A man enjoys his favourite tipple of dandelion and burdock at Fitzpatrick’s Temperance Bar in Rawtenstall, Lancashire. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images I stopped drinking almost 20 years ago, and I sometimes think that my real life began on that day in 1991. Getting sober was one of the best things I ever did, and, strangely, [...]

Gary McKinnon could face up to 60 years in prison if he is extradited to the US. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian The Home Office is to announce a review of extradition arrangements, including those with the US and EU countries following high-profile rows over the way they are operating. The main impetus has [...]

The poor on Wentworth Street, Whitechapel by Gustave Dore, 1872. Photograph:Stapleton Collection/Corbis We are told that Mr Cameron is ‘waging war on benefit cheats’. Currently that seems to mean attacking people like Ms X. In her 50s, caring for her adult daughter, she worked all her life until made redundant. Now with a physical impairment [...]

X-ray showing pulmonary tuberculosis. Photograph: Barts Hospital/Getty Images Scientists have uncovered a molecular fingerprint in the blood of patients with the active form tuberculosis. The finding could help doctors predict which infected patients will become ill, and which will carry the infection without effects. TB, a disease primarily of the lungs, kills up to 1.7 [...]