A year on from Sunak’s five pledges, here’s the report card

In today's newsletter: Guardian experts assess the government's progress on the prime minister's key promises

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Good morning. After Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year, the last great festival of the season: Rishi Sunak's five pledges anniversary day. The prime minister is marking the occasion with a trip to the east Midlands, while Keir Starmer is making a speech in which he will promise to lift the mood of a downtrodden country". Personally, I'll be saying a prayer to the god of setting your own homework, and another to the god of unfulfilled ambition.

When Sunak came up with this device exactly a year ago, it was generally viewed as a smart rhetorical move: in several cases, he appeared to have dressed the central expectations of most experts in language that could make it look as if he was responsible for their achievement. He said there were no tricks", and that we're either delivering for you or we're not." But there were, in fact, tricks: the criteria were slippery, and the timelines were ambiguous. Everything seemed set up for the prime minister to set the terms of the debate and declare victory in time for the next election campaign.

Iran | Two explosions have killed almost 100 people and injured scores more at a memorial ceremony in Iran marking the fourth anniversary of the US killing of Qassem Suleimani, the head of Iran's Quds Force. Iran did not immediately attribute blame and no side claimed responsibility for the deadliest single terrorist incident since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Read Julian Borger's analysis.

NHS | Junior doctors' leaders have said they are prepared to stage yet more strikes after the longest stoppage in NHS history. On Wednesday night, it emerged that as many as 20 hospitals had asked junior doctors to return to work but had the requests rejected amid claims they had not shown steps they had taken to mitigate the problems first.

Jeffrey Epstein | Court documents identifying associates of notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were made public on Wednesday. Some of the high-profile names in the unsealed court documents include Prince Andrew, the former US president Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson and David Copperfield. Read an explainer.

Politics | Conservative MPs are pleading with Reform UK not to stand against them in the general election, the leader of the rightwing populist party has claimed. Richard Tice also insisted that Nigel Farage would play a formal role in Reform's election campaign.

UK news | A 15-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a teenager was killed while waiting to watch New Year's Eve fireworks. Harry Pitman, 16, died after what police described as an altercation" as crowds gathered in Primrose Hill, Camden, north London, to watch the display.