News: No more 'digitial diets' for this magazine.

The magazine that pledges to use less Photoshop

Never thought you’d see that coming? Well don’t celebrate just yet. It’s not a complete swearing-off the retouching product, but the US Glamour editor Cindi Leive says she’ll use a little less of it after a reader survey. “Yes, we DO do it—and so do most fashion publications in the age of digital photography, since retouching includes everything from darkening a sky so a headline reads better to keeping models’ nipples from showing through a shirt (done in our March issue—twice!). But as your responses make clear, retouching has its limits—or should—and Glamour plans to take a stronger role in setting ours.

You told us you don’t want little things like freckles and scars removed, and we agree; those are the kinds of details that make each woman on the planet unique and beautiful. And while our policy has always been not to alter a woman’s body shape, we’ll also be asking photographers we hire not to manipulate body size in the photos we commission, even if a celebrity or model requests a digital diet (alas, it happens).” Look, it’s not a bad start.

There’s more to do on closing the Indigenous gap

Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who said sorry on behalf of all Australians when he first took the top job four years ago, says there is much more work that needs to be done on reconciliation. “If we get this right, we’ve got a message to sell to the world as well. And if we don’t we’re going to have a bad message to sell. (The gap) in the practical areas like health, like education, like employment, like housing. We made some progress and we’ve got a whole lot more progress to make.” Mr Rudd said the ‘sorry’ was still important to those who heard it but it wouldn’t close the gap by itself.

Controlled crying doesn’t stress the baby, says study

An unpublished study by Flinders University has studied the stress levels of crying babies to reveal that leaving a bub to cry for an extended period of time apparently does no harm. Lead researcher and senior lecturer in child psychology Dr Michael Gradisar said the Flinders study found decreased levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the saliva of babies that were subject to controlled crying. Dr Gradisar said the method relied on parents leaving their child to cry for two minutes, gradually moving to a maximum of 15 minutes a few nights later. But opinions on whether controlled crying is harmful or not are split, across the medical, research and parenting communities.

Naomi Watts to play Princess Di in film

And now we have a name. Australian actor Naomi Watts, who has starred in films like 21 Grams and King Kong, will play the People’s Princess in an upcoming British biopic. Watts was born in Britain, so it’s not too much of a stretch for the star. Watts said of the opportunity: “It is such an honour to be able to play this iconic role – Princess Diana was loved across the world, and I look forward to rising to the challenge of playing her on screen.” The film will be shot by Oscar-nominated German director Oliver Hirschbiegel who directed Downfall, about Hitler’s fall from power.

Next week all about same sex marriage in Parliament

And suddenly it’s pouring. Federal Parliament will consider no less than four same sex marriage bills in the lower house next week. Why so many? Labor MP Stephen Jones will present the unofficial (but ‘official’) private members bill which will carry the favour of the Government even though MPs will vote according to their consciences. Greens MP Adam Bandt and Andrew Wilkie will also submit a similar bill for debate on the same Monday. In addition, Wilkie wants to debate a bill that would exempt religious organisations having to marry same sex couples. Despite the influx of legislation, it’ll be some months before a vote is actually taken on the bills as MPs of all stripes strategise to win reform. Tony Abbott has said his Coalition MPs will not be granted a conscience vote on the matter as they were bound by a pre-election policy.

And now its swimwear for Andrej Pejic

He was the surprise hit of 2011 and now male model Andrej Pejic looks set to turn 2012 on its head again. His latest foray into female fashion involved a bikini shoot on a New York rooftop with photographer Sebastien Micke. He has had more success modelling fashion for women then he has for men. But it raises an interesting question. Why does an androgynous model do it ‘better’? The hips? “To do womenswear I have to be disciplined. My waist has gone from 29 to 25 inches, my hips are 35 inches,” he told Grazia Magazine. His chest isn’t a problem either. Pejic has already starred in a tongue-in-cheek campaign for Dutch chain Hema spruiking push-up bras. And there’s the rumoured fragrance deal. What do you think?

Here’s some more shots of Andrej modelling throughout 2011:

Education punishes the poor, says report

A major report into education by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has found that school systems in member countries divide their students by ethnicity and wealth … as well as ability. It said students from low-socioeconomic areas were twice as likely to be low performers and that this was not helped by selective schools who ‘skim the cream’ from the student cohort, leaving the others behind. It recommended attaching more funding to low performing or disadvantaged students to make them ‘more attractive’ to high performing schools. Selection exacerbates inequities since students from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to be placed in the least academically oriented tracks,” the report said. Australia had the highest rate of student grouping by ability in the OECD with 95 per cent, streets ahead of the average 60 per cent. Federal president of the Australian Education Union aa said: ”Its release is timely given the opportunity the Gonski review gives the government to put in place a new funding system to replace the current arrangements which are contributing to deepening inequality of outcomes.” The Gonski review is expected in just over a week and will make recommendations to Australia’s school funding model.

Catch up on the week in 35 (ultra beautiful) pics. Keep an eye out for the photography winners…