Britain

Lord Robertson says diplomatic tone from White House is at ‘historic low’ and two allies are likely to keep divergingUK politics live – latest updatesBritain’s high military dependence on the US “is no longer tenable” and the UK has to become increasingly independent of the special relationship with Washington, a former Nato chief has warned.Lord Robertson, who last week accused British leaders of a “corrosive complacency” towards defence, said on Wednesday the traditional allies were diverging over values – and that even after Donald Trump, the separation was likely to continue. Continue reading...

Paul Quinn’s conviction, 23 years after the attack, exposes how a victim was repeatedly failed and an innocent man wrongly jailed• Paul Quinn found guilty of rapeOne of Britain’s most shocking miscarriages of justice began before dawn on a summer day in Salford more than 20 years ago.A young woman had walked the darkened streets alone for about five miles when she was honked at, wolf-whistled and was so frightened she hid for a while in undergrowth. Continue reading...

Pillars at Cold Ashby, Northamptonshire, and Thorny Gale, Cumbria, bookended the project that modernised mappingHeritage campaigners are bidding for listing status for two concrete pillars hailed as “modest obelisks of modernity in the countryside”.These functional 120cm (4ft) stone or concrete “trig points” formed part of a 6,500-strong network of surveying posts that were vital for the development of modern mapping. Continue reading...

More landlords having to cut prices to secure tenants, Rightmove data showsAverage private rents have stopped rising in Great Britain after almost a decade of increases, as more landlords cut their prices to secure a tenant, data shows.The typical advertised private rent outside London for properties coming on to the market remained flat at £1,370 a calendar month in the first three months of 2026, according to the property website Rightmove. Continue reading...

Academics from the University of Sheffield hope to create a ‘vivid, honest record’ of swearwords and other slights to stop them dying outAn idiot wandering the British Isles is sure to be greeted with a colourful volley of insults, each a signifier of the place in which he finds himself: “divvy” in Merseyside, “pillock” in Leeds or “dinlo” in Portsmouth.But with parochial phrases increasingly being lost to the homogenisation of the English language, experts are worried that soon, the wandering idiot may just be called an “idiot” wherever he goes. Continue reading...

Warmer weather has benefited some species in Britain, but others that rely on specific plants or habitats have struggled“Insectageddon” has not occurred, but there has been a loss of butterfly diversity over the past half a century, according to the world’s largest insect monitoring scheme.More than 44m butterfly sightings scientifically collected in Britain since 1976 show that of the 58 native species recorded, 33 species have declined and 25 have increased in number. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Ministers planning new legislation for alignment without full parliamentary scrutiny if in national interestMinisters are planning to fundamentally reshape Britain’s relationship with the European Union, with new legislation that could result in the UK signing up to EU single market rules without a normal parliamentary vote.In a major development in the prime minister’s push for closer ties with the continent after the Iran war, the Guardian understands ministers are bracing to face down opposition to “dynamic alignment” with the EU from those who “scream treason” over the powers in a new EU-UK reset bill. Continue reading...