A consultation has just ended on new regulations for pet rescue centres, electric shock collars, microchipping and dog licenses

Northern Ireland’s dog licensing regime and proposals coming from Stormont as part of a proposed animal welfare bill are “ridiculous”, a Belfast councillor has claimed.

A series of warnings have come from Belfast City Hall, from elected representatives as well as officials, regarding a public consultation on proposed animal welfare policy reforms in Northern Ireland. The consultation, from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, ended last month.

In the most recent full Belfast City Council meeting, elected representatives signed off on an official response in which City Hall gave no-holds barred criticisms of DAERA proposals, stressing the lack of finance involved.

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The council states: “The consultation proposals reflect a concerning and growing trend which concerns officers, whereby central government seeks to devolve enforcement responsibilities to local government without a corresponding transfer of financial resources, powers or legal protections.” Meanwhile a Belfast Green Party Councillor has described a proposal to raise dog licences according to inflation as “nonsense”.

The Stormont department has proposed changes around the regulation of rescue and rehoming organisations, a ban on so-called “aversive training devices,” such as electric shock collars, strengthened microchipping requirements for dogs, and an inflationary increase in dog licence fees.

It follows a consultation in summer 2025 over Stormont’s proposed new rules for selling and supplying puppies and kittens, which involve giving councils new powers. Belfast Council highlighted concerns in relation to the lack of animal welfare funding from DAERA to facilitate these changes.

At the most recent meeting of the council’s People and Communities Committee, Green Party Councillor Anthony Flynn admonished DAERA’s proposal to raise the current licence fee of £12.50 to £18.50. Those on income related benefits, or who have had their dog neutered, may pay a reduced fee of £5.

Councillor Flynn praised the council officer’s response to the consultation, and added: “We need strong animal welfare and legislation, which I absolutely agree with, but the other issue here is where councils should fit into that regime. Where councils are given additional powers, they should be given additional resources, and legal tools, to do animal welfare effectively.”

He said: “I have been calling for the devolution of dog licence fee regulations for years. And I want to point out that just having an inflationary increase is the most ridiculous thing I have heard in my entire life, when it comes to this.

“The entire licensing regime needs to be scrapped, and we need to start again. On doing some research on this, Northern Ireland is one of the few places with a licensing regime done in this way. It is incredibly ineffective.

“What it essentially does is place the burden upon someone who gets a dog, to know they have to licence their dog with a local council. Information is simply non-existent when it comes to that.

“I live in the Lisburn and Castlereagh Council area, and when I register my dog, they send me a text and that is essentially it. They have no idea if my dog is still alive, whether it is neutered, and all those things.”

He added: “And the amount of money councils get through licensing is miniscule, compared to what it actually costs to run an animal welfare service or a dog warden service. What we get through licensing is 10 percent of the animal welfare budget, so what is the point of it?

“Is it to cover costs, or to put focus on responsible ownership? Because, for me, that is what we should be heading towards.” He said the minister’s position was “nonsense” and said the council response should be stronger on licences and should be changed on cat microchipping.

Councils currently have a statutory responsibility for the enforcement of Welfare of Animals Act 2011 in respect of “non-farmed” animals, that is companion animals and horses and donkeys. They are also responsible for licensing and enforcement activities under The Dogs (Northern Ireland) Order 1983, including dog breeding establishments.

Councils have no role in relation to the breeding, sale, licensing, microchipping, ownership or management of cat behaviour. Councils have no role in relation to rescue and rehoming organisations, ‘doggy day care’, pet shops, and boarding kennels. These are either unregulated or controlled by Stormont.

A council report on the consultation said: “Whilst officers welcome strategies and policies to improve animal welfare, we do not agree that councils should be required to take on new and additional statutory responsibility for the regulation of rescue and rehoming organisations and enforcement of additional offences, without the regulatory and financial impacts being fully assessed and consulted upon with councils.

“These proposals would create additional responsibilities for premises and activities which are either unregulated or currently dealt with by other agencies including DEARA.

“Councils are still dealing with the impact of the legislation on XL bully safeguards and incurring ongoing costs, which are being absorbed by rate payers. The XL bully legislation is still impacting on dog warden service capacity, with other enforcement activities having to be reprioritised.”

It adds: “While we understand the department’s difficult budgetary position, the decision to withdraw the annual £1.25 million NI funding for animal welfare has left councils in a challenging position. In the absence of any commitment of future allocation of funds to councils, the cost of providing our current animal welfare service continues to be borne by the ratepayers.”

The council said proposed regulation and licensing of rescue centres “aligns much more closely with DAERA’s current licensing functions of establishments such as boarding kennels, zoos and pet shops and should sit with them.

The council added on the matter “It is likely there will be unintended consequences for small volunteer-led rescues, leading to risks in a reduction of capacity, closures and the risk of reduced rehoming availability.” Officers said Belfast Council “would not be able to deliver the proposed enforcement regime within existing resources.”

Regarding a proposed ban on so-called “aversive training devices” the council said: “Whilst officers strongly support a ban on the use of handheld remote controlled electric shock collars, choke collars and prong collars on dogs and cats, we would prefer a ban on the sale and possession of these devices. It is felt that further effective enforcement should include powers to seize devices and the use of fixed penalty notices.”

The council reiterated that they could not enforce any new regulations on microchipping without financial support.

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New mental health emergency departments and community hubs are set to open in Greater Manchester as part of a major national rollout across England.

The plan includes up to 159 new sites across the country, with 10 new mental health centres and seven mental health emergency departments to be delivered in the North West.

Dr Michael Gregory, regional medical director for NHS England in the North West, said: “Too many people in the North West are only getting mental health support when they reach crisis point, after struggling for too long to get the help they need.

“These new community mental health centres will help people across Cheshire & Merseyside, Greater Manchester, and Lancashire & South Cumbria get support earlier and closer to home, making it easier to get the right care before problems escalate.

“And when someone does need urgent help, the new mental health emergency department schemes will help make sure they are seen quickly by specialist teams in the right setting.

“This is an important step towards preventing more people from reaching crisis, cutting waits for care and building an NHS that is fit for the future.”

Backed by £343 million, the scheme represents the largest overhaul of mental health services in a generation.

Greater Manchester will receive three new mental health neighbourhood centres and three specialist emergency department schemes.

In neighbouring Cheshire and Merseyside, four neighbourhood centres and three emergency department schemes will be created, while Lancashire and South Cumbria will gain three centres and one emergency facility.

The new neighbourhood hubs will offer walk-in support without a referral or long waiting times, bringing together mental health teams, GPs, councils, the voluntary sector, and families under one roof.

By providing earlier intervention and integrated care, the centres aim to prevent people from reaching a crisis point.

The first facilities are set to open from autumn this year, with further facilities following from March 2027.

Some will be newly built, while others will be based in existing community spaces such as libraries and banks.

All will be designed as welcoming, non-clinical environments at the heart of the communities they serve.

New mental health emergency departments will offer same-day, specialist support for people in crisis who do not require A&E treatment.

The expansion will more than double the number of dedicated mental health emergency departments in England, bringing the total to 82.

A judge told all three in the courtroom that ‘this was an entirely disgraceful event… all three of you should be ashamed of yourselves’ as he passed down his sentencing

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A father and his two sons left a lorry driver with a severe facial injury requiring nine stitches when a funeral “descended into something akin to a bar room brawl”.

The man has been left with permanent scarring after nine stitches were required to his face after the family went postal at a wake, with the three men hurling pint glasses and gouging at the eyes of mourners following the funeral service.

Given the father had previously become violent at another memorial gathering just three years prior, a judge has scolded the family for the brawl in a public courtroom: “This was an entirely disgraceful event. All three of you should be ashamed of yourselves.”

Liverpool Crown Court heard on Thursday that the Redmonds, all of Holm Lane in Prenton, Wirral, were in attendance of a wake held at the Prenton Golf Club on the afternoon of 17 October 2024 following a funeral.

Their connection to the deceased remains unclear, but the father and sons are understood to have been unfamiliar to witnesses of the incident in question. It is understood that witnesses, however, “thought that the defendants were inappropriately dressed” for the event in question.

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Prosecutor Henry Riding told the court that the wake had been scheduled to finish at 7pm, with golf course manager Kate Verdin-Walsh announcing last orders shortly before 6.45pm. She described the atmosphere as “good” with the service “passing without any untoward incident” until last drinks were called and staff members then “alerted her to shouting in the bar area”.

At the scene, Ms Verdin-Walsh discovered “12 to 15 persons in a circle, appearing to act as a buffer between two males who were arguing and shouting”. According to the Liverpool Echo, Liam Redmond snr was reportedly amongst those involved, and was observed shouting at another man as the latter “tried to back away”.

Having “managed to calm him down”, the now 61-year-old and his sons — who had previously been described as “squaring up and showboating” — were then escorted from the premises by staff. However, the father then dragged another man to the ground near to the exit. It was then “large scale fight broke out”, the court heard.

The brawl was apparently triggered by a man grabbing at Redmond snr’s daughter as she attempted to follow him and her brothers out of the venue. The man who had been floored “put his arm around her back to keep her in the room”, and was apparently unaware of her connection to those who had been removed.

What followed was a “lot of pushing and fighting”, leading to one of the sons allegedly hurling a pint glass into the crowd. The glass struck Ms Verdin-Walsh on the head, causing a small lump and resulting in her needing hospital treatment.

Witness Ronald Hancox subsequently stated that he had observed Redmond snr “pressing his thumb inside the eye of another male”, prompting him to intervene by striking the defendant. Another attendee, Carl Hancox, also witnessed the father “striking a male called Billy” before forcing his thumbs into the victim’s eyes.

When he also rushed to assist this victim, he remembered that “all three defendants turned their attentions on him”, resulting in him being punched and kicked to the head while on the ground. Roberts snr was then said to have similarly “shoved his thumbs into his eye, like he had done to Billy”.

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William Donaldson, the uncle of the man who was first dragged to the ground during the incident, told police he had “run into the centre of the fight to try protect his nephew”. Prosecutor Mr Riding said: “He saw a glass being thrown by one of the males but ended up on the floor, being struck multiple times by the younger of the two males, who attempted to gouge out his eyes with his fingers.”

Mr Donaldson suffered a “split” nose in the attack, which he believed was caused by a glass bottle. He attended hospital the following day, where the wound was closed with a total of nine stitches.

The HGV driver was also forced to take a fortnight off work after being left with fragments of glass in his eye. In a victim impact statement read to the court, he said of the scar on his face: “I don’t really go out much any more so that I don’t have to explain it to people. I no longer pop down to the pub. I get nervous about strange places and people. I was always easy going and could chat to anyone. I always enjoyed a laugh and socialising, but not any more.”

Liam Redmond snr has 16 previous convictions for 24 offences dating back to 1978, including a nine-month sentence for attempted wounding in 1990. In May 2022, he was handed a 12-month community order for affray relating to a “fight caused by the defendant at a wake in a hotel in 2021”.

Defence barrister Lloyd Morgan told the court his client suffered from emphysema, adding: “Mr Roberts snr receives Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment. He receives about £900 per month. He has various outgoings. The report does recommend a rehabilitation activity requirement and an alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement.”

Neither Liam Redmond jnr, 25, nor Luke Redmond, 23, had any previous convictions. Representing Liam Redmond jnr, Nick Cockrell told the court: “This was, in this defendant’s life, an isolated incident, almost two years ago now, admittedly one committed when he was in drink. He does still drink from time to time, as any young person does. He is a self employed plasterer.”

Luke Redmond’s barrister Cheryl Mottram said her client had not reoffended since the incident and was “very remorseful”. All three defendants admitted affray on the day they had been due to stand trial.

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Liam Redmond snr, who appeared in the dock wearing a navy blue cardigan over a light blue shirt and tie, was sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for 18 months. He was also ordered to complete up to 10 days of rehabilitation activity and a 90-day alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement. Liam Redmond jnr, wearing a light blue shirt and tie, and Luke Redmond, dressed in a grey suit and glasses, were each given 12-month community orders with 15 days of rehabilitation activity and 80 hours of unpaid work.

All three men were also ordered to pay Mr Donaldson £250 each in compensation. Sentencing them, Judge Garrett Byrne said: “On that date, you were all in attendance at a wake at Prenton Golf Club. You, along with everybody, it seems to me, were under the influence of alcohol. There appears to have been some words said, and a fight broke out.

“This was, on any view, an entirely disgraceful event. All three of you should be ashamed of yourselves. What was supposed to be a solemn and respectful event descended into something akin to a bar room brawl.

“It started when you, Mr Redmond snr, dragged the nephew down. Mr Donaldson ran over to help his nephew, and the fight started. Glasses were thrown, various injuries were suffered by a number of different people, including the manager, including Carl Hancox, but, perhaps most seriously of all, William Donaldson, who suffered a very serious injury to his nose.

“He had nine stitches to close that unpleasant wound. He was left with a permanent scar. He was left with glass fragments in his eyes. Although it is not entirely clear which of you caused the injuries to Mr Donaldson, it is clear that you were all active participants in the fight.”

Judge Byrne told Redmond snr his previous conviction “bore a striking similarity” to the latest offence, adding: “It was another wake. You were also intoxicated.

“I accept that you have not reoffended. None of you have reoffended since this offence. You have shown genuine remorse. I accept that you have medical conditions. You showed good compliance on your community order, albeit it did not stop you committing this offence.”

A member of staff at NHS Tayside is alleged to have accessed Minnie Merriman’s health records without permission or a clinical need.

A health board is investigating an potential data breach after a murdered schoolgirl’s heath records were allegedly accessed by a member of staff. Minnie Merriman died at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee after she was found seriously injured at Elliot Industrial Estate in Arbroath in the early hours of Monday August 3.

The nine-year-old and her family, from West Yorkshire, were camping in the area but it’s not known how long they had been in Scotland prior to the incident. Three other members of Minnie’s family were also taken to hospital.

NHS Tayside confirmed to the Courier an investigation has been launched after Minnie’s health records were allegedly accessed without permission or a clinical need. No other details of the alleged data breach have been released by the health board but the issue could be reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office if serious enough.

A spokesperson for NHS Tayside said: “NHS Tayside is currently investigating the circumstances of an alleged data breach which happened in a working clinical area where staff access patient information. As a matter of governance, any data protection breach would be recorded and investigated by NHS Tayside and, where appropriate, reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). It would not be appropriate for us to comment further on individual staffing matters.”

Christopher Rice, Minnie’s dad, appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court on Wednesday, where he faced a single charge of murder. The 35-year-old from Wakefield made no plea and was remanded in custody.

Laurie Merriman, Minnie’s mum, paid tribute to her “first true love” in a heart-breaking message following her daughter’s death. Police Scotland was contacted for comment.

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Georgina Gibson, 19, who has trained at Harrogate Gymnastics for the past decade, has been awarded a multi-year athletic scholarship to study and compete at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA).

She will study kinesiology while continuing her career in women’s artistic gymnastics in the United States.

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Georgina said: “I feel so honoured to receive a full scholarship to compete in the sport I have loved since I was five.

“Some people might feel nervous about moving to the other side of the world, especially somewhere as cold as Alaska, but there is no place I would rather choose.

“It feels like the perfect fit, not only because of the scenery, but because of the culture of the gymnastics team and the university’s academic reputation.

“When I first set out to achieve this goal three years ago, it felt like an enormous task, but I was never told I couldn’t do it. I was shown that it was possible if I was willing to work hard.”

Georgina began gymnastics at age five and joined Harrogate Gymnastics in 2016 – competing twice at the British Championships and five times at the English Championships, alongside training 20 hours a week.

Her parents, Richard and Hayley Gibson, said they are ‘truly proud of what Georgina has achieved’.

They said: “Her journey in gymnastics, like so many, has been a mixture of cheers and tears, but the one constant has been her determination to succeed.

“We knew selection would be tough and that very few places would be available for British gymnasts, but Georgina simply never gave up.

“In typical G style, she managed to secure an offer from the university she had chosen as her number one choice. Although we will miss her, we are so excited for what lies ahead.”

“We would also like to thank Chloe Carey and all the coaches at Harrogate Gymnastics for the dedication they have shown and the environment they have created.

“Since joining the club in 2016, Georgina has never once said she did not want to go to training. That says everything about the club’s culture.”

Chloe Carey, founder of Harrogate Gymnastics, said: “We are incredibly proud of Georgina. This scholarship is a fantastic achievement and reflects years of hard work, commitment and passion for the sport.

“To see a gymnast who has trained with us for 10 years preparing to continue her gymnastics career in Alaska is something the whole club can celebrate. It is a huge step for Georgina, both academically and athletically, and we are excited to see what she goes on to achieve.”

Georgina credits much of her success to the support of coaches, friends, and family, adding: “There is no club I would rather have grown up in and I will always be grateful for everything Harrogate Gymnastics has given me.”

Georgina is due to depart for the US next Sunday (August 16).

Passengers have been warned to check before they travel tomorrow morning as disruption continues

Rail passengers across Greater Manchester have been warned of another day of chaos on Friday after an electricity supply failure has caused major disruption.

Train services first started facing ‘major disruption’ throughout on Thursday (August 6), with services across Greater Manchester cancelled and delayed.

The issues are widespread and are currently affecting Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, London Northwestern Railway, Northern, TransPennine Express, Transport for Wales.

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An electricity supply failure at a communications centre is the cause of the disruption, National Rail has said. The outage occurred shortly before 2pm in Manchester and has impacted signalling, it added.

In an update issued on Thursday evening, National Rail has warned that major disruption is now expected until the end of the day tomorrow.

It said: “It is not yet known how services will run tomorrow, Friday 7 August. Please do check back. As soon as we have information, we will keep you updated.

“Engineers are working hard to restore the issue and we are hopeful that train services will return to normal tomorrow. However, due to a number of trains being in the location, there will be some disruption to services on Friday morning.

“Major disruption is expected until the end of the day on Friday 7 August.”

Northern has also warned that there will be continued disruption into tomorrow morning on Friday due to a number of trains being in the wrong location.

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It added that customers are strongly advised to avoid travelling before 10:00 on Friday morning and that you should check before you travel as some services may not be able to run at all.

It said: “Due to the ongoing major signalling problems in the Manchester area, many Northern routes are suspended.

“For the remainder of today (Thursday) we will not be able to run any service on any routes into Manchester Victoria, and also between Preston, Bolton, Wigan, Liverpool and Manchester.

“Engineers are working hard to restore the signalling and we are hopeful that train services will return to normal tomorrow. However, due to a number of trains being in the wrong location, there will be some disruption to services on Friday morning.

“Customers are strongly advised to avoid travelling before 10:00 on Friday morning if possible. Please CHECK BEFORE YOU TRAVEL. Some services will be amended and may not be able to run at all.”

In a social media post on X on Thursday night, Manchester Piccadilly’s account also warned of disruption on Friday morning. The post read: “Thank you for your patience today. Delays and cancellations are likely tomorrow morning following the power outage that affected signalling in Manchester.”

Passengers have been vocal about how the disruption has inconvenienced them on social media, with some speaking of their journeys across Greater Manchester today (August 6).

One user said: “It was an absolute nightmare. Trains stopped just after 2pm no replacement busses people told to get busses up to Bolton and try get to their destinations heading towards Preston.”

Another commented: “Took me 5 and a half hours to get back from York to Chadderton. Managed as far as Leeds then offloaded. It was very disorganised.

“Nobody knew what was happening. No-one to ask and had to keep changing platforms to try and get a train going in the right direction. Eventually managed to get a train to Rochdale to be then offloaded at Hebden Bridge.

“I managed to find a local lady that told us where we could get a bus to Rochdale. Waited an hour for that, then a tram from Rochdale. A lot of people had to travel further and will be stranded.”

Written by the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) winner and illustrated by Paige Keiser, the picture book follows “a sweet grandparent-grandchild pair on a dazzling day as they play, splash and contemplate life’s most important truths”, according to the official synopsis.

Our one-time Premier, Elizabeth the Brief, otherwise known as Liz Truss, has now become the great Apostle of Freedom of Speech.

On the British TV station GB News, she has been calling fervently for such freedom. And not only there. In the US she has a growing audience of libertarian admirers.

But what would her new fans do if they discovered that she had imposed a draconian and endless penalty on a British citizen, for saying things she disliked? How would they react if they found she is now uninterested in his deepening plight?

Let’s get this quite straight. In the US, the First Amendment to the Constitution would bar any government from punishing anyone from speaking freely. There’s more. Ms Truss now says explicitly that she wants a First Amendment here.

In June, she appeared, all smiles in a frilly shirt, on GB News, and argued that very case. You can still watch her doing so on YouTube. She said free expression had been undermined by legislation and institutions, that people should be able to express views without fear of state silencing, and that power had shifted too far from elected politicians to courts.

Is that so? What then of the British individual, Graham Phillips, 47, now exiled and impoverished thanks to a decision taken by Ms Truss, who, as Foreign Secretary, used her powers to sanction him? It is an amazing case.

Real, harsh, state cruelty is surely something from the distant past, or from fiction – Banishment For Life, The Man In The Iron Mask, Exile or, of course, Franz Kafka’s sinister story about a man pursued day and night by dark officials for an unnamed crime. Surely that’s all buried in the past, or at least limited to despotisms such as Russia?

What then of the British individual, Graham Phillips, 47, now exiled and impoverished thanks to a decision taken by Ms Truss, who, as Foreign Secretary , used her powers to sanction him?

How glad we all should be that such things have come to an end. Yet they have recently made a modest comeback, in Britain of all places. And they have done so on the say-so of freedom-loving Liz Truss.

Let me tell you about Mr Phillips, the man she punished, now the Exile of Mariupol. British born, he used to be a junior civil servant before moving to Ukraine in 2010, where he first taught English and then worked as a journalist. When the war broke out, his largely pro-Russian video-blogging saw him kicked out of the country.

He now lives in a semi-derelict building in Mariupol, a war-ravaged city in Russian-occupied Ukraine, which is visited almost nightly by bomber drones. He lives largely on the charity of neighbours.

He is not, in my view, a very nice man, and I do not like him. Yet, as the great US Supreme Court Judge Felix Frankfurter once said: ‘The safeguards of liberty have frequently been forged in controversies involving not very nice people.’

Mr Phillips has done some wrong and stupid things and has expressed some foolish opinions. For me, his worst action was his cruel interrogation of a badly wounded Ukrainian prisoner of war, shown on his video blog.

Others have condemned his interview of Aiden Aslin, a British citizen who had been fighting with Ukrainian armed forces and was captured by the Russians. It has been suggested that the interview was a breach of the Geneva Conventions. But no action has been brought against Mr Phillips on those grounds.

He has been convicted of no crime. No police officer has arrested him. He has never been charged with an offence against our laws. No jury has found him guilty.

Yet in July 2022 Liz Truss sanctioned him for what she saw as his Putinist propaganda. The official wording says that his offence was to ‘produce and publish media material’. It’s a direct penalty for writing, speaking and publishing – normal in totalitarian states but not here.

The decree complains that this material ‘supports and promotes actions and policies which destabilise Ukraine and undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty or independence of Ukraine’. Who knew a few video blogs had such power? Ukraine remains remarkably stable.

When Mr Phillips tried to fight this, the High Court explicitly accepted that the sanctions interfered with his human rights under Article 10 (freedom of expression), Article 8 (private/family life), and Article 1 of Protocol 1 (property). But the judge ruled that this was proportionate and lawful in pursuit of the legitimate aim of ‘protecting UK national security and supporting Ukraine’. So much for ‘human rights’, when they matter.

And so the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has punished him with great severity.

He is forbidden by law to earn money, or to pay for anything. His bank account is frozen. We are all likewise forbidden by law to pay him any money.

He cannot return to England because he cannot buy a plane ticket, which – together with Ukraine and the European Union both banning him from entering their airspace – means he’s trapped in Mariupol.

What would Liz Truss’s applauding US audiences make of her action in exiling Mr Phillips for expressing an opinion she personally did not like? And what does she say about all this now?

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Likewise, he is banned from paying any bills, such as the council tax due on his London home – a debt that Islington Council demands he pay. In the most recent act of this farce, his UK bank says that it will not take payment instructions from him unless he comes to England and gives them in person. For obvious reasons, he cannot do this, lest he breaks the law.

Just the other day, some rather brave and generous lawyers, acting without fee, argued that the council should cease their pursuit. We await the judgment. But if the court rules against him, it is not clear what will happen to his home. If he were a convicted prisoner, sitting in jail for a crime of violence or dishonesty, which he isn’t, he would be exempt from that very same council tax.

Nor is there an apparent end to his sentence. No limit was fixed or has ever been stated. And there is no obvious lawful way of ending it.

He is, as far I can discover, the only person in the world being punished in this way. All the other people sanctioned by their own states have second passports and can dodge the effects by living out of their reach.

At the time of the sanctioning, Ms Truss was a militantly pro-Ukraine Foreign Secretary, once posing in Moscow in a fetching fur hat, despite it being quite warm weather. Soon afterwards, she famously became Prime Minister, and soon after that, even more famously, she became Not Prime Minister.

In the turmoil of her life since then, has she somehow forgotten that day in July 2022 when she approved the decree sending Graham Phillips into a bottomless chasm of unfreedom, because of some opinions he had expressed about the Russia-Ukraine war?

What would Liz Truss’s applauding US audiences make of her action in exiling Mr Phillips for expressing an opinion she personally did not like? And what does she say about all this now?

Well, like so many in the political realm, she does not speak directly to people such as me, and instead I have to rely on her Representative on Earth, known as ‘sources’.

Those sources say that Ms Truss, so talkative about liberty on public platforms, has no comment to make beyond referring me to the Foreign Office – whose stonewalling responses on this matter I have already many times experienced.

So much for Ms Truss, the born-again libertarian.

The dry weather has had a ‘catastrophic’ effect on the farm

A farmer says the dry weather is having a “catastrophic” effect on produce – with the lack of rain causing a “massive cost” to the farm. England has experienced its driest July on record, with only 1.99mm of rainfall this month.

The dry weather is hitting farms hard, with the lack of rain meaning grass is not growing in fields and animals aren’t able to feed on what they normally would. One farm feeling the effects of the dry weather is Moor Farm in Newborough, near Peterborough.

Owner Judith Jacobs said the dry weather has had a “catastrophic” effect. Judith said: “This is the driest weather since 1976 I believe, and I remember that being a very dry summer. The current impact on us is in various directions. Everywhere is brown and tinder dry – hardly any green or fresh grass.

As a result, the farm is having to feed their sheep more. Judith is feeding the sheep mixed wheat and roughage, as well as hay and straw as sheep need a high fibre diet. Judith said this is causing a “massive cost” to the farm.

She added: “For example the cows. Cows are ruminant, so they’ve got four stomachs and they live on forage. There is nothing for them in our fields, so for some of them, we are feeding them hay, straw and again, round wheat. That’s eking into our profits because at this time of year, they should be eating grass.”

The farm has around 200 cows. Due to them not having enough room for all of the cows, they’ve had to transfer 50 of them to the RSPB washes for additional grazing. “This is an additional cost that I wouldn’t normally have if it wasn’t such dry weather,” said Judith.

Judith is also having to give the cows some of the winter feed. She said: “That’s a double-edge sword. We haven’t been able to make feed for a normal winter. We are probably at 60 per cent of our stored forage and we’re already feeding that. So it’s a negative.”

The dry weather has also meant there have been more field fires across Cambridgeshire. Moor Farm has recently experienced three deliberate fires on its land.

This has been “time consuming and costly” for the farm as well. Judith added: “[They make us] very nervous, because it’s income, our machinery and also our time.”

There was recently a fire in Peakirk that the farm helped to put out. Judith said: “That was raging towards Peakirk and Glinton. It’s a very stressful situation as you would imagine and it’s costly. We pay wages to our staff, so that’s a lot of hours.”

Judith is encouraging people to be vigilant when in the countryside to prevent the risk of a fire. She added: “For the general public, I would advise them if you’re going to the countryside, use it wisely. Do not drop litter, definitely don’t smoke. And if you see a fire, either deal with it or ring 999.”

The Friday letters page wonders what happens if Gears Of War: E-Day and Fable flop, as one reader hopes Dino Crisis will be the next Capcom reboot after Onimusha.

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

As seen on TV
At last we have a bit of warning for a GTA 6 annoucement. It would’ve been nice if they said what the Netflix show is going to be, but I assume, like you said, that it’s going to be a bunch of celebs, who are also in the game as voiceovers, saying how great it is and then a fair bit of gameplay footage. If it’s an hour long, then maybe 20 minutes? I’d be disappointed if it was less than that.

My guess is that they will talk about GTA Online 2, or whatever it ends up being, even if it’s not available at launch. I think they don’t want it at launch though. They didn’t for Red Dead Redemption 2, even though they probably could’ve had it, because I think they want people to play the story first.

They want people to get used to the controls and everything, but I think it’s more that they know if they have online from the start nobody will ever bother playing the story. Take-Two probably want to get the microtransactions rolling ASAP, but Rockstar are proud of their single-player modes, and I think they’ll want to give it time to shine.
Cranston

No choice
Not that I had any doubt but, that that sticker on the box of PlayStation 5 consoles makes it certain that they’re never giving up on being all-digital. They’ve made the decision, they’re not interested in what we think, and they’re not going to do what we want.

So what are the choices? Put up with it and do everything they want or… get a PC or Switch 2. There really isn’t anything else that even counts as an option. I know I don’t really want to do either of those things but then I’m also not all that interesting Wolverine or Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, so maybe I wouldn’t be losing that much.

But it’s all a bad situation and I massively resent Sony for not only doing it but for the way they’ve handled it, which is basically to just dump the decision on us and then leave. Like GC said, there’s no conversation going on here.
Gardor

65 million years in the waiting
I so hope that Onimusha: Way Of The Sword is a hit. I’m looking forward to it, and I liked the originals, but the most important thing is that it’s the best route to getting a comeback for Dino Crisis. Capcom has been beating round the bush on it for years now and even trolling fans with Exoprimal. But if they resurrect Onimusha then Dino Crisis is the obvious next step, there can’t be anything else that makes sense.

Well, we need a new Devil May Cry, obviously, but something must be going on with that. It’s already popular so I assume they’ve just had some trouble in development or something. But they’re obviously worried about pulling the trigger on Dino Crisis and I do believe Onimusha could convince them.
Elvis

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Slow progress
Think I’m close to the end of Wasteland 3 and it’s been mostly fun apart from the odd glitch. It might have taken me four years to get this far but I wouldn’t mind a continuation of the series.

Has there been any news of a sequel? 3 was a big (easier) improvement over 2, which was very old school and is like the fourth to continue this trajectory, being better again.
Bobwallett
PS: I’ve re-bought several of my PlayStation 4 games on Xbox, so I’d like to offer them to the readers that haven’t played them. Middle-Earth: Shadow Of War, Far Cry 5, and Far Cry Primal. All on PlayStation 4.

GC: Wasteland 4 seems unlikely, given none of the games have been major hits. Developer inXile is rumoured to be working on a Fallout ‘adjacent’ game, which makes sense given the original Wasteland was the spiritual predecessor to that series.

Never again
As a follow-up to the Microsoft account pairing in Halo: Campaign Evolved, I tried numerous times to create a new Hotmail account on my laptop and phone and it has now blocked me saying ‘suspicious activity’, after it said the website was down. I tried to use someone else’s Hotmail, but it now seems linked to my account whenever I put in that stupid link they give you, so I have had to reset my security which means a 30 day wait. Unreal.

I really wish I had stuck to my guns knowing about all this beforehand and not bought it, rather than try to jump through Microsoft’s hoops. Lesson well and truly learnt.
Simon

Games of the year
Surprised to see Big Walk reviewing so well. I thought the trailers made it look pretty bad, but then you mentioned they weren’t very good in your review, which I appreciate. We all know GTA 6 is going to top the list by the end of the year, whether it deserves to or not (and it might, I’m not saying it won’t) so it’s a bit of a shame that’s going to overshadow all the other great games that have been released this year.

This has definitely been a great year for games and we’re barely halfway through, which is kind of ironic giving the layoffs and publishers acting so awful all the time. I’m genuinely surprised that anyone can even make anything decent under those conditions, but then a lot of the best ones are Japanese or indie.

I wonder what’s going to happen when Gears Of War: E-Day flops or what will happen if Fable doesn’t do well either. Halo has already stumbled this year but if more of Xbox’s big names go down then I think that’s when they’re going to pull the plug on it all.

You can’t say multiformat is the way to go when PlayStation owners already don’t care about Halo. Forza Horizon 6 should do much better but where’s the advertising for it? If Microsoft hasn’t cancelled it, it sure seems like they’re trying to pretend they have.

Or alternatively, what if E-Day does really well as an Xbox exclusive? Does that mean everything else will be in the future? I really couldn’t guess how things are going to go at the moment, everything seems so messed up.
Grackle

Essential viewing
Is this 21st August extended look the long-awaited Trailer 3 for GTA 6 or is it three minutes of what we have seen and 57 minutes of them talking about how good and how excited they are about the game?

And also, with this being on Netflix they must of paid a good chuck of cash for them to show it. Got a feeling this won’t be leaked early, will cost Take-Two a bomb if it does.
David

GC: You have the date wrong, It’s August 27.

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Dangerous days
I really enjoyed your article about the video games industry being controlled by monsters. It was very thought provoking and well written, although I wouldn’t expect anything less from you guys and let’s be honest this ain’t your first rodeo, so you knew it was a good article.

It did make me think about the gaming crash of 1983, where everything was oversaturated to the point games where being made in someone’s bedroom with a deadline of two weeks to get it out.

There were too many options and not enough quality, which is what ultimately made the floor fall out beneath them.

Although to jump to their defence, back then it was a really new form of media and everyone was just trying to find their feet and companies were trying to make as much money as possible (so nothing new there). Mistakes were made and it proved quite fatal for many games companies.

Fast forward to today and we are right on the other end of that rainbow, where games take a long time to make. I’ve never really had a problem with this as such, as Shigeru Miyamoto famously once said ‘a delayed game might eventually become good, but a rushed game will forever be bad’.

Very few companies take any risks these days. The money is in the big budget triple-A games and it’s starting to look like a future of yearly iterations of football and NFL along with a bit of Call Of Duty and every 15 years or so a Grand Theft Auto set in a city they’ve already done multiple times.

I don’t know what the answer is, but it does look like history is repeating itself in the sense that gaming seems hell bent on imploding on itself.

I would love to hear from someone who was programming games back in the early ‘80s and what they have learned since then and if they could go back, what would they say to their younger self to make themselves stand out?

Hopefully one of those guys is on here and does a Reader’s Feature, as that would be an awesome read.

I hate to be all doom and gloom, but it is really starting to look very bleak as far as console gaming is concerned.

It’s not all bad though. I travel on a bus to and from work every day and the number of people playing games on their phones is staggering.

In essence these people are gamers and as keen as the next person who likes games. The difference is their joy of gaming is very accessible, cheap and fun.

Next gen consoles are rumoured to be over £1,000 that’s a lot of money to fork out just to play yearly updates of football games, Call Of Duty, and the odd Grand Theft Auto on a console that is probably not a major graphical leap over its predecessor.

That’s not accessibility, that’s a VIP lounge that is serving the same drinks as the bar but at a higher price.

One thing is for sure, it will be very interesting where this takes us. Who knows, in another 40 years all us gamers will be looking back thinking ‘those games companies got it so wrong’ but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
freeway 77

Inbox also-rans
I own an Evercade Super Pocket Taito edition. I’ve just received an email from Evercade regarding their upcoming Doom cart. Any idea on how the controls will map onto the Super Pocket? I love Doom but can’t envisage how it will translate.
Coinslot-

GC: The Super Pocket has trigger buttons on the back, doesn’t it? It should be fine, after all Doom ran on the SNES and Game Boy Advance.

Curious to know how many people reading this have a PS5 Pro. I haven’t met anyone in real-life who has one, and the ones that might have all say it’s too expensive.
Greeney

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