Author: Jack Oastler

Australia can usually claim they’re the best cricket team in the world. World Test Champions in 2023. Clear at the top of the world rankings. Six-time ODI world champions. And are they better than England? Bloody oath! They’ve held the Ashes since 2017, and haven’t lost to the Poms in Australia in fourteen years. But this time around, they’re facing a few questions. Will their captain be fit? Do they have to pick two openers? Is thirty old? Australia’s top-three troubles have been well documented, and a week out from the series, no-one really knows what the line-up will look…

Award-winning British band The Last Dinner Party welcomed their second album to the world on Friday, and chose the East Midlands for their first stage. From the Pyre, the follow-up to 2024’s smash hit Prelude to Ecstasy, was released at midnight to rave reviews. I gave myself two hours at the library in the morning to try and learn the lyrics, before catching the train into Nottingham. At 9pm, the quintet emerged one by one onto the stage – immaculately dressed as ever, their unique style an aspect of the aura which has made them so important to so many…