Locals say their town “cannot cope” if hundreds of planned new homes are built in the area. Plans to build up to 234 homes along Brook Street in Soham have been submitted to East Cambridgeshire District Council.

Applicants Paul Day and Winnie Day said in their application that the homes would play an “important role in mediating between the existing built-up edge of the town and the open landscape beyond”. The applicants also said it would be a “well-integrated” extension to Soham.

Despite this, some residents are not in favour of the plans. Kerry Willett, a long-term resident of Soham, is “absolutely disgusted and distraught” at the thought of new homes being built.

She said: “[There are] never ending housing estates being built on every bit of farmland and green space. We live along the main road into Soham and it’s chaos with the additional traffic that has been generated from the thousands and thousands of people moving here.”

Kerry is also concerned about wildlife, claiming it is in a “tragic state of decline”. She added: “Blackbirds, robins, thrushes, hedgehogs – all wildlife either run over or killed by the thousands of cats introduced into Soham or loss of habitat.

“The building companies advertise their properties being in ‘the rural town of Soham’. There is nothing rural here anymore.”

Kerry believes Soham has become a “disaster”. She said the town “cannot cope”, with potential new homes having an impact on facilities such as doctors and schools. “No one wants any more houses,” added Kerry.

Ali Fullarton said she is also concerned about the impact on local services. She said: “There is no need for such unnecessary buildings in Soham. There’s not enough amenities, schools, healthcare.

“The roads are not coping with the huge amount of traffic, but more importantly, the impact on the wildlife is eventually going to have nowhere to go.”

Another woman, who asked to remain anonymous, is also concerned about potential increased traffic. “Soham is basically a one-street town, so most of the traffic from the new housing developments can only use the one street to get in and out of town,” she said.

The woman added: “The amount of traffic along the high street, especially at peak times, is unbelievable and increasing all the time.”

The woman is also concerned about potential drainage issues. She said: “There are serious issues with flooding and sewage. Several areas of Soham have had problems with drains and sewage spills. This has happened in the area where I live.”

One woman who lives on the same road as the proposed site, who asked to not be named, said it would be an “absolute shame” if the homes are built.

She said: “The new estate will buff up to the other 80 properties that have been given planning permission to be built on land further up Brook Street. So, eventually there will be over 300 houses on our little street that we have to deal with. If this goes ahead, we are considering moving.”

Hilary Burlinson said if new homes are built, she would like to see bungalows built. She said: “If homes must be built then bungalows would be a good alternative with more two-bed properties for the over-50 age group. I myself would prefer to stay in Soham, but have the opportunity to purchase a new small bungalow.”

However, she agrees that schools are already overrun. She added: “There are no school places available in Soham and catchment for the village college is further afield than just Soham.

“We could do with another college size school and nursery places. Our doctors’ surgery is too small and its new building is still in the planning stages. This should be built first.”

In their planning documents, the applicants identified that the land proposed for the homes was not a flood risk. However, a pre-application had been undertaken with the Environment Agency to “better inform” them of any potential flood risk.

Concerns were also raised by Cadent Gas on the potential effect of public rights of way with the plans. The applicants said after “lengthy pre-application discussions” with Cambridgeshire County Council, an assessment would look at “all junction capacity and traffic movements” around the site.

East Cambridgeshire District Council does not comment on pending planning applications. The applicants have been approached for further comment.

Adam Spivey said it makes a ‘big difference’ to your dog’s behaviour

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A dog trainer says a simple training technique can make any dog sit within a matter of seconds. Adam Spivey is an expert at Southend Dog Training in Essex.

Known for his videos where he discusses dog breeds, animal behaviour, and training techniques, he started coaching animals in 2012. And he says his three-second rule is the perfect way to teach any dog to sit.

He stressed that it was as much about what not to do as what you should be doing. Rather than repeating instructions or shouting, he said the key was saying the command just once.

He explained: “Stick to a three-second rule with your dog if you want it to listen to you more. What do I mean by this? When you ask your dog something, one, two, three, by this time your dog should be doing what you’ve asked it to do.

“If it’s not, don’t keep repeating yourself “sit, sit, sit down, sit down, sit down, no come here, sit down, I’ve told you”, none of that shit. The more you say that, the more the dog stops listening. What you simply do is make it happen.

“So, if you ask the dog to sit, for example, and we know the dog’s fit and healthy, no problem with its back legs, we know the dog understands sit in the first place, ask the dog to sit, one, two, three, if it doesn’t do it, gently push the bum down, make it happen so the dog learns no negotiation. If the dog sits first time in the beginning, reward your dog.

“Let the dog know listening to you first time pays. Stick to a three-second rule instead of nagging constantly, it’ll make a big difference.”

Why it’s important to be able to make your dog sit

According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), teaching your dog to sit is an ideal place to start training. Not only is it safer for them crossing roads, but it is also a useful tool for when they meet new people or are excited by something.

It is also a great starting point for further training. Dogs that can sit on command are often calmer and better behaved around other dogs and people. Once your dog can sit, it is often followed by other commands such as lie down.

“With both the ‘sit’ and ‘lie down’ commands, practice and patience is key. Some dogs may pick up the command quickly, while others might take a bit more time and practice. Celebrate each small success and maintain a positive, encouraging attitude throughout. With practice and patience, your dog will be sitting and lying down on command like a champ,” one expert said.

Jo Coles, whose remit includes policing, fire and crime, welcomed North Yorkshire Police using the technology to tackle crime but said it must be used “responsibly and with robust safeguards”.

It comes after the police force announced it would be using live facial recognition technology in “carefully selected, intelligence‑led locations” in York and North Yorkshire.

The technology works by comparing live camera footage to a watchlist made up of individuals who meet the police’s criteria.

North Yorkshire Police will now use live facial recognition technology (Image: North Yorkshire Police)

A force spokesperson said the facial recognition technology will be used in the county to help identify people who pose a risk to the public, people wanted for criminal offences by the police or the courts, and those subject to court orders restricting them from certain areas.

Ms Coles said there are no “specific proposals for the use of this technology” from North Yorkshire Police, but noted that it had been used by several other police forces across England.

The Labour deputy mayor said the use of any new technology by police “requires particular scrutiny and assurance as some members of the public may be concerned about implications in terms of civil liberties, safeguarding and the potential targeting of minority groups”.

She said she recognised “those concerns and am seeking particular and ongoing assurances around this proposal from North Yorkshire in a number of areas”.

North Yorkshire Police will now use live facial recognition technology (Image: North Yorkshire Police)

Ms Coles said she would be seeking assurances from North Yorkshire Police about data storage from the facial recognition cameras. This also includes how the footage is shared “with particular regard to people’s civil liberties” and whether the companies involved in the technology “have any access to York and North Yorkshire information”, Ms Coles said.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson has said images that do not match the force’s “watchlist” will be “deleted immediately and permanently”, adding: “The watchlist itself is deleted at the conclusion of each deployment.”

North Yorkshire Police is yet to reveal the exact locations of where the facial recognition will be used, which Ms Coles said she will be pressing the force on.

Deputy mayor to seek assurances from police on ‘legal premise’ for facial recognition tech

Meanwhile, Ms Coles said she will be seeking assurances from North Yorkshire Police on the “legal premise for the proposals and whether this is proportionate to the challenges the police face”.

The deputy mayor said she is also “mindful of people’s concerns about the possibility of ‘mission creep’”, when small, limited goals escalate to larger affairs.

Ms Coles said she will seek assurances from the police force that the “scope of any proposed deployment is proportionate to existing patterns of crime and antisocial behaviour the police have to deal with”.

She said she will also be seeking assurances that the live facial recognition technology “will only be used in addition to the physical policing presence which is so important in providing reassurance to the public at major events”.

The deputy mayor added that she would be monitoring whether the technology resulted in any cost savings for the police budget.

It’s easy to take our eyes for granted. But our recent research shows they took an incredible evolutionary journey to reach their current familiar form.

It has long been known that our (vertebrate) eyes differ fundamentally from the ones of our distant relatives (invertebrates), because of their cell composition and how they develop before birth. However, answers to why or how these differences first emerged long remained elusive.

Our study suggests that our eyes descend from a worm-like ancestor that was roaming the oceans 600 million years ago. The same also applies to all bilateral animals, meaning animals whose bodies can be divided into roughly mirror-image left and right halves.

As part of our study, we surveyed 36 major groups of living animals (covering nearly all bilateral animals) to see where their eyes and light-sensing cells are located and what they do.

A pattern emerged. We discovered that eyes and light-sensing cells are consistently found at two separate locations: paired on both sides of the face, and at the midline of the head, on top of the brain. Across the animals we looked at, cells in the paired position are used to steer movements, while their midline counterparts tell day from night and up from down.

We concluded that an ancient worm-like ancestor of all vertebrate animals lost the “steering” pair of eyes when it adopted a mostly stationary lifestyle 600 million years ago, burrowing into the seabed. In becoming a filter feeder with no need to move around, the energetically expensive type of paired eyes was rendered useless and costly.

However, this lifestyle change left the light-sensing cells in the middle of its head unscathed, because the animal still needed to sense the time of day and distinguish between up and down. Although the paired eyes were gone, the light-sensing cells in the midline developed into a small midline eye.

Possibly within a few million years, this animal changed lifestyle again. A return to swimming reintroduced the need to control steering and measure its own body motion for efficient filter-feeding (sifting food out of water) and avoiding predators.

This pushed evolution to develop the midline eye by forming small eye cups on each side. These eye cups later separated from the midline eye, moved out to the sides of the head and formed new paired eyes: our eyes.

The loss and regain of vision happened between 600 and 540 million years ago. Components of the midline eye remained and became the pineal organ in the brain, which produces and releases the sleep hormone melatonin.

In many vertebrates, the pineal organ receives light through a transparent (unpigmented) region in the middle of the head. However, in the mammalian lineage the pineal organ lost its light-sensing capacity – possibly because early mammals were active at night and hid during daytime. So the eyes, which were more sensitive, took over the light detection which drives melatonin release and sleep.

Eyes of all shapes and sizes

Those animals that did not lose the worm-like ancestor’s original paired light-sensing cells comprise most invertebrates around today, since they descended from a branch of the evolutionary tree that never adopted a static lifestyle. Such animals include crustaceans, insects, spiders, octopus, snails and many groups of worms. These animals still have modern versions of the original sets of light-sensing cells.

The paired eyes of insects and crustaceans are compound eyes, with an array of tiny and densely packed lenses per eye. Instead of compound eyes, octopus and snails have camera-type eyes with a single lens.

In fact, octopus and snails independently evolved the same eye design and visual performance as us vertebrates. However, our retina – the light sensitive layer at the back of our eyes – has over 100 types of neurons (mice have even more – 140), compared to a mere handful in octopus and snails. This makes it almost as complex as our cerebral cortex – the outer and largest part of our brain.

Scientists have thought that in the evolution of our eyes, this complexity emerged fairly late. Similarities between light-sensing cells in the brain and paired eyes informed earlier hypotheses about a simple, pineal organ-like eye early in its evolution. In our work, however, we argue that a lot of this complexity predates the retina.

As such, it is likely to have been present already in the “cyclops” ancestor eye. This has broad implications for the origin and wiring of neural circuits in our retina and brain alike.

For us vertebrates, the evolution of our eyes and brain is intimately linked. The emergence of new paired eyes is a fundamental part of this picture, since the eyes allowed for the complex behavior that call for cognition and large brains. Without the eyes, we would not just be humans without eyes; we would not exist at all, nor would any of the other vertebrates.

Bleu Stean-Tannis’ advocate said his client found taking cannabis was beneficial for his ADHD

A man who was out of prison on licence after committing a serious assault is back behind bars after turning his hand to growing cannabis.

Acting on intelligence police officers went to Bleu Stean-Tannis’ house and found he had converted three bedrooms to the production of the drug on a commercial scale. The defendant’s advocate told Swansea Crown Court his client had initially started growing cannabis to self-medicate his ADHD but it was accepted that “things became bigger than that”.

At the time of the drugs bust Stean-Tannis was out of prison on licence from a five-and-a-half-year sentence imposed for a brutal attack carried out with his cousin which saw the men punching, kicking, and stamping on their victim and leaving him with a collapsed lung, smashed eye socket, and ruptured eardrum.

Caitlin Brazel, prosecuting, told the court that on October 12 last year police executed a search warrant at the defendant’s house in the Mount Pleasant area of Swansea following intelligence reports that he had set up a cannabis cultivation operation.

In the property officers found three of the bedrooms had been dedicated to the growing of cannabis with two of the rooms containing a total of 48 plants at various stages of maturity along with lights and other equipment and the third bedroom showing evidence of a previous harvest.

The court heard police estimated the potential yield of the operation could have been be up to 4kg of the drug worth up to £20,000. For the latest court stories sign up to our crime newsletter.

The prosecutor said when arrested 40-year-old Stean-Tannis said he was “going to go guilty to everything” as he didn’t want to get “stitched up”. He subsequently answered “no comment” to all questions asked in interview.

Bleu Stean-Tannis, formerly of of Cedar Avenue, Gorseinon, but now of Harries Street, Mount Pleasant, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to producing cannabis when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.

He has 21 previous convictions for 37 offences including robbery, using violence to enter premises, battery, breach of a restraining order, possession of bladed articles, and five for the simple possession of cannabis.

In 2021 the defendant was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent for a joint assault carried out with his cousin Michael Gilbert which saw them repeatedly punching, kicking, and stamping on their victim outside his home. The victim sustained a collapsed lung, smashed eye socket, and ruptured eardrum. Stean-Tannis was released on licence from that sentence in 2024.

Dan Griffiths, for Stean-Tannis, said the defendant had ADHD and found the consumption of cannabis to be beneficial.

He said his client had been in receipt of a private prescription for the drug but when the cost became “prohibitive” he turned to growing the drug initially for his own use – though he said it had to be accepted “things became bigger than that” and it progressed to a “modest commercial operation”.

The advocate said Stean-Tannis had responded well to being on licence and it was perhaps a sign of his level of compliance that the decision had been taken not to recall him back to prison following his arrest in October last year.

Judge Paul Thomas KC told Stean-Tannis he would have known the consequences of committing further offences while subject to licence but had ignored that and had decided to set up a commercial-scale cannabis growing operation. The judge noted, however, that the defendant had obviously “impressed” those responsible for his licence as they had not recalled him.

With a one-third discount for his guilty plea Stean-Tannis was sentenced to 32 months in prison. He will serve 40% of the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.

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EXCLUSIVE: NHS bosses were forced to act after traces of aspergillus mould were discovered at the haematology unit at Monklands hospital in Airdrie.

An infection incident forced the closure of a ward for seriously ill patients at a second major Scots hospital, the Record can reveal.

NHS bosses in Lanarkshire were forced to act after traces of aspergillus mould were discovered at the haematology unit at Monklands hospital in Airdrie.

Patients were moved as a precaution from ward 16 at the hospital in 2022 to the adjacent ward 15 while remedial works were carried out. But the refurbishment has yet to be finished – and fresh infection concerns have since been raised within the temporary replacement ward.

The Record understands new fears were raised about mould in ward 15 in November last year but staff were only informed in recent weeks. Patients have since been advised to not use tap water to brush their teeth.

The Scottish Government said an Incident Management Team has monitored infections in the ward but it was stood down last week.

A whistleblower told the Record that refurbishment works were halted on ward 16 three years ago and had only resumed in recent months.

Wards have previously been closed at the £1bn Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow due to an infection scandal which has rocked Holyrood.

John Swinney has repeatedly denied the health campus was rushed open in 2015 despite fears from health bosses it was not ready to do so.

The Monklands infection outbreak comes amid continued uncertainty about the future of the current hospital, which has been open since 1977 and is due to be replaced.

Plans were submitted last year by NHS bosses to build a new facility at Wester Moffatt but have yet to be signed off by the SNP Government.

READ MORE: Malcolm Offord’s election agent was embroiled in anti-semitism row over BBC journalist Nick RobinsonREAD MORE: Reform’s Holyrood campaign in ‘meltdown’ after three more candidates drop out

The current hospital lies in the Airdrie & Shotts constituency which is being contested by SNP Health Secretary Neil Gray at May’s election.

Kieron Higgins, Scottish Labour candidate for the neighbouring Coatbridge & Chryston constituency, said: “This is absolutely appalling.

“While SNP ministers like John Swinney and Neil Gray were falsely assuring people that Glasgow’s £1 billion super hospital was safe, there was a separate infection issue in the blood cancer ward at Monklands Hospital, in the Health Secretary’s own backyard.

“This is completely unacceptable and the SNP need to explain why they kept this quiet. Politics and PR must never come before patient safety.

“Our NHS doesn’t belong to SNP ministers and it doesn’t belong to senior managers. It belongs to patients, staff, their families, and all of us.

“This is just a latest example of SNP secrecy in our health service and why Scotland needs change.”

Christina Coulombe, director of infection prevention at NHS Lanarkshire, insisted patient safety “has remained our priority” as remedial work continues to bring ward 16 back up to standard.

“We have been carrying out work on environmental issues affecting haematology inpatient areas at University Hospital Monklands,” she said.

“This has been managed in line with national infection prevention and control guidance. An Incident Management Team to support this work was established on November 12, 2025, and has since been stood down on March 27. We provided regular updates to Antimicrobial Resistance & Healthcare Associated Infection (ARHAI) Scotland.

“Patient safety has remained our priority. Where issues have been identified, appropriate infection prevention and control measures have been put in place. Remedial work is underway to allow ward 16 to reopen once it meets all required standards.”

Neil Gray, the Health Secretary, said: “As NHS Lanarkshire has already made clear, this issue was dealt with by expert clinicians at Monklands and thanks to their efforts this incident was stepped down last week. The SNP Government’s budget in February – which Labour didn’t even bother to vote for- progresses the replacement of Monklands hospital.

“Anas Sarwar and the Labour party should know better- they’ve been caught out lying about the QEUH and to now try and scaremonger over an incident closed and handled safely by our NHS professionals shows just how desperate they are.”

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DVLA and DWP have outlined when contact centres and phone lines will be available over Easter weekend, with closures on Good Friday and Easter Monday affecting services

The DVLA and DWP have detailed exactly when their contact centres and telephone lines will be operational over the bank holiday weekend. However, those needing support from these departments during the bank holiday may need to plan ahead to get in touch.

The Easter weekend includes two bank holidays on Good Friday, April 3, and Easter Monday, April 6. Bank holidays are generally not considered working days, even within government departments, so the extended weekend could cause disruption for those needing to contact the departments or waiting for updates, payments and deliveries.

Department for Work and Pensions

The DWP posted an alert for claimants stating: “Jobcentre Plus offices and phone lines will be closed on Fri 3 and Mon 6 Apr over the Easter period.”

The telephone lines will also remain closed throughout Saturday and Easter Sunday as they’re normally only open from Monday to Friday between 8am and 5pm, reports the Express.

Even those accessing their online Universal Credit account will typically only receive responses during weekdays.

The DWP contact number you need to use will depend on your initial reason for contacting the department. Some of the most frequently requested numbers are available here on the GOV.UK website.

The offices and telephone lines should return to normal operation from Tuesday, April 7.

However, it’s not just DWP contact centres that are affected by the bank holidays. Payments from the DWP scheduled for either Good Friday or Easter Monday will not be processed on these days due to most banks ceasing transactions. Instead, they will primarily be paid on the first working day prior, which is Thursday, April 2.

DVLA

Throughout the Easter period, customers will have access to DVLA’s online services. However, the department’s contact centres will be completely shut on Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday.

On Saturday, April 4, the DVLA contact centre will maintain its usual Saturday operating hours from 8am to 2pm. Normal operating hours will also resume from Tuesday, April 7.

If you’re expecting deliveries from the DVLA, the department typically makes provisions for bank holidays and non-working days. The GOV.UK website features a tool that can direct individuals to the appropriate DVLA contact to resolve their issue.

She added: “In today’s meeting, we are focusing on the diplomatic and international planning measures, including collective mobilisation of our full range of diplomatic and economic tools and pressures, reassurance work with industry, insurers and energy markets, and also action to guarantee the safety of trapped ships and seafarers, and effective coordination that we need across the world to enable a safe and sustained opening of the strait.”

The Friday letters page tries to guess what the Nintendo Switch 2 Lite will cost, as one reader is shocked by the behind the scenes info on The Last Of Us Online.

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

First party trio
I know that Xbox gets ragged on a lot everywhere nowadays, and I’m not going to pretend they don’t deserve most of it. However, it’s not all bad and, as someone that owns an Xbox Series X/S, I feel I have to try and look on the bright side.

This is easier than you might think because they have a really stacked first party line-up this year, including Forza Horizon 6, Halo: Campaign Evolved, and Fable. There might also be Gears Of War: E-Day, but I’m not clear if that’s meant for 2026 or not.

That is a much better line-up than either Sony or Nintendo at the moment, in my opinion, and while I agree it may get overtaken by the end those are not games to be ignored. I would assume Forza to be the biggest, but I think Fable has a chance to do very well too. I’m not so sure about Halo though, given we’ve already had one remake of it and there’s no multiplayer.

Crazy to think Halo has gone from Xbox’s most important franchise to a second-stringer. Nothing lasts forever, I guess.
Korey

GC: Gears Of War: E-Day has no release year, so it could conceivably be this year.

Lite on value
With prices constantly going up it seems to be only a matter of time before the Switch 2 is even more expensive and I still haven’t got one. I have to assume this is encouraging Nintendo to fast-track the Switch 2 Lite, although who knows how quickly it will be to appear. But perhaps the biggest question now is how cheap could it be?

The normal Switch 2 is £400, or thereabouts, so surely the aim would be to get the Lite version to under £300. But even that seems a lot. That’s still only what the original Switch was at launch, so I’d appreciate at least another £50 off. Although in this case I do accept that there are outside factors.

Gaming is going too expensive in every aspect and I really think it’s about time console manufactures acknowledge this and make an effort to change things as a priority. I would look to Nintendo more than anyone to lead the way on this but so far there’s not really been anything.
Ollienaut

Come back later
I completed Life Is Strange: Reunion over the weekend and basically agree with your review. The whole thing is a rushed mess, with reused graphics, bad branching storytelling, and a terrible plot. Not only do I not think there’ll be another one after this, but I don’t want it after this; Max and Chloe deserved so much better.

Square Enix obviously knew all this would be disaster or they wouldn’t have held back the review copies, so why do it at all? Better to let the series rest for a few years, until people really start to miss it, and then do a new game, even if it ends the story, then with a team that wants it and hasn’t just been gutted by their corporate overlords.
Grackle

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The budget of Zelda
The idea of Nintendo becoming a big time film studio is so funny to me. The company with the least interest in telling a story is making the most successful movies… even if they don’t have stories either. The success of the second Mario film, which I haven’t seen, is only going to cement them further and other studios will be knocking down their door trying to get involved.

But like you said, that live action Zelda seems near impossible to get right. It could be done but I don’t have enough faith in the director or Nintendo as producer to make it work. I also can’t believe that Nintendo will pony up enough money to do the visuals justice.

An animated movie would’ve been such a better choice and a really good thing for more adult themed animation at the cinema. Or at least more adult than Mario. Zelda is the best video game franchise ever but what’s the betting it won’t be the best film ever? Or anything less than an embarrassment?
Coolsbane

Virtual worlds within worlds
Buying a game to pretend to own boxes of games you already have on digital is a hell of an elevator pitch. It’s always fascinating to me to read about these weird PC simulators, like truck sims and that powerhouse one.

I’d never want to play them but after thinking they’re a joke I always end up looking them up and it turns out they’ve sold 10 million or something. It’s easy to forget that non-gamers have very different interests and priorities to the rest of us.
Snoopy
PS: What is an elevator pitch anyway? Is that an American thing and they mean lift?

GC: We think they mean lift, yes.

Cyberdyne Systems
That guy that was working on The Last Of Us Online for seven years only for it to cancelled must have a level of patience I can’t even begin to imagine. Apart from anything, I’m surprised he stayed in the games industry and didn’t go off and work for a saner kind of company afterwards.

Never mind the amount of hours everyone must’ve spent on the game, how much money did it cost to employ hundreds of people for seven years to make absolutely nothing? And the reason they cancelled it is because they didn’t want to spend the next 10 years making more content for it? Did they not know what a live service game was before they started?!

The more you learn about the games industry the more you begin to wonder whether anyone in it has any common sense. There are some creative geniuses making the games but everyone else around it seems to be running on only half a tank.

They keep trying to replace developers and artists with AI but how about swapping out some of these producers and exec types? As useless as AI is I don’t see how it could do any worse in most cases.
Lynch

Resiopia PD
I knew fans would get creative with Pokémon Pokopia and some of those examples were really great. I particularly appreciate whoever did the Resident Evil one because they edited the video for it so well too!

My dream is to recreate the towns as they were, but I don’t know if I’ll ever really get there. I still hold out enough hope that I don’t want to read that Reddit that tells you how to do it though. The fun of the game is working things out for yourself, and I appreciate that it doesn’t hold your hand as much as you’d think.
Bosley

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Do a barrel roll
Nice article on The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. I agree that it’s definitely not a dumb Minions style movie that just wants you to ‘switch off your brain’ (ever notice that the people that say that are the least likely to ever watch something where you need to switch it on?).

It’s crazy and weird (I saw it yesterday with my kids) but it’s meant to be like that and, as you say, it’s closest thing you can get to a game without actually playing it. Is there a better movie that could be made with more character depth? Maybe but I don’t know who you’d get to write it.

As far as I’m concerned the only thing it could do with is more proper jokes in the dialogue, as it was kind of flat like that. But I enjoyed it. The only character that came anywhere close to being annoying was Yoshi and he was fine. I don’t anticipate getting to watch it 100 times when it hits streaming but the first time at least it was pretty fun.

I especially like the Star Fox bit, which I don’t see how any kid could properly understand, but Glen Powell was perfect and I now fully expect a new game to appear, because there’s no way they did all that just so people can play Lylat Wars on Nintendo Switch Online.

I do wonder what it’s going to be but perhaps something lower budget, that is just an on-rails shooter, and go back to basics like that? That’s not the normal approach Nintendo takes but then they don’t have many dead franchises like that, that they have to try a different trick with.
Gordo

Inbox also-rans
If it really is just a fiver I think I’d be a lot more interested in an Indie Game Pass than the Xbox one. I had it for a while and I barely played any of the first party games.
Renton

I’m not sure I see the point in a PlayStation 6 portable. If you’re only going to use it in the house how would it be any different from using a PlayStation Portal?
Wilks

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

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

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

MORE: Games Inbox: What score would you give the PS5 out of 10?

MORE: Games Inbox: Is there a Resident Evil Requiem backlash?

MORE: Games Inbox: How expensive will the PS6 be?

Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Cllr Paula Widdowson said there were concerns City of York Council’s consultation on the changes did not allow participants to leave feedback about specific issues they could face.

Cllr Jenny Kent, the Labour administration’s environment executive member, said residents could have their say in person as well as in the council’s consultation broadly covering issues around the proposals.

It comes as the consultation on the changes has so far received more than 10,000 responses, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands.

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People can take part online, over the phone or by attending one of the in-person drop-in events planned in April.

The consultation is set to close on Friday, May 1.

The proposals would see most households’ existing recycling boxes swapped for two 240-litre bins, one for paper and cardboard and another for glass, tins and plastic.

Each one would be collected every four weeks in two-week alternating cycles.

The changes come as the council looks to save £520,000 from its wider waste collection services over the next two years.

Council officials have said wheelie bins would allow people to recycle more ahead of requirements for soft plastics including film to be collected from the kerbside from March next year.

They added they would help reduce work-related injuries among council waste collection staff, make bin rounds more efficient and stop litter being left behind afterwards.

But concerns have been raised about the plans including how those living in smaller terraced houses will cope with having to store more wheelie bins.

The Liberal Democrats have also said waste being collected less frequently could see residents whose collections are missed waiting up to eight weeks for it to be taken away.

York recycling boxes. Picture is from York Council (Image: City of York Council)

Opposition environment spokesperson and deputy leader Cllr Widdowson said they were now asking people to them their views directly so they could build a clearer picture the potential effects.

Cllr Widdowson said: “We know residents care strongly about recycling and want to see a system that works well for everyone.

“Many people have told us they don’t feel the current consultation gives them the opportunity to explain their individual circumstances or concerns.

“It’s especially important we understand the impact on different households before any final decisions are made.”

Cllr Kent said she believed the changes would be positive but needed to hear from residents to understand how they could be affected.

She added it would be impossible to create a bespoke system for each of York’s roughly 95,000 households but the council wanted to know about any difficulties residents foresaw.

Cllr Kent said: “Proposed changes will see the capacity most residents have for recycling go up from 165 litres to 240 litres fortnightly, allowing more to be recycled at the kerbside.

“It will allow us to collect more from residents, reducing the need for them to go to the tip, and make collections more efficient, saving the council money.

“Liberal Democrats running another consultation is just confusing for residents and is not going to add anything to both the more than 10,000 responses the council’s consultation has already received, and the in-person drop in events we are running.”

People can share their views with the Liberal Democrats here: https://digitallibdems.typeform.com/2026Recycling

The council’s recycling consultation is available online here, along with the dates, times and locations of the in-person drop-in events scheduled for April: https://www.york.gov.uk/RecyclingReview

People can also take part by calling the council on: (01904) 551551 and paper copies of the survey can be found in Explore libraries.