Five years on from the killing of George Floyd by a US police officer, a new BBC documentary examines if and how the world has really changed since then. While "Backlash: The Murder of George Floyd" recounts the shocking killing caught on camera, the key aim is to assess the impact of the subsequent Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement on racial inequality, in the US, the UK and beyond.

When did BLM start?
BLM was founded in 2013, following the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the fatal shooting of Black teenager Trayvon Martin. Although often described as if it were a single organisation, BLM is decentralised, with no hierarchical structure – a deliberate choice to "create a network" and "support the development of new Black leaders", according to the movement. Its influence peaked during the protests following Floyd's murder, with millions joining the cause and donations to BLM-related causes amounting to billions of dollars.

What were the objectives of the protests?
In the US, the focus was police violence against Black people and accountability for law enforcement. In countries where police killings are less frequent, the scope of protests was often broadened to draw attention to wider systemic racism and pervasive inequalities in areas such as healthcare, education, employment and housing. By mid-2020, "up to 26 million Americans are thought to have protested at more than 4,700 demonstrations", said The Telegraph. Hundreds of thousands of people also marched in the UK.

Did it change the UK?
Statistics on the lasting impact of the BLM movement "paint a mixed picture", said The Guardian. There is evidence that "racial disparities in policing" have "recently narrowed" in many regards, but Black people are still the ethnic group most likely to experience police violence. Disparities in justice, education and employment remain. And while some inequality statistics have seen improvement, there has been a political and ideological backlash against the movement. Since 2020, the UK has experienced race riots, a widening left-right political divide and growing rejection of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Tiny, toothy and mischievous, a peculiar-looking doll is taking the world by storm and causing chaos among shoppers across the UK.

Labubu is a "wildly popular keyring doll" that resembles a "crossover between a creature from 'Where the Wild Things Are' and an evil Teletubby", said The Independent. And thousands of adoring fans will  go to extreme lengths to get their hands on one.

'Eagerly stocking up'
The first Labubu dolls were designed by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung for his "Monsters" picture book series in 2015, said Mashable. The "turning point" came in 2019, when Lung struck a deal with Chinese toy "powerhouse" Pop Mart to turn his designs into "wildly collectible designer toys".

Labubu became a viral sensation after Lalisa Manobal, a member of K-pop sensations Blackpink, shared a photo of herself posing with a Labubu doll in April last year, and "single-handedly launched a Gen Z global fixation with the cuddly monster", said The Times.

Adding to the frenzy is the dolls' "blind box" packaging that ensures what is inside remains a secret until opened.  Collectors are "eagerly stocking up until they have full sets of the toys", while counterfeiters are cashing in with fake versions known as "Lafufu".

'Mass brawl'
A Labubu doll "dangles" from countless designer handbags, said Metro, and has been "spotted accompanying" a host of A-listers, from Rihanna to Dua Lipa. But if you're hoping to get your hands on one, prepare to enter a consumer "battlefield", said the Daily Mail. A "mass brawl" recently broke out at the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, east London, over the "must-have" accessory. Makers Pop Mart subsequently announced that the dolls were being pulled from its UK stores until June, to "prevent any potential safety issues".

Yet the "more viral and hyped an item becomes, the earlier adopters move on", said Vogue Business. Alice Brightmore, a fashion designer who began buying Labubus last year, told the magazine that she had stopped using them as bag charms due to their extreme virality. "Now everyone's got them, so I'm kind of a bit sick of seeing them."

Period dramas may be steeped in history but they never get old. From traditional "bodice and bonnet" costume dramas to bare-knuckle boxing in Victorian London, here are some of the best available to stream now.

Miss Austen
Following her sister's Jane's death, Cassandra Austen destroyed almost all of the author's letters. "Miss Austen" is told via "extended flashbacks" as Cassandra (Keeley Hawes) reads through the letters, with a "perfect performance" from Patsy Ferran as the younger Jane, said The Guardian's Lucy Mangan.
iPlayer

A Thousand Blows
A "rollickingly good" drama set in London's East End, "A Thousand Blows" is a "thieves-and-bare-knuckle-boxing" tale set in the 1880s, said The Times' Carol Midgley. The show brings to life not only "the grime, chaos, danger and cunning but also the sheer energy" of its setting, and Erin Doherty ("Adolescence") is "captivating" as a kind of "female Fagin".
Disney+

Pride and Prejudice
Three decades on, there's still "nothing to beat" the 1995 miniseries that "kicked off a generation's Jane Austen obsession", said House & Garden.
The nearly six-hour runtime leaves "far more room for world building" than other retellings of the same story and "gives its cast the time and space to really shine", said Vox's Tanya Pai.
iPlayer

Dickensian
Although it only ran for one series, this Charles Dickens mash-up was "ingeniously conceived and constructed", said The Telegraph's Michael Hogan. As well as being "blessed with some delightful character acting" from a cast that includes Anton Lesser as Fagin and Bethany Muir as Nancy (pictured above), the 2015 show touches on themes "far darker than one might imagine" with a "lightness of touch".
iPlayer

Has Brigitte Macron got away with 'le slap'?
Rowan Pelling in The Independent
There's something "profoundly, viscerally troubling about any kind of angry gesture directed towards a person's face", writes Rowan Pelling. But the Macrons' "shove-gate" is being "finessed away" as "harmless marital horseplay" because it's "woman-on-man anger". The "lingering laws of machismo" dictate that a man "brush off a slap or a shove" from a woman and that the French president would look "less statesmanlike" if it appeared his "petite wife was in the habit of pushing him around".

By delaying its child poverty plan, Labour has a chance to reverse 15 years of inequality
Gordon Brown in The Guardian
Some 4.5 million children are living in poverty, "victims" of the "long tail of Tory austerity", writes Gordon Brown. But "I know from my 10 years as chancellor" that next month's public spending statement can't "undo" this "damage". The "most cost-effective way" to reduce child poverty immediately is to lift the two-child benefit cap. "Fairness" is a "watchword of the British public", and the government must ensure "all children get the finest possible start in life". 

The Foreign Office is now a national embarrassment
Madeline Grant in The Telegraph
The "pillars of our public life" were once the "envy of the globe", writes Madeline Grant, but they're now "riddled" with the "rot" of "lanyardism". Our "front-line services" are being slashed in favour of "indolent clipboard-people" with "impenetrable" job titles, and the "precipitous decline" is most steep at the Foreign Office. Just look at the "Chagos insanity" and the "general lowering of standards" for diplomats, notably the abandonment of the "historic insistence on language skills".