Huw Lewis talks Childrens Wellbeing.

In conjuncture with Working Word PR I was fortunate enough to interview Huw Lewis-Dep. Minister for Children. The interview took place at the Senedd on Monday the 21st of March 2011. The basic Background for this is as follows:

1.    The Children and Young People’s Well Being Monitor was launched on Wednesday 30 
March. This is the second in the series, the first edition was published in 2008.

2.    The Monitor is vital in helping us understand the broad picture of children and young people’s wellbeing 
in Wales and will assist us in understanding actions that need to be taken to ensure 
children and young people in Wales can have the best start in life and have a happy and
 fulfilling childhood which will prepare them for life as an adult.

3.    A children and young people’s version has been made available on line from early May.

4.    To complement the launch this Youtube film was made available on line at the beginning
 of May (a little later than originally intended).

5.    A communications plan has been developed and will be implemented to engage with 
stakeholders.

Huw Lewis is really a lovely bloke and as down to earth as he appears in the video from our
breakfast banter to the embarrassing noddies. He was a pleasure to interview and I hope many 
interviews like this follow! One step closer to becoming journo.

For the original video and other Welsh Assembly Government videos please visit: 
http://www.youtube.com/user/welshgovernment#p/u/3/QyMRVb7_Yfg

-ZB

Prince Charming or King of Blunders?

For some, Prince Philip is an embarrassment with a knack for ill-judged humour and gaffes that have seen him accused of racism and xenophobia. But for others, he is a patron of goodwill, devoted to charitable causes and selfless acts and a stalwart of the royal family. Whatever the reality is, the Duke of Edinburgh, who turned 90 today, has mastered the knack of polarising the population.

Over his sixty years as royal consort, Philip became famous for making remarks which some people regarded as offensive or based on stereotypes. Some of them were immediately interpreted as gaffes; but other awkward observations were construed as merely odd or occasionally even funny.

 In his own words, comments attributed to the Duke have contributed to the perception that he is "a cantankerous old sod" but I think historian David Starkey has best described him as a kind of " H.R.H Victor Meldrew". The I-dont-believe-it attitude of Philip who constantly puts one foot in it has led to much of the media today looking back at on the Princes blunders.

Overtly racist, sexist and all-around insulter Phil has been noted with such retorts:

"If you stay here much longer, you will go home with slitty eyes." To a British exchange student during a visit to China.

"You look like you're ready for bed!" Speaking to the President of Nigeria, who was dressed in traditional robes, during a state visit..

"Do you still throw spears at each other?" To William Brin, a successful Aboriginal businessman, during a visit to Brin's Aboriginal Cultural Park in Queensland, Australia.

To female sea cadet last year: “Do you work in a strip club?”
To deaf children by steel band, 2000: “Deaf? If you’re near there, no wonder you are deaf.”
On the Duke of York’s house, 1986: “It looks like a tart’s bedroom.”

But despite his quips he always has one fan in The Queen who made him Lord High Admiral — the titular head of the British Royal Navy and an office until now held by her — as a birthday gift and partly in recognition of the promising seafaring career Philip gave up to spend a lifetime at her side.

Awwww- one must suppose there's a soft side to the bumbling old git after all! Happy Birthday Dukie! 

-ZB

Beacon or Cheese Grater?

The Olympic torch for London 2012 has been unveiled but is it a tasteful piece of perforated, gold-coloured design or a slightly gaudy bit of "bling"?
London 2012's gold torch has already been likened to a wastepaper bin, hotel ashtray, ice cream cone and melted-down Argos jewellery. But unlike the Argos tat- it's very unlikely that this torch will make past Olympic hosts green. 

The torch’s gold-coloured aluminium frame, adorned with a discreet London 2012 logo, contains 8000 holes, representing each of the runners who will carry the flame for the 70 days it is transported around the United Kingdom and Ireland. The three sides represent the three London Olympics: 1908, 1948 and the imminent 2012, as well as the Olympic motto – “higher, faster, stronger” - somewhat like that Kanye tune... The designers wanted the beacon to resemble a piece of sporting equipment rather than a trophy. I guess the shape does some-what mirror a cricket bat, but the torch- for me, resembles something rather like the student trusty cheese-grater with its pyramid shape and its polka dot holes. Sorry designers but to say "at least it doesn't look like a sex toy" just doesn't really cut it.

But what were previous designs? 

London's 1948 design was very much the epitome of the masculine torch- imagine the wooden stick with the ball of burning cloth on top- held by the Neanderthal man. 

The last torch holders;Beijing and their 2008 beacon was colourful and bold and resembled all the oriental promise that the opening games fulfilled. A piece of art that burnt bright and raised the temperature for the games follow.

Back in its home town of Athens in 2004, the Olympic torch was sleek and modern-neither to be condemned or exalted. Greece played it safe.

My favourite beacon has to be Sydney's 2000 Olympic torch with its sleek, modern and sophisticated design it is all Australia claims to be.

But the giant-spliff, vuvuzela, cheese-grater, wastepaper bin come ice cream cone stands as 2012s beacon of hope. Lets hope our opening games and contestants don't follow in the beacons footsteps. 


-ZB

Fashion worlds gone goo-goo for GaGa,

Gaga reached the holy grail of all fashion followers as the recipient of the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s (CFDA) coveted Fashion Icon award last night. An honor bestowed on models Iman and Kate Moss, and actresses Sarah Jessica Parker and Nicole Kidman was passed on to our Lady of pop.

Announced in March, sometime just after her Vogue cover and her debut on the runways of Paris, the award legitimizes as revolutionary the outfits some critics have derided as attention-grabbing gimmicks. Yes we are googly eyed over GaGas garments!

The singer, well known for her outrageous outfits, was given the prize for "being a fashion revolutionary", the CFDA said. True to form- Lady GaGa- famous for her dramatic fashion choices, didn't disappoint as she arrived at the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Fashion Awards at Lincoln Centre’s Alice Tully Hall. The flamboyant 'Bad Romance' singer caused a stir with a huge black Nicola Formichetti dress and spectacular platform shoes.

Now you’d think it’d be an easy task to make a costume change at an awards show for fashion designers. But Lady Gaga, who regularly shows up on the red carpet in one outfit and accepts her trophies in another, the pop star and style risk-taker accepted her award decked out in a turquoise wig and her unravelling dress which revealed a leather and mesh corset get-up by Thierry Mugler, a label now helmed by her friend and stylist Nicola Formichetti.

Mother Monster- GaGa accepted the award and told her crowd:

"I just wanted to tell you how much this award means to young American people, she said. My fans, some of them don't know who they are and they have so much trouble. They come to the Monster Ball to find who they are and they wake up in the morning and it's that leather jacket that makes them feel like they can be anyone. Or its that YSL blazer that they saw in the window that makes them feel like they could be president one day. Fashion means so much to them. Its really hard to talk about I always felt like I had made it before I had made it because of all of you, because it was all of you that made me feel like I was a star."

But how did the singer whose first widespread fashion statement involved no fashion at all ascend to the highest rungs of the fashion ladder? One bubble dress, burning bra and sheer bodysuit at a time. Lets take a look at the hall of fame of the GaGa get-up.

Lovely-Bubbly?

Lady gaga adopted this number to match her bubbly personality- a dress made of bubbles. I wonder what GaGas inspiration for this washing-up-liquid dress was, maybe her love for pop?

Take a butchers at this...

The Poker Face singer raised eyebrows at the MTV Video Music Awards by appearing on stage in a dress, boots and hat that appeared to be made from cuts of meat. Mmmm..rare meat.

The Cherry on the Cake?

Lady Gaga wore a white triple-tiered cake-dress on the red carpet at The Brit Awards at Earls Court on February 16th in London, England. The 23-year-old singer topped off her look with a towering headpiece and a lace mask. Rather like my Grandmas toilet roll dolly really..

Caught on tape.

Lady GaGa has outdone herself yet again, wearing only police tape in a new risque photo from her upcoming music video 'Telephone.' GaGa poses in verylittle  amping up her sex appeal.

Egg-selent outfit.

Lady Gaga, being carried in an egg-shaped vessel, arrives at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards Los Angeles. The 'born this way star' evolved from her egg shell in a nude mesh body.




It seems what would be deemed as fashion victim-ism in the real world is an iconic symbol in celebdom. 


-ZB

College for the rich.

Move over, Oxbridge. Pipe down, Cambridge. A new academic giant looms: the New College of the Humanities will open its doors next year. The college, brainchild of Prof AC Grayling, will teach only the humanities (as suggested by the name) and will use a tutorial system. 


We saw Jamie Olivers 'Dream School' now we have something a bit more adult. Grayling together with Richard Dawkins, Niall Ferguson, Sir Christopher Ricks and various other academic superstars, are setting up a University which will be based in Bloomsbury aimed at taking on "the cream of the rejects." (as quoted by our Mr Boris Johnson)
The concept of such a rejects college does seem very vague. Another high entry (3 As and extra curriculum) , high fee (£18, 000) college, doesn't seem like the saviour college to the everyman. Who are these "rejects", I ask? These rejects that can afford an £54, 000 tuition fee for a degree? At such a price I can’t see hosts of wannabe students forming orderly queues outside its Bloomsbury campus.


Let me set the scene for you reader- a gorgeous neo-classical quadrangle, designed by Robert Adam or someone like that. Which would have a prospectus full of the Reject’s College arms and the lawns with snaggle-toothed lecturers leering at their pupils over a bottle of chilled white wine. Thats my vision.

But to the facts- the college will offer eight University of London degrees covering law, economics, history, English literature and philosophy taught by “some of the world’s most prominent intellectuals”, officials said.

To me this new university will fail because it will not encourage students to pursue a range of subjects and allow their curiosity a free rein; for Grayling, a secular liberal, the “Humanities” arena is very carefully circumscribed to include only those subjects he deems worthy of study. And with Dawkins in tow, whose success lies in books like "The God Delusion" it was clear that there will be no place for theology within the curriculum. The Bible, a classic text that every student of the humanities should be familiar with, won’t get a look in. One step closer to the type of student at this "rejects" college- they are both affluent and atheist.


But the official type-cast of the 1, 000 students to attend Graylings Uni wont be constructed until the doors open for teaching in Autumn 2012. 


Better start applying smarty-pants!


-ZB

Operation Cupcake.

Butter, sugar, flower, eggs, a touch of baking powder and a glaze of icing sugar: all the key ingredients for...a bomb?

Hackers working for British intelligence agency MI6 recently modified an Al-Qaeda online magazine and replaced their recipe for bombs with confectionery recipes from Ellen Degeneres show's best cupcakes in America. MI6 dubbed the cyberattack "operation cupcake."

Yes-when followers tried to download the 67-page colour magazine, instead of instructions about how to “Make a bomb in the Kitchen of your Mom” by “The AQ Chef” they were greeted with a very different kind of recipe.

British intelligence removed all content on bomb recreation and articles by former ring-leader Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda figure head Ayman al-Zawahiri and instead left their mark in the form of cupcakes. Yumm- nice work MI6.

As for Ellen's list my cake loving readers the treats sound mouth wateringly good. 

The owners of Main Street Cupcakes were shaken but not stirred after finding out British intelligence used one of their popular Mohito cupcakes as a weapon in the war on terror. This beauty is made of white rum cake and draped in vanilla buttercream. You heard me alcohol and cake..its your lucky day I'd say bomb-seekers. No better mouth explosion than that.

Warning: Sugar rush ahead! This Rocky Road chart-topping cupcake claims to be "the sweetest taste in Charleston" and after even just one bite of their ultra cute concoctions, you won't argue. They say it'll tempt your sweet tooth, a dark chocolate cupcake with chocolate-marshmallow icing and garnished with chopped almonds. Oh my!

British Intelligence really cooked up a storm with this one. Cupcake recipes to substitute the terrorist acts. However a lovely gesture boys and genuinely sweet tooth heaven- yes it really isnt the biggest achievement in the great scheme of things..The cherry on the cake MI6 would be keeping terror at bay.

Now..I have an Apple Danish with my name on it..mmmmm...

-ZB