What went wrong at The Body Shop?
Amidst grave financial difficulties, Thomas Bartley discusses the factors driving The Body Shop's decline.
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Thomas Bartley
This Town: New BBC Drama puts West Midlands back on the Map
It hasn’t been the easiest of years for Birmingham. Back in March, its city council announced swingeing cuts following bankruptcy, resulting in a whole range of belt-tightening from the sale of community centres to the dimming of street lights. Just a few days earlier, production ceased on the BBC soap...
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Three months on BeReal: does it live up to expectations?
I resist fads like the plague. Jumping on a bandwagon is too much for my entitled sanctimony, and so, I much prefer to spend the first six to 12 months of any new trend ribbing the gullible participants. Pokemon Go, loom bands, Wordle: the peak of their popularity had to...
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Tory peer forced to pay damages over antisemitism claims against student
A Conservative peer has been forced to pay ‘substantial damages’ after accusing a University Challenge contestant of antisemitism. Jacqueline Foster, Baroness Foster of Oxton, 76, was forced to make a public apology to Melika Gorgianeh, a second-year PhD astrophysics candidate at Oxford University, after suggesting that the student had engaged...
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Rise in union membership of video game workers following redundancies
Layoffs, Strikes and More... Thomas Bartley covers the latest on unionisation within the games industry.
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20 years on, Franz Ferdinand sounds just as good
Thomas Bartley discusses how Franz Ferdinand's eponymous debut has stood the test of time.
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It’s the economy, stupid. Or is it?
It is a phrase which has come to mean dogma for politicians across the world. First coined by James Carville, a strategist on Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, ‘It’s the economy, stupid’ has long spoken to the belief that it is ultimately the nation’s finances which govern election fortunes. But...
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Carbon negative: Bhutan as a climate leader?
Thomas Bartley discusses the environmental policies of Bhutan, one of the only carbon-negative countries in the world, and whether the rest of the world can follow its model in reaching net-zero status
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Curb Your Enthusiasm: the greatest comedy of all time
To be Larry David is not just a biological chance, but a way of life. The man himself confirmed as much upon announcing that the upcoming season of his hit comedy, Curb Your Enthusiasm, would be the last. “As Curb comes to an end,” the 76-year-old said, “I will now have...
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Klopp echoes Shankly and Dalglish in surprising Liverpool departure
Departing football managers can usually predetermine little aside from the method of their execution. But after nine superb years which have produced a Premier League title and Champions League victory, Jürgen Klopp has earned far more than that. The news of his surprising departure on Friday 26 January sent shockwaves...
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Age is just a number for 85-year-old master’s student
Most of us would attest to feeling considerably aged by our degrees. But one person has proved that age is no barrier to academic success. 85-year-old Roger Sturge from Bristol is researching the role of Quakers in Nazi Germany as part of a master’s degree at the Quaker Studies Research...
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‘Hello! I’m your therapist!’: can AI help mental health?
With mental health services under significant strain, patients are increasingly looking for new options. Online treatments have already experienced a notable surge, with platforms such as BetterHelp seeing a huge rise in revenues. But could technology’s relationship with therapy go even further, courtesy of AI? The use of artificial intelligence...
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Remembering Annie Nightingale, the woman who smashed the glass ceiling in the radio industry
Annie Nightingale obituary: Thomas Bartley reflects on her extraordinary career.
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