The Conservatives have created the most perilous labour market in a generation
Today's labour market statistics have left a lot of people scratching their heads. While new jobs are being created and unemployment has ticked up, real wages have fallen for the tenth month in a row. In short, nothing really adds up. The reality is that under the Conservatives the labour market has changed significantly. The GIG economy has blossomed due to the flexibility afforded by zero-hour contracts, which means the old adage that low unemployment means a stronger and healthier economy no...
“Let customers hang themselves” RBS under fire for “disgraceful” treatment of small firms
RBS have come under fire from the Government after a full report into RBS business practices have been branded “disgraceful.” The Treasury Select Committee released its report into RBS' restructuring unit and "profit centre" GRG and it is damning. RBS claimed that the problems were caused by a few rogue employees, but the report has dismissed that as false. Royal Bank of Scotland operated the GRG from 2005 to 2013. At the unit’s peak it handled 16,000 companies. In 2008...
Bereaved mother sets off flare in council meeting saying her daughter took her own life because of government cuts
A bereaved mother interrupted a council budget meeting by setting of a FLARE - and said her 19-year-old daughter took her own life after being "failed" due to cuts. The woman, who has not been identified, took drastic action to get the attention of Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees, who met with her privately after the meeting was halted. The red flare - the kind which can land a football fan with a three-month prison sentence if they are found...
Review: Strangers on a Train, Richmond Theatre
A major new production of Strangers on a Train is now running in theatres across the UK, with a week-long stint in Richmond, London this week. The gripping thriller is based on the taught psychological drama by the celebrated writer Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr Ripley), immortalized by Alfred Hitchcock’s Academy Award-winning film. Playing at Richmond Theatre until Saturday 24th February, the show picks up with a fateful encounter between two men in the dining carriage of a train crossing...
Brits spend more time interacting with celebrities than they do with their other half
Millions of Brits have got the hump because their other half spends too much time 'engaging' with celebs like Cara Delevingne, Ed Sheeran and David Beckham on Twitter and Instagram, it has emerged. Researchers found as many as six in 10 Brits feel ‘out of touch’ with their partner due to long working hours, busy lifestyles or social media distractions. And one in six of those who took part admitted their relationship suffers because they spend more time interacting with...
Film Review: Dark River
Not even a compelling central performance from Ruth Wilson is enough to save Clio Barnard’s rustic, social-realist melodrama, Dark River, from being the first major cinematic upset of the 2018 calendar. Having made such a huge impact with her first two films – bracing docu-hybrid, The Arbor, and her acutely poetic follow-up feature, The Selfish Giant – Barnard has now turned her attention away from the inner-city existence, and instead settled her focus on the Britain’s pastoral hinterland; following in...
Film Review: Native
Daniel Fitzsimmons’ debut feature is scuppered by an undercooked script and half-baked ideas that fail to ignite any real feeling in sci-fi psychological drama, Native. After a telepathic alien hive race discovers a strange musical transmission being emitted from a far off planet, two scientists, Cane (Rupert Graves) and Eva (Ellie Kendrick), are sent on a mission to uncover and colonize its source. Science-fiction struggles in a difficult balancing act of having to find that sweet spot between being an...
KFC fans call the ‘coops’ to complain to police about lack of chicken
Frustrated KFC fans have ruffled the feathers of cops by calling them to complain about the chicken crisis that has seen hundreds of shops closed. So many calls were received by police in east London about the lack of KFC that they had to take to Twitter to warns people there was nothing they could do. Tower Hamlets Police tweeted: "Please do not contact us about the #KFCCrisis - it is not a police matter if your favourite eatery is...
Hero Fisher returns with ‘Lonely’ and announces a show at St Pancras Old Church
Singer-songwriter Hero Fisher is back with the new track 'Lonely'. The British-born, French-raised and London-based artist has collaborated with Alison Mosshart and Boy George in the past, with her 2015 debut album winning her fans in The Horrors and Blur. Fisher’s new song ‘Lonely’ is a masterclass in reinvention. Rich in ambience and with a slow crawling beat, her subtle and tender vocal performance evokes a deep sense of isolation amidst the cluttered mysteries of daily life. Drums, pianos and synths all...