Ms. Migot

Female executives failing to get foothold in top firms, survey shows

The UK’s largest companies are failing to promote female executives to senior management roles, potentially creating a shortage of women qualified to fill future boardroom roles and undermining initiatives to appoint more female directors.

Analysis by the Guardian of 50 of the UK’s most valuable companies shows that women account for only 14% of staff serving on executive committees – the management level just one rung below the boardroom and which are viewed as the pipeline of talent to fill future board vacancies.

The figures imply that women occupying jobs at executive committee level are even more scarce than on FTSE 100 boards, with the latest numbers from the Professional Boards Forum showing just 17.3% of blue chip directors are women. (via The Guardian)

A minority report from the British armed services

What is it like to be one of the approximately 12,000 recruits from ethnic minorities currently serving in the British military? That was the question photographer Kit Oates wanted to address when, earlier this year, he embarked on a project to take portraits of members of the British army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force from minority backgrounds. “I was interested in recruits who might not have been born here, or whose parents weren’t, but who have decided to serve in the armed forces in this country. I thought it was an interesting area in a year when so much has been happening in Great Britain; I wanted to highlight another facet of our multicultural society.”

The Ministry of Defence was initially slow to provide access, but Oates believes his request was strengthened by recent reports that ethnic minorities are poorly represented in the British military – making up about 7% of the armed forces, with particularly low numbers in the navy and the RAF. “The British army needs to reflect British society,” defence secretary, Philip Hammond, said in June. “This is clearly a challenge now; to recruit from the ethnic minorities within British society in proportions that reflect that society.” (via The Observer)

Steve Bell on Michael Gove’s plans for the royal yacht – cartoon

Michael Gove’s plans for taxpayers to pay for a new royal yacht are holed below the waterline (via The Guardian)

Young and older people ‘experience age discrimination at work’

Age discrimination at work remains a problem for those at both extremes of the working population, according to research by the Department for Work and Pensions.

The report, based on analysis from the Office for National Statistics’s opinions survey, looked at factors associated with age discrimination and prejudice, and compared attitudes between people in their 20s and those aged over 70.

Perceptions towards those aged over 70 were more positive than towards those in their 20s, with older people viewed as being more friendly, having higher moral standards and as being more competent than their younger counterparts.

However, when respondents were asked how acceptable they would find a suitably qualified 30-year-old or 70-year-old boss, the results showed a bias towards younger workers. While most were accepting of either age, three times as many (15% and 5% respectively) thought that having a 70-year-old boss would be “unacceptable” compared with having a 30-year-old boss.

On average, respondents thought “youth” ended at 41 and “old age” began at 59. However, this varied by as much as 20 years in relation to the age of the respondent: the age at which youth stopped and old age started increased in relation to the age of the respondent. (via guardian.co.uk)

Newchapel, UK

This is the moment just before an eagle owl swoops in for the kill. The image was taken by Matt Binstead of the British Wildlife Centre. The BWC is Britain’s only native wildlife centre housing more than 50 species of British animal from adders and field mice to red squirrels, weasels and wildcats. Matt said that because of his job, he is able to capture scenes that would be very difficult in the wild. He said: “We breed many animals here, and not often do you see photos of baby wild animals as they are very hard to find in the wild.” (via Telegraph)

But does it taste good?

Mukund Soni, 6 poses for a photograph with the world’s most expensive mince pie in Ilford, Greater London. Mukund won the £3,000 mince pie after plucking a winning raffle ticket on a visit to the Marvellous Mince Pie Manufactory. The pie was created using a Stuart-era recipe, Victorian moulds along with 21st Century laser technology by 25 year-old London-based food designer, Andrew Stellitano. The whole pie is brushed with eggnog and gilded with the highest-grade platinum leaf, before being dusted with Ambergris sugar, a secretion from the sperm whale. The pie also uses a 1920s cognac and Tokaij Essentica. (via Telegraph)

‘These are just ordinary women’ – how breast surgery has soared in the UK

There are eyewatering tales dating back to the late 19th century of paraffin injections, ox cartilage prosthetics and even ivory and glass balls, but cosmetic breast enlargement first became a realistic option for women in 1962, when Texan housewife and mother of six Timmie Jean Lindsey was persuaded to have silicone-filled implants fitted under the skin of her breasts.

“I thought, oh, I’d like that” Lindsey told the Guardian in 2008. “I’d like them to be perkier.”

Half a century after her pioneering surgery, hundreds of thousands of women around the world have followed her lead, opting for perkier, larger or more even breasts – or simply seeking to replace them after surviving cancer.

There have been repeated scares and controversies over the decades, but medics insist the procedure is very safe if performed by qualified and well-regulated surgeons.

But while “boob jobs” are the most popular cosmetic procedure performed in the UK, according to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, the exact number performed is difficult to tally. BAAPS-registered surgeons performed 9,418 cosmetic breast augmentations in 2010, and a spokeswoman estimated the organisation represents 33%-40% of cosmetic surgeons in the UK, but it can be no more specific.

NHS figures for 2008 show that of the 15,479 women in England who had mastectomies following breast cancer, 3,216 opted for immediate reconstruction (others had reconstruction later); separately, it found that only 38% of those having reconstructions had opted for prosthetic implants, as opposed to other reconstructive techniques. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency estimates that reconstructive surgery accounts for less than 5% of the procedures performed each year. (via The Guardian)

London, UK

A demonstrator climbs stairs in the former Old Street Magistrates Court after protestors from Occupy London occupied it (via Reuters.com)

London, UK

Imogen Thomas poses for photographs outside the High Court where footballer Ryan Giggs accepted that there was no basis to accuse the reality star of blackmail. (via BBC News)

London, UK

An unpublished Charlotte Bronte manuscript of The Young Men’s Magazine, Number 2, which sold for £690,850 at an English Literature, History, Children’s Books and Illustrations sale at Sotheby’s (via Telegraph)

Liverpool, UK

Cardinal Sin, a new piece by Banksy, on display at the Walker Art Gallery. The controversial artist has sawn off the face of an 18th century stone bust and glued on a selection of bathroom tiles. The resulting ‘pixellated ’ portrait is a comment on the abuse scandal in the church and its subsequent cover up. (via Telegraph)

London, UK

Protesters demonstrate outside Earls Court, the venue for the 2011 Miss World final (via Telegraph)