blow monkeys uk tour

The Blow Monkeys

80s purveyors of simian soul and primate punk, fronted by Dr Robert. Known for such hits as 'Digging Your Scene' and 'It Doesn't Have To Be This Way'.

The Blow Monkeys tour dates listed on Ents24.com since Feb 2008.

Official website theblowmonkeys.com

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The Blow Monkeys tour dates 2024

The Blow Monkeys is currently touring across 2 countries and has 14 upcoming concerts.

Their next tour date is at Pizza Express - Holborn in London, after that they'll be at Pizza Express - Holborn again in London.

Currently touring across

Upcoming concerts (14) See nearest concert

Pizza Express - Holborn

THE EYES HAVE IT MUSIC FESTIVAL DUFFIELD

Barnoldswick Music & Arts Centre

Wrecking Ball Arts Centre

Trading Boundaries, Sheffield Green

Strings Bar & Venue

Sala Repvbblica

Razzamatazz

Santana , Calle Telleria Kalea, 27 , BILBAO

Scarborough Spa

Past concerts

Network Sheffield

Wylam Brewery

View all past concerts

Recent tour reviews

In true British fashion, the Blow Monkeys grace the stage with charisma at the Rewind Festival, opening the show with Feels Like A New Number. This ultimate 80’s festival hosts an array of classic UK and International artists, taking you back to that moment you first heard that song. The Blow Monkeys have a classic collection of material that connotes positive vibes, and how life throws different Choices your way. At Rewind, the group performed a short set but included favourites like It Didn’t Have To Be This Way and the popular Digging Your Scene.

Lyrically, The Blow Monkeys create material that is easy to singalong to and dance your cares away. This liberating festival is open to music fanatics and hippies alike, flowers in your hair and a Kopparberg in hand, make for perfect accompaniment when watching those Monkeys blow! Whether taking a trip down memory lane or wanting to dance aimlessly, it’s clear that band like this come around once in a blue moon and you for sure don’t want to be the one singing “Oh My Lord, what a fool I’ve been”..

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The blow monkeys - announce four shows for 2023.

Another chance to see The Blow Monkeys live in 2023

The Blow Monkeys have just announced a continuation to their  'Journey to You' UK tour, the band have just announced four shows for early 2023 after huge demand for tickets for their 2022 show.  With hits like ' Digging your Scene'   and ' It doesn’t have to be this Way' ,  The Blow Monkeys  epitomised the glamour of mid 80's Pop at its most graceful and sophisticated. In the band’s frontman  Robert Howard  (Aka.  Dr. Robert ), they possessed a tall, charismatic singer who was both camera friendly and clever, who appeared to be just as much at ease on the catwalk that is pop’s conveyer belt as he was penning witty, incisive songs. While quite clearly Robert’s band, though, the  Blow Monkeys  were also gifted three immensely talented musicians in bassist  Mick Anker , saxophonist  Neville Henry  and drummer  Tony Kiley.

 The Blow Monkeys  openly criticised the policies of the 1980’s Conservative government, railing against social injustices and adopting an openly left of centre stance on issues of the day. From openly endorsing the Gay community ' Digging your Scene'  to an outright attack on Margaret Thatcher , and an amazing track you can hear at the bottom of this page. Another great track by The Blow Monkeys is ' Celebrate (The Day after You )', which is duet with the late, great  Curtis Mayfield. The Blow Monkeys  were always the thinking person’s Pop group, and a great live act... so make sure you get tickets to see them in 2023.

The Blow Monkeys 'Journey to You' 2023 UK tour Below:

February  24th - Northampton, Roadmender March  18th - Gillingham, Glassbox Theatre 31st - Bedford, Esquires April  01st - Guildford, The Holroyd

Check Out! the Video for 'Digging your Scene' Below...

You can purchase: Music Trespass Magazine -  Issue 1 - Jan/Feb 2024 and Issue 2 - Mar/Apr 

Digital:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0CW2QMDFV?ref_=dbs_p_mng_rwt_ser_sh...

Also available from Amazon  - And will be hitting the shops soon.

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The Blow Monkeys

British 80s pop-funk band fronted by lead singer,songwriter, guitarist and pianist Dr. Robert (Bruce Robert Howard).

Their key hits include "Diggin' Your Scene", "It Doesn't Have To Be This Way", "Out With Her" and "Choice".

• 1 event in Lancaster on 5th July

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• Kym Mazelle

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Box Office & Ticket Booking Telephone: 01522 534 160

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Friday 5 April at 7:30 pm

The blow monkeys, ages: 14+ standing show.

The Blow Monkeys are unique with a career spanning over 40 years. Always making new music, always stretching their own musical boundaries. With worldwide hits such as the classics “Digging Your Scene” and “It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way”, they became household names but there was always so much more going on with these simian soulsters.

Their relentless desire to move forward, to collaborate, to be socially engaged and to have something to contribute. Back in the 80’s they worked with people as varied as Curtis Mayfield, Paul Weller, Cheb Khaled and even Jamaican Toaster EEK-a-Mouse!. “No band since The Clash in their early 80’s heyday had attempted to act as a sounding board for such politically engaged, eclectic music” Dr Robert even took time out to release one of the UK’s first homegrown ‘house’ records “Wait”, his top 5 duet with Chicago soul diva Kym Maselle.

And so the journey continues. Reformed in 2008 The Blow Monkeys have been incredibly productive releasing six new albums and playing hundreds of concerts. Their latest album “Journey To You” ( 2021) was recorded during ‘lockdown’ and features the extraordinary single “Time Storm” . BMG have also re-released their classic album from 1986 ‘Animal Magic’ as part of their “Iconic” series. It comes as a 4 CD boxset and tasty white vinyl limited edition with extra tracks and rarities galore.

These Monkeys continue to evolve. From their beginnings on the underground club scene right through to their appearance on the biggest selling soundtrack of all time “Dirty Dancing” (You Don’t Own Me) and beyond. Long may they swing.

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/theblowmonkeys.com

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• Website: www.theblowmonkeys.com

Singer-songwriter Dr. Robert leads his veteran band as it plays its new wave, pop-rock and alternative rock hits.

With hits like ‘Digging Your Scene’ and ‘It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way’, The Blow Monkeys epitomised the glamour of mid-80s pop at its most graceful and sophisticated. In the band’s frontman Robert Howard (aka Dr. Robert), they possessed a tall, charismatic singer who was both camera-friendly and clever, who appeared to be just as much at ease on the catwalk that is pop’s conveyor belt as he was penning witty, incisive songs. While quite clearly Robert’s band, though, the Blow Monkeys were also gifted three immensely talented musicians in bassist Mick Anker (he of the trademark bowler hat), saxophonist Neville Henry and drummer Tony Kiley.

Behind the band’s stylish veneer lay something else, which became increasingly apparent from Robert’s lyrics. While some of the Smash Hits generation avoided politics with a capital P, The Blow Monkeys openly criticised the policies of the Conservative government, railing against social injustices and adopting an openly left-of-centre stance on issues of the day.

From openly endorsing the gay community “Digging Your Scene” to an outright attack on Margaret Thatcher ‘Celebrate (The Day After You)’ – a duet with the late, great Curtis Mayfield, The Blow Monkeys were always the thinking person’s pop group.

As the 1980s progressed, so too did the band’s musical style, from a sound once dubbed “jazz punk” by Robert to a more soulful, jazzy style and an ever-increasing adoption of dance music. The Blow Monkeys of their rare, indie debut single ‘Live Today Love Tomorrow’ (recorded on a shoestring in 1981) would be barely recognisable to those who bought the Balearic remix of ‘La Passionara’ from 1990. And yet a soulful, spiritually uplifting strain has continued to run through their music – and, indeed, that of Robert’s solo recordings – to this day.

Text supplied by third party.

Tour dates 2024

At 3 venues:

Kanteena, Lancaster

Pizzaexpress live, london wc1v, scarborough spa.

Prices to be confirmed

• 19:00 – 23:00

£45 / 020 7439 4962

£25 / 01723 376774

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The Blow Monkeys announce the release of their brand new album Together/Alone in May 2024

The Blow Monkeys – Together/Alone

New single & album.

Sophisti-pop legends  The Blow Monkeys  announce the release of their brand new album  Together/Alone  in May 2024. Lead single  Stranger To Me Now  is released this  Friday 16 February.  Frontman Dr Robert describes the album process, noting Bob Dylan quote  “I was born here and I’ll die here…against my will”  as a key starting point in the themes of the project: 

“If we are lucky, we get to spend time with loved ones along the way. It’s about the journey not the destination. It’s taken a lifetime for me to understand that.”

Musically the album embraces simplicity while keeping their sound distinctively infectious and made for a crowd:

“Musically we wanted something stripped down …raw and funky.  Can’t wait to get out and play it to people, the communion with audience where just for a moment we all become one”

The Blow Monkeys are set for a busy year with tours across the UK, US and parts of Europe in the works. They play throughout England in March/April and are preparing for their first US tour in 30 years in May. 

The new 12 track album Together/Alone is released in May by  Last Night From Glasgow and is available on two shades of  coloured marbled vinyl, CD and digital. Further singles and an  official album release date will be announced shortly

Artist:  The Blow Monkeys

Album: Together/Alone (May 2024)

First Single: Stranger To Me Now (16 Feb)

Label:  Last Night From Glasgow

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Blow Monkey Logo T Shirt Grey with Black Logo

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Journey To You Sand T Shirt

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Journey To You – Limited Edition Signed Gatefold Sleeve LP SOLD OUT

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Journey To You – Limited Edition CD

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The Blow Monkeys London, UK

The Blow Monkeys are unique with a roller-coaster career spanning over 40 years. Always making new music, always stretching their own musical boundaries. With worldwide hits such as the classics “Digging Your Scene” and “It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way”, they became household names but there was always so much more going on with these simian soulsters. ...   more

• theblowmonkeys.com
• Jun 26 Pizza Express - Holborn London, UK
• Jun 27 Pizza Express - Holborn London, UK
• Jun 28 Pizza Express - Holborn London, UK
• Jul 5 Eyes Meadow Duffield Belper, UK
• Jul 5 Kanteena Lancaster, UK
• Jul 17 Barnoldswick Music & Arts Centre Barnoldswick, UK
• Jul 18 Wrecking Ball Arts Centre Hull, UK
• Jul 19 Trading Boundaries, Sheffield Green Uckfield, UK
• Jul 21 Strings Bar & Venue Newport (Isle of Wight), UK
• Oct 9 Sala Repvbblica Valencia, Spain
• Oct 10 LA RIVIERA Madrid, Spain
• Oct 11 Razzamatazz Barcelona, Spain
• Oct 12 Santana , Calle Telleria Kalea, 27 , BILBAO Bilbao, Spain
• Nov 30 Scarborough Spa Scarborough, UK

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Money latest: These are the most in-demand holiday destinations this year

Welcome back to our Money blog, where we bring you all the latest consumer and personal finance news and tips. This week we're kicking off by talking about holidays (seeing as the sun has finally come out), and we're answering a reader's Money Problem on an undeclared management fee.

Monday 6 May 2024 14:00, UK

• Bank of England 'not yet ready to cut interest rates'
• GoFundMe and loan sharks: How Britain's poorest are burying their loved ones in 2024
• The most in-demand holiday destinations this year

Essential reads

• Money Problem: My daughter discovered undeclared £600 management fee after buying her flat - can we complain?
• Cinema first is back - so should movie lovers unsubscribe? 
• 10 biggest mistakes people make in job interviews I Tell us your job interview mistakes/stories/tips in the comments box
• Train strikes in May - everything you need to know

Ask a question or make a comment

The UK economy would be better off if there were fewer buy-to-let landlords, the country's biggest investment company has said.

Legal and General Investment Management (LGIM) told The Telegraph that "unscrupulous" landlords were "taking people's deposits and giving them a bad experience". 

Bill Hughes, global head of real assets at L&G, said the rental sector needs an overhaul as too many buy-to-let landlords have been "suboptimal and substandard". 

L&G has built a portfolio of 10,000 build-to-rent homes in the last eight years, and predicts traditional landlords will gradually be replaced by purpose-built rental properties managed by institutions.

Single-sex toilets will be legally required in all new restaurants, bars, offices and shopping centres, the government has announced. 

It is set to change building regulations later this year to make it compulsory for premises to provide separate facilities for men and women. 

The move follows an increase in the use of gender-neutral toilets. 

The UK has installed a record number of public electric car chargers this year, figures show. 

Nearly 6,000 new chargers were installed in the first three months of the year, according to Zapmap analysis of government data. 

Some 1,500 of these were rapid chargers. 

A common concern among those hesitant to switch to electric vehicles is range anxiety or the fear of not being able to find a charger. 

By Emily Mee , Money team

Scroll through GoFundMe and it won't be long before you see them.

There's a widow left with her husband's financial struggles. Three young siblings trying to raise funds for their mum's send-off after her sudden death. A 25-year-old domestic violence victim whose family want to give her the send-off she deserves. 

There are scores of pages like this as an apparently increasing number of Britons struggle with funeral costs.

These costs have risen 126% in the last two decades, according to a recent report from SunLife. 

Where families would once have paid £1,835 for a basic funeral, they are now looking at costs of £4,141 on average. 

"People can't afford to bury their dead," says Pastor Mick Fleming, who runs the charity Church On The Street. 

He frequently spends his time helping families pay for funerals and providing his services as a minister for free, although he says there is simply too much demand for his small charity to help everyone. 

Government or local authority grants are available to help families with funeral costs, but Pastor Mick says these can come too late as undertakers will often require a partial payment upfront. 

There's an even darker side to this, too. 

"What we're now seeing is people who are poor can't walk into the bank and get a bank loan - the economy's tough at the minute," Pastor Mick says. 

"They can't get legitimate access to money so they can't borrow it and pay a decent standard rate back, so they have to go to loan sharks."

Many then find it impossible to pay the loan back and face threats from the criminals who lent them the money, says Pastor Mick.

He recalls: "There was a middle-aged lady, she had to borrow the money to bury her son. 

"She couldn't pay the money back so then she started to get threatened and intimidated. People turning up at the house. 

"It was pretty horrendous. She was getting suicidal. She was heartbroken already and she just couldn't get the money together."

The pastor says he was able to negotiate on her behalf - something he is now having to do as part of his charity work - but "you can't do that for everybody". 

A funeral without a service

The number of funeral-related fundraisers increased by 22% on GoFundMe last year, figures shared with Sky News reveal. 

Individual donations to these fundraisers increased by almost 400,000.

Many of these are trying to avoid their loved one being given a public health funeral, which is what happens if families are unwilling or unable to pay. 

Local authorities are legally obliged to carry out funerals in this case, but they are given little guidance from the government on what this should entail - meaning each council will have its own policy on what is or isn't included. 

In some cases, a service will not be offered and a person will be cremated or buried without the presence of family members. 

Other times, the family may be allowed to attend but they might not be able to get involved in the service. 

Generally, people will be cremated, unless they have asked not to be for religious or cultural reasons. 

Those who are buried will often have a grave with no marker, or they may be placed in a communal grave. 

"For someone that's lost a child or a husband or a wife or any loved one where you just haven't been able to provide closure, there's a sense of guilt that goes with it," Pastor Mick says.

As long as funeral costs remain eye-wateringly high, families across the country will be dealing with that guilt. 

This week will see the Bank of England announce its latest interest rates decision - and experts believe borrowers will have to wait longer to see rates come down. 

Policymakers appear set to hold out for stronger signs the cost-of-living crisis has abated, with economists widely expecting the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to keep rates at the current level of 5.25%. 

Rates have been held at this level since August last year. 

At the last meeting in March, just one member of the MPC voted for rates to be cut by 0.25 percentage points, but the remaining eight members voted for no change.

Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec, said: "This broad direction illustrates that collectively the committee is moving gradually towards a rate cut.

"It seems unlikely though to be ready to bite the bullet just yet and the Bank rate looks set to remain on hold at 5.25% for the sixth consecutive meeting."

Andrew Goodwin, chief UK economist for Oxford Economics, said data on services inflation and private sector regular pay growth has "likely extinguished any remaining hopes of a move in May".

As for whether rates could be cut in June or August, he said it is likely to be a "close call". 

Economists at HSBC are also expecting the first rate cut to come in June.

Interest rates are used as a tool to help bring down UK inflation. 

The brewing giant has announced it will invest £39m in revamping 600 of its pubs across the UK - a move that will create more than 1,000 new jobs. 

The investment plan will also see pubs in its retail arm, Star Pubs & Bars, revitalised to appeal to those working from home. 

Sixty-two pubs will be reopened this year and 94 sites are set for full refurbishments. 

The remaining pubs will receive varying upgrades. 

Heineken said it wanted to "broaden each pub's use and appeal" in response to an increase in people working from home, giving customers more reason to visit throughout the day.

The refurbished pubs will have dividing screens to create separate areas for different types of customers. 

Lawson Mountstevens, chief executive at Star Pubs & Bars, said: "Fundamentally, the changes in people's working habits means that in a lot of these suburban locations, you've got more people who are around those areas a lot more.

"It's not rocket science. Those people are looking for pubs of a certain standard."

Aldi remained the cheapest supermarket last month, new analysis shows. 

The retailer has won the crown of cheapest supermarket every month so far this year, according to research by Which?. 

An average basket of 67 popular groceries cost £112.90 - more than £30 cheaper than the most expensive supermarket, Waitrose. 

A basket of comparable items in Waitrose would cost £144.13 on average. 

Here is the breakdown for each supermarket... 

• Aldi - £112.90
• Lidl - £115.23 
• Asda - £126.98
• Tesco - £128.17 
• Sainsbury's - £131.02 
• Morrisons - £134.87 
• Ocado - £136.86 
• Waitrose - £144.13. 

Food price inflation has slowed to 4.5%, its lowest level since February 2022. 

Despite being the most expensive, Waitrose and Ocado were the only grocers to win new shoppers in the first three months of the year, according to research by Kantar. 

Every Monday we get an expert to answer your money problems or consumer disputes. Find out how to submit yours at the bottom of this post. Today's question is...

"My daughter recently bought a flat and has since learnt there is an extra £600 a year management fee that was not declared by the vendor during the sales process. We have been told that the vendor was heavily involved in negotiating the management contract. Can we complain?" J Mills

Serena Amani, managing director at Monarch Solicitors , has this advice...

The general principle when buying a property is "buyer beware", which means the onus is on the buyer to perform their due diligence before contracting to purchase.

The buyer's conveyancing solicitor interrogates the contractual documentation and raises relevant enquiries to ensure the full facts and obligations are available to the buyer to make an informed decision.

In this situation, it appears the seller has failed to disclose the management fee - we assume relating to the services provided to the estate.

We can't give specific advice as we don't have access to the contractual documentation. However, we would suggest:

• To check if the obligation to pay a management fee is set out in the lease if it is a leasehold property, or the transfer deed if it is a freehold property. These documents should contain what services are provided and what the related charges are. The most common scenario is that of a leasehold flat. In this situation the services shall be set out under the service charges section. Generally, there is a provision that allows a management company to charge a management fee as a percentage of the overall service charge bill which is shared among all the leaseholders based on the size of their apartment.
• If the obligation to pay the management fee is in the contract and your conveyancer failed to notify you of this obligation, there is a potential negligence claim against the conveyancer which can be pursued through their complaints process and escalated to the legal ombudsman.
• In the rare instance that the management fee is not stipulated in the contract, then you may wish to contact the management company to obtain certified accounts for the services provided and ask them on what contractual basis they are charging a management fee. Management companies are obliged by statute to provide this information.
• If there is no contractual basis or the fees are unreasonable then you may consider bringing a claim before the property tribunal. The tribunal has the power to make a ruling on the reasonability of the management fees. It should be noted that it can be a long and arduous process and legal fees are not always recoverable even if successful.
• Where a seller has supplied misleading information about a property that materially influenced the decision to purchase the property, this could give rise to a claim for misrepresentation. Likewise, intentional concealment of this information during the sales process could constitute a breach of contract or misrepresentation. 

For more specific advice, you may wish to contact a property lawyer experienced in the conveyancing process and service charge disputes.

This feature is not intended as financial advice - the aim is to give an overview of the things you should think about.  Submit your dilemma or consumer dispute via - and please leave your contact details as we cannot follow up consumer disputes without them.

• The form above - make sure you leave a phone number or email address
• Email [email protected] with the subject line "Money blog"
• WhatsApp us  here .

The long-awaited arrival of the sun in the last few days may have got you thinking ahead to the summer... which for many means holidays.

New analysis sent to the Money team has revealed the holiday resorts that Britons have been searching for over the last few months - although it's not a particularly sun-soaked destination that has come out on top.

Amsterdam is the most in-demand holiday destination for the UK, according to a study by Desert Safari Dubai Tours. 

The company looked at Google search data over the past 12 months to find which holiday destinations were most popular in the UK, using terms such as "holidays to", "flights to" and "trips to". 

Some 57,507 searches were carried out each month for trips to Amsterdam. 

The second most in-demand was Dubai , with an average of 52,544 monthly searches. 

Here is the rest of the list...

• New York - 51,169 
• Paris - 43,326 
• Tenerife - 43,305
• Barcelona - 41,664
• Dublin - 38,801
• Gran Canaria - 33,907
• Milan - 28,549
• Istanbul - 28,097

Meanwhile, data from holiday booking site Expedia suggests Britons are chasing the sun over the summer. 

Its trending destination data shows a 50% increase in searches for mainland Greece - while its islands of Santorini and Corfu remain popular. 

Interest is also surging in Mediterranean gem Malta (up 25%), seen as a more affordable destination. 

Searches are also up 50% for Albania , which has seen a surge in interest due to social media. 

The short-haul hotspot of Tunis has seen searches rocket by 130%. 

We're back for another week of consumer news, personal finance tips and all the latest on the economy.

This is how the week in the Money blog is shaping up...

Today : Every week we ask industry experts to answer your Money Problems . Today, a Money blog reader believes they may have been misled when buying their flat - but what can they do?

Tuesday : This week's  Basically...  explains everything you need to know about the Bank of England, ahead of Thursday's base rate decision. 

Wednesday : We speak to the chef at Tom Kerridge's two-starred pub The Hand And Flowers in Buckinghamshire for his Cheap Eats.

Thursday : It's decision day for the Bank of England, and while interest rates are expected to be held at 5.25%, we may learn more about when a cut will come.  Savings Champion  founder Anna Bowes will be back with her weekly insight into the savings market.

Friday : We will be getting the latest GDP figures on this day - which could signal the UK is no longer in recession. Plus, we'll have everything you need to know about the mortgage market this week with the guys from Moneyfacts.

Running every weekday, Money features a morning markets round-up from the  Sky News business team  and regular updates and analysis from our business, City and economic correspondents, editors and presenters -  Ed Conway ,  Mark Kleinman ,  Ian King ,  Paul Kelso  and  Adele Robinson .

You'll also be able to stream  Business Live with Ian King  weekdays at 11.30am and 4.30pm.

Bookmark  news.sky.com/money  and check back from 8am, and through the day, each weekday.

The Money team is Emily Mee, Bhvishya Patel, Jess Sharp, Katie Williams, Brad Young and Ollie Cooper, with sub-editing by Isobel Souster. The blog is edited by Jimmy Rice.

You filled out the job application, got the call (they're interested, phew!), but now... it's interview day.

If the thought of selling yourself to a stranger brings you out in a cold sweat, you're not alone - but you can help yourself by not making the following common mistakes...

1. Not dressing app ropriately

Paul Webley, managing director of Blaze Media Digital Marketing Agency in Merseyside, says: "If you are coming for an interview in a marketing agency, dress smart. No need to be in a suit. It's cute if you are but just dress how you would expect to dress in the job and, if in doubt, err on the side of being slightly smarter.

"With us, there are loads of photos of the team in the office on the website and socials (which you should have looked at) so there is no excuse."

Tell us your interview mistakes/stories/tips in the comments box

2. Handshake mishaps

Paul's second interview mistake is: "This one is a real pet hate and probably doesn't matter as much in the current world but... learn how to shake a person's hand. You have to do this within every job from time to time.

"There is nothing more off-putting than a limp shake. Having a firm, polite handshake is a basic human skill in business and beyond."

3. Complaining

This is another one from Paul: "We had someone a few months ago tell us that they didn't think they should have to come into the office for an interview. This was for an office-based role. If they don't think it's worth coming in then the job is not going to be for them."

4. Not checking your tech

Tas Ravenscroft, senior consultant at recruitment firm Cherry Pick People , says: "Overlooking details like the interview location or the platform being used (such as Teams), and not testing your tech beforehand, can disrupt the interview process. This is especially crucial as most first interviews are now conducted via video conferencing."

5. Bad mouthing previous employers

Tas says: "We see that candidates sometimes feel too comfortable on interview and decide to talk about their past experiences (if aggrieved) negatively, which is a big NO. Instead, my advice is to focus on the lessons learned and how you've grown from challenges in your career."

6. Not asking questions - or asking about benefits or sick pay policy

Tas says: "There are no right or wrong answers to this, but asking questions at the end of the interview is a big YES. It shows you're interested, engaged and would like the opportunity to either progress or land the role.

"I'd say in your first interview, ask about company culture, day to day tasks, expectations of this role, who's the best performer and why? 

"Questions I'd stay away from are benefit-related questions, or I recently had someone ask what the sick pay policy was like in the first interview… Safe to say they didn't get invited back. If you work with a recruiter, you will have salary and benefits info before, so no need to ask on interview."

7. Not showing enthusiasm

For Mike Carlucci, managing director of Reading-based Italian-food importer  Tenuta Marmorelle , this is a big one: "A lot of people at the moment are applying for everything and anything. They apply for hundreds of jobs.

"The result is that you get applicants who are not enthusiastic or passionate about the role or sector as they see it just as a job. There are few people looking for actual careers at the moment. In our industry, the food industry, you need to have passion and enthusiasm."

8. Talking too much

Andrew MacAskill, founder of Executive Career Jump , says: "Sometimes this is down to nerves, other times it is down to overthinking and often it is due to the questions being too broad, which leads to them saying lots and hoping the right answer is in there somewhere."

Ian Nicholas, global managing director at Reed , says a common slip-up people make is to carry on talking after giving their answer.

"Some interviewers may purposely leave a pause just to see how the interviewee will react under the pressure - so be confident in what you've said and know when you've finished."

9. Under-preparation

Habiba Khatoon, director of Robert Walters UK , says: "This means they haven't researched the company, are unaware of the key aspects of the role they are interviewing for and can't make connections between their CV and experience and the role.

"Most interviewers can easily catch on when a candidate has turned up unprepared and when they do, they can lose interest in that candidate quite quickly."

Italian food importer Mike agrees: "It is so important to spend five minutes to go on to the website, see what the company does, how they started and any general information you can get. This really makes someone stand out from the 100s of applicants."

10. Being late - or too early

James Rowe, managing director of the Recruitment Experts , says: "I would suggest arriving 20 minutes early to give you time to prepare, but don't walk through the door too soon! Turning up five to 10 minutes prior to your interview start time shows you're punctual but won't rush the hiring manager… they need breaks too!"

By Brad Young , Money team

Almost half of Britons (45%) subscribe to two or more streaming services, according to comparison website Finder, but box office figures show the theatre-going experience is making a comeback. 

The pendulum is swinging back from streaming-first to theatre-first releases, and streaming platforms like Amazon and Apple are making moves on to the big screen with the likes of Saltburn and American Fiction, or Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon. 

That means movie-lovers are facing a conundrum, according to a senior media analyst: should they prioritise spending cash on trips to the cinema or on streaming if they want to see the biggest and best movies? 

"People are making decisions on 'what am I going to allocate to the movie theatre experience, what am I going to allocate to streaming?'" Paul Dergarabedian, of Comscore, told the Money blog.

Cinema's revival is real, according to Philip Clapp, chief executive of the UK Cinema Association. 

"Certainly the major US studios see the theatrical experience, the big screen experience, as where they want their major films to be and then benefitting from the promotional buzz that comes from that," Mr Clapp said. 

Disney chief executive Bob Iger said last year that theatrically released films were "great sub drivers".

"We benefit greatly from the power of our great films, they drive so much engagement and so much interest in our platforms," he said, pointing to Moana, Marvel, Star Wars and Avatar.

Mr Clapp added this year was a "key stepping stone" to an offering similar to before the pandemic, but cinema wouldn't be back to full strength until next year.

In the pandemic, studios experimented with straight-to-streaming releases, which continued even after restrictions fell away.

Mr Dergarabedian said: "When the pandemic hit it was a real stress test on the industry because a lot of people thought theatrical was dying on the vine and that it would be going away at some point in the near future - and then the pandemic accelerated that demise in the minds of some."

But audiences have voted with their feet and instructed studios they want more variety: international films, stadium concert films, videogame adaptations, prestige films and horrors.

Smile, a Paramount horror movie on a $17m budget that could have been straight-to-streaming, had a "great result" at the box office, said Mr Dergarabedian, as did Five Nights at Freddy's. 

Low and mid-budget movies have been the slowest to recover but are returning to the big screen, making the theatre offering more diverse this year, Mr Clapp added.

Mr Dergarabedian said Universal's "diverse portfolio" was the one to beat: it spent the last year putting out everything from action films like Fast X, prestige movies like Oppenheimer, animations like Migration and some spookier offerings too.

Going theatrical still comes with a risk, the analyst said. A flop on the big screen leaves studios with a big hit to their bottom line, having spent large amounts on distribution and marketing. 

But films "tend to have more value" once they arrive on a streaming platform if they were released in cinemas first, including lower budget movies.

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Scientists are trying to get cows pregnant with synthetic embryos

Can animals be made without sperm or eggs? The answer could upend our ideas about what life is.

• Antonio Regalado archive page

It was a cool morning at the beef teaching unit in Gainesville, Florida, and cow number #307 was bucking in her metal cradle as the arm of a student perched on a stool disappeared into her cervix. The arm held a squirt bottle of water.

Seven other animals stood nearby behind a railing; it would be their turn next to get their uterus flushed out. As soon as the contents of #307’s womb spilled into a bucket, a worker rushed it to a small laboratory set up under the barn’s corrugated gables.

“It’s something!” said a postdoc named Hao Ming, dressed in blue overalls and muck boots, corralling a pink wisp of tissue under the lens of a microscope. But then he stepped back, not as sure. “It’s hard to tell.”

The experiment, at the University of Florida, is an attempt to create a large animal starting only from stem cells—no egg, no sperm, and no conception. A week earlier, “synthetic embryos,” artificial structures created in a lab, had been transferred to the uteruses of all eight cows. Now it was time to see what had grown.

About a decade ago, biologists started to observe that stem cells, left alone in a walled plastic container, will spontaneously self-assemble and try to make an embryo . These structures, sometimes called “embryo models” or embryoids, have gradually become increasingly realistic. In 2022, a lab in Israel grew the mouse version in a jar until cranial folds and a beating heart appeared.

At the Florida center, researchers are now attempting to go all the way. They want to make a live animal. If they do, it wouldn’t just be a totally new way to breed cattle. It could shake our notion of what life even is. “There has never been a birth without an egg,” says Zongliang “Carl” Jiang, the reproductive biologist heading the project. “Everyone says it is so cool, so important, but show me more data—show me it can go into a pregnancy. So that is our goal.”

For now, success isn’t certain, mostly because lab-made embryos generated from stem cells still aren’t exactly like the real thing. They’re more like an embryo seen through a fun-house mirror; the right parts, but in the wrong proportions . That’s why these are being flushed out after just a week—so the researchers can check how far they’ve grown and to learn how to make better ones .

“The stem cells are so smart they know what their fate is,” says Jiang. “But they also need help.”

So far, most research on synthetic embryos has involved mouse or human cells, and it’s stayed in the lab. But last year Jiang, along with researchers in Texas, published a recipe for making a bovine version, which they called “cattle blastoids” for their resemblance to blastocysts, the stage of the embryo suitable for IVF procedures.  

Some researchers think that stem-cell animals could be as big a deal as Dolly the sheep, whose birth in 1996 brought cloning technology to barnyards. Cloning, in which an adult cell is placed in an egg, has allowed scientists to copy mice, cattle, pet dogs, and even polo ponies. The players on one Argentine team all ride clones of the same champion mare , named Dolfina.

Synthetic embryos are clones, too—of the starting cells you grow them from. But they’re made without the need for eggs and can be created in far larger numbers—in theory, by the tens of thousands. And that’s what could revolutionize cattle breeding. Imagine that each year’s calves were all copies of the most muscled steer in the world, perfectly designed to turn grass into steak.

“I would love to see this become cloning 2.0,” says Carlos Pinzón-Arteaga , the veterinarian who spearheaded the laboratory work in Texas. “It’s like Star Wars with cows.”

Endangered species

Industry has started to circle around. A company called Genus PLC, which specializes in assisted reproduction of “genetically superior” pigs and cattle, has begun buying patents on synthetic embryos. This year it started funding Jiang’s lab to support his effort, locking up a commercial option to any discoveries he might make.

Zoos are interested too. With many endangered animals, assisted reproduction is difficult. And with recently extinct ones, it’s impossible. All that remains is some tissue in a freezer. But this technology could, theoretically, blow life back into these specimens—turning them into embryos, which could be brought to term in a surrogate of a sister species.

But there’s an even bigger—and stranger—reason to pay attention to Jiang’s effort to make a calf: several labs are creating super-realistic synthetic human embryos as well. It’s an ethically charged arena, particularly given recent changes in US abortion laws. Although these human embryoids are considered nonviable—mere “models” that are fair-game for research—all that could all change quickly if the Florida project succeeds. 

“If it can work in an animal, it can work in a human,” says Pinzón-Arteaga, who is now working at Harvard Medical School. “And that’s the Black Mirror episode.”

Industrial embryos

Three weeks before cow #307 stood in the dock, she and seven other heifers had been given stimulating hormones, to trick their bodies into thinking they were pregnant. After that, Jiang’s students had loaded blastoids into a straw they used like a popgun to shoot them towards each animal’s oviducts.

Many researchers think that if a stem-cell animal is born, the first one is likely to be a mouse. Mice are cheap to work with and reproduce fast. And one team has already grown a synthetic mouse embryo for eight days in an artificial womb—a big step, since a mouse pregnancy lasts only three weeks.

But bovines may not be far behind. There’s a large assisted-reproduction industry in cattle, with more than a million IVF attempts a year, half of them in North America. Many other beef and dairy cattle are artificially inseminated with semen from top-rated bulls. “Cattle is harder,” says Jiang. “But we have all the technology.”

The thing that came out of cow #307 turned out to be damaged, just a fragment. But later that day, in Jiang’s main laboratory, students were speed-walking across the linoleum holding something in a petri dish. They’d retrieved intact embryonic structures from some of the other cows. These looked long and stringy, like worms, or the skin shed by a miniature snake.

That’s precisely what a two-week-old cattle embryo should look like. But the outer appearance is deceiving, Jiang says. After staining chemicals are added, the specimens are put under a microscope. Then the disorder inside them is apparent. These “elongated structures,” as Jiang calls them, have the right parts—cells of the embryonic disc and placenta—but nothing is in quite the right place.

“I wouldn’t call them embryos yet, because we still can’t say if they are healthy or not,” he says. “Those lineages are there, but they are disorganized.”

Cloning 2.0

Jiang demonstrated how the blastoids are grown in a plastic plate in his lab. First, his students deposit stem cells into narrow tubes. In confinement, the cells begin communicating and very quickly start trying to form a blastoid. “We can generate hundreds of thousands of blastoids. So it’s an industrial process,” he says. “It’s really simple.”

That scalability is what could make blastoids a powerful replacement for cloning technology. Cattle cloning is still a tricky process, which only skilled technicians can manage, and it requires eggs, too, which come from slaughterhouses. But unlike blastoids, cloning is well established and actually works, says Cody Kime, R&D director at Trans Ova Genetics, in Sioux Center, Iowa. Each year, his company clones thousands of pigs as well as hundreds of prize-winning cattle.

“A lot of people would like to see a way to amplify the very best animals as easily as you can,” Kime says. “But blastoids aren’t functional yet. The gene expression is aberrant to the point of total failure. The embryos look blurry, like someone sculpted them out of oatmeal or Play-Doh. It’s not the beautiful thing that you expect. The finer details are missing.”

This spring, Jiang learned that the US Department of Agriculture shared that skepticism, when they rejected his application for $650,000 in funding.  “I got criticism: ‘Oh, this is not going to work.’ That this is high risk and low efficiency,” he says. “But to me, this would change the entire breeding program.”

One problem may be the starting cells. Jiang uses bovine embryonic stem cells—taken from cattle embryos. But these stem cells aren’t as quite as versatile as they need to be. For instance, to make the first cattle blastoids, the team in Texas had to add a second type of cell, one that can make a placenta.

What’s needed instead are specially prepared “naïve” cells that are better poised to form the entire conceptus—both the embryo and placenta. Jiang showed me a PowerPoint with a large grid of different growth factors and lab conditions he is testing. Growing stem cells in different chemicals can shift the pattern of genes that are turned on. The latest batch of blastoids, he says, were made using a newer recipe and only needed to start with one type of cell.

Slaughterhouse

Jiang can’t say how long it will be before he makes a calf. His immediate goal is a pregnancy that lasts 30 days. If a synthetic embryo can grow that long, he thinks, it could go all the way, since “most pregnancy loss in cattle is in the first month.”

For a project to reinvent reproduction, Jiang’s budget isn’t particularly large, and he frets about the $2-a-day bill to feed each of his cows. During a tour of UFL’s animal science department, he opened the door to a slaughter room, a vaulted space with tracks and chains overhead, where a man in a slicker was running a hose. It smelled like freshly cleaned blood.

This is where cow #307 ended up. After a about 20 embryo transfers over three years, her cervix was worn out, and she came here. She was butchered, her meat wrapped and labeled, and sold to the public at market prices from a small shop at the front of the building. It’s important to everyone at the university that the research subjects aren’t wasted. “They are food,” says Jiang.

But there’s still a limit to how many cows he can use. He had 18 fresh heifers ready to join the experiment, but what if only 1% of embryos ever develop correctly? That would mean he’d need 100 surrogate mothers to see anything. It reminds Jiang of the first attempts at cloning: Dolly the sheep was one of 277 tries, and the others went nowhere. “How soon it happens may depend on industry. They have a lot of animals. It might take 30 years without them,” he says.

“It’s going to be hard,” agrees Peter Hansen, a distinguished professor in Jiang’s department. “But whoever does it first …” He lets the thought hang. “In vitro breeding is the next big thing.”

Human question

Cattle aren’t the only species in which researchers are checking the potential of synthetic embryos to keep developing into fetuses. Researchers in China have transplanted synthetic embryos into the wombs of monkeys several times. A report in 2023 found that the transplants caused hormonal signals of pregnancy, although no monkey fetus emerged.

Because monkeys are primates, like us, such experiments raise an obvious question. Will a lab somewhere try to transfer a synthetic embryo to a person? In many countries that would be illegal, and scientific groups say such an experiment should be strictly forbidden.

This summer, research leaders were alarmed by a media frenzy around reports of super-realistic models of human embryos that had been created in labs in the UK and Israel—some of which seemed to be nearly perfect mimics. To quell speculation, in June the International Society for Stem Cell Research, a powerful science and lobbying group, put out a statement declaring that the models “are not embryos” and “ cannot and will not develop to the equivalent of postnatal stage humans .”

Some researchers worry that was a reckless thing to say. That’s because the statement would be disproved, biologically, as soon as any kind of stem-cell animal is born. And many top scientists expect that to happen. “I do think there is a pathway. Especially in mice, I think we will get there,” says Jun Wu, who leads the research group at UT Southwestern Medical Center, in Dallas, that collaborated with Jiang. “The question is, if that happens, how will we handle a similar technology in humans?”

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