The Latest Breaking News from Whitehall

Millions of lives were improved by reforms in the 1960s and 70s, from anti-racism laws to equal pay – yet many voters see his tenure as a failure, says Guardian columnist Andy Beckett

Call by economics of happiness expert Richard Layard comes as research agency set up under David Cameron is to be axed in Whitehall cuts

Files about alleged Soviet infiltration in MI5 and a plot centred on the former Labour PM are still missing, says author and former Guardian security editor Richard Norton-Taylor

The collapse of town hall democracy is a scandal unfolding in real time, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins

Murder comes to a sleep English village in this Agatha Christie adaptation. Here's how you can watch Murder is Easy online and from anywhere.

Sir David Omand tells parliamentary inquiry the platform should be restricted to ‘background mood music’

US and British military chiefs have been surprised by both the quantity and quality of the missiles and weapons used by the Houthis, reports Robert Fox

School leaders fear ministerial advice on pupil transitioning could spark court action

Idea quietly shelved after Tory splits over Rwanda bill, as Home Office is accused of ‘fiddling figures’ on asylum claims

US president quietly abandons talks as he focuses on elections next year

So, the civil servants are at it again. Or rather they’re not, as they’re still “working” from home, painting their toenails, doing the laundry, watching reruns of Deal or No Deal and sequencing automated email replies. As if it wasn’t enough that they’re complaining about having to go back to…