The Jack Reacher author, the UK’s first prison reading laureate, said drive to improve literacy skills was a practical way to address reoffending and support rehabilitationNearly half a million books will be distributed across prisons in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland this autumn, in a campaign backed by bestselling thriller writer Lee Child.The initiative, delivered by the Reading Agency charity as part of its Quick Reads programme, will see copies of 11 short books distributed, with titles selected with input from prisoners as well as staff. A book will be distributed to every cell across the prison estate, as well as stock sent to prison libraries. Continue reading...

15 Oct 2026 23:01 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Graham Brougham, 74, was one of a number of men invited to sexually assault victim while she was unconsciousA man from Cheshire has pleaded guilty to the rape of a woman whose husband drugged her and invited other men to sexually assault her while she was unconscious.Graham Brougham, 74, pleaded guilty to rape at a hearing at Manchester Minshull Street crown court on Thursday afternoon. Continue reading...

15 Oct 2026 16:08 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Exclusive: Chancellor to target sector in his first budget, to help offset Iran war’s damage to public finances John Healey is poised to tax Britain’s banks in his 28 October budget, to help offset the damage inflicted on the public finances by war in the Middle East, the Guardian understands.The chancellor is in Bangkok, where the International Monetary Fund has praised the UK’s progress towards balancing the books, urging him to “stay the course”. Continue reading...

15 Oct 2026 16:17 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Party chair calls on Labour groups to end local deals if Green councillors do not reject motion attacked as ‘antisemitic’UK politics live – latest updatesLabour councils who share power with the Greens have been told to terminate agreements if their Green partners do not condemn the party’s new “Zionism is racism” policy.Bridget Phillipson, the Labour chair, said groups working with Green party politicians must review their agreements and end them unless they reject the controversial motion, which Andy Burnham has called “antisemitic”.Derbyshire Dales Lib Dem-led coalitionBroadland Lib Dem-led coalitionWest Suffolk Labour-led coalitionArun Lib Dem-led coalitionHavant Labour-led coalitionLewes Green-led coalitionRother Coalition led by local independent groupRunnymede Coalition with Lib Dems, Greens and local independent groupWealden Green-led coalitionWest Oxfordshire Lib Dem-led coalitionWest Sussex Lib Dem-led coalitionNorth Somerset Lib Dem-led coalitionWest Devon Independent-led coalitionMonmouthshire Labour minority-led coalitionCoventry Labour-led confidence and supply agreement with the GreensStafford Labour-led coalitionWarwick Green-led coalitionSheffield Labour-led coalition Continue reading...

15 Oct 2026 14:21 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Santiago Caputo cites election of Sagal Abdi-Wali as MP and calls UK a threat to the west in post shared by Argentina’s presidentThe chief adviser to Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, has cited the election of Sagal Abdi-Wali to the UK parliament as evidence of the Islamisation of Britain and further reason for Argentina to take sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.In a post on social media, Santiago Caputo, who is reportedly taking a key role in Argentina’s strategy over the Falklands, suggested that the taking of the south Atlantic islands was necessary to prevent the “interference of an Islamic state” in the region. Continue reading...

15 Oct 2026 15:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Another three pupils from al-Khair school in Peshawar in critical condition after search for survivorsAt least 34 schoolchildren and a female teacher have died after the roof of a school collapsed during morning classes in the northern Pakistani city ⁠of Peshawar.As panicked parents ​and relatives thronged the site of the privately run al-Khair school to search for their loved ones, rescue workers spent hours pulling children from the rubble. Continue reading...

15 Oct 2026 08:25 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Discover-Tech’s Controlium software lets clients mass-profile internet users then covertly hack targets, say researchers at University of TorontoAn Israeli advertising agency has been serving millions of online adverts that allow “zero-click” spyware to be used against targets, researchers at a Canadian university have said.Citizen Lab, a digital investigations research unit at the University of Toronto, said it believed dozens of devices at the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera had been compromised by spyware delivered through ads run by Discover-Tech, which describes itself as a specialised digital advertising agency. Continue reading...

15 Oct 2026 12:15 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN