After Ann Widdecombe’s murder, Reform UK has criticised the Commons speaker, Lindsay Hoyle and suggested its MPs are not given enough security. Pippa Crerar tells Kiran Stacey what Hoyle’s team have been telling her

Please keep sending your comments and questions to Pippa and Kiran at politicsweeklyuk@theguardian.com

Please follow and subscribe to the Politics Weekly YouTube channel here

Love’s Labour’s Lost offers a heady mix of passion and death – which makes the Spanish art form a perfect match, says director Indiana Lown-Collins. Our writer joins the theatre’s flamenco bootcamp

On a heatwave day in London, Shakespeare’s Globe has turned into a fiesta. Hard-heeled boots strike the wooden boards with rat-a-tat rhythm, skirts swish, a guitar strums, voices rise along with the temperature. Perched in front of the stage is director Indiana Lown-Collins, who is zhooshing up one of Shakespeare’s wordiest plays with a hot flourish of flamenco.

Lown-Collins is half-Spanish and grew up in Spain where flamenco was her way into the arts. Working as resident associate director at the Globe a few years ago, she fell in love with the building and its acoustics and couldn’t stop thinking how well flamenco would work on its oak stage, ringing around the circular space. “I just knew it would sound incredible,” she says.

Mr Blobby, the Liz Truss lettuce, Boaty McBoatface … the Clacton hopeful is part of a rich tradition – and a reminder that it’s laughter that defines us, not hate

Nigel Farage’s pointless byelection in Clacton, in which he will stand against Count Binface, has inadvertently pitted two versions of Britain against one another. In one corner we have those who will argue that we are divided, cynical and jaded, that Britain isn’t what it once was and there is little to celebrate. And in the other corner we have the lovers of nonsense, ready to bind us back together with the unifying force of laughter.

Count Binface symbolises what I like to call Silly Sausage Britain. The Britain that has a laugh and doesn’t take itself too seriously, but is underpinned by self-deprecation, our kindness toward each other and fairness. This is the Britain of comedians such as Victoria Wood and Bob Mortimer, Romesh Ranganathan and Daisy May Cooper, Elis James and Meera Syal. It’s the adverts for Yorkshire Tea, Tango and Irn-Bru and it’s the Liz Truss lettuce. It’s 2p arcade machines and queen of “hun culture” Alison Hammond’s laugh.

Doing a split may look impressive, but experts caution it should not be done without practice and it may not be for everyone

On Love Island USA’s recent eighth season, contestant Kenzie Annis quickly distinguished herself with her ability to perform the splits, abruptly deploying the maneuver in fits of both delight and rage.

Seeing the splits on TV shows such as Love Island and RuPaul’s Drag Race can make people “want to take on that challenge and to push themselves to new heights”, said Ramoni Overton, a yoga instructor and YouTuber based in Los Angeles.

The actor, who has died aged 78, recently answered Guardian readers’ questions about missing out on James Bond, the true terrors of Jurassic Park and why he called his prize cow Helena Bonham Carter

• Peter Bradshaw on Sam Neill

• A life in pictures

• ‘A true gentleman’: actors, directors and leaders pay tribute to Sam Neill

• Obituary

• Neill interviewed in 2023, 2024 and 2026

Did you consult a canine expert about how best to regress into a dog in Dean Spanley? WomanofWolfville
There was no consultation. I’ve studied dogs – wittingly or unwittingly – over the years, so the portrayal came from that.

I’ve had dogs all my life. I understand them better than I do people. I had a Staffy for 15 years. They are the most expressive of dogs – every flicker of guilt or pleasure is written all over their faces. If I had to leave, my dog wouldn’t take it well. I’d pack in secret – if she saw a suitcase, she’d plunge into despair. When I returned, she’d walk right past me and shun me as punishment. I’d think: “Are you ever going to forgive me?”

Prime-minister-in-waiting has been a key figure in overhauls behind the scenes of the game, as well as helping to create the Hillsborough Independent Panel

Picking up the country when it is in a slump of self-doubt is perhaps within Andy Burnham’s reach. And football, close to his heart, may provide the template. There have been several occasions in the past 20 years when English football has been in a state of anguish, but a nadir came in 2007 – when Burnham made one of his most significant interventions to the national game. If England win the World Cup, expect the prime-minister-in-waiting to take at least a slice of the credit.

England had just lost 3-2 against Croatia at Wembley and failed to qualify for Euro 2008, the game where Steve McClaren was dubbed “the wally with the brolly”, the pouring rain adding to the sense of despair. At Wembley that night Burnham was with James Purnell, now poised to become his chief of staff at No 10, as guests of the Premier League’s then chief executive Richard Scudamore. Burnham was the minister for culture, media and sport, having succeeded Purnell, who had been moved to the Department for Work and Pensions, this being the early days of Gordon Brown’s Labour premiership.

Shock development based on ‘new information and evidence’ renews debate over security of politicians

British counter-terrorism police are now leading the investigation into the death of the former MP and Reform spokesperson Ann Widdecombe in a shock development that has renewed the debate over the security of politicians.

Widdecombe’s body was found with serious injuries by the ambulance service at her home in Haytor Vale, Devon, at 11.40am on Thursday. A 28-year-old man from Rotherham is being held in custody on suspicion of her murder.

Three of those arrested were detained on suspicion of conspiracy to murder, say counter-terrorism police

Twelve people have been arrested, including three on suspicion of conspiracy to murder, over a suspected far-right threat against an Islamic event held over the weekend, police have said.

Counter-terrorism police are leading the investigation, which they said was related to “extreme rightwing terrorism” targeting an event held at Shrubland Hall in Suffolk.

French president Emmanuel Macron has been hosting leaders amid hopes that Ukraine’s recent advances could force Putin towards negotiations

in Kyiv

Meanwhile, Russia has been forced to suspend shipping in the Sea of Azov after 90 vessels were targeted by Ukrainian drones in less than a week.

US president says strait will remain open ‘with or without’ Iran and there will be a 20% rate charged on all cargo shipped; Iran’s Abbas Araghchi shot back that Iran would charge a lower rate

• Trump renews Iran blockade and again threatens to take control of strait of Hormuz

Bahrain’s military has accused Iran of targeting civilians with its latest attacks on the country, after Tehran said it had struck US military facilities and infrastructure there earlier.

“Iran continues its systematic hostile approach through its heinous attacks with missiles and drones that target civilians in the Kingdom of Bahrain,” the general command of Bahrain’s military said, adding that air defences “intercepted and destroyed a number of Iranian aerial attacks” this morning.