Political news

• Reform UK says it would impose whole-life jail terms on child rapists

  03-01-2026 18:29 via theguardian.com
  Zia Yusuf announces plans for mandatory sentences with no parole, as party targets grooming gangsChild rapists would be jailed for life if Reform UK wins the next election, its head of policy has said.Under plans announced by Zia Yusuf on Saturday, the party would introduce mandatory whole-life orders for offenders convicted of the crime, making them ineligible for parole, as part of a crackdown on grooming gangs. Continue reading...
  
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• Britain not involved in US Venezuela attack, says Keir Starmer

  03-01-2026 17:52 via theguardian.com
  UK prime minister describes situation as fast-moving and is waiting for more details to emergeSir Keir Starmer has said the UK was not involved in the US operation in Venezuela, in which the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife were captured by special forces and the capital, Caracas, hit with airstrikes.Speaking for the first time since Donald Trump launched his extraordinary attack, the prime minister said he had not spoken to the US president, and that the UK was kee
  
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• UK 'not involved in any way' in US strike on Venezuela, Starmer says

  03-01-2026 16:10 via bbc.com
  The PM has not spoken to US President Donald Trump about the US seizure of President Nicolas Maduro.
  
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• Migrants are at the heart of our art, our music, our whole history. That’s what the right won’t admit to you | Rowan Williams

  03-01-2026 11:00 via theguardian.com
  From Britain’s medieval buildings to western pop and contemporary art, these creations showcase our interwoven storiesWe are repeatedly sold a painfully two-dimensional picture of the motivations of those seeking shelter in Britain. According to this picture, migrants are eager to experience the benefits of our society, but they are also out to undermine it, because they come from cultures whose values are dramatically different from our own. Think of the ongoing “grooming gangs&rdqu
  
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• At Zohran Mamdani’s block party, I observed a simple truth: people want more politics, not less | Samuel Earle

  03-01-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Years of scandal and disappointment have left a void in our politics. But New York’s new mayor offers an alternative to more apathy: hope On 1 January, to mark his inauguration as mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani threw a block party. As he was sworn in outside city hall in front of a crowd of a few thousand of us, a nearby street in Manhattan was closed to traffic so that tens of thousands more could gather to watch the historic moment live on enormous screens. The weather – a cloud
  
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• ‘We will grind you down’: how rogue peers became Labour’s toughest opponents

  03-01-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  As Labour seeks abolition of hereditary peers, Tory-dominated House of Lords has inflicted near-record number of defeats on No 10Dining in the House of Lords canteen just after Labour came to power, one Labour adviser found themselves sitting opposite two Tory peers.In particular, the pair were fuming about the forthcoming abolition of hereditary peers. Both agreed, the adviser said, that there should be a deliberate strategy to undermine the government on all its legislation, to slow down debat
  
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• Country diary: A wave of relief on the farm with the inheritance tax change | Andrea Meanwell

  03-01-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Tebay, Cumbria: Small farms like ours contribute to society, but we need help to survive. A huge cloud has lifted over our futureJust before Christmas I attended a farmers’ conference near Penrith, which included a presentation on the inheritance tax rules for agricultural land. An accountant worked through an example of a typical hill farm like ours: the bill worked out as £59,000 every year for 10 years.Between the farm and our off‑farm jobs, we can’t generate
  
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• Thousands of new magistrates wanted to help clear backlog

  03-01-2026 06:07 via bbc.com
  Justice Secretary David Lammy says magistrates serve "a vital role" and "we need more people of every age and background to volunteer".
  
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• The messy art of escapism

  03-01-2026 06:00 via ft.com
  Britain’s relationship with alcohol is complicated. It was too simple to heap blame on the young and calculatedly reckless
  
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