By Steve Taggart As the winter draws closer and the darker evenings creep in, we are reminded of how the UK weather really can pack a punch. This forces us to question how prepared we really are for the upcoming cold temperatures, flooding and snow that is already being predicted this year. With the extra rainfall that fell last year and the series of horrendous floods that followed up and down the country, it is not just our homes but...

Sport News 24/7 This week, Sport Editor David de Winter and Sport Columnist Richard de Winter review Europe's Ryder Cup victory, Liverpool and Manchester City's performances in the Champions League, and discuss England's qualifiers against San Marino and Estonia.

By Laura Casewell & Tom Parker @CasewellEditor   ‘Mummy makeovers’ are increasingly being touted in the media, but what exactly does a post-birth body makeover involve if you don’t fancy going under the knife, and how can energy-assisted treatments can transform your figure after pregnancy? The ‘mummy makeover’ is a term that is often applied to the combination of treatments to improve or restore the areas affected by carrying a baby. Often with age, following pregnancy or where there have been...

Nathan Lee’s satirical report of Nick Clegg’s Party Conference Speech. Nick Clegg is expected to deliver a tearjerker of a speech at the Liberal Democrats Party Conference this afternoon, responding to the number of times Cameron has been “nasty” to him by promising to raise the capital gains tax for the wealthiest and increase the personal allowance to “see how he likes it”. After spending years playing political mistress to Cameron it would seem Clegg is at the end of...

It is over 20 years since there was a residents’ war against the M11 link road. The neighbourhood went all a bit Che Guevara and declared Wanstead “the Independent Free Area of Wanstonia” (catchy), some went all Robin Hood and built a tree house in a 250-year-old Chesnut and others went pitch fork in hands; to occupy the roof of John MacGregor – then Tory Transport secretary. Well that didn’t last long and the M11 now offers these militants great...

When tourists ask me to point them in the direction of a real British pub in London I send them to one of more than 20 Sam Smith’s pubs. They may not be tourist hotspots and are certainly not glamorous, but in the parlance of Jarvis Cocker, “you want to live like common people, you want to do whatever common people do”, go visit our Samuel. But equipping yourself with a bit of context beforehand is advised. Sam Smith's is...

By Charlotte Stringer, Style Editor at STYLIGHT.co.uk Imagine there was no… John Lennon. Actually, it’s not so easy if you try. The former Beatle left an indelible mark on the world before he was assassinated in 1980, having written and performed some of the world’s best loved songs, both with The Beatles and after in his later solo career. But, as we all know, John Lennon wasn’t just a pop star or another musician who faded into obscurity after initial...

Standing outside La Porte des Indes it's difficult to know what to expect. Neighbouring a Grade II-listed Edwardian Gothic Revival church and amongst the familiar stock bricked houses of the neighbourhood it was more reminiscent of an out-of-place Italian eatery than the Edwardian ballroom I'd read about, but once we walked through into the restaurant area, it was like walking back in time…in a good way. In fact the “gateway to India” name and the menu makes a nod to the food of Pondicherry, which was a...

By Charlotte Hope, Lifestyle Editor @charlottehope I like cocktails a lot. There, I said it. I like drinking them, I like looking at them, I like making them, and I like drinking them. I normally err on the side of gin-based cocktails, but for whatever reason this has been the summer that the Aperol Spritz has come into its own. Clever marketing enterprising on a lust for the Italian way of life (minus the political corruption and bunga-bunga parties) has...