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25th April 2000 Australian correspondent for teen website A 15 year-old schoolboy from Essex, England has linked up with an Australian teenager in a bid to launch the ultimate website for young people. Oli Watts, launched Pupiline.Net just over a month ago as an anti-bullying website after being bullied at his previous school. The site has already had over 155,000 hits and has just been officially endorsed by the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. In a personal letter to the youngster, Tony Blair welcomed the initiative and said he was delighted that Oli was exploiting new technology in the process. He added the Department for Education and Employment was planning its own anti-bullying web site as part of a new initiative next term to raise awareness of the problem. Now Oli is hoping to broaden the appeal of the site by including material correspondents from all over the UK and ultimately from overseas. After being e-mailed by a youngster from Australia,
"I am so excited that the Prime Minister has backed my site," said Oli, who lives in Suffolk with his parents, both teachers, and younger brother, Harry. "I feel like I’ve got right through to the top man and that the Government is taking people like me seriously and not just turning a blind eye. I hope Tony Blair lives up to his word now and really does something that will make a difference for other kids like me." Oli’s father, David, added: "We are extremely proud of what Oli has achieved and how he has turned an experience that could have really set him back into a sort of force for good. We also think this may be the FIRST website to receive this sort of official backing from the PM." He went on to say that Oli is so buoyed up by the support he is receiving, that he is now starting to include other features of interest to young people on the site including things like exam stress, subject and career options and some more light-hearted material too. "What I really want Pupiline to become in the future is THE web site for kids of my age," explained Oli - a sort of e-magazine, which is written by people like me for people like me on things that matter to us. Maybe even the Prime Minister's children will check it out and write a feature for me!"
- The Pupiline Team
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