Politics
Therapist Explains Why Children Feel Lonely And How To Help Them
What Kids Are Carrying is a HuffPost UK series focusing on how the nation’s youngest generation is *really* feeling right now – and how parents and caregivers can support them.
Children are feeling increasingly lonely and unheard, according to therapists, who say it was one of the top issues brought up by kids in therapy in 2025.
Counselling Directory member Mandi Simons said her practice is seeing more children and young people describe “a sense of loneliness”, but it’s not always about being alone.
“Many are surrounded by people, yet still feel unheard and misunderstood,” she told HuffPost UK.
Similarly, therapist Debbie Keenan, also a Counselling Directory member, said there’s been “an increase of children not just feeling isolated, but feeling unheard”.
One in three young people say they do not feel part of their local community, and young people in Britain are more likely to report feelings of loneliness than any other age group, with 70% of 18- to 24-year-olds reporting they feel lonely at least some of the time.
What is driving loneliness among children?
“From our therapists’ experience, this rarely comes from a lack of care,” said Simons. “More often, it reflects the reality of modern day family life, with busy parents juggling multiple demands, alongside conversations that can feel rushed or move too quickly into fixing or reassuring.”
She noted “social media can add to this, creating pressure and comparison while reducing genuine connection”.
Keenan agrees social media usage is playing into this, as is social thinning, where everyday opportunities for meaningful interactions have greatly reduced.
Between 2010 and 2023, more than 1,200 council run youth centres closed across England and Wales, and local authority spending on youth services in England plummeted by just over 70%.
Meanwhile, between 2014 and 2024, the number of young people (aged 16-24) experiencing common mental health conditions rose from 19% to 26%.
Research suggests that today’s children have significantly less freedom to roam, play outdoors, or gather with friends than previous generations.
“Regular, meaningful and constant connections are the key to reducing isolation. Without these connections, children miss out on building the foundations of relationships, trust and a sense of belonging,” said Keenan.
“Years ago, there were youth clubs etc, where children could meet and socialise, they have now become a thing of the past.
“The world in general has got so busy, people are juggling many shifts of emotional, work and childcare needs.”
The issue is, when adults are busy or distracted, children can feel “dismissed”, said the therapist. “Over time, this can create a sense of ‘my voice doesn’t matter’. They then become quieter and withdraw.”
Supporting children who are lonely
“Don’t highlight the issue, start noticing behaviour,” advises Keenan. Have they become withdrawn? Are they spending longer periods of time isolated?
Both therapists advise carving out time to be emotionally available and present. “Pause distractions and give your child your full attention,” said Keenan. Create pockets of “special time” where you can spend quality time together.
They also both recommend active listening – giving your child your full attention, without interrupting, and repeating back what you have heard.
“What children need most is to feel properly listened to,” said Simons.
“That means slowing conversations down, showing genuine curiosity, and acknowledging feelings before offering solutions.”
Simple family mindfulness practices, even brief moments of being fully present together without distraction, can help create the space for this, she added.
Not only that but spending time together as a family – whether that’s playing board games or sitting down for dinner together, without interruptions from phones and devices – can provide an opportunity for kids to feel seen, heard, and connected.
“When a child says they feel unheard, we would encourage parents to see this not as criticism, but as an invitation to reconnect. Small shifts in how and when we listen can make a meaningful difference,” added Simons.
As well as carving out time for you to hang out as a family, Keenan advised organising play dates and offering your child support to build their social connections – for example, through extracurricular activities.
She concludes: “Don’t be hard on yourself, the world is evolving at a fast speed. Have compassion for yourself, parenting is hard.”
With connection, compassion, communication; all while being listened to, acknowledged, and valued; “children can naturally start to grow in confidence, feel less isolated and feel like their voice is being heard”.
The Defence Minister of India – Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Rajnath Singh – celebrated that Indian defence exports had touched a new all-time high with a record 38,424 crore rupees ($4.4 billion), an 63% annual increase.
The BJP’s defence boast is meant to ease concerns about India’s ballooning current account deficit, particularly as Modi’s western pivot to Trump and Netanyahu faces growing opposition from the public.
Under the inspiring leadership of PM Shri @narendramodi, India is scripting an impressive defence exports success story!
India defence exports have touched a new all time high with a record ₹38,424 crore in FY 2025-26. It marks a robust 62.66% growth over the previous fiscal.… pic.twitter.com/eAAh1PYX7e
— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) April 2, 2026
According to the BJP, Indian defence exports are now reaching the United States, Israel, the UAE, Australia, and Japan. Indian-made defence electronics are being exported to the US, UK, and France. Bulletproof jackets from India are being supplied to Australia, Japan, Israel, and Brazil. Ammunition is reaching the UAE, Egypt, Indonesia, and Thailand.
A
recent report by KPMG India pushed India to adopt Israel’s approach to defence exports if it wants to sustain the momentum and break into the global top tier. It suggested India should have a similar centralised export agency like Israel’s SIBAT.
Israel, with a much lower annual defence spend compared to India, has emerged as one of the key defence export hubs of the world and as per the SIPRI report of 2019, it ranks 8 in terms of defence exports. A major reason for its emergence as a defence manufacturing and export hub has been the establishment of SIBAT, a dedicated directorate under the Israeli Ministry of Defence (IMoD), that looks after promotion of defence exports and participates in the formulation of Israel’s defence export policy.
India is still mostly importing
India is still the world’s second-largest arms importer, but its imports have dropped slightly by 4 per cent. Russia used to supply 70 per cent of India’s weapons a decade ago. That has now fallen to 40 per cent, according to SIPRI.
Ukraine is the world’s largest arms importer.
India is now buying more from Western countries instead, given Modi’s capitulation to Netanyahu and Trump.
Israel’s Jerusalem Post recently featured a segment on India’s ties with Israel. Dr Lauren Dagan Amos said that “they want to learn lessons from that because what Israel did in Gaza, they want to do in Pakistan. That is the rationale.”
She explained that the relationship started with urgent operational needs and mutual interests. Over time, it moved beyond simple sales into co-development, co-production, and long-term maintenance within India.
She added that the Indian industry is now treated as a full partner, not just a customer.
BJP’s defence boast is to assuage underlying tensions
With oil prices rising due to the Iran war, India’s current account deficit is widening. It could reach 2.5 per cent of GDP in the coming fiscal year, according to Bloomberg.
Despite Modi’s western lurch, there are people in India who are on Iran’s side against “Yankee imperialism and zionist criminality.”
Mani Shankar Aiyar, a former Indian diplomat, said:
I am sure Iran can give a befitting answer to the needless aggression to which they have been subjected by a combination of Yankee imperialism and zionist criminality.
India voices support for Iran amid US-Israeli aggression
Press TV’s @aadilmir21 reports from New Delhi
Follow Press TV on Telegram: https://t.co/LWoNSpkc2J pic.twitter.com/DLwzjcUVJx
— Press TV 🔻 (@PressTV) April 1, 2026
Modi’s Trump connection is being questioned in South Asia, similar to the blowback being experienced by other right-wing leaders like Starmer and Italy’s Meloni.
VIDEO | Assam: Addressing a public gathering in Jorhat, Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi says, “N.”
(Full video available on PTI Videos – https://t.co/n147TvrpG7) pic.twitter.com/nPAgXTmDpU
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) April 2, 2026
As Rahul Gandhi recently noted, Narendra Modi’s future is in Trump’s hands.
Featured image via the Canary
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has officially released a four-page “open letter” to the American people.
To the people of the United States of America pic.twitter.com/3uAL4FZgY7
— Masoud Pezeshkian (@drpezeshkian) April 1, 2026
However, many social media users have pointed out that if the average American were as well educated as the average Iranian, perhaps the US would not have started so many illegal wars.
If Americans could read 4 whole pages of text, we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place. https://t.co/20RHi4N4JZ
— Siddharth (@DearthOfSid) April 1, 2026
The letter lays out, in a calm and reasoned manner, why the world is currently in the state it’s in.
Unlike most of Trump’s unhinged rants on Truth Social, which may as well have been transcribed from a toddler’s ramble.
Iran responding to aggression
The letter starts by explaining that Iran has never initiated a war in its modern history – it has only responded to “aggression, expansion, colonialism, or domination”. Even after occupation, invasion, and sustained pressure from global superpowers, and despite having a military that is far superior to many of its neighbours.
It then goes on to say that, unlike what the US wants us to believe, Iran harbours no hatred towards other countries, including the US and Europe. It reads:
The Iranian people harbor no enmity toward other nations, including the people of America, Europe, or neighboring countries. Even in the face of repeated foreign interventions and pressures throughout their proud history, Iranians have consistently drawn a clear distinction between governments and the peoples they govern. This is a deeply rooted principle in Iranian culture and collective consciousness—not a temporary political stance
Which is why portraying Iran as a threat is:
neither consistent with historical reality nor with present-day observable facts.
US manufacturing an enemy
It adds that the perception is purely a product of “political and economic whims” of the powerful. The US needs to “manufacture an enemy” to justify its illegal wars and colonialism, whilst sustaining its arms industry.
If a threat does not exist, it’s invented.
He adds:
What Iran has done and continues to do-is a measured response grounded in legitimate self-defense, and by no means an initiation of war or aggression
The letter also guides readers back to 1953, when the US (and the UK) engineered an illegal coup against Mohammad Mosaddegh, Iran’s democratically elected prime minister.
Why? Because Mossadegh decided to nationalise the operations of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (later British Petroleum) in 1951.
Of course, nationalisation was a threat to both the US and UK’s strategic and economic interests, i.e., they would lose money.
That coup disrupted Iran’s democratic process, reinstated dictatorship, and sowed deep distrust among Iranians toward U.S. policies. This distrust deepened further with America’s support for the Shah’s regime, its backing of Saddam Hussein during the imposed war of 1980s, the imposition of the longest and most comprehensive sanctions in modern history, and ultimately, unprovoked military aggression-twice, in the midst of negotiations— against Iran.
But these pressures have not weakened Iran. Literacy rates have tripled, higher education has rapidly expanded, and modern technology and healthcare have advanced.
Of course, the impact of the destructive and inhumane sanctions from war and aggression cannot be underestimated:
This reflects a fundamental human truth: when war inflicts irreparable harm on lives, homes, cities, and futures, people will not remain indifferent toward those responsible
The letter asks:
Exactly which of the American people’s interests are truly being served by this war? Was there any objective threat from Iran to justify such behavior? Does the massacre of innocent children, the destruction of cancer-treatment pharmaceutical facilities, or boasting about bombing a country “back to the stone ages” serve any purpose other than further damaging the United States’ global standing?
‘Strategic bewilderment’
Pezeshkian writes:
Iran pursued negotiations, reached an agreement, and fulfilled all its commitments. The decision to withdraw from that agreement, escalate toward confrontation, and launch two acts of aggression in the midst of negotiations were destructive choices made by the U.S. government-choices that served the delusions of a foreign aggressor.
He then talks about the US targeting Iran’s energy infrastructure and industrial facilities. Obviously, this directly targets the Iranian people. He adds:
Beyond constituting a war crime, such actions carry consequences that extend far beyond Iran’s borders. They generate instability, increase human and economic costs, and perpetuate cycles of tension, planting seeds of resentment that will endure for years. This is not a demonstration of strength; it is a sign of strategic bewilderment and an inability to achieve a sustainable solution
Finally, he points out that America has entered this illegal war as a proxy for Israel. The Israeli machine has influenced and manipulated it by manufacturing an Iranian ‘threat’.
Of course, this is purely an effort to divert attention away from Israel’s war crimes against Palestinians.
He ends the letter with:
I invite you to look beyond the machinery of misinformation, an integral part of this aggression, and instead speak with those who have visited Iran. Observe the many accomplished Iranian immigrants educated in Iran-who now teach and conduct research at the world’s most prestigious universities, or contribute to the most advanced technology firms in the West. Do these realities align with the distortions you are being told about Iran and its people?
Featured image via HG
A Microsoft employee has quit over the company’s involvement in Israel’s war crimes and published a video calling on other Microsoft workers to join the movement.
Jenni is part of No Azure for Apartheid, a growing tech movement that is demanding that Microsoft live up to its own purported ethical values – by ending its direct and indirect complicity in Israeli apartheid and genocide.
Their website states:
We will not be cogs in the Israeli genocidal machine: a call for a Worker Intifada
The group has four demands:
- IOF off Azure – End Microsoft’s complicity in Israeli genocide and apartheid by terminating all Azure contracts and partnerships with the Israeli military and government.
- Disclose all ties – Make all ties to the Israeli state, military, and tech industry publicly known, including weapons manufacturers and contractors. Conduct a transparent and independent audit of Microsoft’s technology contracts, services, and investments.
- Call for a ceasefire – Honor the demands of over 1,000 employees who signed a petition calling on Microsoft’s leadership to publicly endorse an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
- Protect employees – Ensure the safety of Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and allied employees by protecting pro-Palestinian speech, actions, and fundraising initiatives on internal company platforms.
Jenni has been an AI transcription writer at Microsoft for the past three and a half years. She was working on a product for doctors and nurses to take notes.
In an exclusive statement, Jenni told the Canary:
Dual-use technology means that the same Al systems we use to summarize meetings and write emails can be used to surveil the phone calls of Palestinian citizens or flag a children’s school as a military target. This is why as tech workers we have a critical responsibility to reclaim our labor when we see it being repackaged and re-sold as an accessory to crimes against humanity.
I resigned today to make this message clear to Microsoft – that Microsoft workers refuse to be complicit in the company’s war crimes, and that we are not afraid to withhold our labor in order to refuse being exploited to power this Al-assisted genocide.
In the video shared online, Jenni said:
If you work for one of these companies your work could be sold to a hospital one day and then to ICE or detention services the following day or maybe even a foreign government who’s carrying out a genocide. This has already happened.
A year ago, former Microsoft employees Ibtihal Aboussad and Vaniya Agrawal protested Microsoft’s fiftieth anniversary celebration. Ibtihal worked on an AI transcription service for accessibility, which, of course, was very useful and did not involve war crimes. Microsoft fired both of them.
However, it then sold that product to the Israeli military, which used it to spy on and murder innocent Palestinians.
Participating in war crimes
Microsoft has been working with Israel for decades. It insists on continuing their relationship despite international bodies recognising that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza. Israel has committed a very long list of war crimes, which Microsoft is choosing to ignore.
As the Canary previously reported, leaked documents show that after October 7, Microsoft significantly increased its operations with Israel’s military.
The files showed that Microsoft was supplying the IOF with greater computing and storage services, and:
striking at least $10m in deals to provide thousands of hours of technical support.
Now, the Israeli military continues to bomb, blockade, and starve Gaza whilst claiming to be adhering to the “ceasefire”. Similarly, in Lebanon, Israel is destroying historic buildings and communities, while murdering thousands of civilians.
The Guardian found that the leaked documents:
illustrate how the US tech behemoth supported a range of sensitive activities.
This includes managing the movement of Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Additionally, Microsoft engineers have been providing support to Israel through their analysis of “visual intelligence”. This is likely to be the innumerable drones used by the Israeli military. Essentially, Microsoft’s support is providing the technological infrastructure for genocide.
Forcing their hand
Last summer, Microsoft staff protesters set up the Liberated Zone on the Martyred Palestinian Children’s Plaza and the Mai Ubeid Building. This was to draw attention to the company’s involvement in Israel’s genocide.
It was only then, coupled with journalists proving how much Israel was relying on Microsoft’s technology to commit war crimes, that Microsoft took action.
However, it only cut a few services to Israel’s Unit 8200 — just one of the IOF’s elite military intelligence units. Obviously, this is nowhere near enough.
Since then, Israel’s war crimes have only intensified, alongside its reliance on big tech, AI, and companies such as Microsoft.
Only last month, the US military double-tapped a girls’ primary school in Minab, Iran. Reports suggest that AI identified the school as a target. Big Tech is aiding and abetting war crimes all over the world.
Jenni ended the video by saying:
This and more is why I am leaving Microsoft. I am very lucky that I am able to do so. I’m very lucky that I get to speak out in this way. If you work at Microsoft, please join No Azure for Apartheid. Sign their pledge
We’ve got thousands of people who are now saying that we don’t want our work to be used for war crimes.
You can stay anonymous. You can stay risk-free. Everyone is welcome. For everyone else – Do what you can. Keep all eyes on Gaza. Free Palestine
Feature image via No Azure for Apartheid
According to the National, someone has called the police on ex-MSP Tommy Sheridan and the reason is because Sheridan called the US and Israel “evil”.
Which they objectively are.
Because of all the evil shit they keep doing.
NEW: Police have received a complaint against former MSP Tommy Sheridan over a speech he gave in which he called Israel and the USA ‘evil’ https://t.co/5Xnluj4C0H
— The National (@ScotNational) April 1, 2026
Israel ARE evil
Sheridan is running in this year’s Holyrood elections for the Alliance to Liberate Scotland. He’s previously been a member of Alba, and was the leader of the Scottish Socialist Party.
In the offending video, Sheridan addressed a hall full of people, saying:
Brothers and sisters, we were on the side of the IRA because they were doing the resistance.
We’re on the side of Hamas in Palestine because they’re doing the resistance.
We’re on the side of Hezbollah in Lebanon because they’re doing the resistance.
And we’re on the side today of the Iranians and Yemen because they’re standing up against the twin pillars of evil in our society today, the United States of America and Israel.
They epitomise evil in our planet.
Increasingly, it isn’t an uncommon opinion to support whoever the Yanks are invading.
During the Invasion of Iraq, there was considerable support in the West despite the obvious criminality of the war. Now, most people recognise that America and its attack dog Israel are the aggressors.
People also recognise their lives keep getting worse because our governments have pissed money up the wall on immoral wars of aggression.
Sheridan also said:
If somebody says to me, Tommy, whose side are you on?
I say I am not on the side of those that murder children, that torture children, that steal their land that belongs to the Palestinians.
I’m on the side of those who resist repression and if that means you don’t vote for me, then tough fucking titty.
And as reported by the National, Sheridan branded:
the USA and Israel “evil” and [said] he is not on the side of “those who murder children”.
Sheridan has since provided the following quote from Trump to backup his argument:
Yet I’m reported to the police for calling out these evil bastards 🤦😡🇮🇱🤮🇺🇸🤮 https://t.co/jLwy7duomP pic.twitter.com/pgQgMr5YPW
— Tommy Sheridan (@citizentommy) April 2, 2026
In terms of Israel, doctors provided evidence that Israeli snipers were “systematically targeting Gaza’s children” – the very definition of evil by anyone’s standards.
Responding to the police report, Sheridan said:
This is obviously someone with a lot of time on their hands.
There is zero criminality in the comments. I was merely expressing the side of the fence I am on in relation to these resistance fighters.
Any suggestion of criminality is mythical. I think the police have more to do than deal with this.
Differences
As you’d expect given his links to Alba, Sheridan has transphobic views:
👏👏👏♀️
Women are born not certificated. That statement of fact is not bigotry or discriminatory it is a biological fact. It is truth no matter how many transactivists shout loud or scream transphobia. Transgender people deserve kindness & consideration but not false recognition https://t.co/B9DAGIFWhr— Tommy Sheridan (@citizentommy) April 24, 2025
In case you don’t follow, Sheridan is saying that he’s willing to be polite to trans people but won’t recognise them by their identified gender.
We certainly don’t agree with this, but we’re not calling the police on Sheridan because he said something we don’t like.
The fact that the US and Israel’s defenders can’t say the same shows what snowflakes they are.
Featured image via Raw Pixel
Emmanuel Macron has hit back at Donald Trump after he mocked the French president over an altercation he appeared to have with his wife.
The US president said Macron was “still recovering from the right to the jaw” after the incident last year.
Bridgette Macron was filmed apparently pushing her husband in the face shortly before they disembarked from his presidential plane.
In a speech in Washington on Wednesday, Trump referred to the incident as he criticised the French for not getting involved in the Iran war.
He said: “Macron, whose wife treats him extremely badly. He’s still recovering the right to the jaw.”
Speaking during a state visit to South Korea, Macron said: “The remarks I have heard are neither elegant nor up to standard.
“So I am not going to respond to them. They do not merit a response.”
The French president said Trump’s previous suggestion that the international community use force to re-open the Strait of Hormuz was “unrealistic”.
He also condemned Trump’s criticism of Nato and hints that America could leave the military alliance.
Macron said: “I believe that organisations and alliances like Nato are defined by what is left unsaid – that is, the trust that underpins them, and that has often been the case, incidentally, with military and strategic matters.
“If you cast doubt on your commitment every day, you erode its very substance.”
He added: “We need to be serious, and if you want to be serious, you don’t go around saying the opposite of what you said the day before.
“I think there is too much talk.”
Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.
Jeremy Corbyn has unveiled Your Party plans to target Labour’s heartlands in the upcoming English local elections in May. The start-up party is supporting allied community independent groups at the local elections. And it’s hopeful of several groups winning East London councils, with Labour’s core vote set to collapse in major cities.
It’s worth noting that this follows a period of stasis during which local groups have tried to keep things moving.
Your Party’s local elections campaign will focus on the destructive effects of local government austerity. Councils across the country are squeezed to breaking point, social care is in crisis and services are failing residents.
In contrast to the ‘snake-oil’ alternative of Reform, Your Party will stress the need for public investment and the in-sourcing of services. Local council divestment from Israeli apartheid will also be a key focus.
At Your Party’s founding conference in November 2025, members voted to adopt a targeted strategy. This aims to maximise the party’s seats, rather than standing everywhere. As party structures continue to develop, Your Party will support around 250 candidates across England. The vast majority of these will be standing as Independents or for allied local community parties.
Your Party targets
Key targets for allied groups include:
Allied candidates are also likely to make inroads in Birmingham and the West Midlands. Historic Labour bastions are turning away from the party over its complicity in the Gaza genocide and failure to tackle the cost of living.
The Your Party leadership sees Tower Hamlets as a ‘beacon council’. In recent years, under Rahman’s leadership, the council has rolled out free school meals for all primary and secondary school students. It has re-established the Education Maintenance Allowance which the Tory-Lib Dem coalition cut. And it has reinstated the Winter Fuel Payment which Starmer and Reeves cut.
Hopes are also high for the Redbridge Independents, who have won a series of stunning by-elections from Labour, with Your Party spokesperson Noor Jahan Begum elected to replace slum landlord Jas Athwal MP.
Health secretary Wes Streeting bemoaned the loss in later-published messages with Peter Mandelson, declaring that he was “toast” at the next election. Streeting hung onto his seat by just 500 votes at the last election after a strong challenge from young British-Palestinian Leanne Mohamad.
Corbyn was elected as Your Party parliamentary leader earlier this month after his allies were victorious in the party’s leadership elections. He is expected to tour the country in support of the Your Party-backed independents and groups in the coming weeks, following a first event in Redbridge.
Corbyn said:
These elections are the beginning of the fightback against austerity, privatisation and fear.
All across the country, there will be community independent groups offering an alternative to the despair of Labour and the division of Reform. We are proud to support those candidates and groups standing up for redistribution, inclusion and peace.
People in power underestimate the power of people at their peril – and arrogance in office always comes back to bite you in the end.
Rahman, executive mayor of Tower Hamlets, said:
Labour imposed some of the most severe austerity in the country when they ran Tower Hamlets council, further impoverishing one of Britain’s most deprived areas.
We’ve reversed these cruel cuts and made history as the first council to introduce universal free school meals for all primary and secondary pupils, re-establish the Education Maintenance Allowance scrapped by the Tories, and bring back the Winter Fuel Payments, cut by Starmer.
These are just some of our pioneering policies to provide more cost of living support to our residents than any other local authority, alongside unprecedented investment in frontline services and in affordable and social housing.
The alliance being brought together by Jeremy Corbyn, with Your Party, Aspire, and progressive independent and Green candidates, presents a real opportunity to replace more Labour-led councils with administrations rooted in and accountable to their communities.
In Tower Hamlets, we’ve shown how socialist, redistributive policies can transform lives and provide the hopeful, ambitious alternative needed to take on the far right — something Labour has utterly failed to do.
Noor Jahan Begum, Your Party spokesperson and Redbridge Independent councillor, said:
We are taking the fight to Labour in their heartlands. In Redbridge and across the country, people are telling us that they feel let down and abandoned by Labour, outraged by their complicity in genocide and fed up of the status quo.
We are offering something different: a politics rooted in and accountable to our communities, a politics that campaigns for the social transformation people are crying out for.
Featured image via the Canary
Israel’s Knesset is about to have a second reading of an appalling, and underreported, death penalty bill. This murderous bill will be exclusive to Palestinians, yep, only Palestinians. Due to its criminal dilution of legal norms, it could give authorities a carte blanche to execute thousands of imprisoned Palestinians detained by Israel since October 7.
The bill’s wide-reaching title is: “The Prosecution of Participants in the October 7 Massacre Events.”
If that wasn’t bad enough in times when the rest of the world is moving to abolish the death penalty, Israeli policy makers are defending what they describe as the need to:
deviate from the rules of procedure and the rules of evidence.
According to the bill, this slam-dunk deviation:
is necessary for the purpose of clarifying the truth and doing justice, and does not significantly impair the fairness of the proceeding.
However, cases without evidence trash this argument, which never had legs to begin with. Palestinian defendants will also be tried in Israel’s military courts which have seen an impossible 99.7% conviction rate. This highlights, in the most sadistic way, that when there is a will, there will be a way.
Israeli leaders are drooling at the prospect of more murder—executions by hanging—genocide by alternative means. This bill is likely to be yet another way for Israel to exercise that will, under the sinister veneer of legality, to further its Zionist colonial ambitions.
Novara Media’s Rivkah Brown broke this deadly news on X:
But what’s interesting about this bill is that it proposes lowering the evidential threshold for prosecution. Read this chilling paragraph (from https://t.co/2S1o0UKwE0) pic.twitter.com/hYgbYee1t8
— Rivkah Brown (@rivkahbrown) April 1, 2026
The Dinah Report and UK complicity
Unsurprisingly, this bill becomes even more sickening and nefarious as you dig further into the detail. As Rivkah Brown highlighted on her post, this bill has been a long time in the making and preparatory work completed to make this cruel, collective punishment bill possible.
We wrote about how the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) gave £90k of taxpayers’ money to put together the Israeli report, representing a whopping 75% of the FCDO’s budget.
This blatant bias and conflict of interest should come as little to no surprise. Ever since October 7th, we have seen a concerted push by Israel and its lobby groups to manipulate data, grief and material facts in their own interest. All whilst conveniently and simultaneously demonising Palestinian resistance. If we have learned anything through this horrific 2.5 years, it is the reminder that every life matters and civilians should not pay the price for the sins of the powerful.
Similarly, Rivkah Brown argues that, since October 7, actors have made a concerted effort to manufacture a “body of literature” portraying this as a conflict unlike any other. They use that framing to claim that the destruction of evidence makes the need for evidence irrelevant.
They have also poured significant funding into producing and amplifying material that supports this narrative for a specific political purpose.
We must see this bill for what it is— a fraudulent crime by those in power who pull the levers at their disposal — including the law— to justify their genocide against Palestinians.
They have the legal right to resist their occupier, with force— a right that is protected by international law.
Nevertheless, that right for Palestinians to resist is being criminalised—no doubt an omen for the rest of the world.
UK officials follow in Israel’s footsteps
Brown further stated:
As I revealed last month, the FCDO gave £90k/120k (so 75% of its funding) to The Dinah Project’s report. The report concluded – against all existing reportage, by Amnesty, the UN and others – that sexual violence on 7 October didn’t just happen, but was “systematic”.
She also revealed the parallels in rhetoric between the Dinah Project report and this legislation working its way through the Knesset:
It is therefore difficult to view it as a coincidence that this heavily UK-funded report uses strikingly similar language and reasoning to the Knesset bill.
This alignment raises serious concerns that some UK officials may have coordinated with Israeli-linked groups in ways that risk criminalising Palestinians on a broader scale.
Such actions, if carried out, would deepen the UK’s complicity in the genocide and betrayal of Palestinian people.
As Rivkah’s subsequent post underscored, huge inferences are being used to prop up collective punishment:
A tailor-made evidence model should, the report added, collectively criminalise those who participated in the attack, not only for their own actions, but for the actions of others in the “collective mob attack”.
Collective criminalisation IS collective punishment
Collective punishment is illegal under multiple bodies of international law. Whether that be article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, or rule 103 of international humanitarian law, collective punishment is a war crime. These international legal rules play a crucial role in maintaining peace and stability, protecting civilians from punishment for acts they did not commit.
It is clear that Israel does not have sufficient evidence to attribute October 7 crimes to individual Palestinians. We have also watched Israel Occupation Forces (IOF) round up Palestinian men, including doctors and rescue workers, and imprison them. Israel has held hostage thousands of men and boys using unproven allegations of involvement in the killing of Israeli citizens and foreign nationals.
For example, Dr Abu Safiya, a Palestinian paediatrician, has been detained since December 2024, and subjected to physical and mental torture, despite having done no wrong. As Clarion India explains, his crime was:
Standing amid the ruins outside Kamal Adwan Hospital, surrounded by destruction, he walked alone in his white coat toward advancing Israeli armoured vehicles — a lone doctor facing a war machine. The image circulated widely because it captured, in a single frame, the reality of Gaza: those who heal standing unarmed before those who destroy.
We must challenge this attempt by the UK and Israel to legally justify the mass killing of innocent, oppressed and traumatised people. If we fail to act, we risk standing by as more atrocities unfold with the backing of our government.
This action constitutes a colossal crime against humanity — one that we must not forgive.
Featured image via the Canary
The National Education Union’s annual conference always provides useful insights into the concerns of the teachers present. And this year’s gathering, held in Brighton this week, was no exception. The four-day jamboree revealed that politics is of far more concern to union members than teaching and learning.
Indeed, questions actually concerning educational standards were dealt with spectacularly quickly – and the consensus was that they should be discarded. With motions passed to ban Ofsted, the schools’ inspection and regulation body, and challenging the planned statutory reading assessment for Year 8 pupils, delegates were then free to discuss the really important stuff.
First up was global conflict. America clearly looms large in the minds of the around 1,500 teachers and school-support workers present. They passed a motion condemning the US attack on Venezuela, the bombing of Iran and Trump’s actions in Cuba, which, they claim, ‘breach international law and will worsen humanitarian conditions’. But Israel got a look in, too: it was criticised for ‘aggression over Lebanon… which has killed many citizens’. Both Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have no doubt been waiting on instructions from Britain’s teachers, who think ‘there needs to be an urgent de-escalation of conflict and global tensions’.
But it is domestic politics that really gets NEU delegates hot under the collar. One motion, which passed to much applause, stated that NEU members oppose ‘all forms of racism, fascism and far-right extremism’, including ‘the divisive politics promoted by Reform UK’. Teachers, the conference promised, will throw their ‘full weight’ behind ‘stopping a Reform UK government’. Dave Davies, a teacher from east London, who seconded the motion, argued that ‘we have to rip the mask of respectability away from the far right’. ‘Nigel Farage is not a respectable politician’, Davies told the conference floor, ‘he wants to replicate what Donald Trump does in the United States and put ICE on to the streets’ (a reference to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which presides over Trump’s deportation policies).
The same motion called on union branches to affiliate with Stand Up To Racism – a campaign group that seeks to fight fascism, but has little to say about the rise of anti-Semitism. Like so many ‘anti-racist’ organisations, it seems more concerned to stop Reform gaining ground at the next election than with actually stopping racism. Delegates also agreed that the union should support ‘school groups, districts and regions to mobilise for anti-fascist demonstrations’ by organising transport to ‘anti-right-wing counter-demonstrations’. Leigh Seedhouse, the executive member who proposed the motion, told the conference floor that ‘parties based on racism are shaping the political agenda’ across Europe and that ‘the rise of Reform UK with its relentless scapegoating of migrants is a warning’.
It is hard not to laugh at the NEU’s delusions. Members leap from an inflated sense of their own importance – dictating Trump’s foreign policy – to paranoid fantasies about fascism and ICE agents patrolling British cities. But what is not funny is the influence NEU members have on Britain’s children. The ‘fighting racism, fascism and far-right extremism’ motion also calls for the creation of anti-racist and anti-fascist teaching materials, as well as ‘literature making the case against the far right’, which would then be distributed to union members who are teachers. In other words, the NEU’s campaign against Reform will not be conducted on teachers’ own time but will also be waged in the classroom.
Another motion that promises to bring politics into the classroom calls on schools to be ‘aware of the need to support trans and nonbinary rights’. Encouraging teachers to ‘treat trans and nonbinary people with dignity and with respect’ may sound nice enough, but, in practice, showing ‘respect’ often turns out to mean forcing children to accept the use of female pronouns for a person who is very obviously male. And safeguarding alarm bells ring with the chilling statement that ‘trans and nonbinary people can regularly face abuse from family members’. The implication is that teachers should collude with gender-confused children to keep their social transition a secret from their parents.
With trans rights, criticism of America and scare-mongering about Reform on the agenda, it is hardly surprising that the conference’s headline speaker, Green Party leader Zack Polanski, received a standing ovation. He backed the abolition of Ofsted and supported the campaign against Year 8 reading tests. Alongside the promise of a ‘serious cash injection’ into schools, Polanski argued that a future Green government would provide an education ‘that genuinely equips children for the world they’re growing up into’. This, he spelt out, means ‘giving them the media literacy they need in a dizzying social-media and fake-news landscape’.
We need to be clear: calls for ‘media literacy’, whether made by Polanski or Labour’s education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, are not a demand that teachers offer a classical curriculum that could prompt knowledgeable critical reflection on the world today. Instead, fake-news spotting means bringing yet more propaganda into the classroom in order to train children to hold only teacher-approved views.
The warm reception given to Polanski reflects a shift in teachers’ voting intentions. As Daniel Kebede explained, ‘I think our membership feels that Zack speaks more for schools and education than Labour does at the moment’. But pity British schoolchildren if NEU members have their way: when it comes to the classroom, standards are out, and politics is in.
Between the Green Party and the NEU, we’ll have children who struggle to read but know to yell ‘fascist’ at Reform voters.
Joanna Williams is a spiked columnist and author of How Woke Won. Follow her on Substack: cieo.substack.com.
Zendaya has fielded countless personal questions while promoting her new film The Drama – thanks in no small part to persistent speculation that she and her long-time partner Tom Holland, recently tied the knot in person.
While she didn’t confirm the rumours during her latest interview, Zendaya did open up about how she wound up falling for her Spider-Man co-star.
The Euphoria star vividly detailed the moment during an episode of The New York Times podcast Modern Love, published on Wednesday.
After fellow The Drama actor Robert Pattinson finished arguing there’s often fear involved during breakups or an initial attraction, Zendaya added: “I think sometimes, at least in my personal experience, I found that, you know sometimes people can get kind of nervous around people? But there’s a certain feeling that I was able to experience when I knew that this is my person, because I didn’t.
“I don’t feel nervous around them, I feel really peaceful and I feel really calm, and I feel like, ‘Oh, I actually feel more nervous when I’m away from you than when I’m with you’. And that’s when I was like, ‘Ah, that’s a good sign, that’s me listening to my intuition or body’.”
Zendaya and Tom were believed to have been dating off and on for around a decade before getting engaged in late 2024.
They first met during a chemistry read for the Marvel movie Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017, which aptly went on to star Zendaya as the romantic interest of Tom’s titular superhero character.
She also shared during the podcast that Tom had made her “feel calm” during the audition.
When asked how he did it, Zendaya said: “Just by being a nice person, you know? By making me feel comfortable.
“I mean it’s like, having to do a chemistry read for a big movie like that is – you really want the job and all these kinds of things. And yeah, he was really lovely then.”
Whether or not she and Tom have already tied the knot, as her longtime stylist and friend Law Roach alleged last month, remains unconfirmed.
Zendaya did note on the podcast, however, she does try to share her life with fans – but also keeps some things to herself.
“I just feel like for me, there is this level of a parasocial investment in my personal relationship,” she said. “I do know that I’m a public person, and so is he, and I’m also aware that we’ve grown up in front of people, and we’ve done movies where we fall in love with each other.”
“So I really do understand that, and I don’t want to dismiss that like, ‘Stay out of my business’ or whatever,” the Emmy winner continued.
“But in a lot of ways I also am a very private person — and I try my best to be able to have things for myself and for him as well.”
Tyler West is replacing Scott Mills as the host of a new Race Across The World companion podcast.
Last month, the BBC revealed that when the new season of Race Across The World launches, it would be accompanied by a video-podcast series diving into the highs and lows of what’s gone on in the hit reality show.
Race Across The World: The Detour was originally supposed to be co-presented by Mills, who took part in the second season of Celebrity Race Across The World back in 2024 alongside his now-husband, going on to win the show.
However, following the news that he has been fired by the BBC effective immediately, the series will now be hosted by fellow Celebrity Race Across The World alum Tyler West in a last-minute scheduling change.
Tyler will be joined each week by Alfie Watts, who won the regular show in 2024.
A BBC press release previously teased that The Detour would be Race Across The World’s “younger, wilder sibling, charting the ups and downs of the new series.
“Each week the podcast will welcome guests from travel-savvy creators, to comedians and celebrity fans of the show, as they dissect destinations, swap tales of adventure, and celebrate the real life stories and unforgettable journeys of Race Across The World,” the synopsis continued.
Mills’ departure from the BBC was confirmed on Monday, with the national broadcaster later saying: “In recent weeks, we obtained new information relating to Scott and we spoke directly with him. As a result, the BBC acted decisively in line with our culture and values and terminated his contracts.”
“Separately, we can confirm the BBC was made aware in 2017 of the existence of an ongoing police investigation, which was subsequently closed in 2019 with no arrest or charge being made,” a spokesperson continued.
“We are doing more work to understand the detail of what was known by the BBC at this time.”
Mills broke his silence on the matter on Wednesday night, saying: “The recent announcement that I am no longer contracted to the BBC has led to the publication of rumour and speculation. In response to this, the Metropolitan Police has made a statement, which I confirm relates to me.
“An allegation was made against me in 2016 of a historic sexual offence which was the subject of a police investigation in which I fully cooperated and responded to in 2018. As the police have stated, a file of evidence was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service, which determined that the evidential threshold had not been met to bring charges.
“Since the investigation related to an allegation that dates back nearly 30 years and the police investigation was closed seven years ago, I hope that the public and the media will understand and respect my wish not to make any further public comment on this matter.”
The BBC has also issued an apology for failing to “follow up on” an additional allegation about Mills that was raised by a freelance journalist last year.
Regional sports networks are faltering even as ratings soar
Lise plans Europe’s first fully on-chain IPO for French aerospace supplier
India obscenely boosts defence capabilities
-
Business7 days agoInstagram, YouTube Found Responsible for Teen’s Mental Health Struggle in Historic Ruling
-
NewsBeat6 days agoThe Story hosts event on Durham’s historic registers
-
Tech7 days agoIntercom’s new post-trained Fin Apex 1.0 beats GPT-5.4 and Claude Sonnet 4.6 at customer service resolutions
-
Sports6 days agoSweet Sixteen Game Thread: Tide vs Michigan
-
Entertainment3 days ago
Fans slam 'heartbreaking' Barbie Dream Fest convention debacle with 'cardboard cutout' experience
-
Entertainment5 days agoLana Del Rey Celebrates Her Husband’s 51st Birthday In New Post
-
Crypto World2 days ago
Dems press CFTC, ethics board on prediction-market insider trades
-
Crypto World18 hours agoGold Price Prediction: Worst Month in 17 Years fo Save Haven Rock
-
Tech4 days agoThe Pixel 10a doesn’t have a camera bump, and it’s great
-
Sports2 days agoTallest college basketball player ever, standing at 7-foot-9, entering transfer portal
-
Tech2 days agoEE TV is using AI to help you find something to watch
-
Fashion4 days agoAmazon Sundays: Soft Spring Layers
-
Tech3 days agoApple will hide your email address from apps and websites, but not cops
-
Tech2 days agoFlipsnack and the shift toward motion-first business content with living visuals
-
Tech2 days agoHow to back up your iPhone & iPad to your Mac before something goes wrong
-
Politics3 days agoShould Trump Be Scared Strait?
-
Crypto World3 days agoU.S. rule change may open trillions in 401(k) funds to crypto
-
Fashion7 days agoEn Vogue in Brown Leather and Tailored Neutrals by Atelier Savoir, Styled by J Bolin
-
Fashion7 days agoWhat Are Your Favorite T-Shirts for the Weekend?
-
Business6 days agoChinese universities with military links bought Super Micro servers with restricted AI chips
You must be logged in to post a comment Login