Matthew Pennycook says ending system must be done slowly to avoid hitting housing supply and legal pitfalls

A ban on new leasehold properties in England and Wales is unlikely to come into force until after the next election, the housing minister has said, as he defended the government’s piecemeal attempts to dismantle the system.

The long-promised end would take years to “switch on”, Matthew Pennycook said, even though the ban of leaseholds on new houses was passed in 2024 and the government intends to pass one on new flats soon.

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King’s carefully crafted address to US Congress was the result of close liaison with aides, No 10 and Foreign Office

Donald Trump called it “fantastic”, Democrats cheered references to Magna Carta, while the joint session of the US Congress came together in giving it a standing ovation.

King Charles’s address to US lawmakers, while non-political, did not shy away from politics. And, though the president did not take offence – “He made a great speech, I was very jealous” – its pointed mentions of subjects the US president has previously disparaged were not lost on America.

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Narges Mohammadi denied medical leave from prison in spite of sharp decline in health and drastic weight loss, say lawyers

The family of the jailed Iranian Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi say they fear for her life after a sharp deterioration in her health, suspected heart attack and drop in body weight of almost 20kg (44lb).

The 54-year-old human rights activist, who was awarded the 2023 Nobel peace prize while in prison , had been released for health reasons in 2024. She was re-arrested in December 2025 during the memorial service of a fellow human rights activist and is being held in Zanjan central prison, in north-west Iran.

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Suit is part of effort to hold suspect and any still unknown perpetrators accountable, says rapper’s stepbrother

The stepbrother of Tupac Shakur has filed a lawsuit against the man set to go on trial for the rapper’s 1996 killing. The suit is part of an effort to hold the alleged killer and any still unknown perpetrators accountable, Maurice Shakur says.

“Many individuals who were involved have long since passed away, while others have been hard to identify,” the suit states. “Yet, one thing is certain: there remain individuals who were involved in Tupac’s murder who, for 30 years, have not been held accountable for their crimes.”

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From Peep Show to Half Man, some of the best television can be the hardest to watch. Get ready to look through your fingers at these supremely squirm-inducing scenes

It’s not exactly how anyone imagines their first time. Richard Gadd’s Baby Reindeer follow-up, bruising BBC drama Half Man , is full of disturbing scenes but none more so than in the opening episode, when teen delinquent Ruben orchestrates his younger step-sibling Niall losing his virginity.

It makes for one of those TV moments where it’s physically impossible to sit comfortably on your sofa. But what are the all-time most unsettling? From bad rapping to DIY dentistry, here’s our selection of 15 scenes that made us wince, squirm and watch through our fingers …

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Readers respond to the British Medical Association’s warning that the increasing use of ‘non-doctors’ in medical roles is unsafe

I am an advanced clinical practitioner in acute respiratory medicine, and the British Medical Association’s (BMA) characterisation of practitioners like me as unsafe “substitute doctors” demands a response ( Safety fears as UK hospitals use nurses to cover for doctors due to shortage of medics, 25 April ).

Every shift, I assess and manage patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations, pulmonary embolisms, pneumonia and acute respiratory failure, taking clinical responsibility in a consultant-led multidisciplinary team, underpinned by a master’s-level qualification and over a decade of specialist experience. This is not doctor substitution. This is advanced practice: a distinct, evidence-based clinical role that enhances patient care rather than compromising it.

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It isn’t a story of villains and victims, but a housing system under strain, writes Nick Vernoum . Plus a letter from John Farquhar

Your article on landlords ( I thought landlords were unchallengeable – until I met one of mine at a party, 22 April ) paints them as shadowy figures wielding quiet power, but the reality is often more ordinary – and more complicated. I’m an “accidental landlord”. In my 40s, after working long hours to buy a modest home, I became seriously ill with chronic fatigue and had to move back in with my parents. Letting my house wasn’t about exploitation; it was about survival – covering a mortgage I could no longer sustain through work.

Over time, I reinvested carefully, and I now own a small number of properties. The income isn’t lavish; it has supported my parents and given me a chance to rebuild my life. I know my tenants well. They can contact me any time, and I sort problems quickly.

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Peter Foreshaw Brookes says economic conditions and smartphone usage (and its effects on coupling) are more likely causes

The global drop in fertility has a number of causes, but rising biological infertility (infecundity) is not one ( Toxins plus climate harms likely cause of reduced fertility, study finds, 26 April ). Recent reports of a paper by Shanna Swan, the writer of Spermageddon, and others have claimed the paper shows that exposure to pollutants has been driving down biological fertility and may be contributing to the downturn of fertility rates in recent years. This is unlikely.

A meta-analysis published last year, which controlled for regional variation, found that sperm counts increased in the US in recent years. Although there are other mechanisms by which biological fertility could be affected, time to pregnancy (TTP) directly tracks how quickly couples conceive. TTP increased in Britain in the late 20th century , and has been stable between 2002 and 2017 in the US for women under 30, only increasing by about 4% for women who already had a child. Meanwhile, infertility has been staying around the same or decreasing in developed countries in recent years.

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Assailant reportedly hunting for anyone ‘visibly Jewish’ in suspected antisemitic attack in north London

Police are treating the stabbing of two men in Golders Green, north London as terrorism, with the suspect described as hunting for anyone “visibly Jewish” to attack.

The stabbings happened just after 11am on Wednesday with the violence coming after a series of arson attacks on Jewish targets in London since March, including two previous incidents in Golders Green.

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