Podcasts about job centre

IEA's Communications Officer Reem Ibrahim discusses the UK's welfare system challenges, noting that 10% of working-age adults receive out-of-work benefits, many citing mental health reasons after the pandemic. The discussion references a documentary where a JobCentre discouraged a benefits claimant from job training, suggesting it could risk their existing benefits. Ibrahim argues that signing people off work for mental health issues may hinder rather than help their recovery. The conversation explores how pension costs now exceed twice the Ministry of Defence's budget. Ibrahim points to a case where a single mother received £40,000 in combined benefits, well above the UK's average £30,000 salary, highlighting problems in the current system. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit insider.iea.org.uk/subscribe

Sian and Kay are joined in the studio by Lesley Gillingham, Energy Healer and Spiritual Advisor, as she shares her story of transitioning from a teacher and Job Centre employee into a holistic therapeutic role. They discuss how we can become more aware of energy, how it affects us and how to lighten our mood.Created and hosted by Sian Murphy with regular co-hosts Michele Yianni Attard, Kay Best, Rachael Bryant and occasionally Adelle Martin.Find out how to be a guest or patron of the show at https://thewomeninbusinessradioshow.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-women-in-business-radio-show--1228431/support.

Den danske beskæftigelsesindsats er blandt verdens absolut dyreste. Den koster årligt godt 13 milliarder kroner. Ledigheden er helt i bund og virksomhederne skriger på arbejdskraft. Alligevel har der aldrig været så mange medarbejdere på jobcentrene. 12.500 medarbejdere til at tage sig af omkring 70.000 ledige. Vi er mange, der har været eller er i berøring med et jobcenter. Det skal vi tale om i nat. Hvad er dine oplevelser med jobcentret?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Falder arbejdsudbuddet, når personer arver? Ifølge Det Økonomiske Råds seneste analyse, hvor man kigger på arvetager, så er svaret ja. Men hvorfor ikke kigge på den anden side af mønten, nemlig arvgiverne? Og bør man se på andet end arbejdsudbud - f.eks. samfundsøkonomi? Incitamenterne og effekterne, når det kommer til arv, og ministeriers regneprincipper mere bredt, debatterer Otto med Overvismand Carl-Johan Dalgaard i første halvdel af denne sommerafslutning af Bag Om Nyhederne. I anden halvdel redegør Karsten for Tænketanken DEAs nye analyse om den sociale skævhed i folkeskolen og giver sit bud på, hvordan man kan rette op på problemet med sundere incitamenter - frem for at flytte de udfordrede elever rundt til andre skoler.Dernæst takler Mia spørgsmålet om jobcentrene. Emnet er igen blevet aktuelt som følge af, at 'ekspertgruppen for fremtidens beskæftigelsesindsats' kom frem til anbefalingen om, at jobcentrene ganske enkelt bør opløses. CEPOS har før kunne vise, at danskerne betaler en dyr pris for dette generende system, som knap nok virker. Mia dykker derfor ned i spørgsmålet om, hvilke alternative systemer og tilgange, der kunne tages i brug. Vi slutter som altid af med Ugens Skævert og Lyspunkt. Panelet består i denne uge af Vært og direktør Jes Brinchmann, cheføkonom Mia Amalie Holstein, forskningschef Karsten Bo Larsen og analysechef Otto Brøns-Petersen. Gæst er Overvismand for Det Økonomiske Råd, Carl-Johan Dalgaard Produceret og tilrettelagt af Raurel Adams. Rigtig god sommer!Kapitler:00:00 Konsekvenserne af arv? 34:39 Mangel på uddannede lærere rammer socialt skævt i folkeskolen 49:54 Jobcentre og ekspertgruppen for fremtidens beskæftigelsesindsats01:01:27 Skævert og Lyspunkt Links: Jobcentre: https://via.ritzau.dk/pressemeddelelse/13925919/cepos-stor-ros-for-at-finde-3-mia-kr-i-jobcentrene-de-bor-malrettes-lavere-skat-pa-arbejde?publisherId=90650&lang=da https://politiken.dk/debat/art7249376/Tag-et-opg%C3%B8r-med-den-meningsl%C3%B8se-aktivering-Mette-Frederiksen Íværksætterkulturhttps://borsen.dk/nyheder/opinion/nu-fik-vi-en-ivaerksaetterstrategi-nu-mangler-vi-en-ny-fortaelling-om-ivaerksaettere DEA's rapport om lærermangelhttps://www.datocms-assets.com/22590/1719819994-laerermanglen-rammer-skaevt_final.pdf Jens Ringberg på Xhttps://x.com/jensringberg/status/1807794318611988760?s=61&t=1O4OoFsx5iLiult5q9Ai3whttps://eavis.berlingske.dk/titles/berlingske/280/publications/6032/articles/2071704/31/1Kirsten Normann Andersenhttps://jyllands-posten.dk/debat/breve/ECE17232199/privathospitaler-skal-uddanne-mere-sundhedspersonale/ Baggrund https://eavis.berlingske.dk/titles/berlingske/280/publications/6031/articles/2070916/8/1 https://eavis.avisendanmark.dk/titles/danmark/8892/publications/2475/pages/6/articles/2071024/6/1

Jobcentrene skal afskaffes, og kravene til arbejdsløse skal fjernes. Sådan lyder nogle af anbefalingerne til et nyt beskæftigelsessystem. I aften møder Danmark Serbien. Men Serbien går på banen efter et tumultarisk EM-forløb. Maskerede mænd angriber en synagoge i Dagestan provinsen i Rusland. Hvad ved vi om angrebet? Vært: Annika Wetterling. Medvirkende: Arnela Muminovic, fodboldkommentator i DR. Emil Rottbøll, Ruslandskorrespondent Berlingske.

(no music) #1148 - Job Centre Story - Let Me Bore You To Sleep (17th June 2024) by Jason Newland

(music) #1148 - Job Centre Story - Let Me Bore You To Sleep (17th June 2024) by Jason Newland

(5 Hours) (music) #1148 - Job Centre Story - Let Me Bore You To Sleep (17th June 2024) by Jason Newland

(10 Hours) (music) #1148 - Job Centre Story - Let Me Bore You To Sleep (17th June 2024) by Jason Newland

(10 Hours) (no music) #1148 - Job Centre Story - Let Me Bore You To Sleep (17th June 2024) by Jason Newland

(10 Hours) (music) #1148 - Job Centre Story - Let Me Bore You To Sleep (17th June 2024) by Jason Newland

(10 Hours) (no music) #1148 - Job Centre Story - Let Me Bore You To Sleep (17th June 2024) by Jason Newland

(music) #1148 - Job Centre Story - Let Me Bore You To Sleep (17th June 2024) by Jason Newland

(5 Hours) #1148 - Job Centre Story - Let Me Bore You To Sleep (17th June 2024) by Jason Newland

(no music) #1148 - Job Centre Story - Let Me Bore You To Sleep (17th June 2024) by Jason Newland

Equity and equality for all!Philip Carter Goodyear, Social Justice Lead and Head of Suffolk Family Support at Ipswich Job Centre talks to Tony Casement, Head of Creative Communities at The New Wolsey Theatre.Philip talks about his belief and mission to re-engage families and individuals, who feel isolated through unemployment, with the community. Offering creative experiences for families is essential to well-being and a journey to feeling connected again.Philip collaborates with many organisations over Suffolk (including The New Wolsey Theatre and Suffolk Libraries) and together they have curated a wide range of fabulous cultural experiences for his Job Centre clients. From panto and tours to Llamas in the office - he missed nothing out!Thank you Philip for such a candid and interesting conversation.Thank you for listening to the New Wolsey Theatre Podcast.You're all welcome to get involved and if you'd like to be a guest or like to ask a question to the theatre team, please just get in touch.Email: jparker@wolseytheatre.co.uk (Podcast host and Marketing Officer)All show tickets are on sale HERE.Visit the New Wolsey Theatre website HERE.Thanks to our good friends at podtalk.co.uk for managing and producing our podcast. The New Wolsey Theatre is supported by Arts Council England, Suffolk County Council and Ipswich Borough Council.

In today's episode, we will be discussing Jobcentre Plus, the punitive approach that we have been seeing when it comes to supporting people back to work, and what this says about the UK's welfare policy. In Catch22's manifesto, we are calling for the government to revolutionise Jobcentre Plus so that, alongside other employment related services, they become a place where people are supported into careers rather than placed into ‘any job.' Joining Stella to discuss the issues around Jobcentre Plus and welfare policy is Tom O'Grady, Associate Professor of Politics at University College London. _________________________________________________________ With the recent release of our manifesto: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠22 ways to build resilience and aspiration in people and communities⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, our fourth season focuses on some of our key policy asks. It is presented by Catch22's Head of Policy and Campaigns, Stella Tsantekidou. Learn more about our manifesto: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3F7KCf3⁠

In Episode 156 I had the honor to speak with Garett Tomasek, U.S. leader of Best Buddies. Garett was introduced to me and the Unstoppable Mindset by accessiBe's own Sheldon Lewis, also a past guest on the podcast. Sheldon also introduced me to an incredible woman who is a Best Buddy in Canada. Meet Jessica Rotolo who is a talented and fearless 25-year-old model, artist, self-advocate, actor and dancer, who has a passion for performing on film and stage. Jessica was born with Downs Syndrome. I empathize a great deal as my parents, like Jessica's, were told that she would be a burden on them. As with my parents, Jessica's parents, especially her mom, fiercely opposed the idea that their daughter could not grow up to do whatever she wanted with her life. Along the way, Jessica was introduced to Best Buddies Canada where she met one of her pier buddies, Lauren Abela. Under the Best Buddies program, a Best Buddy like Jessica gets a new “pier buddy” every year. These people are volunteers who choose to become friends and mentors for persons with development or intellectual disabilities. In the case of Lauren and Jessica, their relationship flourished, and they became and still are clearly best friends, and Jessica's mom, Dorlean is also part of the team. Mom refers to herself as Jessica's Momager and prefers to work behind the scenes. However, she clearly is a significant part of the conversation you get to experience on this episode. Clearly these three are an unstoppable force. Lauren is a leader in Best Buddies and Jessica is an international ambassador for the program. Check out this episode and be ready to be inspired and encouraged. About the Guest: Jessica Rotolo Jessica is a talented and fearless 25-year-old model, artist, self-advocate, actor and dancer, who has a passion for performing on film and stage. Jessica was born with Down syndrome and is a role model for her community as well as an Ambassador for DramaWay, Best Buddies Canada and Best Buddies International. As the recipient of several awards, Jessica has also been recognized in the Ontario Legislative Assembly and the Canadian House of Commons for her outstanding international commitment in advocating and fundraising for her Down Syndrome community. She has performed in several musical drama productions throughout her career at DramaWay, a Toronto drama company serving the All-Abilities community. She has been a guest on several Canadian News Stations and Talk Shows. She has appeared in numerous campaigns for the Canadian Down Syndrome Society and a Documentary called “Employable Me Canada” not to mention a number of other fashion shows and photo shoots, including the Fashion Arts Toronto show and with designer 3ndolith. Dorlean Rotolo As her “Momager,” Dorlean is committed to supporting her daughter, Jessica, in all aspects of her career of modeling, acting, dancing and her advocacy for Best Buddies Canada, Best Buddies International and the Down syndrome community at large. Lauren Abela Lauren is a recent psychology graduate and now Student Recruitment Officer at the University of Guelph-Humber. She was first introduced to Best Buddies in high school at St. Jean de Brebeuf in Vaughan, Canada. Lauren fell in love with the atmosphere and purpose of the organization, and soon took on greater leadership roles including co-founding her own chapter with Jessica and becoming Canada's first Global Ambassadors for Best Buddies together. Because of Jessica, Lauren chose her thesis research topic to be called, “Down Syndrome Acceptance: Changing Attitudes Through Interventions.” Through her research, she found a positive relationship between disability education and inclusionary attitudes. Lauren is grateful to have attended university on a full scholarship as a Founders' Academic Merit Scholarship recipient, and made the most of her last 4 years as an active member in the community. Upon graduating, she received her school's top graduation awards, including Gold Medallion for Leadership Excellence and Michael Nightingale Community Enrichment Award. Presently, Lauren plans to pursue further education to become a Registered Psychologist and continue her research assistantship with her former professor's non-profit, Teaching & Learning Research (TLR) In Action, studying the accessibility of post-secondary classrooms for the visually impaired. In the meantime, she travels around Ontario promoting her school, encouraging students to apply for scholarships and consider joining Best Buddies. Best Buddies taught her that friendships are not something to be taken for granted, and the power of giving kindness to someone who needs it most holds immeasurable impact. Ways to connect with Jessica, Dorlean & Lauren: Best Buddies Canada Instagram: https://instagram.com/bestbuddiescanada?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== Best Buddies Canada Website: https://bestbuddies.ca Jessica's Instagram: https://instagram.com/jessica.rotolo20?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== Jessica's Linktree Website: https://linktr.ee/Jessica.Rotolo20 Shop Jessica's Cards: https://kidicarus.ca/product-tag/jessica-rotolo/ About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: **Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. **Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well, hello once again and welcome to unstoppable mindset today we get to do something a little bit different, something we haven't done a lot, although when we do it. It's kind of fun. And that is we have more than one guest on the podcast today. Several months ago, we had a guest on Garrett Tomasek, who is involved with best buddies in the United States. And if you listened to that episode, you had a chance to learn about Best Buddies. And he was introduced to us by Sheldon Lewis here at AccessiBe well. Along the way, Sheldon also introduced us introduced us if I could talk I'd be in great shape but introduced us to Jessica Rotolo and Dorlean Rotolo and Lauren Abela. Lauren is a best buddy Jessica is a best buddy of Lauren's. And we also have, as I said, other people involved in this whole thing specifically Darlene, who is Jessica's mom, she prefers to be called her momager. And we're going to talk all about that. But Jessica is involved in a lot of different events. Jessica is a model, she's an actress, she does a variety of different kinds of things. And she was born with Down syndrome. So we're going to talk about all of that. And we're going to talk about best buddies and do whatever it is that we need to do to make this a fun time. So sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. And I think I'm going to start with Jessica and say welcome to unstoppable mindset. How are you? **Jessica Rotolo ** 03:00 Yes, I'm great. I'm great. I go. ahead, go ahead. I am 25 years old, and I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and I was born with Down syndrome. And right here is a buddy of mine, a pure buddy who I love. **Lauren Abela ** 03:21 Lauren. Jessica is hugging me right now. I'm Lauren. **Jessica Rotolo ** 03:24 And my mom who I live with **Michael Hingson ** 03:29 Hug your mom too. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 03:30 And I'm getting hugs right now. **Michael Hingson ** 03:33 Okay, just checking for **Dorlean Rotolo ** 03:35 being just as mom is the amount of hugs we get. Well, that's kind of I once said on a documentary she did that she she would be a professional hugger. **Jessica Rotolo ** 03:45 And that was called employable me. And that was when I was looking for a job and they helped me actually get a job at Navara the costume rental store. And well, so they do and they also helped me get my art and to Christmas cards. **Michael Hingson ** 04:04 Oh, so do you have a job today? Today? **Jessica Rotolo ** 04:07 I do. I actually work at my preschool. Centennial. Jobcentre. Ah, okay, I am a path forward classroom assistant there because I went to Centennial when I was a kid, a baby, a baby, a **Michael Hingson ** 04:27 baby. Well, that's kind of cool. Well, Lauren, let's welcome you also to unstoppable mindset. How are you? **Lauren Abela ** 04:34 I'm doing good. I'm nervous but excited. **Michael Hingson ** 04:38 Don't be nervous. No need to be nervous. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 04:43 You don't bite do you? **Michael Hingson ** 04:45 Never anxious. Just food. And humans are not food. So no. Well, Lauren, tell us a little bit about you kind of growing up. Why don't you start us off with that. We learned already a little bit about Jeff because she's 25, and she was born with Down syndrome, we'll come back to that. But tell us about you, Lauren. Yeah, **Lauren Abela ** 05:05 so I was born, normally developing, I have a twin brother and two older sisters, born and raised here in Ontario, Canada. And I first got involved in high school with best buddies in the 11th grade. So halfway into my career, and I haven't left since. So **Michael Hingson ** 05:24 how did you discover Best Buddies? **Lauren Abela ** 05:26 So I know that the club had a presence around my high school. And they would often host events and have tables set up during club fairs, and they would have big sales. So within those first couple years, I was getting familiar with the organization. And then finally, in the 11th grade, they were recruiting people for to join the Club. And then after that, I was like, you know, why not? What's, what's stopping me from joining and just and making new friends. So that was why I wanted to go and join and was that hope of making new friends and here I am today, so incredibly blessed to have my truly lifetime best friend Jessica? **Jessica Rotolo ** 06:06 Yes. And I started best buddies in grade nine of high school. And I've been in Best Buddies for 10 plus years. And it's been a fun ride through it. Oh, **Michael Hingson ** 06:24 well, how did you discover Best Buddies? We heard how Lauren did. But Jessica, how did you discover Best Buddies? **Jessica Rotolo ** 06:30 I actually heard about it from a teacher in class that Emily Chang was an is her name. And she told everyone about it. And I said, oh, oh, join. And I heard of I joined and I loved it ever since. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 06:57 Now. How to highland park. **Jessica Rotolo ** 07:00 Yeah. To Highland Park High School. Yeah. How **Michael Hingson ** 07:05 close in age are you to learn and Jessica? **Jessica Rotolo ** 07:08 Well, I'm 25 and Lauren is 22 turns.Okay, four months? **Michael Hingson ** 07:13 Yeah. All right. So, so you and how old? How old? Were you, Jessica, when you were in the ninth grade and started voting and best? You were four. Okay. My gosh. Okay. So, you started well, before Lauren, how did you guys meet and become best buddies. **Jessica Rotolo ** 07:31 So we met when I went to Humber College, when I went there. And I, she called Best Buddies, Canada. And she wanted to join, she wanted to start up a Best Buddies group up there. And I called Best Buddies, Canada. And I said that I want to start up as buddies up there as well. So best buddies, Canada basically. put us together. And we met first at Humber, at the Starbucks there, and we decided to start up a Best Buddies chapter. **Lauren Abela ** 08:14 And, Michael, just to add on to that, if you're not, if, you know, just to share some background information that's based Canada is quite a small leadership team. So we had reached out to different people within the organization. And then in office, they're like, Hey, someone from Hungary reached out. Yeah. Someone from the University of Guelph Humber reached out. So it was the team over at the space Canada. Deanna and Vicki who connected Jessica and I together. Yes. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 08:40 And the university and the college are right beside each other. They are Yeah, so. **Jessica Rotolo ** 08:46 So the Humber College actually went to 12. Humber University University. **Michael Hingson ** 08:50 Right. So did you get a college degree, Jessica? **Jessica Rotolo ** 08:57 Well, I was in the sea ice program there. And that is a two year program for people with special needs, like me and other people who have autism and other any **Michael Hingson ** 09:14 special special special needs. Yeah, **Dorlean Rotolo ** 09:16 it's a two year program. Yes, **Jessica Rotolo ** 09:18 a two year program. And I was in person for a little bit and then COVID happened. And I was online, which I did not like. Yeah, yeah. But I also did a documentary in 2018 called employable me. And that's when I got the job and the cards, but they also said that I was eligible to graduate two years before 2015. And that meant that if I graduated, then I would have gone to Humber College in person all throughout **Dorlean Rotolo ** 09:56 Europe, but then I don't think you'll remember Lauren. Yeah. Yeah, I meant to be, **Jessica Rotolo ** 10:01 but it was meant to be. But I went, I deferred it for a year and then an orphan. Yeah. Worked out. **Michael Hingson ** 10:08 Yeah. Sodid you go back to college and finish or? **Jessica Rotolo ** 10:12 Well, I defer it for a year. And they went to Humber what engineering. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 10:18 She got accepted. But then she deferred the acceptance for one year because I had a number of things she was doing. So then she went to college for the two year program. Okay. The second year was COVID. So yeah, she was **Lauren Abela ** 10:31 Jessica. I can't imagine what if you had beat me to starting the chapter? Chapter. Yeah. **Michael Hingson ** 10:40 So after COVID, so you haven't gone back and finished your second year yet? No, **Jessica Rotolo ** 10:45 no, I'm done now. Oh, no, **Dorlean Rotolo ** 10:47 you finished? She finished it online, **Michael Hingson ** 10:49 online. Okay. Okay. And I **Jessica Rotolo ** 10:51 graduated online as well. Cool. **Michael Hingson ** 10:55 So you virtually walked across the stage and got here. So Dorlean, tell us about you a little bit, kind of your life growing up, and then certainly having the opportunity to be with Jessica, and being a mom and all that. This has obviously been different for you than probably what you expected? **Dorlean Rotolo ** 11:20 Oh, absolutely. I grew up in Saskatchewan and rural farming community. My father was a farmer, my mother, a nurse and, you know, had a lovely life in not in Saskatchewan, and then move to the mountains. And then after when I was living in Banff, I decided I wanted to move out to Ontario, so moved here and luckily met my husband. And you know, we had Jessica and it certainly was a shock like most families when you have a surprise that you weren't expecting, and but we wouldn't change Jessica in any any possible way. She is a force to be reckoned with. Yes. And the Down Syndrome has not stopped her from leading an unbelievable life. I **Jessica Rotolo ** 12:06 do anything anyone else can do. Yeah, she's **Dorlean Rotolo ** 12:09 very, very accomplished, young lady. And we're incredibly proud of her. And my first time that actually I went to a hotel to a, an event in Vaughan, which is north of Ontario. And I didn't know it, but it was a Best Buddies event that was being put on. And I remember having a t shirt from it that I eventually just gave away because I'm like, I don't know why I have this t shirt anymore. And then lo and behold, when Jessica, signs up for Best Buddies, I'm like, Oh my gosh, I should have kept that T shirt. Yeah. **Michael Hingson ** 12:46 Yeah. Well, so do you have other children? Yes, **Dorlean Rotolo ** 12:49 we have one daughter. Her name is Bobby. And she's doing her PhD in Waterloo, Ontario, and very proud of her. She started her PhD when she was 22 years old. And that's in public health. And yeah, she's doing very accomplished younger woman as well. **Michael Hingson ** 13:05 Jessica, are you gonna go get a PhD? **Jessica Rotolo ** 13:08 I don't know. Yeah. To a makeup course. So I want to learn everything to know that is about makeup. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 13:20 Well, when you go into her bedroom at Sephora. **Jessica Rotolo ** 13:26 She's got a makeup to **Michael Hingson ** 13:29 what to tell people a little bit about Jessica. Jessica is a model. She's an artist, self advocate, actor, and dancer. And you have performed in a variety of different kinds of things that I do want to get to all that. But the point is that you are definitely doing a lot of stuff. So maybe a PhD isn't in your future, and that's okay. Or you might decide down the line that you want to be more of an academic, but that's probably a whole lot more boring than being an artist and a dancer. And especially, I speak from experience being a self advocate. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so you **Jessica Rotolo ** 14:08 I am a self advocate for Down syndrome and Best **Dorlean Rotolo ** 14:12 Buddies and alopecia and alopecia because **Jessica Rotolo ** 14:15 in 2014, I was on a pill for sleep disorders and I caused alopecia. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 14:25 Yeah, target all patients. **Michael Hingson ** 14:28 Tell us about that. Tell us what that is. How **Jessica Rotolo ** 14:31 alopecia is hair loss. So I was completely bald from head to toe. Like hair, eyebrows, lashes everywhere. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 14:42 And then so we after nine months from the pill Jessica passed out. So we took the took her off the pill and then within eight months her hair started growing back. Yeah. But then there were still patches that were not coming back. So Jessica was would go to Sandy Brooklyn. hospital. Yes. And every three months is hollow just **Jessica Rotolo ** 15:03 there. We did 50. So it is a 50 steroid injections and my head and eyebrows. And that did not work **Dorlean Rotolo ** 15:14 every three months. And then very luckily Pfizer came out with a trial test pill, which Jessica was accepted to three and a half years ago. And so she's been going to a dermatologist and she's on that. And it's grown her hair to 32 inches long. **Jessica Rotolo ** 15:30 Wow. And growing and growing. And going with the pill. Yeah. **Jessica Rotolo ** 15:36 And now we're doing a documentary on my hair grow hair loss and hair growth journey. And I'll be cutting my hair off shoulder length, and I'll be donating my hair as a wig to someone who has **Dorlean Rotolo ** 15:58 alopecia. So continental hair is where Jessica bought a number of weeks when she had her hair loss. And they are graciously part of the documentary with Sunnybrook Hospital. And they will, Michael Suba. His name is and he will be donate making a way out of justice hair that will be donated to a young woman who is suffering from alopecia. **Michael Hingson ** 16:22 Oh, that's that's pretty cool. Yeah. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 16:25 And she's getting her hair cut when I started taping this weekend. **Jessica Rotolo ** 16:31 We can Yeah. **Michael Hingson ** 16:32 What's the new documentary **Dorlean Rotolo ** 16:33 gonna be about? Well, Jessica's hair loss and regrowth journey. Okay. And **Michael Hingson ** 16:38 when will that be released? **Dorlean Rotolo ** 16:42 For spring, spring? Because we'd like to enter into Tiff and all the film festivals, and then also put it into the educational system. Yes. So it'd be a 12 to 15 minute documentary. Yeah. So we're very excited about it. We have a wonderful director named Scott drecker. Who is, is doing all the filming will **Jessica Rotolo ** 17:02 love him. Yeah. I also did a couple of public service announcements. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 17:09 And that's how we know him. Yeah, that's how we did that was for the Down Syndrome. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 17:15 Society. That's right, **Michael Hingson ** 17:16 so. So Dorlean, what is best buddies meant for you? Clearly, and I know that Jessica and Lauren have thoughts about that, and we can talk about that. But I'm curious, what does it really mean for you? 17:32 Well, the biggest thing for me was friendship. When Jessica joined, the friends that she made, and still has connected with is unbelievable. They are women that now our doctors are going to medical school. They are all very accomplished young women, and they still keep in touch with Jessica. So to me, it's friendship, this is what best buddies really is. For our family, and but also it's the, it's to the it's given just so many unbelievable opportunities to become a leader, they they have given her so many different ways where she can just shine and and and be that leader that we knew was in there. Because she hasn't gotten it from other other places, associations, but Best Buddies has just let her shine. I've been to two **Jessica Rotolo ** 18:29 leadership conferences in Toronto, Canada, twice. One was a sleepover and when was a day thing? **Michael Hingson ** 18:39 And what were the leadership conferences about or what did you accomplish there? **Jessica Rotolo ** 18:44 Um, basically how to make new friends and learning how to speak in front of large crowds. 18:54 Well, there you go. And be an advocate. Yeah. **Michael Hingson ** 18:58 So Lauren, do you go to on any of these events with Jessica? **Lauren Abela ** 19:04 Yes. So my first one similar to justice story was in high school. So before we had met, but you know, just over the summer, we went to the International Leadership Conference. **Jessica Rotolo ** 19:13 We did and that was our first one in person. Yeah, first, where was that? Indiana? 19:21 Oh, it's an Indiana **Jessica Rotolo ** 19:23 in the US. **Michael Hingson ** 19:24 I have. I have close friends. So we live in Bloomington. It's beautiful. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 19:29 Believe how stunning it was just loved every minute because Joe and I went as well. Yeah. And we had a mini vacation while they were off working and getting up at six and **Lauren Abela ** 19:42 made sure I was up on time. Mondays but so memorable. **Michael Hingson ** 19:48 This is where I know Best Buddies is is a miracle organization because there's never a day that just go get up at 6am **Michael Hingson ** 19:58 Well, you know that's how actresses are They like to sleep late. Oh, **Michael Hingson ** 20:01 yeah. Yeah, I like to sleep in and then they party till 1111 30 at night so or later. **Michael Hingson ** 20:10 Sleep. So So Jessica, you are doing a lot of different things with acting and art and so on. Why and how did you start all of that? And how young were you when you started that? **Jessica Rotolo ** 20:24 I believe I started this. My art and everything. When I was like four, I think what, **Dorlean Rotolo ** 20:34 John who taught you how to do so Jessica signature has a heart tell them? Yes. **Jessica Rotolo ** 20:38 My heart is Madras signature. And my my aunt, my aunt, Auntie Bev taught me how to make an M first, and then a V at the bottom and connect it and connect them make a heart like a heart. But now, I do it all myself. Yeah, yeah. **Michael Hingson ** 20:59 So what kind of art do you do? Hearts, our hearts. **Jessica Rotolo ** 21:04 Make hearts and then also people, female and male. And **Michael Hingson ** 21:11 what kind of art is it? Is it just drawing or painting or what? **Jessica Rotolo ** 21:15 Painting Manet? Okay, **Dorlean Rotolo ** 21:19 you're one of Jessica's pieces **Michael Hingson ** 21:20 of art? Well, for those who can see the podcast, because a lot of people are going to be listening to this, but if you want to show one, I don't see a problem. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 21:30 Well, you know, the the unique thing about Jessica is Hearts is that she divides them into little squares and colors. And so they're very, very colorful, and, and very **Jessica Rotolo ** 21:41 intricate. I would say it **Dorlean Rotolo ** 21:44 takes her about 40 to 50 hours to do one of **Michael Hingson ** 21:46 her I was just gonna ask that. Yeah, so 50 hours to do one, huh? Are you do you do oil paint or what? **Jessica Rotolo ** 21:54 No acrylic paint acrylic. Okay. Yes. So like on the canvas. Now, **Dorlean Rotolo ** 21:58 when she first started out, it was crayons. It was like a pencil crayon. Yeah. And then I introduced her to the acrylic paint when she got older. And yeah, they're they're a work of art. And she's Yeah, our prime minister has one dancer and mentioned national has one while we gave 24 away to a World Down Syndrome Day event that we did on March 21st. So many people have just because wonderful heart and **Jessica Rotolo ** 22:26 then when I started acting, I believe it was 15 I think with drama away, or your 14 when you thank you. I was 14. And I loved it ever since that **Dorlean Rotolo ** 22:48 you call them your second family. Yeah. And what do you do with drama? Where **Michael Hingson ** 22:51 does the classes tell us about trauma? **Jessica Rotolo ** 22:54 Our drama, winter or is like a group B? This is Mississauga, West Scarborough east, everywhere. Number of classes for drama. There is songwriting, which I love the most. That one is where you write your own songs. As a group as a group. Yes. And then dance. Dancing. I love dancing and dancing. I started when I was 1616. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 23:34 Yeah. But when with drama when you didn't when you were young boy. But how **Jessica Rotolo ** 23:39 old? Were your little? Oh, **Dorlean Rotolo ** 23:40 yeah, you started like with ballet. You were three years old. **Jessica Rotolo ** 23:44 Three years old. I started dancing. Wow. **Michael Hingson ** 23:47 So you've been doing it a while needless to say, which is certainly cool. And you've been dancing. So drama. What kind of drama do you do today? **Jessica Rotolo ** 24:00 Um, we do a lot of plays. Like, um, the last play that we did was the very first play that drama we ever did. Wizard of Oz such **Dorlean Rotolo ** 24:12 as 22 years ago. Yes. And I was **Jessica Rotolo ** 24:15 the what keepers of the West. **Michael Hingson ** 24:20 And did you say the big line? I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too. **Jessica Rotolo ** 24:26 I did not. Really? I was going to and what **Dorlean Rotolo ** 24:33 did you say instead? **Jessica Rotolo ** 24:35 I don't remember. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 24:37 You don't remember your line. **Michael Hingson ** 24:42 Oh, what what was her line? **Jessica Rotolo ** 24:44 Yeah, for God. **Michael Hingson ** 24:47 Don't talk to her about forgetting lines. **Jessica Rotolo ** 24:51 But that was the past play that we just did. **Michael Hingson ** 24:56 You just did that one, huh? Yeah, we **Jessica Rotolo ** 24:58 just did that one. Now. **Michael Hingson ** 24:59 I I'm curious. Are plays like that recorded? Do this? Anybody make videos on them? Are they available? **Jessica Rotolo ** 25:07 Yeah, yes. They're all recorded and you can get them online. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 25:11 Yeah and drama. Wait, drama way.com Yeah. And there because it's everybody, everybody that is in an actor all everybody has special needs. And **Michael Hingson ** 25:23 I'm just gonna say Yeah. Then from verbal to **Dorlean Rotolo ** 25:25 nonverbal. And Danielle stir nod who is the **Michael Hingson ** 25:29 executive producer, director and co founder. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 25:33 She? She has that everybody has an amazing role. And the costumes the props are very fun. believable. Yeah. Her staff. What do you think about the staff have drawn love **Jessica Rotolo ** 25:45 them? Yeah, I miss a couple of them. Because some of them are to move on how to move. Yeah, **Dorlean Rotolo ** 25:53 but it's an incredible organization. Yeah. Yeah. And so last year for drama. Wait, I **Jessica Rotolo ** 26:02 am yeah, I'm also an ambassador for jumbo i Tell **Michael Hingson ** 26:05 me about that. Please. **Jessica Rotolo ** 26:08 I love being an ambassador for jumbo I just because I have these a car for being an ambassador. And I can just give one out to any any for if Danielle **Dorlean Rotolo ** 26:25 needs a spokesperson, or anybody who wants to be entered interviewing about drama, wait, just because asked to represent drama. Wait. **Michael Hingson ** 26:36 So Lauren, how are you and Best Buddies involved with what Jessica is doing with drama? Where are you? Other than obviously supporting? Yeah, **Lauren Abela ** 26:48 so actually really had an amazing time watching just because played the Wizard of Oz this year. It was spectacular. So I really, really enjoyed just showing up supporting, watching, it was really a really nice time because all the laughs and how serious everyone takes their role. Like it was a honestly professional production. Needless to say, so. That's the reason generally, they don't have a direct connection at the moment. But nothing that we can't start today. There's anything I've learned from Jessica is that, you know, if you want to do something, go ahead and do it. **Jessica Rotolo ** 27:26 We did a lot of other plays. And actually, some of them were copied onto DVD guns, instead of like online, **Dorlean Rotolo ** 27:36 and there are other actors or performers that are part of the best buddies. organization as well. Yes, yes. But Best Buddies has been incredible. Especially, you know, the way you can tell them what were you with you and Lauren, the first Canadian? **Jessica Rotolo ** 27:52 Oh, yes, we actually we are the first Canadian buddy best buddy pair to be a to be the best buddies global ambassadors. And our kids, this is the top **Lauren Abela ** 28:11 are the ambassadors I'm wearing a purple collared shirt that they gave us at the International Conference this year, which **Dorlean Rotolo ** 28:17 says Best Buddies ambassador. Yes. And then Jessica, you're wearing which **Jessica Rotolo ** 28:21 shirt? I'm wearing my best buddies Canada talk. **Lauren Abela ** 28:25 And it has the logo in white, or a solid red t shirt. **Michael Hingson ** 28:29 What is the logo look like? If you would learn Oh, **Jessica Rotolo ** 28:32 it's actually the logo is two people putting their arms like this around each other on each other. **Lauren Abela ** 28:42 Like, like **Michael Hingson ** 28:43 this doesn't work very well just to go because most people aren't going to see this. They're going to hear it **Jessica Rotolo ** 28:48 actually I got this talk at the 20th year Leadership Conference. **Michael Hingson ** 28:57 Cool. So for you, Lauren. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 29:01 Might may say the the gentleman that he his name is Keith Haring and he's a contemporary artist in the world and he create created and donated the best buddies logo for Anthony Kennedy Shriver Wow, they weren't went to university together. Uh huh. Huh. So that's who does that develop the logo? Yes. **Michael Hingson ** 29:25 So Lauren, what is your favorite thing about having Jessica as a as a best buddy and a best friend? **Lauren Abela ** 29:31 Do I have to pick just one Michael like really? Possible to **Lauren Abela ** 29:42 certainly the key one that like stood out as soon as we met the first day, it was just your confidence. Yeah. And how you approach life and it's definitely learned a lot from you. Still learning each day is a how you can just Jessica how you can just take on challenges and be like You know what, I deserve to be here and I'm gonna own it, whatever you're doing. If you're standing in front of 100,000 people, you're gonna own it. I believe that. So definitely just Well, **Jessica Rotolo ** 30:10 I actually did something called motion ball. I know I for Special Olympics, Canada, I auditioned with a really. I did an audition tape, which I technically really didn't need to, because I was in already. But I auditioned, like, my little skit, and then I won. And I'm much I didn't plan on. And I got to perform at the guard and find out how many people 2500 2500 People **Michael Hingson ** 30:55 did you start? Yeah. **Jessica Rotolo ** 30:58 And I loved it. I don't get nervous whatsoever. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 31:04 And a very interesting fact. Is that, so Anthony Kennedy Shriver started special started. Best Buddies. Yeah. In like 1989. And his aunt and mother started Special Olympics. Right? So he comes from a fabulous lineage of people that just give to the world. And especially people with special needs. So they're extra special. They have an extra special place in our heart, don't they? Yeah, they really do. **Michael Hingson ** 31:37 Well, I think Lauren, you've probably kind of answered this, but I'm going to ask it anyway. What has Jessica taught you that you can take away as a life lesson? Yes, **Lauren Abela ** 31:46 so something I've been sharing with different high schools I've visited for my school. As that's my new job. After graduating from university, I now go around to different high schools in Ontario, recruiting people for the University of Guelph Humber, and include this part of my speech, because I really want others to have a similar friendship story if they can, if they can join best buddies or start their own chapter. And that's that, you know, how to be accepted for who you are. Because Jessica accepts me for who I am. And how to love with all of your heart. So I really, really appreciate Jessica for those two very big. Well, **Michael Hingson ** 32:29 Ken, I think that's extremely important. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 32:32 What do you say they're a very big hug right now. **Michael Hingson ** 32:34 What do you think? What? What do all of you think that best buddies can teach the world? And how can we get more people to pay attention to the lesson? **Dorlean Rotolo ** 32:46 Well, from a parent's perspective, sure that my child can do anything like anybody else, it may take her a little bit longer, but she can do anything. And she just needs to be given the chance from a job to being a friend. Just give them the opportunity because they deserve it. They're part of our planet. And, and they're, you know, we were made by all made by our you know, who we believe in, if you're, if it's God, it's whoever you believe in, we are all made together to live on this planet, and we each deserve. You know, that opportunity just to live a wonderful, wonderful life and Best Buddies. Absolutely. Does that. It does. Yes. **Michael Hingson ** 33:31 Well, well, Jessica and Lauren, in their various ways are ambassadors. It sounds like so are you do you go out and give speeches and talk to the public? No, **Dorlean Rotolo ** 33:39 no, I don't. I don't **Jessica Rotolo ** 33:42 know. She goes on the documentary. Unbelievable. Me with me. Yeah, **Dorlean Rotolo ** 33:45 yeah. So but no, I don't I just I'm behind the scenes making sure that when just because they're, everything's done for her or we work together to do it. Yeah. You know, I'm, I'm her taxi. I'm her. **Jessica Rotolo ** 34:00 With us now for us. Yeah. Yeah, it was awesome. For us. That's the **Jessica Rotolo ** 34:04 same for worldwide Down Syndrome Day. 2023 **Dorlean Rotolo ** 34:08 was yeah, just it was, you know, helped me don't do it for me, help me. Let me let me show you that. I can do it too. I may need help. But just and that's, you know, his World Down Syndrome days. Again, their theme. Yeah, it was wonderful. And **Jessica Rotolo ** 34:22 I was also bullied in the past like, as a little baby and as a little kid and now Best Buddies really helped me make new friends. Yeah. And **Michael Hingson ** 34:38 that's real accepted. That is clearly great and a good thing. And and having a good friend like Lauren is always a valuable thing I think for for anyone, Lauren, you got your degree in psychology. You're going to continue on and go further with that. Yes, **Lauren Abela ** 34:57 I do want to pursue further Education, hopefully become a psychotherapist and and maybe a psychologist down the road. But you know I haven't shared yet but just to come and our friendship influenced my thesis topic thesis research paper. For my fourth year I just wrote it. And that was on Down Syndrome acceptance, changing attitudes through interventions. So it was measuring, quantitatively whether a short video, just sharing more about people with Down syndrome of all different ages, genders in jobs and careers, and how capable they are. And it did find a positive relationship between education and acceptance attitudes. So if there is any advice that I can give people, it's to be open to learning, and to ask questions, and approach people with a positive and open heart. You know, there's enough hate in this world don't spread more from yourself. **Michael Hingson ** 36:03 There's too much hate in this world, actually. But yeah, well, you know, so we've, we've heard a lot about Jessica's leadership and so on, and mom in the background, but you've taken on leadership roles and Best Buddies and elsewhere. Why did you do that? And what what was the inspiration to make that happen? **Lauren Abela ** 36:22 Yeah. Well, I know, I mentioned to you how I joined the student union with my university Ignite. And that was wanting to make clubs more accessible for students to join, seeing the positive impact of Best Buddies on the school. And I just wanted to give back in that way, and like Jessica, Tommy take action, you know, don't wait for someone else to do it. If there's something you want change, and then be that difference you want to see in the world. So that's how I approach these leadership opportunities. And it's certainly, you know, really definitely a credit, Jessica to many of my accomplishments, including the the award that my school gave me. Yes, yeah. Because we were. **Michael Hingson ** 37:11 Now when when you're a best buddy with someone, so Jessica is your best buddy. And and probably more relevant to ask it this way. Do you have more than one best buddy? Or do you stick with one person and devote all your time to that? **Jessica Rotolo ** 37:27 I have lots of money. I have like eight buddies now, since high school. **Michael Hingson ** 37:39 But how many do you have at one time? **Jessica Rotolo ** 37:42 I'm one at a time, one at a time. **Michael Hingson ** 37:45 So Lauren, same for you. **Lauren Abela ** 37:47 Yes. So the beauty of the organization is that for each year or semester, depending on how the chapter organizes it, you are matched with just one person typically hoping, hoping that the numbers do line up. And the goal is to during that one year of commitment, foster friendship to last a lifetime. So that's what happened to Jessica. So **Jessica Rotolo ** 38:10 the mean, yes, but when I was in high school, yes. It was like I had four buddies. From that chapter one **Michael Hingson ** 38:22 each year. Yeah, yes. Yes. Or what? **Dorlean Rotolo ** 38:27 years because you were there for seven years. Yeah. **Jessica Rotolo ** 38:30 Yeah. So I actually know the names as well. Tiffany so Ha, Chloe, Grace, Lauren, Mary Louise from Tmu. And Lisa, and now Priyanka from the Tim you, so? **Michael Hingson ** 38:49 So if you and so the two of you, Lauren and Jessica, are not in the organization's definition. Best Buddies, your best buddies for life anyway. But you have you have different Best Buddies says Best Buddies in the organization. Yes. Yeah. **Lauren Abela ** 39:07 So how it is organized is that students with intellectual or developmental disability are classified as a best buddy. Yeah, and those without an IDD is a pure body. Yes. So those one pure buddy is matched with one best buddy each year. And you know, you can request to be with a person sometimes it really it differs Chapter Two chapter. Yeah, we actually **Jessica Rotolo ** 39:33 requested I requested her to be the the first by developer chapter **Dorlean Rotolo ** 39:40 and the unique thing is Humber is that you have to be a student to be in the in the organization, the chapter, but it Tmu **Jessica Rotolo ** 39:50 Tim, you the buddies don't have to be a student. Yeah. And the pair bonding is have to be a student. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 39:57 Yeah, yeah. And community To be living has come where they are us t Fs okay? **Jessica Rotolo ** 40:03 Yes FST has come in helped us find the bodies and bodies. So **Lauren Abela ** 40:11 different Best Buddies chapters, especially at the university slash college level will partner with the community organization to recruit the best buddies from whereas we at Humber, we're very lucky to have students in the CIC program that we could recruit directly from, **Jessica Rotolo ** 40:27 which I helped with because I was in that program, **Dorlean Rotolo ** 40:31 which has helped you became the largest club and yeah, at the school, didn't you? I **Lauren Abela ** 40:36 want to believe so. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 40:40 You have amazing amount of people come is wonderful. Yes, yeah. Yeah, there's so many great events. **Michael Hingson ** 40:49 So what kind of events? I think we've heard some of the things that the Jessica has done well, but, and obviously, Darlene, but Lauren, what kind of events have you done with this buddies? Or is it sort of similar to what Jessica has already told us? **Lauren Abela ** 41:04 I think the events I just mentioned here are just all of her personal accomplishments. I can't top that, Michael ask someone else. **Michael Hingson ** 41:15 Trying to top it, it's **Dorlean Rotolo ** 41:17 been very shy here, because without Lauren, it was it was a group that, you know, an effort between the two of them, there are partnerships so without each other, that clubs certainly would not have been successful, no as it was, but also the support that best buddies Canada gave them was really wonderful. Deanna is just **Lauren Abela ** 41:40 amazing. And some of the events that Deanna allowed us to participate in include the Ascot, yes. Which was an annual fundraiser so just Can I volunteered with that event? We've gone to the Blue Jays game. Free tickets from Best Buddies, Canada. Yeah, PJs **Dorlean Rotolo ** 41:56 Care Foundation went into the box and sat in the box. **Lauren Abela ** 41:59 Yeah, we're also we've got watch the champions movie and in the feeder in Toronto. Yeah. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 42:04 And that's you've also could, you've had dance evenings at the at the school you've had friendship walks, right? Yeah. Yeah, **Jessica Rotolo ** 42:16 we did. You guys did. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 42:19 Talk to your Yes. That was best, buddy. Yes. **Jessica Rotolo ** 42:22 We also did the friendship dance. But that was my high school. Yeah. And I came in second in a dance off. **Michael Hingson ** 42:34 So Jessica, do you do social media at all? Yes. **Jessica Rotolo ** 42:40 Well, we both do, actually. And what do you do for a zoo? **Michael Hingson ** 42:43 Tell us about that. Hi, sorry, sad again. **Jessica Rotolo ** 42:48 We do Instagram lives together. Tell us about that. It's really fun. **Lauren Abela ** 42:53 Yes, maybe I can share how it started, which came about because of COVID. It was hard to connect with people. And I'm not sure it was a service. But it's Canada that reached out to me. They reached out to us. And they suggested that we go live on their Instagram just sharing a skill. And it became almost a weekly thing for us. **Jessica Rotolo ** 43:14 I believe our first we did a makeup tutorial we **Lauren Abela ** 43:18 do. Yeah. So we've done anywhere from makeup to baking. Cooking. walks outside. Yeah. Fashion. Yeah. And **Jessica Rotolo ** 43:27 also the conference. Yeah, **Lauren Abela ** 43:31 we went live at the conference too. For those that couldn't make it as it was quite far. We wanted to have Sharon in our experience so highly, highly recommend every person to go to a leadership conference at least once in their life. Yeah, **Jessica Rotolo ** 43:44 well, I did three **Dorlean Rotolo ** 43:46 who were some of the people throughout the conference in Indiana. Famous people that you got to meet **Jessica Rotolo ** 43:52 Miss T Miss USA Miss Teen USA, Garin **Jessica Rotolo ** 43:57 flowers? Yes. Getting flowers **Jessica Rotolo ** 44:01 in the Champions cast, the movie of champions, the cast there, but a couple of them our best Windows ambassadors as well. So **Dorlean Rotolo ** 44:13 yeah, yeah, it was one. That was wonderful. You guys had perfect weather. **Jessica Rotolo ** 44:17 Yes. Perfect weather. It was so nice. It was so hot out there. It was. **Michael Hingson ** 44:25 So I'm Darlene, are you strictly behind the scenes? Are you an ambassador for Best Buddies? Or do you take on any kind of roles **Dorlean Rotolo ** 44:33 on behind the scenes Michael? **Michael Hingson ** 44:36 be out in the open at all? Huh? **Michael Hingson ** 44:38 No, I'm behind the scenes. I'm the momager. And yeah, I just make sure that, you know, whatever Jessica needs, you know, from whatever, you know, helping her with what she's going to wear for any event to getting her there safely, making sure she has, you know, nourishment and drinks. Yeah, Let's, I'm just Yeah, strictly behind the scenes which I is for me. One **Jessica Rotolo ** 45:06 time. Enjoyable me. Yeah, why not? That's **Dorlean Rotolo ** 45:08 what we're best buddies. Studies. I'm just when Jessica, when Jessica **Jessica Rotolo ** 45:15 except for my Hayden Park chapter for that she was a part of it as well. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 45:25 Yeah. So what I did with when Jessica was at Hayden Park Secondary School with GE, all girls school in the public, the Toronto District Public School Board. **Jessica Rotolo ** 45:36 Yeah. And we had an attacker with another school UTS UTS. Yeah. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 45:40 And so they were a distance away. So I would drive with our van and I would take two trips for the girls to load into the van and drive them over. So they didn't, because it was too far for them to walk. So it was really nice that they got to go to the other school instead of always having an event at their school or school. Yeah, **Lauren Abela ** 45:59 yeah. Yeah, one thing to jump in, that parents can do, in terms of supporting Best Buddies is actually to advocate to the staff at their school if there isn't a chapter to ask for them to be started one. Yeah. So that's one thing that we want to encourage family members and supporters. So if you know, of a friend or your child who has a disability, and there isn't a best buddy chapter to reach out to the President, the principal, the vice principal, and to see if one can be started. Yeah. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 46:33 And then they just need one of the teachers would be, you know, be the contact with with the school, but it depends if it's at a high school versus a university level. Yeah. Because if it's a university level, did you need a teacher University? No, yeah. No. **Lauren Abela ** 46:51 Students just ourselves. Students. **Jessica Rotolo ** 46:57 In high school, it **Lauren Abela ** 46:58 was an elementary level. So we do our best buddy chapters in elementary as well. Same **Michael Hingson ** 47:04 process in the US and Canada. **Lauren Abela ** 47:09 Well, similar, so you just reach out to your state's supervisor in terms of the States or in Canada, reach out to Best Buddies Canada office, and they will be able to provide support on next steps and how to move forward. **Michael Hingson ** 47:23 So since it's come up, we might as well deal with it if people want to reach out how do they figure out where their local Best Buddies offices are reaching out to their state or whatever? How do they do that? **Jessica Rotolo ** 47:37 You can go online at best buddies.com. Yes, yes. **Lauren Abela ** 47:43 And then there you can find contacts, and what chapters are currently available to be joined. based on your geographic location? Yes. **Lauren Abela ** 47:56 Your work there. Very **Dorlean Rotolo ** 47:57 good. So what is it **Jessica Rotolo ** 47:59 best buy this for? us.org.org? **Michael Hingson ** 48:02 Yeah, that makes sense. This would be a nonprofit. Yeah, yes. Yeah. And do all Best Buddies chapters, pretty much do the same thing with the same kinds of people. So you deal primarily with intellectual disabilities, not all physical disabilities. **Lauren Abela ** 48:17 So there are intersecting disabilities. However, the best buddies main audience are those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It doesn't exclude anyone, everyone is welcome to join. It just depends on on the the matching system, but there's also the Associate Member position where you don't have to be matched. You can just attend events as you please, to enjoy and the fun and make people meet people across the whole chapters. And that's what **Jessica Rotolo ** 48:44 we are right now. **Michael Hingson ** 48:48 How large is best buddies in Canada now? **Jessica Rotolo ** 48:55 A shop there was in 1993. And that was the York University campus. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 49:05 Yeah, Cam doctor, but how many there are in the in Canada? I really don't know that number. **Jessica Rotolo ** 49:11 Me neither. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 49:12 But it's there's a lot of chapters lots. **Michael Hingson ** 49:16 And you say a started in 1993? Yes. Your, **Jessica Rotolo ** 49:20 your character University was the first ever chapter. It's **Dorlean Rotolo ** 49:23 just north of Toronto. Uh huh. **Lauren Abela ** 49:25 So I can give overall statistics. Best Buddies programs now engage participants in each of the 50. United States. And we're in Canada as well and in over 47 countries impacting over 1.3 million people worldwide. Yeah. **Michael Hingson ** 49:41 So it is pretty substantive, although I don't generally hear much about it, but I'm glad that we've been able to do this, but I haven't really heard a lot about Best Buddies outside of being introduced to Best Buddies, people by Sheldon, which I really am grateful to We'll be able to do, because I like the message you clearly send the message that I think I and other people with disabilities, sin, which is we're as capable as anyone else stop limiting us with your own attitudes and beliefs. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 50:19 And one very interesting fact about what is happening right now with Best Buddies International, it is. They have its National Disability Employment Awareness Month, right. N D. A. M, in India, and is basically to have people you know, just trying to get everybody employed. It's a very big part of the best buddies in the US is to they have wonderful programs. Do **Michael Hingson ** 50:49 you know what the unemployment rate among people with Down syndrome is? No, I don't have that statistic either. Yeah. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 50:57 We have. We have many families whose children or young adults are at home and do not have employment. Like when, as Jessica mentioned, when she was in the last documentary, they helped her get a job at a place called Malabar the costume rental store. And she absolutely loved, loved, loved it. But then COVID happened, it was close down. And then yeah, it was closed for good after that. So she lost her job. He loved it. **Michael Hingson ** 51:24 When he just wanted to go try on costumes. **Jessica Rotolo ** 51:29 Oh, I also I also got to meet a celebrity that came in. He was an actor. From the show victorious. He played back on the show. **Lauren Abela ** 51:54 On the topic of employment, just wanted to quickly mention, I was an ambassador for the Discover ability network. So any viewers listening in from Ontario, this is a free service paid for by the government, for employees with disabilities to connect them to employers looking to hire inclusively. So discoverability network, feel free to check that out later. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 52:14 And Jessica with fcb, Canada, she did a public service announcement. And they one of the things they helped create was a What would you guys create on? Oh, **Jessica Rotolo ** 52:29 we pretty wanted to be employable. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 52:38 employable? Yeah. Yes. And employable. And so they created the first LinkedIn, LinkedIn network for people with Down syndrome. **Michael Hingson ** 52:46 Yes. Ah, now what organization is, again? 52:50 FCB. Canada. What **Michael Hingson ** 52:51 is FCB? 52:52 It's just one of the advertising agencies in I'm not sure what FCB stands for. I was wondering, yeah, I'll look that up. And then with the Canadian Down Syndrome Society, so it doesn't say FCB it just says FCB. Canada. Yeah. Wonderful, wonderful people. And, yeah, so the employable. So anybody who has Down Syndrome who would like to connect to it, it is a LinkedIn page, specifically for people with Down syndrome. Yes. What does it stand for? Long name? Yeah. Oh, yeah. **Lauren Abela ** 53:30 Full service, integrated marketing and communications agency with offices in Toronto and Montreal? Yeah. **Michael Hingson ** 53:36 Well, there you go. Yeah. Well, that is cool. Well, let me ask, Jessica, what are your long term plans? I mean, so you do art, you do modeling and a number of different things. Do you just want to continue that? Do you have any kind of long term goals in life? **Jessica Rotolo ** 53:55 I do have one 54:03 guy in this house. Yeah. That's the problem. You know, Michael is yes, Jessica wants to move out of her house. But you know, it's financially she would never be able to that's the unfortunate thing because she doesn't have the income to be able to move out of her home or home. So she is forced to live with us until, you know, maybe we could while we're trying to get a business going with for Jessica with her with her heart design. And, and her cards are soft. I **Jessica Rotolo ** 54:33 am till five. Yeah. I wouldn't move out. Yeah, I don't live on my own. **Lauren Abela ** 54:39 You know, some people would blame the economy, so I can't really blame the economy. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 54:44 Yeah, it's very expensive to live in Toronto. So champion champions. **Jessica Rotolo ** 54:49 Want to move closer to my work, and your My vigor score for my drama classes around that area. Well, **Michael Hingson ** 55:00 you might, you may find as time goes on, you'll be able to make more of a career out of some of the things you're doing, which would really be exciting. No boys in your life I gather, huh? No, **Lauren Abela ** 55:11 not Yeah, that **Michael Hingson ** 55:12 was a pretty definitive answer. **Jessica Rotolo ** 55:14 I don't want to I don't want any. No, no. No, boy. **Lauren Abela ** 55:24 Are we gonna dance at each other's wedding? **Dorlean Rotolo ** 55:29 They're gonna dance at each other's weddings, but she's got to find a guy first. **Michael Hingson ** 55:35 Seems like a reasonable thing to do. And, you know, I'm, I'm one of those people who's of the opinion there is somebody for everyone. So you just never know, Jessica. 55:44 Yeah. You'll never know. **Michael Hingson ** 55:48 We have Well, we've already got Dorlean addressed. I mean, she's got a guy. So that works. Yeah. So Lauren, what about you? What are your sort of long term goals and guys, and all that? **Lauren Abela ** 55:58 Definitely looking into buying a house in a few years, hopefully. Definitely working because I just started working after just graduating this year. So I want to find a salary position. Some pretty good. And again, yeah, do a master's, become a psychotherapist, maybe do some more research. You know, start a family, get married first. Goals and happy and healthy and make a difference in the world? **Michael Hingson ** 56:28 Have you found the right person to get married to yet? Um, **Lauren Abela ** 56:32 I hope so. I think so. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 56:36 He's our favorite. **Michael Hingson ** 56:37 He's a keeper. No, mom, mom blesses. So that's a good start. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 56:42 He's an extraordinary young man. Very nice. **Michael Hingson ** 56:45 So for each of you question, what advice do you want to give to the world? And we've talked a lot about different things. And I know, we've probably addressed some of the issues. But as we kind of bring this to a close, this has been going for a while it's almost an hour, can you believe it? But **Dorlean Rotolo ** 57:04 what kind of what kind of interviewer? What kind **Michael Hingson ** 57:07 of advice and suggestions? Would you like to leave people with what kinds of thoughts? Let's start with Dorlean? **Dorlean Rotolo ** 57:15 Well, My Messages to Young families, when Jessica was in my arms in the hospital, the doctor that came into the room to assess Jessica basically told me that I would grow to love her, which just absolutely broke my heart. Yeah. And so to all the young families, you know, yes, it's a shock at the beginning when you when you're holding your, your child, and you know, the diagnosis, but life will be incredible. We could not ever imagine our life without Jessica, but also the people she has brought to our lives has been a true blessing. It's been a blessing for us, you know, meeting people like Lauren, Peter, and just all of Jessica's friends in the mothers that I've met and fathers, they're just beautiful people. So it'll be okay. That's, that's my message. It'll be okay. **Michael Hingson ** 58:09 Have you ever had the opportunity to go back and see that doctor who said that? **Dorlean Rotolo ** 58:15 No, no, I don't know what I'd say to him. And especially days later, when we went to back to the hospital, and then he used Jessica as a specimen for a fellow doctor to show the fellow Doctor all the signs of that it's a baby with Down syndrome. Basically, I had a break down for a couple of days, because, you know, that's Is this the way my daughter was going to be perceived by the world? And, you know, we certainly have shown that No, she's not. She's a perfect person in our eyes and everybody's eyes that No, sir, yeah, yes, surely so. **Michael Hingson ** 58:52 So I don't, I don't want to do a lot of preaching myself this week. But I will make the comment that we've got to get beyond this idea that disability means lack of ability, because it doesn't mean lack of ability at all. It's a characteristic and everyone has it. But you know, I hear what you're saying. My parents were told that they should send me away when it was discovered that I was blind and the same thing and they rejected that. And I wish more parents would, would take that step to not just go by what science says just because somebody is different. Yeah. 100%. So Jessica, what kind of advice do you have for the world? How do you want to leave people thinking about you this week? **Jessica Rotolo ** 59:38 So I would say be yourself and just don't be afraid to leave your friends. **Michael Hingson ** 59:47 Yeah, yeah. And it's all about, as you said, being yourself and having the courage to be yourself and don't let people talk you into something that isn't true. Yeah, yeah, it is. and **Jessica Rotolo ** 1:00:00 don't let anyone tell you different. **Michael Hingson ** 1:00:03 Oh, yeah. That's the real key, isn't it? **Dorlean Rotolo ** 1:00:06 Yes. You know? Yeah. **Michael Hingson ** 1:00:10 And if you don't know what you want, figure it out and use your best buddies and your friends but figure it out. Because you can certainly want things just like anyone else. Yes. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 1:00:22 And you know, people don't have to be alone. And if you are alone, contact Best Buddies. **Dorlean Rotolo ** 1:00:27 They will help you. You don't have to be alone. It really is an amazing organization. Yeah, right. **Michael Hingson ** 1:00:33 And Lauren, and Lauren, you what kind of thoughts do you want to leave everyone with? **Lauren Abela ** 1:00:37 Yeah. If you can choose to be anything, be kind. That's it and everything that you do. And if you are unsure how to be kind, research, ask questions, you know, and if you're thinking that you want to learn more about Best Buddies, then go to the website, reach out to us on Instagram, we are very happy to share more and and consider things that you can do in your everyday life that are simple, simple things that to spread that kindness and to make that best buddies impact of friendship and inclusion and whatever workplace you're in. Yeah, **Michael Hingson ** 1:01:15 speaking of Instagram, do you guys still do the live Instagram? Yes. **Lauren Abela ** 1:01:20 It's been a few months, maybe a year, but we will do more we promise **Dorlean Rotolo ** 1:01:25 crazier with you guys put on the love means event, World Down Syndrome Day event. Now the documentary him really has been advocating in different areas. Yes, very, very busy. Which is wonderful. So wonderful life. **Michael Hingson ** 1:01:39 Yeah, I want to just go do it. Yeah, **Dorlean Rotolo ** 1:01:45 exactly. Just make that phone call. Well, I **Michael Hingson ** 1:01:48 want to thank all of you for being with us today. On unstoppable mindset. Clearly, you're unstoppable. All three of you, especially as a team, but individually as well. And I want to thank you all for being here. And if you know other people who we ought to bring on as a guest on unstoppable mindset, please let us know. And for all of you listening out there and watching, we would love to hear your thoughts about any other guests that you'd like to have as well as we'd like your thoughts. And I know Jessica, Lauren. And Dorlean would like your thoughts also about this podcast? And actually, let me ask that question. If people want to reach out to you all directly, can they do that? And how would they do that? **Dorlean Rotolo ** 1:02:28 By email, or your Instagram or so **Jessica Rotolo ** 1:02:31 then what **Michael Hingson ** 1:02:32 what is your Instagram address or handle or how do people find you? Mine **Jessica Rotolo ** 1:02:39 is Jessica dot Rotolo 20 and rotala **Michael Hingson ** 1:02:43 was R O T O L O yes. So Jessica dot Rotolo 20. **Lauren Abela ** 1:02:48 Yes. And mine is L A U R E N A B E L A Three. **Michael Hingson ** 1:02:58 So you're the third Loren Abela. Jessica is the 20th Rotolo so **Dorlean Rotolo ** 1:03:10 on Instagram, so everybody have to reach me through Jessica. Yes. **Jessica Rotolo ** 1:03:15 Well, sorry, my email. No, **Dorlean Rotolo ** 1:03:21 I just like it too many emails. No, yeah, they can reach out to Jessica's Instagram. Do **Michael Hingson ** 1:03:26 it on Instagram. That's fine. Well, I hope people will reach out to you guys. We really appreciate it. And I want to thank everyone again for listening. We really appreciate you being here and listening with us. It's been a fun hour. And that's one of the main goals on a stoppable mindset. It's not just for us to have fun, but I hope that all of you listening had fun as well. I'd love to hear your thoughts, please email me at Michael m i c h a e l h i at accessibe A C C E S S I B E.com. Or go to our podcast page www dot Michael hingson H i n g s o n.com/podcast. And wherever you're listening, please give us a five star rating. We value greatly your reviews and we love those five star ratings and really appreciate you giving those to us. So please do so and reach out. We'd love to

Thom from The Lottery Winners on never having a hot drink in his life, his teenage double life, doing ear piercings at Claire's Accessories and turning the tables at the Job Centre... Download AMPOLLO - the FREE app that lets you practice at home with songs, using its AI stem-removing super smart tech: https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1659856412?pt=125376217&ct=Giles&mt=8 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reporterne har i den seneste tid kunne dokumentere, hvordan jobcentrene gør flere syge borgere endnu mere syge. Knap en fjerdedel af de syge borgere mister lysten til at leve.Nye Borgerlige og Alternativet ønsker en forvaltningsdomstol, som de håber, kan forbedre borgeres rettigheder. Imens vil Socialdemokratiets beskæftigelsesordfører, Jens Joel, ikke svare på om jobcentrene gør syge borgere endnu mere syge rundt om i landet, da han ikke er nede i hvert enkelt sag. Hør hvad politikerne ellers vil gøre og ikke vil gøre for de syge borgere i jobcenter-systemet i Reporterne i dag.Gæster:Martin Eckhof, bror til sygemeldt borgerJens Joel, beskæftigelsesordfører, SocialdemokratietTorsten Gejl, beskæftigelsesordfører, AlternativetKim Edberg, beskæftigelsesordfører, Nye BorgerligeVært: August StenbroenTilrettelæggere:Alexander BrøndumCamilla Michelle MikkelsenProducer:Camilla Michelle Mikkelsen

Der skulle gå ni år før en svært syg PTSD-ramt borger fik tilkendt førtidspension. Ni år i jobcenteret, der ifølge borgeren og hendes bisidder var tæt på at tage livet af hende. I dagens udgave af Reporterne ser vi nærmere på borgere, der oplever at blive presset ud i forløb hos jobcentrene, selvom læger og psykologer har advaret om, at det kan forværre deres helbred.Gæster: Jane Pihlmann, Bestyrelsesmedlem i foreningen For Retssikkerhed og bisidder til PTSD-ramt borgerMai Thorsen, privatpraktiserende socialrådgiver og tidligere jobkonsulent Lene Krabbe-dahl, forbundssekretær i 3FVært:August StenbroenTilrettelæggere:Alexander BrøndumRazan El-NakiebProducer:Niels Frederik RickersRedaktør:Mille Ørsted

Hvad skal der ske, når jobcentrene lukker i 2030? Det undersøger vi i denne episode af Velfærdsprofeten, hvor vi får besøg af chefkonsulent Ole Mølholm Jensen fra Københavns Professionshøjskole:Episoden indeholder også uddrag fra et fyraftensmøde på Københavns Professionshøjskole, som blev afholdt 17. januar i samarbejde med Socialpolitisk Forening og magasinet Social Kritik. Her gav Magnus Paulsen Hansen – som er lektor ved RUC – et historisk rids over tiden fra introduktionen af den aktive arbejdsmarkedspolitik i 1994 og frem til etableringen af jobcentrene i 2007. Og lektor Merete Monrad fra Ålborg Universitet delte viden fra et forskningsprojekt, hvor hun har talt med 75 ledige om deres erfaringer med jobcentrene: Hvad fungerer og hvad fungerer ikke i mødet mellem borger og jobcenter fra et borgerperspektiv.

Regeringen vil lukke jobcentrene og proklamerer selv, at det er for at gøre systemet bedre for de arbejdsløse. Men det er en tvivlsom prognose, mener professor i økonomistyring Per Nikolaj Bukh. Han forklarer, at formålet primært er at spare penge, og at det kan få konsekvenser for de svageste.Så runder vi også beskyldninger om, at journalist Jørgen Dragsdahl er KGB-agent. Det skriver historiker Bent Jensen i en erindringsbog udgivet af Gyldendal. Men må forlaget egentlig sende de påstande i trykken?Til sidst ser vi på, hvordan politikerne vil løse politiets rekrutteringskrise. Gæster:Per Nikolaj bukh, phd og professor i økonomistyring ved aalborg universitet.Sten Schaumburg-Müller, juraprofessor på Syddansk UniversitetKarina Lorenzen, retsordfører SFVært:Ida GaunøRedaktion:Camilla Michelle MikkelsenNiels Frederik RickersRazan El-NakiebRedaktør:Simon Reenberg

Meet Simon Squibb, serial entrepreneur, investor and founder of The Purposeful Project. Simon's mission is to help and inspire 10,000,000 people to startup and scale a business for free. He believes there should be a Start Up Centre to replace the Job Centre - and as an angel investor and entrepreneur, Simon's got the credentials to make this a reality.In this insightful conversation with Founded and Grounded, Simon reveals how being homeless at 15 made him realise he had what it takes to be an entrepreneur. He shares his journey, failures and lessons learnt, including how to increase your luck and why being clear about your purpose is key to business success.Thanks to our sponsors Nova Blue and Tally Market.Presented by Laura Rawlings, with analysis from Ollie Collard.Proudly sponsored by our wonderful partners. Nova Blue, keeps businesses safe from cyber security threats, so you can concentrate on growing your startup. Claim your FREE cyber health checkhttps://nova-blue.co.uk/podcastofferTally Market, a flexible workspace platform that enables startups to find & instantly book great workspaces across the UK. Claim 20 FREE tokenshttps://www.tallymarket.co.uk/fandg

Ghosts and ghouls galore as Jorma and Ray Creep It Real. See if Ray can avoid incarceration as he undergoes Psychiatological Profiling. Meanwhile DJ Tim Hallam talks about the nostalgia and passion of 12 inches in a sleeve plus you can learn about Liam Neeson's recent summer romance in a major world exclusive interview.Meanwhile check what Gladiator star, Russell Crowe and a Scouse plumber are doing in the Job Centre and find out what Honzie the mystic always thinks about when he looks at the Libra scales.All this and the usual fun and games with a decidedly spooky air.#psychiatology #retrorecords #gladiator #honzie #halloween #liamneeson #africanprostitute Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have a gentle (but also angry) chat about the cost of living crisis, the impact on society, and how it affects us as conservators: both as self-employed people and as museum workers. Jenny also talks to Sharon Heal from the Museums Association, and Kloe reviews ‘Low Cost/No Cost Tips for Sustainability in Cultural Heritage' by Lorraine Finch. 01:57 Why are we NOT talking about this? 04:11 Jenny's lived experience of poverty 08:09 Why this is happening 11:01 Energy usage and greener thinking 13:10 Relief schemes, price caps and the impact on us 18:50 Interview with Sharon Heal 33:32 Some useful resources 43:59 Review: Low Cost/No Cost Tips for Sustainability in Cultural Heritage Show Notes: - AIM Cost of Living Survey: https://aim-museums.co.uk/aim-cost-living-survey/ - Museums and libraries to set up as warm banks: https://metro.co.uk/2022/08/22/libraries-and-museums-form-warm-refuges-amid-energy-crisis-17225833/ - Energy crisis may hamper museum plans of being ‘warm banks' this winter: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/aug/31/uk-museums-rising-energy-costs-could-hamper-warm-banks-plan - Citizen Advice Bureau: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/get-help-with-the-cost-of-living/ - Business energy costs to be cut: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62969427 - Museums Journal piece on energy relief scheme: https://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/2022/09/sector-welcomes-energy-relief-but-calls-for-ongoing-investment/ - Museums Association statement on cost of living crisis: https://www.museumsassociation.org/campaigns/advocacy/our-statement-on-the-cost-of-living-crisis/ - Managing the cost of living crisis (via MA Well-Being Hub): https://www.museumsassociation.org/careers/wellbeing-hub/managing-the-cost-of-living-crisis/ - Energy Bill Relief Scheme: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/energy-bill-relief-scheme-help-for-businesses-and-other-non-domestic-customers - Warm banks to get money from Welsh government: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-62968256 - Thread with ideas in collaboration with the Job Centre: https://twitter.com/eleanor_root/status/1564522591003578369 - Direct link to Google document with crowdsourced ideas: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PCdd3cPjgxH-Wd85TEXZBfqw2-ay7VjokTi1ekwHSMo/edit - S09E04 Environmental Monitoring: https://thecword.show/2021/05/05/s09e04-environmental-monitoring/ - S04E01 Going Green: https://thecword.show/2018/09/19/s04e01-going-green/ - S06E01 Conservation on a Budget: https://thecword.show/2019/09/18/s06e01-conservation-on-a-budget/ - Mayor asks museums to close two days per week: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/energy-crisis-european-museums-2170843 - Low Cost/No Cost Tips for Sustainability in Cultural Heritage: https://lfcp.co.uk/publications/ Support us on Patreon! http://www.patreon.com/thecword Hosted by Jenny Mathiasson and Kloe Rumsey. Intro and outro music by DDmyzik, used under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license. A Wooden Dice production, 2022.

I kølvandet på flere dokumentarer og vidnesbyrd der stiller skarpt på de danske jobcentres problematikker, snakker Mads i nat med lytterne, om deres oplevelser med jobcentre i Danmark.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Back for Episode 2, the Monza GP, the most fraudulent F1 postcast discusses:F1 NewsTwitter QnAMonza breakdownDoes pineapple belong on Pizza?Does Danny Ric need a hug?Will I see Latifi at the Job Centre?Who's on Fraudwatch?Who wins the EngineModeGoodBoy award? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I kølvandet på flere dokumentarer og vidnesbyrd der stiller skarpt på de danske jobcentres problematikker, snakker Mads i nat med lytterne, om deres oplevelser med jobcentre i Danmark.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Will God answer your prayer if you don't end with, "In Jesus' name, Amen?" Learn what praying in the name of Jesus really means. I taught this week on the call of Abraham and the development of God's missionary call through the nation of Israel as they were responsible to communicate the truth of God to the cultures around them. They were given that great commission. The great commission didn't start in Matthew 28. It started with Abraham in Genesis 12 —the first three verses there —Abraham, chosen by God to raise up a nation who would then be God's priests to the world so that they would be a blessing to all of the nations. They had a unique role in the great monotheistic religion. The Jews were supposed to reflect morality to the world. Israel was to witness to the name of God. When they talked about the name of God and witnessing to God's name, that does not mean that they were to let everybody know what they called God, "Yahweh." Their goal wasn't to cover the countryside with evangelists who just let everybody know what the right word for God was. It meant something different. ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ https://linktr.ee/jacksonlibon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- #realtalk #face #instagram #amour #take #couple #dance #dancers #vogue #voguedqnce #garden #tiktok #psychology #beyou #near #love #foryou #money #ForYouPizza #fyp #irobot #theend #pups #TikToker #couplegoals #famille #relation #doudou #youtube #twitter #tiktokers #love #reeĺs #shorts #instagood #follow #like #ouy #oyu #babyshark #lilnasx #girl #happybirthday #movie #nbayoungboy #deviance #autotrader #trading #khan #academy #carter #carguru #ancestry #accords #abc #news #bts #cbs #huru #bluebook #socialmedia #whatsapp #music #google #photography #memes #marketing #india #followforfollowback #likeforlikes #a #insta #fashion #k #trending #digitalmarketing #covid #o #snapchat #socialmediamarketing

This is a reboot of this episode for my Spotify listeners. ENJOY

Join my guest Martin Popoff and me as we discuss the NWOBHM compilation Jobcentre Rejects.  @metalchatpod metalmelissapodcast@gmail.com  

Ca. 9.000 mennesker er i dag ansat i jobcentrene, hvor de forsøger at hjælpe folk med at komme i arbejde. Prisen er ca. 13 mia. kr. om året, og effekten af jobcentrene er uvist. Forleden kom det frem, at jobcentrene i København ikke har henvist én eneste ledig til et job de seneste to år. Personligt har jeg meget, meget svært ved at se rimeligheden i, at man bruger SÅ mange penge på SÅ lidt. Men verden er jo kompleks. Måske bidrager jobcentrene på anden vis til at gøre samfundet bedre. Eller værre. Det er emnet i Regelstaten i dag, hvor jeg har besøg af Marianne Stein, som er socialrådgiver og forfatter til bogen "Sådan én er jeg jo ikke". Links: Mariannes indlæg om Birgitte: https://mariannestein.dk/aabent-brev-kommunerne-traenger-til-et-ret-og-pligt-kursus-ikke-borgerne/ (https://mariannestein.dk/aabent-brev-kommunerne-traenger-til-et-ret-og-pligt-kursus-ikke-borgerne/) Mariannes bog, ”Sådan én er jeg jo ikke”, kan købes her: https://mariannestein.dk/vare/saadan-en-er-jeg-jo-ikke/ (https://mariannestein.dk/vare/saadan-en-er-jeg-jo-ikke/) Optagelsen er lavet 26. november 2021.

Skilsmissefamilier har udfordringer med om deres børn skal vaccineres eller ej. DEBAT: Bør offentlighedsloven ændres, så vi fx kan se statsministerens fulde kalender? Reportage: Et lille memoirer over Frøken Klokken, nu hvor hun bliver lagt i graven. Vintervejr på vej. Jobcentre skal have mulighed for online samtaler. Værter: Astrid Date og Kasper Harboe See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Skilsmissefamilier har udfordringer med om deres børn skal vaccineres eller ej. DEBAT: Bør offentlighedsloven ændres, så vi fx kan se statsministerens fulde kalender? Reportage: Et lille memoirer over Frøken Klokken, nu hvor hun bliver lagt i graven. Vintervejr på vej. Jobcentre skal have mulighed for online samtaler. Værter: Astrid Date og Kasper Harboe

Welcome to the walk a mile in my shoes podcast. My name's Chris Young, and it's my aim, hope, goal to enable you to get a real feel for what it's like to walk a mile in the shoes of my guests. Sorry about the lack of jaunty music, I'm not feeling particularly jaunty just now. Sorry too about the prolonged absence, I've been trying to get my world in order following some pretty life changing therapy. But I'm not here to talk about me. In this episode, I speak with Simeon Wakely, a man with spina-bifida who has recently felt the cold hard slap of apathy…indifference…prejudice…at the hands of the department of work and pensions, the government department who administer Universal Credit. This is triggering throughout – so, if you don't want to hear Simeon's distress, you should stop listening now. He got in touch with me yesterday explaining how he felt suicidal following the inhumane treatment he's received at their hands. I'm fucking furious. For those of you who talk about the rise of poverty in the UK in terms of absolute and relative poverty – for those of you who think abject poverty is a thing of the Dickensian past – think again. Simeon recently had his benefits stopped for the heinous crime of changing his bank account and being admitted to hospital. He missed a meeting with the Job Centre because he was in hospital having major surgery. He'd informed them at every stage of the process, but they responded by stopping his benefits and telling him the next available meeting at the job centre is a week away. The DWP didn't tell him benefits had stopped…you'll hear more about that in our conversation…he found out from his landlord, and when BT cut off his landline and broadband…but even more shockingly, he found out when his gas supplier, Eon, cut off the fuel for his heating on this, the coldest week of the winter so far. His electricity company, SSE, are threatening to cut off his electricity as we speak. So much for compassionate capitalism/ conservativism. At the moment he's relying on friends for money, and his support worker for food. Devastated though he is, Simeon was still able to throw down the gauntlet to any MP who would be willing to survive on Universal Credit for a month – or a year. I guess many will have an understanding of how cumulative wealth can have a positive effect on their lives, but what about the cumulative effect of poverty? Would they, as Therese Coffey, the Secretary of State for work and pensions sang when she removed £20 a week from people on Universal Credit, be having the time of their lives? I don't think so. Would your MP do it? Make no mistake, even though this system is rotten to the core, these are actual people causing untold damage and trauma to a man whose only crime was to believe he could live independently. Huge thanks to Simeon for sharing his story. He's gutted, he hates himself and he feels suicidal all because of things outside of his control. If any of you listening have contacts in BT, Eon and SSE, please give them a prod to suggest that cutting off amenities in these circumstances don't exactly show them in a favourable light. Put his heating back on. Reconnect him to the internet. Give him the money he's entitled to. But, more than anything, restore his hugely damaged faith in human kind. We can do a whole lot better than this. In the meantime, get in touch with your MP – throw the universal credit challenge their way. Walk a mile

Ole gets the boot, the title favourites continue their domination of the mid-table sides, Palace keep scoring, and Spurs exist... PLEASE SUPPORT US ON PATREON!! patreon.com/milesoffsidepod Follow us on Twitter: @milesoffsidepod https://twitter.com/milesoffsidepod?s=09 Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/milesoffsidepod/ Review us on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/miles-offside/id1397029545?mt=2

Så skal der ævles om jobcentre! Nyt comedy show DÆMONKRATI 2021 & 2022! Billetter på: www.michaelschoet.dk Har du lyst til at prøve Zetland, så kan du gøre det på www.zetland.dk/ministeriet Du opretter et donations-abonnement til Schøtministeriet på schoetministeriet.10er.dk

In this episode I get a few things off my chest, including how I feel about celebrating black history month in schools and catcalling. I also discuss, taking more photos with my pimp stick and, find out how awkward my experience was at the Job Centre and how I deal with my travel anxiety. Get in touch Instagram- @joysworldthepodcast Twitter - @joyxoxo Email - joyspodcast@hotmail.com

I dag samler vi op på Dansk Folkepartis begivenhedsrige årsmøde, hvor vi havde vores reporter Clara Vind i Herning. Det var et begivenhedsrigt årsmøde, men hvad var det mest opsigtsvækkende? Det skal vi blandt andet høre fra Anders Leonhard, der er politisk  redaktør på B.T. Den tidligere cykelrytter Chris Anker Sørensen omkom på tragisk vis i weekenden. Vi mindes ham sammen med cykelsports-encyklopædi Jørgen Leth. Dagens øvrige gæster: Jens-Kristian Lütken, Venstre, om Amager Fælled og natur-talibanere, Bo Hammer tidligere jobcenterchef i Tårnby kommune, Hans Ranvig, tidligere lektor på Landbohøjskolen, Lars Christensen, uafhængig økonom om muligt kommende finanskrise, Clara Vind, journalist på Den Uafhængige, Johanne Schmidt, vulkanekspert, Eva Flyvholm, forsvarsordfører for EL om evakuering af NGO-folk i Afghanistan, Dorthe B Jensen, dyrevelfærdsaktivist. Dagens vært: Asger Juhl Tidskoderne:  00.01.00:  Anders Leonhard, politisk redaktør på B.T. // Hvad var det vildeste, der skete på Dansk Folkepartis årsmøde? 00.15.00: Jens- Kristian Lütken, gruppeformand, Venstre i Københavns Borgerrepræsentation // Natur-talebanere på Amager Fælled 00.23.00 Anette Linds, MF, Socialdemokratiet // Skal Trine Bramsen have en medalje for at arbejde på en søndag? 00.33:00 Jørgen Leth, cykelekspert // Chris Anker Sørensen er gået bort 00.43.00 Bo Hammer, tidligere jobcenterchef i Tårnby kommune // Om rådden kultur i Tårnby Kommunes ledelse 00.55.00 Hans Ranvig, tidligere lektor på Landbohøjskolen // Er fødevareindustrien skyld i, at mange danske høns brækker brystbenet, når de lægger æg? 01.04.00 Lars Christensen, økonom // Er vi på vej mod en ny finanskrise?  01.15.00 Clara Vind, reporter, Den Uafhængige // Hvad var det mest opsigtsvækkende på DFs årsmøde? 01.29.00 Johanne Schmidt, vulkanekspert // Hvad sker der med vulkanudbruddet på den spanske ferieø La Palma? 01.37.30 Eva Flyvholm, forsvarsordfører for Enhedslisten // Hvor mange afghanere vil Enhedslisten have evakueret til Danmark? 01.54.00 Dorthe B. Jensen, dyrevelfærdsaktivist // Om indhegnede dyr i naturnationalparker

Recorded on Friday 2nd July 2021 In this episode:0:30 – McVitie's update2:40 – Jobcentre safety4:17 – The looming Universal Credit cut6:05 – PMQs: HGV Driver shortage8:36 – Parliamentary Armed Forces […]

Recorded on Friday 11th June 2021 In this episode:0:41 – AJAX programme failures2:43 – International aid cuts4:25 – Universal Credit uplift campaign6:14 – Jobcentre safety7:57 – Meetings13:42 – Back in […]

Find out more about Ruth: https://www.leonardcheshire.org/about-us/our-news/press-releases/ruth-owen-joins-leonard-cheshire-ceoOur employment research: https://www.leonardcheshire.org/sites/default/files/2020-10/Locked-out-of-labour-market.pdfFollow Ruth on Twitter: @Ruth_owenOBEFollow Ruth on Instagram: @ruthowenobeFollow us on Twitter/Instagram: @LeonardCheshireEmail us: disabilitydownload@leonardcheshire.org 

Recorded on Friday 21 May 2021 In this episode:0:30 – McVitie’s4:15 – DWP questions6:31 – The latest coronavirus variant8:32 – The situation in Palestine and Israel10:45 – All-Party Group work12:43 […]

Det mener privatpraktiserende socialrådgiver Maj Thorsen. Ifølge hende bliver syge og udsatte borgere sendt ud i den ene formålsløse indsats efter den anden. Det har den konsekvens, at borgere, der kunne være blevet raske, i stedet ender på kontanthjælp, førtidspension eller på selvmordets rand. Ehsan Faizzad interviewer.

This week on Fortunately, Fi and Jane chat with comedian and podcast host Jacob Hawley. The presenter of Jacob Hawley's Job Centre checks in with the ladies and breaks the news of his impending fatherhood. This gives them a chance to offer some sage parenting advice. He also takes them on a journey through his youth, including rap groups in the Stevenage area and lost loves in Faliraki. In addition, there is a look back to Tomorrow's World, an insight into young Fi's work ethic and Jane has something else to say about ears. Get in touch: fortunately.podcast@bbc.co.uk

Jacob Hawley discusses what life in lockdown means to keyworkers and creative freelancers. On this week’s episode, Jacob talks to the Guardian’s Kate Proctor about reporting one armed from a pandemic; he hears about Covideo parties from comedian Alison Spittle, and he chats to Mr Motivator about staying motivated through lockdown. Jacob Hawley’s Job Centre is a BBC Studios Production for BBC Sounds Art by Made Up Music by Jaan Production Coordinator: Sarah Sharpe Producer: Nick Coupe

Jacob Hawley discusses what life in lockdown means to keyworkers and creative freelancers. On this week’s episode, Jacob talks to Blue Peter’s newest presenter Mwaksy Mudenda about taking on a flagship show from her bedroom and Bethany Wells, a theatre designer who has set up a micro grant scheme for artists ineligible for other support. He also hears from furloughed chef Ben Miller who has set up his own cook at home business, Deliveroo cyclist Tom, and Absolute Radio presenter / Bread King Ross Buchanan. Jacob Hawley’s Job Centre is a BBC Studios Production for BBC Sounds Art by Made Up Music by Jaan Production Coordinator: Sarah Sharpe Producer: Nick Coupe

This time the gang get into the blanking classic that is 'Blankety Blank'. But with so much to cover, we've decided to make it a two-parter! In this second part, we go into more detail about the episode of 'Blankety Blank' we watched, whether we rank it Top, Middle or Bottom and play another round of Bev's Quiz Quiz. Along the way we learn how to impersonate Sir Michael Caine properly, how to lead a better life (#BeMoreMelville) and that Matt might actually hate game shows... If you haven't already, be sure to listen to Part 1, which is available now. This is the episode of 'Blankety Blank' we watched for this show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1pGb5b-ecI And for those who want to dig a little deeper, we also watched this episode hosted by Les Dawson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM-gJcnJgjY&t=882s) and these two clips from when Lily Savage was the host (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HERQLsfGEe4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvocjD67DVE) Like us on Facebook Follow us on Instagram Follow us on Twitter Subscribe to our YouTube channel Email us Artwork by Ian Jones

This time the gang get into the blanking classic that is 'Blankety Blank'. But with so much to cover, we've decided to make it a two-parter! In this first part, we learn a lot about the classic theme tune (and a fair bit on Eurovision too), as well as the holy trinity of hosts that was Sir Terry Wogan, Les Dawson & Lily Savage. Along the way we also hear about why Dobson dislikes North Wales so much, the surprising show Les Dawson may have starred in and grave diggers doing the 'YMCA'. This is the episode of 'Blankety Blank' we watched for this show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1pGb5b-ecI And for those who want to dig a little deeper, we also watched this episode hosted by Les Dawson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM-gJcnJgjY&t=882s) and these two clips from when Lily Savage was the host (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HERQLsfGEe4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvocjD67DVE) Like us on Facebook Follow us on Instagram Follow us on Twitter Subscribe to our YouTube channel Email us Artwork by Ian Jones

Jacob Hawley discusses what life in lockdown means to keyworkers and creative freelancers. This week he hears from author and podcaster Caroline O’Donoghue about publishing into a void and defining ourselves by our jobs, as well as Republic of Ireland and Nottingham Forest coach Andy Reid about the return of football. He also hears from Adam, a BT engineer about keeping the country connected and Nick, who’s been undertaking a fancy dress challenge. Jacob Hawley’s Job Centre is a BBC Studios Production for BBC Sounds Art by Made Up Music by Jaan Production Coordinator: Sarah Sharpe Producer: Nick Coupe

Jacob Hawley discusses what life in lockdown means to keyworkers and creative freelancers. This week he talks to two teachers about going back to school, Year 11 student Chris Johnson about spending his time away from school making visors for the NHS and Hamilton actor Karl Queensborough about pausing a West End musical. Jacob Hawley’s Job Centre is a BBC Studios Production for BBC Sounds Art by Made Up Music by Jaan Production Coordinator: Sarah Sharpe Producer: Nick Coupe

Jacob Hawley discusses what life in lockdown means to keyworkers and creative freelancers. This week he talks to people who are caring for the elderly - Adam and Kate from care homes across the country, as well as comedian Mark Olver who is spending his lockdown helping out in a local home. He also hears from musician Deb Mawby about she is keeping her mum Bet informed and entertained. Jacob Hawley’s Job Centre is a BBC Studios Production for BBC Sounds Art by Made Up Music by Jaan Production Coordinator: Sarah Sharpe Producer: Nick Coupe

Jacob Hawley discusses what life in lockdown means to keyworkers and creative freelancers. This week he talks to Anatomical Pathology Technician Gemma Norburn about working in a mortuary during a pandemic, as well as comedian Nish Kumar about making The Mash Report from his bedroom. He also hears from Adam Robinson from the Book of Darkness and Light about taking ghost stories online, Jenny Legg from Quarantap who's teaching dance across video calls, and Owain Wyn Evans from BBC North West Tonight who went viral after drumming to the news. Jacob Hawley’s Job Centre is a BBC Studios Production for BBC Sounds Art by Made Up Music by Jaan Production Coordinator: Sarah Sharpe Producer: Nick Coupe

Jacob Hawley discusses what life in lockdown means to keyworkers and creative freelancers. This week he talks to national treasure and Eastenders favourite Natalie Cassidy about recommencing filming in Albert Square, and supermarket worker Owen about catering for the lockdown. He also hears about a viral sensation in the seaside town of Llandudno... Jacob Hawley’s Job Centre is a BBC Studios Production for BBC Sounds Art by Made Up Music by Jaan Production Coordinator: Sarah Sharpe Producer: Nick Coupe

Jacob Hawley discusses what life in lockdown means to keyworkers and creative freelancers. This week he talks to comedian and voice of Love Island Iain Stirling about what’s keeping him busy in lockdown, and Dr Amir Khan, a GP in Leeds about adjusting to new medical practise. He also hears from Crystal Stanley, who created the Rainbow Trail in the UK about how it feels to start a nationwide trend and be mentioned by The Queen. Jacob Hawley’s Job Centre is a BBC Studios Production for BBC Sounds Art by Made Up Music by Jaan Production Coordinator: Sarah Sharpe Producer: Nick Coupe

A heartbreaking tale of pending closure of a fabulous bakery, hawker stalls who cook for social good and a vision of a future where you can pick fresh durians on every street for free. All this and more as hosts Petrina Kow and Laurindo Garcia examine how lessons learned from the coronavirus could ensure no one goes hungry in a post-pandemic world. Guests: Juwanda Hassim -Fabulous Baker Boys, Jason Chua - Beng Who Cooks, Siew Yen Chong - food poverty volunteer, Bjorn Low - Edible Garden City and musician, Joshua Simon. TRANSCRIPT *SOUND EFFECTS: MOTORCYCLE* Laurindo Garcia: [00:00:05] In the time of Covid 19 delivery bikes are now the king of the road. Home delivery was previously viewed as a luxury. But now delivery bikes from Foodpanda delivery to Grab Food are all essential services, and millions of people rely on them to get the food that they need to bring to the table. So, Petrina, I want to ask you, has how is food delivery usage changed for you during the and then haha. Petrina Kow: [00:00:31] Interestingly, I think I found that we, we try and deliver less now because we, we also are very cognizant of the wastage with all the packaging material. So in fact so, so my cooking, as you know, if you're following on social media, has been up several levels. No, I mean I just have to provide for a family. So I cook a lot more now. And so if we do buy takeout, we we we kind of use that as an opportunity to go and pick up the food so that we can kind of like work in a trip out of the house, you know, legitimately. Right. As we're kind of being locked down. So, yeah, I, I we try and deliver as little as possible if we can. And if we can't, we just get stuff delivered anyways. Yeah. So yeah, Laurindo Garcia: [00:01:18] On our end it's been more of a special treat. We are eating at home more and cooking for ourselves, which has been really good. But for me I one of the people who's had to celebrate their birthday in isolation. And so I took that as an opportunity to look for a special meal that usually I wouldn't have had a home delivery. But I was really quite surprised at what was available. It was a 12 course vegan Korean meal that was delivered to the door, you know, piping hot. And it was really quite amazing. So I was really quite awed by what was what was available. So, yeah, there's some of the things that you do during during the pandemic. But I also want to welcome everyone to another episode of inclusively in this series. First of all, my name is Laurindo Garcia. And this series, we are asking the question how people are changing the way that they work or do business during the pandemic and what lessons that you've had you have learned that have the potential to make the post pandemic worldwide. Petrina Kow: [00:02:23] Yeah. And hello, everyone. My name is Petrina and this topic is very close to my heart. As a big food lover and food eater myself, so I'm very excited about today's episode because we have guests from all over the world joining us and we have some really wonderful local heroes that are going to chat with as well. Laurindo Garcia: [00:02:45] So before we kick off with the interviews, it's going to kind of set the tone here. So before the pandemic, you know, according to The Economist, you know, food was generally more affordable around the globe for four people more than ever before, and fewer people were hungry than previous generations. So it's according to the most recent edition of The Economist. But all that has changed because the pandemic, as you've heard there, have been empty supermarket shelves and wet markets due to the panic buying during the early days of the pandemic. And now several months after that, one trillion dollar global food supply chain has demonstrated its present resilience with some really fast adaptations to me by companies. But all that being said, there are still some risks that lie in food security and less so on the supply side, but definitely on the demand side. It's no surprise for people to hear that they've been massive job losses. Now people have lost their income and have less money to spend on food. And the United Nations just announced last month that they are worried that the number of people who were at risk of hunger has doubled as a result of the coronavirus. They're estimating that 265 million people are at risk of hunger. Hunger now as a result of changes have been happening in the world. And underlying thread in all of this is that there are hundreds there's a possibility of higher food prices if food exporting countries start imposing export restrictions. So that's really giving us a big picture of what what is the subtext of our conversation today? Petrina Kow: [00:04:21] Yeah, and also in today's episode, we'll be speaking with two local food outlets on how they've adapted to the situation, whether or not they have to endure sort of closures or how they've kind of responded to the community around them. And we'll also be hearing from a Singaporean living in London, a dear, dear friend of mine who's also very involved with food and teaching low income families there how to cook healthy and delicious meals for under a pound a day. Laurindo Garcia: [00:04:49] We'll also be speaking to a pioneer for urban farming who's also joining and a social entrepreneur who's joining us from Australia. And later on in the show, we'll be hearing from musician Joshua Simon. He'll be sharing his perspective on food during the time of Covid 19 and also offering us a song. Petrina Kow: [00:05:04] Yeah. Can't wait. But first, my absolute pleasure to introduce the one and only Fabulous Baker Boy Juwanda Hassim. Hello, darling. Juwanda Hassim: [00:05:04] Hello, Petrina. Hello, Laurindo. Petrina Kow: [00:05:19] Yes. So for those of you who were from Singapore, you might have indulged in many of his cakes before. I think that's what he's known for. Its legendary row, shelves of deliciousness. And his lovely cafe sits at the bottom of Fort Canning Hill. And I think he's definitely experienced all kinds of things. Give given the last three or four weeks of mayhem. So perhaps, Juwanda, you could just tell us a little bit about, you know, you were able to keep going and then you couldn't. How have you pivoted? How have you made sort of adjustments and changes in how are you doing? Juwanda Hassim: [00:06:00] So when when the virus first broke out, it was so clear in January and February mean somebody was coming. Oh. What the situation was going to be. Business was great because we're we're we're not as affected as the malls or an enclosed space because we're being we're to the park. So we're outside. So people were not included in the area. There wasn't any air conditioning outside. People come into my area. I saw a lot of people sort of come come with their families, family support simply in the park. The average started decreasing. And 10, 20 per cent, but we're still OK. Then social distancing started. And that really hit. The. Then so sorry. Then the MBS tower closed. You know, that day when the government just closed all buildings because, once one floor was affected. And then the next day, the repercussions was immediate because we have nobody lunch. Everybody was made to work from home, mostly because we were located near the business district. Not so much where people lived. So in that when that happened, this was dropped maybe 30, 40 percent. And then the weekend we saw a resurgence. Right. Because people still wanted to come out. People who were worried about people needed to get out a bit. So people still ordered their cakes. People still came out and that was a first week and then the second week they implemented the social distancing. And that was immediate for us because we had a shut. We were not allowed to open until everything was checked by National Parks. Thank god, we have an extended space area which included the gallery. So my cafe is a very tight 60, 60 seater and gallery space which is was empty. We cleared out the gallery space and we made the space even bigger, which could set about maybe 60 seats. That went very well at this point. I was just restructuring at this point, take aways was still not a thing. People were encourage deliveries were encouraged. But it was still not a thing. I was just restructuring my take away business, online business. It was steady, it was growing and then was social distancing the week after really hit. I majorly went online. I will push up 20 percent of cakes and five off delivery of islandwide. Because I couldn't depend on the delivery systems, which was like Deliveroo or Foodpanda because they're too expensive. And they do not service the areas I needed to service. And so my friend Rubina, who owned a wedding event company, said take my van and I got one of my managers to drive. And so that was our system. So we got the orders in and orders started coming in. It was a lot of ways. We were doing 21, 20, 30 orders a day. We had call in for another vehicle. And then suddenly the park was all shut immediately that night, when they park they shut the parks. The next morning I had to reimburse 10000. I had to return. We would refund customers ten thousand dollars just that morning. Everything overnight, everything was just shut. And then since yesterday, some places. Most places are allowed to open. But places in the parks are still closed. So I am just at home cooking for my neighbours, my, my friends and stuff. So how it has affected me is affected me really greatly. I mean, I mean, I spend three days of my non-carb days just eating carbs, not knowing what the hell I'm going to do. And just three days just filling myself with carbs. I really did like. You know, the first thing was to to how am I going to keep my guys? I've got I've got I'm really not using my fifteen part timers, they are so poor thing. And then I've got to two cooks, two bakers. Two. One manager and one barista one guy on the floor. Three of them were foreigners. How do we do this, right? So there was my it was it was kind of emotionally not great, but I worked through there, had to do what I had to do. Things are. Things are better. But not as great as I wish it could be. When come. When this. I basically I have one more month before my business shuts in July, July. Only because of the lease. We we're we're finishing up the lease with National Parks. And because of the situation, I haven't been able look for a new space. I haven't been able to do anything. I've been talking to agents. I mean, everything on my hands are tied. I can't even keep my guys on a retailer because I don't know when I'm going to start again. You know, so obviously, my first Zoom. This is only my second Zune meeting. So my first Zoom meeting, was telling all my staff we're shutting down in July. So the first week of July the Fabulous Baker Boy will shut down. And then we'll see what's going to happen and then we'll see how, because they can't do anything at this point. Petrina Kow: [00:11:14] Yeah. Good Lord. I think that might be. Is that news for everybody? Because it feels like this is big news. This is the first time I'm hearing this that you're going to be shut in July. Juwanda Hassim: [00:11:26] I think I told you I don't think I showed you just snippets, you know, and some because I was really depressed about just thinking about it because we were doing well. We were doing so well. I mean, just in and in just three, just I knew we were going to be badly hurt. But they didn't realize it was gonna be this bad. Petrina Kow: [00:11:45] Yeah. Yeah. Like, pulled the rug from under you. And. Juwanda Hassim: [00:11:50] Because I can't do any it. I can't do anything. I can't. I kind of go out. And even if I have the funds and you don't know what the situation is going to be, how long it's going to stretch. It might only clear next July, you know. Yeah so what you going to do? Petrina Kow: [00:12:07] Well, thank you for sharing so honestly, Juwanda. I mean, I think about all the various different restaurants that, you know, are pushing their take away menus out and trying their best. We have. Thank you so much. I mean, we have another, you know, two guys who've come from a space that have managed to carry on because they're located. They happen to be located in an area that was not shut down. These are Jason and Chen Long from Beng Who Cooks. Hello, Jason. I'm talking to Jason right? Jason Chua: [00:12:40] Yeah, there isn't. Hi, guys. I'm Jason from Beng Who Cooks. Petrina Kow: [00:12:45] So, I mean, you guys are in a food centre. So if you guys don't know who cooks are, they do these lovely, delicious and healthy for food bowls at Hong Lim Food Centre. They're very popular. And I think how I got to know you guys was because of some social media that was share, because of what you guys were doing in response to this pandemic and which was that you were going to provide free meals for whoever who needed it. And as a result of that, I think you had one of your customers start a foundation with you, right called Beng Who Cooks Foundation that basically started to provide these meals for free for all these people who, you know, are struggling to even have a nutritious meal for themselves. So tell me what what has been what it's been like for you guys? I mean, I know you're at your stall right now, Jason Chua: [00:13:36] Basically all over the whole thing, right? I mean, we CBD area. I mean, Baker Boys should understand you CBD area. Business has already been affected since Christmas then later new year, then Chinese New Year. Then that was when Covid comes in. So me and my partners pay cut has been taking maybe. I mean, we are a small stall so our pay cut. We used to take like 1.5, 1.8. But nowadays we just take around 200 dollars a month. I mean, we we we are a food stall. I mean, we can cook all our meals are settled here. But overall business has already been bad. And even since the extension right. The announcement of extension on that day right the whole business has been crumbling around the whole centre. It's just not our stall. I mean. Also for like chicken rice stalls, those traditional western food. Even the one. Those one Michelin star food that they don't have a queue at all. You can just eat it and just come in order anytime, anywhere. They would just be able to serve you within five minutes. And their attitude has changed, I mean, sometimes they used to be very cocky, but nowadays I think everybody is desperate for business and they're all "Hi hi hi. Thank you. Thank you for coming". Yeah. Everybody is humbled down by this Covid. So sometimes this Covid it show a lot of humanity's side maybe to me I feel. Petrina Kow: [00:14:49] Yeah. I mean, that's that's a good tip. Now I know I can finally go and eat my soya sauce chicken. No, but I mean, that's not the point. But I think also, apart from that, do you feel like what what made you and your partner decide to. Start to do these meals for the community, Jason Chua: [00:15:06] Basically, because, well, my friend. Is because this announcement about these was on 6 April before the CB has started. That's right. She texted us saying that can we provide meals for needy people. And this was all before circuit breaker even announced. And I say we all wanted to do this. It's just that we don't finance backing. And that's when he told me. Okay. Don't worry about the finance. You guys just do. I'll figure out the finance. Of course, we really know, because as long as I be able to work out. I'll be able to come our the house, I'll still cook. Now, I said I'll do. Then initially it started on the on. The first meal was given was on 8 April. Then that's where caught news of like Fiona Xie. Channel News Asia. DJ Ross. And that's where it start sharing. That's were it's overwhelmed. We started giving our own 80 to 100 plus a day of free bowls, which I think is very unreasonable for the peopel sponsoring us for a meals because it's only one guy  sponsoring and there's like 600 plus 600 to 700 dollars. And this includes meal delivery. And that's why we start changing and implementing a lot of different rules. Like, nowadays I have to admit that, OK, I used to give 80 bowls a day. Now I only hive 30 bowls a day. Because there's a lot people that are not suitable to accept this meal. You had people wearing Rolex coming down to take free meals from you. Yeah, these's are some of the people coming down to take your free meals because we don't question them. That's not then that's where we start implementing the delivery charge and the delivery charge will chase away, people who are not really needy. Then when we see them they are carry, if they are carrying like branded bags or anything, right? We just chase them away. We we are not even giving them. But the main this is, we're ok with giving them because end of day we just want. We just want people ask us nicely. Because we have a lot of people asking free food like. Hey I demand you to give me this, I demand you to give me that. They use the word demand. Instead of can I have a meal? Or anything. We do reject a lot more than we give nowadays because we find that there's really people who needs it more than most people that is being accepted by society. There's a lot of outcasts that Singaporean don't see. Petrina Kow: [00:17:26] I mean, I'm just curious because, you know, we we we all serving for myself and my my two friends, Janice and Pam, we we started a foundation. It started Pasar Glamour Art Aid. And even for something as as simple as that, just even coming up with a form to try and sift out people who might sort of abuse the system was so complex, you know, so I can't imagine if it's just as simple as here's a meal. I mean, from a very simple idea of wanting to help. Right. It somehow brings out, you know, different all kinds of different people. Right. So, you know, I think moving forward, if if you just sort of if you do, would you continue to do this again or would you continue the the foundation program past the Covid period. You think. Jason Chua: [00:18:10] We will. We will. We promise like those people on our social media and especially Instagram. We thought, as long as Beng Who Cooks survive right, Beng Who Cares Foundation will also survive or because these things are interlinked it is just that we won't do delivery anymore. So if you're one you can just come down and at least tell us one day advance so that we are expecting our guests instead of. Like if you come down and we charge you. And say I have no money. And they'll be very troublesome. So. As long as Beng Cooks operate right, we'll keep giving out free meals, because if you if ever if ever you did something right you don't stop half way. I mean I just like, do it all the way. Petrina Kow: [00:18:47] That's wonderful. And would you I mean, would you like the public to be able to help, meaning with the foundation? Can people donate to it so that they can keep the, you know, the support going? Jason Chua: [00:18:57] No, because really, I myself, I wanted to set up of like a charity organization or something. But the procedure is not as easy as what everybody thinks. If you want to donate money or I do invest money issuing both. Right. Finance. Is on a different ballgame, because that's why I refuse to take any donations, even on dry goods and dry supplies right. Right. Everything I recommend do not give anything because we want to cater to vegetarian. Relocate to last last. If you'll give right. We are not sure if your stuff is halal or your stuff is a vegetarian. That's why we are avoiding people to donate money or even supply, because it's just not fair for who we are feeding. So to us. If you want to pay we will bear all the cost on ourselves and openness. Petrina Kow: [00:19:42] Well, I just want to be on behalf of everyone, say thank you for your wonderful endeavors and your efforts. I think, you know, we just need to have more people like you, man Jason, and to know that we need more beings these days. Jason Chua: [00:19:58] Okay. Maybe call it a humble bread or something. I feel that after we start this foundation. Right. There is really a lot of people copying this template, but it is good. Because a number of decreasing meals are also a sign of more helping. Yeah, I. What is it is the rejection helps, but it's also more people stepping up to provide free meals. Because even there's a NUS student giving out meals. That's the umbrella initiate giving out meals. So I'm glad it. I don't know that it is because of me on wall, but is a good thing that every Singaporean are stepping up their own ballgames. Petrina Kow: [00:20:34] Yeah. Wonderful. Thank you so much, Jason. And please, you know, continue. Good luck. I understand you have a food styled Iran, so if you have to run off. I totally understand. But do stay for the discussion if you're free here. Laurindo Garcia: [00:20:49] Thank you. Do under. Thank you. Thank you. Jason, please stay on if you are able to. Would love to come back to you later on in the conversation with some follow up questions. At this stage, I do. It's time for us to travel across the Atlantic to to London, where we have Siew Yen Chong on the line. How are you. Am. No, we're really thrilled that you able to join this conversation, so I understand you're a volunteer, you've been doing a lot of work in London helping ensure the low income families have better quality food on the table. And I would just love to hear a little bit more about how you exactly do that. Siew Yen Chong: [00:21:33] So I volunteer with two charities. The first one is Bags of Taste. And it's started in Hackney, which is where I live in East London. And the aim of the charity is mainly to help reduce food poverty, which is kind of defined as people not having access to good food or food. That's good for you. Whether it's because of price or whether it's because they are in places where there are no great markets and they can't get to it. And how it began was the founder was in a supermarket and she was looking at the shopping baskets of the customers. And so many people had like, you know, one pound pizzas already, meals that are growing at one pound in their basket. And she came up thinking to herself, she was like, well, you know, I could teach these people how to cook a really nutritious meal for a pound or less. And that's how the story began. So Bags of Taste create a create a set of cooking lessons. And then we have a set of recipes to go along with it. And basically every portion we cook is a pound or less. And when students come to our classes, they will cook and learn these recipes and then they are able to buy a bag of ingredients which are exactly measured. And also if it's one tablespoon of sesame oil, you will get one tablespoon of sesame oil and a sachet. So when you get home and you cook the meal, it will taste like what you've cooked in class, which encourages people to cook again. And once they get over that, like, oh, you know, why should I buy Singapore noodles, which is a very favorite, like top favorite dish to order on takeaways for six, seven pounds when I can recreate it for myself at home for one pound. And from there on, we reach out to the food banks in Hackney, the recovery service or drug rehabilitation, alcohol rehabilitation, homeless shelters, a couple of domestic abuse places. And the council also has lots of council housing. So if you have families or residents who are in arrears, there are also people that we target or people that go to the Jobcentre because they're looking for work. And so these are the people that we want to educate about the importance of budgeting, using measures when you're cooking so that you're not overspending and then your fruit tastes really great. And the thing that we do in our recipes is also encourage the use of spices so that people are looking at what they eat in terms of their salt intake and they're able to make their fruit more exciting because of spices and herbs rather than adding sugar or salt or eating takeaway, which is full of sort of salts, fats and that kind of stuff. So that smacks of taste. And and through that course, we are able to reach out to lots of. A lot of them, I guess, who live on their own, actually, in Hackney. A large part about a large part of our target audience live on their own. They're older. A lot of older men, 50 and over. Who are lonely. And so the cooking helps them to reconnect with food. But gives them a chance to socialize in a very non-threatening situation, which is, you know, I think people always find it easier to chat over food, whether you're a man or a woman. And and then I'm supported by a group of other volunteers. So I teach the class and other volunteers will help each student in the class. So in that way, yes, we are helping people by giving them cheaper food. But I think more importantly, the program drives behavior change, that it's possible to cook better and your food is better than the take away. And even if it means people eat like take away a couple of times less in the week, it means that we have achieved our objectives. And I think in this time of kov it, what we're finding, particularly living in London, is that the people who are in the black, African-American or Caribbean communities, they have a higher chance of dying from the disease simply because of obesity problems or because of that diet or genetic propensity. So having this idea of getting them to be aware of what they're eating and how they can control that kind of intake of salt and sugar, I think is an eat. It's an equalizer in that respect. Laurindo Garcia: [00:26:03] And do you foresee that any of the things or the ways of approaching behavior change in in your work in London? Any of. Are any of these things transferable for the Singapore context? From what you know, what do you see as the situation here? Siew Yen Chong: [00:26:19] I think definitely I think that the great thing about single boys, I feel that growing up anyway. It's always been food has been it's very democratic in Singapore. The fruit that you buy in a hawker center, you know, now, even with greater awareness of salt and fats, I think it's it's fairly healthy. It's actually quite good. You always get vegetables or something like that. It's it's so it's quite democratic. You can get pretty good food at a very decent price. And so I think that the practice that we have here of encouraging people to cook more often for themselves, I think that's probably something that should be encourage so that, yes, there's a great chicken rice store we want to support and it's our local like downstairs take away is very good. We can help out. But actually, how about encouraging people to sit down, reconnect with food and cook these meals? And part of the the the way that our recipes are designed is that they are designed so that you can cook with one pan on the hot seat or in the oven. You don't need you know, so you do have to pay a lot for electricity or gas bills. So I think, you know, is a really good way of getting people to cook together and reconnect with food. Laurindo Garcia: [00:27:30] Do you do you foresee that there will be a challenge? Because, I mean, it was interesting how you can make the comparison of how much a premade meal in the shopping basket would cost compared to making something for yourself. And in Singapore, I mean, you know, the cost of of meals purchased at a hawker center is still quite reasonable. As you say, it's it's very democratic compared to the cost of preparing something at home for for yourself as well. There's this kind of I mean, some people talk about an imbalance depending on where you buy your ingredients. I mean, do you see that being a challenge here in Singapore? Siew Yen Chong: [00:28:08] Yeah. These are not just in Singapore, I would say here as well. I think here maybe it can be a bit I don't know what it's like and what was kind of a bit detrimental. It's like, oh, you didn't buy organic or how can you eat chicken? That is, you know, a pound fifty for like half a kilo. I mean, you know, but if you've got five children and you have to look after all the parents, you haven't got much of a choice. That's kind of what you know. So I think bags of things is good because it doesn't judge. But what it tries to encourage you to do is that in every say in a recipe that actually has meat in it, if they are serving two people and I was getting down to details, it would be less than 100 grams of meat per person. And that's how we always bill our recipes. So. And you want to have meat? Sure. But it's 80 grams of chicken, 80 grams of minced beef for one person. So if you make two portions, you know, 80, 80, that's 160. So when people when we cook with people, they look at it and they think, oh, my God, this in this spaghetti bolognese is only one hundred eighty grams of meat. And everything else is carrots and celery. So I think in Singapore you you can do exactly the same thing where you teach people about a portion of ingredients that you put in a recipe, particularly the protein versus vegetables, and that will help you overall reduce the cost of a serving. So I think that's another way you can. Teach. Petrina Kow: [00:29:31] Yeah. I would like to take that course myself, because I tend to over like today. I decided to roast a tray of vegetables and I realize I had roasted the entire head of broccoli, one whole carrot, one whole like cauliflower. And then the next thing I know, I'm like I have like, these two giant trays of vegetables that my two kids, just sort of like scoff at. And then like, you know, open a pack of instant noodles themselves, you know. So it's sort of like how well I try it. Laurindo Garcia: [00:30:01] So at this point, I'd love to bring in Bjorn Low into the conversation. Hi, Bjorn. Hello. I'm good. So you're joining us from Victoria in Australia right now. Did I get that right? That's right. And so I know you as a pioneer and a champion for urban farming. You are a co-founder of Edible Garden City. And, you know, a lot of this discussion, just a recent discussion with Siew Yen is kind of talking about produce people encouraging people to cook for themselves. Talking about the cost of produce as well in a city like Singapore. And I'm curious to hear what have been your thoughts as you've been hearing, not only the conversation, but also your observations of of just how people are dealing with food. Against a backdrop of a pandemic? Bjorn Low: [00:30:45] Well, it's definitely an a very interesting time for for everybody, especially in the food industry and in the farming space. Well, whilst there has been a lot of hype and talk around food security for sustainability and Singapore being in a very challenged position, there's also a lot of chatter, news out from the global food supply chain. Saw you see all farmers in the US, if only on Australia, having to plough their produce back into the ground because a lot of the food system is built on these centralised production system, massive systems of supply chain. So if something breaks, everything goes to the ground. So farmers are actually losing a lot of produce, dumping milk. They are throwing away eggs because the supply chain is broken. And then on the other on the other hand, you have people now going hungry. So something is massively not balance. And this is potentially a good time to really look deeper into the food system on how we can balance that equation. A lot of the work that we have done in the past in urban agriculture is to look at decentralised production systems. So, for example, we are in what should you be in, for example? In Ang Mo Kio, where we are producing food for the local community in the space itself and not and reliant on a lot of outside, you know, changes and things like that. So it's the local community supporting that movement. So it is very trying times, even for the food producers as well, although you see a massive amount of demand from the consumer side that there is that inability for the farmers to bring their produce to market because of how the model has been built up on efficiency and because there is no efficiency. Now, a lot has been lost to this whole crisis. Laurindo Garcia: [00:32:58] So I'm just curious. Going back to you were mentioning before about your work with HDB estates and Ang Mo Kio in particular, and I'm curious, pre-Covid 19. What have been some of the headways, you know, stopping for more? It should be a states getting involved in a project like that. Bjorn Low: [00:33:17] So in the past, we are doing urban agriculture has always been a very challenging industry. Yes, because agriculture is based on the economies of scale model while in urban spaces, you know, it is small and that's only that much you can build. Vertical or scalability is always a challenge was infrastructure cost is high. Our model has always been to be produced, producing floor restaurants and hotels, you know, a high value type produce on very short turnaround times. What we now need to to look at is really it's kind of changing that model to really produce higher amount of skill for the larger population and the general public on produce that they eat every day in order bok choy, chai sim. But that competition as well from from overseas. You know, in Malaysia and Thailand, the produce are a lot cheaper. And it's always, you know, our producers always a premium. But what we found actually is starting to to work a lot in this space in. For example, Yorkhill, where we started a project called Ah Kong Farm. We found it actually urban farming. It's not only bringing up tangible values like the produce, but also the hits on the intangible portion of community engagement not being socially isolate that elderly out from your homes to participate in something like urban farming, growing produce together, eating together. It has so much more benefits in terms of mental wellness than just filling a tiny, so solid that there is a lot more that a lot deeper into it. But of course, the focus now because of a food shortage is stand production. But we want to look at the picture holistically now. Petrina Kow: [00:35:14] And I love that because I am also noticing with just, you know, anecdotally amongst my friends, everyone is propagating spring onions and, you know, growing their own garlic and, you know, tending to the herb garden. And then I myself have quite a successful sweet potato leaf situation happening, though we haven't quite harvested it to, you know, fry one dish of sweet potato will be as yet. But but I think, you know, I think it's making people really sort of think about this. Right, rather than go to the, you know, market just to get one sprig of, you know, spring onion as a you mean so easy to like propagates spring onion. Why did they never do this before? You know, Bjorn Low: [00:35:53] There's always two sides of that. So you have one group of people who give it a go. And so while it's so hard, you don't buy chili plant keeps dying. And it's like, why don't you just go to the supermarket? I spent two dollars. I get all these chilies whilst while you are spending all five months of your life trying to get this shit plant to produce. I think that effort you have the other group of people that I like here, it is a very difficult process to grow your own food and the value of food a lot more. And then that has done a latent benefit on addressing food wastage problem because the Singapore will be true several hundred thousand tonnes of food last year while importing 90 percent. So again, that this balance. Right. So we see these kind of changes in a lot of young people going through that process. Well, to say it is really hard. Maybe we need to appreciate a lot more what these farmers are doing overseas, you know, to grow food. Let's try and waste less. So it has it has it can go both ways. Laurindo Garcia: [00:36:56] So with that, I would do want to kind of put it step into a solutions mindset for a moment and ask both Siew Yen and Bjorn to imagine that you were bestowed with the power to change the food sector in Singapore and in Asia. And what would be the top three things that you would do as soon as you were given this power? And I want to pass that to Siew Yen first. What are at the top three things you would do? Siew Yen Chong: [00:37:21] Ration cards. If I had a power for 100 days, I would put out ration cards so that I think households you can only buy stuff that is on your absolute essential needs, For 100 days and then you will learn to be creative. You are learned to stop throwing things out and you will learn to check, to smell, to rely on your senses before you go. This spring onion looks a bit soft. I going to throw it out. The celery is a bit soft and you don't really reuse things in ways. So I would introduce ration cards and I sit and only because I think that this whole Covid situation has amplified the inequality in, say, my household versus, you know, the households that I'm helping right now. I, I because of bags of tears and other work that I do, I'm so scrupulous about food waste now, but I'm sure before I'm probably as guilty as anyone else. So I go ration ration card. Laurindo Garcia: [00:38:28] Ration cards. Great. Thank you, Siew Yen. How about your Bjorn? Bjorn Low: [00:38:31] The one thing I'll do is turn Singapore from a Garden City into an edible Garden City and pass a policy that we have and can plant durian trees all around our roads, mango trees, soursop trees, and everyone have then free access to the food. That's not so hard to do, right? They're spending a lot of money by putting in these giant ornamental trees that costs thousands and thousands of dollars and in all places like that. Why don't you just grow a fruit tree so everyone can partake, you know, even the wildlife as well as so. So that's what I would do. Pass a policy and make that a reality. Petrina Kow: [00:39:10] I wonder vote Bjorn as minister of food. Ha here that you've got me at free durian man on the side of the road. Laurindo Garcia: [00:39:10] Everybody's clapping. I see all of this round of applause on the Zoom chat. Everybody's classing Petrina Kow: [00:39:25] Free durian. Oh my goodness. Oh, okay. For now though. Thank you. I just like to take the opposite. All our guests today for coming on the show. But for now, a very special guest as well who is also joining us. And he I know as a well-known voice on the radio, but when I searched him up, he also says he's a 25 year old music making, sushi eating love machine. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Joshua Simon to the show. Dude, have a good love machine. Hello, darling. Joshua Simon: [00:39:59] I'm pretty sure that was my Tinder bio from like five years ago. Actually, I'm actually turning 30 in a couple of weeks, so I'm so sorry you got the press release a little bit later. Petrina Kow: [00:40:10] I think you can just keep it there. Keep it at 25. It's a ok. Joshua Simon: [00:40:13] Keep it 25? I'm going to be one of those? OK. Yeah, I just stopped counting. I just celebrate anniversaries from here, Andre. Wow. I've so many things. I want to say this conversation. And first off, OK. Juwanda. I have not had carbs in three and a half weeks. I've been on keto. I've been on this keto diet because it's sort of like my way of helping a friend's business. I'm she runs this thing Keto Me, which is like a subscription delivery service for, like keto friendly food. And then that I was vegetarian for three months. So to go from vegetarian to eating only meat is like insane. And I miss carb. Like I'm a carbs person. So I will I will eat everything in your bakery, like. In one sitting like I need rice in my life. Right now it's serious. Okay. And. Yeah. Like, I'm gonna go try Jason's food as far as like Googling, like Beng Who Cooks and like the food looks so great. It's like it's like eating like salad bowls. But in a hawker centers. Like what. I spent like twenty dollars for these kind of bowls or then like I'm a sucker for an onsen egg. Like you're onsen eggs look amazing. And it's like super overpriced in the malls. Jason Chua: [00:41:26] Only six dollars. Joshua Simon: [00:41:27] Oh yeah. Jason Chua: [00:41:28] Unless you add. Joshua Simon: [00:41:29] I'm so there I was so gonna come to your store and like that was such an incredible like. That segment earlier on with you. Jason Chua: [00:41:29] Just remeber to tell me whether you're paying or getting one of the free bowls. Joshua Simon: [00:41:41] I will definitely be paying. Oh OK. You like the free bowl stuff. Just got me like so riled up earlier on like this period. So many people want to beat up that. Yeah. That was really cool. Yeah. Hi. How do I fit into this conversation. Petrina Kow: [00:41:59] Well I mean, I don't know if you I mean you have some thoughts about food and sort of where you wanna go or do you and just just offer your thoughts through your artistry and sings your song. Joshua Simon: [00:42:11] I mean, there are still so many questions like free form for Yen Chong. Like what is Singapore noodles? I see every time when I travel I we do not have Singapore noodles in the sample. What is Singapore noodles. Siew Yen Chong: [00:42:22] I know. Makes my heart curl. I just got bee hoon with the curry powder in it. Joshua Simon: [00:42:30] Huh? Siew Yen Chong: [00:42:30] I know. Joshua Simon: [00:42:32] Budget bee hoon is it? Siew Yen Chong: [00:42:32] It's got turmeric and you like cumin in it as part of the mix. Petrina Kow: [00:42:38] Yes, strange. I suppose it's like breakfast bee hoon, but they they forgot what spice and the just anyhow add. Siew Yen Chong: [00:42:43] Instead of sambal. They go and put turmeric and cumin. Joshua Simon: [00:42:47] So confusing Siew Yen Chong: [00:42:47] Wahlao. Joshua Simon: [00:42:48] I have not I have not done the delivery thing. Like, I like going out to get food. I like like interacting with the people that I work with, like I eat about the same. Like I can eat the same thing every day and not get sick of it. You know, like there are like certain restaurants or cafes that I go to and like we like. I know, I know the people that stop there and everything. So I like that interaction. I don't like just food showing up at the door. Like, I only just signed up for like like online banking recently. So I'm one of those rare millennials that just do not trust the Internet. I do not trust Amazon. And like, I need to physically, like, pay. I still have vinyl records, you know. So I signed that person. It's strange because I feel like my family my family is not super well-to-do. Like we've always, like, struggled with, like bills and all that kind of stuff. But then, like, of all things, I feel like during this whole corporate thing, I can see how spoiled we are by ridiculously spoiled. We are. And like like when we open the fridge, there's just so much groceries in there. Like, my sister will do a run. My dad will draw on my mom and I'll come back thinking that, OK, I'm buying them for the whole family. And the whole fridge is just like chock full of stuff. And the covers are filled with like, OK, there's a canned food. Why why do we have canned food? We never get canned food. But then we have like every ingredient, you know. So I've been challenging my family to just stop buying stuff and just finish what's in the fridge, because it's really annoying when I'm hearing about how people are not getting enough food, you know, and like, we complain so much about our bills and then you open the fridge and everything is there. And then like you, I'll hear like a family member, complain about how they're hungry and like they're going on Deliveroo, "like go to the fridge, pick up a pan". All right. And I've been cooking, OK? So I've been cooking. And it's been dreadful. Like, some people are just gifted. Like I watch Master Chef and I'm looking at these home cooks, like prepare these incredible dishes. Like, I can't cook an omelet. Like I you would think that with the right ingredients things, which is cool, but just something messes up. It's either like, OK, I burnt something or I put too much oil or like too little seasoning. It's just like I'm just not cut out for this. So like one thing great as I do host the show at night on my radio show, I like to say to someone like, what I've been doing is I've been sort of intermittent fasting, waiting till like later in the night I pack something I eat much. Later on, I wrote a song called All I Wanna Do early during this, when the fears of the pandemic are creeping in, mainly cause I felt like even listening to this conversation, I feel like I, I did not achieve much in life is like at least you guys, you're like in it, you know, you guys are really in it and you're, you're in the grime and you're like working through and trying to find a way to help. And, and I'm just like I sing like what what is this skill set, you know, like I you know, so I thought really purposeless. And what I started doing on my radio show is I started opening it up. I didn't think too much about it's like super wrong for me to do this. But like, I've just been like allowing anyone who has a business that's either, like thriving or trying to keep their head above water, like, come share your story. You know, like I have a friend of mine, Douglas Park. He has a hawker store called like Fishball Story, you know, and he's using social media. It's really. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He he still owes me fish cakes. So he is using social media to sell his fish balls and he's directly like he's getting his friends to come help deliver, like he's doing everything by himself, you know. So that's incredible. I heard that Nando's is is giving up free food every single day until the 1st of June. And just like Jason, they're not doing any checks, you know, just by good faith. If you need a meal, we'll give you a support meal. That's it. So feel free to come onto my show today. I have a friend, Lucas, who represents Singapore as a speed skater, and he is he's not able to go to the rink now. Right. So he is helping because he's super tech tech. He's a super nerdy. So he's been like refurbishing laptops and giving it to kids who don't have money to get like a new computer during this time and they're working from home or whatever. So he's been doing that, you know, and every artist that I interview, like yesterday I spoke with Hailee Steinfeld. She is a pop star and one of the youngest to be nominated for an Oscar. And I've been asking this one question, which is like, what is the role of an artist in a pandemic? You know, and it's interesting. I'm still gathering answers like her. I'm not nervous about. Petrina Kow: [00:47:29] Sorry, go ahead and get you the head. You finish her answer. Joshua Simon: [00:47:33] Her answer was about how I think she was still trying to figure it out as house as she was. There is a pretty intense question, huh? Petrina Kow: [00:47:41] I mean, no, I mean, I think because we had an episode earlier about artists and the role of artists, and I think our conclusion from that, if you want to listen, you would have listen to that first before this one. But basically, I think I want to encourage you and say, don't feel like you're not doing anything. You're doing heaps. You have a show. You're connecting with listeners. Right. You're providing a platform. And you're such a connector. So. And you are an artist. And I think for especially these times, the artists always lead the way. Right. We we find ways. We get creative. And I think what what I've observed with the people in the food industry, because they're the ones a first hit and hit the hardest and the fastest. But they're also the ones who are the most creative and the ones who come back fast and nimble as well. Everyone has had to really sort of dig deep and find all kinds of ways to really sort of pivot, you know, get together. And and I think it does bring out the worst and the best. And I like to think that I think, you know, it depends on how you look at it. I think we we have to allow for people to take that journey no matter what it what it is. But, you know, food is so fundamental. Right. And in it, I mean, we can say, oh, art is like the last thing we like. If if we were to sort of do the whole OK. Now we're going to relax. The one now. Okay, we can open the first dollar store. But now what is bubble tea? It's like. Okay, like those things will open first, light, whatever. But then the arts venues will be the last to open. Right. So that's that's still way back on the thing. But food food is always on people's mind. Food is always the first thing. So in a way, I think that that hunger or that that essential need is is so primal and is so it is really the reason we exist. And we like to say food isn't just about filling a tummy. Right. Even though sometimes on the on the most essential level, that's what it is. But we've all talked about that communing, that coming together as a community, even just as the dignity of being able to provide a meal for yourself, especially if you live alone. I really find that that's it's really quite special. So I was just thinking, I think, you know, I would love for for learning how to cook and feed yourself a nutrition to be one of the subjects we learn at school. You know, so that Joshua will know how to make an omelet. Joshua Simon: [00:50:05] So I actually MOE's defense. I did I did do better nutrition. OK. But I was also dreadful at that. Like, I made spaghetti carbonara by just getting, like, spaghetti from the shelf at the supermarket. And then I use Campbell's Soup like Cream of Mushroom as my carbonara sauce. And it's it's actually pretty edible. Petrina Kow: [00:50:27] It's quite tasty. I have to. Joshua Simon: [00:50:27] Don't thumbs down Jason. Don't thumbs done. I just gave you a brilliant new item to add? Petrina Kow: [00:50:36] No. Took almost no carbonara. It was very interesting, actually. I'd say that a lot of people went when when the hoarding started. Right. And people wanted to like, panic, buy and buy stuff. People who don't normally buy canned food just set. It's the buy canned food. Like, I know I was doing that. I was like, yeah, maybe I need like a can of Ma Ling, like luncheon meat. Now, you know, it's like I never, ever buy it. But suddenly I have three cartons and there was all this and I still haven't cooked that insulate. So yes, I am guilty hoarder. Joshua Simon: [00:51:06] And a lot of people in my life, like dieting in a pandemic, is such a privilege. Like everyone is just talking about the diets that there I'm like, oh, my God, I should get off at the end of it. Like, you have so much food. Oh, my gosh. I mean, I wish I wish there was just better synergy. Like, I like I want to help. The thing is, I don't know where to start. You know, like, I know what to do. Okay, great. I have all this food. I've got others in my kitchen. I start cooking stuff and I start giving it to someone. Who do I give it to? You know, so like, I just wish there was just a better synergy or even. Okay, like, great. I host a radio show. I can be a catalyst. I can help like all people to these businesses, you know, letting them come onto the show and promote your your business and your product. That usually would cost a lot of money. I just wish there was. Yeah. Once this thing started to engage us, engage the artists. Petrina Kow: [00:51:53] You can is what I'm saying, Joshua. So it do you. Before we go and have you sing us out, any, any last thoughts, Laurindo. Laurindo Garcia: [00:52:01] Yeah. So I do want to make sure we touch base with each of our guests before we wrap up today's show. And really the invitation is to, you know, share what is one thing that you want our listeners to know based on today's discussion. And perhaps we start with you Juwanda. What's one thing that you'd like our listeners to know? Juwanda Hassim: [00:52:19] I think, you know, I know the. Dark clouds and shit and stuff. I think there's still hope. I'm the one who's so hopeful. It brings me to tears, but I just really cook things. Things will get better. Laurindo Garcia: [00:52:38] How about you, Jason? What's one thing that you want to make sure our listeners know? Based on today's discussion. Jason Chua: [00:52:44] I really want people to know that. Toknow that there's a website. Facebook Group call Covid Idiots. Right. Yeah, I just want people to stop. Yeah. Yeah. I mean put yourself into someone else's shoes and stop framing and scolding them. And then that's not really cool. But most of them that appears on the page. Are the ones without social media and they do know that being framed or being scolded. That's a very sucky feeling to be felt lah. If you don't even know. Why it is you're being scolded. Laurindo Garcia: [00:53:08] So to have a heart. Petrina Kow: [00:53:11] Lovely. And how about you then? Siew Yen Chong: [00:53:13] Definitely reconnect with friends, you know, pick up the phone. Obviously, Zoom calls a great and all of that. But I think if someone that you want to speak to and you haven't spoken to for awhile. Pick up the phone. Do that. Read more. I'm finding myself reading a lot and really enjoying walking the streets. And really, I don't like looking at trees a lot, looking at like I can hear, but every morning more than I've I have in a long time. And I really I, I stop and actually take my time. So I think that's a luxury and I'm making the most of it and helping others whenever you can. Petrina Kow: [00:53:53] Thank you. And to round us off Bjorn? Bjorn Low: [00:53:55] Yeah, I think hope is that for you something that is really important. Hold on to. I hope everyone can continue to hold on to that. But on the flip side, I feel that, you know, mother stuff has been very well taken care of in the last six months. You know, with all the emission that has gone down the flights grounded that perhaps I really hope that we can all look to what's a better future with a better economy that says a lot more sustainable for the future. So that that is that's my hope. Petrina Kow: [00:54:29] Great. Thank you so much to all our wonderful guests who've joined us here today. And I think, Josh, would you want to just tell us a little bit of a song that you got to sing? Joshua Simon: [00:54:38] Oh, right. Yeah. This is a song called All I Wanna Do. And it's a song that I think a lot of us can definitely relate to. It's and it's a desire for escapism. It's also how I feel sometimes when I feel like I don't know where I fit in. I just kind of want to disappear and just like, hide my head, you know? So, like, it's this song is about anxiety, but it's also about escapism. And it's colorful. It's fun. Laurindo Garcia: [00:55:04] Thanks to all our guests, Juwanda, Jason. Siew Yen, Bjorn, Joshua, really appreciate you taking the time to have a chat with us today. If you'd like to find out more about our guests, please check out the increasingly Web site. We'll be providing links to everyone. Please remember to like this podcast and share view. Your feedback will help us improve. Make sure you subscribe to us on the Apple podcast, Spotify and also YouTube. Petrina Kow: [00:55:27] Thank you very much for joining us. Until next time. I'm Petrina. Laurindo Garcia: [00:55:31] And I'm Laurindo Garcia. Thanks for listening. *JOSHUA SIMON SINGS ‘ALL I WANNA DO’*

Jacob Hawley discusses what life in lockdown means to keyworkers and creative freelancers. In this episode, he chats to Luke, a plumbing engineer, about keeping people’s water flowing and toilets flushing. He hears about the Lockdown Theatre Festival from Olivier Award winning actor Bertie Carvel, and Virtual Collaborators, an online project from Danusia Samal. He also catches up with Dulcie Scott from Helping Dress Medics - a team of TV costume makers who are putting their skills into making high quality scrubs for the NHS. Jacob Hawley’s Job Centre is a BBC Studios Production for BBC Sounds Art by Made Up Music by Jaan Production Coordinator: Sarah Sharpe Producer: Nick Coupe

Jacob Hawley discusses what life in lockdown means to keyworkers and creative freelancers. In this episode, he chats to Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Richard Gadd about what he’s doing to stay creative in quarantine, and Georgia, an Emergency Medical Technician who is driving into the unknown and tackling the pandemic head on. He also hears from Janet, who is organising socially distanced dancing to keep her street fit and healthy. Jacob Hawley’s Job Centre is a BBC Studios Production for BBC Sounds Art by Made Up Music by Jaan Production Coordinator: Sarah Sharpe Producer: Nick Coupe

Jacob Hawley discusses what life in lockdown means to keyworkers and creative freelancers

Ahoy there, Shipmates! Join us for a lockdown live episode special of 'Diamonds Are For Heather' PLEASE NOTE - Due to lockdown, this episode was recorded using Microsoft Teams so the audio quality isn't as high as in previous episodes. "Derek Trotter has the Yuletide Blues, and drinks away his loneliness in Spanish night at The Nag's Head. There he meets Heather, who seems to be one friend short of company. Del Boy, ever the gentleman, entertains her and sees her home safely. At her flat he discovers that she has a young son, to a husband who seems to have joined a very long queue at the Job Centre 18 months ago and not come back. In no time at all their romance blossoms, and all is running so smoothly Del decides to propose. However, when he takes her for a candle-lit curry, she refuses his offer of marriage. Her husband has returned, employed as a department store Santa, and she wants to give it another go... leaving Del Boy without an angel for Christmas."

We're still in lockdown, and there's still no Rugby League being played, but plenty to talk about with departures from the NRL to the Job Centre and, potentially, Toronto. We've still no real clue how the sport will look when we get going again, but we answer plenty of your questions on that, on PPV matches and much more. Stay safe, stay home, stay listening.

Rewind to the 1980s and London nightlife was an explosion of creativity – the new romantics were in, dramatic fashion looks were everywhere and at the back of the club, having a gossip, there'd be Sue Tilley, also affectionately known as Big Sue.  She was the best friend of the outrageous performance artist and fashion designer Leigh Bowery, who became known for his shocking stage shows and about whom she wrote a biography. Sue worked at the Job Centre during the day and the door at his infamously wild club night Taboo, which was later immortalised by Boy George in the musical of the same name, by night. This was a place, in the mid-80s, where genders and sexualities were blurred and the more flamboyant your costume, the better.  It's also where Leigh and Sue met the painter Lucian Freud – both ended up sitting for him but Sue's nude portrait, 1995's Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, is perhaps among his most famous works, which, when it sold for $33.6 million, was the most expensive painting by a living artist ever to be sold at auction. Sue left London to retire by the seaside on England's south coast and it's where she can often be found hosting quizzes and DJing in one of the local pubs, or working on her own pieces – she is now an artist in her own right and often paints the colourful characters she remembers from her clubbing days. This episode was produced by Gabriela Jones. Music: Ad Infinitum - Oh The City; Photosynthesis - Lagua Vesa; Waking Dreams (Nada Copyright Free Music); Santosha - Can Sandano; A Message From Your Space Cat - Felix Johansson Carne; Cotton Candy - Copse; Backplate - Joseph McDade; Waking And Dreaming - Brendon Moelleer

Let’s conjugate, Divas!I LuPoneYou LuPoneHe/She/It LuponesWe ALL LuPoneBut the one who LuPones the hardest is mother herself. That’s right, it’s time for the hotly anticipated deep-dive into the life and times of a hardcore possessor of both Big Diva Energy and the biggest voice in Musical Theatre: the iconic Patti LuPone.(Just don’t call her the D-Word.)And sharing the journey is star of stage, screen and emergency rooms up and down the country, dear, dear friend Dr Esh Alladi.Join all three as they hear tales of lily-white hands and softly-kissed penises, theatrical snubbings aplenty and introduce you to Persecution Patti - her LuPone worst enemy.Along the way, Holly & Tom discover what happens when a Hindu mother finds out you’re bisexual, what kind of “roles” can be found at the Job Centre and just generally get really, really stagey.Subscribe to Big Diva Energy and never miss a fabulous episode!@eshalladiYou can follow us on:Twitter @DivaEnergyInstagram @bigdivaenergyEmail us your Big Diva Stories at bigdivaenergypod@gmail.com

Radio Sweden Daily brings you a round-up of the main news in Sweden on December 6th 2019. Presenter: Dave Russell Producer: Frank Radosevich

Welcome to episode 118 of The All Seeing Guys with Greg & Joe.  Following a story, Joe tells about accidentally elbowing a woman in the head on a train whilst using his phone, Greg shares the unusual position he has adopted while playing the PlayStation. We dive into a couple of odd news stories such as East 17's Brian Harveys outburst at the Job Centre. There's a Flat Earth story to trigger and Joe & £1m worth of sex toys stolen from a truck. Off the back of the ‘IQ Test' we failed at last episode Joe decided to bring a lighter quiz to the table, to find out which Sex & City character Greg is... I think it was harder than the IQ quiz. We also talk about our new upcoming Dicerollers EP & play the episode out with our new first track in a few years, The Ride.

The Space Raiders crisp packet coming to life — Astra and her model for a "situated practice" and its three core tenets; “The Otaku", "Welfare Woes" and "The Colour Hollywood”. Delivered via diversions into kayfabe, the Last Action Hero, Eastern-European Depeche Mode fandom, the Predator, a haunted bus stop on Old Kent Road, GTA V and a fanaticism for the Job Centre. From beige British sitcoms to the colour of Hollywood. A verse constantly trying to reach its chorus. A trailer for a movie never to be released. Obsession, transformation, enchantment and romance.Originally performed as a lecture as part of New Genres, a research group at the RCA led by Joshua Trees. All elements produced by Chris Michael. Features narration by Sarah McNab and a track by Koo-Chulu, all used with permission.

"unsociable hours" not "anti-social hours"  :-) 

Conspiracies, outrageous amounts of food and a weird rant on if Sweeney Todd was at the Job Centre....If you like what we do, check out our Patreon at Patreon.com/joehendry and support us from $1, or Grab a tshirt at hendryshop.com !!!** Check out my pro wrestling school at www.EdinburghWrestling.com

EDFRINGE EXTRAS BONUS 5: Another bonus episode chatting with acts on the ground in Edinburgh! This time I speak with 3 very different performers, but with 3 equally amazing shows!  JAY BENNETT: AN AUDIENCE WITH YASMINE DAY. Failed 80s diva and Dorking's most successful pub singer Yasmine Day boldly attempts to revive her flagging career with a last ditch concert extravaganza. Expect unique renditions of 80s power ballads, world-famous originals you've never heard of and (definitely true) celebrity anecdotes. Debut character comedy from Jay Bennett. Finalist: London Cabaret Awards; nominated: Best Comedy Event (Buxton Fringe). As seen on BBC 3.  TICKETS: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/audience-with-yasmine-day  TWITTER: ‪@YasmineDay80 ‬ SUSIE MCCABE: DOMESTIC DISASTER. Susie McCabe (multi award-winning comedian, Best Scottish Headliner 2017, and fastest-selling Glasgow Comedy Festival act three years running) brings her sell-out and critically acclaimed show to Edinburgh. Revel in McCabe's raconteur style and razor-sharp punchlines in this hilarious show as she recounts the absurdities of her life; at nearly forty years old she's a shambles and never far from disaster. Playing to ever increasing sold-out shows around the country, Susie is fast becoming one of the hottest tickets in the UK. 'Delivers plenty of chuckles' (Scotsman).  TICKETS: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/susie-mccabe-domestic-disaster TWITTER: ‪@susie_mccabe ‬ TOM MAYHEW: I, TOM MAYHEW.  Tom Mayhew (BBC New Comedy Award semi-finalist 2018) was unemployed for three years from the age of 18. This is a story of rejections, the JobCentre, being working class, and fighting for your place in the world. With lots of jokes. This show explores what its really like for someone in their twenties in 2019. While some seem to think we have it all, the reality is that many of us can't afford to move out of our parents' place. 'His content is from the heart; spellbinding, raw and telling... a genuine joy to watch' (Kate Copstick).  TICKETS: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/i-tom-mayhew  TWITTER: ‪@TomMayhew ‬ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/pullbackreveal/message

Ceri Wheeldon of Fab after Fifty interviews Anne Keen, co-founder of WASPI about the WASPI campaign and the impact on women born in the 1950s of the increase in state pension age.In this episode we talk about how and why the WASPI campaign startedWhich women are affected by the increase in state pension age and how.What progress has the  WASPI campaign made so farAre transitional pension arrangements likely?What can be achieved by the judicial review as a result of the Back to 60 campaignNext steps in the fight for justice for women affected by the increase in state pension age ----more----Full episode transcript:[00:00:04] I'm Ceri Wheeldon. Welcome to the Fab after Fifty podcast. Leading the pro age conversation, talking about all things life after 50. [00:00:16] Hello. And welcome to this week's episode of the Fab after 50 podcast and I have with me today Anne Keen, who is the founder of the WASPI Campaign. Hello and welcome to Fab after 50. [00:00:27] Oh, hello Ceri. Thanks very much for this. For giving me this opportunity to raise  further awareness of the WASPI campaign, very much appreciated. For those that perhaps don't know what is the WASPI campaign? [00:00:42] Well, WASPI as  women against state pension injustice. Initially, I'm the co-founder, one of five. The campaign was co-founded and was founded in 2015. And that was three years after I was informed of the changes to my state pension age. I'm basically campaigning for justice for women born in the 1950s who have been affected by the changes to the state pension age. [00:01:12] It was quite sudden, wasn't it? I mean, we're told it was signed  some time ago, but I don't think it was communicated that well. [00:01:19] No, it wasn't. And that was one of the key crux of the campaign. Basically, I found out in 2012 that my pension age had been increased by two years, eight months and six days. And that was through the second letter I received from the DWP. And it was sent believe the whole not so long story. I'll keep it short and to increase. My husband and I were very fortunate to have a year off from our work in 2009. Increase was like a sabbatical because our plans were to retire to Greece. And obviously you're in a different mindset when you're on holiday. So we were in Greece 2009. Back to 2010. We continue to holiday in the same place in Greece 2012. There was a letter waiting for me from the DWP of your and it just said to notify you of your new state pension age. Well, Ceri, I was absolutely shocked. It was like a blow. I was in shock. I really was. I'm so sick I thought they'd made a mistake. So anyway, when I got back home from holiday I rang the DWP, I was in a serious state and they said no that's your new state pension age. I said, well, I've never, ever been notified. And they just said, well, all letters were sent out. So anyway, from there,  me being me, I abhor injustice. I really do. I then started a petition through 38 degrees called Reverse the State Pension Age because I was oblivious to the 1995 and  the 2011 acts. So the letter, by the way, I received and it was dated January 2012 and it was May 2012, I read it, and that was 13 months before I expected to receive my pension payments. [00:03:16] I know from personal experience, I mean, a number of times I've had meetings with no financial advisors since 1995. And then yet it always seemed to be that women retire at 60. So they never asked me. Oh, it's all based on your birthday. You'll be retiring later. It was always way given that 60 was the retirement age. [00:03:36] Absolutely. You make a good point there, because even judges in divorce settlements. They  didn't know and  settlements based on women retiring at 60 [00:03:49] It's been very recent that that's been happening. And, you know, I said the same about when I found out I started a petition. 38 agrees. 2012, just carrying on and carrying on, In 2014, the end of 2014 one of the co-founders contacted me. I've just seen the petition. We started communicating quite regularly by email and she was very thorough. She was writing to MPs then the following year in February, March , three of the other co-founders just contacted me and we just started communicating on a regular basis. And then we thought oh, we've got something here. We have so many facts. And you wouldn't believe Freedom of Information requests, for example. One example is the only letters we've sent out to one cohort of women in 2009, 14 years after the 95 fact. So we met and one of the co-founders, with a guy with his own PR company Chris Shaw. He said, Really, what you need is a brand. You need something people can identify with and lots oftoing and froing So when was this how WASPI was created? And it was a few months after that when we found out more facts about state pension age on the acts themselves. I handed my petition in because we were advised by politicians, you know, all about reversing the state pension age and it's never going to happen. And you know something, Ceri? We were and this is where we were greeted as political activists. We were just five ordinary women. And no one can ever take away from us five women, although we have parted ways. [00:05:41] No one can take away what we started because what we've started is what people like. It started, as people say, kitchen sink, a kitchen sink campaign. We started out as a kitchen sink campaign. And now we've been acknowledged as the most successful women's campaign in this century. And that's something to be very, very proud of. You should be proud. Absolutely. We are and sometimes times, you know, I sit there and it's shocking to think how far we've come because we have achieved such a lot. And we believe the women of the fifties. The politicians thought, you know, we were an easy target. By the time they find out, you're going to be sitting there knitting or doing whatever. They didn't realise how passionate, how determined we are to achieve justice. And you know, and  there have been. And like most organisations and political parties, there've been a few internal issues. But we resolve them because that was the campaign initially started out as women against pension inequality for one reason or another myself and other directors resigned in July last year for the good of the campaign. And what we agreed on and decided upon, we consulted with our local group coordinators with almost 90 groups throughout the UK. We thought, let's focus on campaigning and let's lobby MPs further. That said, let's strengthen the links with all already has with the unions. Which we've already done. And again, we're really, really proud of what we have achieved. [00:07:32] So what are the issues facing women? It may be some women still aren't familiar with what the actual issues are facing women today who were expecting to retire at 60. [00:07:44] Well, basically, the issues are you're right. So we have yet to find out what their state pension age has been increased to. And what we were calling upon the government is for transitional arrangements. That equates to a bridging pension, which when people get 60, they will receive a proportion of their state to be  discussed with the government because they failed to engage and they will receive a portion of their state pension a bridging  pension until they reach their new state pension age whereby they will receive the full amount. So women, myself included, have already received our pensions. So we're also calling for recompense for those women to receive recompense for the money they've lost. One of the issues is a major issue. Women have lost 50000 £50,000 of their retirement savings. You know, women have sold their homes more than once because they couldn't afford to pay the mortgage. You know, I mean, they may not have a partner or their partner may have been retired themselves. Women have had to face the indignity and humiliation of having to sign on at the Jobcentre to claim JSA and ESA benefits. No, this is absolutely appalling for women like ourselves. And most of us have started work and we started working when we were 15,paid our dues. And we fully expected to retire at 60 because no body told us otherwise. [00:09:23] No. I mean, they made a good point there, though. I mean, with women having to who can't find help having to sign on how much to discussion, I mean, I have asked this question myself and I haven't really got any responses from various politicians I've met. How much discussion was there with industry in terms of if women are working for longer? What were the jobs likely to be that they were going to be able to be employed in and what sectors that hadn't really ever been addressed have it? [00:09:52] Absolutely not. No, it's nothing more than you know. This is wrong on so many levels. There's been nothing out there to say. These are the jobs available. You know, Guy Opperman had the audacity to suggest that we go on apprenticeships. And, you know, some I mean,  he was ridiculed not just by MPs and journalists, like obviously women born in the 50s to actually suggest to a woman who can barely make ends meet because there are some women out there who are visiting food banks and relying upon friends, family, neighbors to feed them, to clothe them there are hundreds of stories. So you're right there. So to say, OK, you know, force women because that's what they're doing, forcing them to work. What in what capacity? Lots of women have got very physical demanding jobs and they cannot continue on. You know, it's not just on physical points of view. It's the mental impact it has on womenCeri. Now, you know, go to a doctor, doctors on antidepressants. They've got breakdowns and it's pushed women over the edge. And we agree Waspi  with equalization.  It was the way it was implemented. We also agree. If women want to carry on working, that's their choice. What we can gather on the and the information we usually see from our followers is taht  Most women, the majority, do want to retire and have the financial security they planned on having since they started work. [00:11:42] I mean, one of the things I would like to add here is that there are women who choose to work beyond the age of sixty because they want and we have lots of tips on the Fab after Fifty websites. My background is headhunting. We've got lots of tips for those women beyond the age of 50 who want to reinvent their career or who are looking for a job or to update their skills, but those that choose to. That opportunity is there. But I think the argument here is the fact that people weren't given notice to plan their lives accordingly. Haven't been able to prepare for it. Yes. [00:12:12] That is the crux of the campaign. You know, if people were informed in 1995 when we were in our 30s, approaching 40s, we would have had a least 15 to 20 years to replan our retirement. It would have that would have been in line with the terms of the commission who  recommend that people should have at least 15 years notice of any plans and changes to their state pension age. Age concern of recommended 10. And even although that's a certain amount. It's not an awful lot of time to totally revamp and evaluate your plans for retirement. [00:12:57] No. And if we go back to 1995. How was it? Was it communicated to anybody or how would people have even been aware of that change in the situation back then? [00:13:11] Well, we wanted to see I mean, there were some people who might have seen it not everybody who may have that. Apparently, there was an advert in the Financial Times and a few were in high brow sorts of papers and some people maybe who worked in the banking industry. Also the DWP. So not all people who work for the DWP were made aware because of the nature of their career. Right. So the letters, the very first letters sent out, and that was to women born from the six April 1950 to the 5th of April 1951,  that one cohort of women, they were sent letters notifying them of the increase to their state pension age people. The women like myself, who were born on or after sixth of April 51 percent a another  staunch of letters , more letters were sent out in  January 2010. All right. Not everybody. I received one but  my sister. She's two years younger than  me. She's yet to receive a letter. So there are thousands and thousands of women who are totally oblivious Ceri, you know. I said  earlier, we've got all of these local groups of the country. And lately, many of us have been holding weekly gatherings in areas, in shopping, retail parks,  and railway stations to raise the profile of WASPI. And we found that women who were, you know, curious, human nature are very curious. What's all this about, and when we tell them and they say I'm retiring in 2 months I will get my pension then. . [00:15:04] And we say 'you don't. It can be physically painful to say that to them. So we refer them to our website , which is WASPICampaign2018.com . OK. There's a plethora of information on there. How the changes came to be,  the freedom of Information requests that WASP has unearthed.  It's it's really it's quite shocking to see that these women have still yet to be notified that all of the women and held him down more than one job, get up at  half four in the morning to go out to do a cleaning job or whatever and then go on to another. I must have said, sure, it's wrong on so many levels of how the government can not even acknowledge this injustice beggars belief. Obviously, I think we're all aware the moment they do acknowledge there's been an unjust and injustice. The more that they have to do something about it. But they keep coming up with these myths. No one has to wait more than 18 months, for example. And I'd like to clarify, that isn't only in relation to the 2011 act, whereby initially they were going to increase a further state pension increase. And by two years, because there was quite a lot of opposition from saga and  age UK they knocked six months off that. So in relation to the 2011 pension, no woman received more than 18 months extra time on her pension. What they conveniently forget to mention the biggest increase was in relation to the 1995 act. [00:16:53] Mine was then three years, two months and six days. I lay out six months added on in 2011 act [00:17:03] I thinkmine was 6 years  X number of months. Can't Quite remember but I;m from the late 50s, but I'm still affected by it as well. In fact before the 2011 act became it became law. Myself and Sarah Pennell who runs tje Savvy Woman website. We actually tried to get them into write  to MPs. We gave sample letters to people to download to actually fight against it before it was law. And we couldn't get anybody to participate because I think it wasn't really known. I don't think we would really appreciated how it was going to affect them. Campaigns like yours created more awareness later that people suddenly said,  Oh, yes, I'm one of these women. And it does it does affect me. [00:17:49] And I think it's great that yourself and other women have tried to get this off the ground. And that's why, you know, in 2012, I couldn't see any any other campaigns out there. And so when I started my petition and it gained momentum, handed it in in 2016, the government 55000 signatures, I never got a response from the DWP. It never resulted in a debate.  We have a petition to wash the campaign in  2015. Not long after we actually were founded. We created a petition, a government position position calling for transitional arrangements, and that gathered one hundred and ninety one thousand signatures. [00:18:41] And this resulted in countless debates in Parliament. Okay. Unfortunately, those debates, you know, give a non-binding. Although there was votes that were non-binding votes, but the number of MPs who actually came on board, we know they all support us to the hilt. And I must admit, I must mention this point the WASPI campaign. It's like we've sort of rebranded ourselves in July last year. We knuckled down and thought right. We've been far too quiet, far too nice for far too long. So we said, let's follow the suffragette system. You know, it's deeds, not words. So the first, like, protest. Besides, we had a few static demonstrations. We actually collaborated with two other pension groups, Back to 60 and W've paid in, you pay out. [00:19:38]  WASPI initiated taht collaboration. And our first joint venture was a rally in London in October last year. And it was so successful, we had some really, really fabulous guest speakers to join and David Hemp, Sophie Walker, Jim Rogers and many, many others who were there supporting the campaign. That was early October, at the end of October for the autumn budget speech. Countless WASPIs were in the public gallery. We waited for Philip Hammond hoping to at least give us the courtesy and decency of acknowledging us those of maybe giving us something in the budget but he never.  So we staged a protest. We stood there with our WASPI heads held high? We did make some noise and, you know, something heavy and all of the main SNPs. Welsh MPs, all the opposition MP stood up and gave us a round of applause. And it was such an empowering moment for us all. The numbers of private messages we received, tweets, everything on social media went ballistic and we thought we need to do more of this. And so we were obviously asked to leave the public gallery which we did. [00:21:06] We went to college green. We make our presence felt on college green where the press, congregate. We were on Sky News and Channel 4. And then again, in the spring budget, we  stopped the traffic, we stopped the traffic on our October rally day for an hour and a half outside parliament. That was also in parliament. And on the spring budget day, we stopped the traffic again. Then we went out to college green to storm college. We put barriers  all the way around it. And we got quite a lot of publicity. And that's what we're doing now. Upping the anti. On our WASPI campaign 2018  there is the story on our website, on our Facebook page. You know, search them using those words. WASPI Campaign 2018. You'll see how active we've been. We're not going to take no for an answer. You know, in this current political climate, this is an ideal opportunity. You know, the opposition to say really? [00:22:14] I mean, it's not just the current government that because Labour also has been in power in this period where they could also have communicated it, couldn't they? Oh, absolutely. And we think it's very wrong. It's not just not just the current government. I think it's something nobody has been willing to say in terms of the communication of legislation or the fallout in terms of what is you know, what is what would the impact be on these women affected. I think we have to say it is not just one party. [00:22:43] No, you are absolutely right. I'm glad you raised that point. But what we're seeing there since 2011, you have the coalition governments where they act. They actually increased the they accelerated increase of state pension age. In their manifesto, the Tories and the Lib Dems said they would not. And there was increased state pension age by 2020, up until 2020. Right. They actually accelerated that age by increasing the age to two thousand eleven and 12 when they sent the letters out. And what we're saying is they have now eight years to right this wrong eight years. And they've not even acknowledged that we've been treated unfairly. So that is that counter to what you've just said? You're absolutely right. Labour has been in power. They did not convey the changes. So I think everyone all of the parties we support said keep quiet and no one will cotton on honestly what's actually happening. [00:23:46] I think that was because after 50 were invisible so they wont hear from us you see. [00:23:49] Absolutely. The longer it goes on, the more determined we become. Because, you know, I say that women are using food banks now, people of sold homes, and to say that their mental health has been affected. And also, we just we're not asking for handouts. You know, all we're asking is for what we're entitled to. That is the top and bottom of it all. The government say there's no money, which again, is quite patronising. We know the money's there, the national insurance was pillagde to pay all sorts of debts off when they want to pay for something, they find miraculously. They'll go and shake the money tree into the garden and lo and behold, the billions and billions of pounds spent on all the projects. And we are very pleased to see that John Macdonald actually said he will clamp down on tax avoidance and tax evasion. You know, surely. Back in their manifesto, that's something we the WASPI campaign have been saying for years. Yes, we've said to the governments why, you know, all of these companies, you know, they hated paying tax. We've paid our tax. We've done everything that's been expected of us throughout our working lives we've paid our dues. Some people still working, although they have paid the qualifying  contributions, they still pay in contributions. Well, I say the more you look into it, Ceri, the more wrong it is on so many levels, but we're never going to give up. [00:25:29]  What's the nest milestone then? Am I right in thinking that there is judicial review [00:25:37] It should be. This has been initiated by Back to 60 . We are cooperative with them and We've Paid In , You Pay Out. They persisted and persisted on this issue, and we were delighted. We've supported them all of the way, although it's all different. We respect each of the tasks. We congratulated them. We support them on the judicial review takes place on the 5th and 6th of June. So. I'm not far off them. Not at all. There will be small presence in London to support them. Then later on in the year the next steps will be dependent on the outcome of this judicial review. What we're hoping hoping to celebrate. So there will be one, massive demonstration in London. You know, it takes time to plan. Obviously, there will be a joint demonstration. And we've yet to discuss it in full with the two other organisations, two campaign groups. And so we want to be there. celebrating. If this JR goes against us, which we don't really want to think about, we will still have a demonstration and it will be a demonstration to protest.  But we're hoping it won't come to that. We are, you know, and all we've got to do. You've got to applaud Back to 60 for being so determined in getting this far. I must say, we just hope, like every other woman affected in the country, and families, have been affected as well. We hope the outcome is positive for everybody. Can we just elaborate on that.  the right wing press and the government will have people believe there's an intergenerational war. Again, it's a load of rubbish. There's not. We have so much support from the young generation. Obviously, the majority of this 50 something women have their own children who fully support us. Their friends, support us. We've got student unions supporting us. We've got political and youth groups supporting us. So we know what the government's churn out, the myths they churn out. Basically, we feel they're doing that, its smokescreens and mirror.  Trying to take everybody off the scent, but we keep coming back stronger, more determined than ever. [00:28:07] Well, I wish for you obviously for all of us,  let's hope an optimistic and positive outcome early June and lets see the results back and then we can have a catch up. Following that. And then we can do that. Look to see how women are affected by this legislation and then the  effects depending on which way that review goes. [00:28:32] Absolutely. And hopefully you'll be a very positive conversation. Just say, yes, I believe it takes two weeks before the outcome of the JR is announced. Right. You know, one way or the other, we'll be celebrating. [00:28:45] Hopefully we'll be celebrating and then that'll be the case. Yes. Thank you so much for sharing that Anne.  I think for the women who don't know and those who are affected by it can you just give us the website URL so that people will find you. [00:29:05] Ok. Yes, it's www.waspicampaign2018 (figures) dot co dot UK. And I would ask everybody to look on the local group page as well, Ceri, because you know, I just said we've got numerous local groups throughout the UK. Anyone can join these groups and WASPI women can join these groups. If that isn't a group in a particular area and women would like to start one their own  group. I would just want to show them that they will have full support. We've actually got a fabulous mentor scheme going on in whereby an experienced co-ordinator is teamed up with a new co-ordinator as their first point of contact. So they will offer advice and guidance. And it's a great support system. It really, really is wonderful. [00:29:58] Thank you so much for joining us today.  Thank you. An important issue. Certainly all women in the UK. So that could, in fact, even if people aren't due to retire now. It's going to affect those that are due to retire later, isn't it? So you want to be aware of.  It is  for younger generation as well and much more. [00:30:19] We've got their support. [00:30:19] They know that they're next. Right. So thank you very much Anne for joining us today. So and so that was Anne Keen co-founder of WASPI. Thank you, Anne. [00:30:33] Thank you, Ceri. Really appreciate this opportunity. [00:30:41] Thank you for joining us today. Please do subscribe and also send the link to friends and be part of the pro age conversation. Life really is meant to be fabulous at every age, but especially after 50.        

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Find your voice - Episode 6 - Stay strong by Hezron Brown #6Tagline: "The impact I was making & seeing was unreal. To see their face and actually light up and think Hope!"Find your voice - Episode 6Hezron Brown, has been in the papers for his incredible story. As a child he was tragically burned in hot water which has left him scarred for life. His life then continued to spiral into a life of drugs and crime.Somewhere along his journey however the idea of belonging and hope kicked in. Hezron self belief, which he accustoms his now success too is a key factor in him finding his true purpose. Hezron is now inspiring the youth who need to hear the message and realise that there is hope for them irrespective of the cards they have been dealt as kids.There is more to a life of death or jail.There are more opportunities if we remain commited to succeed rather than just having a slight interest.It's a remarkable story of seeing some change, something I was always skeptical about.Thanks for listeningFree Audible book sign up:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audible-Membership/dp/B00OPA2XFG?actionCode=AMN30DFT1Bk06604291990WX&tag=are86-21Best book on Mindset by Carol Dweck: Mindset https://amzn.to/2QajMvZSupport the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/findyourvoiceLinks to me:Website: https://www.arendeu.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/aren.deu/Twitter: https://twitter.com/arendeuFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/aren.singhLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aren-deu-65443a4b/Podcast: https://www.findyourvoicepodcast.com YouTube: http://tiny.cc/51lx6yLinks to guest:Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hezron_BrownInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/hezronbrown/#JustDeuIt & #FindYourVoice[Music]welcome to an episode of find your voicea movement led by yours trulyAren do a guy who has overcomecrippling anxiety adversity anddifficulty like so many of you in lifewhose main goal now is to help youcombat your excuses take control of yourlife write your own story and mostimportantly find your voice so nowwithout further ado I welcome the hostof the show himself mr. Aren do what'sgoing on people thank you for tuning into another episode of find your voice myname is Aren and this is a classic thisis somebody who I actually reached outto I'd say about six months ago and itwas following a news article that I sinthat they were mentioned in now theywere mentioned in this news article forhow they turn their life around andthat's kind of the stories I really loveto hear but I need to make sure that thelisteners ie yourselves you're gonna getsomething tangible from this and you'regonna get some life lessons and let metell you you're certainly gonna get somelife lessons now maybe many of us can'trelate to the way that this person wasbrought up or some of the stuff that hedid and I think he's held his hands openhe said I've made a lot of stupidmistakes but more importantly than thatif you listen to his story there's a fewmoments and we touched on it halfwaythrough the interview where he wasgetting signs he was gettingopportunities he was getting peoplecoming into his life giving him thechance to potentially turn it around andI thought that was a really importantpart of the story because I think evenourselves in life we sometimes getopportunities but because we're soblinkered or a mindset isn't thinkingthe right way or our perception isn'tright we sometimes miss theseopportunities and we spoke a little bitabout self belief and confidence andjust having a vision and I think that'sso so important myself for example Ihave some crazy visions but what I'verealized is by having these andexpressing them to the world and beingaccountable I'm seeing moreopportunities come my way and I'm notsaying these opportunities weren't therepreviously butmy thoughts and my processes of how Iwould interpret things were differentI just wasn't taking advantage of him sofair play to this person he's done anabsolutely fantastic job he turned hislife around he was very close to youalmost having no life so I'm verygrateful that he made that step when hedid I'm very grateful that he also tooktime to share his story because he'sgoing places remember his name he willcertainly be I think a household namevery very soon simply because his storyis one that you can't replicate you'veeither lived it or you haven't and thisguy has lived it so without further adowe're gonna jump straight into thisinterview with hezron Brown ok people sothank you for tuning into the show todayand I am honored to have hezron Brownhere with me today so firstly I justwant to thank you for taking time outeven your day today buddy no problem howyou doing today I'm fine thank you verymuch how are you I'm very well thank youI believe you were working as well todayis that right no no well I wasn'tworking I was I was more kind ofconcentrating on myself okay building upmy self today yeah that's still kind ofworking I suppose okay fantasticum what I want to do is obviously I'vegiven an introductionprior to this show about your life and alittle bit about your story but I thinkit's important for the listeners toreally understand you and hear it morefrom yourself so if you wouldn't mind ifyou could just kind of give a wholebackstory go into as much detail as youwant and just really try and let theaudience and myself get to know hezronBrown yeah that's no problem at all sofor me all kind of started when I wasfive years old I he fell in a bath ofboiling hot water and burnt the upperright hand side of my body so my arm mychest and my stomach I actually had ajump run at that time and when I fell inthe water all of my skin had melted overmy jumper and when my mum came up sheripped my to rip my jumper off out ofpanic and because of that she ripped allmy skin off so all this skin that'sactually on the upper right hand side ofmy body is actually from my legs I hadvarious skin grafts I was in hospitalfor numerous mumps getting all thoseskin grafts to kind of correct correctobviously what happened oh well at thattime you know when I started going toprimary schoolkid's gonna understand why I looked theway I did and because that reason theystarted to call me names started tobully meso from there I I I do that's a reallybad anger problem it was something thatI couldn't control okay and I would justget angry at every single little thingand he got to the point where it wasjust literally out of control to andfrom school I was always fighting I wasfighting in school as well and I thinkfor me the reason why I developed thattemper was because I didn't want anybodyto call me names again I didn't want tofeel weakagain and I kind of said to myself I'mnever gonna let that happen to me againand because of that my rage and mytemper just kept getting worse and worseand worseWow even though it was affecting me atschool it was affecting me at home aswell and my relationship with my mum youknow my mom was a single parent I'm oneof five children so you know it wasdifficult for my mum to actually kind ofdeal with what I was bringing home rightand there was times when I was gettingso angry I was throwing my wardrobe downthe stairs punching holes in doorsbreaking windows you know like it wasgetting out of controla lot at the time my mum would have tocall the police because I was gettingthat enraged that she was scared for myown safety and she was probably scaredfor her own safety as well of course wasthis around did you say eleven years oldat this point yeah yeah when I was 11that's quite a young age isn't it to bedisplaying so much anger yeah is it isthis is what I mean like my temper wasjust yeah it was it was uncontrollableand he got to the point where I wouldliterally black out so I wouldn't evenknow what I would actually be doing orwhat I was doing until I actually cameback around and it's like the only way Icould come only way out and calm downwas if I punched something not someonejust something right I could just go andpunch a door or punch a wall or you knowpunch some glass and immediately mytemper would go immediatelyand so yeah it was just it was it was itwas quite bad it was quite bad so I saidlike my my home life wasn't that good ofmy mom and she kicked me out that timethere's one and I when I lived in one ofmy older sister's you know having totravel to school every single day fromTamworth because she lived in Tamworthand having to travel from Tamworth toworthington every single day I'm theboss in the morning yeah it was adifficult time but the relationship thatme and mum had was I would go homeshe'll kick me out I'll go back home shewould kick me out again that was thatwas always our relationship so a lot atthe time I knew kind of what was gonnahappen when I went back home I knew Iwas gonna get kicked out again butthat's where my home was yeah so Ialways wanted to go back so that wasgetting to the points where a monkeykicking me outI was sofa surfing I was going to I wasgoing to friends houses staying withthem they knew the situation that youknow I was in in knew that I had theseanger problems knew the kind ofrelationship that I had with my mom andyeah like when I was kind of goingthrough school school was trying to helpme to teach I'm trying to help me aswell for those that knew and you knowthey were trying to better me they weretrying to keep that temper out of methey were putting me through countsthrough counseling putting me throughanger management but nothing reallyworked nothing really worked and when Iwas 13 so my mom kicked me out again Iwent and lived with one of my friendsmm-hmm an amazing woman her name isDevon and she literally just took me offthe street I was homeless and I went toher house and actually went to her houseto actually see her son okay and afterspeaking to me for like a minute shecould see that something was wrong withme she could see that I was strugglingin some form of way and she invited meinside she gave me a she gave me a hotdrink and she said to me tell me what'sgoing on with you right nowso I did I told a lot situation I was inand like that she took me into her homeshe she literally made me part of thefamily every time when we was outshe saw someone that she knew she wouldtell him that I was her adopted son yeahit was yes she would she's an amazingwoman she's an amazing woman I livedwith her until I actually finishedschool can I just ask so you you findyou Vaughn and God bless her soul shesounds like a wonderful ladyand you said things were obviously shewas introducing you as part of thefamily you felt at home how did how wasyour anger at this particular time thendid you find that you were able tocontrol it or was it still still youwere still getting flares of anger Iactually wasn't getting angry when I waswith her I think it was just jus down tothe respect that I had I would never getangry with her but maybe if I was likestill go into school I was getting angrywhen I was a try but I was never gettingangry around her okay that's because howI seen it wasI can't disrespect this person thisperson has literally took me from offthe street into her own home and I hadjust this deep respect for her and herwhole family up until this day you knowI still see her I called her mom mychildren call her nan you know herbrothers and sisters I call them uncleauntie like I see her family as myfamily so that respect has never it'snever gone away never gone away so yeahshe took me in and kind of went throughschool life they're living at her housemy mom actually found out where I wasnow Yvonne that she lives around thecorner from my mom and it took her knowenough two years to actually come roundto the house to come and get me andYvonne gave me the choice she said wellyou can either go home or you can stayhere and continue to live the life thatyou're living but even though I wasthere and she took me in I always hadthis feeling that I needed to go homeand that that wasn't my home so I tookupon myself to go back home and livewith my mommm-hmm two weeks later she kicked me outagain and I was back on the street and Iwent and lived with my older sistersleeping on her floor one of my older ofher sisters and I was sleeping on herfloor she lived in a flatshe had two kids at that time my nephewand my niece and they kept see seeing mesleeping on the floor they kept comingin asking her you know why his unclehezron just sleeping on the floor mm-hmmand I think she got to the point whereshe just wanted to you know she justdidn't want them seeing that anymore andI to be fair I didn't want them seeingme in that in that position so she cameup to me and she said hezron there's aneighborhood office at the bottom of herflat so there was a neighbor laughs atthe bottom of her flat and she asked meto go in there and just tell him what mysituation was and see what they couldactually do for me so I went down thereand I I spoke to themI remember when I I stepped through thedoor I had six black bags three in eachhand full of clothes and I literallyjust collapsed on my knees when I when Istepped through the door and I justbroke down into tearsbecause I think it was that realizationof knowing that I actually had nothingand I had no one around me then wasactually truly supporting me and it'slike I kind of felt like I was a burdento to my family and I remember thiswoman came running up to me and she saidwhat's wrong what's wrong and I I toldher I said you know I haven't gotnowhere to go Liz there's no one aroundme that that can look after me and shesaid okay what there's no family orfriends I said no there's there'sthere's there's no one around just youit's just me and she sat me down in thechair and she said okay well I'm gonnatry and sort something out for you soshe got me a bed and breakfast I stayedin that bed-and-breakfast for about twomonths now I was I just finished schoolyeah so I finished my exams I never andthey were left with no we've no gradeslike none at all and at this point whenI was staying in that bed-and-breakfastnow through that time I was happy to sawsome money on my own food hmm all thethings that I needed to live on yeahabsolutely because because I was soyoung the so I went to the Jobcentre andthey they said to me are there'sactually there's actually they don'tdidn't know how they could help mebecause I was so young of course and ittook them quite a whilefor him to actually give me some moneyso I actually ended up going on toincome support okay and kind of theirdead back dated me but throughout thatwhole time I was trying to find ways tosupport myself and it was quite hardeven down to college educationno college wanted to accept me because Inever had no grades I actually wanted todo IT that was something that I waspassionate about at that time and theythey said to me because you haven't gotany grades there's there's no real waythat you can start an IT course becauseof the the level of entry that youneeded I eventually found a college thatwould accept me it was Matthew Boultoncollege and they were saying and theysaid to me okay cool like we can't putyou on an IT course straight away mm-hmmbut if you do this course in this coursethat you make up the grades that youneed to get in onto the IT course I saidokay like for me it was just anythinglike anything just something to occupymy mind something to take my mind offwhat I was going through at that timethe counts would have found me aaccommodation as well it found me atemporary but a nation in Hockley so Iwas like okay like you know things werekind of exciting to look back up jobcentered they put me on the incomesupport so I was starting to get moneyin I found education I've got my ownplace so at that time I thought thateverything was going great everythingwas going in the right in the right kindof order and when I was at collegethat's when things started to get a bitkind of like off-track right I will youknow skip lessons I was being in thecommon room all the time trying to hangout with friends I had met loads of newpeople that you know I didn't knowbefore and then that started toobviously play an impact on my educationhmm I finished out my first year it wasa two-year course I was on I've doneother media and photography and I'vecompleted my first year went ontoanother course with media photographywhich was a two-year long course and onthe first day I started I had anargument with my tutor over a can ofcoke and again I lost my tenwas there swearing I was punching thingsand the the head of the college wasactually walking down the path at thetime I was actually losing my temperworst timing ever the worst time in everand they phone security security cameupstairs got me and escorted me out ofthe college so at this point now I'vegot my own place money's coming in butI've got no education and I'm kind ofjust dusting around doing nothing andthen that's when things startedspiraling out of controlI started you know going to parties Istarted hanging around with people thatI shouldn't hang around with they spiedinfluencing me and even though I knewwhat I was doing was wrong like therewas no one really around me to say to mehezron stop doing that or hezron don'tdo that we'll show you a better way Isuppose well show me a better wayexactly yes that's exactly it showed mea better way hmmso I just continued to stay on the paththat I was on I started doing a lot offoolish things I was you know committingrobberies I was walking around withweapons I was I was doing a lot of sillythings okay and when I was doing thesethings I kind of I know kind of had noremorse like I was just like again I wasjust doing it to survive you know I wasstanding drugs as well and I was justdoing it to survive I was doing it totry and make money um and again as yousaid there was no one really around meto to push me away from it and put me ona better path can I just jump in therejust quickly I mean I've got sort of gotso many questions cause it's such afascinating storyyour relationship with Yvonne now hasthat completely broken down at thisstage or is it or is it a matter of youfeel you can't go back there now oh nono no Yvonneshe's as I said like she's still amother figure to me okay so she wasn'tshe was always still there oh yeah yeahshe she was always still there but againit kind of felt like to me like Icouldn't go back there does that makesense yeah absolutely and at this stagewas you was you taking accountabilityfor anything or was it just you know theworld's just doubt you shit cards andyourcarry on do what you need to do to getby that's exactly it the world wasdealing me this hand that I didn'treally you know um you didn't ask for itbut you've got it and I've got it andand I'm just rolling with itand that's just kind of what he got tohe got to the point where I was justrolling with it and as you said like forme my temper my temper has always got meinto bad situations like Mitchell IIlike even till now even up until thispoint like my temper has always got meinto situations and I know it's becauseof my temper and there's so many thingsthat you know I try and do to try andhelp me deal with my temper but when itcomes upI can't explain to you I literally justhave no control I literally have nocontrol and it's only when people see meangry that they go WOW like you'veactually got a really bad temper andit's hurtful really it's hurtful to hearthat to hear that you've got this thingthat you can't control and even thoughyou do so much things to try and controlit you can't and it's hard andespecially when you know that this thingis getting you into trouble it's ruiningrelationships it's ruining opportunitiesit's not serving you it's not certainlyany it's not so many purpose but youknow what I say that and so it's a it'sa tricky thing because times when youknow I was when I nearly got kidnappedit was my anger that kept me alive beingable to fend for myself being able tofight back that's what that's what keptme alive and so as much as I kind ofhate my temper I also love it becauseI'm able to protect myself in a way thatsomeone else can't protect me well thatmakes sense I does yeah absolutely itdoes make sense it's interesting isn'tit because I suppose in hindsight you'drather not have the temper but oh asyou've got it you've kind of managed toharness it at least to give you somesort of advantageor at least help you in some situationsif that makes sense oh yeah yeahdefinitely okay so you're now saying youspiral out of control what are youthinking like I'm justtrying to get into your head at thisparticular moment now what are youthinking is the future of hezron Brownthe future heads around Brown I actuallydidn't know what the future of headswere on Brown was as I said - I was justthis person that was rolling with E soone would say I wasn't I wasn't thinkingabout my future I wasn't thinking aboutmy loved ones I was just thinking how amI gonna get by how am I gonna surviveand how did that change them when did itchangewell changed when I got done for arobbery charge okay I got done for thisrobbery charge and it wasn't it wasn'teven it wasn't even a robbery like thatand as they grabbed my friend I hit thatperson when he was on the floor which Inever even realized cuz I actuallywalked up at that point but when he wasactually on the floor someone robbed himsomeone took his stuff now when thepolice came they they they they pickedme up and when they when I was in thestation they turn out to me and theysaid oh you've robbed this boy's stuffand this that do and I was like no andthey said oh do you know what kind ofdamage you've done and I was like whoaand the policeman looked at me and hesaid you did not punch him you hit himwith something and I said no I actuallypunched him anyway if you've been ableto do that kind of damage from a punchthat's scary and I was like I actuallynever even realized I even done thatbecause I walked off and when it got tocourt they decided to do me for therobbery charge so not for the assaultokay they they decided to do me forrobbery and I got found guilty of thisrubbery now I have to go for mypre-sentencing report and when I wentthere I stepped for the door and thisblack lady she came up to me and shesaid are you my next appointment I wentI don't knowshe went what's your name I said hezronBrown she said yeah yeah you're my nextappointment and she turned and shelooked at me and she said she totteredand she she said not another black manthat was the that was the thing that shesaid to me and from there I fought Wowlike okay like how much how much haveyou seen today yeah yeah and she said tome tell me everything just tell me thewhole situation mm-hmm so I did I toldher everything I told her what hadhappened and she looked at me and shesaid okay leave it with me I'm gonna tryand help you and I was like okay I don'tknow how you're gonna try and help mebut you know I'm gonna I'm gonna rollwith ityou know as I do and the night before mysentencing I remember sitting therethinking I'm going to do like I am goingto jailmmm yeah and my solicitor was saying tome you know hezron you're facing yearsin prison for this like it's not like ahalf month or anything like that it waslike you're facing yes so i sat therethe night before and I actually boughtmyself a KFC and I bought myself aMcDonald's and I just sat there eatingall these different random type of thingyou're like someone said to you whatwould the last meal be that's one that'sbasically white look like I had Big MacI had a piece of chicken I had somechips I had you know I wanted everythingthat I knew that I would miss hmm and itwas crazy like that feeling of thinkingI'm actually going to prison like it's ahard it's hard to describe what thatfeeling is actually like knowing thatyou're gonna see the outside world againmaybe for a considerable amount of timejust I'm not sorry I mention it in oneof my early episodes I worked in aprison for six months okay and justworking there me it was draining likementally because I was seem I've seengood people I mean I believe we're allgood but sometimes we do bad things andsome more than a listener and there wasthough some people in there who I methim on the streets or something I justthink they're just normally just nicepeople and when you see how little timethey get with their friends and theirfamily and how restricted their life isin prison it was so like heartbreakinginside and it was after that experienceI was like I am never getting on thewrong side of the law because I'm notgoing to give away my freedom and whenyou're in prison you they kind of justtake that away from you so yeah I canimagine how you must have been feelingat that pointyeah I think I think that's somethingthat's important something that youactually just said it's not thatsomeone's bad it's just that they justdo something bad at that time yeahabsolutely and you know a lot of these alot of the guys that are in there likethe women I window they're actually goodpeople but they've just done somethingbad just made a bad choice or a baddecision I always look at that I alwaysthink I think you know how we look at sofor instance we look at a celebrity forexample and we think obvious easy forthem but we forget all the sacrificesand everything that they're putting inbeforehand like hope the whole processand it's the same with somebody who endsup on the wrong side of the law weforget that they may have actually beentrying to sort themselves out or justnot getting a break in life and thensometimes something comes up andsomething happens and then they've actedthe wrong way which in hindsight most ofthe people that I've spoken toespecially in prison wouldn't have doneagain whereas you get some people whoare just literally straight-up crazyyeah they are straight-up criminals butgenerally speaking it is that and I'llbe honest I used to be quite judgmentaland think people don't changemmm again that was just my limitingbelief and now speaking with peopleinterviewing people especially likeyourselves and seeing that you're ableto do the amazing things which we'regoing to talk about shortly it fills mewith like joy in like happiness and alsolike hope and you know having that senseof hope that we can create a betterworld we can create a better communityand yeah we definitely canI always feel when somebody's been atrock bottom they can offer so much moresomebody like yourself who's been on thebrink of like you said you could havebeen stabbed for example you could havehit you in an artery or something andboom you're gone there is no more as RonBrown absolutely at the same situationyou could have been in the wrong placeI've hurt somebody else in their lifeand their future is finished so I'mgrateful that that hasn't happened yeahyeah so I went for my sentencing Iremember sitting in the dock I was satthere I had the the police officerstanding next to me although the guardstanding next to me and while I was inthe dock and the judge came here and sheshe said hezron Brown stand up and Istood up and she said I was actuallygonna sentence you this morning this washer work this was her words to me mm-hmmand even up until this point I stillhave not forgotten she said I was gonnasentence you this morning but yourpre-sentencing report was glowing shesaid I don't know what you didor here you spoke to mm-hmm but I'mwilling to give you another chanceWow and of the feeling I got inside myheart just my heart just my heart sunksecond chance that's you know thatsecond chance and I literally reduced meto tears and I was just in the dock justcrying my eyes out while this woman'stalking to me and telling me what she'swhat she's actually going to sentence meto but I actually just didn't care aboutwhat she was sending me because I knew Iwasn't going to prisonyeah but then at the same time I thoughtto myself I've just wasted like 20 poundand a mat done all day hey I see likeyou know thinking that I was getting mylast meal with actually I'm not theregoes a six pack you know like I wasstill grateful so she gave me a two-yearsuspended sentenceshe gave me two hundred and eighty hoursof community service and a four hundredeighty pound fine now this two-yearsuspended sentence was something thatmade me was was one of the reasons why Ihad to change there wasn't I never had achoice I had to change because what thattwo-year suspended sentence meant wasthat if I had done anything in that timeat any point if the police is beingcalled and I'm involved or Thunder I'mautomatically getting sent to prison andmy actual sentence will get activatedthat's how they put it to me so theykind of scared me I'm thinking no way amI going to be put in a situation whereI'm going to prison so that started toslowly change my mentality I had a sonalong the way as well hmm I had a childon the way now the relationship brokedown with his mom and I actually endedup taking her to court to actually seemy son now this was a battle that lastedin totally spin seven years now my otherpartner at that time she turned aroundto me and she said you know hezron youyou need to bet your life you're yourson can't grow up thinking you know thatyou was a gang memberthat you don't know these bad things hesaid you need to prove what you'recapable ofyeah I love that when she said that tome really made me it made me think aboutthe future I think that was the firsttime I actually really thought about thefuture I I can't be this person that Iwas before just you know doing all thesebad things I have to change there isn'tthere isn't a choice I have to I have toyeah and she was being able to get meinto courses so I done a parentingcourse I donehealth and safety I don't food safety Idone I done my IT never one two andthree I redid my English a masked man Iwent in I don't customer service skillsand employability skills I just I justtried to build myself up to a pointwhere no one could turn around and sayhmm wow you know you're this bad personit sounds like it was something thathappened in like a month's time or ithappened in like too much time and I'msaying yeah I've got this qualificationthis qualification this talkit took me yes yeah it took me years toget all that done but I was proud when Igot done you should be because thatprocess of you developing yourself andyour mind and picking up all theseskills that can never be taken away fromyou could never be taken away never betaken away and I try and say this topeople because maybe maybe it's my age Ican look back a little bit but sometimeswe spend that time trying to pick upmaterialistic things and stuff and we'renot training our mind no and that's themost important thing and you know I'mproud of you for that well done and Ithink that and the best thing with thatis it's taking you two years and I'mkind of glad it's taken you two yearsbecause now you know how hard it is andI suppose you can appreciate the skillsand skilling up and stuff so oh yeah100% like hundred percent um becausethroughout that time you know I hadnever had I've never had a job beforeI'd never had a job before at this pointopen to the age of 22 I'd never had ajobWow I was living off the system and Iwas unrolled as one would pull it I wason road you know when you walk around inthe street and you see that hoodedperson walking around that was me thatwas meday and night that was meWow so you know I've gone from thatperson to now and he said upskillingmyself train in my mind training myselfto be a better person and what wasactually a really big turnaround for mewas one day I was sat in my flat and Isaid to one of my friends I said youknow what I need to change I sat downwith my friend and I said to him I saidyou know why why do we do these thingslike you know why do we why do weactually do these things well and helooked at me and he turned to me and hesaid well we have to this we need to doit and from there I thought now I cansurvive in a different way I don't needto be creating heartache and committingyou know crimes to you know I mean toget him to go finally yeah yeah and Iactually turned to him and I said youknow what tomorrow I'm gonna change myclothes and he said what do you meanyou're gonna change clothes I said I'mgonna change my clothes because at thattime I was always wearing black as Isaid I was that person that you see onthe show you know everything that I hadwas you were basically fitting thestereotype this there was likeabsolutely yeah 100%and I said everything I had was blackdown to my socks down to my boxerseverything was black yeah and I said tohim I said you know who I'm gonna changeI'm gonna go hey chin him and I'm gonnabuy myself some light colored clothesand he started laughing at me and I waslike why you laughing forand he said our heads on you're notgonna go and do that that gave me themotivation that I needed the next day Iwoke up I woke up earlygot myself a shower and I went to townand I went and bought a white top bluejeans I actually came out wearing theclothes and I put my black clothes in abag and I was sat at the bus stop andthis old lady came up to me and she juststarted randomly talking to me tell meabout her or all day or what she wasgonna do for the day tell me about hergrandkids tell him about her kids tellme why she had planned now when Iactually mentioned this story to peoplethey they always laugh because theydon't see that as a big thing but forme that was a big thing because that hasnever happened before I'm not saying shewouldn't but would she have spoken toyou or would you have even been in aplace that was approachable if you wereaddressed how you address yeah butexactly so and when I I remember thewhole journey she was speaking to me onthe bus because she was um she wascoming she was on the same bus style wason I remember the whole journey I wasjust smiling to myself and I got off thebus and I went to my flatand I just sat there and I was justsmiling to myself and my friend cameround to my house and he said oh yoyou've done it of course I've done ityeah I said don't ever doubt me becausewhen I say something when I say I'mgonna do something called do me and I'vealways stuck to that model if I say thatI'm gonna do something and I said whenthat old lady spoke to me that reallychanged me it made me it made me realizethat actually I wasn't a bad person thatI was I was just as you said making badchoices can I just touch on what youjust said there so you just saidsomething fiercely that I wasn't a badperson so somewhere along your life inyour journey you had this belief thatyou were a bad person because maybesociety told you you're a bad person allthe decisions you made there's a verystrong thing and I try and say this to alot of people is we are the story thatwe tell ourselves so if you consistentlykeep telling yourself that you're a badpersonsomewhere along the line you're gonnastart acting like a bad person you'regonna you're gonna find your way toalmost fit the narrative a bit likemyself when I used to say I was shy andanxious one I was very shy and anxiousbut two I'd almost get myself out ofsituations where I could grow and becomea person not shy and anxious if thatmakes sense so yeah yeah definitely it'sweird because you've touched on threethree ladies now who have really come atpivotal points in your life so you hadYvonne initially then you had the ladywho took your appointment she said notanother black man and then you've gotthis third lady you just come on a busand it's almost like somebody sendingyou a message all the time yeah againit's those subtle messages that peopleactually ignore that actually are thethings that change your life if youallow them to and if you accept it ifyou're allowed into an if you accept itand it's exactly is it that simplebecause you could you could have I couldhave seen that in a different way youknow but I didn't and I decided to seein the way that I did that these peopleare trying to change my life and that'show he's bettered me and that'sI've decided to change or did decide tochange get him back to the story of whenI was actually at court for my son orwhen I got all of those qualifications Iremember I went to court and I initiallyslapped it down on the table like Iliterally slapped it down like he waslike it was a movie or somethingand it's just like try and stop me fromseeing my son like that that's all Isaidand the judge looked at me and he saidwe actually can't stop you though but wecan't stop you from seeing your son youknow I mean and it was a good feeling toknow that you know I had achieved all ofthose things for my sonabsolutely and I ended up winning thecourt case so that was one of the realpivotal reasons why I decided to changebut yeah like from there I just didn't Ididn't decide to stop you know I didn'tjust think to myself okay like I've wonthe court case now I don't need to betmyself no more I don't need to enhancemy life no more I'm just gonna chilllike I've never done that I'd stilldecided to keep moving forward keepprogressing and and it was quite funnyyeah because when I was doing thevoluntary work there was people comingup to me saying why are you actuallyworking in here like there is no reasonfor why you need to be working here andI said I'm doing it to better myselflike I'm doing it I love it I'm justdoing it for myself and I was there fortwo months two to three months I wasthere for doing the volunteer work everyday I was dressing in a suit don't askme why I was just arrested in the seatjust because swaggered out I mean theBritish Heart Foundation you know andpeople say people just got to understandwhy button again was all because of mymentality I wanted to have a differentmentality and what was actuallyinteresting was that they actually tookme they signed me off from the JobCenter and signed me on to perhaps andit was for like those people that reallywanted to find the job and it was themthat actually got me involved with thePrince's Trust so one day I went in andI see my advisor and I asked him I saidoh he's there he's there anything goingon is there anything happening there anyjobs available and he turned to me andhe said oh there's there's no jobs oranythinglike that but there's a thing with theprinces trustees could get started intheater mm-hmm and I was like okay I waslike what is it he was like it's not ajob it's like a course I was like okayand he was like but I don't know if youare done if you want to do it becauseit's more like a confidence-buildingcourse but he's like hezron you knowyou've already got confidence so youdon't really need to do that course andI don't think that they would accept youmm-hmm and I looked him and I said putme on it I said even if I don't getaccepted onto it put me on it anywayI'll go I'll see what they say if theyaccept me then they do if they don'tthen oh wow it's just enough one ofthose things mm-hmm so we did he put meon it it was at the Birmingham reptheatre where it was being held so Iwent to the Birmingham rep theatre hadlike a little open day for it and itwould taste a day a little workshop so Ihad done that I had they had then put meonto the course and when I was on thiscourseI sat down and I said to myself I amgoing to commit a hundred percent thatwas it that was it I just said I'm gonnacommit a hundred percent I'm gonna sayhello to every single person I'm gonnabe the last person to leave and I'mgonna be the first person there that'swhat I said to myself and I stuck to mehe got to the point where people werewere asking who I was because I keptsaying hello to random people I was Iwas walking around a bearing a reptheatre the saying just just being likehellomorning morning and people couldn'tunderstand why I just kept sayingmorning and hello but that got theattention of people in the Birminghamrep theatre and I ended up doing thecourse so at the end of it we had toperform a play outside the brick theatreand we had to market it ourselves weeducate posters we had to do the playourselves and we look doing this playand guy from the West End came and thedirecting manager of the rep was thereas wellhis name was Steve bored and afterwinning had finished everyone wasgetting their awards and he wheneveryone was getting their awards forcompleting thecourse the guy turned around from WestEnd and he said Oh where's hezron Brownwhere is heso I'll step forward and he said I'mactually a talent scout and I would likeyou to play a part on the West End and Iwas like what so every wonder thereeveryone's there applauding everyone'sclapping but while they're doing thatI'm standing there baffled thinking I'mnot an actor like and I actually saidthat to him and he was like you'veactually got talent he said you mightnot know it but you have he actually hewanted me to play donkey in Shrek but Isaid to you no I haven't got noexperience and he said yeah I know youhaven't got any experience that's whythe repple gonna take you one sit inSteve ball he then stepped forward andsaid yes as wrong if you come and see menext week we can talk aboutopportunities about how to kind ofbetter your skills and enhance youracting basically so I did I mean I'veseen him and he gave me some actingposition that the Birmingham rep theatrejust like that and from there that'swhen things really started to change soI have now gone from this person thatwas homeless this person that never hadno food at times never had no money attimes that was unrolled at times to nowthis person who's an actor at theBirmingham rep theatre you can make afilm on that I could make a film be theactor as well so then the Prince's Trustgot wind of it so I sat down with awoman called Tsukiko Hale who is theyoung ambassador executive manager inthe West Midlands and I sat down withher so I told her my story as she saidokay she said how would you feel aboutbecoming an ambassador for the Prince'sTrust and I said yeah like I'm up forthat I definitely hundred percent Ithink I think that's a great lesson foranyone I'm not saying necessarily youwanting to become an actor but what youdid want to do is put yourself in abetter situation around better peopleand have a better life and by youembracing that opportunity and justliterally throwing yourself out therebecause I canimagine how comfortable you must havefelt coming from straight black blackhoodie black jogging bottoms to a suitsaying hello to people who you don'tknow how they're gonna perceive youbeing overly enthusiastic spending timeout of your own day go to charity placeslike British Heart Foundation and to putyourself in that environment and thenjust shine I just I just think it'samazing and hopefully people listen tothis and think if you really wantsomething in life and if you know whatyou want just go ahead and do it do youknow what I mean don't wait don't waitfor someone to give you give you the nodor the acceptance because you've got totake control of your life and you'vedone it may in fair play Tia thank youyou know what it's all about Southbelief I agree oh you know like there'snothing more powerful than self beliefnothing if you believe in yourself andyou believe that you can achieve thenyou can if you tell yourself everysingle day I'm gonna be a millionaireyou'll be a millionaire not just becauseyou've said it every day but becauseyou're you're putting it out there tothe universe you're installing that intoyour mindset so things that you will dofrom that point on will be things tomake you a millionaire absolutely a lotof people don't believe in themselvesthey don't and to be honest I'm guiltyof it so I never believed in myself Iwas into podcasts about two years ago orthree years ago yeah they are alwayswanted it because I'm always fascinatedby people's stories and I used to saycertain things about my life and peoplefind it inspiring and it's taken me like12 months to really have the self beliefand you touched on something there likethe millionaire thing and it's a bitlike you know for instance you go andbuy a red car for example you're goingto see that red car everywhere and thatthey call that the reticular activationsystem is kind of some scientific termso when you start saying you're amillionaire and you start putting it outthere into the universe you're going tostart seeing opportunities where you canpotentially become a millionaire you'regoing to be you're going to seemillionaires and millionaires you mighthave a conversation with one you mightpick up some information from himthrough your 20 minute conversation orwhatever so I think you've hit the nailon the head there self belief is soimportant especially to inspire peopleare motivated to go out there and dowhat they want to do you have to believein yourself you have to have him and youhave to because what will happen is thatopportunities will present themselves toyou but you won't take them because youdon't believe in yourself becausesaid you might feel like you're too shyor you know you've got this anxiety whenyou're around so you know like then isyou then start to lose out on some ofthe things that are actually there toactually better your life things areonly just started now really you know tolook up and as much as you know I haddone all those things before to bettermyself it's only now that theopportunities are actually coming my waythings that I had never seen before nowI was doing like garner dinners I wasgoing to red carpet events I was I wasstanding in front of corporate busestelling him about my life story tellinghim about how the Prince's Trust hashelped me and I'm at these I'm at theseplaces and I'm thinking to myself howdid I even get herelike sometimes it's a bit unreal becauseI'll be sitting there and I'll be I'llbe remembering the people that I used tohang around with mmmI remember the things that I used to doI remember the hard times that I was inthe times when I was literally I wentfor a depression I was literally likeyou know I was having suicidal thoughtsI was I was I never thought life wasworth living you know every day cryingmyself to sleep because of the situationthat I was in so I've gone from thatperson to now sitting down at a tablearound millionaires literallymillionaires pretty it's corporatebosses eating lobster like literallyeating lobster for my start I mean I'mkind of things I'm thinking like it'scrazy like it's crazy how I got myselffrom there today but obviously it waspossible and obviously I'm done laterself belief and it's the process andit's the process and people forget theprocess and you you've had to endure itand a lot of people think they can justwish something and it just happens in amonth in a week sometimes it can takefive years sometimes it could take tenyears I'm glad for your sister for yoursake and for the community because ofthe work you're doing now it's happenedit's quicker because now you're outthere and you're able to do great thingsso mmm it's fantastic man thank youthank you so he built up my confidenceit built upthe passion that I had actually becauseI think what was what was hindering meetme before was that I actually didn'tknow what I wanted to do a lot of peoplewere always like saying okay what do youwant to do you know like you know whatyou want to be coming I was always likeI actually don't know and I actuallydon't know what I want to do I don'tknow what I want to becomebut the Prince's Trust gave me theanswer and it was from doing all thoseevents because I was doing those eventsand I was talking to these people in mymind I was always thinking these aren'tthe people that need to hear my storyit's the young people that need to hearmy story surgery and from there Istarted going into schools I was doingit for free I was just going intoschools speak into year groups and I wasjust speaking to the young people turnedhim about my storysometimes on a one-to-one basissometimes as a whole year group and theimpact I was making and that I wasseeing was it was unreal you know cuzthere are a lot of young people that aregoing through similar finger yeah whatI've gone through and to be able to sayto them actually like I went throughthat but this is where I am now and tosee their face actually light up andthink hope to know that they've got hopethat they can now you know that they cancontinue like there was a boy that Ispoke to I told him my story and it wasit was during a it was during one of mytalks that I do and and he was to thewhole year group and this boy came up tome at the end and he's eternal it's okaywhat's mean he said can you be my mentorand I said well yeah like if you want meto any went I've got a temper and it'sexactly how you describe yours and hewas like to see and it's because he saidyou know he always keeps getting intobad situations and his temper keepsdefining him and I looked at him and Isaid your temper doesn't define you Isaid you know I've got a temper youwouldn't even believe it but I've got atemper as well but look where I'mstanding and now you're coming up to measking me for help youI said you can be that person in thefuture absolutely and and to see hisface was light up it was great man andit's nice really it's the best feelingto know that you've made an impact onsomeone's life in a way that you neveractually thought you could you know wasit sitting there before and I wasthinking you know if I speak about mytemper that's gonna help peoplesomething that could be possible it'swell deserved given from me it was wrongbecause you couldn't were given up andyou could have just I could have givenup stayed in that life and contrib senta hundred percent and this is whatpeople need to understand that life thatI was in before there was only two therewas only two roadsit was either jail or death and the lifeyou live in now the opportunities andjust the hell it's unreal to be honestthis is kind of like one of my missionsas well because you mentioned liketemper then just from you saying thatstory one person who could relate toyour story you could potentially have arole on effect for his life and then hecouldn't do fantastic things and theguests that I've got on this podcastthey're all got their own story so oneof my good friends he's got blind in oneeye and all eyes people because he's aboxing coach he's a fantastic personthat one of the best people I know andsomebody who's going through those kindof issues they might be able to relateto each story I've got somebody who'senlivened with cancer and they'restruggling in their mindset and dealingwith that so that's gonna help peoplewho are suffering with cancer so whatabout finding people who have hadadversity in their life but they've beennot given up they've not let the cardsthat lived out an effect and whatthey've done is they played with themthe best way they can and they found away to win the game and you're undermoney you're winning and longmatecontent I'm winning my I'm gonna move iton a little bit now I'm a big believerthat we are resort of the things we tellourselves but I'm also a big believerthat ideally habits are really importantas well so now if you could just tellpeople now it's a day in the life ofhezron Brown a day in the life of hezronBrown yeah well you know I need I needto be true for everyone I'm not I'm nota celebrity yet you know yeah yes butit's the process and he still sees tothe process I'm just looking to besomeone that you know these young peoplecan look up to and and hopefully howchange some people's lives but a life inthe day ofBrown is a life like everyone else youknow I get luck actually what I onething I do is when I get up I look inthe mirror for about five minutes and Ijust stare at myself as much as as muchas we're that that sound yeah stare atmyself I put my hands on my hips hmm andI just stare I'll just stare into myface I just stare into my eyes okay andI'll just keep saying to myself you'regonna make it you're gonna make it I'mgonna make it yes and that's all I keepsaved myself and I do it oops about fiveminutes sort of standing it and thatactually gives me the motivation to todo what I need to do in the day mmm mmmyou know if there's anything that I needto look at in regards to work or youknow if there's someone I need to go andspeak to it just gives me the motivationthat I needit's a powerful affirmation andsubconsciously you're strengthening yourself belief which is the reason you'redoing amazing things now so I think thatthat's really important this is kind ofwhy I asked the question becausesomebody always has something in theirroutine which they might not necessarilysee as an amazing thing but it's somekid out there who doesn't believe inhimself just simply stands up in themirror tomorrow morning with their handson the hips or wherever they want to putit and they just say empowering thingslike I am NOT shy for example or I amworth more I will achieve more I will domore for people and they consistentlysay that and it's not not just onceyou've got you've got to keep saying itespecially if you haven't got the selfbelief they will start seeing they willchange so mate that's a fantastic pointI think I think it's I've actually gotan image now because I said I said whatyou look like and standing there nowdecide I shouldn't be thinking it youknow because I've got black boxes I'vegot you there and I know it's empoweringfor myself as well you know for mymindset and because I said he just givesme the motivation that I need but yeahafter that put my clothes on go to workand come home eat foodgo to bed well actually no that's that'swhy I eat food and work on work onmyself again so that's good at themoment when I saythat I go into schools and colleges andpeople are Farrow units youth offendingteams prisons I do my talk but I alsotalk about some of the social issuesthat are plaguing a society as well so Igive talks on nice crime I give talks oncounty lines and I'm creating otherprograms as well other presentationsthat I can do in schools as well so atthe momentthat's what I'm doing just trying tocreate those presentations create I saidI'm just I'm out here trying to helppeople so love it in the evening thatjust work on myself fantastic justoffline we'll take this conversationoffline on my I did this little bit outI was a social worker in my last life aswelland I send the kids that I've gonethrough the system and how hard it isand stuff so one of my big goals in lifeis to have a social impact change aswell so something for offline becauseobviously you're in Princes trust I wantto start a social enterprise for mentalhealth as well there's a lot of thingsthat I feel that in the future we canwork on to make a massive difference inthe world so let's definitely go let'slet's do it mind let's do it let's gomanthe next question is about adversity andI think you've pretty much touched on ahell of a lot of adversity but if we canjust go back to one example and what Iwant you to do is give us the lessonsthat he's taught you and how that's madeyou stronger today oh I would say thetoughest like adversity that I faced waswhen I was in that bed and breakfastgoing through that time when I never hadno money I never had no food when I meanthat time for me was harder I mean thattime for me was hard I was 15 years oldturning 16imagine being that age - to fend foryourself literally like everything yeahand you know I remember nights MitchellI said I was crying myself to sleepbecause I was that hungry that my bellyfat like he was turning inside out and Ithink that taught me especially now hetaught me not to take for granted thingsthat I do for me yeah that's one of thebiggest things for me at the moment likeI just I just I'll just live life how Iwant to live life but I just do what Iwant to dobecause as I said I look back to thosetimes and and I realize actually whereI've come from and you know you've got asense of gratitude now as well foranything that you take which is reallyoh listen you should see me when I eatfood you should you should yeah ahthough you don't want to be around methe chicken brilliant brilliantokay so the next one's a little bitwe're gonna spin it a little bit againwhat's your biggest fear now my biggestfear is my temper even now and me losingmy temper losing that control andsomething bad happens which puts me backin that situation that I was in when Iwas younger a hell of a lot to lose aswell now and I've got so I've got somuch to lose like and you know when I'mtrying to say like I want to be a rolemodel for these young people and how canI be a role model if I'm out heregetting locked up for something or youknow I can't be that role model thatthese young people need if I'm doingthose if I'm doing those things and itis hard there's a guy called inkyjohnson I don't know if you know him hesays something about there's no pointyou trying to be a public success ifyou're a private failure exactly it's sopowerful because it's so easy on socialmedia to try and portray yourself to besomebody else do you know what I meanbut I think you have enough having thatin the back of your mind knowing how didthese kids depend on me you don't knowhe's watching you tomorrow it could be akid who's about to go and do the worstthing in his life but if he sees you andhe's looking at you and think it's hotin a minute this guy he's going placesdoing things that maybe I could do thatit might just completely change histrajectory of his life on the basis ofthat so obviously you've got that in theback of your head you don't wanna letyourself down you go you've got yourlittle one as well what's your what elsekeeps you going what's your motivationis it just to know go out there just bebigger better help more people yeah mymotivation now is to get into as muchschools of a can as much prisons as Ican as much people refer units listen Ijust want to get in front of as muchyoung people as I canand spread my story and hopefully changepeople's lives that's my motivationalong with my kids as well as I said youknow I don't I want I want my kids togrow upclean him proud of me err you know howyeah that's something that's somethingin my life that I've never really hadyou know people being proud of meand I think as well that's somethingthat I've tried to strive for yeah I'lltry to strive against that thatacceptance you know and for my kids mainleaf mostly I just want them to be proudof me yeah I just want them to be happyand know be able to say to people youknow that's my dad you know there were100 percent hundred saying man to manI'm proud of you for how far you've comeas well in your stories is I'm excitedmate for you for your future I'mgenuinely excited yeah I can't wait forthe things it's okay so what we're gonnado now we're gonna go into a quick fireround of 60 seconds and we're gonna puthas run through his paces we're gonnaask him as many questions as possible soif you're ready we're gonna start inthree two oneokay the ability to fly or be invisibleability to fly money your fame moneyNetflix or YouTube Netflix Coke or Pepsior Pepsi would you rather know how youwill die or when you were dying oh whenI would die love or money love books ormovies movies if you could sit with oneperson in the world for an hour whowould it be my kids I love them what isyour biggest addiction my baby oh theygive the Dixon food summer or wintersummer your favorite place in the worldmy bed speak or languages will be ableto speak to animals speak or languagesyour favorite song I don't have fun thelast song you listen to okay love ityour favorite superhero Superman if youcould abolish one thing in the worldwhat would it be or badness love it loveit okay times up so now we have finishedthat round we're gonna move overstraight back into the interview sectionof the show so the next question has runit's about reflection so how that's awonderful thing and upon reflection wecan always think of ways to get to wherewe are currently quicker easier or withless heartache but I guess the journeyteaches us a lot especiallyyour journey as well and I've got a realbelief that everything happens for areasonOh hundred percent absolutely so what Iwant to know is if you could go back intime to one moment where you reallystruggled let's let's take thatbed-and-breakfast example and sufferedwith that adversity being hungry in thatmoment and you could just whispersomething into your ear knowing what youknow now and where you're going now whatwould it bestay strong mmm literally stay strongcuz I said that was something that Ialways and I struggled with men when Imean like you know I was having thosesuicidal thoughts I was having some realsuicidal thoughts you know and if Icould go back then and you know speak tomyself I would just say heads one staystrong don't cry just stay strong stayon the path I wish I had done this stuffearlier but you know one thing that Ialways say it's people is I'm glad thatI've lived the life yeah people peoplealways people always say to me like ohif you could go back in time would youchange would you change anything no Iwouldn't and if anything called probablydo it worse because because now I havethe story sit down and speak to people Ican sit down and speak to well I haveI've sat down and spoken to older peoplehmm about things that they thought Iwould never know nothing about but I'mable to sit down and speak of thembecause of what I've been through sosuddenly that brings us to the lastquestion and the last question I alwayslike to ask my guess is if in 150 yearstime we're all dead because sciencehasn't managed to save us and all that'sleft is one book and that book is basedon your life about you telling the worldwho hezron Brown really was what I wannaknow is what that Blair would say andthen I'm just gonna add a littlequestion at the end is what would youcall it as wellokay I'm gonna probably call it thestruggle is real of it that's notprobably what I would call it thestruggle is real so if anyone's outthere who's listening that can write abook for me that's what the fight willbe the struggle is realand I think the blurb would like theblurb would just have to be somethinglike you know this is a man but you haveto say in a voice as well you can't justdo it like normally he has to be like ina voice like you know okay like a LiamNeeson kind of voice I'm gonna try asuccess with Scott let's go this is aman this is a man after facing hardtimes changed and became a better manfor the love of his kids and for thelove of what he wanted to do for societyI like it I like it I like it I like itbut it would have sounded better withthe Liam Neeson voice but oh that'sbrilliant that's - basically the end ofthe show so what I normally do now aswell is I ask people to reach out to youif you wouldn't mind and I think yourstory just one that's gonna inspirethousands of people so I've got you onTwitter but I know you've just startedthat have you got any of the socialmedia platforms yeah like I'm onFacebookokay um I'm on Twitter I'm on LinkedInas well is Helzer on brown on on most ofthem I think um Twitter its hezron Brown90 okay fantastic fantastic what I'llalso do is I'll put all these links tohezron social media in the show notes soif anyone wants to reach out please docheck the show notes and you'll findeverything and as always thanks forlistening and remember this podcast isabsolutely free so all we ask in returnis for you to share this with a friendand drop us a five star review over oniTunes have an awesome day See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Carling Black Label Carling Black Label I think I remember when Carling Black Label was first introduced to the widespread British beer-drinking public. There was an advert for Carling lager on television and my mother commented that that was my father's latest favourite drink. I was still underage, and I remember commenting that I couldn't understand why people would want to drink pint after pint of beer just because they were thirsty. She gave me a verbal pat on the head for my naivety, when my mother said, "There's a good boy! I hope you remember that when you are older". Well, I do remember what was said, obviously, but adhering to it is often much more difficult. Anyway, last month, I returned to Wales after fifteen years of travelling in Asia and walked into a bar. I ordered a pint of Black Label from the helpful young barmaid, but she looked back at me with a completely blank expression. Her manageress must have felt a vibe, because she was quick to ask if there was a problem, which there wasn't really. "This gentleman wants a pint of Black Label, but that's whiskey, isn't it?". "Lager, sir?" she asked, pointing out the relatively obscure black label on the pump. "People call it Carling, sir", she informed me moving off, but repeating 'Carling Black Label' for her underling. Change for Change's Sake? Or is it change just to justify a job title? I have noticed so many changes in our medium-sized home town since I've been back - some of them completely pointless. Like renaming the Job Centre 'Job Centre Plus' even though they actually handle fewer tasks there now than they ever did before. The Rowan Hill Hotel is another example. It used to be the most prestigious hotel in town. However, it has been renamed the Rowan Rooms. Now, it is a rather sad place for travelling reps and salespeople providing cheap run-down rooms for under-paid, over-worked mostly young people. Not all changes are for the better, and money plays a big part it most decisions. It is just such a pity that our home town has been allowed to devolve into the very, very poor reflection of the great place it used to be to live in. Please LIKE and SHARE this article using the buttons below and visit our bookshop All the best, Owen Podcast: Carling Black Label

British BureaucracyMy Thai wife and I arrived back in the UK for the first time in five years last Wednesday, so our first encounter with British bureaucracy was at Rhoose airport's immigration. My wife was coming in on a five-year Spanish Residency Card, and the official had never seen an Asian with one before. The poor man didn't know what to do, so he gave her a six-month visa.A friend coming in six months ago in exactly the same circumstances, obtained an open-ended right to remain for his wife, but they could also have given her ninety days (I think). 'Get her residency as soon as you can', he said to me quietly.The following Friday, I went to the Job Centre to see about a National Insurance number for her. The official turned to his computer, and I waited while he called up the right page. After ten minutes, I asked whether there was a problem. 'No', he replied, 'I'm just Googling how to apply for a new NI number'.I couldn't believe my ears! British bureaucracy... even civil servants, now have to use an American search engine to find the correct government policy! It doesn't sound right to me. I wanted to ask whether they still receive training, but civil servants are not renowned for their sense of humour.It turns out that we have to travel fifty miles to make the application!So, that left residency to sort out, and to get more information, we visited the local Citizen's Advice Centre (C.A.B.). The man took one look at the stamp in my wife's passport and left to discuss the matter with his supervisor. 'I'm sorry', he said, 'but this is way over our heads. We can't even understand how you got this far!'.'Research, hard work and perseverance', I replied.'We can only suggest that you go to see an immigration lawyer', he said offering me a list to choose from.I declined it, and left, thinking how sad it was that the C.A.B. had degenerated into a mere funnel for the local branch of the legal profession... especially since legal aid has been abolished.What sort of a country have I brought my wife back to?Please LIKE and SHARE this article using the buttons below and visit our bookshopAll the best,OwenPodcast: British Bureaucracy

British Bureaucracy British Bureaucracy My Thai wife and I arrived back in the UK for the first time in five years last Wednesday, so our first encounter with British bureaucracy was at Rhoose airport's immigration. My wife was coming in on a five-year Spanish Residency Card, and the official had never seen an Asian with one before. The poor man didn't know what to do, so he gave her a six-month visa. A friend coming in six months ago in exactly the same circumstances, obtained an open-ended right to remain for his wife, but they could also have given her ninety days (I think). 'Get her residency as soon as you can', he said to me quietly. The following Friday, I went to the Job Centre to see about a National Insurance number for her. The official turned to his computer, and I waited while he called up the right page. After ten minutes, I asked whether there was a problem. 'No', he replied, 'I'm just Googling how to apply for a new NI number'. I couldn't believe my ears! British bureaucracy... even civil servants, now have to use an American search engine to find the correct government policy! It doesn't sound right to me. I wanted to ask whether they still receive training, but civil servants are not renowned for their sense of humour. It turns out that we have to travel fifty miles to make the application! So, that left residency to sort out, and to get more information, we visited the local Citizen's Advice Centre (C.A.B.). The man took one look at the stamp in my wife's passport and left to discuss the matter with his supervisor. 'I'm sorry', he said, 'but this is way over our heads. We can't even understand how you got this far!'. 'Research, hard work and perseverance', I replied. 'We can only suggest that you go to see an immigration lawyer', he said offering me a list to choose from. I declined it, and left, thinking how sad it was that the C.A.B. had degenerated into a mere funnel for the local branch of the legal profession... especially since legal aid has been abolished. What sort of a country have I brought my wife back to? Please LIKE and SHARE this article using the buttons below and visit our bookshop All the best, Owen Podcast: British Bureaucracy

He helped Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill from young hopeful to Olympic Gold. In the process be transformed himself from a Job Centre adviser to world class coach, put together an unrivalled support team and refused to bend to Governing Body instruction when he felt it wasn't in his athletes' best interest. In this interview with Giles he talks openly about his views on what is wrong at the heart of sport in the UK.

Finding Your Forté - Just an introspective conversation with people from various business, skill and talent backgrounds; exploring their motivations, experiences and opinions all things business, life and everything in between. Kick back and take in how others have started, sustained but also failed with some of their endeavours. Learn how they found their forté and maybe even spark your forté. This episode I sit down with your favourite local jeweller, Jaye Jewels. You may have seen recently that I had got made a personalised gold teeth set with The Forté F engraved on; this had come from Jaye himself. While we sit down, I get to understand how he got into the jewellery game, what his journey was like prior but also understanding quite interestingly enough how the Job Centre supported him getting into the trade.

Hiring your first member of staff is the leverage you need to stop owning a job, and start owning a business. In this episode, we'll dive into how to recruit good members of staff (tip: you won't find them at the Jobcentre!), how to go through the recruitment process effectively so that you weed out the crap, leaving yourself with the best of the best. What do you do once you've got a good member of staff? We look at how to actually KEEP them, and perhaps surprisingly, "pay them more money" doesn't get mentioned once. But everyone's got some horror stories about hiring staff gone wrong, and we're no exception - there's a good 20 people who have worked for us over the last 17 years, who no longer do - some left, some were made redundant, and one or two were sacked - if you're worried about firing employees, then this episode is worth a listen just for our war stories and tips on how to get rid of bad employees from your small business. For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Big Idea Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every Monday lunchtime, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

In dieser Folge lernen wir, wie man sich an einen Unbekannten wendet, Hilfe anbietet, jemanden zum Warten auffordert, nach Vor- und Zunamen, Adresse, Telefonnummer oder Herkunftsort fragt.

In dieser Folge lernen wir, wie man sich an einen Unbekannten wendet, Hilfe anbietet, jemanden zum Warten auffordert, nach Vor- und Zunamen, Adresse, Telefonnummer oder Herkunftsort fragt.

Stories this week include: Olympics in jeopardy after box of matches go missing. Police appeal for witnesses after alleged 'milking' in local park. Telephone box protest ends in stalemate. Claimants to receive abusive voicemails from Job Centre staff until they re-enter employment says Work and Pensions Secretary.  Also revealed: Rob buys a birthday card...

Tom and Mike are joined by Ross, the newest member of the DCJY team. Ross hails from the UK but lives in Japan and so your hosts take the opportunity to discuss some slightly obscure corners of the Dreamcast library. CSK Holdings and their strange Dreamcast/health insurance console editions come up in conversation, as does Tom's obsession with ice hockey games. Mike reveals the additions to the updated Ultimate Collectors Guide, and Digitiser 2000's recent article on Sega's inability to recapture past glories is explored in more depth than is probably needed. Lines of chavs outside the local Job Centre, the levels of urban decay in Bristol and the sheer number of Sega arcade billboards cluttering the neon, rain-swept streets of Japan are all subjects tentatively touched upon. Oh, and there's some stuff about Vanishing Point and some Headhunter music. We hope you enjoy episode 26 of the world's greatest Dreamcast podcast.Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dcjunkyard)

Don has been taking another trip through the world of celebrity this week, this time managing to get his little hands on Countdown and the Gadget Show's Rachel Riley! But nevermind that, you're here. We're here. Let's talk about some video games, shall we? We've got all your news for the week, so if you've missed any of the big stories to hit in the past 7 days then we've got your back. We've got news of a new Star Wars limited edition of the PS4; the status of the Resident Evil 2 fan remake; GTAV's video editor coming to consoles; news of some new titles coming to your smart phone; and Don's got all the Destiny news that nobody asked for. For a feature this week we're on an unfortunate trip to the Jobcentre to identify the jobs formerly held by video game characters that we think we'd do pretty well at, as well as trying to figure out who had the job before us. Then in What Have We Been Playing we've got Battlefield: Hardline; Zombi; Borderlands the Pre Sequel; Fallout Shelter and probably a bit of Destiny from a mystery member of the podcast. Get in touch with us on Twitter @Gamebanter, or send us an email at Podcast@Gamebanter.co.uk to get involved with the show! (Right-click the file and select "Save as" to download it, or left-click to listen in your browser)

Ben Rowe hosts a seminar on jobs and work.

This month we feature a collection of short comedy, drama and poetry that we have recently produced but has not yet been broadcast on the podcast. Featuring Wild Bill Hickok at the JobCentre, a different form of internet piracy, poems from the 'Rother Valley poetry collective' and a new radio play in which a young woman discovers that sometimes having the right answer does not always lead to the correct choice.

Head of Nursing and Patient Experience, Anne Cleary, St George's Healthcare NHS Trust knows how challenging it can be recruiting for the critical role of Healthcare Assistant. In this podcast, Anne talks about the ongoing and successful partnership the trust has with its local JCP along with Anna Bittle, Employer Adviser at JCP. Presented by Liz Eddy, Head of Skills in Employment at NHS Employers Elizabeth.Eddy@nhsemployers.org

They're back! That's right it's finally the return of 'Here to Help'. We've got a brand new mic but while the sound quality is improved the advice is still as rubbish as ever. This week they're at the Job Centre. Enjoy.

yee nah the crack. we discuss comics to the job centre, among other things.

Sarah describes life after work and battles at the Job Centre. From July 2011 at the Canal Cafe Theatre in Little Venice. NEXT EVENT: 18th July at the Ritzy in Brixton. If you have a story - or just want to listen - then just come down. Tickets are Pay What You Can. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Libby Purves is joined by Rev. Nicholas Holtam, Rye Barcott, William Rees-Mogg and Sue Tilley. Rev. Nicholas Holtam has been vicar of St Martin in the Fields for the last sixteen years. He will be ordained as Bishop of Salisbury on 22nd July. In a new book, 'The Art of Worship', he reflects on the pictures in the National Gallery that have inspired him during his time at St Martins. 'The Art of Worship' is published by Yale University Press. As an American college student on his way into the US Marines, Rye Barcott spent the summer in the Nairobi slums to better understand the ethnic violence he would face in uniform. There, he forged a friendship with a community organiser and a widowed nurse and subsequently set up the organisation, Carolina for Kibera (CFK). He tells his story in the book 'It Happened on the Way to War', published by Bloomsbury. William Rees-Mogg is the journalist and former Editor of The Times. During his long career he has also been Chairman of the Arts Council, Head of the Broadcasting Standards Council, and Vice-Chairman of the BBC. In his memoirs he looks back over his life and reflects on some of the people and events of his times, including Rupert Murdoch and the war with the print unions, Margaret Thatcher, and Mick Jagger. 'Memoirs' is published by Harper Collins. Sue Tilley is an author and model as well as manager at a Jobcentre in London's West End. During the 1990s she was the artist Lucian Freud's muse and his nude portrait of her - 'Benefits Supervisor Sleeping' - became the most expensive painting ever sold by a living artist back in 2008. She is taking part in Wayne Hemingway's Vintage festival at the Southbank. In the "Soundtrack of Their Lives" catwalk show, she presents her personal take on the fashion and music of the eighties.