‘Nothing to see here,’ says the man who once overruled council planners in favour of Richard ‘Dirty’ Desmond

How unlucky can one man get? You have to feel for Nigel Farage. Why does it keep happening to him? There he is, just minding his own business, trying to make a decent living – those five houses won’t pay for themselves, which is why other people may have done – and yet there’s always someone trying to drag a good man down. Isn’t the “Man of the People (TM)” entitled to have a few multimillionaires as friends to bankroll his lifestyle? Who hasn’t pined for crypto and gold bullion?

First there was the £5m from the British-Thai crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, revealed exclusively by the Guardian. Months later, the stench won’t go away. Even Nige has been at a loss to explain what exactly he was given the money for. Unsure whether it was a payment to cover security or just a little “thank you” for a lifetime’s work in the service of making the country an easier place for grifters to make money. Even now, Nige has gone to ground as he tries to get his story straight.

Karlovy Vary film festival
The film-maker and critic traces a decade of documentaries, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to Michael Moore, via Klaus Barbie and The Wombles

The unmistakable film-making voice of documentary-maker and critic Mark Cousins is raised again, to educate, to intrigue, to challenge. His histories of the movies are invitations to a seance, a chance to participate in the kind of ecstatic trance or dream-state that Cousins himself goes into, almost free-associating from film to film but with an overarching but discreetly emphasised theme – or maybe motif – and always with something shrewd, pertinent and humane to say. I have never watched a Cousins film without feeling that I have learned something new, and so it has proved again.

At Karlovy Vary, he is presenting part of his monumental new The Story of Documentary Film, which comprises 16 hour-long chapters, and of these he is here giving us numbers Eight and Nine, about the 1980s. The first of these begins and ends at the site of Checkpoint Charlie on the Berlin Wall which came down at the end of the decade; Cousins subtitles this episode with a line from Robert Frost: “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” His theme here is empathy, surmounting the obstacle (or wall) of indifference or ignorance; and he talks about the films that questioned the existing order and which pulled away the bricks that caused the Soviet wall to collapse. The second part (chapter nine) is subtitled “detectives”, about the investigative documentaries that demanded answers, particularly to questions about the wartime past, by people like Marcel Ophuls, Claude Lanzmann and Michael Moore.

Jesús Piñero grew up with the sound of gunfire, but thought he would be safe on the bus taking him to his home in Caracas. Then a mugger came for his phone …

As he rushed up the stairs from the Palo Verde metro station and jumped into the camioneta (small bus) for the five-minute ride to his home in Caracas, Jesús Piñero’s head buzzed with projects and ideas. It was 25 March 2016, and Venezuela was in meltdown, but the 22-year-old was upbeat. Exam results, parties and family awaited after a day with friends shaking a tin on the street for money to buy lightbulbs for the university history department where – in a first for his working-class family – he was a promising student.

His white Blu phone – only $80 (£60) but his most expensive and valued possession – did not stop pinging. His mother, Elisa, was worried. “When are you getting home?” She had been messaging all afternoon. A cake was ready for his brother and sister, who had birthdays that week. The family was gathering. It was getting dark. Street crime was horrendous.

Even though most of their instruments have been destroyed, teachers are restarting classes, using music to give relief to traumatised people

The three tents line a stretch of overcrowded, windswept sand, their windows open on to a view of the breaking waves of the Mediterranean. From inside comes the sound of singing, a strummed guitar, a violin and then a flute.

But if the music evokes calm and harmony, the surroundings do not: rows of crowded makeshift shelters swelter in Gaza’s summer heat, young children picking their way through rubble, battered cars and pony carts clogging a potholed road. Above, Israeli military drones hum and buzz.

One hundred years after Virginia Woolf explored the limitations of language in On Being Ill, the Piranesi author reflects on the power of storytelling to shape our experience of sickness

In October 2016 I was in hospital. I had been ill for 11 years with something I called chronic fatigue syndrome, but in the previous six weeks I had been overtaken by a strange, sudden crisis. I was unable to eat – a day when I managed a couple of biscuits was a good day; at times I trembled so violently that my voice shook; at night I was overwhelmed by dread.

In the hospital ward a consultant gastroenterologist appeared.

Millions of fans could face a tricky day on Monday if they sleep in – or pull a sickie – after the 1am kick-off

Whether it’s all over or another step closer to home on Monday morning, the usual back-to-work rush hour could be more sluggish than usual. The timing of the Mexico v England game – a 1am kick-off, and the prospect that it could go on until almost 4am if it goes to penalties – means that for many workers choosing to watch the match there will be not much opportunity for a sleep before the alarm goes off.

Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick says Farage accepted staff, security and accommodation from George Cottrell before becoming an MP

Nigel Farage did not declare gifts and benefits provided by a crypto entrepreneur who has previously been convicted of fraud, Reform’s economic spokesperson has admitted.

Robert Jenrick said on Sunday that the Reform leader had accepted staff, security and accommodation from George Cottrell, but claimed they were personal gifts provided before he became an MP and so did not need to be declared.

Exclusive: Prof Simon Baron-Cohen says his language was misunderstood and it is a myth that autistic people lack empathy

The scientist who pioneered the “extreme male brain” theory of autism has said he regrets characterising the condition in this way because the phrase lends itself to misunderstandings.

Prof Simon Baron-Cohen’s theory that autistic people tend strongly towards systemising over empathising has been hugely influential in shaping the popular perception of autism over the past two decades. The underlying science had stood the test of time, he said, but he now views the “extreme male brain” label as unhelpful.

• US striker was shown red in last-32 match

• Fifa disciplinary committee cites article of Fifa code

USA striker Folarin Balogun will play in his team’s last-16 game against Belgium on Monday after Fifa announced it has suspended the red card and accompanying one-game ban he received against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The decision gives the US a huge boost as they attempt to reach the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 2002. Balogun has been a constant threat for the US so far this tournament, and has scored three goals in three starts. Without him, US coach Mauricio Pochettino was scrambling to come up with other options in attack.

New supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei still absent from public view as his three brothers stand beside father’s coffin

Beside the coffin of the assassinated former Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei at a packed prayer hall in Tehran on Sunday there were calls for the killing of Donald Trump.

Iran is staging a week of mass funeral processions ⁠for Khamenei, who was killed along with other members of his family on the first day of the US and Israeli war on 28 February. The funeral was delayed because of the war.

Exclusive: University moves and falling exam entries fuel concerns about opportunities for working-class pupils

Cutting language courses at universities and schools risks undermining social mobility and vocational skills, former education secretaries and experts in the UK have warned.

More than 70 languages academics were among 500 staff at the University of Exeter to be told last week they were at risk of redundancy as it seeks to cut 150 full-time posts, predominantly in the humanities. The announcement followed the proposal by the University of Nottingham to become the first Russell Group university to offer no language degrees.

Civilian resilience initiatives and young military conscripts are being readied should Putin hope to test Nato’s resolve

Only four months ago, Ella Adman had just finished school and had never before held a gun. Now, standing in the shade in between drills at a military base on Gotland, the strategically important Swedish Baltic island where she grew up, the 19-year-old conscript is carrying a powerful assault rifle. In a matter of days, she is due to carry out her first official mission in Stockholm, guarding the royal family.

At first, Adman was taken aback by the length of her 15-month compulsory military service and the gruelling 16-hour days in which she trains and lives alongside her male peers. Now she is getting used to it. “You find out what you are capable of and how strong you become as a group,” she said.

Company seeks redress for contracts it says it has lost as a result of programme’s claims about its business practices

The parcel delivery company Evri is suing the BBC for £1.2m over a documentary it claims caused it serious financial loss.

Evri has filed particulars of claim at the high court which state that it lost prospective clients after the broadcast of the Panorama documentary Evri: Where’s my parcel?

• All the latest news from Sunday’s final at Lord’s

• England book final date with Australia | Mail James

Here we go! Lord’s looks an absolute picture, huge cheers ring out for Wyatt-Hodge and Amy Jones as they stride out to the middle. Kim Garth is going to open the bowling for Australia from the Nursery End. Play!

The players emerge onto the outfield for the anthems, well be underway very shortly. Can England grab this game by the scruff of the neck and post a decent score to put the Aussies under pressure. All eyes on Danni Wyatt-Hodge…

McCartney reportedly played Beatles No 1 hit at star-studded reception at Madison Square Garden

Paul McCartney performed the beloved Beatles No 1 hit I Want to Hold Your Hand for the first time in 60 years at Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding.

McCartney performed the number at the star-studded reception at Madison Square Garden in New York on Friday, People magazine reported. The track was the Beatles’ first American No 1 hit, sparking Beatlemania in the US and the wave of British bands’ success nicknamed “the British invasion”.

Farage is under pressure over £5m gift, byelection losses and rise of rival Restore but allies say exit speculation is ‘wishful thinking’

“Of course he’s tired. He’s just done two months campaigning every day on the road, it would be weird if he wasn’t. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to quit,” says one friend of Nigel Farage who has spent time with him in recent weeks.

Westminster has been ablaze with rumours that Farage is growing weary in the job of leading Reform UK after the bruising scandal around his decision to accept a £5m gift from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne. He is now also facing further questions about whether his lifestyle has been partly funded by George Cottrell, his close friend and a convicted fraudster.

With voters embracing leaders who brazenly monetise public office, experts say an ethical code is breaking down

Donald Trump came to office in 2017 after decades of bankruptcies and business failures. Yes, he was rich, but his latest financial disclosure, published this week, suggests he will depart billions richer.

In the first year of his second term, he made more than $2bn from Trump hotels, Trump golf courses, Trump cryptocurrency, Trump watches, Trump cologne, Trump Bibles and more.

Humans have long sought to geoengineer the Earth’s environment. Tim Flannery outlines a few of the wildest ideas from the 20th century

An increasing number of scientists think we have let the climate crisis fester for so long that our only hope to stave off ever-intensifying catastrophes is to use technological interventions. Cloud brightening, injecting sulphur into the atmosphere and the use of tiny mirrors in space – all of which might reduce the amount of sunlight reaching Earth’s surface – are among the concepts being promoted by entrepreneurs and governments alike. Geoengineering, they argue, is now inevitable.

Ever since the God of the Old Testament granted our species dominion over the Earth, ideas of remaking the world to better suit us have been a dominant thread in human thinking. We have for centuries toyed with grand ambitions to alter and re-form the climate and environment, many of which – in retrospect – seem doomed or absurd.

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Sweat has important functions, including cooling you down when it’s hot outside. Here’s what science says about using antiperspirants and deodorants

Every day, 5 billion people around the world reach for deodorant. Many of us assume that managing, modifying and hiding sweat is an absolute necessity – and not just in your armpits.

Routine underarm antiperspirant and deodorant use are unlikely to cause harm. But do you know what sweat is actually for, and what these products actually do?

As Britain reached its hottest June temperature on record, readers recall the summer when temperatures hit 36C

The recent heatwave in the UK broke the previous June record of 35.6C, recorded during the 1976 heatwave.

In Lingwood, Norfolk, a provisional temperature of 37.7C was recorded on Friday 26 June, breaking the previous record reached on 28 June 1976 and on 29 June 1957.

Digital publishers struggle to reinvent business model after algorithm is changed in favour of promoting creator content

‘When I look back at 15 years of growth, it is a tough pill to swallow and disappointing,” says Alexander “Solly” Solomou. The chief executive of the digital publisher behind popular brands including LadBible is bemoaning the City’s reaction to a sharp drop-off in traffic after algorithm changes made by the owner of Facebook and Instagram.

The change by Meta to more heavily promote creator content has sent a chill wind through digital publishers – from Solomou’s LBG Media to the owners of Marie Claire and the Daily Mail – which had relied on its platforms to promote clickable content and now face a scramble to reinvent business models that had flourished from relationships with Big Tech.

Humble seasoning thrust into food trend spotlight, as salty drinks gain popularity in Britain’s scorching summer

As Europe braces for another heatwave, some people are seeking relief from an unlikely source. The store cupboard is surpassing the freezer, with salt becoming a key ingredient in the battle to cool down.

Salty drinks are gaining popularity as thirst quenchers during this scorching summer. Commonly found in countries including India and Mexico, these traditional street corner drinks, which can be rehydrating, are being hailed as a salve in a heat-soaked UK. The trend is being driven by several factors, including a preference for savoury rather than sweet flavours alongside a growing interest in premium salts.

Seth Rogen brings an oddly sweet relationship comedy, and the facepainted kings of theatrical emo turn The Black Parade into a formidable live spectacle. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews

Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the last seven days

The queen of pop returns with a new album of pristine dancefloor bangers, while the begoggled yellow munchkins indulge in a spot of time travel

Minions & Monsters
Out now
In this latest minions adventure, the yellow critters jump back in time to attempt to source some monsters so they can produce their own creature feature. As ever, the premise is largely an excuse to string a load of jokes together – and why not?

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

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⚽️ Player guide | Bracketology | Full bracket | Mail Tom

Hello! It’s the dark horses v the thoroughbreds today as Norway take on five-time champions Brazil for a place in the quarter-finals. There’s been a growing feeling in the last few days that Brazil are there for the taking – partly due to Norway’s impressive showings so far (apart from against France, when they rested their best players), Brazil’s fine-not-great finishes at the last two World Cups, THAT semi-final in 2014 and their problems against Japan and Morocco at this tournament. We shall see if those concerns are valid very soon…

Tom will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s Graham Ruthven with a short preview of today’s game:

England return to the Azteca Stadium for the first time in 40 years as they take on co-hosts Mexico in the last 16 of the World Cup. We take a look at the games the Three Lions have played in this iconic setting. And yes, Maradona is featured

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“Good evening. The game you are about to see is the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibition of football in the history of the game.” Were David Coleman still around, then perhaps the highlights package of France 1-0 Paraguay at the Geopolitics World Cup would have received similar words to Chile 2-0 Italy back in 1962.

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Argentina’s captain leads the way for veteran strikers at World Cup. They have different styles, but all have shown their worth

I would be shocked if the record for the most goals scored by a player in a World Cup – Just Fontaine’s 13 in 1958 – is not broken this summer. That is how elite the world’s top forwards are. They are all pushing each other to keep scoring more. We are so lucky to be watching them at the same time.

I also believe, because of the skill set required to be a world-class, modern-day finisher, we are going to see more and more playing into their 40s, so much so that it may be possible that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo could go to another World Cup.

Spain’s manager answers your questions on advice for Lamine Yamal, the hardest thing about being a coach and how the current team compares to the winners of 2010

“You’ve filtered these, right?” Luis de la Fuente asks, looking at the laptop of your questions on the table in front of him, and cracking up. He takes his seat on the third floor of the Cotton Bowl, Dallas, where Spain have just finished training ahead of their last-16 meeting with Portugal. Some of the players are still out there in the sunshine, in the place where Bebeto rocked the baby in 1994. It is the morning after that Cape Verde performance against Argentina. The World Cup is a creator of memories, pictures in the mind that never go. We all have one, or more.

“Because of what it means for Spain, it has to be [Andrés] Iniesta’s goal,” De la Fuente says. “It’s not very original but that’s the image of the World Cup for us. I would have been at home watching it. I have always been very into the national team. Whenever the Selección played, it was an event at my parents’ house. My parents would watch, my brothers and sisters, people would come round to watch. That’s in Haro, La Rioja. And then as a professional, wherever the game found me, I would watch it. I would enjoy every World Cup game, but especially the Spain ones. There are other images of the World Cup, but that’s the most powerful.”

In a political wasteland dominated by billionaires, war criminals and mega-corporations, the head of the Catholic church is a rare figure of moral leadership

What do Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu have in common? Answer: a chronic inability to tell right from wrong. The three leaders currently causing the most harm in the world share a predilection for violence, a chilling lack of compassion, and extraordinary self-regard mixed with paranoia. Yet the characteristic linking them most closely is their rejection of – or failure to grasp – basic moral standards. Worse, these men typically behave, in their public lives at least, in ways that are fundamentally immoral. And that’s a problem for everyone. Their moral malaise is contagious.

Ideas about what, in absolute terms, constitutes right and wrong are always contentious, as moral philosophers from Aristotle to Kant have shown. Pope Leo, leader of the world’s Catholics, warned recently that “we are living in a time when it is becoming difficult even to recognise what is truly good for everyone”. Yet most people, most of the time, observe a personal moral code held in common with others. There is broad agreement, for example, that it’s wrong to kill, steal, cheat and lie. In an ostensibly secular age, 76% of people worldwide identified with a religion in 2020 – a potent expression of individual and collective morality.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

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Collieries turned into retail parks, manufacturing in the doldrums. The problem is vast, but at least the PM-in-waiting sees it: and in that there is hope

In the autumn of 2005, Tony Blair gave one of his most unhinged and fascinating speeches as prime minister. “I hear people say we have to stop and debate globalisation,” he said. “You might as well debate whether autumn should follow summer.” He went on: “The character of this changing world is indifferent to tradition. Unforgiving of frailty … It has no custom and practice. It is replete with opportunities, but they only go to those swift to adapt, slow to complain, open, willing and able to change.”

In the hall, his characteristically messianic delivery ensured this argument landed, but anyone listening from one of the UK’s deindustrialised areas must have received it as yet another punch in the face. For decades, change and adaptation were what they had been living through and reeling from – but where were the rewards? Where, indeed, was any real sign of even the beginnings of the 21st-century prosperity Blair seemed to be offering?

John Harris is a Guardian columnist

Blair met good fortune when he assumed office, others such as Wilson faced tougher times. The PM-presumptive will start firmly on the back foot

• Make Miliband chancellor, ex-chief Treasury adviser tells Burnham

• John Harris: Without a good revival plan, Burnham cannot succeed

In politics, timing and luck matter. Tony Blair had astounding good fortune, benefiting from goldilocks economic conditions and a weak opposition. Others have taken charge in tougher times: in the 1970s Harold Wilson faced a global energy crisis, as have the last four occupants of No 10.

As Andy Burnham prepares to replace Keir Starmer, there are clear economic headwinds for the prime minister-presumptive.

Imagine lifting the loo lid and finding two beady eyes staring up at you. Impossible? An urban myth? It happened in my own family!

Knowledge is power, in all cases except this one. I used to think that tales like the one I’m about to relate were urban myths. I was definitely happier then, in the days when there was still the possibility of experiencing another moment’s peace.

Not a friend of a friend, or a colleague’s auntie’s neighbour, but a member of my extended family, a fully trusted source, recently went to the loo upstairs in her home, lifted the lid, and found a rat in the bowl staring back at her. Obviously, she slammed down the lid, packed her belongings and immediately emigrated. (Kidding, miraculously.)

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

The more I learn about celebrities and their odd passions, the more encouraged I am. So much for AI drowning us in a flood of bland ‘tasteslop’

The internet, as we know, is now a depressing hellhole where everything is a terrifying shot of cortisol straight into the eyeballs or AI slop, interspersed with adverts for protein. So may I offer a recommendation for a modest corrective? It’s called Perfectly Imperfect.

It is a daily newsletter about stuff people like. That’s it; that’s the whole concept. The people in question are public figures, but only up to a point – the mostly US artists and musicians featured aren’t household names for a 51-year-old British woman (though there is the occasional megastar: Francis Ford Coppola likes Hawaiian shirts and halva; Kylie likes washi masking tape and fresh wasabi). Whoever is featured, their likes are deeply idiosyncratic and often unappealing: cracking your knuckles against your jaw; an unhinged cocktail comprising Aperol, milk, creamer and olives; a sporting self-help book or cold-calling people.

In dueling speeches this weekend, the New York mayor faced a ‘nation of contradictions’ while the president offered a stump speech

If Donald Trump’s address on 3 July from Mount Rushmore will be remembered at all, it will be because that was the day of competing speeches, and competing visions, of the United States. Earlier on 3 July, the New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, delivered a speech that was about half as long as Trump’s 28-minute address, but one that offered a far different assessment of the challenges facing his city and our nation.

“We see a city of contradictions within a nation of contradictions,” Mamdani said, while seated at George Washington’s desk and flanked by newly naturalized American citizens. “We see the wealthiest country in the history of the world – one where children go to sleep hungry while the world’s first trillionaire hungers for more.”

Moustafa Bayoumi is the author of the award-winning books How Does It Feel To Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America and This Muslim American Life: Dispatches from the War on Terror. He is professor of English at Brooklyn College, City University of New York

America’s founding 250 years ago was a warning cry against leaders like Trump. Our past is a guide for how to handle our present

As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, marking the official birth of the new nation, it is worth remembering some of the reasons the document offers as just cause for making war on the British monarchy.

“No taxation without representation” is the slogan that is best known as the core complaint of the colonists, a reference to the colonists’ objections to the 1765 Stamp Act and a series of taxes levied by the British crown thereafter over which Americans had no means of objecting in parliament. But such taxes were not the only provocation to war.

New analysis by the Guardian has revealed the disturbing extent of these firms’ influence in highly sensitive areas

Children’s homes and care placements are not ordinary commodities. Yet Britain has allowed some of its most sensitive public services to become assets in private equity portfolios: bought, loaded with debt, restructured and sold, while the state continues to fund the contracts and vulnerable people carry the risk when things go wrong.

Private equity’s role in public services is not notional. The year after Compass Community was sold by its owner, Graphite Capital, to another private equity group, Cap10, the poor state of some of its children’s homes was made plain by Ofsted reports. Inspectors who visited two homes in England – which had previously been rated good and outstanding – found “high levels of distress” and staff as well as children feeling unsafe. Cap10 denies that standards fell following the change of ownership.

Polling shows that the public supports this new technology, but the conversation must move beyond simple questions of safety

Ever since Crispr-Cas9 gene-editing technology emerged in the early 2010s, ethical questions around genetically altered humans, so-called designer babies, have become increasingly urgent. There is already a worldwide legal prohibition. No country currently allows human germline editing (meaning genetic changes to an embryo that could also be passed on to its children), and 70 have laws against it, including the UK. But a series of recent discoveries and a new poll suggest that scientists and the public believe gene-edited humans are likely – even desirable – in the near future.

Two new studies use base editing – a more precise next-generation Crispr tool – on human embryos to study early development or disease (this research is legal in the UK and US as long as the embryos are destroyed within 14 days). The lead author of one study, Dieter Egli, said that the technology wasn’t yet ready for the clinic, but the advances would “guide responsible research to achieve its ultimate safe and effective use”. This encapsulates the view of many scientists, who believe the regulated use of germline editing to eradicate hereditary conditions is inevitable, and the main objection is around safety.

Daughne Taylor and John Marriott respond to the prospective new prime minister’s 10-year proposal to cede more power to regions and communities

Andy Burnham’s flagship promise to devolve power to the local level will not apply to the NHS if the current health bill passes into law in its present form (Andy Burnham to pledge ‘good growth in every postcode’ in devolution plan, 28 June).

Currently, NHS foundation trusts have a statutory duty to have a council of governors. These are unpaid volunteers, democratically elected from the public and staff. They exist independent of NHS management to represent local views, and they hold the vital power to appoint the chair of the trust.

However, the current health bill will remove this requirement. Under these proposals, local trusts will effectively be allowed to “mark their own homework”, while trust chairs will be appointed centrally from Whitehall. This is the absolute antithesis of Burnham’s devolution proposals.

Instead of centralisation, all trusts should have a statutory council of governors. By moving to a locally selected model rather than an elected one, this system would be significantly cheaper to run. These bodies must remain independent of NHS management, represent the public and staff, be charged with appointing trust chairs, and hold a statutory right to speak “truth to power” at board meetings.

Implementing such legislation is not just about democracy – it is a safety measure that would help prevent local NHS disasters before they are allowed to escalate.
Daughne Taylor
Chair, National Lead Governors Association

• While wishing Andy Burnham well in his one-man odyssey to put our country right, I have to caution him on apparently seeking to devolve real power and money to individuals rather than democratically accountable organisations. If he is thinking of creating even more elected mayors, he had better make sure that these individuals are up to the task. The example of our local mayors is not encouraging. However, with current budgets of around £25m each, they can’t do that much damage.

If real money and power is at play, what he should be advocating is nothing short of a federal United Kingdom, on the lines of Germany. For this to work over here, the overwhelming economic power of England over Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland needs to be diluted by the creation of six or seven English directly elected regional assemblies. This would leave the federal parliament in London responsible for a narrow portfolio, including foreign affairs, defence and economic development, with a senate, drawing its members from the regions and nations of the UK, to scrutinise legislation.
John Marriott
North Hykeham, Lincolnshire

Questions of conscience | Perfect storm | Nice as pie | Council of despair

I feel validated by Zoe Williams saying “You must do the dirty work, but not get dirty” (They say Andy Burnham is ‘good at politics’ and Starmer was bad. That’s not trivial – it could be crucial, 2 July). I have been a political activist all my adult life. In earlier years I did duty for my party as a parliamentary candidate in hopeless northern seats, more latterly serving on Bradford city council. When others have told me that politics is a dirty business, my stock response has been: “That’s why I am in it.” The trick is not so much trying to keep my conscience clear in the face of all manner of contradictions as identifying others who have lived up to Zoe’s mantra. It’s called inspiration.
Geoff Reid
Worsbrough, South Yorkshire

• I’m fed up with inane use of the word “perfect” (Letters, 29 June). It’s usually the result of giving the person my name or address or order. Is my name actually perfect? Recently, before ordering our food at a restaurant, the waiter asked if there were any allergies. Yes, my friend said, severe nut allergy. To which the waiter replied: “Perfect!”
Dexter Rudling
Cheshunt, Hertfordshire

Solange Valdez-Symonds says the government must ensure people are aware of their citizenship rights

The US supreme court ruling on birthright citizenship throws much needed light on the UK, which replaced birthright citizenship on 1 January 1983 (US supreme court upholds birthright citizenship in blow to Trump agenda, 30 June).

Following proposals of successive governments and extensive parliamentary debate, the British Nationality Act 1981 nonetheless provided every child born here with the right to citizenship no later than their 10th birthday if the UK remains their home.

The world should be outraged about escalating violence in the West Bank, particularly against children, writes Dr Philip Goodwin of Unicef UK

Your report (How children in West Bank are being killed by Israel ‘without accountability’, 29 June) resonated deeply. As the chief executive of Unicef UK, I have just returned from meeting Palestinian families and children across the West Bank – many of whom carried Unicef backpacks just like Mohammad al-Halaq in your report – who spoke of the rising fear and violence that have become part of their daily lives.

I have worked in humanitarian development for more than two decades, but nothing could have prepared me for what I witnessed there. In Hebron’s militarised H2 area, movement is heavily restricted, children must pass checkpoints to get to school and their usual route is permanently closed. A group of mothers I met described routine humiliation and intimidation. The streets were empty, people afraid to be outside.

All the latest news from Sunday’s live action at SW19
Swiatek and Rybakina go out | Order of play | Mail Sarah

I can’t wait to see Naomi Osaka’s look today, she has been using fashion to express herself and represent her heritage across all of the slams. So far at Wimbledon she has been wearing a white kimono and she told the BBC about it:

When I think about Wimbledon, it’s obviously the all white. There’s obviously the tradition of it all. In my head, when I think about that, I think about my cultures, my heritage, which is Japanese and Haitian.

Then, if I dive deeper into Japanese culture, I think about the most iconic silhouette, which for me is a kimono. You don’t have to see the colour of a kimono to know that it is a kimono.

• Vingegaard keeps yellow jersey with six-second lead

• Fires mean no spectators and ‘adapted route’ for stage three

Isaac del Toro took a victory orchestrated by Tadej Pogacar on stage two of the Tour de France in Barcelona as Jonas Vingegaard retained the yellow jersey.

A day after Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike squad had their moment winning the opening team time trial, stage two belonged to their rivals UAE Team Emirates-XRG as they engineered a one-two with Pogacar allowing his 22-year-old teammate to take the win just two days into his debut Tour.

Defeat at the hands of the world champions is no shame, but where is the evidence that Steve Borthwick’s side is improving?

In many ways England should be grateful for small mercies. On an old‑style summer tour there would still be two more Tests to come against the formidable Springboks with scant prospect of a happy ending. As they prepare to regroup against Fiji this weekend, they have at least been spared a potentially grim 3-0 thrashing at the hands of the world’s strongest team.

Is it not reasonable, however, to expect the best resourced union in the world to be aiming significantly higher? On Saturday night there was hopeful talk of fine margins and South Africa being rattled in the second quarter. Given the final scoreline of 45-21 with England outclassed in many areas, it was not a conclusion universally shared back at home.

Illegal online casinos are producing fake BBC stories and AI-generated videos in an attempt to deceive customers

Respect of copyright law has never ranked highly in the list of priorities for unlicensed sports betting operators. Crests of famous clubs and ­photographs of star players are routinely used to promote brands that could not care less about image rights and trademarks, because these operators know any kind of enforcement is impossible.

Illegal gambling platforms ­operate almost exclusively from offshore jurisdictions where the anonymity of their ultimate beneficial owners is protected by local regulations and, to further darken the picture, the use of multiple shell ­companies that exist only as entries on a ­registry hidden from public view.

• Newcastle also linked with £50m-rated Brazilian

• Chelsea need to sell to help Xabi Alonso rebuild squad

Manchester United are targeting the Chelsea midfielder Andrey Santos, who is valued in the region of £50m. Talks are yet to take place between the two clubs but an offer is anticipated.

After missing out on Elliot Anderson and Mateus Fernandes, United were forced to look elsewhere as they seek to rebuild their midfield under Michael Carrick, with Bournemouth’s Alex Scott also of interest to the club’s hierarchy. The Brazilian is behind Moisés Caicedo and Enzo Fernández at Stamford Bridge and the Blues need to bring in funds in order to aide new head coach Xabi Alonso’s ambitions to strengthen.

• ICC exploring fixed windows for each format

• Continental championships among ideas up for debate

The International Cricket Council is exploring a radical overhaul of the global calendar with discussions surrounding multilateral series, the creation of continental championships, a World Club Championship for T20 franchises, fixed windows for each format and possible changes to the length of one-day internationals.

Talks between the 12 full members will take place at the ICC’s annual general meeting in Edinburgh on Wednesday as part of a strategic review being managed by the consulting firm McKinsey.

Agreement in principle with Castlelake follows several rejected offers and means UK’s biggest low-cost carrier will be taken private

EasyJet has agreed a £5bn takeover by US investment firm Castlelake that will see Britain’s biggest low-cost airline taken private.

The companies announced an agreement in principle on Sunday evening in a statement to the stock market, and requested an extension to a deadline to complete the deal formally. The agreement came after weeks of negotiations and several rejected offers.

Magazine invites readers to judge Vance’s ‘assessment’ of Trump, whom he called ‘cultural heroin’ during first term

The Atlantic on Saturday republished a JD Vance essay that dismissed Donald Trump as “cultural heroin” exactly 10 years earlier, bringing back to the fore his evolving from a critic of the president to his vice-president.

In an editor’s note, the magazine said it was republishing the essay on the occasion of its 10th anniversary – and the US’s semiquincentennial – “so that our readers can judge for themselves how well his assessment [of Trump] … has stood the test of time”.

A team from across the Guardian set out to investigate the full extent of private equity’s stake in Britain’s public and essential services. The scale and opacity posed many challenges

When Carmen Aguilar García began investigating the involvement of private equity firms in England’s childcare sector with her fellow data journalists three years ago, she didn’t imagine her efforts would one day be scaled up to examine private equity’s role in the entire UK economy. That ambitious undertaking by Carmen and colleagues from across the Guardian was published earlier this week.

“The initial investigation into the childcare sector in 2023 was already challenging and a big team effort,” says Carmen, a data projects editor at the Guardian. “Extrapolating it to the whole economy did not seem realistic back then.”

Nicholas Stern joins growing number backing Miliband, saying he has vision and experience to revive economy

A former chief economic adviser to the Treasury has called on Andy Burnham to appoint Ed Miliband as chancellor, arguing the energy secretary has a “bold” vision to revive the economy.

Nicholas Stern, a professor at the London School of Economics who was a senior figure in the Treasury during Gordon Brown’s tenure, said only Miliband had the experience and the strategic vision to accelerate investment and rebuild public trust in the state’s ability to “get things done”.

Analysis shows public understanding about vaping, which is far less harmful than smoking, has plummeted in past decade

More than half of adult smokers in the UK wrongly believe that vaping is as harmful or more harmful than cigarettes, making them less likely to switch to vapes and quit the deadly habit, research has found.

Evidence from scientific studies shows that, while vaping is not risk-free, it is far less harmful than smoking tobacco, which produces thousands of chemicals, including toxic metals, poisonous gases and substances that cause cancer.

Cooling down has become political amid record highs, as experts say row is distracting from work of protecting lives

As the afternoon heat rose to a dizzying 41.7C (107F) in eastern Brandenburg on Sunday, taking German temperatures to unprecedented highs, Mario, 65, took precautions but did not panic. Two years ago, a fierce heatwave had prompted him to buy a powerful device that few Germans own: an air conditioning unit.

“The summers are slowly getting warmer,” says the retired handyman in Neuzelle on the German-Polish border, whose bungalow is now among the 6% of German homes with fixed air-conditioning. “And as you get older, the heat gets harder to endure.”

Finding that Norfolk butterfly has been distinct subspecies for 200,000 years could transform conservation approach

The endangered swallowtail butterfly Papilio machaon britannicus, which is only regularly found breeding in Britain on the Norfolk Broads, has been a distinct subspecies for at least 200,000 years, according to a study.

Smaller, darker in colour and much rarer than the continental swallowtail, britannicus was previously considered to have developed its distinctive form during its confinement in the wetlands of eastern England over the last 8,000 years, after the flooding of Doggerland.

Huge numbers of blackchin tilapia, a fish native to west Africa, are wreaking havoc among Thailand’s river ecosystems. Experts – and some chefs – are seeking sustainable solutions

The menu at Kor-Tae seafood restaurant, in Thailand’s Samut Prakan province, is filled with Thai classics – from tom yum talay, a fragrant hot and sour soup, to spicy larb salads. But the restaurant’s chef is also experimenting with a more controversial ingredient: blackchin tilapia.

“People are hesitant, but once they try it – [they say] it’s delicious,” says owner Adisorn Jamsuksaward, who has been offering the non-native fish free of charge to friends who request it.

Exclusive: Most of the island’s corals are likely to be species that have not been formally described by science, researcher says

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Scientists fear unique corals that fringe Australia’s remote Norfolk Island could disappear because of a triple threat of disease, El Niño and a federal government plan to dredge a neighbouring shipping channel.

A failure to manage sediment and pollution washing into bays from cattle farming, cleared land along with wastewater has been blamed for widespread disease and outbreaks of algae over the corals.

A parish entry reveals an argument that proved pivotal to the abolitionist cause, at a time when an estimated 20,000 Black people were living in the country

When the abolitionist Thomas Clarkson gave a sermon in 1787 at Manchester Cathedral – during the city’s first mass meeting against the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans – he saw a “great crowd of black people standing round the pulpit”.

However, little is known about Black Mancunians in the Georgian era, which makes one recently rediscovered entry in parish records at Manchester Cathedral particularly significant.

Welsh festival helps asylum seekers gain confidence and skills while settling in to a new life in the UK

For many young people growing up in Britain, their first music festival is a rite of passage; watching live music in a field with thousands of others, sleeping under the stars, and spending time with friends old and new.

Green Man festival in Wales has been extending that formative experience to refugees and asylum seekers – who are offered training placements that help them develop valuable skills as they work to build new lives in Britain.

In coup for Dior, couple wear French haute couture designed by Northern Irish creative director, Jonathan Anderson

Your English teacher and your gym teacher wore Dior: Jonathan Anderson, the Northern Irish creative director of Dior, has been revealed as the designer of haute couture wedding looks for Taylor Swift and her new husband, Travis Kelce.

Photographs have not yet been released, with Swift’s team in charge of timing, but a Dior statement confirmed that Swift is the first bride for whom Anderson, who joined Dior last year, has created an haute couture gown.

More than 35,000 people from about 600 groups made their way from Hyde Park Corner to Whitehall via Piccadilly

Tens of thousands of people marched through central London for the annual LGBT+ Pride parade.

Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, joined the crowd as they proceeded through the capital on Saturday afternoon.

MCC Brussels received lavish funding from Budapest, but Hungary’s new PM is launching an investigation

Under glittering chandeliers in a neoclassical ballroom, guests took their seats. It was 10am and scores of people had gathered at a private members’ club in Brussels for a conference to mark 250 years of American independence, organised by Viktor Orbán’s favourite thinktank in the EU capital, MCC Brussels.

Opening the one-day event, the MCC director, Frank Furedi, said the 250th anniversary had “really escaped the attention of a European audience” in a speech that lauded the founding fathers before launching a sweeping attack on Europe’s “incompetent political class”.

Michael Phillips says he suffers from micropenis – but he’s now fundraised enough to increase his member’s girth

A US man who has staked the uncontested claim of having the smallest penis in the world says he has booked a procedure to enhance his member at least somewhat after soliciting the online public’s financial support for that purpose.

In a brief interview on Saturday, 38-year-old Michael Phillips described himself as “really thankful and surprised” over the GoFundMe platform users who supported his campaign for help to pay for the procedure in question.

Ahead of Nato summit in Turkey, Zelenskyy also tells Trump ‘there is a real prospect to end this war’. What we know on day 1,593

US president Donald Trump had a 90-minute phone call with Russian president Vladimir Putin, ⁠during which the US leader offered to help find ⁠a solution to ​the Ukraine war, a Kremlin aide has said. The aide, Yuri Ushakov, said Trump made the offer during a call with Putin on Saturday ⁠in the context of Trump’s participation next week at a Nato summit in Turkey. “The American president once again confirmed his readiness to ⁠work towards a rapid end to the fighting and find solutions to overcome the crisis,” Ushakov said. Ushakov described the ‌conversation as “business-like and quite constructive” and said ‌Russia sought “a political-diplomatic resolution of the conflict, with due account of Russia’s fundamental approach”.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he also spoke to president Trump. Writing ​on his Telegram account, he described the conversation as “very good”, including a discussion on the war’s 1,200km frontline. “There is a real prospect to end this war and American resolve will have a crucial meaning,” he said. Zelenskyy said he and Trump agreed to continue discussions at the upcoming Nato meeting. But Ushakov accused Kyiv and its European ‌allies of “counting on extending and even escalating the conflict”, referring to Ukraine’s long-range strikes on Russian targets, mainly linked to the oil industry, which have triggered fuel shortages in several Russian regions.

Ukraine has denied Moscow’s claim that Russian forces had captured the strategic Ukrainian city of Kostyantynivka, a stronghold for Kyiv’s troops in the eastern Donetsk region and a key target for the Kremlin. A Ukrainian army spokesperson told AFP the city remained under its control, while Zelenskyy dismissed Moscow’s announcement as “a lie”. He said on social media: “If Kostyantynivka were under Russian control, then perhaps Putin would have no problem meeting me there to find a diplomatic way to finally end this war.” “The situation remains difficult,” Ukrainian army spokesperson Andriy Kovalyov said, but Kostyantynivka “is under the control of the Ukrainian Defence Forces”.

Putin, wearing a military uniform, had thanked troops on Friday for seizing Kostyantynivka, a town with a prewar population of 78,000 that Moscow has been trying to take control over for months. Kovalyov admitted that small groups of Russian troops have been infiltrating the town but insisted that fighting was ongoing. Moscow’s defence ministry, however, said: “Russian troops are in all parts of the town.”

Russia said on Saturday that Ukrainian drones hit an oil terminal in St Petersburg, Putin’s home town, as well as striking a port near Finland and falling on the historical Peterhof complex – a giant estate of gardens and a palace – without causing damage. Moscow vowed to respond, saying it downed almost 500 Ukrainian drones and 10 of Kyiv’s Flamingo missiles overnight. St Petersburg governor Alexander Beglov said: “Air defence forces shot down 72 drones, one of which crashed in Peterhof. There were no casualties or damage.” The Ukrainian attack came after a Russian strike on Kyiv this week killed 30 people, amid other strikes.

Zelenskyy also claimed Kyiv struck the Kronstadt naval base in St Petersburg. Ukraine has been increasing strikes on Russian territory – hitting as far as the Urals far away from the frontline – in recent months, in retaliation for Moscow’s dragging offensive.

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defence had shot down 62 drones headed for the Russian capital. Moscow said one person was killed in the border Bryansk region and another in Russian-annexed Crimea. Authorities in the border Belgorod region said “infrastructure facilities” had been damaged by the attacks, leading to “disruptions to electricity and water supply”.

Lawyers file request days after US supreme court declined to hear an appeal, with payout topping $5.8m with interest

Lawyers for Donald Trump have requested more time to pay a $5m civil judgment to magazine columnist E Jean Carroll from 2023, days after the US supreme court declined to hear an appeal.

In a new filing, the president’s attorney said that since his former lead counsel, Justin Smith, took up a position as a federal judge last month (a post he was nominated to by Trump), his new lead counsel, Josh Halpern, needed more time “to become completely familiar with the facts and procedural circumstances” of the case.

Exclusive: £20bn of ‘potential’ £30bn AI investment touted by UK ministers appears to have been hypothetical

It was to be the biggest undertaking in Britain for OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. Stargate UK – a multibillion-pound UK datacentre project – would represent “a major step forward in the US-UK technology partnership”.

But the plans were paused in April, with an OpenAI spokesperson citing concerns over regulation and high energy costs.

Increase to long-term incentive plan means James Jesic could significantly outearn predecessor Liv Garfield

Severn Trent has doubled the size of a long-term reward scheme for its new chief executive to as much as £3.1m and he could receive significantly more than his predecessor, despite anger over water bosses’ pay.

The FTSE 100 water company said its long-term incentive plan (LTIP) would increase from 200% of new chief executive James Jesic’s base salary to 400%, according to changes revealed in the company’s most recent annual report. Jesic could receive as much as £4.8m in a single year after salary, annual bonus, LTIP and benefits are counted.

Only 330 car club vehicles available for rent after big provider left British market, data reveals

The number of car club vehicles in London has fallen by a “catastrophic” 89% since Zipcar ended its service in late 2025, with former users being pushed to consider buying or leasing.

Car clubs allow drivers to use vehicles parked around a city, using apps to book and unlock them. Zipcar dominated London’s car club market before the US company’s shock decision to pull out in December 2025. That left a gap that has yet to be filled for Londoners without a car.

Reports of ‘stampede’ for stays near water amid concerns over cancelled flights, higher air fares and EU border delays

Summer bookings at Britain’s hotels and holiday parks have jumped, compared with last year, as fears about flight cancellations and long delays at EU borders have prompted many UK holidaymakers to stay closer to home this year.

There has been a surge in last-minute bookings for UK holidays amid warnings that airlines will have to raise their fares because of higher jet fuel bills that have resulted from the war in the Middle East.

Whether you’re learning guitar or trying to get fit, short bursts of effort can work wonders

You could call it the tamest of mid-life crises, but as I turned 40 last year, I decided to devote myself to a long-neglected ambition – learning the guitar. I dutifully set myself the task of practising for 30 minutes a day, with the aim of strumming my way through the Bob Dylan songbook by my 41st birthday.

What stood in the way, of course, was life. With work and family commitments, I was lucky to find a free half-hour time more than once or twice a week. Each day that went by without practice left me feeling more demotivated, and the guitar soon started gathering dust next to my piano.

From the Sherlock Holmes spin-offs to The Sheep Detectives, DIY sleuths are on the case all over TV and cinema. But where did the trope of the outsider who outsmarts the professionals come from – and how do these depictions compare to reality?

On Television you don’t have to be a cop to solve crime; the police can just hire you as a consultant. All you need is the uncanny ability to solve each and every mystery in time for the next episode. You might be a retired detective (Monk, Ridley, the many Poirot spin-offs) or a bestselling mystery writer (Murder, She Wrote, Castle) or a vicar (Grantchester) or a convicted fraudster seeking redemption (White Collar, Wild Cards). You could be a faux psychic (Psych, The Mentalist), a human lie detector (Lie to Me), or a private investigator (all the Sherlock Holmes adaptations and spin-offs, and Shonda Rhimes’s The Residence). Or even, in the case of Death Valley, a retired actor widely known for playing a detective on TV).

The trope of the “consultant”– a hyper-talented investigator who isn’t part of the police, but teams up with them to solve crimes – is widespread, so much so that the pop-culture website TV Tropes gives it its own page: “No badge? No problem!” But recently the evergreen character has enjoyed a boost.

Richard Ayoade and Joanne McNally are team captains in Unacceptable. Plus, stay up late to see England take on Mexico! Here’s what to watch this evening

9pm, TLC

It’s full of heart, humanity and such extreme competence it’s actually comforting to watch. No wonder it’s swept the boards at awards

‘Let’s go save some lives.” That’s the mantra of Noah Wyle’s A&E doctor at the start of every shift in The Pitt. The gritty US hospital drama seems an unlikely contender to be the most hopeful show on air. Yet despite the death, disease and pointed social commentary, The Pitt somehow pulls it off.

The smash HBO hit’s second season climaxed last night in a blaze of Fourth of July fireworks, group cuddles, cute babies and cathartic karaoke. A third season is about to enter production. For millions of devoted fans, it can’t be stretchered back on to our screens soon enough.

In this week’s newsletter: A tour through the moments when American celebrities crossed the ocean and landed somewhere entirely unexpected

Hurrah! Today is the Guide’s 250th instalment, an anniversary celebrated the world over, with concerts and ticker tape parades and 10-part documentaries about its historical significance. You’re probably already a bit exhausted by all the wall-to-wall coverage, in fact. Also tomorrow, the United States of America might be celebrating some birthday or other, though it doesn’t sound like anybody is terribly fussed about it.

To mark both anniversaries, this week’s Guide is a “special relationship” special, with 25 of the most unlikely US/UK pop-cultural crossovers – those moments where American celebrities find themselves rubbing their stardust, intentionally or otherwise, all over weird corners of British popular culture, or vice versa. Read on for tales of Orson Welles in Norwich and Matt Berry at the Oscars.

The hit riches-to-rags comedy comes to the BBC. Plus: celebrate Independence Day with Madonna, Beyoncé, Springsteen, Gaga and more. Here’s what to watch this evening

9.30pm, BBC Three

Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Adams’ maximal minimalism was framed by Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man and Joan Tower’s parallel feminist statement, with Florence Price’s The Heart of A Woman adding a Broadway flourish

Orchestras have thrown themselves on this year’s anniversary of American Independence (or “Freedom 250” as the marketers are catchily dubbing it) with an eagerness born of a repertoire of big names and broad appeal. A year of Gershwin, Barber and Bernstein, Adams and Glass? Full halls all round. You can even throw in John Williams and Duke Ellington (just go easy on the Carter and Crumb) and you’re on to a winner. Just ask Kazuki Yamada and the audience of Friday night’s generously filled Symphony Hall.

Harmonium – John Adams’ 1980 landmark experiment in maximal minimalism – was the advertised centrepiece (and will travel down to the Proms with the CBSO later this month), but the framing was the curiosity here: conceived by Yamada as two facing musical panels.

The England and Arsenal player grew up with Enrique Iglesias on repeat, and knows the Bridget Jones soundtrack by heart. But what football song gives her goosebumps?

The first song I fell in love with
I used to have a cassette player with these fuzzy foam headphones, and only two cassettes: Hero by Enrique Iglesias and How Do I Live by LeAnn Rimes. I would play them over and over.

The first single I downloaded
Michaela Strachan by Scouting for Girls. I thought it was fascinating that they’d written a song about her, even though I wasn’t quite sure who she was until I saw her on telly.

O2 Academy, Glasgow
In her first UK headline show in 16 years, Jett has a terrific knack for a cover version, though she’s a touch nonchalant – and there’s a real misstep

‘I’m not a very good storyteller,” shrugs Joan Jett, sporting black leather and trademark poker face. If you’ve come expecting something as sappy as sentimental anecdotes at this anniversary tour celebrating 45 years of her career-defining albums Bad Reputation and I Love Rock’n’Roll, you’d better jog on.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer isn’t here to chat, or pat herself on the back. This first UK headline show in 16 years delivers straight-shooting hard rock, from early cuts with the Runaways to her most recent releases with the Blackhearts. At 67, Jett’s voice is still deep and commanding – if time has added more gravel, it’s only for the better – and the Blackhearts’ current iteration as a simplified three-piece play hard and fast. It’s all real rock history, but it comes across more like history than it should: even the adrenalised teenage terror of Cherry Bomb is delivered with cool, even stiff, nonchalance.

The Irish fiddler brings pop exuberance to traditional songs that range from disco to haunting a cappella with a fearless sense of genre fluidity

From Carlow, Ireland
Recommended if you like The Mary Wallopers, Chappell Roan, Anohni
Up next SlutTrad EP out now, UK and Ireland tour starts in October

At a recent London show, SexyTadhg – real name Tadhg Griffin – appeared in a glittering pink corset, channelling high-camp cabaret. And then, they started playing the fiddle.

For Ross and Rachel Menzies, making peace with our smallness can help us navigate the challenges of human existence

Ross G Menzies is, by his own admission, “a very old man” by the standards of the human species. A century and a half ago the average life expectancy was in the 30s, “so how can I whinge if I develop something today and [get] told that I’ll be dead by Christmas?” he jokes.

“If I can see that I am just one of the 107 billion that have lived, and that I will go to dust like all those before me, it is easier to face the difficult times that we are in.” He pauses. “Diminishing the self is one of the most important things that we can do.”

This lavishly researched book shows that dots and dashes are an essential component of style, whether you’re a medieval monk or Donald Trump

How do you feel about exclamation marks? Otherwise known as gaspers, screamers, dog’s cocks, or shrieks. In his Modern English Usage, Fowler said that using too many betrays an “uneducated or unpractised writer”. Martin Amis called them “joke badges”, and Theodor Adorno “soundless cymbal-crashing”. The novelist Elmore Leonard specified that you were allowed only two or three every 100,000 words. He was being generous.

Florence Hazrat notes that the Nazis loved exclamation marks, with Goebbels pencilling in triplets of them into a speech for Hitler. The modern German linguist Konrad Ehlich is described here as believing that “slapping exclamation marks on to the end of statements turns all utterance into shouting, and all thinking into order”. At the same time she derides male scholars who have complained about previous editors inserting exclamation marks into the speech of Beowulf on the grounds that it feminises the hero.

Cafés by Holly Pester; The Acrobat by Wisława Szymborska; Volvelle by Rachael Boast; Tree of Knowledge by Victoria Chang; Talk a Blue Streak by Lila Matsumoto

Cafés by Holly Pester (Fitzcarraldo, £12.99)
Beginning with a sequence of prose poems in which the speaker embarks on an anti-epic quest to open her own cafe, Pester’s second collection builds into a meditation on the nature of desire and disappointment. Comic timing remains a strength, as does her linguistic flexibility, wielding language as a weapon in the face of exploitative working conditions, endless monthly direct debits (“Even my egg subscription is a disaster”) and an intensifying cost-of-living crisis. Juggling the demands of caring for an ageing parent, the excited desperation of a love affair, the “fudgy ordeal” of work and the possibility of parenthood, Pester’s speaker discovers solace in the third space of the cafe, both a meeting point and melting pot. “Here begins inspiration, here begins drama,” she suggests. “I order another coffee in honour of circumstantial life.” Ambitious and inviting, this confident collection confirms Fitzcarraldo’s entry in the arena of contemporary poetry.

The Acrobat by Wisława Szymborska, translated by Stanisław Barańczak and Clare Cavanagh (Faber, £12.99)
A slimline selection of Szymborska’s work, showcasing intimate and immediate poems that explore themes of endurance and astonishment. Reflecting the turbulent history of Poland in the 20th century, Szymborska describes life both during and after conflict, documenting the violence of war alongside moments of resilience and poignant domesticity. “After every war / somebody has to tidy up,” she reminds us. “Someone has to shove / the rubble to the roadsides / so the carts loaded with corpses / can get by.” With plainspoken wisdom and deadpan humour, these poems celebrate the ordinary in extraordinary times. Rooted in the pains and joys of everyday human experience, Szymborska’s poetry proves “The commonplace miracle: / that so many common miracles take place.” The book ends with her 1996 Nobel acceptance speech, in which she praises the inexhaustible wonder of the world: “It looks as though poets will always have their work cut out for them.”

Covering three generations, this tangled story of secrets, childhood, abandonment and care might be her best work yet

In 2018 Daisy Johnson was the youngest writer ever to be shortlisted for the Booker prize, for her debut novel Everything Under, a gender-fluid reimagining of the Oedipus myth involving canal boat communities and their complex family dynamics, plus a strange monster lurking in the depths. Before that, her short‑story collection Fen, with its blend of the uncanny and the workaday, was critically acclaimed. She has since written Sisters, a psychological horror that uses supernatural elements to explore sibling bonds and grief, and The Hotel, a series of seriously chilling interlinked ghost stories. Now comes Long Wave, which, while it shares some of these hallmarks, is in many ways finer and more subtle: perhaps her strongest work yet.

Long Wave is a story of three generations of mothers. As a small child Ori was found after being “abandoned” by her mother on a wild, uninhabited island somewhere off the coast of England. What happened to Ori’s mother, and why they fled to the island together, only for Ori to later be found and adopted by a scientist specialising in hares, is a question that returns to her with full force in adulthood when she finds herself newly postpartum and struggling to cope.

With players leaving EA’s series once life there felt like a grind beset by ethical concerns, this quirky new sim promises a better life elsewhere

For 26 years, the life-sims genre has been dominated by one series: The Sims. Originally designed by Will Wright, creator of Sim City, EA’s virtual dollhouse series has grown into a $5bn [£3.8bn] empire with the constant release of new games, expansion packs, and collaborations cementing its place among the bestselling video game franchises of all time. But things are beginning to change. New contenders are emerging and turning the heads of even loyal players in The Sims community.

The most recent, and promising, of these is Paralives, once the solo project of indie designer Alex Massé, who is now employing a small team of developers. Released on the PC games platform Steam in May 2026 as an early access title (meaning it’s technically unfinished and looking for user feedback), it sold 250,000 copies in just eight hours. On that first day, the concurrent player count hit 78,603 – not far off The Sims 4’s all-time peak of 96,328 in 2022. While Paralives is a small project, this success is understandable. Following the news of EA’s controversial acquisition by a Saudi-backed business consortium, some simmers are looking for what they see as a more ethical alternative. But this is only part of the game’s appeal. The real draw is the game’s focus on creativity over realism: the quirky details that made many fans fall in love with The Sims in the first place.

Nintendo/TNX; Nintendo Switch
A joyful collection of vibrant rhythm games includes catching veggies in mid-air, practising dance choreographies and speaking to an alien

It has been a strange decade for the rhythm game genre. The legendary progenitors Rock Band and Guitar Hero are seemingly gone, yet companies are manufacturing plastic guitars again. Tango Gameworks, a studio best known for delivering survival horror hauntings, made Hi-Fi Rush and it ruled, but Microsoft sold the studio. Indie titles such as Sayonara Wild Hearts and Rift of the NecroDancer have done well on the margins, but now Epic Games has swept in, adding a rhythm action mode to Fortnite so now its mainstream again. All these titles have reinforced the ideas laid out by their forefathers: rhythm can intersect with video games as much as it already intersects with our everyday lives.

Few series hold this ethos to heart as strongly as Rhythm Heaven. Dormant since 2015, a new entry, Rhythm Heaven Groove (known as Rhythm Paradise Groove in Pal territories), doubles down on the concept of offering bitesize, rhythm-based experiences where you follow auditive cues to perform all manner of increasingly exhilarating actions with just a few buttons. Whether you’re catching veggies in mid-air, practising dance choreographies, or speaking to an alien, each mini-game is intended to be a vibrant, micro cacophony with its own rules.

With the much-anticipated release of Grand Theft Auto VI only available as download, Sony is following suit

Sony said on Wednesday that it would stop releasing new video games for the PlayStation console on disc in January 2028 following a shift in consumer preferences.

“Following this date, new games will be available on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only,” the company said on its official PlayStation blog.

A preview of the forthcoming sci-fi game from Gareth Damian Martin showcases their unmistakable talent for innovation and game design

Over the past decade, an impression has taken root among gamers that any real creativity and originality in the industry is to be found in the indie, rather than mainstream, sector. Gareth Damian Martin can claim some responsibility for that. Their first game, 2020’s In Other Waters, merged sci-fi and underwater xenobiology in a uniquely calming and thought-provoking manner, while Citizen Sleeper (2022) and Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector (2025) were full-blown sci-fi epics with ultraminimal aesthetics and a rare intelligence.

Martin has broken with tradition by unveiling their next game, Signet City, far in advance of its 2027 launch. Set in a dystopian monochrome city, it’s a narrative role-playing adventure with a curious first-person perspective. “You play as a parasite,” says Martin. “And it felt natural that it should be a game where you see the world through the eyes of your hosts, very literally. You wake up in the mind of a person called Sid at the same time as she’s waking up in the river of a city. You’re coming to understand what you are, why it is that you’re in the mind of this person who doesn’t know that you’re there, along with what your capabilities are, and what the world is, through Sid.”

Fruit Market, Hull
Assigned roles as the unlucky inhabitants of a remote village audience members must avoid ending up on the pyre in this high-camp game of smut and survival

‘But is it theatre?” you might keep asking as you experience the latest offering from Silent Uproar. It’s theatrical; there’s a set and lighting design. There’s an atmospheric sound design by Eddi Pickard and a singular central performance. There’s a script and a director.

The question arises from the form: The Night of the Werewolves involves the audience playing a version of the game Mafia (or whatever you call the game on which the BBC’s The Traitors is based). The performance begins with Alex Mitchell welcoming us, setting parameters and talking a lot about consent; the game is rated 18+ and we’re encouraged to be as smutty as our imaginations allow. We’re each given a card with a character who lived in a village nearby. Among others there’s an innkeeper, butcher, a chandler and the brothel owner and we’re asked to name them. I was Chanandler Bong (candlestick maker).

Lowry, Salford
These lonely travellers overlap with Bowie’s Maj Tom, Ryan Gosling in Project Hail Mary or Spielberg’s Disclosure Day as they contemplate our place in the vastness of the void

From David Bowie’s Maj Tom and Elton John’s Rocketman via Capt Oates in Tom Stoppard’s Jumpers to this summer’s Ryan Gosling movie Project Hail Mary, the astronaut who may be unable to come home has been a recurrent cultural character since Yuri Gagarin orbited Earth in 1961.

Another lonely floater is the pivotal figure in Ransack Theatre’s Life Out There by Tim Foley, a regular writer in the Doctor Who universe. Cmdr Isaacs, one of five explorers on a mission to find an alternative Earth after the first one was destroyed in unspecified but guessable ways, has vanished on a solo shuttle flight. But he is still a presence in the main capsule as a voice (Jack Myers) that may be AI recreation, memory or ghost from the viewpoints of his four crew mates as they contemplate landing on galactic location SQ356, a candidate for humanity’s second Eden.

The first time I saw a show, I felt like I had discovered a new language. It’s since become one of my greatest pleasures

When I was a young girl living in suburban London in the early 1960s, I was looking for ways to find excitement. The first time my mother took me to see the London Festival Ballet (now the English National Ballet), I felt a sense of rapture as I realised that the body could say things words could not.

I was yearning for more, and that night at the Royal Festival Hall, I saw glimmers of the world out there waiting for me. Watching the dancers, I felt something shift in me. It was like discovering a new language, one that I immediately wanted to speak.

Baltic, Gateshead
Close to Home pairs the two artists’ contrasting visions of the pursuit of happiness in north-east England. There are many good things but they don’t add up

In Tish Murtha’s Youth Unemployment series, shot in Newcastle between 1979 and 1981, young men slouch and smile, cigarettes hanging from their fingertips as they study a hand of cards or share a private joke. Beside Murtha’s images in this show, a film by photographer Kuba Ryniewicz finds present-day residents of Newcastle and asks them what has made them happy today. The subjects talk about the sun, breakfast, connecting with friends and family. The answers are almost universal, and you could imagine the subjects of Murtha’s photographs responding in the same way.

Despite more than 40 years dividing these projects, they both capture the human pursuit of joy, no matter the circumstances, and the desire to seek comfort in the company of others. Both Ryniewicz and Murtha are celebrated for capturing their communities. Their ability to shoot raw, real, unflinching moments derives from the fact that they were there, living among it. It is this similar approach – and the fact that they both photograph residents of Newcastle – that has placed them together in an exhibition at the Baltic entitled Close to Home.

Juggling, trapeze and hula hoop classes for over-50s are taking off as people rediscover their inner child and tap into health benefits

Rumman Talukder’s favourite circus trick is called the Mermaid. Every Sunday, the 60-year-old IT consultant drives from his home in Stanmore to a circus school in Ware to practise it. Hanging from a trapeze by one arm, with his back arched and his legs wrapped around the rope, he says it makes him feel “strong and graceful”.

“My wife thinks I’m mad but in the run-up to turning 60, I decided I wanted to challenge myself; to find things not normally associated with people my age,” he says.

As allegations of LLM use rock the literary and media worlds, linguists explain what really distinguishes human and machine writing, while novelists including Jennifer Egan and Jeanette Winterson reflect on the future of fiction in an age of ChatGPT

Three paragraphs, from three different hotel reviews. Can you tell which, if any, were AI‑generated?

“The hotel is in a great location for everything. Lots of places to eat and drink. The hotel itself is always abuzz. The tavern located on the ground floor is definitely a must. Food, service, prices and atmosphere were great.”

The Indian photographer dunked his iPhone underwater to get this shot of his pet

Rashid Sheriff’s fascination with photography and drawing originated in his school days, though “due to various limitations and circumstances, I couldn’t pursue those interests”, he says.

For the past 18 years, Sheriff, who is from Kerala, in south-west India, has been working in Qatar as an auto electrician. Smartphones, however, have allowed him to return to his passions once again.

A leading light of American TV comedy, directing sitcoms such as Friends, Frasier and almost every episode of Cheers

James Burrows, who has died aged 85, was one of the most influential figures in US television sitcoms for more than four decades. He was the co-creator and primary director of Cheers, one of America’s most beloved and successful sitcoms, which ran for 11 seasons between 1982 and 1993 and won 28 Primetime Emmy awards. Its final episode was second only to that of M*A*S*H as the most-watched of all time.

However, unlike producer/writers such as Nat Hiken, Norman Lear or Larry Gelbart, who had stamped their marks on previous generations, Burrows’ influence came entirely as a director. As such he was intimately involved in the creation of many shows, and enjoyed long runs on sitcoms such as the Cheers spin-off Frasier, Friends, and Will and Grace. For years he was the first-choice director of pilot episodes, used to sell programmes to the networks; he did almost 100 of them, including two versions of some, if the first produced only a lukewarm response.

We were busy doing up a dilapidated Welsh farmhouse when a young couple bought the land next door. They seemed odd yet basically harmless – but their increasingly troubling behaviour soon escalated into a full-blown campaign of terror

Richard: Bryn stood under a dripping hedge, waving like we were long-lost cousins reunited at a funeral. “Welcome to paradise!” he shouted as I stepped out of the camper, my raincoat flapping in the wind.

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions takes a deep dive into the unknown and untrodden …

This week’s new question: Why put solar panels on green space when we could put them over car parks?

Are there places on Earth where humans haven’t been? And if so, why? Aaron Jones, New York

Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com.

Snack packs, swim fins, and a foundation brush for applying sun cream … we asked you for the one thing worth making suitcase space for

• The best suitcases – tested

Counting down until your next getaway? We thought so. It’s peak holiday season, so to help you get in the mood (and get a head start on packing), we asked you for the essentials that always make it into your suitcase.

From tried-and-tested luggage and day-to-night sandals to long-journey entertainment for kids, our reader recommendations and Filter favourites will provide lots of inspiration for your next trip.

Spacious enough to cook two pizzas at once and simple enough for beginners, Gozney’s gas-and-wood-fired oven is an impressive piece of kit – if you have the budget

• The best pizza ovens – tested

Whether you like yours thin-crust, deep-dish, simply margherita or loaded with extras, for pizza-lovers everywhere, there’s nothing more satisfying than making your own. And while a compact or mid-size pizza oven will more than suffice for a weekly family pizza night or casual entertaining, if you’re serious about pizza – and I mean super-serious about pizza – you’ll need a big oven, such as the Gozney Dome Gen 2.

Spacious inside, back-strainingly heavy, and complete with an all-singing, all-dancing display and control panel, the Gozney Dome will cook two 10in pizzas at once (or a single 16in one). Its size allows it to handle full meals, too: an included pair of meat probes means you can roast anything from a whole chicken or fish to lamb chops or a joint. More versatile than its first-gen gas-only predecessor, the Gozney Dome Gen 2 can cook with hybrid fuel. Add the optional wood-fire control kit (£174.99), as I did in my testing, and even smoky, authentic flavours are at your fingertips.

From serums to hand soap, fragrances to hair stylers, here are the beauty buys that justify the price tag and the ones you can happily get on a budget

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Walk down any beauty aisle, and you’ll be told every product is essential, transformative and worth hocking a kidney for. For every £300 miracle cream that claims to somehow change your entire facial structure, however, there’s someone – usually on social media – insisting you can buy a perfect dupe of a cult luxury fragrance. It can feel bewildering.

After more than 15 years working in the industry – and testing hundreds of products a year – I can confirm that beauty is rarely as simple as luxury v high street. But there are a few insider realities about how beauty products are made, priced and marketed that are worth knowing before you decide which are worth the spend – and which ones aren’t.

Whether you’re walking the dog, puddle-jumping with kids or dancing in a soggy festival field, these are the wellington boots that topped our tests for comfort, support and grip

• The best men’s waterproof jackets
• The best women’s waterproof jackets

A good pair of wellies will keep your feet warm and dry, and give you a decent grip underfoot. They’ll also offer all-day comfort and support, alongside reliable waterproofing, so it’s worth investing in the very best wellies to see you through season after season.

But sizing, tread patterns, cushioning, warmth levels and even the materials they’re made from all vary, depending on the brand and style. I’ve put 15 of the best wellies from well-known names through their paces.

Best wellies overall:
Barbour Bede wellington boots

Best budget wellies:
Mountain Warehouse Mucker neoprene long boots

This is no theme bar, and not remotely a joke: they really are doing proper Appalachian regional cooking on a side road near Old Street

Appalachia, newly opened near Old Street, London, is unlike anywhere else in town. It serves grits, pork rinds, collard greens, kilt salad, chow-chow relish and pot liquor. Ali Borer, formerly of Smoking Goat and Guy Ritchie’s Lore of the Land pub, and not remotely Appalachian himself, is cooking the food of yesteryear Scots-Irish mountain settlers who made their home in this sparse region of the eastern United States. Appalachians smoked, pickled and preserved just about any edible item they could get their hands on, because, well, needs must. London’s dining scene has ignored all this porky, liquory stuff until now, mainly because, let’s be frank, most British people’s understanding of Appalachia begins with the Burt Reynolds film Deliverance and ends with those guys from O Brother, Where Art Thou? stealing a chicken. Not only that but, just as many people would be unable to locate the Appalachian mountain region on a map, you might find it equally challenging to locate Nile Street, because it’s hidden away on the borders of Shoreditch, just around the back of Hackney.

The room itself is quite patentlya reclaimed old saloon bar, and you sit up at that bar watching Borer make your cornbread madeleines. And, holy heck, they’re good: cheddary, fiery, served hot with a nod to the cast-iron skillets of the mountain kitchen. The space isn’t terribly comfy and, much like Tollington’s Fish Bar and many other similarly hip indie spots, Appalachia feels more like a restaurant that’s simply making the best of its surroundings rather than truly inhabiting them. The downstairs space, meanwhile, has been turned into a whiskey and cocktail bar called Lowcountry, named after South Carolina’s coastal region, and each time you order a banana pudding sazerac made with brown butter-washed rye and absinthe, or a fat fashioned comprising bacon fat-washed bourbon and maple syrup, a server bearing a tray materialises from below, almost as if they’re ascending from a very well-stocked basement cupboard. The entire drinks list, by the way, is heaven for the non-drinker and for those who like to sway and wake with headaches. The former can enjoy Jörg Geiger’s fruit fermentations, Saicho sparkling teas and a really extraordinary olive lemonade; I also highly recommend the alcohol-free paloma, too.

Its origin story may be full of holes, but there’s no disputing this American classic’s status as a world beater when it comes to a tasty, satisfying salad

According to the US Institute for Culinary Education, the cobb salad is an embodiment of “the spirit of American ingenuity”, thanks to a strangely familiar creation myth involving a restaurateur (in this case, at Hollywood’s Brown Derby) throwing it together for a late-night snack. It’s also perfect game-day food: satisfying, flavour-packed and, crucially, easy to eat while all eyes are on the pitch.

Prep 30 min
Cook 30 min
Serves 4, and easily scaled up or down

A spicy, umami-rich salad provides sweetness and crunch alongside these simple Chinese-style courgette pancakes

This week marks nine years since I started writing this column, and here’s something I’m excited by: that we’ve only just scratched the surface when it comes to our collective knowledge about Asian cuisine. When it comes to Chinese food, for example, we might know a fair bit about, for example, Cantonese or Sichuan food, but what about Fujian or Hunanese? There are still so many riches to discover and excellent meals to be had. Today’s offering is a small token in that vein: a simple vegetable pancake made with courgette, known as hutazi and straight from the homes of Beijing. I’ve taken the liberty of embellishing it with some hot and sweet cucumbers.

A rainbow assortment of sunshine quenchers that look lavish but can be dispensed in short order

Cynar is an artichoke amaro – unfashionably brown but incredibly delicious. It can be made into an ugly spritz, or you can embrace its hue and make this little number. My aperitivo of 2026.

An English Democrats voter and a retired university tutor had different ideas about whether it’s OK to fly flags, but could they find something to agree on?

• Want to meet someone from across the divide? Click here to find out how

David, 70, York

Occupation Retired modern foreign languages tutor at a university

One immediately called an ambulance, another went looking for my younger son. And I still remember the small face of the girl who held her arm around me

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

I was at the park with my two young boys, aged five and seven, riding scooters along a wide path that looped around the grass. My eldest has cerebral palsy, so my husband had modified a scooter with a large base so that we could ride it together. My son stood at the front and I stood behind him. It meant he could join in just like other kids, and he loved it.

When you have boys, you need to run them like dogs – the goal is to burn as much energy as possible every time you’re out of the house. So even though it had started to drizzle, we set off on another loop of the park on our scooters. But when we hit a puddle coming round the bend, the scooter slipped out from under me. We fell sideways, landing on the ground. I realised my son wasn’t conscious. In that moment all I felt was sheer terror.

You are dealing with a lot right now. Lean on loved ones, and try not to look too far ahead

My husband recently died. It was a protracted illness, but in the three weeks between him being very ill and him passing I did not get to speak to him about death. We had spoken about it earlier in our relationship and he wasn’t frightened. He was the sort of man who didn’t want a fuss and I never lingered by his bedside; I just did what was needed, had a chat and moved on to running the home. I have cried every day since he died.

I have so many recriminations on my part: feelings of not looking after him, not taking the time … We had planned to move in with my daughter part-time, in another part of the country, splitting our time between her house and ours. Now my husband has died, I will be doing this on my own. My dog, who has been such a companion since I lost my husband, died suddenly. He got me through the past six months. I am not equating the profound loss of my husband to my dog, but I feel overwhelmed with grief.

Rebecca ‘Darl’ Ritchie ticked all the boxes for musician Jack Ceriani. Then one morning his eye ruptured – and she was a calming force

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

About eight years ago some mutual friends put Darl and me in touch, thinking we’d be a good match. We’d talked on the phone a bit, but hadn’t found the time to meet in person. I lived in Busselton, Western Australia, and she lived about a 30-minute drive away.

Then on St Paddy’s Day my mates and I invited some friends around to the Star hotel, which was what we called our share house at the time. It was a bit of a bachelor pad with a bar set-up, and I made some really bad mojitos. But when Darl arrived, they improved a lot – she knew what she was doing behind the bar.

‘Home fee’ qualification ends in 2028, leaving those hoping to study in UK not now eligible for British loans

British teenagers living in the EU could be priced out of UK universities in two years’ time as a Brexit rule change means they face the double whammy of paying costlier international fees, while losing access to student finance.

British passport holders living in the EU still qualify for “home fee” status at UK universities. But this will no longer be the case when the grace period ends in 2028, meaning the first wave to be affected are starting their A-levels, or equivalent, this autumn.

For months I’ve been trying to receive my FIT payment, which should be more than £1,000

I moved into my new house 14 months ago, and soon afterwards applied to ScottishPower, with whom the solar panels are registered for a feed-in tariff (Fit), for transfer of ownership of the panels and the tariff.

After many emails back and forth, I got a response saying they had all the information required.

Trusted by millions, the finance expert has seen his name and face used to mis-sell a string of fake investments. And yet, he says, it would be ‘very simple’ for the government to stop them

This month, an email from a consumer landed in Martin Lewis’s inbox. It was from an elderly woman with a disability who had been scammed when she invested in a scheme purportedly endorsed by Lewis – and lost her life savings. “THEY ARE BASTARDS!” Lewis wrote at the top of his social media post about it. Even though the personal finance expert is a veteran campaigner against fraud, he says he had “tears running down my face”. He still sounds upset. “I felt a mixture of frustration, anger and sadness.” Not only for the plight of the woman, but for the “constant, ongoing deluge of shit from the scammers”.

Lewis never advertises anything. To hammer home the point, his social media profile picture has the words “I don’t do ads” tattooed on his forehead. But still, people fall victim to deepfake videos and frauds that appear to show him offering investments. The scale of harm is great enough that MoneySavingExpert (MSE), the company Lewis founded in 2003 and sold in 2012 for up to £87m – he is now its executive chair – has someone full-time handling these cases.

The car lease company won’t rescind my contract because it says the vehicle is driveable. The only problem is, it won’t even charge

My brand new Peugeot EV stopped working within a fortnight of delivery.

The dealer postponed the repair appointment by a month because it was too busy. Peugeot Assist, operated by the RAC, eventually collected it for repair under warranty two weeks ago, but it never reached the dealer.

Cortisol is bad. Testosterone makes you aggressive. Melatonin helps you sleep. Experts bust common hormone myths

False The main puberty hormones are oestrogen and progesterone for girls and testosterone for boys. “They are active in the womb during foetal development and in infancy in a phase called mini-puberty,” says Sasha Howard, clinical reader and honorary consultant in paediatric endocrinology at Queen Mary, University of London and Barts Health NHS trust.

Differences in unhealthy cholesterol levels and blood pressure found to have ‘narrowed or disappeared’ in over-40s

Many adults living with obesity have “indistinguishable” cholesterol and blood pressure levels compared with those who are a healthy weight, largely because of the use of statins, according to a study.

In some cases, people with obesity were “better off” than those of a healthy weight, researchers added.

Polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome is underdiagnosed and inconsistently managed, according to Nice

Up to 4 million women with irregular periods should be investigated for polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, according to new NHS guidance.

PMOS, previously known as polycystic ovarian syndrome, is believed to affect up to 13% of reproductive age women, the World Health Organization estimates.

Holistic care for incurably ill people has to include discussions about death and dying – but getting there is hard

It could be her usual generosity or disquiet, subtly disguised, but she leads by asking about “the kids”. Mine, not hers.

The question from a patient who has known me for years is a reminder that goodwill in medicine goes both ways. I scroll to a photo of my daughter, flanked by her brothers.

Naomi Osaka leads way in making bold sartorial statements just before a tennis match – but she is not alone

At Wimbledon this week, Naomi Osaka walked on to court wearing frills, a bustle, outsized bows and extended sleeves. Based on Japan’s ceremonial dress, as well as Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, the pieces designed by Hana Yagi conformed to the all-white Wimbledon dress code but the first one was so high-fashion that it debuted on Vogue before it was seen near a tennis court.

Osaka, who in January went viral at the Australian Open for wearing an outlandish design with mega-pleats based on the look of a jellyfish, is leading the way when it comes to experimental “walk-on fits”. But other players have also used the moment to make sartorial statements, not least Frances Tiafoe who did a surprise reveal – dramatically ripping off his trousers to show the shorts underneath.

With her kaftans and her headbands and even the odd paper hat, snobbish Margo stole every scene in the sitcom The Good Life. This was what colour TV was made for

Penelope Keith died this week at the age of 86. A formidable actor who came across in real life as grounded, humble and charming, she was known for playing brittle, status-obsessed characters on stage and screen. And none were more memorable than The Good Life’s Margo Leadbetter, whose command of a room depended as much on her diva-level wardrobe as on her pristine home counties vowels. Here was someone who refused to accept the concept of being overdressed, even when answering the hallway telephone. From the moment we first see Margo (in episode two – she is only heard off-screen in episode one), in a screamingly loud chiffon tangerine kaftan, it is obvious that she is the one to watch – first and foremost for her style.

In the 2025 documentary The Good Life: Inside Out, now on Apple TV, celebrating 50 years of the 1970s sitcom, Keith explains that most of the series’ costume budget went on Margo because of her frequent outfit changes: “And people couldn’t wait to see what Margo would wear next.” Keith used to spend Mondays – “my one day off” – in Harrods (“occasionally Harvey Nichols”) trying on pieces: “All those hours in there I spent, trying on those lovely floaty clothes …”. Here are a few of her best looks.

It’s been dubbed ‘an American royal wedding’, so who will win the bridal commission of the century? We’ve whittled it down to nine lucky contenders (including one for the groom)

Ever since Taylor Swift announced her engagement to NFL star Travis Kelce via an Instagram post last August, fans have been gripped by a near year-long frenzy of sleuthing and speculation over the wedding plans.

This week the couple will finally be tying the knot. With guests reportedly signing NDAs and dates flying around Reddit, the facts are scant – but it’s been reported that the couple have rented out Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden, an arena which can hold more than 19,000 people, for celebrations on July 2 and 3.

Once dismissed as frivolous, spots are having the last laugh – popping up on celebs, catwalks and all over the algorithm

For years, stripes have been the thinking fashion person’s choice. The style equivalent of remembering to charge your phone overnight. Bracing like sea air, with a top note of French intellectualism. In stripes, you can captain a ship and feast on oysters.

Spots and dots are much less serious. From a distance, they could be smiley face emojis. Spots bounce and dance, whereas stripes are rigid. They are spontaneous and giddy, where stripes are rational. The polo scene in Pretty Woman, when Julia Roberts wears that chocolate polka dot dress, is an iconic fashion moment not just because it’s a great dress, but because the dress itself does so much storytelling. Those polka dots set Roberts apart as vivacious, adorable. The buttoned-up crowd around her does not stand a chance.

Discover where supplicants consulted Apollo in Delphi, the infant Hermes hid stolen cattle and where Poseidon created a love nest for a sea nymph

Some stories never get old. The poems and songs from Greek mythology – tales of tragedy, love and loss, war and revenge, jealous gods, magic and monsters – have been retold through the ages for good reason. Like all stories that really resonate, they deal in the flawed nature of humankind.

To the ancients, though, they were far more than legends; they explained the universe. From the Earth’s origins and the stories of constellations to ideas of justice and morality, they shaped the arts and sciences, and carved a shared cultural identity. Visiting Greece today, it’s clear how deeply rooted the myths still are in modern culture. From the capital (named after wise Athena) and beyond, this is a country steeped in legends.

In his new book, Jack Thurston cycles the quieter roads and forgotten hill tracks of Scotland, exploring Britain’s most remote and rugged terrain

There aren’t many roads in Britain where you can pull over to cook breakfast and finish it without seeing a single car. While my friend Ben got the stove going, I wandered around the ruins of Dun Dornaigil, an iron age broch (stone roundhouse) more than 2,000 years old. Above us, low cloud drifted across the dark cliffs of Ben Hope. This was exactly the kind of lost lane we’d come to Sutherland to ride.

Our journey had begun the day before, in Lairg – the traditional “crossroads of the north”. With its Spar shop, hotel, train station and a population of about 800, Lairg is the largest inland settlement in one of the most sparsely populated regions of Europe. Sutherland – literally, the “southern land” of the Vikings, who held sway over the far north of Scotland from their stronghold on Orkney – tests life to its limits: bare mountains, impassable peat bogs and one of Britain’s wildest coastlines.

A quest for the settings that inspired Homer – and Hollywood’s latest blockbuster – turned into a personal voyage of discovery

Swimming ashore from the boat I can see a narrow shingle beach covered in driftwood. There are logs, bamboo canes and the sundried planks of an old shipwreck. The steep climb up the hill behind is not easy. I skirt thick clumps of thorn and abandoned ancient olive trees, scrambling over jagged outcrops of limestone. Every time I curl my fingers into a rocky niche I think about snakes. The only residents, however, are spiders. Their webs are strung between the trees, and so thick and strong that I grab a stick to slash through them. No one has been here for a long time.

Near the hilltop I stumble on a ruined stone building. Who lived here, I wonder? And where have they gone? A few steps further and the land abruptly ends in a vertical white cliff that plummets into an improbably blue sea. Far away, in the haze, there is a stack of Ionian islands and one of them, I know, must be Ithaca.

From a less-crowded camino and the Slovenian Alps to a stunning river trail and Ireland’s remote Beara peninsula

Distance up to 74 miles
Duration 3-9 days

Perhaps I’ll learn to love our EV once it stops talking utter nonsense – and knows where it’s going

You don’t say goodbye to your old car when you get a new car – I mean, I’m presuming they’d let you if you made a fuss, but they make no provision for it. It just gets left there in the car park, awaiting its next owner. They’ve already taken the keys.

Instead, my wife and I are escorted through a different exit, where our new electric car awaits, still wet in places from a recent wash. The salesperson is leaning in the driver’s window, explaining the dashboard display and steering column toggles to me, but I’m not listening. After two long showroom visits, I’ve had enough of car buying.

From Countdown and Five Go Mad in Dorset to Barbie and White Noise, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz

1 What is the UK’s single most dispensed medicine?
2 Fólkvangr was the alternative destination to where?
3 In June 2026, which pottery firm ended production after 217 years?
4 Which religion’s calendar is determined by moon sighting committees?
5 The Filipino Efren Reyes is considered the GOAT of what indoor game?
6 Which awards were founded by the late Kanya King?
7 Which Cossack inspired works by Byron, Pushkin, Liszt and Tchaikovsky?
8 Which US state is said to have been ruled by six flags?
What links:
9 Black-footed; Fishing; Geoffroy’s; Pallas’s; Sand?
10 Countdown; The Body Show; Brookside; Walter; Five Go Mad in Dorset?
11 Hjalmar Schacht (minister of economics); Franz von Papen (vice-chancellor); Hans Fritzsche (propagandist)?
12 Murchison Promontory, Nunavut; Cape Nordkinn, Finnmark; Cape Chelyuskin, Siberia?
13 Little Miss Sunshine; Barbie and White Noise; The Hurt Locker and Titanic?
14 Adversary; Agent; Garden; History; Pilgrim?
15 Rome, 390BC; Ballantine’s warehouse, Dumbarton; São Pedro de Alcântara prison, Brazil?

Five multiple-choice questions – set by children – to test your knowledge, and a chance to submit your own junior brainteasers for future quizzes

• ​Submit a question

Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a podcast answering children’s questions. Do check out her books, Everything Under the Sun and Everything Under the Sun: Quiz Book, as well as her new title, Everything Under the Sun: All Around the World.

Tebay, Cumbria: We’ve never had it among our cattle here before, but the risk is always there

“It’s not looking good, guys,” said the vet, reaching for his callipers, and our summer plans for the farm suddenly came tumbling down. We were going to sell 17 two‑year-old bullocks, two pedigree breeding Galloway cows and one heifer the following day, but needed to test them for TB first – a legal requirement as someone within 3km of our land had a confirmed TB outbreak.

Four days earlier, the vet had injected the cattle with two separate injections that elicit an immune response to bovine and avian tuberculin. One of our nine-month-old calves reacted to the test, so we were given paperwork about TB restrictions and effectively shut down – unable to buy or sell any breeding or store cattle.

Aiden is an unforgettable young caregiver in Walthamstow, east London, who has been looking after his mum for over half his life. Every few weeks, Aiden and other young carers get a rare night off thanks to tenacious council worker Satvinder, who fights to improve the recognition of young carers in her borough. This film joins them as they reclaim a few hours of their teenage lives back.

Is Mum OK? is released during Carers Week in the UK, a campaign that celebrates unpaid carers across the country and calls for better recognition and support for them. There are more than one million young carers in the UK – with an average age of 12 – which is the equivalent of two kids in every school class.

In the fourth of a series on nationalisation, we look at plans to emulate Manchester’s Bee Network in Britain’s buses and rail

• Will Burnham ‘go big’ in expanding the role of the state?

• Atlee: the postwar blueprint that inspires Burnham

• How council housebuilding is central to Burnham’s vision

Whether or not the promised land is reached via renationalisation, the man set to be next prime minister is clear what he wants transport to leave behind.

“You go from deregulation to regaining public control, it’s just unbelievable what becomes possible,” said Andy Burnham, reflecting on the bus system he transformed in Manchester. “It’s mind-blowing that deregulation was ever, ever brought in – public interest went out the window and people were cut off.”

Jonathan met Sadie when she was dating his wife. Now the two women share him – but he insists that they are the ones in control

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

When he suggested we stop seeing each other because he developed feelings for me, I told him: ‘This is too special to give up’

As the US celebrates 250 years, the Declaration of Independence has been curiously absent. Yet its language on the consent of the governed is more relevant than ever

It’s America’s birthday. Ear-splitting pyrotechnics will be heard across the land tonight, as they were a few weeks ago, after the cage fight at the White House. On 24 June, the administration launched the Great American State Fair, with “spectacular flyovers” from fighter jets and stealth bombers. Six 18-wheel “Freedom Trucks” are barreling down the highways, bringing history-lite pop-up displays, mainly to red states. Later this summer, we will hear drivers revving their engines, deafeningly, as they leave skid marks around the National Mall during the Indy car race scheduled for 22 August. It’s gonna get loud.

But one guest is apparently not invited to the party. The Declaration of Independence, the reason we are convening, has been curiously absent from the lead-up. That feels strange for a document that essentially rewrote world history.

We would like to hear how parents feel following guidance from the UK National Crime Agency about sharing photos of their children publicly online

The UK National Crime Agency has recommended parents should not put photos of their children on public display online as part of landmark guidance to tackle the rise of AI-generated sexual abuse material.

Advice issued by the NCA and the Internet Watch Foundation suggests parents and guardians make their social media accounts private or share pictures of their children through a “close friends” group.

Do you have a burning question for Guardian columnist Marina Hyde? Now’s your chance to ask it

Ahead of the publication of Marina Hyde’s new book, What A Time To Be Alive! Scenes From A Strange Age, this autumn, we’re giving readers the chance to ask Marina anything.

Whether you have a burning question for our columnist or want her take on one of the biggest stories of the moment, send it our way and we’ll put it to her. What would you like Marina’s view on? From politics to pop culture, celebrity scandals to the state of the world, no topic is off limits.

We’re asking people from around the world to nominate their favourite spineless species for our third Invertebrate of the Year competition

Step aside World Cup heroes, there’s a bigger global competition in town. The whistle has been blown to launch the third Invertebrate of the Year contest.

We want you to nominate your favourite spineless creature for the hugely popular annual Guardian jamboree which celebrates the wonder and importance of the world’s invertebrates.

We would like to hear about the animals who have attained star status where you live

Wildlife officials have warned people to give Neil the seal space during his visit to Tasmania, where he has been crushing fences, blocking traffic and bashing into parked cars, in what experts say is play-fighting behaviour.

Neil, a 1,000kg southern elephant seal, was born – unusually – in Tasmania in October 2020. Most of his kind live thousands of kilometres south on the subantarctic Macquarie and Heard islands.

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Russian airstrikes on Kyiv, the aftermath of the earthquakes in Venezuela, a brutal heatwave in Europe and Harry Kane at the World Cup – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists