Ex-PM reveals Andy Burnham wants to return to Westminster to challenge Keir Starmer to become PM. Who knew?

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It’s one of the great philosophical questions of our age. Or any age, for that matter. If Liz Truss didn’t exist, would it be possible to imagine her? Could anyone conceive that someone so brain-meltingly dim could have once been our prime minister?

And even if they could, would they have dared to believe that in harness with this industrial-strength stupidity there could be such a total lack of self-awareness. Liz comes with a vacuum-packed confidence in her own talent. While the real world treats her, at best as a joke, at worst as the last cockroach still standing, she maintains her messiah complex. The saviour waiting to rise from these streets.

Twenty-five years after she released her debut album, we pick the best of an artist pairing Chopin-inspired piano with pop, soul and powerful emotion

Two different takes on the same album – one traditional, the other more beat-heavy – packaged together, Keys was an experiment that didn’t quite work, but Skydive, co-written with Raphael Saadiq, is a fine song: both versions are great but Mike WiLL Made-It’s bumping rework wins by a fraction.

With sanctions-relief and a US promise to avoid further meddling, the conflict has been settled on Tehran’s terms

Donald Trump is running fast to escape the catastrophic war on Iran that he and Benjamin Netanyahu started four months ago. He is saying anything that appears to suit the moment. In fact, he clearly feels he can now ditch his friend, the Israeli prime minister. He is offering Tehran’s military regime a $300bn rebuilding fund, an end to economic sanctions and a promise not to interfere in its internal affairs. All this is declared a “major win”. If so, fine. The next 60 days of negotiations will be tortuous and unpredictable. But at least they are pointing in a plausible – and hopefully irreversible – direction.

For once, a US president seems ready to accept defeat in a potentially forever war before it gets out of hand. Iran is not to be another Vietnam, Afghanistan or Iraq. More than that, in the course of the past week, Trump seems to have soured on America’s closest ally. Furious at Netanyahu’s ceaseless bombing of Lebanon, he remarked: “You don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody” – somebody to kill, that is – because “there are a lot of people in those apartment houses and they’re not all Hezbollah”. For all this moral grandstanding, Trump’s military forces, along with Israel, have killed more than 3,300 Iranians, according to the country’s authorities – among them more than 100 children in a girls’ school – and injured many more.

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist

Boaters say low water levels cause them to run aground, while residents say the lock needs to be drained to prevent waste running into their properties

Earlier this month, signs began appearing pinned to a lock on the Huddersfield narrow canal: “Canel [sic] And River Trust,” they read. “Please leave this paddle up after use. To prevent flooding to properties.”

Over the past few weeks, lock 20W, near the village of Greenfield, has become the source of a bitter row between boaters and homeowners. Canal boaters have been pulling the signs down, only for the homeowners to put them back up again.

A ban alone will have limited impact and could make things worse. A good strategy needs more educational content – and more money

As a parent, I understand the appeal of the announcement on Monday by the prime minister that would prevent children under 16 from using social media. Right now, you are in constant battle with the infinite scroll for your child’s attention, while their impetus to explore the real world is subdued by endless entertainment always within reach. At best, their rapidly developing brains are rotted by a diet of the synthetic, sensationalist and shallow – humanity’s least impressive creative output catering to its lousiest instincts. At worst, they are being preyed upon by forces intent on manipulating, exploiting or recruiting them. You look around and wonder where they are, even as they are right under your nose. You worry they will never experience the boredom that leads to creativity and propels us forward.

The desire to protect children from an often hostile environment makes sense, and the ban sends a signal of what we deem acceptable, and maybe even opens up the possibility of a behavioural shift in how we use social media. But evidence from Australia, where similar legislation was enacted last December, is not encouraging. According to one study, two-thirds of young people retained their accounts, while 51% of those most affected by the ban now see less news. The fact is that this demographic get most of its news from social media feeds, consumed incidentally amid footage of fights, diet tips and dance crazes and conveyed by influencers whose shtick is authenticity not accuracy. But it is encountered nonetheless. If we remove access, we need to create alternative routes to news and information.

In an industry dominated by men, many women dedicate themselves to the craft of editing – as well as managing directors’ egos – to create some of the most celebrated and memorable big-screen classics

Behind every great director, to coin a phrase, is a great editor – and as the tributes paid earlier this month to the late Marcia Lucas, Oscar-winning editor of Star Wars: Episodes IV to VI, and former wife of creator George Lucas, reminded us, that editor is often a woman. In a historically male-dominated industry, this familiar Hollywood dynamic is a phenomenon that is worth investigating.

It goes back decades. During the supermacho Hollywood new wave era, Dede Allen worked with Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde) and Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon), and Thelma Schoonmaker edited Raging Bull, The King of Comedy and GoodFellas for Martin Scorsese (and much else besides). David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia may have contained no female speaking characters, but it won Anne V Coates an editing Oscar. Anne Bauchens was nominated for Cleopatra in 1934, when the Oscars’ editing category was created, and became its first female winner in 1940 for Cecil B DeMille’s North West Mounted Police.

Jamie Varley jailed for life and partner John McGowan-Fazakerley jailed for 25 years over death of Preston Davey

A secondary school teacher has been jailed for life for sexually abusing and murdering the baby boy he was adopting with his partner.

Jamie Varley, 37, was sentenced to a whole-life order on Thursday for abusing and killing 13-month-old Preston Davey. It means he will stay in prison for the rest of his life and will never be eligible for parole, the judge Mr Justice Turner said.

Officers arrest man on suspicion of attempted murder as child is treated in hospital for serious injuries

A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a three-year-old boy ended up in a crocodile enclosure, Cambridgeshire police said.

The force said officers were called to Johnson’s of Old Hurst zoo in Huntingdonshire at 1.24pm over “reports of an incident involving a three-year-old boy, during which he ended up in the crocodile enclosure”.

US vice president’s comments would mean the deadline for the final agreement between Iran and US is 17 August

• Reaction: Donald Trump’s Iran deal met with anger, relief and incredulity

• Analysis: Trump’s Iran deal is result of unrealistic ambitions for an untenable war

Donald Trump had urged Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “stop blowing up buildings” during a phone call about Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper cited sources who overheard the phone conversation between the two leaders, whose relationship has grown increasingly hostile as the war raged on.

Kyiv says attack, which also forced evacuation at Russia’s biggest airport, was in response to strike on historic monastery

• Explainer: how significant was attack on Moscow?

Ukrainian drones have hit several locations across Moscow in Kyiv’s biggest air raid on the city since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, setting a major ⁠oil refinery on fire and forcing evacuations at the country’s largest airport.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as a response to Russia’s strike on a historic Kyiv monastery complex earlier this week.

Exclusive: Event co-founded by Jordan Peterson will bring together rightwing figures, US state officials and anti-abortionists in London

Nigel Farage and fellow Reform UK MPs Sarah Pochin and Andrew Rosindell will be there. As will a plethora of Reform advisers, backroom staff and figures, such as Ben Delo, a British crypto billionaire who has given £4m to Nigel Farage’s party.

Yet as populist-right politicians from across the globe and their multimillionaire backers prepare for this year’s Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (Arc) – a rightwing London summit labelled an “anti-woke Davos” – others whose expected attendance has not been publicised potentially raises more questions.

Top 10% generate climate and biodiversity damage bill that exceeds economies of most countries, say researchers

The environmental damage bill racked up by the highest-consuming 10% of the world’s population has reached up to $5.7tn a year – larger than the economy of every country except the US and China, a study has found.

Mega-consumers in this group are concentrated in the global north, accounting for more than half the population of the US and 40-45% of people in the EU.

Analysis says expansion could also harm access to housing, education, healthcare, open spaces and transport

Construction of a third runway at Heathrow is likely to have significant adverse effects on the health and wellbeing of up to 3 million people living nearby, an official report has said, as the government launched the next stage of its rapid airport expansion plan.

An analysis for the Department for Transport has found that expanding London’s hub airport could have “major adverse” impacts on the health of the most local population.

Pictures from photographer’s return to Lacock after 40 years were taken months before his death last December

The images are colourful, characterful and thought-provoking. They capture a flower show, a Women’s Institute meeting, a scarecrow festival. A local vicar features, resplendent in a union jack bowler hat, as does a band of bellringers and a bulldog called Billy.

Four decades after chronicling life in the picture-postcard English village of Lacock in Wiltshire, the photographer Martin Parr returned to document what had changed – and what had not.

⚽ Kick-off time: 12pm local/2am AEST/5pm BST/12pm EDT
⚽ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Mail Daniel

Email! “This is a bittersweet game for me,” confesses John Brennan. “When the draw was made in December, this was the most likely game that I could get to see Ireland play. I probably couldn’t have pulled off going to Mexico but getting from NY to Atlanta would have been reasonable. The stadium would have been packed with Irish fans between Irish living here on the East Coast and people travelling. Just thinking about it makes me wistful. What if Ryan Manning didn’t give away that stupid penalty, what if Parrott had scored that chance in the second half, what if Sammy Smzodics hadn’t been taken out of it and had been able to take a penalty instead of Alan Browne. And yeah if all those things had happened and Ireland beat Czechia, it would probably be Denmark playing today.

Anyway, I have a strange feeling South Africa might show up today and make it difficult for the Czechs or maybe that is just a coping mechanism for me.”

Donald Trump is claiming his Iran peace plan is a victory for Washington, despite the 14-point agreement revealing significant concessions to Tehran. Under the deal, Iran will reopen the strait of Hormuz in exchange for sanctions relief and the release of frozen assets, while talks will continue over the fate of Iran’s nuclear programme. Nosheen Iqbal speaks to the Guardian diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour

Mass drone strike on capital brought the war to Russians, but Ukrainians will be braced for Kremlin’s response

Ukraine hit Moscow with nearly 200 drones in its largest ever attack on the Russian capital on Thursday, striking an oil refinery and sending huge plumes of smoke billowing over the city’s south.

The towering columns of smoke rising above Moscow offered a stark demonstration of Ukraine’s growing ability to strike deep inside Russia with its increasingly sophisticated, largely domestically produced long-range drones.

As the pornography platform has exploded in popularity, a side industry has emerged: middlemen who encourage young women into the industry, then take a large cut of their earnings

Markuss Hussle wants his online students to understand one thing: he knows how to make money. There is no subtlety involved. He gives an hour-long presentation in one video, sitting next to his silver Lamborghini. In another, he splices his money-making tips with footage of a ski weekend with his friends in Courchevel, in the French Alps, including shots of private jets, helicopters and a girlfriend in a fur coat. He claims the trip cost $100,000 (£75,000). He shows off his watches and his swimming pool and talks about how his mother worked three jobs as a cleaner until he “retired her” and bought her a home by the sea.

If you were not paying close attention to the spreadsheets and presentations interspersed with the motivational lifestyle content, you might guess he was offering guidance on how to trade shares or invest in cryptocurrency. There are a lot of performance graphs and much discussion of account management, optimisation, scaling, working smart and tripling profits.

Marc Isaacs’ film Synthetic Sincerity may look like a documentary, but its fictional premise – a lab that scrapes movies to harvest human emotions – shines a hard light on just how far AI can go

In Marc Isaacs’ latest film, the subversive documentary maker reveals that an AI research laboratory recently licensed his entire body of work. That’s a quarter-century of droll, deadpan studies of ordinary life in Britain – from the poetic Lift, about the comings and goings in a London tower block, and The Curious World of Frinton-on-Sea, set in the sleepy retirement town dubbed “God’s waiting room”, to Philip and His Seven Wives, in which a secondhand furniture dealer declares himself to be a Hebrew king. Isaacs agreed to let data analysts at the University of Southern England feed these and other documentaries into their system to harvest authentic human emotions from which AI characters could then be created. His film about the experience takes its name from the university’s lab: Synthetic Sincerity.

But how synthetic is the film itself? “Well, we made up the University of Southern England,” admits Isaacs, 59, over lunch at Etles, a Uyghur restaurant near his home in London. The choice of venue is no accident: its chef and owner, Ablikim Rahman, who flutters around us today bearing bowls of thick, glossy leghmen noodles, appears in Synthetic Sincerity being photographed by the AI boffins and turned into an avatar. This is Rahman’s first film, though he hasn’t seen it yet: “Soon,” he says with a sheepish smile.

Show features characters and sets from likes of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep and celebrates roots in city

Aardman’s most famous characters, Wallace and Gromit, may be denizens of northern England but the studio’s deep-rooted connection to the south-west of the UK is being celebrated in a new show on Bristol’s harbourside.

The exhibition at the M Shed, just around the corner from the Aardman base on Gas Ferry Road (a name that would not be out of place in a Wallace and Gromit adventure), shines a light on the studio’s 50 years in Bristol.

Whether you suffer from hay fever, damp rooms or just want to breathe cleaner air, here are the best purifiers from our expert’s test of 10

• The best dehumidifiers – tested

You may not have given much thought to air quality, nor to air purifiers, if you’re lucky enough never to have had hay fever or any of the many other health conditions connected to airborne particles.

But air pollution – including industrial emissions, exhaust fumes and dust – is one of the gravest environmental health risks in the UK. Densely populated and low-income areas feel the worst effects. It’s a global problem, explored in Beth Gardiner’s book Choked.

Best air purifier overall:
Blueair Blue Signature large

Best budget air purifier:
Levoit Core Mini LAP-C161-WUK

Latex aliens, screaming fans and an ‘LGBTQ+ARDIS’ … the big sellout crowds of Gallifrey Cabaret are keeping the fantasy TV show alive – even if its future on the BBC is in the balance

The atmosphere backstage at the Doctor Who-themed queer, adults-only cabaret night is every bit as chaotic as you might imagine. Hairspray clouds air already thick with overlapping conversations between drag kings and queens, singers and burlesque artists. In its midst, Reece Connolly adjusts his ruffled shirt and rhinestoned bow tie, and turns to his fellow performers. “This is a genuine question: do you think these are too tight?” he asks, gesturing to his black trousers. “No, they’re hot,” replies cabaret all-rounder Mariana Trench. The other acts agree, encouraging Connolly to “give [the audience] what they want”. He nods, and looks to me with mock sincerity: “This is community. This is what community looks like.”

Being a fly-on-the-dressing-room-wall backstage at the Wales Millennium Centre is a heady, exhilarating and slightly overwhelming experience. But for the stars of Gallifrey Cabaret, this scene of “gorgeous chaos” (as red-headed, red-moustached drag queen Carrot describes it) is business as usual. The show, which tours the UK with a mixed bill of drag, burlesque, live music, comedy, aerial performance and dance, is celebrating its fifth anniversary this month with an extra-special extravaganza at the Clapham Grand in London, and keeps getting bigger and better. Even fire acts and a dog have been given the Time Lord twist – albeit not at the same time.

How you respond will depend on who expects you to manage your sister’s emotions, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith. Is it her, or something you’ve put on yourself?

• Read more Leading questions

I’m engaged and my sister is single and feels “behind”. Lately she mentioned how the people in her life (me included) going through milestone moments triggers her. She even got upset and admitted she was worried she’d never have kids. What can I say to that? How do you comfort someone who wants the things you have or might have soon?

She has felt behind for a long time, and I’ve had many a conversation with her when she’s got upset about still living at home, still not having the career she wants, etc. But she is still in the same situation, and my empathy is running low. Especially now I know my engagement is triggering for her! I deserve to feel happy during my wedding planning era but after she told me how she felt, I feel guilty for being happy.

I guess my question is: do I tiptoe around her and avoid wedding talk or should she just put a smile on her face and talk to her friend about her triggers? I hate to say it but my mental load is preferring the latter.

Eleanor says: Why are the options that you tiptoe around or she puts a smile on her face?

We are told the natural world is ‘breaking down’. But forests don’t work like aeroplanes or human hearts

• A version of this piece was originally published on Aeon as Why we need to think again about ecosystem failure

The Amazon rainforest, according to a 2021 study, is losing its capacity as a carbon sink and now emits more than it absorbs. In the tropics, marine scientists are reporting that coral reefs are in decline, threatening fish stocks. Equally concerning is research into the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (Amoc), a vast system of ocean currents that helps regulate the climate and is at risk of collapsing this century. The entire global ecosystem appears to be losing its ability to function.

We find this view in newspapers, magazines, technical reports and the journals of learned societies. But thinking about the environment in terms of its functions is also how many of us tend to understand the world. We may think that forests exist to produce oxygen, wetlands to filter water and bees to pollinate our crops.

Of special interest to humanity is the relationship of biodiversity to the variety of services provided by ecosystems and, in particular, to the stability of the flow of those services, such as the maintenance of the gaseous composition of the atmosphere, preservation of soils, recycling of nutrients and provision of food from the sea.

All 48 teams have played their first matches. From xG to assists to transfer value, here’s some of the more revealing bits of data

The first round of fixtures at the World Cup is in the bank so we’ve finally seen all 48 teams. But what have we learned? Who was good, bad, lucky or fired after one game? A dig into the Opta data has revealed some facts that may not have been immediately apparent from the scorelines.

Assistant manager’s half-time interview on ITV offered an unexpectedly honest insight into the in-game mood in the camp

England’s players have been effusive in their praise for Thomas Tuchel’s half-time talk, but the half-time talk that ITV viewers in the UK got was very different, in the form of a refreshingly frank interview with his assistant, Anthony Barry.

In-game interviews of staff are another novel broadcasting feature of this World Cup, like the innovative use of refcam, but, rather than fob off a reporter with some meaningless platitudes about the lads giving it 110%, Barry gave an honest assessment of the team’s failings up to that point.

• Striker will miss Saturday’s Germany game in Toronto

• Arrest was over alleged ‘organised fraud’ in Ligue 1

The Côte d’Ivoire striker Elye Wahi, who is being investigated for alleged fixing, has not been authorised to travel to Canada for his team’s World Cup match against Germany, his country’s football federation (FIF) said on Thursday.

The FIF said Wahi would not be able to travel with the squad for Saturday’s game in Toronto because “the necessary administrative authorisations for his entry into Canadian territory could not be obtained at this stage”.

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It must be difficult being the second choice at a major tournament, confronting the idea your head coach thinks you are an inferior player. Maintaining confidence when others are favoured takes a lot of mental fortitude because agreeing with the decision is never an option. Some waltz in, do as they please, having been afforded the opportunity you want because of one person’s decision, while others watch on from the sidelines, desperately waiting for a chance to prove everyone wrong.

Our cartoonist looks at Australia’s involvement at the tournament with a place in the knockout phase tantalisingly close

The end of outsourcing government jobs, from cleaners to security, is just one progressive idea set in motion in this pivotal byelection week

In the quiet pause before the storm of the Makerfield result drops, good news has passed unnoticed. “The age of outsourcing is over,” declares the Cabinet Office. There will be “the biggest wave of insourcing of public services for a generation” Rachel Reeves says. Finally, here it comes: every government department promises to bring cleaners, security and others of all kinds back as public employees when current contracts expire.

“New approach to procurement signals ambition to end the era of outsourcing by default,” goes the government press release. Shares in the big state contractors Serco, Capita, and Mitie fell on Wednesday after the news.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

If Burnham wins the Makerfield byelection, many are predicting an immediate and stormy showdown. But that could be bad for both men

One of the many problems with our politics now is that only the loudest or most discordant voices seem to get heard. And there’s certainly no shortage of people from rival Labour camps mouthing off about what happens next if Andy Burnham wins the Makerfield byelection today. An apparently well-placed source in his team says they are preparing to launch an “immediate leadership challenge” against Keir Starmer on Friday morning, while another briefs that Burnham will hold off – but only for 72 hours because they dare not risk losing momentum. At the very least, there will be a steady escalation of threats and ultimatums.

Meanwhile, the prime minister is said to be barricading himself into Downing Street, where he remains determined to contest a challenge and, according to some reports, will insist any member of the cabinet backing his rival must quit. For instance, some of his aides have been operating on the assumption that Ed Miliband, who has done little to conceal his desire for Starmer to go, will resign over the next week. Although this is vigorously denied by the energy secretary, along with claims that he is “ghosting” the prime minister’s calls, it has not stopped some hardline loyalists expressing unnecessary relish at the prospect of a more enforced cabinet departure for Miliband.

Tom Baldwin is a former adviser to Ed Miliband and the author of Keir Starmer: The Biography

Starmer’s EU reset is aimed at the conference room. Meanwhile Farage and the hard right mine ethnic resentment on the streets

What story does Britain tell itself about Brexit, 10 years after the vote that transformed the country? Watch TV or read the papers and you find one of two viewpoints: from the common room or the conference room.

The common room story is about chums and how they fall out. Friendships forged on hallowed playing fields and over Cotswold kitchen suppers, then dashed on the rocks of ambition. The new BBC documentary Brexit: A Very British Civil War is the latest in the genre, recounting what Dave said to Boris said to Michael said to Dom. It oohs at the deals struck over sets of tennis, and aahs at the then prime minister threatening dissenters with: “I will fuck you up for ever.” This is David Cameron as box office: the Scarface of the Bullingdon Club. And Brexit, you understand, was simply an Oxford fracas that got out of hand.

Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist

In US statecraft and warcraft, the president and Pete Hegseth are now saying previously quiet parts out loud

The Department of Defense will soon officially become the Department of War, if Republicans get their way. Key committees in the House and Senate have approved the name change, and Donald Trump is eager to sign it into law. The rebranding is candid and ominous, offering a future of heightened zeal for killing, maiming and destroying.

Christened in 1949, the Department of Defense unified the military branches with the Pentagon as their headquarters. Since then, presidents have routinely promoted each new war as vital for the defense of the United States and its values, a pretense that has pervaded mainstream media and political discourse.

Norman Solomon is an American journalist, media critic, left-leaning progressive activist, and former US Congress candidate

It never occurred to me that I could opt out of checking my reflection, but a conversation I heard this week was a total revelation

Rats in labs eventually work out which behaviour stops the electric shocks, but I had to be taught by a podcast. Comedian Hannah Berner was a recent guest on Armchair Expert, and revealed she hardly ever looks in the mirror.

“It has information you don’t need about you,” she explained.

The Liberal Democrat leader’s call for more ambitious reintegration with Europe brings a necessary focus on economic and strategic reality

Membership of the European single market was at stake when the UK voted on Brexit, but it was not the decisive question in the campaign. The leave campaign dishonestly promised a cost-free severance of ties with Britain’s largest trading partner. As immigration came to dominate the debate, the requirement to allow free movement of people as a condition of seamless integration with European markets undermined the remainers’ most compelling argument.

Reluctance to advocate a liberal migration regime imposed a taboo on calls to reconsider the Brexit settlement, even as warnings about the cost of rupture were vindicated. Now, after a decade of forsaken growth, the mood is finally changing.

Member-run institutions offer a communal infrastructure to build on. Using national lottery money to boost their fortunes is money well spent

Regulars at the Stubshaw Cross Community and Sports Club may be looking forward to a return to business as usual. Since late May, the venue has doubled as Andy Burnham’s centre of operations, as he seeks to plot a path to Downing Street by winning Thursday’s byelection in the Makerfield constituency. But the back bar will soon be free of visiting ministers and attendant media, and the bingo, pizza nights and quizzes will again proceed undisturbed.

At their peak in the 1970s, working-class institutions such as these were an integral part of the fabric of social life in Britain. Since then, more than half have disappeared. Of the 1,800 or so that remain, a recent survey found that many were under severe financial strain. Deindustrialisation and the digital revolution have created a more atomised culture and weakened habits of association. At the same time, scholars such as the American academic Robert Putnam have diagnosed a crisis of belonging – or of not belonging – in western societies.

Dr Rory Conn says the ban is long overdue to protect children from harm, but 16-year-old Clara O‘Grady says social media is not an isolated section of teenagers’ lives that can easily be removed. Plus letters from Dr Peter Jarrett and Tony Side

This week marks a positive moment for public health and for the wellbeing of children and adolescents. Hearing Keir Starmer’s announcement proposing a ban on social media for under-16s, I felt an optimism I have not experienced for years regarding the mental health of young people in the UK (Social media firms hit back as Starmer announces ban for under-16s in UK, 15 June).

As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, I have spent over a decade witnessing the impact of online exposure on those I meet in clinic. The harms extend far beyond the visible issues of self-harm, suicidality and eating disorders. They include pervasive bullying, the normalisation of misogyny and racism, and the quiet erosion of time, attention and self-worth through endless, valueless scrolling. Increasingly, children turn to artificial substitutes for connection – chatbots and curated feeds – in an online environment that often fosters hostility rather than support.

Readers reflect on the greatest songs about football and make their own suggestions

A surprising omission from the Guardian’s list of best songs about football (Ranked, 4 June) was the Manchester United Calypso, recorded by the Trinidadian actor and musician Edric Connor in 1957.

A tribute to the Busby Babes, it is still sung to this day by United fans at many matches, both home and away. Also, while lacking the catchy vibe of the United Calypso, another song surely worthy of inclusion was All I want for Christmas is a Dukla Prague Away Kit by Half Man Half Biscuit. A song from their 1985 chart‑topping album Back in the DHSS, it celebrates the dubious pleasures of getting unfairly beaten by a neighbouring kid at Subbuteo table football. (His game, his rules.)
Mick Balfour
Leeds

Readers recall moments of spontaneous humour between passengers and staff on public transport

On the subject of getting trains to Speke and buses to Jump (Letters, 10 June), I remember an alarming experience when, as a child, I was allowed to catch a train home through East Anglia on my own for the first time. Realising too late that I had boarded the wrong train, I asked the conductor what to do, and was informed that I wouldn’t be able to get off until March. This happened in November and I only had a packed lunch with me.
Ben Howison
Limpley Stoke, Wiltshire

• As a bus driver in Belfast during the 1970s, I was always grateful for the opportunity, when asked “Does this bus go over the Albert Bridge?”, to be able to reply “Well, if it doesn’t there’ll be a hell of a splash.”
Dugald McCullough
Newcastle, County Down

Career advice | Book chat | Saving MoD cash | Roy Hattersley

As a member of a privileged generation when jobs were plentiful, my heart goes out to young people who can’t find a job (Record number of young people fear long-term unemployment, 12 June). But everyone knows there’s a shortage of teachers. Why don’t some of them try that? It’s hard work, but potentially rewarding. And much better than sitting at home feeling miserable and failing to get interviews.
Ruth Brandon
London

• I was reluctant to join a book group because of a dislike of being told what to read (Letters, 12 June). Our “book chat” solves this problem. We bring along what each of us has enjoyed reading recently. This way, I have discovered new reading delights – Elizabeth Strout, Henry Marsh and many more – without a sense of doing dutiful homework. David Hockney’s “End bossiness soon” campaign would approve of this approach.
Clare Addison
Oxford

Updates from the second day’s play at the Oval
Day one report | Sign up for the Spin | Mail James

80th over: New Zealand 318-7 (Jamieson 16, Phillips 59) Jamieson slaps Baker through the off-side, then makes room for a mighty smack … he edges away over Rew for four more. The big man is here to have fun as he launches to deep midwicket … and Ben Duckett, backpedalling, drops it! That should have been snaffled; Baker was already celebrating. To make matters worse for the debutant, Phillips pulls away for another boundary, the third of the over. A very tidy start to the day for New Zealand.

79th over: New Zealand 305-7 (Jamieson 7, Phillips 55) It’s Josh Tongue to bound in from the Pavilion End – he goes short and Phillips offers no shot, the ball smashing into his belly button. Ouch. England are going full bumper mode, with three men on the leg-side boundary, and midwicket just a few yards in front of the rope. And is Jamieson gone, gloving the ball high, with Rew collecting? Nah, off the helmet. And a no ball, too. Jamieson will get checked out by the doc.

All the latest from the royal meeting
Thursday’s previews and tips | Mail Tony

Oddschecker market movers

Trawlerman - 9/4 from 3/1

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Gilded Prize - 7/2 from 9/2

️ Updates from the opening round at Shinnecock Hills
️ Preview | Follow us on Instagram | Mail Matt

Good news! “Round 1 of the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills will resume at 9:05 a.m. ET.” So says the official tweet. That’s just over 15 minutes away.

Weather delay in the golf but they’re playing at the Oval. Should be the other way round surely?

• England consent to Chiefs fielding winger at Twickenham

• Ethan Roots also set to return against Northampton

Manny Feyi-Waboso has been declared fit to return for Exeter in this weekend’s Prem final at Twickenham. England’s star winger underwent facial surgery barely two weeks ago but, in a major boost for the Chiefs, is available for his side’s showdown with Northampton and, potentially, England’s Test against South Africa on 4 July.

Rob Baxter, Exeter’s director of rugby, said the decision was ultimately taken by Feyi-Waboso himself after England’s medical team indicated they had no objections to him playing. The 23-year-old had a plate inserted in his jaw this month but is now free to bolster the Chiefs’ efforts to secure a first Prem title since 2020.

Midfielder is chasing a trophy-laden spell in France and hopes a dream can be fulfilled by playing in the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil

June 2026 is a month Caroline Weir is unlikely to forget. She scored seven goals in two Scotland games as they clinched top spot in their World Cup qualifying group, watched on with joy at 2am as Scotland’s men secured their first World Cup finals win for 36 years and then her move to OL Lyonnes was confirmed by the eight-time European champions.

The Scotland captain says the lure of playing for Europe’s most decorated women’s club made the transfer an easy decision after four happy years playing for Real Madrid.

Parents and their kids, new and old fans and a few celebrities gathered to honor the team’s NBA Championship

Thousands of Knicks fans – decked out in blue and orange jerseys, shorts, hats, necklaces and more – gathered in downtown New York City on Thursday to celebrate the team’s NBA championship in a lively ticker-tape parade.

All along Church Street, the street running parallel to the parade route, fans lit joints, threw back shots of Fireball whiskey and drank Coronas, within view of bemused and outnumbered New York City police officers. Some fans climbed atop police cruisers and posed for photos.

• England to play Ukraine or Slovakia if they beat Greece

• Scotland probably face Sweden if they win first game

England will need to overcome Greece and either Slovakia or Ukraine to qualify for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

Scotland were handed a significantly tougher draw and will probably need to beat Sweden, if they first beat Czechia, to reach the finals.

• Club triggered £34.5m release clause for Osasuna forward

• Head coach keen on player’s versatility and pace

The Osasuna winger Víctor Muñoz will become the first signing of Andoni Iraola’s reign at Liverpool after the club triggered a £34.5m release clause, beating Newcastle to his signature. Muñoz will sign a six-year contract after undergoing a medical on Wednesday in Atlanta, where he is part of the Spain squad at the World Cup.

Liverpool have been following Muñoz’s progress for an extensive period and sped up the deal after Iraola’s appointment because the head coach was eager to add his compatriot. Iraola spent most of his playing career at Athletic Bilbao, continues to closely monitor La Liga and Muñoz has impressed him.

The Minnesota Lynx point guard’s creativity has made an impact in her first pro season and has fans racing to watch her highlight reels

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For dedicated WNBA fans, every morning begins with the same question: what did Olivia Miles do this time? A no-look pass through three defenders? A crossover that sends another grown woman staggering out of frame? Statue of Liberty layups launched from angles that flout Euclidean geometry? You just never know with this wonder woman. The rush she gives fans makes a double espresso feel like a nightcap.

No player in the WNBA has brought more joy to the season’s opening month than Miles, who has quickly emerged as one of the league’s most compelling talents. Fifteen games into her professional career, the 23-year-old North Jersey native has already established herself as the engine of the Minnesota Lynx offense, pacing the team in average scoring (19.0) and assists (5.7) while sinking more than half her shot attempts. In a 99-83 road win against a short-handed Los Angeles Sparks team on Wednesday night, Miles poured in a season-best 31 points on a blistering 80% percent shooting in just 26 minutes.

Up to 3,000 activists – including cabinet ministers and other MPs – descending on constituency to back Andy Burnham

Up to 3,000 Labour campaigners are expected to descend on Makerfield for Andy Burnham, prompting fears among organisers that the hordes of activists may end up overwhelming voters during Thursday’s byelection.

Local hotels are fully booked and party members are expected to be dispatched to polling stations, and to leaflet people waiting at bus stops and school gates to avoid swamping residents on their doorsteps.

Education secretary cites admissions data for England, saying Labour is ‘rebalancing the system to focus on 94% of kids in state schools’

Adding VAT to private school fees has failed to trigger an exodus of pupils into the state sector despite widespread speculation that it would, the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has said.

The Labour government applied 20% VAT to private school fees from the start of 2025. They had previously been exempt from the tax. Newly published admissions data for England showed there had been no influx towards state schools since then.

Vulnerable adults suffered broken bones and severe neglect in Northern Irish hospital at centre of police investigation

An inquiry into the abuse of vulnerable adults at Muckamore Abbey hospital in Northern Ireland has found “mistreatment became a normality” and patients suffered black eyes, broken bones and severe neglect.

The hospital is at the centre of the UK’s largest police investigation into the alleged abuse of vulnerable adults, with 124 people having been referred by police for prosecution.

The escalation of violence between patients and the increased use of seclusion of patients from 2011 onwards was a warning sign and precursor to the mistreatment of patients by staff.

There were chronic shortages of staff that meant some essential care was not given and patients’ ability to cope with daily living diminished.

A policy shift, beginning in 2001, to move all patients with learning disabilities and autism from hospital into community-based care was beset with failure and led to heightened distress and many readmissions.

A lack of activities for patients often led to “frustration, boredom and dysregulated behaviour” and Muckamore became “more functional and less homely” as time went on.

There was a “closed culture” among staff that discouraged reporting of bad behaviour and many families said they were frightened to complain in case it affected the care their relatives received.

Peter Wai and Bill Yuen sentenced to 10 and eight years at Old Bailey in first convictions under National Security Act

A UK Border Force officer and a Hong Kong trade official based in London have been jailed for spying for China in the first such conviction in British criminal history.

Peter Wai, who conducted “shadow policing” operations on Chinese dissidents in the UK, was sentenced to 10 years, while his handler, Bill Yuen, received an eight-year term.

A decade in the making, the museum will reopen in November in two restored market halls with displays and late-night DJ sets

The new London Museum will be “a social space for the city”, its director has said, hosting afternoon tea events, monthly dinner clubs and late-night DJ sets where visitors can mingle among the artefacts while dancing.

Sharon Ament said that when it reopened later this year the museum would be a “democratic” space that engaged with all Londoners rather than merely a repository for its collections, which stretch from the city’s neolithic prehistory to modern acquisitions.

More than half of Ayetoro – a Christian utopia founded in the 1940s – has been lost to the ocean, and its remaining people are running out of options

In the early hours of 15 February 2019, the Atlantic Ocean came for Arowo Victoria’s livelihood. The 60-year-old retired midwife was asleep when neighbours began banging on her door, shouting that the sea had started covering buildings along the nearby coastline.

By the time she got to her small shop, she discovered that the Atlantic had already swept it away, destroying the business she had built with borrowed money after retirement.

Temperatures expected to hit 30C on Friday and remain high until Tuesday as second heatwave in three weeks approaches

Amber heat warnings have been issued across southern England as a second heatwave in the space of three weeks approaches.

Temperatures are expected to climb to 30C (86F) on Friday, rising to 32C on Sunday and 34C on Monday. In May the UK’s temperature record for that month was broken with highs of 35C.

John Ray, 17th-century botanist who coined words petal and pollen, was a tutor at Cambridge when he created his first garden

He coined the terms petal and pollen, helped to lay the foundations of modern biology and is widely regarded as the greatest English naturalist of the 17th century.

But it was while he was a young college tutor at Cambridge in the 1650s that the botanist John Ray – also known as “the father of natural history” – created his first known garden and began to systematically study plants for the first time.

Generator’s shares rise as regulator finds no evidence of misleading statements about fuel’s sustainability

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The City watchdog has closed an investigation into the owner of the Drax power plant after an almost 10-month review into whether the company’s sustainability claims mislead shareholders.

The Financial Conduct Authority said it had “reviewed thousands of pages” of “complex material” relating to the company’s sourcing of wood pellets for the Drax power plant in Selby, North Yorkshire, but “did not find evidence that justified any further action”.

Filming in Las Vegas was suspended and Cain replaced as presenter after he appeared to be drunk, sources say

• BBC presenter Ashley Cain called women ‘slags’, ‘sluts’ and ‘bitches’

• Warning: this article contains sexually explicit, offensive language

The BBC made a second documentary series fronted by the presenter Ashley Cain just months after it was informed about an incident of alleged misconduct on a separate production in Las Vegas, which caused filming to be suspended and another presenter flown out at short notice to replace him.

The BBC’s decision to hire Cain, and promote him as a rare talent who could appeal to young men, is under scrutiny after the Guardian revealed his history of highly offensive and misogynistic social media posts, including jokes about hitting women and degrading sexual practices.

Labour and Tories claimed Green party leader breached London assembly ethics code over non-payment of tax

Zack Polanski has been cleared by an ethics inquiry looking into complaints that he did not pay council tax while living on a houseboat.

A report by the Greater London authority’s monitoring officer found that the circumstances of the Green party leader’s living arrangements were beyond its scope and he had therefore not breached the code of conduct for London assembly members.

Council says it has so far spent £15,000 removing flags put up under campaign linked to anti-immigration protests

Oxfordshire county council is seeking an injunction against the Raise the Colours campaign group after England flags were tied to lamp-posts across the county.

The campaign has been putting up flags across the country since August last year, and there is a particular proliferation of them in and around Oxford. Though the campaign has said it is motivated by pride and patriotism, the flag raising has been linked to anti-immigration protests.

Findings of national survey comes as rail regulator reports record 1.83bn passenger journeys last year

Fewer than half of rail commuters in Great Britain think their train fare is value for money, a national passenger survey has found.

Travellers on the CrossCountry long-distance rail service were the least satisfied overall, according to the research by the passenger watchdog Transport Focus.

‘Mastermind’ Dawie Groenewald given fine of 2m rand or four-year jail term almost 16 years after arrest

Two traffickers of rhino horns have been sentenced by a South African court in what police said was the world’s largest such case, partly bringing to an end an almost two-decade legal saga.

Dawie Groenewald and Tielman Erasmus had faced more than 1,700 charges ranging from illegally hunting and dehorning rhinos to racketeering and money laundering.

Miguel Díaz-Canel cites China and Vietnam as possible models for opening up the country’s economy

Cuba’s economy needs urgent changes to overcome a crisis intensified by a US oil blockade, the president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, has said in a speech to Communist party leaders.

“The situation calls for urgent and necessary changes,” Díaz-Canel told the party’s politburo in his frankest admission yet of the need to overhaul the country’s communist model.

In a rare unanimous ruling, the court backed a challenge to Texas gun laws by siding with Ali Danial Hemani

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He calls the situation a “win-win” for the US.

Vance is here, and he starts by claiming that Trump’s peace deal with Iran “is already bearing real fruits for the American people”, with 12.5m barrels going through the strait of Hormuz last night and gas prices dropping below $4 today for the first time since the conflict began.

Waiting period before receiving medication was included in draft law to gain support for abortion ban in 2018 referendum

Ireland’s parliament has voted to remove a mandatory three-day wait for abortion during early pregnancy after campaigners said the rule was an unnecessary restriction.

The Dáil passed the bill on Wednesday night, clearing a path for the legislation to go to a parliamentary committee and become law later this, or next, year.

Andrew Bailey says ‘still inflationary pressure in pipeline’ despite US and Iran nearing peace deal as interest rates kept on hold

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The governor of the Bank of England has warned consumers to expect higher costs this year as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, despite falling oil prices as the US and Iran agreed a peace deal.

Speaking after the Bank kept interest rates on hold at 3.75%, Andrew Bailey said there was “still some inflationary pressure in the pipeline” after the conflict pushed up energy prices.

Exclusive: Economists find Brexit caused 12% depression in UK exports, most of which is due to leaving single market

Brexit has depressed UK exports to the EU by 12%, and rejoining the customs union would undo only a fraction of the damage, research shared with the Guardian shows.

With the UK’s future relationship with the bloc likely to feature prominently in a potential Labour leadership contest, the economists John Springford and Anton Spisak, of the Centre for European Reform, provide fresh evidence of the damage caused by exiting.

As companies integrate AI and hire fewer employees, a shift toward a ‘gig economy’ will commence

In 2024, the buy-now-pay-later company Klarna announced that it would cut hundreds of customer service roles and begin using an artificial intelligence chatbot instead. The move was expected to save the company millions. But a year later, after customers complained about the degraded quality of customer service, Klarna began to quietly recruit human customer service agents back.

At first glance, the reversal appeared to be a victory for human workers in the age of AI. The reality was more complex. Instead of bringing on full-time customer service agents, who Klarna contracts through an outside agency, it instead brought on workers in what Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski has described as “an Uber type of set-up”. Now, an AI chatbot continues to handle most of customers’ basic queries, while a growing number of gig workers handle the more advanced ones. “Just like somebody can go and drive an Uber for a while, they can actually jump on and work for Klarna’s customer service,” Siemiatkowski said on a podcast in February.

Billionaire also tells summit land could be given to skilled Israelis to build ‘advanced war drones’, according to Hancock Prospecting notes

Gina Rinehart has proposed Australia should offer Elon Musk islands for free to build satellites and launch them into space in a bid to attract investment to northern Queensland.

Australia’s richest woman continued her battle against government regulation and high taxes in a speech delivered at News Corp’s bush summit in Townsville on Thursday.

The Britart mavericks have now teamed up with an unlikely artist. Is their odd throuple an elaborate prank – or are the duo passing down their legacy?

‘Hello girls,” greets 82-year-old Gilbert Prousch, one half of art duo Gilbert & George, as he shakes my hand when I arrive at his house with a very important guest in tow. He kisses his other guest on the cheek. Gilbert is Italian after all.

“This way,” he says, ushering us into the four-storey, 18th-century Georgian townhouse in Fournier Street, Spitalfields, east London, where he and the other half of his duo, George Passmore, 84, have lived since the late 1960s. Back then, they rented the ground floor for £16 a month. Now, they own the whole house. I bet it costs a bit more now.

Bach, Beethoven and Brahms did it. Liszt took it to such virtuosic heights that the entire genre almost collapsed. Ahead of his own album of transcriptions, the pianist and composer looks at the history of reworking existing music

They have long been the norm in the world of jazz clubs and hotel lounges, but transcriptions in the classical world were for many years a bit of a naughty word – or at least a guilty pleasure. To arrange someone else’s music in a way they hadn’t originally intended, often with extravagant decoration, is still regarded in some quarters as displaying a lack of seriousness, a lapse of taste – or even as sacrilege.

Listen to Mozart’s Don Giovanni in the hands of Liszt. The venerated 18th-century opera underwent a metamorphosis, becoming a blisteringly virtuoso potpourri, its melodies serving as mere launch pads for the most exaggerated form of showing off. Our jaws may drop with astonished delight but is it serious or tasteful?

In a remake-riddled TV landscape, its fresh combination of jokes and intrigue offers something for everyone – the casual and obsessive viewer alike

In the last few weeks, you may have been seeing a lot of buzz around a show called Widow’s Bay. I am here to provide more buzz, like a loyal bee foot soldier to the queen (television).

In this dire existing-IP-driven remake-riddled landscape, an offering this fresh is the best thing in the world. The tone of the show is what has grabbed me the most, striking the exact right balance (in my correct opinion) between scary mystery vibes, and hilarious comedy. At no point does it sacrifice comedy for the more serious parts, and I really appreciate that. For example, in the penultimate, thrilling, everything’s-about-to-happen episode, they slow down for an eight-minute scene involving a side character named Rosemary, which moves the plot forward slightly but is mainly there to shine a light on the incredible comedy chops of actor Dale Dickey.

Singer Hayley Kiyoko misses the mark in a meandering directorial debut packed with groan-inducing dialogue

On 26 June 2015, the US supreme court finally declared gay marriage legal nationwide. Two days later, singer-songwriter and former Disney Channel alum Hayley Kiyoko effectively came out to the world with her debut single, Girls Like Girls. “Girls like girls like boys do, nothing new,” she sang with triumphant bluntness. Its accompanying music video, featuring a Sapphic teen romance, spread fast and wild across Tumblr, a website defined by its intensely nostalgic aesthetics, where style and identity formation merged for many queer teens. Today, the music video has 163m views on YouTube.

Kiyoko, now engaged to former The Bachelor contestant Becca Tilley, has since been hailed the “lesbian Jesus” by fans. Queer expressions in pop music, from King Princess to Chappell Roan to Reneé Rapp, have become far more common in the decade since the music video was released, but Kiyoko still seems to inspire one of the most dedicated, and specifically Sapphic, audience in queer pop music today.

Locked out of his apartment, a cancer-stricken Parisian is caught in a race against time to freeze his sperm. The rising star who plays him explains how he tackled a very initimate quest

Just six months after the world rallied to defend poor Paul Dano, vulnerability may now be a hot commodity for an actor. What is “weak sauce” for Quentin Tarantino, who attacked Dano, can be mighty savoury for others. So it’s good timing that Théodore Pellerin, with his gangly frame and huge eyes, exudes that quality in the new French character study Nino. Gauche, hesitant and withholding, Pellerin is magnetic as a young Parisian locked out of his apartment for a weekend after a papillomavirus (HPV)-related cancer diagnosis.

Pellerin explains Nino’s predicament, his inability to be candid with his loved ones, almost down to the cellular level. “His throat cancer isn’t insignificant,” he says. “It’s the part that links the head to the body. There’s a dissociation from the body – a distancing of his emotions. And because it comes from a sexually transmitted disease, his sexuality – a strong life force – is stunted too. So his mission is to speak and to ejaculate.” Urgently in the case of the latter: Nino must freeze his sperm as his treatment will make him infertile. His odyssey around Paris is the gen Z answer to French New Wave classic Cléo de 5 à 7, which also revolved around a cancer diagnosis. Only this time, it’s about the impossibility of finding a good place to masturbate.

José Luis López Vázquez’s phone box nightmare is short and sharp but Narciso Ibáñez Serrador’s TV fever dream overplays its hand

Two macabre Spanish TV plays from the 1970s are being released as a double bill: Antonio Mercero’s La Cabina (★★★★★) is a cult 1972 surreal short film lasting just 35 minutes but encompassing an entire dreamworld of anxiety. It was conceived for television in the spirit of Alfred Hitchcock Presents or Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected, but I can imagine it shown in cinemas as a curtain-raiser before Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel.

La Cabina is a black comic nightmare in which a fussy middle-aged man, played by veteran Spanish comedy actor José Luis López Vázquez, steps into a phone booth that has just appeared in a suburban sidestreet. But the phone doesn’t work and then he can’t get out; the door is jammed. What to do? There’s no mobile phone to reach for; in 1972, the phone booth was the mobile phone. He gesticulates and waves in panic through the glass, though seems mysteriously robbed of the power of speech and is clearly inhibited by how ridiculous he must look. Crowds cluster round and try ineffectually to help. A callous, carnivalesque atmosphere develops. The man sees himself reflected in a mirror that one onlooker is carrying: trapped, absurd, bourgeois homo sapiens as zoo animal.

An indie star in his homeland, Mabandla’s fame is growing abroad – and his uplifting new album is full of existential insight after some of the toughest years of his life

As the camera pulls back from Bongeziwe Mabandla in the video for his recent single Yalwa, the true stars of the show reveal themselves: two women, dressed in a mix of crisp white and black traditional isiXhosa umbhaco garments and chic designer wear. Sure, Mabandla himself strikes a compelling figure in the centre of the frame in his own traditional apparel; the herd of cattle grazing around them are resplendent; and the forested ridges of South Africa’s Eastern Cape remain rapturous. But those stoic, confident, badass women! “Yeah, that’s my mom and aunt,” Mabandla says with a chuckle. The song, he says, is “all about heritage, going back and celebrating women in my lineage and in my family”.

Keeping that connection alive has become especially important to Mabandla now that the singer-songwriter – an indie icon in Johannesburg – has been living far away from them for the first time. After years of finding particular acclaim in France (including a nomination for the prestigious Radio France Internationale award early in his career), Mabandla has been settled in Paris for six months amid bouts of touring and travelling through Europe. “I’m everywhere these days, living between two countries,” he says, laughing again. “I wanted to see what doors would open for me living in a different culture, especially in a big place like Paris. It’s been life-changing, but I’ve been very careful I don’t abandon my South African side.”

Ehnes/Armstrong
(Seattle Chamber Music Society)
The Canadian violinist and American pianist – musical partners for over three decades – bring assurance and grace to these three violin sonatas written by Brahms in his creative prime.

Written between 1879 and 1888, Brahms’s three violin sonatas are the work of a man in his creative prime. Between them, they cover a considerable emotional span, from the lyrical, ultimately wistful G major with its rain-dappled finale to the structural complexities of the fiery D minor. The central A major sonata, good natured yet intimate, is one of the composer’s sunniest and most endearing works.

James Ehnes and Andrew Armstrong met in Winnipeg in 1991 when the Canadian violinist was 15 years old and the American pianist was 17. The longevity of their partnership pays dividends here in performances that exude an effortless rightness. In the opening of the G major, Armstrong is the wind beneath Ehnes’s wings, the two musicians in artistic lockstep, even if the recorded sound favours the brightness of the violin. Pacing is assured, phrasing shapely. The gently pattering finale, with Ehnes’s graceful double-stopping, suggests remembrances of times past.

Tilda Swinton makes her audiobook debut with this landmark study of how New York artists from Edward Hopper to Andy Warhol have lived with loneliness

It is a decade since Olivia Laing published The Lonely City, a blend of memoir and cultural analysis on the isolation of urban living. Laing – who is non-binary – had moved to Manhattan following a love affair that ended abruptly. Once there, they were taken aback at their feelings of isolation. Laing discovered “you can be lonely anywhere, but there is a particular flavour to the loneliness that comes from living in a city, surrounded by millions of people”.

The author’s attempts to navigate these difficult feelings are threaded through a series of artist portraits examining the connection between loneliness and creativity. There is Edward Hopper, famed for his paintings featuring lone figures seated in cafes and diners, and Henry Darger, the janitor and hospital worker who lived alone and achieved posthumous fame through his disturbing and hallucinatory paintings of misfits. Laing also ponders the work of Andy Warhol, who surrounded himself with people while still keeping them at arm’s length, and David Wojnarowicz, the American artist and photographer who documented the devastation caused by the Aids virus. His work, Laing notes, “did more than anything to release me from the burden of feeling that in my solitude I was shamefully alone”.

(RCA)
He can write a decent rousing chorus, but the Stargazing hitmaker’s influences couldn’t be more obvious if he tried – right down to a ghastly Galway Girl sequel

You know what you’re getting with Myles Smith, an artist who set his musical stall out early on. Before he was the winner of the rising star award at the 2025 Brits, he started out at open mic nights, performing selections from the oeuvres of Mumford & Sons, Coldplay and Ed Sheeran, still his avowed biggest influences today. The last in particular proved so impactful on the Luton-born singer that he even plays one of those funny small-scale acoustic guitars that have long been Sheeran’s trademark.

You could therefore deride Smith as someone who is intent on piloting his way to the middle of the road – and who is also a little passe. In 2026, even the world of the nice-guy pop-folk singer-songwriter seems to have moved on a bit, its big names either a touch grittier and more obviously rooted in Americana (Noah Kahan, Jelly Roll), or more flamboyant and knowing (Benson Boone), or, at the very least, bolstered by a traumatic backstory that underpins their lyrics (Alex Warren). But if Smith’s approach is a callback to a past era, nobody seems to have informed the public. His 2024 breakthrough, Stargazing, went platinum in 16 countries; it’s still in the UK Top 100 nearly two years after its release, and the follow-up Nice to Meet You is also a platinum seller. A Minute, a Moment – Smith’s 2025 EP that lasted as long as most albums – sold half a million copies in the US alone.

With its echoes of Miranda July’s All Fours, this tragicomic tale of an American woman’s illicit romance is also a gripping murder mystery

The plot of A Little Bit Bad sounds like the setup for a joke: “Like, this white lady lusting after her hot Chicano roofer?” Perdita Jungfrau, the narrator, is describing her own situation. “Yuck.”

It’s 2009 and Perdita is 39 when she meets 25-year-old Nando, who is working on next door’s roof. “Burned out” after a decade as a hospital social worker, she’s a stay-at-home mother to a toddler, and pregnant again (though she doesn’t know it yet). She isn’t happy. Her husband is critical of her for quitting her job, and won’t look after the children: “Babies scare me!” Perdita is out in her San Diego backyard on the day that Nando falls from a ladder propped up against the neighbour’s house. She sees it happen, calls an ambulance and sits beside him on the grass to wait.

In the latest autofictional instalment of his family saga, the French writer makes sense of his sibling’s violent homophobia and short life

At 33, the French writer Édouard Louis has already seen all seven of his slim novels translated into English. In his breakout debut, The End of Eddy (2017), and again in Change (2024), he wrote about being the promising child of a poor family, the bullied gay son who became a bestselling author. Several of his other books have offered sympathetic sociological portraits of his parents: a father destroyed by physical labour, a victim of French healthcare and housing subsidy cutbacks, and a mother who, after raising numerous children in poverty, fled first Louis’s father and then, in Monique Escapes, published earlier this year, his abusive successor. Now, in Collapse, translated by novelist Tash Aw, Louis describes his eldest brother’s death, at 38, from complications relating to alcoholism.

“I felt nothing at the announcement of the death of my brother,” he begins; “not sadness or despair or joy or pleasure.” The reasons for his coldness soon become clear. His brother was violently homophobic. His drinking at one point prevented Louis from sleeping ahead of a crucial exam. After The End of Eddy came out, his brother went looking for him with a baseball bat. So when Louis talks with his mother and sister about how to pay for his brother’s funeral and admits, “yes, I would have let him be buried like a dog”, we understand why.

Is Japan really full of centenarians? And what about ‘blue zones’? A brilliant skewering of ageing secrets and lies

There is a special place in hell reserved for doctors who trade on their authority, status and medical training to monetise public fear and gullibility. Every time I scroll past a qualified physician touting elixirs that promise youthful vigour, cellulite-free thighs or gut microbiome makeovers, I want to poke their fraudulent eyes out. At best, these charlatans have chosen lining their pockets over helping others. At worst, as in the case of the Covid deniers and anti-vaxxers, they are actively dangerous – something I witnessed first-hand on hospital wards in 2021 as unvaccinated patients succumbed to the disease.

Nowhere is human hope monetised more ruthlessly by medical grifters than in the anti-ageing industry. Our inescapable fate – decrepitude and death – makes us ripe for exploitation. Who doesn’t want to pop a pill or hook themselves up to an IV infusion that, for only £99.99 a month, will magically stave off the moment you turn into your grandparents? In Morbid, debut author Saul Justin Newman, a research fellow at the University of Oxford’s Institute of Population Ageing, sets out to topple the whole, sordid house of cards. His central argument is that our fear of frailty and dying has “created an opening for all manner of skullduggery in the science of ageing”, an area of research which is rife, he argues, with “misleading claims, mistaken assumptions, and outright chicanery. The world’s oldest man is a fake, hundreds of thousands of the world’s oldest people are actually dead, and five decades of research on human longevity is moot.”

After ‘bottling everything up for a long time’ the faithful pet, who has remained silent for many years, will spill the beans on the pair’s ‘pet hates and fur-vent passions’

Gromit, the canine star of the Wallace and Gromit animations, is “breaking his silence” and writing a memoir.

After “bottling everything up for a long time”, the moment has come for him to “spill the beans”, according to publisher Ebury.

PlayStation 5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch 2, PC; Team Asano/Square Enix
Upbeat, charmingly retro RPG full of treasure-hunting, temple-roaming, monster-slaying and princess-saving is an absolute blast to play

You can’t help but wonder if developer Team Asano is in a private competition with itself to come up with the most ridiculous name for a video game. Following Project Triangle Strategy and Bravely Default: Flying Fairy we have this mouthful: The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales. It’s a playable love letter to the Zelda adventures of yesteryear rendered in the studio’s trademark glorious 2D-HD art style, melding evocative pixel sprites with modern visual effects.

From west Philabieldia, born and raised, our hero is adventurer Elliot. The antagonist making trouble in the neighbourhood is a king’s dastardly aide intent on summoning an ancient evil. The story is pure after-school-TV schlock, fully voice-acted but still unafraid to make you sit through reams and reams of text, and the action comprises treasure-hunting, temple-roaming and dispatching monsters. It’s part Chrono Trigger, part Oracle of Seasons as our almost obnoxiously upbeat hero journeys through the ages in order to solve puzzles, tip his fedora and of course, save a princess.

After the billion-dollar company’s leaders sent staff a memo saying the brand had ‘over-extended’, game studios may be in the firing line

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In March 2000, Bill Gates stood onstage at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco and, to a packed crowd, officially announced the company’s long-anticipated video game console. “We want Xbox to be the platform of choice for the best and most creative game developers in the world,” he told attenders – and that was indeed the intention of the small, dedicated team who put together the blueprints of that first machine.

The Xbox landscape seems very different 25 years later. Last week, mere days after a bullish summer showcase full of Gears of War revivals and promises of a renewed focus on Xbox’s gaming strengths, new CEO, Asha Sharma, and chief content officer, Matt Booty, wrote a memo to Xbox staff inviting them to brace for “hard truths”. “Excluding Activision Blizzard King, over the past five years, we have spent over $20bn on ongoing investments in our content, platform and hardware subsidy, but our annual revenue has declined nearly half a billion during that time. Going forward, this cannot continue,” it read.

PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S; EA Vancouver/Electronic Arts
Micromanaging your fighter is a little tedious, but the action is thrilling in this authentically detailed sporting simulation

Becoming a professional fighter takes years of repetition, drilling techniques and training footwork until everything is instinctual. Your body needs an automatic answer for every limb, from every angle. In MMA, which encompasses every martial art, it’s even harder.

EA Sports’ UFC 6 realistically captures the grind of this brutal discipline. Throw on Career Mode and you spend most of your time working on combos and techniques. It’s all about making the complex controls feel second nature, increasing the effectiveness of every strike thrown by your fighter. With simulated six-week-long training camps between bouts, you can sometimes spar 12 times before a fight that could be over in a matter of seconds.

Bart and co’s latest video game venture involved the show’s writers, animators and voice talent – plus a showdown between the two infamous tycoons. ‘It’s a true little Simpsons episode,’ say creators

Every generation gets its own Simpsons game. Them’s the rule-diddly-ules. For some, it was the arcade cabinets that swallowed pocket money throughout the 1990s. For others, it was The Simpsons: Cartoon Studio. For millennials like myself, it was The Simpsons: Hit & Run. Joe Zanetti, vice-president of operations at Monopoly Go! developer Scopely, traces his Simpsons gaming nostalgia back to Konami’s 1991 brawler, The Simpsons Arcade Game. “That’s the one that made such an impression on me,” he says.

It certainly did, because Springfield has just crash-landed in Monopoly Go! itself through a collaboration involving Simpsons writers, animators and voice talent alongside a new animated short starring Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, Harry Shearer and Will Ferrell. While most licensed TV games have faded into obscurity, The Simpsons keeps finding new digital lives.

Utilita Arena, Newcastle
Expanding on her recent theatre tour, Allen’s one-woman performance of her zeitgeist-dominating album is full of catharsis and high camp

Lily Allen’s arena jaunt is a scaled-up version of the show she took into theatres last year, touring her acclaimed album West End Girl, which at least partly dramatises the real-life breakdown of her four-year marriage to Stranger Things actor David Harbour. Once again, the show opens with string ensemble the Dallas Minor Trio playing instrumental versions of her older hits, which warms up the crowd and provides a rare opportunity to cheerily bellow the likes of The Fear or Fuck You (“very much”) along with several thousand people.

The 41-year-old comes on for the second act, an hour-long one-woman show performing West End Girl with theatrical staging. Looking resplendent – like a modern Ronette – in a dress finished off with a giant bow, she cheerily bounds into the album’s title track. Then she takes a phone call, which leaves her tearful.

Òran Mór, Glasgow
Nay Dhanak’s clownish tale follows an odd couple struggling to live up to their roles passing news from royal power to the public

We are in a medieval world of portentous comets, fiery dragons and punitive taxes. For the average peasant, it is tough going, but even in this hierarchical society, two of them have uncommon access to power. One is the town crier, the mediator of news between monarch and serf. The other is the jester, employed by the court to tell it like it is. If anyone can quell a peasants’ revolt, it is these two.

Playwright Nay Dhanak is fascinated by this imbalance of power, reflected, they suggest, in today’s mismatch between tech overlords and everyone else. Cry/Laugh, their professional debut, is a speculation about two such privileged outsiders losing their jobs. Can no news really be good news?

At Òran Mór, Glasgow, until 20 June

Old Vic theatre, London
Patrick Marber’s perplexing revival of the salesmen classic amps up the comedy and the performance of masculinity but veers into Bugsy Malone territory

There are few more masterly portraits of 1980s caveman capitalism than David Mamet’s drama about fast-talking Chicago real estate salesmen. Mamet is arguably the premier playwright for capturing American masculinity of this era, so it is surprising to learn that the idea to stage an all-female version came from him.

This new production has the same director as last year’s all-male Broadway revival, Patrick Marber. The wardrobe underlines that the female ensemble are playing at being men, pitted against each other with unequal sales leads and driven to ever more unprincipled acts in the hope to come out on top.

Sadler’s Wells, London
The annual Flamenco festival kicks off in spectacular style, with a show of serpentine grace and rhythmic precision

There are lots of places in life where being full of yourself, or at least acting like it, is not the done thing. In the spotlight of a flamenco show is absolutely not one of them. Peacocking is essential for the flamenco bailaor, and there’s something awesome about seeing the magnetic power of a performer so in control of their instrument – and their audience.

Jesús Carmona opens his show, and the 21st annual Flamenco festival, posed in a square of light against a blacked-out stage, slowly unfurling an arm with serpentine grace and then snatching at the air in a sudden grasp. It’s this ability to play with tension and attack, to suddenly erupt or acquiesce, to shift the energy around him, that marks Carmona out as a great dancer. He’ll stamp out demons in a burst of wild limbs, his legs fly and flick like La Liga’s best midfielder, but he’s got a core of absolute composure (and beautifully tight spins to go with it).

As the cute, yellow, gibberish-spouting creatures return in Minions & Monsters, the animator who voices them and has directed five of the films in the franchise will be taking your questions

Bello! Next month sees the return of everyone’s favourite small, cute, bright yellow blob assistants who spout international gibberish, as Minions & Monsters is released in time to clean up over the US Independence Day box office weekend.

It’s the seventh instalment in the Despicable Me franchise and the third standalone outing for Kevin, Stuart, Bob et al. The series has so far earned £12.3bn globally, of which box office accounts for about half (with merchandise sales slightly outstripping it, and DVD sales coming in at a mere $725m).

Every time I work on a scene or I work on the overall movie, I had my kids unconsciously in mind. Is that going to please them? Is it going to be funny for them? And if it is funny for them, is it going to be funny for their friends and their friends’ friends? I show them pretty much everything before it gets anywhere near the final cut so they also get to see all the sucky stuff I miserably fail on and the stuff I have doubts on.

“If it’s meant to be provoking some kind of a comedic reaction and if it fails then you say: ‘OK, back to the drawing board.’

The voice behind Dancing in the Street, Heat Wave and many more is releasing her first album in 22 years – and will take on your questions

Martha Reeves is one of the defining voices of 1960s pop, someone who embodied the romance and euphoria of Motown Records at its peak. And at the age of 84, she is preparing to release a new album – her first in 22 years. To mark the occasion, she’ll be joining us to answer your questions.

Born in Alabama and raised in Detroit, Reeves started out in the shadows of Motown Records, first doing administrative work, then backing vocals for the likes of Marvin Gaye. But in 1962 she got her shot as a lead artist with Martha and the Vandellas. Their second single, Come and Get These Memories, was a hit – and their third was an absolute smash. Heat Wave featured an astonishing performance from Reeves as she was knocked for six by love and lust. It kicked off a run of similarly lovestruck hits such as Jimmy Mack, I’m Ready for Love and Nowhere to Run. Dancing in the Street, meanwhile, was a euphoric paean to dance which took on a new meaning at the height of the civil rights movement, becoming a rallying call for protesters to unite.

Los Angeles-based actor’s boyfriend said she died from meningitis and blood infection which in turn led to sepsis

The former US child actor Daveigh Chase has died at age 35.

She was best known for voicing Lilo in Disney’s Lilo & Stitch and portraying Samara Morgan, the ghost in the 2002 horror film The Ring.

Veteran interviewees are forever trotting out the same anecdotes in response to unoriginal questions – until one fearless disruptor dared ask if ET had moist skin

For the most part, Steven Spielberg has avoided most of the indignities of the modern day press tour. He hasn’t had to subject himself to any spicy chicken wings, or summon any witticisms when presented with a cloche-covered sausage roll. Unlike many other celebrities, he hasn’t chosen to promote Disclosure Day by answering softball questions while simultaneously fashioning a Lionel Richie-style clay approximation of himself for YouTube. For this he should be applauded.

Instead, Spielberg has spent this promotional cycle on something more suited to his stature. A maestro tour, if you will, on which he gets to position Disclosure Day against a body of work that is second to none. Publications have run long oral histories about his entire career. He was a guest during the prestigious final week of Stephen Colbert’s talkshow. He was interviewed by the New York Times about the exact texture of ET’s skin.

Penelope worries this will teach her children it’s OK to trespass; Spencer sees no harm in them hopping over. No sitting on the fence – you decide who’s in the wrong

• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

It doesn’t matter that it only takes five seconds. It’s a flagrant disregard for property rights

No harm was done to their garden. It’s just a lawn with a few shrubs. I don’t see the problem

Shoko Kawata’s decision to take time off to have a baby – an unprecedented step for a mayor – has sparked weeks of debate inside Japan

In many other nations, no one would blink an eye. But when Japanese mayor Shoko Kawata announced she was taking maternity leave, her decision made headline news, spawned opinion polls and sparked a national debate.

And that debate is still unfolding in Japan, ever since she revealed her decision in May. On Monday, she told the assembly in the western city of Yawata she was confident her deputy could run things smoothly while she was away.

They claim to fix fine lines, blemishes and redness – but which stand up to scrutiny? We asked dermatologists and put them to the test to find out

• The best anti-ageing creams, serums and treatments

LED face masks are booming in popularity – despite being one of the most expensive at-home beauty products to hit the market. They claim to either reduce the appearance of fine lines, stop spots or calm redness, with some even combining different types of light to enhance the benefits.

However, it’s wise to be sceptical about new treatments that are costly and non-invasive, and to do your research before you buy. With this in mind, I interviewed doctors and dermatologists to find out whether these light therapy devices work.

Best LED face mask overall:
CurrentBody Series 2

Best budget LED face mask:
Silk’n LED face mask 100

Always wondered what everyday stuff celebrities buy, where they shop for food, and the basic they scrimp on? The model and entrepreneur talks pants, lawnmowers and restoring classic cars with the Filter

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David Gandy is one of the most recognisable faces in fashion, starring in hundreds of campaigns for brands including Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry, Hugo Boss and many more. He was the first man nominated for model of the year by the British Fashion Council.

From 2014 to 2019 he designed a bestselling range for Marks & Spencer featuring underwear, sleepwear and more, and in 2021, he launched his own fashion and lifestyle brand, David Gandy Wellwear. A committed philanthropist, he has worked with several charities, from Save the Children to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, and backed the Centre for Social Justice’s Lost Boys report on the crisis facing boys and young men in the UK today. The David Gandy Wellwear summer collection is available now.

You told us the barbecue upgrades that make a big difference. Plus, we’ve got you covered for Father’s Day with 62 tried and tested gifts

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Lighter, drawn-out days, warmer nights, and World Cup watch parties can mean only one thing: alfresco dining. If you’re itching to get the barbecue out, we’ve rounded up reader tips and tricks – and some of our own – to help up your grill game.

If you need an upgrade to your setup, the Weber kettle barbecue “makes incredible food without any faff”, says Alex David, who gave it top spot in his test of the best barbecues. Or Argos’s affordable drum-shaped grill “has everything you need and a little more”, and was Alex’s budget favourite.

The very best double creams have a wildly complex taste, but which brands are a little scoop of sunshine and which are much of a muchness?

• The best supermarket natural yoghurts

This was a tricky taste test, not least because 70% of these creams tasted pretty much exactly the same, which is a clear reflection of how homogeneous our conventional food system has become (much of our cream is made from milk sourced from thousands of farms across the country and mixed together). Even the packaging is more or less identical, with a printed plastic tub and a peelable plastic lid.

British double cream is about 48% fat, which is higher than whipping cream (35%) and just below clotted (55% plus). This matters in practical terms because that’s why it whips more firmly, holds its shape longer and is less likely to split when added to a hot sauce. Conventional cream does the job well (it’s white, neutral in flavour and whips well), but really good cream is thick, gloopy and wildly fatty, with an unbelievably complex taste and remarkably nourishing effect; it’s also eminently whippable. Scooping a blob of cream like that straight from the tub can replenish energy and satiate in an almost alchemical way.

Whether making a last-minute panic buy or you simply can’t be bothered to stray far from home, the dusty shelves of your local store often boast their share of trusted, dependable bottles

There was a time in my life when Campo Viejo Tempranillo was as essential as milk or bread; my flatmates and I designated it our “house wine”’. The year was 2011, we wore a lot of elasticated statement belts and lived opposite a corner shop by Brixton prison. Like us, the wine was young, fruity and there for a good time.

Campo Viejo remains one of the more obvious choices for a last-minute bottle of red. Even better is Muriel Tempranillo Rioja at the Co-op, which has all the dark red fruit and vanilla you might expect from young rioja. These days, I’d freshen up either of them with a blast in the fridge, or mix with lemonade for that emblematic Spanish summer cocktail, tinto de verano.

From flavoured porridge to omelette pancakes, these meals provide slow-release energy without weighing you down

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While I adore almost everything about June, there is a brief window, round about now, where I get flashbacks to my childhood PE lessons. That’s right, folks: it is sports day season. And while I love cheering on my own kids (and trying to calm my inner Julia from Motherland), as a kid I hated it with a passion. I was not remotely sporty, but I have tried to quieten those hangups and encourage my girls as best I can. And the one thing I can do, confidently, is give them a nutritious breakfast.

Which leads me on to one of the big food topics on everyone’s lips, whatever your age: what are we eating before we work out? If social media is anything to go by (and it really shouldn’t be, or with caution at least), we should all max out on protein. But what’s the workout rule of thumb: carbs before and protein after? And what is high-energy food anyway?

A family favourite transforms TV dinners into a summery event

It’s the time of year when the TV, balanced on the Ikea unit with castors, its feet supported by wooden splints, is wheeled between the kitchen doors so it faces out on to the terrace (flat roof). In the absence of a barbecue or outside shower, the TV is our seasonal shift; an inside object moved outside and, in the process, made (slightly) more exciting. As a result, TV dinners are also altered, as well as given another layer of soundtrack – birds shouting, people chatting in the bar below, the held-down horn of the articulated lorry that can’t reach the supermarket because a car is double parked – to the one coming out of the TV speakers. We also have a table outside, but that changes the nature of a TV dinner too much: the table is moved aside for wooden chairs, tea towels and plates on laps, with focaccia sandwiches with mortadella and parmesan cream for the meat eaters, and parmesan cream, tomato and a handful of green leaves for those who don’t.

Mortadella is considered an insaccati parzialmente cotti, or partly cooked sausage. Its origin is debated, with some suggesting it derives from the object it was pounded in, il mortaio (the mortar); others say the name can be linked back, as is so often the case, to the Romans, and a sausage flavoured with myrtle berries called farcimen murtatum. The dates around when it was first made are also debated, because of a mention of something called mortadella in 12th-century cookbooks, though that was likely made of veal or donkey. The 1600s are a better place to start, when a nobleman and agronomist called Vincenzo Tanara described meat: two-thirds lean from the pork shoulder and leg, cut into large cubes, then transformed through “sharp pounding”, stuffed and cooked at a moderate temperature. Alongside instructions for production, there were strict edicts regulating the labour-intensive processes involved in making luxury products for those who could afford them.

Is chocolate better served chilled? Do bananas go mushy? And won’t someone think of the avocados? Here is the final word on the fridge or cupboard conflict

If every summer has a trending drink, then 2026 promises to be the season of the chilled red. In news that our European neighbours, who have long been doing this, will roll their eyes at, Britons have discovered the delights of a cold glass of red wine. No more serving at room temperature, or warming it by the fire (or radiator) as if you’re the host of a country house gathering: this year if your pinot noir isn’t in an ice bucket, consider it social death. The Times reports that gen Z drinkers are driving the trend, with Ocado finding that 56% had drunk chilled red wine, or wine served over ice, in summer compared with 35% of the wider population.

“We tend to serve wine way too warm in this country, and red wine particularly,” says the wine expert Tom Gilbey. “It accentuates the alcohol and makes it taste like soup. Actually almost every wine is better served slightly cooler than we normally drink it, and some red wines are beautiful when they’re really quite cool.” The optimum temperature is around 10C (50F). “So 20 minutes in the fridge, or 10 to 15 minutes in an ice bucket. You don’t want to serve any wine too, too cold, but it’s really refreshing.

I’d always wanted to represent my country at something, so when I learned about Mölkky, I got a team together

It was December 2023 and I was searching in the attic for Christmas decorations when my phone pinged. I pulled it out of my pocket and found a WhatsApp message from my son who was backpacking in Australia. The message read, simply: “You might want to take a look at this” – it was accompanied by a short video clip.

The footage was grainy – it was night-time somewhere in Queensland and the streetlights weren’t the brightest – but I could make out Louis and his travel companion Asher throwing what looked like a rolling pin at a collection of numbered wooden skittles.

Edward thinks of sex as playtime and has a vivid imagination, which Jane is happy to go along with despite being quite ‘vanilla’ herself

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

When I dreamed about Jane in a latex catsuit, we had one made

Brendan Maclean had never spoken with drag queen Karen from Finance in person, nor laid eyes on the man behind the makeup. Then came a chance encounter in Melbourne

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

I’d had a big, sparkly pop career in my 20s but by 2024 I was beyond my twink era, and getting by hopping from one weird gig to the next. Covid had really done a number on the music industry and, while my friend Paul Mac had kept me making music, I found myself drifting through a strange, boozy few years in Sydney. I’d been single since 2020 and my best friend was my cat.

Throughout that hazy time, I was as terminally online as ever. At 38 I was posting like a 20-year-old. One day, for no particular reason, I posted a track from the Dissociatives’ self-titled album from the mid-noughties. Paul, who I call my gay uncle, and Daniel Johns of Silverchair fame, had made just one LP together, and the obscure track, Thinking in Reverse, was one of my favourites.

Yusuf, 25, who works in finance, meets Hannah, 26, a PhD student

What were you hoping for?
Someone interesting, good chat is more important than anything. And a fun story. I like a random side quest.

The rules have changed and more taxpayers are being pulled into the net, not only the wealthy

Less generous rules have turned capital gains tax into a “cash machine” for the government, with income from the levy soaring by almost 80% to £24bn in the last tax year – equivalent to well over £800 a household.

A series of changes to the way the charge works means more people are being pulled into the capital gains tax (CGT) net, and not only the wealthy. And, given the scale of the change, this week experts were reminding consumers of legitimate ways to reduce a CGT bill.

Katie Kendrick, Cath Williams and Jo Darbyshire were subject to tens of thousands of pounds of hidden costs as their new-build freeholds soared in value, making their homes unsellable. Their campaign could finally end the ‘feudal’ system in England and Wales

When a leaflet about leasehold injustice landed on Cath Williams’ doorstep in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, nearly a decade ago, she barely gave it a second thought, tossing it straight into the bin. Had she given it more than a cursory glance, she’d have read about how residents on her new-build estate had found out the leaseholds for their homes had been sold without their knowledge, which could cost them all thousands of pounds. “Sometimes you get things through the door and you go, ‘what are they on about?’” recalls the 69-year-old retired university lecturer. It was of no interest to her. Or so she thought.

Williams hadn’t realised her home was leasehold when she decided to buy it. It was never mentioned in any promotional material, she says, and the word “leasehold” was only later added to her paperwork in pencil by an estate agent four weeks before her move in date – by then she had already paid her deposit and it was too late to back out. Her unease about what this would mean built over time and it soon became clear it would be a huge headache for her: any alterations to her home would require paying the freeholder an ever-increasing permission fee, the property would decrease in value as the lease got shorter, and the ground rent could increase drastically over time. Ultimately, it could leave her trapped and unable to sell her home.

Wuva staff’s kindness and empathy means we are able to plan more trips away

My husband has motor neurone disease (MND). For us to continue going away, we decided to buy a refurbished mobile hoist, which helps to get out of a bed, from the online mobility equipment company, Wuva.

It arrived quickly, but had been damaged in transit and didn’t work. I contacted Wuva out of hours via WhatsApp, and within five minutes I received an extensive apology and advised an engineer would call me shortly.

After falling for a scam call, ‘The Tech Chap’ host Tom Honeyands realised he’d given away vital details in social media posts

When Tom Honeyands realised he had been defrauded out of £70,000 he was furious and embarrassed – and left wondering if he had given away too many details on his social media videos.

Honeyands was on a work trip to Tokyo when he got a call from someone claiming to be from Lloyds bank. The caller asked if he had made a recent transaction in Singapore and when he said no, the scammer said his account had been compromised and that security details needed to be reset.

From doing chores to staying away from exes, some adults are buying sticker charts to help stick to their goals

• Tell us: is it OK to date a friend’s ex? We want to hear from you

There is a sticker chart on the kitchen cupboard in the Gray family home in Birmingham, England – the two Gray children, aged four and 10, get excited when it’s time to add another gold star. But they aren’t being rewarded for brushing their teeth or learning their spellings; this is someone else’s chart entirely.

“They know that mommy gets a gold star when she goes to the gym,” says Bek Gray, a 33-year-old healthcare professional who has been using sticker charts to motivate herself for one and a half years.

An increasing number of people are finding trail running relatively late in life – and they’re reaping the health benefits

Earlier this year, 62-year-old Karla Wagner placed second in the 100-mile division of the Grandmaster Ultras, an Arizona trail-running event designed for 50-and-over runners in the age group known as “grandmaster”.

For most of her adult life, Wagner, who is from Lander, Wyoming, avoided running because it triggered her asthma. But when asthma meds improved, she added trail running to her fitness mix and became completely hooked in her early fifties.

Many of us have reassured ourselves with the ‘five second rule’, but bacteria can transfer almost immediately – and sticks around for hours

You drop a piece of cucumber on the floor. Do you immediately throw it in the bin or reassure yourself of the age-old “five-second rule” and reckon it’s fine to pop it in your mouth after a quick rinse?

If you fall into the latter camp, John Tregoning, professor of vaccine immunology at Imperial College London, has some bad news. He refers to three studies into bacteria transfer that all point towards the rule being false.

Founded in 2004, the free weekly 5km event has grown into a global fixture of weekend life, taking place in parks, fields, seafronts and even prisons

An event to mark the millionth parkrun took place in west London on Saturday, acting as a celebration of the community cohesion and public health benefit that the charity has been aiming to achieve across the past two decades.

The former Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes joined thousands of locals and parkrun fanatics to mark the milestone in a west London park – the venue for the very first parkrun in 2004.

These tailored trousers are ideal for those sunny days when the forecast looks dodgy later on – or when there’s a heatwave but you still have to go to the office

I think we can probably agree that Audrey Hepburn would not have been seen dead in jorts. The baggy, grunge-adjacent knee-length denims that were everywhere last summer and are creeping back around are definitely cool. Totally a vibe. But elegant they are not.

The capri pant is an undeniably elegant solution to the problem of what to wear when jeans or tailored trousers are too hot and cumbersome, but you don’t want to wear shorts. For instance, when it is sunny while you are getting dressed, but you are going to be out all day and the forecast looks dodgy later on. Or when there is a heatwave but you still have to go to the office, so Daisy Dukes are not going to work.

Before choosing a stick to satisfy your Crayola makeup cravings, it’s wise to consider your skin type and tone

There’s something deeply satisfying about scribbling on your face with a makeup stick. Also, convenient. Solid sticks of foundation eliminate the risk of smashed or leaky bottles, are more compact and portable than liquids and creams, and can mostly be blended with fingertips, dispensing with brushes and sponges. They can be applied in a more localised way than other types of foundation and are particularly useful when someone – often with a deeper skin tone – benefits from two shades of foundation and doesn’t want them to merge into each other.

Sticks were all the rage for a few years, but fell from favour until Bobbi Brown’s excellent Skin Foundation Stick (£39) was practically the last one standing. Dior and Charlotte Tilbury recently revived the category and sticks are now enjoying a major comeback. Under the most scrutiny is Bobbi Brown herself, no longer a part of the eponymous brand, but helming the highly influential Jones Road. Her new Your Skin Foundation Stick (£36) is different from her groundbreaking Bobbi Brown formula, but exactly as I’ve come to expect from Jones Road – very moist, glowy and natural-looking. Although definitely not for everyone (including oily skins, and those who want full or matte coverage), it’s a sure-fire winner with devotees of Brown’s pared-back aesthetic. There are 30 shades in a selection of undertones. It spreads like butter, though if longevity is a priority, you’ll need a setting spray. But expect a comfortable ride and a pretty, non-caked finish.

Yves Saint Laurent saw the power of photography to push boundaries and take risks that had an impact in the fashion world and beyond. The new exhibition Yves Saint Laurent and Photography, at New York’s International Center of Photography, includes nearly 300 iconic photographs and archival objects with images by artists including Richard Avedon, Annie Leibovitz, Irving Penn, Andy Warhol and others. Pairing photographs with contact sheets, campaign materials, magazines and personal images, the exhibit shows the vital role images played in legacy of the Yves Saint Laurent brand

Fashion house pays tribute to Chinese style with its 75th anniversary catwalk show in Shanghai

“New York may be the city that never sleeps, but Shanghai doesn’t even sit down.” For the British designer Ian Griffiths, who encountered this line in the New Yorker, it summed up why China’s biggest city was the right place to celebrate Max Mara’s 75th anniversary.

“Max Mara is a product for metropolitan women, and it would be patronising to assume that a metropolitan wardrobe should be western-centric,” Griffiths said.

This wetland south of Syracuse was saved from developers and preserved as an unspoilt haven for migratory birds

We rented Il Nido because we thought other people wouldn’t like it. Small and basic, without internet, the property was supposedly beside a beautiful national park famous for its coastline and migratory birds. The online picture suggested it was pressed up against one of those concrete pillars (common around Sicily) supporting a deserted and rotting motorway flyover. I was writing a thriller with mafia connections. My partner wanted to scrape off six months of fumes from her new job in London. Our daughter needed fun.

“This is a bomb,” said the hostess, opening a cupboard under the sink. “You turn it anticlockwise to go off.”

With Two Weeks in August and the return of The Four Seasons, TV dramas about nightmare getaways are having a moment. Here are Guardian readers’ tales of their own

In early 1969, my parents booked a holiday in Belfast for one week and a bed and breakfast in Dublin for one week. When we arrived at our Belfast destination, The Elsinore Hotel, there wasn’t another car in the parking lot and the hotel was empty except for the aged husband and wife owners. Being 12 years old, I didn’t think too much at the time about the quiet, empty place but the owners invited the whole family down to the dining room every evening and we enjoyed some great meals. Lots of pictures of JFK and the pope adorned many of the hotel walls and being a Catholic family ourselves, the hosts made a big fuss of us.

Britain’s Camping and Caravanning Club started as a cycle camping club 125 years ago. I cycle from its birthplace to one of its oldest campsites to see if its free-wheeling spirit survives

Skylarks call out a cascading trill as I pedal between the pink and white hawthorn blossoms that make my path look like a May Day parade. I’m on the outskirts of Oxford, a city I thought I knew well, yet as I follow the National Cycle Route 57 on the e-bike I’d picked up in Jericho, it feels as though I’ve discovered a secret passageway.

This year the Camping and Caravanning Club (CCC) turns 125 – and I’m celebrating with a 60-mile cycling and camping trip, leaving from the city where the organisation was born and heading to Walton-on-Thames to stay at one of the oldest campsites in the CCC network.

The French cities of Marseille, Aix, Avignon and Arles boast a wealth of museums and festivals showing work by contemporary artists. Here’s how to make the most of a dazzling cultural summer

My wife and I moved from London to Marseille a little over five years ago when our British passports still conferred “right to reside” in France. That first winter on the beach, in short sleeves, as our daughters played in the topaz-coloured Mediterranean and the sun set across an ever-clear blue sky, I understood why this part of southern France has always been popular with artists.

I was recently speaking about this with the painter Fanny Nushka and her sailor husband, Benoît Bouchet, on the terrace of Café la Muse in Marseille’s “coolest” neighbourhood. She said: “It took a long time to go back to blue. It’s like being in Paris and painting the Eiffel Tower. It’s dangerous to paint the Calanques [limestone coves] as an artist from here.”

Test yourself on topical news trivia, pop culture and general knowledge every Thursday. How will you fare?

Sparks have announced a new live album, which they claim was recorded on the moon. That somewhat ups the ante for other acts. Maybe Harry Styles will have to go to Mars for his next residency? Or Taylor Swift tour the asteroid belt? Regardless of all that, a lot of people have expressed the opinion that the Thursday news quiz reminds them of Uranus. Fifteen questions await you on topical news, general knowledge and pub culture. There are no prizes, but let us know how you get on in the comments. Allons-y!

The Thursday news quiz, No 252

‘Reading is having a moment,’ according to Tinder. But do its users actually appreciate books, or just talk about them to get dates?

Name: Booksmaxxing.

Age: The next big thing.

Once a year, Dutch kids, parents and teachers take part in a walking festival, heading out for four nights in a single week to explore their neighbourhoods, exercise and make friends. It’s a tradition that seems to be genuinely transformative

I shouldn’t have been surprised that the rain didn’t stop the Dutch kids. All day it had been thunderstorming, and the forecast didn’t look so great for the evening. And yet at 5pm, hundreds of kids started arriving – many by bike – with their parents to Amsterdam’s Westerpark, a beloved city park that caters to a more residential area of the capital. Today, it functions as a starting point: volunteers coordinate registration, and groups of children gather, decked out in raincoats and eager to embark on either a 5km or a 10km excursion around the surrounding neighbourhoods.

It’s the second night of Avondvierdaagse (which literally means “four-day evening walk”) , organised by a group of neighbourhood volunteers. It’s not a race, but if children complete every night, they get medals, a bouquet of flowers and, if they’re lucky, a lot of sweets. It’s not just Amsterdam; across villages, towns and cities in the Netherlands, hundreds of thousands of Dutch people are doing the same: every year, kids spend four evenings in early summer exploring their neighbourhoods with their school friends and parents as part of the Week van de Avond4daagse. Some places had celebrated earlier; others were walking the following week. A variation of the tradition has even made its way to Suriname, one of the Dutch former colonies. There are also four-day cycling and swimming events. According to the Royal Dutch Walking Association (KWbN), which helps coordinate the events, half a million people take part every year, in 700 locations across the country, powered by tens of thousands of volunteers.

Wharfedale, Yorkshire: On the trail of a wood warbler, I find a suite of woodland plants rising up from a fascinating land formation – limestone pavement

Grass Wood is a magnificent fragment of ancient woodland owned and exceptionally well managed by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. It is home to some lovely plants, including lily of the valley and herb paris. What became my defining revelation about the place and, in truth, about this whole area was down to a wood warbler.

It is among my favourite birds, so getting to see the individual singing just off the trail required me to enter the trees, rise up a short bank, and then sit for a long time on a rocky ledge. Slowly it dawned on me that the platform on which I rested, while carpeted in moss, was also incised into a tessellated pattern. From these narrow cracks in the limestone arose a suite of woodland plants. It was dense with ash seedlings, ferns and sedges, as well as linear thickets of dog’s mercury, but there – unmistakably where my hand rested – were strips of flowering herb paris.

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.

The Biodiversity Heritage Library is an invaluable online archive of historic texts on species living and lost supplied by the world’s leading museums and universities. Now its future is in doubt

Some go there to read about the wood that Victorian manufacturers used to make walking sticks. Others want to see an illustration of a Tasmanian tiger or marvel at the field diary of one of the first known botanists to explore the Antarctic.

Over the past 20 years, more than 64m pages have been made freely available through the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) – a digital treasure trove for fans of the natural world. More than 680 museums, universities, libraries and scientific institutions from China, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand to Europe, Africa, Mexico, Canada and the US, have contributed to the library.

Manuscript on parchment from the Circa instans. Dating from about 1190, it is the oldest book in the digital library. Photograph: LuEsther T Mertz Library/New York Botanical Garden/Biodiversity Heritage Library

Last summer the St George’s cross was co-opted by anti-immigrant groups. Now, as the World Cup begins, some communities are reclaiming it as a symbol of a very different sort of pride

As I drove into London with my daughter a week ago, we passed a roadside pub festooned with dozens of England flags. Our eyes met in recognition: we were in one of those areas, we assumed. In the eyes of many, St George’s cross flags have become a kind of territorial marker in the English landscape, signifying a certain kind of identity, a certain kind of politics, not necessarily welcoming to all. As we got closer, though, we realised the pub was actually preparing for the start of the World Cup. Flags of other nations were also on display. We laughed at our mistake and relaxed a bit.

It’s a feeling many Britons might have experienced. We’re gearing up for a summer of both exciting international football and ugly far-right protests and riots, as recent events in Belfast and Southampton have shown. The England flag will be a prominent fixture of both – great news for flag sellers, but a confusing and anxious time for the rest of us. How did England’s national symbol come to evoke such mixed feelings and carry such contradictory meanings? Are we really at the stage of “good flags” and “bad flags”? What are we supposed to think when we see an England flag?

Jane and Alan Kelvey’s holiday yacht met a warship in the Channel – at a tense time for Anglo-Russian relations

“We actually had right of way,” said Jane Kelvey, a little crossly, though keeping it civil. “But we weren’t going to argue with a warship.”

The dramatic standoff in the Channel on Tuesday morning between Admiral Grigorovich, a 125-metre (409ft) battle-hardened Russian frigate, and Bright Future, a 12-metre (40ft) pleasure yacht owned and helmed by Jane, 69, and her husband, Alan, 71, has rather caught the nation’s imagination.

A decade on, have you healed the rift, or is your relationship beyond repair?

With the 10th anniversary of the 2016 EU referendum result approaching, we would like to hear from people on how the vote affected their relationships with family and/or friends.

Perhaps you voted differently from a parent, child, sibling, partner, or friend, which caused tension and conflict. If so, a decade on, have you been able to heal the rift, move past your differences or has it damaged your relationship beyond repair? Tell us.

Did you visit the famed tree? Did you take photos of it? Please share them with us

The Major oak, one of Europe’s oldest, largest and most celebrated ancient trees, which has grown in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire, England, for at least 1,000 years, has died.

The huge tree failed to produce any leaves this year, after becoming stressed by a series of hot, dry summers. Footfall from visitors admiring the oak and well-intentioned historical interventions have also not helped its longevity.

We’d like to hear from people in the UK about how their local bird populations are faring, and what they mean to them

We’d like to find out about your experience of wild native birds where you live and whether there have been any changes over time.

Do you notice the same number of birds or less? What type of birds do you come into contact with? How has the soundscape changed? Do you ever use apps like Merlin to identify birds?

We’d like to hear from UK adult adoptees about they navigated their reunion with a birth parent

Guardian journalist David Batty has described the complex family trauma many adult adoptees have to navigate during reunion with their birth parents, often without professional support.

We would like other UK adult adoptees to share their experiences of adoption reunion. How challenging was it to forge relationships with birth relatives and to maintain them? What, if any, support did you receive? How did it impact your relationship with your adoptive family?

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