One moment you're sat in the heart of power and the next you're jobless – that is the brutal reality for many MPs who lost their seats at the general election.

The experiences of former MPs vary: ex-Conservative member and government minister Tom Pursglove (pictured above) told the BBC this week that, two months after he lost his seat, he is still looking for a new job, but others have quickly made millions of pounds after leaving office.

'Financial cliff edge'
A House of Commons committee found last year that electoral defeat can "have a significant impact" on former MPs' health, and "many find themselves on a financial and career cliff edge" as they're "confronted with the task of seeking a new career identity and sense of purpose".

"Such is the ruthless nature" of politics, said the BBC, that MPs can lose their jobs "overnight", leaving behind a starting salary of £91,000. They receive a Loss of Office Payment and a winding-up payment, equivalent to four months' salary. The Commons also allows departing MPs four months to wind down their offices.

'Revolving doors'
The "revolving doors" of British politics can lead "from the corridors of Whitehall and the Palace of Westminster" to "the siren call of corporate boardrooms, highly-paid consultancies and the speaking circuit", said the i news site. Many MPs quickly gain lucrative corporate roles, particularly those who actively planned or anticipated their Commons exit.

"Free from the shackles of political protocols", ex-politicians "can afford to be more candid in their speeches", said The Mirror, meaning they can pick up big sums for public speaking.

It's 'tricky'
The dilemma for former MPs is "how to turn years, often decades," of experience "at the coalface of government and statecraft" into a new path without "being left open to accusations of profiting excessively or inappropriately" from a past life of public service, said the i news site.

It is a test that has "chalked up some notable failures in recent years". Lord Cameron lobbied the government after he left office for the controversial and now defunct finance house Greensill to join a pandemic-linked loan scheme.

For much of the 20th century, many scientists didn't believe animals understood the difference between life and death. 

"Monkeys and apes do not recognize death, for they react to their companions as if the latter were alive but passive," wrote the primatologist Solly Zuckerman in 1932. Since then, however, there has been a shift in thinking and the emergence of a new scientific discipline of comparative thanatology – the study of how animals and people respond to death and dying.

Are animals aware of death?
Some experts, like James Anderson, believe behaviour in chimpanzees indicated they are more aware of death than we think. "Without death-related symbols or rituals, chimpanzees show several behaviours that recall human responses to the death of a close relative," wrote Anderson and his colleagues at Kyoto University. 

Do they understand death?
Many species, including mammals, birds and insects, seem to display behaviours indicating awareness of movement and agency. "And some of them behave in ways that suggest an understanding that other animals can lose this agency forever," said Ross Andersen in The Atlantic. "The hard part is knowing whether these behaviours flow from a conceptual recognition of death, or if they're simply instincts."

Do animals know when they're going to die?
Again, the idea that animals might sense their impending death is difficult to prove. Scientists can measure physical indicators like hormonal changes. For example, baboons exhibit spikes in cortisol – a stress hormone – when a close companion dies. But interpreting such data is complex because other stressors could cause similar hormonal responses.

As is common in human observations of death, "terminal lucidity" – a burst of energy and clarity shortly before death – seems common in animals. The so-called "last rally" could have an "evolutionary benefit", said biologist Dr Rupert Sheldrake on Mail Online. "In the wild, an animal that instinctively knows it is dying can detach itself from the pack and take itself away, to go somewhere its corpse won’t spread disease."

Do they have rituals around death?
Many animals appear to display ritualistic behaviours towards their dead. Elephants gather around deceased members of their herd, sometimes covering the bodies with branches and leaves. Dolphins keep dead companions afloat, and chimpanzees sometimes drape leaves over the deceased.

Northamptonshire: Mill Lane, Islip
An 18th-century mill house with mooring and fishing rights. 5 beds, 3 baths, kitchen, 4 receps, garden, parking. OIEO £1.225m; Woodford & Co

Wiltshire: Mill Race Close, Salisbury
With direct river frontage on the River Nadder, this delightful Grade II house sits in an enviable position. Main suite, 3 further beds, family bath, kitchen, 2 receps, garden, parking, garage. £600,000; Hamptons

North Yorkshire: Rake Farm, Glaisdale
A Grade II farmhouse with a holiday cottage and fishing rights on the River Esk, situated within the North York Moors National Park. 3 beds, family bath, kitchen/breakfast room, 2 receps, 1-bed self-contained cottage, garden, stables, outbuildings, garage; approx. 6.4 acres. £1.17m; Peter Illingworth

Somerset: Paddons, Dulverton
This handsome property, built in the early 1800s, is set in 15 acres overlooking the River Barle and comes with fishing rights and woodland. Main suite, 4 further beds, 2 baths, kitchen/breakfast room, 2 receps, parking, garden. £925,000; Knight Frank

The one glaring omission from the devastating report into the NHS
Sean O'Grady on The Independent
Ara Darzi's report on the beleaguered NHS is "substantial, thoroughgoing and (at times) even radical", writes Sean O'Grady. But there is a crucial omission. Brexit has "very obviously had an enormous impact", through its "depressing effects on economic growth" and the "dramatic direct effect on staffing". It also disrupted the supply of medicines to the UK. It would have been useful for Darzi, the "high priest" of the NHS "religion", to confess "that heretical truth".

How a cultural shift favours Harris
David Brooks in The New York Times
A presidential campaign offers a window into the fast-shifting "values and moods" of America, writes David Brooks. Donald Trump was "perfect" for the hostile 2010s: the "age of indignation" and "disgust with established power". Now, the American electorate's "exhausted majority" is "tired of the bitterness", of "living in an endless atmosphere of tribalism, enmity and conflict". Kamala Harris projects "a new emotional tone", the smiling "politics of joy". In comparison, Trump seems "not just monstrous but, worse, stale".

Ukraine needs its own Marshall Plan to protect energy
Maxim Timchenko, chief executive of Ukrainian energy company DTEK, in The Times
Russia has "wiped out half of Ukraine's energy generating capacity", writes Maxim Timchenko. That could "turn into real danger this winter". Ukrainians are shipping in generators and mobile turbines from overseas, but the "key ingredient is energy storage": huge batteries connected to the grid that will "soak up" energy on sunny or windy days, and release it later to even out supply and demand. Such an "audacious" plan requires huge global investment, but will "help us to deliver victory in Ukraine's fight for light".