Under 10’s say being a celebrity is the world’s ‘best thing’

But god remains the world's most famous person. The comments on this story are a wee bit 'doom and gloom'. I think it's quite amusing - although it does tell us something about the times we live in.

Other good news this morning was that that Children and Young People in Scotland will spend £50.00 or more on gifts for others this Christmas. The miserly Children in the South of England will spend less than £20.00! I just heard this on BBC news 24 while I was getting ready so I don't have a weblink for it. However while trying to find one I came across these two stories published right beside each other. It's worthy of Private Eye, it really is...

News - Christmas retail spending to drop

Christmas spending will fall this year for the first time in a decade, a survey by accountants Deloitte predicts..
23 Nov 2005

News - Christmas spending 'set to rise'

Roger Bootle, Deloitte's economic adviser, says a good Christmas for retailers is unlikely to alter an overall slowdown in consumer spending.
29 Nov 2004

Young People ‘Raid’ savings to pay winter bills

Here's an interesting bit of research from the Halifax/Bank of Scotland company Birmingham Midshires. They’ve found that 31 % of young people (in this case, people under 30) have to use money they’ve saved to pay winter heating bills. They also find that people over 50 are better able to cope with rising bills. The problems of fuel poverty for older people have (quite rightly) received quite a bit of policy attention in recent years. This is only one small piece of research but does this mean that there is need to look more closely at similar issues for other age groups?

Community Planning Advice Note Published

The new advice note on engaging Children and Young People in Community Planning is out, and I must say it is a whole lot more comprehensive that the old one – welcome though that was. It’s available online at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/11/09140609/0

It’s a big document, for this kind of thing, but that’s to the good, because as well as the usual stuff about methods of engagement it contains a lot of less well discussed pointers about effective management of engagement with Children & Young People. There's a useful interpretation of the national standards for community engagement in this context too.

Community Engagement - Timberland Boots Style

On the subject of community engagement, the community development profession (which does have some claim to ownership of the notion of community engagement) has a long history of grief over the perceived co-option and subversion of their language by more prosaic and functional interests. The whole private sector swallowing of the work ‘empowerment’ (a word I never liked any way) in the 90’s come to mind.

This use of the term ‘Community Engagement’ by a Timberland boots advertising campaign is a great example of how ‘our’ terms are used differently elsewhere. Check this snippet out...

“‘The leather billboard campaign Arnold created really harnesses the power of self-expression and community engagement,’ said Gene McCarthy, president of Timberland's Authentic Youth division, in a statement.”

Go HERE for the full article.

Now, I wonder what the ‘Authentic Youth division’ do?