An Idiot’s Adventures In Gameland – Steve McNeil
30: Counter Spy Hello, dear reader. How are you? Are you well? Yippee! Firstly, a huge thank you to those who bought tickets for our February WiFi Wars show at the Royal Institution – that one’s sold out now, but we’ll be announcing a lot more dates, both there and around the country, in the coming weeks and months - I’ll be sure to let you know when we do, because I am shameless when it comes to self-promotion. It’s...
Half A Million Female And Ethnic Minority Job Seekers Ignored
New job data has revealed almost a half a million female and ethnic minority jobseekers in the finance and IT sectors will not be considered for roles this year purely because of the name on their CV. The research revealed that even though employment in finance and IT is on the increase, the proportion of women and minorities working there has fallen. There are also inherent barriers to progression for those already in-situ: women with supervisory responsibility in the finance sector are...
Australia’s Long Goodbye Will End With A Whimper
Britain's imperial legacy is complex and widely disputed but one curious side effect is the number of independent countries that still have the Queen as head of state. Australia, Canada, New Zealand and a bevy of small nations are part of her domain, despite Britain having little or no authority over them. This Australia Day the premiers of all but one of the country's states called for a republic. The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, is a known republican, as is...
Shields Share Live Session Ahead of Debut Release
Newcastle based alt-pop quintet Shields have filmed a series of live sessions in anticipation of their debut album, 'How Can We Fix This?' out via Kaleidoscope on Feb 26th. The band, who've recently secured a New Band of the Week feature with the Guardian and a BBC 6 Music session with Tom Robinson, are displaying their equally polished live sound in these videos, and giving people a flavour for the upcoming record. The first video for 'Alive' is also filmed...
Christians And Muslims Protect Each Other Against Boko Haram
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor In the African state of Cameroon Muslims and Christians are protecting each other against savage attacks by Boko Haram, who are relentless in their brutal attacks. For over three years Boko Haram have been killing innocent people in the country, hoping to create an Islamic state. The terrorist group has staged 315 raids in the border region since 2013 and carried out 32 suicide bombings. Yesterday in Yaounde suspected Boko Haram insurgents blew themselves up in a market killing...
UK Workers Seek Independence Through Franchising
With over 900 franchise brands and 44,000 operations, it's fair to say the UK high street is buzzing with franchise activity. Often unbeknown to the public. Most of us recognise McDonald’s as a global franchise, but Dominos, Costa and many more sing from the same hymn sheet. In the past ten years the franchise sector's contribution to the economy has grown by 46 per cent, bringing in £15.1 billion last year. For Brits who want more independence over their career it is...
Failed NHS Contract Signed Off Despite Major Doubts
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor A Huge NHS contract valued at £750 million, which collapsed only eight months later, had been signed off, even though there were major doubts about its chances of success. An investigation has been launched into why the contract, arranged by the strategic projects team – often referred to as the NHS’s privatisation arm – was given the go ahead. The contract was supposed to combine mental health services hospital and community care for adults and...
Police Release Footage of Hit & Run in Brighton – GRAPHIC VIDEO
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Sussex Police have released video footage of a pedestrian who was victim of a shocking hit-and-run crash in Brighton. The victim was hit in the Kemptown area of Brighton, at 3.40pm on Thursday 14th January, by a Fiat 500, while trying to cross the road. The man was flung into the air like a rag-doll and the driver left the scene without stopping to help the injured pedestrian. The victim, who has not been named,...
The islands of the British Isles
by Rosie Benson, travel writer Living so close to the continent and spoilt for choice with budget airlines, it’s easy to forget that we have our very own island getaways right here on our shores. There are more than 6,000 islands across British and Irish waters, and even more when including British Overseas Territories. We’ve put together a selection of some of the best. Jersey The largest of the Channel Islands, Jersey is a time-honoured favourite of holidaymakers - not...