The former Leeds and Burnley defender has struggled with his mental health for most of his life. But it took five suicide attempts for him to admit how badly he wanted to end it. He talks about how he turned the corner – and his hopes for his new post with the charity Mind

‘How are you?” I ask Clarke Carlisle. Usually when you meet people it’s a nicety. Not with Carlisle. He smiles ecstatically. “I’m incredibly well, thank you. Yeah, really, really good,” says the former footballer and incoming chair of the mental health charity Mind. “I have been consistently well – not just stable, but well – for three or four years now.”

Few people understand what it is to be mentally unwell quite like Carlisle does. And few understand what recovery means like he does. “It doesn’t happen by accident. Once you get stable that’s not the end of the journey. And that seems to be the MO of our society these days. You do something, you go into hospital and they patch you up, then send you on your way. And that’s the same with mental health. You might get some pills, have a counselling session, you might have a hug and a chat with someone, and they think that’s the end of the journey. And it’s not.”

Concerns about feeling pressure to have caesarean section, or paying for hotel in Exeter after hospital in Barnstaple suspends birthing services

For mother-to-be Harriet Knight, the suspension of maternity services at one of England’s most remote hospitals means having to face horribly stark choices.

“The next closest maternity unit is a full two hours away and we have a family history of labour taking under two hours from start to finish,” said Knight.

These everyday hassles are small, but they add up – especially in a cost of living crisis. That’s why my government will tackle them head-on

• Andy Burnham is the UK prime minister

• Burnham vows crackdown on ‘rip-off’ business practices

It’s remarkable how much of modern life can seem designed to wear us down. Every “sale” seems to come with an asterisk. Consumer contracts often find a way of costing more than you expected. And too many companies want you to sign up in seconds, but then make it feel impossible to leave. It’s exhausting.

They might not be the issues that keep you up at night. But they’re often the reason you go to bed ticked off. Westminster has got used to telling people that these everyday hassles are just part of life. The response has too often been a shrug of the shoulders or just calling it bad luck.

Andy Burnham is prime minister of the United Kingdom

Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
This prequel to the TV series has one joust after another, spectacular stagecraft and plenty of modern resonance

During the RSC’s 65 years, numerous Lears have lost their minds and frequent Caesars been slaughtered by their courts. Now, though, a tyrant new to its stages faces both fates. He is King Aerys II Targaryen, ancestor of one warring bloodline in Game of Thrones, the dramatisation of George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels that helped TV streamers’ rise to global domination during eight HBO seasons from 2011 to 2019.

Some may balk at an institution named for England’s greatest dramatist staging an American drama franchise. There is, though, a compelling economic imperative: rising costs due to current wars (a frequent problem for Martin’s ancient oligarchs too) and Covid-era debts now exacerbated by paying back government loans means that the RSC could use another big commercial transfer – as its musical Matilda may not be immortal.

How does it feel to be locked into a venue notorious for its unpadded seating to experience a full-throttle Ring cycle and more? Our critic found out at the 150th anniversary of the mighty Bayreuth festival

Liszt and Bruckner were there from the start. Debussy, Mahler and Puccini all subsequently made the journey. So did writers from Virginia Woolf and Thomas Mann to WEB Du Bois, not to mention choreographer Sergei Diaghilev, anarchist Emma Goldman, British fascist Diana Mosley (wife of Oswald) and – most notoriously and fanatically – Adolf Hitler.

Culturally and politically, Germany’s Bayreuth festival doesn’t so much have baggage as its own industrial-scale luggage hangar. But it’s also prized as the ultimate place to hear Richard Wagner’s operas. One hundred and fifty years after the composer launched the festival with the premiere of his epic Ring cycle, tickets for this summer’s edition sold out within 90 minutes. No mean feat for a theatre with famously uncomfortable seats, no air conditioning and only one man’s music on the menu. The shortest work lasts two-and-a-half hours without a break.

With most of their rivals changing managers, can the champions go back-to-back for the first time in more than 90 years?

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 1st (NB: this is not necessarily Ed Aarons’ prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 1st

Exclusive: Analysis finds cost of higher education ‘falls overwhelmingly on the individual’

The government is piling mountains of debt and higher tax rates on young people heading to university, according to analysis into the “ticking timebomb” of costs faced by future students.

Hundreds of thousands of sixth formers will receive their A-level results on Thursday, with many expecting to continue on to higher education courses.

Reform says it will free up space in jails in England and Wales by rapidly deporting all foreign offenders

Jim O’Neill, the former Goldman Sachs chief economist who served as a Treasury minister in David Cameron’s government, is resisting taking a job with Andy Burnham’s government because he is worried about the PM’s interest in wealth taxes, the Times is reporting.

O’Neill was brought up near Manchester and, like Burnham, he is a strong supporter of devolving economic power to the regions. Having O’Neill in government would do a lot to reassure the City about the government’s fiscal responsibility. But, in his story, Steven Swinford reports:

The Times has been told that Lord O’Neill of Gatley, a former Goldman Sachs economist and Treasury minister, has been offered significant ministerial and advisory roles but has yet to reach an agreement with No 10.

He is said to be concerned about putting his business interests, which include a science and technology investment company along with extensive shareholdings in banks, venture capital companies and private equity ventures, into a blind trust.

GB News said the “mega dinghy” left France overnight, arriving in Dover in the early hours.

The number breaks the previous record from July when 165 people successfully made the crossing.

At 2.30am this morning a boat carrying 230 people was taken into Dover.

This is a record number in a single vessel.

Exclusive: Hamish Falconer wants ‘sense of renewed pace’ in post-Brexit talks while staying within Labour’s red lines

• ‘I was on my honeymoon!’: Hamish Falconer’s surprise call-up to Burnham’s cabinet

The UK will move faster and be more ambitious on achieving closer ties with Europe under Andy Burnham’s government, his new chief post-Brexit negotiator has said.

Hamish Falconer, the new cabinet minister in charge of the EU reset talks, said there was “room to be ambitious” within Labour’s red lines on Europe, which exclude reopening discussions on the single market and customs union, and he would look at the “art of the possible”.

The upgraded alerts will be in place from 9am on Tuesday until 6pm on Wednesday

As we mentioned in the opening post, the whole of Wales and half of England has already been declared in drought. Here is a full list of the affected areas in England:

East Anglia

Hertfordshire and London

Thames Valley

Hampshire and the Isle of Wight

Devon and Cornwall

The West Midlands

Wessex (covering Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire and south Gloucestershire)