Hillgrove PR looks forward to the London Olympics 2012.

The shocking pink and purple uniforms for the London Olympics volunteers have been unveiled. There are about 8000 volunteers who will guide tourists around the capital during the London Olympics 2012. The uniforms consist of a polo shirt with matching fleece, anorak and rucksack as well as a straw trilby with a pink ribbon, and are based on the Olympic2012 logo.

While showing up the lurid pink and purple coloured clothes for the volunteers, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson hoped that people would not find them “ridiculous.”

Some critics have already remarked that the outfits look more like “Percy Pig sweets from Marks and Spencer”.

The design for the Olympic information kiosks, which will be stationed at 43 locations in the city, has also been unveiled.

There has been a mixed reaction to the pink outfits in the same way that there was criticism of Olympic2012 logo design when it was unveiled in 2007.

Hillgrove PR thinks that the criticism surrounding the Olympic outfits opens the way for further media attention and it is good for the popularity of the London Olympics 2012.

News analysis from Hillgrove PR.

James Murdoch, heir apparent to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., in a seven-page letter written to British parliamentarians investigating the scandal admitted on March 14 that he could have done more to get to grips with the phone hacking scandal.

James said he didn’t know the extent of the illegal behaviour at his now-defunct News of the World tabloid newspaper. These illegal activities have led to the paper’s closure and the arrests of dozens of journalists and other officials. The tabloid had so far made cash settlements to 58 victims, including celebrities, politicians and the families of crime victims.

The attempts of News Corp. to conceal the scope of the scandal fell apart after the Guardian and The New York Times revealed that phone hacking was endemic at the News of the World tabloid.

In the letter to the parliamentarians, James said: “I have not misled Parliament. I did not know about, nor did I try to hide, wrongdoing.” He also accused his former lieutenants of working behind his back, acting without his authorization, and giving inconsistent testimony to Parliament.

On Tuesday, March 13, there were arrests of six people, including former News International executive Rebekah Brooks and her husband, on suspicion of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Hillgrove PR believes that James Murdoch was either in on the cover up or too incompetent to realize the gravity of the phone hacking and other illegal news gathering practices followed by the tabloid. There is no certainty that the parliamentary council will now heed to his latest revelation.

Encyclopedia Britannica, the storehouse of knowledge in print, will stop publishing print copies when its current stock runs out. Hillgrove PR has learnt that the largest printed encyclopedia faced increasingly tough competition from knowledge based websites such as Wikipedia.

Jorge Cauz, president of Encyclopedia Britannica, said that the sales of printed encyclopedias had been negligible for several years leading to the decision to cease production. Writing for the company website, the editors commented that the decision is “just another historical data point in the evolution of human knowledge”.

Starting in Edinburgh in 1768, the Encyclopedia Britannica has been published for the last 244 years. Managed by around 100 or so dedicated editors, the Encyclopedia was considered around the world as the legitimate storehouse of knowledge.

When the print version is stopped, the company’s website will be available free for one week. Currently, the final print form of the 32-volume encyclopedia is on online sale for $1395.

We at Hillgrove PR feel that the entry of Encyclopedia Britannica into the digital publishing world will be welcomed globally by the knowledge lovers. However, it is a shame that that they will stop publishing the physical edition as they worked effectively hand in hand with the online version.