More than half of households cite rising living costs as reason for not heating homes, while quarter of pensioners blame loss of winter fuel payments

More than 1.7 million households say they will not turn on their heating this winter, according to research by comparison site Uswitch. This has risen sharply from the 972,000 who said they took this drastic step last year.

The research reported that 55% of households cited rising living costs as the reason they would hold out on heating their homes, while a quarter of pensioners put it down to the loss of winter fuel payments , despite it being a potential health risk.

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From euphoric cold-water swimming to a headstone-istic wander through a cemetery, how to go deep on the cheap

• How much does dating cost – and who pays the bill?

You certainly don’t need to spend a fortune to have a fun and romantic time, whether it’s your first date or the 101st. There are lots of things you can do that are either free or won’t break the bank.

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Some dos and don’ts when it comes to portable heaters, electric blankets and real fires in winter

If you’re looking for ways to stay warm this winter, here are several checks you should make to stay safe.

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The best literary comfort reads rebuild our strength so we can face reality, argues novelist Francesca Segal. She picks her ultimate reading list – with help from Nick Hornby, Sathnam Sanghera and Naomi Alderman

“Life is short and the world / is at least half terrible,” observes the poet Maggie Smith. But which are the books to reach for when the terrible half is in the ascendant? I’ve come to treasure a particular category I’d define as the literary comfort novel: elegant and beautifully written stories that renew our faith in humanity, that leave us better than they found us, that work – and thus expand – the muscle of the heart. Lately, I’ve come to realise that I want to read one story: despite everything, it is going to be OK .

That “despite” is key. Solace is distinct from escape, and I’d define a literary comfort novel as distinct from pure escapism. I don’t want the narcotic and temporary palliative of the soap opera – without judgment, I should add – but, perhaps because I have been aged or wounded out of fairy stories, I want a more convincing consolation, grounded in real life. The best books rebuild our strength so we can face reality, and maybe even fight to change it. I don’t want briefly to suspend my disbelief. Instead, I long to believe again.

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When we met, Arlo was a charming and adventurous photographer. Then the pandemic hit and he fell for fake news, financial scams and flat-Earthers

It’s a unicorn of a summer’s day in 2020; the kind that demands factor 50 and flip-flops. I’m being driven around my neighbourhood by my husband, Arlo, my hair pulled up off my neck and a cool can of something fizzy in my hand. My daily medication has kicked in: a serotonin reuptake inhibitor that I’ve taken for 15 years to ease my low-level anxiety. Without it, I’m no longer sure I can stay with this man I have loved for 12 years. I am mute and smiling passively.

“There’s another one!” he points to the right. “At least it’s not disguised as a tree.” He shakes his head. “Do they think we’re idiots?”

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Cambridgeshire trial found workers’ performance improved and staff turnover fell, while London Underground also plans to introduce four-day week option

Councils will have the right to adopt a four-day working week after the government dropped concerns raised by the Conservatives when they were in power.

For more than a year, South Cambridgeshire district council has defied Conservative opposition to its policy to introduce a four-day working week, after a controversial 15-month trial indicated in March that the performance of its workers mostly improved or remained the same, while the council simultaneously saved more than £370,000 in a year.

Staff turnover fell by 39%, helping save £371,500 in a year, mostly on agency staff costs.

Regular household planning applications were decided about a week and a half earlier.

Approximately 15% more major planning application decisions were completed within the correct timescale.

The time taken to process changes to housing benefit and council tax benefit claims fell.

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The Oscar-tipped papal saga, starring Ralph Fiennes, offers all the thrills of an election … without the grim reality

Given, well … everything this week, you could be forgiven for never wanting to think about an election again. Which makes Conclave , a tense drama about the methodical, furtive, ruthless process of electing a new pope, sound like a tough sell for those reeling from the fact that over half the country voted for Donald Trump again . The film, starring Ralph Fiennes as the cardinal tasked with overseeing the sequestered voting bloc, embeds with the rarefied, insular elite of a storied and embattled institution – the Vatican – ostensibly concerned with the future of said institution. And its subjects are, fittingly, highly fallible men prone to bouts of detrimental self-interest, particularly in the power struggle of choosing a new leader.

And yet, this is movie I’ve been telling people to see this week, as a small act of buying time to think about anything other than our dismal national future, and as a portrait of how shifting circumstances can lead people’s decisions to places you would not initially predict. It’s not that the film, adapted by Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front) and Peter Straughan from the bestselling novel by Robert Harris, is escapist, per se. This fictional conclave has stakes that map on to the real world, be it for the Catholic church or US politics – broadly, a struggle between returning to (generally whitewashed) tradition and forward-thinking acceptance, between intolerance and tolerance, all second to individuals’ barely concealed ambition.

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Edwards taped message that became catchphrase and served as title of 1998 film starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan

Elwood Edwards, who voiced AOL’s “You’ve got mail” greeting, has died, aged 74.

Edwards died on Tuesday at his home in New Bern, North Carolina, his daughter Heather Edwards said. The cause was complications from a stroke late last year, she said.

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Award given to next of kin of more than 30 public servants after campaign by fathers of murdered police officers

More than 30 former firefighters, police officers and other public servants who died in the line of duty have become the first recipients of an award in recognition of their service.

The Elizabeth Emblem, named after the late queen, will be awarded to the next of kin of those who died in public service. Among those honoured are PCs Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone, who were murdered by Dale Cregan in Greater Manchester in 2012.

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