Police are investigating the activities of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell when they stayed at Balmoral. The Scottish Daily Express says the enquiries relate to claims of women being “trafficked” to the royal estate, possibly in relation to a visit in 2006. Police Scotland have emphasised that the investigation is at a “very early stage”. Cryptocurrency giant Binance has been hit by the largest heist in history, with a total haul worth around $6.3bn. The crypto exchange says it has frozen $3bn of the affected assets and will cover all other losses. Experts think the most likely culprit is a North Korean hacking unit called TraderTraitor. Patrick Stewart has died aged 86. Famous for his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek, the British actor also appeared to great acclaim in more than 60 productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Sir Ian McKellen led the tributes, calling Stewart the “most respected and beloved actor of his generation”.

It’s not often that Hollywood stars come out with something so perceptive it stops you in your tracks, says Celia Walden in The Telegraph. But Sacha Baron Cohen, while promoting his new mockumentary Ali G: Who Iz I?, said he wanted the film to show the danger of “virtuous violence”. It’s a chillingly accurate description of one of the most disturbing contradictions of our age. Take France right now. For weeks, rioters have been intimidating ordinary shopkeepers, attacking police, setting historic buildings alight and looting thousands of businesses in pursuit of “justice and equality”. The moral bottom line for these protesters is that injuring a policeman or stealing a €3,000 Yves Saint Laurent bag is acceptable as long as you’re “on the side of the angels”.

This “virtuous violence” is being embraced across the West. To this day, some liberals still defend the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and mock his widow online. When Brian Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare chief, was shot dead in 2024, writers actually published “he had it coming” pieces. Watch disagreements on any of the hot-button issues of the day erupt online, and the “virtuous” are invariably the first to unleash a violent verbal assault, calling anyone who thinks differently racist, misogynist, a transphobe or a bigot. What’s curious is that the aggression is often far worse than the original injustice. JK Rowling, for example, has been threatened with bodily harm, death, rape and torture, “all in the name of tolerance”. We are living in an age obsessed with compassion and inclusivity. But if those things can’t be extended to someone who doesn’t share your ideologies, our supposed moral progress amounts to nothing.

All the talk in Westminster is about whether Andy Burnham will call an early election, says Stephen Glover in the Daily Mail. The truth is that if he doesn’t, he must be “stark, raving bonkers”. The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that household disposable income will fall this year, and not even the “wildest optimist” would think 2028 or 2029 will be any better. Polling-wise, the right remains divided and the PM is smart enough to know the “Burnham Bounce” won’t last forever. An imminent return to the polls looks “inevitable”.

Back in the days when airline check-in staff could upgrade you at will, says Kate Reardon in Times Luxx, I had a little trick. I’d walk up to them with an “ostentatiously” large box of chocolates and say: “Last time I came through here one of your colleagues incredibly kindly upgraded me. I can’t remember her name but could you put these in your break area for everyone, just as a small thank you?” The check-in lady always knew I was lying. But more often than not she’d give me a “motherly smile”, and I’d spend the next few hours living it up in Club class. Truly a golden age.

Gadi Eisenkot, Benjamin Netanyahu’s main challenger at this week’s Israeli election, reflected recently on what military service taught him about leadership, says William Galston in The Wall Street Journal. “When things go well, put the people who made it happen out front,” he said. “When things go wrong, step forward and take responsibility.” It’s a remarkably old-fashioned view. Netanyahu has never accepted responsibility for the security failures in the years and days leading up to the devastating attack on October 7. Joe Biden has never admitted that his decision to seek a second presidential term was disastrous, nor taken any responsibility for it. Leaders weren’t always like this.

Before D-Day, General Dwight D Eisenhower drafted a statement in case the mission failed, praising the “bravery and devotion to duty” of the troops and taking full personal responsibility. After the doomed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, President John F Kennedy could easily have blamed the CIA, which assured him the mission would spark an uprising against Fidel Castro, or the military advisers who told him the plan had a “fair chance of ultimate success”. Instead, he blamed himself: “I am the responsible officer of the government.” And in February 2000, when George W Bush lost the New Hampshire primary to John McCain by a wide margin, he didn’t blame his campaign staff – he told them they had all done their jobs well, and that “this is on me”. Members of his team say his attitude reinvigorated their efforts and reinforced their loyalty to the man who had shown loyalty to them. Blaming others is a sign of weak character that should disqualify anyone from holding public office. If only it did.

Young women are obsessed with buying diamonds on TikTok, says Emma Childs in The Cut. Live auctions are happening on the app at almost all hours of the day, with the gems going for hugely discounted prices. “This is a $3,000 stone,” says one online seller, waving around a three-carat diamond. “Someone better snipe this.” After a 20-second bidding frenzy, another user secured it for just $317. The stones are all lab-grown and never come with an accompanying setting, but the auctions rack up hundreds of bids. “They’re the girl version of fantasy football,” says one fan, “only they’re more addicting.”

Another day, says Marina Hyde on Substack, another senior Reform figure refusing to condemn Nigel Farage’s close ally Raheem Kassam for describing Kemi Badenoch as a “Nigerian scammer”. This failure to take responsibility helps explain one of Farage’s biggest issues: his relative lack of support among women. The Reform leader is clearly the sort of man who thinks “saying sorry makes him the smaller person”. And that’s indicative of character. I’ve always thought voters subconsciously imagine what politicians would be like around the house. Whatever you think about Kemi Badenoch or Andy Burnham, they’d probably take the bins out or wipe down the counter rather than automatically leaving it to you. Farage? No chance.

It’s a pumpkin sculpted by Mike Valladao, known as the “Picasso of Pumpkin Carvers”, says Terry Chea in AP News. The California tech engineer, who also goes by “Farmer Mike”, has been chiselling spooky faces into autumn gourds for more than four decades. He stumbled into the hobby after growing large pumpkins at home and not knowing what to do with them, and says he has no plans to stop. “It’s fun, it’s enjoyable, and, quite frankly, it’s a piece of me.” To see more of his ghoulish creations, click here.