Guardian

Number of early-stage cancer diagnoses in England at record level, NHS says | NHS

Suspected people smugglers to face travel curbs and social media bans under bill | Immigration and asylum

UK lost 37 shops a day in 2024, data suggests | Retail industry

Coventry woman who vanished 52 years ago found alive and well | Coventry

Turnout inequality in UK elections close to tipping point, report warns | Electoral reform

Automatic voter registration may be an answer to UK’s troubling turnout gap | Electoral reform

Three-day snow warning issued for parts of England, Scotland and Wales | UK weather

Scandinavians came to Britain long before Vikings and Anglo-Saxons, finds study | Archaeology

Prisons in England and Wales record rapid rise in drones delivering drugs | Prisons and probation

Stephen Lawrence’s father says he can accept release of son’s killer if he shows remorse | Stephen Lawrence

Consumers warned over offers of money to open betting accounts in their names | Consumer affairs

UK small boat arrivals in 2024 up 25% compared with previous year | Immigration and asylum

Devon council urged to halt demolition of historic mill buildings | Heritage

Merseyside police ‘surprised’ to catch boy, 7, driving off-road scrambler bike | Merseyside

UK government hires ‘nudge unit’ to help dispel heat pump myths | Heat pumps

‘I love the four-day week’: south London school part of a quiet revolution | Schools

Hospital failings led to woman’s death after weight loss surgery, coroner says | NHS

Tory focus on immigration helped stoke riots, equalities committee chair says | Immigration and asylum

‘Bizarrely, I enjoyed bungee jumping!’ How Ed Davey became the Tom Cruise of British politics | Ed Davey

Trump’s killing of Qassem Suleimani triggered fall of Assad, says Tugendhat | US foreign policy

Keir Starmer vows to rebuild Britain as Labour did after second world war | Labour

Hospital admissions for lack of vitamins soaring in England, NHS figures show | Health

London welcomes new year with fireworks as weather cancels events across UK | UK news

What will new energy price cap mean for your bills – and how can you bring them down? | Energy bills

Man on the run after being recalled to UK prison indefinitely makes plea to minister | Prisons and probation

Millions of households in Great Britain face higher energy bills as price cap rises | Energy bills

Phew, turtle doves: ban on annual shoot raises hopes for endangered bird | Birds

Quitting smoking may be easier with a smartwatch app, researchers say | Smoking

UK property will be a buyers’ market in 2025, analysts predict | Housing market

MPs say Post Office should not oversee Horizon compensation schemes | Post Office Horizon scandal

NHS error meant hundreds of parents did not know children’s sickle cell status | Sickle cell disease

Special forces troops face prosecution over alleged war crimes in Syria | British army

Burglar who stole £10m worth of jewellery from London mansion broke in through bathroom window | London

How soaring fees for private care are deepening England’s dentistry crisis | Dentists

UK patients unable to get dental care after ‘eye-watering’ rise in private fees | Dentists

Water rates in Northern Ireland suggested to help address wastewater crisis | Northern Ireland

Great Guinness heist: thieves stole truck carrying 20,000 pints | Hospitality industry

British teenage girls outdrink boys of the same age, study finds | Alcohol

Hospital porter sacked for not wearing face mask losses unfair dismissal claim | Employment tribunals

Seven-year-old boy visits every city in England by train | Rail transport

Johnnie Walker, BBC Radio DJ, dies aged 79 | Johnnie Walker

FTSE records strongest annual gain since 2021 as aviation stocks take off | FTSE

Restoration unlocks vision of Hebden Bridge photographer Alice Longstaff | Photography

UK parliament could be next ‘Notre Dame inferno’ unless restoration is expedited | Palace of Westminster

Green light: the boss of GB Railfreight with an eye on the environment | Rail industry

‘Take this house or you’re homeless’: families sent to a Durham town from London | Housing

English councils pay millions to move homeless families out of big cities | Housing

New year events cancelled as high winds and heavy rain batter UK | UK weather

Energy caps to stamp duty changes: your personal finance diary for January-April 2025 | Energy bills

Manchester Arena attack survivor calls for protection from conspiracy theorists | Manchester Arena attack

Working from home could harm women’s careers, Nationwide boss warns | Working from home

‘You’ve got nothing to lose’: Labour’s ‘bonus MPs’ aim to make their mark after surprise wins | Labour

Icelandic sheepdog, breed mentioned by Shakespeare, is a pedigree at last | Dogs

Welsh ambulance chief urges New Year’s Eve revellers to drink less | Health

More people dining out on New Year’s Eve in UK rise of ‘experiential leisure’ | Hospitality industry

NHS ombudsman criticises CQC for failing to fully investigate boy’s death | Care Quality Commission (CQC)

Killed women count: 80 women allegedly killed by men in UK in 2024 | Violence against women and girls

Rail passengers face disruption as Avanti train managers strike | Rail industry

Female artists’ success helps arrest 20-year slide in UK sales of physical music | Music industry

Labour government discussed Tanzania asylum camp plan in 2004, files show | National Archives

Labour’s private school tax plan strongly backed by public, poll shows | Private schools

Big rise in people going to A&E in England for minor ailments, data shows | Hospitals

Senior Labour figures urged Tony Blair to delay arrival of EU citizens in UK | National Archives

Live Aid campaigner Bob Geldof was ‘scathing about African leaders’, files reveal | Bob Geldof

Advisers urged Tony Blair to rein in George W Bush over Iraq war ‘mission from God’ | National Archives

Welsh ambulance service declares ‘critical incident’ after demand soars | Wales

Post Office campaigners vow to ‘never give in’ after receiving OBEs | New year honours list

Jewellery worth £10.4m stolen from London home in one of Britain’s biggest burglaries | London

BBC Radio 2 presenter thanks NHS staff after treatment for small brain bleed | Radio

Tortoise Media reduces losses after cutting spending and staff | Tortoise Media

People traffickers behind ‘extremely cruel’ abuse of migrants arrested in UK | Crime

David Beckham earns £28m in dividends from personal brand empire | David Beckham

Essex county council sends 95% of non-recycled waste to landfill, data reveals | Waste

Edinburgh cancels New Year’s Eve street parties and fireworks due to storm warning | UK weather

Anti-cycling stories are bad for the UK’s health, says Chris Boardman | Cycling

Paddy Hill, one of wrongly convicted Birmingham Six, dies aged 80 | Birmingham Six

Is Labour to blame for slowing UK economy? It’s more complex than that | Economic growth (GDP)

The real test for Nigel Farage will be if donors follow foot soldiers to Reform | Reform UK

Netflix throws another log on the fire in festive TV virtual blaze craze | Netflix

TV bosses should dare to flout Ofcom rules, says Grange Hill creator Phil Redmond | Drama

Revealed: 1.5m children in England studying in unfit school buildings | Public services policy

‘Our school has been homeless for two years’: a rotting Cumbria school counts the cost | Schools

Schools, hospitals and prisons among England’s crumbling public buildings | Public services policy

Tidy! Ruth Jones to read Shipping Forecast as Nessa to mark centenary | Radio

‘Illegally smuggled’ cannon at Tower of London subject of dispute with Ireland | Ireland

NHS patients at risk as hospital urgent repair costs triple in decade | NHS

‘I was screaming at people to get my little girl’: one year on from XL bully dogs ban | Dangerous dogs

Controversial face-down restraint still being used for mental health patients in England | Mental health

Murdoch, Musk, water firms … Here are the ‘winners’ in another torrid year for business | The Observer

Councils failing to take homeless young people into care | Child protection

City regulators to start oversight of tech firms that provide ‘critical’ services to UK | Financial sector

Up to 30 MPs who backed assisted dying bill could withdraw support at next vote | Assisted dying

Badenoch allies dismiss ‘nonsense’ claims she asked GB News to cut Farage’s airtime | Kemi Badenoch

Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre sample song by London learning disabilities charity | Snoop Dogg

MP calls for specific domestic violence offence in England and Wales | Domestic violence

Liam Payne: Argentinian officials charge three with manslaughter | Liam Payne

Rundown schools risk ‘irreparable’ harm to pupils, UK children’s laureate says | Schools

Safety checks ordered amid concern over thousands of postwar school buildings in England | Schools

Treasury must focus on prevention in UK public spending, says report | Society

Most UK businesses expect to grow in new year, surveys find | Economic growth (GDP)