The Travis musician on William Eggleston’s unseen photographs, a superhero show worth watching, and where he likes to eat and drink on the US’s east and west coasts

Fran Healy was born in Stafford in 1973 and raised in Glasgow. He studied at the Glasgow School of Art where he joined the band Travis (originally known as Glass Onion), becoming their singer and principal songwriter. They released their first album in 1997 but it was their second, 1999’s The Man Who , that provided their breakthrough, selling more than 3.5m copies worldwide. Healy, who lives in Los Angeles, released a solo album, Wreckorder , in 2010. His 10th album with Travis, LA Times , came out earlier this year and the band’s Raze the Bar UK tour runs until 21 December.

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US industry ready to drop demand to export chlorinated chicken and hormone-fed beef in move set to anger British farmers

The United States is expected to push Britain to allow tariff-free access to high-quality American meat as part of any trade deal signed under the incoming Trump administration, amid interest from the president-elect’s trade chief.

Previous attempts to forge an agreement with the US have failed. Demands to allow the import of chlorinated chicken and hormone-fed beef – produced in the US but illegal in the UK – have proved too unpalatable for British ministers.

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Layers of choux pastry and ganache may test your skills, but ’tis the season for going all out on a showstopping dessert

This is a “go all out” kind of cake, and perfect for the festive season. While it may test your patience and skill, the reward is a showstopping dessert that will have everyone smiling. The choux pastry softens as it is layered with creme patissiere, caramel and chocolate ganache, so let it rest before serving – it gets only better with time!

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Claudia Roden’s classic cake adapted and reimagined as an ideal Christmas dessert

Nothing can beat Claudia Roden’s orange and almond cake . It’s the cake my husband, Hugh, asks me for every birthday. It’s very special and slightly bonkers, given that it involves boiling two oranges and blending them whole. But it isn’t vegan (it uses six eggs). Many chefs and food writers have written recipes in homage to her Sephardic delight, and now it’s my turn. I’ve kept the boiling and blending bit, because it adds moisture and richness, a bright orange flavour and a slight (pleasant) bitterness, but I’ve replaced the almonds with flour, to bind, and added some cardamom, because it’s Christmas!

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A tart alternative to traditional Christmas pudding

Pudding at Christmas doesn’t actually need to be Christmas pudding. It feels right, though, to pinch or borrow from the best bits of other festive fare. The marzipan, orange and spices from the Christmas cake ; the redcurrant jelly from the roast; the sherry from whoever’s cracking on. This is my kind of dessert: alternative but traditional at the same time.

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Their floats were once a regular sight, quietly whirring down the country’s streets, delivering daily pints. Photographer Maxine Beuret captures the vanishing world of electric milk floats (and their drivers)

You often hear them before you see them: the unmistakable clink and tinkle of glass bottles in crates, and the low whine of the electric motor. Milk floats are a uniquely British sight, and an increasingly rare one, which is why the British photographer and cultural historian Maxine Beuret has spent 20 years documenting their use by dairies across England, as part of her project Two Pints Please .

Beuret, who calls herself a historian of the commonplace, has documented several quirks of British culture that are at risk of disappearing (or have since gone), including slam-door commuter trains, TfL’s Routemaster buses before they were decommissioned, and traditional shops in the Midlands including a sweet shop, a men’s outfitters and a hardware store. She first photographed an electric milk float while undertaking another project called Familiar Interiors of Leicester – her hometown – in 2005. As well as creating a record of the library, the hospital, the pub and other cherished places, she visited the local dairy, Kirby & West , and “instantly fell in love” with the milk floats, she says. “I loved the compact, functional design, clean lines, and fragile sense of history they carried with them.”

Overlooking the yard at Parker Dairies

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An all-round popular dessert is worth tweaking, this time with leftover panettone that soaks up the coffee and contrasts with the creamy mascarpone

My first restaurant job was at Aqua on the Welshback in Bristol. I’d just graduated from Falmouth art college and was eager to get stuck into chef life after developing a taste for it at the Bottle Inn in Marshwood , Bridport, and at Henry’s Beard , an organic festival cafe. I found the transition from strong, environmentally focused catering to a more mainstream restaurant challenging, but I’d say I really cut my teeth there working with executive chef Jon Fraser, a veteran chef who for decades had run the kitchens at Bath Spa Hotel, cooking a global menu from Thai green curry to tiramisu.

Jon’s tiramisu was rich, bittersweet and boozy, and traditionally made with sponge fingers, but this festive take on it uses leftover panettone instead, not least because it soaks up the coffee and alcohol beautifully.

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Guardian study confirms fan suspicions that show green triangle typically one of the rarest chocolates, with shrinkflation adding further insult to injury

Sharing a tub of Quality Street, Celebrations or Roses is a tradition in millions of households at Christmas but do you ever feel shortchanged by the mix of sweets? Welcome to “Inequality Street”, where prized treats like the green triangles and Maltesers are in short supply but there’s a bounty of Milky Ways and orange cremes.

A Guardian analysis of the make-up of three of the most popular Christmas sweets confirmed what many have feared: there are fewer of the best chocolates to begin with. To add insult to injury there might even be a smaller number in the box altogether due to shrinkflation as companies reduce pack sizes but leave the price unchanged.

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As Kemi Badenoch and Keir Starmer go to war over the humble sandwich , we look back on six moments when lunchtime staples provoked unexpected indigestion

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