Head of tree collections at Kew ‘very worried about this autumn’ as hot, dry summer has caused brittleness

High winds associated with El Niño could cause widespread mortality among tree species already weakened by a prolonged period of extreme heat and drought, experts have warned.

This summer much of Europe has been scorched by a series of record-breaking climate crisis-induced heatwaves. The impact is notable across much of England’s countryside, where once green land has turned brown, and many trees are undergoing “early autumn” – wilting and losing their leaves early – to cope with extreme heat.

Billy Allison, 36, pleads not guilty to charge over Matthew O’Gara’s death after incident outside Lichfield bar

A man accused of murdering a businessman outside a bar in Staffordshire has pleaded not guilty.

Billy Allison, 36, a member of the flag-raising group Raise the Colours, appeared at Stafford crown court on Tuesday and entered not guilty pleas to the murder of Matthew O’Gara and to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to a second person.

Billy Allison, 36, pleads not guilty over Matthew O’Gara’s death following alleged assault in Lichfield

A man accused of murdering a businessman after an alleged assault outside a bar in Staffordshire has pleaded not guilty.

Billy Allison, 36, a member of the flag-raising group Raise the Colours, appeared at Stafford crown court on Tuesday and entered not guilty pleas to the murder of Matthew O’Gara and to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to a second alleged victim.

Meteorologists say average mean temperature of 16.5C was made 130 times more likely by climate crisis

This year’s summer was the UK’s hottest on record, according to provisional data, and the Met Office said the season’s mean temperature was made 130 times more likely by the climate crisis.

Record-breaking and back-to-back heatwaves have scorched much of Europe. In England, temperatures peaked at 38.1C (100.1F) at Kew Gardens in London on 13 August, and June had already been confirmed as the country’s hottest since records began in 1884. Scientists have said these heatwaves are only possible because of the climate crisis driven by burning fossil fuels.

Campaigners say some care boards in England flouting their legal duty, resulting in ‘cruel’ postcode lottery

Seriously ill children are being denied the chance to die at home because the NHS in many parts of England is flouting its legal duty to provide the care needed to make that happen, critics say.

The widespread failure to provide at-home end-of-life care is forcing children who want to die at home to instead do so in hospital. Campaigners have described it as “cruel”.

Meteorologists say mean average temperature of 16.5C was made 130 times more likely by climate crisis

This year’s summer was the UK’s hottest on record, according to provisional data, and the Met Office said the season’s mean temperature was made 130 times more likely by the climate crisis.

Record-breaking and back-to-back heatwaves have scorched much of Europe. In England, temperatures peaked at 38.1C (100.1F) at Kew Gardens in London on 13 August, and June had already been confirmed as the country’s hottest since records began in 1884. Scientists have said these heatwaves are only possible because of the climate crisis driven by burning fossil fuels.

Artist rose to prominence in 2018 by painting his eponymous tag in public spots across southern England

The street artist Helch, known for murals and tags across England, has died, his gallery has said.

He rose to prominence in 2018 by painting his eponymous tag in capital letters across a string of public spots in London as well as bridges on the M4, M1 and M25.

Artist rose to prominence in 2018 by painting his eponymous tag in public spots across southern England

The street artist Helch, known for murals and tags across England, has died, his gallery has said.

He rose to prominence in 2018 by painting his eponymous tag in capital letters across a string of public spots in London as well as bridges on the M4, M1 and M25.

Former PM says it is right time to go, which will trigger byelection that Greens’ Zack Polanski could target

• UK politics live – latest updates

Keir Starmer is to quit as the MP for Holborn and St Pancras, saying it is the right time for him to leave the Commons.

Starmer, who resigned as prime minister in July, told the Camden New Journal he wanted to focus on international affairs and “pass the baton to a successor”.

Yield on 30-year government bonds jumps to 5.88%, the highest since 1998, in bond rout triggered by global factors

• Business live – latest updates

The UK government’s long-term borrowing costs jumped to their highest level since early 1998 on Tuesday as a global bond sell-off gathered pace.

The yield – in effect the interest rate – on 30-year UK government bonds, known as gilts, hit 5.89% as traders fretted about a fresh increase in oil prices driving up inflation.

Former PM says it is right time to go, which will trigger byelection that Greens’ Zack Polanski could target

• UK politics live – latest updates

Keir Starmer is to quit as the MP for Holborn and St Pancras, saying it is the right time for him to leave the Commons.

Starmer, who resigned as prime minister in July, told the Camden New Journal he wanted to focus on international affairs and “pass the baton to a successor”.

Latest purchases take value of deals to leave capital’s stock market this year past $100bn

Three more London-listed companies are set to be taken over as the value of deals removing firms from the capital’s under-pressure stock market so far this year passes $100bn (£74bn).

On Tuesday, Bodycote, the FTSE 250 industrials group that has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 1972, agreed a £1.84bn takeover by the US private equity group Veritas.

Average price of home rose 0.2% month on month in August to £275,465 as market awaits interest rate vote

• Houses near top state secondary schools ‘cost £40,000 more’

UK house prices increased for the first time in four months in August, according to a leading index, as buyers and sellers remained in a “holding pattern” before an expected increase in interest rates later this year.

The average price of a British home rose 0.2% month on month in August to £275,465, the first increase since April, according to Nationwide. Analysts had forecast a 0.1% rise.

Former PM announces he will no longer represent Holborn and St Pancras on the day his successor, Andy Burnham, is to give first Commons address as prime minister

My colleague Richard Partington, the Guardian’s senior economics correspondent, grew up, like Andy Burnham, in the Warrington suburb of Culcheth. He has been home to find out what people there are saying about the new PM.

Yesterday, Kemi Badenoch announced a reshuffle, replacing Mel Stride with Andrew Griffith as shadow chancellor and Priti Patel with Tom Tugendhat as shadow foreign secretary.

Exclusive: Some staff call decision a betrayal of young apprentices who are often selected to increase diversity

The BBC is facing internal anger after a group of apprentices were told they could no longer expect jobs they had been promised, as a result of the corporation’s sweeping cuts.

In a sign of the pressure the BBC is under to find savings, apprentices working with BBC News were told that “exceptional circumstances” meant the broadcaster could no longer stand by its pledge to find them permanent positions.

Meteorologists release list of monikers for potential storms this season after 40,000 suggestions from public

From a five-year-old weather enthusiast to a beloved animated sheep, the inspiration for the list of storm names for this autumn and winter is wide and varied.

Austen, Boelo and Chloe will be the first named storms of this winter, meteorologists have revealed, after more than 40,000 suggestions were submitted by the public.

Austen Ireland

Boelo (Boo-loh) Netherlands

Chloe UK

Dano (Dah-noh) Netherlands

Evelyn Ireland

Finn UK

Gwendolyn Netherlands

Heather Ireland

Ivy UK

Jade Netherlands

Kilian Ireland

Laoise (Lee-sha) Ireland

Miriam Ireland

Nicola UK

Olaf Netherlands

Phelim Ireland

Ruban UK

Shaun UK

Theo UK

Vesna (Vehs-nuh) Netherlands

Wende (Vhen-duh) Netherlands

FCA chief, Nikhil Rathi, warned of ‘adverse consequences’ if challenge made to settlement, court filings allege

The boss of the UK’s financial regulator is accused of threatening a consumer group with “adverse consequences” if it blocked a £9.1bn compensation scheme meant to settle the motor finance scandal.

Legal documents reviewed by the Guardian said the alleged comments by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) chief executive, Nikhil Rathi, amounted to “an inappropriate intervention by a public official”.

PM will tell Commons he wants to unlock ‘positivity’ after a summer of policy announcements and improved poll ratings

Andy Burnham has vowed to “stamp out antisemitism for good” in a tribute to the victims of the Manchester synagogue terror attack.

In a post on social media, he said:

We send our love and support to the Jewish community in Manchester and beyond who last night gathered to remember Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby, who were killed defending their synagogue last year. My thoughts are with their families and all those who have been affected by the attack.

I know for many Jewish people, the sorrow and fear from that day has not lifted and I know we must do more to protect communities across the country.

Britain is poorer than we often think. We won’t get richer based on higher public spending alone, and we can’t tax billionaires who don’t live here.

We shouldn’t rely on public spending as a route to some romantic version of making Britain great again as we look in the rearview mirror for a great history that is no longer available to us. We must face the future, and I know my colleagues are up to the challenge.

Crucially, we must create the right conditions for a dynamic, thriving market. This includes getting ahead of what artificial intelligence will mean for our services-dominated economy.

Politically, we shouldn’t see conflict between growth and fairness, or business and workers, or the market and the state. These are false choices.

Christine Edzard’s The Man With the Plan tours the country with a timely message about tackling want, disease, squalor, idleness and ignorance

A new film that addresses issues fundamental to the new prime minister’s declared mission will star Simon Callow as a historical British political figure.

The hero of The Man With the Plan is William Beveridge, who helped to lay the foundations of the postwar welfare state. It shows that the Liberal peer was much more radical than is usually assumed – and certainly far more so than Churchill anticipated when he asked Beveridge to draw up a report into the future of Britain’s fragmented social insurance and national health system after the second world war.

Youth club closures, unaffordable housing and social media cited as factors contributing to a sharp decline in wellbeing

The number of young people with no close friends has risen fivefold since 2014 as a result of growing up in a “bleak world” dominated by austerity, the pandemic and social media.

New research paints a sobering picture of how 11- to 24-year-olds in England are increasingly lonely, isolated and “disconnected” from themselves, peers and wider society.