Our discussion about all the best news and comments, with views from outside and inside the building
4.31pm BST
Some really great debate below the line today – thanks to everyone who has taken part, and please to share suggestions for how this format can be made better. A form awaits your views here.
Finally, please enjoy this photo of a dog sleeping in the sun, shared as part of our Witness asking for your pictures in the sun. Hope everyone will shortly be out and about in it. Great weekends everyone.
4.11pm BST
Clare Longrigg, deputy editor of the Guardian’s Long Read section, talks about one of her commissions.
Lauren Wolfe is an American writer who does a lot of work on women’s rights. She came to us in November 2015, with a pitch for a story about children from a very poor village in eastern Congo who were being systematically abducted and raped – and the authorities seemed incapable of stopping it. Clearly it was a story that needed to be told, plus she had funding to go to the DRC, which obviously helped.
Related: The village where dozens of girls have been raped is still waiting for justice | Lauren Wolfe
3.45pm BST
You’ll see lots of people complaining on social media about restrictions around covering the Olympics this year. Unless you’ve paid a squillion dollars for the rights to broadcast it, the IOC are extremely unhappy with people using clips on social media - including the humble gif and the use of Vine. This can be pretty frustrating, especially when one of the most enjoyable bits of watching sport on the second screen can be trying to spot the funny little things that go on in the background.
Still, it is a lot easier than it used to be. The fuss reminded me of when I was working on coverage of the 2004 Athens Olympics. Back in those days, if you wanted to link to the official Olympics site, they requested that you write to “The Internet Department” in Greece in advance to let them know...
3.43pm BST
Some interesting views being expressed so far. Full story is here.
From the BBC:
The judgement said: "A member's entitlement to vote in a leadership election is not a product of him or her simply being a member, but is the result of him or her being a member who satisfies the precise eligibility criteria defined by the NEC and any freeze date provisions set by the NEC in the timetable for the election."
Unbelievable. Labour PLP succeed in banning 130,000 of their members from voting in the leadership election. TAlk about anti-democratic. Utterly utterly disgusted with the Labour party using my membership fees on legal action to ban some of my fellow members from having a vote.
3.31pm BST
Social video is really a very broad term so we try to keep three words in mind when looking for stories and then designing videos around them: smart, personal, shareable.
Smart means you learn or understand something without feeling lectured or overwhelmed. Personal means you’re engaged because there’s a familiar emotion or situation, even in a subject that’s completely new or that you’d usually ignore. Shareable means the first two things were true and you want that to be a collective experience.
3.13pm BST
Great debate going on below the line around this topic.
We did this for TV (underrated and overrated shows) - can people suggest some for film?
I would say for underrated:
1 Layer Cake
2 Stranger than Fiction
3 The Darjeeling Limited
Lord of the rings, never ever understood the fuss. Shawshank, great film, but best of ask time, nah.
As for underrated.
I'm with John on Titanic. Dreadful.
The Normal Heart is a very underrated film, sad without being mawkish and with a good cast including Jim Parsons and Alfred Molina. It was the first time that I had seen Parsons doing something non-comedic, and it showed what a fantastic range the man has.
2.39pm BST
Readers below the line have been engaging with Martin Belam’s post below on Twitter, and the fact people this week have been using #SaveTwitter – after rumours suggested we may soon see the end of the social media platform. Here are two very different views on this:
I used to think that but more recently I've found it a great place to get other opinions and sometimes to engage. Better than BTL here sometimes! It's interesting for example to follow a bunch of different political scientists or economists and see how they often try and get one over on each other. Academics and other experts can be (often unintentionally) hilarious when they're challenged.
I just getting fed up with Twtterstorm, and Twitter is up in arms headlines.
This is journalistic bottom feeding, and I bet half the posters who are up in arms are other journalists.
A self perpetuating cycle of indignation and outrage, I go and watch QPR if I want that.
2.26pm BST
Dave Schilling is a Guardian US writer-at-large. He wrote this week about Suicide Squad (drawing comparisons to the film Con Air). Here, he talks about the reaction he got from readers.
It would be disingenuous of me to say that I was expecting a vociferous defence of the 1997 action film Con Air, directed by Simon West and starring that guy from the “not the bees” meme. A commenter named “FearAndChaos” said: “Enough of the Con Airophobia please.” “FridayWaits” really went in on me and listed off a few other classics: “Stopped reading when you tried to argue Con Air isn’t a top top film. What are you going to have a pop at next? Bad Boys!? The Rock?”
Related: Suicide Squad makes Con Air look inspired. It's time for a blockbuster face-lift
2.17pm BST
It’s almost never sunny, it seems, and this summer has seen its far share of rain so far. So because the sun is out today – and we want to savour it – send us a photo of you enjoying the great outdoors. We will publish our favourites above the line
2.00pm BST
Lots of interesting discussion below the line about this that I would like to highlight. There’s clearly two very distinct views. Encourage more discussion below the line.
One thing I have never understood about Jeremy Corbyn's supporters is that they actually seem to believe that he's a 'nicer, kinder' politician. Just to be clear, I am not saying this simply because I happen not to think he could ever become PM, but because it's quite simply not possible given that no politician who is active at the higher levels of party political hierarchies can afford to be like that.
Apart from the well-documented stories about the way he snubs and ignores a good many of his present and former shadcab members, he is also involved in a life-or-death struggle to remain as leader. And thus it is that just as his enemies are busy cheming and plotting to bring him down by fair means or foul as I type, Corbyn himself, Milne, McDonnell and his other allies are resorting to the same kind of dirty politics to stymie them.
Say what you want, I haven't seen him raise an insult against anyone since he became leader. That's kinder and gentler than most other MPs. Whether that means he shouldn't be bitter towards certain people, I don't know; kindness and grudges are not necessarily a disagreement, and I think we all know kind people who have their reasons for not wishing to be around certain other people.
Honestly, ask yourself, would you give time to certain members of your Cabinet if you were him. Knowing that they had briefed against you, deliberately undermined you and were half-openly planning to replace you. It's not even that it's a personal betrayal, if you're elected on a mandate the size of Corbyn's and you see your colleagues acting like that, you probably can't help feeling angry at how they're treating the views of their own party.
1.53pm BST
Tash Reith-Banks is production editor for science. She also writes about theatre, books and music and can be found on Twitter @TashReithBanks
Not since Jaws has summer featured this much excitement about a shark. We knew that Greenland sharks are quite long-lived, but there’s never been a way to properly determine their age. Not only do scientists think they’ve finally cracked it, they also discovered that one of the sharks measured was around 400 years old, making it the oldest vertebrate animal. Keen shark-spotters don’t need to go all the way to Greenland, however – August is peak basking shark season off Scotland’s West Coast.
Related: 400-year-old Greenland shark is oldest vertebrate animal
Related: 'Brain training' technique restores feeling and movement to paraplegic patients
1.42pm BST
The #SaveTwitter hashtag was trending this week, as users got themselves worked up about a hoax that the service would be shut down next year. It won’t, but the social media frenzy generated some tweets where people seemed worried about the prospect, some tweets from people that definitely weren’t, and a whole mess of confusion.
When you're trying to find out what #SaveTwitter means but every tweet is "OMG WHAT'S HAPPENING #SaveTwitter" pic.twitter.com/dnHq4qDYYC
Related: How it feels to be at the centre of an internet kidnapping conspiracy
1.10pm BST
Ever notice that “cool” places all look the same? Last week writer Kyle Chayka explored this phenomenon in an essay in the Verge, describing the way tech-led travel is homogenising what we consider to be the desirable hallmarks of any given destination. “Everywhere you go, seemingly hip, unique spaces have a way of looking the same, whether it’s bars or restaurants, fashion boutiques or shared office spaces,” he wrote in a follow-up piece for the Guardian, describing its key features as “reclaimed wood, Edison bulbs, and refurbished industrial lighting”.
Chayka dubs this style “Airspace”. Its function? Making a particularly elite demographic of global travellers feel comfortable and at home as they skip from city to city booking apartments on Airbnb, checking into the local co-working hub and meeting up with fellow “digital nomads” for an ideas jam (or whatever) at the nearest coffee joint.
12.40pm BST
This week we enjoyed the discussion beneath Ellie Mae O’Hagan’s article on Corbyn supporters. She argued that the Labour leader’s followers are aware of his failings, but he represents a set of values that have been marginalised in politics – and which are worth fighting for. In response you said this:
Related: Corbyn supporters are not delusional Leninists but ordinary, fed-up voters | Ellie Mae O’Hagan
Good article, in particular this comment …
“But I have zero sympathy with those in the party who have been utterly unwilling to engage with Corbyn supporters”
I know a couple of decent Corbynites. But when they don’t show up to canvassing, and only turn up at meetings when it’s to shout down and roll their eyes at anyone more moderate, and then spend their days leaping on everyone on Twitter, calling me a red Tory, Blairite Scum, on the “far right” for god’s sake, what are we supposed to think of them?
If we’re dismissive, or angry, or hurt in response to them, it’s not because we hate them personally, it’s out of frustration and deep, lasting despair. I have lost sleep over the past few weeks because of the fact that I’ve lost good Labour friends over the fact that I don’t think the current leader’s very good.
Most of us who support Corbyn do so without any illusions. We simply want a party which reflects our opinions and beliefs, which puts equality and fairness before austerity, which builds homes and an NHS for everyone, which gets rid of tuition fees and tax havens, which put peace and principle before arms sales, which puts the environment before exploitation, which puts rights before wrongs … Labour and Tory have been interchangeable since Blair and look where it’s got us. Corbyn breaks with the consensus. And that’s what’s needed. That’s why we support him.
Obviously it helps that he’s a truthful, kind, decent person … but it’s the politics, stupid.
12.22pm BST
Food52 – the one website guaranteed to make you hungry, no matter the hour – has just published another of its genius recipes under the headline “Ruth Reichl’s Grilled Cheese is Genius, and Completely Out of Control”. I clicked, because, I mean, of course I clicked: it’s grilled cheese. One clicks. But also, I was intrigued to see if Reichl could better what is ostensibly (according to every single person I’ve met who’s eaten one) the world’s greatest grilled cheese: Bill Oglethorpe’s Borough Market three-cheese toastie. Now I don’t know if the two cooks know each other, but assuming they don’t, the comparison is instructive. Reichl and Oglethorpe both plump for sourdough, cheddar and alliums, all in large quantities (thick slices of bread, mountains of grated cheese, and a medley of different coloured onions, garlic and leek, very finely chopped). And the recipes don’t so much differ as compete. Oglethorpe combines his cheddar with a washed rind and some comté, while Reichl adds both green onion and shallots to her veg. She also really pushes the boat out, adding butter on the inside of the bread, and mayo and extra cheese on the outside, because, as Food52 puts it, “at this point, why not?” Stella McCartney did an interview in October 2009, sitting in a west London cafe eating scrambled eggs on rye. And the only reason I remember this is because of a throwaway line in brackets at the end of the sixth paragraph: “What I really want, what I always really want,” she said, musing on her eggs, “is baked potato and grilled cheese … But then I’d be really fat.” Maybe you would be, I’ve always thought, but oh so very happy every time: grilled cheese – on a baked tattie or spiked with alliums and sandwiched in sourdough – is a true thing of beauty.
12.05pm BST
Olympics mania has finally hit, evident by our most-read articles this week. Our readers seemed to particularly enjoy our live blog of day five in Rio, detailing Australian swimmer Kyle Chalmers winning gold in the 100m freestyle. Olympic swimming also garnered attention for less celebratory reasons – with serious discrepancies in the entry times putting the sport’s credibility in doubt.
Related: Rio day five: Australia's Chalmers wins gold as Phelps edges Lochte – as it happened
Related: Olympic swimming’s credibility in doubt after questions over entry times
Related: Why is the Olympic diving pool green? The good news is it's not urine
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Related: This is Donald Trump at his lowest yet: a man hinting at murder | Lucia Graves
11.58am BST
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