16 h. ago What are the legal issues around Britain helping Trump bomb Iran?

Keir Starmer is weighing up whether to back the US and – as a lawyer – will be aware of the legal landscapeMiddle East crisis – live updatesUK politics live – latest updatesAs Keir Starmer considers whether Britain should support the US if Donald Trump decides to bomb Iran, the attorney general, Richard Hermer, has reportedly warned him that UK involvement could be illegal. The prime minister was an outspoken opponent of the Iraq war when he was a human rights lawyer in 2003 and will be well aware of the thorny legal issues around engagement in strikes against Iran. Continue reading...

Politics

29 h. ago Human rights laws allowing 'feckless fathers' to avoid being deported, top police chief claims

Human rights laws are allowing offenders who have 'fecklessly' fathered children in Britain to avoid deportation, a top police chief said yesterday.

Events

38 h. ago Labour plan to stop foreign criminals exploiting human rights laws to avoid deportation rejected by Eurocrats

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood used a speech in Strasbourg to set out how the European Convention on Human Rights 'feels out of step with common sense' and needed to 'evolve'.

Events

38 h. ago Two fugitives who are wanted for murder and child rape in Brazil are allowed to stay in Britain after using human rights laws to avoid extradition

Marlon Martins Dos Santos and Nicolas Gomes De Brito have both successfully fought extradition to Brazil after claiming it would violate their rights.

Events

40 h. ago Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood calls for major reform of European Convention of Human Rights because it's blocking deportation of foreign criminals

Killers, drug dealers and radical clerics are among those who have managed to resist being kicked out of the country by citing the treaty, which is embedded in UK law.

Society

48 h. ago Illegal migrants 'fuel the grooming gangs': Criminals exploiting small

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said there are growing concerns that foreign criminals are using the border chaos to slip into Britain illegally.

Events

48 h. ago Shabana Mahmood warns foreign criminals 'should expect to be deported'

The Justice Secretary will say the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which Winston Churchill helped draw up after the Second World War, needs to be overhauled

Events

63 h. ago How the right spread ‘brutal and cruel’ misinformation after Minnesota lawmaker killings

The rightwing media ecosystem spins up narratives to serve their agendas after tragic events, regardless of accuracyTina Smith, a Minnesota senator confronted Mike Lee, a Utah senator, on Monday to tell him directly that his social media posts fueled ongoing misinformation about a shooting that killed her friend.Lee’s posts, which advanced conspiracies that a Minnesota assassin was a “Marxist” and blamed the state’s governor for Melissa Hortman’s death, were among many threads of false or speculative claims swirling online after the killings. Continue reading...

Events

64 h. ago Mum and human rights lawyer named as 'murder' victim after fatal stabbing and house explosion

The victim has been identified as "lovely" lawyer and mother-of-two Annabel Rook, whose body was discovered with knife wound injuries following the explosion.

Events

4 d. ago How the ‘politically motivated’ shooting of Minnesota lawmakers unleashed right

Conspiracy theorists and senators alike are baselessly speculating about the brutal shooting spree that left two dead and two injured, Josh Marcus reports

Politics

4 d. ago Kathy Lette looks back: ‘Older women are invisible, so I make sure to do something outrageous every day’

The author on her love for Spike Milligan, the furore over Puberty Blues, and why being middle-aged is greatBorn in 1958 in Sydney, Kathy Lette burst on to Australia’s literary scene in 1979 with Puberty Blues. Co‑written with Gabrielle Carey, the irreverent portrait of teenage girlhood became a cult classic, a film and a TV series. Relocating to London in the 1980s, Lette has worked as a columnist, television writer and campaigner, and has published a string of bestselling comic novels. She lives in London and has two children, Julius and Georgina, with her former husband, the human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson. Her latest novel, The Revenge Club, is out now.When I was 19, I was in a band called the Salami Sisters. As well as the occasional gig in a pub, we’d busk. The problem was, we kept getting arrested. I was furious. How come we were getting arrested for singing, when actual rapists were running free? My sister was a police constable at the time, so one day I bor...

Politics

6 d. ago Second judge rejects parts of Trump’s order to require proof of citizenship to vote in elections

Judge blocked president’s executive order on elections, saying suit against it had reasonable likelihood of successUS politics live – latest updatesA second federal judge has rejected parts of Donald Trump’s executive order on elections, dealing another blow to his directive that would require proof of citizenship to vote in US elections.The order, described in March by the White House as “the farthest-reaching executive action taken” in the nation’s history, quickly led to multiple lawsuits. In April, a federal judge in Washington DC ruled against the order in a lawsuit brought by the Democratic party and voting rights groups, blocking its implementation. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Second judge blocks Trump order to require proof of citizenship to vote

Judge blocked president’s executive order on elections, saying suit against it had reasonable likelihood of successUS politics live – latest updatesA second federal judge has rejected parts of Donald Trump’s executive order on elections, dealing another blow to his directive that would require proof of citizenship to vote in US elections.The order, described in March by the White House as “the farthest-reaching executive action taken” in the nation’s history, quickly led to multiple lawsuits. In April, a federal judge in Washington DC ruled against the order in a lawsuit brought by the Democratic party and voting rights groups, blocking its implementation. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago Harvard appears to think all Jews support Israel. That is discriminatory | Barry Trachtenberg, Victor Silverman, Atalia Omer, Raz Segal, Rebecca T Alpert

We are Jewish scholars who filed an amicus brief with the US supreme court on Harvard’s discriminatory assumption that being Jewish means supporting IsraelHarvard is suing to stop the Trump administration’s unprecedented interference in the operation of the university, supposedly to protect Jewish students from antisemitism. Harvard maintains it has already addressed a crisis of antisemitism on campus. The government is wrong in attacking Harvard, but so is Harvard in its defense.We are part of a group of 27 Jewish scholars of Jewish studies who have filed an amicus brief in Harvard’s lawsuit against the Trump administration. We submitted the brief, drafted by the civil rights attorney Yaman Salahi, because we support the university’s fight against government overreach. Yet in doing so, the institution has committed a different kind of discrimination – one that violates federal civil rights law. We reject Harvard’s troubling assumption that being Jewish necessitates supporting Israe...

Politics

8 d. ago Free school meal plan requires key change to stop children ‘missing out’, Labour told

Experts say children may not receive the meals they are eligible for

Events

8 d. ago There may be trouble ahead, but Labour should stick to the plan for national renewal

Editorial: With the Brexit reset, new trade deals and planning reforms, the chancellor’s spending review could result in a stronger economy with a better long-term growth rate. But it will take time

Events

8 d. ago UK equalities watchdog: Transgender people may be asked about gender status in workplace

Trans people who feel they’ve lost rights should ‘distinguish between rights in law and preference for things to be a certain way’, EHCR chair saidTransgender people may be asked about their gender status in the workplace, the equalities watchdog has said, with its chair arguing people should “distinguish between rights in law, and a preference for things to be a certain way”.Giving evidence to the women and equalities select committee, the chair and chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said trans people should not be fearful of the repercussions of April’s supreme court ruling, which found the word “woman” in the Equality Act refers only to a biological woman. Continue reading...

Politics

8 d. ago Protesters have a right to wear masks – despite Trump’s double standard | Jan

Standing by one’s identity makes sense in certain contexts. But there is a host of valid reasons for lawful demonstrators to remain anonymousDo protesters have a right to hide their faces? Donald Trump, who likes to show and see his own face as often as possible, clearly does not think so. One demand to universities has been that they outlaw masking at demonstrations; in response to protests in California, the US president demanded on social media that anyone wearing a mask be arrested immediately.Never mind the apparent double standard, as Ice agents refuse to take off face coverings and hide their name tags, defying any accountability; there is a widespread sense that standing by one’s identity is a crucial part of standing up to unjust power. In fact, that intuition is at the core of civil disobedience. But it is not plausible in our present moment; what’s more, there is a long countervailing tradition of validating citizens’ right to anonymity. As recently as the mid-1990s, it w...

Politics

8 d. ago UK government boosts NHS spending by 3% but cuts other budgets

Chancellor Rachel Reeves squeezes many departments in long-awaited Labour plan

Politics

9 d. ago Republicans use LA protests to push holdouts to pass Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’

House Speaker Mike Johnson says ‘it's those men and women, the federal law enforcement officers who deserve our support right now’

Politics