Ministers must resist pressure to relax environmental standards in the rush for new housing

Almost two decades after the last Labour government announced a zero carbon homes standard, and with the breaking of temperature records around the world now so normal as to seem routine, it ought to be uncontroversial that new buildings should be as environmentally friendly as possible. Given everything we know about global heating, and the law obliging the UK to reach net zero by 2050, it is disturbing that even the basics of promoting energy security and efficiency continue to be questioned.

But that is the situation Britain faces, as the government lays the ground for a housebuilding spree that it hopes will last for the rest of this parliament (as planning is devolved, the target of 1.5m new homes is for England only). Much of the blame for this discouraging state of affairs lies with the Tories, who delayed progress towards sustainability by scrapping environmental rules, leading to a disgraceful proliferation of new developments where the houses do not even have solar panels on the roofs.

A new study highlights the dangers of a modern rentier capitalism that perpetuates inequality through the generations

In a recent study picked up in the French press , the academic Mélanie Plouviez cites one of her country’s best-loved novelists to make a damning point. The power of inherited and unearned wealth in the France of 2025, she argues, replicates the social injustices found in Honoré de Balzac’s 19th-century chronicles of ambition and despair. As in the 1820s, she writes, “Who now could buy a place in Paris relying only on their wage and without family help? With the resurgence of inherited wealth, a gulf between what work allows and inheritance allows has also returned.”

The problem is a sadly familiar one across Europe, and the same observation could be made of Britain, Germany or Italy. The economist Thomas Piketty has laid bare the extent to which booming stock markets and property prices have turbocharged asset wealth in western liberal democracies, at the expense of those reliant solely on a wage. Since the 1980s, regressive tax changes have empowered the wealthy to keep more of their money and pass more of it on to their sons and daughters. In advanced economies, the amount of inherited wealth has more or less doubled as a proportion of GDP, compared with the middle of the last century.

PM proposes use of third countries during visit to Albania, which rules out role in any such UK scheme

Plans to send refused asylum seekers to “return hubs” in third countries have been announced by Keir Starmer on a trip to Albania during which the Balkan country ruled out participating in the scheme.

The prime minister flew to Tirana to confirm the UK was seeking to send people whose asylum claims had been turned down to foreign detention centres once they had exhausted all avenues of appeal.

Figures show households struggling, with 2.7% of direct debits for gas and electricity failing due to lack of funds

• Business live – latest updates

A record proportion of British households were unable to pay their energy bills by direct debit last month because there was not enough money in their bank accounts, according to official government data.

More than 2.7% of direct debit payments for gas and electricity defaulted in April due to insufficient funds, the latest figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have revealed.

Gene-editing breakthrough has potential to treat array of devastating genetic diseases soon after birth, scientists say

Doctors in the US have become the first to treat a baby with a customised gene-editing therapy after diagnosing the child with a severe genetic disorder that kills about half of those affected in early infancy.

International researchers have hailed the feat as a medical milestone, saying it demonstrates the potential for treating an array of devastating genetic diseases by rewriting faulty DNA soon after affected children are born.

• Sonia Bompastor praises ‘game-changing’ cash injection
• Funding boosts manager’s Champions League hopes

Sonia Bompastor has described the £20m investment of the Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in Chelsea Women as “a gamechanging investment for the women’s game” before their FA Cup final against Manchester United on Sunday, at which the new minority owner will be in attendance.

“We speak about the investment but it is also the values underpinning it,” the Chelsea manager said of the move by the husband of the tennis great Serena Williams, the winner of 23 grand slam singles titles. “That’s really important for the women’s game but also for the game in England. It shows we are in a really great place at the moment.

What governments do is mostly forgotten, but freeing people from the threat of a painful death would be a great liberalising moment in British history

“Assisted dying bill at risk of collapse”, gloats the Telegraph today, echoed by the Times. Not so, says Kim Leadbeater and her campaigners. Some so-called switchers who abstained last time were always known as opponents. MPs who gave her bill a 55 majority on the first vote are standing firm, she says, as the debate returns to parliament on Friday.

It’s a well worn tactic to pretend the tide is moving your way to sway any nervous MPs in wobbly seats. They should note the hefty majority of voters supporting the right to die for decades. British social attitudes first polled in 1983 found 77% of people in favour, a number that has been solid ever since. Keir Starmer’s reiterated support today may stiffen some of his MPs’ sinews.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

Keir was supposed to be here for a deal on an asylum returns hub but his towering host had a surprise in store

During Wednesday’s prime minister’s questions, Keir Starmer said the Conservative party was heading for brain-dead oblivion. The very next day, the Tories screamed: “Hold my beer. You ain’t seen nothing yet.” They seem to look on the prime minister’s description as a challenge. One to which they are determined to rise.

Forget Ukraine and Gaza. Forget the growth and immigration figures. Come Thursday morning, the most pressing question on the minds of the shadow paymaster general, Richard Holden, and other Conservative MPs was their outrage that Downing Street would not be flying the Middlesex flag on Friday to mark Middlesex Day.