London site’s theatre, music venue and galleries to close in June 2028, in first stage of upgrades before 50th anniversary

The Barbican will close its doors for 12 months from June 2028 as it undergoes a multimillion-pound renovation that its leaders say will secure its future.

The arts organisation’s Beech Street cinemas will remain open but its theatre, music venue, conservatory and visual arts galleries are set to shutter as the overhaul of the 43-year-old building begins in the lead-up to its 50th anniversary in 2032.

The historian is set to lead a ‘stellar’ 2026 panel featuring the Pulp frontman and other acclaimed writers, as the search begins for next year’s standout work of fiction

Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker will feature on the 2026 Booker prize judging panel that will be chaired by the classicist and broadcaster Mary Beard.

Novelist Patricia Lockwood has also been named as a judge, along with the poet Raymond Antrobus and Rebecca Liu, an editor at the Guardian Saturday magazine.

Aamir Ahmed , Dr Graham Simpson , Adrian Bell and David Gollancz respond to a letter by a reader whose husband died of the disease after delaying getting a PSA test

It is understandable for patients suffering from a late diagnosis of prostate cancer, or families who have lost loved ones, to demand that something should be done ( Letters, 5 December ). I, however, respect the UK National Screening Committee’s recommendation not to screen most men using the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test.

The job of the committee was to weigh up the benefits and harms of any available test for routine screening. PSA testing, as a first step to diagnose cancer, results in false negatives and a significant number of false positives, meaning it has both low sensitivity and low specificity, making it a poor screening marker. PSA screening has been conducted in the US; there are varying estimates that, over three decades, it has resulted in more than 1 million patients receiving treatment (eg surgery or radiotherapy) they did not need.

Defying the will of the House of Commons will increase calls for radical reform of the upper house sooner rather than later, say the MPs Nia Griffith, Justin Madders and Debbie Abrahams

When visitors come to parliament, it seems incongruous to explain that, in our mother of parliaments, we have a second chamber – the House of Lords – which is unelected. Those who support its existence in its current or similar form justify it on the grounds that it performs a useful revising function which can improve the detail of legislation, and it undoubtedly does good work.

But the fact that it is unelected can only be tolerated in a democracy provided its members accept that it is for the House of Commons to have the last word on what becomes law and what doesn’t in this country.

In response to an article about a beaver spotted in Norfolk, Richard Foster reports sightings in Berkshire

In your article ( ‘No one knows where it came from’: first wild beaver spotted in Norfolk in 500 years, 7 December ), you quote the Beaver Trust as saying that, as well as Norfolk, wild beavers have been spotted in Kent, Hampshire, Somerset, Wiltshire and Herefordshire.

I can tell you that we also have beavers in Berkshire. I live by the River Kennet and I caught one on my garden trail camera in August, along with otters in the same 30-second clip. The identification of the beaver is unmistakable, and was confirmed by the Berks, Bucks and Oxon wildlife trust. Two weeks ago, my neighbour caught a beaver on her garden trail camera. Her garden is 50 yards downstream of ours.

Letter says there is danger of Lords losing legitimacy as more than 1,000 amendments tabled, delaying any vote

Senior opponents of assisted dying legislation have called on peers not to hold up the progress of the bill through parliament, warning there was a serious danger of the Lords losing democratic legitimacy.

Many supporters now admit the bill is in serious danger of running out of time in the Lords before the end of the parliamentary session, meaning it will fail to pass. They claim the slow pace of considering more than 1,000 amendments means the bill will probably run out of time for a vote.

US visa edict | 1 No Trump | Flu advice | Costly candles | Christmas spirit

Oh dear! Now I will never get a visa to go to the US as I am sure that I have emailed quite a few letters to the Guardian critical of Donald Trump in the last few years ( Tourists to US would have to reveal five years of social media activity under new Trump plan, 10 December ).
Michael McLoughlin
Wallington, Surrey

• The latest US visa requirements would be a nightmare. Imagine trying to hold an international bridge tournament in the US. Where would you find players who haven’t bid “1 No Trump” in the last five years?
Steen I Petersen
Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada

As corridor care has become the norm, safest option for those with flu symptoms is to contact GP or NHS 111 and try to stay home

As cases of flu rise sharply across the UK, the Guardian spoke to Amir Hassan , an emergency medicine consultant and the divisional medical director at Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS trust, who shared his views.

“We’re seeing increased numbers of patients coming through, a lot of them with respiratory type illnesses. It means we need to try and isolate these patients and treat them – so they’ll come in with shortness of breath, [and a] cough.