37 minutes ago Liz Truss opposes assisted dying bill saying NHS should be ‘protecting lives, not ending them’ – UK politics live

The Telegraph, which first reported Truss’s stance, also said Theresa May and Boris Johnson were against the billGood morning. We have got PMQs later, which means party politics will probably dominate for much of the day in the chamber, but increasingly MPs are preoccupied with a free vote, non-partisan matter, the vote on the assisted dying bill on Friday. This morning there are at least two interesting developments on that story.Three former Conservative prime ministers are all opposed to the bill, the Telegraph is reporting. The paper has a quote from Liz Truss who says:It is wrong in principle: organs of the state like the NHS and the judicial system should be protecting lives, not ending them.No doubt, as we have seen in Canada, vulnerable people would be put under appalling pressu...

Politics

42 minutes ago Europe finally faces up to migrant crisis: Germany looks set to vote in anti

European governments have begun to face up to the challenges of the migrant crisis, making moves to provide a fair system that cuts casualties and protects legal routes

Events

46 minutes ago ‘Most of these guys had never fired a weapon’: inside the FBI’s early hunt for gangsters

The new book Gangster Hunters recalls J Edgar Hoover and his so-called ‘G-Men’ who took down some of the biggest criminals of the timeJohn Oller’s new book tells how the FBI took down John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde and other celebrity criminals of the 1930s, as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt waged his “war on crime”. In prose fast as an Essex-Terraplane getaway car, Oller recounts and deconstructs the myths that grew around such bank robbers, kidnappers and killers. He also spotlights the agents who chased and caught and sometimes killed the criminals or were killed themselves – names long eclipsed by that of J Edgar Hoover, who led the FBI for 48 years.“Hoover was such a larger-than-life figure and he wanted to keep it that way,” Oller says. “He wanted his agen...

Events

55 minutes ago Smoking ban critic Nigel Farage skips major vote to present GB News show

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage failed to turn up for a Commons vote on the smoking ban, despite being a vocal critic of the plans - as he was presenting his GB News show

Politics

90 minutes ago Bumper win for top female banker as Nationwide seals £2.9bn takeover of Virgin Money

The building society completed its £2.9bn takeover of Virgin Money in October, making it the UK’s second largest mortgage and savings provider

Economics

1 hour ago Mbappé finds rhythm in preferred position before Madrid visit Liverpool

Frenchman gets another chance to make his mark on the left after ending his mini-scoring drought“The story of my career,” Kylian Mbappé called it, which it wasn’t really and would make his career surprisingly average, but at least he was polite. A little political perhaps, too.After Real Madrid’s 3-0 victory at Leganés on Sunday night, the Frenchman spoke to the club’s TV channel about a game he had started on the left for the first time since his seven-year wait to reach Spain came to a close. He hadscored the opener, ending a four-match run without a goal, 21 shots rattled off without scoring, but his position, he said, was not the reason. Continue reading...

Politics

3 hours ago Who are the 2 million people demanding a general election? Crunching the numbers behind the viral petition

Starmer insists he’s ‘not surprised’ by election petition with two million signatures as he rules out another vote

Politics

3 hours ago MPs will vote, but there is a better way to decide who has the right to die | Rafael Behr

In an age of cynicism and mistrust, politicians must work harder to involve the public in difficult decisionsWhen MPs vote this Friday on assisted dying, they will be trying to answer two questions folded into one. First comes the ethical choice. Is it ever permissible for one person to help someone else take their own life? Then comes the regulatory challenge. Under what conditions might that permission be granted in law?It isn’t easy to separate those considerations. Sometimes you have to work through scenarios of implementation before arriving at a view on the prior principle. But when legislation is being drafted, the two questions must logically be answered in sequence, not in parallel. When and how are only relevant debates if the answer to the question of whether assisted dying c...

Politics

3 hours ago Scotland should take a warning from Donald Trump 25% tariffs on 'day one' of presidency

Donald Trump has said he will introduce 25 per cent tariffs on goods coming from Canada and Mexico on day one of his presidency

Events