Chris Webb wins back ared walla Blackpool South seat held by Tories since 2019

• Local elections 2024: full council results for England
• Analysis: Blackpool verdict looks like electoral death sentence for Tories

The results of the London mayoral contest and London assembly elections are due on Saturday. Labouras Sadiq Khan is seeking a third term and polls have put him comfortably ahead of Tory Susan Hall, despite jitters in Khanas campaign team.

Following the closure of the polls tonight, Khan said his campaign and Labour activists asent out a message of fairness, of equality and of hopea.

Pollsters say early results suggest Tories could lose half of council seats contested, putting party on course for as many as 500 losses

• Local and mayoral election results a live updates

Keir Starmer has hailed Labouras aseismica win in Blackpool South in a night of local elections that provided further evidence that the party is heading for a large majority at this yearas general election.

The Labour leader called the result in the Blackpool South byelection atruly historica after the partyas candidate, Chris Webb, won the seat with the third biggest swing from the Conservatives to Labour in postwar history.

Result indicates sizeable Westminster majority, while Sunak has failed to recover ground since taking over from Liz Truss

• Local and mayoral election results a live updates

For the fifth time since the start of 2023, Keir Starmer woke up on Friday morning to a byelection result that indicates he will be prime minister by the end of the year.

The Labour leader called the result in Blackpool South, where the partyas candidate, Chris Webb, won with a swing of 26%, aseismica and ahistorica. Polling experts point out that even Tony Blair did not secure such a sustained series of strong byelection results in the run-up to his landslide election victory in 1997.

Full results likely to point to drubbing for Rishi Sunakas Conservatives at the general election

• Local and mayoral election results a live updates

It was a grim night for the Conservatives and the pain seems likely to extend over the weekend, even if there may be moments of consolation from some mayoral elections.

The Blackpool South byelection was not a routine mid-term setback for the party of government. For a start, it comes well into the fifth year of the parliament and is therefore late-term. The swing is also much higher than normal for mid-terms. We have become used to swings of more than 20 percentage points and Blackpool South is the fifth Conservative seat to fall to Labour on such a large movement in the last year.

With fewer than a third of council elections declared, the Conservative party appeared on course to lose up to 500 seats

• Local and mayoral election results a live updates

At the start of a long weekend of election results, the first outcomes have been every bit as dire for the Conservatives and Rishi Sunak as analysts had predicted. With fewer than a third of the council elections declared, and none of the metro mayoral results yet in, here is the state of play.

Experts fear children questioning their gender may turn to hidden economy to obtain hormones illegally

Cross-sex hormones designed to masculinise or feminise a personas body are available to buy online for less than APS11 a month, with experts warning that growing numbers of under-18s may turn to the medicines hidden economy.

Last month the landmark Cass review of childrenas gender treatment in England concluded there was a lack of reliable evidence supporting the use of cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers by young people questioning their gender identity.

Civil servant Josie Stewart spoke to media after government presented adishonest accounta, tribunal told

A Foreign Office civil servant felt amorally compelleda to speak to the media about the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan after the government presented a adishonest accounta of what happened, an employment tribunal has heard.

Josie Stewart was sacked by the Foreign Office (FCDO) after blowing the whistle on the failures of the withdrawal from Kabul and disclosing emails indicating Boris Johnsonas involvement in an aoutrageousa decision to prioritise the evacuation of staff from the animal charity Nowzad, despite his denials.

Post featured compromising image of the broadcaster Narinder Kaur, who said she was left aincredibly upseta

Police are investigating a social media post by Laurence Fox in relation to an aupskirting offencea.

The tweet, posted on Tuesday, featured a compromising image of Narinder Kaur, a broadcaster on Good Morning Britain and GB News. The post remained on Foxas account until it was deleted on Thursday.

Joshua Dean, 45, former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, alleged agross misconduct by quality managementa

Joshua Dean, a Boeing whistleblower who warned of manufacturing defects in the planemakeras 737 Max, has died after a short illness, the second Boeing whistleblower to die this year.

Dean, 45, a former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) alleging aserious and gross misconduct by senior quality management of the 737 production linea at Spirit.

In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

The foreign secretary called the conflict athe challenge of our generationa after making second trip to Kyiv to meet Zelenskiy

The UK has promised APS3bn a year afor as long as it is necessarya to help Ukraine, David Cameron said on Thursday as he made his second visit to Kyiv since becoming UK foreign secretary.

He also said he had no objection if weapons supplied by the UK were used to strike inside Russia.

Representative says that plan prepared ahead of expected Israeli action is a aBand-Aida

Daniel Hurst is Guardian Australiaas foreign affairs and defence correspondent.

The Australian government faces a decision next week on whether to support admitting Palestine as a full member of the UN and is swapping notes with allies including South Korea and Germany.

Environmental campaign groups took joint action against decision to approve carbon budget delivery plan

Britainas latest climate action plan is unlawful, a high court judge has ruled, after a legal challenge by three environmental campaign groups over emissions targets.

The environmental charities Friends of the Earth and ClientEarth, and the Good Law Project took joint legal action against the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) over its decision to approve the carbon budget delivery plan (CBDP) in March 2023.

In the past year, in virtually every region, journalists and independent media outlets faced increasing repression

Political attacks on press freedom, including the detention of journalists, suppression of independent media outlets and widespread dissemination of misinformation, have significantly intensified in the past year, according to the annual World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

The index ranks 180 countries on the ability of journalists to work and report freely and independently.

Philip Morris International has supported non-smoking programmes around the world ato advance its own interestsa, say health professionals

The tobacco company Philip Morris has sponsored courses for doctors in multiple countries, in what critics have called a agrotesquea strategy.

Medical education programmes on quitting smoking and harm reduction in South Africa, the Middle East and the US have been supported by Philip Morris International (PMI) or its regional subsidiaries, according to advertising material seen by the Guardian.

Police arrest more than 200 students at UCLA as law enforcement clears camp at Dartmouth, arresting more than 90 students

More than 2,000 people have now been arrested during pro-Palestinian protests across dozens of US college campuses in recent weeks.

Police arrested more than 300 pro-Palestinian demonstrators on college campuses on Wednesday night into Thursday morning, pushing the total past 2,000, according to an Associated Press tally.

Threats from the state have led many journalists across the world to flee their home countries to report from elsewhere. But for many the intimidation did not stop when they left

Illustrations by Joe McKendry

Fardad Farahzad, journalist, Iran International

Ex-central banker Lady Shafik, the universityas president, now faces calls to resign due to her handling of campus unrest

Steering Columbia University through the choppy waters of anti-Israel student protests was never going to be easy for Minouche Shafik, a member of the UK House of Lords who took over as president of the university in New York after a period of relative calm running the London School of Economics.

During her tenure as LSE director between 2017 and last year, academics largely refused to join the industrial action that dominated campuses across much of the UK.

Four in 10 politicians report low or very low mental wellbeing, and some are being driven out. What can be done to ease the burden?

It was a political bombshell, one that prompted shock and set off debate across much of Spain. But for the film director Pedro AlmodA3var, news that the prime minister, Pedro SA!nchez, was considering resigning last week did not come as a surprise.

aThereas no human being who can resist what the most resistant of our presidents has been suffering in recent years,a AlmodA3var wrote in an open letter, published days before SA!nchez announced he would stay on, depicting SA!nchez as a politician who had potentially reached his breaking point.

Songwriting courses are exploding in popularity, with everyone from Mark Ronson to Alicia Keys as teachers. On a retreat in north Wales, our folk music critic tries to write her first song

Imagine youave spent the past 20 years writing about songs but never had the chops to write one. This is my penance: sitting in a room in north Wales, with a tiny keyboard and notebook spidery with attempted lyrics, the only rhythm in my ears my rave-energy heartbeat, the only melody in my mind the lilting panic of my inner critic going: aArgh!a

Itas the final day of a four-day songwriting course at Literature Walesas 16th-century HQ, Ty Newydd Writing Centre, led by Brian Briggs of folk band Stornoway and Welsh poet and songwriter Paul Henry. Tonight, I have to perform an original song with two relative strangers, in front of people I didnat know four days earlier. This particular terror is the climax of a bigger endeavour on my part: to explore the growing popularity of songwriting courses, and to find out if they work.

(Warner Records)
The British superstar has said her new album is influenced by Britpop, rave culture and Primal Scream, but you could go mad trying to find the evidence

Earlier this year, Dua Lipa gave a lengthy magazine interview, the first salvo on the promotional trail for her third album. It wasnat very interesting a sheas smart enough to keep her private life and her opinions on anything contentious to herself in a world of over-sharing and constantly simmering online outrage a but there was one surprising detail. She said the album was aa psychedelic pop-infused tribute to UK rave culturea, influenced by Primal Scream, Massive Attack and the adonat give a fuck-nessa of Oasis and Blur.

That all sounds intriguing. It would clearly be a dramatic departure from the disco-house sound of 2020as Future Nostalgia, while feeling curiously of the moment: all those artists reached their peak three decades ago, and 90s revivalism appears to be having a moment. A hankering after the eraas pre-9/11 optimism and pre-smartphone straightforwardness has meant Britpop references suddenly seem to be everywhere, as a recent feature in this newspaper noted. Perhaps, by delving into some corners of the 90s where mainstream 2024 pop seldom goes, Dua Lipa has made an album as inadvertently zeitgeisty as its predecessor which rocketed her into popas superleague by providing a soundtrack to lockdown-era kitchen discos.

Jana thinks joint banking will make paying for childcare easier, but Mikey likes to keep finances separate. You decide who is on the money

aItas like Iam the sole carer on a personal and emotional level, as well as financial

As humans enter what has been termed the athird space agea, itas private companies a not governments a leading the charge

If the 20th-century space race was about political power, this centuryas will be about money. But for those who dream of sending humans back to the moon and possibly Mars, itas an exciting time to be alive whether itas presidents or billionaires paying the fare.

Space flight is having a renaissance moment, bringing a fresh energy not seen since the days of the Apollo programme and, for the first time, with private companies rather than governments leading the charge.

Seaside idylls from Ale de RA(c) to eastern Crete feature as our tipsters report that even popular destinations such as Menorca and Sicily have their quieter spots

Cala Galdana beach a and its neighbours a are spectacular. Turn off at Ferreries and take the attractive Me-22 road that brings you to a breathtaking horseshoe bay shrouded by pine trees. The golden sandy beach is peaceful, even on a busy day. There are beach toilets and a cafe. There are also water sports facilities if you want a bit more activity. Neighbouring Cala Mitjana, a beautiful beach a short walk to the east, is wilder, as is Cala Macarella, two miles by footpath to the west. If I could be teleported to any beach on my day off hereas where Iad go to.
Bethan Patfield

Iave tried peanut butter and bacon pizza, and had a caviar one, too

There is nothing I like more in this world than pizza. I grew up in the early 90s in Connecticut, where my dad owned a pizzeria called Kenny Vas until I was three. I still have his old restaurant sign in my garage.

For the last six years, Iave eaten pizza every single day. Sometimes it might just be a slice, but most days I will get through a whole one. My favourite is a classic American deep-pan pepperoni. I also love tomato and cheese on a nice thick crust, so a plain margherita will never go amiss.

Simon Chambersa film about his late uncle David makes for candid and compelling viewing. Along with one of Davidas former pupils, and a fan of his film, he talks care, contempt and infatuation

aIave always liked the company of older people,a says Julian Clary, still smoothly beautiful at 64. aI like the fact theyave lived a life they are often assumed not to have done.a He pauses. aWhat old people donat know about recreational sex,a he continues, cadence familiar as a cuckoo, ayou could write on the back of an incontinence pad.a

There are plenty of those knocking about in Much Ado About Dying, a documentary about Claryas old drama teacher. But David Gale a 86 when we first have the pleasure a does not put them to their intended use. They plug holes in the wall, drafts in the window. One becomes a tea cosy.

Sundayas Sounds from the Other City festival is a joyful celebration of Greater Manchesteras leftfield culture

On the first Sunday of May every year, Chapel Street, where central Manchester and Salford meet, comes alive with DIY art, music and spectacle at the Sounds from the Other City festival. It is a vibrant public celebration of the acommunity spirit and collaborative workinga which co-director Emma Thompson says sustains much alternative culture in the region.

aCollaboration is core to what we do, to Greater Manchester as a city,a Thompson says. aPeople come together, and it crosses genres and art forms. Sounds from the Other City wouldnat be turning 20 next year if it wasnat for that. The fees we offer arenat huge but people really get behind it, do it for the love of it.a

This exercise in shrinking the electorate to Conservative advantage must not be the new normal. Labour, in office, should scrap it

Unlike Boris Johnson, did you remember to take ID when you went to vote yesterday? Did you remember to take the right kind? Or, like one in seven Britons, did you have no idea you needed ID to vote? Or, like at least 2 million Britons, did you have no acceptable voter ID at all?

Until last year, when the 2022 Elections Act came into effect, British elections were free of these questions. For centuries, despite the slow, sometimes hugely contentious expansion of the electorate, and the acrimonious and distrustful character of our politics, voters were not required to produce documents in polling stations to prove who they were. This country did not believe in identity cards, many of our politicians proudly told us a particularly Tories. As the then shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, put it in 2009, shortly before his party returned to power: aID cards a| are both an affront to British liberty and will have no place in a Conservative Britain. They are also a huge waste of money.a

Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist

Our system is full of loopholes and vulnerable to millionairesa and plutocratsa demands. Voters simply need clean, fair politics

Thereas a sensible rule in British politics: it should not be funded by foreign donors. Democracy is meaningless if a country isnat run at the behest of its people. But the rule is riddled with loopholes. Those who have done the most to keep them open are those who most loudly assert their patriotism. Noisy apatriotsa are always the first to sell us out to offshore capital.

Here are some of the tricks they use. One is the aunincorporated associationa. This refers to groups that donat have to open business bank accounts, file financial statements, register with any official body or even give themselves a name. Theyare as transparent as the Berlin Wall on a cloudy day. Astonishingly, these associations are a legal channel for campaign finance in the United Kingdom.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist. Join him for a Guardian Live online event on Wednesday 8 May at 8pm BST. He will be talking about his new book, The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism. Book tickets here

With the chain selling off 126 restaurants, Iam worried. Will I be able to get the bottomless glasses of orange juice I need?

Itas 8:25am and Iave made it down, bleary eyed, to breakfast at Premier Inn a all the more miraculous because I havenat even stayed the night. Iave just come to eat. My visit comes hot on the news that Premier Innas owner, Whitbread, is to cut 1,500 jobs and sell off 126 restaurants as part of a APS150m three-year cost-cutting drive, although it sounds as if theyall still have some in-hotel restaurants for guests only.

You know the restaurants: usually large, noisy pubs run by the Brewers Fayre chain, although sometimes Beefeater, the other side of the car park from your digs. If youare staying at a non-city-centre Premier Inn, theyare usually the only place to eat that doesnat involve getting back in the car or dicing with death as you meander down a busy A road to a 24-hour McDonaldas.