The criminal case against the actor was dismissed in 2024.
All Right Reserved. Designed and Developed by Martyn Jones.
One of Sudan’s most popular bands, Aswat Almadina, recall being in the studio when the war broke out three years ago.
Gadd’s new six-part drama explores the breakdown of the “unshakable” bond between two Glaswegian men.
He then posted his work on social media, which caught the attention of his first celebrity client, Katie Price. A decade on, Carl has just completed a press tour in New York with The Pussycat Dolls, and his work has appeared on the front cover of Vogue.
Jesy Nelson offers a £10,000 reward for the recovery of her car, which had medical equipment inside.
A sold-out Wembley Stadium watched the Sidemen FC charity match, which raised £6.2 million.
BURNED AS WITCHES
Burned As Witches (self-released)
Ash drummer Rick McMurray is branching out with a new side project, the band Burned As Witches. With McMurray playing all instruments, the self-titled BAW debut album features eight songs packed with guitar riffs reminiscent of Black Sabbath, the project’s inspiration.
Opening with Scapegoats, the gating of the guitar lets the drums land with an even more powerful impact. This track has, without a doubt, the most impressive production. Driven by a gritty edge, Pay The Ferry reminded me of The Cult – you get the sense someone got a new guitar they wanted to try out – and vocally, there’s an urgency in Truth Comes Crawling and Spartan Mass that gives the album an intriguing restless energy. Each track climbs with tension. Closing the debut album, the guitar-heavy rhythm in To The Sky radiates driving, high-octane energy, carrying the seven-minute track with effortless momentum.
words ELLIE EVANS
Gerran Howell is yet to get to the bottom of claims that George Clooney helped him secure his part.
ZAYN
Konnakol (Mercury)
Konnakol, the fifth mononymous solo album from Zayn Malik, feels like an older, wiser sibling to his 2016 debut Mind Of Mine. Exploring where he’s come from, where he is and where he’s going, a confident, curious and fearless energy shift in Zayn seems to have him moving away from second-guessing himself, leaning into his genius and truly trusting his instincts as an artist.
Drawing from the ancient South Asian tradition of making percussive sounds with the voice that the album is named after, heritage weaves a sonic texture with modern production effortlessly. Vocally, Zayn shines throughout the project, with the use of his Bradford accent in Like I Have You another welcome showcase of his signature identity.
Tracks glide from the sultry pulse of Loving The Way I Do to the euphoric, heritage-filled endorphin rush of Fatal and an experimental 5th Element that scratches an itch so well. With maturity, awareness and self-assuredness brings a no-skip, conceptually beautiful, wonderfully curated and cohesive body of work that will likely realise itself to its fullest extent in the live context on Zayn’s upcoming tour.
words JOSEPH ELIJAH
Literary translator Polly Barton enters the fiction writer’s circle with her debut novel, What Am I, A Deer? In it, we follow the narrator as she navigates moving to a new city to embark on a new role as a games company translator in Frankfurt. After a chance encounter on the tram with a colleague we get to know as ‘umbrella man’, she embarks on an obsessive fantasy. Lasting a whole year, it inhibits her entire conscious and identity as she begins to reframe her way of being led by her imagination and karaoke booth visits, ultimately putting a strain on her current relationship.
The internal musings of the protagonist display the disconnect between how she believes she should live to how she is actually living. It appears significant that her love of music and karaoke is weaved throughout the story, with snippets from different songs to demonstrate her thoughts and feelings. There’s also plenty to ponder with anecdotes about the social work dynamics, culture and the experience of living in different cities.
There are elements of the plot that lack substance as the novel progresses, but it doesn’t detract from the lyrical language. Intense, atmospheric and often humorous, there’s much to enjoy in this deep and fragmented tale of unrequited love.