Exclusive: George Carey says 26 bishops should ‘be on the side of those who … want a dignified, compassionate end to their lives’

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George Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, has urged Church of England bishops in the House of Lords to back a parliamentary bill on assisted dying, saying that in the past “church leaders have often shamefully resisted change”.

Instead, the 26 bishops should “be on the side of those who … want a dignified, compassionate end to their lives”, Lord Carey told the Guardian.

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Cherrypicking what has worked from decriminalisation abroad is far preferable to building more prisons for drug offenders

What can a German do but a Briton cannot? What can a New Yorker, a Chicagoan and a San Franciscan do, but a Londoner cannot? What can Canadians, Dutch, Portuguese, Chileans, Uruguayans, Maltese all do? The answer is they can legally smoke cannabis. In California there are now courses for cannabis sommeliers. In Britain they would be thrown in jail.

Half a century ago, Britons prided themselves on being in the vanguard of social progress. In such matters as health care, sexuality, abortion, crime and punishment, they considered their country ahead of the times. Now it limps nervously in the rear.

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If the prime minister has welcomed the debate in parliament, it is surely because he recognises changing public opinion

Sonia Sodha suggests (“ A rushed law is no way to make such a vital, painful decision as how to die ”) that assisted dying is being directed by No 10 as a party political issue and has not been given sufficient parliamentary attention.

In fact, as a Liberal Democrat committed to supporting assisted dying, I am free to vote however I want on the issue, with direction from neither my own party nor Labour. Working cross party for seven years, I have secured one debate in parliament, spoken in several others and taken part in fringe meetings at conference.

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The measure – part of ‘Raneem’s Law’ – will speed up referral of domestic and sexual abuse victims to support services

Domestic abuse specialists will be embedded in 999 control rooms from early next year in the first step towards the government’s goal of halving violence against women and girls in a decade, the home secretary has said.

The advisers will make risk assessments on cases involving rape, domestic and sexual abuse claims to ensure that victims are referred to support services as quickly as possible, as part of an initiative to be announced by Yvette Cooper on Friday.

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Serco says it is working to fit electronic devices, which were a condition of early release of 1,700 last week

Prisoners freed early to ease overcrowding in jails have not been fitted with electronic tags despite it being a condition of their release, prompting criticism from a parliamentary watchdog.

Officials have declined to say how many of 1,700 prisoners in England and Wales who were allowed out after serving 40% of their sentences last week were not given tracking devices. It is understood to be “hundreds” rather than “dozens”, said a source.

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My friend Krishna Maharaj, who has died aged 85 in a prison hospital in Florida, was a British victim of an American miscarriage of justice .

Kris enjoyed life as a wealthy London-based businessman until 1986, when he was framed for the murder of a Jamaican man, Derrick Moo Young, who had been managing property investments for him in Florida.

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Betting and Gaming Council estimates real figure could be £4.3bn – but enforcement is only ‘part of solution’

Gamblers in Great Britain are betting £2.7bn a year through hidden-market websites, according to a lobby group that claims stricter regulation of the licensed sector would further fuel illegal gambling.

The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) published a study estimating that 1.5 million British people placed bets with an illicit industry that was easy to find and already commonly used.

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Annington Property fears recent legislation will force it to offload some of the 38,000 freeholds it owns on UK military homes

A property company founded by billionaire Guy Hands has taken a legal fight with the UK government to the European court of human rights over fears its could lose significant sums as a result of planned housing reforms.

Annington Property, which owns the freehold of about 38,000 military homes, has filed the claim against housing secretary Angela Rayner over concerns that the new Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act could force it to off-load the homes well below market value. Last month it launched a challenge in the high court on the same grounds.

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Kurd was treated as an adult by Home Office and Greenwich council when he arrived undocumented three years ago

A child refugee who fled Iraq has won a three-year legal battle to prove he was only 16 when he arrived undocumented in the UK, not eight to 10 years older, as British officials claimed, citing his facial hair and broad shoulders.

The Kurd, now 19, fled Iraq with his family in 2021 after death threats from Shia militia, who came into his home area around Kirkuk after the fall of Islamic State in northern Iraq and Syria. But he was separated from his parents and sister while changing vessels on a treacherous sea journey and, after landing by boat in Britain in the middle of the night, he was treated as an adult with an estimated age of 24 to 26 by the Home Office and the London Borough of Greenwich.

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