Top story: No such thing as a foregone conclusion

Good morning, this is Alison Rourke with your bank holiday briefing.

The unlikeliest of victories at Headingley yesterday proved that while there is batting, there’s hope. As fans across England accepted the worst was coming, Ben Stokes showed steel at the crease, rarely seen in such calibre in the ground’s long history. A melodrama of chances, sixes and missed opportunities propelled England to what some are calling the greatest comeback since Ian Botham’s incredible exploits on the same ground 38 years ago. The team needed 359 in the final innings to take the win. With nine wickets down, the unlikely 76-run partnership between Stokes and Jack Leach clinched the unwinnable. As Vic Marks writes, it was an “innings of a lifetime” to keep the Ashes alive.

The front pages didn’t hold back: “Go urn, my son” was the Sun’s. “Land of heat and glory” was the Mail’s splash. Writers ran out of superlatives for Stokes’ knock. Andy Bull for the Guardian says his innings puts all others in the shade. But what about the Australian team? “The only worse cricketing humiliation than being bowled out for 67 must be losing to a team that you bowled out for 67,” writes Geoff Lemon.

Play Video 3:01 Ashes captains reflect on ‘phenomenal’ Ben Stokes and third Ashes Test – video

‘Easily cope’ – Boris Johnson has accused the EU leaders of “obduracy” at the G7 summit, as he continues to resist mounting pressure to spell out exactly how he plans to break the Brexit deadlock. “I think we can get through this, this is a great, great country, the UK, we can easily cope with a no-deal scenario,” Johnson insisted in Biarritz. He claimed food shortages were “highly unlikely”, and offered a “guarantee” that patients would be able to access medicines unhindered. But in the event of no deal, he said the UK would withhold much of the £39bn financial settlement agreed by Theresa May – and insisted it was up to the EU27 to avert that eventuality.

G7 – After a tense weekend at the leaders’ summit in Biarritz, in which Donald Trump rowed with fellow leaders over his demand that Russia be readmitted to the group and Iran’s foreign minister made a surprise appearance, the devastating fires in the Amazon are likely to move to centre stage today. Trump will attend a session on climate, biodiversity and the oceans (as well as meet with Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron), and Johnson will announce the UK will set aside an extra £10m to fund anti-deforestation projects in Brazil (something Labour has branded a “PR stunt”). But set-piece announcements aside, Julian Borger writes that the summit has been characterised by an undercurrent of bitterness and anxiety. Boxed in by multiple global crises, he says the group of major industrialised democracies is arguably at its most divided since its founding in 1977.

The story of the hurricane (apologies to Bob Dylan) – If Donald Trump’s insistence that Vladimir Putin return to the G7 didn’t raise enough eyebrows over the weekend, his suggestion that the answer to hurricanes threatening the US was to nuke them might. Quoting unnamed sources who were present at a meeting of national security officials, Axios reports he suggested the hurricanes could be targeted as they move across the Atlantic: “We drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can’t we do that?” the president reportedly asked.

Menopause – MPs are pushing for clear workplace policies to protect women going through the menopause, which exacts a hefty personal and professional toll on as many as one in four females. For some, careers have been ruined by symptoms such as anxiety, confusion and loss of confidence. Others face disciplinary action and have been forced to take time off or stop working altogether. “You wouldn’t dream of having a workplace where people weren’t entitled to certain things because they were pregnant, and it’s exactly the same for women with the menopause,” said the Labour MP Carolyn Harris, who said every workplace should have a menopause policy.

Flight delays – Airline punctuality at Britain’s airports has plummeted, with the number of hour-long delays on Ryanair and Easyjet flights doubling in the last five years, according to research by Which?. It named Stansted as the UK’s worst airport for delays, with 10% of all flights taking off an hour or more late, while Heathrow was best, at 4%. Ryanair saw the worst deterioration in punctuality of any major airline in the Which? survey, with 7.8% of its flights suffering a delay of one hour or more in 2018, compared with 3% in 2014. Thomas Cook Airlines was worst overall, with 11.5% of its flights delayed, while Dutch carrier KLM was the best. The budget airlines rejected the findings, saying they were the victims of air traffic control delays, extreme weather conditions and strikes.

Lunchtime read: Rosanna Arquette: ‘They said I was a pain in the ass’

Ever since the actor Rosanna Arquette was allegedly abused by Harvey Weinstein (who is due in court today over an indictment involving the actor Annabella Sciorra), she has lived in fear. She’s been harassed, seen her career collapse, and trodden a thin line between caution and paranoia. But as Paula Cocozza writes, paranoia is an utterly reasonable response to what she’s been through. Arquette was one of the first women to share details of her experience with Weinstein. When the makers of the BBC documentary Untouchable: The Rise and Fall of Harvey Weinstein contacted her, she says “everybody was in so much fear, they didn’t want to speak,” she says. “But how do you not?”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘I don’t know how to not speak out’ … Rosanna Arquette in Untouchable: The Rise and Fall of Harvey Weinstein. Photograph: Ursula Macfarlane/BBC/LT2 Films

The trauma of her experience seems ever present. “I was never safe,” she says. “From the moment I was told that I was supposed to have dinner with him and then I was told: ‘Mr Weinstein will see you upstairs.’ My heart started racing. Mmmmm.” She doesn’t feel safe now but tries not to dwell on the kind of career she might have had. “This is my karma. It’s for the greater good that it happened to me, because what has become more important in my life is the activism, and being a voice for the voiceless.”

Sport

After a dizzying day at Headingley, it is hard to imagine anything this year in cricket or any other sport eclipsing Ben Stokes’s display to win the third Ashes Test, writes Andy Bull. Stokes may have set England on their feet but Steve Smith will return at Old Trafford to do potentially the same for Australia, who will have to find a way to respond to what was a crushing defeat. Rory McIlroy picked up the £12m first prize after winning the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup title in Atlanta. Mauricio Pochettino admitted that Tottenham are “far, far away” from the creation of the required togetherness as he lamented the lack of desire in their 1-0 home defeat by Newcastle. Adam Gemili defied the odds to set a new UK championship 200m record on a day when Jodie Williams and Eilish McColgan also registered fine wins. Eddie Jones is determined to avoid complacency but the team’s destruction of Ireland over the weekend bodes well for their World Cup chances in Japan. Manchester United are to meet representatives of Facebook following the online racial abuse of Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford. And Novak Djokovic is the favourite to win a fourth US Open title and add to his 16 major wins over the next fortnight in New York while rising star Coco Gauff’s debut at the tournament will test her confidence.

Business

It looks set to be another busy week on financial markets after the US-China trade dispute was ratcheted up at the weekend. The tensions sent shares in Asia down in overnight trade as investors pulled out of riskier assets in favour of safe havens such as US treasuries bonds and gold. Although the FTSE100 closed today, the Dax30 in Frankfurt set to shed 1.5% at the opening. Wall Street seems set to follow suit later. Sterling has benefited a bit from the turmoil and is buying $1.226 and €1.100.

The papers

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: The Guardian

While most papers lead with news of the Ashes drama, with a picture of the victorious Ben Stokes taking up most of their fronts, some non-cricket news has managed to scrape on to some of the front pages. Several report on Boris Johnson’s comments at the G7 that Britain could “easily cope” with a no-deal Brexit, including the Sun: “Boris in No Deal vow ... & US pact”, the Times: “Johnson: We’ll easily cope with no-deal”, the Guardian: “Britain can ‘easily cope’ with no deal, claims Johnson at G7” and the i: “Brexit deal is ‘touch and go’”.

The Telegraph reports: “NHS cancels patients 10 times in row”, the Mirror and the Express are both incensed by reports that Johnson is refusing to fund over-75s’ TV licences: “I won’t pay for free TV,” says the Mirror, and the Express has: “Save free TV, Boris tells BBC”. The FT reports that: “EU looks to rewrite budget rules as bloc’s economic growth falters”.

Sign up

The Guardian Morning Briefing is delivered to thousands of inboxes bright and early every weekday. If you are not already receiving it by email, you can sign up here.

For more news: www.theguardian.com