Good morning, we’re now exactly two weeks out from the vote. Today the climate crisis is high on the agenda – Labour will unveil its environment policies, there is the leaders’ TV climate debate tonight, and all of this comes after a warning from scientists that the world may already have crossed a series of tipping points meaning “we are in a state of planetary emergency”. Make sure to keep on top of politics at our live blog.

What’s going on?

Jeremy Corbyn will be in Southampton where he will set out the party’s environment policies, including the planting of 2bn trees by 2040. Labour also plans to create 10 new national parks as part of a rewilding policy to tackle the climate emergency. The proposals also include an investment of £1.2bn to restore habitats such as woodlands and peat bogs in England, and extra funding for national park authorities.

Tonight the leaders of most parties – as far as we know, Boris Johnson has not accepted the invitation – will participate in a Channel 4 debate on climate issues. At this stage Nigel Farage also appears to be a non-starter.

One plank of Labour’s energy policy is under fire today, as lawyers have warned that the party’s plans to take large parts of the energy industry back under public control puts it on a collision course with EU laws that guard Europe-owned companies against government takeovers.

There may be further fallout from Corbyn’s deadliest line of attack in this election campaign: his claims that leaked documents show Johnson wants to sell off the NHS in a trade deal with the US. The official papers reveal US and UK officials have repeatedly discussed dismantling protections that keep NHS drug prices down as part of their negotiations about a post-Brexit trade deal. Dennis Campbell and Jamie Grierson have unpacked what the dossier says and what it means. Heather Stewart writes that “Corbyn had one central aim as he brandished the 451-page ‘secret’ NHS document at a hastily-arranged press conference on Wednesday: to drag the general election debate safely back into Labour’s comfort zone” after the antisemitism accusations”.

A new poll for the Times points to a thumping Conservative victory. While the Guardian is treating all polls with suspicion, read why here, the MRP poll from YouGov came closest to calling the unexpected result of the 2017 general election.

The poll predicts the Conservatives will win 359 seats (42 gains), leaving Johnson with a majority of 68. Labour, meanwhile, would fall back to 211 seats – a result that would be in line with the disaster of 1983. Not everyone is happy with that message, including Johnson’s adviser Dominic Cummings, who has told Brexit supporters that the general election is “much tighter” than polls might suggest and urged them to persuade their friends to vote Tory.

At a glance

The day ahead

Jo Swinson starts the day with a roundtable on homelessness in London and Corbyn will be in Southampton to announce the party’s environment policies.

A foreign policy debate, featuring foreign secretary Dominic Raab, shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry as well as the foreign affairs spokespeople for the Lib Dems and SNP. If you’re interested, that will be broadcast on Radio 4 tonight.

Tonight, party leaders will participate in a debate on the climate crisis, broadcast on Channel 4. Johnson has not confirmed whether he will be there and Farage has rejected the invite, but all other parties will be attending.

A quiet day for the Tories, who have no major events or announcements scheduled.

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Best of the rest

> The world may already have crossed a series of climate tipping points that mean “we are in a state of planetary emergency”, scientists say. A 5C rise was previously thought necessary to cause things like runaway loss of ice sheets or forests. But the latest evidence suggests this could start upwards of 1C, which we have already passed. Writing in Nature, they acknowledge the science of tipping points is complex but “to err on the side of danger is not a responsible option” and the rate of the damage could still be partly under our control if urgent international action is taken.

> Today’s school-leavers are enjoying “the best time ever” to take their pick of university courses amid fierce competition between institutions recruiting from a shrinking pool of 18-year-olds, according to the Ucas. Nearly 98% of applicants received offers of a place to study for a degree this year and that could be even higher next year. A record 34% of UK 18-year-olds entered higher education in 2019. Of the remaining 66%, many are likely to enter higher education before they turn 30.

> Donald Trump has signed into law legislation backing pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, angering Beijing which has condemned the bill as “full of prejudice and arrogance”. The legislation, approved unanimously by the US Senate and by all but one lawmaker in the House of Representatives last week, threatens sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials deemed responsible for human rights abuses in Hong Kong. “This is a pure interference in China’s internal affairs,” thundered China’s ministry of foreign affairs, hours after the bill was signed by Trump.

Today in Focus podcast: Swinging times in Peterborough

Robert Booth on the battle for one of the key swing seats set to determine the election. Plus: Can Dündar on press freedoms under threat in Turkey.

Today in Focus Swinging times in Peterborough Sorry your browser does not support audio - but you can download here and listen https://audio.guim.co.uk/2019/11/27-65672-191128.TIF_Peterborough.mp3 00:00:00 00:32:07

Lunchtime read: ‘Either working or tormenting myself’

The Pussycat Dolls are back and their main singer, Nicole Scherzinger, is determined to enjoy it. She discusses body image, online abuse, success and Simon Cowell with Elle Hunt.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nicole Scherzinger rose to fame as lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls. Photograph: Pal Hansen/The Guardian

Sport

Jürgen Klopp lamented Liverpool’s failure to book a Champions League “holiday” in Salzburg next month but insisted his European champions would thrive on the pressure to reach the knockout stages in Austria. Daniel Wass’s freak goal earned Valencia a deserved draw with Chelsea at the Mestalla, where Kepa Arrizabalaga slipped from Blues hero to villain and the hosts muddled their lines. Ollie Pope has been placed on standby to keep wicket for England during their must-win second Test against New Zealand after Jos Buttler emerged as an injury doubt 24 hours out from the match. Captain Joe Root, in need of runs, has said he is not far away from making a good score.

N’Golo Kanté has denied he was threatened by someone carrying a gun months after his transfer to Chelsea amid an extraordinary dispute between his advisers. Chelsea’s signing of Sam Kerr is more evidence of a power shift away from the US in women’s football, and clubs and leagues outside England are taking action, writes Suzanne Wrack. And the former MLB player Aubrey Huff is taking Bernie Sanders’ run for the White House very seriously, teaching his sons to shoot in case the Democrat wins the presidency in 2020 and introduces socialism to the US.

Business

Two former Bank of England policymakers discuss the prospects for the economy as our monthly “Brexit watch” analysis of data reveals October saw wages remain in the doldrums. One of the former bank experts, David Blanchflower, says Britain’s growing army of underemployed people (those who want more work than they get) is the reason wages are remaining so stubbornly low. The FTSE100 is on track to open down after Asian markets took fright at Donald Trump’s signing of a bill backing Hong Kong’s protesters. The pound was flat overnight at $1.293 and €1.174.

The papers

Mourning on the front pages today for, as the Times aptly puts it, some “giants of culture”: the Australian-born writer and broadcaster Clive James, the legendary writer and director Jonathan Miller, and the TV chef Gary Rhodes who has died suddenly, at just 59 years of age, in the middle of filming a new series. The splash in the Times is “Johnson heads for big majority”, based on the only published poll that predicted a hung parliament in the last election.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Guardian front page, Thursday 28 November 2019.

On the same topic, “Poll boost for Tories”, says the Metro and in the i it’s “Johnson on course to break deadlock”, meaning the Brexit impasse in parliament. The Telegraph would prefer to tone that down a bit – “Election too close to call, warns Cummings” – as Johnson’s adviser deploys the age-old tactic of lowballing your prospects to keep voters on board.

The Express gives Johnson a hand in trying to banish the spectre of austerity, reporting his comments that it was “wrong for Britain”. The Mirror’s counterpunch is “THE PROOF” as Corbyn reveals papers that Labour says “show our health service is on table in Brexit trade talks with US”. The Guardian has “Secret papers prove Tories want to sell NHS – Corbyn”. The FT is out on its own with “Lagarde bid to put climate change at the heart of ECB monetary policy” – the downpage lead is a thinktank’s warning about the big parties’ spending plans busting budget rules. The Sun splashes on WhatsApp messages allegedly sent to a woman by David Pemsel, the incoming Premier League chief executive, who is currently the chief executive of Guardian Media Group.

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