By Linda Marric Now in its third instalment the Despicable Me franchise is well on the way to cementing its reputation as one of the most popular animation series beyond the world of Pixar and Disney. Having regaled children and their parents with two highly enjoyable features, the Minions, Gru and the kids are back with Despicable Me 3, or more precisely 3D. The production is as heavy on silly gags and is as action packed as the rest, but...

Lying eerily empty and abandoned , these photos capture the once-decadent interior of one of the last 1930s 'super cinemas' left in the UK. The formerly opulent Odeon in Bradford was the third-biggest in Britain when it opened it doors in 1930. The vast building next to the famous Alhambra theatre was crowned with two copper domes and boasted a 3,318-seat auditorium, ballroom and 200-seat restaurant. Sadly it has lain empty since it finally closed its doors in 2000. It's...

A village sheep race which features 'jockeys' tied to their backs has been axed after protesters claimed it was 'terrifying' for the animals. The annual contest sees 50 sheep run around a 70m grass track with stuffed toy jockeys on their backs. But it was cancelled after more than 40,000 people signed a petition which calls for the tradition to be scrapped over concerns for the sheep's welfare. The fete in Woodditton, Cambs., was due to place on July 9...

TWENTY per cent of the 100 largest payments under the European Union’s "direct" subsidy system now go to people or families on the Sunday Times Rich List. According to a new investigation by Energydesk billionaires and aristocrats last year scooped up an even greater proportion of the UK’s biggest farm subsidy payouts, with "basic payments" to the Top 100’s Rich List recipients totalling £11.2 million in 2016 – up from £10.6 million the previous year. Direct EU subsidies – now known as...

BBGI SICAV has announced that it has signed an agreement to invest in five existing PPP projects and gain access to what it describes as, “a robust pipeline of future PPP projects in Canada”. The agreement is with a subsidiary of SNC-Lavalin Group to invest in an investment vehicle (referred to as a “Partnership") which will hold substantial equity interests in five PPP projects in Canada. BBGI SICAV says that all assets are operational and classified as availability-based under its...

By Michael McNulty In the library of exploitation cinema there is an entire wing dedicated to Australia and sitting on one of the many shelves, undoubtedly covered in a thin coat of dust, is one of Ozploitations best offerings, Brian Trenchard-Smiths 1986 Dead End Drive-In. A Mad Max meets The Cars that Ate Paris mix, based on a Peter Carey short story and made on a budget of spare change and lint. This is a beautifully flawed film with a...

Labour MP Laura Pidcock's maiden speech to parliament has been lauded after she took an anti-establishment dig at Westminster. The speech has been likened to that of the SNP's Mhairi Black's first speech in which she launched a scathing attack on the Conservative Government addressing issues including benefit sanctions, the budget, and Harriet Harman's call on Labour MPs to abstain on a vote on the Government's welfare and work bill. Pidcock, the 29 year-old new MP for North West Durham, made a...

Mogwai are today streaming new track ‘Party In The Dark’, taken from eagerly awaited forthcoming album Every Country’s Sun, out September 1st via Rock Action. Every Country’s Sun see’s the Scottish band join forces once again with producer Dave Fridmann, for the first time since 2001’s Rock Action. The new record takes two decades of Mogwai's signature, contrasting sounds – towering intensity, pastoral introspection, synth-rock minimalism, DNA-detonating volume – and distills it, beautifully, into 56 concise minutes of gracious elegance, hymnal...

This shocking video shows the moment an angry customer went on a violent wrecking rampage at a taxi firm because drivers refused to give him a lift. Staff in the office of cab firm 50 Cars were helpless and cowering at the back of the room as a man smashed the hatch window and pulled at electrical equipment. All the while the man, who is known to the taxi company, was shouting and swearing and threatening the employees. The incident,...