News

Ashford in Kent is on track to get a £4 million model railway centre which is expected to attract up to 500,000 visitors a year to South East England. The local council has agreed to provide a secured loan to purchase land for its new home which will allow Ashford International Model Railway Education Centre (AIMREC) to buy land at the former Klondyke railway works. This will assist AIMREC to raise funds to press ahead with their ambitious plans to build a model railway...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Shockingly the worst ten per cent of households actually paid back 47 per cent of their earnings back in taxes in 2014/15 compared to only 34 per cent for the richest ten per cent, reports the Mirror. The news will come as no shock to the households who struggle to feed themselves and regularly use food banks even though one or both members of the family will have paid employment. In the UK having a...

A sustained period of low interest rates is fuelling widespread investment fraud, according to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), with over 55s most at risk. With interest rates set to remain at 0.5 per cent well into 2020, savers are adopting riskier investment behaviour to get more bang for their buck. Four in ten people aged over 55 have moved money out of savings and into investments in a bid to get a better rate of return, with 23 per cent saying they are considering investing...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor During the charter renewal process there was no official attempt by Rupert Murdoch to lobby ministers, to stem the reach of the BBC, however the liberal Guardian newspaper did, reports the Independent. The Guardian aired its issue with the BBC’s online expansion and how it was going to impact on the media group’s own commercial interests. The Guardian had warned that the BBC was at the “mercy of a culture secretary who has never hidden...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Another day another claim about Brexit, and what could happen to the UK economy if we decided to leave. Today was the turn of the IFS (Institute for Fiscal Studies) who have said that leaving the EU would mean the Treasury would have to slash billions of pounds from British welfare and public services. The IFS believe that in the case of a “Brexit” there would be years of austerity and tax rises, which would...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor A damning report has just been released which has revealed the harsh effects of benefit cuts on a community. The research has brought to light the every day struggles that benefit sanctions bring on people and their family, pushing them into crime and causing serious mental health issues, even suicide. The Independent reported some research by Salford City Council into the serious negative effects from benefit cuts and sanctions. The report found that reductions in...

"Some members of the traditional bingo community don't like us", proclaim Rebel Bingo, the company that introduced a new, intense and emotional style of bingo to cities across the world. "We're not sure what their stupid problem is. We do our bingo and you do yours. Some people don't like change." There's no doubt about it, bingo is back baby, and it has never been as cool. Away from the warn halls of Mecca and Gala a counter resurgence has gripped...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Government plans targeting suspected extremists are so troubled they could create a “thought police” in the UK. This bold statement comes from Simon Cole, the police boss leading the action to stop people becoming radicalised and possibly leaving to become foreign fighters or taking part in home-grown acts of terrorism. Cole, police lead for the Prevent programme, does not believe that proposals targeting extremists can be enforceable. He thinks the strategy risks making police officers...

“Fossil fuels are so inherently dirty and toxic, that they require sacrificial people and sacrificial places, they always have.” These are the words of environmental activist Naomi Klein, delivering the Edward Said lecture in London earlier this month. As if following her cue, yesterday an alliance of fossil fuel politicians and lobbyists overruled the villages and voices of Northern England. The land and its people have been sacrificed. Underground rock will be drilled and pumped with high pressure chemicals, sand and water. Local communities...