Hartlepool's lost generation caught in the youth unemployment trap | Business
Of the many words that crop up as Ashley Short sits down to reflect on his education and employment history, three of the most frequent are "nothing", "depressing" and "temporary". "They put us through things that won't get you a job," he says from beneath the peak of a large black baseball cap. "It's temporary: there's nothing out there. I've lost count of all the CVs and application forms I've sent out and you're hearing nothing back. From leaving school I've been unemployed more than I've been employed." Short is 23 and has two young children. And that, for the young people of this port town and hundreds of thousands of others across the country, is the big question: how much longer? The West View Project, which uses sailing, camping and rock climbing to build up young people's confidence and discipline, has seen its share of hardship over the three decades of its existence. "One day the car park was full and the next day the car park was deserted, it's sad to say. Phillip Inman
'My parents had no idea of the damage their hippie values did to me' - Features, Health & Families
I had always been a bit of a wild child – I got into the punk scene when I was about 14 and started using recreational drugs such as speed and LSD. I first came across heroin when I was 16. I was at a friend's squat in Islington and someone produced some. I was only too willing to try it. It was unlike any drug I had ever had. I felt an incredible warmth throughout my body. I come from a very privileged background. My parents had no idea of the damage their hippie values did to me. I eventually got expelled for various reasons, including not turning up to games lessons and taking drugs, so they sent me off to a kibbutz for a while. But when I came back from Israel I walked into a friend's flat in Maida Vale and they were all sitting there injecting. I moved from job to job and country to country, but the problem just came with me. I cringe at the memory. But for me that never happened. It only ever gets worse if you are an addict. There are still consequences. www.thecabinchiangmai.com
Paul Gascoigne: Alive and kicking | Football
In June last year, a dark rumour began to circulate: Paul Gascoigne had two days to live. There were even stories that the former England footballer was already dead – after a car crash, of pneumonia, from the drink. Nobody wanted to believe the rumours, but there seemed to be a grim inevitability to them. A month later, Gascoigne proved he was alive in bizarre and equally dark circumstances. After Raoul Moat had shot three people, killing one, Gascoigne jumped in a taxi with a box of chicken, can of lager, fishing rod and dressing gown, and announced to the world that he was there to rescue his old friend from himself. It wasn't a good year for Gascoigne publicity-wise. A year on, Gascoigne is still in rehab, living in Bournemouth and attempting to rebuild his life. He's more relaxed on his return: "I'll have a white coffee, and can I also have a ginger beer?" It's good to see you alive, I say. He smiles. Did it scare him? No matter what team they supported, football fans loved Gazza.
Lawyers, Tiggers & Bears, Oh, My! - Features
I. In Which We Are Introduced to Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Lawyers, and the Stories Begin HERE IS EDWARD BEAR, known to his friends as Winnie-the-Pooh, sitting upright in an office chair at a Century City law firm. A lawsuit has been filed against the Walt Disney Company. The lawsuit sometimes makes Pooh feel like he's been dragged down the stairs, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, and sometimes it's hard to know if it is Walt Disney that Pooh feels dragged by or if it is someone else. Maybe the lawsuit is a bother and there is another way if only Pooh could stop bumping for a moment and think of it. As Pooh tries to give his mind to the matter, Bertram Fields—the man who calls himself Pooh's lawyer—appears in the 20th-floor conference room of Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman Machtinger & Kinsella, where Pooh happens to be sitting. Pooh and Fields have something in common: They are septuagenarians, which is a long, difficult word that means they are Very Old. II. Slesinger v. IV.
