Guests arrive at the extravagant wedding of power couple Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant

Ambani wedding: after months of celebrations, the ‘Windsors of India’ finally set to marry

Readers respond to Michael Aylwin’s article about his wife’s dementia

I am not ashamed to say that I wept while reading Michael Aylwin’s article (‘It comes for your very soul’: how Alzheimer’s undid my dazzling, creative wife in her 40s’, 9 July). He has articulated so many of the feelings and experiences that my wife and I have encountered across the more than 10 years since her diagnosis.

She too feared Alzheimer’s – her mother having died of the condition four years after diagnosis. Reaching the decision to place my wife in a care home, 58 years after making those wedding vows in church, tore me apart, and still does, even though family and social workers were insisting such a move was long overdue.

Robert Hardy, Mandy Lane and Rita Hawes respond to an article on hands-off Norwegian parenting, talking of the freedom they had during childhood in Britain decades ago

Re Andy Welch’s article on “Norwegian parenting” (How to be a Norwegian parent: let your kids roam free, stay home alone, have fun – and fail, 11 July), such willingness to allow children freedom was a feature of British life for many of us born five decades ago or more. I was not particularly unusual being put on to a bus at the age of five with a luggage label pinned to my coat for a five-hour journey to my grandparents’ house.

When there, my grandmother, who ran a seaside boarding house, would take me down to the beach in the morning with sixpence for the Punch and Judy show, and the instruction to be at the pier gate when both the clock hands were at the top of the clock. This was the era of the Moors murders, and child abduction was a public fear.

The director of Annie Hall, and Duvall’s co-stars in Time Bandits and Roxanne, reflect on working with the actor, who died yesterday aged 75

• ‘Duvall was a sublime and subversive screen presence’
• Shelley Duvall – a life in pictures

Woody Allen, writer, director, co-star, Annie Hall (1977)

Firm says wires attaching first patient’s brain to implant are ‘more or less very stable’ after detaching months ago

The Neuralink CEO, Elon Musk, said on Wednesday that the company would soon test its pound-coin-sized implant and brain-computer interface on a second patient. The unnamed patient’s surgery is slated for “the next week or so”, Musk said.

Surgery on a different patient intended to be the second participant in Neuralink’s human trial had been scheduled for late June but was delayed when they experienced unspecified health issues contraindicating the procedure.

Readers on the mammoth task facing the new prisons minister to reform the criminal justice system

As a former criminal justice practitioner, member of a probation board and now chair of a charity offering employment and training to prisoners in prisons and upon release, I have to echo the relief expressed by others at the appointment of James Timpson as prisons minister (Editorial, 9 July).

For too long, prison policy has run scared of the rightwing press, promoting a punitive ideology that has led to overcrowding and a lack of rehabilitation and education, and promoting the rhetoric that such things are rewards for criminality. What has been ignored is the evidence that shows this is an ineffective and expensive strategy. For most offenders, community sentences that provide mentoring and supervision are better at reducing recidivism rates.

Ruth Rising remembers seeing her father crying at the kitchen table after witnessing children being dug out of the remains of the destroyed school in Wales

Reading Gaynor Madgwick’s experience of the Aberfan disaster of October 1966 brought back memories of my father sitting at our kitchen table crying after returning from Aberfan on the evening of the disaster (A noise like thunder – then my classroom went black. How I lost my brother, sister and stability to the Aberfan disaster, 10 July). I was seven and my brother 12.

My father, who was a lecturer in civil engineering at Swansea University, had been asked some time during the morning of 21 October to join the investigation team. During the afternoon, and I think the following day, he was seeing children of my age being dug out of the remains of the primary school. It was a sight that he was never to forget.

Eight of nine ‘finfluencers’ plead not guilty to promoting unauthorised content to 4.5m followers

A group of influencers and former reality TV stars from shows including Love Island and Geordie Shore have pleaded not guilty to promoting an unauthorised investment scheme on Instagram, but will not be tried until 2027.

Lauren Goodger, an ex-cast member of The Only Way is Essex (Towie), Love Island’s Jamie Clayton and Scott Timlin, the former Geordie Shore star known as Scotty T, appeared at Southwark crown court in London on Thursday on charges relating to plugging an unsanctioned financial venture to their followers on the social media site.

We want to hear from NHS patients about whether they feel they have been listened to sufficiently when raising safety concerns

NHS patients raising safety concerns are too often “gaslighted” and “fobbed off”, according to England’s patient safety commissioner, who added that women in some cases had had legitimate fears dismissed.

We would like to speak to NHS patients about their experiences of receiving medical care. Have you had occasions were you felt your concerns were ignored? When did it happen? What took place and were there consequences?

PM says UK is back playing leading role on world stage at conclusion of Nato’s 75th anniversary summit

He would take candid snaps on the New York subway while pretending to adjust his camera. Now, a new monograph aims to bring the photographer’s work to a wider audience

Nato’s communique highlights concerns over Beijing’s nuclear arsenal and its capabilities in space, with Jens Stoltenberg calling it an important message

• Ukraine war briefing: Path to Nato membership ‘irreversible’

Nato leaders have labelled China a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war against Ukraine and called its deepening ties with Moscow a cause of “deep concern”, in what’s been seen as the most serious rebuke against Beijing from the alliance.

The final communique, approved by the 32 Nato members at the summit in Washington, also highlights concerns about Beijing’s nuclear arsenal and its capabilities in space.

The terminal at Hawaii’s Hilo International Airport was temporarily evacuated while a bomb squad checked if the grenades were able to explode

A Japanese man was arrested at Hawaii’s Hilo International Airport after security screeners allegedly spotted two items in his bag that looked like grenades, but which turned out to be “inert”, said local police.

“Personnel responded to a report by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staff that two items resembling grenades were detected during x-ray screening within a carry-on bag”, a statement from the Hawaii Police Department said.

Seals have been biting people in the first big outbreak of the disease in marine mammals, writes Nick Dall in Cape Town

It’s happened to me dozens of times: I’m riding a wave when, out of the corner of my eye, I see a black shape coming up beneath me. Being in Cape Town – a great white shark hotspot – it’s hard not to assume the worst. But fear soon gives into relief when it becomes clear that I’m sharing the wave with a Cape fur seal. Sometimes, they get so close you can see the bubbles on their whiskers.

Now, nine seals have tested positive for rabies – the world’s first significant outbreak of the disease in marine mammals – and people like me are watching the water along this 400-mile (600km) coastline for a different reason.

Dr Arun Midha and Dr Peter Estcourt respond to articles by Martin Kettle and Polly Toynbee on the urgent challenge ahead for Keir Starmer’s new government

Martin Kettle identifies that the real challenge for the new Labour government is to demand that MPs absorb the Nolan principles into their bloodstream (Starmer wants us to believe we can trust politicians again. That’s huge – but he has to mean it, 4 July).

I left the Commons standards committee in 2022, but in the preceding six years I had adjudicated on several prominent cases, including Boris Johnson (three times); Ian Paisley Jr, which led to the first triggering of the Recall of MPs Act 2015; Keith Vaz, which resulted in the longest suspension of an MP in recent times (six months); and Owen Paterson, for an “egregious” breach of lobbying rules, which also sparked an attempt by the government to sideline lay members and restructure the standards system.

Readers respond to reports that as many as 400,000 people may have been prevented from voting last week

The news that voter ID rules may have stopped 400,000 taking part in the general election (Report, 8 July) shows that fears that the Tories’ electoral reforms would damage democracy were well founded. The Johnson administration introduced extreme photo ID requirements, stripped the Electoral Commission of its independence and designed electoral boundaries around a register missing millions of eligible citizens. Our system saw democratic backsliding.

The new government could begin to build a more inclusive democracy. It could repeal parts of the Elections Act, consolidate electoral law and introduce new innovations such as automatic voter registration. A new Representation of the People Act to strengthen elections for the 21st century is needed. The Electoral Integrity Project has a blueprint for reforms that were proposed by academics and civil society groups in the last parliament. There is now an opportunity to take them forward.
Prof Toby S James
University of East Anglia; co-director, Electoral Integrity Project

City hits all-time high of 120F as officials set up emergency cooling centers at community centers across south Nevada

Las Vegas set a new record on Wednesday as it marked a fifth consecutive day over 115F (46C), amid a lingering hot spell that will continue scorching much of the US into the weekend.

The blazing hot temperatures climbed to 115F shortly after 1pm at Harry Reid international airport, breaking the old mark of four consecutive days above 115F set in July 2005.

No self-respecting plutocrat wants to cheat death by cryopreservation, only to find they are now penniless. Can the lawyers help?

Name: Frozen assets.

Age: How old do you want to be?

The five nominees competing to be crowned the UK’s best museum have each sent in five devilish questions about their collections – how culturally clued up are you?

The Art Fund award for Museum of the Year is announced on 10 July

From Quechua rappers to Peruvian ballet dancers, these images showcase the talents of emerging and established photographers from the region

Ray Corbett suggests repealing the Land Compensation Act, while Prof Andrew Fraser wants to rake back vast areas owned by hereditary peers. Plus a letter from Bea Rogers

Gaby Hinsliff reports that the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, wants to build 10,000 social homes and affordable flats, and is urging the government to make public land available at below-market rates for building, which the Treasury is blocking (Starmer has promised big – now he must be bold and move quickly. Here’s how he should start, 5 July).

One way to achieve Burnham’s goals would be to repeal the Land Compensation Act 1961. Before this Tory act, when landowners obtained planning permission to sell land for building, the uplift of the land values was split between landowners and local councils or new towns. The act granted the full increase in land values from planning permission to landowners, making new housing more expensive. Repealing the act would help Labour to meet its pledge to rebuild Britain.
Ray Corbett
Penge, London

Readers respond to an editorial about the loss of council-run youth services as Tory cuts have bitten into budgets

I can’t agree more with your editorial on youth services (The Guardian view on youth clubs: these vital institutions do more than prevent crime, 1 July). I live in Bristol, where knife crime among youth is rife. I have a 16-year-old and, although he’s not vulnerable to gang grooming, the only thing available to people in this age bracket is car parks. The only places they can hang out among friends are dark, empty spaces without footfall. Although they can work at the pub, they can’t visit it.

The problem, apart from the deep funding cuts, is segregation among ages in the UK. If as a society we embraced children and adolescents as more than a mere nuisance, the government cuts to youth services would never have become so detrimental.
Margarita Sidirokastriti
Bristol

The World Architecture festival’s 2024 shortlist has been announced, revealing projects from around the world spanning categories such as childcare, energy, transport and science. The live event will take place in Singapore from 6-8 November 2024. This year’s finalists represent 71 countries, with five shortlisted: Australia, China, India, Singapore and the United Kingdom

As The Bikeriders hits cinemas, photographer Danny Lyon – whose book about joining the Chicago Outlaws inspired it – talks us through some of his wildest images

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