The Latest Breaking News from Britain

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

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

The new tactics come after officers were criticised for standing by and watching overcrowded, unseaworthy vessels set off across the Channel

The UN conference on the two-state solution offers an historic opportunity for Britain: to stand against the continued erasure of my people, says Husam Zomlot, Palestinian ambassador to the United Kingdom

Editorial: After nine years of delay, it was high time that Britain and Europe sorted out the future of the Rock

THE INDEPENDENT VIEW: Editorial: In spite of Rachel Reeves’s much-vaunted increase in MoD expenditure, a rise to 2.6 per cent of GDP can only be achieved by draining the overseas aid budget, reallocating intelligence agency funds, and other sleights of hand. When the prime minister faces Nato leaders, including Donald…

Letters: Readers respond to an article by George Monbiot