One thing I’ve noticed is that as they grow older, people tend to care less about others’ opinions. Sometimes that’s liberating

I started learning about ageing and ageism – prejudice and discrimination on the basis of age – almost 20 years ago, as I entered my 50s. That’s when it hit me that this getting older thing was actually happening to me. I was soon barraged by advice on how to age well. Many concepts, like “active ageing”, were obvious. (Don’t be a couch potato.) Some, like “successful ageing”, were obnoxious. (In my opinion, if you wake up in the morning, you’re ageing successfully.) One, “ageing gracefully”, was intriguing.

Although I’ve written a whole book about ageism, I wasn’t sure I knew how to go about ageing gracefully. For starters, it didn’t seem as though I qualified. When I was speaking at a conference a few years ago, a woman in the elevator recognized my name from my badge. “Are you the one talking about ageing gracefully?” she asked. “If that’s what you’re looking for, you’ve got the wrong person,” I blurted. My clumsiness, like my bluntness, is legendary.

Exclusive: Party says those who previously failed vetting are ‘strongly encouraged’ to reapply under new criteria

• UK politics live – latest updates

Reform UK has told its members it is introducing a less stringent “common sense” vetting system for would-be candidates after complaints the previous checks were too strict, despite a recent series of controversies linked to the party.

In a message sent to members and also posted by a regional party branch, Nigel Farage’s party said the updated vetting was “more proportionate than before and designed to strike the right balance between party reputation, individual freedom of expression and public confidence”.

News of Roman Starovoit’s death in his car made public shortly after that of his sacking by Putin, though timeline of events remains unconfirmed

Russia’s former transport minister has died from a gunshot wound just hours after he was sacked by Vladimir Putin.

The body of Roman Starovoit, the ex-minister, was found in his car in a Moscow suburb. He appeared to have killed himself, Russia’s investigative committee said in a statement.

Memo says investigators didn’t find evidence to ‘predicate an investigations against uncharged third parties’

A review of files held by the US government on the financier Jeffrey Epstein has said there is no secret client list to be released, and confirmed his August 2019 death by suicide while in federal custody, both of which contradict conspiracy theories.

A memo said that a Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) review of the files – which has for years been teased as a treasure trove of information about a larger network of wrongdoing – concluded that no further charges are expected, as investigators “did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties”.

Staff at former UK PM’s institute took part in calls as proposal led by US consulting firm and Israeli business people evolved

Tony Blair’s thinktank worked with a project developing a postwar Gaza plan that included the creation of a “Trump Riviera” and a manufacturing zone named after Elon Musk.

The project, led by Israeli business people and using financial models developed by the US consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG), was developed against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s vision of taking over the Palestinian territory and transforming it into a resort.

A response by Ken Livingstone asserted London’s diversity – not as a weakness, but a strength. The politicians now peddling division should read it

Today, at 8.59am, the teeming mass coursing through King’s Cross station in London fell silent. It continued to move, because the world must turn, but the hubbub ceased. Moments earlier, a strangely quiet, sombre loudspeaker announcement marked the moment the 7/7 terrorist bombs exploded in that station and elsewhere in the capital in 2005, killing 52 people and injuring more than 770.

The capital moves on, but the capital remembers. I stood still for a minute underneath the glowing light of a digital clock. People offered knowing glances and nods as they passed to catch their trains. At the time of the bombings, I covered London and the London mayoralty for the Guardian. I remember being called by colleagues asking for information about what they had been told in the initial moments was a giant electrical failure on the London underground. I had been warned that week about the fears in official circles that some sort of terrorist attack was possible, if not likely. I rang a contact. “It’s not an electrical incident, is it?” “No,” they replied gravely, “it isn’t.”