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With the pressures of assessments, government shaftings, endless new curriculum decrees and the ever-present sceptre of Ofsted hovering like a bureaucratic vulture above us, the average person could be forgiven for assuming we teachers are all either Stakhanovite indestructible machines or gibbering wrecks. When people know what goes on in schools and its effects on teachers, it could reasonably be asked why any sane person would do it. For most of us, the answer is very simple: the kids. With...

The Sun is in an unenviable position. The tabloid's recent report claiming the Queen made eurosceptic remarks to Nick Clegg has prompted a formal complaint from palace authorities. For a paper that trades on its knee-jerk patriotism and publishes frequent gushing pieces on the monarchy, a false story about the Queen is about as bad as it can get. Still worse, if The Sun has used the Queen to push a political agenda the public outcry will be fierce. Is...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The number of UK workers on zero-hour contracts is now at 801,000 up 104,000 in only a year. The Labour party tried to outlaw these types of employment deals, but instead they have increased sharply. It could be seen as a blow to job recovery, as verging on a million people are on contracts that don’t necessarily guarantee even one hour’s work in any given week, and can have hours taken away or added at...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The Chancellor failed to suppress a smile as his plans to enact more austerity cuts were quoted during PMQs, as ever a charming individual. Watch video here 

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The most heartwarming story of 2016 so far, comes from a beach in Brazil. A South American Magellanic penguin who swims 5,000 miles each year to be reunited with the man who saved his life. Joao Pereira de Souza, 71, lives in an island village just outside Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, found the tiny penguin, covered in oil and close to death, on his local beach in 2011. He cleaned the oil off the penguin’s feathers...

A baby was smuggled inside a passenger's hang luggage on board an Air France flight on Monday night, according to local sources. A passenger on board the flight from Istanbul to Paris CDG raised the alarm when they saw a woman was carrying a baby in her hand luggage, Planet.fr reports. He alerted the crew and they were redirected towards the front of the plane. The press service of Air France confirmed the information and said the child was travelling without a ticket.

The Government's campaign to encourage small and medium-sized businesses to export is failing to achieve its objectives, according to new research. A QuoteSearcher survey of 618 SMEs found just seven per cent of businesses are likely to take part in the campaign, with 69 per cent of respondents saying they had never heard of the campaign before. The UK Trade and Investment department is already facing an investigation as to whether it’s providing enough value to small businesses. The 'Exporting is Great' campaign...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Today is international Women’s Day and it has been revealed there is ONE town in UK where women get the same pay as their male counterparts...almost. In another area women even get paid more, but the rest of the country remains unequal. On the south coast, in the seaside town of Hastings, is the place where you will find the fairest pay structure in Britain.Full-time workers here on average earn £24,112 a year - just...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor There has been anger after Tory minister Baroness Williams said homeless people chose to sleep rough. Charities have said "rough sleeping isn't a lifestyle choice" after her remarks in the upper house during a debate. The Communities Minister made her controversial statement as she argued with other peers over the amount of beds available to get people off the streets. Labour's Baroness Armstrong, said rough sleeping had more than doubled since the Tories took power...