Demon’s Souls was a great remake (Sony Interactive Entertainment)
The Friday letters page has some choice words to say about Sony’s handling of the PS5 generation, as one reader thinks Mario Kart Arcade is a bad game.
Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk
Wasted generation Just seen the news that Sony is shutting down Bluepoint Games and I’m appalled. That team put out nothing but top quality games and were specialists in remakes, which we’ve had more and more of recently, so you would’ve thought they’d be extra valuable to Sony right now.
Instead, we just see continued short-sighted, bone-headed decision making from Sony, who have been awful this whole generation. The PlayStation 5 has been a disaster and I’m not confident that Sony has any kind of plan to avoid permeant decline, all the while shutting down more and more developers. I definitely would be polishing up my CV if I worked at Bungie or Bend Studio.
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The obsession with live service games, which clearly hasn’t ended at all, has been such a disaster. Not just in terms of failed games (remember, Concord cost $400 million!) but a whole wasted generation, where developers have had no time to make anything else, and are now being shut down before they have the chance anyway.
I detest Sony for how they’re handling all this, and I say that as someone that’s owned an original PlayStation console and everything else since. They shut down one of their best developers just so they could look good to their investors for five minutes and it’s obvious they’ll happily sacrifice more for the same reason. Cranston
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Pity the poor exec Thank goodness that Hermen Hulst, Head of Worldwide Studios at PlayStation from 2019-2024, is here to protect the company from ‘changing player behaviours’ and ‘rising development costs’ by shuttering one of their most renowned studios.
Absolutely nothing else he could’ve done since 2019, to give players the type of games they expect from PlayStation. Nope, we all wanted 12 live service games, from studios who specialise in single-player games, so it’s our fault for changing our minds…
PlayStation has been on the slide since they consolidated and moved their headquarters to the USA. They’ve lost almost all of the riskiness and playfulness that made them successful in the first place. Hope the Bluepoint employees bounce back quickly. Magnumstache
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Never-ending Kratos I was really hoping that Santa Monica Studio would be working on a new IP or sci-fi game but it really doesn’t sound like that’s what’s going on. I loved the last two God Of War games but the story’s over and I have very little confidence that there’s a good plan for what happens next.
Cory Barlog said he didn’t make the Norse games a trilogy because he didn’t want to work on the same story for 15 years but here we are and it’s looking very much like he’s just going straight back to God Of War.
I know the next game is meant to be a spin-off but how different is it going to be really? Unless it’s a flight sim or something it’s just going to be more of the same and that’s a shame. Coolsbane
Experimental reasoning It does make me laugh that Todd Howard has now publicly admitted that people find Starfield boring, but I’m sure he doesn’t really understand why. How someone of his supposed experience could have put out such a dull, badly made game I don’t know. He’s just lucky the Fallout TV show was a hit, as otherwise I think he would’ve fond himself out the door.
No one would love The Elder Scrolls 6 to be great more than me, but Bethesda is too high on its own supply nowadays and I really have much less confidence in them than I used to. He tries to paint Starfield as some big, risky experiment but all they do was take all the best bits out of Skyrim and replace it with nothing.
I’m not really sure what he’s on about with Fallout 76 either. It’s just a bog standard MMO cobbled together with left over bits from Fallout 4. It’s those two games that made me start to think less of Bethesda, not because they were risky ventures but because they were lazy cash grabs. Shortround
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Kart it off I always wondered why Nintendo bothered with the Mario Kart arcade games. They weren’t very good, because they let Bandai Namco make them, and it hardly seems like Mario Kart is a series they have to get people interested in or promote. It’s not exactly an unknown brand, is it?
Putting Pac-Man in was extra weird too, as even though he’s a cartoon character he still looks out of place. Anyway, I still gave it a go. But paying £1 to play one race of the worst Mario Kart ever isn’t something I’d want to do again. Biter
Bad business The gaming world can truly change on a dime. Bluepoint Games has been shut down by Sony. After giving us fans a brilliant remake of Demon’s Souls and Shadow Of The Colossus, Sony has closed down the studio. One of their most revered, to say the least. It’s out of nowhere and quite a baffling decision. From what I understand, the studio was to create a video game based on an original IP and not another remake. So why Sony have chosen to erase that prospective idea is beyond my understanding.
Then again, we hadn’t heard any news, updates or any information from them in a long time, so perhaps it was inevitable. I suppose the silence was a reckoning or rather an ill omen in the shadows. I really would have liked to see what Bluepoint were making or what was cooking behind the scenes. To see the creativity floating around, but it either happens with a new studio that is formed, or it remains a what if?
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It worked for Sandfall Games. After they broke away from Ubisoft, we were presented with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and the rest is history. So maybe the developers still have a semblance of a future. What that will be is unclear at this moment, so who knows what is next?
On another note, it’s a week from tomorrow that Resident Evil Requiem releases. A funny anecdote is that I pre-ordered it for £47.99, on Amazon. I take another look and it’s suddenly £59.95. Talk about a lucky move. It looks absolutely fantastic and since Leon Kennedy is my favourite male gaming character, I hope it reviews well. Shahzaib Sadiq
Two for two I want to recommend Pure Pool Pro on PlayStation 5. It’s a really fun game with excellent physics. It looks great and has an enjoyable career mode and trophies.
It’s only the second game I’ve bought for the PlayStation 5 after Everybody’s Golf Hot Shots. Keep up the good work. EricBIG777 (PSN ID)
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GC: Thank you.
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Actually final RE: Ochreblue. I find it hard to imagine, after the Final Fantasy 7 remakes have been completed, that another remake of a fan favourite would be made anytime soon, at least on the scale of Final Fantasy 7’s budget.
I think that so much money has backed these three massive games that it would seem nonsensical to risk another big venture so soon, due to what the actual returns were from a financial point of view. I can imagine that it would have needed a lot more sales to accommodate a reason to make, let’s say the sixth or ninth Final Fantasy games in the series, even if they definitely do deserve one.
Possibly a remastered version of Chrono Trigger would be interesting, with a fresh lick of paint and a new up-to-date remake of the original soundtrack would be a great winner for me and other fans. No need to go and rebuild everything like the FFVII Remake, but way simpler using artwork that is skilfully applied to the cute looking world whilst keeping the atmosphere peak.
But we definitely have to get into our minds that the Final Fantasy 7 remakes could be the ultimate Final Fantasies, encapsulating everything from the original and introducing so much more.
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This asks the question of how powerful do the next generation of consoles really need to be and have graphical qualities reached their zenith yet? GTA 6 will probably be that zenith but it’ll be pretty obvious that GTA 6 will be earning a hefty profit when the sale figures start coming in.
But definitely it will be an exception compared to other big releases, who will be relatively successful but with way less titles being sold. Let’s see what happens over this year and the next. Alucard
Inbox also-rans Sony shut down Bluepoint Games? Make it make sense! Surely they should be remaking Bloodborne? Zombiekicker
One positive thing about all these console delays is that parents could be saved the £400 to £1,000 yearly scramble to get a new toy for their spoiled kids. Bobwallett
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GC: Who is spending £1,000 on new consoles every year?
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Over the past two decades, the close friendship that’s blossomed between Jennifer Garner and Judy Greer has given me immeasurable amounts of joy.
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For this nostalgic millennial, 13 Going on 30 has been one of my favourite films since its release in 2004. So much so that I even dressed up as Jenna Rink for my 30th birthday, multicoloured Thriller dress and all.
So when I recently had the chance to speak to Jennifer about season 2 of The Last Thing He Told Me for Metro alongside her co-star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, I had to know how it felt for her to reunite with Judy on-screen… as well as telling her about my fancy dress outfit.
The Apple TV Plus thriller, which premiered in 2023 and is based on the novel by Laura Dave, follows a woman called Hannah (Jennifer) whose life is turned upside down when her husband Owen (Nikolaj) vanishes, leaving her with his stepdaughter Bailey (Angourie Rice) as they grapple to piece together the mystery of his disappearance.
It turns out that Owen’s real name is Ethan, and he was previously married to the daughter of a mobster lawyer called Nicholas Bell (David Morse).
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After Ethan’s wife was murdered, he fled with his daughter to create a new life for them both with fresh identities. Eventually, he met, fell in love with and married Hannah.
Jennifer Garner and Judy Greer might have been frenemies in 13 Going on 30, but in real life, they’re close friends (Picture: Shutterstock/Apple TV)
In The Last Thing He Told Me, Bailey (Angourie Rice) and her stepmum Hannah (Jennifer) have forged a stronger relationship in season two (Picture: Apple TV Plus/Michael Becker)
Ethan’s involvement with the police, leaking information to them to bring down members of the crime syndicate, results in him being forced to go on the run.
The season one finale ends with a five-year time jump, when a heavily disguised Owen discreetly visits Hannah after she was forced to sacrifice their life together to protect Bailey.
In season two, the stakes are at an all-time high. Hannah knows that her husband is alive, but is not supposed to have contact with him. Owen (aka Ethan) is still working to bring down the dangerous criminals who threaten his family, and Judy enters the fray as Quinn, the eldest daughter of the Campano crime family.
‘Judy and I have been friends ever since 13 Going on 30. There’s such a lovely shorthand. You don’t erase the history that you have with someone,’ Jennifer, 53, told Metro, shortly after Apple TV’s press day in Los Angeles.
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‘She’s carried me through the last 20 years, and I’ve a little bit carried her. I’ve watched her evolve into a more and more formidable, stronger, deadlier actress, and so to be on the other side of her in these scenes was… it just really asked me to up my game. I was thrilled to have that opportunity.
‘I get to do that with Nikolaj, but it’s usually you’re with a man to do that. With another woman, it’s really special.’
Key details for The Last Thing He Told Me season 2
When is The Last Thing He Told Me season 2 being released?
The new season is premiering on Friday February 20.
Is it all being released in one go?
The new season is being released on a weekly basis.
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There will be eight episodes in total, with the season finale airing on Friday April 10.
Who’s in the cast?
The cast in The Last Thing He Told Me season 2 includes:
Jennifer Garner as Hannah Hall
Angourie Rice as Bailey Michaels
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Owen Michaels (aka Ethan)
Judy Greer as Quinn Favreau
Augusto Aguilera as Gracy Bradford
David Morse as Nicholas Bell
Rita Wilson as Carol
Luke Kirby as Teddy Campano
John Noble as Frank Campano
Ethan (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is back after going on the run for five years (Picture: Appel TV Plus/Michael Becker)
We’re ready for the face-off between Hannah and Quinn in the gripping thriller (Picture: Apple TV Plus/Michael Becker)
While The Last Thing He Told Me might be an action-packed thriller, at its core it’s an enthralling family drama, complete with complex relationships and generational trauma.
One of the overarching questions that runs through the centre of the story is how much you’re willing to sacrifice for the people you love.
‘It’s a question we all struggle with all the time, because we all know it’s very easy to have opinions of how other people should live their lives when you see it from afar,’ Game of Thrones star Nikolaj, 55, said.
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‘It’s not that simple when you have to sacrifice stuff. You would hope – I would hope – that there would be no limits to do whatever you could for the people you love. There’s different families within the show, and they all are faced with these very foundational questions.’
Will you be watching The Last Thing He Told Me?
Yes – I’m so glad it’s back!
I need to catch up on season one
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Jennifer, who’s also an executive producer on the series, added: ‘What’s interesting is that as we are trying to dive into these real-life tough questions at the centre of this show, we’re being chased, and we are barely one step ahead, and not even always one step ahead of losing our lives.
‘You have this super propulsive energy, and you have this real family love story in the middle of it, and then you have this real baddie of Judy Greer showing up and her whole family, Luke Kirby and John Noble, they’re so amazing.
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‘This season really does offer more of the same, deeper, better. Laura’s sequel did not become an instant bestseller on the New York Times list for nothing. She wrote a fantastic story.’
The Last Thing He Told Me season 2 premieres on Friday February 20 on Apple TV Plus, with episodes being made available to watch weekly.
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Health boards in Wales have been told to prioritise urgent patients while the shortage continues
A shortage of a surgical material has resulted in operations being disrupted in Wales. A Welsh health board has said that the shortage is expected to cause “disruption” to those waiting for surgery and some replacement operations are being paused.
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There is a global shortage of bone cement that is used in a wide range of emergency and planned orthopaedic surgical procedures including knee and hip replacements.
The shortage has been caused by a manufacturing issue at the production facility of one of the main suppliers of the surgical material which is causing delays across the UK.
Heraeus Medical, the main supplier of bone cement for the NHS, which is based in Germany, reported a packaging fault affecting its bone cement products. Stay informed on the latest health news by signing up to our newsletter here
Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board has issued a statement regarding the shortages confirming that health boards in Wales have been told to “prioritise those patients who are in the most urgent need to ensure that emergency surgery can continue safely”.
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This has meant that all planned (elective) joint replacement operations in Wales which require the use of cement are being paused temporarily.
The health board said: “There is currently a global shortage of bone cement affecting the NHS nationally following a manufacturing issue at the production facility of one of the main suppliers of the material.
“Bone cement is essential in a wide range of emergency and planned orthopaedic surgical procedures and as a result of this shortage, we are anticipating disruption to some planned joint replacement operations.
“Across Wales, we have been asked to prioritise those patients who are in the most urgent need to ensure that emergency surgery can continue safely.
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“As a result, all planned (elective) joint replacement operations in Wales which require the use of cement are being paused temporarily.
“We will be contacting all patients whose procedures have been affected directly to explain the next steps.
“If you have not been contacted by the health board, please assume that your operation will be continuing as expected. Whilst this situation is beyond our control, we apologise for the inconvenience caused and are working hard to minimise the impact and return to normal service as soon as possible.”
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Manchester United are close to returning to action after a lengthy break, with a Premier League trip to Everton on the horizon for Michael Carrick and his players
Those games are United’s only remaining responsibilities after early exits from both domestic cups. They sit fourth, one point clear of Chelsea and even further ahead of the chasing pack.
That means United’s fate remains in their own hands, with spring games against Chelsea and Liverpool looming large. A fourth place finish may make it harder for the higher-ups to look past Carrick when it comes to appointing a permanent manager in the summer.
We’ve got a Carrick-related update for you today as well as news on former United striker Mason Greenwood. Here’s the latest from around Old Trafford and beyond.
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Greenwood’s Marseille find new boss
Mason Greenwood leads the Ligue 1 scoring charts this season but his club, Marseille, have been in turmoil of late. They will hope that changes with the appointment of a new permanent manager in the form of Habib Beye.
Roberto De Zerbi, who signed Greenwood from Manchester United in 2024, left after Champions League elimination was followed by a 5-0 defeat to rivals Paris Saint-Germain. Jacques Abardonado took temporary charge for one match, a draw at home to Strasbourg, but former L’OM defender Beye will now take over after a spell at Rennes.
“The choice of Habib Beye as OM’s new coach is fully in line with our desire to recruit a coach with the leadership skills needed to take charge of a team that obviously needs to be re-motivated after a difficult period on the pitch,” sporting director Mehdi Benatia said. “From our very first discussions, he struck me as extremely committed and totally focused on the future, with clear objectives for everyone: to quickly get back to winning ways, aim for a place on the Ligue 1 podium and try to win the Coupe de France to give the people of Marseille a trophy.”
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Benatia himself had looked to be on the way out amid a chaotic few weeks. However, he was convinced to stick around and oversee the appointment of the new head coach.
Fletcher kept Carrick secret
Darren Fletcher didn’t tell his Under-18 squad that first team boss Michael Carrick was in attendance for their FA Youth Cup win against Oxford. Carrick and assistant Travis Binnion were at the Kassam Stadium as JJ Gabriel was among the goals in a 4-1 away win.
Gabriel, who scored United’s third round winner against Peterborough, helped open up a 2-0 half-time lead after Albert Mills’ opener. Chido Obi made it three after the break and Noah Ajayi rounded off the scoring after Josh Holton briefly gave Oxford hope.
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“I’m not sure if they’re aware of it, to be honest,” Fletcher told MUTV when discussing the presence of Carrick and Binnion. “I didn’t want to draw their attention to it and add more pressure, so ultimately it’s just great that they were there.
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“Whether the players were aware of it, I’m not sure, we just stayed in our own little bubble and I didn’t want to allude to the fact that the first-team manager was there and the staff were there. I think the biggest thing is they’re there to support and get their eyes on the players and that’s amazing.”
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle for the 2025/26 season, saving members £336 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games this season, an increase of up to 100 more.
A little-known American lawsuit could end up reshaping popular music. A US federal court is preparing to rule on a landmark copyright dispute. At its centre is an interesting question: can a short rhythmic pattern – one that appears in thousands of reggaeton tracks – be owned?
The case, known as the Fish Market dispute, asks whether a looping beat widely associated with reggaeton can be protected by copyright. More than 150 artists and producers have been named as defendants, and around 3,600 songs are implicated.
But the consequences stretch far beyond potential damages. If the claim succeeds, a rhythm that underpins an entire genre could become private property. The lawsuit exposes a long-standing weakness in copyright law, which is its inability to clearly define what makes a piece of music “original”.
Copyright is meant to be straightforward. Original musical works receive legal protection but copies do not. In practice though, music rarely fits this neat, binary logic.
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Songs are built from shared elements like rhythms, chord progressions and harmonic patterns. Musicians can reuse, adapt and transform them. These building blocks are how music communicates. But copyright law offers little guidance on which musical elements can be protected, and which belong to everyone.
Unlike literature or visual art, music lacks clear legal definitions for its basic components. There is no settled guidance on whether courts should compare melody, rhythm, harmony, tempo, timbre or pitch, or indeed how much similarity is too much. As a result, judges and juries are left to decide these questions case by case, often without musical expertise.
That uncertainty has made music copyright litigation expensive and unpredictable. Jury trials are particularly risky, and damages can be eye-watering. Two recent American cases show just how inconsistent the system has become.
When courts can’t agree what counts as copying
In 2018, a US jury found that musicians Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams had infringed Marvin Gaye’s work with their song Blurred Lines, not because of a shared melody or lyrics, but because of a similar “feel” or “vibe”. The decision marked a dramatic expansion of copyright protection, suggesting that a musical mood could be owned. Critics warned this risked allowing artists to monopolise styles rather than specific creative expressions.
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By contrast, a 2024 US court ruling in a case involving singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran took the opposite view. The court held that copyright does not protect the basic building blocks of music. Shared rhythms, chord sequences or stylistic elements, it ruled, are part of musical language itself. Protection applies only to concrete expressions such as specific melodies or lyrics.
The Fish Market case magnifies this contradiction and raises the stakes considerably.
The plaintiffs – Steely & Clevie Productions, which represent the musical catalogue of the influential Jamaican dancehall duo Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson and Cleveland Browne – claim that their 1989 instrumental track, Fish Market, introduced the so-called “dem bow” rhythm. This is a distinctive beat, they argue, which forms the backbone of reggaeton. They are seeking copyright protection for that rhythmic pattern.
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Steely & Clevie – Fish Market.
If successful, the ruling would grant two rightsholders control over a core musical feature used across a global genre. Unsurprisingly, many musicians and scholars see this as an attempt to claim ownership of reggaeton itself.
They argue that the rhythm predates Fish Market, drawing on long-established Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Cuban traditions such as the habanera beat. Reggaeton, they say, emerged through cultural exchange: from Jamaican dancehall, through Puerto Rico and out into the world. According to this perspective, the plaintiffs are not protecting originality but attempting to privatise a shared cultural inheritance.
Why rhythm is so hard to copyright
Rhythm sits at the heart of the legal problem. It is abstract yet fundamental, short in duration but repeated across a song and deeply tied to cultural identity. Copyright law, designed to compare fixed and discrete works, struggles to evaluate such elements. When courts attempt to isolate rhythm from its musical and cultural context, they risk mistaking convention for originality.
Copyright once played a limited role in musical life. Over time, as recorded music became a major commercial industry, songs increasingly came to be treated as economic assets. Ownership and control moved to the foreground, often at the expense of recognising music as an intellectual and cultural practice rooted in borrowing, influence and exchange.
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The dispute around the “dem bow” rhythm lays bare the clash between subjective creativity, economic regulation and the law’s demand for objective rules. That clash is becoming harder to ignore as AI-generated music floods the market, trained on existing works and capable of producing endless stylistic variations. If copyright cannot clearly define originality now, its limits will soon be tested even further.
The reggaeton rhythm on trial is not just a fight over a beat. It reveals a fundamental mismatch between copyright law’s rigid standards and the reality of how music is made.
The Fish Market case offers judges an opportunity to clarify where protection should end, and to recognise the dangers of stretching originality so far that creativity itself becomes collateral damage.
Consumer champion Which? has shared a simple German ventilation hack to tackle damp, which is a simple and affordable method that helps fight off any mould in your property
Alice Sjöberg Social News Reporter and Rahima Miah Social News Reporter
05:02, 20 Feb 2026
Winter is often the worst time of the year for damp and mould in affected homes. Caused by excess moisture, the problem is exacerbated when the temperature drops and people spend more time indoors with the windows and doors closed. However, people have now been left stunned after learning about a ‘free’ method that helps to banish and prevent mould growth in your home in five minutes.
Which?, the UK’s leading consumer advocate that evaluates products and services, has brought the technique to public attention through social media. The organisation posted a video on Instagram showcasing the German Stoßlüften method to fight off and prevent mould, which requires opening every window in your property for five minutes, two times a day.
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The term Stoß means ‘shock’ while lüften translates to ‘ventilation’, making this a shock ventilation strategy. It represents an inexpensive, straightforward and accessible solution for addressing mould issues within your property.
During the Instagram video, the Which? representative explaining Stoßlüften remarked: “Have you got a damp house? Well this is what the Germans would do about it and it’s basically free.
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“Some ways of conquering damp can be expensive or require a fair bit of DIY. Germans have a great habit that anyone can get into: Stoßlüften, literally shock ventilation.
“Wrap up warm, run around the house and open all your windows wide for five minutes twice a day. Yes, even in the freezing cold!”
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The presenter elaborated: “The warm, damp air in your home will quickly get replaced with cold, dry air. When you’re sealed back up again the temperature should quickly get back to comfortable but now the moisture in the air is banished and won’t be condensing in damp patches on your walls and windows.”
The post was captioned: “This simple German hack will help you tackle damp and mould without spending a penny.”
The Instagram clip has garnered 3.5 million views, 37,000 likes and close to 1,000 comments, as people shared their bafflement by how easy the hack was.
One viewer remarked: “What great advice. I have a German/Dutch brother in law and a very good German friend and they always sleep with the bedroom window open.”
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Someone else chimed in: “The lung clinic at my chronic asthma hospital team also recommend this – get them windows open!” A third person who’s tested the method wrote: “Done this for years, in a council block, that has huge issues with damp and mould. Works perfectly and really is a life saver.”
Numerous Instagram users sharing their experiences in the comments revealed that Stoßlüften has proved effective for themselves or relatives who’ve given it a go. A cottage dweller explained: “I open my windows every day all year. I live in a very old cottage with no damp proof course. And no damp at all inside. So it works. I’ve always needed fresh air. Glad I’m doing something right.”
That said, a number of UK-based Instagram users expressed doubts about its effectiveness in Britain. One pointed out the “air in England isn’t dry, it’s damp, especially at the minute”.
This sentiment resonated with many others.
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Another user disputed this claim, offering clarification: “A lot of people in the comments seem to mistakenly believe that the cold air outside their house is as humid (or even more humid) than the warm air inside their house. This isn’t true: cold air has a much lower carrying capacity: it can’t hold as much water vapour as warm air.”
They continued: “When you open your windows, the dense cold air flows into the house replacing the less dense warm air (which is driven outside). This means that you have replaced warm air with a high moisture content with cold air with a lower moisture content.”
The explanation went on: “As that cold air warms up inside your house it absorbs moisture from surfaces and materials. Doing this multiple times a day will therefore move moisture from inside your house to outside your house.”
Which? then posted a follow-up video addressing viewers who argued that Britain’s damp climate would render window opening ineffective against mould.
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In the clip, their spokesperson described this as a “confusion between relative humidity and absolute humidity”.
Using a visual aid of two water glasses – one small and filled to the brim, another larger but containing less liquid – he illustrated the concept.
Gesturing to the smaller vessel, he explained: “This very full glass is like the air outside on a cold day. It’s at 95% capacity. It is holding as much water as it’s capable of holding but warm air can actually hold almost twice as much in a house compared to the cold air outside.”
This year has seen prolonged periods of rain and snow but that could change next week according to weather maps
After months of rain and snow dominating the weather in Wales so far this year, many people will be happy to know that the Met Office has forecast warmer temperatures paired with sunshine next week. Temperatures across the UK will reach double digits this weekend with it only getting warmer up until Wednesday, February 25.
The long range forecast for the UK from Tuesday, February 24 to Thursday, March 5 states: “Broadly changeable during this period with Atlantic frontal systems moving across the country and shorter dry and bright interludes in-between. Rain and showers typically heaviest and most frequent in the west, with more sheltered eastern areas seeing much smaller amounts of rain.
“Often windy with a chance of gales at times. Temperatures well above average at first, likely falling closer to average towards the end of February and into March, perhaps briefly cold enough for some wintry showers or even snow in upland areas of the north. A very small chance of more settled weather by the end of the period.”
In January it rained every day in south Wales and parts of England, so a welcome break from the downpours could be celebrated. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here.
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Some areas in Wales will see showers on Wednesday morning, turning brighter throughout the day before rain returns again in the evening.
Areas across the region will see the temperatures rise to double digits, warmer than usual for this time of year in Wales.
By 12pm the whole of Wales is expected to have sunshine with clouds and it should mainly stay dry.
Places including Wrexham and Monmouth will see highs of 13C along with the rest of the country feeling temperatures rise to 11C and 12C from midday.
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Three people died in an area known as ‘Waterfall Country’ in Bannau Brycheiniog within the space of just 18 months
A coroner has warned that people will continue to die at a Welsh beauty spot popular with walkers unless action is taken to improve safety by three Welsh councils and two other organisations.
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Married couple Helen and Rachael Patching died in an area known as ‘Waterfall Country’ in Bannau Brycheiniog National Park in 2023, less than 18 months before Corey Longdon fell and died in a nearby spot. A combined inquest into the three deaths was held at Pontypridd Coroners’ Court last month, when Rachel Knight, Assistant Coroner for South Wales Central, heard details of the two separate incidents.
Ms Knight recorded formal conclusions of “accidental death” in all three cases and confirmed that she would be issuing a new Regulation 28 Report which would be sent to Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority, NRW, Neath Port Talbot Council, Rhondda Cynon Taf Council, and Powys Council.
That report has now been published and sent to the parties mentioned above.
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In it, Ms Knight wrote: “On January 22 I held a hearing where three inquests were conjoined as they all raised the same issue.
“The inquests related to the deaths of Helen Patching, Rachael Patching and Corey Longdon.
“All three died accidental deaths within the area known as Waterfall Country within Bannau Brycheiniog National Park. During the course of the inquest the evidence revealed matters giving rise to concern.
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“In my opinion there is a risk that future deaths will occur unless action is taken. In the circumstances it is my statutory duty to report to you.”
Ms Knight went on to highlight the “matters of concern” as follows:
“There is a high rate of accidents, including some fatal accidents, from trips and slips in the area known as Waterfall Country.”
“A previous Prevention of Future Death report has led to the erection of signage concerning the risk of drowning in the water itself. However, the current signage provision does not adequately address the significant additional risk of accidental falling. Many walkers fail to understand the official routes, closed and open paths and the significant risks they face.”
“Serious and fatal accidents will continue to occur unless these risks are addressed.”
“Mobile telephone signal is poor to non-existent in certain more remote areas, which creates delay in alerting emergency services when accidents do occur.”
Ms Knight wrote “in my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe you and your organisation have the power to take such action”.
The chief executives of Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority, NRW, Neath Port Talbot Council, Rhondda Cynon Taf Council, and Powys Council are under a duty to respond to the Regulation 28 report by June 9 with “details of action taken or proposed to be taken, setting out the timetable for action”.
A copy has also been sent to the families of Helen Patching, Rachael Patching and Corey Longdon.
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Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is a depressingly realistic film (Picture: Everett/Shutterstock)
Sam Rockwell playing an eccentric time traveller from the future on a righteous crusade to save us all from AI slop and the nonsense of social media is a strong premise for a film.
But the film seems to let its ambitions to take down the evils of technology in one fell cinematic swoop slightly get the better of it, resulting in a sprawling story with uneven characters and a lack of focus.
I did, however, have fun with some of the stand-out story arcs and Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die’s wilder swings – even if its doom-and-gloom (yet entirely unfanciful) predictions for the future bummed me out.
The film kicks off with Rockwell making a dramatic entrance to a diner as his unnamed man from the future, warning all the patrons of what will happen – as he can attest to, not that we get much detail – if they continue to allow social media to ‘rob people of their dignity’.
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Sam Rockwell is compelling as always in his role as a man from the future determined to save humanity from itself (Picture: Briarcliff Entertainment via AP)
Ranting and raving that ‘humanity can be saved’ from the dangers of AI if people join his mission right now, while scraggily bearded and rigged up with a homemade bomb vest, is an entertaining premise that Rockwell makes the most of.
As he explains, this is his 117th time delivering this rousing call to arms in the hopes of finding the right combination of people to help him save humanity. Here, Rockwell is able to unleash his charisma as a performer: he shows off his prior knowledge of the patrons – their names, the fact one couple is on a first date, and he even kisses one woman.
He’s compelling as always, but it’s the type of role Rockwell could do in his sleep – and he’s has had better material to work with before.
With a lot of wrangling – there aren’t many volunteers – his future man ends up with a motley crew of recruits, including married teachers Mark and Janet (Michael Peña and Zazie Beetz), grieving mum Susan (Juno Temple), Uber driver Scott (Asim Chaudhry, struggling to sound – I think – American) and Haley Lu Richardson’s Ingrid, a professional party princess who’s allergic to Wi-Fi and electronic devices.
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Juno Temple is another stand -out as a mother who cloned her son (Picture: Briarcliff Entertainment via AP)
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die: Key details
Director
Gore Verbinski
Writer
Matthew Robinson
Cast
Sam Rockwell, Haley Lu Richardson, Juno Temple, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz, Asim Chaudhry, Tom Taylor, Riccardo Drayton
Age rating
15
Run time
2hr 14m
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Release date
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die will be released in UK and Irish cinemas on Friday, February 20.
The film is a rage against the AI machine, although it struggles with consistency and focus (Picture: Everett/Shutterstock)
From here the film flits between vignettes for the people on the team, sharing their experience with tech and how it’s ruined their lives, and the mission they’ve been yanked in for.
Some are much stronger than others, with Temple’s Susan (a heartbreakingly nuanced performance) given a scenario that could have been an entire movie by itself as she’s invited to make a clone of her son with AI after he’s killed in a school mass shooting.
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Not only is she able to customise his temperament for the 2.0 version but she even meets parents at an event who are several clones in on their daughter as she keeps being gunned down. In a twisted way of managing their trauma, they’ve decided to make the latest version of their child ‘freakishly tall’ and ‘a little bit racist’ while she’s here.
Richardson’s segment is the other with most promise as Ingrid battles her natural sensitivity while her partner (Tom Taylor) sinks under the insidious influence of a VR headset.
Some of the vignettes of characters recruited in Verbinski’s movie could have formed the basis for a separate film altogether (Picture: Everett/Shutterstock)
Asim Chaudhry, Zazie Beetz, Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Pena and Temple as the supporting cast in Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (Picture: Everett/Shutterstock)
Meanwhile their mission with Rockwell’s character continues, encompassing baddies in pig masks, an army of phone-addicted youths and a creepy mound of wires. And this is before I even mention the giant cat-horse creature with a long neck that pees and spews glitter, which is sinister enough before you even discover its cannibalistic tendencies.
At two and a quarter hours Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is too long and becomes convoluted as it struggles with which direction to take.
The muddled final act also prevents it sticking the landing – with further developments harking back too closely to Terminator 2 again.
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Verdict
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is not the revolutionary film I was ready for it to be. While there are parts to admire, including the performances of Rockwell and Temple, this movie doesn’t make a satisfying and cohesive whole.
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is in cinemas from today.
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Police were alerted shortly after 7am to reports of electric car cables being cut and stolen on Tangmere Road in Yarm and enquiries are underway.
One woman, who has lived on the estate for seven years, said she woke up and saw a post on Facebook warning residents to check their cables.
Police were alerted shortly after 7am to reports of electric car cables being cut and stolen on Tangmere Road in Yarm and enquiries are under way. (Image: THE NORTHERN ECHO)
She said: “I went outside to find the cable had been cut and stolen.
“I went and checked the doorbell and there was nothing there. I rang the police and messaged our neighbours.
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“I’m angry, it’s just an invasion of your home. And it’s the inconvenience and cost of it getting replaced too.
“If you can’t just replace the cable and we have to replace the whole thing it could be more than £1,000.”
A spokesperson for Cleveland Police said: “At 7.15am on Thursday, February 19, police received a report of an electric cable being cut on Tangmere Road in Yarm.
“Anyone with information is asked to contact Cleveland Police on 101 quoting reference number 031773.”
“With heavy hearts, we share that Eric Dane passed on Thursday afternoon following a courageous battle with ALS. He spent his final days surrounded by dear friends, his devoted wife, and his two beautiful daughters, Billie and Georgia, who were the centre of his world,” a statement from Eric’s family read.
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“Throughout his journey with ALS, Eric became a passionate advocate for awareness and research, determined to make a difference for others facing the same fight.”
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“He will be deeply missed, and lovingly remembered always. Eric adored his fans and is forever grateful for the outpouring of love and support he’s received. The family has asked for privacy as they navigate this impossible time.”
The disease causes a loss of voluntary muscle control, paralysis and respiratory failure. Around 5,000 new cases of the disease are diagnosed in the US annually.
Eric continued to work despite his ill-health, but was not well enough to attend the Emmy Awards last month.
He enjoyed a 35-year career, during which Eric portrayed Dr Mark Sloan, also known as McSteamy, in the hit show Grey’s Anatomy between 2006 and 2012. He returned for a cameo in 2021. He also starred in nine episodes of fantasy drama Charmed in 2003 and 2004.
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Eric continued to film psychological teen drama Euphoria despite his illness. The third season is yet to air.
Speaking on Good Morning America in June, a Eric said: “I wake up every day and I’m immediately reminded that this is happening… It’s not a dream. I don’t think this is the end of my story… I don’t feel like this is the end of me.”