John Loughton news

[James]

Judging 'Young Scot awards'...


The Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack victor chaired the judging panel to select the finalists for the Sunday Mail and Lloyds TSB Young Scot Awards.

"Phenomenal" was just one of the words our judges used last week as they deliberated over the 42 shortlisted entries.

It took more than three hours of debate to narrow the field to 14 then select the Young Scot.

Politics student John, 20, of Pilton, Edinburgh, said: "I was on the panel in 2006 but heading it up was one of the hardest things I have ever done.".....


http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/lifestyle/lifestyle-catchall/2008/02/24/phenomenal-78057-20329597/

Youth parliament...


Housemate rolls out welcome mat for politicians

JOHN LOUGHTON, recent winner of Big Brother Celebrity Hijack, will welcome fellow members of the Youth Parliament to its March sitting at the Scottish Parliament next Saturday.
The sitting will run over two days and will be attended by more than 150 MSYPs representing every constituency in Scotland.....


http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Housemate-rolls-out-welcome-mat.3809375.jp

[Captain.Remy]

Yeah thanks for this, I'm glad he does his job very well and he didn't become big-headed so it's good for him !!

[jamess1988]

Glad to hear everything's going well for him

[Jackie]

Well done john:elephant:

[CassetteFinger]

That's good, i suppose. Glad he hasent lost any respect because he did big brother.

[James]

Some more John news from Scottish press...


Big Brother victor weighs up his future

BIG BROTHER winner John Loughton has spoken of a number career paths he may follow with his new-found fame.
The Edinburgh 20-year-old, who grew up in Pilton, said now the dust had settled on his victory on Big Brother Celebrity Hijack, he was considering a number of options.

Mr Loughton, who was included in the television programme because he is chairman of the Scottish Youth Parliament, said politics was just one of the things he was looking to pursue.

He said: "I could go for the youth parliament again next year; I could maybe try to get a high-flyer type job if I go up a certain route; I could consider going into parliament or go into formal politics – or maybe look at working here in the community for a bit longer.

"Then I could go back to university to finish my degree or maybe even try to become a Z-list celebrity – or maybe a wee bit of everything."

Before appearing in the hit reality TV series, Mr Loughton had been critical of some schools and institutions in north Edinburgh for setting expectation levels too low for other young people.

He added: "Since I left Big Brother I've been bombarded with invitations to do things."

Last Updated: 10 March 2008 9:46 AM


http://news.scotsman.com/entertainment/Big-Brother-victor-weighs-up.3860288.jp

[Captain.Remy]

'maybe even try to become a Z-list celebrity'

That's just hilarious, John's so funny. :laugh3::laugh3:

[James]

Pride..not Prejudice

Mar 23 2008

Sunday Mail Young Scot Award 2008 In Association With Lloyds Tsb Scotland

JOHN Loughton is chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament, a child poverty campaigner and Big Brother Celebrity Hijack winner. And he's only 21.

Alex Salmond better watch out. John was also chair of the Young Scot judges faced with the monumental task of selecting 42 winners from thousands of your nominations.

Last week, he took centre stage alongside the First Minister at the third Sunday Mail Young Scot awards. It was an inspirational night.

Jamie and Andy Stewart, twins separated by tragedy but united in courage, were deserved winners.

But the wonderful thing was that they and all our finalists are not the exception - but the rule.

Too often we pigeonhole and patronise young people. John best summed to the spirit of the night: "The Sunday Mail Young Scot Awards represent an occasion to celebrate the creativity, passion and dedication of our young people.

"I've never known an event that has given young people so much inspiration and pride.

"These are young people whose achievements have the capacity to make everyone sit up and think.

"Too many people write off young people as hoodie-wearing, ASBO collecting, alcopop-drinking louts.

"The young people recognised are the true reflection of today's young Scots, not the exception.

"Well done to the Sunday Mail, Lloyds TSB Scotland and to Young Scot for providing a platform to honour my generation."

Thank you John and thanks to all our young Scots everywhere. We ARE proud of you.

To send your comments to Sunday Mail Opinion just text SMOPINION (space) then your message and send to 84080 (53305 ROI). Each text cost 25p (30 cents ROI)


http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/opinion/we-say/2008/03/23/pride-not-prejudice-78057-20359440/

[James]

John Loughton hijacks M&D's for weekend

Apr 8 2008 By Richard Mooney

BIG BROTHER winner John Loughton will lead the charge as young people from all over Lanarkshire hijack M&D’s theme park for a weekend in May.

The Chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament will launch a weekend of fun and games on May 17 and 18 that will mark the introduction of the new ‘Young Scot’ National Entitlement Card (NEC).

The Celebrity Big Brother winner said: “I’m looking forward to playing ‘Hijacker’ in the park.

“After countless celebrities telling me what to do in the Big Brother House, I get to control M&D’s and I’m looking forward to the fun I can have with that.

“It’s great to have an event to let young people celebrate just being young people. Too often our youth get a hard time.

“They are not neds or hoodies but a crucial part of society.”

The weekend will see all Young Scot card holders receiving £5 off an M&D’s day pass, along with a range of discounts across various other attractions.

In addition to this, card holders will now be eligible for an all-year-round £3 discount in admission to the theme park, Amazonia, Crazy Golf and bowling.

Clyde 1 will be on hand to provide entertainment for the weekend, which will begin at 12pm on Saturday 17 May.

Youth work services from North and South Lanarkshire will also take part in the “Hijack”, running information and advice stalls.

The new Young Scot NEC will act as an “access all areas pass” for 11 to 25-year-olds across Scotland and Europe, offering discounts and a form of ID.

Kirstin Thomson, North Lanarkshire Council’s Young Scot Project Co-ordinator said: “That is something all young people should not just have, but carry about and use on a daily basis.”


http://www.hamiltonadvertiser.co.uk/news/local-news/hamilton-news/2008/04/08/john-loughton-hijacks-m-d-s-for-weekend-51525-20735087/

[James]

John supporting Obama...


PRESS RELEASE
The Scotland for Obama Campaign was today endorsed by winner of Big Brother Celebrity Hijack. In advance of the rally for Obama Supporters outside the Scottish Parliament from 4.30pm on Saturday, John Loughton who will be attending the rally said:

"There's no doubt that the power of Barack Obama's message of hope is engaging a lost generation of young Americans in politics. He's a breath of fresh air and a positive force for change in a dated American political system. Any agenda which engages the unengaged and gives a voice to the voiceless is an agenda I support!".....


http://keziadugdale.blogspot.com/2008/04/big-brother-backs-obama.html

[James]

The touching stories behind the young Scots honoured by Diana Awards

Apr 15 2008 Exclusive by Amy Devine

YOUNG Scots will tonight be honoured for making a difference to people's lives at a ceremony held in memory of Princess Diana.

Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack winner John Loughton will join politicians at the bash in the Scottish Parliament.

Diana Awards will be handed to 22 deserving Scots, aged from 10 to 18, who include primary school classmates battling bullying, and two pals who help educate their peers about drink and drugs.....


http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/... (http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/editors-choice/2008/04/15/the-touching-stories-behind-the-young-scots-honoured-by-diana-awards-86908-20383466/)

[Ashleee:)]

my mate met him :hugesmile: she won one of the young scot awards :bouncy:

[James]

BB John boosts Youth Parliament profile

THE Scottish Youth Parliament has enjoyed a huge rise in interest since chairman John Loughton won a reality television show, it has emerged.
The Edinburgh-based organisation received a massive influx of hits to its website while the 20-year-old was starring in Big Brother Celebrity Hijack earlier this year.

It has also appeared in more publications and broadcasts, with Mr Loughton – who has no political affiliation – saying that was one of his reasons for appearing on the show.

He said: "When I was first approached to go on Big Brother my first reaction was 'let's just find out more, let's get a bit more information here'.

"We're seeing, not only guessing what the benefits are. Our website has had dramatic, massive increases, requests for schools sessions are phenomenally higher, the media coverage is unparalleled, lots more MSPs know us, just building up a credible and strong name and profile in Scotland.

"We're at a stage where we're getting more and more members on board than ever, we're holding the biggest elections we've ever held, we've got the highest staff capacity we've ever had, we're in a really amazing place and it's a step up for youth politics."


http://news.scotsman.com/entertainment/BB-John-boosts-Youth-Parliament.4015605.jp

[Captain.Remy]

It's a good thing John made a great impact for young people. I'm glad to read all these good news about it. John rocks !! :hugesmile:

[James]

Big Brother winner joins the Constitutional Commission team

Published Date: 28 April 2008
By GERRI PEEV

THE winner of Big Brother Celebrity Hijack, John Loughton, will be one of the new members of the Constitutional Commission, which holds its first official meeting in Holyrood today.
The 20-year-old political activist chairs the Scottish Youth Parliament and became a household name in Scotland after scooping the reality show crown.

He will sit with 14 other politicians from unionist parties, academics and community workers on the commission, which will meet today at 3pm.

Although the full list of members was expected to be made public last night, last minute negotiations were ongoing with at least one prospective member, The Scotsman understands.

Others expected to be on the panel include Glasgow University Professor Mona Siddiqui, former Tory minister Jamie Lindsay, Lord Elder and Baron Selkirk of Douglas, also known as James Douglas-Hamilton, a former Tory MSP.

It was claimed yesterday that George Reid, the former Presiding Officer and SNP MSP, had been blocked by the UK Labour party from sitting on the Commission as he was "too nationalist".

The commission will publish an interim report by the end of this year with a final report to go to Holyrood and Westminster by next spring.


http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Big-Brother-winner-joins-the.4024907.jp

[James]

John interview...


From The Sunday Times
May 4, 2008

John Loughton: after Big Brother

After Celebrity Hijack, the Scottish Youth Parliament chairman has joined a more mundane talking shop - on devolution

Allan Brown

If the Scottish chapter of the Lord of the Flies appreciation society had a ringleader, you can bet your last can of Creamola Foam it would be John Loughton. The 20-year-old Edinburgher was the winner of the most recent, though largely unwatched, series of Big Brother and is chairman of the Scottish youth parliament - founded, he says with youthful relish for the fascinating factoid, "exactly one day before the Scottish parliament proper". As of last week, he's also the latest addition to the Calman devolution commission, the parliamentary talking shop designed to give unionists a final bat-squeak before the Great Project of Alex Salmond slouches towards Holyrood.

Clearly something of a revolving bow tie of a choice, Loughton is nonetheless insistent - as the Monkees were also - that he's the young generation and he's got something to say. Usually this concerns "young person issues", such as the environment and top-up fees and the voting age. Anything more contentious, any stand stronger than, say, opposition to a new tax on downloading iTunes, might prove problematic further down the road, as Wendy Alexander discovered recently when her student ban on "racist" Rowntree Mackintosh sweets at shops on the campus of Glasgow University came to light.

Added to which, Loughton suggests his generation might be a bit post-political, keener on big handshakes and all-say-aye solutions than on the Punch and Judy ding-dongs of the party system. So, for the meantime, then, it's all three-thumbs-up positivity from Loughton.

He calls to ask that I text him to confirm the time of our appointment. In an attempt to imply that I haven't quite succumbed to jumbo bags of Werther's Originals and James Last by the log fire, I grudgingly adopt the finger-clicking teen abbreviations of textspeak and reply "CU then". I don't recall ever having to do this with George Foulkes.

Youth parliaments also exist in Tasmania, Queensland and Newfoundland, you'll be reassured to know. Fittingly, the offices of the Scottish youth parliament, in a business-centre place by Haymarket station, are very purple, with Playskool cubes for sitting on and purple washes on the walls.

Loughton bounds out of a corridor and proffers one of those handshakes that leaves you singing like a Bee Gee. He's a sizable fellow, what the tabloids in his Big Brother phase called a gentle giant, 6ft 2in, though that measurement may also apply around his torso, looking with his spiky ginger thatch and his broad plain of a face as though DC Thomson had a hand in his making.

As the coffee arrives in antisectarianism mugs, it becomes clear that it's issues not orthodoxies for Loughton, though he's willing to concede that broadly, privately, he is pro-devolution, pro the status quo (he could be meaning the band, of course), happy with the way things are but happier if they were just a tiny bit different, in some manner he isn't yet able to specify, hence his readiness to sit on the commission.

"It's a trap, I think, to think that independence is a black and white issue," he says. "I'm open to finding any way forward that is the best way for the people of Scotland, whatever that turns out to be. There's value in the Union, nothing is broken, but we can still get a better deal."

I put to him, of course, the obvious problem that grown-ups are cleverer, wiser and just generally less annoying than young people, and Loughton responds with the thought that 100 20-year-olds, by definition, possess 2,000 years of experience. True - but they've also spent 300 years watching Teletubbies and pouring apple puree into the toaster.

The central thing about the conspicuously achieving Loughton, one supposes, is that he's from West Pilton, that embattled (which is a polite way of saying scabby) Edinburgh sink estate where Irvine Welsh grew up, where fridges live on grass verges and the pubs require that you wipe your feet on the way out. Shilpa Shetty, another Big Brother victor, was not from West Pilton, it hardly needs pointing out. Loughton came through largely unscathed, however, being of a size that generally persuaded bullies to steal the dinner money of other children and being, even though he says so himself, "quite a likeable guy, really".

Before he stood for the youth parliament, Loughton started a degree in sociology and politics at Stirling University. Uncompleted, it remains on hold until politicking is out of his system, though it must have been constructive in pondering the nature v nurture debates behind the divergent fates that he and his brother, Steven, have met. A rather more typical victim of a West Pilton childhood, Steven was convicted of abusing police earlier this year.

"People often ask me how I turned out so differently," he says. "All I know is that there was a flick in my engine towards the end of my time at school and not everybody gets that same flick. Steven's situation is difficult for me - nobody wants to see family members ending up like that. But there's only so much one person can do. The reality is that what happened to Steven happens a lot in places like Pilton. It's the fault of social breakdown rather than any one individual like him. My philosophy is, lend a hand, don't point a finger."

His familial background also tells of its locale, his mother, Donna, 38, having left Loughton's father to begin a relationship with the man's brother. Their three resultant children, therefore, are simultaneously Loughton's stepsiblings and his cousins, while his uncle is also his stepfather, all of which would provide a challenge to any youth parliament thinking there might be on the 21st-century blended family.

"It's not a major issue for us - that's the way things are," he says. "You don't plan life, it pans out, and we as a family just have to deal with that. It's not a conventional family, but you tell me what a normal family is."

Untypically, though, it was Big Brother that came looking for Loughton rather than the other way round. Seven months into his elected post at the apex of the youth parliament, Loughton was asked if he would consider appearing in a new kind of Big Brother. Stung by claims that recent series had trawled new depths of combative vulgarity, particularly after the Jade Goody racism row, its producers posited a higher-fibre version of the show in which wellintentioned yoofs competed to carry out the instructions of such unseen celebrity controllers as the actor Alan Cumming and comic Matt Lucas.

Abandoned swiftly by viewers during January, Big Brother's Celebrity Hijack made it only as far as E4, but Loughton emerged victorious, picking up the £50,000 prize. Much of the cash is gone now, he says. He's bought fittings and furniture for his mother's flat in West Pilton.

"I had her crying in a furniture shop the other week," he says, smiling. "She'd never had a sofa of her own before. They were always from charity shops or pass-ons from relatives. We ended up arguing over it. She didn't want to take it off me."

The money has also bought him his own "reward" - a preposterously blingy watch that has colonised his left wrist, a huge rectangular slab of silver plate and fake diamonds, made by the world-renowned house of Fossil. It cost, he says, about £100, and it's altogether appropriate really for an activist whose USP is that his own hour hand has gone around fewer times than those of most politicos.

"What happened to George Galloway was the first thing that came to mind when I was considering the Big Brother offer," he says. "My rationale was the same as George's, to show that politics doesn't have to be worthy or dreary. So I ended up dressing as an octopus for the show, perhaps not as famously as George being a cat or a robot, but with the same purpose, to show that politicians and political activists are human."

And then it was back to the daily round of the pop-sock parliament, the exclamation-mark executive, with its bonsai rallies and mini-me conferences wielding such titles as Towards Harmony. Loughton may well stand for re-election to chairman in June.

For as long as shopkeepers forbid more than two youngsters to enter their premises at lunchtimes and Asbos are considered by youths as badges of honour, there will be work for a youth parliament to do. In the meantime, Loughton is receiving his blooding in grown-up, full-bearded politics, courtesy of the devolution commission. Its six other members, he might be interested to know, in his factoid fashion, have a collective age of more than 300.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article3864015.ece

[James]

Big Brother victor up for charity award

THE winner of Celebrity Big Brother has joined Rangers captain Barry Ferguson in the running for a major charity award.
John Loughton, 20, of West Pilton, has been nominated for the charity champion award at this year's annual Third Force News Scottish Charity Awards.

The chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament shot to fame earlier this year when he won £50,000 in the Big Brother Celebrity Hijack show.

He was picked to take part in the show mainly because of his community work, which has seen him carry out volunteer activities in the Capital since he was a youngster.

He is up against a number of other nominees for the award, including the Rangers captain, who has been shortlisted for his work with the Rangers Foundation.

A project run by the RNIB Vision Support Centre, in association with NHS Lothian and Edinburgh city council's social work department, has been nominated for the partnership award.


http://news.scotsman.com/entertainment/Big-Brother-victor-up-for.4183577.jp

[Ashleee:)]

Thats a shame he's up against Barry, i love both of them :thumbs2:

[James]

Bit about people getting their exam results...


Exams don't set the end result

Published Date: 05 August 2008
By GEMMA FRASER and JOHN JOHNSTON

CRIME-WRITER Ian Rankin's results were good enough to win him a place at Edinburgh University, where he began to hone his writing skills.
Sir Tom Farmer, however, left school in Leith with no qualifications at just 15, after disappointing third-year exam results. That didn't stop him building business empire Kwik-Fit, which he sold for £1.2 billion.

Stories like his are perhaps surprisingly common among some of the city's leading entrepreneurs.

Here, several well-known faces recall their experience of sitting exams and getting the results, and what bearing it had on their lives.

Rhona Cameron, 42, comedienne, wrote poems on her exam papers at Musselburgh Grammar.

"I was pretty resigned to things after sitting my exams. I handed in some of my papers with poems written on them, and essays explaining why I shouldn't have to be judged in this way when my talents lay elsewhere. I believed in fate at that time and just let things take me places.

"I hated most subjects and had attention difficulties at school, plus my father had just died.

"I got a conditional place at art school but was short of an extra Higher and O grade. I knew I would be a rover and earn my living as a creative person and loathed academia.

"After school I attended further education college with the intention of getting the necessary requirements for art college again, but got sidetracked by a good looking girl in my politics class."

Sir Tom Farmer, founder of Kwik-Fit and owner of Hibs, says he is "rather ashamed" by his academic performance at Holy Cross School, in Leith.

"I left after sitting my third year exams. I can't say I was very enthusiastic about school.

"I'm rather ashamed to say that my exam results would not be the highlight of my school year. I did the best I could and I always got recognised for doing that, but I did not qualify for any prizes.

"One of the problems we have so often is that we value the targets rather than targeting the values.

"We need to realise that encouraging people to do their best is just as important."

Clare Thommen, 29, director of lingerie firm Boudiche, found her Royal High School exam results were not enough alone to impress employers.

"I don't think I had huge expectations because I had no idea what I wanted to do. At the time I wasn't really taking my studying seriously and when the results came through I was more nervous about being found out for not doing enough.

"I got two As – one in English and another in Management Information – and a C in maths.

"I went to Stevenson College afterwards to take a course in business administration, but didn't get a certificate because I failed a module.

"I wanted to work in finance, so I told a prospective employer that I was prepared to study accounts at night class. I got the job, studied part-time, and ended up qualifying as a chartered accountant."

Karen Koren, 58, comedy promoter, went back to college after leaving Mary Erskine School "to prove I wasn't stupid".

"I left in December 1965. I was supposed to leave in 1966 but couldn't quite make it! My headmistress was a witch, though. I remember her telling me that 'we won't be sorry to see you leaving' as I walked out the doors for that last time. I wasn't that bad though. I was just desperate to grow up.

"I didn't leave with anything and ran away to dance. I went to Glasgow and London before coming back when I was 19.

"I got the English higher when I was 27 at Stevenson College, just to prove to those that called me stupid that I wasn't and to prove to myself too."


John Loughton, 20, winner of Big Brother Celebrity Hijack, was scared to return to his old house to pick up his Highers results from Craigroyston High.

"It was a nightmare. My exam results were going to my old house, which was a really bad area in West Pilton.I didn't particularly want to have to go round in the morning and have to wake someone up to collect them.

"So I planned to get up first thing in the morning, so I could wait for the postman before he delivered them. I ended up over-sleeping and missing the postman, so I had to go to the Post Office depot to finally get them.

"I had promised my mum and dad I wouldn't open them until I got home, but I took a peek on the bus home. I got four As, two Bs and 2 Cs."


Charlie Miller, 63, celebrity hairdresser, left Niddrie Marischal School, in Craigmillar, with no qualifications.

"I left school without passing any exams. I felt fine after finding out my results, I didn't feel stupid or diminished. I worked in the Co-op for a few months stacking shelves but then got into hairdressing.

"It doesn't mean that you are any less intelligent. passing exams doesn't mean everything.

"There's so many hands-on learning experiences out there that people don't always get hold of because they feel they have to stick to the academic route to find happiness."

Ian Rankin, 48, author of the best-selling Rebus detective novels, doubts his exam results from Cowdenbeath High School would get him into Edinburgh University today.

"I got five Highers, 2 As, a B and 2 Cs. It was over thirty years ago, so I don't really remember how I was feeling at the time I got them.

I do remember that I was on holiday in England when they came out, so I remember being in a callbox and getting them read out by my mother.

"With those results I got into Edinburgh University but I'm not too sure if they would be quite enough to get into the university now."

Grant Stott, 41, Forth One DJ, forgot all about his exam results from James Gillespie's.

"The day the results came out caught me by surprise, bizarrely.

"Four or five of us were all out camping at Paul Baur's house.

"Due to the excitement of spending two or three nights in his back garden we forgot all about it.

"One morning Paul's wee brother came running over and said 'Paul, there's a big brown envelope arrived for you'.

"At that moment we all realised the O-grade results were coming out – we couldn't get back quickly to our own houses.

"It was an absolute disaster, out of five O-grades, I had passed only one – secretarial studies."

Richard DeMarco, 78, artist and arts promoter, Holy Cross School, Leith.

"I managed as head boy, rugby captain and head of house to fail my favourite subject, English. I passed my other two but in those days that didn't count if you had failed your English paper.

"I left with regret at this but I didn't feel diminished because of it. I took evening classes and got the pass.

"I've got four honorary degrees now, so failing that class wasn't the worst thing in the world to happen to me."


http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/features/Exams-dont-set-the-end.4357344.jp