By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor An Ofsted chief has warned that thousands of teachers are being enticed abroad with generous pay packages, while English schools are struggling to recruit staff. Elite public schools have been opening up branches abroad, leading to a boom in international schools, and soaring demand for teachers whose first language is English. A higher number of people left the UK to teach (18,000) than trained on English post-grad routes (17,000) in 2015. Chief Inspector Sir Michael...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor During Question Time an unnamed doctor branded Jeremy Hunt a "lair" over his claims that the upcoming strike will cause serious harm to patients. The doctor personally said he would ensure people would be safe in his hospital during the industrial action. He also added that the claims by a Conservative peer, Lord Julian Fellowes that there are 11k more deaths over the weekend, is wrong. The angry junior doctor said: "The stats are wrong. 11,000...

By Dean Hochlaf New Zealand MP, Winston Peters has thrown his voice into the great EU referendum debate, by suggesting Britain leaves the EU, and “heal a rift” with the nations of the Commonwealth that emerged when Britain joined the EEC. He has even gone as far as suggesting a Commonwealth free trade area, which has been enthusiastically picked up by the UKIP Commonwealth spokesman. The concept of a Commonwealth free trade area pops up every now and then as...

By Adam Clark, @AdamClarkers  Bierschenke promises an authentic German beer cellar experience in London, and has clearly found its niche, having moved out of its original space onto a huge multi-level site in the London wall buildings a few minutes walk from Liverpool Street Station. With a friend’s birthday to celebrate and a David Cameron-style weekend in Europe sadly impossible we went for the next best thing. The beer hall basics were done well, with piled plates of German sausage...

Sat at the summit of the Isthmian Premier League, three points clear of second place and comfortably cushioned by the play-off places, it is safe to say fortunes have turned for Hampton and Richmond Borough. After consecutive mid-table finishes (12th, 13th respectively) Borough confirmed the appointment of Alan Dawson following a turbulent start to the 2014/ 15 season. Gateshead-born, he joined the club from local rivals Kingstonian where he was held in high esteem. This 'Ode to Dawson' from a...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor SNP MP Mhairi Black has attacked the government again, this time on pension reform, as ever she didn't hold back and showed she might be young in age, but is wise well beyond her years. She said: "I have yet to hear of a general or a defense minister say: “we can’t bomb that country because we’ve exceeded our budget, we can’t find the money”. "When we want to bomb Syria we can find it. When...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor A new short documentary for Al Jazeera is claiming that Russian airstrikes in Syria have killed at least 1,500 civilians in the past five months - 300 of them children. Journalist Nagieb Khaja produced some of the clearest evidence yet that civilians are being bombed during this merciless civil war.

News that another plane has crashed in Nepal is appearing on the wires just two days after a passenger jet carrying 23 people went down in the jungle. Two pilots of a plane carrying nine people have been killed, according to early reports, with all passengers reported injured. Kathmandu news outlets have reported that Pilot Dinesh Neupane and Co-pilot Santosh Rana died in the incident after the aircraft crash landed at Chilakhaya 2, Jigeli. The aircraft had taken off at 12:30pm from Nepalgunj...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Presidential hopefuls Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio joined forces and attacked front-runner Donald Trump in the last debate before next week's crucial primaries. They hoped to stifle Trump's momentum as he has already claimed three of the first four contests. Immigration, healthcare and appealing to Latino voters dominated the debate, until it disintegrated into long periods of shouting and personal insults...as usual.