By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food With December finally here, Christmas is drawing very close. So with the shops filling up, the weather changing, and as a time of true indulgence - we’ve compiled a gift guide of all of the best food and drink gifts to buy for your favourite foodies and drinks connoisseurs this Christmas. Aurora Crystal Head Vodka Arriving just in time for Christmas, Crystal Head Vodka - founded in 2008 by Hollywood actor Dan Aykroyd –...

1. Air strikes achieve nothing without sufficient ground support Everyone agrees Isis must be destroyed and driven out of their strongholds. But air strikes in isolation will never achieve this. Military experts are certain that coordinated ground support is needed to recapture cities like Raqqa. Cameron knows this; which is why his strategy before parliament contained the spurious figure of 70,000 Syrian moderates willing to fight our cause. First, this mystery army is not united. It’s made up of 100-120 different groups,...

Christmas; the time of giving. A time of family, love and gratitude. Unless of course you happen to not get on with your family and have invited them to spend every waking moment with you in the confined surroundings of your home. For many, using Christmas as a magical time to attempt to bring the family closer together, is an endearing social thought. For psychologists and behaviourists, however, it is the perfect recipe for disaster! If you’ve already made plans...

By Miranda Hazrati Misogyny with a capital M takes centre stage in Jamie Lloyd’s tense, compacted production of Pinter’s ‘The Homecoming’ at Trafalgar Studios. Lloyd’s pumped up Pinter loses none of its punch or ability to shock audiences 50 years on in this very modern, cinematographic  interpretation with its cool blend of stark staging, lightning flashes between scenes and pulsating sixties soundtrack. John Simm delivers a standout performance as perfectly-suited, leering pimp Lenny, with his dangerously clipped dialogue and squirmingly...

By Eleanor Stammeijer (@ElStammjam) 27.11.15, Tape London, London It’s no secret that seeing live music is an experience that, no matter how hard you try, cannot be replicated on-record. After reviewing his latest release Wings earlier this month, I had high hopes for Mozez’s album launch show. Tucked into a corner of Hanover Square, Tape London was the setting for tonight’s event. Predominantly a nightclub, the venue clearly focusses on making the bar area and surroundings the most appealing, with...

27: Christmas - A Time For Reflection. And Whisky. Mostly Whisky. Hello, dear reader. This is going to be my last article until the new year, as I’m taking an extended break from work to remind myself what my wife looks like. Given it’s Christmas round the corner, it seemed appropriate to reflect on its relationship with gaming, and I honestly cannot remember a year where I didn’t receive a videogame. From beautifully boxed Dizzy collections on the Amstrad CPC 464,...

On the economy, it’s clear why the right claim the left have run out of ideas. Under Miliband, Labour were more like a lost battalion playing catch up than real opposition, unanimous in support for austerity (although of the lighter variety) and feeble in refuting the ludicrous assertion that Brown’s fiscal policy somehow contributed to the global meltdown that enveloped international markets. The crash exposed neoliberalism as crisis-ridden, and in the vacuum where alternative, progressive ideas should have emerged, British...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food With plenty of exciting restaurant openings constantly taking place across the Capital, here’s our pick of the best new restaurants arriving in London over the coming month. Flat Iron – Covent Garden Ever since their initial inception as a pop-up restaurant, Flat Iron has become increasingly popular. So popular, in fact, that they’re set to open a third restaurant this month, in Covent Garden’s Henrietta Street. As is the case with the two restaurants already open in Soho,...

Working poor will be Cameron’s legacy Everyone from Labour to the Sun claimed victory when Chancellor George Osborne reversed his plan to scrap tax credits for working families. But as the Independent reported, the poorest in Britain are still getting poorer. The Conservative government’s planned cuts to welfare will see working families lose up to £1,600 a year by 2020, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Meanwhile, 1.2 million Londoners are now “in-work poor”, meaning they fall below the...