Reform leader is trying to make it as a mainstream politician – which involves contradicting himself and gaslighting voters

The scene: an old banking hall in the heart of the City. The music: first, Richard Clayderman plays Bach. Then Pachelbel’s Canon, followed by the Adagio from Mahler’s 5^th. Death in Venice, Live in London. Not the usual venue or playlist for a Reform press conference.

Could it …? Could it be? Surely not the latest defection? Step forward, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. It would all have made perfect sense. A grifter joins a party of grifters. After all, Nige had come to Andy’s rescue last week when he called on the country to stop being so beastly to the alleged sex offender formerly known as prince.

A year in Westminster: John Crace, Marina Hyde and Pippa Crerar. On Tuesday 2 December, join Crace, Hyde and Crerar as they look back with special guests at another extraordinary year, live at the Barbican in London and livestreamed globally. Book tickets here.

The Bonfire of the Insanities by John Crace (Guardian Faber Publishing, £16.99). To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

Guardian senior reporter Ben Quinn on the shocking knife attack on a train from Doncaster to London

On Saturday night, a train from Doncaster to London was packed with people heading out for the night when a horrifying mass stabbing attacked unfolded.

Witnesses described “pure panic” as people tried to get away from the knifeman, with some hiding in the train’s toilets.

(Columbia)
The Catalan star’s monumental fourth LP features lyrics in 13 languages, references to female saints, the London Symphony Orchestra – and Björk on ‘divine intervention’

Last week, Rosalía appeared on a US podcast to discuss her fourth album. At one juncture, the interviewer asked if she didn’t think that Lux was demanding a lot from her listeners: a not entirely unreasonable question, given that it features a song cycle in four “movements”, based on the lives of various female saints and involves the 33-year-old Catalan star singing in 13 different languages to the thunderous accompaniment of the London Symphony Orchestra; and that it sounds nothing whatsoever like its predecessor, 2022’s Motomami. “Absolutely,” she responded, framing Lux as a reaction to the quick-fix dopamine hit of idly scrolling social media: something you had to focus on.

Demanding a lot from her listeners didn’t seem like something Rosalía was terribly bothered about, which is, in a sense, surprising. Pop has seldom seemed more prone to user-friendliness, to demanding as little as it can from its audience, as if the convenience of its primary means of transmission has affected its sound: it occasionally feels as though streaming’s algorithms – always coming up with something new that’s similar to stuff you already know – have started to define the way artists prosecute their careers. Then again, Rosalía has form when it comes to challenging her fanbase: variously infused with reggaeton, hip-hop, dubstep, dembow and experimental electronica, Motomami represented a dramatic pivot away from her 2018 breakthrough, El Mal Querer, a pop overhaul of flamenco that – incredibly – began life as the singer’s college project. It seems oddly telling that the biggest guest star on Lux is Björk, whose distinctive tone appears during Berghain, somewhere in between a resounding orchestral arrangement, Rosalía’s own operatic vocals and the sound of Yves Tumor reprising Mike Tyson’s “I’ll fuck you ‘til you love me” tirade over and over again. It’s hard not to suspect that Rosalía sees Björk as a kindred spirit or even a model, someone who has predicated a decades-long solo career on making artistic handbrake turns through a glossy aesthetic.

Adapting your fitness routine to your physical realities can help prevent injury from over-exercising

• Tell us: have you fallen in love this year?

Last year, I had to give up running. It was, as my sports medicine doctor counseled, “time”.

Since I was a teen, it had been my primary form of exercise and stress relief. But for months, I had been ignoring small signs of encroaching decrepitude: the popping and grinding in my right knee and hip joints whenever I stood up, bent down or took the stairs. The medical term for this is crepitus, yet I kept stubbornly persuading myself that I was still a “young” fiftysomething.

Looking for eco-friendly toys, games and presents for little ones that won’t break the bank? We have kits, skittles, crayons, trucks and tractors to add to your list

• The best toys and gifts for one-year-olds

Father Christmas has a hard time of it. In a cost of living crisis, the elves struggle to afford top-notch toy-making materials, and there is strong resistance to using plastic amid the climate crisis. Nonetheless, the wishlists remain the same: teddies, model cars, jewellery, games. What is the person in charge of presents to do?

A YouGov poll last year found more than half of parents planned to spend in excess of £90 a child on Christmas presents. And yet, as research by toy subscription service Whirli found, approximately 26% of Christmas toys – a jaw-dropping 25 million – are neglected by the end of January in the UK alone. What’s more, almost 80% of toys – much of them plastic – will eventually end up in landfill, incinerators or the ocean.

Bombs on trains, coke-fuelled gambling sprees and canine barbecues … from Bodyguard to Industry, here are your most horrific, heart-in-mouth TV moments

The episode starts with the Spooks team locked down while undergoing a drill relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, overseen by two Home Office officials, but as things progress it appears that there really has been an attack and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The tension ratchets up as incoming communications show a catastrophe taking place outside, and gets worse as the boss appears to be infected, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to decide between shooting them, or letting them go and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. This being Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses. Paul, Sheffield

Chancellor to promise ‘fairness and opportunity’ but will not repeat manifesto pledge on tax, after PM’s hint at breach

Rachel Reeves will lay the groundwork for a tax-raising budget that could break Labour’s election promise on income tax, in a major speech in which she will be “candid” about the tough choices ahead.

The chancellor will give the speech as the markets open on Tuesday, when she will promise to make fair choices at this month’s budget but decline to repeat her manifesto pledge of no rise in income tax, VAT or national insurance.

Questions mount for officers as Anthony Williams, 32, appears in court on charges of attempted murder

Police investigating the mass stabbing on a high-speed train in Cambridgeshire are examining four knife incidents alleged to have taken place hours before passengers fled in terror on Saturday evening.

Questions mounted for police as Anthony Williams, 32, appeared in court on Monday on a series of attempted murder charges related to two stabbing incidents.

Legal requirement to be placed on tech platforms to prevent users from seeing such ‘choking’ material

Porn featuring strangulation or suffocation – often referred to as “choking” – is due to be criminalised, with a legal requirement placed on tech platforms to prevent UK users from seeing such material.

Possessing or publishing porn featuring choking will become a criminal offence under amendments to the Crime and Policing bill tabled in parliament on Monday.

Sheffield Hallam University ordered professor to cease human rights study into Uyghurs forced labour in China

An investigation into allegations that a British university was subjected to pressure from Beijing authorities to halt research about human rights abuses in China has been referred to counter-terrorism police.

The Guardian reported on Monday morning that Sheffield Hallam University, home to the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice (HKC) research institution, had ordered professor Laura Murphy to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in the country in February.