UK restores housebuilding targets and sets out green belt review in planning push July 30, 2024 Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves’ Labour government has unveiled a series of reforms to the planning system, including a review of the green belt, to help address “the most acute housing crisis in living memory.” Under new policies confirmed today, local authorities will again be given mandatory housing targets to help “pave the way” to [...]
Britain is unwell: Four charts explaining the UK’s long-term sick problem July 27, 2024 The topic of sick leave was back in the headlines this week after a health adviser to the government declared that the long-term sick must be forced to look for jobs to cut welfare costs and reduce the UK’s reliance on immigration.
Bruce Springsteen, Wembley review: He looks and acts 30 years younger July 26, 2024 Bruce Springsteen at Wembley review: ★★★★ How on earth is he 74? Bruce Springsteen looks and acts 30 years younger, though anecdotes about the sixties and lamenting late saxophonist Clarence Clemons who died in 2011 gave away his secret: “As you get older death brings a certain clarity,” he said in one of few breaks [...]
Young’s sees summer of sport boost business: We’re in “brilliant shape” says outgoing chairman July 25, 2024 Young’s has announced a rise in revenue of 26 per cent since the start of the new financial year on the back of a boost from the UK’s summer of sport. The Euros and Wimbledon have dominated pubs’ TV screens and sent countless customers to bars and beer gardens to make the most of the [...]
How Lucy Charles-Barclay turned Olympic pain into triathlon superstardom July 25, 2024 Lucy Charles-Barclay on how she fell into triathlon stardom and taking a step towards another world title at the London T100 this weekend. In a parallel universe, Lucy Charles-Barclay might be spending the next few days preparing to go for a fourth gold medal in open-water swimming at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Aged 18, the [...]
Sadiq Khan has no answers on London’s ailing nightlife July 25, 2024 More than 3,000 pubs and clubs have closed since the pandemic while other cities like Manchester and Liverpool have thrived. If the mayor won’t do anything about it, others will, says Emma Best Growing up gay in London, my world and confidence in who I was changed when I was able to start experiencing London’s [...]
LAD Bible owner LBG Media shares soar 12 per cent as Euros and Betches deal drive growth July 24, 2024 The media company increased its global audience to 493m in the first half of the year, up from 410m in the same period of 2023.
Benefit cap punishes children for their parents’ choices July 24, 2024 If Labour are looking to make savings on the welfare bill, there are plenty of places other than the two-child benefit cap to look – starting with the pensions triple lock In a manifesto that was light on detail, two of Labour’s biggest promises were to adopt Conservative policies: on the fiscal rules and the [...]
Labour’s growth push continues with ‘fundamental’ welfare reform promised July 23, 2024 Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, said that her department would become “a genuine department for work” as the new government attempts to tackle the rise in economic inactivity. “DWP has focused almost entirely on the benefits system, and specifically on implementing Universal Credit,” she said in a speech in Barnsley. “Nowhere near enough [...]
The Hot Wing King at the National Theatre is a spicy play July 23, 2024 Memphis-born Katori Hall is a cultural juggernaut. Audiences may be familiar with her previous work, such as the magnificent, Olivier-winning play The Mountaintop, which imagines the final night of Martin Luther King, her collaboration on the book for Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, or her foray into television with the enjoyably sleazy premium soap opera [...]