Are You Brave Enough To Try The Hottest Pizza At Mayfair Pizza Co?

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Frostie

First came Sweet Dessert Pizzas. Then came Bloody Mary Pizzas. And now posh parlour Mayfair Pizza Co. is once again lighting a fire under London with its latest slice: the Hottest Pizza.

Spiked with spice for Scoville-shattering levels of searing heat, the Hottest Pizza is made using hot sauces from cult street food favourite The Rib Man and comes adorned with an arsenal of fiery toppings sure to burn down the house.

The Hottest Pizza, priced at £14 and available from now until the end of April, is made with fresh tomato and ‘Christ On A Bike’ sauce spread on a homemade base and topped with ’Nduja Italian sausage and spicy pork rib. A generous sprinkle of dried chilli flakes and smoked jalapeño powder are added alongside mozzarella and fresh scotch bonnets before being blasted at 500°C. Finally, the punchy pizza is finished with creamy burrata, peppery rocket and a drizzle of ‘For The Love Of God’ hot sauce, sure to make your eyes water and your cheeks flush.

Executive Chef Michael Lecouter’s latest creation is must-try for any discerning pizza connoisseur.

The only question is: are you brave enough?

Mayfair Pizza Co.

4 Lancashire Court, New Bond Street,

London W1S 1EY

www.mayfairpizzaco.com

@mayfairpizzaco

Breaking The Bank & Busting a Myth

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Aidan

(Image: http://www.vixendivorcee.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/casino-de-monte-carlo-gambling.jpg )

Breaking the bank at Monte Carlo is something we all dream of at least once in a while. It represents a wonderfully luxuriant fantasy that draws on the unmistakable glamour of the Principality along with the fairytale simplicity of a life transformed by nothing more than the turn of a card. The Azure allure of the Mediterranean, sweeping palm-lined boulevards, yachts and limousines, movies stars and beauty queens…. no wonder it is such a Hollywood staple; who would not want a champagne lifestyle like that?

Life can be every bit as remarkable as fairytales sometimes, and every once in a while someone does disappear into the night with a fortune. A massive casino win is one of those dreams that occasionally really does come true. The glitz and the romance of Monte Carlo itself may not always be part of the story but, for those who win big, such a picturesque destination quickly becomes a realistic option.
(Image: http://farm1.staticflickr.com/79/230800331_09562765c6_z.jpg )

The Man who broke the bank…

The idea of actually breaking the bank at Monte Carlo all started in 1891 when English entrepreneur Charles Wells scooped an enormous roulette win in Monte Carlo’s Grand Casino to the tune of a million francs. Those were the days when a million francs represented a king’s ransom. His win became so renowned that a popular song was written in his honour. Whether it was the song itself or the dream it described, “The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo” remained a music hall favourite from the 1890s well into the 1940s. Hollywood got in on the act as well in the form of a 1935 romantic comedy made to recreate Wells’ phenomenal win. That one in a million opportunity is one of those ideas that, it seems, no one can resist.

Wells is, indirectly at least, the most famous casino big winner, but he is not the only one. In 2000, humble cocktail waitress Cynthia Jay-Brennan enjoyed a return that was every bit as extraordinary. On a night out to celebrate her mother-in-law’s birthday, Jay-Brennan took a turn at the Megabucks slot machine, a state-wide lottery jackpot that had been rolling over for several weeks. On her ninth pull, she dropped the small matter of $34,959,458.56. At that point she was able to give up her waitressing job at – believe it or not – the Monte Carlo Casino in Las Vegas.

21st Century winners

(Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Phil_Ivey_%28WSOP_2009%2C_Event_25%29.jpg )

More recently, the online world has started producing a steady stream of gaming millionaires. In 2009, Finland’s Patrik Antonius won the (then) biggest ever online poker pot, pocketing a massive $1,356,947 in a single hand. And the world-renowned poker star Phil Ivey – ‘The Tiger Woods of Poker’ – was believed to have won close to $2million playing online – and that is in addition to the many millions the has picked up in person at some of the world’s most exclusive gaming rooms. And the roster of online winners keeps growing with popular weekly tournaments such as the PokerStars Sunday Millions

The Sunday Million has become one of the world’s biggest regular poker events. It is the online equivalent of the Monte Carlo Casino in your own front room. Every week, players from all around the world, including some of the biggest names in the professional game, are able to play together online for a guaranteed million dollar prize pool. It is a forum that allows everyone to turn that dream of a luxury lifestyle into reality. Low stakes qualifying tournaments are run throughout the week in the run up to the big event, with initial stakes as low as just one dollar. There is no bar to anyone with skill, judgement and knowledge of the game going all the way to that first prize. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Sunday Million attracts tens of thousands of players every week. And every week one of those players walks away with a massive first prize.

There are numerous other online tournaments, but none can match the scale of the Sunday Million. And, of course, there are gamblers who prefer alternatives to poker. Ivey is by no means the only high roller out there.

The world’s most famous ‘run’

Between 1992 and 1995, Archie “The Greek” Karas earned celebrity status in the US when he worked a meagre $50 up to a cool $40million. Karas’ feat was not achieved overnight. The one-time ship waiter’s win was the culmination of a series of increasingly extravagant bets that became famous as ‘The Run’. He combined betting on games of pool as well as a variety of more conventional casino games, but over the course of that incredible period he just kept winning bigger and bigger amounts. What was even more remarkable about Karas’ story is that he then went on to lose all of that money. He is, it goes without saying, an intriguing figure.

Karas has some justification when he claims to have played with more money than anyone else alive, but he attributes his success to a paradoxical relationship with his wealth. Famously, he has declared, “Money means nothing to me. I don’t value it… The things I want, money can’t buy: health, freedom, love, happiness. I don’t care about money, so I have no fear.”

(Image: http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2633/5810485956_723ca96d33_z.jpg )

Following in the footsteps of Wells, Karas’ story is set to be given the Hollywood treatment. Hollywood just cannot resist the extravagant allure of someone breaking the bank. But as Karas’ example shows, a big win is not an end in itself; it is merely one part of a wider story. Living happily ever after is all well and good in fairy stories and it makes perfect sense for Hollywood scriptwriters, but real life is invariably a little more complicated. What we say we want and what we really want may not be the same thing.

An unromantic observation

F Scott Fitzgerald, author of the Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night – both books that deal with the romantic allure of the rich – famously took the Hollywood view of wealth. Perhaps not entirely coincidentally, the phenomenal success of Gatsby in the 1920s had turned Fitzgerald into an overnight millionaire. He was the jazz age equivalent of a modern star like Benedict Cumberbatch.
(Image: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3036/3009099385_4f0cc26241_z.jpg?zz=1 )

During a summer sojourn in the South of France, he once shared a famous exchange with his contemporary and friend Ernest Hemingway. It is a conversation that offers a telling backdrop to that fantasy idea of breaking the bank. “The rich are different from the rest of us” Fitzgerald had whimsically suggested. “No,” was Hemingway’s pithy reply, “They just have more money.”

Hemingway’s characteristically sharp put-down casts the whole Monte Carlo fantasy into a very different light. Hemingway, it is fair to say, would have had some time for the unsentimental and objective way that Karas appears to deal with his changing fortunes. Like Karas, Wells’ Monte Carlo millions did not last long. When Wells returned to England the money he had won stayed with the casino. He had played it all away. It is the sort of story Hemingway would have relished.

The poker lesson

As wise – or as cynical – as Hemingway was in his exchange with the starry-eyed Fitzgerald, he was clearly on the same page as the likes of Phil Ivey. Within the cold-eyed world of professional poker, money is divorced from its day-to-day utility. Instead, it becomes merely a part of the game, a means to play for bigger stakes and even greater wins. Building a bankroll is not about living the Monte Carlo lifestyle, it is simply a matter of demonstrating the quality of a person’s skill at the game.

And that wholly practical logic is the antidote to the ‘happy ever after’ sentimentality that is the stuff of music hall songs and Hollywood happy endings. We may all fantasise about breaking the bank at Monte Carlo but whilst the tangible reality of a mountain of cash is wholly achievable, realising the glamorous fantasy of a life of ease and enduring good health and happiness is something else altogether. Breaking the bank at Monte Carlo or picking up the Sunday Million will not make any of us a different person. It will just mean we have more money.

Is Your Mother An Art Lover? Gift This!

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Corinne Tuddenham-Finn

If your mother is a lover of art, a unique and welcome gift she would appreciate

is a ticket to attend one of London Art Studies’ events.

London Art Studies – a series of exclusive events designed to make learning about art both accessible and entertaining –

unveils an exclusive partnership with the Bulgari Hotel in London’s Knightsbridge.

Expert lecturers on the arts will host a series of classes comprising ‘power hours’ over a cocktail

and morning discussions over coffee in the luxury hotel’s private screening room.

From investigating the works of Warhol, Grayson Perry and Duchamp, to getting the most out of hotly-anticipated exhibitions throughout 2015,

lectures have been carefully curated by London Art Studies to

make each session highly relevant as well as compellingly full of insider knowledge.

Lecturers are selected not only for their expertise but also for their accessible and engaging teaching styles.

The new London Art Studies evening class series (LAS Evenings) and morning lecture series (LAS In Focus)

at the Bulgari Hotel sit neatly alongside the institution’s established and popular art lectures held

over lunch at Koffmann’s at The Berkeley Hotel.

Explains London Art Studies Founder Kate Gordon:

“London is the arts capital of the world and I wanted to provide art lectures for people who don’t have

time to sign up for lengthy courses, but who still want access to the very best teaching in a fun and

sociable format. Our courses appeal to both curious beginners and more knowledgeable art-lovers and

collectors. Our aim is to take some of mystery out of the art world and one of the nicest compliments I’ve

received about our classes is from a student who called them a “spa for the mind” – I think she meant that

our classes are inspiring and also an escape from everyday life”.

As a pre Mother’s Day treat London Art Studies recommends –

LAS Lunch: American Art Since World War II on 12th March 2015.

A wonderful way to be inspired and escape the ‘daily grind’. London Art Studies founder,

ex Sotheby’s and CNN producer Kate Gordan deems the experiences ‘spas for the mind’

and are also wonderful experiences for mother and daughter (or son) to share.

Lectures include representatives from Christie’s, Sotheby’s, the National Gallery and Tate.

Individual ticket prices range from £50 to £175.

Tickets and gift cards can be purchased from www.londonartstudies.com

March, 2015

3rd LAS EVENINGS The Shock of the Old Ben Street 19.00 – 20.15

5th LAS LUNCH Best of British: From Bloomsbury to Bacon Lizzie Perrotte 10.00 – 14.30

10th LAS IN FOCUS Focus on Impressionism: Degas, Morisot and Pissarro Richard Stemp 10.00 – 12.00

12th LAS LUNCH American Art Since WWII Ben Street 10.00 – 14.30

May, 2015

5th LAS IN FOCUS Sarah Lucas, Sargent and Alexander McQueen Richard Stemp 10.00 – 12.00

5th LAS EVENINGS 20 Great Paintings of the 20th Century Ben Street 19.00 – 20.15

6th LAS LUNCH Modern Art: From Duchamp to the YBAs Linda Smith 10.00 – 14.30

7th LAS LUNCH The Legacy of Minimalism Ben Street 10.00 – 14.30

19th LAS LUNCH British Art from Freud to Emin Richard Stemp 10.00 – 14.30

June, 2015

2nd LAS IN FOCUS Delaunay, Hepworth and Martin Richard Stemp 10.00 – 12.00

2nd LAS EVENINGS Venice Biennale 2015 Overview Ben Street 19.00 – 20.15

16th LAS TOUR Highlights of the Courtauld Gallery Lizzie Perrotte 10.00 – 11.15

September, 2015

7th LAS TOUR The Saatchi Gallery Lizzie Perrotte 10.00 – 11.15

16th LAS LUNCH The Legacy of Surrealism Ben Street 10.00 – 14.30

24th LAS IN FOCUS Ai Wei Wei, Goya, Pop Art Richard Stemp 10.00 – 12.00

November, 2015

10th LAS IN FOCUS Calder & 20th Century Sculpture Richard Stemp 10.00 – 12.00

17th LAS LUNCH American Art Since World War II Ben Street 10.00 – 14.30

December, 2015

1st LAS LUNCH Great Tarts in Art: High Culture & The World’s Oldest Profession Linda Smith 10.00 – 14.30

LAS In Focus – £75, includes light refreshments

LAS Evenings – £50, includes light refreshments

LAS Lunch – £175, includes two-course lunch at Koffmann’s

LAS Tours – includes ticket entry to the exhibition

Tickets can be purchased for individual events and as season tickets by visiting the London Art Studies website www.londonartstudies.com or emailing/calling London Art Studies direct at office@londonartstudies.com

About Bulgari Hotel…

Located in Knightsbridge on the edge of Hyde Park, London’s Bulgari Hotel is both a haven of calm in the centre of the city and yet under a minute’s walk from such landmarks as the famous Harrod’s department store. Since opening in 2012 the Bulgari has set new standards among the luxury hotels of the British capital. Elegant contemporary architecture and Bulgari’s legendary flair for design are matched by class-leading quality of service. Design and service along with generously proportioned rooms and suites combine with unrivalled facilities such as a full gymnasium and physical training centre with on-site personal training team, WORKSHOP; 11 single spa treatment rooms and 1 private spa suite; 25 metre, three-lane swimming pool; 47 seat cinema; unique Cigar Shop and sampling lounge, a stunning Ballroom; to deliver a city hotel experience that is unique in the world.

www.bulgarihotels.com

About Koffmann’s at The Berkley Hotel…

It was a love of international rugby rather than good food that brought a 22-year-old Pierre Koffmann to Britain in 1970. As he says: “Food was not at its best and the rugby more interesting.” Pierre expected to stay only six months. By pure luck Pierre quickly found himself working for Michel and Albert Roux at Le Gavroche in London’s West End. Within another six months he was promoted to Number 2 and after a quick stint at their Brasserie Benoit in the City, Pierre was appointed Head Chef at the Roux Brothers’ new Waterside Inn at Bray. In his five-year tenure he helped them achieve two Michelin stars. In 1977, Pierre and his first wife Annie opened their first restaurant, La Tante Claire, in Chelsea and achieved three Michelin stars before taking up residency in the Berkeley Hotel in 1998. After decades of contributing massively to British cuisine and training some of our finest chefs, Pierre folded away his precious knives in 2003 and realised a dream of hanging up a sign saying “Gone Fishing”. Becoming slightly bored a year later he came back to be a consultant to some major food retailers. The call of the restaurant trade was too loud. In 2009, Pierre agreed to take a ‘pop-up’ La Tante Claire to be the Restaurant on the Roof at Selfridges for one week. Two months and 3,200 servings of his classic Pieds de Cochon aux Morilles later, Pierre once again returned to The Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge and to open Koffmann’s with partner and business partner Claire Harrison.Koffmann’s offers a relaxed, informal style with classic provincial French cuisine. The food of Pierre’s childhood in rural Gascony and the food that first inspired Pierre to follow his love of cooking using fresh, seasonal ingredients to deliver exquisite unspoiled flavours.

www.pierrekoffmann.co.uk/about-pierre

www.corinne-modelling.co.uk

Mums of Young Children in Breach of EU Working Time Directive

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Frostie

We are not surprised at the news that mothers work so hard that they are in breach of Articles 3, 5 and 6 (b) of 2003 of the of EU Working Time Directive. Mums caring for a baby full time exceed maximum working hours, are not given adequate rest periods and do not receive paid annual leave from their baby employers

The number of hours each week that British mothers spend looking after their children would be in breach of the European Union’s Working Time Directive if this work were to be treated in the same way as paid employment, research by leading greeting card and gift retailer Clintons has revealed.

The Working Time Directive states that employees should work no longer than 48 hours per week. Workers are also entitled to a rest period of eleven consecutive hours in every 24-hour day, a rest break every six hours of work; an uninterrupted rest period of 24 hours in every seven day week, and paid annual leave of at least four weeks every year. Employees who work night shifts have extra protection and cannot be asked to work more than eight hours in a 24-hour period.

Baby experts recommend that a baby between the ages of 12-18 months should sleep for around 14 hours a day, meaning a parent is actively looking after their child for the remaining ten hours. Across a 7-day period, this comes to a minimum of 70 hours a week, exceeding the maximum limit of a 48-hour working week specified by Article 6 (b) of the Working Time Directive by a shocking 22 hours. On top of this 70-hour minimum, mothers also have several hours of ancillary work each day and are constantly “on call” to respond to any emergencies, meaning their actual rest period is often reduced to six hours a day.

Of the 14 hours of sleep a baby should get each day, around three hours come in the form of daytime naps, and the remaining 11 hours come at night. Article 3 of the Working Time Directive states that workers are entitled to a “minimum daily rest period of 11 consecutive hours per 24-hour period” and therefore getting up in the middle of the night if the baby starts crying would be in breach of this rule.

Looking after a baby for seven days a week is also in breach of Article 5 which specifies that “per each seven-day period, every worker is entitled to a minimum uninterrupted rest period of 24 hours plus the 11 hours’ daily rest referred to in Article 3.”

Article 7 of the 2003 EU directive states that “every worker is entitled to paid annual leave of at least four weeks.” A Clintons survey of babies found that 0% of them had made provisions to fulfil this requirement.

Tim Fairs, director at Clintons, said: “Parents put in a huge amount of work, week in and week out, looking after their kids. Often this work goes completely unrewarded. Mothers’ Day is an opportunity to say thank you for everything mums do, but we shouldn’t wait for just one special day every year to acknowledge their hard work. We should celebrate mums every day of the year.”

Mother’s Day originated in the United States in 1908 when Anna Jarvis from West Virginia held a memorial for her mother. During the Second World War, American soldiers brought the celebration to the UK, where it merged with the older religious festival of Mothering Sunday when people would return to their mother church for a service held on the fourth Sunday of Lent known as Laetare Sunday.

Introduced in 2003, the European Union’s Working Time Directive (2003/88/EC) gives workers within the EU certain rights relating to numbers of hours worked each week, annual holiday entitlement, rest breaks and days off.

In the UK, workers have the option to work in excess of the 48 hours specified by the working time directive if they choose to, however this option does not apply to employees in all sectors. The statutory leave period in the UK is 5.6 weeks per year.

Tim Fairs, added: “Many mothers work incredibly hard all year round and never have a day off. No matter how old you are, take a moment this Mothers’ Day to let your mum know how much you appreciate her.”

UK’s Most Beloved Comedies

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Frostie

For many years Britain has enjoyed something of an unparalleled reputation amongst global audiences for its hit comedies.

And with the global marketplace being ever more important to TV providers with the advent of new technologies, we thought we’d take a look back at some of the UK’s best comedies to see how they’ve succeeded.

The Goon Show

For many, The Goon Show set the ball rolling in terms of British comedy. Although it only featured on BBC Radio, it launched the careers of Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan as well as dozens of popular catchphrases that resonate to this very day.

Monty Python

And then in late sixties, six highly creative and chaotic individuals revolutionised comedy with Monty Python’s Flying Circus. The show lasted well over a decade and spawned many critically acclaimed films and is considered one of our national treasures.

The Young Ones

Borrowing some of Monty Python’s surreal humour and injecting it with a great deal of anarchism was the Young Ones. Starring Adrian Edmondson, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer and Christopher Ryan, it signalled a new dawn for alternative comedy and ushered in a whole new wave of national moral panic!

Blackadder

Another classic comedy that capitalised on the new wave of alternative comedy stars was Blackadder that launched the careers of Rowan Atkinson, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Tony Robinson. Ingeniously setting the show over different historical periods allowed the show’s subversive humour to blossom to great effect.

Only Fools and Horses

One of the nation’s favourite comedies has to be Only Fools and Horses that saw the hapless Delboy and Rodney in their eternal struggle to be millionaires. Although the pair never fully managed to make their fortune, they still regularly return for Christmas specials.

Little Britain

Signalling a new wave of comedic talent for the 21st century, Little Britain relied on an old-school sketch show format with catchphrases and instantly recognisable characters. But what really propelled this show to legendary status were the talents of Matt Lucas and David Walliams, and Little Britain has become so popular that it now has its own slot game where players can win impressive bonuses whilst being mocked by their favourite Little Britain characters!

Father Ted

And finally, one of the most unlikely recent success stories is that of Father Ted. This classic series saw three priests on the remote Craggy Island survive a series of surreal and hilarious mishaps that perfectly sums up the eccentricities of living a somewhat backwards parochial life!

Mother’s Day Gift Guide

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Frostie

Mother’s Day is on the 15th of March this year and It is time to spoil the most important women in your life. Here is our handy guide to gift-buying for Mother’s Day.

Ringtons loose tea and infuser gift box

We love this. The tea is absolutely amazing and the infuser is easy to use and looks great.

The fantastically presented loose tea infuser sets come in a stylish Ringtons cream and gold gift box, decorated with the famous Ringtons crest. The sets include a Ringtons tea infuser – a simple device designed to take the fuss out of preparing loose tea and bring out the full flavour of the leaves – and three full size packet of expertly selected loose teas as well as three x 30g sample blends.

The Luxury Great British Tea Infuser Gift Box (top image) • £22.99

Includes: Traditional English Breakfast loose tea (125g), Afternoon Blend loose tea (125g), and Classic 1907 loose tea (125g), and 3 x 30g samples.

The Luxury Taste the Exotic Tea Fuser Gift Box

• £22.99

Includes: Bird of Paradise loose tea (50g), Samavor Orange Spice loose tea (125g), and Mint Marrakech loose tea (125g), and 3 x 30g samples.

The Ringtons Signature loose teas featured and Ringtons gift boxes are available via mail order at www.ringtons.co.uk or via customer care on Freephone 0800 052 2440.

Some Flowers.

Try The Fantastic ‘Summer Memories’ Bouquet – Fresh Flowers with free Delivery

The Notebook on DVD

Mother And Daughter Message Bangle from notonthehighstreet.com

Personalised Thank You Print by Rosie Robins from notonthehighstreet.com

Mum’s Measure Wine Glass by Becky Broome from notonthehighstreet.com

Personalised Family Tree Cushion by A Type Of Design from notonthehighstreet.com

Cocktails are always a good idea….

Quintessentially Vodka Rhubarb Rickey

35ml Quintessentially Vodka

12.5ml Rhubarb liqueur / syrup

12.5ml Fresh lime

Soda (top up)

Method: place the Quintessentially Vodka, rhubarb syrup and fresh lime in a tall glass, adding ice and a spritz of soda.

To finish, stir a few times before adding a wedge of lime.

What will you be doing for your mother?

International Women’s Day. Inspirational Woman: Justine Durno

Posted on March 8, 2015 by Catherine Balavage

Happy International Women’s Day. Men may have the other 364 days but this day is all about women and how amazing they are. One such amazing woman is Justine Durno. Justine is 25-years-old and has already accomplished a lot despite being born profoundly deaf, which left her shy, withdrawn and isolated. She was bullied at school and would hide in the cloakroom. Justine felt from an early age being a deaf female was more of an obstacle than being a deaf male. She always thought this wrong and now hopes to empower all women – particularly those who have a disability – to not let anything deter them from fulfilling their dreams. Justine always wanted to be a Doctor because she knew how difficult accessing healthcare can be for herself and other deaf people and she wanted to turn this around. She worked hard at school but, unfortunately, she missed out by one grade to follow her dream of studying medicine.

Despite three years’ worth of University rejections, she preserved undertaking courses she thought would support her University application and embarking on an incredible year of volunteering with people with a range of disabilities across the world. Justine is now in line to become one of the very few deaf GPs in this country after finally being accepted to Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry. Justine has faced prejudice, injustice, bullying and isolation all her life. She is finally finding the confidence to not feel embarrassed about her disability but to open and assertive about it and make sure she doesn’t miss out any more. Her career has given her this confidence – so much so, she had even taken up an evening Spanish course. She says she revels in finding herself the most unobtainable goal and then not stopping until she has achieved it.

You have achieved a lot. What is your proudest accomplishment?

It would have to be getting into medical school. I am still in disbelief that I am here, even more so that I am halfway there to getting that ‘Dr’ title!

What are your feelings on International Women’s Day?

That I am very proud to be a woman! It is a shame that International Women’s Day exists because of inequality between the genders, but it is a great tool for reminding the world that this shouldn’t be happening. It’s also a great opportunity to celebrate how far we’ve come with stamping out sexism, and the amazing things women have achieved. This will no doubt empower the next generation of women to believe in themselves and the next generation of men to stand with us.

How does it feel that very soon you be a Doctor?

Very excited! I find medicine fascinating and I feel very fortunate that I will be able to have a job in something that will have so much variety and I will genuinely enjoy. I won’t lie, though, there is slight trepidation too. I’m going into a working environment that will demand more of me, as a deaf person, than my peers. It will get harder before I completely find my feet, and I don’t think the hardest part has come yet!

What holds women back?

It is the propagation of terribly outdated views on women over the years. Media doesn’t exactly help either – in adverts, for example, women are constantly being portrayed as scantily-clad sexual objects whilst men generally are fully dressed and powerful-looking.

What more can be done to help disabled people?

It’s about getting the right support. Deaf people can do anything others can do, given the right support. Without the right support, deaf children and adults are vulnerable to isolation, abuse, bullying, poor self-esteem and low levels of achievement. I am very fortunate to say that this hasn’t been my experience. I got the right support. I had the support of my family – a family is the most important influence on a deaf child’s ability to achieve – and I had the support of my teachers. And the support of the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS – www.ndcs.org.uk) – I made my lifelong, childhood friends through NDCS and Dumbarton Deaf Children’s Society.

Education and awareness goes a long way because the problems faced by disabled people, such as inaccessibility or negative attitudes, are down to ignorance. We also need to celebrate disabled people more, and focus on what amazing things they can do, so as to create a positive image of them. This would encourage disabled people to feel enabled, not disabled, by society.

What was your greatest obstacle?

My greatest obstacle has to be my greatest achievement – getting into medical school. It took 5 years from finishing secondary school to finally starting medical school. The first time I applied, I got a conditional place in medical school but didn’t get the A-Level grades I needed. Next time I applied, I didn’t have enough work experience, so I made sure by the 3^rd time that I had satisfied the entry requirements AND had done plenty of volunteering!

How do you get yourself past the bad times?

I am quite bad at it, but reaching out to my friends and talking to them about it is always the remedy. Quite a lot of what makes me sad or frustrated is shared especially by my deaf friends, and knowing that I am not alone provides me with a huge amount of comfort.

Tips for other women to achieve their dreams?

It’s a marathon, not a sprint. It’s not going to get handed to you on a plate – you will have to work really hard at it, and there will be highs and there will be moments when you wonder whether it’s really worth it. But if those lows are there, then it will shape you as a person, give you resilience, and the success of finally achieving your dreams will feel even sweeter!

You have said you revels in finding the most unobtainable goal and then not stopping until you have achieved it. Any tips for other women to develop the same great attitude and do the same thing?

Never lose vision of the end goal, because that is what keeps the motivation there. Equally, don’t let it take over your life at the expense of enjoying it and taking each day as it comes. If you aren’t enjoying yourself whilst striving to achieve something, then one will be so much more likely to feel overwhelmed, or bored and fed up, and just give up.

What is the next unobtainable goal?

To make healthcare much more accessible for deaf people and therefore to contribute towards taking away the health inequality that exists amongst the deaf community.

Research has shown that there is a huge health inequality amongst the deaf community, and the reason boils down to mainly the fact that communication with medical professionals is difficult, and so there is less understanding of the education and advice given by doctors.

Visiting the doctor can be hard for anyone but when you have a health concern you know the steps to take to address it – you pick up the phone to make an appointment, understandably there might be some anxiety as you wait in the surgery to hear your name called, and then of course it’s time to tell the doctor what’s worrying you and to listen to their medical advice. Talking about personal health issues can be worrying and uncomfortable no matter who you are or what your age. Imagine though if even the process of seeking medical advice is a challenge. This is the reality for many deaf people.

The main barrier that deaf people face in healthcare is lack of accessible information and communication. Many appointment systems are telephone-based meaning that deaf people rely on family or friends to make calls for them. Some professionals aren’t aware of technologies that may help deaf people.

I want to contribute to spreading deaf awareness amongst the medical profession, and to use my knowledge of BSL and deaf culture (because deaf culture is different to hearing culture!) to provide medical care and education to the deaf community in THEIR language.

But first, I have to pass my exams, perhaps that is my really my next goal!

The 2015 Revival Of 70’s Fashion… A Pussybow Too Far?

Posted on March 7, 2015 by Corinne Tuddenham-Finn

Was it a collective prodigality that triggered Spring/Summer’s new love of showing off?

A desire for fabulous wealth?

Or is fashion’s latest switch part of a conspiracy to make us shriek “Help, I’m out of style! I need new clothes!”?

All of the above are true, but there’s also the boredom element.

Our love of candy-coloured babedom is powerful but has it run its course?

Has the Seventies secretary gone one pussycat bow too far, and as for spots – enough already!

This season embraces all things 70’s and when it comes to 70’s add-ons, accessories are the icing on the fashion cake.

They are often the most practical and desirable items from a collection and the right selection can transform an outfit, key a wardrobe together and give a nod to each fluctuating trend without following it slavishly.

And the range of covetable trimmings this season is growing all the time – once, you could never have too many hats, bags and shoes, now sunglasses, belts, corsages and luggage can be added to the ever-expanding list.

Block heels and wedges are the favourites for this season, alluring metallic in grown-up shades with strong texturizing.

Chanel brought protest-inspired items to the catwalk, theming some of its bags around the zeitgeist-y notion of feminist protest (a theme which was not treated with any sort of reverence) and others around a watercolor that Karl Lagerfeld painted.

Sunglasses featuring classic tortoiseshell, bright and funky colours, yellow and plum options, classic white and oversized.

Keep an eye out for Tommy Hilfiger’s square offerings…

So, commit to memory now … bold status prints, geometry and dazzling swirls are making a noise, prints go tech with sophisticated digital patterns, psychedelic prints create sexy curves and poptastic infusions of technicolour gorgeousness take 70’s inspired fashion for the 2015 season to a new level.

Frost Magazine

Books and Lifestyle

Category Archives: Life & Style

Are You Brave Enough To Try The Hottest Pizza At Mayfair Pizza Co?

Breaking The Bank & Busting a Myth

Is Your Mother An Art Lover? Gift This!

Mums of Young Children in Breach of EU Working Time Directive

UK’s Most Beloved Comedies

Mother’s Day Gift Guide

International Women’s Day. Inspirational Woman: Justine Durno

The 2015 Revival Of 70’s Fashion… A Pussybow Too Far?