Six will become four when the candidates in the Tory leadership contest face off in the first round of voting on Wednesday.

The race is "wide open", a senior Tory told The Guardian. With "barely any public endorsements" for any of the MPs vying to replace Rishi Sunak, "no one can tell who is the favourite" and the "public polling has been all over the place".

Kemi Badenoch: 6/4
The current bookies' favourite, Badenoch has become a "darling of Conservative right-wingers" thanks to her "direct approach and dedication to 'anti-woke' principles", said the BBC. But she and second favourite Robert Jenrick  are "fishing in the same pool of voters", said The Guardian, and both also have "significant detractors".

Robert Jenrick: 13/8
The former cabinet minister entered the race pledging to win back voters who switched to Reform UK. He will "appeal to the Tory right" because of his "tough stance on immigration", said The Telegraph. Jenrick  has put the issue "at the centre of his pitch to the party", including a pledge to "resurrect the Rwanda scheme".

James Cleverly: 4/1
Centrist favourite Cleverly is "fishing in a similar pool" to rival Tom Tugendhat for support among Conservative MPs, said Stephen Bush in the Financial Times. But he "starts with more credibility on the party's right, having been one of the first in and last out of Boris Johnson's government".

Tom Tugendhat: 6/1
The former security minister is "seen as being on the moderate wing", said The Telegraph. However, he has courted the party's right by expressing willingness to leave the European Convention on Human Rights – an abrupt U-turn on his previous stance that has triggered claims of political opportunism.

Priti Patel: 16/1
"Experience is the USP that she is putting forward," said The Sunday Times as Patel officially launched her campaign. Her record is packed with "shrewd alliances and plum jobs, bullying allegations and headline-grabbing controversies", and "she has been as powerful as she has been polarising".

Mel Stride: 40/1
Stride has emphasised his ability to unite the party and restore its "reputation for competence". His team insist he "has the numbers" to progress through the first round of voting, said the i news site. Sources said predictions that he will be one of the first two defeated candidates were just part of a "spin game" by rivals.

The scramble for tickets for the Oasis reunion tour proved eye-wateringly expensive for fans who finally reached the end of digital queues only to discover that ticket prices had surged.

The Guardian's North of England editor Josh Halliday queued for six hours before paying "£361 to stand in my local park" in Manchester when the band perform there next year – the "same price as Glastonbury Festival and more expensive than four nights in Sharm El Sheikh."

'Changing demand'
The "culprit", said The Guardian, is dynamic pricing: "when a seller does not set a fixed price for their product, but instead adjusts what they charge in response to changing demand". The tactic has long been used by airlines, hotels and ride-hailing apps such as Uber, and for live music events in the US.

Artists touring the UK have "historically been more restrained", but that is changing with the rise of online booking sites such as Ticketmaster, which allow promoters and artists to decide whether to set a fixed price or adjust according to demand.

'Bigger spectacles'
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has promised that a government consultation into ticket sales will "include issues around the transparency and use of dynamic pricing".

However, booking agent Matt Hanner said fan enthusiasm was fuelling the rise in ticket prices. "There's a growing number of people that are happy to spend a large chunk of their disposable income on going to a major music event," he told Sky News.

Jon Collins, chief executive of LIVE, which represents the UK's live music industry, agreed there was "massive appetite" for "bigger spectacles", and noted that venue costs were also increasing as energy prices and wages climb. "At every stage of the process we've got these cost increases that will all push through the pressure on the ticket price."

From an economic perspective, dynamic pricing for in-demand events simply makes sense for organisers, said the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy think-tank. After all, "no one complains when vendors have to slash prices to clear inventory that they priced too high".

Beer drinkers are "turning to the dark side",  said Adrian Tierney-Jones in The Telegraph, as sales of stout continue to soar.

Originating in London in the 18th century, stout "dominated" the British beer market until the end of the 20th century, when its popularity dipped as lager began arriving from mainland Europe, said Andrew Ellson in The Times.

But now no longer seen as the preserve of old men or "rugby lads", the dark, velvety ale is the fastest-growing beer variety in the UK, expanding its appeal to younger drinkers, including a growing number of women. Even Kim Kardashian was snapped sipping a pint of the "black stuff" in a London boozer last year. Here are some of the best brands to try:

Siren: Hard Pour Broken Dream
Brewed with coffee and dosed with nitrogen, Siren's Hard Pour Broken Dream "could pass for a Guinness", said John Bett in The Mirror. "Smooth" and "velvety" with a subtle flavour, it's "got quite the punch" at 6.5% ABV.

Loch Lomond Brewery: Silkie Stout
Scottish oats give Loch Lomond Brewery's Silkie Stout a "creamy texture" that perfectly complements the rich chocolate flavour and notes of roast barley, said Mark Dredge in delicious magazine.

Hook Norton Brewery: Double Stout
Based on an original Victorian recipe, this "rich" stout has "aromas redolent of roast coffee beans" and liquorice, said Tierney-Jones, and a long, dry finish and refreshing hoppy aftertaste.

Starmer's in power, but is he in control?
Christian May in City A.M.
Keir Starmer's majority "is enormous" and "his opponents are weakened and divided", writes Christian May. But recent political headlines sound "more like dispatches from the dying days of a government". The prime minister "has chosen to set the national mood music to Miserable FM". He is clearly counting on a strategy of "hard truths now, followed by better days ahead", but controlling the narrative "might be a tall order".

Your phone is telling you what to think. It's just the start
Kamal Ahmed in The Telegraph
“What in the age of sorcery is this?" asks Kamal Ahmed. Google’s new AI search feature means my phone is now "deciding itself how to package and deliver" information "in human-like prose". It's "a bit creepy" – is it "helping us think" or "telling us what to think"? The way information is presented online is "the 21st century equivalent of newspapers and television". And "who controls the pipes – and what they deliver – matters".

I've had enough of people who think they're experts
Lucy Mangan on the inews site
My doctor recently asked me what I thought was wrong with me, writes Lucy Mangan. "I wish doctors didn't feel the need" to "pretend that, in this setting, we are equal". Back when Michael Gove said that "we have had enough" of experts, I thought: "You moron. I haven't. I don't think anyone has." To "denigrate expertise" is to "empower idiots". So "experts – be not afraid. Stand up for yourselves."