Jackson and rhythm guitarist Emma Chaplin transposed Thelma and Louise to the A1 “Two lonely girls go on the run” they squealed with delight. A spoken word dialogue between Cox and Jackson again brought Pulp to mind.Best of the bunch was last year’s “Separated by Motorways”, spiky, instant pop with all the snap and crackle of X Ray Spex. Their playful humour, and a contemporary post-feminist vibe, was all over “Weekend Without Make-Up”, while Screech’s Joy Division funereal timing allowed the band to stretch out on “You Could Have Both”. She cut her current squeeze down to size by noticing he fancied her only because she reminded him of an ex. “Giddy Stratospheres”, on the other hand, was carefree disco frenzy.Both have been released as singles, though more unfamiliar material was just as instantly appealing.

“Appropriation (By Any Other Name)” was robust Au Pairs-style new wave, with Jackson laying down her sexual politics manifesto. It was his nagging tunes, though, that made each number distinctive, along with no-nonsense fills from drummer Screech Louder (his real name, apparently, thanks to hippy parents).These two allowed the Blondes to cover much musical ground. By far the most competent musician, he was almost as watchable as Jackson, with something of local heroes ABC’s Martin Fry about him in his prominent chin and foppish fringe. Still, the needling lines of lead player Dorian Cox cut through the morass. A key selling point was singer Kate Jackson, rated one of the world’s coolest people by NME readers. She sang with the arch style of a female Jarvis Cocker, though added the unbridled enthusiasm of an all-smiling Ronette or Shangri La.Shame, then, her dry asides were lost in a muddy sound that also put paid to the bass and rhythm guitar. The band’s members are in their mid-twenties, veterans compared to their teenage peers No wonder they carried themselves with such assurance.

They have made their name with a succession of limited-edition nuggets of pop nous on obscure indie labels – namely Angular, Sheffield Phonographic Society and Good & Evil – set up by the influential Bloc Party producer Paul Epworth.After spending a couple of years honing their craft and awaiting the right deal, more sets the Blondes apart from Arctic Monkeys than their pimp-my-librarian dress sense. Instead of Withnail and I’s hippie wigs at Woolworths, it was Ramones T-shirts and over-priced beers in the basement. Punk cookie-cutters decorated its window display.
As for The Long Blondes, the band’s distinctive look only partly explained why their imminent signing has caused frenzied interest, similar to the buzz that surrounded their South Yorkshire neighbours Arctic Monkeys last year. In so doing, Selfridges has made a consumerist paradise out of the formerly iconoclastic scene. Vintage chic made them eminently suitable to play the label-obsessed department store’s Future Punk festival to celebrate the genre’s 30th anniversary. If their name promised a return to old-school glamour, The Long Blondes delivered in spades.

After a succession of scruffy kids in polo shirts and ripped jeans, this Sheffield quintet’s chiffon scarves, cardigans and Dalmatian polka dots provided sartorial fresh air. “But to see 12,000 people listening to the music and enjoying it with their bottles of champagne and tables and candles – it’s like a beautiful set for La Traviata.”Faenol Festival, Caernarfon, (01492 872000; www.brynfest ) 25-28 August. We catch all the weather of North Wales.” With a Dylan Thomas-esque flourish, he explains, “It’s close to the Menai Straits and to the Snowdon mountain range – a beautiful wooded location with its own microclimate.”"To see 12,000 people in front of you first of all is very exciting,” concludes Terfel. People know what to bring – their picnics, their coats, their thermals…”When the issue of the famous Welsh weather rears its head, Terfel is typically lyrical on the subject. “They know they’re not going to get the bright sunshine of Spain. There’s not many times when you have Westlife on your doorstep.” In its seventh year, Brynfest is a “well-oiled machine.

So Honda’s CBF1000 was in trouble straight away.We had been invited to ride in Crete, but the ferry was strike-bound and the bikes were in Athens. So facilities were hastily arranged at one of the soulless hotels recently expanded for the Olympic Games and riding started in Vouliagmeni, a southern suburb of Athens. Second-rate technology can be disguised when the sun is warm, and riding any bike on pretty, rural roads is a pleasure after a British winter. Max power: 96.5 bhp (72 Kw) 8,000 rpm Max torque: 97 Nm 6,500 rpm Transmission: Six-speed gearbox Chain final drive Brakes: Front twin 296mm discs Rear single 240mm disc Fuel capacity: 19 litres Weight: 220kg. Price: £5,999
The most diligent reporters occasionally have difficulty distinguishing between the quality of the motorcycle they have been invited to review and the sumptuous location chosen for its launch. Specifications

Engine: 998cc liquid- cooled, four-stroke, four-cylinder inline.

Fiat must be praying that its smart new Grande Punto will restore its fragile reputation BRITAIN’S BEST AND WORST CARS 1 HONDA S2000& 92.59% 2 SKODA OCTAVIA NEW 90.78% 3 HONDA JAZZ 89.95% 4 HONDA ACCORD NEW 88.19% 5 SKODA FABIA 87.67% 6 SKODA OCTAVIA OLD 87.62% 7 LEXUS IS OLD 87.47% 8 BMW 5-SERIES OLD 87.08% 9 BMW X5 87.03% 10 BMW 5-SERIES NEW 86.99% 11 MAZDA 6 86.69% 12 JAGUAR S-TYPE 86.36% 13 KIA SORENTO 86.29% 14 MAZDA RX-8 86.18% 15 HONDA CR-V 86.07% 16 VW TOURAN 86.01% 17 TOYOTA RAV4 85.81% 18 VOLVO V70 85.79% 19 ROVER 75 85.78% 20 BMW 3-SERIES NEW 85.78% 81 SEAT IBIZA 79.09% 82 FORD FIESTA NEW 78.59% 83 ROVER 45 78.50% 84 PEUGEOT 406 78.48% 85 RENAULT MEGANE NEW 78.35% 86 MG ZR 78.34% 87 RENAULT LAGUNA 77.89% 88 NISSAN MICRA OLD 77.15% 89 CITROEN C3 76.90% 90 L ROVER DISCOVERY OLD 76.72% 91 VAUXHALL ASTRA OLD 76.70% 92 RENAULT CLIO OLD 76.51% 93 FORD KA/SPORT KA 76.41% 94 PEUGEOT 307 76.18% 95 L ROVER FREELANDER 76.05% 96 VAUXHALL CORSA 75.89% 97 MERCEDES A-CLASS OLD 75.64% 98 ROVER 25 74.80% 99 PEUGEOT 206 74.70% 100 FIAT PUNTO 73.93%. A new model arrives in the summer, and not before time, it would appear Fiat Punto (old) Bottom of the pile. Poor ride quality, performance, braking, build and reliability did for it, although it has reasonable running costs. Despite Rover’s attempts to cosset its buyers this car came bottom for comfort and third from last overall Running costs not too bad. Vauxhall Corsa Very low running costs and not much else to commend in this popular little car According to the survey it’s badly made and awful to drive. The Czech-built model comes 71 places ahead of the pricier VW Polo, even though that car shares its platform.

Why pay more? Villains Peugeot 206 Still perky looking and will run alongside the newer 207 for a few years Strangely, came bottom for ease of driving Must do better. Mercedes-Benz A-Class Like the Punto, this has now been superseded by a new version. A poor showing for a premium-badged car, and it came last for ride quality and handling Plenty of sales, but it may not have helped Mercedes’ image Rover 25 No longer made, of course, and maybe this is why. Honda Jazz Third overall and best for practicality and ease of driving, with traditional Honda virtues of a light gearchange and steering coming to the fore. Honda Accord Fourth place overall, with good rather than outstanding scores across the board. Getting more popular as a company car, and you can even get one that steers itself Awesome Skoda Fabia Fifth, with the only weakish spot its brakes. The fun-to-drive roadster came top for reliability, braking and build quality.

I went to bed one evening looking normal, but when I woke the next morning the entire right side of my face seemed to have slipped an inch below the left, leaving me looking like a partially melted waxwork. Latest research has suggested it probably has a viral trigger (my own symptoms arrived soon after an acute chest infection).The paralysis comes on swiftly and with no obvious warning signs. In 99 per cent of cases it affects only one side of the face, and although an estimated one in 70 of the UK population will suffer from it at some point in their lifetime, there is still no medical consensus as to what causes it. Or at least it was until I myself recently came down with Bell’s Palsy, at which point the idea of wonky faces and dribbling mouths suddenly became a lot less amusing.
Named after Sir Charles Bell, the 19th-century surgeon who first described the condition, Bell’s Palsy is an inflammation of the seventh cranial nerve, the matrix of 7,000 nerve fibres that control the muscles of the face (and hence all facial movement and expression).

Convinced he has suffered a “coke stroke” – brought on by excessive consumption of Class A narcotics – he rushes to his doctor who diagnoses a condition called Bell’s Palsy before shamelessly inquiring if Young has any idea where he himself can get some

It’s one of the funniest anecdotes in the book. At these very high doses, the blood level of vitamin C is high enough to selectively kill cancer cells.Several clinical trials of vitamin C therapy are about to start, including one at McGill University, Montreal, the authors say.. There’s a wonderful episode in Toby Young’s How to Lose Friends and Alienate People – a record of his disastrous stint working as a journalist in New York – when the hapless hack wakes up one morning to discover that half his face is paralysed. However, injections achieve blood levels 25 times higher that persist for longer. The problem has been delivering a high enough dose.The researchers say attempts to replicate Dr Pauling’s work failed because they used oral doses of the drug which is rapidly excreted. Studies show that vitamin C is toxic to some cancer cells but not to normal cells. Dr Pauling’s claims sparked the continuing boom in sales of vitamin C, but attempts to confirm his findings failed and high-dose vitamin C became an “alternative” therapy.The latest study, published in the Canadian Association’s Medical Journal, could trigger renewed interest in Dr Pauling’s claims.

Research is now looking into the value of omega-3 supplements for people with heart disease (anyone with concerns should talk to their GP). The BHF and FSA recommendations were made while both were fully aware of the Burr findings. The truth This was a controversy waiting to happen after the Burr study, sponsored by Seven Seas, appeared. Lead author Dr Lee Hooper, lecturer in the university’s School of Medicine and Health Policy, says advice to the public to eat more oily fish should continue, but adds that further reviews are needed on whether it is appropriate to recommend a higher intake of omega-3 fats for people with heart disease. The researchers from the University of East Anglia acknowledge that the analysis, published in last Friday’s BMJ, was “significantly influenced” by the Burr study. “It goes against a plausible, well-tested explanation of the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids.”
The criticisms A new statistical analysis of the 48 best trials that investigated whether fish oil cuts the risk of dying from heart disease or stroke has found “little evidence” of benefit – and suggests that fish oil capsules may actually increase the risk. One 2002 trial by Dr Michael Burr of the University of Wales College of Medicine raised doubts.

“The Burr study shouldn’t be ignored, but it is out of step,” says Phillip Calder, professor of nutritional immunology at Southampton University. Fish oil for the heart

The claimsResearch over 30 years convinced the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and British Heart Foundation (BHF) to recommend oily fish or fish oil capsules, the richest sources of omega-3 fatty acids. He has withdrawn them from sale, having been touched by the sympathetic reaction of the public to his earlier decision to go to auction.. * Bjorn Borg has decided not to sell his Wimbledon trophies and rackets.

On Sunday, Kuznetsova knocked out Martina Hingis, winning 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 in a hard-hitting contest. Maria Sharapova was below her best but beat fellow Russian teenager Maria Kirilenko, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Tatiana Golovin shocked Elena Dementieva, who won only three games against the 18-year-old Frenchwoman, while China’s Jie Zheng beat Jill Craybas in three sets. But I missed one forehand I should have made at 1-1 on my serve and all of a sudden I was playing against a different player. To lose like this is pretty tough to swallow.” In the women’s competition Svetlana Kuznetsova became the first player to reach the quarter-finals when Patty Schnyder withdrew with an ankle injury. At 4-3, however, he played a poor service game and netted a backhand volley at break point, having failed to put away a routine smash. At 5-6 Henman faltered again, Greul clinching victory with a backhand return winner “I didn’t take anything for granted,” Henman said “I wanted to keep the pressure on.

Strauss was caught behind nibbling at a ball which left him off the surface while Shah was adjudged leg before to a delivery which shaped back. Left-arm swing bowler Pathan prised out former Middlesex colleagues Andrew Strauss and Owais Shah in the space of four balls as the pitch continued to encourage the pacemen at the start of the reply. Kabir Ali became Yuvraj’s second victim when a quicker ball pinned him in front of the stumps and the innings was concluded by Pathan, who found the outside edge of Plunkett’s bat. Another sharp piece of fielding gave Harbhajan his fifth wicket as Mohammad Kaif held on at short leg after Paul Collingwood turned the ball to the leg side. It was Guatam Gambhir’s third catch and the best of the lot, tumbling back towards the midwicket rope. And when wicketkeeper Geraint Jones was yorked by the on-song Harbhajan all the momentum was with the home team.

India’s spinners posed problems as the afternoon drew on and England were not helped by their shot selection as Ian Blackwell holed out in the deep from another sweep. It was a disappointing dismissal, coming as it did in the same manner in which Matt Prior had departed to Harbhajan Singh. The decibel levels rose when captain Flintoff fell in the very next over, the 21st of the innings, as Harbhajan earned a leg-before decision from a missed sweep. However, Pietersen perished in the next over attempting a six to get to his half-century, caught at deep midwicket to give left-arm spinner Yuvraj Singh a success. Twice in one over Flintoff cleared the ropes as Sri Sreesanth was hit to long off and deep midwicket. After Pietersen injected some impetus into the chase by walking down the track and timing the ball supremely, Flintoff took over to strike 41 of their share of 60 runs, made in only eight overs.

A penalty-kick was inevitable and the Irishman dispatched his 100th career league goal, 51 of them coming in the Premiership, with the minimum of fuss. Tomas Kuszczak, otherwise excellent, hit his clearance into Jermain Defoe on the edge of the penalty area. West Bromwich were entitled to feel hard done by, although in the end they were the architects of their own downfall. With only seven games remaining for Spurs, they may need to draw on the manner of this victory if they are to hold their nerve and reach Europe’s premier club competition for the first time. Never mind the quality, feel the width. Tottenham were poor last night and it required a penalty one minute from time converted by Robbie Keane to secure this win, but it widened the gap between them and their neighbours Arsenal, one of their main rivals for the last Champions’ League place, to five points.

The ephemeral nature of this “extraordinary relationship” was revealed to Vieira the following summer when Arsenal sold him to Juventus Initially, he felt betrayed and angry Ultimately, he realised “that’s business, that’s football”.. He thought then, he later reflected, about the extraordinary relationship he had “with my team-mates, my manager, the fans and everyone who worked at the club from the guys in the club shop right through to the secretaries”. His misapprehension was one of the reasons Vieira decided to stay at Arsenal when Real Madrid came calling in the summer of 2004. It has to be more than a hostile tide of disbelief that winning football matches needs to be accompanied by such massive shortfalls in style and grace.. Patrick Vieira thought he was part of a family He was wrong He was part of a business. It has to be more than functional football and some relentless statement about the gap that money inevitably creates between the strong and the weak.

When most people want a bargain, they consult eBay. Tony Blair, it seems, has another source for life’s little luxuries – like a new camera or a dinner service to impress the neighbours: his fellow heads of state. I have enjoyed representing the area for six years on the London Assembly and I hope to have the opportunity to do so as its Member of Parliament.”. A spokesman said A-listers need not be chosen to fight by-elections, but would be selected to fight the next general election.Bernard Jenkin, the Tory vice-chairman, said: “We are absolutely delighted that Bob has been selected.”He is a natural successor to Eric Forth with his unparalleled experience and local knowledge.”Mr Neill, who is expected to face a challenge from the Liberal Democrats for the seat, said: “It is a great honour to be selected to fight Bromley and Chislehurst. Mr Forth’s widow, Carroll, entered the race to succeed him, but did not make it to the final shortlist.Mr Neill, 53, who represents the area on the London Assembly, saw off A-list candidates Julia Manning, chair of the Conservative Christian Fellowship, and Syed Kamall, an MEP, in the final run-off.Last night, the Conservative Party put a brave face on the choice and denied that it was a snub. Up to 1,000 Tory party members in Bromley and Chislehurst rejected candidates on Mr Cameron’s A-list and chose Bob Neill, leader of the Conservatives on the London Assembly, to represent them.
The by-election has been prompted by the death of the sitting MP, Eric Forth, who died suddenly from cancer last month.The seat is seen as a key Tory stronghold, where the majority at the 2005 general election was 13,342. David Cameron’s efforts to modernise the Conservative Party with an A-list of women and ethnic-minority candidates was dealt a blow last night when a Tory constituency chose a local man to fight a forthcoming by-election.

Jack Straw emerged last night as the compromise candidate to take over from John Prescott as Deputy Prime Minister and unite the warring Brown and Blair factions. As new tensions arose in the Labour Party over a Blairite “plot” to sacrifice the Deputy Prime Minister to save Tony Blair, the former foreign secretary was being spoken of in No 10 as a preferred choice to succeed Mr Prescott.. Reveals much of the business taken on in previous years is loss-making.* 31 May 2006: Members back plans for demutualisation. Standard promises to publish prospectus for stock market flotation in June.. Early exit penalties on some policies now at 25 per cent.* 31 March 2004: Crombie announces Standard now believes customers and members will be best-served by demutualisation.* 2004-5: Standard cuts 1,000 jobs and moves into losses, as Crombie restructures. Insurer concedes it is no longer wedded to mutuality.* 13 January 2004: Chief executive Iain Lumsden takes early retirement and is replaced by Sandy Crombie.* 30 January 2004: Standard slashes pay-outs for fifth time in two years.

Insurer argues that while members would stand to receive average windfalls of up to £6,000, their interests would be better served by remaining mutual.* 2001-2: Standard criticised for maintaining its investment funds’ exposure to equities as global stock markets fall by 50 per cent.* 2003: Following collapse of Equitable Life, the Financial Services Authority, the chief City regulator, introduces new rules requiring insurers to increase capital adequacy reserves.* January 2004: After talks with the FSA, Standard is forced to sell £7.5bn- worth of equities at the bottom of the market. Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s award Standard AAA ratings as insurer continues to top performance tables for savings, endowment and pension policies.* April 2000: Standard narrowly defeats attempt by carpetbaggers to force it to demutualise and float on the London Stock Exchange. “If you have some time to go to maturity, switching may make sense,” he argues.Standard’s road to the stock market: the highs and lows of a once-proud insurer* 1825: Standard Life Assurance Company established in Edinburgh.* 1925: Standard mutualises, with ownership of the insurer transferred from shareholders to members who have with-profits policies.* 2000: Company celebrates record year for new business as stock market continues to surge towards record highs. BestInvest’s Keith Murphy says: “It remains to be seen whether Standard Life will do the decent thing and slash MVRs on with-profits policies.”Tom McPhail, of independent financial adviser Hargreaves Lansdown, says that Standard Life policyholders should start by checking what exit penalties apply on their plans. Prudential, by comparison, made 20 per cent on its with-profits fund.One issue stopping Standard customers moving their money is the market value reductions (MVRs) on most policies – penalties they must pay if they withdraw money. The insurer has been forced to reduce its with-profits fund’s exposure to shares, which means long-term returns are likely to be lower.Standard Life’s fund, 31 per cent invested in equities, made 16.1 per cent last year according to financial adviser BestInvest. However, since investors will have to come up with cash, many may be less keen.WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH MY STANDARD POLICIES?Many advisers believe that the prospects for Standard Life’s with-profits savings, pension and endowment policies are not good.

They will be entitled to buy additional shares at a discount to the listing price – expected to be between 5 and 10 per cent.Whether or not you take up the offer depends on similar factors to those mentioned above. In the case of Standard shares, members will pay nothing to buy the holdings, so the full value of any sale is potentially taxable, minus any dealing costs.However, as everyone is allowed a certain amount of tax-free profit each tax year – £8,800 in 2006-7 – the majority of Standard members will not be affected by CGT, unless they have profits this year from other investments.CAN I BUY MORE SHARES?On 15 June, when Standard publishes its flotation prospectus, it will unveil details of a preferential share offer for members, customers and employers. Standard shares could be boosted by that factor.WILL I HAVE TO PAY TAX ON MY SHARES?Not on receiving them, but you may have to pay capital gains tax when you sell CGT is payable at 40 per cent on investment profits. For example, Greig Paterson, of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, says that Standard’s operating earnings would have to grow by 50 per cent to justify a valuation at the top end of the price range.Bruno Paulson, an analyst at Sanford C Bernstein, says that while Standard’s results have improved, its target for return on embedded value, a key indicator for insurers, is still behind the rest of the sector.Jim Wood Smith, head of research at Christows, adds: “The share prices of life assurers are highly susceptible to movements in stock markets as these affect both profits on their investments and new business flows as the confidence of savers ebbs and flows.”On the other hand, the insurance sector has been a hotbed of takeover and merger speculation this year. It has a promising business selling self-invested personal pensions and subsidiaries are performing well.However, many insurance analysts remain sceptical, particularly given the price at which Standard’s advisers expect it to float.

You will find yourself, for example, investing in emerging markets rather than boring old blue-chips.When something happens that worries you, or if your circumstances change, it is natural that you will look to draw in your horns a bit. Magnify that reaction many millions of times and you have one of the dynamics that drives current prices in global stock markets.The price you see on the screen is the marginal price of a share, the one at which a few active buyers and sellers are willing to trade. If fundamentals were all that mattered, the stock market would not move in anything like the jagged, volatile fashion it does.In part, the volatility of share prices has something to do with investors’ attitudes to risk. The revival of flows into equity funds points to the same thing happening in the funds market.The catch, of course, is that this is just not the way markets work, at least short-term.

In the short term, the price of securities is driven primarily by liquidity and investor sentiment, not by so-called fundamentals.The fundamentals of earnings, cash flow and dividends can and do change in response to the economic cycle and competitive pressures, but they never change anything like as fast as the way investors in aggregate choose to value them. Earnings yields are some way above comparable bond yields.
The case seems so good that it has made the life of stockbrokers, whose primary job is to sell shares, all too easy. The world economy has been growing strongly, company profits are at high or even record levels in some cases, and share-price multiples are not high by historical standards. Now all it needs to do is tidy up Heathrow airport, which I flew into last week, and which seems more squalid and tatty than ever. It wouldn’t take much money and might make us all more inclined to believe in BAA management’s ability to look after the fine assets they are entrusted with.s.ogrady independent.co.uk. If the stock markets are due for a significant correction, which we will discover in the next few weeks (and seems probable to me), what does it tell us about the way that markets operate?

The paradox is that the case for being bullish remains, on the face of it, so strong.

Even so, it is a particularly harsh judgement when a share loses around one third of its value.
At 2.2 p IDN really looks to be in the bargain basement. Profits should emerge at more than £1.2m in the year ending October (up from £900,000) and last year’s maiden dividend of 0.025p a share will be increased.So what is inhibiting the shares? I think it is the behaviour of some of the company’s former directors. Yet in the meantime profits have advanced strongly and the group has paid its first ever dividend. What’s more, trading remains buoyant and profits and dividends are set to increase. To add insult to injury, the stock market, despite recent volatility, has made heady progress since my IDN comments although the telecoms sector, weighed down by its heavyweights, has not always been fully connected to the exuberance. I wrote about this little provider of telecom services in February last year when its shares were around 3.25p They are now near 2.2p. However, ICAP’s shares may have a way to run yet.Its $775m acquisition of EBS, a currencies and commodities trading platform, is slated to complete on Monday.

Spencer, a pioneer of industry consolidation, contends that the deal will transform his company once again and help it claw in yet more market share.In torrid times, ICAP still looks a smart buy.. The stock market can be a ruthless place Ask IDN Telecom. They hit even the most optimistic forecasts by City analysts, yet the stock rose just 1.75p to 493p, valuing the business at £2.9bn.The stock now trades at 19.8 times forward earnings and, at first glance, looks expensive against peers such as Collins Stewart and the wider market. Factor in potential growth and the current valuation, 17 times forward earnings, is not demanding.

Buy.The above recommendations are taken from the daily Investment ColumnICAP looks the smart buy in times of market mayhemThe recent turbulence in the global stock markets may be sending many investors running for their tin hats, but the brokers at ICAP are rubbing their hands.The “inter-dealer broker” (IDB) – essentially a middleman between buyers and sellers of shares, currencies and various fancy derivatives – thrives on market volatility and uncertainty.Over the past three months, ICAP’s business has surged 80 per cent ahead of the same period last year, culminating in a record month for both volume and value of trading in May.Under its chief executive Michael Spencer, the company has burgeoned into the runaway market leader, handling trades worth $1 trillion each day and commanding a 29 per cent share of the global IDB market.Profits before tax for the year to the end of March of £204.3m were some 12 per cent higher than the previous year. Under this arrangement they keep their own name but outsource the work to Printing ’s Manchester hub. The company is in the process of significantly raising the capacity of its Manchester facility and is expanding overseas. Although Printing owns some of its outlets, the group’s expansion is mainly driven by franchise or so called “bolt on franchises” where an independent printer enters into a partnership with the company. Avoid.PRINTING.COMFull-year results from Printing showed a 44 per cent jump in the number of outlets it has in the UK to 172. There was also a 60 per cent jump in profits to £2.4m and a rise in the dividend to 1.75p a share from 0.5p previously.

But he stresses that any narrative ambitiousness in the story is rather about class, which is more familiar terrain. Working class guys who are “aspirationally middle class, who have bought into the system …”And as for the echoes of previous literary classics, Welsh is quick to dispel any notion that he might have become a Serious Novelist. repeats that feat, as the bizarre bond and visceral hatred between Kibby and Skinner manifests itself in ever more pungent ways. f”The more real and authentic it feels, if you do something out of kilter, it has much, much more of an impact.

Rather than setting it up as a magic box of tricks.”But Welsh is reluctant to get too high-falutin’ with discussion of The Novel and His Craft. He briefly concedes that the empathetic, pan-generational feel of the book – it’s about fathers and sons rather than his familiar stew of peer groups – is partly a factor of his approaching the age of 50. But its mix of fantasy (a coma patient’s damaged brain takes him on a Boys’ Own stork-hunting odyssey) and harsh reality (gang rape) made for a blistering narrative that brilliantly entwined social realism and magical realism.The Bedroom Secrets … You’ll whiz through it, in a good way.It bears healthy comparison with his masterpiece, Marabou Stork Nightmares. The 1995 novel was overshadowed by the overwhelming, multi-media cult of Trainspotting – the stage adaptation of which lives on, most recently at Hackney Empire in London.