Angela Rayner is a picture of misery but Dr Kemi passes up open goal | John Crace

You could argue that prime minister’s questions is no longer fit for purpose. Indeed, that it never really has been. Just a theatre showcase for some performance politics where few answers are ever extracted from the prime minister.To which you might now add that the Tories are not the real opposition. So Kemi Badenoch is essentially an impostor

Rachel Reeves can’t resist the short-termist narrative of the bond markets | Letters

On Tuesday, it was “Pressure rises on Reeves”, last Friday it was “a lift” for the chancellor (29 August). Before that, it was a “challenge” for Rachel Reeves (12 August)(22 July), a “gloomy autumn” (22 July)“UK economy shrinks unexpectedly in blow to Rachel Reeves” (14 March) and a “generational shift” in investment (10 June). Reeves must  feel like Mary Earps, keeping goal with balls flying at her from multiple directions! But the more serious take on this is the tendency for the media, including the Guardian, to push the narrative of a fragile economy whose health is subject to very short-term, daily events.This is a narrative derived from the bond markets, which strive to reduce long-term stability to short-term volatility in order to multiply transactional opportunities. The time has long passed to exert the kinds of control on “casino capitalism” that were scrapped in the 1970s, and to reassert the priority of long-term thinking

Keir Starmer’s delivery is one nobody wants | Brief letters

“Delivery, delivery, delivery” is the politics of online shopping (Keir Starmer may have just served up the worst political slogan of all time, 2 September). You order something you desperately want, take a leap of faith in the courier, the tracking information is baffling, the wrong parcel is delivered, your parcel is thrown over the hedge a week later, it’s damaged and unrecognisable; you lack the will to re-order.Helen Datson (with apologies to our efficient local couriers)Spelsbury, Oxfordshire Re Simon Hattenstone’s article on the “worst slogan”: what on earth happened to Change?David MorrissLondon I agree with your letter writer that runner beans have certainly been tricky this year (27 August) but at least my five-year-old olive tree is covered in fruit.Ross BalzarettiNottingham After your correspondence on planting pages of publications with different vegetables (2 September), presumably the Lancet is best for pulses.Adrian BrodkinLondon On matching newspapers to crops, dare I say the Sun is necessary for all of them?John EvansChalford Hill, Gloucestershire What infuriates me most about energy drinks (‘No place in children’s hands’: under-16s in England to be banned from buying energy drinks, 2 September) is that the beverages never seem to give those who drink them sufficient energy to take their empty cans to the bin

Can Keir Starmer afford to sack Angela Rayner over her stamp duty error?

Keir Starmer has a hard-won reputation for ruthlessness when it comes to dispensing with ministers who cause the government embarrassment. But the future of his deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, is the toughest call of its kind.Every time Starmer has been confronted with this kind of decision since the very early days of his leadership, his instinct has been to cut loose.But his praise for Rayner was extravagant at prime minister’s questions and sympathetic about her family circumstances that led to the error on stamp duty. Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has refused to join the chorus calling for her resignation

Justice secretary suggests Jenrick risked collapse of murder trial with tweet

The justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has suggested that her Tory counterpart, Robert Jenrick, was guilty of “risking the collapse of trial”, after he was criticised in court for tweeting about a criminal case.Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, posted on social media about a murder trial a week after it had begun, making comments that the judge said were “ill thought through”.The Liverpool Echo reported that Jenrick’s tweet, described as “appalling, outrageous and egregious” by the defence counsel, was raised in court during the trial because of fears it could prejudice proceedings and amount to contempt of courtOn Wednesday, speaking to the House of Lords constitution committee about the rule of law, Mahmood said: “I do think that it’s incumbent on politicians of all stripes to play their part in maintaining the integrity of our system.“Certainly, if a Labour politician, and somebody whose behaviour I could more directly influence through our party structures was, for example, risking the collapse of a trial, it [sic] would be repercussions.“Needless to say, no parliamentarian should be risking a contempt [of court] and the possibility of a murderer walking free

Angela Rayner flat controversy: how did it happen and how damaging is it?

Angela Rayner has acknowledged for the first time that she had not paid enough stamp duty when she bought an £800,000 flat in Hove earlier this summer.But how was the mistake made, and what does it mean for her political future? We look at six questions that remain outstanding regarding the deputy prime minister’s finances and position in the cabinet.When she bought the £800,000 property in May, she paid the standard rate of stamp duty, estimated to be £30,000, rather than the higher rate for second homes, which would have been as much as £70,000.She says the reason she did so was that she had in January put her stake in her constituency home in Greater Manchester into a trust, with her children as the beneficiaries. Because she had removed her name from the deed of the house, she was advised that she no longer counted as the owner of the property and therefore could classify the Hove flat as her only dwelling