Many were dubious by the Ice Bucket Challenge that swept the digital universe in 2014, indeed we at the London Economic initially were not too impressed. We whole-heartedly apologise now, as it has actually achieved something. Millions of people, including high profile celebrities, filmed themselves having a bucket of ice cold water poured over them, to raise money for and awareness of ALS – a progressive neurodegenerative disease. It is also known as motor neurone disease (MND). Overall around 17...

Four years have passed since the Shard was completed, and I’m still unable to understand why visits to the 72nd floor viewing gallery are so popular. Given the choice, why would anybody choose to pay £25.95 for the pleasure? Especially when that particular cost could, instead, buy a round of drinks (almost) within one of the restaurant bars? The restaurants are perched just half-way up the tower, yet the views are almost equally impressive – especially when seated window-side, with...

Electric car manufacturer and environmental entrepreneur Elon Musk gave the world’s media a tour of the new Tesla battery manufacturing plant and immediately came under criticism for the treatment of his batteries. “It’s absolutely disgusting” said one reporter. “The batteries are all crammed into these tiny little chicken coops with no natural light. There is no room to move and they sit there, idly whirring away. The batteries look like they’ve had their electrodes trimmed and all their lithium is...

An astonishing video has been released that features an orangutan who can talk! Rocky has somehow managed to learn to talk like a human being. The eight-year-old primate has copied words and reproduced them to scientists in a "conversational context". Rocky mimicked the tone and pitch of human vowel sounds. He was able to learn new sounds and control the action of his voice in the way humans do when they conduct a conversation, the scientists concluded. Researchers think this clever...

A disgruntled Sanders supporter has pledged to vote for Donald Trump after their candidate wasn’t democratically chosen to be the presidential candidate. Fuming Michael De Rossi, 31 from Seattle screamed: “If we can’t have Bernie, then it has to be Trump, that will teach Hilary not to mess with us.” It is well known that Clinton has demanded that a wall is built between Mexico and US, Muslims shouldn’t be allowed in the country and has laughed at disabled journalists....

After the disgusting events of yesterday at a Church in Normandy, when a Priest was murdered in cold blood, the terrorists’ attentions appear to be turning to London. There have been images threatening attacks on the UK capital circulating via Telegram, a messaging app used by Islamic terrorists. The warning for London comes the day after an 85-year-old priest’s throat was slit by two attackers who claimed to represent Islamic State. After intercepting these communications counter-terror police have warned religious...

More depressing UK economic news has been released, this time in relation to wage growth. Britain has seen a larger decline in real wages since the 2007 credit crunch than any other developed country apart from Greece. It is feared that Brexit may have an even more negative impact on the wage growth, which could leave a clear gap between the UK and the rest of the OECD group of nations. The figures were discovered by the TUC who revealed...

By Elena Orde, Editor of The Vegan You may have seen recent news stories about a malnourished child who was removed from his parents. A sad case, of course, but given that malnutrition affects over 3 million people in the UK, why has this particular story made international headlines? Because the child was vegan. In the wake of this news, chat show The Wright Stuff posed the question, ‘Abuse to put children on a vegan diet?’ while the Telegraph asked...

The Secret Garden Party, a music festival in Cambridgeshire, was the first in the UK to use illegal drug testing, last weekend. It is thought around two hundred people used the service, so they could ensure that their illegal drugs did not contain any additional harmful substances, reports the Guardian. The charity, The Loop, offered the tests which was allowed by the police and council. The possession of drugs was still be illegal but an amnesty was offered to people...