In 2022, they opened their arms to Ukrainian refugees. But this year, the arrival of more than 300 asylum seekers has split the community. Can the rift be healed?

It’s Sunday morning and in the East Sussex town of Crowborough a few dozen anti-migrant activists are waving union jacks outside a travel agent. Their sound system is blasting out a song about “lefty lemons”.

A few yards away, a similar number of protesters are supporting the asylum seekers being housed at a nearby military camp. Their signs read “Humanity has no borders” and “Civilisation fails when hatred prevails”; they’re playing classics about love and peace by Bob Marley, the Beatles and Aretha Franklin.

His videos of cats, loopy contraptions and theme park rides round the heavens (and his back garden) have notched up a billion views. We meet Chris Burton in the suburban home where it all happens

Chris Burton is getting ready to redecorate his house. The first reason for this is quite sad. His beloved cat Bella died recently, aged 17, and the indignities of old age mean a new carpet is in order. The other reason is that Burton, AKA Half-Asleep Chris, is turning his dining room into a re-creation of London’s Rainforest Cafe (also RIP – it closed in 2023). There will be temple walls and a talking tree, a fish tank and fronds. Thunderstorms every 20 minutes.

He’s doing most of the work himself, he explains, as we edge past an 8ft fibreglass tapir in the hall. But he’ll need an electrician to rig the starry ceiling and a plumber to check the waterfall for leaks. I sneak a feel of the tapir: firm yet squishy, foam and five layers of silicone over a steel frame. Most people will only see rather than touch it, yet it has exactly the same amount of give as – I imagine – the real deal. This lack of half-measures is very Half-Asleep Chris.

Jonathan Liew explains the accusations against Manchester City – and Simon Hattenstone explains how it feels to be a fan

Simon Hattenstone, a features writer for the Guardian, has been a Manchester City fan for more than 50 years. He was very young – and recovering from a childhood illness that had nearly killed him – when he started going to matches in his home town with his dad.

For a long time, it was a relationship built on occasional highs and many, many lows. But then something extraordinary happened: Manchester City’s fortune began to turn and it had a glittering decade – until it all came crashing down.

The Emirati royal is increasingly influential on the world stage. Some see him as a visionary. Others compare him to a Bond villain. Who is he?

On the night of 12 November 1993, a slim, young Brazilian named Royce Gracie stepped into an octagonal cage in Denver, Colorado, and found himself staring up into the eyes of a giant. Gerard Gordeau, a Dutch kickboxer, stood five inches taller, weighed almost three stone more than him, and had an extra decade of fighting experience under his belt. Now the pair were about to engage in bare-knuckle combat: no judges, no separation of opponents by size, no respite until someone either got knocked out cold or begged for mercy.

The fight lasted barely 100 seconds. In that time, Gracie calmly tripped Gordeau up, jumped on his back, and clutched at his throat, forcing the big man to hammer the floor in submission.

These visualisations from exclusive polling modelling show how the UK parliament could change under different voting systems

New analysis produced exclusively for the Guardian reveals how different voting systems would return significantly different seat totals in the UK parliament, based on recent polling.

While the current first past the post (FPTP) system could leave Labour short of a majority with 250 seats, the modelling shows how proportional systems would be likely to reduce the number of seats given to the leading party – and give the UK a more finely balanced parliament that better represents the votes people cast.

Sometimes you want prestige drama that roils with nuance and complexity. And sometimes you want Armitage shouting in a cagoule

Dr Ethan Winter is a maverick, a wildcard, a lone wolf who won’t play by the rules. “Winter!” gasps DI Lauren Bell as the muscular outsider bursts into a police interrogation room and proceeds to subject a tremulous pensioner to the full force of his waxed cagoule. “You can’t do this!” But he can do this. And he will do this. Why? Because he’s Dr Ethan Winter, dammit, one of the greatest forensic pathologists of his generation; a bearded genius whose approach to obstacles is as uncompromising as his approach to tremulous pensioners.

And yet. Dr Ethan Winter is troubled. We know this because Winter – the new six-part ITV police procedural that shares his starkly unseasonable surname – keeps cutting to scenes in which our protagonist paces silently around his fashionably underlit Bristol flat while scowling into the middle distance. Has he misplaced the keys to his vintage sports car? No, they’re over there, next to the gruesome autopsy photos he keeps on the kitchen table in the hope they’ll prompt visitors to ask what made him want to be a forensic doctor (“I became a forensic doctor … to mend sores”). Could it be, then, that the source of his malaise is … complicated? That it could in fact have something to do with the murder, a decade ago, of his fiancee – a case which, though ostensibly closed, continues to raise enough questions to provide the series with its narrative backbone? While leaving sufficient time in each episode for the agitated hunk to solve a new, self-contained crime? It’s certainly possible!

Israeli prime minister cautions against early conclusions when asked if there were any signs of Iranian involvement

Benjamin Netanyahu has said it was too early to tell who was ultimately behind the apparent attempt to crash a ⁠Tel Aviv-bound flydubai flight, even as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations called the incident a “terror attack”, without apportioning blame.

Danny Danon told Fox News on Wednesday night that Israel had “no doubt that it was a terror attack from a radical individual. We still cannot link it to a terror state or terror organisation, but for sure we know there was an intention to bring that plane down.”

Christa Pike, sentenced to death over 1995 murder, was heard snoring 40 minutes after lethal doses administered, witnesses said

Tennessee officials were unable to carry out the execution of Christa Pike despite her being administered two doses of a lethal injection drug, her lawyers said, adding that she had been taken to hospital in an ambulance.

Her attorneys told a local news station “this has turned into agony and a violation of Pike’s right to be executed free of cruel and unusual punishment.”

Exclusive: Greens for Palestine group has links to activists who say pro-Israel ‘infiltrators’ must be rooted out of UK

An organisation pushing the Green party to equate Zionism with racism has encouraged people to join the party specifically to support that agenda, and has links to activists who say that pro-Israel “infiltrators” must be rooted out of the UK, the Guardian has learned.

Some Green members are increasingly concerned that the party risks being manipulated by extremist outsiders over a motion to be voted on at the party’s annual conference this weekend, which states that “Zionism is racism”.

Satellite imagery shows further destruction of homes, businesses and places of worship since fragile ceasefire

An update to Google Maps has revealed the extent of devastation during the three-year Gaza war and the severity of the continuing humanitarian crisis faced by the territory’s 2.3 million inhabitants.

The images were taken in June this year and show further destruction of homes, businesses, places of worship and infrastructure since a fragile ceasefire came into effect almost 12 months ago.

Content provider part-owned by Ladbrokes, William Hill and Betfred owner signed deal with Santeda network, Casino Secrets leak reveals

Three UK bookmakers that have repeatedly warned of the dangers of the illicit market have also benefited from a lucrative deal with one of the world’s largest offshore casinos, the Guardian can reveal.

Details of the arrangement emerged as a result of last week’s Casino Secrets leak, which saw the release of thousands of confidential files held by the gambling regulator on the Caribbean island of Curaçao, a haven for offshore betting sites.

Deal would mark return of Canadian family to UK after it sold Selfridges department store for £4bn in 2022

• Business live – latest updates

The private equity owner of high street pharmacy Boots is reportedly closing in on a deal to sell the business to the Canadian branch of the billionaire Weston family for $9bn (£7bn).

Sycamore Partners, which bought the wider Walgreens Boots Alliance for $23.7bn in 2025, is said to be in advanced talks with the Westons, with the Financial Times reporting that a deal could be completed as soon as next week.

Tories suggest ‘tough love’ approach amid issue of one million young people not in employment, education or training

The Foreign Office has announced new sanctions against Russia. It says the 31 measures include “sanctioning LNG shadow fleet vessels, Kremlin disinformation networks and perpetrators of civilian torture and child indoctrination”.

In the news release about the announcement, the Foreign Office says:

Following sham elections in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine earlier this month, the UK is now taking firm action against people and entities found to have undermined Ukraine’s territorial integrity through human rights abuses.

They include eight people involved in the arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment of Ukrainian civilians. These abuses are part of a wider system of repression in Russia’s occupied territories, where enforced disappearance and denial of justice have also been used against Ukrainian civilians.

Fears that US borrowing costs are unsustainable drive Britain’s 30-year bond yield to level not seen since 1998

• Business live – latest updates

The turmoil in global bond markets has intensified amid fears the US deficit is reaching unsustainable levels, helping drive UK long-term borrowing costs to a 28-year high.

The threat of a renewed round of inflation from the persistently high cost of oil has spooked investors, who believe central banks will be forced to raise rates in the coming months to prevent price increases from becoming embedded.

Warning of a lack of hostel places for 2,000 criminals due to be released over the next month to ease overcrowding

Hundreds of prisoners are due to be released early from jail on Thursday amid warnings that many will have nowhere to live and the probation system will struggle to monitor them.

About 2,000 criminals including domestic abusers and violent offenders are to be freed over the next month, with another 3,000 in stages over the next year to ease overcrowding. The number was reduced from 6,000 after an intervention by the prime minister, Andy Burnham.

Nearly a decade after the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya people by Myanmar forces, satellite images show the insurgent Arakan Army is now emulating the killings and land grabs

There are at least 10 camps like the one on the paddy fields at Hnget Thay, built after the insurgent Arakan Army (AA) took control of most of northern Rakhine state in 2024. These are where many Rohingya people in the state now have to live. Others hide in the mountains, or flee abroad to the refugee camps of Bangladesh or make deadly boat journeys to Malaysia.

The arrival of more than 155,000 Rohingya in Bangladesh since 2024, which amounts to 25% of the 600,000 estimated to still be in Myanmar, has raised concerns about the very survival of a people who now mostly live abroad as refugees.

The Naylors’ four-bedroom home in Milton Keynes acts like a mini-power station after retrofitting solar panels, a battery and a heat pump

Clare Naylor paid close attention to how much energy she and her family were using last winter, filling hot-water bottles and bringing out extra blankets to ensure they didn’t go over budget. This year, she won’t have to worry as she is guaranteed not to receive a bill.

While millions of British households face the highest energy charges in three years from today after a 4% rise in the price cap, and predictions of a 16% increase in January, upgrades to Naylor’s home mean she will not have to pay anything.

Diehard Hugo Chávez supporters struggle to comprehend ideological U-turn being executed by Delcy Rodríguez’s interim administration

He was one of the most passionate propagandists for Hugo Chávez’s Bolivarian revolution: a feisty leftist TV personality who spent more than two decades singing the movement’s praises on his state-funded show, The Razorblade.

Mario Silva’s devotion was such that he often hosted his programme with Chávez’s portrait behind him and he had El Comandante’s curly signature tattooed on to his left wrist.

Judy Wearing has spent much of her life studying our follicles. She explains how our armpits betray our emotions, why some gentlemen really do prefer blondes and the reason we evolved to have eyebrows

As a PhD student at Oxford studying mating behaviour, Judy Wearing was suddenly struck by a thought: what was the purpose of pubic hair? The point of armpit hair? The function of each of our body’s furry patches? When the published literature failed to produce satisfying answers, Wearing began her own investigation. Her aim was to shed light on why exactly we evolved these particular patches, with pubic hair the most puzzling of all: was it for warmth, protection … or something else?

Wearing is still tangling with those questions, some 30 years after her student days. Now an author and editor (largely in the education sector), she has revisited her fascination with hair in Anxious and Hairy: The Evolution and Culture of Human Hair, exploring its unexpectedly dense and layered place in our history and psyche. Even Wearing was surprised by the places her research on hair took her, and the mysteries that still remain to be solved. “A lot of these questions, no one’s actually looked at,” she says over Zoom. Here is a mere snip of the fascinating facts she’s uncovered about hair.

Baker Helen Goh’s fridge is chock-full of far-eastern flavours – but with a few fusion surprises

Curry leaves
I used to freeze fresh curry leaves, but then [the chef] Romy Gill said you lose all the aroma when you do this. So now I fry them and you get curry leaf oil, which keeps them fresh. You can then crumble them into things like dal.

Tofu
I’m addicted to tofu – I have firm, medium, soft, and puffy. But this is my breakfast tofu in ginger syrup; it’s like junket but made with soya beans. Someone taught me how to make this, but the secret ingredient was plaster of paris, so I get it from the Asian grocers. I’m not a big breakfast person, but I could easily eat a whole tub of this.

Kitty is buying a flat and Henry is moving in with her, but they’re already having decor disagreements. You decide who needs to get over their hang-ups?

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

It’s not a showroom; it’s a home. Both people should get a chance to display their personalities

This take on the 1952 novel is lavishly shot and full of excellent performances. It lacks the heft to be a full examination of human nature, but it’s a high-quality family saga

It is rarely difficult to distinguish between a John Steinbeck novel and a ray of sunshine. The new adaptation of his 1952 book East of Eden doesn’t buck the trend and wastes no time plunging us into the murk. The opening scene follows a beaten, bloodied woman as she crawls across a muddy field towards the only house for miles around. Out of the house come two brothers. One rushes to rescue her. The other takes one look and announces: “This is a mistake.” Brother, you have no idea.

The rescuer is Adam Trask (Christopher Abbott), the sceptic Charles (Mike Faist). Cut back 25 years to watch them being raised in misery in an essentially motherless household by their monstrous father, Cyrus (Tracy Letts), a civil war veteran and ceaseless recounter of his heroics therein. Charles longs to follow in his footsteps. Adam is beaten for his lack of aggressive instinct. But it is Adam whom Cyrus sends to enlist and Charles he forces to stay behind and work on the family farm. “Because,” he says to Adam in a rare instance of paternal wisdom, “there are loose things in him that should be reined down.”

Alex Gibney’s documentary follows the celebrated author’s life up to and after the attack, but what shines through is Rushdie’s remarkable courage

The terrifying, inspiring story of how Salman Rushdie survived and thrived after the assassination attempt on him in New York in 2022 is the subject of this excellent documentary from Alex Gibney. It is based on Rushdie’s own memoir, narrated extensively by the author himself, and using the intimate hospital-bedside video footage shot by his wife, the poet Rachel Eliza Griffiths. There are stomach-turningly explicit shots of Rushdie’s damaged eye and also, finally, horrendous scenes of the attack itself. What emerges is Rushdie’s courage and his remarkably level-headed, calm and unafraid writerly voice insisting on the primacy of literature, freedom of expression and the life of the imagination.

The film itself takes us from Rushdie’s childhood in Mumbai (with a certain unselfconscious locution of his class and background, Rushdie still calls it “Bombay”), to the years of bullying and unhappiness at an English public school, then Cambridge, London, his day job in advertising (he is cheerfully delighted by his successful campaign for Aero chocolate). Then there is writing fiction and the big breakthrough with his magic-realist creation myth Midnight’s Children. We get a lot of footage of him in black-tie at awards, which is how he appeared in the media: a crude jihadi placard actually shows him in a bow tie.

In a new book, German artist and writer Philipp Ruch argues that viewing the ascent of Hitler’s NSDAP through the prism of the Third Reich has distorted our understanding of fascism’s electoral breakthrough

With your art collective Centre for Political Beauty you famously built a replica of the Holocaust memorial on a property next to the home of an AfD politician. Now you’ve written a history book about the Nazis’ rise to power. Don’t we already know everything there is to know about the 1932 elections, the Reichstag fire and the Enabling Act of 1933?

About three years ago I became interested in how Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers’ party (NSDAP) rose to prominence when Germany was still a democracy, because I hoped it could tell us something about the success of rightwing extremist movements today. From looking at historical sources, I realised that the Reichstag elections of 14 September 1930 were in many ways more important than what happened in 1932 and 1933. And I expected it to be an open-and-shut case. But the more I looked into it, the more I realised that most of the theories we have to explain the rise of the Nazis don’t make sense – the data tells a completely different, far darker story.

A new Taschen book comprising 700 images from the National Geographic’s archives charts a dramatic century of dizzying change in the US

Borrowing can be good, there is no such thing as the ‘nation’s credit card’, and, yes, you can buck the markets – as previous governments have shown

Andy Burnham does a nice line in nostalgia. His first party conference speech as prime minister was full of fond memories for the Britain of the 1950s and 1960s, when working-class families could sense their lives steadily getting better. The underlying message of his address was that, given time, he could rekindle that optimism and return the country to how it was before Margaret Thatcher wrecked everything.

Much of what Burnham says is true. The 1980s was a decade of deindustrialisation, asset-stripping and financial deregulation that has shaped modern Britain – and not in a good way.

Larry Elliott is a Guardian columnist

Ukraine, Iran, Palestine and Sudan: it has so many problems to confront and fails to do so. Seen up close, it is a study in stasis and decline

UN general assembly meetings are not usually riveting occasions. But this year’s encapsulated a world in flux and crisis, an international law and organisation structure that is falling apart, and a humanitarian order machine running hot. What unfolded was less a gathering for resolution and resolve than a display of showboating, frustration and fractiousness.

It was a snapshot for the history books of four huge destabilising conflicts for which there seems to be no means of, or interest in, resolution – Ukraine, Iran, Palestine and Sudan. Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered an account of five years of Russian aggression: the staggering loss of life – hundreds of thousands killed on both sides – the porousness of the sanctions on Russia, the “madness” of it all. Donald Trump once again threatened to “annihilate” Iran if it did not make a deal, a promise that has now been made so many times its restating only reveals its hollowness. Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, responded in his own speech by saying that Iran has been the victim of US terrorism and aggression, and would defend itself with the “utmost strength”. The sole US delegation representative in the room walked out.

Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist

The risks of AI aren’t what we think they are, as a recent security incident between China and the United States reveals

Amid a barrage of news stories warning about superintelligent machines rendering humanity extinct, a CNN story describing the opposite scenario – one in which the US military’s reliance on brittle chatbots almost brought the US into war with China – went mostly unnoticed by the public.

The biggest international AI news of the past three weeks was Anthropic engineer Jacob Coxon’s resignation. According to him, OpenAI and Anthropic are “racing straight towards self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives”. Coxon’s description of a “terminator” scenario, a machine becoming much smarter than humanity and deciding to wipe us out, captured the public, journalists’ and politicians’ attention, stirring waves of fear-inducing, credulous reporting, and policy actions.

Timnit Gebru is executive director of Dair and author of the forthcoming book Deep Unlearning: The Radicalization of a Tech Idealist, which is available for preorders now and set to publish on 16 February.

Emily M Bender is professor of linguistics at the University of Washington and co-author of The AI Con.

What next, you might think, as you consider the UK university course: a BA in the manosphere? Take a look at media job listings to set yourself straight

Sometimes you read a story in the news that seems designed to wind up as many people as possible. This week, that story involves a degree in content creation from Nottingham Trent University. Otherwise known as the “influencer degree”, this three-year course comes with BA (Hons) status and a top-tier price tag of almost £10,000 a year, for which students will learn “hands-on technical production”, “analytics, branding and commercial strategy” and collaboration with brands and “industry partners”. Course leaders are at pains to point out it won’t turn them into overnight social media stars, but of course, while reading, I felt the cold drag of undertow forces pulling me towards world-gone-mad outrage.

We’ve been here before, obviously: media studies, women’s studies, anything that hasn’t been on the syllabus of the ancient universities for at least 500 years is vulnerable to accusations of dumbing down – and this is no different. The course was launched in 2022, meaning its first cohort of graduates are out there looking for jobs right now, while giving interviews about whether or not it was worth it. One very sensible-sounding graduate, talking to the BBC this week in what one assumes is an application of the all-publicity-is-good-publicity principle learned from her course, said that the £30,000 spend was worth it for the networking opportunities alone – an absolutely valid point and half the reason why people strive towards Oxbridge.

La France Insoumise gives voice to the left-behind, and progressives approve. But many recoil from a leftwing leader whose foreign policy is stuck in 1985

Théodore Abitbol is a self-described “militant antifascist,” with degrees in political science and comparative literature, and a bookshelf that ranges from the gender and queer theory of bell hooks to the anti-capitalist social analysis of the Marxist theorist Mike Davis.

The 34-year-old is a regular participant in pro-Palestine protests, and has a decade of full-time activism under his belt: unions, strikes, protests, civil disobedience and vast protest encampments used to block construction projects, known in France as ZAD – for “zone à défendre”.

Alexander Hurst writes for Guardian Europe from Paris. His memoir Generation Desperation is out now

Ministers should introduce a properly targeted social tariff rather than tinker with the warm homes discount

• Energy bills forecast to jump by £276 a year from January

• What to do as prices head for £2,000 a year

After the hopeful good vibes in Liverpool, here comes a reminder of what is coming this winter: a mighty new year shock in energy bills, hitting the poorest hardest, that the government looks unprepared for.

From the quarterly price cap level of £1,723 that will apply from Thursday for an average dual-fuel household, take your pick from a range of forecasts for the first three months of 2027. The energy consultancy Cornwall Insight says £1,999. The big supplier EDF thinks £2,076. Split the difference and we’re talking about an 18% quarter-on-quarter rise in the unit rate at the worst time of the year, the months of peak consumption.

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

Though proportional representation poses risks for Labour, it’s a change that feels necessary for today’s volatile politics

A number of people have admitted to tears during Andy Burnham’s Labour party conference speech, and most of them mean when he talked about his father, who died very recently. But then there were a few (not me) who welled up when he announced a commission on electoral reform. It was just the sheer shock of it: that we may finally have a prime minister who will follow through on his own long-held beliefs and remain loyal to his long-term support base, even if it makes him avoidable enemies and, medium-term, destroys Labour’s only-trodden path to victory. It felt a bit like slipping through time, and I couldn’t even tell you to when (definitely not the 1990s).

Burnham’s support for proportional representation has always been extremely unusual for a Labour politician. To this day, he ascribes that to his experience of winning an election as mayor of Greater Manchester on a supplementary votes system, where people get to choose a first- and second-preference candidate. He said that campaigning under that system “finally aligned the conversation on the door with what people want from politics, which is about problem-solving first and foremost, not about point-scoring”. He went a bit further this morning, asking Nick Robinson on the Today programme: “Can we really watch a party with less than 30% walk into Downing Street?”

Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist

The Pitt is on a different level – it’s not so much like watching drama as being in one

I do like a TV doctor. I’m not talking about proper doctors who sit on studio sofas dispensing wisdom. I’ve nothing against them – why, I worked with Dr Hilary Jones on ITV and he was a very nice chap – but it’s to fictional doctors I want to entrust my care.

I’ve not always felt this way. Either the standard of fictional TV medics has improved or, more likely, I’m losing the plot. It’s a relatively recent thing. I never watched ER, for some reason, and I find Casualty to be quite entertaining without ever fantasising about being rushed into Holby City hospital for emergency treatment. As for being treated by the staff of Grey’s Anatomy, that would be fine, but the constant playing of pop songs at key moments would get on my nerves. Nurse Jackie? Jackie Peyton and Dr O’Hara are a compelling nurse-doctor pairing, but too unhinged for me to take the risk with them. Shame, but I’ve got to be sensible.

Sunday’s general election is too close to call, with the incumbent president facing the son of the man who attempted a coup against him

Sunday’s election in Brazil could hardly be a clearer-cut choice – nor a closer call. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, is neck and neck in the polls with Flávio Bolsonaro, the son and champion of the jailed far-right former president Jair. Mr Bolsonaro senior is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup to “annihilate” democracy after losing the last election.

Brazil is Latin America’s largest democracy, but military dictatorship is in its recent past. Mr Bolsonaro wants to free his father and those who rioted in his support in 2023. The senator has campaigned as a less crass and temperamental version of his father, but he is no less extreme. For many on both sides, this is a vote against a man they detest more than an endorsement of their own candidate. Most voters disapprove of both men.

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

Empty classrooms are a sign of falling fertility and high living costs. But they should also free up more resources to spend on young people

School closures are an alarming symptom of Britain’s shrinking birthrate. Several factors have contributed to falling enrolment, but the most significant is that people are having fewer children. Declining pupil numbers could be an excuse to free up spending for an ageing population. Instead, the government should see this as an opportunity to improve the quality of provision for young people.

The fall has been most acute in inner London, where 90 schools have shut since 2021. In Southwark, where the number of children born each year has dropped by more than a third since 2010, eight primary schools have closed in the past six years. As London’s councils have observed, high living costs are pricing families out of the centre and dissuading people from having children. It is no surprise that Islington and Westminster, two of the most expensive places to live in Britain, also have among the lowest fertility rates in England and Wales.

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

Gian Lorenzo Spisso says his knowledge of Italian voting systems and British politics leads him to the view that first past the post is the lesser of two evils

Reading that Andy Burnham wants to push electoral reform forward and move the UK towards proportional representation (Report, 29 September), I found myself shouting at the screen.

I come from Italy, where I have seen proportional systems at work. They drive a wedge between MPs and their constituents. They reward tribalism (yes, even more than here). They leave large parts of the electorate hostage to the whims of tiny parties, and force parties into ragtag coalitions that produce unstable, ineffective governments. And for all that, people do not seem to feel any better represented.

Readers respond to the Labour leader’s conference speech and plans for changes to social care and the state pension triple lock

In the aftermath of Andy Burnham’s speech to the Labour conference, media discussions are focusing on how to define social care and estimate its cost (How will Burnham’s national care service work – and how will it be funded?, 29 September).

Most arguments assume that any new system will look like the existing one, with services outsourced to large companies, using contracts without scope for innovation, with rigidly defined targets, often delivered using poorly rewarded, precariously employed migrant workers.

Richard Nobbs draws attention to fundamental flaw in way pension assets are split on divorce and calls on Labour to act

Your article on the impact of the escalating cost of living on divorce settlements (Unhappy couples staying put due to cost of living crisis, say divorce lawyers, 23 September) provides a timely reminder of the financial inequities facing many separating couples.

As a pensions expert, I have regularly encountered a particular imbalance in the splitting of pension assets on divorce. Although the last Labour government enabled pension savings to be taken into account in divorce settlements, there remains, 25 years on, an inherent unfairness in the way many such arrangements are implemented.

Parental influence | Public investment | Capital gains tax on property profits | A degree of success? | Oxygen of publicity

Keir Starmer reminded us often that his father was a toolmaker, a skilled occupation. In his Labour party conference speech, Andy Burnham referenced his parents, Eileen and his late father Roy. He did not mention that Roy was a telecoms engineer, also a skilled job, and one that was and is fully unionised, with decent terms and conditions. Perhaps the PM sees in that not just the past but also the future of work.
Keith Flett
Tottenham, London

• Andy Burnham’s belief that investment in public spending will save money in the longer term is a positive-sum calculus targeted at improving the quality of life. After all, if private capital can generate profit from privatised utilities and services, then by the same token public spending can direct funding to benefit the common good.
Austen Lynch
Garstang, Lancashire

• Work provided information concerning City’s finances

• He called City decision ‘historic for English football’

Rui Pinto, whose leaks of private documents helped to trigger the Premier League’s investigation into Manchester City’s financial affairs, will no longer be protected as a witness by the Portuguese authorities, it can be revealed. The removal of the whistleblower’s protection was decided on Wednesday, according to documents seen by the Guardian.

Pinto has also been advised to “exercise caution with family contacts” and avoid social media. The 37-year-old, who is the man behind the website Football Leaks, has been a protected witness since 2020, after agreeing to grant Portuguese authorities access to millions of files gathered before his arrest.

There’s no ignoring the holders but what of the hosts, the All Blacks, France and even England? Here’s a rundown of all 24 teams taking part in Australia in 2027

Beaten by Australia last weekend but the manner in which they came back after Rassie Erasmus emptied his bench was emphatic. The series victory over New Zealand was the one they really wanted this year and achieving that, romping from 1-0 down to 3-1 victors, underscores that they are the team to beat in Australia next year.

From Antonio Nusa to Mathys Tel, we pick 60 of the most talented players born in 2005. Check the progress of our classes of 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014

• Twenty of the best Premier League prospects from 2022

• Jorge Jesus earlier said captain would again be a sub

• The 41-year-old has trained alone in gym since weekend

The Portugal captain, Cristiano Ronaldo, announced on Wednesday that he had left the team’s training camp in Denmark after head coach Jorge Jesus told reporters that the iconic striker would not start their next match.

Ronaldo had been due to train with his teammates at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen on Wednesday but left abruptly after Jesus’s press conference. The veteran coach had said that Ronaldo, who spent the entire match on the bench against Norway on Sunday, would not start Thursday’s Nations League clash away to Denmark either.

Alongside his assistant, Julian Gray, rookie manager talks about the state of play for black coaches and trying to lift his club off the bottom of League Two

Colin Kazim-Richards accepts the scale of the task of improving the situation at Crawley who sit bottom of League Two after seven games. But on the evidence of what he has seen, the head coach is sure better times lie ahead.

On a late summer’s afternoon at Crawley’s training ground in Sussex, Kazim-Richards, alongside his assistant, Julian Gray, the pair arriving in April and managing to save the club from relegation to the National League on the final day, speaks of the challenges ahead and how the team’s league position tells only part of the story.

It’s still early in the 2026 season but a number of teams and players have found unexpected levels of success in the last few weeks

Last season ended with a Super Bowl in which neither team – the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots – had been expected to participate. Before that, we had a 44-year-old grandfather returning from a four-season layoff to give the Indianapolis Colts unexpected cheer in an otherwise miserable season, while the Chicago Bears and Jacksonville Jaguars rebounded from bad 2024 seasons to win their divisions.

It’s early to state which surprises will be the most fun to recall this time around, but here are four to watch as things progress.

• Joshua reveals he is speaking to Peter Fury on training

• Fury vows to ‘blast him out’ at London press conference

Anthony Joshua has revealed that he is in contact with Tyson Fury’s uncle Peter, in a surprise twist to the buildup between the two former world champion heavyweights who will finally meet in the ring in Cardiff in December.

Peter Fury trained Tyson when he shocked Wladimir Klitschko to win his first world heavyweight title, in 2015. The uncle and nephew fell out soon afterwards, apparently over a financial dispute, and have not spoken in many years.

Impressive against Spain, England’s best player against Czechia, the move to La Liga has transformed the winger

The way that Anthony Gordon sees it, he is still the same player, the same guy – on a journey, striving for self-improvement, a thinker, immensely driven. The way that an increasing number of people see him is changing, certainly in the UK. And, for that, it is impossible to overlook the Barcelona factor.

The winger had a positive World Cup for England, despite a slow start, culminating in the dream moment when he gave his team their 1-0 lead in the semi‑final against Argentina. It was the prelude to the nightmare when he was withdrawn as Thomas Tuchel switched to a back five. England were reeled in, beaten 2-1, left with eternal regrets.

Renée Slegers did not attend the post‑match press conference, the manager understood to have been too furious after Arsenal threw away a two-goal lead in their draw with Paris FC on Wednesday night.

The assistant coach Aaron D’Antino stepped in to speak to the media instead of Slegers, after a disastrous mix-up between the goalkeeper Misa Rodríguez and the centre-back Leah Williamson gifted Paris FC a penalty that Maeline Mendy converted to deny Arsenal all three points in the Champions League.

Senior Downing Street officials reach out to thinktanks and pollsters as they look to test backing for reversing Brexit

Senior Downing Street officials have been reaching out to thinktanks and pollsters as they look to test public support for the UK rejoining the EU.

Aides to Andy Burnham have been talking to EU experts in a range of organisations about how the public would view a promise to rejoin, as momentum builds behind including such a pledge in the next Labour manifesto.

Exclusive: ADHD UK may seek judicial review of West Yorkshire NHS integrated care board’s ‘unlawful’ policy

ADHD UK has threatened legal action against an NHS organisation over its decision to impose a minimum two-year wait for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism assessments.

In a legal letter to West Yorkshire NHS integrated care board (ICB), seen by the Guardian, the charity alleges that the decision to force patients to wait at least two years for such assessments was unlawful and says it will seek a judicial review if the board fails to reverse the policy.

Olga Rudenko says news site has duty to report on Russian military gains and Ukrainian corruption even if subjects are not so well read

Readers of Ukraine’s leading English news site “really want Russia to suffer” but that should not lead the title to downplay the military and political problems facing Kyiv, its editor has said.

Speaking to the Guardian before an event to London, Olga Rudenko said many of the Kyiv Independent’s most-read stories described Ukrainian deep strike attacks into Russia, potentially distorting its coverage.

Millions of people in Great Britain face increase from Thursday to an average of £1,723 a year for a typical home

• What to do as energy bills head for £2,000 a year

John Healey is under growing pressure to offer fresh energy support for households in next month’s budget as millions face a 4% rise in charges from Thursday to an average of £1,723 a year for a typical home.

In his speech at Labour’s conference in Liverpool this week, the chancellor warned that the government had limited resources to cushion the worldwide economic shocks hitting Britain, while arguing his budget would have fiscal discipline at its core.

The Royal Shakespeare Company announces ambitious adaptations of novels in season that includes Elizabeth Debicki as Richard II and Damien Molony as Coriolanus

The Royal Shakespeare Company is to stage two highly experimental novels, written almost 100 years apart and posing serious conundrums for adaptation, according to co-artistic directors Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey. Virginia Woolf’s 1925 “day in the life” classic Mrs Dalloway and Susanna Clarke’s otherworldly 2020 award-winner Piranesi grapple with what they described as “a century-old theatrical preoccupation: the exploration of inner life on stage”.

Harvey will direct Mrs Dalloway, adapted by Zoe Cooper, and said it would be “hugely challenging” to “bring the inside out” from Woolf’s novel, which uses stream of consciousness as the eponymous heroine gives a party whose guests’ thoughts intermingle with her own. Cooper, said Harvey, has “created this extraordinary sense that we as an audience are flowing in and out of people’s minds, in and out of different moments in their histories”. Mrs Dalloway opens in the Swan theatre in April and will be the third major adaptation of the novel staged in England within a year: Kit Green’s one-woman performance recently toured and Holly Robinson’s new version opens at the Yard in London in March.

The global climate phenomenon has triggered devastating infernos in the ape’s Indonesian heartlands, with long-term effects on the animals still unknown

The mother’s hands were peeling from walking on the torched ground. Her eight-month-old baby, which clung to her side, was dehydrated and thin. The pair, named Mama Abu and Abu (“ash” in Indonesian), were found in an oil palm subsidiary estate, rescuers say.

The orangutan pair were saved last month from wildfires that are devouring Indonesia’s forests and peatland, unleashing thick smog, and destroying the habitat of some of the planet’s most vulnerable species.

Alpine regions in Europe experiencing extreme glacier collapse due to heat-trapping effects of fossil fuel pollution

Switzerland has lost almost one-fifth of its ice in just five years, research has found, in a dramatic reshaping of the Alpine country whose big white glaciers have been reduced to moonlike rock deserts, scientists say.

Swiss glaciers shrank by 5.5% in the first eight months of 2026, according to an annual monitoring report, after a summer of scorching heatwaves that followed a winter with little snow. The reduction in ice volume falls just shy of the record set in 2022 and brings the total loss of glacier ice since 2021 to 19.4%.

Some rivers are receiving more rain than before but have lower water flow, according to a study

More rain and snow equals more water in rivers, right? Not necessarily. A new study shows that, despite receiving more rainfall than they used to, river water levels are falling because of changes in climate.

Global heating is intensifying the hydrological cycle, making wet regions wetter and dry regions drier, but how is this affecting river flow? Researchers from the Pennsylvania State University, in the US, have analysed precipitation and river flow records in more than 10,000 rivers between 1951 and 2020. In nearly one-third of rivers, they found that flow trends did not match with the changes observed in rainfall and snow.

Simple deterrents can slash the number of razorbills and guillemots being trapped underwater, two-year study shows

Bird-shaped kites and a floating scarecrow are being tested to try to stop endangered seabirds drowning in fishing nets.

Every year an estimated 95,000 diving birds, including razorbills and guillemots, are accidentally caught in nets off European coasts.

Community-funded archaeological excavations of ‘really important’ sixth-century monastery also rewrite story of Lismore

To the residents of the Scottish island of Lismore, population 190, history is never very far away. The tiny island near Oban in Argyll has no row of shops or even a pub – if islanders want to meet for a coffee, the only place to do so is in the lively Gaelic heritage centre that records the many centuries of community life on the island.

This quiet place, documentary evidence records, was home to a monastic settlement in the sixth century AD, when missionaries from Ireland were first moving into northern Britain to spread Christianity. But apart from a few fragments of an early carved cross, there was almost nothing to see from this period of history.

Tapes made in the 90s, including candid conversations between Noel and Liam Gallagher, which were expected to sell for up to £1.6m

A collection of unheard Oasis recordings, including 63 live shows, hours of rehearsals and candid conversations between Noel and Liam Gallagher, has been pulled from auction after legal action taken by the band.

In September Littleton Auctions in Worcestershire, England, listed the collection made by the band’s former sound engineer, Huw Richards, with a guide price of between £1.2m and £1.6m.

Rantzen announced lung cancer diagnosis in 2023 and became a vocal assisted-dying campaigner
• From Childline to changing TV for ever: Esther Rantzen’s revolutionary life
• Esther Rantzen: from That’s Life! to Childline – in pictures

Esther Rantzen, the Bafta-winning TV presenter and founder of Childline, has died aged 86.

In a statement, her family paid tribute to “the most wonderful mother” and “cherished grandmother”, whose “legacy of compassion and understanding will live on in her charities Childline and the Silverline, and through those of us who were lucky enough to love and be loved by her”.

Unionists spurn NI secretary’s attempt to resolve impasse after nationalists block controversial Garvaghy Road march

Talks to end the Drumcree parade dispute are on a knife-edge after Jamie Bryson, the legal adviser of the Orange Order, said it would “not surrender” to a deal proposed by the Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Bryant.

With echoes of the former Democratic Unionist leader Ian Paisley’s “no surrender” mantra of the 1980s, Bryson told supporters in Portadown that Bryant could keep his deal.

Amid latest extraordinary attack on diversity, US defense secretary also suggests military is retaining service personnel at ‘record’ rates

• Send us your questions about how the Iran war will affect US voters in the midterms

The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has confirmed plans to cut 20% of generals and admirals and declared “no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps” would be tolerated inside the country’s military.

Delivering his latest extraordinary attack on diversity, and dismissing reports of low morale within the US armed forces as “false claims”, Hegseth also suggested they were retaining service personnel at “record” rates.

A year after his explosive tenure at Doge, the SpaceX CEO is back in the Trump administration’s good graces

Pete Hegseth announced on Wednesday that Elon Musk will co-lead a government project to study the future of warfare, marking the SpaceX CEO’s first return to government since he ran the chaotic, so-called “department of government efficiency”, or Doge. Musk will be joined by Palmer Luckey, CEO of the defense tech company Anduril, and Newt Gingrich, the former Republican speaker of the House.

A defense department press release on the effort, called Project Meridian, described its goal as “identifying the capabilities required to achieve absolute technological dominance on the next-generation battlefield”. The project will run for 120 days and culminate in an unclassified public report of its recommendations.

No one was injured at Children’s World Early Learning Center and parents will appear in court, police said

The parents of a Detroit-area toddler who pulled a loaded pistol out of his backpack at a daycare will face charges in the case, police said on Wednesday.

In a statement, police in Canton Township said the parents would make an initial court appearance on Thursday. The Wayne county prosecutor’s office declined to offer details or additional comment, saying it would wait until a judge signs off on the charges.

Multinational tea companies still occupy ancestral highlands of communities displaced during British colonial era

For British colonialists, the fertile and cool uplands of central Kenya were the “White Highlands”, to be reserved exclusively for European settlers. Local communities were forced from the land, which was turned into plantations for tea and other crops.

In recent decades, descendants of the displaced have fought to reclaim their ancestral land, some of which is now occupied by multinational tea companies and other large corporations.

FTC move is first official US enforcement ⁠action on rogue AI agents, following surge in incidents first reported in July

The US’s main trade regulator is conducting an industry-wide investigation ⁠into Anthropic, OpenAI and other ⁠AI labs ​to uncover the potential dangers their technology poses to consumers.

The investigation by the Federal Trade Commission is the first official US enforcement ⁠action that delves into rogue AI agents, following a surge in incidents first reported in July that have stoked fears among the public that uncontrolled AI could one day ⁠harm humans.

Boost for John Healey before budget as GDP figure shows UK economy grew faster than first estimated in second quarter

UK household income grew at a stronger pace than previously estimated during the first six months of the year, according to revisions of official data.

The rise in income per head to 1.1% between January and June followed an increase in the level of economic growth that illustrated the resilience of the UK economy since the outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East more than seven months ago.

Cap poised to rise by 16% to equivalent of £1,999 for dual-fuel bill, the biggest quarterly increase since January 2023

• What to do as prices head for £2,000 a year

Household energy bills in Great Britain are predicted to reach almost £2,000 a year for the typical household from January as the impact of the Middle East war continues through the coldest months of winter.

The government’s cap on energy prices is poised to jump by 16%, equivalent to adding £276 to the average annual dual-fuel bill to take it to £1,999, according to the leading forecaster Cornwall Insight.

Analysis has shown the costs of daily essentials soaring in recent years, thanks in part to climate shocks, wars and geopolitical tensions

François Perrodo is what is known in motorsport as a gentleman driver. In June, he raced at Le Mans, earning a podium place. At the end of August he was back behind the wheel at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. This time he won.

Gentleman drivers are wealthy individuals who fund their own participation. The FIA governing body caps costs to keep racing accessible to such enthusiasts. But for self-confessed petrolhead Perrodo, it is well within his means.

An addict meets his sponsor in David Ireland’s two-hander, Gillian Anderson dazzles in A Streetcar Named Desire and Winsome Pinnock’s audio dramas are revelatory

For an addict in the Alcoholics Anonymous programme, the fifth of the 12 steps includes confessing your wrongs to another person, such as your sponsor. That act is at the heart of David Ireland’s characteristically turbulent, darkly humorous two-hander in which Jack Lowden and Martin Freeman lock horns. Watch out for a (sort of) cameo from Willem Dafoe as Jesus. On National Theatre at Home from 1 October.

Be it her pioneering approach to consumer injustice or her extraordinary tackling of systemic social issues, the broadcaster was at the forefront of what television could be

• Esther Rantzen, TV presenter and Childline founder, dies aged 86

• Esther Rantzen: from That’s Life! to Childline – in pictures

Esther Rantzen’s early CV reads like a chronicle of the world working as the 1960s thought it should. A smart young woman, privately educated in north London from the age of 10 (the Rantzens had previously lived in New York), then at Somerville College, Oxford, she started on the bottom rung and had exactly the right mixture of graft and luck. Having trained as a radio studio manager, she got her first TV production job as a researcher for BBC-3, Ned Sherrin’s satirical show in the mid-60s. From there, she went to Braden’s Week, a magazine show hosted by Bernard Braden, a serendipitous connection for two reasons – first, he put his researchers on screen, then he decided to return to his native Canada. From there, That’s Life! was born, with Rantzen as the main presenter. It was 1973, and it was conceived as a new, revamped Braden’s Week. In reality, it was nothing like it.

That’s Life! ebbed and flowed over its 21 years, but at its various peaks, it would draw in audiences of more than 22 million. It definitely became more searching and serious as it went on, but even from the start, it would have bizarre and audacious gear changes, from an item about funny-shaped vegetables to another on lethal patio doors without skipping a beat. That is not to cast shade on the lighter material: there was a dog called Prince that could say “sausages”, and a generation of us have not been able to eat sausages without saying “sausages” in Prince’s voice at least once since. It was delightful to watch partly because there was so much texture to the studio audience’s laughter: there’s one part affection for the dog, one part affection for the owner, five parts, dude, your dog is not saying “Anthony”, and then this wild overflow of excitement when the Yorkie says something that definitely sounds like “sausages”. Then, wham, the next story would be a toddler with life-changing injuries from a poorly surfaced playground, then Victoria Wood would come on and be funny.

​M​att Parker and Trey Stone t​ake aim at the obscenely wealthy ​in the latest episode – but it feels harder now to forget how wealthy they are

A little over a year ago, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone renewed their deal with Paramount after a contentious negotiation that held up production of the 2025 season.

That $1.5bn agreement raised questions about whether Paramount, newly owned by David Ellison, would really offer the creators creative freedom – or was the billionaire class solidifying its hold over a comedy series as cover to meddle in other divisions, like CBS News?

Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads

Let the backstabbing begin in The Celebrity Traitors. Plus: tearjerking searches in Long Lost Family. Here’s what to watch this evening

8pm, BBC One
Whom will Michael Sheen pretend to be in his latest role? How long before James Blunt gets his guitar out? Will Prof Hannah Fry prove to be too clever? And how well do Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan really know each other? Welcome to the TV event of the year! Last year’s inaugural starry series provided dozens of sublime small-screen moments and made the show the hottest celebrity booking in the business. Can this year’s maintain the standard? Phil Harrison

Anne Hathaway and Josh Hartnett co-star in this unconvincing mystery about a struggling writer who is asked to ghostwrite for a bestselling author

The nation is crying out for a really enjoyable erotic mystery-thriller, a taste potentially at least as strong as the cosy-crime fetish currently dominating our every waking moment. The success of Paul Feig’s naughty-but-not-nice movie The Housemaid proves it. We are thirsting for a sexy encounter with a dishy yet maybe problematic nice-guy husband; we are pining for a damaged and dangerous beautiful wife; we are longing to identify with a vulnerable yet gutsy young person who finds herself in the middle of their creepy scenario and we are yearning to spend some time in a secluded luxury lakeside villa of gigantic modernist proportions down whose night-time corridors we can tremblingly tiptoe. So here is a drama, adapted by screenwriter Nick Antosca from the novel by Colleen Hoover, in which someone has such excitingly transgressive sex that they leave teeth marks on the headboard. During this film, audiences may be leaving teeth marks in the seatback in front of them. Or the back of someone’s head. But not in a good way.

Dakota Johnson goes back into “Fifty Shades” ingenue-cute territory as Lowen, a struggling writer mysteriously approached by a legal team working for Verity Crawford, played by Anne Hathaway, a mega-bestselling author whose recent indisposition means that she is unable to finish her hugely lucrative novel series. Crawford’s people ask Lowen if she might be willing, in exchange for several shedloads of money, secretly to ghostwrite the rest of Crawford’s darkly saucy page-turners. Lowen agrees, largely because she is strangely drawn to Verity’s handsome, sensitive husband Jeremy, played by Josh Hartnett. She has to go and stay in their gorgeous Vermont home where she is upset to find that Verity is now immobile, using a wheelchair, and cannot speak. And she is even more upset to discover a certain manuscript by Verity which hints at a terrifying situation of which the world has no clue.

At receptions at Labour conference, Burnham played a series of regionally specific tracks – but did he hit the right notes?

Freshly minted as prime minister, Andy Burnham has been holding a series of reception events at Labour conference – soundtracked with regionally specific songs.

As a new book on the Paisley Park polymath is released, author John McKie explains why Prince’s 1987 album is the ultimate showcase of his genius

By the early 1980s, Prince had cemented his place as a pop heavyweight with the phenomenal success of his 1999 album, as well as becoming a movie star thanks to Purple Rain. Even when his second film, the old Hollywood throwback Under the Cherry Moon, bombed worldwide in 1986, he notched another massive hit off its soundtrack with Kiss. It didn’t matter if audiences didn’t understand; Prince kept moving forward.

That restless spirit propelled Prince’s final masterpiece, 1987’s Sign o’ the Times, as he dabbled with different directions. Anything seemed on the table: maybe he would drop another album with his backing band, The Revolution, or he would explore his feminine alter-ego Camille with a self-titled album. He even, at one point, wanted to put out a triple album, a reasonable response to the vast collection of music that Prince was creating. “Sometimes when people are in a place of transition, they’re distracted,” said John McKie, whose new book Prince: A Sign o’ the Times follows the pop legend’s career through the lens of this classic. “For Prince, he focused on his music.”

‘The day Saff came into the studio with red hair, I said, “We’re gonna be massive!” It was the missing link’

We always had a vision of mixing acid house with indie rock, and we managed to rent a space and build our own studio in London’s Shoreditch area, long before it got trendy. I had a little vocal booth called Hattie Jacques, in honour of the Carry On films but also because it’s Cockney rhyming slang [for shakes]. We spent all our money rewiring it, and that’s where we wrote, recorded and produced Ready to Go – 100 mixes later!

Daring to defy the norms of political lobbying, the ex-US president is becoming a podcast mainstay – and is opening up about the books that inspired him. Plus, is the Richard Gere gerbil rumour true?

Barack Obama is now a podcast mainstay (good on him for not just defaulting to questionable lobbying). His latest Audible show – via his and Michelle’s company, Higher Ground – is a six-parter about the books that have inspired him, from James Baldwin to John le Carré. The first guest is Tom Hanks, who joins him for a frank chat on parenting and family, prompted by Marilynne Robinson’s Pulitzer-winning novel Gilead. Hannah J Davies
Audible, out now

Near-mystical musings from a scientist who believes we are on the brink of a revolution in understanding ourselves

Under the letter “B” in the index at the back of Carlo Rovelli’s latest book you will find Francis Bacon, bats, behaviourism, Henri Bergson, and the big bang. This intriguing little miscellany reflects the sweeping ambition of what is perhaps Rovelli’s most overtly philosophical work to date.

Rovelli, who directs a quantum gravity research group in Marseille, has written several books on physics for the general reader, including the global bestseller Seven Brief Lessons on Physics. His latest is an attempt to integrate principles and theories from the discipline into a broader Weltanschauung: one of the essential unity of all things, and the profoundly relational and perspectival nature of the universe. “Electrons and minds, stones and laws, judgments and galaxies do not essentially differ in nature from one another,” he writes. “They are notions that illuminate each other.”

A journalist charts a quarter century of geopolitical hubris and economic overreach

Like many Britons born in the 1980s, the journalist and Guardian columnist Owen Jones came of age with Tony Blair’s platitudes ringing in his ears. Politics at the turn of the millennium was a story of temporary dispensations mistaken for eternal truths: the definitive triumph of free market ideology; US military supremacy; a rules-based global order. As Jones recounts in his new book, these certainties would come crashing down over the next quarter of a century amid a succession of economic failures, foreign policy disasters and political crises.

Indeed, “the west” itself – as a shorthand for the US plus the wealthier western European nations – feels almost quaint today, given the increasing unilateralism of the administration in Washington. But in the 2000s it was part of the lexicon, as if the hemisphere were a political actor in its own right. Revisiting the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, we are reminded not just of their horrific death tolls (totalling half a million, by conservative estimates) but also their total strategic failure; the 2021 evacuation of Kabul airport, Jones writes, was “among the starkest images of American decline yet broadcast to the world”.

The first novel in over a decade from the acclaimed Haitian-American author lacks the power of earlier works

Dèy, Edwidge Danticat’s first novel in over a decade, begins with a bang. Magnolia, the daughter of Haitian parents now shopping for a birthday present for her own daughter, hears gunfire, maybe bombs, in a Miami mall. A killer is on the loose – a young man high on hate, the author of online screeds about how “our country is under attack”, obsessed by cane toads who’ve been coming in from the Amazon basin. As she scrambles to the floor of a restaurant called Oasis, surrounded by dozens of diners playing dead, a man asks, “Is this a mass grave?”

Things have always been tough for Magnolia. Her mother chases pigeons by day, sleepwalks at night, is on and off lithium. Her father worked for many years as a bus driver in Brooklyn, saving every cent so he could buy a nice retirement home back in Haiti. She was brought up by an “aunt” whose family had been killed by goons employed by Haiti’s dictator-in-chief Papa Doc Duvalier. Later she gets to college, where “school was my refuge”.

This tale of broken hearts and broken people moves from the Troubles of 1980s Northern Ireland to an unforgiving London of squats and payphones

Louise Kennedy’s first novel, Trespasses, was one of those rare triumphs, a debut that was not only rapturously received by critics but adored by readers around the world. A story of forbidden love set during the Troubles in 1970s Belfast, it was an international bestseller, translated into more than 20 languages. It was shortlisted for the 2023 Women’s prize and scooped debut fiction of the year at the British Book awards. A four-part television adaptation with Gillian Anderson aired last autumn on Channel 4.

Inevitably Kennedy found herself lauded as an overnight success – much was made of her 30-year career as a professional chef – but in fact she had been writing short stories for a decade and to considerable acclaim; her first collection, The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac, was published in 2021. Included in that book was Belladonna, the story of Róisín, a young girl from Belfast who moves south with her mother and, ostracised by her new classmates, becomes friendly with the couple who live across the road. Like Briony Tallis in Ian McEwan’s Atonement, the prickly and precociously bright Róisín misinterprets the dynamic of her neighbours’ marriage to disastrous effect.

There’s no Leon, Claire or Ada Wong in Cregger’s adaptation. Instead, it re-creates something more fundamental – the strange, terrifying experience of actually playing the game

• Don’t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

I’ve been surprised by the number of Resident Evil fans complaining on social media about Zach Cregger’s cinematic adaptation of the survival horror series. “It’s not a real Resident Evil movie,” they’ve claimed. Were we watching the same film? Certainly, it doesn’t feature any of the familiar heroes – there’s no Leon, no Claire, no Ada Wong – and there’s a distinct lack of recognisable antagonists and well-known locations. Despite all of this, Cregger’s interpretation is one of the most accurate and interesting video game films ever made.

On the surface, it’s about a zombifying virus that gets accidentally released in Raccoon City by the Umbrella Corporation. These are, of course, the foundations of the Resi mythos. More interestingly, Cregger seeks to replicate and explore the structural and narrative conventions of the series. In the film, the player character, hapless courier Bryan Hodukavich, is thrust into a viral outbreak, with no weapons and no idea what’s going on. He is then submerged into an uncanny shadow world of escalating peril and body horror. The film takes us through a series of locations dragged straight from the games – an abandoned farmhouse, a road tunnel crammed with abandoned cars, a hospital and the obligatory sewer level. As he progresses, Bryan finds increasingly powerful weapons, from a handgun to an assault rifle – but he is always short on ammo. And there are typewriters in at least two scenes!

PlayStation 5, Xbox, PC (version played); Bandai Namco
The game generates blood-pumping moments as you twist, turn and weave through the skies, while your locked-on missiles speed away to obliterate an enemy plane

The core appeal of any Ace Combat game lies in the moment when the beautiful clouds part, the sunlight glints off your perfectly rendered state-of-the-art fighter jet, and guitar-shredding music kicks into overdrive as your locked-on missiles speed away to obliterate an enemy plane. All of that is 100% present in Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve. What’s new is the way it delivers its unexpectedly compelling story.

Set in the Earth-like alternative world of Strangereal, where every country is absolutely obsessed with fighter planes and giant superweapons, Ace Combat drafts you into the role of a fake ace pilot called the Wings of Theve – a propaganda invention to raise the morale of a besieged nation, similar to real-life rumours about Ukraine’s Ghosts of Kyiv. You rapidly find yourself becoming an actual legendary pilot, soaring through the skies with your buddies and raining hell upon your oppressors as everybody cheers on the radio. Speaking of ghosts, you have one in your ear – your predecessor, whom nobody else can hear, a gravelly voice waxing lyrical about flying, war and whatever else is on his mind as you flit about.

I’ve been holed up in an flat, affectionately dubbed the ‘brotel’, with my son for weeks – and we’ve revisited the first game we ever played together

I have spent the last three weeks living with my 22-year-old son in a two-bedroom flat he has dubbed the ”brotel”. We cook curries and watch Lanterns. We barbecue meat and analyse Tarantino movies. We get pizza and we play video games. Boy, do we play video games!

The first game I ever played in co-op with him was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in 2009, when he was five. He wasn’t the most accomplished sidekick, not so great at placing a mobile gun turret while under fire from what seems like a bazillion enemy soldiers, but we had a laugh. It started the video game bond between us before his sister introduced him to Banjo-Kazooie and Rayman, and he stopped being a preschool warmonger. Probably for the best. So how would it be tackling the same game nearly two decades later?

They offer advice, referee card games and manage players’ tantrums – we caught up with some of the volunteer profs who keep the competitive game going at this year’s world championships

Professors may be the most revered characters in the fictional world of Pokémon (apart from perhaps the Gym Leaders). In Pokémon Red and Blue, Professor Oak greets the player in a pixelated lab coat, and later provides trainers with their first battle partner; since then, each successive generation of games has introduced another professor to aid and guide trainers through their journeys. If you’ve ever played a Pokémon game, they are often the first people that you meet, apart from your in-game mom.

But you may not know that there are also real-world Pokémon professors – volunteers who help organise the game’s competitive communities around the world. Instead of lab coats, they can be seen at events wearing red Pikachu-mascot shirts labelled “staff”, paired with black trousers and shoes.

National Gallery, London
Grab your straw boater – and revel in these light-as-souffle masterpieces that celebrate life’s pleasures, from picnics to dances to frolics in the bushes

‘They knew how to enjoy themselves,” David Hockney once told me, gleefully pointing out the cigarette and cigar butts littering the ground under Renoir’s dancers. There are broken clay-pipes too beneath the swirling pink skirts and blue trousers of the couple in his tall, narrow 1883 canvas Dance at Bougival as they bring their faces close, placing their arms around each other and pirouetting in the soft, airy space Renoir makes you feel as well as see. It’s an outdoor afternoon dance enclosed by fluffy, lime-coloured trees. A couple sitting at a table get friendlier with each swig of beer.

And oh, the lunches! Renoir seems to have invented the slow French lunch, relaxed and liquid, that launched a thousand bistro daydreams. In After the Luncheon, another one to delight Hockney, we see a white-clothed, open air table neatly arranged with porcelain coffee cups, carafes and glasses – and a woman sipping a liqueur while the bearded man she’s lunching with lights up, savouring the moment as his cigarette end glows fire-red against the pale blues, whites and silvers. The Lunch at the Restaurant Fournaise (The Rowers’ Lunch) lingers on the same climactic moment, one man lounging back in tobacco reverie while the lovers or about-to-be-lovers on the other side of the table chat soulfully.

Òran Mór, Glasgow
Brian Logan revisits the 18th-century production of Home’s Douglas in a shouty comedy about nationalism, religion and the power of theatre

It is the most famous heckle in Scottish theatre history. In an exclamation of nationalist zeal after a performance of Douglas at Edinburgh’s Canongate playhouse in 1756, an audience member declared playwright John Home to be better than England’s most revered dramatist. “Whaur’s yer Wullie Shakespeare noo?” went the cry.

Safe to say posterity cares for Shakespeare more than Home, but the performance of Douglas remains a symbolic flashpoint. As presented by Brian Logan, writer, director and Guardian comedy critic, the play – and its excited reception – exemplifies the national and religious schisms that have played out in Scotland ever since. It is one of those theatrical events that meant more politically than it did artistically.

At Òran Mór, Glasgow, until 3 October, then touring until 17 October

In a new series, we review the best art exhibitions currently showing in commercial galleries, where entrance is free

Walking into Gabriel Orozco’s show is like waking up with a headache and trying to piece together whatever the hell you did last night. Everything in the Mexican conceptualist’s exhibition is splintered, disjointed, a history you can’t make sense of.

Utilita Arena, Birmingham
First announced in 2019 and now launching with just three of the original lineup, the Dolls whip up a whirlwind of hair-flipping and put on a decent spectacle

The road to the Pussycat Dolls’ comeback tour has been fraught. Originally announced in 2019 with all but one of the group’s original members on board, the pandemic and then a legal dispute, led to its cancellation. After a few years of silence, three members – Nicole Scherzinger, Ashley Roberts and Kimberly Wyatt – shared plans for a 53-date world tour as a trio. Poor ticket sales nixed the US leg, though, while Maga-supporting former member Jessica Sutta alleged she was left out of the reunion because she was viewed as “a liability” (the group did not comment).

Does a girlband ostensibly created as a dance troupe work as a trio? While Scherzinger’s voice pushed them into pop stardom – they scored six UK Top 3 hits in their initial 2005-09 run – their appeal was largely the fierce group choreography. On stage in Birmingham, they give it their best go. The nearly two-hour show is a whirlwind of hair-flipping, booty-shaking and synchronised strutting. Throughout When I Grow Up, Beep and I Don’t Need a Man, Scherzinger is still on lead vocals, predictably so after her recent Tony award-winning run on Broadway in Sunset Blvd. Roberts and Wyatt are given some time to shine, though: their solos amid the clacking pots-and-pans percussion of Wait a Minute feel pointed, as if to say that, yes, their mics are on.

The Traitors and big film shoots help boost economy but some highlight lack of opportunities for local talent

Scotland’s striking Ardross Castle, the oldest star of The Celebrity Traitors, which kicks off on Thursday night, is just one of the stops on the Scottish tourist board’s “screen tourism” trail. From Outlander and The Odyssey filming in the Highlands and islands, to Glasgow city centre standing in for New York and Gotham City in the latest instalments of Indiana Jones and Batman respectively, film and TV is increasingly big business in Scotland.

The country’s screen sector, growing year on year, is projected to be worth £1bn to the economy by 2030. But while some have celebrated the upsides of a booming production sector, others highlight a lack of opportunities for Scottish talent and the challenges of excessive tourism in areas featured on screen.

It’s often assumed straight men are not interested in romantic fiction – but many are sharing their passion in forums online

After a tiring day as a school maintenance worker, 28-year-old Paul loves nothing more than unwinding with a good romance novel – ideally one with a fantasy or horror element to it. He reads five or six a month – most recently Love Bytes, about an 8ft-tall werewolf woman who runs an extremely successful AI company and falls in love with a handsome ballroom instructor.

Paul got into romance fiction via what he calls its “more traditional” side – such as the Regency romance series Bridgerton. He is partially sighted, so he mostly reads on his Kindle, where he can adjust the font size. In the first Bridgerton novel, “Simon, the main character, has a speech impediment that he has to work through,” says Paul. “I’m more attached to that one. Typically, I don’t come across disabled protagonists that much.”

‘I’d read stories about gangs killing drug-pushers who targeted young people. Police would find their bodies at the bottom of five-storey buildings. I didn’t want to go looking for them alone’

The late 1960s and most of the 1970s were a difficult time for New York. I’d moved there from France in 1965 with a reporter friend and a plan to start a little agency, but soon found myself working alone. It could be a dangerous city, especially at night, but I enjoyed taking pictures of everyday life around me. In 1969, I became the first foreign correspondent for the Paris-based Gamma Agency, but always insisted on working on personal projects rather than assignments.

Reading the New York Times in 1972, I would see stories about gangs in the Bronx that were killing drug-pushers who targeted young people in the area. The police would find their bodies on the kerb at the bottom of five-storey buildings they’d been thrown off. The gangs included the Savage Nomads and the Dirty Dozen, but the one I was most interested in was the most dangerous: the Savage Skulls.

Châtaigniers en fleurs, valued at $180m, to be auctioned along with 11 other works by likes of Cézanne and Monet

For more than 50 years it was held in a private art collection with an “almost mythical status” that was likened to a miniature version of Paris’s Musée d’Orsay.

But on Wednesday a painting by Vincent van Gogh created during the last two months of his life has gone on display before it is put up for auction with a value of $180m (£136m).

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

Swapping the glitz and glamour of last week’s visit to Istanbul for non-league football, your humble quiz master spent Saturday soaking up the sunshine while watching Walthamstow FC put a mere nine goals past a hapless Lowestoft Town. A quick sympathetic exchange with the shellshocked Lowestoft keeper – “Oh mate, long Saturday afternoon for you” – yielded the weary reply: “Long Saturday? Long fucking season.” Bless him. We hope you feel somewhat more optimistic about tackling these 15 questions on topical news, pop culture and general knowledge. Allons-y!

The Thursday news quiz, No 267

A ride in a water taxi transforms a stunning hike from Lyme Regis to West Bay into a perfect circular route

Many favour a circular walk, but you can give a linear one new shape with the addition of a novel form of transport. My wife Helen, our friend Tom Cox and I take the water taxi – a rigid inflatable boat (Rib) – from West Bay on Dorset’s coast to Lyme Regis, with a plan to walk back to our starting point.

The rain stops as the boat leaves the harbour, the views open along Chesil Beach to low-lying Portland to the east, and west to Lyme Regis; on the far horizon, we can see Start Point on the Devon coast. Our skipper, Nick, is highly knowledgable and takes time to stop and point out the history of the shoreline and the treacherous waters of Lyme Bay. The seabed is studded with wrecks – fishing boats and smugglers’ ships, but some are from the two world wars.

Fed up with condensation, mould and musty smells? A dehumidifier could help – plus, they’re a cheaper way to dry laundry compared with tumble dryers

• The best electric blankets and heated throws, tested by our expert

You don’t have to live in the American deep south to feel the effects of humidity. At home, just breathing makes the air more humid, let alone cooking or showering.

And when it gets too humid, it’s bad for our health as well as our homes. In fact, the two are connected: humidity lets mould and dust mites flourish – and they, in turn, can trigger asthma and allergies.

Trekking poles can improve balance on uneven terrain and reduce stress on joints. Our seasoned adventurer put 10 to the test to find the best

• ‘I’d never head out without one’: 10 hiking essentials

Oh, I would walk 500 miles – with the help of a trusty pole. A walking pole – or two – makes a surprisingly handy addition to your hiking kit, helping with balance on uneven terrain, taking strain away from your legs and knees, and making going up and down hills much easier. I first tried walking poles when I went trekking in the Himalayas – now, I wouldn’t be without one on rugged terrain, but they can be just as helpful on a casual stroll.

Hiking poles are typically used as a pair, and the idea is to swing each pole in time with the opposite foot as you move forwards: right foot and left pole, then left foot and right pole, in a rhythm. You can also use poles singly to keep a hand free or to take the weight off one side of your body.

It’s often thought of as the problem, but what if the right technology could help us switch off and live more in the moment?

• The best screen-free activities

With the continued backlash against AI and growing concern about our reliance on screens, an analogue life has never looked so appealing. I haven’t gone so far as to get myself an analogue bag just yet, but I have done a relatively complex puzzle and read five physical books this year, which is already two more than in 2025.

But it also struck me recently that I have, somewhat conversely, been using digital tools to do a lot of analogue activities. What if tech could help us live more in the present and reduce our screen time, while benefiting our physical and mental health in the long run?

Your other favourites included a lovely lamp, timeless jeans and a heated airer. Hunker down, anyone?

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

It may be unseasonably warm, but September’s bestsellers list tells us you’re definitely in an autumn state of mind. Some of you are embracing the unofficial new year with a backpack perfect for commuting or a bento box to avoid overpriced work lunches. Others are leaning into the darker evenings with a vibe-boosting portable lamp and a comfy mattress topper.

From a pocket umbrella and a heated airer to a gorgeous pen and cashmere scarf, September’s favourites make it clear that you’re ready to hunker down, get back to the grind and, most importantly, get cosy.

A deep and ingredient-busy take on the classic, constructed with four layers of pasta and a little geometric thinking

Bearing in mind that lasagne is a construction, it pays to start with some easygoing geometry. That is, think about the size of the dish you want to fill in relation to the size of the sheets you are using and the number of layers you want the lasagne to have. For four to six servings, I use a particular ceramic dish, because its 20cm x 29cm proportions mean that, broadly speaking, two fresh sheets of shop-bought egg pasta or four dried ones make a single layer (homemade pasta can be rolled and cut with scissors to whatever size you like, so is less relevant here).

Having calculated how many sheets are needed for each layer, the next question is: how high do you want your lasagne building to be? Height depends on the density of the filling, which, in the case of this week’s recipe, includes sausagemeat rolled (using wet hands and speed) into small, grape-sized meatballs that act like height-boosters in shoes. This elevation, along with tomato sauce and three cheeses, means that, even with just four layers, this lasagne has depth and cuts into satisfying squares. All this emphasis on the dish is also fitting because the word lasagne seems to derive from the Latin lasanum (cooking vessel), which in turn derives from the ancient Greek λάσανον, which signified either a cooking vessel or a tripod set over a fire.

This sweet-and-sour combo is possibly one of the quirkiest flavours out there – epic served with waffles and bacon, it’s one for true pickle fanatics

While researching gherkins for a Food Filter column last year, I came across Kühne’s recipe for pickled cucumber ice-cream and couldn’t resist. Niche, I know, but I’ll bet there are a lot of gherkin fanatics out there who’d be willing to give it a go. If not, the cocktail I’ve used as inspiration might well suffice. The pickleback is made with pickle juice and a spirit such as whisky, tequila or, my favourite, vodka, and that same punchy, sweet-and-sour combination comes together to make possibly the quirkiest ice-cream flavour you ever come across. Delicious in a cone and topped with a gherkin, and out of this world when served with waffles, bacon and maple syrup.

A Japanese fusion-fuelled garlic mushroom doria, an aromatic Malay chicken and squash curry, a rich Rajasthani papad ki sabji, and a Caribbean curry crab with roasted corn and dumplings

Curry runs through Malaysia’s veins; it’s in every kitchen and at every food stall, whether run by Malays, Chinese or Indians. We tend to cook curries using either a wet spice paste (rempah) straight from the morning market, or a good curry powder – every household keeps a pack of Adabi or Baba’s in the cupboard as a fallback; we have no shame in this at all. Only when you’ve got time on your hands, or you’re cooking to impress, do you build a rempah from scratch.

An eclectic selection that will take you on a culinary journey – make room on your shelves

Kitchening by Jeremy Lee (4th Estate, £30)

A bad breakup had made me afraid I would be mired in anger for ever. But on that family hike, in our fear and horror as we awaited the air ambulance, my old hurts took on a different hue

To steal a well-known line, 2023 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. My annus horribilis began when a long-term relationship broke up in January, only six months after we had bought our first home together. I was about to turn 38 and the future I thought was mine – marriage, children – all fell apart. What followed was blow after blow: my sister announced her engagement, I was told by a fertility doctor that I was “not a suitable candidate” for egg freezing, and I soon began having multiple panic attacks a day.

Ordinarily, my work would have been my solace; when I wrote, it was as if time was suspended. But now, my words abandoned me. They would not come, no matter how much I tried. So, in April, I decided to take the rest of the year off to recover. As I was self-employed, this was not a choice I made lightly – but my heart was broken and so too, it seemed, was my brain.

It seemed like a good idea to get a puppy with my partner, but then he left me. Single life was hard at first but my disobedient dog made me laugh again

In the spring of 2024, my boyfriend and I lay in bed scrolling through photos of puppies. What about this one? Or that one? We had only been dating for six months or so, but had become besotted quickly, making long-term plans and talking about our future.

Then I found the one: a scruffy, small terrier with black and brown markings on his back that looked like the world map and eyes like Galaxy Minstrels. We named him Dennis to connect him to my mum’s terrier, Beano, because she was ill at the time and I’d failed to provide her with a grandchild. A puppy was the consolation present.

Burnout or breakup are constant dangers when one partner carries too much of the mental load of looking after the home and family. Here’s how to spread the burden more evenly

Many households have an imbalance in domestic duties, and women often struggle from carrying the weight of the organisational side of life. Here, mental load experts share the secrets to having a more equitable home – and the rewards that can be gained from it.

My son adores helicopters, so we waved as hard as possible as it flew past. Then it suddenly looped and came back around

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

My sister lives in Ukraine; I live in Australia. We had gone five long years without seeing each other when we finally reunited during a trip to Los Angeles. One day we took my three-year-old son to the beach and spent the afternoon catching up.

We had a lot of conversations about people and kindness that day. I told her how I had noticed a softer side to men since having a son. As a woman, you’re often wary of construction workers, for example – what might they say to me when I walk past? But now when I pass a building site with my son, the workers often let him play with their radio, or beep a tractor to make him laugh. It was very heartwarming and gave me a whole new perspective on the other sex.

Original triple lock was designed to lift pensioners out of poverty but OBR says it contributes to unsustainability of public finances

The prime minister has announced that the pensions triple lock will be scrapped in its current form, to partly fund a national care service.

Apple’s cheapest desktop computer is no longer a bargain but its newest, fastest chip makes it a pocket powerhouse

Apple’s latest Mac mini brings real speed and power for far more than everyday tasks in a practically pocketable form you can fit almost anywhere.

The impressive new desktop machine is the first to receive an update to Apple’s latest M6 chip while remaining smaller than a headphones box. It is the cheapest computer Apple sells with an M-series chip, but like every other memory-containing piece of electronics, it has been hit by RAMageddon, driving up the starting price to £899 (€1,049/$899/A$1,449) from the £599 or equivalent of its M4 predecessor.

Government announcement sparks a rally in FTSE-listed housebuilders, but there are still a lot of unknowns

• Labour’s modest reheat of help to buy is worth a try

The government will unveil a fresh scheme to help people on to the housing ladder next month but a debate is already raging over whether it is first-time buyers or housebuilders who will be the biggest winners.

At the weekend, Andy Burnham announced plans for Your First Home, which aims to give a helping hand to first-time buyers who do not have the luxury of being able to call on the “bank of mum and dad”.

We are living in a collapsing property because of cost-cutting and delays over our subsidence claim

LV= General Insurance is forcing a family with three young children to live in a collapsing home because of cost-cutting and delays.

We lodged a claim for subsidence damage to our extension and conservatory in 2023. Instead of authorising the repairs recommended by independent experts, LV= has spent years stalling and proposing inadequate, superficial patching methods.

Though not yet approved by any regulatory agency, retatrutide could help improve blood sugar levels and reduce inflammation

The ‘Godzilla’ of weight-loss drugs could help improve blood sugar levels, reduce inflammation and cut a person’s body weight by a quarter, according to the largest study of its kind.

Retatrutide mimics three key gut hormones that help control appetite, blood sugar and metabolism: GLP-1, GIP and glucagon. Unlike other drugs such as Wegovy, which primarily targets the GLP-1 pathway to suppress appetite, or Mounjaro, which contains GLP-1 plus GIP to control blood sugar levels, retatrutide also engages the glucagon receptor, which helps increase energy expenditure.

There may be almost no research on pet aversion during and post-pregnancy, but it may not be particularly rare

About three weeks into her first pregnancy, Sylvia Luu began to loathe the smell of her border collie mix, Ranger.

Luu could hardly be in the same room as Ranger without becoming nauseous. His drool repulsed her, and she found the smell of his fur so disgusting she wore a nose plug all day.

Experts share what you need to know about GLP-1-related hair loss as the side-effect gets more attention from researchers

About 20 million people across the US, UK, and EU are taking GLP-1 receptor agonists like tirzepatide and semaglutide (Ozempic or Mounjaro are common brands) for weight loss and type 2 diabetes. As their use has surged, we’re learning more about their side-effects. One that’s been getting a lot of attention from researchers lately: hair loss.

In one survey of people who take these medications, 20% of respondents experienced hair shedding, although the lack of high-quality data from a randomized, controlled trial to assess this side-effect makes it difficult to know exactly how common it is.

I was a healthy 34-year-old when a mass of blood vessels ruptured in my brain. It took three neurosurgeons and a risky 16-hour operation to fix me

On a Sunday in May 2017, I was at the gym and using a chest press when there was this pop. It wasn’t a sound – it was more like a sigh in my body. There was no pain, but I went limp. I shuffled along the wall to some mats. I thought I was having a stroke, but I wasn’t slurring and my eyes and arms seemed fine. But my left leg felt numb – it was the weirdest feeling. Lying on my back with my legs bent, both knees stayed upright when I looked at them. When I looked away, the left one fell to the side.

I ended up in A&E for hours at nearby St Thomas’ hospital in London. I was 34, healthy and had started regaining feeling in my leg, so they theorised it was a bruised spine and thought it was safe to discharge me. Overworked staff and shift changes meant that when MRI images of my brain went missing, nobody tracked them down.

From crystal balconettes on the catwalk to mankinis on the parkrun, showing off your undies seems to be all the rage

Name: Underwear.

Age: The first loincloths date from about 7,000 years ago.

Designer showcases wool alternatives and ocean-inspired clothes and says ‘kindness requires real work’

Stella McCartney has been talking about animal rights at fashion week for 30 years. She is usually a lone voice, but the issue is back in the headlines this season. Outcry over the physical restraining of a Peta protester at a catwalk show by Steven Kolb, the president of New York fashion week’s governing body, has put cruelty in wool production – previously considered niche compared to the hot button topic of fur – on the news agenda.

“There is no wool on the runway this season, and I’m proud of that,” McCartney said after her show. She has been working on wool alternatives, including Brewed Protein, a fermented alternative to cashmere and wool developed in collaboration with the Japanese biotech firm Spiber, which was first used in her collections a year ago.

What you need to lift your autumn wardrobe is something flimsy, flirty and unconventional

At this time of year, my job is mostly banging on about jumpers. Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness and merino sweaters, as Keats would surely have written had he been on Substack. Cosiness is next to godliness.

I can worship at the altar of cashmere with the best of them. I can extol the virtues of a sweater in tones normally reserved for fine wines and newborn babies. But today I have a rather different proposition for your autumn wardrobe. The best fillip for your shoulder-season style is not a thick layer, but the opposite. What you need to lift your look right now is something flimsy, flirty, with an edging of lace. A sorbet-coloured lace-edged tank top that is virtually a camisole. A slinky black slip skirt with a lace hem. Something with a frill, that has the thrill of lingerie.

Beauty mogul Sarah Creal decided there was too much emphasis on the teen market – so she designed a range of products for older women. Now others are following suit

It’s rare that I devote a whole column to one brand, but not as rare as the decision by any beauty company to back women over 40, so I think Sarah Creal is worthy of the inches.

Creal, co-creator of Victoria Beckham Beauty and product developer of countless global companies for more than 30 years, felt that women of her generation (she’s 56) and their specific beauty challenges (hooded eyelids, decreased product wear time and so on) were being overlooked by major brands in favour of teenagers. Wander into any lip-oil slicked, Korean sheet-mask filled, freckle-pen-dotted branch of Sephora and tell me she’s wrong.

Converted from Victorian buffet bars, ticket offices and waiting rooms, these station pubs offer beautifully restored interiors, real ales and a slice of railway history

No prizes for guessing what this pub used to be… The Old Ticket Office has high ceilings, walls painted shades of locomotive green and booths resembling train carriages; there are outdoor tables on Station Square. A live train departures board theoretically prevents passengers lingering too long, and a canning machine means any draught beer is also available to take away (the hatch on platform 4 also does takeaway orders). There are five handpulls plus Young’s usual spritz menu and other drinks, plus light bites and pizzas. The pub is currently closed for roof repairs and expected to reopen by the end of October.

A new direct train service connects the far south of Sweden to the Norwegian capital in just over six hours, with the option of stopping off in the seaside town of Varberg or lively Gothenburg en route

‘This carriage is due for modernisation. Don’t miss the opportunity to experience 90s Germany style,” reads the sign on the door to the dining carriage. The couple inside aren’t missing theirs: they’re taking endless selfies in the clinical pink-and-turquoise carriage that looks like a hospital canteen and smells like cinnamon buns and strong filter coffee.

I’m on Snälltåget’s iconic red-shelled train, on the Swedish rail company’s new route from Malmö to Oslo – a 6.5-hour journey along Sweden’s picturesque western corridor. Until now, the journey between the two cities involved long bus rides and fragmented train transfers. This direct line is easier and cheaper, with tickets starting at £11 each way. It’s already a hit, shuttling more than 25,000 passengers since launching this summer.

‘Kölsch is not a drink, it is a religion’ in Cologne, and it’s only brewed in and around the German city. But which of the many beautiful, storied beer halls serves up the best?

There’s a saying in Cologne, repeated with the mild smugness of people who know they’re right: kölsch is the only culture you can drink. It sounds like a line lifted straight from the tourist board’s brochure. Then you spend a day working your way around the city’s traditional brewhouses and realise it’s a statement of fact.

Since 1997, kölsch has held a protected geographical indication within the EU, guaranteeing that any beer bearing the name is brewed within 50km of the city and made strictly to the Kölsch-Konvention. That agreement, signed in 1986, defined the style as “a light, highly attenuated, hop-accentuated, clear, top-fermenting ‘vollbier’ [full-beer]”, restricting production exclusively to the local area. It is, in effect, the champagne of pale ales: locally adored and tied to a city that has always insisted on doing things its own way.

Get inspiration for your next short break with our pick of self-catering accommodation, from a sleek Highlands retreat to a cabin with a hot tub on a Somerset vineyard

• 15 great small hotels, inns and restaurants with rooms for an autumn stay in the UK

***

Frome, Somerset: With a sway and a swoosh, we’re entering the season to enjoy psithurism – the aural quality of the breeze in the trees

The wind-catchers along the bottom of the valley miss nothing. Even the lightest breath has them whispering. And when the wind strengthens, they do a good imitation of the river streaming over boulders below their feet. Truly, when it blows, it pours.

Pass a poplar and you are enjoying the best example of psithurism, the sound of wind in trees. All this growing season, I have listened politely to oaks, alders and willows, but if I rocked up in a pub looking for chatty company, I’d want a poplar on the bar stool next to me.

This shaggy beast is now plastered across everything from mugs to hot water bottles. Or you can sit on her, wrap yourself in her, wipe your feet on her …

Picture this: you get home from work, wipe your feet on your doormat, which has a picture of a highland cow on it, sniff the flowers growing from your highland cow-shaped plant pot, then step inside, hang your coat on one of your highland-cow-themed hooks and put some water on to boil in your highland cow kettle. When the tea is ready, you drink it from one of your highland cow mugs, plucked from a highland cow mug tree, discarding the teabag in a highland cow-emblazoned pedal bin. Oops, you’ve spilled a drop, but not to worry – there’s a fresh roll of kitchen roll waiting for you in between the resin cow-butt and cow-head of its highland cow-shaped holder.

You then carry the tea to your living room, and place it (atop a highland cow coaster, of course) on your coffee table, which has been carved into the shape of a highland cow, before taking a seat in an accent chair made to resemble a highland cow’s head. If you get cold, you can always wrap yourself in a hooded throw, designed to make the wearer look like a highland cow, or reach for your dressing gown-wearing highland cow hot-water bottle.

Camborne, Cornwall: There will be more storms like Goretti and more fires next summer, but we can make the landscape more resilient

A grey wagtail flits at the stream’s edge, its flaxen underbelly matching the woodland’s autumn swatch. A few months ago, this bird may have struggled to catch a midge or water snail here, after the streambed nearly ran dry. Sitting by the water now, it’s easy to forget the damage this area suffered this year. But the land remembers.

Many months on from Storm Goretti, the entrance to these woods is still a battlefield of fallen trees, Scots pines and ageing oaks torn ungainly from the ground. Just over a mile away, a gorse break is still scarred from a late-summer wildfire that blackened the coastline. I stopped by the other day; the western gorse should have been blooming, delicate coconut notes luring in late pollinators. Instead, their petrified remains jutted lifelessly out towards the sea.

As a business journalist, Nilsson began rigorously reporting on the power players of the adult industry, who prefer to remain in the shadows. Along the way, she uncovered how porn has shaped the internet – and our lives as a whole

There was a time, a few decades ago, when the men who owned the world’s biggest pornography businesses were happy to be famous. They paraded a lifestyle they hoped looked glamorous, appearing in public dressed in silk pyjamas or with a woman in swimwear on each arm. Porn moguls like Hustler’s Larry Flynt or Playboy’s Hugh Hefner were household names.

“Say what you want about these old perverts, who once set the tone of our sexual culture, but at least you knew who they were and what they were selling,” Patricia Nilsson writes in her new book, Guilty Pleasure: The Pornification of the Internet, the Economy, and Everything Else. “These days, the men calling the shots are nowhere to be seen.”

A teenager struggling with climate anxiety searches for hope in an unexpected place – writing letters to imprisoned activists. Max, 14, is on a quest to understand the human stories behind direct action and why so many climate protesters are in prison​. As replies begin to arrive, a dialogue bridging generations unfolds and connection transforms despair into purpose. ​When Max writes to the judge presiding over a high-profile trial​, he is surprised to hear the letter referred to in the judge's closing remarks

Brazil will head to the polls on 4 October for the first vote in its presidential race. The incumbent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is neck-and-neck with Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of the former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is in prison for plotting a military coup. There are fears and accusations that the US is interfering in the election, and these follow similar allegations in a string of elections across Latin America won by Donald Trump-backed candidates in what is being called 'the orange wave'.

The Guardian's Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips, explains the tactics Trump and his administration have been using in recent months and what impact another Bolsonaro government could have on the region, and the world

Six months ago, Samba made a brave, unprecedented escape from Marwell zoo. Her life on the lam continues today. We join the team hunting desperately to find her in the Hampshire countryside

Samba the capybara is still at large. Along with her older sister, Tango, the intrepid rodent made her escape from Marwell zoo in Winchester in March. Tango all but gave herself up on day two; Samba broke for the marshy wetlands of the River Itchen. Word spread and within days the fugitive was an international social media star. But despite an intense search, the dense Hampshire countryside has afforded her a haven. Six months on, Samba remains elusive.

Marwell’s staff still aren’t sure how the capybaras escaped, although they have their suspicions. Tango and Samba were born on Jimmy’s Farm and Wildlife Park in Suffolk in the summer of 2025. They arrived at Marwell zoo on Monday 16 March, to great excitement. “They were a little bit shy when they got here, as you would expect,” says Laura Read, the chief executive of Marwell Wildlife. “But they were fine.” They were immediately placed in a quarantined habitat, as is standard procedure for new arrivals. The plan was to keep them there for 30 days.

We’d like to hear from people in England who used the government’s previous equity loan scheme to buy their first home about how it worked out for them

The government has announced plans for a new scheme to help first-time buyers purchase a home. The programme, called “Your first home”, is intended to help buyers in England who have a regular income but have been unable to save for a large deposit or don’t have financial support from their family.

We’d like to hear from people who used the previous help-to-buy equity loan scheme. Did it help you buy a home you otherwise couldn’t have afforded?

Perhaps you lost your home or possessions in a wildfire, or your mountain business has been affected by glacial retreat and snow scarcity

Has direct experience of a global climate event where you live changed how you now view the climate crisis?

Perhaps you were sceptical or even denied the climate crisis before the impact of recent global climactic events.

Whatever the reason, we want to hear from 18-29 year olds who have never had a romantic relationship

In our age of endless dating apps, TV dating shows and couple influencers, it might seem like young people falling in love are everywhere. Yet a survey earlier this year found that a third of young adults living in the UK have actually never had a romantic partner.

According to data collected by YouGov, 33% of 18-29 year olds have never been in a relationship – so why is that? Has an increase in working from home removed opportunities to meet new people? Are young people put off by the costs involved in going on dates? Or are members of gen Z simply more content to be single than their older counterparts?

There were 13,464 reported assaults against passengers and members of the public on the mainline railway in 2025-26

The number of reported assaults on Great Britain’s railways has risen to a record high of almost 25,000 incidents in a year, data published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) shows.

There were 13,464 reported assaults against passengers and members of the public on the mainline railway in 2025-26, up 36% on the previous year and the highest number recorded by the ORR since it started tracking the figures in 2004.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Warning: gallery contains sensitive images