After the government was forced into a further, last-minute climb-down on its welfare reform bill, questions are being asked about how the Treasury will balance the books.

The extra expense, expected to be in the range of £2.5 billion, could mean "tax rises in this autumn's budget are inevitable", said Chris Mason at the BBC. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is "being questioned by Labour figures at all levels" about where the money will come from.

What did the commentators say?
Though the bill eventually passed through Parliament, the debacle showed the government is "transparently not in control of events" and the "implications" of the concessions are "head-spinning", said the BBC. Tax rises look likely, and potential changes to policies like the two-child benefit cap will "no longer be possible".

That lack of control in trying to make billions of savings ended as it did in the government's "attempt to cut the winter fuel allowance", with it "spending slightly more than if it had done nothing at all", said Will Dunn in The New Statesman.

It leaves the chancellor in a "deeply frustrating position", not least because she is cornered by her own "fiscal rules" and the promise "not to raise any of the three biggest revenue-raising taxes". Perhaps now is the "time to be bold" for Reeves; "tweaks to the system" are not likely to solve Britain's problems, but an "overhauled" tax system might.

Bending the fiscal rules would mean softening "her self-proclaimed 'iron chancellor' image", and damage her credibility with investors, said George Parker and Sam Fleming in the Financial Times. 

What next?
The Treasury now has "unenviable tasks" ahead of it before the autumn, including working on a "possible package of tax increases" and hoping the Office for Budget Responsibility's forecast will not "downgrade its expectations of productivity" as much as is predicted, said Heather Stewart in The Guardian.

Higher taxes would not be opposed by many left-wing Labour MPs, said Ben Riley-Smith in The Telegraph, and the successful rebellion against the welfare bill means they "scent blood in the water".

"If you've ever hauled around a suitcase bulging with heavy hardbacks, you've probably asked yourself: surely there's an easier way to do this?" said Josiah Gogarty in GQ. "There is." Audiobooks fit "weightlessly" on your phone so you won't have to "agonise" over what to take on holiday. Ideal for listening to on a run or as you lie "comatose" on a sunbed or sofa. Here are some of the best to add to your summer listening list.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
"Move over, David Suchet, there's a new Hercule Poirot in town," said The Guardian. Peter Dinklage leads the multi-star cast in this adaptation of Agatha Christie's first novel, narrating the "moustached sleuth" brought in to investigate the poisoning of a wealthy widow at her isolated country home.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
"Margaret Atwood clearly trusts Elisabeth Moss," said GQ. The actor played Offred in the TV adaptation of Atwood's "classic tale of a misogynistic dystopian America" and also lends her voice to this gripping audiobook. She's joined by other actors from the show including Ann Dowd, who plays the terrifying Aunt Lydia.

Long Island by Colm Tóibín
"Long Island" was one of last year's "must-reads", said The Times, and the audiobook is "beautifully narrated" by Jessie Buckley. The sequel to Tóibín's "beloved" 2009 novel "Brooklyn" picks up two decades after Eilis Lacey emigrated from rural Ireland to New York. 

Keir Starmer's lost the power of political speech
Polly Mackenzie in The Times
A "good political speech" is "neither spell nor spin", says Polly Mackenzie. It's a "critical tool for governing well", one that Keir Starmer's government is "failing to use properly". There's "no excuse" for "forgetting the power your words have" when you "hold the highest office in the land". Speeches are "easy to write" when an organisation "knows what it wants", but the "speech-related bun fights we've seen in recent weeks demonstrate that right now, uncertainty rules".

Is Donald Trump your "daddy"?
Jill Filipovic in The New Statesman
"Maga Republicans have major daddy issues," says Jill Filipovic. Time and again, the "self-styled masculine Real Men of Maga collectively whimper for a bigger, stronger, older man to punish them like naughty little boys they are". The movement's voters want "Trumpian authoritarianism because they hope a Big Daddy will make the big, scary world a little less frightening". But there's also a "mass submission" from foreign leaders, which is "unbecoming and at times humiliating".

The EU gave Romania's migrant workers the chance to build a new life. Why are they turning against it?
Raluca Besliu in The Guardian
Romania's diaspora has "mostly supported centrist, pro-European candidates" for years, says Romanian journalist Raluca Besliu, so why did nearly one million "embrace" a Eurosceptic candidate? The answer "lies in years of political neglect" from Bucharest, host countries and Brussels, leaving many Romanians feeling "invisible and unheard". The "promise of European opportunity has become a reality of European marginalisation", which has created "fertile ground for the far right". The EU needs to recognise diasporas as "full political actors".