He found roaring success on Broadway with Torch Song Trilogy, then appeared in blockbusters Mrs Doubtfire and Independence Day. But notoriety had a cost. The 73-year-old stage legend talks recovery, grief and why he’s taking aim at Trump

I hear Harvey Fierstein’s inimitable rasp as soon as I enter Cotton Candy Fabrics quilt store in Connecticut. The walls are lined with vibrant fabrics and colourful quilts hang from the ceiling. On any given day you’ll probably find the 73-year-old five-time Tony winner here, among a chatty cast of crafty women and gay men.

Fierstein took up quilting in 2009, partly inspired, he says, by his enjoyment of the cable TV show Simply Quilts, but also because of the Names Project Aids Memorial Quilt. It was to be displayed in Washington DC, and he wanted to make panels for two of his close friends who had died of the disease. He has been prolific ever since. He shows me photos of his creations on his phone: an LGBTQ+ rights quilt featuring pink triangles, yellow stars of David – the “Jewish badge” – and Nazi-saluting skeletons; Fierstein with his two dogs; some horny, phallic trees he dreamed about; and an even hornier nude portrait of a young man (an Amazon delivery driver, apparently).

In Tehran, the Guardian spoke to people about how war is transforming their feelings toward the regime and their country’s future

Behzad has a master’s degree in the humanities and lives with his partner in a rented flat in central Tehran. He says he didn’t take part in January’s anti-government protests, but only because the call had come from Pahlavi [the exiled son of Iran’s former monarch] and he didn’t want their protest appropriated in his name. He says he knew people shot and killed by the regime.

From preparation to game mode, the upkeep of Wembley’s pitch is carried out to an astonishing level of perfectionism

Karl Standley and his assistant Cameron Hutcheon have gathered in their usual spot in the south-west corner of Wembley Stadium clutching hot cups of tea. Standley is a coffee devotee but on matchdays, as a nod to his mum who enjoys a brew whatever the temperature, he mixes things up.

After every kick-off the pair gaze out at 7,140 sq metres of glistening green perfection like lions surveying their savannah. Every thinkable controllable has been controlled and, for a short time at least, the teams – this time Manchester City and Southampton – have dual custody of the Wembley pitch.

Distracted, listless and unambitious – the PM’s true form has finally emerged. But whatever comes next must end this ruinous cycle

Finally, belatedly, an honest portrait of Keir Starmer has been allowed to form. It’s been a hell of a journey. At first he was sanctified as the Labour saviour, finally arrived. That gave way to pleas that he was essentially a good sort, new to politics and in need of time. Now an impression is emerging that he is, in fact, quite a bad egg. To quote a brutal recent summation from a Labour insider speaking to Politico: “Lots of people think Keir Starmer is a good man who is out of his depth. Wrong. He’s an asshole who’s out of his depth.”

The charges are now coming thick and fast. He cannot manage teams. He throws people under the bus to save his own skin. He cannot do the job. The whole Peter Mandelson affair, the latest instalment of which is the revelation that Mandelson failed his security vetting, and that Starmer claims not to have been told of this, has at least come with one silver lining. As his own ministers distance themselves from him and give up the ghost on live television, even loyal stalwarts can’t sustain their tedious, misguided speculation that he might be rebooted and come good. The broad conclusion is that Starmer is now beyond rehabilitation, and his fate only a matter of time. So what now?

Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist

After Donald Trump’s second election, I realised the insidious hold my phone had over my life. So I turned to something I’d loved in childhood to better occupy my attention

After a long day of looking at screens for work, I used to go to bed and stare at my phone until I fell asleep. When not doomscrolling news headlines, I’d crash out to hateful comments on social media or revisit workplace dramas via mobile versions of Teams and Slack. I was always plugged in.

It was a ritual that would start well before bedtime. As the evening wound down, I’d surf algorithms for hours on end, barely paying attention to whatever television programme was on in the background, only half-listening to conversations around me. Whether it was the incessantly dystopian news cycle, toxic opinions on pop culture, or posts railing against obtuse LinkedIn speak, there was always another online scab to pick.

After her sister died, Victoria Bennett left Cumbria for the remote Scottish archipelago, where she learned to go with the ebb and flow of life

It was during her first winter in Orkney that the nature writer Victoria Bennett experienced the joy of baying into the sea during a storm. “There’s something very physically releasing about howling,” she says. “It’s quite animalistic and powerful.” On a stormy beach, when waves are crashing on the rocks, “you can really let rip”, she says. “The sound just disappears.”

Until that moment, Bennett had been struggling with her decision to move to the remote archipelago off the north coast of Scotland. “I was beginning to feel like I was in a fight against the sea, and against the weather.”

Secret Service director says security succeeded in stopping shooter before he could do further harm but others disagree

The shooting in the White House correspondents’ gala has prompted questions over security with some asking how a shooter was able to get close to where Donald Trump and many other senior administration officials were gathered and many others praising the actions of law enforcement that swiftly stopped the attack.

As details about the shooting at the Washington Hilton continued to surface, the alleged shooter Cole Tomas Allen, 31, mocked an “insane” lack of security at the Washington dinner in a manifesto reportedly send to his family 10 minutes before his assault started.

Exclusive: Health Foundation says Britain is ‘going backwards’ compared with most other rich countries

• Findings on healthy life expectancy in UK shed light on its deteriorating health

People in the UK are spending fewer years in good health than a decade ago, prompting concern that the population’s health is “going backwards”.

The sharp decline in Britain’s healthy life expectancy, the amount of time someone spends free of illness or disability, is in sharp contrast to its recent rise in most other rich countries globally.

Meeting could coincide with possible Commons debate on claims he lied to MPs about Mandelson’s vetting

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has said that, if there is a vote tomorrow on whether or not to hold a privileges committee inquiry into Keir Starmer, Labour MPs must get a free vote. In a statement, he said:

Even Boris Johnson didn’t block his MPs voting for scrutiny. Labour MPs must be given a free vote on any motion to refer Starmer to the privileges committee, not forced into being accomplices to a cover-up.

If Keir Starmer has misled the House and the public, he must be held to the same standard that we should expect of any prime minister.

Sources say country wants US to end its blockade as part of proposal but has not addressed its nuclear programme

US president Donald Trump will hold talks on the Iran war on Monday with his top security advisors, US media reported, as negotiations between the rival parties seemed to reach an impasse.

Tehran’s top diplomat blamed Washington on Monday for the failure of talks in Pakistan this month – the first and only round of negotiations in a bid to strike a deal to end the conflict that has engulfed the Middle East and strangled the global economy.