New research looking into the use of smartphones at live music events has found that we’re more interested in promoting ourselves on social media than taking the time away from our phones to enjoy the music. Nearly a quarter of those polled by Mobiles.co.uk said they would use their phone at a live music event to represent themselves in a certain way on social media, hunt for Likes (22%) and prove they attended the event (30%). In contrast, only 1 in 10 said they...

By Harold Stone Austerity comes from the Ancient Greek austērós meaning harshness, sourness or bitterness. It roughly translates as “to singe the tongue”. From this idea of discomfort, an austere person came to mean a stern person, someone who treats others harshly. One of the slaves in the Bible for example, says to his master “I feared thee, because thou art an austere man”. Around the time Christians started to denounce the world (“do not love the world nor the...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor A muslim lady was subjected to an anti-muslim rant during a journey on public transport, luckily other passengers stepped in to stop the abuse and eject the culprit. Ruhi Rehman, 23 from Newcastle was told she was going to "bomb the train" and told her it was "my country." Ruhi was sitting quietly on a Metro service - Newcastle-upon-Tyne's version of the London Underground - when a man demanded she get off the train. Luckily...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Turkey's military say they have today shot down a Russian war plane near its border with Syria after the jet violated Turkish air space. It is claimed the Russian jet failed to listen to numerous warnings over a five minute period. The Russian Sukhoi Su-24 jet was shot down by Turkish F-16 fighter planes after ignoring nearly a dozen warnings, Turkish army officials said. However, Russia's Ministry of Defence claims the jet was in Syrian...

By Steve Taggart A slightly sniffy article in the Guardian last week declared that the fundraising campaign Movember’s growth cycle was in decline. It claimed that last year UK Movember raised £3 million pounds less than the previous year and argued that many men now already sport some sort of facial hair. But despite describing the campaign as ‘awful’ the Guardian conceded that often-ignored male health issues had benefitted hugely from a raised profile and millions of pounds. If Movember started...

by Miranda Hazrati @mirandahazrati Once the preserve of the art-house crowd, in recent years foreign films have begun to reach a much wider audience, reflecting the increasingly multi-cultural society we live in. As viewers discover the cinematic delights that lie beyond the subtitles, foreign language films have crossed over from niche to mainstream popularity with films like ‘Amélie’ taking on Hollywood blockbusters at the boxoffice. 1. Cinema Paradiso Ironically this beautifully crafted film by young, unknown Italian director Guiseppe Tournatore...

 By Nathan Lee, TLE Correspondent  British shoppers say they will be avoiding the high street this Black Friday after the events of 2014 which led to police involvement in several major retailers. The research shows ‘Black and Blue Friday’ is now competing with boozy ‘Mad Friday’ as emergency services are pushed to the limit. Indeed, a whopping 82 per cent of those polled say the mayhem of last year’s event has put them off shopping instore because they would feel...

Sport News 24/7 By David de Winter - Sports Editor @TLE_Sport  @davidjdewinter The England Rugby team and the RFU would rather forget the last two months ever happened.  Firstly, the national side was eliminated from the Rugby World Cup at the group stages, the only host nation to do so in the competition’s history.  Next, they sacked the coach Stuart Lancaster, the man they appointed to lead the team to glory at the World Cup.  Then, rugby league convert Sam...

Christmas is traditionally a time spent celebrating with friends and family, exchanging gifts and having fun. For the 500,000 older people expected to spend Christmas alone, however, Christmas isn’t such a joyful occasion. Loneliness is a growing issue for the older population - at Christmas and all year round. Last year Friends of the Elderly launched its Future of Loneliness report, which found that over five million older people in the UK are affected by loneliness, with more than a million...