The number of luxury sheds and garden rooms has rocketed since the pandemic – fuelled by those wanting an office, a gym or extra living space. Meanwhile, the resentment between neighbours has been rising, too

Linda loves her shed. She loves that she can work there rather than in her dining room, which her toddler likes to tear through. She loves its Scandinavian vibe – it’s clad in wood and set on decking at the bottom of her garden. She loves the views of the countryside from the window by her desk. Or she did. Her desk faces the wall now, because she’s too nervous to face her neighbour. She never sits on the decking, either. “What if they see me?” she says. “It’s a horrible feeling.”

Linda’s neighbours are unhappy about her shed, or “garden room”, which is actually two rooms. They do not like its size (7.25 metres by 2.74 metres, or 3.5 metres if you include the raised decking) or its position, about 30 metres away from their house. Linda says they have barely spoken since the construction, which is awkward, as the gardens are separated by a low fence.

Manchester City have come out fighting against the guilty verdict but the Premier League faces questions of its own

Nothing is over, nothing is done. Or at least not judging by the bravura, balls-out confidence of Manchester City’s chair, Khaldoon al-Mubarak, who remains convinced the past three days of whiplash are simply the drumroll before the big reveal, prelude to some clinching piece of evidence that will swish away the initial finding of guilt on the Premier League’s 100-plus charges.

This appears to be the official City position right now. Rope‑a‑dope litigation. Scooby‑Doo justice. A verdict that is simply exposition, buildup to that moment where we finally get to rip off the zombie mask and reveal the cranky old amusement park owner underneath, with his bulging ring‑binder full of irrefutable evidence of City’s innocence.

From ‘recycled chicken’ being sold on a stall to Bongbong fanboying over the Fish-Slapping Dance, Palin’s travel shows always explore fascinating things that others don’t. It is a reminder that his work is increasingly precious

There is a moment in episode one of Michael Palin in the Philippines where our host surveys a group of children swimming gaily in the harbour of Pangasa, a tiny island in what western atlases traditionally refer to as the South China Sea. “Oh, if only I were young again,” he muses. “Eighty-one would do!”

Palin is now 83 and into his fifth decade of travel presenting, which is longer than he spent as an active member of Monty Python. Naturally, he is not a dynamic or imposing presence on screen. His insights are applied with a soft, broad brush and jokes like the one about pining for the lost vigour of his early 80s are his metier now: simple, classic, corny, even.

Most MPs are clinging to this year’s Beckettian slogan, but the chancellor brought his own brand of despair

It could be just me, but I’m beginning to find that all this “hope” stuff is getting me down. Everywhere you go at the Labour party conference, you are being urged to “Hope Again”. It’s on the screens in the main hall and on banners in the exhibition area. It’s on T-shirts, balloons and coffee mugs. It’s all just a bit much. Overkill. You now bump into Labour MPs who are visibly collapsing under the strain of having to walk around with an optimistic perma-grin. And the conference is only into its second day. Come Wednesday they will all be on intravenous Valium.

What does “Hope Again” even mean? Is it an instruction? Have we all been hoping in a highly unsatisfactory way so far? Are we being sent back to hope school to learn how to be more upbeat? In which case, I rather think these remedial classes in hoping will be wasted on me. I’ve always been a bit miserable. It feels a bit like someone going round and telling you “Smile. It may never happen.” Or to “Keep calm and carry on.” There are also distinct echoes of Samuel Beckett: Fail again. Fail better. Only in Liverpool it’s: Hope again. Hope better.

I used to be terrified of socialising, certain I would embarrass myself the moment I opened my mouth. And as for dates …

As with a lot of teenagers, social confidence was not my strong suit. Throughout my time at school in the early 2010s, I hated the prospect of new social situations and would often lie awake at night overthinking the day to come.

What I now know to be social anxiety I dismissed as just nerves at that young age. Although I knew something wasn’t quite right, for most of my early teens I managed to disguise my discomfort. Sharing a friendship group with my twin sister meant I could hide behind my sibling.

‘The day Saff came into the studio with red hair, I said, “We’re gonna be massive!” It was the missing link’

We always had a vision of mixing acid house with indie rock, and we managed to rent a space and build our own studio in London’s Shoreditch area, long before it got trendy. I had a little vocal booth called Hattie Jacques, in honour of the Carry On films but also because it’s Cockney rhyming slang [for shakes]. We spent all our money rewiring it, and that’s where we wrote, recorded and produced Ready to Go – 100 mixes later!

Exclusive: Creation of GB Grid will be major step towards putting Britain’s utility companies into public control

Andy Burnham will take his first major step to putting Britain’s utility companies into public control when, at the Labour conference, he announces a new government-backed body to invest in the electricity grid.

The prime minister will use his first speech as party leader to announce the creation of GB Grid, which will use money previously allocated to Great British Energy to compete with privately owned companies such as National Grid.

The US secretary of state offered no evidence for his claims, and also said many people were ‘disturbed’ that the five suspects had been released on bail

US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said unequivocally that a foreign actor was involved in the suspected UK bomb plot at RAF Fairford, hours after the five suspects arrested close to the airbase were released on bail.

“What could have happened in the UK over the weekend is a ‌very serious situation,” Rubio said in an interview with Fox News on Monday evening, adding that it “clearly involves the hands ‌of a foreign actor.”

The UK communities secretary decried protests by ‘men in black wearing face masks’ and those ‘whipping up hatred’ towards lifeboat volunteers

Far-right marches led by the self-styled “Danny Tommo” should not be treated like normal protests, the communities secretary, Angela Rayner, has said, calling the marches “intimidation” that should not be permitted.

Rayner said the behaviour of some masked marchers – who have blocked roads and transport hubs – was not an acceptable form of protest.

Effect of elevated screen exposure could be as significant as parental behaviour and premature birth, report says

The effect of high screen time on children is as significant as parental behaviour and premature birth, if not greater, a global study has found.

Researchers examined data on more than 2.8 million children across 64 countries and concluded that elevated screen exposure could affect children in areas including academic achievement and emotional problems. It is one of the largest ever studies on the subject.