Further back, Barry Fitzgerald scored a win for Ireland at the Oscars in the best supporting actor category in 1945, for his performance in the musical comedy Going My Way, while Brenda Fricker did likewise in the best supporting actress category in 1990, for her part in the biographical drama My Left Foot.

The town was chosen by the Sunday Times for being a “thriving location with a strong sense of community”.

A surprising town with a famous neighbour is one of the top places to live in the UK. The Sunday Times Best Places to Live guide chose it as one of the top spots, beating more predictable choices.

The guide described the town of Penryn near Cornwall as being a “little rougher round the edges than neighbouring Falmouth”, but the judges were looking for “thriving locations with a strong sense of community” rather than well-known areas with steep property prices.

Penryn’s “energy, creativity and community” were highlighted as key factors for its inclusion. The Sunday Times also says it’s a hub for “endless adventures”, boasting “all kinds of community groups”, reports Cornwall Live.

In their description of Penryn, The Sunday Times judges noted: “Penryn is a little rougher round the edges than neighbouring Falmouth, but what it lacks in arty-crafty knick-knack stores and beachside saunas, it more than makes up for in energy, creativity and community.”

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They continued: “Every old workshop, boathouse or ope – as the back alleys are known here – seems to be home to a local craftsperson or entrepreneur up to something forward-looking and fascinating, whether it’s a pottery studio, an art gallery, a yoga studio, or the Cornish Poetry Library.

“There is the potential for endless adventures in the surrounding waters and countryside, and all kinds of community groups are doing good works or organising sports and activities.”

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Helen Davies, editorial projects director and Best Places to Live editor, remarked: “It is easy to feel overwhelmed by everything going on in the world, but there really is so much to celebrate as we look closer to home. From small gestures that lift the everyday – like verges blooming with daffodils and volunteer-run dementia cafés, to larger initiatives from repair cafés to new railway stations.

“What makes our guide unique is that we actually visit all the places we choose and talk to locals to find out what life is really like there. That means we can see what people really love about the places they live. That could be anything from exceptional schools and fast trains to beautiful houses and countryside.

“The health of the high street is important, but more than anything else, what we are looking for are towns, villages and cities with strong communities who work hard to make the best of where they live, and play hard too.

“We also consider affordability. High house prices are no barrier to inclusion – as long as they provide value for money. Different people will be looking for different qualities when they are choosing a place to live. One thing all our chosen locations have in common is that the people who live in them are proud to call them home.”

Past recipients of the Best Places to Live in Britain accolade include North Berwick, East Lothian (2024), Stamford, Lincolnshire (2013); Skipton, North Yorkshire (2014); Newnham, Cambridge (2015); Winchester, Hampshire (2016); Bristol (2017), York (2018), Salisbury, Wiltshire (2019), Altrincham, Cheshire (2020) Stroud, Gloucestershire (2021), Ilkley, West Yorkshire (2022) Wadhurst, and East Sussex (2023)

Customers may also be getting bonus payments this year

A senior figure from Nationwide Building Society has provided an update about its branch services available for customers. The announcement from the lender follows a recent statement it issued concerning all 605 of its high street locations.

Banking sector leaders recently addressed the Treasury Committee about initiatives to open up access to financial services. Stephen Noakes, director of retail at Nationwide, discussed the significance of maintaining a physical presence on the high street for the building society.

He told the MPs: “In the last 12 months, 56 per cent of our customers used our branches. For Nationwide, it is not a minority offering. If you look to the demographic of the average Nationwide customer using a branch, it is typically older.”

Customers can use numerous services at a Nationwide branch, including making deposits or withdrawals from accounts, or paying in cheques. Information from the savings giant explains that every branch has a manager who can provide support with financial matters or concerns you may be experiencing.

While numerous banks are scaling back their high street presence, Mr Noakes said he thinks it’s vital people have access to in-person services. He said: “We are probably seeing a disproportionate number of those customers who are offline, but I think it is good for the development of the banking sector that you have a large mutual – it is not just ourselves; other building societies are in the same situation – that will continue to do more channel of choice.

“I think that situation will exist beyond 2030, when we currently have our branch commitment to.” Nationwide has pledged to keep open all its 605 current branches until at least 2030.

The building society will only close or relocate a branch if circumstances arise beyond its control. Nationwide says in its online guidance that it will only shut down or move a branch if “there’s no other workable option”.

£100 bonus payments for Nationwide members

One benefit of holding a Nationwide account in recent years is that you may have received bonus money credited to your account. The building society operates a Fairer Share scheme, through which it distributes profits among its members.

Three payments have been made through the initiative to date across the last three years, with £100 given to millions of members on each occasion. Nationwide previously said it would soon decide whether there would be another round of bonuses for 2026 based on its performance.

A spokesperson said: “Nationwide’s Board will decide on a Fairer Share payment for 2026 and it will depend on our financial performance. That assessment will be made after our financial year-end, with the eligibility criteria for this year being agreed then too.

“The decision will be announced as part of our full-year results in May.” More than four million customers received the payment last year.

To be eligible, you needed to hold a qualifying current account, alongside either a qualifying savings account or a qualifying mortgage.

Luxury Persian rugs are stacked in piles in the Los Angeles shop which Eric Saddigh has owned for decades.

He shakes out a small handwoven rug with a peacock design. “This one is $25,000,” he says. A lot of his customers are Beverly Hills millionaires. The opulence seems far removed from the horrors of war, but for Eric, who left Iran aged 15, his homeland is never far from mind.

Follow the latest on the war in Iran

Portraits of the shahs, the monarchs who ruled Iran until the 1979 revolution, are displayed on the wall. The tricolour flag is hanging in the doorway, and in Eric there is optimism that the war launched by the US will result in a freer Iran.

“I was just watching the news in Iran. They’re all joyous,” he says. “They are being bombed. At the same time, they’re okay with it. It’s amazing. I mean, I’m sitting here, I’m cheering, but I’m not under the threat of bombs.”

I ask if Eric thinks Donald Trump did the right thing by launching strikes.

“Donald Trump is doing a favour for the whole humanity,” he says. “Keeping these people’s hands off nuclear bombs. And some people, like Democrats, they’re full of baloney. They created this monster.”

Eric’s father is 91 and still lives in Tehran. They usually communicate via WhatsApp, but since the war broke out two weeks ago, communication channels have been shut down, and he’s been relying on his father to contact him.

“My dad says it is chaos there, but he’s not afraid of the bombs; collateral damage is a part of war,” he says.

“God forbid, if my father gets killed, I would understand. I’m not going to be against it happening, there is a price to pay for freedom. Two months ago, 50,000 of our citizens got murdered – that bothers me. But we are trying to get free from this evil Nazi regime.”

The Westwood and Beverly Hills areas of Los Angeles are home to the biggest diaspora of Iranians anywhere in the world. It’s known colloquially as Tehrangeles or Little Persia.

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In Atari cafe, in so-called Persian Square, the birthplace of the Iranian business community here, waiters bring out platefuls of kebabs and rice. Serge Abdishoo, who left Iran with his family aged eight, is waiting to meet a friend.

“It feels like we’re on the cusp of finally being able to breathe again after 47 years, if it’s actually successful,” he says. “But I mean first and foremost, my concern is for America… this is the country that’s been housing us, caring for us all these years.

“What are the repercussions to Americans? Innocent lives can easily be lost here due to that. I hope Homeland Security has a plan in place and that things have been controlled, but I’m very concerned.”

Mohammad Ghafarian owns a bakery and fruit and vegetable shop selling lavash bread, dates and other fresh food to a mostly Persian customer base. Mohammad, who has been in America for 53 years, is desperately hoping for change in Iran.

“I would love to go back to at least visit my brothers, my sisters,” he says. “In the end, I think this war is not finished so soon. But we’re going to have a hard time in America because of the prices going up, the price of oil going up, price of everything, grocery, everything goes up.”

The American intervention isn’t universally popular here. Aida, who is of Armenian descent, is running errands in Tehrangeles.

“I have many Iranian friends, and I understand they want a new regime, but this is not something so easy. It is a mess,” she says.

“This is not gonna end unless somebody throws a bomb, a nuclear bomb. Because right now, it will be one fighting with the other. How can this end so quickly? Donald Trump won’t and Iran is [intent on] revenge. So when revenge is in the game, that game doesn’t get over so quickly.”

Aida is one of few dissenting voices in this area, though. Seven thousand miles from Iran, the overwhelming majority here support the war in their homeland and celebrate the US president who brought it about.

It’s the first time in 16 years Belfast’s Big Two have met in a final

Versatile James Singleton believes it could be glorious finale to the season for Glentoran – starting with Sunday’s massive McLean Cup Final showdown against rivals Linfield at Windsor Park.

Declan Devine’s men also have their sights set on the Irish League title. They haven’t had their hands on the Gibson Cup since 2009, but are hot on the tails of League leaders Larne.

Singleton, however, is targeting a first piece of silverware in the form of the BetMcLean Cup. Incredibly, it’s the first time in 16 years Belfast’s Big Two have met in a final – and the former Glenavon man wants to make the most of it.

“We are in good shape approaching the game,” he said. “Linfield beat us recently at Windsor in a League game, but there was nothing in the match . . . that was our only defeat in 12 games or so.

“We created good chances on the night, but Linfield took one that came there way.

“It probably wasn’t the best game of football, but Linfield managed to get the three points on the day.”

Singleton believes Glentoran now have a squad capable of challenging for all major honours.

“The manager has brought in some fantastic players at the start of the season and in January as well,” he added. “We now have two quality players for each position.

“We are in a good place at the minute. We can produce flair, but we can also dig in when needed.

“It’s been hectic over the past few weeks in terms of playing schedule. It has been rest, recovery and play because we have been involved in so many games.

“There is so much at stake in every game, we couldn’t afford to look ahead in terms of this Cup Final, but we are ready to go, it should be a great spectacle.

“We would love to get over the line for our supporters. They have stuck with us through thick and thin, it would be great to give them something to celebrate.”

Meanwhile, Linfield boss David Healy believes is team must show a big improvement following their unconvincing League win over Portadown.

“The most important thing is winning at this time of the season,” he said. “We should have been better, we could have played better. It was disappointing.

“But we found a way to win and that’s the most important thing.

“We are trying to close the gap on the teams above us, but we will need to be better going forward.

“We’ll certainly need to improve against Glentoran or we’ll be found out. It should be a great spectacle, I’m excited and I’m looking forward to it.”

The introduction of VAR (Visual Assisted Referee) will also be in use for the first time in a local game.

Healy added: “Firstly, as a club we were not consulted, which was disappointing.

“I know it’s used throughout the world, but hopefully, it will not be the topic of conversation 20 minutes after the game.

“People form their own opinions; it remains to be seen whether it will be a success or not.”

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Bryan, from the South East, was deeply moved while clearing out his mother’s belongings after her death.

“She’d held onto every single card I’d ever sent to her since before I could actually write her name. I expect she’d bought that one and guided my infant hand to write it.”

“She was a pragmatic, hard-lived woman not given to emotion, but she’d clearly valued those cards. It’s not the expensive presents she wanted, just a quiet, sincere expression of appreciation and knowing she was loved,” Bryan says.

The best gift Jayne, from Yorkshire, received was her first as a grandma. “My daughter couldn’t afford much, so she made a card and inside it was a foot and hand print of my then 6-month-old grandson, I cried!”

“I still have that print alongside larger ones of when he was a little older in a frame, on my stairway,” she says.

Jayne will never forget how her mum reacted when she gifted her a Pendelfin bunny, which she bought when she was 12 years old with her babysitting money.

“It was in the window of the paper shop on the way to school. Each week, I went in and paid a little bit off it until it was mine,” she explains.

“My mum cried when I gave her it on the morning of Mother’s Day and she had it until the day she died.”

Seasonal blooms

Flowers topped the list as one of the most-mentioned gifts from our readers.

He was already serving a life sentence for murdering his sister-in-law

A convicted murderer who attacked a prisoner officer by stabbing him with a plastic knife, has had his sentence extended.

Moustapha Dia, 28, approached the prison officer, who was locking doors on the wing of HMP Whitemoor, near March, at about 2pm on October 19 2024.

Dia whispered something to him, then quickly grabbed him into a headlock and began stabbing him to the head, face and neck with a plastic knife. The attack only stopped when other prison officers managed to intervene and disarm Dia.

The victim was taken to Peterborough City Hospital, where he was treated for concussion and several cuts to his face and neck.

Dia denied the charges and stood trial at Huntingdon Law Courts in January, where he was found guilty of being in possession of an offensive weapon in prison and wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

At Huntingdon Law Courts on Thursday (March 12), Dia had four years added onto his existing life sentence.

DC Emma Purser, who investigated, said: “This was a ferocious and cowardly attack by Dia, who targeted a prison officer much smaller in stature than him. Luckily the officer was only left with superficial injuries, but the intent was there to do much worse.

“There is no doubt that prison officers do a difficult job in challenging circumstances, and this attack will no doubt have a lasting psychological impact on the victim, who was just trying to do his job.

“This level of violence is completely unacceptable and I am pleased that Dia has faced justice for his actions despite denying the charges.”

Mary Trump has accused her uncle Donald Trump of throwing a baseball ‘as hard as he could’ at her when she was just five years old, with journalist April Ryan calling the president the male version ‘of Cruella de Vil’

President Donald Trump was accused by his niece of supposedly hurling a baseball “as hard as he could” at her when she was merely five years old.

Speaking frankly with journalist April Ryan, the president’s niece discussed the family dynamics, explaining that her grandmother would typically spend time with the girls whilst her grandfather would spend time with the boys. “I tried to hang with my brother and my cousin and my uncles, but one, I was the youngest, and two, I was a girl, so they didn’t really want me around, but I would try,” Mary remembered.

Mary recounted on Friday that whenever the future president would visit, which she said was frequent given that they spent most weekends there, she would often try to play sports with him and her Uncle Rob. “We’d play either soccer or throw baseball in the backyard,” she told Ryan.

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“So yes, I would play ball with them,” Mary continued. “But Donald, despite the fact that he was 20 years older than I was and I was five, would still throw the ball as hard as he possibly could.”

Ryan was stunned by the revelation. “What? Oh my God,” she exclaimed whilst labelling the president the male equivalent “of Cruella de Vil.”, reports the Irish Star.

Mary Trump has consistently criticised her uncle since he returned to office. Most recently, Mary condemned the president after he appeared to forget where his father was born. During a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump mistakenly claimed that his father was born in Germany. “I love the U.K., my mother was born there,” Trump remarked whilst discussing the nation’s energy and immigration issues.

The president then gestured towards Merz, stating, “My father was… he knows all about my father. My father was born there.” However, the president is mistaken. His late father was actually born in the Bronx, New York. Mary subsequently posted a biting tweet accusing the president of being incorrect.

“This is not the kind of insider knowledge most people have access to, but my grandfather, Fred Trump, Sr., was not born in Germany,” she declared. “He was born in the Bronx, NY, and grew up in Woodhaven, Queens–something you’d think his favourite son would know.”

Representatives for Donald Trump have been approached for comment.

Santander will close 40 branches across the UK in April and May 2026, with 13 shutting on April 28-29 and 27 more by May 20 – here’s the full list of closures

Banking giant Santander is set to close 40 branches across the UK in weeks. The bank announced in January that it was reducing its presence on the high street by a total of 44 locations, including four which closed that month.

It said at the time that a further 40 branches would go by the end of May, explaining the move was as a result of customers turning to online services. The lender said that more than nine out of 10 (96%) of customer transactions were now conducted through digital platforms.

Santander also confirmed that a total of 291 jobs were at risk as a result of the planned closures. That announcement came less than 12 months after the Spanish banking firm announced the closure of 95 branches last March, a decision that impacted 750 employees.

In July 2025 Santander’s then UK chief executive Mike Regnier, revealed that about 2,000 jobs had been lost during the preceding year under the bank’s restructuring. At that time he said more redundancies “might well be” likely.

Santander said then affected branches will be succeeded by “community bankers” through Santander Local stores or shared banking hubs. He said this would continue to give access to services for customers in those areas hit by the closures.

The next wave of closures is now due to take place in weeks. The affected branches are listed below.

Branches closing in April 2026:

• Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland – April 28
• Boston, Lincolnshire – April 28
• Evesham, Worcestershire – April 28
• Mold, Clwyd – April 28
• Ramsgate, Kent – April 28
• Woking, Surrey – April 28
• Bangor, County Down – April 29
• Bridgwater, Somerset – April 29
• Kirkintilloch, Lanarkshire – April 29
• Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire – April 29
• Newbury, Berkshire – April 29
• Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire – April 29
• Tonbridge, Kent – April 29

Branches closing in May 2026

• Bishop Auckland, County Durham – May 5
• Gosport, Hampshire – May 5
• Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire – May 5
• Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire – May 5
• Pontefract, West Yorkshire – May 5
• Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire – May 5
• Glengormley, County Antrim – May 6
• Leyland, Lancashire – May 6
• Mansfield, Nottinghamshire – May 6
• Merthyr Tydfil, Mid Glamorgan – May 6
• Northallerton, North Yorkshire – May 6
• Ringwood, Hampshire – May 6
• Andover, Hampshire – May 12
• Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan – May 12
• Enniskillen, County Fermanagh – May 12
• Macclesfield, Cheshire – May 12
• Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire – May 12
• Cwmbran, Gwent – May 13
• Golders Green, London – May 13
• Heswall, Merseyside – May 13
• Redditch, Worcestershire – May 13
• Stranraer, Wigtownshire – May 13
• Newton Abbot, Devon – May 19
• Stafford, Staffordshire – May 19
• Banbridge, County Down – May 19
• Liskeard, Cornwall – May 20
• Shirley, West Midlands – May 20

Most free to play video games are online shooters but a reader asks what would happen if every game was free and anyone could play anything they wanted.

Video games are weird when it comes to prices. The average cost of a game has barely increased at all in 40 years and consoles only a relatively little amount. Which sounds good in theory, except they’re still expensive to most people and not the sort of thing you really buy without either a lot of research or a good sale.

People don’t want to pay more but publishers desperately need them to, because the cost of making games definitely has gone up over the years. The solution to this has been free-to-play games where they make their money, not on the game but the microtransactions, with skins and other cosmetics that seem utterly worthless to me but are apparently highly desirable to some people.

A couple of million people paying £70 for a game is nothing compared to tens of millions paying £7 for a skin every other week and so we arrive at a place where Fortnite is virtually a video games industry in itself, and half of all games that people play are the same 10 that have been out for the best part of a decade.

PIC 1

Almost all of these free-to-play games are online multiplayer games, mostly shooters but also things like Rocket League. This is because competitive games are the most universally popular, that anyone can understand in an instant, but also because you’re competing against other people you’ve also got a lot of reasons to buy skin and gear, to show off to other people.

But what if all games were free (just by magic or whatever, I’m not suggesting this is a real thing that could happen) and microtransactions weren’t a thing or were also free. What would people play then, if their personal preference was all that mattered?

When I first started this thought experiment, I imagined all the obscure genres that I love, like real-time strategies and space combat simulators, that would come back, because people would be free to pick and choose and experiment. Money would no longer be an issue, and so people would be free to follow their whims and discover all sorts of weird and wonderful things they had no idea they’d like.

And then I realised I was being naïve and that in reality almost nothing would change. Even if games didn’t cost money they take time and most people aren’t interested in spending it learning something new when they only sat down for a game for a quick blast or to relax (which is perfectly fine, I’m not dissing that).

In fact, we’ve had very clear evidence that nothing would change with Game Pass, which is free at the point of use. Instead of sampling lots of previously unknown games and taking a chance on weird indie titles, people just stick to what they know, either because they’re not interested or are literally paralysed with choice.

I’ve also heard of people flicking through a dozen or more games at a time and playing them only for a few minutes and writing them off instantly. Not just because of time but also because they don’t have any faith that they’ll like anything they didn’t already know about.

That, I’m afraid, is human nature. You see it on Netflix and other streaming services too. It’s not the avant-garde shows that are popular it’s the dumb as rocks ones. And what kind of movies do Netflix make for itself? Other than a few that are specifically meant as Oscar bait, they’re usually incredibly stupid action films that sell themselves as having an actor you’ve already heard of in them.

I just don’t think there’s anyway to make a substantial number of people interested in gaming the way fans are. That should be obvious – most people have their own hobbies that they’re more attached to – but I think the high cost of gaming makes us think that if only they were cheaper people’s tastes and wants would radically change.

I don’t think they would though. Maybe they’d expand slightly but the further you go back in time, when there were more genres in the mainstream, it’s not just because games were cheaper to make back then but because the majority of people were gamers and they were looking for something new and interesting.

Now the majority of people that play games don’t consider it an important hobby to them. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s the price of being successful, but it also shows why Xbox’s goal of having three billion players was always nonsense. There aren’t that many people in the world that will ever like games that much and we just have to accept that.

By reader Heckler

The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot.

Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you won’t need to send an email.

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