By Grant Bailey (@GrantDBailey) Monika Brodka’s fourth full-length is a smoky and weirdly-caustic mix of offbeat pop. The Polish pop star has taken a snaking route from her discovery on Polish Pop Idol 12 years ago, and while third album Granda really delivered the first, unadulterated shot of weirdness that Brodka had to offer, Clashes feels like a refinement of that identity to a honed point. In ‘Horses’ we have the first example of smouldering, galloping pop in the mould...

"Gourmet burgers have become a gluttonous overabundance", I wrote in an editorial back in February calling for restaurants to do the basic ingredients well rather than shove a basket of deep fried junk in a bun. But if you are faced with a significant dismantling job, we may have the perfect solution for you. A mind-boggling maze of burger ingredients which features just one solitary gherkin has been released on the web by on demand restaurant delivery service www.deliveroo.co.uk. The puzzle,...

Don’t throw away that office chair with the sticky wheel or the desk with the broken drawers, these things are so easy to fix and can save you money in the long run! Here are some of the most common dilemmas when it comes to office furniture and how to sort these out yourself.   Broken wheels It’s a simple job, replacing the wheels on an office chair that simply won’t move round the room. Most can be simply unscrewed...

By Tim Kellett – Director at Paydata > https://www.paydata.co.uk/   Since the publication of the governments draft regulations on mandatory gender pay gap reporting, it appears that few employers are taking the preparatory steps, avoiding the topic altogether and not taking the legislation seriously. Admittedly in the last year there has been much more interest from employers, but only from an educated few who have been pro-active enough to assess their gender pay gap. Considering the preceding ten years since...

Sport News 24/7 By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor As Newcastle were relegated to the Championship, the only ray of hope was whether Rafa Benitez, will remain in charge on Tyneside. Regardless of that decision many Newcastle fans, myself included, have become disillusioned with the ownership of the club. They feel the soul of the club has been taken from them, by people who don’t understand the fans, the club or the city. Well one group in association with Wallsend Town...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Government plans targeting suspected extremists are so troubled they could create a “thought police” in the UK. This bold statement comes from Simon Cole, the police boss leading the action to stop people becoming radicalised and possibly leaving to become foreign fighters or taking part in home-grown acts of terrorism. Cole, police lead for the Prevent programme, does not believe that proposals targeting extremists can be enforceable. He thinks the strategy risks making police officers...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food At the start of 2012, a young chef named Ollie Dabbous opened his first solo restaurant, having previously worked in the kitchens of Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, and Texture. Following some rave reviews alongside a swathe of excitement, the small Fitzrovia restaurant became an almost instant success, with tables virtually impossible to book - whereas four years later, in the present day, London’s foodie elite would be queuing the entire length of...

“Fossil fuels are so inherently dirty and toxic, that they require sacrificial people and sacrificial places, they always have.” These are the words of environmental activist Naomi Klein, delivering the Edward Said lecture in London earlier this month. As if following her cue, yesterday an alliance of fossil fuel politicians and lobbyists overruled the villages and voices of Northern England. The land and its people have been sacrificed. Underground rock will be drilled and pumped with high pressure chemicals, sand and water. Local communities...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Another day another scandal at G4S, this time it has been claimed that staff made fake calls to a 999 emergency contact centre to ensure they met targets of answering 92 per cent of calls within ten seconds. This dire situation took place between November and December 2015 reports the Daily Mirror. There have been five staff who are now on suspension after they supposedly made over a thousand “test calls” at quiet times to...