The 17th king of Malaysia is crowned at the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur

Actor tells Virgin Radio he feels ‘very emotional’ after completing writing of sitcom with Ruth Jones

James Corden has revealed that he and Ruth Jones have finished writing the script for Gavin and Stacey’s final episode.

The actor and former talk show host, 45, announced in early May along with the show’s co-creator Jones, 57, that the beloved comedy series would make a comeback.

The country is large enough to still produce surprises – Roman remains you didn’t know about, a seaside train line, vast empty beaches …

Between the glamour of Biarritz and the tuna boats and half-timbered houses of Saint-Jean-de-Luz lies a surprisingly peaceful stretch of the French Basque coast, with relatively few tourists even in high summer.

Damian Green and Steve Baker endorse shadow security minister as they seek to ‘transcend old divisions’

Two senior Tories have thrown their weight behind Tom Tugendhat to be the new Conservative party leader.

Damian Green and Steve Baker lost their seats in the election earlier this month but are influential figures in the party. They have endorsed Tugendhat, who is the shadow security minister, in a joint article for the Telegraph.

Nina (left), 25, a research analyst, meets Grace, 23, a production assistant

What were you hoping for?
An interesting evening with someone new, or a funny bad date story.

The 90s action blockbuster gets a belated sequel, and Duran Duran get the picturesque music fest started

Twisters
Out now
A sequel to the fondly remembered 1996 action film Twister, this new film also focuses on people who chase storms for kicks, and why not? Actually, the “why not” becomes clear pretty quickly, but you can’t make an action omelette without at least a few characters boldly going where they probably shouldn’t have gone.

Jackson Lee, who was first elected to Congress almost 30 years ago, had said she was being treated for pancreatic cancer last month

US representative Sheila Jackson Lee, a strong progressive voice in the Democratic party who was outspoken on African American and women’s rights, has died, her family posted on X late on Friday.

Jackson Lee, of Texas, announced last month she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was undergoing treatment. She was 74 and had also previously had breast cancer.

Rashmir Balasubramaniam, Richard Priestley and Les Bright reflect on the former England football manager’s leadership

Jonathan Freedland’s piece on the power of Gareth Southgate’s leadership (Gareth Southgate has proved that quiet competence can lift a nation – it’s a lesson that goes far beyond sport, 12 July) missed one really important thing: belief.

Southgate made us and the team believe again. We saw it in the penalty shootout in the semi-final. The calm, focused, steadiness of each penalty-taker belied the history and shadow of previous matches. We saw it again in the final on the faces of the younger players. They don’t just believe they can win, they know they can win. Their belief and their performance improvement turned many of us from doubt to belief too. It is simply a matter of time before football comes home.

There are practicable solutions to restore fertility provision in this country, writes consultant in reproductive medicine Geeta Nargund

Denis Campbell’s reporting that just 27% of IVF cycles in 2022 were funded by the NHS is a damning reflection of the state of fertility in the UK and particularly concerning in light of our plummeting birthrates (Report, 18 July).

Eleven years ago the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommended patients receive three full NHS-funded IVF cycles, yet today just 7% of the UK’s integrated care boards (ICBs) meet these guidelines. The IVF postcode lottery is unacceptable and goes against the founding principles of our NHS, which is to offer fair and equal access to healthcare.

Graham Gomm, 63, had been on remand for burglary offences at HMP Wormwood Scrubs

Police have launched a search for an escaped prisoner who absconded from a London hospital after being taken unwell from Wormwood Scrubs prison.

Scotland Yard is “working to find” Graham Gomm, 63, who is believed to have escaped from Hammersmith hospital in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Fox News host recently had his show canceled after joining in the false narrative of 2020 election being stolen

Lou Dobbs, a longtime cable news anchor known in recent years for supporting Donald Trump and for spreading misinformation, has died at age 78, according to statements posted on his social media accounts.

Trump paid tribute to Dobbs as “a friend, and truly incredible Journalist, Reporter, and Talent” in a post on his social media site, writing: “He understood the World, and what was ‘happening,’ better than others.”

Tim Williamson and Colin Hines respond to a piece by Nesrine Malik in which she reflects on the gulf in voter turnout and the depth of disfranchisement in Britain

The extent of non-participation in the recent general election should worry us. Almost half the electorate chose not to vote. But as Nesrine Malik says (Hidden behind the celebration of Labour’s ‘landslide’ win is a depressing disfranchisement, 15 July), what must surely be most concerning is that participation has become increasingly concentrated among the middle classes and higher‑income brackets, whereas non-participation was highest in areas with high ethnic minority populations.

She describes an emerging political caste system: “One with a policy base fashioned in the interests of the members of a certain cohort, their votes efficiently distributed, their economic investment in the system connecting them to politics in a way that only increases their ability to shape it in their interests.”

Alan Wenban-Smith on the intersection between wealth creation and making money and Jennifer Highwood on politicians buying seats

Two excellent articles this week – by Nesrine Malik (Hidden behind the celebration of Labour’s ‘landslide’ win is a depressing disfranchisement, 15 July) and by George Monbiot (Labour can end austerity at a stroke – by taxing the rich and taxing them hard, 14 July). But while they tease out the dire societal consequences of the economic assumption that making money and creating wealth are mutually supportive, they don’t nail this as the original crime. This is ironic since both articles demonstrate the effect of normalising such an assumption: its use in rightwing media to further vested interests, and being baked into public and political discourse.

Wealth creation is a broad concept: delivery of the things we need, want or enjoy. It includes things such as a healthy environment and secure social fabric, as well as goods and services. Making money is about establishing a personal claim on marketed wealth, whether produced by ourselves or others. Draw a Venn diagram of the activities in these two categories and it becomes clear that, while there is an overlap, it is very far from being an identity. A current example is provided by the water industry: lots of money is being made, but wealth less so.
Alan Wenban-Smith
Birmingham

Incensed crowd facing riot police set BTV building on fire as students demand end to discriminatory job quotas

Bangladeshi students have set fire to the state broadcaster’s building a day after the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, appeared on the network seeking to calm escalating clashes that had killed at least 39 people.

Hundreds of protesters demanding reform of civil service hiring rules clashed with riot police who had shot at them with rubber bullets on Thursday, chasing the retreating officers to BTV’s headquarters in the capital, Dhaka.

Some people plastered over ears at Republic national convention, in solidarity with Trump after assassination attempt

Demolished flats, boarded-up cinemas, disused buildings … Mitchell’s photographs of Yorkshire (and beyond) have established him as a key chronicler of a changing Britain

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