Features - Page 174

In the first workshop for No Direction Home, Tom Parry told his cohort: “Don’t try to be funny. Try to be interesting”. In the past 18 months since the group’s foundation, this advice has proved fruitful, as the collective has gone on to grow and thrive.

Leaders in the creative industries have warned of a “cultural catastrophe” following Covid-19.

Nicola Sturgeon is to announce the latest relaxation in lockdown measures as Scotland moves to the second phase of lockdown later today.

Australian national airline Qantas have announced that they will be cancelling all international flights until late October.

The UK's biggest bank is set to continue with its plans to cut some 35,000 jobs, announced earlier this year.

Kwame Kwei-Armah remains positive in spite of the fact the Young Vic is expected to run out of money by the end of the year, if present circumstances are anything to go by. “I am a hard-wired optimist” he says – a quality more important now than ever as we enter the thirteenth week of lockdown.

For decades, psychologists have understood the power of art therapy. Research indicates it can alleviate pain and improve moods; however, few institutions have dedicated funding towards it. The global pandemic has dramatically changed the needs of the public, according to The New York Times: “compelling cultural institutions around the country to create trauma-aware initiatives that put their art collections and educators at the forefront of a mental health crisis”.

Some 1.3 million children will now be able to claim free school meals thanks to the work of Manchester United forward, Marcus Rashford.

Following a slump in prices and spending across the board, inflation fell to 0.5 per cent in May, down from 1.3 per cent in April.

New research from the ONS suggests that the months of March, April and May saw as many as 600,000 workers cut from UK payrolls.

In response to the current coronavirus pandemic, specialist medical insurance provider General & Medical have set up a dedicated Hospital Liaison Team to connect private health insurance members to the best hospital groups. The service is aiming to give extra reassurance during these unprecedented times by providing their customers with faster assistance in locating consultants and medical services, like diagnostics, treatment and procedures.

The release of one of the summer’s most anticipated films, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, has been pushed back to 31 July as a result of the global pandemic. The $200 million film was, according to the New York Times, intended to “jump-start the pandemic-stricken movie business.”

When Alan Bennett first performed his Talking Heads monologue, he forgot his lines three times. Accordingly, the writer lost any and all desire to perform, and maintaining his position behind the camera, where he is able to write instead.

More than half a million workers in the UK have lost their jobs during the past 13 weeks of lockdown, the ONS has revealed.