Louis Theroux Extreme Love

Anyone that has deal with Autism, as a parent, carer, or educator will welcome the the new two part documentary Extreme Love that was shown on BBC2 last night. More than that it will give us all an understanding of the struggles the children have to deal with as well as the families they are part of.

I have been a fan of Louis Theroux's work for many years and it is great that he made this documentary that will bring to the general public and understanding and awareness of this condition. To many it is just something they have heard of and have no understanding of at all. Hopefully this will bring the condition into the public eye.

In the program Louis Theroux travelled to America to visit the homes of parents with autistic children. There he witnessed scary scenes of parents wrestling their kids to the floor, which made for disturbing viewing at times, but this contrasted by moments humour breaking through the tiredness of the battle these parents face. What was impressive was parents commitment and that is what Louis Theroux took away from his visit.

It was a real eye opener of a programme and it showed how many of these children in the right environment while showing the challenges that the parents without any help. It is a shame that in the United Kingdom the type of school shown in the programme don't exist in here because of Government inclusion policy that requires teachers to educate autistic children in a classroom with "normal" children. The special school focused on social interaction and teaching basic life-skills. It was a remarkable place and a model we would do well to copy.

The only criticisms are that you could have of the programme was that it was made in America and not in the United Kingdom and it could also have focused a little more on the condition itself. Having said that from what I have seen the programme has been welcomed by families with autistic children throughout the country and I hope it has done much to raise awareness of the condition in the United Kingdom.

The Apprentice Mess

I wouldn't normally write about a particular episode of The Apprentice but after years of watching the show, last night I was shocked by the lack of business sense in the how the winning team were picked, based on alone sales rather than profit. The whole premiss of the programme was flawed, that the best team wins and the losers are sent to the greasy spoon to await their fate.

The two teams were given the task of coming up with a fitness idea that could be sold as franchise to gyms and fitness centres. Once they came up with their idea and made a DVD of the concept they pitched the idea to three big players in the market. Basically what happened is the winning team in this weeks show gave away free gym equipment in the form of Space hoppers, hula hoops and skipping ropes without the cost of the equipment being taken off the sales figures to get actual the profit they would have made. This disadvantaged the other team who would have made a higher profit if these costs had have been included in the calculations.

The winning team made a basic business mistake about costs. After their first pitch where they were asked about equipment costs they at first made up the figures. Realising they didn't have a clue they then decided they would include the equipment for free in future pitches. They didn't even think of how this would affect the cost or their profit. Their whole business model was flawed and they should have been punished for it. They won on their third pitch that when Virgin Active said they would buy into their idea bring implement it in one hundred and twenty two clubs. The fact is the equipment costs would have really cut badly into their profits at the price they were offered.

When it came to the boardroom, Lord Sugar pointed out their mistake but he failed impose a penalty on the money they made through sales to allow for it. By letting the team win he rewarded them for their incompetence and he sent the wrong message to the business world that he campions in the show.  Surely he doesn't want people that can't work out basic cost to work for him or be in business with him.

When I posted about the start of the series five weeks ago I said "You can just see it the show being aired on prime time Chinese State Television as an example of how not to do business" what I didn't realise was that it really could be the case after tonights show. The thing is, they won't just be laughing at the contestants. What was Lord Sugar thinking of when he let this one go.

Hope Murphy

On Saturday I selected someone called Hope Murphy as act of the week and instead of selecting the cover on the show as a video I picked one of her own songs. I'm not sure she will win the show, you know what the British public are like, bust she deserves some attention from the independent record labels. So here are some of her own works rather than covers to add weight to the argument.

I find myself, asking the question will winning the show be good for her? Once she is taken in to the Simon Cowell music machine I wonder ifl she be allowed to develop her own style without having some style imposed upon her She is still young and developing musically. She is clearly a talented singer and songwriter, she just needs work to find a style that is her own. To do that she needs someone that will be in there for the long haul and not for the quick buck. Simon Cowell and his music machine might be the wrong thing for her at this stage.

If she does win, or Simon Cowell takes her under her wing, I hope I am wrong in whatmy fears I have expressed here. Simon Cowell has a good ear for singers and I have seen do wonders to people he rates on TV talent shows, like American Idol, but I sometimes wonder if he is to quick to exploit them and make them conform what he feels people want. If he has such a young artist he needs to given them time to develop so they have a future in the music industry and don't have to appear on the The Voice ten years later hoping to restart their careers after a being a one album wonder.

X Factor - Mr Bore Returns

According to the press it would appear that, Take That star Gary Barlow, aka Mr Bore, is return to the judging panel of the this years X Factor. Gary Barlow himself tweeted: “I’m so happy to tell you all that I’m back on the X Factor this year! See you at auditions.". I'm sure all his fans will be glad to know he is back, but personally I feel he had more to do with the failure of last years show than anyone else on the panel.

According to Simon Cowell's biographer Tom Bower, Simon was outraged by the last series of The X Factor and almost sacked Gary Barlow as a judge after feeling that the show was boring and stale. A statement of fact that I agree completely with, and one of the big reasons was Gary Barlow. He was given the role of head judge and he came across as being boring, scripted and uninspiring. He seemed to lack the personality to pull off the role he had been given on the show. 

According to press reports Barlow was signed a deal worth as much as £2 million to return to the hit show and increase of half a million from last year. To be honest I think Simon Cowell is wasting his money, I would have charged him for being on the show after last years performance not paid him more. In my opinion Gary Barlow should stick to what he does best, singing and song writing, and give up his career in television, because he just doesn't make the grade.

I'm not going to write off this years show off yet but this isn't a good start. There are far better people out there than Gary Barlow to judge the show. Let's hope Simon Cowell has something up his sleeve to save the X Factor, but after this move and last years contestants who were almost unwatchable and so untalented, that even independent labels weren't interested in them, things aren't looking good.

Political Apathy

Yesterday the national parties lunched their campaigns for the coming local elections. With the number of people turning out so low it a wonder why they bother to do it nationally at all. While the Government is making local politics more important the general disinterest remains amazing low.

Political Apathy is one of the big issues that affect Politics in the United Kingdom. People just don't care what Governments do at a local, regional or national level. There is this feeling that it doesn't matter what I think, the politicians won't listen. The truth is by taking an active interest in politics you can change the country for the good and you can get your views heard.

If you write to your Member of Parliament then they have to at least listen and in most case you will get a reply. In general the same is true of Councillors, although this is not always the case, with some of them doing the job just fuel their own egos. If you have a councillor like that and you vote you at least have a chance of getting rid of them, but not if you don't vote.

There is a famous quote by one of the greatest minds that has ever lived that is as follows:

"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything" - Albert Einstein

It is a quote that everyone that says they are politically apathetic would do well to think about. For it is the lack of interest in politics that causes allows the evils in this world to gain power. It is complacency, disinterest and apathy that are destroyers of the free world.

I know it is not just the people not voting that are to blame for the political apathy in the United Kingdom, some of the blame falls squarely on the politicians who fail to engage with people for a number of reasons. Looking at general elections there are a number of reasons the stand out about why people don't vote. The most common reason is that some people live in safe seats where one party has won year after year so voting for a opposing party makes no difference. Others include, that people feel it makes no difference as all the parties are basically the same, other feel that the political parties aren't interested in their views or needs, while finally there are those feel that the parties don't work to get peoples votes. These are all issues the politicians need to address and full researched.

Some argue that the people that don't vote are making a statement of about what they think of the political system and the choices they have been given, and this is a valid point. The problem is with this idea is how do you sort out those making a statement from those that just don't care. I know recently I was faced with a choice of two candidates neither of which supported my views, but it didn't stop me voting. All I did was to register my unhappiness in the only way you can by spoiling the ballot paper. At least by doing that I made a clear statement as did other voters in the ward, since then I have tried to get my views known.

There are a number of options if someone doesn't like what the parties stand for or feel they are being listened too. One thing they can do is stand in an election either nationally or locally, the other is to form pressure groups, again these can be national or local. The thing is people can always do something as long as they actually do something rather than doing noting and then complaining that politics isn't relevant. The thing is we all have views and we all have a vote and rights, if we don't use them then your voice will never be heard.

Clearly this is a complex subject and there are lots of issues. Maybe, I have strong views on this. I believe that everyones vote matters, and that people that don't vote are just saying they don't care about the future of there local area, their nation and the future of the country their children have to live in. There has to be a deal however to get people to vote, those in power have to stop lying, they have to be fair and they have to listen and actively win our votes.