A sketch writers’ benefit? An April fool? Either way, big thanks to Mel and Kemi | John Crace

There was a time when you knew where you were with a press conference. You would go along on the assumption that the person or organisation who had called it had something important to say. Something that might approximate to news.But we live in ever more confusing days. So now we’ve reached the point where Kemi Badenoch and Mel Stride will do almost anything for attention

Keir Starmer rolls up his sleeves to legitimise the Two Minutes Hate | John Crace

Forgive me for feeling underwhelmed. As a general rule, countries collaborating on crime have not yet managed to do away with crime. But I suppose that doing something – even if it’s only being seen to do something – is better than doing nothing. So a big welcome to the 40 countries that have converged on Lancaster House in central London at Keir Starmer’s invitation for a summit on tackling illegal migration.The government has chosen some curious targets for its attacks since the election last July

Tories claim No 10 admission UK won’t avoid new US tariffs shows Starmer has failed to protect British business – as it happened

The Conservatives have criticised the government for failing to avert the threat of President Trump including the UK in his next round of tariffs.Responding to Downing Street saying this morning that it did not expect the UK to be exempt from the tariffs due to be announced on Wednesday (see 1.01pm), Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, said:This news is potentially a hammer blow not just to British businesses and workers but to his own chancellor whose creative accounting at the emergency budget fails to include the impact of tariffsLabour claims talks with the US are going “well”. But, if this is what well looks like, I wouldn’t like to see what the opposite looks like. The prime minister has so far failed to come up with the goods, he needs to rekindle our US trade deal

No 10 says it expects UK to be hit by new Trump tariffs as trade deal talks drag on

Downing Street says it expects the UK to be hit by more tariffs when Donald Trump announces his latest round of trade barriers on Wednesday and said it “reserves the right” to respond to protect the national interest.Ministers are now expecting the UK to be hit by a tariff that will apply to all countries as part of the US president’s “liberation day”, despite hoping to have secured a carve-out.With hopes of a deal before 2 April fading, the former top UK trade negotiator Crawford Falconer warned Keir Starmer’s plan for an “economic prosperity deal” with Washington could take as long as a year to come to fruition.Falconer, who was the government’s most senior trade official until the end of last year, told the Guardian: “You’ve got a year at the most. Trump and the government will say no we can do this quicker, but good luck

‘Ridiculous’ cuts to AI cancer tech funding in England could cost lives, experts warn

Ministers have cut millions of pounds of funding for potentially life saving AI cancer technology in England, which cancer experts warn will increase waiting times and could cause more patients to die.Contouring is used in radiotherapy to ensure treatment is as effective and safe as possible. The tumour and normal tissue is “mapped” or contoured on to medical scans, to ensure the radiation targets the cancer while minimising damage to healthy tissues and organs.Normally, this is a slow, manual process that can take doctors between 20 and 150 minutes to complete. AI auto-contouring takes less than five minutes and costs around £10-£15 per patient

Vulnerable patients will lose vital support with Pip cuts | Letters

I used to work as an assessor for personal independence payments (Pip). One day, I visited a gentleman who was terrified of losing his Pip. Despite his fear, he offered me tea, but only had a tiny amount of milk in his fridge. He was ashamed and started to cry. I called the local food bank to help him