Politics
How To Help Children With ADHD Get To Sleep
Parenting a child with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) can be wonderful, although parents often share that it’s not without its challenges.
One particularly exhausting element can be the process of bedtime – that is, helping children wind down for the evening and, ultimately, go to sleep.
Research suggests up to 50-70% of children with ADHD have sleep problems, with delayed sleep onset and bedtime resistance particularly common issues.
“Children with ADHD often have busy minds and bodies, which can make bedtime a real challenge,” sleep consultant Rosey Davidson told HuffPost UK.
Part of this is biological. Some research suggests kids with ADHD release melatonin – the hormone that signals it is time to sleep – around 45 minutes later than neurotypical children. As they get older, this can stretch to nearer 90 minutes.
“This means their natural sleepiness signal comes later, which is one of the reasons they may struggle to fall asleep at the same time as other kids,” said Davidson.
But just because a child has ADHD, it doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do to help support them to sleep better.
As Emily Whalley, a holistic sleep and wellbeing coach at Fox and the Moon, told HuffPost UK: “We have to work with our children and their individual needs, not against them.
“And just because a child has ADHD, it doesn’t mean the way sleep works no longer applies to them. Biology doesn’t switch off because of neurodivergence.
“The fundamentals of sleep – i.e. circadian rhythm, sleep pressure and nervous system regulation – still matter. In fact, for many children with ADHD, they matter even more.”
So, sometimes going back to basics can really help.
Photo by Richard Stachmann on Unsplash
How parents can support children with ADHD to sleep better
1. Keep bedtime consistent
A consistent bedtime routine is crucial for all – old and young, neurotypical and neurodiverse – as brains like the safety of knowing what is coming next.
“Consistent rituals such as a bath, a story, or calm music, signal it is time to wind down,” says Davidson, who is the founder and CEO of Just Chill Mama.
While the routine is important, it’s also crucial to recognise that you might be starting proceedings a bit too early – so take a step back and reassess the actual time your child goes to bed.
As Whalley asks: “Is the child’s body clock running later? Is bedtime actually mismatched to their natural sleep drive?”
She continues: “If a child simply isn’t tired enough at 8pm, no amount of consequences will fix that, we’re working against physiology.”
2. Focus on light
Getting outside in natural light is so important during the day, as it helps regulate the internal body clock (“it’s like putting in your order for sleepiness at night,” notes Davidson).
As evening arrives, dimming the lights helps to support melatonin production, making it easier to drift off.
3. Consider nervous system input earlier in the day
“Many children with ADHD are sensory-seeking and need intentional proprioceptive input, what I often call ‘heavy work’, in the late afternoon or early evening,” says Whalley.
Some examples of this “heavy work” might include:
- Rough and tumble play,
- Pushing and pulling games,
- Carrying shopping,
- Animal walks,
- Resistance exercises
- Deep pressure input.
The sleep expert suggests all of these can help regulate the nervous system before we expect stillness. “Sleep doesn’t begin at lights out, it begins one to two hours earlier, with how we prepare the body and brain,” she notes.
Davidson agrees that providing opportunities for movement, deep pressure, or sensory activities earlier in the day can help kids feel regulated and calmer in the evening.
“Research also shows that children with ADHD who are more physically active tend to fall asleep more easily and sleep better overall, so getting out for exercise, or even movement within the home is helpful,” notes the sleep consultant.
“Yoga is excellent as it helps both the mind and body to wind down.”
4. Try quiet, focused activities before bed
Slow, quiet activities like colouring, jigsaws, or listening to an audiobook can all help your child’s mind transition from alert to calm in the hour or so before bed.
“Listening to music or audiobooks can also help the mind switch off racing thoughts,” notes Davidson.
5. Let them offload their worries
If your child is a bit older, writing down their worries or ideas (journalling) before bed can help offload any thoughts that might keep them awake. If they’re a bit younger, drawing pictures and/or discussing their day could also help.
“Children (and adults) with ADHD often ruminate over their day, and struggle to switch off,” says Davidson.
“This is why techniques around managing thoughts and feelings can be helpful.”
The expert noted that for older children and adults, CBT-i (cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia), which is about changing a person’s thoughts and feelings around sleep, can also be effective.
6. Gently help kids back to bed
You’ll probably notice your child comes downstairs multiple times before they eventually fall asleep, which might mean the slim period of downtime you get before your own bedtime is pretty disrupted.
Davidson says for kids who get up repeatedly; gentle, consistent responses work best.
“Consider social stories, roleplaying in the daytime (putting teddies to bed and saying goodnight), and making it [their bedroom] an appealing space,” she said.
“You can also foster ideas around connection – so that they know you will always come back. I like to put up a photo of parents on the wall next to the child’s bed so they have a visual reminder they are always connected.”
Another option to try is a “bedtime pass system”, where your child has one or two “get out of bed” passes each night.
“This gives them a sense of control while still keeping the overall structure and boundaries around sleep,” says the sleep consultant.
“If they do get out of bed, quietly returning them without negotiation is more effective than long explanations or arguments. We can still be loving and responsive but hold the boundary that this is where they sleep.”
6. Consider their sleep quality
Once they do finally settle, Whalley advises considering their sleep quality as children with ADHD are more likely to mouth breathe, snore or experience sleep-disordered breathing, “and fragmented sleep can significantly worsen attention, mood and behaviour during the day”.
“If a child is snoring most nights, breathing through their mouth, grinding their teeth or waking unrefreshed, it’s important this is medically reviewed,” she adds.
“Sometimes what looks like behavioural insomnia is actually poor-quality sleep.”
A note for parents struggling with the long evenings
If your evening downtime is fairly non-existent, you might be left feeling pretty exhausted and like you have absolutely zero chill once you’ve taken your child back up to bed for the sixth time.
Whalley wants you to know you are not failing. Equally, it’s not your child’s fault they are struggling to drift off. “These children are not difficult, they are neurologically wired differently,” says the sleep coach.
But the right adjustments, as well as small biological and sensory tweaks can make “meaningful differences”, she adds. “Progress may not look identical to a neurotypical pathway, but it is absolutely possible.
“ADHD explains sleep challenges, it doesn’t mean they’re untreatable.”
Davidson urges parents to also role model their own healthy behaviours around sleep by talking about how they prioritise it and why, as well as showing their child how they relax and unwind (for example, switching off screens a set amount of time before bed or reading a book).
“Children learn so much by imitation,” she says. “Remember that helping your child sleep is a marathon, not a sprint, and being kind to yourself is just as important as helping them rest.”
Councillor Thomas Heald is a Scottish Conservative councillor for Dunblane and Bridge of Allan, Scottish Conservative and Unionist candidate for Dunfermline and political advisor in the Scottish Parliament.
The controversy surrounding Lord Mandelson matters not because of personality, however objectionable, but because it exposes a recurring flaw in modern politics: the belief that trust can be restored simply by changing the people in charge.
That assumption was central to Keir Starmer’s pitch for office. Labour did not win on ideology or ambition, but on a moral claim that standards, judgement and seriousness would improve because different people were in power. The Mandelson affair tests that claim and suggests that trust cannot be rebuilt by intent alone.
This is not about a single controversy. It reflects a deeper tendency to confuse ethical language with ethical behaviour. Voters are repeatedly told that professionalism and experience will guarantee better outcomes. In practice, systems behave much as they did before.
Conservatives should be honest about our own record. The past decade damaged public confidence. Too often we appeared distracted or insufficiently serious about the responsibilities of office. Any attempt to rebuild trust must begin with acknowledging that failure. An acknowledgement which has quite rightly been at the forefront of Kemi Badenoch’s attempts to rebuild and remodel our party at a UK level.
But Labour’s difficulties point to a wider truth: trust is not restored by tone, presentation or moral claims. It is restored by conduct, particularly when that conduct is inconvenient or politically costly.
This lesson is especially relevant in Scotland.
For nearly two decades, Scottish politics has been dominated by a party that has framed itself as a moral alternative to its opponents. The SNP has claimed higher purpose and greater legitimacy, but long tenure has not produced improved outcomes. Educational standards have declined, public services are under sustained pressure and local government increasingly struggles to maintain basic infrastructure.
Council tax rises while roads and pavements deteriorate. Moral certainty has not translated into competent administration.
This is not unique to Scotland, but Scotland illustrates the danger clearly: when political authority rests on moral posture rather than accountability, standards erode quietly over time.
The Mandelson affair is a reminder that no party is immune to this dynamic. Power breeds defensiveness. Longevity dulls judgement. Promises to “do things differently” collapse unless they are backed by discipline and restraint.
Scottish voters are not hostile to politics, but they have too often been encouraged to substitute moral assertion for evidence of delivery. Repeated appeals to virtue, grievance and intent have been allowed to stand in for measurable improvement in schools, public services and local government. Over time, that has weakened scrutiny and lowered expectations — not because voters are disengaged, but because the political culture has rewarded rhetoric over results.
For Conservatives in Scotland, the implication is straightforward.
Rebuilding trust does not mean competing in the language of virtue. That road has failed repeatedly. Trust is rebuilt locally and incrementally: through competent councils, improved schools, maintained infrastructure, and politicians who explain difficult decisions rather than evade them.
The lesson of the Mandelson affair is not that trust in politics is impossible. It is that trust cannot be asserted, outsourced, or inherited. It is earned through discipline, restraint and visible competence, especially when those in power are tempted to excuse themselves. Scotland has lived for years under a politics that mistakes moral claims for delivery.
Conservatives should resist that temptation entirely. If trust is to be rebuilt, it will not come from saying we are different, but from governing differently, consistently, locally and without pretending that good intentions are a substitute for results.
If you’re constantly sneezing, and your eyes are getting more itchy by the minute, it might well be because hay fever season appears to be arriving earlier than expected (yet again).
New figures from online pharmacy Chemist4U show sales of hay fever treatments are already up 89% compared to this time last year.
Milder winters are causing pollen levels and symptoms to rise earlier in the year – and Jason Murphy, head of pharmacy at Chemist4U, has warned that hay fever sufferers shouldn’t wait until symptoms appear before starting treatment.
The Met Office doesn’t offer its pollen forecast until March, however Kleenex’s pollen forecast suggests tree pollen is currently “moderate” to “high” depending on where in the UK you’re based.
“We anticipate symptoms to significantly start to rise again from the first week of March, when tree pollen levels typically start to increase,” Murphy added.
The best hay fever treatments depend on your symptoms
One of the biggest issues Murphy sees is people using the wrong treatment for their symptoms. For example, antihistamine tablets such as cetirizine or loratadine work well for sneezing, itching and a runny nose, he explained, but they are usually less effective for nasal congestion.
“A blocked nose is caused by inflammation, so a steroid nasal spray is usually the most effective option, particularly for early-season tree pollen,” he said.
If you struggle with itchy, watery eyes, the expert noted that antihistamine eye drops can be a simple but effective addition to daily tablets – especially during grass pollen season later in spring and summer, when itchy or watery eyes can become a major issue.
“For more severe or persistent symptoms, stronger non-drowsy antihistamines like fexofenadine may be needed,” he added.
Top tips for hay fever prevention
If you’re already struggling with nasal issues and itchiness, now’s the time to act. Here, Murphy has shared his top tips for keeping the worst of hay fever symptoms at bay:
-
Start medication early: begin taking antihistamines or using steroid nasal sprays one to two weeks before symptoms usually appear. The head pharmacist noted that starting the right combination of treatments early, ideally before pollen levels peak, “gives your immune system the best chance to stay calm”.
-
Be consistent: preventative treatments are most effective when taken daily, not just when symptoms flare up.
-
Know your trigger: tree pollen is usually the first to cause problems in March, followed by grass pollen later in spring and summer, then weed pollen towards the end of summer.
-
Reduce exposure: pollen has a tendency to cling to everything, so after being outside, make sure to shower and wash your hair, avoid sitting on sofas or beds with clothes worn outside and avoid drying clothes in your garden.
-
Wear sunglasses outside to help protect your eyes from any airborne pollen, which will help reduce itching and redness.
-
Avoid rolling your windows down when driving as this lets in any airborne pollen.
-
Make sure to vacuum carpets and any soft furnishings frequently with a vacuum that has a HEPA filter, and wipe surfaces with a damp cloth to prevent pollen circulating in the air.
-
Consider using an air purifier with a HEPA filter, particularly in bedrooms.
-
Don’t ignore mild symptoms: early signs such as occasional sneezing or itchy eyes can indicate rising pollen. This is the best time to ensure your treatment is in place.
-
Get advice early: if over-the-counter treatments haven’t worked well in the past, speaking to a pharmacist early can help identify stronger or more suitable options.
Local activists have prevented supporters of Israel’s genocide and French purveyor of mass murder Thales from giving a talk at a Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) conference. The weapons manufacturer had been set to give a talk at the NI Blockchain event at the university’s Computer Science building. However, around 25 anti-genocide campaigners stormed the room and ensured the presentation could not take place. Embarrassed organisers swiftly ushered attendees out, leaving activists free to hang up Palestine flags and plaster the place with ‘boycott Israeli apartheid’ stickers.
Thales are well known to have links to the ‘Israeli’ military. Until very recently, they produced various drones through its then subsidiary UTacS, which was jointly owned by Elbit Systems. Elbit is the backbone of the genocidal settler-colony’s weapons industry. Thales recently sold UTacS to the Zionist arms firm.
Strong links between Thales and Israel
In a report entitled “Exposed: The UK firms supplying Elbit Systems”, the always excellent Declassified UK reported on how:
Thales in Crawley has exported radar components to Elbit in Haifa. On 6 November 2025, the company also sent an “I-Master airborne surveillance radar” to Israel.
The I-Master “delivers all-weather surveillance, pattern of life monitoring, change detection and wide area-coverage”, according to Thales. “It detects and locates moving and stationary targets at long stand-off ranges over land and sea”.
It was exported under the ML5b licence, according to the shipping document, which covers “target acquisition, designation, range-finding, surveillance or tracking systems”.
Thales claim the materials it sends to the settler-colony are:
…intended for re-exporting purposes to a European end user.
Declassified UK point out how meaningless this is, as the British government does not have a means of checking whether Israeli Genocide Forces use anything sent to so-called ‘Israel’.
This shipment seems to directly contradict a statement Thales gave in December 2025, in which they said:
Thales has not delivered any defence equipment, or any equipment enabling the operation of a defence system, to the Israeli armed forces or to Israeli manufacturers.
Thales has not exported any weapon or any lethal system to the Israeli armed forces, either directly or through third-party manufacturers.
This was in the wake of opposition from parents who opposed local schools partnering with the criminal company to boost its recruitment. Thales also has a factory in East Belfast which is a regular target for pro-Palestine protesters.
Students call for QUB to end its complicity
The protest at QUB was led by Connolly Youth Movement activists. In a statement, they said:
Anti-imperialists from the Connolly Youth Movement, QUB Palestine Assembly and BDS Belfast, disrupted Thales’ talk at the conference and the war criminals immediately packed up and left. These arms manufacturers raise millions in profits off the back of genocide and have no place on our campuses.
This shows the power of collective, direct actions which ensure that these vultures have no room to breathe. This action is part of a long-running campaign to pressure QUB to sever all its links with Zionism and arms manufacturers, driving them off our campus and divesting from all complicit institutions.
The university continues to partner with these vile merchants of death. At a protest in October 2025, students highlighted its ongoing relationship with BAE Systems, which helps to manufacture the F-35 warplane used to murder innocent Palestinians. They said:
Queen’s boasts of “Partnering with BAE Systems on video based semantic analysis of crowd behaviour” and provides placements for students.
They also highlighted similar arrangements with Caterpillar, notorious for supplying the bulldozers used to wreck Palestinian homes. QUB also insists on maintaining indirect investments in ‘Israeli’ companies.
But we’re still not done – despite cutting ties with Epstein associate and alleged rapist George Mitchell, the university persists in keeping fellow Epstein fraterniser Hillary Clinton as chancellor. The former US secretary of state is a perpetual warmonger and committed Zionist. QUB’s continued backing of Clinton, and its support for ‘Israel’ – a practitioner of mass sexual abuse – shows it does not care about basic morality, truth, or even its own reputation.
It is instead an institution that cares only about money and proximity to power, even if it’s done on the backs of rape victims and dead Palestinians.
Featured image via the Canary
4 min read
Imagine ministers were in possession of a memo, that contained solutions to a whole range of policy headaches. But they couldn’t read it.
A memo that held the promise of new ways of thinking, that could unlock progress on huge issues like climate change, NHS efficiency and prison overcrowding. But government didn’t even recognise the language it was written in, far less comprehend it.
Sometimes it feels like that’s a situation we find ourselves in. The mystery language is maths. There’s real potential for more people in government and parliament to draw on mathematical insights when shaping policy. However, mathematical expertise isn’t as widespread across government and parliament as it could be, which means opportunities to use it are sometimes missed.
This week, we took a huge step to changing that. The Academy of Mathematical Sciences appointed its first 100 Fellows. Their remit is to represent the maths community to the public and to policy makers and to collaborate on some of the conundrums that face us as a nation.
The Fellows range from the head of GCHQ, our national codebreaking centre, to University Challenge champ and TV personality Bobby Seagull. From a primary school teacher from Cambridge to the Scottish Government’s maths adviser. They not only demonstrate the range of levels and livings that the mathematical sciences can lead to they bring the necessary breadth of expertise to tackle pressing policy issues.
For example, only this week the Secretary of State announced a programme of free AI training for all workers. It’s impossible to avoid AI and its impact. But how many recognise that under the bonnet it’s mathematical algorithms that underpin this transformative technology? Mathematician Marcus du Sautoy has characterised the way government and business has embraced the advantages of AI without supporting mathematicians and mathematical sciences as being like buying a Ferrari without any knowledge or curiosity about the fuel might actually make it go.
The Academy of Mathematical Sciences Fellows will work on solutions to ensure AI is safe and accurate by interrogating and improving the maths it relies on.
Unfortunately, national security is probably the number one priority for government right now. We are not safe without the mathematical sciences. Maths is fundamental to code breaking, defence strategy, even to mundane but vital calculations like how many tins of beans do you need to stock on an aircraft carrier to feed the crew for an entire deployment to ensure our servicemen and women don’t go hungry but our fighting capability is at maximum efficiency.
The Academy of Mathematical Sciences Fellows will collaborate to support the effort to stay ahead of the curve. That means keeping ahead of our adversaries on new technologies like quantum that will transform cryptography and ahead of the hackers launching thousands of hacks and online attacks every day against our digital infrastructure and our companies.
These are just a few of the challenges that the Fellows will take on. They will also consider energy policy – how to maximise production and efficiency and maintain and expand the grid for example.
And they will keep a profile in Whitehall and across the nation in an effort to alter and update the image of mathematics.
Too many people think of maths as equations on a blackboard. When in fact it is plotting a space flight, tracking a storm, improving outcomes for cancer patients, or forming an all conquering rock band (like Coldplay’s Jonny Buckland).
It’s a mindset that is common in Westminster too, and it’s holding us back. There are a few former teachers in parliament like me, Chris Vince and Mark Sewards that champion the subject. S/ While Parliament has plenty of talented people from wide range of backgrounds, including maths and STEM, for many colleagues, their last real encounter with maths was at school, and their perception hasn’t changed since.
The Fellows appointed this week are leaders who come together to harness the power of the mathematical sciences for the common good. I shall be encouraging government to engage with them at the earliest opportunity.
I love maths. Which is why know it has more to contribute to policy and society. The appointment of the Academy’s first 100 Fellows is a step towards that goal. The nation’s brightest future has maths at its heart.
Dave Robertson MP is a former teacher
Liz Truss has generated new outrage – and widespread mockery – on social media after posting a photo of herself with US president Donald Trump.
X users seemed to find her accompanying caption particularly offensive, as the ex-UK prime minister wrote, “right about everything,” and then tagged Trump.
Truss had the shortest tenure in British history, occupying No.10 for just 45 days before she was forced out over her disastrous mini-Budget in 2022.
She then lost her seat in the 2024 general election to Labour and has since moved further towards Trump’s MAGA.
Despite no longer being an elected politician, Truss has continued to garner media attention by making increasingly outlandish statements.
Two weeks ago, she welcomed the “financial collapse” of the United Nations – even though her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng sent interest rates soaring and sank the pound by announcing £45 billion-worth of unfunded tax cuts.
Last month she claimed the “extreme left are mounting an insurrection” in the States, without any evidence.
She also expressed bewilderment on her new youtube channel – The Liz Truss Show – that the Royal Navy will not break the law for government ministers.
Her post comes just over a year after Trump returned to office.
In that time, he has threatened to invade Greenland, kidnapped Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro, almost started a trade war by slapping tariffs on countries around the world, subjected all immigrants in the US to detention, publicly declared his desire for the Nobel Peace Prize while rolling out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin, and been accused of trying to stop the files on Jeffrey Epstein from being released.
He also posted a social media video depicting predecessor Barack Obama and his wife Michelle as apes just last week, though that has now been removed.
It should not be too surprising that he posed for a photo with Truss the president used quotes from her to support his $10 billion defamation case against the BBC in December.
But social media users were still utterly horrified that a former British prime minister chose to use that caption in particular…
A dancer who took part in Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show has addressed the conservative backlash his segment of the performance has come under.
Dan Santiago was seen dancing closely with fellow performer Igor Faria during one brief section of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl set, while the Grammy-winning singer sang his Debí Tirar Más Fotos cut EoO.
Although the shot of the two men dancing together was only shown for a split-second, that certainly didn’t stop certain right-wing pundits from using it as an excuse to bash this year’s Super Bowl show.
Perhaps most notably, House Of Representatives member Andy Ogles went as far as describing the moment as “gay pornography” that “openly glorified sodomy”.
“Last night’s halftime show was a disgrace, and it mocked American families. Depicting gay pornography on prime time has no place in our culture,” Ogles claimed in a Facebook post, describing the sequence as “pure smut” and lamenting that children had been “forced to endure explicit displays of gay sexual acts, women gyrating provocatively, and Bad Bunny shamelessly grabbing his crotch while dry-humping the air” at the 2026 Super Bowl.
Dancer Dan Santiago later had his say during an interview with Them.
“I find it really sad because the performance is also bigger than that one moment, although it is really important,” he said. “I think the fact that they’re hyperfixating on that moment says more about them than it does about the performance.”
He added that both he and the man he danced with, Igor Faria, are straight, and continued: “I think it’s important for men to see that dancing like that. What I want to say is like it’s not that deep, right? Like we were just doing our job.
“And at the same time, it is that deep for us because we are doing the performance, being so comfortable in our masculinity that it wasn’t hard.”
Dan continued: “I think that queerness deserves to be seen and heard and normalised. It’s important for the world to see that masculinity doesn’t need to be toxic, and it doesn’t need to look a certain way.”
He also wrote on Instagram: “I’m proud to dance for an artist like [Bad Bunny] who uses love to diffuse so much of the hate that’s going on in the world.
“I’m proud to be a Puerto Rican from New York. To represent my people. To represent the Latin community. Our bodies. Our stories. Our joy. Seen in HISTORY.”
In his Facebook post, Ogles called for a federal investigation into this year’s Super Bowl show, with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reportedly ruling that no broadcasting rules were broken with the performance.
Help and support:
Meta, the parent company for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, plans to introduce new face scanning tech while people are distracted by current political turbulence. The Trump-adjacent corporation plans to package the feature in new smart glasses. An internal Meta document seen by the New York Times (NYT) says:
We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns.
The media outlet provides further info on what the tech would allow:
The feature, internally called “Name Tag,” would let wearers of smart glasses identify people and get information about them via Meta’s artificial intelligence assistant.
Smart glasses are typically paired with AI, enabling voice activated interaction with the specs. Users can instruct the device to send a text message, take a photo or record a video. Some models feature an LED that changes colour to indicate the wearer is recording.
Meta: disaster capitalism following in ICE’s wake
The cynical internal memo likely references the tumult currently sweeping the US amidst the mass criminality carried out by the brownshirts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Trump’s personal paramilitary goons have been violating laws left and right as they beat and kill their way around the US, under the pretext of an immigration crackdown.
ICE have already made extensive use of face scanning tech. Meta’s glasses would represent another privacy violating move, capturing massive amounts of personal data which may ultimately find its way into the hands of an authoritarian state. Meta has form when it comes to handing over info about customers to governments.
Metadata – which shows who called who and when – has been used by authorities, including seemingly by so-called ‘Israel’ for its genocide in Gaza. WhatsApp records are one means used by the terrorist entity to determine which Palestinians are marked for death in its genocidal AI programs Lavender and Where’s Daddy. Paul Biggar of Tech for Palestine put a series of questions to Meta about how they should be policing rogue regimes like ‘Israel’ using its data. These included:
How will Meta prevent private information being used by governments to kill WhatsApp users and their families?
Will Meta immediately rescind access to any WhatsApp information from the Israeli government, army and law enforcement?
It appears no answer was forthcoming. Meta’s plan to roll out the tech during politically chaotic times has echoes of the ‘shock doctrine’ described by author Naomi Klein. It outlines a process of ‘disaster capitalism’ in which natural disasters or political upheaval are seized upon by corporations to ram through major changes that benefit them.
It represents another example of practices first deployed by hegemonic powers abroad, only to be revisited upon a population at home. Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been an eager licker of the Trump boot, and clearly sees this as an opportune time to introduce the privacy violating tech.
Corporate and state surveillance powers must be opposed
A previous version of the glasses were able to successfully identify faces and reveal huge amounts of personal info about those it scanned. Two Harvard students paired the specs with a smartphone app they created, enabling them to almost instantaneously identify strangers.
The scan was then sent to the app, which trawled the internet for information about people, bringing back details like their job and home address within seconds. A built-in version of this tech would be even more powerful, creating even greater privacy concerns.
The British government intends to extend its use of facial recognition tech, going from 10 vans with the system, to 50. Civil rights groups are challenging this in the courts, describing it as “stop and search on steroids“. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) are looking into its use, which would be a disaster in a region where violation of rights by state authorities has previously had devastating consequences.
Fascism is often described as the fusion of corporate and state power. Both these power centres are ramping up their ability to surveil us, enabling them to amass enormous power. The prospect of them uniting to utterly crush dissent will be an ever more tempting prospect. Their efforts to advance spying powers must therefore be snuffed out in their infancy.
Featured image via the Canary
Chagos deal architect ‘considers No 10 exit’ and Starmer under fire over Labour group’s journalist smears
“The architect of the Chagos Islands deal is reportedly on the verge of stepping down as Sir Keir Starmer’s National Security Adviser. Jonathan Powell is said to be considering leaving his Downing Street post before the end of the year in a further significant departure from the Prime Minister’s team. Since last Sunday, Sir Keir has lost Morgan McSweeney, his chief of staff, Sir Chris Wormald, his Cabinet Secretary, and Tim Allan, his communications chief. All three left in the wake of the Mandelson-Epstein revelations. Mr Powell’s deal to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is highly controversial. It led to a political row after it emerged that Britain would pay £35bn over 99 years to lease back Diego Garcia, which hosts a military base. According to The Guardian, Mr Powell rejected an offer to replace Mr McSweeney as chief of staff, saying he did not want to go back to the job he had under Sir Tony Blair. He instead plans to return to a lucrative consultancy he set up in 2011. Mr Powell also helped broker Sir Keir’s closer relationship with China, which culminated in the Prime Minister’s visit last month. However, his position came under scrutiny late last year following the collapse of the trial of two men accused of spying for Beijing.” – Daily Telegraph
- Labour activists paid for smear campaign against journalists – The Times
- Jonathan Powell rejects overtures to replace McSweeney as Starmer’s chief of staff – The Guardian
- Keir Starmer faces another resignation blow as Chagos deal architect ‘considering No10 exit’ – GBNews
- Starmer facing calls for inquiry into Labour thinktank’s investigation of journalists – The Guardian
Comment:
- If Starmer goes, the Chagos Islands could remain ours – Nigel Farage and Adam Holloway, Daily Telegraph
- So much for Starmer’s ‘gentler’ politics – latest Labour scandal could be straight from Kremlin dirty tricks department – The Sun says
- Mandelson’s links to Russia dwarf those of Nigel Farage. Is it even remotely possible that Starmer didn’t know? – Stephen Glover, Daily Mail
- The state is failing — No 10 needs an overhaul – Ben Judah, The Times
- The speech that exposed Starmer’s fatal weakness – Anne McElvoy, The i
- Keir Starmer has a unique talent – to alienate absolutely everyone – Nesrine Malik, The Guardian
£500k phone compo for migrants
“More than 70 boat migrants who had mobiles seized when reaching the UK have won payouts totalling £500,000. High Court judges ruled nabbing the phones and data was illegal and in breach of European human rights laws. It is feared 1,300 migrants may apply for compensation and the sum could run to millions. So far £210,800 has been awarded to 32 asylum seekers — £6,587.50 each. Reform MP Robert Jenrick said: “It is a farce and total waste of taxpayers’ money.” Critics last night branded the decision “farcical” — as it emerged the bill could soar to millions. But government officials confirmed that another 41 cases were in the pipeline. If they receive the same via their claims, it will send the compensation bill spiralling to £480,887. It also cost the Home Office £735,000 to fight the case, a Freedom of Information probe found. High Court judges Lord Justice Edis and Mr Justice Lane delivered a 2022 ruling that the policy was illegal and breached the European Convention on Human Rights.” – The Sun
- Outrage as small boat migrants given £500k payout after ‘human rights breached’ – Daily Express
- Illegal migrants handed £6.5k each in compensation for phones seized while crossing Channel – paid for by you – GBNews
- Egyptian migrant swallows vape battery in bid to halt Home Office deportation flight from UK – Daily Mail
- Home Office cannot say how many small boat migrants pretending to be children, sparking cover-up claims – The Sun
Workers’ rights reforms from Rayner push a third of employers to cut hiring
“More than a third of employers are set to cut back on hiring because of the government’s workers’ rights reforms, a survey of employers has found. Businesses warned that new rules giving enhanced protections to workers will place a “further handbrake on job creation” after they were hit by an increase to national insurance last April. The survey, carried out by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), found that 37 per cent of 2,000 firms polled planned to reduce the recruitment of new permanent staff as a result of the changes. It also found that more than half of businesses expected an increase in workplace conflict… Government economists have estimated that the Employment Rights Act, spearheaded by Angela Rayner before she resigned over her tax affairs last year, will cost businesses about £1 billion a year. Yet the CIPD, the UK trade body for human resources departments, said that analysis did “not fully account” for the amount of time HR teams would spend on implementing the changes. Ben Willmott, head of public policy at the institute, said there was a risk that the new measures would “act as a further handbrake on job creation and recruitment” on top of the £24 billion increase to employers’ national insurance contributions introduced last year.” – The Times
- Third of bosses to cut hiring over Labour’s workers’ rights reforms – Daily Telegraph
- UK labour reforms to cut hiring by one in three employers, survey shows – Reuters
- Keir Starmer granted stay of execution as Labour squabbles over successor – The Times
Comment:
- Fatally weakened Starmer will not be able to resist a wealth tax – Michael Mosbacher, Daily Telegraph
- Rachel Reeves has taken Britain back to the 1970s – what happens next is terrifying – Giles Sheldrick, Daily Express
Under-16s social media ban may happen this year to appease Starmer rebels
“Sir Keir Starmer is to fast-track powers that could ban under-16s from social media in an attempt to head off a backbench rebellion. The Prime Minister has pledged measures that would allow the Government to introduce a law enacting an Australian-style social media ban as early as this summer. He is facing a rebellion by up to 60 Labour MPs who want children banned from social media. In the Lords last month, peers backed a rebel amendment forcing the immediate introduction of a ban. However, Sir Keir’s assurances over new powers may head off a major backbench revolt at a time when he is facing questions over his leadership in the wake of revelations about Lord Mandelson. He said: “As a dad of two teenagers, I know the challenges and worries parents face making sure their kids are safe online. Technology is moving really fast, and the law has got to keep up. Today we are closing loopholes that put children at risk, and laying the groundwork for further action.” … The move would allow ministers to ban social media for youngsters if it was backed by a three-month consultation due to start next month. This will mean that, instead of having to wait to draft new legislation, Sir Keir would be able to act swiftly on the issue. It comes after he was forced into more than a dozen policy about-turns, including scrapping the two-child benefit cap, ditching plans for higher business rates on pubs and agreeing to a national inquiry into grooming gangs.” – Daily Telegraph
- Social media ban for under 16s could be in force this year – The Times
- Rise in gender-questioning children fuelled by social media, says Cass – Daily Telegraph
- Social media misleads young on gender transitioning, says UK review leader – The Guardian
- Starmer pledges to close loopholes in social media crackdown – BBC News
Comment:
- I fear that Labour’s special needs revolution will instead be a catastrophic letdown – John Harris, The Guardian
News in brief:
- How Rupert Lowe’s new party could boost Farage – Samuel Rubinstein, UnHerd
- Westminster is running out of time – Lee Cain, The Critic
- Labour Together, Apco and the hell of consultancy firms – The Spectator
- Britain is getting poorer, and angrier – James Meadway, The New Statesman
Gordon Ramsay is lifting the lid on what went down on the dance floor at Brooklyn and Nicola Peltz Beckham’s wedding reception.
The TV chef is a long-term friend of Sir David and Victoria Beckham, and was among the famous guests when Brooklyn and Nicola tied the knot in 2022.
Of course, Brooklyn and Nicola’s big day recently made its way back into the headlines, when Sir David and Victoria’s eldest son spoke out against his parents in a lengthy Instagram statement confirming that he is no longer in contact with them.
Among his various allegations was a claim that they have tried ““endlessly to ruin my relationship” with Nicola, even accusing his mum of “hijacking” his first dance with his bride on his wedding day.
Chelsea Lauren/Shutterstock
Per Brooklyn’s version of events, singer Marc Anthony invited him onto the stage, at a moment it had been planned he and his new wife would share a dance together, “but instead my mum was waiting to dance with me instead”.
He then accused his mum of dancing “very inappropriately on me in front of everyone” leaving him “uncomfortable” and “humiliated”.
Months earlier, it had been reported that Marc introduced Victoria to the stage as “the most beautiful woman in the room tonight”, which was later corroborated by the DJ “Fat Tony”, who also performed at the reception.
During a recent interview with The Sun, Gordon insisted that “nothing salacious” or “inappropriate” transpired on the dance floor between Brooklyn and Victoria, noting: “Everyone was having fun, having a dance.
“No [grinding]! Nothing of the sort. It was fun.”
He added: “[Victoria is] great. She’s right to be upset [about the wedding] but she can bat that other shit away in a heartbeat.”
Elsewhere in his interview, the Kitchen Nightmares star also shared some words of advice for Brooklyn, with numerous outlets spotting that after The Sun’s article was published, it appeared that the aspiring chef had unfollowed Gordon on social media.
Neither Sir David nor Victoria Beckham has spoken out about the feud, and the couple have not responded to HuffPost UK’s previous requests for comment.
Hillary Clinton unleashed on a fellow panelist at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday after he mocked her for railing against US President Donald Trump.
Things got heated between the one-time secretary of state and Czech politician Petr Macinka after she accused Trump of having “betrayed human values,” the Nato alliance and the entirety of the West while aspiring to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s model of “unaccountable power.”
Macinka, the deputy prime minister of the Czech Republic, joked, “I think you really don’t like him,” earning a grim grin from the thoroughly unamused Clinton.
Though Macinka’s quip elicited quite a few laughs from the audience, the former Democratic presidential candidate didn’t seem to find it funny.
“That is absolutely true,” she shot back. “Not only do I not like him, I don’t like him because of what he’s doing to the United States and the world, and I think you should take a hard look at it if you think there’s something good that will come of that.”
Coming to Trump’s defence, Macinka argued the now two-time president’s reactionary tactics were a response to American policies that went “too far from the regular people” and “too far from reality” with what he described as “cancel culture,” “climate alarmism,” and “woke” ideology.
Clinton snickered and shook her head as Macinka rattled off the standard list of right-wing grievances, but she couldn’t hold back from interrupting him when he took a shot at the so-called “gender revolution.”
“Which gender, women having their rights?” she scoffed, prompting Macinka to take a swipe at people who believe there are “more than two genders.”
Claiming everything he mentioned was evidence of a left-wing that went “too far,” Clinton then asked, “Does that justify selling out the people of Ukraine who are on the front lines dying to save their freedom?”
“Can I finish my point? I’m sorry it makes you nervous,” Macinka snarked back.
Watch the full exchange courtesy of Forbes.
Police and mountain rescue teams searching forest for missing Scots camper
Northbridge asset sold under the hammer for $8m
Solana Price Prediction: Standard Chartered Cuts 2026 Target, Sees $2,000 by 2030
-
Sports4 days agoBig Tech enters cricket ecosystem as ICC partners Google ahead of T20 WC | T20 World Cup 2026
-
NewsBeat7 days agoMia Brookes misses out on Winter Olympics medal in snowboard big air
-
Tech5 days agoSpaceX’s mighty Starship rocket enters final testing for 12th flight
-
Crypto World6 days agoU.S. BTC ETFs register back-to-back inflows for first time in a month
-
Tech1 day agoLuxman Enters Its Second Century with the D-100 SACD Player and L-100 Integrated Amplifier
-
Video3 days agoThe Final Warning: XRP Is Entering The Chaos Zone
-
Crypto World2 days agoBhutan’s Bitcoin sales enter third straight week with $6.7M BTC offload
-
Crypto World4 days agoPippin (PIPPIN) Enters Crypto’s Top 100 Club After Soaring 30% in a Day: More Room for Growth?
-
Sports7 days ago
Kirk Cousins Officially Enters the Vikings’ Offseason Puzzle
-
Crypto World6 days agoBlockchain.com wins UK registration nearly four years after abandoning FCA process
-
Video4 days agoPrepare: We Are Entering Phase 3 Of The Investing Cycle
-
Crypto World6 days agoEthereum Enters Capitulation Zone as MVRV Turns Negative: Bottom Near?
-
NewsBeat18 hours agoThe strange Cambridgeshire cemetery that forbade church rectors from entering
-
Crypto World5 days agoCrypto Speculation Era Ending As Institutions Enter Market
-
Business4 days agoBarbeques Galore Enters Voluntary Administration
-
Crypto World4 days agoEthereum Price Struggles Below $2,000 Despite Entering Buy Zone
-
Politics6 days agoWhy was a dog-humping paedo treated like a saint?
-
NewsBeat20 hours agoMan dies after entering floodwater during police pursuit
-
Crypto World2 days agoBlackRock Enters DeFi Via UniSwap, Bitcoin Stages Modest Recovery
-
NewsBeat2 days agoUK construction company enters administration, records show