The developers propose a ’20-minute neighbourhood’

A new “mixed-use community” with thousands of new homes, a new country park and local facilities could be built in a huge new development. Pigeon and Lands Improvement are bringing forward proposals for ‘Cambridge South’.

The Cambridge South site extends to around 190-hectares and is bordered by the M11 to the west, the Cambridge railway line to the south, Great Shelford to the east and Trumpington to the north. The proposed site is within a 15-minute walk of Cambridge South station, the Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC) and the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway.

According to the new Cambridge South website, the development would deliver a “mixed use community located to the south of Cambridge”. It adds: “Our ambition is to create a well-connected, sustainable place that responds to local needs and opportunities, helping more people live close to jobs, services and green space.”

If approved, the development would deliver:

• Around 4,000 new homes, including 50 per cent affordable housing
• Homes for Cambridge Biomedical Campus key workers
• A new country park along the River Cam
• Direct access to Cambridge South station and the Guided Busway
• New walking and cycling connections
• A ‘20-minute neighbourhood’, with schools, healthcare, shops and community facilities

The Cambridge South proposals are still at an early stage and no planning application has formally been submitted yet. Pigeon and Lands Improvement are asking people to have their say and share their feedback. Two public exhibitions are being held so locals can find out more about the emerging plans.

The first one is due to be held on Monday, October 5 at Shelford Rugby Club in Great Shelford and the second will be held on Saturday, October 10 at Little Shelford Memorial Hall.

‘I can’t even really just unpack and settle’

Cambridge students have been left ‘frustrated’ after being told they can’t move into their new room before the new term starts. A number of University of Cambridge students are unable to move into their accomodation due to construction delays at their college.

The students were due to move into their accomodation at Fitzwilliam College on October 3. Now, they have been told their move in date has been postponed – and they will need to move into a different room, then move again two weeks later.

Fitzwilliam College, which was founded in 1869, is currently undergoing a £13m renovation of its student rooms which will include providing an ensuite. The college informed affected students in an email last week that they would not be able to move into their accommodation before term begins.

The email sent by the Bursar and Senior Tutor of the Cambridge College informed students that rooms would not be available until October 16 . The students will be offered “an alternative college-owned bedroom” which does not exceed the rent for their selected room. Students have been told “it is not possible to allocate a similar room type to all residents.”

A college spokesperson informed The Cambridge Tab that, under college’s ANUK accommodation accreditation, the college will pay “a level of compensation” to each student, which it anticipates will be £400. One affected student told The Cambridge Tab they were “very selective” about the accommodation they chose and now feel they could “end up in any kind of place.”

They said: “It’s also that period where we’re all supposed to be settling in with lectures. Instead I’m in some whole other place and I know I’m going to have to move all my stuff all over again.

“So I can’t even really just unpack and settle. I’ve spoken to [other] people in my block, and they’re also very frustrated.”

A Fitzwilliam College spokesperson said: “The college is in the final stages of a £13m renovation and new build of student accommodation to provide full ensuite rooms.

“The work will result in a major step in the decarbonisation of the college estate. The finalisation of the project means that approximately 65 per cent of the rooms will be returned at the start of the academic year (for the newly arriving first years).

“The rest of the accommodation will become available during Michaelmas term. The nature of the project has been that the college has recently finalised the arrangements with the contractor regarding timing of rooms being returned. The college has encouraged students to reach out should they have any questions or issues.”

The spokesperson added the college has “looked to ensure that students are placed in accommodation that meets their needs in term of facilities and that they are not disadvantaged financially.”

The University of Cambridge has been contacted for comment

By SHANE MCGRATH

Published: 07:36 BST, 22 September 2026 | Updated: 08:31 BST, 22 September 2026

The Israeli FA angrily took to social media on Monday to hit back at Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson’s comments when he used the word ‘genocide’ in previewing the upcoming fixtures.

The Icelandic boss used forceful language in defending his team as they prepare to take the field against a side that the Football Association of Ireland wanted to have suspended from competitions.

‘And I’ve said before, we’re not playing with genocide, we’re playing against genocide,’ he said at the weekend. ‘So, we’re playing against Israel. We’re not playing with Israel.’

As reports circulated that the Israelis were considering a complaint to UEFA, the Israeli FA posted on X on Monday night: ‘We have contributed to the world and humanity in countless fields, earning an impressive number of Nobel Prizes along the way,’ the post on X stated.

Advertisement

‘Unfortunately, we have not yet found a cure for stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy displayed by the Republic of Ireland team coach.

‘We’re not playing with ignorance, hypocrisy and stupidity, we’re playing against the coach who embodies them.’

Advertisement

Israel’s FA have accused Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson of ‘ignorance, hypocrisy and stupidity’ after his ‘genocide’ comments

The Israeli FA are now set to report Hallgrimsson to UEFA.

The Ireland chief oversaw training at Abbotstown as he fine-tunes preparations for Thursday’s meeting with Kosovo in Pristina, but it’s the meeting with Israel in Debrecen in Hungary on Sunday, and in Backa Topola in Serbia a week later, that continue to dominate.

The Stop the Game campaign, meanwhile, published an open letter on Monday, signed by over 100 sporting figures, calling for the players not to fulfil the fixtures against Israel.

Advertisement

Ciara Mageean, Louise Quinn, Tony Ward, Joe Brolly and Colm O’Rourke were among the signatories. The letter claims pressure was being applied to the players after attempts to influence governing bodies and the government came to nought.

‘The FAI, UEFA, and the Irish Government have all failed you by not taking decisive action and taking this out of your hands,’ it claimed.

The fire began in a derelict building in Brotherton, near Selby.

The A162 Old Great North Road has been closed both ways from Saddler’s Lane to Sutton Lane by emergency services.

RECOMMENDED READING:

It comes after numerous crews from West Yorkshire, including fire and rescue teams from Selby, Tadcaster and York were called to the scene at 10.17pm on Monday (September 21).

Fire crews were seen tackling the blaze, with residents told to avoid the area and close their windows (Image: North Yorkshire Weather Updates)

The fire measured 25m by 20m, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said.

Residents were advised to avoid the area and keep their windows shut.

Crews were still battling the fire at 3.54am on Tuesday (September 22).

A service spokesperson said: “Good progress is being made to extinguish the fire.

“Further advice from the incident ground is for local residents and road users to avoid the A162 and Great North Road which are closed whilst this incident is ongoing.”

As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our
articles.

Those ads you do see are predominantly from local businesses promoting local
services.

These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience – the local
community.

It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need
as much support as possible during these challenging times.

The SNP Government has been told to drop its “aversion to scrutiny” after a senior minister dodged a query about the long-term costs of centralising public services.

Labour’s Katy Clark submitted a written question asking how much the budget of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has fallen in real terms since its creation in 2013.

But in his response, Justice Secretary Neil Gray made no mention of real terms cuts. He instead told Clark the merger was “intended to provide efficiencies through the reduction in duplication of the eight legacy fire and rescue services”.

He added: “The annual budget for SFRS has been set each year to provide the funding SFRS needs to keep communities safe” It comes as John Swinney has pledged to drastically reform Scotland’s public sector as his Government looks for ways to plug a £5 billion financial blackhole by 2030.

SNP ministers want to reduce the number of NHS regional boards from 14 to just two, and are also looking at forcing through mergers of numerous quangos.

Trade unions and opposition parties now fear that mistakes made during previous SNP-led public sector reforms will be repeated.

Scotland’s regional police constabularies and fire services were scrapped in 2013 and replaced with new nationwide services. The SFRS has since slashed the number of firefighters and closed or downgraded multiple fire stations.

Swinney has insisted compulsory redundancies are not on the cards as a result of his centralisation plans.

Scottish Labour justice spokesperson Pauline McNeill said: “This evasive response to Katy Clark is typical of the SNP’s aversion to scrutiny.

“It is insulting to hardworking SFRS staff and to the wider public that Neil Gray refuses to give a straight answer. The truth is that that centralisation of Fire and Rescue services has its benefits – but has also resulted in cuts to vital services and a lack of strategic planning for the future of the service, which is having a huge impact on our communities.

“SNP ministers should stop treating the public like fools and start being honest about the impact their choices have.”

A Fire Brigades Union (FBU) spokesman said: “The answer to the parliamentary question is disappointing but not surprising. While there has been a removal of duplication there has also been a removal of over 1,200 firefighter posts and multiple fire appliances, and recently proposals agreed to close stations and downgrade 24 hour cover in locations across the country.

“There is also a well documented eye-watering capital backlog of over £800 million with an estate that is, in the words of the SFRS themselves largely unfit for purpose.

“The Scottish Government are well aware of the difficulties facing the fire service and need to commit to a sustainable funding model that addresses the myriad of issues we face as a sector if they want to able to say that the funding they provide truly keeps communities safe.”

Justice Secretary Neil Gray said: “This year’s budget provides £436 million for SFRS – an increase of £23.8 million – to ensure it has the resources it needs to continue to keep Scotland’s communities safe.

“The SFRS has delivered on its reform objectives to provide its service in a more financially stable way, whilst protecting frontline services and ensuring they are fit for challenges the service faces.”

Two robbers had a plan to rob banks and not be caught on CCTV, by using lemon juice to appear invisible in front of cameras

It was a crime considered so “stupid” it prompted psychologists to study the criminals involved for anomalies, leading to the discovery of a cognitive effect that explained their behaviour.

In 1995, McArthur Wheeler and Clifton Earl Johnson carried out multiple bank robberies in the Greater Pittsburgh area, in the United States.

What set this crime apart from regular heists was the fact that the two criminals walked into the bank branches – the Swissvale branch of Mellon Bank, Parkvale Savings Bank and Fidelity Savings Bank in Brighton Heights – holding semi-automatic handguns and showing their faces, with no attempts made to cover cameras or disguise their identities.

Instead, the two men had applied lemon juice to their faces, which they thought would make them unidentifiable.

According to Wheeler, Johnson had told him that lemon juice was one of the essential ingredients in invisible ink, which meant that, if applied directly to one’s skin, it would make one invisible on camera.

But they didn’t blindly believe that theory – the two robbers put their invisible ink to the test by smearing lemon juice all over Wheeler’s face and then having the man take a Polaroid picture of himself. The print got developed a few minutes later, and Wheeler was nowhere to be found in the image – something the police credited to either him just failing to aim the camera at his own face, or a faulty film.

Convinced they would undoubtedly be invisible and undetectable on camera, Wheeler and Johnson went through with the plan. The only thing that went wrong, according to them, was that the lemon juice made their eyes sting the whole time while they were robbing the banks.

Unexpectedly to both of them, their faces were, in fact, easily recognisable and captured on CCTV. It wasn’t long before the police tracked down and arrested Wheeler and Johnson.

When they were captured, Wheeler reportedly looked at the pictures that showed him robbing a bank at gunpoint and exclaimed, “But I wore the lemon juice. I wore the lemon juice!”

Johnson got a prison sentence of five years for testifying against Wheeler, who, in turn, was locked up for over 24 years.

The robberies were documented on the 1996 World Almanac, which prompted Cornell University social psychology professor David Dunning to grow interested in studying the men’s thought process.

His findings were, as published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, that “If Wheeler was too stupid to be a bank robber, perhaps he was also too stupid to know that he was too stupid to be a bank robber – that is, his stupidity protected him from an awareness of his own stupidity.”

Alongside graduate student Justin Kruger, Dunning coined the Dunning-Kruger effect, which explains a cognitive bias that leads people to give overly positive assessments of their own ability.

In Wheeler and Johnson’s case, he said: “When people are incompetent in the strategies they adopt to achieve success and satisfaction, they suffer a dual burden: Not only do they reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realise it. Instead, like Mr Wheeler, they are left with the mistaken impression that they are doing just fine.”

The travel content creator decided to venture just 45 minutes outside of London to stumble on this historic village which even has a special link to Agatha Christie. So have you been?

There’s so many adorable places to visit in the UK – from the beautiful village named England’s prettiest to another storybook village so pretty tourists think they need to pay to enter. With that said, if you’re from London, there’s many quaint places nearby to visit.

One woman who has a passion for exploring gems across the country recently stumbled on a village where she even had her own private beach. What’s precious about this location is that – it was where Agatha Christie lived for some time too. While the author resided in a number of homes across England, she did spend some time in Wallingford, which is just 45 minutes away from London by train.

Sharing her discovery of Wallingford Beach, Zoe shared a TikTok video with her 53,600 followers, where she said: “Don’t come at me for this but I’m at a beach on the River Thames. I didn’t decide that, that’s actually its name.

“Located in a historic village where Agatha Christie lived, this is Wallingford Beach. The water quality gets tested here regularly and it’s consistently clean so I decided to come check it out and make a walk out of it.

“Here’s how I did it, got the train from London to Goring on Thames. The station is actually Goring and Streatley, it’s about 45 minutes from London Paddington with a change at Reading.

“Goring is a lovely village, worth a visit in itself. I didn’t stay though I had a walk to get to, but first coffee.”

Zoe began her journey towards Thames Path, which is roughly seven miles away. While she adored the scenic riverside and meadow views, it was a lengthy walk to do in the heat.

She added: “It was a very hot day today and although there were lots of trees there wasn’t quite enough for this level of heat, it is a lovely walk but I was very happy when it was over.

“There’s lots of very interesting buildings in Wallingford, full of history, a castle and places to eat. But by this point, I was so hot and bothered, I ignored all of that and headed straight to Wallingford Beach.

“The main area was quite busy but a little further along, I found a nice part, my own private beach. Then spent the rest of the day doing a mix of swimming and chilling and eating.”

Towards the end of her video, Zoe informed her followers that Wallingford doesn’t have a train station, but is easily reachable by bus.

She recommended catching the no. 134 bus back to Goring, or jumping on the X40 River Rapids service directly to Reading, from where she hopped on a 25-minute train back into London.

Things to do in Wallingford Beach:

Wild swimming: If you love water, why not enjoy a refreshing dip in the gently sloping, calm waters right downstream of Wallingford Beach?

Riverside relaxing: You can unwind or have a picnic in the large meadow located directly behind the sandy beach.

Walks: Stroll along the scenic Thames Path towards Benson Lock.

Splash Park and Pool: Perfect for the entire family to enjoy, you can visit the adjacent outdoor heated pool and children’s splash park. Just be sure to check opening times.