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Came across this - interesting take on the Olympics opening ceremony from  victorian-narwhal:

Great Britain, I tip every hat I own to you. Not just for the wonderful Olympic Games you held, but especially for the Olympic Cauldron.

First of all it is as everyone needs to know, made of 204 petals each with the name of a competing country on the side. It was spread out like a flower during the Opening Ceremonies. All the petals separate from each other just like every country and its people were before the games. 

Then all the petals come together, like the countries do for the games. We all put aside our differences and come together to have fun. Together all 204 petals come together and form the cauldron which holds the flame. And the games begin with everyone together in the historical London.

Now if you look at the picture, the petals do not form a circle, but a ring. No petal/country is in the center. No country is more important than any other therefore none are in the middle and the “center of attention”. All countries are equal.  Then at the end of the games at the Closing Ceremonies the petals that form the cauldron separate and change back into the flower that was in the Opening Ceremonies. The petals go their separate ways just as the countries and their people go their separate ways back to their respective homes.  

The Olympic Flame already represents to much, but this cauldron is just the icing on top of the cake etc etc.  So I give you a standing ovation, Great Britain, for your creativity and sheer genius. 

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Farewell Olympics. Hello Legacy

No matter how cynical you are you’ve got to admit it’s been quite a summer. The individual and collective trials and triumphs of London 2012 will hopefully keep us all talking long into the winter months, while debates on ‘greatest Olympic/Paralympic moments will certainly roll into the new year. But all good things must come to an end, which begs the question: what now?

In an attempt to answer this question it makes sense to start from the place it all happened: East London at the Olympic Park itself.

An expected thriving business following investment in passenger boats and improved waterways continues from private operators, while residential properties are getting a new life as the Village. The East Village will become a significant new community within London, surrounded by world-class sports venues, enviable shopping facilities and excellent transport links.

As the sporting incarnation of the site gives way to other functions, one workforce departs as the developers move in. However, there is still an employment legacy for those moving on with the new skills they developed. HR services group Penna is working with LOCOG to place thousands of Olympic Games Makers in new roles, and according to CEO Gary Browning the Olympic legacy is definitely not just about the built environment. As a result of the new skills gained by volunteers, there skills are very much in demand. Indeed, the 70,000 Games Makers were arguably one of the greatest successes of London 2012 and were widely praised throughout.

The Cultural Olympiad has seen millions invested in museums, galleries, theatres and more – BP alone has committed almost £10m to arts partnerships (maybe that was here attempt of redemption following several years of environmental disasters).

And what of inspiring a generation? According to a MediaCom survey the Games have certainly caught young people’s attention, with more than half of 8-12 year-olds saying the Games have made them want to be more active and participate in more sports. While Premiership footballers can’t be shifted from the top spot in terms of those idolised by boys, for girls it’s all about Jessica Ennis, Beth Tweddle and (unsurprisingly) Tom Daley.

Personally, I think it’s great to see a shift from young people wanting to be a reality TV stars to professional athletes when they are older. A few years ago, I’m sure many young people would have replied with wanting a job that would make them ‘famous’ for no reason. 

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Did you Know?

To celebrate the success of the games, here are a select list of firsts and notable achievements which should give you a reason to keep the union jack bunting out a little longer.

                        · Helen Glover and Heather Stanning First women to win Olympic gold in Rowing for Great Britain.

· Closing Ceremony flag bearer Ben Ainslie became most successful sailor from any nation with four Gold medals (and a Silver!).

· First Gold medal in Triathlon  - The Brownlees (Alistair and Bronze-winner Jonathan, pictured above) are the first brothers to win medals in an individual event in over 108 years.

· Team GB won first title in the history of women’s boxing with Nicola Adams in women’s flyweight

· Most Golds (6) won by Britain on a single day - Saturday, August 4 -  since 1908.

· First medal for women’s hockey since 1992 – Great Britain have won a medal in Hockey at every home Games.

· Sir  Chris Hoy becomes first British Olympian to win six Gold medals in a career eclipsing Sir Steve Redgrave.

· Andy Murray is first man to win an Olympic tennis singles  Gold  since 1908 - and first male Gold medallist in the sport since 1920.

Source: compiled by statistician and historian Phil Barker for the Evening Standard

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What will happen after the Paralympics?

 During August, all mediums of media were saturated with reports of Paralympic glory. Great Britain’s medal haul and a stream of "inspirational" reports on the lives of Paralympians from around the world made for an almost universally positive crop of news reports on disability.

A month on and the games are over. England (and it’s weather) reverts back to the familiar and reality places itself back into pole position as the newspapers return to their usual abysmal reporting of disability matters.

Despite this, are people still discussing the games? Has opinion of disability really changed or will people soon forget that disability doesn’t necessarily limit ability?

Jacqueline, a member of A New Direction’s Headstart initiative is a pro-active, sociable individual. She is a member of the CREATE programmers, a group of young people who create events for other young people. In this interview, she tells me why having is disability is in trend, the affect of the Paralympics and her interests. 

Q. Could you tell me a bit about yourself? Do you have any siblings? What is your disability?

A. I have two conditions.  The first one is sickle cell anaemia, which is a blood disorder manageable with medication, regular check ups and blood tests. The thing I consider my disability is called spinal muscular atrophy – SMA (not the baby milk!) and that’s basically a degenerative condition so basically the older I get the weaker I get. There are 4 types; the first type is you don’t make it past the age of two because when you think of your body as a joint muscle, it shuts down quicker so you don’t make it past a certain age. Erm, there’s type two which I have, you are pretty much fine, you start to get a bit weaker but when you hit puberty and your body’s changing it’s a big change, you get a lot weaker and it goes on until the adult stage. Type three is when you are pretty much fine until about 18 (between 18 and 25 you go down hill a little bit) and there’s type 4 which is called adult onset so when you hit 25 whatever your ability is at 25 will remain that until the rest of your life or could get worse could get better but that’s probably all it is.

I have two brothers and two sisters; they are normal….well as normal as they can be. My older sister doesn’t have any conditions, doesn’t suffer from anything. My little sister has mild ADHD and my first little brother has full blown ADHD – like he just bounces off the walls all the time and my younger brother has sickle cell anaemia as well. I’m the only one in my family who has (on my mum’s side and dad’s side) spinal muscular atrophy and that’s just because it affects one in like a few 100,000 people. That’s just me – take it as it comes really.

Q. Where you born with the condition?

A. Yes I was born with sickle cell and spinal muscular atrophy and there’s no cure for it. You kind of just have to live life and enjoy it.

Q. You said you have stage 2 SMA, does that mean you haven’t always been in a wheelchair?

A. No. I wasn’t always in a wheelchair. They didn’t even know I had the condition until I was two, because my mum had my sister already she knew how you were supposed to develop so realised ‘erm, what’s going on? Let’s take you to the doctors shall we?’ and they told her I have Spinal muscular atrophy. She was like ‘ok cool, what do we do?’

My mum’s the kind of person who drives me because she’s like you are as normal as everyone else. You will clean rooms and wash dishes like anyone else!

Yeah so I was born with it. Don’t get me wrong, there are days where you wake up and think ‘why me?’ but I think I’ve gone past that (well I still have those days now and again) I’m too old to waste time especially since life expectancy on it.

Q. What’s the life expectancy?

A. For someone who has spinal muscular atrophy, 45. If you make it to 60 you are pretty lucky  and because I have sickle cell as well that life expectancy is 40 onwards. So if you are putting both of those conditions together, I’ll take each day as it comes and I’m laughing for the rest of mu life. It’s like you have that but you can’t let that stop you from what you want to do. My friends will tell you I’m like a shark! I’m always on the move – if I stop I will die. I try and do what I can if I can.

Q.  As a result of the Paralympics, more people want to learn British sign language and that’s a new craze, a new trend; for you, has having a disability made people treated you different? Are you in trend right now? 

A. I think I’ve always been in fashion, let’s get that right (laughs) but I don’t think people treat me differently but they do want me to do more things, I’ve been part of a couple of theatres for a while and before I was just Jackie but since the Paralympics people have been like ‘aw Jackie do you think you could write something for our blog’ or ‘Jackie, can you be our poster child?’ so it’s a bit like……The thing is at first I was a bit like ‘oh yeah you are just using me’ but then you’ve got to actually take the opportunity. I’m not going to lie, I’m 21, I will get every young person opportunity whilst I can now. At first I did feel like people weren’t asking me for my talent or because they knew I am a hard worker, they need me because they need to tick a box for them and at first it did hurt because they’ve known me for a long time. At the same time, I can take those opportunities and put it on my CV, at the end of the day I did it – I’ll get the experience whether I like the circumstance or not.  I think being in fashion like it is kind of frustrating because it’s like, we’ve been around before you got the Paralympics so ……but just work it

Interview by Bianca Manu 

Conducted on 5th September 2012 

This is an extract from a transcribed interview.

Q. One of things you said that I found quite interesting is you made the comment that people assume all black people know each other or look the same, for someone who had a disability, when you see someone else with a disability do you say, ‘hey!’  - What’s that like?

A. Well there is a little  ‘oh are you alright’ but it’s not like ‘you my brother, what’s gaan’n on?’ There is a little acknowledgement but now there is also of disabled people in London, now when you are in a lift it’s not that awkward. You do acknowledge each other but I acknowledge everybody.

Q. Do you think the games, particularly the Paralympic games have made people more positive to people with disabilities? Or will it be short lived?

A. To be honest with you, the Paralympics has shown a lot and inspired people but the other things is I feel like it is just for this moment. What’s going to happen in six months? What’s going to happen years from now? People from other parts of the world will remember this forever. This is major for them and will hopefully create change.  They’ve put their country on the map! 

Q. I don’t know what your friends are like or other people with disabilities but what is it like with them, do they feel the same?

A. The thing is, I don’t really have (this is going to sound really bad) disabled friends.

Q. But I don’t think you have an obligation to…

A. Yes but when I was younger I thought like I needed to

Q. Really, why was that?

A. I think it’s because my mum never treated me differently, she was like ‘you will get a whooping like everybody else, you will do your chores like everybody else’ but when I was 16 I went to a two week camp thing and it was all disabled kids and at first I was like ‘I’m not one of these people’. I feel bad now but that’s how it was – I wasn’t raised with other disabled kids around. After that experience I realised they are just like me but they have a different disability.

 It opened my eyes because I was ignorant to other people and their disabilities – but then saying that people assume that every disabled person understands another disabled person’s disability. Someone expected me to know sign language and I was like we don’t know each other, we don’t all live in some magic forest in a bubble in the middle of nowhere – that’s not how it works. Someone once said to me, ‘oh I know a disabled person, he’s always at Stratford station, his name is Jim – do you know him?’ I said ‘Oh Jim, yeah yeah, I know Jim’ but seriously, who the hell is Jim? It’s like (this is going to sound bad) but you know how before certain people think all black people look the same – it’s kind of like people think all disabled people know each other. I don’t know Jim from Adam, Eve, Bob or Steve!

 It’s just things like that which make you think there is still ignorance out there but I’m not going to penalise you for it – don’t get me wrong there will be a day when I’m having a bad day and someone will want to push me over the edge and I will just go from zero to 60. That’s a rare occasion now because I am now an adult and I can get trailed as an adult so I need to be calm and try to explain. I’m a very open person so if you want to know about my disability I’d rather you ask than assume ‘Oh, so you …had an accident?’

Q. Do people assume quite a lot?

A. Yeah. A lot when I was between 16 and 18. I got it more because that’s when reality hits you. If you live with it you get on but it was a kind of like ‘oh what happened, did you have an accident? Can you feel your legs?’ I don mid people asking but it’s the way you ask me – why do you automatically think it’s a bad thing? It’s like why do you pity me?

Q. How do you deal with that? People obviously don’t mean it in that way but it’s how they address the question or you address it straight on?

A. That’s the thing, because I know they probably don’t mean it and that’s coming out instead I just answer the question and once they get to know me (I’m a very jokey person) I will make a joke out of it. A lot of the time (most of my friends are boys) and we will be wrestling and fighting. They might say ‘oh, I’ll kick your arse’ and I would say ‘you can’t see my arse’ (laughs) I make jokes to make other people feel comfortable but there is a line – not like a serious line but there is a limit, because I’m 21 now I have been to clubs and been out and when people are drunk they don’t know how to handle themselves. When the cross a line I say, ‘No. That’s a line you’ve crossed and I’m now doing to walk away’. There’s no point being aggressive because it makes me out of character and it puts me down and other disabled people down because that might be that person’s first experience with a disabled person and I don’t want to ruin it for the rest. My little brother (he’s 12) and when he was younger he understood why I was in a wheelchair but he didn’t understand why other people were – so it’s that thing of he knows I’m a good person so he’s not going to treat someone else with a disability differently because he knows they’re good people too. Here are people with disabilities who are bitter though

Q. Bitter about having a disability?

A. Yeah - and they just take it out on the world. First of all they are wasting time, your using a lot of energy and you’re just making yourself miserable. I’d rather be laughing, happy, joking for the rest of my life than be miserable for a week. It’s not worth it – you age much quicker too.

Q. One of things you said that I found quite interesting is you made the comment that people assume all black people know each other or look the same, for someone who had a disability, when you see someone else with a disability do you say, ‘hey!’ What’s that like?

A. Well there is a little  ‘oh are you alright’ but it’s not like ‘you my brother, what’s gaan’n on?’ There is a little acknowledgement but now there is also of disable people in London, now when you are in a lift it’s not that awkward. You do acknowledge each other but I acknowledge everybody.

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Are the Olympics an urban affair? 

The central line to Stratford is drenched with well meaning tourists gladly exhibiting their Olympic tickets like peacock feathers. 

Tucked away in a corner I sit resentfully observing the influx of tourists brandishing their patriotism. The world has descended on to London for the biggest sporting event in British history and I stand excluded. 

Challenged by Headstart to find out if the Olympics really is an urban affair, Maddie, Rosalyn and I ventured out to rural England. 

75 miles away and it's a different story. Nestled two miles away from the Kent coast, residents of Sandwich have varied views on the Olympics. When asked if the Olympics were exclusive to London, local resident  Jim, 75 replied "It's a money  making scheme- when it first started it was one man with  one torch making the country proud, now it's become diluted. It's too political - its not just about the sport. It's only about getting rich and politics. When athletes win it's an ego boost for that country. Athletes are just pawns for a game controlled by the rich." Unsurprisingly, when Jim was asked whether or not he liked the Olympics, an abrupt and concise answer followed: "No."

London evacuatee, Phil had similar feelings to Jim. He left London purposely during the games to escape it. Phil, a Leytonstone resident was annoyed about the effect the Olympics is having in his area, "it's all sh!t to be honest. I live in Leytonstone and I've found it's nightmare to do basic activities like parking. Don't get me started on parking! I have to go back on myself just to get to the other side of the road - and it gets worse. They've decided to block the roads till the Paralympics are over. That was it for me. I had to leave London".    

Despite Jim and Phil's pessimism (and arguably realism) his perspective was not shared by all. Two of the younger residents we met were more supportive. Josh, 16 felt the games were a great way to celebrate Britain as a whole. He thought the opening ceremony was "better than expected". Jess, 9 also felt the London games had trickled down to rural Sandwich, "after watching the games one of my friends was inspired by Jessica Ennis to run and get involved with athletics" 

Overall, the atmosphere seems parallel to London. The Olympics are like  marmite. No matter what, it won't be everyone's cup of tea (or vegetable based  spread). 

Filmed by Rosalyn

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What makes a weightlifter?

''I have a horrible shake made from 50 grams of oats, 30 grams of whey protein, a pint of whole milk, and 10 grams of colostrum, which is the first milk of a cow that has just given birth. It's absolutely horrible. The colostrum overpowers anything else in the shake and makes it just revolting. But it's really good for you – it's full of antibodies and keeps you healthy. If you're training hard, your immune system is going to be weak so you take stuff like that to stay away from illness. And that's it, that's breakfast. I've tried to get people to try it, but they won't. Just the smell of it is enough to put people off – it knocks most people for six. It's like drinking gone-off milk.''

Jack Oliver, Team GB weightlifter 

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A brief history of the games - as told by the Guardian

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When will London start feeling the Olympic strain?

Network Rail's chief executive, Sir David Higgins, said London's transport system would inevitably be disrupted by the Games.

'During the Games bad things will happen," he told the BBC. "There is going to be track circuit failure, there will be overhead line breakages, there will be cable theft. Probably there will be suicides – there always are over a 60-day period, that's just going to happen unfortunately … The message to the public should be: 'There are going to be disruptions … [But] we shouldn't get excited about it, we shouldn't panic about it.'

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How is British Identity defined?

I lived in Ghana for five years as a child before moving to England.

I was born in England but my mother found it difficult as a young single parent so she sent my older brother and I to Ghana to live with our grandparents.

Although I was young when I moved, I still remember living in Ghana.

Initially, I found the transition to English life and education difficult. Despite my reservations about English culture I did my best to adapt. I can still remember the first time I had processed ham after begging my mum for weeks to make me an ‘English packed lunch’.

The ham was bought from the corner shop and it had a Union Jack printed on the front of the vacuum packed casing promising to be the epitome of British food.

You can imagine the anticipation I had built up in the process only to find processed ham pointless, cold and flavourless - the taste of ham hasn’t changed much since. 

Along with my dislike for ham, I was the centre of taunts courtesy of my consistently dry legs - ( coco butter became my salvation), my accent  and ‘African’ mannerisms. My surname even suffered from a pronunciation coup. What was a strong vocal African ‘Mae-Nu’ became reduced to a verbal skeleton of ‘Menu’s and ‘Man-U’s.

For those of you who have been kind enough to read on and are wondering why the sudden change of topic from Olympics to my personal history, I guess it’s all down to George Alagiah’s autobiographical book, A Home from Home.  

 Seemingly far removed from my experiences, age group and culture;  George Alagiah’s  A Home from Home has been an enlightening read with many parallels with my life. As one of the most prominent figures in British broadcasting, his autobiographical narrative suggests his experience as an ‘immigrant boy’ forced to rapidly adapt into life at public school and all the trappings of Englishman, helped forge a strong character and identity that has informed him in his role as a journalist and commentator.

His cultural diversity has strengthened, rather than weakened his identity and his voice. By sharing his story, he moved and prompted me to share mine.

Prior to reading A Home From Home I was admittedly ashamed (if not scared) of my heritage. The playground taunts and lack of primary school friends haunted me for a long time.

But I’ve grown up and into my heritage. Now I am proud to say I am African (and British) and make an effort to learn about the history and customs of both cultures.

 A Home From Home is a narrative about this transition and the process of marrying two seemingly different cultures so they can co exist. In the process he questions multiculturalism and British identity, using his personal experiences as a case study. 

Published it 2006, I came across it whilst doing some research for Two Nations - a youth led inquiry into who Londoners want to win at the Olympics and how their cultural background affects their patriotism. 

 Presented by DJ, reporter and broadcaster Gemma Cairney, Two Nations brings together young Londoners from A New Direction’s Headstart programme to present an evening of poetry, debate and film asking who Londoners want to win at the Olympics, and why. The evening will feature performances from poets and performers Hannah Lowe, Jasmine Cooray and James Massiah. 

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What is your twitter account?

No twitter I'm afraid.

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Has anyone seen the Golden BMW?

My attention was first drawn to this competition via a flashing advert that appeared in the margin of my Hotmail account once I logged in.

I usually block them out and very rarely notice adverts but being slightly shallow the words ‘ golden’ and ‘BMW’ resonated with my materialistic alter ego.

I’m pretty sure in a past life I was an American pimp with terribly bad taste for garish watches and diamanté mink coats.

 Anyway, after clicking on the link I discovered that it was actually a very smart marketing campaign developed by the people over at BMW HQ to promote their latest model via social media, exploit their Olympic sponsorship privileges and create an innovative way of winning tickets to the 2012 games.

 Basically, you have to look out for a Golden BMW as it tours the UK.

If you spot it, you should take a photo and share it via the BMW twitter page and you could win a pair of tickets to the London 2012 Games. They’re giving one pair away every day until Wednesday 25th July.

One lucky winner will also receive our Golden Prize – the chance to drive a BMW for a year. The prize includes use of four of the latest models from their London 2012 fleet.

For more info check this out 

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Up in the air : Olympic Sites

View the rest here 

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Have you heard?

BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra’s Academy officially opens on Friday, 1st June 2012 ahead of the Hackney Weekender.

There’s been a lot of hype around the academy and after reading the line up (name drop galore!) I can definitely assure you it’s the place to be if you are looking for a career elevation.

Specifically aimed at young people with an interest in the arts, the programme aims to educate and address the questions of anyone starting out.

It’s the place to go to ‘Get Inspired, Get Involved and Take It On’.

Speaking of getting involved, our very own SMJ blogger and photographer, Joe Mason will be featured on a panel on the 13th June 2012.

If you are around come down and listen to what he has to say about having his work showcased in an exhibition.

To make it easier, I copied a few helpful pointers you might want to bare in mind from their FAQ page.

What is the Academy?

The Radio 1 and 1Xtra Academy is three weeks of workshops and events happening in Hackney throughout June. It will focus on skills development in four main areas; business, the arts, career development and media skills.

Why are they doing it?

We want to celebrate the uniqueness of the young people and the area of East London in the lead up to Radio 1’s Hackney Weekend and the Olympics. We will be working with local organisations in and around Hackney to give the young people a voice and give the rest of the UK a chance to witness a moment in history.

What will young people get from it?

The Radio 1 and 1Xtra Academy will be a place to be inspired, gain practical experience and share ideas.

Workshops, Q&A's and various other events will take place at the Academy covering the following themes:

Music , Radio , Business , Fashion, Film. Gaming and Programming, Comedy , Journalism and Career Development

YOU CAN BOOK TICKETS TO THE Q&A SESSIONS HERE

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Feeding a Stadium: Olympic food by numbers

1.75 million: McDonald’s customers over the month-long Olympic period


25,000: loaves of bread consumed by athletes in the Olympic Village


£2.40: cost of a filter coffee on site


£4,500: cost of a premium ticket to the opening ceremony, including access to the best fine dining


£5.90: cost of a hot dog on site


330: tonnes of fruit and vegetable will be consumed by the athletes


25 million: drinks expected to be sold by Coca-Cola including juices, bottled water and soft drinks 


£1.50: cost of a packet of crisps


10: restaurants in the Olympic park, including the UK’s largest McDonald’s


1,800: food and drink kiosks in the Olympic Park

Content Source : Evening Standard 

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Olympic torch has arrived!

This post comes delayed but I think it’s still worth posting to acknowledge the arrival of the Olympic flame.

London 2012 Olympic Torch in all its glory 

 It arrived on Friday, 18th May ahead of its 70-day tour of the country.

 David Beckham, the Princess Royal, Lord Coe, chairman of Games organizers Locog, and London Mayor Boris Johnson flew from Athens, Greece, with the flame.

 They were on board British Airways flight BA2012, a gold-liveried plane named The Firefly.

 The Olympic Flame was held in four different lanterns, which were fastened into specially designed cradles in seats 1A and 1B for the near four-hour flight from Athens.

The Airbus 319 jet landed at 7.25pm at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose, near Helston, Cornwall.

Once on British soil, the distinctive gold London 2012 torch was lit from the lantern and was passed to former England captain Beckham.

 He then climbed on to a stage and used the torch to light a cauldron at the air-sea rescue base, where it will burn overnight.

The flame was handed over to London to host the Games for the third time since the birth of the Olympics - in 1908, 1948 and now 2012. No other city has staged the Games three times.

Despite rigorous tests, a small mishap for the Olympic torch on its way to London occurred.

As a 23-year-old Paralympic badminton star relayed the torch, the flame went out.

 Organizers rushed to get a new torch as onlookers saw what ended up being a pretty awkward scene. Olympic officials said there are many reasons the flame can go out, and this is not the first time it has happened.

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Who said Police can't smile?

Policeman who became youtube sensation after dancing at Notting hill Carnival 

I know I haven’t been blogging recently but I have been keeping my eye on a few articles and Olympic related news I knew would be great to share with you.

The first is based on an article I read in the Evening Standard with encourages police to smile and cheer people up during the Olympics.

According to the article, Officers are being encouraged to enjoy themselves and be happy when they meet the public on patrol during the Games. The advice is contained in internal briefing documents being circulated to all officers on Olympic duty.

Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison, who is in charge of security for the Olympics, said: “We are saying you are here to do your job, prevent crime and maintain the Queen’s peace but at the same time enjoy it. This is about us engaging with people and being a happy face of policing. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for all of us.”

The advice comes after the force has been hit by accusations of racism and corruption and the police are facing a pay freeze and pension cuts. Summer leave for the Met’s 32,000 officers has also been slashed in half and officers are being asked to change their shift patterns to work longer hours.

Rank-and-file police leaders have warned of a crisis in morale when the UK is facing the biggest peacetime policing operation in history.

Insiders say there is concern about keeping up officers’ morale for nearly 70 days without a break. One said: “We are expecting everyone to keep up the sort of happy policing atmosphere that we saw in the royal wedding but the challenge is to motivate people for that length of time.”

Firstly, I’d like to say why hasn't this been addressed earlier? Such a basic act and human reaction seems to have been supressed under the rigid face of institutionalised justice.

It’s almost like once police are in uniform they also put on a veneer of aggression and intimidation.

I think a lot of people forget police are human and that they are cable of basic human reactions such as smiling.

 At the same time I do wander if encouraging police to smile could have detrimental effects of the respect they receive when policing. 

 Again, the respect  they receive is questionable anyway so maybe this we redeem their current public image?

 Still unsure about this – What do you think? 

Source : Evening Standard 

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'You need to be doing something that you love and feel really passionate about’

Young girl with Olympic themed glasses at Freeword exhibition opening.

Photo Credit : Frances Baker and Ros Barnett

During the Freeword’s opening exhibition, Politics and the Olympics I caught up with Moira Sinclair, Executive Director of Arts Council England to find out about her thoughts on young people and the future of the arts.

Moira Sinclair became Executive Director of Arts Council England, London in March 2008, where she is responsible for the support and development of the arts throughout the capital, overseeing a portfolio of over 250 regularly funded organisations, which includes many of the national companies such as the Royal Opera House and the National Theatre.

Q.  Part of your job requires engaging young people; with youth unemployment having reached a high recently, how difficult will it be in future to do that?

A.  I think it’s going to be a challenge – it’s a challenge on a number of fronts, firstly talking to young people whose parents are very anxious about them coming into arts and the creative sector because they don’t know what the employment situation will be.

All I can do is refer back to my own situation when I tried to get into the Arts in the 1980’s and we were in the middle of a recession and it was really hard.

You need to be doing something that you love and feel really passionate about.

The Arts Council is going help fund apprentices and internships and some job creation to make sure we don’t loose this generation of young artists and young professionals.

But it is going to be a tough time.

In explaining to parents particularly that the arts sector is not just about what they know – it’s not just about being on stage or being a pop performer – there’s a whole range of careers that sit underneath that and if you study the arts you have transferable skills. You can learn about finance, you can learn about managing teams, you can learn about hitting deadlines really quickly and all of that is really valuable when you go into your career so even if you study art at GCSE through to A level until University, you don’t know how that’s going to translate into your future career options. Careers that we though were once safe are no longer safe and actually the Arts are a great starting point for a whole range of other things that happen.

Q. Do you think the Olympics will act as an opportunity to create change within families and young people?

A. I think it has done in certain circumstances, we are very proud of the work we’ve done around death and disable artists and I think that’s one of the legacy pieces that will come through that the way that these artists are seen and understood will completely change post Olympics games and we are funding the most tremendous amount of work.

 If you are looking specifically in east London and the opportunities that are longer term gains. What I hope is that you raise the aspirations of people especially young people in east London and their families to say we can grow. The Olympics gives us a feeling of what could be achieved- we have real ambition for our young people and we want them to do better than we did.

My family background is that my father was born in Stepney and he came from a generation that wanted their kids to do really well and the Olympics should be another opportunity for parents to want their children to do really well.

Q. You were sat on the cultural board before the Olympics was announced. Perhaps you could tell us about your previous job and what it entailed.

A. Well I’ve been involved with the planning for the Olympics since I joined the Arts Council and before that I worked in East London. I worked for St. Barts and the London NHS trust so I know the communities around Whitechapel and that surrounding area pretty well and as I say my history going back a long way is Stepney and East London. I don’t think means personally I have a real experience of what it means to be an East Londoner today but I have a sense of what you can achieve and why east London gives you resilience. It gives you the ability to really think about working with different communities and different cultural groups and it gives you the springboard to hopefully something exciting for your futures.

Q. The younger people who are harder to reach who there is funding for– how do you think the message of opportunity can be brought forward and how they can grasp it.

A.  Well I think you as peers have a role to play I saying there’s something here for everybody.  I think there’s a sense of them not missing what’s passing by their doorsteps and if they don’t engage – it’s kind of happening anyway. There’s the Hackney Weekend, Urban Classics going on at Waltham forest, there’s a whole series of events going on at Hackney Empire, Rich Mix is doing a set of interesting programmes – it doesn’t cost a lot. I always say to young people if you don’t get engaged now who are you going to blame at the end of this because its not like the opportunities are not there. If you don’t take them up the person you are going to blame at the end of this is you not the people around you. Although there has been some frustration about the pace of the events and the communication of these events its now becoming clearer and clearer what these opportunities are – a lot of them are free – a lot of the require you to use your bus pass and move form one place to another which I know is terrifying for some young people but London has the enormous richness and you as young people aren’t prevented from accessing it. Get out there and do it! You are luckier than any other young person in the country – go and do it.