Labour Jess Asato has commenced legal proceedings against Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI (Alamy)

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Labour MP Jess Asato has called on the government to create a legal definition of technology-facilitated violence against women and girls, arguing that stronger protections are needed to tackle the growing threat of AI-generated abuse.

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Earlier this year, GrokAI – Elon Musk’s xAI company’s tool – generated non-consensual sexualised images of Asato, including bikini photos and a video showing her being chloroformed and prepared for a sexual assault.

The MP for Lowestoft, elected in 2024, has filed a civil claim in the High Court against xAI, alleging breaches of UK data protection law and misuse of private information.

Asato told PoliticsHome that the Online Safety Act, which started to come into force last year, must be strengthened to protect women, girls and other vulnerable people online.

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As part of this, the Labour government should consider creating a statutory definition of technology-facilitated violence against women and girls, she said.

“At the moment, the violence against women and girls guidance from Ofcom is very comprehensive, but nobody’s following it,” she said. 

“That’s partly because it doesn’t have statutory teeth, and so from my perspective, there is a very good case, which has been made for a while by the women’s sector, that the VAWG [violence against women and girls] guidance should be made mandatory and given proper regulatory status.”

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Asato hopes that her case against X can set a legal precedent by testing whether an AI developer can be held liable for the design and deployment of its system, rather than the person who prompted the generation of the content. 

She said she also hopes that ministers reconsider the introduction of a third-party advocacy body that could assess individual cases, collate evidence of breaches across multiple platforms, and monitor the implementation of the Online Safety Act, explaining that when she discovered the GrokAI-generated images of her, there was “nowhere else for me to go” after X said the content reported did not go against the platform’s standards.

During the passage of the Online Safety Bill, peers tabled several amendments designed to give individuals stronger representation. Baroness Kidron and others tabled an amendment to establish an Advocacy Body for Children, but it was not accepted. As it stands, Ofcom cannot investigate individual cases.

“That was a real missed opportunity,” Asato said.

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“One of the problems Ofcom has is that if it’s not able to collate individual cases, it isn’t able to see the sum total of the harm that is occurring, and therefore be able to prove back to the companies that they are not following the Online Safety Act.

“Calls are definitely growing for there to be much stronger accountability, either given to Ofcom or another body entirely.”

Dex Hunter-Torricke, who spent more than a decade leading communications for some of the world’s biggest technology companies, including senior roles advising Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Eric Schmidt, told PoliticsHome he found it “extraordinary” that the burden is placed on individuals like Asato to have to take legal action against platforms to prevent the generation of non-consensual images.

“Surely this is the entire point of passing legislation to protect people online,” he said. 

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“We need to have a better systemic fix for that. Most people don’t have the resources all the time to go and defend themselves, especially if that might involve a legal case. It’s very, very troubling that after so many years arguing about how to protect people online, we still don’t actually have our right mechanisms in place as a country.”

Asato has welcomed the government’s announcement that it will go ahead with a ban on certain social media platforms for under-16-year-olds, describing it as a “big, brave step”, alongside other announcements such as new plans by the government to force Big Tech companies to activate built-in features or implement technical solutions on smartphones to detect and block nude images for children.

Despite her experience on the site, Asato has decided to continue using X as a social media platform, and not say when asked whether the government should stay on it.

“Many politicians have left X for very understandable reasons of safety and well-being, but I stay on it because I don’t want to be bullied off a platform,” she said.

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Another Labour MP, Alistair Strathern, has proposed a new law to make Relationships and Sex Education mandatory up to 18 to help combat violence against women and girls.

Strathern, who is co-chair of the Labour Group for Men and Boys and a former teacher, said: “For too long, children in further education have missed out because of gaps in the provision of Relationships and Sex Education.

“At a time when the worst corners of the internet are preying on teenagers, with their own harmful takes on what makes a healthy relationship, we surely owe young people far better than this.

‘My bill will put this right and make it mandatory for all settings to give children the space, support and advice they need as they navigate this formative stage. With 16-19-year-olds facing the highest rates of domestic abuse of any age group, the real-world consequences of failing to act couldn’t be clearer.”

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PoliticsHome has contacted the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology for comment.

 

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On 15 June, the government announced a social media ban for under-16s. Since the announcement, there has been much reporting on Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). This software solution allow users to spoof their location, meaning they can get around UK-specific age restrictions. Speaking on this workaround, technology secretary Liz Kendall has basically admitted the government has no solution:

Hahahaha yeah this ban is not going to work https://t.co/OlTlWZ5uZr

— Maxwell Marlow (@maxwell_marlow) June 16, 2026

Social media ban doesn’t keep kids safe

In the clip above, LBC host Nick Ferrari shows Kendall how quick and easy it is to connect with a VPN (answer = very). In response, Kendall explained that she’s going to return with a solution in July. This suggests she doesn’t have an answer now and won’t have one in a month, because they’ve already had half a year to figure this out.

Australia introduced its own social media ban in December 2025. As we know, VPNs are one of the ways which Australian kids have used to get around the ban. And as we also know, the majority of these kids still have social media accounts.

As the Molly Rose Foundation demonstrated:

Three in five (61%) Australian 12-15 year-olds who had accounts on restricted platforms before the ban came into force still have access to one or more accounts. Major platforms have retained a majority of their child users, with 53% of previous TikTok users, 53% of YouTube users and 52% of Instagram users still able to access an account on these platforms.

. …

Molly Rose Foundation warns this data raises major question marks about the effectiveness of Australia’s social media ban, and that given the findings it would be a ‘high stakes gamble’ for the UK to follow suit at this stage.

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Today we warn that Australia’s ban is failing to act as the urgent and decisive firebreak that proponents of a ban have suggested. Instead, it risks offering parents a false sense of safety and risks letting tech firms off the hook for safety failings.

Speaking further on this point, the Canary’s Maddison Wheeldon wrote:

the problem is unregulated, unyielding tech companies and unfettered capitalism – and the government appears to have chosen to go after an easier target in young people instead of holding billionaires accountable.

Messy

Think tank director Maxwell Marlow additionally had this to say:

The political cost is too great for them to do so

— Maxwell Marlow (@maxwell_marlow) June 16, 2026

It’s actually a very common security practice for businesses to use VPNs on their company networks. In other words, there isn’t a simple way for the government to ban VPNs, even if they wanted to. And yet again, it would be adding new layers of complexity to a solution which is already overly complicated.

As many suspect, none of this is to keep children safe; it’s to implement Digital ID by the backdoor, and to allow private companies to scrape our data. In other words, the government doesn’t care if children use VPNs or not.

Featured image via LBC

By Willem Moore

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September 1946: Winston Churchill painting in Belgium | Image: © Churchill Archives Centre

5 min read3 min

At a time of turmoil, political leaders could do no worse than seek inspiration from this revealing and enjoyable retrospective of the paintings of Winston Churchill

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I was delighted, when arts minister, to learn that the Wallace Collection was planning a Winston Churchill retrospective. It might seem a surprising choice for this museum of decorative arts, but it has a splendidly Churchillian connection: the great-granddaughter of Sir Richard Wallace – the Conservative MP who left the collection to the nation – was Odette Pol-Roger. She befriended Churchill over dinner at the reopened British Embassy in Paris in 1944, reserved an entire vintage for him, and sent him a case each year for his birthday.

The wartime premier’s Nobel Prize in Literature is well-known; less so is his renown as an artist. After two of his paintings were pseudonymously accepted into Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition, he was elected an honorary academician in 1948. A decade later, a selection of his works toured the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand before a hugely popular show at the Royal Academy in London – but there has been no national exhibition in the UK since his death in 1965. High time, then, for this illuminating and enjoyable show, curated by Xavier Bray and Lucy Davis.

These canvases illuminate the visual metaphors in his famous speeches

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Churchill turned to painting at one of his lowest ebbs, after his dismissal as first lord of the admiralty in the wake of Gallipoli. Ejected and dejected at the age of 40, “the Muse of Painting came to my rescue”. She would remain an inspiration and comfort the rest of his life. “Painting is complete as a distraction,” he later explained. “I know of nothing which, without exhausting the body, more entirely absorbs the mind.” 

Though self-effacing about his “daubs”, the apprentice was typically committed to  improvement. His earliest mentor was the society portraitist and war artist Sir John Lavery. One of the most arresting images in this exhibition is the self-portrait Churchill produced at Lavery’s studio in 1915, shrouded in darkness and shadow, an echo of his turmoil that autumn.

High birth and high office allowed him to seek the advice of other artists. Sir William Nicholson – “the person who taught me most about painting” – stayed at Chartwell and tutored him in still-life, though with a Churchillian twist in the choice of subject: bottles of brandy and Johnnie Walker. Walter Sickert encouraged a greater spontaneity and more vibrant palette – seen in his Moroccan landscapes, or in his 1949 Twenty-Minute Sketch of Lake Carezza, painted en route to the inaugural session of the Council of Europe. To stop him overworking it, his wife Clementine is said to have asked a bodyguard to hide it under his bed.

The nearly 60 works selected here (from an oeuvre of over 500) amply demonstrate his development and curiosity, from hasty despatches from the Great War trenches to sophisticated studies of the state rooms at Blenheim Palace.

Especially revelatory is The Beach at Walmer, painted in 1938 and depicting the Churchill family paddling in Kent. The artist himself stands apart, looking out across the Channel. A Napoleonic cannon follows his gaze, echoing the warnings of the man who, within three years, would be lord warden of the Cinque Ports.

Just as Churchill mobilised the English language and sent it into battle, these paintings show how he deployed every medium in the campaigns he waged. These canvases illuminate the visual metaphors in his famous speeches – read in the audio guide by Sir Gary Oldman – and the list of friends and allies to whom he gifted them (set out meticulously in the catalogue by Lord Roberts of Belgravia) explain how he wielded soft power both at both a personal and geopolitical level. The list of lenders reads like a Who’s Who of the allied powers; parliamentarians will recognise the works on loan from the Churchill Room and the No lobby of the Commons.

This exhibition of the great statesman’s work runs until 29 November, the day before his 152nd birthday. Any other political leaders facing turmoil between now and then might find inspiration in it.

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Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay is a Conservative peer

Winston Churchill: The Painter

Curated by: Dr Lucy Davis & Dr Xavier Bray

Venue: Wallace Collection – until 29 November

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Whilst supporting sexist Robert Kenyon from Makerfield as he attempts to become MP in the upcoming by-election, Suella Braverman has announced Reform UK’s ‘Women and Motherhood Protection Act’ as she states that the far-right party will ‘back working mums’ and:

stand up for women.

Taking aim at the Labour government, Braverman argued Starmer’s party:

believes that a man can be a woman, has failed the victims of grooming gangs and will only let women down.

Watch Suella Braverman lay out how our Women & Motherhood Protection Act will back working mums. pic.twitter.com/hn77tNFEpv

— Reform UK (@reformparty_uk) June 16, 2026

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Braverman believes sexists will ‘protect women’ apparently

However, two pretty glaring issues arise here: her former party, the Conservatives, were responsible for maternity policy for nearly 15 years, and her current party platforms, empowers, and pedestals abusive, sexist men.

Announcing this virtue-signalling policy, Braverman said:

I’m here in Makerfield to support our fantastic Reform UK candidate Rob Kenyon and I’m delighted to be announcing our new policy of which I’m really proud. We want Britain to be the best country in the world for working mums.

That’s why a Reform UK government will roll out the Women’s and Motherhood Protection Act, which represents the largest set of protections for women in the workplace in British history. lost their job just because they had a baby.

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As a working mum myself I find that disgraceful. It is unfair and under Reform UK that ends. We will change the law to give women more maternity protections in the workplace.

We’ll make sure that the same work gets the same pay and we will make sure that unlawful discrimination stops.

As has become typical of the bigotry-stoking, hate-fueling far-right party for the super-rich, the former Tory minister took aim at Labour citing the grooming gang scandal and the now pretty worn-out attacks against trans communities.

Then, despite having done absolutely nothing to improve rights for working women when she sat in cabinet, she insisted:

Vote Reform to stand up for women. and to back working mums.

Nevertheless, this hypocrisy becomes even more glaring as she joins Kenyon in his van in a clear attempt to rehabilitate the sexist and win over the women’s vote in the UK.

This arguably suggests that this misogynistic party has remembered that women account for half of the voting population.

Great to have @SuellaBraverman in the van to chat about our new Women & Motherhood Protection Act.

Reform will go further than any party ever has to protect women in the workplace. pic.twitter.com/IFApUv9tqg

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— Cllr Rob Kenyon (@RobKenyonReform) June 16, 2026

Reform promotes sexual predators – they don’t care about women

Proving the party attracts abusive men and misogynistic attitudes which increase the threats against women – in turn, failing to protect the UK’s female population – really isn’t a difficult feat.

We wrote recently about how Reform supporters in Makerfield showed no shame stating that they would choose sexual predator Jimmy Saville if it meant unseating PM Keir Starmer.

When our own Willem Moore challenged the remarks, Lee Anderson rushed to defend the grotesque glorification of a serial sexual abuser – one accused by around 450 people, 82% of whom were women with 80% abused as children.

Predictably, Anderson’s intervention backfired spectacularly. After all, any sensible adult who respects women could see the defence was indefensible. Rather than containing the outrage by showing even a shred of humility and accountability, he poured fuel on the fire by creating AI generated images which only intensified the backlash and forced the post’s eventual deletion.

Lee Anderson now complicit in a lie.

Look at the one you’ve posted.

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It’s not Rob Kenyon, and the logo is AI warped. Plus look at the union flag.

Why did your councillor Gemma Painter delete it and then her Facebook?

Because it was real.

Here’s also images by Stephen… pic.twitter.com/MZr7MxKiyd

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— Reform Party UK Exposed (@reformexposed) June 16, 2026

Also, the attacks at Labour – who, yes, do not deserve to stay in power – hardly proves that Reform UK are any better. After all, victims of the grooming gang scandal demanded an apology from Farage last year after he made it abundantly clear that he was interested in ‘fighting’ for victims of sexual abuse only when the perpetrators were Pakistani Muslims.

In his mind, ‘widening the scope’ brought other women in who don’t seem to get any compassion from the millionaire party leader.

One of his former employees has also called out his blatant opportunism – similar to what we are seeing with this ‘protection’ act for women – and we’ve documented numerous times where Farage has been more than happy to mix with rapists and sex traffickers. 

Moreover, a female Reform councillor has quit over sexism and bullying, which is pretty telling in itself.

However, this becomes pretty depressing when you see the level of support the party is getting and the fact it stands a very real chance of gaining power in the next general election.

Women and girls NEED genuine protection – and that’s from Reform, too

Reform UK will never be a party which genuinely protects women – that is abundantly clear to see just by who they empower, and the women that they disregard.

If women are prepared to target and vilify Muslim people or asylum seekers in the UK, they have the party’s support. If they wish to draw attention to abuse from other groups, in particular those responsible for the majority of harm – pervy patriarchal white men – they go on the attack and diminish women’s traumatic experiences instead.

Therefore, this sickening attempt to glorify and rehabilitate this party of sexists and racists as somehow the ‘beacon of hope’ for women is frankly, deplorable.

The past few months have shown that women and girls need protection from Reform – not being preached to by a bunch of hypocrites.

Featured image via the Canary

By Maddison Wheeldon

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The Canary has reported previously on the Business and Human Rights Centre’s Transition Minerals Tracker. And now the latest report reveals a dramatic and accelerating human rights crisis at the mines supplying the global transition to clean energy.

The figures for 2025 show a staggering 111% overall increase. There were 329 allegations of abuse linked to transition mineral mining operations worldwide, up from 156 the previous year.

The latest report examined more mines than the previous year. Across mines also appearing in the 2025 report, there were 270 allegations, an increase of 73%.

It’s the only research of its kind. And it reveals direct implications for renewable energy companies relying on these minerals and their investors:

• Nearly 70% of mines associated with at least one allegation of abuse are owned by or linked to listed companies. This represents significant material risk for investors.
• In 2025 alone, community resistance resulted in 27 mine suspensions, slowdowns or closures.
• One in seven allegations (44 out of 329) led to lawsuits or regulatory action.
• Since 2010, the report has recorded a total of 1,226 allegations of abuse, closely linked to rising social conflict around mining operations.

Despite these risks, corporate accountability remains dangerously weak. Just 10 companies and 33 mines (out of 299 tracked) accounted for 50% of all 2025 allegations.

Glencore, Rio Tinto and First Quantum Minerals led the list of most frequently implicated companies, in part due to their market dominance.

Yet concentration among a small number of actors does not diminish the systemic nature of the risk. Close to half the mines linked to allegations of abuse lacked even a basic public human rights policy. And the absence of meaningful human rights due diligence is a concern for the entire renewable energy sector.

Systemic risk across geographies and minerals

The 2026 Tracker numbers make clear that human rights risks are not confined to a handful of operations or geographies:

• Copper, which accounts for around a quarter of renewable energy mineral demand, is associated with 60% of allegations recorded since 2010.
• The risks for iron ore, bauxite, nickel and rare earth elements are also growing.
• All regions recorded a surge in allegations in 2025.
• Africa saw the sharpest rise, with 100 allegations recorded – an increase of 122% from 2024.
• South America continued to record a high number of allegations, with 97 in 2025 – nearly double from 2024.
• Workers’ rights and safety are under significant threat, with 92 allegations recorded, including 22 deaths – nearly double the 2024 figure.

Blanca Racionero Gomez of the Business and Human Rights Centre said:

This year’s data is the biggest increase we have ever seen year-to-year and makes clear that this is no longer an emerging issue. The world cannot build a clean energy future on the foundation of human rights abuses – and one built in this way will not ultimately succeed.

The minerals powering our clean energy future are being extracted at a growing human cost, with allegations of abuse up 73% in a single year [across the same mines] – and Indigenous communities, workers, environmental defenders and women paying the heaviest price.

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A small number of powerful mining companies are responsible for the lion’s share of this harm – and too many are operating without even the most basic human rights policies in place.

This is a moral failure, and a strategic one: we can see communities are fighting back, mines are being shut down, and supply chains are being disrupted.

Every year of inaction risks more harm to those on the frontlines, as well as another year of risk accumulating for investors and companies who have the power, and the responsibility, to do better.

Direct consequences for investors and their renewable energy companies

There is a human rights crisis unfolding in the supply chains of renewable energy companies and this is turning into a direct risk for investors. Their portfolios are directly exposed to the reputational, financial and legal consequences, representing material financial risk.

For renewable energy companies, the picture is equally stark. Social conflict around mining operations is on the rise, with 173 cases recorded, including protests (61), strikes (10) and lawsuits or regulatory action (44). Failing to address these harms is already leading to mineral supply chain disruptions, affecting operational timelines and costs.

Gomez added:

Mining companies and their investors cannot treat human rights as a compliance exercise. Respect for human rights, fair negotiations, the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of Indigenous Peoples, and protection for people raising concerns about mining impacts are essential conditions for a successful energy transition.

Where these safeguards are absent, conflict follows. Communities resist, projects stall, supply chains become less reliable, and risks for investors and companies grow. A just transition is not only the right approach – it is the only durable one.

Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

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An SAS soldier is being prosecuted for allegedly sending grisly images of dead bodies and prisoners to his Royal Air Force (RAF) officer partner. The images were from a classified mission in 2021. The prosecution lawyer says the images risked compromising operations.

The SAS is the British Army’s most secretive and elite unit. The location of the mission has not been disclosed. The Rupert Murdoch-owned Sun newspaper reported on 16 June:

The accused, known as Soldier A, also shared comrades’ names and locations of their secret bases.

Adding:

Police found 1,100 classified pictures and 140 sensitive videos on his personal mobile phone, which he should not have had on missions, prosecutors said.

They allegedly included pics of corpses and prisoners from a foreign mission “which was classified secret”.

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Royal Navy prosecutor Edward Hannah said:

 Soldier A divulged information to her that is sensitive, including photographs of himself.

Soldier A’s girlfriend is reportedly a serving RAF officer. Hannah said:

He told her where he was and gave her information about what he was doing.

SAS case

The Sun reported:

Bulford military court heard he was serving with a “specialist unit” and was leading a “sensitive site exploitation team” responsible for seizing intelligence during or after raids.

Soldier A denies:

one charge of disclosure of information useful to the enemy and two counts of negligence of duty.

Hannah said the senior soldier had:

kept imagery while on operation which can be used to help other units.

Adding that Soldier A should have:

used his common sense to know the information was classified.

The leak could have “damaged international relations”, Hannah argued.

The special forces soldier was:

arrested in January 2022. Police seized several electronic devices from his residence and “a significant amount of operational related material” which was classified secret.

UK special forces are rarely, if ever, commented upon by the UK government. Details of where the SAS was in combat in 2021 are not known but it is apparent from the trial that there were casualties. The trial continues at Bulford court martial centre.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

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As hard as it can be to admit, you can have a stroke. Your loved one can have a stroke.

Statistically, someone in the United States has a stroke every 40 seconds; every 3 minutes and 14 seconds, someone dies of a stroke. It’s not a concern to ruminate on, per se, but one to be mindful of.

For example, you might avoid habits that can increase the risk, such as being sedentary, smoking, ignoring health concerns and drinking alcohol. Knowing the clear signs of a stroke – illustrated by the BE FAST acronym – is smart, too. BE FAST stands for (problems with) balance, eyesight, facial drooping, arm weakness, speech and time or terrible headache.

However, there’s also a surprising sign of a stroke that many people don’t know, according to vascular surgeons. Hiccups.

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Ahead, experts explain how hiccups can be a sign of a stroke, other commonly missed signs and when to see the doctor about this seemingly “harmless” symptom.

How hiccups can signal a stroke

To understand why hiccups can be a sign of a stroke, it’s important to understand exactly what hiccups are – particularly, how they’re connected to the brain.

“Hiccups are caused by involuntary contractions of the diaphragm, coordinated by a reflex arc involving the brainstem, particularly the medulla,” said Dr. Christopher Yi, a board-certified vascular surgeon at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California. “In rare cases, a stroke affecting this region – most classically a lateral medullary (Wallenburg) stroke – can disrupt that reflex and trigger persistent hiccups.”

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Usually, hiccups aren’t so concerning. You might get them after eating too fast, moving too quickly after eating or drinking a carbonated beverage. But if a stroke in the brainstem is causing the hiccups, they need to be taken more seriously.

“In rare cases, hiccups can be linked to a stroke – specifically a stroke affecting the brainstem,” said Dr. Adeel Popalzai, a vascular neurologist and stroke program director at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center.

“The brainstem is involved in the hiccup reflex pathway. When a stroke disrupts this area, it can cause persistent, uncontrollable hiccups that don’t respond to usual remedies.”

Yi affirmed that persistent hiccups have been documented in posterior circulation strokes, which affect the back of the brain. They also don’t always cause one-sided weakness (a classic symptom of a stroke) and rather present with more subtle symptoms. This makes hiccups an early and arguably clearer clue, especially when present with other neurologic abnormalities.

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That last piece is vital because otherwise, a lot of us would get unnecessarily nervous when we get the hiccups, right?

“It is important to remember that hiccups alone are almost never a stroke, but persistent hiccups with other symptoms can be a warning sign,” Popalzai stressed.

Witthaya Prasongsin via Getty Images

Other commonly missed signs of a stroke

Hiccups aren’t the only symptom of a stroke that often goes ignored, especially with posterior circulation strokes.

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“Many people expect a stroke to look dramatic, but some of the most dangerous strokes – especially those in the back of the brain – can present with subtle or misleading symptoms,” Popalzai warned.

The vascular surgeons listed the following symptoms:

• Sudden dizziness, vertigo or a spinning sensation
• Trouble walking, or loss of balance or coordination, which can look like clumsiness, intoxication, veering to one side, difficulty standing or coordinating movements and generalised weakness
• Visual disturbances, such as double vision, trouble focusing or loss of part of the visual field
• Difficulty swallowing
• A sudden, severe headache (particularly in hemorrhagic strokes) – it can signal a brain bleed
• Nausea and vomiting, especially when combined with dizziness or imbalance
• Sudden confusion or trouble understanding, which can present as difficulty processing information or following a conversation, and may appear as disorientation or memory trouble.

“These symptoms are often missed because they don’t fit the ‘classic’ stroke picture, but they are just as important,” Popalzai said.

When to go to the doctor about hiccups or other stroke symptoms

Since hiccups are usually no big deal (well, other than being super annoying), how do you know when you’ve got a normal bout of the hiccups versus a stroke?

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According to Yi, consider medical evaluation “when they persist for more than 48 hours, become severe or disruptive or occur in conjunction with neurologic symptoms.” Examples of the latter are the same as above: dizziness, vertigo, difficulty walking, imbalance, double vision, slurred speech and trouble swallowing.

Popalzai agreed it’s best to focus on the context and associated symptoms. He encouraged calling 999 immediately if you or a loved one experiences those signs.

Additionally, having a stroke risk factor, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, smoking or a prior stroke, is also a reason to call the doctor ASAP.

“When symptoms are sudden and unusual, it’s always better to err on the side of caution and seek medical attention,” he added.

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Yi emphasised the timely nature. “When hiccups present suddenly with any of these neurologic findings, the situation should be treated as a potential stroke emergency, and immediate medical attention is warranted, as timely intervention can significantly improve outcomes,” he said.

The bottom line is that while most hiccups are harmless, they can signal a stroke when accompanied by other brain-related symptoms. Don’t let an unexpected sign of a stroke convince you that a stroke isn’t at play. Take it all seriously.

“Acting fast can save brain function, independence and life,” Popalzai said.

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Reform UK has been making a lot of noise about JCB’s pothole-filling machine, and with obvious reason. Voters hate potholes, and JCB is one of the most evil companies in the UK, so of course Farage & co. would want to work with them. As it turns out, though, the magical pothole machine may not be all it’s cracked up to be. And our source on that is a Reform-run council:

This is awkward.

Michael’s own Leicestershire Council have stated the Pothole Pro is impractical:https://t.co/aEICJaRFbW pic.twitter.com/NBnVXq9AfS

— Reform Party UK Exposed (@reformexposed) June 17, 2026

Mechanised ethnic cleansing

First things first, we should explain why we called JCB one of the most evil companies in the UK.

As we reported in September 2025, the Stop JCB campaign reported on how JCB supports “ethnic cleansing and genocide in Palestine, India, and Kashmir”. We added:

In Palestine, JCB operates through its sole dealer, the Israeli company Comasco. The corporation holds contracts with Israel’s Ministry of Defence for the same model of JCB machines the Zionist settler state uses in the demolitions and construction of settlements.

JCB has been at it for a long time, with photographers catching Israeli forces demolishing homes in the West Bank using their machinery as early as 2006. We also noted:

Currently, JCB is also complicit in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese listed JCB in her July report. This was among numerous companies directly aiding and profiting from the genocide. Israel has long used armoured, unbranded JCB High Mobility Engineer Excavator (HMEE) machines, known as ‘Ami’ in Hebrew, and is now using them in Gaza.

Oh, and no points for guessing which party JCB’s billionaire owner and peer Anthony Bamford supports:

JCB owner Bamford: “You can’t get away with £60k benefit handouts.”

Also billionaire brothers Anthony Bamford and Mark Bamford: Not paying a tax bill of up to £500 million.

What greedy, Farage-supporting bastards. pic.twitter.com/KZhpzajO3I

— Politics In The U.K. (@politixintheuk) May 17, 2026

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Reform are all filler

Given Farage’s connection to Bamford, it’s unsurprising he made a big deal out of promoting the Zionist pothole machine:

WATCH: Nigel Farage arrives on stage at Reform UK’s local election launch on a JCB Pothole Pro pic.twitter.com/B9GKctAExO

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) March 28, 2025

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Now, a Reform council has suggested Bamford’s hole plugger isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. As reported by the BBC, a 2025 report from Leicestershire County Council (LCC) found:

After two demonstrations, officers concluded that the JCB Pothole Pro did not stack up as an economical piece of kit to repair potholes in Leicestershire

Additionally:

The JCB PP is big – it’s bigger than a normal excavator, it would not be suitable for small defect repairs – the machine is too big and would close the road, it would be inefficient to travel round repairing small potholes.

Another problem was that the quantity of potholes they had to deal with meant they couldn’t:

utilise Pothole Pro’s full potential on a daily basis – which in turn would make it very inefficient

And also:

After two demonstrations, officers concluded that the JCB Pothole Pro did not stack up as an economical piece of kit to repair potholes in Leicestershire

JCB – a company which is happy for its product to be used for ethnic cleansing – suggested that LCC weren’t using the machine correctly, and that a longer test was needed. LCC aren’t the first to criticise what the machine can do anyway:

Reform UK’s ‘right first time’ pothole repairs in @NottsCC should be called ‘shite first time’.

This repair is in Council Leader Mick Barton’s own Mansfield East division: questionable workmanship, unsealed edges, lifespan roughly that of a snowflake in July.

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Reform UK -… pic.twitter.com/WRBFTYqAhy

— Reform Party UK Exposed (@reformexposed) November 16, 2025

Bunged up

Given the update, it’s no wonder people are saying things like this:

Leicestershire County Council has found that JCB's pothole machine is not economically viable. I think they will find that it becomes viable when you look at JCB's £200,000 donation to Reform rather than at the extra cost to council tax payers. pic.twitter.com/BIfD4zOigp

— Parody Nigel Farage (@Parody_PM) June 16, 2026

Personally, we don’t think any council should be working with companies that facilitate ethnic cleansing. The fact that these machines may not be all they’re cracked up to be just adds insult to injury.

If Reform should replace Labour in government, we’ve no doubt there’ll be many more questionable contracts, anyway. And the real hole left to fill will be the economic one left behind when they get kicked out.

Featured image via The Canary

By Willem Moore

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