Author: INDEPENDENT

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in Almost half a million people are set to receive a pay rise thanks to increases in the voluntary Real Living Wage announced today.Rates will increase by 65p to £14.10-an-hour across the UK and by 65p to £15.45 in London.The new rates will benefit workers at almost 17,000 employers who pay the Real Living Wage.This year marks the 25th anniversary of the campaign for a so-called real living wage, with almost £5 billion worth of pay…

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in Some European hake – long recommended as a swap for cod – is now suffering from declining stocks and increased fishing pressure, a report has warned.The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has downgraded its rating for hake caught in the North Sea, Celtic Seas or Bay of Biscay from green to amber.Coley, another whitefish alternative for popular cod, caught around the UK in the North Sea, west of Scotland, Rockall and Skagerrak, has been rated red…

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in Quentin Tarantino’s first stage play is set to arrive in the West End in February, with Sacha Baron Cohen in the lead role.The Popinjay Cavalier, described as a swashbuckling comedy, has been written by the Oscar winner, who will also serve as director. The production will open at the Phoenix Theatre in London on 18 March 2027, with previews available from 23 February, and is currently booking until 13 June.Tickets will be available from 9am…

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in UK households are set to face a sharper rise in inflation than previously forecast as the conflict in the Middle East propels food and energy costs higher, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).Prime Minister Andy Burnham is also now expected to see UK economic growth slow down next year, according to fresh forecasts.The influential global economics body said that prices are set to keep accelerating into next year across the world as war disrupts…

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in Quentin Tarantino’s first stage play is set to arrive in the West End in February, with Sacha Baron Cohen in the lead role.The Popinjay Cavalier, described as a swashbuckling comedy, has been written by the Oscar winner, who will also serve as director. The production will open at the Phoenix Theatre in London on 18 March 2027, with previews available from 23 February, and is currently booking until 13 June.Tickets will be available from 9am…

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in Beauty salons and shops now make up almost a third of all leisure sites across UK retail centres and take an even greater share in smaller high streets as spend on personal care shows no sign of slowing, new figures have shown.New analysis indicates the sector makes up more than 35% of local leisure and recreation sites in smaller local centres.Hair and beauty salons alone account for around a fifth of leisure sites in smaller…

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in Increasingly, Hollywood actors seem to arrive on London’s theatre scene to a blare of look-at-me fanfare: through press releases and tube posters, we are made acutely aware that these are big fishes splashing around in our somewhat smaller pond. For Gaten Matarazzo, there was no real splashing to speak of. When it was announced earlier this year that Jonathan Larson’s seminal rock musical Rent was returning to the West End after nearly three decades, the…

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in European stocks rallied on Friday, as oil prices fell, despite weak telecommunications stocks as worries of competition from satellite-based mobile services sparked sharp falls.In London, the FTSE 100 index ended up 110.45 points, or 1.1%, at 10,552.05. The FTSE 250 climbed 269.90 points, 1.1%, to 24,213.78, and the AIM all-share added 6.86 points, 0.9%, at 777.53.For the week, the FTSE 100 was up 0.9%, the FTSE 250 was up 0.1%, and the AIM all-share was…

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in It would be silly to suggest that Derren Brown made magic cool. No one has ever really managed to do this, and, to a large extent, I’m not sure the magic world even has any interest in being cool. It is an artform rooted in atavistic theatricality, and hard, nerdy graft: there’s nothing chic about it. But Brown has probably come as close as anyone when it comes to making magic – “or whatever it…

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in Retailers have suffered a sharp year-on-year decline in footfall as inflation, fuel and household bill rises kept shoppers at home, figures show.Total UK footfall was down 2.9% on last September, a significant drop from August’s 1.7% decline, according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Sensormatic.High street footfall fell 3%, although this was a slight improvement on August’s 3.1% decline.Retail park visits were down 1.7% year on year, and shopping centre footfall was…