(Martyn Goddard/Alamy)

4 min read27 min

Anyone following the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) would be forgiven for thinking that, if PAC is scrutinising something, it has gone wrong or is in danger of doing so.

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Further, that attempts to update government services on which we all rely have had, to date, a history of failure – with PAC a chronicler of that history.

The evidence is compelling. Technical problems making the lives of court staff, already hit by backlogs, even harder; significant costs for emergency services from a delayed communications network; unacceptable risk for taxpayers stemming from National Savings & Investment’s (NS&I) modernisation programme – the list goes on.

But it is important to take lessons from success, as well as failure. A modernising government does not need to look far for a model to emulate – they just need to ring up the bank.

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The PAC has scrutinised the Bank of England’s (BoE) renewal of the Real-Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS), and we were impressed. Few will have heard of RTGS – all of us would notice if it failed. It is a critical piece of infrastructure, underpinning all electronic sterling payment systems, settling around £790bn in transactions daily.

The nine-year RTGS renewal programme was implemented for £431m, launching in April 2025. Compare this to NS&I’s own programme, at £3bn+ and counting. The programme was reset in 2024 and rated as apparently unachievable, when it was supposed to have been largely delivered. Instead, it is a long way from completion, with core elements nowhere near ready.

What went right, and what went wrong? One way the BoE’s project stands out is its procurement, through a ‘competitive dialogue’. The BoE only established its preferred contractor having paid for advice from bidders. This allowed for system designs to be developed in consultation with the BoE as ‘intelligent customer’, and it proceeded with a fixed-price contract. This is perhaps a mechanism that the House of Commons’ authorities should consider in the Restoration and Renewal programme.

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Compare this to NS&I’s poorly executed procurement. It split up its programme into multiple packages, awarding contracts without a good understanding of their interdependencies. Delays resulted in millions being paid in settlement agreements for cancelled contracts and additional payments to existing suppliers for work needed.

Another problem for NS&I was a lack of skills needed for such complex programmes. Most of its operations had been contracted out when the project began, so it had limited digital transformation experience going in. Finding recruitment difficult, it leant on consultants to fill the gaps, costing £43m.

One single thing that would help departments enjoy the BoE’s success is the breaking open of stifling hierarchies

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In contrast, the BoE empowered skilled digital professionals to support well-informed decisions. Initial governance drew on non-executive directors’ expertise with track records in digital payments. Responsibility for when the new system went live rested jointly with senior delivery and technical leaders. The old system had to be switched off before the new came into operation, and these two people had to make the vital decision whether it would definitely work. We have long called for digital specialists to be at the decision making top table – this high-stakes moment demonstrates why that is.

One single thing that would help departments enjoy the BoE’s success is the breaking open of stifling hierarchies. The BoE set a clear tone for a ‘no surprises’ culture – staff were encouraged to raise concerns early, and anonymously, through a ‘transparency channel’. It is painful comparing this to NS&I’s mindset, which it characterised as a ‘can-do’ attitude. This kind of ‘good news’ culture can prevent lessons being learnt. We heard staff felt decision making was slow and hierarchical, with decision making processes opaque and not understood.

Our committee will continue acting as the watchdog for the taxpayer’s pound, rooting out waste wherever we find it. But in the RTGS, we hope all can see that public sector delivery is not simply a depressing landscape of decline and failure. Hard-working public servants are out there demonstrating best practice. The BoE is lighting the way for the rest of government to follow. 

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown is Conservative MP for the North Cotswolds and chair of the Public Accounts Committee

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Colin Jordan gives Nazi salute (Chronicle/Alamy)

6 min read12 min

Called to clear the return to Parliament of a high-profile Labour figure, the 1965 Leyton by-election prefigured the Makerfield contest, writes Lord Cryer. But, he asks, how would today’s voters react if a minister were involved in a punch-up?

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We are now in the run-up to what promises to be a crucial by-election in Makerfield with the nation’s – and perhaps the world’s – media about to descend on the north-west of England.

We have no shortage of by-elections that appeared epoch-making at the time but are now footnotes. No shortage, either, of predictions based on their results that turned out to be not just wrong but laughably so.

The Fulham by-election of 1933 was said to signal that Britain was turning towards pacifism. Winston Churchill would like a word. The Darlington poll just before the 1983 general election was said to indicate that Labour was on course to regaining power. The landslide Tory victory was only a few months later.

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Of course, sometimes they are important or revealing or both. In the early and mid-1990s, a series of huge swings from Conservative to Labour heralded Tony Blair’s arrival in Downing Street. Similarly, a string of Labour losses in the 1970s indicated that Mrs Margaret Thatcher would win in 1979.

Others that are footnotes ought to get more attention. An almost completely forgotten by-election in Kinross and West Perthshire in 1963 allowed the winning candidate, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, to replace Harold MacMillan as leader of the Conservative Party and prime minister. Ironically, Douglas-Home was afforded this opportunity by the great left-wing politician Tony Benn who had championed legislation allowing hereditary peers to renounce their titles, thus allowing first Benn and then Douglas-Home to sit in the House of Commons.

But when looking for parallels with today, one lesson from history is given by the patch I represented until recently and whose MP is now the admirable Calvin Bailey.

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The 1965 Leyton and Wanstead poll came about in circumstances with something of an echo of Makerfield in that it offered the chance of a return to Westminster of a high-profile Labour figure. Labour had won the general election in 1964 by a slim majority. However, Patrick Gordon Walker, who was to be the new foreign secretary under prime minister Harold Wilson, had lost the constituency of Smethwick against all expectations. That particular result led to long and bitter arguments as Labour accused the Conservatives of running a racist campaign.

The accusations were vigorously denied by the Conservatives both locally and nationally.

What certainly did happen was that a deeply offensive slogan was found painted on various buildings across Smethwick but the culprits were never found.

As a result, Wilson had a foreign secretary without a constituency. The prime minister then persuaded the Labour MP for Leyton, Reg Sorensen, to accept a seat in the Lords, thus creating the by-election. Gordon Walker was the Labour candidate and polling day was set for 21 January 1965. The national and international media then descended on Leyton and, in the wake of the Smethwick contest, the far-right also arrived. The fascists were led by a particularly repellent individual named Colin Jordan. Unusually among the British far right, Jordan was not simply a fascist but an out-and-out Nazi. He styled himself ‘World-Fuhrer’ and was fond of dressing up in uniforms and performing Hitler salutes at any available opportunity.

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The highlight of the campaign for the fascist interlopers was when they invaded a Labour-organised public meeting in what was then Leyton town hall. There was a huge fight, caught in part by a BBC Panorama team. Jordan managed at one point to climb onto the stage but, sadly for him, he was confronted by Denis Healey, a defence minister at the time, who hit Jordan so hard that he flew off the stage and landed back in the crowd.

“To put it bluntly, as a young man Healey was harder than a coffin nail”

According the Daily Telegraph’s obituary of Jordan, “Healey landed a heavy punch, knocking Jordan off the stage and sending him crashing into a watching journalist, breaking the reporter’s spectacles.”

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The Panorama narrator asserts that “when he tried to grab the microphones, the minister of defence and Mr Walker, using conventional weapons proved the ultimate deterrence”.

Sadly, perhaps, the footage shows only a melee and then a grinning Walker with Healey close by, as Jordon and his goons are bundled out screaming racist abuse as they go.

Healey, we should remember, was not always the avuncular and elderly man we tend to remember. During the Allied invasion of Anzio in 1944, when British and US forces were confronted by Nazi and Italian troops, he was the beachmaster and therefore to a large extent ran the landings. To put it bluntly, as a young man he was harder than a coffin nail. In later years as an MP, it was often noted that critics in the House of Commons were slightly more guarded in their comments than would be the case with a less physically formidable opponent.

In the 1970s, he was still sufficiently lively to see off another attack at a public meeting by members of the National Front.

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Jordan had the finances which allowed him to engage in his fantasies of world domination because he had married Françoise Dior of the world-famous Dior brand. Quite what Ms Dior saw in him remains a matter of conjecture, although it may be the marriage was to stop her from being deported as an undesirable alien. It wasn’t for his looks – Jordon had the face of a blind cobbler’s thumb and never particularly displayed much in the way of intellect or charisma. The Telegraph obituary notes that he never recovered from being fined for stealing three pairs of red knickers from Tesco in Leamington Spa in 1975. He claimed to be the victim of a Jewish plot.

Labour might have won the battle of the town hall but they very narrowly lost the by-election to the Tories – although Walker comfortably regained the seat the following general election and rejoined the government. The constituency and its successor have continued to elect Labour MPs since then, as the battle of Leyton slowly fades from memory and into history.

I sometimes wonder if that confrontation between Healey and Jordan had occurred more recently what might have been the consequences. There would undoubtedly be calls for the minister’s sacking and removal as an MP. Is that to be regretted? The short answer is yes.

Healey’s generation understood that fascism sometimes must be confronted physically. That does not mean that they viewed violence in a cavalier way. But leading figures in all the major parties were then of a generation who had had to go off and fight – and they understood why. 

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Most people pick window treatments for offices, hotels, or schools based on looks alone andpay for it later. The wrong blind fades, fails a fire inspection, or just gives out under regular wear. Getting the fabric right from the start saves thousands in replacement costs and frustration.

So what roller blinds work in commercial spaces? The answer rests on three pillars: fabric type, light control capability, and fire safety compliance for your building category. This article breaks down the main options, what each one does, and where to use it.

Fabric Types That Work in Commercial Settings

Choosing blind fabric for a workplace is less about style alone and more about how the space is used every day. A meeting room may need blackout fabric for presentations, while an open office may benefit more from screen fabric that softens glare without making the room feel closed in. In public areas, schools, hotels, and healthcare settings, safety and durability also matter, which is why flame-retardant materials are often preferred. In such cases, roller blinds for commercial spaces are a practical choice, as the fabric provides the right level of light control, privacy, durability, or safety based on how the room is used. The right fabric can also make the space easier to use throughout the day, especially in areas where people work, meet, or welcome visitors. It also helps the room feel more comfortable and better prepared for daily business needs.

Blackout Fabrics for Full Light Control

Blackout roller blinds use a coated or layered fabric that stops light completely. Hotels, conference rooms, and healthcare spaces—anywhere staff or guests need total darkness on demand, these are it. The fabric tends to be polyester with a foam or acrylic coating that keeps light from leaking through the weave. And commercial-grade blackout is heavier than residential versions, so it survives constant rolling without the coating separating from the backing.

Solar and Screen Fabrics for Glare Reduction

Screen fabrics filter rather than block. They come rated by openness factor, 1%, 3%, 5%, or 10%, which tells you how much direct light and heat gets through. A 1% rating gives near-blackout with just a bit of diffused light; 10% lets in much more while still taming glare. Offices facing south or west benefit most. And you’ll notice the view outside stays clear during daytime hours, which matters in spaces where natural light affects how people feel and work.

Flame-Retardant Fabrics for Regulated Buildings

Any commercial building under US fire codes, such as schools, hospitals, care homes, and hotels, requires window treatments to meet specific flammability standards. FR roller blind fabrics are either inherently fire-resistant (built in at manufacture) or treated afterward. Inherently FR fabrics keep their rating through repeated cleaning; treated fabrics can lose it after too much washing. Direct Fabrics offers made-to-measure FR blinds built to meet contract-grade fire safety standards; that’s a solid, practical option for regulated environments.

Operating Systems and Hardware for High-Traffic Spaces

Fabric matters, but the mechanism does the work. A blind that gets raised and lowered dozens of times a week needs hardware tough enough to handle it.

Chain Systems for Manual Operation

Chain-operated roller blinds use a loop chain to raise or lower. They’re the standard manual system in commercial settings because they’re simple, easy to fix, and don’t require electricity. Here’s the thing: in high-traffic spaces with kids, schools, and pediatric wards, you’ll need chain-safety devices or break-safe connectors to meet regulations. Spring-return mechanisms work too, for spaces where staff prefer a drop-and-release action.

Motorized Systems for Large or Awkward Windows

Motorized roller blinds make sense for windows that are hard to reach or oversized. Skylights, high clerestory windows, full-height glazed facades. Motor systems can be wired or battery-operated; many integrate with building management systems so you can schedule blind positions throughout the day. The upfront cost is higher, but reduced staff time and less wear on the blind itself often pays for it.

Cassette and Fascia Housings for a Clean Finish

A bare roller tube at the top looks rough in a reception area or boardroom. Cassette headrails enclose the rolled fabric and hardware in a neat box; they also shield the fabric from dust and UV at the tube, extending the blind’s life. Square cassettes fit modern interiors. Curved or arched fascias work better in traditional spaces.

Matching Blind Type to Specific Commercial Environments

Different commercial spaces have different requirements. A hospital ward’s blind faces nothing like what a hotel room demands.

Healthcare and Education Settings

Hospitals, clinics, schools, durability, and hygiene come first. Fabrics must wipe clean without degrading. FR compliance isn’t negotiable. Stick with tight-weave polyester in light colors (they don’t absorb odors), and skip any decorative texture that holds dust. Antimicrobial coatings are available on some contract fabrics; they’re worth adding in patient-facing areas.

Hospitality and Office Interiors

Hotels and offices balance appearance with performance. Blackout blinds in bedrooms, screen fabrics in lobbies and meeting rooms, motorized systems in premium suites or executive floors, that’s the typical mix. Color accuracy matters too. A fabric that looks great in the showroom can fall flat under office lighting in person; always grab a physical sample before ordering bulk quantities.

Retail and Public-Facing Spaces

Retail windows need solar control without blocking merchandise or signage views. A 5% or 10% openness screen fabric usually works. And because retail blinds sit in constant UV, pick fabrics with high UV resistance ratings to avoid early fading and color shifts.

Conclusion

Picking suitable roller blinds for commercial spaces comes down to three things: the right fabric for your light control and fire safety needs; a mechanism built for how often the blind gets used in your space; and a spec matched to your specific environment. Blackout fabrics work in bedrooms and conference rooms; screen fabrics belong in offices and retail. FR compliance isn’t optional in regulated buildings. Get those three right, and you’ve got blinds that’ll perform for years without problems.

By Nathan Spears

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The UK military has named the soldier killed in Erbil, Iraq. An American soldier also died in what the allied nations say was a “training accident”. Lance Corporal James Freeman was a member of the Royal Anglian regiment. Iranian drones hit the base in March 2026.

Freeman was a member of 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment. The battalion is part of the new army Special Operations Brigade. The British Army website describes the unit as:

the fighting formation of the Land Special Operations Force (LSOF) and is equipped with Robotics and Autonomous Systems.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) posted on X:

It is with great sadness that we confirm the death of Lance Corporal James Freeman, who died on 31 May following a tragic accident during routine military training activity whilst deployed on Operation SHADER, Iraq. pic.twitter.com/2pGkHTja64

— Ministry of Defence (@DefenceHQ) June 3, 2026

The US Army has not yet named the American soldier killed:

pic.twitter.com/BZwCWnWw3I

— US Army Central & Third Army (@usarmycentral) June 1, 2026

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Drop Site News reported that Erbil province was hit by Iranian fire on the day of the deaths:

Iran’s IRGC launched ballistic missile strikes against Iranian Kurdish opposition group bases in Erbil Province on the same day:

At 5:54 a.m., a missile struck the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) headquarters in Chamshar near Darashakran, northwest of Erbil

At 10:40 p.m., two missiles struck a Kurdistan Toilers Party (Komala) base in the Alana Valley

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The outlet said:

The Institute for the Study of War said the IRGC launched the strikes in retaliation for a Kurdish opposition attack on an Iranian border guard unit in Chaldran County on May 29.

Adding:

It is not clear whether the training accident and the Iranian strikes have any connection.

Base housing UK military was struck by Iran in March

Iran struck the Erbil base in March with no reported casualties. Middle East Eye said on March 12:

A base in Iraq used by British troops has come under attack from Iranian drones, wounding a number of American soldiers.

British air-defence troops destroyed two drones, but other devices evaded defences and struck an air base in Erbil, northern Iraq, on Wednesday night, defence chiefs revealed on Thursday.

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UK forces are in Iraq as part of Operation Shader. Shader trains local forces and carries out operations against the remnants of ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria. The forces have come under fire due to the illegal US-Israeli assault on Iran. The American war of choice has seen Iran strike US-aligned forces in a region and caused a major energy crisis.

Featured image via Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images

By Joe Glenton

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On Monday, I suggested that the Labour front bench would be dreading the release of further Peter Mandelson files. But instead of leaving things to chance, some ministers have followed the “missing phone” route of Morgan McSweeney fame.

On June 2nd, Keir Starmer’s office confirmed that the Prime Minister had used the “disappearing messages” function in his communications with the disgraced Epstein-associate, who he gleefully appointed as US ambassador despite the objections of UK Security Vetting.

Furthermore, we now learn that Mandelson refused a government request to hand over communications from his own phone, with an explanatory note attached to three heavy volumes stating that the government has “no further recourse to search [his] personal devices”.

Mandelson missing messages

The latest installment of the Mandelson files also disclosed that Labour’s Paymaster General, Nick Thomas-Symonds, reported his phone as stolen on October 15th, five days before Morgan McSweeney followed suit. During the “Lord Mandelson” debate in the Houses of Parliament on February 4th, it was Thomas-Symonds who was selected to move Starmer’s amendment to the motion to release the Mandelson files tabled by Starmer in February, which called for an exemption for “papers prejudicial to UK national security or international relations”. Thomas-Symonds has previously received over £35,000 worth of donations from Labour Together. A “close ally” of the ailing Starmer, he has insisted as recently as May 13th that there is “no leadership challenge” to the Prime Minister, although Messrs. Burnham and Streeting may beg to differ.

Despite his “stolen phone” account, McSweeney had stated when questioned by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee on April 28th that text messages he had received from Mandelson would be included in the files. In one newly-released exchange, Mandelson confirms that he is talking to McSweeney “a lot”, but further detail of their correspondence is notably missing.

McFadden and McSweeney

Labour’s Work and Pensions Minister Pat McFadden seems to have had less trouble with holding on to his mobile phone. In one conversation with the “Prince of Darkness”, Mandelson slams Starmer for backtracking “on his immigration speech, on welfare, now on Gaza”, before adding: “This is what Morgan senses … advance / buckle / advance / buckle.”

McFadden has previously been described as “the most powerful Labour politician most have never heard of”. During the 2024 election campaign, his and McSweeney’s desks were “right in the middle of the room” at Labour HQ. His wife, Marianna McFadden, was McSweeney’s deputy campaign director.

At the time, Mandelson said that McFadden and McSweeney complemented each other, declaring that “Pat is cautious…Morgan is a hard-driven street fighter.” Heartwarming words from the Epstein-informant.

When Mandelson was passing classified government information to the notorious predator and likely Israeli intelligence asset as Business Secretary, McFadden was one of his deputies. His other deputy at the time was David Lammy, who we now know received a handwritten letter from Mandelson promising that he would “never regret” appointing him as US Ambassador.

Friends of Israel

McFadden also happens to be a former vice-chair of the Labour Friends of Israel lobby group. Another former LFI vice-chair, Peter Kyle, thanks Mandelson in another newly-released exchange for “v good advice” regarding the use of “more positive language about AI”, which he promises to “action”.

The Labour front-bench have embarked on a veritable rebranding mission in recent days, but Mandelson’s input and influence on the Starmer project is undeniable. In many ways, what the Mandelson files have not divulged is the major story. Redactions are aplenty, but it will take more than Tipp-Ex to blot out the failures of this rotten Labour administration.

Jody McIntyre is an investigative journalist whose work can be found at jodymcintyre.substack.com. He stood at the 2024 UK general election, receiving over 10,000 votes.

Featured image via Carl Court/Getty Images

By Jody McIntyre

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Labour MP David Taylor apparently has no problem with Israeli genocidaires and returning IOF reservists visiting Britain, but American content creators and political commentators are one step too far.

Last week, Taylor called for Hasan Piker to be banned from entering the UK, claiming that his presence would be “not conducive to the public good”. When Shabana Mahmood obliged by revoking the visas of Piker and Cenk Uygur, another political commentator, Taylor thanked the Home Secretary. The Community Support Trust lobby group also celebrated the decision, stating that Piker “exceeded the bounds of acceptable discourse”.

The Board of Deputies’ statement applauding the ban was issued by their acting president, Adrian Cohen, who said that “where event organisers have failed to show responsibility, it is right that government step in”. Cohen also happens to be the chair of Labour Friends of Israel.

Adrian Cohen is listed as one of the Labour Friends of Israel company directors responsible for “financial oversight and governance”. Another is Jennifer Gerber, who was a senior special adviser to Andy Burnham throughout his time in government. LFI say they are funded by “those who share our commitment to the State of Israel”.

Next week, David Taylor will complete a three-month stint at the Coalition for Global Prosperity, where he has been working as a policy advisor alongside his role as a Labour MP. Their CEO is Ryan Henson, a British-American Project Fellow. In 2015, a British-American Project event was addressed by one of their most high-profile members: Peter Mandelson.

Follow the money

In 2022, the Coalition for Global Prosperity received over £1 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In turn, the CGP has donated to twelve British MPs. These included Rosie Wrighting, the parliamentary private secretary to Wes Streeting who resigned one day after the Health Minister.

Before the 2024 general election, the Hemel Hempstead Labour Party secured £10,000 from Labour Together. Their board of directors then included Jonathan Kestenbaum, a Labour peer and ex-IDF soldier who reportedly “settled in Israel” in 1985. That money got David Taylor elected.

Another Labour Together director was Trevor Chinn. In June 2020, Kestenbaum and Chinn were amongst a group of “community leaders” invited to a Zoom call with Starmer and Morgan McSweeney. Five months after Starmer’s election as Labour leader, Chinn was awarded the Israeli Presidential Medal of Honour.

Jonathan Kestenbaum and Trevor Chinn both donated to Keir Starmer’s Labour leadership campaign in 2020. Now, through Labour Together, they were able to fund a new cohort of acquiescent MPs who would be loyal to the Prime Minister. David Taylor was one of them.

Taylor previously worked as an aide to Gordon Brown. In 2008, Brown became the first British Prime Minister to personally travel to address the Israeli Knesset. He said in his speech: “I am proud to say that for the whole of my life, I have counted myself a friend of Israel.”

Labour — Two tier Keir

In 2025, the Labour government issued a “special mission” certificate to Israeli general Tomer Bar, protecting him from any potential prosecution during a secret visit to Britain. Unlike American streamers, his presence was apparently not considered a threat to social cohesion in Britain. Bar had previously instructed pilots coming back from air strikes on Iran to dump unused bombs over Gaza before landing.

The banning of Piker and Uygur is further confirmation that the Labour administration of “two-tier Keir” is now operating a dual standard for visitors to the UK; whereas those who have served in the Israeli military are welcomed with open arms, commentators who are critical of the Israeli government are routinely banned.

Welcome to Starmer’s Britain, 2026.

Jody McIntyre is an investigative journalist whose work can be found at jodymcintyre.substack.com. He stood at the 2024 UK general election, receiving over 10,000 votes.

Featured image via the Canary

By Jody McIntyre

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You’ve had a few pretty gruelling pieces to get through in the last week or so, readers, so here’s something a little more light-hearted.

It’s from an episode of Broadcasting Scotland on 27 November 2020, a month after we confirmed our big story about the SNP accounts and the missing fundraiser money. In it, snug-toed SNP MP Pete Wishart opines that there really is nothing to worry about, and we should all just put our trust in the party.

We’ll leave you to judge whose opinion stood the test of time.

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On 2 June, the Department of Health and Social Care announced a £200m boost to the Transform prostate cancer treatment trial. However, Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf has chosen to get himself in a tizz about the fact that the potentially life-saving trial is targeting Black people.

You know, because Black people suffer from a far higher risk of prostate cancer than white people. But the far-right home affairs spokesperson isn’t letting that little fact stop him.

Following party leader Nigel Farage’s current talking point, Yusuf branded the trial as evidence of a “two-tier system” creating a systematic disadvantage for white people. Farage recently used the line to stoke racial hatred following the mistreatment of murder victim Henry Nowak at the hands of police.

‘Black men face a higher risk of prostate cancer’

The Transform study is a landmark prostate cancer screening trial. Prostate Cancer UK and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) are funding the current expansion. Together, they’re seeking to improve the early detection and treatment of prostate cancer.

The £20m expansion means that the researchers can now invite “all eligible Black men” to take part. Of course, it’s not just men who can fall victim to prostate cancer, but we’re hardly surprised by the trans — and interphobic Labour Party’s use of language here.

The Health Department announcement stated that:

The move recognises that Black men face a higher risk of prostate cancer and aims to build the evidence needed to find the best screening strategy and tackle long-standing inequalities.

Regarding that disproportionate prevalence, one recent study had a potential explanation. Dr Greg Brooke — the lead researcher on a 2024 pilot study — explained that:

Black men are twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer compared to White men and 2.5 times more likely to die from the disease.

Part of the reason for this is because androgen receptor levels are higher in Black men but until now, no one has known why.

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The androgen receptor protein is strongly involved in the growth and spread of prostate cancer. Brooke’s study identified novel genetic mutations which may explain the higher prevalence of the protein among Black people.

Yusuf: And where are the WHITE drugs??

Given that prostate cancer is both more common and far more deadly for Black people, the targeted expansion of the study seems like common sense. Beyond that, it’s a sensible use of public money, to boot.

Unfortunately, Reform UK are well known for lacking in both common sense and fiscal responsibility. As such, and with painful inevitability, Yusuf took to Twitter to say:

On the day the whole political establishment claims we do not live in a two tier country, they announce this.

Note, the NHS makes NO drugs exclusively available to white people.

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You watch, he’ll be in a flap about the NHS hardly treating any white people for sickle cell disease next.

First, the country’s only het up about a ‘two-tier system’ because of Farage using the phrase to whip up a race riot. You know, just like he did back in 2024, the last time he whipped up a race riot using the same attack line.

Second, Yusuf apparently missed the government memo here. Transform is a screening trial, not a drug. Unless, you know, he’s joining his party leader in trying to stir up racial hatred in the hopes of winning a few cheap votes.

Reform — ‘They don’t understand basic evidence’

On that note, and in reply to Yusuf, Green leader Zack Polanski wrote:

The prospect of Reform in charge of our NHS is truly terrifying.

Not only do they want to introduce a US style charging system, they don’t understand basic evidence.

Of course, we’re not going to rule out that possibility. Maybe Yusuf genuinely doesn’t understand statistics, evidence, or basic fact.

He is, after all, a second-generation immigrant from a Sri Lankan family who hangs about with Reform UK. That’s a party for which 22% of voters believe he should be forced or ‘encouraged’ to leave the country.

Not the best mastery of statistics there at all.

However, on balance, our money’s on the alternative. Yusuf knows full well that he’s bent the truth well past breaking point. He knows why the study is targeting the Black community, that it’s a trial, that it’s not a drug at all. Likewise, he probably knows that most of his followers know all that too.

Hell, he almost certainly knows that he’s not living in a two-tier system that exists to privilege Black and brown people. Even growing up with a silver spoon shoved up both ends, he must have noticed the UK’s vehement racism.

The problem is that Reform UK and their ilk don’t concern themselves with facts. Rather, they’ll try to obscure them at every chance they get, because what they need is their followers’ unquestioning, subservient rage. Rage makes people so much easier to manipulate.

Featured image via Carl Court/Getty Images

By Alex/Rose Cocker

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Keir Starmer’s government, true to its deeply shady form, has filled the Department for Education (DfE) with people close to both corporate and pro-Israel lobbyists. And the overlapping right-wing network flows from old Blairites like Peter Mandelson and Jim Murphy to the more recent Starmerites at Labour Together.

Electoral Commission statistics show us just how much influence dodgy lobbyists have in the DfE today.

The rot of Blair, Mandelson, Murphy, and Labour Together

New Labour corporate cronies — from Tony Blair to Mandelson and Murphy — just refuse to go away. But it’s the shadowy lobbying and fundraising networks around them that we really need to pay more attention to. Because they have increasingly engulfed and captured our political system — particularly under Starmer’s rule.

The sleaze surrounding Mandelson isn’t just newsworthy because of his friendship with infamous paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and the Starmer government’s indifferent insistence on bringing him back into frontline politics anyway. We need to talk about him because of the misanthropic rot in UK politics that he represents.

Mandelson rose in the 1980s and 1990s to become a “central architect” of the New Labour project. He embodied its cosy relationship with capitalism. And despite numerous scandals, party elites kept bringing him back. Only Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of Labour consigned him to the sidelines, where he proudly schemed against him.

As Margaret Thatcher said, Tony Blair‘s corruption of traditional Labour values was her greatest achievement. She had shifted the political goalposts, normalising the corporate capture of UK politics that Blair and Mandelson would happily embrace. “Uber-Blairite” Jim Murphy also joined that mission.

Mandelson may not have openly overseen Labour Together’s efforts to destroy Corbyn and force the “empty vessel” of Keir Starmer on the country. But his protege Morgan McSweeney proudly took on the New Labour cause of hollowing out the party so billionaire interests could take centre stage.

As Murphy pledged at a 2023 event, Starmer’s Labour would usher in:

The first private sector government in Labour’s history

The Israel connection

A key part of the billionaire class’s cause in the West is backing colonial brutality and exploitation, with Israel as a prime example. This explains the overlap between dodgy politicians getting money from both corporate and pro-Israel sources. And Starmer was prominent among them, just as people like Mandelson had been before him.

Mandelson’s Global Counsel lobbying firm had prominent pro-Israel clients like Palantir, and lobbied Israel via an event of major Israel lobby group ELNET.

Murphy’s Arden Strategies, meanwhile, has represented arms giant Northrop Grumman — one of many arms suppliers to Israel.

Labour Together has clear pro-Israel links, and several pro-Israel lobbyists have funded the group.

After Labour had basically been “a lobbyist-free zone” under Jeremy Corbyn, Starmer (essentially a creation of lobby power) opened the floodgates back up. This helped Arden in particular to grow massively under Starmer’s Labour leadership.

Labour Together, Mandelson, and Arden have overlapped. Mandelson appeared at Arden events. And Wes Streeting (who got money from Labour Together funders) passed information on from Murphy to Mandelson. Arden has faced particular scrutiny for offering corporate access to people in Starmer’s regime.

Lobbyists and Starmer’s Department for Education

Ruling classes logically understand the importance of controlling education systems. And at a time when young people have been particularly vocal opponents of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, there has unsurprisingly been a strong institutional effort to suppress the resistance of both educators and students.

Lobbyists for both corporations and genocidal apartheid states, meanwhile, clearly have the ear of politicians working in the DfE.

1) Education secretary Bridget Phillipson’s close relationship with the lobbyists

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson, for example, is a prominent voice on the Labour right. She helped to “coordinate Labour Together projects“, and got money from key Labour Together funders David Sainsbury and Francesca Perrin. She also got money from Murphy, and has happily linked up with Arden.

Phillipson is a proud Friend of Israel and its backers, including Luke Akehurst and his Labour First group. Lobby group ELNET even funded Phillipson’s staffers to travel to Israel. (She’s one of the only Labour MPs to get so much money from ELNET.)

Phillipson has unsurprisingly backed lobby efforts to politicise schools in favour of Israel. And the government has given Israel lobbyist Natascha Engel’s Palace Yard Events the task of ‘tackling antisemitism in education’.

Palace Yard donated £32,000 to Labour Friends of Israel vice-chair Jo White (also the wife of pro-Israel agitator John Mann) in 2025. Other pro-Israel lobbyists have also donated to White, including several funders of Labour Together.

2) Children and families minister Josh MacAlister

Josh MacAlister became an MP in 2024. And that was seemingly because a large number of powerful backers wanted him in parliament.

MacAlister received, for example, donations from:

• Lord Roger Liddle, who had previously donated to Progressive Britain (the only organisation the Electoral Commission shows Peter Mandelson donating to). Other Progressive Britain backers included Labour Together’s Lord David Sainsbury, the Policy Network (also linked to Mandelson), Lord Matthew Oakeshott, Tony Blair, and other backers of the Labour right.
• Labour Together, along with its funders David Sainsbury and Danny Luhde-Thompson.
• Matthew Oakeshott.
• David Claydon (another backer of prominent Labour right figures).

Additionally, MacAlister hosted a fundraising event which had Arden Strategies as a sponsor. Numerous MPs got donations from Arden under the amount of £1,500 which meant they didn’t have to officially declare it. And as Open Democracy has explained:

Fundraisers [like Arden ones] are a key site for lobbyists to build connections not just with these potential future MPs and ministers, but also with senior party figures.

In 2025, MacAlister also became a trade envoy to Brazil, the biggest economy in Latin America.

His partner Matthew Hood, who advised the Tories and got government funds during the pandemic for his online teaching academy, got a job from ex-health secretary Wes Streeting in 2025. This was despite having no experience in the health sector.

3) Other education ministers

School standards minister Georgia Gould:

• Is a member of Progressive Britain and pro-Israel lobby group the Jewish Labour Movement.
• Has a partner who’s a lobbyist.
• Got money from Labour Together funder and Israel lobbyist Trevor Chinn.
• Got a donation from Starmer supporter Gail Rebuck.

“Veteran Blairite” and ‘skills minister‘ Jacqui Smith has strong links to the corporate lobby, having worked at Flint Global (which is part of the revolving door business for people who’ve been close to the likes of Starmer).

Early education minister Olivia Bailey has received donations from:

• Labour Together funders Trevor Chinn and Fiona MacTaggart.
• Former Labour right-winger turned banking lobbyist Chuka Umunna.
• Wes Streeting backer Linda Riley.
• Streeting and Labour First backer Kevin Craig.

Get lobbyists out of our education system!

The UK education system has had many years now of underfunding and backdoor privatisation. But our politicians, with the help of the dodgy lobbyists behind them, are making it clear that the billionaire class is in control.

If we want the interests of our future generations to matter more than the interests of the billionaire class, we need to overturn the current situation completely. We need to get lobbyists out of the education department — and government — for good.

Featured image via Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

By Ed Sykes

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Two US universities are selling dead bodies, which are meant for ‘scientific purposes’, to the US Navy, which uses them to train the Israeli military.

Back in 2025, student journalists revealed the links between bodies donated by the University of Southern California (USC) for scientific research and training provided to Israeli soldiers by the US military.

At the end of 2017, the US Navy filed a notice of intent to start purchasing cadavers from USC. The purpose was to use dead bodies in trauma surgery for the IOF.

The notice of intent states:

The Naval Medical Logistics Command (NMLC) intends to negotiate on a sole source basis (IAW FAR Part 13.106-1(b)(1)(i)). The proposed source is the University of Southern California (USC) Surgical Skills and Education Center, 2250 Alcazar St., Los Angeles, CA, 90033.

Based on a signed agreement between the U.S. Navy Surgeon General and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Surgeon General, the Navy Expeditionary Medicine Training Institute (NEMTI) has been tasked to provide Fresh Tissue Dissection training courses for the IDF personnel registered at the Navy Trauma Training Center (NTTC).

After that notice, the Navy paid USC over $860,000 for at least 89 “fresh cadaver bodies”. Of these, it used 32 specifically to train the IOF at Los Angeles General Medical Center.

At least one contract was still ongoing in October 2025. This was for the Navy to purchase an additional $225,000 worth of cadavers, at its discretion. This would bring the total that USC has earned in the last seven years to nearly $1.1m.

In recent years, the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) has also helped USC deliver cadavers. Between 2024 and early 2026, UCSD transferred around 124 bodies to USC.

UCSD denied that the military was using its cadavers for training. It said that the term “military training” mischaracterises the course.

US universities — Training military surgeons

Since October 2023, when Israel launched its full-scale genocide in Gaza, the Israeli military has been embedding more doctors on the front lines of Gaza.

Whilst there is not much publicly available information about the training, one research paper from 2020 described a four-day “combat trauma surgery skills course”. The US offered the training to “forward surgical teams” in the Israeli military. These are units that operate close to the front lines.

During the training, the military “reanimated” the donated bodies using a method called perfusion.

According to Al Jazeera:

That process involves pumping fake blood through the body to make the cadavers as lifelike as possible, mimicking the active bleeding of wounded soldiers on the battlefield.

The paper details participants’ training on simulated combat injuries, including gunshot wounds to the chest and legs, and blasts to the face and torso from improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

The US Navy told AJ+ that they simulated injuries using “surgical” techniques. In a statement, it said:

During this training, experienced Trauma Surgeons recreate complex injury patterns with surgical tools to deliver a high-fidelity, hyper-realistic training environment.

However, several trauma surgeons told AJ+ that:

using perfused cadavers is typically for highly specialised training. It is not common across most surgical programmes.

Where’s the consent?

Now, fresh reporting from AJ+ has revealed that those who donated their bodies may not have consented.

Donor documents did not indicate that the cadavers would be used for military training, either for the US or Israel.

Physicians are also questioning whether anyone would willingly sign up if they knew their body might be used by foreign militaries, or for procedures such as perfusion.

One example is 101-year-old Jeanette Volpin. When she died, she donated her body to USC’s Anatomical Gift Program. However, the program did not inform her that it could use it to teach Israeli soldiers.

Previously, the L.A. County Office of Decedent Affairs had also provided cadavers to the US Navy for Israeli military training. Crucially, these cadavers were unclaimed bodies. This means individuals did not consent to anyone using their body for any reason after their death.

At least two people have changed their minds about donating their bodies after death since the original story broke. Wendy Smith told AJ+:

I don’t want to support genocide and starvation, and I don’t want to support Israeli policies even in the smallest way.

Just before AJ+ published its documentary last month, University of California Health — the network that UCSD Health is part of — added new information to its FAQ page. It has now acknowledged that it may “share” bodies with other institutions or use them to train military medical personnel.

However, neither of the two universities implicated had updated its FAQ page.

The US Navy has also issued a “notice of intent” to renew contracts for the programme with USC until at least 2029.

Feature image via Quique Kierszenbaum/ Getty Images

By HG

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