For the first instalment of Young at art – a new series on the delights and dangers of introducing small children to art – Chloë Ashby weighs up whether it’s worth the effort

It all began at the Royal Academy. I was trying – and mostly failing – to look at epic, inventive paintings by Kerry James Marshall. My toddler was trying – and mostly failing – to career around the gallery spaces without colliding with anybody’s legs. As he hurled his toy pig, bowling ball-style, beneath one of the low, string barriers installed to keep a safe distance between us and the canvases, it got me thinking: are small children and art compatible? Was it selfish of me to have chosen the RA over, say, the Young V&A? What could I do to make gallery-going a happy and stress-free experience for us both?

These are just a few of the questions I hope to answer over the course of this series, which will explore the delights and dangers (just imagine if one of piggy’s trotters had pierced a KJM) of introducing knee-height people to art. Over the coming weeks, I’ll be visiting galleries, museums, immersive exhibitions and sculpture parks with my toddler – some aimed at him, others … well, aimed at me. Along the way I’ll share my thoughts, his reactions, key strategies and notes on buggy access, child-friendly menus, entrance fees and changing facilities.

Like Romeo and Juliet meets a gangster thriller, Charlotte Regan’s series is sumptuously shot with an incredible payoff – plus the most visually stunning scene of self-pleasure you will ever see

Shannon is 22. Her dad is a fearsome gangster. Her mum is an uncanny amalgamation of a Stepford and mob wife. Her brother’s a computer nerd; her gran is a hard-as-nails nymphomaniac. Shannon doesn’t have a job, hobbies or much of a social life. Instead, she hangs round her parents’ house, set amid swathes of brown scrubland on the outskirts of an anonymous Scottish town, waiting to fall in love. Mint begins on the day she does – at first sight, no less – across the tracks of a deserted train station.

Sparks fly, literally as well as figuratively. Having made her name with Scrapper – a funny, poignant and delightfully creative film about a grieving girl reunited with her estranged father – 31-year-old writer-director Charlotte Regan’s first proper TV project is patently the work of an auteur. A patchwork of VHS-style footage, surreal daydream sequences, gorgeously odd framing and special effects that stay on the right side of YA kookiness, Mint might be the most outrageously beautiful television show since Twin Peaks. I’ve certainly never witnessed a more visually stunning masturbation scene than the one in the opening episode. As Emma Laird’s Shannon fantasises about Arran, her new paramour, the lights of the surrounding suburbs flicker violently before sparks from industrial machinery arc across the screen and armed police jog silently into her family home.

Commentators have said that the US president’s clownishness and lack of ideology somehow make him less dangerous. They’re wrong

Over the past few weeks, a random kaleidoscope of images has been flashing through my head. Some are characters from movies not seen since childhood. Others are snippets from literature or iconic art. What joins them all is an exaggerated, almost kitschy evil.

These images seem to be standing in for the real carnage my brain is trying to process: the bodies pulled from the rubble in Gaza, a school full of young pupils blown apart in Iran. The more than 1 million people in southern Lebanon expelled en masse from their homes. (Alex in the film of A Clockwork Orange appears, eyes clamped open as liquid is dripped into them, unable to blink away what is scorching his vision.)

Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist

Haddock three ways: grilled with braised leeks in a warm mayo sauce; poached and served in roast mushroom rarebit; and smoked haddock fritters with cheese sauce

Haddock is a fish that deserves a bit more love. It’s a member of the cod family that, like cod itself, is one of those unfortunate fish that’s been in such high demand that it’s been overfished for decades. That said, the fisheries in the Nordic region are notably well managed, so fish from there is a really good option. Haddock grows quickly, too, so hopefully in future we’ll see an increase in the catch, so long as quotas are obeyed and the industry works hard on the way it’s fished.

Former minister leading review into young people and work cites survey showing most teachers decry lack of ‘soft skills’

An “exam-obsessed” school system is leaving young people unprepared for work, Alan Milburn has said, as new polling suggests teachers believe pupils are leaving education without the skills they need for adult life.

Milburn, a former cabinet minister under Tony Blair and now leading a government-commissioned review into young people and work, said the system had become overly focused on academic sorting rather than real-world readiness.

Twin reports from top accounting firms underline scale of economic threat as Iran war shatters business confidence

A quarter of a million people could lose their jobs by the middle of next year as Britain “flirts with recession”, analysis suggests, after business confidence was shattered by the US-Israel war on Iran.

As the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, summoned bank chiefs for talks aimed at containing the fallout, twin reports from top accounting firms underlined the scale of the economic threat facing the UK.

Privacystichting Consumers United in Court (CUIC) is maandag een collectieve procedure gestart tegen Odido. Dit vanwege een recent lek waarbij data van ruim zes miljoen Nederlanders zijn buitgemaakt. Het consumentencollectief noemt Odido op meerdere punten nalatig en wil onder meer genoegdoening voor iedereen van wie gegevens nu op straat liggen. Als je je wilt aansluiten omdat je je ook benadeeld voelt, kan dan zeker nog.

Volgens het collectief heeft Odido veel te veel gegevens bewaard, voor een veel te lange periode. Data waren bovendien niet goed afgeschermd. Verder is het bedrijf niet transparant genoeg geweest en is de meldplicht niet juist nageleefd. Odido lijkt de veiligheid van de klantgegevens "als sluitstuk van haar bedrijfsvoering" te hebben beschouwd, vindt CUIC-voorzitter Eliëtte Vaal.

De persoonsgegevens van de zeker 6,2 miljoen accounts zijn eerder dit jaar gestolen door hackersgroep ShinyHunters, die daar losgeld voor eiste. Odido ging daar niet op in. Er lopen nog onderzoeken naar het datalek, onder meer door de Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens.

Consumers United in Court zegt een onafhankelijke non-profitorganisatie te zijn, mede opgericht door de Nederlandse stichting Privacy First en de Europese organisatie None of Your Business. Deze twee strijden en procederen "voor concrete gegevensbescherming van burgers, met belangrijke gevolgen in wetgeving, uitvoering en toezicht".