Four women speak out about their underage experiences with the movie star and musician. Are the floodgates finally about to open?

Jared Leto has long been a person with something of a reputational issue. The public-facing side of this was bad enough – while playing The Joker in 2016’s Suicide Squad, he reportedly sent rats, dead pigs and used condoms to his cast mates – but for years there have been upsetting rumours about what he does in private. After a lengthy investigation, the BBC documentary Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret has finally brought at least some of them to light.

This is, as you might imagine, not a fun thing to watch. The film documents allegations of what are said to be decades of systematic criminal misconduct against teenage girls. The women interviewed here allege sexual assault, threatened sexual assault, sexualised grooming and statutory rape. They are backed up by anonymous male former co-workers who claim to have witnessed the machinery that Leto set up to procure underage girls from concerts.

Every time I get my hair done, I find myself confronted with rising costs, and dizzyingly long maintenance regimes

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This week, I tried to book in for some knotless braids at the last minute. I knew I was going to be writing about how the simple pleasure of getting a head of box braids is starting to feel increasingly complicated, and thought that it would be good to get some pictures of the process. Then, I found myself getting wound up as the subject of this newsletter began to play out on a sort of meta-level.

When I decided to get my hair done for this piece, I knew that booking a next-day braiding slot would prove to be a kafkaesque task. My usual place asks that you schedule around a month in advance. My second option says that we’d need a “private room” to bring a photographer, bumping the bill up to £600. While trying to write an immersive report on the difficulties that come with getting braids, I suddenly realise that I am living the report.

Finally a grownup is in charge who speaks to voters as fellow adults. If he fixes this, he’ll achieve more than most other PMs

• UK politics live – latest updates

It feels like the UK has a prime minister again. Not the Maybot paralysed with indecision. Not the clown-like Boris Johnson who crumbled under the weight of his own narcissism. Not the ridiculous Liz Truss. Not the steamrollered Rishi Sunak for whom everything was impossible. Not the automaton-like Keir Starmer who was never entirely sure what he wanted to do.

But a prime minister who is emotionally intelligent. Who understands the country and can connect with it. Who is prepared to expend political capital to get the things done that other politicians were too weak to go near. You can almost feel the sense of relief in a UK that has become almost accepting of decline and failure. It’s the return of hope over grievance. Where once more we have an adult prime minister prepared to speak to voters as fellow adults. It could catch on.

Laughter, disbelief and outrage over video appearing to show Saltburn player tricking umpire into giving batters out

At the Saltburn over-60s ukulele club there was a unanimous reaction to news that the town’s cricket club were being compared to the Argentina football team: laughter. Then a spirited rendition of I Love to Boogie.

On the seafront, a litter-picking volunteer was looking forward to the Wednesday night quiz just to get the gossip. But she had her own view. “All I would say is it’s just not cricket, is it?”

Dominic Sessa stars as a conceited yet vulnerable young chef alongside Antonio Banderas – but the feelgood factor is compromised by what we know of the author

For all the drugs and punch-ups, this is an unexpectedly sentimental coming-of-age story – or maybe origin myth – about the formative youthful kitchen experiences of legendary badass chef Anthony Bourdain. It is taken from the opening chapters in his bestselling memoir Kitchen Confidential; Canadian film-maker Matt Johnson directs and Dominic Sessa (the callow kid from Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers) plays the conceited, smug yet lonely and vulnerable young college student Tony. “Anthony” is in the future.

It is the mid-1970s and Tony effectively runs away from home after failing to get a residential summer writing scholarship that he had assured everyone was in the bag. He shows up nearly penniless in the seaside vacation resort of Provincetown, Massachusetts – a place that is pretty similar to Amity Island in Jaws, which is showing at every drive-in. The reason is that he has a desperate crush on Nancy (Emilia Jones) who is there for the summer too and whom he desperately wants to impress with his smouldering intellectualism.

Five years ago, I wrote an open letter asking climate scientists to speak out against fossil fuels. Now governments are in retreat, it is surely time to act

• France and Spain race to contain huge wildfires before fresh heatwave begins

Such is the astonishing scale of the wildfires burning at the gates of Bordeaux and Madrid, that if they had happened 20 – even 10 – years back, they may well have shocked the world into taking action on the climate crisis. But like the proverbial frog in a pot of slowly heating water, we have become inured; not only to the ever more devastating impacts of climate breakdown, but increasingly to the actions needed to bring global heating to heel.

Even as more than 35,000 wildfires rage across the surface of our world, and as we continue to rewind our planet’s climate so it resembles hotter episodes from its distant past, governments and trading blocs are very deliberately turning away from climate action.

Bill McGuire is professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London and author of The Fate of the World: a History and Future of the Climate Crisis

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Exclusive: Sources say Fiona Cottrell told bankers the transfers, received 24-72 hours before her donations to Reform, came from her son

The convicted fraudster George Cottrell transferred a total of more than $2m to his mother, Fiona Cottrell, in the days before her 2024 donations to Reform UK, the Guardian understands.

Financial industry sources told the Guardian that Fiona received one deposit of $1.4m and two tranches of more than $300,000 each – money she attributed to having come from her son, George, when bankers asked about the deposits.

Environment Agency names seven regions affected by unusually hot and dry weather and shortage of water

Half of England is officially in drought, with July set to be the driest on record after winter floods, the Environment Agency has said.

The “flash drought” developed quickly because of unusually low rainfall and high temperatures.

Introducing the legislation would be ‘very challenging’ until care system improved, PM says

• UK politics live – latest updates

Andy Burnham has said the assisted dying debate needs to wait until palliative care and social care are fixed, as he set out his path to resolving one of the most intractable problems in British politics.

The prime minister said he was not opposed to having the debate on assisted dying, but told reporters it would be “very challenging” to introduce the controversial legislation until the care system was in a better place.

Riyadh’s decision to join US in strikes on Iran-backed militia further complicates widening and ‘unpredictable’ war

US-Saudi strikes on Iran-backed militia in Iraq on Wednesday have pushed the region into “uncharted territory”, analysts have warned.

Amid stark warnings of a widening and increasingly “unpredictable” conflict, Riyadh’s decision to publicly join the US in striking sites associated with Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), killing at least 20 fighters, has added another complicating dimension to the war.

Johannes Kongsnes Natland was recruited to murder unknown person by international crime gang linked to Iran

A Norwegian teenager has been found guilty of travelling to England to carry out a killing ordered by an international crime gang linked to Iran.

Johannes Kongsnes Natland, 19, from Stavanger, Norway, agreed to shoot an unknown person for €25,000 (£21,500) in March last year. Two days after he arrived in the UK armed police arrested him in a hotel room in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, seizing two guns and ammunition.

Claimants’ insurance might not cover Associated Newspapers’ costs for defending phone-hacking case, high court hears

The Duke of Sussex and his co-claimants could be millions of pounds out of pocket after losing their privacy case against the publishers of the Daily Mail, the high court in London heard.

The seven claimants, who include Prince Harry, Doreen Lawrence and Elton John, sued Associated Newspapers Limited over allegations of unlawful information gathering, with their claims dismissed in their entirely by Mr Justice Nicklin on 7 July. Now, their insurance may not cover the costs incurred by ANL defending the case.

Adviser to Trump and Biden for pandemic says Republican senator has ‘unhinged obsession’ with him

• US politics – live updates

Dr Anthony Fauci, who served as a key adviser to Donald Trump and Joe Biden during the Covid-19 pandemic, has refused to answer questions at a high-profile congressional hearing, accusing a Republican senator of having an “unhinged obsession” with him.

Fauci, the veteran former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Niaid), invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination when appearing before a Senate committee on Wednesday.

FSB puts Pavel Durov on international wanted lists and says his messaging app is used for sabotage and murder

Russian officials have charged Pavel Durov, the founder and chief executive of the messaging app Telegram, with aiding terrorism.

The charges against the 41-year-old Russian-born billionaire, who lives in the Gulf, are the latest step by the Kremlin to bring the internet and digital communications under its control after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

K-pop superstars will not submit Arirang album or its songs for 2027 ceremony

BTS, the biggest pop act in east Asia, have withdrawn themselves from the 2027 Grammy awards, intimating that their decision is due to the addition of a new award for best Asian pop music performance.

Writing on Instagram, each of the South Korean group’s seven members said: “We have decided not to enter the Grammys this year. I hope that music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language.”

Experts say lower-severity charges for American service personnel are deepening traumatic impact on survivors

American service personnel accused of rape on British soil are being charged with lesser offences by their military courts, a discrepancy that experts say is deepening the traumatic impact on survivors long after verdicts are passed.

There are more than 12,000 personnel stationed in US military bases across the UK, most of them in England. Although UK law enforcement has primary jurisdiction over crimes that occur when personnel are off duty, local police often choose to cede authority to the American military.

Fifa president Gianni Infantino has announced plans to sell off stakes in the World Cup to private investors in a new commercial entity worth $20bn. One of the leading would-be investors is Joshua Kushner, brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared.

The plans have prompted an immediate backlash – with Uefa accusing Fifa of trying to ‘sell football’s soul’. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian reporter Paul MacInnes

Exclusive: The former education secretary on her new role as Labour chair and continuing as the minister for women and equalities

If Bridget Phillipson is angry at losing a job – one that, in the brief honeymoon period at the start of Keir Starmer’s Labour government, she called the “honour of my life” – she is doing a good job of hiding it. “It hurts to lose a job you love,” she says. “Being education secretary was amazing … and I’m really proud of what we achieved in that time.”

Phillipson was removed during the clearout of Starmer’s cabinet when Andy Burnham took office last week, and was replaced by Lucy Powell, an ally of the new prime minister. But unlike some spurned colleagues, Phillipson didn’t walk away from government, instead accepting the brief of women and equalities minister – now a cabinet standalone position – which she had previously held alongside education.

Adding layers doesn’t have to leave you a hot mess – think sheer scarves and crochet with flashes of colour to elevate your look

Perhaps I shouldn’t admit this, but I’m in two minds about summer dressing. Part of me believes summer is about joy, sunshine and good times, and clothes should embrace all of that. This woman loves Pucci and owns not one but two silver kaftans. The other part of me believes summer should be uncomplicated, laid-back and earthy. This woman never checks in luggage and has worn the same black beach cover-up for so many years it’s too threadbare to cover anything much.

The thing is, either approach looks absurd if taken to extremes. Candy swirls, cherry prints and strawberry bag charms are delightful, but pile them too high and you look like a walking knickerbocker glory. And while white linen shirts and simple black sandals are chic, you risk looking a bit like you’re on a meditation retreat where the dress code is “wealthy disciple”. Know what I mean?

Writer Sarah Wilson argues we’re hurtling toward the same end as ancient Rome and the Mayan civilisation – but there’s plenty to fight for

In Sarah Wilson’s new book, one page is mostly blank. It’s intended as a reprieve, a neutral space “for you to stare at for a minute while your feelings catch up”.

You will need it. In I Eat the Stars, Wilson argues that the world as we know it is in collapse – and that we are too late to avoid the worst.

While the sizes and prices are staying the same, brands are reducing the alcohol content in their beer

Name: Drinkflation.

Age: The current round started in 2023.

Fiona Shields is the Guardian’s global head of photography, overseeing all the images across our websites and print publications. She answered your questions about guarding against AI, advice for young photographers and more

ndl4321 asks: Are we slowly seeing the end of use of black and white photography?

So little of what is seen these days seems to have been composed specifically for monochrome as opposed to being taken in colour and then effects added afterwards.

I think the biggest leap away from black and white photography came when newspapers started printing in colour. This was definitely seen as a way of bringing the pages to life. Since then, it’s true, colour photography is much more usual but I think there is still a place for black and white images to give a particular sense of atmosphere, a timeless quality and often the absence of colour can help the viewer make sense of a complicated scene.

I think the continued publication of him stepping out of cars, striding along with his briefcase has added to the context of the story - that this is a person with a high profile in public life. We have also published the artist’s impressions of him in court, but it seems we have no police “mugshot” of him on file which is the type of picture usually published when a guilty verdict is handed down so perhaps none was provided to the media.

Ella Langley’s country single has spent 15 weeks as US number one thanks to its retro-modern sound, a viral misheard lyric – and a boost from the Ella Fellas

This week, Ella Langley beat a chart record held by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. The country singer’s Choosin’ Texas has now spent 15 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, making it the longest-running US No 1 by a female solo artist for a non-holiday single. The previous record holders, Houston’s I Will Always Love You and Carey’s We Belong Together, were bombastic pop events, the sort of unassailable hits that make sense as Hot 100 chartbusters. Choosin’ Texas, meanwhile, is a midtempo two-step with a relaxed vocal delivery and decidedly retro sound.

For Victoria Banks, a Nashville-based songwriter and instructor at Belmont University, the song’s breeziness is key to its success. “It’s a sleeper hit – it’s understated and unassuming,” she says. “Everything about the song throws back to a simpler time in country music that people are really craving.”

The Tories and Reform had it easy when Keir Starmer was self-destructing – but a new PM with ideas exposes how vacant the opposition has become

Andy Burnham’s recollections of Britain in the 1970s must be pretty hazy. He was nine when the decade ended. Kemi Badenoch, born in 1980, can remember nothing. Lacking first-hand experience, the Conservative leader evokes the turmoil of a bygone era with cautionary zeal borrowed from an older generation. In a speech last week, she accused the new prime minister of pining for “endless strikes, rubbish not being collected, bodies not being buried, inflation at 25% and a chancellor going cap-in-hand to the IMF”.

This is more incantation than argument, a ritual fondling of beads on the Tory rosary. It is a symptom of a leader under stress, affirming her faith in Our Lady Margaret Thatcher and warding off socialist devils. Burnham has done nothing to support the claim that his government is a 70s tribute act, unless you count the appointment of a man named Healey as chancellor and the imposition of price controls on buses.

Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist

The US vice-president is facing a barrage of allegations and complaints from inside and outside the Republican ranks. Good news for Marco Rubio – but not for the rest of the world

There’s something a bit off about JD Vance. And I mean that literally: the vice-president has been snacking on sauerkraut and other fermented foods as part of a weight-loss regime. Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr got a number of Trump officials, including Vance, on to the diet, and is thrilled with the results. “Within 20 days I lost 20 pounds,” Kennedy said at an event in Michigan last month. “JD Vance is also on the diet and you can see how different he looks.” Dunno about that: still looks like a naked opportunist to me.

If you want to get into Donald Trump’s good books, improving your looks is a surefire way to do so. According to MS Now, the president is loving Vance’s svelte new figure; it’s helped propel him back into Trump’s good graces. Which is lucky for him because he doesn’t have many other fans. They may be full of beneficial bacteria, but everyone around Vance seems to hate his guts.

The queer community has lost resources and protection due to decisions made by the people now mouthing solidarity in public

It feels like a well-rehearsed script. First come the flowers, then the pious statements. One after another, mainstream German politicians have lined up to claim that the attack on Berlin Pride last weekend was an attack on “all of us”, “our values” and “our society”.

Except it was not. This atrocity in which a van was rammed into the crowd was, first and foremost, an attack on queer people. A vulnerable community that has been fighting for its rights for many decades; that, in recent years and all over the world, has increasingly been targeted by conservative forces.

European football has shown an increased willingness to talk tough with Fifa but words can only be wielded so many times

• FA joins criticism of Fifa plan to sell off World Cup stakes

As the World Cup neared its conclusion, one leading figure in European football pondered how Gianni Infantino might attempt to rinse away the damaging stain of the Folarin Balogun scandal. It all came down to money. “He will just announce more funds for everyone,” was the gist, although the tournament passed without any explanation of how Fifa would carve up its record $15bn (£11.2bn) haul.

That was the tip of the iceberg. Infantino’s plan to sell chunks of the World Cup to private investors, announced on Tuesday, nine days after the final, has sent shock waves around the sport and left senior personnel scrambling. There is little time for a coordinated response given Fifa, at the height of what passes for football’s holiday period, has given FAs until 19 September to decide whether to accept the initial $20m payment that would effectively count as endorsement of the new scheme.

Modern weddings seem to have become all about the spectacle – although, if you do take the opulent route, I still want to come

Am I allowed to start a column about weddings by saying I don’t know exactly what I think about weddings and marriage in general? Well let’s see.

One thing I do know: I really like attending weddings. I love to go as a valued guest, to see close friends in love and watch dads I have known for many years gruffly and fearfully breach the dancefloor. But I also love to go as a totally minor guest (the better for people-watching) and collect anecdotes about who, from the various overlapping families, hates who. People will just tell you these things, especially if your presence is quite random. I like to see the freshly single sporting their revenge dresses and haircuts and physiques. I like to witness and partake in the abundance of flirting. I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad time at a wedding.

Rachel Connolly is a writer and the author of the novel Lazy City

The White House fails to understand that Mark Carney and Canada’s regional leaders can’t cave in to the US president: it’s too toxic to voters

• Matt Gurney is a journalist based in Toronto

Though many hate to admit it, Canadians have long wished for more attention from the US. Well, we’re getting it now. And it turns out that President Trump and some of his top supporters in the Maga movement don’t much like us.

The first big hint was when he started talking about annexing us, saying we couldn’t survive without American support. But the most recent example of Trump’s dislike for Canada can be seen in his latest tariff policies. Canada was largely spared the impact of his “Liberation Day” tariffs in April 2025 by its pre-existing free trade deal with the US (and Mexico), but earlier this month, as expected, the US declined to extend that deal for another 16-year term. It’s now subject to annual renegotiations. Then, last week, the White House announced tariffs as high as 50% on a selection of Canadian products including, for the first time, items previously protected by the trade agreement. The US called it retaliation for Canadian trade practices.

Matt Gurney is a journalist based in Toronto, and co-editor of The Line, an online magazine

A youth movement born from exam leaks and online mockery has pierced Narendra Modi’s aura of invincibility and may yet reshape Indian politics

“What if all cockroaches come together?” was the question that humbled India’s strongman prime minister, Narendra Modi. It was posted on X by Abhijeet Dipke, an Indian student in the US with a master’s in public relations. Enraged that India’s top judge likened unemployed youths to insects and “parasites”, and that millions saw medical exams compromised by leaks, Mr Dipke lit a fuse. For India’s nearly 400 million gen Z, public exams are often the only ladder to a secure future. When papers leak or tests are cancelled, that ladder is kicked away. By June, young people were protesting peacefully in Delhi as the Cockroach Janta party (CJP), a parody of Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP). They demanded the resignation of the education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan.

This weekend, Mr Pradhan became the first senior minister in Mr Modi’s 12 years in power to be forced from office by a mass-protest movement. It came after credible reports suggested police officers attacked protesters marching to parliament. Security sources say it was they who were attacked. This may be just the beginning. The concession has taught the Cockroach movement’s leadership that pressure works. They could have declared victory and gone home. Instead they have accused the government of breaching the terms of the settlement offered by Mr Modi’s government. The CJP claims at least 100 people have been arrested, many on non-bailable charges. Its leaders are now demanding the release of detainees and threatening to remobilise nationally.

New research linking the issue to Parkinson’s disease adds to the evidence of serious health repercussions from traffic volume and other sources

The roar of late-night traffic is not just annoying for those trying to sleep. It can also have profound effects on their health. A pioneering new study, published this month, has found a clear link between road noise and Parkinson’s disease. The research, which followed more than 3 million Danish participants, found a modest but consistent effect: for every 11.5dB rise in noise level, the risk of the degenerative disorder rose by 3% over the 18-year study.

The study adds to the growing body of evidence that auditory nuisance is associated with serious physical consequences. The European Environment Agency reported last year that more than 110 million people across the continent suffer high levels of health-damaging noise pollution, with physiological stress and sleep disturbance leading to 66,000 early deaths annually as well as heart disease, diabetes and depression. It found that the harm caused was greater than from secondhand tobacco smoke exposure.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Fernando Quintana Marrero responds to a report about children housed in a building in London becoming sick after families were denied air conditioning

How did London get here (Families in London temporary housing told they cannot use in-built air conditioning, 27 July)? Your report says homeless families, including young children, were placed in a glass tower during a heatwave and told they could not use the building’s air conditioning because it had “not been offered as an amenity”. If that doesn’t make every Londoner stop in disbelief, we’ve become dangerously desensitised. This is no longer a housing crisis, it is a crisis of basic human dignity.

London proudly markets itself as one of the world’s greatest cities: a global financial capital overflowing with luxury developments, billion-pound property portfolios and record-breaking real estate values. Yet, in the shadow of that wealth, children are being expected to endure dangerously hot flats where the very system designed to make the building habitable is effectively treated as a luxury.

Readers respond to Jonathan Freedland’s article on one of the new prime minister’s first policy announcements in office

Jonathan Freedland recounts how when he was 14 years old, Greater London council, led by Ken Livingstone, reduced child fares on the buses to 5p in a scheme called Fares Fair (Scoff at cheaper bus fares and No 10 North if you like, but Andy Burnham knows what he’s doing, 24 July). In 1950s Liverpool, the corporation had a scheme for schoolchildren in the holidays whereby they could buy a “penny return” to anywhere on the tram network. You could, for example, travel from the Pier Head by the Mersey on the number 10 tram to Prescot, almost 10 miles inland, and back again. Or you could use your ticket to transfer from your first destination to a different one rather than using it as a return. Sadly the last tram ran in 1957.

I remember on one occasion being on the tram when a rather tall boy asked for a penny return. The conductor obviously suspected that he was over the age limit. He gave him his ticket, but asked him: “Why didn’t you bring the missis?” And by the way, this was of course the old penny, of which there were 240 to the pound sterling.
Joe Cocker
Leominster, Herefordshire

I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again | Marmite ice-cream | Obituaries | Natural causes | Vanished plate

Sad to hear of Bill Oddie’s death (Report, 27 July). He first grabbed my attention in I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again, a 1960s radio show with fine comedic talent: John Cleese, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, David Hatch, Jo Kendall. Bill’s songs were always witty. I remember going to a recording of the show and watching him grapple with the line “He battled with the rollocks”. To a 14-year-old that was hysterical. As a lifelong depressive, when I heard about Bill’s own battle, I felt sympathy for him and comfort for myself.
Chris House
Hertford

• Regarding the best ice-creams, Lucy Knight awards 5/10 for flavour to the Marmite on toast creation (Scoop of the year!, 28 July). Surely in the case of Marmite, the only appropriate ratings are 10 or zero?
Adrian Brodkin
London

Readers respond to Guardian analysis examining what Britain would look like under an electoral system of PR

Antonio Voce and Ashley Kirk’s excellent article (How could Britain look under proportional representation?, 22 July) provides a helpful view on how Britain’s electoral landscape could look under different voting systems.

Perhaps most striking is that whichever the proportional representation (PR) system used, when compared with first past the post they all make a good job of producing a parliament that reflects how the nation voted. There is not as much difference between them as enthusiasts of each PR system might expect, in terms of each party winning its fair proportion of seats, and in terms of voters therefore getting a fair say in who governs us.

• Updates from Wednesday’s live action in Glasgow

• Medal table | Day six in pictures | Mail Luke

Men’s 200m freestyle James Guy qualifies for the final with the quickest time but Scott hasn’t done enough with Tom Dean making it through depsite finishing fourth in his heat.

Men’s 200m freestyle Scott looks like he’ll miss out with heat six seeing three men, including Matt Richards of Wales and Northern Ireland’s Jack McMillan, go faster.

• Hoare confirms he was ‘six miles away’ on training run

• Josh Kerr books place in Saturday’s men’s mile final

It is not every day a reigning Commonwealth Games champion is asked whether he witnessed a murder in Glasgow. Then again, it has been quite a few days for the Australian 1500m runner Olli Hoare. After competing on Wednesday in the heats of the men’s mile – when he finished with bloodied knees after being tripped – the 29-year-old was asked about reports that he had come across a murder scene while out training with his teammate Ky Robinson.

“No, no, I didn’t see a murder,” Hoare said. “The murder that was reported was six miles away and also at a different time.”

• Matt Richardson won Olympic medals for Australia

• Showdown with former teammates had been anticipated

Former Australian track cyclist Matt Richardson has pulled out of the Commonwealth Games because of an injury he suffered while racing in Japan.

In a major blow to the Glasgow games, the English team announced on Wednesday night (AEST) that their sprint ace would no longer compete.

• 23-year-old open to Premier League move

• PSG value Barcola in the region of £145m

Liverpool are preparing an opening offer for Bradley Barcola after talks with the Paris Saint Germain forward’s representatives.

Barcola is a leading target for Liverpool as they look to add a proven winger to Andoni Iraola’s squad before the new season. Yan Diomande had been wanted but is set to join Real Madrid after PSG pulled out of a deal for the RB Leipzig winger.

• ‘Everyone looks at all opportunities,’ says Australian

• He is sceptical new Test coach can work with McCullum

Justin Langer says he has had no contact from the England and Wales Cricket Board about coaching the men’s Test team, and expressed scepticism over whether the proposed structure of having the new red-ball coach operate alongside their predecessor, Brendon McCullum, who remains in charge of the white-ball sides, can work.

The 55-year-old, who played 105 Tests for Australia and coached them between 2018 and 2022, was an early frontrunner for the England job after McCullum was sacked this month. But preliminary interviews have now been held with the candidates favoured by Rob Key, the ECB’s managing director of men’s cricket.

• Chief executive says fans don’t care about technology

• Season may finish in Europe due to war in Middle East

Stefano Domenicali has issued a stout rebuttal to critics of Formula One’s new regulations, claiming most fans are enjoying the sport more than ever and are unconcerned by driver complaints. The Formula One chief executive also confirmed that this season’s finale would be staged in Europe if the last two grands prix, in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, are called off due to the Middle East war.

Lando Norris, the defending world champion, hit out at F1 in Hungary last week for putting profit before the sport to attract engine manufacturers with the new regulations. The focus on electrical energy management has been roundly disliked by drivers.

Manuela Zinsberger and Alexandra Popp have made surprise moves to third-tier club looking to join elite

Located in Austria during a pre-season training camp, the Borussia Dortmund women’s team, squad as well as staff, are plotting how to reach the 2. Bundesliga after missing out on promotion during their rapid rise last season.

Dortmund finished two points off the top and a place in the regional playoffs despite a goal difference of +101, and the club have wasted no time in signing big names to make sure there is no such near-miss this time around.

Rescuers pulling people from the wreckage in southern Japan in a haunting repeat of disaster that struck 10 years ago

• ‘Race against time’: Japan earthquake death toll rises as rescue teams search for missing

“There was a voice coming from the collapsed house, and I could see a hand,” Tomohide Nagata, a volunteer firefighter, told the Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun. “One of our senior members crawled in and pulled him out. He was bleeding from the head, but I’m so glad he survived.”

Nagata had heard a noise coming from one completely flattened home in the rural town of Hikawa, close to the epicentre of Tuesday’s 6.8-magnitude earthquake in southern Japan. The town was one of the areas hardest hit, with numerous older houses collapsing. Terrified of the ongoing aftershocks, many residents spent Tuesday night in their cars outside Hikawa’s town hall, where staff distributed food and drinks.

Greek authorities identify remains after reported discovery in a derelict building by homeless man

A body found in a suitcase in an abandoned building in central Athens has been identified as that of a 38-year-old British woman, with Greek authorities saying she had been dead for several weeks.

Eleven days after the macabre find, police shed some light on the mystery of a body that until Wednesday had remained unidentified, after appealing to foreign law enforcement agencies.

James Desborough, who also strangled cellmate to death for snoring while awaiting trial, hid body fragments in Cornwall woods

A triple killer who murdered and dismembered the bodies of two of his friends before strangling a third man to death in prison while awaiting trial has been told he will spent the rest of his life behind bars.

Mr Justice Saini, who sentenced James Desborough, 40, at Winchester crown court, said the circumstances of the case were unique.

V&A Storehouse dispute centres on toilet and hydration breaks as employees across V&A in London also vote to strike in wider action

Staff at the V&A’s Storehouse site in east London have voted overwhelmingly to strike in a dispute over what they say are inadequate toilet and hydration breaks.

They will join staff across V&A sites in London who on Wednesday also voted to strike in a wider dispute over pay, working conditions, and the museum having declined to seek living wage accreditation.

Frontman of chart-topping band the Frames had huge success as the star of 2007 romantic drama Once

Glen Hansard, the Irish folk-rock musician and actor who fronted the band the Frames and had Oscar-winning success with the 2007 film Once, has died aged 56.

He died in a motorcycle crash in Lucan on the outskirts of Dublin, early on Wednesday morning. Without naming him, Irish police said he was treated at the scene for his injuries but died a short time later.

Adopting organic free-range model in UK could lead to greenhouse emissions equivalent to 2,316,000 tonnes of CO2, study suggests

Organic eggs are twice as bad for the climate as eggs from chickens living in cages, research suggests.

According to the study, switching the UK’s entire egg production to an organic free-range model would lead to greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 2,316,000 tonnes of CO2 (tCO2e), while production through a fully caged system would emit 1,184,000 tCO2e.

Biologists say cargo ships stranded in Gulf may carry highly potent invasive species around the world as trade resumes

The closure of the strait of Hormuz has created conditions for an extreme global biodiversity threat, with scientists warning that thousands of stranded ships could spread invasive marine species across the world’s oceans once they begin sailing again.

More than 1,500 commercial vessels have been stuck in the Gulf since the strategic waterway closed on 28 February after the outbreak of the US-Israel war on Iran. An international team of marine biologists said that with the stranded ships remaining motionless, their hulls were becoming encrusted with marine life – from microbes and algae to barnacles and other invertebrates – that could hitchhike to ports around the world when trade resumed.

Findings can inform conversations about global climate reparations and financing for mitigations, researchers say

Caribbean nations suffered $53.2bn (£40bn) of damage from climate-fuelled disasters between 2000 and 2024, research into the cost of the climate crisis to developing small islands has found.

The figure is more than 90% of the total $57bn in economic damage caused by floods, storms and drought across 39 developing island nations in the Caribbean, the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, according to a study by development thinktank ODI Global.

More than 900 fires burning in only G7 country without national emergency agency to coordinate response

As more than 900 wildfires burn across Canada, prompting evacuation orders and pushing Ontario into its worst wildfire season on record, officials are renewing calls for the country to develop a national wildfire strategy through the creation of a federal agency.

Canada is the only G7 country that does not have a national emergency agency that is mandated to respond to wildfires.

Musa Ahmed was being treated in intensive care in London hospital after being pulled from West Mersea sea

A seven-year-old boy has died a week after an incident off the Essex coast in which his teenage cousin and her mother died as they tried to rescue him.

Musa Ahmed was being treated for life-threatening injuries after being pulled from the sea near West Mersea beach on 22 July.

Energy regulator’s plan would mean upfront fees or financial security via letters of credit, bonds or cash deposits

Datacentre projects in Britain will be forced to pay hundreds of millions of pounds to plug into the power grid under proposals to tackle a growing electricity connection logjam.

Ofgem, the sector watchdog, said it was taking action to discourage “speculative” datacentre projects from causing unnecessary delays to the grid connection queue, which also includes hospitals, schools and housing developments.

Green party leader says post was ‘inadvertent mistake’ after Reform UK accuses him of ‘inciting murder’

The Green party leader, Zack Polanski, has said he made an “inadvertent mistake” by sharing an Instagram post of a man wearing a T-shirt featuring an image of a guillotine and the phrase “we’re only making plans for Nigel”, but he repeatedly said he would not apologise to Nigel Farage.

Polanski told the BBC’s Newsnight programme he had accepted a request to collaborate with a photographer on Instagram, with the first photo in a set of 20 showing himself, and the fifth showing the T-shirt.

PM’s vocational model also takes inspiration from former education secretary Kenneth Baker’s vision

Andy Burnham’s plans to put academic and technical education routes on an equal footing in England have been welcomed by many, but none were more enthusiastic than the former Conservative minister Kenneth Baker.

“I’m very impressed with what he has said,” the 91-year-old former education secretary, home secretary and Conservative party chair told the Guardian. “It’s a very significant announcement. I’m going to try to persuade the Conservative party to support this.”

Comey’s lawyers say Secret Service tracked him and investigators turned to AI and a mafia killer to bolster case

Lawyers for former FBI director James Comey alleged on Tuesday that US Secret Service agents illegally surveilled Comey, Donald Trump requested regular updates into the investigation, and law enforcement turned to ChatGPT and a known mafia killer as they scrambled to find justification for criminally charging Comey for posting a picture of seashells that spelled out “8647”.

The claims were laid out in a motion to dismiss a criminal case the US Department of Justice filed against Comey in April, in which it said the post by Comey – whom Trump fired in his first term – was a threat on the US president’s life.

French authorities investigate death of musician who performed at Paris Olympics, but say ‘no suspicious elements’ at play

The French electronic musician Kavinsky, known for the song Nightcall which achieved iconic status after its inclusion in the Ryan Gosling film Drive, has died aged 50.

A police source speaking to French newspaper Le Figaro indicated that the suspected cause of death was a stroke. Kavinsky, real name Vincent Belorgey, had reportedly been complaining of headaches in recent days, and he was discovered at home after a concerned neighbour alerted emergency services.

Underground clinic’s fate hangs in the balance after government withdrew state funding

For most people, spending hours deep underground in darkness would seem an odd prescription for better health.

Yet every morning, a handful of Armenians descend 250 metres beneath the earth into an active salt mine where they spend six hours in cavernous chambers carved from rock salt, hoping the air below ground will help them breathe more easily.

Kremlin and state bank VTB may be forced to prop up online retailer amid crippling Ukrainian attacks; Kyiv prosecutors may target Lukashenko. What we know on day 1,617

ChatGPT developer says activity by autonomous tool was not at severity or scale of what occurred at Hugging Face

OpenAI has revealed that a cyber-attack carried out by a rogue AI agent had more than one victim.

The ChatGPT developer said the agent – an autonomous tool able to carry out sequences of commands without human help – had located and used logins to access four other unnamed “publicly-available services” in addition to the US startup Hugging Face.

Leading thinktank says higher oil prices and inflation will give Andy Burnham a ‘challenging inheritance’

Andy Burnham has been warned by a leading thinktank of “very difficult trade-offs in the next autumn budget” if the Iran war keeps oil prices and inflation high.

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said the new prime minister faced a “challenging inheritance” and his plans to revamp public services would meet severe pressure from persistently higher prices.

Layoffs will come in admin and development divisions in Germany, with production operations unaffected

BMW is planning to cut as many as 8,000 jobs in Germany, according to reports, in the latest sign of Europe’s largest carmakers reducing costs under pressure from Chinese rivals.

The Munich-headquartered company has started a voluntary redundancy programme agreed with employee representatives, a BMW spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Rise to £1.1bn in first six months of year for bakery chain largely down to opening of new stores

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Iced matcha lattes and a bigger range of salads and chicken rolls helped Greggs to boost its sales during the string of summer heatwaves, as the bakery said it was adapting to the UK’s increasingly hot summers.

Total sales at Britain’s biggest fast food business rose to £1.1bn for the first six months of the year, 7.2% higher than the same period a year earlier.

‘I was thinking about the Terracotta Army when I took this shot of Birmingham swimmers in their local pool, which faced closure. They had to stand there for an hour, waiting for the sun to come out’

I took this image in Birmingham on 20 July 2014 – part of my first professional photography project. I had moved to the city in 2013 and I would pass this building every day on the bus on my way to the city centre. I remember looking at the facades and being impressed and intrigued by the three different entrances – what were once the first class, second class and women’s entrances.

One day I decided to get off the bus and find out what the building was. The door was open, and a nice lady welcomed me in and started to explain its history. It is the Moseley Road Baths, an Edwardian-era community building. In 2014 the second pool was still operating but the gala pool, where I took this image, was already empty. The building was in need of restoration and, without funding, the council planned to shut it down for good. The woman I met there told me lots of stories about the place – people who had come to learn to swim, how it had served as a casualty station during the second world war, and how it had even been used as a dance hall. It was a very charming place with an incredible history: as soon as I saw the gala pool, I knew I had to fill the majestic empty space.

James Cameron’s high-octane film sequel is a blueprint for modern action space slashers

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It is difficult to believe that James Cameron’s Aliens was released into cinemas 40 years ago. The seminal space shooter took the original Alien – a tense slasher film with a tiny cast and one monster – and transformed it into an intergalactic war movie crammed with wry one-liners, massive guns and an actual boss battle finale. As a 14-year-old, I stood in line at the Tatton Gatley cinema, unsure if I’d be allowed in – I came out three hours later a changed person, my head filled with esoteric military slang and a deep fear of beeping motion detectors. For days afterwards, I slept with my duvet covering my mouth so that no facehuggers could get me. (I was a highly impressionable teenager.)

It’s little wonder that the film has had such a profound effect on video game design. Take the colonial marines, for example. Although the concept of the space soldier had been around in sci-fi novels since the 1930s, most notably in the works of EE “Doc” Smith and Robert Heinlein (the Starship Troopers), Hicks, Hudson, Vasquez and co, were the perfect 80s rendition, combining the witty banter of contemporary buddy cop flicks with awesome weaponry and hi-tech gadgets. Their influence is easy to spot in Doom, where the nameless marine fights ceaseless waves of hellish monsters using a mix of futuristic rifles and good old shotguns. It’s there too in the Halo series, the Spartan soldiers sporting the same armour and mega weapons, cruising about in very similar highly militarised starships and fighting recognisable hive-mind space beasts. Gears of War, Killzone and Marathon all borrow from the same set of costumes and deadly accessories.

Great Gatsby glamour and a sailing theme guide two house-proud couples. Plus: Katie Price’s kids talk about their turbulent lives. Here’s what to watch this evening

8pm, Channel 4
Tinie Tempah is back with his surprisingly popular series about house extensions. The first wealthy couple are “unleashing Great Gatsby glamour on to their Edwardian terrace”; the second are transforming their chocolate-box cottage in Norfolk with an eco-build inspired by their love of sailing. Just one concern is that they will finish the job, then wish they had never bothered. Hollie Richardson

Courtenay gives a beautiful performance as the undertaker’s clerk who nurses preposterous ambitions. But the film is too quick to surrender them

This is John Schlesinger’s much-loved British comedy from 1963, based on the 1959 novel by Keith Waterhouse, itself part of the now almost forgotten Angry Young Man movement of which John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger and Kingsley Amis’s Lucky Jim were the other two classic texts – though perhaps it is really only Osborne’s hero who is actually angry.

Tom Courtenay plays Billy, a cheeky, naughty young man who is as daft as a brush and lives semi-permanently inside his own Walter Mitty-ish fantasy world. (Amis’s Jim Dixon had his own propensity to indulge in micro-imagined situations to get him out of whatever mortifying little class-based humiliations he found himself in.) Billy lives at home in Yorkshire with his mum and dad and works as an undertaker’s clerk, of all the banal things; he takes refuge in his reveries, chiefly the fiction that he is the ruler of a bizarre Ruritanian land called Ambrosia (perhaps named after the brand of rice pudding). Billy wants to be a comedy writer, and he is, after all, the experienced comedy writer of preposterous situations that are happening inside his own head.

The director of Ganja & Hess, Bill Gunn, turns analogue video and improvisation into a work of startling intimacy, humour and emotional force

In 1980, Bill Gunn, director of cult 70s horror Ganja & Hess, took on this quietly amazing micro-budget video project with author Ishmael Reed. It is an improvised melodrama in two parts about Black lives in New York, originally intended for television, and shot on analogue video. It is rough and ready, and the sound mix is sometimes very muddy indeed, but it pops with energy and life.

The film anticipates by decades the world of shooting movies on smartphones, even though they were presumably wielding camera equipment the size of a briefcase. Moreover, the opening titles to part one are so basic that they look like a modern intentionally VHS-fetishist gag by someone like Harmony Korine. You could also compare the boozy scenes and overlapping dialogue to Cassavetes or Altman. But for me, it all recalls Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm; there is genuine comedy in one scene in which a stern-faced hospital administrator in the emergency room asks an endless series of form-filling questions of a young man who has arrived in mortal agony, but can’t be treated until the bureaucracy is complete.

Velvet jackets and opera glasses are out, tight trousers and a hoofing glitter stomp are in. Interview With the Vampire’s taken quite the turn

It starts with drums, heavily reverbed: da-doom-ba-CHA, da-doom-ba-CHA, da-doom-ba-CHA, da-doom-ba-CHA-CHA. Cheap, chugging electric guitars kick in. A song plays, and although it’s an original composition it is at least 60% Blockbuster by Sweet. What in the Tony Visconti is happening? This is meant to be season three of Interview with the Vampire! Has it turned into a glam-rock musical?

Yes. Yes, it has. The show based on Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles books – a text it is serially unfaithful to while remaining loyal to the source material’s essence, a camp melange of the sinister, sordid and the deeply, sincerely emotional – was previously set in a lush vision of the past, starting in New Orleans in 1910. There romanced the vampires Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) and Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid), a sensitive pupil and wild, brittle master whose tumultuous relationship was remembered in a second timeline set in 2022 during an interview with Louis conducted by the journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). At the close of season two, Molloy published the titular book.

Composers from Purcell to Birtwistle have created passionate dramas inspired by ancient Greek stories – and none of them require you to sit through three hours of solemn spectacle without an interval

For me, the most astonishing thing about Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is its barnstorming popularity. I found this cinematic epic for the ages visually bloodless, expressively monotonous and very, very long. Mind you, it is good to know that Nolan thinks that war is, on balance, you know, once you really think about it, probably a bad idea.

The music, too, was disappointing. If I were Nolan, I’d have asked Mica Levi to score The Odyssey. Ludwig Göransson could have surely done more to make a soundworld of genuine strangeness, but all he could manage is a falling tritone and then a descending fifth on the two reeds and pipes of a recreated aulos, which he uses as a melancholy leitmotif in all-too-conventional Hollywood fashion. (The aulos is beautifully played by Callum Armstrong on the soundtrack, at least.) The best sounds in the film come in the scene with Samantha Morton’s Circe, in which the crew’s gluttony is horrorshow ASMR: surround-sound mastication that threatens to devour the audience.

How did an album that began life in 1984 – fusing disco, folk, synth-pop and Chinese opera – end up as ‘one of 2026’s most thrilling releases’? And why does its creator call himself Nirosta Steel?

‘It’s kind of mind-bending,” says 69-year old Steven Hall. For the last three years, the Scottish musician has been living with his lawyer husband a few hours south of Chicago, driving an Uber for some additional income. Now, suddenly, he is being lauded by critics for his double LP My Skyscraper, released last month under the name Nirosta Steel. Compiling material recorded between 1984 and 2025, it charts a sonic landscape through disco, folk and synth-pop with detours into Chinese opera and ecclesiastical a cappella. Pitchfork called it “an archival triumph and one of the year’s most thrilling new releases”.

It all came about when a label head, impressed with Nirosta Steel’s 2014 album Cool Fire, asked Hall if he had any more music. “He didn’t know what he was in for,” says Hall. The couple of dozen unreleased songs he shared spanned four decades of eclectic musicianship, and revealed a globe-trotting life and career that intersects with experimental icons such as Arthur Russell and Allen Ginsberg. Now My Skyscraper seems poised to admit Hall into that rarified pantheon of historically salvaged artists whose time has belatedly arrived.

Breakin’ the Cycle had celeb performers who hoped it would go to Cannes. Until they realised its creators were still running a drug gang while filming – and it all went very wrong

The story of the making of the 2005 British film Breakin’ the Cycle is surely more compelling than the film itself. Nobody can say for sure, because a rough cut was confiscated by the Met police and the raw footage was considered lost. But the film’s origins and subsequent unravelling is extraordinary. Two of Hackney’s most notorious drug dealers try to go straight and become movie producers. It’s a strange combination of comedic chaos, an accidental stabbing, drug money and shootouts, big dreams of making a different life through art, and, ultimately, tragedy. The film-makers had to navigate real-life gang warfare, and an elitist, perhaps racist, film industry.

The cast included the rapper Lethal Bizzle, and Bradley McIntosh from the pop group S Club 7. If McIntosh was desperately trying to escape his clean tween pop image, he wasn’t the only one trying to escape something, though the stakes were far higher for others. Colin Browne, the leader of the Hackney gang Love of Money, wrote the film while serving a prison sentence for cocaine smuggling, and directed it; he had plans to take it to the Cannes film festival. Browne would be killed shortly after filming had finished.

Author Alexander McCall Smith’s new series is an attempt to use short fiction to make listeners feel better about the world. Plus, what happened when two London gangsters decided to make a film?

While he is best known for his No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novels, Alexander McCall Smith has something of a soft spot for short stories, which can “cover a whole sweep of history in a couple of paragraphs”. His new series features a selection of short original works that he hopes will make listeners feel better about the state of the world, beginning with a pleasingly twee tale inspired by a friend’s miniature helicopter landing pad. Hannah J Davies
Widely available, episodes weekly

This journey of discovery from the US to Sicily tackles urgent themes, but is increasingly inward-looking

In Grace Paley’s short story A Conversation With My Father, a request is made of the Paley-like narrator. “I would like you to write a simple story just once more,” her father says, “the kind Maupassant wrote, or Chekhov … Just recognisable people and then write down what happened to them next.” Her attempt, and its failure to impress him, is the action that powers the story. Valeria Luiselli’s fourth novel is propelled by a similar request, the daughter of the Luiselli-like narrator asking: “Will you finally write a novel with a beginning, a middle, and an end?” It’s a problem Luiselli has addressed before. In her 2017 book-length essay about undocumented migrant children, Tell Me How It Ends, she writes that the difficulty in telling their story “is that it has no beginning, no middle and no end”.

Beginning Middle End charts the narrator’s efforts to corral life into a narrative. The father in Paley’s story would be similarly unimpressed. After a “slow, entangled” divorce, the narrator, a Mexican living in the United States, embarks on a European book tour with her 12-year-old daughter. She has a coil removed in Munich; her daughter loses a tooth in Prague; near Amsterdam they watch children learning to swim with their shoes on in case of floods. When summer comes, the pair fly to Catania in Sicily. The narrator’s grandmother grew up nearby. They stay in the apartment of a pianist who’s away on tour, with whom the narrator had a “brief and feverish encounter” the previous year.

In this disorienting book, a poet argues we have been looking at nature – and ourselves – the wrong way

The eastern breakwater of Granton harbour is almost 1km long, and swimmers can follow its crooked finger, heading straight out into the Firth of Forth, while benefiting from its reassuring presence. One Thursday lunchtime, I thought: why not, let’s give it a go, and headed for its tip. I felt cold, but, as I progressed, I seemed to grow strangely warmer. I did not notice the complaints from my body: the creeping numbness which proceeded from my fingers to my elbow, nor the coldness of my pee. Only by the time I exited the water, club footed and claw handed, did it hit me that I was hypothermic.

The irony of this reckless exercise was that in my swim bag there was a book by Melanie Challenger called Alive: The Hidden Intelligence of the Living World. It’s an ambitious examination of the wisdom of bodies, a rhizomatic guide not just to our own, but also all the living forms around us: from bacteria to chimps. Her case is that we have ignored or misread the agency and purpose of bodies to our detriment; in a way it is a plea to listen to them. I wish I had read it before my ill-advised swim.

Trinidad-born author and poet whose novel The Humming-Bird Tree is a classic of Caribbean literature

Ian McDonald, who has died aged 93, wrote only one novel, but it is considered a classic of Caribbean literature. The Humming-Bird Tree (1969), set in Trinidad in the late 1940s, tells the story of Alan, a young white boy, as he falls into friendship with his family’s yard-boy, Kaiser, who is of Indian extraction, and in love with Kaiser’s younger sister, Jaillin, who is also employed by Alan’s wealthy parents.

While Alan and Jaillin skirt around each other, trying to come to terms with the confusing feelings of their mutual attraction and the disapproval of Alan’s mother and father, wider emotional turmoil is at play in Trinidad, where the masses are beginning to throw off the yoke of British rule.

A bereaved father and son bond over greyhound racing in an east Durham town in terminal decline

The adjoining villages of Easington and Easington Colliery in the coalfields of east Durham make the perfect case study of the shift from England’s industrial boomtime to terminal decline. Twenty miles from a major town or city, they’ve been left to languish ever since Thatcher went to war with the industry that made them. If you want to understand why the white working class feel abandoned today, go to Easington Colliery and its surrounding villages.

It’s this community that Middlesbrough-born writer Louise Powell brings to life in a powerful debut set in the world of greyhound racing, or “flapping”. Underdogs is an utterly authentic depiction of an England that’s overlooked, but still very much alive. Pigeon lofts and flat caps, meat raffles and social clubs – all still exist, just very rarely in 21st-century novels.

An amnesiac loner arrives in a remote town for who knows what reason … this may sound familiar but this time we’re on a remote Scottish island and surprises lie in wait

A man washes up at the harbour of a small coastal village, his memories vague, an eerie sea fog rolling in all around him. As beginnings go, this couldn’t be more Silent Hill – an amnesiac loner drawn to a remote town for who knows what reason. But this time, we’re not in the Pacific Northwest of the original games or the Japan of last year’s excellent Silent Hill f. We’re on an island off the northern coast of Scotland, and it’s 1996. Lead character Simon Ordell knows this place, but isn’t sure how – and why does he have an IV cannula stuck in his hand?

Announced back in 2022, Townfall is the work of Glasgow-based studio Screen Burn, previously responsible for tense horror adventure titles Stories Untold and Observation. Like Silent Hill f, it moves the setting far out of Silent Hill itself: St Amelia is a fishing town, inspired by St Monans and dozens of other seafront towns the team visited and extensively photographed.

Gamers are angry that Sony will be deleting TV shows and films from their libraries as well as getting rid of physical games. Will a boycott make a difference?

Name: PlayStation blackout.

Age: Forthcoming.

PC, Nintendo Switch/Switch 2, PS5; SFB Games
Detective Grimoire is at it again in the long-awaited new entry to this stylish series of comedy whodunnits

In a boom time for mystery games, the Detective Grimoire series stands out for its style and sense of humour. The Mermaid Mask continues to build upon the formula laid down in Secret of the Swamp and polished in Tangle Tower, and while there is still room for further improvements this sequel is worth the seven years’ wait.

This time, the casually competent Grimoire and his smart if sarcastic sidekick Sally have been summoned to a submarine to solve the locked-room murder of its captain, Magnus Mortuga. You click around the cluttered rooms of the vessel to hear the detectives’ comedic commentary and look for clues and – closer up – click and drag to move objects around for further examination or to solve a puzzle. (For those playing on Nintendo Switch 2, the mouse controls are actually useful here, if not comfortable in the long run.)

The debut from Scandinavian outfit Dead Astronauts promises shooting, survival, and, in a shake-up to the genre, seeds that terraform its pristine world right before your eyes

The wilds of the sub-Arctic north: towering pine trees, flashes of psychedelic-yellow lichen, and a sun that never wholly sets during the summer months. This land is gorgeous, yes, but also unforgiving, yet in Haex (pronounced “hex”) you have an unusual tool at your disposal to make it a little more hospitable: a cube that fits snugly in the palm of your hand out of which grows a plant. You plant this so-called Seed in the earth and – voilà – the world around you transforms: new vegetation and topography but also narrative threads to follow, and, naturally, enemies. Wield these small-but-mighty kernels of change at your own peril.

“Your adventure and your world is player-shaped,” says Haex’s creative director Tobias Nyman. He explains that everyone starts a campaign with a unique, procedurally generated world. Each Seed then contains further procedural data that causes it to terraform before your eyes. “You change the world as you go,” he says. “It becomes even more unique.”

Royal Albert Hall, London
The festering atmosphere of Thomas Vinterberg’s film and its celebrated opera adaptation lingers in this vivid orchestration, a foil to Sibelius’s cathartic second symphony

Sibelius’s second symphony is “a confession of the soul” – an outpouring, however ambiguous. But what happens when a confession never comes, and a secret festers instead in collective silence? That’s the starting point for Festen, Thomas Vinterberg’s 1998 film, which was adapted into an award-winning opera by Mark-Anthony Turnage and librettist Lee Hall last year.

There’s a fair bit of plot to a work in which incestuous child abuse is exposed during a patriarch’s 60th birthday party, but it’s the atmosphere that lingers, stylishly distilled in Turnage’s new Festen Suite – receiving its UK premiere here from the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo.

Royal Albert Hall, London
From Kristine Tjøgersen’s tranquil woodland reverie to Canteloube’s Auvergne and Strauss’s thunderous mountainscape, the London Philharmonic – with Louise Alder – conjured colours and brought drama to this vivid programme

What do you get if you blow into a tuba full of water? With a little imagination it’s the sound of a squirrel eating, the opening salvo of Between Trees by Kristine Tjøgersen. The Norwegian composer’s ingenious nature poem drew on extended techniques and novel effects, such as prepared harp and strings, as it led us beneath the forest floor to explore the mysterious fungal threads that connect the roots of trees and plants like some vast natural internet.

Leaving the Scandinavian forests behind, the London Philharmonic’s whistlestop travelogue paused for breath in sun-drenched central France to savour a selection of Canteloube’s Songs of the Auvergne. Louise Alder was the soloist, the languid radiance of her creamy soprano complementing the composer’s rose-tinted orchestrations. Edward Gardner kept the orchestra on a low light while pointing up the music’s more pungent elements. For her part, Alder brought colour and the gift of storytelling to these tales of lovelorn shepherdesses, opportunistic country lads and conceited quails.

Riverside Studios, London
Joe Haddad’s solo show tilts between family comedy and football fandom as well as the horrors of the Gaza war but never quite finds its focus

Joe Haddad’s solo show is a kind of self-referential standup set which tells us about his journey into comedy. It encompasses the negotiation of his dual identity as a Palestinian south Londoner and becomes a coming-of-age story.

Born in Croydon, with Arab Christian parents from Jerusalem, he faced prejudice at his Catholic school, including taunts of “Jew-boy” because there was so little understanding of Palestine and its history of occupation. It follows him to adulthood, and an assumed, Anglicised, stage name of Joe Adams, for fear of being cancelled (even his mother tells him not to mention Palestine during gigs).

Soho theatre, London
She has penned jokes for Jimmy Kimmel, Conan O’Brien and the Academy. Now she’s seizing the limelight with scattergun routines about everything from penises to free-bleeding

Laurie Kilmartin is not afraid of vulgarity. The Peabody award-winner flits between penis jokes, free-bleeding chaos and a taste for vengeance in this scattergun hour that marks her London debut. Having made her career as a staff writer for Jimmy Kimmel and Conan O’Brien, Kilmartin’s own voice is crude, acute and pretty mean, delivering each dark joke with a furrowed-brow intensity, followed by a flash of a wide, are-you-gonna-take-it smile.

Jumping through the decades, the US comedian cycles through school bullies, the need for better assassins, and the limited dating pool of men over 50. There’s a pitch-black quality to some of these tales, with a particular knife-edge to her story of an abusive swim coach. Other anecdotes feel drier, like they’ve just had the dust blown off them; she settles too long on lockdowns, which I thought we’d all agreed we were done talking about long ago. Even a moment on Charlie Kirk feels like it missed the moment, though other elements of her US political commentary are easy winners.

The pop star is curating the 2026 festival, which also features Patti Smith, Mustafa and Ta-Nehisi Coates, as part of the Southbank Centre’s anniversary year

Zadie Smith, Patti Smith and Mustafa are among the star names lined up to be interviewed by Dua Lipa, as the pop star reveals her curation of this year’s London Literature festival at the Southbank Centre.

The festival, now in its 19th year, will run from 21 October to 1 November, with the Brit award-winning singer shaping a programme of events in collaboration with her Service95 book club.

‘Few films will leave a lasting imprint on audiences this year quite like Elsinore,’ LFF director says of movie about Chariots of Fire actor

Elsinore, one of the most hotly anticipated dramas of the year, has been announced as the opening night film at this year’s London film festival. The drama, which stars Andrew Scott as actor Ian Charleson, will have its European premiere at the Southbank Centre – yards from the National Theatre, in which many of its scenes are set.

Directed by Simon Stone and written by Stephen Beresford (who reunites with Scott 12 years after Pride), the film depicts the final months in the life of the highly acclaimed actor, who reprised the role of Hamlet while terminally ill, aged 40.

Film-maker’s drama Tender Loving Care ‘likely’ his final one as he manages myositis, a disease affecting immune system

Film-maker Mike Leigh has said his next film is likely to be his last.

According to Indiewire, the Oscar-nominated writer-director was speaking at a recent Golden Globes-hosted roundtable in London about his next film Tender Loving Care, a drama set to premiere during this fall festival season.

The bestselling crime writer and Scotland’s first female Geographer Royal had long kept their work separate, until a chance discovery about a doomed 17th-century expedition forced them to collaborate

The airy, modern house on the outskirts of Edinburgh shared by Val McDermid and Jo Sharp is surrounded by greenery and feels as though it was designed to provide enough space for two minds to think.

Both women are high achievers in their fields, a Scottish power couple made up of the Queen of Crime and the Scottish Geographer Royal. Happily for them, there is normally no overlap in their work.

Here are our expert’s favourite running packs for everyday plods, all-out races and trail adventures

• The best running shoes for every runner

Runners can end up carrying a surprising amount of paraphernalia – phone, keys, jacket, maybe snacks (OK, definitely snacks) and water. If you dare to venture into the world of ultra marathons, that list grows even longer. While shorts and running tights have started packing in extra pockets to ease the burden, the best way to boost your mid-run storage is to invest in a running vest or hydration pack.

Like running backpacks, running vests range from minimal race-ready designs to big-volume options for trail-taming self-sufficiency. The best running vests give you the confidence to go further, knowing you’ve got everything you need to conquer your run. Over the years, I’ve relied on vests to help me through thousands of training miles, as well as dozens of marathons and ultras.

Best running vest overall:
The North Face Summit run vest 5l

Best budget running vest:
Harrier Kinder 10l

This overlooked quarter swaps the grandeur of tourist-saturated central Rome for murals, graffiti, cheap eateries and a working-class rhythm

One of Europe’s hotspots, central Rome has increasingly come to resemble a tube station during rush hour: stifling, overpacked and claustrophobia-inducing. Last year, the Eternal City welcomed a record number of tourists, driven in part by the 2025 Vatican Jubilee - 22.9 million arrivals stayed in the city, almost 10 times the number of residents.

Forget soggy sandwiches! From pocket-size burners to charcoal cookers for a wonderfully smoky flavour, these stoves came top in our tests

• The best camping mattresses and sleeping mats

A reliable camping stove makes all the difference to food alfresco, allowing you to cook a stew in the evening and then warm up in the morning with a hot cup of coffee. The great thing about these stoves is that they’re essentially portable hobs, meaning anything you can cook on the stove at home can be whipped up in the great outdoors by sticking a pot or frying pan on top.

There’s a dizzying variety on offer, ranging from dinky ultralight burners that fit into your pocket to big stove-tops with multiple hobs, grills, wind protectors and a lid – the latter are like bringing along your cooker from home. Most run on gas, such as propane and butane, although I’ve also included charcoal options for traditional types. I’ve tested 20 of the best portable stoves, for everyone from ultralight wild campers to families who need to cook dinners for the masses.

Always wondered what everyday stuff celebrities buy, where they shop for food, and the basic they scrimp on? The writer and comedian talks grownup crockery, posh hand soap and Abba Voyage with the Filter

Rosie Jones is an actor, writer and award-winning standup comedian, and a familiar face on UK television – she’s fronted her own Comedy Central series Out of Order, starred in Channel 4’s hard-hitting documentary Am I a R*tard?, and led two travel series, Mission: Accessible and the Bafta-nominated Trip Hazard.

She is the creator and star of the Channel 4 comedy-drama Pushers, a six-part series nominated for a Bafta in 2026. Her acting credits span primetime dramas such as Silent Witness, Casualty and Call the Midwife, and she has also appeared as herself on Taskmaster, Live at the Apollo, QI, 8 Out of 10 Cats, the Last Leg and many more. She set up the Rosie Jones Foundation in 2025, which focuses on mental health support for individuals living with cerebral palsy and peer support through events and workshops. She brings her standup show I Can’t Tell What She’s Saying to the Edinburgh fringe from 5 to 30 August.

Shark’s cordless vacuum is a whiz at cleaning hard floors and pet hair, but a disarmingly short battery life caught our reviewer off guard

• The best cordless vacuum cleaners – tested

Vacuuming rarely starts with vacuuming. First you have to clear the floor of stray socks and abandoned toys left behind by children, pets or messy partners. Then there’s the irritation of finding the vacuum’s dustbin still full of dirt, or the battery flat because someone forgot to charge it.

The (take a deep breath – long name coming up) Shark PowerDetect Speed Clean and Empty Pet Pro cordless vacuum Ultramarine IA3241UKT certainly won’t pick up the scattered toys for you, but it has been designed to make the job of vacuuming as frictionless as possible.

Too many outfits and not enough suitcase space? Whether it’s sightseeing or sundowners, our fashion writer shares her secrets for packing smarter

• The travel essentials that made your holiday better
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When you hear the words capsule wardrobe, you probably picture beige knits and minimalist tailoring. A capsule isn’t just about dressing neutrally, though: it’s about choosing a handful of pieces that work together in countless combinations.

There is no time that skill is more important than when you’re packing for a holiday. I have streamlined my approach by sticking to a simple rule of thumb: instead of packing for every possible scenario, I focus on versatile staples that can be dressed up or down and worn more than once.

Don’t pour it down the sink. This subtly tangy liquid is naturally acidic, adding flavour and fluffiness to your baking

Mozzarella comes in a bag or pot surrounded by whey or brine. This is known as latticello in Italy, and has all the flavour of the cheese and more – it’s lactic, sour and subtly sweet, with a powerful, salty, umami-rich depth of flavour. It’s delicious as a drink in it’s own right, but it’s also great to cook with. It can be used instead of buttermilk or yoghurt in marinades, even though it has less viscosity than both, and in baking. I’ve included the mozzarella itself in today’s recipe, but it is entirely optional and could easily be saved for another recipe.

These new spins on nostalgic desserts will elevate your summer barbecues, while their prep-ahead nature will keep the day stress free

When it comes to barbecued desserts, a few squares of chocolate melted inside a banana will no longer cut it. Get ahead with some easy-to-prep elements, then add a final flourish of smoke-licked fruit to bring new energy to classic desserts, such as banana splits and layered fruit sundaes. They need not be complex, and will interest your guests far more than the same old stale ideas. I’ve had some fun with these nostalgic favourites, and hope you will, too.

From olive oil to matcha, soy sauce to sage and onion stuffing, there’s a frozen designer dessert out there to tickle even the most jaded palate. Here’s the best – and worst – of what’s on offer in Britain this summer

What’s with all the weird ice-cream flavours this year? It feels as if supermarkets and independent companies are vying to make the most novel alternatives to a good old scoop of vanilla. But which are actually worth having? I tried 99 varieties of ice-cream tubs and ranked them from sickeningly sweet to dinner party-worthy.

99. Paxo sage and onion stuffing, Anya Hindmarch
(One scoop £4.50 or 500ml tub £16, The Ice Cream Project, London)
Anya Hindmarch’s Ice Cream Project has become a yearly summer fixture, in which the fashion designer collaborates with well-known brands to create nostalgic novelty flavours (at designer prices) for which customers queue round the block. This year the flavours skew toward roast dinners, and include Oxo (which I couldn’t try, being vegetarian) and Paxo. It tastes exactly like the stuffing … which isn’t really what I want from an ice-cream. Taste 1/10, Value 1/10, Originality 7/10

Nostalgic foods like toad-in-the-hole also in demand at Waitrose as people pivot towards familiarity amid climatic and political upheaval

Forget a crisp salad and glass of chilled rosé. Enervated Britons are seemingly more likely to crave a rich cottage pie and a robust red in heatwaves.

In a trend termed “reverse comfort eating”, Waitrose’s cottage pie sales have soared 110% in the last month and South African red wine is up 68% compared with the same period last year. The surprise spike in demand for winter comfort foods also includes retro chicken, bacon and leek pie (up 41%), chicken korma (up 67%) and chicken and ham gratin (68%).

It used be called playing the field, but now young people are claiming dating multiple people at once is intentional and growth-enhancing

Name: Roster dating.

Age: The term seems to be about a decade old; the practice is much older.

I was just 10 at the time but my siblings and I will never forget the sense of safety, comfort and warmth they offered

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

We were doing the groceries when a blood vessel burst in my mother’s brain. I was 10 years old and on a family holiday to France that very suddenly changed its tenor. In the following weeks Mum went through brain surgery, suffered a stroke and was placed in intensive care.

We had been staying in a gîte but moved to a small hotel closer to the hospital. It was a terrifying and stressful time, even as a young kid who knew things were serious – but didn’t understand quite how serious.

Will’s lack of self-worth is creating a barrier between him and Fi, but talking more could help them adjust to their mismatched libidos

• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

I worry that Will sees me more as a mother figure than a sexual being

You are stepping into a family system with its own history and loyalties; try to consider how you might set boundaries without rejecting his mum

I’m in my 30s and have been living in Spain for a decade. My partner is Spanish and we have lived together for a year.

The bond he has with his mum sometimes makes me feel angry, jealous and helpless. I’m aware that, culturally, Spanish people often have closer bonds with their families and I try to accept that. He is an only child and his father left his family when he was a teenager and started another. I feel my partner has developed an unhealthy and codependent relationship with his mum.

Whether it is SpaceX or a bank, getting the right facts about a firm can offer vital insights before you invest in it

When Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched on to the stock market, tens of thousands of Britons clamoured to buy a stake, putting the spotlight on DIY investing.

Going it alone and buying shares in individual companies can be rewarding, but also risky. Unless you have a huge amount of cash, you are likely to end up investing in far fewer companies than if you invested in a fund. This means you are more exposed to the ups and downs of those companies’ fortunes.

We told it of our 11pm arrival time but when we got there our room was no longer available as it had ‘overbooked’

I booked and paid for a room in the Travelodge London King’s Cross Royal Scot hotel six weeks in advance. It was for myself and my husband, who has heart disease and dementia.

I had called the hotel on the day of arrival to advise that we would be checking in at 11pm and was told that was fine.

I’m a self-employed driving instructor and I’m running out of cash to hire a replacement dual-control vehicle

My livelihood as a self-employed driving instructor is under threat owing to Nissan’s failure to repair my leased dual-control car.

It has been off the road awaiting a spare part for three months, and I’ve now been told it will take at least a further month to arrive.

Criminals send victims to a cloned site that collects login, personal and payment details

You have had a Spotify account for years and your credit card is linked for the monthly payments. When an email arrives telling you that your payment couldn’t be processed you are not surprised as the expiry date on the card is soon.

“We encountered an issue while processing your recent payment,” it says. “To keep your access active and avoid interruption, please review and update your information.”

Avoid espresso martinis and wear the right pyjamas: experts give tips on how to sleep when it’s hot outside

• Tell us: what impact have GLP-1s had on your relationships?

Getting a good night’s sleep when it’s hot out can feel impossible. Unfortunately, worrying about not being well-rested doesn’t help.

Experts say worrying about sleep in warm weather will inevitably make you feel worse. “When people cannot sleep because they are too hot, it often becomes both a physical and a mental challenge,” says Dr Shelby Harris, founder and director of NY Sleep and Psychology, and author of The Women’s Guide to Overcoming Insomnia. “They may start watching the clock, worrying about how tired they will be the next day, or trying harder to force themselves to fall asleep.

Women and men exhibit different heart attack symptoms. Knowing these lesser-known factors can help save your life

A few months ago at work, when I rose from my seat and walked a few steps, something felt off. There was a strange pressure in my chest and rib cage, but I ignored it, took my water bottle from the kitchen and returned to my desk.

The next day it happened again. There was no pain and my breathing was fine. But whenever I stood up and took a few steps, the odd squeezing would return. I work at a hospital as a neurosurgery coordinator, and the wall was lined with posters about stroke and heart distress signs. I barely glanced at the pictures, having memorized them years ago.

The classic gym routine doesn’t isolate your stomach muscles as much as you might think, but here are five that will

If someone in a film or TV show wants a six-pack, chances are they’ll drop to the floor and start doing sit-ups. According to Dr Lee Brown, senior lecturer in strength and conditioning at the University of East London, that’s more Hollywood than science.

“It’s embedded in the archaic practices of boxing coaches and therefore everyone seems to follow it,” he says. “But they’re far from the best exercise for training your core.”

Stress, the cost of living, long working hours and even excessive exercise have all been touted as reasons the illness is rising among women in their 30s and 40s. What can be done to help them?

The “lightning strike” pain was like nothing Francine Jones had experienced before. “That is the only way I can describe it,” she says, of the stabbing in her torso that would occur every 10 minutes or so. “It was a really sharp, intense pain, as if someone was giving me an electric shock … it took my breath away.”

It had started in May with a strange pricking sensation under her bra. Then 10 large blisters, plus a host of smaller ones, formed in a band from her stomach to her back. They burned, “like someone was putting an iron on me. I don’t think I wore underwear for five or six weeks.” Showering, or even a cold flannel, would make her skin burn. Then came “the itch”, which lasted for five weeks and was so intense that she was lucky if she slept for four hours a night. “It was like something was crawling all over me all the time.” I can hear her wincing.

Fragrances with superior tones are cutting through the sugary, cheaper efforts that have been pervasive recently

After a lengthy sabbatical, I’m ready to let fig fragrances back into my life. There were years when I couldn’t get enough of lush, green Philosykos by Diptyque – a bona fide masterpiece and the greatest of all fig scents. Then a million sugary, inferior dupes sullied the whole category, cynically transporting it from the fruit groves of Turkey to the air freshener aisle at Halfords. With familiarity, grew contempt. But a new crop of figs is emerging to restore reputation and none are attempting to pass off as Diptyque.

Tom Ford’s recent Figue Erotique (£188 for 30ml), takes fig at various stages of its life cycle (sharp, nutty, green and unripe; rich, juicy, warm and sun-drenched; and finally sugary, creamy and ready to burst) and isolates each in its own accord. Bigger and bolder than most figs, with a sultry, musky sexiness that reads almost as humid, it may not be your most worn in a heatwave (reach for Chloé’s vivid, sparkling fig, Plage du Figuier (£115 for 50ml) then) but do give it a sniff when next you’re next at the shops – it’s a glorious scent for all seasons.

Are you stuck in a makeup rut? Or maybe just beginning to wear cosmetics? Here, experts reveal how to to find the right products for you

Makeup trends change over time – and so does our skin. How can you enhance what you have and refresh your look? Here, makeup artists share the fundamentals of applying cosmetics, at every age.

Around town, on the pitch and even in the pool, the New York mayor keeps his suit on – what do his sartorial choices tell us?

Playing football. Playing in the sand. Dancing on a stage with Alicia Keys and the entire New York Knicks roster. Swimming in a swimming pool. Swimming in the ocean.

Traditionally, a suit and tie would be considered inappropriate attire for each of these activities. Yet over the past year Zohran Mamdani has seemingly been on a one-man crusade to prove otherwise: to convince people that a formal suit is, actually, suitable for all activities.

Latest edition of one of world’s most influential fashion photography publications is also shot entirely in India

Against the ancient, weathered walls of Jaigarh fort, high on the hills above Jaipur, Bhavitha Mandava stood barefoot and draped in gold.

Just a few months earlier, the Indian model had been catapulted from a life of obscurity as a student at New York University to become one of the most recognisable and celebrated new faces of fashion. This year, she became the first Indian woman to open the Chanel catwalk at their Métiers d’Art show and her divisive Chanel outfit for the Met Gala, fashion’s most exclusive event, became an international talking point.

Ebikes with child seats – plus idyllic campsites and pit stops en route – turn a five-day ride on the car-free Véloscénic into a wonderful family holiday

“Are you mad?” says a fellow guest over dinner at our campsite. “I heard you’re here on a long-distance cycle ride with your toddlers.”

I am in Orne, a region in Normandy, with my sister Issy and our three-year-old sons, Sid and Ralph. The landscape folds around us in green-over-green – hedgerow, oak, mossy manor wall – then opens into meadows where Percheron horses graze, knee-deep in wildflowers. Deer leap from the bocage. Cidre and poiré have been pressed here since the middle ages. The villages are sandy stone, blue- and green-shuttered; roses against the boulangerie.

Horchata, the revered creamy drink made from tiger nuts, is still served in grand Valencian parlours – always accompanied by sugar-glazed pastries

It was a glimpse of an old couple sharing a tender moment in the bustling horchatería that drew me into one of Valencia’s most storied culinary traditions. As he sipped his milky horchata de chufa and a white crescent moon appeared on his coiffed moustache, they shared a soft laugh and she dabbed it away from his upper lip.

“There’s no fixed time to drink horchata,” the lady said. “As long we have at least one every day.”

Sagre – the historic local events that pop up in villages across the country in summer – are the perfect way to get a taste of regional cuisine and culture

I cannot remember a summer when at least one evening hasn’t been spent following signs to a local sagra. Not quite a food market and not quite a village fete, a sagra is like a village moving its kitchen outdoors for a few nights.

When I think back to those nights from childhood, the first image that comes to mind is of a woman’s hand closed into a fist above a pan of hot oil. Through a tight circle formed between her thumb and forefinger, she would squeeze soft lumps of batter, one small ball at a time, into the oil. In a few seconds, each soft mass would become a pittula, a small Salento fritter: swollen, uneven, golden, too hot to eat straight away but too good to wait for.

On a coastline brimming with seafood shacks, crab sandwiches and hyperlocal flavour, our food writer is happy to be distracted from the stunning scenery

If we take it as read that the better the view, the worse the cooking, then by rights south Wales’s Gower peninsula should be a culinary desert. The first time I visited almost 15 years ago, I was unprepared for its loveliness – back in 1956, Gower (never the Gower, as locals were quick to correct me) was the first place in the UK to be designated an area of outstanding natural beauty, and though the peninsula abuts the country’s second city, Swansea, it still feels profoundly rural. Crisscrossed by narrow lanes flanked by towering hedges and ancient churches, it’s a great place to cycle, to drive, and above all to walk up an appetite.

Indeed, it’s been a long-held ambition of mine to hike the 43 miles of the Welsh Coast Path from Mumbles to Loughor. Sadly, it remains just that because on this latest trip I spent considerably more time chomping than yomping … though in fairness I was on a research mission for a walking trip with a friend here later in the summer, because as a food writer and semi-professional glutton, I never like to head anywhere unprepared.

Skincare-inspired regimes feel unnecessary – but giving your plants more attention is always a good thing

The problem
Plant care has had a glow-up. There is now an entire regime that’s been lifted straight from the bathroom cabinet: cleanse, hydrate, serum, tone. These beautifully boxed kits promise lush plants, make lovely gifts and look wonderful on a shelf, but the question is: does your monstera actually need a four-step routine?

The hack
The promise is that plants, like skin, thrive on a structured routine, and that investing in a multi-product care kit will reward you with glowing foliage.

The work was simple: deliver letters, notices of assessment and other important legal documents, by bicycle. The locations, I came to realise, were varied and inconvenient

• Read more in this series here

A gopher is a small, solitary rodent with large front teeth native to North and Central America. It’s also the name of the job some workplaces give to errand runners (though it’s more usually spelled gofer).

When I was a 21-year-old law student in Canberra, I was in desperate need of casual work. I came across an ad pinned to one of the corkboards outside the library. Bleary-eyed after another all-nighter to finish an assignment, I took down the number of the law firm.

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Stephen Walsh was such a workaholic that none of his colleagues would believe he’d ever leave. But then he learned to dance and he’s now part of a dazzling tap troupe

When he was 57, Stephen Walsh found himself in hospital with a stomach bleed from an ulcer. As he lay in bed recovering, he thought about his future. “‘You always had this vague idea that you’d retire early,’” he told himself at the time. “‘Well, I’m going to do it.’”

Discharged from hospital, he gave his business partners three years’ notice. They had worked together at the General Electric Company, and after it was broken up in 1999, they launched their own training and consultancy business specialising in how to improve companies’ efficiency and outcomes.

Super-premium Android has top performance, long battery life and good cameras, but is let down by software

Honor’s svelte Android phone-tablet has been given a glow-up for its sixth version, offering a great alternative to Samsung for a fancy foldable with a red suede-like back framed in gold.

The Magic V6 continues the Chinese challenger brand’s strategy of taking a razor-thin device and slapping a giant circular lump on the back to fit in top-class cameras, something others often forgo. It costs a not inconsiderable £1,500 (€1,700/A$2,999) but only until August when the price jumps to a cool £2,000 (€2,300) – a solid £300 more than last year’s model as the cost of RAMageddon continues to bite, even at the very top end of the market.

Main screen: 7.95in (403ppi) 120Hz OLED flexible display

Cover screen: 6.52in (406ppi) 120Hz OLED

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

RAM: 16GB

Storage: 512GB

Operating system: MagicOS 10 (Android 16)

Camera: 50MP + 50MP ultrawide + 64MP 3x tele; 2x 20MP selfie

Connectivity: 5G, dual sim + esim, USB-C, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 6, GNSS

Water resistance: IP68/69 (1.5 metres for 30 minutes)

Dimensions folded: 156.7 x 74.5 x 8.75-9mm

Dimensions unfolded: 156.7 x 145.6 x 4.0-4.1mm

Weight: 219-224g

Ibrahim al-Dabba continues to care for his colonies despite losing his home and most of his hives and equipment

Each morning, Ibrahim Naji al-Dabba climbs to the roof of a damaged residential tower in Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood, where rows of beehives sit surrounded by shattered concrete and the scars of war. The rooftop is far from an ideal place for beekeeping, but for the 49-year-old father of seven, it is the only place where he can continue the profession that has sustained his family for decades.

Before the war, al-Dabba owned more than 400 beehives spread across eastern Gaza. His apiaries, equipment, storage facilities, and four-wheel-drive vehicle allowed him to manage a thriving beekeeping business that supported his family. Today, almost everything he built over years of work has disappeared.

Ibrahim Naji al-Dabba, 49, (in green) working with his sons. He was displaced from the Shuja’iyya area, east of Gaza City to Tel al- to the south

Nigel Farage’s constituency takes in genteel resorts and one of England’s poorest villages. With a snap byelection approaching, what do the residents want from the Reform UK leader – or the bin who’s challenging him?

‘If it’s the Tin Man, then I suppose I’ll vote for Nigel,” says a Clacton resident, a retiree on a slow stroll towards the seafront, when I ask whom she will vote for in the forthcoming byelection. “I would sooner have Farage than the Tin Man!” As political slogans go, it is as good as any.

The sun is beating down, but the sky is hazy, which accurately describes the mood of this constituency since the Reform UK leader quit as MP for Clacton on 7 July, forcing a byelection that sent shock waves through Westminster and confusion through Clacton. I am spending a couple of days here with the photographer Andy Hall, traversing the coast between Jaywick to the west and Walton-on-the-Naze to the east. An incessant wind is blowing from the North Sea, sending waves crashing on to Clacton beach. Nicky Friday, who at 11am is already handing out 99s from her aptly named kiosk, Seabreeze, isn’t exactly exercised by the Reform UK leader’s latest gambit. “This is going to sound terrible, but I’m so busy running this business and working here,” she says. “I don’t really do politics.”

Nicky Friday, who owns and runs the Seabreeze kiosk in Clacton

Handful of ticketholders will be selected at random for up-close visits to ancient site throughout August

Trips to Stonehenge can be a little hectic. Tens of thousands of people turn up to celebrate summer and winter solstices and most other days the site is a place of bustle, excited conversation and selfie action.

But throughout August, English Heritage is offering visitors the chance to win some guaranteed solitude within the hulking stones.

We would like to hear your experiences of accessing, providing or relying on adult social care in England

Andy Burnham has said he is prepared to use his “political capital” to reform England’s adult social care system, with the new prime minister arguing that fixing social care is essential to easing pressure on the NHS.

Whether you receive care yourself, support a loved one, work in social care or are an unpaid carer, we want to understand what adult social care in England is really like for the people who rely on it every day.

We want to hear from people who have recently completed an apprenticeship or planning to go on one

The government has announced plans to reshape education for young people in England from the age of 14, with a greater focus on technical and vocational learning, alongside an ambition to create thousands more apprenticeships.

As part of plans to encourage more young people into apprenticeships, the work and pensions secretary, Pat McFadden, has announced a new bursary aimed at ensuring families are not financially worse off if their teenager starts an apprenticeship.

We want to hear how people are dealing with the very hot weather.

UK forecasters have predicted a fourth heatwave of the year, with temperatures forecast to reach as high as 35C by Wednesday, triggering heat health alerts.

Fire chiefs have also appealed to people to take care in parched parks and rural areas.

We would like to hear from people living near AI datacentres about their experiences and any concerns they might have

There are around 450 large data centres across the UK. These warehouses contain computing infrastructure that power cloud services and, increasingly, AI.

There is much debate about how datacentres affect their local areas, with concerns raised by nearby residents about land use, pollution, noise, and the “heat island effect”.

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