Media

By John Locke - Northern Correspondent I'm very sad to hear of the passing of Howard Marks. I met Howard many times over the years and he was always a gentleman. He performed at The Laugh Inn, a comedy club I owned, for me on one of his tours. After the show finished, he, myself and another friend Hywel sat and drank and talked and smoked into the wee small hours and then in the morning ate breakfast and talked and laughed...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The world famous Sesame Street has launched a new muppet character “Zari” a feminist from Afghanistan. Zari will teach kids about “girl empowerment, social and emotional wellbeing.” She will appear in season 5 of Baghch-e-Simsim, which is the Afghani version of Sesame Street. The children’s show Twitter account went wild when the news was released this week. Saad Mohseni, the President of the MOBY group, that airs various TV shows for children in Afghanistan said:...

The Guardian, along with its international media partners, can certainly be smug about the orchestration of this week's revelations. The Panama Papers look set to be one of the biggest scoops of the century and have already claimed the scalp of one World leader and implicated several others. But the paper is arguably as culpable as its victims in the shameful world of tax dodging. Political blogger Paul Staines has pointed to an inquiry by Guido Fawkes into the tax...

Pictures from the trailer of Star Wars Rogue One appear to show striking similarities to London's Jubilee Line. The teaser for the much-anticipated film was released today, and fans were quick to spot the similarity. #RogueOne EXPECT DELAYS ON THE JUBILEE LINE DUE TO IMPERIAL TROOPERS ON THE TRACKS pic.twitter.com/gDiEJXjbZz — Tom Butler (@TomButler) April 7, 2016 Pictures from the Death Star bear a remarkable resemblance to Jubilee stations, possibly Canary Wharf, North Greenwich or Canada Water.  Oh man, imagine being 6...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor This really didn't go very well; supremely wealthy Tory candidate for Mayor looked pretty out of touch with the city he wants to run during a TV interview. The BBC's Norman Smith asked Goldsmith which team play at Loftus Road, he had no idea (it's QPR). Then he was asked the next type station going east on Central Line from Tottenham Court Road, he had no idea (it's Holborn). He was finally asked where the...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Polls conducted via telephone calls that currently indicate a double-digit lead for the remain campaign are likely to accurately reflect the British Public’s voting intentions, a report claims. Analysis by one of the only major polling companies who correctly predicted the UK general election results says heavy reliance on internet polling overstates the support for the Brexit campaign. Matt Singh of Number Cruncher Politics, working alongside James Kanagasooriam of polling company Populus and they looked...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor This is an animated interview with IMF whistleblower John Perkins, author of "Hoodwinked" and "Confessions of an Economic Hitman." This short film manages to squeeze in a lot of information into a couple of minutes. Have a watch and see if you agree with his theory. Watch Video Here

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor BBC's Norman Smith was told live on air that he had to stop filming during a protest by disability groups today. Smith, assistant politics editor, was talking live from the central lobby as the crowd chanted in the background. Then a robed member of Parliamentary staff ordered him to stop filming while the protest took place. Disability campaigners were staging a noisy protest after the PM refused to apologise for trying to slash benefits to disabled people. Police blocked the...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Nicky Morgan flounced out of an interview yesterday (Friday) when she was asked wether the government would u-turn on its £4bn plan to cut benefits to disabled people. She was asked why during ‘Question Time‘ this week she said the Budget cuts to the most vulnerable in society were only a “suggestion”. The TV presenter from Sky News asked: “The Chancellor says he’s committed to disability benefit cuts. Why did you say it’s a suggestion?”...