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MENSA ISSUES IQ CHALLENGE IN LIVERPOOL
MENSA is inviting people in the
Liverpool area to discover something new about themselves with a
range of IQ tests and online psychometric assessments on offer.
A supervised IQ test session has been organised on 27 July (2.00pm)
at the Express Holiday Inn Hotel, Albert Dock for anyone interested
in finding out their own IQ score for just £15. Local people
are invited to contact Helen Oliver on 01902 772771 or email
bookatest@mensa.org.uk to reserve a place. Everyone
who scores within the top 2% of the population is invited to join Mensa.
Mensa chief executive John Stevenage said:- “We are getting
more and more people wanting to find their IQ score to include this
in their CVs or university applications. In these increasingly
competitive times, people are looking for extra ways to
differentiate themselves from other candidates.”
Mensa Psychometric Assessments
To help people understand more about themselves and their
capabilities, Mensa joined forces with business psychologists Team
Focus to offer a range of online psychometric assessments called
Profiling for Success, available at
www.mensa.org.uk.
These online tests are designed to help individuals explore their
personality, prepare for job interviews or make career choices.
· Identify preferred learning styles
· Find out which careers would suit personality
· Compare thinking skills with other job applicants
· Learn more about themselves
British Mensa currently has around 24,000 members, with almost 2,000
in the North West region. The society welcomes people from all
walks of life, with the objective of enjoying each other’s company
and participating in a range of social and cultural activities.
The society’s aims are to identify and foster human intelligence for
the benefit of humanity; to provide a stimulating intellectual and
social environment for its members; and to encourage research into
the nature, characteristics and uses of intelligence.
TORY ROW HIGHLIGHTS 'BOREDOM BOOM' IN UK WORKPLACE
TORY MP David Davis has
highlighted the problem of boredom in the UK workplace, according to
recruitment experts. David Davis reportedly remarked to one of
his colleagues that he resigned from the front bench because he was
bored. Experts claim that increasing numbers of office jobs
are creating a "boredom boom" and that being bored at work
can actually be more traumatic and damaging than overwork.
Adrian Hitchenor, CEO of Hitchenor Wakeford Executive Search, said:-
"It isn't just manual workers such as factory and checkout
staff that suffer from boredom. In our role as executive recruiters
we have seen a number of people in high profile positions come to us
to find a more challenging role. These include CFOs and FDs on £100K
plus salaries, who feel they are no longer being stretched or
challenged and have become 'bored' in their job as a result.
Mental stimulation and autonomy in a career is vital and employers
who control their workforce too tightly or managers who micro-manage
tasks quickly lose the interest of their staff. Senior people need
to be stimulated by their career or they will quickly move on."
Stephen Seymour, of training and recruitment consultancy The
Urquhart Partnership, said:- "Boredom in the workplace is
costing the economy millions of pounds a year. Contrary to popular
opinion, boredom isn't necessarily the result of having nothing to
do - it can just as likely to caused by doing tasks that don't
appeal to you. People expect more than just a salary from their jobs
and being fulfilled is more important than ever. There is a definite
boredom boom in the British workplace."
Hitchenor adds:- "Our experience shows one of the best
techniques for combating boredom is taking more control over your
daily work and being more assertive by demanding new challenges that
stretch your abilities."
End of Barmy EU fruit
rules?
BENDY cucumbers and funny shaped fruit and veg could be back on
the table if the European Commission has its way. Conservative MEP Sir Robert Atkins has welcomed moves by the European Commission
to simplify the barmy EU rules on fruit which would allow bendy
cucumbers and funny shaped fruit to once again be sold in British
shops.
European Agriculture Commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel wants to
simplify and loosen up the rules of marketing fruit and veg and is
proposing a widespread cull of the existing 36 marketing standards
which stipulate quality standards on a range of products from
apricots to watermelons. Among those to go would be the infamous "cucumber"
quality standard which ensures that cucumbers can not bend more than
10mm for every 10cm of length. In their place, the Commission is
proposing just ten standards which would continue the existing rules
on fruits such as apples, pears and kiwis and vegetables such as
tomatoes and lettuces whilst ensuring that other products met a
basic set of standards.
The Commissioner is however reported to have already run into
trouble in the Council of Ministers with 18 of the 27 member states
understood to be opposed to any changes with the French, Italians,
Germans and Spanish amongst those planning to block any loosening up
of the rules.
Sir Robert said:- "Finally the European Commission comes up
with a sensible idea aimed at getting rid of frankly silly rules
which are all about the shape and not the quality of the product and
lo and behold the usual suspects line up to block it. Quite why the
French, Spanish, Germans and Italians want to continue the
unjustified ban on bendy cucumbers is beyond me.
The new rules
will still ensure that all fruit and veg is clean and healthy whilst
allowing people to enjoy the diversity that normal production
brings.
The regulations as they stand are unnatural, wasteful and
serve no practical purpose other than ensuring that fruit and veg
looks good.
The British government must now support the Commission
and use its influence to make other member states see sense." |
Liverpool shoppers help bring clean water to 1 million people in
Africa
SHOPPERS in
Liverpool are being praised for playing their part in helping 1
million people living in some of the poorest parts of Africa get on
the first step out of poverty by giving them access to clean water
for life. Thirsty Planet is thanking everyone who has bought
its bottled water for helping make such a difference to so many
lives in just over a year.
“Our aim is to bring clean water to 10 million people in
sub-Saharan Africa by the year 2015. And thanks to
the support of shoppers we’ve already managed to help more than 1
million people – that’s more than double the population of Liverpool
- in our first 15 months.” said Paul Martin, of
Waterbrands, the company behind Thirsty Planet.
For every bottle or multipack of Thirsty Planet sold, a stated
donation goes to partner charity Pump Aid which helps villagers to
dig wells and install the ingenious, cheap and easy-to-operate
Elephant pumps. Based on a 2,000 year old Chinese design, the pumps
do not require any specialist knowledge to maintain and can be repared with easily-available materials such as plant fibres and
discarded plastic.
Paul said:- “It’s easy to forget that water remains an
incredibly precious resource for millions of people across the
globe, yet one we largely take for granted on these shores. It's
scandalous that in the 21st century there are a billion people on
the earth who still have to rely on dirty, contaminated water, when
it costs only £250 to install an Elephant pump that can serve a
community of up to 500 people. That works out at 50p to give
someone clean water for life and a leg-up onto the first step out of
poverty. There are many brands which support water charities
currently on sale, but we believe for every pound raised the Thirsty
Planet/Pump Aid partnership delivers the greatest benefit.
Simply by choosing Thirsty Planet at the supermarket or the sandwich
shop, people in Merseyside can help to give someone renewed hope and
a better life.”
The 1 millionth person to benefit from the Thirsty Planet/Pump Aid
partnership is Zunisha, (pictured above), a 35-year-old housewife
from the rural Chiradzulu district of Malawi. With 3 lively
schoolboy sons aged 7, 8 and 12, and their 6-month-old brother to
care for, she’s on the go all day. Zunisha’s chores are much the
same as mums’ in the UK - cooking, cleaning the house, washing
clothes, tending the vegetable garden and looking after the family’s
animals.
The biggest difference between her life and her counterparts’ in the
west is the journeys she has had to make each day to her only source
of water - a dirty, disease-ridden, unprotected well some 2
kilometres from her home. Zunisha had to walk on rough tracks
through the bush with the sun beating down, carrying a heavy
20-litre bucket of water on her head four or five times a day. Before she could use the water for cooking or drinking it had to be
boiled up to kill the bugs which could make the children seriously
ill or even kill them. If there was no firewood or paraffin to boil
the water she had to take a gamble and risk her sons contracting
cholera or dysentary. There was no alternative.
Zunisha was beaming with excitement as the first water gushed from
the Elephant pump being installed a short stroll away from her
house. “Life will be much easier. My boys won’t
get sick so often they won’t miss out on school.
I want them to
get a good education as I’d like them all to be doctors.
We’ll be able to use
the water to irrigate our garden so I’ll be able to grow more
vegetables and we’ll eat more healthily. Tomatoes, that’s what
I’m really looking forward to growing.
I love
tomatoes. I might even to
be able to sell some which will help with the household budget and
pay the school fees,” she says.
Thirsty Planet is available in all major supermarkets. Stockists and
consumers can monitor the brand's success and track where pumps are
being installed via the Thirsty Planet website,
www.thirsty-planet.com.
Pump Aid is the
brainchild of Ian Thorpe who, 21 years ago, spent his gap year
teaching in Zimbabwe and saw 2 of his students die from dysentery
which they caught from drinking water contaminated by a decomposing
snake. He resolved to help solve the problem and the result is the
Elephant pump based on a 2,000 year old Chinese design which has
been installed in hundreds of villages, helping hundreds of
thousands of people. |
