Online abuse and harassment are “constant, corrosive and deeply embedded” for young people across the country. That’s according to a Barnardo’s-commissioned poll of 4,000 young people in the UK about their experiences of online misogyny.

The results from thousands of 13 to 20-year-olds show how they experience misogyny online. Over a quarter (28%) of girls in Scotland said they’d been called degrading names online. And five in seven (72%) boys said they believed they are expected to “act tough and not show emotion”.

Online misogyny is having real world effects

The findings also highlight how online misogyny is having an impact on the offline lives of young people. More than a quarter (27%) of all young people in Scotland had seen a nude photo that had originally been sent privately and had been shared.

Just over one in seven (15%) 13 to 15-year-olds across the UK as a whole had been asked to share a nude photo of themselves. Meanwhile, 17% of respondents in Scotland reported having received repeated messages after asking the sender to stop or ignoring them.

At the same time, boys in the Scotland felt unable to challenge their peers. 18% said that their friends wouldn’t back them if they called out sexist comments. And about five in eight (62%) boys in Scotland said that people would think they are “boring” if they don’t join in with group “banter”.

18-year-old Olly (not his real name) said:

As a young man, I see online misogyny every day. It sets the tone for how boys treat girls and how boys treat each other. There is pressure to laugh it off or stay silent, even when it crosses a line.

Young men set the standard. Challenge it, shut it down, and back those who speak up. That is how we change what is accepted.

Sarah, a children’s services manager for a Barnardo’s Domestic Abuse & Sexual Violence service, says:

A girl we supported was referred to the service after digitally manipulated – deepfake – images of her were created and circulated online.

The images were shared through social media platforms, sometimes via fake accounts created to spread the abuse further. Incidents like this cause significant emotional impact including fear and distress.

A culture of victim blaming can also lead to girls being concerned about how others perceive them, rather than seeing themselves as a victim of serious sexual abuse.

This can sometimes leave them vulnerable to further abuse and exploitation – but with the right support, we do see girls begin to rebuild trust, confidence and find their voice.

Barnardo’s says the children and young people they support are increasingly feeling the impact of online misogyny. 29% of Barnardo’s frontline practitioners said they were seeing more children affected by misogynistic content online, compared to the year before. 29% also said they were seeing an increase in child-on-child sexual abuse and / or children displaying problematic or harmful sexual behaviour, compared to the year before.

Michele Janes, director of Barnardo’s Scotland, said:

Misogyny isn’t always loud or visible to many of us, but these findings show how constant, corrosive and deeply embedded it is in the lives of young people today both online and off. It shapes how boys and girls think about themselves, their worth and their relationships with others.

Young people are telling us that the result can be harmful on all sides, from humiliation and sexualised abuse to feelings of shame and isolation. This is not inevitable – it is learned, and it can be challenged.

That’s why we’re raising the alarm and we want young people’s experiences to be at the heart of conversations about how to tackle misogynistic content online.

As a step in the right direction, we are calling on the government to turn Ofcom’s guidance for online services to improve the safety of women and girls online into a mandatory code of practice for tech companies to create safer digital platforms for all children and young people.

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Featured image via Barnardo’s

By The Canary

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Zionist bully-group UKLFI is at it again, despite the referral of its senior lawyers to their regulator for its bullying. The pro-Israel pressure group is upset that the University and College Union (UCU) conference will debate a motion on… pro-Israel pressure. You couldn’t make it up, and you don’t need to.

Motion 52 will call for academic freedom against “Zionist repression” and the “dangers posed by Zionist groups”. No one sensible who has been paying attention could possibly object, which of course means UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) is very offended indeed. So much so that it has resorted to its usual tactics of threatening the union that its motion “could” expose UCU to “claims of unlawful discrimination and harassment under the Equality Act 2010”.

Antisemitic argument from UKLFI

To leap to this “could”, UKLFI resorts to the “usual Zionist pressure group” tactic of treating all Jewish people as though they are inherent supporters of the genocidal apartheid colony. Therefore, it argues, rejecting Zionism and its tactics is discriminatory against Jews. Being hostile to a racist, murderous, land-thieving ideology would be a “hostile environment” for Jews. It’s hard to see any way in which the whole argument is not antisemitic, but it’s about par for the course.

UCU’s ‘leadership’ is showing signs of caving to the Zionist pressure group and pulling the motion about Zionist pressure. A better course of action would be to point out that UKLFI’s ‘name’ barristers have been referred to the Bar Standards Board for undue use of their seniority to validate intimidation and ‘lawfare’.

UCU could also point out that UKLFI’s track record is littered with cases of blatant lawfare and intimidation against doctors and Muslim NHS staff, Palestinian children, artists and their art. Even media giant Netflix and – reportedly – the late far-right influencer Charlie Kirk when he was wavering on Israel just before his murder.

For good measure, it could add that UKLFI has also been referred to the Solicitors Regulation Authority and called one of two of the UK’s two main “apartheid apologist” groups.

And for good measure, they could remind the friends of genocide group that UCU humiliated their fellow Israel fanatic John Mann and others when they tried to smear the union as antisemitic. Tribunal judges found the case against UCU to be:

without substance … devoid of any merit … palpably groundless … untenable … obviously hopeless.

“Sorry saga” of political litigation

And the panel of judges had more to say about what they described as a “sorry saga” of an attempt to use litigation for

Lessons should be learned from this sorry saga. We greatly regret that the case was ever brought. At heart, it represents an impermissible attempt to achieve a political end by litigious means. It would be very unfortunate if an exercise of this sort were ever repeated.

UKLFI appears not to have learned. Will the UCU management have the courage to do the right thing and send the would-be intimidators away with a union-sized flea in their collective ear? Or will they make the craven mistake of so many before and capitulate to the – yep – “Zionist pressure”?

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

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Illegal mink and otter hunts are quietly decimating our river ecosystems all over the UK. And I cannot believe I just had to write that. Secretive, twisted bloodsport groups are currently exploiting the summer months to dodge public scrutiny. The Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) is issuing an urgent appeal to all of us to help expose and stop these disgusting underground networks. So, the Canary is calling on our readers to help the Hunt Sabs.

Terrorising our waterways

The summer hunting season runs from April to October, and it sees hunters taking to our waterways. Too impatient to wait until winter for the fox and hare hunts, these bloodthirsty toffs are now murdering otters and mink. Groups like the Three Counties Mink Hounds and the Northern Counties Mink Hunt are now out to massacre our semi-aquatic and frankly adorable wildlife. And they’re doing it along vulnerable riverbanks.

On foot, hunters are releasing up to 20 hounds onto our waterways. These usually consist of foxhounds and shaggy otterhounds to track scents. When an unsuspecting otter or mink is cornered, the pack chases it across land and water until it is ripped apart.

The violence is absolutely vile. It usually escalates when the poor fuzzy mammal tries to find safety. If a mink or otter manages to get to safety underground, that’s when the real disgusting stuff happens. Hunt terriermen then deploy terriers, spades and drainage rods to dig out the poor creature. And if it manages to climb a tree, hunters will use poles to violently shake it so it falls into the slavering jaws of the hounds. And then it’s ripped apart.

And it’s illegal. But this isn’t just about that. This is a full on assault on the fragile ecosystems of our riversides, where these stunning native animals breed. This is where the Hunt Sabs come in.

Secret networks of criminality

Thankfully, mink hunting is in decline. This disgusting bloodsport had it’s peak with over 20 packs in the 1980s. Now, only around half a dozen of them remain across the UK. But it’s because of this decline that these few remaining packs have become incredibly secretive. They’re relying on a tiny, very tight knit circle of supporters to keep this vile sport alive. Huntsman now lean on extreme secrecy to try to avoid direct action from the HSA.

To try to avoid detection, these packs have now abandoned their jumped-up public meets. To avoid confrontation, they alter dates and times for meeting. Huntsman now gather on field corners and whisper in country pubs to plan their assaults.

When challenged by members of the public, hunters lie. They hide their murder, claim they’re just exercising the hounds, or hunting rats. Hunt sabs report this is nothing but an excuse. It’s a smokescreen to hide their illegal hunts. Drone operations from Hunt Sabs rumbled the Dove Valley Mink Hounds near Ramsey Brook. This quick response forced the hunt to abandon their meet and head back to the kennels.

Please help the Hunt Sabs to sound the alarm

Because these criminals operate in tiny circles and across huge rural stretches, the HSA needs our help. The public can look for specific warning signs and raise the alarm. If you’re out enjoying a nice walk in the country please keep an eye out for these rich weirdos. If you see groups with big wooden sticks (otter poles), or groups of suspicious vehicles near rivers, please take action. Same with if you hear a hunting horn or a pack of hounds.

The Hunt Sabs treats all tip-offs with 100% confidentiality. So if you hear any gossip in a pub, see social media posts or see suspicious activity, give them a call. Their direct tip off line is 07443 148426.

Please, help them to save minks and otters this summer.

Featured images via the Hunt Sabs Association & Pinterest 

By Antifabot

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Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) have voted to demand powers to hold another Scottish independence referendum. First Minister John Swinney described independence as a “golden opportunity” that would “put Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands”.

Grasping Westminster running against Scottish interests

MSPs agreed: the motion passed by 72-55, with the support of the Greens enough to see off an unholy London-centric Labour, Reform, Tory and LibDem alliance. Keir Starmer said he would not give Scots what they want.

This is unsurprising.

Starmer is an Establishment tool through and through, who has always treated Scottish Labour like a Westminster satellite branch. He has also put peace in Northern Ireland at risk by refusing to grant the reunification vote required by the Good Friday Agreement now that the number of Republicans is realistically enough to carry the vote.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

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Israel launched an intense bombardment across southern Lebanon on the eve of Eid. Over 100 airstrikes were accompanied by ferocious artillery bombardments across the south and in Bekaa. Targets included a Palestinian refugee camp. Multiple people were killed.

Middle East Eye reported:

Israel’s Channel 12 is reporting that the Israeli army has begun a ground operation in Lebanon, crossing the “Yellow Line” demarcation stipulated by the ceasefire deal.

According to Israeli Channel 14, Tel Aviv is expanding its military operation beyond the line in the Nabatieh area.

Journalist Hala Jaber described horrific scenes:

In just hours, Israel has unleashed more than 110 airstrikes across over 20 towns &villages in south Lebanon & the Western Bekaa, alongside relentless artillery shelling.

Entire residential blocks flattened. Families buried alive. Children pulled bloodied from rubble. Rescue workers ordered to halt searches while survivors are reportedly still trapped underneath collapsed homes.

And all this unfolding on the eve of Eid al-Adha.

Jaber added:

There is nothing “limited” or “defensive” about these strikes. We are witnessing collective devastation unleashed by a depraved entity at full force & with full impunity.

More attacks on first responders

The settler-colonial state’s forces also killed two first responders:

Israel has killed two more first responders here in Lebanon.

Excerpt of the statement from the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health:

“…The ministry salutes the efforts of the heroic paramedics and their continuous sacrifices in the face of the barbarism of the Israeli enemy,… pic.twitter.com/AzX1hBoyRP

— courtneybonneauimages (@cbonneauimages) May 26, 2026

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Lebanon’s ministry of public health stated:

…The ministry salutes the efforts of the heroic paramedics and their continuous sacrifices in the face of the barbarism of the Israeli enemy, who is not deterred by international humanitarian law or international resolutions and norms, and continues to apply the law of the jungle, which confirms its continuous attacks that he believes only in it.

One US-led, Israeli-linked ‘humanitarian’ organisation even ordered first responders to stop searches despite people still being missing:

Rescuers ordered to halt operations in southern Lebanese town as survivors remain trapped beneath rubble

The International Monitoring and Implementation Mechanism — the U.S.-led committee comprising Israel, Lebanon, France, and UNIFIL tasked with overseeing the Lebanon… https://t.co/ggZTXZ0AFA

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) May 26, 2026

Drop Site News said:

The International Monitoring and Implementation Mechanism — the U.S.-led committee comprising Israel, Lebanon, France, and UNIFIL tasked with overseeing the Lebanon ceasefire — has instructed emergency responders in Maarakeh, a town in southern Lebanon, just east of the coastal city of Tyre, to suspend rescue operations, despite confirmed reports that survivors are still alive beneath the rubble, journalists Hala Jaber and Courtney Bonneau report.

Adding:

At least 9 civilians have been killed in Maarakeh in the latest Israeli attack, with 4 injured and 4 still missing, according to Bonneau. Rescue operations have been suspended until tomorrow.

This figure has since risen to at least 12. The Israelis killed a father and his two young sons. They were among the first casualties to be named:

Among the first victims identified in Israel’s strike on Haboush, near the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, are Abdallah Tufaili and his two sons, Ali and Abbas, veteran journalist Hala Jaber reported alongside the accompanying photo. https://t.co/5nEtK9jt1O pic.twitter.com/5gMErUN9w6

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) May 26, 2026

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Israel: colonial ambitions in Lebanon

Here’s a breakdown of how we actually got here – usually missing from legacy media reporting.

Israel violated the US-brokered Lebanon 2024 ‘ceasefire’ over 15,400 times since it was signed. Must be a world record. Yet a short salvo from Hezbollah in early March 2026 was framed as a signal outrage by legacy media. That attack has been cited by the settler-colonial state as a pretext to invade.

Not satisfied with pulling the US and its allies into a runaway war with Iran, Israeli troops have pushed into Lebanon with airstrikes pummelling the capital Beirut.

The Canary reported the early moments of the new war here. You can read about the secretive Israel-US ‘side letter’ pact which gave Israel carte blanche to keep bombing through the ‘ceasefire’ here. And our extensive coverage of Israel’s ceasefire regular breaches here.

Developments on a peace deal have displeased Israeli hawks. Middle East Eye reported:

Reports over the weekend said the deal centres on a memorandum of understanding establishing a preliminary 60-day ceasefire, which reportedly does not address Iran’s nuclear programme.

The initial framework is also said to include ending wars “on all fronts”, including Lebanon.

And there are fears that Israeli influence with the Trump administration is waning:

The officials are now said to fear that a US-Iran agreement could place restrictions on Israel’s future military operations in Lebanon and Gaza.

For Israeli leaders – insulated by unconditional US military support – it is loss of influence at court they fear most. By contrast, for the Lebanese there is a fear of a different order entirely: a fear of injury, of death and of permanent displacement from their homes. If nothing else, this perverse state of affairs captures the nature of this colonialist war.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

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US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have attacked protesters outside of the Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. Meanwhile, detainees inside the facility have staged a hunger strike against the inhumane conditions they’re subjected to.

Attorneys have reported that around 300 detainees have joined the hunger-and-labor strike at Delaney Hall. The peaceful action began on 22 May, highlighting serious concerns including the spoiled food they’re expected to eat.

Selenia Destefani – CEO of Nova Law Group, representatives of the detainees – explained that:

The conditions are brutal. People just sleep on the floor – overcrowded rooms, cold showers, no food, extremely cold in the cells with no blankets. Not sound conditions to live in.

Democrat lawmakers barred from entry by ICE

Senator Andy Kim visited Delaney Hall on 23 May after hearing the allegations. Posting on social media, he reported seeing:

-Pregnant woman unable to get full OBGYN medical support

-Woman who had a miscarriage in the detention facility and left to manage all on her own[…]

-A carton with the milk inside congealed solid (expiration date is tomorrow)[…]

-A document showing next Tuesday’s court docket showing 74 cases before 1 judge in one day (averages about 5 min a case)

-man telling me ICE trying to deport him to DRC where there is active Ebola outbreak (he’s from South America originally) […]

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-Numerous people who were arrested at scheduled interviews for green cards (trying to follow the formal process)

However, a DHS spokesperson flat-out denied Kim’s report:

This is nothing more than a political stunt by New Jersey sanctuary politicians for fundraising clicks. There is NO hunger strike at Delaney Hall. There are NO subprime conditions or abuse at the facility.

Soto Hernandez

Other Democrats, including New Jersey governor Mikie Sherrill, tried to visit over 24-25 May. Sherrill said:

The people inside Delaney Hall are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters and members of our community. In New Jersey, we believe in the rule of law and that everyone deserves to be treated with basic dignity. We have a duty to safeguard the rights, health, and well-being of everyone within our borders.

However, ICE barred the lawmakers’ entry to the facility. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson claimed that, because of the protests outside:

Visitation has been suspended out of an abundance of caution.

On key aim of the protest outside the facility was the prevention of the transfer of detainee Soto Hernandez to another facility. ICE agents snatched Hernandez on 20 January whilst he was out buying diapers. He has since sought release on bond.

His wife, Gabriela, is currently looking after their two children alone, whilst 4-months pregnant. Nevertheless, she organised a rally on 22 May, which also served to announce the hunger strike. A lawyer representing Hernandez stated that Soto was served spoiled food infested with worms.

ICE attack protestors

Over the weekend, protesters formed a human chain to block the entry and exit of unmarked government vehicles. Footage from Freedom News TV showed masked ICE thugs using batons and tear gas against the demonstrators in the early hours of 25 May.

Agents also detained protesters, grabbing them from the crowd and even dragging them across the floor in at least one documented case. Senator Andy Kim, who joined the protest, was struck by tear gas during the ICE attack.

Sadly, ICE succeeded in transferring Hernandez to Elizabeth Contract Detention Center. There, agents placed him in isolation and prevented him from making phone calls. Soto’s attorney described him as weighing around 110lbs, stating that:

he’s skin and bones. I could blow him away.

‘Fighting for their human rights’

New Jersey senator Cory Booker raised serious concerns about conditions at the privately-owned Delaney Hall back in 2023, calling “it an insult to immigrant communities”. On 26 May, he posted that:

Immigrants at Delaney Hall are on a hunger strike because they are fighting for their human rights. […]

We’re working with our partners in the state to bring an end to this nightmare and I’ll be going to Delaney Hall again to conduct oversight.

Since Trump came to power for his second term, almost 50 detainees have died in ICE custody. This is, by far, the highest level of deaths in such US facilities over the last 20 years.

Featured image via screengrab

By Alex/Rose Cocker

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Sky News‘ Alex Crawford has reported on yet another targeted attack by Israel against paramedics in Lebanon, in turn emphasising the depths of sinister depravity which Israel is more than willing to sink to.

Showing camera footage which proves how the Zionist Israeli military intentionally kill Lebanese emergency workers, Crawford points out that this horrific murder came 12 hours after another Israeli strike killed four other medics.

The three medics in this video were responding to a father and his daughter who were injured in an Israeli strike, only for a trademark double-tap bomb to be dropped on them – subsequently murdering all three medics alongside the father, his young daughter and another Lebanese civilian.

Once again, Israel proves it has a bloodthirsty agenda against indigenous Arab civilians wherever they are – whilst it continues towards its colonialist, Zionist project of ‘Greater Israel’.

An Israeli strike captured on camera has killed three paramedics in Lebanon. Just 12 hours earlier, four other medics were killed.

Sky's @AlexCrawfordSky reportshttps://t.co/MTDOQ3T0vB pic.twitter.com/CvM8mOmnlp

— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 25, 2026

Crawford: “You can see the bomb hitting the front of the ambulance” in Lebanon

In her report for Sky News, Alex Crawford highlights the scale at which the Israeli military has killed medics in Lebanon under the direction of Israel’s occupying military. Despite a ceasefire deal in mid-April, Israel has continued to murder Arab people with impunity and, as Crawford says, “no one seems able to stop it”.

Nevertheless, it is worth pointing out this impunity is less about being politically able – and far more about a lack of political will to do anything about it.

Instead, Western leaders have pretty much given Israel a carte-blanche as it continues its genocidal campaigns in the Middle East.

Crawford described the targeted ‘double-tap’ attack captured on camera, saying:

They’re in neon jackets calling the second ambulance in after a father and his young daughter have been hit. As the crew arrives there’s another bomb. When slowed down you can see the bomb hitting the front of the ambulance. The moment of impact is captured by a second camera inside the arriving ambulance.

The two-man crew rushing to help their colleagues and those injured on the road somehow escape for their lives. But now they too are wounded.

All three of their colleagues outside on the street were killed, as well as the father, his young child and a civilian who’d stopped to help. The attacks are devastating the southern communities.

Referring to an 8-year-old child now left without his father, she told of the victims:

Among the three was a photojournalist as well as volunteer medic. His little girl unaware this was the final goodbye to the father killed doing two of the most dangerous jobs in Lebanon right now. The grief here is raw and unfiltered. They’ve had back-to-back funerals for days, and many are convinced the civil defence uniforms they now grip for comfort marked out their loved ones for attack.

Once again, Israel have sought to deny this was a deliberate and targeted attack, telling Crawford that they actually hit two motorbikes belonging to Hezbollah. Crawford, in contrast to most journalists in Western mainstream murder, refuted this baseless defence pointing out that the video directly contradicted their claims.

In response, the IDF is once again left adjudicating their own lawless conduct, stating that it is “examining the claims of uninvolved individuals being harmed”.

Murdered medics is what Israel does

Crawford spoke to local people, who told of their deep pain, suffering and trauma as a result of Israel’s continuous crimes against humanity. Crimes which continue to go on with absolute impunity under corrupted leaders in the West.

The anguish is deep, often inconsolable. But the resolve amongst this band of brothers runs far deeper.

Lebanese paramedic: “We lost like my best friend. Like we are like brothers together all the time together. Like 18 days together every day, every hour. We lost him. But we will say to him we will continue. We will continue.”

Underscoring how little control Lebanese people have over their own territory, freedoms and chance of any semblance of peace, Crawford continued:

To many here, the war has never stopped. The country’s future is now tied to an Iran-US-Israel deal. It’s an absolute insistence by negotiators in Tehran who support the armed group Hezbollah, which is firing rockets into northern Israel.

But historic talks between the Lebanese government and Israel have failed to bring any respite from the killings, and a ceasefire agreed mid-April hasn’t stopped the bombings.

Even graveyards aren’t safe in Lebanon, which are becoming increasingly full with more and more murdered daily:

Even as they’re putting someone to rest, you can see the remnants and the aftermath of what happened in an explosion yesterday. Half the cemetery covered. There are very few places now where people feel safe in South Lebanon.

Even the dead aren’t left undisturbed, and many of these graves are fresh from attacks in the last few days, as well as where whole generations are buried.

Speaking to a Lebanese man visiting the graveyard, Crawford was able to grasp the scale of grief that has become synonymous with living alongside a hostile, murderous state such as Zionist Israel:

Crawford: Do you have anyone that you know around here?

Lebanese man: Grandpa.

Adding:

Grandma. My uncle. My uncle, my uncle, my uncle.

Where is the political will to stop Israel’s widespread murder?

Some Lebanese families are so aware of the high stakes and insecure futures facing their loved ones, as Crawford highlighted when she spoke to Hussein. Whilst sweeping the graves of his relatives, including his wife’s who died last year, he told how he has been a paramedic and worries for the lives of his four paramedic sons.

One of which was due to attend with the crew murdered yesterday:

Some days I don’t sleep. I lost my wife. We lived through the last war. We were displaced and left our home. But the boys stayed here. If one son stays, I don’t have too much of a problem.

But if four of them stay and a strike takes them all, it’s a disaster, a disaster.

Featured image via the Canary

By Maddison Wheeldon

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DAYS THE BUDGET IS LATE: 56

GETTING TO 200K: Mayor Zohran Mamdani released a wide-ranging housing plan today that he said will usher in the “largest municipal housing transformation this country has ever seen.”

The blueprint lays out how Mamdani plans to address the single biggest driver of the city’s affordability crisis, the central focus of the mayoral campaign that propelled him into City Hall.

While the plan lays out ambitious targets that would surpass past mayors if achieved — including the planned creation and preservation of a combined 400,000 affordable homes over a decade — it also illustrates how Mamdani is not reinventing the wheel on many housing issues, but rather leaning into or expanding policies pursued by his predecessors.

The plan seeks to tackle a range of coinciding crises: the severe shortage of available housing; a public housing system that’s crumbling and facing massive capital needs; and a rental housing stock that is experiencing growing distress as operating costs skyrocket.

“If the absence of good government created the conditions we now face, the presence of good government can build the solutions we now need,” Mamdani said in a speech announcing the plan in Brooklyn’s Gowanus section, where a city-led rezoning enacted nearly five years ago has spurred a residential building boom.

Mamdani is already encountering the limits of some of his campaign promises and moderating costly plans as his administration grapples with a strained municipal budget. On the campaign trail, the mayor said he would create 200,000 publicly-subsidized homes over a decade, tripling current rates of production. He is standing by that goal, while also pledging to preserve another 200,000 affordable homes.

“Scaling to these levels of affordable housing production will not be easy and cannot be done overnight,” the blueprint states. The administration is aiming to create some 14,000 affordable homes in fiscal year 2027, which starts July 1, while ramping up to 21,000 units per year by fiscal year 2031.

Under the blueprint released Tuesday, Mamdani’s housing department plans to finance 8,000 new affordable homes in fiscal years 2027 and 2028 — which would grow subsidized housing by more than 35 percent from the prior two years. But the plan does not spell out specifically how the administration will produce roughly 12,000 remaining units annually to get to Mamdani’s 200,000-unit goal.

Much of that additional affordable housing will rely on zoning, tax and other financing tools rather than direct city subsidies. And it would require the private sector to embrace those tools. — Janaki Chadha

From the Capitol

‘BIG UGLY’ VOTE: The Legislature spent the better part of today plowing through votes on the budget’s “big ugly” bill, which contains most of the hot-button issues in this year’s spending plan.

“This bill has some really good stuff in it and some really bad stuff,” said Assemblymember Jeff Dinowitz, who cited Tier VI pension plan changes when speaking about his “yes” vote. “I look forward to seeing the positive impact it’s going to have on many, many state workers.”

That was the common theme that emerged among Democratic during today’s debate — they hate the rollbacks to the climate law, but they’re also supportive of the inclusion of what Republican Assemblymember Michael Fitzpatrick dubbed “the mother of all pension sweeteners” that they reluctantly voted yes. That line of reasoning appeared especially common from members who, like Dinowitz, have Democratic primaries in four weeks and stand to face attacks for being weak on the environment.

“This is not an easy vote for me,” said Assemblymember Grace Lee, who’s running for an open Senate seat and wound up backing the bill because of Tier VI.

“I am voting yes because I refuse to deny hardworking union members and retirees the retirement security they have worked years to achieve,” Assemblymember Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas said.

Gonzalez-Rojas also took time to slam the climate law changes.

“Communities like Jackson Heights, Corona, East Elmhurst, Elmhurst, LeFrak City have already experienced the consequences of environmental injustice,” she said. “Climate change is not theoretical for our communities. It is personal.”

That might be another indication of just how much budget season has blended into primary season. Not all of those neighborhoods fall within Gonzalez-Rojas’ district — but they’re a perfect description of the Senate district where she’s challenging fellow Democrat Jessica Ramos next month. — Bill Mahoney

FROM CITY HALL

MEANWHILE, IN KNICKS WORLD: Mamdani appeared to indicate today that watch parties will be back outside Madison Square Garden during next month’s NBA finals.

“They will be there,” Mamdani said with a laugh when asked at an unrelated press conference if the partying will resume outside the iconic arena next month when the Knicks play their first NBA finals in nearly three decades.

But a Mamdani spokesperson told Playbook that the mayor wasn’t referring to official watch parties. Rather, the spokesperson said he was talking about how Knicks fans inevitably gather outside the Garden during and after games to celebrate or mourn — oftentimes in rather raucous fashion.

Whether official watch parties — replete with massive screens showing the games — will be back outside the Garden during the finals, the Mamdani spokesperson wouldn’t say, adding that plans are still being finalized.

“It’s not a question of if there will be watch parties but where,” spokesperson Dora Pekec said.

The issue could become a bone of contention for Knicks fans.

Last week, the city pulled MSG’s permit to hold its usual large-scale parties outside the arena during Knicks games due to concerns from the NYPD about public drinking and other debauchery. During one of the Knicks’ Eastern Conference Finals games against the Cleveland Cavaliers last week, six people were arrested in connection with the outdoor watch party.

The NYPD’s decision to put the kibosh on the parties may infuriate Knicks fans who are ecstatic about their team making it to the NBA finals for the first time since 1999. Mamdani, an avid Knicks fan, is already facing tension with NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch over how to police this summer’s World Cup, as previously reported by POLITICO, and an MSG dispute could drive a further wedge.

With the outdoor party permit scrapped, MSG hosted a watch party at Radio City Music Hall for the Knicks’ clincher against the Cavs last night.

No matter what, Mamdani said at today’s press conference that Knicks fans will be able to cheer on their team at a variety of watch parties across the city during next month’s finals.

“We’re looking forward to making sure that it is a time for New Yorkers to celebrate, it’s a time that they’re also safe,” he said. “We’re going to have a number of different kinds of watch parties, and we’ll get back to you as we keep going through those plans.”

The Knicks will face either the San Antonio Spurs or Oklahoma City Thunder in the finals next month. The first game in the series is set for June 3. — Chris Sommerfeldt

FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

DEBATE-A-PALOOZA: Got plans in June? How about a congressional primary debate — or six?

After forums galore across the city’s competitive primaries, a slew of televised debates are on the books ahead of the June 23 election: two each for the races to replace retiring Reps. Nydia Velázquez and Jerry Nadler, and another two for Rep. Dan Goldman’s primary challenge from former City Comptroller Brad Lander.

All debates will be live at 7 p.m., with the exception of the first NY-07 debate on June 3, which will be prerecorded earlier that day and air at 7 p.m. Here’s when to block off your schedule:

— June 1: Goldman and Lander will be facing off for their first televised debate, hosted by Spectrum News NY1. NY1’s Errol Louis and Courtney Gross will moderate the program.

Goldman’s campaign has frequently criticized Lander for not agreeing to partake in seven debates.

— June 3: State Assemblymember Claire Valdez, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and City Council member Julie Won will take the stage as they vie for Velázquez’s seat. The debate will be hosted by NY1 and moderated by Louis and Gross. Public defender Vichal Kumar is also on the ballot, though he did not qualify for the debate.

— June 4: The four leading candidates looking to succeed Nadler will meet in a PIX11 debate: state Assemblymembers Micah Lasher and Alex Bores, Kennedy scion Jack Schlossberg and anti-Trump commentator George Conway. It will be moderated by Dan Mannarino.

— June 9: Another NY-12 debate will be hosted by NY1 and WNYC. Louis and WNYC’s Brian Lehrer and Brigid Bergin will moderate. This debate is set to feature Bores, Conway, Lasher, Schlossberg and public health practitioner Nina Schwalbe.

Schwalbe, a progressive candidate who has struggled to break through in the crowded field, has frequently criticized media coverage and events for not including her. A handful of other lesser-known candidates are also on the ballot next month.

— June 10: Valdez, Reynoso and Won will partake in a PIX11 debate, with Mannarino moderating.

— June 15: PIX11 will host Goldman and Lander for another showdown, moderated by Mannarino.

Early voting starts June 13. — Madison Fernandez

MUM-DANI: Mamdani is noncommittal about getting involved in the competitive race in what is now his home district.

When asked by PIX11’s Henry Rosoff who he’s voting for in the Democratic primary to succeed Nadler, Gracie Mansion’s newest resident laughed and said he hadn’t made a decision but is “following the race as a keen constituent.”

“At this time, I would say that I’ve focused on the two decisions I’ve made thus far,” Mamdani continued, referring to his endorsements for Lander and Valdez.

Bores recently said he would “love” to have Mamdani’s backing. Lasher, meanwhile, is getting campaign help from political strategist Morris Katz, an architect of Mamdani’s win last year. A recent Emerson College/PIX11 poll found that Mamdani has a strong approval rating, at 66 percent, among Democratic primary voters in the district. But a Mamdani endorsement could also turn off some Jewish voters — a prominent constituency in the district — who are not fans of the mayor.

“It was a pleasure to serve with both of them in Albany,” Mamdani said of Bores and Lasher. — Madison Fernandez 

ENDORSEMENT CORNER: Abundance New York rolled out its voter guide on Tuesday, highlighting candidates in competitive races who the group’s executive director Catherine Vaughan said in a statement are “willing to actually build the things New York needs.”

They include Reynoso and Lander, as well as a dual-endorsement for Bores and Lasher. (The group said that between Bores and Lasher, it “cannot recommend one over the other at this time, but we may revisit as the race continues.”)

The endorsements aren’t exactly all glowing. In the rationale for Reynoso, it states that his “record has not always supported our agenda, but we have decided to take his evolution at face value and to commit to holding him to his word.”

The blurb about Lander acknowledged that the group has “concerns about [his] record and some of his current stances,” including opposing some rezonings during his time on the Council and supporting a ban on what the group described as “investor-owned ‘build-to-rent’ housing.” The guide also states that the group is “dismayed at his demand that Brooklyn Marine Terminal development be delayed; this is a NIMBY stance that seems cynically targeted at Goldman’s leadership on the issue.” Despite that, Abundance New York pointed to Lander’s “record on housing production, transit, and the local land-use machinery in this district” and said it thinks he “would prioritize the built environment issues that we champion more strongly.”

The group is also backing Drew Warshaw — the affordable housing nonprofit executive who’s one of two primary challengers to state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli — along with a handful of candidates in the state Legislature and City Council member Carl Wilson. — Madison Fernandez

IN OTHER NEWS

— THINGS GO SOUTH: Mamdani-backed congressional candidate Claire Valdez, who has called to abolish ICE, is facing scrutiny over her father’s work for a firm involved in Texas border projects. (New York Post)

— WHAT’S IN A NAME: Internal renderings for the Penn Station overhaul project show a presidential seal featuring Donald Trump’s name alongside a redesigned train hall. (Gothamist)

— ACROSS THE AISLE: Brooklyn’s Park Slope Food Co-op is split over a looming vote to boycott Israeli products from the socially conscious grocery store. (The New York Times)

Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.

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