Exclusive: British Chambers of Commerce president calls for overhaul of business rates and greater powers for local leaders

• How Middleton’s revival could inspire struggling towns

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Andy Burnham has been urged by one of his most senior former advisers to tax internet sales more heavily than in-store purchases to help “level the playing field” for struggling high streets.

As the prime minister and his chancellor, John Healey, prepare for their first budget next week, Andy Haldane joined calls for action to stop more shops closing across the UK.

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© Composite: Guardian Design

© Composite: Guardian Design

© Composite: Guardian Design

Each place, selected from longlist of nine, will be given £125,000 to develop bids before winner is announced in new year

Blackpool, Sheffield, Milton Keynes and Wrexham have been shortlisted to be the UK city of culture 2029, an award viewed as a way to boost local economies, foster civic pride and, above all, have some fun.

The four places were chosen from a longlist of nine and each will be given £125,000 to develop their bids before the winner is announced in the new year.

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© Photograph: Jon D/Alamy

© Photograph: Jon D/Alamy

© Photograph: Jon D/Alamy

Nation’s favourite play makes London comeback amid renewed debate about future of humanities teaching

The History Boys is to return to the West End for the first time in two decades, with a warning from its director of an “almost terminal decline” in humanities teaching in state schools.

Nicholas Hytner, who directed Alan Bennett’s play at the National Theatre and its 2006 film adaptation, said the themes of education, history and the value of literature for its own sake felt especially relevant amid renewed debate about what schools should teach.

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© Photograph: REX/Donald Cooper

© Photograph: REX/Donald Cooper

© Photograph: REX/Donald Cooper

England and Wales judges to be able to keep inmates in cells for longer or stop visits if they refuse to face victims’ families in court

Offenders who refuse to face their victims’ families in court for sentencing could be stripped of privileges or kept in cells for weeks under government changes granting wider powers to judges in England and Wales.

The imposition of new prison sanctions, coming into effect next year, builds on existing laws that order offenders to attend sentencing or face a fine or be jailed for a further two years for contempt of court.

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© Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

© Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

© Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

Grocer launches Cricklewood store as part of £1bn investment plan, with Hale Barns, Greater Manchester, to follow next month

As part of a £1bn investment plan, Waitrose has chosen Cricklewood in north London as the location for its first supermarket in eight years.

The upmarket grocer will open the store on Thursday and another supermarket in Hale Barns, Greater Manchester, next month. It also plans four smaller stores next year, including a supermarket in Oakham, Rutland, and three convenience stores in Bedminster (Bristol), Chalk Farm (London) and Springstead Village (Cambridge).

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© Photograph: Mike Kemp/In Pictures/Getty Images

© Photograph: Mike Kemp/In Pictures/Getty Images

© Photograph: Mike Kemp/In Pictures/Getty Images

Brand, 51, faces three charges of rape, three of sexual assault and one of indecent assault against six women

A woman said Russell Brand degraded her and treated her like “a piece of meat” when he raped her at his London townhouse, a court has heard.

She alleged she repeatedly begged the 51-year-old comedian to stop the assault which left her bleeding for days and in pain.

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© Photograph: Ben Montgomery/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ben Montgomery/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ben Montgomery/Getty Images

Consumer prices rise by more than expected while government’s debt interest payments surge to record high for September

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Inflation surged to 3.5% last month while the government deficit was a worse-than-forecast £24.5bn, in a double dose of bad news for John Healey before next week’s budget.

The Office for National Statistics said annual inflation rose from 3.1% in August, overshooting City forecasts of a rise in the consumer prices index (CPI) to 3.4%, as a result of the surging cost of fuel.

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© Photograph: Bryn Colton/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bryn Colton/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bryn Colton/Getty Images

Pippa Boardman said she lost her dignity through data breach at Royal Cornwall hospital by man she barely knew

A woman was told she had cancer by a hospital employee she barely knew who had accessed her medical records days before she was due to receive test results from her consultant.

Pippa Boardman said she lost her dignity and privacy through the data breach at the Royal Cornwall hospital in Truro.

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© Photograph: Jen Smith

© Photograph: Jen Smith

© Photograph: Jen Smith

Volunteers and new recruits come together for ‘wikithon’ to put more detail about industry into public domain

“Anyone can edit Wikipedia,” the adage goes. But, it turns out, a relatively small number actually do.

What is worthy of a digital page in the world’s largest and most-read encyclopedia is decided by roughly 270,000 active volunteers, enthusiasts who populate the online resource with information on anything from 19th-century medicine to TikTok trends. Inevitably, some subjects are sidelined – the global south, notable women – but a new batch of Wikipedian recruits are waging war on one neglected topic: the arms industry.

Last week, in a classroom in central London, two dozen volunteers huddled around laptops and free servings of vegan Ethiopian food for what is known as a “wikithon”, an event of collective and in-person Wikipedia editing. Some were veteran editors in their 70s, others young students who had never registered an account before. But their targets include subjects such as Palantir, Project Maven and Nitro-Chem.

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© Photograph: Lily Renshaw/The Guardian

© Photograph: Lily Renshaw/The Guardian

© Photograph: Lily Renshaw/The Guardian

Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced a campaign against listening to music or videos without headphones on public transportation. We asked London commuters to weigh in.

© Hannah McKay/Reuters

The counterterrorism police investigating a threat against an English air base used by U.S. bombers said the two men were working on behalf of Iran.

© Toby Shepheard/Reuters

Woman says alleged assault at comedian’s London home was one of most painful experiences of her life

A woman has said she “couldn’t speak or breathe” when Russell Brand raped her at his London townhouse after picking her out from a crowd after one of his gigs, a court has heard.

She said the comedian looked “horrified” after the alleged attack so she assumed he would apologise but instead he told her: “Clear up the mess you’ve made.”

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© Photograph: Jeff Moore/PA

© Photograph: Jeff Moore/PA

© Photograph: Jeff Moore/PA

About 20,000 cats were taken into charity’s care last year, an increase driven in part by pet hoarders

There is a cat crisis in rescue centres across the country, the RSPCA has said, as abandoned felines now outnumber dogs in the charity’s shelters.

Cats are arriving in RSPCA centres faster than they can be rehomed, and the charity is asking people across England and Wales to consider adopting. Pet owners are being urged to neuter their cats as kittens are increasingly being found dumped in perilous conditions.

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© Photograph: Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images

Yellow severe weather warning issued for first named storm of season with gusts of up to 60mph expected

The first named storm of the season, Austen, is expected to bring gusts of up to 60mph to southern areas of the UK at the end of the week, forecasters said.

While there would be spells of rain and showers for many on Tuesday and Wednesday, by Thursday Storm Austen would be approaching the south-west of the UK, the Met Office said.

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© Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

© Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

© Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

Selina Cartmell announces season including Stockport-set version of Phaedra myth by Simon Stephens

A theatre boss has promised to channel the “pioneering spirit of Manchester” and be “brave and fearless” as she unveiled a new season of work, two years after a deeply damaging censorship row.

Selina Cartmell, the artistic director of the Royal Exchange in Manchester, revealed details of 2027-28 productions that include a retelling of the Munich air disaster and a modern Stockport-set version of the ancient Greek myth Phaedra.

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© Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

© Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

© Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

Transport hub will offer through trains between Leeds and Manchester with ‘turn-up-and-go’ service

A new railway station will be built in Bradford to “transform how people travel across the north”, the government has announced.

The station will be at the heart of the Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) scheme, built on the current Bradford Interchange site but allowing through trains between Leeds and Manchester.

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© Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

© Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

© Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Plans to build one of Europe’s largest data centers in Devon have been met by strong opposition from residents, as environmental concerns grow.

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Drivers to get five minutes to decide whether to park and 10 minutes to leave after their session ends

Drivers will get a guaranteed five minutes to decide whether to park and 10 minutes to leave after their parking session ends before they face a fine under new rules for private car parks that Andy Burnham said were designed to outlaw “rip-off” charges.

In the latest in a series of “everyday fixes” to ease the cost of living and give consumers a “fairer” deal, the prime minister said a new official code of practice for the industry meant motorists in England, Scotland and Wales would enjoy a range of new rights.

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© Photograph: Ian Lamond/Alamy

© Photograph: Ian Lamond/Alamy

© Photograph: Ian Lamond/Alamy

American warship sank in 1944 with approximately 1,400 tonnes of munitions onboard

A sunken US wartime ship in the Thames estuary holding enough unexploded bombs to devastate a Kent coastal town and send a tidal wave through London has been made slightly safer, ministers have announced.

Engineers have removed the masts of the SS Richard Montgomery – a second world war cargo ship that sank in 1944 with approximately 1,400 tonnes of munitions onboard – without triggering the kind of feared explosion that has kept the wreck under constant guard for decades.

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© Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

© Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

© Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Concerns financial contracts known as derivatives were incorrectly logged, potentially boosting Barclays’ profits

The Bank of England is reportedly looking into Barclays’ handling of loans linked to the embattled private credit sector.

The Bank’s regulatory arm, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), started reviewing the matter this year after concerns were raised by a Barclays insider, according to the Financial Times.

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© Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

© Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

© Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters