Home Articles Videos Contact

Article Archive

 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 Fans left underwhelmed by upcoming Monster Hunter crossover

While it was only officially revealed a few days ago, the MTG Monster Hunter Secret Lair Superdrop is already deeply contentious. It's not because of the nature of the crossover itself, Capcom's killer Kaijus fit much more comfortably into the world of Magic: the Gathering than Furbys, or Dwight from The Office. Instead, fans are concerned that their favorite monsters are being represented using bulk bin reprints that fail to capture a fraction of their power.
There are already several threads a...
Wargamer •

I think this li'l bug is a beautiful Pokémon Card, despite being the least valuable Phantasmal Flames Illustration Rare

Nymble 096/094 from the Phantasmal Flames set is an Illustration Rare card that, despite a lack of financial value, is quite unlike any other.Until recently, Nymble sat alongside the likes of Bergmite, Pincurchin, and Maractus as a completely forgettable Pokémon lying half forgotten in some beige backroom of my brain. The recently printed Illustration Rare variant of Nymble from Phantasmal Flames has completely changed my perspective on the bold little bug. Now I can see something kind of great...
Wargamer •

Imposing Illustration Rare Zekrom bolts into Mega Dream ex Pokémon TCG set

After the official announcement of Pokémon Mega Dream ex last week, Pokémon TCG  fans have been clamoring to see more cards from the upcoming 'high value' Japanese set. Well, those wishes were granted recently, as a slew of new spoilers were shown off. N, the enigmatic green-haired king of Team Plasma,  has clearly been busy since many of the new Pokémon were caught by him, including a frankly fearsome looking new full-art Zekrom. We've also been shown a new legendary Pokémon that finishes a pat...
Wargamer •

Rathalos and Lagiacrus are finally coming to MTG, as Monster Hunter Secret Lair announced

Monster Hunter is crossing over with Magic: the Gathering in a Secret Lair Superdrop focused on hunters, and the predators they pursue.Players have been speculating about a Magic: the Gathering/Monster Hunter crossover for a while now, but yesterday, official confirmation from Wizards of the Coast finally came through. A Monster Hunter Secret Lair Super Drop will be running from December 1st to December 22nd. While no artwork has currently been provided, a list of cards from the drop, as well as...
Wargamer •

The Priciest Pokémon cards from Mega Evolution are dropping in value, but they still cost hundreds

Mega Lucario ex and Mega Gardevoir ex are very expensive Pokémon cards, but they're worth significantly less now then they were in October.When they first released, the Mega Hyper Rare cards from the Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution expansion were absolutely unstoppable. Available in only, approximately, one in every 1,260 booster packs, any Mega Lucario ex, or Gardevoir ex cards in this stark yellow art treatment are worth significantly more than their weight in gold. Now, while these cards remain in...
Wargamer •

MTG designer Gavin Verhey goes to bat for Hybrid mana in Commander - but fans aren't sure

Gavin Verhey, a prominent Magic: the Gathering designer, has given his thoughts on the debate around hybrid mana, although the community seem unconvinced.The big discussion among Commander players in the Magic: the Gathering community at the moment is a proposed rules change involving hybrid mana. From Murderous Redcap, to Kitchen Finks, and Lurrus of the Dream-Den, there's no shortage of cards that feature this split symbol in their casting cost. Hybrid mana has been a part of the game since Ra...
Wargamer •

For some reason an upcoming MTG Final Fantasy event will reward promos of Yuna in a Wedding Dress

Yuna, Grand Summoner is a popular commander from the Magic: the Gathering Final Fantasy crossover set. As one of the commanders of the Counter Blitz Commander deck, Yuna encourages an aggressive +1/+1 counter based gameplan. Wargamer have already covered how she works awesomely when used alongside Saga creatures. Well, now she'll also be working alongside a spouse, apparently, as Wizards of the Coast have printed a new version of the card wearing a wedding dress.
From December 5th to December 11...
Wargamer •

Meme song from Avatar referenced by an unblockable MTG land

The card Secret Tunnel in the new MTG Avatar expansion is unblockable, but can't turn itself into a creature, how are you meant to use it?Magic: the Gathering contains plenty of unblockable creatures. Typically printed in blue, cards like Invisible Stalker and Phantom Warrior have been nuisances for years, as it's very difficult to stop their attacks from slipping through. The upcoming Avatar: the Last Airbender expansion is printing a new unblockable card, but rather than being a creature, it's...
Wargamer •

Figurines with iconic Pokémon 151 artwork to be released… in China

It's safe to say that Pokémon 151 is one of the most beloved sets in the history of the Pokémon TCG. It was a tremendous success, even by the high standards of a card game where stock frequently sells out during preorders. Now, a series of figurines is being released that promise to bring the artwork of Pokémon 151 into 3D. These figures lovingly recreate the images that inspired them, and they're even available for a pretty low price. Unfortunately, they're only due to come out in China.
 
The...
Wargamer •

Controversial MTG card reprinted on the Avatar bonus sheet

Dockside Extortionist will be coming back again, with new cartoon screenshot artwork, once the Avatar set releases later this month.Dockside Extortionist is one of the most powerful red two-drops in Magic: the Gathering. This greedy goblin generates a treasure token for every artifact and enchantment controlled by opponents when it enters play. The card was so infamously strong in multiplayer Magic that it was banned from Commander in September 2024. Dockside Extortionist has just been reprinted...
Wargamer •

Price of Mega Latias ex box gradually trending down, but still $10 higher than MSRP

The Mega Latias ex box is growing cheaper, but is still difficult to find at the $21.99 price tag recommended by the Pokémon Company.It can be very difficult to secure Pokémon TCG products for their manufacturer's suggested retail price, or "MSRP". Pokémon cards are incredibly popular and often sell out during the pre-order period. The Mega Latias ex box is just one more example of a hyper popular Pokémon product that's difficult to find for a good rate. Its listed price in online markets has co...
Wargamer •

Board game about taxing the rich review bombed both ways

The board game geek page for the Norwegian card game Tax the Rich has become split as masses of positive and negative reviews pile up.Tax the Rich is a trick-taking board game published by Alion Games, who are also known for Sparks, and Gardlings.  It's due to release in several European countries later this month, but no US publication date has currently been announced. The Board Game Geek page for this taxation-based trick-taker has become deeply divided, with massive numbers of both positive...
EDHREC •

The 10 Most Popular Cards From Shadowmoor Block | EDHREC

Mystic GateMystic Gate | Art by Fred FieldsA fortnight ago, we took a trip down the omenpaths and remembered the 10 most popular cards from Lorwyn block. Now The Great AuroraThe Great Aurora is shining in the sky, and the world is inverting. The idyllic glades and sunny vistas of Lorwyn and Morningtide are morphing into the moonlit haunts and murky darkness of Shadowmoor and Eventide.While Lorwyn block had a typal theme, Shadowmoor was a bit more abstract. Cards in these two sets care about hybr...
Wargamer •

Price of rare Master Ball Umbreon has tumbled into the double digits

Master Ball Umbreon from Primsatic Evolutions was once an unbelievably hyped chase card, now, its value has taken a dramatic dip, as the interest of players has waned.The Eeveelutions have to be some of the most popular Pokémon out there. Eevee is incredibly adorable, and it can evolve into one of seven fantastic new forms, and also into Flareon. Because of the popularity of Eevee and its evolutions, Pokémon TCG cards that feature them tend to be worth a pretty penny. The Master Ball treatment o...
Wargamer •

Upcoming Zacian Pokémon card will be strong… But only during the Phantasmal Flames prerelease

The new Pokémon TCG Zacian card from Phantasmal Flames looks ready to dish out huge damage at the prerelease before fading into obscurity.The prerelease for the next Pokémon TCG set, Phantasmal Flames, is fast approaching. Starting on November 1st, Pokémon Trainers looking to get early access to all of the Charizardy goodness of this fiery new expansion will be able to crack open Phantasmal Flames Build & Battle Boxes and take part in a prerelease tournament. Thanks to a unique quirk of the way...
Wargamer •

Reality Fracture won't merge MTG with other IPs, or feature triple-sided cards, but it will do something unknown and new

The MTG set Reality Fracture won't be out for a year, but Wizards of the Coast have made big promises about what it will and won't change.There's a lot of mystery and hype surrounding the upcoming Magic: the Gathering set Reality Fracture. While the release of Reality Fracture is still a long way away (it's not scheduled to come out until October 2026) Wizards of the Coast is making big claims about the Magic: the Gathering multiverse changing forever. There have also been a few misconceptions t...
Wargamer •

MTG Edge of Eternities card price spikes 474% thanks to plague slinging Legacy deck

Eumidian Hatchery, a land from one of the Edge of Eternities commander precons, has seen a dramatic price rise thanks to a new legacy deck.Legacy is one of Magic: the Gathering's strangest formats. Since almost nothing is off the table, all manner of chaotic strategies run rampant. There are Doomsday decks that exile themselves, reanimator decks that resurrect the strongest creatures in the game's history, and some decks that don't even bother to run lands. At the North America Eternal Weekend i...
Wargamer •

Full art Mythical Pokémon from Mega Evolution steadily dropping in price

Marshadow 146/132 from the Mega Evolution expansion has continued to drop in price, over several weeks despite being its mythical status.Marshadow, the Gloomdweller Pokémon, is one of the rarest finds from generation VII. It's not possible to obtain it in the digital games without downloading it via an exclusive event. In the Pokémon TCG, this shadowy lurker emerged from the darkness in the Mega Evolution expansion. Marshadow 146/132 is an elusive Illustration Rare card. Despite some initial hyp...
Wargamer •

New Super Shredder MTG card is going to absolutely tear up games

Of all the cards previewed for Magic: The Gathering's TMNT set, ferocious Black two-drop Super Shredder might be most worthy of our fear.Wizards of the Coast's upcoming MTG Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover has received a frosty response from some Magic: The Gathering players. Just like other Universes Beyond offerings before it, disgruntled fans have been quick to dismiss this Ninja Turtles release as a cash-grab. Love it or hate it, though, you can't deny the sheer power of many of the TM...
Wargamer •

Are Pokémon TCG Mega Heroes Mini Tins weird, or is it just me?

Many Pokémon TCG expansions, although not all of them, feature Mini Tins: little metallic tubs containing two boosters and some added extras. The newest Pokémon set, Mega Evolution, continues this trend, with chunkier booster boxes and ETBs releasing alongside a "Mega Heroes Mini Tin". Naturally, like all other Pokémon products on the planet, most retailers have either already sold their stock of these tins, or they're only available at a wildly higher rate than their recommended retail price of...
Wargamer •

I want to love MTG's new 5 color Ninja Turtles commander - but it's such a mess

Heroes in a Half Shell may be a powerful five color commander in Magic: The Gathering's new TMNT set - but holy hell, it's weirdly designed.So it's official, Magic: the Gathering will once again return to New York, in the upcoming MTG Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set. After swinging across the skyline in Marvel's Spider-Man, we'll be delving down into the sewers next. And, speaking of cramped dark places, one of TMNT's new commanders was clearly dredged from a particularly sinister corner of the...
Wargamer •

This Gen 5 Pokémon card's price spiked 500%, but fans aren't sure it's worth it

Solosis 118/086, from Pokémon TCG's Black Bolt set, exploded in price from $10 to $62 last month - but now its star seems to be falling.Generation five gave the Pokémon TCG plenty of powerful pocket monsters, from brutal, three-headed menace Hydreigon to draconic legendary Pokémon Zekrom and Reshiram. Forget about those titans, though; over the past few weeks one of Unova's smallest Pokémon has been on a massive journey in the collectors' market. Solosis 118/086 from the set Black Bolt has seen...
Wargamer •

New Heroes of Might and Magic card game banks $800k in crowdfunding launch

Archon Studio's shiny new HoMM card game started crowdfunding on Gamefound on Friday - and it's already raised over $800k in pledges. A day after its crowdfunding launch on Friday, October 10, Archon Studio's Heroes of Might & Magic: The Card Game has already amassed over $800,000 from backers on Gamefound, having hit its initial $58k goal in just over five minutes.
If you've somehow never heard of Heroes of Might & Magic, it's a collection of PC strategy RPGs known for their expansive maps, gri...
Wargamer •

This MTG Spider-Man commander is so bad, only one person picked it

Only one Magic: The Gathering player on the internet has posted a Beetle, Legacy Criminal deck - what makes this card so epically unpopular?In the Spider-Man comics, Janice Lincoln, a.k.a. "The Beetle" is a formidable threat to New York and its arachnid protector. She's a member of the Sinister Six, a group of Spider-Man's most infamous adversaries, and founder of the Syndicate, a league of criminal superwomen. In Magic: the Gathering, however, Beetle, Legacy Criminal has been done dirty. She's...
Load More

Gaming

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...
SUPERJUMP •

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Embraces Silliness

There’s a single moment, roughly a quarter of the way through Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, that perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the game. The party is delving into a mystical forest dungeon called the Proving Grounds. An enigmatic cloaked bandit known as Hurstwine cuts through the murky woods ahead of them, the heroes in hot pursuit.

Both the player characters and Hurstwine are seeking a primal lens, an ancient and powerful artifact that lies at the heart of the dungeon. It’s a race...
SUPERJUMP •

Potionomics: Bring Your Best Brew

Potions are the lifeblood of all RPG adventuring parties. No one would get beyond the first floor of any dungeon without guzzling down a frankly unhealthy amount of brightly coloured magical goop. Potionomics puts the player into the shoes of a potion vendor, ready to provide the heroes of the world with the colourful healing concoctions they so desperately need.

The game is a bubbling melting pot of various genres, mixing business management elements with deckbuilding-based haggling gameplay a
SUPERJUMP •

Total War: Attila and the "Dark Ages"

Total War: Attila portrays the collapse of the Roman Empire as an unmitigated tragedy. How does this depiction measure up to scrutiny?

These words are gruffly recited by the narrator of Total War: Attila towards the end of the game’s introduction. This quote paraphrases two verses from the book of Revelations which describe Conquest, the first of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, being unleashed upon the world. Accompanying this narration is footage of a pitched battle being waged at night b
SUPERJUMP •

Are Golden Endings Always the Right Path?

One thing which makes video games unique is their ability to tell stories with branching narratives. This is something that isn’t possible using other mediums, outside of experimental choose-your-own adventure stories like Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. The interactive nature of video games makes it possible for them to have multiple different endings depending on the path the player takes through the story. This means that players can get endings tailored to the
SUPERJUMP •

Storyteller Review - A Tale Worth Telling

Storyteller is a puzzle game created by Daniel Benmergui, an Argentinian game developer who is probably best known for creating the adorable art game I Wish I Were The Moon.

In Storyteller, the player is given a magical book that they need to fill with insightful tales. Every level is an individual story that the player needs to bring to life. Each story provides the player with an objective that needs to be accomplished by utilising a series of different characters and scenes. For example, pla
SUPERJUMP •

Dragon Ball: The Breakers Review

The Dragon Ball series is famous, or perhaps infamous, for its bombastic battle sequences. Shirtless space aliens, with absurdly sculpted physiques, scream and launch energy blasts at one another. Villains loudly monologue about their invincibility, before the heroes eventually bring them down after a five-minute-long transformation sequence. All of the attacks have wacky names which fans can recite by heart. Because the series is extremely action-oriented, there have been innumerable Dragon Bal
SUPERJUMP •

Why Do Birds Fly? The Moral Philosophy of Tales of Berseria

“Why do you think that birds fly?”

This strange sentence is not an excerpt from a book on falconry. Nor is it a question from a biology exam or a promo for the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s from the 2016 Bandai Namco RPG Tales of Berseria.

The game’s primary antagonist, Artorius Collbrande, uses this question as a means of evaluating people’s moral principles. But how does a basic question about the biology of birds tell us anything about someone’s morality?

More to the point, does this question

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