FactCheck: five million not worked under Labour
"…Professor Paul Gregg, senior research fellow in labour markets at the Centre for Economic Performance analysed recent LFS data for FactCheck…."
Source: www.bristol.ac.uk
Who Gets Plastic Surgery and Why
By Daniel DeNoon
WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Michael Smith, MD
on Tuesday, August 30, 2005
They aren't who you think they are.
Who gets cosmetic plastic surgery? Forget the stereotype of the over-50 socialite who needs psychiatry more than a zillionth face lift.
An Internet survey shows that most people seriously seeking plastic surgery — 71% — make $60,000 or less. Sixty-four percent are under 50, and 81% haven't had plastic surgery before.
The findings come from a study commissioned by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Study leaders Sarah Thorne and Tanya Darisi are with Decision Partners LLC, a Pittsburgh-based research and communications firm.
Darisi, Thorne, and colleagues conducted in-depth interviews with 60 people who had contacted the ASPS referral service to find a plastic surgeon. They distilled the information into a questionnaire. A national polling firm used the questionnaire in an Internet-based survey of 644 adults seriously considering plastic surgery in the next year. The findings appear in the Sept. 1 issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
"We spoke to people from all racial and ethnic backgrounds, jobs, income levels — there isn't really a typical person getting plastic surgery," Darisi tells WebMD.
"The only thing we found that was typical was how thoughtful people were about undergoing plastic surgery," Thorne tells WebMD. "We talked to moms who just had kids and wanted to have a few things nipped and tucked so they could feel better about themselves. We talked to young guys who had something that had bothered them all their lives and who saved money for an operation since their teens or early 20s. We talked to older women who, now that they had the time and perhaps the ability to have surgery done, wanted something fixed because it had always been important to them."
Why People Have Plastic Surgery
People who seek plastic surgery obviously want to change their appearance. But that isn't at the heart of what they want.
"It all starts with people wanting to improve imperfections so they can feel better about themselves," Thorne says. "Some spoke about improving physical features that had bothered them for some time. They felt they would be happier, that others would respond to them better, that they would have improved social lives. Men in particular thought they would have improved career opportunities."
Jafar S. Hasan, MD, resident surgeon in the University of Michigan plastic surgery training program, has studied why people seek cosmetic surgery.
"Some older studies suggested that the average plastic-surgery patient is likely to have some psychological disturbance — especially male patients," Hasan tells WebMD. "But this is old research. I found that on average, the plastic surgery patient does not suffer from any psychiatric disorder. Those older views are outdated."
One reason this may be true is that the ASPS and the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery stress that board-certified plastic surgeons should conduct extensive consultations before agreeing to operate on a patient. Mark Jewell, MD, is president of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.
"When people go to a plastic surgeon, we want them to feel listened to rather than sold something," Jewell tells WebMD. "A consultation can go wrong when you tell someone what they need rather than listen to what they want. What they want may change during the consultation, but most patients are more reasonable than you would believe. We take time, listen, develop rapport. And if a patient doesn't fit our criteria for safe surgery, we say so."
Another reason why patients have realistic expectations: They do their homework.
"Not every problem people perceive with their bodies can be fixed with plastic surgery," Darisi says. "But our interviews with patients showed they did not see surgery as a panacea for everything in their lives. They could foresee changes in relationships, but these were very targeted changes. They did not see plastic surgery as a magic bullet. They had a very realistic idea of what they could expect."
But can plastic surgery really make a person happier? Yes — within limits, says Harvard psychologist Ted A. Grossbart, PhD. Grossbart has studied the psychosocial issues surrounding plastic surgery.
"If someone is unhappy with their nose and comes out with a nose he or she is happier with, it works," Grossbart tells WebMD. "If they are not looking to change the fundamental quality of their lives and all their doubts — if they come in with realistic expectations — people can probably get the results they are hoping for."
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SOURCES: Darisi, T. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Sept. 1, 2005; vol 116: pp 907-916. Tanya Darisi, research leader, Decision Partners LLC, Pittsburgh. Sarah Thorne, partner, Decision Partners LLC, Pittsburgh. Mark Jewell, MD, president, American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Jafar S. Hasan, MD, resident surgeon, plastic surgery training program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Ted A. Grossbart, PhD, senior associate and clinical supervisor, department of psychiatry, Beth Israel Hospital; assistant clinical professor of psychology, Harvard Medical School.
Source: relationships.blog-city.com
English Education System: New Doctors less clever than the previous generation
"…Leading professionals are becoming less intelligent, researchers said yesterday. Lawyers, doctors, accountants and bankers were all cleverer a generation ago, a study found…."
Source: www.bristol.ac.uk
Professions 'reserved for rich'
Milburn report 'Unleashing Aspiration: The Final Report of the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions' draws on CMPO research.
Source: www.bristol.ac.uk
More Sex Content on Teens' TV Shows
By Todd Zwillich
Reviewed By Louise Chang, MD
on Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Nov. 9, 2005 — Seven in 10 television shows watched by teens now contain some form of sexual content, while each show contains more sexual references than they did a few years ago, according to a survey released Wednesday.
The study found that American teens, who spend an average of three hours per day watching television, now see an average of six sexual scenes per hour when watching in prime time. That's significantly more than the 4.4 scenes per hour teens saw during the same study in 2002.
In all, the number of sexual scenes contained in about 1,000 shows sampled nearly doubled from 1,930 in 1998 to 3,780 in 2005, the study found. The study included shows on cable and broadcast television.
Impact on Teens
According to researchers, the study clearly shows that American children and teens are exposed to an increasing level and range of sexual TV content. But the impact of that exposure is still largely unknown.
One federally funded study pegged repeated media depictions of sex as an important determinant of how early teens start having sex. But the increase in sexual TV content comes at a time when rates of teen pregnancy and sexual activity are down from the last decade.
Still, 750,000 teenagers become pregnant each year, while an estimated 4 million contract sexually transmitted diseases.
"We are not saying that TV is to blame for this problem. But research is saying TV has an impact and has an opportunity to help," said Victoria Rideout, who co-authored the study for the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
Reaction on Capitol Hill
The study sampled a wide range of sexual content, including conversational references to sex, implied sex acts, and depicted sexual intercourse.
Researchers found that just 14% of shows depicting sex also contained references to risk or to safe sex. That's down from 15% in 2002 but was still a significant rise from 9% in 1998, according to the study.
Increasing exposure to TV sex and violence has lead to threats from Congress to more strictly regulate TV networks. Those threats often run up against concerns that they might infringe on the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech. But in response, many networks have submitted to voluntary ratings systems while promoting the use of parental control technologies like the V-chip.
Networks Under Scrutiny
Nearly seven in 10 parents in a 2004 Kaiser Foundation survey said that they were "very concerned" about the amount of sexual content their kids see on TV.
Fox president and CEO Tony Vinciquerra said that his network uses voluntary content ratings and has spent "tens of millions of dollars" promoting them to parents.
Nearly all cable and satellite television services come with channel or program lock-out functions, Vinciquerra said. "It's a five-minute exercise. It's not difficult and parents do need to take that responsibility."
Rebecca Collins, PhD, a RAND corporation researcher who conducted the separate federal study completed in 2004, said the amount of sexual content teens view was found to be one of the most important influences on how early they start having sex.
Single-parent homes and spending time with mostly older friends were stronger influences, but time spent watching sexual content was third, she said.
"It's hard to quantify exactly what the effect of TV is," Collins said. Still, "12-year-olds who watched a lot of sex looked like 14-to-15-year-olds" in their sexual behavior.
Complex Influences
Others cautioned that television is just one aspect of youth culture that includes family, peers, school, and religion, as well as the Internet, movies, and music.
"Media absolutely is important, but let's not pretend it's the only thing," said Sarah Brown, president of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.
Sen. Barak Obama (D-Ill.) told reporters and others that Congress could still consider pushing legislation that tightens regulations on broadcasters.
"Let's start by turning off our TV sets once in a while," he said.
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SOURCES: "Sex on TV 4″ Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Nov. 9, 2005. Victoria Rideout, vice president, Kaiser Family Foundation. Tony Vinciquerra, president and CEO, Fox Networks Group. Sarah Brown, president, National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Sen. Barak Obama (D-Ill.).
Source: relationships.blog-city.com
Employment figure - Paul Gregg, professor of economics, University of Bristol
"…Unemployed himself as a young man, the chief architect of New Labour's employment strategy retains some doubts about how his ideas are being put into practice…."
Source: www.bristol.ac.uk
Nice Guys Must Work on the following:
Stop seeking approval and start making their needs a priority.
Create satisfying relationships.
Stop caretaking and fixing other people’s problems.
Set boundaries.
Live up to their full potential in work and career
This refers to Nice Guy Syndrome not actual genuine Nice Guys
Source: relationships.blog-city.com
We go from mature to immature as we age.
Our culture does a lot of damage to us all by instilling false and destructive ideals. This is an inescapable fact, and when combined with the reality that life doesn't have a instruction book, the issue is compounded. This has a trickle down effect to our everyday dealings, such as relationships. Children are blessed with a wisdom & perspective that's lost because we live in a world that kills love. Judgement, social structure, etc. all help to separate us from the simple truths and nature that children enjoy. Jesus once commented that we should have the faith of a child, a truly profound statement when you think about it. Sure, as we grow older, we gain knowledge, maturity, rationality, and all the other perks of age, but pay the price by gaining ignorance of losing the perspective we once had, the simple wisdom, and purity that we all once had, and suffer with issues that cause undue pain and run our lives because of it. We become conditioned to judge by every other standard except by observing and simply accepting the truth of how a person or situation is and going from there. Just look at all we go through in our lives, not just in relationships. We leave partners, dismiss potential ones, etc. all because of judgement, and most of the time, it's over something petty. Children truly have an edge over adults in the area of perceiving & giving love, and its cause, acceptance & appreciation. We go from mature to immature in this arena as we age.
Salvador Escobar
Source: relationships.blog-city.com
