With an entire population smaller than that of just London, it’s easy to forget that Scotland exports an outstanding percentage of the world’s food and drink produce. Figures published by the Scottish Government show the nation’s food and drink sector hit a record high of £14.3 billion in 2013, with the £12.5 billion turnover target for 2017 surpassed in 2011. Indeed, there’s far more to Scottish cuisine than haggis, whisky and battered Mars bars. Unlike London, Scotland’s capital city is...

Independent living provider Welbeing has stepped in to help people home from hospital as the NHS struggles to keep up with winter demand. Welbeing provides well-known red pendants for elderly and vulnerable people which are monitored round-the-clock and automatically raise an alarm if help is required, for example in the event of a fall. The organisation is working with the British Red Cross which is helping to transport patients from hospital back to their homes in Shropshire, freeing up much-needed...

More than 16,000 new homes could be built across London on land occupied by unused or rundown garages owned by councils, according to new research. A study of local authority-owned lock-ups in the capital revealed 24 councils own a total of 53,640 - with 41 per cent empty or in disrepair. Demolishing them and replacing them with affordable one-bedroom flats could go someway to solving the London housing crisis where the average home now costs £475,000. The figures were revealed...

Southern Rail hit the headlines this weekend saying it is recruiting over 200 new trainee drivers to avoid the strike chaos, only for ASLEF to welcome them in to the union! The much maligned Southern Rail hoped to reduce the reliance on overtime working and minimise disruption by recruiting over 200 new trainees, but drivers' union ASLEF blames the operator 'eroding the goodwill of its drivers' for endless cancellations, and claimed the plans were a ploy by transport secretary Chris Grayling...

By Simon Brown I joined the Army when I was just 18 back in 1997. I trained as a mechanic and my role was to fix broken down vehicles. I served all over the world with the Army but it was during my second tour of Iraq that my life changed forever. In December 2006, I led a successful mission to rescue six soldiers who were stranded in a broken vehicle. We were about to leave the area but with...

Back in 2005 Dr Cliff Arnall calculated that today, 16th Jan, is the most depressing day of the year, due to bills coming in, rubbish weather and the xmas buzz wearing off. I can say that I am definitely in that camp today, with a combination of traditional illness and self-inflicted pain from the weekend festivities adding to the malaise. Now Mr Arnall has said that this year is even worse due to Trump and Brexit, unless of course you...

New figures have revealed a dramatic rise in low paid men working part time. The Institute of Fiscal Studies report found  one in five men aged 25 to 55 worked part-time with low hourly wages today, compared to just one in 20 of this group 20 years ago. CV-Library figures revealed similarly unsettling data. It found that the amount of men looking for part-time work which pays up to £25,000 a year increased by 294.6 per cent between 2010 to 2016, and in...

By Stephen Mayne @finalreel To the uninitiated, the world Todd Solondz has set out over the course of eight features must appear a baffling one. It’s likely to be just as confusing to those who have stumbled across work stretching back nearly three decades. Wiener-Dog continues his merging of bone-dry humour and startlingly underplayed drama resulting in an anthology piece of varying success. The one constant across four stories is the wiener dog of the title, a passive observer thrown...

Overwhelming problems face Tamsin in Katherine Soper’s debut Bruntwood Prize winning 2015 play. Her younger brother Dean has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and cannot leave the house. Even so his benefits are being disputed and are at risk. The only place Tamsin, lacking in qualifications, can find much needed work, is in a post industrial “fulfilment centre” aka a packing warehouse on a zero hours contract. The stresses are many: Tamsin must meet her “targets” in order to be asked back...