London mayoral candidate Oona King has received showbiz endorsement from The Wire's Idris Elba.

The 37-year-old Hackney-born actor said King has the 'right spirit' to run City Hall and 'break down the issues' that are facing Londoners at this time.

Elba, famed for playing Russell “Stringer” Bell in the hit US series The Wire, posted a video on YouTube stating: "I'm just an entertainer and this is just my opinion, but I love Oona King. I think she's very smart and very focused and she'd be a great Mayor."

Earlier this month King, who vowed to tackle the postcode wars, devised an eight-point action plan to tackle knife-crime in London. The east end mother of two said: "For too many years, since the mayoralty was created, City Hall has failed to properly grasp the issue of knife crime and the prevalence of young people operating in violent, postcode-based groups. This must change."

Elba recently played the role of DCI John Luther in BBC1's crime drama Luther and added: "I'm a proud Londoner. I'm worried that London has seen huge escalations of violence...I think she [King] can help to break down some of these issues."

The actor is based in the US but his parents live in East Ham. He first met King when she was head of diversity at Channel 4. Ms King will face stiff competition for the Labour nomination from ex-Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, for the 2012 election.

Future fashion stars will be unearthed when fashionistas and creative young people catwalk their innovative styles at the 2010 Young Designer Show 17 July.

Over twenty of fashion's hottest products will showcase their collections at the Cockpit Theatre in London. The show aims to raise the profile of exceptionally gifted young fashion designers, some of them as young as 13 years up to 25 years and beyond.

Joanna Marcella, a knitwear designer is the brainchild behind the show, launched in 2002 to produce a platform for multicultural designers that contributes to the pursuit of tomorrow’s fashion stars. Speaking about her passion, Marcella said: “The visionary and inspirational designers: Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, Chanel, Christian Dior, Christian Lacroix, John Galliano, Karl Lagerfeld, Louis Vuitton and Yves Saint Laurent are some of the fashion icons that our young designers have chosen as their inspiration. Our vision is to see the day when our young designers are as well known as the fashion leaders we know today.”

The show will be hosted by Annaliese Dayes (from Britain’s next top model) and W.Livingston Gilchrist (Playvybz’s Radio Presenter).

Marcella believes the show will give up-and-coming designers the opportunity in front of international buyers, fashion editors, press and celebrities and work with a team of prominent fashion stylists, hair, make-up artists backstage.

She continues: “This event is the only platform in the UK that has given several extremely young fashion designers, who are still studying for their fashion degrees, an opportunity to showcase in New York Fashion Week and Caribbean Fashion Week."

The founder of the biggest annual urban and dance music awards show urged the media and organisations to get behind the urban music industry to allow it to progress.

Jordan Kensington, founder of The Urban Music Awards and C.E.O of Invincible Entertainment Group, comments come after the recent announcement of this year’s UMAs nominees.

“Music is about breaking boundaries and is important that the media, sponsors, booking agents really get behind UK acts and understand that for the urban music industry to progress an remain relevant, credible acts in countries like the UK should be heavily supported in all aspects,” said Kensington.

The UMAs will be supporting British acts such as Tinie Tempah, Alexandra Burke, JLS, Plan B, and Chipmunk, who are just a few chart-toppers joining the list of nominees for the Urban Music Awards 2010.

“UK urban acts are some of the most talented, original and resourceful acts in the world,” Kensington told Krystal. “You only have to look at acts such as Sade, Soul2Soul, UB40 to current acts such as M.I.A, Estelle, Amy Winehouse, Natasha Beddingfield, Jay Sean, Craig David and Dizzee Rascal to see how creative acts can be if given the air to breathe.

This year’s event promises to be spectacular and a celebration of the UK urban music taking over the mainstream here in the UK. Kensington added: “This is a combination of 12 years of hard work with my company Invincible Entertainment Group and Urban Music Awards investing millions into the UK music scene over the years. Something that no other UK organisation believed in when we started in the late 90’s. It is a blessing to see what we have achieved but there is so much more to be done as the UMA’s.”

The show will be held September 18 2010 and will recognise the achievements of artists, entertainers and media personalities in over 18 categories including Best Newcomer, Best Collaboration and Best Music Video.

by Melissa Allison-Forbes

Singer Beverley Knight has urged pubs and bars to make sure their condom machines are fully stocked to keep sports fans safer from sexually transmitted infections during the World Cup.

The soul singer, who is supporting the Terrence Higgins Trust’s ‘Scoring without getting an own goal’ World Cup campaign, said: “Pubs and bars are going to be packed to the rafters this World Cup and landlords and bar staff can make a real difference to keeping their punters safer throughout the tournament by making sure their condom machines are also full to the brim.

“There’s nothing that’s going to put you off your game more than an unplanned pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection this summer, so lets make safer sex sexy again.”

With previous major sporting events attracting an increased demand for condoms, for both athletes and supporters, it’s likely that this year’s World Cup tournament will prove no exception for increased post-sporting action.

Last year, despite 100,000 condoms being stockpiled for the Winter Olympics, an additional 8,500 had to be emergency airlifted into the Olympic Villages in Vancouver and Whistler. And in Sydney, at the 2000 Olympics, organisers’ original order of 70,000 condoms for athletes went so fast that an extra 20,000 were needed which also ran out before the end of the Games.

Terrence Higgins Trust’s spokeswoman, Genevieve Edwards, said: “With levels of sexually transmitted infections rising steadily in the UK safe sex isn’t something we should be ignoring. By keeping condom machines in the gents and ladies’ loos fully topped up staff can help prevent their customers getting an own goal this summer.”

A council defended its decision to exclude white applicants for a management training scheme this week.

Bristol City Council is facing criticism after the two-year graduate placement, worth £18,000, was offered only to ethnic minorities.

A council spokesperson said: "This is the third year of running the traineeship and it was started because of the marked under-representation of BME people in the council's workforce."

Seven per cent of their staff are from BME backgrounds, compared to 12% in the city population, and the figure for BME is even lower at management grades. Bucking this trend was the main focus for the scheme. "There was a strong case for this small positive recruitment traineeship for two BME graduates a year, as set out by section 37 of the Race Relations Act 1976. We have a total workforce of over 9,000 employees (excluding school staff) so this is a very small training programme," the spokesperson added.

The scheme does not guarantee a job at the end, and the job advertisement states: 'The traineeship will involve rotating placements in different services of the city council where you will be given 'on the job' training and undertake projects including policy and research work. The successful candidates will be offered a postgraduate diploma in management studies, a tax-free training allowance and mentoring and support throughout.'

Recent graduate Rochelle, 23, said: "I think the scheme is a positive idea. A number of organisations offer similar schemes and it helps to bridge the gap at management level, giving a better representation of the population."

The city council says it has other training schemes that are open to everyone.