Politics
Zack Polanski Slams Keir Starmers Putin Jibes As Vile
Zack Polanksi has launched an outspoken attack on Keir Starmer after the prime minister mocked the Green Party’s policies on legalising drugs and giving up the UK’s nuclear weapons.
Starmer accused the Greens of being “high on heroin, soft on Putin” at prime minister’s questions two weeks ago.
It was part of a Labour strategy – revealed by HuffPost UK – to directly target their left-wing rivals as their support continues to grow.
Appearing on Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg on BBC1, Polanski said Starmer’s comments were “beneath the office of the prime minister”
He said: “Let’s start with the drugs comment. First of all there are thousands and thousands of unnecessary deaths from drug harm and from dangerous drugs and what we need is a public health approach.
“So when I talk about legalising drugs, the key bit is about legalising and regulating. If someone has a problematic relationship to drugs, then surely the answer is to make sure they’re seen by a medical health professional who can help them.
“To have Keir Starmer making cheap jokes, delivered badly by the way, from the Despatch Box was pretty disgraceful.
“And on Putin, this is the prime minister who is subservient to Donald Trump, a man who says he admires President Putin while shaming Zelenskyy in the White House.
“Defence is a really serious issue, there is no bigger number one priority for a government or for the leader of a political party, than to defend the people of this country and to make jokes about Putin and Russia, I think, is pretty vile.”
Polanski’s comments came as Labour and the Greens fight it out with Reform UK to win the Gorton and Denton by-election on February 26.
The Greens announced on Friday that plumber and local councillor Hannah Spencer will be the party’s candidate.
A Labour spokesperson said: “If Zack Polanski thought the Greens had a chance in Gorton and Denton he wouldn’t have chickened out standing himself.
“A vote for the Greens or any party other than Labour just risks letting Reform’s toxic politics divide communities in Manchester.”
Politics
The House | “Every Movement Was Controlled”: The Quiet Rise In Children Under Deprivation Of Liberty Orders
Illustration by Tracy Worrall
10 min read
There has been a 13-fold increase in the use of court orders that deny children freedom to move and associate in the last seven years. Justine Smith explores the reasons behind this huge increase in what are supposed to be emergency orders
Hundreds of children with the very highest level of need are being locked away from society, often in illegal, unregistered homes with a rolling rota of untrained staff, because of shortages in therapeutic care.
These children can be controlled through frequent physical restraint and denied basic rights such as contact with family and friends or an education, the ultimate victims of a care system in crisis. They are held under Deprivation of Liberty (DoL) orders, which were designed to give special legal powers to local authorities to restrict the freedom and rights of children and teenagers considered to be an extreme risk to themselves or others.
The orders are handed down through the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court, not criminal courts, but can be more repressive and open-ended than even Young Offender Institutions. Though they are meant to be an emergency, short-term response, critics say they are increasingly being used to plug gaps in health and social care services.
Since 2017, the number of orders has rocketed from just over 100 a year to around 1,300. There are now three times the number of children detained under them than there are in prison, and a fifth stay in place for at least a year. The Children’s Commissioner found that a third were placed in unregistered homes – which are not monitored by education regulator Ofsted – often because legal homes refuse to take them.
The rise can be largely attributed to an increase in older children entering care with complex issues, the collapse of mental health and early intervention services, the reduction of places in secure children’s homes and paediatric psychiatric wards and a shortage of foster carers and children’s homes with the acute expertise and experience needed to support them in the community.
Restrictions often include a ratio of between one and five adults around the child 24 hours a day, sometimes sat outside their bedrooms at night and with bars on windows and locks on every door and limits or bans on phone and internet use. Two thirds come with the right for staff to use physical restraint.
Children subjected to them are almost always in the care system and have complex and unmet needs, such as mental health issues, physical and learning disabilities, and the legacy of early life trauma, sexual and criminal exploitation and familial abuse or neglect.
Judges, campaigners and human rights advocates have all raised concerns about their inappropriate overuse for children who have already been let down by poor, fragmented health and social care services, often leading to an escalation of their challenges.
I was just contained like a wild animal for more than two years, not supported
When most teenagers her age were juggling busy social lives with the build-up to GCSEs, Roismi was being kept in a locked house and followed everywhere by five adults from a rolling rota of paid staff. At a time when she needed unconditional love and privacy during adolescence, her every movement was scrutinised; any change of mood or sign of emotion might lead to terrifying physical restraint.
She was not in trouble with the police or considered a risk to society – only to herself after a history of sexual, psychological and physical abuse, and failures of the services that were supposed to help her recover from her trauma.
After being sectioned hundreds of times and moved through countless foster homes and residential placements, Roismi, who is autistic and has ADHD and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, was put on a DoL Order in unregistered accommodation.
Roismi says she was made to feel like a “demon” by staff who appeared to fear rather than understand her.
“Every movement was controlled,” she explains. “I was watched all the time by people I didn’t know. I cannot cope with being in a room with lots of people. I would go to the kitchen and five people would follow me in so I would retreat to my room, the only place I had moments of privacy. I lost a significant amount of weight in two months.”
Even in her bedroom, staff checked on her every 15 minutes, 24 hours per day, adding insomnia to her problems.
“The damage done to me will last a lifetime,” she adds. “I was just contained like a wild animal for more than two years, not supported. I lost my friends. I only left the house for appointments. It was so much worse than being sectioned in a hospital, where at least I could associate with other young people like me. I wish I had stayed in my abusive family home because at least by now I might have an education and some kind of normal life.”
Anela Anwar, CEO of care charity Become, which has supported Roismi, says: “A society having to resort to depriving children in care of their liberty because there are no safe and suitable homes is one completely failing the children in its care.
“But it doesn’t have to be this way. Through proper investment, the government can create the right homes in the right places, especially those that offer more therapeutic support, to give children the care and stability they need.”
Roismi experienced 18 months of stability in a good, therapeutic children’s home with trauma-informed staff, but she was thrown back into chaos when her most trusted caregiver had to leave.
Latest quarterly figures show the majority on DoL orders are aged 13 to 15, but there was a 52 per cent rise in under-12s over just three months last year.
The orders severely restrict access to education, training or work, and disrupt important relationships and any medical or therapeutic interventions.
Carolyne Willow, a campaigning barrister specialising in children’s rights, says: “It is intolerable that highly vulnerable children continue to be deprived of their liberty in arrangements cobbled together in crisis and haste, often in unregistered children’s homes devoid of Ofsted scrutiny and other protections such as monthly independent safeguarding checks.”
She says the lack of specialist, skilled local authority provision is driving the increase in cases to the High Court for the last resort “safety net” of DoL orders.
“These children are being typically held in so-called ‘solo placements’ where they are under constant surveillance by staff who often have neither the training nor support to meet their considerable needs.”
Research led by the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory (FJO) into the risk factors and reasons for increases in orders, and the conditions and outcomes children on them face, found they were placed an average of 56 miles from home, and more than half were put in unregistered – therefore illegal – provision.
Roismi’s experiences were reflected in interviews with other young people for the project, who described the draconian orders as damaging, re-traumatising and exacerbating existing problems, leading to feelings of isolation, hopelessness, despondency, distrust and resentment. Some told of being repeatedly restrained by staff who had not been trained, in which they suffered injuries as well as psychological trauma.
Some said they had not been told why they were on one or how to get it removed, while others said they had not spoken to their families for months. Many, like Roismi, said they were completely unprepared when they were thrown back into the real world at 18, expecting to end up dead or in prison.
FJO director Lisa Harker says: “The reality is, they very rarely go to school, a few have learning at home. They often have complex mental health and trauma-related issues, however they do not get priority in CAMHS [Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services] even though they are often moved around a lot, meaning they never get to the front of any queue.
“Services may say they can only start treatment once settled. So they are denied the very help that might get them off a DoL, keeping them prolonged, and are then dumped when they are 18 with no education, having not developed social skills or been able to learn how to be independent and with mental health issues that have been allowed to escalate in the absence of any meaningful support.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Education said: “These reports of children’s experiences are shocking, and we recognise the concerns raised. We are making major changes to children’s social care to ensure that when, in the most serious cases, a child needs to be deprived of their liberty for their own safety, they are cared for in accommodation that is safe, appropriate and fit for purpose.
“Children should not be facing placements in unregistered homes when they need the highest levels of care and protection.”
They added that the government was spending £2.4bn on supporting families to stay together and £560m to create more places for children in high-quality, registered homes.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is proposing new DoLs accommodation in the community, as an alternative to secure children’s homes where they are unable to leave the premises, and would strengthen oversight and accountability where children are deprived of their liberty. However, the changes could take years to take effect and the rate of incarceration through DoL orders continues to rise.
Campaigners including the Children’s Commissioner are calling for the bill to go further, mandating national data recording and oversight of every DoL and legal representation for those affected, as well as a clear legal and regulatory framework safeguarding their rights and welfare.
There are alternative models, such as the multi-agency Myst (My Support Team) model in Wales, an intensive mental health service for children on the edge in the care system which works with their carers to provide holistic, long-term support before issues escalate to the point where a DoL might be needed.
As well as drastically improving their outcomes and wellbeing, such early, committed interventions, while costly in the short term, will undoubtedly reduce pressures on council resources down the line.
Secure children’s homes can cost £350,000 a year, but an intensive DoL order such as Roismi’s – which included four trained nurses at all times – can cost up to £3m.
Now 20, she is in supported living and has more freedom, but says she has lost years of her childhood and is now struggling to catch up before all support ends when she turns 25. She has been so institutionalised, she says, she still automatically asks for permission just to be able to go outside and has accumulated £28,000 of debt in unpaid rent and bills, having been unaware she needed to sign on for the housing element of Universal Credit.
Despite all the challenges she has faced, she has set up a not-for-profit organisation, My Trauma is Chronic but I’m Iconic, which mentors and supports other young people as they go into adulthood after care or other adverse early life experiences.
However, Roismi is an anomaly in a care system that is failing so badly that leavers are seven to eight times more likely to die before they reach the age of 21, five times more likely to die by suicide and make up around a quarter of the prison and homeless populations.
US President Donald Trump on Sunday night broke out some props as he spoke with reporters on Air Force One about one of his biggest obsessions.
With the war in Iran passing the one-month mark, the stock market plunging into correction territory, gas prices soaring by $1 a gallon or more over the past month, and the partial shutdown of the federal government entering its seventh week, the president showed off oversized renderings of the ballroom he is trying to have built at the White House.
“This is a view of the columns as they are going to be made, they’re gonna be hand-carved, isn’t that beautiful? Top of the line,” Trump said as he displayed the image below. “They’ll be Corinthian, which is considered the best, most beautiful, by far.”
As Trump displayed the images, he claimed that people were talking about “how beautiful” the ballroom was, and said it would be needed to host foreign leaders, such as Chinese President Xi Jinping. He also said the military was building a “massive complex” beneath the ballroom.
Over the weekend, The New York Times published a report that said the “rushed” project was full of design flaws, including stairs to nowhere and columns that would block the view. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back on X, slamming the authors as people who had “never built anything” and defending the project as “a beautiful ballroom that’s been needed for decades.”
But critics pointed out that the 90,000-square-foot ballroom was far larger than the White House’s 55,000-square-foot main residence, and others slammed Trump for demolishing the East Wing to make way for the structure without first seeking public input. The National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States, a nonprofit that oversees the preservation of historic structures, has also filed a lawsuit that could slow or even stop the project.
Trump’s lengthy aside about his ballroom left critics aghast, especially given everything else going on that would seem to require the president’s attention:
Donald Trump suddenly has “no problem” with allowing Russian oil into Cuba.
Just a month ago, before the US-Israeli strikes against Iran, America had aligned with its western allies by imposing strict sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s oil industry which fuels his war against Ukraine.
A fortnight ago, Trump eased those penalties against Moscow in response to the Iranian closure of a major oil shipping lane.
That meant countries could buy Russian oil which had previously been floating in the sea unable to be sold.
Now it appears Trump is even more relaxed about what Putin does, as he evidently does not mind if those tankers actively cross the Atlantic.
The president has blocked any attempts to send energy exports to Cuba since January in protest against the country’s leadership.
But overnight, the US president told the press: “If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba, I have no problem with that, whether it’s Russia or not.”
A reporter asked: “Do you worry that that helps Vladimir Putin?”
He replied: “It doesn’t help him. He loses one boatload of oil. That’s all it is. It’s fine. If he wants to do that, it doesn’t bother me.”
Trump went on to claim Cuba is “finished” with “bad and corrupted leadership”.
“Whether or not they get one boatload of oil, it’s not going to matter. I’d prefer letting it in, whether it’s Russia or anybody else, because the people need heat and cooling and all of the other things,” the president said.
Trump previously threatened to impose tariffs on any country that sends crude oil to Cuba.
However, the Kremlin has dismissed such threats, noting the US and Russia have not been trading much lately.
The BBC has responded to speculation about how much Question Time guests are paid to appear, following recent claims made by Thomas Skinner.
Last week, the divisive TV personality made his inaugural appearance on Question Time, alongside Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem MPs Jake Richards, Tom Tygendhat and Layla Moran.
In response to a comment from one viewer suggesting Thomas had been booked due to him being a “vocal supporter” of Nigel Farage’s Reform party, the former Strictly Come Dancing star wrote on X: “I’m not there representing any party. I’m there because it pays £2,000 and I like watching Question Time.”
He added: “I’ve been asked probably nine or 10 times to attend over the last four or five years. So I decided to give it a go. And I really enjoyed it.”
Shortly after this, Question Time clarified: “Question Time can confirm that panellists who are not politicians are offered an appearance fee of £150.”
Despite this, Thomas continued to maintain that he “agreed £2000 for me to go on” Question Time, as well as “agreeing” that “they pay [my] driver £400 on the night to take me and bring me back”.
He later told The Sun: “My understanding of the fee came directly from my management, who informed me that I would be paid £2,000 for attending.
“I’m a big fan of Question Time and really enjoyed being part of the show. At the same time, it is work for me, and with three kids, I have to treat these opportunities as part of my job”.
A BBC rep reiterated that non-politicians were paid £150 for their time on the panel show.
HuffPost UK has contacted the BBC for additional comment.
The most recent instalment of Question Time was filmed in Clacton-On-Sea, where Reform leader Nigel Farage is the current MP.
He said before the broadcast that he was “not able to take part” in the broadcast due to a BBC policy which forbids MPs from “appearing on the show in their own constituencies”.
“There is a longstanding policy on Question Time not to invite MPs on in their local constituencies unless it’s for a single-issue special programme,” a spokesperson for the broadcaster later confirmed.
Vice President JD Vance just shared his thoughts on whether or not aliens exist, telling conservative podcaster Benny Johnson he had a more spiritual take on what’s going on when it comes to UFOs.
During an interview posted on Saturday, the Hillbilly Elegy author said he was “more curious than anybody” about government research into the possibility of life on other planets, but added, “I don’t think they’re aliens. I think they’re demons anyway, but that’s a longer discussion.”
Johnson couldn’t let Vance leave it at that.
After being pressed to share more, the vice president said, “Well, look, I think that celestial beings who fly around, who do weird things to people. I think that the desire to describe everything celestial, everything is otherworldly, to describe it as aliens.”
“I mean, every great world religion, including Christianity, the one that I believe in, has understood that there are weird things out there and there are things that are very difficult to explain,” said Vance, who grew up an atheist and converted to Catholicism as an adult.
The former Ohio senator told Johnson he thinks his faith offers an answer for what’s going on when it comes to the supernatural.
“I naturally go ― when I hear about, sort of, extra natural phenomenon, that’s where I go to ― to the Christian understanding that there’s a lot of good out there, but there’s also some evil out there. And I think that one of the devil’s great tricks is to convince people he never existed.”
The world soon may have some answers.
Last month on Truth Social, President Donald Trump announced plans to release “government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs).”
Vance and Trump aren’t the only ones in the White House who want to find out if the truth is out there.
During an appearance on the New York Post’s Pod Force One last October, the VP said Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also fascinated by the topic.
“We talked about this a little. We talked about this back in our Senate days,” Vance revealed, later adding how “all of us put the tinfoil hat on from time to time.”
Pope Leo XIV marked the Christian holiday of Palm Sunday by calling for an end to the violent chaos in the Middle East and condemning world leaders who have weaponized Christianity to justify war.
The pontiff described Jesus Christ as the “king of peace” who “offers himself to embrace humanity, even as others raise swords and clubs.”
“This is our God: Jesus, king of peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” Pope Leo said in St. Peter’s Square. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.’”
The Trump administration and its followers largely gravitate toward Christian nationalism and evangelism, with officials like Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth describing US involvement in the war with Iran as a Christian country using its military might to eliminate its mostly Muslim enemies.
“Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation,” Hegseth said last week during his first monthly Christian worship service at the Pentagon since the Iran war began. “Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”
Gregor Galazka/Vatican Pool via Getty Images
Like his late predecessor, Pope Leo has gained a reputation for opposing violence and war, and has grown more vocal about this stance since the US and Israel launched their war on Iran. Religion has also played a part in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as Israel’s attacks on the Palestinian territories and Lebanon.
“As we set our gaze upon him who was crucified for us, we can see a crucified humanity,” the pontiff said. “In his wounds, we see the hurts of so many women and men today. In his last cry to the Father, we hear the weeping of those who are crushed, who have no hope, who are sick and who are alone. Above all, we hear the painful groans of all those who are oppressed by violence and are victims of war.”
Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images
Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and marks the start of the Christian holy week that leads to his crucifixion on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter Sunday. The pontiff said he was praying for the Christians in the Middle East, “who are suffering the consequences of a brutal conflict and, in many cases, are unable to observe fully the liturgies of these holy days.”
Israel faced backlash Sunday after police blocked the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and the Custos of the Holy Land, Reverend Fr. Francesco Ielpo, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to conduct mass. The patriarchate said the rejection was the “first time in centuries” that church leaders were prevented from celebrating Palm Sunday at the church, which holds the tomb Christians believe Jesus rose from on Easter.
Israeli police claimed the leaders were denied because all holy sites in the city were closed for security reasons. However, following statements from Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will try to reopen the church at least partially this week.
Keir Starmer is expected to make Labour’s decision not to go to war with Donald Trump against Iran central to the party’s local election campaign on Monday.
Speaking from the West Midlands, the prime minister is expected to call on the UK to “stand together” amid the turbulence from the wars in Ukraine and Iran.
Alongside his cabinet ministers and Labour’s deputy leader Lucy Powell, Starmer will vow to continue “to fight to earn every vote” and “fight for the country we are building together, a Britain built for all”.
He will say: “Because, in the context of everything that is happening in the world, those values – that fairness we stand for – it’s never been more important.
“That is the thing about the volatile world we live in now.
“It tests, not just our security, our strength on the world stage. It also tests our fairness at home. Our unity.”
Starmer will take aim at his rivals too, accusing Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and her Reform counterpart Nigel Farage of poor leadership over the Iran war.
The prime minister is expected to say: “We will protect our forces, our people, our allies in the region. But I made the decision that it is not in our national interest to commit British forces to a war, without a clear legal basis and a clear plan – and I stand by that.
“It’s a question of judgement. Do not forget that the Tories and Reform would have rushed us into this. With no thought of the consequences, including for the cost of living. Utterly reckless.”
Both right-wing parties initially suggested Starmer should have granted Trump full access to UK military bases for his pre-emptive strikes on Iran last month.
The PM rejected that US request, later allowing access only for defensive and limited attacks in an attempt to keep British troops out of the war.
Starmer will be trying to galvanise the public before voters head to the ballot box on May 7 for local elections across England, and national elections in Scotland and Wales.
It’s the first major test of the Labour government since Starmer’s landslide victory in 2024.
But the party has slumped dramatically in the polls in the last two years.
Labour lost a seat to the Greens in last month’s Gorton and Denton by-election, coming in third place after Reform UK.
The launch also comes as energy bills are set to fall to £117 next week as the price cap for April to June comes in.
Starmer will say that decrease in energy bills is down to Labour’s efforts to stabilise the economy.
However, there are fears wholesale gas and oil prices could drive the cap up for the following quarter, between July and September, as the Iran conflict squeezes global energy prices.
Iranian forces continue to effectively block the major shipping lane, the Strait of Hormuz, by targeting most oil tankers which passed through it – subsequently pushing up prices worldwide.
The cabinet is also set to play an active role in the coming weeks with almost 30 visit across the country over the next week.
‘Love, unity, hope.’ That was the cringe, Hallmark-card message of yesterday’s ‘march against the far right’ in London, organised by the Together Alliance – a coalition of trade unions, hysterical left-wingers and dense celebrities who have memed themselves into believing that the right-populist Reform UK is a ‘far-right party’.
I’d barely been on Whitehall for 30 seconds before I saw that most lovely, unifying and hopeful of sights: a sea of flags of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the terror state that has been veiling women, hanging homosexuals and murdering dissidents and Jews ever since 1979.
You might think that any self-respecting anti-fascist wouldn’t want to be seen dead with these ayatollah fanboys, apologists for an anti-Semitic dictator with messianic designs on the world. (Now who does that remind me of? It’s on the tip of my tongue!) But you would be wrong. The flags and placards of the late Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, offed by Israeli airpower last month, bobbed through the crowd without incident.
This is not guilt by association. Not least because the Together Alliance has formally associated itself with groups who have – to put it gingerly – ‘links’ with many of the most blood-stained Islamist movements on Earth.
On its website, its list of supportive groups includes the Muslim Association of Britain. This inoffensive-sounding org, a veteran of anti-Iraq War and ‘pro-Palestine’ activism, was founded by one Muhammad Sawalha, a former Hamas military chief in the West Bank, who now lives in London for some reason. You remember Hamas, that Jew-killing, woman-raping jihadi army. That Hamas.
Then there’s the Islamic Human Rights Commission, which the think-tank Policy Exchange describes as ‘an entity tied to the Iranian government’. Its greatest hits include awarding Charlie Hebdo ‘Islamophobe of the Year’ just two months after the mag’s staff were massacred by Islamists, hailing Khamenei as a ‘great martyr’ at the recent Al-Quds Day demonstration, and trying to organise a boycott of Holocaust Memorial Day.
Depressingly, I could go on. And none of this is the least bit surprising. Since October 7, we’ve seen alleged leftists in dayglo dungarees happily marching alongside Islamic radicals waving placards featuring caricatures that wouldn’t look out of place in Der Stürmer, or chanting Arabic war slogans about the slaughter of Jews in the 7th century. That’s a fun day out for them now.
Britain’s Islamo-left has been on the march for decades, too. Back in 1994, Chris Harman of the Socialist Workers Party penned ‘The Prophet and the Proletariat’, a pamphlet arguing that Islamism spoke to a ‘feeling of revolt [that] could be tapped for progressive purposes’. This hellish marriage of convenience has now been consummated. Hence, Jeremy Corbyn calling Hamas and Hezbollah his ‘friends’. Hence, Lindsey German of the Stop The War Coalition, which was also out in force yesterday, declaring loftily that ‘democracy in the Middle East is Hamas, is Hezbollah’. German said that back in 2006 – the last time Hamas-run Gaza held an election.
But this is no longer confined to the dregs of the old left. What yesterday’s demo – with its festival-style branding, dance stage and tote-bag-swinging attendees to match – reveals is that the deranged brand of ‘anti-fascism’ that has curdled in recent decades has gone mainstream among the time-rich middle classes. An anti-fascism that thinks the British people peacefully, democratically agitating for national sovereignty, less migration and more clout is a terrifying echo of the 1930s, all while ignoring religious extremists blowing up kids at pop concerts and stabbing Jews at synagogues.
The ‘left’ has simultaneously become dumber and more extreme. Green Party leader Zack Polanski, the de facto headliner yesterday, embodies this lobotomisation. A man who got involved in politics about five minutes ago and gives off the distinct impression he has never read a book that wasn’t written by Owen Jones. A man who thinks and speaks in faux-inspirational Insta talking points – replete with talk of ‘hope’ and ‘love’ – while pushing leaflets through letterboxes appealing to voters on the basis of ginned-up ethno-religious grievance. A man who confuses virtue-signalling for politics, blokes in wigs for women, and hardline conservative Muslims for allies in the fight for rainbow-coloured ‘social justice’.
This is not your grandfather’s anti-fascism. There were appeals from the podium yesterday to the Battle of Cable Street and the fight against the National Front. This is an insult to historical memory, almost a form of stolen valour. At Cable Street, Jews, leftists and East Londoners faced down Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts. In the 1970s, genuine anti-fascists organised to stop genuine far-right thugs stabbing Asian people or burning black families out of their homes. Yesterday, tens of thousands of Daunt Books botherers gathered in Westminster to collectively screech about a migration-sceptical political party they happen to dislike leading in the opinion polls. It’s not the same thing.
Alongside Nigel Farage, Tommy Robinson was the other bête noire of the day. The Together Alliance was hastily formed after the anti-Islam, nationalist activist’s Unite The Kingdom demonstration last September, which brought north of 100,000 people out on to the streets. The speeches from Together Alliance organisers implied they feel they are losing ground. They constantly stressed theirs was a gathering of ‘working people’, despite the overwhelmingly more bourgeois vibe, and insisted their march had attracted half a million (the Metropolitan Police reckon it was closer to 50,000).
But rather than ask why ordinary people are so fed up with uncontrolled migration, multiculturalism and Islamic extremism that they are taking to the streets – even getting behind questionable characters they might have previously swerved – the speakers yesterday appeared convinced the little folk are just sadly mistaken. Billy Bragg and others charitably conceded they have a right to be angry. They are just angry about the wrong things! Silly geese. That gnawing sense of unease at how the country is changing, in ways no one ever voted for? That’s just misdirected anger at ‘the billionaires’ and the sorry state of public services. As one placard put it, rather less diplomatically, ‘Stop blaming immigrants… for your shit life’. Scratch an ‘anti-fascist’, find a classist.
But it’s not just Robinson, is it? The left and even the centrist dads have spent the past decade calling Brexit fascist, the Tories fascist, Farage a fascist. What they mean is democracy. The public’s stubborn refusal to lie back and accept their own disenfranchisement. That is what really keeps the great and good up at night. Meanwhile, these supposed warriors against black-clad barbarism appear remarkably chilled out about the threat posed by the Islamists – who account for 94 per cent of all terror deaths since 1999, and three-quarters of MI5’s terrorism caseload. Hell, they will even happily march alongside them on a sunny Saturday. With ‘anti-fascists’ like these, who needs fascists?
Tom Slater is editor of spiked. Follow him on X: @Tom_Slater_.
Tommy Robinson is the UK’s most infamous anti-migrant activist. Surprising no one, he’s also an ‘expat’ who legally lives in Spain. If you’re wondering what the difference is between a ‘migrant’ and an ‘expat’, it’s that you’re average expat is oblivious to the point that they say things like this:
Imagine an immigrant in Spain complaining about other immigrants lol https://t.co/d1g6qmiHUY
— Jordan M (@Jordan_MG_) March 28, 2026
Oblivious
There are two things to point out here.
The first is that Spain is considerably closer to Africa than it is to Britain. The second is that the ‘Spanish’ Canary Islands are literally on the African continental plate (see the bottom left below):
For reference, this is how far the UK is from the Canary Islands:
A person shouldn’t be shocked to see Black people when visiting the continent of Africa.
In fact, the people Robinson is filming should be shocked to see him. Not because he’s white, but because he’s a racist little toerag who won’t stop travelling outside his own sphere of culture.
Tommy Robinson — Man of the world
Reporting on Robinson’s Spanish life, the Olive Press wrote in October 2025:
TOMMY Robinson has told a UK court that he formally resides in Spain – although his exact address will remain confidential.
The revelation confirms long-held suspicions that the far-right activist has used the country as a bolthole from problems in the UK, such as legal proceedings and concerns over his personal safety.
According to Ezra Levant, the Canadian publisher of the far-right media website Rebel News and a long-time supporter, Robinson is currently living in Spain ‘for safety’.
The claim was echoed in court by prosecutor Jo Morris.
The admission is likely to prompt questions over how and why Spanish authorities have permitted his continued residence, given his string of criminal convictions and notoriety in the UK.
Robinson’s safety has been called into question more than once. In February this year, Robinson claimed he was on the run from ISIS, but then proceeded to keep filming his location while abroad:
🚨 BREAKING: Tommy Robinson really needs money for his next luxury holiday pic.twitter.com/ZyLLcHv3FR
— Gadget (@Gadget440) February 14, 2026
Two things on ‘Tommy Robinson’ fleeing UK to ‘protect his family’:
1) He permanently moved his family from UK to Spain back in 2020, 5 years and 7 months ago.
2) His marriage ended in divorce in 2021.Tommy doesn’t have to worry about ISIS. Never in history has ISIS attacked an… https://t.co/8AsM7CVDdB
— Kathleen Tyson (@Kathleen_Tyson_) February 13, 2026
The following are two examples of ‘on-the-run’ Robinson broadcasting his location to the world:
Tommy Robinson is laughing at his gullible supporters while he and his son are living a high luxury life.
If he is a priority target for ISIS, why is he keep updating everyone about the next location he’s going to be at. pic.twitter.com/jiYqXlYqOW
— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) February 28, 2026
Tiny Tommy went to Mar-a-Lago and recorded himself while off his head. pic.twitter.com/axlACnb4Gq
— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) March 21, 2026
Mukhtar has also highlighted Robinson’s other travels:
Scroll through this thread.
Tommy Robinson’s kids are living the high life, going on luxury holidays, flexing on a private jet whilst struggling mums are sending him £20 out of their last £40 in the bank. https://t.co/u33Iri7Con
— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) February 26, 2026
Unreal
As a final update on Robinson, little Tommy has assured his followers that the screengrabs are NOT REAL:
I have seen stuff posted on whatsapp groups and here on X – people claiming to have some disgusting communication between me and my son about young women.
They are (obviously) not true.
It looks as though the far left, the islamists, and the real far right (who are working…
— Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) March 29, 2026
The problem Robinson has is that he’s so consistently full of shit that whenever we see him denying something, we immediately assume it’s true. A good example of this was when he told his supporters that the suspected scam he was promoting wasn’t a scam:
No it don’t , at least do some research before . I wouldn’t be sharing if it was a scam
— Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) January 26, 2026
For reference, the above is how his posts usually read. The following, meanwhile, is how his ‘not-a-scam’ tweet read (emphasis added):
I’m not usually one to post about trading tools or opportunities.
But loads of my friends have been using Core Signals for months, and the results are hard to ignore.
Some of you got early access through my mailing list. Every single person who did has made money.
At this point, it’s just depressing that people can’t see through all this.
Saying that, if his followers do get upset by the thought of Africans living in Africa, they possible deserve to be scammed by this shameless, little turd.
Featured image via Raw Pixel
As we’ve covered, the Labour Party‘s latest scandal centred on the WhatsApp messages sent between the disgraced Peter Mandelson and the also-disgraced Morgan McSweeney. We’ve criticised both men for years, so we were in a pretty good position to cover this story. The same cannot be said of one Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson:
girl… https://t.co/k9RvfUJ1NN pic.twitter.com/zz6RrKcKOe
— Ben Smoke (@bencsmoke) March 28, 2026
WTFApp
On 26 March, we covered that Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney reported his phone stolen in October last year. Given that this happened after his mentor Peter Mandelson was sacked, people suspected McSweeney faked the theft to covertly delete some messages. Suspicions only heightened after it came out that McSweeney had given the police incorrect information while also failing to tell them he was a key government employee.
Later that same day, we learned that the people investigating Peter Mandelson weren’t asking to search his personal devices. This was despite them knowing Mandelson had used his personal devices for government business. This is all especially dodgy, because they’re investigating Mandelson as a result of him leaking secret government information to the notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
So yes, this is all very bad.
But still, look at the state of this cunt:
The greatest vanishing act since Shergar!https://t.co/7vu2BvoHWQ
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) March 28, 2026
If you don’t know, ‘Shergar‘ was some famous horse that got stolen — exactly the sort of reference you’d expect from Johnson.
This is what the Standard reported regarding Johnson’s own missing WhatsApps:
About 5,000 WhatsApp messages on Boris Johnson’s phone at the start of the Covid pandemic have gone missing, the inquiry into it was told on Wednesday.
They added:
About 5,000 WhatsApp messages on his phone from January 30, 2020 to June 2020 were unavailable to the inquiry. Pressed on this, Mr Johnson said: “I don’t know the exact reason, but it looks as though it’s something to do with the app going down and then coming up again, but somehow automatically erasing all the things between that date when it went down and the moment when it was last backed up.”
Inquiry counsel Hugo Keith KC said a technical report provided by Mr Johnson’s solicitors suggested there may have been a factory reset at the end of January 2020 followed by an attempt to reinstate the contents in June 2020, but the former prime minister denied knowledge of that. “I don’t remember any such thing,” he said.
We think he might remember such a thing, honestly.
We also suspect he might know what happened to that horse the way he keeps going on about it.
Boris Johnson — Liar liars
Boris Johnson is one of the worst prime minister’s we’ve ever had, and if he ever tries to return to office we should throw chairs at him until he runs away. At the same time, he does at least bullshit with some panache. Keir Starmer lies all the time too, but he acts like we’re the ones at fault for noticing:
A remarkable thing about Starmer is that, despite being the most prolific liar in British political history, he is a terrible liar. https://t.co/v2IfP2kIqs
— Karl Hansen (@karl_fh) March 26, 2026
It says a lot about this country that our options for PM have been ‘eccentric liar’ and ‘boring liar’.
Featured image via Wikimedia
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