Politics
The House | Fears that data centres will hog energy are overdone
4 min read
The British people have a proud history when it comes to inventing and embracing new technologies. With support of the great people, towns and villages of Lanarkshire, we led the way in the industrial revolution by harnessing the power of steam.
We transformed the way people around the world communicate with the electric telegraph, the telephone and the fax machine. And we helped rewire the planet through Tim Berners-Lee’s brilliant conception of the world wide web.
Now we are in the age of a new general purpose technology: artificial intelligence. AI is in its infancy, but it is already transforming how we live, earn and learn.
It is leading to the faster diagnosis of medical conditions; enabling scientists to accelerate the development of new drugs; and helping to speed up planning, reduce red tape and free up the time of public servants so they can focus more on delivering for people and less on administrative duties.
Nobody denies that AI also poses challenges.
There are concerns, for instance, about security, the energy and water consumption required for data centres, the impact on some areas of the labour market and the ethics of agentic AI where computers act without human supervision.
These concerns should not be dismissed but nor should they be used as reasons to turn our back on AI and decide we want to opt out of the future. Indeed, to take such a course would be a disservice to this country, our communities and our workforce. It would be to deny constituencies such as Airdrie and Shotts the opportunity to benefit from the jobs, prosperity and enterprise that AI can bring.
Colleagues in Parliament who are sceptical about AI should visit Lanarkshire to see the work that has already started on the new AI growth zone. They will see an area that was at the heart of the industrial revolution now proud to be at the centre of the technological revolution. They will see this investment has also brought hope to a region whose potential, ignored for so long under the Tories, has finally been recognised by this government.
The Lanarkshire AI growth zone will create 3,400 jobs, bring £8bn of investment and comes with a £500m community fund.
AI offers the potential to reindustrialise the areas where deindustrialisation hurt most. It unlocks the skills and potential of companies like DataVita in my constituency, encourages clusters of firms in areas such as medical research to innovate, and supports local economic growth by bringing local young people into secure employment and investing in local community projects.
This is far more than just a large black box. By working with local leaders, businesses, colleges and universities, we can create a tech eco-system built around the powerful resource of computing power.
Data centres are the foundation on which we build the businesses and jobs of the future. And it is no accident that many of the new AI growth zones, such as Blyth in the North East, South Wales and Lanarkshire, are in former industrial areas. Like the mills and furnaces, data centres rely on two major commodities: power and water.
There are legitimate questions to ask about the amount of energy use and the impact on the environment. The ambition is for the Lanarkshire growth zone to be primarily powered by renewables by 2030, while surplus heat from the data centre could be used to heat a new local hospital and agricultural greenhouses.
Anyone who is ambitious about the future of the UK should share the government’s ambition to remain at the forefront of the AI revolution.
Without the computational power provided by data centres, we will not be able to seize the innovation, jobs and wealth that flow from this new technology. We would not just be turning our backs on the future – we would be rejecting hope and opportunity.
Kenneth Stevenson is Labour MP for Aidrie and Shotts
The US president’s latest deranged Truth Social post came just hours before the deadline he imposed for Tehran to start allowing traffic to pass through the key waterway.
Around one-fifth of the global oil supply is transported through the strait, but it has been effectively closed since America and Israel began bombing Iran at the end of February.
Trump announced over the weekend that Tehran had until 1am tomorrow UK time to confirm they were ceasing attacks on ships trying to use the strait or else “all hell will reign down” on them.
In a follow-up post on Truth Social on Sunday, he said: “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH!”
Posting on Tuesday morning, Trump said: “A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalised minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!”
His comments were widely condemned online, with leading Republican and former White House official Bill Kristol calling for Trump to be impeached.
Veteran journalist and broadcast Andrew Neil said: “Is there anybody, any group, capable of staging an intervention in the White House?”
Piers Morgan, a former Trump supporter, described the president’s statement as “a brazen pre-admission of genocide … which would obviously be a war crime”.
Other responses on X were equally critical of the president’s comments.
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Alison Hammond has ruled herself out of hosting Strictly Come Dancing, as well as extinguishing hopes of an appearance on Celebrity Traitors.
Alison competed on the show back in 2014, where she was partnered with Aljaz Skorjanec and ultimately became the sixth celebrity to be eliminated the same year Caroline Flack and Pasha Kovalev went on to win the coveted glitterball trophy.
In an interview with Radio Times, Alison revealed she had, indeed, been in talks about stepping into the Strictly presenter role, but that she was unable to take on the mammoth task.
“I have, actually,” she said, responding to whether she’d been approached about the job. “You didn’t expect that answer, did you? I can’t lie, I’m incapable.”
Alison explained that her packed schedule meant she wasn’t able to commit to Strictly, while also ruling herself out of another fan favourite show that she’d previously been rumoured for.
She continued: “I’m so busy, babes, that I’m not sure it’s going to happen. It’s unrealistic. I’m so happy they considered me but, like Traitors, I can’t do it because everything clashes.”
“I would have loved to have done it – anybody that gets it, they’re going to land the perfect job. But I’m so happy with everything I’ve got. What would I drop, to do Strictly?”
Alison was originally reported by tabloids to be undergoing “chemistry tests” for the Strictly role while she also made no secret of her hopes to host the show during an appearance on Loose Women back in December.
“I’m absolutely Claudia – I’m upstairs,” she said, referring to which of the live show’s roles she’d be best suited to.
“Whoever gets that job, what an amazing job to get. It’s the dream job,” she added, before joking that the Strictly presenting gig was made for her. “The BBC don’t know it yet, but it’s going to happen.”
As for who will replace Tess and Claudia, names reportedly still in the running include Zoe Ball, Emma Willis, Angela Scanlon and Johannes Radebe.
There’s no denying that misogyny has been a hot topic in Westminster in recent months.
Politicians have not been shy when it comes to weighing in on moments like Louis Theroux’s recent documentary, Inside The Manosphere, and last year’s Netflix drama Adolescence.
Both cultural moments raised serious questions about the way men are being influenced in the modern era and how women are protected.
But the subject has hit close to home for several in Downing Street, too.
Keir Starmer has been accused of setting up a “boys’ club” at the top of government while female cabinet ministers claim unnamed officials have been issuing “sexist briefings” against them.
The topic then came to a head earlier this year when the depth of Peter Mandelson’s relationship with the late convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was revealed by the US Department of Justice.
The former Labour peer was chosen by prime minister to be the ambassador to the US last year. Though he was fired after a handful of months in the job, questions remain over just why he got the plum role in the first place.
How was his association with Epstein – elements of which had been reported on by the time of his appointment – overlooked by senior figures in the government?
Labour vowed to champion equality when in opposition, celebrated when a record number of female MPs were elected in 2024, and rolled out a Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy earlier this year.
But, as politicians face accusations of not reflecting these attitudes in their everyday lives, there are fears this is akin to paying lip service to a wider issue – especially with women in Westminster often feeling the direct effects of sexism themselves.
During Thursday’s episode of Commons People with guest Millie Cooke – The Independent’s political correspondent – we look at how Westminster deals with misogyny – and what else can be done to improve it.
Listen to find out more below…
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.
When I tripped over my daughter’s bathroom stool and hit my head on the bathtub, I thought it was harmless. I didn’t lose consciousness or even have a bump on my head.
It wasn’t until hours later that I started feeling fatigued and a bit off. A few days later, I thought I felt back to normal until I tried to work on my laptop — and the world started spinning. A pounding headache and intense brain fog followed, and then I knew I was dealing with a concussion.
“Many people who experience a concussion don’t actually feel any of the symptoms until hours later,” explained Dr. Daniel Daneshvar, the chief of Spaulding’s brain injury rehabilitation program and co-director of the Sports Concussion Clinic at Mass General Brigham in Massachusetts.
Additionally, symptoms can “intensify or evolve over the first several days,” added Dr. Kevin Bickart, an assistant professor in neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Because of this, the criteria for diagnosing a concussion now include symptoms that appear within a 72-hour window, according to the 2023 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine.
While many know to pay attention to symptoms right after a head injury, it’s often overlooked to watch for those that may appear hours, days or even weeks later. And because head injuries are common and can be debilitating, it’s important to know what to look for and when you need to seek help.
We talked to neurologists and concussion experts about these unexpected delayed symptoms, why they may not appear right away and what it means if you’re experiencing them.
First of all, what is a concussion exactly?
A concussion is a brain injury that’s “caused when the cells in the brain, the neurones, stretch or get otherwise damaged,” explained Daneshvar. “What happens then is the cells that are normally well-regulated in sending messages … [to] one another start sending messages erratically and in an uncontrolled fashion.”
These brain cells start using way more energy than they receive, and this “energy crisis” causes symptoms to appear, he said.
Concussion symptoms can really vary because this is “happening in the brain that controls everything from balance [and] headache[s] [to] vision, mood [and] memory,” added Dr. Shae Datta, a neurologist and co-director of the NYU Langone Concussion Center.
These changes in the brain are microscopic and often don’t appear in imaging like a CT or MRI scan, she said. Imaging only detects larger structural issues, like a brain bleed, significant swelling or skull fracture. So identifying symptoms is a key part of diagnosing a concussion.
What signs or symptoms should you watch for after you hit your head, even hours or days later?
One of the first signs people often look for after hitting their heads are bumps, bruises or other marks of injury. But this doesn’t necessarily mean you have a concussion.
“There isn’t a great connection between what you see on the outside of the skull and what’s going on inside,” Daneshvar noted.
While every individual is different, usually in the first 24 hours after a concussion you may experience more physical symptoms, like dizziness, headaches, nausea and sensitivity to light and noise, Bickart said. About three to seven days later, cognitive and emotional symptoms may pop up, such as anxiety, irritability, trouble focusing, memory issues and brain fog.
“This ‘second wave’ often catches patients off guard because they thought they were recovering,” he explained.
That said, every brain injury is unique, so any of these symptoms could appear immediately or later on, Datta added.
For example, “it doesn’t always happen that no irritability occurs immediately,” Bickart said. “Some people after a concussion can become completely emotionally dysregulated in the moment … crying hysterically … It’s not the most common thing that occurs, but it can.”
Symptoms can also transform over time. For instance, the pain of headaches (the most common concussion symptom) may feel different days or weeks later. Initially, it might feel like “pressure and pounding” all over the head and then eventually be “more intermittent … and only on one side,” he explained.
Disruptions in your sleep-wake cycles may change from feeling like you need to sleep more to actually having insomnia later on, Bickart said.
Vision issues could also evolve and include blurred or double vision or difficulties with focusing the eyes and tracking objects, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Fiordaliso via Getty Images
Why can symptoms appear delayed?
“Immediately after a hit, the brain dumps adrenaline and burns [energy] rapidly … which can mask symptoms,” Bickart said. “It is only hours or days later, when the brain’s energy fuel … is depleted” that symptoms may become more apparent.
Especially if the injury happens in a sports environment, it may not be “until the adrenaline wears off that you start to notice, ‘Hey, I’m feeling kind of tired actually’ or ’I’m having trouble concentrating,” Daneshvar explained.
Additionally, damage from the injury can lead to inflammation in the brain and affect different cells, he said.
Inflammation “often doesn’t peak until three to seven days post-injury,” Bickart said. This is what can “drive that ‘second wave’ of brain fog and fatigue.”
Lastly, as an individual returns to work, school or other everyday demands after resting, they may observe new symptoms “because they [haven’t] exposed … or pushed themselves” in this way yet.
What should you do if you experience delayed symptoms?
“Just because the symptoms are delayed, it doesn’t [necessarily] mean something catastrophic is going on,” Daneshvar said. “The important thing to note is … if symptoms are worsening rather than improving … or if … [there are] red flag symptoms.”
Red flags that you should go to the emergency room include a worsening headache, increased confusion, repeated vomiting, losing consciousness for more than 30 seconds, blood or fluid coming from the ears or nose, changes in your vision, constant ringing in the ears, weakness, seizures, difficulty speaking and large head bumps and bruises, according to Mayo Clinic.
If you experience delayed symptoms (after 48 hours) that don’t require emergency care, reach out to your primary care doctor and they can help you decide if a referral to a neurologist or imaging is necessary, advised Dr. Dharti Dua, a neurologist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
You also want to get adequate rest and be careful not to get another concussion soon after because this makes you “more prone to a delayed recovery,” she said.
“If symptoms appear days later, stop the activity that triggered them, but do not retreat to a dark room for days,” Bickart said. “We now know that strict rest beyond 48 hours actually prolongs symptoms.”
For symptoms that last beyond two weeks, active treatments are recommended, he added. For example, vestibular rehabilitation therapy treats dizziness and balance issues, and cognitive therapy teaches strategies for managing brain fog.
Datta advises looking for concussion centres because they specialise in brain injuries and offer a multidisciplinary team.
“It takes more than one kind of doctor to diagnose and manage you,” she explained.
These centres often include concussion experts from neurologists to physical therapists to neuro-ophthalmologists.
“The hopeful sentiment is that a concussion is very treatable. Most people recover pretty quickly, within a week or two,” Bickart said. For those who may have delayed or longer lasting symptoms, “there are tons of treatments out there … [and] you can still get the right help and recover.”
Politics
What does ‘greater ambition’ in UK-EU relations look like – and what are the chances of it?
Carolyn Rowe, Ed Turner, Tobias Hofelich and Jannike Wachowiak consider what a more ambitious UK-EU relationship could look like and the key challenges and opportunities it would present.
In May 2025, EU and UK leaders agreed a roadmap to soften the edges of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). At the time, the summit agenda was widely considered a pragmatic way forward, evidencing a new era of UK-EU relations under Keir Starmer, and part of a wider ambition to ‘reset’ that framework. But the world has not stood still. With Trump upending the global order and threatening European allies, the incrementalism that has characterised the rapprochement so far, looks a little like ‘fiddling while Rome burns’. How can the two sides be more ambitious in recalibrating this relationship?
While the stakes are certainly higher, it is far from certain whether the EU and the UK will be able to use the second proposed summit this summer to add new substance to their existing agreements. One key issue is bandwidth (or the lack thereof). Officials on both sides are mainly focused on implementing the Common Understanding agreed at last year’s summit. Following a slow start in the second half of last year, EU and UK officials are now getting into the meat of talks on a food and drinks deal and work towards the linking of their emission trading systems. These talks are deeply technical and, whilst there has been some squabbling over the finer detail, agreement should be possible. But on the much-touted youth experience scheme, particularly regarding university tuition fees, the negotiating partners remain far apart. Unless a landing zone can be found, the whole ‘reset’ could still come tumbling down: the EU has linked a solution on youth mobility to other areas where the UK is demandeur.
Another issue is around who takes initiative. The EU sees the ball as being in the UK’s court: i.e. if the UK wants a different relationship, it is up to them to make a clear ‘ask’. As the Commission’s chief spokesperson put it as recently as February, the forthcoming 2026 summit will be ‘the occasion to discuss with UK what, exactly, they have in mind, and how they propose to go about it’.
It is far from clear, however, that UK’s proposals would fly in Brussels. While the Chancellor’s Mais lecture identified deeper UK-EU relations as one of the UK’s biggest opportunities for economic growth, the government’s desire to pick and choose access to some areas of the single market (while rejecting the free movement of people and regular financial contributions à la Switzerland) is likely to be met with little enthusiasm in Brussels.
One way forward would be for the UK to present proposals which align directly with the EU’s stated ambition to strengthen relations with the UK on issues such as energy, people-to-people contacts, resilience and security. This is most likely in the deepening of UK-EU defence cooperation. Of all of the many challenges facing the EU at present it is on defence, primarily, where the UK is seen as part of the solution.
This could mean negotiating an agreement on the Ukraine loan which will be open to purchases from third countries who either have a SAFE agreement or are ‘providing significant financial and military support to Ukraine’ and agree to share ‘fair and proportionate financial contribution to the costs arising from borrowing’. A successful agreement would restore confidence and prepare the ground for a resumption of the collapsed SAFE talks.
On resilience, there is much more that could be done to coordinate policies and approaches in areas like supply chain security, investment screenings, and critical infrastructure. The UK could work with the EU towards greater ‘resilience’ as a wider European project, in which a broad alliance of like-minded EU partners such as the UK, Canada, Australia and Norway are incorporated into these new frameworks on a structured basis. A more ambitious agenda could focus on enhanced coordination in areas such as supply chain security, investment screening, and critical infrastructure. The people-to-people dimension of the relationship could also be strengthened. EU officials have indicated an interest in seeing UK participation in Creative Europe, an EU programme that supports cultural projects and the mobility of creatives.
Timing is crucial. Partly because of the rapidly evolving global context and partly because of domestic factors which, otherwise, might block progress. On the EU side, the negotiations on the next Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF) will take up EU bandwidth throughout 2026 and into 2027. So, too, will the 2027 French Presidential Elections. What is more, EU member states are currently debating policies with potentially far-reaching consequences for the UK: ‘Made in EU’ targets could, in the future, shut out certain British products and technologies from European supply chains. There is never a perfect time to move forward on UK-EU relations, but these externalities create urgency from the British perspective.
On the UK side, no significant advance in the UK-EU relationship will happen unless the Prime Minister decides to throw his political weight behind it and make the case at home and in Brussels. Currently, Keir Starmer’s government is cautious, but worries about fragmentation to the left, or even a leadership contest with candidates outbidding each other to appeal to a pro-European party membership, may change the dynamic.
No matter who leads Labour, forging a genuinely strategic partnership that matches the geopolitical challenges of the moment will require political direction and courage, as well as a willingness to take the conversation to Brussels and member states. With this in mind, the months leading up to the next summit will be a stress test for the seriousness of the Prime Minister’s EU ‘reset’ ambitions.
By Carolyn Rowe, Head of Department, Society & Politics at Aston University and Co-Director of the Aston Centre for Europe; Ed Turner, Reader in Politics at Aston University and Co-Director of the Aston Centre for Europe and acting chair of the International Association for the Study of German Politics; Tobias Hofelich, Research Associate, Aston University; and Jannike Wachowiak, Research Associate, UK in a Changing Europe.
This blog draws on a series of roundtables organised by the Aston Centre for Europe and UK in a Changing Europe in March 2026. The discussions were supported by funding from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
A recent poll of the London region suggests the Green Party could make significant gains in the May 7 local elections. It predicts a serious blow to incumbent Labour councillors who have long held a majority. In fact, well over a third of wards are projected to turn green as voters are set to abandon Starmer’s Labour Party.
Likewise, the poll reveals that far-right Reform UK’s chances in the region are thankfully much lower than previously feared. The map shows Reform UK appear to be contenders in roughly 10% of seats in the region. This is particularly likely in eastern and southeastern areas of London.
However, the party set to have the biggest defeat with likely hundreds of councillors unseated is the Labour Party. If the polling is indeed accurate, Labour would be lucky to win even a quarter of the seats in the UK’s capital.
Oh, how the corrupted are falling – and what a beautiful sight it is!
Green Party set to inflict a huge loss on Labour
Labour currently has 1,046 elected councillors in the London region with more sitting councillors than all other parties combined. Nonetheless, in a clear show that the British public have lost hope in establishment parties, they appear likely to make huge losses both to the Green Party and Reform UK.
In fact, the Labour Party’s poor performance has allowed the Tories to gain ground—despite over a decade of harmful austerity policies and their disastrous showing in the 2024 general election. Essentially, Labour’s authoritarian and Orwellian policies make even a pile of shit like the Conservatives seem more appealing by comparison.
Thankfully, the Green Party have leaned further into socialism and are likely to be rewarded for their principled efforts.
Needless to say, the battle is a close one with recent polls for seats across the UK show the Green Party with a marginal lead but Reform closely behind. Nevertheless, a trend is appearing to show Reform losing support whilst the Greens are seen to gain, which highlights how hate can only be defeated by solidarity and compassion:
‼️BREAKING | Greens surge into LEAD (1st!!)
🟢 Grn: 21.4% (+2.1)
➡️ Ref: 20.9% (-1.4)
🔵 Con: 20.5% (+0.2)
🔴 Lab: 17.0% (-0.4)
🟠 Lib: 9.2% (-1.9)Poll: @LordAPolls, 26-30 Mar (+/- vs 19-23 Feb) pic.twitter.com/oDVw4cDaFC
— Stats for Lefties 🍉🏳️⚧️ (@LeftieStats) April 5, 2026
2024 saw huge gains for billionaire-owned, far-right Reform UK which escalated fears that the far-right were likely to take power in 2029. Thankfully, those fears seem exaggerated, as UK voters make a clear choice between love and hate – and love appears to be winning.
‼️POLL | Who would you rather have in power?
🟢 Green Party – 57%
➡️ Reform UK – 43%Overwhelming majorities of Labour (81%) and Lib Dem voters (79%) would pick Greens over Reform.
Source: @LordAshcroft, 26-30 March pic.twitter.com/9PYhJBobIU
— Stats for Lefties 🍉🏳️⚧️ (@LeftieStats) April 5, 2026
Green leader Zack Polanski has recently posted on X following a “remarkable poll” from Lord Ashcroft, stating that the Greens are clearly replacing Labour:
Remarkable poll this evening from Lord Ashcroft. The Greens in joint 1st place.
We are replacing Labour and ready to take on Reform in the local elections on 7th May.https://t.co/0qbagSvIYp pic.twitter.com/9leBG92kPd
— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) April 5, 2026
Vote splitting on the far-right – few to split with on the left
Undoubtedly, far-right competition from Restore Britain is driving Reform UK’s declining support, with Restore Britain projected to capture 8% of the vote. Even more disheartening, voters find Restore Britain more appealing than Your Party, which is only expected to secure a measly 1% of seats.
No surprise really, given Corbyn and his team’s inability to figure out what they actually are as a party whilst they stand deselected Tories:
🚨 NEW: A new poll shows Restore Britain would get 8% of the vote
➡ Reform UK: 25%
🟢 Green Party: 19%
🔵 Conservatives: 16%
🌹 Labour: 16%
🔶 Lib Dems: 10%
🇬🇧 Restore Britain: 8%
🟣 Your Party: 1%Via @FindoutnowUK, 2948 sample, 25th March
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) March 26, 2026
These polls show that hate can be defeated through positive policies that put people above power and profit. In turn, this will undoubtedly see a sigh of relief from socialists across the country. They have long insisted that the real cure for the harms we see in our communities and across the UK is for unapologetic, unbending socialist policy.
It’s clear the left faces little competition: Labour abandoned left-wing voters long ago, and the Greens are offering them a political home. In fact, their gains are likely to come whilst engaging with working agreements with progressive candidates in the London region. These include both in Camden and in Southwark.
Therefore, if these arrangements succeed, this election will see solidarity push back against the malicious bile of the far-right.
Even better, it might even win.
Featured image via the Canary
4 min read
As a keen swimmer all my life, I am deeply concerned about the state of school swimming and water safety in this country. For an island nation, surrounded by rivers, lakes and 11,000 miles of coastline, the ability to swim is not optional. It is a vital life skill, as fundamental as learning to read or write. Yet every year, far too many children leave primary school unable to stay safe in the water.
Recent figures paint a stark picture. National data from Sport England shows that around one in four children finishes year 6 unable to swim 25m, and around one in five children can’t demonstrate basic water safety competence.
In some areas – particularly those with higher deprivation – the proportion rises far higher, with less than 40 per cent meeting the national curriculum standard. This inequality matters and it is completely unacceptable.
Children from lower‑income families, who are less likely to access private lessons, are disproportionately represented in drowning statistics.
It is a societal failure when the children who most need these life‑saving skills are the least likely to acquire them.
The challenges that schools face are well known. The closure of hundreds of local pools has made accessing lessons increasingly difficult. Transport costs for schools are rising, swimming teachers are in short supply and the timetable pressures on headteachers are immense.
Many schools simply do not have a suitable pool within a practical travel distance. For others, the nearest facility is over‑subscribed, ageing, or not designed with school groups in mind.
These barriers have real consequences. When a child misses out on swimming in primary school, the opportunity rarely comes back. And when a generation of children loses vital water safety skills, we collectively carry the risk.
We are seeing the impact already: too many drowning incidents, widening health inequalities, and increased inactivity among young people. If we do not act now, the long‑term social and health costs will be severe.
So, first and foremost, £400m has been pledged for grassroots sport – and it’s essential that this goes to swimming pools.
Next, the current review of the national curriculum must elevate the importance of swimming and water safety. School swimming has been part of the PE curriculum for over 30 years, but too often it is treated as an afterthought.
At the APPG, we believe school swimming should be treated with the seriousness it deserves. Ensuring every child learns to swim must be a shared responsibility between government, local authorities, schools and the wider aquatics sector. But government must set the tone by embedding swimming firmly in statutory expectations and providing the means for schools to comply.
The introduction of the government’s new online reporting tool for school swimming is a welcome step. For the first time, schools have provided their swimming results directly to the Department for Education. This tool promises to give us a clearer picture of where children are falling behind, where provision is strong, and where targeted support is urgently needed.
I urge the government not only to continue this work, but to publish the findings so that councils and schools can work together with experts such as Swim England and the Swimming Alliance to direct support most effectively using accurate, up-to-date data. Good policy requires good evidence.
The future of school swimming and water safety depends on decisions made now. We face a widening gap between children who can swim and those who cannot; between communities with modern, accessible pools and those where facilities have disappeared; between schools equipped to deliver high‑quality lessons and those struggling even to secure pool time.
We cannot allow postcode or income to determine a child’s chance of staying safe in the water. With the right investment, clear expectations and open reporting, we can reverse the decline.
The curriculum review is an opportunity – perhaps the most important in a decade – to ensure every child has the chance to learn this life-saving skill. It is an opportunity we must seize.
Phil Brownlie is senior head of public affairs for Swim England
Reform – the UK media’s darling – is currently being given a platform to air cruel statements about slavery and reparation demands on most UK news channels and platforms.
A resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly declared the transatlantic slave trade and the associated system of racialised chattel enslavement to be the gravest crime against humanity, a text that saw the UK and Ukraine abstain, as the measure passed with 123 votes in favour and only three countries, Argentina, Israel, and the United States, voting against.
Reform have corporate media in the palm of their hand
Zia Yusuf’s face has been on various videos this morning, expressing how aghast he is!
‘For countries to be turning up and demanding reparations now is a racket’
Reform UK Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf slams the ‘insane’ demands of nations requesting reparations from the slave trade.
‘We will not allow this country to be slapped around on the world stage’… pic.twitter.com/BDnhXRbowQ
— Talk (@TalkTV) April 7, 2026
‘We’re not going to allow Britain to be slapped around. British taxpayers will no longer be an ATM for ethnic grievances around the world.’
Reform UK’s Home Affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf discusses Reform UK’s plan to ban visas from countries demanding reparations from Britain. pic.twitter.com/Cj3P5MQ5XH
— GB News (@GBNEWS) April 7, 2026
🔴 Zia Yusuf says ‘enough is enough’ after Britain paid £6.6bn in foreign aid over two decades to countries demanding compensation
🔗: https://t.co/ecHX1keSjM pic.twitter.com/ySgyr5KlvW
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) April 6, 2026
Darren Grimes is also at hand to indulge Yusuf’s xenophobia.
Reform will reject the global grifters pic.twitter.com/EM8yOH6hIe
— Darren Grimes (@darrengrimes) April 7, 2026
What opposition?
The mainstream media is doing exactly what it is supposed to be doing. It is lending credence to voices talking about a symbolic vote by the UN General Assembly, to channel the indignation that people are feeling at the state of the world.
For fuck sake, Trump is literally threatening nuclear armageddon – but let’s please give a mic to Farage and his fan boys, Yusuf and Grimes, to see how they feel about the UN’s PR.
As Professor Kehinde Andrews pointed out on his podcast Make It Plain, the UN resolution is useless. It is not legally binding. The General Assembly has no power. The Security Council – with its five permanent members who have veto power, including the UK and US – is where real decisions are made. This resolution changes nothing.
Andrews notes that when Britain abolished slavery, it gave the largest payment in history, about 5% of GDP, to slave owners. The enslaved got nothing.
Britain’s industrial revolution was because of slavery. As Professor Kehinde Andrews put it: gold, silver, indigo, tobacco, sugar, cotton.
Those six commodities make the industrial revolution happen. Without those commodities, there is no Industrial Revolution. It is that simple.
Outright lie
So when Reform UK talks about the “bank being closed” and threatens to ban visas over a UN press release, they are defending a lie. Full stop. The lie that Britain’s wealth is clean.
The media run Reform’s theatre of indignation because that is their job.
As Professor Michael Parenti documented in Inventing Reality, the media treat mass atrocity as if the victims were just unfortunate figures in a “tragedy ordained by destiny”, never naming the perpetrators, never counting the debt, never asking who still profits.
Parenti wrote:
The most effective propaganda is that which relies on framing rather than on falsehood. By bending the truth rather than breaking it,using emphasis, nuance, innuendo, and peripheral embellishments,communicators can create a desired impression without resorting to explicit advocacy and without departing too far from the appearance of objectivity.
How apt is this analysis to the Gaza genocide, slavery, austerity deaths – the list is long and bloody.
Featured image via the Canary
14 peace campaigners were arrested during a 6 hour blockade of the main gates at RAF Lakenheath on 7 April. RAF Lakenheath is used exclusively by the United States Air Force and is sending fighter jets to the Iran war.
The peace protesters used heavy-duty locks to attach themselves to a car, a large multi-coloured peace symbol and each other. They completely blocked the main gates of RAF Lakenheath from 6am. Peace campaigners also shut down a second gate into RAF Lakenheath for 4 hours from 6am to 10am.
This non-violent direct action follows a week-long International Peace Camp at the base that ended yesterday, Monday 6 April. Although the RAF is the official owner, the US Air Force has exclusive use of the airbase. And it’s using it to send fighter jets to the war in Iran.
RAF bases Lakenheath and nearby Mildenhall have also supported Israel’s genocide in Gaza and nuclear bombs returned to Lakenheath last summer. Marie Walsh, a retired teacher from Didcot said:
We are here to interrupt business as usual, and to say in the name of humanity ‘STOP’.
One of the lock-on protesters, Rajan Naidu from Birmingham said:
Though being on British sovereign territory, this base is used by the US to pursue an illegal war of aggression, raining death and misery on the people of Iran. The base is also being used to aid and abet Israeli war crimes and genocide against the Palestinian people. Britain, by allowing these crimes against humanity is complicit in them, and therefore culpable for them.
RAF Lakenheath and Trump’s war on Iran
Well over 100 fighter jets and bombers have deployed from RAF Lakenheath for the attack on Iran. RAF Mildenhall has also had active involvement in the illegal war of aggression by providing refuelling for bombers deploying to West Asia.
Lakenheath Alliance For Peace has kept a list of warplanes deploying from Lakenheath and other airbases.
The Military Aviation YouTube channel filmed and published three Israeli F-35I arriving at RAF Mildenhall on 16 February and then departing for Israel on 18 February. The Israeli media had reported the delivery of the new aircraft on 20 January. Israel has used the F-35I in attacks against Gaza, Yemen and Iran.
LAP believes US nuclear B61-12 bombs have already arrived at RAF Lakenheath.
Nukewatch UK collected evidence of US B61-12 nuclear bombs coming to Lakenheath. Nukewatch is a network of volunteers that monitors and tracks movements of weapons of mass destruction in order to break the secrecy and inform the public about nuclear weapons in the UK.
Featured image via Lakenheath Alliance For Peace
Pink News have run an article penned by Labour’s Wes Streeting. The health secretary ostensibly addressed young people who are worried about the fact that his party has gutted both health and social support for trans people.
Pink News describes itself as the “world’s largest and most influential LGBTQ+ led media brand”. Of course, to anyone who has followed Pink News‘ rapidly falling quality of content and shift towards a “reporter free newsroom” will be unsurprised that it’s scraping the barrel for articles now.
However, even for the Daily-Mail-but-Pink, platforming a transphobe like Streeting is lower than low. This is a man who lied through his teeth about the number of trans kids who took their own lives because of the puberty blocker ban. Worse still, he called reporting on those statistics “dangerous”.
And now we’re meant to listen to him lying through his teeth about caring?
Streeting – ‘about you, rather than to you’
The health secretary begins his article by stating that:
If you are a young person questioning your gender, or a parent watching your child struggle with who they are, this moment of reassessing how NHS gender services are accessed and deployed may feel frightening.
You might be worried about what comes next. You might feel uncertain, unheard, or invisible in a debate that too often talks about you, rather than to you.
So let me begin here: you matter. Your feelings are real. And you deserve care, dignity and understanding.
Not once, in this entire piece, does Streeting refer to the trans kids he’s talking to as ‘trans kids’. He calls them young people “questioning” their gender.
He says [trans kids] deserve dignity, but he won’t even acknowledge their identity. The closest he manages is “every trans person, every child deserves to feel safe”.
‘I remember what it felt like’
This refusal of acknowledgement makes his subsequent speech about his own sexuality particularly two-faced:
I know, from my own life, how powerful and sometimes overwhelming questions of identity can be.
Growing up gay, I remember what it felt like to wonder if I would be accepted, whether I would be safe, and whether the world would make space for me as I was.
Streeting grew up gay, fearing that he wouldn’t be accepted. I wonder if he is capable of the empathy to imagine himself in trans kids’ place now?
To the trans kids who have had their medication pathways ripped away from them on blatantly ideological grounds, Streeting isn’t showing the “love, acceptance and support” of his “amazing family and friends”.
To those trans kids he calls “questioning”, is Streeting meaningfully different from the politicians who talked about gay people as “a pretended family relationship” when he was growing up?
Is his government’s guidance urging a “very careful approach” when a child “asks” to socially transition in schools closer to championing LGBTQ+ rights, or to Section 28’s ban on teaching materials that “intentionally promote homosexuality”?
‘Support is not on hold’
Streeting goes on to talk about the pause on the PATHWAYS puberty blocker trial for a review of “aspects of its design and safety”. Of course, he fails to mention that the review was proposed by a man who happened to be recused due to his openly transphobic social media posting immediately afterwards.
The health secretary also states that:
At the same time, there is a proposal to stop routinely offering puberty blockers and hormone treatments to under-18s while more evidence is gathered about long-term effects.
A masterclass in the use of the passive voice there. Likewise, Streeting also masterfully neglected to mention that the proposal was based on a study that used a bizarre set of inclusion criteria that just happened to rule out almost all positive evidence for said treatments. Funny that, isn’t it?
In spite of these pauses and halts on treatment, the health secretary nevertheless tries to insist that:
Support is not on hold.
Young people referred to services are being seen by mental health and paediatric teams, with help available while you wait for specialist care.
What use is mental health care to the trans boy who is being forced to undergo puberty because of his government’s transphobic ideology? Counseling doesn’t stop his hips from widening or his chest from growing.
What use is mental health care to the trans girl whose voice breaks because the blocker trial is on hold? Every time she speaks in a tenor from now on, as the dysphoria bites, she’ll know whose fault that is. Will she take solace in the fact that some sniveling prick of a health secretary said her feelings are valid?
‘Questioning the government’s commitment’
At the end of his marathon of hypocrisy, omissions, and outright lies, Streeting widens his address:
I also want to speak to the wider LGBTQ+ community, and to anyone questioning the government’s commitment.
I hear those concerns. I understand why trust feels fragile right now.
But let me say this clearly: every trans person, every child deserves to feel safe, respected, and included in our society and in the health system that serves them. That is not up for debate.
There will be disagreements of course. This is a deeply complex area, and people come to it with different perspectives and experiences.
People are questioning this government’s commitment because, among many other reasons, every LGBTQ+ individual in the country watched the prime minister go from saying ‘trans women are women’ to saying the exact opposite, overnight.
We’re questioning your commitment because we watched you, Wes Streeting, call for the segregation of trans people. We watched you lie about the suicides caused by policies that you inherited and endorsed.
Social murder
There’s something uniquely loathsome about the sucking moral vacuum in the shape of a man that is Wesley Paul William Streeting.
There’s a level of open lying in his dealing that speaks to his utter contempt for other people. This is a health secretary who claims to hate NHS privatisation. However, he takes tens of thousands in donations from the private providers his party is selling the service to.
Likewise, this is a health secretary who tries to tell the public to hate the doctors for striking. Meanwhile, he bleats to the doctors that they should undermine their union. And, of course, who could forget his taking a massive MPs’ pay rise whilst threatening to rip training positions away from doctors?
Streeting is a politician who uses being gay as part of his justification for the blatantly transphobic things he does. And yes, calling for trans segregation and removing our healthcare is transphobic, even if Pink News platforms his claims to care.
In sociology and political theory, the concept of ‘social murder’ refers to an unnatural death caused by the structure of society itself, and by the politicians that help shape that structure.
There’s a part of me that wonders if Streeting is ever kept awake at night by the thought of the kids who died at his far-removed hand. I doubt it.
Featured image via the Canary
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