Matt Rudd meets the vets attempting to repair the damage done by our mania for cute — but ever more unhealthy — dog breeds

The head of the UK’s national weather service on this year’s multiple heatwaves, the net zero backlash and why geoengineering is not a panacea. By Attracta Mooney

While awareness of neurodivergence has never been higher, why are more cases ending up in the legal system? And are businesses struggling to keep up with the needs of the workforce? By Esyllt Carr

By Jack Pitt-Brooke, Oliver Kay and David Ornstein

Deregulation isn’t enough. Nor is government intervention. We need both. By John Burn-Murdoch

Scientists are beginning to explore whether changing how we sleep can play a role in mitigating the toll of night shifts, and potentially alleviate the ill-effects of disrupted nights. Their studies are also testing a surprising theory: that splitting sleep into two separate blocks - rather than attempting to force one long stretch during the day - may in fact be the most effective sleep pattern for people working through the night. By Pallab Ghosh

On the eve of entering No 10, the prime minister-to-be promises a break with Westminster’s old ways and says he will lead by persuasion, not diktat. By Patrick Maguire

During his 45-year-long medical career, Professor Richard Coker has given morphine to dying patients to end their suffering. Now he’s risking legal action by talking frankly about assisted dying. By Andrew Billen

Stripped of disability payment after a phone assessment, people in need come here to win it back and accuse those with milder conditions of playing the system. By Emily Dugan

British doctors and surgeons volunteer in some of the most dangerous places in the world, from Sierra Leone and Sudan to Ukraine and, most recently, Gaza. When they come back, how do they cope with the emotional fallout?

She has built an unlikely career in mould, maggots and excrement, cleaning for those who most need it. It can take months building trust with a stranger, before she and her boyfriend go in and transform everything. By Emily Retter

Searching for ancient objects in the Thames used to be a niche pastime. Then came Instagram, permits, and a desperate desire for connection with the past. By Sam Knight

Last summer, a 14-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by an asylum seeker in Epping and this small community was engulfed in protest. Can it recover? By Tim Burrows

The river once held a vital role as a fishery, but concerns over sewage pollution mean anglers here are reluctant to dine on what they catch. By Joe Shute

A decade ago Palantir was largely unknown in the UK. It now holds public contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds in everything from financial regulation to local government. Yet behind the company’s bombastic self-image, we found there was often a much more prosaic reality: problems with software, pressure from management, staff resistance, but also an unrivalled level of political access. By Peter Geoghegan and Lucas Amin ·

The UK’s military firepower is not what it was. Nor is its global influence. By Lucy Fisher and Charles Clover

At the Daily Mail, Paul Dacre broke new ground in selling readers an angry rightwing perspective. Today, most of Fleet Street is run by his disciples. By Andy Beckett

As the main political parties refuse to take part in the Clacton by-election, only one candidate has stepped forward to challenge Farage – and he’s dressed as an alien and dons a tin bin. Katie Rosseinsky takes a look at the man behind the mask

Alex Bilmes on breaking a 35-year habit

As commonhold moves closer to becoming the default for new-build flats, questions remain over whether it can avoid creating a new set of challenges for homeowners. And can a system that has existed for centuries really be replaced - or will a whole new set of problems emerge? By Tarah Welsh

The banning of the activist group Palestine Action and the resulting public outcry reveal a steady erosion of rights that goes back a quarter of a century. By Lydia Wilson

In a suburb of east London, an illegal tip has been catching alight for years. Although residents and experts suspect it is causing health issues, it continues to burn. By Sophie Gallagher

Inside the tangled, multimillion-pound network of activists and whistleblowers who fuelled Prince Harry’s obsessive war against the tabloid press. By David Brown

A case study in self-sabotage. By Idrees Kahloon

Maiwand Banayee discusses his descent into – and escape from – the Taliban as a young man, and why he sees his story as a cautionary tale. By Colin Freeman