Mama G, a spiritual leader of descendants of Africans who escaped enslavement to form their own communities, says what was taken from her ancestors must be restored: ‘Restoration is reparation’

The wooden walls of the village hall in Charles Town, Jamaica, are adorned with a procession of shadowy figures: a tribute to the resistance struggle of the Maroons – African people who escaped enslavement and created their own free communities in remote and hilly parts of the island.

Set in the lush embrace of majestic Jamaican hills and mountains, the idyllic settlement is quiet, but for the crowing of unseen roosters. Maroon spiritual leader Gloria Simms, affectionately called Mama G, warmly greets neighbours as she walks towards the hall – hair wrapped, her colourful dress moving with the gentle breeze.

Caro Giles had to home-educate three of her four daughters when they grew so distressed at the prospect of school that they made themselves ill. Why is our approach to education failing so many young people?

There are things Caro Giles will never be able to forget. The moment when Emmie, her “shiny bookworm” of a daughter, crouched “wide-eyed with terror” in the footwell of the car to avoid going to school. Or when another daughter ripped out her eyelashes in distress. Or when she had to carry her eldest, Matilda, then 11, out of the house because she was so scared to go outside.

These behaviours, Giles believes, were predominantly caused by the experience and prospect of school. Giles, a single mother of four daughters, watched as Matilda endured a miserable two years in primary school before withdrawing her – making her “electively home-educated” in official jargon. Ada, her second eldest, was mostly home-schooled until 2018, when Giles’s marriage ended and her children had to return to school so she could work more. Emmie, her third daughter, struggled on in primary until 2022 when she became “very ill”. At 10, she had stopped speaking because she found it so challenging to attend lessons. “I feel horrid about my learning,” she once typed into Giles’ phone. When her youngest, Tess, who started primary in 2019, showed similar distress around school, Giles acted quickly to remove her in early 2023.

From parkrun to a hi-vis belt, our readers share the tips and affordable kit that helped make them fitter

• ‘Ten minutes a day will make you significantly fitter’: personal trainers on the best home exercise kit

The fitness industry has sold you a lie. It said the expensive gym membership would give you beautifully toned abdominals. It told you your metabolic woes could be solved by taking a little green pill each morning. It even promised to meet your body’s daily nutritional needs with a convenient bottle of Orwellian sludge … all at a price.

The reality is that getting fit is alarmingly simple: move more, be consistent and repeat. Here are the tips and affordable kit that have helped real people – our readers – get fitter, including everything from a trampoline to a dog.

The invaders present a devastating threat to Britain’s pollinators – constant watchfulness and clever technology are needed to thwart their progress

Were it not for the bags of destroyed hornets nests in the corner, you could be forgiven for confusing Peter Davies’ office with the set of a TV detective show. Maps dotted with Post-it notes cover the wall in the repurposed hotel suite just off the M20 in Kent. There is no natural light: the only window looks down on an atrium below, and is partly obscured by a flip chart with the plan for the day. From here, Davies and his team run the national command centre for holding back the Asian hornet, an invasive species that preys on honeybees and other pollinators.

“In effect, I’m the incident commander to tackle the hornet. We have a forward operating base at the hotel so we can get anywhere in Kent quickly, because that’s where we’ve had the most incursions,” he says.

US firm Eli Lilly reportedly tells British wholesalers to stop taking orders as demand soars before September price rise

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The manufacturer of the weight loss drug Mounjaro has paused shipments to the UK before a significant price rise for the treatment next month.

The US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly is due to increase the UK list price of the drug by up to 170% from September, amid a White House push to get drugmakers to raise medicine prices in Europe to allow for price cuts in the US.

Move by UK watchdog FCA relates to historical statements on wood pellets for power station from January 2022 to March 2024

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The power generator Drax has revealed it is under investigation by the City watchdog over “historical statements” made about the sourcing of wood pellets for its biomass power station.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) confirmed the investigation on Thursday, which will cover a period of more than two years between January 2022 to March 2024, and examine whether the company complied with disclosure and transparency rules, including in three annual reports.