Driver reportedly checked with base and was told to continue when GPS directed van on to Essex mudflats

People thought they were looking at an AI image: an Amazon delivery van half-submerged at the mouth of the Thames estuary where it meets the North Sea. “I thought someone had just knocked up a photograph,” says local guide Kevin Brown about first seeing it online.

It turned out the image was genuine, and it proliferated. There was something delightfully primordial about it – such a dominant sight of modern street life, just out there on the mud, vulnerable and surrounded by nothingness. Banter followed, images of an Amazon package floating in sea water: Amazon has made your delivery.

Reform UK leader snaps at reporters as he tries to maintain control over announcement of shadow cabinet

Meet the Fockers. The shadow cabinet from hell. Rejects, losers and deadbeats. A freak show. A tribute act.

Reform have often been called a one-man band. The Nigel Farage party. So to counter this narrative, Nige took over Church House in Westminster and turned it into a tacky gameshow set. A remake of The Weakest Link. All to parade his new top team. The lucky men and women whose one job is to try not to fall out with one another in the next few years. No chance.

Critics have given the Flotus flick 11% on the aggregator site, but the ‘verified ticket buyers’ score is a near perfect 98%. A campaign by activists, or a sign of our politically disparate times?

If you’ve started to feel like you’re living in an entirely different reality from most of the world, there’s a good chance that it’s because you’ve been looking at the Rotten Tomatoes page for the Melania Trump documentary. There you will find two diametrically opposed numbers. First is the official Rotten Tomatoes score – the one aggregated across published reviews by professional critics – which sits at a minuscule 11%. But then there is the audience rating, which is based on scores from members of the general public. That score, incredibly, is 98%. (Admittedly, this is a score confined to “verified ticket buyers” – Rotten Tomatoes has another section it calls “All Audience” where the reaction is more … mixed.)

Of course, there has long been a chasm between public and critical opinion, which is why the film that won the most Oscars last year was a small character study about a disenfranchised stripper and the film that brought in the most money was about Minecraft. Even so, the disparity between the brutal reviews that Melania received (“The most depressing experience I have ever had in the cinema” – Mark Kermode) and the glowing public reviews (“Every red blooded American needs to see this movie to recognise the grace, sophistication and power of Flotius [sic]” – Jackie) is enough to give you whiplash.

After Guardian writers shared their picks for big screen love stories people may not have seen, readers have responded with some alternative options

It’s a long time since I saw it, and it’s one of those films I’ve been unable to rewatch after a first viewing in case it disappoints. The way they keep upping the ante as the movie progresses struck me as completely perfect at the time. CreatureAdam

Civil rights leader, politician, campaigner; the Rev Jackson was a phenomenal orator, and a brilliant organiser. Writers reflect on his impact around the world

• Jesse Jackson – a life in pictures

• Jesse Jackson tributes – latest updates

San Francisco’s AI startups are pushing workers to grind endlessly, hinting at pressures soon hitting other sectors

Not long after the terms “996” and “grindcore” entered the popular lexicon, people started telling me stories about what was happening at startups in San Francisco, ground zero for the artificial intelligence economy. There was the one about the founder who hadn’t taken a weekend off in more than six months. The woman who joked that she’d given up her social life to work at a prestigious AI company. Or the employees who had started taking their shoes off in the office because, well, if you were going to be there for at least 12 hours a day, six days a week, wouldn’t you rather be wearing slippers?

“If you go to a cafe on a Sunday, everyone is working,” says Sanju Lokuhitige, the co-founder of Mythril, a pre-seed-stage AI startup, who moved to San Francisco in November to be closer to the action. Lokuhitige says he works seven days a week, 12 hours a day, minus a few carefully selected social events each week where he can network with other people at startups. “Sometimes I’m coding the whole day,” he says. “I do not have work-life balance.”

Figures from Aviva also show number of homes being built in risky areas is rising

One in nine new homes in England built between 2022 and 2024 were constructed in areas that could now be at risk of flooding, according to new data.

The figures show the number of homes being built in risky areas is on the rise – a previous analysis showed that between 2013 and 2022, one in 13 new homes were in potential flooding zones.

National Crime Agency says rise in child sexual abuse being driven by technology and online forums

Child sexual abuse in the UK is soaring, police have said, with 1,000 paedophile suspects being arrested each month and the number of children being rescued from harm rising by 50% in the last five years.

The National Crime Agency said the growth in offending across the UK was driven by technology and linked to the radicalisation of offenders in online forums, encouraging people to view images of child sexual abuse by reassuring them it was normal.

Kay Mason Billig accuses Steve Reed of forcing council to agree to poll delay in return for extra funding and powers

• What made ministers think they could delay local elections?

A Norfolk council leader has accused the government of “bullying” her local authority into postponing elections in return for extra funding and powers, as she pulled out of long-awaited devolution deal for the county.

Kay Mason Billig, the Conservative leader of Norfolk county council, said she would no longer take part in local government reorganisation (LGR) or devolution plans in the area, saying the council could not participate in that and simultaneously hold elections.

Moves come after Gordon Brown’s claim that files show that US sex offender used Stansted airport in Essex to ‘fly in girls’

British police have expanded their interest in the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s links to Britain, by admitting for the first time they are looking at claims he used dozens of private flights into UK airports to traffic women.

It comes after former prime minister Gordon Brown said that documents about Epstein released in the US showed in “graphic detail” how the disgraced financier, with links to high-profile people including the former Prince Andrew, was able to use Stansted airport in Essex to “fly in girls from Latvia, Lithuania and Russia”.