Liz Truss “was always best understood as the eternal rebel”, says Iain Martin in The Times: first a teenage Lib Dem “working to axe the monarchy”, then a “hyper-individualistic libertarian Conservative radical”. But she only won the Tory leadership contest because party members had doubts about Rishi Sunak – there was no real mandate, as she mistakenly assumed, for her “cartoonish” economics. Now her hubris has undone her, the Tories’ “only honourable option” is to focus on the national interest. The PM will likely fall before the end of the year and be replaced by Sunak, who must lead a “sombre, responsible government” that makes the tax rises which are unfortunately necessary. The best he, or any new leader, can hope to do is hand over the country at the next election “in a moderately better condition” than Truss has left it.

The internet was treated to “one of its favourite things” this week, says Molly Roberts in The Washington Post: the story of a celebrity behaving badly. Even better, the protagonist was archetypal “Mr Nice Guy” James Corden. The chat show host has crafted a reputation as a happy-go-lucky everyman, never more content than when singing karaoke in traffic with his famous pals. Well, that doesn’t square with Keith McNally’s view. The owner of the fancy Balthazar restaurant in New York says Corden is “the most abusive customer” he has ever served. McNally says the “tiny cretin” lambasted staff over “a little bit of egg white” in an egg-yolk omelette, shouting “You can’t do your job!” in a waitress’s face. He only calmed down when given free champagne.