You might not notice the bite from a tiny tick but it has the potential to “dramatically harm your health”, said Amanda Roome, co-director of the University of New York’s Tick-Borne Disease Center, on The Conversation. Tick bites can carry viruses that “really pack a punch” – and, in the UK, the number of ticks is on the rise.

What are ticks?
They are small arachnids that feed on the blood of animals, including humans, and tend to live in woodland or scrubland. When they bite, they inject an anaesthetic that prevents you from feeling pain or itchiness.

Many ticks don’t carry disease-causing pathogens, and not all bites from an infected tick cause infection. But the illnesses some can transmit can be nasty. The most common is Lyme disease, carried by the castor-bean tick, which can do long-term damage to joints, heart and the nervous system. Cases of Lyme disease are spiralling in the US but, in the UK, it’s still pretty rare – although 1,168 cases were recorded last year, a 20% increase from the previous year. Cases could well in increase as the number of ticks in the UK grows. Some ticks can also carry a type of encephalitis, but very few cases have been diagnosed in Britain: the UK Health Security Agency classes the risk as “very low”.

Why are there more ticks?
“Tick populations are expanding geographically because we’re changing the climate,” Vett Lloyd, a tick expert at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, told The Guardian. Our milder winters and warmer summers are boosting ticks’ survival rates. Reforestation and the expansion of green spaces closer to residential areas also play a role.

What can we do?
Wear socks, enclosed shoes, long trousers and a long-sleeved shirt when walking off paths in long grass. Afterwards, check your skin thoroughly – ticks tend to lurk in armpits, groin, behind the knees, around the waistband, the wrists, the back of the neck and the hairline.

If you do get bitten, “try to get the whole tick out” using fine-tip tweezers, Charlotte Mao, a US doctor who works with the Bay Area Lyme Foundation, told The Guardian. Seek advice from your GP if you notice a spreading “bullseye” rash at the site of the bite (a common sign of Lyme disease infection), facial drooping, numbness, or tingling in the hands or feet.

Andy Burnham may often speak about his upbringing but he has been “generally private about his wife and children”, said Kasia Delgado in The i Paper. But as Burnham steps into No. 10, he inevitably brings his family into the spotlight. 

‘Active but not showy’
Burnham met his Dutch-born wife, Marie-France van Heel, in 1989 when both were undergraduates at the same college in Cambridge. They began dating, although they took a break when Marie-France “asked him for permission to appear on Cilla Black’s ‘Blind Date’”, said Isaac Bickerstaff in Tatler. They married in 2000.

Van Heel, known as Frankie by friends and family, has built up an “illustrious” career as a “marketing maven”. She sits on the board of directors of Be.EV, a company that “masterminds public charging points for electric vehicles”. Those closer to her describe her as “very gentle” and “highly intelligent”.

In 2010, her sister died of breast cancer, and Van Heel discovered that she carries a mutated gene that increases her likelihood of getting the disease. She opted for a double mastectomy, and is a donor to Cancer Research UK, “often participating in the charity’s Race for Life”, said Jon Craig on Sky News. “Politically active, but not in a public or showy way”, she also sits on the board of children’s charity Plan International.

‘Protective of each other’
The couple have three adult children. Jimmy, 26, studied Caribbean and Latin American history at University College London and works as an International Policy Officer for the Royal College of Nursing. Rosie, 24, is a sales manager at Jägermeister, and 21-year-old Annie attends Cardiff University, reading English literature, like her father did. The PM and his children share a love of music; they regularly attend festivals and concerts together.

Before his move to Downing Street, Burnham lived close to his parents in Greater Manchester. Roy and Eileen met while working in Liverpool, but raised their three sons in Culcheth, a village near Warrington, Cheshire. The brothers are still said to be “protective of each other”, said The i Paper’s Delgado. The “tight” family will bring Burnham “back down to earth” if he gets “too Westminster”.

A woman watches smoke rising from wildfires that have burned through more than 25,000 acres of France’s Cap Ferret peninsula. Tens of thousands of people have fled after the authorities ordered the total evacuation of the tourism hotspot on the southwest coast.

Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty Images

Suffolk: The Old Shoulder House, Hadleigh
This eye-catching Grade II, 800-year-old former pub blends Tudor, Georgian and Victorian influences, and has original features beautifully preserved throughout. 4 beds, 2 baths, kitchen, 3 receps, parking. £485,000; Edd Callegari.

Wiltshire: Bluett House, Malmesbury
An enchanting Grade II townhouse (centre with wooden balcony) with a 15th century medieval undercroft and views across the River Avon. 4 beds, 2 baths, kitchen/breakfast room, 2 receps, office, garden, garage. £1.025 million; James Pyle.

East Sussex: The Caprons, Lewes
Elegant Grade II Georgian house in the heart of Lewes, nestled in mature gardens. 5 beds, 4 baths, kitchen, 4 receps, garden. £1.85 million; Jackson-Stops.

Berkshire: High Street, Hungerford
Handsome 18th century townhouse in need of modernisation; sold with planning permission. Currently: 3 offices, 2 beds, family bath, kitchen/dining room, utility. £445,000; Knight Frank.

It’s not just a No 10 in the north, it’s an engine for growth throughout the whole UK
Andy Burnham in The Guardian
On my first day as prime minister, writes Andy Burnham, a small team walked into a Manchester building “to set about the remaking of the British state”. For too long, “decision-making power has remained in London”. I’m “seeking to correct” that. “No 10 North will be responsible for accelerating devolution” and driving growth “to achieve equivalent living standards across all the regions and nations”. “Change is not always easy” but “growth cannot be imposed from the top down”.

Don’t panic! AI going rogue is no cause for alarm
Sean O’Grady on The Independent
I’m “impressed” that an “unreleased AI model” had the “ingenuity” to “break free of its confines”, writes Sean O’Grady. It’s common to “be terrified by new things” but “every technology developed by mankind has been double-edged”. We just “have to adapt” and “manage” AI “when it becomes a problem, like anything else”. This is a technology that could “rescue us from our present torpor of low productivity and stagnant living standards”. “A radically different world is not necessarily anything to be frightened of.”

Japan’s PM needs to treat herself to some quality shut-eye
The Times’ editorial board
Sanae Takaichi has revealed that, since becoming Japan’s PM, she’s “been getting by” on zero to three hours of sleep per night, says The Times. “An admirable work ethic?” Not in a nation where overwork is “recognised as a major health issue”. Last year alone, “there were 145 instances of karoshi, or death from overwork”. Initiatives to “alleviate” the “gruelling nature of employment” have failed, and “Takaichi’s pride in her own sleep-deprived lifestyle isn’t helping”. She needs to “get her head down”.