Greenery, shade and swimming spots won’t solve the climate crisis, but they’re becoming ever more critical

Three years ago, in Zurich for the first time, I crossed a bridge over the Limmat River and saw people floating down it in rubber rings on their way home from work, some casually holding beers. The Limmat is so clear that it almost begs you not only to jump in, but to drink it.

Paris’s Canal Saint-Martin has never produced either desire in me – but sweltering in last week’s 38C heat, I wanted to close my eyes, pretend it was the Limmat, and leap. Others weren’t so hesitant; there was a line of people going up one of the footbridges over the canal waiting for their turn to jump, dive, backflip or just belly-flop into the water.

Alexander Hurst is a Guardian Europe columnist

The comedian, presenter and podcaster was haunted by Eleanor Rigby and can’t really handle Abba at karaoke, but which 90s dance banger makes her pine for the good old days?

The first song I remember hearing
My mum was a massive Beatles fan. I remember, pretty much every day after school from the age of five, coming home and putting on Eleanor Rigby, because I loved the storytelling. The idea of a face that you keep in a jar by the door haunted me, and “all the lonely people” was just too much.

The first single I bought
I got 2p a week pocket money – it was in the 70s. My older sister and I went halves on Bo Rap [Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen], which cost 30p on seven-inch, from a record shop in Epsom. I’d heard it on Top of the Pops and I must have listened to it seven times a day.

Brian Langstaff urges overhaul of compensation system, which report says was designed without consulting victims

Victims of the infected blood scandal have “not been listened to” by ministers, the chair of the inquiry has said in a report urging an overhaul of the compensation system.

The additional report lays bare the failings of the government’s detailed compensation scheme, and sets out recommendations to make it fairer and faster. In particular, it criticises ministers for designing the scheme without consulting the scandal’s victims, as was recommended in the inquiry’s May 2024 report, which it says has led to “obvious injustices” that could have been avoided.

Brian Langstaff urges overhaul of compensation system, which report says was designed without consulting victims

Victims of the infected blood scandal have “not been listened to” by ministers, the chair of the inquiry has said in a report urging an overhaul of the compensation system.

The additional report lays bare the failings of the government’s detailed compensation scheme, and sets out recommendations to make it fairer and faster. In particular, it criticises ministers for designing the scheme without consulting the scandal’s victims, as was recommended in the inquiry’s May 2024 report, which it says has led to “obvious injustices” that could have been avoided.

Ever since the HMT Empire Windrush docked, Caribbean migrants have flowed to the UK. Now a younger generation are seeking a connection to their roots on the other side of the pond

• Don’t already get The Long Wave in your inbox? Sign up here

Hello and welcome to The Long Wave. I’m Natricia Duncan, the Guardian’s Caribbean correspondent, based in Jamaica. I’m taking over this week to focus on the sticky subject of migration between the UK and the Caribbean, how young people on both sides of the pond are connecting to heal old wounds, and why Barbados is inviting its diaspora to come home.

Since the HMT Empire Windrush cruised into Tilbury Docks, Essex, in June 1948, laden with the dreams and aspirations of people in search of a better life, there has been a constant flow of migrants from the Caribbean to the UK.