Our young people are our future. I don’t say that as a vague platitude or as the father of young children but in a very practical sense. They are tomorrow’s doctors, nurses, construction workers, teachers, retail workers and so on.

Or rather they have the potential to be.

Parliamentary arguments over the economy can often seem a bit detached and fuelled by political point scoring but they have very real consequences.

We are facing a crisis of youth unemployment. The latest figures make for grim reading and show there are now over one million young people out of work – that means nearly one in four 18-24 year olds is unemployed; the highest number since records began. That is a disaster for our young people and a disaster for the future of Britain.

Worse, it now appears that unemployment is becoming entrenched. The number of young people claiming JSA for over six months is rocketing:

In Hastings & Rye the figure has jumped 83% in the last year. In Bexhill & Battle the figure is up 53% and Eastbourne 218%!

Spending so long on the dole at a young age can have life-long consequences. Far too many skilled youngsters are being left frustrated and idle because the jobs they want simply don’t exist.

We often hear Conservative Ministers blaming unemployment on laziness or scrounging but the truth is that in some of these places there are up to 20 JSA claimants per vacancy at the job centre! This is a jobs crisis not one of apathy.

The Government is creating a jobless generation, with more young people out of work than ever before. It is painfully clear that the Government’s welfare to work programmes are not doing the job and the time for dithering is over – Ministers must act now before a generation is left scarred by their mistakes.

As part of Labour’s five point plan for jobs I want to see a £2billion bankers’ bonus tax with the proceeds invested in up to 100,000 jobs for young people and a tax break for small firms taking on new employees.

We need to get the economy going again and we need to protect our young people from the blight of unemployment.

If you want to get in touch just email me at southeast@peterskinnermep.eu

And don’t forget you can learn more on my website (www.peterskinnermep.eu) and you can follow me on Twitter (@PWSkinnerMEP) and Facebook (Peter Skinner MEP).

]]> 1.3550448 Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:44:01 +0000 http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/the_business_coach_with_laura_murphy_i_m_being_taken_advantage_of_1_3550428

Question: “I’m a pretty good natured manager but want to be more assertive as I feel as though I’m being taken advantage of.” Mary

Answer: “True assertiveness is balancing the other person’s rights (to be treated with respect, to have an opinion, to be listened to) against your own, equal rights to the same things. It’s about taking people along with you rather than badgering them into submission. I’d want you to first consider those times when you felt your good nature was being taken advantage of, and what you said or did that led you to feel that your staff did not understand what outcomes you were looking for or expecting.

If you’re not sure what you want out of a situation then it might well be that your staff aren’t sure how they should respond to you because you are too accommodating. As with any management scenario, think through what you want, plan how you might respond to any active disagreement or passive resistance. Set some boundaries and stick to them so your good nature isn’t seen as a sign of weakness.

Be firm and use words that are natural to you: you’ll come over as genuine and carry more weight. Excessive please and thank you can be seen as submissive so should be used when appropriate rather than as padding – less is more. Use language that talks about what you’re going to achieve with them, rather than from them to build up trust and commitment.

So by strengthening your natural leadership style, your confidence will grow and those periods where you felt you were being taken advantage of will quickly reduce.

.......................

Laura Murphy is the founder of mtc2 ltd, a management consultancy, training and coaching company. Laura is an organisation development specialist and business coach. If you have a problem then contact her at laura@mtc2.co.uk

Visit the website on {http://www.mtc2.co.uk|www.mtc2.co.uk|www.mtc2.co.uk}

Names and details have been changed to protect confidentiality

]]> 1.3550428 Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:35:23 +0000 http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/police_commissioner_will_be_elected_this_november_1_3530071

FOR the first time ever Sussex residents will be voting for their policing representative later this year.

The November 15 elections follow the Government’s decision to see police authorities throughout the country replaced with directly elected police and crime commissioners (PCCs).

This will mean a significant shift in power from the 17 members of the current police authority here to one person who will represent the whole of Sussex.

The Sussex Police Authority claims the introduction is ‘to improve the democratic accountability of the police service to the public by enabling local people to vote for a PCC’.

And already candidates from across the county have thrown their hat into the ring to contend for the position - which has the sole responsibility to hire the chief constable for Sussex.

Ian Chisnall, an Independent community activist from Brighton, put himself forward this week.

“It is clear that this role will demand someone who understands the work of local authorities, the police and other statutory agencies,” he said.

Responsibilities of the new commissioner include the setting of the council tax precept and annual budget; attendance at the police and crime and panel and; taking into account national policing requirements such as counter terrorism. A statement on the Home Office website reads: “PCCs will aim to cut crime and deliver an effective and efficient police service within their force area.

“PCCs will not be expected to run the police. The role of the PCC is to be the voice of the people and hold the police to account.”

Mr Chisnall is among a number of candidates who will appear in public in the coming months in a bid to secure the currently negotiated £85,000-a-year role.Some PPCs could receive a salary of more than £100,000.

Party members are putting together a list of prospective candidates which will be relayed to the county council between now and eight weeks before the election.

Anyone can stand for election to this post, but must meet the criteria outlined below by the Home Office.

However, candidates may be required to issue a £5,000 deposit to their local authority, said a Home Office spokesman. This is currently under negotiation and could come into force in May.

The Government’s decision to implement PPCs was part of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act passed in September 2011 and championed by Sussex MP for Arundel and South Downs, Nick Herbert – the minister of state for policing and criminal justice.

For more information on PCCs and standing for election visit www.sussexpcc.co.uk/index.aspx or www.homeoffice.gov.uk/police/police-crime-commissioners/

PREPARATIONS are already underway for the town’s popular Jack-in-the-Green festivities.

The colourful procession, complete with green bogies, Morris dancers, may queens and carnival giants, traditionally marks the start of summer Hastings style, and will take place from Friday, May 4 to 7.

The event, which draws in a huge influx of visitors, involves the procession winding through the streets of Old Town before it heads up to Hastings Castle on the West Hill for the traditional slaying of the Jack and the unleashing of the spirit of summer on Bank Holiday Monday (May 7).

It is believed that Jack-in-the-Green brings in an estimated £5 million to the local economy each year.

Keith Leech, chairman of the Jack-in-the Green committee, said: “This year is our 30th celebration of the current revival of the custom.

“Alongside the Morris dancers and giants, Jacks-in-the-Green and May garlands from other parts of the country will be coming along.”

The festivities start on the Friday (May 4) with an evening’s entertainment at St Mary-in-the-Castle from 8pm, featuring local favourites The Moors.

On the Saturday, starting at Winkle Island on The Bourne, Morris dancers will be performing in Old Town, including Mad Jacks Morris and Hannah’s Cat.

The ceilidh on Saturday evening, also at St Mary-in-the-Castle, will feature Coventry-based band Peeping Tom who are also celebrating their 30th year, as well as up and coming young ceilidh band Toothless Mary.

Local favourites Gigspanner will be playing in All Saints Church.

The Jack-in-the-Green exhibition will be held at History House, Courthouse Street, in the Old Town, from late April to early May. Opening times will be 11am to 4pm, Thursday to Sunday.

The event, now in its fifth year, charts the history of the popular festivities.

THE NUMBER of people waiting longer than 18 weeks for treatment such as joint replacements has risen by 35 per cent under Hastings and Rother Primary Care Trust in the last year.

Department of Health figures revealed the number had risen from 127 in November 2010 to 195 in November 2011.

The Trust blamed the rise on factors such as severe cold weather and extra bank holidays.

But prospective parliamentary candidate for Hastings and Rye, Sarah Owen, believes there are other reasons. She said: “After speaking with local GPs and health care staff they have expressed concern at the impact that national decisions are having on local services which in this case can be seen with more patients here waiting longer than 18 weeks for treatment.”

Dr Hugh Nicholson from Stone Street Surgery said: “Patients are extremely disappointed that we can no longer offer them an assurance for the time scale in which they will be seen.

“One of my patients had previously had only 13 weeks to wait for their treatment. That has now increased to six months.

“Unfortunately this is becoming much more frequent.”

Trust spokesman Jamie Whitburn said: “There are a number of reasons that can contribute to a rise in waiting times. For example periods of severe cold weather and additional bank holidays have put extra strain on the system during this time.

“NHS staff are working extremely hard to address this.

“NHS organisations are working together across Sussex to treat those patients who have been waiting longer than we would like for treatment.

“We have robust plans in place to provide extra capacity which will ensure the waiting time standards are met over the coming months.”

]]> 1.3535512 Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/feature_triple_amputee_vows_to_go_back_to_afghanistan_1_3530356

This month marks the first anniversary of photographer Giles Duley’s horrific accident in Afghanistan in which he became a triple amputee.

Reporter RICHARD GLADSTONE speaks to him to see how he has coped with his devastating injuries and how he is getting his life back together.

A YEAR ago last Tuesday (February 7), Giles Duley’s life drastically changed forever when he stepped on a landmine in Afghanistan.

He lost one leg below the knee, the other leg above the knee and his left arm was severed above the elbow.

But following months of physiotherapy and countless operations, Mr Duley refuses to see himself as a victim - and still vows to return to Afghanistan charting the plight of the ordinary populace.

He recently spoke in London for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Landmines and Unexploded Weapons of Conflict (APPG), a cross-party group made up of MPs and peers, whose aim is to campaign for the clearance of such weapons.

Mr Duley, 40, said: “People say to me how it must be terrible what happened to me and call me a victim. But I do not see myself as a victim. I was doing a job I love and think is important, and just got hurt doing it.”

He was speaking on behalf of the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), a not-for-profit organisation that clears landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) in conflict zones.

Mr Duley was in the Kandahar region of Afghanistan with US troops last February working as a freelancer for the Camera Press agency when he stepped on a landmine.

He intended to cover the plight of bomb victims while working for the Camera Press agency but snapped up the chance to join frontline troops in Afghanistan, and had been in the war-torn country for less than two weeks when he was wounded.

Mr Duley still remembers clearly the day his life changed forever.

He said: “I turned to chat to one of the soldiers, stepped on the mine, and was thrown through the air. I remember the searing heat and a white light. I landed on my side and knew my legs had gone. To be honest I expected to die.”

The photographer, who has been taking pictures in conflict zones for more than seven years, fought to stay awake the whole time he was taken to hospital, fearing he would die if he passed out.

Mr Duley spent 110 days in intensive care at hospital before going to the military rehabilitation facility at Headley Court, near Epsom, Surrey, where he underwent gruelling, intensive physiotherapy to get walking again.

He now has two prosthetic legs and a prosthetic left arm and is still undergoing physiotherapy.

Mr Duley admits it has been a tough 12 months.

He said: “I have stopped counting how many operations I have had since. I think it has been more than 20. I am in constant pain and unable to do a lot of things.

“Physiotherapy has been really intense and I can probably walk a couple of hundred metres now with the prosthetic legs.”

Following his accident the photographer was inundated with messages from friends, family and well-wishers, who praised him for his humour and resilience.

Sue Stoten, landlady of the Hastings Arms, where Mr Duley worked, set up a fund to raise money for his recovery, and hundreds of pounds were already donated within days of his accident. Thousands have since been raised.

in November, Mr Duley also held an exhibition of his work taken over the last 10 years at KK Outlet in London.

The three-week event, called Giles Duley: Becoming the Story, included pictures of ordinary people in conflict zones, such as former Unita soldiers in Angola and acid-burn survivors in Bangladesh.

Mr Duley said: “The exhibition went really well and there were more than 40 people from Hastings who came to see it.”

Since his accident he has built up a friendship with another photographer, Joao Silva, who suffered similar injuries.

Mr Duley always maintains he was ‘incredibly lucky’ not to have been killed, as another man who suffered exactly the same injuries as him just a week after his accident did not make it to the hospital.

Mr Duley had another brush with death earlier in his career after stepping on a landmine in Angola in Africa. Thankfully the device did not go off.

He added: “I was angry and distraught at what I had seen in Angola. There was a village where everywhere had been mined. It was shocking to see people having to step over landmines and seeing children with no legs.

“Now I wake up with anger every day because there are children around the world going through the same suffering I am but without the help and support I have had.

“There can be something done about it and that is what’s crazy and unfathomable because it is not a situation that’s unsolvable. With the right funding these places can be cleared of mines.”

Mr Duley lived in High Street in Old Town for eight years before moving to London three years ago.

He spent 10 years working as a photographer in the fashion and music industries in both the USA and Europe before focusing on humanitarian projects, and has worked in Sudan, Angola and Congo.

He has worked with Medecins sans Frontieres, as well as other charities.

His work has been exhibited and published worldwide in publications like Vogue and The Sunday Times.

He ran the tough Marathon des Sables across the Sahara desert in 2007, a six-day gruelling race, to raise money for research into Alzheimer’s disease following the death of his mother from dementia.

Mr Duley said: “I intend to get back to work and return to Afghanistan but I do not have a timetable. The main purpose at the moment is getting my health back.”

HIGH-SPEED broadband should soon be a reality for residents of Hastings and St Leonards, with BT confirming it was still on schedule for Spring.

The service is to be rolled out to 61,000 homes here and in Eastbourne.

The connection uses state-of-the-art fibreoptic cables and local computer users will potentially be able to enjoy download speeds of up to 100 megabits a second, which is 50 times faster than the speeds recorded in some areas of St Leonards.

The exact date of the upgrade has not yet been confirmed, however a spokesperson for BT confirmed Hastings was on the Spring list.

At the fastest speeds it will take two seconds to download a song, 30 seconds for an album and 10 minutes for a full length high definition film.

Last week East Sussex County Council (ESCC) agreed to provide £15million from its own budget to ensure that rural and hard to reach areas, which may otherwise be left out, are brought up to speed.

This will be added to the proposed £10.6million grant from the government.

ESCC leader Councillor Peter Jones said: “Making this technology available throughout East Sussex would make a huge difference to our residents and small businesses.

“Together with our partners, we recognise that access to digital services is absolutely essential to the development of the economy of East Sussex.”

A LETTER discovered by a historian in a box of war memorabilia from the Old Town has revealed the bravery of a sinking ship’s captain.

It describes how Captain David Reginald Salomons died trying to save his men when HMS Hythe went down during the 1915 Gallipoli campaign in the First World War.

The letter was sent from an eyewitness to Capt Salomons’ father Col Sir David Lionel Salomons, a wealthy baronet, scientist and engineer, from Tunbridge Wells.

It was the name that rang a bell with military historian Andrew Saunders, from Westfield, who made the find when looking through a box of assorted items bought last year from his friend Stephen Mayne, who had previously run a war memorabilia shop in High Street.

Mr Mayne died last October, so Mr Saunders cannot be sure where the letter came from originally, but he suspects a house clearance, as with it was Capt Salomons’ commission document dated 1911, and signed by the King.

He said: “It was only after he died that I got around to sorting out the box, and found the letter.

“We are fairly sure that it was probably something to do with the sister of Captain Salomons. I have got a feeling that she died somewhere in the area.”

In the letter, eyewitness Major Alfred Ruston commends the brave actions of Capt Salomons in the tragedy which claimed the lives of 128 men after a larger ship collided with HMS Hythe.

He wrote: “At the beginning, the two vessels clung to each other for a few minutes and about 50 men and several officers scrambled across on to the other vessel,”

“But though Captain Salomons was warned to get over also himself, he would not do so and I am sure that it was because he would see his beloved men off first.”

“I have never had an officer who supported me more loyally and wholeheartedly or who was so devoted to the company.”

The letter is to go on display at the Salomons Museum in Southborough, Kent, which is run by Canterbury Christ Church University, and celebrates the history of three generations of the Salomons family.

WORK by a local artist has been selected from almost 900 entries to appear in a national exhibition.

Cathy Simpson, based in St Leonards, has had her “Yellow Birds in Wisteria” selected by The Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, to appear in their 200th exhibition in London, in March.

It has come to be recognised as one of the leading national institutions for watercolour painting.

Cathy said: “It was very, very competitive. It’s like the Royal Academy.

Describing her work she said: “It is quirky and distinctive, nobody else is working in this particular way. It’s also slightly humourous.”

She said that her painting “Yellow Birds in Wisteria” was inspired by the garden where she used to live, in the West Midlands, adding that since she had moved to the Hastings area, her work had taken on a new lightness and brightness.

Cathy is working towards an exhibition at the Weekend Gallery, in High Street, this coming July and August.

The Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours’ 200th exhibition will be on display at the Mall Galleries near Trafalgar Square, from March 14 to 25.

Visit www.mallgalleries.org.uk, or www.cathysimpsonillustration.com for more information on the artist.