East Cambridgeshire District Council ordered the fence to be torn down for its impact on the character of the area

A Fordham man has been told to tear down a two metre tall fence despite claiming the council had approved “an identical adjacent fence”.

East Cambridgeshire District Council handed Alan Nash an enforcement notice after the metal fence was put up without planning permission at his Moor Road property. They said the fence exceeds the height limit of one metre next to a “highway used by vehicular traffic.”

Mr Nash, of A.L.N. Carpentry and Joinery Limited appealed the notice to the Planning Inspectorate but they backed up the council’s decision. Inspector R Bartlett said the fence, which is painted green, is “softened” by the mature hedges in front of it, but “remains visible through gaps”.

They added that the hedge cover can’t be relied upon to hide the fence in the long-term and will be “less effective during winter months” and the gates “fail to respect the edge of settlement rural character of the road and its surroundings”.

The inspector said Mr Nash “states that the council has approved an identical adjacent fence but has not provided any details or evidence of this.”

They said there are other high fences and gates nearby but they “are not of the same design and materials, and I am not aware of their planning status”.

They said: “I acknowledge the need for a defensible boundary around the dwelling; however, that is provided by the boundary hedging, which could be reinforced by further planting and/or the erection of a more sympathetic form of fencing.

“Likewise, lower-level agricultural style gates and pillars would secure the access to the site, and I understand that such gates have already been granted planning permission for the appeal site.”

The appeal was dismissed and the inspector ordered the fence, concrete fence posts, metal gates and gate piers to be removed.

Can you imagine the furore if I, as leader of Reform UK, shared a social media post containing a threat to kill the leader of the Labour, Conservative or Green parties?

And can you imagine how much worse that furore would be if I did such a thing less than three weeks after a senior politician from those parties had been brutally murdered?

I know for sure that I would be arrested for incitement. I would be drummed out of political life to loud media condemnations and parliamentary demands to prostrate myself in front of the Speaker and make a grovelling apology.

So what happened when Green Party leader Zack Polanski shared a post on Monday that showed a man standing next to a guillotine, along with the disgusting phrase: ‘We’re only making plans for Nigel’?

Nothing.

When we highlighted this outrageous post, Polanski quietly took it down.

No apology, no knock on the door, no wider condemnations, nothing to see here, move along please.

Well, after the recent murder of my dear friend and colleague Ann Widdecombe, that simply isn’t good enough.

After the recent murder of my dear friend and colleague Ann Widdecombe, the response simply isn’t good enough, writes Nigel Farage

That’s why I have reported Polanski to the Metropolitan Police and to the London Assembly, where he is an elected member. Because when it comes to political double standards and the two-tier policing of our public life, enough is enough.

For those who haven’t seen it, the offending Instagram post, shared by Polanski to his 700,000 followers, featured a bearded Green activist in a rainbow cap, wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with that chilling image and caption. The smug-looking beardie was making a V-for-victory sign at the camera.

This was one of a series of posts that Polanski had shared from a Green conference, which was reportedly billed as ‘a day of love, joy, community’. Only in the warped world of the Leftie ‘#BeKind’ brigade would ‘love, joy, community’ include hatred and violence against political opponents.

Some cynical commentators have accused us of ‘overreacting’.

Well, let me remind them of just what happened earlier this month.

Ann, our party spokesman for immigration and justice, was killed in the most despicable circumstances in her own home in Devon.

The local police initially tried to assure me that her death was a random ‘burglary gone wrong’.

From the first, I suspected that was nonsense.

Ann’s unspeakable murder should have drawn a line in the sand for everyone in British politics. It was a stark warning of the terrible consequences of stoking hatred against politicians of all stripes, or against anyone who questions the establishment parties’ consensus on issues such as mass migration. Anyone who truly believes in our democracy should have taken that dire warning to heart.

Instead, we have witnessed an establishment attempt to play down and divert attention from Ann’s murder.

First came the misplaced official warnings from Labour Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and police chiefs that we should not ‘speculate’ about motive (all while they were speculating wildly about there being ‘nothing to suggest it was politically motivated’).

Then, just a couple of days after Ann’s murder, came the bizarre effort to invent a Right-wing terror threat against a Muslim festival in Suffolk, with news of 12 ‘arrests’ plastered across the BBC and Ms Mahmood declaring that the police had ‘undoubtedly saved lives’.

The only problem was that this terror threat did not actually exist.

As the Daily Mail reported in its excellent coverage last weekend, it was ‘the far-Right plot that never was’.

Was this frankly bonkers episode another blunder by the authorities? Or was the fantasy ‘anti-Muslim terror threat’ part of a scheme to divert attention from the real threat to Right-of-centre public figures?

Now, less than three weeks after Ann’s murder, we have witnessed the grisly spectacle of a party leader posting about how funny it would be to guillotine the leader of the party she supported. Sorry but I’m not laughing.

The offending Instagram post, shared by Polanski to his 700,000 followers, featured a Green activist in a rainbow cap, wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with the chilling image

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In recent years I have had everything from milkshakes to stones thrown at me, been hit over the head with placards and seen my home attacked, says Farage

As Lord Walney, the Government’s former adviser on political violence, rightly said, for Polanski to have shared ‘material implying the assassination of another politician’ would be ‘sickening and unacceptable at any time’. But it is ‘even more serious in the present environment, in which a senior Reform member has been brutally killed’.

Lord Walney warned there must be ‘serious consequences’ for what Polanski has done. Quite so.

Long before any of this, I needed more security than anyone in British politics. Between February this year and July 13, Reform recorded a total of 1,577 threats against me, averaging over 300 per month – more than ten every day. We judge 597 of those to be explicit death threats.

And, sadly, it’s more than mere words. In recent years I have had everything from milkshakes to stones thrown at me, been hit over the head with placards, seen my home attacked. And all the while, hostile media commentators and political opponents have sought to stir up hatred by slandering me and Reform as ‘fascists’ and ‘racists’ – effectively labelling us, in the eyes of the far-Left, as legitimate targets.

Nobody else in British political life has to put up with this. That is why I have needed personal security since 2013. The Home Office refused to help for years and last year cut the funding it offered me.

I have to pay for private security – and now I also fund protection for my family, too.

Anyone wondering about the £5million gift I received from a friend, which has been splashed across countless headlines recently, might consider the costs of my private security. After the murder of dear Ann, I can think of five million reasons for accepting that help.

But of course it’s not just about me – and I want to stress that this is not a party-political issue. It is sad that our democracy should have come to this but I have committed a future Reform UK government to providing public protection for all MPs and political leaders judged to need it – including the leader of the Green Party.

No thanks – needless to say – from Polanski.

Instead, if anything, the Left has reacted to recent events by doubling down on their incitements against us.

After an Islamist terrorist mowed down dozens of innocent people at the Berlin Pride parade at the weekend, Labour MP Kate Osborne tried to blame his sickening attack on… Reform UK and GB News. She announced bizarrely that we were part of an ‘escalation of hate’ across Europe, acting as a ‘catalyst for real-world physical violence’.

And what does Ms Osborne have to say about the Green Party leader sharing a hateful image calling for me to be murdered? Nothing at all.

Polanski must face the consequences of his appalling decisions. Political violence is real. It is serious. It needs dealing with.

The Wednesday letters page suggests making a Halo vs. Gears Of War game, as one reader sticks up for Splatoon Raiders and its Metacritic score.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Single focus
I had an interesting conversation with a mate yesterday, where we were talking about GTA 6 and our video game ‘budgets’. I was complaining about how many games are coming out in September and how it was going to be hard to choose which ones to get, especially when you know you’re probably not going to play anything else for a long while after GTA 6 comes out.

To my surprise he just said he isn’t getting anything because he doesn’t see the point. He said he’d be too distracted thinking about GTA 6 and would rather just save the money for microtransactions in GTA Online 2 or whatever it turns out to be.

This is a pretty hardcore gamer too, I’ve always thought roughly the same level of interest as me. It makes me wonder how widespread this attitude is and if its means that everything that isn’t GTA 6 is going to have an even harder time of it this year than we already thought.
Focus

Pro Plus
To me the PlayStation 6 seems a complete non-starter. My prediction of what will happen is that it’ll just be a hardcore option, that’s basically a PS5 Pro Plus and super expensive. There’ll be some rich superfans that will want it but to everyone else it’s a non-starter. That’s where the handheld will come in, which will be like a scaled down PlayStation 5 and be more affordable (but probably not that affordable).

I don’t know whether they’ll still keep selling the PlayStation 5, but they should (which means they won’t). Sony needs to keep making and selling new hardware to pay the rent and that’s impossible now, due to the component crisis and the fact that there’s nowhere left for console power to go anyway.

It’s not a great set of options, for customers or publishers, but I just don’t see anything else that can be done. At least they’re in a better situation than Xbox but that’s about it.
Zeiss

Score raiders
I have been playing Splatoon Raiders daily since it released on Thursday and I can totally understand the user scores it is getting on Metacritic. It doesn’t do any one thing outstandingly, but the overall package is just pure, relatively simple fun.

I am pleasantly, really surprised with the game and look forward to playing a lot more of it!
Pigfish2 (NN ID/PSN ID)

GC: So you wouldn’t say it was the seventh best game of all-time?

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Xbox crossover
I have been playing Halo Campaign: Evolved and I would say that it’s… quite good? The original game holds up but the remake itself is adequate but not much more than that. It must be hard to know how much to change in a remake, and they probably made the right choices overall, but it does all seem a bit small and very repetitive. Very, very repetitive.

That was the problem with the original, and the reason I was always more into the multiplayer, and I think you can see the problems with the new levels. They are well made, and the second mission comes up with a clever excuse for varying things up, but it’s all still bits and pieces from previous games stappled together, for a sort of greatest hits of Halo situation.

It was fun but as GC said in their review, it doesn’t seem to have any ideas for how things could evolve in the future, beyond a few new weapons and aliens, and other minor changes. Maybe Halo is just done? Or maybe it should do a crossover with Gears Of War. Both those games are old-fashioned shooters that are past their best, maybe they could boost each other?

I always wondered if they might do that at their height and I’m not sure it’d be that hard. As I remember Gears Of War is set on a colony world, but I don’t think they’ve ever mentioned Earth. So maybe you could have them being invaded by the Covenant and them recruiting the Locusts as a new race.
Taylor Moon

Modern winner
Your article about the PlayStation 6 and the possible hurdles that it faces inspired me to ask the internet what the most expensive games console is. Apparently, it’s a Stuart Hughes Wii Supreme, which is ultra rare and made of gold and diamonds. Released at just under three hundred grand, if you’re fortunate to own that machine it’s probably worth more now.

Limited global availability seems to drive up the price of consoles and games, so I expect that special editions of consoles are where the real money is. I have no real desire to own a super expensive or super rare anything, but I have always admired the Panasonic Q GameCube. There’s a boxed one on eBay, a bargain at £2,499.
Michael Veal

GC: We were going to suggest a Neo Geo AES, but the sad truth is the most expensive standard edition console is probably the PS5 Pro, even adjusted for inflation.

Ongoing campaign
That Sony tweet about the record player is hilarious. I can just imagine some non-gamer coming across the comments and being completely confused. I am fascinated to know how all this is going to end, especially as Sony doesn’t seem to have any plan other than hoping people get bored of complaining.

I suppose they probably will, but what if they don’t? What if every GTA 6 trailer and eventual PlayStation 6 video is just endless complaints about the enforced digital-only future? I can bet the boycott isn’t going to work but people trolling Sony forever? That I can see being a long-running thing.

I can’t pretend I don’t buy all my games digitally now but that doesn’t mean I don’t want there to still be an option for physical, and I think that’s what Sony underestimated. It’s especially bad as you know that’s only the first step in taking away even more rights and options, like with these weird GTA 6 download restrictions.

It’s interesting to me that Xbox is being quite sensible for once and staying out of the picture. We all know they’d love to do the same thing, but right now they’re just letting Sony stew in their own juices. Good luck to everyone complaining, I think I’m going to go write some pro-disc comments on the latest PlayStation video!
Hammeriron

Mastering the Chief
Maybe I’m looking through rose-tinted glasses, but the Halo remake is pretty impressive to me. Not sure how many times I’ve played through it already, but I’m having a blast as Master Chief. I’m loving the subtle changes, like being able to run and also being able to use the sword.

Keep up the good work.
DB

GC: Thanks.

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Wait it out
As the saying goes, ‘Unity is Strength’. And it’s true. A mass boycott towards future PlayStation digital games/consoles might well be effective. Conversely, a protest as a much smaller percentage of the PlayStation 5 user base would have a negligible effect. The numbers aren’t looking too good at the moment for a mass boycott.

Looks like the big cheese at Sony have all decided to sit tight, keep shtum and ride out the backlash. They’ll probably get their way in the end. Let’s wait and see what the Microsoft response will be. It’s certainly going to be a very interesting 18 months or so in the gaming industry.

As for Sony (gaming division) they haven’t been quite the same since Ken Kutaragi was elbowed aside all those years ago.

And on a lighter note,

1. I deffo care about the Tomb Raider franchise. The Tomb Raider remake of a remake, February 2027, is, out of all the titles that are on the Microsfot store release list, the game that I’m looking forward to the most. That could well be a day one/week one buy, depending upon the reception it gets. I’ll get it on disc, though, then I’ll have the option of a trade-in after a month or so. That’s one up for physical.

2. There’s a tornado, nay, a ‘furious tornado’, right at the beginning of PS1 Tombi. You have to find it and then use it to clear the fog in order to progress. A gem of a game; costs a small fortune these days on PS1 physical. Relatively cheap on the PlayStation Store. Digital fights back.
Paul C.
PS: TOCA 2 on PS1 got a mention in the Underbox a few days ago. One of the finest racing games ever made, in my opinion.

Inbox also-rans
Calling Splatoon Raiders the best Nintendo game ever is silly but I’ll say one thing for it, there’s not a single glitch or bug and it’s 60fps the whole way. Given the performance problems with the Halo remake that’s kind of embarrassing… for Microsoft.
Bonce

Did He-Man And The Masters of the Universe: Dragon Pearl of Destruction ever come out? Its release date came and went and I never saw a single review.
Wander

GC: No, it was quietly delayed and doesn’t have any release date at all now.

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

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Notre Dame and Ohio State reached lucrative jersey patch sponsorship deals totaling around $30 million at a time schools search for ways to cash in on the revenue-sharing era.

Ohio State announced a multiyear sponsorship deal with JPMorgan Chase on Tuesday. Terms were not released, but multiple outlets reported it at $17 million annually.

Also Tuesday, Notre Dame announced a jersey patch deal with financial services company SoFi Technologies worth $18 million to $20 million, according to multiple outlets.

A sprawling $2.8 billion House antitrust settlement approved by a federal judge last month cleared the way for schools to directly pay players through licensing deals — and they’re already cashing in.

Notre Dame will feature patches on uniforms for every sport and SoFi will establish an annual $1.4 million fund to support Notre Dame’s “4 for Forever” campaign, funding scholarships in 26 sports and supporting student-athletes through financial education, career development and other opportunities.

“Our ‘4 for Forever’ promise at Notre Dame is paramount to providing the best student-athlete experience in the country,” Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua said in a statement. “SoFi shares in this commitment to developing strong, ambitious leaders who are set up for success at Notre Dame and beyond. Together, our relationship will create lasting value for our student-athletes and their families for generations to come.”

Ohio State jerseys and uniforms will feature a jersey patch of the Chase Bank logo in a deal that spans the department’s 36 varsity sports.

“This relationship creates meaningful opportunities for our student-athletes that support the sustained excellence and competitiveness of our athletic programs, while honoring the tradition and values of Ohio State,” Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork said in a statement.

Multiple other schools have already announced jersey patch sponsorships.

___

AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

It details almost 50 different beauty spots across the country that were used for the TV show.

The Outlander filming locations in Scotland have been published for the “first time ever” in an official new guide by VisitScotland. The national and tourism events organisation worked in collaboration with Sony Pictures Television to put together the comprehensive guide to the global hit TV series.

Scotland: The Home of Outlander details almost 50 different locations in Scotland that were used to film the fantasy romantic drama series. The TV show, which was based on the popular books by Diana Gabaldon, concluded in May 2026. The second season of prequel series Outlander: Blood of My Blood is set to air later this year.

The new guide is part of a larger campaign by VisitScotland and Sony Pictures Television to mark the end of Outlander. Since it first debuted in the summer of 2014, it has had a significant impact on Scottish tourism. The guide aims to celebrate Scotland’s place as the home of the beloved drama.

READ MORE: Caitriona Balfe confirms ‘epic’ period drama as first major role since Outlander

READ MORE: ‘Gripping’ Scottish Highlands drama perfect for Outlander fans is coming soon

Totalling 40 pages, Scotland: The Home of Outlander will be available to download from VisitScotland’s website. There will also be a limited release of printed copies, which will be exclusively available for passengers on the Caledonian Sleeper on one of its Outlander-wrapped trains.

Scotland: The Home of Outlander includes 48 filming locations across all eight seasons of the show and a timeline of important moments in Scotland’s history that are related to Outlander. Additionally, the guide will feature sections about Gaelic, tartan and textiles, and clans and ancestry.

There will also be a special section in the guide that focuses on Scotland’s food and drink. This was put together by Scottish medical herbalist and founder of Herbal Heritage Scotland Claire Mackay, who was also a herbal consultant on the series. The printed version of the guide will also include ‘journal pages’, where visitors can write about their Outlander journey.

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In Scotland: The Home of Outlander, executive producer and showrunner on Outlander Matthew B. Roberts writes: “From day one, the people of Scotland welcomed a small group of Sassenachs from Los Angeles with open arms. They didn’t just let us film here—they embraced us, shared their stunning landscapes and culture, and made us feel like we belonged.”

According to tourism and travel experts at the Moffat Centre, the total number of visitors to all Outlander filming locations increased from 2,138,398 in 2014 to 3,016,291 in 2025. Some attractions in particular saw significant jumps in visitor figures. These included Doune Castle in Stirling, which served as the fictional Castle Leoch, and Blackness Castle that starred as the headquarters of Black Jack Randall.

Another filming location for the series was Duncarron Medieval Village near Stirling, which is a modern recreation of a fortified village from the Scotland’s early Middle Ages. The attraction was used to portray Fort Ticonderoga in the United States in the seventh season of Outlander.

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Film and Creative Industries Manager at VisitScotland Jenni Steele commented: “It is our history, heritage, culture and landscapes that have transfixed fans since the Diana Gabaldon books hit the small screen more than ten years ago. Scotland is a big part of the Outlander story, so it feels right to call it the Home of Outlander.

“In collaboration with Sony Pictures Television we are using imagery from the series mixed with real-life locations as part of a major drive to celebrate the final season and inspire fans to plan a trip to the many regions of Scotland. Already this year we’ve delivered a successful digital campaign targeting US audiences and supported the iconic Caledonian Sleeper as it wrapped its carriages with images of Claire and Jamie.

“There’s no doubt that Outlander has had an extraordinary impact on Scottish tourism on the global stage and is a clear example of the power of screen tourism. It has provided an important platform to tell Scotland’s story to our key international markets and continues to support our work to grow the value of the visitor economy across Scotland.”

More information about can be found on the VisitScotland website.

Andy Burnham has challenged his opponents to join him in putting aside political point-scoring to find a solution to England’s social care crisis.

The new Labour prime minister is set to hold a summit in Downing Street on Wednesday with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey to begin the process of thrashing out a way to deliver social care before it collapses the NHS.

Ahead of a speech he is set to deliver at a care home in north London on Wednesday morning, Mr Burnham said: “Last week I said we needed a different kind of politics: problem-solving, not point-scoring. Nowhere is that more urgent than social care.

“For decades, governments have kicked this issue down the road because they’ve seen it as too risky, too difficult, and too complicated.

“Politicians might have different views but I’m serious about fixing this issue and to do that, we have to find common ground and listen to others to find a way forward.

“It’s time to draw a line under people playing politics when the human cost of that means carers struggling, families paying the price and our NHS buckling under the strain.”

However, the initiative comes amid growing concerns about the state of the economy and the government’s ability to pay for Mr Burnham’s initiatives.

Already there are major questions about how he will fund £2bn of commitments on removing VAT of energy bills, capping bus fares at £2 and reducing business rates of pubs and clubs by 20 per cent.

Added to that, a major think tank is set to warn that inflation will hit almost 4 per cent next year and the government’s capacity to borrow has maxed out meaning everything will need to be funded through tax rises and spending cuts.

This will hit defence in particular, where Mr Burnham will need to find between £5bn and £18bn to meet the UK’s commitments and it has been suggested wants to issue war bonds, another form of borrowing to fund the gap.

Ahead of the summit on Wednesday Sir Ed, who has ensured that the Lib Dems have prioritised demanding solutions to the care crisis, has said his party is willing to work with Mr Burnham. Ms Badenoch has also offered to work with Mr Burnham, but warned she will not support new tax rises to fund it.

In 2009, when Mr Burnham was health secretary, he tried to find a common solution on care with a levy on assets when people died. But the Tories turned against him and accused him of trying to create a “death tax”.

Mr Burnham has not invited Reform UK to take part in the talks, even though they had been leading the polls for 15 months until Labour passed them this week.

However, Reform launched a preemptive attack, accusing Mr Burnham of wanting to revive his “death tax” plan, a claim that was immediately denied by Downing Street.

In a bid, though, to reach across the political divide, Mr Burnham said: “This comes down to a choice. We can carry on passing the problem to the next generation, or we can face it head on and work together to build a care system that gives people dignity, security and the support they deserve.

“This is about bringing back hope that we can finally fix the difficult issues that have been ignored for too long, and making Britain believe again.

“That’s why I’m making this choice and I’m prepared to put everything I’ve got behind it.”

Visiting a care home on Wednesday, the prime minister will say he is making the choice to fix the broken social care system by finding common ground across party lines to tackle the big issues.

He will attempt to draw a line under decades of decline and a refusal to tackle these problems head-on, calling on all political parties to focus on solving problems and finding solutions together.

He will reiterate the need for a new kind of politics that puts differences aside in order to come together and face up to the challenges that Westminster has left unaddressed for too long.

He will be joined by the new health secretary Yvette Cooper and Baroness Louise Casey, who is leading the Independent Commission on Adult Social Care, which will draw up recommendations to deliver a National Care Service.

Baroness Casey will also launch the Big Conversation on Care, which will give the public their chance to share their views and help shape the future of adult social care in England so that it is designed for the people it is there to serve.

It will be open to everyone through a new online platform, starting off the conversation by asking people about the values and principles we should all expect from a care system.

Baroness Casey said: “For too long, we have been stuck in the same cycle: crisis, promises of reform, another review, and then retreat, while the people who need care, and their families, bear the brunt.

“Fixing adult social care is about far more than money. People are already paying for failure through council tax, pressure on the NHS, their savings, giving up work, and the forced sale of their homes. The choice is whether we keep putting money into a system that is unfair, unpredictable and broken, or have an honest conversation about how to build something better.

“That is why we need a public conversation on care that tackles the tough questions. It’s only by facing up to this problem together that we can fix social care once and for all.”

Responding, Tory shadow health secretary Stuart Andrew said: “Andy Burnham and Labour cannot rely on vague promises of reform without a clear plan for implementation and detail on what will happen when.

“The Conservatives are ready to work with Labour on measures that improve social care provided they are not reliant on yet more tax rises and borrowing.”

Sir Ed said: “There have been 22 failed attempts at reforming social care since 1997. To see the 23rd effort work, we need to do things differently.

“My party has been pushing for cross-party talks on care for years, because it is the only way to build a solution that actually works. For carers and for our country, nothing matters more, so I look forward to meeting the prime minister to begin these talks.”

But lawyers for the publisher said that Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday journalists provided a “compelling account of a pattern of legitimate sourcing of articles”, including friends and “leaky” social circles, press officers and spokespersons, as well as previous reporting, freelance journalists and stories from other newspapers and news agencies.

A full Ofsted inspection in June found that Middlesbrough Council has made clear improvements in their children’s services department – with stronger leadership, better planning and more effective support for vulnerable children and young people.

However, all four key areas assessed – children in need of protection, children in care, care leavers and social work practice – still require improvement.

Services for care leavers have reportedly improved, with more resources and greater support from personal advisers. But Ofsted have said partnership working between agencies needs to be strengthened.

While there are still challenges in recruiting foster carers, senior leaders were praised for how they are managing the issue. Middlesbrough’s virtual school was also recognised for providing strong educational support to children in care.

Inspectors noted that a “stable and experienced” leadership team is now in place following significant staffing changes, with new senior officers striving to bring the department up to standard.

Early help services are now responding more quickly, and families are increasingly involved in decisions about their care.

Many children were also found to have “warm, trusting” relationships with their social workers, and assessments for those entering care are thorough and focused on the child.

The report found more children are being supported to stay with extended family where appropriate, with their views taken into account and support provided for both their physical and emotional wellbeing.

Ofsted said that the improvement board set up in February is developing a clear plan, and is being supported by the right funding and council-wide backing.

Despite ongoing challenges, inspectors said there is now “a tangible and growing sense of hope and optimism across the workforce”.

Councillor Luke Henman, the council’s executive member for children’s services, said: “In Middlesbrough, we are 100 per cent committed to providing the very best for our children and young people and I welcome this report.

“Ofsted rightly highlights the challenges we have previously faced, but I’m pleased they also recognise the positive progress we are making.

“We know there is still much to do. Our team is determined to keep driving improvements, and this report will help strengthen our plans.

“None of this would be possible without the passion, dedication and professionalism of our staff – their work changes lives.”

While improvement is still needed, stronger leadership and a clear plan are helping to drive better outcomes for children and young people in Middlesbrough.

People in Northern Ireland watched an average of 4 hours 47 minutes of video content at home per day in 2025

KPop Demon Hunters was the most-watched programme or film in Northern Ireland in 2025.

Ofcom’s latest Media Nations report shows that people in Northern Ireland watched an average of 4 hours 47 minutes of video content at home per day in 2025, a one-minute decline year-on-year.

The Netflix animated family film averaged 616,000 viewers on TV sets, followed by the first episode of the third season of local police drama Blue Lights with 508,000 viewers.

The top 10 watched shows/films in NI for 2025:

1. KPop Demon Hunters (Films) – Netflix, Film (2025) | Audience: 616,000

2. Blue Lights (Drama) – BBC, Series 3, Episode 1 | Audience: 508,000

3. Ms. Rachel (Children) – Netflix, Series 1, Episode 2 | Audience: 433,000

4. Adolescence (Drama) – Netflix, Series 1, Episode 2 | Audience: 412,000

5. The 1% Club (Entertainment) – ITV/UTV, Series 4, Episode 6 | Audience: 377,000

6. The Celebrity Traitors (Entertainment) – BBC, Series 1, Episode 9 | Audience: 367,000

7. I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! (Entertainment) – ITV/UTV, Series 25, Episode 1 | Audience: 343,000

8. The Chase Celebrity Special (Entertainment) – ITV/UTV, Series 12, Episode 9 | Audience: 321,000

9. Tarzan (Films) – Disney+, Film (1999) | Audience: 320,000

10. Harlen Coben’s Missing You (Drama) – Netflix, Series 1, Episode 1 | Audience: 310,000

The top ten was split equally between broadcast and streamer content, with Netflix in three of the top five places. Celebrity entertainment remained strong for PSBs, with four titles ranking in the top ten, three on ITV/UTV and one on BBC.

Northern Ireland’s TV viewing and streaming habits

Broadcast TV from the likes of the BBC and UTV continues to account for the majority of time spent in front of screens but streamers like Netflix and video sharing platforms like YouTube are an increasingly important part of our daily viewing routine, according to Ofcom.

Total broadcaster TV content, including live TV, recorded TV and Broadcaster Video on Demand (BVoD), accounted for 55% of video viewing time (2 hours 38 minutes), a decrease of 15 minutes (-9%) since 2024.

Subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) such as Netflix, advertising video-on-demand (AVoD) such as Pluto TV, and video-sharing platforms (VSPs), such as YouTube, saw the biggest year-on-year increases.

SVoD/AVoD services had a 4-minute increase, watched for 41 minutes on average, accounting for 14% of total video viewing time. Average daily VSP viewing increased by 5 minutes year-on-year to 54 minutes, equating to 19% of all video viewing time.

Just over three-quarters of households in Northern Ireland (76%) have at least one SVoD service.

When Ofcom surveyed where people usually turn to first when they are thinking about what they want to watch, around a third (34%) of online adults in Northern Ireland said they would turn to Netflix, followed by any BBC service (18%).