How genetics freed a mother wrongly convicted of murder - it’s an extraordinary story and The Lab Detective from @theobserveruk.bsky.social is now available on @bbcsounds.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

“There has always been a degree of snobbery that people from working class backgrounds - those with accents - have experienced and I’m no different.” This week’s @theobserveruk.bsky.social Walk is with Bridget Phillipson observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Starmer pledges to ban ‘addictive algorithms’ that keep children online. PM says the government would not be forgiven for failing to sufficiently protect young people from the effects of constant doomscrolling. ✍️ @rachelsylvester.bsky.social https://bit.ly/3NTgqfv

Good to hear this. Almost every media report invariably says "proposes to double to 10 years in most cases". I feel case for this retreat becones much clearer once it is recognised that what Mahmood proposes is triplimg to 15 years in most cases of 2021-24 visa recipients bsky.app/profile/sund...

Labour moves to water down immigration reforms after MP backlash bit.ly/48cM0f6

Keir Starmer signals government is preparing to water down immigration reforms telling @theobserveruk.bsky.social Labour needs to show it has “progressive” answers to the country’s problems observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Keir Starmer promises to ban “addictive algorithms” and tells @theobserveruk.bsky.social he is now “open minded” on social media ban for under-16s not opposed observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

School system is creating a ‘wasted generation’ which is unprepared for work. As a rising number of children miss more education, a cohort of up to 400,000 unemployable young people are set to have ‘catastrophic consequences’. ✍️ @rachelsylvester.bsky.social https://bit.ly/3NTgqfv

Doctors convicted of serious sexual misconduct will be automatically struck off under @rthonwesstreeting.bsky.social reforms to medical regulation - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Attorney general to make full-throated defence of international law and rules-based world order, laying bare tensions between UK and US - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

How tech giant Palantir was recruited by the police, NHS and military The US data analytics company is helping to fight crime, cut hospital waiting lists and bolster asymmetrical warfare. But is it a force for good, asks Rachel Sylvester https://bit.ly/4bV4wLn

I'm in the Observer today looking at why Reform is doing worse in the polls, despite an almost perfect set of circumstances for them. observer.co.uk/news/politic...

@rachelsylvester.bsky.social excellent reporting. I have seen at first hand the serious downside of the lack of connectivity in NHS data and so I favour the use of Palantir with two provisos: we must encourage a UK competitor and we must legislate for accountability. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Palantir - the good, the bad and the ugly. My piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

There’s a lot you can say rightly about causal factors - poverty, technology, parental behaviour (god knows we’re all trying). But it’s another space in which the decimation of local govt, end of Early Intervention Grant and resulting collapse of Sure Start, leaves us much weaker to respond.

As many of us celebrate our mothers, it is shocking to read how so many today’s infants are being neglected. Thank you for your article @rachelsylvester.bsky.social Teachers are being forced to parent children as Britain faces school readiness crisis observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

New research shows 48 per cent of white working class children are not ready for school - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social on the crisis in the early years observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Concerns grow about the UK’s dependence on the US for its nuclear deterrent as the “special relationship” wobbles - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Pretty much in line with what he was saying 23 years ago when he opposed our involvement in the Iraq war.

Exc: Mark Carney to visit Keir Starmer as he looks to lobby the PM about a 'World Bank for defence' Last week a Canadian delegation came to p'ment to press the case for the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank Understand invitations to join charter negotiations observer.co.uk/news/interna...

If we know one thing about Starmer, it is that he will only act within the law. Maybe that leads him to sometimes worship legality too much (as perhaps with the Chagos Islands which looks like a bad and expensive deal that wasn't really necessary) but it seems to have guided him well this time. /1

Good to see the Observer’s political editor correcting the nonsense in the right wing press and BBC this week that Keir was browbeaten by Cabinet colleagues over #Iran. “The PM, contrary to some reports, had never been willing to allow UK bases to be used for the first wave of air strikes”.

Starmer’s Love Actually moment was deliberate because he believes in the rules-based world order - he was not bullied into it by Ed Miliband. My piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social on the rupture in the special relationship observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Labour can’t afford to just insult Green voters - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Enjoyed taking @rachelsylvester.bsky.social on a walk around some of Manchester’s political and social landmarks-talking about the result in Gorton and Denton, school nights at the Hacienda, and women in politics amongst other things. Even after only 2 hours sleep… observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

“We’re not going to be successful as a political party by trying to out-Reform Reform. We have to be the leaders of the so-called progressive alliance that is against the politics of the right.” I spoke to Lucy Powell for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Exc: As many as 80 Labour MPs are braced to oppose the home secretary's immigration policies Dozens of backbenchers and ministers are understood to be hostile to Shabana Mahmood's reforms. After the Gorton by-election they're pushing for a "recalibration" observer.co.uk/news/politic...

“I’ve become tougher to protect the idealist inside. But I cry on the plane” - my interview with the brave and inspiring @tomfletcherun.bsky.social as part of @theobserveruk.bsky.social series of walks observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

“Both sides of the relationship have been disappointed in the other” says former Cabinet Secretary Simon Case of ministers and their officials. My piece on the future of the civil service as its first female head Antonia Romeo takes over observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Legislation designed to strengthen the electoral system against foreign interference contains exploitable loopholes, the Electoral Commission has warned Vijay Rangarajan tells @theobserveruk.bsky.social that the bill as drafted lacks “protection against oligarchs" observer.co.uk/news/politic...

The “boys’ club” has been replaced by “girl power” but what matters is a focus on policy and getting stuff done - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social on the shake up in No 10 observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Keir Starmer’s leadership hangs between survival and collapse bit.ly/46RMUNr

A graduate tax could fix Britain’s broken student loan system Tuition fees were meant to ease the burden on taxpayers and buoy universties. They have failed. A fairer alternative has been staring us in the face for two decades, writes Peter Hain https://bit.ly/4kCF00n

‘This is a generation of students who are already struggling to pay the bills, let alone taking out a mortgage or starting a family’ Rachel Sylvester on how student loans became a political minefield https://bit.ly/4aRAWpx

The No 10 boys’ club has collapsed. Now Labour needs to get stuff done The McSweeney era is over. Many hope that Starmer’s set of female advisers will leave his ‘dark arts’ behind too, writes Rachel Sylvester https://bit.ly/3Ohr7se

A nicely balanced piece from @rachelsylvester.bsky.social about the extent to which 'girl power' may be relevant in government circles - or is it just these are people who are prepared to take a long-term view of the changes needed?

Exclusive: Labour politicians raised concerns about Keir Starmer’s plans to give Matthew Doyle a peerage in the weeks before it was confirmed, citing intimidating behaviour, particularly towards women. observer.co.uk/news/politic...

The women running the Government have a WhatsApp group called “the boys club”. How “girl power” took over in Number 10 observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Up to half of school exams ‘will be on screen within a decade’, says board chief. Advocates say digital assessments will make the system fairer, but critics fear students will lose writing skills. ✍️ @rachelsylvester.bsky.social https://bit.ly/4rWqjHT

Children could be taking half their GCSEs and A-levels on screen within a decade, the head of the UK’s biggest exam board has said. Read more as @rachelsylvester.bsky.social reports. https://bit.ly/4rWqjHT

“The pescatarian forced to eat dog meat” - why Morgan McSweeney’s real fault was to force Keir Starmer to be something he is not - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/politic...

PM's focus on vetting follow multiple reports about the failures in Mandelson's case, including our own stories: McSweeney asked if ambo role could be part-time observer.co.uk/news/politic... Developed vetting interviews failed to ask about Epstein observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Brace for a seismic week: 🚨 PM will update the country about standards & vetting changes 🚨 Reshuffle rumours suggest a possible cull of "Morgan’s shiny stars" 🚨 PM to address PLP tmr night 🚨 But can he last 3 months to locals? MPs question if he can last 3 days observer.co.uk/news/politic...

“The pescatarian forced to eat dog meat” - why Morgan McSweeney’s real fault was to force Keir Starmer to be something he is not - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Labour donors warn Keir Starmer to get a grip - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social as the endgame nears for the PM observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Keir Starmer has a WhatsApp group with Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz - the mood music has changed on defence and security in Europe as UK tries again to join €150 bn rearmament fund observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

The ice age “is thawing” the PM told me in China - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social on a fascinating week observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

The ice age “is thawing” the PM told me in China - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social on a fascinating week observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Prime minister urged to forge new links with EU. Senior figures in No 10 are urging Starmer to keep the customs union on the table. ✍️ @rachelsylvester.bsky.social https://bit.ly/3O2IhJS

“Its gross how this tech broligopoly has captured the presidency” - I spoke to Martha Lane Fox for The Observer Walk @theobserveruk.bsky.social in the place she learned to walk aged 1 and again at 31 observer.co.uk/news/nationa...