Pressing tasks for new director general also include an expiring royal charter, and finding a new top team

Matt Brittin may have only just been announced as the new BBC director general, but his inbox is already overflowing. Here are his immediate challenges:

She has survived heartbreak, death threats and nauseating sexism. In her Mayfair club, the Yorkshire star talks about superfans, viral hits, running away to sea – and her bid to become a Nashville icon

Whatever else has changed for Jane McDonald, between the working mens’ clubs the cruise ships and the arenas she is increasingly packing out, one thing has remained. It’s there on TV, where she remains the only Bafta-winning broadcaster liable to go full Cilla and break into song: she plays to the women. “Never acknowledge the men,” she advises cheerfully. There are a lot of husbands. “And they’re like, ‘Oh God …’” She pulls a face. “‘Jane McDonald.’” Increasingly, however, her audiences may not contain many straight men: her social media-led renaissance as an icon of northern high camp means she will perform at London queer festival Mighty Hoopla this summer.

I meet McDonald at her members’ club in Mayfair on the morning she releases her 12th album, Living the Dream. At the age of 62, she’s gone country. Recorded at the elite Blackbird Studios in Nashville – Coldplay and Taylor Swift have recorded there – she is dealing in unabashedly big country flavours. Less Cilla, more Shania.

A well-timed jibe by the prime minister at Nigel Farage’s side-hustle seemed to provoke the party leader into staging a mass walkout

Much of good comedy lies in the timing. We were about halfway through Wednesday’s prime minister’s questions and Keir Starmer was answering an obviously planted question from a Labour backbencher on the government’s plans to ban political donations from overseas donors and via cryptocurrency. Having done the serious bit, Starmer couldn’t resist the opportunity to sign off with a pop at a man whose party survives on overseas donors and crypto. “There is only one party leader who has shown he will say anything, no matter how divisive, if he is paid to do so.”

Without missing a beat, the speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, announced the next questioner. “Nigel Farage”. The Reform leader didn’t seem to find this quite as funny as most other MPs. Nige is becoming more and more thin-skinned these days. Maybe it’s that his party’s lead in the polls has narrowed substantially since the beginning of the war. Maybe it’s that he doesn’t like having policies examined too closely. Maybe he’s pissed off that his income stream from Cameo has temporarily dried up. Or maybe it’s just that he’s actually quite unpleasant.

Some gen Z men are using the term to describe an easy meal consisting of ground beef, rice, and a vegetable or fat

Recently, after a long day of sending emails, I assembled a bowl of food I had prepared over the weekend: brown rice, ground turkey and half an avocado, all drizzled in hot sauce. As I snarfed my meal on the couch, my husband peeked into my bowl and said: “Having some boy kibble?”

It turns out he was not just making a rude comment about my slop. On social media, health-conscious gen Z men have started using the term to describe a quick and easy meal: ground beef, rice, and sometimes a vegetable or fat. The brown, lumpy concoction is praised by gym bros as an easy, relatively cheap way to get the carbs and protein necessary to maximize their workout gains.

Salmon with rice and vegetables

Greek yogurt with fruit and granola

Eggs with whole grain toast and avocado

Stir-fry with tofu, vegetables, buckwheat noodles, and crushed nuts and sesame seeds

A whole grain wrap filled with black beans, guacamole, veggies, cheese and salsa

Whole grain pasta with turkey meatballs, zucchini spirals, olives, parmesan cheese and tomato sauce

France’s National Rally missed key targets in local elections ahead of next year’s seismic presidential vote – and the mainstream is doing OK elsewhere, too

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The Rassemblement National is not invincible. A year out from a make-or-break presidential vote, that might be the main lesson (though there are others, which may prove more significant) from last weekend’s local elections in France. What’s more, news elsewhere – Giorgia Meloni’s referendum defeat in Italy, Janez Janša beaten in Slovenia, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán in trouble, the left bloc largest in Denmark – might suggest the rest of Europe’s far right are not having it all their own way, either.

But let’s focus first on France – if only because while local elections are rarely a wholly accurate guide to future national outcomes, these ones seem to provide some pointers – and the stakes in the country’s next major election are vertiginously high.

The US staple was doomed to fail in cynical Britain. But after grabbing the attention of the most powerful man in the world, we should root for it to ruffle some more feathers

Keir Starmer and Donald Trump’s “special” relationship? It’s complicated. This week, hours before a scheduled phone call between the two leaders, Trump shared a clip of another conversation. It was a sketch from the inaugural episode of Saturday Night Live (SNL) UK, in which a nasal and stressed Starmer, played by George Fouracres, repeatedly tried to get out of calling the president. “I just want to keep him happy, Lammy,” moaned the PM to his deputy. “You don’t understand him like I do – I can change him.”

After weeks of very real tensions over what Trump perceives as a lack of British support for US military action in Iran, the humiliating clip was a nightmare for Downing Street. But you know who it was a dream for? SNL UK, which just had its arrival announced by the most powerful man in the world.

Pakistani intermediaries deliver 15-point plan but some proposals proved intractable in previous negotiations

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Iranian officials expressed initial disapproval of a US ceasefire plan on Wednesday, even as intermediaries suggested direct talks between the two could start as early as this weekend.

Representatives from Pakistan who reportedly delivered the US plan to Iran told the Associated Press that it was a 15-point proposal that would include sanctions relief for Iran, dismantling Iran’s nuclear programme, restricting its use of missiles and reopening the strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for about 20% of the world’s oil.

Human Rights Watch and others say they have documented use of weapon in civilian areas during war on Gaza

When the M825-series 155mm artillery projectile bursts, expelling its felt wedges containing white phosphorus, it leaves a distinctive knuckle-shaped plume. That is how Human Rights Watch (HRW) researchers said they were able to verify that Israel was again using the notorious weapon over south Lebanon, reigniting accusations that it is breaking the laws of war.

The New York-based rights group said it had verified and geolocated eight images showing airburst white phosphorus munitions exploding over residential areas in the southern Lebanese town of Yohmor in the opening days of Israel’s assault during the war on Gaza.

Explosions lit up Tehran skyline as Israel launched new airstrikes but by morning joggers were in the park

• Middle East crisis – live updates

The days after Nowruz, the Persian New Year, are usually a bustling time in Tehran, with spring arriving, trees blossoming, businesses reopening after the holidays, and people returning to work and school.

This year, however, Iranians are trying to maintain a semblance of ordinary life against the constant backdrop of explosions, airstrikes – and a conflict many fear may drag on for weeks or months.

Legislation subject to MPs’ approval but will be backdated due to urgency of threat to UK democracy, says minister

• UK politics live – latest updates

Political donations from British citizens living abroad are to be capped at £100,000 a year from Wednesday, in a move that is likely to limit further funding from Reform UK’s Thailand-based mega-donor, Christopher Harborne.

In a hugely significant move, the government said it would introduce the strict cap, as well as a temporary ban on donations in cryptocurrency, in its new representation of the people bill.

Requiring third-party campaigners to declare donations all year round, not just election periods, and allowing funding only from permissible donors.

More stringent checks on the source of funds from political donors, bringing it more into line with know-your-customer checks in the financial services industry.

Preventing donations from shell companies by ensuring funding is from post-tax profits rather than revenue.

Requiring foreign consultant lobbyists to join the official register, from which they are currently exempt because they do not charge VAT.

Banning foreign-funded political adverts outright.