Gareth Thomas says move is ‘political judgment’ after challenge from 40 members of House of Lords

• UK politics live – latest updates

The UK’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state is compliant with international law, a minister has said, after a group of peers raised concerns that it did not meet the legal bar.

Gareth Thomas, a business minister, said it was a “political judgment” that Palestine should be recognised and that the government believed it was compatible with the criteria for statehood under the Montevideo convention, a treaty signed in 1933.

Writers and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read over the last month. Join the conversation in the comments

The user-friendly short chapter format of Nicci Cloke’s Her Many Faces , designed for our internet-lowered attention spans, obscures the fact that this page-turning, multiple viewpoint thriller is actually a densely plotted novel full of amazing twists. This is the book you want to take on a long, boring journey you’re dreading. You’ll pray you finish it before you arrive at your destination.

Men in Love by Irvine Welsh is published by Jonathan Cape (£20). To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com . Delivery charges may apply.

Faber has reissued Barbara Kingsolver’s titles The Lacuna , Flight Behaviour and The Poisonwood Bible.

Former vice-president signals intent to become key force in Democrats’ rebuild but leaves open possibility of future run

Following a devastating loss to Donald Trump, Kamal Harris returned home to California in January with a decision to make about her political future: to enter the race for governor, or not.

As she deliberated privately, the Democratic party was grappling publicly with a new political reality – one entirely reshaped by her defeat in last year’s presidential election.

Cincinnati left several glaring issues unaddressed this offseason, leaving holes even elite quarterbacking can’t paper over

Here the Bengals go again. They have now had five cracks at building a championship roster around Joe Burrow since drafting him No 1 overall in 2020, and have fallen short all five times. Entering year six, it’s already starting to feel like Burrow is this generation’s Dan Marino or Philip Rivers, an all-time great quarterback let down by the franchise around him.

After going 4-12 in Burrow’s rookie season, Cincinnati made the Super Bowl, lost, returned to the AFC title game the next season, and then lost there. Burrow missed almost all of his fourth season with an injury, but put forth the best season of his career statistically last year … before the Bengals surrendered it, finding novel way to give up close leads early in the season and failing to reach the playoffs despite winning five straight games to close it. In a league where 44% of teams make the postseason, it was almost impressively bad.

(Transgressive)
Velvets-style drone rock, trad folk, anarcho-punk and hippy whimsy are all discernible in the Brighton quartet’s debut album – all played with white-knuckle intensity

Over the past year or so, you would have been hard pushed to read any of the New Eves’ interviews without feeling at least a little intrigued by what the Brighton quartet are reportedly up to. Said features usually discuss their onstage theatricality – there is talk of improvised dance and indeed “experimental ballet”, and of fake blood and their all-white homemade costumes, equal parts cottagecore and Midsommar . There are indications that the music the band make is merely part of a broader artistic practice that also involves painting, writing, photography and “traditional female crafts”, among them knitting.

Then there’s mention of their curious instrumentation, in which violin, cello and flute have as much role to play as guitar, bass and drums. And there’s a frequent suggestion that the band are sonically sui generis: “We weren’t consciously inspired by any other musicians … it was like we created a new universe of paradise without even realising that’s what we were doing”; “The Velvet Underground are the only band I can compare us to – there’s a similar spirit there, but the New Eves aren’t about genre”.

Royal College of Nursing urges ministers to improve 3.6% offer to avoid industrial action ballot later this year

• UK politics live – latest updates

Nine out of 10 nurses have rejected their 3.6% pay award for this year and warned that they could strike later this year unless their salaries are improved.

In an indicative vote among members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 91% said the 3.6% rise was not enough.

Chinese media said more than 100,000 were using Telegram to view and post pictures taken without consent

Anger is growing on Chinese social media after news reports revealed the existence of online groups, said to involve hundreds of thousands of Chinese men, which shared photographs of women, including sexually explicit ones, taken without their consent.

The Chinese newspaper Southern Metropolis Daily published a report last week about a group on the encrypted messaging app Telegram called “MaskPark tree hole forum”. It said it had more than 100,000 members and was “comprised entirely of Chinese men”.

Crime writer says her conclusion into the circumstances of the 16th-century playwright’s killing ‘will surprise people’

It has all the makings of a classic Val McDermid mystery: a sudden death, a cast of shadowy figures and a tangle of motives buried beneath layers of official secrecy.

But this time, the queen of crime is not inventing a murder, she is revisiting one of history’s most enduring whodunnits – the mysterious death of Christopher Marlowe.

Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh
Aaron Pang’s sweet yet sharp one-man show about the mismatch between his erotic desire and physical capability needles the audience’s need for comfortable resolution

Stories will be everywhere in the coming weeks of the Edinburgh fringe. Some we will want to hear, others to dismiss. Perhaps we will yearn for the kind of uplifting tale given to us initially by Aaron Pang – about a tragic accident and his overcoming of adversity to find true love. Or perhaps we will demand something grittier.

In his sweet and clever one-man show, Pang offers to give us both.