Lifestyle

It was only when Dianne Vavra looked up one evening to see her husband streaming a basketball game on his laptop, her son absorbed by Mario Kart on the Wii and her daughter playing a game app on an iPod Touch that she realised. “The family was in the same room, but not together". The concept, dubbed the "Domestic Matrix" by the New York Times - families sharing a common space, but plugged into entirely separate planes of existence through technology - is...

A video of a dog that plays dead so he doesn't have to leave the park is breaking the internet. Although the video was uploaded over three years ago it has recently gained traction and now has more than six million views! The golden retriever, filmed in Atlanta, Georgia, was so insistent that it would stay in the park that it decided to play dead to fool its owner into staying longer. However a nice meaty stick finally convinced him to...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food During the summer of 2014, a fundraising challenge – The Ice Bucket Challenge – became a global success. Partially due to our innate desire to terrorise our friends, but mostly thanks to social media – the campaign went viral with over one million videos posted to Facebook, and raised approximately $100 million (approximately £70 million) in donations to the ALS Association: a charity that raises awareness and funds towards research for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis,...

Many of you may have heard the government’s latest wheeze to interfere in education: to force all schools to become academies. Now, in times past, the term academy as a title of an organisation was seen as a sign it was quite good. When someone found out I worked at an academy, they were impressed - clearly I must be a super teacher in a super school if it’s called an academy. Being the humble servant of the state that...

Glasshouse Salon is a new and exciting salon tucked away in East London’s trendy Broadway Market and London Fields. Unlike most hair salons - who use products tested on animals and packed with harmful chemicals - GlassHouse Salon prides itself on its organic and ethical products. The vast majority of the products are vegan (bar a hair wax which contains bee wax) and are not tested on animals. What’s more, it’s reasonably priced for an organic hair salon in the...

By Richard James, Chair of the YMCA in London CEO Network and Chief Executive of YMCA London South West, ahead of the YMCA in London Manifesto launch at City Hall As we approach the London Mayoral elections we are learning more about the individual candidates and what priorities they see for the capital. However, many of the issues candidates have announced they will tackle so far have been in existence for some time. Most notably the inequality that exists across...

New research has revealed that the average British child now receives over £5,000 in pocket money over the course of their childhood for helping out with spring cleaning chores. The study of parents with children aged 3 to 16 found 60 per cent tempt their money-savvy kids with financial gain if they help out around the house, while 44 per cent admit to bribing them with their favourite treat. Modern kids earn 54 per cent more pocket money than their parents did when they...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Mercy Ships is an international charity which operates the world’s largest civilian hospital ship, the Africa Mercy, providing free healthcare services to those living in developing countries, namely in Africa, where the services of professional medical staff are most needed. The ship is currently docked in Madagascar, which is one of the world’s poorest countries with only 2 physicians and 3 hospital beds available for every 10,000 people. Founded in 1978, Mercy Ships has worked...

Huzzah! The Easter holidays are nearly here! Surely, the holidays are the reason why teachers join the profession. Well, the reality is that for many of us, they are simply a brief period where we can do the following: let our exhausted bodies catch up on some sleep after working 12/14-hour days for 6 weeks; allow ourselves to surrender to whatever plagues we have been fighting off for the last few weeks of term; catch up on planning, marking, assessments...