Merseyside chief constable, who is retiring, also dismisses claims asylum seekers are to blame for a crime wave

The Reform party’s promise to abolish policies on equality and diversity is “ludicrous” and threatens to take policing and society backwards, one of the country’s most senior chief constables has said.

Serena Kennedy retires on Sunday as the chief constable of Merseyside police, after a tumultuous four years in charge.

Research estimates 90% of Britons over 50 with autism aren’t getting right treatment and face added difficulties

Researchers have called for better support for middle-aged and older autistic people after a review found that 90% of autistic people aged over 50 in Britain are either undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.

Greater awareness of autism and improved assessments globally mean it is typically spotted in childhood today. But in past decades autistic people were often forced to navigate middle and old age without the support a diagnosis can unlock.

IPPR says Rachel Reeves should also urge Bank to halt bond sales to reduce government losses of £22bn a year

Rachel Reeves should levy a new bank tax and urge the Bank of England to halt bond sales to reduce the government’s £22bn-a-year losses from quantitative easing, the IPPR thinktank has argued.

In a report called Fixing the Leak, the IPPR’s associate director for economic policy, Carsten Jung, says the Treasury should rein in the costs of QE as public finances are tight.

Singer says UK and Europe dates will move to 2026 while US shows are cancelled as she focuses on treatment

Jessie J has postponed her upcoming tour after revealing she will undergo a second operation as part of her breast cancer treatment.

The 37-year-old singer, whose full name is Jessica Cornish, announced her diagnosis in June when she began treatment.

The suspense never ends in Alfie Allen and Samira Wiley’s uranium-smuggling thriller. If you can make it through the intense opening, you can make it through anything

You know what they say. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the drug smuggling across the Sahara racket. Alas, these are wise words that young cartel driver Max (Alfie Allen, bringing exactly the reckless high energy the character and venture require) has failed to heed. We first meet him speeding across the Algerian portion of the north African desert with a companion called Carlos (Nezar Thalal) on their way to Beirut to exchange a great deal of cocaine for some antique statues, when bish, bash, wallop, what’s happening?! An ambush by a militant group armed with machine guns who kill Carlos and are about to kill Max? But then one of the group turns on the others and kills all of them stone dead instead, before flinging Max and the coke in the car and hightailing it out of there? That is what’s happening! Goodness me and welcome to the first 37 seconds of Atomic, a five-part miniseries you shouldn’t expect to let up any time soon.

Max’s rescuer is averse to providing his real name so Max calls him JJ – short for “Jihadi John”. If this offends anyone’s delicate sensibilities I think you should have left 37 seconds ago. JJ reroutes them to Benghazi for unspecified reasons. Max can hope to return to his original plans thereafter.