By Michael McNulty Mudbound, directed by Dee Rees and based on the novel of the same name by Hillary Jordan, is a mud-caked American epic.  Set in the Mississippi delta it tracks the tangled lives of two families over six years.  It is both lyrical and poignant, an expertly crafted microcosm of America that is troublingly relevant. A 31 year old virgin, Laura (Carey Mulligan), is whisked away by Henry McAllan (Jason Clarke), a man less romantic than he is...

Kyle Abraham is set to debut his seminal work Pavement at Sadler's Wells this week. Pavement is set in a culture plagued by discrimination and genocide in Pittsburgh’s historically black neighbourhoods. Performed with seven dancers in Abraham’s trademark interdisciplinary style, which Abraham typically refers to as a 'post-modern gumbo', combining balletic and hip hop movements, the work is set to an eclectic mix of Bach, Benjamin Britten, Sam Cooke, Donny Hathaway and extracts from operas all mixed with sounds of...

Inspired by a quintessentially medieval recipe, C.Lidgate – one of London’s oldest butchers – near Holland Park has collaborated with AmazonFresh to create a traditional, meat-filled mince pie for Christmas 2017. Available in 302 postcodes across London, Surrey, Hampshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, AmazonFresh offers a fast, flexible delivery service, with one-hour delivery slots. Here, produce is available from some of London’s best local producers, shops and markets, including GAIL’s Artisan Bakery, PRESS, C.Lidgate, Paxton & Whitfield and more. Tracing back...

Companies with high levels of staff satisfaction perform better financially, according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA). The study examined the effect of staff satisfaction on corporate performance using employees’ online reviews of where they work. Writing in the journal Economic Letters, the researchers from Norwich Business School say that firms rated highly by their current employees in terms of satisfaction achieve greater financial performance compared to firms characterised by low levels of employee satisfaction. They...

Forget rock, paper, scissors - a professor at Exeter University has invented a new version of the game to help people understand war, politics and power. University of Exeter expert Professor Neville Morley has worked with local developers Kaleider to invent new games which bring the work of Thucydides to life and show how he warned about the dangers of people having too much or too little power. The free event, which is suitable for people aged 14 and above, will...

The Centre of Brexit studies is set to visit the UK’s ten biggest Leave voting constituencies to find out their thoughts and feelings on the Brexit process nearly 18 months on from the landmark referendum. Researchers from Birmingham City University’s Centre for Brexit Studies will be spending three weeks on the road to visit a range of different communities across the country and find out their views on Brexit and how the government is carrying out the process of leaving the...

Reports this morning suggest the Foreign Secretary has been spotted pulling up at his office on Whitehall in an armoured vehicle, rather than his customary bicycle. Michael Gove could be seen helping Johnson reverse park the Challenger 2 outside the Foreign Office at around 8.30 am this morning. Witnesses confirm Johnson almost crushed Gove against a wall as he struggled to control the 62 tonnes of armoury beneath him. The tank had been safely parked around 10 minutes before this....

A cash-strapped NHS Trust has told surgeons and theatre staff to bring their own MUGS and drinks to work - in a bid to cut costs. Health chiefs have even withdrawn polystyrene cups from water dispensers which has sparked outrage from workers claiming even patients are going thirsty. The move comes as Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust aims to cut £5.5 million from its £29 million deficit. Theatre staff at Alexandra Hospital, Kidderminster Hospital, and Worcestershire Royal Hospital, have now...

A planet the same size of Earth and with a similar surface temperature may be "the closest known comfortable abode for possible life," according to new research. The newly discovered world, named Ross 128b, was found orbiting a red dwarf 11 light-years away from Earth - but it's getting nearer. Astronomers working with the European Southern Observatory's High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) at the La Silla Observatory in Chile has found that the red dwarf star Ross 128...