First they had to give birth in custody, then their babies were taken away. Sometimes they never got them back. Here’s what 29 women told the Lost Mothers Project

One by one, 29 women sat before Dr Laura Abbott in similarly small, nondescript rooms across five UK prisons, and described losing their babies. They were not bereaved in the conventional sense – although they were clearly holding in grief, as once the guards had left, they let rare public tears fall. Prisoners who had given birth in custody, they had been separated from their newborn children. In some cases this had happened within four or five days of becoming mothers.

“It was worse than giving birth,” said one woman. “That was the hardest pain of my life. I’ve never felt pain like it … It was in my chest, in my heart. Even in my belly.”

As Israel’s aid blockade continues and humanitarian zones disappear, there is talk of a ‘second Nakba’ being realised

Like so many others across the Gaza Strip, Khalil al-Hakimi felt a weight lift from his shoulders for the first time in over a year when Israel and Hamas agreed a long-delayed ceasefire in January.

He cried and hugged his five children tightly. “I slept deeply, free from the sound of bombing, destruction and death,” he said.

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer won final grand slam titles at the same age. The odds of beating that mark seem long, but the Serbian has always been ruthlessly determined

On a clear September New York evening in 1981, following a soul crushing loss to John McEnroe in the US Open final for the second consecutive year, Björn Borg disappeared into the night and vanished from the sport. He was only 25. He had accumulated an extraordinary 11 grand slam titles by then, but it left one to wonder how many more championships he could have amassed had he not retired so young. His conqueror that day had a much longer career and played until he was 33. But McEnroe, like Borg, won his last grand slam singles title at 25.

Back in those old days of the first phase of Open tennis (which I’ll date from 1968-1985; most of the top pros didn’t start playing the Australian Open regularly until the mid-1980s), players reached their peaks in their mid-20s and winning majors as one approached 30 was considered unusual.

Vibe at meeting could hint at future relationship between the two countries and their two leaders

Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, was due to meet with US president, Donald Trump, on Tuesday in a closely watched encounter at the White House that could hint at the future relationship between the two countries and their two leaders.

Over the weekend, Trump said it was “highly unlikely” he would use military force to annex Canada, a key trading partner and political ally. In recent months, the president has repeatedly threatened to use economic coercion to weaken Canada to the point that it accedes to Trump’s wish to make it the 51st state.

Because of the blockade, hunger is part of our daily reality now. It is deep and cruel, and there is no relief

It has been more than 30 hours since I last ate. At times, I go as long as two days without food. For most people around the world, the word hunger is a fleeting feeling, easily fixed with a trip to the kitchen or a nearby store. Saying “I’m hungry” is routine, almost meaningless. But imagine if every time you felt hungry, there was nothing to eat – no food, no relief, just emptiness. This has been my daily reality in the Gaza Strip for over a month.

Since the beginning of the war, the Israeli occupation has controlled the quantity and type of food allowed into Gaza. When a ceasefire was agreed, I hoped that everything I had endured was behind me. I held on to the hope of a better life, convinced that hunger would become something in my past. But just as I began to regain my health, the bombing and destruction returned – and with them, the starvation.

Aya Al-Hattab is a writer in Gaza

• Spanish club want to bring forward right-back’s transfer
• Madrid play at tournament before his contract ends

Real Madrid have approached Liverpool in an attempt to bring forward the signing of Trent Alexander-Arnold so that he is available to play in the Club World Cup, which starts on 14 June in the United States. The right-back is set to join the Spanish side when his contract expires at the end of June but Madrid are eager to take him earlier.

Any agreement would lead to Liverpool receiving a fee. Fifa has implemented a two-window summer to benefit those playing at the Club World Cup, with the first lasting from 1 to 10 June and the window reopening on 16 June. Madrid’s first fixture is on 18 June against Al-Hilal at the Hard Rock Cafe in Miami.

The US president’s bizarre talk of 100% levies on films from ‘foreign countries’ combines trolling with a hazy grasp of facts

Another day, another bizarre, mischievous, headline-hogging pronouncement from the US president.

Steve Bannon famously advised him to flood the zone with shit – a Maga-Maoist permanent revolution of provocative, toxic nonsense. Trump is flooding the zone with tariffs, then he pauses, walks back and climbs down on tariffs, and then adds more tariffs. The latest is his bizarre plan to hit movies made in “foreign countries” with 100% tariffs. He has solemnly announced his grave concern that Hollywood was “dying” at the hands of foreigners like the UK, who give tax breaks to multinationals.

Benjamin Netanyahu announced new ‘intensified’ offensive aimed at ‘conquering’ Gaza Strip

China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, said Beijing is “highly concerned about the current Palestine-Israel situation”.

“We oppose Israel’s ongoing military actions in Gaza, and hopes all parties continuously and effectively implement the ceasefire agreement,” Jian said.

The government of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, hopes that the Israel Defense Forces’ call-up of tens of thousands of reservists, the threat of the new offensive and the prospect of Israel seizing swaths of territory will force Hamas’s leaders to make concessions.

If it fails to do so, then physical possession of terrain will offer useful leverage in future negotiations and allow Hamas to be squeezed further in the meantime…

Toy company Mattel says it will reduce imports into the US from China to below 15% by 2026

• Business live – latest updates

Barbie maker Mattel has said it will increase prices for some products in the US in response to Donald Trump’s tariffs while carmaker Ford said the US president’s measures would cost it about $1.5bn (£1.1bn) this year.

The US represents about half of Mattel’s global toy sales, and the company imports about 20% of its goods sold in the country from China. Mattel said it would reduce imports into the US from China to below 15% by 2026.

A mixed-race musician is drawn into the unfamiliar milieu of an upper-class family in this plotty debut

The unnamed narrator of William Rayfet Hunter’s debut novel, a mixed-race aspiring musician from Manchester, is plunged into an unfamiliar milieu when his posh university friend, Lily, invites him to spend a summer at her parents’ chateau in the French countryside. There’s an undercurrent of unease – at one point he is mistaken for staff – but the family are welcoming. Lily’s bisexual brother, Felix, a handsome actor and enfant terrible who has just emerged from a stint in the Priory, is especially friendly. A relationship develops, which brings perks for the narrator: Felix’s father gives him a cushy job at his property firm, and his mother promises to pull strings and get him an audition with the Royal Academy. It all seems too good to last – and so it proves.

Sunstruck is a story about identity and belonging. The protagonist had hung out with goth kids at school; his black best friend, Jasmine, teasingly nicknames him “WhiteBoy” because he is so out of touch with black pop culture. But when the action moves to London in the second half of the novel, and particularly after a black friend of Jasmine’s is badly beaten up by police at the Notting Hill carnival, a racial consciousness gradually awakens within him. He suspects that he’ll never be truly accepted in Felix’s world, and their relationship is troublingly imbalanced. Yet he can’t quite tear himself away: “The intoxicating sense of belonging, of moving through a space I didn’t know existed … this is something I cannot give up.”

Documentary investigates the whereabouts of the model who played an influential corporate character, as well as the relationship between race and technology

Back when computers were still new, Mavis Beacon was an icon for generations of children learning IT skills. Her name, along with the accompanying image of a smiling, suited Black woman, graced countless editions of some popular software that taught typing through interactive lessons and games. For Black students, to see someone who looked like them in a position of authority and knowledge, inspired assurance and aspiration. Mavis Beacon, however, did not exist; she was a fictional character represented by a photograph of Renée L’Espérance, a Haitian model whose story is now lost to history. Eager to reclaim her legacy, film-maker Jazmin Jones and collaborator Olivia McKayla Ross embarked on a years-long quest to track down the woman behind the image.

The resulting documentary is anything but conventional. Describing themselves as “E-girl detectives”, Jones and Ross draw on a wide variety of sources for their investigation. In addition to a physical headquarters – complete with an evidence board not unlike those seen in detective films of yore – there is a virtual dimension to their pursuit. We see what presumably is the cybersleuths’ desktop screen, on which memes, Google maps and search results multiply like mushrooms after the rain.

We would like to hear about how the costs of festivals might have affected your plans

Festival season is upon us, and ticket prices are as high as ever. The most basic Glastonbury tickets are £378, with coach tickets on top anywhere between £60 and £160. Meanwhile Latitude starts at £308, and even day festivals such as Field Day can exceed £80.

With this in mind, we would like to hear about how the costs of festivals might have affected your plans. Do you save up for festival season, or take out a loan? Do you go as a volunteer? Or has the cost of festivals got so high you can’t go any more?

We’d like to hear from small business owners in the UK and elsewhere about any impact of changing tariffs

China has raised tariffs on US imports to 125% in an escalation of the trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies.

US tariffs on Chinese goods now total 145%, while most other countries, including the UK, have maintained a 10% tariff on goods following Donald Trump’s announcements on Wednesday pausing “reciprocal” tariffs for 90 days.

Session adjourned so parties can consult over process that had been expected to anoint CDU/CSU leader to replace outgoing Olaf Scholz

• Scholz to hand over power to sound of feminist anthem

For what it’s worth, multiple German media are now suggesting that there won’t be another round of voting today – exactly because Merz and his team worry about the risk of another hugely embarrassing defeat.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Bild and Stern’s Julias Betschka all say the second vote is unlikely to take place today. Let’s wait for the official confirmation, though.

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

• Trump’s foreign film tariffs could ‘wipe out’ UK movie industry, ministers told

Car sales across the UK fell by over 10% last month, compared to a year ago.

New industry data shows that 120,331 new vehicles were registered in April, 10.4% fewer than in April 2024.

In what is traditionally a quieter month following the March plate change, volumes were also impacted by the late timing of Easter, resulting in fewer working days.

In addition, the implementation of VED changes affecting all new cars, including the Expensive Car Supplement which became applicable to many new EVs from 1 April, pushed transactions into March as shrewd buyers got ahead of the tax increases.

Booing and flashpoints are commonplace in a sport further along on a journey that others are taking to varying degrees

Let me tell you the moment I realised Boris Johnson was fucked. It was late 2021 and there had been some talk about parties in Downing Street during Covid, but in these febrile siloed times, when the entirety of human existence has blurred into a single personalised scrolling feed, who even knows what constitutes “the news” any more? Who knows what fragments of reality ever emerge from Westminster’s furiously spinning vortex of unintelligible jargon: prorogue, backstop, Aukus, Slapps? What is a Morgan McSweeney and what time does it start?

But then came the magical night, a few days before Christmas, when the darts crowd turned. As Florian Hempel swept to a routine first-round win against Martin Schindler (bit of an upset, to be honest, but you never write off Flo at the Palace), Alexandra Palace rocked to strains of “Boris is a cunt”. Fans held up signs reading “Work Event”, drew pictures of cheese and wine and gleefully held them up to the cameras. And you realise, with a piercing we’ve-lost-Cronkite clarity: oh wow, he’s fucked.

Riyad Mahrez and Roberto Firmino starred in tournament but unbalanced format reflects political power in continent

It’s been quite a journey for Roberto Firmino, Riyad Mahrez and Al-Ahli, who lifted the AFC Champions League Elite trophy for the first time just before midnight on Saturday in front of 60,000 fans in Jeddah after a 2-0 win over Kawasaki Frontale of Japan.

Firmino has not been registered in the Saudi Pro League (SPL), where teams are allowed only 10 foreign players, this year. The former Liverpool man’s spot was taken by Galeno, his fellow Brazilian signed from Porto in January for around £45m. In Asia, however, there are no such restrictions and “Bobby” has come back into the fold and played so well that he was named tournament’s MVP.

Co-founder and CEO Will Shu in line for a £172m payout and staff will receive nearly £66m from deal

• Business live – latest updates

The food delivery company Deliveroo has agreed a £2.9bn takeover by its US rival DoorDash that will result in a near-£66m payday for its staff.

The London-based delivery company, which was founded in 2013 by Will Shu and Greg Orlowski, received an offer worth 180p a share last month and on Tuesday its board recommended the deal to shareholders.

Loud explosions reported at dawn and plumes of smoke as RSF targets Sudanese government’s seat of power

Drones have struck the airport and targeted an army base in Port Sudan, officials said, the third straight day the seat of power of the government, which is aligned with the Sudanese army, has come under attack.

The country’s main fuel depot was hit on Monday, causing a massive blaze just south of the eastern city that had until Sunday been considered a safe haven for hundreds of thousands of displaced people fleeing a two-year war.

Ian Wilkinson, whose wife was among three who died, tells Victorian court the triple murder accused ‘just seemed like a normal person to me’

• Who are Erin Patterson and the other key figures in Australia’s mushroom murders trial?

The only surviving guest of the beef wellington lunch at Erin Patterson’s house has told her triple murder trial he was happy and excited about being invited for the meal.

Ian Wilkinson, the pastor at the Korumburra Baptist church, is the sixth witness in the supreme court trial at the Latrobe Valley law courts in Morwell.

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A definitive new biography takes in adventures on the Mississippi, racist stereotypes and get-rich-quick schemes

In his lifetime, Mark Twain was the greatest literary celebrity the world had ever known. In the US, he hobnobbed with presidents; on his many travels, he would dine privately with the German kaiser, the Austrian emperor, or the Prince of Wales. Visiting England to collect an honorary degree from Oxford University, he was cheered off his ship by the stevedores of the London docks, before making his way to Windsor Castle for tea with the king and queen.

He was the bracing, irreverently humorous voice of America. Like Charles Dickens, whom he heard read from his own work in New York, he became a performer as well as an author. In London he was feted when he read passages from his travelogue of the Wild West, Roughing It. Everyone loved the “twang of his drawl”. He went on to take his work in progress, Huckleberry Finn, round more than 100 American towns and cities, earning handsomely.

Saved from tourist development by a ‘favourite daughter of Andalucía’, Cabo de Gata is a spectacular national park perfect for an adventure on foot

If you study a map of Spain, in the south-east corner you’ll see a strip of empty space along the edge of the Mediterranean. It contains no major towns and barely any roads. Its coastline is equally barren – no ports or resorts; just a few tiny villages tucked away in intriguingly named coves – “raven”, “coal”, “bitter water”. This patch of emptiness is the Cabo de Gata-Níjar national park, a protected haven of desert wilderness on the edge of Europe.

Having been forced to cancel an expedition to the Algerian Sahara earlier in the year, this park appears to be the answer to my yearning for the arid warmth and stark beauty of desert travel. Zooming in on the satellite view, a network of paths appears, suggesting a walking route of around 40 miles (64km) – from the Cabo itself, up the coast, along the cliffs, to the beach town of Agua Amarga. My husband, a keen Iberophile and relentless explorer of España vacia (literally, empty Spain) is always up for a wilderness adventure, so we get in the van and head south.

Saint John boasts Canada’s largest oil refinery – and a huge gulf between rich and poor. Chris Donovan captured life in a city overshadowed by pollution

Nick Cave and Richard Ayoade are among those reading out the posthumously discovered missives that inspired an album by Emilíana Torrini, who soundtracks this gorgeous film

You’d be forgiven for not having heard of Geraldine Flower, the subject of A new film from artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, the pair behind the 2014 Nick Cave documentary 20,000 Days on Earth. (Cave makes an appearance here reading a letter or two.) Flower was not famous in her lifetime and in fact, after watching the film we’re none the wiser about how she spent her later years. But when she died in 2019, a suitcase packed with hundreds of love letters written to her by smitten men in the 60s and 70s was found in her London flat.

The letters inspired a 2024 album by Icelandic singer-songwriter Emilíana Torrini (called Miss Flower) and also this intriguing, gorgeous and creative documentary – a film somewhere between an installation with songs and an extended music promo. It features Torrini and her band performing songs from the album, some dramatised scenes (actor Caroline Catz plays Flower), plus a bit of modern dance. This description makes it sound like art school navel gazing, but while it can be mildly frustrating, The Extraordinary Miss Flower is a real pleasure: luxuriant like a good glass of red wine. Partly that’s down to the songs, vivacious pop-electronica numbers sung with seductive intimacy by Torrini, who is pretty extraordinary herself.

The picture is complex, experts say, despite two resounding wins for liberal parties in national elections, after polls had put them on track for defeat

Pierre Poilievre and Peter Dutton began the year as leaders in waiting. With national elections in Canada and Australia on the horizon, both leaders were consistently leading in the polls. But a mere four months later, the votes have come and gone and their parties remain out of government. In the process, both suffered the indignation of losing the seats they held for more than two decades.

On Sunday, as the results of the Australian elections were broadcast across the world, international media were quick to blame one man: Donald Trump. “First Canada, now Australia?” asked the Wall Street Journal, with the paper claiming the “Trump factor” had boosted Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese’s chances. CNN called it “the Trump slump” and suggested the phenomenon was spreading.

Hundreds of women forced to confess to ‘moral crimes’ they did not commit have been publicly lashed in Afghanistan

Three Afghan women who were brutally flogged in public by the Taliban after being accused of “moral crimes” have bravely spoken out about the cruelty they endured.

More than 1,000 people – at least 200 of whom were women – are now known to have been humiliated in public floggings since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, according to court records and media reports. The true numbers are probably much higher.

Researchers call for urgent action as fragments of plastic found in human brains and pollute food, water and air

The UK is falling behind on international efforts to tackle microplastics, scientists have said, as the pollutants continue to infiltrate food, ecosystems and human bodies.

The tiny fragments of plastic have been found in human testicles and brains, and they burrow into plants, inhibiting their ability to photosynthesise. The impact on human health is largely unknown, but they have been linked to strokes and heart attacks.

Rapid, highly visible action in communities and a forthright attack on the new right – that is what’s needed now

If you thought these elections were bad, just wait for the locals next May. Expect far worse for Labour, unless they act fast. As they tussle over which way to turn, left or right, stop and consider what’s ahead. They will be challenged by Reform UK in towns such as Barnsley, while their progressive city heartlands will be ravaged by Greens, Liberal Democrats, and pro-Palestine and other independents. Expect shocks in London boroughs that have been forever Labour. (Worth recalling that amid Labour’s landslide, Keir Starmer’s vote share in Holborn and St Pancras dropped by 17% in the general election when challenged by a pro-wealth tax radical.) With council elections in a third of seats in English cities, expect an eruption of local leftward rebellions.

Those around Starmer may well be misidentifying the threat that matters most. Heavy vote losses to Lib Dems and Greens in a general election would cost Labour twice as many seats as the same number of votes lost to Reform. Analysis by Persuasion UK finds 123 seats vulnerable to Reform switchers, but 250 Labour seats at risk from flight to progressive parties. While 11% of Labour voters are “Reform-curious”, 29% would consider voting Green and 41% would consider supporting the Lib Dems.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

Professionals call for a fundamental transition including controlling flight numbers

The aviation industry is “failing dramatically” in its efforts to tackle its role in the climate crisis, according to a newly formed group of aviation professionals.

They say they are torn between their passion for flying and their concern for the planet and are calling for a fundamental transition of the industry, including controlling flight numbers.

Spring onion and baby spinach locked in a light batter, deep-fried and served with a moreish coriander and peanut chutney

One of my favourite ways of celebrating whatever vegetable is in season is by turning it into pakoras. Cooking them quickly allows the vegetable to sing, and a simple pakora batter is light enough to let spring onions and spinach do just that. With just enough gently spiced chickpea flour to bind the chopped veg, there is no claggy coating here. Serve as is with a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of sea salt, or with this addictive, punchy coriander and peanut chutney.

Visitors to one of San Francisco’s most popular tourist destinations point to cost, feasibility and its legacy of Indigenous incarceration

In the choppy waters of the San Francisco Bay, on a windswept rock, lies a crumbling former federal prison that’s now at the center of Donald Trump’s latest real estate proposal: “REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!” he announced on Truth Social over the weekend, to “serve as a symbol of Law, Order and JUSTICE.”

On Monday, the day after Trump’s declaration, throngs of tourists queued up for the ferry at Fisherman’s Wharf to visit the island.

Exclusive: Health secretary to challenge Reform on how it would fund investment in NHS

Wes Streeting will launch a vocal defence of the party’s tax rises on Tuesday, pledging an extra 8.3m GP appointments to “end the 8am scramble” and telling his opponents that the investment would not be possible without the national insurance rise.

The health secretary, who has been the party’s most vocal challenger on Reform, is expected to step up the attacks on opposition parties, which have dubbed the NICs rise for employers a “job tax” and said he would challenge those who had criticised the rise on how they would fund investment in the health service.

Now the subject of a documentary, the former striker opens up on his strict upbringing in Argentina, the heart troubles that ended his career and that Manchester City goal

During a visit to Madrid in 2007, Anatoliy Byshovets, the then head coach of Lokomotiv Moscow, said watching Sergio Agüero was like visiting the Prado. Pep Guardiola said he was a legend. Jorge Valdano said he could invent anything, anywhere, a unique footballer who had lost all fear, although he was wrong on that. Lionel Messi said he did the impossible. Diego Maradona said Agüero reminded him of himself, phoning one day to apologise for not playing him more. “I was a dickhead,” Maradona said.

Sometimes it can feel like the one person who never said Agüero was good was the one person he really wanted to. When the former Manchester City striker announced he was retiring at the age of 33, forced to stop by a heart problem, all the stress accumulated beneath the surface since his debut at 15, his dad called and said he had never seen a better footballer. He had played 786 games and scored 427 goals by then. “You waited until I retired to tell me that?!” Agüero replied. “I was happy and sad at the same time,” he says. “At last, he said something good.”

Gérald Darmanin, now justice minister, called night of 2022 Champions League final ‘biggest failure’ of his career

The former French interior minister has apologised to Liverpool fans for using them as a “scapegoat” for the chaos surrounding the 2022 Champions League final in Paris, where supporters of the club, including children, were teargassed by police amid false claims they had caused a riot.

Gérald Darmanin, who is now France’s justice minister, called the night “the biggest failure” of his career. On 28 May 2022, Liverpool supporters said they feared for their lives as they were forced to enter Stade de France via a narrow subway and boxed-in lanes that could not accommodate the thousands of people that had arrived.

By going public now Benjamin Netanyahu hopes to squeeze Hamas for concessions and please the far right

• Israel to expand military operations in Gaza to establish ‘sustained presence’
• Middle East crisis – live updates

The announcement of Israel’s plan to launch imminently a new, expanded offensive in Gaza and to retain the territory it seized is a significant moment, at least in terms of public rhetoric.

Throughout the nearly 19-month war, Israeli troops have carried out large and frequently bloody operations that have covered all except central parts of Gaza, but they have largely restricted their permanent presence to a buffer zone about 1km deep along the devastated territory’s perimeter and two relatively narrow east-west corridors.

Apartment building hit and debris falls on highway, according to reports, with major airports serving Russian capital closed temporarily

• Ukraine war briefing: Moscow drone raids, new Kursk incursion

Ukrainian drones targeted Moscow for the second night in a row, forcing the temporary closure of the capital’s airports, Russia’s military reported.

The consecutive attacks came ahead of Moscow this week marking the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies over Germany in the second world war. Vladimir Putin tried to call a three-day ceasefire for the 8-10 May anniversary; however, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, characterised the idea as self-serving and pointless unless it lasted 30 days in line with a US proposal that the Russian president has ignored.

During the decade-long conflicts, the major powers dithered as Serb militias carried out their brutal campaigns of ethnic cleansing. Guardian reporters became more passionate and more outspoken in their condemnation, attracting praise and criticism

Among many courageous correspondents covering the war in the former Yugoslavia, the reporting of Ed Vulliamy and Maggie O’Kane received plaudits and numerous awards. Both were inexorably drawn to where the action was, and wrote unblinking, vivid accounts. But what made their work controversial was their refusal to be neutral. For many journalists, including some of their colleagues at the Guardian, it was vital to maintain the distinction between being a witness – a “neutral” observer – and becoming actively caught up in the conflict. Some felt they crossed a line that should not have been crossed.

The war – a series of ethnic conflicts that started in 1991 and lasted for nearly a decade – left more than 200,000 dead and 1 million displaced. During the course of their reporting, Vulliamy and O’Kane became involved partisans, in the cause of the Bosnian Muslims, in particular. For O’Kane, “There really was no parity of guilt in this”. Vulliamy, too, saw the Muslims, more than any others, as the “victim people” of the war, and his reporting became a passionate indictment of their oppressors.

Exclusive: Poll before 80th anniversary of VE Day finds tensions with Russia seen as most probable cause

Eighty years after the second world war, polling shows many Americans and western Europeans believe an even more devastating third global conflict could break out within a decade, with tensions with Russia seen as the most probable cause.

As Europe prepares to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day, the YouGov polling also showed large majorities felt that events during and before the second world war were relevant today and must continue to be taught to younger generations.

Whistles recruits ex-Topshop design chief, while M&S, Uniqlo and Cos thrive with women in top creative roles

The health of the British high street is a much-discussed topic in fashion. The latest secret weapon set to resuscitate the sector? A wave of female designers at much-loved brands.

Jacqui Markham, previously the design director at Topshop and Asos, was named the new creative director at Whistles last week. She joins Maddy Evans, promoted to director of womenswear at Marks & Spencer this year, and Clare Waight Keller, the former Givenchy designer who joined Uniqlo last year. Meanwhile, Cos, the fashion insiders’ current favourite, has had Karin Gustafsson at the design helm since the brand began in 2006.

Direct to consumer tests that claim to tell us our biological – as opposed to chronological – age are getting a lot of attention, but what can they really tell us about our health? Science editor Ian Sample talks to Dr Brian H Chen, an epidemiologist at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, who has conducted research into a variety of these tests called epigenetic clocks. He explains what exactly they are measuring and whether, once we have the results, there are any evidence-based strategies we can adopt to lower our biological age

Real age versus biological age: the startups revealing how old we really are

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