Hurley arrives in Pied Piper territory with her daughter to take a teaching job at a creepy private school. Soon enough the town’s infamous rodent problem starts being an issue

The premise for this horror exercise is a potent notion, one that might have yielded a chilling work of Mitteleuropean folk horror: the Pied Piper of Hamelin is a supernatural being still kicking around the German town, luring children to their deaths as punishment for parents’ sins. Unfortunately, the film-makers fluff the brief, with too much showing and telling and not enough simmering mystery. That said, the end result is so comically tawdry and silly you can’t but wonder if its all a bit of a tongue-in-cheek goof, a gag that Elizabeth Hurley at least seems to be in on, judging by her ripe, almost-winking performance. Let’s hope she had fun shooting it and got to keep some of the lush knitted jumpers her character wears throughout.

Hurley plays Liz Haines, a high school history teacher who arrives in Hamelin with her American-accented teenage daughter Amy (Mia Jenkins) to take a job at a local private school. Part of the deal is that mother and daughter get not only a free school place for Amy but also a medieval house to stay in. Later, it turns out to have been occupied by another teacher whose child we see killing himself in the opening scene. Soon Amy’s fingers are being nibbled by rats in the night, while other rodents bedevil Liz in the kitchen, scurrying about despite a colleague’s insistence that the town has no rats whatsoever.

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Drugs, war, apartheid and the environment are some of the themes covered in the book Propagandopolis , which charts a century of efforts to influence and control

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A dark fantasy in the vein of Alan Garner, a raw but hopeful tale of teenage alcoholism, and a cosy romcom with a neurodivergent angle are among this month’s selection

Liz Hyder won the older readers’ category in the Waterstones children’s book prize for her memorable debut Bearmouth . Now, in The Twelve (Pushkin), Kit and her friend Story must travel back in time to find Kit’s sister, who goes missing close to an ancient stone circle on the eve of the winter solstice. Channelling the dark menace of classic British fantasy writers such as Susan Cooper and Alan Garner , this is a beguiling tale of ancient magic, good and evil, deeply rooted in the Welsh landscape. Haunting illustrations by Tom de Freston add to the eerie atmosphere.

Jandy Nelson weaves an unforgettable tapestry of love, loss and magic realism in When the World Tips Over (Walker). Following the sudden departure of their father many years earlier, the three Fall siblings still bear scars and the arrival of a rainbow-haired stranger triggers a tumultuous emotional journey for each of them. Nelson’s lyrical writing has a folksy, dreamy quality in this rewarding and complex multigenerational epic, which spans more than 500 pages.

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Our buyer’s lender has pulled out because the charge rises with the property’s rising value. Now the delay risks collapsing the whole chain

We found a buyer for our leasehold flat, but on the day of exchange their lender declined to offer a mortgage, despite having previously agreed in principle. The reason was a provision in the lease for the ground rent, currently £200 per annum, to be amended every 25 years according to the market value of the property. We had no trouble securing a mortgage when we purchased the property, and it has not prevented sales of other flats in the building. We have subsequently spent thousands in legal fees trying to secure a deed of variation on the leasehold agreement to amend the ground rent clause but this has been endlessly held up by the freeholder. We now stand to lose our onward purchase.

RC, London

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Labour market is in pretty good shape, but signs of cooling could be a headache for the chancellor

• UK unemployment rises as pay growth slows
• Business live – latest updates

For the past few years only cursory attention has been paid to the unemployment figures because the jobless rate has been low and there have been plenty of unfilled vacancies for those seeking work. But, thanks to a slowing economy and decisions made by Rachel Reeves in last month’s budget, that could be about to change.

For the next few months every release on the state of the labour market will be scrutinised to see what impact two announcements made by Reeves last month are having on jobs.

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Keir Starmer can show UK is ‘open for business’, says former Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane

• Business live – latest updates

The UK can strike a US trade deal with Donald Trump while also rebuilding EU relations after Brexit to cement its status as a “beacon of stability” in an increasingly volatile world, a leading economist has said.

Andy Haldane , the former Bank of England chief economist, said Keir Starmer’s government could show the UK was “open for business at a time when so much else of the world is looking inward – whether to the EU, or the US, it could really pay dividends”.

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Figures suggest cooling of job market amid concerns over increase in employers’ national insurance contributions

• Business live – latest updates

The UK’s jobs market has shown further signs of cooling after a rise in unemployment in September while pay growth slowed.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the rate of unemployment rose to 4.3% in the three months to September, up from 4% the previous quarter.

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Comments from Israel Katz follow remarks from fellow minister yesterday that ‘certain progress’ had been made

Overnight Israel has announced the deaths of four soldiers in combat in the northern Gaza Strip.

The IDF says that “since the beginning of ground operations in the Gaza Strip on 27 October 2023, 373 soldiers have fallen in combat.”

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Fans of the women’s game have had to wait for merchandise such as collectable stickers and demand is intense as a result

Gripped in the pocket of my Adidas joggers was a little stack of stickers with an elastic band around it. Flicking down the edge of the bundle with my finger I would glance at the huddle of boys trading the hottest commodity in the playground with a nervousness that was enough to hold me back from even trying to join in.

I could play football, sure, that was the easy part, but could I talk their talk, did I know football? Of course I did. I watched it, I played it, I read the back pages, but it never felt like I belonged. And so, my little stack of swaps remained unswapped, shinies unshared, and my pocket money was depleted week on week as I spent it desperately trying to accrue my missing targets, never completing a book.

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