Sky News has run a frankly deranged — and antisemitic — article that attempts to demonise Brighton’s anti-genocide activists. To the educated eye, it reads like an extract from an Israel lobby playbook. This should perhaps not surprise. Antisemitism is rife in the British media — just not in the way audiences are routinely told to expect.

The article features a seven-minute video that Sky also shared on its social media. The video barely bothers even to ‘both-sides’ the issue. It gives no more than a cursory nod to the idea that activists asking Brighton households to boycott Israeli products might not be antisemitic. Then it goes on to showcase, at length, the ‘fears’ — its interviewees seem anything but afraid, of course — of ‘the Jewish community’ at these supposedly terrifying young people and their clipboards:

Sky’s @LisaAtSky reports from Brighton, where volunteers are going door-to-door asking people to boycott Israeli products.

Brighton’s Jewish community fear the actions of these volunteers could encourage antisemitism.

🔗 Read more: https://t.co/jcyx0X231K pic.twitter.com/p0aDFHZSaY

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— Sky News (@SkyNews) February 11, 2026

Zionism is antisemitism?

And it is absolutely shameless about pushing the claims of a string of Israel advocates that anti-Zionism is antisemitism. This is widely pushed in and by ‘mainstream’ media. It is also a fundamentally antisemitic claim: it posits that being Jewish automatically means supporting the horrific crimes of a racist, apartheid colony. It is also fundamentally dishonest: Jews who oppose Israel’s crimes are front and centre of anti-genocide and anti-Zionist protests. So much so that the ‘mainstream’ media airbrush them out as their presence undermines the proposition that all Jews support Israel and therefore opposing Israel is antisemitic.

Which is exactly the claim that Sky is amplifying, of course. To do so, it showcases a string of some of British Zionism’s most notorious.

Fiona Sharpe, for example. Sharpe is given ample space to claim, without challenge, that many Jews are afraid to wear their ‘star of David’ and that antisemitism is everywhere:

She says: “I think there is an underlying feeling that this country and this city [Brighton] is dealing with an underlying sense of antisemitism and mistrust unlike anything I have ever experienced.

“I think increasingly we see Jewish communities and individual Jews almost forced to take what I call purity pledges – to say ‘yes I’m Jewish, but I don’t support the state of Israel, the situation in Gaza or whatever’.

“I’m a British Jew. I don’t need to justify my existence and my place in my city to anybody.”

‘No part of society not scarred by antisemitism’

Fiona says she feels antisemitism is cutting through “all segments” and “all classes” of British society.

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She says: “There is no part of British society that is not marred and scarred by antisemitism.”

‘Antisemitism’ — but not really

Antisemitism in the UK has been directly equated with opposition to Israel’s genocide in the mainstream media — never called that in the statistics, of course. The latest ‘antisemitism’ statistics page of Israel-funded lobby group ‘Community Security Trust’ (CST) mentions Israel no fewer than 130 times. The page admits that more than half of the incidents it counts as antisemitic are in fact to do with Israel.

It also inadvertently makes clear that many ‘antisemitic’ incidents are directly addressing the political ideology of Zionism — a racist belief that land, that has people of multiple different religions living on, belongs only to Jews. This in turn makes way for apartheid, ethnic cleansing and genocide. For example, an image of an ‘antisemitic’ incident shows graffiti on a toilet door stating that:

Zionists are child killers.

The text does not say “Jews are child killers”. If it did, it would be antisemitic and a lie. So many Jews are horrified by Israel’s crimes and so many oppose them. But Zionists in Israel have slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children since October 2023 and are still bombing and starving them. Zionists outside Israel support the slaughter and demand silence on Israel’s crimes.

Let’s get a couple of things straight:

Most Zionists are not Jews. Many Jews are not Zionists. Not just that, many Zionists are antisemitic.

Judaism is around 3500-4000 years old. Zionism is roughly 130 years old. The state of Israel is 78.

These are facts. Facts cannot be antisemitic.

Of course, these factual distinctions don’t fit into the establishment narrative, so the ‘MSM’ ignore them. So does Sky’s article.

Vexatious and failed

Sky also fails to mention that Fiona Sharpe was in the news recently, though nowhere near as widely as she should. Humiliatingly and damningly so — for her and for the Israel lobby. Sharpe was at the centre of a lobby attempt to criminalise Brighton author Greg Hadfield that crashed and burned in January 2026. Hadfield was accused of malicious communications after Sharpe complained that he had posted a screenshot of a tweet that exposed local Zionist and alleged paedophile Ivor Caplin. After his acquittal, Hadfield told Skwawkbox that his acquittal was:

a victory for all journalists and everyone who believes in free speech. It is a defeat for Zionist extremists like Fiona Sharpe, who has embedded herself in the criminal justice system and the local media in Brighton and Hove. It is a defeat for Peter Kyle and the Labour Party who knew for a long time about Ivor Caplin’s ‘likes’ and likes. They said nothing and did nothing. Neither before nor after Caplin was arrested for allegedly sexually communicating with a child.

The Brighton Israel lobby is no stranger to malicious prosecutions. Heidi Bachram, another Brighton Zionist — one of the non-Jewish ones — teamed up with another lobby group, the ‘CAA’, to try to prosecute comedian Reginald D Hunter. Sharpe and CAA accused Hunter of antisemitic abuse — an attempt to ruin him. It didn’t go well for the lobbyists.

The judge in the case threw it out as malicious and vexatious, after CAA deliberately withheld evidence that exonerated Hunter, including lengthy tirades Bachram poured on her victims. So incensed was the judge at the blatantly political lawfare attempt that he didn’t just throw the case out. He ordered that in any future such cases, CAA must attach a copy of his judgment to their submissions to ensure that the court and everyone involved knows how dishonestly it acted.

In his withering remarks, judge Michael Snow said that:

[CAA] did not reveal the extent of her tweets directed against Reginald Hunter in the period immediately preceding the complaints (her tweets were sent between 15 August and 11 September 2024).

The summary misled me into believing that his comments were addressed to her involvement with the Jewish faith as opposed to his response to attempts that were being made to have him ‘cancelled’…

…Ruling

20. I am quite satisfied that the failure to disclose the matters record at paragraphs 19a) to p) above were intentional. If I had been aware of those matters, I would have refused to issue a summons as I would have found the application to be vexatious.
21 . The CAA have demonstrated by the misleading and partial way in which it summarised its’ application and its’ wilful, repealed, failure to meet its’ disclosure obligations, that its’ true and sole motive in seeking to prosecute RH is to have him cancelled. I have no doubt that the prosecution is abusive…
22…However, my view of the conduct of the CAA is consistent with them as an organisation which is not “playing it straight but is seeking to use the criminal justice system, in this case for improper reasons.
23. I direct that a copy of this judgement must be disclosed by the CAA and attached by it, in all future applications.
24. I quash the summons.

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‘I love you IDF guys’

Unsurprisingly, Sky didn’t mention any of this either, despite its relevance and locality to its topic. Nor did it mention that Vicky Bhogal, its first interviewee, has donated to a crowdfunder for the genocidal occupation military because, in her own words:

I love you guys and what you’re doing.

Watermelon smugger

Sky also interviewed Josh Breslaw, drummer with British-Israeli band Oi Va Voi. Breslaw was allowed to drone about the ‘antisemitic’ injustice of having a gig cancelled in 2025, supposedly because the band wouldn’t sign a promise not to be ‘political’.

Breslaw omitted to mention — and Sky didn’t bother to point out — that the Oi Va Voi gig was cancelled because its Israeli lead singer Zohara Niddam had just released a solo album, in the middle of the Gaza genocide, whose cover art showed a naked Niddam taking watermelons away from a watermelon field in a wheelbarrow:

The pearl-clutching, Israel-fanatic and deeply-dishonest Jewish Chronicle demanded to know:

If a non-Israeli artist featured watermelons on an album artwork, would their gig be banned?

Well, that would depend whether the non-Israeli artist’s nation had slaughtered hundreds of thousands of people identified with watermelons as a symbol of their resistance and self-determination, wouldn’t it.

Watermelons have become internationally recognised during the genocide as a national symbol of Palestine and Palestinian identity. During the genocide, Israel has poisoned or destroyed more than 98% of Gaza’s agricultural land. Outraged humanitarians had demanded that the Bristol venue cancel the event. It later caved to the faux outrage of the Israel lobby and apologised.

And of course, it didn’t take long before the wider ethno-supremacist mouthpieces got their own shots in at the Brighton humanitarians. Like the unhinged Murdoch hack Melanie Phillips. Phillips has gone on record to say that anti-Zionist Jews are a threat to the Jewish people. So it’s no surprise she had to stick her oar in, again amplifying the antisemitic proposition that Jewish people are inseparable from her racist political ideology:

Every. Damned. Time.

Sky barely bothered to even gesture at veiling its hit-piece as anything else. The UK ‘mainstream’ media rely on their viewers being too uninformed to spot their lies and misdirections and too busy to investigate.

But scratch the surface and the lies, misdirections and omissions quickly come tumbling out. Especially when the subject is anything to do with the genocidal colony or those who resist it.

Every. Damned. Time.

Featured image via the Canary

An ablative heat shield is a protective system that jettisons material to dissipate heat from the underlying structure.  They’re used on oil rigs and spacecraft.  And in politics.

Boris Johnson used Matt Hancock as one.  After failing to turn up at Cobra meetings, Johnson and his government discharged Covid-infected patients into care homes, causing thousands of early deaths.  His callous “let the bodies pile high” comments and corrupt VIP WhatsApp lanes left him in the firing line.  So he sacked health secretary Matt Hancock.  Not for incompetence, but in a conveniently leaked video where Hancock snogs a woman he was having an affair with in his office.  He’d appointed her to a £15,000 paid non-exec director role, too.  Johnson could then jettison the Hancock liability without drawing attention to the Covid fiascos.

Hancock kept his £91,346 MP’s salary.  And took his £16,000 ministerial resignation payout.  And £320,000 for going on I’m a Celebrity.  If you’d been sacked for corruption, inappropriate behaviour in the workplace, and lethal incompetence, how much would your golden parachute be?

We should ask the same question about Morgan McSweeney.

McSweeney: gone but not forgotten

Those rich donors colonising our public services will see him right.  His media mates are trying to rehabilitate him already – Guardian articles saying he was the genius who “masterminded landslide 2024 election win”.  What rubbish.  Johnson created chaos without any help from McSweeney.  A lettuce beat Liz Truss.  The Tories handed Labour their loveless landslide.  McSweeney’s efforts lowered the Labour vote.

The whole Starmer project, engineered by the likes of Mandelson and McSweeney, is a big gravy train of corruption.  Starmer is right in the middle of it.  They were aided and abetted by client journalists.

Do you remember when Keir Starmer was “forensic”?  That didn’t last long.  Then they were the “grown ups”.  Making “tough decisions”.  Like accepting £100,000 of freebies.  They’re trying to rehabilitate him how.  He is a “decent” man who was “lied to” by that nasty Peter Mandelson.  How could they have known that a man who resigned twice for corruption was corrupt?

After Mandelson’s second ministerial resignation, Tony Blair appointed him as Britain’s EU Commissioner.  In 2008 the story broke about Mandelson meeting billionaires Oleg Deripaska and Natheniel Rothschild on an £80 million yacht.  Along with George Osborne. Deripaska owned the world’s largest aluminium business.  Mandelson had lowered EU tariffs on aluminium from 6% to 3%, worth tens of millions of pounds to Deripaska.  I found that in a Google search.

What a genius

In 2023 the McSweeney faction manoeuvred to stop Labour members from being allowed to select me to continue as Mayor.  Starmer said “we want the highest quality of candidates.”  A lobby journalist told me, “It’s amazing – they’re blocking you who’s actually done some good and Peter Mandelson, who’s best mates with Jeffrey Epstein, still has influence.”  That was 18 months before Starmer appointed Mandelson as ambassador to the US.  If journalists knew, the Cabinet Office Security Vetting service knew.  Which meant Starmer knew.

So what they will try next is to say it’s just one rotten apple.  Mandelson was dodgy.  And while McSweeney was ambitious, he was just serving his party.  And Starmer, when he resigns, will be rehabilitated as a decent chap, just too honest and straight laced.  Which is total hogwash.  They are all up to their elbows in it.  And have normalised it.  These are not merely three weak individuals, unable to control their greed.  The system attracts and rewards and promotes these characters.  The Labour right is a machine that transfers our money to very rich people.

The Tony Blair Foundation took £257 million from Larry Ellison, whose Oracle firm is hawking AI to governments.  Shortly afterwards, Starmer announced 18,000 NHS England redundancies, which would be filled by AI.  There are legions of other examples.

Governments will struggle

I was on BBC Politics North this weekend.  I was asked about why left behind towns in the North East were struggling.

Low wages, poor transport and a shortage of good jobs persist year after year.  The underlying cause, I said, it the money being taken out of these places.  In the North East alone, Northumbria Water made £291 million profit last year.  All disappears off to a Hong Kong billionaire.  Northern PowerGrid North East, £333 million profit last year, all disappears off to a North American billionaire.  That money reinvested here would create more work, more jobs, more money circulating in our local economy.  That’s just two privatised utilities.  Add in banks, finance, land ownership, care homes, big tech – and we’re a debt farm built to enrich billionaires.  Our money is going to people on big yachts, not small boats.

No government will be popular until this is fixed.  They only reason Starmer is still in post is Labour MPs are waiting until after May’s local election wipe out to jettison him like an ablative heat shield.  No new leader wants a catastrophic defeat in their inbox.

Public ownership is immensely popular.  It would be simple to do.  It costs effectively nothing – just enforce the regulations, and the share price will plummet to zero.  So the real question is why won’t a struggling Labour government do it?

The only way is Green after McSweeney and Labour

I joined the Green Party because they will.  Over 130,000 people have made the same decision.  In Newcastle we’ll take swathes of seats from Labour.  It’s shaping up to be a straight fight between the Greens and Reform, just like the Gorton and Denton by-election.  The Greens will reverse wealth extraction.  Reform will turbocharge it, like a vacuum hose sucking money from your bank account.

The cracks in the neo-Labour edifice are growing.  So one cheer for the demise of Mandelson and McSweeney.  But I’ll keep the other two back for when we get a government that serves the people.

Featured image via the Canary

I’m still getting used to this life. Walking through Birmingham International train station at 8am on Wednesday 4 February to the NEC, sleep-deprived. A stranger clocks me. A double-take. I’m imagining things. Oh wait. No. He’s following, phone raised, snapping pictures. Earpiece? Check. ID? None. A plain-clothes somebody, or nobody.

We’re expecting trouble later

A flimsy justification when challenged before scuttling off. I wish I’d thought to record it, but like I say, I’m getting used to this still.

Another adventure…

I was at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham. In-between hosting Springfair and The Artisanal Food and Ice Cream Show 2026, management are desperately trying to pull off the most delicate and audacious of audacious magic tricks. They’re both trying to host the SDSC Arms Convention whilst simultaneously making sure nobody notices.

Of course, local activists were intent on shining a light on proceedings. The arms fair has moved from Telford due to protests – but where the arms go, the people follow. And, based on how hard it was to even find, the NEC was clearly aware of the PR implications.

Security was obviously tight. I arrived on Tuesday to find protesters, quite literally penned in on a piece of grass outside. Security took turns escorting them to the toilets every half hour, and one person was periodically chaperoned to get hot drinks. At one point, it wasn’t clear if I’d even be permitted back through the building to the station. Fortunately, sense prevailed so I abused my press pass to visit the ice cream convention on the way back through.

Birmingham NEC: murder in the morning. Ice cream in the arvo.

It was surreal: just a couple of walls stood between people peddling death and the best pistachio ice cream I’ve ever eaten.

People posed for pictures with the Ben & Jerry’s cow, tens of metres away from… well, that’s part of the problem. It’s hard to say what’s going on in there. I applied for a press ticket but never got a reply. Walking through the centre, the silence was deafening: Springfair branding everywhere, toys and games. The ice cream convention spelled out in huge gold lettering…

But nothing for the weapons fair. How odd! Almost like they were ashamed…

It was a theme. The sheer number of people who told me they were ‘there for the ice cream’, only to duck into the weapons convention, was laughable. If you’re going to a weapons fair, own it. If you’re ashamed, why go?  And it’s the same for Birmingham NEC. If they are ashamed of hosting it, why do it? Do they believe in the cause? Do they think it’s okay to sell munitions that blow up people on the other side of the world? If so, why not write it in three-foot gold letters? Why did security ask me – belatedly – not to photograph the welcome sign in the window?

Scared of some hippies and drums

And why police a protest of tree-huggers and hippies as if they’re a dire threat? It was ridiculous. Security seemed genuinely surprised people weren’t grateful to be herded to the toilets. Since when is that normal? I’ve been going to protests for years. I’ve never seen a venue behave this way.

On Wednesday, arriving protesters were met by security escorts. They “didn’t want people to get lost.” Okay.

By 9:30am, several activists were physically carried out for handing out leaflets and dumped at the entrance.

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Security in general was farcical. Please don’t photograph those windows? Bit late for that bud. You honestly think the first thing I did when I landed Tuesday wasn’t to take a picture of the huge fuck off “welcome” sign?

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I want to the very clear, I don’t think that people wearing yellow bibs, earning minimum wage while standing in the cold should be the target. It’s not their fault their bosses are shit. Most probably agree that bombing kids is a shitty thing to do. People don’t get an option about their engagement with a coercive capitalist system that demands blood sacrifice every week in exchange for the basic necessities needed to keep existing.

The security managers making the decisions?

The ones sharing photos with the police; the ones laughing while making propeller motions at a staged die in highlighting the use of drones in the genocide ongoing in Gaza? That’s another matter. When, as was relayed to me, one of the security managers went out of his way to tell protesters he knew where they are from because he saw them in a right wing auditors videos… When another walks up to an NUJ journalist and tries to intimidate them by quietly telling them how much they enjoyed the pictures on their Instagram? Yeah, fuck those guys. Royally and sideways. They deserve some shit being flung at them.

Back to the protest

In the pen, the XR drummers arrived. The promised snow hadn’t materialised and spirits were high, waiting for reinforcements. The final straw for security arrived just after one o’clock from Birmingham New Street; The Red Rebel Brigade. Once they had made their way through the centre and reached the protest site, the doors slammed shut. Clearly too much publicity. Apparently there were now “too many people”. Who the fuck is that scared of 7 people in velvet bath robes?

A bus arrived. Protesters were huddled and told there would be no more access; everyone would have to walk the long way around or be driven. The day was cut short. Those who walked were led through car parks out of sight of the public to the station. Everything organised to avoid anyone ever realising that theres death being bought and sold here or that anyone was opposed to that notion.

That’s what this is about. The Birmingham NEC; a British institution trying desperately to eat its cake and then still have it; to host these events but avoid any scrutiny for having done so. Nestled in one of the most authentically working-class areas of the country; being pimped out to the highest bidder. Hiding its complicity behind free spoons of gelato. What would Ben & Jerry’s say? We couldn’t reach them for comment, but I think it’s a fucking disgrace.

Industrial levels of incompetence on display for all to see at Birmingham NEC

The handling of this protest is a recurring theme. The decision-makers aren’t bad people by default – generally they are just really bad at their jobs. How anyone thinks this is the way to manage PR is beyond me. I find myself screaming “Barbara Streisand” in my head a lot.

It’s all so counter-productive. All this bollocks about “facilitating a protest”… You’re trying to minimise and hide it. And worse – attempting to intimidate journalists? What would have happened if you’d just allowed it? Some people would have banged drums, walked around in red gowns, and caught a train home. There isn’t much to write about there.

But when you go out of your way to hide it, badly, you turn it into a story. When you stalk a journalist’s Instagram, it’s pretty weak. This is snowflake behaviour. From people hosting international arms dealers.

If the Birmingham NEC is hosting the SDSC Arms Convention, they should be proud enough to shout it from the rooftops. It should be on flags, banners, and their website. It shouldn’t be hidden between plush toys and Ben & Jerry’s.

And they shouldn’t be afraid of people asking basic questions about the ethics of hosting an event that sells weapons. Those weapons aren’t getting made for shits and giggles. They aren’t getting made for fun; they are made to be used. To be dropped on people in Gaza and to be shot at people in Kashmir and Sudan. They kill people and the Birmingham NEC has their blood on its hands.

The NEC had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Featured images via Barold

The Social Justice Party (SJP) has been supportive of Your Party (YP). But it has also raised some concerns about accountability for rule-breaking, telling the Canary it wants YP to:

urgently conduct an internal investigation into a serious allegation that a Your Party conference organiser abused their authority and deliberately broke the sortition rules.

The SJP clarified that its own elected representatives have:

been involved in discussions with like minded groups, such as The Collective, about building a new party of the left since 2024.

And it added that:

SJP members want Your Party to flourish and in order to do that it must operate in a manner that is fair, democratic and transparent.

The allegation of rule-breaking comes amid Your Party’s elections for its first Central Executive Committee (CEC). There have also been concerns about transparency and accountability during this process.

Alleged rule-breaking at Your Party’s founding conference

Members wanting to attend November’s founding conference in Liverpool had to go through a sortition process, with YP’s website saying this sought to:

assemble a representative group of people by effectively drawing lots, giving everyone an equal chance of being chosen

The SJP, however, discovered that one of its former members had:

received a personal invite from a conference organiser to attend Your Party’s Founding Conference.

This was despite the sortition process not choosing this member.

The SJP undertook an internal investigation, which:

concluded that it was beyond reasonable doubt that a Your Party conference organiser had broken the sortition rules

SJP chair Eric Barnes told us that, when the member arrived at the conference, they were allegedly:

issued with a pre-written speech and advised where to sit in the conference hall – in the same section as sortitioned participants – in order to maximise their chances of being selected to speak during a conference debate

A conference organiser, meanwhile, had also:

arranged for them to stay in a hotel and offered to pay for their accommodation and travel expenses. Although the SJP member did not actually speak during a conference debate they said that they were aware of another non-sortitioned person, who also gained access to the conference floor via a personal invite, who did speak

SJP will officially complain after CEC election

The SJP told us that it doesn’t currently “have confidence” that an official complaint to Your Party would receive fair and impartial attention, because:

At present Your Party is controlled by a small group of unelected people overseeing processes that as yet have not been formally agreed.

The party believed it was in YP members’ interests to comment now because:

Your Party is intending to use sortition as a mechanism for future member voting purposes, therefore Your Party members need to be aware of potential interference.

And it confirmed it:

will be submitting a formal complaint to Your Party once the new CEC leadership team has been elected enabling them to carry out their own investigation.

It explained why, saying:

Rule 7.1 of Your Party’s interim membership rules states ‘Members must not act in any way that brings the Party into disrepute’.

The SJP are concerned that a Your Party conference organiser broke the sortition rule, which is clearly an act that would bring the party into disrepute, and will be pursuing this complaint until it is satisfactorily resolved.

Barnes also expressed concern that these rule breaches may not have been the only ones. And he insisted:

It is even more galling that properly sortitioned delegates were barred from conference because they were deemed to be members of another political party. We trust that the new CEC will bring an end to these backroom manoeuvres and set Your Party on a path of genuine democracy.

The Canary approached Your Party for comment on these allegations, but received no response by the time of publication.

Featured image via the Canary

Colombia’s socialist president Gustavo Petro has been in the US’s crosshairs since he denounced Trump and his “clan of paedophiles” for abducting Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

Today, he narrowly avoided assassination when attackers overran the planned landing site for the helicopter in which he and his family were travelling.

Petro later described how the family had to fly out to sea for hours before finding a safe place:

No group has yet claimed responsibility, leaving open the likelihood of another US-sponsored murder attempt, ignored by most western media.

Featured image via the Canary

Keir Starmer has called on Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe to apologise for claiming “the UK is being colonised” by immigrants.

The prime minister said the billionaire’s comments were “offensive and wrong”.

Ratcliffe, who is also the founder and chairman of petrochemical giant Ineos, made his remarks in an interview with Sky News.

He said: “You can’t have an economy with nine million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in.

“I mean, the UK is being colonised. It’s costing too much money. The UK has been colonised by immigrants.”

Sir Jim added: “If you really want to deal with the major issues of immigration, with people opting to take benefits rather than working for a living, if you want to deal with that, then you are going to have to do some things which are unpopular and show some courage.”

Responding to Ratcliffe’s remarks on X, the prime minister said: “Offensive and wrong. Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse country. Jim Ratcliffe should apologise.”

A Downing Street spokesperson said: “Jim Ratcliffe should immediately apologise. His offensive remarks are wrong and play into the hands of those who want to divide our country.”

At first, the idea of selling a flat can seem straightforward. You catalogue it, locate a buyer and anticipate a quick turnaround. Flat sales can lag behind housing sales, and the reasons aren’t always clear. Many delays stem from things buyers and sellers hadn’t considered, or don’t think about until the process is already underway. Knowing these things early can help you avoid frustration and make the best choices when time is of the essence.

Legal and Paperwork Issues That Slow Things Down

One of the biggest foot-draggers is related to paperwork associated with leasehold ownership. Unlike houses, most flats demand extra paperwork before a sale can proceed.

The management packs are a perfect example. The freeholder or managing agent supplies them and they contain information such as service charges, building insurance and planned works. They are indispensable for the buyer’s solicitor, but are sometimes requested late and can take weeks to arrive. Some managing agents also levy hefty fees, which can add to delays while costs are negotiated.

Ground rent clauses may also prove problematic. Some terms could raise concerns for mortgage lenders, particularly if the ground rent balloons over time. If picked up by legal checks, buyers might pause or even walk away entirely.

Then there are building safety forms. Dozens of flat sales now hinge on new safety regulations to confirm fire safety and the presence of cladding. If the correct form is not provided on time or is incomplete, solicitors may decline to continue until it is corrected.

Practical and Timing Challenges Sellers Often Miss

But beyond paperwork, timing is a significant factor in how quickly a flat sale closes. Property chains also play a part. If your buyer’s buyer has a property to sell and there’s yet another buyer involved, it can drag on significantly longer. Flats are often in long chains, meaning that if one link fails, the entire row collapses.

Delaying for this interval can be pretty frustrating, especially when there is a personal or financial deadline. Job changes, relationship breakups, or repeated costs, such as service charges, can make waiting unbearable. In such a scenario, some sellers seek to minimise uncertainty and think “I’d better look to sell my flat fast“, prioritising speed over receiving the best price for the property. Finding a cash buyer can help them proceed without relying on prolonged chains or legal processes.

Preparation is another area sellers often overlook. Missing documents, murky histories of service charges, or unresolved disputes with managing agents can all slow the process once a buyer has been identified. Buyers are wary, and anything that appears questionable can prompt additional questions or renegotiation.

Flat sales are often delayed for a mix of legal and practical reasons. The management packs, the terms of the ground rent, and the forms for building safety and property chains all play a part but are easy to overlook initially. Sellers who know about these issues in advance can prepare, prevent unnecessary delays, and take the best course of action for their circumstances. A less bumpy experience begins with understanding where problems typically arise and addressing them before your sale is impacted.

The Department for Work and Pensions‘ (DWP) own figures show that the number of Work Capability Assessments (WCA) will be higher than ever in 2031. This is despite the DWP and it’s chief Pat McFadden insisting the WCA will be abolished by then

How exactly does the DWP plan to save money?

Benefits and Work sent the Treasury and DWP a Freedom of Information (FOI) request in December. They wanted a breakdown of the savings vaguely alluded to in the autumn budget.

Back in November, Reeves had announced that the DWP would: Improve operations by increasing face-to-face assessments, increasing WCA reassessment capability, and PIP award review changes, starting from April 2026.

She then said the DWP’s annual total savings would be 1.9 billion, but there was, of course, no breakdown of this in the autumn budget document.

Benefits and Work asked the DWP to:

Please give a detailed breakdown of how the £1.9 billion is to be saved, including:

a) Any additional assessment costs created by increasing the number of WCA reassessments

b) Any savings resulting from a reduction in the number of claimants found to no longer have LCWRA due to the increased number of WCA reassessments

c) Any savings in assessment costs caused by extending the time between PIP reviews

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d) Any additional assessment costs caused by increasing the proportion of PIP face-to-face assessments

e) Any savings in PIP costs caused by increasing the proportion of PIP face-to-face assessments, due to the lower success rate for PIP applicants when assessed face-to-face rather than remotely.

Government not keen to be transparent, shocker

The government was, naturally, hesitant to give details about a figure they’d probably pulled out of their arses. The Treasury ridiculously told Benefits and Work it would cost too much to answer their request.

The DWP refused to answer repeated requests from both the Liberal Democrats and Disability News Service on where the savings would come from.

However, in December the DWP put out a press release about increasing face-to-face assessments. It said PIP face-to-face assessments would increase from 6% to 30% and WCAs would increase from 13% to 30%.

At first glance, it’s not clear how more work would mean savings. But this feels like a deliberate attempt to insinuate that so many people are getting benefits because it’s easier to “fake” over the phone.

Finally, some clarity — well….

Finally, this week, after more pressure from Benefits and Work, the DWP replied to their FOI:

The £1.9bn comprises the following figures shown in Table 1:

This £1.9bn figure does not include any additional assessment costs. This is because the reduced number of assessments for PIP releases resource to increase WCA reassessments and face-to-face assessments, and there is no assumed net increase in the number of health care professionals employed by DWP’s contracted providers as a result of these policies.

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Benefits and Work have estimated that a huge proportion of the savings will come from reducing admin costs.

57% of savings over the next five years (£1.12 billion) will come from extending the amount of time between PIP reassessments, from 3 years to 5. 31% (£609 million) of the savings will be from increasing WCA assessments. Some of this saving will come from the health element of Universal Credit moving to PIP, meaning, in theory, fewer assessors are needed. But it’s also probably assuming many will get the new lower rate.

8% (£164 million) of the savings will come from face-to-face PIP assessments increasing, and just 3% (£58 million) will come from more face-to-face WCA assessments.

So, despite the DWP saying otherwise, it’s actually a very small amount that will come from kicking vulnerable people off benefits.

But the WCA is supposed to be gone?

What’s even weirder here, however, is that the WCA will still be taking place at all post 2030. This is because in the Pathway’s to Work Green Paper, the DWP planned to have it abolished by 2029. This is because the paper set out that the UC health element would be moved over to PIP and claimants would need to score so many points on the daily living component.

However, this paper was also reliant on PIP cuts going through and PIP eligibility changing so that you had to score at least 4 points in one activity to get the daily living element. But then PIP had to be completely written out of the cuts after huge campaign efforts saw Labour MPs rebel. So until the Timms Review concludes, both claimants and the DWP haven’t got a fucking clue what’s happening there.

Despite this, DWP chief Pat McFadden still hasn’t definitively said the WCA won’t be abolished, just that it’ll be delayed.

The Work and Pensions Committee asked him in December if he still intended to abolish the WCA. His response was, of course, vague as fuck:

Due to its link with the PIP assessment, WCA abolition will not happen until after the Timms Review into the PIP assessment has concluded and any recommendations have been made. In the meantime, work is continuing to determine the detail of how this reformed system would work and discussions are also ongoing with the Scottish Government regarding the interactions between the devolved and reserved systems. We will outline further details on the reformed system, and the timing of WCA abolition, in due course.

DWP — just more proof that the Timms Review is a sham

As Benefits and Work point out, it could be that McFadden knows exactly what will happen with the WCA, but to say otherwise would let slip what we already know. That the Timms review and any notions of helping disabled claimants is just smoke and mirrors when they’re already working so hard to turn the public against us. At the end of the day the department give a fuck whether disabled people live or die.

Featured image via the Canary

US politician Ilhan Omar has burned Donald Trump so hard that it was felt by an ancestor in the small town of Kallstadt in Germany’s Rhineland in 1608.

Omar has often clashed with Trump. Proudly Muslim, left-wing, and Somali, the firebrand Minnesota democrat embodies everything Trump and his goons despise. She has never been cowed before The Mighty Hairpiece and today was no exception.

Omar was commenting on a new Fox interview in which Trump was once again putting the boot into Somali-Americans – including Omar specifically. The president has often singled out the group to whip up hatred in his second term.

Trump told Fox News:

Somalia has come in here — what they’ve done to our country, these people — they’ve come into our country, and what they’ve done with that fake congresswoman. She’s so bad.

Trump: “Somalia has come in here — what they’ve done to our country, these people — they’ve come into our country, and what they’ve done with that fake congresswoman. She’s so bad.” pic.twitter.com/SX5idZqV3R

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 10, 2026

Omar spotted the clip and noted:

The leader of the Pedophile Protection Party is trying to deflect attention from his name being all over the Epstein files. At least in Somalia they execute pedophiles not elect them.

The leader of the Pedophile Protection Party is trying to deflect attention from his name being all over the Epstein files.

At least in Somalia they execute pedophiles not elect them. https://t.co/xC3Ype3zXI

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 10, 2026

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Trump is under pressure over the small matter of his name cropping up literally thousands of times in the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Epstein files.

In case you’ve been cut off in a mineshaft for a few months, Trump’s long association with the dead child-rapist Jeffrey Epstein is causing him no end of bother.

He’s also been framing Somali people as some sort of enemy within, not least in Minnesota where his paramilitary goons have executed two people this year.

Ilhan’s fun day out gathering Trump together

What follows is simply series of GIFs because no words can describe how hard this went:

“At least in Somalia they execute pedophiles not elect them.” https://t.co/smDgJahPTF pic.twitter.com/yEmoPu01o2

— TTCA – The Musical (@Brosnan_in_1997) February 11, 2026

Also this one:

GET THEMMMMMM https://t.co/yjuCYAaPIU pic.twitter.com/yz1ozGLDQV

— ❄️☃️ 𝕓𝕚𝕥𝕔𝕙𝕦𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 🇵🇸☃️❄️ (@comradeyap) February 11, 2026

A personal favourite here:

https://t.co/JZFz5o5rrr pic.twitter.com/DLAUyBEItA

— ‘Ku Shiesty (@KwakuNuamah) February 11, 2026

And also this lad:

https://t.co/ayFPRfNNMO pic.twitter.com/ElXRguFCE0

— R&M Productions (@RMproductionsX) February 11, 2026

In fact, this comeback was so good it even merited the Thierry of Approval:

https://t.co/w79cQ1nd9E pic.twitter.com/fQGs4PJaNL

— the great Keithulhu (@jjgjourno) February 11, 2026

Inevitably these were mixed in with a bunch of comments by crying racist babies. There’s a good chance they also need their hard drives checking. But frankly fuck them: this day goes to Ilhan Omar, long may she own the fuck out of Trump.

For more on the Epstein files, please read our article on how the media circus around Epstein is erasing the experiences of victims and survivors.

Featured image via the Canary

The release of another tranche of documents from the Epstein Files by the US Department of Justice may have led the mainstream media in another direction, towards Jeffrey Epstein’s espionage connections. Corporate media has also failed to frame the victims and survivors as being central to his and countless others’ crimes.

However, another part of this story remains unexamined: Epstein was the linchpin in a full-on criminal enterprise that involved financial crimes as well as sexual abuse and exploitation.

This enterprise involved money laundering, art theft and fraud, currency and market manipulation, insider trading, banking and property fraud, racehorse switching and doping, on top of human trafficking and sexual slavery. And this list is by no means exhaustive.

Investigative journalist Carole Cadwalldr talks about the “broligarchy”, and she’s not wrong. Epstein counted an all-male coterie of billionaires among his circle. They were invited to lunches, dinners, and “conferences” at Epstein’s various properties around the world.

Epstein’s host of shell and “front” companies is the stuff of legend – certainly too many to list here. Thanks to his publicist Peggy Siegel, Epstein was hailed as a “financial wizard” in some quarters, but in reality, his wealth was down to two men – Victoria’s Secret owner Les Wexner, who gave Epstein his $56m New York townhouse, and Leon Black, who gave him a reported $158m.

What’s clear from the new release of files is the extent to which he sought social and financial legitimacy by courting high-net-worth individuals – and the richer, the better.

Here are the richest individuals who are central to this.

Elon Musk and Epstein

Net worth: $850bn

No. of times mentioned in the Epstein Files: 1084

Reported as the world’s richest man, Musk has previously said that Epstein had invited him to his island but he had declined.

While he has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the case, the documents released include emails showing Musk had discussed travelling there on more than one occasion – there’s a proposed 2012 trip in which he asked Epstein, “What day/night will be the wildest party on your island?”

The emails from November 2012 show Epstein asked how many people Musk would need transporting by helicopter to the island and Musk replies that it would only be himself and his then-wife, Talulah Riley.

Meanwhile, an email from Musk to Epstein on Christmas Day in 2012 shows Musk asking whether the financier had any parties planned because he needs to “let loose”.

“I’ve been working to the edge of sanity this year and so, once my kids head home after Christmas, I really want to hit the party scene in St Barts or elsewhere and let loose,” he writes, adding that a “peaceful island experience” is the opposite of what he’s looking for.

In another batch of emails from 2013, Musk and Epstein discuss a visit to the paedophile’s island, working on logistics and dates.

There is no evidence that Musk did take a trip to his island.

On X, Musk posted that he was “well aware that some email correspondence with [Epstein] could be misinterpreted and used by detractors to smear my name”.

He added: “I don’t care about that, but what I do care about is that we at least attempt to prosecute those who committed serious crimes with Epstein, especially regarding heinous exploitation of underage girls.”

Jeff Bezos

Net worth: $249bn

No. of times mentioned in the Epstein Files: 189

In 2004, literary agent John Brockman hosted a dinner at a restaurant in Monterey, California, where he hoped to introduce the scientist authors he represented to wealthy individuals. Among those invited included Google co-founder Larry Page, Jeff Bezos and Jeffrey Epstein. The annual event was known colloquially as the “billionaires’ dinner”.

Whatever passed between Bezos and Epstein at the dinner, Bezos extended an invitation to Ghislaine Maxwell to attend his exclusive Campfire Event in 2018. Maxwell would attend the event three times, on one occasion taking tech firm CEO Scott Borgerson. When Maxwell went on the run after Epstein’s arrest on child trafficking charges, it would be Borgerson’s property she would take refuge in.

Bill Gates

Net worth: $168bn

No. of times mentioned in the Epstein Files: 2512

Two emails from July 2013 drafted by Epstein suggest that Gates may have caught a sexually-transmitted disease and sought advice on how to secretly give his wife Melinda antibiotics. But it is unclear if these emails were sent. Both were sent from Epstein’s email account and back to the same account, while no email account associated with Gates is visible.

Gates visited his properties a number of times, including his island, Little St James. Epstein tried to broker a venture between Gate’s foundation and JP Morgan Chase Bank but it fizzled out. Meanwhile, Epstein inserted himself into the picture when Gates’ chief advisor Boris Nikolic was negotiating his departure with a $14m payout.

A spokesperson for the Microsoft co-founder told the BBC:

These claims – from a proven, disgruntled liar – are absolutely absurd and completely false.

They added:

The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame.

Sergey Brin

Net worth: $255bn

No. of times mentioned in the Epstein Files: 258

Epstein was in contact with at least 20 prominent tech executives and investors. Musk, Bezos and Google co-founder Brin attended a dinner during the TED conference in California in March 2011. Brin visited Epstein’s private island and emails show that the pair made plans to dine out.

He also corresponded frequently with Ghislaine Maxwell, and in the files there’s an email about meeting up with Epstein and Maxwell during a trip to New York in 2003. “Let me know what works for you and Jeffrey,” Brin writes.

Obsessed with transhumanism. Epstein was especially interested in Brin’s fiancée at the time, Anne Wojcicki, biotech entrepreneur and 23andMe co-founder. The company filed for bankruptcy last year.

Richard Branson

Net worth: $2.8bn

No. of times mentioned in the Epstein Files: 635

There are numerous pictures of the British Virgin Group founder with Epstein, including on Branson’s island, Necker (as a friend of Branson’s daughter, Holly, Kate Middleton holidayed here with her family and reportedly asked Branson for business advice). Meanwhile, in an email exchange from 2013, he appears to tell him that it was “really nice” seeing him, before adding: “Any time you’re in the area would love to see you. As long as you bring your harem!”

Virgin Group has claimed that “harem” referred to three adult members of Epstein’s team, adding:

Any contact Richard and Joan Branson had with Epstein took place on only a few occasions more than twelve years ago, and was limited to group or business settings, such as a charity tennis event.

However, the pictures paint a different story and point to a more intimate relationship between the two men. Branson was also a fan of Prince William’s charity, Wild Aid, currently under fire for accepting a $50,000 donation from him.

Epstein’s links need to be dismantled

While being mentioned in the Epstein Files is not an indication of wrongdoing, it certainly begs the question of why anyone would go to an Epstein function more than once. What were they getting in return? Was a relationship with Epstein really worth risking everything? For example, if Google co-founder Sergey Brin has used his own search engine, he would have found Epstein’s widely reported conviction for child sex offences.

The files story is one of systemic failure and draws attention to the inability of law enforcement agencies around the world to deal with criminals when they are wealthy and influential. But Epstein was no “kingpin”, merely a cog in a global wheel of male patriarchal supremacy – one that must be dismantled finally and completely.

For more on the the Epstein Files, please read our article on how the media circus around Epstein is erasing the experiences of victims and survivors here.

Featured image via the Canary