Redundancy payments paid to MPs’ staff just before new Commons jobs
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor A Government watchdog has indicated that £925k was given out to 125 people prior to the election, however each had a new jobs within three months. In every case the member of staff was made redundant due to their MP standing down or losing their seat, but they were back working for a new MP within a very short space of time. In 60.3% of these cases there was no break in employment at all....
VIDEO – ‘Very rude’ Queen criticises Chinese officials
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The Queen has been caught on camera saying Chinese officials were "very rude" during last year's state visit by the Chinese President, Xi Jinping. Our monarch was filmed talking about the treatment of Britain's ambassador to China with a senior police officer at a Palace garden party yesterday. Metropolitan Police Commander Lucy D'Orsi, who the monarch is told had overseen security during President Xi's visit to the UK in October, is introduced to the Queen....
7 months to save child refugees – Tories criticised
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor A row has broken out in parliament as child refugees who will now be given access to the UK, “by the end of the year,” reports the Mirror. The Government has been attacked as this could mean a seven-month wait to come into Britain. Labour’s Yvette Cooper was furious and said: "Seven months may be a fast time for a bureaucrat - it's a very slow time for a child." The argument broke only a...
In Pictures: Bernie Sanders Packs California Stadium Beyond Capacity
An unprecedented number of people flocked to a Bernie Sanders rally in Sacramento on Monday night, packing a stadium beyond capacity. Despite the race to become the Democrat candidate for presidency looking pretty much wrapped up, Sanders attracted some 15,000 to 20,000 people, with more than 10,000 more continuing to wait outside. Kathy Dennis, a member of the National Nurses Union, told US Uncut: “You got to fight to the end, and Bernie’s creating a bigger movement than just a nomination for the...
Busted Are Back: Here’s What To Expect
When Busted split up in 2005 they split up for good. Charlie Simpson, increasingly absent in mind and body, had grown tired of playing the pop idol in rebellious sixth-form attire, strumming along to simple chord progressions and wailing about adolescent strife. Shagging school teachers had lost its appeal, time travel and wedding crashing got lame and sleeping with the lights on got tiresome. He was a highbrow musician in a lowbrow band, and something had to give. "Devastated", James...
VIDEO – Cameron heard telling Queen Nigeria and Afghanistan are ‘corrupt’
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor On the eve of a major corruption conference in London, David Cameron was captured on camera describing Afghanistan and Nigeria as “fantastically corrupt countries,” while chatting to the Queen Cameron is going to host delegates from both countries later in the week and it might cause some very awkward conversations with both groups. Additionally, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari is scheduled to deliver a keynote address entitled: "Why We Must Tackle Corruption Together". The Prime Minister...
Still not sure what Cloud Computing is? See our guide for dummies!
Still not really sure what 'the cloud is'? We've teamed up with UK IT Support Solutions Company, TSG to give you the lowdown. Although 'the cloud' is pitched as a simple concept, anyone seeking to implement cloud technology within their business soon discovers, there is a lot to learn and just too many choices to make. So what, on the face of it, appears to be pretty simple is actually both complex and dynamic regardless of whether you’re in the market for networking, storage, servers,...
Restaurant Review – House of Ho
Light pours in through a wall of windows; whirring fans sway - suspended from a high ceiling; banquettes and chairs are upholstered in olive green velvet and leather; fine glassware sparkles on marble tables; designer lamps and distressed mirrors adorn the walls. Doors open onto an elegant, awning-covered terrace. This is French-colonial Hanoi, recreated in a four storey townhouse in the heart of Fitzrovia - an unlikely location for a Vietnamese restaurant, and all the more fascinating for it. House...
Global Warming is Spiralling Out Of Control
An animated graphic has been released highlighting the extent to which global warming is spiralling out of control. Ed Hawkins, a climate scientist in the National Centre for Atmospheric Science at the University of Reading, used data from the Met Office Hadley Centre to show how rapidly the global temperature has risen in the past few decades. The pace of change is immediately obvious, especially over the past few decades. But perhaps most the most concerning observation is how global temperatures have...