VIDEO – Cameron attempts a Scottish accent…and fails
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The Prime Minister really should stop trying to do accents. This time he tried a Scottish one, I think, speaking at the annual conference of the Scottish Conservative Party. He told the crowd he went into a chip shop after a rugby match at Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium and the man behind the counter said: "What can we get for you, humble pie?" Cameron's attempted punchline was supposedly the attempt at the joke. Watch his "Scottish" accent...
14 MPs ran up Commons credit card debts of £27k and had them cancelled
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Since July 2015 fourteen MPs have had their credit cards suspended for not providing evidence of their spending on time or making the repayments. In total a debt of £27k has led to the blocking of their credit cards. Ipsa (Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority) issues MPs with credit cards to pay for a variety of items such as travel, accommodation and stationery. The politicians then have to prove the spending was allowable within a month,...
Review: Chris Stapleton – Traveller
By Eleanor Sammeijer (@ElStammjam) Chris Stapleton’s got the chops. Two Grammy’s, winner of the 2015 Country Music Association Awards for Best Male Vocalist, New Artist of the Year, and Album of the Year. Expectations for a new listener going into his new album Traveller are understandably high. The album itself is an interesting mix of classic, high-energy country tones and more restrained ballads. ‘Fire Away’ is a slow-burner with unquestionable grit at an unhurried pace, like a slow, continuous...
Restaurant Review – Novikov Asian
By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food As is the case with most of its neighbouring powerhouses, Novikov – the eponymous London flagship of Russian restaurateur Arkady Novikov – is very much a place to be seen. A social media friendly temple of excess, frequented by women that dress and often look like supermodels, joined by men (often three times their age) that look like characters from GoodFellas, and very little in between. Having opened a few years ago, the huge...
Kim Jong Un Orders Nuclear Weapons Be Readied ‘For Use At Any Time’
North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered the country's nuclear weapons be readied for use at any time, according to reports on the Korean Central News Agency. He told military leaders the country should revise its military posture to be ready to launch pre-emptive strikes following new sanctions imposed by the UN. Although it is still unclear how advanced North Korea's nuclear weapon programme is, the actions will be seen as further acts of volatility from the Supreme Leader. He...
The Berghain is Still Difficult to Get Into, and that’s OK
By Grant Bailey (@GrantDBailey) The Berghain has a bipolar reputation. For those able to breach the walls of this notorious techno club, which is positioned on the border of East and West Berlin, a homecoming, a religious experience, an unforgettable night of sex, drugs and industrial noise awaits. For the salty revellers turned away at the door there’s only negative Trip Advisor reviews for consolation, with cries of unreasonable policies, unfriendly staff and an unsightly twinge of national supremacy in their strict...
Watersports in the Maldives
by Shilpa Ganatra, travel editor The Maldives – a group of 1,192 coral islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean – might be associated with romantic honeymoons and its sugar-white beaches, but its real draw is found once you step off each island, as its Finding Nemo-style coral reefs are unlike most places in the world. Even the most crowded resorts are surrounded by crystal-clear waters teeming with parrot fish, angel fish, sea turtles, moray eels, reef sharks, manta...
VIDEO – ‘Geordie’ character in US show is a contender for worse ever accent
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor I am from Newcastle and yes I have what some would call " a stupid incomprehensible accent," and inevitably some "joker" in the pub will try and mimic it for "comic" effect. It makes me cringe especially when begged to say "why aye man," to a group of trainee accountants from Kent, who then go on to give my northern dialect a go. But nothing has prepared me for this...US television show Castle's interpretation of...
Middle-England spontaneously combusts on day rugby tackling banned & period leave is granted
The entire population of middle England became so angry, when the two most politically correct events ever happened on one day, they exploded. It caused a power surge of anger of epic proportions, that they all spontaneously combusted. Gary, 36 from Widnes was driving through Berkshire when the rugby tackling news broke, he said: “the whole county seemed to shake. Then ten minutes later it came across on the radio that a company in Bristol was going to give women...