Le Journal

Fleet managers don’t get paid to argue on Facebook. They get paid to look at the numbers, and make decisions in the best financial interests of their companies. According to studies that follow real-world fleets in the most extreme, cold-weather conditions in America, EVs don’t just survive — they thrive, beating out diesel on the balance sheet. more…

New LGBTQ+ festival included McKellen in a fiery monologue and Norton in conversation, as well as a queer ceilidh and ‘kilted yoga’Sir Ian McKellen is on stage blowing up a red balloon. For a man of 86, he has impressive lung capacity. He lets it go and watches it take a satisfyingly theatrical trajectory, rising to a height, then plummeting. “Free the spirit,” he says, in character as Ed, an elderly gay man searching for release.There was a lot of spirit-freeing over the weekend at Pitlochry Festival theatre. In a bold pre-season move by new artistic director Alan Cumming, the UK’s most idyllic venue launched its first LGBTQ+ festival in an atmosphere of exuberance. Programmed by Lewis Hetherington, Out in the Hills was a three-day compendium of talks, scratch performances and workshops that turned a sedate theatre into a buzzy social hive. Continue reading...

Aliens drawn by a 2000AD artist, graphics echoing the Dark Side of the Moon cover, Dennis the Menace fronting bacon and baked bean flavour … we pop open a new 140-page celebration of the weirdest, wildest crisp bags everWould you eat a smoky spider flavour Monster Munch? What about a Bovril crisp, cooked up to celebrate the release of Back to the Future? Then there’s hedgehog flavour – and even a Wallace and Gromit corn snack designed to capture the unique taste of moon cheese, which the duo rocketed off to collect in A Grand Day Out.All these salty, crunchy and perhaps even tasty snacks are celebrated in UK Crisp Packets 1970-2000, a 140-page compendium that delves into the colourful, often strange and occasionally wild world of crisp packet design. The book will come as a heavy hit of nostalgia for many people, featuring various childhood favourites – Chipsticks, Frazzles, Snaps – along with the lesser known and the rare. Continue reading...

I’ve spent countless hours here at Electrek doing detailed hands-on testing of hundreds of electric bikes. Through thousands of miles of riding, I’ve been fortunate to learn these e-bikes inside and out, top to bottom and front to back. That long-term experience with real-world e-bike testing has helped me find the best electric bicycles on the market for just about any budget. Below are some of the top e-bikes I’ve hand-tested for every price range, current as of January 2026. It’s a brand new year and many retailers are trying to start it off strong, snagging customers who might regret not getting an e-bike during the holiday season. So you just might find a better deal than you were expecting on a new e-bike. Check out the awesome e-bikes below, any one of which could become your next electric bike. more…