Politics
The Valdo Calocane case confirms it: wokeness kills
There’s one surefire way to know if your belief system is a bad one: it endangers life. If your ideology imperils other people, on the foul grounds that your virtue counts for more than their safety, then it is a morally unfit one. We can now say this, beyond a shadow of a doubt, about wokeness. It prizes its own preening credo more highly than it does the life and limb of everyday citizens. Just consider the grim case of Valdo Calocane.
The media call him ‘the Nottingham killer’. On 13 June 2023 he committed a crime so dreadful that Nottingham still reels from it. In the feverish grip of psychosis, he knifed to death the 19-year-old students, Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, and 65-year-old school janitor Ian Coates. He severely injured three others, too. He was later found guilty of manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility and sentenced to indefinite confinement in a high-security hospital.
If you thought this case couldn’t get any worse, brace yourself. Yesterday we discovered a new and terrible truth: Calocane was once freed by mental-health workers because they feared being thought of as racist if they detained him. Convinced there were ‘too many young black men in custody’, they let him out, whereupon he committed more offences, eventually including the savage destruction of three precious lives. Clearly the inner virtue of these overlords of public health is more sacred than the welfare of the masses.
The details are chilling. They came out on the first day of a public inquiry exploring the ‘events, acts and omissions’ that led to Calocane being on the streets, free to kill. The inquiry was told that, in 2020, Calocane experienced the first pangs of psychosis. He became violent. Then a student at Nottingham University, he was found ‘repeatedly kicking and punching’ a fellow student’s dorm door. He was hauled off for an assessment and found to be psychotic.
Yet he was set free. One of the doctors was ‘leaning towards’ sectioning him. But a team of mental-health professionals had other ideas. In the words of the Guardian, they ‘considered research evidence that examined the over-representation of young black men in detention’, and they decided it would be better to treat Calocane in the community. The Mail nails it: they ‘feared [that] detaining him would be racist’, so they let loose on to the streets of Nottingham this dangerous, psychotic individual.
Now we know: the dispiriting woke creed of race obsession carries more moral weight than the security of ordinary people. Sacralising the performative virtue of ‘anti-racist’ officials is more important in 21st-century Britain than ensuring the safety of working men and women. To release into the community a known sufferer from violent psychosis, out of a terror of being thought of as racist, is to elevate the ideological needs of ruling-class narcissists over the most fundamental liberty of the people – the freedom to be safe.
Predictably, Mr Calocane swiftly committed more crimes. He booted in a neighbour’s door, which made her so frightened she leapt from a first-floor window and damaged her spine. He was briefly sectioned after that, then let out again. He committed more offences, and then in 2023 he carried out his apocalyptic slaughter of innocents in Nottingham. Last year a review by the Care Quality Commission found that a ‘series of errors and misjudgements’ by health officials led to the catastrophic mishandling of Calocane and ‘the risk he presented to the public’. Now we discover that the baleful creed of wokeness played a role in this reckless endangerment of the people of Nottingham in the service of the ideology of the elites.
There is no question: wokeness poses a dire threat to public safety. Officialdom’s debilitating dread of being thought of as ‘racist’ is particularly poisonous. The safety of Britons is frequently sacrificed at the altar of this elite terror of being tarred as unwoke. Consider the rape-gang scandal, when cops, councillors and politicians looked the other way as thousands of working-class girls were raped by gangs disproportionately made up of Muslim men. The reason for their deadly nonchalance in the face of such working-class suffering? They feared being thought of as ‘Islamophobic’ if they investigated the gangs too vigorously.
Or consider the 2017 Manchester Arena atrocity. The inquiry into that act of Islamist barbarism heard that a security guard had failed to approach the young man who was mumbling to himself and carrying an outsized backpack – the killer, Salman Abedi – because he feared being viewed as racist. The guard said he had a ‘bad feeling’ about this young man who was ‘fidgety and sweating’. But he held back because he was ‘scared of being… branded a racist’. He feared he would ‘have got into trouble’ if he was wrong about this nervous-looking non-white man. What a perfect and terrifying snapshot of how morally incapacitating the neo-Stalinist culture of race grievance can be, where a man dreads acting against a suspected suicide bomber in case HR should haul him for a reprimand and some racial re-education.
The gender wing of wokeness is lethal, too. Consider the placing of rapists in women’s jails, some of whom went on to sexually assault inmates. The dignity of womankind burnt as an offering to the sexist post-truth mantra of ‘Transwomen are women’. Meanwhile, in the US the woke insanity of ‘Defund the Police’, popularised by Black Lives Matter, led to a spike in crimes and even homicides in areas where cops were stood down. Michael Shellenberger, in his book San Fransicko, calls it ‘pathological altruism’, where ‘woke’ cities adopt policies that lead to more anti-social behaviour, more crime and more sorrow for working people.
We need answers on Nottingham. Death came to that city in 2023 – was it aided by the ideologues who stink up the corridors of power in modern Britain? Any ideology that prioritises virtuous posturing over public dignity must be urgently dismantled.
Politics
Politics Home Article | Labour MP Launches ‘Summer Of Sex’ Campaign To Overhaul Sex Education
Labour MP Samantha Niblett, 46, wants to fight against societal stigma around sex (Samantha Niblett)
5 min read
Labour MP Samantha Niblett has launched a campaign to make 2026 the “summer of sex”, as she pushes for more open, inclusive lifelong sex education.
Niblett, who was elected as MP for Derbyshire South in 2024, has secured a debate in Parliament on lifelong sex education in the early autumn.
The MP is working with Cindy Gallop, a sextech entrepreneur and founder of MakeLoveNotPorn, an adult video website that aims to offer an alternative to hardcore pornography.
On Monday, Niblett and Gallop launched a campaign calling for better lifelong, inclusive sex education in the UK to help people understand consent, prevent abuse and violence, and raise awareness of how childbirth, the menopause, stress and other health conditions can impact sexual satisfaction.
In an interview with PoliticsHome, Niblett said she wants to make 2026 the “summer of sex”.
“It sounds like we’re going on a bit of a tour!” she joked.
“What I am hoping is that by the time we get to summer recess, I have got a whole bank of organisations to visit and speak with and gather information, so we can talk about sex all summer, so that I can help shape that speech for the chamber, but then also we shape our next steps.”
The campaign’s tagline – ‘Yes Sex Please, We’re British!’ – plays on No Sex Please, We’re British, a 1973 British comedy film in which a clerk in a small town bank is horrified when he receives a package containing pornography, rather than a new calculator.
Niblett said she wants the campaign to be about “taking control of our patriotism, about taking control of our Britishness, and not feeling ashamed”.
As part of the campaign, she is hoping to arrange two events before the summer recess, including one where she intends to bring sex toys into Parliament to encourage open conversation about sexual pleasure – though she is currently in conversation with parliamentary security over whether the devices will be allowed onto the estate.
The 46-year-old MP recently met with sexual product retailer Love Honey, and told PoliticsHome that she learned that “as well as making you feel good, [masturbation] is good for your health”, with some medical research showing that it is good for stress and pain relief, menstrual cramps, and reducing the risk of prostate cancer.
For Niblett, the campaign is personal, and she wants to talk more openly about sex herself to encourage others to feel comfortable doing so.
“The first time I remember seeing pornography, I was 10, I saw it on a videotape, I saw it in magazines,” she said.
“And I sometimes wonder, having seen it so young but without being able to talk about it, whether that has shaped the person that I am today. It’s funny, just because I’m doing a campaign on sex education, it’s not because I’m this massively empowered, sexually flamboyant person. I’m not. I wish I were.
“If I could rewire my brain… It’s not too late, I’m hoping that, actually, this summer of sex is also an education for me.”
She described how the sex education she had at school was “pretty medical”.
“It was all focused on what you shouldn’t do, not what you should do,” she continued.
“Pleasure certainly didn’t play a part in it. And as a girl, you’re just worried about either getting an STD or getting pregnant. I don’t remember talking about contraception much either.”
Niblett said that she has watched porn herself – “like lots of people” – and has recently watched content on Gallop’s MakeLoveNotPorn website, which she said featured “real people who are having messy, funny, intimate, sensual sex together”.
“It’s a turn on, it helps you masturbate, helps you cum,” she said.
“The sections that I always prefer the most are the intimate sections. I am not saying that anybody else’s preferences are wrong, but I think if you’re desensitised to think that some things are normal, it skews your view about what real sex is like with real people who are not acting in a porn film.”
Asked whether she would support the BBC creating and publishing more educational adult content, Niblett said she would “happily” have a conversation with the public broadcaster about the topic.
Niblett wants to involve Gallop, as well as TV presenter Davina McCall, who has advocated for more open sex education, and relationship expert and presenter Paul Bruson, and various sex education content creators to spread awareness, attend the government’s national summit on the challenges facing men and boys – expected to take place this year – and engage with ministers Alex Davies-Jones and Jess Phillips.
Davies-Jones and Phillips have both been involved in bringing forward regulations on porn in the Crime and Policing Bill, which is currently making its way through Parliament. The new laws include banning nudity apps and banning the depiction of strangulation in pornography to protect women from violence.
The Labour government has now also agreed to press ahead with a ban on certain types of online pornography, including so-called “barely legal” content depicting adults role-playing as children and some forms of step-incest pornography, following pressure from MPs and defeats in the House of Lords.
While Niblett welcomed the banning of nudification apps, she said that while you can “ban all things and come down on people with a ton of bricks legally”, she wanted to see education used as the “biggest tool”.
On the potential ban on step incest in porn, Niblett said that although she understood the rationale behind it, she could also see why it might be a challenge to implement when step incest is not illegal in the real world.
“So it’ll be interesting to see what happens with that particular piece of legislation,” she said.
Reflecting on why she wants to fight against societal stigma surrounding sex, Niblett said: “We just need to acknowledge that humans have a natural interest in sex. It’s one of the things that nearly all of us want to do, nearly all of us do.
“It just feels like there is an opportunity to remind people that it is a joyful thing.”
4 min read
Recently, the Home Secretary announced a detrimental change to refugee policy: the period of leave to remain that will be given to people with a recognised need for protection will be cut from five years to just 30 months.
Those who wish to remain in the UK will be required to reapply for leave every two and half years for a total of 20 years and their protection status could be revoked if their home country is judged to be “safe” at the point of renewal. To someone with little experience of the UK’s asylum system or the struggle that refugees face to rebuild their lives, this policy might sound reasonable. But, in reality, this ill-thought-through policy punishes people who have already suffered profound hardship, adding insecurity at precisely the moment stability is most needed.
The damage caused when lives are held in limbo by delays in asylum decision-making is already well documented. So too is the harm inflicted when survivors of trauma are forced to relive the most unimaginable horrors as they repeat their story of torture or trafficking in order to prove their need for protection. And the poor quality of asylum decisions has not only sparked much criticism but has burdened the appeal courts with an unmanageable backlog. This policy will intensify all of these failings – introducing more frequent reviews of the ongoing need for protection while placing additional strain on an already overstretched asylum system. The likely result is more delays, more backlogs, more unsafe decisions and more uncertainty.
For those who have fled torture and persecution, the fear of return is not abstract. It is deep and long-lasting. This policy risks transforming what should be a time of joy – the recognition of refugee status and the granting of protection – into the beginning of a new cycle of fear.
Specialist services working with survivors of torture across the UK, including Freedom from Torture, have warned that shorter periods of leave to remain keep alive the very real prospect of return to the place where people were harmed. Recovery depends on a sense of safety and predictability. By contrast, repeated reviews of status reinforce powerlessness and hopelessness, exacerbating conditions like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety and depression.
The impact will not be limited to individuals. Families will be forced to live with constant instability and dread that will permeate their daily lives. Children who are beginning to settle into schools and communities will inevitably absorb their parents’ fears. The inability to plan for the future – whether in relation to housing, education or employment – undermines the very foundations of family life.
There are also significant practical consequences. Immigration status shapes access to housing, work and education. A 30-month grant of leave will make it markedly harder for refugees to secure a tenancy, find stable employment or pursue study thereby undermining the Government’s own goal of integration. This policy comes at the same time as the Government is changing its approach to providing financial support and accommodation to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute. The changes they are making to asylum support will increase the risk that government assistance is withdrawn from vulnerable people who, banned from working, have no other means of supporting themselves. Taken together, these policies risk pushing people further into destitution. The consequences – homelessness, exploitation and increased vulnerability – are entirely foreseeable.
There are also serious legal questions. Article 14 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture requires states to provide the means for as full rehabilitation as possible. Rehabilitation is not simply clinical; it depends on relationships, purpose and the ability to imagine a future. These are extraordinarily difficult to sustain when protection is temporary and uncertain.
More broadly, this policy signals a troubling shift away from the UK’s longstanding commitment to offering durable protection. While the 1951 UN Refugee Convention recognises that refugee status is by its nature temporary, it requires States to “as far as possible facilitate the assimilation and naturalization of refugees” and “in particular make every effort to expedite naturalization proceedings…” It outlines rights to employment, welfare, housing, education and social security – all of which are harder to realise with shorter periods of leave.
It is also deeply concerning that such a significant change has been introduced without parliamentary debate or vote. When decisions affecting people’s rights and safety are made with minimal scrutiny, Parliament is denied the opportunity to evaluate the consequences or propose safeguards. This weakens democratic oversight and creates confusion for those navigating an already complex asylum system. This is why myself and colleagues will be asking important questions regarding these changes in the House this week.
The aspirations of those seeking sanctuary are, by and large, the same as anyone else’s. They want security, the chance to work, to contribute and to build a future for themselves and their families, free from fear. We should be enabling these ambitions, not undermining them.
A humane and effective asylum system would support people to integrate and thrive. Policies that are punitive and short-sighted will do the opposite: forcing unwell, vulnerable people into destitution, or worse, back into danger. Protection, once granted, must be meaningful and it must endure.
Baroness Lister of Burtersett is a Labour peer and an officer of the all-party parliamentary groups on migration and refugees.
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When you’ve run a whole damn marathon, you want to show it off. It’s only natural.
But there are certain ways you want to do it; we’re guessing bloody nipples isn’t one of them.
Groin, thigh, and neck chafing is also not on our wishlist of wounds (of course, ideally you’d have none, but that’s what you get for running an abnormally long distance in a few hours).
Whether you want to avoid feeling like your flesh is exposed to the elements, or your pursuits are more shallow (read: looking good in those medal-bearing pics you’re going to plaster all over your socials), here’s everything you need to avoid chafes, blisters, and wounds when running a marathon.
Expert comment provided by Dr Hariom Yadav, an associate professor of neurosurgery and brain repair, who looks at how gut health affects ageing. He is also a scientific advisory board member at WonderBiotics.
You probably already know that good gut health can make everything from your mood to your immune system better.
Some studies have suggested that changes to your gut could reveal dementia risk years before diagnosis, too.
And microbiome researcher Dr Hariom Yadav recently published some research which looked at how microbiome imbalances might affect brain ageing (neurodegeneration).
Here, we asked Dr Yadav to share why our diet might affect how our minds age, some gut health mistakes he’d never make if he wanted to keep his brain younger for longer, and what we can do to make our odds better.
Why might our gut health affect our brain ageing?
Dr Yadav said, “people always ask me about the brain – memory, focus, dementia risk – and they expect me to talk about brain exercises or supplements. But I always tell them, start with your gut.”
He said that some foods can create weaknesses in our gut lining, leading to inflammation.
“And where does that inflammation go? It goes everywhere – but the organ that suffers the most, the organ that is most sensitive to inflammation, is your brain. It slows down your neurons. It mimics sleep. That afternoon fog you feel? That is actually a punch to your brain.”
He added, “If you are eating those foods three times a day, every day, for years and years, you are throwing punch after punch at your brain. And one day, those punches add up. That is cognitive decline. That is dementia risk. That is your brain ageing faster than it should.”
What gut health mistakes would Dr Yarav never make?
Dr Yadev said “the mistakes I see people making, over and over” are:
1) Eating ultra-processed, inflammatory foods regularly
“These are the biggest gut lining destroyers. They disrupt your microbiome, they open up your gut barrier, and they flood your system with inflammation,” he said.
2) Ignoring how you feel after eating
“If you feel sleepy after lunch, do not ignore it. Do not normalise it. Your body is telling you something. Listen to it.”
3) Not feeding your good gut bacteria
“Your microbiome is like a garden. If you are not putting in fibre, fermented foods, diverse plant-based foods – you are starving the very bacteria that protect your gut lining and regulate your brain communication.”
4) Eating at the wrong time
“Timing matters enormously. Late-night eating, skipping meals, irregular eating patterns – all of these disrupt the gut-brain conversation and throw off the signalling that tells you when to start and stop eating.”
5) Chronic stress without any management
“Stress directly damages gut integrity. The gut-brain axis works both ways – a stressed brain creates a leaky gut, and a leaky gut stresses the brain. It becomes a vicious cycle.”
How can I help to ensure my brain stays healthier for longer?
Aside from not making these gut “mistakes,” Dr Yadav told us that eating healthily can make a huge difference.
“When we talk about ageing, people often feel helpless. They think, well, my genes are my genes. My age is my age. There is nothing I can do. But the gut? The microbiome? That is one of the most modifiable systems in the entire human body,” the expert told us.
“I would say conservatively, 60 to 70% of your brain ageing trajectory is modifiable through gut health strategies. Biotics – prebiotics, probiotics, postbiotics – dietary diversity, meal timing, stress management – these are not small things. These are powerful, evidence-backed levers that we can pull every single day.”
On 12 April, Donald Trump announced his latest plan to open up the Strait of Hormuz. As he said, if Iran wouldn’t un-block the strait, the US would…
…implement a blockade of its own.
So double-blocking it, essentially.
He planned to unblock it by double blocking it.
This was always a ridiculous plan, and now vice president JD Vance has made things worse:
Does he realize what he just admitted lol https://t.co/MXimzOk08k
— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) April 13, 2026
JD Vance announces United States of Terror
As HG reported for the Canary on 12 April:
Iran has blamed the US for the failure of the ceasefire talks in Islamabad, Pakistan. In response, and in true toddler fashion, ‘President’ Trump threatened a naval blockade if “Iran wont bend”.
How many global powers does it take to blockade the same strait?
That isn’t a joke; it’s a serious question we apparently need to ask.
The new move from trump against our country is so comical that we don’t even have a meme for it.
— Iran Embassy in Thailand ☫ (@IranInThailand) April 12, 2026
Why did the ceasefire fail?
Because it was supposed to be a ceasefire across the Middle East, including Lebanon.
Israel ignored this, however, and intensified the attacks on their northern neighbour.
In the clip above, Vance says:
When it comes to weapons of war, what they have done is engage in this act of economic terrorism against the entire world. They basically threaten any ship that’s moving through the Straits of Hormuz.
The US appears to be struggling to understand the consequences of their unprovoked attack on Iran – Iran retaliating via a blockade.
The US and Israel launched an illegal war against them, and now they’re doing what they can to prevent Iran collapsing in on itself like Libya or Syria.
Vance continued:
Well, as the President of the United States showed, two can play at that game. And if the Iranians are going to try to engage in economic terrorism, we’re going to abide by a simple principle that no Iranian ships are getting out either.
If the US can understand this logic, they can understand why Iran closed the strait in the first place.
There’s a simple pathway to ending all this, and it’s to end the hostilities now.
That includes the hostilities carried out by Israel.
What’s going on?
The allegiance between the US and Israel is coming at increasingly greater costs – a staggering amount of money sent the way of the genocidaires, unending support, and a humiliating extended defeat to Iran.
At some point, America needs to tell them no.
According to vice president JD Vance, however, that day is not today.
And we’re all going to suffer as a result.
Featured image via Fox News
Increasingly, Reform UK’s lineup for the local elections looks like something out of the Monster Mash. The latest horrorshow we’re drawing your attention to is James Bembridge. Much like Nigel Farage, Bembridge has stated a desire to get rid of the publicly run NHS.
You know – that thing we all rely on to live:
Oh, sorry, you thought that Reform UK were running ‘salt of the earth’ candidates?
No, no – they said they’re running ‘salt the earth’ candidates.
Good luck if the earth they’re salting is the same that you happen to live on.
Reform on the NHS: “hate is too weak a word”
James Bembridge is the deputy editor of Country Squire magazine. We’re sure Reform’s working class voters know this already, because they’re all avid readers.
If you’re wondering how his work reads, here’s a sample:
‘Just write,’ my editor said.
What a load of Woman’s-Weekly-self-helping bollocks.
Did Monet just paint? Did Whitney Houston just sing? Did Jemma Jameson just wiggle that tremendous arse of hers? I think not. That arse made men pawns to her star, just as my writing will make –
‘You’re disgusting!’ some small, hen-faced woman says, and I realise I’m thinking aloud again – in Bloomsbury Street of all places.
Dreadful, isn’t it?
The sort of migraine-inducing stuff that makes you glad we have a free-to-use medical service.
It was Reform Party UK Exposed who drew attention to Bembridge’s opinions on the NHS. They’ve also exposed Bembridge for defending Tommy Robinson (a far-right activist that Reform generally distance themselves from):
Heres a video of Reform UK’s candidate in Soho, Westminster, James Bembridge (@TheBembridge) glibly defending Tommy Robinson against racism allegations.
He was a member of the BNP and EDL, and in the video Bembridge states he’s looked everywhere and not found any racism by him… pic.twitter.com/qE4Q59CMB1
— Reform Party UK Exposed 🇬🇧 (@reformexposed) April 13, 2026
Tommy Robinson and David Starkey loving James Bembridge no less, the Reform UK candidate for West End, Westminster.
Wonder if he agrees with Starkey’s statement that slavery was not genocide because of the survival of “so many damn blacks”. https://t.co/LgG3WMXd0K
— Reform Party UK Exposed 🇬🇧 (@reformexposed) April 11, 2026
You’ll note Bembridge looks like a Doctor Who-style regeneration of the guy from the Crystal Maze (that or a British One-Punch Man). Unlike everything else in this piece, that isn’t a criticism:
‘For the past six years, I’ve been a louche bohemian writer writing about Soho. I think I have authority on this matter.’ I am a Sohoite standing for @reformparty_uk for the West End. @danwootton @Nigel_Farage pic.twitter.com/YpDXzKKX8q
— James Bembridge (@TheBembridge) April 9, 2026
Getting back to the criticism, this guy is properly evil:
Imagine thinking this is funny, two days before Christmas, then posting it.@TheBembridge is a Reform UK candidate in Westminster. pic.twitter.com/7HK5ds5Ile
— Reform Party UK Exposed 🇬🇧 (@reformexposed) April 14, 2026
Other problematic Reform candidates include the following:
Public health
Unlike Bembridge, most people in the UK don’t want a private insurance system.
Using the US as an example, there are two key reasons why we shouldn’t go anywhere near an insurance-based system.
The first issue is one that most people are aware of. When you have an insurance based system of health, your citizens end up trapped beneath mountains of debt. As Health System Tracker note:
analysis shows that 20 million people (nearly 1 in 12 adults) owe medical debt. The SIPP survey suggests people in the United States owe at least $220 billion in medical debt. Approximately 14 million people (6% of adults) in the U.S. owe over $1,000 in medical debt and about 3 million people (1% of adults) owe medical debt of more than $10,000. While medical debt occurs across demographic groups, people with disabilities or in worse health, lower-income people, and uninsured people are more likely to have medical debt.
The second and most shocking issue is the US pays more per head for their healthcare.
That’s right; we’re not saying the US pays more overall; we’re saying more per head.
Despite US citizens having to arrange their own health insurance, the government still – somehow – ends up paying more to prop up their system than we do on a person-to-person basis.
The U.S. spends far more on healthcare than other rich countries. $15,000 per person (almost double), 18% of GDP (nearly twice as high), and healthcare inflation is 7% (roughly double others).
Yet outcomes are worse. Life expectancy is lower, infant & maternal mortality higher,…
— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) April 9, 2026
Sure, we Americans may not have universal healthcare and fine, maybe we also have some of the worst healthcare in the developed world, but at least we get to pay thousands of dollars every month in health insurance for basically nothing and still go broke if we get sick
— Conspiratorial Templates (@mynamehear) April 13, 2026
The sick party
Saying you want to swap the NHS for a Yank-style system is like saying you want to swap your working car for a wheelless junker.
We’ll be the first to admit the NHS is in a sorry state of affairs following years of ideologically-driven austerity. The solution to that problem isn’t to replace it with the worst system imaginable, though; it’s to properly fund the NHS.
The country squires don’t worry about losing the NHS because they know they won’t be the ones to suffer.
Featured image via Reform UK
lead image
Rice is a staple food for more than half of the world’s population, thanks to its availability and affordability. Most of the rice produced in the US is of the white, long-grain variety, which has a reputation for being unhealthy. But is white rice actually bad for you? And what if you, like billions of people, eat rice every day?
As it turns out, white rice can be part of a healthy diet, so long as you combine it with nutrient-dense foods. Below, we talked to experts about the nutritional facts of white rice and how this popular and versatile grain can affect your health.
White Rice Is Mainly A Source Of Energy
“Even though we’re told to eat more whole grains, like brown rice, that doesn’t mean white rice is lacking in nutrition,” Amanda Sauceda, a registered dietitian and gut health nutritionist, told HuffPost. One cup of unenriched, long-grain white rice, cooked and unsalted, contains approximately 45 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of protein, less than 0.5 grams of fat and less than 1 gram of fibre.
Along with providing a quick source of energy, white rice is easy to digest, which can be helpful if you’re recovering from an illness or engaging in physical activity. And although rice is low in fat, it does have some drawbacks. “Unenriched white rice contains relatively small amounts of vitamins and minerals because the bran and germ, where most micronutrients are located, are removed during processing,” explained Qianzhi Jiang, a pediatric and family dietitian at The Nutrition Changer.
However, most of the rice consumed in the US is enriched with nutrients such as iron, folic acid and B vitamins, including thiamin, riboflavin, niacin and vitamin B6. “Eating rice daily is not inherently harmful, but potential risks depend on portion size, dietary balance and the type of rice consumed,” she said.
Michelle Routhenstein, a preventive cardiology dietitian and certified diabetes educator, added that filling your plate with rice could mean that you’re missing out on other nutrient-dense foods like vegetables, legumes and whole grains, which provide more fibre, magnesium, potassium, antioxidants and heart-protective nutrients. As with any diet, it’s best to aim for balance and variety while considering your health needs.
Eat Rice With Your Health Needs And Goals In Mind
Brain Health
White rice provides glucose, the brain’s main energy source. Enriched rice and brown rice additionally supply some B vitamins that support neurological functioning that regular white rice doesn’t, Jiang said. However, you can just as easily obtain these vitamins from berries, leafy greens and starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes. In addition, “diets high in refined carbohydrates like white rice may contribute to blood sugar fluctuations, which over time can affect metabolic health and cognitive function,” she said.
If you regularly eat large quantities of white rice, you might be missing out on omega-3 fats, antioxidants and B vitamins, which support brain health. “In practice, rice works best as a neutral base for meals that include nutrient-dense foods like vegetables, legumes, nuts and lean proteins,” she said. “Other grains I like to mix with or use instead of white rice in traditional Chinese meals are wild rice, millet and barley.”
Immune Health
Whether you’re concerned about a chronic illness or cold and flu season, eating rice daily has some downsides. “Diets dominated by refined grains may be lower in nutrients like zinc, magnesium and antioxidants, which are important for immune function,” Jiang said. “White rice alone contributes few immune-supportive phytochemicals compared with whole grains or vegetables.” Phytochemicals protect plants against bacteria and viruses and may offer similar benefits to people.
That said, enriched rice contains iron and B vitamins, which support immune cell function and energy metabolism. Plus, if you’re sick, rice is gentle on your stomach. Another way to boost antioxidants is to add leafy greens, broccoli, peppers or mushrooms, Routhenstein said.
Heart Health
If you’re focused on heart health, the lack of fibre is a big downside to loading your plate with white rice. “Fibre plays an important role in helping lower LDL cholesterol and supporting overall cardiovascular health,” Routhenstein said. Another concern is blood sugar spikes. “Over time, repeated spikes in blood glucose and insulin can contribute to inflammation and damage to blood vessels, which may accelerate the process of plaque buildup in the arteries,” she explained.
Still, a heart-healthy diet doesn’t mean ruling out rice. Since it’s naturally low in sodium and fat, rice can serve as a base for heart-supportive foods like vegetables, beans and fish, she said. She recommended choosing brown rice, quinoa or farro. “These whole grains provide more fibre along with nutrients like magnesium and potassium, which play a role in blood pressure regulation and cardiovascular health,” she added.
Digestive Health
Current dietary guidelines recommend that people aged 2 and older consume 14 grams of fibre for every 1,000 calories. For reference, a cup of instant oatmeal contains 4 grams of fibre. “Most people are not meeting these goals, and this can contribute to constipation,” Sauceda said. “If you’re eating a lot of white rice and not many fibre-rich foods, this can affect your gut health.”
For better results, she suggested allowing your rice to cool. “When rice and other starchy foods like potatoes are cooked and cooled, some resistant starch forms, which acts like fibre in that it resists digestion and benefits your blood sugar,” she explained. Violeta Morris, a registered dietitian at The Concierge Dietitian, agreed, adding that brown rice is a good choice for slowing digestion. In addition, “fibre from plant foods helps feed the good bacteria in our intestines,” she said.
Another way to increase your fibre intake is to mix white rice with other grains. Sauceda suggested combining brown and white rice or adding starchy grains such as lentils or quinoa. Jiang suggested cooking rice with mung beans, adzuki beans, sweet potatoes or winter squash for added flavor and nutrients.
Gluten Sensitivities
If you have a gluten sensitivity or celiac disease, you can still enjoy rice since it’s naturally gluten-free. “However, a gluten-free diet that relies heavily on refined grains may lack fibre and nutrients such as magnesium and potassium that are protective against chronic disease,” Routhenstein said. “Instead of eliminating rice, a better strategy is to build a more balanced plate.”
She suggested incorporating gluten-free whole grains such as brown rice, wild rice, quinoa and buckwheat to increase fibre intake and nutrient diversity. If gluten is an issue, you’ll want to avoid farro. “You can also mix rice with lentils or beans to increase protein and fibre,” she said.
Diabetes Management
If you have diabetes or insulin resistance, eating large servings of white rice can make it harder to manage your blood sugar. “White rice has a higher glycemic index, meaning it can raise blood sugar relatively quickly when eaten on its own or in large portions,” Routhenstein said. Following this spike, your blood sugar can drop, leading to tiredness, fatigue and increased hunger after a meal that is already high in calories, Morris said.
In a systematic review, researchers found that people who ate the most white rice had a slightly higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. “For every additional 150 grams (about 3/4 cup of cooked rice) consumed per day, the risk of type 2 diabetes increased by about 6%, with a slightly higher risk observed in women,” she said.
Fortunately, there are ways to manage your blood sugar while still enjoying rice. For instance, pay attention to the order in which you eat. “Continuous glucose monitor data shows that eating fibre-rich vegetables and proteins, such as chicken or fish, first and saving the rice for last may help reduce the rise in blood sugar after the meal,” Morris said. She also recommended reducing your portion size to half a cup of cooked rice, whether it’s white or brown, or swapping rice for half a cup of beans or lentils.
Annie Japaud via Getty Images
Along with smaller portion sizes, Routhenstein suggested including fiber, lean protein and healthy fats, for example, by eating vegetables, beans, tofu, chicken or fish. “Choosing whole-grain varieties like brown rice also provides more fiber, magnesium and resistant starch, which can help slow digestion and support better blood sugar control,” she said. She also suggested cooling cooked rice to improve your blood sugar response.
Another helpful strategy is walking after a meal. “Even a 10- to 15-minute walk after eating can help your body use glucose for energy, improve digestion and support better blood sugar control,” Morris added.
Cancer Prevention
Compared to whole grains, white rice contains very little fibre and plant compounds. “Some studies link higher refined grain intake with poorer metabolic health, which may indirectly influence cancer risk,” Jiang said. Another concern is that rice can accumulate arsenic. At high levels, arsenic is linked to cardiovascular disease, although researchers did not find higher rates of heart disease, inflammation or blood vessel problems in people who ate one or more servings of rice per day, Morris said.
In addition, inorganic arsenic is a known carcinogen (cancer-causing agent), Jiang said. The levels of inorganic arsenic in US rice are generally not regulated. Although rice itself is not a carcinogen, frequent consumption, especially among children, may modestly increase exposure to arsenic. “Prolonged arsenic exposure has been linked to skin lesions, cardiovascular diseases and gastrointestinal disorders,” she said.
However, you can reduce the arsenic level in rice by rinsing rice before cooking and using and discarding excess water in the cooking process. “While typical dietary exposure from rice in the US is considered low risk, diversifying grains can reduce cumulative exposure,” she said. “When consumed in moderation as part of balanced meals with vegetables, legumes and healthy fats, rice can fit into healthy dietary patterns associated with lower cancer risk.”
Bone Health
To stay strong and rigid, our bones need magnesium. “A 45-gram serving of brown rice has 12% of your daily value of magnesium, while white rice has only 2%,” Sauceda said. In addition, uncooked brown rice contains 303mg of phosphorus compared to 108mg in white rice.
Joint Health
If you have achy or swollen joints, you’ll want to avoid refined grains. “A diet that’s higher in refined grains can encourage more inflammation in the body, which could negatively impact your joint health,” Sauceda said. “When eating for joint health, focus on antioxidants that have anti-inflammatory properties, which you find in brown, black and red rice.”
Vision Health
“Regular white rice usually does not contain vitamin A, which is important for vision health,” Morris said. Scientists have developed Golden Rice, which contains beta-carotene, a nutrient that the body can convert into vitamin A. Golden Rice isn’t commonly available in the US, but grocery stores sell enriched and unenriched varieties. “I recommend enriched rice, since it helps replace some of the nutrients lost during processing,” she said.
Next stop – the world’s first high-volume green shipping corridor, says The Port of Dover.
Port of Dover has achieved its highly ambitious net zero Scope 1 and 2 target, ‘Target 2025’, positioning it as the first UK port to reach net zero.
It has done so an incredible five years ahead of any other UK port and 25 years ahead of the Government’s own maritime net zero target.
Since 2007, Dover’s carbon emissions for Scope 1 and 2 have fallen dramatically by a staggering 98.3%, with the residual 1.7% of emissions being offset through an approved local regenerative farming scheme.
The Port’s announcement has come after emissions were independently verified against ISO 14064: 2018 and the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard to ensure accuracy.
Operating on one of the busiest shipping corridors in the world, the Port of Dover / Short Straits system accounts for eight percent of all UK international maritime emissions, so this news is a major step forward for the future of maritime decarbonisation.
That importance, and the disproportionate benefits that the shortest sea crossing delivers for Britain and its single biggest trading partner, means that there is a fantastic opportunity for the Port, in partnership with government, to demonstrate significant global leadership in maritime decarbonisation and avoid future UK, European and global carbon levies.
Decarbonising the Short Straits is not, however, just about doing the right thing for the planet, as important as that is for the port. It will keep consumer and supply chain prices down at a time of ongoing pressure on energy prices and the wider cost of living, reflecting the crucial role that Dover plays for the whole nation.
With 130 ferry movements a day facilitating £144 billion of trade per annum – that’s a third of the UK’s trade in goods with the EU – ‘Target 2025’ represents a key milestone on Port of Dover’s mission to establish the Short Straits as the world’s first high-volume Green Shipping Corridor.
On its journey to leadership on the global stage, the port has already been recognised by the Ecoports Port Environmental Review System, the main environmental management standard of the European ports sector.
“Dover’s leadership sets an inspiring example for all other ports across Europe and beyond.” (Tim Verhoeven, EcoPorts Coordinator)
There is incredible pride at the port, particularly in the way its in-house environment team have implemented modern and forward-thinking assets, sustainable processes and progressive behaviours across all areas of the port to get here. This has given Dover the tools for its customers, partners and internal stakeholders to follow.
One such example is the Port’s SEA (Safety and Environment Awareness) Award, a Dover-created initiative which recognises cruise lines that minimise their environmental footprint whilst in port through emissions reduction and recycling.
Dover’s committed sustainability drive is an essential part of its masterplan to 2050, helping to protect the UK’s competitiveness and drive economic growth, whilst future-proofing its operation and business on the UK’s key trade artery.
The Port’s longer-term ambitions require strong partnerships with industry and government, and the Port is already working hard with both. Its Scope 1 and 2 achievements have, nevertheless, all been accomplished through its own drive and determination to champion sustainable maritime trade and travel through a range of targeted measures. These have included the use of alternative fuels, renewable energy generation and efficiency initiatives.
Illustration by Tracy Worrall
4 min read
Lessons in political science. This week: ageing
As politicians get older, they talk less about the future. That’s the key finding from an article forthcoming in the Journal of Politics, based on analysis of parliamentary debates in Australia, Canada, Ireland and the UK.
Sentences spoken in debate were classified depending on whether they focused on the past, the present, or the future. To do this, a team of researchers initially coded a sample by hand, and then – using the data from that exercise – trained a computer program to code the rest automatically. This allowed an impressive scale of analysis: the British data alone draws on 709 million words spoken in the Commons, back to the 1940s; there are around 900 million words of text from the other three countries.
Overall, politicians mostly talk about the here and now; 64 per cent of all sentences spoken in the Commons since the 1940s have been about the present. The past accounts for 23 per cent, with the future just 13 per cent. But the future focus of speeches declines with increasing age. The decline is shallow before a politician hits 65, but it becomes much steeper thereafter. The effect is at its most extreme in Australia, and less sharp in Ireland, but it was evident in all four countries.
Yet although older legislators talk less about the future, it’s not because they are banging on about the glories of the past. If we take the UK as an example, the proportion of past-focused speech increases until roughly 45 and plateaus after that.
And some good news, I think: “Ministers in our data tend to talk more about the future than backbenchers.” That’s all those targets and missions.
As someone who recently pondered how many general elections he might have left in him – like a psephological J Alfred Prufrock measuring out my life in parliaments – I wonder whether this effect is specific to politicians or more general; perhaps we all become less future-focused once we’ve realised that most of the sand is in the bottom of the hour glass.
Either way, interesting as it is, I’m less convinced it matters hugely in substantive terms, because although the effect is clear it isn’t all that large. At its maximum, there’s about five percentage points difference comparing the oldest politicians to the youngest. Plus, the percentage of parliamentarians over 65, when the effect becomes steepest, is relatively small, at least in the UK. Still, if we want more politicians who look to the future, rather than the short term, then we need fewer oldies.
Relatedly, some research published recently in the Policy Studies Journal shows that when a politician talks about the short term, the British public thinks that means around a couple of years; “long term” typically means something in the range of five to 10 years. Those figures vary little across party lines, age groups, and such like.
In electoral terms, then, the public’s view of the short term is roughly the first half of any parliament; the long term is two parliaments. This government‘s short term is therefore coming to an end very soon.
You are a bright bunch, and so you will see the broader issue here. Lots of public policy takes a lot longer than even 10 years to come to fruition. To take one example: the government recently announced new reservoirs, the first to be built since the 1990s; the initial two are planned to come online in 2036 and 2040, with nine by 2050, some 25 years after the announcement. Another example: the all-England coastal path inaugurated by the King last month was initiated during the government of Gordon Brown; it took 18 years and seven prime ministers. This is less a case of jam tomorrow, rather jam at some point in the far-off distant future.
Further reading: C Hanretty et al, Legislators talk less about the future as they age, The Journal of Politics (2026); M Barnfield et al, Long-Term Time Horizons and Support for Public Investment. Policy Studies Journal (2026)
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