The current crop of politicians are constantly telling us they don’t have to be doing this. Aren’t we lucky?

Sorry to call it early, but the worst trend of 2026 is politicians who are graciously doing us all a favour. “He doesn’t need to be here,” declared Nigel Farage on Monday of Reform UK’s newest sloppy second, Nadhim Zahawi. “He could have gone abroad.” Ooh, aren’t we lucky! Thanks for stopping by, Nadhim!

If you missed this, the former mayfly Conservative chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has switched gravy trains. If that sounds like the sort of death-defying stunt Tom Cruise might break his ankle doing in the Mission: Impossible franchise, it’s nothing like as exhilaratingly watchable. The Tory gravy train has ground to a halt, and Farage will stop his Reform train even between stations to pick up any old has-been you may remember from episodes such as “deathbed Boris Johnson appointments” or “my horses are warmer than pensioners”. (More on that one shortly.) Needless to say, Farage is doing his best to explain that these guys aren’t secondhand, they’re pre-loved. They’re vintage, they’re appealingly worn in, they’re heritage pieces. They may even have increased in value – they’re basically political Birkin bags.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Trees still block roads and scores of people remain without power or water almost a week on from storm

Linda Williams, 86, has been without heating, lighting and a working phone for the best part of five days. She is trying to keep warm by layering up and she picks her way around her home in the remote Cornish village of New Mill with old battery lamps from her days of caravanning.

“I think it’s safe to say that we’re in a bit of a state,” said Williams, a retired council accounts assistant. “But it can’t go on for ever … can it?”

In a keynote speech, Streeting, the natural salesman, made one thing clear: he was ready whenever the call might come

There must be a happy medium somewhere. Some ministers you can’t get to shut up, others refuse to say a word. On balance, Keir Starmer probably prefers it when they say next to nothing. On the grounds there is probably less that can go wrong. He likes it best when he is the one doing the talking as he is more in control of the message. The only trouble is, the public often prefer it when it’s someone else doing the talking. Especially when that person is Wes Streeting.

OK, so we all know that Streeting can be a bit annoying. No one is ever going to love Wes in quite the same way Wes loves Wes. The self-regard is total. And he has never made any secret that his ambition goes well beyond being health secretary. He wants the top job and will be among the first to put his name forward when Starmer decides – or has it decided for him – that enough is enough. And of course, Wes is constantly plotting. How do we know? Because he is breathing.

A spy with a superhumanly good bladder, a crime-fighting rodent who lives in a postbox, and piles of dodgy 80s wigs … we rate the best small-screen spooks. Who comes out on top?

With Tom Hiddleston up to his old racy tricks in The Night Manager – not to be confused with Netflix hit The Night Agent, which also returns in February – espionage thrillers are all over our TVs. Anyone would think we lived in unstable times with growing public distrust of governments.

So who is the all-time top small-screen spook? We’ve rated the Top 20. Just make sure you destroy this list after reading …

The actor’s sober note of sanity on Sunday night was the latest courageous move from a man who seems more invested in activism than acting

At times like these, when the world teeters on the brink of several terrifying calamities at once, awards seasons can be something of a tightrope.

This weekend’s Golden Globe awards were a perfect case in point. The main criticism levelled at the ceremony so far seems to be that it didn’t adequately reflect the moment. It was all a bit 1920s Berlin, with a shimmering array of beautiful millionaires busy congratulating themselves, oblivious to the fear and exhaustion of the rest of the world.

Wildfires now destroy twice as much tree cover per year as two decades ago – a crisis fuelled by climate change

The world is losing forests to fire at an unsustainable rate, experts have warned.

Wildfires have always been part of nature’s cycle, but in recent decades their scale, frequency and intensity in carbon-rich forests have surged.

US president cancels meetings with Iranian officials ‘until senseless killing of protesters stops’

• Trump says countries doing business with Iran face 25% tariff on US trade

• People in Iran: share your views on the current situation

Non-essential French embassy staff have left Iran, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Agence France-Presse. The personnel left on Sunday and Monday, the sources added, without saying how many people had departed. “The protection of our personnel and our citizens is a priority,” a French foreign ministry official told AFP.

Commenting on the protests, the UN high commissioner for human rights Volker Türk said:

This cycle of horrific violence cannot continue. The Iranian people and their demands for fairness, equality and justice must be heard.

US president gives clearest signal yet that he might take military action against Tehran over killing of demonstrators

• Iran crisis live – latest updates

Donald Trump has told Iranians to keep protesting and said help was on the way, in the clearest sign yet that the US president may be preparing for military action against Tehran.

“Iranian Patriots, keep protesting – take over your institutions!!! … help is on its way,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, a day after the White House press secretary said airstrikes were among “many, many options” the US president was considering.

Doctors in Tehran tell of overwhelmed medical staff as violent crackdown intensifies

• Iran crisis live – latest updates

An ophthalmologist in Tehran has documented more than 400 eye injuries from gunshots in a single hospital, as overwhelmed medical staff struggle to cope with the toll of an increasingly violent crackdown on nationwide protests by Iranian authorities.

Three doctors, in messages forwarded to the Guardian on Monday, described overwhelmed hospitals and emergency wings overflowing with protesters who had been shot. Medical staff said the gunshot wounds were mostly concentrated on protesters’ eyes and heads – a tactic that rights groups said authorities used against demonstrators in the country’s 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests.

Sanctions to target finance, energy, transport, software and other significant industries, Yvette Cooper tells MPs

• Iran crisis live – latest updates

The UK has announced “full and further sanctions” against Iran amid widespread protests that have resulted in hundreds of deaths and arrests.

The sanctions will target finance, energy, transport, software and other significant industries, Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, told MPs.