The current crop of politicians are constantly telling us they don’t have to be doing this. Aren’t we lucky?

Sorry to call it early, but the worst trend of 2026 is politicians who are graciously doing us all a favour. “He doesn’t need to be here,” declared Nigel Farage on Monday of Reform UK’s newest sloppy second, Nadhim Zahawi. “He could have gone abroad.” Ooh, aren’t we lucky! Thanks for stopping by, Nadhim!

If you missed this, the former mayfly Conservative chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has switched gravy trains. If that sounds like the sort of death-defying stunt Tom Cruise might break his ankle doing in the Mission: Impossible franchise, it’s nothing like as exhilaratingly watchable. The Tory gravy train has ground to a halt, and Farage will stop his Reform train even between stations to pick up any old has-been you may remember from episodes such as “deathbed Boris Johnson appointments” or “my horses are warmer than pensioners”. (More on that one shortly.) Needless to say, Farage is doing his best to explain that these guys aren’t secondhand, they’re pre-loved. They’re vintage, they’re appealingly worn in, they’re heritage pieces. They may even have increased in value – they’re basically political Birkin bags.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

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Trees still block roads and scores of people remain without power or water almost a week on from storm

Linda Williams, 86, has been without heating, lighting and a working phone for the best part of five days. She is trying to keep warm by layering up and she picks her way around her home in the remote Cornish village of New Mill with old battery lamps from her days of caravanning.

“I think it’s safe to say that we’re in a bit of a state,” said Williams, a retired council accounts assistant. “But it can’t go on for ever … can it?”

The actor’s sober note of sanity on Sunday night was the latest courageous move from a man who seems more invested in activism than acting

At times like these, when the world teeters on the brink of several terrifying calamities at once, awards seasons can be something of a tightrope.

This weekend’s Golden Globe awards were a perfect case in point. The main criticism levelled at the ceremony so far seems to be that it didn’t adequately reflect the moment. It was all a bit 1920s Berlin, with a shimmering array of beautiful millionaires busy congratulating themselves, oblivious to the fear and exhaustion of the rest of the world.

Wildfires now destroy twice as much tree cover per year as two decades ago – a crisis fuelled by climate change

The world is losing forests to fire at an unsustainable rate, experts have warned.

Wildfires have always been part of nature’s cycle, but in recent decades their scale, frequency and intensity in carbon-rich forests have surged.

The explosive popularity of the gay hockey TV drama reveals women’s desire for sex and romance without violence or hierarchy

The first time gay hockey romance crossed Mary’s radar, she was warned off it. A 64-year-old non-profit executive from Toronto, Mary recalled mentioning the Canadian author Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series to her son, a twentysomething queer writer and fellow hockey obsessive, a few years ago.

“I said: ‘Have you heard of these books?’ and he said: ‘Yeah.’ I said: ‘Should I read these books?’ And he said: ‘No. They’re not for you.’”

Fans of Normal People and One Day will adore The New Years, which follows a relatable on-off couple in Madrid. It is the best relationship drama you haven’t seen yet

It is rare to watch a fictional romance and feel genuinely invested in the question of will-they-won’t-they – and even rarer for it to reflect familiar relationship turbulence. Many love stories on TV skip straight to wish-fulfilment, delivering instant chemistry, no challenges that can’t be overcome within the runtime and glib reassurance that Love Conquers All.

Netflix’s Nobody Wants This, for instance – based on a real couple, and ostensibly exploring whether a relationship can survive differences of faith – didn’t wait to resolve that question before bringing its leads together. In real life, promising connections fall at much lower hurdles, for such banal reasons as incompatible schedules.

US president gives clearest signal yet that he might take military action against Tehran over killing of demonstrators

• Iran crisis live – latest updates

Donald Trump has told Iranians to keep protesting and said help was on the way, in the clearest sign yet that the US president may be preparing for military action against Tehran.

“Iranian Patriots, keep protesting – take over your institutions!!! … help is on its way,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday. He added that he had cancelled all meetings with Iranian officials until the “senseless killing” of protesters stopped.

Exclusive: Some scientists say many detections are most likely error, with one high-profile study called a ‘joke’

High-profile studies reporting the presence of microplastics throughout the human body have been thrown into doubt by scientists who say the discoveries are probably the result of contamination and false positives. One chemist called the concerns “a bombshell”.

Studies claiming to have revealed micro and nanoplastics in the brain, testes, placentas, arteries and elsewhere were reported by media across the world, including the Guardian. There is no doubt that plastic pollution of the natural world is ubiquitous, and present in the food and drink we consume and the air we breathe. But the health damage potentially caused by microplastics and the chemicals they contain is unclear, and an explosion of research has taken off in this area in recent years.

Shadow home office minister Alicia Kearns says unredacted plans show 208 secret rooms and approving plans would be ‘insanity’

Q: Why are the Liberal Democrats still using X?

Davey says he is not afraid to pick a fight with Elon Musk. He says Musk has interfered in British democracy “in the most outrageous way”. Musk has also incited violence, he says.

I’ve picked a few fights with Elon Musk because I think he has interfered in British democracy in the most outrageous way. He’s incited violence and I have called in the past for investigations into him.

The point about Grok – which is quite shocking – and what it is doing, and the danger that it poses to women in the UK, to our children, is quite shocking. We need to take it really seriously.

Island’s PM tells media event with Danish counterpart ‘we choose Denmark’ and will not be owned or governed by US

• Europe live – latest updates

Greenland’s prime minister has said “we choose Denmark” before high-stakes talks at the White House about Donald Trump’s intention to take control of the Arctic territory.

Amid rising tensions over the US president’s push, Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a joint press conference with his Danish counterpart, Mette Frederiksen on Tuesday that the island would not be owned or governed by Washington.