Party source describes region as abeating heart of general election battlegrounda as prime minister says Labour threw alot of muda

• Local elections 2024: full council results for England
• Analysis: Blackpool verdict looks like electoral death sentence for Tories

The results of the London mayoral contest and London assembly elections are due on Saturday. Labouras Sadiq Khan is seeking a third term and polls have put him comfortably ahead of Tory Susan Hall, despite jitters in Khanas campaign team.

Following the closure of the polls tonight, Khan said his campaign and Labour activists asent out a message of fairness, of equality and of hopea.

Spread of Tory losses leads former minister to say thereas ano such thing as a safe seat any morea

• Local and mayoral election results a live updates

The Conservatives are facing one of their worst local election results in 40 years, with striking Labour gains across England and Wales in key battlegrounds they need to secure victory at the general election.

The spread of the Conservative losses led one former minister to claim there was ano such thing really as a safe Tory seat any morea, but the prime minister appeared committed to clinging on until polling day, with rebels in his own party lacking the support to oust him.

Party did better in places it had lost since 2016 but one commentator called it aprogress at a pricea

Labour was celebrating a string of election successes on Friday in a set of results that party officials said showed it heading for victory in the upcoming general election.

Beneath the euphoria of wins in places such as Blackpool, Hartlepool and Thurrock, however, lay a nervousness about the partyas performance in urban areas, with campaigners warning it had lost ground in both London and Birmingham.

Wins in East Midlands, North East and North Yorkshire suggest Labour on course for general election victory

The Conservatives held on to their high-profile Tees Valley mayoralty with a reduced majority for Ben Houchen a but Labour won three other contests, in the East Midlands, North East and Rishi Sunakas own patch of North Yorkshire.

Houchen was re-elected with a 16.5 percentage point swing to Labour. He won 81,930 votes (53.6%) against 63,141 (41.3%) for Labour and 7,679 (5%) for the Liberal Democrats. At the last election he won 73% of the votes.

With an estimated 25% vote share, Tory performance matches 1995 nadir reached under John Major

• Local and mayoral election results a live updates

Results from local elections held across England on Thursday appear to confirm that Rishi Sunakas Conservatives are on their way out of power after 14 years.

The party, which brought the world Brexit, has been consistently trailing its main rival, Labour, led by Keir Starmer, by about 20 points in opinion polls.

The leader and his chancellor look like incumbents. That will make voters even more impatient for solutions to Britainas ills

It was not an opinion poll. These were local elections about local issues. The results tell you only about where we are now, not where we might be come the autumn, or whenever it is that Rishi Sunak finally submits himself to the judgment of the country.

You know all the caveats, to which we can add one more: some of the biggest results, namely the mayoral contests in London, Manchester and the West Midlands, wonat come until Saturday. And yet, taken together, the votes cast on Thursday form an increasingly clear picture. It is a bleak one for the Conservatives a while for Labour it contains both cheer and a perhaps unexpected warning.

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist

Glossy promotional leaflet handed out to asylum seekers detained under Rishi Sunakas deportation policy

Asylum seekers who have been detained under Rishi Sunakas deportation policy are being handed a colourful promotional document entitled: aIam being relocated to Rwanda. What does it mean to me?a

The news came as the government faced a second legal challenge over the prime ministeras APS500m policy and it emerged that dozens of asylum seekers were being forcibly taken to detention centres.

Exclusive: Ceilings in two units in Stepping Hill hospital collapse days apart including in critical care unit

Parts of ceilings have fallen in at two key units of a decrepit NHS hospital, forcing it to evacuate patients and cancel X-rays and scans, the Guardian can reveal.

The problems at Stepping Hill hospital in Stockport, which is plagued by leaks and major structural defects, have prompted claims it is adangerous for both patients and staffa.

It had to close its Outpatient B unit last November after inspectors reported a asignificant deterioration of the structure of the buildinga.

It is providing only 51% of the outpatient appointments it should because some of the services that were provided in that now-mothballed unit are now operating at less than the previous capacity.

Staff in some areas have to form abucket squadsa when it rains to stop water causing flooding and affecting vital equipment.

It has had to reschedule 99 operating theatre sessions a involving orthopaedics, general surgery and gynaecology a while it builds a new emergency and urgent care campus.

Donald Trumpas former communications director testifies that the 2016 campaign wasnat sure how to respond to Access Hollywood tape, aeveryone was still absorbing the shocka

• Trump trial continues with judge dismissing claims that ex-president canat testify

Judge Juan Merchan was referring to a claim Donald Trump made while addressing the media yesterday outside of court.

Speaking to reporters after court adjourned for the day on Thursday, the former president said:

Iam not allowed to testify. Iam under a gag order. I guess, right?

Iam not allowed to testify, because this judge, whoas totally conflicted, has me under an unconstitutional gag order.

I want to stress Mr Trump that you have an absolute right to testify at trial.

That is a constitutional right that will not be denied or abnegated in any way ... It is a fundamental right that cannot be infringed upon ... the order prohibiting extra-judicial statements does not prevent you from testifying in any way.

New York police say about 29% of those detained anot affiliateda with university as more are arrested at NYU and New School

New Yorkas police department has declared that approximately 29% of the people it arrested at pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University were anot affiliateda with the institution, as the cityas mayor continues to face scrutiny over his claims that the hardline police response was due to the actions of aoutside agitatorsa.

The NYPD also said 60% of arrestees at City College of New York (CCNY) on Tuesday night were unaffiliated with the college, though a CCNY spokesperson confirmed to the Guardian that these arrest figures applied to protesters both on and off the collegeas grounds.

• Updates from the 8pm BST kick-off at Kenilworth Road
• Have any thoughts? Send them to Simon via email

Tom Lockyer has a chat. He looks very chirpy and relaxed, and says aI want to be a bit more involved now, if I can help the lads in any sort of waya. Also:

Itas a massive game, isnat it? Letas not shy away from it tonight. The gafferas just done his talk. Head probably have taken this position at the start of the season, coming into it. I hope the fans think like that as well. Everton are safe now and weare hoping theyare going to be on the beach. The only thing we can hope for is maybe itall mean more for us today a weall run faster, weall fight harder. But with a Sean Dyche team thatas a given for them.

Henry De Los Rios Polania said on social media from his hospital bed that he had a along journey aheada to recover

A man injured in the sword attack in east London has thanked the emergency services and his family for saving his life as he recovers in hospital.

Henry De Los Rios Polania, 35, an IT engineer from Hainault, was stabbed in his home on Tuesday morning. He was described by his sister, Jessica De Los Rios, 31, as a hero for protecting his family from the assailant.

• Chief of football operations rails at ahigh degree of untidinessa
• IT department and age-group dressing rooms areflect poorlya

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has ordered Manchester Unitedas staff to raise standards after describing the level of untidiness in offices as a adisgracea and some dressing rooms as anot much bettera.

Ratcliffe, the minority owner who controls Unitedas football policy, made his comments after a two-day tour of Old Trafford and the Carrington training ground.

Ethereal scenes of flowing super-heated material may help explain why atmosphere is hotter than surface

The sunas otherworldly landscape, including coronal moss, solar rain and 6,000-mile-tall spires of gas, is revealed in footage from the Solar Orbiter spacecraft.

The observations, beamed back by the European Space Agency probe, reveal feathery, hair-like structures made of plasma and also capture eruptions and showers of relatively cooler material falling to the surface.

More than 23,000 people forced to leave homes after heavy rains in southern Rio Grande do Sul prompt record-breaking floods

Heavy rains in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul have killed 37 people, with another 74 still missing, as record-breaking floods devastated cities and forced thousands to leave their homes.

It was the fourth such environmental disaster in a year, following floods in July, September and November that killed 75 people in total.

Influencersa inventive recipes for high-protein dairy product have boosted trade by 40% for one producer

If you peered into a UK fridge in the late 1970s, it is more than likely you would have found a pot of cottage cheese tucked between the prawn cocktail and sherry trifle.

A popular adiet fooda at the time, demand waned in subsequent decades as the high-protein, low-fat wonder food fell out of fashion. But 50 years on from its heyday, cottage cheese is making a comeback in the UK, and has become an unlikely hit with health-conscious Gen Z.

Driven by a wave of social media influencers sharing inventive recipes for the dairy product, which is made from milk curds, UK retailers are reporting significant increases in sales, while producers are struggling to keep up with demand.

aItas come from absolutely nowhere,a said Robert Graham, managing director of Grahamas Family Dairy. aSince May of last year, when there was a TikTok craze that went on, cottage cheese sales for us are up 40%.a

The company said the growth in production, the equivalent of an extra 2m kilograms a year, means it is looking at ways to increase output, including an initial growth plan to invest APS5m to bolster its production facilities.

aWe are considering new factories because cottage cheese production is almost full,a said Graham, whose company supplies big retailers such as Co-op, Morrisons and Aldi.

Dairy company Arla is also benefiting from the cottage cheese rush, reporting a double-digit increase in sales in the last three months, while Marks & Spencer experienced a 30% increase compared with last year, and Waitrose reported a 22% year-on-year rise.

Failure of Manchester venue to open has angered those who paid for travel and hotels for cancelled events

The repeated failure of the new Co-op live venue to open in Manchester has led to shows being cancelled at the last moment, gigs rescheduled, and has caused huge inconvenience to people who had booked non-refundable travel and hotels to enjoy events they had been looking forward to.

It has, of course, though, allowed the British public to also enjoy one of its greatest pastimes a hilarious schadenfreude on social media. Not least because its general manager, Gary Roden, was forced to resign over the issues, not long after he hadnat exactly endeared himself to organisations such as the Music Venue Trust by suggesting that many grassroots music venues are often apoorly runa and that was a factor in the new venue not wanting to take part in a levy scheme to help keep smaller venues open.

The movement to press for an end to Israelas war on Gaza has now found itself overshadowed by its loudest voices

The protesters who seized Columbia Universityas Hamilton Hall on Tuesday swiftly unfurled a banner down the front of the storied building with just one word: intifada.

Other students among the pro-Palestinian demonstrators in the heart of the New York campus were sceptical about invoking the Arabic call for an uprising because it has been so widely used by pro-Israeli groups to discredit their cause as support for terrorism and therefore antisemitic.

Three men await trial in Brazil for the killing of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, but no date is set and Amazon activists still live in fear of violence

Nearly two years after Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira were murdered during a reporting trip in the Brazilian Amazon their families are still waiting for justice and activists fear their deaths will not be the last.

The British journalist and the Brazilian Indigenous expert were ambushed and killed on 5 June 2022 while travelling by boat to the river town of Atalaia do Norte. They had been investigating the criminal assault on Brazilas second-largest Indigenous territories, the Javari valley, a vast expanse of rainforest that is home to the worldas largest concentration of uncontacted peoples.

Tom Bakeras scarf! Jodie Whittakeras cupboard! David Tennantas gifs! As Ncuti Gatwa picks up his sonic screwdriver for the new series of Doctor Who, we rate every two-hearted Time Lord so far

It is too soon to place the Fifteenth Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa, in the pantheon of actors to take on one of British TVas most beloved characters, but to whet your appetite before his debut series lands on 11 May, here is a top 20 of actors to have owned the Tardis since William Hartnell first emerged from a police box in 1963 a|

From party chair Richard Holden to Andrea Leadsom and Rish! himself, their denial verged on the delusional

• Local and mayoral election results a live updates

Spare a thought for Richard Holden. While every other senior Tory politician had sensibly chosen to lock themselves in a darkened room with a bottle of scotch and a syringe full of heroin, the Conservative party chair took one for the team. A long stint on the airwaves from soon after the polls had closed through to the following morning.

Itas hard to know whether this was bravery or complete stupidity. He could be like the Japanese soldier found on a Pacific island in the 1970s who didnat know his country had surrendered in 1945 and was still trying to escape capture by the enemy.

Researchers and Silicon Valley are using tools powered by AI to read what had long been thought unreadable

More than 2,000 years after Plato died, the towering figure of classical antiquity and founder of the Academy, regarded by many as the first university in the west, can still make front-page news.

Researchers this week claimed to have found the final resting place of the Greek philosopher, a patch in the garden of his Athens Academy, after scanning an ancient papyrus scroll recovered from the library of a Herculaneum villa that was buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD79.

A widespread search has been sparked after Victoria Mary Clarke noticed a rifle owned by the late Pogues frontman was gone. She explains why this piece of history was one of the few possessions he cherished

OK, hands up a whoas nicked Shane MacGowanas gun? MacGowanas widow Victoria Mary Clarke is not happy and she wants it back now, sparking a widespread search after tweeting: aShaneas 1916 rifle has gone missing, most likely been stolen.a

The gun is not any old gun. Itas a rifle from the 1916 Easter Rising, and was probably used in the takeover of the General Post Office (GPO) by armed groups of the Irish Volunteers and the Citizen Army, commanded by Padraig Pearse and James Connolly. It was given to MacGowan as a 60th birthday present by the singer-songwriter Glen Hansard.

Patricia wants to sell the family home and split the profits between her sons, but Martin feels the deal is unfair on him. You decide whose argument deserves credit
More money disputes where you are the judge

Iam happy that Rob will get a hand, but itas a lot more than I had from Mum, which I donat think is fair

In this weekas newsletter: A poll of US cinemagoers states that 92 minutes is the ideal movie duration. But isnat it more complicated than that?

aC/ Donat get the Guide delivered to your inbox? Sign up to get the full article here

Here we go again, with another round of long/short culture discourse. Just after we had got through double album April (thanks BeyoncA(c), Taylor and Cindy Lee), May brings us the latest skirmish in the movie length wars, with a poll of US cinemagoers establishing that the ideal movie running time is a sprightly 92 minutes.

That number is unsurprising. An hour and a half has long been fetishised as the perfect length for a film. Never mind that the average run time of films is actually increasing, or that only one of IMDbas Top 20 greatest movies of all time a 12 Angry Men a is close to that number. (Every other film in that top 20 is two hours-plus, with several of them hitting the three-hour mark.)

The spooky comedy franchise may seem an unlikely place to find an ethnicity and faith adviser, but productions are increasingly aware of a duty to make sure communities are truthfully represented

The asensitivity readera is a well-established, if controversial, figure in the publishing world, offering advice on whether a bookas content might cause offence. The film and TV industry has also been forced to confront similar issues, with aintimacy coordinatorsa now widely employed to ensure that filmed sex scenes neither harm the actors nor outrage audiences. Perhaps less well-known, but now gaining ground in film and TV, is the role of a acultural consultanta a advisers taken on by productions to help them navigate the choppy waters of sensitivities around ethnicity and faith.

Sajid Varda, founder and CEO of media charity UK Muslim Film and director of the UKas inaugural Muslim international film festival, recently completed an assignment on Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the latest instalment of the popular and long-running series of supernatural comedies. Varda says the key to such roles is aauthenticitya; it is, he says anot just saying what is wrong with this, but how can we make it better and improve it?a

Athletes are breaking their silence about their experience of eating disorders and disordered eating. Why is this happening in an arena celebrated as the epitome of health?

Elite sport has long been consumed with the idea of the superhuman. Pushing the capabilities of the human body to its extremes in the hopes of uncovering the blueprint to engineer bodies that can jump higher, run faster and endure longer. And, as professionalism has increased, so too has the optimisation of athletesa bodies in the quest for peak human condition.

But recent revelations that former Australian womenas cricket captain Meg Lanning cut her international career short due to struggles with disordered eating have exposed some of the cracks that have long been forming in the elite sport system.

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We seem to have reached the stage where Sunakas MPs seek empathy for their inability to comply with their own policies

Are you, like me, struggling to get a handle on the current governmentas approach to empathy? It increasingly seems to be a commodity that many Conservative MPs believe should be available to Conservative MPs only. A few weeks ago the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, described William Wragg a fellow Tory MP and then-chair of the public administration and constitutional affairs committee a as acourageousa. By way of a reminder, acourageousa is the sort of word we would typically reserve for people whoave singlehandedly held a bridge for the Allies against the Germans despite being wounded/posted a picture on social media of themselves without makeup; whereas Mr Wragg had simply shared MPsa private phone numbers with a blackmailer in the current security environment. Is that brave? If it is, can the no-makeup girls please get a VC?

Further bravery seems to have been on show during yesterdayas local elections, which took place under electoral law changed by the Tories in 2022. All voters are now required to present an approved form of photo ID, which even Jacob Rees-Mogg last year implied was an attempt to agerrymandera and aupset a system that worked perfectly wella. Flash-forward to the eve of this weekas polls, and the Ipswich MP Tom Hunt a who, naturally, voted in favour of voter ID a could be found informing a WhatsApp group of local party members that it aturns out I have no appropriate ID to vote tomorrowa, and requesting someone to ado the honoursa and assist him in getting an emergency proxy vote. Unclear which lucky local did athe honoursa, but Ipswich Labour used a screenshot of his APB in their own ad to remind people that they need voter ID, warning: aDonat be like Tom.a

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

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