Spicing up their lives? Frolicking Geri Halliwell and Henry Beckwith stumble across a nudist beach

By Mailonline Reporter

Fun: Geri Halliwell stands on boyfriend Henry Beckwith's shoulders as they mess around in the French Riviera


Looking more in love - and stunning - than ever, Geri Halliwell appears not to have a care in the world as she larks around in the surf with boyfriend Henry Beckwith.

The couple have been enjoying a romantic trip in the French Riviera where yesterday they looked like love-struck teenagers as they frolicked in the sea before taking a stroll along a beach.

But Geri, 27, and Henry, 29, may have felt a little overdressed as they walked along the shore line of a nudist beach.


Catch me if you can: The couple laugh as they indulge in a water fight


Wearing a bright orange bikini which showed off her super-toned body, the former Spice Girl didn't seem to mind as she wandered hand-in-hand with her aristocrat lover past naked sun bathers.

The singer is more than likely taking a well-earned break after her appearance as a guest judge on the X Factor. During the filming of the show - where Geri was standing in for heavily pregnant Dannii Minogue - fans were reportedly angered when she refused to put through a singer called Katie when she had the casting vote.

She is also said to have embarrassed fellow judge Cheryl Cole by calling her a 'gorgeous, gorgeous girl' before saying they should form a new band, adding: 'We should be Steps or Abba!'


Taking in the view: Geri smirks as the fully-clothed couple stroll along a nudist beach


Things quickly went from bad and worse as Geri allegedly later stormed off stage.

But Geri appeared relaxed and in playful spirits as she took part in a water fight with Henry in St Tropez.

The couple have been dating since March last year.


Look the other way: Geri turns away as a naked bather emerges from the sea


source: dailymail

The new miracle face cream: The £3.49 Aldi serum that beats Boots

By Katherine Faulkner

Top spot: The new Aldi serum


It was hailed as the most effective anti-wrinkle cream on sale - and was so popular it had to be rationed.

But now Boots Protect And Perfect anti-ageing serum has been kicked into second place by a rival costing a fraction of the price.

Aldi's Lacura Multi-Intensive Serum is better than Protect And Perfect at reducing the appearance of wrinkles, according to a study.

The serum is one of the cheapest around but beat 2,000 rival products in a series of blind tests.

The Boots Protect And Perfect Intensive Serum came second.

At £20.50, the Boots serum is six times more expensive than the Aldi version, which costs £3.49.

The Boots serum sold out in hours after scientists on the BBC's Horizon programme found it worked better than expensive rivals.

When more supplies were sent out, several stores opened at 7am to cope with the massive demand and restricted customers to one bottle each.

At one point, the 30ml bottles were changing hands for up to £75 on eBay.

The signs are that Aldi's serum will be just as popular. Sales have soared by 2,150 per cent over the past month with many stores selling out.

Women who tested the product said they noticed dramatic results in weeks.

Christine West, a 58-year- old from Sheffield, said: 'I noticed wrinkles reducing in the third week.

'All of a sudden my face just looked younger. My hairdresser remarked on the difference - I was delighted someone noticed.'

Aldi claims the serum's combination of shea butter, macadamia nut oil and vitamins C and E smooth out wrinkles and improve the elasticity of the skin.

A £1.99 face cream in the supermarket chain's same range is also selling out fast after coming top of its class.

Sales of the Lacura Shimmering Day Cream, which claims to make skin look more even and radiant, are up by 1,581 per cent.

Boots's £15.50 version, No7 Instant Radiance Beauty Balm, was once again knocked into second place in the survey, which was carried out by Celebs On Sunday, the Sunday Mirror's magazine.

The survey was carried out by 1,000 women who tested 2,000 products.

All of the creams were put into plain containers and each product was tested by ten different women.

The women were asked to mark each product out of ten.

They were asked whether they had noticed an anti-aging benefit, whether friends and family had noticed any difference, and whether they would buy the product again.

source: dailymail

The future face of 40: Botox, fillers and high-tech face creams all mean the Big Four-0 doesn't look like it used to

By Alice Hart-davis

Faces of beauty: All of these 19 celebrities are pictured at the age of 40 - looking fresh-faced and full of vitality

We used to know what 40-something looked like. It meant short, neat hair, sensible clothes and the onset of middle-aged spread.

It meant less focus on yourself and more on those around you (who's going to be looking at you, anyway?), a time for slipping gradually into the cosy cardie of your middle years. 'Forty, fat and frumpy' was the tag that women dreaded, not least because it was so often true.

Now, 40-something looks . . . different; none of the old rules seems to apply. Thanks to those Desperate Housewives, we've come to feel that tousled tresses aren't just for youngsters. Madonna, in her 40s, cavorts on screen in leotards that Lady Gaga would be proud of.

Forty-something mothers borrow their teenage daughters' skinny jeans, chunky ankle boots and jackets - they're trim enough, after all that Pilates. And no one bats an eyelid, not when their lithe-limbed, 40-plus role models Liz Hurley and Elle Macpherson are flaunting their just-as-perfect-as-ever bodies.

Botox and wrinkle-fillers, skin peels and SmartLipo - procedures that hadn't been invented a generation ago - are becoming the norm, to the extent that many women in their 40s appear peculiarly ageless. Cindy Crawford and Demi Moore have 'forever faces' (though Cindy has had the grace to admit that she owes the quality of her skin to her cosmetic surgeon).

And while '45-year-old mother of three', is still a loaded description, when you see it alongside a photograph of Yasmin Le Bon and her teenage daughters you realise the big 4-0 is no longer such a major stepping stone towards incapacity, irrelevance and old age.

'Forty is just a little step,' says Dr Nick Lowe, consultant dermatologist at the Cranley Clinic in London. 'If a woman comes to me in her 30s and takes my advice on looking after her skin, I can certainly keep her looking that way until her early 50s.'

That advice will include trying out non-invasive and non-surgical treatments; lasers and radio-frequency devices, as well as Botox and fillers, along with broad-spectrum sunscreen by day and prescription skinrepair creams by night.

The stigma of messing around with your face has vanished. This has been aided by the plethora of extreme makeover TV shows and an increasing desire among women with well-known and well-preserved faces to confess to having work done.

'If they say it's all down to yoga and face cream, they've normally done Botox and fillers,' said one industry source. 'If they're admitting to Botox, there's usually been an awful lot more than that going on.'

It's become hard to gauge how old women actually are. Celebrity nail technician Andrea Fulerton observes many famous faces close up.


Fit at 40: Model Cindy Crawford and actress Demi Moore have 'forever faces'


'Women are looking after themselves so much better nowadays that they always look at least five years younger than they are and that goes for their hands, which used to be a real giveaway of age, as well as their faces,' she says.

But cosmetic work is a slippery slope. At first, it's just powder and paint - the clever use of the latest high-tech cosmetics, such as skin primers that gloss over flaws and light reflecting particles that make your pout look fuller.

Next, there's eyebrow- shaping, hairdyeing and facials, possibly involving machines with electrical currents to liven up slackening muscles. So far, so acceptable. But then come needles delivering line-relaxing Botox or fillers that plump up shrinking lips, puff out cheeks or pad out hollows. It sounds scary. It is scary, but it's a transition that is becoming a lot easier to make. In future, it will be easier still, as the lines begin to blur between the treatment options.

Face creams will become more powerful and personalised. Already, you can have a cream tailored to match your precise skincare requirements. Bionova is a cult brand available at Harrods that prompts biologically active substances within the skin to trigger self-healing processes.

Then there are the prescription anti-ageing creams containing tretinoin, a derivative of Vitamin A, which so far has been the only thing clinically proven to reduce wrinkles. These creams will be prescribed more often as wised-up consumers demand them.

Technically, face creams are cosmetics, so should not make a physiological change to the skin. But there are two on the market (Olay's Pro-X, available only in the U.S. at present, and No 7's Protect & Perfect Intense, at Boots) that have been shown by stringent clinical tests to rejuvenate wrinkled skin in a way that could previously be achieved only by the prescription- only treatment tretinoin.

They work by boosting collagen production in the skin, while Olay Pro-X also increases cell turnover so that skin regenerates faster. Meanwhile, Clinique's Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector, available at Selfridges from Friday, promises to brighten skin and minimise pigmentation marks. It has been shown to work as well as the standard dermatologist prescription treatment that uses 4 per cent hydroquinone, which whitens the skin.

Pro-X, just like L'Oreal's Youth Code, uses technology based on genomics - working out what has changed, in terms of the genes between young skin and old skin, then identifying ingredients to tackle those changes. Its potential is mind-boggling - once scientists have worked out which genes they need to tackle, they can find ways to activate the right 'youth' genes to, say, produce more collagen or reduce inflammation within the skin.

The menu of non-surgical treatments will expand as new technology develops, too. There will be machines that can use combined laser technology to tackle pigmentation and resurface skin at the same time. And face and body sculpting using stem cell-enhanced fat grafting will become more widespread.

NHS surgeons trialling this technique have been getting promising results in breast enhancement, while cosmetic surgeons in London have been using the same technique to revolumise sagging faces.

By next year, when the results of the NHS trials are published, you can expect far more women to be demanding these kinds of procedure, despite the £7,000 price tag (which is as much as for a traditional facelift). Surgical facial adjustment will become increasingly subtle as existing techniques are refined to give less discernible, though reliable, results, with less recovery time and scarring - keyhole forehead lifts and mid-facelifts are already available.

We will even be able to pop pills to return our hair to the colour of its youth. L'Oreal has been working on hair re-pigmentation technology for years and hopes to have the results on sale within a decade.


40-plus role models: Liz Hurley, left, and Elle Macpherson, right


Most surgeons prefer to take a 'little and often' approach to facial rejuvenation, changing a face by degrees with a series of subtle tweaks rather than one hugely obvious lift. The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) recorded 36,400 procedures last year among members, a rise of 6.7 per cent from the previous year, despite the financial downturn.

'There is tremendous interest in cosmetic surgery,' says leading cosmetic and reconstructive surgeon Charles Nduka, who has commissioned a comprehensive survey of attitudes to cosmetic surgery among 5,000 women aged 16 to 60 for the not-for-profit website www.safercosmeticsurgery.co.uk.

'Around 7 per cent of the women questioned had already had a surgical procedure of some sort,' he says.

Another major reason why women are looking younger at 40 is a shift in our attitudes to ageing. Or perhaps that should be to growing up. There used to be a divide between the generations because women of a certain age surrendered to it.

Now, the middle-aged want to stay young, act young, think young. They gather friends on Facebook; they tweet. Along with their teenage daughters, they are addicted to Grazia and pore over the weekly charts of top new looks.

Pop into Topshop or American Apparel on a weekday morning, when all the lissome 15- year-olds are safely in their classrooms, and you might find their mothers trying on the clothes. Better health and healthy habits are another contributing factor.

Pilates, FitFlops and low GI are the staples of the 'are-you-really-40?' generation. They get their five-aday, 10,000 steps and eight hours of beauty sleep. And the savvy ones may also be getting their hormone levels checked out, too.

'Looking young is not just about Botox,' says Maria Somers, managing director of the HB Health clinic in Knightsbridge. 'What's the point of doing over the outside if you don't check what's going on on the inside?

'Your lifestyle has an enormous impact on how old you look. Making sure you have enough sleep, exercising and eating a wellbalanced diet are important.'

So how will 40 look in 40 years time? That, I suspect, will depend on who you are, your personal values and how rich you are. If you can afford the work, and attitudes towards it continue to become more permissive, then, unless you insist on ageing gracefully, why not?

And in the future, if you can't afford any work, it's going to show, in the way that today in the U.S. the poor are marked out by their bad teeth. Barring a volte-face in attitudes, the pressure for women to look young for their age will increase.

Youth and beauty have always gone hand in hand. There is a generation of girls growing up who have learned to adopt skin-friendly habits. Any dermatologist will tell you that the lines that show up when you're 40 are the result of everyday exposure to daylight.

Many girls use sunscreen daily, avoid sunbeds and have never smoked. They've savvy about popping pills - high-dose fish oils and antioxidants - to maximise their skin health. They started on pre-emptive Botox and Vitamin A creams in their early 20s, not to freeze their faces, but just enough to prevent their lines of expression from becoming permanent features.

They don't lie on the beach on holiday. By the time they're 40, they will be laughing. They simply won't look as old as 40-year-olds do now.



source: dailymail

Men 'spend 83 minutes preparing to go out' while women take just 79, survey finds

Men spend longer than women to get ready to go out

It may come as something of surprise in many households, but it seems that men are spending longer getting ready to go out than women.

Apparently, men spend 83 minutes a day on personal grooming, including cleansing, toning and moisturising, shaving, styling hair and choosing clothes.

In contrast, women have their beauty regime down to a fine art and get hair, clothes and make-up done in just 79 minutes.

While both men and women might find the claims - based on a survey of 3,000 Britons - hard to take, the researchers have come up with another remarkable fact.

They reckon the average man spends just 19p less a month on grooming products than a woman, splashing out £25.22, or £302.64 over the course of a year.

The survey for Superdrug also revealed that in the morning men spend an average of 23 minutes in the shower - a minute longer than women.

Men also take a minute longer on cleansing, toning and moisturising.

One in three men said say they didn't see why they shouldn't take as long as women.

Simon Comins, of Superdrug, said: 'These days, everyone appreciates a man who takes care of his appearance and smells nice.'



source: dailymail

Waiting for the perfect man? Mr Second Best is better than Mr Nobody... and I should know!

Mr Second Best: By holding out for a romantic ideal after the age of 30, girls are throwing away their chances of a secure and fulfilling family life


Single, over 30, longing for a baby? A new book says stop waiting for the perfect man and marry the first half-decent one who'll have you. Too right! says CHARLOTTE METCALF.

One of my best single friends is witty, clever, rich, successful and bears more than a passing resemblance to Pamela Anderson.

Men tend to wilt in her presence or behave with inappropriate rashness. The world is her oyster - and yet what she wants more than anything is a baby.

Currently, she is trying to conceive with donor sperm. When I went to see her recently, she introduced me to her friend, Alana, who - as a single woman - was thinking of going down the same route, but dithering. Alana knew I'd had a baby late in life and, since she was hitting 40, was eager to meet me.

When she found out I was living with my baby's father, she looked miserable for a minute before saying, with admirable honesty: 'Oh, so you're OK then. I'm not sure if I can bear to do it alone.

'Ever since I was little I've dreamed of a happy marriage and a family. Facing up to having a child alone kills that dream, and I think I'm still mourning it.'

I thought of Alana when I read the vituperative, enraged reactions to Lori Gottlieb's new book, Marry Him: The Case For Settling For Mr Good Enough, which is published in Britain next week.


source: dailymail

Jim Thompson Farm: Rural Center Aims to Preserve Isan's Cultural Heritage

By Maneeya Dhammataree

The community of Pak Thong Chai district in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima (Khorat) and Jim Thompson's Thai Silk Company seemed to share so much in common that the globally renowned Thai silk brand decided to establish its farm in the foothills of Phrayaprab, just 25 km from the center of town.

Covering 718 rai (115 hectares), Jim Thompson Farm was established in 1988 in order to assist the company in sericulture and silk production. The site includes a plant that produces reels of silk, a weaving production center, as well as a plant manufacturing patterned silk fabric.

As well as being involved in the cultivation of silk worm eggs, the farm also conducts comprehensive research in order to improve the native species.

Local benefits
Since Khorat is part of the northeastern region of Thailand commonly referred to as Isan, and up to 80% of the farm's employees are locals, Jim Thompson Farm is dedicated to preserving the area's cultural treasures and traditions. In fact, an area covering 10 rai has already been developed to resemble a traditional Isan Village.

To ensure the village appears authentic, a number of ancient homes – some up to 150-200 years old – were relocated to the site to demonstrate the region's unique architectural styles, such as the heun Khorat ('Khorat home') from Nakhon Ratchasima, and huen Phuthai, which is commonly found in Mukdahan province.

The 200-year-old Khorat-style residence was formally the home of 87-year-old Pae Srisomtakhu. According to Pae, one of the third generation of the family to reside in the home, the main structure and roof were constructed by a craftsman from Pak Thong Chai, while a Chinese craftsman built the walls.

This kind of house actually shares one significant design feature with regular traditional Thai homes, which is that it also has a raised floor, providing a spacious area below for storage or other uses.


Since there's a gap measuring 80 centimeters between the porch and the floor of the house, a piece of wood known as mai rong teen, which literally means 'a piece of wood to support your feet', is used, while the gap is often referred to as chong maew rod ('a gap big enough for a cat to pass through').

A mix of materials
The Phuthai home demonstrates a construction technique that involves binding. While the building's main pillars are made from wood, other materials used include lengths of hay bound together with bamboo cane.

Among the most significant architectural features of homes in Isan are heun non yai ('the main building'), as well as a peung, which is a sleeping area for boys that includes a shrine. Elders (parents) and girls get their own separate bedrooms in this form of residence.

These homes also include a chan dad ('porch'), a heun fai ('outdoor kitchen') and a hang ang num, which is a small building housing an earthenware jar (filled with water), which is used by those about to enter the house to wash their feet.

The farm also has its own 'shrine of the grandfathers', an ancient form of shrine that is considered to be sacred among Isan communities.


Sericulture support at a community level

Jim Thompson Farm wisely launched a community based project that aims to maximize the expertise among those living in the community.

“The people living here understand how to raise silkworm eggs since it is 'in their blood'. Apart from rice farming, the most popular livelihoods in this area were mulberry cultivation and the raising of silk worms,” says Thongchai Popaibul, manager of Jim Thompson Farm's farm and promotion department.

“The eggs from the silk worms raised on our farm will be supplied to mulberry farmers based in several other northeastern provinces, including Buriram and Surin.”

Once the larvae produce cocoons made of raw silk, the farm buys them back. The silk from these are processed into reels of silk thread at the Jim Thompson Farm's production facilities.

The farm has taken a large role in holding consultations with members of local communities with regard to farming and any issues relating to the raising of silk worms. Jim Thompson Farm is also able to guarantee cocoon prices for farmers.












source: tannetwork.tv

The wider view: A miniature homage to the palace of Versailles that would make Marie Antoinette proud

By Mail On Sunday Reporter

Miniature palace: Kevin Mulvany and Susie Rogers spent six months crafting the five-room house which is a homage to the Palace of Versailles

With precise attention to detail, this exquisitely crafted miniature of a French 18th Century Hotel Particulier, or grand private house, is a homage to the Palace of Versailles and would please even Marie Antoinette.

Made by husband-and-wife team Kevin Mulvany and Susie Rogers, who specialise in architectural miniatures, it was commissioned for £70,000 by an American woman with a passion for France.

Kevin and Susie, of Holt, Wiltshire, spent six months crafting the five-room house

They recreate marble, stone and brick using trompe-l’oeil paint techniques, gilding and French polishing. Rooms can be taken out and rearranged.

Columns and chimneypieces are added separately and are carved in limewood, plaster and resins. The Versailles-style parquet floors contain over 5,000 individual pieces.

Susie says: ‘Our pieces aren’t lifeless models. We aim to recreate a real sense of atmosphere; to give the feeling that someone has only just left the room. We research the building from books and old plans, make site visits to photograph and sketch, then build the structure in wood.’

The top floor is largely incomplete. ‘It’s as if a family has just moved in and the furniture is still in the wrong place,’ says Susie. On the left is a study with a chair and mirror.

The middle room is the boudoir, or private sitting room, and includes a mid-18th Century commode which cost £700 alone.


Amazing miniatures: Louis XVI drawing room furniture next to a tape measure


It is made of satin wood and based on a rococo original. On top is a £400 working brass and glass lantern made in France.

A metal cat is draped over the limewood parquet flooring. The chairs are covered with silk. The porcelain teacups were made and hand-painted by Susie.

The third room is the main bedroom. The rococo four-poster bed is made of intricately carved limewood painted cream and covered with blue silk hangings. Two large mirrors are on the floor, resting against double doors.

Downstairs, Susie is looking on to the hallway. In one hand she holds an antique marble copy of the Three Graces statute, which will sit in the alcove by the stairs. A brass lantern is in her other hand.

The balustrade is made of gilded metal. The staircase is wood painted to resemble stone and the floor is plaster painted to look like marble.

The middle room is a grand 18th Century salon. A harp made of wood, carved with roses on the top and with strings made of thread, has pride of place. One of a pair of matching commodes sits beside the fireplace.


Little wonders: These miniature chandeliers which were made bronze by a French craftsman and cost £900 and £300


An elaborate metal table with a trompe-l’oeil marble top is against the side wall. Two porcelain vases, copies of Sevres originals, are on top. The portrait of a lady oversees the room.

The fireplace is a copy of one in Versailles, with cherubs carved on its side panels.

The clock is a working watch and several Sevres-style figurines sit above the fireplace.

The chairs and love-seat are gilded wood covered with antique tapestry. The neoclassical table is made of wood with a central pedestal that looks like a quiver of arrows.

The dining room on the bottom right – moved from its usual position for display purposes – is based on Versailles’s Hall of Mirrors. All the mirrored panels are of polished steel. The large brass chandelier lies on the floor.


source: dailymail

Fears of travel chaos as weathermen warn south of England could be hit by up to eight inches of snow

Snow fell across many parts of Britain today, leaving commuters and Christmas shoppers facing the prospect of widespread disruption in coming days.

The south of England saw its first snow of winter as Britain braced itself for temperatures predicted to plunge as low as -6C.

Forecasters predicted some parts of London and the Home Counties could see up to 8ins - or 20cm - in the next few days.

They warned the heavy snowfall predicted for Friday could cause commuter chaos across the region

Walkies: A woman heads off over the snow-decked ground in Richmond Park, Central London, with her dogs


Jamie Oliver and a friend took the TV chef's daughter Petal Blossom Rainbow for a walk in the snow near his North London home today


Winter wonderland: Skaters enjoy the winter weather at Somerset House Ice Rink in London

The AA said that motorists across Britain could face difficulties as only half of all local authorities had salt stocks for gritting roads that would last for six days of continuous freezing weather.

Although no weather-related problems were immediately reported on London's transport network, bosses will be eager to avoid a repeat of the major disruption caused by previous cold snaps.

Met Office spokeswoman Sarah Holland said there could be transport disruptions later in the week as the snow became heavier and urged people to keep up to date with forecasts: 'Anyone driving should be keeping up to date with traffic and highway updates and looking at our website and the BBC'.

She added the snow would settle later in the week and may cause disruption for rail networks: 'It has started to settle in places today with the temperatures below freezing, it was -7.5 degrees at Charlwood, near Gatwick Airport overnight.


A police officer stands outside the Prime Minister's home as snow falls in central London
'The maximum temperature across most of London and the south east was around one degree today.'
Temperatures dropped to -6C in some rural areas overnight, thanks to an icy blast from Siberia.

Tonight is also expected to be cold although increased cloud cover will prevent temperatures falling as low as last night.
More snow is expected in central and eastern areas of the UK tomorrow with rural parts of Kent and East Anglia the most likely locations for a snowball fight


Cars edge past each other in Essex this morning as snow began to fall in the South for the first time this year

As snow falls, a stag takes stock in Richmond Park

Cutting a lone figure, a woman runs through the early morning frost in a park in London

More snow is expected later this week with many areas seeing a dusting of flakes by Saturday night.

‘It's looking bitterly cold for at least a week,’ said forecaster Paul Mott, also from MeteoGroup, adding that it was too early to predict whether it will be a white Christmas.

The prospect of December snowfalls comes after one of the wettest Novembers on record, with downpours causing widespread flooding and chaos.

If the cold snap continues towards Christmas there are fears for salt stocks to keep roads clear in some parts of the country.

This barn owl looked bewildered by the snow as he tried to stay warm in Chessington World of Adventures and Zoo in Surrey today

It's not only England suffering from cold temperatures in the run up to Christmas. In Siberia, more than 5,000 reindeer gathered together in an attempt to stay warm

Half of local authorities have salt stocks to deal with iced-up roads that would last just six days of continuous freezing weather, according to the AA.

The organisation's president Edmund King said he had sought assurances from the Local Government Association there would not be a repeat of the February snow chaos on the roads.

He said local authorities' reliance on supermarket-style 'just in time' deliveries left too many of them vulnerable.

Mr King said: 'Around 1,000 people are killed or seriously injured on snowy and icy roads each winter and hospital casualty departments are often inundated with people who have slipped and fallen.

'Investing in ice and snow clearance, to save elsewhere down the line, makes total sense.'

Forecast: Slow flurries are expected today, left, with warnings of more tomorrow

The BBC's five-day forecast shows a mixture of snow, sleet and sunshine


source: dailymail

Brother and sister barred from school's Christmas disco for taking time off when father died of cancer

Sean Watson, five, with his seven-year-old sister Claire: The youngsters were barred from a school disco because they took time off when their father died of cancer


A primary school barred a grieving five-year-old boy from a school disco organised to reward children with good attendance after he took time off when his father died of cancer.

Samantha Watson's children, Sean and his sister Claire, seven, were distraught when they were not allowed to go to the end-of-term Christmas event at Ryecroft Primary School, Bradford.

She had hoped the event would cheer them up after a traumatic year.

The 35-year-old was told both children did not to have a perfect attendance record because they had taken some time off when their father, Michael Watson, died from an aggressive form of throat cancer at the age of 46.

Outraged Samantha, of Bradford, said: 'They had a couple of days off when their dad passed away and then a couple the week after because of the funeral.

'I then found out that they were not allowed to go because they had time off so I rang the school office to check this was the case and the woman said "bereavements count".

'Michael had cancer for two years and got it really bad. The school knew he was poorly and we said we had been told he had not got long.

'I made them aware that if the worst happened we would have to drag the kids out of school.

'It's a lot for them to take in at Christmas.'


Tragic: Michael Watson died from an aggressive form of throat cancer at the age of 46


A spokesman for the school said: 'Following conversations with the headteacher, it appears there was a mistake about the Year 1 little boy and he could have attended the disco.

'This would have been put right if the mother had spoken to the right person, because of the way the mother spoke to the admin assistant the opportunity to rectify this appropriately was missed.

'The school will apologise to mum for this genuine error.'

Headteacher Jayne Clarke said an extensive programme of Christmas events was taking place at the school that would involve every child without exception.

She said: 'We have an attendance disco and within that policy we look at the children who have a 100 per cent attendance record.
'It's not instead of all the normal Christmas parties, it's in addition to that as a reward.

'We are trying to build a community that attends school and regards school as absolutely vital for the future.

'It's so strict that, for example, families who have a lot of lates are not invited to the disco because we are committed to getting children here.

'I would feel so sad to take away this reward for excellence because some people are sad that they are not invited.'

Mrs Clarke said the school always supported families that suffered bereavements and was sympathetic to the Watsons' situation.

She said: 'We have gone from the bottom six up 39 places in the league tables of achievement in Bradford.

'We beat the national standard for writing and for science.'


source: dailymail.co.uk

With the help of Biscuit the animatronic dog, John Lewis smashes sales record as Christmas shoppers defy recession

Signs of strong Christmas spending on the High Street were revealed today as department store John Lewis said it had set a new all-time weekly sales record.

The retailer saw sales of £110million in the period to Saturday, smashing the record achieved in the previous week.

Gift-buying stepped up a gear, with fashion, watches and sewing machines all snapped up by festive shoppers. Gaming and toys were also seeing their traditional Christmas surge, with Biscuit the animatronic dog proving a favourite for the store.

A consumer fightback against the recession appears to be gathering pace elsewhere too with a greater number of shoppers visiting major retail stores than this time last year.

A young girl with Biscuit the animatronic dog who has proved a surprise hit for John Lewis. There were signs of a consumer fightback against the recession across the country

Shoppers flood the length of London's Oxford Street as traders braced themselves for one of the busiest weekends of the retail year. In Central London, more than £120million is expected to be spent by the end of today
Capital Shopping Centres (CSC), responsible for some of the UK's largest retail outlets, including the Metrocentre in Gateshead and Braehead in Glasgow, said footfall through its stores was up on last year's figure.
The number of people visiting the centres was up 3 per cent for the year to date in 2009, with more than seven million shoppers flocking to CSC's 14 centres in the past week alone.
Trevor Pereira, commercial director at CSC, said: 'Sales of traditional favourites - electrical goods, perfume sets, CDs and DVD - remain popular Christmas items.
'The pace of shopping is steady across the whole of the UK, and as ever, we expect late shopping surges over the next two weekends before Christmas.'
This weekend is expected to be one of the busiest in the retail year as millions flock to high street stores and out of town shopping centres.
In Central London, where more than £120million is expected to be spent by the end of today, people were seen queueing outside stores as they waited for doors to open.
At John Lewis large household purchases were also seeing 'incredible growth', particularly in fitted kitchens.
Overall, sales were more than 8 per cent up on John Lewis's biggest seven days in 2007, which until last week had been its all-time record.
Director of operational development Andrew Murphy said: 'It is very exciting to be breaking records week after week.
"The atmosphere in our branches is very festive as across the country people are out Christmas shopping, even men, although I am sure there will still be many who leave it until the last minute.'


source: dailymail.co.uk

200,000 Christmas shoppers in Oxford Street by 10.30am: Packed high streets defy the downturn

Shoppers today shrugged off worries about the recession as they shelled out tens of millions of pounds in a Christmas spending blitz. Millions pounded pavements across the UK with some shoppers even queueing for stores to open their doors this morning in the hope of snaring a bargain.

More than £120 million was expected to be spent in central London alone this weekend in what is traditionally one of the busiest retail weekends of the year.

By 10.30am more than 200,000 shoppers had already visited London's world famous Oxford Street shopping area.

With less than a fortnight until Christmas, shopping was expected to build to a peak later today.

By 10.30am more than 200,000 shoppers were already in the heart of London's West End.

Jace Tyrrell, spokesman for the New West End Company, which covers Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street, said: 'It has already been very busy this morning.

'There's been around 200,000 people through the stores already, and there were people queueing outside some of the shops this morning.

'This weekend will be one of the busiest of the year - we are expecting around £120million to go through the tills by the end of tomorrow.'

Mr Tyrrell said trading was up on last year despite the recession, with fewer discounted bargains on the shelves.

More shoppers flood Oxford Street today. Millions of pounds will be spent over the next two days as shoppers throughout the country descend upon high street stores and shopping centres to snap up Christmas gifts

Shopping centres in East Anglia said they were busy and trade appeared to be good.

'We have been quite busy in recent weeks,' said a spokeswoman for the Queensgate centre in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.

'We do seem to be particularly busy today. We obviously haven't got any figures but from what I can see we're as busy this Christmas as ever.

'Certainly, just speaking as a shopper it seems to me that people are out shopping and spending money.'

A spokeswoman for Bluewater shopping centre in Greenhithe, Kent, said it had been 'extremely' busy today.

The number of shoppers through the doors was unavailable but she said the car park, which has 13,000 spaces, was 'nearly full'.

However, other indications suggested that shoppers' confidence did not match retailers'.

A Times/Populus poll showed that adults expect to spend an average £321 on gifts this year - down £37.50 from last year's Christmas budget.

This compares with an average spend of £425 in December 2003.

A record number of stores will be trading around the clock and hundreds more will be open until late into the night in a landmark bid to generate a last-minute Christmas rush.

More than 740 supermarkets will be trading 24 hours a day in the week before Christmas - an all-time high.

On top of that at least another 300 will be trading until 11pm or even midnight, including Marks & Spencer and Debenhams outlets.

M&S said 113 of its Simply Food stores will be trading 24 hours a day in the run-up Christmas.
It's a reflection of the fact that Christmas falls on a Friday this year, forcing millions of workers to shop for fresh food and gifts after work between Monday and Thursday evening.

Many stores will be also pushing Sunday trading restrictions to breaking point.

Jason Gordon, retail director at Ernst & Young consultants, called the moves 'eminently sensible', saying: 'British shopping hours never cease to amaze the Americans who come to the UK.

'They are staggered by the early times stores close. But we are moving towards a more American model.'

He suggested current Sunday trading restrictions - originating in the Christian tradition of devoting the day to rest, worship and family - are outdated, adding: 'We live in a multi-cultural society. Giving retailers the ability to trade fully on a Sunday would be well-received by many.'

source: dailymail.co.uk

Frank Lampard's ex Elen Rivas unveils the UK's most 'innovative lingerie ever'

Elen Rivas reveals a unique way Diamond Boutique's Limitless Bra can be worn - this style is perfect for underneath a one shoulder dress

Ex-WAG turned underwear model Elen Rivas has unveiled a new bra which is tipped to revolutionise women's underwear.
Frank Lampard's ex unveiled Diamond Boutique's Limitless Bra, which will be on sale in Tesco and has been described as the most innovative lingerie ever.
The bra comes in several parts, including two cups and a selection of straps, giving the wearer the power to create their own 'DIY style' bra.



Each cup features 24 hook positions and the back strap another 28, which is said to offer limitless ways of wearing it.
Miss Rivas last month signed up as the body of Diamond Boutique, a range of lingerie by entrepreneur and star of The Apprentice Michelle Mone which is being sold through the supermarket giant.
The bra took over 12 months to make, will be available in black and nude in sizes 32-38 A-D, and will cost just £16.



Ms Mone said the bra was a ‘must have’ garment for every lingerie drawer.
'These days fashion is so experimental, it’s often a hassle finding the right bra for the right outfit, any girl will tell you,' she said.



Miss Rivas - who until recently was known as Ms Rives, revealed last month she took the modelling work in order to support herself since the couple's split nine month's ago.
She has previously complained about how she has had to rein in her lavish lifestyle by cutting down on the amount of champagne she drinks and that she has to shop at cut-price high street store Primark because she is worried about saving money.


Miss Rivas is now living with her daughters, Luna, four, and two-year-old Isla, in a six-bedroom house that Lampard has bought for £2.85million overlooking Chelsea Harbour.

They ended their seven-year relationship in February this year after he was linked to other women. As part of their split, he also agreed to pay maintenance for their two children.


But she has claimed she is struggling to adjust to life as a single mother but says that her impoverished upbringing has helped her cope.
Diamond Boutique’s Limitless Bra is available from Tesco and www.tesco.com/clothing.


source: dailymail.co.uk

Let Down by a Tiger We Never Knew

By Alex Altman



To borrow a timely euphemism, athletes "transgress" so often that when it comes time to calculate the damage, the candor of the confession usually trumps the severity of the sin. Tiger Woods shanked his apology, waiting several excruciating days to state that he had "let his family down" and was "far short of perfect." Alleged mistresses are popping up to dish details of late-night trysts, fans are aghast and the pitchfork-wielding punditry are bloodying their former hero with barely concealed glee. But instead of demonizing a star who was worshipped by millions, it's worth pausing to consider why so many people feel let down by his behavior.

Groomed for greatness from infancy, Woods is the rare phenom to fulfill his promise. He's a multiethnic star with a megawatt smile and what was a clean-living image — qualities he harnessed to become the consummate corporate pitchman, the world's richest athlete for eight years running and the target of unending idolatry. When athletes meet the stratospheric expectations heaped upon them, we have fewer incentives to unwrap their shiny packaging. Now that Tiger's brand has been dented, fans who bought Nikes or quaffed Gatorade at his urging may be channeling their disillusionment into moral outrage. They're less likely to give Tiger a mulligan for his behavior after spending countless afternoons watching him stalk the course and trounce competitors.

Woods missed a real chance to cushion his fall. His apology was vague and defensive, the feigned surprise at the harsh glare of "tabloid scrutiny" an approach that missed its mark. "I have not been true to my values," he told us. Probably so, but the statement was unverifiable; Woods calibrated his image as carefully as any man alive. Burned by a brash, freewheeling interview in GQ early in his career, he shrank from the spotlight even while courting it to augment his fortune. He shut out the press, cloistered his family in ritzy enclaves, abhorred distractions. This is a guy whose $20 million yacht is named Privacy. For years his interviews have been as scripted and predictable as his Sunday tournament garb, so aggressively bland that those of us who prefer our superstars a little grimy embraced his profane outbursts and predilection for hurling clubs on the course as a welcome dash of humanity. Fans may have loved Tiger, but they never really knew him. They simply knew they were backing a winner, and they basked in the reflected glory.

That same success is the key to his resurrection. As much as we love tearing down our idols, we're suckers for tales of redemption, and for athletes, that story arc bends through the winner's circle. We never forgave Mark McGwire for the fiasco of his Congressional testimony because he was done clubbing home runs. Were Pete Rose still hustling around the basepaths, the stain of his wagers would've long since faded. But history shows that had they been able to atone on the playing fields, they might've earned back their pedestals. Kobe Bryant, whose jersey is again the NBA's most popular, has buried his legal troubles in the confetti of his last championship. When the New York Yankees captured their 27th title in November, Alex Rodriguez's steroid use — a scandal botched as badly, from a p.r. standpoint, as Woods' mysterious car accident — took a backseat to story lines about how the revelation liberated him to focus on connecting with his teammates.

Right now it may be hard to muster much sympathy for Tiger, who could comfortably bandage his wounds in $100 bills and still have a few hundred million to spare. But history's best golfer will undoubtedly seize the chance to repair his reputation the way he earned it in the first place. One Sunday next year, Woods will catch fire, tear past the competition and hoist another trophy. When that happens, let's hope fans remember that public prowess does not equal private virtue, and that we should reserve our adulation for those whom we know are actually deserving.


source: Time.com