The Latest Breaking News from Britain

I used to be proud of my birthplace for its cosmopolitan tolerance. Visiting now, it feels like stepping back decades

Sir Keir Starmer confirmed Britain was moving military assets to the region as Iran warned UK bases would be targeted if it helped defend Israel

Dubbed ‘Britain’s meanest landlord’, Asif Aziz is fighting it out with a tiny cinema that counts Christopher Nolan, Paul Mescal and other Hollywood heroes as fans. How did the capital’s cultural landmarks end up under the thumb of the super-rich elite?

Vasili Mitrokhin defected in 1992 after spending years copying top-secret documents on Soviet spies and operations

COMMENT: When politicians stir up fear around the burqa or the veil, they are not defending public safety – they are inflaming prejudice for political gain, writes Baroness Shaista Gohir OBE

The celebrated documentarian’s five-part series charts the decline of Britain’s democracy with a witty, kaleidoscopic selection of archive footage. It begins, of course, with Margaret Thatcher

IN FOCUS: The number of ex-Muslims in Britain is impossible to quantify, as publicly leaving your faith behind could lead to rejection and isolation from your family and your community. For some, the only option is to mask who they are and the people that they love, writes Taz Ali

Letter: Robert Skidelsky, Richard Balfe, Anthony Brenton, Thomas Fazi, Anatol Lieven, Ian Proud, Geoffrey Roberts, Richard Sakwa and Brigitte Granville respond to Fiona Hill’s assessment of the current Russian threat to the UK

As attendances at other meetings decline, the monarch’s presence makes Ascot a soft power asset for Britain

COMMENT: Despite talking of moving Britain to ‘war-fighting readiness’, the prime minister has so far resisted Nato pressure to further increase spending, writes John Rentoul

Chaos, distrust and so many sex scandals … Ahead of his epic new series Shifty, the great documentarian charts the UK’s slide towards Whitehall’s worst nightmare