If Labour loses the Senedd seat, it will be a huge blow for party that has dominated politics in Wales for a century

When he steps out of the byelection campaign office opposite Caerphilly castle, the Plaid Cymru candidate, Lindsay Whittle, tends to hear a couple of different cries from passing motorists.

“Some of them shout: ‘Good luck Linds!’ I love that,” Whittle said. “It implies we’re old friends even though I may not know them personally.” Others are rather less positive. “They yell: ‘Stop the boats!’ You hear that all the time.

Call me cynical, but I have a feeling Victoria’s Secret wouldn’t have sent a heavily pregnant model down the runway if she looked like most of us do at that stage

Determined to find new ways to stay in the headlines, the underwear brand Victoria’s Secret recently had the model Jasmine Tookes – one of its most longstanding “angels” – open its runway show nine months pregnant. As a postpartum woman myself, my first thought, of course, was: “Finally! A pregnant woman I can relate to.” Only joking: it was a deep concern for her ankles, followed by a wish that one day the modelling industry will solve its recruitment crisis, because surely short-staffing is the only justifiable reason for wanting a heavily pregnant woman to work.

Nonetheless, body image and pregnancy have been on my mind recently. It is a curious thing, giving birth. We are all here because someone did it, yet what happens to women, mentally and physically, remains less known than, say, Liz Truss losing to a lettuce. And even though those of us who have given birth know intellectually that what we have done is miraculous and we should be proud, we still struggle with what it does to our physiques.

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Green groups defend ‘essential’ levy, but Heck sausages and Gü desserts among those who say shoppers will pick up tab

A packaging tax designed to end our throwaway society is under fire for inadvertently adding to food price inflation as it pushes up the cost of everything from sausages to soft drinks.

“It’s about 3p on a pack of sausages,” says Andrew Keeble, the co-founder of Heck, of the new extended producer responsibility (EPR) tax.

A school production of Samuel Beckett’s masterpiece, with Nigel Planer in the cast, provided a lesson in forgetting about failure

Until I was 12 I was in the French school system, where theatre was Molière, Corneille, Racine. Going to the theatre meant The Sound of Music or My Fair Lady. Then it was decided I would switch to school in England. So, at 13, I arrived at Westminster school. It was 1968, and the world opened up.

I went to see a school production of Waiting for Godot in French in a small room with a little stage, and I was sitting at the back. Musically, I was pretty sophisticated – I already knew about all the psychedelic music that had been happening. I’d seen the Mothers of Invention. I’d seen lots and lots and lots. But I didn’t know there was stuff like this. I suddenly became aware that, just like in music, there was a whole new world out there.

Rivalries are hard and real in cricket but the game’s capacity for fluctuating, compelling narratives creates heroes out of foes

At the most famous cricket ground in the world, inside the sport’s most revered pavilion, there is a lifesize painting of a man who terrorised English cricket for 15 years. Across the manicured green turf at Lord’s, inside cricket’s most iconic media centre, the main commentary box is named after this generational tormentor. About 84 miles away, at the Rose Bowl near Southampton, an entire stand bears his name.

English cricket has every reason to hate Shane Warne. In 36 Ashes Tests he bagged 195 wickets at an average of 23.25. From his opening ball of the century at Old Trafford in 1993 to his final bow in Sydney in 2007, he seemed to operate on a different plane. This peroxided devil ruined summers and deepened cold, bitter winters, yet he became an English national treasure, the perfect reminder that cricket, above all else, is something that should be enjoyed.

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Interviews with experts and key players across four countries reveal why efforts to stop the multibillion-euro trafficking industry have failed – and how to save the endangered fish

By 10am on the midsummer Day of the Ox, the city of Narita smells of charcoal and sugar. The cobbled road is thronged with visitors lining up to buy grilled eel, a traditional delicacy believed to cool the body and keep spirits up in the humid weather.

“We’ll be so sad if it becomes extinct and we can’t eat eel any more,” says a customer sitting on the tatami-mat floor in Kawatoyo, a popular restaurant specialising in grilled eel, which has been operating for more than 115 years.

Kabayaki-style eel, grilled with tare sauce, served at Kawatoyo restaurant in Narita. Photograph: Toru Hanai

Grooming gang victims have accused the government of attempting to manipulate them into broadening a national inquiry

Yesterday Steve Back, the photographer who covers Downing Street and who specialises in close up pictures of documents being carried into No 10, took a picture of a file with the wording of two of the questions being prepared for PMQs. One was the first question, from the Lib Dem MP Roz Savage, about the case for more focus on environmental protections in planning rules, and another was the third question, from the Labour MP Jayne Kirkham, about public transport for students in Cornwall.

Back posts on X as PoliticalPics.

Sorry Jason, this is such complete and utter nonsense. If you get a PMQ as an opposition MP you can try to score points if you like or you can try to ensure you get a decent answer by tipping off the PM in advance. I’ve done both in my time. Literally nothing to see here.

People trying to make this into a big thing… MPs of all parties give No10 prior notice of PMQs because they want helpful responses on local issues. (Exception is LOTO Qs which are more about the ‘gotcha’). The big mystery is: why are aides still using clear folders?

Ukrainian president’s comments come amid suspension of planned US-Russian summit and fresh attacks on Kyiv and Kharkiv

Children among six killed in Russian attack on Kyiv

Russia said on Wednesday that preparation for a presidential summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump was still continuing, despite the latter announcing it had been shelved (see 10.30am BST).

“We are saying that preparations for a summit are continuing,” Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying by the state TASS news agency.

I want to officially confirm: Russia has not changed its position compared to the understandings that were reached during the Alaska summit.

Exclusive: Asylum seeker says he made second crossing because he did not feel safe in France

A man sent back to France under the “one in, one out” scheme has returned to the UK on a small boat, the Guardian has learned.

The man, who wants to claim asylum in the UK, and has spoken to the Guardian since coming back, is being held in a UK immigration detention centre and claims to be a victim of modern slavery at the hands of smugglers in northern France.

Annual September rate confounds forecasts of a rise, as pace of food price growth slows for first time since March

• Analysis: Signs of peak inflation open door to earlier Bank of England interest rate cuts

• Business live – latest updates

UK inflation was unchanged last month at 3.8%, confounding expectations of a rise, in welcome news for the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, as she plans for her crucial budget next month.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that inflation measured on the consumer prices index remained at the same level in September as in August and July.