Greater Manchester mayor and Makerfield by-election hopeful Andy Burnham has dumped his past defence of Trans people to protect his bid for Westminster, it seems. Journalist Alex Wickham has revealed that Burnham now backs the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) restrictions on single-sex spaces. This u-turn appears to be nothing but a transparent bid for Reform votes, something we could have predicted coming a mile off.

NEW: Another Andy Burnham u-turn appeared designed at dropping his past positions to win Reform votes

He says he supports the EHRC guidance on single sex spaces and the Supreme Court ruling

Previously he said trans women should be able to use female toilets

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— Alex Wickham (@alexwickham) May 22, 2026

A political shapeshifter

This policy shift directly contradicts Burnham’s previous stance and public record. He had previously slammed single-sex restrictions on bathrooms, claiming only a minority of people object to Trans women using female toilets.

However, the EHRC has now laid its 300-page statutory, and very confusing legislation before parliament on Thursday 21 May 2026. The new rules allow providers of services to exclude Trans people from single-sex spaces like hospital wards and bathrooms. And of course, Burnham has bent to government pressure and has toed the line. And not least of all because his bid for Westminster could be scuppered by Reform UK.

This updated code creates a total mess of legalese that simply ignores everyday, lived experiences. As a relatively masculine cis woman, this new code scares me. The thought that I could be stopped going to the toilet by some dude because I have a partially shaved head and a deeper voice is unsettling as hell. And where does this end? Are we going to have genital inspectors on the door, offering you a polo and a spritz of perfume if your body conforms enough to get in? And if this is a scary thought for me, how the hell are our Trans brothers and sisters feeling right now? And what about Intersex people? Urgh, this reeks of misogyny. Any woman who sees this legislation as a positive has no idea the power they have just given to a male dominated society.

Trans rights lead Jess O’Thompson warns it treats trans people as a third sex by forcing them to use separate spaces, which violates human rights law. O’Thompson stated:

It still treats Trans people as a third sex, suggesting they should be made to use separate spaces – entirely ignoring the harm this causes, and human rights law. We will keep fighting this discriminatory approach.

Prioritising legal definitions over reality means the EHRC creates an even more hostile environment for people who just want to live their lives. We need to just learn to leave people alone.

Reform has Burnham running scared, it seems

This ridiculous u-turn comes as Burnham is campaigning as Labour candidate for the Makerfield by-election. The safe-seat was specifically resigned by Josh Simons to give Burnham a clear path to return to Westminster.

But then again, Burnham may have a reason to panic, as Reform candidate Robert Kenyon may actually pose a threat. Burnham needs to win back a fifth of the voters who have drifted to Reform to secure the seat. And what better way to do that than to throw Trans people under the bus?

Look he’s desperate to win the by-election and one day emerge as PM. Principles and previous policy opinions are completely dispensable- 4 U turns this week already. Consistent with how he was when last MP. He will let down his soft left supporters. https://t.co/bFFWGueoeg

— Gwynoro Jones (@Gwynoro) May 22, 2026

Additionally to this, he has pivoted on a number of policies to win those votes back. He used to say he wanted the UK to rejoin the EU in his lifetime. Binned that one on Thursday, claiming it wasn’t a priority. Actually more likely because Makerfield constituents voted overwhelmingly to leave. His previous criticisms of Westminster’s fiscal rules on strict borrowing limits? Binned.

Burnham has proven he’s willing to throw marginalised people under the bus for a sniff of a seat in Westminster. The question is, will the people of Makerfield see through it? Or are they going to be happy to elect a man who shapes his principles around nothing but gaining more power?

Time will tell.

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By Antifabot

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Tory-Reform turncoat, MP Suella Braverman, is angry that Brits are leaving Britain. Falling immigration has not yet filled the void that exists in place of her soul.

“The brightest and the best are leaving the UK,” Suella Braverman wrote in response to a Telegraph report featuring immigration stats from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). She noted that the position was untenable. The Telegraph reported that in 2025, 75,000 more Britons aged 16–34 left the UK — the highest number on record since the ONS changed its methodology in 2021.

The brightest and the best are leaving the UK.

This can’t go on. https://t.co/Z5JKxQtK2Z

— Suella Braverman (@SuellaBraverman) May 21, 2026

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The Telegraph’s article — headlined ‘Young Britons turn their backs on Starmer’s high-tax UK’ — implies this was due to Starmer’s high-taxation policies. However, data published by the ONS suggests work and study patterns are likely drivers. Suella Braverman doesn’t seem to agree.

Sharp fall in net migration

Overall, the ONS report found that net migration to the UK fell to an estimated 171,000 in the year ending December 2025. That’s nearly half the revised estimate of 331,000 for the year ending December 2024.

The ONS also cited a 47% drop in non-EU nationals arriving for work-related reasons. This followed government changes restricting skilled worker visa and stopping most foreign students from bringing dependants, as well as closing the Health and Care route for overseas care workers. Critics have argued that these policies were strongly influenced and pedalled during Suella Braverman’s tenure as home secretary.

Even the Telegraph concedes that the fall in net migration stems from Tory policies introduced during her time in office. This included restrictions on workers and students ability to bring dependants, as well as salary increases to and raising the salary threshold for foreign workers.

The former (Tory) home secretary defected to Reform just earlier this year. Since then, Suella Braverman has blamed the Tories for ‘out-of-control immigration‘ and high taxes. But isn’t something missing here — didn’t she loyally serve in the very government she’s now publicly bashing. It’s safe to say that Suella Braverman really is politically homeless.

The real problems of inequality, soaring corporate profits, complicity in genocide are the ones Reform conveniently sidesteps, just like the ‘uniparty’ system they claim to oppose.

Immigration was never the real issue, was it, Suella?

Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

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The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) and War on Want have issued letters to 15 Premier League clubs. They’re raising concerns about the clubs’ complicity in Israeli atrocities via their ties to companies linked to Israel’s genocide in Gaza and apartheid across the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

These findings come from War on Want’s latest report: Red Card: English Premier League Sportswashing of Israel’s Atrocities against the Palestinians. ICJP has also supported the report.

The report details the connections of at least 15 Premier League club sponsors to Israel’s devastating military assault and blockade on Gaza, construction of illegal settlements, and wider system of apartheid.

The companies identified include:

• AXA.
• BP.
• Canon.
• Carlsberg.
• Cisco.
• Coca-Cola.
• Eurobank.
• Evelyn Partners.
• Expedia/Hotels.com.
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
• HSBC.
• Standard Chartered.
• Oracle.
• Sony.

The report names nine clubs with complicit sponsors:

• Arsenal.
• Chelsea.
• Crystal Palace.
• Everton.
• Fulham.
• Liverpool.
• Manchester City.
• Manchester United.
• Tottenham Hotspur.
• Two others, Brighton and Burnley, have sponsors at risk of complicity.

Premier League itself is complicit

Alarmingly, every single one of the 20 Premier League clubs has indirect sponsorship from Barclays Bank. Barclays is the main sponsor of the Premier League despite decades-long links to systematic racial discrimination. That includes apartheid South Africa and Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians. The sponsorship deal with Barclays makes a mockery of the Premier League’s campaign to ‘kick racism out of football’.

War on Want and ICJP wrote to the clubs in March, as well as to the English Football Association (FA) and the English Premier League (EPL) itself, to inform them of the report’s main findings and the risk of complicity in the atrocities themselves faced by clubs if they do not cease the business relationships as soon as possible.

Israel’s attacks on Palestinian football

Red Card reveals how Israel’s genocide, illegal occupation and apartheid has hit Palestine’s football ecosystem hard. Since October 2023:

• Israel has destroyed or damaged 265 sports facilities.
• Israel has killed at least 565 members of the Palestinian Football Association, including the “Palestinian Pelé” Sulaiman al-Obaid.
• Domestic football leagues in Gaza and the West Bank have collapsed.
• Israel has turned stadiums into detention sites.
• Israel has blocked the import of astroturf for Palestinian teams to play on.

Israel’s attacks on Palestinian football are a microcosm of its wider genocide. Since 2023, at least 72,000 Palestinians have been killed and 172,000 injured in Gaza. 92% of homes in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged. And 93% of schools have been destroyed or severely damaged.

War on Want’s report is calling for:

• The Premier League to introduce an immediate ban on sponsorship from companies linked to genocide, apartheid and illegal occupation.
• Clubs to review and terminate sponsorship agreements identified in the report.
• The UK Government to uphold international law and ensure that UK-based companies are not contributing to illegal occupation, apartheid and genocide.

Órlaith Roe, ICJP’s public affairs and communications officer, said:

Premier League football prides itself on standing against racism and discrimination, but as with so many other areas, Palestinians are the exception, with Israel uniquely being granted impunity for its human rights abuses against Palestinian people. The failure to act is a glaring double standard, standing in sharp contrast to the response taken against other states, including Russia.

The rhetoric of equality and inclusion rings hollow while Palestinian footballers and fans face oppression, and Israel and the Israel Football Association are allowed to continue competing as though nothing has happened. Football’s governing bodies can no longer avoid meaningful action – the case for showing Israel a red card is now overwhelming.

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Neil Sammonds, War on Want’s senior campaigner on Palestine, said:

These clubs speak proudly about equality, inclusion and community. Yet behind the branding, some are helping sanitise corporations connected to some of the gravest crimes and humanitarian catastrophes of our time.

Palestinian footballers are being killed. Stadiums are turned into detention camps. Child players are buried beneath rubble. The Premier League has shown before that it can act when sponsorship becomes morally toxic. The question is why Palestinian lives appear to count for less.

Featured image via Alex Pantling / Getty Images

By The Canary

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Former Al Qaeda member and US-backed Syrian president Ahmed Al-Sharaa will be a guest at the influential G7 forum. Al-Sharaa’s presence is about Syria’s reintegration into the global capitalist economy. Syria’s use by Western powers as a “potential strategic hub for supply chains” will also be discussed given the Strait of Hormuz is blocked.

The G7 is a multinational economic and political forum made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US. The EU is a non-enumerated member.

It meets annually:

to coordinate policy on global economic, security, and other critical issues, acting as a platform for shaping international responses to challenges like climate change, economic crises, and security threats.

Modern Diplomacy reported on 21 May:

Syria will participate in the upcoming G7 Summit in France as a guest nation, marking its first presence at the forum since its creation in 1975.

The country will be represented by President Ahmed al Sharaa, following an invitation linked to broader discussions on global supply chain stability and post-conflict economic rebuilding.

Economist Joseph Daher told New Arab:

The meeting is part of a continuous process to legitimise this government and reintegrate it regionally and internationally, as evidenced in the last few weeks, for example, by the issuance of visa cards and allowing international transactions.

Al-Sharaa replaced Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad in 2024. He was previously head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a split from the Syrian wing of Al Qaeda.

Syria — Al Qaeda and the global economy

Al-Sharaa visited the White House in November 2025. It was a bizarre spectacle. The Canary wrote at the time:

for 25 years the US carried out a campaign of world-spanning violence. Entire countries were destroyed, with millions killed, injured and displaced in the process. Unknown and unnamed thousands were imprisoned and tortured. All in the name, as global audiences were told, of defeating Al Qaeda – a sinister network of death. Never mind that we created and turbocharged one of our own, on a far bigger scale, to attempt the task.

Adding:

Clearly, these narratives still hold a singular power. Al-Qaeda and 9/11 are still cited to justify officially sanctioned use of violence — from bombing Venezuela to repressing the American left in recent months.

But the undeniable fact is that yesterday a former Al-Qaeda leader — until very recently — was in the White House smiling.

Daher felt Al-Sharaa’s guest appearance was less about helping ordinary Syrian’s and more about serving a colonial agenda:

The Syrian people are clearly not on the agenda for these meetings; this is about consolidating a state that serves [foreign] interests.

New Arab reported:

An invitation to Sharaa to attend the 15-17 June summit in Évian-les-Bains, southeastern France, was hand-delivered to Syrian Finance Minister Yisr Barnieh, who attended the group’s financial talks earlier this week in Paris.

The outlet said that the country was seeking to attract economic investment to rebuild. The leadership saw the Hormuz crisis as a chance to do so:

Regional powers, particularly the Gulf Arab states, and international interests, notably Western states, are converging on Syria, all seeking stability and commercial opportunities, facilitated by a government willing to serve their needs.

And:

At the same time, the ruling authority headed by Ahmed al-Sharaa seeks to embed itself within Western hegemonic infrastructure, while hedging its bets by pursuing ties with Russia and other alternatives.

The Western powers have gone a step further than before. Under a former Al Qaeda leadership, Syria is being reintegrated into the global economy.

This is being done under the aegis of Trump’s failing war in Iran. The G7 nations seem to hope that after a decade and a half of brutal civil war, Syria can be a hub for some form of economic workaround, offsetting the impacts of the latest US-Israeli disaster in the region.

Featured image via Justin Tallis – WPA Pool/Getty Images

By Joe Glenton

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Programming note: We’ll be off this Monday but will be back in your inboxes on Tuesday.

DAYS THE BUDGET IS LATE: 52

ALBANY AUTOPSY ANGST: National Democrats entrusted their 2024 autopsy to a strategist entwined with another long-ago party calamity: the Obama-era implosion of the New York Senate.

Paul Rivera previously served as a key adviser to state Senate Democratic leader John Sampson, a Brooklyn lawmaker who led an infamously dysfunctional majority for part of 2009 and into 2010 — and was later convicted of federal fraud charges.

Rivera arrived in the Senate with a strong resume after working on gubernatorial and presidential campaigns, including Al Gore and John Kerry. Staffers and lawmakers alike found him to be an inscrutable, enigmatic aide who murmured advice in the background. It was the kind of shapeless profile many advisers hone in power centers across the globe, but seemed especially befitting a state Capitol known for its bewildering opacity.

“The man lurked in the shadows. No one knew where he came from,” former Democratic Senate press aide Travis Proulx said. “It was like a ship in the night working with him. Of everyone I’ve ever worked with he stands out as the man behind the curtain. No one knew how he got there.”

Rivera did not return five phone calls and text messages seeking comment on Thursday and Friday. Sampson also did not return messages seeking comment.

The strategist has little national profile, but his involvement in crafting the widely panned autopsy report was befuddling to Albany Democrats who recall with unease a deeply broken era of New York politics. They still shudder when thinking about their unhappy two-year state Senate majority during the Obama years.

Rivera’s Zelig-like reputation was fostered during that benighted era and even lawmakers struggled to figure out where his power flowed from in the building.

“You never know who he was really loyal to, on whose behalf he was acting,” said former Democratic state Sen. Diane Savino.

Rivera’s name does not appear on the Democratic National Committee’s 192-page report on the 2024 election, formally released Thursday after it was published online by CNN. The autopsy was widely criticized by party officials, ex-Harris campaign aides and former Biden staffers.

The report did not include any references to the party’s challenges over Israel and Gaza, while only making passing references to President Joe Biden’s decision to step aside — widely considered two crucial reasons for the party’s failure two years ago.

DNC Chair Ken Martin apologized for the document in a long statement. But that hasn’t stemmed widespread calls for him to resign the leadership post he’s held for less than 18 months.

Democratic alumni of the fractious state Senate Democratic conference in Albany were flabbergasted that the national party would hand such an important job — analyzing why droves of Americans backed President Donald Trump’s unlikely White House return — to a strategist associated with a disastrous era for Empire State Democrats.

“He sold himself as a guy who knew everything and that he was a master of politics,” Savino said of the former Senate aide’s Albany tenure. “He didn’t know what the fuck he was talking about.”

Read more from POLITICO’s Nick Reisman.

From the Capitol

MICAH’S SUPERNATURAL VOTE: Assemblymember and former teen magician Micah Lasher seemingly made a miraculous journey to New York City from Albany on Thursday.

And Lasher — who is running for the congressional seat held by retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler — is refusing to answer questions about how it happened.

The assemblymember apparently was able to cast his vote from Albany at around 4:50 p.m. and make it to Manhattan’s Upper West Side in time for a 7 p.m. candidate forum.

Anyone who’s ever driven the roughly 150 miles from Albany to New York City knows that timetable stretches the limits of reality — unless you’re driving well over the speed limit and get a lucky streak of zero traffic congestion.

Lasher’s campaign refused to say where he physically was at the time he voted, and then ignored multiple follow-up calls from Playbook.

The vote was on a budget bill that included a slate of measures designed to protect immigrants from the Trump administration’s aggressive enforcement tactics. Lasher has called for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the campaign trail, and even traveled to Minnesota in January to join protests against the federal agency.

Earlier today, Lasher touted passage of the bill, saying “I am incredibly proud to have authored this legislation to protect the dignity and safety of all.”

Assembly rules state members need to be in the “bar of the House” in order to be considered present. The “bar” is defined as “the entire Assembly Chamber and lobbies contiguous thereto as designated by the Speaker.”

As our Playbook colleague Bill Mahoney reported last month, members have taken advantage of the policy by routinely being absent from the chambers during votes and debates. Instead, many clock in during the morning and then spend session elsewhere in the Capitol or the adjacent Legislative Office Building. Because they’re technically checked-in and considered present, the members are automatically counted as a “yes” vote on legislation — even if they’re holed up somewhere else in the Capitol complex.

But there’s no indication the “bar” of the House extends to the Catskill exit of the New York State Thruway — a reasonable, but still tight, starting point for someone hoping to make it all the way to West 97th St. in 130 minutes.

And if members do need to leave town early, they’re instructed to tell Assembly leadership so they don’t get mistakenly counted in the vote tally when they’re in another zip code.

Assemblymember Alex Bores, who is also running for the congressional seat — along with Kennedy scion Jack Schlossberg and former Republican Trump antagonist George Conway — made it to the forum late because he voted for the bill and also took time to explain his vote on the floor.

After Bores apologized for his tardiness at the forum, which was hosted by a group of tenant associations, he expressed befuddlement at how Lasher was seemingly able to beam across the Hudson Valley and also cast his vote.

“You got to tell me the route that gets me here in two hours. That’s remarkable,” Bores said, in a video reviewed by Playbook. “You voted on it?”

“I did,” Lasher said, giving a nod. — Jason Beeferman

BURSTING INTO TIERS: A package of changes to the Tier 6 pension plan have been finalized as state budget talks come to an end, two people familiar with the conversations said.

“Tier 6 is done,” said one of the people, who was granted anonymity to relay the closed-door negotiations.

The changes will allow teachers to retire at age 58 after 30 years of service. Employee contribution rates for many public workers will fall to 3 percent of their pay checks. The total cost stands at more than $550 million a year spread out between the state government, municipalities and school districts.

The provision is expected to be tucked inside the transportation and economic development budget bill.

The overhaul represents a major victory for labor, which has detested the less-generous pension tier since its 2012 inception.

Read more from POLITICO Pro’s Nick Reisman.

FROM CITY HALL

SIGNS OF LIFE: The zombie charter revision commission created by former Mayor Eric Adams will release a report next week listing proposed changes to the City Charter the body may pursue — even as state legislation seeks to kill the outfit altogether and ensure it stays dead.

The report, which was obtained by Playbook, is set to appear in the City Record Tuesday. In addition to the prospect of open primaries, it suggests more reforms to the city’s land use process, prohibiting elected officials from giving themselves pay raises and making it harder to change term limit laws. The report also muses about making permanent several mayoral offices relating to combating hate crimes and antisemitism and forcing City Hall to fund future charter revision commissions. That last one is key.

This particular commission was created on the last day of Adams’ tenure and is being spearheaded by his first deputy mayor, Randy Mastro.

The rogue body is advancing proposals that would make life difficult for Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Open primaries, for example, would empower more moderate candidates and complicate the mayor’s reelection prospects. The report also recommended putting to voters several executive orders related to combating antisemitism that were signed by Adams — also in the waning days of his term — and left to lapse by the current mayor. The expiration of the executive orders predictably sparked consternation with many Jewish residents.

The commission has been criticized as an abuse of the process by city and state government ethics organizations — even by those who support the concept of open primaries. And while Mamdani has starved the commission of funds, Albany went a step further by passing legislation Thursday that effectively dissolves the body.

The mayor has been playing coy about what he will do (despite being the person who asked for the state provision in the first place). He said at a press conference Thursday he is still considering his options.

The commission remains undeterred, however. It plans to sue over the state legislation while plowing ahead with its work. A public hearing remains on the schedule for next week.

Kayla Mamelak Altus, a commission member, said state lawmakers are attempting to silence the will of the people, who would otherwise be able to help shape the commission’s eventual ballot questions.

“That should send chills down the spines of all New Yorkers who care about having a voice in our local democracy,” she said in a statement. “This attempt to retroactively dismantle a legally constituted Charter Revision Commission in the middle of its work flies in the face of municipal home rule.” — Joe Anuta

FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

BREWING SUPPORT: City Council member and Upper West Side fixture Gale Brewer has endorsed Stephanie Ruskay in the race for an open state Assembly seat covering the vote-rich enclave.

“We need leaders who are smart, compassionate, and deeply rooted in the communities they serve,” Brewer said in a statement shared exclusively with Playbook. “That’s why I’m proud to support Stephanie Ruskay for State Assembly.”

Ruskay, who would be the first female rabbi elected to the state Legislature, is running for the seat being vacated by Assemblymember Micah Lasher, who himself is vying for an open congressional seat.

In addition to Brewer, who has represented the area over two stints in the Council, Ruskay is being backed by a number of sitting officials including City Comptroller Mark Levine, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal and City Council member Shaun Abreu.

She’s locked in a battle with Eli Northrup, a public defender who has received endorsements from local Democratic clubs and organizations farther to the left in a proxy war between different wings of the Democratic Party. — Joe Anuta

IN OTHER NEWS

— PRESSURE FROM WITHIN: Hundreds of immigrants detained at a Newark immigration detention center went on a hunger and labor strike, demanding the facility’s closure, their release and visits from elected officials. (Gothamist)

— PLAY NICE!: Kathy Wylde, former head of the Partnership for New York City and a key business broker, is again playing go-between for Mamdani and corporate leaders. (New York Post)

— FARE FIGHT: World Cup fans are opting for $20 buses over $98 train rides to MetLife Stadium, amid backlash over steep transit prices. (The New York Times)

Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.

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Kylie Minogue has spoken for the first time about undergoing IVF treatment shortly after being diagnosed with cancer in her mid-30s.

The Grammy winner was 36 years old when she was first told she had breast cancer in 2005, and in her new self-titled Netflix documentary, she shared that having children had already been on her mind around this period of her life.

She began: “There’s so much more to cancer than ‘you had it, you got through it and you’re fine – or fine for now’.

“I was 36 when I got my diagnosis, so already it’s… you need to be thinking about children.”

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Kylie continued: “I did try. I even postponed my chemotherapy to try, which was quite scary at the time because you just want [the cancer] out. Gone. [I felt like,] I want to feel safe, I don’t want this.

“I did try a few times with IVF. Always, it was with such a thread of hope. But I couldn’t not try. If it had happened, it would have been just shy of a miracle. But it didn’t work out that way.”

The Confide In Me singer admitted: “One can’t help but wonder what it would have been like. And I’m so close to my family. But it wasn’t my path.”

At this moment in the documentary, she was seen reading out the lyrics to her song Flower, written for her 2008 album X and eventually included on her compilation album The Abbey Road Sessions, which she said was inspired by the child “that might have been”.

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Later in the documentary, Kylie shared that she’d privately undergone cancer treatment for a second time after being diagnosed in early 2021.

“I was able to keep that to myself,” she said. “Not like the first time.”

“Thankfully, I got through it. Again,” she added. “And all is well.”

Kylie then recalled: “I just couldn’t [go public with the diagnosis] at the time. Because I was just a shell of a person. I didn’t want to leave the house again at one point.”

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All three episodes of Kylie are now streaming on Netflix.

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Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care of the United Kingdom, arrives for a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in London, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026.

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From the producers of Stranger Things comes The Boroughs, a new Netflix sci-fi series that follows supernatural goings on in the unlikeliest of spots.

Led by an all-star cast that includes Alfred Molina, Bill Pullman and Clarke Peters, The Boroughs has already been described as a mix of The Goonies, A Man On The Inside and The Thursday Murder Club.

The show follows a group of pensioners in a luxury retirement village, as they try to hunt down the creature living underneath their homes, after mysterious goings-on threaten them and their loved ones.

Critics have mostly praised The Boroughs, although some have said it doesn’t live up to the earlier series of Stranger Things.

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Here’s what critics are saying about The Boroughs so far…

“Like the best hokum, The Boroughs speaks, via monsters and electroplasm, to eternal human fears. Death is one, but The Boroughs parses it further – the fear of dying alone and friendless, after all one’s loved ones have gone, or after years of living in a terrifying, memory-less present – and then gives us comfort, that together most monsters can be defeated.”

“Part Thursday Murder Club, part Stranger Things, The Boroughs is an unexpectedly entertaining mix of adventure and wonder, drama and humour. Age is just a number – and it doesn’t matter what that number is when you’ve got a monster in your front room.”

“Like Stranger Things, The Boroughs is hard to pigeon-hole. There are elements of family drama, shades of comedy and moments of schlocky horror, but it’s just as intriguing as the Netflix hit’s early years.”

“The monster stuff really drags. But I liked the underlying message that you write off older people at your peril.

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“It doesn’t take a psychoanalyst to spot that the monsters stalking these retirees represent mortality. Molina plays a man still hit by waves of despair over losing the woman he loved. There are scenes in which he grieves for her, sound-tracked by Bruce Springsteen, which will bring a tear to your eye.”

“Flipping the premise of executive producers the Duffer Brothers’ breakthrough series Stranger Things, where resourceful kids triumphed against monsters from the Upside Down, this series pits characters who could easily be their grandparents against a sinister otherworldly force.

“Setting the mayhem in an otherwise placid retirement community abutting the New Mexico desert (though Roswell oddly is never mentioned) is a stroke of creative genius. The elderly are an especially vulnerable demographic, often robbed of their agency and independence by well-meaning family, patronised as delusional or worse if they confess to seeing things that couldn’t possibly be true. Or could they?”

“Boasting a fantastic cast that brings this ensemble of intricate characters to life, The Boroughs turns a familiar genre on its head, allowing audiences to consider from a different vantage point the constraints of the human experience, what it means to be fearless and the finality of death.

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“Fascinating and intense, with The Boroughs, viewers will indeed have the time of their lives.”

“Between its examination of dementia and its tale of a reclusive retiree finding community, The Boroughs feels like a sci-fi version of another stellar Netflix offering: A Man On The Inside.

“The Boroughs may have 100 percent more monster attacks, but it also has A Man On The Inside’s same compassion when it comes to telling stories of retirees living fulfilling, adventurous lives.”

“In between the missteps and monsters, The Boroughs is ultimately a heartfelt and charming series that poses a fair few questions about life, ageing and death – and asks just how far you’ll go for the ones you love.”

“In the final third of the story […] what first seems like simple horror starts to connect to The Boroughs’ bigger questions about the cost of extending life beyond its natural limits, and this sometimes diverts attention away from the main quest.

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“The story moves away from a clear good-versus-evil setup, and a simpler version with a hero and villain might have felt more satisfying, even if it meant losing some of the deeper ideas and ambiguity the series deliberately leans into.”

“Davis, Molina, O’Hare, Peters, and Woodard make the show a blast, particularly the terrific middle stretch of the eight-episode first season.

“Too bad about the rest of the ensemble, whose one-note performances are a drag on The Boroughs’ momentum and scares. With leads this strong, you’d expect supporting players who can make lines like ‘The Boroughs is a fortress, a citadel blazing in the dark’ sound spooky, not goofy and uninspiring.

“Fortunately, a few weak links and a slow start don’t diminish The Boroughs’ delightful punch.”

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“When conflict arises, the threat of being mistreated by people far younger and stronger than they are is a sobering reminder of the potential for cruelty that comes from organisations that are, in fact, positioned to help.

“It’s a dark mirror to how the kids of Stranger Things bemoan they won’t be believed by the adults in their lives, but unlike the kids, the retirees’ very lives are put under threat that, at times, feels far more frightening than even the menacing presence hiding within the retirement village.”

“Netflix’s The Boroughs gets off to a promising start, with Alfred Molina leading one hell of a great cast of veteran actors as the residents of a retirement community dealing with a monstrous, otherworldly threat.

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“The set-up is intriguing and fun, with the first episode establishing an appealingly quirky tone that’s hopefully backed up by a worthy story across the eight episodes that will fully make proper use of these actors.”

“While the sci-fi thriller proves a fine enough way to while away a few hours, with a plot that boils down to ‘Stranger Things but old people’ and an A-list cast that’d turn the grey hairs of A Man On The Inside green with envy, I left thinking too much of its eight 45-minute episodes had been spent on the former, at the expense of the latter.”

“I doubt The Boroughs is about to set Netflix alight on the epic scale that Stranger Things did. It might have an old-timey vintage feel, but it is nowhere near the nostalgia bomb that first got so many in on Hawkins.”

The Boroughs is available to stream on Netflix now.

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Labour lost control of Enfield Council at the local election but, with more coordination and cooperation, progressives could have easily taken even more seats from Labour.

Enfield Independent leader to Greens: ‘If we had formed an alliance, we would have won’

A strong independent campaign hoped to play a key role in taking overall control away from Labour. But while there had previously been talks with local Greens, the Green Party chose to stand across Enfield, including in wards independents were targeting. Conservatives ended up with 31 councillors, Labour with 27, and the Greens with 5.

In Upper Edmonton ward, for example, Labour got all three council seats. But if Enfield Community Independents and Greens had run a joint campaign, it’s very possible that Labour would have got no councillors at all.

Enfield Community Independents (ECI) leader Khalid Sadur stood in Upper Edmonton. And as he told the Canary:

If one of us had stepped down, we would have won. If we had formed an alliance, we would have won.

The lesson is clear, he said:

If we stand separately, we will lose, and Labour will get in.

Both progressive forces, Sadur stressed, had something different to offer in the election. The Greens had a big national media profile, especially considering the wave of attention current leader Zack Polanski has received. But ECI had been out in the community for years building connections with local people. As Sadur insisted:

We know the people on the ground… We are local residents – we came from a really grassroots approach, where we literally brought people along and got them to vote for the first time…

The people that we spoke to are the people who voted for us, and they absolutely bought into the idea that they needed local people to represent them on their local council — people who knew their area, weren’t taking them for granted like the existing Labour Party, who don’t have councillors who live in the ward.

He even added that, in the areas ECI was campaigning:

There was no one on the ground apart from us. We were out canvassing, leafletting. But we never saw any other party on the streets.

‘We have to put egos aside’ to stop Reform

In our current political system, many voters do depend on a national profile and vote accordingly. And partly on this basis, Greens made some gains in Enfield. But even without a national profile, ECI candidates got hundreds upon hundreds of votes from hard campaigning on the ground, and were a real challenger in some areas.

The point Sadur made was that the Greens couldn’t win solely with a national profile on their side, and ECI weren’t able to win on local campaigning alone (without a big national profile behind them). With this in mind, he said:

The goal really is to try and get us together, such that we can then come together and actually campaign together, bring the expertise that we have — in terms of the campaigning history and background and experience – together with the profile of the Greens, and form a challenge.

In a call for unity, Sadur said:

The battle lines need to be drawn for the next general election very clearly. It’s going to be left versus right.

There needs to be a single candidate on the left who’s going to be able to take on the right.

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We cannot afford to split the left vote and allow Reform in.

We have to put egos aside and do actually what’s in the best interests of our residents, our constituents, and frankly, our country.

He added:

There needs to be a commitment to do this together. Because we’ve got three elections’ worth of data. So we know where our voters are, we know where the postal voters are. The Greens need our help and assistance on that. Together, we are a formidable force locally. We need unity, not division.

This is an important message not just in Enfield, but across the country. Because it’s clearly no longer time for party political games. It’s time to join together in a spirit of cooperation and mount a strong resistance to the fascists of Reform.

Featured image via Leon Neal/Getty Images

By Ed Sykes

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