The top 100 novels of all time published in English, as voted for by authors, critics and academics worldwide. How many have you read?

As continent faces tough headwinds, leaders are bearing brunt of delivering bad news to frustrated electorates

“People hate you,” the adviser informed his leader. A think-piece in a daily newspaper noted that “almost everyone agrees on one thing: they don’t like him”.

The recent disastrous set of local election results in the UK built on Keir Starmer’s longstanding reputational problem: only 11% of Britons believe he has been a good or great prime minister, and nearly 60% believe he has been poor or terrible, according to polling by YouGov.

Phil Dunning’s proudly weird and queer sitcom is ridiculous in the best way. Some will find it completely baffling, but fans will class these antics as comedy gold

There are niche TV comedies, and then there’s Smoggie Queens. The Middlesbrough-set, drag queen-adjacent comedy is based on creator and star Phil Dunning’s life, and its first series was a singular mix of Teesside banter and allusions to UK hun culture. It was proudly weird and queer – a little Diane Morgan, a little Lily Savage – with camp cameos to boot. Steph McGovern (as herself) was the nemesis of Dunning’s prickly protagonist Dickie (their feud was established while working together on the deli counter at Morrisons), while Drag Race’s Michelle Visage played against type as a pernickety office manager named Elaine. When it wasn’t totally silly, it was also rather touching; among Dickie’s rag-tag crew of mates was “baby gay” Stewart (Elijah Young), who was struggling to come out to his family, and Mam (Mark Benton), the bewigged mother figure of the group who, we learned, was estranged from her teenage son.

This second six-episode run is an even more boutique proposition than the first – frequently funny but also frequently bizarre. Episode one is a case in point: Dickie and friends lose a white rabbit in a carpet warehouse – cue some Alice in Wonderland visuals and Stewart hallucinating that Dickie is a bunny, too. The rabbit is called Andrea, leading to such ridiculous lines as “Howay Andrea, ya silly knobhead!!!”, yelled by Mam. The high street retailer Dunelm is used as a punchline, and one character wonders whether the rabbit might be gay, too.

Labour must rise to a historic responsibility by choosing a leader who can win over the nation. The alternative is Farage on the steps of No 10

They’re looking like the gang that couldn’t shoot straight. Labour’s upper echelon, both the prime minister and his rivals, have served up a performance of such political ineptitude, walking into doors and tripping over their own feet, that it’s hard to argue with the cabinet minister who glumly told me this was the week when the government did itself damage that can never be repaired, if not the week that Labour confirmed its defeat at the next general election.

As so often, the lead was set from the top. Keir Starmer’s allies had billed his speech on Monday as a major address, one that would meet the scale of the moment and recognise the need for Labour to chart a new course, given the shellacking the party had suffered at the hands of voters in England, Scotland and Wales on 7 May.

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist

UK capital is perceived as work hub – but as youth unemployment soars, many feel exiled from job market

Westfield White City is the biggest shopping mall in the UK and it is no stranger to crowds of young people parading through its halls. But instead of swarming the retail shops for the latest exclusive fashion drop, the hundreds of people in attendance this weekend are in search of something even more sought after and rarefied: a job.

The London job show is the capital’s biggest career event. It is held every year and hosts a range of employers from the Metropolitan police to car valet services. This year, the event is particularly relevant as unemployment levels have soared, with young people bearing the brunt of the crisis.

Doctors and nurses say hit drama paints a mostly realistic picture of the frontline of emergency medicine

It’s the hospital drama that is adored by critics and fans alike, with its hard-hitting, action-packed episodes binged the moment they’re released by HBO Max. The Pitt depicts events in the Pittsburgh trauma medical centre, where the waiting room is always overloaded, cases are more complicated than they first seem and the medical consequences of America’s many ills – fentanyl, shootings, vaccine denial – need urgent attention.

While medical dramas are much loved by the lay viewer, clinicians who are used to seeing fictionalised versions of their daily grind are notoriously hard to please. This, notably, is where The Pitt stands apart. In fact, doctors and nurses in UK A&E units are among some of the show’s most committed devotees.

Autumn conference in Liverpool targeted for victorious homecoming but Reform UK to fight hard in byelection

Andy Burnham will push to become prime minister in time to address Labour’s autumn party conference in Liverpool, his supporters have said.

The Greater Manchester mayor cleared his first hurdle to becoming the candidate in the Makerfield byelection on Friday when Labour’s ruling body gave him permission to stand for the seat.

US president calls Abu-Bilal al-Minuki ‘most active terrorist in the world’ and says he was eliminated in ‘very complex mission’

Donald Trump has said US and Nigerian forces killed the “second in command” global leader of the Islamic State.

“Tonight, at my direction, brave American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria flawlessly executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission to eliminate the most active terrorist in the world from the battlefield,” the US president said on his Truth Social platform Friday.

Alina Burns, 19, who had said she wanted to ‘kill all Jews and Muslims’, attacked barber outside his shop

A neo-Nazi obsessed teenager who tried to behead a Kurdish barber with an axe because she wanted to “kill all Jews and Muslims” has been jailed for more than 15 years.

Alina Burns, 19, attacked Mohammed Mahmoodi, 27, with the weapon as he stood outside his shop in Bedminster in south Bristol in August last year.

Muscat silent about plans – opposed by US – to charge fee and demand details on nationality of all transiting ships

Oman has been caught in geopolitical crossfire after Iran said it was coordinating with the Gulf state over the future management of the strait of Hormuz, including Tehran’s plans to impose fees on commercial shipping.

The Omani exclave of Musandam lies to the south of the contested waterway, which normally carries a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil traffic but has been blockaded for 10 weeks since the US-Israeli attack on Iran in February.