For lovers of the English tongue, there is no greater thrill than being present at the birth of a dramatic linguistic development. I refer here not to the OED’s annual list of newly accepted words. You can see the addition to the lexicon of popular slang words like “hashtag” and “omnishambles” coming.
First blood, then, to Nicola Sturgeon in this fascinating new phase of Westminster warfare. Outfoxing one’s opponents is enjoyable at any time: all the more so if an offensive that David Cameron and Co somehow failed to anticipate leaves them spluttering with indignation too.
In a ruling which, it is feared, will present a “huge challenge” to the acting profession, a judge has decreed that a group of actors should not be paid the minimum wage.
Viewed from the United States, the problems of Greece seem a long way away. Instead all eyes are on the Federal Reserve and, in particular, on its chair, Janet Yellen.
Robina was removed from school when she was just 15. She, just like my other sisters, was taken out of the classroom and forced to marry a man she had only met in a photograph. Saying no was not an option. During her marriage, as with many other victims, she was encouraged to her return to a man who abused her so not to dishonour her family name. Tragically, Robina chose to end her life by setting herself on fire.
As you’re reading this I am sitting in a police cell. I was one of the 12 people from Plane Stupid who were responsible for breaking onto the runway yesterday morning at Heathrow Airport and holding up flights.
In this mechanised, automated, impersonal world, thank goodness for Barclays bank, which is replacing machines with people. Those of us who bank with Barclays can now go into selected branches and see Mike, Sally or Jake, who will help us pay in a cheque, take out some cash or amend a direct debit.
In my first job I received £7,500 a year and a sharp lesson in the gender pay gap. A male colleague, I found out within a few weeks of starting, was on £8,500 a year – even though we had the same qualifications and had arrived at the firm within a few days of each other. I was furious, and so asked my employers why. The excuse was quite creative – my colleague had a car to run, while I did not. Did they not think I might have been able to afford a car if my salary had nudged closer to his?
First, I should declare an interest; I am a long-time supporter of the League Against Cruel Sports and the RSPCA. Just so you know where I am coming from.
Teachers work an average of 60 hours a week running around after our kids (and educating them, too). Here's how to say thank you
Between student debt, unemployment and benefit cuts, many people in their twenties have become quietly trapped in austerity Britain. We’re at risk of creating a ‘Peter Pan’ generation of young people for whom growing up simply isn’t an option.
Last week, the Chancellor gave 2.5 million workers a pay rise, by legislating for a “national living wage.” We should not underestimate the scale of this achievement, but there are big questions to ask about the level of what George Osborne calls the “national living wage.”
This week, David Cameron is talking about the gender pay gap. It’s good news because for too long this is an issue the Government hasn’t been keen to confront.
I discovered yesterday that, on 8 February 1836, a possible ancestor of mine (a great-great-great something or other) received a quite sizeable payout, totalling £118 and 16 shillings, from the British state. What it was for, you might be able to guess from the date. But I wouldn’t be sure of it.
It is the literary discovery of the decade. Not Harper Lee’s long-lost second novel, Go Set A Watchman, published today after being locked in a safe for half a century – but another cache of historic works belonging to Charles Dickens and his band of writer friends.
After Grexit, “a-Greek-ment”. The Greek debt crisis, which has been dragging on for half a decade or more, has produced quite a few ugly neologisms, and some very silly puns. It has also threatened the very existence of the European single currency and, at various critical moments, to pull the economies of Spain, Italy, Portugal, and thus the entire EU, down with it.
“The Greeks peaked early,” opines one of the characters, declaring that the only talent of their descendants is “to drive a taxi at ninety miles an hour in fucking flip flops”. The line got a big laugh when this early play by Richard (One Man, Two Guvnors) Bean was premiered in the National Theatre's 2002 Transformation Season.
