27 h. ago UK politics live: Suella Braverman apologises for Tory government ‘failures’ over Afghan data breach

Email blunder triggered the evacuation of thousands of Afghans who were brought to the UK under a secret resettlement scheme

Politics

38 h. ago HMRC criticised by watchdog for failing to track billionaires’ tax

Report comes as government faces growing demands for wealth tax to improve health of public finances after welfare U-turn earlier this monthHM Revenue and Customs has been sharply criticised by parliament’s spending watchdog for being unable to track how many billionaires pay tax in the UK.In a highly critical report on the collection of tax from wealthy individuals, the influential Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said HMRC could not say how much the super-rich either contributed to the exchequer or avoided. Continue reading...

Economics

40 h. ago Despite scandal and a looming corruption trial, Trayon White wins vote to return to the DC Council

A former D

Politics

43 h. ago Give prison governors more power to fix Britain's broken jails, say Lords

Lords say jails are in crisis due to years of political and bureaucratic failure

Events

8 d. ago The Other Way Around review – witty uncoupling comedy is meta breakup movie for grownups

This Spanish marital drama finds Itsaso Arana and Vito Sanz planning a party to mark their separation. But not everyone thinks it’s a good ideaA little bit like Woody Allen, or an episode of Seinfeld minus the stream of gags, this talky Spanish comedy tells the story of a couple planning a break-up party. It follows film director Ale (Itsaso Arana) and her soon to be ex, actor Alex (Vito Sanz), as they call it quits after 14 years together. The decision is mutual, and as reasonable people who still like each other, they think they can split without the pain and heartache. “We’ve separated, but we’re OK!” says Alex, so many times it starts to sound hollow.So, alongside the breakup admin (deciding who gets to stay in their amazingly cheap rented flat in Madrid and dividing the DVDs), they organise a party to mark their uncoupling. The idea originally comes from Ale’s dad (played by director Jonás Trueba’s father, veteran film-maker Fernando), who has a theory that people should celebr...

Culture

1 week ago Butler by Salena Zito review – how Trump won America’s heartland

From the site of the failed assassination comes a sharp-eyed account of Trump’s political gains – and Democrats’ failings The Democrats’ famed blue wall is more the stuff of nostalgia than reality. On election day 2024, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin voted for Donald Trump for the second time in three elections. Barack Obama’s upstairs-downstairs coalition lies in ruins, as Democrats struggle to connect with working-class voters across racial and ethnic lines.Last November, Trump came within just three points of winning a majority of Latino voters. Such Americans walked away from their presumed political home – in droves. A Trump endorsement by Roberto Clemente Jr, son of the late Pittsburgh Pirates baseball star, was a harbinger. Likewise, Trump posted double-digit gains among Catholics and Jews, once core constituencies in the Democratic party of FDR.Butler is published in the US by Hachette Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Voices: It is time to release prisoners trapped by inhuman endless jail terms

Thousands of offenders are caught in a cruel legal limbo by IPP sentencing. Indeterminate prison terms are not only unjust, they point to a failure of political courage and leadership, says former chief prosecutor Nazir Afzal

Events

1 week ago Home secretary rejects Zarah Sultana’s claim Labour failing to improve lives – UK politics live

Sultana announced on Thursday she was quitting Labour to join Jeremy Corbyn’s Independent AllianceMy colleague Lauren Almeida, who is running the Guardian’s business live blog, has shared the following:Rachel Reeves has not given herself enough fiscal headroom to manage public finances, Charlie Bean, the former deputy of the Bank of England has said, and has to “neurotically fine tune taxes”.About £10bn – that’s a very small number in the context of overall public spending. Government spending is about one and a quarter trillion so £10bn is a small number and it is a small number in the context of typical forecasting errors.You can’t forecast the future perfectly both because you can’t forecast the economy and you can’t forecast all the elements of public finances . The forecasts are imprecise and there is no way you can avoid that. That is a fact of life.In light of reports of atrocities committed by the Israeli government in Gaza and reports of the UK’s collaboration with Israeli ...

Society

1 week ago Keir Starmer must improve or Nigel Farage will be the next Prime Minister

Daily Record Political Editor Paul Hutcheon says Keir Starmer must learn from the failures of strategy and policy if he is to thrive as Prime Minister.

Politics

2 w. ago The Guardian view on Labour’s welfare rebellion: Starmer must learn from his mistakes | Editorial

A poorly devised cuts policy was mis-sold as reform and MPs were dismissed when they pointed out the problemA clash between the government and Labour MPs over disability benefits was foreseeable long before this week’s Commons rebellion. That doesn’t mean a crisis was inevitable. Compromise might have been reached before the 11th-hour climbdown that averted a defeat in parliament.The conflagration that burned a lot of Sir Keir Starmer’s authority was all the greater because trust had broken down. The twin causes were failure of political judgment in Downing Street and bad policy. The prime minister underestimated the potency of MPs’ objections to the withdrawal of personal independence payment (Pip) from disabled people, and overestimated the capacity of his whips to bully and cajole his party into accepting the changes.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to...

Politics

2 w. ago Greek PM vows to investigate €290m EU farming subsidy fraud scandal

Kyriakos Mitsotakis sets up taskforce over allegations ‘fake’ farmers had been scamming agricultural fundsThe Greek prime minister has vowed to get to the bottom of how a scheme of fraudulent EU subsidy claims could have operated undetected in the country for years, as he admitted that the scandal had revealed “the state’s inadequacy” in dealing with corruption.Faced with revelations that “fake” farmers had been scamming designated agricultural funds to the tune of a reputed €290m (£249m), Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday a special taskforce would be set up to “immediately and exhaustively” investigate the illegal payments. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Greek PM vows to investigate €290m ‘fake’ farmer fraud scandal

Kyriakos Mitsotakis sets up taskforce over alleged scamming of EU agricultural funds after resignation of five senior officialsThe Greek prime minister has vowed to get to the bottom of how a scheme of fraudulent EU subsidy claims could have operated undetected in the country for years, as he admitted that the scandal had revealed “the state’s inadequacy” in dealing with corruption.Faced with revelations that “fake” farmers had been scamming designated agricultural funds to the tune of a reputed €290m (£249m), Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday a special taskforce would be set up to “immediately and exhaustively” investigate the illegal payments. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Gaelic officialdom is failing to engage with its existential crisis

The Scottish Languages Bill is simply a rehash of the status quo, writes Professor Conchúr Ó Giollagáin, the co-author of a landmark study published in 2020

Events

2 w. ago Labour slams Kemi Badenoch for 'failing to back NATO allies'

Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard accused the Tory leader of "putting party politics first and national security last"

Events

2 w. ago How will Israel’s war with Iran affect Benjamin Netanyahu’s future?

Loyalists hope for boost after apparent victory, but political divisions and 7 October security failures still loom largeWhen Benjamin Netanyahu described the opportunities for peace that Israel’s successes in its brief war with Iran might bring, supporters took him at his word.“This victory presents an opportunity for a dramatic widening of peace agreements. We are working on this with enthusiasm,” Israel’s longest-serving prime minister said on Thursday in a pre-recorded statement. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago ‘Everything is opportunistic’: Can Netanyahu expect more years in power after Israel’s war with Iran?

Loyalists hope for boost after apparent victory, but political divisions and 7 October security failures still loom largeWhen Benjamin Netanyahu described the opportunities for peace that Israel’s successes in its brief war with Iran might bring, supporters took him at his word.“This victory presents an opportunity for a dramatic widening of peace agreements. We are working on this with enthusiasm,” Israel’s longest-serving prime minister said on Thursday in a pre-recorded statement. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago ‘Everything is opportunistic’: how will Iran war affect Netanyahu’s polling?

Loyalists hope for boost after apparent victory, but political divisions and 7 October security failures still loom largeWhen Benjamin Netanyahu described the opportunities for peace that Israel’s successes in its brief war with Iran might bring, supporters took him at his word.“This victory presents an opportunity for a dramatic widening of peace agreements. We are working on this with enthusiasm,” Israel’s longest-serving prime minister said on Thursday in a pre-recorded statement. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago New corruption scandal, same old story? Why Spanish politics keeps failing to clean up its act | María Ramírez

With the prime minister now mired in scandal, a culture shift is towards accountability is crucialMaría Ramírez is journalist and deputy managing editor of elDiario.esOn 31 May 2018, Pedro Sánchez, then the socialist opposition leader, delivered a powerful speech introducing the motion of no confidence that led to him becoming prime minister for the first time. It was a passionate speech, laced with detail. His target was the serving conservative PM, Mariano Rajoy, and his central argument for ousting Rajoy was the widespread corruption in the governing party, which Spain’s highest criminal court had confirmed just days earlier.“Corruption acts as a corrosive and profoundly harmful force for any nation. It erodes society’s trust in its leaders and consequently weakens the authority of the state. But it also strikes at the very root of social cohesion,” Sánchez said. “Corruption undermines faith in the rule of law when it is left to run rampant or when there is no political response ...

Politics

4 w. ago The racial violence in Ballymena repeats a pattern that’s blighted Britain for years. We must wake up to that | Lanre Bakare

History tells us attacks on migrants are a predictable result of political failings, distorted media coverage and far-right opportunismIn early June, the violence began. Rumours of a foreigner assaulting a local woman resulted in groups roaming through a small British town, breaking windows of homes belonging to “outsiders”. A few days later, the police attempted to stop mobs from reaching another nearby multiracial area. Eventually they broke through, ransacking shops and burning down a house, while local media reported that the violence had developed into “something like a fever”.Sound familiar? This isn’t Ballymena, the County Antrim town in Northern Ireland that has seen several nights of unrest in which immigrant homes were attacked after reports of an alleged sexual assault on a local girl by two teenagers, who had a Romanian interpreter read them the charges. These incidents actually took place more than a century ago, during the summer of 1919, as racial violence spread thro...

Events

4 w. ago UK politics live: Rayner says £1m a day was wasted under Tories’ failed immigration plans in fiery PMQs clash

Transport secretary Heidi Alexander accused the Tories of an ‘appalling mess’ over the delayed rail project

Politics