4 h. ago MPs share their own stories as assisted dying debate continues

If MPs back the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill at third reading, it will face further scrutiny in the House of Lords at a later date.

Events

4 h. ago James Cleverly’s voice breaks as he tells MPs of ‘painful’ death of best friend in assisted dying bill debate

James Cleverly has opened up on losing his best friend during the assisted dying bill debate in the House of Commons on Friday (20 June).

Events

5 h. ago Add to playlist: James K’s downtempo dream pop and the week’s best new tracks

Right on time for the return of the chill out era, the New York producer traces a hypnotic path on an album that bobs along on sleepy breakbeats and angelic atmosphericsFrom New YorkRecommended if you like Caroline Polachek, Voice Actor, Vegyn Up next New album Friend released via AD 93 on 5 SeptemberPull up your beanbag, light a lava lamp and crack open the Vicks VapoRub: downtempo is back. New compilation Telepathic Fish documents the 90s south London ambient night; Logic1000’s latest DJ-Kicks mix would barely register on an ECG; there’s none more languid than even the summer’s flagship pop album, Addison by Addison Rae. New York producer and musician James K has been dabbling in trip-hop – and various shades of experimental pop and club music – for more than a decade, but nonetheless, her new album, Friend, arrives right on time for summer’s wind down. (What is autumn if not the chill out room to escape the year’s most hectic season?) Continue reading...

Politics

53 h. ago BBC Breakfast's Jon Kay issues warning to viewers live on air

BBC Breakfast presenter Jon Kay voiced his concern for the public ahead of the UK's heatwave.

Events

3 d. ago Be honest with victims about prison terms for offenders, former Justice Secretary David Gauke tells MPs

David Gauke was speaking to MPs about his sentencing review

Events

3 d. ago Voices: The tide has turned against the European Convention on Human Rights

As two backbench Labour MPs break ranks to voice their support for rewriting the ECHR – following an even more surprising intervention from Lib Dem leader Ed Davey – have both sides of the Commons realised that the only way to remain in the convention is to rewrite it, asks John Rentoul

Politics

3 d. ago Louise Casey criticises ‘public irresponsibility’ of officials over grooming gang race data – UK politics live

Casey tells MPs she was surprised to be asked to re-engage with issue 10 years after her Rotherham report but says it was right decisionGrooming gangs in UK ‘thrived in culture of ignorance’Casey says in the past government has talked relentlessly about the need for better data sharing between departments.But she says there is a need to consider making this mandatory.I was there when the tragedy of Soham happened. We knew at that point that if we had had better data sharing there’s a possibility that we might have saved those girls’ lives. There’s certaintly an absolute clarity that intelligence would have been much faster in either avoiding it or or actually finding that dreadful human being earlier.And we’ve known that forever onwards. And so I think there is also an issue that the Home Office can’t drag their feet on, looking at police intelligence systems, given we’ve living in the 21st century. Probably everbody in this room can connect within seconds. Yet we had Befordshire po...

Politics

3 d. ago ‘I gave birth three months early – then police investigated me over an illegal abortion’

As MPs call on parliament to vote over decriminalising abortion, one woman tells Bel Trew how the traumatic premature birth of her baby was exacerbated by a year-long police investigation

Events

4 d. ago Investigators recover cockpit voice recorder from crashed Air India flight in major breakthrough for probe

Two ‘black boxes’ have now been recovered after an Air India plane crashed, killing at least 270 people

Events

5 d. ago Policymakers who think AI can help rescue flagging UK economy should take heed | Heather Stewart

Healthy scepticism is needed because flaw is that large language models remain prone to casually making things upFrom helping consultants diagnose cancer, to aiding teachers in drawing up lesson plans – and flooding social media with derivative slop – generative artificial intelligence is being adopted across the economy at breakneck speed.Yet a growing number of voices are starting to question how much of an asset the technology can be to the UK’s sluggish economy. Not least because there is no escaping a persistent flaw: large language models (LLMs) remain prone to casually making things up. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago Some fish feel excruciating pain for up to 20 minutes after catch, scientists find

Pre-slaughter practices like fish crowding during transport may cause even greater suffering

Politics

1 week ago Electric Spark by Frances Wilson review: Muriel is as intriguing as her novels

What is so fascinating about Muriel Spark? In the last decade before she died aged 88 in 2006, any interview with the Scottish author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie became an event. The excitement was firstly because she was an artist of the old school, famous not only for her brilliant and complex novels, but also for her unconventional life in Italy, where she lived up a hill with her friend Penelope Jardine, who was also her assistant (and now, in her nineties, her literary executor).

Politics

2 w. ago Badenoch insists Tories are still the main opposition to Labour

The Tories won just 6% of the vote in a Scottish Parliament by-election this week.

Politics

2 w. ago Diner dates and bathhouse chili: the colorful, defiant history of the American gay restaurant

In his new book, Erik Piepenburg dishes on the US eateries that have served as LGBTQ+ havens and are still thrivingErik Piepenburg’s voice breaks when he speaks of the Napalese Lounge and Grille in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The restaurant known as “Naps” to locals is where a group of transgender people regularly come together to chat over beer-battered shrimp, deep-fried green beans and cheese curds. Many travel long distances to do so.“An amazing woman called Martha oversees it,” says Piepenburg, 54. “She told me the stories of people who drive there but can’t get out of the car, and of one young trans woman whose mom stayed outside so her kid could enjoy themselves. It’s not political, everyone was having fun just being able to be themselves. Naps shows how important gay restaurants are – and they are not new. Walt Whitman enjoyed eating in his era’s version of a gay restaurant. We’ve been finding one another for a very long time.” Continue reading...

Society

2 w. ago Diner dates and bathhouse chili: the colorful, defiant history of America’s gay restaurants

In his new book, Erik Piepenburg dishes on the US eateries that have served as LGBTQ+ havens and are still thrivingErik Piepenburg’s voice breaks when he speaks of the Napalese Lounge and Grille in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The restaurant known as “Naps” to locals is where a group of transgender people regularly come together to chat over beer-battered shrimp, deep-fried green beans and cheese curds. Many travel long distances to do so.“An amazing woman called Martha oversees it,” says Piepenburg, 54. “She told me the stories of people who drive there but can’t get out of the car, and of one young trans woman whose mom stayed outside so her kid could enjoy themselves. It’s not political, everyone was having fun just being able to be themselves. Naps shows how important gay restaurants are – and they are not new. Walt Whitman enjoyed eating in his era’s version of a gay restaurant. We’ve been finding one another for a very long time.” Continue reading...

Society

2 w. ago Badenoch ‘will get better’, says Stride as Tories’ polling woes continue

The shadow chancellor insisted the party has the right person in the top job.

Politics

2 w. ago Couple subjected grandson to ‘pain and misery’ before his death, court told

'He was quiet and withdrawn, small and painfully thin', court hears

Events

2 w. ago Kemi Badenoch faces Net Zero revolt as Tory big beast James Cleverly warns her to ignore climate change 'luddites'

Sir James will use a major speech tonight to urge her to position the Conservatives to work to 'set the pace' internationally on green technology so the UK can challenge China .

Events

2 w. ago Tories must reject climate change ‘luddites’ on left and right, warns Cleverly

The former home secretary will urge his party to ‘set the pace’ internationally on green technology.

Events

2 w. ago UK interest rate cuts hinge on slowing wage growth, Bailey says

BoE governor tells MPs that central bank expects to ‘see pay coming down this year’

Politics