CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: Prodders, or long red batons used to keep undesirable members of the public at a safe distance, were carried by the Kew Constabulary till 2007.
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CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: Here s the DIY tool no man ever wants on his workbench - a £5,000 hammer that nags you when you do the job badly. Surely that s a wife s job: This shelf isn t straight.
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People say this is the golden age of TV, and they re right. The problem is, it takes a lot of brass to appreciate the gold.
Look at BritBox, a repeats-on-demand service that has branched in to commissioning its own original shows with an excellent three-part series on the rise and fall of 1960s gangsters the Kray twins debuting yesterday.
BritBox is doing what Netflix set out to do eight or nine years ago, but with a British back catalogue. It offers subscribers access to thousands of dramas, comedies and documentaries from the vaults. If you re an avid TV watcher (why else would you even be thinking about spending your money on BritBox?), you ve seen most of this fare before.
“It’s a smooth, highly professional production, supplying keen psychological portraits from people who knew the London crime brothers, as well as a thorough analysis of how they rose from petty thugs to West End celebrities, with pals in the arts and the Lords.”
Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop and Power, BBC1
“This is a transitional period in the world of fame, as celebrities move away from doling out media-trained platitudes. For a long time, a group like Little Mix would have kept their opinions to themselves, for fear of alienating fans or those in charge. But Pinnock gives the impression she has had quite enough of that.”