News

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The factory where Trident nuclear warheads are built has seen construction disruption due to protests by anti-war protestors. The blockade at the Berkshire site has been organised by an international group of anti-war protestors. On Wednesday the group claimed that they had brought a halt to work on the site for over three days. It is part of a month of direct action that began on Monday, when the group began to block roads near...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Distressingly the world is now a more dangerous place, astoundingly there are now only ten nations that can be considered totally free from any form of conflict. Most of this small countries have relatively small populations. This shocking statistic was reported by the authors of the 10th annual Global Peace Index. The ongoing strife in the Middle East, the growing refugee crisis and terrorists massacres shows that 2016 is less peaceful than 2015 Additionally there...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Footage has emerged of a huge Russian nuclear warplane flying over rebel-held territory in Syria, only a short distance from the Turkish border. There are concerns that relations between Turkey and Russia could deteriorate even more, from an already low point. The warplane was filmed over Idlib, and the Tupolev bomber was spotted in the airspace over the rebel-held area, which has suffered constant airstrikes.  Russia has been accused of bombing the area, despite being...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor In a shocking twist in the EU referendum campaign a Tory MP has switched sides. Sarah Wollaston has now left the Leave campaign and will now back the Remain side instead. She was instantly subjected to attacks from Leave campaigners on social media after she made her announcement. Wollaston, who is chair of the health select committee, has decided that the claims that leaving the EU would mean an extra £350m would be available for...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The on-line voting registration system had crashed, EU citizens had wrongly been given polling cards and both sides have predicted the world will end on the 23rd June depending on which box you tick. So unsurprisingly the EU referendum led today’s session. At one stage Cameron pointed across the chamber and said: “look, the Lib Dems, Greens, and trade unions are all on the same side.” A Brexiteer axis of evil if ever I seen...

ONE of the UK’s premium hotel and bar operators based in the North East has successfully refinanced £101m with the help of HSBC, in a deal supported by Mincoffs Solicitors LLP. Cairn Group, a privately owned business, will use £50m of the total pot for acquisition and development to strengthen its portfolio, which already includes 26 hotels and more than 30 bars and restaurants as well as care homes across the UK. The news follows the latest acquisitions of the...

Countdown’s Rachel Riley modelled a potential car of the future ahead of the Shell Eco-Marathon in London. The vehicles, weighing in at just 30kg, were designed by students competing in the world’s longest running student competition, Shell Eco-marathon, where vehicles are measured on how far they can travel on just a litre of fuel. The current record is 3771km/l - the equivalent of travelling from London to Helsinki and back! This year,the marathon will be showcased at Make the Future London – a...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor I was always told that goldfish have a two second memory, so assumed that fish were not the brightest of animals. It appears I was very very wrong. A team of scientists have shown that one tropical species of fish can recognise peoples' faces.  Archerfish spit jets of water  to catch insects, but the research team also found that they can also tell faces apart. In tests, by the team of US and Australian researchers,...

Coca Cola has dropped out of the BrandZ ranking of the top 10 global brands for the first time. The brand report has been running since 2006 and sees the soft drink brand fall to thirteenth place as the top ten list gets littered by tech and social companies. Google hang on to the top spot, with Facebook, Amazon, McDonald's and Chinese tech company Tencent all moving about Coca Cola in the past year. Millward Brown’s BrandZ valuation process takes the financial...