Move comes amid fears that requirement for Freemasons to ‘protect each other’ could lead to corruption Metropolitan police officers must tell their bosses if they are Freemasons, the force has announced, amid fears membership could be linked to corruption. Britain’s largest force said anyone who is part or has been a member of a “hierarchical organisation that require members to support and protect each other” must declare it. Continue reading...

Plans are response to surge in demand for AI capability and come after government signalled it would curb subsidies Drax has revealed plans to convert part of its power plant in North Yorkshire into a datacentre as soon as 2027 in response to the increase in demand for AI capability. The FTSE 250 company behind Britain’s biggest power plant told investors on Thursday that it had applied for planning permission to build a 100-megawatt datacentre at its site near Selby. Continue reading...

Move interpreted as escalation of US policy as Vladimir Putin ‘reaffirms’ support for South American dictator Diplomatic pressure on Nicolás Maduro has grown after the US interdicted a “dark fleet” tanker off the coast of Venezuela in a move that has been interpreted as an escalation of the Trump administration’s pressure on the South American dictator. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, called Maduro on Thursday following the rare seizure to “reaffirm” Russia’s support for the current Venezuelan government, despite calls from the Trump administration, other countries in the region and Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado for him to step down. Continue reading...

Karim Khan makes allegation in court submission while defending move to prosecute Israeli prime minister in 2024 The British government threatened to defund the international criminal court and leave the Rome statute that set it up if it pressed ahead with plans to issue an arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu, the ICC’s prosecutor, has claimed. Karim Khan made the allegation in a submission to the court defending his decision to prosecute Israel’s prime minister. Continue reading...

Robert Milne says he fully recognises the ‘seriousness of the behaviours described in the media’ Dulwich college’s headteacher has responded to allegations of teenage racism by Nigel Farage by saying he recognised the “seriousness of the behaviours described in the media”. Robert Milne, who joined the school as its “master” this summer, said the alleged behaviour was “at odds” with the modern day school in a letter in which he said he understood why 28 former pupils had felt compelled to speak out. Continue reading...

⚽ Europa League updates from the latest round of games ⚽ Live scores | Follow us on Bluesky | And email Scott … the half-time scores are: Ferencvaros 1-1 Rangers Utrecht 0-0 Nottingham Forest Basel v Aston Villa Celtic v Roma Continue reading...

US forces have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, in a major escalation of Donald Trump’s campaign against the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, whose government called the seizure an act of international piracy. The Trump administration is facing increasing scrutiny over a series of attacks on boats off the Venezuelan coast. At least 87 people have been killed in 22 known strikes since early September. Lucy Hough talks to the Guardian’s deputy head of international news, Devika Bhat Continue reading...

‘Clear conflict’ between Eurovision ideals of ‘inclusion and dignity for all’ and decision to let Israel compete, says 2024 winner Nemo, the Swiss singer who won the 2024 Eurovision song contest, has said they are handing back their trophy in protest over Israel’s participation in next year’s event. The 26-year-old, the first non-binary winner of the contest, said on Thursday there was “a clear conflict” between the Eurovision ideals of “unity, inclusion and dignity for all” and the decision to allow Israel to compete. Continue reading...

Sir Keir Starmer promised to bring meaningful reform to the House of Lords. He is failing to introduce it In opposition, Sir Keir Starmer called the unelected House of Lords “indefensible”. This week, barely 18 months into his prime ministership, Sir Keir took the total of unelected peers he has appointed since July 2024 to 96. Remarkably, Wednesday’s 34 new life peerages, mainly Labour supporters, take his appointment total above those of each of his four most recent Conservative predecessors. You must go back to David Cameron to find a prime minister who did more to stuff the Lords than Sir Keir. At the last election, Labour presented itself to the voters as a party of Lords reform. The party manifesto promised to remove the remaining hereditary peers, to reform the appointments process, to impose a peers’ retirement age, and to consult on proposals for replacing the Lords with an alternative second chamber. The House of Lords, the manifesto flatly declared, was “too big”. Continue reading...

A Tommy Robinson-inspired carol service is the latest sign of a burgeoning Christian nationalist movement. The Church of England is right to push back The story of Christmas is a tale of poverty and flight from persecution. According to Christian tradition, humanity’s saviour is born in a stable, since Mary and Joseph are unable to find a room in Bethlehem. The holy family subsequently flee to Egypt to escape the murderous intentions of King Herod. This drama grounds the New Testament message of compassion for the stranger, the fugitive and all those who find themselves far from home. “I was hungry and you gave me food to eat,” says Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” The spirit of a far-right show of force planned on Saturday by Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, AKA Tommy Robinson, will be somewhat different. Since reportedly converting fully to Christianity while serving a prison sentence for contempt of court, Mr Yaxley-Lennon has energetically deployed his faith to promote his own gospel of ethnic discord and political polarisation. The Unite the Kingdom rally he organised in July featured hymns, a plethora of wooden crosses and a Christian preacher who spoke of a war against “the Muslim”. His latest provocation is a “carol service” in central London, ostensibly to “put Christ back in Christmas”. Continue reading...

Hackers include Russia-based actors targeting WhatsApp and Signal accounts, parliamentary authorities warn MPs are facing rising numbers of phishing attacks and Russia-based actors are actively targeting the WhatsApp and Signal accounts of politicians and officials, the UK parliamentary authorities have warned. MPs, peers and officials are being asked to step up their cybersecurity after a continued rise in attacks, which have involved messages pretending to be from the app’s support team, asking a user to enter an access code, click a link or scan a QR code. Continue reading...

Confusion over diplomatic standoff deepens after conflicting reports about the soldiers’ whereabouts Eleven Nigerian military personnel are reportedly still in Burkina Faso days after their plane made an “unauthorised” landing in the south-west city of Bobo Dioulasso, despite earlier suggestions they had been freed, deepening confusion about the diplomatic standoff. Burkinabé authorities told the BBC on Tuesday that the troops had been released and given permission to return to Nigeria, but officials in Abuja have said the matter is yet to be resolved. Continue reading...

It would be absurd to claim the UK has suddenly become a life-sciences leader thanks to the new pricing and tariffs pact That’s gratitude, eh? It’s not even a fortnight since the government agreed to raise the prices the NHS pays for new medicines and here comes the boss of GSK, the UK’s second largest pharma firm, to extol the virtues of doing business in the US. The US is “still the leading market in the world in terms of the launches of new drugs and vaccines,” said the chief executive, Emma Walmsley, in a BBC interview, explaining why GSK invests about three times as much over there as it does at home. Alongside China, the US is also “the best market in the world to do business development”. Continue reading...

Sandie Peggie won harassment claim against NHS Fife but tribunal dismissed claims of discrimination and victimisation Sandie Peggie, the Fife nurse who was suspended after she complained about sharing a female changing room with a transgender doctor, will appeal against a “hugely problematic” employment tribunal ruling, her solicitor has confirmed. On Monday, the ruling of a lengthy employment tribunal found that Peggie, who has worked as a nurse for more than 30 years, had been harassed by NHS Fife when she was expected to share the changing room with Dr Beth Upton. Continue reading...

London site’s theatre, music venue and galleries to close in June 2028, in first stage of upgrades before 50th anniversary The Barbican will close its doors for 12 months from June 2028 as it undergoes a multimillion-pound renovation that its leaders say will secure its future. The arts organisation’s Beech Street cinemas will remain open but its theatre, music venue, conservatory and visual arts galleries are set to shutter as the overhaul of the 43-year-old building begins in the lead-up to its 50th anniversary in 2032. Continue reading...

The historian is set to lead a ‘stellar’ 2026 panel featuring the Pulp frontman and other acclaimed writers, as the search begins for next year’s standout work of fiction Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker will feature on the 2026 Booker prize judging panel that will be chaired by the classicist and broadcaster Mary Beard. Novelist Patricia Lockwood has also been named as a judge, along with the poet Raymond Antrobus and Rebecca Liu, an editor at the Guardian Saturday magazine. Continue reading...

Aamir Ahmed, Dr Graham Simpson, Adrian Bell and David Gollancz respond to a letter by a reader whose husband died of the disease after delaying getting a PSA test It is understandable for patients suffering from a late diagnosis of prostate cancer, or families who have lost loved ones, to demand that something should be done (Letters, 5 December). I, however, respect the UK National Screening Committee’s recommendation not to screen most men using the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test. The job of the committee was to weigh up the benefits and harms of any available test for routine screening. PSA testing, as a first step to diagnose cancer, results in false negatives and a significant number of false positives, meaning it has both low sensitivity and low specificity, making it a poor screening marker. PSA screening has been conducted in the US; there are varying estimates that, over three decades, it has resulted in more than 1 million patients receiving treatment (eg surgery or radiotherapy) they did not need. Continue reading...

Defying the will of the House of Commons will increase calls for radical reform of the upper house sooner rather than later, say the MPs Nia Griffith, Justin Madders and Debbie Abrahams When visitors come to parliament, it seems incongruous to explain that, in our mother of parliaments, we have a second chamber – the House of Lords – which is unelected. Those who support its existence in its current or similar form justify it on the grounds that it performs a useful revising function which can improve the detail of legislation, and it undoubtedly does good work. But the fact that it is unelected can only be tolerated in a democracy provided its members accept that it is for the House of Commons to have the last word on what becomes law and what doesn’t in this country. Continue reading...

In response to an article about a beaver spotted in Norfolk, Richard Foster reports sightings in Berkshire In your article (‘No one knows where it came from’: first wild beaver spotted in Norfolk in 500 years, 7 December), you quote the Beaver Trust as saying that, as well as Norfolk, wild beavers have been spotted in Kent, Hampshire, Somerset, Wiltshire and Herefordshire. I can tell you that we also have beavers in Berkshire. I live by the River Kennet and I caught one on my garden trail camera in August, along with otters in the same 30-second clip. The identification of the beaver is unmistakable, and was confirmed by the Berks, Bucks and Oxon wildlife trust. Two weeks ago, my neighbour caught a beaver on her garden trail camera. Her garden is 50 yards downstream of ours. Continue reading...

Letter says there is danger of Lords losing legitimacy as more than 1,000 amendments tabled, delaying any vote Senior opponents of assisted dying legislation have called on peers not to hold up the progress of the bill through parliament, warning there was a serious danger of the Lords losing democratic legitimacy. Many supporters now admit the bill is in serious danger of running out of time in the Lords before the end of the parliamentary session, meaning it will fail to pass. They claim the slow pace of considering more than 1,000 amendments means the bill will probably run out of time for a vote. Continue reading...

US visa edict | 1 No Trump | Flu advice | Costly candles | Christmas spirit Oh dear! Now I will never get a visa to go to the US as I am sure that I have emailed quite a few letters to the Guardian critical of Donald Trump in the last few years (Tourists to US would have to reveal five years of social media activity under new Trump plan, 10 December). Michael McLoughlin Wallington, Surrey • The latest US visa requirements would be a nightmare. Imagine trying to hold an international bridge tournament in the US. Where would you find players who haven’t bid “1 No Trump” in the last five years? Steen I Petersen Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada Continue reading...

As corridor care has become the norm, safest option for those with flu symptoms is to contact GP or NHS 111 and try to stay home As cases of flu rise sharply across the UK, the Guardian spoke to Amir Hassan, an emergency medicine consultant and the divisional medical director at Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS trust, who shared his views. “We’re seeing increased numbers of patients coming through, a lot of them with respiratory type illnesses. It means we need to try and isolate these patients and treat them – so they’ll come in with shortness of breath, [and a] cough. Continue reading...

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Ukrainian president says plan would not be fair without guarantees that Russia would not simply take over zone Europe live – latest updates The United States wants Ukraine to withdraw its troops from the Donbas region, and Washington would then create a “free economic zone” in the parts Kyiv currently controls, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday. Previously, the US had suggested Kyiv should hand over the parts of Donbas it still controlled to Russia, but the Ukrainian president said Washington had now suggested a compromise version in which Ukrainian troops would withdraw, but Russian troops would not advance into the territory. Continue reading...

The Housemaid actor received backlash in September when she left a comment on Instagram after the rightwing activist was killed The Housemaid star Amanda Seyfried has said she is “not fucking apologising” for describing Charlie Kirk as “hateful” after the latter was shot dead in September. Seyfried was speaking to Who What Wear when she was asked about her social media activity, including the backlash around her Kirk comment. “I’m not fucking apologising for that. I mean, for fuck’s sake, I commented on one thing. I said something that was based on actual reality and actual footage and actual quotes. What I said was pretty damn factual, and I’m free to have an opinion, of course.” Continue reading...