The story of the state’s targeting of 70s activists has been turned into a musical exploring a fascinating and relatively unknown period. It is a love letter to our elders, says its writer

“Black Power. The words can send shivers down the spine of the nervous white man,” begins the 2021 BBC documentary Black Power: A British Story of Resistance, which takes a closer look at the movement from the 1960s to the present day. The quote, delivered by a male voice in a plummy accent evocative of a different era, is clipped from a news report aired by the same broadcaster in the 1970. Although at the time those words were perhaps just as likely to send shivers down the spine of the knowing Black man.

By then, the Metropolitan police had set up a covert surveillance operation designed to decapitate Black activism in the UK by targeting the movement’s leaders. The special branch unit was established in 1967 by the Labour home secretary Roy Jenkins, and named the Black Power Desk. Its scope was profoundly intrusive. The Black Power Desk remained active into the 1990s, incorporated into the Met’s Special Demonstration Squad; in 2018, the Undercover Policing Inquiry confirmed that a number of officers unlawfully entered into intimate relationships with members of the movement as part of the operation.

Billie says cooking with gadgets makes her life easier, but Paul thinks their kitchen work surfaces are already full. You decide if the gizmos have to go

• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

We have a tiny kitchen and Billie doesn’t even use the stuff that’s already cluttering our counters

You need the right tools to make good food, and as I do most of the cooking, I like to make life easier

Decision by European powers follows Iran’s failure to readmit UN inspectors to all of its nuclear sites

The UK, France and Germany are expected to announce on Thursday that they will reimpose sweeping sanctions on Iran for failing to readmit UN inspectors into all of its nuclear sites.

The decision, under consideration for months, is likely to provoke the worst crisis in Iran’s relations with the west since Israel’s attacks on the country’s nuclear sites in June. Iran is already preparing countermeasures.

Police say heavily armed suspect has not been seen as they continue to scour bushland around rural property where two police officers were killed

• Victoria police shooting live updates

• Who is Dezi Freeman? Porepunkah shooting suspect has association with ‘sovereign citizen’ ideas and called police ‘terrorist thugs’

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Police have urged Porepunkah shooting suspect Dezi Freeman to call Triple Zero and surrender as their “protracted” manhunt in difficult terrain enters its third evening.

Victoria police said on Thursday they had conducted searches on multiple properties near the rural township, warning anyone who harboured the alleged gunman would be prosecuted.

In an interview hosted by Politico, the California governor said the US must ‘wake up’ to the the threat posed by the president’s disregard of democratic norms

Donald Trump is gravely serious about running for a third term in violation of the US constitution, California governor Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday, warning Americans to “wake up” to what he described as the president’s flagrant disregard for democratic norms.

“I don’t think Donald Trump wants another election,” Newsom, a Democrat, said during a live interview at a summit hosted by Politico in Sacramento. “This guy doesn’t believe in free, fair elections.”

It was an era of velvet Laura Ashley dresses, but they weren’t for me. Instead I channelled Debbie Harry, Madonna, Wendy James from Transvision Vamp, Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe

When I was a teenager in the 1980s, I had a lot of favourite items of clothing: scrunchy turquoise cargo trousers with an elasticated waistband, grey suede pixie boots, a skimpy beach T-shirt with the word “Hawaii” written on it (a place I have never visited), a Cyndi Lauper-inspired ra-ra skirt with ruffles in pink, white and, yes, turquoise. But there were so many objects of desire that I was not permitted to acquire: crinkle-effect stilettos, a Frankie Say Relax T-shirt, jelly shoes, drainpipe jeans, a matador hat like the ones Mel & Kim wore … Also out of my reach for most of my teens was the thing I wanted most: the effect of a whole outfit. A look. Until this one night.

I was about to turn 17 and this was my outfit for the school dance. It was all sourced from my grandma’s wardrobe, except for the sunglasses, which were my mum’s. The outfit consisted of pieces that no one else would – or indeed should – put together: a pink sparkly minidress with a silver-sequined hem and collar, silver sparkly elbow-length gloves, square-toed gold vintage shoes and a fake fur leopard-print coat which was not to be removed, even indoors. The coat was an essential part of the outfit, (a) for modesty reasons, as the dress was a bit see-through and (b) because I did not have maximum body confidence at this or, it would transpire, any other time. My hair was styled with my mum’s heated rollers and assiduously coated with L’Oréal Studio Line hairspray.