• Manager says it will take time to turn club around

• Spence reaction to substitution will be investigated

Thomas Frank said Tottenham’s 3-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest offered a sobering reminder his side remain a “work in progress” and amid increasing scrutiny the head coach reiterated improving Spurs’s fortunes is “not a quick fix”, saying: “If no one gets the time, no one can turn this around.”

Spurs have been hit and miss since Frank took charge in June and are in mid-table in the Premier League after a run of one win in seven top-flight matches, though still only six points off fourth-placed Chelsea. Spurs registered a single shot on target at the City Ground, where Callum Hudson-Odoi scored twice and Ibrahim Sangaré sealed victory with a stunning first-time strike.

Literary critic, essayist and academic known for his erudite and pugnacious judgments on writers and his fellow dons

John Carey, who has died aged 91, bestrode the ever-narrowing bridge that connects the academic teaching of English literature to the world of literary journalism like a colossus. An Oxford don for more than 40 years – 25 of them as Merton professor – he combined his professional duties with a half-century-long stint on the books pages of the Sunday Times. All this gained him a formidable reputation as the most erudite and possibly the most pugnacious critic of his generation.

Carey’s take-no-prisoners approach to the business of literary journalism was the distinguishing mark of his early descents on Grub Street. He was anti-elitist, anti-Bloomsbury, anti-anything that, as he saw it, patronised the tastes of ordinary readers or hindered their enjoyment of literature, and capable of wielding his pen like a scythe.

Celtic now find themselves firmly in a mid-season crisis. Three games for Wilfried Nancy as the manager have resulted in the same number of defeats. The paucity of Celtic’s display in this League Cup final was so striking and so alarming that it is already fair to ask questions about Nancy’s suitability for this role. Celtic look a mess.

How St Mirren capitalised. This will rank among the finest days in the Paisley club’s history. St Mirren’s second-half showing in particular was excellent. They were fully deserving winners. Celtic had no reply to St Mirren’s tactical discipline.

• Pool 4: Northampton 50-5 Bulls

• Saints score eight tries in Pool 4 win

On the face of it Northampton are flying in the Champions Cup courtesy of two consecutive bonus points wins. The more pedantic-minded might also point out that both their opponents to date have fielded below-strength sides but when the qualifying sums are completed next month that will not be the top line statistic as far as the Saints’ management are concerned.

Because regardless of the depth of the resistance in front of them, Northampton are once again underlining their ability to pick apart sides who give them too much space and time. On this occasion they rattled up a total of eight tries, including a hat-trick for George Hendy, two for the fit-again Ollie Sleightholme and one for the roaming Henry Pollock who once again showed a glimpse or two of his rare talent.

Your obituary records how Tom Stoppard’s Jewish family, the Sträusslers – Eugen, a doctor working for Bata shoes, his wife, Marta, and their two small boys, Petr and Tomáš – were helped to escape from Czechoslovakia early in 1939, when Adolf Hitler was poised to invade the country.

My doctor in Nairobi, Dr Gellert, also Jewish, told me a story about this. He had been a friend and colleague of Sträussler in Czechoslovakia. The chief executive of Bata shoes, Jan Antonín Bat’a, gave Gellert a ticket for his family to go to the Bata factory in Singapore, and he gave Sträussler a ticket for his family to go to Nairobi, to another Bata factory. Thinking that Singapore sounded more interesting, Sträussler offered to swap tickets with his friend. Gellert agreed and the fatal exchange took place.

• Updates from big weekend of divisional matchups

• Get in touch: mail Graham about the games

Hello football family, it is week 15 and what a treat the NFL has in store. It is quite simply the best early and late Sunday slates yet this year with heavy hitter after heavy hitter on the schedule. And we have the pleasure of being able to share every pick, every sack and hopefully even a few touchdowns together starting with eight matches at 12pm CST/1pm EST/6pm GMT (home teams listed first):

(9-4) Chicago Bears v Cleveland Browns (3-10)

(4-9) Cincinnati Bengals v Baltimore Ravens (6-7)

(8-5) Houston Texans v Arizona Cardinals (3-10)

(9-4) Jacksonville Jaguars v New York Jets (3-10)

(6-7) Kansas City Chiefs v Los Angeles Chargers (9-4)

(11-2) New England Patriots v Buffalo Bills (9-4)

(2-11) New York Giants v Washington Commanders (3-10)

(8-5) Philadelphia Eagles v Las Vegas Raiders (2-11)

End of subsidies after failed legislation will have serious and damaging impact on entire sector, policy experts say

With subsidies for Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance set to expire, Americans who rely on them will probably switch to plans with lower monthly premiums and high deductibles or decide not to purchase any coverage, which will have a serious and damaging impact on the entire sector, according to healthcare policy experts.

The average amount ACA plan enrollees pay annually for premiums is estimated to more than double, from an average of $888 this year to $1,904 in 2026, according to a KFF analysis .

Exclusive: Analysis of NHS data shows rise in patients ‘stranded’ in beds as flu crisis hits and resident doctors’ strikes loom

Hospitals in England face dangerous overcrowding this winter because even more patients than last year are “stranded” in a bed, according to an analysis of NHS figures.

The findings come as the health service struggles to cope with the early onset of its usual winter crisis driven by a crippling “flu-nami” and the NHS in England is bracing itself for a five-day strike by resident doctors starting on Wednesday.

The percentage of bed days used by patients whose discharge was delayed rose from 10.1% in 2024 to 11% this year, an increase of 9% or 19,000 bed days.

That rise was driven by an 8% year-on-year rise in the number of discharges, equivalent to about 3,800 patients a month.

The number of the NHS’s overall stock of about 100,000 general and acute beds occupied last winter by delayed discharge patients hit a peak of 14%, but it is likely to be even higher this winter.

One gunman was also killed and another wounded; two police officers among the injured taken to hospital

So far, very little information has come out about the identities of those killed and injured in the Bondi beach attack.

We know that 11 people were killed, and one of the gunmen is also dead. A second gunman is injured and in hospital, as are 29 victims, among them two police officers who were wounded while responding to the attack.

London-born rabbi Eli Schlanger , 41, has been named as one of the victims, Jewish News reports . The father-of-five, who was assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi, a Jewish cultural centre, grew up in Temple Fortune, north London. His first cousin, Brighton-based Rabbi Zalman Lewis, told Jewish News: “How can a joyful rabbi who went to a beach to spread happiness and light, to make the world a better place, have his life ended in this way?”

One Israeli citizen was among those killed, the Israeli foreign ministry said. It did not name the victim.

The Jerusalem Post reported that one of its contributors, Arsen Ostrovsky , head of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council Sydney office, was wounded in the attack.

At least 11 people were killed and almost 30 wounded when gunmen fired on a Hanukah celebration on Bondi beach on Sunday, in what Australian police and officials described as a terrorist attack. One of the gunmen also died.

London-born rabbi Eli Schlanger, 41, has been named as one of the victims of the Bondi beach terrorist attack. Jewish News reports that the father-of-five, who was assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi, a Jewish cultural centre, grew up in Temple Fortune, north London, and had family members of Kinloss synagogue in Finchley.

One Israeli citizen was also among those killed, the Israeli foreign ministry said.

A number of “suspicious devices” have been found in the aftermath of the shooting where hundreds of people had gathered for the Chanukah by the Sea event to celebrate the start of the Jewish festival on Sunday.

A man who rushed to the scene to tackle one of the gunmen has two bullet wounds, one in his arm and one in his hand, but is recovering well in hospital, his relative said. Seven News reported the bystander was a 43-year-old fruit shop owner from the Sutherland Shire.

British police will put more officers into Jewish communities after an antisemitic terrorist attack at Bondi beach in Australia. Hanukah, the Jewish festival of lights also known as Chanukah, begins on Sunday evening, with celebrations planned across the UK in the coming days.