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 I have written a large number of pieces, primarily focussed on gaming and nerd culture. Trading Card Games are a special focus of mine.  I have played Magic: the Gathering since I was 8 years old. I love to explore the ways that TCGs convey emergent narratives through gameplay.

Card Games

Wargamer •

MTG Secrets of Strixhaven's most valuable uncommon is the latest in a line of busted draw spells

A blue draw spell from the latest Magic: the Gathering set has risen dramatically in value and is now worth several dollars despite only being an uncommon. That's the crux of our story today, but if you were playing in 2025, you might be getting a sense of déjà vu since a similar sleeper hit uncommon blue draw spell spiked in value back then. Last year, we were talking about Stock Up from Aetherdrift, but today we'll be looking at Flow State from Secrets of Strixhaven.
For two mana, one of which...
Wargamer •

New cards from the Pokémon TCG's Abyss Eye expansion reward you for discarding your own hand

A renegade new Slowpoke from the upcoming Japanese Abyss Eye Pokémon TCG expansion encourages players to get rid of their own cards.Whether you're playing the Pokémon TCG, Magic: the Gathering, or just about any other card game, card advantage is an incredibly important concept. The more cards you have access to, at any given time, the more resources you'll have at your disposal to take down your opponent and pull off a win. Some newly revealed cards from the upcoming Japanese Pokémon TCG set Ab...
Wargamer •

Beedrill ex buzzes into the Pokémon TCG's Chaos Rising expansion

We've gotten some new reveals from the upcoming Pokémon TCG Chaos Rising expansion, including an impressive looking Beedrill ex card.The new Pokémon TCG expansion, Chaos Rising, releases in less than a month now on May 22nd. Yesterday, The Pokémon Company revealed a batch of new cards from the set, including an all new ex Pokémon.
Beedrill ex made its English language debut alongside several support cards for Mega Floette ex. Appropriately enough showing off a bee alongside a selection of flower...
Wargamer •

These massive MTG Incarnations from Lorwyn Eclipsed have plummeted in price.

A few months ago, the 5 evoke elementals were some of the most expensive cards from Lorwyn Eclipsed, now they're a lot less pricy.Back in January, the cycle of 5 elemental incarnations with evoke were some of the most hyped cards from our then upcoming return to the MTG plane of Lorwyn. Two of them made it into our list of the 8 biggest Chase Cards in MTG Lorwyn Eclipsed. In the months since, the excitement surrounding them has gradually died down, and they've become increasingly affordable.
The...
Wargamer •

The Pokémon TCG's most subtly tragic playmat is now back in stock

The official Pokémon Center store has just restocked one of the Pokémon TCG's most quietly upsetting playmats, featuring a crying Cubone.The Pokémon Center store offers a wide variety of Pokémon TCG accessories. Like many Pokémon TCG products, they tend to sell out quite quickly, so every once in a while, the storefront restocks with a selection of accessories from the past. They've recently relisted one of the most tragic card playing surfaces in the TCG, the Substitute Playmat.
At first glance...
Wargamer •

This surprising scholar is currently more valuable than the Elder Dragons from MTG's Secrets of Strixhaven

When thinking about chase cards from the new MTG set Secrets of Strixhaven, the elder dragons are probably the first cards to come to mind. After all, they have incredibly powerful effects that soup up all of your instants and sorceries, not to mention the fact that they're freaking elder dragons, and that's just inherently cool. There is one card from the set that currently outvalues them all, though, Emeritus of Woe.
Excluding cards from the Mystical Archives bonus sheet and cards with fancy a...
Wargamer •

There's a missing Elder Dragon in the new MTG Strixhaven Commander decks

The five new Magic: the Gathering Secrets of Strixhaven Commander decks contain plenty of rare reprints, but there's one glaring omission.The new Secrets of Strixhaven Commander decks are packed with plenty of valuable MTG reprints. From Moonshaker Cavalry to Faerie Mastermind, there are a lot of appealing cards returning here. The decks also contain the versions of the Elder Dragons that appeared in the original 2021 Strixhaven: School of Mages. Well, four out of the five decks do. One deck is...
Wargamer •

Pokémon TCG players in Asia are going to get a new Mega Delphox promo card

A Mega Delphox ex card was recently revealed. Unfortunately, though, it's only available for Pokémon TCG players in Southeast Asia.Greninja is getting a lot of focus at the moment. This is unsurprising, given that it's the star of the upcoming Chaos Rising Pokémon TCG expansion. Kalos has two other final form first partner Pokémon, though, Delphox and Chesnaught. Just like Greninja, both of these starters were given a new mega form in Pokémon Legends Z-A. While we've had no news on when Mega Che...
Wargamer •

MTG players mourn the death of Strixhaven's grossest li'l guy

The death of Blex, Vexing Pest in Secrets of Strixhaven has sent shock waves through Magic: the Gathering’s social media ecosystem. Blex, Vexing Pest was a legendary bog monster from the original Strixhaven: School of Mages set. He lurked in the campus's detention bog, hiding away from prying eyes and living his best pest life. Now, in a narrative bombshell unrivaled since the Phyrexian invasion, Blex is dead, and the Magic: the Gathering community is grieving.
There are candlelight vigils being...
Wargamer •

Some Pokémon TCG customers will be eligible for a new early access system

An upcoming Pokémon TCG early access program will make products more easily available to eligible customers who meet certain criteria.Many Pokémon TCG fans know the frustration of seeing products go live on the official Pokémon Center store, and then watching it sell out effectively immediately before they have the chance to put in an order. Well, it looks like the Pokémon Company is planning to take some steps to address this by implementing a new early access system.
On April 10th, the Pokémon...
Wargamer •

This new cycle of Secrets of Strixhaven MTG cards fixes one of the game's worst mechanics

The new 'Paradigm' cycle from Secrets of Strixhaven reworks an unpopular Magic: the Gathering mechanic from more than 20 years ago.The new Magic: the Gathering set Secrets of Strixhaven features 5 sorceries with the new 'Paradigm' mechanic. Paradigm spells go into exile when they're cast, and then replay themselves on each of their controller's subsequent main phases at no cost. This has the potential to be pretty powerful, but it's actually inspired by an infamously underwhelming mechanic from...
Wargamer •

These vacation themed Pokémon TCG accessories make me wish I could really go to Unova

The Pokémon Center store sells not only Pokémon cards, but also an eclectic collection of TCG accessories that often aren't available anywhere else. From polypropylene Snorlax playmats to an anniversary celebration collection depicting Nidorino and Gengar duking it out. The team they have brewing up new accessory ideas must be pretty busy. If they're looking to go on holiday, their latest offering shows a variety of Pokémon destinations they could potentially travel to if only they were actually...
Wargamer •

The new MTG set features a story arc about an overworked frog

The new Magic: the Gathering set Secrets of Strixhaven is full of stories. From the upcoming Omens of Chaos book to the selection of online chapters in the Strixhaven story. Sometimes, though, the cards themselves can be used to tell tales, and two spells from this set come together to give us a look into the life of an incredibly stressed out frog.
Procrastinate is a sorcery that costs X and a single blue mana. It taps a creature down and then places X stun counters on them. This is a pretty fl...
Wargamer •

Despite standard rotating, most versions of this Charizard ex Pokémon card are rising dramatically in value

The rising value of Charizard ex from Obsidian Flames demonstrates the lack of impact that standard rotation has on Pokémon cards.Standard rotation hits the Pokémon TCG on the 10th April. This means that all cards with the regulation mark G in their bottom left hand corner (in other words, cards released between the March 2023 set Scarlet and Violet and the January 2024 set Paldean Fates) will no longer be playable. Despite this, many variants of the rotating Charizard ex card from the August 20...
Wargamer •

These new Strixhaven cards rival some beloved MTG staples

The upcoming MTG expansion - Secrets of Strixhaven is full of cards that reference the game's past, including these two creative callbacks.We've gotten some pretty strong cards spoiled for Magic: the Gathering's next set, Secrets of Strixhaven. There are new legendary dragons that make your instants and sorceries do some frankly silly things, there's a duo of powerful new planeswalkers, and then there are the two cards we'll be talking about today. Both of them possess effects that may sound fam...
Wargamer •

Lego and the Pokémon TCG collaborate for a card design challenge

Lego and the Pokémon TCG are coming together to host a design competition where fans can construct their own customized Lego trading cards.Lego Ideas is a website that allows fans to submit their own custom Lego sets that can get turned into official products if they become popular enough. The site is currently collaborating with the Pokémon TCG to run a contest inviting users to submit their own personalised Lego Pokémon cards. While this isn't the first time that Pokémon and Lego have come tog...
Wargamer •

This MTG Thanos promo is tied to a $150 subscription

Thanos is going to show up on one of Magic: the Gathering’s most infamous removal spells, but it will cost $150 to get a copy of him.A new Thanos promo card has wandered over from the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the MTG multiverse. During his quest to wipe out half of all life, Thanos discovered that power always comes at a price. In this case, that price is 149 bucks.
PSA, or the 'Professional Sports Authenticator' is an American company that grades the condition of trading cards. They also...
Wargamer •

This quirky, under evolved Pokémon TCG deck lets you dual wield swords

One major way that the Pokémon TCG is different from its digital monster collecting counterpart is that Pokémon that aren't fully evolved have much more of a chance to shine. In the RPGs, unless you're plotting something sneaky using some eviolite, your best bet when heading into battle is to bring a team of fully evolved Pokémon with you. In the TCG, meanwhile, you need to evolve into your heavy hitters during the fight. Sometimes, though, there are stage one and basic Pokémon that offer a uniq...
Wargamer •

Secrets of Strixhaven continues a charming MTG tradition

Charm spells are a beloved part of Magic: the Gathering’s history, and we’ll be getting another cycle of them in Secrets of Strixhaven.Secrets of Strixhaven spoiler season doesn't officially begin until March 31st, but Magic: the Gathering players who went to PAX East this week got a sneak peek at a new cycle of cards that continue a long lasting MTG tradition. Strixhaven has its very own cycle of charm spells.
Charms debuted in the set Mirage in 1996, which was the ninth MTG set. Every color re...
Wargamer •

Magic: the Gathering is getting an official coloring book

Artistically inclined Planeswalkers will be pleased to see an official Magic: the Gathering coloring book is due to release on April 28th.Color is a core component of Magic: the Gathering. Of course, there are the five colors that form the core of the game's mechanical identity, but beyond that, the game is renowned for its jawdropping artwork. If you've ever wanted to color in a few pieces of MTG art yourself, you're in luck, because an official Magic: the Gathering coloring book is due to rele...
Wargamer •

This cozy bug may be the most relatable Pokémon card of all time

Perfect Order features many powerful new Pokémon cards, but the artwork of this cozy little Spewpa hits home in a way few cards can.Cocoon Pokémon never get any love. Beedrill has a mega form, and Butterfree can Gigantamax, but Kakuna and Metapod are condemned to spend their days lying immobile, spamming the move harden until they're ready to evolve. Well, when Perfect Order, the new Pokémon TCG expansion, comes out next week, we'll finally get a cocoon Pokémon that's unashamedly aspirational an...
Wargamer •

The new MTG Strixhaven set isn't out, but 1000+ people have already built decks for this legendary dragon

Secrets of Strixhaven is more than a month away, but the Magic: the Gathering community is already cooking up some magical dragon miracles.Secrets of Strixhaven doesn't release until April 24th, but that hasn't stopped eager Magic: the Gathering players from brewing builds for all of its currently revealed commanders. The five legendary creatures who will be taking the helm of the Strixhaven preconstructed decks have already been revealed, and we've even made a list ranking them alongside their...
Wargamer •

New anime crossover Pokémon cards are coming - but only in China

The Pokémon TCG's Gem Pack volume 5 gives us a series of fully illustrated anime crossover cards, but they'll be available in China.China gets all sorts of sweet Pokémon TCG goodies, from figurines to exclusive alternative art cards. When it comes to unique Chinese Pokémon products, though, Gem Packs are the shining crown jewel. They're Exclusive boosters, produced only in simplified Chinese, that contain only four cards, but which are guaranteed to be full of exclusive holofoils. The fifth set...
Wargamer •

Forget about Greninja, the real star of the new Pokémon TCG Chaos Rising expansion is Floette

The new Pokémon TCG Chaos Rising expansion has been announced and is due for a May 22nd release, but which Pokémon is the main character?The next Pokémon TCG expansion, Chaos Rising, has been officially announced. Chaos Rising is due for a release on the 22nd May, and Mega Greninja is plastered all over it. Greninja is on the elite trainer boxes, smirking smugly while dangling upside down from a water shuriken. Greninja is on the packs, pulling the same pose, and Greninja will be getting the del...
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Gaming

SUPERJUMP •

Feastopia Is Both Adorable and Intimidating

In Feastopia, you’re tasked with constructing a city entirely for the purpose of producing food offerings to appease the insatiable appetite of your god. As this god grows in power, it changes shape and begins to make increasingly difficult demands for more complex varieties of food. This premise may sound Lovecraftian and slightly sinister, but worry not. You’re not feeding an unknowable Old One with the souls of the damned; instead, you’re feeding Swiss rolls, candy, and milk shakes to a bib-w...
SUPERJUMP •

The Games of Not This Year - 2025 Edition

The NoTY Awards are back for their second year, and I had so much fun with it in 2024 that we've made this a team project, just like our Game of the Year piece! Seems I'm not the only one whose yearly playlist has a lot of games from prior years, so let's jump right into all the gaming goodness!

I've been going through 2023's GOTY, Baldur's Gate 3, with a friend for the better part of this year. We've...taken our time (mostly because I'm turning on all the candles and lamps in any given room) a...
Wargamer •

Roma XLI is a social deduction board game about seizing power after stabbing Caesar

Turn on each other after toppling a dictator in Roma XLI, a social deduction board game about crying havoc and conspiring with Cleopatra.So Caesar's dead. You and your co-conspirators all gathered together on the Ides of March to finish him off. Even his old pal Brutus got in on it. Roma XLI (or 'Rome 41') is a new Social Deduction board game that asks the question 'what comes next'?
Roma XLI takes social deduction gameplay (of the sort that characterizes games like Werewolf, Secret Hitler, and...
SUPERJUMP •

50 Outstanding Games Released in 2025

Welcome to SUPERJUMP's annual Games of the Year celebration.As always, I like to introduce these awards by expressing gratitude for the year gone by.

Thank you game developers.You are creating marvels of art and science - important cultural artifacts - under increasingly difficult circumstances. Whether you work for a large studio or you're a solo developer: thank you. We continue to live in an increasingly turbulent and intolerant world; your creative talents not only give many of us a brief e...
SUPERJUMP •

Interview: Creating Beat 'Em Up Sequel Super Alloy Crush

Super Alloy Crush is an upcoming 2D sci-fi beat 'em up. It currently has no announced release date, but a demo is available on Steam. The game is being developed by Alloy Mushroom, a two-person team based in China. I spoke with one half of the duo, who goes by the pseudonym "Mabi Mogu" (which means "paralyzed mushroom"). . What’s

Tell me a bit about yourself. How long have you been developing games, and how did you get into the business?

We are a two-person team called “Alloy Mushroom.”I (Mabi...
Wargamer •

This bleakly comedic board game has you overwork yourself running an anime studio

JISOGI is a board game about running an anime studio. While it's clearly made with a lot of love for shows from Shōnen to Shōjo, it takes a decidedly, and deservedly, jaded look at the crunch and the extreme pressure that's placed on artists, writers, producers, and directors to keep the Japanese animation industry afloat. Its title, "JISOGI", is derived from an expression about how keeping a business going is like riding a bicycle, because the wheels need to constantly be kept spinning to preve...
SUPERJUMP •

How Changing One Mechanic Elevated Reus 2 Beyond Its Predecessor

Reus, designed by Abbey Games, is a simulation game about gods, giants, and growth. You start with a barren planet and gradually fill it with life. First, you place down biomes like swamps, forests, oceans, and deserts. Then you fill these wild spaces with animals, minerals, and plants. When humans come to settle the land, you support the development of their communities so that they can flourish, but you also need to ensure that you don’t give any one group too many resources too quickly, other...
Wargamer •

My favorite board game of 2025 was this symphonic space opera

Usually, Sci-Fi board games involve epic battles waged across the stars. From Twilight Imperium to Arcs, chances are that if you're playing a tabletop game set in space, you'll be spending your turns blowing up fleets of enemy battlecruisers. Philharmonix takes a decidedly different approach. Instead of conducting full scale interplanetary warfare, you'll be conducting an alien orchestra. Philharmonix is slightly bloated, maybe a bit too complex for its own good, and it's my favorite board game...
SUPERJUMP •

I Tried Out the New Stranger Things D&D Module… Even Though I’ve Never Seen the Show

Can you still welcome yourself to the Hellfire Club if you've never seen an episode of Stranger Things?

When I was a university student 10 years ago (oh dear, I am getting old), I was on the committee of the adventure gaming society. We were a small, but lovable, group of geeks who gathered together every Saturday to play board games and tabletop RPGs of every persuasion. We played a lot of Fantasy Flight’s Game of Thrones board game, which is at its best and bloodiest when you can get a whole...
Wargamer •

We uncover a treasure trove of D&D history with TTRPG researcher Shannon Appelcline

Shannon Appelcline talks to us about Dungeons and Designers: Origins, his series that tracks D&D’s transformation from a passion project into an international juggernaut.Shannon Appelcline is an ENNIE award winning historian of tabletop roleplaying games. He's authored books on RPGs of all kinds, from the star spanning Sci-Fi epic Traveller, to the eldritch Lovecraftian horror game Call of Cthulu. His latest project documents the early history of Dungeons and Dragons. Appelcline has already writ...
SUPERJUMP •

Skygard Arena Review

Whatever else Skygard Arena may be, it’s undoubtedly ambitious. It aims to unify the character diversity of a MOBA, like League of Legends, with the turn-based tactical combat of something like XCOM. The game doesn’t quite succeed in reaching its loftiest ambitions, but it makes a valiant attempt.

Skygard Arena is the debut title from French studio Gemelli Games. For a small team, they’re attempting a pretty vast undertaking here in creating a potential eSport. Players can build teams featuring...
Wargamer •

Winnie the Pooh detective game now in development?

CrowD Games have announced a board game, that will be releasing in November, where Winnie the Pooh and friends become serious detectives. Thanks to the US copyright on the original Winnie the Pooh story expiring in January 2022, several enterprising creatives have attempted to use the character to tell new tales. We can all grimly recall the two Blood and Honey horror films that reimagined the adorable bear as a fluffy yellow Jason Voorhees. Now, CrowD Games (the publisher of En Route and Barrag...
SUPERJUMP •

Stewpots and Space Travel: An Interview With Takuma Okada

Takuma Okada is a tabletop game designer based in Portland, Oregon. Going by the title “No Road Home” on itch.io, Okada has been designing games about identity, isolation, and exploration since 2018. Their works include Stewpot: Tales from a Fantasy Tavern, a game about retired adventurers settling down and opening up a pub, which has been nominated for the 2025 ENNIE award for “Best Family Game”. They also created the Alone series, a selection of three solo-journaling games about exploring wond...
Wargamer •

Look out Wingspan, a new birdy board game just launched on Kickstarter

Isle of Feathers has arrived on Kickstarter - a tile-laying puzzle board game where players compete to build their vision of an avian paradise.Ever heard of a Sandy Gallito, Varied Tit, or Chatham Shag? No, these are not 19th-century innuendos, but birds in the new Kickstarter board game Isle of Feathers, which arrived on the crowdfunding platform on September 28.
Isle of Feathers has the tagline 'A Love Letter To Strange Birds', and as you'd expect, it's absolutely full of feathered freaks. In...
Wyrd Science •

Girl By Moonlight: Hope, Transcendence, Transformation

Hope can be a powerful thing. The desire to believe, to push on in the face of adversity has been the subject of countless stories. From Star Wars, which asserts that "rebellions are built on hope", to Warhammer 40,000’s more cynical message that "hope is the first step on the road to disappointment."  Discussions about the strength, or the futility, of hope have rumbled on for as long as people have told stories. Whatever other vices may have burst forth from Pandora’s Box, or jar if you’re fee...
SUPERJUMP •

Galactic Glitch Review

Galactic Glitch, by Crunchy Leaf Games, is a sci-fi shooter with a roguelike progression system. You’ll be blasting your way through space, getting blown apart, and then returning to action stronger and ready to progress just a little bit further.

The game attempts to differentiate itself from other roguelikes through its physics-based combat. You’re able to lift destructible space debris and even smaller enemies, and bombarding opponents with them.

All of Galactic Glitch’s sci-fi shootouts ta...
SUPERJUMP •

Now Playing at SUPERJUMP, Issue 33

We're back with a brand new Now Playing, and we've reached the third-of-a-century mark!! Some of us are playing more games than usual, and some are sticking with the games they've been hooked on for a while. No matter what we're playing, we want to share with you and maybe send you down the path to try something new. Let us know in the comments what you're playing and what news has you excited for the future!

Magic: The Gathering recently crossed over with Final Fantasy. While this move was cer...
SUPERJUMP •

Synergy Invites Us To Question Our Assumptions About City Building Games

From RPGs to action games, every genre carries its share of baggage.

The exploration, expansion, exploitation, and extermination necessary to progress in Civilization and other 4X games define success in rigidly specific form. To win the game, a player’s civilization must prove itself superior to the competition. Rivals must be crushed militarily and outstripped scientifically. Their competing religions must be consigned to history, and the player must develop a hegemonic global culture that en...
SUPERJUMP •

TTRPGs Can Help Build Positive Communities

Tabletop RPG characters are constantly thrust into dangerous situations. Whether they’re vanquishing a dragon, navigating a dungeon, or dethroning a tyrant, the lives of the characters that we dream up are always fraught with risk. But that danger should always be restricted to the realms of our imagination, and everyone gathered around the table has the right to feel secure and comfortable while they play. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. The internet is rife with horror stories about...
Card Gamer •

StarVaders Review - Card Gamer

Images courtesy of Pengonauts
Invaders are attacking the earth, invaders from beyond the stars. StarVaders, if you will. Using mech and a deck you’ll fight to save the world in this deckbuilding robo-roguelike, from Pengonauts.
Slay the Spire has inspired countless successors, and players are spoiled for choice when it comes to choosing a new roguelike deck builder these days. Does StarVaders blast open a niche for itself, or will it end up engulfed in a swarm of similar titles? Does it rise to...
SUPERJUMP •

An Interview with the Developers of Microtopia

An interview with Cordyceps Collective on how real insect behaviour inspired their design and much more

There is more overlap between video games and insects than you might expect. Satoshi Tajiri was inspired to create Pokémon by his time hunting bugs as a child. Hollow Knight shows us that insects can be as central to a Metroidvania game as vampires and space parasites, and Animal Crossing would just feel incomplete without the trusty bug-catching net.

Cordyceps Collective are a Netherlands-...
Card Gamer •

Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection Review - Card Gamer

Images courtesy of KONAMI
The Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection, which releases today, is a compilation of 14 different Yu-Gi-Oh! games from the late 1990s and early 2000s. KONAMI is making a clear appeal to nostalgia here. This collection puts the original Duel Monsters anime in the spotlight, embracing the game as it was before the modern complexities of Synchro, XYZ, Pendulum, and Link summoning.
The duels you’ll play here will be clashes of old cards like Ocubeam and Uraby. There are some grea...
SUPERJUMP •

2024 Games of the Year

Welcome to SUPERJUMP's annual Games of the Year celebration. As always, I like to introduce these awards by expressing gratitude for the year gone by.

Thank you game developers. You are creating marvels of art and science - important cultural artifacts - under increasingly difficult circumstances. Whether you work for a large studio or you're a solo developer: thank you. We are all living in an increasingly dangerous and intolerant world, where the moral pendulum appears to be swinging in a vio...
SUPERJUMP •

Dungeon Inn Review

Inns in RPGs are truly miraculous.  However bruised and battered your adventuring party may be, if they rest up for the night at an inn then they will emerge the next day fully healed and ready for more.  Dungeons, meanwhile, serve the opposite purpose. A fresh and ready adventuring party delves down into a dungeon and emerges exhausted and beaten, but hopefully with huge loads of loot.

Dungeon Inn is a game all about running an RPG inn of your very own, located conveniently at the entrance to...
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Other Articles

South West Londoner •

Review: See How They Run

See How They Run is a comical whodunnit, which lovingly spoofs the murder mystery genre with the care and affection that only a sincere parody can provide.

There are some great laughs, but it builds towards a disappointing conclusion. The film is certainly funny, but it’s hardly a mystery of Agatha Christie’s calibre.

Our leading duo consists of the eager and excitable rookie Constable Stalker (Saoirse

Ronan) and her boozy superior officer Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell).

The pair have a d
South West Londoner •

Thor: Love and Thunder proves lightning does strike twice

There have now been four Thor films and their quality varies wildly – but Thor: Love and Thunder is among the franchise’s best.

The Original Thor (2009) was a perfectly serviceable superhero origin story, that did a fine job of introducing Chris Hemsworth’s titular character without excelling enough to be truly great or being inadequate enough to be truly terrible.

Thor: The Dark World (2013) ranks among Marvel’s most forgettable films, as it features an utterly generic plotline performed by a
South West Londoner •

Elizabeth II: The Queen & history's other longest reigning rulers

In February of 1952 Queen Elizabeth II became the queen of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

Her platinum jubilee, in June of 2022, marks the official public celebration of her 70 year long reign.

Elizabeth II is one of history’s longest reigning rulers, however, she does not have the longest reign of all time.

Several other rulers have had reigns which have rivalled, or even exceeded, her 70 years.

Here are a few of their stories…

Louis XIV ruled France from May 1643 to September 17
North West Londoner •

Labour keeps control of Enfield but Conservatives make gains

Labour kept control of Enfield council on Thursday after holding the 38 seats they took into the 2022 election, but the Conservatives had a successful night gaining seven councillors and shutting out any other party from the area.

The election results mean that all of Enfield’s 63 seats are held by either Labour or Tory councillors, after the Greens, the Liberal Democrats and the Independent Community First Group, a group of former Labour councillors, lost their two, one and seven councillors r
South West Londoner •

Fundraiser launched for injured Croydon swan

A fundraiser is in progress to assist the treatment of a swan from Croydon who was hurt in a dog attack.

Wayne the swan was injured on the afternoon of the 7 February after a dog bit him on the beak.

The Swan Sanctuary is a wildlife rescue service based in Shepperton, specialising in treating swans.

The sanctuary took Wayne into its care on 8 February.

In a Facebook post The Swan Sanctuary announced: “Wayne was attacked by a dog and has suffered a life changing injury to his beak.”

“We are