British actor Juliet Stevenson has launched an urgent appeal on behalf of Palestinian health workers. As Gaza fades from the headlines, Stevenson remains determined to advocate for the Palestinian families and health workers still facing unimaginable atrocities every day.

Health Workers 4 Palestine’s Ramadan appeal comes as UNICEF confirms over 100 children have been killed since the ceasefire. Furthermore, Israel is forcing 37 international aid agencies including Save The Children, Médecins Sans Frontières and Oxfam to leave Gaza. This only makes the lifesaving work of the doctors, nurses, and surgeons Health Workers 4 Palestine supports even more vital.

Amira Nimerawi, CEO of Health Workers 4 Palestine, said:

On 1 March 2026, 37 international NGOs will be forced by Israel to suspend their operations in Gaza. It has never been more important we stand with the Palestinian health workers on the ground.

They are the only lifeline for thousands of critically ill and wounded children trapped in Gaza, and the foundations of Palestine’s future.

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All donations to Health Workers 4 Palestine will go to its Gaza medics Solidarity Fund. This pays stipends to Gaza medics, funds mobile clinics and rebuilds maternity wards. The fund was co-designed with Gaza medics and is administered by local Palestinian NGOs.

Stevenson has consistently stood up

Stevenson’s best known work includes Truly, Madly, Deeply (1991), Bend It Like Beckham (2002), and her Olivier Award-winning performance in Death and the Maiden (1991-92). A four-time BAFTA Best Actress nominee for film and TV roles spanning over 30 years, Stevenson has consistently used her public profile to advocate for refugees, children affected by conflict, and the rights of Palestinians.

Stevenson said:

Healthcare is a human right. But in Gaza, it has been destroyed.

Join me in standing with the families and health workers of Palestine. We cannot abandon them now. If you can, please donate.

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For this appeal, Stevenson tells the story of Ahmed, a doctor in Gaza whose family has been displaced ten times in the past year. At night, he sleeps on the streets. In the day, Ahmed treats patients and saves lives without any pay.

Dr Omar Abdel-Mannan, co-founder of Health Workers 4 Palestine and paediatrician said:

Ahmed’s story is the brutal reality for Palestinian health workers across Gaza. This Ramadan, we cannot forget them and all they are doing as the backbones of a healthcare system fighting for its survival. If you can, please stand in solidarity with doctors like Ahmed and donate to our appeal.

Health Workers 4 Palestine is an organisation of medical professionals from over 70 cities worldwide, advocating for Gaza medics and the protection of Palestinian healthcare.

To donate to Health Workers 4 Palestine’s Ramadan Appeal, go to healthworkers4palestine.com/donate

Featured image via Robin Keane / Health Workers 4 Palestine

An open letter to Zack Polanski over the anti-Zionism motion members have tabled in the Green Party.

Dear Zack,

As a Green Party member, I am writing to express concern about members of the party trying to derail a democratic, member-led process.

As you know, the Green Party members’ motion A105, if it passes, will be groundbreaking in UK politics for recognising Zionism as racism.

Recognising Zionism as racism and becoming the first UK political party to adopt this official line would be historical. It will also allow political support for any legal challenges against anti-Zionists. This, more importantly, will help to dismantle the documented Zionism within UK politics. Unfortunately, I must have missed your support for such an important motion.

As you would know, interpretation, unlike with art or music, doesn’t apply to historical facts. Zionism began as a racist, fascist, nationalist, and colonialist concept and ideology officially in around 1897, but its ideological roots can be traced back to as early as the 1700s in Eastern Europe. More recently, the horrific events of World War II and the terrible holocaust of Jewish people in Europe led to the British-led Balfour Declaration which is undeniably Zionism as a form of colonialism being implemented.

Regardless of faith or interpretation, this was the land of Palestine.

This meant displacing the many Arabs, Muslims, Christians, and Jews that already lived in a secular Palestine.

This caused death and destruction, which continues today.

And it is a historical fact that Zionism was at the root of this.

Accusations from within the Green Party of antisemitism towards anyone questioning Zionism and the existence of Israel as a racist, apartheid, colonial state ignore these historical facts. And it’s very concerning.

In 1948, once the state of Israel was formed, it was asked by international law to release the Palestinian prisoners it had taken during its violent creation. Refusing to comply, the state engaged in years of documented non-compliance, aggression, and political interference, including in the UK.

Anti-Zionists, pro-Palestine campaigners and Jewish people openly denounce these Zionist actions. This includes the Jewish people imprisoned for their objection to killing Palestinians or conscription into the IDF. This history is a clear example of Zionism and a racist, colonialist, apartheid state with no compliance with international law.

The open extermination of Palestinians for over 70+ years is also documented, even though it is religiously forbidden in Judaism. These crimes against humanity are committed by Zionists; this is an international fact, regardless of other people’s interpretation.

This internationally recognised opinion should not lead to ignorant accusations of antisemitism, especially within the Green Party. An employment tribunal stated that it is not antisemitic to call for the abolishment of Israel as a racist, colonialist and Zionist state. This shouldn’t be being disputed.

Yet counterterrorism police have been contacted regarding a member-led motion just to recognise Zionism as racism. This is, along with claims in the media that Jewish members of the Green Party are in fear of this motion. I am concerned that this is a clear attempt to derail a member-led democratic process and motion. These accusations and conflation of anti-Zionism as antisemitism are also in themselves antisemitic.

I find it very concerning that questioning a full-blown genocide – livestreamed to the rest of the world – or not recognising the liberation of oppressed people is being viewed as antisemitism within the Green Party.

There is documented evidence that Israeli children are being taught to hate Palestinians in schools. They are encouraged to share with their families and friends the crimes, public humiliation, torture and murder committed by Israelis against Palestinians. These are documented crimes against humanity from a racist, colonial, apartheid state. Again, recognising this as Zionism is not antisemitic.

Another example is polling from inside Israel. For example, 78% of Jewish Israelis felt that its government made “substantial efforts” to reduce the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza – a statement that is obviously not true. Plus, 79% of Jewish Israelis have not been “so troubled” or “troubled at all” by the genocide in Gaza.

This Zionist-run society is now also calling for the execution of the Palestinian prisoners, who themselves have not been on trial. These Palestinians are currently being held in incredibly inhumane conditions. This shows the serious levels of colonialism, racism and apartheid that are being openly acted out for the world to see, this is Zionism.

Israel’s racist, colonialist, apartheid Zionist ideologies have been clear to see, even paraded with pride. It has openly shared its treatment of the Palestinians and the genocide committed. Over 70+ years of obvious Zionism, colonialism, racism, and apartheid have been witnessed globally.

Israel has not even tried to hide the fact it is committing a genocide – something many other perpetrators of these kinds of atrocities did not even do.

Yet any criticism of these atrocities is repeatedly met with an accusation of antisemitism. This conflates the true nature of antisemitism, both discrediting Jewish people and anti-Zionists.

These accusations of antisemitism also apply to members refusing to accept a two-state solution, which, in itself, as many believe, is completely flawed. If a Zionist, racist, oppressive, colonial state were to share its already stolen land with the oppressed people of Palestine.

This is effectively the same as asking the people of South Africa under apartheid to agree to have a Black half and a white half. This would disregard the liberation, human rights and an end to racism that was fought for.

The oppressed, as history has shown us, have to resist their racist colonial states for true freedom from oppression.

The South Africans, Haitians, Ghanaians, Indians, Indonesians, Vietnamese, Sudanese, Chileans, Mexicans, and Colombians, to name a few, eventually freed themselves from their colonialists through resistance.

The Palestinians are repeatedly denied this right. These human rights violations have led to Palestinians forming resistance to try to liberate themselves.

These acts of resistance from the Palestinians are classed as terrorism or even a declaration of war. This has led to Israel’s inflicting starvation and a genocide being committed against an entire population of Palestinians. This is Zionism, and to oppose this is not antisemitic.

So, while we continue our day-to-day lives, enjoying our fresh water, heating and food, many of us protected by the same white privilege that created Israel, Palestine continues to experience a genocide. This genocide has killed over 70+ thousand people. This cannot be ignored.

A state that was created for one religion to be safe to continue to commit genocide on another religion is not a solution to the original Holocaust. It is also, as you would know as a Jewish man, not Jewish or part of Judaism.

To allow any country to repeatedly maim, torture and kill innocent Palestinians shows no respect for Islam as a religion, along with putting Judaism into disrepute as a religion. These crimes continue to be committed in the name of Judaism. This anti-Muslim hate is Zionism, and it is racism. It comes from a colonial, classist, racist ideology.

There is nothing Jewish about Zionism.

This is Zionism and should be recognised as such. The high courts recognise that it is possible to compare Israel to Nazi Germany and the behaviour of the Nazi’s during WW2. As it stands, these laws are regarding Israel as a state, its behaviour, and the right to call for the racist, colonial, apartheid state to be abolished. This should be accepted and respected by Green Party members.

Sadly, this silence and complicity from liberal Zionists and successive political parties and their leaders is deafening.

As you know, we live in a heavily Zionist-influenced political, state, and media-run country. Any attempt to fight Zionism is often labelled as antisemitic, criminal or even terrorist. This behaviour from political figures, media outlets, and public figures wrongly spreads fear amongst Jewish communities. As a Jewish man, you may recognise this.

Along with the repeated use and wrongful accusations of antisemitism to stop any real democratic, political or legal challenges to Zionism.

Unfortunately, due to the fear of this motion being antisemitic, and the fear this is now causing the Jewish community, there have been active attempts to derail it. These are clear attempts to derail the motion and cause unnecessary fear within the Jewish community. This is Zionism and needs to be called out.

I am asking you, as a Jewish man understanding the difference between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, and a leader of a political party, to call this behaviour out for what it is.

Members of the Green Party, specifically the Jewish-and-non-Jewish anti-Zionist members, are not being protected from these Zionist attempts to conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism.

This is supposed to be a democratic member-led process, and while members still have this option it should be respected.

As the leader of the Green Party, I am asking you to recognise this behaviour as Zionism and make a stand against it.

I am asking you to support the anti-Zionists who currently support you.

You have stated that you believe in a free Palestine, and this has gained you and the Green Party support from anti-Zionists, yet this democratic process is now being hijacked by Zionism.

Anti-Zionist members need you and the Green Party to recognise Zionism. The motion A105 states that Zionism is racism… this is already a historical fact.

We need you to recognise and support anti-Zionism in politics… and within the Green Party.

Thank you for your time,

Nicola.

Featured image via the Canary

If you’ve ever fantasised about pulling off a daring heist at the British Museum to get looted treasures back to their rightful owners, then a new video game allows you to get some practice in advance. Relooted was released this month by South African developer Nyamakop, and lets players take control of parkour specialist Nomali. She’s helped by a team of safe crackers and acrobats as they seek to repatriate artifacts stolen by colonial powers from Africa.

The developers describe the game’s fictional setting as taking place in a world where:

Near the end of the 21st century, the political powers that be brokered a Transatlantic Returns Treaty, promising the repatriation of African artifacts from museums. Good old fashioned diplomacy was working — until it wasn’t. An amendment switched up the terms and conditions of which objects were to be returned.

Museums, now knowing that only publicly displayed artefacts would be given back, were slowly removing artefacts from public display.

The items you attempt to take back to their country of origin all:

…exist in real-life and are of huge cultural, historical, and spiritual significance to the people they were taken from.

British museums continue to justify their theft

These include the remains of Ethiopian Prince Alemayehu, still disgracefully being held by the benefits scroungers and rapist backers at Buckingham Palace. There’s also the severed head of Mangi Meli. German colonial forces hung and decapitated him, then took his head back to Germany as a trophy.

After acting like depraved serial killers by doing that, it’s not a surprise the nation went on to shortly thereafter carry out a genocide in Namibia against the Herero people. After the Nazi holocaust, the world’s most defective political culture is now on to its third mass extermination in about 100 years by assisting the slaughter in Gaza.

That’s the incredibly dark side to the looting and mass murder that took place in Africa under the butchers of Germany, France, Britain and others. Relooted manages to adopt an upbeat tone, however, imagining an Africanfuturist world in which a flourishing continent is asserting itself by taking back its property.

Before we reach that promised land, we have to put up with a contemporary reality in which Western museums still cling on to their stolen wares like a small child that doesn’t know how to share. Despite this immature behaviour, museums and fellow theft advocates still insist on infantilising those requesting artifact return. They do this on the basis that their original owners may not be able to look after them properly.

US & Britain wrecked Iraq, and its historical treasures

They’ve got some nerve coming out with shite like that, given the greatest recent act of mass vandalism and theft involving historical treasures came as a result of the US/British led assault of Iraq. As a result of that massive crime, enormous numbers of priceless items were plundered from Iraqi museums, some dating back thousands of years.

These belonged to thriving West Asian societies in what was the cradle of modern civilisation, while Europe was still a backwater. The Americans have been compared to the invading armies of Genghis Khan for their indiscriminate murder, and destruction of ancient culture.

The criminality of the British Museum has now become a popular meme template. Variations include the attempted theft of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and empty galleries in the event of stolen items being returned.

Relooted — a refreshing change from video game war propaganda

Having a game from independent developers with enlightened politics makes a refreshing change from the war propaganda pumped out by large publishers. The Call of Duty series has become notorious as a Muslim murder simulator, where players are routinely taken to a generic West Asian Arabistan to carry out mass slaughter. Historic US war crimes are recast as the acts of others. Once example being when the horrific killing of fleeing Iraqis in the first Gulf War was retold as a Russian atrocity.

This mental imprinting of devastated West Asian landscapes and disposable Arab people has been key in laying the foundations that enable too many in Western societies to see the Gaza holocaust as unremarkable.

It forms part of what a military-entertainment complex, in which video games and films act as weapons of mass distraction, drawing people away from the actual truth about the world.

Pleasingly, Relooted doesn’t just have good politics – it’s also an excellent game. The Canary can verify this through our own thorough hands-on investigation (it’s a hard job but someone has to do it).

It’s currently sitting at a ‘Very Positive’ rating on PC games platform Steam. This would be even higher were it not for negative reviews being cast by gammons fulminating about its ‘woke’ premise, as opposed to judging it on its merits as a game. There’s plenty of good reasons to pick up a copy, and winding these people up by funding independent African developers is just one more.

Featured image via the author

A YouGov poll has clearly shown that the majority of Brits would not take kindly to our equivalent of the US’ ICE agency. This comes as Reform UK announced that they would work to introduce our own force of thugs in the image of a violent, rogue anti-immigration force implemented by US President Donald Trump.

Pointing out that US ICE agents have been responsible for the cold-blooded murder of American citizens, Jimmy Giant has taken to X to underscore how unappealing Reform appear to be to the electorate.

Thankfully, many Britons will be relieved to see this poll. Fortunately, it reminds us that we haven’t sunk quite so far into the abyss as our pals across the Atlantic. Moreover, it signals that Reform leader Nigel Farage may have miscalculated the redeeming qualities of his love for Trump.

Announcing a “British ICE” after two citizens were just killed in cold blood is like trying to sell flights to NYC on September 12th 2001 https://t.co/gv8Lt0lut7

— JimmyTheGiant (@jimthegiant) February 23, 2026

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Far rights hateful hoodwinking isn’t working on the masses

Uh-oh, another incident highlighting that the billionaire-funded Reform have zero clue about what British people want, whilst underlining that Nigel Farage has nothing original to offer. Nevertheless, this makes it easier for voters and for the opposition, as we effectively have advance knowledge of what will come if Farage gets in. Thankfully, only a measly 11% of those polled would actually welcome thugs descending on our streets to attack immigrants and refugees.

Before we forget, let’s remind ourselves who those 11% are likely to be:

They’ll be queueing up round the block to join Zia Yusuf’s ICE-style agency if the Manchester Britain’s First march is anything to go by.🤬 #ReformUK https://t.co/pxpdjjTph8 pic.twitter.com/L62SCre87G

— The Rev. Anton Mittens 🌹👮🎓 (@MittensOff) February 23, 2026

After seeing a number of violent and fatal attacks against US citizens, this brings huge sigh of relief. Nevertheless, we cannot underappreciate the power and influence that super-rich businessmen like Farage and co have.

But let’s take the wins where they show up, right?!

Jimmy isn’t alone in pointing out the overwhelming rejection of ‘British ICE’. Immigration expert Zoe Gardner posted on X that this underscores how overrepresented Reform, its representatives and its supporters are across the mainstream media:

Again & again: Reform supporters are weirdo outliers.

Politics as a whole needs to stop pandering to them & focus on the reasonable people who don’t want unaccountable masked stasi thugs kidnapping people out of our neighbourhoods. https://t.co/0rFgsIDASk

— Zoe Gardner (@ZoeJardiniere) February 23, 2026

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This account on X warned that Reform would use its ICE policy as a punishing stick against all of us, not just the minority they’re currently scapegoating:

We must fight any attempt to create a UK ICE terror unit.

This is a trade union issue. Migrant rights are workers’ rights and must be defended. A force like ICE will be used against all of us not just migrants. 

Reform must be stopped. pic.twitter.com/nu8aqfUodH

— Simon Dubbins (@SimonDubbins67) February 24, 2026

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Reform work for themselves, not for us

Once again, the pompous, hateful right-wing party has been exposed as being completely out of touch with the majority of the population. This is welcome, of course. Especially as we aren’t short of real-life examples of Reform being completely inept. We wrote a piece as 2025 came to a close on their hypocrisy and failures underscoring how shallow their ‘pledges’ are in reality.

The announcement of Reform’s ICE policy, delivered by Zia Yusuf speaking for the first time as ‘home affairs spokesman’, would appear to have been received like a damp squib among the majority according to this poll.

We wrote at the time:

On 23 February, Zia Yusuf gave his first speech in his new role as Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman. Along with unveiling deepening US-style Christofascism, he also proudly revealed details of plans to increase his party’s already vile immigrant-bashing and Islamophobia to new heights.

This included a proposal to create a UK ‘Deportation Command’ modelled on the US ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agency. This agency would conduct ‘Operation Restoring Justice’, which would involve detaining ‘illegal’ immigrants in pre-fab structures before rapidly deporting them.

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Yusuf also voiced ambitions to institute a visa ban against six Muslim-majority countries. Likewise, he would also refocus the already hideously Islamophobic ‘Prevent’ counter-terrorism scheme against Muslims in the UK.

This X account underscored just who Reform work for:

It’s all performative right wing bollocks, Reform Ltd have embraced Trumpism.
@Nigel_Farage
doesn’t want a democracy, he wants a far right wing dictatorship for millionaires & billionaires.

If you’re neither of those, then you’re not part of their exclusive club.

Brits say ‘Fuck Off’ to Reform hate

This thankfully reassures concerns that Reform policies appeal to a significant proportion of the population. In contrast, it underscores the minority that these billionaires are attempting to incite to win votes. A minority which we saw last weekend have no problem whatsoever with being violent, in fact, they revel in it.

Making that transparent to wider public will work to maintain hope and perseverance in advancing socialist politics. After all, we are all united in the threats facing us. And they come in private jets with offshore bank accounts, not in a dinghy.

Featured image via the Canary

Dozens of FBI files that mention US President Donald Trump are missing from the vast Epstein releases. A review by CNN shows that these include records of key FBI interviews with an alleged victim of both wealthy paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and Trump.

CNN said the missing files include:

three interviews related to a woman who accused President Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her decades ago.

The US media outlet found:

An evidence log provided to attorneys for Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell includes serial numbers for about 325 FBI witness interview records – but more than 90 of those records, over a quarter of the list, don’t appear to be present on the DOJ website.

The woman had told FBI agents:

that Epstein had repeatedly abused her starting when she was approximately 13 years old, and who also accused Trump of sexually assaulting her.

Trump — privileged documents?

Another US media outlet, NPR, challenged the authorities on the missing files. NPR said:

The Justice Department declined to answer NPR’s questions on the record about these specific files, what’s in them and why they are not published.

However, after NPR published their story:

the Justice Department reached out to NPR, taking issue with how its responses to questions were framed. Department of Justice spokeswoman Natalie Baldassarre reiterated DOJ’s stance that any documents not published are privileged, are duplicates or relate to an ongoing federal investigation.

Legal firm Norton Rose Kennedy describes ‘privilege’ as:

a legal right which allows persons to resist compulsory disclosure of documents and information.

The term suggests the documents are part of legal cases which are ongoing. Which cases these are is unclear.

Victims lost in the noise

Beyond this the withholding of documents by the US government remains a mystery to investigators.

Democratic Party Representative Robert Garcia told CNN:

We have a survivor that made serious allegations against the president. But there’s a series of documents, and it would appear to be possible interviews, that the FBI conducted with the survivor that are actually missing, that we don’t have access to.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing. And the DOJ has insisted it was following the law and had deleted no files.

A DOJ spokesperson told CNN:

We have not deleted anything, and as we have always said, all documents responsive were produced.

CNN added:

They [DOJ] did not answer follow-up questions about specific files.

The internal goings-on in the DOJ, FBI and Trump’s camp remain as opaque as ever. The Canary has said before, the media circus around the files keeps rolling on month after month — while the needs of victims are sidelined. Victims’ desire for justice is being lost amid the noise, chaos and static produced by the institutions involved in the releases. And, in some cases, by the very individuals implicated in the files.

Featured image via the Canary

According to an unnamed cabinet minister, the Greens are “hammering” them in Gorton & Denton. This is a stark admission from a party insider, demonstrating that they gravely underestimated the Greens:

Exclusive from @patrickkmaguire and our podcast The State of It

Labour has accused the Greens of “whipping up hatred” among Muslim voters before this week’s pivotal by-election after they called for Sir Keir Starmer’s party to be “punished for Gaza”

A cabinet minister said that…

— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) February 24, 2026

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Hammered

The above post is from the Times‘ political editor Steven Swinford. Perhaps the most interesting part is this quote from an unnamed ‘senior cabinet minister’:

The Greens are whipping up hatred and deliberately raising the salience of Gaza. They’re hammering us. They’re a totally different party to the one we thought they were. They’re just like Respect — it’s like fighting a by-election against George Galloway.

Just think about that.

Labour are upset that a rival party is highlighting an important issue that voters are justifiably upset about — said issue being that successive UK governments provided political and material support to a foreign nation committing a genocide.

What did they expect?

Well, we know what they expected, and it was to sweep the issue under the rug.

Under the duopoly of Labour and the Conservatives, there was always a tacit agreement that the two parties and the establishment media would ignore certain issues. The problem is that between parties like the Greens and independent outlets like the Canary, there is now a voice for the legitimate grievances people feel.

Eleanora O’Cualáin (Stats for Lefties) said the following:

Fucking incredible quote here basically admitting that Zack Polanski has transformed the Greens into a serious electoral force, particularly funny given that Adrian Ramsay was predicting that Zack would destroy the party entirely https://t.co/6acmAYAZdo pic.twitter.com/B8KPBoUn23

— Eleanora O’Cualáin 🏳️‍⚧️🇮🇪 (@EleanoraStats) February 24, 2026

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And we KNOW that would have happened because some older melt Greens are already saying they’re uncomfortable with the party being so mean about Starmer (see: Jenny Jones), and they’re pushing back even though it’s reaping electoral benefits. If they were in charge, we’d be DOA

— Eleanora O’Cualáin 🏳️‍⚧️🇮🇪 (@EleanoraStats) February 24, 2026

The previous Green Party administration ‘hung candidates out to dry’ for opposing Zionism and genocide. The Canary writer Maddison Wheeldon was one such candidate, and she wrote Polanski ‘must hold firm’ if the failed centrists try to reassert control.

Greens are appealing to voters

Swinford also reported:

Hannah Spencer, the Green candidate, has distributed leaflets in Gorton & Denton in Urdu, saying that voters should “make Labour pay” and accusing them of pushing “racist, dog whistle gutter policies”

On the leaflet, she is wearing a keffiyeh, the Middle Eastern scarf commonly associated with Palestine

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On Monday, the party circulated a campaign video in Urdu accusing Matt Goodwin, the Reform UK candidate, of being someone who will “fuel the flames of Islamophobia”

The video shows Starmer shaking hands with Narendra Modi, the Hindu nationalist prime minister of India, and also shows David Lammy, the deputy prime minister, shaking hands with Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel. The video cuts to aerial footage of Gaza as Spencer, speaking in Urdu, says: “Politicians aren’t working for us.”

Labour want you to believe it’s unfair to speak to the issues voters care about; that it’s wrong to worry about anything besides the establishment-approved problems they permit us to consider.

Well, we’re sorry, Labour, but those days are over.

Featured image via Barold

With this issue high on the national agenda, the awards, produced by Total Politics, provide a timely platform to recognise leadership, innovation and sustained commitment. 

The awards aim to shine a spotlight on those who champion change, challenge injustice and provide vital support in communities across the country. From frontline services and charities to policymakers and campaigners, the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls Awards will honour the leadership and innovation driving progress in this critical area. 

The 2026 awards are proudly sponsored by TSB, reflecting a shared commitment to supporting survivors, raising awareness and driving meaningful change across sectors. Organisations and individuals are invited to submit entries highlighting outstanding achievement, impactful initiatives and inspirational leadership in preventing violence against women and girls. 

Full details of the award categories and the nomination process can be found here.

Angus Parsad-Wyatt, Director of Political Engagement at Total Politics, said: “Through Total Politics and our media title The House magazine, we are proud to provide a national platform to recognise those leading work to prevent violence against women and girls. These awards shine a light on the individuals and organisations strengthening support, shaping policy and delivering vital services across the UK.” 

Kate Osiadacz, TSB Head of Responsible Business said: “Supporting the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls Awards reflects TSB’s commitment to helping people escape their abuser and access safety. Through initiatives like the TSB Flee Fund and the Safe Spaces available in our branches, we are working to provide practical and immediate support for those who need it most. These awards highlight the individuals and organisations whose dedication is driving real change, and we are committed to standing alongside them.” 

Those working across the sector are encouraged to nominate colleagues, volunteers, teams or organisations whose dedication and impact deserve recognition. 

Hannah Spencer (Green Party) and Angeliki Stogia (Labour Party) candidates in the Gorton and Denton By-election (Alamy Live News)

4 min read3 hr

“It’s something that should be looked at,” a Labour Party source told PoliticsHome.

In response, a Green Party source said it was “utter desperation” from Keir Starmer’s party ahead of the high-stakes by-election.

The Gorton and Denton area in Greater Manchester has been represented by Labour for over a century, but a three-way battle has been underway for the seat since incumbent Andrew Gwynne resigned in January.

Labour and the Greens have been fighting to be seen as the party best-placed to stop Reform UK from winning the seat.

In the run-up to polling day on Thursday, bookmakers have tended to show the Green Party as the favourites to win the by-election, often with Labour trailing in third place behind Reform UK. 

Although Labour odds have shortened in the last 24 hours following Keir Starmer’s Monday visit to meet activists on the local campaign, there are concerns in Labour that a small number of big bets can easily change the narrative around a high-profile by-election such as this one.

A small number of large bets on a particular party can result in its odds narrowing significantly, which, in turn, could influence how voters behave when they reach the ballot box, especially if they want to vote tactically to stop a certain candidate.

This morning, former Green Party leader Natalie Bennett posted on X: “Not in any way endorsing betting, but it is an independent source of information for any voters uncertain about which way to go to stop Reform.”

In a recent letter to Green leader Zack Polanski, Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell wrote: “Can I just ask how you feel ethically about sharing betting odds on the election which are based on a couple of very suspect big money bets? 

“It doesn’t sit easily with me and I’m surprised by your association with big money election betting.”

A Labour source told PoliticsHome: “The small number of big money political bets we’ve seen in this campaign and their use in misinformation is of real concern. 

“It’s an easy way for opponents to cook the books and has provided ammunition to our opponents that isn’t based on any real evidence of what is happening in this seat. 

“It’s a straight fight between Labour and reform in Gorton and Denton, but dodgy bets could skew the campaign. It’s something that should be looked at.”

HuffPost reported earlier this month that a £90,000 bet had been placed on Green candidate Hannah Spencer winning the contest.

The Green Party has responded by accusing Labour of “playing politics” and “flapping around” ahead of the by-election result.

A Green Party spokesperson told PoliticsHome: “This is utter desperation. Labour are literally making stuff up when they know they’re losing. This is playing politics when they should be showing how they can make people’s lives better. 

“If Labour want to talk about gambling, though, it’s a shame it’s taken a few betting markets that have put Labour behind the Greens for the Labour Party to finally call for additional regulation on gambling after the weak changes they have made to date. 

“Until now, Labour has wanted to prioritise ‘growing the gambling industry’, which means policies that encourage more gambling. We welcome their latest U-turn, although it will probably upset their gambling industry donors. 

“Labour are flapping around because they know the Greens are the only party that can beat Reform tomorrow.”

There is a feeling that the by-election could be very closely fought, potentially requiring a recount. An Opinium poll published on Tuesday put Labour and the Greens level on 28 per cent, with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK on 27 per cent. 

Reform’s hopes of victory in Gorton & Denton hinge on the progressive vote being evenly split between the other two parties.

The parliamentary by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in May last year was decided by just six votes. It saw Reform UK win its first MP in the North West.

At the Welsh Parliament’s Caerphilly by-election later in the year, in October, Plaid Cymru ended Labour’s 100-plus-year-long representation of the area. The governing party was pushed into third place, with Reform UK coming second.