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Highlights

If James Cracknell can handle Ben Fogle, Westminster will be a breeze

Life is pleasingly fluid now, writes Tom Peck. For a while, it was thought that the pivot from politics to reality TV wazzock only went one way, but no –?the double Olympic gold medallist proves you can pivot right the way back again...

<p>Olympic medallist James Cracknell will be the Tory candidate in Colchester</p>

<p>Ed Davey visits Sparsholt College, Hampshire, on Monday with the party’s candidate for Winchester, local vet Danny Chambers</p>

Votes matter more than policies for the Lib Dems at this election

<p>Wellbeing days may look effective from a PR standpoint, but whether they truly help with stress is questionable </p>

Why taking a mental health day could be bad… for your mental health

I was Russell Brand’s biographer. His dad has a lot to answer for

Voices

<p>Zelda Perkins </p>

Harvey Weinstein silenced me – We must ban the laws used by predators

<p>Home secretary Suella Braverman has ordered a review (Joe Giddens/PA)</p>

Every lawyer I’ve spoken to thinks Braverman has overstepped the mark

<p>Politicians, other media organisations, regulators, even the police, knew that Rupert Murdoch was a bad enemy to have</p>

Murdoch poisoned our public life – but we still owe him a debt

The Longer Read

‘I confronted Russell Brand about his behaviour – he had no regrets’

<p>Former British soldier Solo (left) recalls the death of his friend and fighter Kev (right), who died in a clash against Wagner troops in Bakhmut </p>

My life –?and many deaths – as a British soldier fighting in Ukraine

Russell Brand: A career in comedy defined by darkness and delusions

Politics Explained

<p>Downing Street has refused to guarantee that the HS2 railway line will run to Manchester as planned</p>

Could Labour just build HS2 in full if they win the general election?

<p>A chance to hear the party’s message for the next election </p>

Why aren’t the Liberal Democrats doing better in the polls?

<p>Is this really the slogan for the next Tory election campaign?</p>

Don’t let Rishi ruin it! Let’s make political slogans great again

<p>Keir Starmer with Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Tuesday</p>

Remarriage to the EU? Macron plan is more of a Euro-cuddle

Most Commented

Being gay isn’t enough to claim asylum, says Suella Braverman

173 comments

Canadian parliament accidentally honours Nazi - with Zelensky and Trudeau applauding

113 comments

Cabinet split over Sunak’s HS2 ‘gross act of vandalism’

97 comments

Boris and Carrie Johnson deny nanny was sacked for having glass of wine with ex-PM

108 comments

Editorials

<p>Only 27,000 families are affected by inheritance tax (Dominic Lipinski/PA)</p>

The Independent View

Abolishing inheritance tax will provide little relief

<p>A large number of armed officers from the Metropolitan Police have stepped back from firearms duties in the wake of a murder charge over the shooting death of Chris Kaba</p>

The Independent View

No one – on either side of the barrel of a gun – is above the law

<p>The original plan for the lines to Manchester and to East Midlands Parkway will prove to be good value over time </p>

The Independent View

The case for going ahead with high-speed rail to Manchester is strong

Culture

Book of a lifetime: Charlotte’s Web by EB White

<p>WH Auden, one of the 20th century’s best-loved poets, died 50 years ago </p>

The brilliant, eccentric life of poet WH Auden

<p>Chatty, fun, argumentative, fearless, and ferociously well-informed, Beard’s history presents the Roman world and ours as contiguous, but separate</p>

Mary Beard: maverick don or book club historian?

Travel

<p>Hawaii’s wildfires created mixed messaging over the summer </p>

How soon is too soon to visit a tourist destination after a disaster?

<p>A Haunting in Venice once again uses the canal city as the backdrop to uncanny happenings </p>

How Venice became cinema shorthand for dread and despair

John RentoulThe Independent’s chief political commentator

<p>‘Long-term decisions for a brighter future’ is a dud of an election slogan </p>

Are the Conservatives trying to lose the election?

<p>Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to achieve a ‘fair and lasting peace’ are ongoing </p>

Mea Culpa: update on a continuing campaign

<p>The main cause of discontent is the Liberal Democrat leader’s refusal to make more of the case for Britain rejoining the EU</p>

The jury’s not out on Ed Davey – even Lib Dems don’t like him…

Andrew GricePolitical columnist who keeps his ear to the ground inside Westminster

<p>Something’s gotta give. It will – after the election</p>

Starmer can’t afford to be a Tory tweaker

<p>The concrete crisis in schools has handed Labour a perfect metaphor for a ‘broken Britain’, with creaking public services after 13 years of Tory government</p>

Crumbling concrete is Sunak’s poll tax moment

<p>Coutinho will not be batting on an easy wicket</p>

The meteoric rise of Claire Coutinho – but will she crash and burn?

Chris Blackhurst

<p>Traders will no longer have to provide paper forms of some key documents </p>

Business Comment

Buying or selling goods overseas? Pop those corks for a great new law

<p>Rupert Murdoch will retire as chairman of his Fox and News Corp businesses after almost seven decades at the helm of his sprawling media empire </p>

Business Comment

Murdoch has left the stage but not the building

<p>What Kwarteng put forward as chancellor made a lot of sense, it was the execution that was lamentable</p>

It’s time we took a different view of the Kwarteng catastrophe

News analysis

<p>Sophia Huang Xueqin secret trial </p>

Closed trial of ‘MeToo’ journalist spotlights China’s abuse of law

<p>For the chancellor, Britain’s economic difficulties are far from over</p>

Good news on wages, but Hunt still faces ‘runaway train’ on pensions

<p>Not so welcome: Narendra Modi greets Justin Trudeau at the G20 in New Delhi earlier this month </p>

Diaspora in crossfire as India-Canada row ‘spirals out of control’

<p>Pulsar Fusion began constructing its nuclear fusion rocket in 2023</p>

How nuclear fusion rockets are about to launch a space revolution

Sport

<p>Nerves? What nerves?: President Emmanuel Macron with French coach Fabien Galthie (second left) and captain Antoine Dupont (right) during training earlier this week</p>

Why Macron doesn’t want to drop the (oval-shaped) ball

<p>Anthony Joshua en route to knocking out Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley in 2017</p>

What it’s really like to get punched by Anthony Joshua

Mary DejevskyExpert on foreign affairs, Russian politics and diplomatic relations between the Kremlin and the west

<p>Tobias Ellwood is an MP of whom there are too few in parliament</p>

Dare I say it, Tobias Ellwood wasn’t entirely wrong about Afghanistan…

<p>This week, Ursula von der Leyen delivered her fifth and possibly last State of the (European) Union address in untypically high-flown and futuristic terms</p>

Why support for Ukraine is in danger of splitting the EU

<p>The fact that Kim Jong-un is the one travelling abroad suggests that he wants the meeting quite as much, or more, than Putin does</p>

Putin isn’t on the hunt for weapons and troops – but diplomatic allies

America

<p>Joe Biden speaks in Belfast on 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement</p>

Biden says Brexit deal can bring ‘significant’ US investment to NI

<p>Such leaks remind countries like Russia – as well as US allies – of the sheer scale and reach of Washington’s operations</p>

The diplomatic damage done by the Pentagon leak won’t last long

<p>Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley wrote a tweet attacking ‘weak and woke’ ideology the day she declared her candidacy</p>

Republicans are running on ‘wokeism’ – but don’t know what it is