By Jack Peat, Editor of The London Economic Oh how I miss spontaneous, local, seasonal food. For nights on end I bellow “where art thou market-based cuisine” across the rooftops of London, my desperate whimpers reverberating against the constant stream of wagons bringing food from afar. A city founded on the bustling markets of Camden, Portobello, Borough and Smithfield is crumbling under the weight of mass-produced foods marketed as being artisan, organic, ethically sourced and the rest (when will 'local'...

By Steve Taggart Mayfair has long been the playground of the rich, the royal and the renowned. So, it’s no wonder that it is the most expensive square on the Monopoly board. But, Mayfair hasn’t always been the capital’s most desirable place to live. In fact, had Monopoly been around three centuries earlier than its introduction to the world in the 20th century, the priciest piece of the board would definitely not have been Mayfair. The May Fair The area...

By Steve Taggart David Cameron tops poll, but almost two thirds believe British politicians don’t know enough about technology  Twitter fan David Cameron is the UK’s most tech-savvy politician with Nigel Farage polling in a distant fifth place, according to new research released today by Crucial.com. However, the insights also show that almost two thirds (64%) of people do not believe that Britain’s top politicians boast sufficient knowledge of technology to help boost the economy. Last year, Boris Johnson vowed...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor I’m quite paranoid and believe the whole world is a conspiracy (against who, I’m not certain), but I am sure there was a very elaborate planned “joke,” during today’s PMQs. The sting began with Robert Jenrick, Con, who said of Miliband’s economic policy, “to be blunt” “James Blunt!” his partner in crime sitting beside him, chipped in, “he would send the UK back to bedlam,” he finished. Then Robert Redford (played by the PM) stepped...

By Sam Inglis  @24FPSUK  24fps.org.uk Beyond Clueless is not a documentary, rather it's an example of something that has lately become fashionable in film criticism; the video essay. Writer/director Charlie Lyne uses clips from every mid 90's to mid 00's teen movie you can think of (and several you can't) alongside narration, read by The Craft's Fairuza Balk, to advance his theories about how they depict teens and high school. Before I get into this review I should say I...

 By Stephen Mayne @finalreel  thefinalreel.co.uk  Your name’s Larry Sportello but they call you Doc. You live by the Californian beach in a community shrinking by the day. Work is for suckers but you do it from time to time. In the PI game you’re a pro, or at least you know enough to say you are. Really, you’re just high; often and always. Except your heart’s broken and not fixing fast. And then she walks in again with a job....

By Jonathan Hatchman  Food Editor Single menu restaurants have become quite trendy in London over recent years. A steady stream of exciting new restaurant openings offering an extremely limited choice menu allowing them to focus on just one or two signature dishes as opposed to flapping around a hectic kitchen while adding various inattentive touches to a wide variety of, sometimes, sub-par dishes. With eateries such as Burger & Lobster, Arancini Brothers and Flat Iron having enjoyed irrefutable success surrounding their limited...

Jack Peat reviews Truth, Lies, Diana at Charing Cross Theatre. On the night princess Diana died I was driving home from a family holiday in France. Most people know where they were when the tragic news started filtering through the media, the memory fixed in our minds in the same way people recall their whereabouts when JF Kennedy was assassinated. And like the gunshot on the grassy knoll that has implicated 82 assassins and 214 people in conspiracy theories, the...

By Brett Scott  Money pervades our everyday economic interactions. But, despite its importance, it is also pervasively misunderstood. Here are three common monetary myths – frequently perpetuated by economists – that need challenging. Myth 1: Money emerges from barter Economists often tell a tale about how old communities first used barter to exchange goods and services. Bartering throws up tricky situations. Take as an example a farmer trying to exchange a cow for bread from a baker, a clumsy and...