‘Hurry up and employ a teenager while they still know everything’ the bumper sticker said. However, many of today’s teenagers leave school with low literacy and numeracy levels. Currently, there are well over one million 16 to 24 year olds out of work and a distressing percentage are unemployable. The TV show, ‘Young, Dumb and Living with Mum’ highlighted this very fact. School years had been wasted. In Britain 17 million adults cannot do basic maths and have only the ability of an 11 year old. Richard Humphries, chairman of National Numeracy and also the former chief of the UK Commission...

The latest instalment of Chris Whitehead's blog sees the Exeter Chiefs man bracing himself for a huge game again Leinster in the Heineken Cup...

On arrival at Sandy Park before venturing into what stands to be our biggest rugby test so far, there was a very different pre-match atmosphere than usual amongst the players.

Despite many attempts to play down the importance of this game within the squad to the media, for me there was no hiding from the fact that this game will be the biggest not only of this season but potentially of our careers.

To play in the...

EMERGENCY crews say they are amazed a Devon man survived a plane crash in which three people died.

Michael Hudson is recovering in hospital after the nine-seater Fly Montserrat aircraft he was a passenger in came down shortly after take-off in Antigua.

The pilot, Captain Jason Forbes and 29-year-old Annya Duncan, of Jamaica, were killed on impact.

The other passenger, 57-year-old Sandrama Poligadu, of Guyana, was taken to hospital but died shortly after.

Mr Hudson is understood to have suffered a broken leg and arm as well as cuts and bruises.

He is...

Octogenarian Ken Bovey has received the British Empire Medal for a lifetime’s voluntary charitable service through The Salvation Army.

Ken Bovey, 84, has devoted his life to serving his community through The Salvation Army in Exeter. He has been actively involved in, and in many cases been the driving force behind, community fundraising activities undertaken in Exeter, helping raise thousands of pounds for the work of The Salvation Army and that of local charities. Additionally, Ken has taught young musicians, taken up various responsibilities at Exeter Temple Salvation...

More firefighters from Devon and Somerset Fire Service are choosing to take part in the Exeter 10,000 project, run by the National Institute for Health Research Exeter Clinical Research Facility (CRF), University of Exeter Medical School (formerly Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry).

Last month, firefighters from Red Watch took part in the scheme. Not to be outdone, this month it is Green Watch who are planning to add their data to the Exeter 10,000 project.

The project aims to compile a research register of 10,000 individuals from the Exeter and East Devon area....

Jemma Gill and her nan Pauline Roberts were surprised to find themselves first in the queue for the John Lewis store's big opening.

They had travelled from Hatherleigh and Bude to enjoy a day's shopping.

However they didn't expect to be in prime position for the historic event.

Jemma told The Exeter Daily: "We were really excited about John Lewis coming to Exeter and we thought we'd make a day of it.

"We decided to get here early as we expected there to be queues but we were quite surprsied when there was nobody here."

Jemma said she would previously...

Early morning commuters got their first peek inside the new John Lewis store today.

Barriers that had been shielding the site came down overnight revealing a glistening entrance area decorated with elegant chandeliers.

In the early morning half light the building was a far cry in appearance from the former eyesesore Debenhams building.

The front facia has been bedecked with pealights and the all-glass frontage hints at the treats that await shoppers inside.

Workers were putting the finishing touches to the new Exeter John Lewis store just hours ahead of opening today.

Outside, cleaners were jet washing the pavements whilst inside the windows were being cleaned to gleaming perfection.

City centre manager John Harvey was outside the store at 7am sharp.

He said: "The workers have done an amazing job to turn everything around and this part of the city centre looks completely different now.

"Not only have we got a marvellous new department store, we've got a great environment for the many, many people who are going...

The countdown is well and truly underway for the long-awaited opening of the John Lewis store in Exeter.

This was the scene this afternoon as contractors pulled out the stops to get the entrance area finished on time.

The TED team will be posting live from outside the store from 7.30am, so if you can't make it yourself, you won't miss a thing.

Exeter city centre manager, John Harvey, told TED: "Clearly there have been some late challenges which have resulted from the interface between the paving work and utilities, and dealing with the significance of buried...

The TED team will be in Exeter tomorrow offering shoppers the chance to win some fantastic prizes.

Our leaflets will also explain the background to the website and offer hints and tips for getting involved.

We have received a tremedous response from both local businesses and users since we launched on Monday with a number of people taking advantage of the opportunity they have to post directly on to the site.

Look out for the team wearing TED shirts and please say hello!