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The Essen Motor Show opens its doors this week and that means time has come to meet this year’s “police car” modified for the Tune It! Safe! campaign. Over the years, we’ve seen everything from Volkswagen Golfs to the BMW i8, but this is the first time the car takes the shape of a practical wagon. Not just any wagon, but an Audi RS4 Avant modified by ABT you might have heard of under the name of "RS4-R." Based on the pre-facelift version of Ingolstadt’s fast family hauler, ABT's RS4-R has been decked out with the appropriate body wrap and blue lights. The main idea behind the Tune It! Safe! campaign is to demonstrate that aftermarket upgrades can be applied to a car "whilst maintaining traffic safety and regulatory compliance." Gallery: Audi RS4 Avant by ABT for Tune It! Safe! campaign: ABT’s modified Avant was originally unveiled back in March 2018 at the Geneva Motor Show with an upgraded version of the twin-turbo 2.9-liter V6 pushing out a meaty 523 horsepower and 690 Newton-meters (509 pound-feet) of torque. The long-roof performance car from Audi also swaps out the dual oval exhaust tips for a more menacing quad system with 102-mm end pipes finished in carbon fiber. In addition, the standard wheels were removed to make room for the tuner’s own set of 21-inch alloys shod in 275/25 ZR1 tires. The list of upgrades implemented by the Kempten-based tuner goes on with height-adjustable springs, sports stabilizers, and a full coilover suspension system. It’s probably only a matter of time before ABT will get its hands on the recently facelifted Audi RS4 Avant to extract additional power and make the styling a bit more aggressive. It’ll be interesting what the tuner will have in mind for the next-gen RS4 seeing as how the Four Rings have already confirmed the performance wagon will utilize a plug-in hybrid powertrain

This month the likes of Ottolenghi and River Cottage will be championing a key ingredient on their menus – goat. Sustainably minded restaurants and pubs across the UK are making goat a feature of their menus for a small but growing month-long “feastival”, Goatober. The ambitious aims are twofold: to demonstrate how tasty this meat can be, and to bring an end to the horrifying food waste in the goat dairy system where billy goats who don’t provide milk are often culled just after birth. The argument is a sound one – if we’re going to consume goat dairy products we should eat some goat meat too, because it’s criminal to senselessly waste life. There are an estimated 108,000 goats in the UK (more than a third of which are estimated to be dairy goats) – and when they reproduce there’s a 50:50 chance they will produce a male, whose fate may not be to live beyond a few days. “Waste is built into the food system but people don’t make the connection between consuming dairy products and death. I’ve talked about this every day for seven years and I still see blank faces when I mention the issue of males in a dairy system,” says James Whetlor, founder of goat meat supplier Cabrito (the Spanish word for young goat). Whetlor and his partner, Sushi, set up Cabrito in 2012 to create a market for these young billies, starting with four goats in a field. They now work with a network of top chefs and one of the largest commercial dairy groups in the UK, Delamare, taking just under 30 per cent of the billy goats they produce from four of their farms. It’s very easy to blame the farmer for euthanising billy goats, but we’re all responsible for allowing goat dairy farming to grow with a 50 per cent mortality rate,” Whetlor says. Tough rep: Although goat makes up to 60 per cent of red meat eaten worldwide, here it still has a reputation for being tough – mainly because we associate it with curries and stews made with nanny goats used for meat once they no longer provide enough milk. Whetlor says: “The entire UK farming structure is built around wool and sheep; goat never got a look in. Goat meat is still seen as inferior – so much so that my mum won’t touch it.” But six-month-old kid is different. It’s low in fat, high in protein and iron; taste wise it’s somewhere between lamb and venison. So far, the key to Cabrito’s success is the support they get from some of the UK’s most respected chefs. “Neil Rankin’s smoked goat tacos at Temper made goat cool. That made me realise the power chefs have to influence positive change in the food system. We are very lucky to get so much support and I think it reflects just how important sustainability is to this generation of chefs,” says Whetlor. “The future of artisan production lies in restaurants. Restaurants are run by people with a passion for food. Men and women who care about provenance, ethics and quality more than they do about price.” We also tend to be much more willing to try something new if we trust the reputation of the restaurant or person that’s cooking for us, rather than experimenting at home. Ottolenghi’s slow-roasted goat, beluga lentils and green olive salsa is good enough to make you question everything you ever thought about this under-appreciated meat. The smell of River Cottage at Axminster’s slow-braised West Country goat and apricot tagine, served with English spelt, lentils, fresh herbs, organic yoghurt, flatbreads will have your mouth watering. But, contrary to another common misconception, goat doesn’t have to be slow cooked. Kid chops, for example, can be particularly succulent simply rubbed with butter, seasoned with salt and pepper and griddled for a few minutes on either side. As Whetlor says: “It’s not about penance, you should feel good about the food you’re eating.” Indoor vs free-range Whether we should be rearing goats commercially for dairy in the first place is an important consideration. The majority of goat products come from indoor systems with kid goats reared in barns and necessarily weaned on milk powder replacement. Commercial cow dairy farms that operate in a similar way are heavily criticised by supporters of free-range farming – including myself. Whetlor says he and his partner, both from River Cottage backgrounds, had a long chat about whether they should get involved in a non-free range business before they launched Cabrito. But, he believes the indoor vs outdoor argument is not so black and white when it comes to goats. In the introduction to his cookbook Goat, Whetlor dedicates a lot of time to the ethical issue of animal welfare. He says: “I am emotionally a ‘free ranger’ and still believe that housing pigs, sheep and cows all year round is unnecessary and wrong, but goats are different… In short, if you have free-range goats you are going to have more vet intervention and medication. Goats have not evolved for a British climate.” He goes into detail about the problems with goats feet, which aren’t designed for soft, often wet ground and therefore are susceptible to infection. His reasoning is supported by Dr David Harwood, senior vice president of the Goat Veterinary Society, who also explains: “Cows and sheep are grazing animals, they eat grass. Goats are browsing animals who will eat the likes of thistle and branches as well as grass, this means they don’t build the same levels of immunity and are highly susceptible to worms.” In some cases Harwood says worming is needed every three weeks, so from a health and business point of view indoor farming is considered to be an acceptable option for commercial dairy farms, as long as the goats have the enrichment they need to satisfy their curious nature. However, more research is needed to draw solid conclusions on good goat husbandry as published studies of goat health, welfare and production remain scarce. Compassion in World Farming doesn’t yet have a public policy on goats because the industry is tiny compared with the 10 million cows and 34 million sheep farmed each year in the UK. Their research manager and former vet specialising in goat farms, Inês Adjuda, says they do have an internal one and the preference would always be for goats to be outside. If the goats are kept inside they need barrels to climb and things to hide under for mental stimulation because they are curious, social creatures who like to play from as early as one-to-two weeks old. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall writes a spirited forward for Whetlor’s book celebrating Cabrito’s work, but says: “I’d be lying if I said [Whetlor] and I don’t have differing views in some areas – I don’t feel quite so sanguine as he does about zero-grazing systems for goats, for instance, and I will always prefer both milk and meat from animals that have lived outside and fed on natural forage for a significant part of their lives.” There are examples of goats raised successfully in free-range systems. These include Just Kidding and Long Meadow Goats, who also both take kids from indoor dairy systems and rear them largely outdoors on a grass-based diets, once they have been weaned. This means the goats take longer to put on weight, so they are typically a few months older when killed for meat. The meat tends to be leaner, with less fat than indoor bred goats. “At the end of the day our plight is the same as Cabrito’s,” says Charlotte Mercer from Long Meadow Goats. “We want to give these kids a chance at life and to run a sustainable business.” There’s little doubt that if we’re consuming goat dairy products, we should eat goat, too. As the industry develops we need to ensure it doesn't intensify so all kids reared for meat are given a life worth living.

A department store in Japan is reconsidering a policy for employees on their period to wear badges featuring a manga character after complaints from the general public. Management at the Daimaru Umeda store in Osaka said the policy was originally intended to encourage empathy among co-workers. The character on the badge, Seiri-chan, is from a po[CENSORED]r comic by Ken Koyama in his series ‘Little Miss P’. She is also known as Miss Period. The idea was for employees on their periods to wear the badges so their co-workers could recognise when they might need extra help or need to take a break. According to the BBC, store management never intended to “share the menstrual information” with customers. It is unclear how customers would not have seen the badges. The badge policy is not compulsory, and was reportedly suggested by the employees themselves when a new ‘Women’s Wellbeing’ section was opened in the store. An unnamed executive at the store told local media: “We received many complaints from the public. “Some of them concerned harassment and that was definitely not our intention. We’re reconsidering plans now.” The store announced the policy earlier this week, and was "excited" for the new women-focused section to be an "asset to the marketplace". Products sold in the section include menstrual cups, lingerie, traditional Chinese medicine, cosmetics, and skincare. In the comics, Miss Period is a large heart-shaped pink mascot with large red lips that appears in women’s lives once a month and gets up to antics with other characters including Mr Libido, Mr Virginity, and Little Miss PMS.

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A former US prosecutor says that Donald Trump appears to be implicating Rudy Giuliani in a bribery conspiracy, after the president claimed he never told his personal lawyer to go to Ukraine and dig up dirt on his political rivals. Mr Trump appeared to distance himself from Mr Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine on Tuesday, during an interview with disgraced former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. “No, I didn’t direct him,” Mr Trump told the conservative media personality, when asked if he had directed Mr Giuliani to “put any heat” on Ukrainian officials. “But he’s a warrior. Rudy’s a warrior. Rudy went. He possibly saw something.” “You have to ask Rudy,” he said, when pressed on why his personal lawyer was in Ukraine, where US officials have testified he had been working on behalf of the president as a part of an alternate diplomatic channel. The comments caught the attention of Mimi Rocah, a former assistant prosecutor for the US Southern District of New York and distinguished fellow at Pace University, who told MSNBC that it appears Mr Trump had actually implicated Mr Giuliani in a potential crime with his comments. Ms Rocah noted that Mr Giuliani had already signalled he is on board with Mr Trump’s latest messaging, but warned that the approach has a shelf life. “He can go along with that for a while but at some point that means that Giuliani is essentially being implicated in a bribery conspiracy by the president of the United States,” she said. She continued: “Because if he wasn't acting on behalf of Trump, and Trump is saying, 'Oh no, if he went there to get dirt on the Bidens and told them that they can't have their aid, that was all him' then he has just implicated Giuliani in that amongst everything else that Giuliani may already be implicated in. He really should start paying attention and speak up now, not wait to be indicted.“ It’s not the first time that observers have noted potential fissures between Mr Trump and Mr Giuliani, who has emerged as a staunch defender of the president, even if he has captured headlines for being a bit of a wild card with apparent frequent "butt dials" to reporters. For instance, Mr Giuliani has recently begun claiming that, while he doesn’t believe Mr Trump will turn on him, he does have “insurance”. He hasn’t clarified what that might mean. But, staying wary of Mr Trump may prove prescient for Mr Giuliani, considering the president’s tendency to abandon his allies when times get tough. Mr Trump is known for claiming he doesn’t know individuals who turn on him or pose problems. Previously, for instance, he has said did not really know George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser to his 2016 campaign who was convicted for lying to US investigators about his contacts with Russians during the 2016 election. The president also famously turned on his former personal attorney Michael Cohen, saying that the New York attorney handled only a “tiny, tiny fraction” of his legal interests, even though the lawyer who ultimately turned on him had become the most prominent face of the president’s legal defence team with no complaints from Mr Trump.

It dawned on me just a few short weeks ago walking through the halls of the SEMA Show: The 2020 Toyota Supra looks very good when tastefully modified. Of course, in the true spirit of the aftermarket, some go way over the top. But the Supra is still a great platform to add visual appeal. Noting this, AC Schnitzer just announced its kit for the GR Supra, which brings improvements to the sheet metal and under the hood. Starting with the aesthetic changes, the AC Supra wears an aggressive front splitter which looks much more menacing over the stock piece. Equally aggressive is the new fixed rear wing, sitting atop the Supra’s standard spoiler. There are new 20-inch five-spoke wheels (my personal favorite) and even a new front license plate holder. But it’s the performance modifications that will bring the biggest smile to Supra fans everywhere. AC turns up the power from the standard 340 horsepower (250 Kilowatts) to 400 horsepower (294 Kw), and increases the torque figure as well. To pack on a bit of extra noise, the company adds a sport rear silencer kit with stainless steel or carbon fiber exhaust. AC certified the modifications on the European WLTP cycle, so the jury’s still out on whether U.S. Supra owners will have access to the kit. To better accommodate the Supra’s power bump, AC swaps out the stock suspension in favor of a height-adjustable coilover setup. And in an effort to improve handling, the company lowers the car’s center of gravity by dropping the front and rear axle by one inch (25 mm). These improvements alone should make the car more engaging over the standard Supra, which is already a great driver’s car. Motor1.com has reached out to AC Shnitzer regarding availability in the United States, as well as pricing information on the GR Supra kit. Though an official debut date is not included, the company says that the kit should be available to customers after the Spring of next year. Gallery: AC Schnitzer Toyota Supra:

A nursery has sparked outrage after becoming one of the first in Britain to introduce an exclusively vegan menu for its pupils. Jigsaw Day Nurseries in Chester will no longer serve meat or dairy products to the 260 children in their care as of January 2020. Instead, the children, who are aged between 0 and 4 years of age, can expect to be served up lentil-based ‘Shepherdless Pie’, potato and pea curry and Hungarian goulash. Angry parents have reacted with fury to the decision, which they claim was made without consulting them. Some parents have accused the nursery of trying to “impose a lifestyle choice” which “discriminates” against their meat-eating children. One mother, who has a three-year-old daughter at Jigsaw Curzon House Nursery described the move as “bonkers”. “Just to enforce it on us without any say isn’t right - they shouldn’t be making these decisions on my behalf. “If my daughter wants to be a vegan when she’s older then that’s fine but I’ll have that conversation with her myself. ”It’s such a huge, drastic change and I’m not happy about it,” she said. Another parent added that the ban was “outrageous”, saying: “My son has a big appetite as well, I think he'll come home starving. “To go veggie is one thing, but to go full-on vegan is just madness”. Other parents were pleased with the decision. Natalie Stevens wrote on Facebook: “It’s like saying you don’t want your children to be educated in what will save our planet! ”Vegan or not, this is an incredibly healthy sounding menu and I am thrilled our son will be eating this kind of food. “If anything, it takes the pressure off having to feed him uber healthy food at home because I know he’ll have had a wholesome and nutritious meal at nursery,” she said. Claire Taylor, founder of the nurseries, which is Chester's largest private childcare provider, defended the decision which she says was ”made with the children and the planet’s future in mind.“ “We appreciate that this is a decision that comes with a business risk associated, however we feel passionately that a sustainable path is the one we wish to follow for the benefit of our children’s future. ”The food that the children eat within our nurseries not only has an impact on everyone in the setting but also on the health of our planet.“ Taylor said that the company had worked closely with an experienced and qualified nutritionist to create a varied and sustainable menu for children, but acknowledged the negative response received from some parents. “We fully acknowledge and appreciate the response we’ve had from a group of our parents,” she said. “This is a change which impacts their child and they have every right to voice their concerns and seek reassurances. She added that she had also received "a significant amount of support and positive feedback" from others across the two settings. Dominika Piasecka, a spokeswoman for The Vegan Society, told The Independent: “We congratulate the nursery on introducing a vegan menu that benefits the children, our planet and the animals. “With government emphasis on healthy eating and the environmental emergency we’re facing, it’s only natural that vegan food should be served by public sector institutions. “Ever offering a single vegan meal in a day has huge environmental benefits, as eating crops directly instead of feeding them to animals and then eating them avoids greenhouse gas emissions. “The British Dietetic Association shares the message that vegan diets are suitable for people of all ages, including infants, children and teenagers.”

First lady Melania Trump has been met with sustained boos at an event in Baltimore for high school and middle school students, where she delivered remarks about the ongoing opioid crisis facing America. The intensity of the boos were an apparent first for Ms Trump, who has largely avoided direct backlash during her husband's polarising presidency, and reporters who cover her regularly were quick to note on Tuesday that they had never encountered that level of aggravation aimed at the first lady during a solo appearance. In live stream of the event, the boos can be heard amid some applause as she was introduced on stage at the B'More Youth Summit. The boos lasted for about a minute, and then continued sporadically during her remarks. "In my three years covering [Ms Trump] at events, that was the worst booing she has received at a public event where she has given solo remarks," tweeted Kate Bennett, a CNN reporter who attended the event and provided updates as a part of the White House press pool The event at the University of Maryland Baltimore County campus was geared towards addressing the impact of opioid addiction on young Americans. Ms Trump, undeterred by the heckling, thanked her audience and promised the crowd of students that she would continue fighting for them with her "Be Best" campaign. "Thank you to all of the students who are here. I am so proud of you for the bravery it takes to share that you have been strongly affected by the opioid epidemic in some way," she said. She continued: "Promoting education and awareness on these issues will always be one of my top priorities. I am in this fight with you and I am fighting for you. I encourage you, if you are struggling with addiction right now, reach out for support -- whether it's a teacher, parent, friend, grandparent, coach or pastor, talk to an adult in your life that you trust. It is never too late to ask for help." That residents of Baltimore do not hold the Trump family in the highest esteem may come as no surprise, after Donald Trump's repeated verbal attacks on the city earlier this year. At that time, Mr Trump called the city rat and poverty stricken, raising a national outcry and debate around urban and minority poverty rates. But, Ms Trump is not the only first lady to be booed, even if it is uncommon for the president's wife — who historically enjoy much higher approval ratings than their husbands — to be received in such a poor fashion. Former first lady Michelle Obama, for instance, was memorably booed in 2011 as she attended a NASCAR event alongside Dr Jill Biden, the wife of Joe Biden. She was reportedly booed at other junctures during her time as first lady, too. Meanwhile, there are very few documented instances in which former first lady Laura Bush, wife of George W Bush, was booed at a public event.

Houseplants, which are trendy again, need repotting every year or two to remain vigorous and healthy. Many of these plants grow naturally in the gloomy floor of the rainforest, and although they have adapted to put up with a lot of root competition, the confines of a pot will eventually become too constraining. Certain common houseplants like to be a little pot-bound – clivias, scheffleras, peace lilies and ficus among them – but even they will need repotting in time. Now, at the start of their annual growth cycle, is the time to do it. Apart from dealing with root congestion, plants that are too long in a pot sit in soil that has become compacted and depleted and may have a harmful accumulation of fertiliser salts. How do you tell whether a plant needs repotting? Turn the pot over: The most obvious sign of a pot-bound plant is roots are growing out of the drainage holes. Hold the lower stem of the plant firmly and pull off the pot. If you see a thicket of pale roots in the shape of the pot, it’s time for action. If the pot won’t slip off, it’s probably gripped by congested roots. If the pot is plastic, you can cut the container away – I use pruners, but mind your fingers. If it’s clay, you may have to break it with a hammer. Another sign of a problem is if the plant seems continually thirsty – that is, wilting – despite diligent watering. This is because the ratio of roots to soil has become too great. The same problem can also lead to an obvious drop in plant vigour. Water the plant thoroughly the day before re-potting to reduce the stress of the ordeal and make the roots more workable. Once you’ve got the plant out of the pot, you have to tease the roots into a more natural state. The degree of effort depends on their level of overcrowding. I asked Nate Roehrich, of Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland in the US, how he deals with the task. We went in search of a plant begging to be repotted and found a cordyline suffering in a one-gallon pot. As we tackled the job I noticed that he is more gentle with the roots than I tend to be. This may be because, a week before, I had to take a large knife to the most congested root system I had seen – on an indoor palm I had purchased just a month earlier. This leads to another point: just because a houseplant is new to you doesn’t mean it is happily potted. Houseplants purchased late in the growing season or in winter have had months to grow thick roots. Buy them – especially if they’re on sale – but be prepared to ready them for the season ahead. The finer the roots, the more gentle you should be. One way to work them loose with minimum harm is to wash away the old soil with a light stream of water, preferably not ice cold. On roots that are fine but stringy, trim them back with scissors. If they are thick and compacted, you can use a knife to score the sides. On really congested roots, such as with my palm, you could use a sharp knife or even pruning saw to remove the bottom inch or so, and then take a three-pronged soil cultivator to liberate roots from one another and the old soil. Roehrich used no tools on the cordyline other than his hands. As a rule, he doesn’t remove more than one-quarter of the root mass when repotting. A root-pruned plant can be returned to the same pot, but it is better to give it a slightly larger home – a pot that is one or two inches more in top diameter. Any bigger and you run the risk of root rot because of increased soil moisture. Some pots are set in a decorative outer or cache pot and others have an integral saucer at the base, but in any event, the new pot must drain. There is a confusing array of soil and compost products for sale, but the one you want for most houseplants is potting soil (or potting mix). This is typically a peat-based concoction lightened with perlite. Some gardeners think potting soil is still too prone to waterlogging and like to add additional perlite. Orchids and succulents need their own special mixes. Keep the plant at the same soil level as before – deeper and you run the risk of the crown rotting – but the soil line should be below the lip of the pot to allow for efficient watering. Hold the plant at the correct level with one hand while backfilling fresh soil with the other. Roehrich then taps the pot a couple of times to get rid of any air pockets. I like to water the plant to encourage the soil to sink, and then repack as needed. After final watering, let the plant rest – away from direct sunlight even if it’s a bright-light plant. Water again when the top of the soil feels dry. Don’t fertilise for a while; wait until you see new growth, which may take two to four weeks. The plant will first put its energy into repairing its roots before converting energy to top growth, Roehrich says. After the plant is repotted, groom the foliage by removing dead, diseased or damaged leaves. The project generates a fair amount of mess. If your deluxe, fully plumbed potting shed is being renovated, you can undertake the task on the patio or balcony on a mild day or indoors in a large plastic tub. A storage container will do the trick. Reviving a plant in this way has a way of restoring the spirits of the indoor gardener as well.

We don’t know how many Porsche owners venture into the cold with their 911, never mind one with a removable roof. Honestly, we hope more people have a go in the snow than not, because cars were meant to be driven and winter driving can be rewarding in its own way. Regardless, Porsche needs to make sure its roofless models are prepared for all weather conditions, which is why we see the forthcoming 911 Targa tackling snowbound roads north of the Arctic Circle. It’s certainly not the first time we’ve seen the soft-top Targa out and about, but it is the first winter testing session we’ve caught on camera. Actually, with a majority of the 911’s weight on the rear axle its quite good in the snow – provided you have a set of snow tires. That said, the new Targa should offer all-wheel-drive as per the current model, though we can’t help but notice a rather prolific build-up of snow at the rear of this test car. Could rear-wheel-drive be available for the new model? Gallery: Porsche 911 Targa Spy Photos: Aside from that intriguing possibility, rumors of a 911 Turbo Targa are swirling as much as the snow off the back tires in these photos. We aren’t simply talking about a turbocharged engine – which you’ll find in the Carrera range anyway – but rather the dedicated high-performance Turbo trim. If that holds true, the Targa could be had in a variety of power flavors ranging from 379 horsepower (283 kilowatts) to something well over 600 hp (447 kW). We say something because the new 911 Turbo is still testing as well, and its final power figure hasn’t been confirmed. Suffice it to say, the Turbo Porsche will be exceedingly fast, and we rather like the idea of having a proper Targa model in the mix. .

I don’t think I’ve hated a videogame character more than Yuan Shao in Total War: Three Kingdoms. Half-Life 2’s Wallace Breen may have been arrogant; Far Cry 3’s Vaas Montenegro may have subjected me to cumulative hours of indulgent monologues. But neither of them, nor their PC gaming antagonist contemporaries, had the temerity to try to vassalise me every ten turns for hundreds of years. My war with Yuan Shao has proven to be one of the more memorable Total War moments I’ve enjoyed in recent years. This newest title, breaking rank from both Creative Assembly’s historic Total War games and its mighty Warhammer cash cow, brings issues along with innovations, but its capacity for involving and engrossing campaigns remains very much intact. Perhaps the most urgent information to impart is that this isn’t Dynasty Warriors Does Total War. Creative Assembly has been fairly transparent about its desire to coax in a greater Asian market share with the Three Kingdoms setting, but that doesn’t mean generals ride around slaughtering thousands of units like they did in their PS2 salad days. To that end, there are two distinct modes, Romance and Records, which affect each general’s overall ability and behaviour on the battlefield. What the choice amounts to is one playstyle that’s similar to Total War: Warhammer, in which generals have special abilities capable of dealing huge damage and slaying dozens – notice I didn’t say thousands – of units around them, and in which units are less susceptible to tiredness. That’s the Romance mode. The Records mode is more rooted in history and so generals are more vulnerable and units get wheezy when you ask them to march the length of the battlefield. In neither mode does Total War: Three Kingdoms feel silly or lightweight There are quite big changes in combat, however. Battlefields are bigger than in prior Total Wars, and in tandem with that, archers now have a larger range. Perhaps more capable players than I might see tangible benefits to that, but I find it simply makes battles longer. I’ve reached for the fast-forward button more often than in Total War: Warhammer, and that feels like a shame. In Romance mode, the addition of super-powered generals ought to expedite a conclusion. The option to send them in and duel with one another certainly adds an additional tactical wrinkle with victory yielding buffs for the rest of your army, and a pleasing display of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon melee combat taking place in the middle of the battlefield. Outside of duels though, Romance mode generals are a bit of a pain to manage or fight against. Too often, they’re lost in the soup of other units, and while you’re orchestrating a flank attack with your cavalry or carefully keeping your archers out of harm’s way, generals will either be decimating your infantry or being decimated by your opponent’s. The last and most obvious meaningful change to Total War’s real-time battles is in the units themselves. In the olden days of historical Total War, you had to dig out the history books just to figure out what a given unit even did in battle, and how it should be used. To wield a throng of Yari Ashigaru properly, you had to first learn who on Earth the Yari Ashigaru were, at what range a Yari – a Japanese straight-headed spear, for those who skipped Shogun 1&2 – was effective, and in what sort of formation the Ashigaru were most effective against charging cavalry. You left those games feeling like some hybrid of a military historian and archaeologist, with such singular insight into the manner war was waged in that time and place that the details would stay with you for years. In Total War: Warhammer, too, time had to be spent with your race and faction, figuring out how to maximise Bretonnia’s cavalry-focused roster and what to do when you faced an army specifically built to counter cavalry – be annihilated, in my experience. It was the same rock, paper, scissors system that has underpinned Total War’s real-time battle engines since Shogun 1, and in fact, if you CRTL+F ‘rock, paper, scissors’ on any piece written about the franchise since its inception there’s a strong chance you’ll find it at least once. But the characters, strong visual identifiers, specialities, and unique units in higher level armies made Total War: Warhammer just as deep, if not quite as bookish, as previous historical games. That enormous aside exists to underline that this simply isn’t the case in Total War: Three Kingdoms. The historical depth isn’t there, and in the real-time battles specifically, the gap isn’t filled by anything with the same fascinating density. Later on, higher level units can be unlocked, but the armies of the 12 legendary warlords fighting for China are very similar: archers, swordsmen, cavalry, spears, pikemen. The only meaningful differentiation comes from the generals employed to lead those units, and they have all manner of far-reaching effects both in real-time and in the turn-based strategic layer. It’s just not quite the same as crafting a historically accurate army of units you know inside out, and who are bespoke from their enemies. Real-time battles are just one side of the coin though. It’s a very different story in the turn-based layer, where the Three Kingdoms licence feels additive and the accompanying art direction, all painterly pastoral scenes and pop-up book prettiness, brings a new personality to the old framework. Most importantly, it’s where vendettas and alliances are forged, and it’s these that prove more memorable than any one skirmish. Which brings me back to Yuan Shao. We became enemies almost immediately during my first campaign as Cao Cao, after he capitalised on my waging war on the nearby Han Empire to unify Chen by marching in and taking a farm of mine. This happened within ten turns of the campaign on normal difficulty, mind you. Usually, Total War opponents are too busy trying to make nonsensical trades with you during this phase to take your territory, but nope. So long farmland, and so long having enough food to feed my fledgling empire. I remedied the situation by making a few deals with Liu Bei to the east, unloading a few trade ancillaries for good favour and enough cash to build a decent army. Eventually, that friendship grew into a full-blown coalition, and Yuan Shao backed off when threatened by Liu Bei’s military force. Occasionally I caught the AI doing baffling and illogical things like marching to and fro between settlements for no clear reason, or coming to me with surprisingly generous trade offers. But generally they functioned believably, doing me no favours, and reacting appropriately to my diplomatic actions. By turn 20, Yuan Shao had somehow managed to subordinate four or five smaller factions. This proved enormously irritating, but it also laid the foundation for a narrative I got engrossed in for many hours, and found myself thinking about in idle moments waiting for the kettle to boil. Those dependent states all but surrounded my territory, so in order to expand at all, I had to go to war with not one but five factions, take the territory I desired, then broker a peace agreement, lick my wounds and do it all again. Since my main ally Liu Bei had become enormously powerful in this time, I was able to keep falling on his military support to dissuade Yuan Shao from actively invading, although it cost me many trade ancillaries and a few military support pacts of my own to keep him sweet, let me tell you. All the while, the added intricacies of the Total War: Three Kingdoms campaign throw curveballs at your plans, in many ways mimicking the overwhelmingly complex Paradox grand strategies driven by the Clausewitz Engine. Successions change diplomatic relationships, sometimes while you’re in the middle of a war with a faction and about to take their capital. One leader snuffs it, then – bam! Everything changes. Generals, administrators, and others in your court have their own relationships to you and to each other, often throwing in a bit of spice to the mix like public order effects, bonuses to trade, po[CENSORED]tion growth, or the like. But they don’t prove such a distraction as to totally undermine your grander plans or pull your attention away from what really matters. In my case: Yuan Shao. I’m several hundred turns in now, and he and I are on roughly equal footing. He still holds two vassals, and although we’ve been at war for what must be decades, he still regularly offers me the chance to become a vassal state of his, in exchange for peace. This is a game of such vastness and intricacy – not to mention such extensive DLC plans, no doubt – that it will be judged over months or years, rather than weeks. While that leaves reviewers such as myself to ponder the pointless little lives we’ve carved out for ourselves, the best we can do is keep playing it. And the most telling thing to be said about Total War: Three Kingdoms is that despite its faint disappointments in real-time battles, I am absolutely compelled to keep playing.

A spate of animal attacks and the appearance of occult symbols in the New Forest are being investigated by police, with local residents concerned a Satanic-style cult could be to blame. One sheep was fatally stabbed and marked with pentagrams near the Hampshire village of Bramshaw, while one heifer and two calves were found with stab wounds in the Linwood area. The animals were later treated by vets. Satanic symbols, which included an inverted cross and the number 666, have also been sprayed onto the door of St Peter’s Church in Bramshaw. Police are currently investigating to establish whether the incidents, which have been taking place since Tuesday 12 November, are linked. Reverend David Bacon, the vicar at St Peter’s, said: “People are concerned. I’ve been here 15 years and seen a lot of stuff, but nothing like this. “It could just be kids, but I don’t think it is, given the context. “There’s been witchcraft round here for hundreds of years – the New Forest is well known for witchcraft and black magic happening, and this has obviously gone up a level.” The New Forest covers more than 220 square miles of southwest Hampshire, with locally-owned livestock allowed to roam freely across the woodland under common rights dating back to the 13th century. Author and occultist Gerald Gardner, who died in 1964, claimed a coven – a secret society of witches – met there at the start of the 20th century. Tony Hockley, a resident and the chairman of the New Forest Commoners Defence Association (CDA), expressed his concern at the effect the attacks could have on the local community. “Any harm to New Forest livestock hurts everyone,” he told The Independent. “We all depend upon the vocational commitment of 700 local people to turn livestock out to graze the landscape. Most have just a few animals, and there are only 200 sheep in the whole of the New Forest. “It is devastating to lose one in this way, and it is the sort of thing that will make commoners give up. If the grazing goes then the accessibility, culture and biodiversity go too. “We’d implore anyone with any information on these terrible incidents to help the police.” Mr Hockley added that he was not aware of a history of occult incidents in the area but added: “The New Forest, like many rural areas, has a historical association with witchcraft so that draws some people and some of the local shops trade on that but it’s normally more about fairies.” Hampshire police are also making enquiries into reports of a second sheep being found dead and covered in markings within the New Forest. Sergeant Andy Williams, of Hampshire Constabulary’s Country Watch team, said: “These incidents are unusual in the New Forest. We are looking at the circumstances of each one to see if they are linked, and to see how these animals came to be injured. “If you have any information that could help our enquiries, then please call 101, quoting the crime reference number 44190416137. “We would also urge anyone who uses the Forest, including Commoners, to be vigilant. Please contact us if you see anything suspicious, even if you think what you have seen or heard is not that important.” Animal charity RSPCA said: “We are very concerned about how these animals died so would urge anyone with information to contact police who are investigating.”

A man in China who spent more than £1 million on a video game character has sued his friend for selling it for less than £500. Lu Mou spent nearly 10 million yuan (£1.1m) developing a character in the game Justice Online, according to court documents first reported by Chinese tech news site Abacus. The customised character was then accidentally listed on the in-game marketplace NetEase for just 3,888 yuan by Mr Mou's friend Li Mouscheng. Mr Mouscheng had been trying to return the character to his friend after being given it to play, however made an error due to being "dizzy from excessive gaming". A judge at the Hongya County Court of Sichuan Province ruled that the character must be returned to the original owner and that damages of 90,000 yuan must be awarded to the player who bought the character for the discounted price. The local court also warned people about the dangers of spending too much time playing video games. The incident comes after China announced strict curfew measures on gamers in an attempt to combat video game addiction in the country. Children under the age of 18 are banned from playing more than 90 minutes of games per day on a week day, and no more than three hours per day on weekends and holidays. Authorities at China's General Administration of Press and Publications said the measures were aimed at protecting the "physical and mental health of minors". The regulators cited concerns that the rise in mobile phone use and online games have caused a significant rise in myopia and other forms of visual impairment. The new laws in China also prevent children under 16 years old from spending more than 200 yuan per month on in-game items.