The "sorry end" to Gary Lineker's BBC career shows just how highly the broadcaster values it reputation for impartiality, said Katie Razzall, the BBC's culture and media editor. "Mistakenly" sharing antisemitic material on social media was the "final straw" for his bosses. It's not the first time the organisation's "need for impartiality" has clashed with its high-profile personalities and their "voicing of strongly held views".

What are the impartiality rules and who has to follow them?
The BBC's guidelines demand the "highest level of impartiality in news and current affairs, and factual journalism (including sport)" and, especially, "in relation to controversial subjects and major matters".

The broadcaster does not allow, for example, any "expression of personal views" by its news and current affairs presenters, reporters and journalists, "other than in exceptional and defined circumstances". This includes not expressing support for any political party or any view on an issue which is a "matter of current political debate, or on a matter of public policy".

What about non-factual shows and freelancers? 
The same impartiality standard does not apply to those who work on comedy, drama or other output. However, all BBC staff and freelancers are "required to respect civility in public discourse", such as when posting on their personal social media accounts, and expected not to act in a way that could "bring the BBC into disrepute".

How has the BBC handled similar issues before?
In 2021, then-"Newsnight" presenter Emily Maitlis was reprimanded for sharing a "clearly controversial" social media post related to the government's response to the Covid pandemic. A year previously, she had also been found to have breached impartiality rules with a "Newsnight" opening that was critical of Dominic Cummings' lockdown-busting trip to Barnard Castle.

In 2022, news presenter Martine Croxall was temporarily suspended for asking on-air if she was "allowed to be this gleeful" about Boris Johnson's failed bid to replace Liz Truss as Tory leader. A year later, Carol Vorderman stepped down from her weekly show on BBC Radio Wales after a series of posts critical of the Conservative government. Vorderman said she was not "prepared to lose my voice on social media".

When Reform UK won two mayoralties, 677 council seats and overall control of 10 councils earlier this month, it was hailed as a political tsunami. Three weeks on from those election results, Reform is beginning to face up to "the enormous challenges that local government poses" – particularly for a party that's "been so rapidly thrust into positions of political power", said Local Government Chronicle.

'Unexpected success'
Reform's new army is "already going Awol", said The New European. At least five councillors have had to step down, including one who resigned after suggesting that the Royal Navy should use a "volley of gunfire" to sink small boats crossing the Channel.

Despite Reform's pledge to vet candidates "rigorously at all levels", an investigation by The Telegraph has uncovered other statements by a number of the party's new councillors that "may prove embarrassing" – including a Ku Klux Klan "joke" in response to a meeting of Grenfell Tower survivors. All this raises questions about and whether Nigel Farage "has what it takes to build a serious political machine".

Part of the problem lies in Reform's "sheer unexpected success" at the ballot box, said The Independent. It's meant many "'paper' candidates" – those who "were not expected to win" – have now been elected for "a job that they didn't particularly want to do".

'Collision course with reality'
On a policy level, Reform has "very clearly signalled that its approach will be confrontational", said The Covert Councillor in Prospect magazine. Deputy leader Richard Tice has announced a "war" against renewable energy projects and diversity initiatives. But this approach will put the party "on a collision course with financial reality". Any savings made from scrapping diversity and inclusion schemes will be "nominal", unlike "the costs of picking fights with unions or stalling job creation and investment in solar tech".

And on a wider level, the party "still hasn't really made up its mind" about some issues, said The Independent. This includes whether or not to back far-right activist Tommy Robinson, to endorse mass deportations or, indeed, "to publish a full manifesto with detailed policies and plans".

Wes Anderson's 12th film, "The Phoenician Scheme", is "the most Andersonian Anderson film to date", said Robbie Collin in The Telegraph. "Tender, witty" and "wondrous", it's a "complete delight".

The action follows "rascally European industrialist" Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro, pictured above, left), as he embarks on an ambitious infrastructure project in a fictional Middle Eastern desert, while attempting to reconcile with his estranged daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton, pictured above, right), a nun he has chosen to be his sole heir.

Packed with "refreshingly juvenile humour" and arcane literary references, it's one of Anderson's "most enrapturing works of recent times", said Geoffrey Macnab in The Independent. As you would expect, the film is a "pictorial treat", with "exhaustive attention" paid to the costumes and production design. Every scene includes "something to savour", from "deadpan dialogue" to a "goofy visual gag".

"There is not, alas, much for the heart or the head here", said Kevin Maher in The Times. The relationship between Liesl and Korda develops to little more than a few "inscrutable exchanges", and the "pile-up of empty cameos (Bill Murray as God) in place of emotional traction" soon wears thin. Still, Mia Threapleton – Kate Winslet's daughter – is "sensational". "Quietly commanding, but always glowing with charisma, she is the discovery here."

All of the ingredients you would expect from "cinema's most meticulous auteur" are present in spades in this "espionage caper", said Kaleem Aftab in Time Out. Watching "The Phoenician Scheme" is like putting together an intricately detailed puzzle: "at times frustrating, but deeply rewarding when the full picture comes together".

Can you ever forgive Nick Clegg?
George Monaghan in The New Statesman
"No one agrees with Nick", writes George Monaghan. After "Cleggmania" was ended "by self-slaughter", Clegg decamped to California to "make his millions" at Facebook, while Britain "embarked on Brexit, and then a decade of agony". Now he's back, "with much to say" about the halcyon days of the Lib Dem-Tory coalition. It's "his right to tinker with the past" but today's political poles are "harsher and more various" than he ever knew.

Children are speaking to strangers online – and grooming is on the rise. This is how to protect them
Devi Sridhar in The Guardian
"When we look at what causes poor mental health", writes Devi Sridhar, there's a "hidden cause that isn't talked about enough: abuse, especially during childhood". The "shame, confusion, fear and guilt" that keeps real-world victims silent also "mutes" those suffering online, and "that silence can be deadly". We must have "open conversations with children" about online grooming, as well as regulating tech companies to be "accountable for creating safer environments".

Meghan's moodboard? It's catnip for woo-woo millennials
Charlie Gowans-Eglinton in The Times
The "Montecito-Sussexes" celebrated their seventh wedding anniversary, writes Charlie Gowans-Eglinton, with something "very on-brand: a handmade moodboard". If you're "not tuned in" to "woo-woo world", this "thumb-tacked" collage of photos and handwritten cards "might not be on your radar". But millennials are used to making boards for "wedding inspiration" and "outfit planning". And Gen Z are taking it "further": "scrapbooking everything from receipts to bits of packaging".