Weeks after the school shut its doors for the last time, its website still boasts of ‘the exceptional Malvern St James experience’, hailing the ‘picturesque setting’ and its Gothic Revival building ‘lying at the foot of the magnificent Malvern Hills’.

Strangely enough, the site makes no mention of the furious row that played out at the school before it closed.

Parents and ex-teachers remain seething at the alleged behaviour of the school’s Chinese owners, accusing them of being ‘vultures circling’ and of asset-stripping to get their hands on the institution’s valuable land and facilities.

Parents, who say they were given little notice of the school’s closure, are threatening legal action, many having paid thousands of pounds of fees up front.

The sudden closure of Malvern St James came a little over a year after it was acquired by Galaxy Global Education (GGE), a Chinese company. It is one of three British independent schools the organisation abruptly shut at the end of the summer term this year.

The other two are 142-year-old Durham High School and the 742-year-old Ruthin School in Denbighshire, North Wales, where John Lennon’s son Julian was educated.

Parents of Durham High School students had received a letter from the school’s Chinese owner just a month before the closure, denying rumours that it was about to be shut down. Angry Durham MP Mary Kelly Foy accused GGE of a ‘land grab’ and called for an independent investigation.

Pointing out that the land on which the school sits is worth £10million, she asked in the Commons: ‘What can the government do to stop predatory overseas companies from asset-stripping our educational institutions and treating our children’s future as real estate speculation?’

Malvern St James officially closed at the end of its summer term in July this year, with parents and ex-teachers seething at the alleged behaviour of the school’s Chinese owners

GGE denied ‘any suggestion that the school was acquired for its land or that there has been any asset stripping’. The founder of the company, Shangmei Gao, said she had underestimated the financial challenges of a sector hit by the Labour government’s imposition of VAT on school fees.

According to research by Venture Education, more than 30 British independent schools have been bought by Chinese investors, raising concerns over Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence over British education and calls for greater transparency and more protections. Saqib Bhatti, the Tory shadow education minister, has since demanded a review into schools owned by GGE and why they closed, saying: ‘Chinese business groups are not independent of the state. This means the Chinese Communist Party is now responsible, in effect, for the education of thousands of our children… There are clear national security concerns here, yet there is currently little to no data or analysis on the true extent of Chinese investment in our independent schools.’

Yet concern over the unscrupulous behaviour and often dark motives of predatory Chinese companies goes beyond the education sector. From the playing fields of British independent schools to the blast furnaces of Scunthorpe, the track record of Chinese firms is extremely worrying, and screams out for caution.

Earlier this year, Ron Black, the former chief executive of Imagination Technologies, one of Britain’s biggest and most influential technology companies, was awarded £1.5 million after an employment tribunal ruled that he had been unfairly sacked for blowing the whistle on attempts by Chinese investors to take over his company’s board and transfer the technology to China. Chinese investors had been allowed to buy the company, which designs cutting-edge mobile graphics processors, after assurances that the investment was ‘passive’.

Then there is British Steel, which was fully nationalised this summer, provoking angry demands for compensation from the Jingye Group, its former Chinese owner. The British government took control of the Scunthorpe steelworks, this country’s last remaining virgin steel-making facility, last year after Jingye had been accused of trying to sabotage the blast furnaces and import steel from its vast stockpiles back home.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds accused Jingye of not acting in good faith and said: ‘I wouldn’t personally bring a Chinese company into our steel sector.’

The company’s chairman Li Ganpo is a member of the CCP, while the company’s headquarters in Sichuan province is ecstatically described on its own website as a ‘revolutionary holy land’.

Workers at Grangemouth, Britian’s oldest oil refinery, and Scotland’s only such facility, were not as lucky as those at British Steel.

The refinery, half-owned by state-run PetroChina, closed last year with the loss of 400 jobs.

Critics, emboldened by the government’s intervention in Scunthorpe, had argued to no avail that its loss would erode Britain’s energy security. Union leaders claimed then-energy secretary Ed Miliband and other political leaders had ‘utterly failed’ the workforce. It is not as if there have been no warnings in Britain about rapacious Chinese companies, which are required under Chinese laws to work with the country’s security and intelligence agencies.

It was four years ago that the head of MI5, Ken McCallum, addressed an extraordinary gathering of business and academic leaders in London, warning: ‘By volume, most of what is at risk from Chinese Communist Party aggression is not, so to speak, “my” stuff. It’s yours. The world-leading expertise, technology, research and commercial advantage developed and held by people in this room, and others like you.’

McCallum gave his address alongside FBI Director Chris Wray, the two men describing China as ‘a massive, shared challenge’. Their focus that day was on technology theft, but their wider point was that the CCP does not just achieve its aims by spying, but through commercial takeovers and other tie-ups.

McCallum cited the example of Smith’s Harlow, a once world-beating British precision-engineering firm, forced into administration after it transferred know-how to a Chinese partner, who abandoned the deal, effectively running off with the technology.

The American Enterprise Institute estimates the value of Chinese investments and contracts in the UK between 2005 and 2024 at $104.7 billion (£77 billion), during which Britain was the third-largest recipient of Chinese investment after America and Australia.

These are spread across numerous sectors from nuclear power to property, black cabs to football clubs – and of course schools.

The heyday in Sino-UK relations was the so-called ‘golden era’ inaugurated by the wide-eyed then-PM David Cameron and his chancellor George Osborne.

This was around the time of a fawning 2015 state visit the UK laid on for President Xi Jinping. The big concern of security officials is that Prime Minister Andy Burnham and his China-friendly Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband are plotting a return to that era.

Back then, due diligence of Chinese investments often appeared to boil down to counting the number of zeros on the cheque. It is astonishing to think that at that time it was regarded as wise to allow Chinese investment in advanced telecoms systems and nuclear power – both of which were belatedly rowed back as Beijing’s hostility became impossible to ignore.

A worker works at one of the blast furnaces at British Steel’s steelworks site in Scunthorpe

MI5 Director General Ken McCallum and FBI Director Christopher Wray deliver a joint press conference in central London, where they described China as ‘a massive, shared challenge’

Huawei, the giant Chinese telecoms firm, for example, has now been barred from the UK’s 5G networks out of security fears, but remains deeply embedded in earlier networks and has numerous research tie-ups with British universities.

This month Huawei faces a landmark criminal racketeering trial in New York, charged with stealing technology and trade secrets and committing fraud. Prosecutors allege that it even had a team, the ‘competition management group’, that handed out monthly bonuses to staff who stole the most valuable information from competitors. Huawei denies the allegations. Manchester, where Burnham was mayor for nine years before becoming Prime Minister, has been second only to London among English cities in its enthusiasm for Chinese investors. It was seemingly undeterred by an ugly incident at China’s consulate in the city in October 2022, when a Hong Kong protester was dragged inside and assaulted by staff, including the then Consul-General Zheng Xiyuan. Burnham was criticised for his slow response to the violence but has been quick to court Chinese developers.

Although Burnham has little foreign policy experience, he led a mayoral ‘trade mission’ to China in 2018, during which he boasted: ‘Greater Manchester has long recognised the strategic importance of forging closer ties with China.’

In April he met the current Chinese Consul-General in Manchester, Tang Rui, for ‘in-depth discussions on deepening and expanding practical cooperation’. Invest Manchester, the city’s inward investment promotion agency, boasts of £6 billion of Chinese largesse since 2013. Though as Caroline Knowles writes in her new book Uneasy Streets: How Chinese Money Is Remaking Urban Britain, there is much hype but little transparency around these figures.

She contrasts the ‘grand claims’ of Chinese investment ‘regenerating’ urban centres in London and Manchester with the ‘ramshackle physical evidence’ of empty building sites and holes in the ground.

One flagship Manchester project is Airport City, touted as a £1 billion business hub being developed in partnership with a Chinese state-owned developer called Beijing Construction Engineering Group International (BCEGI).

Yet BCEGI’s troubled UK operation is losing money, cutting jobs and, according to Knowles, has had second thoughts about Airport City, quietly withdrawing and potentially leaving it high and dry – though the company’s website still lists itself as an equity and construction partner in the Airport City project.

Invest Manchester similarly lists BCEGI on its site and told the Daily Mail the text on its page was old. It said it could provide no further information and suggested contacting BCEGI, which did not respond to requests for comment.

There is already evidence that China sees Burnham and Miliband as an easy touch.

Miliband last year signed a memorandum of understanding with Beijing committing the UK to closer cooperation on offshore wind farms, electricity grids, battery storage, carbon capture and hydrogen. The agreement was kept secret for a year and only published in February – raising accusations that Miliband, in his race for net zero, was prepared to hand control of Britain’s decarbonised grid to the CCP. One big test will come in Scotland, where Ming Yang, a Chinese renewable-energy company with close links to the CCP, was blocked by Sir Keir Starmer’s government from building a wind turbine plant in the Highlands because of security concerns. The firm sees the plant as a bridgehead into the European market and has been lobbying – alongside China’s outsize consulate in Edinburgh – to get the ban overturned.

Beijing understands the constitutional faultlines in the UK, and how to poke them. It has won over the ever-gullible Scottish government with slogans of ‘mutual prosperity’ in the face of a self-serving London political establishment.

SNP First Minister John Swinney has accused the UK government of an ‘anti-Scottish move’ and last month called for ‘further examination’ of Ming Yang’s plans.

In effect, the CCP has co-opted the SNP in a campaign threatening national security.

At the same time, Holyrood is spending tens of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on buses built in China by a company called Yutong, which has been investigated over alleged ‘kill-switches’ in vehicles that might enable them to be disabled remotely from China. ‘It is a national scandal,’ according to Jo Bamford, chairman of Wrightbus, the UK’s last bus manufacturer.

The UK motor industry is already reeling from news that Jaguar Land Rover is to cut 4,000 jobs, in part the result of competition from cheap Chinese imports.

The heyday in Sino-UK relations was the so-called ‘golden era’ inaugurated by the wide-eyed then-PM David Cameron, pictured with president Xi Jinping in October 2015

The United States and European Union have imposed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, accusing Beijing of unfair competition because of state subsidies. But the UK has refused to follow suit, and a clunky Range Rover lookalike called the Jaecoo 7, a hybrid built by a Chinese company called Chery, was the third best-selling car in this country over the first half of the year.

China’s vast Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), ostensibly a global infrastructure investment scheme, but in reality an umbrella for everything China does internationally to extend its influence, is another cautionary tale.

The trillion dollar scheme, which Cameron and Osborne wanted to join, has left a trail of unsustainable debt, especially in poorer countries. It has been accused of fostering large-scale corruption, labour and human-rights abuses and environmental degradation.

There are multiple reasons why Chinese companies acquire assets abroad. Commercial considerations are often low on a list that includes technology theft and strategic takeovers of targets important to the CCP.

When COSCO, a state-owned Chinese shipping giant, took control of debt-ridden Piraeus Port, the largest in Greece, it was revealed that COSCO was six times more leveraged than the ‘troubled’ port it was supposedly rescuing. It was not a commercial decision, but a strategic play – to create what China called a ‘dragon’s head’ for the BRI, referring to the Western-most point of its vast project that snakes across Asia.

While the UK government is now armed with a new security and investment law to scrutinise foreign takeovers, it leaves a great deal to political discretion – and the Burnham government is already showing a worrying gullibility that the CCP is all too adept at exploiting.

• Ian Williams is author of Vampire State: The Rise and Fall of the Chinese Economy.

A woman living in relative luxury had a dark secret hiding in her home on the outskirts of Sherwood Forest.

Behind a bedroom door only lockable from the outside, a nine-year-old boy was slowly dying in destitution.

Catherine Walker, 47, had become his legal guardian but his room was left in squalor, a stark contrast to the rest of her comfortable house in Warsop, a parish in Nottinghamshire.

There were no curtains in his window, an electric socket was left hanging dangerously off the wall and he had no radiator.

He was found unresponsive in the room on the morning of 16 December 2024.

The boy died later in hospital.

Walker, a member of staff at Nottinghamshire Police, claimed that renovations had been taking place but this was revealed to be a lie.

Other witnesses claimed there had been clear mistreatment of the boy over a prolonged period of time.

In her defence, Walker’s former husband – who also died shortly after – was the boy’s primary carer and had been mainly responsible for his treatment.

Walker later pleaded guilty to two counts of assault, child neglect and causing unnecessary suffering.

At her sentencing hearing at Nottingham Crown Court on Monday, Catherine Walker – also known as Kathryn – was jailed for six years.

In sentencing, Judge Stuart Rafferty KC said Walker had deliberately concealed and covered up the ‘gratuitous degradation’ of the boy, adding that she had effectively sentenced herself to ‘a life of shame.’

DCI Gail Routledge said: ‘This was one of the most upsetting cases I can remember.

‘This boy was very clearly mistreated for a significant period of time and was living in conditions that no child should have to endure.

‘It was always our case that this mistreatment was a deliberate choice by the defendant, rather than the result of neglectful parenting.

‘I am pleased she has now been held to account for her role in his death.’

MORE: Tommy Robinson ‘grilled over views on Russia’ by anti-terror police at airport

MORE: Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer asks for one juror’s phone to be checked after mistrial

MORE: Businessmen who brokered fighter jet and missile sales to warzones are jailed

Manchester’s No10 North is to offer work experience to 14-16-year-olds this academic year

Andy Burnham’s northern office in the Manchester is set to offer placements for 14-to-16-year-old students as part of a new national drive to give young people more exposure to the workplace.

The placements will give pupils the opportunity to see behind the scenes of government, experience the world of work and learn about careers available to them, according to the Department for Education.

No10 North, which is based at Heron House in Manchester city centre, is being used by the Prime Minister as part of plans to move political and economic decision-making away from London.

Click here to get the biggest stories straight to your inbox in our Daily Newsletter

The work experience scheme will form part of a wider National Mission on Work Experience, with the Government calling on employers on Wednesday (September 23) to create an additional 200,000 placements for young people aged between 14 and 16.

Mayors and local authorities will work with schools and businesses to help create links and increase the number of opportunities available, the Government said.

The Government said placements could give young people experience in sectors including accountancy, digital media and construction. Employers will be encouraged to offer placements through their local Careers Hub.

The announcement comes as the Government sets out plans to overhaul technical and vocational education, including the introduction of new Vocational GCSEs.

Ministers say the reforms are intended to give young people a clearer route from education into employment, with students able to gain technical skills and workplace experience alongside traditional academic subjects.

The Government says the new approach is intended to tackle the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: “We’ve all heard someone say ‘school wasn’t really for me’ because they were not given the chance to study vocational courses as well as traditional subjects.

“That one-size-fits-all approach isn’t working, so we’re building an education system that values both academic and technical paths.

“I want to give all young people across Britain the hope that their future will be brighter – whether it starts at university or not.”

Education Secretary Lucy Powell said: “Young people today are entering a world of work full of exciting opportunities. We need to prepare them for it. Time and again young people, parents and employers tell me they want schools to do more to help them understand and prepare for the jobs of the future.

“That is why we are transforming technical education and ensuring every young person can access the knowledge, skills and experiences they need to thrive in a changing world.

“Our new Vocational GCSEs will give young people a stronger connection to the careers and industries shaping our economy, helping them discover and develop their talents while maintaining high standards across our education system.

“This is not about creating different routes for different children. It is about ensuring every child has access to a rich and ambitious education that opens doors, creates opportunity and prepares them for life beyond the classroom.”

Harvey Weinstein finally learned his fate for the vicious sexual assault of former ‘Project Runway’ production assistant Miriam Haley.  

The disgraced entertainment mogul was sentenced to 15 years behind bars on Wednesday, ending an extraordinary six-year legal odyssey that transformed the Hollywood bigwig into one of the most notorious figures of the Me Too era.

Weinstein, 74, appeared at Manhattan Criminal Court in a wheelchair, visibly frail with his hands cuffed to his seat, as he finally faced the consequences of a conviction that has survived years of appeals, retrials and courtroom battles.

The former Hollywood kingmaker was found guilty in June last year of sexually assaulting former ‘Project Runway’ production assistant Miriam Haley, who told jurors that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her at his NYC apartment in 2006.

On Wednesday, Haley delivered an ardent victim impact statement that laid bare the lasting consequences of the assault.

‘He abused his position and power,’ she said, describing the ‘devastating effect’ his actions had on her sense of security. ‘It is a life sentence for me,’ Haley added.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg then ⁠praised Haley for her testimony and said he was moved by her courage.

Weinstein, who has consistently denied over 80 allegations of sexual misconduct and insisted that his sexual encounters were consensual, addressed the court before sentencing.

Haley, whose allegation resulted in Weinstein’s conviction at his 2025 retrial, told the court that the assault had permanently changed her life

The judge sentenced Weinstein to 15 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release and registration as a sex offender

Advertisement

‘I am not a perfect person,’ he said. ‘But I am a person who has made mistakes.’

He apologized to ‘anyone I may have hurt by my actions’ but continued to deny the allegations against him, insisting: ‘I am not a violent man.’

Judge Curtis Farber offered a starkly different assessment as he excoriated Weinstein before dealing out the sentence.

‘You took what you wanted by force, and you have never accepted responsibility,’ Farber told Weinstein.

The 15-year prison term will be followed by five years of supervised release, and Weinstein will also be required to register as a sex offender.

Bragg said the sentencing was ultimately about the women who had come forward.

Haley didn’t face the courtroom alone, fellow Weinstein accuser Jessica Mann sat in the pews to witness the sentencing in support. 

Mann alleged that Weinstein raped her inside a Midtown Manhattan hotel room in March 2013. She stated that despite her resistance, he overpowered and assaulted her. 

After the sentence was delivered, Mann was visibly upset and was seen leaving the courtroom in tears.

Weinstein, 74, appeared in a Manhattan courtroom in a wheelchair, frail his hands were cuffed to his seat, as the man who once wielded enormous influence over Hollywood faced the latest punishment in his spectacular fall from power

Defense Attorney Arthur L. Aidala held a press conference outside of 100 Centre Street to brief the media on the overturning of the conviction of his client Harvey Weinstein of rape charges

Weinstein was first convicted in New York in 2020 of sexually assaulting Haley and raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann (pictured)

Advertisement

‘Today was about the survivors,’ Bragg said in a statement, praising their ‘courage and their steadfastness’ throughout what had been an exceptionally difficult legal process.

Haley’s attorney, Gloria Allred, likened her pursuit of justice to a ‘trial by fire.’

‘In other words, Mimi underwent a trial by fire twice, and prevailed both times, unlike any other person in the ‘MeToo’ movement. Mimi is a true hero. She has survived all attempts both inside and outside of court to discredit her or question her motives,’ Allred said, adding ‘To describe Mimi as courageous is an understatement. She faced her fears and overcame them.’

‘This being so public, for this having gone on for so long, it’s been really, really tough,’ Haley said following the sentencing. ‘It’s a really tough thing to do. I have to say, and I thought of not doing it many times. I thought of pulling out.’

But Haley did not call it quits; she persevered through the full duration of the sentencing and told journalists outside 100 Center Street that she believes she can now reach full closure.

Outside the courthouse, Haley and Allred took each other by the hands and raised their arms to the sky in victory. 

Weinstein’s downfall has been years in the making.

He was originally convicted in New York in 2020 of third-degree rape involving former aspiring actor Jessica Mann and first-degree criminal sexual act involving Haley. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison.

But in 2024, New York’s highest court overturned that conviction and ordered a new trial, ruling that testimony concerning uncharged alleged sexual acts had been improperly admitted.

Haley said she believes that despite all his legal woes, Weinstein is not sorry for his actions

Before the sentence was handed down, Weinstein addressed the court himself. He apologized to ‘anyone I may have hurt by my actions,’ but continued to deny the allegations and insisted: ‘I am not a violent man’

During the sentencing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the moment was ultimately about the women who had endured the ordeal

Advertisement

The retrial produced a mixed result. In June 2025, Weinstein was again convicted of first-degree criminal sexual act involving Haley, while jurors acquitted him of a separate charge involving former model Kaja Sokola.

The jury could not reach a verdict on Mann’s allegation. A subsequent retrial of that charge also ended without a verdict, and prosecutors ultimately declined to pursue the case for a fourth time.

Weinstein is also serving a separate 16-year sentence imposed in California after his 2022 conviction in Los Angeles for rape and two counts of sexual assault stemming from a 2013 attack on an Italian actor and model. An appeals court has since vacated that sentence, and he is due to be resentenced.

His legal troubles began after a bombshell series of investigations by The New York Times and The New Yorker in 2017 detailed allegations of sexual harassment and assault by numerous women.

More than 80 women have since accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, allegations he has vehemently denied.

Before his fall from grace, Weinstein occupied an almost untouchable position in Hollywood. Miramax, the distribution company he co-founded, helped turn films including ‘Pulp Fiction’ and ‘Clerks’ into cultural landmarks. 

He won an Oscar as a producer of ‘Shakespeare in Love,’ while his company enjoyed consecutive Best Picture victories with ‘The King’s Speech’ and ‘The Artist.’

Then came the reckoning with his 2018 arrest.

Gloria Allred, Haley’s attorney stood by her side as she addressed the press following the sentencing. Allred praised Haley for her pursuit of justice in the face of those who were eager to undermine and discredit her

The criminal cases represent only a fraction of the allegations that have followed Weinstein since 2017. More than 80 women have publicly accused him of misconduct, with allegations spanning decades and ranging from sexual harassment to rape. Weinstein has denied non-consensual sexual activity.

The judge sentenced Weinstein to 15 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release and registration as a sex offender.

The judge sentenced Weinstein to 15 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release and registration as a sex offender

Advertisement

The sheer volume of allegations and the prominence of the accusers transformed the phrase “#MeToo” (initially coined by activist Tarana Burke a decade prior) into a worldwide social movement and prompted women across entertainment, politics and other industries to speak out about sexual misconduct and abuses of power.

Now, nearly a decade after the revelations that shattered his Hollywood empire, Weinstein remains behind bars.

His health has also visibly deteriorated in recent years. He has faced a number of serious medical problems and has been held at the Bellevue Hospital prison ward while awaiting transfer to a state prison.

The Daily Mail has reached out to Allred for comment.

The creators of Alan Wake return with a sequel to Control, that’s set in the same fictional universe but features a completely different style of combat.

Remedy is a talented developer, but we’ve always felt their strengths lie in a different direction than they seem to assume. All their games have a strong emphasis on narrative and yet their stories often come across as pretentious and shallow, with 2023’s Alan Wake 2 combining all their worst tendencies into a deeply unsatisfying quasi-survival horror, that purposefully undermined their most consistent strength: combat.

Remedy started out with the Max Payne franchise and through games such as the original Alan Wake and Quantum Break, they’ve gained a great aptitude for fast, precise third person gunplay. This often gets forgotten as their stodgy storytelling takes centre stage but it’s why we consider 2019’s Control to be by far their best game – as well as the greatest Star Wars game never made, in terms of its portrayal of what are essentially Force powers.

To their credit, Remedy is not one for lazy sequels and while this is a direct continuation of the original game (and part of the shared universe with Alan Wake) it is very different, with a new lead character and an emphasis on melee rather than range combat. Which is where the problems begin.

Although Remedy’s games have a reputation for strangeness, they’ve not always lived up to that self-perpetuated description, with some very mundane settings and obnoxiously obvious references to everything from Twin Peaks to Annihilation, with Control Resonant riffing on the visuals of two separate Christopher Nolan movies within the first half hour.

The game contains a recap of the original game, but the main gist of the story is relatively easy to grasp. You play as Dylan, who was effectively the antagonist of the previous game and brother to the original’s protagonist, Jesse. Jesse found herself the head of a secret government agency, inspired by the SCP Foundation, that investigates paranormal activity, while Dylan was an unwitting test subject.

Dylan spent the whole of the last game being possessed by the Hiss – an invading extradimensional entity – and as Resonant begins Jesse wakes Dylan up from a coma and then disappears for unknown reasons. The Hiss is beginning to take over New York City, possessing people and turning them into monsters, and Dylan offers to help, despite being deeply distrusted by everyone he meets.

While the original game had elements of Metroidvania style exploration, Resonant has a much simpler structure, based entirely around melee combat. You have a choice of different weapons, that alter the power, speed, and range of your attacks but combos are highly simplistic, lessening the tactical scope and leaving combat feeling unsatisfyingly disjointed.

There is one weapon that allows you to perform an aerial launcher, but the major complication is based around a stagger meter that makes it easier to perform finishing moves. These aren’t essential to defeating an enemy but they do increase your dominance, which makes you more powerful for a short time. This in turn causes other enemies to drop more health if you don’t use the finisher, which creates a neat tactical quandary.

However, there’s no parry or block, just a dodge move that can give you the opportunity for a counter if you time it right. There is a wide range of upgrades and passive and active abilities, but even with things like shields and summons they don’t really change the flow of combat. They feel more like buffs in a game like Diablo, which the game does resemble at times, with it’s pulled-out camera and dozens of enemies running around on-screen.

It’s surprisingly difficult to judge which game out of Resonant and Marvel’s Wolverine has the shallower combat, but we definitely found Wolverine to be the more enjoyable overall experience. Its combat may be simple but at least you can feel and see the impact of the blows, whereas in Resonant the camera is usually too distant and the enemy designs too vaguely defined.

The boss battles are a visual highlight but in terms of design they’re an absolute chore to play through. All of the enemies are damage sponges to some degree, but the bosses just go on forever, long after the point at which you’ve worked out what you have to do to complete them.

It doesn’t help that Resonant is difficult right from the off and once you’ve moved through a few areas, where you’re locked in with a group of enemies and can’t leave until they’re all defeated, everything becomes strangely predictable, despite Remedy’s attempts to dazzle with the level design.

One of our complaints about Control is that it kept talking about how weird it was without actually doing or showing anything all that peculiar. Resonant does better in that regard and while a lot of the visuals are inspired by other sources, the weird kaleidoscopic effects and upside-down worlds can be impressive, especially when the game starts playing around with gravity, in a manner not dissimilar to Gravity Rush.

Resonant is not an open world game but it does have a number of large areas you can investigate for secrets and side quests. This is fun to do thanks to the elevate ability, which allows you to float into the air for several feet and when combined with double jumps and dodges, and the later gravity effects, means you’re able to move far further vertically and horizontally than it first seems.

But without the Metroidvania element there’s less impetuous to explore, in a game that greatly overstays its welcome. Even if you are a Remedy fan, and were looking forward to new revelations about the shared world, the story and characterisation is surprisingly straightforward this time around.

Dylan’s redemption arc could’ve been lifted from any number of similar games and while that could be considered an improvement if, like us, you’ve been unimpressed by Remedy’s previous attempts at storytelling, it’s inarguably less inventive and ambitious. We might not have enjoyed the end result but we’ve always respected Remedy’s attempts to do something different, but Resonant is disappointingly mundane in terms of both the plot and action.

Remedy deserves a lot of credit for not just making a lazy sequel, but Resonant is a considerably less interesting game than its predecessor, that removes or dilutes most of its best elements for very little gain. For a game so obsessed with appearing weird and surreal it’s disappointingly dull for much of its overlong running time, especially once you get over the surprise of its new combat system.

In a less star-studded year it would have seemed less of a failure but there’s just too many other, similar games for this to be worth serious consideration. Alan Wake fans will likely still prefer that, but for us Remedy’s best game remains the original Control.

Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Price: £49.99
Publisher: Remedy Entertainment
Developer: Remedy Entertainment
Release Date: 24th September 2026
Age Rating: 16

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

MORE: Project Helix more powerful than PS6 reveals new leak that implies 2027 launch

MORE: Discord revamps age verification checks – here’s what it means for the UK

MORE: Fable preview – bringing back the dog is still a ‘future possibility’ says dev

Miami International Airport was placed on lockdown following reports of shots fired on Wednesday afternoon

A major international airport was put into lockdown following reports that shots had been fired on Wednesday afternoon.

Police rushed to Miami International Airport at approximately 5pm local time on Wednesday (September 23) ‘following reports of shots fired’, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office confirmed. Officers arrested ‘a subject’, with a statement from police adding: “There is no ongoing threat to the public at this time. The investigation remains ongoing.

“Travelers are encouraged to allow additional time and follow the direction of law enforcement and airport personnel.”

In the immediate aftermath, a spokesperson for Miami International Airport confirmed it had initiated a partial lockdown of its facilities. They said: “Due to law enforcement activity at the airport, the departure level roadway and the terminal area from Doors 12 to 17 are temporarily closed.

“All vehicle traffic is currently being diverted to the arrivals level. All passengers and airport employees are safe.

“We are working closely with MDSO and will provide more details as soon as they become available.”

Miami is America’s busiest cargo airport, handling three million tonnes annually. Some 55 million passengers passed through its terminals last year, making it the eighth-busiest US airport by passenger numbers.

It has four runways, one of which was recently the scene of tragedy when an Amazon Cargo Plane overshot the tarmac and killed five people travelling in a van around the runway.

By SAM MERRIMAN, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT and JAMES TAPSFIELD, UK POLITICAL EDITOR

Published: 01:14 BST, 24 September 2026 | Updated: 01:39 BST, 24 September 2026

The Chagos Islands could remain in legal limbo for years after Labour admitted its ‘surrender’ deal can’t proceed without the support of Donald Trump.

Andy Burnham agreed to review the plans to hand control of the islands to Mauritius after the US President savaged the ‘terrible’ £35billion deal during their first face-to-face meeting.

And on Wednesday Defence Secretary Wes Streeting confirmed the plans were on hold as any agreement ‘needs to have the support of the Americans’.

But British officials said it is unclear how the deal can be reworked despite these claims, as the interests of Washington and Mauritius are so at odds.

Advertisement

That means despite the ‘review’, in reality the Chagos deal has been kicked into the long grass until there is a new US President, according to Bloomberg.

This could leave the strategically vital joint US-UK airbase on Diego Garcia in legal limbo for years as negotiations with China ally Mauritius are stalled.

Kemi Badenoch on Wednesday night called on the Prime Minister to take the initiative and ‘scrap this terrible deal’.

The Tory leader said: ‘In the space of 24 hours, Andy Burnham managed to have three positions on the Chagos Islands.

Advertisement

Defence Secretary Wes Streeting confirmed on Wednesday the plans were on hold 

Andy Burnham agreed to review the plans to hand control of the islands to Mauritius after the US President savaged the ‘terrible’ £35billion deal during their first face-to-face meeting. (The PM pictured addressing the United Nations General Assembly earlier this week)

‘Rather than these silly contortions, he should just scrap this terrible deal.’

Advertisement

However, Mr Streeting denied there would be an ‘ostrich strategy’ of simply waiting for a new US President, with Mr Trump’s term not due to end until January 2029. 

‘I’m not pretending that’s an easy position and that resolving this is not going to be difficult. It is difficult and necessarily painstaking work, but it is necessary,’ he told Times Radio.

‘And the ostrich strategy of sticking our heads in the sand and hoping it won’t go away, I would caution, is not a wise strategy when it concerns one of the most sensitive national security assets we have anywhere in the world.’

But shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge said: ‘If Burnham was really serious about our defence he would know that this deal should be binned entirely.

Advertisement

‘It is absurd to hand over British sovereign territory, not to mention billions of pounds of hard-pressed taxpayers’ money, to an ally of China.’ 

Under Sir Keir Starmer, Britain agreed to hand ownership of the British Indian Ocean territory to Mauritius and lease back the UK-US airbase on Diego Garcia at a cost of £35billion on a 99-year deal.

But Mr Trump killed any prospect of this off in January this year when he called it an ‘act of great stupidity’.

Speaking to reporters en route to New York earlier this week, Mr Burnham had insisted he was ‘determined’ to see the deal through, adding it was critical to the long-term operation of the base.

Advertisement

He said he would ‘work towards a resolution’ with the President.

But at their meeting in New York, Mr Trump said the Prime Minister had failed to change his mind, adding: ‘I don’t support it. I think it’s terrible. It was a terrible deal.

‘They [Mauritius] all of a sudden say they have ownership. Somebody has ownership that never showed up before, after decades and centuries. I think it’s ridiculous.

‘No, we were talking about that, and [the islands are] strategically very important. Very important. You know, we had to send our B2 bombers… back home to Missouri [after a bombing raid on Iran], as opposed to flying for a short period of time.

Advertisement

‘It’s amazing how strategic it is, and I think the Prime Minister is going to be looking at it.’

Mr Burnham nodded in agreement and replied: ‘Yeah.’

The Thursday letters page doesn’t believe the PS6 will be out in 2027, as one reader tries to imagine if Nintendo bought Sonic the Hedgehog.

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

Next gen rodeo
So we’re at that part in the console cycle where we’re comparing meaningless numbers and trying to decide which console is more ‘powerful’? It always happens, I know, this is not my first rodeo.

Even if the number of teraflops was a proper way of measuring the power, which I don’t think it is, nothing matters but how the console is used. Nobody but Microsoft devs are going to prioritise the next gen Xbox, so everyone’s going to be optimising their games for the PlayStation 6, just as they have the last two gens.

The Xbox Series X is, on paper, more powerful than the PlayStation 5 but when have we seen even a single game that proves that? It’ll be just the same with Project Helix. On paper, the Switch 2 is not powerful at all, but we all saw the Zelda: Ocarina Of Time footage and things like Cyberpunk 2077 running well on it. It’s not the console that makes the difference, it’s the developer.

But anyway, there’s not a chance in Hades I’m going to buy a PlayStation 6 next year or any time soon and I still don’t really believe it’s coming out then anyway. I know all the evidence suggests it is, but it’s not needed and the component crisis is going to make it much, much too expensive. There’s no way it’s not going to be delayed until at least 2028 and if I’m wrong Sony are even dumber than I think.
Focus

The third way
I kind of feel like Fire Emblem needs a third setting in between the causal and permadeath modes. Casual feels too safe, with very little consequence for just throwing your troops to their deaths, but in permadeath mode I end up worrying that if I lose too many I’ll get stuck later on with a limited team, so I abuse the save function and it turns into casual with extra steps.

A nice halfway house would be if fallen troops were injured and couldn’t be selected for a certain amount of time, then maybe when they recovered they would go down a level or two. That way losing soldiers would still be a problem that you want to avoid, but not so ruinous as to require save scumming.
TGN Professor

GC: That seems a good idea, and not dissimilar to how Star Wars Zero Company works.

Xbox generation
I’d say I’m an Xbox supporter by default. It was the new gen console I picked. I’m not a company supporter but I thought it was more aesthetically pleasing than the PlayStation 5. The sacking of all the people isn’t great, but Sony’s hands aren’t the cleanest either.

I stuck with Xbox even though the Xbox One was pretty bad for load speeds. I’m glad the Xbox Series X is backwards compatible, as most of my games are from that gen and can be got fairly cheap. I’ve had every Sony device except the PlayStation 5 and while it’s not likely to get purchased I don’t think the PlayStation 6 will come to me either. I’ll hopefully just update my PC with a pre-owned 4070 or higher.
Bobwallett

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

The next step
From the first announcement of Xbox layoffs I suspected a lot of people outside of the studios would be losing their jobs. After all, they did say they wanted to drastically reduce the number of layers to mostly just have people who make the games.

Now after Tuesday’s announcement I think it’s fairly safe to assume once Fable, Gears Of War: E-Day, and Clockwork Revolution have released their studios will move to Activision and Bethesda (or one or two might close) and the whole management/publishing layer of Xbox Game Studios will be gone.

I’ve not really bought into the idea that Microsoft is going to exit the games industry, but Activision Blizzard and Bethesda are still separate legal entities to Microsoft, so it does leave them in a position where the companies can quite easily be spun out into independent companies with ownership transferred directly to the shareholders.
Tim

Don’t miss Gaming news! Add us as a Preferred Source

As a loyal GameCentral reader, we want to make sure you never miss our articles when searching for gaming stories. We have all the latest video games news, reviews, previews, and interviews, with a vibrant community of highly engaged readers.

Click the button below and tick Metro.co.uk to ensure you see stories from us first in Google Search.

Add us as a Preferred Source

Advertisement

Bad guess
This cashback that Sony is doing will be mostly on cheap games that’s over five years old and the money you earn will only be available to spend on some games and before anyone that says no one knows the details yet, this is Sony. This is a company that’s trying to own the whole of the console market.

This is a company whose T&Cs are so tight you never get your money back in cash. This is a company that mocks its customers. This is an offer that doesn’t offer anything of value, this is a company that’s trying to pull the wool over our eyes. It’s greed. When this is fully out let’s see if Sony will let you use your cash back on day one Sony titles. Sony will take pounds and give back pennies on this.
David

GC: The games confirmed so far are all 2026 titles: The Blood Of Dawnwalker, Halloween, Star Wars Zero Company, and Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2.

Super Sonic bros.
That was an interesting article about Sonic being potentially axed by Sega before the success of the films.

It did raise a couple of questions in my head though.

In hindsight how important does the character remodelling seem now?

The director of the first movie pushed its release back a few months because of the backlash of the hideous looking Sonic that can only be best described as a grown man in a scary blue onesie.

That was definitely the right decision and I’m sure the director got a lot of pushback from people higher up regarding that matter. So good for him.

Also, if Sega had have written Sonic the Hedgehog off. What would have been the likelihood of someone like Microsoft trying to buy the rights?

Especially as Microsoft where about to release the Xbox Series X/S.

I would like to think Nintendo would want to buy him, as it just seems like a better fit with the other franchises they have to offer.

Anyway, thank goodness things worked out the way they did. Not only did we get some great movies out of it, but I don’t think many gamers these days remember a time when Sonic the Hedgehog wasn’t a relevant character on our gaming shop shelves.

Long may it continue.
freeway 77

GC: That’s an interesting thought; Nintendo does seem the most obvious suitor.

Death Adder goes forth
Perhaps I’ve missed it, but I haven’t seen you mention the Golden Axe cartoon on these pages before.

It certainly doesn’t look top tier but seems to be positioned as a comedy, which looks quite fun and definitely worth a look.

What a shame I don’t have and don’t intend to subscribe to Paramount+.
Sven

GC: That was our feeling too.

Name change
It’s interesting to read between the lines on the shuffling around going on at Xbox, over how this consolidation plays into rumours of their future hardware plans. There has been a drip of news for a while Project Helix is just a ‘PC in a box’, which seems legit when you see Microsoft’s moves around official emulation of older console titles on PC, the ROG Ally X, and that disc-to-digital conversion*.

If the new Xbox is just a living room PC, à la Steam Machine, then emptying it’s officially branded publishing arm into Activision and Bethesda would seem to suggest the Xbox name itself is being put out to pasture. Future games will be sold on various store fronts across the PC space as Activision or Bethesda releases, same with ports to Switch 2 or PlayStation 5/6.

Let’s take that even further, what are the odds on Project Helix being branded under Microsoft’s Surface line of devices? A Surface TV high end box designed to be a full living room Co-pilot AI driven entertainment hub… the Xbox One launch dream fulfilled.

Microsoft probably doesn’t want the market thinking it’s just the next iteration of its failed games console when the next generation rolls around after all. They could reserve the Xbox name for what Game Pass would become in that world, so buying an Xbox is just buying access to your digital library and Game Pass for Surface TV or whatever other PC based system you have.

Thinking of Xbox as a competitor to Sony and Nintendo in the console wars has been old-fashioned thinking for a while, as have been most gamer suggestions of how Xbox could recover with exclusive games and whatnot. We’re heading into a much changed gaming landscape where that stuff is irrelevant.
Marc

*Hope Sony follow this route with disc-to-digital for when the new PlayStation portable rolls around. Still have a few PlayStation 4 titles on disc and it’d be nice to take them on the go. Given current form I doubt it.

Inbox also-rans
You know who could’ve made a truly great Halo game? id Software.
ANON

I hate to say it but those Gears Of War: E-Day developer are toast the second the game comes out. Terrible, Wikipedia says that’s 200 people right there.
Gorf

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

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.

MORE: Games Inbox: Are you still an Xbox fan?

MORE: Games Inbox: When will Final Fantasy 17 be out?

MORE: Games Inbox: Will GTA 6 have a co-op mode?

For me, burnout came on gradually – but when I was done, I knew I was done.

For 15 years I was the editor-in-chief of Hello! magazine, and for most of that time I thrived on the pace and glamour.

But towards the end, I felt permanently wired and exhausted – both frayed at the edges and drained of energy. I’d successfully ignored the stress and poor sleep for so long, I no longer knew what it was to feel ‘normal’.

By the time it came to a head – in a pool of tears in a London hotel room after hosting a big event and waking to the ping of emails, texts and endless demands on my time – I was physically on my knees, my heart beating so hard I could almost hear it.

I remember gazing at the two unanswered FaceTime calls from my young children from the night before and feeling suffocated by guilt. I longed for a different life.

A doctor signed me off for six weeks. I went home to my husband and two boys, who were then aged eight and six, feeling relieved, anxious and uncertain. What would I do now? Who was I without a job title that defined so much of my working life?

The short-term answer was the school run, some gentle exercise and lots of evenings in. Slowly, my nervous system calmed and my sleep improved. Week after week, I felt my energy return.

I began to reflect on the endless round of royal and showbiz news I’d loved for so long, and realised it wasn’t exciting me the way it used to. Interestingly, the world didn’t spin off its axis when I admitted this to myself.

When I went back to work part-time, with a new job description, plans for a complete reinvention of my working life bubbled at the back of my mind; I couldn’t shake off the desire for something new.

If you’d told me that would include competing in one of the toughest fitness races in the world at the age of 50, however, I’d have said you’d got the wrong woman. I might even have laughed in your face.

At school I was never a ‘sporty girl’ and, until my 40s, I thought trainers were only for pairing with a dress and fresh manicure (Adidas Gazelles, naturally).

In fact, when my friend Petra, who happens to be a personal trainer, decided to enter me into a Hyrox race in London as an off-the-wall present for my 50th, I had to Google the word Hyrox. Flowers would have been fine.

But reinvention after burnout has to be physical as well as mental. Something about entering my 50s sharpened my desire to prove I could be strong again – strong and taut in my body, and strong in my choices about starting a second chapter not solely defined by work. More prosaically, I had also begun to notice some wobbly bits around my midriff and under my arms. It made me think upping my fitness with some gentle weight-lifting would do me good.

Oh how naive I was. Nothing about Hyrox is gentle.

We all know that smug middle-aged friend who swears by Tough Mudder or runs half marathons. Hyrox takes it up a gear or three.

A wholly indoor race, Hyrox is made up of eight 1km runs, with each one followed by a functional strength workout that feels like it was designed to break the spirit.

You run and then do SkiErg, for example – a downward pull yanking on handles like you’re cross-country skiing through treacle. Then another run before Sled Push – heaving a weighted metal sled across the floor while questioning all your life choices. Ditto, Sled Pull – the same idea, but pulling it with a heavy rope.

At the end of the next run, you find 80 burpees waiting for you, where the chest touches the floor followed by a puke-inducing, frog-like leap. Next comes a 1km row, then a Farmer’s Carry, aka lugging 16kg kettlebells around a circuit like you’re bringing in the world’s heaviest Waitrose shop.

This is followed by walking lunges with a 15kg sandbag on your shoulders (basically a metaphor for midlife). The punisher comes last – squatting and throwing a weighted ball at a target while praying it doesn’t smack you in the face… 100 times.

You do all this against the clock, surrounded by some of the fittest people you’ve ever seen – the kind who were born doing planks.

If it sounds like torture – and it sort of is – that hasn’t stopped Hyrox becoming a worldwide phenomenon since its invention in 2017, spanning 85 cities across 30 countries, with 650,000 participants last year alone. So fashionable has it become, it nowadays dominates the social media feeds of anyone with even a passing interest in fitness – for both good and bad reasons.

This year it has dominated headlines after Australian world-record holder Joanna Wietrzyk suffered bowel incontinence mid-race and continued to compete covered in faecal matter. The decision to allow her to continue – and ultimately win – sparked widespread debate about hygiene, athlete welfare and race management, particularly as other competitors were required to use equipment after her. Critics have also bemoaned its eyewatering price tag, the standard of judging and the accusations it can be a ‘toxic’ environment. 

Yet people keep pouring into the sport, despite the gruelling setup – and indeed gruelling recommended training regime – and its push-to-the-limit mentality.

The former Hello! magazine editor says she hasn’t dropped any weight at all – but her waistline is noticeably tauter, her arms are sculpted and she is stronger than she was at 30

If Hyrox makes even the most dedicated weekend warrior mum blanch. If it defeats even the most puffed up Mamil (Middle-aged Men In Lycra), how on Earth would I fare? Petra had bought us entry to the Hyrox race at the Olympia exhibition centre in west London, and the only saving grace was her suggestion that we compete in the Open Doubles category – a team of two version, where you and your partner complete the full race in tandem, but sharing the workouts as desired.

When she handed me that ticket, maybe she saw what I didn’t yet: that I needed a challenge that wasn’t career-based; something to get me out of my head and into my body. Saying yes also meant instant kudos with my husband and two sons, now aged 12 and ten, who were far more impressed their mother was going to do a Hyrox than they have ever been looking through the commemorative issues of Hello!. Doing it for them spurred me on during the toughest training sessions when the old me might have given up.

By the time I started preparing for Hyrox at the start of this year, I was already moving into a better place mentally. I’d re-trained to become an accredited life coach, and felt happier and more creative than I’d been for years.

Perhaps my sunnier outlook explains why I started my training with such naive enthusiasm. I had no idea what I’d signed up for.

Hyrox was at the end of March, but much of January was in the end knocked out by a persistent chest infection. Even my husband thought I should probably drop the idea then. But I was determined, obsessed even, with the ‘road to Olympia’. And with each session in the gym, I could feel it: my legs were getting stronger and my lungs were, well, screaming less loudly than before.

Training for Hyrox turned Rosie into the kind of gym-obsessed woman she once side-eyed – those who talk about ‘splits’ before 7am

Advertisement

Training three times a week over five weeks was enough to see the beginnings of abs appear at my waist and more muscle tone and definition elsewhere. At 50, I’m not chasing a lithe model body, but strength and agility – the version of myself who can do anything she puts her mind to.

I’m also reaping the benefits of boosting my muscle mass, which drops with age, and counteracting many of the biological shifts driven by declining oestrogen during perimenopause.

Training for Hyrox turned me into the kind of gym-obsessed woman I once side-eyed – those who talk about ‘splits’ before 7am.

Suddenly I was waking at 6am, marching into my local Hyrox class like a woman possessed, fuelled in equal parts by determination and the quiet terror of humiliating myself at Olympia. I became that person who knows exactly where her deltoids, quads, glutes, hamstrings and even those shy little obliques are – because I could see them.

In case you’re wondering, your obliques sit along the sides of your waist, running diagonally from your ribs down toward your hips. They’re the muscles that give you that sculpted, athletic ‘V’ at the sides of your torso – the ones you suddenly start noticing in the mirror when you’ve been doing a crazy amount of working out.

There was a flicker of guilt about how much time I was investing in training, but it was drowned out by the pride of watching my body change shape. My confidence for race day grew, as did the admiration of the small men in the house – when we sat down to watch Gladiators, I was able to seriously contemplate how fast I might make it up the travelator.

Every gym session felt like a tiny act of rebellion against who I used to be, and a big vote for the woman I was becoming. Physical reinvention wasn’t an abstract concept anymore; it was in the mirror, flushed, sweaty, slightly unhinged – yet unmistakably happier for it.

On the day itself, my nerves were intense. Much of the Hyrox equipment wouldn’t look out of place in a military fitness camp and the marshals are just as strict, dishing out time penalties for every below-par lunge or wall ball that doesn’t quite hit the target.

Then there’s the noise – booming dance music, sleds clattering and crowds erupting in waves.

Once acclimatised to the scale of the event, I necked a banana for pre-race sustenance and we joined a warm-up station. Then we were at the start line, a dark tunnel, following our wave of female pairs (each race is divided by sex, age and ability levels). I tried not to feel intimidated by the number of sculpted bodies and French plaits around me.

Before long, the smoke guns erupted and we were off. After the first few exercises and 1km runs, I seemed to find a steady flow – grateful to be doing this with a partner. But then the chest-to-floor burpee jumps – always my worst station – made me feel horribly nauseous. I kept going through gritted teeth.

Each run came around fast and my heart felt as though it was about to break through my chest. It was time to dig deep, while Beyonce’s hit Run The World (Girls) pumped out of the speakers, giving me a much-needed boost at the 5km mark.

There were moments in the weighted lunges when my thighs were burning so badly, the old me would have screamed: ‘Enough!’ But I thought of how proud I’d make my boys if I finished, and ploughed through it.

The wall balls were pure pain. But before my brain had time to catch up, I was throwing the last ten at the digital target. I found a final burst of energy after that as Petra grabbed my hand and we pounded to the finish line together. We crossed it in one hour, 26 minutes – a highly respectable time I am very proud of.

My legs were jelly, heart hammering, but I couldn’t stop grinning, knowing that just a few years ago, I’d have found this impossible.

In an age of fat-jabs and the return of the emaciated twiglet aesthetic, my aim was never to be thinner. I haven’t dropped any weight at all – but my waistline is noticeably tauter, my arms are sculpted and I am stronger than I was at 30.

Best of all, I’m now the Mum Who Can Do Anything according to my boys. That feels fantastic.

Completing a Hyrox was the perfect challenge at this point in my life, when I have reinvented my career, beaten burnout and started my sixth decade. I don’t feel late to the party – I feel like I’m just getting started.

Vietnamese crime gangs have been involved in human trafficking and the operation of large scale cannabis farms across Scotland for almost 20 years. Their victims are smuggled into the UK from the south east asian country with the promise of a new life and then forced to work on the farms which generate millions for the criminals.

They then remain trapped there unable to leave or return home. Most of the farms operate out of rented flats or houses with the owners usually unaware of what is happening.

One of the most exploited groups are young people. Earlier this month the Daily Record revealed how scores of Vietnamese children have been trafficked north of the border and then sexually abused in the last seven years.

We reported how Police Scotland have received 342 referrals since 2020 of cases where youngsters from the south east asia country have been kept in slavery. Thirty one involve children being sexually exploited, usually through prostitution or escort work.

Trafficked young people are often made to work in flats or “pop up” brothels providing sexual services. The figures released under Freedom of Information showed that most child trafficking cases since 2020 were in Edinburgh with 74, Glasgow with 72 and Ayrshire with 49.

In the first six months of this year there were 19 child trafficking cases recorded with three linked to sexual exploitation. The young people can be forced to work in cannabis farms, nail bars and car washes.

Some are made to work for adult Vietnamese who have been smuggled into the country cooking and cleaning. As well as sex work trafficked children often end up working illegally in the hospitality industry in kitchens.

Others can be made to work in the construction industry or for removal or logistics firms. Those forced to work in cannabis farms are normally held there unable to leave while they grow the plants.

Trafficked children in Scotland can also be made to work on fishing boats or in remote hospitality locations. In the article modern slavery expert Kieran Walsh, who has previously worked with the Salvation Army said:”The trafficking of Vietnamese people both children and adults has been going on for a considerable time as evidenced by your figures.

“Vietnamese organised crime groups can be quite ruthless in how they carry out their activities in trafficking children for illegal and immoral purposes, Either through forced labour or sexual exploitation.”

While Karen Miller of the anti slavery charity Restore Glasgow commented: “We are horrified to see these latest figures. As a Glasgow-based anti-trafficking charity we are naturally aware that trafficking happens under our noses all the time, but it’s still shocking to contemplate the figures when you remember that each of these numbers is a frightened, exploited child.

“Vietnam is one of the top two source countries for victims of trafficking in the UK, supplying unwilling workers to the ubiquitous dodgy nail bars and the cannabis industry. Cynical trafficking gangs will recruit people from rural areas including children, because they lack the education and street smarts to understand the danger of these “job offers”.