I was sued over my film that gave a voice to the committed ‘amateur’ whose pivotal role in the search for the remains of Richard III was drowned out by louder voices in academia

About 15 years ago, Philippa Langley set out on a mission to find the remains of King Richard III, the last Plantagenet king of England. Almost everyone regarded this as an impossible task. His remains had gone undiscovered for more than 500 years. It was a folly, a fool’s errand. She was out of her depth, an amateur. No letters after her name.

But Philippa diligently did the work and did her research. She had an inner conviction that she would find him, and she did. It was a staggering achievement, and yet when the news broke of this startling discovery, and it was beamed round the world, there was little to no mention of her.

Find an appealing activity and stick with it even if you lack skill, says Karen Walrond, author of In Defense of Dabbling

• Tell us: have you fallen in love this year?

All my life I’ve been bad at sports. At school I was always successfully “sick” on the annual sports day and had a standing note from my equally averse mother to excuse me from physical education classes due to my “bad foot”. Even after I started exercising regularly in my mid-20s, I never joined my friends’ social netball or football teams.

“Hating sports” was core to my identity. Then, last year, a friend invited me to her birthday “kickabout” – a casual game of football, I gathered. (I believe some call it soccer.) Had we been less close, I might have made my excuses. Instead I turned up to the park, determined to keep as far away from the ball as possible.

Nige suffers through lacklustre PMQs to seize the spotlight with drive-by demand to get further away from Europe

Sarah Pochin is unwell. She hasn’t been seen for days. Not at any of the three Reform press conferences on three consecutive days this week. It’s not as if Reform has so many MPs to go round that her presence wouldn’t be missed. The last Sarah sighting was on TalkTV last Saturday where she could be spotted frantically counting the number of black and Asian actors in adverts. One, two, two too many …

Safe to say that Sarah now can’t even bring herself to turn up to the House of Commons. Not out of shame but because it causes her to go even madder when she has to observe all the black and brown faces on the benches.

A year in Westminster: John Crace, Marina Hyde and Pippa Crerar. On Tuesday 2 December, join Crace, Hyde and Crerar as they look back with special guests at another extraordinary year, live at the Barbican in London and livestreamed globally. Book tickets here.

The Bonfire of the Insanities by John Crace (Guardian Faber Publishing, £16.99). To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

Growing number of schools are giving pupils and staff a fortnight off, but some parents complain of childcare costs

For many schools across England it is now October half-term – but while it used to be standard for state schools to have just one week, increasingly pupils and staff are being given a fortnight off.

A growing number of schools have added, or are intending to add, an additional week to the existing holiday, saying it will give teachers a much-needed extra break and allow families to access cheaper holidays.

Jeans can be so much more than your standard weekend staple. Pick the right style, add the right accessories and you’ve got yourself a sharp, fresh look

A funny thing happened at the Venice film festival this year: Julia Roberts turned up in jeans. A film festival red carpet usually means chiffon and sequins, bare shoulders and sweeping hems, but Julia – look, I feel like we are on first-name terms at this point – wore dark Versace jeans with a pale striped blouse and a tailored blazer. And, yes, it is probably important to acknowledge here that when your smile alone could stop gondola traffic your clothes have less heavy lifting to do – but still. It was a moment. A new era of looking smart in jeans has begun.

Most of us feel a bit conflicted about jeans. They are our default setting on a Saturday, but when we need to look smart, we reach for something else. But jeans, worn right, can take you to the office or a nice restaurant with flair to spare. And most of us don’t need to worry too much about the red carpet, after all.

Patrick Greenfield hikes up the Virunga mountains in east Africa to trace the remarkable comeback of the mountain gorilla

Along the borders of Uganda, Rwanda and the DRC lies the Virunga national park – the home of mountain gorillas. Back in 1970s there were only a few hundred of these gorillas left. Yet today the community is thriving with more than 1,000.

Patrick Greenfield, the Guardian’s biodiversity reporter, headed up into the Virunga mountains, guided by wildlife vets, to find out how they achieved this rare and extraordinary conservation success. He tells Annie Kelly how the gorillas have been protected in such a volatile area.

Exclusive: Five women said Reform leader’s comments that they were victims of other types of sexual abuse were ‘degrading’

Five women have asked for an apology from Nigel Farage after he suggested they were not victims of grooming gangs.

They described the comments by the Reform leader as “degrading and humiliating”, and accused him of “ignorance” of the issues.

Result would pave the way for the Netherlands’ first out gay prime minister and end far-right populist Geert Wilders’ time in power

The liberal-progressive D66 party was on track to become the largest in the Dutch parliament, according to an exit poll, after a snap general election in which Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom party was seen losing a third of its seats.

The poll, with a one- to two-seat margin of error, gave the centrist party an estimated 27 MPs in the 150-seat assembly, possibly clearing a path for its 38-year-old leader, Rob Jetten, to become the Netherlands’ youngest and first out gay prime minister.

Areece Lloyd-Hall stabbed Pitman in the neck at a gathering in Primrose Hill, London, to watch a fireworks display

A teenager has been found guilty of murder after stabbing Harry Pitman, 16, in a central London park during New Year’s Eve celebrations two years ago.

Areece Lloyd-Hall, now 18, stabbed Pitman in the neck after a fight broke out between the two strangers at a midnight gathering in Primrose Hill, a famous viewpoint for the city’s fireworks displays.

Starmer signs agreement with visiting Vietnamese leader after surge in clandestine arrivals from country

Vietnamese people who arrive in the UK by irregular means will be fast-tracked for deportation under a new agreement, Downing Street has said.

After a surge in clandestine arrivals from the south-east Asian country last year via small boats and in the back of lorries, the deal is supposed to cut red tape and make it faster and easier to return those with no right to be in the UK.