UK driver alleges his account was illegally deactivated when Uber software decided he was not who he said he wasAn Uber driver who lost his job when automated face-scanning software failed to recognise him is accusing the firm of indirect race discrimi…
England urged to step up vaccinations to avoid winter Covid surge
Prof Neil Ferguson calls for booster rollout and teenagers’ second jabs to be accelerated to ease NHS pressureCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe distribution of Covid boosters for the most vulnerable people and second shots…
Sir John Chilcot obituary
Civil servant who chaired the Iraq war inquiry and gave a damning verdict on Tony BlairSir John Chilcot, who has died aged 82 of kidney disease, was the quietly spoken mandarin famous for his excoriating verdict on the conduct of the Iraq war, begun in…
Labour writes to Tory chair over donations to 34 MPs by firms named in Pandora papers
Party questions why almost one in 10 Conservative MPs have taken money from firms linked to Viktor FedotovSee all of our Pandora papers coverageLabour has written to the Tory co-chair Oliver Dowden raising concerns about donations to 34 Tory MPs by the…
Civil liberties groups criticise Priti Patel’s plan to criminalise protest
Home secretary plans to use policing bill to grant new powers to police to crack down on activistsCivil liberties groups have reacted with dismay to Priti Patel’s plan to criminalise protest groups, saying demonstrations are a “core pillar of any healt…
Historic synagogue wins first round of City planning battle
Permission for 48-storey skyscraper denied but application for second building yet to be consideredThe UK’s oldest synagogue, a 320-year-old building in the City of London, has won the first stage of its battle to stave off an existential threat from p…
The Tories are cheering the voyage to a Brexit promised land that doesn’t exist | Rafael Behr
Boris Johnson’s foreign policy is a combination of pompous internationalism and wilful parochialismOne of the first comedy routines I can remember seeing was Les Dawson, on some Saturday night light entertainment show, playing the piano badly, which he…
BBC ‘a great national institution’, says Boris Johnson
Prime minister’s words a slapdown for culture secretary claiming BBC has ‘bias and nepotism’ problemsBoris Johnson said he believed the BBC would “be around for a long time to come”, in a view contrasting with that of his culture secretary, Nadine Dorr…
Inquest into Stephen Port murders to examine police competence
Coroner says a focus will be whether lives might have been saved had police investigated first deaths differentlyThe “competence and adequacy” of the police investigations into the murders of four gay men by the serial killer Stephen Port will be exami…
UK officials return to Afghanistan to meet Taliban for first time since takeover
Diplomats visit Kabul to raise issue of ‘safe passage’ for Britons leaving Afghanistan and rights of womenBritish officials have gone to Afghanistan for the first time since the country fell to the Taliban, meeting the group’s senior leaders in Kabul t…