“We’ve made progress here in Northern Ireland but there are still some areas without any defibrillators at all, and these communities need it most.”

Two rural areas in Northern Ireland that are in urgent need of lifesaving defibrillators have been revealed.

Communities in the West Tyrone area within Fermanagh and Omagh District Council and Cusher, part of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough, have been pinpointed by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) as places which could immediately benefit from the charity’s Community Defibrillator Funding Programme.

Group leaders in these two areas are being encouraged to come forward and apply for free defibrillators to try to reduce the risk of people in their communities dying from cardiac arrest.

The scheme is open to eligible groups in communities across Northern Ireland, and BHF has said areas with the greatest need will be prioritised. The selected areas are those with a combination of long defibrillator retrieval times, high population density and communities with high deprivation.

West Tyrone has an average retrieval time of 19 minutes 20 seconds, which is one of the longest in the UK, while the Cusher area has an average retrieval time of 9 minutes 20 seconds.

There are around 1,400 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs) each year in Northern Ireland, but less than one in 10 people survive. However, early CPR and defibrillation can more than double the chance of survival.

BHF’s community defibrillator programmes have helped fund 186 defibrillators across Northern Ireland over the past 12 years, with the lifesaving devices being placed in every county.

With limited access to defibrillators in a community, someone’s chance of surviving a cardiac arrest is greatly reduced. For every minute without defibrillation and CPR, survival chances decrease by up to 10%.

The BHF says it’s vital that every community has enough defibrillators available in the event of a cardiac arrest, but there are hundreds of areas around the country that still don’t have access to these lifesaving devices.

The awarded defibrillators will be registered on The Circuit: the national defibrillator network, allowing emergency services to easily locate them. There are now over 120,000 defibrillators registered on The Circuit, but they are not evenly distributed.

According to the BHF, more deprived areas have higher rates of cardiovascular disease and more deaths from cardiac arrest. These areas are often also places with fewer defibrillators, partially due to the cost of the equipment as well as the installation.

Keady Michael Dwyers GAA club was one of 70 organisations in Northern Ireland that received a defibrillator as part of the BHF scheme last year.

Chairperson, Patrick Óg Nugent, said: “We were delighted to receive a defibrillator last year under the BHF Community Defibrillator Scheme.

“The club premises plays a vital part in the day-to-day life of the local community covering all ages. Therefore, when the opportunity became available to the club to obtain the defibrillator under the scheme, we very quickly availed of it.

“While it is hopeful that we never have to use the machine, the assurance of it been so close at hand is a big relief to all within the club.”

Fearghal McKinney, Head of BHF NI, added: “When someone has a cardiac arrest, every second counts, and quick access to a defibrillator gives someone the best possible chance of survival before emergency help arrives.

“We’ve made progress here in Northern Ireland but there are still some areas without any defibrillators at all, and these communities need it most.

“That’s why we’re thrilled to relaunch our community defibrillator funding programme – to bring more defibrillators into the communities that need them most and hopefully save more lives from cardiac arrest.”

Successful applicants will receive a defibrillator and cabinet, and installation will be arranged where required. Future replacement parts will be free of charge when they expire or are used in an emergency for up to 10 years.

Check eligibility and apply for a BHF-funded defibrillator for your community up until the end of February 2027 – by doing so, you could save a life: bhf.org.uk/fundeddefib.

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History has its mysteries – the building of Stonehenge, the fate of the Mary Celeste – but little is as baffling as the rise of Ed Miliband.

On Monday Andy Burnham named his Cabinet. Initially all seemed fine: despite rumours, Mr Miliband was not going to be Chancellor. Financiers loosened their girdles. Families thought ‘phew’.

Then came the sucker-punch. Instead of being sent to the Treasury, Mr Miliband was given the Foreign Office.

Red Ed as Foreign Secretary? You might more plausibly claim Alan ‘Chattyman’ Carr had become a Trappist abbot or the Dalai Lama had taken up golf. At the world’s top diplomatic gatherings, we will in future be represented by that trouser-flapping wonk Miliband, cross-eyed agent of chaos.

Has Andy Burnham forgotten the Ed Stone, the socialist menhir Mr Miliband unveiled before the 2015 general election when he was Labour leader? He was going to erect it in the garden of 10 Downing Street if he won.

Does Eyelashes Andy also not remember Mr Miliband cosying up – yuck – to the now disgraced Russell Brand throughout that campaign? Surely he must recall it was Mr Miliband’s cack-handed change to party membership rules that enabled militants to hijack Labour and insert Jeremy Corbyn as leader, with all the anti-Semitism that unleashed into national life? And does our new PM, a supposed man of the people, not see how unpopular the Miliband Net Zero agenda has become?

Before we consider the pressures that influenced Mr Burnham, we must ask why this appointment is such a bad decision. The reasons divide, broadly, into comedy and tragedy.

Ed Miliband is on the surface a farcical figure, a gurning Mr Bean whose arrival at global symposia will confirm international theories about madcap British humour.

Has Andy Burnham forgotten the Ed Stone, the socialist menhir Mr Miliband unveiled before the 2015 general election when he was Labour leader

When the United Nations next debates some critical peace-keeping resolution and the chairman invites the United Kingdom to impart its views, plic will go the microphone button and the ensuing voice will be the squashy-schnozzled, spittle-spotted cronk of Miliband Jnr.

Will he lecture them on climate change and the evils of capitalism? Hell, yeah (as he himself once said when Jeremy Paxman asked if he was tough enough to be prime minister). Once Ed sinks those donkey teeth into an opportunity, there’s no stopping him.

He is a cartoonish figure and in politics it can be no bad thing to have a brand. He may have calculated that goofiness helps disguise his Marxian intolerance. On tax, climate change, property ownership and state regulation he is dauntingly dirigiste. An authoritarian. Yet when he speaks, we often laugh. How foolish of us.

Before you say: ‘Oh, there goes the Daily Mail having a go at Miliband just because his dad Ralph was a notorious commie’, bear in mind that one person cruelly used by Ed Miliband was his own brother David, whom he pipped to the Labour leadership in 2010.

David was senior in years and experience. Indeed, he had been Foreign Secretary from 2007 to 2010 and was even tipped for a return to the post in the Burnham Cabinet. Is that why Ed was so thrilled on Monday night? Psychologists could write tracts on the matter.

To be Foreign Secretary is the grandest, most grown-up of positions. Eco-zealot Ed will have the use of a private jet when he wishes. Foreign Secretaries deal in life-or-death secrets and they supervise MI6. Wars, treaties, intercontinental fissures: these are the regular diet, along with gastronomic delicacies on the statesmanship circuit.

Given the mess Mr Miliband once made of a bacon sandwich, one dreads to think what will happen when he gets stuck in at a Chinese state banquet. A waterproof cagoule for President Xi, please!

Top envoys generally have poker faces. Sangfroid and inscrutability are essentials of the job. No one is less inscrutable than Ed Mil’. In parliamentary debates he scowls, sighs, rolls his eyes and cackles. Although watchable, it is not always edifying.

Ed pipped his brother David to the Labour leadership in 2010, even though David was senior in years and experience

Given the mess Mr Miliband once made of a bacon sandwich, one dreads to think what will happen when he gets stuck in at a Chinese state banquet, writes Quentin Letts

When the King travels on state visits he is accompanied by the Foreign Secretary. In the more exotic parts of the globe a monarch may be welcomed by dancing, topless amazons. Heaven knows how Ed will react.

Mr Miliband is no fan of Donald Trump. He has in the past called the US President a ‘racist, misogynistic, self-confessed groper’. While that may reflect widespread sentiment on both sides of the Atlantic, it was not diplomatic.

High-level contacts with Washington DC will be complicated. The White House will also know that when Sir Keir Starmer proposed allowing US war planes to use British bases for raids on Iran this year, Cabinet opposition was led by Mr Miliband. He reportedly became ‘petulant, pacifist, legalistic and very political’. Uh-oh.

And so to the tragic side of the matter. In 2013, when Mr Miliband was leading the Opposition, he pulled off a rare feat of defeating the government on a war motion. Syria’s dictator, Bashar al-Assad, had used deadly gas on some 1,400 citizens. 

The West wanted to stop Assad and it fell to David Cameron’s coalition government to make the first parliamentary move. Cameron’s memoirs relate how the Labour leader appeared to agree, in private, that military action against Assad was justified.

Then the perpetual man-child Miliband played party-political games. Tony Blair’s Iraq War was still raw in Westminster’s memory. Mr Miliband saw an opportunity and played it for self-advantage. The Commons’ vote against military action – in which a certain Andy Burnham also sided with appeasement – so unsettled Barack Obama that the US went easy on Assad.

Further gas attacks were duly used on Syrian dissidents and Russia’s Vladimir Putin sensed that the West had lost its appetite to stop tyrannous bullies. A year later Putin took back Crimea. Nine years after that he invaded Ukraine.

In his Net Zero proselytising Ed Miliband has often blamed Putin’s Ukraine war for making fossil fuels untenable; had it not been for Mr Miliband’s naked party politics in that Commons vote of August 2013, the Kremlin might never have over-reached itself. Now the idiot responsible is in charge of our foreign policy.

Why has Mr Burnham given him this most sensitive of jobs? I think the answer is vanity. Mr Miliband delusionally convinced himself that he deserved to be Chancellor. When it became apparent he was not going to get it, he worked himself into a huff that could only be assuaged by the foreign secretaryship.

Ed Miliband is a gauche and dangerous nincompoop. In his new position, to which he is so demonstrably ill-suited, he will likely damage our nation’s interests. But it will stroke his ego and soothe his itchy, twitchy brow.

Andy Burnham has prostituted his new government to a fratricidal insecurity complex. Stonehenge’s Neolithic creators would find it astonishing.

Standing on the former Southlands Centre site in Middlesbrough, the new hub has been built to improve access to modern sports facilities, education programmes and community services at the long-standing site.

The development, delivered by Middlesbrough Council and MFC Foundation, features a refurbished 3G pitch, a new grass football pitch and a purpose-built community hub.

Mayor of Middlesbrough Chris Cooke said the investment will bring new opportunities to residents in east Middlesbrough.

He said: “This is exactly the sort of investment residents in East Middlesbrough deserve.

“The new Southlands site brings high-quality facilities and, more importantly, opportunities right into the heart of the community.

“With the Foundation involved, it will help more people get active, develop new skills and fulfil their potential.

“We’ve worked hard to get to this point because we know it will make a huge difference.”

Mayor Chris Cooke opening the new centre on Friday (July 17). (Image: MFC Foundation)

The site will serve as a base for grassroots football, youth programmes, education and training schemes, and a range of wider community initiatives.

The MFC Foundation will now operate the hub.

Charlotte Dinsdale, head of the MFC Foundation, said: “We have been delighted to work alongside Middlesbrough Council on this project.

“This facility underlines our commitment to creating opportunities, improving life chances and making a lasting difference to communities across Teesside.”

She thanked funders including the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Sky Bet EFL Building Foundations Fund, which each contributed £100,000 towards the project.

Visitors being shown the new facilities. (Image: MFC Foundation)

Charlotte said the hub represented a long-term investment in the area and would help the Foundation expand its work across the region.

Staff previously based at the Riverside Stadium and the Herlingshaw Centre have now moved into the new facility, which opens to the public this week.

Former Middlesbrough midfielder and broadcaster Chris Kamara, who played football at Southlands as a youngster, visited the site during construction.

He said: “I know first-hand how much this community loves its sport and deserves top-class facilities.

“Seeing the Southlands Hub take shape is emotional and exciting.

“It’s going to be a game changer for people here.”

Visitors tested out the new facilities. (Image: MFC Foundation)

It officially opened last Friday (July 17) and saw Mayor Cooke, Middlesbrough and Thornaby East MP Andy McDonald in attendance, as well as representatives from Middlesbrough FC, foundation trustees, EFL officials and contractors Wharton Construction.

Matthew Wharton, director of Wharton Construction, said: “It’s been a pleasure to work with Middlesbrough FC Foundation and Middlesbrough Council to deliver the new Southlands Community Centre and Sports Hub.

“It’s a fantastic facility, and we hope it provides lasting value for the local area for many years to come.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been rapidly expanding its workforce, hiring thousands of new officers as part of the Trump administration’s attempt to ramp up immigration arrests and deportations.

The supersizing of ICE — fueled by an infusion of billions of dollars granted by Congress — has raised concerns about the agency’s hiring practices and whether officers being brought on are receiving proper vetting. Those concerns have been rejected by the Department of Homeland Security.

Relatives of the ICE officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine this week told The Associated Press he struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood and never should have been given a badge and gun to patrol American streets.

The precise circumstances surrounding the officer’s hiring were not immediately clear. But the revelations about the man, David Brouillette, shine a new spotlight on ICE’s hiring spree and the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Here is a look at the agency’s hiring and training practices:

A surge in new hires at ICE

In January, Homeland Security said it had hired 12,000 new officers and agents since the hiring surge began and said thousands of those new officers were already out on the streets assisting with investigations. The number includes both deportation officers and agents for Homeland Security Investigations, a separate agency that falls under ICE.

ICE has said the majority of new hires are police and military veterans. But evidence has been mounting that applicants with questionable histories were either not fully vetted before they were brought on or were hired in spite of their past, an investigation by The Associated Press earlier this year found.

At the time, Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, would not answer questions about specific hiring decisions. It did say some applicants received “tentative selection letters” and offers to begin working on a temporary status before they had been subjected to full background checks.

It defended its hiring practices, saying it does rigorous vetting.

ICE’s former acting director, Todd Lyons, said during a congressional hearing in February that he was proud of the hiring campaign, which drew more than 220,000 applications.

“This expansion of a well-trained and well-vetted workforce will help further ICE’s ability to execute the president’s and secretary’s bold agenda,” he said.

The vetting process includes reviewing applicants’ criminal histories and credit scores and conducting background investigations that include interviewing prior employers and other associates, which can take weeks. ICE also promised signing bonuses of up to $50,000, advertised that college degrees were not required and lowered the age of new recruits to 18.

An internal memo, first reported by Reuters in February, told ICE supervisors that if they receive “derogatory information about a newly hired employee’s conduct” they should refer the allegations to an internal affairs unit for investigation. Such information could include the employees’ termination or forced resignations, the memo said.

The DHS inspector general last August announced plans to audit ICE’s hiring and training processes, but no findings have been released.

Applicants have to get a security clearance

Recent job advertisements for deportation officers spell out the current qualifications, including that the person must be a U.S. citizen to apply and will have to pass a background investigation and a drug test.

New deportation officers also have to take a physical fitness test and be able to obtain and maintain a security clearance. Once hired, new deportation officers may have to serve a one-year probationary period.

According to the job advertisement, deportation officers are required to carry a firearm, which means anyone convicted of domestic violence is ruled out.

Applicants undergo a medical exam and should be prepared to possibly be polygraphed. The application cautions that any false statements on the application can translate into the job offer being pulled or, if the person has already started work, they can lose their job or go to prison.

The background investigation can include a credit check, reviews of any financial problems like failure to pay child support or taxes and a look at the person’s criminal and drug history.

Claire Trickler-McNulty, a former ICE official under the Obama, first Trump and Biden administrations, said hiring a new deportation officer is similar to any other federal hiring.

Generally, applications are reviewed by a hiring manager who decides which candidates to advance. Once someone gets a tentative offer, the agency conducts a background check.

When people are applying for jobs that involve getting a security clearance, Trickler-McNulty said, they have to disclose on their application any drug use, interactions with police, groups they’re affiliated with, mental health concerns, prior addresses and job history.

Depending on the clearance level, they’ll also ask for references that a background investigator will contact. If there’s red flag such as a DUI or a history of debt, that can trigger a deeper investigation.

“You want to make sure the person is appropriate for a public trust position,” she said.

Concerns over changes to ICE training schedule

Generally, new candidates for deportation officer positions have to go through a 50-day immigration law enforcement training program, according to the job advertisement.

Ryan Schwank, a former lawyer at ICE who was responsible for training new deportation officers, told The Associated Press that the agency reduced the overall amount of training new recruits received and reduced the testing needed to pass before graduating. Homeland Security has denied that it has removed any training requirements or lessened requirements for officers.

Trickler-McNulty said she has concerns over reports the agency shortened training as it was aiming to hire thousands of new officers. ICE officials revamped the training as part of efforts to swiftly hire and train an additional 10,000 deportation officers with an infusion of billions of dollars last summer from Congress.

At the time, the agency had about 6,500 deportation officers. That led to allegations that the department was cutting corners in an effort to get more officers in the field, which Homeland Security and ICE repeatedly denied.

In June, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the agency would be increasing the amount of training for new officers starting this month. In a statement Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security said all new academy training classes beginning July 1 will last for 71 days and officers who graduated under the previous curriculum would get more training under a separate field officer program.

The department also said it was adding new training in crowd control measures, high-risk vehicle stops, live-fire exercises and medical training, in response to what they called coordinated attacks against their officers and ICE facilities.

__

Associated Press reporter Jonathan J. Cooper contributed to this report from Phoenix.

Clarkson’s Farm star Kaleb Cooper married his long-term partner Taya Wilkinson earlier this month but he has now shared some behind the scenes clips of the big day

Kaleb Cooper has shared some behind the scenes clips from his wedding day – and fans can’t get enough.

The Clarkson’s Farm star and his wife, Taya Wilkinson, finally married one another in a stunning ceremony in the Cotswolds, not far from Diddly Squat Farm. Kaleb got down on one knee on Christmas Day 2022, and the couple have three children together.

Moments before the ceremony, Kaleb, 27, who once vowed he’d have a “feral farm wedding,” was spotted departing a local pub with his ushers before making a show-stopping arrival at his nuptials. Kaleb turned up in a £250,000 McLaren supercar with his son alongside him.

Jeremy Clarkson and girlfriend Lisa Hogan were among the guests seen celebrating the couple’s big day. They were joined by other cast members of the hit Amazon Prime show at a Cotswolds service, held just minutes from Diddly Squat Farm.

Boss Jeremy played a key and very generous role at the reception by providing an unlimited supply of his Hawkstone booze. Kaleb previously said his guests would be able to “sit underneath the keg” instead of filling up their glasses.

Also among the attendees were Gymshark founder Ben Francis and his wife Robin Francis. The billionaire entrepreneur, who famously went from delivering pizzas for Pizza Hut to building Gymshark into a sportswear empire worth nearly £1 billion, was one of Kaleb’s ushers.

The wedding day was a moment for the Clarkson Farm stars to celebrate after a difficult few months. Kaleb was seen reacting with shock after Jeremy announced his ‘aggressive’ prostate cancer diagnosis with him in scenes that aired on their hit show.

Speaking to the Mirror last month, Kaleb admitted it was difficult to witness his friend going through such a challenging time.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s only just come out – 100%. I think anything that’s emotional is just about how you take it, you know? You sit there and you be supportive, or do you go out there and, I would say, mope about it and lock yourself away? And at that time you’ve got to be supportive.”

Yesterday Kaleb took to Instagram to share a never seen before video from his wedding day showing him dancing with Clarkson’s Farm star Charlie R Ireland. He captioned the video: “Lots of funny wedding videos which I think some deserve to be shared with the world more?”

Fans took to the comments to share their thoughts, one wrote: “That’s so funny cheerful Charlie has got the moves,” another wrote: “This is pure gold. Is this how we are opening Season 6?!”

For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

An Oklahoma mother could spend life behind bars after she failed to stop her husband from raping and impregnating her 11-year-old daughter.

Cherie Walker, 34, knew that her husband, Dustin Walker, was sexually abusing her daughter at their Muskogee home, but failed to protect her, prosecutors said.

The 11-year-old gave birth to a full-term child inside the couple’s home in August last year. She never received any kind of prenatal care or medical assistance during the birthing process, the court heard.

The girl went to a local hospital shortly after giving birth to her stepfather’s baby. That was when cops arrested Cherie and Dustin Walker, 35, and charged them with neglect.

DNA testing later revealed that Dustin was, with ’99 percent certainty,’ the baby’s father, KJRH reported.

Cherie Walker was convicted of six counts of child neglect and one count of enabling child sexual abuse last Friday.

The verdict came after four days of grueling testimony from police, first responders, medical professionals, Department of Human Services employees, church members and other family members.

The jury has recommended a sentence of life in prison on each count. Walker will be formally sentenced by a judge at a later date.

Prosecutors say Walker knew that her husband, Dustin Walker, was sexually abusing her daughter at their family’s Muskogee, Oklahoma home, but failed to intervene

An investigation revealed that Dustin Walker had abused the ‘rather petite’ child on numerous occasions, resulting in the pregnancy. 

Adults in the home, including her mother, stepfather, and maternal grandmother, Michelle Justus, were found to have failed to provide the child with basic care, supervision or medical attention. 

She was said to have not visited the doctor in over a year. 

The girl was also pulled out of school while pregnant, leaving little room for teachers or medical professionals to intervene, Hutson added.

But both Cherie Walker and Justus denied any knowledge of the pregnancy.

Justus previously told KJRH: ‘I just want people to know, we did not know this was happening. None of us. They’ve made my daughter and my son-in-law a monster. They are not. They love those children. They love them.’

The grandmother is charged with child neglect and is scheduled to stand trial on Thursday. She previously accused a local 12-year-old boy of raping the young girl. 

Walker, seen in court, was convicted of six counts of child neglect and one count of enabling child sexual abuse. The jury has recommended a sentence of life in prison on each count

Adults in the home, including Walker, Dustin, and maternal grandmother, Michelle Justus, were also found to have failed to provide the child with basic care, supervision or medical attention

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Dustin Walker was sentenced last month to 42 years behind bars and a life sentence for abuse and neglect of a child.

He entered a ‘blind’ guilty plea to six counts of child neglect and one count of sexual abuse of a child under 12 in March. A blind plea occurs when there was no plea deal made, and the sentence length was left to the discretion of the judge.

Walker stood in front of the court twice and apologized for his horrific actions. Upon his sentencing, he was barred from contacting the victims.

Cherie and Dustin had five other children shared between them, ages two, four, six, seven and nine.

The children were removed from the home last year after investigators found them living in ‘deplorable conditions,’ prosecutors said.

The children were found to be living in dog feces and had no clothing on.

Photos of the home shared by prosecutors showed urine everywhere, as well as no air conditioning or running water.

Dustin Walker was sentenced last month to 42 years behind bars and a life sentence for abuse and neglect of a child. He entered a ‘blind’ guilty plea to six counts of child neglect and one count of sexual abuse of a child under 12 in March

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Justus is charged with child neglect and is scheduled to stand trial on Thursday. She previously denied having any knowledge of the girl’s pregnancy and even accused a local 12-year-old boy of raping her granddaughter

‘It’s very emotional to realize that a child at the age of 10 and 11 was having sex with their stepfather, that she became pregnant and no one took her to the doctor and she gave birth at home,’ Assistant District Attorney Janet Hutson said after the couple were arrested in August 2025.

‘When you complicate that with the severe deplorable, uninhabitable conditions of that home, to know that’s where she gave birth, where those children lived, without even the ability to get a drink of water in the middle of the night.

‘It affected everyone in law enforcement. It affected the investigators, it affected everyone who touched this case. It certainly affected me.’

The prosecutor added that the case was ‘one of the most, if not the most, serious child sexual abuse and neglect cases I have ever prosecuted.’

The 29-year-old, who is best known for starring as Arya Stark in Game Of Thrones alongside Headey who played Cersei Lannister, will appear with her once again in the eight-part drama Intimacy on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds, where she plays the character Bunny, who is also an actor.

The Wednesday letters page argues that digital games can be cheaper than physical, as readers applaud Count Binface’s stance on Shenmue 4.

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

Sci-fi vs. fantasy
Like everything else in gaming, it seems a very slow crawl towards a new Witcher game. I was hoping the new DLC would be this year but I suppose 2027 will have to do. I’ll be surprised if The Witcher 4 is out before 2029 though, if they’re not even thinking of showing it till next year.

I shouldn’t complain though as at least you can be sure they’re not rushing it. Cyberpunk 2077 has been such a big hit in the end that they can afford to take their time, which I’m glad of. Although personally I could never get on with Cyberpunk. I much prefer fantasy to sci-fi and so I had a hard time comparing the two.

Curious to know what other readers think but my opinion is that The Witcher 3 is significant better in terms of the story and characters. I just couldn’t get on with everyone being awful in Cyberpunk. I will admit the combat is not great in The Witcher 3 but I’m not sure it’s all that much better in Cyberpunk, even though it’s first person. Perhaps the new The Witcher 3 DLC will settle the issue for good.
Rostie

Old rivals
I’ve been playing the Mega Drive version of Sonic 2 the last couple of days, via my Nintendo Switch Online subscription and being a massive 16-bit gaming fan naturally I was comparing it to Super Mario World on the SNES (their UK release dates were only around six months apart).

I can see why a five minute blast could have convinced many image conscious kids back in the day to purchase a Mega Drive, due to the exhilarating speed and high tempo music of the games featuring the trendy blue hedgehog, but it unquestionably lacks the depth, longevity, and wonderful playability of Super Mario World.

Still, two excellent games, which have both aged brilliantly.
Arteta26Legend

A world of its own
Counter-Strike skin economy is genuinely insane; it impresses me that if you’re not playing Counter-Strike, you won’t know about it. The total market cap of skins is in the billions; there are even tens of businesses that thrive solely on people trading skins.

The skinradar.gg website shows 43 marketplaces that provide players with a platform to trade and a good chunk of them see millions of people visit monthly! What other game has such a pull? Counter-Strike is such a unicorn of gaming; it is literally the Pokémon of in-game skin collecting.
Rimvydas

GC: It is crazy. Especially as the skins always seem so unremarkable.

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

Damp squid
So I see another big divide between US and UK reviewers over Splatoon Raiders. IGN gave it a 9 and The Guardian was as low as 2 out of 5. Obviously I haven’t played the game but it’s very hard to understand how it can get that high a mark if it’s all just stuff we’ve seen before. If these linear levels you describe really are like the one from the mainline games I already know they’re a waste of time.

Making a single-player Splatoon is a bit weird just as a concept but to make it with no story and basically no new ideas seems like such a waste of time. To be honest, Splatoon 3 was already a bit of a con, given how little it did that was new. That’s very unlike Nintendo and I feel the direction of the franchise is worrying, given how original it was when it first came out.

I’m assuming it’s going to be at least two or three years before we get Splatoon 4, which is going to mean something like a seven year gap since Splatoon 3, which was itself a bit of a minimum effort. I feel the idea that Nintendo is playing 4D chess with its release schedules just doesn’t hold up. They’re just blundering along making weird decisions, exactly how it looks.
Misko

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Put a ring on it
I hate to agree with that Valve developer but he’s right about people being much too late to start complaining about digital games now. The vast majority of people made their choice years ago and it sure wasn’t physical copies. I’m still shocked we collectively allowed second-hand sales on the high street to stop being a thing and looking back that was probably the death of physical right there.

Even if Sony hadn’t made their annoucement this year it was blindingly obvious that the PlayStation 6 was never going to have a disc drive, so what was everyone going to do then? By that point digital sales would be at least 90% so was everyone going to suddenly start complaining as if they didn’t know which way the wind was blowing?

I’m not saying this is a good thing, I wish physical media was still a thing, but we’ve sleepwalked into this future and have no one to blame but ourselves.
Zeiss

Wasted chance
What a lovely surprise to see England’s finest MP-to-be demand a Shenmue 4. Even if it is just a cameo, the Shenmue fans are nothing if not creative in their desire for the series to continue; just thinking of the Times Square advert a couple of years ago and being awarded the most influential game of all time by BAFTA, for example.

Man, I wish Sega would throw Yu Suzuki a bone and allow him to continue the series; heck I’d gladly back a Kickstarter again if needs be.

The Binface video put a big smile of my face and given the state of the gaming industry at the moment, that’s always a good thing.
-bcdcdude

GC: It would have helped if Suzuki hadn’t made Shenmue 3 such a baffling waste of time. It’s one of the biggest squandered opportunities in all gaming.

Striking while the iron is cold
Count Binface can have my vote if they get Shenmue 4 released but in other news, there’s a physical release of Shenmue 3 enhanced available for order on Argos, Amazon, and other sites on Switch 2, Xbox, and PlayStation 5.

It’s disappointing story-wise but nice to see it getting another release.
Mark Matthews

GC: We mentioned this in our story on Count Binface; Shenmue 3 Enhanced doesn’t have a release date but it’s meant to be out this autumn.

Counter deal
RE: matc7884 and £240 to buy a collection of Assassin’s Creed games on PSN. Using this price tracker I make it £120.19 to buy all those games on PSN, when they have been on sale. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey has been on sale for between £8.24 and £16.49 32 times since January 2023.

You can access all of them with DLC plus loads more games on Ubisoft+ Premium for £15 a month. With regular sales, sub services, and game sharing accessing games cheap with digital downloads is no problem.

Don’t get me wrong, the concerns about less competition from physical for the PSN store are real. I think competition from other competing platforms and market conditions will keep prices in check but understand why others don’t. Will the sales and deals dry up?

I also think the loss of resale values needs to be better compensated for on PSN. Maybe a Steam-like refund policy or try before you buy demos for all games.

But now, and historically since digital took over, there’s only been one operator on the market whose games you can’t access anywhere near as cheaply as the others and that’s Nintendo first party games, which are primarily bought physical.

Nintendo have, with the Switch 2, started selling games cheaper digitally. But that’s upset people who feel Nintendo is forcing people on to digital rather than just passing on the savings to the customer from the removal of the retailers cut. Stores took the decision to match the £41.99 digital price of Star Fox.
Simundo

GC: Actually, the percentage of digital sales on Nintendo hardware is 67.2%. That’s lower than PlayStation and Xbox but on the increase.

Inbox also-rans
We’re getting close to August now and there’s no sign of any more information on Zelda: Ocarina Of Time. I think it’s pretty obvious this is going to be a late autumn release, but we’ve seen even less of it than GTA 6. Nintendo might be weird but they like pre-order money as much as anyone. When are we going to get a dedicated Direct?
Duke

GC: It’s Nintendo. It could happen tomorrow or in two months’ time.

Just found out that Darkest Dungeon is 10 years old, that’s wild. Anyway, they’ve released some new DLC for it which I’ll try and check out – love that game.
Morrie

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From buck teeth and fancy dress to cricket whites and bedtime snaps, Andy Burnham has given followers a hilarious glimpse into the childhoods of the politicians now running Britain.

Just a day after unveiling his new Cabinet, the Prime Minister shared a tongue-in-cheek ‘then v now’ Instagram post showing his senior ministers long before they swapped school uniforms for suits and the red dispatch box.

But can YOU guess who each one is? 

The young boy in his cricket whites is our new PM Andy Burnham 

Andy Burnham, 56, leads the nostalgic line-up with a picture of himself beaming in cricket whites with his arms folded, presumably from around the time when the sports-mad PM was a fast bowler for the Lancashire schoolboys cricket team.

Born in Aintree in 1970, Burnham was inspired by the miners’ strike to join the Labour Party in his teens and first became an MP in 2001. 

The former health secretary had twice failed to become party leader – losing to Ed Miliband in 2010 and Jeremy Corbyn in 2015 – and after leaving Parliament, served as Greater Manchester mayor. 

Before his triumphal return winning the backing of 379 of Labour’s 403 MPs to replace Sir Keir Starmer. 

The young toddler laughing is the new Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey 

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New Chancellor John Healey appears as a giggling toddler in a black and white snap from the 1960s.

Born in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, Healey studied social and political sciences at Christ’s College, Cambridge, before working for the Trades Union Congress and the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. 

First elected as MP for Wentworth in 1997, he has held several ministerial roles during his parliamentary career and is now entrusted with overseeing the nation’s finances. 

His appointment as Chancellor marks his return to the cabinet less than two months after quitting as defence secretary.

A former Treasury minister, Healey recently attacked what he called a ‘Treasury orthodoxy that’s a dead hand on dynamic government’ that viewed defence as ‘a drain rather than a driver of growth’.

Senior figures in government say he shares Burnham’s ambitions for reindustrialisation and devolution.

The boy with the big grin is new Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband

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But perhaps the biggest transformation belongs to the new Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, whose school photograph shows him flashing a nervous smile complete with an unforgettable pair of prominent buck teeth.

He has moved on from the energy and net zero brief he held since Labour returned to power, taking on a new role in Andy Burnham’s reshuffled Cabinet.

The former Labour leader had previously been tipped as a potential Chancellor, with supporters highlighting his experience at the Treasury and his time as a senior figure within the party.

However, his economic credentials have also faced scrutiny, with some critics questioning his approach, particularly over his policies on energy.

Mr Miliband has represented Doncaster North in Parliament since 2005 and remains one of Labour’s longest-serving MPs.

Louise Haigh is the little girl dressed up as an angel 

While First Secretary Louise Haigh looks every inch the little angel in a childhood fancy dress costume. 

That seems worlds away from the woman who will now oversee the department responsible for supporting the Prime Minister and helping co-ordinate the Government’s priorities across Whitehall.

The Sheffield Heeley MP first entered Parliament in 2015 and quickly made a name for herself as one of Westminster’s most energetic new arrivals. 

Within a year, she was named the hardest-working new MP after making a high number of Commons speeches and asking hundreds of parliamentary questions.

Former Commons Speaker John Bercow praised her ‘terrier-like intensity’ in the chamber, a reference to her persistent style of holding ministers to account.

Before entering politics, Ms Haigh worked as a special constable and was also a Unite union shop steward.

Her rise through Labour’s ranks was hit by controversy in 2025 when she became the first member of Sir Keir Starmer’s Cabinet to resign after it emerged she had admitted a fraud offence dating back to 2013 while serving as transport secretary.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is the little girl in the nightdress alongside a young boy who is presumably one of her brothers

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Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is all smiles in a nightdress as she poses beside a young boy in a family snap. 

She has kept her place at the top of Government, remaining as Home Secretary after taking on the role in September 2025.

The Birmingham Ladywood MP is responsible for some of the most politically sensitive areas of Whitehall, including immigration, national security and policing across England and Wales.

Ms Mahmood has built a reputation among Labour colleagues as taking a tough stance on immigration. Shortly after becoming Home Secretary, she unveiled major reforms to the asylum system, claiming the previous approach had become ‘out of control’.

A long-serving Labour figure, Ms Mahmood entered Parliament in 2010 after winning Birmingham Ladywood. 

She has said she was the first female Muslim MP elected, arguing her declaration was the first completed on election night, although Yasmin Qureshi and Rushanara Ali were also elected that year.

The youngster is being supported by police following reports of an attack in Victoria Park, Stretford

Parts of Victoria Park in Stretford were cordoned off tonight as police investigate reports that a teenage girl was sexually assaulted.

Police swooped on the park at around 6pm following reports that a teenage girl was sexually assaulted inside the park. Pictures from the scene showed police at the park, with a walkway and one area of woodland taped off.

Tonight Greater Manchester Police confirmed that an investigation was underway and that the alleged victim ‘is being supported’ by officers. No arrests have yet been made.

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A statement from GMP said: “Greater Manchester Police is investigating a report of sexual assault that occurred shortly before 6pm today (21/07/2026) in Victoria Park, Stretford.

“No arrests have been made at this time. However, the victim is being supported and detectives are following up multiple lines of enquiry to piece together the full circumstances.”

The much-loved park is maintained by the Friends of Victoria Park which was set up in 2003 to revive it.

GMP has stressed how victims of sex crimes can access support services.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of rape or sexual assault, peopled are encouraged not to suffer in silence and report it to the police by calling 101 or 999 in an emergency. You can also report information and crimes on via www.gmp.police.uk.

Alternatively, people can report information anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

There are also other organisations and support agencies available across Greater Manchester and nationally.

– Saint Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre, Manchester provides a response to men, women and children who live or have been sexually assaulted within Greater Manchester. They offer forensic medical examinations, practical and emotional support as well as a counselling service for all ages. Services are available on a 24-hour basis and can be accessed by calling 0161 276 6515.

– Greater Manchester Rape Crisis is a confidential information, support and counselling service run by women for women over 18 who have been raped or sexually abused at any time in their lives. Call on 0161 273 4500 or email help@manchesterrapecrisis.co.uk