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The late producer’s gift for bringing in elements from dance music’s cutting edge drew all manner of music royalty – and he often made them sound better than ever before

• William Orbit, pop producer for Madonna, All Saints and more, dies aged 69

William Orbit’s first band were a curious business. Torch Song had one foot in the pop mainstream – their biggest success came about when one of their tracks was featured on the soundtrack of the Tom Hanks-starring sex comedy Bachelor Party – and one in the left field: they recorded at London’s anarchist hub Centro Iberico, famed for staging gigs by Crass and Throbbing Gristle; they covered the Velvet Underground’s Venus in Furs. Mothdoom Ecstasy is very much of its time – stuttering samples, booming drums – but in its hazy synth textures and ethereal female vocals, you can definitely hear intimations of Orbit’s future approach.

I can’t pass up the moment the Reform leader celebrates his byelection victory against a man with a dustbin on his head

You would have thought that after 35 years of writing for the Guardian I would have mastered some of the basics of holiday protocol by now. Apparently not. So while I had remembered to let the newsdesk know that I wouldn’t be writing the political sketch for two weeks, it had completely slipped my mind to inform the Saturday editor. So rather than leave her with the headache of an empty page, you’re getting an extra dose of me this week. And, in truth, I don’t mind because, for what is a usually empty August, there’s an awful lot still going on. I’ve even told the newsdesk that I’d like to write next Friday as I can’t pass up the moment Nigel Farage celebrates his byelection victory against the "establishment”, aka a comedian with a dustbin on his head. This summer has been quite the reckoning for Reform. First some excellent investigative reporting from the Guardian and the Sunday Times followed by even some of their most loyal followers in the Spectator and the Telegraph beginning to turn on them. We will know the game is up when GB News begins to have doubts about Nige. It can only be a matter of time.

Worried about microplastics? Whether it’s titanium pans or loose-leaf tea, here are the changes you can make right now

• The best sustainable subscriptions for greener, easier living

It all started with a black plastic spatula. When an article went viral in 2024 for suggesting we may be unwittingly infusing our food with harmful chemicals by using one, I, along with many I know, lobbed ours into the bin (without a backup in place, to the annoyance of my partner).

It later transpired that the study the article was based on had miscalculated the dosage by a factor of 10. UK regulations also limit certain hazardous substances in plastics, meaning that risks should be lower in this country. But alas, it was too late for our poor spatula.

Big cheques, standing ovations, irate adults – there are surprising sides to composing a children’s TV theme tune. From Bluey to Byker Grove, the creators of the best reveal the secrets

How do you write TV theme music for children? Does it make you mega-rich? And does the tune itself eventually drive you (and parents everywhere) nuts?

We tracked down the creators of half-a-dozen of TV’s greatest children’s show themes in order to find out. As Bluey’s Joff Bush told us: “The key lesson is that if you’re going to write a theme tune, make sure you really like it because you’re going to hear it a helluva lot!”

With more than 7m pairs reportedly sold in 2025, Meta’s Ray-Ban smartglasses are fast becoming the world’s most popular new gadget.

But while supporters say they are transforming photography and accessibility, others have labelled them ‘pervert glasses’, with some UK pubs and restaurants, including Wetherspoons, banning the technology from their premises.

Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s deputy Opinion editor Kirsty Major

Delays to sexual assault charges and failures to report past convictions in court hearings gave Simon Levy chance to attack more women

• Violence against women: has anything changed in policing since Sarah Everard’s killing?

Catastrophic errors left a persistent and proven sex offender free before he murdered two women in London, it can be revealed.

On Friday, an Old Bailey jury found Simon Levy, 40, guilty of murdering Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo in March 2025 and Sheryl Wilkins five months later.

Levy failed to attend three crown court hearings for the train attacks, and the CPS accepts there is no evidence of a warrant being sought for his detention. For two he claimed illness, for the other that he had not been informed. His final non-appearance in crown court was on 11 August 2025. A fortnight later he murdered Wilkins. A CPS source said individuals involved in the Levy case had been disciplined.

The assaults on the London tube network and trains were investigated by BTP. Officers arrested Levy, who was travelling on a stolen Oyster travel card, but handed it back to him, unaware it was stolen. With it he travelled to south London to commit his first murder, and carried out further sexual assaults on trains.

BTP admitted the charging of Levy for his sexual assaults on trains in November 2024 was held up because of a delay in holding an identification parade after his arrest. His bail was extended, and during this delay he attacked and raped another woman and murdered Valencia-Trujillo. BTP said it had not referred its errors to the police watchdog. Instead it has moved one officer, who it says delayed the holding of the ID parade, out of investigations, and given a supervisor words of advice.

BTP identified Levy as a suspect and charged him but never searched his home. Peter Fulton, BTP’s head of crime, said: “There’s a fine line between going fishing and breaching someone’s human rights.” He said that every woman who had reported Levy for attacking them on a train had seen him charged and convicted. When the Met, which investigated the murders, searched Levy’s home, evidence was found about his attack on the prison officer.

The police watchdog has placed two Met officers under investigation over whether Levy was supervised correctly as a person on the sex offender register. A constable is under investigation for gross misconduct, meaning he could be dismissed. The other officer, under investigation for misconduct, is a detective sergeant.

Group calls for ‘thorough and transparent investigation’ of hiring of professor who resigned after his claims came under scrutiny

The University of Cambridge has announced a review into the way it vets and hires senior academic staff in an effort to fend off external and internal criticism of its appointment of Jason Arday as a professor.

But a group of Cambridge academics quickly rejected the university’s response, saying: “We strongly believe that a thorough and transparent investigation into the wider circumstances of this damaging episode is essential.”

Ruling put on hold for two weeks, allowing administration to appeal to US supreme court

• US politics live – latest updates

A US federal appeals court has ordered the Trump administration to halt construction of the US president’s $400m White House ballroom, in a fresh blow to the controversial project.

Donald Trump, who demolished the historic East Wing of the White House last year to make way for planned ballroom, has repeatedly touted it as “a gift” to the US people.

Teenager killed his grandparents ⁠before opening fire at school near Bangkok, where more than 30 were wounded

A Thai teenager killed his grandparents before opening fire at his school, where he shot five people dead and took his own life, police have said, in an attack that has shaken a country struggling to deal with gun violence.

The 14-year-old wounded more than 30 people in the ⁠shooting at the prestigious Debsirin Nonthaburi school in the Nonthaburi province on Bangkok’s outskirts. Nine people were in a critical condition, the Thai health department said.