Lauren E. White

With the news that Greggs sales have beaten pre-pandemic levels, we thought it would only be fair to rank their best pasties that have been a staple of North East cuisine for decades. The bakery chain saw profits looking healthier after what it called “pent-up demand” for non-essential retail items. So, which pasties are best? […]

The link between mental health and the poorest in society has been recognised for years. The link is often bi-directional, meaning, essentially, that it goes both ways. You can find yourself unemployed because of your mental ill health, or in mental ill health because you are unemployed. It is this link that has been brought […]

Last night was quite an eventful one for the Labour Party in England at the local elections. By eventful, I mean terrible for their so-called Red Wall. Keir Starmer’s Labour was “under new leadership”, he promised, and it was going to be all about winning back voters who’d turned Tory for the first time at […]

NHS England has written to Instagram urging the platform to clamp down on sales of a “dangerous” weight-gain drug. The drug, Apetamin, is unlicensed but is sold and promoted on Instagram as a way of achieving the currently popular hour-glass figure. Recommended Reading: A message to Kim Kardashian about young women NHS England said in […]

If you cast your mind back to last summer, you will remember weeks of fury from students, their teachers and parents about the exams fiasco. Well, it turns out that one student used some pretty forward-thinking initiative, found Education Secretary Gavin Williamson’s phone number on Google, and left him a voicemail. Writing in the Mail […]

In the past ten years, more than £96 billion worth of health service funding has gone to non-NHS care providers. These include private firms such as Virgin Care – owned by billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Group – and for-profit healthcare providers. For the sake of clarity, the NHS is a not-for-profit service. It is not […]

In our good news reporting trend this week, the news that hugging could be allowed on 17th May certainly fits the bill. According to The Times, ministers are expected to plough ahead with the third step of the ‘unlocking’ roadmap set out by the government. This includes approval for people to make physical contact with […]

For the first time in history a malaria vaccine has achieved the World Health Organisation-specified (WHO) 75% efficacy goal. The vaccine, developed by researchers from Oxford University and their partners, reported a 77% effectiveness among African children. Trials took part with 450 participants aged between five and seventeen months. They were recruited from the catchment […]

The government’s Kickstart scheme – intended to create 250,000 jobs for young people following the devastating impact of the pandemic – has led to just 490 jobs in the North East, according to figures from the Observer. The North East entered lockdown with the highest unemployment rate of any region in England and a recent […]

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is reported to have said he would rather “let the bodies pile high in their thousands” than order a third lockdown during a heated exchange with his No 10 advisors. The Daily Mail led its front page today with the exclusive, which is said to have come directly from those who […]

Schools in the North East are set to lose between five and seven million pounds worth of funding after the government changed an administrative rule about how money is allocated, according to figures from Schools North East. The money would have been spent on helping pupils from lower-income families who qualify for the government’s Pupil […]

Claude Monet is renowned the world over for his Water Lilies painting series, captivating minds for many years. Now one of his “monumental” paintings from that series is set to be auctioned in New York for around £29 million. Le Bassin aux Nympheas, a 40 inch x 79 inch work was painted from 1917 to 1919 […]

In case the headline isn’t clear, let’s just say it: I’m 21 today. That’s 7,665 days, or 183,960 hours, alive on this random planet in the Milky Way. When you put it like that, 21 years seemingly doesn’t equate to much at all. But, as every person who has lived to this point will testify: […]

You might have heard a lot about David Cameron in the news recently but not quite know the details of why, and what has happened. Worry not – that’s why Mastering Politics is here today. Let’s get into it. What has David Cameron done? Greensill Capital, a now insolvent financial services company, is at the […]

Well, the first thing I have to say about this book is that it is an absolute cracker. Tom Bradby returns on top form for the final instalment of his spy thriller with Triple Cross and I was, in no uncertain terms, hooked from the off. Triple Cross picks up where Double Agent left off. MI6 […]

Well, here I am at ten to one in the morning having completed Three Women. Before I proceed, this book – and so this review – is not suitable for a younger audience. Three Women is at its core, a reportage-novel hybrid about sex and power, which manifests itself in the following trigger warnings: rape, […]

Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth has said that vaccine passports are essentially “a digital ID card” and that Labour cannot support them in their current form. Boris Johnson announced yesterday that vaccine passports – or ‘Covid status certificates’ – will be trialled this month at upcoming events, including the FA Cup final and a range […]

Many need little reminder about the death of George Floyd last May. It sparked a worldwide anti-racism movement when police officer Derek Chauvin was videoed by onlookers kneeling on Mr Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes as he pleaded with the officer, telling him, “I can’t breathe”. Now the man accused of George Floyd’s murder, […]

Roughly three children in every classroom have a diagnosable mental health condition. In 2017, suicide was the most common cause of death for young people, both male and female, aged between five and 19. But what is it like for young people who are trying to access support from the NHS? The picture, tragically, is […]

Domestic abuse reports in the Northumbria Police region have risen by over 1,000 (5%) in lockdown, according to a Freedom of Information request filed to the force by Beep. 33,118 reports of domestic abuse were made during the period of 30th March 2020 to 30th January 2021, compared to 31,524 during the same period in […]

On Tuesday in Myanmar’s second-largest city Mandalay, seven-year-old Khin Myo Chit was shot and killed by the military, who staged a coup to overthrow the country’s elected government in February. Khin’s family told Sky News how the military junta broke down the doors to their house and began shooting inside. U Maung Ko Hashin Bai, […]

Today marks one year since Prime Minister Boris Johnson took the decision to put the UK into its first lockdown. Since then, we’ve had a tiered system, a summer free-for-all which likely contributed to the increase in cases throughout August and September, and another full-force lockdown. But as we pause today to remember the almost […]

I don’t think I have visited the delights of New York City in a novel since Breakfast at Tiffany’s, so Brooklyn has been a lovely, warming return to the one location that literature never fails to personify. In other words, I’ve been in a tiny village hardly seeing anyone for a year and I read […]

This week the government’s new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill was passed in Parliament. It’s referred to sometimes as just the ‘Police Bill’, and has caused some controversy around the country due to its impact on the right to protest. Currently, the bill is delayed until later in the year, but it has not […]

Endometriosis is a condition affecting one in ten females of reproductive age in the UK, and 176 million worldwide. It has the potential to devastate the lives of sufferers and their families, not least because this chronic, intensely painful condition takes on average eight years to be diagnosed. As March is endometriosis awareness month, Beep […]

It’s International Women’s Day and here at Beep, as we do every year, we’re celebrating women around the world, past and present. This year’s theme is ‘Choose to Challenge’, meaning that it’s up to every one of us to call out gender bias and inequality. Wherever we see it – be it in the workplace, […]

It’s not difficult to believe I’m sitting here writing this, given that it is Boris Johnson’s government we’re talking about. What have they done this time? Proposed that NHS workers should get a 1% pay rise. That’s right: 1%. Considering the government’s arms had to be bent to give doctors and nurses free parking at […]

Poorer A-level students in England are up to three grades behind their more affluent peers, research from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) has found. In some areas, including the North, the “disadvantage gap” meant poorer students were up to five grades behind. The research specifically found that lower GCSE grades, then fewer and lower level […]

Go North East has converted one of its buses into a new mobile Covid-19 vaccine unit. The bus will travel around Newcastle, visiting communities who are unable to get to a vaccination centre, or where uptake has proven low. For its first few rounds, the bus will visit hostels in Newcastle to vaccinate the homeless, […]

Police at Myanmar protests have killed at least 10 demonstrators, medics have said, making Sunday 28 Februrary the deadliest day of rallies since the military removed the nation’s elected government. The killings occurred as social media footage showed protesters running away from police charging at them, using live bullets, rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear […]

Welcome back to Mastering Politics – the column where we break down complex issues into simple explanations. This time, we’re looking at the India farmers protest, which has been happening since September 2020. What’s going on? At the moment, India is living through its largest agricultural protest in history, with tens of thousands of farmers […]

A high court judge has found that Health Secretary Matt Hancock acted unlawfully by failing to reveal details of contracts his department has signed during the course of the pandemic. Public contract details, once signed, should be published within 30 days. The judge said that Mr Hancock had “breached his legal obligation” to government transparency. […]

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer announced his roadmap to government today in a speech clearly delivered to re-brand the Party. Speaking on a Facebook live stream this morning, Sir Keir drew strong ties with the post-WW2 appetite for change in politics and the post-pandemic (whenever that may be) “mood in the air” for a different […]

Welcome back to an edition of ‘Mastering Politics’ – the place where we explain something complex in politics in a way that’s easy to understand. This time, we’re looking at the Myanmar military coup. First things first: what’s a coup? Yes, we know, nobody is born knowing what a military coup is. And, in case […]

400,000 children under the age of five in Yemen could die from severe acute malnutrition, according to a report released this month. The Food and Agriculture Organization, Unicef, and the World Food Programme also found in the report that almost 2.5 million children under the age of five in war-torn Yemen will suffer from acute […]

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex – or Harry and Meghan as they like to be called these days – have announced that they are expecting their second baby. In a heart warming Valentine’s Day announcement, a spokesperson for the royals said: “We can confirm that Archie is going to be a big brother. “The […]

Former president Donald Trump has been found not guilty of incitement of insurrection by the US Senate tonight as the short but historic impeachment trial comes to a close. Following the Capitol Hill riots earlier this year, Democrats in Congress moved quickly to try and impeach Mr Trump before he left office. Their efforts were […]

A day never goes by without us hearing, watching or seeing someone on the news, in The Guardian or on Instagram preaching about how running, yoga and swimming helps their mental health. It’s great that exercise helps people (obviously) keep on top of their mental wellbeing, but what about if you have a disability, or […]

5/5 If you’ve ever read a book review by yours truly before, you’ll know it’s rare I award five stars. They are reserved for special works of art – and Sally Rooney’s Normal People is exactly that. In fact, Normal People is a masterpiece. I first heard of the book when it was broadcast as […]

4/5 Dearest reader, I give you my sincere gratitude for joining me in this reviewing endeavour. I am sure it will be most revealing indeed. * Now, if you haven’t seen or read Bridgerton, you’ll be wondering what on earth is going on with me! Netflix’s latest fantastic original, based on the novel series by […]

As Joe Biden is sworn in as President of the United States today, we look at how we can expect the ceremony to look today, and what the 46th President aims to do next. Check out my quick and simple narrative video below. Want to know more about Joe Biden’s election win? Click here. And, […]

2020 has been the worst year on record for a long while. But we did get some good music to keep us going. If you’re expecting this list to include any Hip Hop, R&B, techno, etc., then I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed. However, at least they’re current. So, whether you like it or not, here […]

Beep has been here all through this year in one form or another. We’ve even re-launched a YouTube channel. But, of course, our love of the written word prevails and we have collated our top stories of 2020. Believe it or not, they aren’t all about C*VID-19. So, without further ado, here are Beep’s top […]

When we sat around television last year on New Year’s Eve watching the fireworks boom in London at 12am on 1st January 2020, there was a sense of hope. I remember hoping that this would be a good year – that things would be a little bit brighter for everyone than they had been before. […]

‘I will find you, and I will kill you’ is one of the most iconic film lines ever, spoken chillingly by Liam Neeson’s Bryan Mills in Taken. Well, it seems that the character actually came to life in the form of a Mexican mother who hunted down ten of her daughter’s kidnappers until they were […]

3.7/5 Yes, yes, yes – I am yet again coming to you with a review of a film Hugh Grant is in. Florence Foster Jenkins, a 2016 Stephen Frears film, is based on the true story of the eponymous New York socialite singer (Meryl Streep) and her devoted husband St. Clair Bayfield. It’s a comedy […]

We all over-indulge a little at Christmas – but do you know how much sugar is in your over-indulgent festive coffee? You’ll be shocked to say the least as some coffees contain as much sugar as seven doughnuts. Cafe Nero’s mint hot chocolate is the main culprit, containing 59.9 grams of sugar, which is the […]

Boris Johnson and his government have come under serious fire over the course of the pandemic because of their response (or sometimes lack of) to the severity of rising cases of COVID-19. Now that a new variant of the virus has been discovered, and its transmission rate is faster than the original variant, there is […]