49 h. ago If you care about the BBC, stand up and defend it: this could be the beginning of the end | Polly Toynbee

Replacing the TV licence with a means-tested alternative may help disarm the right of one of its most effective weaponsGotcha! The BBC’s enemies have taken two scalps and inflicted maximum damage. The shock resignation of the director general, Tim Davie, and the head of news, Deborah Turness, make it look as if the BBC accepts that it does indeed suffer from “serious and systemic” bias in its coverage of issues including Donald Trump, Gaza and trans rights. But in this political coup, only the BBC’s sworn ideological foes think a cherrypicked sample of journalistic errors amounts to “systemic” bias.It was indeed a bad mistake to splice together two bits of Trump’s speech; but it needed a quick apology, not a decapitation. The BBC’s chair, Samir Shah, I’m told, tried to persuade Davie to stay to avoid this apparent capitulation to critics: Davie should indeed have stood his ground, not weakened the BBC by walking away.Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago ‘Urgent need’ for GPs to be better trained to recognise ADHD, report says

NHS England estimated that almost 2.5 million people in England are likely to have ADHD.

Politics

7 d. ago BBC legend confirms spilt from husband after 17 years together in bombshell statement

"This decision was made with mutual respect and care for one another after many meaningful years together," the BBC star said

Events

2 w. ago Yes, Keir Starmer is Britain’s most unpopular PM ever. That could liberate him | Polly Toynbee

Forget the public vitriol and use the next four years to get things done – first and foremost, whatever it takes to stop ReformWhat hell is the life of politics. Look around that cabinet table: each person is confronted with near impossible-portfolios without the means to do what they know is needed. After another nightmare week, many in the dark watches must ask themselves why the hell they gave their lives to this brutally thankless task.Their inheritance was even more ruinous than feared: they were bequeathed landmines, dishonest traps and gaping holes. Brexit is emerging as even more economically crippling than expected, now losing the exchequer £80bn a year. They are blighted by bad luck: the Trump destroyer landed on their watch. What worse mishap than a prison officer setting free a refused asylum-seeker sex offender? Small boat arrivals feel unstoppable. An unfortunate deputy leadership election right now was bound to give Keir Starmer a bruising. The 11% vote share at the C...

Politics

2 w. ago Masked Muslim protesters vow to ‘defend our community’ as UKIP march moved to central London

Video footage showed one counter-protester urging a crowd to ‘stand firm’ and to be prepared to ‘defend our community’

Events

2 w. ago Masked Muslim youths take to east London streets vowing to 'stand ready to defend our community' after police banned planned demo to 'reclaim' the area

In Whitechapel, a group of masked men wearing all black took to the streets with one taking to a microphone promising to 'stand firm' in defending their community from far-right protesters.

Events