James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent

Boris Johnson has told MPs that Britain and the United States must consider fresh military options against Syrian government forces to stop Aleppo being pulverised. The Foreign Secretary said a new set of what he described as "kinetic" options would be considered at a meeting of American and other foreign ministers in the UK on Sunday. 

Giving evidence to the foreign affairs committee, Mr Johnson said that many people had changed their minds since 2013 when MPs blocked military action against President's Assad's forces. He said that people felt that they could not let the situation in Syria go on for ever and in his view the present talks with the Russians "had run out of road". 

However, he said that the west should be "realistic" about what military action could achieve and warned of the "grave difficulties" of imposing no-fly zones. It was vital, he said, not to raise false hopes among opposition groups and any military action would need a coalition including the Americans and "we are a pretty long day's march from getting there".

MPs this week urged the government to consider establishing a no-fly zone over Aleppo, something which would involve western powers being prepared to destroy Russian and Syrian government planes and air defences. Some MPs are pushing for a different option called a no-bombing zone. This could involve targeting runways and munition stores and potentially using naval ships in the Mediterranean to launch missile attacks on helicopters dropping barrel-bombs.

Mr Johnson told MPs:

Image source, Getty Images

Today's debate will be of more interest than the usual House of Lords Thursday afternoon debates, to those in the government whips office. 

The problem for government is that a promise to bring back grammar schools was not in the Conservative Party's 2015 manifesto. 

Any legislation to do so would not be subject to the Salisbury Convention, where the Lords does not block legislation promised in government manifestos. And since the Conservative Party do not hold a majority in the House, the passage of any bill to bring back grammar schools will very much depend on levels of support amongst peers.

Labour's education spokesperson in the Lords has written a piece in the New Statesman, external promising "outright opposition" to the changes, while Lib Dem leader Tim Farron has said his party will work to thwart the change. The two parties combined in the Lords outnumber Conservative peers by more than 50.

The man tasked with reviewing the state pension age has just published his interim report on ensuring it remains "affordable and fair for all beyond 2028". 

John Cridland - the former CBI chief who was tasked with the review back in March - is due to publish his final recommendations in 2017 and he's now asking for comment and input to help inform his enquiries.  

Meanwhile, though, the BBC personal finance correspondent has filleted out some key points from the interim report. 

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative MP Will Quince says it's an "honour" to follow previous speakers, and they are "doing something special by breaking the silence". 

He claims that because of the UK's abortion laws, parents can't register a death if a miscarriage happens early on. 

"We have a duty to use these experiences" to try to reduce the number of stillbirths and neo-natal deaths, he adds. 

House of Commons
Parliament

The SNP's Patricia Gibson, who has also lost a child, says part of the problem is people find it hard to broach the subject. 

MPs must try to "remove the taboo and shine a light" on this, she says. 

"Ante-natal care must be a collaborative process," she urges, adding that mothers must be listened to when they suspect there is something wrong.

House of Lords
Parliament

Baroness Vere of Norbiton is making her maiden speech. She's a former Executive Director of the Girls' School Association, a private schools lobby group.

She says "every single child" should be able to "take advantage of their potential" but that the evidence of mixed ability schooling in the state sector is that while the lowest ability children are lifted up, "the most able are having their wings clipped".

Not surprisingly, she says that the state sector could look towards the private schools for inspiration, who "are getting it right for children of all abilities". She says that operating in a marketplace ensures that they have to compete on the basis of helping all children whatever their ability.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft is giving an emotional speech about losing her own daughter, Veronica, shortly after giving birth. 

She apologises to friends who she never talked about it to - not because she was embarrassed but because she found it too painful to speak about it. 

She says she was "treated like a kid, not a grieving mum" by those she spoke to afterwards. 

The Daily Telegraph

Image source, AFP

The Daily Telegraph's business section features more on Brexit today, with an opinion piece calling European leaders like French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel "rigid" in their opposition to a deal restricting the freedom of movement for EU citizens. 

Read more: If Europe insists on a hard Brexit, so be it, external

Clive Coleman
BBC legal correspondent

Image source, Reuters

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is seeking views on the extension of its 'Clean Air Zones' across England. 

This follows the government's national air quality plan for nitrogen dioxide, which committed to implementing clean air zones in five English cities. 

Clean air zones are areas where extra effort is made to improve air quality, including encouraging the use of vehicles that emit less pollution. 

The Institute for Public Policy Research welcomed the move, saying: "Air pollution is now a leading cause of illness in the U.K. - linked to 40,000 deaths per year. This is nothing short of a public health crisis. 

"However, as yet the government has failed to take adequate action. Now is their chance to step up to the plate. It is vital that areas across the U.K. follow London's lead and introduce regulation to phase out diesel vehicles in the coming years."   

Image source, TFL

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has committed to a range of measures to fight air pollution in the capital, including a move to display air pollution alerts on TfL information boards.  

Read the consultation documents: Implementation of Clean Air Zones in England, external

House of Lords
Parliament

Conservative Lord Cormack rises to support the government's stance on grammar schools. He says he was a grammar school boy, himself.

He tries to refute what he sees as some misconceptions. Firstly, he says "this is not advocating a return to the eleven plus", he suggests that 13 might be a better age for children to be selected. 

He says he supports many of the changes to education of the last 20 years and that "diversity of education will continue, no-one will have a grammar school forced upon them against their will".

He also says that politicians shouldn't "seek to deprive others" of what "we have benefited from".

House of Commons
Parliament

Shadow health minister Sharon Hodgson intervenes to thank Antoinette Sandbach for her speech, telling the House her daughter Lucy would have been 18 this year. 

She says Ms Sandbach has showed a "bravery" in raising this issue which she never had. 

Racist or religious abuse incidents recorded by the police in England and Wales jumped 41% in the month after the EU referendum, the Home Office says.