Political news

• 5 Times Lord Heseltine Didn't Care What Tories Thought About His Anti-Brexit Views

  27-12-2017 21:44
  Lord Heseltine, the Conservative peer once touted as a Tory Party leader, has spent much of 2017 warning against the damaging impact of Brexit.The former Deputy Prime Minister under Margaret Thatcher has used speeches and votes in the House of Lords, and regular media appearances, to prove his credentials as that rarest of things: an avowedly pro-EU Tory.Here are five times in the last 12 months where the 84-year-old has made clear he doesn’t care what many of his Brexiteer colleagues thin
  
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• Theresa May urged to withdraw Tory whip from Michael Heseltine

  27-12-2017 20:43
  Norman Tebbit leads calls to ban former colleague over comments that a Corbyn government could be preferable to Brexit Theresa May has been urged by leading Brexit supporters to withdraw the Conservative whip from Michael Heseltine over his “unprecedented” comments suggesting a Jeremy Corbyn government might be preferable to leaving the EU.Norman Tebbit, the former cabinet minister and arch-Brexiter, questioned his former colleague’s loyalty to his country and said the peer sho
  
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• Porn, power and Damian Green’s political downfall | Letters

  27-12-2017 19:05
  Sophie Walker says Damian Green is no victim, he held the position of dominance and was fired for manipulating the truth; Professor David Lewis on what is and is not in the public interestMartin Kettle’s piece (Green’s downfall shows that porn needs tougher controls, 22 December) is as muddled and damaging as the rest of the coverage of Damian Green’s resignation.He begins by identifying the issue at the heart of all sexual harassment stories. “Power would still have won&
  
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• Ten Injured As Blast Rips Through Supermarket In Russia's St Petersburg

  27-12-2017 18:59
  A blast ripped through a supermarket in Russia’s St Petersburg on Wednesday evening, injuring at least 10 shoppers, investigators said.The explosion was caused by a homemade bomb packed with pieces of metal with a force equivalent to 200 grammes of TNT, they said. They have opened a criminal case on the grounds of attempted murder.Nobody was killed in the explosion, and it was not immediately clear what the motive for it was.Russian media reports said the bomb had been hidden in a locker w
  
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• Nadine Dorries Thinks 'Left-Wing Snowflakes' Are 'Dumbing Down Panto' And People Are Done

  27-12-2017 18:12
  Tory MP Nadine Dorries has launched an astonishing attack on “left-wing snowflakes” who she thinks are making the world a culturally poorer place.The Brexiteer’s wide-ranging evisceration deployed the ‘snowflake’ insult favoured by some on the right in a sign that any culture war ‘Christmas truce’ was now over.Her cyber-rant came after she re-tweeted a story highlighting how higher education minister Jo Johnson had threatened fines against universities t
  
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• Ministers Can Go And Whistle. All Rough Sleepers Will Get Help In Liverpool

  27-12-2017 18:09
  I can’t begin to imagine how desperate it is to find yourself out on the streets – especially during the winter. The cold. The isolation. The despair.Earlier this week, the Public Accounts Committee reported what all of us working on the frontline knew already: the government’s response to dealing with homelessness and rough sleeping across England has been woeful.‘Unacceptably complacent’ was the term used. That’s one way of saying that leaving 9,10
  
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• Five Things Our Cars Will Be Doing In The Next 30 Years

  27-12-2017 18:04
  Begin any conversation about the future of cars and it’ll be a matter of seconds before someone brings up the possibility of driverless vehicles. The thing is that they’re not so much of a future concept anymore; they’re already here. OK, so we’re not yet at the point where we’re all sitting, glassy-eyed, in the back seat of our own personal pods as we make our commute into work every day, but Heathrow has been operating a driverless shuttle system for some time now
  
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• The Good, The Bad And The Hopeful Of Sport In 2017

  27-12-2017 18:03
  What a year in sport!As 2017 draws to a close, I want to focus on examples of the good, the bad and the hopeful from this year, which includes issues that are likely to have repercussions for different reasons into next year also.The goodJeff Horn. One of the things we love about sport is the fairytale element of it, and there was none quite as good as when Brisbane school teacher, Jeff Horn, defeated Manny Pacquiao mid-year.Pacquiao is the 11-time world welterweight champion, and his handlers s
  
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• Millions Of Girls Displaced From Their Homes This Christmas

  27-12-2017 18:02
  This year 10-year-old Taslima watched her mother die from an illness then witnessed her father shot dead in front of her before running for her life, eventually arriving barefoot and helpless in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. That is her experience of 2017.As the year ends and people begin to reflect on what they have achieved in the comfort of their own surroundings, please take a moment to consider girls like Taslima. According to our research, an estimated 14 million girls around the world &n
  
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• Brexit legislation set for intense scrutiny by Lords

  27-12-2017 17:50
  Independent peer highlights concern how bill hands sweeping powers to ministers
  
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• Heseltine 'should be sanctioned' for Brexit comments

  27-12-2017 17:45 via bbc.co.uk
  The former deputy PM suggested he would prefer a Labour government to Brexit.
  
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• Winter Fashion: Stylish And Affordable Coats To Snap Up In The Sales

  27-12-2017 17:37
  Once the excitement of Christmas wears off (eventually) our next obsession is how you can make the best of the winter sales. One smart investment is a winter coat - as we’re in the UK, January, February and March are sure to make good on the promise of cold months ahead. And those Christmas Jumpers just won’t cut the mustard anymore. So, what better line-up to consider than a list of the most fetching winter coats in the sales? Feast your eyes. (All prices co
  
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• Labour voters could abandon party over Brexit stance, poll finds

  27-12-2017 17:30
  Party urged to clarify policy as poll finds more than half of Labour voters oppose leadership backing BrexitLabour is coming under pressure from leading pro-remain campaigners to clarify its stance on Brexit, after polling showed that a quarter of its current voters could switch party by the next election and more than half would oppose Labour backing Brexit.The poll of people planning to vote Labour – conducted by YouGov for the Best of Britain campaign group – found 24% said they m
  
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• Elon Musk Has Promised A Tesla Electric Pickup Truck Is On The Way

  27-12-2017 17:09
  Elon Musk has promised an electric pickup truck is part of his plans for Tesla.Musk asked his Twitter followers for suggestions about how the firm could improve its electric vehicles and was promptly asked to create a new model entirely.Need an electric Pick up truck please.— Vancouver Seed Bank (@VanSeedBank) December 26, 2017I promise that we will make a pickup truck right after Model Y. Have had the core design/engineering elements in my mind for almost 5 years. Am dying to build it.&md
  
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• Arthur Collins Admits Hiding Mobile Phone Inside Crutch In Prison

  27-12-2017 16:58
  Arthur Collins, who is serving a 20-year jail term for carrying out an acid attack in a London nightclub, has admitted hiding a phone inside a crutch while in prison.The 25-year-old also concealed two Sim cards and two USB sticks in the walking aid while on remand at HMP Thameside, a court heard today, the Press Association reports.Collins, the ex-boyfriend of reality TV-star Ferne McCann, was being held in custody at the time ahead of his trial over the acid attack at Mangle E8 nightclub in the
  
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• New '400-600-600 Calorie Rule' Could Help You Manage Your Weight And Health

  27-12-2017 16:49
  New official calorie guidelines are to be introduced to help people better manage their weight and health in the new year.The Public Health England campaign, which launches in March 2018, comes after it was revealed that Brits currently eat on average of 200-300 calories above the recommended amount every day.While there is no change to the recommended daily calorie intake (2,000 per day for women and 2,500 for men), the body will advise on how to manage calorie consumption in relation to each m
  
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• Kind-Hearted Police Officers Buy Elderly Couple A Car On Christmas Day After Beloved Austin Metro Was Stolen

  27-12-2017 16:21
  An elderly couple were reduced to tears of joy after police officers bought them a car for Christmas to replace one stolen earlier in the year.Kind-hearted officers in Croydon, south London, surprised the husband and wife, both in their 70s, with keys to their new Vauxhall Corsa which appeared on their driveway on Christmas Day morning.The couple, known as Mr and Mrs Gibbs, were also presented with a cheque for £2,300.The special gifts were the result of a collection started by officers af
  
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• Prince Harry Almost Got Political During His Today Programme Guest Editorship

  27-12-2017 16:14
  Members of the British Royal family usually do their best to stay out of politics but when Prince Harry took the reins at BBC Radio 4, he came close to getting political several times.The Prince joined the presenters of the current affairs programme in the studio and said the issues he had chosen, which included mental health, the charitable sector and the Armed Forces, were “incredibly important topics we all need to think about and need to be discussed.”He also interviewed his own
  
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• Tilt Britain’s education system back towards skills training

  27-12-2017 16:12
  The government heaps attention on universities but vocational teaching languishes
  
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• Britain’s prosperity depends on technical skills

  27-12-2017 16:12
  But universities receive cash while the provision of vocational training languishes
  
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• Rihanna Calls For An End To Gun Violence As She Posts Tribute To Her Cousin

  27-12-2017 15:15
  Rihanna has posted an emotional tribute to her cousin, after he was shot dead in her native Barbados on Boxing Day.Sharing her shock at the news, having celebrated Christmas with him only a day earlier, she wrote: “RIP cousin... Can’t believe it was just last night that I held you in my arms!“Never thought that would be the last time I felt the warmth in your body!!! Love you always man!”She also took the opportunity to make a statement about gun violence, sharing the has
  
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• Great Thurlow Hunt Police Investigation Launched Following Claims Fox Was Killed During Boxing Day Hunt

  27-12-2017 15:14
  Warning: Graphic content.Police are investigating claims a fox was illegally killed during a Boxing Day hunt on Tuesday.Suffolk Police are appealing for witnesses after they were called at about 2pm to reports of an incident between Great Thurlow Hunt and hunt saboteurs in Trundley Wood, off Bury Road. North Wales Police and Cheshire Police have also launched investigations into allegations of illegal Boxing Day hunts.According to the Countryside Alliance, 250 hunts were out on Boxing Day.I
  
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• Hospital PFI firms set for £190m windfall from tax cuts – study

  27-12-2017 14:59
  Labour’s Stella Creasy renews calls for windfall tax on PFI operators as analysis shows firms could save £190m by 2020Companies that built and run NHS hospitals under private finance initiative (PFI) contracts will have made about £190m in unexpected windfall profits by 2020 because of George Osborne and Philip Hammond’s cuts to corporation tax, research suggests.Analysis by the Centre for Health and the Public Interest found that more than 100 PFI operators in the NHS co
  
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• MP Angela Rayner's tribute to Tameside Council leader

  27-12-2017 14:39 via bbc.co.uk
  MP Angela Rayner says Tameside Council leader Kieran Quinn "was always there for me".
  
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• Mark Hamill Posts Fitting Carrie Fisher Tribute On Anniversary Of Her Death

  27-12-2017 14:27
  ‘Star Wars’ actor Mark Hamill has shared an appropriate tribute to his friend and former co-star Carrie Fisher on the anniversary of her death.Mark and Carrie appeared alongside one another in the original sci-fi trilogy, and share the screen once again in the most recent instalment ‘The Last Jedi’, which sees them reprising their roles as Luke Skywalker and General Leia Organa (formerly known as Princess Leia).One year on from her untimely death, Mark has remembered the
  
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• Gemma Collins Slates Craig Revel Horwood (Again!), Insisting She's Not Too 'Low-Rent' For 'Strictly'

  27-12-2017 13:59
  It seems Gemma Collins is not finished letting Craig Revel Horwood have it, after he claimed she wasn’t a high enough calibre celebrity to take part in ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.Over the years, The GC has made no secret of the fact she wants to take part in ‘Strictly’ (probably because it’s the only reality show she’s got left to cross off her bingo card at this point), but judge Craig cast doubt on this when he suggested she might be a bit low-rent for th
  
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• 'I want structural, not piecemeal change': Laura Pidcock's first months as an MP

  27-12-2017 13:56
  When the Labour MP for North West Durham said she did not want to ‘hang out’ with Tory women, there was an outcryFew MPs have made as much of an impression in their inaugural months in parliament with one offhand remark as Labour’s Laura Pidcock, when she said she did not intend to “hang out” with Tory women.The comment prompted dozens of opinion pieces and interventions on the floor of the House of Commons, far beyond what Pidcock, the MP for North West Durham, exp
  
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• The Kings of Swing: The evolution of TV election night graphics

  27-12-2017 13:51 via bbc.co.uk
  BBC Parliament looks at the evolution of TV election night graphics - from the hand-painted results of the 1950s to Jeremy Vine's swingometer in a virtual Big Ben clocktower.
  
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• Hammond challenged to release Brexit studies

  27-12-2017 13:51 via bbc.co.uk
  MPs claim they will be "hamstrung" if they do not get to see the Treasury's Brexit analysis.
  
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• This Mummy YouTuber Is Teaching Black Girls To Love Their Natural Hair (And Giving Us Serious Afro Style Goals)

  27-12-2017 13:49
  A YouTuber has been sharing her tips and tricks for growing healthy natural hair to encourage women to love their locks. The mother of two, who goes by the Instagram handle @Shanillia26, went back to wearing her hair chemical-free to teach her afro-haired little girls (aged 9 and 7) how to love and care for their natural locks. “I returned to natural to teach her how to love hers,” she stated in the first adorable video below, posted a while back. “Instead it was
  
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• North Korea’s Got Talent And Other Cyber Security Challenges We Face In 2018

  27-12-2017 13:27
  Cataclysmic security breaches pulverising businesses like Equifax and Uber have been a big feature of the last 12 months, along with evidence that hackers in states such as North Korea are targeting organisations in Europe and North America.In 2018 we can expect to see cyber-criminality of all kinds to continue its exponential growth, affecting almost every organisation on the planet. How will we, or should we react? Here are some predictions for the next 12 months:1.Innovation will be vital to
  
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• Twenty Million Reasons Why Royals Love Social Media

  27-12-2017 13:04
  There’s nothing like a bit of love at Christmas and, right now, there are over twenty million reasons for the royals to love social media. In 2017, the official accounts run by the British Royals have seen a surge in followers and a spike in activity. And as the old year comes to an end, a quick tally shows that the biggest official royal Instagram account, that of Kensington Palace, has gone and got itself over twenty two million likes in the past twelve months.If you really want to numbe
  
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• Lib Dems 'facing fight for political future' in 2018

  27-12-2017 12:41
  Former staffers and academics warn of ‘genuine fears for the future’ with many of the party’s 12 MPs having small majoritiesThe Liberal Democrats face being squeezed even further in 2018, with the party likely to struggle to make itself heard in the debate beyond Brexit and real fears for its future as a political force, former party staffers and academics have warned.Related: Nick Clegg to be knighted in New Year honours, say reportsContinue reading...
  
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• Prince Harry's 'Insulting' Interview With His Dad Is Raising A Few Eyebrows

  27-12-2017 12:39
  Prince Harry has been heavily criticised for interviewing his father, the Prince of Wales, during his guest editorship on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme on Wednesday.The pair spoke at length about climate change and the need to tackle waste in the economy.But the topics discussed - and the fact that Prince Harry was interviewing his father in the first place - were widely lambasted by listeners.Prince Harry spoke to his father HRH The Prince of Wales about the busy year he has had, his key
  
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• 'Mrs Brown's Boys' Star Rory Cowan Claims He Had 'No Interest' In This Year's Christmas Special

  27-12-2017 12:38
  Former ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’ actor Rory Cowan has admitted he snubbed this year’s Christmas special, having quit the comedy show after 26 years earlier this year.Rory made headlines when he admitted to having become disillusioned with the show earlier this year, stepping down from the role of Rory Brown because he had grown tired of it.And while at the time it sounded like it was an amicable parting, Rory - whose role was recast in the festive episode of ‘Mrs Brown&rsq
  
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• 2018 Eye Makeup Trend: Try Your Hand At The Glossy Lid

  27-12-2017 12:35
  The dewy, even glossy, lid is a haute beauty staple in the fashion world, but one blogger is giving us reason to try our hand at it as an everyday look.An adventurous beauty enthusiast, who goes by the name of ‘Regina,’ has been sharing her makeup creations with her growing fans on Instagram. When tinsel lashes made the rounds as one of the more interesting beauty trends to try this Christmas, her look was among the fore-runners. But another of her takes on eye makeup has c
  
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• British Woman Laura Plummer 'On The Verge Of A Breakdown' After Being Jailed Egypt

  27-12-2017 12:26
  A British woman recently sentenced to three years in prison in Egypt for drug smuggling has been moved to a prison before her mother was able to say goodbye to her, her family has said.Shop worker, Laura Plummer, from Hull, was arrested on 9 October after she was found to be carrying around 300 tramadol tablets in her suitcaseThe painkiller is legal in the UK but banned in Egypt.Plummer’s family said she was taking the tablets for her Egyptian partner, Omar Caboo, who suffers fro
  
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• Popular Baby Name Trends 2018: Parents Have Given Up On Our Planet For Inspiration

  27-12-2017 12:17
  Expectant parents are looking (much) further afield for baby name inspiration after a year of turbulent political news has made them want more for their children than this world has to offer.The biggest baby name trend of 2018 will be space names, predicts parenting site ChannelMum.A small-scale survey of 1,517 of their readers revealed 51% of parents-to-be have names inspired by things beyond our planet, including Luna, Stella, Nova and Orion, on their list. “Space names are a good w
  
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• Five Things You Need To Do Before You Start Planning Your Wedding!

  27-12-2017 12:11
  Did you find a ring under the Christmas tree this year? Or perhaps the festive spirit found you a little earlier? If you’re now about to start planning a wedding we’ve got five things you really need to do before you start booking anything. Firstly the budget. How much are you going to spend on the big day? This is a tricky and complicated one. My first advice is to work out financially how much you can afford and who’s paying for it? You, your parents? If it’s you -
  
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• Some of the ex-MPs who died in 2017

  27-12-2017 12:06 via bbc.co.uk
  A look back at the lives of the MPs and former MPs who passed away in 2017.
  
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• 'Zero real wage growth' forecast for 2018

  27-12-2017 11:15 via bbc.co.uk
  Britain's pay squeeze will end, but a meaningful pay rise remains out of sight, says research group.
  
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• Barack Obama Makes Veiled Attack On Donald Trump In Prince Harry Interview

  27-12-2017 10:57
  Barack Obama has made a veiled attack on Donald Trump during a revealing interview with Prince Harry saying the irresponsible use of social media is distorting the public’s understanding of complex issues and leading to the spread of misinformation.Speaking on Radio 4′s Today programme guest-edited by the Royal on Wednesday morning, the former President said people in a position of power should exercise care when posting messages and current debates around politics in particular are
  
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• Youthquake Alert

  27-12-2017 10:56
  So the 2017 OED word of the year has been announced. It’s Youthquake, and I gather I’m not alone in never having heard the word before.The OED defines Youthquake as ‘a significant cultural, political, or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people’. When they put it like that, the word makes more sense to me, or at least the concept does. It’s what I might term ‘the Jeremy Corbyn effect’, knowing how strong the support for his lea
  
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• Liam Payne Shares Cute Insight Into His First Christmas With Baby Bear

  27-12-2017 10:56
  Liam Payne’s first Christmas as a father has put him in a reflective mood.Payne has been spending the holidays with Cheryl and their son Bear and on Boxing Day evening he shared a photo of him and Bear wearing matching trainers with a caption explaining his plans to share a memory from 2017 every day this week.“First has to be my baby boy Bear,” he wrote.“Holding him for the first time is a memory I will never forget and watching him grow up is just amazing to see.”
  
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• Seven Tips For Booking A Holiday With Toddlers

  27-12-2017 10:49
  There’s nothing like planning a holiday with a toddler to make you realise quite how much your life has changed in a small time. But your holiday is still a break from work and normal home life and can be a time the whole family loves - so much so you’ll want to do it over again very soon.1. Start with realistic expectations.When you have a toddler, you need to be realistic about your expectations of your holiday. You can still have a wonderful time, filled with fabulous memories of
  
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• Loss Of National Archives Is A National Scandal

  27-12-2017 10:49
  The Government has “lost” a shed-load of our national archives. This seems to have come to light now simply because we are approaching the annual release of papers under the 30, 50, 75 or 100 year rule, and so this is all topical. It turns out that when asked, National Archives peeps say they simply couldn’t find some stuff that they thought was safely there. This is a national scandal that deserves to be outed as such.Let’s get back to basics: Why do national archives ma
  
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• What Exactly Is Quality Time When Your Kids Are Under Five?

  27-12-2017 10:47
  When it comes to spending time with our families, we often wish those everyday moments resembled a perfectly curated collection of Insta-ready snapshots. Everyone would be smiling, bonding and laughing together... and that glitter our children used to make their latest artistic masterpieces wouldn’t still be stuck on our floor all those months later.But we know that real life - especially life with kids - doesn’t look like that: it’s messy, chaotic and unpredictable. And that&r
  
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• The Greek Home With A Heart This Christmas

  27-12-2017 10:47
  Through a narrow doorway on a quiet Athenian street, a group of teenage girls are sat chatting in a colourful lobby. One is balancing a tiny tot on her knee while another nods along to a Kurdish pop song.‘I love painting my nails,’ says one inspecting a fluoro pink finger and laughing. ‘I don’t like to do sport at school though in case it damages them.’It’s a comment that might have come from any teenage girl, but it’s special here because these girls li
  
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• Golden Globes Host Seth Meyers Hints He Won't Shy Away From Discussing Hollywood Sexual Harassment During Ceremony

  27-12-2017 10:45
  Seth Meyers has hinted he won’t be shying away from addressing the difficult topics when he fronts this year’s Golden Globes.With awards season just around the corner, the ongoing topic in the film industry right now is sexual harassment, with a number of important figures from the entertainment world facing allegations, sparked when movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s accusers first came forward publicly earlier this year.In a teaser for this year’s Golden Globes, presenter S
  
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• Making Best Practice Standard Practice In African Schools

  27-12-2017 10:41
   The global shortage of schools is truly shocking. Today, most children in the world, hundreds of millions, are not learning the basics as they are either not in school or in a school where they are not learning. A fact recently highlighted by the World Bank’s inaugural report on education. The crisis is worst in sub-Saharan Africa. It is home to more than half the world’s out-of-school children, but it receives only a quarter of global education aid.The Chair of the global Educ
  
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