The Greens’ leader will need to reverse his party’s faltering fortunes if he is to win the Holborn and St Pancras seat vacated by Keir Starmer. Membership of the Greens has more than tripled under Zack Polanski, and they claimed their first Westminster by-election victory in Gorton and Denton in February. But the party has also been dogged by accusations of antisemitism and questions around Polanski’s “inflated CV and ever-presence on social media”, said Pieter Snepvangers in The Telegraph.

What did the commentators say?
With Andy Burnham riding a wave of optimism as prime minister, the Green Party’s popularity has “plunged to its lowest level ever recorded”, said Snepvangers. A YouGov poll in July put its net approval rating at -23, down 28 points from last August. Party leaders compete now not to be the most popular but the least unpopular, said City A.M.’s Eliot Wilson, and Polanski is far less unpopular than Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage. But as Polanski’s “position has begun to slide”, the question is: “How is the Green Party to stop this leakage?”

The “unexpected resurgence of hope” in the Labour Party poses “an unmistakable threat” to Polanski, who previously “had a virtual monopoly on such things”, said Gaby Hinsliff in The Guardian. But unlike Labour, the Greens are “unconstrained by the realities of government” and have “the freedom to say whatever Labour won’t”. That could “easily become a powerful weapon” as Polanski launches his bid to become the Greens’ sixth MP.

What next?
In the 2024 general election, the Greens nearly doubled their 2019 vote share to come third in Holborn and St Pancras. But Burnham has “calmed the anti-politics rage a little”, said John Rentoul in The Independent, and Labour should be able to hold the seat provided they choose a “solid candidate” – it is “by no means” safe.

Labour “will throw everything at defending it”, said The Guardian’s Pippa Crerar. Just as Makerfield was Burnham’s proof of concept that he could beat Reform, “Holborn and St Pancras will be his test that he can win back progressive voters to the Labour fold”.

Anticipation for “Grand Theft Auto VI” has reached fever pitch after developer Rockstar Games released a first look at gameplay last week. But while the November premiere of the long-awaited project is expected to be the biggest in video game history, there is also concern about what it means for the industry’s future.

‘Time of tumult’
“GTA VI” is projected to generate up to $5.2 billion (£3.85 billion) in sales by the end of its first launch week, according to gaming analytics firm Newzoo. But the upcoming release “comes at a time of such tumult for the gaming industry as a whole”, said Troy Farah on Salon. This is “such a big release that it’s scaring off other studios from releasing their own games around the same time in November”.

The “real issue here is that so much of the games industry finds itself both scared by and dependent on the success of one single project”, said Jim Trinca on IGN. Gamers should prepare for the “possibility that ‘GTA VI’, rather than being the saviour of the video games industry, might trigger its next big crash”.

‘Halo effect’
Industry insiders hope the game will have a “halo effect for the entire industry”, said Rob Fahey on the GamesIndustry news site. “The biggest media launch of the decade being a video game will be very significant”, and could cement a “reaffirmation of video games’ position on an equal footing with other media”.

A strong debut from “GTA VI” might also “boost the struggling console market, which has seen higher prices due to the rising cost of memory and storage”, said Jenni Reid and Alex Buckmaster on CNBC. This is the “type of game that can pull a lot of people back into gaming and even convince them to buy a new console to play it”, said Dan DeFrancesco on Business Insider. But the jury is out on what the wider effect might be. “Big fires burn bright, but they need a lot of oxygen to grow.”

Emmanuel Macron and King Charles share a moment of levity during a private viewing of the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum. The exhibition of the medieval artwork, on loan from France, opens to the public next week.

Adrian Dennis / WPA Pool / Getty Images

Great Yarmouth’s Britannia Pier bagged the top prize in the National Piers Society’s latest Pier of the Year awards, following an extensive renovation. But there are plenty of other piers for a fun family day out. 

Llandudno Pier, Conwy
Last year’s Pier of the Year winner was this “splendidly Victorian” structure in north Wales, said The Sunday Times. Extending 2,295ft into the Irish Sea, the landward end features a Ferris wheel on which visitors can enjoy views of “beauties of the bay on one side and the massive limestone headland of Great Orme on the other”.

Clevedon Pier, Somerset
Opened in 1869 “to receive paddle steamer passengers from Devon and Wales”, Clevedon Pier (pictured above) in north Somerset is England’s only Grade I-listed pier, said The Guardian. The striking landmark was constructed from “discarded wrought iron railway lines shaped into eight arches” almost 15 metres high.

Southwold Pier, Suffolk
Southwold remains “delightfully unspoilt”, said Cambridgeshire Live. Set near “colourful beach huts” and a working lighthouse, the town’s Edwardian pier stretches into the North Sea and is “packed with entertainment, shops and eateries”. It’s among the UK’s “most eccentric” piers, with an arcade of “wacky” slot machines for “endless seaside fun”.

Blackpool piers, Lancashire
Blackpool is the “proud home” of three piers, said The Guardian. The oldest surviving is the Grade II-listed North Pier, featuring an art-deco theatre, bars, a two-tier carousel and an arcade. On the Central Pier, you’ll find the big wheel and a bar with live shows, while the South Pier promises a “high-octane funfair” with a rollercoaster and reverse bungee ride.

Take it from a reformed raver. Dance music doesn’t belong in St Paul’s Cathedral
Jacob Phillips in The Telegraph
London’s Fabric nightclub “has just signed an extraordinary four-year-deal” to host events in St Paul’s Cathedral, writes Jacob Phillips. “To be fair”, raves have always had a quasi-religious feel: we danced to “God is a DJ” and took ecstasy, “a word once reserved for the prayerful raptures of medieval saints”. But St Paul teaches that “redemption is found not in escaping the world, but in meeting its daily duties and responsibilities”. Cathedrals shouldn’t be repurposed as “playgrounds for middle-aged ravers”.

The September reset is real. I’m about to become a better person, flaxseed by flaxseed
Emma Brockes in The Guardian
This time of year “really turns up the burner on our sense of time passing”, writes Emma Brockes, and every year I get this “rote impulse to sort my life out”. Perhaps it’s all a bit “deckchairs on the Titanic, given the way the world is right now”, but “we can control only what we can control”. If I “clear the drift of receipts” from my bag “and put flaxseed into everything I eat, maybe all will be well”.

Cyclists must mind manners, and the blind
Edward Lucas in The Times
My two blind cousins  feel “invisible” on our streets, writes Edward Lucas. They can “find safe road crossings”, but “anarchic use of the pavement by silent, speedy” e-bikes is a “growing danger”. And the introduction of floating bus stops, despite “blind people’s worries” about “cyclists barrelling past”, is a further “plot twist in this horrid thriller”. The government is “belatedly” pressing pause on similar bus stops, but I think “decision-makers” should “spend a day trying to travel while blindfolded”.