Fructose, glucose, sucrose. Lactose, maltose, dextrose. Treacle, molasses … honey! The sweet stuff is everywhere, in everything from colas and cakes to fruit and veg. Are some forms healthier than others? And what about artificial sweeteners?

Many people try not to eat too much sugar, yet it is added to so much food and drink, it is hard to avoid. It goes by more than 50 different names on labels, is present even in seemingly savoury products and the alternatives are confusing and controversial. So is the sweet stuff addictive – and should you cut it out completely?

Rochford LGBTQ+ community say Reform council’s ban on flying pride flags or holding events states they’re not welcome

Before Reform gained control of Essex county council in the May elections, Chris Taylor and members of the Rochford LGBTQ+ community already felt they were witnessing a growing tide of political rhetoric around identity.

But they were still shocked when the county’s new leadership moved to ban Pride events in 74 libraries, scaling back events of “any particular groups or themes”, a decision they said was “straight out of Trumpland”.

Touring this bitterly divided constituency, what strikes you most is people want something better. But what exactly?

Keir Starmer teeters. The defence secretary exits, and thereby seems to confirm the prime minister’s demise. Andy Burnham scents a final, belated breakthrough, while most of the national talk is of violence, a country in crisis and malaise. And in Platt Bridge, a neighbourhood at the heart of the constituency where the fates of the Labour party, the current government and the country are all about to be decided, life still seems to be locked into an endlessly familiar pattern.

Amid all the redbrick terrace houses, too many shops are shuttered and empty. The latest casualty was a proudly independent baker who had traded for 40 years, apparently to be replaced by another tanning lounge. The main roads are clogged with traffic, while other streets tend to be eerily quiet. People speak of closed-down pubs, impossible private rents, and that ubiquitous British complaint: “There’s nothing for the kids to do.”

Our favourite music, clothes and books used to be markers of individuality – but the algorithm has made us all sheep. Meet the style rebels fighting back

What are you into? What floats your boat? What music, films, clothes, art, books – anything, really – do you actually like? Do you find these questions more difficult to answer than you would have done 10 years ago? How about 20? You do? You’re not alone.

It has become impossible to ignore: personal taste has been seriously debased – if not completely destroyed – by technological advancement. We know the internet has radically altered the way we form our opinions and beliefs. Now we’re waking up to another sobering truth: it has wrecked our capacity to form our own preferences.

Rebalance Earth is investing in Broughton Sanctuary to generate financial, environmental and social returns

From a high point on the hill, the North Yorkshire landscape unrolls below. The moorland above gives way to grassland, trees and then pasture, divided by the region’s traditional dry stone walls.

The view may be idyllic, but it belies the condition of parts of this land, belonging to the sprawling 1,100 hectare (2,500-acre) Broughton Sanctuary estate, near Skipton.

Alarm over the judgment and behaviour of the world’s most powerful man, and the consequent risks to the world, can only get worse

The main Nuremberg trial ended, Winston Churchill warned of an iron curtain descending across Europe, It’s a Wonderful Life received its premiere and, at Jamaica hospital in the borough of Queens, New York, Donald John Trump was born.

It was 1946, also the birth year of George W Bush and Bill Clinton, but on Sunday the current US president celebrates his 80th birthday in a style uniquely his own. Trump will stage a night of cage fighting on the once-pristine White House south lawn as part of events marking the 250th anniversary of US independence.

Starmer ‘can’t sack him or let him resign’, says ally of Dan Jarvis after predecessor’s resignation

The new defence secretary is to revisit a controversial plan for funding the armed forces and may return to demand more cash from the Treasury, allies have said.

Multiple government sources said Dan Jarvis would look to “reprioritise” aspects of the defence investment plan (Dip), which was delayed until July after the resignation of John Healey following a disagreement over its funding.

Sources say hardline measures will also prevent young users from being able to talk to strangers on gaming apps

• Why is the UK launching an ‘Australia plus’ social media ban and how will it work?

Keir Starmer is to ban under-16s from major social media apps such as TikTok, Instagram and X in sweeping restrictions described as “Australia plus”, the Guardian understands.

In a major policy shift far tougher than previously briefed, the prime minister will announce that teenagers will be banned from all the main social platforms. Online products that are not covered by the ban – such as gaming apps – will face new restrictions such as having the option to chat to strangers removed.

Reform leader claims ‘anti-whiteness is institutionalised’ in UK as polls suggest Labour have lead in Makerfield

Nigel Farage has said he would ban foreign nationals from social housing and then deport them if they could not find private-sector homes, in a hardening of anti-immigration rhetoric before the Makerfield byelection.

Two recent polls in Makerfield have suggested Farage’s Reform UK is continuing to leak potentially crucial support to its far-right rival Restore Britain, which is led by the former Reform MP Rupert Lowe.

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The New York Knicks’ NBA glory has absolutely nothing to do with the World Cup – but only if you take these things literally. In Manhattan right now, it’s an essential part of the 2026 World Cup story.

On Haiti v Scotland

William MacGregor, 41, from Dumbarton, described the post-goal atmosphere as “bouncing … Drinks were flying everywhere when the goal went in. Not mine, I kept mine.”