Yes, he betrayed the national interest in his dealings with Jeffrey Epstein – but also in his sanctioned role as enabler of corporate power

History is being rewritten. The story we are told is that an evil man called Peter Mandelson, pursuing his own interests, went rogue to collaborate with a serial abuser of girls and women, undermining the good work of people seeking to defend the public interest. All this is true. But – and I fear many will find this hard to accept – it is only half the story.

The much harder truth is that Mandelson’s disgraceful dealings with Jeffrey Epstein were less a betrayal of his brief than an unauthorised extension of it. In 2009 – just as, we now know, Mandelson was passing sensitive information to Epstein – I argued that the government department he ran, called Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Berr), “functions as a fifth column within government, working for corporations to undermine democracy and the public interest”.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

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Always wondered what everyday stuff celebrities buy, where they shop for food and the basic they scrimp on? The Fundamentally author talks bodices, Chanel and regrettable heels in the Filter’s column

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Dr Nussaibah Younis is a peacebuilding practitioner and a globally recognised expert on contemporary Iraq. For several years, she advised the Iraqi government on proposed programmes to deradicalise women affiliated with Islamic State. She studied at Oxford, Durham and Harvard universities, and has a PhD in international affairs.

Younis has published op-eds in the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian and the New York Times. She was born in the UK to an Iraqi father and a Pakistani mother, and lives in London. Her debut novel, Fundamentally, was shortlisted for the Women’s prize for fiction in 2025 and is published in paperback on 12 February.

Children are encouraged to get hands-on as the world’s leading stop-motion studio showcases its work in east London

What would Wallace – everyone’s favourite amateur Yorkshire inventor – look like with a moustache, straw boater and postal worker’s coat? Would a huge set of teeth suit his faithful beagle, Gromit? How about a nose shaped like a banana?

Such questions are answered by an illuminating and sometimes alarming exhibition at east London’s Young V&A that showcases the work of the world’s leading stop-motion outfit, the Bristol-based Aardman studios. Early sketches for Nick Park’s much-loved characters reveal that Wallace was once just a few bristles short of Hitler, while Gromit had fangs and the ability to speak.

As council declares it’s ‘no longer bankrupt’, people say closure of services have added to social isolation and crime

When Birmingham city council announced last week it was “no longer bankrupt”, after years of budget cuts and asset sales, one retired police officer was left feeling despondent.

Wendy Collymore had experienced first-hand the impact of the council’s cost-cutting drive on the UK’s second largest city when the adult day centre her elderly father attended was forced to close in 2024.

Most of us aren’t getting enough fibre in our diet, but, as our panel of experts explain, upping your intake is a case of taking baby steps …

Why is everyone talking about fibremaxxing?
Chris, by email
TikTok-born trends rarely go hand in hand with sage health advice, but that’s not to say upping our fibre – an often-forgotten part of our diets – is a bad idea. “Fibre needed its moment, so this is a good thing,” says dietitian Priya Tew. The non-digestible carbohydrate has two main functions: “There’s insoluble fibre, which is found in things such as whole grains, brown rice or vegetable skins, and I think about it like a broom,” Tew says, “in that it brushes the system out.” Then there’s soluble fibre (oats, beans, lentils), which she likens to a sponge: “It turns into this gel in your gut, and aids digestion and keeps us regular.” But that’s only part of the story, because fibre can also help lower cholesterol and stabilise blood sugar.

So, are you getting enough? “The aim is 25-30g fibre a day, but in reality most of us are maybe getting 15-18g,” Tew says, so we’ve got a little way to go. That said, some folk on the #fibremaxxing train have set their sights higher, which is where things can become problematic. “If you’re having too much fibre, you can end up feeling bloated, constipated or have abdominal pain,” she says, and that can occur when you increase your fibre intake too quickly: “The body needs time to get used to what’s happening.”

Got a culinary dilemma? Email feast@theguardian.com

The only reason we might not get our seventh prime minister in 10 years is that no one can find one

Keir Starmer is now the only person to have lost more comms chiefs than Meghan and Harry. After yet another day of drama, we kept hearing that the prime minister would be pressing the reset button. Not again! Starmer’s reset button is like the OK button on your TV remote – worn blank through overuse. He has pressed that thing more often than you’ve decided another 44 minutes of a crap thriller is somehow less of an effort than getting yourself to bed. Anyway, next episode in five, four, three …

Fine. One more.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

Greater Manchester mayor calls for unity while setting out what he thinks the government’s platform should be

Andy Burnham has publicly backed Keir Starmer while calling for him to show more boldness and be more willing to accept contributions from others within Labour.

After a day of turmoil on Monday when the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, called for Starmer to resign, the Greater Manchester mayor used a speech and Q&A in Westminster to call for unity while promoting his views on what the government’s platform should look like.

Boy held on suspicion of attempted murder after two pupils, aged 12 and 13, were stabbed at Kingsbury high school

Police have arrested a 13-year-old boy on suspicion of attempted murder after two boys, aged 12 and 13, were stabbed at a school in north-west London.

The Metropolitan police were called to the scene at Kingsbury high school in Bacon Lane, Brent, at 12.40pm on Tuesday to reports that a 13-year-old boy had been stabbed. When they arrived at the scene, officers found a 12-year-old boy who had also been stabbed.

Former Doctor Who star is also facing allegations of exposure and sexual assault by touching

The actor Noel Clarke has been arrested over an attempted rape, which allegedly took place in 2007.

The former Doctor Who star is also facing allegations of exposure and sexual assault by touching.

Ashwin Prasad says far fewer people in work than there could be with ministers just ‘tinkering at the edges’ of problem

The UK is “sleepwalking into a quiet epidemic” of joblessness with millions of people out of work and on benefits, the boss of the nation’s biggest supermarket chain has warned.

Ashwin Prasad, who runs the UK arm of Tesco, said he believed far fewer people were in work than should be and that taxpayers were spending “an ever increasing proportion of our national income on out-of-work benefits”.