Cheyenne Roundtree, an investigative reporter at Rolling Stone, was as shocked as anyone when allegations of rape and sexual abuse were made against the music mogul. Then she began digging into his past life. In her first interview, she paints a horrifying picture of lost police reports, repeat behaviours, rumours and run-ins

For Cheyenne Roundtree, an investigative reporter at Rolling Stone, the civil lawsuit that dropped on Sean “Diddy” Combs in November 2023 seemed to come from nowhere. Filed by his ex-partner, the singer Cassie Ventura, it alleged that Combs had beaten and raped her, plied her with drugs and forced her into sexual encounters with male sex workers throughout their decade-long relationship.

Roundtree, along with much of the world’s media, was shocked. “I’d grown up in the era of Diddy and Cassie and viewed them as this power couple,” she says. “Her hit Me & U was my song. Diddy was this mogul – I knew him for the music – and she was this style inspiration, this beautiful, talented woman living an amazing life.”

The issue cannot be avoided any longer. Andy Burnham and his chancellor must face the fear of a pensioner backlash, and find a fair solution

There is always something oddly unreal about party conference season. In theory, everyone is getting away from Westminster to better reflect on the state of the nation. In practice, the whole circus just briefly relocates to the coast, to live off warm white wine and gossip for three days, before coming back with a streaming cold. But this year, reality seems more elusive than usual.

Everyone knows hard choices loom, but everyone is frightened to make them. Every serious party needs billions of pounds to fund their promises, and everyone knows there’s an obvious place to find the money, but nobody wants to be the first to say so. And so a deferential silence shrouds the pension triple lock, whose future will be vigorously debated on the fringes and in private conversation this autumn, but less so on the stage.

Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist

This brutal, hilarious new show about life as a fiftysomething is full of all the heart and humour of human life. At points it’s mesmerisingly perfect

There’s a moment in Sharon Horgan’s new show, Youth, when – as protagonist Alex (Horgan) is seeing her son off to university – she inadvertently begins to run after the car that’s taking him away. And then she catches herself, and slows. And then she starts up again. It was such a tender, vicious glimpse into the future that I found myself sobbing into the sofa and cursing her name.

All of which is to say: Sharon Horgan is back and she’s better than ever. Youth is the representation every woman who has ever slapped on an oestrogen patch after a divorce, looked around and thought “What the hell now?” has been waiting for. Horgan herself has described it in interviews as forming the third part of a loose trilogy that began with Pulling. Co-written with Dennis Kelly, Pulling was about three thirtysomething antitheses to Bridget Jones, whose dark chaos apparently scared the BBC so much they unexpectedly cancelled it just as it was truly getting into its stride. That was followed by Catastrophe, written by and starring Horgan, with Rob Delaney, as a couple who have a fling, find that she’s pregnant and end up making a brutal, hilarious go of things.

Youth is on HBO Max

A week after Elizabeth ‘Tsontso’ Moselakgomo’s body was found, runners took part in a morning run to honour her name and demand more protection

The runners smiled and laughed, congratulating each other on finishing their 5km or 10km Saturday run, their foreheads glistening with sweat in the early morning sun. They helped themselves to water, instant coffee and sugary snacks, provided by waiting volunteers on the lawn outside a gated community of modern apartment blocks, and then stretched out together.

But there were sombre moments too, as they mourned one of their own, who had lit up their Saturday runs around Sandton, an upmarket area of Johannesburg. Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo’s body had been found a week earlier, on Saturday 12 September. The 38-year-old went missing three days earlier, after going out for a run alone after work.

Drug gangs have moved off Britain’s streets and into vulnerable people’s homes. Addicts like my friend are easy targets, but the reality can be more complicated than it seems

Duncan is a good friend of mine. He looks like a Dickensian rock’n’roller: tall and skinny, long hair, retro clothes. He’s read the Flashman novels three times. We met in secondary school in west London in the early 1980s. We got drunk, smoked Rothmans and banana skin spliffs and played Dungeons & Dragons. At 14, we got into punk together and spent our teens playing music and seeing live bands. As we moved into our 20s, I trained as a journalist and Duncan, a talented songwriter and guitarist, carried on with music.

At the age of 23 he got involved in heroin. He found the lifestyle immediately seductive, his partner at the time, Lucy, told me. He would often befriend his dealers. “I remember more than once waiting in his car as he’d gone up some tower block to score, thinking where on earth is he?” Lucy said. “He’d be hanging out chatting. There were some genuinely fascinating characters with incredible stories to tell.”

As diet trends proliferate on social media, it can be hard to work out which are backed by science and which should be ignored. From paleo to keto, raw food to intermittent fasting, each attracts a tribe of ardent followers. Now Daniel Lieberman, professor of biological sciences at Harvard University, has written a book to try to cut through the noise. In Fed Up, he uses his background as an evolutionary anthropologist to scrutinise the evidence, turning himself into a guinea pig in the process and trying various diets. In this podcast, he tells Ian Sample which one has remained part of his routine

Order Fed Up from the Guardian Bookshop

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Andy Burnham seeks stability in Middle East to bring down prices at home as first meeting with Trump looms

The UK has agreed to provide defensive air support to Saudi Arabia to help counter Houthi fighters and restore stability in the Middle East while driving down the cost of living at home, Andy Burnham has said, ahead of his first meeting with Donald Trump.

The prime minister said he had agreed to a request for air-to-air refuelling of Saudi jets to defend energy infrastructure against the Iran-backed rebels and help keep oil flowing from the Gulf to ease global economic turmoil.

System gives patients, loved ones and health workers the right to ask for a second opinion on care

Martha’s rule, which lets NHS patients, staff and relatives request a review of their care, is being expanded to every A&E in England, health officials have announced.

The system gives patients, their loved ones and health workers the right to ask for a different medical team to examine the care being provided on inpatient wards and to recommend changes. It has already potentially saved hundreds of lives, official figures show.

PM skirts question and says his focus is on rebuilding bridges before first meeting with Ursula von der Leyen

Andy Burnham has opened the door to fighting the next election on the UK rejoining the EU, but said his immediate priority was continuing to rebuild bridges with European allies.

The prime minister, who will hold his first meeting with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, on Tuesday, did not rule out including reversing Brexit in Labour’s next manifesto – but suggested the country should focus on securing closer trading ties first.

The rising cost of servicing the UK national debt pushed up borrowing last month

How much ‘headroom’ might John Healey still have to keep within the government’s fiscal rules?

That’s the question dogging Westminster and the City.

“The chancellor has probably lost about half the headroom he inherited, leaving it between £10bn to £15bn. As long as the headroom is in double figures, he will probably be able to avoid topping it up, but the drop in headroom means any additional day-to-day spending, such as on defence or cost of living, will have to be paid for by higher taxes.

“What’s more, if the recent rise in energy prices is sustained through the next few months, household energy bills could rise by another 25% in January, which would take them above the level that the previous government capped them at. That would only further increase the pressure to act on cost of living by temporarily subsiding energy bills.

“The PM and chancellor will be feeling quite claustrophobic today as the walls close in around them. Borrowing costs keep climbing, while borrowing itself is outpacing the teeny rise in tax receipts.

Everyone can diagnose the problem, but it’s far from clear that a PM who swept to power promising good things for all is capable of holding a fractious Labour party together to carry out the tough work needed.”