⚽ Buildup, news and discussion before Saturday’s action
⚽ Nottingham Forest Q&A at 11am | Mail matchday live here

League One fixtures

Burton Albion v Peterborough United (12:30pm BST)

Lincoln City v Stevenage (12:30pm BST)

Bradford City v Barnsley

Blackpool v Wycombe Wanderers

Rotherham United v Leyton Orient

Luton Town v Mansfield Town

Cardiff City v Reading

Plymouth Argyle v AFC Wimbledon

Wigan Athletic v Port Vale

Stockport County v Exeter City

Doncaster Rovers v Northampton Town

Southampton v Swansea (12:30pm BST)

Oxford United v Derby County (12:30pm BST)

Queens Park Rangers v Millwall (12:30pm BST)

Birmingham City v Hull City

Stoke City v Wrexham

Charlton Athletic v Sheffield Wednesday

Sheffield United v Watford

Norwich City v Bristol City

Coventry City v Blackburn Rovers

West Brom v Preston North End

Leicester City v Portsmouth (7:45pm BST)

Johnathan Walton, who was a victim of Marianne ‘Mair’ Smyth, had helped UK authorities track her down

A US podcaster and author who helped UK authorities convict a woman derisively known as the “Queen of the Con” of defrauding a group of Northern Irish mortgage advice customers has expressed disappointment in her being sentenced on Friday to only four years in prison.

“She scams or tries to scam everyone she meets, and she will never change,” Johnathan Walton said in a statement after Marianne “Mair” Smyth’s sentencing closed the books on a transatlantic case against her.

When she died, the writer left behind a cache of notebooks and manuscripts. Her biographer reveals what they tell us about her unlikely rise to literary stardom

When To Kill a Mockingbird was published in the summer of 1960, it seemed to have sprung from nowhere, like an Alabamian Athena: a perfectly formed novel from an unknown southern writer without any evident precedent or antecedent. The book somehow managed to be both urgently of its time and instantly timeless, addressing the era’s most turbulent issues, from the civil rights movement to the sexual revolution, while also speaking in the register of the eternal, from the moral awakening of children and the abiding love of families to the frictions between the self and society.

But no writer is without influences and aspirations: Harper Lee had, of course, come from somewhere and worked tremendously hard to become someone. It was only because she did not like talking about herself that her origins seemed so mysterious, and inevitably, the better To Kill a Mockingbird did – becoming a bestseller and then winning a Pulitzer prize, selling 1m copies and then 10m and then 40m – the more theories and rumours rushed in to fill her silence. In the years after the book came out, the public image of Lee swung between two of her beloved characters: she was either the living incarnation of her feisty, tomboyish heroine Jean Louise “Scout” Finch or, in her seeming reclusiveness, a version of that shy shadow figure, Arthur “Boo” Radley.

Families are going back to Gaza City and surrounds to find their neighbourhoods obliterated, with many forced to camp in the ruins

When the Gaza ceasefire took effect a week ago, tens of thousands of Palestinians began to move from the sprawling camps in the south back to their homes in Gaza City and the surrounding area.

For most, it was a shocking and bitter homecoming.

£2,000-a-ticket event, where 800 guests will hobnob among world’s treasures, could herald new reality in desperate arts funding climate

There will be champagne, of course, and dancing, fine Indian food served alongside the Parthenon marbles and cocktails mixed in front of the Renaissance treasures of the Waddesdon bequest. And everywhere – from the lights illuminating the Greek revival architecture, to the carpet on which guests arrive, to the glamorous outfits they are requested to wear – a very particular shade of pink.

When the British Museum throws open its doors on Saturday evening for its first “pink ball”, it will not only be hosting an enormous and lavish party, but also inaugurating what its director, Nicholas Cullinan, has called a “flagship national event” that he hopes will become as important to his institution’s finances as it will to the London elite’s social calendar.

• Italian rider wins white-knuckle sprint at Phillip Island on Saturday

• Australian Jack Miller qualifies on front row for Sunday’s main race

Marco Bezzecchi hit a seagull but still won a white-knuckle Australian MotoGP sprint race on Saturday, while Alex Marquez’s sixth-place inched him closer to sealing second in the world championship.

France’s Fabio Quartararo threw down the gauntlet in qualifying when he shattered Bezzecchi’s Phillip Island lap record set a day earlier to bank his fifth pole of the season.

Fans who moan when a show is axed after its first season should be careful what they wish for. If only my TV obsession had ended a long time ago

It’s an all-too-familiar feeling. The second series of your favourite TV show has just begun streaming and your mind is full of hopeful expectation. Season one ended sooo perfectly: future plotlines were teased tantalisingly and a main character had – cliffhanger! – been offed (or had they?) In the months since the finale, you were perusing Reddit threads with other hardcores to find some Easter egg clues illuminating what would happen next.

And then season two’s premiere is a damp squib. It feels like the entire writers’ room has been fired and replaced by artificial intelligence. Cut to the second episode, and your favourite cast member has done something that you and Reddit user Fishy2345 agree is totally out of character. By episode five, it’s clear that the showrunners have had collective amnesia around the storylines aggressively signposted in season one. And by the disappointing finale, you silently wish that the show had just been cancelled.

Priya Elan writes about the arts, music and fashion

Manchester United’s striker is a topic of context-free condemnation as social media’s sluice of aggravation sinks us all

The first thing you need to do is find a photo of Rasmus Højlund looking happy in a Napoli shirt. There you are. Now you find a photo of Benjamin Sesko looking sad in a Manchester United shirt. Like he’s just missed an open goal. No, obviously you don’t need to find a photo of him missing an open goal. The less context here, the better. Now pop the photos side by side. Overlay the goal stats in big buffoonish font. Don’t forget the emojis. Post to all social media channels.

Will you mention that Højlund’s tally includes goals in the Champions League while Sesko is not competing in Europe at all? You will not. Nor will you mention that four of Højlund’s goals have come against Belarus and Greece, or the fact that Denmark are a much better team than Slovenia and create many more chances. You run socials for a big media brand, pure liquid engagement is what puts food on your table, United are the biggest meal of all, and as ever, context will be your sworn enemy.

Brexit and PSR are contributing to a spike in the fees and wages offered by big clubs for teenagers, but is this stockpiling really raising standards?

The discussion during a meeting of Premier League sporting directors this year turned to academies and the amount of money spent on homegrown teenagers. The market for players as young as 14 has turned wild, according to industry figures.

“Some wages are astronomical,” one agent says. A sporting director at a top-flight club struggling to keep their best youngsters away from the richest teams in England says: “It’s a nightmare. We have to offer 14-year-olds scholarship contracts just to protect ourselves.”

Renowned 1957 Nobel prize winner worked on statistical mechanics and symmetry principles in elementary particle physics

Chen Ning Yang, one of the world’s most renowned physicists and a Nobel prize winner, died on Saturday in Beijing at the age of 103 after an illness, state media outlet Xinhua has reported.

Born in eastern China’s Hefei in Anhui province in 1922, Yang was a Chinese-American physicist who worked on statistical mechanics and symmetry principles in elementary particle physics.

The millennial crowd-pleasers return with a second helping of their sizzling romcom … and it’s just as much of a pleasure. We already know exactly which spin-off we want too!

For a while, it seemed as if the romcom as an art form died and had been replaced by Marvel sequels and issue-led dramedies. Rachel and Ross were a distant memory (and not just because it was 20 years ago). Luckily, the genre – and our collective broken hearts – has been given CPR by a flurry of new releases. Few have been more affecting than Nobody Wants This (Netflix, from Thursday 23 October), the stomach-flipping story of rabbi Noah and relationship podcaster Joanne.

When the first series appeared on Netflix last year, the success was somewhat unexpected. With the streaming giant focused on content viewers could watch after a lobotomy, few expected a mega hit that would create a genuine emotional connection. Then we met Noah (millennial nostalgia-fix Adam Brody) and Joanne (Kristen Bell) and the combination of acting, lovable characterisation and tight writing saw critical acclaim, Emmy nominations and – most importantly – old-fashioned longing. The internet had a new boyfriend. Fleabag’s Hot Priest was old news. Hot Rabbi was here to save us. And he was a really good listener who could also cook pasta.

Inspired by creator Erin Foster’s experience of converting to Judaism for her husband, Nobody Wants This boils faith, family and modern dating into 26 tightly packed minutes. On top of ex-girlfriends and formidable mother-in-laws, our two lovers have a central obstacle to overcome: if he wants to be head rabbi, Noah needs to marry a Jewish woman.

When we last saw the couple, they were at a crossroads: Noah had been offered his dream job and Joanne had done the selfless act of leaving him so he could take it. The final scene of the two reuniting and kissing in the street perfectly set up a second season and with it pressing questions. Will Joanne convert? Will Noah quit his vocation? Will Noah’s mum murder Joanne when she finds out?

Manningham, Bradford: Twenty-six years after this great industrial hub closed down, it still has resonances with the community via its thrilling wildlife

A peregrine comes bombing down from the ornamented parapet of the 76-metre mill chimney Lister’s Pride, and a hundred pigeons scatter. I’m on Patent Street, Bradford, by the west wall of what was once the biggest silk mill in Europe, called Lister’s Mill, or sometimes Manningham Mills. It was thrown up in the 1870s by Samuel Cunliffe Lister, and for more than a century was one of the great industrial palaces of the north. Since shutting in 1999, about half has been restored as offices and high-end flats; the other half is derelict. Forests of buddleia cover the concrete floors, and fox trails wind through the weeds.

Peer through steel grilles into the basements, and see hart’s-tongue ferns as thick and green as cabbages in a vegetable patch. Rust is everywhere (what John Ruskin called “living” iron: “It is not a fault in the iron, but a virtue, to be so fond of getting rusted”). On the stretch of grass across the street, gulls gather in great numbers. Today they’re mostly black-headed, with one hulking lesser black-back comically conspicuous in the middle of the throng. At the back I spot two first-year common gulls, paddling their feet in a hopeful worm dance.

Ex-royal cherished his titles and status but Buckingham Palace faced risk of reputational spillover

• Prince Andrew gives up royal titles including Duke of York after ‘discussion with king’

This is the outcome that, ultimately, King Charles and the Prince of Wales would have hoped for: Andrew, the subject of so many toxic headlines unhelpful to the royal family and institution of monarchy, finally doing the “honourable” thing.

It has been six long years since his disastrous Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis precipitated the start of this very public fall from grace.

After several people close to me died I became obsessed with fitness and gripped by panic attacks. But then a ska cover taught me life doesn’t have to be serious all the time

My anxious disposition means I think about death a lot. But a cluster of people I loved dying in 2023, and most of them unexpectedly and within a few months of each other, was enough to shake my nervous system up pretty significantly. Five funerals is too many. The first was my nan: she was the family matriarch. The oldest person in the family, so there was a level of acceptance among the sadness. But soon after it was her son, and then her granddaughter (my cousin). The latter two were shocks, completely upending my nervous system, one compounding the other. From there, two more followed. Death was all around. It wasn’t just a part of life by that point – it was something to expect soon and often.

At first I seemed fine. Despite concerned friends and partners asking if I was hiding anything, I didn’t think I was. But soon I retreated from fun, becoming very fixated on things like my resting heart rate and body fat percentage. I skipped social events for high-intensity interval training sessions followed by the sauna followed by meditation – not a bad thing, but not a balance, either. I cut out caffeine, including dark chocolate. When I didn’t stick to my new routine, I would have a panic attack, which I’d assume was a heart attack, which would lead to more frequent episodes of panic.

It’s four decades since the travel writer last ventured on to the slopes. A resort in the Tirol is the perfect place to rediscover the joys of skiing

‘You’re mad!” Caroline the greengrocer said cheerfully when I told her I was going skiing. A reasonable reaction since not so long ago I was shopping on crutches following a hip replacement. My sister’s friends were more concerned: “How old are you? 80? I don’t think this is a good idea. You’ll fall and break something.” My brother, Andrew, 86, decided it was better not to tell anyone.

For at least two decades I’d had a half-buried wish to experience one more ski trip. A final fix of blue sky, frosty air and the exhilaration that comes with finding yourself still intact at the bottom of a snow-covered slope. I was never much good, and hadn’t skied for decades, but that wasn’t the point. At 83, I needed to see if I could still do it. And if I could do it, how about inviting my sister, Kate, one-third of our Old Crones group who encourage each other to do parkrun each week? Then I remembered that, as teenagers, Andrew had joined me on my first ski holiday. That was 67 years ago, but Andrew used to be quite good, so I invited him too. My friend Penny, who is so absurdly young (67, so she says) that she doesn’t really count, was also allowed to come and try her luck with the oldies and practise her German. We all made an effort to get as fit as possible, but none of us had skied for at least 40 years.

BPA, a synthetic chemical used in production of plastics, found in baby products made by three big European brands

A chemical linked to impaired sexual development, obesity and cancer has been found in baby dummies manufactured by three big European brands.

Dummies made by the Dutch multinational Philips, the Swiss oral health specialists Curaprox and the French toy brand Sophie la Girafe were found to contain bisphenol A (BPA), according to laboratory testing by dTest, a Czech consumer organisation. Philips said they had carried out subsequent testing and found no BPA, while Sophie la Girafe said the amount found was insignificant.

Counterinsurgency approaches have splintered in west Africa at the same time as terror threats have shifted southward

Among the thousands of refugees who have fled Mali since a jihadist uprising began more than a decade ago, one group is bound together by a grim commonality: their husbands are presumed dead or captured.

Amina (not her real name) is one of them.

From Viscri and Zalapatak to the 92 Club, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz

1 Which seabird has the longest migration of any animal?
2 Who owns properties in the Romanian villages of Viscri and Zalanpatak?
3 What crime against orthography was pioneered by Buck Dharma’s band?
4 The xenomorph is the antagonist in which film series?
5 Which organ contains the islets of Langerhans?
6 Which ITN newscaster coined the term “body fascism” in 1980?
7 How do you join the 92 Club?
8 Which two Shakespeare plays are chiefly set in Turkey?
What links:
9 Lúcio Costa; Georges-Eugène Haussmann; Jane Jacobs; Robert Moses?
10 Mikaela Shiffrin (101) and Ingemar Stenmark (86)?
11 1951 Oscar-winning song; Dali’s 1954 self-portrait; Glass Onion; The Da Vinci Code; L.H.O.O.Q.?
12 Grose Bochse; Faule Grete; Mons Meg; Pumhart von Steyr; Tsar Pushka?
13 Kenny; Beric Dondarrion; Buffy Summers; Phil Coulson?
14 Pluot; Rangpur; tangelo; ugli; yuzu?
15 X (Sn); XXV (Ag); L (Au); LX (C); LXX (Pt)?

Rain washes out the first match of the series at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch

3rd over: England 14-1 (Buttler 9, Bethell 2) Buttler gets a single off the first ball but Bethell can’t get off strike. Some free flowing shots go straight to the fielders and the pressure starts to rise. Play and a miss! Henry moves one off a length late and it is wafty-woo from Bethell. There we go – a tuck off the hip for two gets the youngster off the mark, that’ll settle him down a bit. Just three off the over.

2nd over: England 11-1 (Buttler 7, Bethell 0) Jacob Bethell gets an early visit to the middle. Don’t mention the A word! He starts with two dots, a play and miss and a thick outside edge. Good over from Duffy and New Zealand have the better of the early exchanges.

Normalisation of far-right stances likely to affect success of such parties at ballot boxes across Europe, say researchers

Mainstream parties are increasingly allowing the far right to set the agenda, researchers in Germany have found, describing it as a shortcoming that had unwittingly helped the far right by legitimising their ideas and disseminating them more widely.

The findings, published in the European Journal of Political Research, were based on an automated text analysis of 520,408 articles from six German newspapers over the span of more than two decades.

Swap in, swap out and, above all, enjoy this punchy, filling and thrifty dish

No-waste cooking comes in many forms. It doesn’t have to mean cooking banana peel. To me, it means finishing a bag of potatoes before they grow eyes, and making the most of that last awkward bit of cabbage. Even finding a cheeky new way with the sauces and condiments already in the fridge. Using ingredients you’ve already got to make a new recipe is, in my opinion, the most “no waste” of them all. So here’s permission from me to make substitutes – herb for herb, veg for veg, or anything you’ve already got – to make this recipe work for you.

Join Meera Sodha at a special event celebrating the best of Guardian culture on Wednesday 26 November, hosted by Nish Kumar and alongside writers Stuart Heritage and Tim Dowling, with Georgina Lawton hosting You Be The Judge live. Live in London or via livestream – book tickets here.

Sally Carson’s Crooked Cross was written and set during the rise of nazism. It shows both how extremism takes hold, and the moral certainty needed to resist it

A few days ago I asked an American acquaintance – as one does these days – where he sees “it”, by which I meant the political situation, heading. He took a breath. “In my opinion, the US is in a very similar position to Germany in 1933-4,” he said. “And we have to ask, could 1936, 1937, 1938 have been avoided? That’s the point we are at. You can try to say fascism couldn’t happen in the US. But I think the jury’s out.”

His words seemed especially resonant to me because I had just finished reading a remarkable novel precisely to do with Germany in 1933-4, a book written in the former year and published in the latter. Forgotten for decades, Sally Carson’s Bavaria-set Crooked Cross was republished in April by Persephone Books, which specialises in reviving neglected works. Since then, it has been a surprise hit, a word-of-mouth jaw-dropper, passed from hand to hand.

The gig is at a literary festival, which makes me anxious. I’m never at ease among people who don’t suffer fools gladly

Many months ago the band I’m in was invited to play a gig at a literary festival in Greece. The date slotted nicely into our international tour schedule, between Brighton and Plymouth. But it butted up against my already booked holiday; I would have to fly home, spend 36 hours repacking and then fly straight to Greece. Mind you, I’m not complaining.

“It sounds like you’re complaining,” my wife says as we negotiate the duty free chicane at Gatwick. It is 4.30am, and the airport is rammed.

Emma, 32, a doctor, meets Julien, 41, an advertising creative

What were you hoping for?
Big love … but I was happy to settle for an evening of exchanging ideas and learning what makes a person tick.