A former Special Air Service (SAS) colonel says holding troops accountable over war crimes could wreck the UK/US alliance. SAS troops are currently under investigation for extrajudicial killings in Afghanistan. The same report re-heated fake claims about a ‘witch-hunt’ against British troops.

These kinds of claims about UK troops being ‘harassed’ for ‘doing their jobs’ have been bandied about for over a decade — usually by the hard-right press. This time it is the Daily Telegraph… again. Needless to say, committing war crimes is not the ‘job’ of British troops — though they certainly have committed them abundantly in the past.

The British state has spent serious time, effort and deviousness to make sure that it — and, by extension, British soldiers — are protected over allegations of war crimes. Two bills were even passed to that end. One covers the so-called Irish Troubles. The other deals with the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The Telegraph also claimed — without evidence — that special forces troops would leave their jobs in substantial numbers.

Lt Col Richard Williams, the former commanding officer of the SAS, said on 22 April that the supposed resignations were a “national security” matter:

The Americans bring scale, resources, helicopters, drones. We bring highly trained personnel. If that capability is diminished, it affects not just us but the wider alliance… It is putting national security at risk.

The Ireland bill is currently being repealed and replaced. Various outlandish claims about veterans being ‘witch-hunted’ have been made over the years. None of them stand up to scrutiny.

The SAS and lawfare conspiracism

Williams has previously claimed that Iranian intelligence had fed intelligence to UK legal firms as an act of ‘lawfare’ or legal warfare. The Centre for Military Justice (CMJ) and two former senior British Army officers seem to think this amounts to an evidence-free conspiracy theory:

There is of course no evidence for this assertion, which would be laughable if the context was not so serious.

Adding:

We have been here many times before. Evidence-based reasoning is entirely absent from this ground-hog day debate. We now live in an age of accountability. That is a good thing, although it may be difficult and painful.

They concluded:

Respect for the law and human rights would have prevented atrocities from Londonderry to Basra as well as inside the darker parts of the Army that some would prefer to remain hidden.

As the Canary has previously reported, simply making up claims of a witch hunt to stoke fear and moral outrage among ex-military personnel is a political tactic. Hard-right political party Reform UK has even tried their hand at it lately.

CMJ said in July 2025:

There have been just six prosecutions brought against veterans since the Good Friday Agreement, more than 25 years ago. There has been just ONE conviction. That is not a witch-hunt.

Over 300,000 British troops served in the so-called Troubles. By no serious measure can six prosecutions and a single conviction be seen as a witch-hunt.

CMJ director Emma Norton added:

Protesters and political actors must stop stoking the fears of the veteran community. It is irresponsible to encourage veterans to live in perpetual fear of getting a knock at the door and activists should not be pouring fuel on the fire of elderly men’s fears.

The current inquiry into alleged SAS killings in Afghanistan is still underway amid allegations of a cover-up by senior officers. Yet it seems some figures want to portray this basic accountability process as a conspiracy to harass soldiers and veterans — before the inquiry has reported a single finding.

British troops are subject to the law. They are trained to abide by it — even when they are Special Forces. Accountability processes may be long, slow, messy and partial, but they exist for a reason. Operating in line with domestic and international law is not too heavy a burden.

It is wrong-headed and dangerous to say otherwise. And anyone putting forward this view immediately comes across as if they want to be above the law.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

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Disabled People’s Organisations will gather in Manchester and online to challenge government SEND reform proposals and hear from groups they say are underrepresented in the consultation process.

The government’s SEND Reform Consultation is due to close on 18 May. In its consultation and Schools White Paper, the government has set out proposals for changes to the SEND system.

However, the Alliance for Inclusive Education (ALLFIE) has raised concerns about several aspects of the proposals, including:

• That Inclusion Bases in schools increase segregation, rather than inclusion.
• That segregated education settings are being prioritised for funding.
• That concerns from Disabled people are not being reflected in the proposals.

ALLFIE, alongside the Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People, will launch the Northern Inclusive Education Network at an event titled ‘Build Inclusion: Educate, Don’t Segregate’. It’s taking place in Manchester and online via Zoom on 30 April.

The event will bring together Disabled people and organisations from across the UK to discuss Government SEND reform proposals. It will provide a clear, accessible overview of the proposals. And it’ll discuss their potential implications for Disabled children and young people.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to share lived experiences and perspectives on the proposed changes.

Sessions will be facilitated by members of ALLFIE’s youth campaigning and activism project, Our Voice, as well as representatives from Disabled People’s Organisations and staff from both organisations.

People in the SEND system best placed to comment on it

Organisers say young Disabled people, who are currently navigating, or have recently navigated, the SEND system, are best placed to describe its impacts in practice. They also highlight the role of grassroots organisations, which draw on long-standing experience in Inclusive Education and Disabled people’s rights.

Lani Parker, of ALLFIE, said:

Young Disabled people and grassroots Disabled people-led organisations are often not adequately involved in decisions that directly affect them.

We believe those with lived experience of the SEND system should be fully included in shaping reforms.

The current proposals risk weakening the rights of Disabled children and young people to learn alongside their peers. We are calling for a system that delivers Inclusive Education in practice for every Disabled child and young person.

Organisers also warn that the proposals will deepen exclusion and segregation for already marginalised communities. This includes Disabled people experiencing intersecting inequalities related to race, class, gender and sexuality, who are often disproportionately affected by systemic barriers.

You can register for the event here. It runs from 11.30am-6.00pm on Thursday 30 April.

ALLFIE is a Disabled People’s Organisation founded in 1990 and led by Disabled people. It is a UK-based organisation focused on campaigning and information-sharing on education, training and apprenticeship issues affecting Disabled people.

It’s the only national Disabled People’s Organisation in the UK focused specifically on Inclusive Education. ALLFIE campaigns for the right of all Disabled pupils and students to be fully included in mainstream education, training and apprenticeships with the necessary support.

ALLFIE believes that Inclusive Education is the basis of lifelong equality. It argues that children who learn and play together are more likely to grow into adults who understand and respect difference.

Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

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As we reported, home secretary Shabana Mahmood said she’d like to ‘taser and deport’ Zack Polanski on 20 April. Polanski himself has now responded by doing something which is inconceivable to Labour politicians — i.e. being normal:

My own answer to this pretty odd question would be that I wouldn’t choose to taser anyone.

Who would?

And framing this around political opponents is really problematic. pic.twitter.com/iojZKcqdak

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— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) April 22, 2026

Tase test

As reported by the Telegraph:

Mahmood was also asked which of the opposition leaders – Nigel Farage, Kemi Badenoch, Zack Polanski or Sir Ed Davey – she would either deport or taser. She replied: “You are talking to me so I want to taser and then deport… all of them.”

The problem Labour politicians have is they’re all seething sacks of grudges and insecurities. This quickly becomes obvious whenever they feel free to speak openly, because they say things like ‘I would assault and deport everyone‘.

Others had an even stronger reaction than Zack Polanski:

Keir Starmer's Labour – what a disaster

SHABANA Mahmood has been accused of showing a “sickening indifference” to human life after she joked about tasering and deporting her political rivals. pic.twitter.com/BHseMUq7EC

— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) April 21, 2026

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Some argued it’s just a grim topic for the home secretary to be joking about:

I’m old enough to remember when jokes were about things that were funny.

“And we deported him to Afghanistan and he was murdered 2 hours after the plane landed, oh how we laughed!”

Demons.

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— It’s Norm (@CheersNormanP) April 22, 2026

Zack Polanski — War of words

When Polanski isn’t threatening to not tase people, he’s defending himself against accusations of antisemitism from confused gentiles:

https://t.co/l8pAxIWwep

— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) April 22, 2026

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The correct response was sorry. I'm being an absolute ghoul and I was wrong.

But you have no shame so I won't hold my breath.

— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) April 22, 2026

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You’ll note Zack Polanski didn’t threaten to tase or deport anyone here.

It’s a low bar, but Labour politicians keep tripping over it.

Featured image via Barold

By Willem Moore

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Keir Starmer’s disgraced long-time handler Morgan McSweeney has been called to give evidence to the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee. The call comes after former top Foreign Office civil servants told the committee that McSweeney had told them to ignore vetting and “just fucking approve” Keir Starmer’s appointment of disgraced paedophile’s pal — and McSweeney’s mentor — Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the UK.

McSweeney was previously always considered a shadow figure, who had little personal online presence or public profile. His father was a known used-car scammer who forfeited £25,000 in bail after fleeing to Malaga to avoid arrest and had a criminal conviction for assault. But McSweeney Jr was a cypher, a classical ‘power behind the throne’ who evidently wanted to wield power without being scrutinised by the public gaze.

Morgan McSweeney — the beginning of the end

The surface of that protective shell began to crack when the spying and sabotage activities of McSweeney’s outfit Labour Together were exposed by Paul Holden’s landmark book The Fraud. It spiderwebbed fatally when McSweeney’s mentor Mandelson was forced to resign in disgrace after further revelations of Mandelson’s ardour for serial child-rapist Jeffrey Epstein. And not just ardour — Mandelson gave Epstein sensitive and highly lucrative insider trading information.

And now McSweeney’s cover looks set to collapse altogether. If he is made to give sworn evidence, as the committee has the power to do, any lies he tells will be perjury, as well as contempt of Parliament, all on camera. It’s not routine for select committees to do so, but they can and do.

And in this case, they must. Starmer’s cabal has woven tissue after tissue of lies. To bring down Corbyn, to fool Labour members into voting for him as party leader, to fool voters in the general election and then seemingly daily since. That includes the latest, feeble attempts to blame underlings and civil servants for Starmer knowingly appointing a known security risk and friend of child-rapists to a key diplomatic position.

There can be little doubt that Starmer and McSweeney’s other remaining allies will be applying pressure behind the scenes on committee members to give McSweeney the softest of kid-glove treatments when he comes before the committee. They must be kicked out without ceremony — and any MP who doesn’t go for the jugular will be disgraced.

Time for the shadow man to be dragged into the disinfectant of sunlight. Whether he will burst into flames is a coin toss.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

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After many years of vindictively, vexatiously and maliciously plaguing innocent people, it seemed in February this year that disgraced and deranged former policeman Lynsay Watson‘s campaign of terror might be finally beginning to draw to a close.

Attending the Civic Justice Centre in Manchester as part of an ongoing attempt to persecute the feminist journalist and author Helen Joyce, Watson was intercepted by Greater Manchester Police and arrested in connection with allegations of harassment of several people, one of whom was myself.

Watson had been evading justice for a long time. He provides false addresses to the police and courts (which is a crime in itself), and despite numerous criminal complaints against him he manages to dodge arrest because police forces endlessly ping-pong the complaints between each other (“He lives in YOUR area!” “No, yours!”) and allow him to repeatedly arrange voluntary interviews which he never turns up to, stalling and hiding until the six-month limit on harassment cases times out.

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And guess what, readers?

We have no more answers to all the obvious questions arising from that email than you do. (Not least why police still insist on taking the side of transwomen in terms of pronouns, even when talking to the victims of their crimes. That’s not a neutral stance, that’s gaslighting – even while investigating your complaint of harassment from a massive and aggressive bloke, they’re telling you he’s a lady.)

When I made my complaint last year I briefed GMP in detail from the outset about his evasion tactics and suggested several powers they could exercise to locate him, yet none were deployed and he was allowed to get away with it again, dodging several voluntary interviews for several months until I finally told them he’d be at the CJC on the morning of 12 February and they managed to get a couple of officers down there.

Despite time being a critical issue by then, they failed to use their discretionary powers to ask the Crown Prosecution Service to expedite their report (called an “emergency charging decision”) after interviewing him.

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(We should note at this point that the email only refers to my own complaint. He was questioned and bailed on at least one more on the same day, and we don’t know whether that one remains live.)

Much of what you’re about to read below is taken verbatim from my detailed and exhaustive initial complaint to the police last year. They cannot credibly claim not to have known what sort of person they were dealing with. Whether their failure to act effectively is down to incompetence, overwork or sympathy with a former officer is a matter for speculation.

Watson is a male who identifies as a female, and has done so for approximately 25 years. His campaign of harassment against me began in February 2023, when he reported me to GMP over some pretty innocuous social media comments about the tragically-murdered teenager Brianna Ghey.

By this time three years had passed since the judgment in Harry Miller vs College Of Policing had been handed down (and over a year since the unsuccessful appeal against it), confirming the rights of “gender-critical” people – those such as myself who observe and acknowledge the reality of biological sex – to express their views freely on transgender issues, even if that caused offence to others.

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Watson was sacked from Leicestershire Police in 2023 for gross misconduct after conducting a long campaign of harassment against Mr Miller on the basis of Mr Miller’s holding of those beliefs. His attempt to appeal against aspects of that decision – although he accepted the charge of gross misconduct – was rejected in the High Court in August 2025.

Watson’s complaint against me therefore had no reasonable chance of success, and GMP duly rejected it. Watson forced several internal reviews of the decision, all of which had the same outcome confirming the original decision, and he then applied for a judicial review in April 2024, which was refused.

Watson sought to appeal that decision on 14 August 2024 and was granted permission by HHJ Bird on a single ground. That appeal was heard in February 2025. Judgment was duly handed down by Mrs Justice Hill, who refused the application and also refused Watson leave to appeal in April 2025.

Watson filed an application with the Court Of Appeal anyway, which was rejected on 1 April 2026. (“On the papers”, which is a legal term meaning that there was no oral hearing, the judge simply read the documents and reached a decision.)

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The downside of that is that because it wasn’t heard in public, we can’t show you any of the numerous mind-bogglingly demented submissions Watson sent to the court during the process, which is a tremendous shame.

I had not been informed by either Watson or GMP of the existence of the complaint until an email sent to me by Watson on 19 February 2025 – two years after the report had been made and despite the obvious fact that I was an Interested Party in the judicial review (and the person he was attempting to have jailed).

However, social media accounts run by Watson had made reference to it.

The reference in the tweet above to “our reports […] since 2019” is notable, since the Spitfire Cannon account was only registered in September 2023.

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(The term “FAFO” in the tweet above is an acronym. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary it’s “an expression of warning or schadenfreude”, standing for “Fuck Around, Find Out”, a favorite phrase of Watson’s.)

In March 2024 the same account gloated about the supposed imminence of reports against myself, JK Rowling, Graham Linehan and Helen Joyce to the police after the Hate Crime And Public Order Act (Scotland) became law on 1 April of that year.

(“Shed collapse” is an urban-slang term for “mental breakdown”.)

The account also threatened to “[bypass] the police” with regard to gender-critical campaigners, an apparently threatening term which was not elaborated on.

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The account had previously made numerous other hostile posts about me, using my Twitter “tag” to ensure that I saw them, undoubtedly for the purposes of causing me fear or alarm.

After I blocked the account to stop receiving these notifications, it made that intention clear, saying that I “should be” “scared”.

At this point an unexpected champion entered the arena.

(Roddy Dunlop KC, the Dean of Scotland’s Faculty Of Advocates, subsequently made good on his pledge and represented me pro bono in the hearing before Mrs Justice Hill, alongside my solicitor Elliot Hammer, paid for by the heroic Free Speech Union.)

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It’s very clear that “Spitfire Cannon” is Lynsay Watson, for multiple reasons.

However, there’s no need for any supposition or conjecture regarding that matter. The account stated in March 2024 that “I have lodged a complaint with Police Scotland” regarding the actions of JK Rowling, and screenshotted the text of the complaint. It would be a simple matter for any other force to contact Police Scotland and establish the name supplied by the complainant.

What’s in no dispute, however, is that it was Lynsay Watson who filed the complaint against me with GMP and has continued to try to force them to prosecute me for three and a quarter years subsequently, despite a lengthy series of findings (seven, by my last count) from the police and courts that his complaint is baseless.

(In June 2025 he also tweeted implying that he intended to name me as an Interested Party in a separate case, which he’s provided no further details about since.)

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In addition, last September he contacted me with a threat to sue me in the County Court for supposed “harassment” and “discrimination” against himself under the Equality Act 2010, demanding compensation of between £35,200 and £56,200 for an article published on Wings about Mrs Justice Hill’s judgment a few days after it was handed down, which also provided some background on him.

As a former police officer Watson will be perfectly aware that the EA2010 does not apply to private individuals, only public authorities. In any event I informed him of this fact in my reply, directing him to appropriate information sources and noting that I considered this obviously-vexatious and groundless threat to be part of a campaign of deliberate harassment contrary to the Protection From Harassment Act 1997.

No proceedings in the County Court have as yet materialised. Nevertheless he then contacted me again by email on 15 September 2025, ostensibly to notify me that I had attempted to pervert the course of justice by posting a link to a crowdfunder to provide defence counsel for Matthew Heath, who has been arrested and charged at the behest of another transgender activist, a male calling himself Stephanie Hayden.

Despite the manifestly obvious fact that any bail conditions which may or may not have been applied to Mr Heath would not apply to anyone else – something which again a former police officer of 20+ years experience would know perfectly well – Watson has already vexatiously reported myself and numerous others (among literally thousands who also tweeted or retweeted links to the page) to the Metropolitan Police for this supposed crime, as stated on his subsequently-banned Bluesky social media account SEEN Police Official Open Public Network (henceforth “SEEN POOPN”).

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The only possible purpose of all of these threats, which are without any sort of basis in law, is to cause fear, alarm and distress, and possibly also force the targets to incur significant legal expenses in attempting to protect themselves. (My own case would have cost me well into five figures if not for the FSU and Roddy Dunlop KC, with no prospects of recovering the money from the penniless Watson, whose endless legal actions are paid for by the taxpayer under the Help With Fees scheme.)

He appears to glory in causing, or believing to have caused, such fear.

Despite repeated warnings to stop emailing me, Watson continued to do so, which formed the basis of my harassment against him and his subsequent arrest.

The SEEN POOPN account being operated by Watson was also stated, uncontested, in open court during the trial of Graham Linehan at Westminster Magistrates Court in September 2025 and can be confirmed by the transcript of those proceedings.

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While it uses collective pronouns (“we”, “our”), it is in fact the sole property of Watson. In February 2025 its corresponding Twitter/X account referred to “our” application and “our” pre-legal-action protocols in respect of an attempt to instigate another judicial review, in this case against Maya Forstater of the feminist charity Sex Matters. That application was, however, made in the sole name of Lynsay Watson.

In September 2025 Watson alleged – apologies for the unavoidable semantic tangle of the following – that I had reported “us” for harassment, stating that “we” had brought litigation against me. (He also asserted, in a vaguely threatening way, that my report was “not smart”.)

But the sole subject of my report was Lynsay Watson, and the only person who has brought litigation against me is Lynsay Watson. SEEN POOPN was therefore plainly and demonstrably, by its own admission, Lynsay Watson.

Again, while there is in reality no doubt about the matter of who operates Watson’s numerous accounts – he constantly gives himself away in all sorts of ways – it would be straightforward for police to establish who made the complaints to the Metropolitan Police, to obtain technical information about the accounts on Bluesky and Twitter/X from the respective companies, and/or to search Watson’s electronic devices for the relevant information.

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(The Twitter/X account for SEEN POOPN was banned in August 2025 after publishing details about the private address of JK Rowling, but they will still hold its details. The banning of the account makes it impossible to link to some of his historic tweets screenshotted below, but again Twitter/X should be able to verify them for the police if their authenticity is disputed.)

Watson appears to blame me – “the Man with no Teeth” – for his banning, although I had nothing to do with it. He comments obsessively about my dental health on the basis of a tweet I posted years ago when an old tooth had to be removed, including a number of posts in which he referred to me as a “pyknic”, which basically means “fat”.

Watson used both accounts, and continues to use new Bluesky accounts despite a string of bannings, to issue a stream of abuse and threats against myself and other gender-critical campaigners. They interacted with the “Spitfire Cannon” account, behaviour consistent with the modus operandi revealed during Watson’s dismissal from Leicestershire Police, whereby he created a string of anonymous accounts and used them to support each other.

In August 2025, a few weeks before the murder of American political commentator Charlie Kirk, Watson called for the “ethical assassinations” of people he considers “Nazis” and “fascists” – terms he defines extremely widely to include anyone with gender-critical views and judges and police officers he feels do not take sufficient action against such people, including the current Inspector Of Constabulary, Andy Cooke, to whom he refers as a “bigoted cunt”, a “crook” and a “Nazi shitbag”.

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In August 2025, he told a sitting MP that “You’re an evil arsehole and you won’t always have bodyguards around you”, which can only reasonably be interpreted as a threat of physical violence.

He continued to express this view after Kirk’s murder, and has made explicitly clear that he considers Kirk’s organisation, Turning Point, to consist of “literal, modern-day Nazis”, and therefore deserving of further murders.

And stated that “It [sic] time we stopped f*cking around with peaceful protests with Nazis”, which can only reasonably be read to mean deploying violence instead, particularly in the context of other tweets sympathising with transgender murderers.

The account openly stated that its intent was to have gender-critical people like myself “fucking living in fear”, and that “nothing is off the card” [sic] in achieving that aim, and that myself and others will “have your life ruined”.

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It repeatedly spoke of resorting to “the nuclear option”, without specifying what that might be.

And Watson claimed to have “nothing to lose”.

And that his mental health has been “permanently” “destroyed”.

Such comments are particularly chilling given his previous statements that he would deliver “a grim ending” to gender-critical activists such as Helen Joyce if he wasn’t “inherently peaceful”.

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When the account was eventually banned by Bluesky, Watson opened a string of replacements, including “New Model 3” on 20 January 2025, with which he continued to advocate the murder of gender-critical activists, or as Watson called them, “anti-trans extremists directly analogous to high-profile Nazis”.

The NM3 account last tweeted the day before Watson’s arrest on 12 September (it’s possible that he lost access to it when the police took his mobile phone) and has not resumed since, but remains live on Bluesky.

Prior to that it was fond of talking about rifles, particularly in the context of bemoaning American’s unwillingness to use them to kill these “Nazis”.

Something it shared with another of Watson’s replacement Bluesky accounts, “SEEN In Justice”, on which he bragged about his own alleged shooting skills.

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That account chillingly called for the “decommissioning” of gender-critical activists, which again it’s impossible to rationally interpret in any other way than murder given its framing by Watson as an act of self-defence against homicide and “genocide”.

“SEEN In Justice” was banned in turn, alongside other short-lived accounts including “SEEN Police”, “SEEN Volunteer”, “unpaid-overworked” and “ado-da-diddly-yay”.

The “unpaid-overworked” one mainly vented his fury at developmental biologist Dr Emma Hilton of the University Of Manchester, who was present at his arrest and who he blames for it although it had nothing whatsoever to do with her, and attempted to incite people to harass her.

He said counter-protestors shouldn’t do so during this month’s “one year since the For Women Scotland” demonstrations because police would be present (what possible valid reason could there be for peaceful counter-protestors to avoid the police?), and that the best method would be to intercept her on her way to or from the event, which he called a “neo-Nazi rally”.

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On one of his latest Twitter accounts (which has had several names including “BeKindIsFun” and at the time of writing “DrZeiuss“, and is one of at least four he’s currently operating on the platform, including “Lyn075702557299“, “Sarah Sillymore”, and the unusually blatant “LynsayWatson“), he was more explicitly menacing towards Dr Hilton, and other women who were present to witness the arrest.

Watson is so abominably bad at concealing his endless fake identities that he uses the same themes, images and text across them regularly.

He never makes any attempt to alter his modus operandi – personal abuse, threats to doxx people, physically attack people or get them arrested, and wildly delusional “predictions”, in this case his apparently imminent reinstatement as a police officer.

(His pattern of furiously denying that any new sock account is him and constantly talking about himself in the third person, only to forget himself at some point and admit it, never changes either. Much like his inability to correctly use apostrophes.)

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But after a brief period of diligence Bluesky appeared to lose interest in shutting him down for violating its terms against banned users creating new accounts (Twitter has never cared about enforcing that rule), and his current active account on the site is called “Sub MOA”, which is a term relating to the accuracy of sniper rifles.

It continues his obsession with Emma Hilton.

(Oh look, those repeating phrases again.)

The account repeats his previous calls for people to undertake “direct action” in the form of “decommissioning” gender-critical activists, ie murdering them.

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(Because Watson makes clear that he thinks using lawful means to take these people out of commission is a hopeless task.)

The reduction in number from 25 to 19 is curious. Maybe he’s already killed six and nobody knows about it yet. But readers may wish to imagine the response of the police if someone were to tweet even once in such a manner about “decommissioning” 25 leading Muslims or trans people or pretty much any other group. Yet Watson remains at liberty to continually escalate his threats, even after being in police custody.

In messages sent to my personal Twitter account @RevStu last year (after I’d blocked him from my @WingsScotland account), Watson threatened to show up in person at my front door, much as he’d subsequently threaten to do to JK Rowling.

And he’s certainly known to be capable of violence – while a serving police officer (still using his birth name of Alex Horwood), Watson kicked a man unconscious in the process of arrest.

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As the footage of his arrest shows, he’s a large and heavily-built man and previously extremely strong, having been a boxer and member of the armed forces as well as describing himself in a January 2000 Daily Record interview as a “5 foot 11 muscle-bound policeman” and “hyper-masculine”.

During his Police Appeals Tribunal hearing in August 2025, Watson told the judge that he “rightly does not seek to excuse [his] online misconduct” and “is now embarrassed by [his] tweets” during his harassment of Harry Miller, but blamed them on being “mentally ill”, at the time, using the past tense.

However, since there has been absolutely no change in his online conduct between then and the present day, it must reasonably assumed he still is mentally ill, and as noted above the SEEN POOPN account recently claimed that Watson’s mental health has been “permanently” “destroyed”.

What we therefore have is a man who by his own admission is mentally “destroyed”, has “lost everything” and has “nothing to lose”, has a known capability for violence, who believes that anyone holding gender-critical beliefs is a “Nazi” and a “fascist” who deserves to have their lives “ruined” and to “fucking live in fear” (and spends every waking moment on a relentless campaign to achieve that end), and that it is morally acceptable, even admirable, to “assassinate”, ie murder, such people.

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As one such person, who has been the focus of Watson’s fury for two and a half years, who is currently still frustrating his attempts to have me imprisoned, and who he’s threatened in a menacing manner to visit personally, I believe it to be a considerable understatement that Watson has deliberately carried out a course of action designed to cause me fear, alarm and distress, and has succeeded in doing so.

(Partly because I’ve previously been victim to similar utterly baseless, ludicrous and vexatious complaints on the basis of my political beliefs, which nevertheless saw me arrested and my belongings impounded for months, causing me thousands of pounds of unrecoverable expense – because I had to replace the seized equipment to continue to do my job – and trauma before being dismissed without charges. Even several years later my heart rate still leaps if the doorbell rings when I’m not expecting anyone, and I’m still sometimes accused of the allegations on social media because they were widely reported in the press.)

I not only believe that he has done so and intends to continue to do so, I also believe there’s a very real chance he’ll attempt to do me and/or others physical harm. He repeatedly refers to being in some sort of life-or-death struggle against evil, to being at the limits of his endurance, and to holding the law in complete contempt for what he perceives as its institutional transphobia and bigotry. He is manifestly dangerous, and by his own assertion.

I know of, and have spoken directly to, at least six other people whom Watson has targeted for similar harassment and who have filed criminal complaints against him, and yet the police have taken no action in any of their cases, denying knowledge of his address and batting responsibility for investigating him back and forth between each other endlessly, despite the fact that he’s required to give a current and valid address to the countless courts and police forces he submits reports and applications to, and it being a criminal offence to provide a false address for such purposes.

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He claims to be in receipt of state benefits (it’s highly unlikely he has a job), which also require a valid address, and our understanding is that he drives a vehicle of some kind whose number both Lincolnshire and Greater Manchester Police (at a minimum) are aware of, which also requires a genuine address for registration and insurance on pain of committing an offence.

Instead, as in my case, he’s merely been contacted by email and invited for voluntary interviews, which he agrees to but then fails to turn up for, wasting weeks at a time until the six-month statute expires and the warrant is cancelled. From his career in the police, he’s clearly well acquainted with all the loopholes in their procedures.

He even brags about the police’s supportive gratitude towards him, and claims that they have “advised [him] to carry on [his] lawful work”.

Yet at the same time he accuses GMP of trying to have him “stitched up”.

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And openly disrespects the law and those who uphold it, constantly advocating mass “100% non-compliance” with the law as established by the Supreme Court.

Including violent assault on police officers attempting to carry out their duty.

Watson has actively solicited and incited people to disobey the law and physically assault police officers attempting to uphold it.

Which has resulted in dozens of trans-identifying men making such declarations in response to his request.

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Including open threats of violence against officers.

These comments are an open deliberate threat to public order. The shocking dereliction of duty of police forces in pursuing complaints against Watson has attracted a growing amount of unfavourable media coverage in the UK and international press, which is doing considerable damage to the reputation of the British police both at home and worldwide.

To the extent that the police and government are fighting each other to disown the actions of the forces acting at Watson’s behest.

(Many of these articles directly cite Watson’s harassment of me.)

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And yet incredibly, police continue to allow themselves to be used as Watson’s personal bully boys, while complaints against Watson go ignored.

And not just police. Astonishingly, despite my solicitor Elliot Hammer referring to Watson by gender-neutral terms (“the Claimant”, “the Appellant”) throughout Watson’s failed appeal attempt, Watson whined to the Solicitors Regulation Authority and they made a single finding against Elliot with regard to their rules on “encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion”.

He also attempted to bring contempt of court charges against both myself and Elliot for “misgendering” him, both of which were refused by the Court Of Appeal.

And even though the CoA’s judgment is final and cannot be further appealed, he’s now attempting to embark on a lunatic attempt to take it to the Supreme Court.

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Quite aside from his openly-stated attempts to ruin the lives of individuals and cause them to live in “fear” and “Hell”, Watson’s non-stop barrage of police complaints and judicial reviews – none of them with any credible hope of success – must have cost the public purse many hundreds of thousands of pounds in court costs and police time by now, as well as interfering with the hearing of genuine cases in a system already creaking at the seams.

(He admits to having made over 100 complaints to GMP alone, and we know from the evidence above that he also bombards other forces with his drivel too, including Police Scotland and the Metropolitan Police.)

And the police know they’re failing. One of Watson’s other victims was former officer Charlotte Cadden, who he continues to defame on a daily basis. GMP also allowed her harassment claim to time out due to a failure to locate Watson, and last week they admitted that they’d done a rotten job.

GMP have also apologised to barrister Adrian Yalland, who was similarly harassed by Watson and presented them with a detailed dossier to give them the maximum possible assistance, but also had to watch as they failed to locate him until the six months ran out.

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Adrian, Charlotte and four other people who’d made harassment complaints that failed because of GMP’s unwillingness to locate Watson (Maya Forstater, Harry Miller, Cathy Larkman and Helen Joyce) wrote a joint letter to GMP’s chief constable Sir Stephen Watson – no relation, we hope – in June 2025 warning him about how Lynsay Watson was habitually evading justice.

They can’t say they haven’t been told, over and over again.

I’ve now filed a similar complaint to Charlotte’s. This state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue until Watson escalates himself right over the edge and makes good on one of his numerous threats, possibly costing someone their life.

In any event it’s long past time that his campaign of intimidation and harassment against myself and others was taken seriously and acted upon. Police officers merely having “tea and scones” with him and then shrugging their shoulders when he stalls his way out of yet another prosecution is not acceptable. It’s making a mockery not just of GMP (who on Watson’s telling still regard him as an esteemed colleague), but the entire judicial system.

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(We certainly know that the police’s initial advice to Watson when he was harassing Harry Miller – the gross misconduct that eventually lost Watson his job – wasn’t to stop doing it, but simply to be sneakier about it.)

Because of course it’s not just Watson who benefits from the massive double standard applied by the police and other institutions to transactivists. We could all reel off scores of stories where the most ridiculous complaints from transactivists result in people being dragged off by gangs of cops, whereas all manner of intimidation, incitement and actual violence from them results in zero consequences, often with police officers standing around doing nothing.

But, y’know, while Wings does not endorse crime, it must be nice to know that if you WERE to feel like breaking a few laws and harassing a few people without having to face any consequences, readers, there’s an easy, tried and tested way to pull it off.

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Reform UK lost its ‘anti-Tory’ credentials earlier this year when it began accepting Tories into the party. Since then, Farage’s lot have seen a big dip in the polls, and the obvious conclusion is the Tory exodus didn’t help.

Now, it seems Reform has decided enough is enough. As GB Politics’ Charlie Simpson reported:

EXCLUSIVE: I have been told by a source in Reform HQ that the party has rejected three Conservative MPs from defecting.

When asked why they rejected the three Conservative MPs, my source said: “There are only 2 real conservatives left in the party. We don’t want to take any more of the same old ones — it could damage us badly in the local elections.”

The question is whether this is the end of Reform accepting Tories, or whether the party will get back to welcoming them in after the local elections.

Reform UK — Torygeddon

Reform knew the Tory exodus was causing problems straight away. It realised this because many of its activists began revolting.

WATCH: REFORM SUPPORTER TURNS ON FARAGE OVER EX-TORY PICKS

A Reform member has called in furious over the party’s latest appointments, making it clear he will not vote for any former Tory imposed on his constituency.

He is saying what many supporters are thinking. Reform… pic.twitter.com/KrrnHTSbVZ

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— British Intel (@TheBritishIntel) January 13, 2026

In an attempt to limit the damage, Zia Yusuf said the following:

Huge announcement from Reform:

After May 7th 2026, Reform will accept NO MORE Tories.

That means MPs.

It means former MPs.

It means councillors.

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Tick tock.

— Zia Yusuf (@ZiaYusufUK) January 17, 2026

It looks like Reform’s clock sped up at some point, because we’re three weeks away from 7 May, and they’ve already closed the floodgates.

So, what happened?

As Politico’s Poll of Polls shows, Reform have been on a downwards trajectory as of late:

Additionally, the month after Reform began Tory-maxxing its numbers, ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe launched his own party — Restore Britain. Positioning itself as a further-right alternative to Reform, Restore has acted as a magnet for the most anti-social elements of Farage’s movement.

There are signs Restore could have an impact on Reform’s polling, even though the party isn’t currently presented as an option with several pollsters. The big problem, though, is that Restore is attracting Reform defectors, making it harder for Farage’s party to attract and hold on to activists and politicians of their own:

Why Councillor Roger Tarrant, the deputy leader for Reform on Cornwall Council, has left Reform to join Restore Britain… pic.twitter.com/yE7GKrtCSD

— Restore Britain (@RestoreBritain_) April 22, 2026

When Roger Tarrant resigned, he said:

Restore Britain has emerged in response to Reform UK’s shift in direction and its selection of candidates. Many members have observed that corporate decisions have negatively impacted Reform UK in Cornwall by overlooking the county’s distinct political demographic and causing disengagement among members. Branches have been dismantled, and unelected interim officers appointed, leading to concerns about representation and effectiveness.

In other words, Farage wanted to turn Reform into the Conservative Party 2.0, and that imposition is going down poorly with the rank and file.

Problems all over

The defections haven’t just been bad for Reform. As we reported on 20 April, most of the Tory defector MPs are predicted to lose their seats to their old party in the next elections.

Polls aren’t premonitions, of course, but it still shows politicians who acted to save their careers may have done the opposite.

This situation will likely mean Tory MPs stop begging to be let in to Farage’s party. Farage might not be happy about that, because as bad as the Tories are, they’re not as catastrophically awful as the dregs of society Reform are finding elsewhere.

The following are just some of said candidates that we’ve reported on:

• Reform activist said ‘Hitler was right’.
• Reform candidate wants to ‘tear down’ the NHS.
• Reform candidate exposed as a horny nincompoop.
• Another Reform candidate has praised Enoch Powell.
• Video emerges of Reform’s ‘Nazi salute’ candidate drink driving.

This is where Reform find themselves — stuck between a Reich and a hard place.

Featured image via the Canary

By Willem Moore

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A new report predicts Labour will lose overall control of Enfield Council, largely due to the hard work of Enfield Community Independents (ECI). The prediction is that ECI could win seven seats, cementing its place as the main opposition to the local Labour-Tory axis. And ECI thinks it could even win more.

BREAKING

New election forecast predicts Your Party affiliate, Enfield Community Independents winning 7 seats and moving the council to No Overall Control.

Your vote will matter!

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On 7 May, Vote ECI and let's remove Labour from Enfield Council@thisisyourparty @EnfieldAction pic.twitter.com/45B2wN6esM

— Khalid Sadur (@KHALID4EWH) April 21, 2026

ECI as a ‘decisive disruptive force’ in Enfield

The report, from an independent researcher who once served as a local councillor, said:

The 2026 Enfield election marks a transition from a two-party system to a fragmented, multi-system political environment. The most robust conclusion is that the council will move to No Overall Control, with Labour remaining the largest party but unable to maintain a governing majority.

It added that:

The community and independent candidates are the decisive disruptive force in the eastern wards of the borough. Their presence is concentrated in Labour-held areas, where they directly target Labour’s core vote and are likely to secure representation in multi-member wards.

The eastern wards of the borough are more diverse and have higher levels of deprivation.

The Canary has been following Enfield’s anti-war, anti-austerity independents since 2024. They have worked hard in the last two years to provide “a real socialist alternative” locally. And they recently received the endorsement of Your Party.

Now, ECI candidates say the new forecast reflects what they’ve been hearing from local residents on the ground: more and more people want change, and they’re ready to vote for it.

Enfield has ‘no love for Labour or the Tories’, and is increasingly backing community candidates

ECI leader Khalid Sadur is standing as a candidate in the Upper Edmonton Ward. And speaking to the Canary, he said the new report is a boost to the group’s campaigning momentum. But he added that:

On the doorstep, we are seeing an even more encouraging picture, with no love for Labour or the Tories and a recognition that ECI represents the best chance of removing Labour from Enfield Council.

Residents of Enfield are telling us we need real change within our borough and appreciate our willingness to engage and listen to their problems. With candidates from the community looking to represent their neighbours within the community, ECI is definitely doing politics differently in Enfield.

Fellow Upper Edmonton Ward candidate Toby Osmond, meanwhile, told us:

I got involved in ECI because I believe that fascism, nationalism and racism, highlighted by the rise of Reform, is a very real threat that needs to be fought right now. Labour have pandered to this politics of division.

He also asserted that:

Edmonton is a rich multicultural area which has been economically deprived by previous Conservative national governments and the local Labour party who consistently cut and sell off local services while wasting huge sums on mismanaged projects.

Explaining that “the numbers and the conversations and the voting intentions” all suggest people locally are increasingly seeing ECI as the main group capable of challenging the dominant Labour-Tory axis in Enfield, he insisted:

We will hold Enfield Council to account for its pension investing in the Israeli war machine, and it cutting investment in the people of Edmonton.

Dealing a big blow to Labour, and possibly even to its council leader

ECI also revealed on Facebook that:

Massive ECI canvassing in Edmonton has shown we can do a lot better than 7 seats and there is a real desire to remove the Enfield Council leader from his own ward in Edmonton Green.

Labour council leader Ergin Erbil has previously faced criticism for ignoring a strong local campaign for Enfield to divest from companies complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. And ECI candidates Sevda Kaygili, Katreece Roberts, and Ersoy Halil are now running to defeat Erbil and his Labour colleagues in Edmonton Green.

In a recent press release, ECI called Edmonton Green “the primary battleground of this election“, saying:

For too long, Labour have ignored the state of our housing and streets. ECI are here to remove the leader and to restore a voice for the community.

And Kaygili has echoed that message of serving and listening to the community, insisting:

We are not driven by money or personal gain. We believe in equality, and that equality should apply to everyone, not just a specific group or section of the community. We stand with anyone who feels unheard, overlooked, or unable to speak up.

ECI has cooperated with other socialists locally, endorsing a number of TUSC candidates in Enfield. It has also been in communications with the Greens. For now, the Green Party has decided to stand in every ward. But ECI hopes there can be cooperation with them in the future.

According to the new report, Labour could lose two seats to the Greens in Palmers Green and Bowes. Palmers Green is less diverse and has lower levels of deprivation than other parts of Enfield. Bowes is similar, though to a lesser extent.

You can see the full forecast of Enfield’s results here: Enfield Council Local Elections 2026 Forecast Report (April 2026). And you can see a list of all ECI’s candidates here.

Featured image via the Canary

By Ed Sykes

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2 min read14 min

Shadow Housing Secretary James Cleverly has confirmed he is mulling a run to be Mayor of London, arguing that Labour’s Sadiq Khan could be more vulnerable to defeat than ever before. 

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Cleverly, a former London Assembly member, said last year he would be “stupid not to think about” standing for mayor. Now, with only two years until City Hall elections, he told The House he was considering the option. 

“Of course I think about it,” he said. “The more you get involved with local government-related stuff, the more you get involved with housing, the more Labour’s failures at a national level and in London are right in my face.”

The former foreign and home secretary said that while Khan had previously tried to pin any shortcomings on the last government, the mayor now has “no one else to blame”. Khan has not yet confirmed whether he will run again.

Cleverly stressed that he was currently focused on his role in the shadow cabinet and as MP for Braintree, while working to maximise Conservative victories in 7 May’s local elections.

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“That’s the immediate job,” he said, “and I’m not in the mood for being distracted by very flattering speculation about what I might do next”.

If Cleverly does run, his bid will divide opinion among the party’s London members, as some would prefer a candidate who did not serve in the last government. 

“James is a great guy and very popular in the party,” said one London Tory councillor. “He certainly has a lot of the characteristics we would want in a mayor.

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 “However, he is also known as both an Essex MP and one of those that carry responsibility for some of the failings of the previous government. 

“To be honest, I think a lot of London members feel very 50/50 about his potential run, and need to see more commitment to London and a London-centric agenda.”

Another Conservative said Cleverly’s name recognition would prove advantageous. The Tories have not fielded an MP for mayor since Zac Goldsmith in 2016. 

“We Conservatives need ‘a name’ – someone Londoners have heard of,” said Westminster councillor Tony Devenish. “James and Seb Coe are the two names being talked about. I’d be very happy with either.”

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A statue of Jesus, which the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) destroyed in Southern Lebanon, has received far more sympathy than the thousands of Black and Brown people whom Israel has murdered.

Destruction of Jesus statue should serve as moral wake-up call for IDF, Israel https://t.co/WEBKWclH6I

— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) April 20, 2026

A picture emerged on social media of an IOF soldier destroying the statue with a sledgehammer in the Christian village of Debel. As a result, Israel has jailed two soldiers for 30 days and removed them from combat duty.

However, there would be no international uproar or condemnation if it were a real person, rather than a statue.

Lol the Israelis have massacred 1000s of Christians but yes, jail these two losers for destroying a statue. https://t.co/wYJYw8uRWn

— Kristiana Bruneau (@GumptionAndCo) April 21, 2026

Systematic annihilation

Israel has systematically murdered, tortured and ethnically cleansed thousands of Black and Brown people in Gaza and now Lebanon. Yet the majority of the world has stayed silent. Now the world is acting like the IOF destroying a statue is the biggest war crime of all.

Not the raping of prisoners, the killing of babies, not the ethnic cleansing, destruction of mosques, war graves, hospitals, universities, homes, lives …. It’s the statue that has broken them. What moral degeneracy https://t.co/TNkFR9LEtX

— Jackie Walker – HRH, MP, MBE, ABC (@Jackiew80333500) April 21, 2026

An article in the Times of Israel describes the statue’s destruction as a ‘moral wake-up call’ for the IOF.

Isn’t [it a] bit late to talk about [the] moral wake up call for the Israeli army after destroying a Jesus statue in Lebanon? The same Israeli army has destroyed 1109 mosques and 3 churches in Gaza in the last 30 months. https://t.co/HsbxaocOBo

— Ashok Swain (@ashoswai) April 20, 2026

Meanwhile, the same army has destroyed more than 1,000 mosques and three churches in Gaza. Where’s the morality there?

the moral rot in Israeli society is sometimes unfathomable

you commit wanton genocide, rape humans with dogs, torture babies, run over people with tanks & bulldozers, but destroying a jesus statue is the wake up call??

you are disgusting vermin! https://t.co/OV0qafBFwa

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— maria ☭ (@resistancestan) April 20, 2026

The ‘moral wake-up call’ is purely bad publicity because Christian Zionists are upset. Let’s not make the mistake of thinking Israel has a conscience or any semblance of morals.

But true Christians should be far more appalled at the murder of civilians than the destruction of a statue which was rebuilt within a few days.

Doing genocide and running torture-rape camps is apparently fine but upsetting US Christian Zionists is a “moral wake-up call”. Absolute degeneracy. https://t.co/9DH5ZObXUQ

— Jason Hickel (@jasonhickel) April 22, 2026

Israel is not sorry that its soldiers destroyed the statue. It’s sorry it went viral and upset white Christian Zionists.

But not for shooting unarmed civilians. Torturing Palestinians in prison, so many atrocities. https://t.co/ktPUZRkaNv

— strawberry fields (@forever2021may) April 22, 2026

The destruction of a statue is worth more than the countless Palestinian children they have murdered and that says everything about the IOF https://t.co/MNjLnJWtQo

— theboywizard (@theboywizard_) April 21, 2026

The real issue, of course, is that the West places more value on the lives of white Christians than it does on Black and Brown people, whether Christian or Muslim.

A Jesus statue vandalized by Israeli soldiers has been treated with more solemnity and contrition than any IDF massacre of real human beings over the past three years.

This is happening because Israel knows its American support base of Christian Zionists will care more about the… https://t.co/867shebtIG

— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) April 21, 2026

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Not forgetting that Jesus was a Brown Palestinian, but that’s a conversation that Western Zionists are not ready for.

So apparently it’s worse to damage a statue than to blow up hospitals full or people, starve families, torture & rape prisoners & shoot kids in the head.
Glad we’ve cleared that up.
Fuck everything. https://t.co/a8vGtlpjXO

— Corrie (@Corrie_R_D) April 21, 2026

The West collectively shies away from the murder of people in West Asia. Meanwhile, the world lets Israel kill indiscriminately and get away with it. Yet when the IOF destroys a statue, Western media, Israeli media, and White Zionists across the world dig out their faux moral outrage.

Featured image via BBC News

By HG

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Reform UK’s manifesto for Wales vows that the far-right party will dictate how museums present history, should it win control of the Senedd.

This includes threatening to “review funding” to ensure “political neutrality”, along with ordering museums not to present “narrow and exclusionary narratives”.

Whilst the manifesto uses vague language, Reform politicians themselves have pointed to decolonisation efforts and portrayals of the UK’s controlling role in the Atlantic slave trade as examples of what they’re railing against.

The Museums Association, the professional membership organisation representing heritage professionals, said:

We are concerned that Reform UK’s Manifesto for Wales appears to suggest that, if elected, they would seek to control how museums interpret history.

It is vital that curatorial decisions are independent from government influence.

Instead, museums should encourage active public participation in decision-making, including through co-producing exhibitions with communities.

‘Clarity about cause and consequence’

Three pledges in Reform’s 2026 Welsh manifesto relate directly to museums. The first is a vow to “Restore evidence-led history”:

Publicly funded museums, heritage bodies and interpretation sites will present history chronologically and in context, with clarity about cause and consequence.

What on earth is “clarity about cause and consequence” meant to mean? Plenty of major museums have been guilty of obscuring the legacy of Britain’s colonialism, but somehow I doubt that Reform will be pushing for an unblinking look at the transatlantic slave trade.

Beyond that, the demand to “present history chronologically” is just… ridiculous. It’s a child’s idea of what a museum looks like. ‘History starts at cavemen and then ends at WW2’. ‘It goes through the Crusades, the Tudors and the Victorians in the middle’.

Why does Reform feel justified in telling trained professionals how to present history?

That was rhetorical; I know why… You know what – I’m going to go there. This is a Nazi policy; it is a propaganda tool used by Nazis.

Speaking to the National, leading historian Professor Tom Devine drew a direct parallel between Reform’s proposals and Hitler’s control over the presentation of German history in museums:

By coincidence, over the last few days, I have been reading about the state’s attempts to control art and museum displays in Germany during the 1930s in order to project Nazi propaganda. Some might argue that, superficially at least, there is some similarity between those dark days and the reported pledge of the Reform Party in Wales to interfere with the independence of museums in the highly sensitive matter of how history, and especially national history, is represented in them.

‘Narrow or exclusionary narratives’

Reform’s second pledge is to ensure that museums and other cultural institutions are “fit for the future”:

Wales’ museums and cultural institutions must preserve the past while engaging new audiences. Reform will support modernisation, wider access, and financial sustainability, ensuring that publicly funded institutions reflect the full breadth of Welsh history and culture rather than narrow or exclusionary narratives.

God, they almost had me there. Wider access and financial sustainability? They’re getting dangerously close to ‘inclusion’. Then we get to “rather than narrow or exclusionary narratives”. Gee, I wonder what they might mean by that.

Fortunately, a Reform spokesperson couldn’t help but say the quiet part out loud:

Too often some public spaces are presenting divisive views of history that are designed to make people feel guilty.

For example, the former Museums Wales chief’s ‘decolonisation strategy’ was one of the organisation’s top priorities.

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We think there is much in British and Welsh history to be proud of – those things should be celebrated.

For context, Museums Wales’ decolonisation charter holds that:

decolonising the collection means giving clear and explicit information to audiences on the history of objects and how they were collected.

The museum also acknowledged that its collections are “rooted in colonialism”. This is a fact. That it makes people feel guilty about being from Britain is a logical consequence of the fact that we committed countless atrocities across a globe-spanning empire.

‘Review funding’

The final relevant pledge is a proposal to review the funding of government culture arms to make them “equitable to all parties”:

Reform will review funding for government-supported cultural bodies to ensure it is fair, transparent, and politically neutral. It’s common sense that taxpayer-funded organisations must serve the whole public and command confidence across communities and political traditions.

Given that Reform’s Lee Anderson has repeatedly called GB News the “only truly impartial” media outlet in the country, I dread to think what the party’s idea of “politically neutral” looks like. 

BBC Wales asked Welsh Reform leader Dan Thomas if his party would stop funding museums over their presentation of history. Thomas replied that:

I don’t think we’ll get to that stage.

We’ll have a chat with them and see.

The manifesto clearly states that Reform plans to review funding for government culture arms to ensure political neutrality. If that this isn’t a threat to remove funding to punish non-compliance, it’s difficult to see what else it could be.

The ‘whole picture’ isn’t pretty

Thomas also ranted to BBC Wales that some museums take a “very niche view” of Britain’s role in the slave trade. However, he said that the “whole picture” includes the point that the:

British empire was the first to abolish slavery, and that other countries have done it for, you know, millennia.

The first point is false. In a late-modern context, the First Republic of France (unsuccessfully) abolished slavery in 1794, and Haiti successfully banned slavery in 1804. Britain, by comparison, made the slave trade illegal in 1807.

However, slave-owning only became illegal across the full British Empire in around 1936, with Nigeria and Bahrain being the last territories to join in abolition.

These are facts. They don’t care about Thomas’ feelings, to borrow a phrase from the far right.

History is not a statement of a series of events. It is a narrative, and narratives are subject to bias, subversion, and interpretation. Reform will never be able to eliminate this, but I doubt severely that they want to – rather, the far right does as the far right does, and seeks to bend historical narratives to its own end.

The Nazis tried to do the same thing. It sounds lazy and clichéd to point that out, but it too is a fact.

By Alex/Rose Cocker

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