Home Office data shows a 7% increase in searches of women up to March 2024 compared with a 2% drop for those of men

The number of women subjected to stop and search by the police has risen despite a fall in the use of the tactic towards men, figures show.

Analysis of Home Office data reveals that thousands more searches of women took place in the year ending March 2024 than in the same period the year before. There were 59,549 searches of women, a 7% rise from the year before, and 447,952 searches of men, a 4% fall over the same period.

Tempted to try teeth whitening and microneedling at home? Which beauty treatments can you DIY (and which should you leave to the professionals)?

• Anti-ageing products that actually work: Sali Hughes on the 30 best serums, creams and treatments

More and more of us are indulging in at-home self-care . We all leaned into it back in lockdown, and with today’s barrage of terrifying news, it’s unsurprising we still feel in need of extra TLC. The products and gadgets we’ve been trying have sent the value of the UK beauty industry soaring, growing by nearly 10% in 2023 to £9.56bn , which demonstrates how much preening and prep we’ve been doing from our bathrooms.

You just have to look at social media to see how big an appetite we have for DIY beauty. The trend for “high maintenance to be low maintenance” routines has seen content creators demonstrate ever-more complicated at-home treatments, from lash lifts to 10-step facials. However, is it all as easy as it looks on TikTok? And is it safe to use all those space-age gadgets and high-strength formulations on yourself without the oversight of an expert?

Early reports have led experts to believe there could be a surge in the deadly invader, threatening native species

They have bright yellow legs, are about 25mm (almost 1in) long, and a single colony, if left unchecked, can “butcher” 90,000 pollinating insects in just one season.

Since the first UK sighting in 2016 of Vespa velutina – the Asian or yellow-legged hornet – beekeepers and scientists have waged a vigorous campaign to minimise the damage this invasive species can do to Britain’s biodiversity and bee colonies.

With the US disengaging from its traditional relationship with Europe, we need to abandon our ‘red lines’ and rekindle ties with our neighbours

Alas: that the infantile wrecker in the White House has “blinked” may be some relief; but the damage he is wreaking on his own country and the rest of us persists.

Amid the chaos, conspiracy theories abound. Is Trump a “useful idiot” of even darker forces? What has Putin got on a president who succeeds a long line of (mostly) admirable predecessors, who saw Russian leaders as enemies with whom they had to coexist, not as friends?

This glorious biography of the whimsical, elusive French composer celebrates the depths of his seemingly sunny music and the impact he had on other forms

Music is extremely difficult to write about. First, because it has no plot, no figures, no images, and second, because it is, as the critic Walter Pater pointed out, the one artform to which all the others aspire. Remember those earnest mini-essays on the backs of album covers, which told us everything and nothing about the piece or pieces we were about to listen to? Ian Penman writes: “As with sex, we inherit a certain language to talk about music which only glancingly reflects how much of it really makes us feel.”

Penman , a journalist, critic and biographer, has written not only for the London Review of Books but also the New Musical Express . To say that he is eclectic in his tastes is an understatement; he gives the same level of consideration to Burt Bacharach as he does to Bach, and along the way puts in a word for the genius of the likes of Les Dawson – that’s right, Les Dawson.

The chef talks about her antisocial dogs, borderline hoarding and home dinners among chefs

Early riser? I try, although I’ve been slacking recently. I like to be up at 6.30am and off to an empty Hampstead Heath. I’ve got antisocial dogs who think they own the park, so it’s easier that way. Then I can spend the rest of the day at home away from everyone.

Not a people person then? On Sundays, no. I live in east London, where Sundays are stupidly busy. I’m old enough to remember when everything was closed. I miss that sense of the world being shuttered. I love being in southern Italy. Sundays, all the shops are shut, save the baker, maybe, for the morning. We need that break from the insanity.

This summer, think deep, rich tones of raspberry or plum

Move over red lip – there’s a new shade in town. This year is all about the rise of berry hues: think deep, rich tones of raspberry or plum making their way into your beauty routine as we step into the warmer months. And it’s not just about the lips, this trend is taking over your entire makeup bag.

For lips and cheeks, keep it natural. The goal is a soft, stained effect that looks like a fresh, lit-from-within flush. Lip stains will be your go-to for that effortless bitten-lip look, while a balm blush adds just the right hint of colour without feeling heavy.

Kempston Hardwick’s unlikely elevation to world-class tourism hotspot is good news amid these times of tyrants and tariffs

There may be Minions ahead. While Universal has yet to reveal the exact nature of the rides and attractions it has planned for its new theme park, the fact remains that the US entertainment giant’s first European venture will be in… Kempston Hardwick, near Bedford.

“We told the council that out of all the locations in Europe, we’d chosen Bedford to build a world-class park, and the excitement was there from day one,” Page Thompson, the president of new ventures at Universal Destinations & Experiences, told the Bedford Independent .

Al-Ahli hospital struck, says Gaza’s civil defence agency, amid widening Israeli offensive that has cut off access to southern city of Rafah

• See all our Israel-Gaza war coverage

An Israeli airstrike destroyed parts of a hospital in Gaza City early on Sunday, its civil defence agency said, as Israel seized a corridor further south in the war-battered Palestinian territory and said it planned to expand its military offensive.

There were no reports of casualties in the strike and the Israeli military told Agence France-Presse it was looking into the incident.