uk

The Best Festival Tents

If you've been to festivals before, you're more than likely to have suffered from the ‘wisdom' of a friend who claimed that you should save money on the tent for beer. After said beers, you return to your campsite, with the tent hanging off a tree and your belongings strewn across the grounds.

On the other hand, you could invest in a sturdy piece of gear that could last you several festivals - like the following:

• The Constellation DLX Cygnus is a perfect choice for you and your buddies. Set-up time clocks in at around 10 minutes and features a LED lighting system inside.
• The Vango AirBeam Genesis 300 is definitely a pricy investment, but a worthwhile one if you value your time. No poles, just inflatable tubes and it just takes 4 minutes to set up.
• The Antic White is the cheapest and fastest option in terms of setting up. It's customisable for your own designs if you want to make it stand out from the crowd, too.

Read on to find out how those who opt not to bother with a tent survive - you might find you're glad you don't share their apparent reckless attitude; not least when you consider how utterly unreliable the British weather can be. Staring up at the stars as you drift off is a nice idea, but what if you can't see for your eyes being filled up with rain?

The British media got very excited last week when rumours started going round that Kate Middleton had gone into labour. On Friday afternoon, Twitter was awash with claims she had moved to St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, and, inevitably, blogs and national papers soon followed suit.

FOLLOW OUR LIVE BLOG OF THE BIRTH HERE

It turned out that none of it was true, but it has led to fevered speculation about when the royal baby is due. The fact is that other than the royal family and a few doctors, no one really knows. Despite repeated attempts to find out from reporters, the couple and their spokespeople have remained tight-lipped.

However, there have been a few clues dropped. Earlier this year, whilst she was meeting the public, Kate let slip that she was due around "mid-July". This led many to guess that the baby was due this weekend just gone. Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, gave an even clearer indication yesterday though, revealing:

"We don't know what's going to happen. We're all waiting at the end of a telephone. I hope by the end of the week he or she will be there."

One thing has not changed since I have returned to France: using public transportation.

Tourists have been invading France every summer and I understand why, as the French Riviera is an amazing place- it's like heaven on earth. From its nice weather and its proximity to the Mediterranean Sea and the Italian border, to its delicious ice creams and beautiful landscapes. People are able to understand why I cherish this place so much. Let's get back to business as I am losing track of what I wanted to say...

So I have been using public transportation here, as it's impossible to drive when there are so many tourists and hence traffic. The public transportation somewhat reminds me of London and its underground, DLR and other ways of transporting yourself to every single inch of the big city. I find public transportation pretty interesting as it is a place where companies use space to promote their products.

Differences in Advertising

Let me give you more details. Back when I lived in London I remember myself staring at all the ads and watching all the commercials, as this is an area I'm personally interested in. I have been studying advertising for years now and so I know something about French ads and those you can find in magazines.

Glastonbury music festival ended last night after 3 days of live music, huge crowds and (unusually) pretty good weather.

British folk band Mumford and Sons closed this year's festival, headlining the main stage last night. In their typically energetic style they got the crowd dancing throughout their set, before ending with a unique rendition of the classic Beatles song ‘With a Little Help from my Friends'. Fittingly, they got a number of other performers to join them on stage for the final song, including Vampire Weekend, The Vaccines and The Staves- you can watch it below.

A new survey by Times Higher Education has asked more than 12,000 undergraduate students how happy they are at their university. The results reveal a top 10 UK universities that offer their students the best experience in terms of lectures, staff, social life and accommodation.

The University of East Anglia (UEA- pictured above) came out in the coveted top spot, ahead of traditionally more prestigious universities like Oxford and Cambridge. UEA's vice-chancellor Prof Nigel Norris was not surprised by the results, saying:

"Our commitment to providing a gold-plated student experience is long-standing and ingrained. This latest endorsement has been made possible only by the hard work and creativity of our academics, support staff and, of course, the students themselves who never cease to inspire us."