Another year of shifting politics, unpredictable markets and reputational tightropes has kept everyone on their toes and us firmly in business. The Government has had to grapple with scrutiny from every angle, while the news cycle continued its habit of turning minor missteps into major talking points. In short, 2025 has been busy.

It’s been a landmark year for Nepean, too. We welcomed new team members, expanded our work with new and longstanding clients, and delivered our strongest year of growth to date. The momentum has been hugely energising, and we’re very grateful to all our clients and partners who helped make it possible.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Christmas without our annual gift guide – a tongue-in-cheek collection inspired by the crises, controversies and communications curveballs that defined the year. Whether you’re still hunting for the perfect present or simply in need of a chuckle, we hope it brings a little festive cheer.  

OBR – Advanced WordPress User Course (WordPress, Free)

The internet can be tricky, and unhelpfully filled with various sleuths, clever teenagers and wily journalists. The ‘vibe coding’ revolution has made it easier than ever to set up a website, but ne’er do wells are also finding ever more advanced routes to get hold of sensitive data.

In the case of the OBR’s budget leak, however, no such newfangled techniques were necessary to break down the doors of their WordPress site. A simple URL was all it took to bring about the ‘worst failure’ in the body’s history. It should, hopefully, have set alarm bells ringing for anyone with the keys to their organisation’s website.

To keep them up to speed, WordPress helpfully offers an extensive range of courses, with no implications on budget responsibilities.

Heathrow CEO – The Runaway Alarm Clock (Amazon, £38.20)

Crisis management is all about acting decisively and quickly. Unless you’re running Heathrow. When a substation fire shut down Europe’s busiest airport, the CEO was reportedly still fast asleep, blissfully unaware that hundreds of thousands of passengers were stranded around the world. It was a masterclass in crisis management, if you define ‘management’ loosely and ‘crisis’ extremely literally.

For the chronic oversleeper in your life, or the colleague who needs a nudge, this runaway alarm clock is the ideal stocking filler. It leaps off the bedside table and races around the room until caught – exactly the sort of rapid response Heathrow could have used on that not-so-silent night.

A gentle reminder that when things go up in smoke, being awake is generally step one.

Lord Mandelson & Morgan McSweeney – Record Cleaning Kit (Amazon, £18.48)

Last Christmas, Morgan McSweeney was feeling particularly festive, doing his bit for tradition by gifting a plum role in the political pantomime to his long-time mentor, Lord Mandelson. A gesture of loyalty, perhaps, or simply the political equivalent of popping novelty socks into your dad’s stocking.

Unfortunately, no sooner than the baubles had been hung than the Ghost of Christmas Past arrived, clutching a file marked Mandelson in one hand and Epstein in the other. A reminder that some relationships come with more baggage than Santa’s sleigh.

Had a record cleaning kit been slipped into McSweeney’s stocking beforehand, we might’ve all been saved from this seasonal séance altogether. Hopefully it comes in handy this Christmas, a chance to ensure future appointments are fully exorcised of inconvenient histories.

Struggling Corporates – Sir Dave Lewis (£1,500,000 + bonus)

Christmas came early for Diageo shareholders this year, when boardroom legend Sir Dave Lewis was announced as CEO. Despite not starting until January, shares in the ailing drinks giant rallied 7%, adding around £2bn in value.

Lewis cut his teeth at Unilever, clocking an impressive 30-year stint and earning the nickname “Drastic Dave” for his willingness to make bold decisions. Then came Tesco, where he steered the ship in the aftermath of a serious accounting scandal and made the supermarket a player once more.

Investors are now convinced Lewis is the tonic Diageo needs: a £2bn uplift is not to be sniffed at. Clearly, Sir Dave’s reputation precedes him.

Jet2holidays – Christmas Jingle (Fiverr, £8.01)

After Jess Glynne’s famously chipper tune was dragged into a political firestorm when Donald Trump repurposed it as the rally cry for ICE, Jet2 found itself in the unenviable position of having its sunny melody weaponised.

Hopefully, this bespoke jingle-writing session offers something priceless, a clean slate, a festive reset, and (with a bit of luck) a soundtrack that sends people to Alicante, not Alabama.

BBC News – Adobe Premiere Pro (Adobe, £262.51)

The BBC’s recent editing wobble with Trump showed that even the most venerable newsroom can slip on digital black ice. One overzealous trim here, a slightly underbaked context there, and suddenly you’ve unintentionally produced the Great British Cut-Off – a slice worthy of a Paul Hollywood handshake.

This Premiere Pro subscription promises safer edits and a festive season free of an Ofcom ear-bashing, or worse still, a Trump lawsuit.

American Eagle – Control: The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics (Blackwell’s, £13.99)

Puns, while not everyone’s comedic cup of tea, are rarely divisive. Expect a groan, but rarely a grimace. Safe ground then, you might think, for a marketing department looking to turn some heads.

Think again. For American Eagle, promoting their jeans in a campaign with Sydney Sweeney, punning jeans with genes, the outrage was global. Whether you think this was a playful bit of marketing, wilfully misinterpreted, or a dangerous presentation of a racial science lurking in the darkest corners of society, it was probably not the debate American Eagle hoped to unleash.

For a conversational troublemaker, not afraid to riff on the bleakest of topics even at Christmas, why not offer them a crash course on the dark history of human gene editing.