Category: Features

Trainspotting dealt with drugs and youth culture and caused huge controversy on its release in 1996. But it went on to become a cultural phenomenon, and now, 21 years later, the gang – Renton, Sick Boy, Begbie and Spud – are finally back on the big screen. T2 Trainspotting is an adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s… Continue reading Trainspotting II – 'It makes you yearn for your youth'

By Maurice Fenton Maurice Fenton is a social care worker in Ireland and has written extensively about child welfare. He has often been inspired by the work of W B Yeats and even used the title of one the poet’s most famous verses in the title of his book about children in care. Here he… Continue reading The Stolen Child: WB Yeats and Carl Jung – Relationship, Belonging and Compassion in Caring for Children in Care

If there’s one thing you can guarantee about a child, it’s that they’ll catch some, if not all, of the bugs going round their school or nursery. And what’s almost as certain is that someone else in the family – usually mum – will then catch it too.

Kindle E-Reader, 6″ Glare-Free Touchscreen Display If you’re new to the world of e-readers – a world dominated largely by Amazon – this basic Kindle could be a good starting point. Not least because the screen is glare-free making lengthy sessions with your tome of choice easier on the eyes. At just 161g, the Kindle… Continue reading Six of the best… e-readers

We all know the Golden Rule when it comes to growing your hair: regular trims to help ensure your mane stays healthy and strong – along with using suitable heat-protective products, to keep breakages, split-ends and frizzy, frazzled tresses at bay. Regular protein and deep-conditioning treatments are a good idea too. But aside from that,… Continue reading Feed your hair from the inside out

Dieting is a divisive subject, not least with the current debate surrounding clean eating, but chef Tom Kerridge is open-minded. The cheerful TV foodie has lost 11st over the course of three years on his self-devised regime, bidding bye-bye to big boozy sessions with his ‘naughty boy chef mates’, exercising daily and skipping certain types… Continue reading 'There are more fat 40-year-olds than chiselled geezers'

Piers Morgan’s just arrived on the 20th floor of the ITV studios on London’s Southbank, half an hour after Good Morning Britain’s ended. “By this time I’m normally in bed,” he states. “I just go straight home. I don’t even talk to my wife [writer Celia Walden]. I walk straight through the door, upstairs, back… Continue reading 'Trump follows one Brit on Twitter – me!'

There’s no challenge too great for James McAvoy. The Scottish actor won over American audiences with his critically acclaimed breakthrough performances in The Last King Of Scotland and Atonement; he drew rave reviews for his gruelling 88-show portrayal of Macbeth in the West End; put in a gasp-worthy performance as a drug-fuelled cop in Filth… Continue reading James McAvoy: "I can do anything"

Most of us have moaned about winter being a slog. Many will have felt down in the dumps too, the grizzly weather and long, dark nights taking their toll, counting down the days until spring, when everything will be cheerier, brighter, more fun. But when does a touch of winter blues become full-blown seasonal affective… Continue reading January blues? Are you really SAD?