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Some believe that in the age of identikit computer games, mass entertainment and conformity on the supermarket shelves, truly inspired thinking has gone out of the window, But, there are others who hold the view that there is still plenty of scope for innovation, lateral thought and creative solutions. Despite the standardisation of modern life, there is an unabated appetite for great ideas, visionary thinking and inspired debate. In the first of a series of monthly debates on contemporary issues, we ask two original thinkers to discuss the nature of creativity. Here is the first one. Yes. Absolutely. Since I started working as an inventor 10 or 12 years ago, I’ve seen a big change in attitudes to creativity and invention. Back then, there was hardly any support for inventors, apart from the national organisation the Institute of Patentees and Inventors. Today, there are lots of little inventors’ clubs popping up all over the place, my last count was 19 nationally and growing. These non-profit clubs, run by inventors for inventors, are an indication that people are once again interested in invention. I’ve been a project leader, a croupier, an IT consultant and I’ve written a motor manual. I spent my teens under a 1950s two-tone Riley RME car, learning to put it together. Back in the Sixties, kids like me were always out doing things, making go-karts, riding bicycles or exploring. We learned to overcome challenges and solve problems. We weren’t just sitting at a PlayStation, like many kids do today. But I think, and hope, things are shifting back. There’s a lot more interest in design and creativity and such talents are getting a much higher profile in the media. It’s evident with TV programmes such as Channel 4’s Scrapheap Challenge or BBC 2’s The Apprentice and Dragon’s Den, where people are given a task to solve or face the challenge of selling their idea to a panel. And, thankfully, the image of the mad scientist with electrified hair working in the garden shed is long gone—although, there are still a few exceptions! That’s not to say there aren’t problems. With the decline in manufacturing we are losing the ability to know how to make things. There’s a real skills gap developing. In my opinion, the government does little or nothing to help innovation at the lone-inventor or small or medium enterprise level. I would love to see more money spent on teaching our school kids how to be inventive. But, despite everything, if you have a good idea and real determination, you can still do very well. My own specialist area is packaging closures—almost every product needs it. I got the idea for Squeezeopen after looking at an old tin of boot polish when my mother complained she couldn’t get the lid off. If you can do something cheaper, better, and you are 100 per-cent committed, there is a chance it will be a Success. I see a fantastic amount of innovation and opportunities out there. People don’t realise how much is going on. New materials are coming out all the time and the space programme and scientific research are producing a variety of spin-offs. Innovation doesn’t have to be high-tech: creativity and inventing is about finding the right solution to a problem, whatever it is. There’s a lot of talent out there and, thankfully, some of the more progressive companies are suddenly realising they don’t want to miss out—it’s an exciting time. What’s the central idea of the last paragraph
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On the map there’s just one island, but when you get there you’ll find two distinct Sardinias. If you’re wondering which is the right destination for you, take the ice-cream test and try two gelati in Sardinia. On the wealthy Costa Smeralda I was served an ice-cream with enormous speed and efficiency by a Tom Cruise look-alike—all teeth, tan and ambition. But on Sardinia’s quieter western coast—the Riviera de Corallo—it was served, quite slowly and with elegance, by a girl with the face of an angel. My vote goes—narrowly—to this less-visited shore. There I found a seat in Alghero’s Piazza Civica, where the late afternoon sun was warming the old stones and the fishing boats were back at anchor just through the archway of the Porta al Mare. I reflected, as I ate my ice-cream and watched the locals make their evening passeggiata through the ancient square and the Door to the Sea, that the world is not such a bad place after all. By contrast, at a little cafe near the marina at Porto Cervo on the Costa Smeralda, watching beautiful young things leaping on and off their yachts, I reflected mainly that most people seemed to have a lot more money than I. It’s all very idyllic, the sea is always blue and the weather from May to October is invariably perfect. But is this plutocrats’ playground Sardinia No—not if you mean the rugged Sardinia with its roots in prehistory and its future in a possible split with mother Italy. To see the real Sardinia you could take the overnight ferry from Livorno on the Italian mainland to Olbia just below the Costa Smeralda. Perhaps hire a little Fiat—although Ferraris are available—and take the road that skirts the millionaire belt, heading north and then west. Head inland now, towards Sassari and Alghero. The hills crowd the shoreline, the villages are few and the roads are empty. Dotted around the fields, sticking up through olive groves like huge rock cones, are the remains of forts built by the mysterious Nuragic people, who came here long before the Romans and Phoenicians. A little way down the coast along a precipitous new highway is the ancient town of Bosa, where lace making and timber working keep many of the locals occupied. There is, of course, a great deal more to Sardinia than the Costa Smeralda and the Riviera del Corallo—there’s a whole islandful of things to see and do. South-central is where the main chain of mountains runs; snow-capped for four months of the year and a popular climbing and walking venue in gentler seasons. The coastline is longer than mainland Italy’s entire western side, with resorts dotted around natural harbours and scenic inlets. You could take in most of them in a two-day tour by car. But nothing compares with the Costa Smeralda or the Riviera del Corallo. It just depends on how you like your gelati. The tourist destination mentioned in the passage is ______.
The art teacher who accused Prince Harry of cheating has won her ease against Eton College for unfair dismissal. Sarah Forsyth, 30, took the public school to an employment tribunal after her contract was not renewed. The tribunal yesterday upheld Ms. Forsyth’s claim that she had been bullied by Eton’s head of art, Ian Burke. But it rejected her allegations that Mr. Burke had ordered her to help Prince Harry cheat in his AS-level art by completing his written work for him. It also criticised as "unprofessional" her decision to secretly record a conversation with the prince on his way to his final exam to try to support her claim. Ms. Forsyth brought the case after the school, which charges ￡23,688 a year, decided not to renew her contract after the summer of 2003. She also accused Mr. Burke of bullying her and giving improper assistance to pupils during exams. At her hearing in May, Ms. Forsyth claimed she had written most of the text of the prince’s AS-level art coursework journal, something she said was "unethical and probably constituted cheating". She also claimed Mr. Burke "touched up" aboriginal-inspired artwork which was displayed to the media as an example of Prince Harry’s work when the prince finished his time at Eton. The prince has strenuously denied any suggestion that he cheated and an investigation by the examination board found no evidence of any improper behaviour. In its 40-page judgment, the tribunal said it was for the exam board to rule whether cheating had occurred. While the report described Ms. Forsyth as consistent and "truthful" on the whole, it rejected her allegations about Prince Harry. It ruled that her relationship with Mr. Burke was so bad that it was not plausible that he would have tried to enlist her help in any attempt to cheat. It concluded that her account of the help she had given the prince was muddled and that Mr. Burke’s story was more believable. She claimed she had written a sample answer for the prince to use as a guide which, in her account, was given to Prince Harry, cut up and stuck in the journal. The tribunal sided with Mr. Burke, who said that Ms. Forsyth had not written the piece on her own but simply sat with Prince Harry and suggested vocabulary. However, the panel was critical of Mr. Burke and said its "inevitable conclusion" was Ms. Forsyth’s dismissal had been unreasonable. The panel said, "He did undermine and bully her." Anthony Little, Eton’s headmaster, was criticised for failing to look at the case fairly. The school was criticised for failing to produce any written "capability procedure" to the tribunal. A spokesman for Eton said the school regretted its employment procedures had not been "up to scratch", but said it was pleased the tribunal had rejected the "publicity-seeking" allegations regarding Prince Harry. He added the school would be calling for the tribunal to award no compensation to Ms. Forsyth, arguing she would have been dismissed for secretly tape-recording a conversation with a pupil. What’s the decision made by the tribunal about Harry’s cheating
Parents will be able to run an official check on the status of childminders for the first time from today. Ofsted, the education standards watchdog, will shame the worst providers and praise the best by placing details of all childminders’ reports on its website. The providers will be ranked on a scale of one to four, with one meaning "outstanding ", two "good", three "satisfactory" and four "inadequate". Of the first 1,060 inspections to be posted this morning, 45 (32 childminders and 13 day-care providers) have been ranked as "inadequate" while only 16 (14 childminders and 2 day-care nurseries) warranted the ranking "outstanding". The vast majority were either good (680) or satisfactory (319). However, Ofsted warned that a "satisfactory" rating meant there was "scope for improvement". Maurice Smith, Ofsted’s director of early years, said, "Over one million children are placed with childminders and in nurseries every day so it’s imperative parents have easy access to good information about the quality of care that their children are getting." David Bell, the chief schools inspector and Ofsted’s chief executive, has acknowledged that parents are almost certain to shun the services of any childminder ranked as inadequate. A childminder could be rated as inadequate if their premises fail to pass health and safety requirements or if a complaint alleging physical abuse of a child is upheld. In extreme circumstances, their registration can be withdrawn immediately but their report would be published if they were served with a notice to improve within a 12-month period. Mr. Smith said of the "outstanding" ratings, "This is a fantastic achievement by those who work in the childcare profession and go all out to provide a top-class service. All providers will have the chance to shine during their inspections under the new framework. I hope that today’s ’outstanding’ providers will act as an inspiration to others." The 1,060 inspections to be placed on the Internet today were all carried out in the first year of inspection of child-minding services. Ofsted only had its brief to inspect services extended from schools and colleges last year. It plans to inspect all childminding and day-care services over a three-year period with a total of 94,000 reports placed on its website by 2007. Fears that paedophiles could gain access to details of child-minding services have prompted inspectors to agree restrictions on how parents can access information. As of today, parents will be able to type their postcode into Ofsted’s website and search for registered childminders in their area. Services within a five-mile radius of the address can be accessed. However, the report will not contain the name or address of the childminder. To obtain that, the parent will have to contact their local Children’s Information Service. Ofsted warned that some providers may have chosen to opt out of having their details available on request—and that this is likely to be because they are full and do not have the space to mind more children. Ofsted has also agreed that nurseries will be given no notice of inspections so inspectors get a "warts and all" picture. Childminders will be rung the previous week and asked to indicate which days they will be available to avoid inspectors arriving when they are out with their charges on a trip. One of the days will be selected by the inspectors without giving further notice. It can be inferred from the passage that ______.
Real innovation is a dying art. It’s true that creativity—the business of thinking up new ideas—is far from dead, but it’s getting harder and harder to get new concepts applied in design, manufacturing or business. It costs thousands of pounds to get a new idea into the marketplace, and there is very little support for anything from most companies or government. A lot of people don’t want to know. I’ve always been interested in new ideas: I was trained as an engineer and went to work for an automotive components company, and almost from the first day I was asking why things were done in this way and not that. I thought up my first invention at 19—then I discovered someone else had got there first. I’ve been inventive all my life. I’ve got 14 patents to my name. Invention is what happens when you come across a problem, and look for a solution. It could be at work or at home in the garden—like a better way of mowing the lawn, say. But these days creativity is being stifled because there are so many hoops to go through. You have a brilliant idea for a left-handed widget but you still have to ask yourself: Is it new Has it already been protected Is there a market for it Is the investment worth it Only 4 percent of granted patents reach the market place. Part of the problem is that manufacturing industry and government are obsessed with complex technology like bioengineering. There is no interest in low technology or simple ideas that are equivalent to the invention of the paperclip. Inventors still come up with simple devices, but it’s difficult to get anyone interested. But it’s also a very British problem. Inventions from Britain are often taken up overseas, because most British companies tend not to look outside their own factory gates. My own personal theory is that it’s a legacy of the Empire, when Britain had a captive audience and little competition, so industries didn’t need to market their products. Nowadays, companies from other leading economies have to make what the consumer wants in order to ensure their profits, so they are always ready to innovate. And many British manufacturers have never caught up. Plus, British schoolchildren aren’t embracing vocational training subjects such as metalwork, woodwork, or design and technology. As a result university engineering departments are closing. Tomorrow’s World used to be on the TV, but where is that now The whole lack of interest in creativity and invention is a symptom of the class system, too—there’s a kind of snobbishness in Britain about cleverness and originality. The only inventors you see in the media are people like Sir Clive Sinclair and Trevor Bayliss who come across like mad scientists. What does the phrase "caught up" in Paragraph 5 mean
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