The neurologist Orlando Swayne doesn’t suggest everyone can recover. But he does argue that early, targeted and intense therapy can sometimes bring about life-changing improvements – and we have a moral obligation to provide it

Claire was in bad shape. She had been brought to the ward on a stretcher and hoisted on to a bed where she lay curled up in a ball. She was unable to speak, her eyes flat and face expressionless. While she could move her right arm a little, her left arm and both legs were immobile.

Life had changed dramatically for Claire, a mother of three in her late 30s, many months earlier, when she collapsed while on a night out with friends. A weakness in an artery at the base of her brain had ruptured, spilling blood around her frontal lobe. She was taken to hospital, where surgeons removed two side plate-sized pieces of bone from her skull to relieve the pressure on her brain. She spent months in intensive care.

As summers get hotter, investment and education are vital to ensure we all have access to the clean, safe water we need

A local row about swimmers and swans in Hampstead Heath has now inspired a government reaction. Environment ministers over the weekend wrote to the City of London Corporation, which oversees the heath, to say that they were “deeply concerned” by footage of crowds of people in the water during last week’s heatwave.

One viral video showed young revellers – who had defied a “no swimming” sign – in a wildlife pond, disturbing the nesting birds. It was picked up by the press, with headlines calling the swimmers “selfish”, “horrible” and “appalling”. Like many who saw it, I was saddened and shocked at the disregard for animals: people were clambering over nests, and trying to reach an island specially safeguarded for birds. Yet I also wondered what a polarised, emotive debate is going to achieve when, lurking behind the justified anger, is another question about our access to water.

Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist

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Set to be this year’s biggest blockbuster, The Odyssey’s cast has been selected to ‘represent the world’. Fair enough – except that one key country seems to have gone completely unrepresented …

There are the American accents, gleaming body suits and a muddy Dunkirk palette. And then there is Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy, a casting choice that recently drew racist attacks from the usual moaners of the internet, including Elon Musk, who complained it wasn’t authentic. Authenticity matters. He’s just focusing entirely in the wrong place. To many Greeks, what concerns us most about the first look at Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey is the whereabouts of Billy Zane.

Zane, like other beloved members of the Greek diaspora in Hollywood, has recently appeared on “Alternative Odyssey” lists on the Greek side of social media, as well as over dinner table debates from Patras to Palmers Green. (Theo James, Jennifer Aniston, Hank Azaria, and Dave Bautista are among the other nominees.) Greek and Greek Cypriot media platforms are writing open letters. It’s a symptom of feeling left out by Hollywood, again and with no explanation, from our foundational mythologies and epics, with a cast list that features not even a token –opoulos, –edes, or –iannou. Not a single Greek.

With corrupt police on the streets and shopkeepers forced to pay gangs, president has vowed to tackle crime that now affects all parts of society

It was about 11pm and Luis* was about to get into an Uber to go home when the police car pulled up. One of the officers frisked him and produced two plastic bags with what looked like drugs: one contained some sort of powder, the other little crystals. Luis had never seen them before.

Luis, who asked not to use his real name for fear of reprisals, insisted that the drugs weren’t his, but the officers didn’t seem to care. They shoved him into the back of the police truck and drove into the night.

He stood down as boss of the NT – and threw himself into kayaking, writing and DIY. The veteran director talks about his new start aged 60, mourning his mother – and directing Death of a Salesman in Turkish

There were several big endings for Rufus Norris in 2025, all crammed into the same few seismic months. Firstly, the close of his tenure as director of the National Theatre after a decade at the helm. That planned ending collided with the loss of his mother, who died three weeks before he left the NT. On top of that, a significant birthday concluding his 50s.

So what did Norris do after turning 60, on the other side of the Big Job, alongside the grief of losing a parent? DIY, plenty of kayaking and a house move, it turns out: “It felt important to have a complete break,” he says. “I’m a bit of a workaholic, but I’m also a bird of simple brain so I can as easily lose myself in how to build a shed or do up a place.”

We’ve had swicy. We’ve had swavoury. Now a new fusion of flavours is flying off the shelves. So what do these South American-inspired drinks and dishes actually taste like?

When the balance of fruit and spicy flavours is right, “I love it,” a fellow customer at a dessert cafe in London tells me as we wait to be served. It’s 26-year-old Hannah’s third time visiting Mango Twist in Seven Sisters, which sells South American-inspired slushies and fruit bowls. She’s here, like me, to order one of its “fricy” (fruity and spicy) offerings: the “Volcano” slushie, which is the cafe’s take on the traditional Mexican chamoyada, a mango and chilli drink.

Hannah has family in the US, so is familiar with the Mexican sweet treats that are commonly available there; as a child she was “obsessed” with the flavours. So when she found out about Mango Twist, “I was like, ‘I need to come here,’” she says.

Christi Hill and male police officer misidentified in Vickrum Digwa case on AI platforms including Grok

• UK politics live – latest updates

A former police officer has been forced to flee to a safe space after she was falsely accused online of being involved in the Henry Nowak murder.

Christi Hill, who served as a police constable for 12 years, has criticised social media and AI platforms, including Elon Musk’s Grok, for spreading the false claim that she was one of the officers who arrested Nowak as he lay dying after being stabbed by Vickrum Digwa.

Ministry of Defence confirms deaths of three crew members after crash near Okehampton during training exercise

Three members of the Royal Navy have died in a helicopter crash in Devon during a training exercise, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.

Emergency services were called to the scene of the incident at Sourton Down, near Okehampton, around 4am on Wednesday.

Proposal for 10-12.5% levies, to also include EU, Taiwan and Australia, would allow US president to skirt court-imposed limits

Donald Trump has threatened tariffs of between 10% and 12.5% on 60 trading partners including the UK, the EU and Australia over alleged forced labour failures, in the latest attempt to revive his signature trade policy.

The EU immediately hit back, saying it expected the US to respect the tariff deal it entered into last July and arguing that stealth tariffs breached the spirit of that agreement.

Stephen McCullagh planned ‘cold-blooded and calculated’ killing of Natalie McNally in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, in great detail

A YouTuber who set up a false alibi by livestreaming a video-gaming session online has been sentenced to 31 years in prison for the “cold-blooded and calculated” murder of his pregnant partner.

Stephen McCullagh, 36, of Lisburn, County Antrim, showed no emotion on Wednesday as he was sentenced at Belfast crown court for the murder of Natalie McNally, a crime that chilled Northern Ireland.