.