Monthly Archives: January 2021

Deconstructing the Different Embedded Component of Racism – What we really need to Understand by Diane Shawe M.Ed

I was five years old when I first heard the phrase or taunt ‘Blacky’ I had played with all my neighbours on the street and in the garden when I was little, looking back my neighbours were black, white and asians. We use to love playing tick. My mum picked me up from my new infant school and I asked her what was a blacky.

She politely asked me were I had heard the phrase and I told her some kids were calling us it at school. She said to take no notice and focus on learning and doing as the teacher said. So I did, but for the next 7 years I could now describe all the various ways I was racially profiled, abused and taunted by both teachers and my classmates without realising it back then. I can now on reflection ask ‘How did that white young child understand to start calling me blacky when I didn’t even know they were white or indeed that I was black? I just saw Jane who was my best friend, she had freckles and ginger hair.

In view of this whilst conducting my mini research for this article, I began to understand that simply making throw away statements as to what racism is and peoples assertion that it may or may not be stamped out was coming from a place of pain, helplessness, denial or plain historical orchestrated planning.

One thing we can all agree on is that racism is alive, it is fed, it has been modernised, debated clinically, psychologically, intellectually, emotionally from generation to generaion.

Contrary to a dictionary definition, racism, as defined in social science research and theory, is about much more than race-based prejudice—it exists when an imbalance in power and social status is generated by how we understand and act upon race.

The UN does not define “racism”; however, it does define “racial discrimination”. According to the 1965 UN International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

The term “racial discrimination” shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin that has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.

UN Racial Discrimination 1965

Racism exists when ideas and assumptions about racial categories are used to justify and reproduce a racial hierarchy and racially structured society that unjustly limits access to resources, rights, and privileges on the basis of race. Racism also occurs when this kind of unjust social structure is produced by the failure to account for race and its historical and contemporary roles in society.

So with this in mind, when the slogan ‘Black lives Matter’ descended into competing factions like ‘Blue lives Matter’ or ‘All lives Matter’ I became a little confused as to why visually seeing a unarmed, handcuffed man’s life being snuffed out in broad daylight by an appointed officer sworn in to defend all people, along with insurmountable evidence going back hundreds of years starting from yesterday could then generate competitive slogans in retaliation to minimise what we all saw and witnessed as being equal to everything else?

I then discovered that racism in itself is not a simplified one paragraph statement in a dictonary, it’s not about setting up a Diversity department with one member of staff having no power to affect real change from the board of dircectors, investors, recruitment and legislation.

From Race transitioning into racism, oppression, cruelty and suppression this little child has grown up to be a sophisticated adept monster.

So began my education into the 7 forms of Racism which I have best summarised below (reminds me of the 7 deadly sins)

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The 7 Forms of Racism

Racism takes seven main forms, according to social science. Rarely does any one exist on its own. Instead, racism typically operates as a combination of at least two forms working together, simultaneously. Independently and together, these seven forms of racism work to reproduce racist ideas, racist interactions and behavior, racist practices and policies, and an overall racist social structure.

Representational Racism

Depictions of racial stereotypes are common in popular culture and media, like the historical tendency to cast people of color as criminals and as victims of crime rather than in other roles, or as background characters rather than as leads in film and television. Also common are racial caricatures that are racist in their representations, like “mascots” for instance or the “Angry Black Women” for instance.

The power of representational racism—or racism expressed in how racial groups are represented within popular culture—is that it encapsulates a whole range of racist ideas that imply inferiority, and often stupidity and untrustworthiness, in images that circulate society and permeate our culture. While those not directly harmed by representational racism might not take it seriously, the presence of such images and our interaction with them on a near-constant basis helps to keep alive the racist ideas attached to them.

Ideological Racism

Ideology is a word that sociologists use to refer to the world views, beliefs, and common sense ways of thinking that are normal in a society or culture. So, ideological racism is a kind of racism that colors and manifests in those things. It refers to world views, beliefs, and common sense ideas that are rooted in racial stereotypes and biases. A troubling example is the fact that many people in American society, regardless of their race, believe that white and light skinned people are more intelligent than dark-skinned people and superior in a variety of other ways.

Historically, this particular form of ideological racism supported and justified the building of European colonial empires and U.S. imperialism through the unjust acquisition of land, people, and resources around the world. Today, some common ideological forms of racism include the belief that Black women are sexually promiscuous, that Latina women are “fiery” or “hot-tempered,” and that black men and boys are criminally oriented. This form of racism has a negative impact on people of color as a whole because it works to deny them access to and/or success within education and the professional world, and subjects them to heightened police surveillance, harassment, and violence, among other negative outcomes.

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Discursive Racism

Racism is often expressed linguistically, in the “discourse” we use to talk about the world and people in it. This kind of racism is expressed as racial slurs and hate speech, but also as code words that have racialised meanings embedded in them, like “ghetto,” “thug,” or “gangsta.” Just as representational racism communicates racist ideas through images, discursive racism communicates them through the actual words we use to describe people and places. Using words that rely on stereotypical racial differences to communicate explicit or implicit hierarchies perpetuates the racist inequalities that exist in society.

Some Comedians often paint a picture to a wide audience. Study has shown that storytelling can form the most embedded images into the subconscious mind, wrap that into laughter another very powerful emotional tool to stimulate memory and feeling, it is easy to see that monkey joke being repeated time and time again for instance. It is viewed as harmless by the presenter because it was packaged as a joke by a well known commedian.

Interactional Racism

Racism often takes an interactional form, which means it is expressed in how we interact with each other. For example, a white or Asian woman walking on a sidewalk may cross the street to avoid passing closely by a black or Latino man because she is implicitly biased to see these men as potential threats. When a person of color is verbally or physically assaulted because of their race, this is interactional racism. When a neighbor calls the police to report a break-in because they do not recognise their black neighbour, or when someone automatically assumes that a person of color is a low-level employee or an assistant, though they might be a manager, executive, or owner of a business, this is interactional racism. 

Hate crimes are the most extreme manifestation of this form of racism. Interactional racism causes stress, anxiety, and emotional and physical harm to people of color on a daily basis.

Institutional Racism

Racism takes institutional form in the ways that policies and laws are crafted and put into practice through society’s institutions, such as the decades-long set of policing and legal policies known as “The War on Drugs,” which has disproportionately targeted neighborhoods and communities that are composed predominantly of people of color. Other examples include Stop-N-Frisk policy that overwhelmingly targets black and Latino males, the practice among real estate agents and mortgage lenders of not allowing people of color to own property in certain neighborhoods and that force them to accept less desirable mortgage rates, and clerks and judges automatically assuming that the presence of a black person in court must be a defendant and not a solicitor or barrister. (recently reported)

Institutional racism preserves and fuels the racial gaps in wealth, education, and social status, and serves to perpetuate white supremacy and privilege.

Structural Racism

Structural racism refers to the ongoing, historical, and long-term reproduction of the racialised structure of our society through a combination of all of the above forms. Structural racism manifests in widespread racial segregation and stratification on the basis of education, income, and wealth, the recurrent displacement of people of color from neighborhoods that go through processes of gentrification, and the overwhelming burden of environmental pollution borne by people of colour given its proximity to their communities. Structural racism results in large-scale, society-wide inequalities on the basis of race.

We can see this when local areas that have enjoyed house prices being maintained and an assumption made that having ethnic people move into the area automatically result in house prices going down. But on the other hand a run down area could be rejuvenated automatically as soon as white people move in forcing residents who have been deprived for years to move out.

Systemic Racism

Many sociologists describe racism in the U.S. and U.K as “systemic” because the country was founded on slavery and racist beliefs that created racist policies and practices, and because that legacy lives today (more so in the U.S) in the racism that courses throughout the entirety of our social system. This means that racism was built into the very foundation of that society, and because of this, it has influenced the development of social institutions, laws, policies, beliefs, media representations, and behaviors and interactions, among many other things. By this definition, the system itself is racist, so effectively addressing racism requires a system-wide approach that leaves nothing unexamined.

But here is the cunnundrum, when what is seen as the norm to white people who have only known to do what they have been doing all along, when they believe their model is already superior and any alternate model from which to compare in order to modify would diminish their position, I would go as far as to say it would be like asking a fish to fly when its only experience has been to swim in water. The fish could end up experiencing stress and trauma or even fear. All of these emotions have a reactionary response, not dissimilar to the person being continuously discriminated against as described above.

Here me out here… However according to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution man evolved from fish and became acquainted to both Land, Sea, Air and Fire. An intelligence beyond all other creatures on earth. All around the world we can now see evidence of what man can create and sadly what he can destroy.

Sociologists observe a variety of styles or types of racism within these seven different forms. Some may be overtly racist, like the use of racial slurs or hate speech, which some people have identified and tried to be political correct whilst others use it to hurt and hammer home their pain, fright or anger.

There are some policies that intentionally discriminate against people on the basis of race. Others may be covert, (but isnt the act of covert implying complicitness?) kept to oneself, hidden from public view, or obscured by color-blind policies that purport to be race-neutral, though they have racist impacts.

While something may not appear obviously racist at first glance, it may, in fact, prove to be racist when one examines the implications of it through a sociological lens or the feedback and complaints presented by the reciepients.  If it relies on stereotypical notions of race and reproduces a racially structured society, then it is racist.

Due to the sensitive nature of race as a topic of conversation some have come to think that simply noticing race, or identifying or describing someone using race, is racist. Sociologists do not agree with this. In fact, many sociologists, race scholars, and anti-racist activists emphasise the importance of recognising and accounting for race and racism as necessary in the pursuit of social, economic, and political justice. (We must however agree that the earth contains different races and that will not change unless we destroy ourselves)

Both sides of the isle often digs in because they are operating from fear. We see the oppressor become more erratic and seek to use the legal system, government, army or commercial power to justify and repackage their unfair practices whilst crushing modernisation and equality by all means necessary using disinformation to divide and sow mistrust.

What are we evolving into? Is it so painful and unjust to want to see the whole world share in our further evolution economically, geographically, socially, environmentally, policically or religiously?

With over 7 billion consumers on this planet perhaps to be serviced by almost 2 billion suppliers, designers, developers, farmers, educationalist and health specialist the list goes on why does a few elite societies prefer to move us towards destruction because they are apposed to equality and human dignity?

We have the luxury of history, it has shown us time and time again the fall of hugh empires imploding because the rulers have abused their fellow man, become corrupt, greedy, uncaring and cruel. Surely we can do better and not repeat history.

So if both parties are blinded by the ‘I lose you gain’ principles one has to ask, is Racism taught and if so who is doing the teaching?

There is more than enough for everyone to enjoy

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result

Albert Einstein

So where do we go from here? There are two side to every coin, one side could not exist without the other. What I find troubling is there are some people who want to do the same thing over and over again to achieve exactly the same result as before. A chilling thought.

An easy cost effective business that can be done anywhere once you qualify

EYEBROW THREADING

Threading in the UK has become a very popular treatment with a few tips and ideas you could benefit from starting your very own eyebrow and threading business.

There is a huge potential for earning good money as a self employed beauty therapist offering eyebrow threading as a service.

Look at most salons and even shopping Malls these days and they have signs for threading in their windows. Look inside a salon and you will nearly always see them busy.

Customers don’t usually need to make an appointment, they just walk in and wait or get it done after they have had there other beauty treatments.

There has never been a better time to Start your own Threading business from home. Working on your own gives you the opportunity to work your own hours with much more flexibility and freedom then being tied down in a salon.

What’s more you can actually out sell salons with your threading service and make even more money than they do.

1. You can offer very flexible hours.

Working on your own you can offer treatments at unsociable hours such as evenings or weekends. Just think how limited salon opening times are…

2. You can offer discounted rates.

A salon has huge overheads – staff, rent, heating etc, you can operate at very little cost and undercut salon prices hence making your threading prices very attractive. Eyebrow Threading is an ancient art with MODEST earning potential

3. You can offer a mobile service.

Clients love it when you can offer your threading treatments in their own home. Just think of the business mobile hairdressers get. Many people don’t want to visit a salon – they may have work commitments, young children, don’t drive. There are many reasons why people can’t get to a salon and offering a mobile threading service is a superb way to make good money.

Setting up a Threading business is not expensive. Although you should always buy the very best equipment, threading kits, tools and thread is very cheap.

You will have very little over heads, think what would you use for a client? A little talk, some wipes and a few metres of thread. These products will hardly break the bank expenses wise so your profits margins are very high.
The best place to start is to get some threading training.

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1 Day Training Course

A decent accredited Threading courses cost under £200 and be booked on this site with a credit card or even Paypal. The price to train is very little compared to other similar industries. A hairdressing course would cost you £1000’s. You can learn eyebrow threading in just one day with our One Day Professional Threading Course Workshop. Combined with a practice and guidance, you ready to go… A Hairdresser trains for months if not years before they can offer their art for profit.

Once you’re trained getting business can be quite easy. Start of by printing or writing some adverts with your details and phone number. Stick these up in your local shops, post office or Supermarket. Chip shops surprisingly do well as people stand in the queue and read everything! Most places charge a just couple of pounds a week.
You local newspaper classified can be a good place to put a small add.

Currently some local paper charge £25 for 6 lines of text. You can also try your local supermarkets notice board, local salon, church, women’s group the list goes on.

Also place averts in online directories so people can find you when they search online. Gumtree and facebook market places are also good avenues.

The best way to advertise these days is to get a small website built. Most people search on the internet for what they need and a nicely designed webpage can be a great source of clients. Get in touch with us if you want a cheap website, we know a man who can!

Once you get a few clients, word of mouth of is by far the best advert for your services and if you do a good job word gets round quickly and you’ll soon be booked up with peoples mums, sister, aunts, uncles?? calling you.

So, put in basic terms, threading training is fast and cheap, materials are cheap and you can start your business in a short space of time with very little outlay. Threading is a perfect business model

Download our Course Prospectus

Eyebrow Threading 1 day

How to Avoid Business Startup Scams by Diane Shawe

Ten tips to prevent being scammed out of your money online when trying to setup a Business

Dont be afraid to start over again

It is now more than ever that anyone intending to set up a business must have built into the Business Startup DNA 7 disciplines.

1. Identify proper business advice or support
2. Take a short but credible Business Entrepreneur Course
3. Prepare a Business Plan and Cashflow Projections.
4. Setup Proper Legal Status, Bank and Merchant Account
5. Identify where you can apply for business startup funds and apply
6. Established Google verified Website & Social Media Links
7. Invest in effective Customer Aquisition online A.I technology

If you want to bypass these 7 disciplines, then you might be setting yourself up for failure and an empty bank account.

I have been in business for over 15 years. It is hard work, it takes resilience, the ability to adapt to change and short, medium and long term goal setting.  (Not forgetting stress, the losses and wins).

I use to help individuals and partners establish their business startup when I worked for the DTI Business Development department back in 1986. The government engaged in a big national campaign to get unemployment down and increase small business startups. We were very busy.

I learnt a lot about the challenges facing business owners and I can confirm that there is no shortcut, no quick rich route to establishing a solid business

Now everytime you switch on your phone, click on Youtube, Facebook, Instagram to name but a few, there is someone telling you how they made 5 or 6 figure income each month by just doing a few clicks and 3 hours a week work!  I suspect the reason most of them do this is because they are selling a replicatable business platform and each person who want to get involved needs to pay them several hundred pounds after you have been exhausted and convienced by a pretend training video which is just a long sales pitch! There I said it!

Even if you wanted to set up a online business, even if its a replicatable business, a amazon, ebay or spotify store I still beilieve that the 7 Business Startup DNA is essential so that you know where your going and not just sat there waiting for someone to come buy from your store.

According to a large Domain Name Registration Company there are over 9 million websites in the UK. Just let that sink in….and you would need to get people to it.

So my next point is how do you keep your hard earn money safe until you are really sure your making the right investment?

Study these ten simple tips to reduce the risk of being scams or fraudulently hoodwinked out of your finances just because your eager to start a business.

1. Be sceptical

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Thoroughly question all:

Online or offline deals, propositions or
Quick money spinning Opportunities
Presented Documents
Request for or photo evidence of money transactions
Information and the source

Anything can be pulled up, designed, prepared and recommended to make something look impressive.

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2. A Business Plan will help you know your business inside out

Have a thorough understanding of your business so you know:

How it will operates
What manpower or collaborators you will need
The products and services it provides
Your target market and your business SWOT
Your legal and regulatory obligations
Your financial Projections

This will help you realise immediately when something isn’t right when you talk to other businesses. If they cannot answer indept questions about their business and spend a lot of time blagging, don’t part with your money.

3. Find out about  suppliers and how they work

When you understand who you do business with you can spot any business request or transaction that looks wrong for that customer or supplier and may be fraudulent.

Conduct due diligence using a risk-based approach, such as checking the customer or supplier details you have on file, as well as online searches. Check the website links, don’t be drawn in by glossy spotify websites for instance, anyone can set one up in minutes, which is good for the industry, but also very helpful to dishonest people.

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4. Identify your vulnerability to fraud

Imagine how a fraudster might target you, both emotionally and motivationally. If you are desperate for instance to start making money, will that sway your judgement to be more risky? A business or marketing plan with your own financial projection will help keep you focused, on pointand strategic.

5. Develop a personal development strategy

It is easy to assum that if you have been working for a company for many years, or have just completed your degree, or you have had a hobby for years that setting up a business might be the next logical step especially if you want to change caeers or create work for yourself.

This is all fine, but it might be a good idea to take a credible short course in Business Management, Marketing, Social media, etc to increase your knowledge base and get up to date.

6. Take extra care against cyber attacks and data loss

With increasing threats from cybercrime, protect your mobile phone, tablet and computer. Try not to post your mobile number across the internet. For instance buy a skype number. Also if your working on projects make sure you back up your systems in the cloud in case things get lost or corrupted.

7. Protect your finances

Understand how money leaves your bank account and how hard it is to replace. A few thousand pounds in your bank account might seem like a lot, but when incorrectly invested or spent will have you kicking yourself after te event try to:

place the bulk of your money in a 30 days request account. This may help slow down any implusive purchases.

take time to study and understand the concept of Return on Investment. 

Take great care with anything offering continued electronic growth like bitcoin in exvhange for real cash and flashy websites with sophisticated algorhymes.

Invstigate if you can borrow money first and keep your cash for backup and liquidity. There is a saying, ‘Us other peoples money’

Try to use a different debit visa mastercard that you have to load up online from your bank account, this will help protect your own credit and debit card numbers from fraudsters.

Always check your bank statements.

8. Secure and protect your mobile and intellectual property

This includes laptops, computers, smartphones and intellectual property. Factor in home or business insurance to cover these items if they’re compromised, damaged or stolen.

It is also worth copy righting any itellectual property that you have designed or created. This can be for instance putting logos or watermarks, saving and sendind as pdf, taking videos with you working on your project or design etc.

9. Develop an action plan

Consider when you might need professional or legal advice. While prevention is better than cure, it’s important for you to design an action plan.

10. Avoid Duplicating, copying or forwarding anything online that is not your copyright

Cybercrime is real and you could find yourself accidentially committing or participating in a crime or even become a victim. Criminals are aware that word of mouth, recommendations and reviews achieved in your excitment can act as strong validation and are the best way to legitamise their criminal activity.

If you are asked to share, copy or forward something that requires people to commit to any payments, familiarise yourself with the website copyright, privacy and legal status.

You should report and share any links to the police. Call the police cybercrime department if you suspect or have been a victim.

Remember if it sounds or reads to good to be true then the odds are you need to dig deeper.

In a business plan template we will cover

Hair loss treatment for men: The pill recommended by pharmacists to prevent further fallout


HAIR LOSS affects 50 percent of men over the age of 50, yet the fallout can begin for some in their 20s.

coming out in Amazon Jan 2021

Male pattern baldness is genetic, but some treatments may prevent further fallout.

The reason behind a receding hairline is due to hormonal factors – the hair follicles on the head convert testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT).

Affected hair follicles become more sensitive to DHT, causing them to shrink, weaken and eventually die.

Traumatised hair follicles don’t grow hair like they used to and, eventually, they stop growing hair at all.

Society for Endocrinology explained the amount of DHT present in the body depends on the amount of testosterone in the body.

This is because DHT is made from testosterone, which is controlled by the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland.

There is still so much to learn about DHT, and why the hormone that encouraged hair growth at one stage of life then proceeds to be the culprit behind hair loss.

Hair loss: The hard pill you need to swallow

Receding Hair can be the first signs


Here’s the hard pill to swallow:

“There isn’t a cure for hair loss,” states Lloyds Pharmacy.

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However, aside from a hair transplant, there is an option available that can “slow loss and stimulate regrowth”.

This type of pill – recommended by Llyods Pharmacy – works by blocking DHT from attacking the hair follicles.

The daily treatment will take between three to six months of constant use before you see the effects.

This is because of the hair growth cycle, which means different hair follicles will be at different stages at different stages.

The hair growth cycle consists of: anagen (hair growth), catagen (quick, transitional period) and telogen (fall out phase).

Taking medication will be a life-long treatment because as soon as you stop, the hair loss will resume.

So what’s the magical pill? It’s called Finasteride – only suitable for men.

Depending on the pack size you order, the price will vary from £39 (for four weeks treatment) to £139 (for 24 weeks worth of treatment).

Lloyds Pharmacy recommends starting treatment “as soon as you notice your hair fall”.
This is because it’s “easier to prevent hair being lost than to regrow it”.

They state that “almost two thirds of men who use [Finasteride] benefit from renewed hair growth, while hair loss is halted in most other men”.

out in January 2021