Why do the clocks go forward?

Some experts want to get rid of BST

The draw for the quarter-finals of the Champions League resulted in heavy-caliber confrontations, led by the renewed clash between Real Madrid and Manchester City, in a confrontation that has become a constant headline for recent seasons in the continental championship, while Barcelona breathed a sigh of relief after avoiding facing defending champions Paris Saint-Germain, colliding instead with Newcastle United.

The draw, conducted by UEFA in Nyon, Switzerland, saw former Croatian star Ivan Rakitic participate in the ball draw, and resulted in open paths to exciting possibilities until the final match.

Champions League draw: renewed summit between Real Madrid and City

European football fans will face a fiery confrontation between Real Madrid, the record holder for the number of titles, and Manchester City, the English champion, in an early test that may determine the features of the competition for the title.

Recent years have not been without decisive clashes between the two teams, giving this confrontation a high-level revenge and tactical character, especially in light of the technical rapprochement between them.

Barcelona avoids the Paris complex

On the other hand, Barcelona avoided facing Paris Saint-Germain, a team that formed a clear knot for the Catalan club in recent years, despite the historic “Remontada” night in 2017. Since that confrontation, the Parisian team has eliminated its Spanish counterpart twice, and also defeated it during the league stage this season.

Barcelona will face a different test against Newcastle United, which has been performing remarkably domestically and continentally this season. Despite the development of the English team, the numbers are in favor of the Catalan club, which has won four out of five matches that brought them together previously, the last of which was a victory in the league stage this season, which contributed to its direct qualification to the knockout rounds.

Barcelona will benefit from the advantage of playing the return match at its home stadium.

Full 16-final matches

The quarter-final matches were as follows (the first leg on the home soil of the first-mentioned teams):

• Atletico Madrid × Tottenham Hotspur
• Newcastle United × Barcelona
• Bodø/Glimt × Sporting Lisbon
• Bayer Leverkusen × Arsenal
• Galatasaray × Liverpool
• Paris Saint-Germain × Chelsea
• Real Madrid × Manchester City
• Atalanta × Bayern Munich

The first leg matches will be held on March 10 and 11, while the return matches will be played on the 17 and 18 of the same month.

Quarter and semi-final tracks

The draw has set possible paths for upcoming matches in the next rounds, as the winner of the Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea match will meet the winner of the Galatasaray and Liverpool match. In the opposite path, the winner of the Real Madrid and Manchester City summit will face the winner of the Atalanta and Bayern Munich match.

The winner of the Newcastle-Barcelona match will clash with the winner of the Atletico Madrid-Tottenham match, while the final path will bring together the winner of the Bodø/Glimt-Sporting Lisbon match, and the winner of the Bayer Leverkusen-Arsenal clash.

In the semi-finals, one of the two teams in the semi-finals from Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, Galatasaray or Liverpool will face the winner from Real Madrid, Manchester City, Atalanta or Bayern Munich. While the other semi-final brings together the winner from the Barcelona, Newcastle, Atletico Madrid or Tottenham path, with the winner from the Bodø/Glimt path, Sporting Lisbon, Bayer Leverkusen or Arsenal.

A draw promises open matches for all possibilities, in an edition that seems likely to present one of the most exciting editions of the Champions League in recent years

Featured image via the Canary

In the end, it wasn’t even close. Hannah Spencer stormed the Gorton and Denton by-election. This is the first parliamentary by-election the Green Party has won. It won’t be the last.

‘Urgh, Labour’

The day before the vote, a group of us from the North East were knocking on doors there. Speaking to voters who’d not yet been contacted – either always out at work, or maybe just back from their hols.

I quickly got to know the “urgh, Labour” face. Men, women, old, young, black, brown, white – whenever the subject of Labour came up they looked like they’d found a hair in their coffee. Not anger, more a bewildered disgust.

Some of it was about the local services. Fly tipping, rubbish. A bit about the poor quality of housing. From the state of the front door I could see some landlords were skimping on maintenance. Some spoke to me about Gaza.

Mostly, though, people raised the cost of living in one form or another. Energy bills. Rents. Food prices. Insecure work. Not a single person said anything remotely transphobic. That seems to be an obsession of online culture warriors. The working people of Gorton and Denton are more worried about their depleted bank accounts.

The future’s Green

Wednesday drive time I did a Times Radio interview on my phone. John Pienaar remarked how upbeat I sounded. I told him what people told me – the Green vote was strong. It wasn’t a scientific sample, but from what I’d seen Hannah Spencer was going to win.

So is anything less than a resounding victory a bad result for you, he asked. Isn’t it remarkable, I said, how this has been framed. This is an ultra-safe Labour seat. Whatever happens, Labour’s last remaining argument has been shredded. You don’t need to vote Labour to stop Reform.

Gorton and Denton was 127th on the Greens’ target list. In other words, if the Greens won by just 1 vote, they’d expect to win 127 seats in a general election. Political analysts Electoral Calculus looked at the demographics and said that, based on this result, we’d see only 33 Labour MPs elected at the next general selection. 10 Tories, 38 Lib Dems, and 254 Reform.

249 Green MPs would be elected, including all three Newcastle seats. I’ve been working on those already. Data from campaigning already shows that Greens will replace Labour in council seats across Newcastle this May. No more will people hold their nose and vote Labour to keep out Tories or Reform. People will vote Green to win.

Green Party positive, not divisive

John Pienaar put it to me that the Greens had run a divisive campaign by raising the issue of Gaza. I said that in a democracy people can and should choose their own voting criteria:

People like you and me, John, read the economic sections of the manifestos. Most people don’t. They see video of hospitals being bombed and civilians being gunned down while queuing for food. They want to see some compassion from their leaders. They look at the way their politicians respond to issues like Gaza and use that as an indicator of their character.

We were out again from 6am Thursday, delivering “get out the vote” reminders. Then door knocking in the rain until well after it was dark. Voters didn’t let the weather deter them. I guess they’re used to it in Manchester.

The establishment parties have been roundly thrashed, and Reform candidate Matt Goodwin blames the electorate, calling them “a coalition of Islamists and woke progressives.” We can expect to see them ramp up the dirty tricks. Not just fake polls, but nasty disinformation. But they’ve already been doing it.

The Green Party said loud and proud, we will tax billionaires. We will take utilities into public ownership. We’ll have a humane asylum system. We’ll introduce rent controls. We will treat drugs like a public health problem. And we will treat everyone with dignity and human rights, and stand against racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia.

And it worked. The Great British public heard all the slurs and lies from Labour and Reform, and thought, you know what, I quite like the sound of a country where everyone works together. A tolerant Britain. A fair Britain. And they voted for a northern working class woman in a party led by a gay Jewish man.

Featured image via Barold / the Canary

A Canary journalist spotted Wes Streeting bundling five people into a four-seater Fiat 500 – clearly breaking the law:

The Canary spotted the car in Gorton and Denton on Thursday, 26 February. Streeting pulled the passenger seat forward to allow three other people into the back seats. He then got into the passenger seat. Another person got into the driver’s seat.

Of course, we had to check the registration plate to confirm, but the car is a 2016 Fiat 500 POP. It has 3 doors, and four (small!) seats.

And four seats equals four seatbelts. Which means one passenger was not wearing a seatbelt, and therefore broke the law.

UK law states:

You must wear a seat belt if one is fitted in the seat you’re using – there are only a few exceptions.

You’re also only allowed one person in each seat fitted with a seat belt.

You can be fined up to £500 if you do not wear a seat belt when you’re supposed to.

Wes Streeting also got into that car, knowing the passengers were breaking the law.

Road fatalities

In recent years, there has been a huge increase in the number of road fatalities due to people not wearing seatbelts.

The most recent figures from the Department for Transport show that 40% of back seat passengers killed in car crashes were not wearing their seat belts.

In 2023, 1,766 people died in the UK, and many more received serious, life-changing injuries which could have been prevented by wearing a seat belt.

Amid ever-increasing pressure on the NHS, and with Streeting as the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, there seems to be an ever-so-slight mismatch between messaging and action.

Simply getting into an overfilled car without enough seatbelts shows that Streeting thinks he is above the rules.

Featured image via the Canary

A French League match between Nantes and Le Havre showed a human moment. In the 74th minute, Nantes goalkeeper, Portuguese Anthony Lopes, fell to the ground, clutching his hamstring, in what at first glance appeared to be a routine injury requiring medical attention. Play was halted for several minutes as the medical staff rushed to the veteran goalkeeper.

But behind this pause, another story was being written.

French League shamed

The French League has regulations prohibiting the suspension of matches for religious reasons, unlike some European competitions that allow a short break at sunset to enable fasting players to break their fast.

In England, for example, the Premier League has adopted a mechanism allowing referees to grant a minute of rest at sunset during Ramadan. In France, however, the situation is different.

As Lopez fell to the ground, the Muslim players on the pitch found those precious moments they had been waiting for. They quickly headed to the touchline, ate dates, and drank water, in a quiet scene tinged with gratitude.

There was no official announcement, no special refereeing decision, just a brief window of opportunity created by the goalkeeper.

After the moment passed, Lopez got up. He showed no signs of injury and didn’t ask to be substituted. He returned to his position under the crossbar, as if nothing had happened.

Solidarity beyond words

Such details might not be recorded in goal reports, but they are etched in the players’ memories.

Lopez’s action – whether spontaneous or deliberate – carried a clear message of solidarity: in football, there is more to it than just competition.

The match ended with Nantes winning 2-0, bringing their points tally to 17. But the most important statistic wasn’t in the standings, but in the 74th minute… when the match was paused, and some players quietly broke their fast.

Between law and spirit

This incident highlights an ongoing debate within French football regarding how to handle fasting players during Ramadan, at a time when other competitions are moving towards flexible solutions that respect the legal framework while also acknowledging religious sensitivities.

Amidst this debate, Lopez’s gesture offered a simple example of humanity: a non-Muslim player giving his teammates a moment they needed, without speeches or slogans.

Sometimes, solidarity doesn’t require an official statement; it’s enough for a goalkeeper to fall, and others to rise up and break their fast.

Featured image via the Canary