Reform UK has been forced to expel three local election candidates. This time, it’s done so after investigators revealed that the three men were once part of the British National Party:

EXCLUSIVE: A joint investigation by HOPE not hate and @DailyMirror has found that three Reform UK candidates were once affiliated with the fascist British National Party (BNP).https://t.co/8DiI7ktpHx

— HOPE not hate (@hopenothate) April 25, 2026

It’s good to see that the party has taken action — or that it’s done so in this case, at least. Because as we’ve reported, there are plenty of candidates with BNP-identical views that Reform has not expelled.

Reform and the BNP

Hope not Hate and the Mirror are responsible for this latest exposé. As Hope not Hate reported:

While now a shadow of its former self, the BNP was once Britain’s largest and most successful far-right party. Formed in 1982, the party was most successful under the leadership of Nick Griffin, but went into sharp decline following the 2010 general election. While it limps on, it is standing no candidates at the forthcoming elections.

The BNP’s membership peaked at 14,500 and since its collapse, activists and members have gravitated towards a range of radical and far right parties. Unsurprisingly, some have washed up in Reform UK, including as candidates.

The men Hope not Hate exposed are David Prior, George Parnell, and John Black:

George Martin Parnell is standing in Hampshire (Fleet Town) and Hart (Fleet Central).

Tells voters he "manages risk in critical environments."

One of his now-dissolved companies was registered at the same address listed next to his name on the leaked BNP list. pic.twitter.com/Rh5SYLm6mU

— HOPE not hate (@hopenothate) April 25, 2026

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John Black is running in Little Harwood & Whitebirk (Blackburn with Darwen) and also appears on the leaked BNP list.

In an election statement posted by the local Reform branch Black wrote that Great Britain is “on the verge of collapse.” pic.twitter.com/UUL8zBtwJP

— HOPE not hate (@hopenothate) April 25, 2026

Hope not Hate added:

Farage says ex-BNP activists “aren’t welcome” presumably because the BNP is seen as toxic and racist.

Farage has long walked a tightrope between far-right views and centre-right electability. This is now causing problems for him, because many of the far-right individuals who were drawn to Reform are abandoning the party for Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain.

It’s also causing problems for the ethnic minority Reform candidates who take Farage at his word when he says he’s not a racist:

NEW: Nigel Farage says X is now becoming “a very unpleasant place” due to a rise racist accounts and content

Reform leader says that many of his ethnic minority candidates are experiencing huge levels of abuse

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— Noa Hoffman (@hoffman_noa) April 20, 2026

Farage himself will tell you he doesn’t want BNP types in his party, but as we’ve reported, he’s clearly comfortable with far-right candidates as long as they can tow the line:

• Another Reform candidate praises Oswald Moseley — A rite of party initiation?
• Reform have put a suspended racist in charge of campaign finances.
• Reform candidate wants to ‘tear down’ the NHS.
• Reform welcomes ‘shoot the p*kis’ scandal ex-Tory.
• Reform UK accused of ‘nil vetting’ as another racist candidate exposed.
• Video emerges of Reform’s ‘Nazi salute’ candidate drink driving.

BNP membership is seen as a red line for Farage, but we’re not confident that will always be the case. There is no real difference between an ex-BNP member and an ex-Tory who called for minority groups to be shot — no difference beyond the optics Farage currently considers important, anyway.

Should Reform become the party of government, we’ve no doubt PM Farage will stop pretending to care about many of these things.

The British far right

Britain First leader Paul Golding is another ex-BNP guy. As we recently reported, Golding wants the UK to descend into chaos for the benefit of his political platform:

Far right extremist Paul Golding exposed in a secret recording:

"I want this country to become a shithole. I want this country to descend into a fucking nightmare"

They don't care about the country. They thrive off discord. pic.twitter.com/N0Sb9yvq33

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— smile2jannah (@smile2jannah) April 12, 2026

Tommy Robinson is also an ex-BNP member. As we’ve reported, Reform candidate James Bembridge defended Robinson:

Heres a video of Reform UK’s candidate in Soho, Westminster, James Bembridge (@TheBembridge) glibly defending Tommy Robinson against racism allegations.

He was a member of the BNP and EDL, and in the video Bembridge states he’s looked everywhere and not found any racism by him… pic.twitter.com/qE4Q59CMB1

— Reform Party UK Exposed (@reformexposed) April 13, 2026

Make no mistake — despite their public disagreements, these people are all part of the same movement. And if you vote Reform UK, you might as well be voting for the BNP.

This is why the ex-BNP guys were drawn to it in the first place.

Featured image via Gage Skidmore (Flickr)

By Willem Moore

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Tzachi Braverman, a confidant of Benjamin Netanyahu and the wanted war criminal’s designated new ambassador to the UK, faces a sexual offences case in Israel. His alleged victim has notified Israeli police, supported by evidence and witness accounts. Braverman denies any wrongdoing and has claimed he was being blackmailed, though what he claims the blackmail was about if the allegations are untrue is unclear.

According to Haaretz, the accusations are “horrifying”:

The woman didn’t file a formal complaint and asked investigators not to open an investigation or use the information just yet for fear of retribution, according to police sources.

“She’s afraid,” a person who knows her told Haaretz, adding, “Her descriptions are horrifying, and they are apparently backed up by evidence and things that people heard about the incident shortly after it happened.”

A police official said that officers met with the woman at her home on the same day Braverman was being questioned over possible obstruction of justice in the BibiLeaks case. However, they couldn’t convince her to change her mind.

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In March 2026, the Green party demanded that the UK government block Braverman’s appointment. Despite his protestations of blackmail, Braverman has not filed a complaint with Israeli police.

The allegations are the latest in a long list of cases of Israeli sex offence and paedophilia scandals, including at the highest levels of government.

Israeli scandals

In April 2025 Shoshana Strook, the daughter of Israel’s far-right settlements minister fled to police and asked them to protect her, accusing both her parents and one of her brothers of raping her as a child, over a period of years, and filming the rapes.

Also in 2025, Israeli cyber-spy boss Tom Alexandrovich was allowed to escape to Israel after meetings with US federal agencies. He had been caught in a paedophile sting. The Netanyahu regime is currently ignoring well over 2,000 extradition requests for alleged and convicted paedophiles.

UK too

The issue also crosses into Labour party pro-Israel ranks in the UK. Former Hackney councillor Thomas Dewey received 150 hours of ‘community service’ for possession of sadistic child rape images. Sam Gould, a former aide to Starmer’s health secretary Wes Streeting, received a suspended sentence for flashing a child.

Former councillor Liron Velleman also escaped jail, despite committing sex offences with what he thought was a 13-year-old girl. Another former councillor, Conor McGrath, received only a suspended sentence even though he was convicted of possessing the most appalling categories of child-rape images.

Others are awaiting trial. Starmeroid MP Dan Norris has been arrested — twice — for sex offences involving rape and child-sex offences, including abduction. And some Zionist alleged paedophiles seem to escape altogether. Ivor Caplin is no longer even on bail after being caught — on camera — turning up to meet what he thought was a child for sex.

Israeli psychotherapist and trauma expert Dr. Anat Gur, head of the Bar-Ilan University trauma therapy program, has said that she believes organised child rape in Israel is widespread:

Organized child rape is one of the most horrific things I’ve encountered. It’s likely much more widespread than we think. It’s happening in places we least expect.

Israel is a sick society.

Featured image via MiddleEastEye

By Skwawkbox

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The rattled media’s campaign of attacks on Green party candidates has continued this week with a smear against a Cornwall council candidate who refused to shake hands with a far-right opponent.

Abigail Hubbucks lost the local election by just over a hundred votes to Reform UK’s Lyndon Harrison. After the results were announced, she told Harrison she wouldn’t be shaking hands with him. This was immediately spun up by the press and the far right as ‘woke leftie is a bad loser’. This spin was, of course, quickly pounced on by her far-right opponent, who called it “divisive and unprofessional”.

Yeah, right. Reform’s whole reason for existing is to incite division and hate. Harrison himself has posted a ‘call-sign’ acronym used by white-supremacist ‘QAnon’ supporters:

Lyndon Harrison is Reform UK’s candidate in Newquay.

Harrison posted on his Facebook: “My kind of people! WWG1WGA”, the call sign of far-right conspiracy theory movement QAnon that were instrumental in the US Capitol attack in January 2021.

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How many of their conspiracy theories… pic.twitter.com/AZEl9ndXps

— Reform Party UK Exposed (@reformexposed) April 21, 2026

As a source close to Hubbucks said:

Not shaking hands with a fascist is just correct for someone with Abigail’s politics.

Green Party surge

In fact, the real story of the night was how close the Greens came to taking the seat, which was held by Reform until its incumbent died, triggering the by-election. When Kevin Towill won the seat for Reform in 2025, he received considerably more votes that Harrison did in the by-election to replace him. Not just in absolute numbers despite a considerably higher turnout in 2026, but in percentage terms too. The Green Party didn’t even feature in the results.

Harrison won only 30% of the vote compared to Towill’s 38% in 2025 — despite riding on the wave of sentiment generated by Towill’s untimely death from a brain tumour. From zero just a year ago, the Greens’ Hubbucks won 25%. This was yet another example of the Green surge — at Reform’s expense as well as Labour’s — that has rattled Farage and co.

The other big story of the night was another utter failure by Keir Starmer’s ‘Labour’. His hollowed-out shell of a party managed just six percent, despite all four of Labour’s Cornwall MPs campaigning intensively. It gets clearer by the day that the Greens are currently the only prospect for stopping the march of the fascists — and are increasingly showing how it’s done.

Featured image via CornwallGreenParty

By Skwawkbox

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The Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into Gianluca Rocchi, the Italian Serie A head of referee appointments, on charges of complicity in sports corruption, following allegations of influencing refereeing decisions during the 2024–2025 season, according to Italian judicial and media sources.

According to Sky TG24, the investigation centres on a specific incident in the Serie A Udinese v Parma match on 1 March 2025, where video and audio recordings from the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) room are being scrutinised, amid suspicions of indirect interference in the decision to award a penalty to Udinese.

La Repubblica also reported that the investigation is based on footage showing a discussion within the VAR room regarding a possible handball, before the decision was changed and a review of the incident on the pitch was recommended, which resulted in a penalty being awarded.

Details of the incident are under investigation by the Serie A

According to La Repubblica, the VAR official Daniele Paterna was initially hesitant to award the penalty, before the on-field referee Fabio Maresca was asked to conduct an On-Field Review, which ultimately led to the penalty being awarded.

Accounts within the investigation file suggest the possibility of external influence within the VAR centre in Lissone, where Gianluca Rocchi is alleged to have made gestures intended to draw attention within the room, which the prosecution is examining under the hypothesis of “indirect influence on the refereeing decision”.

The course of the investigation and its expansion

According to Sky TG24, the investigation is not limited to this match alone, but extends to several matches from the 2024–2025 season, with a possible examination of other refereeing decisions suspected of having been influenced by organisational or administrative interference.

Other reports also indicate that the prosecution is examining the possibility of influence over the selection of referees for certain major matches, which broadens the scope of the case beyond the VAR incident.

Featured image via FootballItalia

By Alaa Shamali

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On 25 April, a gunman at the White House fired a gun as Donald Trump hosted the annual Correspondents’ Dinner. This is now the third time a gunman has fired at the US President (or seemingly planned to do so).

By this point, Trump is so used to assassination attempts that he immediately began spouting propaganda. While some thought Trump would use the event to drum up support for his failing war on Iran, he chose to prioritise talking about the White House ballroom:

Beyond parody https://t.co/BbYLEWRqJ4

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) April 26, 2026

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For those out of the loop, construction on Trump’s glitzy ballroom was recently paused following a court order, and could be put on hold again.

Ballroom blitz

According to the White House Correspondents’ Association, the annual Correspondents’ Dinner is:

our main source of revenue to finance all of our work, including support of the journalists working to cover the president, events and programs to educate the public about the value of the First Amendment and a free press, and scholarships to help the next generation of journalists.

Former president Barack Obama notoriously roasted then-businessman Trump at the 2011 Correspondents’ Dinner:

This moment is widely viewed as the key motivator behind Trump running for president and undoing Obama’s various policies.

Regarding the latest Correspondents’ Dinner, the BBC report that shots were heard at 20:35 ET (00:35 UK time). A C-SPAN video showed the moment when gunshots led to the president’s evacuation:

The shooting happened outside the function room itself, with the would-be attacker rushing through a security checkpoint. Another angle showed the evacuation from the viewpoint of those being evacuated:

New video shows Secret Service evacuating JD Vance following the shooting pic.twitter.com/WaNiuprQvW

— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) April 26, 2026

Trump was posting about the shooting on Truth Social within an hour. He would later post the following:

Trump posts photos and security footage of the alleged shooter pic.twitter.com/Fe7tJbAwar

— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) April 26, 2026

Less than two hours later, Trump would hold a press conference alongside FBI chief Kash Patel. It was at this press conference that he said the following:

And we looked at all of the conditions that took place tonight, and I will say, you know, it’s not a particularly secure building. And I didn’t want to say this, but this is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we’re planning at the White House.

It’s actually a larger room, and it’s much more secure. It’s got — it’s drone-proof. It’s bulletproof glass. We need the ballroom.

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That’s why Secret Service — that’s why the military are demanding it. They’ve wanted the ballroom for 150 years for lots of different reasons.

But today is a little bit different because today we need levels of security that probably nobody has ever seen before.

To be clear, Trump wants a big, fancy ballroom, because he likes big, fancy things, because he’s a big, fancy boy.

While we’re sure it will be very secure, there is no need for it to exist beyond Trump’s own personal desire to envelope himself in obscene levels of luxury.

It didn’t take long for Trump’s minions to to start repeating his message:

i’ll be honest it’s so fucking funny to take this angle after another shooting attempt its just so shameless pic.twitter.com/h1yYKPqjII

— onion person (@CantEverDie) April 26, 2026

Some have suggested this means the event was staged, although this level of coordinated propaganda is fairly streamlined at this point:

This tells us flat out that this was staged. https://t.co/l3TsnYzm7D

— MAGA Cult Slayer (@MAGACult2) April 26, 2026

At the same time, you really can’t put anything past these people:

It's almost as if none of them are taking this seriously either. pic.twitter.com/Xd1zPhqWoz

— Art Candee (@ArtCandee) April 26, 2026

Trump — ‘Shots fired’

Another strange moment was when Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the following pre-shooting:

Strange wording! https://t.co/VFBzR5aHDB

— Secular Talk (KyleKulinskiShow@bsky.social) (@KyleKulinski) April 26, 2026

If Trump’s team did pre-plan the event, we’ll no doubt find out when it’s revealed an anonymous person bet a shooting would happen on the prediction markets:

The insider trading suspicions looming over Trump's presidency https://t.co/iIdiB9lAgl

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) April 20, 2026

Featured image via C-SPAN

By Willem Moore

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DALLAS — Friendship-West Baptist Church is a stronghold for Black politics, where candidates pass through cycle after cycle to win over its 13,000 congregants. It’s the church Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) calls home; her pastor, the Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III, is now running to succeed her in Congress. Even Beto O’Rourke visited last week to encourage people to register to vote.

But several congregants can’t help but notice a continued absence this year: James Talarico.

The Democratic Senate nominee has a long road ahead if he wants to flip the Texas seat blue — one that requires winning over the state’s nearly 3 million Black voters, who largely broke for Crockett in the March primary and many of whom remain skeptical of his candidacy.

“Come and make the ask. Come and try to earn the vote,” said Alan Williams, a Crockett voter and Friendship-West congregant. “I think he thinks our vote is just a default and he doesn’t have to earn it.”

In the month-and-a-half since he won the nomination, Talarico has begun criss-crossing Texas, including visiting some Black churches, holding meetings with faith leaders and elected officials, and block-walking in majority-Black cities. But frustration from worshippers at Friendship-West — who have yet to hear from him directly — and interviews with Black power brokers across the state reveal the pressure Talarico faces to move faster to heal open wounds from a contentious primary and convince voters to turn out.

David Malcolm McGruder, the church’s executive pastor, said Talarico has to do more to sell his vision to voters — and convince them he’ll follow through: “We have people who show up in our churches during the election season, but who don’t show up for us at the level of policy beyond November.”

Talarico, in an interview, acknowledged that he would “love” to visit Friendship-West soon. “My top priority is bringing our coalition back together, and that is specifically reaching out to Black Texans,” he said. “There’s no way to win Texas without winning the trust and the support of Black voters. Period. Full stop.”

It’s clear that Talarico has his work cut out for him. He wasn’t Black voters’ preferred candidate. Some are exhausted by a messy primary that thrust questions over race and electability into the center of the contest. And while Black voters are overwhelmingly committed Democrats, he needs to keep enthusiasm high to ensure they turn out, especially as concerns over voter suppression grow. (A last-minute rule change in Dallas County, Crockett’s home base, caused thousands of people to be turned away from the polls or have their ballots invalidated on primary Election Day.)

Democrats have long faced accusations that they take Black voters for granted. Several Texas strategists are worried that’ll happen again in the lead up to November — and that the party will blame Black voters if Talarico loses.

“Black voters have been let down over time,” said Antjuan Seawright, a longtime Democratic strategist who has advised the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “What some may not understand is that our vote, more so than any other constituency in the history of this country, has always been a demonstration of our trust, but our trust has either been taken for granted or has always been on the chopping block by a number of people.”

Talarico is already getting on-the-ground support from Democratic groups like O’Rourke’s Powered By People and a host of Black state lawmakers.

“We don’t have time to remain in our feelings,” added Crystal Chism, president of the Dallas County chapter of Texas Coalition of Black Democrats. “We need to make the main thing the main thing, and that’s getting Talarico elected.”

But there’s a notable ally missing: Even though Crockett quickly conceded the race and endorsed Talarico in March, she has yet to hit the campaign trail or put much effort publicly into rallying the base behind him. Crockett, through a spokesperson, declined an interview request for this story.

Talarico said he and Crockett have “exchanged a few messages” since the primary and he “would love nothing more” than to have her on the campaign trail.

“He’s got his work cut out for him,” noted Russell Maryland, the former No. 1 NFL draft pick who won three Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys and voted for Crockett in the primary. “He’s gonna have to work to win over Jasmine’s supporters. … Talarico will really need to put his fingers in the ground, so to speak in football terms, and kick up some dust.”

The seminarian is still trying to overcome some of the criticism leveled against him in the lead up to the primary.

In February, a PAC that supported Talarico ran a TV ad with the tagline, “If she wins, we lose.” Crockett claimed the ad darkened her skin and said it was bigoted. “It’s not even undertones right now,” she said. “It’s straight-up racist.” (Talarico, in an interview, emphasized that the PAC was not affiliated with his campaign and that he disagreed with its message. He added that he believes Crockett is electable statewide in Texas, as he has said before.)

Then a social media influencer claimed Talarico told her in a private conversation that former Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas), who dropped out of the Senate race right before Crockett joined, was a “mediocre Black man.” Talarico has said that was a mischaracterization of his comments, and that he was describing Allred’s method of campaigning as mediocre.

Allred, who is now in a competitive run-off to represent Texas’ 33rd district, said in an interview that he backs Talarico. “Of course I support him,” he said. “I support Democrats. I’ve been supporting Democrats here for my whole life.”

But Talarico’s challenge, Allred added, isn’t convincing Black voters to support him over the Republican nominee — it’s convincing them to turn out.

“He needs to show comfort in Black spaces and Black communities,” Allred said. “I’m sure he can do that, but there’s just no substitute for it. Particularly given how some of the ads that ran, there may be some element of having to show contrition, even if he wasn’t responsible for all those.”

Talarico has visited Black churches almost every weekend since the primary, and he dropped by Prairie View A&M University, an HBCU, on Wednesday, where he acknowledged he has “got to earn the trust and the respect and the support of every single one of the congresswoman’s supporters.” He blocked-walk in majority-Black DeSoto, Texas and held a roundtable with Black community leaders in Austin recently. And last month, he convened African American clerics at Saint Luke Community United Methodist Church in Dallas for a discussion about policy.

“The Democratic Party has taken Black voters for granted and assumed that they’re just part of the base, assumed they’ll just show up and vote for you,” Talarico said in an interview. “And I think we’ve seen the disastrous results of that kind of disrespect toward Black voters.”

To his benefit, Talarico has an army of Texas Democrats anxious to flip the state for the first time in decades. Last Sunday, O’Rourke — whose three-point loss in 2018 to GOP Sen. Ted Cruz was Texas Democrats’ high-water mark this century — mingled with congregants at Friendship-West, while his organization’s yellow-vested volunteers encouraged them to check their voter registration.

“I love James Talarico,” O’Rourke said. “I’m excited for him. I’ve talked to him and said, ‘You can send me anywhere that the campaign can’t get to. I will raise money for you. I’ll go try to get your volunteers fired up. I’ll speak as a surrogate. You let me know.’”

State Sen. Royce West of Dallas, who voted for Crockett and has since endorsed Talarico, is also optimistic, if more measured: “He’s warming up. He has support within the African American community. Is it where it needs to be? No. Is he making strides? Yes.”

On the Republican side, longtime Sen. John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton are locked in a lengthy and expensive run-off that could play to Democrats’ advantage. Talarico’s internal polling shows him competitiveagainst either candidate, but some observers think he has a stronger path against Paxton given his myriad controversies. Talarico boasts a cash advantage with almost $10 million cash on hand after the first quarter of the year, compared with Cornyn’s more than $8 million and Paxton’s $2.6 million.

“There’s work to be done,” said Cliff Walker, a Texas Democratic strategist and principal at Seeker Strategies. “But I don’t stay up at night worried that we’re not going to be able to reassemble this coalition in time for November.”

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Critics recently accused Keir Starmer of misleading Parliament not once but twice. Starmer’s allies, meanwhile, mostly kept quiet, suggesting they too believed he’d messed up.

This all looks terrible for Starmer. And as if things weren’t bad enough, Ministry of Defence officials have also suggested Starmer broke the Ministerial Code:

There is no public record of the Palantir briefing attended by Keir Starmer and Peter Mandelson in February 2025 despite the Ministerial Code requiring Starmer to publish details of meetings with external organisations

No 10 says the event was not a meeting and did not require…

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— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) April 25, 2026

Here we go again

As you can see in the image above, the thrice-disgraced Peter Mandelson also attended the meeting:

BREAKING: Starmer’s failure to disclose secret Palantir meeting arranged by Mandelson broke Ministerial Code of Conduct (via @Telegraph) #TomorrowsPapersToday https://t.co/DX8r6Nxp4O pic.twitter.com/pf7DJv6QcS

— Joe Rich (@joerichlaw) April 25, 2026

As Tory councillor Rich says, we’ve known about this dodgy Palantir deal for sometime. What Rich fails to note is that this tendency to afford Palantir secret meetings began with his own party, as the Canary reported on 3 March:

In 2019 at Downing Street Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings, and Peter Thiel – Palantir’s billionaire co-founder and chairman, met for an hour. There were no notes from this meeting. Palantir being awarded Covid contracts followed.

We added:

Starmer has continued this pattern of secret meetings. A February 2025 Washington meeting between  Starmer, Peter Mandelson, and Palantir CEO Alex Karp has no notes and preceded the £240 million December 2025 contract between the Ministry of Defence and Palantir.

Palantir, named after the all-seeing orb from the Lord of the Rings, wants to see everything. But when it comes to its own meetings, it seems they prefer the lights off.

Oh, and let’s not forget all this:

Also central to this picture is Mandelson, whose lobbying firm Global Counsel worked for Palantir. It was Mandelson who introduced Starmer to Palantir CEO Alex Karp at that February 2025 Washington meeting, the one with no notes that preceded the £241 million MOD contract.

Mandelson’s own extensive contacts with Epstein are now the subject of a police investigation. Global Counsel no longer exists.

Total UK government contracts now exceed £670 million – spanning the NHS, the Ministry of Defence, police forces, the Cabinet Office, and even the navy’s nuclear-powered submarines. The NHS contract alone is worth £330 million over seven years, giving one US company access to the health data of 67 million Britons.

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Green Party leader Zack Polanski, meanwhile, said the following on 18 April:

'He was not allowed unsupervised access to former clients’

Is that why Keir Starmer had to accompany Mandelson to their secret meeting with Palantir? https://t.co/okv96wnhDk

— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) April 18, 2026

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Now, it seems the mainstream media has caught up.

Finally noticing

In the piece published on Sunday 26 April, the Telegraph wrote:

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of breaking the ministerial code by failing to declare a meeting with a client of Lord Mandelson’s lobbying firm.

The Telegraph also reported:

Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister, said the Palantir visit was “not a formal meeting”, in response to parliamentary questions from the Conservatives about why the meeting was not declared.

…

However, in response to a separate parliamentary question, Luke Pollard, the defence minister, acknowledged that it was a meeting, saying: “The Office of the UK Defence Attaché holds no record of the meeting as no formal record of the meeting was produced.”

Hypocritically, the Tories are also calling out Starmer’s sleaze. Alex Burghart (shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster) said:

A presentation by a defence contractor, attended with British military personnel, took place and was not declared. Calling it ‘not a meeting’ does not make it disappear.

Gee, we wonder where Labour got the idea to meet Palantir in secret from?

Burghart also said:

Keir Starmer has broken the ministerial code. The public deserves to know who arranged this meeting, what was discussed, and what Global Counsel’s client stood to gain.

This is what people mean when they say Britain is a one-state party. Half of the party is in opposition, opposing the bad stuff, while the other half is in power, doing the bad stuff.

Now the public has wised up to this con-job, they’ve started looking elsewhere for political representation:

POLL | Reform lead by 4pts

Ref: 25% (-1)
Grn: 21% (+1)
Con: 16% (-1)
Lab: 15% (-1)
Lib: 11% (-1)

– Seats –
Ref: 317
Grn: 129
Lib: 77
SNP: 47
Con: 35
Plaid: 10
Lab: 9

Poll: @FindOutNowUK, 22-23 Apr (+/- vs 15 Apr) pic.twitter.com/kkU4NcnYO5

— Stats for Lefties (@LeftieStats) April 23, 2026

Starmer — Mr Transparency

This situation is especially bad for Starmer because of past comments like the following:

We need a transparency revolution. There should be no power without accountability, and true accountability requires transparency.

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) February 4, 2020

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When it suited him, Starmer talked about transparency. When it didn’t suit him, he turned the tape recorders off and asked aids not to take minutes.

Featured image via Cory Doctorow (Flickr)

By Willem Moore

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Labour risks losing “a generation of young voters” to the Greens and Reform, according to one of its own MPs.

Luke Charters told HuffPost UK that Labour has always been the “party young people backed when it mattered”.

But he warned: “If we don’t show we’re serious about delivering, we risk losing a generation to populists peddling false hope.”

His remarks come less than two weeks before voters head to the polls for local elections in England, and elections in the Welsh Senedd and Holyrood.

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Polls suggest Labour are on course to potentially lose up to 2,000 English councillors, be defeated in Wales for the first time and see the SNP triumph in Scotland once again.

YouGov’s latest polls show the Greens are the most popular party among 18-24 year-olds on 36%, while Labour behind on 24% and Reform UK sit at 7%.

All three parties are much closer when it comes to 25-49-year-olds, though Greens still have a lead on 25%, Reform on 23% and Labour at 20%.

It’s a real reversal of the trends seen in 2024, when Labour was the most popular party for voters under-30s – 41% of 18-24-year-olds and 45% of 25-29-year-olds voted for the party.

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Charters said: “Young people got a raw deal under the Tories, and some of the alternatives are no better.

“The Greens are offering gimmicks like DJ sets while Reform wants to cut young workers’ wages. You couldn’t make it up.”

He added: “Labour is delivering real change. Wage boosts, the Renters’ Rights Act, a better deal with Europe. But there is more to do on key issues like student loans and getting young people onto the housing ladder.”

The Renters’ Rights Act will ban no-fault evictions and ends fixed-term tenancy contracts from May 1, legislation is likely to appeal to the largest share of private renters – 25-34-year-olds.

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Labour has also increased the National Living Wage for those aged 21 and over, and the National Minimum Wage for 18 to 20-year-olds.

Labour legalised voting for 16 and 17-year-olds, too.

Charters is not the only MP who thinks the government needs to focus on the younger demographic.

One Labour backbencher suggested the government should move its focus away from policies like the pension triple lock, having already put off the elderly generation by scrapping universal winter fuel payments.

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Instead, they said the government should look towards what it can offer young people once again.

“That’s where the focus should be. No more of this leadership debate,” the MP said.

A government insider also told HuffPost UK admitted they intend on engaging young people “a lot” in the coming months – though not at the expense of other groups.

OLI SCARFF via AFP via Getty Images

An EU official also told HuffPost UK that helping young people will likely be one of the core means for the bloc will try to re-establish ties after Brexit.

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The UK joined the Erasmus + scheme last week, allowing people from the EU and the UK to work or study in one another’s countries for a limited time period.

Minister for EU relations Nick Thomas-Symonds told HuffPost UK that “we think 100,000 most likely young people” will be joining that programme overall.

Considering 83% of 16 to 24-year-olds would vote to rejoin the EU, according to a February ITV News poll, it means closer ties with the bloc could be a vote-winner for Labour among young people.

But, as a Labour source warned, winning back the young vote would a “tough sell” in the coming months, considering the Green Party – which wants to rejoin the EU – has capitalised on the disillusioned demographic.

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Last week, the progressives declared a Green “Youthquake” as more than 50,000 Brits under 29 became party members.

As Savanta’s political research director Chris Hopkins told HuffPost UK, how young people vote “does have the potential to be important for political parties going forward, but none more so than for Labour.”

Hopkins added that the younger voter has been a “relatively fertile electoral ground for Labour” in the past, and now the government risks losing them altogether.

The polling expert warned: “Their general malaise, and the perception that they are responsible for the country’s issues, may mean that even young people desert them.”

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There’s a certain kind of person many of us have in our lives – the one who constantly sends you alarming articles, along with a comment to the effect of “we’re f**ked”.

They always know the latest awful happenings in the world and seem ready to tell everybody that nothing anyone does matters.

The name for these kinds of people? “Doomers.”

″‘Doomerism’ is a mindset that’s rooted in chronic pessimism and worst-case scenario thinking,” Chloë Bean, a licensed marriage and family therapist, told HuffPost. “It’s the belief that the future is bleak, things are only going to get worse and individual actions won’t matter. It tends to carry a sense of hopelessness, helplessness and emotional exhaustion.”

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For “doomers,” there’s a pervasive sense that everything is bad. Alexandra Cromer, a licensed therapist with Thriveworks, compared doomerism to “existential dread,” highlighting the sense of fear around imminent destruction against which you have no power.

“It posits that the future of global welfare is inherently ‘doomed,’ meaning that there is almost a guarantee that the global population will soon face climate, economic and other grave disasters that ultimately contribute to widespread societal collapse,” she explained.

While there have always been “doomers” in the world to some extent, this mindset seems to have become more prevalent in the age of the internet and social media.

“A lot of people are consuming a steady stream of alarming news headlines, conflict, economic stress, climate anxiety and comparison culture without enough time to process what they’re absorbing,” Bean said. “Our nervous systems were not designed for 24/7 exposure to global distress.”

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She noted that social media can amplify doomerism as fear-driven content often gets more engagement.

“The more someone interacts with pessimistic or catastrophic content, the more the algorithm will serve it back to them,” Bean explained. “This creates the false feeling that despair is the only reality.”

Illustration: HuffPost; Photo: Getty Images

This phenomenon is true for those who don’t engage directly with these kinds of headlines and posts as well.

“Information that’s posted online and via social media can find you even if you’re not seeking it – e.g. your Facebook friend comments on a post or shares the concept of doomerism as a post – thus enhancing the chance that you’re exposed to that concept,” Cromer said.

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Very real cultural factors can shape this mindset as well – from recent global affairs and instability to political figures espousing extremist ideologies.

“Many people are navigating systemic issues, inequity, discrimination, financial pressure, loneliness and uncertainty about the future,” Bean said. “For some, pessimism is not irrational – it’s actually a response to repeated stress and feeling unsupported.”

Dr Sue Varma, a psychiatrist and author of Practical Optimism, believes doomerism has become especially widespread among younger people, who feel they must choose between being happy and being informed.

“Younger people have declining trust in institutions, rising economic anxiety and the collapse of shared optimistic narratives – like steady progress or upward mobility – which all feed the mindset,” she said.

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“Constant exposure to global crises creates a sense that disasters are everywhere all at once. Historically our 20s were typically the period of time we were happiest and most optimistic in our lives, and I just don’t see that to be the case anymore.”

How doomerism affects everyday life

There are serious downsides to leaning too far into doomerism in your everyday life, however.

“Being concerned about real issues is understandable, while doomerism crosses into the belief like ‘nothing will get better,’ which can create a sense of paralysis and apathy,” Bean said.

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She believes the biggest risk to this mindset is that it becomes self-reinforcing.

“When someone believes nothing matters, they stop taking actions that support their wellbeing, like connecting with others, pursuing meaningful goals, learning new things, caring for their body, creating change in their community, or asking for help,” Bean explained.

Doomerism can increase depression, burnout, anxiety and isolation as well.

“It also narrows attention so people stop noticing what is still working or possible in their lives,” Bean said. “Chronic doom-focused thinking can disconnect people from hope, and hope is a top protective factor for mental health.”

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It’s a mindset that tends to produce very absolute and passive conclusions: “Nothing will ever get better.” “Everyone is terrible.” “There’s no point.”

“It usually comes with compulsive scrolling, feeling emotionally flooded, irritability, numbness, withdrawal, constriction or losing motivation to participate in life,” Bean noted.

Cromer similarly sees many downsides to the doomerist outlook on life.

“Primarily, it causes you to have an unhealthy and unrealistic viewpoint on global health and humanity’s ability to problem-solve,” she explained. “While, yes, there are certain factors that humanity should be aware of that contribute to poor global health and outlooks, it’s also important to take a more holistic – and realistic – viewpoint of our global forecast.”

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In addition to isolation and anxiety, she pointed to negative effects like restlessness, low motivation, low energy, chronic stress, hopelessness and an overall lack of enjoyment and engagement with life.

“Becoming engrossed in this mindset leads to rigid thinking, hyperfixation and can have real impacts on people’s lives,” Cromer said.

What to do if you fall into doomerism

“If someone notices they feel worse after consuming news, feel stuck in catastrophic thoughts, or can’t access moments of joy or their sense of agency anymore, it may be time to get some support in making a change,” Bean said.

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She recommended setting boundaries around the media you take in every day.

“You don’t need unlimited access to distressing information to stay informed,” Bean said. “Choose a few reliable sources, check them intentionally once per day max and avoid doom-scrolling.”

Restricting your information intake can help foster a healthier mindset. Consider balancing your media diet by seeking out stories of progress alongside articles about problems.

“Limit your interactions with news to maybe 30 minutes a day,” Cromer echoed. “Or, disengage from following news outlets on social media and rely on a once-daily email newsletter that can provide you with a quick, succinct update.”

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Another helpful approach is to reconnect with your body and what’s going well in the present.

“When people are trapped in catastrophic thinking, regulation helps them gain a new perspective,” Bean said. “Go outside, move your body, listen to music, talk with someone safe, cook dinner, notice what is steady and real in the present moment.”

Give yourself permission to “step away” from the gloom and doom. Spend time in nature, even if it’s just sitting on a city park bench.

“Engaging with a doomerism mindset places a disproportionate amount of responsibility and perceived control on a person’s shoulders,” Cromer said. “Allow yourself to visualise placing that worry down, like removing a backpack from your back.”

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Ultimately, the goal is not to disengage from all negative news but to find balance and personal agency.

“Realistic concern usually leads to taking a grounded action – voting, setting boundaries, volunteering, reducing harm, having conversations, or making values-based choices,” Bean said. “It says, ‘Things are hard, and I can still choose to respond.’”

You might not be able to fix the macro problems of the world, but you can make a difference in your immediate surroundings.

“Take concrete action on something you care about, even small, because agency is the antidote to helplessness,” Varma said. “It could be planting a community garden. It could be mentoring or tutoring somebody. It could literally be cleaning your apartment, rearranging things, donating old clothes. Invest in in-person relationships and local community, which tend to be more hopeful than online life.”

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You can have realistic concern about the world without going down an unhealthy doom spiral by ensuring you can look at world issues “from all sides,” Cromer noted.

“Do you have the ability to identify risk factors as well as protective factors regarding global health?” she asked. “Are you easily able to disengage from these thought patterns and ‘take a break’? If your answer is ‘no,’ you are likely engaging in harmful ways of thinking that are not reflective of current reality.”

She also warned against becoming intolerant of differing or conflicting viewpoints ― a potential sign that you’re stuck in rigid, unhelpful patterns.

What to do if doomerism starts to cross into darker territory

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Doomerism can also go beyond just media diet and into darker mental health territory – particularly with “there’s no point” attitudes.

“Doom thinking feels absolute and drains energy rather than directing it,” Varma said. “Warning signs include consuming bad news compulsively, feeling numb or hopeless most days, believing nothing you do matters, withdrawing from plans or relationships, dismissing any positive information as naive and talking about the future only in terms of collapse.”

Be mindful if you or someone you know starts to cross a line between doomerism and suicidal ideation.

“If you find that the doomerism is impacting daily functioning and enjoyment, seek professional supportive counselling services,” Cromer said.

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Mental health professionals say it’s important to pay attention to how pervasive and intense these doom-focused thoughts become. It can be hard to tell when everyday pessimism crosses into something more extreme and serious.

But you might need additional support if “what’s the point?” starts to feel like your default setting and not just a passing thought or if you notice yourself pulling away from things that used to bring you joy.

In addition to seeking therapy support, Bean recommended practicing “both/and” thinking in your everyday life.

“The world has real problems, and there is still goodness, beauty, connection, and action available right now,” Bean said. “If hopelessness feels persistent, therapy can also help unpack whether the doomer mindset is being fuelled by anxiety, trauma, depression, loneliness, or burnout. Sometimes what looks like cynicism is actually an overwhelmed and stressed-out nervous system ready for care.”

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