Leaked Cabinet papers reveal the Monarch on track for bumper 2026 payday. The money will come from the public purse – prompting outrage from the TaxPayers’ Alliance – but royalists have strongly defended the idea. ‘It’s cheap at the price’ said a retired Colonel from Gloucestershire.  ‘That’s less than £3,000 a day as of June 2016 – or the equivalent of about half a dozen Americans coming over to London to watch the Changing of The Guard or Trooping the Colour’. Others were less enamoured: ‘Bonuses! Is this a Royal Family or a Premier...

The veteran actor is ‘overwhelmed and humbled’ by the appointment. ‘What a year!  First the OBE, then this’.  I am truly (Brian) Blessed’. ‘The selection process was extremely rigorous, with course work and exams on: The history of shouting in Western and Eastern cultures The legal status of shouting in the US Constitution (with particular reference to the Fifth Amendment) Applications of shouting in Quantum Physics, and The role of shouting in Shakespeare and cheesy 1980s science-fiction movie remakes (that was my favourite!)’. Blessed, a keen...

Roosters are out and skips are in. Beijing unveils its plan to rescue faltering Chinese expansion. With China’s 2016 Q1 growth barely scraping into triple figures, top officials are hurriedly devising unconventional ways to encourage consumer spending. An official Party communique explained ‘”Year of the Skip” is a ground-up initiative that we hope will prompt families to undertake home improvement projects -which in turn will have a knock-on effect for the manufacturing and service sectors’.  Indeed we have already seen a spike in the demand for skips, and contractors...

‘Mesmerisingly Horrid’ Mirai Saloon Captures Hat-Trick for Japanese Auto Giant. The long-established ‘Car of The Year’ (COTY) Awards celebrate all that is best in modern car design and technology. The ‘Ewww’ Awards don’t.  Instead, they highlight the very worst that the automotive world throws at unsuspecting, gullible and just plain dumb consumers year after year. ‘Although it started a while back as just a bit of fun, it does have a very serious purpose’ says the respected UK ‘Autocar’ Magazine. ‘Without question, cars are...

Latest Alzheimer’s Society statistics charting the condition’s growth make alarming reading. ‘As a country, we can no longer ignore this national epidemic’ said a spokeswoman.  ‘Unless we act now, the human cost will be unimaginable.  The health services will be overwhelmed, planes will fall from the sky, locusts will fill the air – and Ant and Dec will never again be seen on telly’. However, the comments have attracted criticism from some quarters. ‘As usual, they’re overplaying their hand’ said a volunteer at Cancer Research UK. ...