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The English Baccalaureate is the first of many more performance measures to come, says Schools Minister Nick Gibb.

By Katherine Sellgren BBC News education reporter

The English Bac marks how many pupils get five A*- C GCSEs in English, maths, a language, two sciences and either geography or history. Defending its introduction, Mr Gibb said: “There will be more of these accountability measures, not fewer.” The benchmark has been criticised by teaching unions, which say it fails to recognise success in other subjects. Critics say academic subjects, such as religious education (RE) and music are unfairly overlooked, while vocational subjects which can help to engage less academic pupils are not being valued.

Source: BBC NEWS

The English baccalaureate is a just ploy to keep private schools at the top of the tree, says Phil Beadle.

By Phil Beadle

Recently I discovered that following his entry through the doors of number 10, David Cameron was in receipt of a bottle of the finest whisky from one Francis Rossi. Whether it was accompanied with a note saying: “From one front man of the Status Quo to another” is unrecorded.

And it is with matters of establishment that this column is concerned: the real motivation behind Gove’s introduction of the English baccalaureateas a measure by which schools will be judged. Gove learned his masterly skills of oratory at Robert Gordon’s college in Aberdeen: a private school. The boss, as we know, attended Eton; the chancellor, St Paul’s, and there are representatives from Eton, Wellington, Rugby and Charterhouse sitting round the table every time cabinet meets.

Source: GUARDIAN

Singer becomes first woman to secure maternity rights with her record label after finding success eight weeks into her pregnancy.

By Jenny Stevens

Talk of gestation periods and trimesters isn’t the usual domain of record company bosses, but such was the case at Island Records this week as a pregnant singer signed what’s thought to be the first ever recording contract with a maternity clause. Marli Harwood is set to release her debut album in May, under a deal stating that she will not work more than 20 hours a week in the second trimester of her pregnancy and will not need to work after 1 July. Her first child is due on 7 August. Music industry lawyer Adam van Straten, who represents Harwood and negotiated the “pregnancy-friendly” deal, said it is easier for established artists, such as MIA who performed at the Grammys on the day her baby was due, to start a family because they can be more selective about promotional work.

Source: GUARDIAN

Hours spent practising the piano as a child could pay off in more ways than one, scientists have found.

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent

Not only will it lead to you mastering the instrument, it will also provide a boost to your brain decades later, it is claimed. Even if you no longer play into adulthood, it will help keep the mind sharper as you enter old age.   The researchers found that pensioners who had piano, flute, clarinet or other lessons as a youngster, did better on intelligence tests than others.

Source: TELEGRAPH

Endless hours of piano practice can be the bane of a child’s life – but there might be an added benefit of sticking with it.

By FIONA MACRAE
Last updated at 12:40 PM on 21st April 2011

A study has found that learning a musical instrument as a child could keep you sharp into old age. Pensioners who had piano, flute, clarinet or other lessons as a youngster, did better on intelligence tests than others. And the longer they had played the instrument for, the better they did. Skills that tend to deteriorate rapidly in conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease were particularly likely to be preserved, the American Psychological Association journal Neuropsychology reports.

Source: Dailymail>> Read full article and comment

An arts project inspired by vulnerable teenagers is showing at the Roundhouse in London.

By Saba Salman

A 13-year-old with a learning disability and a 16-year-old victim ofbullying are among the vulnerable teenagers who have inspired an arts project that tackles the emotional traumas of adolescence. Issues as diverse as bullying, sexuality, mixed-race heritage and special needs are explored in The Fat Girl Gets a Haircut and Other Stories, which opens next week at the Roundhouse, north London. The project combines theatre, animation, video and live music and is the culmination of an 18-month collaboration between the youngsters and artist and director Mark Storor.

Source: GUARDIAN

Michelle Obama has teamed up with Sesame Street in the past, and is one of many celebrity guests over the show’s 41 years.

10:00PM BST 19 Apr 2011

The First Lady teamed up with a basket of talking vegetablesduring the show’s 40th anniversary to explain to young children and Muppets the benefits of healthy eating. She told Elmo that eating vegetables would make him “big and strong, just like me”. She is one of four First Ladies to appear on the show, following in the footsteps of Barbare Bush, Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush.

Source: TELEGRAPH

She captured the nation’s attention when she was kidnapped from a maternity ward at just two days old.

By HANNAH ROBERTS and SARA NATHAN
Last updated at 9:03 AM on 16th April 2011

Now Alex Griffiths is taking to the limelight for a very different reason – on Britain’s Got Talent. Miss Griffiths was snatched from St Thomas’ Hospital in London in 1990 by a woman posing as a health worker. Millions watched as her mother, Dawn Griffiths, made an emotional television appeal for her baby to be returned. But now the 21-year-old maths undergraduate is hoping to put her history as ‘the baby kidnap victim’ behind her with an appearance on the talent show, which returns to ITV1 tonight. The aspiring dancer performed I Can’t Do It Alone, from the musical Chicago, at the contest’s Manchester auditions – a performance expected to be broadcast later in the BGT series.

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The letter you always wanted to write.

Saturday 16 April 2011

How goes it with you? If what you believed is true, then you’re up there, singing with the heavenly masses. I’m sure you are. Life would be too hard if I didn’t believe I was going to see you again. That was the last thing I said to you, at the end of CPR: “I’ll see you in heaven.” I hope you heard me singing the 23rd psalm. I like to believe I felt your hand imperceptibly pressing mine. I hope you felt mum and I kiss you goodbye.

I’m so glad you went quickly and didn’t suffer. Had you lived you would have suffered, I’m sure of it, and you would have hated that.

Your funeral was amazing. You wouldn’t have believed the number of folk who turned up to see you off. We all of us know it was exactly the way you would have wanted it, with fabulous rousing music, complete with drums and electric guitar. And there is a huge comfort in knowing you would have loved the service.

Source: GUARDIAN

Irish singing twins Jedward, who have earned the biggest paycheck in ‘X Factor’ history despite coming a poor sixth in the show, prove you can’t keep a good one-hit wonder down, says Christopher Howse.

By Christopher Howse 7:00AM BST 14 Apr 2011

Do you remember Jedward, the Irish high kings of irritation who famously outstayed their welcome on The X Factor, appearing on the television talent show for weeks before finally – mercifully – being ejected by Simon Cowell and his judging panel? Yesterday, the brothers with the punkish hair and terrible voices confirmed the existence of the Jedward paradox by making lots of money by not doing very well.

Since finishing a poor sixth in the show, the twins have gone on to have just one hit single. Yet despite the absence of discernible talent, John and Edward Grimes have now earned the largest pay packet in X Factorhistory, taking home £2.85 million last year, a sum largely earned from gigs, personal appearances, endorsements and advertising deals.

Source: TELEGRAPH

Teen YouTube sensation Rebecca Black sings gleefully about the weekend in her Web video hit “Friday,” – and now the 13 year-old has something even more exciting to crow about.

10:05PM BST 11 Apr 2011

“Friday” has been viewed online more than Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” and Justin Bieber’s “Pray,” Visible Measures, a company that tracks performance of Web videos said on Monday. Black’s low-budget video, which the California teen made with a boutique record label, has generated nearly 100 million views on YouTube since it was posted online on Feb. 10.

Source: TELEGRAPH

Detectives are hunting up to nine gang members after a schoolboy was killed while “selflessly protecting” his younger brother.

Monday, 11 April 2011

Four suspects were arrested over the death of Negus McClean as relatives paid tearful tributes to the 15-year-old aspiring musician. Family members hit out at the “disgusting act of violence” which led to his death but vowed to pray for his killers. The 15-year-old’s cousin, Noel, called for an end to knife crime. Fighting back tears after laying flowers at the scene of the attack in Edmonton, north London, the 25-year-old described Negus as “intelligent, mature and selfless”. ”He was dying protecting his brother,” he said. “It was a selfless act. He paid with his life.” Speaking at the murder scene, Detective Chief Inspector Stephen Clayman said Negus died after being chased by “seven, eight or nine” youths riding bikes.

Source: INDEPENDENT

Detectives are hunting up to nine gang members after a schoolboy was killed while “selflessly protecting” his younger brother.

Monday, 11 April 2011

Four suspects were arrested over the death of Negus McClean as relatives paid tearful tributes to the 15-year-old aspiring musician. Family members hit out at the “disgusting act of violence” which led to his death but vowed to pray for his killers. The 15-year-old’s cousin, Noel, called for an end to knife crime. Fighting back tears after laying flowers at the scene of the attack in Edmonton, north London, the 25-year-old described Negus as “intelligent, mature and selfless”.Source:

Source: INDEPENDENT>> Read full article and comment

Almost nine out of every 10 UK parents say children are having to grow up too early, with nearly half unhappy with pre-watershed TV, a survey suggests.

11 April 2011 Last updated at 09:51 GMT

The research is part of a government-commissioned review into the sexualisation of children, conducted by Mothers’ Union head Reg Bailey. Most parents said music videos and celebrity were encouraging children to act older than they were. Mr Bailey is due to publish a full report in May. Of the 1,025 parents of five- to 16-year-olds surveyed, 40% said they had seen things in public places, such as shop window displays and advertising hoardings, that they felt were inappropriate for children to see because of their sexual content.

Source: BBC NEWS

Teenager’s joy at hitting the high notes after throat cancer left him without a voice.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 10:29 AM on 8th April 2011

A promising musician is hitting the high notes despite fearing he would never sing again after being diagnosed with throat cancer.Eddie Masih, 18, needed two operations after a tumour in his throat was found when he was just ten. The operations left one side of his head so badly paralysed he could hardly sing at all.

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Remember the mud drying on your face watching Radiohead at Glastonbury in 1997, or dancing in the rain to Pulp’s Common People in 1995? Festivals then were raucous, messy and definitely not for kids.

By ALISON TYLER
Last updated at 10:42 PM on 6th April 2011

But a new breed of family-friendly festivals has since been born — the Big Chill, Camp Bestival and the Innocent Village Fete all have a child-friendly vibe. So it was only a matter of time before the toddler music trend reached its natural conclusion: Lollibop is the first three-day summer festival just for toddlers.

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Even Nick Clegg’s son asks him why he’s so unpopular.

By JAMES CHAPMAN
Last updated at 10:41 PM on 6th April 2011

Nick Clegg has protested that he is a ‘human being, not a punchbag’ as he revealed even his young son is asking him why he is so unpopular. In an extraordinarily candid interview, the Deputy Prime Minister said he ‘cries regularly to music’ and admitted the vitriolic criticism levelled at him had left its mark. Mr Clegg told socialite Jemima Khan that he worries about how attacks on him are affecting his family. ‘What I am doing in my work impacts on them emotionally, because my nine-year-old [Antonio] is starting to sense things and I’m having to explain things. Like he asks, “Why are the students angry with you, Papa?”’ he said.

Source: Dailymail>> Read full article and comment

One way to enhance your teen’s mental health? Encourage your child to turn down the music and crack open a juicy book, new research reveals.

Wednesday, 6 April 2011

Announced April 4, the US study compared six types of media – television and movies, music, video games, internet, magazines and newspapers, and books – and reported that the music-loving teens were 8.3 times more likely to be depressed that teens who spent the most time using the other types of media. The book lovers, on the other hand, were far less likely to be depressed than all the other groups, researchers said. The study isn’t clear as to whether or not music leads to depression, or if depressed teens are more likely to listen to music to escape, or both.

Source: INDEPENDENT

Sheila Hill’s son Billy is a folk fiddler in training. But how exactly does he go about getting that training?

By Sheila Hill

My son Billy started learning the violin when he was five, and I quickly realised we both wanted more than the driven, joyless world of grades, exams and auditions that seemed to lie inexorably ahead. I asked my friend Howard Skempton, the composer, what to do. “Find a virtuoso!” he said. But that was easier said than done. Then one day I saw some Irish fiddlers busking. The sheer joy and energy of their music got me thinking. I phoned Cecil Sharp House in London, home of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, and they put me in touch with Pete Cooper, who’s been teaching, as well as performing, transcribing and publishing folk tunes, for many years.

Source: GUARDIAN

Beyoncé’s dad is no longer her manager, another case of how showbiz and parents don’t always mix.

By Johnny Sharp

It’s Johnny Sharpbeen 20 years since she joined her first girl group aged nine, but Beyoncé Knowles has finally parted company with father and long-time manager, Mathew. By mutual consent, they say, but you wonder if Mathew’s plans to spend more time on his gospel label were announced with all the enthusiasm of those MPs who step down to “spend more time with their families”. You could hardly blame Beyoncé. Stories are legion of Mathew’s strict control of her affairs and those of Destiny’s Child, with whom she rose to fame. And he was never a man to fall out with, as early members LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett discovered when they saw the band’s video for Say My Name – and two new singers in their place.

Source: GUARDIAN

Most parents wouldn’t consider lapdancing or graphic scenes of violence as suitable viewing for their children.

By PAUL REVOIR
Last updated at 9:23 AM on 30th March 2011

But thanks to a loophole in the law, youngsters are able to buy sexually explicit and ultra-violent DVDs without any restrictions. Although there is a series of viewing guidelines based on age, many pop videos, sports releases and documentaries do not have to be formally included and are simply classed as ‘exempt’. This makes it legal for youngsters to buy material including sexually charged imagery. According to research, eight out of ten parents believe such exempt videos  should be reclassified. Among the videos singled out for concern are cage-fighting compilations and the Pussycat Dolls Workout, which contains suggestive fitness routines.

Source: Dailymail>> Read full article and comment

Madonna has abandoned plans to build a boarding school for 400 girls in Malawi despite spending $3.8 million (£2.4 million) on the project.

By Alex Spillius, Washington and Mike Pflanz in Nairobi

The singer and her co-founders, the charity Raising Malawi, cancelled plans to complete the £9.4 million school amid allegations of mismanagement.

The charity has been supported by celebrities such actors Tom Cruise and Gwyneth Paltrow among the attendees at a glitzy Manhattan fund-raising event two years ago, as well as Kabbalah Centre International, the Jewish mystical organisation that Madonna belongs to.

Source: TELEGRAPH

David Cassidy says today’s teen idols don’t know the real price of fame.

By LINA DAS
Last updated at 3:29 AM on 25th March 2011

Forty years ago, a 21-year-old David Cassidy pitched up in Italy, with the sole intent of travelling around Europe incognito. He’d just become famous in the States thanks to his role in TV series The Partridge Family, where he played Keith — the eldest son in a fatherless group of musicians who toured America in their psychedelic van — but was as yet unknown throughout most of Europe. He went sightseeing unrecognised in Rome, Florence and Paris before heading for his final destination, London. ‘All I had were my skis, my guitar and my suitcase,’ he says. ‘It was wonderful because no one knew me and I was living like a gypsy.

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In the absence of state subsidy, musical participation among the young is becoming a badge of economic elitism and privilege.

By Tom Service Thursday 24 March 2011 14.45 GMT

I’ve just heard some ominous news from a friend of mine who lives in central Bedfordshire. Elizabeth Axford’s words speak for themselves:

We have just had the letters about the new fees for peripatetic music lessons as imposed by Central Beds and there is a staggering 70% rise. My son’s 20 min cello lesson will now cost in the region of £17 … I think this is way above market/MU rate. The trouble is we (parents) have only been given till 1 April to say whether or not we want to carry on. This doesn’t leave the peripatetic teachers any time to know how many school pupils they will have, whether they will be made redundant.

Source: GUARDIAN

A singer jailed in France for abducting an ex-partner and trying to abort her child has been paroled after serving less than half his five-year sentence.

23 March 2011 Last updated at 13:32 GMT

Mohammed Khalifati, an Algerian-born singer whose stage name is Cheb Mami, was freed on condition he did not discuss his case and stayed in France. His victim, who was kidnapped while visiting Algeria in 2005, gave birth to a girl on her return to France. Khalifati, 45, is credited with popularising Algerian Rai music. His lawyer, Khaled Lasbeur, said his client was “mad with joy” at news he was to be paroled from his prison in Melun, near Paris.

Source: BBC NEWS

Source: DAILYMAIL

Talented schoolboy faces ban on playing at home after his neighbour complains.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 4:28 PM on 18th March 2011

A talented schoolboy pianist faces a shock ban on playing at home after a neighbour complained he was making too much noise. Kien Ingate, 14, has ambitions of becoming a private music teacher and is set to perform in front of thousands at a special festival in China later this year. But he and his mother May Chong, 38, now fear his promising musical career could be in trouble after a couple claimed his practising was stressing them out.….Continue Reading

Source: INDEPENDENT

It could be the robotic vocal delivery. Or the inane chorus of “tomorrow is Saturday and Sunday comes afterwards”.

By Adam Sherwin

But “the worst pop song of all time” has become a global sensation, catapulting its 13 year-old performer to stardom. ”Friday” by Rebecca Black is either a witty parody of saccharine teen-pop or a new low in manufactured song production. The song, which details the fresh-faced California girl’s excitement at the impending weekend, has become a YouTube sensation since she posted the video last month. It has received 10 million views and now leaped into the official iTunes download chart. Black’s name even “out-trended” the Japanese earthquake on Twitter. However most of the comments are not positive. Black’s monotonous auto-tuned vocal has been mocked. Rolling Stone criticised the song’s “sub-par production values, grating hooks and extraordinarily stupid lyrics”.….Continue Reading

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It’s the sort of timetable that is music to the ears of schoolchildren.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 8:53 AM on 18th March 2011

But the prospect of their youngsters being in school for only six out of 31 days from April 2 will be a ‘headache’ for their parents, campaigners warned today. Easter weekend falling outside the school holidays – and the extra bank holiday for the Royal wedding – means just over a week of schooling in more than a month for pupils in Liverpool. And it will leave working parents needing to make extra childcare arrangements.….Continue Reading

Source: DAILYMAIL

Another late night for Suri Cruise as Katie Holmes takes her to the theatre.

By GEORGINA LITTLEJOHN
Last updated at 4:20 PM on 17th March 2011

After being slammed for allowing her toddler daughter to handle phallic-shaped sweets, you’d have thought Katie Holmes would be stepping up her parenting skills. But instead, she not only turned a blind eye to four-year-old Suri’s seasonally unsuitable attire, but took her out way past her bedtime for the second night this week. The actress, 32, was snapped with her little girl as they attended an evening performance of the musical Wicked on Broadway last night.….Continue Reading

Source: TELEGRAPH

The man who taught Kate Middleton and most of her family how to play piano has made a special gift for the royal couple’s wedding.

2:47AM GMT 15 Mar 2011

Daniel Nicholls, who lives just a stone’s throw from the Middleton family home in Bucklebury, Berkshire, has composed his own song for the couple. He has also sent a recording of ”A Song for Kate (and William)” to them as a unique wedding present. The 47-year-old taught Miss Middleton to play the piano, along with her mother Carole, sister Pippa, and brother James.….Continue Reading

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Disney Studios has scrapped plans for a 3D remake of The Beatles’ 1968 film Yellow Submarine, according to industry paper Hollywood Reporter.

15 March 2011 Last updated at 12:08 GMT

The new film was being developed by director Robert Zemekis incorporating the 16 Beatles songs and recordings from the original animated film. Budget issues and a cancelled meeting with surviving Beatles’ members were cited as reasons for the film’s demise. However, Zemekis is still free to try and sell the project to another studio. The Oscar-winning Forrest Gump director first announced the project in August 2009.….Continue Reading

Source: INDEPENDENT

Gwen Stefani felt so “gross” after giving birth, she couldn’t write music.

Monday, 14 March 2011

The 41-year-old No Doubt singer was so unhappy with her body after having second son Zuma in August 2008, she felt too “out of touch” to write any new material – so the band ended up touring without releasing a new single. She explained: “I hadn’t planned on doing a tour; I’d had Zuma, I felt so gross – I got so big and felt so out of touch and not cool. I was trying to write this cool record and nothing came out. ”I felt so bad because you’ve got this whole band waiting, but I couldn’t write. So we said, ‘Let’s go on tour’….Continue Reading

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Parents will get powers to rank local schools using a series of new-style measures under Government plans to stop schools massaging their results.

By Graeme Paton, Education Editor

They will be able to sort primaries and secondaries based on results in any subject to find out which schools are best for sciences, languages, history, geography, music, drama or even PE. Families can also find out which schools have the worst attendance records and the highest number of exclusions. Currently, schools are principally ranked by the number of pupils gaining five good GCSEs in almost any subject.….Continue Reading

Source: DAILYMAIL

Amanda Holden’s heart may be aching, but her funny bone is clearly still in good shape.

By BAZ BAMIGBOYE
Last updated at 11:17 AM on 11th March 2011

The actress and TV panellist for Britain’s Got Talent was telling me about how she’s been preparing for the start of rehearsals on Monday for Shrek The Musical, in which she plays screwball Princess Fiona. She’s been brushing up on her singing and dancing, but there was one function, she revealed, that came, well, naturally and needed no rehearsal. She mentioned a word and I said: ‘Pardon?’ The 40-year-old star spelled it out for me again: ‘I’m a good farter.’ And then threw her head back and laughed. And me along with her.….Continue Reading

Source: Guardian >> Read full article and comment

Compulsory foreign language lessons start next month for all 10- to 12-year-olds, raising hopes among educators and industry leaders of ending a decades-long ‘English deficit’.

By Justin McCurry

With just weeks to go before English becomes a compulsory subject atJapan’s primary schools, doubts surround the boldest attempt in decades to improve the country’s language skills, and its ability to compete overseas with rival Asian economies. The new curriculum is to be introduced after intense lobbying from the business community, amid fears that Japan’s competitive edge could be blunted unless it takes English communication as seriously as China and South Korea. The new classes, which start in April, will be aimed at fifth- and sixth-grade pupils, aged 10-12, at all of Japan’s public primary schools. The lessons will be held only once a week – or 35 times a year – with each lasting 45 minutes.….Continue Reading

Source: DAILYMAIL >> Read full article and comment

Babies can remember melodies they heard in the womb, according to a study.

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:23 AM on 9th March 2011

Scientists played music to their mothers three weeks before birth and tested them one month after they were born. The babies’ heart rates slowed at a greater rate when they heard the melody they had heard in the womb, compared to one they had not heard before. The findings add to scientists’ understanding of the effects of what sounds are heard in the womb, including how babies learn to perceive speech. Psychobiologist Carolyn Granier-Deferre, of Paris Descartes  University, asked 50 heavily pregnant women to listen to a descending piano melody twice daily.….Continue Reading

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Model Sophie Dahl has given birth to her first child, a daughter named Lyra.

By JODY THOMPSON
Last updated at 12:56 AM on 6th March 2011

Sophie, 33, granddaughter of children’s author Roald Dahl, and her husband, jazz star Jamie Cullum, 31, became parents earlier this week but news of the birth has only just been released. In a brief statement issued through a spokesman, they said: ‘Musician Jamie Cullum and his wife, the author and presenter Sophie Dahl, have become parents. ’Their daughter Lyra was born on March the second. They are over the moon.’….Continue Reading

Source: DAILYMAIL

US singer threatens legal action against London store asking it to stop selling its latest, ‘nausea inducing’, product.

By Owen Bowcott

The planet’s most flamboyantly dressed pop star is threatening legal action against British manufacturers of the world’s most bizarrely flavoured ice-cream. Lady Gaga has told a store in Covent Garden, central London, to stop selling its latest brand, Baby Gaga – ice-cream made from human breast milk, blended with vanilla pods and lemon. The US singer, whose last entanglement with foodstuffs involved wearing a dress stitched together from raw meat to an awards ceremony, appears unaware that the product she complained about disappeared off the company’s shelves last week.….Continue Reading

Source: TELEGRAPH

The Secret Sisters bring new meaning to close harmony, says Helen Brown.

By Helen Brown 11:33AM GMT 03 Mar 2011

‘The Everly Brothers and the Andrews Sisters, uh-huh,” nods Lydia Rogers, “we get compared to them a lot. But I don’t know why some siblings sound so good together.” She shrugs and looks to her older sister, Laura, who echoes the gesture, adding: “It must help that we have the same genes, the same tones, the same inflections. It’s weird. When we sing separately we sound very different. But when you put our voices together we sound exactly the same.” Straight out of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, the Secret Sisters sing vintage country music in harmonies closer than a June night in Mississippi. In October 2009, Laura (now 24) was working as a nanny while Lydia (22) was studying graphic design. They only sang together in the privacy of their own home.….Continue Reading

Source: DAILYMAIL

It might help explain why she returned to work within a year of having her first child and a mere six months after the second.

By LIZ THOMAS
Last updated at 1:49 PM on 2nd March 2011

According to Kirsty Young, women who give up their jobs to look after the family are often left feeling like ‘non persons’. The TV and radio presenter, who is married to millionaire businessman Nick Jones, investigates the changing world of work for her upcoming BBC2 series The British at Work. The picture that emerges is of a country in which we are more defined by our jobs than ever before. Miss Young, 42, is among the ranks of women deciding to return to work after having children so they feel they have a role beyond motherhood.….Continue Reading

Source: TELEGRAPH

Gerard O’Donovan previews an absorbing new series in which Jamie Oliver enlists TV personalities, top academics, actors and musicians to teach 20 struggling schoolchildren.

By Gerard O’Donovan 7:00AM GMT 02 Mar 2011

Food for the mind, rather than the body, is the subject of this absorbing new series in which the chef Jamie Oliver (right) attempts to explore one of the perennial problems of Britain’s state education system. Namely, the hundreds of thousands of children who leave school every year with little or nothing in the way of qualifications despite the best efforts of successive governments and generations of committed teachers. But is this failure due to the children themselves or a lack of inspirational teaching? Oliver’s big idea – and perhaps his big mistake – is to take 20 educationally challenged 16 to18 year-olds and have them taught for two months by some of the most inspiring men and women in Britain today.….Continue Reading

Source: DAILYMAIL

Meet the mothers squeezing themselves into their high school dresses – all in the name of charity.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 7:54 AM on 2nd March 2011

Most girls’ prom dresses are left to gather dust at the back of the wardrobe after high school. But a group of mothers in suburban Detroit is holding a series of events that require them to squeeze into theOTT gowns from their teenage years. The women-only gatherings, which have been dubbed Mom Proms, feature Eighties music and even have their own queens, with guests competing to wear the most outrageous creation. The parties are organised by Betsey Crapps, 41, who was reminded of the voluminous pink dress she wore to her own high school prom by her mother six years ago.….Continue Reading

Source: DAILYMAIL

A mother whose 11-year-old son died when her car crashed was yesterday accused of killing him in her rush to get him to school.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 8:54 AM on 1st March 2011

Karen Evans, 36, was giving Jordan and his two sisters a lift because the boy – who was autistic – had deliberately missed the bus and they were running late, a court was told. She drove erratically before veering off a dual carriageway in front of another car in a last-minute decision to buy petrol, it was alleged. But she left the manoeuvre too late and lost control of her car, causing it to overturn. Jordan, who was travelling in the back seat, suffered fatal head injuries as their Vauxhall Corsa somersaulted on to its roof.….Continue Reading

Source: DAILYMAIL

Musician and mother-to-be Myleene Klass is about to add another string to her bow – an internet TV outlet with advice for young parents.

By ALEX HAWKES
Last updated at 10:45 PM on 26th February 2011

Klass and media group Twofour will launch myleeneklass.tv this summer. ‘As a young parent I know how daunting as well as incredibly exciting it can be to be a new mum,’ she said. ’It’s great to be able to share experiences. We aim to pool the best advice from the most trustworthy sources without being too worthy or pompous.’….Continue Reading

Source: GUARDIAN

Is there still a certain cachet attached to being a guest star on The Simpsons, or has it become just another tick box on the celebrity bucket list?

By Johnny Dee Tuesday 22 February 2011

On Sunday, Russell Brand became the latest in a long line of celebritiesto have appeared in The Simpsons. The dandy comedian joins an illustrious list of actors, musicians, authors and politicians who have been Simpson-ised during the show’s 21-year history. Some have been great, some terrible and some – sadly, including Brand’s own appearance – a little pointless.

In one of the best Simpsons episodes for a while, called Angry Dad: The Movie, Brand appears as himself at The Golden Globes where he hands out an award to Bart. He gets to make one tame joke about rehab but his appearance is overshadowed by his co-stars, Ricky Gervais and Halle Berry, not to mention a hilarious Pixar parody called The Condiments. There was also a lovely Wallace and Gromit pastiche (with Nick Park doing his own voice) called Better Gnomes and Gardens, starring “Willis and Crumble”.….Continue Reading

Source: GUARDIAN >> Read full article and comment

Stop. Press. The 16-year-old pop star has decided it’s time for the ‘mature look’ and is auctioning his leftover locks for charity.

By Sean Michaels

Justin Bieber has cut his hair. At the speed of scissors, the singer’s feathered helmet head has disappeared, replaced with what he is calling, “kind of a mature look”. Like the bones of a saint, the teen star’s discarded locks are being collected for a charity auction. Admittedly, we don’t often report on the vagaries of musicians’ hairstyles. But this is no ordinary do:….Continue Reading

Source: Guardian >> Read full article and comment

A year after revealing his ‘paternal feelings’ Rufus reveals that Lorca Cohen has given birth to a baby girl who will be brought up by both of her parents, as well as Wainwright’s partner.

By Sean Michaels

Rufus Wainwright has had a baby with Leonard Cohen’s daughter. Wainwright made the surprise announcement on Friday, revealing that Lorca Cohen gave birth to a girl on 2 February. Viva Katherine Wainwright Cohen will reportedly be brought up by both of her parents, as well as Wainwright’s partner, “deputy dad” Jorn Weisbrodt. Canadian musical royalty may never have been more tightly knit. “Darling daughter Viva Katherine Wainwright Cohen was born on 2 February 2011 in Los Angeles, California,” Wainwright revealed on his website, naming he, Cohen and Weisbrodt as “proud parents”.….Continue Reading

Source: INDEPENDENT

Nicole Kidman went through “pain, loss and disappointment” during her fertility struggle.

Monday, 21 February 2011

The 43-year-old actress – who welcomed Faith Margaret, her second child with country music singer Keith Urban, into the world on December 28 via a gestational carrier – admitted she suffered agonising times when trying to conceive. She explained: “Anyone that’s been in the place of wanting another child or wanting a child knows the disappointment, the pain and the loss that you go through trying and struggling with fertility. ”Fertility is such a big thing, and it’s not something I’ve ever run away from talking about.….Continue Reading

Source: GUARDIAN

Ashcroft, Croydon.

By George Hall

Children rarely buy opera tickets, so composer Tobias Picker is probably wise to describe his Roald Dahl-based work as a family opera, rather than one aimed specifically at kids. Music Link International – an offshoot of Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity – commissioned this operatic version of the story, which premiered in Los Angeles in 1998. Following its initial production, it languished until Opera Holland Park took it up last year, offering a promenade staging for reduced forces. Somewhat less reduced, though still not full-scale, it is here further revamped as English Touring Opera’s spring-season opener.….Continue Reading

Source: DAILYMAIL

However lengthy or short-lived his career may turn out to be, Justin Bieber is sure to go down in history as the first YouTube-created pop star.

By CHRIS TOOKEY
Created 10:43 PM on 17th February 2011

The encouraging aspect of this musical documentary is that it proves the 16-year-old Canadian does have the talent to go with his precocious self-confidence. Everyone involved in this feature-length promotion of the Bieber brand  seems to have been briefed to say things along the lines of, as one of them puts it, he’s ‘just a regular kid who had a dream’. But this is the exact opposite of the truth.….Continue Reading