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).

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

The creator of The Responder’s new offering is the tale of two casino employees robbing their workplace. It’s a perfectly plotted thriller but it’s also so much more than that

Four years ago, Tony Schumacher, a former taxi driver and police officer turned novelist, made his television writing debut with The Responder. It was a five-part series starring Martin Freeman as a police officer on the edge of a breakdown, his mental, emotional and physical resources worn away every night by the ceaseless tide of crime – swelled by misery, desperation and selfishness – that he and his colleagues are supposed to be turning. It was a drama that dissected just about every social and psychological issue that drives our despair, and dared you not to look away. It was profoundly compassionate, harrowing and brilliant. Which makes it a lot to live up to.

Schumacher’s new offering, The Cage, however, does so. Ostensibly it is the tale of the robbery of a casino by two of its employees, cashier Leanne (Sheridan Smith) and manager Matty (Michael Socha). In reality it is, like The Responder, an astonishing, deeply angry, deeply moving state-of-the-nation piece merely masquerading as a mesmerising, perfectly paced and plotted thriller.

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.”

The London Marathon is run over a mostly flat course that starts in Blackheath and finishes on the Mall. The vast majority of the more than 59,000 participants are raising money for charity or running for personal milestones

Forget intimidating white spaces, forbidding barriers and draconian gallery rules – a great place for kids to experience art is outdoors (even if it might start raining)

So, you want to introduce small children to art. Why not ease yourselves in? No white walls. No string barriers. No alarms. No beady-eyed gallery attendants. Just a whole lot of green space in which to charge about and come across awe-inspiring art while you’re at it. There are several outdoor sculpture parks offering free-range art exploration in the UK, but one above all beckons. That’s right, it’s time for this toddler’s first trip to Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP).

Admittedly, my timing is a smidge off. When we head there, it’s mid-February, and don’t we know it. As we pull into the car park, the sky is a grisly blanket of greyish white. The drizzle starts soon after we open our doors, and doesn’t stop. As I’m pushing the buggy uphill, struggling to get a grip as my boots slip in the mud, I briefly wonder whether I should have saved this series for summer. But then I look around me at the tiny people in wellies and waders running wild around the Barbara Hepworths, and I reconsider.

Manifesto reportedly written by the suspect had Trump administration officials at top of list

• Trump tells 60 Minutes he ‘wasn’t worried’ during shooting

• How the White House press dinner shooting unfolded

Investigators are looking into anti-Trump sentiment as being a motive for the attacker who sought to breach the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington DC where the US president and top members of his administration were present.

Officials have said that the shooter likely was targeting Donald Trump and other senior administration officials. “We do believe, based upon just a very preliminary start to understanding what happened, that he was targeting members of the administration,” acting US attorney general Todd Blanche said in a TV interview.

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.

Engineer and two drivers killed in recent weeks as scarcity of clean water fuels spread of preventable diseases

Israeli forces in Gaza killed a water engineer and two drivers who transported water to displaced families over four days in mid-April, exacerbating severe shortages of clean water that are fuelling the spread of preventable disease.

Israeli limits on the shipment of soap, washing powder and other hygiene products into Gaza have also forced prices up, adding to the challenge of keeping clean and avoiding infection in overcrowded shelters and tent encampments.

‘Inadequate economic security’ is putting growth and jobs at risk, says British Chambers of Commerce

UK business leaders have called on the government to build an EU-style “trade bazooka” to protect Britain’s economic interests in response to the latest tariff threats from Donald Trump.

As transatlantic tensions rise, the British Chambers of Commerce said the UK’s “inadequate economic security” was putting growth and jobs at risk.