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Buildup to Premier League and EFL action, transfer news and discussion – matchday live

Let’s start with last night, shall we? Chelsea will be waking up this morning feeling a lot better about themselves than after their opening bore-draw against Crystal Palace. Despite losing Cole Palmer in the warm-up and going behind to Lucas Paquetá’s early stunner, Enzo Maresca’s world champions looked very much that, with five goals in reply.

The headlines, though, have been reserved for Graham Potter, whose comeback job at West Ham is not exactly going to plan. The ease with which Chelsea found the net, particularly at set pieces, will no doubt trouble the former Blues manager. The mass exodus that greeted every Chelsea goal and the boos at full-time of this 5-1 defeat were proof of the (exponentially) growing discontent among West Ham supporters.

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© Composite: Getty/PA/AP

© Composite: Getty/PA/AP

© Composite: Getty/PA/AP

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Tense meeting awaits after Crystal Palace’s bitter European battle with Forest

Police are on alert for Sunday’s Premier League match after Nottingham Forest had a hand in the Eagles’ demotion

Crystal Palace against Nottingham Forest isn’t usually a Premier League fixture that would have the Metropolitan police on red alert. But after a summer spent at each other’s throats at the court of arbitration for sport as well as on social media over Uefa’s decision to demote Palace from the Europa League to the Conference League, to Forest’s advantage, supporters of both clubs are preparing to come face-to-face on Sunday afternoon.

“Forest aren’t our rivals – they’re nothing to us,” says the Palace fan Chris Waters. “But all of a sudden this game has a bitter edge to it.” Sanad Attia, AKA Wolfie, who presents the Forest Fan TV YouTube channel, says: “We’ve never really had any kind of issue with Palace – I was quite happy for them winning the FA Cup. But they have been wanting to blame everyone but themselves. And in particular, Forest and Evangelos Maranakis.”

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© Photograph: Craig Mercer/Alamy

© Photograph: Craig Mercer/Alamy

© Photograph: Craig Mercer/Alamy

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The undeniably massive Alexander Isak affair has created its own sub-reality | Barney Ronay

Battle between real and fake is an active front in sport and the Newcastle striker transfer saga is vast but strangely hollow

Depraved. Sickening. Toxic. Foul, but also pestilent. The end of days? That last thing wasn’t the end of days. This right here is the end of days.

But is it though? Is it really? Going on a summer holiday is always a bit strange when your life involves staring at sport. Taking a break just as football is preparing to enter its own sweaty, steamy eight-month meat pocket is extra tough. Re-engagement can be difficult. Oh look. There’s football hiding behind a bush in the car park again, frazzled and wired from staying up drinking crystal meth negronis and writing a presentation about merging marketing and sales, all the while gripped with a gathering sense of horror that it’s just not possible.

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© Illustration: Gary Neill/The Guardian

© Illustration: Gary Neill/The Guardian

© Illustration: Gary Neill/The Guardian

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‘Very sick and very tired’: the reality of famine for Gaza’s most vulnerable

Catastrophic hunger caused by aid blockade is most keenly felt by elderly people, the young and the destitute

In the overcrowded, rubble strewn streets of Gaza City, there was little surprise at the announcement that UN-backed experts believed the scenes of desperation could now be formally described as a famine.

“This is something we have been saying for months now, and we have witnessed this and we have been living this and suffering this. We feel very powerless and very sick and very tired,” said Amjad Shawa, the director of the Palestinian NGO Network, who has been in Gaza City throughout the 22-month war.

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© Photograph: Enas Tantesh

© Photograph: Enas Tantesh

© Photograph: Enas Tantesh

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Texas senate gives final approval to redrawn congressional map that heavily favours Republicans

The map will now be sent to governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, who is expected to quickly sign it into law

The Texas senate has given final approval to a redrawn congressional map that gives Republicans a chance to pick up as many as five congressional seats, fulfilling a brazen political request from Donald Trump to shore up the GOP’s standing before next year’s midterm elections.

It will now be sent to governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, who is expected to quickly sign it into law, however Democrats have vowed to challenge it in court. The Texas house of representatives approved the map on Wednesday on an 88-52 party-line vote, before the senate approved it early on Saturday.

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© Photograph: Stephen Spillman/AP

© Photograph: Stephen Spillman/AP

© Photograph: Stephen Spillman/AP

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What name is shared by members of the Famous Five and Secret Seven? The Saturday quiz

From Queen Mary and Welsh Harp to Caladrius and Garuda, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz

1 Which sporting projectile has been recorded at 351mph?
2 Which part of the atmosphere is named after an allotrope of oxygen?
3 What name is shared by members of the Famous Five and Secret Seven?
4 Which M6 service station invites visitors to “scrum on in”?
5 Whose D’eux is the bestselling French language album ever?
6 Ben Macdui is the highest peak in which national park?
7 Which animals have aggressive episodes known as musth?
8 In 1525, who wrote Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants?
What links:
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Cambodia genocide memorials; Carnac megaliths; Ludwig II of Bavaria’s palaces; Port Royal, Jamaica?
10 Aelfgyva; Queen Edith; person fleeing a burning building?
11 King George V; Queen Mary; Queen Mother; Welsh Harp; William Girling; Wraysbury?
12 d’If; du Diable; Rikers; Robben; Solovetsky?
13 Ouse tributary; Madagascar’s largest carnivore; links Exeter and Lincoln; Cabaret director?
14 Bennu; Caladrius; Garuda; Huginn and Muninn; Ziz?
15 Fenty Beauty; Haus Labs; Pleasing; Rare Beauty; r.e.m beauty?

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© Photograph: Hugh Williamson/Alamy

© Photograph: Hugh Williamson/Alamy

© Photograph: Hugh Williamson/Alamy

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Silicon Valley is full of wealthy men who think they’re victims, says Nick Clegg

Former Lib Dem leader and Meta strategist writes in new book that power in tech capital is interlaced with ‘self pity’

Silicon Valley is full of hubris and hugely wealthy and macho men who think they are victims, the former politician and Facebook executive Nick Clegg has said.

The former leader of the Liberal Democrats makes the claim in a new book chronicling his three careers as an MEP in Brussels, an MP and deputy prime minister in Westminster and as a communications and public policy strategist in San Francisco.

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© Photograph: David Vintiner/The Guardian

© Photograph: David Vintiner/The Guardian

© Photograph: David Vintiner/The Guardian

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Women’s groups hail Noel Clarke libel defeat as victory for victims and press freedom

Campaigners say judgment shows powerful men cannot hide behind money and libel laws to silence accusers

Women’s groups have said a high court judgment dismissing a libel claim against the Guardian by actor Noel Clarke marks a victory not just for his victims, but for press freedom and public interest reporting as a whole.

They said too often “wealthy and abusive men” have been able to use the courts to try to silence victims, hiding “behind injunctions, NDAs, [and] threats of defamation suits”.

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© Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

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‘What do you earn?’ How Instagram and TikTok influencers sent a taboo question viral

New wave of content creators say they hope to increase pay transparency by questioning people in the street

Would you be prepared to tell a stranger how much you earn and let them broadcast it all over the internet?

For better or worse, it used to be the case that pretty much the only people who knew your salary were you, your boss and probably HM Revenue & Customs.

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© Photograph: Aydan Al-Saad

© Photograph: Aydan Al-Saad

© Photograph: Aydan Al-Saad

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Eau de courgette: rise in foodie perfumes may be linked to weight-loss drugs

‘Gourmand’ fragrances with notes of biscuit or cherries are also trending among young consumers online

A rise in the number of sweet, food-scented perfumes on the market could be linked to an increase in the use of weight-loss medication, according to the market research firm Mintel.

Food-inspired fragrances, with scent profiles that feature vanilla, coffee and caramel and referred to in the industry as “gourmand” perfumes, have surged in popularity in the past three years. Launches of sugary-scented, dessert-themed fragrances increased by 24% last year alone, Mintel said.

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© Photograph: Nick Cunard/Rex/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Nick Cunard/Rex/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Nick Cunard/Rex/Shutterstock

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Collapsing ceilings, leaking windows and rat boxes: inside one of England’s crumbling fire stations

Fire chiefs say many stations are not fit for purpose and are urging government to protect services from proposed cuts

Approaching a dilapidated-looking 1960s building with a peeling and faded exterior, it is common for visitors to have the same thought: this cannot possibly be an active fire station.

“You can say it looks derelict, we know,” says Simon Carey, the group commander of the Plymouth response at Devon and Somerset fire and rescue service.

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© Photograph: Jim Wileman/The Guardian

© Photograph: Jim Wileman/The Guardian

© Photograph: Jim Wileman/The Guardian

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When my birth mother rejected me, another woman’s words helped me heal | Corin Hirsch

I struggled to cope with her refusal to meet me, until a straight-talking judge gave me a new perspective

Sometimes we learn the deepest truths in the most quotidian moments. One afternoon when I was six, I watched a character give birth in an army tent in the sitcom M*A*S*H. I immediately rushed from the den into the kitchen with a very important question for my mother. “Did you give birth to me in a tent like that?” I blurted out, hoping to learn my origin story.

Unexpectedly, my mother dashed from the room in tears. When she returned, she sat me down and broke the news I had somehow always known. “Your Uncle Ana brought you home from the hospital to Mommy and Daddy,” she said. “You’re adopted, which means we chose you.”

Corin Hirsch is a writer who covers food, drink and travel

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© Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images

© Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images

© Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images

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Sleeper hit: how Europe is revelling in the return of the night train

With a bucket list of journeys that would take her from Tromsø to Palermo and Istanbul, our writer rekindles her love affair with long-distance train journeys

Snug, I stretched in the darkness, waking as the thump of wheels slowed to the tempo of a heartbeat. I could sense that the train was approaching our destination, so shuffled down the berth, easing up the blind to find a ruby necklace of brake lights running parallel with the tracks.

It had rained overnight and the road was slick, the sky a midnight blue, a D-shaped moon fading in the corner. Dawn was minutes away, and I could just make out the jumble of houses on hills, lights flicking on as though fireflies lay between their folds.

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© Photograph: Christian Kruse/SJ

© Photograph: Christian Kruse/SJ

© Photograph: Christian Kruse/SJ

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‘It’s back to the future’: the 13th-century castle built by hand in France

A quarter of a century after our first visit, the Guardian returns to Guédelon to find old-fashioned toil has built a “thoroughly modern” architectural laboratory

It was the summer of 1999 and, in a disused quarry in a forest in deepest Burgundy, a dozen or so incongruously attired figures were toiling away, hewing limestone blocks, chiselling oaken beams and hammering 6in nails.

The rough outline of what they were building was discernible, just: a perimeter wall a substantial 200 metres long and three metres thick; round towers, two large and two small, to mark the four corners; another pair flanking the main gateway.

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© Photograph: Arnaud Finistre/AFP/Getty Images

Visitors tour the construction site of Guedelon castle

© Photograph: Arnaud Finistre/AFP/Getty Images

Visitors tour the construction site of Guedelon castle

© Photograph: Arnaud Finistre/AFP/Getty Images

Visitors tour the construction site of Guedelon castle
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KPopped: the bizarre musical duel where South Korea’s hottest stars make the Spice Girls look like dead weight

This battle of the bands-style show teams western pop artists with K-pop stars to retool their songs. And it isn’t exactly flattering to the likes of Boy George, Vanilla Ice and TLC

I would like to understand K-pop better, as I believe it is very popular with the kids. That sentence is a hard-working one: it introduces the information that I have spent this week watching the new Apple TV+ show KPopped (from Friday 29 August), while suggesting I am too old to have any hope of success. But it’s nowhere near as hard-working as a Korean pop star.

This battle of the bands-style show aims to raise awareness of K-pop in the west like it’s lymphatic filariasis or something. The format reminds me of PE lessons. You know how gym teachers split groups of friends up, so they concentrate? Here, Korean boy and girl groups such as JO1 and Blackswan are split in half. Each half works with a famous western pop artist, re-tooling their best-known song in K-pop mode. The resulting performances are voted for by the studio audience, and the winner gets – well, nothing. An injection of relevance.

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© Photograph: Juhan Noh/Courtesy of Apple

© Photograph: Juhan Noh/Courtesy of Apple

© Photograph: Juhan Noh/Courtesy of Apple

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Miners from 1980s strikes return to picket line … at mining museum

Former coalminers join fellow museum staff in strike over pay which is due to last until mid-September

“Who’d have thought we’d be doing this again?” Arthur Scargill said earlier this week, raising a laugh from the ex-miners standing in the picket line outside the National Coal Mining Museum.

Staff at the Wakefield museum, many of them former coalminers, have walked out in a dispute over pay, and were joined on Thursday by the now 87-year-old former leader of the National Union of Mineworkers.

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© Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

© Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

© Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

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Before the almost inevitable row about policing at Notting Hill carnival, here are some things you should know | Alfie Moore

As a police officer turned comedian, I joke about the job and try to explain it. But there is a gulf between what officers and the public think – and that does neither any good

The cops are everywhere. This weekend, as Notting Hill carnival looms, you’ll see them on the streets and in the news.

I’m a standup comedian, but also a recent ex-cop with plenty of mates still in the job to keep me apprised of what’s going on and what they are thinking. Usually this involves a sort of role reversal, where I play the part of the crisis negotiator and they’re weeping down the phone over the latest senior management policy. Here’s what’s really on their minds at the moment.

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© Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

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‘I have to do better’: Potter admits he’s under pressure after Chelsea defeat

  • West Ham manager insists ‘the players care’

  • Chelsea’s Enzo Maresca delighted with Estêvão’s display

Graham Potter accepted that he has to improve after West Ham’s dismal start to the season continued with a humiliating 5-1 defeat by Chelsea at the London Stadium.

Potter, who is desperately looking to strengthen his struggling squad before the transfer window shuts, did not hide from the situation after his side followed up their 3-0 defeat by Sunderland in their opening game with another atrocious performance. The former Chelsea manager has made little impact since taking charge at West Ham in January and there is growing unhappiness behind the scenes.

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© Photograph: Vince Mignott/EPA

© Photograph: Vince Mignott/EPA

© Photograph: Vince Mignott/EPA

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The week around the world in 20 pictures

Russian airstrikes across Ukraine, mourning in Gaza, wildfires across Europe and a church move in Sweden: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

  • Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing

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© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

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BA flight attendant on US-London route found ‘naked and high on drugs’ in toilet

Haden Pentecost pleads guilty in magistrates court to performing an aviation function while impaired by drugs

A British Airways flight attendant was found high on drugs and completely naked in an onboard toilet during a flight from California to London, a court heard.

Haden Pentecost, who was described as agitated, sweating and babbling, had to be stood down by the flight’s manager when he failed to help with any pre-flight safety checks.

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© Photograph: James Manning/PA

© Photograph: James Manning/PA

© Photograph: James Manning/PA

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‘These are Ukrainian lands’: people in Donetsk pour scorn on Putin’s territorial demands

In Kramatorsk, 12 miles from the frontline, daily life goes on amid the constant threat of attacks

In a branch of the Ukrainian coffee chain Lviv Croissants in the frontline city of Kramatorsk, there is a noticeboard where people leave coloured Post-it notes with simple hand-drawn messages. One just says “Kramatorsk”, with red hearts below and a yellow and blue semi-circular fan above, the colours of Ukraine.

Among those looking at the notes is Bohdan, a 26-year-old, who has been serving in the army for the past three years. The soldier, now in logistics, has chosen to spend his one day off in Kramatorsk with his dog Arnold to photograph for himself recent Russian bombing on a city where he was based for 18 months.

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© Photograph: Julia Kochetova/The Guardian

© Photograph: Julia Kochetova/The Guardian

© Photograph: Julia Kochetova/The Guardian

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