The number of children living in temporary accommodation in England has risen again to around 176,130, setting a new record and deepening the UK’s housing emergency.

That is the equivalent of the entire population of Oxford.

With local elections taking place on 7 May, campaigners say the figures should be a wake-up call for voters and candidates alike, warning that housing and homelessness must become a defining political issue.

Just Fair, a UK charity working to defend and promote economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to housing, says the figures reflect a failure to treat housing as a basic human right.

Alex Firth, advocacy and communications officer at Just Fair, said:

These figures show a clear failure to protect children’s rights. Every child has the right to a safe, secure home, but across the UK that right is being denied on a huge scale. Housing is not a privilege, it is a human right recognised in international law. When that right is not protected, it affects everything: children’s health, education, stability and sense of security.

The crisis is particularly acute in London, where the relationship between housing costs and child poverty is stark. Housing costs in London are significantly higher than the rest of the UK and continue to rise. In the private rented sector, the average rent is now £1,957 per month, accounting for 41.6 per cent of household income (ONS, August 2025).

As a result, child poverty rates in London almost double when taking housing costs into account. They rise from 16 per cent before housing costs to 31 per cent after (HBAI, 2026), a much larger increase than in any other region.

The rise comes despite historic progress in the past. In 2010, the number of children experiencing homelessness nationally fell to under 70,000, showing that government action can reverse the trend.

Councils under pressure on housing

Campaigners warn that the crisis is most acute at the local level, with councils under growing pressure to house families in temporary and often unsuitable accommodation. New analysis from the Local Government Association reveals that councils in England are facing a cumulative £3bn shortfall in temporary accommodation funding between 2017/18 and 2029/30.

Research shows the daily realities families face are severe. Parents are forced to prepare food for young children without access to kitchens. Children with special educational needs may face journeys of up to two hours to school when placed out of borough. Young people preparing for exams have to study in overcrowded, noisy spaces without reliable internet access.

The United Nations has repeatedly raised concerns about housing in the UK. In its latest review, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights called on the UK government to increase the supply of affordable housing, strengthen renters’ rights, and address the root causes of homelessness.

Firth added:

Local authorities are on the frontline, but they need the powers, funding and national leadership to act. These elections are a moment for accountability. People should be asking: will those seeking election commit to making the right to housing real in our communities?

After years of rising homelessness, we need more than short-term fixes. We need a rights-based approach that guarantees everyone a safe and secure place to live.

While recent UK government strategies, including the Child Poverty Strategy and National Plan to End Homelessness, have rightly identified the need to tackle the temporary accommodation crisis, action must go further.

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By The Canary

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Access to Work failures rumble on, and now the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has all but outright admitted it has no idea why reconsiderations for awards have been surging.

However, a campaign group has put forward one idea. Unsurprisingly, it has pointed the finger at the DWP’s sneaky cuts by stealth to the disability employment grant.

What’s more, the high level of reconsiderations makes a mockery out of the DWP’s sham excuse for what’s driving the cuts.

Access to Work cuts: reconsiderations surging

The government-funded disability employment scheme provides grants to pay for support that enables disabled people to enter or stay in work.

It covers a broad range of support that can include aids and equipment, costs for taxis or adaptations to vehicles, interpreters, support workers, and job aides.

The level of support the DWP awards is meant to be according to an individual’s needs.

When an individual doesn’t agree with the results of their award for Access to Work, they can request the DWP get a different case manager to review the decision.

According to the National Audit Office (NAO), these ‘reconsiderations’ have shot up in the past five years.

Notably, reconsideration requests rose from 194 in 2021/22 to 385 in 2023/24. By 2024/25, these had surged eight-fold on 2021/22 figures, hitting 1,575 requests.

The DWP’s doesn’t have a clue

In February, Labour MP Johanna Baxter grilled the government on this. It was during a Work and Pensions inquiry session on employment support for disabled people.

DWP minister Diana Johnson’s answer suggested the recent cuts to awards might have something to do with it.

Notably, Johnson referred to the DWP’s excuse that case managers are applying guidance “in a more consistent way”. Department ministers and officials have been offering this up to defend the sudden wave of cuts to disabled peoples Access to Work awards.

In May 2025, Decode – an organisation which supports thousands of disabled creatives in navigating Access to Work applications – found that the DWP had reduced Access to Work for nine in 10 people renewing their awards. On average, it identified how the DWP had reduced awards by 53%. Similarly, the DWP was granting 86.5% of new applicants less than they had requested. And disabled people reporting devastating cuts to their awards has only continued apace.

So in that context, Johnson’s answer would only make sense. Of course, the minister was reticent to admit that this meant the department was wrongly slashing awards through its supposed new case manager ‘consistency’.

But significantly, Johnson ultimately hedged on the cause of the increase in reconsiderations. She promised to send the committee further information.

Now, the minister has indeed written to the committee again. However, she has all but admitted that the department doesn’t actually have a clue why reconsiderations are surging.

Still no answers over Access to Work

Notably, in a letter the committee published in April, Johnson told the inquiry that:

Applications to the Access to Work scheme more than doubled between 2018/19 and 2024/25 (from 76,100 to 157,000), We also saw an increase in the volume of reconsiderations in 2024/25 however cannot say with certainty that the increase in reconsiderations is solely linked to the increase in applications. We have been working to improve the decision making throughout the scheme, and as the guidance is applied with greater consistency, we would expect the numbers to reduce.

That Johnson pointed to applications little over doubling – over a longer time period – to explain Access to Work reconsiderations rising more than eight-fold shows that the DWP is still grasping at straws to explain the drastic increase.

In other words, it made clear that the department hasn’t even attempted to investigate the reasons behind the sudden rise.

As DWP continues to feign ignorance – a disabled-led campaign group has put forward one obvious answer. And crucially, it meant turning the spotlight back on the department’s sweeping cuts to Access to Work awards.

DWP excuse doesn’t add up

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has been separately carrying out an inquiry on Access to Work scheme failures.

In a letter to the committee, the Access to Work Collective highlighted that:

A reported 72% of reconsiderations result in decisions being revised, indicating that a substantial proportion of initial decisions may be incorrect.

Our own evidence reflects this pattern. We have received consistent reports of awards being
reduced at renewal despite no change in need, leading to challenges and reconsideration requests.

As such, the collective challenged the idea that the DWP is in fact applying awards with greater consistency. Rather, it instead suggested it’s “inconsistent initial decisions” that’s driving the spiralling numbers of reconsiderations.

So far from case managers awarding Access to Work according to the guidance, the high proportion of revised awards showed the DWP’s justification for the cuts isn’t adding up.

What’s more the group pointed out the fact that maybe, just maybe, the high levels of reconsiderations were also compounding the scheme’s appalling delays.

In particular, it argued that the cuts were creating a “self-reinforcing cycle”, describing how:

inconsistent initial decisions increase reconsiderations; reconsiderations consume disproportionate resource; and reduced capacity contributes directly to backlog growth. Delays therefore appear to be driven not only by external demand, but by avoidable rework within the system.

In March, the DWP told the PAC that the department was making applicants wait 37 weeks for a decision. For self-employed people, it was even worse – at 80 weeks. And even since then, wait times have climbed further. They now sit at 38 weeks and 86 respectively.

Labour doesn’t care about disabled people

Of course, none of what the Access to Work Collective highlighted fits the DWP’s convenient narrative. This is of course that it’s improving the service for disabled people with better application of the guidance. It’s clear that’s not what’s actually happening.

At the end of the day, the scheme’s atrocious delays and cuts to awards speak for themselves.

If Access to Work isn’t actually helping disabled people enter or stay in work, then it’s not doing what it’s there for.

Labour continues to target disabled claimants – cutting their benefits and coercing them into unproven work programmes – all as it fails to provide the Access to Work support they actually need.

Because ultimately, this Labour government cares less about actually supporting disabled people than they do about making ‘savings’ from them. No amount of nonsense around ‘consistent’ decision-making can hide that shameful reality.

Featured image via the Canary

By Hannah Sharland

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The Metropolitan Police have arrested two Green Party candidates over deleted social media posts.

Green Party candidates arrested

On Thursday, April 30, the Met detained Saiqa Ali, who is standing in Streatham, in the borough of Lambeth, and Sabine Mairey, the candidate for Clapham Town, also in Lambeth.

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The Met arrested both on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred for allegedly posting antisemitic comments online.

As LBC reported, the posts by Mairey include a:

picture of a man holding a placard that reads “ramming a synagogue isn’t anti-Semitism, it’s revenge” above a picture of two children that the post claims were “murdered by Israel”.

She also claimed 9/11 was an Israeli “false-flag attack”.

We, of course, do not condone her antisemitic comments.

However, some of her other points have merit behind them.

She claimed the government is over-represented with “Zionist Jews”.

It is, of course, important to state that not all Jewish people are Zionists, and not all Zionists are Jewish people. However, around 180 British MPs have accepted funding from pro-Israel lobby groups or individuals during their careers. This includes around 130 Conservative MPs and 41 Labour MPs. Why are foreign agents funding our government?

Some of Mairey’s other posts include mentioning that Nazi Germany had to “hide what they were doing”, and stating that Israel has not.

We cannot argue with that latter point.

The whole world has watched Israel livestream a genocide, blowing babies up and double-tapping health workers and journalists.

She also claimed that Israel uses the Holocaust to justify genocide in Gaza. Again, she has a point. It is well recorded among genocide scholars that Israelis use the Holocaust to justify mass violence against Palestinians.

Once again, we do not condone her antisemitic comments, but she has a fucking point.

As reported in the Telegraph, one of the social media posts by Ali depicts an image of an armed man in a Hamas headband. On the image, is the slogan “resistance is freedom”.

Ali has previously apologised for her social media comments.

Armed resistance

Of course, the UK government has proscribed Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

However, armed resistance is not illegal under international law.

Hamas was founded in Gaza in 1987, shortly after the start of the first Intifada, an uprising against Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

Hamas’s goal is to:

liberate Palestine and confront the Zionist project.

The group holds armed resistance to occupation as one of its founding principles, with its 2017 Document stating:

Resisting the occupation with all means and methods is a legitimate right guaranteed by divine laws and by international norms and laws.

And Hamas is correct in its interpretation of international law.

Armed resistance is not illegal under international law. A United Nations General Assembly resolution states:

The General Assembly,

Reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial domination, apartheid and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle;

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Israel and the West have labelled Hamas as a ‘terrorist group’ and called for their disarmament, when they’re only defending the land they are native to.

Now, Westerners, like these Green Party candidates, are being labelled as antisemitic – purely for upholding the same standards as international law.

Permanent annexation of a territory, as Israel has done to Gaza, is illegal under international law. But armed resistance is not.

Antizionism ≠ antisemitism

Additionally, anti-Zionism – that is, opposing the Jewish ethnostate of Israel- is not the same as antisemitism, which is dangerous and totally incompatible with any movement for collective liberation.

Zionism is the equivalent of white supremacy. It has resulted in the expulsion of 750,000 Indigenous Palestinians from their land and homes. Being anti-Zionist means standing against a system of apartheid, in which one group of people have exclusive rights above another.

It is more important than ever that we stamp out actual antisemitism, while also remembering that Zionism is the equivalent of white supremacy and has no place in society.

But we can already see it playing out – Jeremy Corbyn 2.0.

As we head into local elections, where the Green Party could gain as many as 555 seats, of course, the media are mixing real antisemitic comments with anti-Zionist ones. They are muddying the waters on purpose, and it’s important that the Green Party and Zack Polanski stand firm. Anti-Zionism and antisemitism are not the same thing.

Feature image via Barold/The Canary

By The Canary

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Centrist politicians in the UK and US are going to increasingly extreme lengths to protect the reputation of Israel. The latest example of this is a US Democrat prioritising the public condemnation of Hasan Piker — a streamer and Israel critic — over measures to stop the illegal US war on Iran:

we’re hitting a state of genuine psychosis https://t.co/ZW8wIWL5MY

— onion person (@CantEverDie) April 29, 2026

Priorities

Much like the Canary, Turkish-American Piker is a longtime critic of the state of Israel. There’s a lot to criticise, too, whether it’s the recent genocide, the years of apartheid, or whatever the fuck this is:

There is no dispute that dogs can be trained to rape people.

In Pinochet's Chile, a German Shepherd named Volodia was trained to rape inmates.

In the case of Israel, we have multiple testimonies from Palestinian detainees, as well as Israeli guards. https://t.co/S9OZuq9UFN pic.twitter.com/uEHRQtG080

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— Owen Jones (@owenjonesjourno) April 25, 2026

Israel has made itself a Jewish ethnostate, and it claims to represent the international Jewish community. This is used by Israel and its defenders to label critics of the violent and expansionist nation as ‘antisemites’. It is not antisemitic to criticise a rogue foreign state, though, and increasingly the people of the world are wise to this.

This shift in public opinion means Israel’s defenders have to conduct themselves in desperate and unhinged ways. That’s why US politicians are moving Hell and Earth to bring the power of the state down upon one of the nation’s most prominent advocates for Palestine:

When was the last time Congress voted to condemn a private citizen? McCarthy era? https://t.co/1RtPf7AnZq

— Kate Willett (@katewillett) April 29, 2026

The stated reasons for condemning Piker include a long list of selective quotes which paint Piker in an unflattering light (all of which he’s explained many times over). In the past, it was right-wing streamers sharing these selective quotes — now its supposedly serious politicians.

As Piker himself noted:

This is a Democrat doing this [Gottheimer]. The same Democrat that is supposed to be advancing the war powers resolution that is already two months late on Iran. And instead of that, this is the bill that they advanced this morning. Think about that. What a joke of a country we’re in,

Speaking on Gottheimer, Piker added:

Representative Josh Gottheimer famously, after October 7, blamed Islam straight up with an earshot of Muslim congressional representatives – a racist monster, a ginormous piece of shit. …

Okay, here is the silver lining. If you want to know what the silver lining in this madness actually is, Josh Gottheimer knows that the information environment is uncontrollable. So, they’re testing out the boundaries of how much disciplining they can do with congressional resolutions like this.

That’s it. They’re trying to see if if social media companies will bite on this nonsense.

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They know that they can’t win this conversation back, but the very least they can do is, you know, buy and sell Tik Tok with the hopes that people stop saying mean things about Netanyahu in Israel with the hopes that they can enforce this action upon Amazon and Twitch so that other content creators will think twice.

For a further idea of how terrified the establishment is of Israel’s critics, this is how Fox News has been behaving recently:

Fox News has now covered Hasan Piker for 25 days straight. More than any politician in the Democratic Party. pic.twitter.com/RlV22rSYDx

— Hasanabi productions (meme account) (@HasanabiProd) April 29, 2026

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Hasan Piker — Never back down

Piker has also said:

Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D) and Mike Lawler (R) have just introduced a resolution to condemn Hasan Piker.

Earlier this month, Piker had this to say to his critics:

"Their boos mean nothing when I’ve seen what makes them cheer."https://t.co/VqwJsEjyxh

— Zeteo (@zeteo_news) April 29, 2026

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At this point, Israel is a weight around the neck of every establishment politician. While those attacking Hasan Piker may never back down, they will eventually be replaced. Just be prepared for things to get worse before they get better.

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By Willem Moore

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Last night, Israeli forces illegally attacked and intercepted vessels participating in the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters, damaging boats, stranding hundreds on board, and detaining activists at gunpoint. The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) calls on the UK government to take urgent action to protect UK citizens and other global humanitarian civilians who are under attack.

UK Green Party member Zak Khan is among the flotilla seafarers that Israel has detained. An emergency rally will take place at 6pm on 30 April outside the Greek embassy in London. This is because, although Israel attacked the flotilla in international waters, the Greek island of Crete was the nearest land.

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The flotilla had sought to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza at a time when Palestinian people continue to face malnutrition and starvation, due to Israel’s intentional restriction of humanitarian aid, as part of its genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Israeli forces smashed vessels and forcibly intercepted the flotilla, preventing it from continuing its mission to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. Activists were detained following the assault, in a deliberate effort to disrupt and punish attempts to stop the Israeli blockade.

This is a clear example of Israel’s continued disregard for international law. The targeting of civilian vessels and detention of unarmed activists, including British citizens, raises further concerns in the context of the enforcement of the Gaza blockade.

UK silence over flotilla equals complicity

ICJP says the UK government must unequivocally condemn Israel’s latest aggression, following the suit of countries such as Italy. Inaction would put at risk the international rules-based order and all other vessels sailing at international waters. Norms of Law of the sea are mostly customary ones by which states have abided by for years now.

ICJP calls for Israel return all seized vessels and to immediately release the reported 175 people from 55 countries who have been detained. Reportedly, at least 22 boats were intercepted, and approximately 36 boats are still sailing.

In April 2025, ICJP also wrote to the Foreign Office, highlighting how Israel’s conduct targeting the previous Gaza Freedom Flotilla was in stark violation of international legal norms. In that case, Israel targeted the Madleen, a UK-flagged ship, amounting to an attack against the territorial jurisdiction and sovereignty of the UK.

ICJP also asked the Foreign Office what measures the UK would put in place to ensure the protection of future UK vessels undertaking humanitarian missions operating in international water nearby occupied Palestinian waters. It is clear that its inaction on that matter has directly led to Israel’s continued impunity, meaning the UK government must be held responsible for its role in failing to protect UK citizens.

Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

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6 min read15 min

Angela Rayner has accused Reform UK of being anti-working class in a bid to help Labour keep hold of a London council that it has controlled since its inception over six decades ago.

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On Wednesday night, the former deputy prime minister campaigned in Barking and Dagenham, east London, where Nigel Farage’s party is hoping to make a major electoral breakthrough in the capital at the 7 May local elections. A YouGov poll published last week gave Reform a slender four per cent lead over the Labour Party.

The Manchester MP’s visit to the outer London area came a day after Prime Minister Keir Starmer avoided being referred to the Privileges Committee over the Lord Mandelson affair, and amid intense speculation about how much longer he has in No 10.

Speaking to Labour activists at the Trades Hall working men’s club in Dagenham, the party’s former deputy leader, who resigned from cabinet in September over unpaid stamp duty, joked about the current negativity within Labour as it braces for a bruising set of nationwide results next month. On the same night, pollster and Tory peer Lord Robert Hayward projected that Labour would lose a huge 1,850 council seats across the country.

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“The one thing I say about Labour is we’re not happy unless we’re unhappy. So, we do like to know about the things we haven’t got, right?” said Rayner.

Accompanied in east London by a videographer, as well as her partner, Sam Tarry, a former Labour MP who was also previously a Barking and Dagenham councillor, Rayner sought to frame Reform UK as a threat to the area’s working-class communities.

“The kids here, he [Farage] wants those kept in poverty.

“He doesn’t want employment rights, and we’re delivering employment rights in the biggest way for a generation. We’re bringing down waiting lists in the NHS. He wants to make sure that we go to an insurance-based system. He doesn’t want a free NHS at the point of use anymore.

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“So that’s not going to work for our communities here.”

Rayner added: “I talked about the poverty I grew up in when I was a child, but the one thing that never occurred to me, and was never an issue, was that I could be evicted from my council home, and that’s why we need the biggest wave in a generation of council homes, and we need to build them now.”

The local Labour MP, Margaret Mullane, who used to be a barmaid at the working men’s club, told PoliticsHome that Rayner’s working-class roots made her an effective campaigner in that part of the capital. One Labour activist described her as a “future prime minister”.

While Rayner is seen as a leading candidate to succeed Starmer in Downing Street, her political future is currently complicated by an outstanding HMRC investigation into her tax affairs, which many Labour figures believe must be completed before she can launch a bid to become prime minister.

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She could also face a competition with Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to secure the support of the Labour left and soft left. Burnham, who PoliticsHome revealed last week is also campaigning in London ahead of polling day next week, must find a parliamentary seat before launching a leadership bid of his own.

Rayner showed no signs of rebellion on Wednesday night, using her speech to campaigners to talk up the Labour government’s achievements after nearly two years in office.

“I’m so proud to have had the opportunity to represent you as your deputy prime minister, and make no apologies for being part of this Labour family and to continue believing what Labour does, because I’ve seen in action what Labour has done to give me opportunities that my mum never had,” she said.

However, should 7 May go as badly for Labour as the new Lord Hayward research suggests, then Starmer’s position in No 10 will almost certainly come under renewed pressure at the end of next week, which in turn will likely push Rayner back into the spotlight.

As well as losses in London, where Zack Polanski’s Greens are expected to be the primary beneficiaries, Labour is set to lose council seats across England, go backwards in Scotland, and fall out of power in Wales for the first time since Cardiff’s devolved institutions were established at the turn of the century.

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Defeat in Barking and Dagenham would be particularly painful for Labour, with the party having won all 51 council seats when they were last up for election four years ago.

Local Labour councillor Phil Walker said that the Mandleson vetting row was being brought up by residents on the doorstep in Barking and Dagenham, compounding the PM’s unpopularity. “They think Starmer is stupid”, he told PoliticsHome. “It adds to an image that isn’t good.” Another councillor said the issue had cut through “even to kids”. 

Walker added that next week’s elections pose Labour’s biggest test in this London council “since 2006 when we kicked out the BNP (British National Party)”.

“The one thing I say about Labour is we’re not happy unless we’re unhappy,” Rayner tells activists

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The Dagenham wards seen by Labour activists as most at risk of falling to Farage’s party are Village, Heath and Eastbrook. A collapse in support in this part of east London would be especially ominous for Mullane, who will be defending a majority of just over 7,000 at the next general election. “There is real pressure to keep Village – it is the heart of the constituency,” she told PoliticsHome.

Many residents who opened their doors to Labour activists on Wednesday night described themselves as undecided, which Mullane said demonstrates that “turnout will be crucial” for Labour if the party is to stave off the threat of Reform in Barking and Dagenham.

The cost of living and crime dominated doorstep conversations, as did the recent five per cent council tax rise. Labour’s decision early in government to make the winter fuel allowance means-tested, later amended after a major backlash, was cited as having caused “so much damage” with voters in the area, even nearly two years later.

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Shortly after being visited by Labour activists, one resident came out of his house to dispose of the party’s literature in the recycling bin. 

Speaking earlier this week ahead of the locals, the Prime Minister’s political spokesperson said: “These local elections come down to a simple choice.

“Labour on your side, with your local Labour council working in partnership with a Labour Government, or Nigel Farage and Reform, who would put your family, your NHS and your community at risk.”

 

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Labour Friends of Israel vice-chair and “Temu Enoch Powell” Mike Tapp has condoned wanton and unnecessary police violence against the Golders Green stabbings suspect, an already immobilised man living with mental health issues.

Tapp’s eagerness to attack Jewish Green Party leader Zack Polanski is clearly huge. So huge that he doesn’t care that attacking someone for condemning criminal violence isn’t a good look — and we’ve got the receipts to show.

That’s exactly what he did when Polanski shared a post condemning Met police officers for repeatedly kicking the Golders Green suspect in the head.

The man has a known history of mental health issues and violence and had just stabbed two people at random. However, he was already down, not moving, and almost incapable of resistance:

Tapp was incensed that Polanski had dared to ‘repost’ a critique of Met officers for “repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head.”

As far as Tapp is concerned, he is “disgusted” that anyone who opposes such violence is in politics. Opposing police violence, or even sharing a post that notes it, is “a new low”, he thinks:

I’m disgusted that anyone with this view is leading any political party. The Green Party has hit a new low. https://t.co/praIgHGusn

— Mike Tapp MP (@MikeTappTweets) April 30, 2026

The ‘Temu Powell’

Tapp earned the nickname ‘Temu Enoch Powell’ for his enthusiasm for deporting immigrants and falsely linking paedophilia to Muslims. Of course, it would be churlish to suggest that this has anything to do with their skin shade or religion.

Tapp’s vile views no doubt appeal to a certain section of the knuckle-dragging public. Happily, it also disgusts lots of more thinking people and his post got short shrift:

It is clear to anyone who watches the video that the police used unnecessary force. Kicking a suspect repeatedly in the head whilst they lie on the ground is a disgrace. Officers should be sacked immediately.

— Zak (@BoufontZak) April 30, 2026

The suspect had been handcuffed and tasered. Police had no need to keep repeatedly kicking him in the head. Why would any reasonable human being think otherwise?

— NotaBot (@shimla321) April 30, 2026

Genocide supporting pic.twitter.com/mw5O6pr9u3

— just me #corbynwasright (@JCorbynwasright) April 30, 2026

Genocide supporting pic.twitter.com/mw5O6pr9u3

— just me #corbynwasright (@JCorbynwasright) April 30, 2026

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This your new campaign slogan? pic.twitter.com/wFMuy8QKdY

— Synistrall (@synistrall) April 30, 2026

Others pointed out, perfectly accurately, that if anyone has a paedophile tendency, it’s the Israel-supporting Labour right to which Tapp belongs:

I’m disgusted that you’re part of Labour Friends of Israel which has had three paedo cases on its books recently and that you represent a party which expels “the wrong kind” of holocaust descendant by the dozen.

— markmandelson.bsky.social (@NeworpK) April 30, 2026

Still, as a ghoulish friend-of-genocidal-Israel, Tapp may have a bit of a blind spot. Such violence is routinely perpetrated by Israeli police and troops against helpless Palestinians.

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By Skwawkbox

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New York’s left-wing mayor Zohran Mamdani has called on King Charles to return the Koh-i-Noor diamond. The British nabbed the gem from India in the 1840s. They have a bit of habit of that sort of thing, if you haven’t noticed… The diamond currently sits in the Queen Mother’s crown.

Mamdani was asked at a press conference on 20 April what he would say to the king if they met in private. He told reporters:

If I were to ‌speak to the King separately from [the purpose of the event], I would probably encourage him to return the Koh-i-Noor diamond.

The two later came face-to-face at an event for 9/11 victims. They appeared friendly:

Charles met Zohran Mamdani, and the press started going mad.

They had to be moved back. pic.twitter.com/Ell2pvWxjX

— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) April 29, 2026

Far-right Reform UK wally Zia Yusuf later posted on X that the diamond would stay where it is:

This beautiful diamond is currently on display in the Tower of London

That is where it will stay.

Mamdani may be looting New Yorkers, but he will have no joy in Britain.

Unless he retracts this insult to our King, as Home Secretary I would ban him from entering Britain. https://t.co/gEaDSw839R

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— Zia Yusuf (@ZiaYusufUK) April 29, 2026

Not that either King Charles or Zohran Mamdani are likely to care what the eternally clout-chasing Yusuf thinks – if they know who he is at all…

Yusuf also snarked that Mamdani:

may be looting New Yorkers, but he will have no joy in Britain.

This nonsensical claim appears to be a reference to Mamdani doing public good with public money, like providing free childcare, affordable public transport and forcing parasite landlords to fulfil their obligations.

Though it is understandable why that sort of behaviour might upset Reform UK  – a party which is just several wealthy oil and gas interests hiding in a big trench coat.

As the Good Law Project kindly pointed out on 30 April:

What these extraordinary numbers make clear is that Reform is less a political party and more a very highly paid public-facing lobby group for oil and gas interests https://t.co/Nn6nZncjXb

— Good Law Project (@GoodLawProject) April 30, 2026

Mamdani’s anti-imperialist roots

Mamdani, of course, comes from a lineage of strident anti-colonialists. He makes no secret of the fact. His middle name is ‘Kwame’:

after Kwame Nkrumah, a Pan-African icon and the first democratic president of Ghana.

He was born in Kampala, Uganda. His father, Mahmood Mamdani is:

a well-known academic, who has written extensively on colonialism and empire, was born in Bombay (now Mumbai), India, in 1946, to Tanzanian-Muslim parents with roots in Gujarat, India.

And his mother is the renowned filmmaker Mira Nair, whose work challenges conventional views on race, gender and class”:

When Mamdani was seven, his family moved to New York City. Zohran has said that his formative years in Africa helped shape his sense of self and identity, as well as his ability to navigate multiple cultures.

Like Mamdani himself:

Both of his parents are pro-Palestinian.

Rooted in left-wing politics, Mamdani is almost the antithesis of King Charles and the Royal family. And one can only imagine that Zia Yusuf’s brazen toadying to a long-dead British empire would raise a few eyebrows in the Mamdani household.

King Charles’ trip, during which he also met US president Donald Trump and, erm, “attended a block party“, ends on 30 April.

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By Joe Glenton

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Green party parliamentarians have written publicly to Keir Starmer and foreign secretary Yvette Cooper demanding urgent action from the British government to protect the Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla attacked by Israel.

In their letter, Green MPs Ellie Chowns, Hannah Spencer, Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay, along with peers Natalie Bennett and Jenny Jones, tell Starmer that the flotilla is under “grave threat” and call on them to act immediately:

Inaction and impunity

The call is the right thing to do. However, the pair’s record of selling out to Israel suggests the Greens should not hold their breath. When previous flotillas have been attacked, Starmer has done pnothing of any substance. In fact, he has often failed to say anything, let alone anything meaningful, about Israel’s piracy against previous flotillas.

Both he and Cooper have collaborated with the Israel lobby to wage war on the civil and human rights of British people. Cooper’s successor as home secretary — clearly under Starmer’s orders — is still fighting to maintain Cooper’s unlawful ban on anti-genocide protest group Palestine Action.

Starmer, Cooper, and all his other war criminal partners should be in the dock, not in high office. Make way for someone who will actually stand up for UK citizens and international law.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

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Transport underpins everything we do. It’s how we get food into the shops. How we get to work. It’s how we get to see our loved ones.

I recall talking to an 18-year-old from Blyth who’d been offered a job in Team Valley in Gateshead, but had to turn it down because he couldn’t get there on public transport. Car insurance would have cost him £3000.

We used to have pretty good networks. In Tyne & Wear, they were fully integrated with the Metro system, much as buses and tubes are integrated in London today.

Deregulation has worsened services

In 1986, Margaret Thatcher’s transport secretary, Nicholas Ridley, ‘deregulated’ buses outside of London. He prophesised that removing “the dead hand of regulation” would lower fares, improve services, and more people would travel.

The exact opposite happened. Research for Transport for the North shows that 3.3 million people in the North of England suffer from transport-related social exclusion. Across England, the figure is 11.2 million.

That’s 11.2 million people missing out on jobs. Missing out on education. Missing out on a full life because they can’t get around. Even if people do have a bus pass, there’s often no bus that goes where they need to be. If you’re disabled or a have a chronic health condition, using public transport can be an ordeal.

One 81-year-old gentleman from South Shields made the local news. Cuts to his bus service left him walking long distances up steep hills. Exhausted and carrying two bags of shopping, he had a fall and was injured:

If a car had come over the top of the bank, it would have run me over.

Franchising

After 30 years of failure, the law was changed to allow “bus franchising” in selected locations. I negotiated with government and won these powers for the North East, despite opposition from some local Labour politicians.

But even franchising is thin gruel. The transport authority doesn’t own the buses. It contracts a private provider to run them, according to a schedule set by the transport authority. It basically takes the risk off the private providers and transfers it to the transport authority. So without major investment, the network is still patchy and buses are still way slower than cars. The government is still spending 15 times more on new roads than on the bus services that could use them.

Buses are not “pleb-wagons”

Too many decisionmakers still think buses are “pleb-wagons”. We need to make a step change and see public transport for the critical infrastructure it is.

It pays for itself in the long term, many times over. Research shows that every £1 of investment in bus services generates £4.55 in economic activity. High streets revive. Social isolation falls. Health improves. But those economic returns go to the Treasury, not to the transport authority. So local authorities can’t reap the rewards of their investment.

The key is rethinking transport. We should stop thinking of moving vehicles, and instead think about moving people. We need to see mobility as a service that boosts long-term use and brings in more money. It costs the same to run a bus whether there’s one passenger on board or 50 passengers on board.

Making public transport free for young people is a long-term investment. Teenagers gain independence. If you’ve grown up getting around by public transport, you’ll keep that habit as an adult. And get a few more steps in and stay healthier as you age. At least if the service is good, you will. It’ll save you money, too.

Greens pledge free travel for under-22s

As Zack Polanski said on his recent visit to Newcastle, the Green Party will make travel free for all under-22s.

My 2024 manifesto made a similar commitment – make public transport free for all 18s and under, and everyone in full-time education. Pressed on the issue, Labour’s Kim McGuinness said she would match this, and provide free travel to all on means-tested benefits. She has not kept those election promises.

We need a Total Transport Network A single intelligent network covering the North East from Berwick to Barnard Castle. A network where every bus has a transponder so the passengers can see its location on an app, in real time, and be sure that it’s coming. A network where your account is keyed to your smartphone or smartcard and automatically charges you the lowest fare – so once you’ve hit a price cap, you get unlimited travel for free, whether you switch between bus, Metro, National Rail, or e-scooter.

We need a network where you can reserve a bike locker in town, so you no longer worry about theft. A network with investment in an accessible, zero-emissions fleet. A network with a dedicated fleet of highly-accessible on-demand vehicles for people whose age or disability makes bus travel untenable.

We need a network where every traffic hotspot has a bus gate, so when the bus approaches, the traffic lights change and give it priority while the cars wait. Once public transport is comparable to cars in speed and reliability, the lower cost will see people shift through choice. It takes cars off the road. Who likes cruising around looking for a parking space? Who likes sitting in traffic jams?

Fewer cars on the road means a plumber with a van full of tools or a doctor on call can spend their time doing their job instead of sitting in traffic. Better public transport is better for motorists, better for passengers, better for the economy, and better for the planet.

Featured image via the Canary

By Jamie Driscoll

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