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Entries for March 2005
MP Enters 'Participation Bill'
(UK) MP Oona King has put forward a Public Bill to promote youth participation and engagement, with the hope of reducing youth crime. The Bill has little chance of of becoming law although it does raise the issue of more police and better youth provision on the political agenda….
Russell Commission Report
(UK) The Russell Commission has launched its 'A national framework for youth action and engagement' report. The recommendations were quickly backed up by the government pledging £100m in funding to ensure the proposals for youth volunteering comes to fruition. This framework and funding will help increase the level of…
Communications Clutter
In their book, Brand Spirit, Hamish Pringle & Marjorie Thomspson talk about the 'communications clutter' created by brands and companies eager to communicate their message. The result is that we have all evolved into media-savvy filters. This can be noted in the marketing strategies which are becoming increasingly complex,…
UPDATE: Government Pledges Money For School Meals
Just a brief update to the Phatgnat posts here and here regarding TV Chef Jamie Oliver's campaign for healthier school meals—the UK government has pledged £280 million to improve school meals. £220 million will go directly into schools and £60m for the School Food Trust, which will advise schools and…
Vespa Uses Design Students
(US) Continuing the recent theme of Phatgnat highlighting brands/companies involvement in the educational sector here and here—Vespa is our latest offering. Linking with New York's Parsons School of Design, Vespa sponsored the students to design new ranges and accessories for the Italian scooter. Paolo Timoni, CEO of Piaggio USA…
UPDATE: Football Bad Boys Criticised/Tackled
Following on from Phatgnat's previous post—Football Is Bad For Kids—here are two related stories. Football 'bad example to pupils'FA Keen to Improve Football's Image …although, surely there should be pressure coming from the commercial brands who sponsor the sport as well?…
Fashion School
(UK) 60 places will be available to 16-18 year olds at the new £20 million 'Fashion Academy' set to be opened this September. Students will have the opportunity to learn fundemental skills about the retail industry and it is hoped that the amount of places will rise to 350…
Harry Potter Goes Green
(UK) JK Rowlings next book, 'Harry Potter and the Half Bllod Prince', will be printed on '30% Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper'—making it the first best selling book in the UK to be printed on such a paper. GreenPeace, who are campaigning to the book industry to print…
Vodafone Volunteers
(UK) The Vodafone UK Foundation has pledged £100,000 a year for the next three years to support WorldWide Volunteering development plan. Roger Potter, Founder and Director of WWV said, 'Vodafone's magnificent support gives a hugely encouraging start to WWV's ambitious development plan ' the aim of which is to…
The Other Side…
…we have covered the story of Jamie Oliver and his campaign to make school meals more nutritionally balanced and healthier here and here. Well, here's the other side of the argument from Spiked in two articles: Hard to Swallow and Jamie Oliver's Recipe for an Unappetising Election….
Profitting from Obesity
(Germany) Neckermann, a German clothing firm, has launched it's catalogue range of clothes for plus-size kids—story here. Neckermann hopes 'its new line will help overweight kids who feel like outsiders or are teased by their peers to fit in better, at least when it comes to fashion.' The clothes…
Edun—Revisited
(UK/US) The previous post about the launch of Bono's new socially responsible clothing range, Edun—we can now inform you that it will be sold in the following: UK—SelfridgesUS—Saks…
Phatgnat Newsletter #12 (23 Mar 05)
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Supermarket Sweep
(UK) The recent launch of Sainsburys Active Kids campaign is another 'donations scheme' whereby customers are given vouchers which local schools can redeem for sports equipment. The launch is accompanied by vast media coverage and also a national 'Road Show' whereby pupils and teachers can see what is on…
UPDATE: Political Support For TV Chef's Campaign (Follow Up)
(UK) Tony Blair has backed TV Chef Jamie Oliver's campaign for better school meals for children—full story here. Blair said 'kitchens and dining areas would be improved as part of a 9.4 billion pound primary school building programme announced in Thursday's budget.' Phatgnat sees this as an opportunity for organic…
Individual Cult
Please check out Phatgnat's 'guest post' on the psfk.com website here. It's an amended piece that first appeared in the Phatgnat Newsletter #7—full article can be downloaded here….
Why Aren't The Skate/BMX Labels More Involved?
(World) Phatgnat has contributed a post for the psfk.com about skateboarding entitled 'The 35 Year Old Passing Trend'. We have also written an article for a local skateboarding 'zine on how to get support from your local authority based on our experience of working for a council and supporting…
Edun: Bono et al Socially Responsible Clothing
(World) Bono, with his wife Ali and designer Rogan has launched their own clothing label, Edun (no website found so not sure if the range cater for young people)—full story here. The idea came from trips Bono made to Africa where he noted the people wanted trade not charity…
Spaces for Sport
(UK) Barclays 'Spaces for Sport' totals 30million (GBP) over three years and is the single biggest investment in grass roots sport ever by a company in the UK. The scheme focuses on 'regeneration and sports, creating sustainable sports sites for people to engage in sport and physical activities in…
Perception of Philanthropy
Ray Podder makes a fantastic point about the perception of philanthropy in business: 'I believe it is time for business to look at philanthropy as a holisticfunction necessary for sustainment, and not a myopic function of short lived appearance of being a good neighbor….' Couldn't put it better myself……
Africa Goes Digital
(AFR) The computer manufacturer Omatek launched its E-Youth Initiative in an attempt to spread computer access across Nigeria. Full story here. The Managing Director of Omatek, Mrs. Florence Seriki said 'Our drive for this initiative is the sorry state that our youths are forced to grow in. We are lagging…
Nestle Boss Doesn't Like Community Giving
(US) Nestle chief Peter Brabeck-Letmathe—head of Nestle S.A.—said 'companies should only pursue charitable endeavors with an underlying intention of making money for investors.' Speaking at the Boston College's Chief Executives' Club, Brabeck-Lemathe goes further and states 'a company's obligation to the community is simply to create jobs and make…
Phatgnat Newsletter #11 (9 Mar 05)
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The Big Sony Comeback
(World) The people who grew up in the 80's came to understand the name Sony meant innovation. With their new Chairman and CEO Howard Stringer sending this memo out to all his employees it seems that he's wants the good old days back….
Discounts To Keep Kids In School
(UK) A pilot scheme in the Midlands, which is supported by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), the Federation of Tour Operators and the Associationof British Travel Agents, allows for families to take cheaper holidays during the school holidays. Due to the increased costs, parents have been taking their…
Nike Foundation To Focus On Girls
Tomorrow sees the launch of the Nikes Foundation focus on improving the lives if adolescent girls in the developing world. With over three decades of working in developing countries the Foundation wants to invest in the human capital of those areas as Nike evolves its global corporate citizen role….
Government Helps With The Gaps
(UK) The government has launched its new online advice site for gap year students. Recent Foreign Office research shows that a third of 16 to 30 year olds have been on a gap year or plan to take one—that's a huge number of young people! The UK Foreign and Commonwealth…
Football Is Bad For Kids
(UK/US) I recently blogged about how Hollywood is working on 8 football/soccer films for psfk.com here. This will obviously have a huge impact on raising the profile and participation of the sport stateside. Back in the UK, Martin Ward, deputy leader of the Secondary Heads Association is lobbying TV…
MP's Blogging…
(UK) I've just stumbled across a blog by Shaun Woodward, Labour MP for St Helens South, in which he promotes discussion on the subject of 'giving young people somewhere to go and something to do'. I wonder how many MP's have considered blogging a medium in which to interact with…
20 Teens Who Will Change The World
This is inspirational. Originally posted on Ypulse….
School Dinners Suck…It's Official
(UK) Jamie Oliver (TV Chef) focuses on the issue of poor nutritional school meals through his new programme—Jamie's School Dinners—and his campaign, 'Feed Me Better' is now getting the backing of MP's. They are calling on the government to introduce minimum standards to ensure there is less sugar, fat…
Super-School-Grounds
(UK) At the recent conferenceI attended—details in this post—I heard about 'Supergrounds': 'Supergrounds is a new £3 million, three-year community programme funded by NatWest and The Royal Bank of Scotland. Helping 450 primary schools over three years, from around the UK, Supergrounds aims to transform existing school grounds into…
People Inspire Me
I love being in a meeting where all the people around the table inspire you: Neil Almond—kikass Jon Batterham—EdComs Fiona Battle—YouthNet Graham Moore—Humanutopia Paul Orginsky—Weston Spirit Harry Wade—NYA…
Gum Summit
(UK) Councils across the UK are campaigning for people to pay an extra 'penny-a-packet' for chewing gum. This proposed 'tax' will help pay for cleaning it from the streets which runs to the annual total of £150million per year. UK gum sales are worth an estimated £258m a year…
Pepsi and Marketing to Children
(US) Pepsi has self-imposed marketing restrictions on itself in response to the global issue of childhood obesity. Bascially, they will not advertise to the under 12 market. 'Our intent is not to just beat our chests and try to take credit for what we're doing,' said Irene Rosenfeld, the…
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