Getting in to TV

As like a lot of other industries Media has been affected by the recession. Less people are advertising jobs in the Media Guardian and there is less new TV written and produced by new talent. The TV industry not only has the recession to contend with but the ever changing marketplace with the internet now playing a key role in its development so much so that the degree that I graduated from Broadcasting studies is now called Digital Media.

The question I want to pose this week is with audiences now watching TV more and more online has it opened up a greater opportunity for young people to get established and noticed so that they can move on to regular TV or has the recession stopped any chance of this?

I think with technological advances it is easier and cheaper today to produce a TV programme or film than it was ten years ago. This has been highlighted by the British film “Colin” which was made for £45 and got a limited cinema release. With more and more people using the internet and watching TV on the internet it is also easier to market your work and get people watching.

This development has given young talented people the chance to shine in TV which they wouldn’t have normally had but it is the next step which is the hardest and most important which is making your talent in to a career or securing a job off the back of it. With sites like YouTube, BBC iPlayer and illegal file sharing viewers online are reluctant to pay to view and securing an advertising deal which pays you any kind of real money is near on impossible to find so making money out of your work can be hard.

So the only way really to use the online world is for publicity to help you get paid work in industry however this is where we hit another snag. Because of the recession TV companies don’t have big budgets or money to waste so many are reluctant to take risks or to employ unproven talent no matter how good you are. The big networks are looking for cheap to make programmes and programmes they can make money out of and know they are going to get high viewing figures for. This is why we have the X-Factor, Strictly Come Dancing and I’m a Celebrity on at the moment, which takes up a huge chunk of weekly TV.

I think in the future there will be a way to draw more money out of screening programmes on the internet but until that day comes I think it is going to be hard for someone to make a decent living if they aren’t employed or funded by a major company. From an artists point however I encourage any budding TV and film maker to go out and produce something and put it up on the web as I think in the future there will be more cases like “Colin” that go on to do big things and get recognition.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Humanitarian

I was privileged this week to be invited to the British Red Cross Humanitarian Citizen Awards at the House of Commons. I was nominated and then short listed for the prize which was really humbling. I had never been to the House of Commons so to just get the chance to go inside was enough of an exciting prospect for me but then to be awarded as runner up was completely overwhelming.

This got me thinking about the word ‘humanitarian’ - the dictionary definition of the word is:

“someone devoted to the promotion of human welfare and to social reforms”

To me when I always thought about the word humanitarian I always associated it with people who went out to clear landmines in war torn countries, people who went and helped in orphanages in poverty stricken countries or people who helped people suffering from major medical problems. Not once did I ever think that humanitarian could be a word to describe somebody like myself from a rural county who helped young people in the community and helped people across the country pursue their talents.

I really enjoyed the British Red Cross Humanitarian Citizen Awards because of the positivity of the event. So many times in the press young people are used for negative news so the more events like this that highlight young people doing amazing things the better. At the event there were so many humbling stories of the difference young people are making in this country and the power that an individual has to make change.

I just hope this event has got people thinking that they can be a humanitarian in their own communities as well as in the wider world. So I would just like to use this time to encourage you to do something to help others and be a humanitarian. As a population of young people we need to put more importance of lives we can change and difference we can make over the money we can make.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Success and Happiness

The footballing community was saddened today by the news of German Goalkeeper Robert Enke committing suicide after battling depression for many years. As we the public look at talented and famous people we think they have the best life and we are envious of them as to us they seem to have it all. However we need to remember that these are real people going through real problems.

As a world we put so much importance on success and achieving things to an extent that we don’t stop to think about happiness. As a world we are consumed with being the best and achieving standards on professional or skill level whereas not many people come out in public and say I want to try and be the happiest person in the world.

Happiness is something we can’t take for granted and doesn’t always come with achievement. We have to start looking at successful people as human beings and not just these people we idolize or scrutinize. If someone is not prepared for it talent and fame can be a burden and not a privilege.

I know some people who have achieved a lot in life that aren’t truly happy and I have met some people who do non skilled jobs who are truly happy so success doesn’t always equal happiness. Regardless of whether someone is successful or not we need to look out for them, we can’t just keep on assuming that successful people are happy.

Yes we want people succeed and be successful but we have to make sure we don’t do this at the price of people’s happiness.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Cheating for a school place

This issue has reared its head in the press again this week and has sparked much conversation and debate. The argument put forward this week is that more should be done to deter parents from lying to get their child in to the school of their choice and there should be a bigger crackdown on those parents that have done this.

Now if you ask many parents they will say that they want thee best for their children and I think you have to commend parents that put their children first and do anything they can to give their children the best upbringing possible but the question is where do you draw the line?

If you as a parent are willing to cheat and lie to get your child in to the school of your choosing what message does that send to your children. As parents we have to be examples to our children. There are other problems associated with cheating to get in to schools like if other children find out that you cheated to get your child in they may pick on your child or you yourself may have problems with other parents at the school.

Schools can be a bit of a postcode lottery at times which I don’t think is fair but cheating is not the answer. If you happen to have a house in the radius of a good school your lucky but then what can happen is that wealthier families can afford to buy and move in to houses near these schools to get their children in which isn’t cheating but unfair on low income families who can’t do that.

I think more needs to be done to improve failing or underperforming schools as this is the only way we will avoid this situation. At the moment it seems more is being done on the prevention side but not the cure. It is only when we work on the cure that we will improve education for young people which is the real issue here.

What are your thoughts on cheating to get a school place? We would love to know and you can share your thoughts by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=789

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Keep on Moving

In life there are many setback and obstacles put in our path. Some we can control or see coming, some we can’t. In life there will be so many opportunities and times where you think you can’t go any further and feel like giving up on your quest to fulfilling your dream. Well this week I’m here to encourage you to just keep on moving.

When we get a knock back sometimes it becomes hard to see what we should do next as we may have pinned our hopes on getting that job, that scholarship getting on that course etc. And because we pinned all our hopes on that one thing we didn’t stop to think, “What if I don’t get it?” “What am I going to do next?”

With every success or failure it is important to keep on moving. Failures and successes shouldn’t deter you from the path towards achieving your dream. If you experience a failure its up to you to pick yourself up and look at how you can keep moving. Keep on moving could be a case of finding a different course or a different source of funding and keep on moving can be simply putting in more time working on your talent. Every day is precious and the longer we are stopped for the harder it is going to become to achieve your dream.

Keeping on moving won’t guarantee you success but it will put yourself in a position to grab opportunities that are out there. If you keep on moving it will show prospective employers, agents etc. that you are committed to your dream and that you don’t let any setbacks get in your way.

By committing to keep on moving you may find better opportunities out there than the one you just missed out on. You will also be more aware of all the opportunities that are out there so it will help you make better decisions on what paths to follow.

So if you have just received a knock back remember it isn’t the end of the world, dust yourself off and keep on moving by going out there and finding new opportunities. Never stop!

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Fame

Last week the American box office smash hit remake of Fame came to our screens in the UK. The original Fame was a classic film and one that many people either studying performing arts or working in performing arts have seen. So I thought it only right that I comment on it in this week’s blog.

I’ve seen the original and last week saw the new release and although I loved the original I do still like the remake. I think the way they have adapted it has made it relevant for young people today and focuses on a lot of the problems people in the performing arts world have trying to make it in the business.

I will try not to spoil too much of what happens but for those unfamiliar with Fame it centres around a handful of students who attend the most recognized performing arts school in the country which happens to be in New York. The film follows the individual characters from auditioning to get in to school to graduation and showing how the quest for fame changes and affects each of them.

Coming out of the film I felt very uplifted. In a current culture of people wanting to be famous more than they want to be talented and the rise of reality TV I think it put performing arts back in to perspective. The film showed that fame doesn’t always equal happiness and that you can love your talent without having to be famous for doing it. It showed that success isn’t about becoming famous it is about being happy which is a message many young people need to hear as sometimes some people can become to obsessed with becoming famous.

So if you can please go and check out this film it is very much worth a watch.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Is it worth it?

This week saw the first live show of X-Factor hit our screens and as per usual it has been headline news all week in the tabloids with over eleven million people watching over the weekend. One of the headline stories have been twin act John and Edward who have encountered the wrath of the tabloid press and the general public.

The twins have been highlighted throughout the audition process for their over the top personalities, their attitude and their antics which included singing over others or signing other peoples lines at bootcamp and then giving one of the worst auditions at the Judges house section and still getting picked.

Without knowing them the press has brandished them as vile creatures and the general public have got on the bandwagon by starting up Facebook groups which are about wanting them kicked off, voted off etc. It was to the amazement of many that they managed to survive the first round of the live shows as they were the favourites to go out. The scorn against the pair has got that bad now that the judges and presenters are having to try and counterbalance it with being nice to them at any chance.

Yes they aren’t the most talented act on X-Factor but I think they know this and this is why they have done what they have and acted in the way they have to get where they are. Instead of being credited for how they have managed to get themselves in to the top 12 they are being despised because of it. To get in to the top twelve if you aren’t the most talented on the show must be harder than if you are the most talented.

However in light of the reaction to the pair they now must be thinking was it worth it? Yes they have got themselves their fifteen minutes of fame but I think they are going to find it hard when they come out of X-Factor to either be taken seriously or to get work. Sometimes we can get so shortsighted in our goals and will to succeed that we forget to look at the bigger picture.

I think there is something to admire in John and Edward’s determination to get where they are but it is a great case to look at for long term success. If you are going to put a lot of hard work in you need to make sure it is going to be worth it and if you are going to use a high risk strategy you have to be very careful and be prepared to accept the risks.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Volunteering and the Recession

Something that crossed my mind the other day was I wonder how volunteering has grown or changed since the recession. Are people out of work using this time to volunteer or are they spending their time doing other things? With the shortage of jobs are young people doing more volunteering to bulk up their CV and make them standout?

I think bodies that support volunteering in this country should be doing more at the moment to try and make sure as many people out of work are volunteering as possible. I remember in the past we have had things like Millennium Volunteers and the Year of Volunteering but I think it is time for a push again.

During a recession there should also be more volunteering opportunities made available to cope with the demand. Instead of volunteering organizations thinking right we can be more selective in who we take on because of the demand their should be agencies working with people to find them a volunteering opportunity that is right for them.

During a recession, profit making enterprises may feel like they capitalize on the situation by getting people to work for free for them in return for some work experience and a reference but I think it is important that we make sure that people aren’t getting ripped off and are getting something out of it.

If you have some spare time on your hands be sure to find out what volunteering opportunities there are in your area. You will be surprised by what is available to you. Just always make sure to check out the organization and the position first to make sure that it is the right place for you as if it is you will be amazed by what you can get out of volunteering.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Student Loans

In many cities and towns across the UK over the last week you will have noticed that its that time of year again as students descend on University for Freshers Week and to start their term. This year there has been a record number of students applying for University and getting placed so there will be even more of them wondering around your local area.

However due to the record uptake and the recession it has caused problems with student funding with many students still waiting to receive their allocated student loan. Without student loans many people would be unable to afford to go to University and it is causing many problems and stress for students up and down the land. Some students don’t even know yet how much they will be receiving in payments so can’t even budget yet as they have no clue how much they will be entitled to.

The University year doesn’t get delayed because of students not getting student loans so students have been forced to try and get money from other areas whilst they wait for the money to come in. Some are getting loans from high street banks, some are having to get jobs and some are having to borrow from friends and family. These solutions are only going to add to their long-term debt or affect their ability to achieve on their course.

Universities still expect their fees, landlords still expect their rent and other things have to be paid for including food, bills, books and all other imaginable essential living items regardless of whether your student loan has come in or not. This means that some people will leave University in more debt than they should do or even worse still have to leave the course because they can’t afford to be on it without the student loan.

Many of the current MP’s got their University education for free so its about time they did something to help put pressure on the loan companies to sort this out or find a way to deal with the problem as if it isn’t rectified it could lead to a brain drain from University with high achieving students being forced to quit their course. If left any longer this problem will have unfair affect on students from poorer backgrounds, those who don’t have friends or family who can lend them money, or savings they can dip in to. Students from wealthier backgrounds may be able to deal with the situation and keep on going but University should be for everyone regardless of their financial situation.

Have you been caught up in the Student loans problem? If so we would like to hear what you think and you can share your views by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=780

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Excuses

I personally think that excuses stop us from achieving so much in life and I think we are growing in to an excuse culture. In sport if a team or an individual loses they say its not because the opponent was better than them but instead blame it on things they did wrong or other factors like the referee. If somebody doesn’t do well at school it can be the school system, their background, teachers or anything else that their parent can think of which is to blame. I think it is about time we got out of this excuse culture.

In sport I think if you can’t see or admit when a team is better than you, you will never succeed. Saying a team is better than you can be a positive experience if done right as you can use that team as your motivation to get even better than them. The high majority of sporting matches are won by the better team and with only a few really being down to bad referring decisions or other circumstances. If you make excuses it stops you from improving or working hard which is the only way you are going to become the best if not you will be making excuses all season.

I think it is also time that we stopped blaming our situation in life or our background and using that as an excuse to why we don’t achieve. There aren’t many people in the world who’s life is actually perfect and there will always be someone better of than you or worse off than you. Everyone has problems of some kind and normally it’s the ones that don’t about them who have the biggest.

If you want to succeed in life you have to cut out the excuses because they only stop us from reaching our full potential. I would rather achieve something than have to always be coming up with excuses. You have to remember that the more you make excuses the less people care and in the real world excuses don’t cut it.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Pushing it too far

Now if you have been talking about TV this week the chances are you have been talking about Derren Brown and his lottery trick. Last week live on TV he put together a show where he proclaimed to have managed to predict all six lottery numbers that were going to be drawn. On the show you saw a set of balls on screen but could not see the numbers and then after the lottery had happened Derren turned them around and they did in fact match the lottery numbers that were shown, however this doesn’t mean he predicted them.

Regardless of whatever technique you were to use to predict the lottery numbers the percentage chance you had of predicting them all correctly would still remain the same which is approx 1 in 14 million as there are that many different combinations that can come out. However Derren’s show was crafted so well that he got many people believing he had actually predicted the numbers.

This isn’t the first stunt Derren has pulled, over the last few years he had done Russian Roulette and a show on mind control how he managed to get people to do things they wouldn’t normally do. Now both of these tricks might like his recent stunt be fixed but these two were plausible that he could actually pull them off, with Russian Roulette you never have a worse than fifty percent chance of getting it wrong and the idea that you could through the art of suggestion get someone to do something is again very plausible. However with the lottery stunt I think he has tried to push the envelope too far and it has come unbelievable.

In the human spirit there I something that wants to believe that there is someone out there that could do something amazing and we would all love to be able to predict the lottery which is where Derren gets his fan base. I think if Derren tries too many of these stunts, too often I think he will lose any credibility he has. In my opinion Derren is a great TV presenter an a great illusionist but as for having the powers he proclaims I’m not too sure, I will however give him one thing he is great at getting people talking and if this show has caused people to try their hand at maths and problem solving to try and prove or disprove his trick it will have done something good.

I think it is a wise lesson for young people to learn from Derren Brown that if you push things too far that you may become unstuck so always be sure to think about what you are going to do and your next move before you do it because as soon as you lose your credibility then you’ve got problems.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Motivation, Politics and the classroom

The President of the United States of America Barack Obama has been making headlines this week for a speech he made which was broadcast to schools across the country. In this speech he encouraged children that if they want to achieve anything they will need an education to do it and that the future of the country depended on their educational achievement.

Many people in the US have been unhappy with his speech, as they believe he is trying to indoctrinate young people in to his political agenda. Instead of bringing politics in to the classroom he has brought himself in to the classroom with a motivational and inspirational message.

Now I am all for public and famous figures doing all they can to inspire and motivate young people to achieve all that they can and I think more people should use their fame or stature to do this. I think where Obama has come unstuck is when he says that the future of the country depends on you. No matter how true I think this statement is I think he should have gone down the route of encouraging young people to work hard to see what they can achieve in their own life and not tagged on the message about the country.

In the UK will we see Gordon Brown trying a similar thing and if he did what would the reaction be? I think Obama is in a unique place as I think he is one of the most liked and recognized world leaders amongst the young community that there has been so young people in America are probably more likely to listen to him than say if Gordon Brown tried the same thing over here.

Overall I think world leaders should always be doing more to help and inspire young people but it needs to be for the right reasons not for point scoring or some other hidden agenda and as Obama has found out the way the message is delivered is so important as young minds are very impressionable.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Competitiveness against intelligence

Schools were once seen as a place of learning where young people could experiment and explore. A place where young people could feed their minds with knowledge and where they were given freedom to research and study things which interested them. Now to me as an outsider looking in Schools seem to be more about competition than anything else.

With more people looking to stay in education after school due to the lack of jobs out there, there is a higher level of competition for these places. To get funding and a good reputation schools are pressured in to getting their grade averages up so now many schools will choose to offer subjects where it will be easier for their students to get good grades in. GCSE and A Level results can give off the illusion that the school is improving where in actual fact it could just mean less students are doing so called harder subjects or that the exams themselves are getting easier.

Now I am one for competition as young people need to know how to achieve in a competitive world as that is what the outside world will bring them after they leave education but competition shouldn’t take the lead over learning. Real intelligence can’t be measured by exam scores. If you get good grades but haven’t come through a school system which has nurtured your intelligence development it may mean that you struggle on that A Level of University course you have applied for. A grade is just a means to get on to another course or a job but if you aren’t prepared for that course or the job you are going to fail in the next stage of your life.

I think it is quite ridiculous how we can live in a world where sports days are getting banned or changed to take away competitiveness from it yet school grades and league tables are plastered all over local and national media for all to see as each school tries to out do the other.

Do you think School exams are getting easier? We would like to know your thoughts and you can share them by joining in our topic of the week by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=770


Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Media Attention

In a sport which only receives widespread media attention during the three big competitions (Olympics, Commonwealth and World Championships) athletics has been thrusted on to the front pages this week. The story getting the attention centres around Caster Semenya but its not the news of her Gold Medal in the 800 meters but the allegations surrounding he gender which is getting the attention.

Now a month ago on the street if you had asked the average person on the street who was Caster Semenya? A good 99.9% of people would not know but now she is the name on everyone’s lips. The only thing she has done is win a race and now she is the subject of debate and at times ridicule.

I think Caster the runner from South Africa has been put in a terrible situation which could have and should have been avoided. Her local governing body should have known something like this may happen and should have done something about it. Then failing that the athletics body at the games should have stepped in when she arrived.

To have people talking about you around the world because of you talent is pressure enough but to have people debating your gender is much more personal and damaging especially if you have never been in the spotlight before. We should be talking about her talent the same as if anybody else had won and then wait for the results of the tests without jumping to any conclusions.

This situation may also form a new debate on whether or not other criteria as well as gender should come in to play when deciding on who is eligible to enter which race which is a whole new can of worms altogether.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

If it isn’t broke don’t fix it

This Saturday sees the return of the X-Factor to our screens in the UK. After many seasons of the same format this year the producers have made a range of changes including auditions now being held in front of live audiences instead of just in front of the judges to name just one.

Using the same format the X-Factor has been a hit in the UK for many years now but this is the first time the producers have played with the format. I’m not sure if this is because they are scared about viewing figures or people just want to make change for change sake.

If something is successful or you are successful you should keep doing things the same way as yes a change could make you even better but there is a risk if you change things up for no reason that it could make you less successful. If you are going to make changes there should be a purpose behind them and they should be well thought out.

It is hard in today’s world to find a winning formula and with things like TV programmes the viewers obviously like the programme for a reason and if you change it you may alienate those viewers that liked the programme before you changed it.

In a fast changing world there seems to be this atmosphere and culture of having to change to keep up with the times and for entities to keep evolving but I think it is important that we don’t go blindly in to this cycle and sometimes fight the urge to change some things.


Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Giving to get in return

Over the last year a new innovative project has come to my attention that being Orange RockCorps. The idea behind the project is to get young people to volunteer for four hours to help out with a project that benefits the community in return for getting a ticket to a special concert only for Orange RockCorps volunteers headlined by some of the most popular and biggest musical acts.

I am a huge fan of big companies like Orange giving back and getting involved with helping the community and young people. Mobile phones are so important to young people and its great to see them using that influence they have with young people to get them involved in volunteering. I think every commercial company that sells product and services to young people should be doing something to give back to them.

The one thing I hope is that the Orange RockCorps experience encourages the young people that volunteer with the project to continue volunteering after their four hours commitment is over. The principal behind volunteering is to do something selflessly for other people without expecting a reward so there are some issues with this project.

The problem comes when the young person who volunteers with Orange Rock Corps then goes to do more volunteering and expects to get something in return where that charity or organization may not be able to afford to reward their volunteers no matter how much they might want to. Some people may not even get involved in volunteering expecting a reward they may instead not even apply to be a volunteer without a guarantee of a reward.

The other problem is if the young person is just doing the volunteering for the ticket and don’t get anything out of the experience or have any intention of volunteering again after the project. However if they never planned to volunteer regardless of the project if we can get four hours out of them is that better than nothing some may argue.

I think projects which encourage young people to volunteer and get more people involved in volunteering are great and much needed. Projects like Orange RockCorps need to be careful though. I know Orange RockCorps do work to try and help people to continue with their volunteering but if you give people a big reward after just four hours what is there to encourage them to continue to keep involved.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

The Weather

Now I know its seems like all British people do is complain about the weather but down in the South West we have yet another terrible and wet summer. I’m sure travel agents and airlines love this as it makes us all wish we were holiday somewhere nice and hot but due to the recession it just means that a lot more people in Britain will have no choice but to make the best of the British summer.

Not only does the weather affect the mood of young people in the country but it also limits their opportunities to do things. After a year slaving away in the classrooms their reward is six weeks holiday of what so far has been mainly rain and days are ticking away as before they know it they will be back in school.

When I was a kid summer was a time for getting out and adventuring, for walks, for going places for playing sports. With this weather it is hard for young people to either do these things or enjoy doing these things. Many young people will have just traded the classroom for the home. The lure of TV’s, computers and video games is already high enough for young people with time on their hands but now with not much else to do it is even worse.

Now I’m not saying young people shouldn’t enjoy relaxing, watching a bit of TV and playing a bit on the computer over the summer but it shouldn’t be the only thing they are doing. The summer can be a great learning experience for young people where they get to experience new things and actually have time to dedicate to things they want to do but to help them and increase their opportunities we need this weather to brighten up quick smart.

We want to know what you guys have been up to over your summer holidays, and what you do when it rains? Are you on your games console or have you found a way of keeping active and busy despite the rain? To let us know your thoughts log on to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=759

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Summer Jobs

It has been tradition for many years in the UK for young people to find summer job during their summer holiday from either School, College or University. With the current jobs market this tradition is under threat as the number of summer jobs have significantly decreased and the amount of people applying for them has increased.

It’s not just young people on summer breaks who are now applying for these jobs its older people to who can’t find work and will take anything for a bit of money until they can find something more permanent. With the financial decline it will also means that more people had to fund their way through University as their parents may not have the funds to help them. This means more students applying for jobs including those that a few years ago may not have had to.

Summer jobs were normally low skilled jobs in the tourism, retail or seasonal trade. However with the current unemployment problems people with top notch CV’s, qualifications and experience are applying for these jobs making the competition even harder for students. With more applicants applying for vacancies employers can be more picky about who they bring in. Sometimes a recommendation from a friend use to be enough to get you a job somewhere but now even friends who work in places are having problems getting their other friends in.

As well as summer jobs there is unpaid work experience and internships over the summer period but now that students need money they can’t afford to do unpaid work and now there are lots of unemployed people doing work experience and internships just to get some more experience and contacts to boost their CV’s in this competitive market.

So after a hard slog all year in education young people have to start battling out over the summer as well.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Making a Splash

Tom Daley the young cheeky chap from Plymouth has made headlines this week by winning Gold at the World Diving Championship. Tom was tipped for great things before the Olympics last year and when he failed to deliver a medal many people saw this as a let down. Don’t get me wrong there was still a strong contingent backing Daley but some people started to questions his ability after all the hype that had surrounded him but hopefully now he had put some of those criticisms to rest.

Now To may not have a cult like following like some young pop stars or have the paparazzi chasing him wherever he goes but he is a poster child for UK sporting stars. If it had been someone say in there twenties that had won the gold at The World Diving Championships I don’t think they would have got the coverage that Tom has this week and if Tom hadn’t competed in it I don’ think many of us in the UK would have known that it was taking place.

Earlier this year Tom was making headlines for non-sporting reasons when a story of the bullying he was receiving at school made the national press. He was subsequently moved schools because of it but this brought up a whole range of opinions from the general public. Some saying he shouldn’t get special treatment and that it was part of life from some asking why in today’s society do we have to pick on someone just because they are successful. If this had been any Olympic star accept Tom Daley this wouldn’t have made press or if it had been any child on your own street that this was happening to it wouldn’t have made press.

If the pressure that was on him to bring home the Gold in 2012 before wasn’t enough now after winning Gold at the World Diving Championship people will now be expecting him to do it at the Olympics. The fact that the Olympics are three years away and people are already bigging him up shows the pressure that is on. Anything could happen in those three years, Tom could get injured, a new face may come on the seen, Tom may stop diving, who knows. All I know is that I don’t think we have seen the last of the press interest in his life which I think is only going to get worse the closer we get to the Olympics.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Young People and the recession

In new studies recently released it says that young people are the most optimistic about this country getting itself out of recession than any other demographic but they are being the worst hit by job losses and the lack of jobs going around with a high percentage now out of work and/or claiming Job Seekers Allowance. Some over 16’s have now been out of work for some years and some are yet to be able to find their first job.

Some peoples answer to this is to stay in education with applications for Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses going up. These young applicants are obviously hoping if they stay in education long enough the recession will be over by the time they finish their course but if it isn’t then they will have increased debt to deal with and still very limited job prospects.

I think the government need to step in and do a lot more for young people during this period as the more dissatisfied young people with no money and time on their hands we have it could lead to an increased level in youth crime. If we try and look at it positively with so many young people out of work we have so many man hours available to this country which we need to utilize by getting these young people doing something active and positive which helps this country and helps them get back in to work and to build up experience. If we were to do this we would also lessen the chance for youth crime in the young unemployed group.

With more young people out of work more people are claiming benefits which is more government money being spent. Now this money needs to be spent and unemployed people need it but the government need to invest in getting young people back in to work so they don’t need to claim benefits and save this country money in the long term. As the more people claiming money out of the government and not contributing to the economy the longer it is going to take to get out of this recession.

If the research is true and the young unemployed group are the most positive and optimistic about getting out of recession then we need to harness this positivism. Lets repay their positivism and help keep them positive by helping them as we are going to need this energy to help us get out of this recession.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Drawing

This week I got an email telling me about the Big Draw campaign coming up later this year. It is a yearly event which is all about encouraging more people to draw, lots of events will be out on across the country to try and get as many people drawing as possible. This got me thinking back to my school art days.

I personally can’t remember the last time I did a sketch or drew something. As adults unless we are good at something we tend not to do it which I think is a shame and I think is a big problem with art. Because people like to judge art and when someone tells you that a piece of art you have done is terrible you take it personally, not many people want to invest time in something just to get ripped apart. However for me I think it is a shame with art that we are too worried with what people think of our end product rather than concentrating on the fun or experience we had making the piece.

I think it is important that we keep as many of our creative channels and outlets open as possible. Even if you just do art for yourself I think it is important to participate in as being creative and keeping your mind creative can help you in other areas of your life and the way you approach situations.

It is important that we encourage young people to participate in art in all forms and that we encourage adults to get back in to it. Drawing is such an inexpensive hobby and it is so accessible for people to take up. I hope that this event encourages lots of people to come back to drawing and get in to a creative mindset.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

The possible imminent collapse of Setanta and the impact it will have on sport in the UK

Professional sporting bodies, teams and athletes will all be watching the news this week with great interest to see what is going to happen to Setanta Sports. For all of you unaware of what Setanta are they are a subscriber based sports platform to which its viewers pay a monthly view to watch its collection of sports channels which feature the likes of Premier League matches, golf, boxing, rugby and more. Now you may be asking how this will effect young people who want to get in to sport but please read on to find out who this could effect you.

The way the selling of sports right goes at the moment is that the governing body say for instance The FA will sell the rights to a sports channel to show its matches live, the FA would then distribute the money to the clubs in the league which matches are being aired and keep a percentage for themselves. The problem comes is when the clubs spend the money before they get it and then the deal falls through which is the situation we find ourselves in now.

Normally when professional sporting clubs hit hard times the first things to go or to be cut back are areas that don’t make them profit so area like youth development and coaching in the community can be cut back. This then has a long term effect on the quality of coaching offered to our sporting stars of tomorrow as well as effecting the number of opportunities available to them.

Sporting bodies who were also depending on the cash from selling the rights may then also scale back any youth development work they do as an organization and promotion of the sport which again will effect the number of young people taking up the sport.

When sport is on TV it can inspire and encourage people to give it a go but if Setanta does disappear some sports and teams may become less visible here in the UK if no other broadcaster picks up the rights. To those sports where the rights do get picked it isn’t all good news as now with less potential buyers in the market it will force down the price they can sell their rights for so leaving them with less money in the future.

I hope that some how a deal can be made that helps everyone as there are so many ramifications and people who would be effected if Setanta do go under.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Being Equipped to deal with your Talent

Susan Boyle’s involvement in Britain’s Got Talent has brought this question in to sharp focus this week. Susan proved that there are people out there with amazing talents that the world doesn’t know about but her involvement in the show has provoked much debate over how we handle these people. To go from long term obscurity to worldwide fame in seven week is a daunting task for anyone so why should we expect people to be able to cope with it.

People looking at someone who has a talent and say they are lucky but to some people with talent it is a burden and a problem. Many talented people spend so much time working on their talent that they have missed out on social development and personal development as well as building on their maturity and emotional capabilities. I think it is important we spend more time with people who have talent equipping them to deal with their talent and to pursue their talent to the highest level.

Should TV shows and producers on programmes like Britain’s Got Talent be forced to do more to protect the people who perform on the show and do more psychiatric testing on them to see if they should be on TV? This show has made headlines with the people who have appeared on the show but has this series gone too far and are people now worried for the people on the show? Instead of being entertained the audience is now starting to feel uneasy with young acts breaking down in tears and a negative press campaign against a woman who has won the hearts of many.

People who have years of build up before they get famous for their talent still can have issues and problems with what fame brings so we shouldn’t be expecting people who haven’t had that to be able to deal with it. As the general public I think we need to be careful about the way we treat and react to people like this and shows like this as I don’t think TV shows and the press will ever change. Fame can be taken as quickly as it’s given but all the TV companies seem to be worried about are viewing ratings and advertising revenue.

Do you spend time perparing your self for the life you will lead when you become successful in your area of talent? How important do you think this is? Britain's Got Talent has brought this question in to focus this week and I would love to know your thoughts and you can share them by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=731


Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

One Horse Race

For many weeks people have been predicting that Susan Boyle is going to win Britain’s Got Talent. She has had millions of people watching her performances on Youtube and has been featured in and discussed by media outlets across the world. Now my question I pose today is: Is it worth taking part in a competition which is seen as a one horse race?

With each semi final with only two going through from eight I think most acts are already thinking before they perform that they will be going out. This year more than ever I think they have put through novelty acts or strange acts just to make interesting TV and create media attention and unlike with previous seasons I think the audience at home has known as well as the acts themselves that they aren’t going to go through which I feel spoils it a little.

The way the semi finals are devised are unfair I think as so far all we have had go through our singing and dance acts when the show is suppose to be about variety. I think they should do a night for dance acts, a night for singers and so on so that in the final you get a good mix of talents. Also there should be less semi-finals as semi-finals in competitions usually means the final four or two matches when it comes to sport not five rounds of eight people.

As previous acts who haven’t won Britain’s Got Talent have proved you don’t have to win the competition to be a success like Faryl Williams and Escala for instance who have both released albums. So just because you know you aren’t going to win doesn’t make it a worthless exercise as with the right help and support you can turn your five minutes of fame in to a career or at the very least use the publicity to help get you gigs and to help promote yourself. I am sure lots of entertainers will be putting “As seen on Britain’s Got Talent” on their tour posters soon.

The thing with one horse races is that the voting public like their vote to make a difference and count so sometimes if a voter thinks that someone is going to win the competition with or without their vote they may vote for another act or some will vote against the favourite just to go against the grain. For an example of favourites not winning just look at last week’s American Idol where clear favourite Adam Lambert was beaten by the underdog Kris Allen.

I think Simon needs to be careful with Britain’s Got Talent as when it started it seemed to be about showcasing variety and a competition where anyone could win but now with every year the show to me just seems more and more like just a launchpad for Simon Cowell to showcase his latest star.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Never Giving Up

After the outcry last year from the UK over the Eurovision song contest the UK came back with a bang going from a year after year of languishing at the bottom to finishing in the top five. After last year there had been cries from the UK people for the UK to withdraw from the competition due to the perceived less than impartial voting going on fearing that the UK would never get a fair chance of winning.

This year however Andrew Lloyd Webber came to the rescue helping the country to find our act and then writing the song for them. Even with all this many in the UK were still skeptical about our chances of success and still were questioning our participation. People had regularly tuned in to Eurovision to watch the UK do terribly and to listen to Terry Wogan’s commentary in the past but this year we had neither.

Looking back at our success you can start wondering if it was Andrew Lloyd Webber who got us there or if the voting has changed and if anybody could have gone up on stage and got the same votes. This we will never know but last Saturday proved a great point. The point being that no matter how aggrieved you feel about injustice in competitions the only way to change or improve the system is to stay involved in the process and not give up. Giving up is never an answer that will change things. I think the outcry from the public did make people take notice of the situation which was great but it was only that it was twinned with our continued participation which is why we got the success we did.

Andrew Lloyd Webber instead of worrying about the voting was proactive and looked at ways he could change things like with our act Jade Ewen touring the voting nations on a PR campaign. When you come up against problems you need to look at all the different ways there are to get around it and not just give up when you encounter it.

As a viewer I thought that this year was not perfect but it was closer to being a song contest that it ha ever been and it was great to see so many young and talented people representing their nations. Who knows what will happen next year? If we will see a return to the voting of the past but this year has given me great heart for the future of Eurovision. People just need to remember that votes doesn’t always equal talent, just because you may not get many votes doesn’t mean that a song or performance isn’t any good and we can’t lose sight of this.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Playing the media

As the years go on it seems more and more like the media are in complete control in peoples success and failure. It seems that regardless of someone’s talent the media can make or break anybody which is a depressing thought. People seem to be more interested in entertaining news and scandal than getting behind someone because of their talent.

This is not a new phenomenon by any stretch of the imagination but is depressing nonetheless. With the increased interest we seem to place in the lives of celebrities it is no wonder that there is more scandal as the media won’t stop until they find some or if they can’t they will create some. It’s like I was watching a documentary on Miley Cyrus the other night and the interest in her life at the moment is crazy with the amount of press she has following her around its no wonder the press are going to pick up on anything which isn’t 100% perfect.

The big media story in the UK this week is the break up or Jordan and Peter Andre which shows the other side of media. Since this was announced in the press showings of the pairs reality TV series have risen significantly and I am sure both could sell their side of the story to the press for big money. Now some may claim they are just playing the media to make more money and get attention but only they will ever know.

Because celebrities have got so good at playing the media you may see it as the celebrities are fighting back and trying to beat the media at their own game. The only problem now is that because people are aware of both sides of the coin when a story gets released about a celebrity you don’t know if it is a case of the celebrity playing the media or the media playing the celebrity and on top of this if something in the news about them is actually one hundred percent true because of the games that go on you don’t know whether to believe it or not. So are celebrities really helping themselves or not?

I don’t know what the answer to this is and I don’t think there is an answer as celebrities need the media and media need celebrities but I think this cycle makes it really hard to find any role models any more in the celebrity world as they don’t sell newspapers or get the headlines that scandal does which I think is the biggest shame in all of this.

We here at Talented Young People want to know what you think about media and celebrities. Who do you think is in the wrong? And what do you think could be done to solve the situations highlighted in this weeks blog. To share your thoughts go to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=718

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

You can’t escape your past

As you are all aware I am a big fan of Britain’s Got Talent but the one thing I can’t stand is when I see an act that I love who has a sob story and is portrayed as an amateur to only be exposed in the newspapers a few days for telling lies or misleading the public. Britain’s Got Talent is the only show to have suffered from this as it has happened in shows like X-Factor but at the moment it seems like a weekly occurrence on Britain’s Got Talent.

I understand the producers of the show have to make entertaining TV so the programme is edited together in a way to make us smile, laugh and cry but I don’t think the British public enjoy being mislead. To me I would much prefer the act to be honest and then give a great performance as there is no getting away from talent but doing it this way it tarnishes the performance. Now I can’t say if it is the reduction company or the act themselves are the ones misleading the public but you thought the producers would have learnt by now with all the previous scandals.

So far we have had an aspiring saxophonist who turned out to be an artist who was once signed to a record label and a singer who claimed never to have performed in front of a big crowd who has now turned out to have sung in a London theatre before and we are only three or four episodes in.

If you or I can find this stuff out on the internet and the press can you would think that the producers would research all the acts before they broadcast the show as it is filmed months in advance. It also begs the question on whether acts who have already achieved success should be allowed to audition or not?

With your own personal career development you need to be careful about what stuff gets posted about you on the internet as in the 21st century it is very hard to escape your past and something which you did ten years ago could be used against you today. In today’s world more and more employers are googling applicants names before they interview them. Our image is no longer just about how we carry ourselves in our day to day life, it is now also based on what pages come up when you google your name. Nowadays peoples first contact with you will come through searching your name so make sure you are giving off the right image. With people blogging and commenting on all of lives trivials points and with millions upon millions of photos ending up on Facebook from social events just keep this in your mind as it is very hard to escape your past.


Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Handling the Pressure

If you are a football fan this week you have probably been discussing the decision by referee Howard Webb to give Man United a penalty on the weekend, the Champions League or your teams battle for promotion or to avoid relegation as we near the end of the season.

The matches between now and the end of the season are a real test of players, managers and referees. This is where we get to see if they can justify their huge wages and if they can handle the pressure. It’s alright being the best player, the best team, the best coach or the best ref but if you can’t handle the pressure you’re not going to win anything regardless of how good you are. This next month is where seasons are made or broken.

In our own lives it’s our ability to handle pressure which will help get us to where we need or want to be. To get a job you will have to either go to an interview, audition or trial where you will have one chance to impress your prospective employers enough to give you the job. In life you will also always been under pressure to make the right decisions and do the right thing which when your growing up can be even harder because of peer pressure.

It is our ability to not be affected in a negative way by pressure that will help us lead a happy and fulfilled life. If you can react to pressure by trying harder and doing better then you can achieve great things. Its like over the next month in football there will be players who crack under the pressure and then there will be some that grab the headlines and score the important goals. So be the one scoring the goals and not the one cracking under pressure.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Following a path or blazing a trail

A discussion the other day got me thinking this week. I was chatting to somebody who had been reading a lot of books on people that had succeeded in business to try and get some pointers for what he should do to be successful. This got me thinking, to achieve success should we be looking to copy others or should we be going out blazing a trail of our own.

I think it is wise to learn from the successes and failures of others but to succeed we need to be ourselves and we need to be unique. Sometimes it is very easy to lose yourself and to become somebody else when you spend your day emerged in research on successful people. People see success and they are attracted towards but just because something worked for someone it doesn’t mean it will work for you.

Even when you do find some info on someone who has been successful and how they have done this still not be the best path to follow as there may be an even better route than that person took which could lead you on to even greater success. An idea might have worked for somebody as they were the right person at the right time to use it but if you tried to recreate it now it may not have the same success. People always want something different or something new not just an old idea reinvented.

People need to be sure in themselves and not always be looking for advice and guidance, to be successful you can’t always refer to a book or somebody else for advice. I heard a great quote the other day which was “Chase the dream not the competition.” Which I think is bang on as it is so easy to be come consumed with your competition and to just follow them when if you had just been concentrating on your dream then you would have spent more time trying to achieve that dream.

I think it is wise to be knowledgeable on the dream you are chasing and to learn where others have failed and succeeded but it is important not to get bogged down with it all and use the information not to follow in others footsteps but to blaze your own trail with. Don’t lose yourself and be the one that people are writing about in years to come as someone who shook things up, somebody that innovated and somebody who blazed a trail as not many people are going to write about you if they have already written the same story about somebody else.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover

Britain’s Got Talent came bursting back on to our screens last weekend with a bang attracting over 11 million viewers. Last season the country sat in amazement as a whole host of young talented people stole the show. Last years winner George Sampson told the story of the underdog coming from a disadvantaged background doing everything it took to win so that he could pay for his mum to have a house.

If the first episode was anything to go by this year is going to be the year of “Not Judging a Book by its Cover.” 48 year old Church worker Susan Boyle took to the stage to the audition and proclaimed that she was going to sing for the judges. All three judges on the panel sniggered and smiled when she said that, as based on her appearance they thought they were about to hear the most terrible audition ever and that she was kidding herself if she thought she could be a singer. Then to the amazement of the judges she belted out an outstanding rendition of a song from Les Miserables.

Susan is now already one of the favourites to win and her performance has been viewed millions of times over on YouTube. After the performance she got an apology from all three judges for the way they treated her before she sang which is very rare indeed and I hope it has taught them a lesson. With shows like this and X-Factor in the audition stages its like we as a country want to laugh at people more than we want to see some talented performers which I think is part of what is wrong with today’s society.

So many times in life we are quick to make judgements and assumptions about people based on what’s on the outside but I think it’s time we started taking more of an interest on what’s on the inside. I think Susan is just one of many people out there who haven’t been given the chance to live their dream or been taken seriously because of their appearance, the way they speak or the way they act. I hope Susan inspires more people to go for their dreams no matter what their situation or no matter how much they think people will laugh at them. Its society today and peoples attitudes which is stopping talent like this being discovered and I think it’s about time that we the people gave these people the chance to shine.

We here at Talented Young People want to know if you find yourself falling in to this trap or if you have ever been judged unfairly and you can share your views by clicking on the link below:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=700


Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Test of a Champion

As many of you will be aware the Formula 1 season started a couple of weeks ago and with all the hype surrounding British driver and last years World Champion Lewis Hamilton it has been fellow Brit Jenson Button who has been leading the way with two wins out of two yet it is still Lewis getting all the headlines but for all the wrong reasons.

Last year Lewis became the youngest ever Formula 1 World Champion aged 23 after only three seasons in the sport and for this he was awarded an MBE. Now defending a championship is always said to be winning it for the first time and already that has been proving true for Lewis. Not only have things been going wrong in his performances and the car but off the track as well Lewis has been brought in to question. We have had Lewis starting from the back of the grid, Lewis failing to make it through to the final stages of qualifying in the qualification stages, having points taken off him, and to cap it all off was hauled in front of the F1 panel in lying and cover up scandal involving him and his team.

Now everyone goes through bad seasons and yes his quality as a driver and the quality of the car was being brought in to question but it is the scandal that threatens to derail his season and possibly his career. With Lewis being the posterchild for F1 and him having more sponsorship endorsements than you can shake a stick at he can ill afford any scandal. With such a quick rise to fame with little time to adapt Lewis could be brought down to ground just as fast.

What all the Lewis scandal is doing is taking away the limelight from Jenson Button who is not getting the column inches that Lewis was when he was on top. Jenson when he started his career had a bit of a reputation off the track but has since seemed to mended his ways and for the last few years has been loyal to a team where the car hasn’t delivered. Jenson is now reaping the reward from his loyalty as the buy out of his old team has left him with a car that can compete at the top level.

The recent weeks really bring in to question things like when should an MBE awarded to someone and what should it be awarded for and it has really shown how no matter how good you are and no matter what is going wrong on the track you need to always make sure that you aren’t doing anything stupid or anything that can be perceived in a negative light as one bad incident can jeapordise years worth of hard work. I still think that Lewis can recover from this and hope he does but I hope this makes him wiser. Is it worth trying to cheat the system for a few extra points if it costs you your image and brings you character in to question? What is more important, your performance on the track or how you are perceived off of it? As a racer should you be brave and speak out when you see wrong doing in your team? Hard questions but the questions I think Lewis and other drivers need to ask themselves.


Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

School Grading Systems

Ever since I started TYP I have been very outspoken on school league tables. In my opinion you can’t judge the successfulness of a school based on exam results because it means some schools will never have the chance t finish top. Should schools be judge more on the progress of their students rather than the final grade they get? And shouldn’t schools be judge on the number of their students that go on to gain skilled jobs as surely school is just suppose to be a building block to make a pupil a well rounded member of society who can get a job doing something they love doing.

In the news this week has been a new school grading system which has been implemented in America which sees schools getting graded from A – E which is measured not just against exam results but behaviour and progress as well. This gives the chance for schools from deprived areas a chance of being a top school which they probably wouldn’t have under our league table system.

Now no system is perfect and this has its floors as well because if you are a top school with pupils consistently getting a high grade you aren’t going to get top marks for progress. However I do feel for pupils to behave better in schools they have to have a sense of pride in their school and this system lets the pupils who go to schools in run down areas the chance to be proud of their school.

The news is now that they are heading our way to the UK which has been met with positive and negative feedback. Myself personally I think grades speak form themselves so parents that would have sent to their kids to a school that achieve top exam grades are going to continue to send their children there but this system can bring the feel good factor to some schools and give them something achievable to work towards. Most schools know that they will never be top of the league table so may think why bother but with this system every school has the chance to earn an A.

Like I said at the top I can’t wait until the day we see league tables based on pupils life outside of school but I think this is a step in the right direction. I think schools need to start putting more emphasis on the characters they are developing in their pupils and what contribution they will make to society, not just worry about grades. I think both systems can and should be used in the UK as I think it help parents make informed choices of where their children go to school and the parents will be able to ascertain quicker the sort of standard at their child’s school.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Google Street View

This week one subject which hasn’t been able to keep out of the headlines is Google Street View’s UK launch. After a successful launch in other countries like America now thanks to Google you can virtually wonder around some of the biggest cities in the UK. However in the UK its launch has been marred by criticism over the perceived invasion of privacy which this is causing many people to call for it to be shut down.

Now I’m not going to talk about the wrongs or the rights of Google’s latest idea but merely comment on the power of the Internet. Ten or so years ago Google was merely a web based search engine that was starting to build its fan base by providing better and quicker searches than its rivals but through one very basic and simple concept Google has now grown to one of the biggest companies on the net.

In a time of economic crisis it is great to see web companies and web based ideas really gaining attention and still making money. If Google believe in the old phrase that any publicity is good publicity then they will be rubbing their hands together but if nothing else the media backlash shows just how powerful they have become. I also find it interesting to see new company start ups on the net that offer new ideas and new concepts and how they can get the masses interacting with it.

To me the greatest thing about the Internet is that it offers anybody the chance to share a new idea with the world, to make a successful business and to make a name for themselves. I am sure we haven’t got the most out of the internet yet and can’t wait to see more people really pushing the boundaries of what you can achieve using the internet.

Who knows what the next internet craze will be, but if the next ten years are exciting as the last ten then the internet is going to be an exciting place to be.

What do you think about Google Street View? Have you found a good website lately or do you run your own online business? If so we would love to find out about them and you can share your views by going to our topic of the week:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=688

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Raising the Bar

As we get closer to the end of the college year many students will be left anxiously waiting if they get accepted to their first choice university after completing their UCAS form. This year however one of the so called top two Universities Cambridge has raised the bar even higher. This year instead of the typical three A’s they now need an A* and 2 A’s.

The pressure put on students in college is immense as they know once they have got an offer from a University if they don’t get the grades they are predicted then they may not get the place. Now yes I think students need to be challenged and need to want to get the highest grades possible but in a situation which isn’t as pressurised because as it stands one 2 hour exam could change the direction of your life completely.

I think that Universities need to look equally at what the student can bring to the university in the way of other skills, interests, knowledge and character as well as their grades. This is why I think that Universities who ask students to submit work, projects, CV’s etc. are much better placed to judge an applicant and are running a better system.

The problem with the big two Oxford and Cambridge is recently I have been speaking to parents of children who have reached the right grades but still can’t get in so just getting these grades does not guarantee you a place. Some people work hard for years in order to try and get a place at one of the big two and still don’t get in. In the outside world you will need more than grades to get you through so I think it is important that Universities encourage their applicant to be well rounded individuals. As Oxford and Cambridge show it’s not your grades alone that will get you in.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Become a Teacher in Six Months

This week I wanted to talk about news in the UK educational world which has caused a stir. The government have unveiled plans to change the time it takes to complete a teaching qualification to six months from a year which the course currently takes.

This has been seen as many as way to cash in on the current quality of applicants on the job market who may have fallen out of high power jobs due to the credit crunch and to make teaching more appealing to them. For some time the government has been advertising hard trying to get more people in to teaching and has offered many financial incentives but this could be their most newsworthy step to date.

With stories of schools becoming more unruly places and with many people complaining about the lack of respect some pupils have for teachers is six months training going to be enough time for people to learn the skills needed for the modern classroom?

Is this approach going to see quantity over quality? Are the government just trying to get more people in to teaching regardless of their training and suitability? Is this move going to affect the standard of teaching young people receive in our schools? These are just a handful of the questions that myself and other people across the country are asking this week.

Do we want a teaching pool filled with ex-bankers? I think personally that this country needs a diverse range of teachers from different backgrounds if we are truly going to give these young people the best education we can. Getting ex-bankers back in to work and to help create more teachers is a short term fix to some of the problems this country has but long term what problems is it going to cause for the young people in school today when they graduate? Are they going to have the education they need in order to contribute in the best way they can to our economy?

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Do Young People Care?

One question I know a lot of teachers and people that work with young people is do the young people they are working with actually care about what they are doing whether it be a maths lesson or competing in a sports team. To them it seems at times that they care more about the lesson or the activity than the kids they are trying to enthuse do.

The biggest battle any person working with young people is getting them to care. If they can get a young person to care about what it is they are doing then that young person will reach greater heights and be a lot easier to teach than a young person that doesn’t. As a young person it is so important to be cool, accepted and fit in and for young people the normal way to do this is to not show an interest in anything and to play up. As soon as you show an interest in something it takes you out of that big group and makes you different.

Most of the time young people can’t comprehend the importance of doing something in school as they can’t see how it is going to benefit them later in life or in sports they may not know where their career could take them. I think it is so important with young people to always make them aware of what the end goals could be and what being in a lesson or part of a club can help them achieve.

The people that go on and achieve great things in life are those that are passionate about and care about what they are doing. As a young person you don’t want to look back later in life wishing you had cared more during your younger years to try harder in things you wanted to do and achieve. Don’t be scared to care in something as when you achieve something in that area it will mean so much more and feel so much better.

Do you care about your school work? Do you care about your hobbies and interests? And you care about developing a talent? We would like to know your stories individually and if you think as a generation young people need to start caring more? We want to know and you can share your views by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=678

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

The Film Industry

Last week was the biggest week in the Film Industry calendar as the winners of the Academy Awards otherwise known as The Oscars were revealed. Outside of school holidays the run up to the Oscars are a busy time for the cinemas the publicity of the awards encourages more people to go to the cinema.

The British film industry had huge news to celebrate as the film Slumdog Millionaire won eight awards at the Oscars a film which had British cast members, a British Director and was funded by British Film companies like Film4. Not only this but Kate Winslett also won the best actress award so Britain had more than one reason to celebrate this weekend.

Even with the huge success of Slumdog Millionaire which had a comparatively small budget compared to Hollywood Blockbuster films British film company Film4 that funded it are still be forced to be very careful with which films they support due to the financial times we live in. So just because of the success of Slumdog Millionaire it doesn’t necessarily mean there will be more British films made and more funding available for them.

I went and saw Slumdog Millionaire a couple of weekends ago and I really enjoyed the film but my local cinema charged me £7.50 for my ticket. When you can buy a DVD to own for less than that with the sales that go on in the high street and online I think £7.50 is a bit steep for a ticket. If the film industry wants to survive the economic downturn it needs to encourage more people to go to the cinema and not squeezing money out of loyal cinema goers and putting people off from going.

If you want some free entertainment and are aged under 26 I found this online the other day which I thought was a great idea:

http://www.anightlessordinary.org.uk/


Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

The benefits of the Credit Crunch

Now I know I have written a lot of blogs lately on the credit crunch but there were a couple of interesting stories this week which caught my attention. Now most talk about the current economic climate is normally from the angle of doom and gloom but the stories I am going to discuss offer hope.

The first story to catch my eye was a report I read saying that University applications are quite significantly up this year with many people sighting the credit crunch as the reason. Young people seem to be concerned about the lack of jobs and job security at the moment so are deciding to spend some time in University hoping the economic climate is better when they graduate.

Now I am not saying that University is for everyone but it is great to see young people really thinking about their future and what the best route for them is. In a time of economic downturn some said applicants would be put off University as in these times they may have found it hard to come up with or justify the tuition fees so I am glad the University system seems to be surviving these tough times. That’s the thing which is overlooked a lot by the media as it is not only the corporate world which affected by the downturn.

The other story I read was a bit of publicity for a film coming out at the Cinema called “Shopaholic” now I haven’t seen the film so can’t comment on the quality of it but I thought the film was apt for this period. In a time where we need to be watching what we spend and our finances it is great to see a film which deals with a real problem for many people. Regardless of the way they film portrays the issue it is great to see it talked about on the news and by the general public.


Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Premiership Managers

This week in the English football Premier League two managers have been sacked only months in to their contracts. They aren’t the first to go this season and may not be the last but when you have a big name club like Chelsea axing their manager it makes headline news. It brings me on to my point of discussion which is how long should professional sports people be given to prove themselves after signing a contract.

In professional sports clubs take a gamble on players and managers when they bring them to the club. Normally they would have been scouted and chosen for what they can bring to their club. The scout’s watch these people excel at other clubs and bring them in on the hope that they can do the same for their club. To get the services of these staff they are sometimes wrangled in to long term contracts with no probation or trial period.

In reality just because a player or a coach is good at one club it doesn’t necessarily mean they will be good at another club. There are very few players or coaches that join a new team and click right away. For most it will take a bedding in period where the player or coach gets use to the set up, the way things are doing and working with their fellow players and or coaching staff.

In the Premiership a lot of the clubs are run by short term thinking who want to see an instant return on their investments and want to see results in the short term. If things aren’t going well owners will get worried and forget about long term plans and just worry about the short term. With every result getting even more vital every year the time managers are given becomes less and less. If a team is doing bad usually the responsibility is laid completely with the manager and if things aren’t going well it will be the manager who is the first to go not the players.

My question is how long should coaches and players be given? I think that too much expectation is put on new staff and new signings and too much pressure is put on them. I don’t think there is a given period of time you can say that a person has to prove themselves as it will vary from person to person but I do believe they need to be given a chance. Maybe trial and probation periods should be brought in to football but one thing is for sure something needs to be done about manager turnover in the premiership. More clubs and managers should be made to keep to their contracts instead of clubs having to pay millions in compensation when they don’t honour a contract.

The manager merry-go-round is damaging to the reputation of managers as it is so easy for them to be a hero one minute and fired the next. With every new season the clubs seem to forget about their past success and just base their decisions based on the current results. However with the money involved in professional sport I don’t see any changes happening soon.

We want to know your thoughts on this in our topic of the week. Do you think managers are given long enough to prove themselves in professional sport? Should they have better job safety and what can be done to change what is happening? we want to know and you can share your thoughts by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=659

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Politics

Politics is everywhere at the moment. Wherever you look politics is a hot topic. I’ve always been fascinated with Politics and trying to involve young people where possible in to politics, getting them interested and getting them talking about politics. There has never been an easier or better time to get young people in to politics than the world we live in today.

Barack Obama has made politics cool again in the process of making history as the first black American President. Barack has really captured the imagination of the world who followed his campaign right through to inauguration through papers, TV and the Internet. People who wouldn’t usually talk about politics are talking about Barack Obama, people of all ages, races and backgrounds know who Barack is.

Closer to home in the UK the big political debate of the week is what to do to stop walk outs by UK staff of various companies up and down the country which was started by a contracting company who wanted to use an all foreign staff force at a UK Oil Refinery. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has harped on in the past about British Jobs for British People but who is to blame in this situation? Are the staff right to walk out? What should Gordon Brown be doing about it, if anything? These are all questions which young people should be debating and engaging with.

Then we can move on to things like The Credit Crunch how could Gordon Brown have handled it better? Should the taxpayer be bailing out the Banking system? All of these are serious and huge issues with big implications but it doesn’t half make politics interesting. Then we have other issues on local levels like should London have been more prepared for the snow? Again it comes down to politics.

I think schools and councils should be doing more to encourage young people to think about and talk about politics. I personally encourage any of you reading to get in contact with your school or local council and see if there are any ways locally or nationally in which you can get involved like becoming a Youth MP or joining discussion and panel groups.


Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com