The Celebrity Traitors drew to a magnificent close this week – and proved that these lying double-crossers are of a far finer calibre than our MPs

• This article contains spoilers about the final episode of The Celebrity Traitors

The Celebrity Traitors final was so good that the TV moment of the year (Nick revealing he’d written Joe’s name on his slate) only held its crown for six minutes before the actual TV moment of the year (Alan revealing he’d been a traitor all along) completely stole it. Epic congratulations to Alan, a full-spectrum entertainment booking, who from the first minutes of this season catapulted himself to the status of high-value national treasure, while Joe Marler also leapfrogged 27 stardom categories in the public imagination and should now be made Duke of York. And look, it wasn’t all bad for historian and Guardian Scott Trust board member David Olusoga. Thanks to the deputy PM and justice secretary, he was only the second most spectacularly wrong David of the week.

But why am I bringing politics into it? After all, one of the most remarkable shifts I haven’t been able to help noticing during this epic first run of The Celebrity Traitors is that no senior politician has attempted to refer to the show as a way of currying public favour. They’d certainly get short shrift if they tried. But this represents a radical break with the past 20 years, where politicians and prime ministers became transfixed by the popularity of reality TV. In the first twisted heyday of the genre, politicians really thought it was the answer and they could steal its best bits to succeed in their own trade. Now I think that even they realise a show like The Celebrity Traitors is the thing people escape to in an age when none of our leaders have any answers.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

A year in Westminster: John Crace, Marina Hyde and Pippa Crerar
On Tuesday 2 December, join Crace, Hyde and Crerar as they look back at another extraordinary year, with special guests, live at the Barbican in London and livestreamed globally. Book tickets here or at guardian.live

After 16 years, Cave’s scandalous book The Death of Bunny Munro about a sex addict on the run with his son finally lands on our screens. He and star Smith talk Kylie regrets, bad dads … and how to do a strip club scene with a nine-year-old

Nick Cave claims that at least four different production companies have tried to turn his frequently hilarious, always disturbing, sex-filled novel The Death of Bunny Munro into a film or TV show in the 16 years since its release. The problem? “No one would play the character!” he says, sitting, impeccably suited as always, in a room at London’s Corinthia Hotel. As it turns out, the material was just waiting for the right actor. Step up Matt Smith to play the titular sex-addicted travelling makeup salesman.

It’s not surprising that it ended up being Smith. Since his Doctor Who days, he has tended to pick roles that trend slightly twisted – and the role of Bunny, who in Cave’s book is depicted as a borderline animalistic misogynist who sweats pure ethanol, fits the bill entirely. “I think it’s important to tell stories that feel challenging and difficult and polarising, and I thought this would be all of those things,” Smith says animatedly, clad in head-to-toe black in contrast with Bunny’s rakish suit. “But actually, at its heart, it’s about a father and son, and it’s really beautiful.”

The Maga machine is clicking into gear to ensure that defeat is all but impossible in next year’s midterm elections

After the joy, the trepidation. Or at least the preparation. Democrats, along with many others around the world, cheered this week’s wins in a clutch of off-year elections that saw Donald Trump’s Republicans defeated from sea to shining sea. But now they need to brace themselves for the reaction. Because Donald Trump does not like losing. And he will do everything he can to ensure it does not happen again – by means fair and, more often, foul. Indeed, that effort is already under way.

For now, the Democrats are still clinking glasses, enjoying a success that tastes all the sweeter for coming exactly a year after they lost everything – the House, the Senate and the White House – to a returning and triumphant Trump. The most dramatic win was Zohran Mamdani’s history-making victory in America’s most populous city, New York, but there was success too at the other end of the continent, as voters in California backed Democrats on an apparently technical measure that could prove hugely significant. In between, Democrats won the governorships of New Jersey and Virginia by healthy, double-digit margins.

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist and host of the Politics Weekly America podcast

Guardian newsroom: Year One of Trumpism: Is Britain Emulating the US? On Wednesday 21 January 2026, join Jonathan Freedland, Tania Branigan and Nick Lowles as they reflect on the first year of Donald Trump’s second presidency – and to ask if Britain could be set on the same path. Book tickets here or at guardian.live

Coventry’s manager on rejuvenating the Championship leaders, coaching highs and lows, and why the ‘golden generation’ debate is overplayed

“I’ve got a bit of a fat ankle, you can probably see the swelling,” Frank Lampard says, legs crossed, looking towards his right foot. At first glance it could be mistaken as evidence of his hands-on approach at Coventry training, collateral damage from partaking in those snappy rondos. The reality is a world away from frontline coaching. “I twisted it playing with the kids in Hyde Park on a Sunday,” he says, breaking into a broad smile.

It is Lampard down to a T. As a youngster he was ticked off by his late mother, Patricia, for wearing football boots to bed and once spent a weekend in Bournemouth at his uncle Harry Redknapp’s housebreaking in a pair of moulds. Lampard has always been immersed in the game, from joining Heath Park boys’ club and fulfilling his dream of pulling on a West Ham shirt to cementing his place as one of England’s greatest midfielders across 13 years and countless trophies at Chelsea. Those days have gone – Coventry represents his fourth club as a manager – but the 47-year-old still believes in being in the thick of things.

Dogs and cats aren’t always good at communicating to their humans what they want or need. Here, experts reveal 15 ways to make sure your furry friends are at their best

Half of UK adults own a pet, with 28% opting for a dog and 24% a cat, according to vet charity PDSA. How can we ensure these animals are in good health? From feeding to fireworks, vets share their advice on how to keep our canine and feline friends healthy and happy.

Iraq 2003-2004

Exclusive: Environment secretary says global tipping points are possible as he rejects far-right climate ‘defeatism’

Tackling the climate emergency is one of the key issues that could turn the tide against hard-right populists across the world, the UK’s energy secretary has said.

Speaking on the eve of the UN’s climate summit, Ed Miliband said it was the cause progressives could rally around, because most people recognise populist parties have got it wrong.

Karin Immergut said earlier she ‘found no credible evidence’ that protests in Oregon city were out of control

A federal judge in Oregon on Friday blocked Donald Trump from deploying national guard troops to Portland, ruling there was no evidence of widespread violence to justify federal intervention.

The US district court judge, Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, delivered her final order in the case on Friday. She found that protests near Portland’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility were “predominately peaceful, with only isolated and sporadic instances of relatively low-level violence”.

Neil Duncan-Jordan, Chris Hinchliff, Brian Leishman and Rachael Maskell are last of series of penalised backbenchers to return to the party

Four Labour MPs who lost the party whip in July for being “persistent rebels” have had the sanction removed, the last of a series of penalised backbenchers to be allowed back into the fold.

Neil Duncan-Jordan, Chris Hinchliff, Brian Leishman and Rachael Maskell spoke to the party’s chief whip, Jonathan Reynolds, and were allowed to hold the whip again after a review of how they had behaved since the suspension, it is understood.

Israeli PM, ministers and army chief accused of crimes against humanity ‘perpetrated systematically’ in Gaza

Turkey has issued arrest warrants for alleged genocide against the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and senior officials within his government.

Among 37 suspects listed were the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and the army chief Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, said a statement from the Istanbul prosecutor’s office, which did not publish the complete list.