Dessert-trolley gourmands have dominated perfumery for years, but there are signature scents to be found for those lacking a sweet tooth

Fragrances are traditionally separated into families – floral, woody, opulent and so on – according to their predominant notes, characteristics and identifying structure. You could argue that this way of classifying scents is outmoded and limiting, if it weren’t for the outright commercial dominance of those from the gourmand family (sweet, edible-smelling notes such as honey, caramel and candy floss) in modern perfumery. Millennials and gen Z love them, making the creation of dessert-trolley scents a licence to print money for a good five years now. Which makes my admiration all the greater for Hermès and their decision to defy the market and make their first major fragrance in several years a chypre called Barenia.

Fragrances from the chypre (pronounced SHEEP-ruh) family are characterised by a mossy, drier, often warm feel, and by their trademark use of oak moss, patchouli, bergamot and labdanum notes. They’re probably the least commercial fragrances in the modern market and – ever with my finger on the pulse of the zeitgeist – my personal favourites. But while Barenia (£70, 30ml) honours the traditional chypre notes, there’s nothing old-fashioned about it. It has a clarity, vigour and enlivening freshness at first sniff (I get ginger ale, silky soap lather and a twist of aniseed) before it drops into a gentler, airy, more mellow feel, like a warm breeze through an indoor spice market.

Speaking from his jail cell, the former superstar cricketer had told the Guardian he would be willing to engage with army leadership

Pakistan’s military has no intention of entering into negotiations or cutting a deal with incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan, senior military sources told the Guardian, after Khan said he would be willing to engage with the army leadership from his jail cell.

Khan, who is being held in Pakistan’s Adiala jail, is banned from meeting journalists but the Guardian was able to submit questions through his legal team.

A wonderful but thoroughly conventional celebration of the science of evolution

All things must pass, but some leave legacies. That is the story of life on Earth. Fossilised remains of organisms represent just one of the various treasure troves of information about how life used to be, one set of clues to why it is the way it is today. In the early 20th century, genes entered the storehouse of evidence for evolution, first as theoretical particles, later as the unit of selection, and today with molecular precision. Some 165 years after Darwin’s Origin of Species, evolution by natural selection is incontrovertible, the proof of it irrefutable and bounteous.

Richard Dawkins has done the lord’s work in sharing this radical idea for more than a third of that time, partly through research, but with wider impact in his general writing. This book, one of nearly a dozen he has written about evolution, looks set to be his last (he has called a tour to support it The Final Bow ).

Conflicting reports emerged after violence erupted in Amsterdam around a Uefa football game between the Dutch club Ajax and Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv. The Guardian has analysed footage posted across social media to try to construct a timeline and understand what led to the clashes. For 24 hours tensions rose across the city in what the mayor, Femke Halsema, called a 'toxic cocktail of antisemitism, football hooliganism and anger over the war in Palestine and Israel and other parts of the Middle East'

• ‘Toxic cocktail’ led to Amsterdam violence, mayor says

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

• Bank of England governor says Brexit has undermined UK economy

Here’s a chart showing how the UK economy fared over the last quarter – shrinking in the second half of last year, before returning to growth in 2024:

ONS Director of Economic Statistics Liz McKeown says:

“The economy grew a little in the latest quarter overall as the recent slowdown in growth continued. Retail and new construction work both performed well, partially offset by falls in telecommunications and wholesale. Generally, growth was subdued across most industries in the latest quarter.

“In September the economy shrank a little. Services showed no growth with a notable increase in car sales offset by a slow month for IT companies. Production fell overall, driven by manufacturing, though there was an increase in oil and gas extraction.”

An excellent Billy Bob Thornton heads up a starry, bloody tale of Texan oil magnates v drug cartels. Plus: Barack Obama’s startling underwater odyssey – and the return of a stone-cold 90s classic

Tommy Norris ( Billy Bob Thornton ) is a crisis executive for an oil giant colonising Texas and it’s a stressful job – especially when he is tied, hooded and bloodied while trying to negotiate a multibillion-dollar land lease with a drug cartel. This drama is loosely adapted from the Boomtown podcast, which explored the race to exploit the state’s Permian Basin oil fields. It’s a rough-handed, picaresque affair – there are huge sums of money at stake and everyone from the farmers occupying the land to the working stiffs seeking their fortunes fancy a piece of it. Thornton is excellent as the man trying to conduct the chaos, with Jon Hamm and Demi Moore among his illustrious co-stars.
Paramount+, from Monday 18 November

What would it witness in Azerbaijan? A species that knows it is destroying itself but is too greedy to change course

Imagine, as many people do, an all-seeing eye in the sky, looking down on planet Earth. Imagine seeing what it sees. It watches, over the course of decades, ice caps shrinking, rainforests retreating, deserts expanding, ocean circulation slowing, freshwater dwindling and sea levels rising, and it thinks – for it has been there since the beginning – “this is familiar”. All the signs are there, of an Earth system sliding towards collapse , as it has done five times since animals with hard body parts first evolved.

But this time, it knows, is different. Not only is one of the life forms causing the collapse, but it shares some of the eye’s supernatural abilities: it too can see what is happening. So, with heightened curiosity, the eye zooms in, to see what this well-informed being is doing to avert catastrophe.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

From a former London printworks to a grand Georgian naval hospital

Our tipsters have found solitude in glorious mountains, islands and coastlines from the Highlands to the Aegean

Davaar island , off the Kintyre peninsula in south-west Scotland, is a true getaway: it is connected to the mainland by a shingle causeway, which is only possible to cross when the tide is low. There are a few cottages and cabins for rent, but a day visit (remember to leave on time) is enough to climb and walk around the 52-hectare island, enjoy the views and visit the spectacular cave with a painting of the crucifixion. There are chances of seeing dolphins and basking sharks, but we mainly saw masses of birds – good enough! There are obviously no shops/cafes, so bring everything you need (and … leave on time!).
Asa