Offences including manslaughter have been excluded from changes to sentencing rules amid an overcrowding crisis

Grooming gang perpetrators and killers, including those responsible for PC Andrew Harper’s death, will be blocked from early prison release under changes announced by Andy Burnham after a backlash over the scope of the scheme.

Here is a primer on how the crisis unfolded and what the upshot of Burnham’s decision could be.

‘Alt-right’ agitator and former Trump backer deported from US is said also to be too extreme for Reform

As he arrives back in the UK after being deported from the US by the Trump administration, the far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos may be wondering what lies ahead for him in his native country.

The “alt-right” agitator, 41, made his name in the US by promoting Donald Trump and associating with his allies before the 2016 election.

A retired software engineer and a planetary scientist disagreed about putting up flags and nationalising private companies, but were they worlds apart on legalising drugs?

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Finley, 23, London

Occupation Planetary scientist

Andy Burnham is in need of radical proposals. A ‘care first’ year in exchange for 50% off fees could be just what he needs

The UK’s social care sector is in crisis. Costs are spiralling, with many local councils forced to dedicate the vast majority of their budgets to it. At the same time, more and more families are seeing their savings disappear into the black hole of nursing home fees. With an ageing population, the problem is set to get worse.

In only his second week as prime minister, Andy Burnham pledged to succeed where so many of his predecessors have failed: by fixing Britain’s social care system. And yet, as parliament returns from recess, the new-ish administration is still worryingly unclear about how it will do this. Despite Burnham declaring that care workers should enjoy better compensation, we don’t know how he plans to pay for any of it – not least because he has kept Starmer’s campaign pledge to not raise income tax, VAT or national insurance. At the moment, it looks as though it will be impossible to square the circle.

J’ouvert marks the start of the Notting Hill carnival in west London, with revellers covered in oil, paint and powder

The Canadian PM is one of the few world leaders to stand up to the US president. Former colleagues say they are not surprised

Mark Carney stood before a walnut-veneered lectern, his face drawn tight, as he announced that talks with Canada’s biggest trading partner had collapsed. “Last spring, I warned that America is trying to break us so that they can own us,” he said. “And I promised: that will never, ever happen. We are keeping that promise.”

For years, the former central bank governor had worked hard to calm markets. Now, he was asking Canadians to accept uncertainty and confrontation.

Critics say the move, which will keep PC Harper’s killers in jail, leaves number of prison spaces ‘too close to the bone’

PC Andrew Harper’s killers will remain behind bars after a critical intervention by Andy Burnham, but the move has led to warnings that overcrowded prisons will be left “one major event away from disaster”.

Announcing a U-turn on the early release scheme after weeks of intense pressure, Burnham said he understood “how strongly people feel about this issue”.

Total number of missing Britons between Tibet and Nepal at 48 as Beijing mobilises more than 2,100 rescue workers

• Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates

Fifteen British nationals are reported to be missing in China as the search continues for survivors of the devastating flooding in Nepal and Tibet.

Nepali and Chinese authorities confirmed an updated death toll of at least 810 on Sunday. More than 3,000 people are believed missing after flash floods triggered by a massive glacier collapse in the Himalayas on Wednesday engulfed Gyirong port on the Nepal-China border.

Authorities say 237 people rescued and search under way for those who remain unaccounted for

At least eight people have died and 18 people are missing after a ferry carrying nearly 270 passengers and crew capsized off the coast of Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus, local authorities said.

The territory’s prime minister, Ünal Üstel, told the state-run TRT news channel on Sunday that 237 people had been rescued. A search was under way for those who remained unaccounted for.

Conservative hopeful says Sadiq Khan has ‘lost passion for the job’ and Andy Burnham is ‘very anti-London’

James Cleverly has pledged to run a “classically Conservative” campaign to become the mayor of London, insisting that his victory in the capital would be a stepping stone for Kemi Badenoch to become prime minister.

The former home and foreign secretary denied he had resigned from the shadow cabinet to run for mayor following a shift to the right under Badenoch’s leadership.

Nathan Cofnas told by Ghent University to work remotely as US ambassador claims credit for lifting of suspension

Prof Jason Arday’s accuser Nathan Cofnas has been barred from teaching on Ghent University campus for three months but has been allowed to continue his research position.

Cofnas, an American academic, was suspended from his postdoctoral research position at the Belgian institution earlier this month pending a “preliminary investigation” launched after Arday’s death.

Meanwhile, Trump posts video of himself kicking over a Lake Ontario sign and replacing it with Lake America sign

Donald Trump and Canada continued a verbal duel on Saturday over the US government’s administrative renaming of Lake Ontario, with the country erecting a giant sign saying “Lake Ontario. Now and Always” – and the American president posting a video of him tearing down an avatar of that sign, erecting a replacement saying Lake America, and dancing to YMCA.

Rhetoric over the naming of Lake Ontario is the public face of an escalating trade dispute between the US and its northern neighbor involving a 50% US tariff on Canadian steel and retaliatory tariffs from Ottawa.

To follow the claiming of both the major footballer of the year awards by scoring a hat-trick in Manchester United’s first home game was some Bruno Fernandes act, and points to an intent to continue his stellar form of last season.

Ipswich came to scythe through Michael Carrick’s side via the pace of Julio Enciso, Issa Diop and Daizen Maeda, and when Leif Davis gave them a 29th-minute lead victory looked on.

Robert Guanco, 41, a pastor at Jesus Living Water church in Eastbourne, described as having ‘touched many lives’

A 41-year-old man who died after a large wooden sign fell at a Christian festival on Friday has been named as Robert Guanco, a pastor at a church in Eastbourne, East Sussex.

A tribute from his church on Sunday described him as a respected pastor who was a “loving husband” and “a devoted and caring father”.

Previous advice stressed risks of sleeping in but about 90 minutes extra could prevent high blood pressure

For years, experts have stressed the risks of lie-ins, warning that catching up on missed sleep at the weekend can disrupt the body’s internal clock and trigger adverse health effects.

Now analysis has produced a heartening caveat to that advice: if you do not overdo it, weekend lie-ins may be good for you, with an ideal benchmark of 1hr 27min extra in bed to protect against high blood pressure.

Precariousness of living in Devighat by the Trishuli River underlined as waters swell again and residents flee to higher ground

The bodies continue to wash up. But the morgues have already run out of room.

Since the deadly floods coursed through the Himalayan valleys of Nepal and Tibet, the numbers of people killed have continued to rise. The bodies have surfaced in their hundreds and continue to be pulled from the thick, tar-like mud that engulfed everything after the flood waters receded. By Sunday, the death toll stood at 797 in Nepal and Tibet.

This month a predator with ties to the online extortion group known as 764 was sentenced to decades in prison. The mother of one his victims wants parents to know the truth about this ‘harrowing’ global trend

“My beautiful, kind, intelligent, trusting daughter had the misfortune of stumbling across a link in a Discord server that led her to your evil and cruel group.

“The grooming of her started immediately, and what followed was unimaginably harrowing and traumatic. You were just one of the group members who abused her, who made her do things that no young person should ever be made to do.”

A growing number of people are rediscovering their love of plastic bricks in later life and boosting the Danish company’s bottom line

In a cosy cafe in Kingston upon Thames on the outskirts of London, nine people gather in the early evening to drink and talk. To the casual observer it may look like a book club, but when the friends reach into their bags it’s not paperbacks they produce – but packs of Lego.

Geoff Lay, who organised the gathering, worked in software development before recently starting Noble Brick, a Lego-focused events organisation.

Old favourites Shaun the Sheep, Dune, Jane Austen and Godzilla join Charles de Gaulle, the Peasants’ Revolt and queer identity in Spain

• See all of our unmissable autumn arts recommendations here
• Big tech goes to Hollywood: is Silicon Valley ready for a silver-screen reckoning?

All release dates are UK and subject to change

Willem Dafoe is typically grizzled and poetic for this study of a near-retirement postal worker who, it turns out, was a beatnik rhymester of cachet – but no lasting renown – back in the day, and who has now been rediscovered by a new generation of literary hipsters. Director Kent Jones, adapting a novella by Arthur “La Ronde” Schnitzler, was the longtime head of the New York film festival; he might be in for a spot of late fame himself. AP
• 4 September

After a rocky few decades, the standup is nearing 60 – and finding contentment at last. But what does his grotesque retelling of The Owl and the Pussy-cat tell us about his inability to connect with people?

Stewart Lee is somewhat fretfully tidying his kitchen. Nothing is exactly where he left it two months ago to go on tour. Plus, he says, “I’ve come back with a load of records that need to be alphabetised, and that’s really stressing me out.” His house is miles from minimalist – posters everywhere, for spaghetti westerns, avant-garde Welsh harpists, the Fall (who he said in an interview in 2005 were the love of his life) – but if anything was an inch out of place, he’d notice. He puts things away with theatrical flourish, like a guy doing an impression of a guy who needs things just-so, for the comic effect of how absolutely impossible that guy would be, but at the same time, it’s funny because it’s true.

In the show he’s been away for, Stewart Lee vs the Man-Wulf, he – a 58-year-old lefty – enters into breakneck dialectic with toxic masculinity in werewolf form (age unknown). “Things have got worse in the 18 months I’ve been doing it,” he says. “I need to really amp the werewolf up. He would be much more explicitly racist and homophobic and transphobic now. But you don’t want people to be really upset in the room.” It feels quite a 2026 dilemma, being unable to even satirise the right without causing the distress it lives for.

The comedian on being a weird emo teen, the audition he didn’t show up for and why he was jealous of Rob Beckett

Born in Edinburgh in 1988, Iain Stirling is a comedian, actor and writer. He studied law at the University of Edinburgh while starting his standup career. He won a children’s Bafta for his work on CBBC alongside sidekick puppet Hacker T Dog and has narrated UK Love Island since 2015 and Love Island USA since 2022. He co-wrote and starred in the sitcom Buffering, and currently hosts true crime podcast Murder They Wrote with his wife Laura Whitmore with whom he has two children. Series two of Iain Stirling’s Roast the Internet will return to Comedy Central on 7 September.

This must have been taken at the weekend as I’m wearing a Blink-182 T-shirt and baggy jeans. I wouldn’t have been allowed to look like that during the week. I lived this double life in my teens: I wore an outfit like this at school once and was told I was a “sweatie” – an emo – and that I’d let the school down. I was on the football team and things were tribal back then. But on a Saturday, when I was back from violin practice, I could dress how I wanted. Under the bed is an empty bottle of Irn-Bru, and there’s a remote control for the TV that I’d watch Pokémon on, all of which sums me up at this age.

Can you help me?, I asked. I think my car’s been towed away, and my children don’t have any shoes

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

One of the first things we did after moving from the UK to Vancouver was buy a car. Unfortunately, I didn’t acquaint myself with the new road rules quite as quickly.

Which is to say, I didn’t know you aren’t allowed to park on busy streets after 3pm in Vancouver. Unaware and in a carefree summer mood, I parked outside an ice-cream shop and took my barefoot children in for a treat. We emerged a short time later, sticky and splattered in drops of raspberry, mint and chocolate, and found my car wasn’t there.

Protester Tess Asplund on the photo that made headlines, and why she sees it as a sign of the change in Sweden today

The striking photograph showed a lone Black woman, her fist raised, standing in the path of hundreds of uniformed neo-Nazis on parade in 2016, and it made headlines across the globe.

At the time, it was held up as a symbol of the resistance to the far right. But 10 years on, as Sweden gears up for elections in which the far right is expected to emerge as the second most-voted-for party, the woman in the photo sees it as a sign of the bewildering change that has gripped the Scandinavian country.

The author’s new trilogy continues her aunt’s beloved family saga. What would happen next to the sprawling cast of characters ... and could she pull it off?

In the late 1980s Elizabeth Jane Howard was wondering what to write next. Jane, as she was always known, was at that time the author of seven novels. Her debut, The Beautiful Visit, had won the John Llewellyn Rhys prize in 1951 when she was 28 years old and The Long View (1956) was one of the first novels written with reverse chronology. Her talent was somewhat overshadowed in a tawdry world by her drop-dead beauty and by her having briefly been an actor (and by the famous lovers and husbands she walked out on, including Sir Peter Scott, the ornithologist and conservationist, in 1946, and Kingsley Amis, who was then himself a famous novelist, in 1983).

Stuck, she asked her stepson Martin Amis which of two projects she should go for: an updated version of Sense and Sensibility, or a family saga based on her own life? He said, do the family saga. Jane’s family project developed into the Cazalet Chronicles: five volumes in which she fictionalised her life’s experience, divided between three young female cousins, Polly, Clary and Louise, and a cast of 52 more named characters, set between London and a grandparental family home in Sussex.

The Guardian’s weekend wrap of essential reads from the past seven days, selected by Jacqui Housden

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Hello and welcome to this week’s Five Great Reads. Settle into your weekend with some truly inspirational stories – from the incredible life of Dolly Parton, to a vision for greener cities, and life-affirming reflections on grief. Plus, a little bit of gossip.

Jacob Elordi stars as a post-pandemic pilot in Ridley Scott’s sci-fi adventure, while the celebrated soul singer returns with a long-trailed collaboration

The Dog Stars
Out now
Ridley Scott has got to be one of the most prolific octogenarians working today. The director’s latest, a sci-fi drama based on the 2012 novel, stars man of the moment Jacob Elordi as a former pilot surviving the aftermath of a pandemic, with Margaret Qualley as a medic/love interest and Josh Brolin as a pugnacious former marine.

Hugo Weaving leads a delightful drama about the trials and tribulations of a bunch of friends of a certain age, and the bluegrass wunderkind returns with a remarkable new album

Here’s how to follow along with our coverage – the finest writing and up-to-the-minute reports

• How the US Open became obscenely expensive

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Krejcikova gets in a muddle after squandering a 40-0 lead on serve. Deuce. She fights back though. Wins the game with a lovely serve down the T. All square at 2-2.

Paolini delivers a dominant effort on serve to change ends at 3-2 up.

• 2nd Test, D4: England, 290 & 208, bt Pakistan, 110 & 194, by 194 runs

• Robinson’s 4-24 earns match figures of 8-35; Tongue takes 3-46

Tempting as it is to wince at the state of Pakistan’s Test team, England’s completion of a breezy series victory with a match to spare was not entirely insignificant for Joe Root and his men given the backdrop of their chaotic summer.

Until Josh Tongue finally nicked off Mohammad Ali at 5.45pm on Sunday to claim this second Test by a yawning margin of 194 runs, England had not won a series since late 2024. For Root it was his first as Test captain for more than five years. To have struggled at home against a touring side in such obvious disarray itself would have been practically to invite the sky to fall in over Lord’s.

In the fullness of time Chelsea’s surrender against Brighton in April may be seen as the turning point. The humiliation accelerated Liam ­Rosenior’s demise and forced the Stamford Bridge hierarchy into a ­reckoning leading to the appointment of Xabi Alonso, a shift in ­transfer ­strategy, the birth of the JP Morgan front three and the end of ­Robert Sánchez’s time in goal.

For now, though, the argument that Emiliano Martínez is the final piece in the jigsaw seems a touch ­premature. With seven goals scored and five conceded while winning their first two league games, it is not hard to see where Chelsea need to improve in order to sustain a title challenge. They have to be savvier when ahead, and although the good has so far outweighed the bad Alonso could do with his side not dropping their guard when they have the ­opposition on the ropes.

• England forward’s exit continues busy summer for Villa

• News follows Emiliano Martínez moving to Chelsea

Al-Hilal have signed Ollie Watkins from Aston Villa, ⁠the two clubs announced on Sunday, as the 30-year-old striker ended a successful ⁠six-year spell with ⁠the ​Midlands club where he became their top scorer in the Premier League. The England international, who had ​two years left on ‌his Villa contract, has moved for a reported £51m.

Watkins ‌signed a three-year contract as Al-Hilal acquired ‌a proven goalscorer after he scored 21 goals in all competitions last season, including five goals in the Europa League as he helped deliver a European trophy to Unai Emery’s side.

At the final whistle Álvaro Arbeloa provided a study in pensiveness while Régis Le Bris simply looked relieved. For protracted periods an almost palpable fear of losing formed the subtext of a match decided when two of the Sunderland manager’s ­second-half substitutes, Habib Diarra and Wilson Isidor, combined for the latter to score.

Isidor’s goal not merely supplied Sunderland with their first win of the season while leaving Arbeloa’s side pointless, but also ended his side’s 17‑year run without a Premier League home victory against Fulham.

These nascent moments of the new season can often provide false hope but, as both sets of players shook hands after what was indisputably the correct result at Elland Road, it was difficult not to imagine we had just witnessed a contest between two sides that should have lofty ­ambitions for the months ahead.

Leeds and Brentford were vic­torious on the opening weekend in differing circumstances. Leeds crafted a hard-earned but ultimately deserved win at Nottingham Forest, while Brentford Tottenham. Time will tell what the ceiling of both these sides is but, as they each continued their unbeaten starts here, hopes should be high.

• Slovenian awaiting surgery on collarbone after fall

• Mas extends overall lead by winning ninth stage

Tadej Pogacar, who was dramatically forced to withdraw from the Vuelta a España on Saturday after a heavy fall, has shared a photo of himself from hospital accompanied by the Bee Gees’ song Stayin’ Alive.

Pogacar, the clear leader of the Vuelta until his crash, greeted followers on his Instagram account with a photo showing him in a hospital bed wearing a neck brace. The Slovenian five-time Tour de France winner could also be seen with a plaster near his right eyebrow, as well as on his right hand, which he held in his usual gesture of raising his index finger and little finger.

• Promoter Warren confirms Briton recovering in hospital

• Croat accepts he lost first eight rounds before victory

Moses Itauma has been urged “not to give up” by Filip Hrgovic, the new IBF world heavyweight champion, who stopped the 21-year-old Briton with a dramatic and stunning turnaround in their title fight late on Saturday night at London’s O₂ Arena.

Itauma was taken to hospital in a precautionary measure after the fight and Frank Warren, his promoter, confirmed to the Guardian on Sunday morning that his young heavyweight was still under medical observation.

Updates from the final day of this Championship round
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In a round for bowlers, Clarke has stood tall. Notts 321-7 and searching for batting points.

Ha, I missed that Gloucestershire opened with Ollie Price’s loopy loops. Silly season a month early.

• Striker’s second-half penalty ensures 1-0 win at Aberdeen

• St Mirren 3-3 Motherwell; Celtic 2-0 Falkirk on Saturday

Lawrence Shankland’s second-half penalty gave Derek McInnes and Rangers some much-needed respite with a 1-0 win against Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

The tale since the Rangers manager arrived from Hearts in the summer has been one of constant change in formation and personnel amid exits from two European competitions and a poor start to the Premiership campaign. The Ibrox side turned in a better performance than many of late and in the 69th minute the captain, Shankland, a former Don, converted a spot-kick won by Djeidi Gassama.

Striker talks life in the UAE, problems with the Azzurri and ‘special feeling’ of playing for Manchester City

Whenever the name Mario Balotelli is brought up, particularly in Italy, the conversation is almost inevitably laced with a sense of regret. There is that lingering “What if?”, a collective sigh over a player who possessed the raw, undeniable potential to be one of the best in the world, if only things had been different.

Yet being in front of him, with a smile on his face, it becomes clear the 36-year-old striker has reached an unexpected level of wisdom and maturity, traits that shine through in his lucid analysis of Italian football’s current struggles and the vanishing street culture of the sport. As Balotelli reflects on what he would tell his adolescent self, there is also a distinct feeling that he has finally made peace with his own turbulent narrative, that he isn’t chasing the ghosts of unfulfilled expectations.

Labour has promised a ‘fundamental rewiring’ of power. But some areas are years into their devolution journey while others scramble to get started

Apart from the joyous hyperactivity that comes with suddenly making it to No 10, there are good reasons why Andy Burnham seems to be a prime minister in a hurry. If he decides that his first term is going to run to its maximum length, he has three years, which is a maddening time-frame: too long for him to just tinker here and there, set out his long-term vision and then ask the electorate for permission to do more, but probably too short to start and finish many of his key projects. His chosen solution, it seems, is a mixture of the strategies he would use for each approach, which includes running at some issues at breakneck pace.

So it is with his specialist subject: devolution for England. The huge changes now afoot actually began under Keir Starmer, with the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act passed earlier this year. Areas that previously had two tiers of local government will see them replaced with new unitary councils. But the most historic move centres on regional mayors – what the government calls “strategic authorities” – and a shift that the Whitehall PR machine is hyping up as a “fundamental rewiring of the way our country works, surrendering power that for too long has been held in Westminster and Whitehall”. In principle, this is unquestionably worth celebrating. But it also gives rise to a whole range of increasingly urgent and awkward questions.

John Harris is a Guardian columnist

When I testified against Mladić at his trial in The Hague, I saw the unrepentant face of a mass murderer. That face and his legacy still haunt Serbia today

Men age and die, but in the Balkans, time stands still and is stuck. General Ratko Mladić, who died in prison in The Hague on Thursday aged 84, remains a hero in the Republika Srpska statelet – the Serbian half of dismembered Bosnia that he carved out with a hurricane of violence between 1992 and 1995 – and in Serbia itself.

Too many Serbs in whose name Mladić carried out his mass murder of other ethnicities – mainly Muslim Bošniak and Roman Catholic Croats – adore him and mourn his passing.

Ed Vulliamy is an author who reported on the Balkan war for the Guardian and Observer

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US republicans are tarnishing their plant-eating opponents at every opportunity. Yet vegans are perfectly suited to hold power – let me count the ways

Cool news, fellow soy boys and girls – we’ve been promoted from feeble, tofu-eating wokerati to dangerous radicals unfit for public office. Politico reports that US Republicans have started throwing “vegan” around as a tactic to tarnish their political opponents. “He’s a vegan,” Trump warned of Democratic Texas senatorial candidate James Talarico in May, while Talarico’s opponent, state attorney-general Ken Paxton, is trying to get the nickname “Tofu Talarico” to stick. Paxton also called him “a vegan who thinks God is non-binary”, which I find hilarious as a political put-down – give the man a Netflix special. (Sidenote: I investigated, and according to the Catholic catechism, God is “neither man nor woman”.)

Republicans have also been digging up past pro-plant-based statements from Colorado congressional candidate Manny Rutinel: a campaign committee press secretary described him on X as “a far-left vegan activist who wants to end animal agriculture”, posting an old pic of Rutinel bare-chested and wearing a Peta anti-meat banner. Other Dems have also been accused of, erm, liking animals and eating plants: Arizona congressional candidate Amish Shah has been attacked for his “wacky liberal agenda pushing vegan policies” and Lindsay James in Iowa drew heat for merely supporting the idea of “meatless May”.

The move sends the right signal. While we’re at it, can we ban using ringtones and scooting on the sidewalk?

Imagine driving in Italy, with its narrow, cobblestone streets and scooter enthusiasts. I find it hard enough to drive in Los Angeles, a city designed specifically with the automobile in mind. I’d probably squash a pedestrian or two trying to navigate Italian roads.

The modern world is just too hectic for the ancient streets of Europe, so Italy is considering doing the only sensible thing it can: outlawing texting in crosswalks. The Italian government’s updated draft of its highway code proposes fines of €75 or more for anyone caught sending a DM, updating their LinkedIn, finishing Wordle on the fifth guess, or anything else phone-related that might make them miss an oncoming metal projectile. I’m sure most people will risk the slap on wrist to get that message off, but it at least sends a signal to the Italian people that paying attention to traffic is actually kind of important.

Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist

Care and attention, the fundamentals to keep relationships alive, are absent from many marriages that survive anyway

• The modern mind is a column where experts discuss mental health issues they are seeing in their work

I’ve killed every garden I’ve neglected, which is all of them: bring me a struggling houseplant and watch it die. But bring me a struggling marriage, and I will sometimes encourage it back to life. Other times, when the conditions are right, by which I mean when something is wrong, I will kill it. Intentionally. Or, in more professional language, I will advise it to end. Not every plant gets to flower. Not every marriage should be saved.

I have come to realise that care and attention, the fundamentals that keep both plants and relationships alive, are absent from many marriages that survive anyway. I call them cactus marriages: alive, but I couldn’t tell you how.

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Small business owners have watched large companies fumble – and sometimes succeed – with AI, and then use what works

One thing I’ve learned about corporate America is that what it succeeds at ultimately trickles down to benefit small businesses. Bleeding-edge technologies such as the internet, mobile transactions and the cloud were first perfected by large organizations – government and corporations – and now they’re available to the masses at a much lower cost and with better reliability.

The good news is that it’s also the same for what they fail at.

With a sceptical public and hostility from a lot of the press, the Sussexes face quite a challenge. Still, they really could help themselves

They’re back! Harry and Meghan’s quiet return to England this week, via Birmingham airport, was much anticipated but scarcely celebrated – no bunting or street parties.

So far there are many questions but very few answers: not just “why return now?” and “why so suddenly?”, but also questions of security: who pays if not themselves, given that they are not working royals? And where will the money come from to keep them in the style to which they are accustomed?

Steve Bates is a former Guardian royal correspondent

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Project in Zambia shows how teaching young women to negotiate better can have a long-term impact on their prospects

Women making their way in patriarchal societies down the ages have always had to wield their meagre economic power deftly. New evidence from a fascinating research project in Zambia suggests that’s a skill that can be learned.

A team of female US academics have been gathering data for more than a decade, which shows that teaching young women to negotiate better can have a long-term impact on their prospects.

The far right is close to winning a state election for the first time since the second world war. A different economic approach is needed to combat it

The early autumn has become a time of foreboding and angst in German politics. In the eastern states that have become strongholds for the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, it has regularly made headline-grabbing advances in September elections. Only the refusal of mainstream politicians to form coalitions with one of Europe’s most extreme movements has kept it out of power.

This year, the lights are flashing red. Next weekend, when voters in Saxony-Anhalt cast their ballots, the signs are that the traditional firewall may not be enough. In polling, the AfD is currently scoring above 40% in the state, which could win it enough seats to govern on its own. Compared with the last election in 2021, its support has doubled; backing for the closest challenger, the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has tumbled by almost 15%.

Outsourcing the industry to China cannot continue, but Europe knows it can no longer count on the US for a solution

The alarm sounded 16 years ago. In 2010, China blocked exports of key rare earths to Japan in a row over disputed islands in the East China Sea. The critical minerals are essential to everything from advanced weaponry and iPhones to electric vehicle batteries and wind turbines, so the rest of the world took note. But it didn’t take much action. China still accounts for about 70% of rare-earth mining globally and 90% of separation and processing.

Then, last year, Beijing forced Donald Trump to back away from his trade war – not with its retaliatory tariffs, but the curbing of rare-earth exports. A scramble for new supplies began in earnest. The year-long trade truce is due to expire in November. The price of erbium, an element essential to communications infrastructure, has already jumped because of fears that export controls will soon be renewed.

Readers respond to an article by John Harris on the diversity of hikers in the Peak District

What a joy to read John Harris’s piece on the cultural changes taking place in rural areas (Walking the Peak District, I discovered a wonderful rejection of the right’s monotone vision of England, 23 August. My husband and I have walked many miles in the Peak District and we would comment on the monocultural nature of other walkers. As a headteacher, I also took groups of children to stay in Hartington Hall, where Harris stayed with his own children, and other school groups also appeared to be monocultural. We knew nothing about Black Girls Hike or Steppers UK that Harris mentions, but hope that these movements will support positive change.
Nina Young
Collingham, Nottinghamshire

• John Harris rightly highlights the cost of gastropubs and boutique Airbnbs replacing budget alternatives as an issue, but overlooked another. The replacement of basic (cheap) campsites with (expensive) glamping yurts and fully serviced campervan pitches is threatening dirt-cheap summer holidays spent backpacking around the country and learning to appreciate new landscapes and peoples, from which many of us oldies benefited greatly.
Mike Coogan
Abbeystead, Lancashire

A financial model that could cut the cost of installing solar panels for many homeowners is welcomed by Alexis Abramson

The UK proposal to use “solar bonds” to make rooftop solar more affordable is a smart solution to a fundamental problem: the rising cost of capital (Cut cost of loans for solar panels on UK homes, ministers urged, 21 August).

A household that can pay for solar upfront saves money from day one. For everyone else, high-interest financing can consume much of those savings and ultimately deter people from installing the technology. A solar bond structure changes that equation: investors receive a modest, guaranteed return, and homeowners get access to cheaper capital. Because the loan is attached to the property rather than the individual, there’s no issue if the person moves.

Dr Simon Nieder on the global efforts needed to curb the threats posed by AI. Plus letters from Dr Anthony Harris and David Kyler

Timothy Garton Ash is right that serious artificial intelligence risks demand international action, but “AI Hiroshima” may be the wrong picture (Would even an AI disaster on the scale of Hiroshima be enough to make humankind protect itself? I fear not, 22 August). Hiroshima was not technology going rogue. Human beings designed the bomb, authorised its use and dropped it. The technology worked much as intended.

AI may one day behave in ways we cannot control, but many of the gravest harms could happen without any dramatic moment when “the AI takes over”. AI might help design a pathogen, find a vulnerability in critical infrastructure or improve a weapons system while people still decide what happens next. Other harms may build almost invisibly through thousands of ordinary decisions – more autonomy here, one safeguard removed there, another consequential task handed over because the system has worked well so far. By the time the danger is obvious, the important decisions may already have been made.

Readers respond to an article about le dimanche français, the French Sunday, being the secret to happiness

What Polly Hudson describes as le dimanche français is almost a description of the very British Sundays of my youth (Is a French Sunday the secret to a healthier, happier life?, 23 August). Sundays were days of guilt-free relaxation. There was time to enjoy the company of family, and sometimes close friends, with no time constraints.

We enjoyed a good book (not a heavy one), an afternoon film on TV, board games, cards, or a gentle stroll for the pleasure of it rather than as part of a keep-fit regime. And let us not forget time to peruse the Sunday newspapers. Children got bored and learned how to entertain themselves, a skill today’s hard-pressed parents underestimate as they struggle to ensure Sundays are packed with activities.

Well-funded no camp prevails, winning 52.8% of votes and gaining plaudits from Eurosceptic figures across Europe

• Analysis: Definitely no or maybe yes – what tipped the Icelandic referendum

Voters in Iceland have ⁠rejected ⁠a government proposal ​to reopen ⁠accession talks with ⁠the ​EU after a closely fought referendum campaign that divided the country against a backdrop of global volatility.

After a long and anxious night for those on both sides of the debate, the no camp ended up with 52.8% of votes on Sunday morning and the yes camp with 47.2%. Voter turnout was high at 82.5%.

The Jeffrey Epstein associate’s apparent last hope would be a Hail Mary from Donald Trump – a presidential pardon

Ghislaine Maxwell seems to be all but guaranteed to have run out of legal avenues to challenge her conviction for her involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of girls and young women with perhaps her lingering hopes of freedom resting on a pardon from the Trump administration.

Paul Engelmayer, a Manhattan federal court judge, last week rejected Maxwell’s contention that her constitutional rights were violated at trial and sentencing for her crimes. “Maxwell’s claims are all meritless and all or almost all are frivolous,” Engelmayer wrote in his ruling on the former British socialite’s legal gambit.

New company reportedly quickly fell behind with promised repayments to administrator

A recruitment executive who was allowed to buy back the assets of his bust company in instalments, despite it accumulating almost £3m of debt, has placed his new business into liquidation after falling behind with promised payments to the administrator.

The news is the latest event to raise questions about the practice of “phoenixism”, accounting’s controversial art of liquidating companies to allow directors to return with a new entity, free of debts.

Deal that will reportedly see US take control of 65bn barrels of Venezuelan oil has provoked outrage in her country

Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has defended her government’s highly controversial energy deal with Donald Trump, insisting the South American country will maintain ownership and sovereignty over its massive oil reserves.

Rodríguez, who assumed power in January after Trump ordered the abduction of the president, Nicolás Maduro, took to the airwaves on Saturday to push back against criticism of what the US president has called “the biggest oil deal in world history”.

Rosenheim police detain 27-year-old German man after woman, 31, killed outside train station early on Sunday

A man has been detained in Germany on suspicion of the fatal stabbing of a 31-year-old British woman in Rosenheim early on Sunday morning, local authorities said.

According to Rosenheim police, the woman, who was attacked at the city’s train station, was taken to a nearby hospital where she died from serious injuries.

Exclusive: Friends of the Earth finds greatest sewage discharge in Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset

• ‘Tiny bit of rain and the sewage comes’: Brighton swimmers vent fury at sea pollution

South West Water is doing more harm to the environment than any other water company in England, according to new analysis, with more sewage discharged in Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset than anywhere else.

Friends of the Earth analysed water companies’ environmental performance in six categories: sewage spills, water quality at bathing sites, pollution incidents or warnings at bathing sites, severity of sewage pollution at bathing sites, the percentage of rivers rated below the standard for good ecological health, and the affordability of bills.

Checking for sewage spills has become as normal as checking the weather forecast, say swimmers on East Sussex beaches

• South West Water has worst environmental record in England, analysis shows

“I’m furious,” says Jo Armstrong, 75, sitting on Brighton beach with her daughter and granddaughter.

Armstrong lives in Lewes, a town 8 miles from Brighton, and usually goes swimming in nearby Seaford in East Sussex every day. But over the past week the water there has been too polluted to swim. “Brighton beach was the only place that stayed clean,” she says.

Each year, the Guardian reaffirms its commitment to the environment – both in our reporting and how we operate as a business. From critical tipping points to war in Iran, this is how the last 12 months have looked

• Support the Guardian’s environment coverage

• The Guardian climate forum 2026

Today marks the end of the Guardian’s annual climate support campaign. Each year, during the campaign, we remind our audience about the Guardian’s role in covering the threats to our planet and the importance of independent journalism in telling that story. Our climate pledge is a reminder of the environmental values we place at the heart of our reporting and our organisation.

Since our 2025 climate pledge, the world has experienced extreme levels of heat as well as extreme forms of denial and abdication in the face of the climate crisis. But, across the world, there have also been inspiring efforts to tackle it.

We will be publishing our annual company emissions data in the autumn, explaining what drives our emissions and where they have risen and fallen.

We have started the process of estimating our emissions from generative AI usage. We hope to report on this next year.

We have undertaken our B Corp recertification in line with the new standards introduced by B Lab in 2026. We will find out our result later this year.

We have participated in advertising industry working groups that published a methodological framework that aims to capture the emissions impact of digital and print advertising.

We open ourselves up to scrutiny by independent third parties, such as the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and B Corp, so they can assess the robustness of our targets and our internal policies.

In this week’s newsletter: Anti-datacentre sentiment is growing across the political spectrum in the US – and the public is only just finding out about the potential effects on their energy bills

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Anti-datacentre sentiment is growing from across the political spectrum in the US.

More than a dozen states have considered moratoria on datacentres. New York became the first US state to enact a temporary ban last month. Progressive stalwarts Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have proposed a national moratorium. And even Greg Abbott, the far-right governor of Texas, called for a ban on datacentre development in rural swaths of his state.

‘Our new normal’: how marine heatwaves affect life in British seas

Iraq’s ghost villages: Islamic State drove people away – now a new enemy is preventing their return

Destroyed crops, riverbed cyclists and a ‘Rock of Starvation’: how drought has devastated the Danube

More than 100 undercover officers spied on tens of thousands of mainly leftwing activists over decades

Prosecutors are examining whether to bring criminal charges against 12 former police officers who were involved in spying on political groups.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is examining a file of evidence that the officers may have committed wrongdoing while working in controversial undercover operations.

It’s ‘plausible’, though more likely the Humberside resident was one of many immigrants to Viking-controlled Danelaw

One of the most consequential showdowns in the history of the British Isles, the Battle of Hastings is seen as the foundational event of the Anglo-Saxons’ conquest by their Norman enemy across the Channel.

But researchers who have put flesh on the bones of one man who lived through the turmoil of the era are learning more about the fighters who may have belonged to neither side.

City firms tapped for case studies to try to convince global watchdog that London has cleaned up its act

The government is asking bankers and lawyers to provide feelgood stories about how they blocked dirty money from entering the UK, as ministers try to prove the UK’s money-laundering controls are working.

The Treasury’s call for evidence is meant to illustrate that the UK has upped its game when it comes to preventing financial crime, particularly since its last dismal assessment by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) global crime watchdog in 2018, which fuelled allegations that London had become a hub for “dirty money”.

The cholesterol-busting drugs are more effective the earlier in life they are taken, 15-year research project indicates

Statins can lower the risk of dementia by 15%, and the earlier in life they are taken the higher the chances of avoiding the disease, a 15-year study suggests.

The number of people living with dementia globally is forecast to nearly triple to 153 million by 2050. But experts believe almost half of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed.

Searching for exoplanets and clues on planet formation, the Roman telescope begins million-mile journey from Florida launchpad

A $4.3bn space telescope that Donald Trump tried to kill has lifted off from Florida as Nasa embarks on the next stage of its quest to unlock the secrets of the universe.

The Nancy Grace Roman space telescope survived two rounds of proposed White House budget cuts, and began a million-mile journey into deep space from a launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center on Sunday morning. .

Manhunt under way after Italian dies from her injuries in the town of Aarau in the early hours of Sunday

A manhunt is under way in Switzerland after a 22-year-old woman was killed ⁠and five people were injured, ⁠some seriously, in a ​shooting at a rave in the northern town of Aarau, local police have said.

In the attack in the early hours of Sunday at a techno party at a covered horse-racing track, an Italian woman died from her injuries at the scene, authorities said. All those caught up in the shooting were residents of Switzerland and in their 20s.

Matt Bradley and crew assaulted while interviewing woman who said settlers had driven family out of home

A Palestinian woman and an NBC News team are reported to have been attacked and injured by masked Israeli settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Saturday, amid worsening confrontations in the area.

Benjamin Netanyahu said he condemned the violence committed “by a handful of rioters”.

More traumatised civilians are arriving every day at ‘shockingly overcrowded’ El Obeid and camps on its outskirts

Humanitarian conditions in the Sudanese city of El Obeid and two camps on its outskirts are dire and deteriorating, according to people on the ground, as civilians displaced by fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia continue to pour in from the surrounding countryside.

The UN says more than 15,000 families have arrived since mid-July, joining more than 200,000 people who arrived in the first half of the year, according to government figures cited by Save the Children.

Exclusive: Number of times AI lies, ignores instructions and pursues goals in harmful ways almost doubles in July

Incidents of AIs escaping users’ control to lie, ignore instructions and pursue goals in harmful ways have hit a new high, according to research that also suggests the severity of deception and misalignment is worsening.

Analysis of real-world loss of control incidents involving AI models flagged by businesses and individuals almost doubled in July compared with June, with more than 300 cases in the month, according to the Loss of Control Observatory, which monitors reports made by AI users on the social media platform X.

As one of Europe’s biggest consumers of gas the UK may be particularly exposed to heightened price volatility

Europe is on course to enter the cooler months with gas stores at their lowest level in 13 years, which has triggered “winter panic” among energy traders, experts have warned.

The EU’s gas stocks were 63% full in the last week of August, well below the 80% average for late August over recent years and among the lowest levels ever recorded for this time of year.

Operating at only half its capacity, Japanese carmaker’s Sunderland factory seeks deal with China’s Chery as it battles Brexit threats

In a factory in Gateshead, engineers carefully wind metal wires around iron cores to go in electric motors. Here, workers produce a smaller “pancake motor”, which generates higher torque than conventional versions for supercars or construction equipment.

These workers form part of north-east England’s automotive industry, which has experienced a long line of political disruptions, from Margaret Thatcher’s efforts to attract international investment, through Brexit and now Andy Burnham’s reindustrialisation strategy.

Average cost of petrol reaches 161.6p a litre, while diesel costs average of 183.4p, according to the AA

UK petrol prices have hit their highest level since 2022, piling more financial pressure on motorists before the bank holiday weekend.

The average cost of petrol has reached 161.6p a litre, while diesel costs an average of 183.4p a litre, according to the AA breakdown company.

A masterclass led by the actor helped set Raymond on a new path. Now the head of a theatre company, he has coaxed his friend back to the stage for a show to encourage young people to fall in love with performing

Darren Raymond doesn’t remember having any significant interest in acting when he was growing up. And when he met Mark Rylance for the first time, on Christmas Eve 2004, he had never heard of the multi-award winning actor. These days, things are very different: Raymond is the artistic director of Intermission Youth, the London-based arts charity and theatre, and is directing his friend Rylance in the lead role of Tartuffe (Remixed), Raymond’s adaptation of the Molière play, which opens at London’s Marylebone theatre this week.

It’s fair to say neither could have anticipated they’d still be in touch this long after their initial meeting. “Unlikely companions” is a tired cliche by this point, but that doesn’t make it any less true to say that on the surface, the two had very little in common. Raymond was a young twentysomething raised on an inner-city housing estate and serving a prison sentence at HMP Brixton. Meanwhile Rylance was twice his age, a successful professional actor, and artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe. Nevertheless that meeting, at a Shakespeare workshop in the prison, turned into a professional connection, which soon evolved into a solid friendship.

Its moguls are ripe subjects for drama, and there is huge anticipation for forthcoming features The Social Reckoning and Artificial. But other projects have failed as the film industry is increasingly colonised by IT empires

• Tom Cruise, Olivia Colman and the return of Rocky: the best films of autumn 2026
• See all of our unmissable autumn arts recommendations here

‘I know there are easier enemies to make,” tech reporter Jeremy Allen White tells his colleague in a recent trailer for The Social Reckoning. “The mafia would be an easier enemy to make,” comes the reply. They’re talking about Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, but they might as well be discussing big tech as a whole. As The Social Reckoning promises to underline, it’s become clear that these people are not on our side – “us” being the whole of humanity except billionaire tech overlords and their mates. But for an industry that loves a clear-cut baddie, Hollywood has barely landed a blow on the tech industry. Now it finds itself in mortal danger of being absorbed by it. Is it too late to fight back?

The Social Reckoning’s predecessor, The Social Network, showed how this kind of thing is done. It was pacy, buzzy and full of weirder-than-life characters – not least the young Zuckerberg, portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg as an obnoxiously smart mogul-in-the-making, whose mission to connect the world stood in stark contrast to his own social deficiencies. Directed by David Fincher and co-written by Aaron Sorkin, it was also a commercial and critical hit, winning three Oscars. But a big part of what made The Social Network work, and makes its sequel such a threat, is that it was about the actual, real-world Silicon Valley, which is where a lot of recent entertainment has gone wrong.

The wildlife presenter gets very excited about brilliant birds of prey in Kenya. Plus: Suranne Jones returns in cop drama Vigil. Here’s what to watch this evening

7pm, BBC One
“I’m like a kid who’s just been shown their Christmas present!” It’s always a delight to see Hamza Yassin in the wild. He starts this new series about incredible but endangered birds in Kenya, where the martial eagle – huge yellow eyes, terrifying talons, thighs of steel – blows him away. Then, he makes a case for why we should love vultures more, and somehow pulls it off. Hollie Richardson

Assembly George Square studios, Edinburgh
Writer and actor Alaa Shehada turns a simple bus trip from the West Bank into a vivid tale of bureaucracy, humiliation and resistance

It is the simplicity of the task that gives this story heft. Recalling his formative years in the West Bank, actor and writer Alaa Shehada is asked by his mother to go on a bus journey that would take a couple of hours in any other part of the world.

His mission is to deliver a plastic jerry can filled with the family’s home-pressed olive oil to his aunt in Jordan. His obstacle is the 180m crossing point known variously as the Dignity Bridge, the Allenby Bridge and the King Hussein Bridge, depending on your political standpoint.

Edinburgh Playhouse
San Francisco Ballet brings a spectacular collision of dance, music and digital wizardry to the Edinburgh international festival in this bold reimagining of Pandora’s box

This is a spectacular show. Literally, it is full of spectacle: as much a visual extravaganza as it is a concert, as it is dance – and a gloriously maddening piece of dance at that. The dancers are as impressive as you’d expect from San Francisco Ballet, the US’s oldest professional ballet company, and the splashy concept is bold: artistic director Tamara Rojo commissioned choreographer Aszure Barton, composer Sam Shepherd (AKA electronic producer Floating Points) and multidisciplinary artists Hamill Industries, their starting point being the myth of Pandora’s box, transposed to the current world of AI technology and what unknowns we might be unleashing.

Hamill Industries, who used some AI in their creation process, unleash something transfixing on a giant screen above the stage: morphing, pulsating pixels that look like lava or the surface of the sun. It’s intoxicating, easily dragging attention away from the dancers’ bodies (this may be the whole point – more on this later). Those dancers appear en masse in strict manoeuvres at driving tempo. Are they an army of mortals, gods, automatons or lines of code? Who knows. But they are moulded into large-scale moving images by Barton just as Pandora is moulded from clay in the best bit of integration between the digital and physical worlds, countless hands crafting this first woman out of dust.

Barton is a magpie of a choreographer, always unpredictable, classical virtuosity sewn in among countless other ideas in unstoppable phrases. Jennifer Stahl as Pandora is an impressive creation, for sure, and Wei Wang is great: supple, sprightly, puckish. He represents Hope, although you wouldn’t know that without doing a bit of research. Choreographers are not duty-bound to enact a narrative; the Pandora tale is merely a creative trigger, they’d say, but in a story with such clear dramatic beats, and such a clever contemporary parallel, it does seem a waste to essentially throw that away.

The Black Bananas singer knows all the words to Rapper’s Delight and relates to AC/DC, but which song reminds her of a heartbreaking theft?

The first song I fell in love with
Van Halen’s Runnin’ With the Devil. I was five or six and I went to visit my cousin Tommy who was much older. He was on a hockey team and we went to see them practise before the game and they had Runnin’ With the Devil on really loud. I was like: “Wait, what’s this?!”

The song I do at karaoke
You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC. Me and Brian Johnson – my voice has that thing, you know?

Irish noisemongers Gilla Band, shadowy producers Two Shell and lovable band the Big Moon have new records, and there are tours from Bob Dylan and Kelela – plus the best of jazz, global and classical

• ‘It’s easier when nobody’s watching’: inside the secretive and sublime freak-folk of @
• See all of our unmissable autumn arts recommendations here

Their un-Googlable, very online name is the antithesis of this earthy duo’s sublime art-folk. Like their emotionally ambiguous music, the pair don’t give up their mysteries easily
• The best music of autumn 2026: Johnny Marr, Phoebe Bridgers, Rachel Chinouriri and more
• See all of our unmissable autumn arts recommendations here

Victoria Rose arrives at Philadelphia’s 30th St Station and apologises for the sticky streaks covering her car’s interior. She’s a beekeeper, and it’s just propolis, a resinous sealant for gaps in the hive. Her bandmate, Stone Filipczak, is riding shotgun, and her protective gear occupies the rear passenger seat. We’re heading to one of their favourite spots, an Ethiopian restaurant that doubles as a venue. The dining room quickly gets boisterous – a challenge for our interview given that Filipczak and Rose are relatively soft speakers, and not wildly keen to divulge specifics about the music they make as @. Like Rose’s bees, they’re a secretive and self-sustaining pair.

As you might guess, @ is pronounced “at”. It’s a tough Google. The name, Filipczak explains, came from “a vision of an @ sign on a kick drum head”. Not that they have any need for one: @’s art-folk is rooted in acoustic guitar, woodwinds and vocal harmonies that furrow and frolic. Their fantastic second album, Autosmile, is their first with the venerated indie label 4AD. (The name is a reference to a meme showing a dopey sunflower: “When you and gang faded and auto smile gets turn on …”)

As R&L replace the BBC’s unsigned artists stage with one filled with rock scions and a Simon Cowell boyband, many are decrying disappearing opportunities for grassroots acts

This year’s Reading and Leeds festival lineups are a testament to the catholic tastes of a generation who have little regard for musical tribalism or the concept of genre: brash pop stars rub up against drum’n’bass acts, underground rappers, meat-and-potatoes indie bands and much more.

What at least 70% of those acts have in common, however, is that early on in their careers they were supported by the BBC’s Introducing scheme, a combination of regional and national radio shows playing music submitted by unsigned artists and festival stages that platform them. For almost 20 years, a BBC Introducing stage has been a core part of Reading and Leeds – until it was scrapped last month.

The author on the habit she can’t control, the writer she’s never read, and the true love of her life (it’s not her husband)

Born in North Yorkshire, Adele Parks, 57, studied English at the University of Leicester then worked in advertising. In 2000, she published her debut novel, Playing Away, and has since written a book every year. Her latest is Eyes on You. Her work has been translated into 31 languages and in 2022 she was awarded the MBE for services to literature. She is an ambassador for charities promoting literacy including the National Literacy Trust, which is collaborating with the Department for Education on the National Year of Reading 2026. Parks is married with a son, and lives in Surrey.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Speaking negatively to myself.

Poetry with wonder and wit; a heartwarming tale for horse lovers; a portal to the future; a brilliant YA wartime romance and more

Small Monster, Big Monster by Allan Sanders, Phaidon, £7.95
Refrigerator is EMPTY. Monster is FULL (of pizza!). An eye-wateringly bright board book, featuring splendidly zany, toddler-pleasing pairs of opposites.

The Flying Machine of Dreams by Kate Wakeling, illustrated by Viviane Schwarz, Otter-Barry, £12.99
A delectable picture-book collaboration that perfectly distils the wonder of the everyday, from the textures of a leaf to a squishy-cushioned den. Wakeling’s irresistible poetry is richly heightened by Schwarz’s sweet, strange illustrations.

A heartbroken woman becomes fixated on a famous writer in this witty, touching follow-up to Sorrow and Bliss

The protagonist of Meg Mason’s new book, the follow-up to the 2020 tragicomedy Sorrow and Bliss, is an invisible woman. She might well be standing there but you won’t notice her. She’s a techie at literary festivals – the person who shuffles up to a famous writer a few minutes before their event and apologetically slides a microphone cable down their shirt while they’re making small talk with the chair or accepting a bottle of room-temperature mineral water from an anxious publicist.

No man is a hero to his valet, and no writer is a hero to the technical staff lurking in the wings of a venue. Mason’s opening pages present a teasing but not quite libellous series of cameos from real writers: George Saunders deciding at an inconsiderately late stage to insist on swapping his headset for a lapel mic; Ann Patchett being frosty with a fan; Mick Herron accidentally stepping on someone’s foot and not apologising.

The much-discussed Life of M is the latest in a lineage of celebrity satire that spans from Virginia Woolf to The Devil Wears Prada

In Rachel Cusk’s new novel, Life of M, the famous actor protagonist participates in an event at a book store after hours. The actor, M, is joined by “a writer of some renown” and a fashion model who possesses “some vague self-absorption”. A brand sponsored the affair. I spent literal hours trying to find the real-world equivalent of the opaque fictional passage. I scrolled through the backlogs of influencers I know to appear bookish in their content, who might have fallen prey to Dior’s Ulysses tote bag drop or Miu Miu’s “literary club”. I even stooped so low as to DM a Natalie Portman fan account, asking for leads.

As has been widely reported, M’s character is based on Portman. One journalist was credited with the scoop, but she simply finished her advance copy sooner than the rest of us; it’s clear from page three, when Cusk describes M’s breakout film as having “immediately brought her childhood to an end” (obviously Léon: The Professional; Portman was 11 when she was cast) and a later film about obsessive, wild ballerinas (Black Swan). But the rumor that Portman is unhappy with her portrayal – an impression that cannot immediately be gleaned from the book itself, especially depending on interpretation of its final lines – has trickled down to the raggiest of tabloids.

Before The Witcher 4 arrives in 2028, CD Projekt Red is returning us to the world of The Witcher 3 for one last foray. Looks like wind’s still howlin’

The game that graced us with Bathtub Geralt, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, arrived more than a decade ago. So it was a touch surprising this summer when developers CD Projekt Red announced a new expansion to the venerable adventure, titled Songs of the Past, for next year. It will release alongside a full remaster of the original game, which will be free for anyone who bought it back in 2015. (The studio is also working on a sequel, The Witcher 4, but that’s not due until 2028.)

As it turns out, this is all possible thanks to a partnership with Fool’s Theory, a studio founded by CD Projekt Red veterans, which took on the brunt of the development work. “We’ve had this story in a drawer for many years,” explains Marcin Blacha, VP story director at CD Projekt Red. “Of course, we moved on to Cyberpunk 2077 and now The Witcher 4, as well as our other projects. But because we knew The Witcher 4 would take time, we saw a gap in our release calendar where Songs of the Past could go. Thankfully, we were able to find the right partner to help execute it.”

PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, PC; Asobo Studio
The medieval franchise is transplanted to Crete, conjuring action-adventure magic from familiar ingredients

The path in Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is a familiar one. Amid ancient ruins and sun-dappled gorges, a young woman, Sophia, dutifully treads the same footsteps as a Minoan warrior from millennia ago, one with whom she seems to share a visionary connection. The “resonance” between these two characters is made clear by their echoing actions – a crank pushed in the bronze age that still works in the medieval present, for example. Through these spliced timelines, it becomes clear that Sophia, compelled by her supernatural gift, possesses little agency. Destiny beckons her forwards.

This is a smart meta concept for a game that, at its most basic level, boils down to keeping your left thumb planted firmly on the analogue stick, always pushing Sophia onwards in linear fashion. You jostle her through ornate corridors rendered as higgledy-piggledy pirate camps and cobbled Venetian streets. For the greater part of the game, you propel her through the Minoan remains of Crete, which harbour a dark and terrible secret. It is classic third-person action-adventure fare, building on the template laid down by the likes of Tomb Raider and then refined and complicated by titles such as The Last of Us. Little, from an interactive perspective, surprises: you dash, vault and swing between teetering podiums, squeeze through tiny gaps in rock and crouch behind conveniently placed walls to avoid enemies.

The flat routines of a dead end railway job screen out an approaching menace in a quietly intriguing game from the indie developer of Cat Lady and Lorelai

Lonely jobs have provided excellent material for independent video games over the years. From Papers, Please to Firewatch to The Stanley Parable, players have been happy to spend hours dwelling in depressing cubicles or rural hideaways, usually because there is an intriguingly hidden point to it all.

In Trainwatch, a character named Troy has taken a seemingly godforsaken job as a railway worker in an unnamed desolate backwater. His main task over the course of a single month is to manage a level crossing, closing the gate whenever a train comes, while also carrying out daily chores such as cooking and washing. It sounds serene, but Troy is also running away from something. The other stipulations are that he stays sober and calls his wife every night. And there is something lurking in the fog at the edges of the fields – one day he must face it.

An increasing tension between players and publishers about ownership of titles could lead to a divestment from the system the big companies are trying to enforce

At the time of press, there is a well-publicised protest taking place in the video games community. PlayStation 5 owners are being encouraged to log off from their consoles between 23 and 30 August – no playing games, no downloading new titles. The motivating factor is Sony’s decision to cease physical game disc production from January 2028. After that, games will only be released as digital products. In an act of poor timing or wilful defiance, Sony chose this week to send out a mass email reminding customers of their PS5 terms and conditions: “The software is licensed to you, not sold,” states the relevant clause. “You are granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and personal license to play … ” It knows, of course, that most customers won’t open the email, let alone read it.

There has always been a tension between game players and game publishers – an underlying sense of mutual mistrust. Players are wary of their favourite franchises being canned, or games being delayed or released with bugs. Publishers and manufacturers are wary of piracy and the capricious tastes of consumers. But now the atmosphere among many game players feels more starkly political than ever. Microsoft has been targeted by the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement for its ties to the Israeli military; the consumer advocacy group Stop Killing Games is gaining support; players have protested over the purchase of Electronic Arts by a Saudi-led consortium – boycotts have been proposed in part due to the possible ramifications regarding LGBTQ+ content in titles such as The Sims. As the games industry has grown and globalised, its impact on culture, society and politics has increased. Yet, on an individual level, gamers and consumers are feeling increasingly powerless.

Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh
The Chicken Shop Date co-writer gives a gossipy, erudite account of his relationship with how he looks in this assured debut

At a fringe noticeable for the polish even of its rookie standups, here’s another debut showing no signs of callowness. The co-writer of Chicken Shop Date with Amelia Dimoldenberg, you wouldn’t bet against Dom McGovern being a TV fixture soon, such is the smoothness – and good humour – characterising this account of the Hounslow man’s troubled relationship with his body. So are we talking about men’s mental health? Not if McGovern has anything to do with it. His scepticism of that phenomenon, and the performative (straight) male vulnerability it entails, forms one amusing section of his show.

There’s precious little emoting or “trauma comedy” at play in Prize Hog, which doesn’t soft-soap McGovern’s difficulties with body dysmorphia and bulimia, but doesn’t over-dramatise them, either. They’re all just fodder for his sharp and gossipy chat with the audience, about a recent trip to Brazil (suboptimal destination for travellers already unconfident about their looks), and about Jesus and his unhelpful dieting example. Brought up in an Irish Catholic family, McGovern couldn’t ignore the influence of that “ripped little twink on the cross” – but 00s slimming culture cast a darker pall. At least until he undergoes therapy, under the charge of a South African counsellor rejoicing in the name Wendy Christmas.

Royal Albert Hall, London
Patricia Kopatchinskaja hurls herself into Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto, while conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla brings precision and intensity to Prokofiev

There are the violinists whose instruments seem barely relevant, their tone appearing to emanate mysteriously from the ether. And there are the violinists whose music-making is audibly rooted in the physical contact between fingers, bow and string. Patricia Kopatchinskaja is among the latter – and Stravinsky’s 1931 Violin Concerto is an ideal expressive fit for this full-body performer.

In her latest Proms appearance, Kopatchinskaja hurled herself into each of Stravinsky’s movements with a kind of anarchic delight. No double-stopped chord was too outrageously far-flung, no moto perpetuum passage too fiddly, no filigree descant too stratospheric. Her tone was by turns ferocious and honeyed. Bowing came in harsh wedges, glistening cascades of spiccato and generous ribbons of velvet legato. The fiendish details were all there – indeed, the sharp angles and wild lurches of the third movement began to verge on mannerism. But Kopatchinskaja’s intensity was balanced by the Oslo Philharmonic’s diffidence. Their passages of neoclassical chugging were nonchalant, the wind and brass solos characterful but subtly detached, Stravinsky’s witty echoes and reworkings of Bach made achingly cool.

OVO Hydro, Glasgow
The Nashville singer-songwriter is among the guests joining Mike Scott for a sprawling, exuberant revue that finds new life in the Waterboys’ rootsy past

This is strange. A Waterboys gig, but something else, too: the first night of the Fisherman’s Blues Revue. Which is what, exactly? Inspired by the Rolling Thunder Revue, the wild tour in which Bob Dylan performed alongside a troupe of guest stars, Mike Scott’s version is a way of digging into the rootsy music he and his band were making in the mid-1980s, some of which emerged on the classic Fisherman’s Blues. The aim of this show is not a faithful play-through of that album, which Scott has said he would find dull, but a “reigniting” of its spirit.

The fire is lit with an opening half-hour of favourites: A Girl Called Johnny is notable for the legs-akimbo keytar heroics of Brother Paul Brown. Scott gives him a shout-out and promises “a few other miscreants and villains yet to join us”. Chief among them is Steve Earle, who takes the stage after the interval. Ursine and magnetic, the mandolin looks like a toy in his hands as he sings Copperhead Road and others from his songbook. It feels, for a while, like a Steve Earle set dropped into a Waterboys gig, rather than a blending of the two. The wonderful exception is And a Bang on the Ear, Scott’s fond chronicle of lost loves.

Reworked as a duet, Earle contributes new verses that seem to refer to his own romances: “Sandy was just 18 when I took her for my wife/I believed we’d be together all the seasons of my life”. It works beautifully. Not everything does. The show is too long, pushing three hours including the interval, and the room is too big. The Stolen Child, that shivery setting of a Yeats poem, is not heard to advantage in an arena. Yet there is an exuberance and intensity in the performances, especially the playing of fiddler Steve Wickham – veteran of Fisherman’s Blues – which threatens to tip over into transcendence. A closing Will the Circle Be Unbroken sends the audience out into the night having experienced something better than nostalgia: artists weaving a new tapestry from the bright threads of their past.

• At the 3Arena, Dublin, 5 September and the O2, London, 12 September

Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh
The comic’s unique tale of assimilation and romance-related limbo has a high joke rate and emotional intelligence

I want to tell Omar Badawy to take a breath. This debut moves at a frantic, almost dizzying pace, so much so that you could easily miss a few details in a show that zooms in and out of the time he was accidentally caught in the middle of a Tommy Robinson march while en route to a fancy dress party. But with writing this sharp, does it matter? You can see why SNL: UK came calling.

The Cambridge-raised Badawy lays out his identity conundrum: he’s an Anglo-Egyptian Muslim who, as a pupil at a Christian school, was teased for his background. Differences surfaced during Nativity plays, where his culturally accurate interpretations of innkeepers and wise men’s assistants weren’t quite what his teachers had in mind. He also knows his well-spoken accent makes it easier to assimilate. Because of all this, Badawy often feels stuck in the middle. Once, a stranger even asked his ethnicity because he wanted to call him his “correct racial slur”.

At Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, until 30 August

All our Edinburgh festival reviews

How did thieves pull off robbery of Antonello da Messina’s 15th-century masterpiece – and why did they leave part of it behind?

At about 8.47pm on the evening of 15 August, while tens of thousands of worshippers filled the streets of central Messina for a religious festival, at least two men cut through the fencing surrounding the regional museum, located a few miles to the north on the outskirts of the Sicilian harbour city.

Capitalising on the fact that the streets around the museum were unusually quiet, the men forced open a side door with a crowbar, gaining direct access to a display case containing the five surviving panels of the Renaissance master Antonello da Messina’s polyptych Polittico di San Gregorio, his most important work, and a small double-sided painting. Undisturbed, they removed the works from the building and fled.

Country music fans use the Long Road festival in Leicestershire to mark the passing of Dolly Parton

From cover design to shelf placement and influencer partnerships … how publishers will persuade you to buy their books this autumn

Think about the last book you bought. How did you choose it? Was it from a recommendation, a review, a TikTok video? Did the cover grab you, were you swayed by the quotes on the front, or did you just happen to spot it on an appealing table as you walked into the shop? Did you think about all the nudges that led you to that decision – by the publisher, the bookseller or that person you follow on Insta?

The reality is that our reading choices are directed and massaged at every turn. “It’s all about the art of persuasion,” says Philip Gwyn Jones, who was a publisher for more than 30 years and is now a literary agent. And who are the persuaders? They’re the booksellers, the supermarket stock buyers, the publishing houses and their ranks of marketers and publicists. And, more recently, persuasion often comes from BookTokers and online influencers, social media videos, podcasts and Instagram posts. How is all this changing publishing?

The first genuinely cool thing to have happened in Borough Market for ages

A Turkish-Cypriot meyhane, which translates roughly as “wine house”, has slotted in upstairs at the Globe Tavern in Borough Market, south London. Any cab driver worth his salt will bend your ear over the fact that this is “where Bridget Jones lives”, which might be a bit confusing if you’ve booked in to eat kuzu şiş (lamb neck kebabs) and to knock back a couple of rakis with a fermented turnip juice chaser.

That Bridget Jones trivia, by the way, is completely true: the upstairs space at the Globe was used as the heroine’s gaff in that famous film franchise. Now, however, when you climb the staircase up to Kismet, an old, slightly eerie and flickering TV by the restaurant entrance begins to tell a very different tale. This is chef Keiran Mustafa’s very personal tribute to his family’s homeland and the community they built in London. Mustafa was the opening head chef at BiBi, to my mind one of the best restaurants in London, and before that he worked at industry stalwarts Chez Bruce and the Harwood Arms.

Is your place crying out for some TLC? Housekeepers reveal how to keep it looking its best – and when it’s OK to let standards slip

Life is busy and there is only so much time to spend cleaning and tidying. What are the non-negotiables of a well-managed home? Here, housekeepers share their tips and hacks for making a chaotic house feel more orderly.

This no-frills pizza oven gets the basics right and is more than good enough for most people

• The best pizza ovens – tested
• Ooni Koda 2 review

The market for pizza ovens tends to be dominated by a handful of specialist brands, so it can feel like a gamble to buy from a lesser-known manufacturer or a retailer that offers a wider range of goods.

The ProCook outdoor pizza oven is no gamble, though. It’s every inch a capable, compact and versatile pizza oven, despite being just one product in an offering that includes pretty much everything from storage jars to squeegees.

Too cloying, too sweet or just right? Our tester works through the shop shelves to find the best slaw for your next barbecue, picnic or packed lunch

• The best supermarket veggie burgers

I find shop-bought coleslaw hard to stomach because it’s sharp, gloopy and often made with copious amounts of poor-quality mayonnaise and spirit vinegar. Pungent ingredients, such as cabbage and onion, are better eaten fresh, otherwise they break down and give off a disconcertingly sulphurous and sweaty aroma.

I judged each product in this test on appearance, aroma, texture and, above all, taste, and awarded extra points for value. I marked down for an off-puttingly strong raw onion aroma.

We’ve rounded up genuinely good offers on Filter-recommended and tested products across home, beauty, travel and more

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August bank holiday is summer’s Boxing Day: the fun’s over, you’ve got no money left, and it’s probably raining. (As someone whose birthday falls at the fuzzy end of August, I can confirm that it always, always rains.) And, just as on Boxing Day, the shops erupt in discount fever.

Retailers aren’t cutting prices to soothe our post-holiday blues. They’ve got a whole season’s stock to shift, and need to free up space for autumn/winter pieces and (sorry) Christmas. There’s also a solid chance that they need to encourage online spending, because when the sky turns grey the high-street looks as inviting as wet socks.

Exercise mats that don’t slip, easy-grip kettlebells and floor sliders … fitness experts share their best buys for staying active at home

• The best massage guns – tested

You don’t have to spend a fortune on gym membership, or need loads of space, to get into shape. From the best basics to larger equipment for more complex workouts, here’s the home workout kit loved by fitness professionals, along with equipment I’ve personally put through its paces.

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The indulgent, pleasantly mouth-puckering Floridian dessert in nine easy steps

Beautiful as the Florida Keys are, with average August temperatures topping 30C and with hurricane season looming, I think I’d rather enjoy their most famous culinary export in the calm of our own more temperate isles (well, usually, at least). Cool and creamy, with a refreshingly sharp, citrus tang, this is the perfect make-ahead dessert for any bank holiday festivities.

Prep 20 min
Cook 15 min
Chill 3 hr+
Serves 6

Weekend mornings are for family – and whoever happens to be over. Forget fussing and focus on just one big lovely thing for the middle of the table. Here’s how

Family life has had a bigger impact on how I cook at home than almost anything else. There’s a lot of pasta on the menu these days, and potato wedges with different sauces. A lot of meatballs. And a great many pancakes – more than I would have ever predicted before I had kids.

My weekend pancakes – which made their way into my book Simple Too – are supposed to be a batch-cooking exercise: lots made on Sunday, then reheated through the week, in the toaster or a dry pan on the stove, so breakfast is more or less solved until Friday. That’s the theory. In practice, all 22 pancakes the recipe makes are gone by Sunday lunch – eaten by the boys, their friends, or whoever happens to be over for breakfast.

Healthy eating rules are forcing brands to recook their recipes. Are consumers noticing the difference?

Bite into a Ritz cracker today and you’re eating 80% less saturated fat than you would have been just a few years ago. The biscuit looks and snaps the same, and tastes close enough that most buyers have no idea they’re eating a new recipe.

One of the biggest changes was swapping palm oil for sunflower oil, but there was much more to it than that. The reformulation took years to perfect in a laboratory, where scientists tested everything from density to how the cracker responds to heat, moisture and packaging.

An enticing, slightly spicy, east/west fusion stacked with vigour and colour

One thing I learned during the recent hot weather is that I don’t have enough “substantial but quick salads” in my locker. A salad one could call lunch (or a light dinner when served with other bits). On rotation in my “throw-together” category is my no-cook chickpea, tomato and cucumber salad, to which I’m also going to add my favourite summer vegetable, bulgur and pesto salad, which isn’t quite an assembly job, but near-enough and a family favourite. To that line-up, I’m happy to introduce this gently spicy, green beauty.

As a widower and a newly single father of three, Jim Rogers was struggling. Then on a poolside holiday, he sat next to Tyler – and his life changed

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

In the mid 90s, I was in the prime of my life. I was in my early 30s, married to my soul mate, Lorna, with three kids under three. We’d emigrated from our small town in Worcestershire in the UK to Perth, and life was wonderful. Then Lorna was diagnosed with melanoma. We returned to England and less than a year later she was gone. It was completely unbelievable, as though someone had just come along and smashed my life into a million pieces.

The following months were a blur: I was a grief-stricken widower and newly single parent struggling to keep the kids’ life on track and my own head above water. As time went on, it was obvious I wasn’t doing well and my parents insisted on treating me to a holiday in the sun. I didn’t want to go.

Camille had bad experiences with men, so when she met Marcus they took things slowly. Now sex is a shared joy

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

Marcus will go down on me for as long as it takes. He has a gentle touch and is an amazing kisser

Crushes can feel freeing because they operate outside everyday life, but does that mean you should act on them?

I’ve been married for 20 years and have two children. By most measures, our marriage is stable and successful. But lately I have found myself developing strong feelings for a teacher at my children’s school. While our interactions there are limited, we also attend a weekly non-school activity. What began as casual conversation has become much more significant in my mind. I find myself looking forward to seeing them, thinking about our conversations later, and wondering what might have been if we’d met in different circumstances.

They are married with children too. Nothing inappropriate has happened, and neither of us has acknowledged any romantic feelings. However, I cannot shake the sense that there may be a mutual connection.

Mike, 37, a scientific editor, meets Caterina, 35, a teacher

What were you hoping for?
Good company, nice food and an interesting evening with someone new. I got everything I hoped for.

Some young people are teaching in countries like South Korea as education funding is gutted and recent grads face a tough job market in their own countries

A year ago, Arianna Marie, 25, was struggling to control the students in her Florida elementary school classroom.

She was living with her parents to save on rent and quickly feeling her passion for teaching dry up, even though it was her first job since graduation.

Moving tariffs will cushion the blow from the October price cap rise and the increase widely predicted for January

With higher energy bills looming and warnings of worse to come in the new year, many households could save up to £173 a year by switching to a fixed deal.

Millions of households in Great Britain will face the highest energy charges in three years after it was announced that the government’s price cap will rise again in October. This will be the second increase in three months.

We want our balance back, but we can’t access the money to pay for essential repairs and settle an electricity bill

Last November, Lloyds Bank informed me, in my role as treasurer of my parish church, that the church account was to be closed and that I should open a new business account instead. This can only be done online, but a fault with their system prevented me – and local branch staff – from doing so.

At the branch staff’s suggestion, I opened the new account with a different bank in early March. Since then, I’ve been trying in vain to get Lloyds to transfer the balance from the closed account.

Britons will be able to buy ‘balcony’ systems they can install themselves from 27 August thanks to rule change

Despite this summer bringing hours of sunshine, many Britons have been unable to cash in on free electricity generated by the sun. Rooftop solar panels are usually out of the question if you live in a flat or rent your home, and the cost has made them prohibitive to many more households.

However, this could be about to change because next week the first wave of low-cost “plug-in” solar panels will go on sale in Great Britain.

More and more young people are engaging in sexual strangulation. But experts say there’s no safe pressure – and we have to start talking to teenagers about it

When touching someone’s throat, it can only take the pressure of a handshake to cause serious injury, unconsciousness or death. These injuries, which include brain damage and stroke, are often internal and invisible, showing up days or even months after the initial incident occurred. Experts say many who participate in sexual choking are not aware of the risks.

Choking or sexual strangulation is common among young people, says Prof Heather Douglas of the Melbourne Law School. In a 2024 survey of 4,702 Australians aged between 18 and 35, she and her research team found that 57% reported ever having experienced sexual strangulation; 51% reported ever having strangled a partner and 43.9% reported participating in both.

The public health emergencies in 2022 and 2024 saw the virus reported in 145 countries, but in the new cases children appear particularly affected

A fresh outbreak of mpox in Guinea Bissau – the country’s first – means the virus formerly known as monkey pox is back in the headlines. So what has changed?

Since 2022, there have been almost 190,000 lab-confirmed cases of mpox reported worldwide in 145 countries. Before then, outbreaks of mpox tended to be relatively small and in a handful of African countries, where the viral infection was known to be endemic.

Scientists found those who had used hormone replacement therapy were 10% less likely to be diagnosed with dementia

Hormone replacement therapy may reduce the risk of dementia, a study has found.

Scientists tracked more than 180,000 postmenopausal women in the UK in the largest study of its kind. They found that those who had used HRT were 10% less likely to develop any type of dementia and 16% less likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, the most common form, compared with those who had never used it.

Discussing people’s bodies can be fraught. We asked eating disorder experts how to do so – or not – responsibly

In the age of Ozempic and people being open about plastic surgery, discussion about people’s bodies is rife. At the same time, nobody seems quite sure how to talk about them, as shown by recent coverage of celebrities like Ariana Grande.

It is a fraught topic. We asked eating disorder experts for guidelines to follow when talking about other people’s bodies, and how to do so without doing harm.

Looking for an alternative to fast fashion, Eve Ogden Schaub decided to create a garment from homegrown flax

From crop tops to shorts and brightly patterned dresses, many of today’s clothes are the result of fast fashion. But one woman is taking a radical approach to challenging this trend by growing her own dress.

Eve Ogden Schaub is in the midst of a project to create a linen garment made from flax she is growing at home, documenting the process in videos shared on her Instagram account.

Due to its ubiquity in fast fashion, gen Z are pushing back against the synthetic material and using it as an insult

In 2015, Kate Moss called an easyJet pilot a “basic bitch” and a catchy new insult meaning obvious and uncool hit the mainstream. Had it happened in 2026, Moss might have used the word “polyester”, reportedly gen Z’s new favorite diss, levied at cheap-looking videos on TikTok, and sometimes at other users’ taste.

But its use as a figurative insult also echoes a literal backlash against polyester, now the most-produced synthetic fibre on the planet.

The ‘dad’ look favours straight lines and muted colours, while ‘dudes’ prefer baggier clothes with adornments

There is a competition going on at the US Open this week and it’s not the one involving rackets and balls. Instead, leading men who are not entered into this year’s draw are serving looks rather than aces.

Tennis legend Roger Federer took to the court on Tuesday in navy blue polo shirt and shorts, navy blue sweatbands and navy blue socks. The cuts were trim and the top was tucked in. The young Spanish player Carlos Alcaraz wore a Nike vest, untucked and the colour of Ribena, maroon shorts, and trainers that looked like a sweetshop counter.

Across six decades, the late country singer and pop culture icon turned self‑presentation into a flamboyant art form

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Dolly Parton may have had a record 25 US country No 1 singles, released 66 studio albums and earned six Golden Globe nominations, among many other achievements, but the Tennessee-born star also had an incredible number of fashion moments. “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap”, she famously quipped when asked about her style. As we bid her farewell, six Guardian writers reflect on their favourite Dolly looks.

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Want to avoid the crowds in Florence and Siena? Escape to these islands, from lively Elba to tiny, car-free Giannutri

Scattered between the Tuscan coast and Corsica, the seven islands of the Tuscan archipelago offer a striking contrast to mainland Tuscany. All are part of a protected national park, but each has its own character – some are lively, others tiny and sparsely inhabited. Montecristo and Gorgona are only accessible via strictly limited guided tours, but here’s a brief guide to the highlights of the other five.

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Tourism is only just taking hold in Vipava, but the locals are determined to do it right, by putting community first and preserving what makes it special

The drive to Pedrovo is vertiginous, and each hairpin bend has me sending a silent prayer that we won’t meet a tractor coming the other way. When we near it, we abandon the car and continue on foot to the hamlet, a scattering of red-roofed, whitewashed houses high on the steep karst hillside. The air is warm and dry, scented with wild sage.

We follow a hand-painted sign to Čilčevi Farmstead. Descending stone steps to a lush garden, we find a shaded table set with fresh cheeses produced at the farm’s own dairy. Below, the valley stretches in both directions, a wide flat plain hemmed in by steep mountain slopes, with the Vipava River winding lazily through fields and vineyards.

From secluded coves in Ireland to an evening passeggiata on Italy’s Aeolian islands, readers share their discoveries
• Tell us about your most memorable food and drink discoveries in Europe

Giant griffon vultures glided parallel with my bus as it reached the highest point of Cres, the least populated of the four main islands in the Kvarner Gulf at the very north of the Croatian Adriatic. Covered in scrubby heath, olive groves and lavender, with small towns and villages on its coastline, its wildness is its appeal. Some, like Cres town, are unobtrusively set up for holidaymakers; in others local people just quietly get on with the life they’ve lived since the Venetians ruled here. All are lapped by the turquoise, crystal seas Croatia is known for.
Rhiannon

Built in the 60s and 70s to curb a holiday exodus to Spain, with apartments inspired by Mayan pyramids and featuring ‘intergalactic curves’, La Grande-Motte is having another moment in the sun with fans of modern architecture

My dream holiday is a trip back in time. Not to see the results of seismic Pompeii or 15th-century Machu Picchu – although I love both – but somewhere created specifically between the mid 1950s and 1970s, when cities were getting weird. I love postwar architourism, exploring urban planning at its most frenzied and optimistic. I have relished trips to Niemeyer’s Brasília and Le Corbusier’s Chandigarh in India, where the monumental and visionary modernist architecture and interiors are at odds with the minimal population. So La Grande-Motte, the retro futurist folly of a resort town on the southern coast of France, a 30-minute drive from Montpellier, had long been on my “must visit” list.

The tourist board of this Occitanie seaside town likes to flag up some superficial parallels between it and the aforementioned cities, but this isn’t a high-concept capital city or administrative hub. It was built in the late 1960s and early 1970s purely to persuade the French to stop going south to the Costa Brava in Spain. As part of an initiative by the French government, a stretch of windswept mosquito-infested coast between Montpellier and Perpignan, including Gruissan and Port Leucate, was reimagined as an alternative to the Côte d’Azur with several new-build beach towns. La Grande-Motte would be the weirdest project. It was made for fun. It’s also well positioned to visit the nearby salt marshes and 13th-century walled-in town of Aigues-Mortes, for when you want to feel as if you’ve ticked a few more holiday boxes.

As the sex doll industry grows and AI changes the products available, what does it mean to engage in any kind of relationship with a woman-shaped thing?

Two weeks ago, two distressed citizens stumbled across what they assumed was the mangled corpse of a woman, stuffed into a suitcase in a small town about three hours south of Sydney. They called the local police, who in turn issued a statement that a body in a suitcase had been found. The wider public waited sombrely for Australia’s tally of dead women to tick up by one.

But instead, a day later, after forensic analysis, it was determined that the woman in question wasn’t a woman at all. The “body” was that of a sex doll, marked with fake bruises, left to rot on a lonely dirt road. In Australia, as in the UK and some other European countries, it is not illegal to own a sex doll unless it resembles a child. Given the doll’s seemingly mature presentation, police investigations were called off.

Impersonation scams – where callers or texts claim to be from trusted entities such as banks, HMRC or even the police – are rife … and growing

• ‘I’ve £80k in the account, here’s my pin’: turning the tables on scammers

Your phone pings and it’s a message from your bank about a new payment being set up on your account. If you do not recognise the transaction, it says, you should get in touch. There’s a number for you to call.

The person on the other end of the line tells you that your account has been compromised by scammers. They need details from you so they can help protect your money. Before you know it, they are giving you details of a safe account to transfer your savings to, or asking you to hand over your debit card so it can be replaced.

Plagued by bank impersonation scams, one Guardian Money reader got even by stringing the fraudsters along … for hours

• New payment set up? The bank scam where your ‘bank’ is the scammer

“A couple of Sundays ago at just past 11am my mobile rang. An automated message purported to be from Barclays Bank, querying a payment to Argos for more than £1,000. Not only had I not made a payment to Argos recently, nor do I bank with Barclays.

I am plagued with these kinds of calls. Usually, when possible, I make it clear to the scammers that I know their game. Usually, that call ends there and then.

After 50 years the annual shindig is heading to Manchester – but a new rival could keep the industry’s fringe link going

The summer sojourn to Edinburgh has been a highlight of TV executives’ calendars for half a century, allowing them an annual trip to the UK’s most spectacular city during the world’s biggest arts festival.

So there was sadness when it was announced that this year’s 50th Edinburgh TV Festival would be the last to be held in the Scottish capital.

Architect of Srebrenica genocide is dead but those scarred by his atrocities say his ideology is still shockingly pervasive

To most of the world, he was and will always be the “Butcher of Bosnia”, a grim epithet but one that still fails to fully convey the evil and horror inflicted on its people by Gen Ratko Mladić, who died in prison on Thursday.

As commander of the Bosnian Serb forces, Mladić was responsible for the killing of an estimated 100,000 men, women and children during the savage breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. He was most notoriously the architect of ethnic cleansing and the genocide at Srebrenica in which at least 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were slaughtered.

Other governments could seek similar concessions, while separate legal action is pending in places ranging from Kenya to the Netherlands

In October 2021, Abrham Meareg’s father, a professor of chemistry in Ethiopia’s northern town of Bahir Dar, was shot at close range and died outside his family home. This was in the middle of the country’s civil war.

For weeks, Facebook’s algorithm had actively promoted posts calling for the academic to be murdered, according to Meareg and Foxglove, a nonprofit organisation supporting Meareg’s lawsuit against the company in Kenya. These posts included photos of his father and his home address.

Floods and mudslides have swept away houses and roads with many hundreds missing

More than 1,400 people are still missing and 392 have been confirmed dead after the flash floods and landslides on the Nepal-Tibet border.hit the Himalayan border areas of ⁠Nepal and in ​Tibet in China. An avalanche of ice and rock triggered massive flash floods causing widespread damage to villages and infrastructure.

Officials said hundreds of travellers from countries including India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Malaysia, were reported missing.

We would like to hear about the TV shows that you simply can’t stomach anymore and why

From Euphoria to The Great British Bake Off Guardian writers have compiled the TV shows that are now part of their viewing history they feel tainted by. Now we want to hear from you.

Which TV shows that once thrilled have now turned sour for you?

We would like to hear from frontline or key workers about how the heat has affected them in the workplace this year

With record high temperatures across the UK this summer we want to hear from those whose work meant they couldn’t escape the extreme heat.

August 13 marked the hottest day of the year so far with temperatures reaching 38C in London and 37C recorded in other parts of the country; this marks the first year temperatures of 37C and above have been recorded on three separate days in the UK. Climate scientists are saying the incoming Super El Niño is likely to deliver more record breaking hot weather next year.

We want to hear from young people who have chosen to start their own businesses rather than follow a traditional career path

A growing number of Gen Z are starting their own businesses, with the number of Start Up Loans taken out by young founders rising by 132% over the past five years, according to analysis by the British Business Bank. Meanwhile, Hiscox analysis of Companies House data found nearly 400,000 Gen Z directors are now running UK-registered businesses.

We’d like to hear from people aged between 18 and 29 who have started a business about what inspired you to do it and how you got started. How is your business going? What have been the biggest challenges and rewards? Do you see yourself continuing to run your own business in the future?

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