The pictures tell the cruel story of a dog who was left to die, the young lurcher, who was at death’s door, was found by the side of the road. The dog, names Snoopy was a “bag of bones” according to motorists who found the dog barely able to move by a busy road in Maidstone, Kent. They rushed her to a vet, on Feb 16th this year, and due to the great work by the medical staff, she is...

By William Makower, Founder Trustee of The National Funding Scheme We British are generous when it comes to giving to charity; something that we should rightly celebrate. In fact a recent report ranks the UK as 1st in Europe and 7th in the world. Supporting this effort are a number of public bodies and organisations that promote effective giving. The Office of Civil Society is the Government department tasked with encouraging giving and volunteering whilst Charities Aid Foundation (founded by the...

By Keith Fernett, Chief Executive of Caritas Anchor House Homelessness and social action charity Caritas Anchor House has finished the construction of its 25 move-on flats for previously homeless people. Caritas Anchor House is a residential and life skills centre for single homeless adults, in the London Borough of Newham, which provides a home and support to up to 250 homeless people each year. By providing education, guidance and personal rehabilitation, they work to ensure each individual grows in confidence and...

The number of new homes been built in England in 2016 was DOWN on the previous year despite the country been in the midst of a housing crisis. Just 140,650 new homes were built in 2016, down from 142,600 in 2015 and well short of the 250,000 the government says required. The problem is most pronounced in London, where new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that, without accounting for inflation, the average house price in London has grown...

By Keith Fernett, Chief Executive of Caritas Anchor House Caritas Anchor House is a residential and life-skills centre for single homeless adults, based in the London Borough of Newham. They act as a beacon of hope to those who need it most in their community, and offer a home and support to up to 250 homeless people every year. By providing education, guidance and personal rehabilitation, they support their residents to grow in confidence and move towards leading independent, self-fulfilling...

By John Baguley, the Chair of the International Fundraising Consultancy With fundraisers following bankers onto the naughty step, uncertainty over the effect of Brexit on accessing funds from Europe, and a new draconian fundraising regulatory regime set up to curb aggressive fundraising techniques, 2016 will definitely go down as annus horribilis for the not-for-profit sector. Public confidence in charities was damaged, fundraisers were concerned about income levels dropping off proverbial cliffs, and charity services to the vulnerable were hacked cut....

It looks like January was no fluke. Aside from a shaky Grammys (Lemonade snubs but congrats Chance!) February has been seriously solid for good music. First up we have our cover star, Sampha, who put out his debut LP this month. If you're looking for smoothed-out RnB with an electronic sheen, Process is well worth your time. Elsewhere we've got a gutsy combo of Priests and Lowly delivering crisp indie in two flavours over 'Lelia 20' and 'Prepare the Lake', and pure funk fun...

By Stephen Mayne @finalreel Tomato red is almost the colour of Jamalee Merridew’s hair, and it’s the name of the Daniel Woodrell novel from which this film is adapted. Woodrell has written nine novels to date, a number of them set in the bleak forgotten lands of the Ozarks; mountainous country crossing over Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma. There’s clearly something cinematic about his work because two previous novels became the excellent Ride with the Devil (1999) and Winter’s Bone (2010)....

By Stephen Mayne @finalreel On cursory inspection, the new film from French-Canadian wunderkind Xavier Dolan, the sixth already from a man not due to turn 28 until next month, is a distant proposition. It seems sterile and forbidding, full of stagey artifice, which is not necessarily a surprise given it’s an adaptation of Jean-Luc Lagarce’s play of the same name. And it is all these things, only very deliberately so to achieve an even greater impact. The premise is simple...