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News High Speed Rail Link

Leeds looking likely to get a fast rail link to London - but work won’t start for another seven years

A whitepaper was published today recommending plans for a rail link that could see journey times between Leeds, Sheffield and London reduced to 75 minutes. The transport secretary Lord Adonis gave Labour’s backing to the £30bn project and corroborated Network Rail’s comment that the link would cause economic growth and…

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Leeds United The Fightback Is On

Regular League One news from Elland Road

In a week where English prowess in the Champions League is likely to dominate the headlines - with the former Newton Heath and Arsenal both thrashing their European counterparts - it was an equally flattering display that brought a smile to the faces of Leeds fans everywhere.

Tuesday night saw…

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Preview Amy Macdonald

The soulful Scot brings her individual brand of folk-pop to the Academy

When Amy Macdonald emerged in 2007, the music scene was witnessing a plethora of kooky pop vixens, in a new era for women in the business. Amy Winehouse, Kate Nash, Adele, Duffy, Gabriella Cilmi…we could go on. Though the time of the soulful female performers is not over, it is…

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Feature Alan Bennett joins debate over Royal Park School

The famous Leeds playwright gets behind boycotting of plans for student flats

For 6 years now, Royal Park School in Hyde Park has stood empty and dilapidated. It’s yet another eyesore for Leeds, a city subject to constant lobbying for the regeneration of countless sites. Like so many of these blots on Leeds’ landscape, the building has the potential to be so…

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Preview Tom Hingley

The former Inspiral Carpets frontman and connoisseur of indie puts on a one-off acoustic show, treating fans to material old and new

At the helm of jaunty psychedelic indie band the Inspiral Carpets, Tom Hingley embodied what was great about the British music scene at the turn of the 1990s. This was of course before anyone had even thought of slapping the Britpop label on every male act that released a record.…

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Preview Live at Leeds

Monster rock and indie festival hits Leeds for your Bank Holiday

Diaries out, and mark this date in your calendars: Thursday 30^th April to Monday 3^rd May. One of the proudest moments on the Leeds music diary, Live at Leeds promises to deliver high quality performers for a super low ticket value.

With acts still to announce, the line up…

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Review Funny Men

Lizzie Pillinger sees the comedy play in Leeds before it heads to Edinburgh this summer

Don’t go expecting a laugh-a-minute. This piece is about comedy, rather than being a comedy itself. Even so, if you want your perceptions challenged, and to be left with your brain contorting in a bid for comprehension, this is for you. Martin Knowles and Ben Eagle present a compelling performance…

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Preview British Wildlife

A look ahead to the three day music festival celebrating all things DIY and noisy in Leeds music

British Wildlife have been fairly busy since their conception back in 2006. This Spring they’re creating yet another almighty cocktail of noise with their annual festival.

The festival will be gracing three venues and boasts over 40 live bands, who, according to promoter Adam Nodwell, “don’t quite tick all…

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Preview Ellie Goulding

Hyper-hyped electropop comes to The Cockpit

Ellie Goulding’s debut album, Lights, has already reached number one status with what seems to have been a minimum amount of exposure; not quite the hard-grind of Florence whose album took a good six months to get absolutely everywhere.

Goulding - a 23 year old from Hereford - is playing…

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Preview Canterbury Tales

Chaucer's unsavoury tales get the Northern Broadside treatment at the West Yorkshire Playhouse

The older elements within our society might like to depict some or all of the following as primarily recent innovations: filth, fart jokes, knob-gags, pay-as-you-pray religion, extra-marital affairs, binge-drinking, theft, vanity, elastic interpretations of uniform regulations, serial brides and poor hygiene standards on the part of professional chefs.

Nope.…

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