This revival of the classic BBC drama strand is utterly lacking in the innovative spirit of the original. The next Dennis Potter might be out there somewhere … but they certainly aren’t here

Fantastic news! Channel 5 has revived the BBC’s wildly influential and much romanticised drama strand Play for Today. Well, it seemed like fantastic news until it became clear that the broadcaster has merely copied the name and necessarily broad premise – a collection of standalone dramas by different, often unestablished, writers and directors – and duly trumpeted a return for the trailblazing television format.

Trading on this cherished cultural heritage with no connection to the original is a brazen move. Will the programmes themselves be as audacious? The BBC’s Play for Today, which concluded 41 years ago, had a radical spirit, pushing the boundaries of contemporary taste and confronting the viewer with topics rarely seen on TV at the time.

No one denies their deep grievances – but after seeing improvements and winning generous pay settlements, the BMA is overplaying its hand

The bizarre, self-defeating assault on Wes Streeting suggests a pre-budget panic. This feels like a government losing touch and escaping from dismal circumstances in the real world. The ricochets damaged the PM and Morgan McSweeney, whoever organised these orchestrated briefings. If the briefers are not “found” and fired, No 10 looks either weak or guilty.

The health secretary shrugged it off with wit and agility in a host of interviews and left for Manchester to speak to the NHS Providers conference. There, he addressed grim-faced managers confronting the hardest of times. Resident (formerly junior) doctors go out on a five-day strike from 7am on Friday. Their timing aims at maximum disruption in what will be “one of the toughest winters our staff have ever faced” according to NHS England’s CEO, Jim Mackey. An exceptionally virulent flu strain has arrived early, with cases already several times higher than normal. Last month, flu hospitalisations were up 74% week-on-week.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

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Written in 1974, the Bowie-influenced songs on Trixies are set in a fictional south London nightclub, but were shelved when punk took the band in a new direction. Now, after Squeeze’s 50th anniversary, they’re seeing the light of day

In September 1974, when they were hopeful teenage unknowns in Deptford, Squeeze created a concept album, Trixies, set in a fictional south London nightclub. Believing they had come up with a substantial work, they recorded the 10 tracks on a borrowed Revox tape machine and expected the world to fall at their feet. But nothing happened. “All our friends liked it,” says singer and lead guitarist Glenn Tilbrook, who turned 17 just before the recording. “But that was the only feedback we had.”

The album was shelved, but less than five years later, the band began a run of classic hits, including Cool for Cats and Up the Junction, which had songwriting duo Tilbrook and fellow guitarist and vocalist Chris Difford hailed as heirs to Lennon and McCartney. Now, after recently celebrating 50 years as one of British pop’s best-loved bands, the pair have finally done their teenage vision justice. A fully rerecorded Trixies will be released next March. Taster track, Trixies Pt 1, arrives this week and suggests that all the Squeeze hallmarks of melody, romance and storytelling were there from the beginning, even if few people heard them.

While they can be seen as a luxury, massages are often part of healthcare – here’s how they affect physical and mental health

Massages can feel great. But are they actually good for you?

In one study, researchers observed that 8.5% of Americans reported using massage for “overall health” in the 2022 National Health Interview Survey. However, definitions of health tend to vary widely, explains the study’s first author, Jeff Levin, an epidemiologist and distinguished professor at Baylor University. For instance, does it refer to physical health, mental health or both? That makes it tough to study, but may explain why it has such broad appeal, Levin explains.

During the conflict, the Damascus suburb became a killing field. But some of Assad’s henchmen are still around – and even working with the new government

Abu Mohammed still remembers the smell. It usually came at dawn, as the mosques sounded the first call to prayer. By the time he sat down for breakfast, it would fill the air around his home in Tadamon, a working-class district in the south-east of Damascus. The smell was hard to define. Whenever he noticed it, Abu Mohammed felt on edge. He had his suspicions about what it might be, but like so many Syrians who lived under the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad, he knew to keep such thoughts to himself.

Abu Mohammed, a retired engineer who asked to be identified only by his nickname, first noticed the smell in the winter of 2012, nearly two years after the start of the uprising against Assad. At the time, he was living in a modest flat in the heart of Tadamon with his wife and their five children. The house stood just off a busy road named Daboul Street. Before the fighting started, Abu Mohammed enjoyed sitting on his balcony after work, sipping his tea as he watched the yellow minicabs and honking motorbikes compete for space in the streets below.

The Labour leadership briefing furore highlights failures at the centre of government. Keir Starmer needs to raise his game

Sir Keir Starmer went to north Wales on Thursday to announce the building of a new nuclear power station. This is a significant policy event, with local and national implications. However, the prime minister did not spend much time in Wales promoting solutions to UK energy needs. Instead, he spent it trying to draw a line under the Labour leadership briefing row, telling reporters that No 10 had not, in fact, briefed against the health secretary’s ambitions earlier this week.

As such, Sir Keir’s day was a microcosm of what his prime ministership has now become more generally. On the one hand, he wants his government to be doing, and to be seen to be doing, important things. On the other hand, he is unable to achieve this because of the way he – and to an extent the country more generally – now does politics and government.

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‘We strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim’, reads statement expressing ‘sincere regrets’ over Panorama episode

The BBC has apologised to Donald Trump over the editing of a Panorama documentary that led to the resignation of its director general, Tim Davie, and the BBC News chief, Deborah Turness.

However, the corporation has rejected his demands for compensation, after lawyers for Trump threatened to sue for $1bn (£760m) in damages unless the BBC issued a retraction, apologised and settled with him.

Labour had laid the ground to break a manifesto pledge on taxes for working people but has now made a U-turn

Rachel Reeves is set to abandon a plan to raise income tax in her budget with the chancellor reportedly “ripping up” the main measures in the wake of turmoil in the party.

A source told the Guardian that plans to break the manifesto pledge on income tax had been ditched by the prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the chancellor.

Exclusive: Move could cause huge disruption and present ministers with major new headache

Hospital consultants are gearing up to join resident doctors in striking over pay in a move that could cause huge disruption for the NHS and present ministers with a major new headache.

In addition, resident doctors – who will tomorrow embark on their latest strike – have decided to adopt a more militant approach in pursuit of their 26% pay claim in which they strike every month, to put pressure on the government.

Machine learning model predicts whether donor is likely to die within the timeframe that liver remains viable

Doctors have developed an AI tool that could reduce wasted efforts to transplant organs by 60%.

Thousands of patients worldwide are waiting for a potentially life-saving donor, and more candidates are stuck on waiting lists than there are available organs.