I am almost literally medically incapable of staying in my trousers. So who’s really to blame here – me or the BBC?

I was born in the year 1964, which means I am exactly on the cusp between boomer and generation X. This is more than a fascinating fact about me – although it is of course also that. It is a disability. Yet incredibly, at no stage in my entire BBC career did anyone try to make the world accessible for this disability, neither by mandating every single person I might ever work with – or maybe even just humorously touch – to undergo unconscious Greggism training, nor by helping me with off-ramps for my jokes. I was sometimes left literally stranded halfway down a gag about my knob and no one came to my aid. Where was the compassion?

Having said that, perhaps it still exists in small pockets. I am massively grateful to the close pals whose briefing of the Times resulted in yesterday’s headline: “Gregg Wallace’s autism means he can’t wear underwear, say friends”. I am now keen to encourage further friends to come forward and cite the second medical condition which means that despite knowing that my autism prevents me from wearing underwear, I still have to take my trousers off in front of runners. This is clinical.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

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A thaw in relations during the Cold War led to some surprising collaborations between the two nations, involving everyone from Laurence Olivier and Rudolf Nureyev to Gilbert and George. As relations ice over again, what can we learn from this artistic detente?

One of the biggest TV hits of the 1960s was Double Your Money, a  kind of low-fi precursor to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. Its presenter, Hughie Green, was a titan of family entertainment who drew audiences of more than 8 million to the ITV gameshow, in which contestants chose whether to double their prize pot between questions.

It was, of course, all about the cash, even if TV-rich in those days involved maximum winnings of £1,000 (about £18,000 in today’s money). The show’s baked-in avarice made the entry in the TV Times for 7pm on 8 November 1966 surprising: “Double Your Money visits Moscow with People to People … the first ever western quiz game in the Soviet Union.”

A mainstream London school with a high number of children with EHCPs has effectively set up a mini special school within its walls

The classroom within All Saints Catholic college, west London, looks much like any other classroom. But this one offers a solution to England’s crisis in special needs education.

On one recent summer day the class was doing creative writing. Yet with every pupil having special needs in speech and communication, writing is just one part of the lesson. “Remember to reply to me,” the teacher gently reminds one pupil after discussing their work. “When I say something, you need to reply.”

Struggling to sleep and work in the balmy months? Chill your space – and avoid energy-guzzling air con – with our pick of the best fans, from tower to desk to bladeless

• Warm weather essentials: 42 ways to make the most of the sunshine

Our world is getting hotter. Summer heatwaves are so frequent, they’re stretching the bounds of what we think of as summer. Hot-and-bothered home working and sweaty, sleepless nights are now alarmingly common.

Get a good fan, and you can dodge the temptation of air conditioning. Air con is incredibly effective, but it uses a lot of electricity … and burning fossil fuels is how we got into this mess in the first place. Save money and carbon by opting for a great fan instead.

Best fan overall:
AirCraft Lume
_{£149 at AirCraft}

Best tower fan:
Dreo Cruiser TF518
_{£99.99 at Amazon}

Best travel fan:
Morphy Richards Air Flex USB fan
_{£39.99 at Amazon}

Best evaporative cooler:
Swan Nordic air cooler
_{£69.99 at Amazon}

Eric Bana leads a gripping murder mystery set in the vast Yosemite wilderness, plus a classic trippy Stephen King thriller about kids with supernatural abilities

“Christ, here comes Gary Cooper,” exclaims one detective when Kyle Turner arrives at a crime scene on his horse. Turner (Eric Bana) is a difficult man – he’s a special agent whose job is to enforce the law in the vast wilderness of Yosemite National Park. He’s also blunt, rude and the kind of sad solo drinker who calls his ex-wife at 2.30am. When a woman dies after plunging from a cliff, his colleagues are keen to write it off as suicide. But Turner suspects that isn’t the whole story. Will his boss Paul Souter (Sam Neill) and his new partner from LA Naya Vasquez (Lily Santiago) put up with him long enough to find out? A slow-burner but gripping too. Phil Harrison
Netflix, from Thursday 17 July

Ahead of his UK tour, the former Monty Python star responds to questions from Catherine Zeta-Jones, David Mamet, Janet Suzman, Steve Coogan, Bill Oddie and others

When news broke in 2021 that Eric Idle had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, dismay was followed by relief when he survived to get the all-clear. Now 83, Idle is thriving and about to embark on his first UK tour since 1973.

Over haddock and chips in London last month, a gentle and friendly Idle answered questions submitted by readers and fellow writers, actors and comedians about his time as a Python, Broadway smash Spamalot – his musical adaptation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail – as well as selfies, Peter Cook and why he feels sorry for the royals.

Union, to which deputy PM may not belong, also votes to reconsider ties with Labour if council forces through redundancies

• UK politics live – latest updates

Unite has voted to suspend the membership of the deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, and reconsider its ties with Labour over their approach to the Birmingham bin workers’ strike.

Labour’s biggest union donor passed the motion at its policy conference on Friday, despite party sources saying Rayner had resigned her membership of Unite months ago.

UK is confident deal will be approved but EU says it wants to know more about ‘substance and form’ of agreement

• Europe live – latest updates

The EU has said it will assess Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron’s migrant return deal to see whether it is compatible “with the spirit and the letter of the law”.

While the UK has said it is confident the deal will be approved, a spokesperson for the European Commission said it wanted to know more about the “substance and form” of the agreement before expressing support.

Exclusive: BBC understood to be speaking to US tech giants as it desperately seeks cost savings

The BBC is examining a significant outsourcing drive that could put thousands of jobs at risk as it desperately searches for savings, the Guardian understands.

The plans being considered include the offshoring of jobs currently carried out in the UK, with the BBC understood to be talking to US tech giants as potential partners. It is said to include the outsourcing of recommendation algorithms, which direct users to content.

Burning of boat containing dark-skinned mannequins in lifejackets in Moygashel draws widespread condemnation

Police in Northern Ireland are investigating a loyalist bonfire that featured effigies of refugees sitting in a boat as a hate incident.

Crowds in the County Tyrone village of Moygashel cheered on Thursday night when the towering pyre was lit and flames engulfed the vessel and a dozen dark-skinned, lifesize mannequins with lifejackets.