Conference delegates grateful ousting Starmer has paid off, but relief tempered by fiscal headwinds ahead

• UK politics live – latest updates

Even Andy Burnham’s closest allies accept that deposing Keir Starmer to install their man as leader was a huge political gamble. But if the mood at the Labour party conference in Liverpool is anything to go by, it is one that – so far – has paid off.

The contrast with last year, when Starmer retained his grip on the party and Burnham slunk away from Liverpool early, could not be more stark. Their relief at their turn of fortune is tempered only by the fiscal headwinds ahead.

The actors are working together for the first time ever, in Noël Coward’s comedy Hay Fever. Backstage, there’s no stopping their tales of skinny-dipping, fat-shaming and warring co-stars

Richard E Grant: Despite our vast combined vintage, our paths have never crossed before, have they?

Christine Baranski: Regrettably not. We could have had some good fun a few decades ago. A girl could have got into some real trouble. But here we are, and now we’re the veterans. You’re among the great character actors, popping up delightfully in so many things and always being spot-on.

She lit up Sherlock, made a brutal exit from House of the Dragon and now she’s back in the hard-hitting Belfast-set police drama. Will she have to stuff a chopping board into her flak jacket this time round?

Sharp eyes save lives. That’s the mantra of the police officers in Blue Lights, although the words sound a good deal more urgent when said in a throaty Belfast accent. The city, dealing with past and present problems, is the turbulent setting for the hit drama. Having starred in the BBC series for the past four years, Siân Brooke has taken its lessons about vigilance to heart.

“I noticed some dodgy-looking activity not far from where we live in London,” says Brooke. “I’d driven past a few times and was suspicious. I told my husband that the last time I went past, I slowed down and did a drive-by, so they’d know their untoward behaviour had been rumbled. My husband said: ‘You can’t do that, Siân. You’re not a real cop!’” She laughs. “I think Blue Lights has got to me. What was I going to do, make a citizen’s arrest?”

Experts share what you need to know about GLP-1-related hair loss as the side-effect gets more attention from researchers

About 20 million people across the US, UK, and EU are taking GLP-1 receptor agonists like tirzepatide and semaglutide (Ozempic or Mounjaro are common brands) for weight loss and type 2 diabetes. As their use has surged, we’re learning more about their side-effects. One that’s been getting a lot of attention from researchers lately: hair loss.

In one survey of people who take these medications, 20% of respondents experienced hair shedding, although the lack of high-quality data from a randomized, controlled trial to assess this side-effect makes it difficult to know exactly how common it is.

The PM oozes confidence and easy-going charm as he tells Laura Kuenssberg the hill he’ll die on is fixing social care

• UK politics live – latest updates

In recent weeks there has been much speculation in some parts of the media that Andy Burnham would call an early general election. Speculation that existed largely in the heads of those writing the stories, as even the most favourable polls suggest Labour would lose its huge majority and become the largest party in a coalition government. But to stop the chatter dominating his party conference, Burnham made it clear there would be no early election. His reward? Headlines in the rightwing press that he had bottled it. By not calling an election he had never planned to call. Sometimes you just can’t win.

There again, you might call this a first-world problem for the prime minister. This time last year, Burnham had been hanging around the fringes of the conference as he and his allies attempted one of the most half-arsed coups in living memory. One that fizzled out almost before it had started and became the butt of many jokes among Keir Starmer’s inner circle. Andy looked to have blown himself up on the runway, leaving Keir safe for the duration of the parliament.

British Museum, London
The staggering resourcefulness and fantastic originality of bygone artisans is showcased in earthenware so exquisite it will soothe your soul. But a lurch into the modern breaks the spell

Can they do it again? The runaway success of the Bayeux tapestry has put the British Museum in a league of its own, perhaps making it, at this moment, the leading museum on earth – and it’s rapidly following up with Korea, a survey of “2,000 years of creativity” in a land that, before its sufferings in the 20th century, enjoyed millennia of calm, at least to judge from its art. But it’s a blockbuster with a tragic flaw, a lovely broken vase badly stuck together.

You are lured at first into a nirvana of beauty. A giant bronze bell from a Buddhist monastery, cast in the eighth century AD and bulging with dragons, flames and flowery embossments, strikes the tone. It calls you to meditation. A gong adds to the harmony (and if you need that underlining, there are bells and gongs on the now obligatory exhibition soundtrack). I was held rapt by this Buddhist period in Korea’s history, when the contemplative religion from India interacted with the artistic influence of China to inspire ecstatic hand-copied sutras (spiritual scriptures) and slender little statuettes of bodhisattvas (Buddhist saints who have achieved enlightened holiness).

Counter-terrorism police investigate whether Iran is behind suspected bomb plot after member of public calls 999 over suspicious vehicles

Counter-terrorism police are investigating whether Iran is behind a suspected bomb plot after armed officers found explosives on three vans parked minutes from an RAF base used by the US military.

The Guardian understands that after five men were arrested on terrorism charges, investigators were examining materials found in the vans, with an initial view being they were consistent with improvised explosive devices.

PM says he is willing to expend political capital to bring in universal service for England funded by ‘everybody’

• Analysis: can Labour hang on to Burnham bounce?

Andy Burnham will fight the next election with a pledge to finally fix the broken social care system, acknowledging he is willing to expend political capital by asking taxpayers to cover the cost.

As Labour’s party conference began in Liverpool, he pledged to “rip the plaster off” to radically transform care, setting out a vision for a universal service that would be free at the point of use for everyone in England.

Foreign secretary will tell party’s conference ‘we are not here to accept the status quo but to change it’

Ed Miliband will tell campaigners and party members who raised the plight of Palestinians they were right that Labour’s approach had not been enough, saying he was heeding the calls of millions of people by imposing sanctions on Israeli settlements.

The foreign secretary will tell the Labour party conference that the government will take more explicitly progressive foreign policy positions under Andy Burnham, and that the UK will be a leader among like-minded countries in a new age of diplomacy.

Marine Le Pen hails ‘historic victory’ as her party and allies win enough seats to form caucus just months ahead of presidential poll

France’s far-right National Rally (RN) party and its allies have secured a record 14 seats in the rightwing-dominated Senate in elections, effectively quadrupling its number in the 348-seat chamber just months before a presidential poll.

RN presidential candidate Marine Le Pen called the results an “historic victory” after they were announced on Sunday. “The results ‌have exceeded our expectations,” she said.