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Water bills boycotter says ‘I’m taking this all the way’

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Water bills boycotter says 'I'm taking this all the way'

Campaigners for the boycott of water bills gathered in Margate on Thursday 19 March. They were protesting ahead of longtime boycotter Julie Wassmer’s court showdown against Southern Water.

Supporters came from all part of Kent including Whitstable, Broadstairs, Deal, Folkestone as well as from Sussex, London and Oxford. They were united in their condemnation at the dire state of the water industry.

Crime writer and environmental campaigner Wassmer has withheld payment for the wastewater part of her bill for over four years. She gave an impassioned speech arguing that the state of water is both a national and an international disgrace.

She said she intends to argue in court on 26 March that regulation has failed. She’ll claim there’s no accountability for poor service and this, in principle, contravenes Article 6 of the Human Rights Act:

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It cannot be right that in a modern civic society consumers are forced to pay for services which are not being provided at all, or which seriously pollute our seas and waterways and damage our precious environment – while denying us a means of challenging this effectively through the legal system.

I’d like to see the back of every water company CEO in this country for whom, by the way, the average pay is £1.7m a year – while OUR bills have gone up 40% in real terms since privatisation and are set to increase far more.

The broken water industry

Johnbosco Nwogbo is lead campaigner at We Own It, an organisation that campaigns for public ownership of public services. He queried what it was that Southern Water wanted Julie to pay for:

Southern Water dumped sewage for about 304,000 hours in our rivers and seas in 2024. Is that what they’re asking Julie to pay for, so they can continue to dump sewage in our rivers and seas? They paid out £2.3 billion in dividends to their shareholders since the water company was privatized – it that what they’re asking Julie to pay for?

Nwogbo pointed out that when Southern Water went private in 1989 it had no debt, but it has since taken on £5.7bn of debt. This money clearly hasn’t been invested in infrastructure, but rather paid out in dividends to shareholders. He said:

Instead of people like Julie finding themselves in court defending themselves, Southern Water should find itself in court!

And he added that there is currently a proposal in front of the environment secretary to try to ‘save’ failing Thames Water from bankruptcy. This deal would allow the company to pollute illegally until 2040. He insisted the government should reject the deal and take Thames back into public ownership. Otherwise fellow water companies will simply follow suit in a race to the bottom:

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Or rather, a race to the sewer!

Two Green Party councillors from Kent spoke at the event, Rob Yates and Andy Harvey.

Margate councillor Yates said he had personally investigated Southern Water by submitting Freedom of Information requests. These revealed the number of times the company had breached its permits by pouring untreated sewage into the seas. And the results formed part of a criminal case against Southern Water.

He added:

Privatisation without competition is exploitation. England and Wales are the only country in the world with a fully privatised water industry – now is the time to reverse Thatcherism.

Surge in boycott support

Katy Colley co-founded boycottwaterbills.com with Wassmer. She said that since the screening of Dirty Business, the Channel 4 three-part drama about the sewage scandal, the website had seen a surge in new signups.

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She quoted submissions from a host of new boycotters from all over the country whose water companies included United Utilities, Southwest Water, Severn Trent, Thames Water and Southern Water.

These were people, she said, who had had enough of:

spiralling bills while water companies pour increasing amounts of sewage into our seas and waterways with impunity.

She insisted that for many, this was not a first step but a final resort:

because we see no other way to make a difference.

Like her, many had complained to their water company, to the Consumer Council for Water, to the Water Redress Scheme, Environment Agency and OFWAT.

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At every stage we are told no, you cannot hold your company accountable for their failures. But if we’re consumers and we’re unhappy with a service we should be able to go elsewhere. We can’t because water is a natural monopoly.

We protested, we wrote letters, signed petitions. The government changed. But with water, nothing changed.

That’s why so many of us decided, that despite the potential risks, the difficulties, we’re going to use the power we have in our pockets. We’re going to withhold payment for the wastewater service part of our bill.

She says the boycott movement is now spreading rapidly with thousands accessing the site every week. Many are now cancelling their direct debits as a ‘first rung on the boycott ladder’.

She said:

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Nobody is obliged to pay by direct debit, only on receipt of a bill twice a year, and direct debit is how water companies hold money on account, treating us like cash cows.

Olivia Cavanagh is from Hastings Boycotts Southern Water. She expressed her disgust at the recent bio bead spill from an Eastbourne sewage treatment plant across the Kent and Sussex coast. Ten tonnes of toxic beads were released into the sea, causing catastrophic damage to the coastline and environment. She asked:

Did Southern Water come out and say we’re sorry this has happened, we’re going to clean it up? No, volunteers and voluntary organisations came out. As usual it was left to the community and the people that care about the environment.

It’s clear that Southern Water, like all the water companies, don’t give a damn about the environment, the wildlife and the plant system.

The large and noisy protest drew dozens of encouraging honks from passing cars and trucks. Attendees said the energy and passion of the speakers was inspiring. One passerby said:

It’s encouraging to see ordinary people doing something and not just accepting this situation. With the sewage and the price increases here, you get the feeling that we are just being taken for mugs. I don’t think I would want to go to court myself, but I think I might cancel my direct debit. It’s better than nothing.

Wassmer’s case has its hearing at Canterbury County Court on Thursday 26 March at 10am.

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Featured image via Andrew Hastings / Boycottwaterbills.com

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Israel must be stopped, says Spanish MP

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Israel must be stopped, says Spanish MP

Spanish MP Ione Belarra delivered a forceful speech condemning Israel, declaring that it “must be stopped.”

Belarra has often been outspoken, alongside Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, in opposing Israel’s actions in Gaza. She argues that Israel’s military campaign is a genocide and has long called on the international community to act decisively.

She also condemned further Israeli strikes beyond Gaza, specifically their military actions against Iran and Lebanon. Belarra astutely described them as part of a broader and increasingly unlawful escalation. Since late February, Spanish leaders have continued to press other countries to uphold international law and the rules-based global system to little avail.

Refusing to give up, Belarra has now issued a stark and urgent warning to world leaders, insisting that their failure to restrain Israel could lead to wider devastation far beyond Palestine.

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Israel is the true threat to global peace and stability

Principled activists and leaders have relentlessly called on international governments to show backbone and act with moral clarity. They argue that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza after decades of occupying Palestinian territories since 1948 and demand that the world confront it now.

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They point to Spain – under PM Pedro Sánchez – as setting the pace, with one of the strongest efforts in Europe to hold Israel accountable for its crimes.

This warning from Belarra follows prior moves by Spain to apply political pressure against Israel. The Spanish government have stood out on the world stage for its actions such as the banning of arm sales, refusing to allow access to military bases and recently recalling Spain’s Ambassador from Israel. 

Spain appears to be stepping up its campaign to wake world leaders to what it warns is a dangerous reality: Israel’s aggression will not stop at the Middle East.

Belarra has compared Israel and its genocide against Palestinians to Nazi Germany from the outset:

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This adds to a list of powerful speeches given by this courageous Spanish MP; she regularly speaks out against Israel in the Spanish parliament. Here, she has even called NATO a “criminal alliance” and insisted Spain bow out:

 

A reminder of the catastrophic hellscape that has been inflicted on Palestinian civilians at the hands of the IDF and its lackies:

This X post shows the sheer scale of opposition to the US and Israel amongst the Spanish population:

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This video shared in the X post shows Israel and the US declaring more countries as ‘enemies’. This reinforces Belarra’s warning that their military reach will eventually extend even further:

Keep going, Spain!

Spain and its elected officials are leading the way internationally in the fight against fascism and violent extremism. Israel and the US are being led by toddler tyrants who prioritise their own self-interest and power over accountability and human cost.

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As Ione Belarra warns, this hostile supremacy poses a threat to everyone. Countries with ties to the US – and especially those hosting its military bases – now face the strategic risks those installations have always carried: tools to exert pressure and project power, often at the expense of their own national interests.

Like Spanish citizens, we need principled leadership in the UK – leaders who stand up to genocidal warmongers and say no.

They’ve already sold out our interests for private profit. We must not let them sell out our country to a terrorist state too.

Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Vozpopuli

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The feminist courage of Dame Jenni Murray

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The feminist courage of Dame Jenni Murray

Journalist and broadcaster Dame Jenni Murray died last week at the age of 75.

Born in Barnsley in South Yorkshire in 1950, Murray began her journalistic career at BBC Radio Bristol in 1973, before becoming a presenter and reporter for regional news programme, South Today. A warm but probing interviewer, she became a presenter on BBC’s Newsnight from 1983 until 1985, and then on BBC Radio 4’s flagship news programme, Today, in 1987. But it was as the host of Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, a role she held for over 30 years until she stepped down in 2020, that she was best known.

She was also a prominent feminist voice in the media. Alongside her work on Woman’s Hour, she focussed on women’s issues in her journalism for the Guardian among other outlets, and in her own books, including Is It Me or I It Hot in Here?, tackling everything from menopause to sexist beauty standards. Climbing the ranks at the BBC when it really was a boys’ club, Murray, with her clipped and serious questioning style, was a heroine for many aspiring female journalists.

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But it was in 2017 that Murray showed her feminist courage. In an article for The Sunday Times in March 2017, entitled ‘Be trans and be proud – but don’t call yourself a real woman’, Murray outed herself as possibly the only member of the media elite at the time who wasn’t going to get on the ‘transwomen are women’ bandwagon. Murray wrote that ‘it takes more than a sex change and makeup’ to become a woman.

In a long, eloquent article detailing her position, Murray recounted experiences she had had with transwomen – the Reverend Carol Stone and India Willoughby among them – who had disappointed her by clinging to stereotypes of what it meant to be a woman. Murray argued that men, who had enjoyed all the privileges and power that she argued women were often refused, could not suddenly shop in a different section of the department store and call themselves ladies. She described her ‘fury that a male-to-female transsexual could be so ignorant of the politics that have preoccupied women for centuries’. Referencing the British Medical Association’s request for employees to use ‘inclusive’ phrases like ‘chest-feeding’, Murray responded: ‘I breastfed my kids and it was my breast that was cut off when I had cancer. No debate.’

This article would come to define much of Murray’s later career. She faced cancellations and countless protests at several universities where she was scheduled to speak. At Oxford University, protesters hung a ‘transwomen are real women’ sign. At the University of Hull, students decided to drop plans to name a lecture theatre after her, with Hull Students’ Union president claiming that her views made her ineligible as a ‘role model for students’. And trans activists were interviewed on television claiming to be frightened to be in the presence of Murray.

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The BBC responded to the trans-activist pressure by preventing Murray from discussing any trans-related issues on Woman’s Hour – a behind-closed-doors decision Murray herself revealed in a 2020 article for the Daily Mail. Murray described stepping away from Woman’s Hour as being ‘free of the leash’.

Murray’s no-nonsense attitude to the issues and challenges facing women, from marital rape to women’s healthcare (Murray herself was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006), gave her the kind of confidence to challenge trans ideology. Her commonsense challenge to the idea that men could become women with a wardrobe change and a visit to the doctors was a brave and brilliant intervention during a time of madness.

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Many of Murray’s former colleagues have celebrated her journalistic integrity since the announcement of her death. Her passing should also provoke some soul-searching among a fair few of them, too – particularly those who have quietly moved TERFside now that it is no longer career-ending. Many failed to stand with Murray when she chose to say what she knew to be true. They looked the other way as she defended women’s rights – just as she had done all her life.

A pioneering journalist, cutting it in what was once a male-dominated industry, Murray remains an inspiration to many. She set a moral, political and journalistic example that others would do well to follow.

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Francesca Albanese warns UN member states to act

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Francesca Albanese warns UN member states to act

UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese has once again urged UN member states to wake up to the reality on the ground in the Middle East. Ahead of her eighth report on Israel’s genocidal actions against Palestinians, she warns that Israel poses a serious threat to international peace and security.

In turn, Albanese highlighted the extensive evidence she has gathered in her urgent UN reports and reinforces her call to world leaders to uphold their humanitarian duty by intervening to stop the mass killing of innocent men, women, and children.

Finally, she stresses that only those in positions of power can hold Israel accountable under international law. In turn, this could work to prevent a dark, sinister future for the global population as a result of the new world order enforced by the US and Israel that ‘might is always right’.

A world order that will hurt any and all countries who have anything of value to imperial interests.

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Francesca Albanese tells UN member states to stop ignoring legal obligations

Albanese is continuing in her mission to press the UN into action, tirelessly reminding it of the vital purpose it was created to serve. The UN was formed after WWII in 1945 in order to promote cooperation amongst international leaders, enforcing a rules-based system which would foster and maintain peace and security.

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If international law was applied without fear or favour, the world would see far less bloodshed and far less aggressive vitriol from hostile states. However, since its inception, the world’s most powerful states have used the international body as a way of beating down states they wish to exploit whilst shielding themselves from accountability for crimes committed by the West.

The US has consistently vetoed any effective resolutions put forward by the UN, often making its lackies toe the line and abstain from having a view. The US even saw fit to veto a UN resolution which would have allowed for unrestricted aid to enter Gaza, as we wrote back in September:

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has voted on a draft resolution put forward by its ten ‘non-permanent’ members demanding an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the immediate release of all hostages and the immediate lifting of Israel’s blockade on food and medicines – and ordering on the occupying power to ensure safe and unhindered distribution to all in need.

Adding:

The US representative vetoed the UN resolution, condemning around 1.5 million surviving civilians in Gaza to starvation as they continue to be bombed and displaced by the coloniser.

Allowing these abuses only emboldens tyrannical leaders. After all, veto powers that block widely supported resolutions undermine the rules-based system and threaten international peace and security. This only reinforces Albanese’s assertion that Israel, and those who provide diplomatic cover, are the ultimate threat to the wellbeing of the global civilian population.

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Many have long called for an end to this ability to stack the deck through the veto capability, urgently calling for reform in the Security Council:

A world leader leading the way is Spain’s PM Pedro Sanchez, who recently supported calls to end veto power in the UN:

Investigative journalist Peter Cronau has further reinforced Albanese’s demand for the UN to act:

Where is the UN’s backbone now?

Legal scholar Nimer Sultany has compared prior decisions made by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to the lack of action taken today:

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Going further, Sultany highlighted the silence from the UN Security Council (UNSC) regarding the illegal attacks on Iran:

Al Jazeera’s Marwan Bishara underscored how Israel’s abuses seem to have no end in sight:

Better late than never

Francesca Albanese’s plea to the UN and its member states comes at a dangerously bleak moment for modern civilisation. Israel and the US are being led by self-interested, reckless, and fanatical leaders who prioritise settler colonialism above all else.

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When greed and cruelty run unchecked, staying silent about crimes abroad only legitimises these dangerous actions – and leaves all states vulnerable to those who seek to take from them next.

We hope the UN and Western leaders finally heed Albanese’s call – after all, it’s better to act late than never at all.

Featured image via the Canary

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Starmer Tells Trump: You Can’t Pressure Me Over Iran War

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Starmer Tells Trump: You Can’t Pressure Me Over Iran War

Keir Starmer has told Donald Trump he won’t be “pressured” into changing his position on the Iran war.

The prime minister said he “will not be wavering” in his belief that America and Israel’s attacks were illegal and that the president has no plan for what comes next.

Starmer angered Trump by initially refusing permission for American jets to use RAF bases to launch bombing raids.

Giving evidence to the Liaison Committee of senior MPs, the PM said: “The principles I’ve applied throughout is that for any UK action, there must be a lawful basis, and a viable and thought-through plan. That is why we didn’t join the original offensive strikes.”

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He added: “This is not our war, and we are not getting dragged into this war.”

Trump has launched a series of attacks on the PM since the war began more than three weeks ago.

His most recent jibe came on Sunday when he shared a Saturday Night Live UK sketch portraying Starmer as weak, indecisive and scared of Trump.

Asked by Liaison Committee chair Meg Hillier about the president’s “quite rude” behaviour, the PM said: “I’m utterly focused on what is in the best interests of our country and I am unapologetic about that.

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“Notwithstanding the pressure that comes from elsewhere, I will remain laser focused on what is in the British national interest.

“And a lot of what is said or done is undoubtedly said and done to put pressure on me, I have no doubt about that. I understand what is going on.

“But I am not going to waver on this. I am the British prime minister and my job is to be absolutely focused on what is in the British national interest.

“That has served me well in recent weeks and that is the principle that I will continue to adhere to as we go forward taking difficult decisions.”

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The GOP’s Absurd ‘Abortion Water’ Bill

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The GOP’s Absurd ‘Abortion Water’ Bill

!function(n){if(!window.cnx){window.cnx={},window.cnx.cmd=[];var t=n.createElement(‘iframe’);t.display=’none’,t.onload=function(){var n=t.contentWindow.document,c=n.createElement(‘script’);c.src=”//cd.connatix.com/connatix.player.js”,c.setAttribute(‘async’,’1′),c.setAttribute(‘type’,’text/javascript’),n.body.appendChild(c)},n.head.appendChild(t)}}(document);(new Image()).src=”https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=19654b65-409c-4b38-90db-80cbdea02cf4″;cnx.cmd.push(function(){cnx({“playerId”:”19654b65-409c-4b38-90db-80cbdea02cf4″,”mediaId”:”129acaad-a836-43b8-b264-3f1e9f0b0223″}).render(“69c1826be4b0964b5700263b”);});

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Iran’s foreign minister denounces Netanyahu’s anti-Jesus fascism

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Iran's foreign minister denounces Netanyahu's anti-Jesus fascism

Iran’s foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, slammed Netanyahu’s blasphemous dismissal of Jesus as having “no advantage over [conqueror and mass murderer] Genghis Khan”.

Israel’s PM, Benjamin Netanyahu, gave away his complete ignorance of actual Christianity. Jesus said his kingdom is not of this world; Khan, like Netanyahu, is all about stealing physical territory and wealth from the people in his way.

Iran’s Araghchi calls Netanyahu ‘wanted war criminal’

But Araghchi zeroed in on Netanyahu’s show of contempt for the deluded US ‘Christian’ nationalists whose support is vital to Netanyahu’s crimes and impunity:

The video also exposed, again, Netanyahu’s fascism and genocide. He uses ‘democracy’ as an excuse for brutality, claiming that violence — ‘strength’ — is essential to ‘defend’ it. He deliberately ignores that it is no ‘democracy’ that needs to be defended with war crimes and genocide.

The video has also been dismissed as AI. It certainly looks weird and off. Netanyahu has not been credibly seen in public for almost three weeks since Iran said it had struck his office. Likewise with his security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Israel and its lobby groups try to claim that anti-Zionism is antisemitism. In fact, about 90% of Zionists are ‘Christian’ — more precisely, racist US and other ‘Christian nationalists‘ whose beliefs have little to do with the teachings of Jesus.

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Featured image via Iran Ministry of Foreign Affairs

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Israeli analyst calls for death of children

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Israeli analyst calls for death of children

Israeli analyst Orit Perlov has called for the deliberate murder of the children of Israel’s opponents. Perlov, who works for the Israeli Institute of National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, posted the comment on her X feed on Sunday 22 March 2026. She has previously called ISIS-linked, Israeli-funded Palestinian terrorist Yasser Abu Shabab “the man of the hour”.

A screenshot of Perlov’s original post in Hebrew.

Translated, her post – apparently since deleted – demands a “cruel religious approach” of “eliminating” the children of Iranian leaders. And she appears to bemoan the fact that Israel didn’t do it immediately in Gaza or Lebanon:

Please replace the state approach with a cruel religious approach. Instead of a power plant strike, a plague of the firstborn – tomorrow evening, eliminate the children of Vahidi, Araghchi, and Ghalibaf.

If we can’t get to the parents, harm their children (it took us two years to do it in Gaza. We haven’t done it in Lebanon yet)… Instead of a “mad landlord” approach, we need a cruel landlord. Trump can’t promise hell – that’s exactly what they want.

Hitting power plants would be counterproductive If they drag us into a boxing match and ping-pong games – We lose.

On the same day, she also had the nerve to decry Iran’s threat to retaliate for US-Israeli attacks on its energy resources by striking Israeli power plants as a “war crime”, despite Israel’s repeated attacks on Iran’s.

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The INSS plays a role in Israel’s attempts to fight ‘delegitimisation’ of its apartheid colony, for example by condemning left-wing allies of the Palestinian people who see the Palestinian struggle as an anti-colonial one (I know, right) and claiming it drives ‘antisemitism’.

Prior to joining the INSS, Orit Perlov worked for the Israeli government.

Imagine the mass political and media outcry if an Iranian government-linked think-tanker called for the targeting of the children of Israeli political figures, even though Israel routinely murders the families of Palestinian journalists and medical workers.

Featured image via the Canary

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no justice for its victims

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no justice for its victims

The long-running spycops inquiry has revealed what one expert calls “the secret history of Britain“. Officially known as the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI), the inquiry, led by Sir John Mitting, has been looking into misconduct by uncover officers who infiltrated leftwing movements, stole the identities of deceased children, and entered into undisclosed, unlawful romances.

Published exchanges show how absurdly incompetent some agents were, and confirm, yet again, the state’s commitment to sabotaging left-wing movements.

Undercover officers unjustifiably targeted hundreds of left-wing groups for decades. As expert Tom Fowler told the Canary previously, this campaign “fundamentally changed Britain.

The recent focus on one incompetent officer in particular, exposes how this infiltration of progressive movements wasn’t always smooth sailing.

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When a spycop messed up

The agent, who went by the false name of ‘Simon Wellings’, made a costly blunder. Wellings, as the Guardian reported:

jeopardised his own covert deployment by mistakenly recording himself discussing individual campaigners with other special branch officers.

In a ludicrous turn of events, Wellings was at a spycop meeting when he looked up an activist’s phone number and dialled it by accident. The call went to voicemail, which recorded his ongoing conversation with other officers. This silly mistake blew his cover.

Between 2001 and 2007, Wellings infiltrated numerous campaigns and sent thousands of surveillance reports back to his superiors.

These, as the Guardian found:

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included details of campaigners’ bank accounts, housing, personal relationships and finances.

They also noted that:

Campaigners said Wellings routinely made up and over-inflated his surveillance reports about them, exaggerating, for example, the level of violence in protests.

Their reporting highlighted that:

Internal police documents show that, after he was exposed, the police considered whether to leave the anti-capitalist group he had infiltrated “intact” or whether to “mount a destructive operation”.

‘Destructive’ police operations against the left

Activist Chris Nineham, whom the state is still targeting today, was a member of the groups that Wellings targeted. And after Nineham’s appearance at the spycops inquiry, Fowler hailed him for hammering home that:

this was not just about spying. This was about disruption. This was about sabotage.

As Fowler insisted, the undercover cops and the network of repression around them were “doing so much to destroy movements.”

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He added that the evidence shows:

the police did destroy – do destroy – movements, as we have long said. But more than that, they talk about doing it and they put it in their files.

Guy Taylor, who was in the same left-wing groups as Nineham, summarised that Wellings’s appearance at the inquiry proved the agent:

was a fantasist and a liar and inflated everything

And even though the proceedings didn’t use the court’s time in a very efficient way, Taylor stressed that between the witness testimonies and Wellings’s own words, the former agent had totally “crumbled and died” under scrutiny. Indeed, as Fowler asserted, the chair himself even asserted that:

he believed… the evidence from other people… and gave [Wellings] the opportunity to change his position

Fowler concluded:

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that just doesn’t happen and I think that spoke volumes

The spycops inquiry itself may not bring about real justice or change. But every new revelation helps to piece together the British state’s historic repression of the left. The inquiry is an important step towards exposing and resisting state repression, and minimising the harms of future uncover missions targeting our communities.

Featured image via the Canary

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Palantir embroiled in another security scandal

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Palantir embroiled in another security scandal

The sea remains blue(ish), the sky remains grey, and Palantir is embroiled in yet another nascent big-data privacy scandal. We’re beginning to wonder if the tech firm that chose to name itself after the dark wizard Saruman’s seeing-stone might not be entirely on the level, you know.

The Guardian have uncovered the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) plans to hand Palantir access to financial regulation figures. The US defense contractor recently won the FCA contract, beating one unnamed competitor and gaining still-greater access to highly sensitive UK data.

Palantir: serious security concerns

The FCA ostensibly regulates the UK’s financial services firms. However, it will now pay over £30,000 a week for Palantir to route through its data on UK firms. The Miami-based tech giant will be looking for evidence of irregularities like money laundering, insider trading, and fraud.

If the FCA is pleased with Palantir’s work, the company may be tasked with producing an AI system for the financial watchdog.

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The Guardian explained that:

Palantir is expected to apply its AI system, known as Foundry, to huge quantities of information held by the watchdog, including case intelligence files marked highly sensitive; information on so-called problem firms; reports from lenders about proven and suspected frauds; and data about the public, including consumer complaints to the financial ombudsman.

The data includes recordings of phone calls, emails and trawls of social media posts, the Guardian understands. The FCA is one of several UK agencies which aim to stop financial crimes that underpin harms such as the drug trade and human trafficking.

The article also reported concerns from within the FCA itself. One anonymous staff member at the watchdog asked:

Once Palantir understands how we detect money-laundering threats, how do we know that they are ethically reliable enough not to go to share that information?

‘Vast quantities of data’

Likewise, financial-crime specialist Christopher Houssemayne du Boulay, a partner at Hickman & Rose law firm, also raised serious security worries. He explained that:

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When the FCA carries out an enforcement investigation, it has powers to compel firms to hand over vast quantities of data. We could be talking about hundreds of whole email accounts and full financial records. Many innocent people will be caught up in that and the data may contain bank account details, email addresses, telephone numbers and other personal information.

If you ingest that data and use it to train an AI system, there are very significant privacy concerns. There should be serious confidentiality requirements regarding what Palantir does with the data.

However, the FCA have insisted that it hasn’t given Palantir permission to copy the data it examines. Which is all fine then, because surely the data company wouldn’t do anything it isn’t allowed to do. 

The watchdog insists that Palantir would be a “data processor” rather than a “data controller”. This means that the FCA would retain sole access to the encryption keys for sensitive files. Likewise, the data would only ever be stored in the UK.

However, the FCA reportedly stopped short of scrambling company and individual names, or using dummy data as a test. That’s in spite of the fact that it’s own guidance suggests using synthetic data in pilot runs.

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Palantir: Somehow worse than it sounds

Palantir was co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, a major donor for Donald Trump and the 2022 Republican election campaign – to the tune of over $32m. Unsurprisingly, Thiel was also a friend of Jeffrey Epstein. The tech magnate once famously claimed that:

I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.

Given his openly authoritarian views, it’s both utterly outrageous and depressingly predictable that the UK government simply won’t stop handing his company public deals. To date, Palantir has raked in over £670m of UK public funds. These include contracts with the military, police, and even the NHS. 

Amnesty International’s AI and human rights researcher Matt Mahmoudi said the firm:

has a track record of flagrantly disregarding international law and standards, both in violations of the human rights of migrants in the United States, which it risks contributing to, and its ongoing supply of artificial intelligence products and services to the Israeli military and intelligence services.

Anybody with an even-passing interest in data security, privacy and basic human freedoms might recognise that Palantir shouldn’t be allowed within 50 metres of a fucking Excel account, never mind the FCA’s database.

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However, it’s glaringly clear that the heads of our public institutions no longer share these concerns.

Featured image via the Canary

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Football has a gigantic racism problem

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Football has a gigantic racism problem

Football is more than just a game; it’s a universal language that unites people behind a single ball, but it’s also a mirror reflecting the values ​​and principles of societies.

In every match, the spectre of racism sometimes rears its head, reminding us that there’s a segment of the audience that hasn’t yet grasped that a player’s worth is measured by their effort and performance on the pitch, not by their skin color or origin.

With the rise in racist abuse in both European and Arab stadiums, it’s clear that the responsibility lies with everyone involved in the game: the fans are the ones who determine the nature of the event, whether for or against it.

Football has a herd mentality problem

Stands are more than just seats; they’re a breeding ground for what experts call “herd mentality.”

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As a dynamic force, fans have the power to change the atmosphere of matches. When fans reject racist chants and silence them immediately, the racist becomes a social outcast before facing legal penalties, creating a sense of self-regulation within the stands.

Conversely, a player remains vulnerable to psychological attacks if there is no public awareness, which can leave lasting psychological scars on their career and life off the field.

The psychological effects extend beyond the individual, impacting the reputation of clubs and countries themselves. In the age of live broadcasts and social media, every racist chant, transmitted live to the world, becomes a stain on the club and the country, affecting sports investments and the image of the society in the eyes of the world.

Explosive impact

A clear example of this is what happened in several recent European matches, where racist chants became negative media content that swept across global networks, leaving a significant mark on the image of the team and the organizers.

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The reality is that resorting to racism when losing or provoking the opponent is a sign of intellectual and sporting bankruptcy. A person who finds no other way to express their anger than by belittling others because of their skin color or background lacks even the most basic sporting awareness. Football is built on diversity. From Pelé to Zidane, from Messi to Ronaldo, they all represent different backgrounds and ethnicities, and without this diversity, the game would not have reached its current status. As Nelson Mandela said, “People learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love.”

Today’s sports arena is more than just a platform for cheering; it is a space for sporting and human values. It is the fans who decide whether these values ​​will remain present or be lost amidst the clamor of toxic chants, and it is they who can transform matches from mere sporting events into moral messages that reflect the true spirit of football.

Featured image via the Canary

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