We visit Wakefield’s rhubarb triangle, Britannia’s westernmost amphitheatre in Carmarthen, and Colne - home of Monty Python’s favourite cobblestones
• Where tourists seldom tread, parts 1-12

Actors say “rhubarb” to appear to be chatting. It’s easy to say the word quietly. Here in the national capital of this tasty perennial the stalks are – right now – growing, blushing, sweetening silently in the dark. The harvest season starts in mid-February, when shed doors are prised open and the gathering-in commences, by candlelight.

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Detective Sergeant David Mackie says he believed Tobias Moran knew police were likely secretly recording him

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Police sent undercover officers to elicit a confession from the former boyfriend of backpacker Simone Strobel, but the lead detective on the case believes the then-murder suspect “twigged” to their efforts.

Strobel’s naked body was found hidden under palm fronds at a sportsground in Lismore, in the New South Wales northern rivers region, in February 2005, six days after she was reported missing.

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A Saigon cheerleader, a goal-hanging dad and a 90-year-old party princess make up the subjects of this year’s most forward-thinking portraiture award

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He walked into the room at my singles dinner party and everything stopped. After years of stop-start relationships and a broken engagement, he led me to a happier world

When I got engaged in 2002, I was 33. Somehow, after growing up on a self-sufficient farm in the 1970s, I had bolted to London at 17 and ended up in the fast lane as a freelance journalist, writing about sex, parties and cars. My 20s were full of stop-start love affairs and crazy jobs. I was unsure of who I was, scared, fun-seeking, defensively cynical and desperate to write, and I suspect I wasn’t entirely lovable or reliable. But after meeting my fiance I thought I was on the home straight to a wedding and kids.

About a year into our engagement, I pitched an idea to a women’s magazine. What if I hosted a dinner party for 12 single people to “see what happens”? The magazine agreed, saying they’d confirm the details later in the summer.

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It took authorities more than a day to release details of the incident, in which a man drove his car into a crowd, killing 35 people

In the hours since a 63-year-old man rammed his car into a sports centre in Zhuhai, killing 35 people and severely injuring 43 others, questions have swirled on Chinese social media about why it took authorities so long to reveal the details.

The driver, identified by his family name of Fan, was discovered in the car with self-inflicted knife wounds to his neck. Police said their preliminary investigation suggested he was dissatisfied with the split of assets in his divorce.

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Despicable Me 4 tie-in smells more like popcorn while a waddling duck and an interactive pet monkey also feature

A “fart blaster” with a repertoire of 15 sounds that blasts “fog fart rings” and a waddling mother duck are among the toys destined to appear on Christmas lists as experts predict a “record-breaking” year for sales.

At £30, the Despicable Me 4 spin-off toy promises to be a talking point on Christmas Day. It comes with two scents: banana and “fart”. Mercifully, on a day when the nation eats brussels sprouts, the latter smells more like burnt popcorn.

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Is Russia really using sea creatures for surveillance? Plus: it’s been 10 years since award-winning series Our War. Here’s what to watch this evening

9pm, BBC Two

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Global Carbon Budget report finds emissions from fossil fuels will rise to another record high this year

It’s day three of Cop29 here in Baku and more global leaders will take to the stage, including Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Pakistan’s Shehbaz Sharif. The aim is to spur negotiators towards a strong deal by setting out the stark impacts of the climate crisis and the “terrible truth” brought by Spain’s Pedro Sánchez and by Mohamed Muizzu from the Maldives did just that.

The president of host nation Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev took a different tack and said his nation’s oil and gas was a “ gift from God ”.

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After the initial magic wears off, I struggle with intimacy. I’m starting to think there’s something wrong with me

I’m a 27-year-old woman. Each of my relationships starts out with a new, exciting honey moon stage, which eventually gives way to me not caring about sex . Life gets in the way, with the kids and family problems , but why am I never, ever aroused like before? I have a recent disability that causes me pain , which isn’t helping the situation with my current partner. But I’m at the point where I think there’s something wrong internally, such as hormonal issues. I’m only 27, so getting a professional to check this out is nearly impossible.

Pain will certainly diminish sexual desire, so at the moment it is not surprising that you do not feel desirous or have difficulty becoming aroused or achieving orgasm.

Pamela Stephenson Connolly is a US-based psychotherapist who specialises in treating sexual disorders.

If you would like advice from Pamela on sexual matters, send us a brief description of your concerns to private.lives@theguardian.com (please don’t send attachments). Each week, Pamela chooses one problem to answer, which will be published online. She regrets that she cannot enter into personal correspondence. Submissions are subject to our terms and conditions .

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