By Prof Mary Mellor The justification for austerity is that the public sector must live within its means. There is a plausibility in the claim that the state is like a household that should not spend more than it earns. This kind of ‘handbag economics’ draws its analogy from a mythical household. Real households do not live within their means. If they did the economy would grind to a halt. Modern prosperity is built upon debt and the main aim...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Polls conducted via telephone calls that currently indicate a double-digit lead for the remain campaign are likely to accurately reflect the British Public’s voting intentions, a report claims. Analysis by one of the only major polling companies who correctly predicted the UK general election results says heavy reliance on internet polling overstates the support for the Brexit campaign. Matt Singh of Number Cruncher Politics, working alongside James Kanagasooriam of polling company Populus and they looked...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Tory Minister Anna Soubry made a shock admission as pressure grows to save the port Talbot steel plant. Business minister Soubry says 'temporary ownership' of Tata steel's assets could be an option. This comes as the company made the shock decision to put up for sale the loss making arms of its UK operation. The Tory minister said there is "huge sympathy" for the steel giant, but also added it is losing £1m a day....

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Funmbi Omotayo’s friendly, instantly likeable style won him the award for Best Newcomer at the Black Entertainment Comedy Awards. He is creating a huge storm on the comedy circuit with tales of living in Hackney, his Nigerian roots and his hilarious day to day observations. We met him for a chat. You are bringing Legal Immigrant to London’s Soho Theatre, can you tell us a bit about the show? My show is about me discovering...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor It has been claimed that numerous stray cat shelters have been moved to clear up the area near the PMs luxurious getaway. The five-star hotel in Lanzarote, part of the Canary Islands, have decided to forcefully evict the moggies from their homes. Almost 130 cats there are looked after by car lover Freddy Leon, who oversees Freddy’s Cathouse on the sun-kissed Spanish paradise. However, officials decided to move the shelters so they can spruce the...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor This is an animated interview with IMF whistleblower John Perkins, author of "Hoodwinked" and "Confessions of an Economic Hitman." This short film manages to squeeze in a lot of information into a couple of minutes. Have a watch and see if you agree with his theory. Watch Video Here

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food During the summer of 2014, a fundraising challenge – The Ice Bucket Challenge – became a global success. Partially due to our innate desire to terrorise our friends, but mostly thanks to social media – the campaign went viral with over one million videos posted to Facebook, and raised approximately $100 million (approximately £70 million) in donations to the ALS Association: a charity that raises awareness and funds towards research for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis,...

Competitive Quidditch has transitioned from the fictional grounds of Hogwarts into a fully fledged competitive sport as teams from around the World prepare for the Quidditch World Cup in Germany. UK teams including Bangor Broken Broomsticks, the Cambridge University Quidditch Club, Durham Direwolves, Holyrood Hippogriffs, St Andrews Snidgets and Keele Krakens now compete in the British Quidditch Cup, the country’s main tournament where all thirty-two teams compete for the title of champions. The best players of these teams are then selected for the Team UK squad, who then fly...

A horizontal skyscraper that submerges Central Park to make room for a multi-functional mega structure has won eVolo's 2016 Skyscraper Competition. The design was picked from 489 entries, which included skyscrapers that purify air, buildings conceived to create rain for the driest regions and skyscrapers that prevent cities sinking. Yitan Sun and Jianshi Wu's project New York Horizon proposes a continuous horizontal skyscraper around the full perimeter of a sunken Central Park. The project would create seven square miles (80...