OPR’s: The UK Edition (Kind Of) It Was The Best Of Times, It Was The Worst Of Times: Loquacious UK Guardian New York columnist Tina Brown wrote this dispatch from someplace north of 72nd Street this week: “The wounded city still glitters but the current budget crisis, with its constant drum roll of whopping deficits and grinding service cuts, has already dirtied it up in our mind’s eye. There was a Seventies-style demo protesting against the cuts on the steps of City Hall at the end of November.

Tribal DDB Was So Ahead Of It’s Time: Heard a lot of talk about “tribal marketing” at this week’s ARF-fest in NYC. It sounds very cool in theory.

Fear Factor: Tuesday’s Advertising Research Foundation seminar was the first time I heard brand managers openly admit that they are developing new strategies to counter the use of digital video recorders. That’s all good.

It Worked For Woodward And Bernstein: I’ve been reading a lot about the new “advocacy journalism” stance at The New York Times. Turns out that editor Howell Raines has had the nerve to run several pieces about the controversy over Augusta National refusing women.

Jesus, You Could Drive My Car: The Evangelical Environmental Network, which is behind the “Would Jesus Drive an SUV?” campaign, has its heart in the right place. Take a look under this misguided effort and terrible ad campaign, and you’ll see its core mission is to oppose “pollution and environmental degradation and the harm they cause to people and the rest of creation.