I went to Rome last month, for four days – a quick trip, nestled between hectic work schedules and a typically unstable income. Now, as a 24 year old female (and a pretty tiny one at that), I regularly cause bewilderment by disappearing off around Europe on my own.

‘But it’s not safe,’ friends and family members cry, ‘women shouldn’t go travelling alone, just think about what could happen!’

Fortunately, I’m a feminist and I don’t believe any of that nonsense. However, what it does mean is that I have to think very carefully about where I choose to stay. I don’t generally have enough money to stay in hotels, so you can usually find me sharing a cheap room in a [...]

If you have any interest in mainstream movies, you have probably heard the word ‘birdman’ being thrown around at a curious frequency, over the last two or three months. You might have found yourself asking, ‘Who’s Birdman, and why won’t everybody stop talking about him?’

Well, I think it is time for you to meet him.

Birdman was released to huge critical acclaim way back in October, in the United States. It wasn’t released until December 2014 in Britain, but reactions have been much the same. The cries of ‘masterpiece’ and ‘instant classic’ have come thick and fast for this blockbuster, and it deserves them wholeheartedly. It is a rare thing, Birdman – a blockbuster film [...]