A two-state solution is the only solution. Starmer should be honest about this, and get on with the hard work it will require

• Simon McDonald was the British ambassador to Israel from 2003 to 2006

The idea that if you really, really believe something you can make it happen seems to be the best explanation for Britain and France’s recent statements that they will recognise a Palestinianstate . No matter how fervent Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron are, their fervour will not make an impossible thing happen. There is no Palestinian state, and there certainly won’t be one by September.

For mostly domestic political reasons, they have decided to set aside that fact. Recognition is an understandable gesture, but it will do nothing to solve the current famine , and is doomed in the short term because there is no real state to recognise. But there’s also a clear reason why some sort of action – even if it’s purely symbolic – is needed. The situation in Gaza is appalling. If Starmer and Macron proceed with recognition, how can we manage the short-term disappointment of recognising a state that does not exist, while moving towards a two-state solution in the long term?

Lord McDonald of Salford was the British ambassador to Israel from 2003 to 2006, and permanent secretary at the Foreign Office from 2015 to 2020. He is now a crossbench peer

The singer has a reputation for cancelling anything she takes against, from stairs to overhead lighting. When it comes to our increasingly toxic obsession with wellness, she’s absolutely right

Big news, everyone: time is cancelled. Mariah Carey says so. “I don’t allow it – it just doesn’t happen,” the diva delle dive told Harper’s Bazaar . “I don’t know time. I don’t know numbers. I do not acknowledge time.” Carey made this proclamation in response to a question about how she deals with ageing while wearing “white Fendi pyjamas over a plunging black bra, with six-inch Gianvito Rossi heels”, which is exactly how I want my supreme planetary dictator to dress.

Carey is famous for cancelling stuff – stairs ( won’t do them ), J-Lo ( doesn’t know her ), James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke ( refused to sing ) and overhead lighting ( no ) – but this might be her finest work yet. She has had time in her sights for a while, telling Out magazine : “I don’t count years, but I definitely rebuke them,” in 2014 and claiming on Capital FM that she doesn’t have a birthday.

The comedian on learning from his fearful family, the ferocious fallout to The Mash Report, and how he was a dweeb happy in his own world

Born in 1985 in Tooting, London, Nish Kumar is a comic and presenter. He started standup while at Durham University and has twice been nominated for best show at the Edinburgh comedy awards. He fronted topical comedy news series The Mash Report and co-hosts political podcast Pod Save the UK with the journalist Coco Khan. He takes his show to the Edinburgh festival fringe this month.

This picture was taken at our house in Croydon, and I’m sitting opposite a ThunderCats book. At five, the central pillars of my life were ThunderCats and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I was obsessive about the things I loved and I didn’t have a good distinction between reality and fantasy. During one intense period of SuperTed fandom, I even called my mum Spotty.

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts

When did people start going on holiday? Valentina Otero, Mexico City

Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com .

To give up drinking once seemed unthinkable – and when I finally made the leap, it didn’t go quite as expected

Everyone needs a hobby, and for 40 years mine was booze. I was 17 when I drank enough to throw up for the first time, and 57 when I stopped. In between I spent most nights, and thousands of lunchtimes and afternoons, with at least a gentle buzz on. One cheeky pint would turn into three, four, a binge. I blacked out. I had fumbling, regrettable sex. I vomited out of cars and on to lawns. I drank wine at 50p a bottle and £15 a glass – and a sea of lager, lager, lager . There was vodka flavoured with everything, from raspberries to rhubarb and bacon , plus gin and armagnac and amaretto and tequila and eggnog and crème de menthe and Baileys and sherry and blue curaçao and bourbon and cider and Kahlúa.

Some evenings I would laugh and laugh and laugh; other times drinking felt more like a grim duty.

Allegations were made in legal submission on behalf of former contestant Wynne Evans, Sun on Sunday reports

The BBC has launched an investigation into alleged cocaine use by two stars of Strictly Come Dancing.

The Sun on Sunday reported that the two stars’ alleged drug use was “talked about widely among the cast” of the BBC One primetime show.

• Latest updates as the battle for the yellow jersey concludes

• Stage eight: race report from Jeremy Whittle | Mail Amy

Here is the route profile of stage nine of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift :

Here’s a look at today’s stage, Sunday 3 August: Praz-sur-Arly to Châtel, 124.1km, with the race director of the Tour de France Femmes , Marion Rousse :

This “100% Haute-Savoie” finale offers a good opportunity for those riders who are behind in the standings to try to turn things around. The action will begin on the Côte Arâches-la-Frasse (6.2km at 7.1%) and continue, of course, on the Joux Plane (11.6km at 8.5%) and then on the Col du Corbier (5.9km at 8.5%). The climb towards the finish, at Pré la Joux, is steep as it passes through Châtel on the leg-breaking Route de la Bechigne.

A 3.0 magnitude quake hit suburb of Hasbrouck Heights as residents in Brooklyn reported feeling the tremors

A small earthquake rattled the New York metropolitan area on Saturday night.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the tremor had a magnitude of 3.0.

• Hole-by-hole coverage of the final round at Royal Porthcawl

• Official leaderboard | email Scott

It’s not called Moving Day for nothing. After 36 holes, the top of the leaderboard at the 49th Women’s Open looked like this …

-11: Miyū Yamashita
-8: Rio Takeda
-4: Pajaree Anannarukarn, Lindy Duncan, Laura Fünfstück, Chiara Tamburlini