Keir Starmer’s dismal decision to block the Greater Manchester mayor has bought him time, but it won’t change his fate

Labour’s impulse for political self-harm defies belief. It is as if some enemy within guides it unerringly along the wrong strategic path. Declaring war on Andy Burnham anoints him as a northern martyr and hero, and casts Keir Starmer as a coward. Many opposed Burnham throwing down the gauntlet for all the problems it would have caused if he won. If he had run, and won, Starmer would have a choice: squeeze him python-tight within the fold, or confront any leadership manoeuvring head on. Instead, before he could show any strength, he funked it, using evasive proceduralism to block his rival from the byelection in Gorton and Denton.

What timing for this decision! Starmer, along with his chancellor, business secretary and other chief allies are due to depart for China on Tuesday: his absence from PMQs, from the weekly parliamentary Labour party meeting and from TV studios is a blunder.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

Monochrome catering was all the rage at the VIP screening on Saturday for Ratner’s officially sanctioned $75m feature-length documentary about the First Lady. Have the photos whetted your appetite?

This week sees the release of Melania, Amazon’s official feature-length documentary about Melania Trump. Melania was directed by Brett Ratner, and has a reported $40m production budget. And, obviously, you’re probably not going to watch it.

Of course you’re not. Coming days after the killing of Alex Pretti by a US Border Patrol agent, an authorised vanity project about the current wife of a globally unpopular political leader – and directed by a man accused of sexual assault by multiple women (he was never charged, and denies the allegations), and whose production and release carried the smell of institutionalised media timidity – seems like just about the least appealing prospect ever. But, hey, any excuse for a party, right?

Most of those at Monday’s event had to remind themselves that Braverman hadn’t defected long ago

That noise? The sound of the barrel getting scraped. Only last summer, Reform insiders were briefing the rightwing media that the party would never welcome Suella Braverman into its ranks. Too much baggage. Too out of control. Reform wasn’t a convalescent home for disgraced and failed Tory MPs. Surely not? Heaven forbid.

So it was only a matter of time before the MP forced to resign from Liz Truss’s cabinet as home secretary for breaking the ministerial code – imagine the shame of being sacked by Liz – and then fired by Rishi Sunak for criticising Scotland Yard’s policing of protests was welcomed by Nigel Farage. Let’s face it: if Kemi Badenoch weren’t already leader of the Tory party, she’d almost certainly be next in line to defect.

Witnessing the free climber’s ascent of the Taipei 101 without ropes on Skyscraper Live was an astonishing experience. But beneath panicked viewers’ sweaty palms, there was a queasy truth about the future of television

Well, have your balls descended back out of your body yet? Netflix’s Skyscraper Live has been and gone, and it may well qualify as the single most stressful viewing experience on record. Alex Honnold’s unassisted ascent of the 508 metre Taipei 101 was an absolutely extraordinary achievement. Whether or not it represents the future of television, though, is a completely different matter.

Honnold’s work is already well-known. As the star of Free Solo – a feature documentary once again so nerve-racking that the only way to comfortably enjoy it was under the influence of industrial sphincter relaxants – he has long been the poster boy of people climbing up stuff without ropes.

Exclusive: Lured by false job adverts, they are unknowingly enlisted on arrival and put in mortal danger

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Stephen Oduor was looking forward to starting his new job as a plumber in Russia to support his family after months of unemployment. But soon after landing in St Petersburg from Nairobi with six other Kenyans one afternoon last August, he started feeling something was off.

The man who received them at the airport drove them to a house where their luggage was taken away and they were given black clothes and shoes to wear. Afterwards, they were taken to a police station where they were fingerprinted and forced to sign documents written in Russian, a language they did not understand.

‘I couldn’t think of a line for the chorus – but we had just been to France. I got Baudelaire into the lyrics somewhere, too’

This song was an ode to glam rock. My older sister was really into Marc Bolan and her passion for him and his sound really rubbed off on me. I love the vocal effects and drum sounds on those old records.

Statement, since withdrawn, followed ex-minister becoming third Conservative MP to join Reform in just over a week

The Conservatives are facing a backlash after claiming that Suella Braverman defected to Reform UK after “mental health” issues, as the former home secretary finally joined Nigel Farage’s party after months of denials.

Braverman, who was sacked from the cabinet by both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, became the third sitting Conservative MP to defect in little over a week. She immediately went on the attack against her former party.

US president and Minnesota governor hold phone call as White House says CBP ‘won’t be needed’ if Walz and Grey comply with anti-immigration measures

As more and more Republicans call for an investigation of Alex Pretti’s killing, it’s worth remembering that Donald Trump’s call for heavy-handed immigration enforcement appeared to have already rankled a portion of his base.

A Politico poll that surveyed some 2000 adults between 16 and 19 January found that 49% of Americans believed Trump’s campaign was “too aggressive”.

Greater Manchester mayor’s hopes of an imminent return to parliament appear remote as relationship with Starmer languishes

Andy Burnham has not given up hopes of returning to Westminster and will try again, allies say, but would need to be convinced that Keir Starmer would not try to block him again before running.

The Greater Manchester mayor’s hopes of an imminent return to parliament appeared remote, however, as No 10 sources suggested that relations between the two men were at a low ebb and played down chances of a rapprochement.

Home secretary to regain authority to sack chief constables and set crime- fighting targets in England and Wales

Labour has announced wholesale changes to policing with a pledge to increase crime fighting, but faces warnings that at the plan’s heart is an unprecedented centralisation of powers.

Shabana Mahmood said policing in England and Wales was the last public service to have survived unreformed for 50 years, despite being too costly and failing in parts.