Amid the grief and rage at a tragic loss, it’s right to differentiate between those who fought a culture war and others who just sought the truth

Even now it is very difficult to process the scale of tragedy that engulfed Jason Arday and those who loved him. The unbearable sadness at his death; the wretched knowledge that the very public onslaught against him began with the malign machinations of a self-defined “race realist” – who believes that, in an ideal world, black people would “disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment”. The horror that a rightwing and far-right campaign seeking a victim to fuel its nativist prejudices can now crow that it found one.

There is wide and profound grief and of course there is rage, focused and unfocused. Both were on display as thousands joined a protest vigil in Trafalgar Square on Monday evening.

Hugh Muir is executive editor, Opinion

In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and Childline on 0800 1111. In the US, call or text Mental Health America at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978

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Speculation about US president’s executive assistant sparks furious backlash from White House

Wearing shoulder-length blonde hair, gold earrings and a red dress, cancer survivor Natalie Harp introduced herself to the 2020 Republican national convention as “a formerly forgotten American from California” and compared Donald Trump with George Bailey, the everyman hero played by James Stewart in the classic film It’s a Wonderful Life.

“George Bailey’s father was right,” smiled Harp, her voice echoing in the Andrew W Mellon auditorium in pandemic-hit Washington. “All you can take with you is that which you’ve given away. Mr President, that makes you the richest man in the world.”

Now that Jared Kushner and the Saudi Investment Fund have bought The Sims’ publisher, EA, it’s unlikely to remain a game celebrating diversity and inclusivity

Sometimes it feels as though horrific world events and the malicious entities behind them are reaching into every aspect of our lives, from heatwaves that keep me shut away indoors, to generative AI that makes it increasingly difficult to trust what I read online. I can no longer even retreat into my favourite video game without funding human rights abuses across the world.

I’ve been playing The Sims series of life-simulation games since its first release at the turn of the millennium, when I sat with my sister in the corner of the sitting room using money cheats to build mansions for our digital dolls. Over the years, these games have helped me make friends: from the schoolmate who taught me to play more efficiently with hot keys, to the local fan who watched me stream The Sims 4 online and now meets me for lunch every week. In the last quarter of a century I’ve sunk thousands of hours into these games.

Jordan Erica Webber is a freelance writer and presenter specialising in video games and digital culture

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Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson, Philippe Auclair for the first of our Premier League preview podcasts.

Subsidies and a crackdown on armed groups are helping smallholders rebuild their lives, leaving behind decades of conflict and fear

Surrounded by towering oil palm trees on his farm in the small village of Caño Barbú, near San Pablo in northern Colombia, Yoger Payares uses a malayo – a pole-mounted iron tool with a hook – to hack at the fronds of one, freeing a bunch of its vibrant reddish-orange fruit so it falls to the ground.

Today, Payares proudly works in the oil palm industry. But for more than a decade, just yards away, he grew coca leaves, becoming embroiled in the illicit industry in 1990 after leaving his job as a cattle farmer.

I was living on my own for the first time in 35 years, walking every day. Nature reminded me how much there still is to be found in emptiness

After my husband died, the birds started behaving strangely towards me. This was not my imagination; it really happened. On my daily walks, I was startled by how close they came to me – approaching, hopping alongside me and chirping. If there were a lot of them – and if there was no one else around – it felt as if they were accompanying me, maybe trying to convey something.

I had walked on the heath near our home with my husband for years. But his illness meant that, during his final months, he could not walk with me any more. When he died – in January 2023 – I had been walking on my own for six months and the birds, I am sure of this, had paid no attention to me.

Accelerating price increases in July add to pressure on households, with chancellor saying ‘there is more to do to restore hope’

• Analysis: Rising inflation underlines scale of Burnham’s cost of living challenge

• Business live – latest updates

UK inflation rose to 2.9% in July as the impact of the Iran war on energy prices triggered a renewed cost of living squeeze for British households.

The Office for National Statistics said inflation rose from a 15-month low of 2.6% in June, driven by the rising price of gas and electricity. Matching City economists’ forecasts, it was the first rise in the annual rate as measured by the consumer prices index since March.

Prime minister urges local leaders to act as homelessness campaigners welcome move but say more needs to be done

• I won’t abandon anyone to sleep rough on our streets. That’s my £442m promise

Andy Burnham has urged local leaders to offer all rough sleepers in England a route off the streets by Christmas, as he pledges another £100m to end street homelessness.

Arguing in the Guardian that rough sleeping has become so common it now “feels like part of the scenery”, Burnham promised he would mount a Covid-style campaign to get everyone off the streets this winter.

Greens say analysis shows government failure to take bold climate action could lead to big gains for party at election

• UK politics live – latest updates

Labour could lose dozens of seats to the Green party if the government allows new drilling in the North Sea, according to internal research shared with the Guardian.

Green party analysis suggests up to 50 Labour MPs, including Andy Burnham’s key ally Louise Haigh, could lose their seats at the next election if the government fails to make urgent climate action a priority or allows new drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea.

The Guardian’s climate forum 2026: On Tuesday 20 October, join Damian Carrington and our panel of experts, including Prof Andy Haines, Katie White, Asad Rehman, Shruti Suresh, Gareth Thomas and Amy Fairman, for a hopeful and solutions-focused evening. Book tickets here or at guardian.live

Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies said they uncovered group responsible for money laundering $3.35m but did not name individuals involved

The rise in Germany’s ⁠borrowing costs to a 15-year high reflects the ⁠increased security challenges ⁠facing ​the country following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and ⁠the need to spend much more defence, the Finance Ministry ⁠said on Wednesday.

German 10- ​and 30-year ‌borrowing costs ‌hit a fresh 15-year high in Wednesday’s ‌session. Bond yields of other major Western economies including the US and Japan have also climbed to multi-decade highs this ‌week due to ballooning government debt and geopolitics, increasing borrowing ​costs for companies and households and complicating policy.

“I am grateful to the MPs for supporting Andrii Sybiha for the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Yevhenii Khmara for the position of Minister of Defence of Ukraine.

The tasks for both ministers are absolutely clear: Ukraine needs more strength. And it will have it. Glory to Ukraine!”