At Chatham House’s London Conference on 9 July 2026, a panel on “The new geopolitics of the Middle East” noted the failure by Trump to underestimate Iran’s resilience.

The comments were made by Professor Mohsen Milani (University of South Florida), who said his comments were not of a political persuasion but were offered as an academic. The video was published by Chatham House on their YouTube channel.

He said that American policymakers and think tankers have been wrong about Iran for 47 to 48 years, and that one of the primary reasons is that they have “underestimated the resiliency of a revolutionary government.”

Betting on Iran “regime change”

Milani said that Trump and his administration had bet on a quick collapse of the Islamic Republic through military pressure, but that this assumption was flawed.

individuals play a much bigger role in the Islamic Republic than institutions.

This is why they thought by killing the supreme leader of Iran the entire system is going to collapse. Well, we know that didn’t happen because the nature of power in Iran is diverse.

Iran’s offensive capabilities

He also said that the US and Israel had underestimated Iran’s offensive capabilities.

Finally, we underestimated Iranian offensive capability and its will to fight. I think many people in Washington were surprised when Iran directly attacked the Gulf countries, when Iran weaponized the Strait of Hormuz, and most importantly Iran basically in that war violated its long-established policy of not directly confronting America — never directly attack America. It was always through proxies and indirectly. But this time Iran attacked American bases and American assets.

History of the Strait of Hormuz

Milani noted Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz as one of the most significant developments to emerge from the conflict.

He said that while military analysts had long anticipated the possibility of Iran disrupting the strait, few believed Tehran would actually be capable of essentially closing it down. The move, he argued, represents a fundamental shift in the region’s balance of power.

Drawing on historical context, Milani traced the strait’s strategic importance over the centuries. He noted that the Portuguese first captured the waterway, before Iran, with British assistance, expelled them, paving the way for British dominance in the Persian Gulf until 1968. The Shah of Iran then assumed the role of regional enforcer, followed by a period of Pax Americana, during which the United States guaranteed the security of the Gulf’s shipping lanes.

Milani suggested that Iran now seeks to replicate its historic role as the power that expelled the Portuguese, aiming to reshape the regional order to diminish American dominance while allowing China to expand its influence in the Gulf.

He said:

I think you’re going to see Iran helping China become a much more powerful country in the Persian Gulf.

He said that Iran is “unlikely to accept the status quo” and will insist on maintaining “some degree of control” over the strait in any future arrangement. 

Qatar says “we are all losers”

While Milani described the conflict as being “in the middle of a football game” with no clear winner yet, Qatar’s chief foreign policy adviser, Majid Alansari, also on the panel, painted a more sombre picture, saying:

To comment very slightly on what Professor Milani said, yes, the US did not win this war but that doesn’t mean that the other side would not lose. We are all losers in this war.

 If you look at the region right now, who is going to benefit anything from what’s happening? Who is going to gain the most from any trajectory that this war is going to go into?

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For our countries in the GCC, the economic impact is strategic. On my country, you have in one attack 17% of our ability to produce natural gas was destroyed. We haven’t exported normally since the beginning of the war.

He pointed to the economic impact on Gulf states, noting that a single attack by Iran destroyed 17% of Qatar’s natural gas production capacity.

Alansari said Qatar would not recognise any Iranian claim to sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, stating that Iran has “no legal claim” to the waterway.

He said that granting Iran any form of control would leave the region “hostages to whatever radical element in Iran that wants to take over the strait at any time.”

However, Qatar, which has long been firmly in the US camp, said it had to diversify. Alansari stated: 

There is no alternative to our partnership with the United States… But we need to diversify. We need to take back some of our agency.

He added:

Now we need to build defense partnerships that go beyond military acquisitions, weapons acquisitions and defense pacts. There need to be joint investments in defense military industrial complexes as we have done in the region.

So seems jury is still out on who won the war.

Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

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The UK could be on the brink of a bumper summer of butterflies. A warm, dry spring has raised hopes of an abundant season ahead for some of the nation’s best-loved species.

2024 delivered the worst results in the history of Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count. And it led to the declaration of a butterfly emergency. However, a sunnier 2025 offered some encouragement. And with spring 2026 one of the warmest on record, the UK could see a kaleidoscope of colourful butterflies this year.

That’s why wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation is calling on the public to get out for its annual Big Butterfly Count. It runs from Friday 17 July – Sunday 9 August.

Anyone, anywhere can take part and help to paint a picture of how butterflies are faring by submitting their sightings to help create an interactive map.

These sightings provide important data that helps scientists understand where butterflies are thriving, struggling, or shifting due to climate change, habitat loss or restoration.

Some of the country’s most recognisable and loved species have had a better than average spring. And that has set them up for a potentially abundant summer.

The small copper and holly blue have been appearing in excellent numbers. Peacock, red admiral and sunshine-yellow brimstone have also had a promising start to the year.

This rainbow of colourful characters includes four of the top five of the recent vote to find Britain’s Favourite Butterfly, in which the peacock took the crown.

Butterflies benefitting from heatwaves

Heatwaves, warm dry spells and the occasional welcome downpour have created ideal conditions for breeding and for caterpillar growth. So this summer could see gardens and green spaces filled with fluttering wings.

Butterfly Conservation’s head of engagement, Kate Merry, said:

After the colourful spring with seemingly lots of beautiful butterflies appearing across the UK, it’s tempting to assume we’re heading for a bumper summer, and we’d love nothing more as most of our butterfly species have undergone long-term declines.

But a bright spring is only ever part of the story, which is why we need people out there taking part in the Big Butterfly Count this summer.

We genuinely don’t yet know how this year will unfold, and the only way to find out is for people to tell us what they’re seeing in their own gardens and green spaces.

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The world’s largest butterfly survey, the Big Butterfly Count, asks people to spend just 15 minutes outdoors in a sunny spot, count the butterflies and day-flying moths they see, and submit their sightings via the free app or on the website.

80% of UK butterfly species have declined over the past 50 years. This has happened due to habitat loss, pollution and climate change. So scientists need as many eyes as possible looking for butterflies this summer to see what’s happening. Every sighting counts.

The peacock, holly blue, red admiral, brimstone and small copper can all be recorded as part of Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count, along with 15 other butterflies and day-flying moths.

Merry added:

Butterflies are icons of summer and, more importantly, key indicators of the UK’s biodiversity and environmental health.

Every single person that takes part in the Big Butterfly Count and submits their sightings is helping us to see how these pollinators are doing, which in turn helps conservationists build a wider picture of how all insects are faring.

It’s easy, fun for all the family, and a great excuse to get outside and experience the simple joy of spotting butterflies. You’ll also be helping to protect butterflies for future generations, and if that doesn’t give you the feel-good factor I don’t know what will!

How to take part:

• Download the free Big Butterfly Count app or visit the website.
• Between Friday 17 July – Sunday 9 August, spend 15 minutes in any sunny outdoor space and count the number and types of butterflies and day-flying moths you see.
• You don’t need to be an expert. Use the free ID guide on the app and website to help you identify what you’ve seen.
• Log your sightings on the website or free app and help protect UK butterflies for future generations.

This summer, experience the joy of butterflies and see how many you can count. Will it be the bumper, colourful season spring has hinted at? Only time will tell…

Featured image via John Ranson

By The Canary

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Unite official Matt Smith played an extensive role in Sharon Graham’s 2021 election campaign to become the union’s general secretary. But in the current general secretary election he is calling on members to back her rival Simon Dubbins for the job.

Smith’s commitment to a Graham win was so great that he said “we will all work so hard to get Graham elected as Unite’s next general secretary”:

Smith was then promoted in 2022 to Unite’s head of Member Relations:

Changed tune

But now, after five years of Graham running Unite, Smith has changed his mind completely. Now he has published a lengthy Facebook post telling members to vote for Graham’s challenger Simon Dubbins. The reason is simple: a second Graham term will be an “utter disaster”:

Smith is straightforward in his reasoning. Having experienced five years of Graham’s rule, he believes she has increased corruption instead of fighting it. Jobs for ill-qualified allies, secrecy over Unite’s finances, failure to address blacklisting of Unite activists, even creating a fake job to silence a potential rival. And Graham’s insecurity and paranoia working against members’ interests:

I believe that another five years of Sharon as Gen Sec would be an utter disaster for our union.

She has failed to deliver on her manifesto promises, wasting five years that should have been used to turn this union around. Now we’re told she needs another five years to finish the job. Sharon faced no effective opposition preventing her from delivering her manifesto, yet she still failed.

There always seems to be an excuse as to why Sharon can’t publish our accounts, conclude an investigation into blacklisting or even disclose her own salary. She hasn’t cleaned up any reported corruption quite the opposite.

In my view, appointing people to long term acting roles, promoting some of the least capable people industrially in our movement without any member led process, creating a “ghost organiser” job, where one individual was reportedly paid for two years without actually working for Unite, while also receiving a second salary, is just as unacceptable as allowing the union to be ripped off over a hotel.

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As a leader, in my opinion, she has shown all the signs of being insecure, paranoid, and suffering from imposter syndrome from the very start of her term. Now Unite needs a serious adult as GS, backed by a principled industrial team, to get this union back on track and deliver the real change our members were promised.

Unite and Graham’s anti-union record

Matt Smith has become the latest in a string of former die-hard supporters to call on members to vote Graham out. But he could have gone far further in his criticisms.

Despite running Unite, Graham has repeatedly been accused of using appalling, anti-union tactics against workers employed by Unite, leading to several strikes. In many cases, these tactics have been seen as Unite’s attempts to protect her husband, Jack Clarke. Clarke is the target of much of the industrial unrest among Unite staff.

Soon after her accession in 2021, Graham created a new Bargaining and Disputes Support Unit (BDSU). Outside of the union’s usual procedures, Clarke was appointed to run it. The appointment was made despite Clarke being on a final warning for bullying and misogyny. As striking workers picketed against Clarke, Graham’s faction staged counter-demonstrations against them and attacked their reps.

Most recently, Graham’s plan to shut down the union’s popular ‘Community’ section has been exposed. And she has been accused of letting odious Labour right-winger Wes Streeting and his team write an attack in her name on potential next chancellor Ed Miliband, to boost Streeting’s prospects under Andy Burnham.

Unite lawyer’s explosive admission

Explosively, Unite’s lawyers admitted to Skwawkbox that the union had destroyed evidence that workers had gathered against him. This did not stop further complaints and strike action from workers in his new fiefdom, with almost all the women working under him quitting and 90% of Unite’s HQ staff backing strike action.

The challenger and the hide-and-seek

Dubbins, by contrast, has spoken out consistently against Israel’s genocide and against Unite’s disengagement from wider politics to suit Graham’s narrow ‘workplace only’ agenda. He was suspended as Unite’s international director after refusing to cancel a pro-Palestine fringe event at a Labour conference.

Graham hid from union branches and declined to debate Dubbins at any hustings event during the nominations phase, angering many, including allies, by sending weak proxies instead. Last week, Dubbins publicly challenged Graham to stop hiding and face him in an open debate in front of members.

Any of these issues could and should be decisive in a union election with a history of low turn-outs. Based on recent history, Graham’s paid organiser team will be working hard to secure support for her – but members need to hear the voices of those who used to be prominent in campaigning for her and now see her as an ongoing disaster.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

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The US, through its ambassador to the UN, has said it will “dismantle” the International Criminal Court (ICC) to protect Israel. It didn’t name Israel, but Israel was clearly the point — and, of course, protecting the US’s own mountain of war criminals. The attack came a day after warmongering US secretary of state Marco Rubio also threatened the court.

Orwellian claims

And Jeff Bartos was in full Orwellian mood, claiming the ICC is engaged in some kind of international takeover. The US has enabled Israel’s Gaza genocide and murder of Lebanese civilians as well as knowingly slaughtering over 160 schoolgirls in Iran. Laughably, Bartos claimed the US ‘condemns’ violence against civilians and that the US is “working tirelessly” to prevent it:

ICC under attack

Below is the full relevant section of his speech:

First and foremost, I must address the ICC itself, which continues to pose an intolerable threat in its attempts to assert jurisdiction over the United States or over any U.S. ally that has not consented to ICC jurisdiction.

The ICC was supposed to be a court of last resort, a narrow backstop to prosecute the gravest crimes.

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The ICC and its proponents seek a standing world tribunal with near-unlimited reach.  The ICC is constantly seeking to aggrandize its own power, falsely asserting so-called jurisdiction beyond its mandate, including over nations who never consented to its authority.  The ICC’s perverse attempts to encroach on the sovereignty of states, including some on this Council, must be defeated.

So long as this decades-old concern remains unaddressed, we will continue to take steps as needed to protect U.S. interests.

To this end, the United States has launched a full-on diplomatic campaign, working beside every ally with whom we can make common cause, to dismantle the capabilities of the ICC until it is completely incapable of threatening the United States, our people, and our interests.

We encourage all current states parties to the Rome Statute to withdraw from this power-hungry institution which has grossly exceeded its legal authority.

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To those who suggest that the disgraced ICC is the only venue to address humanitarian tragedies, they are ignoring both precedent and more reasonable options.  Nations as well as this Council established time-limited tribunals for war crimes before the ICC existed, and that option remains viable and preferable to this unaccountable and corrupt institution.

Separate from the ICC and its work on Darfur, and as Senior Advisor Boulos stated last month in the meeting of this Council, the situation in Sudan is dire.

We are witnessing some of the worst types of violence, harm to civilians, and the continued escalation of drone warfare and airstrikes that are causing significant damage to humanitarian and civilian infrastructure and hindering humanitarian assistance.

The conflict in Sudan has also seen some of the worst types of fighting and violence that humanity has experienced, with the commission of atrocities, including genocide by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and the use of chemical weapons by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

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The United States is deeply concerned by ongoing mass atrocity risks, including in and around El Obeid across the Kordofan region and elsewhere in Sudan.

We are seeing both the SAF and RSF turn to their drones supplied by external actors to perpetrate remote warfare, which does not translate to any battlefield successes, but instead just exacerbates the suffering and harm to civilians.

The United States reiterates its deep concern about external support to the parties, which only serves to prolong the conflict and therefore must cease.

As Secretary Rubio has noted, at the highest levels of our government the case is being made and pressure is being applied to relevant parties to stop the outside assistance that is facilitating the violence.

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President Trump is committed to achieving peace in Sudan.

The United States condemns the violence and killing of civilians in the strongest terms, and we call on all parties to the conflict to halt the violence and embark on a path to peace.

And the United States, alongside our allies, and importantly, exclusive of the ICC, is working tirelessly to help achieve this.

Those who do not do so must be held accountable.

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I thank you.

Like its protege Israel, the US is a rogue and terror state. 1984 was meant to be a warning, not a handbook.

By Skwawkbox

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Andy Burnham speaks after being confirmed as the Labour Party’s new leader (Alamy)

4 min read1 hr

Andy Burnham has said this is the Labour Party’s “last chance to change” in his first speech as the party’s new leader.

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At a special party conference in central London, Burnham said: “I will work to build a new politics. The country is crying out for it. We might enjoy the point scoring against others. The public don’t.”

“How can politicians point fingers when living standards are falling and politics as a whole isn’t working for them? It infuriates them and makes them switch off.”

He added: “Let’s be honest, everybody: this is a last chance to change, and we must take it together, united together.”

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After two previous attempts to become Labour leader in 2010 and then 2015, he became Labour leader unopposed after winning nominations from 369 of the party’s 403 MPs. However, he will not become Prime Minister until Monday. 

The MP for Makerfield returned to Westminster last month after a by-election victory which led to Keir Starmer’s resignation just days later.

Burnham paid tribute to Keir Starmer for transforming the party after the crushing 2019 general election and said he “put Labour back in a position to change people’s lives”.

The new Labour leader said the only way to beat the “new right” is to end factional in-fighting.

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“Fighting to eradicate it and the insidious briefing culture that goes along with it will characterise my leadership,” he promised. 

“In future, when a Burnhamite walks into a bar,” he said, joking about a well-worn Westminster gag, that they will say: “Great to see you. We don’t like factional politics here.”

Burnham promised to set an “authentically” clear direction for the party, accusing his Labour predecessors of being too much like the Conservatives.

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He said: “As your leader, I will set a direction that is distinctively Labour. We won’t try to out-Green the Greens or out-Reform Reform or doing what we’ve done in the past of wearing too many Tory clothes. Let me tell you, I’m quite happy that Kemi doesn’t approve of my wardrobe choices because I’m not keen on theirs either.

“From here we do it differently. We win by being us, boldly, confidently, authentically us. Labour. That’s how we win. I want people to understand the thinking behind the political direction I set so people can see the decisions we take and the reasons why.”

With mounting speculation about who will be in his Cabinet and who will be Chancellor, the Labour leader says he has made no decisions yet. 

“When I have you will see that it reflects all parts of our party, all communities and it will reflect your own place within this great place within this great party of ours,” he said. 

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“A stronger, more united Labour Party building up a stronger and more united Britain.”

Burnham pledged to “help places that built our party” and accused Margaret Thatcher of stripping power from Labour’s heartlands in the 1980s. 

“Change starts with honesty. We must recognise that this generation of politicians, myself included, have failed to challenge a political culture and an economic model that simply doesn’t work well enough for ordinary people.

“Four decades of the neoliberalism that begun in the 1980s have not been kind to the places that built our party, nor to the communities across the UK, nor to the communities across the UK in rural and coastal areas.”

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Burnham pledged to be a “pro-business” leader and to “re-industrialise” as he set out his vision for Britain.

“We want to give your area more power to build the council and social homes that you desperately need, more power to improve your high street, backing local businesses such as the pubs and the shops that bring them to life. 

“And make no mistake, everybody, I will be a pro-business leader of the Labour Party as I was a pro-business mayor of Greater Manchester… and as part of that more power to re-industrialise.”

Burnham has promised to be a leader for “all places” of the UK as he laid out his devolution agenda.

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“We will take power back from Westminster and Whitehall and give it to the place where you live. More power over life’s essentials so you can make them work better, and more affordable for people.”

The new Labour leader said he had made mistakes throughout his political career, but promised to give this new job “his all”.

“I haven’t got everything right, and I’m sorry for when I’ve fallen short. But I’ve always given it my all and I always will.”

He added: “I won’t change. I have a style, it’s my style, I will always stay close to the ground. Close to the people. Hopefully, still in my season ticket when the new season starts.”

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A disgusting leak has exposed the hijacking of our democratic system by Europe’s most powerful corporate lobbying group. It’s killing vital wildlife protections. Plotting behind closed doors, billionaire agricultural business interests have systematically swapped the safety of our planet, our wildlife and our communities for cash.

The war on wildlife

The European Union planned to cut pesticide use by half to try to protect vulnerable, collapsing ecosystems. But Copa-Cogeca, Europe’s most powerful farming lobby, launched a ruthless campaign to stop it in the name of corporate profits. And our vulnerable wildlife is paying the price, with pesticides shredding bee populations, poisoning the earth and wiping out birds and wildlife that need a healthy ecosystem to survive.

Crucial reporting from @zdboren.

"Newly revealed documents from inside the most powerful farming lobby in Europe show how it delayed, gutted and overturned some of the most sweeping farming reforms in EU history…"https://t.co/ZehyAsLumr

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— Jan Dutkiewicz (@jan_dutkiewicz) July 16, 2026

Yet this vicious lobby fought tooth and nail to protect these toxic, bee-killing chemicals, including glyphosate. Leaked documents capture the dark lobbying to protect glyphosate, which the World Health Organisation has classified as probably carcinogenic.

They chose to put their bank accounts first and as a result, have launched a campaign to shield industrial-scale animal cruelty, including vile practices such as foie gras and the fur markets.

The backroom heist of politics

This was not a democratic debate. This was a calculated political hijacking, and its aim was to run down the clock. Internal documents show this lobbying group used delay tactics with massive political pressure to force the European Commission to drop its green objectives.

In September 2022, internal memos suggested slowing the vital pesticide legislation until the 2024 European Parliament elections. Another two-year death sentence for our environment. The lobby group knew that as the elections neared, politicians were likely to drop the green rules to grab rural votes.

Copa-Cogeca was successful in delaying the process by demanding ridiculous impact assessments. This vile stalling tactic worked perfectly. The EU fully withdrew these crucial pesticide regulations in February 2024, and it has left wildlife at their mercy. Thomas Waitz, Green MEP from Austria sits on the Agricultural Committee said:

“Copa-Cogeca focused on sabotaging, delaying, and ultimately killing the sustainable use of pesticides regulation. They are acting in the interest of large agrichemical multinationals and against the wellbeing of small and medium farmers.”

Corporate profits over health

This corporate sabotage didn’t stop at poisonous pesticides. Copa-Cogeca ruthlessly targeted rules that were designed to oversee polluting and industrial factory farms. They specifically prioritised corporate profits over our human health and animal welfare. A major EU target to cut pesticides in half to protect biodiversity was ripped to shreds by this vile corporate giant.

This disgusting entity managed to raise the threshold for what counts as industrial farming by a whopping 50%. This corporate manipulation was hidden from the public. And politicians hadn’t even seen the proposed rules before they were decimated. Copa-Cogeca then coordinated with EU commissioners to attack and weaken health criteria.

This backroom deal has a massive human cost. It robs the public of €1.8bn in lost health benefits annually, all because of pollution. And even worse? The final laws excluded cattle farms ENTIRELY, and weakened the rules for pigs. Pigs have the same level of intelligence as a human toddler. And they have sentenced millions of them to horrific conditions in unregulated industrial farms. To live out their lives in tiny, filthy cages, waiting to die.

A hit list of wildlife

Tragedies are already unfolding in our forests and fields because of these lobbying efforts. Somehow, in all of this, wolves in the EU have now lost their strictly protected status. All because of the relentless lobbying of these corporate entities.

Copa-Cogeca spent years trying to strip the wolf of its protections. In June 2025, the EU amended its habitat directives to allow wolves to be slaughtered. The company celebrated this as a “major lobbying victory”.

Disgusting cruelty to wolves in Spain as EU lifts protection on this endangered species across the Continent pic.twitter.com/9rqvbFm7YI

— dominic dyer (@domdyer70) January 19, 2025

And even worse? They’re already planning their next massacre. Secretive files show the lobbying group is creating a new hit list of which species to target next. And when does this list stop? Because the pockets of these companies are endlessly deep, and it won’t cease until they’re full. They will not stop until they have wiped out everything in the name of profit.

We need to ask ourselves how long are we going to let these insatiable corporate dogs poison our planet? If we don’t stop these dodgy lobbyists and their backdoor tactics, there will be no more wildlife to protect.

Featured image via the Canary

By Antifabot

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It’s no secret that maternity care in England is in real crisis. A recent 174-page report reiterated what many – families, midwives, legal experts – have known for years: too many women and their babies are frequently experiencing harm.

Baroness Valerie Amos, chair of the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation which published the report, called for an immediate overhaul of the maternity system as “it is not fit for the now, and it is not fit for the future”.

Issues repeatedly flagged during the investigation included women and families not being listened to; racism and discrimination; and services not being set up to support women’s choices.

In the very worst cases, women and babies died, while many others have been left with long-lasting injuries and trauma.

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As conversations around the broken maternity system continue to swirl, Zara Ishfaq is sharing her story to try and raise awareness of birth injuries, particularly among women of South Asian heritage.

Previous research from birth injury charity The MASIC Foundation found that around one in 20 first-time mums suffer an obstetric anal sphincter injury (OASI) – or severe tearing – during childbirth.

However, studies have also found women of Asian heritage are up to nine times more likely to suffer an OASI during vaginal birth than white women.

Zara was left with a devastating birth injury which remained undiagnosed for two years. She’s been left with ongoing bowel complications as a result, including needing to have a stoma fitted in 2025.

She’s, sadly, not alone in her plight. New NHS figures shared by The Guardian show the rate of women experiencing the most serious type of tear during childbirth is at the highest since monitoring began in 2020.

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Zara suffered a life-changing birth injury after a three-day labour in December 2021 which resulted in her baby’s head becoming stuck. In the end, baby Aariz – her first baby – was delivered by forceps weighing 7.7 pounds. (Use of forceps has been linked to higher rates of anal sphincter injuries in birthing parents.)

The mum, from London, suffered a serious post-delivery bleed, losing around two litres of blood. She also experienced a perineal tear – a common issue for vaginal births. Roughly nine in 10 first-time mothers who give birth vaginally will have some sort of tear, graze or episiotomy, according to the NHS.

For most women, these tears are minor (usually called a “first-degree tear”) and heal quickly. A second-degree tear will typically require stitches, while a third- and fourth-degree tear may be deeper and therefore impact the anal sphincter muscle.

These injuries are known as OASI and typically need repair surgery. It can trigger bowel incontinence, which – in new mothers – can impact many aspects of life, from sex and work to socialising and bonding with their baby.

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Zara’s tear was underestimated, and despite complaining of symptoms and attending medical appointments it took more than two years before she received a proper diagnosis, during which time her complications worsened.

“Over time my symptoms became worse and had a greater effect on my life and also my ability to bond with my baby,” she said.

“While my friends were meeting in the park and attending baby groups, I was barely able to leave the house. I struggled on, but the situation was dire.”

She began to experience changing bowel habits and by the following June, was going to the toilet more frequently and leaking, but was sent home with advice to do pelvic floor exercises.

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In December that year, she complained of continuing symptoms and needing to wear an incontinence pad.

But it wasn’t until May 2024 that she finally received confirmation that the severity of the perineal tear she sustained at birth had been underestimated, and she would require an operation to try and repair the damage.

A year later she underwent surgery, but was left with ongoing bowel complications.

Zara has since had another baby, Elayna, but sadly the pregnancy wasn’t straightforward. “My second pregnancy was affected because of my symptoms,” she explained.

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“I suffered with hyperemesis [gravidarum] – serious sickness. Because of my injuries it was coming out of both ends. I suffered with infections and at one point developed sepsis.”

She continued: “I feel so blessed and lucky to have my children and they’re adorable. However, that I had to go through the experience I did will always upset me.

“It’s not just the physical injuries that affect you, it’s the psychological toll of having a reduced quality of life. Too many women are suffering unnecessarily and more needs to be done to improve maternity care, but also break the taboo around birth injuries to mums.”

The parent is due to share her story at legal firm Irwin Mitchell’s South Asian Maternal Health Conference next spring, which focuses on tackling maternal health inequalities.

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“The solution starts with listening to women,” she ended. “If birth injuries are recognised earlier, treated sooner, and taken seriously, fewer women will have to live for years with preventable suffering.”

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