Family lists property where war veteran raised funds during Covid – minus unauthorised spa pool The listed family home where Captain Sir Tom Moore walked laps of his garden to raise millions of pounds for the NHS during the Covid pandemic has gone on sale for £2.25m. The sight of the 99-year-old war veteran walking lengths of his garden, aided by a walking frame, charmed Britain in lockdown and raised £38.9m for health service charities ..read more

In today’s newsletter: The renters’ reform bill was meant to address a spiralling housing crisis, but as a watered-down version finally passes, we look at the ways a great hope has become a crushing disappointment • Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First Edition Good morning, and if you are a landlord, congratulations on another successful day! Last night, housing secretary Michael Gove’s renters’ reform bill passed its third reading in the House of Commons – and despite its name, it isn’t great news for tenants. After years of promises of a bill that would sharply improve things for tho ..read more

Borrowers urged not to panic as banks including Barclays, NatWest and HSBC readjust cost of loans At least five leading lenders increased rates on their fixed mortgage deals on Tuesday in response to “market uncertainty”, adding to pressure on homebuyers and those looking to remortgage. Barclays, HSBC, NatWest, Accord Mortgages (part of Yorkshire building society) and Leeds building society have all upped the cost of some fixed-rate deals. In some cases these have risen by up to 0.4 percentage points ..read more

Policing at a pro-Palestine marchSolving the climate crisisGreatness in baldnessPaint coloursThe best guitarists It is appalling that a police officer used the phrase “openly Jewish” when trying to move Gideon Falter away from a pro-Palestine march (Met apologises for calling antisemitism campaigner ‘openly Jewish’, 19 April). But it’s also ludicrous to suggest that being Jewish would be provocative. There have always been lots of “openly Jewish” people at the marches calling for a ceasefire, carrying signs such as “Jews say ceasefire now”, “Jews against Israeli militarism”, “Jews for justice ..read more

I run from room to room, touching things as if they’ll somehow transport me to the past. Not much has changed in the old weatherboard Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast Many years ago, a friend from university invited some of us to his mum’s beach house at Walkerville South. His mum had bought the house super cheap before the world had discovered that there was another impressive coastline in Victoria, far away from the more established houses of the Mornington Peninsula or the Great Ocean Road. The house was a weatherboard shack hidden in thick native ..read more

It’s easy to mock – and I fully intend to – but it takes real imagination to come up with something like Elephant’s Breath or Overcome Nymph’s Thigh Recently, I went on an adventure to an alien and intimidating place, a real no-go area: Belgravia’s interiors shops. My best friend is trying to buy a flat and to energise her for this grim journey of owner ghostings, asbestos, incompetent agents and outrageous prices, she needed a bit of escapist fun looking at chi-chi paints. Unfortunately, she brought me: a person with all the visual sensibility of a house brick (Terre D’Egypte? Porphyry Red ..read more

From renovating existing wood and plastic to scouring the local tip for anything that can be recycled Getting your garden ready for the warmer months is not only about planting. We take a look at how to furnish your outdoor space for less ..read more

Lock-ups are being reinvented and marketed as more than just storage amid overcrowding and record rent rises Forget the gym membership and juicing regime: the new must-have to boost personal wellbeing is a self-storage unit. At least, that is the call from a new company urging space-squeezed thirtysomething renters to accept that they cannot afford a home with enough cupboards in today’s housing system and instead sweep their clutter into a rented lock-up ..read more

UK debt advice charity warns that cost of living crisis and higher rents are pushing younger full-time workers into difficulties A rising number of people in full-time work, including those in jobs such as nursing, have been seeking advice on debt, amid warnings that a growing cohort of younger workers is struggling to make ends meet. Figures seen by the Observer suggest rising rents and the use of credit to cope with the cost of living crisis in recent years are driving more full-time workers to seek help ..read more

How do I know what soil I have? Do bulbs come back? And how did people garden before Google? As the growing season gears up, our experts are here with a barrowful of advice Few domestic gardens need work every weekend – whisper it, but they’re quite good at looking after themselves. Broadly speaking: new growth on twiggy, brown (or woody) stems is a fair sign to prune old growth back to encourage the new growth into a neater, fuller shape; a shift to spring and summer signals a need to feed plants; if your plants are romping away, your weeds probably will be too – pulling them out while they’r ..read more