By Toby James  Early last month, Tony Hall, the director general of the BBC, proposed changes to the way the BBC operates with regard to production of television programmes. The BBC has always been at the forefront of broadcast innovation. This throne has been somewhat usurped lately by the sheer number of other companies producing or broadcasting television, be it Sky’s grasp over sports, Endemol and Freemantle Media’s ubiquity in production or UKTV’s innovative way of broadcasting BBC and other...

By James Mackney @JimMackney Six years ago Marvel set out its stall in bringing a series of high budget films initiating the world into everything Avengers based. Despite spending nearly $1 billion in the process (on that felt exhaustive and fundamentally unnecessary aside from Iron Man 1&3, Thor and the final culminating film Avengers Assemble), that doesn’t mean they’re going to stop making Avengers films… This year it is the turn of the Guardians of the Galaxy comic book series to...

 By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor This summer, all over the country, people will be visiting an online John Lewis wedding gift list to buy one of a pair of cappuccino towels (because it’s the only thing left for under £50).  Selecting a gift for the bride and groom is as traditional as cutting the cake or watching the first dance, but it’s also one aspect of weddings that’s a political minefield. It isn’t just the wedding guests who vex about...

By Gregory Taylor So at long last the England Cricket team are starting to play well, but like most sports, one good result does not mean that England are back on track. It’s great that both Ian Bell and Alistair Cook did well and the new boys Jos Buttler and Gary Ballance put in a good shift, but there is still a lot of hard work to be done. Before people start saying critics of Cook got it wrong in...

By Chris Brown @vivabrownie You’ve all heard the expression before. If an infinite number of monkeys typed on an infinite number of typewriters for an infinite amount of time…..could they write an article accurately predicting Birmingham City’s fortunes for the 2014/2015 season? Of course the answer for Lee Clark is ‘how much are these monkeys on?’ and ‘Can any of them play right back?’ The infinite monkey theory is often brought up in moments of philosophical musing and held alongside the works...

Sport News 24/7 By Henry Austin No longer will our football fayre be served up at “The Reebok” and there’s been a little bit of grumbling in Bolton about the name change. We’ve traded, some say down, from sportswear manufacturer Reebok, to well, sportswear manufacturer Macron. Admittedly, it’s always been a purpose built sponsored stadium, so the change will be less hard to swallow than having a new name foisted on you by a fat sportswear salesman and to most...

By Elsa Buchanan As the European Commission and the US are busy negotiating a free trade agreement, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), campaigners say they are increasingly worried citizens are losing their democratic privileges. While corporations are looking forward to an improved trade and regulatory cooperation between the US and EU, the opposition -which includes Pan-European civil society groups - is concerned that regulatory convergence will grind down hard-won social and environmental standards. "The thing with TTIP is...

By Charlotte Hope – Celebrity Writer Russell Brand v Sean Hannity Russell Brand has never been known for his reticence when it comes to political issues so it should come as no surprise that he has some feelings about the current conflict going on in Gaza. Brand posted a 12 and a half minute video on July 29th as part of his YouTube ‘Trews’ series which, at time of writing, has garnered 12.5 million views. In it, he picks apart...

By Dan Sampson @dan_sampson The debate over what constitutes ‘art’ is as old as art itself. Quite why there is such a divergence of opinion is difficult to tell but personal taste, whether admitted or not, is probably the most significant factor in the discussion and is also why it continues: people have different standards, dispositions, and preferences, and these drive their reaction to (and judgment of) works of art. A better question than what art is could be what...