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Travelling with a locked-in beauty routine is not for the weak, let me tell you.

When it comes to curl care, getting your perfect hair routine down pat is enough to make you feel like a Nobel-prize-worthy scientist.

It can take years of effort to get it right – trust me, mine did. And now, you’d have to pry my favourite products away from my cold, dead hands before I give them up.

So a little thing like baggage allowance isn’t going to stop me from bringing my essentials along with me.

Curious just what those essentials are? They’re worth their weight in gold to me, but don’t worry – I didn’t get into the business to gatekeep.

A parent’s honest review of Out’n’About’s Nipper Nest

The travel cot packed away in its bag

The Nipper Nest in action on the beach.

Nipper Nest with UV canopy over the top

What other parents are saying about it…

As the illegal US-Israeli war against Iran drags on, it seems clearer and clearer that Donald Trump either miscalculated or fell for the lies warhawk allies sold him. And it’s spreading the stocks of US forces and their allies thin. As a result, they’ve had to get backup from South Korea.

Trump has depleted military resources

Amid Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and rampage through the Middle East in 2025, the US army had already:

redeployed two MIM-104 Patriot systems and approximately 500 personnel from South Korea to the Middle East, which reinforced defences at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

The US also took “over 1,000 guided bomb kits” from facilities in South Korea in December 2025, along with “AH-64 Apache attack helicopters” in January 2026.

But now, there are signs that the unprovoked US-Israeli assault on Iran has been seriously depleting the aggressors’ resources in the Middle East. For example, after around a decade in South Korea, the US has apparently started to move out parts of:

the US-made terminal high-altitude area defense (THAAD) missile-defence system

There are also reportedly discussions about:

the possible redeployment of some US Patriot missile defence systems to the Middle East. South Korean media carried unconfirmed reports that some missile batteries were likely to be redeployed to US bases in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates [UAE].

The UAE’s increasing understanding that its alliance with the US puts a real target on its back, meanwhile, has made future planning more important. And South Korea will soon help the Gulf regime:

build ⁠computing power and energy infrastructure for the world’s largest set of AI data centres outside the United States… [as part of the] U.S.-backed Stargate project

Additionally:

South Korea has conducted an emergency airlift of surface-to-air missiles… from the Cheongung-II air defence system to the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

South Korea took about “30 interceptor missiles” from its own operational reserves to send to the UAE after an urgent request. As Military Watch Magazine highlighted:

This is critical not only to… sustaining the U.S. Armed Forces’ and French Armed Forces ability to continue to wage war on Iran using military bases in the country, most notably Al Dhafra Air Base.

It added that:

It is notable that South Korea is the only country that is able to [deliver] high performing NATO-compatible air defences on such short notice, with European states’ own systems having very limited capabilities, while U.S. systems have seen stockpiles severely depleted primarily due to operations in the Middle East, but also due to large scale donations to Ukraine in preceding years.

South Korea and its increasingly unreliable superpower ally

Under Donald Trump, the US has increasingly been showing its allies how much of an unreliable partner it is. And while South Korea still has one of the highest defence budgets in the world, the flailing commitment of the US – whose presence has been at the centre of South Korean military policy for decades – has sparked concern.

South Korea has tried to navigate Trump’s tariff threats carefully. But liberal president Lee Jae Myung has signalled the importance of a “more self-reliant South Korean defence posture” that doesn’t depend so much on a volatile US government and can help to avoid “entanglement in international disputes”.

South Korea’s government is also ramping up efforts to shield itself from the energy crisis that the US-Israeli war on Iran has created.

The US isn’t abandoning South Korea, though. Because it’s too strategically important in Washington’s efforts to ‘contain’ China. And US-South Korean forces are currently undertaking:

their annual 10-day joint military exercises on the Korean Peninsula… [involving] 18,000 South Korean and US military personnel.

There will, however, be “fewer than half” the number of field training drills (22) that took place last year.

That doesn’t make North Korea feel any better. The dark history of US war crimes during the Korean War (1950-1953) regularly reminds the North that the superpower “killed as much as 20%” of its population (some believe one million people), before backing numerous “right-wing dictatorships in the South in the decades afterward”.

North Korea, which developed nuclear weapons as a deterrent in the wake of the devastating war, still condemns the “clear confrontational nature” of US-South Korean drills, routinely responding with weapons tests of its own.

If less US involvement in the Korean Peninsula reduces the likelihood of conflict there, that will be a good thing. The bad thing, however, seems to be that arms are shifting to the Middle East instead, fuelling a devastating mess that the US seemingly doesn’t plan to end any time soon.

Featured image via the Canary

A group of anticolonial collectives is calling for a boycott of Mighty Hoopla, Europe’s largest LGBTQ+ music festival due to the involvement of genocidal Israel.

The four organisations – Antifascist Music Alliance, Muslim Social Justice Initiative, NY Cultural Solidarity Project, Ravers for Palestine and Writers Against the War on Gaza have penned an open letter that explains their boycott.

Mighty Hoopla is owned by KKR, a global investment firm which invests in Israeli data centres. Data gathering technology has been central to Israel’s genocide against Palestine. Additionally, it is the primary shareholder in the Coastal Gaslink pipeline, which is invading the indigenous Wet’suwet’en lands in the West of Turtle Island in Canada.

In 2025, Land Defenders in Toronto initiated a global boycott of all KKR-owned festivals. Queer & trans artists have been especially prominent in this effort.

Israel once again accused of pinkwashing

Now, Mighty Hoopla is hosting a trans fundraiser at Wembley, which amounts to nothing short of pinkwashing and indigenous erasure.

Pinkwashing is an Israeli government propaganda strategy which cynically exploits LGBTQIA+ rights. It projects a progressive image whilst hiding Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies, which oppress Palestinians.

The open letter states:

The KKR boycott is an aperture onto a world where movements work together to dismantle empire and capitalism.

Those participating in Mighty Hoopla and its fundraiser undermine this collective project of Indigenous-queer liberation. Their proposition, that imperial core trans rights can be disaggregated from the fate of Palestinians and Wet’suwet’en, is grim and malign.

It invites queers to seek recognition from Western colonial structures rather than working alongside other targeted groups to dismantle them.

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It is the spirit of the gay cop, of ‘Tel Aviv Pride’, of Stonewall giving diversity awards to MI5.

More action needed

Olly Alexander is hosting the fundraiser on March 11.

Throughout the last few years of Israel’s Genocide in Gaza, Alexander ignored thousands of personal appeals to boycott Eurovision. Shockingly, he even crossed the picket line to perform on the same stage as ‘Israeli’ singer Eden Golan.

The lineup also includes Zack Polanski, the leader of the Green Party.

Even the Good Law Project are promoting the event.

The letter requests that anyone participating in Mighty Hoopla watch Yintah – a 2024 documentary of Wet’suwet’en resistance to the Coastal GasLink pipeline. It also invites them to:

witness the Royal Mounted Canadian Police, armed with dogs, snipers and chainsaws, brutalising elders. We ask them to listen to the stories of Wet’suwet’en interned in residential schools, to hear about the mass graves that continue to be discovered, and tell us they are still happy to break this boycott.

So far, many DJs have dropped out of other KKR-owned events, including Sonàr, Field Day, Boiler Room and Milkshake. Moreover, many of these artists are precarious and from the global majority.

Despite this, only a few artists and collectives have dissociated from Mighty Hoopla: Daytimers, T Boys Club, Bledi Party, NRG Cru and yungcweed.

The letter asks:

Do the imperial core queers of Hoopla believe they are exempt from this boycott?

The letter ends:

Do not scab.

Do not disgrace our queer ancestors and their legacies of resistance.

Do not foreclose our possible anticolonial futures.

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Respect the Indigenous-led boycott of KKR. This means withdrawing your participation at the fundraiser unless Mighty Hoopla is removed, and boycotting the festival itself.

There is still time to do the right thing.

Featured image via Ovo Arena

CAGE has expressed deep alarm at reports that Jack Letts has been renditioned from detention in northern Syria to Al Karkh prison (formerly Camp Cropper) in Iraq where he may face the death penalty.

These reports have not yet had official confirmation. But the likelihood is that he, along with others held in the region, has been kidnapped and moved to Iraq. And it raises serious alarm about the complicity of western nations in serving their citizens up for torture, and possibly death sentences.

Iraq is also one of the world’s leading executioners, and individuals transferred there face the very real risk of severe human rights violations, including the death penalty after trials that fall far short of international legal standards.

For years, hundreds of foreign nationals, including those with UK links, have been held in conditions of indefinite detention without due process. Abuse, violence and deaths in these facilities have been widely documented.

As a young vulnerable man, Letts travelled to territory controlled by ISIS. Following the collapse of ISIS, he was detained alongside hundreds of others and taken to US funded, Kurdish-run prison camps in northern Syria.

The UK government chose to strip Jack of his citizenship, knowing full well that this could lead to him facing torture and a death sentence without due process.

The UK cannot wash its hands and use citizenship deprivation, a legal instrument that relegates Muslims and those of overseas ancestry as second class citizens, to facilitate the extrajudicial detention and murder of its own nationals

Western governments supported an illegal war and now must begin with the repatriation of foreign nationals and securing guarantees of due process for all who remain.

Anas Mustapha, head of public advocacy at CAGE International, said:

No parent should have to endure the agony of knowing their child is trapped in a prison system where they face torture and potential death. The ongoing suffering of families like the Letts highlights the urgent need for Western governments to repatriate their citizens and contribute to ending this crisis which they’ve contributed to.

Featured image via CAGE

John Wall is a retired engineer and former Conservative county councillor in Hampshire.

According to Churchill: “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Although Marx’s, “history repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce,” might be more appropriate!

Consider the duration of governments we’ve had.

1945-1951: 6 (5+1) years Labour

1951-1964: 13 (4+4+5) years Conservative

1964-1979: 15 years Labour (2+4) + Conservative (4) + Labour (5)

1979-1997: 18 (4+4+5+5) years Conservative (13+5)

1997-2010: 13 (4+4+5) years Labour

2010-2024: 14 (5+2+2+5) years Conservative (including coalition with the LDs)

With a few exceptions this is essentially a series of three-term governments (2010-24 had two short terms), and these ended for multiple reasons.

“Events, dear boy, events!”

Shocks to the system, sometimes self-inflicted, can change the course of history.

The 1956 Suez Crisis finished Eden and he resigned citing ill-health. Wilson was expected to win in 1970 but, amongst other things, had a legacy from the 1967 devaluation and his poorly judged “pound in your pocket” speech.

The exception is the 1982 Falklands War. Failure would have probably finished Thatcher, but it’s one of her greatest legacies.

In 1992 Major was barely back in Downing Street when Black Wednesday, an inherited ticking time bomb, holed his government below the waterline. The 2008 Financial Crisis happened on Brown’s watch and the Conservatives successfully blamed him.

In early 2020 Johnson had the largest Conservative majority since the 1980s, Labour was undergoing a leadership contest and needed de-Corbynising, and then Covid struck. Without this there wouldn’t have been Partygate. The messy and introverted 2022 Johnson-Truss-Sunak succession bequeathed Sunak a poisoned chalice.

“Something will turn up” but things can only get worse

The final term tends to be five years as PMs become Mr Micawber. Attlee’s 1950 majority of five meant he went in 1951. 1959-64 isn’t a great example as Macmillan was replaced by Douglas-Home in 1963 due to ill health. Callaghan hung on, some suggest he might have won in Autumn 1978, until losing a vote of confidence, and an election, in 1979.

The real exception is Major in 1992 who had a year and a half to steady things, make a start on replacing the Community Charge and get on his soapbox.

After becoming Labour leader Blair increasingly set the agenda and Major forcing a leadership contest in 1995 made no difference. Had he then called an election and Sunak similarly after succeeding Truss they would have almost certainly lost, but probably by smaller margins.

Brown should have probably emulated Eden and called an election on succeeding Blair in 2007. He didn’t know the Financial Crisis was coming but a victory may have finished the relatively new Cameron and caused another Conservative leadership contest. He hung on and lost in 2010.

Sunak went slightly earlier than necessary in 2024 but was still wiped out.

“Changing the guard”

Can a new Captain steer the ship of state away from the rocks or is it rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic?

In 1957 Macmillan’s survival was uncertain, but Labour was associated with union militancy and divided between the Gaitskellites and Bevanites. He secured a majority of 100 in 1959. Douglas-Home replaced Macmillan in 1963 and lost by only four seats in 1964. He possibly did better than Macmillan, damaged by scandals like Profumo and increasingly considered out of touch, might have managed.

Major replaced Thatcher in 1990 and unexpectedly won in 1992. The Conservatives received just 8.8 percent of the vote in the May 2019 European elections, Johnson succeeded May and less than six months later secured a majority of eighty.

Johnson resigned on 7 July but Truss wasn’t installed until 5 September 2022. She resigned on 20 October and Sunak was installed on 25 October, Sunak directly following Johnson may have been more successful.

In a quieter 2019 the Conservatives took two months to replace May in 2022 we were coming out of Covid and inflation was rising, they fiddled while Britain burned.

Not every change of PM is because their administration is in trouble as Eden (1955, won in 1955), Callaghan (1976, hung on and lost in 1979), Brown (2007, hit by the financial crisis and lost in 2010), and May (2016, won in 2017) show.

“The lessons of history”

In a volatile world three terms (12 to 15 years) looks like the limit, and it’s unlikely anyone will equal Thatcher or Blair.

• A significant “event” will probably finish a PM.
• Mr Micawber rarely delivers. When a government is turned off the longer it hangs on the worse the defeat will probably be.
•  Changing an unpopular PM has some chance of success, if done quickly and with the right result.

Starmer’s government is extremely unpopular suggesting a 2029 election. We shall have to see how the Iran War or May elections plays for him. Replacing him could be worthwhile, but if his successor hangs on until 2029 they’ll have to achieve something only Attlee, just, and Major managed.

A new PM might provide political acumen but Labour want to throw money at the public sector like Blair, who inherited growth, and now the pips are squeaking. They’re spending £820m to provide work for 18-21 year olds, many made unemployable by their policies!

The priorities should be promoting private sector wealth creation to fund the public sector, controlling spending and stopping the small boats, but would their party support it?

There is still much speculation about Starmer’s future but it’s unlikely Mr Micawber will retire.

Why Is This A Big Deal?

What The First Batch Of Documents Revealed

1. Mandelson Received £75,000 Payout

2. Mandelson Asked For More Than £500,000 As A Pay-Off

3. Due Diligence Did Flag The Epstein Friendship

4. Mandelson Once Suggested Introducing Blair To Epstein

5. Mandelson Proposed Starmer Use Farage To Connect With Trump

6. National Security Adviser Said The Mandelson Appointment Was ‘Rushed’

7. Mandelson Expected To Be Treated With ‘Maximum Dignity’

8. No.10 Suggested A Daily Welfare Check On Mandelson

March 2025, Sudan: mother and child on a paediatric ward, White Nile State | Image by: Xinhua / Alamy

4 min read44 min

In 2015, the world came together with a bold ambition – to form a global partnership to tackle global poverty and inequality, combat climate change and protect our planet.

The result was the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): a call to action, in the form of 17 promises that provide the world with a roadmap to build a healthier, safer and more equal world by 2030.

Ten years on, however, progress towards achieving the SDGs is alarmingly off-track. Despite headway across many indicators, the world’s attention has waned over time, and the goals are at risk of becoming a cursory afterthought.

The goals reinforce the fundamental belief that everyone, no matter where they are born, is entitled to a life free from poverty and persecution. They represent a promise to the next generation: that the international community, including the private sector, is taking action to fix the challenges of climate change, conflict and inequality.

Progress made across education, maternal and child health, and access to safe water and sanitation, shows what happens when ambition meets action. Over 100 million more children are in school, and 16 per cent more children are surviving past the age of five than in 2015. New infections of HIV and malaria have plummeted as health systems have been strengthened. These gains were possible because funding and investment flowed, innovation scaled, and public and private institutions decided that ‘doing good’ and ‘doing well’ could go hand in hand.

However, amid increasing global challenges, this progress is under threat. The level of conflict has risen to its highest level since the end of the Second World War, with 59 active conflicts raging in over 35 countries. There are more people forcibly displaced than at any point since records began, and inequality is deepening worldwide.

Global challenges not only obstruct progress towards achieving the SDGs: they also act as brakes on economic growth and stability

In the face of these crises, the world has turned its back on its most marginalised communities. Historic partners in the fight against poverty and inequality, including the UK, have cut their Official Development Assistance budgets and retreated from international commitments – leaving more people in conflict zones without access to food and water, fewer reproductive health services available to women and girls, and defences against disease and climate change weakened.

The UN warns that the current pace of change is not enough to achieve the goals by the target, less than five years away. Nearly half of indicators are moving too slowly or making only marginal progress, while 18 per cent have regressed below 2015 levels.

These global challenges not only obstruct progress towards achieving the SDGs: they also act as brakes on economic growth and stability. Conflict, displacement and climate instability cause supply chains to fracture, food systems to crumble, and economies to shrink: damaging commercial interests while hindering progress towards a safer, healthier and more equal world for all.

To drive progress towards the SDGs and tackle the world’s challenges, our solutions must also be global – and rely on strong leadership, adequate funding and genuine cooperation to succeed. Governments must step up to fund humanitarian and development assistance and commit to ambitious reform of global economic systems. Businesses must channel investment and innovation to fuel sustainable growth, redress the impacts of climate change and facilitate development that uplifts the world’s most marginalised communities.

The past decade has shown that progress is possible when the world works together. A sustainable, resilient future is within reach, but the next five years will be decisive. Governments, donors and businesses must step up and deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals together. There are no opportunities, business or otherwise, on a dead planet.

Tracy Gilbert is Labour MP for Edinburgh North and Leith and co-chair of the United Nations Global Goals APPG

Prices at the pump in the UK have already started to rise following the US-Israeli attacks on Iran. (Alamy)

5 min read18 min

On Monday, US President Donald Trump claimed that the US and Israeli war with Iran was “very complete, pretty much”. Speaking to CBS News, he said: “They[Iran] have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no air force.”

His comments came amid growing warnings, both in the US and around the world, about the impact the conflict was having on global energy prices.

Despite Trump’s claim, the conflict in the Middle East remains ongoing.

Keir Starmer has warned that the UK market is exposed to international shocks, as it was at the onset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Speaking earlier this week, the Prime Minister said, “the longer this [conflict] goes on, the more likely the potential for an impact on our economy, impact into the lives and households of everybody and every business”.

Why is the Iran war impacting energy prices? 

Both Iran and Oman control the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane responsible for around a fifth, or 20 per cent, of the world’s oil supply. A significant amount of the world’s gas supply also passes through the Strait.

Traffic in this crucial shipping lane has fallen sharply since the US and Israel started bombing Iran, with Tehran threatening to attack ships trying to pass through it.

Iran has also conducted strikes on other oil-rich countries in the region it views as allies of the US, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Disruption to these key sources of energy means international prices rise, resulting in reliant countries, which include the UK, having to pay more. 

How has it impacted the UK so far?

Oil prices soared to almost $120 USD a barrel at the start of the week, the highest level since Vladimir Putin launched his attack on Ukraine in 2022. 

They have since dropped to around $90 USD a barrel, but prices remain high and are expected to be volatile.

In the UK, household energy bills are protected by the Ofgem cap until the end of June, meaning people will not see a change to what they pay for energy in their homes in the short-term. However, if global prices remain high, then the cap could rise from July. 

There has been an immediate impact on motorists, though. On Monday, RAC reported that the average diesel price had increased by 9.43p to 151.81p a litre as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, with average petrol prices rising by 4.95p to 137.78p a litre.

Could this be as severe as the Ukraine/Russia spike?

Adam Berman, director of policy at Energy UK, told PoliticsHome that while it “too early to tell” what long-term impact the Iran war will have on energy prices, it is currently “nowhere near the peaks of the energy crisis” triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“That was a different order of magnitude to where we are today, and the [Iran war] crisis would have to carry on for a very sustained period, or perhaps even worse, for that to happen,” said Berman.

“I do think that it’s worth us recognising that we have a long way to go until we are in a similar situation.”

Adam Bell, former government energy adviser and director of policy at Stonehaven Consultancy, agreed that while the country should expect “an uncomfortable bump”, there is currently no reason to believe it will be as bad as the shock resulting from the war in Ukraine.

“We can assume that it will be unpleasant for a while. It might interact with the government’s plans to raise fuel duty, depending on how long it goes on,” said Bell.

“But I find it hard to see it enduring all the way up to September.”

Simon Francis, co-ordinator at the End Fuel Poverty coalition, sought to stress that there is immediate concern for 1.5m UK households that use oil to heat their homes, and which “will have seen energy prices kind of going up pretty much overnight”.

“We’ve had people get in touch with us saying they’ve seen 50 per cent increases… Those households are already struggling.”

He predicted that energy bills “are going to go up fairly significantly” from July once the current price cap expires, and said that ministers must use the time between now and then to work out what their response will be to protect people from higher bills.

What has the government said? 

The government argues that the best way to avoid a shock to UK energy prices is to help bring about de-escalation in the Middle East.

However, on Wednesday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves acknowledged that the government may have to step in to protect energy bills, telling the Treasury select committee that “nothing is off the table”.

‘We are looking at a whole range of different scenarios,” she told MPs.

“One reason why any future package, if it were necessary, would be more affordable is that we are now less reliant on international energy price movements than we were before Russia invaded Ukraine, because we have invested more in homegrown, renewable energy.”

She added: “We are looking at targeted support as well as broader measures, but it is just too early to say what is needed.”

In Prime Minister’s Questions today, Starmer suggested that the planned rise in fuel duty in September may not go ahead, saying: “We will keep the situation under review in light of what’s happening in Iran.”

The UK has joined other countries in releasing 400m barrels of oil to the international market as part of a collective bid to boost supply and keep prices down.