The absolute last conspiracy theory you want to be entertaining is 'X person is actually still alive'; if nothing else, because it's such a cliche. We're at a point, however, where we need to acknowledge what's coming out of the Epstein Files, because god damn:

Why would the Trump administration draft a press release saying that Epstein died a day before he actually died?

Oh. Oh my. https://t.co/Cx2SHzqUCP

— PatriotTakes

Things are looking worse and worse for Keir Starmer. This is especially bad, because things were already about as terrible as it's possible to get for a sitting PM.

Lammy told Starmer

In the latest instance of the badness intensifying, the deputy PM David Lammy has apparently said he told Starmer not to appoint Mandelson. And of course, what we actually mean is "friends of the Deputy Prime Minister" told the Telegraph.

There's just one problem with all this:

That's odd because here is David Lammy describing Peter Mandelson as a "man of considerable expertise" and the "right man" to be the US ambassador.

Looks like he is trying to save his own skin. https://t.co/V1vIlscNws pic.twitter.com/Ve8AoJLdMX

— Chris Rose (@ArchRose90) February 7, 2026

Whispers

Here's what the Telegraph reported:

David Lammy turned on the Prime Minister as allies revealed he had warned against appointing Lord Mandelson as the ambassador to the US.

In a blow to Sir Keir Starmer, friends of the Deputy Prime Minister confirmed on Saturday night that he had not been in favour of bringing the "Prince of Darkness? back into government over his links to Jeffrey Epstein.

Mr Lammy is the first Cabinet minister to break openly with the embattled Prime Minister, whose future hangs in the balance over the Mandelson scandal.

If it was us, we wouldn't simply have 'warned' Starmer; we would have refused to serve in the same government as the 'Prince of Darkness'. They don't call him that for nothing, and finally the media is past pretending.

This is what slippery Lammy said in the video above (emphasis added):

Peter Mandelson is a man of considerable expertise. He's the right man for this moment to be out ambassador. He's been a business secretary, a Northern Ireland secretary, of course he's worked in the European Commission, and he brings all of that to bear working as our ambassador, and of course he's looking forwards to presenting his credentials to Donald Trump.

If Lammy is telling the truth, and he did warn Starmer, then he was lying when he said Mandelson was the "right man for this moment".

Either way, he's a liar.

And you can't trust a liar.

Starmfall

The Telegraph article also reports that Starmer is "devastated" and considering an exit. It further suggests Wes Streeting may have scuppered his own chances of replacing Starmer because of his links to Mandelson (links we've reported on). The problem for Labour is that most of the big players in the current government are connected to Mandelson, because he's been the puppet master behind Starmer's operation.

In other words, there's no obvious way out of this mess for Labour.

Featured image via BERR

By Willem Moore

Reform-led Kent council — one of the far-right party's 'flagships' — has been exposed inventing a claim that it had saved tens of millions as part of its 'DOLGE' 'efficiency' drive. The programme is supposed to be based on the Trump-Musk 'Department of Government Efficiency' (DOGE), with the addition of 'local'. But it follows the DOGE model in different ways from what we're supposed to think.

Just as DOGE claimed huge savings that it then had to remove from its supposed 'achievements', Reform's claim that DOLGE had saved almost £40m from Kent council's budget has turned out to be made up. So clearly made up, in fact, that the council's DOLGE lead Matthew Fraser-Moate has resigned because the council:

had not actually made any cuts.

DOLGE-IE stuff from Reform

Moate's colleague Paul Chamberlain, another councillor involved in Reform's DOLGE team, also quit. In January 2025, he had admitted publicly that there:

just weren't big cuts to make, because services had already been hacked away for years and years.

Well duh.

The claims have now been dismissed as a "blatant lie" after the savings — supposedly made on 'net zero', of course — were found to be entirely based on "hypothetical" projects whose existence is completely undocumented.

The £39.5m figure, part of a claimed £100m saving, was made up (literally!) of £32m from scrapping a scheme reducing properties' environmental impact and £7.5m by not switching to electric vehicles. After months evading transparency, the council eventually admitted that the projects didn't exist but were "potential capital projects" the council might have done in future but had not allocated any funding to.

Despite the admissions, a council spokesperson said that the council "categorically rejects any suggestion of impropriety, fabrication of figures or attempts to mislead".

While making up savings, Reform had been 'spaffing' large sums on parking spaces for its councillors — £600k.

Green party Kent councillor Stuart Jeffrey told the Canary he had been pursuing the matter for ages but there is "no record of savings". Worse, Reform has added to its spendthrift ways by creating a new cabinet position who will "burden" the council's strained finances:

I've been asking the finance team for the detailed impact of DOLGE and there is no record of savings. Reform are simply making it up.

Worse still is that they are doubling down on their personal pocket lining approach by appointing another cabinet member who will deliver nothing while being a burden himself on the council finances.

Featured image via KentLiveNews

By Skwawkbox

A whistleblower's allegations against Trump's Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard have finally been revealed. After a Washington process hid the details for a week following an unnamed whistleblower said he would publish them if they continued to be hidden, the allegations have finally been made public — and they are dynamite.

In spring 2025, the US National Security Agency (NSA) detected a call between a party identified as a foreign intelligence figure and a person described as very close to Trump. The NSA informed Gabbard, but instead of following normal distribution process, Gabbard blocked it. She then printed a copy and took it to Trump's chief of staff Susie Wiles — all according to Andrew Bakaj, the whistleblower's lawyer.

After meeting Wiles, Gabbard told the NSA to kill the report's publication and told it to send all information only to her office.

A spokesperson for Gabbard's office denied the accusation as "baseless" and claimed it was politically motivated. However, the communications between Gabbard and the NSA — and Wiles's receipt for the intelligence report — were sent directly to the Guardian. Gabbard was once a Trump critic, but changed her tune after Trump appointed her as DNI.

Joining the dots, many are publicly linking the 'foreign intelligence' service to confirmations in the latest Epstein file release that Donald Trump is "compromised by Israel", including former political candidate Melanie D'Arrigo:

Tulsi Gabbard and the White House killed a whistleblower report that someone close to Trump was talking to foreign intelligence.

Trump and his inner circle are in the Epstein files, and likely controlled through blackmail by foreign intelligence.

The whole Trump administration…

— Melanie D'Arrigo (@DarrigoMelanie) February 7, 2026

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

Luke Akehurst isn't very well liked here at the Canary. Conversely, seeing Akehurst make a fool of himself is super popular, hence this:

Mate, do you genuinely think you're helping here.

— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) February 6, 2026

Spy hard

Akehurst and Hodges are discussing Labour Together's spying scandal. As Ed Sykes wrote on 6 February:

Labour Together is part of the shady right-wing infrastructure that, along with Peter Mandelson, helped to undermine the left and boost Keir Starmer into power. And a new report reveals how Labour Together spent tens of thousands of pounds getting a dodgy company to investigate journalists looking into all this. This behaviour shows it's not just Mandelson that should never be near government again. It's the whole sinister machinery that put Starmer where he is today, including his right-hand man and Mandelson protege Morgan McSweeney.

Is it good for political parties to spy on journalists?

No.

Is it creepy?

Yes.

Does the terminally unaware Akehurst realise any of this?

Not according to the conversation he had with Hodges:

But do you think attempting do defend Labour Together's profiling of journalists in the current environment is really helpful to your party and Prime Minister.

— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) February 6, 2026

It's objectively extremely funny that Luke Akehurst's only objection to LT as front organisation, secret slush fund and journalist-hounder is not a moral one, but that he thinks that money would have been spent slightly better on the right-wing corporate ginger group he helms. pic.twitter.com/0CJooxsa61

— Scurial (@Scurial2940422) February 7, 2026

Akehurst didn't respond to the above, suggesting someone with more than one brain cell advised him to cut his losses. No doubt the same genius advised him to delete all his pro-Mandelson tweets:

Sometimes I almost feel sorry for @lukeakehurst. Such a loyal attack dog for the poisonous version of the Labour Party spewed up by the likes of Mandelson & Blair, he's now reduced to deleting his fawning tweets - like cleaning up the sick after a party he wasn't invited to.

As highlighted by journalist Michael Crick, Labour's chief whip apparently got where he is today with a little help from the 'prince of darkness' himself — Peter Mandelson:

Oh dear! According to the memoirs of former Stalybridge MP Tom Pendry, the selection of current Government Chief Whip Jonathan Reynolds as subsequent Labour candidate for the Stalybridge seat (and MP from 2010) was fixed by a chap called Peter Mandelson. pic.twitter.com/qmRJtSlUuc

— Michael Crick (@MichaelLCrick) February 7, 2026

Funny, isn't it, how so many people in the Starmer government seem to owe their career to Peter Mandelson.

It's almost as if Mandelson is actually the architect of this loathsome abomination of a government.

Mandelson — All coming out

The page Crick highlights reads:

I was of course a part, that a normal selection process could not take place - something that James almost certainly had planned on. The National Executive of the party convened a panel consisting of Tom Watson MP, Keith Vaz MP and a trade unionist member of the National Executive Committee to interview would-be candidates. The local party were informed that their panel's decision on a shortlist of candidates was sacrosanct and appeals were not allowed.

The panel duly came forward with a shortlist that did not include James Purnell's office manager, Johnny Reynolds - his favoured candidate. Not to be thwarted, Purnell, together with some assistance from Peter Mandelson MP, went over the head of the interviewing panel.

It was revealed in The Times Guide to the General Election of 2005 that Mandelson then surprised the National Executive to include Johnny Reynolds on the shortlist, which they dutifully did.

As Johnny Reynolds had managed Purnell's office, he had a great advantage over the other candidates regarding access to the names and addresses of local party members, which greatly helped with canvassing and postal votes. Johnny became the candidate, and subsequently MP.

I was asked three times to go on BBC's World at One with Mandelson to discuss whether there was any malpractice, but I refused as it could have harmed Johnny's chances had I done so. Peter did go on and, as I understand, he said he didn't intervene in the selection process - if that is what he said then that would be a blatant distortion of the truth, as pointed out in The Times Guide that stated that Jonathan Reynolds was 'selected amid a huge row with Peter Mandelson's involvement after failing to make the initial shortlist'.

In the Corbyn years, the media would call you a 'Stalinist' even if you carefully did the precise opposite of the above. You'll notice they've turned a blind eye to how the likes of Starmer and Mandelson operate, however.

Or they did, anyway.

Obviously they taste blood in the water right now, so they're noticing all the things they allowed to fly under the radar with Starmer.

Surprise, surprise

We've never cared for Reynolds, reporting in 2023:

We're at a point now at which even the austerity-pushers in the media are looking at Britain's crumbling infrastructure and saying 'maybe we should spend the bare minimum on this stuff'. Among the public there's been a hunger for public spending for years; now we're at a point at which you can voice that feeling without being dogpiled by the nation's thickest columnists. And yet - and fucking yet - Labour are using this situation to promote - of all fucking things - more austerity - i.e. the thing which got us here in the first place - the thing which we know from history never works:

Jonathan Reynolds says the Tories were wrong to cancel a Labour program to refurbish and rebuild our schools, but he refuses to say the next Labour govt will refurbish and rebuild more schools that the Tories have committed to doing #TrevorPhillips pic.twitter.com/0ICvkJMLIZ

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) September 10, 2023

Here's what our own James Wright wrote on him in 2024:

The Labour Party has offered corporate bosses the "unique opportunity to become a commercial partner at our business policy round-table over breakfast" for up to £30,000 - in another cash-for-access scandal.

For £15,000, corporations would give a keynote speech, have photographs with business secretary Jonathan Reynolds and have a dedicated Labour Party staffer to make introductions. And for £30,000, the corporation could also decide who else would attend the breakfast.

Given Reynold's track record, it's entirely unsurprising to learn that the sulphurous stench of Mandelson has clung to his career from the jump.

Featured image via Number 10 (Flickr)

By Willem Moore

In an act of desperation, Labour deputy leader Lucy Power has asked the Green Party to stand down in Gorton & Denton:

This is staggering. @LucyMPowell writes to @ZackPolanski telling him to stand down @GreenPartyHan so Labour can win. Zack has a duty of care to Green Party members & voters, not to Labour. The arrogance from Lucy is staggering. Lucy give us something to vote for, that's democracy pic.twitter.com/8vsKP5eP0X

— Cantona & Best (@bestcanton7) February 7, 2026

It's an interesting tactic, but we're not sure it will catch on.

Yours, Lucy

In the interest of transparency, here is Powell's letter in full:

LUCY POWELL
DEPUTY LEADER OF THE LABOUR PARTY

Dear Zack,

I'm writing to you about the Gorton and Denton by-election and a number of misleading claims you and your party have made which may lead to Reform getting in through the back door - something I cannot stand by and let happen.

There is a lot at stake in this by-election which goes beyond the usual politics of who is up and who is down. For me, I am doing whatever I can to stop the nasty, divisive politics of Reform and Matt Goodwin getting a foothold and platform in my city. A city built on tolerance, openness and collectivism.

However, I fear you are being played by Reform and have a different agenda.

You know as well as I do, that the Green Party just doesn't have the base or the breadth of support across the constituency to win the seat. The best you hope for is to take support from us to boost your profile nationally. This is exactly what Reform wants - it's their only route to victory - split and suppress the long-standing Labour vote.

If just seven Green Party voters had backed Labour in Runcorn and Helsby, we wouldn't now have a Reform MP in Parliament who made appalling comments about seeing too many Black and Asian people on TV. A Reform victory in Gorton and Denton would usher in an even more extreme candidate into Parliament.

What's more, in seeking to push your agenda, you and your party have shared misleading election material and claims on social media.

Your bar charts would even make your former Lib Dem colleagues blush. The independent Full Fact organisation agreed, stating:

"The most recent projection from Election Maps UK for Gorton and Denton suggests the Greens will see the second largest increase in their vote share compared to the 2024 election, behind Reform UK. But it also suggests that Labour will still hold the seat."

Your claims that respected academics Professor Rob Ford agrees with you are also not true. Prof Ford said that your latest leaflet is "misleading and out of context" and "that you have misrepresented his views".

Your assertions do not reflect the reality on the ground. The evidence is clear. You have no councillors at all here. All of the councillors in Gorton and Denton were elected Labour, bar one.

Your briefings from doorstep to doorstep do not add up - which is extensive and more scientific - is clear: only we can beat Reform, your support is simply not anywhere near wide enough.

Labour has a strong Manchester Labour brand and organisation here, with Mayor Andy Burnham, the Labour Council and Labour Government delivering real change.

We all know what's at stake here. Both Nigel Farage and his candidate in Gorton and Denton, Matt Goodwin, have talked repeatedly about immigration and the far right racist rhetoric in their campaigns. We need to defeat them.

This contest is bigger than you. It's time that you stopped the bogus briefings and bar charts. The Greens can't win here. If you really thought that, you would have stood here yourself (as someone from nearby).

Voters won't forgive you and your disingenuous campaigning will come back to haunt you.

Only voting Labour's Angeliki Stogia can prevent a Reform win. You and I both know that.

Yours sincerely,

Lucy Powell
MP for Manchester Central
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party

For further transparency, this is what polling says right now:

Interested to see an update poll, but polling is difficult in by elections.

One thing is clear, Labour can't win. https://t.co/jXbRJUrsbv

— Curtis Daly (@CurtisDaly_) February 7, 2026

We can imagine the above Labour supporters going Green to keep Reform out; it's harder to imagine the Green's returning to Labour given everything that Starmer & co have done, as we'll get into.

Labour — step down, please

Lucy Powell is arguing that the Greens need to stand down, because they used an improper bar chart. The Labour Party at large, meanwhile, is dealing with the following scandal:

We all knew that Peter Mandelson kept a close relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein after his conviction.

Yet Keir Starmer appointed him US Ambassador and said he had "full confidence" in the bestie of a convicted nonce.

My full speech in Parliament: https://t.co/CwRcTpMUKe pic.twitter.com/et0ofls0qB

— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) February 7, 2026

You can't act like you're the arbiters or good and moral behaviour when your man literally did the following:

Peter Mandelson sold Government secrets to foreign agents for personal profit.

He doesn't need to be thrown out of the House of Lords, he needs to be thrown in jail. pic.twitter.com/ruBKPtQ16U

— BladeoftheSun (@BladeoftheS) February 2, 2026

Seriously — who do these ghouls think they're kidding?

Featured image via Barold

By Willem Moore

Micheál Martin's government is backing the criminal actions of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) brownshirts by allowing Shannon airport to be used as a refuelling point for illegal deportations.

A report by The Guardian highlighted the latest breach, in which a private jet belonging to a friend of US president Donald Trump flew groups of Palestinian men to so-called 'Israel'. Once there, Zionist thugs transported them to the West Bank and dumped them at the side of the road.

One of the men is Maher Awad, a:

…24-year-old originally from the West Bank, who had lived in the US for nearly a decade.

He has a girlfriend and young son in Michigan where he lived. Awad was detained by ICE following a police arrest for a domestic violence charge a year previously. Despite authorities dropping this charge, he:

…spent [a] year being shuffled between immigration detention centres across the country, including in Michigan, Texas and Louisiana.

ICE — men illegally dumped in 'active conflict zone'

ICE then deported him to the illegitimate Zionist settler-colony. Another man The Guardian spoke to was Sameer Isam Aziz Zeidan. He had been in the US for over 20 years. Before ICE kidnapped him, he was living in "Louisiana with his wife and five children". They were among eight men shipped overseas in shackles, then left stranded with only a few belongings at a West Bank checkpoint on 21 January 2026.

Senator Patricia Stephenson, foreign affairs spokesperson for the Social Democrats, pointed out that the rendition amounts to leaving people in an "active conflict zone". The terrorist regime based in West Jerusalem has killed over 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank since 7 October 2023.

Land thieves — sometimes referred to as 'settlers' — have carried out a relentless series of ethnic cleansing raids in the last two years. 700 Palestinians have been subject to these pogroms in January alone. Deporting people to a territory where they are at risk of violence is illegal.

Stephenson said:

The government must now answer serious questions regarding whether they view this action as a breach of international law, and what action they will take to take control of the situation.

She continued:

The government claims it is a staunch supporter of international law, a beacon of hope when it comes to upholding human rights - it must now explain its hypocrisy.

This is not the first time the Irish government has assisted ICE crimes. In November The Ditch reported that US planes landed at the Clare airport to refuel while:

…carrying deportees to African countries they have no personal ties to…

Orville Etoria was one of those kidnapped, a Jamaican man with no connection to Eswatini, the country he was dumped in. His legal team say he was:

…illegally deported and imprisoned in Eswatini without charge or access to a lawyer for two months…

Government once again turning a blind eye to Shannon crimes

He eventually managed to make it back to Jamaica. The Irish government told The Journal that:

…stops at Irish airports by private aircraft and commercial charters for technical, non-traffic purposes (such as refuelling) "do not require prior authorisation from the Department."

The government takes a similar lackadaisical approach to military planes stopping off at the airport before going on to assist Zionist atrocities in Palestine. Shannon Watch has documented the massive volume of these warplanes using the airstrip. Given the scale of US criminality on all fronts, it would seem a sensible policy would be to inspect all flights coming from the North American territory. This would invert the current policy of inspecting virtually none.

Gil Dezer was the man responsible for ferrying the kidnapped Palestinians thousands of miles away from their homes. A close friend and business partner of Trump, Dezer is also a:

…member of the Miami branch of Friends of the Israel Defense Forces.

The private jet used appears to be the property of Dezer Development:

…a real estate company established by the Israeli-American developer Michael Dezer and today run by Gil Dezer, his son.

The company has built various Trump branded properties and contributed to his presidential campaign. In the wake of the latest Epstein documents, this serves as another example of the sickening links between the ultra-wealthy, US politicians, 'Israel' and serious criminality. A class of truly wretched people causing harm to everyone they deem beneath them, with their racism and misogyny exacting particular suffering on women and people of colour.

Featured image via the Canary

By Robert Freeman

The Manchester Jewish Action for Palestine (MJAP) group has condemned a local Israel lobby group for attacking Manchester City football manager Pep Guardiola.

Guardiola, who has a consistent record of solidarity with and support for the Palestinian people, spoke out against Israel's slaughter again on 4 February. The BBC amplified the manufactured pearl-clutching of the — apparently entirely unelected — so-called 'Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester & Region' (JRCGM) that Guardiola should stick to football and not get involved in politics.

While it calls itself a council, JRCGM is in fact a company, registration number Company registration: 8953235. It is one of numerous self-appointed 'representative' organisations that act as lobbying groups for Israeli interests.

In a statement, MJAP condemned JRCGM for its whitewashing of the "horrors perpetrated by Israel". It also pointed out the lack of condemnation by footballing bodies for the 'right' kind of political statement and their failure to take appropriate action against the genocidal colony. And it reminded the 'council' that as a city — Manchester, including many of its Jews — is united against the crimes of the ethno-supremacist occupation:

Manchester Jewish Action for Palestine (MJAP) welcomes Pep Guardiola's recent comments decrying Israel's pursuit of a genocide in Gaza and calling on us all not to turn a blind eye to the suffering of Palestinian children. Guardiola's heartfelt statement that "to completely kill thousands of innocent people, it hurts me" captures our collective pain as we've watched the horrors perpetrated by Israel over the last two and a half years. Guardiola's brave comments build on expressions of solidarity with Palestinians from many other prominent football figures, including Jurgen Klopp, Mo Salah, Cristiano Ronaldo and Eric Cantona.

MJAP disagrees profoundly with the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester (JRCGM) in their criticism of Guardiola. They say that he "is a football manager" and "should focus on football" rather than "straying into international affairs". It is not Guardiola who is bringing international affairs into football. The Premiership were quick to organise official displays of solidarity with Ukraine in grounds across the country, and FIFA suspended Russia from international football competitions within days of the invasion of Ukraine. Yet football supporters are not allowed to take any expression of solidarity with Palestine into games (not just flags, but even badges), and after two and a half years of genocide, FIFA has still not suspended Israel from international football competitions. Guardiola is simply expressing a different view on international affairs to those of the Premiership, the FA and FIFA. In doing so, he is giving voice to millions of football supporters, around the world, in the UK and in Manchester.

The JRCGM does not speak for all the Jewish people of Greater Manchester. Many of us are horrified by the genocide that has been pursued in our name by Israel, and have joined countless marches and rallies to oppose it. "Never again" means never again for anyone, including the Palestinians. In failing to call out the crimes of the state of Israel against Palestine the JRCGM have effectively acted as apologists for the genocide.

Israel has murdered thousands of footballers in Gaza - professional and amateur, adults and children - and has deliberately destroyed countless football stadiums, pitches and facilities. Israel has encouraged illegal settlers and their football clubs to operate in the West Bank, against the rules of FIFA.

MJAP supports the demand of football supporters around the world to "red card Israel", calling on FIFA to suspend Israel's national teams and clubs from international football competition until Israel ends its genocide, withdraws from illegally occupied land, drops the siege of Gaza and dismantles all its apartheid laws.

In particular, MJAP supports "A City United for Gaza", a local campaign who have been rallying outside games at Old Trafford and the Etihad for the last two and a half years, collecting signatures for a petition to FIFA."

Israel was condemned this week by one of its own top generals as modern-day 'nazis', doing to the Palestinians what Germany did to the Jews eighty-odd years ago. Solidarity with Pep Guardiola.

Featured image via Facebook

By Skwawkbox

Here at the Canary, we've long criticised Rupert Murdoch and his grotty tabloid (the Sun) and his grotty broadsheet (the Times). We've got to admit, though; even we didn't think they'd publish a puff piece on Peter Mandelson in the middle of his Epstein-stoked mega downfall:

I deleted my post from before…

I thought it was fake

So I went to WH Smith and here it is

An unbelievable attempt to sanitise this man and normalise what's he's done. pic.twitter.com/HXTgAn8D5C

— Marina Purkiss (@MarinaPurkiss) February 7, 2026

Just when you think the British media can't sink any lower, the floor falls out from under your feet.

Mandelson — Good lord, what now?

To quickly get you up to speed:

• Jeffrey Epstein was convicted of sex crimes with an underage prostitute.
• Mandelson maintained a friendship with him anyway.
• The British media decided this wasn't really a big deal, even when Starmer made him the ambassador to the US.
• Additional leaks showed that Mandelson really, really liked Epstein.
• Even more additional leaks showed that this fucking rat was leaking British state secrets to Epstein.

Digitally, we've had access to the Mandelson interview since the 2 November. We also had access to the pictures. And while the interview seemed ill-judged at the time, it's so much fucking worse to publish a printed copy several days later.

Just look at this cunt:

JUST IN:

Despite pressing public concern, Keir Starmer is saying the 'materials' linked to the thrice-disgraced Peter Mandelson will not come quickly. And as you might expect, people are not happy:

He will try to buy time and get this kicked into the long grass with investigations and enquiries reporting years hence. And even then likely delayed until a summer recess in years time. This is what all guilty PMs do.

— Freamon's Burner (@FreamonB) February 6, 2026

Mandelson cover up?

On 6 February, Skwawkbox reported for the Canary that the police raided Mandelson's properties. If you're a longtime Mandelson disliker, it will warm your heart to see the following image (although we would have preferred riot cops booting down his doors):

BREAKING: police raid Mandelson's properties in Epstein hit

Police have raided two properties belonging to disgraced former Starmer adviser Peter Mandelson over his Epstein linkshttps://t.co/0xerIGeX6S

— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) February 6, 2026

God knows what the police will uncover in Mandelson's lair.

At the same time, the security services are looking into Starmer's decision to make Mandelson the ambassador to the US. As Sky News reported above:

We're hearing that Sir Keir Starmer has warned a very significant volume of material will likely need to be reviewed in relation to Lord Mandelson's appointment as ambassador to the US. But the Prime Minister said the government wanted to ensure that Parliament's instruction is met with the urgency and transparency it deserves. That's coming in a letter to the intelligence and Security Committee this evening.

So, the Prime Minister warning that a significant volume of material will have to be reviewed in relation to that appointment of Lord Mandelson as ambassador. And the government wants to ensure that Parliament's instruction is met with the urgency and transparency it deserves.

The first thing to point out is that when Starmer made Mandelson the ambassador to the US, he knew that the guy had maintained a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein after the paedophile was convicted for sex crimes.

This, by itself, should be enough for Starmer to resign.

Last September, Keir Starmer told the Commons that he had "full confidence" in Peter Mandelson. 

Well, the public has no confidence in him.

He must resign. pic.twitter.com/h5YbuhL1I3

— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) February 6, 2026

And as we've highlighted over and over again; it wasn't just Starmer who knew — everyone knew. The reason it wasn't a scandal then is because the British media is a freakshow with a selective memory:

This article came out in the FT over a year before Starmer appointed Mandelson

Starmer knew everything

Another powerful man who failed Epstein's victims because he didn't care

Starmer has to go. Now https://t.co/aSYRHCPbLk pic.twitter.com/ICn9OUWsX0

— Matt Kennard (@kennardmatt) February 5, 2026

People are worrying that these Mandelson Files will be full of unjustifiable redactions:

Right from the Trump playbook. https://t.co/BMLe5Piuec

— Tammy Twotone (@TheTammyTwotone) February 7, 2026

As we've covered, this is precisely what's happening with the Epstein Files (although even then, enough got out to finish Mandelson; imagine what we'd know about him without all those black bars).

How long can this drag on for?

There could be good reason for security services to spend time vetting these files. The problem for Starmer is that no one trusts him, so this all just looks like a cover up.

If Starmer remains in position, he's going to suffer months of devastating new revelations which further dent his rock-bottom popularity. Labour MPs know that; the question is do they have the backbone to give Starmer the boot before he can inflict maximum damage?

Featured image via Epstein Files

By Willem Moore

As reported by the Canary, six of the Filton 24 prisoners recently walked free after being acquitted of the charges against them. Now, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has announced its intent to seek a retrial against these activists:

A CPS spokesperson said: "Prosecutors are now considering the precise basis on which that retrial would proceed, including the form of the indictment, in accordance with CPS legal guidance." pic.twitter.com/oauNsFTMct

— Crown Prosecution Service (@CPSUK) February 7, 2026

Filton 24 triumph short lived

On 4 February, Skwawkbox reported for the Canary:

Six members of the Filton 24 have been acquitted by a jury in a major victory for anti-genocide protesters. After an 8-day deliberation Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Ellie (Leona) Kamio, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, Zoe Rogers, and Jordan Devlin were cleared of charges brought against them by the Starmer regime. The 'Filton 24' are a group of political prisoners held for action to inhibit the manufacture of Israeli weapons used against Palestinians.

The case of the Filton 24 activists was used as justification to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation. Commenters have now argued this should challenge that proscription:

Palestine coalition welcomes Filton case outcome as significant defeat for the government which used the case to justify its disgraceful proscription of Palestine Action

As we reported on 6 February, Donald Trump posted an explicitly racist video to his Truth Social account:

BREAKING: Trump just posted an incredibly racist photo of the Obama's faces photoshopped on to the body of apes.

Every day is a new rock bottom for this ugly pig. pic.twitter.com/GlMM7Cfjoe

— Dean Withers (@itsdeaann) February 6, 2026

There have been several developments since then, with the end point being that Trump admitted to being the one responsible.

Trump-anzee

After the US President posted his hate crime, several of his supporters claimed 'he didn't post that, actually'.

This is how that went (see the community note at the bottom):

FAKE NEWS ALERT! Trump Didn't post this monkey video of the obamas

Lying Democrats

It's not on his page

Fake screenshot pic.twitter.com/91zsEo4L7t

— Terrence K. Williams (@w_terrence) February 6, 2026

Trump's more cautinary boot lickers suggested it was all a big mistake:

I sincerely hope President @realDonaldTrump didn't realise this 60-second clip he reposted last night didn't end with the vile racist imagery of the Obamas as apes. He should delete it immediately. pic.twitter.com/jHZln3u98Q

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) February 6, 2026

Karoline Leavitt (White House press secretary) would later claim the following:

This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle & Democrats as characters from The Lion King. Please stop the fake outrage

Bullshit aside, why is the White House producing so many memes? Shouldn't they be busy undoing the havoc that Trump has wrought on the economy?

Later in the day, the American President's team actually deleted the video — suggesting the "outrage" was warranted, actually:

Donald Trump has finally deleted that racist post depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys from his Truth Social media account. But not before the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called it a meme. pic.twitter.com/aouLXMavGW

— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) February 6, 2026

They'd also claim that actually a staffer posted the video:

First the WH @PressSec defended Trump's racist tweet and mocked "fake outrage" coming from critics. Now they're saying a staffer posted it around midnight and that the tweet has been deleted. Tell us another one! pic.twitter.com/tjU3r8fws7

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) February 6, 2026

Ultimately, Donald made a mockery of all his defenders by simply admitting he was the one responsible:

Reporter: The WH says a staffer sent that video. Are you going to fire the staffer?

Trump: No. I looked at it. I didn't see the whole thing. I gave it to the people, they posted it.

Reporter: Are you going to apologize?

Trump: No, I didn't make a mistake. pic.twitter.com/VH1qmEOmb2

— Acyn (@Acyn) February 7, 2026

Shameful

So the meme that someone else chose for Trump and then they deleted; the president chose it himself, actually, and also he was right to do so.

Clear?

We understand Trump's loyalists don't care about the racism, but aren't they sick of being embarrassed?

Featured image via Truth Social

By Willem Moore

Neo-nazi Trump supporter Jake Lang has been hilariously arrested in St Paul, Minnesota, after publishing footage of himself equally hilariously destroying an anti-ICE ice sculpture.

Lang, a 'Jan 6er' thug who served four years in prison before Trump pardoned him, then told his followers he'd see them on 7 February outside the Minnesota state capital, where he destroyed the sculpture.

No, he probably won't, since he'll likely still be in jail — or if he's lucky, on bail — after being arrested for criminal damage. Especially since local cops won't exactly be short of evidence, with him filming everything and publishing it.

And in true far-right fashion, he made a right pillock of himself. Lang nearly emasculated himself with his first kick, then almost fell over — and was quite puffed out by the time he had finished shortening 'Prosecute ICE' to 'Pro ICE'. Bright lad, that:

https://www.thecanary.co/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Lang-Ice-Doofus-hb.mp4

Lang has previously posted an image of himself performing a nazi salute outside a synagogue. Perhaps not the sharpest tool in the box, then.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

Well, well, well, it looks like Reform UK have been accused of dodgy tricks in the Gorton & Denton by-election:

A number of residents have received this correspondence. The @ElectoralCommUK are aware and it is our understanding that they are discussing this matter with the police. https://t.co/PaciUNuac4

— Turn Left Media (@TurnLeftMediaUK) February 6, 2026

Don't Reform UK sell themselves as a party of law and order?

Hopefully they don't intend to follow the Donald Trump model of 'law and order', which is to break every law in order to extract maximum profit for himself. Although if they do, we shouldn't really be surprised given Farage's relationship with the US president.

Call the cops

The letter above may be a little blurry and small for you, but here's what it says:

Dear Neighbour,

Forgive me for writing to you, but with the Gorton and Denton by-election on Thursday, 26th February, I feel I have no choice.

My name is Patricia. I am a local pensioner, 74 years old. I worked hard, paid my taxes, brought up my family here, and always believed that if you did the right thing, this country would look after you.

Lately, that belief has been shaken. Every month I worry about my energy bills. Prices in the shops keep rising. My pension does not stretch far enough.

I previously voted Labour because Keir Starmer told us things would change for the better. They haven't. The truth is that Britain no longer feels like the country I grew up in. Simple things like doctor's appointments or the buses don't work. The system feels broken, and no-one in charge seems able to fix it.

Keir Starmer's Labour government doesn't care about Gorton and Denton. Their tax rises have cost pensioners like me an extra £160 that we cannot afford. I remember how our last Labour MP - a government minister - wished that a local pensioner who asked about her bin collection would drop dead!

In the Gorton and Denton by-election, I understand why some neighbours who have had enough of Keir Starmer are thinking of voting Green. But I do not believe the Greens have answers to our problems. They have extreme policies like legalising drugs and letting men use women's changing rooms. What good would that do people like us?

For me, this by-election comes down to a simple choice: more broken promises from Keir Starmer, or real change. That is why I will be voting for Reform UK's candidate, Matthew Goodwin, who grew up in Manchester. Our area deserves someone who will stand up for local people.

I do not want Keir Starmer to be our Prime Minister anymore. Voting for Reform is the best way to kick him out. After a lifetime of voting loyally, I feel I have no choice but to vote for Reform UK on Thursday, 26th February. Please think about doing the same.

Yours sincerely,

A concerned neighbour,
Patricia Clegg

Firstly, if you're on a pension, we've got bad news for you about Reform UK:

55% of the welfare bill is spent on pensions.
The majority of sick and disabled people receive around £9k to £11k a year.
Reform UK wants to cut £25 Billion from welfare.
To get this much means they would have to make massive cuts from sickness benefits and pensions. https://t.co/8NpJ1S6Wlt

— Dr_Rebecca (@Dr_Bekka_UK) January 21, 2026

Secondly, as this video shows, when someone rang the number on the envelope, there was no 'Patricia Clegg' there:

Have you seen this? https://t.co/p0BiRtQQa3

— James Foster (@JamesEFoster) February 6, 2026

The printers who answered confirmed that they produced the letter for Reform UK, and that it was "official literature" for the party. Strange, given that the letter didn't mention 'Reform UK' anywhere. And this is why the situation has become a matter for the police:

Reform UK will face a police investigation in Gorton and Denton after admitting that it sent out letters from a "concerned neighbour" which did not state that they had been distributed and funded by the party.https://t.co/ZoYvV4bp0J

— Anne Greensmith

In 2026, high returns on real estate investments are linked to emerging growth hotspots. While prices in the US and Western Europe show moderate increases, dynamic markets such as Greece, the UAE, Vietnam, and Turkey are delivering double-digit yields.

In this article, we explore why investing in developing economies often produces 8-15% annual growth compared to 3-4% in mature markets and highlight key destinations where you can acquire not just property, but a high-yield asset.

Why Consider Fast-Growing Markets?

Investing in fast-growing markets is attractive because property prices are still relatively low but increase rapidly. Unlike mature economies, where market parameters are already established, these countries are often in active development: populations are growing, infrastructure is expanding, and housing demand outpaces supply. This creates a foundation for higher overall investment returns.

Key advantages:

• High growth rates: Active construction, city development, and an initially low price base enable rapid property value appreciation alongside economic growth.
• Accessibility: Lower prices allow investors to enter the market with smaller capital and acquire assets in promising locations that can increase significantly in value.
• Attractive rental yields: Growing demand for housing, fueled by tourism, migration, and labor market growth, supports high rental rates.
• Comprehensive infrastructure development: Roads, transport hubs, and commercial and social projects boost area attractiveness and stimulate long-term demand.

Comparing Developed and Developing Markets

Metric Developing Markets Mature Markets (US, UK)
Annual price growth 5-15% nominal; 5-10% real 3-4%; market near peak
Average rental yield 5-10% (Turkey 6-8%, UAE 5-7%, Greece 4-6%) 5-7%
Average property price $150,000-$300,000 (Turkey, Montenegro, Greece) ~ $350,000
Risk level Medium: currency fluctuations, regulatory changes Low: high predictability, stable institutions Top Emerging Real Estate Markets Greece

Greek real estate shows consistent growth: in 2025, prices increased 8-9%, with urban areas rising ~6% in Q1 2025. Foreign capital remains a key driver: over 9,000 Golden Visa Greece applications were submitted in 2024 (10% more than in 2023). In popular tourist zones, foreign buyers account for up to 70% of transactions.

The Greek residency-by-investment program, with a minimum threshold of €250,000 for renovated properties, adds incentive. Applications take about 4 months; residency is granted for 5 years with renewal rights for the family, without a requirement to reside permanently.

• Rental yield: 4.5-8% annually; small apartments in central Athens yield 6-8%, while short-term rentals on Mykonos and Santorini can exceed 10%.
• Price growth: 6-10% annually in key areas.
• Promising locations: Athens, Thessaloniki, and major islands - Crete, Rhodes, Corfu.

Cyprus

Cyprus is one of the region's most dynamic markets. In 2025, transaction volume reached a record €5.71 billion, and prices rose 6.51%. Growth is concentrated in Limassol, Larnaca, and Nicosia, supported by stable tourism (over 4 million visitors) and residency-by-investment programs.

• Rental yield: 5.4-7%; Limassol reaches 7%.
• Demand: high for properties up to €250,000 and luxury villas over €1.5 million.
• Promising locations: Limassol (highest yield), Larnaca (fast sales growth), Nicosia (stable demand), Paphos (tourist market).

Malta

The Maltese market benefits from tourism and economic growth (+6%). In 2025, sales increased 14% and prices 6.8%. Apartments and penthouses in Special Designated Areas (SDAs) are particularly sought after by foreigners, with no restrictions on foreign ownership.

• Rental yield: average 4%; in premium areas (St Julian's, Sliema) 5-10%, with some projects up to 15%.
• Price growth: Valletta 6-8% annually.
• Promising locations: SDAs, coastal districts, areas near universities.

Japan

After a stagnation period, the Japanese market is recovering. Yen depreciation stimulated tourism (+18%) and foreign investment inflows. Prices in major cities increase 5-7% annually, with premium properties appreciating 12-20%.

• Rental yield: 3-6% per year.
• Price range: $400,000-$650,000 for quality properties.
• Promising locations: central Tokyo (Shibuya, Minato), Kyoto (Higashiyama), Osaka (Kita).

South Korea

The market is expanding due to a tech boom and foreign investment. Tourism grows 20-22%; Seoul prices rise 4-6% annually, and luxury apartments can gain up to 30% in five years.

• Rental yield: 2-7%; short-term rentals in tourist areas yield 4-7%.
• Price range: from $350,000 for apartments in premium areas.
• Promising locations: Gangnam and Mapo in Seoul, areas near university campuses.

Vietnam

The market grows 7-9% annually due to urbanisation, infrastructure projects, and increased tourism (up to 18 million visitors). Foreign investors actively buy projects starting at $150,000.

• Rental yield: 3-12% annually; coastal villas and tourist apartments 8-12%.
• Resale profits: may exceed 20%.
• Promising locations: Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Danang, Nha Trang.

UAE (Dubai)

Dubai remains a growth hotspot: in 2025, prices rose 15-18%. Investors are attracted by zero rental taxes and access to the "Golden Visa" for investments from $204,000.

• Rental yield: 7-11% annually for apartments.
• Price growth: areas like Palm Jumeirah exceed 13% per quarter.
• Promising locations: Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai, Palm Jumeirah, Jumeirah Village Circle.

Portugal

Portugal remains one of Europe's most active markets: in 2025, prices grew 15-17% amid chronic supply shortages. Demand is strong in Lisbon, Porto, Algarve, and Madeira.

• Rental yield: 4-7% annually; Lisbon 5-7%, Porto up to 6.7%.
• Most sought-after properties: 1-3 bedroom apartments for long-term rental in major cities and tourist areas.

Turkey

The market is in a correction phase: nominal price growth is 30-40% annually, but real value is affected by inflation. A key driver for foreigners remains the citizenship-by-investment program via real estate purchase.

• Rental yield: average 7.5-8% nationwide; Istanbul 6-6.5%, Antalya 5-7.5%.
• Strategy: apartments in central Istanbul and resort properties in Antalya.

Montenegro

Property prices are rising rapidly: in 2025, growth reached 21%. Coastal locations (Budva, Kotor) see prices of €3,000-3,800/m²; premium complexes reach €12,000/m². Up to two-thirds of buyers are foreigners.

• Rental yield: 6-10% in coastal areas; 4.5-7% on average nationwide.
• Promising locations: Porto Montenegro, Budva Riviera, Bar.

What to Watch When Investing

• Legal regulations: foreign ownership rules vary widely, from freehold (UAE, Cyprus) to restricted zones (Turkey). Understand minimum holding periods, taxes, and reporting requirements.
• Currency risk: investing in developing economies carries local currency fluctuations, affecting real dollar returns.
• Liquidity: time to sell an asset ranges from weeks (Dubai) to months (seasonal markets like Montenegro).
• Fundamental drivers: sustainable growth depends on tourism, migration, and major infrastructure projects.
• Net yield: gross yields of 8-10% should be adjusted for taxes, maintenance, and vacancies. Actual net returns often range 2-5%.

How to Maximise Results in 2026

• Set clear goals: capital growth, rental income, or residency status.
• Analyse metrics: price growth, yield, entry cost, infrastructure development.
• Study legal environment: thoroughly check rules for non-residents, program requirements, and developer reliability.
• Plan your budget: include all costs—purchase, renovation, taxes, and management.
• Engage local experts: they minimise risks and ensure proper transaction handling.
• Manage the asset: monitor the market, update rental terms, and maintain the property to enhance value and liquidity.
  

By Nathan Spears

Disgraced former minister, peer and key Starmer adviser Peter Mandelson has tried to exploit editors' code clauses usually reserved for grieving families to demand freedom from media scrutiny over his ardent relationship with serial child-rapist Jeffrey Epstein. It hasn't worked out too well.

Mandelson told a representative to contact mainstream press pseudo-regulator IPSO invoking clauses in its editors' code intended to protect grieving families and other vulnerable people from harassment by pushy reporters. And he tried to keep it secret, marking it "strictly not for publication". But it came out anyway, after the National saw the public interest in publishing it. The notice was not sent to Skwawkbox or the Canary, which are properly regulated — and not by IPSO — so there are no issues with publishing it here.

Read IPSO's communication to 'mainstream' editors on Mandelson's demand in full below:

CONFIDENTIAL - STRICTLY NOT FOR PUBLICATION: Ipso has asked us to circulate the following advisory:

Ipso has today been contacted by a representative acting on behalf of Peter Mandelson.

Mr Mandelson's representatives state that he does not wish to speak to the media at this time. He requests that the press do not take photos or film, approach, or contact him via phone, email, or in-person. His representatives ask that any requests for his comment are directed to [REDACTED]

We are happy to make editors aware of his request. We note the terms of Clause 2 (Privacy) and 3 (Harassment) of the Editors' Code, and in particular that Clause 3 states that journalists must not persist in questioning, telephoning, pursuing or photographing individuals once asked to desist, unless justified in the public interest.

Please do not hesitate to contact me to discuss any Code issues on [REDACTED] or out of hours on [REDACTED].

If this cowardly 'hide behind the vulnerable' tactic looks familiar, it's because it is. Yesterday, Keir Starmer hid behind Epstein's victims to avoid disclosing documents showing just how much he knew (lots) about Mandelson's closeness to Epstein, Mandelson's insider trading with the paedophile and his leaking of sensitive government information.

Mandelson has mentored both Keir Starmer and Starmer's chief of staff Morgan McSweeney. It shows. On Friday, 6 February, Mandelson's properties were raided by police investigating his actions. If there's any justice, the same will soon be true of his two protégés.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

The European Legal Support Center (ELSC) has posted a peer-reviewed study which shows a 'dramatic escalation' in the Jewish Chronicle (JC) crying antisemitism. The JC is a right-wing British newspaper with a history of having to make public retractions. Now, the ELSC have shown that the JC alleges antisemitism more often today than it did in 1938 (i.e. during the era of Nazi Germany).

These findings confirm widespread views that the JC uses the very real trauma of antisemitism to shield Israel. Furthermore, the findings provide evidence of how the hostile state and its Zionist supporters operate. They're using false antisemitism accusations to shut down the global protests supporting Palestinian liberation.

This is hardly a surprise. Obviously the Zionists and their colonialist buddies would want to use the victim-card to deflect from Israel's genocide. And the more war crimes Israel commits, the more they have to double down on the smears.

Our upcoming Britain Index of Repression documents the resulting patterns of repression across all sectors of society, revealing the institutionalised criminalisation of Palestine solidarity.

The consequences are real: careers derailed, students investigated, people referred to… pic.twitter.com/zoATHq5DqR

— European Legal Support Center (ELSC) (@elsclegal) February 5, 2026

The ELSC will release the full report on 26 February.

Jewish Chronicle — 'Zionist notion of antisemitism'

The ELSC's analysis covered 100-years of the JC's output. The hate-rag is well known for churning out potentially career-ending allegations against activists, politicians, creatives, and other professionals. The ELSC concluded that the Jewish Chronicle deliberately uses a 'Zionist notion of antisemitism' to stir up a moral panic intent on diminishing solidarity with Palestinians. As a result, the ELSC have concluded that the pro-Israel paper plays an active role in the UK in working to repress support for Palestine liberation.

Below are just a couple of the pages showing findings of the peer-reviewed analysis by Professor Neve Gordon:

Michael Rosen, the beloved Jewish author and poet, has often spoken out against the alleged antisemitism crisis created by Zionists. Pointing to the Labour Party, Rosen recently stated:

At the height of the claim that the Labour Party was riven with antisemitism and/or institutionally antisemitic, I pursued a theory as follows: 'If people are combatting antisemitism only in the Labour Party and not in the Tory Party, they're not combatting antisemitism, they're combatting the Labour Party'.

To expand that slightly, I was in effect saying that it's hard to take such people's definition of antisemitism seriously if it's only directed at people in one organisation.

Rosen further added:

Could it be, I wonder, that my theory - as expressed above - could in any way be possibly slightly true? Could it be that some kind of double standard or two-tier policing of antisemitism had been and perhaps still is in place?

False victimisation: real abuse against Palestinians

The Zionist fury over the recent Fitton 6 acquittal underscores how Israel's protection drives these allegations. The defendants faced trial for their anti-genocide efforts as part of now-proscribed Palestine Action, a non-violent direct-action group. Nevertheless, the trial and subsequent acquittal by jury has led to yet more allegations of antisemitism. Seemingly, the intent now is to label the UK's criminal justice system as 'antisemitic'. Our own Skwawkbox wrote:

Of course we must never forget that Israel and its lobby are always the victim. Even when they're slaughtering innocent Palestinians and making up bollocks in court to imprison people trying to stop them.

We all know the story of the "boy who cried wolf". It's crucial that allegations of antisemitism come from genuine instances, or we risk exposing Jews to a backlash from people who equate Judaism with Zionism.

As we've reported, such a backlash is already happening within the American right. Over there, prominent figures like Nick Fuentes openly arguing that Israel has made a mockery of America, and that the correct response to this is antisemitism. We can't let such bigotry fester over here.

It's also crucial that Muslims and others are able to speak freely of their support for Palestine without fear of being harassed by the media.

Featured image via Facebook

By Maddison Wheeldon

The Israeli occupation sent a grisly delivery to what's left of the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza yesterday, 5 February. Bags were delivered containing dismembered bodies and body parts.

Speaking to al-Arabi, hospital director Dr Mohammed Abu Silmiya said that the occupation had delivered 66 bags of human body parts along with 55 Palestinian corpses to the hospital. On opening the bodies, shocked hospital staff found they contained skulls.

One of the dismembered bodies at al-Shifa hospital.

None of the bodies or body parts bore any identification. The bodies returned showed clear signs of severe mutilation consistent with systematic organ theft and medical experimentation. Many of the skulls also bore surgical incisions.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Mosab Abu Toha (@mosab_abutoha)

At least ten thousand Palestinians are detained indefinitely without charge in Israel, where many suffer starvation, rape and frequent torture. Thousands more are officially 'missing', many of them likely still buried under millions of tonnes of rubble. The occupation refuses to allow bulldozers and other clearance equipment into Gaza so that bodies can be recovered.

Abu Silmiya said that this latest horror is yet more evidence of Israel's serious and systematic violations of human dignity and international humanitarian law during the Gaza genocide.

No western 'mainstream' media have bothered to report it.

This is not the first such incident. Israel has routinely dumped large piles of its Palestinian victims' bodies on waste ground in Gaza. Many bear marks of torture, execution and organ theft.

Featured image via Aljazeera

By Skwawkbox

Israel has destroyed the graves of World War One and World War Two soldiers in Gaza. And as critics have highlighted, UK right-wingers would have had a very different response to this desecration if Palestinians had been responsible.

Nothing is safe from Israel's genocidal destruction

Although an October 2025 ceasefire slowed the pace of Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza, there have been almost daily attacks from the occupation forces. These have killed over 556 people and injured around 1,500. That's almost five murders for every day of the 'ceasefire' so far.

Israel, meanwhile, has accepted that it has killed over 70,000 people in Gaza since October 2023. Over 20,000 of these were children. Because of the extreme number of murders, and the colonial power's destruction of over a third of grave sites, mass graves have been necessary.

The graves of Israel's allies in the West have not been safe either. As the Guardian reported on 4 February 2026, Israeli occupation forces "bulldozed" largely British and Australian graves in 2025. These were in the previously pristine Gaza War Cemetery in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Military historian Peter Stanley called this a "deliberate" act from Israel, which hadn't informed its Western allies at the time:

Israeli occupation forces also destroyed or heavily damaged Canadian and Indian plots in the cemetery too.

According to the Guardian:

Essam Jarada, Gaza cemetery's former caretaker, whose home is also close by, said two bulldozing operations took place at the cemetery in April and May 2025.

A1 February Commonwealth War Graves Commission update on the cemetery had said:

the cemetery has suffered extensive damage to headstones, memorials, boundary walls, staff facilities and storage areas. Memorials with reported damage are the 54th (East Anglian) Division Memorial, the Hindu Section, Indian UN Memorial, the Turkish section and the Muslim section.

Israel has predictably sought to justify the destruction of graves by blaming Hamas. And the apartheid state's far-right cheerleaders in the West have been very quiet about the decimation of soldiers' graves.

This is something many online were fully conscious of:

Where is the outrage from Suella Braverman, Nigel Farage, Robert Jenrick, Robinson and the rest of the 'patriots' about this?

The National: 'Israeli military have bulldozed part of a Gaza cemetery containing the war graves of dozens of allied soldiers - including from the UK…

— Sangita Myska (@SangitaMyska) February 5, 2026

There would have been global outrage if Palestinians had desecrated Commonwealth war graves. But because Israelis did it - crickets. https://t.co/4kAsgJXiiT

— Frances 'Cassandra' Coppola (@Frances_Coppola) February 6, 2026

The Palestinians who did care for the graves

In January 2023, Commonwealth War Graves Commission noted that:

Throughout its 100 year existence the cemetery has been lovingly tended by the Jaradah family with each generation passing its passion and knowledge onto the next. Now in its fourth generation, Head Gardener Ibrahim Jaradrah regards himself as 'a son of the cemetery' and leads a team of six staff in Gaza territory ensuring our cemeteries remain oases of calm despite the missile strikes, power cuts and make do and mend machinery.

Just reached 10 years with @CWGC. Proud to represent the fourth generation of my family.

Away from #Gaza celebration feels difficult.

Our photos there aren't just memories, but our connection and hope

On the red carpet at the premiere of Wuthering Heights - Australian actress Margot Robbie, when asked about her stunning necklace made two glaringly inaccurate statements.

Firstly, Robbie legitimises the ownership of the jewel to Hollywood:

It's Elizabeth Taylor's necklace. It is the Taj Mahal diamond that Richard Burton gave it to her… there is something kind of Cathy and Heathcliff about Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in my mind.

Then, reaching for an older origin, she called the history of the necklace "amazing," musing that it belonged to "the woman whose grave is the Taj Mahal" — pointing not toward the powerful Empress Nur Jahan (1577-1645) who actually owned it, but to her more romantically memorialised stepdaughter, Mumtaz Mahal, who is indeed buried there.

The film has been accused of whitewashing Heathcliff — erasing his possible Romani or Black identity from the book to fit a palatable Hollywood romance.

While the BBC is busy rescuing the film's image by explaining away the backlash as passionate fandom or bold reinterpretation; maybe it's time to stop watering down these criticisms.

Margot Robbie — whitewashing the Origin Story

Margot Robbie's reply about the necklace shows just how successful Operation Legacy was.

Declassified British files reveal that Operation Legacy was the systematic, state-ordered destruction of thousands of "dirty" colonial documents in the 1950s and 60s. Lorries carried files to incinerators; crates of secrets were sunk at sea. In the words of a 2013 report, officials were desperate to consign atrocities and their paper trails to history, leaving successors and subjects in the dark.

It is not a stretch to imply that the history of the imperial loot of the diamond was buried with Operation Legacy.

The exact path of how the necklace left colonial India and entered the vaults of Cartier remains unclear, a gap in the record that itself speaks to the opaque channels of colonial extraction.

After being acquitted by Cartier in 1972, the jewel entered the orbit of Elizabeth Taylor through her then husband. It was later sold at auction in 2011 for a record $8.8 million to an anonymous bidder.

Again, Christie's auction house narrative also conveniently omits the Western acquisition, whilst exoticising the Mughal past.

An academic study of 19th century British press notes that:

Throughout imperial rule, both textual and illustrated newspapers produced reports and cultural representations of India, and more specifically its rulers, that highlighted exoticism and promoted a sense of cultural difference from British readers, subsequently creating an overall image of India that was stereotyped.

Christie's and Robbie have done the same thing: Romanticising the Mughal past but staying silent about the colonial loot.

Let's de-exoticise Nur Jahan.

Nur Jahan was politically one of the most important figures of the Mughal Dynasty. Historical and art history research reveals a formidable co-ruler: a skilled hunter depicted loading a musket in androgynous attire. A political strategist who issued coins in her name, and an economic strategist who commanded trade fleets and negotiated with European merchants .

According to a paper:

Maharani Nur Jahan, wife of Emperor Jahangir, was famed for her political intelligence and military skill and played an unrivalled role in ruling the Mughal Era. The Mughals were ardent supporters of art and culture, as seen by their exquisite buildings and distinctive handwriting

Nur Jahan's stepson, Shah Jahan, would later become famous for building the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, in memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

But what's less well-known is that the beautiful white-marble tomb he created was actually inspired by an earlier gem in Agra: the mausoleum Nur Jahan commissioned for her own father, Itimad-ud-Daulah. Often called the "Baby Taj," her design pioneered the intricate marble inlay and graceful proportions that would define the Taj Mahal itself.

Nur Jahan died in 1645 and is buried in Lahore, a city she helped beautify, alongside her husband Jahangir.

Nur Jahan's legacy is still alive today across both India and Pakistan — in Lahore, where she's buried, and in Agra where she first set marble and gems into poetry.

That shared history deserves better than the watered-down, exotic story we've been handed. It's time for both countries to reclaim her — not as some romantic side character, but as the powerhouse she truly was a ruler, a hunter, and a builder.

Other Loot

It's the same story playing out on a larger scale in British establishments.

The Koh-i-Noor diamond — seized by the British East India Company from a 10-year-old Punjabi Maharaja in 1849 — still sits in the Imperial State Crown, glittering in the Tower of London.

The swords and jewels of Tipu Sultan, looted after he was killed defending his fortress of Srirangapatna in 1799, still lie behind glass at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

So, while the Indian government made diplomatic noise in 2023 about getting the loot back, the reality in London hasn't budged. This highlights the colonial dynamic that is still at play.

What Margot Robbie's comments reveal is a familiar colonial reflex — one Hollywood knows all too well — of laundering imperial theft through re-angling the narrative.

Until colonial extraction is called THEFT, and not just "amazing history," empire remains alive and well.

Featured image via the Canary

By Nandita Lal

Your Party has allegedly blocked a member of Zarah Sultana's Grassroots Left slate from sitting on a committee responsible for making sure upcoming internal elections are conducted in a fair manner. This raises concerns because the person was blocked by a senior member of Jeremy Corbyn's opposing slate, The Many. It raises questions about just how real democracy is in the new party.

Your Party elections

Your Party is currently gearing up for its upcoming Central Executive Committee (CEC) elections on 26 February.

This marks a crucial step in establishing the new political party's structures. These elections are integral to enabling branches across the country to formally constitute, allowing them to organise effectively and campaign on local and national issues within their communities. However, recent revelations appear to confirm members' concerns that socialism and genuine democracy are inconvenient obstacles for those who currently hold the reins - and the party's resources.

Verified evidence seen by the Canary raises serious concerns that Jeremy Corbyn is allowing ally Karie Murphy to exert undue control over internal democratic processes. Far from uniting socialists as promised, these developments appear to confirm long-held fears that grassroots members are being frozen out unless they belong to 'Jeremy's team'.

Socialist? BLOCKED

Originally, members of Your Party made it clear that they wanted an elected oversight committee formed ahead of the CEC election. Supporters argued that this approach would make committee members more representative of the entire membership, bridging divides and differences of opinion.

However, figures on The Many slate allegedly objected, instead pushing for - and implementing - a sortition process that selected five members to carry out crucial oversight. Given the public bickering and clashes driven by strong views on both sides, members generally accepted this compromise as fair in principle.

However, it now appears that principle and process are not the priority for those gearing the party's democratic processes.

The Canary has been told that Karie Murphy exclude one sortition member from being involved in the Your Party committee, literally blocking her number and ignoring her very existence.

One Your Party member who wished to remain anonymous told the Canary:

This blatant and arrogant power-move by Murphy has now confirmed prior reports received that those with the reins are only happy with members having a say, if you are firmly loyal to their camp alone. Once again, actions by figures within the party suggest a failure to learn from past mistakes, calling into question whether they possess the principles and resolve needed to confront the far right and unite, rather than divide, and empower the communities they claim to represent.

Access denied in Your Party

The Your Party sortition member has requested to remain anonymous. Also worth noting sortition members are usually meant to be anonymous to ensure safeguarding of democratic processes and efficient electoral oversight. Her experience went as follows:

When I was called by Karie Murphy a few weeks ago I actually ignored the call the first time, I'd become accustomed to doing that trying to avoid debt collectors asking for payments I can't make.

But when I didn't recognise the number I decided to call back immediately. The woman on the phone explained to me that I had been sortitioned as part of the selection process for a Your Party Election oversight committee. The woman said I would be required to attend regular meetings with MPs supporting Jeremy Corbyn such as Adam Shockat.

I remained quiet during her brief pause which I only assume she expected I'd fill with some line about how I'm 'a big fan'. I was a big fan, but that's not true anymore, Corbyn's no socialist and he'd proven which class he really stands with time and again. Her mention of Adam Shockat the sexist and Jeremy Corbyn only reminded me of what I'd be up against, but I knew I couldn't let this opportunity pass. I told this woman, who I later learned was actually Karie Murphy, that I was in regular attendance at YP meetings and that this could be great because I could get the input of a wider part of the membership.

Similarly to my holding back at the mention of Corbyn and Shockat, Murphy remained quiet. Nonetheless, I knew she couldn't backtrack now that I had been offered the position, I thought.

I told her I was wanting to accept the offer and that this was really important to me. Immediately she responded with asking what I did for a living, when I mentioned my job role she said it may be difficult for me to get permission at work. I knew that my job would in no way be related to or jeopardised by a position on an election oversight committee and that any request made to my employer would just be a matter of procedure. This was so important to me that I would have risked my job to be given the opportunity to just mirror the voices of highly experienced and well qualified activists I've met since becoming involved within Your Party.

I asked to be sent the information and confirm my interest, the woman told me that she was waiting for someone else to send her the information first but would then be in contact with me the next day to send over the details and officially confirm my interest. I immediately spoke to my Trade union rep after the phone call, he confirmed with me that this would not conflict with my job but I would be required to make a formal request with the key details. The next day I waited but heard nothing back, no emails, no phone calls, no messages.

After two weeks someone told me that the elections oversight committee were set to meet. I had started to question whether the whole thing was still going ahead, I knew the majority of members initially had wanted the committee to be elected.

I was confused, I hadn't seen any emails but double checked all of my folders to be sure. I double checked my call log and messages but there was nothing that I'd been sent. Confused, as I was meant to have been sortitioned for this committee, I decided to ring the person who rang me two weeks earlier. User busy.

I then messaged the person asking for the details and received no response. Having gotten nowhere, I later asked a friend to try calling the phone number for me and somehow she was able to get through to this Scottish woman who we later realised was Karie Murphy. Karie Murphy who after learning I would lean far too left for the politics of Corbyn and 'The Many', blocked my number and banked on the left to be disorganised enough to be able to get away with it. Well we're not, and we won't let them get away with it.

This is why Democracy is important, these MPs ultimately want to dampen your impact in order to protect their own interests, shape their own policies and we are getting in the way.

The GL in YP are the only players on the board offering any real solution against rising wealth inequality, unemployment, rise of fascism, cuts to welfare at home. And that's because they are the only real players capable of delivering on their promises; decentralised power, MPs held accountable, no more going back on manifestos because it's not them who decide policies, it's us.

Ultimately people need to understand that this is again another story of class war, a group of MPs trying to hold onto their wealth , and therefore means of power, will ultimately never act in our interests and this time the cost is too high.

We should have expected it with Labour, we can expect it with Greens and we will do everything in our power to oppose it in 'The Many' by forming the party as in the vision of YP GL, Democratic, Grassroots and transformational, in short, a party truly shaped by the many, not just a small group of elite MPs claiming to speak for us.

The GL of YP are the only real players in British politics right now capable of stopping the loss of lives the Global South, and then eventually we, will face if we reach the point of no return in terms of the climate crisis. By exiting Britain out of NATO, ending its funding of imperialism and genocide as well as, crucially, ending its role in the exploitation of the Global south, Your Party could start a possible chain reaction that might lead to the spread of socialism in Europe. I don't think we can ignore that possibility especially given the current level of working class organisation we are seeing.

We know that the climate question can't be solved while the global capitalist system continues. The overconsumption is choking us.

I think it's important to keep an eye on the climate because I don't want my family in the global south to die right now but I also know that there is nowhere to run, I am aware of the eventual cost to life we will face here and worse with the threat of AI, under the current system, the working class risks being nothing more than an inconvenience to have around, and what power would the workers have then in the absence of work. We will be cattle in a slaughterhouse.

No smoke without fire

The Canary contacted Your Party for comment on the issues raised in this article. However, we did not receive a response at the time of publication.

Another Your Party insider close to the project has also spoken to the Canary and confirmed:

It became very personalised. If you didn't show total loyalty to Jeremy being the sole leader, he and the people around him basically, they won't work with you.

This raises urgent, unavoidable questions for Jeremy Corbyn and his team. Members say they have had enough of anti-democratic practices and the old tactics of Labour-right. After years of watching establishment parties impose top-down control, they surely did not come together to replicate the very model they set out to challenge. True democracy is the only cure to fascism.

Featured image via the Canary

By Maddison Wheeldon

Pep Guardiola's press conference was not a routine preview of a Manchester City match. Nor was it about tactics, results, or team selection. What happened was something else entirely.

The coach, known for teaching football with philosophical rigour, stepped off the pitch and asked a painful question about an entire profession: why is the press silent? Guardiola, synonymous with modern football and his historic partnership with Lionel Messi at Barcelona, did not shed his role as a coach. Instead, he expanded it.

Guardiola's press conference a place for reflection

In a moment that felt sincere and unplanned, the press conference turned into a space for reflection when a journalist asked him:

Why do these issues matter so much to you?

Guardiola smiled, then replied with frustration:

I appreciate this question, because in ten years — or even the last two — this is the first time a journalist has asked me that. It's as if talking about these issues isn't allowed in your work. I don't know.

This was not a throwaway comment. It exposed a deep failure in media practice, especially when compared to coverage of Russia's war on Ukraine.

Then, sports press conferences became political platforms overnight. Players and coaches were routinely asked for political positions. No one complained about "politicising sport". Neutrality vanished — but only in one direction.

Now, Guardiola speaks against that selective silence. He is not defending himself, but protesting the lack of scrutiny around Israel's war of extermination in Palestine, which has killed more than 70,000 civilians and destroyed the foundations of life. That silence extends beyond Gaza. It reaches Sudan, where war has displaced millions, and a global climate fuelled by racism and hate against migrants.

Guardiola's criticism was not aimed at one journalist. It was directed at an entire media system hiding behind the idea of "separating sport from politics".

That principle has been used to ignore crimes and violations — particularly those committed by Israel — while athletes who express solidarity with Palestine face smears, silencing, and symbolic punishment. This has happened to figures such as Anwar Ghazi, Noussair Mazraoui, and Ons Jabeur.

Sports journalism is not light entertainment or a harmless supplement. It is journalism. It carries responsibility, accountability, and a duty to side with humanity against systems of oppression. Yet many outlets choose safety. They rebrand silence as "sportsmanship" and neutrality as morality. The irony is that these institutions fully understand the power of sport. FIFA president Gianni Infantino once called football "global magic".

That magic becomes dangerous when it escapes the approved script.

Once again, Guardiola left the pitch — not to explain a game plan or an injury — but to offer a lesson:

Never before in human history has information been so visible. What's happening in Palestine, Ukraine, Russia, Sudan. When I see these images, I feel pain. That's why I will do everything I can to help build a better society.

This was not a political speech. It was a reminder of journalism's most basic duty: to see, to ask, and to refuse silence.

This time, the journalists found themselves back in training — while the football manager reminded them of their job.

Featured image via Youtube

By Alaa Shamali

It shouldn't shock anyone that an organisation whose founder and director publicly wrote, "Hinduism is the father of all religions. Islam is a bad copy. Islam is against humanity", is opposed to defining and addressing anti-Muslim hate. What might shock some is that this organisation, Hindu Council UK (HCUK), has the ear of mainstream media outlets like The Telegraph and has the audacity to "warn" the government about how to approach Islamophobia.

Hindutva is migrating across the globe from India

A recent academic investigation called 'Seeing the Sangh' has laid out a comprehensive map of the 'largest far-right network in history'.  This refers to the organisational complex that centres on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), India's dominant group promoting Hindutva ideology, otherwise known as Hindu supremacy or Hindu nationalism.

Hindu supremacy and accompanying anti-Muslim hatred have been exported across the world with devastating effects from cultural soft power to political lobbying to violence. I monitor this closely, and founded Hindus for Human Rights UK (HfHR UK) to help fight Hindutva, caste, and bigotry in the British diaspora.

Not only does Hindutva politics now exist in many countries — notably the UK, the USA, Canada, and Australia — it collaborates with other extremist movements in those countries, with Islamophobia forming the common ground between otherwise strange bedfellows.  The Hindutva movement was complicit in the UK's 2024 racist pogroms; its proponents engage positively with the likes of Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Geert Wilders; neo-Nazi mass murderer Anders Breivik was an admirer of Hindutva.

Hindu Council UK and the bigotry of its leadership

'Seeing the Sangh' identifies 2,500 organisations that make up the global RSS network, or Sangh Parivar (RSS family), 26 of which are in the UK. Writer-activist Amrit Wilson explains in Byline Times that the "Hindu right has systematically set up, or taken over, a host of organisations in the UK." including the Hindu Council UK, founded in 1994 by one Anil Bhanot.

Bhanot has published op-eds in the Guardian, been covered widely in mainstream media, and held unique positions like Hindu Chaplain in the Royal Navy and Hindu Advisor to the Ministry of Defence. Yet, in 2024 Bhanot was stripped of his OBE for "bringing the honours system into disrepute" with his Islamophobia.

In 2021 Bhanot posted extreme anti-Muslim and Hindu supremacist tweets (now deleted), describing himself as "Hindutva" and asserting that "Islam is a religion of violence."  He went on, "Islam's dawah is an evil tenet and the sooner it's legislated against in parliament the better. It turns muslims into Shaitans, as in love Jihad too."  Love jihad is an Islamophobic conspiracy theory.  Bhanot summed up: "Hinduism is the father of all religions. Islam is a bad copy. Islam is against humanity" and an "invasion into minds".

Bhanot brazenly defended his hate speech by saying:

I did not do anything wrong and I have not put the honours system into disrepute.  Free speech is a thing of the past now in England.  I am quite upset about it.

Grotesquely, his now-stripped OBE was awarded for "community cohesion".  National Secular Society writes:

HCUK has been highly vocal in its opposition to anti-caste discrimination law. In 2017 its then-director of interfaith relations Anil Bhanot claimed that attempts to outlaw caste discrimination via the Equality Act were a "vengeful" act of Dalits (the bottom tier of the Hindu caste system) stemming from animosity towards 'higher castes'.

To abuse one's senior position at a public-facing organisation to gaslight and block legislation that would protect Dalits is indefensible.

HCUK "warning" the government against Islamophobia definition

But Hindu Council UK is not dissuaded by the indefensible. Despite their director's far-right diatribe and unashamed Islamophobia, HCUK thought it appropriate to write a letter to the Communities Secretary about Islamophobia, "warning" against: creating a "chilling effect" on free speech; helping to reintroduce blasphemy laws, and; suppressing criticism of Islam.

Five organisations, including HfHR UK, responded.

The Hindu Council UK's letter to the government stated that:

Freedom of expression includes the right to offend, to challenge and to criticise ideas, indeed Hinduism encourages intellectual debates that has made it robust.

We therefore question why Hindu Council UK is trying, through the Hindu Manifesto for example, to make it illegal to:

accus[e] those who organise around anti-Hindu hate of being agents or pawns of violent, political agendas.

We believe that this "accusation", though it may be found offensive by some, belongs well within the realm of freedom of expression, the right to offend, and the right to criticise ideas.

No one should be surprised that HCUK is trying to control the discourse around a form of hate — Islamophobia — that its leadership espouses. But why would The Telegraph amplify this malicious lobbying and uncritically parrot the line that HCUK represents all British Hindus?

Demonopolising British Hindu representation

Just as Hindu Council UK attempts to position itself as the voice of all British Hindus, the Telegraph article in question is titled, "Hindus warn Labour against 'chilling' Islamophobia definition", reducing the diversity of the one million-plus Hindus in this country down to the views of a single, bigoted group. This is an insult to British Hindus of conscience.

Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised by this either given The Telegraph's tendency, along with other right-wing entities, to produce anti-Muslim narratives.  My request to The Telegraph to publish a response to their coverage went unanswered, so HfHR UK and four other organisations co-published our response in FORSEA.

We face an uphill battle as the British Hindu voice has long been captured by supremacist, anti-Muslim bigots, and some mainstream publications are only too ready to amplify them.  HCUK is just one part of the UK's Hindutva lobby, accompanied by Hindu Forum of Britain, National Hindu Students' Forum, the VHP UK, and many more.

But there is an extensive network of resistance too — our joint response to the HCUK's "warning" demonstrates the resolve of our five organisations, a small section of the landscape. The monopolistic control over Hindu advocacy that Hindutva groups have enjoyed in this country for years is coming to a close as progressive alternatives like HfHR UK are drawing in British Hindus by the day.

Featured image via the Canary

By Rajiv Sinha

YouGov polling from February 2026 shows 78% of the UK public support rent controls. But why regulate a scam when you can get rid of it? That's what the Green Party is proposing.

The Green Party position

The Green Party has rent nailed in their "Abolish Landlords" policy, which was successfully voted on at their conference in 2025. The motion read:

The Private Rental Sector has failed, it is a vehicle for wealth extraction, funnelling money from Renters to the Landlord Class. This motion makes it clear Green Party policy is to seek the effective abolition of Private Landlordism.

The Green Party believes that secure, affordable Housing is a Human Right, and that a core goal for a Green Government and Green MPs is to create a fairer housing market.

The Green Party believes the existence of Private Landlords adds no positive value to the economy or society, that the relationship between Landlord and Tenant is inherently and intrinsically extractive and exploitative. That the Private Rented Sector exists to transfer wealth from the working classes to Landlords.

The Green Party believes that the Private Sector has fundamentally failed, and is continuing to fail to provide secure and affordable housing fit for working people.

The thing is, the Green Party wants to move towards social housing, which is essentially state landlordism. While it provides money for the government, people already pay council tax. Social rent is like an additional tax on housing.

Instead, home ownership should be provided through affordable monthly payments for the baseline cost of the resources and expertise that it took for the house to be built. 'Cost price' housing should be the aim, not just rent controls or social housing.

Housing bubble

Currently, there is a housing bubble propped up by the super rich buying properties as 'assets' while supply is starved off through a lack of building. The governing party is doing even worse than the Green Party's plans through pledging to provide 1.2% of their housebuilding programme as social or 'affordable'.

Plus, Common Wealth warned in February 2025 that Labour's housebuilding programme risks being dominated by private equity firms charging eye-watering rents in the Build to Rent sector.

The thinktank pointed out that Build to Rent properties in the UK have increased to 20% of all new builds in recent years.

As the Green Party rightly points out, the relationship between landlords and tenants is "inherently… exploitative". But we can do better than state landlordism and rent controls.

Featured image via the Canary

By James Wright

Police have raided two properties belonging to disgraced former Starmer adviser Peter Mandelson as part of their investigation into misconduct in public office and insider trading.

Mandelson resigned from Labour and the House of Lords after details of his leaks of sensitive government and financial information to serial child-rapist Jeffrey Epstein were exposed by the latest Epstein file release.

Keir Starmer is currently hiding behind Epstein's victims to avoid disclosing records showing what he knew of Mandelson's misconduct before appointing him as adviser and ambassador to the US. Despite, or because of, the cynical exploitation of Epstein's child victims, Starmer's hold on power is rapidly slipping.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

One of child-rapist Jeffrey Epstein's many roles was as a powerbroker and connector of far-right and fascist individuals globally. Messages now show how former Trump advisor Steve Bannon sought the sex-trafficker and paedophile's help to support the European far-right.

The Irish Times reported on 5 February:

The messages mostly date from 2018 and 2019, when Bannon, after being sacked by Trump, regularly visited Europe in his quest to forge a movement in the European Parliament uniting ultra-right wing and Eurosceptic forces from several countries including Italy, Germany, France, Hungary, Poland, Sweden and Austria.

Italy's Matteo Salvini and France's Marine Le Pen, both leaders of far-right and fascist-adjacent political parties, were among those Bannon wanted to see flourish:

Bannon especially set his sights on Matteo Salvini, the Italian deputy prime minister and leader of the far-right League party, who at the time was at the height of his political power.

Opposition parties in Italy have called for investigations:

to clarify whether Epstein influenced the rise of the League after Salvini's name was cited several times in messages exchanged between Bannon and Epstein.

But it wasn't just Italy…

European far-right empire and Steve Bannon

Much the same process happened in France, left-wing party La France Insoumise has now called:

for a cross-party parliament inquiry after several French figures, including Jack Lang, a former minister for culture, and his daughter appeared in the latest Epstein trove

The vast trove of Epstein file also featured:

exchanges between Epstein and Bannon in which Bannon spoke of his desire to raise money for the far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

Germany was also effected. Messages to Epstein showed how Steve Bannon sought to promote the  far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD):

In texts from 2018, Bannon bragged about his influence as an "adviser" to the new right-wing populists and saw the parties' gains in Europe as a chance to use them to his and Epstein's benefit.

The files show:

Epstein's interest in European nationalists.

While a message from March 2019, just before the EU elections, has Bannon saying he is:

 focused on raising money for Le Pen and Salvini so they can actually run full slates.

Epstein courted and engaged with figures from both liberal - Peter Mandelson being a case in point - and conservative global elites. But his own politics were those of a far-right Zionist. On many occasions the files show how the billionaire sex predator had an interest in helping some of the most extreme political forces in the world in their bids for power.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

A new British intelligence agency chief was just announced. Major General Matthew Jones will be Chief of Defence Intelligence (CDI). Jones will start the role when he is promoted to Lieutenant General in summer 2026. He will run the revamped Military Intelligence Services (MIS). MIS was announced in December 2015.

The BBC reported in December 2025:

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) will unify all of its intelligence services under a single organisation, as part of its strategy to combat "escalating threats" from adversaries of the UK.

That command now belongs to Jones. Jones is an officer in the British Army's Intelligence Corps. His bio describes a long career in imperialism:

His operational service has included deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the wider Middle East. He currently serves as Director Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, overseeing intelligence collection, capabilities, training, and counter-intelligence.

MIS will work with other agencies:

including GCHQ, MI5 and SIS. Most notably to provide intelligence products for policy makers in the Ministry of Defence and UK Government.

At least one sycophantic right-wing newspaper got a little excited about the appointment…

Tories giddy over cool new spy man

Military intelligence is distinct in some ways from civilian-run intelligence agencies. Military intelligence personnel are not 'spies' or 'spooks' in the commonly held 'James Bond' sense. Their role is to gather, analyse, and collate information relevant to military operations.

If you want to know the nature of a military intelligence soldier look no further than Labour MP and Intelligence Corps veteran Mike Tapp of dog cutlery fame. Grim.

This seems to have been lost on some journalists. The Telegraph giddily described Jones as a "spymaster" known for being "ferociously intelligent".

The slightly more measured Labour defence secretary John Healey said:

Matt has the right skills and experience to lead our Military Intelligence Services as the organisation transforms to raise our war-fighting readiness to help keep the nation safe in this era of rising threats.

At the Canary we don't usually crush on intelligences organisations - we report on them instead. The organisation MIS is effectively replacing was Defence Intelligence (DI).  Back in December we asked the Ministry of Defence (MOD) a question about MIS and its new counter-intelligence component:

Will MIS and the new defence counter-intelligence unit be subject to FOI?

We got a typically nebulous response:

They'll be subject to the usual FOI rules around intelligence and matters of national security.

For the record, intelligence and national security issues are notoriously hard to get information on. As we reminded readers recently, state secrecy is the real so-called 'English disease'. As legendary security and intelligence reporter Richard Norton-Taylor said:

"National security" is often used to cover up embarrassment rather than genuine, serious threats to the country.

We'll be keeping an eye on MIS, needless to say. Counter-intelligence role

The MOD announcement in December said MIS would cover areas like biometrics, chemical weapons, critical national infrastructure, counter proliferation, UK export controls, medical and biosecurity and more.

Pretty broad then…

MIS will also work with open source, human and geospatial intelligence and counter-intelligence around both state and non-state groups. This focuses:

on the understanding of terrorism, espionage, sabotage, subversion and organised crime threats and vectors, and contests the operating space through proactive and reactive counter-intelligence activities. It entails collection of information, analysis and investigation of both state and non-state actors' intelligence methods, capabilities and activities.

Whether the UK needs a new 'spy' chief or not, it is getting one as the military tries to reorganise its intelligence gathering capabilities. There is no sense of the cost of the new reforms and few hints at how accountable it will be to the public. Business as usual then.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

Content warning: this article contains discussion of rape and sexual assault

After almost a year's silence on the matter, author Neil Gaiman released a statement this week to once again deny the allegations of sexual assault against him.

The allegations against Gaiman date back to 2024. They were first reported on the Tortoise Media podcast Master: The Allegations Against Neil Gaiman. The New York Vulture then published a more lengthy - and widely read - article in 2025 entitled:

There Is No Safe Word

How the best-selling fantasy author Neil Gaiman hid the darkest parts of himself for decades.

Beginning with an initial two, eventually nine women would come forward with allegations including rape, other forms of sexual assault, and non-consensual and un-negotiated BDSM practices. Many of the descriptions are graphic in the extreme, and I try not to repeat them here without need.

'I should have done so much better'

At the time, 14 January 2025, Gaiman put out a statement on his blog denying the accusations. He described re-reading messages from the accusers on the dates of the situations they described as assault - messages which displayed consent.

These messages are now a matter of public record. They do appear to display consent, although the Vulture article framed this as a product of being scared to upset Gaiman.

In his statement, Gaiman also wrote:

And I also realise, looking through them, years later, that I could have and should have done so much better. I was emotionally unavailable while being sexually available, self-focused and not as thoughtful as I could or should have been.

However, he also stated unambiguously that all of his relationships were consensual, and that:

Some of the horrible stories now being told simply never happened, while others have been so distorted from what actually took place that they bear no relationship to reality. I am prepared to take responsibility for any missteps I made. I'm not willing to turn my back on the truth, and I can't accept being described as someone I am not, and cannot and will not admit to doing things I didn't do.

However, production companies moved quickly to cancel adaptations of Gaiman's works across stage and screen. These projects included a musical version of Coraline, a Disney production of The Graveyard Book, and the Netflix adaptation of Dead Boy Detectives. 

'Smear campaign': Neil Gaiman

Gaiman then remained relatively removed from the public eye for over a year. However, on 2 February 2026, he posted a new statement. Again, he denied all of the allegations against himself:

I've learned firsthand how effective a smear campaign can be, so to be clear:

The allegations against me are completely and simply untrue. There are emails, text messages and video evidence that flatly contradict them.

In particular, Gaiman decried the "echo chamber" of journalism reporting on the allegations. He spoke about his conviction that the "truth would, eventually, come out":

I expected that when the allegations were first made there would be journalism, and that the journalism would take the (mountains of) evidence into account, and was astonished to see how much of the reporting was simply an echo chamber, and how the actual evidence was dismissed or ignored.

Then, he went on to single out one blogger whom he believed exemplified the journalistic rigor he'd expected:

I was a journalist once, and I have enormous respect for journalists, so I've been hugely heartened by the meticulous fact and evidence-based investigative writing of one particular journalist, whom some of you recently brought to my attention, who writes under the name of TechnoPathology.

This investigator, Technopathology, produced pages and pages of reporting on Gaiman, under the umbrella title of "Neil Gaiman is Innocent". Gaiman actually linked to the introductory page of the Substack blog in his statement.

Technopathology and 'Neil Gaiman is innocent'

For full disclosure, in writing this article I read a lot of Technopathology's blog, but not all of it. There is an awful lot to get through, and I have other articles to write. The author makes some valid points about the overall timbre of the reporting and its motivations, and some that I found reaching or off-mark. I'll get to them later.

Technopathology's introduction to their extensive project contained a complaint that there was "no room for nuance" in the reporting on Gaiman:

Even requiring evidence was deemed to be ''victim blaming''. No deviation from the party line, (that is to say - utter and complete condemnation) went unpunished.

This type of complaint will be familiar to anyone who observed public reactions to the MeToo movement. Technopathology talks about the importance of the MeToo movement, but couples that with their disbelief in the specific allegations against Gaiman.

In the introduction, the author mentioned something that made me sit up in my seat:

I wasn't completely unprepared, I am after all a journalist and make all of my paltry income from writing. I have a steady beat with technology trade magazines, and used to pen a lot of political articles for The Canary. But I had no idea what form the investigation should take. It was new territory.

So, a fellow (ex-)Canary writer. One other mention of the Canary on the blog indicated that they were around for the inception of the site, long before my time or that of most of the current employees. After a bit of digging, we're confident in our guess on who they are, but that's not terribly important for this article.

Fact and speculation

Some of the points that Technopathology raises in their articles are valid. In particular, they highlight that the allegations against Gaiman were gleefully seized upon and amplified by elements of the far-right, including Nazi-types and transphobes, due to Gaiman's Jewish heritage and outspoken support for LGBTQ+ causes.

However, other conclusions that they draw are much more of a stretch. This includes speculation that one accuser, Caroline Wallner, could in fact have known another, Scarlet Pavlovich, before they made their allegations, which could potentially cast doubt on the similarities in their accounts of Gaiman's behavior.

The problem is that Technopathology's speculation rests on the fact that Wallner is a friend of Michael Stipe, the lead singer of REM:

Interestingly, Michael Stipe is good friends with Tilda Swinton, who Scarlett Pavlovich says personally gave her a scholarship to her school in Scotland. I'm not altogether convinced that there was no prior contact between the accusers, so these degrees of separation are interesting.

This is quite an extraordinary reach, even if it is framed as a speculation.

Consent is consent

However, and most importantly, I feel that Technopathology elides some of the features of the cases that simply shouldn't be ignored. For example, the blogger highlights one exchange between Pavlovich and Gaiman, and the way the Master podcast framed it. Pavlovich told Gaiman that:

I have told Amanda [Palmer, Gaiman's then-wife] that even though it began questionably eventually it was undoubtedly consensual and I enjoyed it.

Technopathology then highlighted their problems with the the reporting of the exchange:

Master of course zooms in on ''questionably'' rather than ''undoubtedly consensual''. Questionable does not mean non-consensual, and it's not certain what element is questionable. There's always ways to do better.

I would point out that if the very first sexual encounter between two people features 'questionable' consent, then that's no consent at all. If consent isn't firmly and unambiguously established beforehand, it can't be gained retroactively when people are left to decide what happened. That's not how this is meant to work.

Pavlovich's relationship with Gaiman began the day she arrived at his house to work informally as a nanny. Gaiman ran her a bath in the middle of the garden. He then later climbed in with her. Technopathology quotes from Pavlovich's interview on Master regarding the encounter:

"He ended up sort of asking me to put my legs down and I ignored him."

We should note that he is 'asking', she is not compelled to put her legs down, thus revealing her body.

But the next time he asks, she does. There is no force here. This is an action freely taken, at Gaiman's request.

"He asked me again and sort of gestured, so I put them down."

Again, the problem with Technopathology's framing here is that when Gaiman made a sexual advance that Pavlovich didn't take up, that should have been the end of it. Anything after that point carries an implicit threat, because it doesn't take a lack of 'yes' as an answer in itself.

Neil Gaiman and Technopathology

Technopathology later writes that:

Reluctant consent vs enthusiastic consent is a big topic of discussion, but its a lot to go into here. Suffice to say, in legal terms, even reluctant consent is still consent - and it's not clear if she was reluctant at the time or if this a later reframing. Certainly the WhatsApp messages affirm an enthusiastic consent, effusively and repeatedly.

Definitions of sexual assault and rape vary from country to country. As such, I'm not particularly concerned with guilt or innocence in the law, and I won't make pronouncements on it.

However, what I will say with confidence is that anyone who was particularly concerned with consent probably wouldn't show up naked to a bathtub someone else was in without asking first.

Even if they missed that detail, making requests that the other person doesn't acquiesce to isn't a prompt to ask again.

Technopathology, among their many articles on Gaiman's purported innocence, analyses a lot of situations and exchanges around Gaiman in similar detail. You can go read them if you like.

However, I chose the bathtub scene as an illustrative example. The fact that Gaiman pointed specifically to Technopathology's Substack as the kind of journalistic integrity he expects is a point that I find damning in itself.

Yes, Technopathology poured at length over the reporting and some of the dubious motivations behind it. They also took it upon themself to scour the accusers' stories for inconsistencies. However, the blogger's actual understanding of consent is very, very different to mine, and - I would hope - most everyone else's, too.

If that's what Gaiman thinks is proof of his innocence, I'd hate to see his definition of guilt.

Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

Spectators at an All Elite Wrestling (AEW( Dynamite wrestling match in Las Vegas had a message for Donald Trump. It was certainly not one that he will have enjoyed, particularly from a sport popular with what's left of his base.

As the wrestlers posed and glared at each other before the start, a chant from the crowd quickly grew to a volume where the message couldn't be missed - "Fuck ICE".

The commentators were silenced. The wrestlers' glares turned to raised eyebrows. But not in disapproval - at least in one corner of the ring. Challenger Brody King is a vocal opponent of Trump's Gestapo thugs, organises anti-ICE fundraising and community organising and wore an "Abolish ICE" t-shirt before a recent match.

His opponent 'MJF' - real name Maxwell Friedman - might be more of a mixed bag. He has described Palestinian resistance as terrorism - but at the same time said that:

I don't support terrorism, Zionism, genocide [or] genocidal governments, dead innocent Palestinians [and] dead innocent Israelis. I don't support people — any people — dying because of hate.

However, he then repeated typical Israel lobby talking points, claiming that:

people are calling for the death of Jews over something that's happening on the other side of the world.

Given ICE's strong links to Israeli terrorist forces, who knows what he made of the chanting.

You'll definitely enjoy it though:

https://www.thecanary.co/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/6i65s9kF1O1J38ym1.mp4

Featured image via YouTube screenshot/All Elite Wrestling

By Skwawkbox

The Met Police is refusing to admit the existence of a classified document, which pro-Israel groups used to lobby the government over the proscription of Palestine Action.

In a document produced by We Believe in Israel, Stop the Hate UK, and The Shield of David, it states:

In July 2022, the group was investigated under counter-terrorism protocols following intelligence suggesting contact between some of its members and individuals linked to Hamas-aligned networks abroad (see:Metropolitan Police briefing, classified)

It's well documented that the Zionist lobby group We Believe in Israel (WBII) was a primary actor among those lobbying for the proscription of Palestine Action. It published a report in June 2025, titled 'Palestine Action: A Case for Proscription under the Terrorism Act 2000'. Notably, the Guardian pointed out how Home Secretary Yvette Cooper's statement on the decision to proscribe Palestine Action was "similar" to the wording from this report.

Of course, The Canary's least favourite MP - Luke Akehhurst is the former director of WBII. The self-proclaimed 'Zionist shitlord' previously claimed Israel's actions in Gaza were 'proportionate'.

Importantly, one of the other organisations involved in authoring the most recent report is Stop the Hate UK. This is the same group that has been attacking pro-Palestine activists and journalists.

Met Police refusal to answer

The Canary wanted to know whether the Met Police had shared classified documents with these pro-genocide hate groups, or whether someone had leaked them. We sent a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Met Police. In it, we asked if the Met had authorised the disclosure of the briefing to the three pro-Israel lobby groups. If it confirmed this, we wanted any documents related to the Met signing this off.

Additionally, we stipulated that if the document was not shared, whether the Met was aware of a leak, and whether they had taken action.

It took the Met over two months to respond to the initial FOI request, which is double the legal limit. In it, they stated:

The MPS is aware of a recent newspaper article which contained an allegation. As a result, the following press lines were issued:

IF ASKED: re alleged info shared about CT[counter-terror] investigations linked to Palestine Action with We Believe in Israel? No knowledge of any such information being shared with this group. Refer back to the group for clarification over this reference in their report.

It went on to say:

The Metropolitan Police Service can neither confirm nor deny whether it holds any information of relevance as the duty in Section 1(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) does not apply by virtue of the following exemptions:

• Section 23(5) - Information supplied by, or relating to, bodies dealing with security matters
• Section 24(2) - National Security
• Section 30(3) - Criminal Investigations
• Section 31(3) - Law Enforcement
• Section 40(5)(B)(a)(i) - Personal Information

Still no answers…

We then asked for an internal review. Specifically, we asked them to reply to the part of our original FOI where we asked:

whether the MPS has investigated/is investigating how this classified document came to be in the possession of the three aforementioned third parties.

It then took them a further three months to reply. When they did, the Met said:

To clarify the MPS is neither confirming nor denying that any documentation i.e. this briefing document, is held. To answer the second part of your request, namely "if the Met was aware of the leak and b) if it has taken any action over it…providing details of this (how it became aware, what action it is taking, procedures going forward)" would inadvertently be confirming that a document existed, had been leaked and the MPS were investigating how this occurred and this is the very matter we are seeking to neither confirm nor deny that the MPS held this information.

So the Met is refusing to say whether a) it shared information with the three pro-Israeli groups or b) information was leaked to the same groups. Additionally, it's also refusing to say whether this 'classified briefing' mentioned by the groups even exists.

It's also unclear what role this report, which mentioned the classified briefing, then played in Yvette Cooper's case for proscribing Palestine Action.

Of course, it's arguably strongly in the public interest to know what the Met knows about this. There's no world in which pro-Israel lobby groups should have access to classified police documents. The Met has questions to answer - but naturally it's refusing.

Collusion with pro-Israel lobby groups certainly isn't out of the realm of possibility. In fact, the Met's constant raids and arrests of pro-Palestine activists and the links with Zionist auditors targeting them make it seem all the more likely.

Feature image via HG

By HG

Soft left New Statesman digital editor Oli Dugmore was a guest on BBC Question Time on 5 February 2026. And he had a scathing verdict on the normalisation of paedophilia at the top of the Labour Party.

Oli Dugmore on BBCQT

Oli Dugmore said that he generally doesn't like to dismiss people according to the worst thing they've ever done - but wouldn't want to be friends with, let alone work with, someone who rapes children. But he said that view is "fringe" among senior Labour figures. Instead, they look at Epstein fanboy Peter Mandelson and think "that's our man in Washington":

https://www.thecanary.co/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Dugmore-Mandelson-Qt-Subbed-1-hb.mp4

He was also clear that Starmer knew all along about Mandelson's closeness to serial child-rapist and trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Starmer didn't need the security services to tell him, because a quick Google search revealed plenty.

Of course he knew.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

Anti-genocide direct action activist Drew Robson has today, 6 February 2025, won his appeal to quash his conviction for criminal damage. Robson occupied the Manchester office of Fisher German, at the time property manager for Israeli weapons firm Elbit Systems. The firm eventually cut all ties with Elbit after a sustained pressure campaign.

Drew Robson wins his appeal

Drew Robson's appeal victory comes hot on the heels of a jury's refusal to convict six members of the 'Filton 24' group of anti-genocide direct action activists. They were the first of their group to face trial and won despite the attempts of a judge to pressure the jury into convicting. If found guilty, all could have faced sentences of up to 20 years prison. The 24 have been jailed for up to 19 months without trial. Some face more than a year's further wait as Starmer seeks to protect Israel by punishing protest and free speech against genocide.

 

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Featured image via screengrab

By Skwawkbox

A jury decided on 4 February to acquit anti-genocide protesters. But because establishment mouthpieces like Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch have a problem with people protesting against Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza, they have chimed in. And many believe they're in contempt of court as a result.

The decision was a "huge victory" for people opposing genocide. But it was also a clear critique of the government's highly controversial and wasteful political decision to proscribe non-violent direct-action group Palestine Action.

The establishment's anger was clear, though. It had done all it could to influence proceedings and moved to attack jury trials. But its efforts to stop fairness prevailing failed.

Entirely reasonable that there's so much fury that a jury of 12 ordinary people, having heard all the evidence, has reached a verdict that does not accord with the directions of the judge, Starmer's government and the billionaire-owned media.

Who do these people think they are?

— Jonathan Cook (@Jonathan_K_Cook) February 5, 2026

Kemi Badenoch chimes in

In this context, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch gave her thoughts. Despite not having been in court, not seeing all the evidence the jurors saw, and no court finding an activist guilty of injuring a police officer, she repeated a dangerous smear relating to the ongoing legal case:

Nothing to see here, just the leader of the opposition committing contempt of court live on national television.

This accusation lead to no conviction after a jury were given the full context. Nobody was "attacked viciously" or has "[gotten] away with it".

The case is ongoing. pic.twitter.com/I5mmlMS0bg

— Defend Our Juries (@DefendOurJuries) February 5, 2026

Kemi Badenoch has expressed very pro-Israel views and maintained close ties with the Conservative Friends of Israel lobby group.

Tory Chris Philp, who is also close to the Israel lobby, added his dodgy take too:

Coming from the same man which met with Elbit Systems when he was a minister

The meeting in April 2023 was to discuss Palestine Action, and involved the police, a representative of the CPS and arms manufacturers.

Isn't the judiciary supposed to be free from political influence? https://t.co/7WozMKNBw8

— Huda Ammori (@HudaAmmori) February 5, 2026

Five defendants admitted to destroying weapons and equipment of Israeli arms dealer Elbit Systems, which has been profiting from Israel's genocide. And the jury accepted that they had acted according to their conscience.

After over 500 days in jail. https://t.co/NWkMnzsGcd

— Lowkey (@Lowkey0nline) February 4, 2026

The government uses remand to imprison those it knows it can't convict. https://t.co/Br4qimBi64

— Ghassan Abu Sitta (@GhassanAbuSitt1) February 4, 2026

This has left the proscription case against Palestine Action in tatters.

It is only a matter of time before the ban will be lifted.

— Huda Ammori (@HudaAmmori) February 5, 2026

BREAKING: Jury unwilling to find guilty 6 Palestine Action activists

Today's judgments are hugely important.

The unwillingness of the jury to find Palestine Action activists guilty further highlights how disproportionate the decision to proscribe the organization was.… pic.twitter.com/GHQEEBLsD3

— Amnesty UK (@AmnestyUK) February 4, 2026

Establishment whine because justice prevailed

The police, meanwhile, also complained:

Police apparently attempting to undermine judicial process…

Officers gave a very questionable account of an incident that had already been sensationalised in the press. A jury didn't convict, because they weren't convinced.

The jury saw all of the evidence.
These lot did not. https://t.co/37MhX5GJK0

— Defend Our Juries (@DefendOurJuries) February 5, 2026

The serious injuries lie https://t.co/BaZR9bzbaU pic.twitter.com/4tf6CkDipW

— Dr Iain Darcy

Mark Ruffalo has taken to Threads to issue a brutal takedown of Kevin O'Leary after the billionaire mocked Billie Eilish's recent Grammy's speech in which she condemned ICE federal agents in the US.

O'Leary appeared on Fox News slating famous people who decide to 'get political'. However, the right-wing pundit might consider that their political decisions shape the lives of every citizen they govern, and that democracy demands people have a voice. Including celebrities.

Of course, it can't possibly be that the super-rich old white guy has vested interests in the current hostile immigration policy in the US:

Israel have been accused of spraying mysterious chemicals inside Lebanon.  Now the Lebanese PM and rights groups have called the attack a 'crime' after it emerged the chemicals were a potentially cancer-causing compound.

Prime minister Joseph Aoun called it an act of "aggression":

This is an environmental and health crime against Lebanese citizens and their land.

These dangerous practices that target agricultural lands and the livelihoods of citizens and threaten their health and environment require the international community and relevant United Nations organisations to assume their responsibilities to stop these attacks.

Israel accused of yet another war crime

Unifil, the UN mission in Lebanon, said shortly after the attack that they'd been told about the airborne operation. They also said that it had stopped peacekeepers carrying out their duties:

Peacekeepers could not perform normal operations near the Blue Line along about a third of its length and were only able to resume normal activities after over nine hours.

The Blue Line is a 120km strip which marks the line of Israel withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000. The UN and Lebanese army tested the chemicals. Those tests now seem to have come to a conclusion.

The Guardian said:

Lebanese authorities said that laboratory analysis identified that the spray contained glyphosate, a potent herbicide that was in 2015 classified by the World Health Organization as "probably carcinogenic to humans".

Lebanon's ministries of agriculture and the environment said some samples showed glyphosate at:

20 and 30 times higher than normal [use].

They said such high concentrations would:

damage vegetation in the targeted areas, with direct repercussions on agricultural production, soil fertility and ecological balance.

Others said this was another example of Israel's scorched earth policy.

War crime?

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said the "deeply alarming" attack may constitute a war crime:

The deliberate targeting of civilian farmland violates international humanitarian law, particularly the prohibition on attacking or destroying objects indispensable to civilian survival.

They added:

Large-scale destruction of private property without specific military necessity amounts to a war crime and undermines food security and basic livelihoods in the affected areas.

Euro-Med said they directly observed the spraying, which they considered part of

a systematic destruction of agricultural land.

The NGO warned:

This incident cannot be viewed in isolation from the scorched-earth policy pursued by the Israeli army.

Israel sprayed farmland with "pesticides of unknown composition in Syria in January 2026, causing:

widespread crop destruction, posing a serious threat to economic and food security and violating farmers' rights to work and to an adequate standard of living by destroying their primary sources of income without military justification.

Strip aways Zionist claims about birthright and indigeneity and you'll find nothing more mystical, historical or religiously motivated than an old-fashioned settler land grab. From Syria to Lebanon, Gaza to the West Back, the Israeli state will keep displacing locals and expanding its territory by whatever means it can, for as long as it can, until someone stops it.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

Zack Polanski has called out Wes Streeting for his relentless social media attacks during an interview with The London Standard.

Polanski pointed out that, unlike Streeting, he's a gay man who is not willing to throw the trans community under a bus.

 

 

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In an interview with The London Standard, Polanski said:

Wes Streeting is attacking me every day on social media because I'm another gay man in politics who is not willing to throw the trans community under the bus and that exposes his abject immorality.

Polanski, a consistent vocal ally to trans communities, showed what sets him and the likes of right-wing brown-nosing cunt Streeting apart. He told the Evening Standard:

He must know what it's like to be othered but he's more bothered about power than protecting the other. It's disgraceful.

Of course, Streeting could use his lived experience of othering as a gay man in politics to recognise and challenge shared oppressions. Instead, he's sold out and used his privilege to demonise an already besieged group of people.

As Health Secretary, he's in the prime position to shape policies to improve healthcare access for trans people. Despite this, though, he's so far only surrendered to the transphobes.

Polanski takes on shady Streeting

Separately, Polanski also pointed out Streetings' links to Palantir, Peter Mandelson, and his lobbying company, as well as Palantir's new £330m NHS contract.

Respect. Zack Polanski on the urgent questions that need asking about Palantir, Peter Mandelson and his lobbying company, Wes Streeting and Palantir's £330 million NHS contract. https://t.co/MmZ0iviBBZ

— Andy Worthington (@GuantanamoAndy) February 5, 2026

Streeting's partner, Joe Dancey, also used to work as Peter Mandelson's assistant when he was an MP. He attempted to scrub that from his LinkedIn profile this week. Luckily, social media users have the receipts.

Then and now: Joe Dancey's LinkedIn profile on 18 Sept 2025 and today.
Spot the difference!

[Dancey is Wes Streeting's partner] pic.twitter.com/LCxQ2DwHFd

— Labour Right Watch (@LabourRightWtch) February 4, 2026

Previously, Polanski has also pointed out that Streeting has taken hundreds of thousands of pounds from private healthcare companies. Polanski has taken zero.

Murdering children is bad, Louis.

Wes Streeting may have taken over a quarter of a million pounds in private healthcare donations - but I haven't.

So it's quite simple to tell the truth. pic.twitter.com/RIgWEXmwgc

— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) January 22, 2026

The fact that Streeting feels the need to attack him on social media surely shows just how much the Green leader has him rattled.

From his vile transphobia to his links to Palantir and Epstein-pedo-bestie Peter Mandelson, Polanski is showing Streeting for the power-shielding wanker he is. We're very much here for it.

Featured image via HG

By HG

Labour Together is part of the shady right-wing infrastructure that, along with Peter Mandelson, helped to undermine the left and boost Keir Starmer into power. And a new report reveals how Labour Together spent tens of thousands of pounds getting a dodgy company to investigate journalists looking into all this. This behaviour shows it's not just Mandelson that should never be near government again. It's the whole sinister machinery that put Starmer where he is today, including his right-hand man and Mandelson protege Morgan McSweeney.

"Dark shit" from the Labour right machine thanks to Morgan McSweeney

Journalists Khadija Sharife and Peter Geoghegan have reported that Labour Together paid APCO Worldwide "at least £30,000" in 2023 to dig dirt on reporters who were uncovering Labour Together's actions. In the past, APCO has worked with companies like Israeli arms dealer Elbit and big tobacco firms.

To win the Labour leadership campaign in 2020, Keir Starmer's team hid where he'd been getting his support from. In particular, his backers in Morgan McSweeney's Labour Together had concealed donations to the value of £730,000 from 2017 to 2020.

Labour Together wanted to defeat the left via "soft branding that made them seem warm and cuddly". So funding from pro-Israel millionaires would not have been a good look. And when journalists Gabriel Pogrund and Harry Yorke revealed in 2023 the funding Labour Together hadn't declared, the shady group clearly panicked.

Now under Josh Simons (who is currently a minister), Labour Together got APCO to look at potential "leverage" they could exert over "significant persons of interest", from Pogrund and Yorke to other journalists (including Declassified and ex-Canary reporter John McEvoy). They clearly hoped to discredit this reporting.

A political think tank hiring private investigators to target journalists and their sources. Why? Because unlike those in our profession who enjoy cosying up to power, they chose to report the facts. This should be treated as a scandal.

— Taj Ali (@Taj_Ali1) February 5, 2026

While sources insist Morgan McSweeney didn't make the call, it appears he "was aware of it". None of the relevant parties responsible wanted to respond on record. But even former Labour Together member Jon Cruddas said:

This is dark shit.

And that wasn't the only time Labour Together did this either. Around the same time, it also hired investigators to look at Paul Holden - author of The Fraud - and Andrew Feinstein (who slashed Starmer's vote count in 2024).

"Deeply sinister"

Upon discovering that Labour Together had gone after him over his journalistic work, John McEvoy told the Canary:

The news that Labour Together, the brainchild of Keir Starmer's chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, was paying a PR firm to investigate journalists including myself is deeply sinister. Even more so that McSweeney was reportedly aware of this operation.

This is a man who owes his political career to the disgraced Peter Mandelson, friend of the world's most notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

He represents the rot at the heart of the Labour Party, and should be nowhere near power.

Starmer apparently still has "full confidence" in McSweeney, despite the latter pushing for Mandelson's ongoing involvement despite his close friendship to Epstein. Starmer would have been nothing in Labour, of course, without McSweeney's shady operation.

I have just learned that Labour Together, the think tank run by Keir Starmer's chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, paid a PR firm £30,000 to secretly investigate me alongside other journalists.

Deeply sinister news. McSweeney should be nowhere near power.https://t.co/pM1Fmuk22E pic.twitter.com/wsSKBHcliI

— John McEvoy (@jmcevoy_2) February 5, 2026

Labour Together, Starmer, McSweeney, and Mandelson: "the rot at the heart of the Labour Party"

Labour Together has funded countless right-wing politicians, as have numerous millionaires backing the organisation or sharing its aims. This includes figures right at the top of the Labour Party, from Starmer to Rachel Reeves, Shabana Mahmood to David Lammy, and Yvette Cooper to John Healey.

One Labour Together donor, pro-Israel lobbyist Trevor Chinn, has been a key funder of efforts to empower Starmer and his ilk. And Chinn has managed to advocate inside the government for Israel's genocidal regime as a result.

There is also significant overlap between politicians getting money both the Labour Friends of Israel lobby group and either Chinn or Labour Together.

We strongly recommend you remember the names of everyone with links to this operation. Because it is nothing short of a scandal. And until this stops and there's full transparency, the little democracy we have in the UK will continue to be severely compromised.

Thanks to Paul Holden's 'The Fraud', the Labour Right's vehicle Labour Together is in the spotlight again. Here's the core of its funding network constructed from Electoral Commission data. Donors blue, 'donees' red. pic.twitter.com/R3FD4beZ35

— Tom Mills (@ta_mills) October 30, 2025

Featured image via the Canary

By Ed Sykes

Keen to divert attention away from the fact he's a massive fucking pedo, Donald Trump announced a new drugs initiative yesterday. TrumpRx will apparently give users "the world's lowest prices on prescription drugs". However, as with most of the pervert in chief's plans, this will benefit very few average Americans.

TrumpRx is too good to be true

TrumpRx is a direct-to-consumer marketplace that gives discounted drug prices direct from manufacturers. This is done using Most Favoured Nation pricing. This basically ensures a consumer gets the product at the lowest possible price in other countries. Customers get a coupon card which they can take to participating pharmacies.

The prices listed for drugs are, by all accounts, huge discounts, anything from 33-93% off. But as a British person, it also brings into stark focus just how much disabled Americans are expected to pay per month for vital medication. What do you fucking mean it's five hundred dollars a month for an asthma inhaler?!

There is, however, of course, a catch. The discounted drugs can only be purchased in cash. This means only those who can afford to buy the medication in the first place can access it. Most sick and disabled citizens rely on health insurance or government schemes such as Medicaid to afford their sky-high medication.

It's also not clear yet whether buying these drugs in cash will count towards health insurance deductibles in the way that traditional prescribing will. Which means patients could be shelling out what they think is a lower price every month, whilst facing higher-than-usual insurance bills.

This means that, once again, while Trump is appearing to help all Americans, he's only serving the wealthy few.

Trump stretching the truth again

The TrumpRX site boasts

Thanks to President Trump, the days of Big Pharma price-gouging are over. Leveraging the full weight and power of the United States of America, the President has ensured every American gets the lowest prices on prescription medications in the developed world.

This is, however, not true. According to Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker analysis, four other countries sell Ozempic for less than the $100 TrumpRx is boasting. These are also the manufacturer prices - not what the consumer often actually ends up paying. TrumpRx also has to warn that those with insurance could actually end up paying more than usual.

CNN pointed out that some of the medications listed are already available at the discounted prices Trump is bragging about

For instance, GoodRx lists multiple pharmacies where consumers can pick up Pfizer's Duavee, which is used to treat menopause symptoms, for $30.30 without insurance - the same price as on TrumpRx.

This isn't even Trump's idea, as many pharmacies and manufacturers already do this. As CNN also points out, Mark Cuban has been running Cost Plus Drug since 2022. Pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk also has NovoCare, and Eli Lilly has Lilly Direct.

TrumpRx could drive up the drive of medication for those who need it most

There's also the fact that you don't require a prescription to purchase the drugs on TrumpRx. With a huge array of very popular and profitable drugs on offer, it could drive up the price for those who desperately need them. This could particularly be true in the case of Ozempic and other "weight loss" drugs, which are actually vital diabetes medications.

There are also fears that with these drugs being readily available at "knock-down" prices, greedy insurance companies might stop covering them. After all, if the government is claiming they're cheap, you don't need insurance for them, surely.

Stacie Dusetzina, a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center told a briefing hosted by KFF [also in the CNN article linked]

Even when you have very large discounts provided for brand-name drugs, they still end up with prices that are not really that affordable to the average person. We know from research that once a price goes above about $100 a month, that a lot of people stop filling their drugs at that price point.

Let's face it - Trump doesn't serve the average American

The fact of the matter is, this won't make much difference to those actually struggling with the costs of medications. It won't do anything to ease the pressures of sick and disabled Americans who have to fight with insurance companies and their own government to get the medication they need to survive.

But it will once again benefit the rich, because let's not forget who Trump really cares about.

Featured image via the Canary

By Rachel Charlton-Dailey

Council leaders have warned that four in five local councils will soon face 'bankruptcy' from rising special educational needs and disability (SEND) costs. And private schools are compounding the issue.

Tens of billions to private schools

The approaching 'insolvency' is largely due to the amount private schools are charging for council budgets.

In 2024, 132,510 SEND pupils were at private schools - a 70% increase on 2016. The vast majority of SEND children have low or middle-income parents who rely on government funding for their school places. Very few are from affluent families who can afford these places for their SEND children.

It costs councils an average of £61,500 per pupil for SEND children to go to private school, because of Labour's failure to invest SEND capacity in state schools. That means private schools are earning £8.1bn per year from SEND pupils. And the majority of that is coming out of council budgets, with many local authorities demanding higher council tax rises to help pay off increasing deficits.

In fact, the Local Government Association (LGA) has said 95% of councils are operating SEND deficits. And they are cutting services or taking on more debt to pay for it.

Private schools' SEND places cost almost three times as much as state places. And fee-charging schools can charge over £250,000 to educate SEND children.

SEND pupils must "achieve their potential"

Amanda Hopgood, the chair of the LGA's children, young people and families committee, said:

Councils are committed to supporting every child and young person to achieve their potential and clearly what is important is that children and young people get the support they need. But under the current system, the rise in support need has left many councils buckling under the strain.

While many private schools are non-profit, they take high salaries and are generally only available to students who are born rich. Hence, they take resources and expertise away from those who attend public ones.

At the same time, neoliberals in government and profiteers in the corporate sector view state funding as a cash cow to be milked. It's the opposite of efficiency and prudence with state finances. Dressing it up as such is Orwellian.

And when it comes to SEND pupils in private schools, it's literally extraction to the point of insolvency for councils.

Featured image via the Canary

By James Wright

Political prisoner Umer Khalid, one of 24 'Filton 24' prisoners jailed for up to 19 months and counting for opposing genocide, ended his hunger strike last month. His decision came after prison authorities agreed to review the punitive conditions in which he is being held. These included banning his religious observance and restricting visits.

But his family say little or nothing has changed and they're still being blocked from seeing him. In fact, it's worse than before as he's now deprived of meetings with his lawyer.

Umer Khalid: desperate situation

In a statement, they asked supporters not to call or visit the prison or risk anything outside "formal routes" that his family is pursuing. However, they say they can no longer remain silent over Umer Khalid's situation as they are "terrified for [his] life":

For now, we please request that nobody calls into the prison, tries to locate Umer, or escalates this beyond the formal routes being followed by Umer's legal team. Updates with actions you can take will follow as they are received.

We've stayed silent long enough, but now I'm terrified for my son's life. My son has been on remand for seven months. During this time, we have had daily contact. After a 17-day hunger strike and four days without water, he was hospitalised on Monday, 26 January.

Since then, the prison has kept him incommunicado. We have had zero contact for over 10 days now. They are blocking him from his family and, alarmingly, from his solicitor.

A mother should not have to wonder whether her son is alive or dead while he is in state care. Access to his solicitor and contact with his family are basic human rights — especially during a medical crisis. We are demanding answers and the right to hear his voice. Please share this and amplify our voices. We cannot let him be forgotten in that hospital bed.

The Starmer regime's political persecution of the Filton humanitarians has been further exposed and disgraced recently by the refusal of a jury to convict the first six to go on trial on any of the trumped-up charges against them. The trial exposed the lies of the state and of arms manufacturer Elbit to smear and criminalise them.

Yet despite this, the regime continues to hold the others - and even one of those acquitted - in prison without trial. This is as clear a case as could be of 'making the process the punishment' and Starmer wants to end jury trials to withhold justice. All of this is to protect Israel and its ethno-fascist genocide.

Enough is enough. It's long past time for Starmer's authoritarianism and collaboration in genocide to end. He and his cronies are the ones who should be behind bars.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

Well, Nigel Farage has officially lost the plot. The Reform UK leader has just revealed that Jeremy Kyle - the poverty-porn mogul - has a secret role within the party. Hilariously, he's media training Reform's candidates.

Jeremy Kyle lol, one of the most hated TV presenters of all time.

Well, expect reform politicians to bully their opponents until they top themselves. pic.twitter.com/apaxqRVLzL

— Inevitable Pinky

Nick Buckley MBE is the Advance UK candidate in the Gorton & Denton byelection. With the fight for the seat heating up, we thought it was time we shone a light on what Buckley actually stands for. And it's pretty dark:

This is what feminism has done to women - turned them into whores and made them unhappy - 20% of U.K. women are on antidepressants.

Feminism:%20Myths,%20Lies%20&%20Ungratefulness%3A%20Exploring%20Ground%20Zero%20Of%20The%20Woke%20Virus https://t.co/1vxHNVOYJ2

— Nick Buckley MBE (@NickBuckleyMBE) October 26, 2024

Let's get it out of the way, you're going to see a lot of misogyny and racism, so buckle up.

Another woman-hating, racist wanker on the ballot

Buckley has been on some really fucking wild rants on Twitter.  Firstly, he states women shouldn't have tattoos, and we can't do anything right:

Female tattoos are just a trendy way to self abuse - just like cutting, not eating, gender ideology, abortion and always picking wrong men. https://t.co/su3L2sTgx4

— Nick Buckley MBE (@NickBuckleyMBE) September 5, 2025

He fucking hates abortions and apparently all women do is hoof antidepressants and kill babies:

If we do not support women across the globe then how are they going abortion their babies, rely on antidepressants, neglect their children, hate men and contribute to the coffers of the multinationals??

— Nick Buckley MBE (@NickBuckleyMBE) January 28, 2026

And comparing abortion to the holocaust is absolutely wild:

We are killing our babies almost as fast as we are making them. Abortion is out of control and a shame on our society like slavery and the holocaust. History will judge us and it will not be pleasant. https://t.co/XEAkgJ1mIB

— Nick Buckley MBE (@NickBuckleyMBE) January 23, 2026

He really fucking hates abortion:

Feminism taught us that men and women are the same. Women are just as evil as men and commit horrendous acts - they just do it differently to men. pic.twitter.com/UgY75PFrVX

— Nick Buckley MBE (@NickBuckleyMBE) January 15, 2026

And let's throw a little transphobia in there for good measure:

The Trans lunatics are back! The NHS, our NHS as we are constantly told, is going to be experimenting on kids - legally. All doctors involved should be stripped of their license and prosecuted for child abuse. pic.twitter.com/Q5ekCC2fJz

— Nick Buckley MBE (@NickBuckleyMBE) November 26, 2025

Policing

Let's be honest, it's not shocking at all that Buckley is racist. It's almost a given with Advance UK:

This is a great example of the failures of DEI. We recruit rapists because we have to give blacks a job to ensure no one thinks we are racist. It started with feminism but ends with rapists. pic.twitter.com/3JXAQHU5Kq

— Nick Buckley MBE (@NickBuckleyMBE) January 8, 2026

One commenter was quick to point out the case of Wayne Couzens, a white copper who killed Sarah Everard:

That's never happened before. pic.twitter.com/8KRjEWrhgf

— catrellneff (@catrellnefff) January 9, 2026

The police literally ignored sexual harassment allegations made against him. Oh, and two other coppers shared racist and misogynistic messages with Couzens.

This isn't an issue of political correctness; it's an issue of the police ignoring the offences of its officers.

This disgustingly racist rhetoric is absolutely bullshit.

Currently, 97% of rape allegations are not even brought to charge in the UK; why the fuck isn't he screaming about that? 6 out of 7 assaults against women are carried out by someone they know.

Why the fuck are we bringing race into this when it's clearly just a man problem?

Advance UK throws another stereotype into the ring

Let's be honest, none of this is shocking from a far-right party endorsed by Tommy Robinson and Elon Musk. But this sets a dangerous precedent for the trajectory of Advance UK. For a party that claims it's not far right, it definitely seems like it is. And the leader, Ben Habib seems to fully support Buckley:

I am delighted @NickBuckleyMBE will be standing for @_AdvanceUK in the Gorton and Denton by election.

Nick is a proud patriot, local to the area where he also based his charity, Mancunian Way. His MBE was for charitable work.

Nick offers real change, not the same old or the…

— Ben Habib (@benhabib6) January 31, 2026

Luckily, Advance UK's man seems somewhat irrelevant, but we need to be calling out these fascist wankers whenever we can, and Buckley is definitely one of them.

Featured image via Instagram

By Antifabot

At this point, the following shouldn't surprise anyone about Trump, and yet it is staggering to see:

BREAKING: Trump just posted an incredibly racist photo of the Obama's faces photoshopped on to the body of apes.

Every day is a new rock bottom for this ugly pig. pic.twitter.com/GlMM7Cfjoe

— Dean Withers (@itsdeaann) February 6, 2026

Pure, unfettered racism from Trump

Everyone accepted long ago that it's racist to depict black people as apes, and the video does literally nothing besides depicting the Obamas as apes.

There is no attempt to hide what his intent is here.

The only excuse you could make for Trump is that he's too stupid and/or unwell to understand what he posted.

If that's the case, WHY IS HE THE PRESIDENT?

A racist president is intolerable; a sick president with access to the nuclear button is potentially world ending.

Here's how people have reacted to Trump's latest hate crime:

This is the racist video Donald Trump posted.

This is where we're at. pic.twitter.com/kH49rMWfVH

— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) February 6, 2026

Trump posted a video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys. Incredibly racist and disgusting. Beneath the office of the presidency, like everything he does.

Every American must condemn this. pic.twitter.com/vYbGgqqv09

— Harry Sisson (@harryjsisson) February 6, 2026

Global problem

Given how America throws its weight around, it's a problem for everyone in the world for there to be a racist and/or fascist president. It's an even bigger problem for us in the UK, because politicians like Keir Starmer, Nigel Farage, and Kemi Badenoch all think there job is to suck up to this man.

Starmer and Farage both drape themselves in flags but once again it's really clear where their loyalty really is.

It's Trump first. They will always be on the side of the super rich and powerful - no matter how heinous the crime.

This is not patriotism. It's subservience. https://t.co/M7sVgGLgMJ

— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) January 3, 2026

Featured image via X

By Willem Moore

A Labour Party whistleblower has confirmed to the Canary that the disgraced Epstein associate Peter Mandelson, alongside then Director of Campaigns Morgan McSweeney, helped to vet Labour candidates for the 2024 general election.

Mandelson: the scandal continues

I have been investigating McSweeney's operations for the last six months, and have personally heard accounts from several party insiders of widespread corruption in the run-up to the election, with local candidates systematically dumped in favour of Mandelson-McSweeney picks with no apparent connection to the area.

Furthermore, I was contacted by a former Labour MP who served as a frontbencher under Ed Miliband. He claims that Mandelson and McSweeney worked together to "get rid of" him. He added:

Everyone has overlooked Megan McCann, [McSweeney's] former due diligence officer. She is his Achilles heel.

Megan McCann told me at a famous curry house meeting that when she had finished doing in candidates or getting them through, she built a dirty dossier on every MP. McCann takes instructions from McSweeney."

As it emerges that Peter Mandelson assisted McSweeney in building a covert network within the Labour Party to ensure their positions became policy, MPs who have defended the Epstein associate for so long are now moving to distance themselves.

We now know that as Business Secretary, Peter Mandelson passed classified government information to likely Israeli intelligence asset Jeffrey Epstein, even messaging the notorious paedophile on the day former Prime Minister Gordon Brown "finally got him to go." But Mandelson had two deputies at the time, assisting him in his work: David Lammy and Pat McFadden.

Last year, Lammy, who was Foreign Secretary at the time, vehemently defended the appointment of Mandelson as US Ambassador, saying that he was "a man of considerable expertise". Not words many of us would use for a person who described a convicted paedophile as their "best pal".

Things get murkier when we take into account David Lammy's 2014 failed London mayoral nomination bid.

Murky

His campaign was led by a former chair of Labour Friends of Israel, David Mencer, who went on to become a spokesman for the Israeli government. You may have seen Mencer on television in recent months, defending the most heinous crimes of the Gaza genocide.

Life-long Israel lobbyist Trevor Chinn donated £30,000 to Lammy's the short-lived mayoral campaign. Chinn has funded both Conservative and Labour Friends of Israel throughout his life, and was personally awarded for "service to the state of Israel" by Israeli President and genocidaire Isaac Herzog.

But Chinn was also a director and major funder of Morgan McSweeney's "Labour Together Ltd." outfit. When McSweeney was found to have concealed £739,492 worth of donations to Labour Together, one of his excuses was that he trying "to protect Trevor".

Another of Lammy's financial backers is Lady Woodford-Hollick, the wife of Labour peer Clive Hollick. Clive Hollick was another funder of the Labour Together project, but he also previously served as a Special Adviser to Peter Mandelson.

From acting as his deputy in 2008 to defending him in interviews last year, the question needs to be asked: what did David Lammy know about the Mandelson-Epstein communications?

The McFadden link

Peter Mandelson's other deputy during his tenure as Business Secretary was Pat McFadden. McFadden has been described as "the most powerful Labour politician most have never heard of". He initially worked on Tony Blair's 1997 election campaign alongside Peter Mandelson and Alistair Campbell.

In 2008, he was made Mandelson's right-hand man. Indeed, in a fawning article printed by the Guardian in September 2023, Mandelson waxes lyrical on his former assistant, saying: "Pat has seen it all. He is a walking encyclopedia of political and policy knowledge, and experience in government." But had McFadden "seen" Mandelson's communications with Epstein?

During the 2024 general election campaign, McSweeney and McFadden's desks were "right in the middle of the room" at Labour HQ. His wife, Marianna McFadden, was already McSweeney's no. 2. Mandelson said that McFadden and McSweeney would complement each other, opining that "Pat is cautious…[whereas] Morgan is a hard-driven street fighter." High praise all round from the Epstein-informant.

Megan McCann is now a Special Adviser to Labour Chief Whip Jonathan Reynolds. Like former Mandelson deputy Pat McFadden, Reynolds is also a vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel, and both men have travelled on LFI-funded delegations. In 2019, Reynolds even accepted a £100 donation directly from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Israel connection and Labour Together

Recently, Starmer tabled an amendment to the motion to release the Mandelson Files, calling for an exemption for "papers prejudicial to UK national security or international relations". The amendment was signed by the PM and three other Labour MPs. Jonathan Reynolds was one of them.

Another signer of the failed amendment was fellow LFI supporter and Chief Secretary to the PM, Darren Jones. Jones, who received over £57,000 in donations from Labour Together, recently said that Starmer picked Mandelson "because we want to do things differently".

The third signer of the amendment to restrict the release of the Mandelson Files was Nick Thomas-Symonds. Thomas-Symonds received £35,521 from Labour Together.

Before working for Reynolds, McSweeney's former "due diligence officer" Megan McCann was on the staff of Labour MP Oliver Ryan. Another suspected McSweeney-Mandelson "pick", Ryan received £10,000 from Labour Together.

Tom Rutland, the new MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, was another member of Labour Together's "£10k club". A pattern is coming to the fore: the Mandelson-McSweeney cabal used not only Excel spreadsheets, but also the financial weight of Labour Together to ensure those loyal to them got elected.

Mark Sewards also received £10,000 from Labour Together. Last August, Sewards became the first Member of Parliament to create an "AI version of himself" to communicate with constituents, a disturbing move condemned by many for its potential detrimental effects on many of the most vulnerable in society.

Recently, Sewards travelled to meet with Israeli President Isaac Herzog. Last November, her was announced as the new parliamentary chair of Labour Friends of Israel after previously accepting an LFI-funded trip to occupied Palestine in May 2025. These are the individuals waiting in the wings for Starmer's downfall.

Tony Blair as well

Another of the new crop of Labour MPs is Georgia Gould, a member of the Jewish Labour Movement who previously served on Camden Council. Whilst there, fellow Camden Labour councillor + JLM member Izzy Lenga posted a photograph on Facebook in which she is wearing an Israeli military uniform, holding an automatic weapon and draped in an Israeli flag. The photograph was subsequently deleted.

Before moving into politics, Gould worked for the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. She has previously been described as a "Blairite heiress who could be Labour leader one day" and a "close ally and mentee" of Alistair Campbell, the third wheel in the Mandelson-McFadden team behind Blair's rise to power.

Marianna McFadden, Pat McFadden's wife, had her own links to the infamous war criminal, having previously worked at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. She was later appointed as Starmer's deputy campaigns director. The most unpopular Prime Minister ever is a continuation of Blair's legacy in more ways than one.

Georgia Gould is the daughter of two "peers for life". Her husband, Alex Zatman, was previously a Special Adviser to Liz Kendall, but is now a director at Teneo, a controversial lobbying firm with close links to the Clinton family. When Teneo was established in 2011, both Tony Blair and Bill Clinton were named as members of their advisory board. Clinton, who departed in 2012, had a yearly salary of $2.5 million.

In one leaked e-mail from the Jeffrey Epstein files, Ghislaine Maxwell writes to his "best pal" Peter Mandelson:

Pete, what is wrong. I am here for you. Call me - Clinton sd he will do what you want at the conference…PS Don't be disgusting.

The e-mail is dated September 14th 2002. On October 2nd 2002, Clinton addressed the Labour conference in Blackpool. Ghislaine of course was the daughter of Robert Maxwell, the now deceased member of the British House of Lords, media baron, and, according to ex-Israeli intelligence operative Ari Ben-Menashe, Mossad asset.

Mandelson's hands are all over the past 25 years

The extent of Epstein-informant Mandelson's influence on government policy, and further revelations over the next days and weeks will be devastating for the Starmer regime and all those who defended him.

When Morgan McSweeney initially joined Labour in 2001, not long after his stint on an Israeli "kibbutz", he was put to work on Mandelson's "Excalibur" database, used to gather information on "internal political rivals". The two have been close ever since, and the bullying tactics once employed by Mandelson are echoed by his political heir McSweeney today.

One prospective parliamentary Labour candidate in London, Sara*, spoke to me about being hauled in front of a now infamous three-person committee: Luke Akehurst, Sharma Tatler, and Anu Prashar. "I was given 5 minutes notice and then told I was not suitable, with no right to appeal", she said.

Tom*, a Labour member from east London, told me about a culture of fear surrounding McSweeney: "Everyone is so scared to speak, and people are getting suspended for anything." Sara told me: "You have to prove your loyalty by being mean and nasty…it's a cesspit."

The Mandelson-McSweeney-Starmer cabal has ruled Labour with an iron fist, but the house of cards is beginning to fall.

*Names have been changed to protect whistleblowers' identities.

Featured image via the Canary

By Jody McIntyre

The government has pledged £88m to recruit 10,000 new foster carers by the end of this parliament. Currently, there is a severe shortage of them in the foster care sector. This means local authorities are placing many children far from home in expensive residential settings.

According to the Local Government Association, councils currently spend £4.7bn per year on residential children's care.

According to the Guardian, the government has doubled its spending on residential care since 2020. Costs reached £3.1bn in 2023-24. This means that each place in a children's home costs over £300,000 a year.

Now, the government is aiming to attract a wider range of households to foster caring. It emphasises that carers don't have to be married, homeowners, or in full-time employment. This would reduce reliance on these expensive residential homes whilst also providing children with greater stability.

The £88m will also include £25m to help current foster carers extend or update their homes. This will allow them to accommodate more children. It will also pilot a new scheme which could mean potential foster carers help out on a part-time basis.

Profiteering from foster care

Additionally, Josh MacAlister, Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing, has said that the government will push private providers of child social care in England out of the system if they discover they're profiteering.

The Competition and Markets Authority found that in 2022, children's home owners in England, Scotland and Wales were making massively excessive profits. At the same time, they were also carrying too much debt. This was exposing both children and councils to unacceptable risks.

As it stands, more than 80% of residential children's homes in England are for-profit, which makes you question whether they really have the best interests of children at heart.

MacAlister also called for an equivalent of the Homes for Ukraine scheme to provide homes for tens of thousands of children in foster care.

However, the government's plan does not appear to address the increasing number of private foster care agencies.

These are known to pay foster carers far more than local authorities do, meaning the government then pays far more to use them. Because, of course, profit is vitally important when looking after vulnerable children.

Local authorities have reported struggling to compete. So when foster carers leave and turn to private companies, there are not enough carers, and the government has no choice but to rely on the private agencies.

Safe, stable, and secure foster care placements have the ability to change a child's life for the better.

But until the government puts a stop to profiteering private companies taking advantage of vulnerable children needing a home, their best interests are never going to be the primary goal of the foster care system.

Feature image via BBC Creative/Unsplash

By HG

Ever since Keir Starmer and his cronies blocked Andy Burnham from running, it's seemed like Labour stood no chance in the Gorton & Denton byelection. To make matters worse, Starmer has embroiled himself in one of the most unseemly scandals of this century. And as you'd expect, that's done nothing for Labour's chances in Gorton & Denton:

It's clear that #MandelsonGate is having an effect on the Gorton and Denton by-election.

Labour going down.

Greens going up.

It's Green vs Reform - Labour are out of the running. pic.twitter.com/aMxUlbHUaZ

— Darren Parkinson

A new report from the National Audit Office (NAO) has found that delays and backlogs for the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) Access to Work scheme have more than doubled in the last four years.

Earlier this week, the DWP launched a call for evidence in relation to the Access to Work scheme. Ahead of the evidence session, the NAO have published a report on the scheme.

According to the NAO report:

The Access to Work scheme is intended to provide support for people's needs within the workplace over and above an employer's legal duty to make reasonable adjustments.

As the Canary previously reported:

Access to Work is, in theory, supposed to provide financial support to disabled people to help them get into and stay in work. The fund can be used towards specialist equipment, transport, and support workers. However, as the Canary has reported, the programme has, for a long time, been failing disabled people, and the department is quietly cutting it without any consultation and little transparency.

Of course, this means disabled people are struggling to get into work because of their accommodations can't be met.

Additionally, in November, we reported that:

The founder of an organisation that supports thousands of disabled people in navigating Access to Work has come forward about the underhanded process by which the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is making "drastic cuts" to the crumbling scheme.

Access to work came under fire recently after a disabled people's organisation came forward about the DWP making underhanded and "drastic" cuts to the scheme.

The DWP was attempting to limit funds for specialist equipment. It would also create stricter rules on support worker rates of pay and on awarding job aid support workers.

DWP — The numbers

In total, 74,200 people received help from Access to Work from 2024-25. This is a 97% increase from 37,700 in 2018-19. On 31 March 2025, 62,100 applications were awaiting a decision from the DWP, compared to only 21,700 on the same date in 2022. This figure has almost tripled in only three years.

Even more shocking is that outstanding payment requests more than quadrupled, from 6,900 to 31,700, over the same period.

The total number of Access to Work applications in 2024/25 was 157,000. This is more than double the number of applications (76,100) in 2018-19.

This means that only 47% of people who applied for access to work in 2024/25 actually received help.

The average time the DWP takes to process applications has also increased dramatically, from 66 working days in 2021-22 to 109 in 2024-25.

The report states:

While the scheme clearly has benefits, DWP recognises it does not know whether the scheme provides value for money.

The government is clearly attempting to push more disabled and chronically ill people into work. Meanwhile, it is failing to put the necessary measures in place to make sure that disabled people are actually able to work or keep their already existing jobs. Without these measures, disabled people will not be able to find or stay in safe, suitable, and rewarding work.

Featured image via National Audit Office

By HG

There's an 'intimate connection' between the workings of the US empire and the UK media. And they didn't just batter the left in the Jeremy Corbyn years. They also set us up with a cold, rotten dish of Keir Starmer, Peter Mandelson, and their ilk of soulless corporate stooges.

Filmmaker Victor Fraga made the film The Bad Patriots, which is now available on major streaming services. And to mark the occasion, he told us about how establishment propagandists got away with smearing prominent left-wingers Ken Loach and Jeremy Corbyn.

This is a film for everyone because, as Fraga asserted:

I'm not asking people to love Ken and Jeremy… It's not a film about their ideas. It's a film about misrepresentations.

He added:

We like to believe Britain is free, but it really isn't that free.

UK Media and legal collusion blocked the left

Having previously made a documentary about media enabling of countless coups in Brazil, Fraga followed up by looking at the same dynamic in the UK. Through his film about Loach and Corbyn, he said, a key focus was to show:

how the British media has consistently and promiscuously attempted to defame and degrade Ken and Jeremy, paint them as antisemitic, spineless, fruitcakes, too old, … not being patriotic enough

As an establishment mouthpiece, he stressed, the mainstream media played a "crucial role" in the propaganda war on the left that put the right back in charge of the Labour Party:

Keir Starmer would have never been elected without the support from the media. I mean, the Sun supported Keir Starmer and Tony Blair. That says a lot, doesn't it?

Imperialism and media bias, meanwhile, are "intimately connected". As he insisted:

You can talk about imperialism without talking about the media, but I don't think you can talk about the media without talking about imperialism. Obviously, the media attend to the interests of the few, not the many…

The objective of the media is not to inform people. It's to control people. And most mainstream media, virtually all of them, are owned by millionaires.

And the people the media smears target struggle to fight back because of how expensive it is in the UK, where the law favours obscenely wealthy actors over ordinary people. At the same time, the smears were so systemic in the case of Corbyn that it would have been almost impossible to challenge them legally. As Fraga asserted:

The legal costs are so high that even when you win, sometimes you lose…

So, yeah, the justice system is complicit.

And it's not just the legal system playing along. Because as the Canary has detailed previously, there is a whole infrastructure of repression against the left in the UK, including the political policing project that unjustifiably spied on hundreds of left-wing groups for decades.

This infrastructure isn't always obvious for everyone, because of the veneer of freedom and democracy that our establishment sells us. But there are times, like with the Peter Mandelson scandal (connecting into the whole anti-socialist offensive to put Keir Starmer in power), where the dark dealings of establishment politics and media come out into the light.

The interests behind the misrepresentations

The empire and its propagandists want to sell an upside-down view of the world — as we've seen during the US-Israeli genocide in Gaza and the repression surrounding it. As Fraga stressed:

In the same way Keir Starmer purports to be left-wing (someone who supports foreign invasions, who's deeply xenophobic, and who shudders at the thought of anything vaguely socialist), Jeremy is painted as an extremist for wanting to nationalise rail and for policies which are widely implemented in France and Scandinavia. They paint a pacifist such as Jeremy Corbyn as an extremist, and a warmonger like Tony Blair as moderate. That's pretty sick.

Corbyn was certainly a concern for the US empire and its junior partner in the UK. Ex-CIA director and secretary of state Mike Pompeo admitted as much when he promised to "push back" to undermine Corbyn's chances of winning the 2019 election. Figures in the British army and secret services also briefed against him.

And whether or not there was direct coordination, the establishment media was absolutely singing from the empire's hymn sheet. It played a key role in smearing Corbyn and ensuring his loss in the 2019 election. And even the biggest supposedly left-wing paper, the Guardian, was in on it. As Corbyn later told Declassified:

I do not trust the Guardian… it's a tool of the British establishment.

Prominent filmmaker Loach also represented a concern for the powers that be due to his longstanding critique of capitalism, colonialism, imperialism, racism, and state repression. And he has faced significant attempts to censor and silence his work as a result.

As Fraga summarised, the whole country should be aware that the media's behaviour is "not an accident":

On many occasions, they do know they're lying blatantly. They do know what they're doing.

And that intentional behaviour serves the interests of the rich and powerful, undermining what limited democracy exists in the UK even further.

This matters to absolutely everyone in the country, and Fraga hopes The Bad Patriots can help to 'burst the bubble' and get people talking about the media's actions more. So invite friends, family members, and anyone you can to watch the film. Because only by facing this issue head on can we stand a chance of changing things.

Featured image via Journeyman Pictures

By Ed Sykes

The Leicestershire Police and Crimes Commissioner and proud Reform UK supporter Rupert Matthews needs a hard drive check it seems. On January 4 he sparked fury when he changed his profile picture on Twitter to 'Amelia', an AI-generated CHILD used by extremists to promote hate.

Reform UK's PCC @Rupert_Matthews has set his profile picture to a still of the deeply racist AI video that was doing the rounds recently.

'She' uses the terms "paki wankers" and states that the Church and BBC are a bunch of "queers and nonces" and makes a strange remark about… pic.twitter.com/dR7UV2eulH

— Reform Party UK Exposed