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Bobby Pulido is sick and tired of apologizing

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Bobby Pulido is sick and tired of apologizing

HIDALGO, Texas — Bobby Pulido is learning that the bright lights of politics can be even harsher than music superstardom.

For the past several months, the Latin Grammy-winning singer and local megacelebrity has been the subject of a steady stream of national headlines scrutinizing his former professional relationship with a one-time bandmate who was imprisoned on child sex molestation charges. He’s also faced criticism for past social media posts that included racial, sexist and homophobic slurs and comments.

During a recent interview with POLITICO — after a weeknight meet-and-greet with voters in the same stadium where he performed his final concert in November 2025 — Pulido struck a defensive tone about the scandals that have plagued his campaign.

“I apologize right now,” Pulido said, referring to the social media posts. “I’ll tell you right now, that way you’ll never ask me again. I apologize for everything that I’ve ever joked about that offended anybody. But I can’t continue to revisit every single one.”

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Pulido also insisted he did nothing wrong in his working relationship with Frankie Caballero, maintaining he did not know about his former accordionist’s child molestation charges. He expects opponents to “keep dripping, dripping, dripping, dripping” new social media posts.

“I’ve been an open book for 30 years,” he said. “I was on Twitter way before I thought about running for office. They’re gonna keep going to old tweets, and there’s a lot of tweets in there that I’m embarrassed of. There’s jokes that I’ve told that I apologize for, and I’ve owned up to them. I’m like, man, that makes me cringe, and I’ve publicly apologized.”

Pulido is one of House Democrats’ prized battleground recruits and a key part of their plan to flip control of the lower chamber. The first-time candidate is widely known in Texas’ 15th District for his singing career, and he hopes to capitalize on voters’ anti-incumbency angst in his bid against GOP Rep. Monica De La Cruz in a newly redrawn district that President Donald Trump won by 18 points in 2024.

Recent polling shows the race within the margin of error or Pulido leading, thanks in large part to his near-universal name ID. But while voters have shown a strong interest in political outsiders, those outsiders are also untested — and new revelations can swamp news cycles and potentially their chances.

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The New York Post first reported in April on Pulido’s past relationship to Caballero, a registered sex offender who was imprisoned for indecent contact with an eight-year-old girl. Pulido told POLITICO he first learned that Caballero was incarcerated on sex charges from the Post report, and Pulido’s campaign says the singer’s management company cut ties with Caballero after learning about a domestic abuse charge in 2021.

Pulido said he’d asked Caballero why he was in prison. “Transferring illegal aliens. That’s what he told me,” he told POLITICO. “And I knew he had a lot of substance abuse issues, and he violated a lot of his paroles. Those were the things that he told me.” (Pulido’s campaign told the Texas Tribune in July that Pulido only knew Caballero struggled with addiction.)

In June, Axios reported Caballero performed with Pulido at a middle school benefit concert in 2018, where children were present, after being released from prison. When asked if he regretted having Caballero play there, Pulido said he did — knowing what he knows now.

“Without me knowing, it’s hard for me to say that,” he said. “Me, that I know now, yes. I wish I wouldn’t have taken him there.”

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Caballero could not be reached for comment.

Pulido’s past social media posts have also come back to haunt the singer-turned-politician. In Twitter posts between 2013 and 2018, Pulido used homophobic and sexist Spanish-language slurs which translate to “f-g,” “f—-t” and “p—y.” In several other posts, he used the word “prieto,” a term referring to dark-skinned individuals many view as pejorative. The posts were first reported by NBC News and reviewed by POLITICO. In another 2013 Spanish-language post reviewed by POLITICO, Pulido joked that Mexican actor Mauricio Islas “isn’t a f-g, respect him. His boyfriend is.”

Islas, whose partner is a woman, did not respond to a request for comment.

Pulido told POLITICO some of the remarks were made in jest toward personal friends. “That’s how we joke. I would never tell a stranger that,” he said.

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He defended his use of the racial term as a cultural misunderstanding. “In our culture, we call each other that. It’s like Black people calling each other the n-word,” he said. “Would somebody that called another Black person the n-word be accused of racism? But they want to come and translate what I said to this guy, which is how we say it and we’re joking, they wanted to make it seem like I’m telling some complete stranger that. That’s not what it is.”

“I’m not making excuses,” Pulido added. “Would you have to apologize to your friend that you joke like that with, that doesn’t have a problem with anything you say? I don’t feel like I should have to apologize to them because they’re my friends.”

This isn’t the first time he’s flashed irritation when asked about his past posts, saying they distract from issues like affordability and immigration that voters care about. Pulido let loose on the New York Post when the paper reached out for comment about some other controversial social media posts. “We’ve been getting the same recycled tabloid nonsense since last October,” he said in a July video posted to his social media channels.

“And for whatever reporter that wants to keep asking,” he said in Spanish, “que no mamen, Kool-Aids. Now go translate that.” The colloquial phrase translates roughly to “don’t be jerks, assholes” or “don’t be stupid, assholes.”

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De La Cruz’s campaign hopes to make hay out of the issues. In a statement, James Shook, the representative’s campaign manager, said Pulido is a “product of the corrupt compadre system that looks out for itself and everybody else is expected to look away.”

In press releases, De La Cruz’s campaign has pointed out apparent inconsistencies in Pulido’s statements. They note that Pulido told The Monitor he fired Caballero in 1996, but Caballero appears on two of Pulido’s albums through 1999. In a 2019 podcast, Pulido suggested he got Caballero out of jail; he told Bloomberg this year that was “hyperbolic” and he “misspoke.”

“Bobby Pulido walked a man convicted of molesting an eight-year-old girl onto a middle school event in this community, and hid his sex offender status from parents,” Shook said. “This is someone he toured with for years and is on tape bragging he personally bailed him out of jail. The only question left is why he thought he would get away with it.”

But there are signs that voters have become increasingly desensitized to scandal. A new POLITICO Poll found a significant share of voters — both Republican and Democrat — say they would stick with their preferred candidate even if they were caught accepting gifts from lobbyists, exploiting tax loopholes or making antisemitic posts. Democrats drew a harsher line when it came to accusations of sexual violence and sexual assault. Voters were not polled on past use of homophobic or gender slurs on social media, or on relationships with sex offenders.

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Some of Pulido’s supporters who know his family largely shrug off the headlines.

Esmeralda Knapp, a hairstylist in McAllen, said she will vote for Pulido solely because his uncle, a former county judge, helped secure Knapp’s brother’s release from prison many years ago. Bob Villarreal, a retired teacher in Edinburg, reminisced about the time Pulido’s father, a musician himself, substitute-taught his sixth-grade orchestra class. Maria Dominguez, who runs a wellness club in McAllen, said Pulido is “a good person” because she knows his family: “His family are working people, good people and raised in the valley.”

Villarreal brushed off Pulido’s relationship with Caballero. “It wasn’t Bobby,” he said. “I guess it’s important for some people, but for me, I mean, it’s somebody else.”

“It’s guilt by association,” said Patricia Villarreal, his wife.

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Good Law Project says EHRC anti-trans code misinterprets the law

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trans actual

On 5 August, the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) new transphobic code of practice came into force. However, on that same day, the Good Law Project (GLP) announced that it would support Leigh Day solicitors and two claimants — a “trans person and a trans-inclusive organisation” — in a legal challenge to the code.

As the Canary previously reported, the code doesn’t carry legal weight in itself. Instead, it offers an interpretation of equalities law — specifically, the 2025 Supreme Court ruling that trans people should be treated as their assigned sex for the purposes of the Equality Act.

The EHRC’s interpretation encourages a nationwide bathroom ban against trans people, and their wholesale exclusion from single-sex services aligned with their lived gender. As such, in an opening salvo of their challenge, Leigh Day sent a pre-action letter to the EHRC and the government, setting out their legal argument.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at that argument.

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Trans code ‘fundamentally flawed’

In particular, the legal challenge focuses on the code’s advice that service providers should no longer operate on a trans-inclusive basis. That is to say, if the service remains open to both cis and trans women, it must also be open to cis men. Otherwise, the EHRC holds that it is “very likely” to discriminate against (cis) women.

However, Leigh Day and GLP argue that the EHRC is mistaken in the law. As the GLP explained:

an inclusive service provided to women – based on their lived gender – doesn’t directly discriminate based on “sex” (now defined as “biological sex” under the Equality Act) at all. If you exclude cis men from a trans-inclusive women’s service, it’s not because their sex was recorded as “male” at birth. This is, in fact, proven by the admission of trans women, whose sex was also recorded as “male”, but who are allowed to use the service. It is a person’s lived gender – not their “sex” under the Equality Act 2010 – which is the reason for their exclusion.

However, there’s a catch. Trans people only make up a fraction of the UK’s population. As such, most people whose sex is recorded as “male” at birth will be cis men. It follows, then, that excluding cis men from a service is more likely to discriminate against male-assigned individuals.

However, the legal challenge has an answer for this, too:

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We think it’s entirely possible, depending on the circumstances, for service providers to justify offering their services on a trans-inclusive basis as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. And this has to be understood in the context that any single-sex service, which is offered on the basis of sex recorded at birth, would similarly have to be justified. The guidance makes no real room for such nuanced assessments, rendering it fundamentally flawed.

High Court ruling on interim trans code

On top of this, the EHRC code completely ignores the High Court’s ruling following the GLP’s challenge of the previous interim code.

The EHRC stated (and still holds) that any toilet that was open to trans women must also be open to cis men, or else it would likely constitute less favourable treatment on the basis of sex. However, the High Court judge argued otherwise:

In a case where the provision of separate lavatories labelled male and female was materially similar in terms of the extent of the provision, location, and so on, I consider there would, in principle, be scope for a strong argument that a rule or practice that permitted trans women to use the “female” lavatory but required other biological men to use the male lavatory would comprise different but not less favourable treatment on grounds of sex.

GLP holds that this ruling is “wholly contrary” to the EHRC’s position that such a toilet provision would be “very likely” to be discriminatory.

Given that the High Court gave its decision back in February, it’s egregious that the EHRC seems to have wholly ignored it when constructing its latest code.

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Human rights violations

Along with several other more minor arguments, Leigh Day and the GLP also hold that the EHRC’s code violates human rights law. In particular, the code may violate Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to privacy. The GLP explained that:

The landmark decision in Goodwin v UK – which led to the creation of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 – established that this right includes legal gender recognition for trans people. And the decision, despite claims to the contrary, was not just about gender markers on legal documents. It said that placing trans people in an “intermediate zone”, where they were “not quite one gender or the other” was a violation of their human rights. The court considered that “a conflict between social reality and law” places trans people in an “anomalous position”, in which they “may experience feelings of vulnerability, humiliation and anxiety”. In the two decades since, there have been numerous subsequent cases emphasising the importance of effective gender recognition for trans people.

The Supreme Court, in summary of the Goodwin v UK decision, stated that it:

puts it beyond doubt that the way in which the law and officialdom treat people who have undergone gender reassignment is no trivial matter. It has a serious impact upon their need, and their right, to live, not as a member of a “third sex”, but as the person they have become, as fully a man or fully a woman as the case may be.

Needless to say, the EHRC’s effective bathroom ban does not treat a trans man as “fully a man”, or vice versa for trans women. In fact, it does the exact opposite. Likewise, requiring that trans people use a ‘single-sex’ space which doesn’t align with their lived gender effectively outs them as trans, further violating their right to privacy.

‘In dire need of challenge’

If the court agrees, the legal challenge will ask for a “declaration of incompatibility”. Essentially, this would tell the government that it is in violation of its human rights obligations. This, in turn, would require the government to create legislation to fix its breach.

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The GLP concluded with a call for solidarity:

For all the reasons outlined above, we believe that this code of practice is in dire need of challenge. But it is a challenge which can only succeed if we fight back together.

The EHRC’s code is a demonstration of the cruelty that the government will gleefully enact on any vulnerable minority, if it gets the chance. If we allow it to stand, it demonstrates clearly that no guarantee of our rights is worth the paper it’s written on.

As such, and as the GLP said, all of us must stand together in opposition to this transphobic code of practice.

Featured image via the Canary

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Flower Delivery UK: Interflora Delivers Seasonal Flowers Straight To Your Door

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Flower Delivery UK: Interflora Delivers Seasonal Flowers Straight To Your Door

There’s nothing better than having a vase of vibrant, fresh flowers to brighten up your house.

I don’t know about you, though, but finding the time to buy fresh and seasonal flowers at a florist is tricky – plus supermarket flowers are often sad and dreary by the time you get them home.

Thankfully, we’re living in the 21st century, so there’s a solution to pretty much every problem we have sitting on our phones or desktops.

While there are plenty of flower mailbox delivery services, here at HuffPost we’re big fans of Interflora.

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Not only does it offer same day delivery if you order before 3pm (meaning it’s our go-to when we’ve forgotten a birthday or want to say congrats on a new promotion) but it works with local florists all around the UK to curate bunches of seasonal flowers.

When you put in a request alongside your order, the florist will tailor your bouquet to the person, to make sure it feels special, so you always know you can ask for extra pink roses if that’s your loved one’s favourite, or omit the lilies if they have a cat.

What’s more, each bouquet is hand crafted on the day of delivery, so you can rest assured your gift will stay fresh for the next seven days – and once they’re set up in their vase, the packaging is all completely biodegradable and recyclable!

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Trump targets birthright citizenship again after losing Supreme Court case

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Trump

Trump signed two new executive orders on Thursday. These orders were aimed at narrowing birthright citizenship. This came just a month after the Supreme Court struck down his previous attempt.

According to Fox News, “the new directives rely on existing executive and immigration authorities and are intended to narrow eligibility for automatic citizenship in certain cases while cracking down on foreigners who travel to the United States to give birth.”

Trump announced the orders in the Oval Office, with adviser Stephen Miller looking on. Miller called birth tourism “a fraud on the American system” and “a fraud against the American government.”

Trump characterized the Supreme Court’s decision as “very unfortunate” and “a bad decision,” and that birthright citizenship has been “made a joke out of.”

The Trump administration have said that the two orders “protect the meaning and value of American citizenship after Trump v. Barbara.” It said:

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 The first Executive Order non-exhaustively identifies certain categories of children of aliens who are not entitled to birthright citizenship consistent with historical exceptions to birthright citizenship recognized by the Supreme Court in Barbara.  The second Executive Order delegates presidential authorities to the Secretary of State and Secretary of Homeland Security and directs them to halt the practice of birth tourism.

Miller is a longtime critic of birthright citizenship. He posted on X in April that:

Birthright citizenship means the children of illegal aliens can vote to tax your children and seize their inheritance.

Backlash to new orders

Trump’s new orders received backlash from Democratic lawmakers.
Congresswoman Shontel Brown called it “wrong and unconstitutional.”

Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari called out Miller’s role in going after birthright citizenship, calling him the architect behind Trump’s “racist and fascist mass deportation agenda” and for “pushing relentlessly to end birthright citizenship — which is illegal.”

Trump faces new constitutional challenge

Ruben Gallego, a Democrat Senator from Arizona, also called Trump’s decision wrong. He said that birthright citizenship was one of the “most clear-cut parts of the Constitution—even our extremist Supreme Court ruled it’s not up for debate.”

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The BBC interviewed Gabriel Chin, a professor at the University of California, Davis’ School of Law, who said that while parts of the order might hold up, other aspects “raise some serious constitutional questions”. Chin told the BBC that Trump, as the president, does have some power to restrict people coming into the US specifically for the purposes of having a child.

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American Civil Liberties Union condemned Trump’s new executive orders, with its deputy director, Cody Wofsy, saying:

The Supreme Court already decided this issue: Birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the Constitution. No additional executive order can change the meaning of the Constitution. Any executive order that tries to rewrite birthright citizenship will meet the same fate as the last one.

Trump is throwing toys out of the pram again — another day, another executive order, another round of lawsuits.

Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

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Madonna And All Saints Producer William Orbit Has Died, Aged 69

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William Orbit and Madonna on stage at the Grammys in the late 1990s

Grammy-winning music producer William Orbit has died at the age of 69.

On Friday afternoon, a statement was posted on his verified social media pages, which read: “It is with profound sadness that the family and friends of William Orbit announce that William passed away at home on 23 July 2026.

“We are deeply saddened by his passing. He will be greatly missed by us and by so many whose lives he touched through his music, friendship and kindness. We kindly ask that the privacy of William’s family and close friends is respected during this difficult time.”

No cause of death has been provided.

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The British musician – whose legal name was William Wainwright – became an established figure on the electronic music scene in the late 1980s and 90s.

His mainstream breakthrough came when he and Madonna collaborated on her Ray Of Light album, still considered a highlight of her discography almost 30 years on from its original reason.

William co-produced some of Madonna’s biggest hits of the 90s and 2000s, including the UK number ones Frozen and American Pie, as well as Ray Of Light, Nothing Really Matters, Drowned World/Substitute For Love, The Power Of Good-Bye and Beautiful Stranger.

He won three Grammys for his collaborations with the Queen of Pop, in addition to an Album Of The Year nomination for Ray Of Light, and reunited with her in the 2010s on her album MDNA.

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William Orbit and Madonna on stage at the Grammys in the late 1990s
William Orbit and Madonna on stage at the Grammys in the late 1990s

Following the success of the Ray Of Light album, he also produced hit singles for All Saints (Pure Shores and Black Coffee), Pink (Feel Good Time) and Blur (Coffee & TV), in addition to collaborations with Robbie Williams and Britney Spears.

In his lifetime, he also helmed 12 of his own solo studio albums, with his 1999 effort Pieces In The Modern Style peaking at number two in the UK.

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Thinktank calls for greater controls on number of Welsh homes being turned into holiday accommodation

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The Welsh town of Harlech

The Welsh town of Harlech

Welsh thinktank the Bevan Foundation, working in partnership with Shelter Cymru, has published a new report on 7 August at the National Eisteddfod. It analyses evidence on the prevalence of second homes and holiday lets using permanent homes across Wales. And it evaluates policy measures to tackle the issue which have been put in place over recent years.

The report follows an announcement by the Welsh government that it will be reviewing the controversial 182-day rule for holiday let businesses in Wales, as well as a commitment in the Plaid Cymru manifesto to review the effectiveness of the range of current measures to tackle the impact of second homes and holiday lets on local housing markets.

In its report, Holidays or homes? The loss of homes for the people of Wales to holiday accommodation, the Bevan Foundation provides new estimates on the scale of the issue. It highlights that between 21,300 and 25,300 dwellings with could provide permanent homes in Wales are currently being used for holidays. To put this into context:

  • The higher estimate of 25,300 is equal to the number of households in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough. It accounts for around 2% of the total housing stock across Wales.
  • The lower estimate of 21,321 would still be enough to rehouse every household in temporary accommodation at the end of September 2025 (6,426) three times over.

Holiday homes have growing impact on Welsh housing

The Foundation’s analysis shows that while there are clear concentrations of holiday accommodation in areas which have traditionally been hotspots, growing numbers can be seen across Wales, as ‘staycations’ remain popular and tourists explore new areas.

It reveals a 10% increase in holiday lets using permanent homes over the last four years, with an additional 1,345 homes likely to have been lost to households in need of a home.

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The report commends the scale of the action undertaken by the previous Welsh government. It introduced several measures working with Plaid Cymru via the Co-operation Agreement. However, the report argues that the overriding policy intention of improving the affordability and availability of homes has not always been clearly stated, nor how interventions will directly achieve it.

Taxation action in particular has had implications for the broad range of accommodation which is used for holidays, rather than focusing on the use and loss of permanent homes. This lack of focus is diluting the opportunity to address the availability and affordability of homes for local people, as well as impacting commercial holiday let businesses using types of accommodation which could not provide permanent homes.

The report argues that given the evidence of the growth of the issue across Wales, second homes and holiday lets are now a national driver of pressure on housing supply. National action is therefore needed, rather than leaving it to local authorities to tackle the problem, and that action should focus on preventing the loss of permanent homes.

Recommendations

The recommendations in the report include:

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  • A national requirement for planning permission for change of use from a permanent home to holiday accommodation (second home or holiday let) or a change between holiday accommodation types. This would replace the current ‘Article 4’ system whereby local authorities must introduce their own planning restrictions.
  • Moving away from the current lettings day threshold system (the 182-day rule) and instead using the planning status or intended purpose of the accommodation to establish the tax system in which they should sit – businesses being charged business rates and homes coming under the Council Tax system.
  • Ringfencing the funds raised through Council Tax premiums on holiday accommodation for local housing services and boosting the supply of homes which are genuinely affordable to local people, in particular social homes.
  • Incentivising holiday accommodation which does not use permanent homes (such as yurts, barn conversions or shepherd huts) as part of a wider tourism strategy.
  • An increase of at least 2 per cent in the higher rate of Land Transaction Tax on the purchase of homes for holiday accommodation.
  • A robust and effective registration and licensing scheme for holiday lets to not only improve the management of properties, but to minimise any negative impact on the surrounding community and the availability and affordability of homes locally.

Wendy Dearden, senior policy and research officer at the Bevan Foundation, said:

It cannot be right that thousands of people in Wales are homeless and living in B&Bs or hotels while up to 25,000 homes are being used for holiday accommodation.

In our research, we heard about range of action being taken by local authorities, but we don’t think that this is enough. It’s time for the Welsh Government to take more national action through a cohesive package of taxation, planning and regulation.

Taken together, the measures we recommend would lead to a more consistent approach across Wales, while supporting targeted local action where it is needed. They would support businesses in the tourist industry while minimising the impact on local communities and ensuring that houses are used for their intended purpose – as affordable homes for local communities.

Ruth Power, CEO at Shelter Cymru, said:

Every day we see firsthand the impact of the housing emergency on people and communities across Wales, and nowhere has the long-term failure to address this been more clearly seen than in the growth of temporary accommodation across Wales.

Through our work providing advice and advocacy to people in every part of Wales, we know the impact this is having, with lives stuck on hold, sometimes for years, while people wait for a permanent home.

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Shelter Cymru recognises the important role that tourism plays in the Welsh economy, but we also believe that everything starts with home. At a time where we face a housing emergency, it cannot be right for families to be ‘temporarily’ housed in hotel rooms while ever more of our homes, already in short supply, are given over to holidays.

This is why we are calling on the Welsh Government to take the steps needed to reverse this trend and to build a Wales where everyone can access a safe, secure, suitable and genuinely affordable home.

The report forms part of a series of research reports the Bevan Foundation and Shelter Cymru are producing in partnership. It examines the use of temporary accommodation in Wales and aims to move people into permanent homes by providing more social housing.

Featured image via the Canary

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Campaigners demand urgent government action this Severe ME Day

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NHS sign on a wall LeDeR

NHS sign on a wall LeDeR

Another Severe Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) Awareness Week will pass in absolute silence from the government.

The Canary has reported extensively on how ME patients are left to die in hospitals by the NHS. People like Sophia Mirza who died in 2005 after being sectioned under the mental health act without even basic nurse care. 8 August would be Sophia’s 53rd birthday; instead, she died aged 32.

Severe ME Day is held on her birthday, 8 August, to honour her memory, and many others who have since lost their lives to this devastating disease and neglect caused by the NHS.

Or  27-year-old Maeve Boothby O’Neill. The Canary reported on how her inquest, which showed appalling trivialisation of her condition, arrogant medical professionals, and hospital staff’s culture of psychologisation, led to her death in October 2021.

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The Canary has also reported on the case of Karen Gorden, who was bed-bound and abandoned by the NHS. As well as Savannah, who was starved in hospital. Both Karen and Savannah are still in hospital being neglected by NHS staff and fighting for their lives.

NHS neglects severe ME patients

ME is a chronic systemic neuroimmune disease which impacts at least 65 million people worldwide – and that is likely a vast underestimate. Similar to, and sometimes overlapping with long Covid, it affects nearly every system in the body and causes a range of symptoms that impact patients’ daily lives. These include influenza-like symptoms, cognitive impairment, multiple forms of pain, and heart, lung, blood pressure, and digestive dysfunctions, among other significantly debilitating symptoms.

Significantly, post-exertional malaise (PEM) is the hallmark feature of ME/CFS, which entails a disproportionate worsening of other symptoms after even minimal physical, social, or mental activities.

Severe ME affects approximately 25% of people living with the disease. In these cases, people living with severe ME/CFS are mostly, if not entirely, permanently bed-bound. What’s more, they are sometimes unable to digest food, communicate, or process information.

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Campaigners demand government action

Campaigners at ME Foggy Dog are urgently calling on the government to step up and stop the NHS from neglecting and eventually killing people with ME.

In 2024, ME Foggy Dog launched a campaign calling for a dedicated NHS protocol for people with severe ME. Over 5,220 people with ME, many severely ill, housebound, or bedbound, signed the open letter.

Despite this, nothing meaningful followed from the government. Over 2024 and 2025, successive Secretaries of State responded to campaigners with the same generic messages that the ME/CFS Delivery Plan and updated NICE guidelines would resolve most of the problems raised.

However, as campaigners have noted, the plan still falls massively short of supporting people with ME. On top of this, the NICE guidelines are not mandatory, the NHS training is not compulsory, and neither addresses the realities of severe ME or the dangers patients face every day.

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The government must act now

As campaigners say, this issue is now critical and cannot wait while those in charge squabble to keep power. Government intervention is the only way forward.

ME Foggy Dog said in a statement:

Without equitable biomedical research funding, the risk of deterioration into severe ME remains present for most of the community, we just don’t know who is at risk and who is not. The number of people with severe ME will continue to rise unless action is taken.

The campaign group is calling on the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Yvette Cooper, to take this issue seriously, to champion equitable research funding from the Treasury, and to work with the organisation to implement an NHS protocol that protects patients and clinicians alike.

As the campaigners said:

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The open letter demonstrated the scale of public concern, the past few years have demonstrated the consequences of political inaction.

Sally Callow, founder of ME Foggy Dog, said:

Severe ME patients are being failed every day. Without Government‑level action, neglect and harm will continue unchecked. We cannot wait any longer for safe care, accurate information, and proper protection. The crisis is escalating, and decisive leadership is now essential.

The government must act now, before more people with ME die due to NHS neglect.

Featured image via the Canary

By Rachel Charlton-Dailey

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Trump denies weapons shortage but the tungsten ban suggests otherwise

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Donald Trump insists the US has no shortage of weapons. But his latest move to restrict exports for key materials for munitions production — tells a different story.

Trump recently threatened “long-term jail sentences” for anyone leaking information about alleged munition shortages facing the US, accusing them of making “treasonous statements”.

He said:

Long-term jail sentences will be sought!

Yet while Trump dismisses reports of shortages, his administration has moved to restrict exports of tungsten scrap and black mass — two materials critical to weapons production.

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Depleted supplies of tungsten

According to Gavin D. J. Harper from the University of Birmingham, modern militaries rely heavily on tungsten, a material used in weapons production. He recently wrote about tungsten shortages during the war on Iran.

Amid the geopolitical turmoil that is unfolding in the Middle East, there is a newfound gargantuan appetite for tungsten, with every bomb, missile and kinetic interceptor further draining stockpiles.

This presents an intractable problem for the defence industry. There has been a 12% increase in the use of military tungsten this year alone – in helicopters, fighter jets and munitions. This is hard to accommodate in a market with no availability.

If the US truly has an “unlimited supply” of missiles, as Trump claims, there should be little reason to restrict exports of recycled tungsten scrap.

Scrap is typically melted down and reused to supplement mined ore. Restricting its export suggests the opposite of abundance: that the military is concerned about maintaining supplies for weapons production.

Years to get back to pre-war levels

According to the Financial Times (FT), the American weapons manufacturers – Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon — are reporting surging sales as the US expands spending to replenish its missile stockpiles and put its defence industrial base on a ‘war footing’.

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However, Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Washington-based think tank CSIS, said the figures behind rebuilding US stockpiles is sobering.

Cancian said that, for Patriot missiles, even with expanded production, recovery will probably take about three years to get back to pre-war levels. And then it will take several years after that to reach the levels where war planners actually want to be.

The result is a prolonged period of reduced inventories rather than a quick recovery.

In the same video clip, Tom Karako, director of the CSIS Missile Defense Project, describes the situation as:

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generational annihilation of our theater missile defense capability. It’s going to take years to get back there.

More warmongering from Trump

So the answer to depleted stocks has been more warmongering by Trump’s allies like the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) – an arms industry-favourite think tank.

Bradley Bowman, a senior fellow at FDD, said in an interview that the U.S. needed more spending and more confrontation, and this munition depletion was a “silver lining” showing  Americans that they need to “put our money and our actions where our mouth is.”

Bowman said the US military has been “seriously degraded” by the Iran war, but he did not call for restraint. Instead, he warned that China, Russia and North Korea are “cooperating across all domains of power” and that the US must attack their assistance to Iran.

If Washington sits on its hands and doesn’t attack this assistance that China and Russia are giving Iran,” Bowman said, “it’s going to simply exacerbate the munitions crisis.

He criticized the Pentagon for ordering only 37 THAAD interceptors in fiscal year 2026 and just 12 the year before.

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In short, Trump says the U.S. has unlimited missiles while his administration just banned exports of tungsten scrap, a metal without which you cannot make missiles.

His think tank allies say the solution to depleted stockpiles is more war, more spending, and more confrontation with China, Russia, and North Korea all at once.

In this administration, reality and facts are cartoonishly far apart.

Featured image via the Canary

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By The Canary

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9 Best Fantasy Sex Toys For Romantasy Book Lovers

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9 Best Fantasy Sex Toys For Romantasy Book Lovers

We might have seen a dramatic dip in the number of people having sex with each other over the last few years, but if there’s one thing we can count on, it’s that people will always find a way to get off.

Alongside the celibacy and boy sober trend, we’ve seen the rise of something more peculiar: romantasy fiction.

Sure, Heated Rivalry falls into its own category of erotica that features people you’ll never have sex with (because, well, they’re into each other) but this specific fantasy features characters outside the realm of humankind.

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In case you’re not familiar, dragons, gargoyles, fairies, and other mystical creatures are becoming the subject of our horniness – and it’s caught on in the sex toy world.

As well as bookshops being stocked full of spicy romantasy novels, you can now buy a matching dildo or vibrator to go along with the story.

So you don’t have to do the work of trawling through sex toy sites, we’ve taken one for the team and found some of the best fantasy sex toys on the market today.

This way for your dark and handsome fire breathing dragon…

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9 best fantasy sex toys to shop now

Don’t knock a glass sex toy until you try it. They might not vibrate, but they can add an exciting dose of stimulation to your solo play thanks to easily changing temperature.

Simply pop this dildo in a bowl of ice cold or lukewarm water to adapt it to your preferred temperature, and you’ll feel the ridges and bumps on the side of this dildo even more acutely.

Thanks to the loop at the bottom, this dildo is safe for vaginal and anal play (just make sure you keep hold of that loop to prevent any accidents) and it’s also extremely easy to clean.

If you’re not quite on board with a glass tentacle, perhaps this silicone grind pad will float your boat.

It’ll make for a bumpy ride, as it’s not only covered in plenty of discs that you’ll be able to feel while it’s inside you, but the whole thing is loaded with five vibration speeds and five patterns, all powered by a remote control so you won’t have to budge from your stoop to up the ante.

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We’re all on our own personal quests; if yours is conquering a fire-breathing dragon, today is your lucky day.

Covered in hundreds of scales, this girthy dildo boasts seven inches of textured length for penetration that will send you flying.

You’ll need to quench its burn with plenty of water-based lube, but even if you can’t take its whole shape, it makes an excellent grinding toy.

Sextoys.co.uk

You know the phrase ‘rise like a phoenix from the ashes’? Yeah, well that will take on a whole new meaning for you after using this toy.

As well as a pointed shaft that leads to several inches of ribbing, the dildo suddenly blooms into a pair of wide bulging balls (if you can take them).

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Ever dreamed of being penetrated by a grotesque Orc? It’s not his schlong we’re talking about, but instead his tusks that emanate from his jaw.

Use this alongside a clit suction vibrator to get as close to you can as double stimulation from the Orc, or rely on that second tusk to rub against your clit or perineum for a blended orgasm that will thrust you into another dimension.

Float away into sweet dreams with this pastel clouds-coloured unicorn dildo.

Those bulbous ridges last for a whole 7.3 inches, getting thicker the further you get, so you can slide your way towards orgasmic delight in no time at all.

Take yourself to the limit with this 10 inch dildo, which is coated in veins and ends in a three inch-wide knot. Intense.

Its tip is tapered, so you’ll have no problem getting at least the first few inches inside, but you’ll definitely want to load up on lube to avoid the burn further down.

If the sound of a tentacle slithering its way into your insides turns you on, good news.

Wrapped around an 8.5 inch shaft is a curly wurly cephalopod, which feels great as the toy slides in and out of you.

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That suction cup is plenty wide, which means it sticks to whatever surface you like, and also makes it suitable for anal and vaginal play.

Calling all girth lovers. There couldn’t be a better way to get your width in that with this inflatable dildo, which comes with a pump to expand inside you and stretch you out.

It comes with a cock ring, to keep the air in there, and you might even want to pair it with a clit vibrator for double the fun.

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Why Isn’t Phil Dunster Back For Ted Lasso Season 4? Producer Explains

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Kola Bokinni and Phil Dunster on the set of Ted Lasso's third season

If you have questions about why certain members of the Ted Lasso cast haven’t returned for the new season, producer Brendan Hunt has got answers.

After a three-year absence, the Apple TV+ comedy returned to our screens earlier this week, with Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple and Brett Goldstein among those who are back for the new run of episodes, alongside some new additions.

However, there are also some prominent absentees who aren’t back for the new episodes – perhaps most notably Phil Dunster, who played footballer Jamie Tartt in the first three seasons.

Toheeb Jimoh, Kola Bokinni, Cristo Fernández, who played members of Richmond F.C.’s squad, also do not appear in the new episodes – which centre around the titular coach taking over at the helm of the club’s female team.

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Brendan – who co-produces Ted Lasso, as well as co-writing multiple episodes – told Variety that the decision was made to write the Jamie Tartt character out of the show because they knew “Phil was going to be busy”.

He added: “But also, it would have strained credulity a bit further than we wanted to if all the old team were still on Richmond. If this team is doing so well, then the best players would be gone. They’d be bought by bigger clubs.”

Kola Bokinni and Phil Dunster on the set of Ted Lasso's third season
Kola Bokinni and Phil Dunster on the set of Ted Lasso’s third season

Since the success of Ted Lasso, Phil has landed roles in major shows like the thrillers The Devil’s Hour and Surface, as well as the Steve Carell comedy Rooster.

Reviews for Ted Lasso’s fourth season have been a little on the mixed side, with some lamenting that too much attention is paid to the characters who have returned, at the expense of some new additions.

However, critics have singled out Sex Education’s Tanya Reynolds for praise.

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Tanya plays Ted’s new right-hand woman, with the likes of Adolescence’s Faye Marsay and Enola Holmes’ Abbie Hern also among those to have joined the award-winning sports comedy in its fourth iteration.

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A Bird-Like Moth Is Making UK Gardeners ‘Gasp’ This Summer

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A Bird-Like Moth Is Making UK Gardeners 'Gasp' This Summer

You might have noticed that the UK is seeing fewer wasps than usual this summer. And while that might sound like good news, experts think that this year’s unpredictable weather (remember the flooding that followed one of our many heatwaves?), which has been attributed to climate change, could be to blame.

Plus, it looks like our black-and-yellow-striped friends have been replaced by a new visitor.

This year, the National Trust says, we’re in a “hummingbird hawk-moth summer”.

And on Reddit, a delighted gardener was one of many who said they’d seen their first one in 2026: “I gasped!” they commented.

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What is a hummingbird hawk moth?

It’s a moth (who’d have guessed?) with a wingspan of 5cm to 5.8cm. And unlike many other species of moth, it’s a “day-flying” species, meaning you might catch it flitting around in your garden in the afternoon.

The hummingbird hawk-moth has grey forewings and orange hindwings. It’s also got a grey body and a black and white “tail,” The Wildlife Trusts explained.

Some viewers describe it as a “grey lump with orange wings”; like hummingbirds, it flaps so rapidly that its wings create a buzz.

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Hummingbird hawk moths also have a large proboscis, which helps them to reach into flowers like honeysuckle, valerian and buddleia.

And while it’s not an especially massive species (a poplar hawk moth, the hulking presence of which once cleared my entire uni dorm, is about twice its size), ITVX said it’s often mistaken for a small bird thanks to its humming hover.

Indeed, one Redditor wrote: “Didn’t know what it was but thought it looked like a tiny hummingbird”.

Why are hummingbird hawk moths in the UK in 2026?

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They do usually make an appearance here from April to as late as December, when they fly up from Southern Europe and North Africa.

But one of the differences here is in the numbers.

In 2021, per the National Trust, we only recorded eight sightings of the moth.

However, we’ve seen far more this year. Speaking to ITV, the Wildlife Trust’s Strategic lead on Agriculture, Vicki Hird, said this year’s high figures are “really unusual” (however, other experts point out it’s too soon to compare numbers year-on-year for 2026).

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Then, there’s location to consider. When the UK does get hummingbird hawk moths, they’re usually along the southern coast, which is closer to Europe.

This year, though, they’ve been spotted as high up and far inland as Stowe Gardens, near Buckingham. They could even be seen in Northern Ireland and Scotland – under the Reddit post we mentioned earlier, people said they saw them in the north-east and north-west of England and central Scotland.

Experts think that hot weather has driven them upwards into the UK, while extreme temperatures in mainland Europe could have depleted their food supply in their usual homes.

Winds might have worked in their favour as well. And they might be expected to stay longer than usual: “Warmer winters might… be allowing them to overwinter in greenhouses and sheltered locations,” the National Trust writes.

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How can I spot one and what do I do if I see a hummingbird hawk moth?

They love nectar-rich, tubular flowers like honeysuckle, buddleia, and valerian. And if you’re hoping for a longer stay, climbing ivy and shrubs (as well as greenhouses) can give them a safe space to overwinter.

Seen a hummingbird hawk moth? Simply sit back and enjoy the view – and, if you like, report your sighting to bodies like Butterfly Conservation, which has a National Moth Recording Scheme.

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