Traditional bodybuilding advice has been to push workouts to the point of failure, and that soreness is an indicator of effectiveness. But recent studies show there’s another way

Until pretty recently, the conventional wisdom about building muscle was that it worked via a system you might think of as “tear and repair” – the idea being that working out causes microtears in the muscle fibres, which trigger the body’s repair processes, encouraging the muscles to come back bigger and stronger.

That’s why many old-school trainers will tell you that there’s no gain without pain, and why a lot of bodybuilding advice includes increasingly byzantine ways of pushing your biceps and triceps to the point where you can’t do another repetition: the more trauma you can cause, the thinking goes, the more “swole” you can become.

The Labour party has once again been plunged into turmoil after the NEC blocked Andy Burnham from standing in the Gorton and Denton byelection. Will the row quickly fade, or does it risk piling further pressure on the prime minister? Meanwhile, Pippa Crerar will be joining Keir Starmer on his trip to China – but can he focus on diplomacy abroad, or will the Westminster psychodrama continue to overshadow the visit?

It comes to something when ‘Henrys’ in London worry about money, but that’s the reality of today’s wages and the cost of city living

When I was younger, I was always hearing about “yuppies” (young, urban professionals), a prosperous class of upwardly mobile, status-chasing people working in major cities. It was already a vintage term by the time I was conscious of it, it having been forged in the 1980s, when these people were viewed as the major beneficiaries of Margaret Thatcher’s “big bang”. Now it’s disappeared altogether. Instead, these days you hear about the white-collar “Henrys” (high-earning, not rich yet) – a cohort near-identical in demographic, profession and status-obsession, but who are now apparently the overlooked, and the hard-done-by, of our current political settlement.

One of the big contentions for Henrys, as you may have learned recently, is the claim that a £100,000 salary no longer pays; in fact, it is at this point that they face a financial double whammy. High earners lose £1 from their personal allowance for every £2 they earn over £100,000, meaning that more of their salary will be taxed at a higher rate. It is also at this salary point that Henrys in England lose access to 30 hours of free childcare for children aged between nine months and four years old, and £2,000 per year for under-12s. Add to this that these Henrys who started university after 2006 are more likely to be paying off their entire student loan for longer, and there are clear incentives against higher earnings after a certain point.

Jason Okundaye is an assistant opinion editor at the Guardian

Witnessing the free climber’s ascent of the Taipei 101 without ropes on Skyscraper Live was an astonishing experience. But beneath panicked viewers’ sweaty palms, there was a queasy truth about the future of television

Well, have your balls descended back out of your body yet? Netflix’s Skyscraper Live has been and gone, and it may well qualify as the single most stressful viewing experience on record. Alex Honnold’s unassisted ascent of the 508 metre Taipei 101 was an absolutely extraordinary achievement. Whether or not it represents the future of television, though, is a completely different matter.

Honnold’s work is already well-known. As the star of Free Solo – a feature documentary once again so nerve-racking that the only way to comfortably enjoy it was under the influence of industrial sphincter relaxants – he has long been the poster boy of people climbing up stuff without ropes.

Molly Russell was just 14 when she took her own life in 2017, and an inquest later found negative online content was a significant factor. With many people now pushing for teenagers to be kept off tech platforms, her father explains why he backs a different approach

Ian Russell describes his life as being split into two parts: before and after 20 November 2017, the day his youngest daughter, Molly, took her own life as a result of depression and negative social media content. “Our life before Molly’s death was very ordinary. Unremarkable,” he says. He was a television producer and director, married with three daughters. “We lived in an ordinary London suburb, in an ordinary semi-detached house, the children went to ordinary schools.” The weekend before Molly’s death, they had a celebration for all three girls’ birthdays, which are in November. One was turning 21, another 18 and Molly was soon to be 15. “And I remember being in the kitchen of a house full of friends and family and thinking, ‘This is so good. I’ve never been so happy,’” he says. “That was on a Saturday night and the following Tuesday morning, everything was different.”

The second part of Russell’s life has been not only grief and trauma, but also a commitment to discovering and exposing the truth about the online content that contributed to Molly’s death, and campaigning to prevent others falling prey to the same harms. Both elements lasted far longer than he anticipated. It took nearly five years to get enough information out of social media companies for an inquest to conclude that Molly died “from an act of self-harm while suffering from depression and the negative effects of online content”. As for the campaigning, the Molly Rose Foundation provides support, conducts research and raises awareness of online harms, and Russell has been an omnipresent spokesperson on these issues.

After the failure of his police career, Jack came to live with us, caring for the whole family indiscriminately. When I was sickest, and felt unlovable, he reminded me I was loved

Jack, the cocker spaniel, was sacked by the police. His career as a detection dog was an utter failure – he was more interested in people than cannabis and made some embarrassing mistakes, including begging for treats from potential offenders rather than alerting officers about drugs.

A colleague told me about a police dog that needed a home and so Jack arrived – via police van – at our house. He was lithe, glossy black and animated. He ricocheted around the house, knocking over children and pot plants. He chased rabbits and pheasants over the fields. He ate off the children’s plates and collected shoes. He loved us all indiscriminately and liked to have us where he could see us. If anyone left the room, he’d sigh deeply and follow, remaining close until the pack was back together.

Her defection comes shortly after Robert Jenrick joined Nigel Farage’s party, meaning there are now eight Reform MPs in the Commons

Keir Starmer was being interview by Beth Rigby from Sky News this morning when he defended the decision not to let Andy Burnham be a byelection candidate.

After Starmer delivered his first answer (see 10.15am), Rigby asked him to what he would say to Labour MPs who think he is being “cowardly” and just blocking Burnham to avoid the risk of a leadership contest.

Millions of people will be better off if we have the continuation of a Labour government in Wales, and if we’re able to win the government in Scotland and retain and win councils across England.

When I came into politics in 2015, the first thing I did was support Andy Burnham’s leadership campaign. The first team I worked in was for Andy Burnham. And in the job he’s doing now, he and I work closely together ..

So there’s no question of me and Andy not working very well together. He’s doing an excellent job.

The battle of our times is the battle between patriotic, Labour party, Labour government, and the division of Reform. There’s no doubt about that … In that battle, we are all fighting this.

I think everybody in the Labour party, everybody who’s a Labour MP, wants to be in that fight, wants to fight alongside all their colleagues in a fight that matters hugely to the future of our country.

Run for parliament by Greater Manchester mayor on 26 February would ‘divert resources’, says prime minister

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Keir Starmer has defended Labour’s decision to block Andy Burnham from standing for parliament, a move which has triggered a major backlash against the prime minister from parts of his own party.

Starmer said on Monday that he and his fellow officers on Labour’s ruling executive committee had decided not to let Burnham quit as mayor of Greater Manchester to avoid triggering a costly mayoral election.

President makes announcement on Truth Social and also makes unsubstantiated claims about protests in Minnesota

As more and more Republicans call for an investigation of Alex Pretti’s killing, it’s worth remembering that Donald Trump’s call for heavy-handed immigration enforcement appeared to have already rankled a portion of his base.

A Politico poll that surveyed some 2000 adults between 16 and 19 January found that 49% of Americans believed Trump’s campaign was “too aggressive”.

George Campbell, 69, slept in bus station as officials questioned his right to live in the UK after hospital stay

A Windrush generation man who arrived in Britain as a child 60 years ago has spent several months homeless and destitute, after officials questioned whether he had the right to live in the UK.

George Campbell, 69, ended up staying in a bus shelter in east London and visiting food banks after he was discharged from a hospital stay last year. Because he had no paperwork proving that he was in the UK legally, council officials classified him as ineligible for state-funded homelessness support.