45 m. ago Norway backs Nato’s 5% defence spending target despite Spain rejecting it as ‘unreasonable’ – Europe live

PM Jonas Gahr Støre declared Norway’s support for the 5% target proposed by Nato’s secretary general Mark RutteIn Berlin, meanwhile, a German government spokesperon said that Iran will probably be a topic of discussion at next week’s Nato summit in The Hague.“We do not comment on allies’ possible attack plans,” the spokesperson said, referring to US president Donald Trump saying he would decide within two weeks whether his country would join Israeli strikes. Continue reading...

Events

60 m. ago Keir Starmer’s AI tsar to step down after six months in role

Matt Clifford, a tech investor who wrote government’s controversial AI action plan, to resign for personal reasonsKeir Starmer’s artificial intelligence tsar, a key figure in steering the government’s approach to artificial intelligence, is stepping down after six months in the role.Matt Clifford, the author of the government’s AI opportunities action plan, said: he would leave his post next month for personal reasons. Continue reading...

Politics

90 m. ago Hospital consultants may strike with junior doctors in pay row escalation

BMA warns government faces ‘several groups of doctors on picket lines together later this year’

Events

1 hour ago MPs debate assisted dying bill ahead of crunch vote – UK politics live

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will either clear the House of Commons and move to the Lords, or fail completelyMPs have gathered in the House of Commons for the third reading of the assisted dying bill. If approved, it will then go to the House of Lords.There will also be four votes in the Commons on changes within the bill since it was last put to MPs in November.The terminally ill adults (end of life) bill has huge implications for hospices, our staff, volunteers and patients, as well as the health system and society more broadly. But there are still many unanswered questions around how a future assisted dying service would work.Given this lack of clarity we welcome the introduction of new clause 20, which would require the government to consult with palliative and end of life care providers if the bill progresses. It is vital that the access of palliative and end of life care for everyone is increased, and for that we need a better funding model for hospices. Contin...

Politics

1 hour ago Bank of England boss not ‘convinced’ of need for digital pound

The Bank and the Government are in the process of exploring the launch of a digital pound.

Economics

2 h. ago Gregor Poynton MP welcomes the expansion of the Warm Home Discount, providing an extra 240,000 families in Scotland with money off their energy bills.

The UK Labour Government has confirmed that an extra 2.7 million households will receive £150 off their energy bills next winter to ensure that families across the UK stay warm this winter.

Society

2 h. ago Labour Government frontbencher resigns over proposed disability benefit cuts

Vicky Foxcroft has resigned as a Government whip because she did not believe the proposed cuts “should be part of the solution”.

Politics

2 h. ago Voices: Angela Rayner must learn lessons from housebuilders if she wants to succeed

The government has big ambitions to build 1.5 million new homes – but for too long the private sector has been viewed with suspicion, writes Chris Blackhurst. It’s time for an urgent re-think

Politics

2 h. ago Minister insists no major welfare rebellion on the horizon after whip quits

Lisa Nandy said the Government believes the Commons will back reforms.

Politics

3 h. ago New DWP proposed welfare reforms due for debate in Parliament at start of next month

The UK Government needs to have the planned legislation approved by November to implement it next year.

Politics

3 h. ago Government borrowing jumps despite boost from national insurance hike

The ONS said borrowing rose to £17.7 billion last month, the second highest figure on record for May.

Politics

3 h. ago Developing countries ‘need more debt relief’ to fund education and health

Research warns poorer governments prioritising debt payments over essential development spendingDeveloping countries need a fresh round of debt relief, to prevent money urgently needed for health and education being diverted to creditors, according to a major new report commissioned by the late Pope Francis.The Jubilee report, produced by a panel of experts chaired by Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, argues for debt restructuring, along the lines of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative (HIPC). Continue reading...

Economics

3 h. ago From LA to Paris, the populist right hates cities – and it’s fuelled by a sense of bitter defeat | Andy Beckett

LA was once a conservative stronghold; now the military is occupying it. Liberal cities have become targets for politicians looking to stir up their voters elsewhereFrom Los Angeles to London, Istanbul to Warsaw, cities are making rightwing populists angry. Their liberal elites, immigrants, net zero policies, leftwing activists, globalised businesses, expensive transport infrastructure and outspoken municipal leaders – all are provocations to populist politicians whose support often comes from more conservative, less privileged places.Three years ago the founders of national conservatism, the transatlantic ideology on which much of modern rightwing populism is based, published a statement of principles. One of these, surprisingly little noticed at the time, declared with some menace: “In those [places] in which law and justice have been manifestly corrupted, or in which lawlessness, immorality, and dissolution reign, national government must intervene energetically to restore order....

Politics

4 h. ago Homebuilders Berkeley Group announce ‘Rob the Builder’ as new executive chair to lead 10

Group reported pre-tax profits of more than £500m

Society

4 h. ago Bring the House Down by Charlotte Runcie review – the joy of the hatchet job

Is giving an artist a one-star review an act of abuse? An influential theatre critic finds out in this smart story of #MeToo-era revengeWhen Jesus is pressed to condemn the woman taken in adultery, he says, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” No one does, and a lesson in critical generosity is learned. Judge not, that ye be not judged.Is giving an artist a one-star review an act of abuse – casting the first stone? Is it worse when the reviewer is male and the artist female? That’s the starting point of this entertaining and very timely debut novel from Charlotte Runcie, an arts journalist who, as a young intern, was lambasted on stage by a successful standup to whom she’d given a bad review.There was an interactive customer feedback device propped up on the bar. Tell us what you think of our service, it said, and underneath there were two buttons you could press: an angry red face or a smiling green one. Excellent or worthless, nothing in...

Society

4 h. ago Grenfell: Uncovered review – heartwrenching account of avoidable tragedy

Bleak, enraging documentary combines firsthand accounts of the disaster with appalling record of official negligenceThe 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London which caused 72 deaths is now the subject of Olaide Sadiq’s heartwrenching and enraging documentary, digging at the causes and movingly interviewing survivors and their families, whose testimony is all but unbearable. At the very least, the film will remind you that when politicians smugly announce they wish to make a bonfire of regulations, they should be taken, under police escort if necessary, and made to stand at the foot of the tower. As for the housing secretary at the time of the tower’s refurbishment, the abysmally arrogant Eric Pickles, he was made a life peer in 2018.With the very considerable help of the housing-issues journalist Peter Apps, the film shows how the horror was created by a perfect storm of incompetence, mendacity, greed, and (that heartsinking phrase) systemic failure. The local council were keen to spruc...

Politics

5 h. ago Why the government must turn up the heat on energy companies over RTS scandal

In place of apologies we have been treated to blithe assurances

Politics

5 h. ago ‘I don’t want my brother to just be a number’: How Netflix’s powerful Grenfell film sheds new light on the tragedy

As Netflix releases a powerful new documentary about the blaze that took 72 lives at Grenfell Tower in 2017, Hannah J Davies speaks to a man who lost a close relative in the fire, as well as the film’s director and a journalist who’s spent years reporting on the failures that led to the catastrophe

Politics

6 h. ago LA protests: US court allows Trump to keep control of California national guard while lawsuit proceeds

Appeals court in San Francisco extends pause on district judge ruling that president called troops into federal service unlawfullyA US appeals court has let Donald Trump retain control over California’s national guard while the state’s Democratic governor proceeds with a lawsuit challenging the legality of the Republican president’s use of the troops to quell protests and unrest in Los Angeles.A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th US circuit court of appeals on Thursday extended a pause it had placed on US district Judge Charles Breyer’s 12 June ruling that Trump had called the national guard into federal service unlawfully. Continue reading...

Events

7 h. ago SNP urges UK Government to speed up smart meter roll out after RTS switch

EXCLUSIVE: Nationalist MP Graham Leadbitter has called for "a cast iron guarantee to Scottish communities that never again will they be left to live in fear of their hot water supply being cut-off and their electricity supply disrupted."

Politics