Kemi Badenoch has described Donald Trump’s criticism of Keir Starmer as ‘childish’ and said it ‘sends the wrong signal to our opponents in Iran or in Russia’.

Trump repeated his previous attack on the prime minister on Tuesday, saying: ‘Unfortunately Keir is no Winston Churchill.’ Are cracks starting to appear in the US-UK special relationship? Lucy Hough speaks to our senior political correspondent Peter Walker.

A new documentary delves into the phenomenon of men who pay women to role-play their romantic partners. The masked 27-year-old at its heart, and director Ben Zand, tell all

‘From the get go, T was incredibly transparent about the fact that he wants a completely subservient woman he can control. He didn’t even necessarily know that what he was saying was offensive.” Ben Zand is a 35-year-old documentary-maker, right in the eye of the millennial cohort that sees the contours of the manosphere, takes it seriously, but understands its logic for what it is: misogynistic neofascist swill. Through his independent production company, Zandland, he has made films about “incels”, QAnon and looksmaxxing – along with tangential matters, such as: what does a Mexican drug overlord have for breakfast (in the Bafta-nominated film he made for Channel 4, Kingpin Cribs).

Inside the Incels Who Rent Girlfriends is an intense one-to-one with T, a British 27-year-old with a good job, who over the past eight years has spent £50,000 renting girlfriends. In the film, his voice is disguised and he is wearing an Anonymous-style mask, which does nothing to offset the menace of the whole picture. He is, as Zand says, completely open about what he wants: a girlfriend who always says yes. I speak to him with his camera off but he’s using his regular voice, so he sounds – well, obviously – much more human and more vulnerable.

After years of hiding his substance abuse, Ken Rideout finally confessed to his wife. It was the start of a difficult and rewarding journey, which led to athletic success in his 50s

It started in 1998, with a pain in Ken Rideout’s ankle. A podiatrist gave him a prescription for seven Percocet, a drug containing the opioid oxycodone. Rideout was a high-flying commodity trader in New York, outwardly successful but racked with impostor syndrome. The Percocet dulled his foot pain – and also his anxiety. Rideout was used to alcohol and cocaine, but this was different. He felt happy, confident and optimistic.

He returned to the podiatrist for more pills. Then more. Soon he was altering the prescriptions manually, changing a seven into a two and adding a zero, before targeting smaller pharmacies that wouldn’t run verification checks.

PM and Tory leader enter maddening death spiral of dodging respective questions on Peter Mandelson and war in Middle East

There’s something weird going on in Westminster. A mutant pathogen in the water maybe. Whatever it is, Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch appear to have been struck down by it.

Both have had parts of their memory wiped. At times they now sound like the living dead. Keir can’t remember a thing about Peter Mandelson. And Kemi is a total blank when it comes to the Iran war. It’s hard to know which is worse. Keir at least has only forgotten what happened a year ago, so he can more or less have a half-life in the real world. Meanwhile, Kemi has no idea what happened last week. Or even yesterday. She is condemned to live in a permanent present.

On the evening of 29 December 2011, Officer Clifton Lewis was moonlighting as a security guard at a Chicago minimart when two men walked in. They shot Lewis several times, then took off with his gun and police star. A week later, police had their suspects: four men affiliated with a gang called the Spanish Cobras. For hours, under intense police questioning, they all said they didn’t do it. But that didn’t seem to matter.

This is episode one of Off Duty, an investigation by the Guardian’s Melissa Segura

Use AI as a brainstorming partner and organizer, but don’t outsource your judgment

• Sign up for AI for the people, a six-week newsletter course, here

Three years on from the release of ChatGPT, two broad camps have formed: those people who refuse to use it, and those who use it every day.

A 2025 survey by the Pew Research Center found that one-third of US adults say they have been using ChatGPT. This includes 58% of US adults under 30 – roughly double the share two years ago.

Revolutionary Guards say they will strike infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar after South Pars field hit

• Middle East crisis – live updates

• Business live – latest updates

Iran has threatened to attack energy infrastructure across the Gulf region in retaliation for Israeli strikes on its largest gasfield, the first targeted attacks on its fossil fuel production since the war began.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have threatened counterstrikes on several energy facilities across Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar “in the coming hours” after state media reports that missiles had targeted its gas facilities at the giant South Pars field, the largest gas reserves in the world.

IDF engaged in intense fighting with militants in at least three key areas in battle for control of border towns

• Middle East crisis live – latest updates

Israel and Hezbollah are engaged in intense ground clashes in at least three strategic areas in south Lebanon as Israel pushes on with its ground invasion of its neighbour, according to a Lebanese security source and residents of the affected towns.

Much of the fighting was concentrated around the strategic hilltop city of Khiam, with the Israel Defense Forces carrying out an air and artillery campaign against Hezbollah fighters dug into the city. Fighting escalated there after days of clashes, with a Hezbollah spokesperson acknowledging there were “heightened clashes” on the eastern and northern outskirts of the city.

Attempt to ‘decapitate’ state may harden resistance instead of destabilising regime

• Middle East crisis – live updates

• Fighting intensifies between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon

Israel’s decision to authorise its military to kill any senior Iranian official on its assassination list has raised significant new questions about its so-called decapitation strategy – and what it is intended to achieve.

Privately, Israeli officials have briefed their US counterparts that in the event of an uprising, Iran’s opposition would be “slaughtered” .

Esmail Khatib is third senior Iranian figure killed in 24 hours, as Israel authorises military to kill targeted officials

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Israel said on Wednesday it had killed a third senior Iranian figure in 24 hours, stating that its forces had “eliminated” Tehran’s intelligence minister, Esmail Khatib, in an overnight strike.

Khatib’s death follows those of Ali Larijani, the head of the supreme national security apparatus, and the commander of the Basij militia, Gholamreza Soleimani. Iran confirmed his death.