News

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor A dedicated headteacher has quit in protest at Tory plans to force schools to become academies. Pupils and parents at the County Durham School are reportedly “heartbroken” that Jeremy Gargan has left his role. He wrote a scathing letter about the Conservative Government’s plans to change all schools into academies. Gargan wrote that he can’t work in “an education system that I do not believe in.” Until the letter was written he ran Aycliffe Village...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The battle to win the name of the new polar research vessel has been won by Boaty McBoatface. Many people will be overjoyed with this news, but NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) boss has final say on the mater and there are concerns about the burden of public opinion and the credibility of the organisation. As the votes were counted it was obvious that Boaty McBoatface was going to be the winner. The suggestion of this...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor During a House of Commons debate, Labour MP Chi Onwurah told the house a story about her sister’s treatment at the BBC. She said: “My brother and sister both worked for the BBC as filmmakers, although they no longer do so. Their experience has informed my views, not always positively. "On my sister’s first day as a director at the BBC, she was automatically shown to the cleaning room to join the cleaning team. "It...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor There were ten million meals given out to broke Brits last year, and almost four million of those went to feed hungry kids. The Trussell Trust shared out more than 1.1million three-day food provisions, with over four hundred thousand going to children. The food bank operator food supplies contain three meals for each day, which adds up to 9,983,781 meals over the year. This is an increase of 220,000 meals in comparison in the year...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor A very irate audience member laid into Tory MEP Daniel Hannan during Question Time on the BBC from Doncaster. Eventually the staff took the microphone away, it looked like she could have went on all night. There were cheers when she said the PM had “stripped us of everything” during years of austerity. She said: “we were told a lie. We were told a lie. We were told we had to take austerity. We were...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor More lavish spending from our peers has been revealed as Baroness D’Souza squandered £30k entertaining overseas diplomats. Of that huge chunk of money, £4k was wasted on flowers to make her office look and smell nice. She used £6k of taxpayers’ money to put a Russian delegation in a five-star hotel and then a further £890 for the diplomats to go to the ballet. During this trip she billed taxpayers £230 for a limousine trip...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor A shocking number of children in England began school underweight in the previous year according to figures reported MPs. The All Party Parliamentary Group on Hunger said the increasing numbers of children do not get the right amount to eat. The group said: "For a minority of children, the school lunchtime represents the only chance each day to eat something substantial." To deal with this worry rise, the group asked that income from the new...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor German Chancellor Angela Merkel has agreed to a criminal inquiry into a German comic who poked fun at the Turkish President. It is a move that will trouble many people across the world who believe in free speech. The comedian Jan Böhmermann read out a rude poem about the President Erdogan on German TV. However, under a little used section of Germany’s criminal code, they have to pursue a case against the comedian for insulting...

By Ben Ramanauskas The recent revelation that many leading political figures around the world have been using offshore tax havens to hide their money has caused widespread outrage in the the UK and abroad. The Prime Minister of Iceland has resigned as a result, and there are calls by many in Britain for David Cameron to do the same. It has also focussed the public’s attention on UK tax law and those who both evade and avoid paying tax in...