Author: INDEPENDENT

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsMore than a fifth of people (21%) witnessed violence or abuse against retail workers in the last year, according to a survey.Incidents included racial and sexual abuse, physical assault and threats with weapons while shopping, the poll by Opinium for the British Retail Consortium (BRC) found.However, the figure was a slight improvement on the previous year, when 23% of customers witnessed such incidents.The survey also found that nearly…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsNail salons are next in line for Starbucks-style expansion after decades of being overlooked by investors, the boss of the UK’s largest luxury chain has said, after clinching a £130 million valuation.Townhouse, which runs 40 luxury nail salons in the UK, said it was targeting hundreds of new franchised sites after securing backing from the US private equity firm behind the Burger King and Tim Horton chains in…

Legally Blonde star Amber Davies has opened up on a “tough 48 hours” and cleared up reports she is taking a break from the West End show.The actor, 29, cleared up any rumours of a “feud” between her and her co-star Hannah Lowther after the 28-year-old stepped in for her in Milton Keynes.”I’m not leaving [the show], I’m not taking a break & there is no feud… I’m simply just finishing off a set of antibiotics for a chest infection that’s been lingering for over a month,” Davies wrote on Instagram.”What we love and choose to do as a career…

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture emailGet the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Rebecca Lucy Taylor – aka the pop star Self Esteem – recently woke up with two cold sores on her face. And that was just the start of it. “I felt very disturbed emotionally on Thursday,” she tells me, sipping a cup of tea. “I’m out of my depth and my comfort zone.” To blame? The unlikeliest theatrical collaboration of the year: Taylor is starring in a…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsCompanies House suspended its online filing service after a glitch allowed people to edit the personal data of other businesses and potentially expose them to fraud.A vulnerability in the UK’s official corporate register allowed people to access other companies’ details by pressing the back key on their site’s dashboard.Data that could reportedly be viewed because of the glitch included directors’ home addresses, email addresses, and dates of birth.Companies…

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture emailGet the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter I’m at New York City’s Hudson Theatre, where patrons are eagerly taking their seats, awaiting the start of Every Brilliant Thing. Duncan Macmillan’s one-man show is about someone who makes a list of all the best things about life in order to make their mother believe life is worth living, and the play’s star, Daniel Radcliffe, is making his way through the audience, talking to patrons, handing…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsLocker group Evri is expanding its network further with two new partnerships at Tesco and Motor Fuel Group, the petrol station operator.A small number of Tesco supermarkets and 500 MFG sites will benefit from the lockers as part of Evri’s plan to double its network.Evri lockers can be used either to collect deliveries when customers know they will be out, or to return them.A survey shows that Britons…

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture emailGet the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Barack and Michelle Obama are co-producing their first Broadway play. The former U.S. president and first lady announced that their media company Higher Ground will bring the Broadway revival of Proof, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by David Auburn that centers on the daughter of a math professor who finds a notebook containing revelatory evidence after his death.Don Cheadle and Ayo Edebiri are set to make their Broadway…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsScottish surveyors reported falling homebuyer demand in February, the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) Residential Market Survey has found.But the group also suggested that surveyors expected sales and prices to continue rising.A net balance of minus 8% of respondents in Scotland said that new buyer enquiries fell in February, down from the net balance of 18% that was seen in the previous month.The February figure is…

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture emailGet the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter The curtain is yet to drop on Timothée Chalamet’s ballet and opera fiasco, with Whoopi Goldberg, Doja Cat and theatre stars weighing into the ongoing debate. This month, the Oscar-nominated Marty Supreme actor, 30, has angered those in the arts community after telling Interstellar co-star Matthew McConaughey in a resurfaced interview that “no one cares” about ballet or opera.Speaking about keeping the movie industry alive, Chalamet said…