Politics
Badenoch addresses Conservative Spring Conference in Harrogate
FULL SPEECH TEXT: Kemi Badenoch’s Keynote Address to Conservative Spring Conference 2026
Saturday, 7 March, 2026
“We meet today with the world perhaps in greater peril than at any time since the Cold War. Relentless drone strikes are hitting our allies in the Middle East, countries in which hundreds of thousands of British citizens are in harm’s way. British sovereign territory is under attack for the first time in a generation.
And yet in the last few days, Britain has been described as weak. Our allies have accused us of deserting them, of going missing in action.
Imagine if you were Cyprus. What have you seen?
You’ve seen Britain dithering over sending the Royal Navy to defend our military base in the Mediterranean. The US, Greece, and France have all sent ships. Ours is stuck in Portsmouth Harbour and apparently may set sail sometime this week.
We have made America wait to use our airbases while Iran was hurling drones at our allies. We are giving away the Chagos Islands, British sovereign territory home to a crucial UK/US defence base, Diego Garcia.
No wonder our allies feel they can’t rely on us. And it’s not just our allies who are watching this. It’s our enemies too. As Labour dither and delay, countries hostile to Britain are working to promote their interests over ours.
It’s not just the regime in Tehran. It’s Putin, a man prepared to send more than a million Russian soldiers to their death as he tries to march his army across Europe.
It’s China, leading an axis of authoritarian states. Just this week, the husband of a Labour MP was arrested on suspicion of spying for China.
As instability spreads, these states are pushing further and further to see what they can get away with.
At a time when Britain needs strong and decisive leadership, we have a Prime Minister who is too afraid of making the wrong decision, too afraid to make any decision at all.
Last week’s by-election has spooked the Labour party. They watched the Greens campaigning on sectarian voting lines, a tactic that Labour have used for many years is now being turned against them.
And now, Keir Starmer is too scared to make foreign interventions for fear of upsetting a tiny section of the electorate.
Everyone remembers the mistakes of the Iraq war. Nobody sensible is suggesting that we should drop bombs without a second thought.
But Keir Starmer spent days consulting lawyers, plucking up the courage to say whose side he was on. Canada and Australia had the moral clarity to do so immediately and unequivocally.
And even now, our Prime Minister is sitting on the fence. We are in this war whether Keir Starmer likes it or not.
For too long, Britain has been governed as if it’s still the 1990s. Back then people thought the era of permanent peace, cheap energy, and expanding global trade would go on for ever.
From 1989 to 2022, defence spending reduced under successive UK governments of all colours. But it’s now clear that this era of peace is coming to an end.
Labour have no answers to Britain’s problems because they think the world is how it used to be, not how it actually is.
And where has that money we stopped spending on defence gone?
Before the Second World War, 1 in every £7 the government spent went on health and welfare. By last year, it had soared to 1 in every £3.
The Peace Dividend we inherited has been spent. Yet Labour are still determined to spend more.
What they don’t understand is that a welfare state and an NHS are not facts of life, they are products of a strong economy and a strong country.
That is the Conservative mantra today.
Public services need growth and economic security. We cannot have economic security without national security.
Public services need growth and economic security. We cannot have economic security without national security.
If people in Britain cannot go to bed knowing the country is being defended, then little else matters.
Donald Trump has made it very clear that America is not going to continue to fund NATO’s defence of Europe. The world has changed and it is not going back.
Britain must start spending 3% of GDP on defence. Every serious person in our military says this. Every serious country in the world is moving that way.
But instead of prioritising defence spending, Labour have chosen to spend yet more money this country does not have on lifting the two-child benefit cap.
We introduced the cap because we believe that people claiming benefits should face the same choices when it comes to having children as everyone else. That is just basic fairness.
Labour say it’s going to lift children out of poverty. Do you know what lifts children out of poverty? Their parents being in work, in a growing economy.
Right now, those parents are living in a country where unemployment is surging, where the cost of living is increasing because of soaring energy prices.
You bring these people out of poverty by fixing these things, not by giving them handouts.
Last June, we offered Keir Starmer our support in the national interest to pass welfare cuts so that he could spend more on defence. But he declined.
He spends all his time strutting the world stage at summits and international conferences. But the fact is he’s not even strong enough to win a war with his own backbenchers.
He is a political hostage, held at the behest of a load of half-rate left-wing MPs, none of whom grasp the seriousness of the world that Britain is now in.
While the rest of the world rearms, they are playing student politics.
Today’s Labour Party is nothing like the patriotic Labour Party of yesteryear.
In the 1950s, Nye Bevan warned about Britain not having a nuclear deterrent. He described it as the UK being sent naked into the conference chamber.
Well today it’s happening again. We are not deterring missile strikes against our bases.
The man who wrote Labour’s Defence Review, Sir Richard Barrons, has said the “UK is trapped in a conspiracy of stupidity because politicians aren’t willing to make the case for cutting public spending to fund defence.”
Well, we are willing to make that case. It is Labour trapped in a conspiracy of stupidity.
That’s why yesterday I announced that the next Conservative government would reinstate the two-child benefit cap and spend that money on defence.
That money will pay for the largest net increase in British troops under any Prime Minister since the Second World War.
I have chosen my priority and that is to keep British families safe.
These reinforcements will join thousands of brave service men and women and I want to pay tribute to them for everything they do for our country day in, day out.
This is another downpayment on our way to 3%. Along with our Sovereign Defence Fund which says no to Ed Miliband’s vanity Net Zero projects and reallocates £17 billion into defence instead.
As Rachel Reeves stood up to speak at the Spring Statement this week, oil and gas prices around the world were spiking.
Price rises that have already made it more expensive to fill up your car and will very soon hit your energy bills too.
The UK only has enough gas storage to last for eight days. Mark my words, a price shock is coming.
And when it does, it won’t just hit our pockets. It will have a huge impact on Britain’s borrowing costs too! Mortgage rates are already going up, and it will make everything government does more expensive.
Yet in that Statement, Rachel Reeves had nothing to say about this financial risk we now face.
Do you know what her excuse was? The OBR documents had already gone to the printers. Does she really think investors are going to say “Ok fair enough”?
Rachel Reeves is astonishingly naïve. While she claims to be providing stability, Britain is paying more to borrow than Greece. More than Morocco!
Investors have no faith in her to balance the books. They can see that she is not willing and not able to cut Britain’s debt.
Ladies and gentlemen, there are a frightening number of people in our politics on the Labour benches in the Greens, and in the Lib Dems, who genuinely think that His Majesty’s government doesn’t need to pay its debts.
These silly people are either too young to remember the 1970s or too foolish to have learnt the lessons.
Well, let me tell them; if we do not cut borrowing, Britain will go bankrupt. There is only one party interested in preventing that and that’s the Conservatives.
Last year I introduced my Golden Economic Rule.
For every pound we save, 47 billion and counting, we will put at least half to paying down the deficit – cutting the civil service, slashing the welfare bill, reducing overseas aid.
The rest of the money we save, we will spend on making this country stronger.
These are difficult choices for difficult times. But we must make them because every moment we continue to spend our children’s inheritance is a moment of failure.
No one else in British politics is going to take these hard choices.
Nigel Farage has said Vladimir Putin is the world leader he most admires. He blames NATO for the invasion of Ukraine. Reform’s last leader in Wales is in prison for taking bribes from Russia.
These people are not going to keep Britain safe.
The ridiculous hokey-cokey they’ve done on the two-child benefit cap tells you all you need to know about them.
First they were for the cap, then they were against it, now they are for it again. On the 4th February Reform MPs managed to vote for it and against it at the same time.
These people are messing around. Treating politics like it’s a game.
In this era of increasing danger, Reform’s priority is to take the savings from keeping the two-child benefit cap money and spend it on pubs, on beer.
Ale over armaments. Tankards over tanks.
I love pubs as much as anyone, and we have a real plan to save them. But we should not put our soldiers at risk for a few pennies off a pint.
Reform are not serious people and they are not going to solve any of your problems.
And it’s the same with the others: The Green Party leader only wants to make two things bigger and neither of them is our army.
In fact, the Greens want to scrap our nuclear deterrent. They want to leave NATO.
To be honest I have no idea what The Lib Dems think, and I don’t think they do either.
This isn’t just about defence abroad. We are also very clear what it is we are defending here at home.
The Britain we are fighting to conserve.
We are defending our values, our democracy, our education system which Labour is currently trashing.
We are defending our countryside so that our children get to enjoy it the way we did.
Our high streets, the places that hold our towns and villages together, not letting them turn into grotty, crime ridden streets full of nothing but vape shops.
We are defending people’s ability to go to their local pub, to have a laugh, to have a good time.
We are defending our culture of humour, tolerance, and free speech and yes, even queuing.
We are defending that.
We are defending standards and behaviours. A country where a young girl can walk down the street without someone harassing her.
We are defending a culture where children are treated like children and women have the same rights as men.
That is what we are defending.
You have to know what kind of country you want to create. This is why Labour have failed so terribly: they have no idea what they want.
They just wanted power; they didn’t know what they wanted it for.
Having a coherent British identity matters. The left think that culture doesn’t matter. It does.
This isn’t about the food you eat or the clothes you wear. Culture is not about going for a curry.
Culture is about standards, values, behaviour. What is acceptable.
Culture is about what is acceptable and what is not.
We have allowed too many people to come to this country who do not share our values.
We have become too tolerant of people who treat our country as somewhere to live rather than a place to belong.
Britain must be built around a common culture and a common identity. Newcomers should join our country, not try to change it.
That’s why last Monday I launched our new Culture and Integration Commission.
It will set out the culture that we want people to assimilate into. What we expect, and what we will enforce.
Conference, we are bringing enforcement back to this country. We tried to be nice to everybody, avoided tough decisions and it didn’t work. No more.
Every day we are witnessing a failure of enforcement play out in our streets, in our towns, in our cities.
Wherever you have travelled from to get to Harrogate today, you know what I am talking about.
Graffiti on public buildings and public transport, phone theft essentially decriminalised. The stench of cannabis wafting down a high street of boarded up shops.
The places we live in are going backwards and people feel miserable and helpless.
Some people will tell you that this is all about the economy. But that’s only half of it. Britain’s towns and cities are getting worse because the people making them worse are not being punished.
More than 1,000 people a year are convicted of burglary, not for the first time, not for the second time, but for the third time, and still not going to prison!
People are brazenly walking out of shops with armfuls of stolen goods. Drugs smoked openly in front of the police.
A small number of people are making life a misery for everyone else because they are being allowed to.
For too long, we have worried more about the rights of these criminals than stood up for the rights of victims. No more.
Britain has values, it has standards. If you break them, you will be punished.
That’s why one of the first things that we will do in government will be to hire 10,000 more police officers.
And I will make it very clear to them that their job is to catch criminals.
Right now, crimes are going unreported because people know nothing will happen.
Shoplifters, phone thieves, violent thugs, getting away with it. Just 1 in 20 crimes is being solved in Britain today. It’s shocking.
And it’s not just about catching people; it’s about preventing crimes in the first place.
That’s why we are going to triple stop and search and take knives and drugs off the streets – it works, we should be doing it. We WILL do it.
Many of you will have heard about the inquiry in Nottingham this week.
3 people who were brutally murdered by a man with severe mental health problems, who two years earlier had handed himself to Mi5 for sectioning but was sent home, who 9 months before had assaulted a policeman, triggering an arrest warrant that was still outstanding when the attack occurred.
This man should not have been on the streets.
So today I’m announcing that we will stop putting ideology ahead of public safety.
We will overhaul Labour’s Mental Health Act. And we are going to detain people who pose a risk to the public. Keeping them safe, keeping the public safe.
We cannot have dangerous men running around our towns and cities stabbing people.
Ladies and gentlemen, this was not a one-off. There was one in Edinburgh this week. Another one in Birmingham.
In November, a man got on a train in Cambridgeshire and started stabbing passengers even though earlier that day, he had already stabbed someone on a train in London.
It’s the state’s job to stop these things but the British public is being left in harm’s way.
We need to be smarter too about the way we hunt down serious offenders.
So today I can also announce that we will introduce Live Facial Recognition in crime hotspots across the country, including right here in Harrogate town centre.
We believe this will help catch 24,000 wanted criminals.
It’s not just dangerous crime we’re going to stop. Why should we put up with people in balaclavas riding e-bikes and e-scooters on our pavements?
What kind of country simply allows this to happen
So today I am announcing that the Conservatives will mandate police intervention and enforce increased penalties.
And we will also mandate police enforcement of our drug laws.
We have to do this Conference. We have to do this.
If the Greens get their way, there will be crack cocaine smoked on park benches. If we get ours, drug use will be driven out of our public spaces.
Quite often, wrongdoers need to be fined. Sometimes they need to go to prison. But at other times it’s much quicker and much more useful for lawbreakers to be forced to put right what they’ve done wrong.
That’s why my team has also devised a plan for new ‘Immediate Justice’ Community Sentences where someone committing a lower-level offence can be made to clean up graffiti, our streets or our parks by police immediately.
Not go through a lengthy court process while someone at the council is paid to clear up that mess out of your taxes.
Conference, we cannot have any of this enforcement without a strong economy.
If we want to pay to defend ourselves, to look after people when they’re sick, to keep Britain’s streets safe, we are going to have to get Britain working again.
What I heard from Rachel Reeves at the Spring Statement this week was an exercise in self-deception.
According to her, the British economy is flying. It’s the best it’s ever been.
I have no idea what planet she is living on or which Unidentified Flying Object she has mistaken for our economy because it is not flying.
She says the number of people in work is increasing. What is she talking about?
Unemployment is at its highest rate since the pandemic.
She uses these sham figures to try to convince us, I think even to convince herself, that everything is rosy.
The truth is that youth unemployment is now higher in the UK than the EU for the first time ever.
When was the last time she spoke to a new graduate looking for a job in the worst recruitment market on record caused by Labour’s Jobs Tax?
She boasts that the Bank of England has been cutting interest rates. It would have cut them faster if she hadn’t spiked inflation with billions of pounds of taxes and spending.
She claims the economy is growing. Growth forecasts have been slashed this year.
I wonder why that is?
According to the OBR, “incentives within the tax system… constrain economic activity”.
Let me spell that out for Rachel from customer complaints. What that means is more tax equals less growth.
Ladies and gentlemen, the fact is the British economy is being held back because for too many it no longer makes sense to work hard, to take a risk.
Sickness benefits pay more than the minimum wage. Politicians have taken the easier decision to put up taxes rather than cut public spending.
Like Labour’s Jobs Tax, which is killing investment into this country and costing people their jobs.
And Labour have bowed to political pressure from lobby groups to regulate business in stupid ways. Enough.
It’s time to unleash our animal spirits and our offer will make your life better tomorrow.
Abolish business rates for most pubs, shops, and high streets, cut national insurance for young people by £5,000 so they can make a strong start in life.
Abolish stamp duty so that people can afford to move house.
These are the things my government will do because we are doing the hard work to find savings.
If we want Britain to grow, we need to be an aspirational society where young people feel they can get on in life.
A huge part of this is about skills.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of young people make the decision to go to university because they think it’s going to give them a leg up in life.
But the reality, for many, is that all they leave with, is debt. Debt they will never pay off.
The LEO study has been tracking graduate earnings for more than two decades and we can see, in black and white, which degrees are worth it, and which are not
We can see it in our welfare system. 700,000 graduates are on out of work benefits. It’s astonishing.
And it’s happened because universities get paid whether their graduates do well or not.
No one in politics has been prepared to say “no”, the government will not continue to fund these rip-off courses.” I say enough.
We are going to cut thousands of the courses that provide no economic benefit whatsoever.
And because we have the backbone to do that, we can then cut the interest rate on student loans and double the number of apprentices.
We want to see apprentices in the careers of tomorrow, defence, tech, sectors in which there will be opportunities.
No one else in politics is talking about opportunities for young people. No one else is bothered about sorting out unfair student loans. We are.
We are the only ones who are going to do this. Who else do you think is going to do this? Reform? Nu-uh
They think that if you bring back smoking in pubs and nationalised industry it will bring back the good old days. No, it won’t.
Reform have absolutely no idea what they want Britain to look like in the 2030s. I do.
Conference, war in Iran means more problems are coming down the line.
An oil price shock that will play havoc with the economy.
I honestly don’t know what more it will take for other parties in Britain to realise that we cannot continue with the Net Zero plans that don’t work and rely on imported oil and gas with a higher carbon cost.
Yet Labour press on with their net zero nonsense.
I’ve talked about hard choices today. But this one is an absolute no brainer.
We have to drill our own oil and gas now.
British businesses are paying more for electricity than in any other developed nation.
It’s destroying our economy and we will put an end to it.
This degradation of our economy and our society is making Britain weaker at a time when the world demands strength.
This is real. And it is serious.
Britain is full of people who can tell you what needs fixing. The Conservative Party is the only party talking about how to fix it.
Do not listen to the people who want to get your vote by telling you that everything is irretrievably broken. It’s not. Britain is a great country.
We are a great country full of talent, creativity, and the resilience to meet any test.
What we face today are problems – real, difficult problems – but ones we can fix.
This is a different age than the one that came before. And when the world gets tougher, a great country needs serious leadership.
It needs a serious team. And it needs a plan for a stronger economy and a stronger country.
Britain is in this situation because for too long politicians have failed to take hard choices, telling people what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear.
And we must acknowledge that this includes previous Conservative governments.
This party is different now from the one that lost the general election.
We have learnt lessons, we have got rid of people who don’t share our values.
Despite spring barely starting, for once I got my spring cleaning done early this year!
Ladies and gentlemen, there is only one Conservative Party, and that Conservative Party is back.
Conference. This is my plan.
Defend our country.
Defend our values.
Take back our streets.
Get Britain working again and restore pride in the places we love.
No other party is thinking about the problems in this much detail. No other party will take the tough but necessary decisions Britain needs.
As Conservatives we know that the Government doesn’t make Britain. People do.
Just like it’s not the government that creates growth. It’s business.
Government exists to create and maintain the conditions for success. Safety. Security. Lower taxes. And enforcement of the law.
The question I want us to be asking people at every election is who do you think is going to be strong enough, who is going to be competent enough, to build something that will make people in this country feel better off?
It doesn’t matter who you are, I can guarantee you that if people feel they can get on in life, start a family, buy a house, build a business.
If they live in a country that feels safe and familiar in villages, towns and cities where the law is upheld, they will live happier lives.
Conference. It was Margaret Thatcher who said that the facts of life are Conservative.
It’s now up to Conservatives to make people realise that she was right and we are on their side.
So conference, thank you. Our wonderful activists and volunteers. Thank you for all that you are doing because we are the party of common sense and the common ground.
Building this requires a team. Not just a team in my shadow cabinet.
We need Conservatives at every level of government from parish councils all the way to Number Ten.
Conservatives who know what we believe in, who share the principles on which all our policies are built.
The time for drama queens and weak leaders is over. We are living in serious times.
Serious times call for serious people.
That is the party I am building.
This is how we are going to fix our country.
Join me and let’s fix it together.”
Keir Starmer loves the European Union. It is not controversial to point this out.
Few, if any, MPs did more to overturn the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum than the member for Holborn and St. Pancras.
As Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary, Starmer led the charge – often against intense resistance from his own party colleagues – for a second referendum, and made no secret of the fact he would campaign to stay in the EU if it ever happened.
In the end, Jeremy Corbyn’s decision to support Boris Johnson’s call for a snap election in 2019 put paid to Starmer’s dream.
Johnson won a landslide victory and took the UK out of the bloc on January 31, 2020.
This neatly coincided with the Labour leadership contest, which Starmer won with a promise to “defend free movement as we leave the EU”.
That pledge, alongside the other nine he made during that campaign, were all quickly ditched once he was in post.
Indeed, the return of free movement remains a “red line” the government says it will not cross, alongside a return to the EU’s single market and customs union.
These positions were seen as a tactical necessity ahead of the 2024 election, for fear of angering the millions of previously-Labour voters who backed Brexit in 2016 and then Johnson’s Tories three years later.
Nevertheless, the prime minister and other senior government figures now feel emboldened enough to criticise Brexit and openly talk about seeking closer ties with the EU.
On Wednesday, Starmer was unequivocal.
Brexit “did deep damage to our economy”, the PM said, adding that the economic turmoil caused by the Iran war meant “the opportunities to strengthen our security and cut the cost of living…. are simply too big to ignore”.
Donald Trump’s relentless attacks on the UK, and Starmer, have weakened the trans-Atlantic alliance, giving Starmer more political cover to pursue a deeper relationship with Brussels.
“It is increasingly clear that as the world continues down this volatile path, our long-term national interest requires closer partnership with our allies in Europe and with the European Union,” he said.
His comments echo those of Rachel Reeves, who set out her aim of “breaking down trade barriers and deepening alliances with our European partners” as she delivered the Spring Statement a month ago.
Negotiations between the UK and EU are already taking place on youth mobility, food and drink, and the emissions trading scheme, with agreement set to be reached in time for a summit to be held in the summer.
A government source said: “The lightbulb moment happened for Europe with Trump’s Greenland stuff. He wound up the Danes and all of us with that stuff. Iran has made it all the more prescient.
“It gives us an opportunity to step up a programme that will help resilience across the EU, but which will also be in the UK national interest and benefit Britain.”
Nicola Tree via Getty Images
However, some in Labour believe the race to improve relations with the EU could come at a political cost, with the elections on May barely a month away.
One senior party figure told HuffPost UK: “I can see this appearing on every Reform leaflet in the country.
“Why do it about a week or two before the postal votes go out? Election day is not on May 7, it’s in a couple of weeks time when the postal votes go out, and all the Reform Facebook groups will be featuring this strongly.”
But a government insider rejected the suggestion that voters will seek to punish Labour for trying to cosy up to the EU.
“What we’ve tried to do since the general election is take voters on a bit of a journey and show that we are making deals that help our economy while still being true to spirit of Brexit.
“We’re sticking to our red lines on the single market and customs union, and getting a bespoke relationship with the EU while making use of our Brexit freedoms as well.
“People are not happy with the deal Johnson agreed, and can can make that link between issues at the border and prices on the shelves.
“People want to see the UK to go out and make deals with the EU while sticking to our red lines. Voters have moved on from 2016, they don’t want to relitigate the Brexit debate all over again.”
This view was supported by one Labour MP, who said: “Brexit was ten years ago. The government’s been firm in its EU red lines and is doing nothing which would undermine them.
“It’s the cost of living, precipitated by Trump’s war on Iran, which is fore of people’s minds. Set against the backdrop of increasing global uncertainty, striking a closer relationship with the EU is all the more important if it can bring down the cost of the weekly shop and reduce barriers for British businesses.”
Unsurprisingly, Reform UK have sought to capitalise, accusing the PM of betraying the 2016 result.
Deputy leader Richard Tice said it was “ludicrous” to suggest Britain should have closer ties to “a failing economic bloc that also has a long track record of failing to invest in defence”.
But Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister leading the EU negotiations told HuffPost UK: “Reform is betraying the future of young Brits.
Between Robert Jenrick axing EU travel for young people and Farage shredding trade deals, they’d rather pick a fight with Europe than protect people’s household finances.
“They’re obsessed with a harder Brexit that hits every household with a massive paperwork tax.”
Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.
Donald Trump issued a string of threats in his Truth Social post.Donald Trump has launched a foul-mouthed rant against Iran as his deadline for the re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz approaches.
The US president has given Tehran until Monday to begin allowing oil tankers to once again pass through the key shipping lane unaided.
Around one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passes through the strait, but that as all-but ceased since Iran began attacking ships in retaliation for America and Israel’s bombing campaign against the country.
That has sent oil prices soaring, sparking fears of a global economic meltdown.
Trump warned Iran on Saturday that “all hell will reign down” if it did not re-open the strait within 48 hours.
In a fresh post on Truth Social on Sunday, the president listed the Iranian targets that America will hit unless Tehran complies.
He said: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”
A senior United Nations official warned on Friday that attacking power plants and bridges would be against international law.
Tom Fletcher, the UN’s under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, told the BBC: “This stuff isn’t negotiable. You don’t hit civilian infrastructure.
“You don’t hit schools, you don’t hit energy sources, you don’t hit bridges. Those are war crimes. That is absolutely clear in international law.
“But somewhere along the way we seem to have thrown that all aside and we’ve chosen impunity, indifference, game show gambling over solidarity and humanity.”
Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.
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As an only child, I was in for the shock of a lifetime when my children first started properly fighting.
Of course, I knew siblings fought – I grew up alongside other kids and watched their close (and sometimes calamitous) sibling relationships with intrigue and longing.
But seeing my own kids fight was another experience altogether. There’s the screaming, hair-pulling, throwing things at each other. It’s like someone’s transported WWE straight into my living room.
Siblings are going to fight. It’s only natural – I read somewhere that young children fight around 3-4 times per hour, on average. (Whew.)
But it got me thinking: as someone who’s new to this sibling business, and who’s watched family estrangement play out in the public eye, are there specific pointers I should be following now to help raise two kids who have a stronger bond in later life?
L.J Jones, BACP registered counsellor and author of Become the Parent You Needed, tells me: “Sibling relationships can be some of the longest-lasting in our lives, yet they’re often filled with conflict and competition in childhood, and even estrangement in later life.
“The truth is, children aren’t born knowing how to navigate these relationships. They learn through experience, and crucially, through us.”
She often reminds parents that their role isn’t to eliminate sibling conflict, “as it is one of the most organic forms of character building and appropriate to their development stages, albeit extremely stressful for parents”.
Instead, their role is to “help children move through it in a way that builds empathy, emotional and physical safety, and connection”.
So, I asked therapists and counsellors for their top dos and don’ts for raising siblings who thrive. Here’s what they said:
The dos of raising siblings
1. “Treat all children equally in terms of attention, rules and consequences, this will ensure all children feel seen, valued and included.”
– BACP senior accredited psychotherapist, Debbie Keenan.
2. “Be consistent. Consistency does not mean perfection, difficult days can happen and it’s OK to get things wrong. What it does mean is that, for the most part, your children experience you as a reliable, predictable presence. They know what to expect from you, and that sense of security forms the foundation upon which healthy sibling relationships are built. When children feel safe and secure in their relationship with their parent/s, they have far greater emotional capacity to navigate their relationships with one another.”
– BACP registered child and adolescent therapist, Kemi Omijeh.
3. “Praise and recognise all siblings. Don’t compare each child’s strengths, offer balanced, individualised praise, so no child feels overlooked.”
– BACP senior accredited psychotherapist, Debbie Keenan.
4. “Encourage individuality and celebrate them separately. If they each feel they have unique skills and attributes to offer, this will encourage their self confidence in and out of your family unit.”
– BACP accredited therapist, Janey Morrissey.
5. “Build connection, not competition. Encourage teamwork, working together, rather than creating rivalry. Some rivalry is OK, but not if actively and consistently promoted, as this could embed resentment further down the years.”
– BACP senior accredited psychotherapist, Debbie Keenan.
6. “Give praise liberally when they work together to achieve things. This can engender a sense of positivity when they come together as a team.”
– BACP accredited therapist, Janey Morrissey.
7. “Spend one on one time with each child, so that they feel heard and seen. Siblings have to be in each others’ company a lot of the time and parents have to split their attention – giving quality time to each child every now and then helps them feel valued.”
– BACP accredited therapist, Janey Morrissey.
8. “Teach conflict resolution skills. It’s natural to want to step in quickly when tensions rise. But sibling conflict is not something to be eliminated; it’s something to be guided.
“When we jump in as referees or problem-solvers, we unintentionally remove the opportunity for children to learn vital relational skills.
“Within timely restorative conversations lies the opportunity to teach them how to take accountability; a life skill to carry through life.”
– BACP registered counsellor, L.J Jones.
Halfpoint Images via Getty Images
The don’ts of raising siblings
1. “Don’t have a favourite (even unintentionally). Children are highly sensitive to perceived favouritism, this can quickly damage sibling relationships and self-esteem.”
– BACP senior accredited psychotherapist, Debbie Keenan.
2. “If there are arguments or conflict, don’t always step in and solve the issue. Help them to healthily solve the disagreement by expressing their feelings to each other in a safe, measured way.”
– BACP accredited therapist, Janey Morrissey.
3. “Don’t compare or label. Comparison is one of the quickest ways to create tension between siblings and often leads to impaired esteem for the child being compared less favourably.
“Comments like, ‘Why can’t you be more like your brother?’ or even subtle labels such as ‘the sensitive one’ or ‘the easy one’ can shape how children see themselves and each other. Over time, this can lead to rivalry, resentment, and a sense that love or approval must be earned.”
– BACP registered counsellor, L.J Jones.
4. “Don’t apply inconsistent consequences. Different reactions to the same behaviour can create feelings of injustice, which in turn, can deepen rivalry. Keep clear, consistent boundaries for all.”
– BACP senior accredited psychotherapist, Debbie Keenan.
5. “Don’t minimise hurt. When conflict happens, it can be tempting to downplay it, especially if it seems small from an adult perspective. What this is actually doing is unconsciously informing children that their feelings are disregarded and unimportant.
“Phrases like ‘It’s not a big deal’ or ‘Just ignore it’ can leave children feeling dismissed, particularly when the hurt comes from a sibling. Instead, start with validation: ‘I can see why that really upset you.’ Feeling understood doesn’t reinforce conflict; it softens it. When children feel emotionally safe, they’re far more able to access empathy and move towards repair.”
– BACP registered counsellor, L.J Jones.
6. “Don’t have unrealistic expectations. Consider your child’s age and where they are developmentally and emotionally before placing expectations around sibling relationships.
“For example, sharing is cognitively and emotionally challenging for children under the age of five. This does not mean you stop supporting them in learning how to share, nor does it mean the other sibling should always be expected to concede. Rather, it means allowing your understanding of your child’s development to inform your expectations and guide how you navigate these situations with patience and realism.”
– BACP registered child and adolescent therapist, Kemi Omijeh.
NB. You can’t force them to like each other
Therapists note that even if you follow this guidance, you can’t force a relationship on siblings. As BACP accredited therapist, Janey Morrissey, notes: “Hard as it may be, you can’t force any human to like another human – sometimes siblings just aren’t a friendship match.
“It can be healthier to encourage their mutual respect and support for each other, rather than insisting on inorganic closeness.”
In the UK, Christmas has become an excuse for right-wingers to complain about supermarkets’ labelling policies. Now, Farage is looking to branch out into a bit of Easter-themed moaning:
🚨 WATCH: Nigel Farage’s Easter Message pic.twitter.com/CNn584Es1l
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) April 5, 2026
The problem is Farage barely seems to know what he’s upset about.
Jesus Christ
In the clip above, Farage begins:
It’s Easter! Happy Easter to all of you.
Should we take bets on how long it will take before he starts moaning?
If you guessed ‘immediately’, congratulations, because this is what came next:
Not of course that you know it’s Easter because it seems that now cities, towns all over our country are really, really shy about advertising the fact.
Easter isn’t like Christmas, with town centres putting up Easter lights and Easter trees. There are certainly local traditions, however, like the egg rolling which takes place in parts of Scotland and my home town of Preston.
The reason why towns and cities promote Christmas is obvious: the financial incentive. During the winter months, people shop more than ever and go on work dos and nights out. No one buys Easter presents or drunkenly kisses an acquaintance under the mistle-egg.
Has Farage forgotten that we live in a capitalist society?
Has Farage forgotten about his DOGE unit, which dictates all government decisions should be driven by ruthless economic efficiency?
Look, if Reform want to make Easter a thing, I’m not saying no; I’m just pointing out it will mean central government providing local areas with the cash they need to shower everything in eggs. We’ll also need an artistic effort to write all the Easter pop songs we’re currently missing, because I don’t see how we’re going to have a good time without smash hits like Jingle Egg Rock and I Saw Mommy Kissing Some Sort of Humanoid Rabbit.
Farage continued:
So why have we got this holiday? Well it’s very simple. It’s all about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Spoken like a man who just googled ‘what is Easter?‘
He added:
Of course we can be tolerant of all religions. We always have been. But isn’t it about time we started to insist that this is who we are?
Two points here:
Firstly, we have never been wholly tolerant of all religions, and Reform UK is markedly less tolerant than any other political parties (besides the fringe groups of the far right, obviously).
Backing that up, here’s Farage labelling British Muslim voters ‘extremists’:
Today this government committed a disgraceful and cowardly act.
Labour are running scared of the extremist Muslim vote in our inner cities.
Perhaps a judicial review is now the way to deal with the mass rape gang scandal.
— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) April 8, 2025
Secondly, what do you mean by “who we are”?
The reason you’ve not seen Easter ‘advertised’ anywhere, Nigel, is because you’re not a church-goer.
If you were, you would have been seeing Easter decorations for weeks.
Farage — He is risible
Farage ends his message as follows:
So I wish you all a very good, peaceful family time. And it reminds me of the founding principles of Reformer UK, family, community, country.
Yes, because this is what Jesus died and returned for, isn’t it; to give Farage an excuse to plug his party’s mission statement.
No bigger cunt in the World than a fake Christian.
The number of thick cunts who fall for this shit suggests we need to rethink our education policy.
They wank on about ‘Christian Values’ because they want to exclude people, not involve them. https://t.co/WOIzllOgTX
— Flibberty Gibbert (@ReturnOfDadbo) April 5, 2026
When exactly did Nigel Farage discover Christian values? You know those ones of loving your neighbours, forgiveness, humility, generosity, peace, and justice? https://t.co/ZmwUP6OD4M
— Mark Seddon (@MarkSeddon1962) April 5, 2026
Really, Farage doesn’t seem to know what to say in his Easter message. This presumably means he’s struggled to find Easter eggs without the word ‘Easter’ plastered all over them this year.
We look forwards to 2027, anyway, when Farage asks why there are no Pancake Day decorations up.
Featured image via Nigel Farage
Independent journalist and Canary contributor Jody McIntyre has claimed victory over Labour MP Mike Katz. At the same time, he’s saying the situation isn’t over until Katz pays damages:
MAJOR UPDATE:
Pleased to announce that in response to our legal demands and the generous contributions of my supporters, Labour peer Mike Katz has now deleted his defamatory statements against me.
However, removal is insufficient in this case, and I hereby call upon Mr. Katz to… pic.twitter.com/BaOtGkKBUu
— Jody McIntyre (@jodymcintyre_) April 4, 2026
Jody McIntyre — No quarter
Lord Mike Katz MP is the chair of the Jewish Labour Movement. The offending tweet from Katz is deleted, but Simon Maginn commented on its contents here:
‘peddles… hate towards Jews’ looks actionable to me.
The cannier ones just scream ‘Antisemite!’, which can be covered by the ‘honest opinion’ libel cop-out.
But Katz, being so spectacularly dim (my ‘honest opinion’), has to go that bit further and make an allegation of fact. https://t.co/m8T3p7fX0B— simon maginn (@simonmaginn) March 31, 2026
Before it was deleted, McIntyre posted the following:
This week, Labour Party officials, including Labour peer Mike Katz, have launched a series of defamatory claims against me.
For legal reasons, I have been advised not to repost the defamatory statements, but let me make this clear:
Keir Starmer and his cronies will not silence me.
The attacks come after a Labour MP that I interviewed about McSweeney was suspended from the party. He had been a Labour member since the age of 13.
In 2024, the Labour Party hierarchy chose to ignore me as I came within 693 votes of taking one of their “safe seats”.
Now that my audience is growing, Starmer’s administration have gone on the offensive.
If ending jury trials, introducing digital IDs, and supporting a genocide wasn’t enough, Labour now want to “delegitimise” the journalists exposing their actions.
I am not intimidated, but I do need your support.
Following Katz’s deletion, McIntyre said:
Pleased to announce that in response to our legal demands and the generous contributions of my supporters, Labour peer Mike Katz has now deleted his defamatory statements against me.
However, removal is insufficient in this case, and I hereby call upon Mr. Katz to make a public apology and pay compensation for the harm already caused.
I have spoken to my legal team, and once my crowdfunder has reached our target, we will be ready to issue proceedings against Mr. Katz.
Within 24 hours, we have already raised 20% of our target. Let’s make sure that Labour Party officials realise that they can no longer use their money and status to bully independent journalists.
You can support McIntyre’s legal fund here.
Featured image via Crowdfunder
The clocks may have gone forward for spring, but it doesn’t look like the wet evenings are going away just yet.
Luckily, while we’re all trying to stay out of the rain, Netflix has something to keep us entertained this April, whether you’re in the mood for a gentle YA series, a competitive reality TV, a dramatic action flick or a new spin-off of one of Netflix’s most popular shows ever.
Here’s your guide to the new shows and films to get your teeth stuck into on Netflix this April…
Love On The Spectrum (Streaming now)
Tell me more: Love On The Spectrum is back for its fourth season, following the trials and tribulations of dating and maintaining a relationship as someone with autism.
In the latest iteration of the Emmy-winning reality show, viewers are introduced to three new neurodivergent singles looking for love, while Connor, Madison and James, who have been part of the journey since its very first season, all return.
Netflix says: “Once again, the series follows members of the neurodivergent community as they navigate the unpredictable world of first dates, budding relationships, and meaningful connections.
“With international adventures, shocking relationship updates, and big personal milestones along the way, season four is a bold new chapter for the beloved series.”
XO, Kitty (Streaming now)
Tell me more: Netflix’s To All The Boys… spin-off focusses on Anna Cathcart’s Kitty Song Covey as she relocates to Seoul and attends the Korean Independent School of Seoul.
Season three continues Kitty’s journey of self-discovery as she navigates romance with Min Ho, strengthens her ties to her newfound Korean family and creates meaningful moments with her new friend group.
According to the recent trailer, Lana Condor’s character Lara Jean is set to reunite with her little sister in the upcoming third series, in her first appearance in the spin-off.
Netflix says: “Kitty returns for her final year at KISS with her perfect senior year mapped out. She’s going to make meaningful memories with her friends, grow closer to her relatives in Korea, and make big decisions about her future. And, she’s going to define her relationship with Min Ho. For real this time.
“But when surprise revelations derail her plans and relationships, Kitty will have to learn to embrace the unexpected.”
The Bad Guys: The Series (Streaming now)
Tell me more: Just in time for the Easter holidays, the TV spin-off of the popular animated films has landed on Netflix to keep your little ones amused.
Hot off the tail of last year’s The Bad Guys 2, the Netflix series follows the gang’s rise to infamy and the pitfalls of being the big shots of the criminal underworld.
As funny and inventive as the films, this television follow-up sees the crew squaring up against old foes, facing a new vigilante and reuniting with an old mentor.
Netflix says: “The Bad Guys are on a heisting hot streak, and the crew is moving on up into a brand new lair. While they continue to earn their bad reputation, the crew must confront old enemies, stop a wedding, and face the emergence of Wolf’s former mentor.
“And when a vigilante comes to town calling for the end of crime, The Bad Guys must take a stand and reclaim their home in the name of mischief, troublemaking, and being bad.”
Trust Me: The False Prophet (8 April)
Tell me more: Trust Me: The False Prophet promises to be your new true crime obsession.
The four-part documentary chronicles the rise of Samuel Bateman, who proclaimed himself to be the successor to Warren Jeffs, the notorious former head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) sect in Utah.
Unlike many of your other true crime favourites, this series was filmed by a couple who infiltrated his inner circle, and offers a first-hand account of Samuel Bateman.
Netflix says: “Trust Me offers intimate access to a normally closed world – and in doing so, I hope it exposes both the violence that enforced secrecy enables and what it takes to tell the truth when everything is at stake.
“What these women did matters far beyond their community. It is a blueprint for how to dismantle even the most entrenched systems of abuse.”
Big Mistakes (9 April)
Tell me more: Schitt’s Creek fave Dan Levy has teamed up with I Love LA’s Rachel Sennott to create the new comedy series, Big Mistakes.
In his new TV offering, Dan plays a queer priest who finds himself in over his head when he and his sister, played by Taylor Ortega, fall afoul of a criminal organisation after some petty thievery.
Part family drama, part crime caper, Big Mistakes could be your new comedy favourite this spring.
Netflix says: “Big Mistakes follows Nicky and Morgan, two deeply incapable siblings who are in over their heads when a misguided theft for their dying grandmother accidentally pulls them into the world of organised crime.
“Blackmailed into increasingly dangerous assignments, they clumsily fail upwards, sinking deeper into chaos they’re ill-equipped to handle.”
Temptation Island (10 April)
Tell me more: Temptation Island is back for a second season, following four more struggling couples as they attempt to resolve the issues in their relationship by going their separate ways and living separately among some sexy, eligible singles.
Will they recommit to their partner, or will they explore something new?
Considering that three couples broke up last series, we can’t wait for the drama season two will bring.
Netflix says: “In this new season of Temptation Island, emotions will run high as a fresh group of couples, each at a crossroads in their relationship, attempt to discover if their love can truly conquer all.
“The couples will face plenty of temptation as they part ways to live with a group of singles of the opposite sex. Only time will tell if the choices they make in paradise push them closer together, into the arms of a new lover, or into the single life.”
Thrash (10 April)
Tell me more: Bridgerton’s Phoebe Dynevor battles hurricanes and sharks in Thrash, the new disaster movie from Violent Night’s Tommy Wirkola.
Co-starring Hocus Pocus 2’s Whitney Peak and Gladiator’s Djimon Hounsou, the film centres around a heavily-pregnant woman as she tries to survive a shark infestation that has struck in her quiet coastal hometown.
Netflix says: “Amidst a catastrophic hurricane, a coastal town battles nature’s wrath and an onslaught of sharks.
“Braving torrential rain, debris, and darkness, they unite to survive the deadly predators and make it through the storm.”
At Home With The Furys (12 April)
Tell me more: The new season of At Home With The Furys follows the boxer Tyson Fury as he tries to embrace retirement alongside his wife, Paris, and their seven children.
Fans of Tyson will know his retirement didn’t last long, so the series will likely see what made him change his mind and step back into the ring.
Netflix says: “Surrounded by wife Paris Fury, their seven children and his ever-opinionated dad John Fury, Tyson channels the competitive drive that made him a world champion into new ventures – from a family road trip to Monaco to investing in a racehorse and finding creative ways to stay busy.”
Million Dollar Secret (15 April)
Tell me more: Netflix’s answer to The Traitors was a surprise hit when it premiered last year (even if some critics did brand it a “shameless” rip-off of the BBC show), leaving people hooked on all of the back-stabbing, larger-than-life characters and conniving game plans that Million Dollar Secret provided.
The reality show sees 14 contestants moving into a mansion, where one contestant is initially given a million-dollar suitcase, which they must conceal from the others who are trying to identify the show’s secret millionaire and eliminate them.
After the first episode drops on 15 April, more instalments will be added each week until the final.
Netflix says: “This season, the stakes are higher than ever as players face trickier agendas, grueling challenges and navigate the ever-changing game of deception. Do they have what it takes to keep their Million Dollar Secret?”
Beef (16 April)
Tell me more: The award-winning Beef is back for another season – with a whole new cast and story or revenge.
In this next chapter, the story is hooked on a feud between a newly-engaged couple, played by Cailee Spaeny and Charles Melton, and their boss and his wife, played by Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan.
This eight-part miniseries is set to explore the internal rage people suffer at work and the various challenges that couples face through the years.
Netflix says: “A Gen Z couple witnesses an alarming fight between their millennial boss and his wife. Ashley and Austin, both lower-level staff at a country club, become entangled in the unraveling marriage of their general manager, Josh, and his wife, Lindsay.
“Through favours and coercion, both couples vie for the approval of the elitist club’s billionaire owner, Chairwoman Park, who struggles to manage her own scandal involving her second husband, Doctor Kim.”
A Gorilla Story: Told By David Attenborough (17 April)
Tell me more: With almost seven decades in the industry, there is one nature clip that is synonymous with Sir David Attenborough. In 1978, the naturalist met a baby Rwandan mountain gorilla named Pablo during an episode of his show Life On Earth.
This new Netflix documentary film sees Sir David recount this iconic meeting, and explore the community of gorillas at the Volcanoes National Park, many of whom descend from Pablo. Narrated by the national treasure himself, the doc mixes archival footage with never-before-seen excerpts of his journals at the time.
Netflix says: “This intimate documentary blends the remarkable story of David Attenborough’s first encounter with the baby gorilla Pablo with a deep dive into how Pablo’s direct descendants are doing today in the mountains of Rwanda.
“Weaving together contemporary and archival footage of the gorilla group and narrated by Attenborough – including excerpts from his 1978 journals – A Gorilla Story is packed with extraordinary gorilla behavior never filmed before.”
Roommates (17 April)
Tell me more: The comedy movie Roommates introduces us to Devon, played by Sadie Sandler (yes Adam’s daughter), a shy first-year college student who strikes up an unlikely friendship with her fiery roommate. At first, it’s all freshman fun for the pair, until a karaoke-fuelled spring break trip starts a war of passive aggression.
The film explores the hilarious complications of female friendship and how trust is lost when boundaries are crossed.
Co-starring Nick Kroll, Natasha Lyonne and Sarah Sherman, expect big laughs from this coming-of-age drama, which was written by Jimmy Fowlie and Ceara O’Sullivan, who penned Saturday Night Live’s viral Domingo sketch.
Netflix says: “When a hopeful, naive college freshman, Devon, asks the cool and confident Celeste to be her roommate, a blossoming friendship spirals into a war of passive aggression.”
Unchosen (21 April)
Tell me more: If you’ve ever found yourself hooked on the various Harlan Coben series that have premiered on Netflix over the years, the streamer has a new psychological drama that could pique your interest.
Unchosen stars Sex Education’s Asa Butterfield as a member of a close-knit Christian sect, who lives with his wife, played by Molly Windsor.
Co-starring Christopher Eccleston as the congregation leader, this miniseries sees Rosie slowly uncovering dark secrets about their religious community that make her question her marriage – and her life.
Netflix says: “Rosie lives with her husband Adam and daughter in a cloistered Christian community.
“The fateful arrival of escaped prisoner Sam into her life, reveals the reality and restraints of her world; perhaps this hidden religious community doesn’t have her best interests at heart.”
This Is A Gardening Show (22 April)
Tell me more: If you’re in need of a comforting, joyful show to provide some escapism right now, This Is A Gardening Show might be just what you’re looking for.
Fronted by The Hangover actor Zack Galifianakis, this gentle series aims to explore gardening in a down-to-earth, earnest and digestible way, rather than just having experts listing Latin names and talking about obscure herbs.
Netflix says: “Rather than positioning himself as an expert, Galifianakis approaches the subject with curiosity and self-effacing humor, with the goal of learning alongside his audience and giving viewers valuable, accessible, and educational tools to use in their own gardens.”
Running Point (23 April)
Tell me more: Co-created by Mindy Kaling, the comedy-drama season one of Running Point saw former party girl Isla Gordon, played by Kate Hudson, being appointed president of a fictional basketball franchise over her brothers, which angers them greatly.
Cheesy though it might be, Running Point has been a hit for the streamer, with critics and fans praising its “girlboss” humour and satirical look at men’s attitudes towards women in the sports world.
Season two teases more romance, more competitive siblings and, of course, more fabulous power suits.
Netflix says: “Isla Gordon faces intense pressure leading the Los Angeles Waves, determined to prove she’s not merely placeholder for her brother, Cam , who secretly manoeuvres to reclaim his role as the team recovers from a scandal.
“She must navigate complex family dynamics, board scrutiny, and the challenges of running the franchise, forcing her to develop a new strategy to succeed.”
Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 (23 April)
Tell me more: Already missing Mike, Eleven, Dustin and co after that divisive season five finale? Viewers can now take a return to the Stranger Things universe in this animated spin-off, inspired by the Saturday-morning cartoons of our youth.
Set between the events of season two and season three of Stranger Things, this animated series sees our favourite Hawkins gang take on more monsters and a whole new demo creature.
Tales From ‘85 promises to take us back to when the kids were on BMX bikes trying to save their town, rather than the battles with universe-shattering evil that dominated Stranger Things’ final seasons.
Netflix says: “Welcome back to Hawkins in the winter of 1985, where the original characters face new monsters and a paranormal mystery.”
Apex (24 April)
Tell me more: In this new action film, Charlize Theron plays a rock climber who thinks she’s all alone in the woods, until she runs into a psychotic drifter, played by Taron Egerton, who wants to hunt her for sport.
From Beast director Baltasar Kormákur, the movie promises brutal fight scenes, stunning chase sequences and a twisted villain.
We already know that Charlize Theron can kick ass, so we can’t wait to see how she takes on Taron’s sinister bad guy.
Netflix says: “A grieving woman seeks solace in the wilderness only to become ensnared in a deadly game of cat and mouse with a serial killer.”
Should I Marry A Murderer? (29 April)
Tell me more: Another true crime doc coming to Netflix’s roster this month is Should I Marry A Murderer?, a series investigating what happens when a commitment to lifetime love goes wrong, after a woman finds out her fiancé is a murderer.
Should I Marry A Murder? follows Dr Caroline Muirhead, whose partner previously ran over a cyclist and then hid his body.
When he later confesses his crime to his fiancée, she must make a hard decision on whether to tell the police, and if she can stay with the man she had planned to marry.
Netflix says: “A fiancée turned key witness reveals how she stayed engaged to a man accused of murder while gathering evidence against him in this documentary series.”
Man On Fire (30 April)
Tell me more: Wonderman star Yahya Abdul-Mateen ll steps into the role of John Creasy, made famous by Denzel Washington in the 2004 film of the same name.
Adapted from A.J. Quinnell’s book series, the show will follow the Special Forces soldier looking for a fresh start amid a battle with extreme PTSD.
In Man On Fire, John is forced out of retirement to take on a new mission after his only friend is killed and he must protect his fallen comrade’s daughter.
Netflix says: “Haunted by his past and hunted by his enemies, a Special Forces veteran fights to keep a teenage girl alive on the deadly streets of Rio de Janeiro.”
Since it premiered last month, Netflix’s deeply unsettling original series Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen has been a hit with both critics and viewers.
While early reviews for the eight-part horror show were mostly positive, the show itself has been hugely popular with Netflix users, consistently hovering around the top of the platform’s most-watched list ever since it premiered.
The series centres around a young couple gearing up for their wedding day, who are confronted with a series of increasingly horrific bumps in the road that leave them questioning everything about their relationship.
Horror fans have a seemingly-endless plethora of films to pick from when they’re looking for something new to watch, but when it comes to TV, there are considerably fewer offerings from the genre.
With that in mind, if you’ve already made your way through Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen and you’re looking for a new chilling binge-watch, we’ve rounded up 11 horror-centric TV shows available to stream now…
American Horror Story
Alright, we’re starting with the biggie – you can’t have a conversation about horror on TV without discussing American Horror Story.
With 12 iterations to pick from (varying in quality, it has to be said), the anthology series takes place in a completely different time and setting each time around, with many of the same actors playing all new characters from season to season.
High points include the camp-tastic witchiness of Coven, the sheer vampiric glamour of Hotel, the grit of NYC, the politically-charged Cult, the terrifying pinnacle of Asylum or the one that started it all, terrifying domestic drama Murder House.
Later this year, American Horror Story will return for its landmark 13th run, with franchise staples Sarah Paulson, Jessica Lange, Evan Peters, Angela Bassett and Kathy Bates all returning alongside new addition Ariana Grande.
Scream Queens
FOX Image Collection via Getty Images
A love letter to the slasher genre, Scream Queens was another of Ryan Murphy’s attempts at creating a TV horror, serving as a tongue-in-cheek meeting point of Scream, Halloween, Mean Girls and Heathers.
The dark comedy starred Murphy-verse regular Emma Roberts as clique leader Chanel Oberlin, with appearances from Glee alum Lea Michele, Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin and aforementioned American Horror Story newbie Ariana Grande.
While the show didn’t quite live up to the scale of previous Murphy projects like Glee or American Horror Story, it developed a cult following over the course of its two seasons in the mid-2010s.
Grotesquerie
Murphy tried his hand at horror once again during a fallow year for American Horror Story in 2024, that was every bit as star-studded as you’d come to expect from the TV super-producer.
While the principal actors included Niecy Nash-Betts, Lesley Manville and Nicholas Alexander Chavez (who, at the time, was fresh from his work as Lyle Menendez in the true crime anthology Monster), it also made use of some bold stunt casting, most notably marking the acting debut of one Travis M. Kelce.
The sinister series centres around a detective who teams up with a nun to get to the bottom of a series of crimes affecting their community, only for things to take an increasingly creepy turn.
Monster: The Ed Gein Story
Alright, one more Ryan Murphy show and then we promise we’re done.
Previous iterations of the Monster anthology series were more grisly true crime explorations than outright horror, but the graphic violence and gore of The Ed Gein Story definitely took the show in an even more frightful direction.
Gein’s crimes are believed to have been the inspiration for horror films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Silence Of The Lambs – not to mention Psycho, with director Alfred Hitchcock and actor Anthony Perkins appearing in Monster’s third season as minor characters, in a B-story about the creation of the iconic film.
It: Welcome To Derry
A TV off-shoot of the Andy Muschietti adaptations of Stephen King’s tome It has no right being as good as it is.
The critically-acclaimed prequel explores the seemingly cursed town’s origins, and how Pennywise began terrorising its residents by exploiting their deepest fears and anxieties for its own gain long before the events of It.
Gripping though it might be, Welcome To Derry is also really scary, so just prepare yourself for that.
Stream it on: Now, Sky and HBO Max
The Fall Of The House Of Usher
One for fans of gothic horror, The Fall Of The House Of Usher is a loose retelling of the Edgar Allen Poe short story set in the modern day, which incorporates other popular stories from the classic author’s oeuvre along the way including The Raven and The Tell-Tale Heart.
While the source material is one of the most famous haunted house tales ever, this new version is more in line with Succession or Industry, focussing on a wealthy family in charge of a corrupt pharmaceutical company Fortunato Pharmaceuticals, which befalls a series of mysterious tragedies in quick succession.
The Haunting
The Fall Of The House Of Usher creator Mike Flanagan is no stranger to horror, though, previously overseeing the anthology series The Haunting for Netflix.
Back in 2018, The Haunting Of Hill House proved to be absolute nightmare fuel, as siblings return to their haunted childhood home to confront their past demons (including the deeply upsetting Bent-Neck Lady) once and for all.
Like with American Horror Story, follow-up The Haunting Of Bly Manor featured several of the same actors in a whole new – but just as terrifying – haunted house setting.
Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet Of Curiosities
Best known as the auteur behind the expansive and surreal films Pan’s Labyrinth, The Devil’s Backbone, The Shape Of Water and, more recently, Frankenstein, Guillermo Del Toro has made a shift to TV work in the 2010s.
As well as his Tales Of Arcadia series with Netflix, in 2022, he put out the anthology miniseries Cabinets Of Curiosity.
Each episode of the eight-part miniseries told its own stand-alone story (in the style of The Twilight Zone or Black Mirror) hosted by the Oscar-winning filmmaker himself, with instalments putting a new spin on horror tropes like paintings coming to life, demonic conjurings and unrelenting ghosts from the past.
Look out for appearances from Harry Potter’s Rupert Grint, The White Lotus’ F Murray Abraham and Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens, among others.
Stranger Things
While perhaps not a horror in the traditional sense, Stranger Things incorporates elements from the genre (particularly from films that popped off in the 1980s, when the show is set) alongside sci-fi, mystery, action and traditional coming-of-age teen dramas.
There are also countless several deliberate homages to Stephen King over the course of its five seasons, with the horror author previously giving the show his personal seal of approval.
Black Mirror
Dystopian anthology series Black Mirror is probably most well-known as the show that warns about the perils of technology and social media – but make no mistake that when it decides to go full horror, it can really get in your head.
Among its most frightening offerings include early offerings White Bear, Men Against Fire, Playtest and Metalhead, plus the deliberate horror homages of Demon 79 and Loch Henry.
Meanwhile, even the more allegorical stories like Be Right Back, The Entire History Of You and the “Christmas special” White Christmas will leave you with a chill that lingers longer than you might think.
Goosebumps
Then again, maybe you prefer your frights a little less on the disturbing side.
Streaming service Disney+ currently has two stand-alone series based on those R.L. Stine books that had you hiding under the covers back in the 90s, telling two distinct stories that make for more family-friendly viewing than every other suggestion we’ve laid out here.
President Donald Trump has survived political scandals, crises and low approval ratings the likes of which no previous president could withstand. So it may be hard to believe that ol’ Donny Trump won’t, yet again, wriggle his way out of another disastrous drop in his political standing.
But this time it really may be different.
Trump’s Iran war has, even more than anything before, sent his approval rating in a nosedive. Poll aggregators now put him below 40% approval for the first time in his second term as multiple polls have shown his approval in the low-to mid-30s. His net approval is at -21.4, according to FiftyPlusOne.
“When compared to past presidents, Trump’s ratings are the lowest of any president at this point in their term, going back to FDR,” pollster G. Elliott Morris wrote at his Strength In Numbers site on Friday.
Trump’s ability to change his position when things get rough has earned him the nickname TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out).
But his shambolic address to the nation on Wednesday demonstrated that he can’t TACO his way out of this one: Amid unconvincing boasts that the US is “winning bigger than ever before,” Trump offered no clear rationale for the war and no plan or strategy to end it or resolve the vast economic disruption created by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz. It didn’t work. The stock market dropped and the price of oil spiked as soon as he finished speaking.
The speech showed that Trump is stuck. He is constitutionally incapable of accepting that he made a mistake by attacking Iran with no plan for keeping 20% of the world’s oil — not to mention around 20% of the world’s fertiliser — moving through the strait, or to take action to rectify it. Instead, he now claims that it’s “somebody else’s problem” and, in his speech to the nation, called on European and Asian countries to “grab it and cherish it.”
Alex Brandon/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Since this isn’t going to happen, the only other options are likely desperate. Trump could escalate and invade Iran with ground troops, which will make the energy crisis catastrophically worse. Or he could unilaterally deescalate, end the war and cede control of the strait to Iran, which would likely mean Iran operating a tolling system to exit the Persian Gulf, as it has already begun to do, and a continued reduction in oil flowing through.
“No matter how we exit this, we’re in a much worse scenario for the oil market than we were before,” oil analyst Rory Johnston said on his podcast “Oil Ground Up” on March 31.
This is politically toxic for any administration. But it is even worse for Trump personally, as his second term has been plagued by one unpopular initiative after another.
Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs, since ruled unconstitutional, caused instant market chaos. His mass deportation campaign of attacking US cities with paramilitary forces turned his most popular position into a net negative.
His bungling of the Epstein Files turned his own brand of conspiracism against him. His Big Beautiful Bill slashed health care spending, causing millions who get insurance through the Affordable Care Act to lose it due to huge price spikes.
That last point is key to his biggest problem: most of his major actions have caused price increases, in complete contradiction to his core campaign promise to lower domestic costs. His on-again, off-again tariffs led to widespread price increases on a range of goods while his immigration crackdown has led to increased costs in fields like in-home elder care and agriculture. Meanwhile, the full impact of the Iran war on prices, particularly for petrol, has not yet come close to being felt.
Trump and his economic advisers are already trying to claim that these price effects are merely temporary. During his Wednesday speech, Trump said that when the war ends, “gas prices will rapidly come back down.” National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said on Friday that “energy prices are going down as this quiets down,” pointing to lower oil futures prices for autumn shipments.
But this is just the same happy-talk that Trump offered during the early stages of COVID about cases “going down” and promises that the virus would just “disappear.” If anything, oil prices are currently being traded based on “irrational optimism,” Johnston said on his podcast, adding that “futures markets are grievously underpricing.”
This is exactly the opposite of what voters who swung to Trump in 2024 wanted. The top issue in that election, particularly for swing voters, was the cost of living and inflation. That single issue helped Trump build a coalition that gave him a popular vote majority for the first time in three elections. But that victory made him think he had a mandate to do whatever he wanted, and he promptly went about ignoring voters’ main concern.
Justin Sullivan via Getty Images
The response from voters is about what you’d expect. Working-class Black and Latino voters who swung to him in 2024 are now moving away from Trump and Republicans, according to a March 2026 study by the Center for Working-Class Politics. This flip showed up in recent elections like the 2025 New Jersey and Virginia governors’ races, where the Democratic candidates won big in heavily Latino areas that had swung to Trump just one year earlier.
Young people aged 18-34 moved towards Trump in 2024 and gave him positive approval numbers at the beginning of his term, but a recent CNN poll found 80% now disapprove. Similarly, 73% of independent voters now disapprove of Trump, according to that same CNN poll.
It is not surprising that Trump is growing more and more unpopular as he has somehow brought about all of the worst problems that vexed past presidents all by himself. He has created, on his own, Joe Biden’s inflation, Jimmy Carter’s energy shock (caused by a conflict in Iran, no less) and George W. Bush’s catastrophic war of choice in the Middle East.
With the downing of an American jet over Iran, he may also replicate the disaster Carter faced with an Iranian hostage crisis. And he has done it all by launching his own war of choice, after campaigning on a promise of no new wars. It is hard to imagine a worse series of political decisions.
With the midterm elections a scant seven months away, things look bleak for Republicans in November. Even if they lose only the House, that will effectively end congressional blessing for Trump’s authoritarian power grab — and, in all likelihood, condemn his final two years in office to investigation, impeachment and repudiation.
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Robert Pattinson has shared the “number one thing” that helps him choose whether a project is right for him and his career.
When asked by HuffPost UK what he looks out for in a script that’s important to him, the 39-year-old said: “If, when you’re reading, you want to read it out loud immediately, that’s always the number one thing.”
Robert was speaking at the official launch of beer brand 1664’s new Good Taste platform at London’s Town Hall Spaces in King’s Cross as its first global brand ambassador.
Robert, who was wearing Dior for the occasion, added: “If there’s one line where I’ll want to say it to people around me… no one has any idea why it’s interesting, it’s totally out of context, but I want to just keep repeating this one line, like ‘Look at that, look at that!’”
Another big thing he looks out for? “Something which feels a little bit dangerous and [could] cause a bit of a frisson.”
They play two people in a relationship that starts to buckle in the run-up to their wedding under the weight of a very perturbing revelation concerning the bride-to-be’s past.
That sounds pretty frisson-esque to us… but we’ll have to wait until the film’s April 3 UK release date to find out more.
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