Popular stop on M5 tops Which? survey with Tebay second, while Bridgwater is judged the worst with one-star rating

There are less than 80 miles between them, but the gulf in quality is massive, according to a Which? survey that ranked Gloucester services top of the stops, and Bridgwater bottom.

For many people motorway service stations are a place to take a break, grab a snack and use the toilet, but the rankings from the consumer recommendation group, which surveyed users of nearly 100 service stations across Great Britain, highlight the best and worst.

Global prices drop after reports that Opec+ is ready to raise output despite weaker demand for fossil fuels

Global oil prices have tumbled by more than $1 a barrel in a sign that pressure on households at the petrol pumps could ease further.

The price of Brent crude fell to $63.86 a barrel on Thursday following reports that the Opec oil cartel and its allies may increase their production for July, despite weaker global demand for fossil fuels.

National Parking Platform, where motorists can pay for all parking on single app, to launch ‘as soon as possible’

For motorists fed up with having to wrestle with a phone full of apps to pay for parking their car, relief could finally be in sight with a unified app.

Lengthy delays have dogged a government-funded initiative, the National Parking Platform (NPP), designed to let people use one app to pay for all their parking instead of having to sign up to a plethora of services.

Government to loosen eligibility rules for pensioners in face of backlash against decision to means test benefit

Keir Starmer has confirmed that he wants more pensioners to be eligible for winter fuel payments after a backlash against one of the most unpopular policies of the Labour government.

The prime minister indicated in the Commons that he would look again at the £11,500 threshold over which pensioners are no longer eligible for the allowance, as he tries to win back public support and quell a growing Labour backbench rebellion over benefit cuts.

How to prove your identity after your account gets hacked and how to improve security for the future

• Phone lost or stolen? Practical steps to restore peace of mind
• UK passport lost or stolen? Here are the steps you need to take

Your Facebook or Instagram account can be your link to friends, a profile for your work or a key to other services, so losing access can be very worrying. Here’s what to do if the worst happens.

If you have access to the phone number or email account associated with your Facebook or Instagram account, try to reset your password by clicking on the “Forgot password?” link on the main Facebook or Instagram login screen. Follow the instructions in the email or text message you receive.

If you no longer have access to the email account linked to your Facebook account, use a device with which you have previously logged into Facebook and go to facebook.com/login/identify. Enter any email address or phone number you might have associated with your account, or find your username which is the string of characters after Facebook.com/ on your page. Click on “No longer have access to these?”, “Forgotten account?” or “Recover” and follow the instructions to prove your identity and reset your password.

If your account was hacked, visit facebook.com/hacked or instagram.com/hacked/ on a device you have previously used to log in and follow the instructions. Visit the help with a hacked account page for Facebook or Instagram.

Change the password to something strong, long and unique, such as a combination of random words or a memorable lyric or quote. Avoid simple or guessable combinations. Use a password manager to help you remember it and other important details.

Turn on two-step verification in the “password and security” section of the Accounts Centre. Use an authentication app or security key for this, not SMS codes. Save your recovery codes somewhere safe in case you lose access to your two-step authentication method.

Turn on “unrecognised login” alerts in the “password and security” section of the Accounts Centre, which will alert you to any suspicious login activity.

Remove any suspicious “friends” from your account – these could be fake accounts or scammers.

If you are eligible, turn on “advanced protection for Facebook” in the “password and security” section of the Accounts Centre.

Annual rise last month driven by higher payments for gas, electricity, water and transport in ‘awful April’

• Analysis: Bigger-than-expected inflation jump worsens Bank of England dilemma
• Business live – latest updates

Inflation in the UK jumped by more than expected last month to 3.5% – its highest rate in more than a year – after dramatic increases in water bills, energy costs and council tax.

A rise in employer national insurance contributions and an increase to the national minimum wage also put pressure on companies to raise prices by more than City analysts had forecast.

Unfortunately, dynamic pricing is legal in Australia, writes policy professional Kat George. But there are some things you can do to sidestep it when you’re shopping around

• Read more Australian customer service questions
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It’s been years since I booked an overseas trip, but when I was booking flights for a family holiday recently I noticed the prices of flights kept changing – within the same day – from when I first searched for a specific route to when I went to share it with my partner. Is it legal for flight operators to change their prices based on my search history? What can I do to avoid it?

– Carolina, New South Wales

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Average spend of £766 includes tickets, accommodation, £75 on food and drink, £60 on merchandise plus travel and new outfits

Oasis fans are expected to splash out more than £1bn on the reunion tour including tickets, accommodation, food, drink, outfits and merchandise, according to research that found a quarter of ticket holders would have been happy to spend even more.

The band’s comeback concerts after a 15-year hiatus are expected to be the most popular, and profitable, run of gigs in British history.

We would like to hear from people about the effect the attack has had and whether they have been targeted by hackers themselves

The UK’s biggest clothing retailer, Marks & Spencer, said it expects disruption to its online business to continue into July. Orders via its website have been stopped and some deliveries to its online food partner, Ocado, have also been affected.

The company has admitted that some personal information relating to thousands of customers including names, addresses, dates of birth and order histories – was taken in the cyber-attack. The retailer told customers there was no need to take any action, although “for extra peace of mind” they would be prompted to reset their password the next time they logged into their M&S account.

Deal will not come into effect until the autumn and will be phased in over six months

British tourists will have to endure passport-stamping queues in the EU until at least October and possibly well into 2026 despite a high profile e-gates agreement unveiled at Monday’s EU-UK summit in London, it has emerged.

According to the detailed text of the agreement, both the UK and the EU agree there will be “no legal barriers to e-gate use for British nationals travelling to and from EU member states after the introduction of the EU entry/exit system (EES)”.

What to do you if you’re worried your information may have fallen into the wrong hands

Another cyber-attack has hit the headlines – this one involving the personal data of hundreds of thousands of legal aid applicants in England and Wales.

It comes hard on the heels of recent cyber-attacks that caused huge disruption at Marks & Spencer and the Co-op, and has prompted fresh reminders for people to be extra-vigilant for any suspicious activity.

Reader is willing to pay original sum but says no one should be fined for stopping for just over 2 minutes

In February, I parked briefly outside a clothing store to visit a nearby shop. As soon as I entered, the shopkeeper informed me that parking was not allowed in that area.

I immediately returned to my vehicle and left. The total duration of my stop, according to the parking charge notices (PCNs) I received the following week from Euro Parking Services (EPS), was just two minutes and 24 seconds.

Reader accuses reselling site of giving customers no recourse over quality issues after sneakers began to fall apart

In January, I bought a pair of designer “snakeskin” trainers by A Bathing Ape for £300 from the online reseller StockX. Several years ago I had the same pair and loved them.

Unfortunately, a few weeks after I started wearing them, I noticed the leather was peeling, and I contacted StockX to see whether it could help. I found its response unsatisfactory.

Reader says they are still trying to find a resolution with Ticketmaster after buying tickets as a Christmas present

In early December, I bought two day tickets for Leeds festival 2025 from Ticketmaster as a Christmas present for my grandson.

After completing the purchase I discovered it was not possible to transfer the tickets. There was no indication of this when I made the purchase.

Bills continued to arrive despite calls, emails and legal firm handling probate sending copy of death certificate

My sister passed away nearly two years ago but I am struggling to get British Gas to accept she is dead.

Since her death in July 2023 I have emailed, called and even got the legal firm handling probate to contact it. They sent a certified copy of her death certificate but all that happened was the address on the account was changed to the solicitor’s.

Most suitcases look hardwearing, but which ones actually are? We dropped bestselling luggage brands from a ladder to find out …

• 13 travel packing hacks to save you space and money

A suitcase is like the portrait in the traveller’s attic, accumulating more than its fair share of knocks and scrapes while we refresh ourselves on the road. We trundle them over cobbles, see them tumble from luggage racks on the train – and if we choose to fly, there’s a fair chance they’ll be mishandled before we reunite at the carousel.

For our testing, we pushed eight suitcases to the limit by dropping them on to a hard surface, as if they’d been fumbled by a baggage handler. Air travel is especially tough on suitcases, so you might get away with choosing a less resilient case if you make the climate-conscious choice to travel by rail or sea.

Best suitcase overall:
Away The Large
_{£300 at Away}

Best budget suitcase:
Tripp Holiday 8
_{£60 at Amazon}

Best suitcase for shorter breaks:
July Checked
_{From £220 at July}

Best small suitcase:
Horizn Studios H6 Pro
_{£470 at Horizn Studios}

Best for a luxurious look:
Carl Friedrik The Trunk
_{£595 at Carl Fredrik}

Best wheeled backpack:
Eagle Creek Cargo Hauler duffel
_{£210 at Rohan}

Our voters wanted change, not more austerity. Will the PM and his chancellor apologise for the anxiety and stress they’ve caused?

• Jon Trickett is the MP for Normanton and Hemsworth in West Yorkshire and former member of the shadow cabinet

On Wednesday, Keir Starmer indicated he may U-turn on last year’s winter fuel payments cuts. The prime minister announced in the Commons that he would look again at the £11,500 threshold over which pensioners are no longer eligible for the payment, meaning that more pensioners will again be eligible for the benefit. As a Labour MP who voted against the cut, I think the government should go further.

During the election, I promised I would defend the community I represent, fight for working-class people and stand by my principles. And so I could not in all conscience vote for the removal of the winter fuel payment from up to 10 million pensioners as one of the first actions of the new Labour government in September. Approximately 17,000 people in my constituency lost their winter fuel payment. Similar numbers can be seen in constituencies throughout the country.

Jon Trickett is the MP for Normanton and Hemsworth in West Yorkshire and former member of the shadow cabinet

After months of mounting anger from voters and pressure from MPs No 10 accepted a change had to be made

Rarely are British voters united by one issue, but Labour MPs returning to Westminster after the local election campaign this month all reported a single policy dominating all others: cuts to the winter fuel allowance.

“It is all people wanted to talk about on the doorstep,” said one. “Some were upset about the coming cuts to disability benefits, some were exercised by immigration. But everyone was angry about winter fuel payments.”

With threats afar and local, the need to stash essentials is obvious. If anyone can source jerk chicken in a tin, do let me know

I have seen the future. It was one morning last week – at the Co-op. Shelves that once groaned now had nothing much on them. Sad signs where the baked beans and tinned tuna once lived reduced to a study in impotence. Following a cyber-attack more than two weeks ago that decimated its supply systems, the supermarket has struggled to recover. We would like to sell you stuff, but our cupboard is empty, the shelves say, as yours must now be.

Surveying the emptiness, I turned to the stocky stranger beside me who was reaching into the pastry cupboard with the plastic tongs. “This is what it will be like when the bomb drops,” I said. He smiled, nodded, and grabbed another croissant. He’s smart. If this is what is coming, what a simple cyber-attack can wreak – nothing to do with Enola Gay or the Peaky Blinders bloke as Oppenheimer – two croissants a day will seem an ambitious diet.

Are you prepping yet? I haven’t been. Things are bleak and the world seems as tinderbox dangerous as it has been in my lifetime, but I have yet to fill the apocalypse preparatory bag, as so many have, and as an increasing number of governments say we should all be doing.

Improving pay and conditions for neglected workers is an urgent national challenge

When Yvette Cooper announced she was cancelling visas for social care, in a round of tough-talking TV interviews earlier this month, she made clear that pay and conditions in this chronically understaffed sector must improve.

The home secretary is right. As any regular care home visitor will attest, these are highly skilled, overwhelmingly female workers, surrounding those they look after, not with an “island of strangers,” but with diligence and love. Wherever they come from, we should be treating them better.

Council tax hikes on holiday homes aren’t ‘anti-English’ or detrimental to tourism. This is about preserving embattled communities

Just over two years ago, Wales gave councils the powers to massively increase council tax on second homes. If you were to read recent headlines, you would think this was a disaster.

“Fury,” said the Express. A “botched” policy that is “in tatters” after “£30k off house prices” lamented the Telegraph. Indeed, these publications are correct: the changes have led to something of an exodus of some second-home owners. What the titles seem to have missed, however, was that this was the point.

From Georgian grandeur in York to a detached home with slope-defying garden in Lewes, properties to make you smile
• The Guardian’s happiest places to live in Britain revealed

From internally remodelled Georgian home in West Sussex to a cacophony of colour in east London, cool properties

From white stucco on the Dorset coast to a five-bed Highlands cabin, five properties with vistas to take your breath away

From a listed East Lothian house to a Kent detached home with wide garden portals, properties for entertaining

From a Norfolk windmill-watermill to a Sussex oast house with micro vineyard, conversions worth a toast

From Grade I-listed grandeur in Bath to riverside living in London, these are properties worth a look

From a townhouse whose interiors scream gothic opulence to a flat of twists and turns, all make the most of their space

We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.

This week, from 2022: Gary Hersham has been selling houses to the very rich for decades. At first, £1m was a big deal. Now he sells for £50m, £100m, even £200m. What does it take to stay on top in this cut-throat business?

By Sophie Elmhirst. Read by Andrew McGregor

Building society offer means Virgin customers pay nearly £1,000 more in fees despite lender owning both brands

Some Virgin Money customers are crying foul over the fact that Nationwide borrowers are being offered better-value mortgage deals, even though they are now part of the same group.

Nationwide bought Virgin Money last autumn, but the brands remain separate and some Virgin mortgage-holders claim that when it comes to moving on to a new deal, they are being treated as second-class citizens.

In today’s newsletter: After weeks of denial, Keir Starmer has announced plans to widen eligibility, but ​with criticism from both opponents and Labour MPs, the government’s handling of cost-of-living policies faces renewed scrutiny

Good morning. Earlier this month, Pippa Crerar and Jessica Elgot reported that the government was rethinking arguably the most unpopular policy introduced by Labour since the election: the cut to winter fuel payments for pensioners. Nonsense, No 10 sources insisted in the following days: “There isn’t a review and I’d be amazed if we changed anything.”

No 10 sources are now, presumably, amazed, because yesterday Keir Starmer announced exactly what had been so strenuously denied: a plan to loosen eligibility requirements so that more pensioners qualify, to be introduced at the autumn budget.

US news | A suspect is in custody after shooting dead two Israeli embassy staff, said to be a couple about to become engaged, outside a Jewish museum in Washington. The suspect yelled “Free, free Palestine” after he was arrested, police said.

Prisons and probation | Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood is considering mandatory chemical castration for the most serious sex offenders, according to government sources. The option is part of a package of “radical” measures to ease prison overcrowding included in an independent sentencing review.

Trump administration | Donald Trump ambushed the South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, by playing him a video that he falsely claimed proved genocide was being committed against white people under “the opposite of apartheid”. The stunt set up the most tense Oval Office encounter since Trump’s encounter with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in February.

West Bank | Israeli troops fired “warning shots” towards a group of 25 diplomats visiting Jenin in the Israel-occupied West Bank on Wednesday. The delegation included representatives from Italy, Canada, Egypt, Jordan, the UK, China and Russia.

UK politics | Reform UK has pledged to remove all low-traffic neighbourhoods from the council areas it controls – but all 10 local authorities say they do not actually have any in place.

Destroyed documents | Football shirt dilemma | Wednesday misery | Awkward advert placement

Angela Blazy-O’Reilly reports that the war service of her mother was not recognised for extra pension rights, as “no records were available for [the Women’s Royal Army Corps] in India” (Letters, 11 May). I wonder if this was due to Operation Legacy, which mandated the destruction or hiding of colonial documents before Britain’s withdrawal from colonised countries. A sort of imperial “bonfire of the atrocities”, such as records of the Bengal famine in 1943.
Denis Jackson
Glasgow

• My son, like me, has several Sheffield United shirts, which he wears with pride. The other day he asked me to buy him a French national shirt with “Mbappé 10” printed on the back (Letters, 7 May). Putting the cost (about £100) to one side for a moment, I’m genuinely unsure of what to do. Get him the shirt for Christmas, or send him to an orphanage?
Mark Redhead
Oxford

If you are sticking loyally with a bank, using an overdraft or failing to read the small print, you may well be losing out

Many of us frequently shop around for the best insurance deals or supermarket offers but forget about their bank account – and it could be leaving you hundreds of pounds worse off.

Here are five the most common banking mistakes and how to avoid them.

Ofgem price cap on gas and electricity likely to drop by £129 to £1,720 a year, says consultancy Cornwall Insight

• Business live – latest updates

Household energy bills could drop this summer but experts have warned that “the crisis is not over” for households and manufacturers struggling to afford gas and electricity costs.

The industry regulator’s quarterly price cap is expected to fall in July by an average of £129, or 7%, according to forecasts from Cornwall Insight, a leading energy consultancy. It has predicted that the cap will fall to £1,720 a year for a typical dual-fuel household this summer, from £1,849 under the current limits.

From planning ahead to knowing what looks (and smells) good, a carnivore’s guide

It is estimated that UK households throw away 10 % of beef, pork and poultry they buy each year. That’s about 250,000 tonnes in total, so it is important to plan what you are going to buy to avoid waste and save money.

Scammers offering prizes or free gifts to UK consumers are taking tens of thousands of pounds a year

There’s no such thing as a free lunch, they say, and the same may be true of hampers, laptops and chainsaws.

Scammers are using emails, text messages and social media adverts promising goodies such as afternoon tea from Marks & Spencer and tools from Screwfix to lure you into handing over your payment card details.