From the Sherlock Holmes spin-offs to The Sheep Detectives, DIY sleuths are on the case all over TV and cinema. But where did the trope of the outsider who outsmarts the professionals come from – and how do these depictions compare to reality?

On Television you don’t have to be a cop to solve crime; the police can just hire you as a consultant. All you need is the uncanny ability to solve each and every mystery in time for the next episode. You might be a retired detective (Monk, Ridley, the many Poirot spin-offs) or a bestselling mystery writer (Murder, She Wrote, Castle) or a vicar (Grantchester) or a convicted fraudster seeking redemption (White Collar, Wild Cards). You could be a faux psychic (Psych, The Mentalist), a human lie detector (Lie to Me), or a private investigator (all the Sherlock Holmes adaptations and spin-offs, and Shonda Rhimes’s The Residence). Or even, in the case of Death Valley, a retired actor widely known for playing a detective on TV).

The trope of the “consultant”– a hyper-talented investigator who isn’t part of the police, but teams up with them to solve crimes – is widespread, so much so that the pop-culture website TV Tropes gives it its own page: “No badge? No problem!” But recently the evergreen character has enjoyed a boost.

Welsh festival helps asylum seekers gain confidence and skills while settling in to a new life in the UK

For many young people growing up in Britain, their first music festival is a rite of passage; watching live music in a field with thousands of others, sleeping under the stars, and spending time with friends old and new.

Green Man festival in Wales has been extending that formative experience to refugees and asylum seekers – who are offered training placements that help them develop valuable skills as they work to build new lives in Britain.

Collieries turned into retail parks, manufacturing in the doldrums. The problem is vast, but at least the PM-in-waiting sees it: and in that there is hope

In the autumn of 2005, Tony Blair gave one of his most unhinged and fascinating speeches as prime minister. “I hear people say we have to stop and debate globalisation,” he said. “You might as well debate whether autumn should follow summer.” He went on: “The character of this changing world is indifferent to tradition. Unforgiving of frailty … It has no custom and practice. It is replete with opportunities, but they only go to those swift to adapt, slow to complain, open, willing and able to change.”

In the hall, his characteristically messianic delivery ensured this argument landed, but anyone listening from one of the UK’s deindustrialised areas must have received it as yet another punch in the face. For decades, change and adaptation were what they had been living through and reeling from – but where were the rewards? Where, indeed, was any real sign of even the beginnings of the 21st-century prosperity Blair seemed to be offering?

John Harris is a Guardian columnist

We were busy doing up a dilapidated Welsh farmhouse when a young couple bought the land next door. They seemed odd yet basically harmless – but their increasingly troubling behaviour soon escalated into a full-blown campaign of terror

Richard: Bryn stood under a dripping hedge, waving like we were long-lost cousins reunited at a funeral. “Welcome to paradise!” he shouted as I stepped out of the camper, my raincoat flapping in the wind.

Millions of fans could face a tricky day on Monday if they sleep in – or pull a sickie – after the 1am kick-off

Whether it’s all over or another step closer to home on Monday morning, the usual back-to-work rush hour could be more sluggish than usual. The timing of the Mexico v England game – a 1am kick-off, and the prospect that it could go on until almost 4am if it goes to penalties – means that for many workers choosing to watch the match there will be not much opportunity for a sleep before the alarm goes off.

Farage is under pressure over £5m gift, byelection losses and rise of rival Restore but allies say exit speculation is ‘wishful thinking’

“Of course he’s tired. He’s just done two months campaigning every day on the road, it would be weird if he wasn’t. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to quit,” says one friend of Nigel Farage who has spent time with him in recent weeks.

Westminster has been ablaze with rumours that Farage is growing weary in the job of leading Reform UK after the bruising scandal around his decision to accept a £5m gift from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne. He is now also facing further questions about whether his lifestyle has been partly funded by George Cottrell, his close friend and a convicted fraudster.

Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick says Farage accepted staff, security and accommodation from George Cottrell before becoming an MP

Nigel Farage did not declare gifts and benefits provided by a crypto entrepreneur who has previously been convicted of fraud, Reform’s economic spokesperson has admitted.

Robert Jenrick said on Sunday that the Reform leader had accepted staff, security and accommodation from George Cottrell, but claimed they were personal gifts provided before he became an MP and so did not need to be declared.

Nicholas Stern joins growing number backing Miliband, saying he has vision and experience to revive economy

A former chief economic adviser to the Treasury has called on Andy Burnham to appoint Ed Miliband as chancellor, arguing the energy secretary has a “bold” vision to revive the economy.

Nicholas Stern, a professor at the London School of Economics who was a senior figure in the Treasury during Gordon Brown’s tenure, said only Miliband had the experience and the strategic vision to accelerate investment and rebuild public trust in the state’s ability to “get things done”.

New supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei still absent from public view as his three brothers stand beside father’s coffin

Beside the coffin of the assassinated former Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei at a packed prayer hall in Tehran on Sunday there were calls for the killing of Donald Trump.

Iran is staging a week of mass funeral processions ⁠for Khamenei, who was killed along with other members of his family on the first day of the US and Israeli war on 28 February. The funeral was delayed because of the war.

In late-night campaign-style speech in Washington DC, US president vows to take the US ‘to new levels’

Donald Trump has hailed the “unmatched achievement and unlimited potential” of the US in a triumphalist address marking the country’s 250th anniversary.

In a late-night campaign-style speech in Washington DC on Saturday, the US president claimed his country was “just getting started” as he vowed to take it “to new levels”.