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Emboldened by recent victories - including forcing ministers to abandon plans to sell-off England’s forests - the green lobby again smells blood with the government’s planning changes.

More than two million business professionals have joined LinkedIn over the past nine months, making the total number of users in the UK total nearly six million.

There’s one very simple way to save money: do nothing.

In difficult economic times it is tempting for marketers to keep their head down and focus on immediate challenges, but there will be a future and it needs planning for now.

While it’s not a surprise to hear more public sector projects are being shelved, the news that Glenigan figures reveal such a rising number of private sector projects being put on hold sends a warning sign for an anaemic industry recovery.

Much is written about the Olympics’ legacy in sporting and cultural terms, less so about the lasting benefits to the construction industry – and the extent to which it should congratulate itself on a fantastic job, brilliantly done.

Many people associate the term “marketing” with thoughts of advertising, exhibitions and corporate events. But these are just the tools that can be used to achieve a desired outcome - part of a planned programme to achieve specific objectives.

Every week we seem to have another government plan to read, last week it was the Low Carbon Construction Action Plan. As one industry commentator said, we certainly can’t complain that the government is ignoring construction.

One of the principal purposes of marketing is to differentiate your company or brand or products from those of your rivals. By doing so you hope to rise above the competition and so be recognised, and thus be better understood or appreciated and therefore more likely to be specified.

Chief construction adviser Paul Morrell likes to say that if “cash is king, then carbon is queen” but anyone looking for a majestic response to the IGT report is likely to be left disappointed.