Cocktail bar group Dirty Martini (with seven bars in London, one in Cardiff) have launched a new cocktail menu filled with innovative new serves, plus boundary pushing flavour combinations. Created with the seasons in mind, each of the new cocktails experiments with less conventional ingredients or unique garnishes. The ‘Sweet Sorella’, for instance, is the simplest to recreate at home – combining Bold London spirit, white rum, pomegranate juice, hibiscus syrup, pink peppercorns, egg white and blueberry shrub. At the...

When the R&D tax credits scheme was brought in by the government in 2000, it was a welcome benefit for many businesses. However, HMRC statistics suggest up to 90% of companies could be missing out on what they’re owed. This could be through lack of understanding about the scheme or not even knowing it exists.   What are R&D Tax Credits? Intended as an incentive for UK businesses to become more globally competitive in the fields of Science and Technology,...

I can recall that when I was about five years of age I would be taken door to door by my Grandmother, clasping her petition clip board, fired up with the latest outrage that had got her off the sofa and on to the streets. She had found brief distraction from wrestling on the telly and was attired in her activism outfit, which included a beret made out of, what looked like, the body of Spit the dog (a hugely popular...

I am familiar with Kings Cross in the era circa 2011 to present. It’s the station I use to visit my parents, and I actually like them so I've been there a lot. I used to swim at the Kings Cross Pond Club too, and I made an appreciative "oooh!" noise when a branch of Dishoom opened nearby. Kings Cross and I are friends. Tom Marshman is friends with Kings Cross too, although his Kings Cross and mine are very...

The delights of Spain don’t end at sun, sea and sand. Reflecting the country’s love of the good things in life, the Catalan coast of Costa Daurada plays host to a feast of food festivals throughout the year. It’s all the excuse needed to indulge in locally-produced wines, fresh tapas and hand-picked fruit and veg (for those feeling healthy). To coinicide a trip with a celebration of local gastronomy, here are our top pick of food fests – though we'll...

Winston Churchill has been quoted as saying that “You measure the degree of civilization of a society by how it treats its weakest members.”  But walking the streets of London or any of our major cities we see that many of us it seems, are not cared for but instead are tossed aside, like rubbish. Homelessness in The City Last year, more than 8,000 people slept rough in the capital at some point in London which was  a 6% rise on the...

Jamie Oliver says Theresa May's plans to scrap free school lunches is a disgrace. Government subsidies on school lunches are set to be removed under plans outlined in the Conservative's manifesto, which could cost working families around £480 extra per child a year at a time when many are struggling to make ends meet. The policy was introduced in 2014 at a time when four in ten children who did not receive free school meals were officially in poverty. These children are...

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has labelled the Tories "sick and sneaky" following their manifesto pledge to limit the number of pensioners who get winter fuel payments. An estimated 9,000 people died in England and Wales as a result of living in a cold home in the winter of 2014-2015. A University College London (UCL) study calculated that the near-ten thousand deaths was the highest number for 15 years. Dr Jessica Allen, whose team conducted the study, told BBC Panorama that people are dying...

By Michael McNulty We fade in from black and are travelling down a dark country road. Trees with stiff, twisted branches flash by. The accompanying carnival music is beautifully eerie, conjuring images of merry- go-rounds and subtly hinting at the circular existence of the lives of the characters we are about to be introduced to in George Franju’s classic film, Les Yeux Sans Visage. A woman drives a Citröen 2CV, her face a canvas of anxiety. In the back there...