One driver fined up to £60 every minute at Boot’s Corner

A survey carried out during Wednesday morning rush hour saw a potential £3000 worth of fines earned as a total of 50 cars went through the Boot’s Corner closure within 50 minutes. One delivery driver was even seen going through the closure twice in the space of 20 minutes.

The road was closed to the general public on the 26th of June only allowing buses and taxis access. Any unauthorized vehicles are faced with a £30 fine that doubles to £60 if it is not paid within two weeks. The whole reason for closing this section of road to the public on a trial period was to reduce emissions and encourage more sustainable methods of transport.

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Checking the coast is clear. Pedestrians cross the road at Boot’s Corner

This survey comes as a petition was launched on Tuesday evening for Boots Corner to be closed permanently by Vision 21, a sustainability charity based in Gloucestershire. So far this petition has gained 201 signatures.

Vision 21’s chief executive Dave Entwistle told Gloucestershire Live; “We want the council to develop a coherent strategy that will make the town centre more people-focused, ease traffic congestion elsewhere in the town and encourage greater use of non-motorised transport in general.”

While many support the closure, the lack of signage has caught many drivers out. One visitor to the town named Chris described the ruling and directions as ‘unclear’, while another said they were ‘confused’ when they received notice that they  had been fined.

One supporter of the trial is Lib Dem MP Dennis Parsons, who says that it is helping maintain the retail success of Cheltenham’s high street, stating ‘There’s no doubt it has significant benefits for many local retailers’.

Cheltenham MP Alex Chalk’s petition to reopen the road to the public was rejected on the 21st of January, despite gaining nearly 6,000 signatures, so the possibility of it to remaining closed after the 10 month trial period is looking likely.

 

Games publisher EA surrenders in 10 month fight with Belgian law

Notorious games publisher Electronic Arts has released a statement announcing the removal of in-game purchases in it’s FIFA series in Belgium after months of ‘discussions’ with the Belgian authorities.

In April 2018, Belgium followed in the Netherlands’ footsteps in clamping down on gambling mechanics in video games, with companies such as Valve, 2K, Blizzard and EA being told to remove said features from games including Overwatch, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and NBA 2K18.

This came after EA’s own Star Wars Battlefront 2 faced mainstream media coverage in late 2017 for featuring ‘loot boxes’ that contained random rewards that could give players an advantage, and could be bought using a currency that was purchased with real money.

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‘Crystals’ could be bought for real money and were used to obtain random rewards (image from shacknews.com)

 

When players complained about the predatory use of loot boxes in Star Wars Battlefront 2 EA responded, saying their intentions were to ‘provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment’, which quickly became the most downvoted comment in Reddit’s history with over 660,000 downvotes.

Despite similar mechanics being used in other titles, the involvement of the much loved Star Wars license, direct impact it had on gameplay and the fact that the game was mainly targeted at children caused mass outrage.

Now, nearly 10 months after Belgium instructed publishers to remove these mechanics from EA’s main cash cow FIFA, the publisher has finally caved in.

FIFA’s ‘Ultimate Team’ mode allows players to built a custom team by opening packs of cards, a mechanic EA has often compared to opening Panini sticker packs.

These packs can be bought using in game coins or FIFA points; with the latter needing to be bought using real money,

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FIFA points for sale on EA’s Origin platform, next to the 3+ age rating

The purchasing of these points in Belgium has been disabled as of the 31st of January, with EA apologizing to players ‘for any inconvenience caused by this change’, also stating that they ‘do not agree with Belgian authorities’ interpretation of the law’.

Additionally, EA said that ‘the impact of this change to FIFA Ultimate Team in Belgium is not material to our financial performance’. This raised eyebrows, especially since the publisher has stated in the past that these in-game purchases are necessary for them to continue making games.

 

‘Snowmaggedon’ highlights the struggles of Britain’s homeless population

As the UK experiences it’s lowest temperatures and harshest conditions all season, many are too busy caught up worrying about transport and food supplies to offer a helping hand to those less fortunate.

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A rough sleeper surrounded by snow trying to keep warm and dry (The Guardian)

Nearly 5,000 people were found to be sleeping rough in England in 2017, and that number is always rising.

Not only do they have do deal with the mental and physical struggles of not having a home with water heating and electricity, but they also have to deal with the British public, that according to some shocking statistics, don’t offer the kind of compassion you may hope.

According to a charity aimed at tackling homelessness in the capital named Streets of London, homeless people are 17 times more likely to be victims of violent crime, and a whopping 47 times more likely to be victims of theft.

Additionally, a disgusting 1 in 10 said that they had been urinated on, and 3 in 10 female rough sleepers had at experienced some form of sexual violence while homeless.

On top of dealing with all of that, recent conditions have drastically increased the risk of hypothermia and frostbite.

In recent months more coverage has been given to the UK’s rough sleepers, but not for the reasons you might hope.

On Sunday 27th January Kane Walker was found dead near the Bullring shopping center in Birmingham.

An extremely upsetting video (see below) has now been discovered of him stating that he was ‘done’ and that there was ‘no point’ to a charity worker, just months before his death.

What can we do to help?

The most common reason passers by don’t help rough sleepers is because they don’t know what to do.

There is no universal answer to this, but there is no way to find out what someone needs other than talking to them.

From there you might want to offer a hot drink, a snack or even just conversation.

It is also a good idea to refer them to your nearest homeless shelter or charity.