News

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor After decades of looking for the Loch Ness Monster, a research team came across this shape on their radar. Had they found the most famous and most illusive creature on the planet? Well, no, they haven’t. It turns out the shape was in fact a film prop from the 1970s. Nessie hunters will have to continue their search. The prop is believed to have come from a film shoot for The Private Life Of Sherlock...

Every Saturday at 9am, tens of thousands of runners in 850 locations across 12 countries head to their local park to compete in the Parkrun. Founded on the ethos of being free and open to everyone, Parkrun is not for the uber-competitive racers, it's not for the casual joggers or even the newbs. It's for everyone, and that's the beauty of it. Taking part couldn't be simpler. You register on its website, print off a unique barcode and then turn up on a...

Look at photos of Irish women from the 1950s and '60s and you'll see plenty of covered heads. Women of all ages wore wool shawls pulled over their heads as they went about their daily chores, bustling children off to school, buying fresh fish at little stalls or rushing off to mass. Some Irish women are old enough to remember and some still won't go into a church with uncovered hair. When France's prime minister Manuel Valls said Muslim headscarves...

Pictures have been released by the US Navy showing Russian fighter jets making a dangerously close pass over the guided missile destroyer USS Donald Cook. The ship was 'buzzed' on April 11, 2016 in the Baltic Sea by a pair of Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer fighters. Pictures released on US Navy Twitter show just how close they came. A statement followed, saying: “On April 11, Donald Cook was conducting deck landing drills with an Allied military helicopter when two Russian SU-24 jets made numerous,...

The official Leave and Remain camps for the EU referendum have been named as Vote Leave and Britain Stronger in Europe. Vote Leave saw off challenges from Grassroots Out, backed by UKIP leader Nigel Farage. The decision will come as a kick in the teeth for the UK Independence Party, which was campaigned since its inception for an independent United Kingdom, only to be pipped at the post by Boris Johnson and Michael Gove who backed to Vote Leave campaign. That...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The main thing I’ve noticed since the Panama papers were released has been the defensive reaction by various Tory MPs. It appears it’s ok to chase down “low achievers” who have been leeching off the state, but when the shoe is on the other foot, it is a disgrace. The anger shown by some of them during various TV interviews has been comical; show me yours, but I’ll not show you mine appears to be...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The use of child bombers has increased hugely over the last twelve months, by militant group Boko Haram. Now one in five suicide attacks are now carried out by children, according to the UN’s child agency. This news will sicken people across the world. Girls, who are in many cases drugged, are behind three-quarters of these attacks. The blood thirsty Islamist group causes havoc across Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad. There has been an astonishing 11-fold...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Please have a read of NHS worker Olaya De la Iglesia open letter to rich Tory MP Alan Duncan who indicated that people who are not millionaires are "low achievers." Open letter to Sir Alan Duncan I heard what you had to say today about achievement and I would like to explain why I disagree in your interpretation of what a high achiever is. I work for the NHS, I have done so since 2003. And...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Shocking news has emerged that two women who were leaving HMP Bronzefield were handed tents and other had been handed sleeping bags, due to a lack of housing. The prison, in West London, decided that the best they could do is hand the women sleeping bags and tents. This information has come to light following an inspection of the prison. The amount of women who left the prison with accommodation had dropped from 95.5% in...