Brand’s strange journey from darling of the left to cancelled crank makes for an informed podcast, while a power imbalance impairs rock groupies’ tales. Plus, writer Katherine Rundell on the power of children’s fiction

Origin Story: Russell Brand – Confidence Man ( Podmasters )
Lost Notes: Groupies: Women of the Sunset Strip from the Pill to Punk ( KCRW )
The Lion, the Witch and the Wonder (Radio 4) | BBC Sounds

Origin Story , a podcast about understanding politics (topics covered: centrism, George Orwell, No 10, among others), has just launched its sixth series. The opening episode is a 90-minute show on that renowned political powerhouse Russell Brand. Which may seem odd, but hosts Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey use Brand in a way, you could argue, that Brand has used others: as a means of getting somewhere. They look at his slide from darling of the left into gesticulating, never-off, “just asking questions” internet charlatan, and draw conclusions about why politics (big politics, presidential politics) has ended up splashing about with the conspiracy theorists.

In the early 1980s, while working as an apprentice animator at Disney, a young Tim Burton channelled his creative energies into personal projects. One of these was this series of extravagantly decorated numbers, created for an unpublished children’s book; they were later repurposed as chapter headings for The Art of Tim Burton , a 2009 book bringing together 40 years of his artistry. “Anthropomorphic creatures feature heavily across Burton’s work,” says Maria McLintock, curator of a new exhibition displaying more than 600 Tim Burton designs and objects including costumes and storyboards. “He sketches voraciously, often engrossed in a pocket-sized sketchbook with a small watercolour kit in tow. The genesis of almost every shot in his films is a drawing.”

• The World of Tim Burton is at the Design Museum, London, 25 October to 21 April 2025

The singer is the latest casualty of an industry that thrusts fame on children too young to cope

Sex, drinking, smoking, gambling, joining the army, being put to work – we now take it as obvious that there should be strict laws protecting young people from certain parts of the adult world.

Of course there should. Young brains are soft, excitable and easily addled. There are many things they should be sheltered from, and some choices that should not be theirs to make.

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Bournemouth make three changes from their frustrating defeat at Leicester before the international break. Julian Araujo, Alex Scott and Dango Ouattara come in for Adam Smith, Ryan Christie and Justin Kluivert.

Bukayo Saya is absent from the Arsenal squad because of a hamstring problem. Leandro Trossard replaces him in one of four changes from the win over Southampton a fortnight ago. The summer signing Mikel Merino makes his first league start and Ben White returns to the starting XI. Jorginho and Gabriel Jesus drop to the bench.

A row over technical regulations is burning in the build-up to the US Grand Prix with Red Bull and their rivals showing intense desire to gain the edge

Fans are of course forgiven for switching off when , with accusation and counter-accusation regarding the rather innocuous sounding element known as the “bib” or, with even more bucolic innocence the “tea tray” .

Yet these forays into sniping over the rules, much as they do not stir the sporting soul, do matter. Especially in a tightly contested championship battle as this season has now become. The tiniest margin might make a difference and the two teams locked in battle, McLaren and Red Bull, know this. Bibtray-gate illustrates how the title protagonists are leveraging anything they can for an advantage, while Red Bull’s Christian Horner and McLaren’s Zak Brown, are rekindling what is already a rather healthy antagonism.

Former guerillas were accused of 1989 killing, but supporters say government wants to intimidate activists

Six former guerrillas, whose trial for a civil war-era murder was criticised by fellow environmentalists as politicised, have been acquitted by a court in El Salvador.

Prosecutors had sought up to 36 years in prison for the former rebels of the hard-left Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front.

Vice-president is hosting a get-out-the-vote event in Detroit for the city’s first day of early voting, alongside Michigan-born rapper Lizzo

Harris is panicking over the Black male vote – but polls don’t show full picture

With the US election only 17 days away, Kamala Harris is courting one demographic with particular fervor: Black male voters.

Bunker built in 1950s has no electricity or running water, but could be used as a wine cellar, auctioneer suggests

Online auctions are usually filled with fragile antiques and niche memorabilia that ought not to be touched. Those looking for something a bit more durable are now in luck.

An underground bunker with no running water or electricity but built to help survive a nuclear attack is to go on sale next month.

Stopping to look ‘under the bonnet’ of the nation’s finances is all well and good, but how long does it take so see the engine’s knackered?

And still there’s another 10 days to go. After 15 bumpy weeks, will this budget ever come? The nation remains in the back of chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Ford Mondeo, moaning: “Are we there yet?”

“No – not yet, have another Fruit-tella,” snaps Reeves.