FOI request reveals shocking number of single crewed ambulances in Scotland
Tens of thousands of ambulances were dispatched with single crew in Scotland over the past four years. Despite the Scottish government previously saying single-crewing should occur only in "exceptional circumstances", a FOI request has today revealed that paramedics were sent out on their own to 2,204 emergency call-outs in 2016/17, and 3,514 went out the year before. The numbers have followed an upward trajectory since the data was first collected in 2013, when 1,644 ambulances were sent out with a...
Film Review: All The Money In The World
Oil tycoon J. Paul Getty was the richest man in the world when his grandson was kidnapped on the streets of Rome in 1973. It is an intriguing episode that serves as inspiration for Ridley Scott’s latest feature, All the Money in the World. The film begins with the kidnapping and quickly details the events leading up to it, showing us how J. Paul Getty (Christopher Plummer) made his riches, as well as the breakdown of his son’s marriage. By...
Film Review: Brad’s Status
The idea of Ben Stiller playing a self-pitying white dude is not a particularly original one, yet here he finds himself once again in this new film by School of Rock writer, Mike White. Essentially a comedy drama, Brad’s Status is a film that yearns to be thought-provoking and rewarding, but how much you buy into this is dependent on how much you care about Ben Stiller’s titular character. Stiller plays Brad Sloan, a 47 year old in the grips...
Top Themes for a Fabulous Office Party
Corporate parties are a great way to meet your colleagues in a more relaxed and unconventional environment, and it can be especially helpful for those that haven’t had much time to mingle during office hours. Nonetheless, they tend to include larger groups of people, which could potentially cause conflict in individual preferences regarding food, drinks or even the music selection. In order to avoid such disharmonious situations, it is best to choose a single theme and stick to its elements....
Jeff Rosenstock drops new album POST- out of nowhere
There's a new Jeff Rosenstock record. Since when? Since now, that's when! Jeff Rosenstock wrote POST- in a double-wide trailer in the Catskill Mountain town of East Durham, the snow-covered hills surrounding him like a landscape of blank pages. The serene, empty space was a big change of scenery for a guy who bounces around the world like a human comet, playing super-catchy, super-devastating shout-alongs to dedicated fans around the world. "2017 kinda felt like the year when we snuck...
Investigation launched as patient dies waiting to be treated at Midlands hospital
An investigation has been launched after a man died in a waiting room for Accident and Emergency in a hospital in Dudley in the Midlands. The person died in Russells Hall Hospital's emergency waiting room in November, the NHS trust confirmed today. BBC Midlands reported that the man was a suspected cardiac patient with chest pains. News of the investigation into the death of the patient waiting to be treated comes as new figures revealed that last week a third of...
As Boris Johnson defends Toby Young’s “caustic wit,” perhaps the sickest example yet emerges:
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has leapt to the defence of his Government’s new appointment to its universities watchdog as other prominent Tories have defended Toby Young too despite his appalling comments about working class students and women. "Ridiculous outcry over Toby Young. He will bring independence, rigour and caustic wit. Ideal man for job,” tweeted Boris Johnson - a man also renowned for crass and offensive remarks. Perhaps this is an example of Toby Young’s “rigour and caustic wit': ...
Predictions for the rental market in 2018
With renting becoming the new norm for London’s millennials and the government continuing to fall far short of its self-made targets for new homes being built, what does the future of renting look like in the Capital over the next 12 months? Rents cooling down, but for how long? Despite fears that the rental market would overheat in 2017 given the continuing pressures on demand, prices actually held relatively stable. Figures from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) included...
John Worboys the “Black cab rapist” who had over 100 victims…to be released
One of the most prolific rapists to be brought to justice is about to be released, even though he is thought to have committed over 100 rapes and sexual assaults, in the capita, between 2002 and 2008. Worboys, 60, from South East London, drugged his victims before attacking the defenseless women in the back of his taxi. In 2009 he was eventually convicted at Croydon Crown Court to 19 offences and was told he would serve at least eight years...