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Exercises That Help WIth Depression Symptoms Revealed

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Exercises That Help WIth Depression Symptoms Revealed

According to the leading mental health charity Mind, 1 in 5 people report experiencing a common mental health problem (like anxiety and depression) in any given week in England.

Additionally, the overall number of people reporting mental health problems has been rising in recent years. The number of people with common mental health problems went up by 45% between 1993 and 2023/24, in both men and women and suicide risk is at its highest for people in their 50′s.

Now, a new review by psycholologists from James Cook University has revealed that some exercises can be beneficial in tackling common mental health issues and the symptoms that come with them.

Exercises that help with anxiety and depression

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Writing for The Conversation, the researchers said: “Exercise is effective at reducing both depression and anxiety. But there is some nuance. We found exercising had a high impact on depression symptoms, and a medium impact on anxiety, compared to staying inactive.

“The benefits were comparable to, and in some cases better than, more widely prescribed mental health treatments, including therapy and antidepressants. Importantly, we discovered who exercise helped most. Two groups showed the most improvement: adults aged 18 to 30 and women who had recently given birth.”

The researchers urge that all forms of exercise reduce symptoms but the most beneficial exercises for both anxiety and depression were aerobic exercises such as running, cycling or swimming.

“For depression, there were greater improvements when people exercised with others and were guided by a professional, such as a group fitness class.”

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If exercise isn’t usually your kind of thing, the researchers assure that exercising once or twice a week had a similar effect on depression as exercising more frequently. And there didn’t seem to be a significant difference between exercising vigorously or at a low intensity – all were beneficial.

They add: “For people who are hesitant about medication, or facing long waits for therapy, supervised group exercise may be an effective alternative. It’s evidence-based, and you can start any time.”

Help and support:

  • Mind, open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393.
  • Samaritans offers a listening service which is open 24 hours a day, on 116 123 (UK and ROI – this number is FREE to call and will not appear on your phone bill).
  • CALM (the Campaign Against Living Miserably) offer a helpline open 5pm-midnight, 365 days a year, on 0800 58 58 58, and a webchat service.
  • The Mix is a free support service for people under 25. Call 0808 808 4994 or email help@themix.org.uk
  • Rethink Mental Illness offers practical help through its advice line which can be reached on 0808 801 0525 (Monday to Friday 10am-4pm). More info can be found on rethink.org.

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Zahawi terrified by tired London man

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14 February 2026

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Zahawi terrified by tired London man

In recent years, many right wingers have centred their politics around pretending that London is some sort of post-apocalyptic hellscape. Politicians like Tory-defector, the tax-dodging Zahawi have echoed these narratives. This plays well with people outside of London; it plays less well with the people who’ve been there.

Although it’s obviously disgusting to see a liar pretending to be a coward, you do have to admire the effort these right wingers go to. Or the effort they usually go to, anyway. There was no such effort in this claim from Reform’s Nadhim Zahawi:

Tired rhetoric

First things first, London is relatively safe — especially in the historical sense:

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Of course, this doesn’t mean it’s safe enough for the snowflakes who would rather everything was covered in safety foam.

As reported by LBC:

“An individual walked past me. I literally walked off the pavement into the middle of the road, kept a very close eye at 8am, right, to see whether…”

Nick asked whether the man appeared to be drunk or aggressive.

Mr Zahawi replied: “He just looked at, you know, like, you know, he hadn’t slept for, you know, a week and just looked like somebody that might be violent.

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“I don’t know. But I just walked away from the pavement, and I’m a big guy, and I don’t feel safe that my 13-year-old can walk in London. That can’t be right.”

Out of all the traits that a person might find dangerous, ‘tiredness’ isn’t usually one of them.

Realistically, an incredibly tired person is going to be less dangerous than the alternative. It’s the well-rested ones you need to watch out for; those people have energy to spare, and their braincells are firing like popping candy.

As a result of his sickening shitbaggery, people have been rightfully mocking Zahawi:

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Don’t fear the sleeper

If you thought being terrified of tired people was bad, it gets worse; Zahawi also fears the asleep:

Be safe out there, people; some of these cockney psychos are operating on less than 8 hours a night.

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Featured image via the Canary

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Tommy Robinson accused of telling porkies, claims ISIS is after him

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14 February 2026

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Tommy Robinson accused of telling porkies, claims ISIS is after him

ISIS — remember them? Tommy Robinson certainly does, because he’s on the run from them apparently:

It looks like Robinson has put the ‘dick’ in ‘predicament’.

On the run

Tommy Robinson announced he was fleeing from ISIS in a video he voluntarily uploaded:

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We don’t know why we’re giving him advice, but Tommy Robinson — if you’re on the run from international death squads — don’t publish a video from the airport you’re flying out of (have you thought this one through mate?)

In Tommy Robinson’s own words, he is:

A PRIORITY TARGET FOR ISIS!!!

We dunno, Tommy Robinson; it seems like they’ve got bigger things to worry about since they lost the caliphate.

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We’re pretty sure we talk about Robinson more than ISIS does, and we wouldn’t even say he’s one of our priority targets.

Given the situation, many people are making the same point about Robinson’s predicament:

Others think Tommy is grifting his supporters (something he gets accused of quite a lot):

Many are asking how Robinson could leave his family:

There is a simple explanation to all this, and it’s that his family already left him:

The Israel connection

People have accused Tommy Robinson of telling porkies on the grounds that:

Reporting on Israel’s recent links with ISIS, Ed Sykes wrote for the Canary:

A week ago, MintPress News reported that Israel had been supporting extremist criminal militias in Gaza, with links to Daesh (Isis), as they looted humanitarian aid. And now, Israeli politicians – including war criminal prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself – are essentially confirming that.

On Robinson’s links to Israel, we covered his notorious humiliation tour of Israel which took place in October 2025. This saw many of his would-be compatriots on the far right raging about Robinson’s behaviour. Those gunning for little Tommy included the chinless remigration enthusiast Steve Laws:

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All the best to Tommy Robinson, anyway, in his battle to stop doxing himself.

Featured image via the Canary

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What Does ‘Lowkenuinely’ Mean When Kids Say It?

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14 February 2026

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What Does 'Lowkenuinely' Mean When Kids Say It?

If there’s one thing we know about Gen Alpha, it’s that they low-key delight in coining a new word (or five) and the odd nonsensical phrase.

Take six-seven for example. It became a global phenomenon in 2025 thanks to social media, but it didn’t ever really mean anything. Or, at least, nobody could agree on a meaning.

Some said it meant “so-so” (as kids used it with an up-and-down hand motion), others thought it meant a tall person, or a basketball term.

In the end it just became a response that kids made at every opportunity – especially if someone (a teacher, parent, classmate) happened to mention those two numbers in a different context.

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A teacher could say “turn to page 67 in your books”, for example, and the classroom would erupt into “six-sevennnnnn”.

This disruption ultimately led to the phrase being banned in some classrooms.

Thankfully the bizarre phrase seems to have fizzled out, but teachers and parents are noticing that “lowkenuinely” has entered the chat instead.

What does lowkenuinely mean?

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Lowkenuinely is a combination of ‘lowkey’ and ‘genuinely’, which describes expressing something sincere in a casual, laid-back way, according to experts at language platform Preply.

Essentially, it is a TikTok-era way of saying something is real or heartfelt. So, an example might be: “I lowkenuinely love this song” or “I’m lowkenuinely not going to make it through this exam”.

Kids of the internet clearly love a portmanteau (that is, blending two words together to create a new one).

Choppelganger is another recent creation hot off their keyboards, combining ‘chopped’, typically used by teens to describe someone as ugly; and ‘doppelganger’, which is a person who resembles someone else.

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A choppelganger, then, is an uglier version of a doppelganger. One parent noted their kids had referred to them as “Uncle Fester’s Choppelganger”. Harsh.

There’s also been chat, clock it and glazing, as well as aura farming and crash out. Honestly, they’ve been busy.

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Green MP confronts Reform UK myths on immigration

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14 February 2026

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Green MP confronts Reform UK myths on immigration

Green MP Ellie Chowns challenged the thrust of Reform’s entire game on BBC Question Time.

“It’s inequality”

Chowns took apart the notion that immigration is to blame for the UK’s woes:

Reform UK, before it was the Brexit Party, before when it was UKIP, has been busy for many years fermenting this idea that immigration is the problem in this country. It’s completely untrue. Inequality is the problem in this country. The housing problems are…  because we have had 40 years of governments not investing in housing. The health problems… are because we’ve had governments… failing to invest in our public services, presiding over decline. It’s inequality.

Indeed, Oxfam found in 2023 that 1% of Britons have more wealth than 70% of the country.

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It’s not foreign born people who are the issue — it’s the super rich migrating their finances to avoid tax and Labour — doing nothing to fix the issue. Tax doesn’t fund public spending but it can help control inflation through reducing the amount of pounds available.

Meanwhile, net zero immigration would actually contract the UK economy by 3.6%. Chowns’ is not wrong to diagnose inequality as the core issue — one compounded by the economic disparity such a contraction would cause. People cannot afford to have children, driving dependence on imported workers.

Another reason inequality is the core issue is that it literally caused the 2008 financial crash. That’s because people didn’t have enough money to keep up with inflated house prices. So banks gave them excessive credit — known as sub-prime mortgages — and house prices relative to income have  worsened since. No wonder Chowns received such applause on BBC Question Time.

High inequality: low demand

We must also remember that inequality depresses demand for products and services. People currently living in poverty would spend more if they had the security of home ownership, while excess wealth at the top stagnates or inflates the value of assets.

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£1 million sitting in a bank account would be spent by hundreds of less well off people, but if just one person has it no economic growth happens. It doesn’t necessarily mean everything should be entirely economically equal, but the level of disparity today is simply ridiculous. On top of that, immigration adds further demand for products and services, expanding the economy.

Reform’s whole mantra is completely wrong — economically and morally. Chowns got right to the heart of it on BBC Question Time and the audience thanked her for it.

Featured image via the Canary

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Epstein victims claim DoJ un-redacted their names to intimidate them

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14 February 2026

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Epstein victims claim DoJ un-redacted their names to intimidate them

In an interview with NBC, victims of Jeffrey Epstein have accused attorney general Pam Bondi of foul play:

“Intentional”

Ed Krassenstein wrote above:

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BREAKING: Multiple Epstein victims tell NBC News that Pam Bondi intentionally un-redacted their names and other victims’ names as a way to threaten them into silence!

“I think we all realize now that [the DOJ] really wanted to silence us, and [they] thought that [they] could scare us by putting our names out there.”

“It had a list of victims, and one was redacted. That makes no sense. This is a list of victims. That is INTENTIONAL!”

This is an impeachable offense. Pam Bondi needs to be impeached immediately!

The women speaking in the video are the same group who stood behind Pam Bondi when she spoke before the Justice Department Oversight committee. The reason the women are raising their hands in the below image is because they were asked to indicate which of them have been ignored by Bondi’s Department of Justice (DoJ):

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Failed by the DOJ

Regarding coverage of victims, Maddison Wheeldon wrote for the Canary:

According to BBC News, on Friday 30th January two lawyers for Epstein’s victims insisted that a New York federal judge order the DOJ to remove the website holding the files. They stated that the negligent release was:

“the single most egregious violation of victim privacy in one day in United States history”.

At the Canary, we agree wholeheartedly.

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This US-led failure to redact identifying images and names of victims has made the complete removal of such content the only viable response. Once again, women around the world are left feeling exposed and vulnerable, while so-called efforts to ‘protect women’ operate instead to shied powerful perpetrators of abuse. Yet again, a manipulative and abusive system has retraumatised the very women it was ostensibly meant to serve.

For more on the Epstein Files, please read:

Featured image via the Canary

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Zarah Sultana slams Lib Dem duplicity on Palestine

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14 February 2026

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Zarah Sultana slams Lib Dem duplicity on Palestine

On 13 February, the High Court ruled that the proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist group was “disproportionate”. Since then, various politicians including Zarah Sultana have come forwards to voice their support for the ruling. The problem is that many of them didn’t speak up when it counted:

Suppression

Reporting on the ruling, Maddison Wheeldon wrote for the Canary:

The government’s choice to proscribe Palestine Action has been met by widespread public condemnation both at home and abroad. It has been viewed as an attempt to shut down solidarity that British people have shown with Palestinians through their legal right to protest.

Israel’s ongoing, horrific genocide against Palestine has been met with absolute impunity by Western leaders, resulting in mass protest and civil disobedience across the UK since October 2023. This proscription of direct-action group Palestine Action in the UK has widely been declared as an authoritarian and draconian overreach into the hard-fought civil liberties of British citizens.

Today’s ruling marks a positive step in the right direction.

In the video above, Davey says:

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This High Court judgment shows prescribing Palestine action was a grave misuse of terrorism laws. Labour must accept its mistake, drop its appeal and stop wasting taxpayers’ money and suppressing civil liberties. Degrading counter-terror powers is a genuine threat to national security.

Davey isn’t wrong in what he’s saying. The problem is he’s showing he isn’t a leader — he’s a follower. And others have noticed too:

As Richard Burgon noted, only 22 MPs voted against the government:

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Labour MP Karl Turner at least had the decency to admit that he “bottled it”. Just like with Davey, though, this will come across to many as a face saving exercise:

Turner also said that Starmer’s government pushed the ban on the basis that they ‘knew more’ than they could let on (something the court case has ultimately disproven):

Draconianism

As we’ve reported, Starmer’s government have been a nightmare when it comes to civil liberties. At this point, it’s clear that Labour will kick the PM out before too long. Let’s hope Starmer’s successor learns from his constant failures.

Featured image via Parliament / Leicester Gazette (Flickr)

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BBC removes Arabic service head, bowing to Israel lobby

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14 February 2026

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BBC removes Arabic service head, bowing to Israel lobby

The BBC is looking for a new head of its Arabic-language service to please Israel lobbyists. Mouthpieces for the occupation had complained it was too quick to blame Israel for its actions. The move is intended to force BBC Arabic to use the same dishonest framing as its English-language services.

The manufactured furore began in November 2025. Pro-Israel pressure groups complained that the BBC Arabic coverage of its ‘war’ in Gaza was “critically different” from English coverage. This meant that it was – this is not satire — “painting Israel as the aggressor” in Gaza.

BBC and the mirage of impartiality

Yes, genocidal Israel has murdered hundreds of thousands of civilians in Gaza along with hundreds of journalists and their families. It uses weapons that are illegal under humanitarian law on families in tents. But saying Israel is the aggressor is beyond the pale to the BBC. There was also criticism of BBC Arabic’s guests, because two of them had supported violence against Israelis.

Commenting on the BBC Arabic reshuffle, the Arabic-speaking Israeli ‘journalist’ Edy Cohen, welcomed the move:

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https://x.com/EdyCohen/status/2019788772385177737

In this world, the equation is simple: When Israel uses force and employs force – the Arab world and terrorist groups are afraid. When Israel hesitates and takes policy actions like containment or non-escalation, it’s perceived as weak, and invites further blows from terror organizations.

This was not an aberration for Cohen. He is so notorious for smears and ‘hasbara’ on behalf of Israel that he was the subject of an report titled:

Hashtags and hoaxes: How Edy Cohen engineers the Israeli disinformation machine on Twitter.

Stoking the fire

The report was published in August 2023, before Israel’s Gaza genocide began, so he didn’t just start after 7 October. It notes that:

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Cohen deliberately – and strategically – tarnishes the reputation of Palestinians, Palestinian political factions, and the Palestinian resistance, specifically targeting them to discredit their stance.

It also points out that among Cohen’s most prominent hashtags are “#GloryToIsrael” and “#PalestineIsNotMyCause”.

According to the report, Cohen is helped in the circulation of his fake videos and inflammatory comment by a network of:

accounts bearing Arabic names that exclusively champion Israel and tout the “benefits” of normalization. He shares the posts from these accounts that, in turn, retweet his own posts.

Even though some of these tweets are attributed to real Arab figures who openly endorse normalization, many of them appear to be fake accounts, seemingly created with the specific intent to persuade Arab followers to embrace the concept of normalization.

It appears that Cohen is either formally a part of Israel’s ‘hasbara’ propaganda network, or functionally indistinguishable from those who are. The Misbar report concludes it’s the former:

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In sum, Misbar’s comprehensive analysis concludes the Edy Cohen account is one of the many Israeli accounts present in the Arabic online sphere that systematically target Arab audiences, skillfully glossing over and whitewashing Israel’s image for them while concurrently distorting and casting a shadow over Palestinians. This calculated effort also appears designed to sow division within Arab nations and communities whenever the opportunity arises.

Cohen and others like him continue to lecture on ‘impartiality and editorial accuracy’ in BBC Arabic coverage — accusing them of ‘wrongly painting Israel as the aggressor’ in Gaza. Meanwhile, no mainstream UK media outlets will dare challenge this —  amplifying the Israel lobby’s narrative instead.

Featured image via Barold/the Canary

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Rupert Lowe forms breakaway party, woos Tory fans

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14 February 2026

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Rupert Lowe forms breakaway party, woos Tory fans

One of the biggest criticisms of Reform is that it’s just a rebrand of the Tory Party. Now, ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe has created his own spinoff party, and it’s shaping up to be…a rebrand of a rebrand:

And as Lowe himself has said, he’s open to attracting talent from the Tories, Reform, Advance — basically any reactionary party you can think of. Furthermore, Rupert Lowe seems intent on expanding his political circle.

Rupert Lowe: From Reform to Restore

The timeline of Lowe leaving Reform is messy. The TLDR is:

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  • Lowe began criticising Farage (seemingly in coordination with Elon Musk).
  • Farage suggested Lowe wouldn’t be anywhere near office without Nigel’s cult of personality (a.k.a. Reform).
  • Reform suspended Lowe and reported him to the police for ‘verbal threats’ and “serious bullying” of female staffers.
  • Lowe described the accusations as “vexatious”.
  • Several months of back and forth ensued.

With someone like Lowe, it’s better to have them on the inside pissing out than on the outside pissing in. Now, Farage is going to learn why that saying exists.

Lowe announced his new party in a SEVEN MINUTE LONG video on Twitter/X:

We’re not watching all that, but we’re glad for him, or sorry that happened.

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Remember when Twitter used to be about brevity? This is how long the average Rupert Lowe tweet is now:

By the way, we can’t ignore the fact that Lowe’s ‘Reform’ rival is going to be called ‘Restore’.

Does he not understand his main weakness is going to be voters literally just getting the names mixed up?

Some of what Lowe says in the announcement video is worth being aware of – particularly this section:

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I’m now going to dedicate my life to finding, organising, funding and providing hundreds of qualified candidates to present to the British people at the next general election. This process has already started. with invitations being issued to patriots in aligned political parties: Reform, the Conservatives, the SDP, Advance, and more.

In local politics, we will work in partnership with localised political parties such as Great Yarmouth First that have the best interests of their residents at heart, combining our forces at the next general election.

The men and women standing for Restore in that election will not be politicians. I promise you that.

They will not be failed ministers.

They will not be tainted by failures of the past.

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They will be from business, from the military, from science, from medicine, from education, from industry, representing real communities up and down the country. Every single one will be from well outside the existing political establishment and every single one will understand the difficult decisions that need to be taken.

While we can’t say who Restore will run for office, we can say the party is already attracting the dregs of British politics.

Rejects

Firstly, we should note it’s not just British dregs; the South Yank-frican billionaire Elon Musk is also behind the project:

If you spend any time on Musk’s platform, you’ll know Lowe gets boosted six ways from Sunday on there. This, of course, is because Nigel Farage is not extreme enough for Musk, so instead he supports Lowe, Tommy Robinson, and Advance UK:

Notoriously, Lowe defended Musk after his site started generating deepfake imagery (what you might call ‘revenge pornography’):

Said deepfakes included Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). And Musk spat his dummy out when governments of the world demanded that he turn off the paedophile taps. We thought they should have arrested him, but apparently if you’re the world’s richest man, you can facilitate the creation of CSAM without getting in trouble.

Another one supporting Lowe’s new party is the human migraine Katie Hopkins:

The less said about Hopkins the better, but she’s definitely someone who’s ‘tainted by the failures of the past‘. We’d say Lowe probably has the sense not to run her as a candidate, but he supported Musk despite all of the above, so who knows?

Carl Benjamin — a.k.a. ‘Sargon of Akkad’ — has also joined Restore.

Benjamin got in trouble in 2019 because he couldn’t stop ‘joking’ about raping Jess Phillips. Here’s a picture of the guy covered in milkshake from the time he ran as a UKIP candidate:

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A serious force?

Lowe’s supporters are claiming the party is off to a flying start. Nevertheless, Rupert Lowe has plenty of critics as well.

While this isn’t hard confirmation, previous polling has shown there’s a potential voter base for Lowe — especially in his own constituency:

While it’s tempting to think Restore will split the Reform vote, there is another possibility. The spurned Lowe could use Restore as a weapon to damage Reform’s electability, and he could then use that to force Farage out and take control of both parties. This wouldn’t surprise us, as Lowe has already merged with Advance UK — a party formed by Ben Habib — i.e. another of the politicians Farage kicked out of Reform:

Reform and Restore could also just enter into an electoral alliance. This shouldn’t be difficult, of course, because they already have the exact same name.

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Inside Israel’s army of dual-nationals

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14 February 2026

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Inside Israel’s army of dual-nationals

Data published by the Israeli army shows that 50,632 servicemen fighting in the ranks of the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) hold two or more nationalities (listed below).The data does not indicate how many were reservists versus active-duty soldiers — fighting for Israel.

As reported by the Canary’s Joe Glenton, the data was obtained by Declassified UK obtained through a Freedom of Information request.

Americans rank first (12,135), French second (6,100), and Russians third (5,000). Nationals from Germany, Ukraine, Britain, Romania, Poland, Canada, and Latin America also feature on the list. Of these, 4,440 soldiers hold two foreign nationalities, while 162 hold three or more — serving in military operations in Gaza, waged by Israel.

Less expected are Arab nationals from Yemen, Tunisia, Lebanon, Syria, and Algeria, who appear in the data — albeit in noticeably smaller numbers.

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  1. United States: 12,135 soldiers
  2. France: 6,127 soldiers
  3. Russia: 5,067 soldiers
  4. Germany: 3,901 soldiers
  5. Ukraine: 3,210 soldiers
  6. Britain: 1,686 soldiers
  7. Romania: 1,675 soldiers
  8. Poland: 1,668 soldiers
  9. Ethiopia: 1,387 soldiers
  10. Canada: 1,185 soldiers
  11. Hungary: 885 soldiers
  12. Italy: 828 soldiers
  13. Argentina: 609 soldiers
  14. Netherlands: 559 soldiers
  15. Brazil: 505 soldiers
  16. Australia: 502 soldiers
  17. South Africa: 415 soldiers
  18. Belgium: 406 soldiers
  19. Austria: 390 soldiers
  20. Switzerland: 373 soldiers
  21. Spain: 372 soldiers
  22. Czech Republic: 309 soldiers

Conflicting jurisdictional obligations

The presence of dual-national IDF servicemen has raised questions about their legal obligations — in other words, when serving in Israel, whose laws are they answerable to.

These concerns have also culminated in criminal investigations into the conduct of soldiers deployed in Gaza since 2023.

In the UK, human rights groups collaborating with the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights submitted a report to the Metropolitan Police war crimes unit. Their findings highlight the participation of British nationals in Gaza and their possible involvement in suspected war crimes.

In June 2025, Canadian authorities, responding to complaints, launched preliminary investigations into Canadian nationals serving in the IDF suspected of war crimes.

Meanwhile, Belgium is investigating a Belgian soldier fighting for an elite IDF unit deployed in Gaza. That said, Belgium imposes no restrictions on dual nationals serving in foreign militaries.

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Suspected Gaza war crimes

International organisations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have long called for independent investigations to ensure that dual citizens are acting in compliance with international humanitarian law. A recent investigation by Al Jazeera Arabic found that six Israeli snipers hold dual nationalities and were implicated in attacks targeting civilians in Gaza.

According to local estimates, the war in Gaza, now in its third year, has resulted in more than 72,000 deaths and approximately 171,000 injuries. In addition, there has been widespread destruction of infrastructure, with humanitarian and legal repercussions extending far beyond the battlefield.

Featured image via the Canary

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How Brick Helped Me Stop Wasting Time On Social Media

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6 hours ago

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14 February 2026

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I stuck my Brick device on my fridge. Needing to walk 10 steps from my couch to unlock Instagram has curbed my scrolling habits.

When this year started, I knew I had to make drastic changes… because my phone had taken over my life.

Screen time had skyrocketed. Humour circled around TikTok reactions. I found myself scrolling through waves of news horrors and memes before I was fully awake each day.

Enter the Brick, which has emerged as the go-to app for people looking to reset their relationships with their phones.

“Bricking” your phone has now become a verb for people to share the news that they are logging off and to tell others. I actually learned about “bricking” and “unbricking” myself through the loud declarations of other writers and influencers.

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I was skeptical at first about whether an app blocker that costs over $50 could be worth it. But I had tried free ways of deleting social media apps and blocking them from my phone through features like Apple’s Screen Time or Android Digital Wellbeing, and they hadn’t worked because they are easy to bypass.

However, the Brick is a little square device that pairs with an app you download on your phone through a QR code. Once you connect your phone to your Brick, you can select which apps you need to block and for which hours of the day.

Then, the real test begins. You tap the physical Brick device with your phone to activate its app-blocking features – you need to touch the Brick again if you want to regain access to your blocked apps.

I was struck by how hard it was to leave the house for a whole day with a bricked phone. I even delayed using it at first because of this anxiety, which only strengthened my resolve that I probably needed to go through with this experiment.

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So, after a day of too much scrolling, I put myself to the test and put my Brick on my fridge. Now, I would have to get up from the couch or get back home from work if I wanted to access that tantalising Reddit post.

I am happy to report that after more than a month of use, my brain feels different. I expected the strict enforcement of a Brick to change me – but even I was surprised by how much it did.

What you should know before you try a Brick

I stuck my Brick device on my fridge. Needing to walk 10 steps from my couch to unlock Instagram has curbed my scrolling habits.
I stuck my Brick device on my fridge. Needing to walk 10 steps from my couch to unlock Instagram has curbed my scrolling habits.

The Brick, available for iOS and Android, lets you set modes for “deep work” and “family time” hours, so bricking automatically happens during the natural rhythm of your day. It also keeps a running tally of how many hours you have been bricked each day, and on average, presumably to encourage you to stay strong and go a little longer without unbricking.

If you forget to use the Brick on your phone in your rush out the door, you can also Brick your device by pressing the Brick icon on the app’s homepage from where you are, but you will still need to go back to where your actual Brick is to unlock what you want to unlock.

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What I loved about it

The first week I used it, I was surprised and embarrassed by how often my fingers would automatically tap the social media apps my Brick blocked me from accessing. My Brick bouncer would gently scold me whenever I tried to instinctively check Instagram or TikTok.

The app gives you five “emergency” unbricking workarounds if you really need to access an app you have blocked and you’re not near your Brick device, but I have yet to use one. Needing to use “emergency” unbricking to make an Instagram story about the Galentine’s party I attended really put into perspective what exactly I was doing with my one precious life.

The Brick challenged my belief that real-time social media feedback was necessary to stay connected with my friends or to be good at my job. In my opinion, this forced reflection is the Brick’s best benefit. I’ve missed a few direct messages from my friends, I’m not seeing as many funny TikTok memes anymore, and I’m out of the loop on some social media trends, but I feel more in control of what I am consuming. At the very least, I am paying more attention to how I spend my time on my phone.

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What I think could be better — and why I’m sticking with my Brick

The Brick costs around $59 for one device. Though I find this little plastic box to be prohibitively expensive for what it is, I like that more than one person can use the same Brick, so you could theoretically get your roommate or partner to split the costs, too. I also like that once you buy it, you don’t need to pay a subscription fee to keep using it, unlike many other apps.

However, bricking yourself is not going to transform you completely.

Catherine Pearlman, a licensed clinical social worker and author of First Phone: A Child’s Guide to Digital Responsibility, Safety, and Etiquette, said the Brick is “a wonderful device,” but can’t be a long-term solution to endless social media scrolling on its own.

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“Once you’re home [where your Brick is], the impulse still exists,” she told me. “So it doesn’t actually teach you how to work through that impulse to say…‘How do I really want to spend my time? How do I work through this emotion that I’m trying to avoid by scrolling?’”

Answering those questions is a bigger journey only you can answer. For Pearlman, it meant finding other ways to use her screen-free time.

“I knew I wasn’t going to stop using my phone, but I wanted to have an alternative,” she said as an example. “And then when the newspapers got too upsetting, I went to Kindle. So now I just read books in my Kindle, and I read eight books in January.”

If you want to get serious about blocking social media not just on your phone but on your computer as well (which your Brick cannot access), Pearlman suggested the free website blocker Cold Turkey.

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As for me, I’m continuing to brick myself in the evenings, so that I can learn a new screen-free hobby of crochet. Just this past week, my phone screen time dropped 62% compared to the week before. Making loops of crochet rows with my hands feels more satisfying than the loops of TikToks I watched each night, but I don’t think I would have stuck with my new hobby without the Brick’s admonishments.

I’ve gone from my high of nine hours of daily screen time to a more reasonable five or six hours during a workday. I still have lapses where I will go a night without Bricking, but I feel much calmer when I do. When my head is not cluttered with the pulls of social media notifications and enticing Reels, I have time to figure out what I really want to do. And that’s a gift that I think is worth keeping.

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