Joy is unbounded and when it dies down perhaps the guilty will be held to account for cheating and facilitation: perhaps they won’t. Still, enjoy the moment

Oh dear. Such a shame to see the US lose at football after their insanely embarrassing president cheated for them. Still, it really brought the world together. The last time this many people cheered on a Belgian resistance, it was 1914 and the Germans had just crossed the Meuse. As you’ll be aware, the USA were dumped out of their own World Cup on Monday night by a wholly superior Belgium, after Donald Trump boasted that he’d personally intervened in three phone calls with Fifa president Gianni Infantino to get the red card shown to USA striker Folarin Balogun rescinded. Yes, the US cheats at football. Pass it on.

You’ve heard a lot about shithousery during this tournament. We have even, excruciatingly, seen a few American commentators attempt to use the word in conversation. Guys, please, just – no. It’s not for you. You have ’erbs, “a couple things”, and “a ways to go”. But let’s call the events of the past few days by the name they deserve in all the languages of the world: Whitehousery.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

Many of the millions who turned out for funeral wanted to show their opposition the killing of their leader, regardless of their broader views of the regime

As the multipurpose, multinational funeral of Iran’s former supreme leader Ali Khamenei moved to the Jamkaran mosque in the holy city of Qom, and then to Najaf in Iraq, Iran’s leadership was weighing the mandate it had been given by the millions who have taken to the streets of Tehran over the past three days.

Some hailed the moment as a referendum from the streets showing support for the clerical establishment, and called for the strategy of confrontation with the west to be intensified. Others said it was more about a wider national pride that was conditional on demands for change and an end to the war being met.

The author of Orangeboy, Indigo Donut and Is That Your Mama? plans to use her two-year term to ensure children isolated from reading get involved

When Patrice Lawrence got the call asking her to become the UK’s next children’s laureate, her first response was disbelief. “I was in absolute shock,” she says, laughing. She is only just beginning to process what it means to join a lineage that includes Jacqueline Wilson, Quentin Blake, Michael Rosen, Julia Donaldson, Malorie Blackman and, most recently, Frank Cottrell-Boyce.

“So many people who’ve gone before have had such an influence on my life,” she says. “Without Jacqueline Wilson, I wouldn’t write the kind of books that I do. She was such a trailblazer in social realism for children. And Malorie … well, Malorie only needs one name.”

The collision was catastrophic. Jane Ouartsi suffered a fractured collarbone, two spinal fractures, a broken femur that took three operations to fix, and she had to learn to walk again like a baby. Why has no one taken responsibility for her life-changing injuries?

As Jane Ouartsi walked across a pedestrianised square in central London, on a Friday evening in early August three years ago, she linked arms with her partner, Dave Mathias, and told him how much she had enjoyed the afternoon they had spent together, eating pizza in Soho and visiting an art installation. It was the last time she can remember feeling properly happy and relaxed.

“We were walking quite slowly, talking about the art. It’s hard to remember exactly, but I think I was saying what a lovely lunch, and then all of a sudden there was a horrific impact,” she says. “I felt my spine and body split and I thought my life was over.”

I joined Marilyn Monroe, Walter White, Ozzy Osbourne and other tribute artists on a cruise where imitation is its own art form

INT. DECK 7, LE CABARET ROUGE, 11.37pm

Frank Sinatra, palming a can of Sprite in one hand and the fist of his beautiful red-headed wife in the other, sat in a dark corner across from Jeff Bezos, who looked like he was waiting for him to say something. But Sinatra said nothing. He’d been mostly quiet all evening, and now in this cabaret he seemed even more distant, staring out past fog and strobe and Bezos’s strong bald head and into the large room where at least half a dozen men had basically shattered a bistro table trying to get a better look at Marilyn Monroe. Sinatra’s wife knew, as did Roy Orbison and Austin Powers, who stood nearby, that it was only minutes before he was supposed to go onstage, and that forcing any sort of conversation on him in this mood of focus would be extremely stupid.

The scientific consensus is that burning fossil fuels drives the climate crisis, yet the world’s biggest oil companies are planning to increase production

As the world swelters in ever more dangerous heat, why are oil companies being allowed to turn up the gas instead of paying for the consequences of their greed?

That ought to be the question on everyone’s minds amid baking heat domes over much of the northern hemisphere, temperature records being smashed day after day, children dying in locked cars, hospitals filling with heatstroke victims and emergency services tackling wildfires.

Reform UK leader to stand again, saying people of Clacton ‘should be the judges of my actions’ and party will cover byelection cost

Q: Do you think the parliamentary commissioner for standards should investigate Nigel Farage’s gifts from George Cottrell?

Badenoch said that was a matter for the commissioner.

[Farage is] hinting at press regulation. For all of the criticism and the attacks, and I would even say abuse that I’ve got from the press, I’ve never once recommended curbing our free press. I think this is one of the amazing things about this country.

I would be very worried about a Reform government using government power to control the press. I don’t think that that would be right.

Duke of Sussex and other prominent figures sued Associated Newspapers alleging it sourced stories using unlawful methods

• Prince Harry court case - latest updates

The Duke of Sussex and six other prominent figures have lost their case against the publisher of the Daily Mail over claims it sourced stories using an array of unlawful methods over two decades.

In a ruling that is likely to signal an end to new litigation relating to the phone-hacking scandal, the high court dismissed all the claims, stating the claimants had not proved information had been obtained unlawfully.

Exclusive: health groups call on expected next PM to rip up agreement, which analysis suggests could lead to 229,000 excess deaths by 2036

• UK politics live – latest updates

Andy Burnham is being urged to scrap the UK-US trade deal on medicines as health organisations and doctors’ groups warn it is dangerous and prioritises pharmaceutical company profits over the lives of NHS patients.

Ministers have defended the agreement, signed last December, as a way of helping British drug exports to the US avoid tariffs and giving patients access to potentially life-extending drugs that would otherwise be denied.

Court shortens electoral ban but custodial sentence could complicate far-right leader’s campaign hopes

A French court of appeal has upheld Marine Le Pen’s ⁠conviction ⁠for embezzling European parliament funds but shortened her ban ⁠on running for elected office, potentially reopening a narrow path for the far-right ​leader ‌to run ‌in the 2027 presidential race.

However, ‌the court also handed Le Pen a three-year jail term, with two years suspended and one year in which she must wear ​an electronic ankle tag for monitoring. This could make a presidential campaign politically ⁠and logistically difficult.

⚽ News and previews before the final last-16 match-ups
⚽ Player guide | Bracketology| Golden Boot | Email us

Let’s talk about everyone’s favourite subject: England!

What a game that was against Mexico, by the way. I feel asleep about 1am (BST), woke up with England winning 2-1, just before Quansah got sent off and all hell broke loose. England’s defending in the final 20 minutes or so was an absolute work of art (thank you Dan Burn), even if Mexico’s attacking play lacked a certain amount of imagination. A magnificent performance by the players, not to mention Thomas Tuchel, who I feared had gone too early with the: ‘Play a back five, and just hack the ball anywhere’ strategy.

Hannes Marschalek, who allegedly exposed his penis to four other women in Cambridgeshire, tried via US court martial

A US airman who allegedly exposed himself to a 16-year-old girl and four young women in England was able to avoid the British justice system after the US military was permitted to take control of the case, the Guardian can reveal.

Cambridgeshire police received complaints that the airman, Hannes Marschalek, had indecently exposed himself to the women as they walked past his home in Littleport, a small town in Cambridgeshire, in 2022.

Border police officer under investigation after CCTV footage shows him shouting at car’s occupants and throwing device

Israeli police have opened an investigation after CCTV footage showed a border police officer throwing a stun grenade into a car carrying young Palestinians during a raid on the Qalandiya refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

The footage from Sunday, released by the Israeli rights group B’Tselem, shows an officer approaching a car and shouting at its occupants.

Police appeal for information from the public and say suspect is thought to have fled the country

A murder investigation has been launched after a mother and her two children were found dead at a property near Bedford.

Bedfordshire police said they believed that the suspect, who was known to the victims, had fled the country.

Anastasiia Berezovska was being sought by police over attack that seriously injured a Ukraine-born businessman

A woman suspected of carrying out last week’s bomb attack in Monaco that seriously injured a Ukraine-born business tycoon has been found shot dead near Kyiv, in the latest twist in a case that has shaken the wealthy Mediterranean principality.

Ukrainian prosecutors said on Tuesday the woman had been found with a gunshot wound to the head and that two men had been arrested in connection with the case, including an officer with Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) and a former law enforcement officer.

In this month’s newsletter: placing Black women and girls at the forefront, celebrating the Manchester experience through Vimto and preserving Gullah Geechee land

• Don’t get Cotton Capital delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

Sarah, Betty, Doll, Nan – just a few of the names commonly given to enslaved African women during the transatlantic slave trade.

We know that they would have suffered unspeakable sexual violence. But now that history is being given greater prominence.

Residents and council say creating affordable housing is more urgent than ‘high-frequency trading’ in nearby City

Campaigners in east London are opposing plans for a datacentre in Brick Lane that they say will worsen the area’s housing crisis and drive long-term residents away.

The road, famed for its curry houses and 24-hour bagel shops, is the latest flashpoint in the rapid rollout of datacentres across the UK that aims to meet demand created by artificial intelligence.

New Legally Blonde prequel Elle features a lovely appearance from the late Dawson’s Creek actor. Here are some of television’s other fantastic post-death appearances

Those watching Amazon’s Legally Blonde prequel series Elle were treated to a surprise recently, as the show offered a posthumous appearance by James Van Der Beek. The actor, who died in February aged 48, had a fun little role as a crooked school district superintendent. As with most of his roles since Dawson’s Creek, Van Der Beek’s performance was bright and happily self-aware.

However, Van Der Beek is far from the only actor to have appeared on screen after their death. Here are some other standout posthumous performances.

After a career as a City headhunter, Harriman took up photography eight years ago and became well known for his protest images. He was soon shooting the cover of Vogue and made chair of the Southbank Centre. How did he end up engulfed in controversy over his social media?

It has been a hectic few weeks for Misan Harriman. When we meet, he has just returned from New York, where he hosted screenings of a new documentary about his work as an activist and photographer of protests, Shoot the People. While there, the 48-year-old got to soak in the glorious chaos of the New York Knicks’ victory parade.

“I’ve never seen New York like that: all colours, all shapes, and sizes,” says Harriman, who had not been to the city since he was a child. For him, the parade – in which 2 million people took to the streets to celebrate the basketball team’s first NBA championship win in 53 years – complements his incredibly popular protest photography.

Too hot to sleep? From temperature-regulating mattress toppers to a fan quiet enough for the bedroom, here are our best buys for sweaty nights – and what to avoid

• The best fans, tested

If there’s anything more uncomfortable than enduring a heatwave in Britain, it’s sleeping through one.

But hot nights are only going to get more common if the climate crisis continues its long march. While Britons are already accustomed to poor sleep – with the average adult getting just three days a week of good kip, according to the Mental Health Foundation – heat doesn’t help. Dr Allie Hare, consultant in sleep medicine and co-president of the British Sleep Society, says: “Being too hot during sleep can significantly reduce sleep quality and duration. In particular, it can reduce slow wave (deep) sleep, the stage of sleep that helps us awaken feeling rested.”

The formidable actor talks about the challenge of finding meaty characters, tough times in the US – and co-starring with her dad’s hero Kenneth Branagh in The Cherry Orchard

It’s lunchtime in Stratford-upon-Avon and Helen Hunt has 30 minutes to spare. She’s preparing for her Royal Shakespeare Company debut and is taking time out to speak to me via Zoom, just her head and shoulders, with what looks like a sleek-surfaced kitchen in the backdrop. Hunt is all sleek surfaces herself: polite smiles, even tones and an inscrutability so strained it makes me wonder what might be bubbling underneath.

Hunt is starring alongside Kenneth Branagh and Bill Pullman in a new version of The Cherry Orchard. She plays Madame Ranevskaya, the Russian aristocrat and matriarch who returns home to find her family estate in jeopardy. The play, like so many of Chekhov’s, is about the apathy of the elite class in the dying days of the Russian empire. So why this play, for her, and why now?

Following the film’s premiere, critics are already calling the historical epic a best picture Oscar contender. Here’s what they had to say

The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s three-hour version of Homer’s epic poem, world premiered in London on Monday night, and critics who saw the film there and at early screenings in the US have been sharing their takes on one of the year’s most hotly anticipated films.

“Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey is a colossal origin-myth story of postwar disillusion and a loss of innocence witnessed by the dead,” wrote the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw, ahead of the reviews embargo lifting next Wednesday and next Friday’s worldwide release.

As a non-monogamist, it’s refreshing to see a film that reflects modern attitudes to non-conventional relationships, instead of using them as a punchline or cautionary tale

What is the chief obstacle that must be overcome in most modern-day big-screen romcoms? Lack of attraction? Misaligning schedules? Or, perhaps, heteromonogamy? If that wasn’t the dominating norm of human relationships, many movie plots would be much swifter to resolve. What if Elizabeth Olsen didn’t have to choose between Callum Turner and Miles Teller in Eternity? Or Twilight allowed Bella to be in a throuple with Edward and Jacob? Even though both films have fantasy narratives, their predestined outcome is as real as it gets – a man and a woman (re)marry and live happily ever after.

For a long time, alternative relationship structures were relegated to fan fiction, undeserving of mainstream fictional representations where conflict and resolution are both inscribed in coupledom. Even the films that challenged mononormativity, such as Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, sustain the cautionary tale: opening up your relationship will eventually break it. As a practising non-monogamist, I yearn to see my values represented on screen as something more than a cautionary tale. Recently, the love triangles of Past Lives (implied) and Challengers (consummated) have suggested that perhaps Hollywood itself may be opening up. Then came The Invite, a poly-romcom just in time for the Week of Visibility for Non-monogamy.

Our cartoonist looks at the big stories from the World Cup as England reach the last eight but the US slump out

• Buy David’s cartoons | Some of his favourite works

• And his latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now

⚽️ World Cup kick-off time: 12pm EDT/5pm BST, 2am AEST
⚽️ Player guide | Bracketology| Golden Boot | Email Scott

Egypt make two changes after the penalty shootout win over Australia. Haissem Hassan replaces Omar Marmoush up front, while Mohanad Lasheen comes into the midfield at the expense of Hamdy Fathy.

Argentina make three changes to their starting XI following the 3-2 extra-time victory over Cape Verde. Nicolás Tagliafico, Rodrigo De Paul and Leandro Paredes come in for Facundo Medina, Thiago Almada and Lautaro Martínez.

The boy who has it all has ambitions to play James Bond but for the time being he is more reminiscent of Novak Djokovic

There has never been an English footballer quite like Jude Bellingham. He has the cockiness and explosiveness of a teenage Wayne Rooney and the vision of Paul Scholes, but that doesn’t come close to covering it. There are endless layers to Bellingham, the boy who has it all. He can be the No 8, the No 9 or the No 10. He has the flair of a Glenn Hoddle and the chest-out bravado of Paul Gascogine, but he also has the bravery of Bryan Robson, the rampaging qualities of Steven Gerrard and, as Mexico discovered at the Estadio Azteca, the ability to morph into the world’s best defender and drag his team out of the mire with a goal-saving challenge.

More? Bellingham has film-star looks, can charm like David Beckham and, given how much he has achieved, does not sound ridiculous when he says his post-retirement ambition is to play James Bond.

The USMNT’s run at a home World Cup had attracted people who usually ignore soccer. Instead of triumph, they saw a humbling at the hands of Belgium

In the closing moments of the United States’ 3-2 win over Portugal at the 2002 World Cup, ESPN commentator Jack Edwards took a moment to remind viewers who had stayed up all night of the profound result they were witnessing. From his perch in Suwon, South Korea – where he was watching the first match of a campaign that would end in a quarter-final that remains the high-water mark for the modern US men’s national team – Edwards delivered a soliloquy that cut straight to the heart of the profound role World Cups play not just for the US men’s national team, but for soccer as a force in American life.

“The players on that 1950 team that beat England … this [result] is about the foundation that they laid,” Edwards said in his booming bravado as the hour crept toward 7am ET. “This is about the thousands of American families who have helped this sport grow, and the people in those pockets all over the country who have stuck with soccer. And it’s also for those seven- or eight- or nine-year-old kids, who are going to hear about this result when they wake up in the morning and rush outside, and knock a ball against a wall, and dream of something even greater than this.”

• Fans across Belgium watched 4-1 win in early hours

• Victory ‘a real slap in the face for Trump and Infantino’

Belgium fans reacted with jubilation after the national team trounced the USA in a World Cup game that was overshadowed by the controversy over Donald Trump’s lobbying to overturn the suspension of the striker Falorin Balogun.

Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, has yet to comment on the national team’s triumph, but the official Instagram account of his cat offered a sardonic, albeit indirect sign of satisfaction. Maximus, De Wever’s beloved cat, was shown lying on a rug holding a soft toy in the image of the US president. “I slept really well last night. And you?” reads the speech bubble in Dutch.

• Portugal lose last-16 game 1-0 against Spain

• Martínez: ‘When you need a goal, you cannot take him off’

Cristiano Ronaldo has admitted that he has played his last World Cup game, but said that even at 41 he has not yet made a decision about his future.

Twenty-three years after making his debut, the Portugal captain’s 233rd game for his national team ended in a late 1-0 defeat against Spain that led to elimination in Dallas. He departs as the only man to have scored at six World Cups and he said he does so at peace, claiming that Portugal’s European Championship win in 2016 was as big as a world title and noting that his era has been the most successful in the country’s history.

Our new PM will be hit by multiple crises when he enters No 10. Success or failure will depend on the decisions he makes in first 100 days

On the day the new prime minister steps into No 10, the heap on his doormat will be ceiling-high with missives imploring, advising, warning and counselling. No doubt there will be many pearls of wisdom and some bad ideas too. Each one will involve getting or spending money, decisions for his first totemic 100 days.

It so happens that his first day, 20 July, is the first week of school summer holidays in England and Wales. As he walks into Downing Street, millions of children will leave the school gates “walking into nothing”, as one child told the Children’s Society. Lonely, isolated, caring for siblings, many hungry, some at risk – for those children, six weeks will loom ahead with Covid-like emptiness, home alone as parents work, no splashing in the sunlit waves of the holiday ads.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

It turns out my vaping habit is dangerous in more ways than one. But it could make me very popular in a survival scenario

Sitting outside a bar at the weekend, I noticed something coming out of my bag that looked and also smelled a lot like a naked flame. Ordinarily, I’d have thought it was my vape, but it couldn’t have been, since that was in my mouth. So I put it down to a mirage created by the clement weather, and thought no more of it until someone much smarter than me said: “Your bag’s on fire.”

It was my remarkable good fortune to be sitting opposite a friend who is a chemistry teacher, and explained what had happened through a laborious sequence of rhetorical questions. What is a spare vape battery made of? What are keys made of? What happens to a lithium battery when you connect something metal to each end? What is the result of closing a circuit inside a handbag? Not only had I set my bag alight; I’d melted my keyring, which for complicated reasons held a plastic portrait of both my nieces circa 2017, and it was yet more bad luck that I was also sitting opposite my sister, who, in fairness, reacted surprisingly well to the sight of her molten children.

Animals may inhabit the same world as us, but new research shows how their perceptions of what is around them differs

Imagine standing in your garden. A bumblebee whizzes overhead too quickly to follow, a sparrow darts from the fence to the trees, and a snail lugs itself across the garden stones. Assume for a moment that each of these animals has a stream of experience – that the world for them unfolds over time. How does the world appear from their perspective? In short, do they experience time in a similar way to us?

Scientific studies have already shown that humans, bees, sparrows and snails all differ in sensitivity to wavelengths of light and frequencies of sound – that is, we see and hear differently. But in a recent review, our research group asked whether time, that stream of experience, unfolds in the same way for us as it does for the bee, the sparrow, or the snail?

With the economy, foreign policy and immigration all going poorly for the president, he’s scrambling before the midterms

Trump has run out of cards to play in the midterm elections, which is why he’s now talking about the “communist menace”.

He can’t talk about the economy because prices continue to rise faster than wages, which means most Americans are getting poorer. He can’t talk about foreign policy because his war in Iran has been a debacle, his tariffs an utter failure, and he obviously hasn’t settled the war in Ukraine on “day one”. He can’t talk about immigration because his raids and mass deportations have become so unpopular.

The veteran pop diva has pressed rewind to move forward on her new record – and beneath the bangers fizz a host of emotionally charged memories

• Confessions II review – nostalgic dancefloor trip sparks her most vital album in two decades

“Madonna never reflects, she’s always moving forward,” Warner PR Liz Rosenberg told me in 2005, when after a frustrating few months laid up after a riding accident, Madonna re-emerged “like a bullet from a gun” with the glorious disco-driven Confessions on a Dance Floor, produced largely alongside Stuart Price. Madonna has always been militantly anti-nostalgia: continual reinvention is crucial to her artistic identity.

But arguably, Confessions was – until last week – her last great record. Constantly trying to push forward has not always worked for Madonna, with the multiple producers and genres of her 2010s output often proving inconsistent and confusing: the muscular funk of 2008’s Hard Candy, the busy powerpop of 2015’s Rebel Heart, 2019’s globe-straddling Madame X. Leaving Warner Records in 2007 started the decline: Madonna had struck hugely lucrative deals with Live Nation and Interscope, but pressure to recoup that investment meant an element of compromise in her practice and adapting to another contemporary pop innovation: songwriting camps and production by committee. In 2015, Madonna complained to Rolling Stone about “working with people who can’t get off their phone, can’t stop tweeting, can’t focus and finish a song”.

This isn’t an argument against vaginal birth, and caesareans aren’t without risk. But in the context of failing maternity services, it gives me the greatest sense of calm

• Sharon Gaffka is a reality TV star and political activist

One thing nobody really prepares you for when you’re pregnant is how interested everyone suddenly becomes in your body. People ask if you’re planning on breastfeeding. Whether you’ll have an epidural. If you’re hoping for a water birth. Whether you’ll “try naturally”.

I’ve chosen to have a caesarean, and now that I’m getting closer to my due date, the question I get asked most is: “why?” The answer is because I want to.

Sharon Gaffka is a reality TV star and political activist

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.

Scratch their surface and you see exactly what he’s trying to do: stand up strong for intolerance and corruption

Given how impetuous Donald Trump is, his vice-president, JD Vance, strikes some Americans as a more stable alternative. A good bet, some of the Maga faithful believe, as the 2028 Republican nominee for president, and the eventual occupant of the Oval Office.

Every bit as rightwing as Trump but more serious and predictable – that seems to be Vance’s pitch to the public. And he clearly wants to be president; he’s as ambitious as they come.

Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture

The city of El Obeid faces catastrophe. Governments are shirking their duty to challenge all those sustaining this war

“This is not a drill. It is a red alert,” said the UN rights chief, Volker Türk, on Friday. He was warning that catastrophe was unfolding in the strategically important Sudanese city of El Obeid in north Kordofan. Near-siege conditions are tightening, relentless drone attacks continue and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allies are massing around it.

Two decades ago, after the genocide in Darfur, the world said “never again”. But it is happening again, and few are even paying attention. The alarm was raised repeatedly last year as the starvation siege of El Fasher in north Darfur deepened. Tens of thousands of people were killed in the subsequent massacre, with one witness describing “a scene out of a horror movie”. UN investigators reported “the hallmarks of genocide”, including explicit calls to eliminate non-Arab communities. Civilians who fled were raped and murdered; so were those who stayed. Before El Fasher came a killing spree in Geneina by RSF-allied forces.

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.

Existing staff are taking too much of a fund intended for new recruits. Ministers must take charge of redirecting it

For the roughly 64% of young people who do not go to university, apprenticeships are vital gateways to the world of work. The way that funding has flowed away from them and towards older workers in recent years was flagged as a problem in the interim report from Alan Milburn’s review on young people and work in May. Mr Milburn’s recommendations are still some months off. Apprenticeships are not solely for school‑leavers: people of all ages should be able to apply for paid trainee posts. But it is clear that the way incentives in the system have tilted against younger adults is one reason behind the huge rise in the number who are not in education or jobs.

The positive signs are that ministers will not wait for Mr Milburn to do something about this. A letter from Jacqui Smith, the skills minister, to the recently formed agency Skills England, last month, asked for urgent advice about which apprenticeship programmes should receive funding increases. It also announced an ambition for 50,000 more young apprentices, annually, by March 2029 – reversing almost half of the decade-long decline.

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.

Readers respond to an article by Simon Jenkins that said sacrificing domestic projects is indefensible

Simon Jenkins is right to ask why the debate on defence spending is limited to a question of more or far more expenditure (There is no immediate military threat to Britain. We should spend less on defence, 1 July). Two countervailing points are notably absent from parliamentary discussion and media reporting.

First, while Vladimir Putin’s Russia undoubtedly poses a serious security threat to countries in mainland Europe, ever higher defence spending is not necessarily the answer. The defence budgets of all the European Nato members are already far in excess of Russia’s. The central issue is therefore not more money but more political resolve, in particular, among the European members – where do they draw their red lines and what is their plan to bring Putin’s illegal war to an end?

Readers respond to letters about testing mental capacity

Re memory tests (Letters, 1 July), my mother was taken to hospital some years ago after an infection overwhelmed her. She was confused and stressed. A doctor wanted to check her mental capacity and gave her paper and a pencil, asking that she write down a sentence with a subject, an object and a verb.

I was trying to find the words to say that this was unfair, given her health. A lot of people might not even know what was meant by a subject and an object. But my mother wrote: “I will not do this”, giving us a withering look.
Ross Bradshaw
Nottingham

Rolling Stones | Bonnie Prince Charming | Knitted swimsuit | Keir Starmer’s dreams

There was a time when the Rolling Stones were denounced as a threat to civilisation. These days, they’re more likely to outlive it (The Rolling Stones: Foreign Tongues review – stomping blues and anti-Musk politics make this another late triumph, 4 July). Their output has now spanned vinyl, cassette, CD, streaming and whatever comes next when Spotify is eventually superseded. The only safe prediction is that the format will change before the band does.
Stuart Harrington
Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset

• I particularly enjoyed the corrections and clarifications column on Friday, which referred to errors in the previous weekend’s crossword. But I think they are eclipsed by the quiz in our local free paper, which gave the answer to the question “Whom did Flora MacDonald rescue?” as “Bonnie Prince Charming”. At least their grammar cannot be faulted.
Ruth Eversley
Paulton, Somerset

Oliver Mason, Katie Williams and Molly Berry respond to an article by Ajit Niranjan on how small but wealthy countries claim they cannot stop extreme weather events worsening

Thank you for Ajit Niranjan’s article (‘But we’re just 1% of emissions’: do smaller countries’ climate efforts matter?, 30 June). This helpfully examines arguments frequently used to undermine the UK’s and other nations’ plans for emission reduction. In my opinion this article misses an important counter-argument: carbon emissions per capita. This shows that, for example, the UK emits 4.5 tonnes of carbon per person per year, China 8.7 tonnes, United States 14.2 tonnes, India 2.2 tonnes and Vietnam 3.7 tonnes.

Many smaller European nations have similar or greater emissions per person than the UK, while remaining within about 1% of global emissions. If we accept the argument that smaller nations don’t need to limit their emissions because they only contribute a small proportion of global emissions, we are saying that small, wealthy nations with long histories of carbon emissions can carry on, but larger, poorer, recently industrialising nations such as India and China need to take all the costly and difficult measures to limit their emissions.

• Discover and buy more of Ben’s cartoons here

• Order your own print of this cartoon from the Guardian Print Shop

Quarter-final action, under way in SW19 from 1pm (BST)
Wildcard Fery extends Wimbledon fairytale | Mail Daniel

Now a love hold for Struff, who’s started pretty well and leads 3-2 He looks confident, but he’s not yet been put under pressure and I wonder if he can offer more testing returns. Even if he needs to stand back to give himself a better look at Sinner’s serve, he has to try and dig into it rather than hope e can struggle to a tiebreaker.

Nana Sinner appears to have been busy knitting Jannik’s top; that, or Nike have rinsed him with gear yet again.

‍♂️ Official stage start time: 12.10pm BST/1.10pm local
‍♂️ Carcassonne to Foix (181.9km) | Stage three report
‍♂️ You can follow us on TikTok. And also email Andy

174km to go. 14 riders have gone up the road, including Jasper Stuyven and Mads Pedersen, but the chase is on.

No ITV coverage also means no goosebump-inducing theme tune. Enjoy it one more time:

The post race analysis on Ch 5 is much weaker than the ITV4 used to be because it’s non-existent. Dreadful.

• England player subject of racial abuse on social media

• Club issue strong statement condemning incident

Wigan Warriors have reported the racial abuse suffered by Junior Nsemba following Super League’s Magic Weekend to the police with their coach, Matt Peet, calling on the sport to stamp out the treatment the 22-year-old was subjected to.

The England international was the subject of racist comments on social media in the aftermath of Wigan’s victory over St Helens at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Sunday evening. The Warriors have confirmed the matter has now been referred to the relevant authorities and the Rugby Football League, while also issuing a strongly worded statement.

Door is ajar for Rassie Erasmus’ side to surpass All Blacks when leading sides converge on Australia next year

The best sports teams constantly look to reinvent themselves. Their core principles remain in place but, crucially, they never, ever stand still. To do so is to risk slipping backwards relative to their competitors and arrive at the worst of all possible outcomes: a poorer, less successful version of themselves.

The ultimate example in rugby, until now, has probably been the All Blacks. For decades it was not only about winning the next game, but underlining their position, to quote one of their motivational whiteboard slogans from 2013, as “the most dominant team in the history of the world”. When you are chasing that kind of rarefied target you don’t allow the grass grow beneath your jandals.

• Howe rebuilding side after Tonali and Gordon exits

• Widely hyped as Amsterdam club’s next De Jong

Newcastle are close to completing the signing of Sean Steur from Ajax for about £23m. The two-footed central midfielder is only 18 but has been widely hyped as the Amsterdam club’s brightest emerging midfield talent since Frenkie de Jong.

While De Jong left for Barcelona in 2019, Steur, who can operate as a No 6 or a No 8, seems almost certainly Tyneside bound. At St James’ Park he is likely to start next season competing with Lewis Miley to fill Sandro Tonali’s old central midfield role and will be given time to adjust to the Premier League’s physicality.

• Cusack’s former manager gave evidence on Monday

• Morgan says player ‘omitted information’ to her family’

Jonathan Morgan, Maddy Cusack’s former manager at Sheffield United, labelled her as “generally a liar” during a Football Association investigation into her death, an inquest has heard.

Cusack died in Derbyshire on 20 September 2023 at the age of 27 and Chesterfield coroner’s court heard evidence last week from her parents, who feel Morgan was integral to her mental health deteriorating. Giving evidence to the court on Monday, Morgan denied ever shouting at Cusack or calling her a “psycho” and said he had been concerned about her wellbeing.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

Nat Sciver-Brunt and Sophie Molineux led their teams expertly and Australia v India at Lord’s felt like a final

It’s easy to understand why Beth Mooney was chosen as player of the tournament after her magnificent innings in the final. Also in the running mustbe Danni Wyatt-Hodge, whose hundred on the opening night at Edgbaston set the tone for a confident campaign by England (at least until they ran into the Australia juggernaut in the final).

Valter Lavitola suspected of planning bomb attack on Sigfrido Ranucci, for which four people have been arrested

Italian prosecutors have placed a businessman and former journalist under investigation for allegedly masterminding a bomb attack at the home of Sigfrido Ranucci, a prominent investigative reporter.

Valter Lavitola was supposedly friends with Ranucci, the host of Report, an investigative programme aired by the state broadcaster, Rai, and is being investigated on suspicion of trying to cause mass murder.

Privy council in London to decide on Jason Jones’s challenge to legislation against same-sex intimacy

An LGBTQ+ rights activist will make legal history this week when his decade-long battle to remove Trinidad’s homophobic laws culminates at the privy council in London, which remains the Caribbean island’s final court of appeal.

When Jason Jones takes his case to its judicial committee, it will be the first time that judges at the centuries-old British institution have ever decided a case to decriminalise same-sex intimacy – in this case ruling on sections of Trinidadian law that derive from the “buggery law” introduced by the UK to its colonies during the British empire.

George Robertson warns defence investment plan fails to meet scale of challenge facing the UK

The former Nato chief who led the government’s defence review has criticised the prime minister’s plan to pay for it, calling the defence investment plan (Dip) insufficient and overly delayed.

George Robertson, the former Nato general secretary, told MPs on Tuesday that the Dip had damaged confidence in the defence industry and among Britain’s allies who are gathering in Ankara this week for the Nato summit.

The revered writer and political exile’s publisher says her ‘legacy in literary history can’t be compared to anyone else’s’

Shahrnush Parsipur, the celebrated Iranian writer whose subversive works of feminist fiction saw her repeatedly imprisoned, has died aged 80.

A pioneer of women’s literature in Iran, Parsipur excoriated the country’s patriarchal culture in novels including Women Without Men and Touba and the Meaning of Night. She was imprisoned four times, under the Shah and then the Islamic Republic.

Chain apologises after staff at Hartlepool pub demand proof customer’s companion is genuine guide dog

A blind woman felt compelled to leave a Wetherspoons pub after staff demanded proof that her guide dog, Rosie, was a genuine guide dog.

Joanne Hewitson, 31, said she was “livid” and “shaking” after her experience going for breakfast at a pub in Hartlepool. The pub chain has apologised for the incident, with a spokesperson saying an error was made.

New Economics Foundation and Finance Innovation Lab suggest loan scheme backed by Bank of England could benefit up to 8m homes

Millions of UK households could save hundreds of pounds a year on their energy bills if the government were to approve low-cost loans for solar panel installation, research has found.

Solar panels with batteries are one of the cheapest ways to generate electricity and reduce energy bills, but with an upfront cost of about £6,000 they are still beyond the reach of most cash-strapped UK households while other countries forge ahead with installation.

Net-zero pledges of Google and Amazon slip out of reach, and struggling Meta makes frantic moves

Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, the Guardian’s US tech editor, writing to you after a rodeo in rural Texas, where I celebrated Independence Day. Today in tech, we’re discussing how tech giants’ investments in AI are hindering their pledges of climate neutrality, Meta’s frantic search for new lines of business, and Americans’ anger at tech’s political influence.

Revealed: landmark Scottish AI project has no prospect of meeting renewables promise

US residents angry at datacenters ‘being shoved down our throats’ are recalling officials

Americans disgusted at Trump earning $1bn from crypto as president: ‘Obviously a grift’

Tesla sales surpass expectations for second quarter as Musk backlash seems to cool

3,000% bonuses but a growing wealth divide: South Korea grapples with its AI chip boom

China wants to solve the hardest problem in robotics – making hands

What are Britain’s AI growth zones – and are the plans feasible or ‘complete bunk’?

Exclusive: Record temperatures fuelled by climate crisis left 86% of homes ‘too hot’ and many people feeling unwell

With parts of England once again in the grip of a heatwave, an opinion poll shows the one at the end of June led to “mass sleep deprivation”, with two in three people struggling to sleep during the sweltering nights.

Almost half of people said they had lost at least three hours of sleep each night. The results are consistent with scientific research showing that global heating is damaging sleep across the world.

Couple ‘devastated’ after DNA tests for children’s British citizenship showed no biological connection to them

A British-based couple who had twins through an overseas surrogacy agency later discovered they had no biological connection to the children after the agency mistakenly used donor sperm.

The couple, referred to as PP and QQ in court documents, were “devastated” after making the discovery via DNA tests while applying for British citizenship for the children.

Typical property cost £299,330 in June, 0.2% more than the month before, says Lloyds

• Business live – latest updates

House prices across the UK have risen for the first time since before the onset of the Iran war, leaving property values narrowly below those at the start of the year, according to a survey.

The typical property cost £299,330 in June, a 0.2% increase on the month before. This came after a monthly drop of 0.2% in May, according to the latest Lloyds house price index, previously known as the Halifax HPI. The annual growth rate edged higher to 0.6% from 0.5%.

Jake Richards announces measures to prevent abuse like that at Medomsley detention centre in County Durham

One of the UK’s most horrific and shocking child custody scandals was collectively ignored for decades because the victims were working-class boys from the north of England, a government minister has said.

The sentencing and youth justice minister, Jake Richards, has announced he is implementing a number of recommendations to prevent abuse such as that which took place between 1961 and 1987 at Medomsley detention centre in County Durham from ever happening again.

Treasury select committee also says ministers have moral obligation to reverse last year’s repayment threshold freeze

Slideshows that compared student loan repayments with the cost of a mobile phone contract, and YouTube videos that did not mention the fact that loan terms could change amounted to mis-selling by the government, MPs have said.

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, caused a furore last year when she announced that the repayment threshold on plan 2 student loans would be frozen at £29,385 for three years from April 2027.

Officials admit new post-Brexit EES system is ‘not perfect’, as airports and airlines voice fears over delays

The EU has rejected calls by airports and airlines to suspend the implementation of new fingerprinting and facial recognition border controls even though it admits there are “20 difficult spots” with queue chaos.

With only a week to go before the peak summer holiday season starts, EU officials said the new entry/exit system (EES) was “not perfect” but would tell travel industry representatives that a full suspension was “not needed” and “not possible”.

The film-maker Don Edkins lost his son Max in 2019, in the Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 people. With Max’s brother Teboho, he has made a documentary, not about the crash, but about their mourning

It was, says Teboho Edkins, “a film I didn’t want to make”. On 10 March 2019, Edkins’ brother, Max, was among the 157 people killed when Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 crashed minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa airport.

For Teboho, making a documentary about the disaster seemed impossible: “It’s not a sexy subject. At first, I really didn’t want to do it at all.”

Blasts did not interrupt French president’s visit but are setback for Syrian leaders’ attempt to project stability

Explosions rocked Damascus near the hotel where French president, Emmanuel Macron, was staying on Tuesday, wounding at least 18 people, Syrian authorities said.

Macron was in the presidential palace for a meeting with the Syrian president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, when two improvised explosive devices detonated near the Four Seasons hotel where Macron was reported to be staying.

Ukraine’s drone and missile campaign on oil infrastructure has brought impact of war to citizens of Moscow and elsewhere

Five hours into the queue, tempers were already fraying at the gas station. Then a black Audi Q7 swept past dozens of waiting cars and pulled straight up to the pumps. Within minutes, motorists were shouting, mobile phones were recording and a police officer had drawn his pistol to calm the crowds.

The confrontation, filmed on Saturday night at a filling station in the Siberian town of Ust-Ordynsky, captured the growing frustration over Russia’s worsening fuel shortages, which have spread across a country that remains one of the world’s largest oil producers.

Forecaster says curtailing rising costs such as health and pensions ‘are today’s challenge, not just tomorrow’s’

• Business live – latest updates

Policymakers must act to prevent public debt rising unsustainably in coming decades as the population ages and defence spending rises, the government’s independent economic forecaster has said.

In a fresh illustration of the challenges facing the prime minister in waiting, Andy Burnham, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said that without government action “debt would move on to what would be an unsustainable, ever-upward path from around the 2040s”.

Group of 100 investors still discussing £10bn rescue proposal with officials from regulator Ofwat, says report

• Business live – latest updates

Thames Water’s creditors are willing to pursue their bid for the debt-laden company even if the probable next prime minister, Andy Burnham, brings it into temporary nationalisation.

The group of 100 institutional investors, which hold about £14bn of Thames’s senior debt, are still discussing a £10bn rescue proposal for the struggling company with officials from the regulator Ofwat, and they have held meetings in recent days.

Airline’s board to recommend offer of £6.90 a share in deal analysts say shows UK firms are being bought on the cheap

Shares in easyJet surged nearly 10% after the airline agreed to a £5.5bn takeover at the fifth attempt, but analysts said that it showed UK firms were being bought on the cheap.

The low-cost carrier’s board will recommend shareholders accept an offer price of £6.90 a share from Castlelake, a US private equity firm, after rejecting four previous bids of as little as £5.60 per share. EasyJet shares closed at 610p.

Researchers say small changes in drafting could spread rapidly and create long-term shifts in public opinion

AI tools are twisting online messages on sensitive political topics about everything from abortion to climate change in ways that could snowball to reshape long-term public opinion, experts have said.

As tech companies push AI tools as convenient ways to redraft and summarise the massive influx of daily messages, many inject their own political biases – some leaning distinctly rightwing, others more liberal, according to a study from Oxford and Potsdam universities.

The dreaded bloodsucker will be getting his fangs into the Edinburgh fringe this year – in a deeply creepy, liberty-taking show with a sisterly twist. We meet its director

Who is your Dracula? Max Schreck’s toothy Nosferatu, Bela Lugosi in a tux, the lantern-jawed host of Hotel Transylvania? This notorious shapeshifter “exists for us even before we know who he is” says theatre director Yngvild Aspeli, who is bringing a puppet bloodsucker to the Edinburgh fringe this summer. “There were stories of vampires long before Bram Stoker but he gave new life to them.”

After watching her deeply creepy show Dracula: Lucy’s Dream, that eerily waxen, lifesized puppet has for me become as indelible as top-hatted Gary Oldman or gorily grinning Christopher Lee. It matches Jonathan Harker’s assessment of the count in Stoker’s novel: “The general effect was one of extraordinary pallor.” I saw the show on tour in Paris several months ago and it still haunts me: I could swear this Drac disintegrated then reappeared before my eyes, such is the technical sophistication of Aspeli’s French-Norwegian company Plexus Polaire. Thanks in part to Emilie Nguyen’s spectral lighting, stunning transformations take place, with the actors and puppets frequently becoming indistinguishable.

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London
Fans and cynics are putty in the boyband’s hands as the lads lark their way through a catalogue of tracks that ricochet from hard rap to buttery pop

The 2001 film Josie and the Pussycats is about America’s conflation of art and consumerism at the turn of the millennium. But it could just as easily be about the K-pop industrial complex, grinding out act after act to see what sticks (sometimes with a lack of care for the art or the artists). The film culminates with nefarious label execs selling branded headsets that broadcast subliminal advertising messages directly into fans’ brains.

It’s a film that comes to mind while watching BTS play their first UK show in seven years, an unbelievably enjoyable spectacle of pyro and panoptical staging, and the purest distillation of what makes a boyband precision-engineered to capture fans’ hearts. BTS are the biggest K-pop group in the world. With more than 40m albums sold, they have a fanbase so fervent it is called the Army. This is the band’s first tour since a three-year hiatus for each member to complete 18 months of compulsory military service – marked by a new album, Arirang – and it’s hailed by activations across the capital including a London Eye takeover. A cynical mind might think the in-the-round staging provides more opportunity to sell expensive pit tickets. A cynical mind might see the brands blacked out on the water bottles onstage and think … “clearly Fiji Water didn’t cough up sponsorship”. A cynical mind might behold the light-up “Army Bomb sticks” wielded by the crowd and think … “are those mind-control devices?”

Two optimistic drinkers bumble around with a lovelorn student in tow in a depressing yet funny, faintly baffling tragicomedy

Francesco Sossai’s new film is not one that recognises the spoilsport clinical concept of “alcoholism”. Rather, it is the cynically amused and lenient witness to drunkenness, bleariness, sadness and intermittent nausea; to the tragicomic optimism of ageing boozers, ruined romantics with a superhuman ability to keep imbibing throughout the day, always wanting just one last drink, and then one last drink after that in the hope that elusive happiness will finally arrive. Either that, or they hope that liquor will accelerate the arrival of some wisdom that can never arrive. Pointedly, the film begins and ends with the same deadpan gag when someone, on the point of permanent farewell, shouts a crucial piece of life advice that is bewilderingly inaudible.

It is a road movie, a buddy movie and a faintly baffling shaggy-dog tale; a coming-of-age story that embraces infantilism and not coming of age; a bittersweet comedy without the sweet. It is intensely depressing yet funny at the same time. Doriano (Pierpaolo Capovilla) and Carlobianchi (Sergio Romano) are two middle-aged wasters who are always amiably drunk, living hand-to-mouth, evidently on the fringes of petty crime and living in the luxurious car they bought with their share of a scam set up some time ago by their buddy Genio (Andrea Pennacchi). This involved Genio stealing designer glasses and sunglasses made at the factory that employed him and, with Doriano and Carlobianchi, selling them on at knockdown prices.

In the absence of foreign media, doctors are valuable witnesses to the Israel-Hamas conflict in Daniele Rugo’s documentary

Dying children and grieving parents are a fact of her work says Canadian paediatric intensive care doctor Tanya Haj-Hassan. “But Gaza is that continuously,” she adds, wiping away a tear. Haj-Hassan is one of several doctors who are interviewed in Daniele Rugo’s documentary about their medical missions to Gaza since October 2023. Doctors tend to be careful with their words and don’t instinctively reach for overstatement or exaggeration. But their measured accounts of hell on earth, along with clips from their video diaries, make this quietly devastating film almost unbearable to watch.

Israel does not allow foreign reporters into Gaza unless under military escort, so medics are valuable independent witnesses. Nick Maynard is a gastrointestinal surgeon who has been visiting since 2010. He has always seen destruction in Gaza, he says, but after October 2023, it was on different scale. On his first night, ER doctor James Smith tried to count the number of explosions; he lost track after several hundred. Reconstructive surgeon Victoria Rose arrived with 23 suitcases after putting a call to UK plastic surgeons for supplies. On a later visit she was permitted to cross the border with just one.

How will the group cope when they leave behind the trappings of modern society? Plus: a double bill of a cracking gay dating show. Here’s what to watch this evening

10pm, TLC
Tapping into the cultural obsession with tradwife life, this reality series sends a group of men and women to live in an Amish community. Unsurprisingly, they’re met with scepticism. But the participants seem genuinely attuned to this new way of life: coffee barista Billie Jo has been dressing in Amish clothes at work for 10 years. But then Kendra is shamed for arriving in a low-cut dress, and Aaron’s phone is confiscated – despite him needing it for his hearing aid. Hollie Richardson

Uzoamaka Power’s broken-hearted, lovable worker falls for a charming customer in this delightful, deftly written tale

Here is a delightful Nigerian romcom, in which Soluchi, or “Sol” (played by Uzoamaka Power) is a modern-minded career woman living in Lagos where she works at a call centre for a mobile phone network. She’s great at her job, a natural empath who listens to her customers’ problems and solves them with patience and good cheer – not that her jerk of a boss, who is obsessed with raising the unit’s throughput, spots the value of her diligence. In her spare time, Sol pours love into shipping mini-magnate Kalu (Zubby Michael), another chauvinist who doesn’t recognise her worth or even pay her much notice. In fact, after standing her up on an anniversary date and generally taking her devotion, kindness, fit figure and zingy fashion sense for granted, Kalu suddenly dumps her because she’s too “childish”, too available, and too easy when he thinks he should have a partner who’s more of a pursuit-worthy challenge.

Fortunately, an alternative comes along in the shape of Eli (Andrew Yaw Bunting), a handsome Ghanaian news anchorman whom Sol first encounters when he calls in with connectivity problems. (The metaphor there could so easily have been overdone but director Dammy Twitch’s winning lightness of touch makes it barely noticeable.) Sol and Eli click instantly, seduced by the dulcet tones of each other’s voices. Eventually he manages to track her down in order to court her chastely. But will she be able to get over her fear of another broken heart and trust him? Will she waver when Kalu comes crawling back, equipped with cutesy props like balloons and gifts recommended by an influencer friend? Does either man truly see her in every sense, understanding what a pearl she is underneath all those modish wigs and goofy outfits?

Norah Jones hosts the legendary rock stars as they return to the studio for a new album. Plus, mindfulness meditation with the Getty Museum

This official Rolling Stones podcast is hosted by Norah Jones and released across six weeks, with each chapter charting the making of the band’s upcoming studio album, Foreign Tongues. Unsurprisingly, it’s a polished exercise in PR for one of the world’s biggest acts. Its first episode is also something of a tribute, as it considers how Mick, Keith and Ronnie returned to the studio following the death of drummer Charlie Watt in 2021. Hannah J Davies
Widely available, episodes weekly

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.

Collector of dream stories from across continent finds ‘surprising consistency’ in the way they are structured

A young woman discovers in a dream that she is responsible for the Holocaust and tries to come up with schemes to make amends – and then gets distracted by a business meeting. Another woman dreams she is being chased by murderers – and ends up chilling in front of the TV with them. A man gets to advise Emmanuel Macron on social policy – and talks to him about haircuts and dog training instead.

Dreams can turn our innermost fears and darkest fantasies into miniature dramas. But an anthology of recollected dreams harvested from online forums across Europe shows how the story arc of the subconscious often bends towards anticlimaxes.

This fantastical journey through family, folktales and a world beneath our feet is witty, uplifting and gorgeously written

Daniel Mason’s latest novel sees him return to the verdant New England landscape that so captivated readers of 2023’s acclaimed North Woods. This time, though, he hops the border from Massachusetts into Vermont – and effects a deeper shift in the process. Where North Woods was a foray into history, telling the tale of a house and its inhabitants over three centuries, in Country People Mason turns his attention to literature and mines the rich seams of text, from myths to Milton to Shakespeare to Tolstoy and all points in between, that make up his novel’s foundations. This is, at its core, a story about stories; a tale about the tales we tell each other, and our children, and ourselves.

It’s also a far simpler thing: the linear account of a year in the life of a contemporary family. On the surface, this might look like a step back from the scope and ambition of North Woods, which spooled out over hundreds of years in a polyphony of forms and voices. But if Country People teaches us anything, it’s that surfaces are only ever a fraction of what we’re dealing with – or, to borrow from one of its three, gloriously baroque epigraphs: “for every terrestrial stream, there run a thousand below the earth. For each pond, a hundred inner seas.” The book’s action is driven, in fact, by its characters’ compulsive need to dig deeper: to burrow into their physical and metaphorical landscapes for meaning, for inspiration, and on occasion just for the hell of it. Sometimes the digging in Country People is literal; often it’s metaphorical. And occasionally – well, occasionally, it turns out, the boundary between the two isn’t as solid as it might first appear.

A Financial Times journalist ponders the future of labour in world increasingly dominated by AI and automation

It’s never been easy to land and keep a decent job. But it feels like it’s getting harder. In June, the number of job vacancies in the UK fell to a five-year low; headlines warn of a looming AI-employment shock. What might the future of work look like – and who or what will shape its terms? In her new book, Sarah O’Connor goes looking for answers in the modern collision of artificial intelligence, automation, and human labour.

This clash between human and machine – and the fight to secure decent working conditions even as the pressure to maximise production mounts – is nothing new. Neither are concerns about the health risks of repetitive factory work or the loss of creative craftsmanship and independent judgment in the wake of mechanisation. O’Connor has been a reporter at the Financial Times for nearly two decades, and although We Are Not Machines looks to the future, many of the threats AI poses to workers’ dignity and safety look a lot like reconfigurations of old battles. The book takes its title from the signs striking Swedish miners carried in 1969 as they protested their employers’ new methods of monitoring their output. “Vi är ej maskiner”, their signs read: “We are not machines.”

The story of a lifelong friendship between two art-world mavericks from the working-class midwest is disappointingly pious

Dave Eggers, the author of more than a dozen novels as well as a steady stream of children’s and nonfiction books, grew up wanting to be an artist.As a child he took lessons with a Japanese watercolourist, studied painting at college, worked as a magazine cartoonist and illustrator, even curated a New York show entitled Lots of Things Like This featuring pieces by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Marcel Duchamp. He is soon to open a project in San Francisco that he has been hatching for a decade – Art + Water, an amalgam of art school, affordable studios, exhibition galleries and local gathering point.

Cricket Dibb, the cloyingly named hero of Contrapposto, would love a place like Art + Water. He’s 10 years old, a working-class midwestern kid who passes raccoons and broken tractors on his way to school. His stepfather, Robert, thinks nothing of beating his mother, calling her “a gimpy whore”, stealing any money she’s saved. Cricket hates him, not least on aesthetic grounds – “his ugly gold watch, his mouth full of black fillings, his bony bald head, his pockmarked face, his tiny black eyes”. Cricket’s life is erratic, his future unpromising. His grandfather, though, spots him drawing: “You can produce beauty there in your notebooks, from scratch. And harmony. Chaos outside, order on your paper.”

The massively multiplayer online role-playing game has grown into a virtual social space and part of daily life for thousands of players

In a small stone chapel, on the edgelands of a medieval wilderness, two women are getting married. The attenders are draped in rainbow capes, glowing armour and top hats. A scantily clad, muscular man with angel wings officiates the ceremony. Over the heads of the two brides hover the words “I do” in bright yellow text. This is RuneScape, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (or MMO) set in the Tolkienesque realm of Gielinor. Turning 25 this year, it has, over its lifetime, become a crucial virtual social space and part of daily life for thousands of players.

Lancashire-born Amelia, one of the pixelated newlyweds, met her wife on a dating app but first bonded through their love of the game. “Our first and second date was pretty much exclusively talking about RuneScape,” she recalls. Four years later they were married, shortly followed by their in-game ceremony. Morgan – a 26-year-old from the Midlands – is one of Amelia’s closest friends. They met through the game and run UWU Girls together, a RuneScape clan that Morgan founded in a bid to cater to players across the gender spectrum. “We do IRL meetups, and for a lot of these women, it’s been their first meetings with strangers online – and that’s the same for me.”

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.

V&A Dundee
When Kathryn Findlay and Eisaku Ushida joined forces, a sensual kind of architecture was born – resulting in a hairy blue pod in Tokyo and a starfish beach palace in Qatar

‘The future of architecture,” pronounced Salvador Dalí on meeting Le Corbusier in 1922, “will be soft and hairy.” Fast forward over 70 years to Tokyo, and his surrealist prophecy was the stimulus for the Soft and Hairy House, one of a series of startlingly expressive dwellings designed by the talented Scottish-Japanese architectural partnership of Kathryn Findlay and Eisaku Ushida. Melding diverse design cultures – Celtic coiling and Japanese “rawness” – overlaid by an interest in the natural world, as well as fractal geometries and chaos theory, the pair contrived a uniquely sensual and surreal architecture.

Completed in 1994, the Soft and Hairy House was based on a classic courtyard plan form, radically reworked for pre-millennial Tokyo, its softness accentuated by plumply rounded contours, its hairiness by a shaggy fringe of greenery embellishing the roof. A bright blue, porthole-percolated bathroom pod intruded into the courtyard like a giant fungal entity. The interior was suggestive of the glamorous dream space of a Hollywood star, with soft draperies and seductive lighting.

Broadway, Catford
Justice Ezi tackles racism, belonging and the sometimes-shadowy business of sport in this well-paced and plotted drama with a genuinely nail-biting final shootout

Entering the small studio tasked with containing this ambitious livewire of a football drama, the action is already in full swing. Charlton Athletic’s Victory and Youssef, in Nigeria to try out for the last two spots on the country’s World Cup squad, are doing drills, while their coach (a buoyant Jerome Ngonadi) collars audience members to take penalties. I miss spectacularly; the production does quite the opposite.

Part of the Ryan Calais Cameron season – the Olivier-nominated playwright chose three early-career Black and Global Majority writers to receive financial backing and mentorship – its writer, Justice Ezi, is a clear talent, asking expansive questions about racism, belonging and the sometimes-shadowy business of sport through the experiences of three men and, in particular, their relationships to their Nigerian heritage.

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 iconic photography festival is back for the 57th time with images of dogs, diners, UFOs and more

At Menopunkapalooza, riot grrrls sang and rallied around a topic still taboo today: women’s health during midlife

The music festival Menopunkapalooza began with the ceremonial application of an estrogen patch to the backside of Built to Spill and Prism Bitch drummer Teresa Esguerra. It ended with riot grrrl pioneers Calamity Jane tearing the roof off Portland’s Crystal Ballroom as they performed for the first time in 35 years.

What happened in between was 750 festivalgoers, a dozen pillars of the Pacific north-west’s punk rock scene, and a team of medical professionals singing, laughing and occasionally raging about a topic still taboo in 2026: women’s sexual health during menopause and perimenopause, and the promise of hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

As one of today’s greatest essayists, the Pulitzer-nominated writer’s new book investigates why the mother-daughter relationship is the most complex bond of all

Interviewing Rachel Aviv is a great way to source reading recommendations. The exacting essayist responds to my questions about her new book by asking if I’ve read her colleague Parul Sehgal on the trauma plot (of course), Janet Malcolm’s oeuvre (are you kidding?), or Parallel Lives by Phyllis Rose (you know, I’ve been meaning to). And then there’s the self-help book from the 90s making the rounds among her friends.

The Middle Passage – “a bad title”, admits Aviv – advances the Jungian belief that if you hold on to the identity you first developed in young adulthood, in middle age you’ll end up small and afraid. You have to alter something fundamental in order to make it to the other side. Over green tea at a cafe near her home in Brooklyn’s Park Slope, the New Yorker staff writer on the deliciously nebulous “psychology, medical ethics and criminal justice” beat confirms that’s basically, frustratingly true. “I have always been very afraid of change,” she says. “I had a really profound high school relationship where I totally lost myself. Everything I’d been interested in before just fell away.” She feared this would happen when she gave birth to her first child in 2016, and was thrilled when it didn’t: “I thought I had won, as if there weren’t more opportunities for change later down the road.”

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.

With three ways to cool down and a cold plate that can lower skin temperature by up to 9C, Shark’s latest fan is a standout if you can justify the cost

• The best handheld fans, tested

When I first wrote my guide to the best handheld fans in 2025, familiar electronics brands in the space were hard to come by. But, like buses, two have arrived at once this summer. The Dyson HushJet Mini Cool provided plenty of power, but missed the mark on the “hush” part of its branding, and now it’s time for Shark’s debut mini fan: the ChillPill.

In words that I never expected to write, Dyson’s product is the cheaper option – although everything is relative. While the HushJet Mini Cool is a penny below three figures, the Shark ChillPill blasts through that ceiling, coming in at £129.99.

The owners of Teffont House are aiming for modern rural hospitality that puts guests at the heart of village life

Walking into the Orangery at Teffont House during the golden hour, the restaurant is glowing. Sunlight falls across cocktails the colour of spun sugar, spills on to a terrace trailing constellations of fleabane, and bounces off spoons sinking into raspberry trifles. What really gives the room its sparkle is none of these things, however, but the fact it’s packed with local people. On a warm June evening this new hotel, 10 minutes’ drive from the Wiltshire village of Tisbury, already feels embedded in village life.

It’s the latest venture of the Beckford Group, which runs a small clutch of West Country inns and restaurants, including the Talbot Inn in Mells and the Beckford Canteen in Bath. The company has carved a niche in modern rural hospitality, teaming unflashy furnishings (all chalky pink and moss green paintwork framed by antiques and contemporary art) with menus designed for greedy locavores and pricing that delivers an unstuffy demographic. Underpinning all of this is an ability to tap into local communities to create soul. With this, the Beckford Group’s first hotel, it is making that connection more explicit by labelling it as a “village”, rather than a country house hotel.

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

• Don’t get the Filter delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

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

Electronic scales are a non-negotiable, say connoisseurs. Add a pinch of patience, some trial and error, and you, too, can master the French press

What’s the best way to make coffee using a French press? Mine always ends up too watery or too strong.
Yoanna, St Andrews, Scotland
“Coffee is one of those rabbit holes where it really depends how much money and time you want to spend,” says Ben Kovar, head of coffee at Campbell & Syme Coffee Roasters in north London and Hertfordshire, but a little investment goes a long way. “A grinder will make a big improvement. If you’re just brewing for you and, say, your partner, I’d recommend a hand grinder, because you’re not then paying for the electronics – you’re just paying for a good set of burrs.” (Comandante is Kovar’s go-to.) Of course, adjusting the grind size allows you to make coffee in a host of ways, but if Yoanna plans to stick with a cafetiere and has a good local cafe, Kovar would be inclined to head there instead. “Obviously it’s nicer to grind fresh at home, but they’ll most likely be using a top-end grinder, so that’s probably going to taste better so long as you use up a bag every two weeks. Plus, it’s nice to have a dialogue with your local barista.”

The water you use will dramatically impact the taste of your coffee, too, Kovar says: “Filter coffee is 98% water, after all. You might have spent a lot on a grinder, but if you’re using London tap water, say, it’s going to be too hard and not very nice.” A filter jug is a good starting point, but the main thing is to soften the water slightly. And don’t use the kettle straight off the boil: “Wait 30 seconds, then use the very hot water.”

The other bit of kit you’ll want is a set of scales. “You need to know what the main variables are, so how much coffee you put in, how much water, and use a timer for the brew – if you buy bespoke coffee scales, they usually have one built in,” Kovar says. (If you don’t want to fork out, though, standard kitchen scales will work just fine.) Kovar uses 60g coffee for each litre of boiled water: “So, if you’re brewing 250ml, which is typically one cup, use 15g coffee.”

James Hoffmann, barista and author of The World Atlas of Coffee, then lets the coffee brew for four minutes. “Now grab a tablespoon and stir the crust that forms on top of the coffee. A lot of it will start to fall away, and you’ll be left with a few bits on top – some foam, some floating bits. Scoop those off and discard.” Then he does nothing at all for at least another five minutes. “When you do eventually push in the plunger, don’t plunge all the way to the bottom, otherwise you’ll stir up the sediment all over again.” You want the plunger to sit just on the surface of the coffee, then pour it gently. Ideally, decant the entire cafetiere in one go, Kovar adds, because, that way, you’ll get a consistent brew.

Got a culinary dilemma? Email feast@theguardian.com

Sweet, herby tomatoes on crisp puff pastry, followed by a dessert that’s both fruity and floral – this is seasonal eating at its most delectable

Summer has to be the favourite season of any chef. I am so spoiled for choice right now with the bounty of beautiful British produce over the warmer months that I change the menu almost daily, so I don’t miss out on the chance to use all of it. If only the weather would keep up.

This summery dish takes the spicy seafood and cheese of a meze favourite and works them into a filling, tomato-rich salad

If you have spent any time in Greece, chances are you’ll have tried prawn saganaki. It’s a much-loved dish, especially across the islands in summer. Featuring juicy king prawns that are pan-roasted with tomato and a little chilli, then finished with feta, it’s something of an anomaly where the marriage of seafood and cheese are undisputed. I adore these as part of a meze, with fresh bread to mop up the sweet, spicy and feta-laced juices. However, here I’ve taken the key flavours of prawn saganaki and turned them into something a little more robust: a panzanella-style salad.

The distinct spices of their respective regions make these approaches to runner beans uniquely different, but equally flavourful

I always look forward to runner bean season, and especially to cooking them in stir-fries with Indian spices. Today’s recipes are very different from each other, not least because they hail from two very different regions, namely Rajasthan and Kerala, respectively, both of which have their own distinct spices and flavours.

My daughter’s scruffy little pet would fall asleep with me on the sofa, stilling my racing mind. And then he changed my life in an even more significant way …

I never wanted a hamster. My eight-year-old daughter, Lily, on the other hand, had folders. Habitat drawings and wheel specifications – a case for ownership of such rigour it bowled me over. As a boy I’d had a hamster, Jerry, and remembered him as fine – but nothing more than that. So I went to a Cardiff pet shop on a cold January morning in 2021 with no plan whatsoever to fall in love.

At the back of the enclosure was a scruffy one nobody else wanted. Skinny. A bit unkempt. When the staff member lifted him out, he yawned and looked at Lily as if he’d been expecting her. She named him Popcorn Sushi and took him home in a pink carrier.

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.

You can keep temperatures down without the cost – or environmental price – of air conditioning. Here’s some tips and tricks

• The best fans to keep you cool in 2026 – tried and tested

In the UK we are used to worrying about our homes being warm enough, but after struggling to cope with high temperatures in May and June the race is on to cool them down before the next heatwave hits.

And while it might be tempting to swap your desktop fan for a portable air conditioner, there are lots of low-cost, more sustainable ways to stop rooms overheating.

My elderly parents’ home was left uninhabitable, and they are owed £3,300 for repairs they had to fund themselves

My elderly parents spent much of last year dealing with what should have been a straightforward insurance claim after a dishwasher installation by John Lewis caused a leak.

Instead, it became a year-long ordeal, marked by repeated failures and an almost total absence of accountability.

‘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.

Yes, digesting food requires energy, but you need to do more than snack for a meaningful impact

It helps to understand what people mean when they talk about “metabolism”, says James Betts, professor of metabolic physiology at the University of Bath. Usually, they’re referring to metabolic rate; the amount of energy your body burns in a given time. This is largely determined by factors such as your size, age, sex and body composition.

Your daily energy expenditure comes from three main sources: your resting metabolism (the energy needed to keep your organs and tissues functioning), the calories burned processing food, and physical activity. Of those, exercise and movement are by far the most variable.

Study finds those who speak two languages have brains that appear around six years younger than those who speak one

Learning another language could slow ageing in the brain by up to 13 years, according to research.

People who speak more than one language seem to have younger brains and the more languages you speak and the earlier you speak them, the better, according to findings from a study being presented at the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies conference in Barcelona.

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?

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.

Storytelling collection opens with mousseline skirt suit and ends with simple black dress in spirit of label’s founder

The first model on the Chanel catwalk was wearing a sheer mousseline skirt suit and carrying a tiny century-old leatherbound book of fairytales that once belonged to Coco Chanel herself. With the Lord of the Rings soundtrack booming through a stage set of giant parasol-scale poppies and lupins as tall as giraffes, the clothes narrated the stories in the pages. A row of buttons on the spine of a dress began with an ugly duckling, and ended with a swan. A Goldilocks minaudière handbag was fashioned in the shape of a golden sleeping bear. The lining of a jacket was hand-painted with a scene from Puss in Boots.

But Matthieu Blazy, holding the same book in his hands backstage after the show, told reporters that his favourite fairytale was the rags-to-riches story of Coco herself. “She climbed the ladder to find her golden goose, by making clothes for real women. Her clothes were never parodies. They were rooted in life,” Chanel’s creative director said.

Hot on heels of creating Taylor Swift’s wedding dress, designer brings his re-energising razzmatazz to Paris catwalk

The one person in the fashion industry who doesn’t want to talk about Taylor Swift’s as-yet-unrevealed wedding dress is the man who actually knows what it looks like. “It was a big honour,” was all that Dior’s Jonathan Anderson would say about dressing America’s de facto royal wedding. “But no, I can’t tell you anything about it. It will all come out in due course. It was a joy to work with her and we became very good friends. It is an emotional thing, doing someone’s wedding.”

Instead, Anderson wanted to talk about a very different American artist, sculptor Lynda Benglis, whose sensual slumped hunks of smelted metal inspired his haute couture collection. A wooden pavilion built for the show in the gardens of the Rodin Museum was soundtracked with the flutter of paper fans along the front row, and the haughty silhouettes of couture seemed liquefied in the city heat. A skirt of silver-foiled petals lapped and shimmered like molten lava. A tailored Bar jacket trailed threads of chiffon at the hem like drips of ice-cream down a cone.

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.

The island has a culinary tradition as old as its ancient olive trees. Our writer savours its family-run tavernas, village bakeries and local produce

As someone with Cypriot roots and distant Greek heritage, I’m often asked the question: which is the best island? People lean in, expecting a secret – some tiny, untouched haven, known only to locals. My answer is always the same: Crete. With its fiercely proud identity, warm communities and exceptional food, it feels both deeply Greek and entirely itself.

For our anniversary weekend, my husband and I head to Lassithi, in the island’s far eastern corner. As a chef and food writer, I’m drawn to the area’s reputation for exceptional produce: Sitia extra virgin olive oil, creamy xigalo cheese, mountain honey and an abundance of excellent tavernas.

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.

This pretty little plant is carnivorous, so when placed next to plants affected by the insect pest it can be an effective living flypaper

The problem
The fungus gnat is the pest that just keeps coming. You dry out the soil, set up sticky traps, maybe even reach for the hydrogen peroxide, and just when you think you’ve have won, they’re back. The adults are harmless but maddening, drifting around your face and laying the next generation in any damp compost they can find. And most controls only deal with one stage of the cycle and leave the rest to carry on.

The hack
Butterworts are small carnivorous plants whose leaves are coated in a sticky mucilage that traps tiny flying insects, including fungus gnats. Keep one or two among your collection as living flypaper, catching adult gnats before they can breed.

Common misconceptions are that you don’t have the right skills, or you need to make a huge time commitment

Many people want to do good in the world. They want to connect and give back to their communities. But volunteering, much like Sunday meal prep or morning meditations, often ends up at the bottom of the to-do list – a nice idea we’ll get to when we have more time.

“For many people, volunteering is something they feel positively about, but don’t always prioritize or think they have time for,” says Matt Bertram, vice-president of volunteer services for the American Red Cross.

How to start meditating

How to start weightlifting

How to start budgeting

How to start running

The actor spent almost a decade fighting monsters – and making friends – on the hit Netflix show. Then, last year, it all came to an end. How’s he adjusting?

Finn Wolfhard is remembering his first experience of celebrity. It was 2016 and he was 13. The first season of Stranger Things had aired that summer, and he returned to his high school in Vancouver as if nothing had changed. But things had changed. “People didn’t know how to treat me, especially the teachers. Kids that didn’t even look at me before were paying attention to me or wanting to hang out.” He remembers a girl in the year above who really wanted a photo with him. “And I was like: ‘Oh, I can’t really take photos at school.’ And she wasn’t listening to me and pulled me into, like, a side hug. I remember thinking: ‘Shit, man. I have no control over this. This seems crazy.’ So, it was definitely weird at first, and something I still haven’t totally grasped.”

How strange it must be to have spent such a large part of your life playing a character that half the world knows, and has watched grow up on screen, turning from a wide-eyed, gawky, nerdy kid to a sharp-cheekboned (but still quite gawky) action hero. Nobody could have predicted how huge Stranger Things would become or how long it would last, fuelled by popular demand, then stalled by the pandemic. It concluded a decade later, at the end of last year, having reached the point where it was no longer sustainable for twentysomethings like Wolfhard to pass as high schoolers.

The answer to today’s puzzle

Earlier today I set you this puzzle about an imaginary game show.

At the end of the show two people will be chosen and each placed in a separate booth.

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.

After five goals, two penalties and a 4am finish, it was a bleary-eyed start to Monday for pupils and workers

So we survived. We made it out the other side. After all the strategising about where, when, if and how we would watch England take their World Cup fight to Mexico, we pulled it off, stepping out bleary eyed into the dawn just about intact.

And boy was it worth it.

Would-be prime minister has made basic missteps in pitches to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

Andy Burnham’s devolution promises are yet to impress sceptical Celtic administrations hoping for a reset with Westminster, sources in Cardiff and Edinburgh have said.

Burnham, who is expected to take over from Keir Starmer as prime minister on 20 July, has made much of his support for the devolution of power and resources in England, pledging in an agenda-setting speech last week to make a new “No 10 North” the “nerve centre of a rewired Britain”.

Race to develop ‘embodied AI’ focuses on creating dextrous hands to transform humanoid robots from gimmicks into useful products

Human hands – nimble, nerve-filled appendages that are the most flexible part of the human skeleton – are exceptionally complex. Many tasks that most people can do largely without thinking, from tying a pair of shoelaces to buttoning up a shirt, in fact require a complex set of neurological instructions and precise choreography. In thousands of years of human history, no machine has been able to truly replicate human’s greatest tool.

But now, as artificial intelligence (AI) races forwards, some companies think they are close to surpassing this final but most difficult hurdle in robotics. Most of them are in China.

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.

Our clothes can be one of the most powerful non-verbal communicators – tell us yours reflect who you are and what you do?

From uniforms to suits to tracksuits to costumes, clothes keep us warm and covered – but they are also one of the most powerful non-verbal communicators, a second skin which reflects who you are and what you do.

We want to hear from people about why they wear what they wear. Do your clothes help you in the workplace? Are they making a statement? Maybe you’re a waiter and have worn the same work uniform for years, or maybe your job involves wearing very little. Please tell us about yourselves.

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.

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.

Wake up to the top stories and what they mean – free to your inbox every weekday morning at 7am

Scroll less, understand more: sign up to receive our news email each weekday for clarity on the top stories in the UK and across the world.

Explore all our newsletters: whether you love film, football, fashion or food, we’ve got something for you

Get smart, sustainable shopping advice from the Filter team straight to your inbox, every Sunday

The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link.

A weekly email from our star chefs featuring the latest recipes and seasonal eating ideas

Each week we’ll send you an exclusive newsletter from our star food writers. We’ll also send you the latest recipes from our star chefs, stand-out food features and seasonal eating inspiration, plus restaurant reviews from Grace Dent.

Sign up below to start receiving the best of our culinary journalism in one mouth-watering weekly email.

Upgrade your space today, with eight emails packed with tips to brighten up your home - whatever your budget

Embrace your space: the Guardian’s House to Home newsletter is bursting with tips and tricks to help you boost your bedroom and give your living room some love.

Sign up any time, and get eight emails direct to your inbox every Sunday morning.

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world