A handful of billionaires pumped more than £170 million into the UK’s populist right-wing ecosystem, from political figures to news media, over the last five years.

A large chunk of that money is then used to pay far-right politicians for their media appearances, creating a back-door for unregulated political donations, new research has found.

Labour MP, Liam Byrne, former chief secretary to the treasury, carried out the research for his upcoming book Why Populists Are Winning and How to Beat Them.

Given that Byrne’s party is not, in fact, beating the populist right, we’d normally take what he’s got to say with a large pinch of salt and then ignore it along with the other Labour talking heads. However, he’s actually got a point here.

Liam Byrne on populist-right ‘media-political complex’

Byrne said his study:

maps for the first time the financial architecture of Britain’s populist right – and found a media-political complex of extraordinary scale, built in plain sight in just five years.

His figures stem from data covering nearly 500 transactions, spanning from January 2020 to February of this year. The sources included Companies House filings, civil society reports, the Electoral Commission and register of members’ financial interests.

The £170 million was split between populist-right MPs and political parties, alongside their aligned media organisations and thinktanks. Of that, more than £130 million came from just four sources: crypto investor Chris Harborne, financier Jeremy Hosking, hedge fund manager Paul Marshall, and investment firm Legatum.

Likewise, a similar majority of the money — some £133 million — went to just three media organisations: the traditionalist conservative Critic, ‘non-partisan’ alt-right UnHerd, and of course, Reform’s pet propaganda distributor, GB News.

Both Marshall and Legatum bankroll GB News. Marshall also funds UnHerd, whilst Hosking gives his money to the Critic. 

‘Politics is downstream of culture’

Whilst just 14% of the overall funding went directly into politicians’ pockets that doesn’t account for the indirect channels.

Byrne said a further 14% of the funds identified were direct donations to MPs or parties registered with the Electoral Commission. For example, GB News gave Reform’s MPs more than £770,000 for appearing on its channel, effectively paying the party to spread its far-right messaging.

Byrne explained:

Populist funders are not simply bankrolling parties. They are heeding the advice of political strategists from Alain de Benoist to Pat Buchanan and Andrew Breitbart – that politics is downstream of culture. They’re investing directly to support populist parties, but more important they’re investing in a media ecosystem, bankrolling the “polytainment” platforms that reward populist politicians with the currency of our age: attention, amplification, clicks and cash.

Even a stopped clock

As such, Bryne argues that funding for media organisations and thinktanks, which is then ‘paid’ to politicians, is under-scrutinised by public watchdogs. The MP is calling for significant reforms, including that sizeable donations to media organisations must be registered with the Electoral Commission.

He is also advocating for a ban on political donations given in cryptocurrency, amongst other changes. Given that Reform is currently the only party to accept crypto (and lots of it), this move would directly target Farage’s far-right party.

GB News’ dodgy dealings with Reform have been on the Canary’s radar for a long while now. However, let it never be said that we won’t acknowledge a centrist wetwipe when they get something right for a change. Even a stopped clock and all that.

Far-right billionaires are channelling vast amounts of money into building their own media infrastructure. Those media organisations are then handing money over to their pet populist-right politicians.

And yes, that is a massive problem for the security of our democracy.

Featured image via the Canary

Hundreds of Palestine solidarity activists will hold five simultaneous protests at arms factories across the country on Wednesday 25 March. They’ll be demanding that the UK government stops allowing the export of weapons, components and military technology to Israel.

Palestine Solidarity Campaign is coordinating the protests. They’ll take place at arms factories in Bristol, London, Newcastle, Shenstone and Towcester from 11am.

Factories in the UK produce weapons and military technology used by Israel, including components for missiles, armoured drones and fighter jets. Last year, an opinion poll which Palestine Solidarity Campaign commissioned found that 57% of people support a full arms embargo on Israel, compared to just 13% against.

Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed over 70,000 Palestinians, more than 20,000 of them children, since October 2023. In the West Bank, Israel has ramped up its military assaults, while settler attacks and forced displacement are reaching near record levels. Israel is also currently engaged in an unprecedented bombing and displacement campaign in Lebanon and an illegal war on Iran.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 2024 that the risk of Israel committing genocide in Gaza was plausible. Subsequently, reports by a UN Commission of Inquiry, alongside Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have confirmed Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.

Under the Geneva Convention, states have a legal duty in international law to prevent and punish the crime of genocide. However, the UK government continues to allow arms exports to Israel, despite knowing of their use in war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Lewis Backon, Palestine Solidarity Campaign campaigns officer said:

Britain is an active participant in Israel’s genocide and apartheid against Palestinians by continuing to facilitate the export of weapons and military technology to Israel.

Many tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s genocide, yet still the government refuses to impose a full arms embargo. Our nationwide protests show that there is a clear demand to end Britain’s complicity in these monumental crimes against humanity.

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Details of the five arms factory protests

Bristol:

• Protest at Elbit Systems in Bristol. Elbit Systems is Israel’s largest arms manufacturer, it supplies the Israeli military with armoured drones, bombs and missiles.
• Assemble at 12noon at Elbit Systems, 38 Bolingbroke Way, Filton, Bristol, BS34 6FE.

Hayes, London:

• Protest at two arms factories supplying Israel in Hayes, London. Attewell produces components used in Israel’s F-35 fighter jets. CPI TMD Technologies has held 4 licences to export arms to Israel since 2021.
• Assemble at 11am: Attewell, Unit 7 Millington Road, Hayes, UB3 4AZ.
• Assemble at 1pm: CPI TMD Technologies Ltd, Swallowfield Way, Hayes, UB3 1DQ.

Newcastle:

• Protest at Pearson Engineering, which is owned by Rafael, Israel’s state owned arms manufacturer. Rafael produces missiles and drones for the Israeli military.
• Assemble at 11am at Pearson Engineering (Rafael), Armstrong Works, Scotswood Rd, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE15 6UX.

Shenstone, Staffordshire:

• Protest at UAV Engines in Shenstone, Staffordshire. UAV Engines is a subsidiary of Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms manufacturer. It produces armoured drones, missiles and bombs used by the Israeli military.
• Assemble at 11am at UAV Engines Ltd, Lynn Lane, Shenstone WS14 0EA.

Towcester, Northamptonshire:

• Protest at BAE Systems in Towcester, Northamptonshire. BAE Systems produces a variety of weapons used by the Israeli military, including components for its fighter jets used to bomb Gaza.
• Assemble at 11am at BAE Systems Advanced Technology Centre, Burcote Rd, Towcester NN12 6TF.

Featured image via the Canary

A Standard Waste Container Catalogue (SWCC) developed collaboratively by Sellafield Ltd and Nuclear Waste Services (NWS), defines for the first time a suite of approved container designs to satisfy the needs of waste across differing radioactivity levels. 

A standardised approach to containers ensures compatibility with eventual geological disposal, ensuring that packaging produced today will remain suitable for future disposal conditions, avoiding possible complex repackaging operations. 

Cross-site collaboration will be encouraged to look at the potential for containers to be used more easily between facilities, utilising common handling equipment and procedures where possible. 

The catalogue is not seen as an immediate solution to all current container issues faced by site operators but rather part of a long-term strategy enabling more efficient and cost-effective waste management well into the future. 

The catalogue will be governed by the Sellafield-led Waste Container Management Body (WCMB) who will review any requests for new inclusions.

Dr James McKinney, NDA Chief Strategist for Integrated Waste Management, said: “This initiative marks a major step forward in how radioactive waste is managed across our sites and an example of how our strategy development work has resulted in transformational change.

“It also clearly demonstrates how NDA group collaboration is delivering benefits for the whole estate.

“By standardising container design now, we are helping to reduce long‑term costs and ensuring the waste we package today remains suitable for long term interim storage and onward management. Well done to all those involved”

Rob Miller, Head of Manufactured Products at Sellafield, said:

“The Standard Waste Container Catalogue is a significant step forward for the NDA group and the manufacturing supply chain. 

It creates a single, consistent set of waste container designs that will reduce duplication, improve value for money, and streamline the procurement and manufacture of containers across all organisations. 

The development of this catalogue together with the formation of the Waste Container Management Body stands as a strong example of collaboration across the entire NDA group, using expertise from areas of the NDA group to deliver a shared solution.”

Emma Tallantire, NWS Packaging Lead, said:

“The catalogue will provide visibility of all available packages, encompassing both Low Level Waste and Intermediate Level Waste providing benefits around economies of scale and prevention of package proliferation, resulting in cost savings to the estate.” 

Before the launch of the NDA group-wide approach, radioactive waste containers were often designed and developed by individual Site Licence Companies (SLCs) within the estate, tailored to support specific waste streams, resulting in multiple bespoke container designs. 

Standardisation of container designs and a coordinated approach to managing demand will lead to longer term efficiencies within the supply chain.

Pegasus – NTS’s revolutionary transport package designed to safely move the next generation of nuclear fuel – has received significant interest, reflecting the global demand for advanced fuel logistics.

The LOI comes as NTS’s co-CEOs join government and industry leaders in South Korea as they promote NTS’s world-leading capabilities while strengthening collaboration across the emerging HALEU supply chain with government, utility, and industry representatives. It also signals the success of the Heads of Terms signing which took place in Washington DC in January, where NTS signed a landmark strategic agreement with Westinghouse.

Ben Whittard, NTS co-CEO, said: “HALEU development is progressing quickly, and international co-operation will be essential to ensure fuel, logistics, and capability scale together. This Letter of Intent demonstrates real confidence in Pegasus.”

Ciara Middlehurst, NTS co-CEO, added:“As advanced reactors move toward commercial deployment, secure and reliable transport becomes a critical enabler of the wider market. The emerging HALEU ecosystem depends on strong links between governments, industry, and operators across multiple regions.”

The Pegasus package is designed to support shipments, early fuel forms, and eventual commercial-scale movements for a wide range of HALEU fuel types. With international programmes accelerating, long-term alignment between deconversion, fabrication, and transport will be vital.

Experience gained through NTS’s established operations in Japan continues to inform regulatory planning and operational frameworks across East Asia, where cross-border fuel-cycle activity is expected to increase throughout the 2030s and 2040s.

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Former CIA director John Brennan has told MS Now that he trusts the Iranians more than US president Donald Trump, because Trump wouldn’t recognise the truth even if “slapped in the face with it repeatedly”.

Brennan was talking about Trump’s claims that Iran is discussing a peace deal. The Iranians have responded that they have no intention of agreeing an end to the war started illegally by the US and Israel until their own military aims are achieved:

Former CIA Director John Brennan: “I tend to believe Iran more than I do Donald Trump because he could not acknowledge the truth even when he’s slapped in the face with it repeatedly.” pic.twitter.com/2GVqF2ZVfg

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) March 24, 2026

Ex-CIA boss Brennan is right. Iran would be foolish to trust Trump or Israel to agree a deal that wouldn’t be used just to re-arm ready to attack Iran again, as Trump and Netanyahu did when Israel took a pounding in the June 2025 ’12-day war’. With Israel reportedly running out of defensive missiles and the US allegedly hiding troops in civilian hotels as its Gulf bases take hit after hit, it would make no sense for Iran to let them off the ropes until both imperialist regimes have learned a lesson.

Featured image via the Canary

Seven flasks will be transported from Sellafield via a German port to the Brokdorf interim storage facility later in 2026.

This will be the final shipment from the UK to Germany. The first shipment of six flasks, to Biblis, was successfully completed in 2020 and the second shipment of seven flasks to Isar was completed in 2025.

The waste results from the reprocessing and recycling of spent nuclear fuel at the Sellafield site in West Cumbria, which had previously been used to produce electricity by utilities in Germany.

Vitrified residue returns are a key component of the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) strategy to repatriate high level waste from the UK, fulfil overseas contracts and deliver UK Government policy.

These returns involve Sellafield Ltd working in partnership with Nuclear Transport Solutions (NTS) to return the waste to German customers.

NTS, part of the NDA, will perform the shipments, drawing on 50 years’ experience of transporting nuclear materials safely and securely around the world.

The waste will be transported by sea on a specialist vessel to a German port, then onwards to its final destination.

The shipments will be carried out in full compliance with all applicable national and international regulations, and subject to issue of all relevant permits and licenses.

Sellafield Ltd and NTS will provide further information on the shipments in due course.

Deranged Zionist US senator Lindsey Graham has compared Iranian oil facility Kharg Island to Japanese island Iwo Jima to demand an all-out US invasion to control it. The World War II battle of Iwo Jima cost the US 26,000 casualties, including almost 7,000 dead. Graham said:

We did Iwo Jima. We can do this.

The Iwo Jima comparison may hold – but not the way Graham intended. In fact, it may well be an understatement. Former US Army Ranger Joe Kent, who recently resigned as head of Trump’s National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) over the illegal Iran war, says that invading Kharg Island:

would be a disaster. It would essentially be giving Iran a bunch of hostages on an island that they could barrage with drones and missiles.

At Iwo Jima, the US knew that taking the island would come at a heavy cost, but that once won there would be little Japan could do from 1,200km away. Kharg Island lies 25km from mainland Iran and Iran’s drones and missiles could easily reach it from anywhere in Iranian territory.

Clearly the US senator and the Israel lobby that runs him care nothing for the lives of US servicemen. But the sight of thousands of flag-draped coffins arriving back in the US would destroy Trump and the lobby along with support for their illegal war that is already plummeting.

Featured image via the Canary

US president Donald Trump has appeared to confirm – presumably unintentionally – that Israel has been targeting and killing Iranian figures who are, or could be, discussing potential peace deals with the US.

Trump claimed that the US is talking to a ‘most respected’ Iranian leader, but said that he couldn’t name him because “I don’t want him to be killed”. And as if further confirmation was needed, he slipped and said:

They’ve wiped out – we’ve wiped out – we’ve wiped out everybody.

Of course, Iran denies even having any such conversations and says it will continue the war the US and Israel started until its own war aims are achieved. So Trump may well be making up his claim – but the Freudian slip of his excuse for not naming a name still speaks volumes.

Featured image via the Canary

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is rolling out a UK-wide training programme to support project professionals in the nuclear industry.

The One NDA Project Academy is an expansion of a programme initially launched at Sellafield in 2016.

It will support employees at the NDA’s 17 sites in England, Scotland and Wales.

The news comes as the University of Cumbria was confirmed as the academy’s operator, continuing a relationship that began when the initiative started 10 years ago.

Previously known as the Project Academy for Sellafield, it has helped more than 7,000 people advance their careers through the academy’s programmes.

Primarily for Sellafield Ltd employees, the academy also took leaners from large and small businesses in Cumbria.

It offers more than 60 courses across a range of disciples, including:

• project management
• quality
• health and safety
• risk
• stakeholder management
• project controls

From short courses to degree programmes, all are designed to meet the evolving demands of infrastructure delivery.

Jacq Longrigg, NDA group people development director, said:

“The project academy has pioneered a fresh approach to professional development in programme and project delivery, setting new standards for the UK skills agenda.

Now, the academy will move onto the next phase and provide development opportunities for all our project and programme community across the NDA group.

We’re proud to invest in our people, our communities, and in the successful delivery of our mission.”

Under its new contract the University of Cumbria will lead the academy for 6 years, with the option to extend for a further 3.

Kate Dixon, director of the Institute of Engineering at University of Cumbria, said:

“We are delighted to continue our collaboration with Sellafield Ltd and the NDA Group.

The academy has become an important part of our identity, benefiting thousands of people and many businesses across the region. Its success has inspired similar programmes with BAE Systems, the BBC, and the NHS — and it all began at Sellafield.”

Andy Sharples, project director for Sellafield Ltd, said:

“I’ve seen first-hand the impact of the Project Academy has had on people, who are now helping us to deliver infrastructure projects at one of the UK’s most complex sites.

We’re excited to help create a sustainable pipeline of talent to support not only Sellafield, but any infrastructure programme in the UK.”