If chefs were footballers, Nord’s Daniel Heffy would be in a league of his own

Nord, 100 Old Hall St, Liverpool L3 9QJ. Snacks £6.50-£11; small plates £15.50-£27, large plates £20-£36, desserts £11-£16, wines from £32

A midweek night and the restaurant is completely empty. Music thrums and staff drift about looking purposeful, despite being a little short on purpose until we show up. This has nothing to do with Nord and everything to do with football. At the exact time of our booking, Everton are kicking off against Liverpool, two miles away at Goodison Park, for what has been described to me as not just a game, but the game. As well as being a local derby, it’s also the last ever match to be played between the two at the stadium before Everton move to their new home at Bramley-Moore Dock. Even a blithering football ignoramus like me can recognise the significance of such a game to a city like Liverpool and why that might suppress bookings.

Yukari, 29, a freelance motion designer, meets John, 31, a furniture sales manager

What were you hoping for?
Dating in a big city can be such a slog, so I was really just hoping for a connection. It’s always exciting to be set up on a date in a different way.

Government targets party’s ‘softness on standing up to Putin’ to show Reform is out of step with UK public

Labour is setting out to increase its attacks on Nigel Farage’s Reform UK over its stance on Russia, as polling and focus groups show the public are firmly pro-Ukraine and against Vladimir Putin.

One cabinet source said Labour was planning to “take the fight” to Reform on the issues of the Ukraine war and the NHS after “waking up” to the party’s “softness on standing up to Putin”.

2024-25 summer at 1.89C above long-term average ‘will be one of the coolest in the 21st century’, according to one expert

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Last summer was Australia’s second-hottest on a record going back to 1910, at 1.89C above the long-term average, according to data from the Bureau of Meteorology.

The second-hottest summer – coming after the second-hottest winter and the hottest spring on record – included the second-hottest January and the third-hottest December.

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On 21 February, 12-year-old Ayman al-Hammouni was killed, shot by Israeli fire, video footage seen by the Guardian suggests. Two cameras recorded the circumstances of Ayman's death. The Guardian has used this footage to tell the story of the child’s last moments