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Critics of Israel have long faced repression for speaking out in defence of Palestinians. In the latest example of this, the UK has now banned US streamer Hasan Piker from entering the country:

the uk has revoked my visa as well. all at the behest of israel. the west is betraying "liberal values" for a genocidal fascist foreign government. soon we will all become israel. https://t.co/UqQG1dogOI

— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) May 31, 2026

Israel influence

Hasan Piker is a streamer on Twitch. He also uploads videos to YouTube, and is famous for content like the following:

As Piker notes in the following video, he was set to interview Jeremy Corbyn, Zack Polanski, and Yanis Varoufakis before speaking at the Oxford Student Union:

Piker has spoken at the Oxford Student Union before, where he said the following:

ironic because a year ago, i delivered a speech at oxford union about the dangers of conflating judaism and zionism & how this foments antisemitism. since then the government has arrested pensioners for protesting against israel and let iof war criminals roam free! https://t.co/C6f9poXFR3

— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) June 1, 2026

Here’s one of the pensioners in question:

British police arrest a blind man with a walking cane in Trafalgar Square, London, under the Terrorism Act, for holding a sign reading: ‘I oppose genocide – I support Palestine Action,’ as part of a wave of arrests targeting hundreds of protesters. pic.twitter.com/CgcBKLXNRB

— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) October 4, 2025

In a video he posted after having his visa revoked, Piker said:

Listen, I’m going to say something. This is a warning. I hope you guys understand the Western world and liberal democracy is a sham. And all of the supposed things that they claim to care about, they do not actually care about.

We are moving into a very different timeline. This is why I constantly reiterate that fascism is here, right? Like the administration trying to deploy subpoenas against political dissident in the United States of America or the UK, that’s like completely captive to the interests of of pro-Israel advocacy organizations. …

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The Labor government is supposed to be the liberal government… and the American government is the right-wing government… We are we are in the 1930s era ,where I think that the administrations in both the UK and the United States of America – regardless of their supposed ideological differences – are absolutely moving as a uni party.

And things are going to get even worse from here on out.

Genocide-denying stooge VS Hasan Piker

One of the most prominent voices calling for Hasan’s ban was Labour MP David Taylor. We’ve reported on Taylor before, noting that he seemingly denied Israel’s genocide in Palestine as a vector to attack the Green Party:

Do you remember when the Green Party used to profess to care about environmental issues, rather than spout baseless antisemitic conspiracy theories? https://t.co/nGv0zFdB8k

— David Taylor MP (@DavidTaylor85) February 24, 2026

Taylor wouldn’t be the first to describe the genocide as an ‘antisemitic conspiracy theory’, and no doubt he won’t be the last.

Israel’s defenders have repeatedly insisted that you can’t call out the state’s crimes if they resemble historic antisemitic conspiracies. It’s a ‘get-out-of-jail’ free card, and we’ve seen it deployed in the most heinous ways imaginable since the genocide began:

BREAKING: Israel dismisses IDF top lawyer Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi for leaking video of Israeli soldiers raping Palestinian.

Minister of Defense of Israel Israel Katz threatens her with 'imprisonment for many years" & calls her actions "a grave blood libel against heroic IDF… pic.twitter.com/YpPpdlYSs7

— Double Down News (@DoubleDownNews) May 26, 2026

Before Piker’s ban, Taylor said:

It’s shocking that SXSW would invite someone who has openly supported a proscribed terrorist organisation and spouted these kinds of vile antisemitic rants to speak at their festival.

With the unacceptable rise in antisemitism on our streets leaving British Jews in a constant state of anxiety, Hasan Piker is clearly not conducive to the public good.

The “vile antisemitic rants” are criticisms of Israel. While we’re told its antisemitic to blame all Jews for the actions of Israel, the state’s defenders are happy to label all criticism of Israel ‘antisemitism’.

On ‘support for a proscribed terrorist organisation’, Taylor is referencing comments like the following (as reported by the Independent):

Last month, Mr Piker publicly stood by remarks made during an episode of Pod Save America, where he asserted that Hamas was “1,000 times better” than Israel and that he “would vote for Hamas over Israel every single time.”

Given that Gaza is in rubble and Israel is not, it’s hard to disagree with the maths here.

Also, do you know who supported Hamas in a more material fashion than Piker? That’s right – Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu – who notoriously said the following:

Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas … This is part of our strategy – to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank.”

Israeli politicians made it impossible for the Palestinians to peacefully pursue liberation; the inevitable result of this was Hamas.

Establishment protection

As we’ve reported previously:

There are obvious reasons why the British establishment has sought to defend Israel at the expense of its own citizens:

• The UK profits from Israel’s actions through arms deals and partnerships.
• Israel is a key ally of America, and the UK is America’s foremost lapdog.
• The Israel lobby has proven to be very effective at influencing British politicians – particularly through the ‘Labour Friends of Israel‘ and ‘Conservative Friends of Israel‘ groups.
• Once enough people within the establishment hold an opinion, mirroring that opinion becomes the price of entry.

Here’s what scumbag MP David Taylor said when it was pointed out how weird it is for senior British politicians take hundreds of thousands of pounds from donors whose primary interest is the betterment of a genocidal foreign power:

Absolutely vile. This person shouldn't be a member of any political party, yet alone it's deputy leader. https://t.co/TQ11164qLC

— David Taylor MP (@DavidTaylor85) February 23, 2026

Is there any way Israel can interfere in our politics that wouldn’t be considered antisemitism?

Oh, and to give a further idea of how preposterous this all is, look at how Fox News covered the Piker ban:

Fox News says Hasan Piker used a antisemitic trope by saying Israel advocacy groups pushed for his ban. And then in the following sentence details how said groups pushed for his ban. pic.twitter.com/skJb1os8pz

— Noot Noot (@PunishedPingu) June 1, 2026

Zionist advocacy groups

Zionism is the ideology of Israel existing as an expansionist colonial state that serves as America’s foothold in the Middle East. While many advocacy groups in the UK and the US pose as being against ‘antisemitism’, the reality is they spend more time defending the rights of Zionists.

One of the Zionist advocacy groups calling out Hasan was Community Security Trust (CST). The group said:

Hasan Piker has a record of promoting rhetoric that includes antisemitic themes, denial of well documented atrocities and apparent support for extremist groups.

Once again, they’re talking about criticism of Israel. And CST has form on this, as Fréa Lockley reported for the Canary in 2019 after Labour revoked the press pass of journalist Asa Winstanley:

The Community Security Trust (CST) is a charity, initially set up to protect “British Jews from antisemitism and related threats”. On 4 August, it published a report called Engine of Hate: the online networks behind the Labour Party’s antisemitism crisis. This report stated:

the single most popular website for article shares about the subject of antisemitism, the Labour Party and Israel/Palestine was Electronic Intifada, a radical anti-Zionist website which has consistently promoted the idea that allegations of antisemitism in the Labour Party are false, and are part of a smear campaign against Jeremy Corbyn that is orchestrated by the Israeli government.

The campaign against the Canary

Here at the Canary, we’ve also faced attacks from pro-Zionist advocacy groups. As Paul Holden noted in his book The Fraud:

In 2021, Impress launched an investigation into the Canary alongside Skwawkbox, another independent, pro-Corbyn political website. Impress acted pursuant to a report published by Lord Mann, a vehement Corbyn critic and former Labour MP who was promoted to the House of Lords by the Tories. Mann’s report had accused both online publications of antisemitism.

The accusation was based, in part, on the research of Daniel Allington, an academic based at King’s College London. Allington was also ‘Head of Online Monitoring’ for the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) between June 2016 and September 2018.

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As Holden also reported, IMPRESS cleared us, and:

It felt moved to add that those who:

disagree with the Publisher’s views on subjects such as Zionism may find these views offensive, adversarial or provocative but this in itself does not rise to the level of threat to, or targeting of, persons or groups on the basis of their protected characteristics.

Over in the US, Piker has faced a campaign which is nearly identical to what we’ve endured here in the UK.

The campaign against Hasan Piker

Piker has faced numerous attacks from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). As people have noted, the ADL seems to be much more concerned about anti-Zionism than antisemitism:

The ADL, which defended Elon Musk’s salute, and has never made videos like this about rightwing actual antisemites, is obsessed with Hasan Piker. https://t.co/IjQCxw9sCT

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) April 17, 2026

Piker himself has also observed this discrepancy:

asmongold is the largest right wing political content creator in the us. his view counts eclipse the daily wire. here he is, openly admitting that he’s a funnel for nick fuentes & his repulsive neonazi worldview & strangely enough the adl never tries to deplatform him. perhaps… pic.twitter.com/zxQ7vCrpTF

— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) May 29, 2026

Explaining itself, the ADL said the following:

ADL has seen firsthand how extreme and demonizing rhetoric and ugly expressions of anti-Zionism can be the driving force behind antisemitic discrimination against Jews

Even if the above is true, maybe the solution isn’t to police anti-Zionism; maybe it’s to stop supporting a political project which necessitates the ethnic cleansing and murder of Israel’s neighbours in the Middle East?

White supremacy certainly gives white people a bad reputation, but the correct response isn’t to suggest anti-Nazis are the real problem.

In the past, the ADL has nominated Hasan for the position of ‘Antisemite of the Year’ alongside Greta Thunberg (!):

The ADL and donor group AIPAC have also worked with US politicians to try to deplatform Piker:

i mean they did this by way of adl and ritchie torres for like 2 years, now they got higher profile dems and republicans to lean into it because theyre desperate

— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) May 4, 2026

After reading out a headline titled “Jewish groups call on UK to bar dangerous Hasan amid antisemitic attacks”, Piker said the following in his latest video:

[the UK government] did because Israel advocacy organizations have unbelievable amounts of power over what even the United Kingdom has to say and do. Yeah. If you’re an avowed anti-Zionist, your travel will be restricted. It’s totally ridiculous, dude.

Connections

Canary reporter Ranjan Balakumaran noted this is all happening on the same day that more Peter Mandelson files come out:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Canary (@thecanaryuk)

Another way of looking at this is that these are not separate stories.

Peter Mandelson is the godfather of Labour Together – the group which maneuvered Keir Starmer into power. As we, Paul Holden, and others reported, this included fabricating smears of antisemitism (including against the Canary specifically). Now, the government which Mandelson helped create isn’t just smearing its opponents with bogus antisemitism accusations; it’s barring them from the country.

Point any of this out, however, and figures like David Taylor MP will accuse you of being an antisemite. And in future, you may face consequences far graver than reputational damage.

Featured image via Amy Sussman (Getty Images) / WPA Pool (Getty Images) / Joe Raedle (Getty Images)

By Willem Moore

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Cormac McAlinden as Harry and Rosamund Pike as Jessica | Photo (c): Manuel Harlan

3 min read1 hr

With its commanding lead performance by Rosamund Pike, I challenge you not to be enthralled and provoked by this urgent legal drama

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Light and humorous moments aside, Australian lawyer-turned-writer Suzie Miller’s Inter Alia (“among other things”) is a very serious play. As with Miller’s 2019 stage work Prima Facie, a legal professional woman protagonist becomes the device for exploring wider, urgent societal issues. In the earlier work, it was a criminal defence barrister whose worldview is rocked by her own rape. That piece garnered international plaudits for both Miller and the phenomenon that is Jodie Comer in the starring role in the UK.

This time, the equally glittering and formidable Rosamund Pike plays Jessica Parks, a Crown Court judge and unabashed feminist who has sent many a sex offender to the slammer. Her work-life balance is non-existent, or at least impossibly demanding, thanks to the oblivious entitlement or passive-aggressive resentment of her hapless, less obviously successful criminal silk husband Michael. He is portrayed with understated aplomb by Jamie Glover. Jess’ life of juggling plates, cases, family duties and domestic dinner parties is sent into shock after an incident involving her only child, 18-year-old Harry. In this West End Wyndham’s Theatre transfer from the National Theatre, the darling boy is played with sensitivity and flair by Cormac McAlinden.

Pike delivers what we expect of a cinema star returning to the stage after many years. She commands the space, audience and material in a performance which combines physical energy and dexterity with charisma, empathy and warmth. Would any politicians reading this please take note? Pike’s own discipline and stamina in essentially carrying the one hour and 45 minutes, without interval and at a rate of knots, is well worthy of her character. Crucially, she is completely believable as an obviously class-privileged senior woman who has given her life to public service, towards the less glamorous end of our very precious and much-maligned UK judiciary. I have met and admired a great many Jesses over the years. Some are lawyers and judges, but others are senior doctors, journalists and, dare I say it, even parliamentarians.

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Rosamond Pike delivers what we expect of a cinema star returning to the stage after many years

While the energy and pace are impressive, and at times almost mesmerising, there were moments when I did not need quite so much rock guitar and well-choreographed but dizzying actor-driven prop movement, as clothes and dishes are disposed into the well-placed magic doors and cupboards, worthy of legendary National set-design.

Ultimately, however, while the screen is – for me at least – unrivalled as the medium for transcending worlds and developing three-dimensional characters, this production is a case study in what the stage does better or even best. That is providing challenge. While many of us applauded Adolescence, and welcomed all its well-deserved accolades, the parents in the last episode of that Netflix drama let themselves too very easily off the hook. This piece does the opposite.

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I loved it, of course, for humanising lawyers and judges, who are fast becoming a demonised minority, but mostly for doing so with critical honesty, integrity and intelligence. Readers might expect this review of me, but I challenge anyone not to be enthralled and provoked.

Baroness Chakrabarti is a Labour peer

Inter Alia

Written by: Suzie Miller

Directed by: Justin Martin

Venue: Wyndham’s Theatre, WC2 – until 20 June

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Since Reform UK did well in the 2025 local elections, there’s been a steady stream of stories about how weird their new councillors are. Because Reform won even more seats in the 2026 locals, that stream is fast becoming a river, with stories like this regularly bubbling to the surface:

Reform: you wouldn’t steal a car

If your councillor posts a video of them walking around the local area, you’d no doubt assume it’s their own. The fact that this may not be could say worrying things about this man’s integrity.

Of course, Lambert isn’t the only Reform politician who’s failing to perform their job as you’d expect:

Nigel Farage hasn't voted in Parliament for the last 11 weeks and has now missed 77 votes in a row, according to official records. The last time he turned up was to vote against adraft regulations for the Employment Rights Act, and that says it all.

— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) May 31, 2026

A fish rots from the head, as they say.

Ironically, Lambert has previously posted AI slop in which he promised to represent Christian values:

Matthew Lambert is Reform UK’s candidate in Douglas, Wigan.

He’s been creating AI slop that he claims represents the Christian Fellowship for Reform with himself a preacher / politician.

Must be a very close family judging from the people standing looking at him in awe. pic.twitter.com/RorbaKlzRN

— Reform Party UK Exposed (@reformexposed) May 7, 2026

We say ‘ironic’, because surely “thou shall not steal”, right? And yet now he stands accused of stealing some random constituent’s walking video.

Lambert is a councillor in Wigan, which is the same area as the ongoing Makerfield by-election. Another candidate, Rob Kenyon, also has a pretty dubious record when it comes to understanding the Christian faith:

Three problems, Rob: it's not a mosque (it's a food bank with a small prayer room), it wasn't a consecrated church (it was an old school building), and it doesn't serve any faith exclusively. The one thing genuinely destroyed at the site was a digger torched by arsonists who'd… https://t.co/g59aDB4EnE

— Waqas (@m0w4q45) May 28, 2026

As YouTuber Jimmy the Giant commented:

They’ll do anything to restore our christian heritage but go to church

Tip of the iceberg

When it comes to Farage’s awful councillors though, there’s far worse to point at than what Lambert has done, as we’ve reported:

• Reform councillor reposts that Labour MP ‘should be shot’.
• Reform councillor dramatically quits over council tax betrayal.
• What a surprise – Reform councillor attends just one meeting and sends two emails in six months.
• Reform councillor fined £40,000 for hiring ‘illegal’ workers.
• Reform councillor would like to see wage cuts to fund his pay rise.

There’s also the endless racism, as we reported in the runup to the recent locals:

• Reform activist worries growth of Jewish population could ruin UK culture.
• Reform candidate suggests ‘melting Nigerians’ to fill potholes.
• Calls for Reform candidate who praised rape of Sikh women to face suspension.
• Reform activist said ‘Hitler was right’.
• Video emerges of Reform’s ‘Nazi salute’ candidate drink driving.

This Lambert story does show something, however, and it’s that these far-right politicians are constantly attracting the wrong sort of attention – whether it’s allegedly stealing some random video or failing to declare a £5m ‘gift’:

The optics say it all: Farage, a public school boy in cords and tweed, fresh from receiving £5m from another public school boy, nodding along as Kenyon argues that Britain’s real problem is teenagers who cannot be hired on the minimum wage. https://t.co/gA42bUhOKE

— Dr Iain Overton (@iainoverton) May 23, 2026

Featured image via Facebook

By Willem Moore

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Between 2016-2020, right-wingers like Nigel Farage were fond of accusing the left of being ‘easily offended’. At some point, however, these same people realised that being offended was great for driving attention and they dove in both feet first.

Abolish the BBC licence fee. pic.twitter.com/y6pWf4VR5C

— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) May 31, 2026

The first thing we should note is that the Canary has a long, long history of criticising the BBC. This year alone, we’ve published the following:

• Former BBC Middle East correspondent: broadcaster was central to ‘Labour antisemitism’ scam
• BBC shamefully plays politics with vile racism in the NHS
• Lebanon war correspondent accuses BBC of complicity in ethnic cleansing
• BBC publishes misinformation about small boat crossings
• BBC ran quote from Iranian claiming to be ‘fine’ with nuclear destruction of Iran

The difference between us and Farage is our criticism doesn’t boil down to ‘the BBC dislikes me personally ‘.

Now, on to the Desert Island Discs dilemma.

A Reform spokesperson told the Times:

We approached the BBC as we thought it would be a no-brainer with Keir and Kemi going on, but it would appear they have a ban on Reform — the party has led in the opinion polls for well over a year. This is the typical BBC bias we have come to expect.

The BBC responded:

We do not ban any individuals from appearing on Desert Island Discs and that includes Mr Farage.

Perpetual victim. https://t.co/A1VO9VNVoF

— Don McGowan (@donmcgowan) May 31, 2026

Rupert Lowe of Restore Britain is also making similar threats, by the way.

The BBC have run a sneering attack piece insulting both myself and Elon Musk…

A Restore Britain Government will defund the BBC, day one.

Let's see who's laughing then.

— Rupert Lowe MP (@RupertLowe10) May 31, 2026

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Lowe spends all day writing long screeds about how much he hates his political enemies. What is it they say about not giving it if you can’t take it?

Farage snubbed

If BBC Radio 4 did snub Farage, it probably wasn’t over immigration, because he, Starmer, and Badenoch have had nearly identical policy platforms at times.

When it comes to Farage, though, there are definitely things which make him more poisonous to a general audience than Badenoch or Starmer. Specifically, we’re talking about Farage’s history of the most extreme racism, as his Jewish ex-classmate, Peter Ettedgui, reported:

I’d never experienced antisemitism growing up, so the first time that this vicious verbal abuse came out of Farage’s mouth was deeply shocking. But I wasn’t his only target. I’d hear him calling other students ‘Paki’ or ‘Wog’, and urging them to ‘go home’.

Farage is also more closely linked to Donald Trump than any other UK politician — a man the UK public has no time for.

Forgot about this. After Bannon was corralling Farage and Johnson to topple Theresa May, his former boss Trump chips in to get Farage to do a deal with Johnson in the 2019 election.

A stitch up. https://t.co/ZhXPvcnhkE

— Peter Jukes (@peterjukes) May 31, 2026

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The accusations of foreign interference don’t end there, as Skwawkbox reported for the Canary:

Former Reform UK in Wales leader Nathan Gill has today been sentenced to ten and a half years in prison after admitting taking bribes to make positive statements about Russia.

Farage is also facing a great deal of scrutiny for the £5 million gift he accepted from a foreign-based crypto billionaire.

Here are the facts as laid down by Derbyshire:
1) Farage says he won’t run
2) crypto billionaire pays him £5mill
3) Farage U-turns and runs
4) Farage hides the donation
5) Farage announces if he wins the election he will slash capital gains tax for crypto firms

Same old same old https://t.co/ViEIFZkf3A

— Alonso Gurmendi (@Alonso_GD) May 6, 2026

If we ran Desert Island Discs, we wouldn’t have any of these politicians on. At the same time, we can see why BBC Radio 4 and its audience might consider Farage to be an entirely different beast to Badenoch or Starmer.

Free press

There’s a real irony in that the BBC clearly doesn’t hate Farage or Reform. If anything, they’ve given him and his party far more attention than they deserve.

Nigel Farage has appeared on BBC's Question Time at least 38 times. His supporters are complaining that he hasn't been invited on Desert Island Discs…

(image: @newsthump) https://t.co/fqthrcfQ9u pic.twitter.com/KUrEEMMKk7

— Nick : Data + Independent Politics (@nick_pope) June 1, 2026

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And while Farage is all over the media, he’s largely absent from the job he was elected to perform.

Nigel Farage hasn't voted in Parliament for the last 11 weeks and has now missed 77 votes in a row, according to official records. The last time he turned up was to vote against adraft regulations for the Employment Rights Act, and that says it all.

— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) May 31, 2026

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Moan alone

Farage has sold himself as an antidote to the British establishment. That’s fine, but the price you pay is you don’t get to sip iced tea and discuss Duran Duran with Lauren Laverne.

In other words, Nigel, pick a lane, and stop moaning.

Featured image via Ian Forsyth/ Getty Images

By Willem Moore

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We’re hurtling towards more wars and greater global instability, with the governments of Europe responding with massive rearmament programmes and increasing moves towards conscription. So we urgently need a mass movement for peace to break with the worldview of the likes of Donald Trump and Tony Blair.

The International Conference Against War on 20 June in central London will be a unique and historic step to building it.

Over 1,700 people from the UK and across Europe have bought tickets so far and, with international speakers, this will be a truly world-wide solidarity conference. Speakers are coming from France, Palestine, Belgium, the UK, the US, Ukraine, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain and Sweden.

They include (all in person):

• Mustafa Barghouti, General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative.
• Medea Benjamin, American political activist Code Pink.
• Mothin Ali, Green Party deputy leader.
• Lorena Delgado Varas, Swedish MP.
• UK MPs Richard Burgon, Jeremy Corbyn, Zarah Sultana, Jon Trickett.
• Jérôme Lagavre, French Assembly member.
• Fran Heathcote, PCS general secretary.
• José Nivoi, Genoa docker.
• Tariq Ali, author and activist.
• Felix Kreklow Rojas, German anti-conscription student campaigner.
• Andrew Feinstein, former ANC MP.
• And many more.

John Rees, Stop the War national officer and one of the organisers of the conference, said:

The wolf is at the door. Donald Trump is setting fires he has no intention and no capacity to extinguish.

European political leaders have begun a continent-wide rearmament programme on a scale not seen since World War Two. They’re making arms companies rich and the rest of us poor.

Every day another politician or army chief tells us we have to accept austerity and prepare for war. Conscription has returned in Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Keir Starmer is threatening the same here.

The International Anti-War conference in London on 20 June is the response from trade unionists and anti-war activists. It could not come at a more vital time. Together we will demand welfare, not warfare, wages not weapons.

Featured image via Getty Images

By The Canary

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Football’s rulemakers have sharpened the playbook. Ahead of the 2026 World Cup, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) has approved a compact, hard-hitting package of changes designed to speed play, curb gamesmanship and give VAR clearer teeth.

Fans can expect quicker restarts, stricter conduct rules and new limits on tactical time-outs.

What has IFAB introduced?

• Broader VAR remit to correct clear errors around second yellows, mistaken identity and wrongly awarded corners.

• A 10-second substitution rule forcing outgoing players to leave fast or delay the incoming player

• Tactical time-out clampdown to stop teams using injuries as an excuse for bench huddles

• Five-second countdowns for throw-ins and goal-kicks with possession penalties for delays

• New conduct sanctions including red cards for players who cover their mouths during confrontations and for teams that walk off the pitch

VAR will now step in for a tighter set of clear mistakes, wrongly awarded second yellow cards, mistaken identity and obvious corner errors.

Officials can also review fouls that happen before a set-piece restart, such as an attacker blocking a defender before a corner is taken. The aim is simply to correct the big, obvious errors without turning every moment into a review.  

Referees will still be limited, but VAR checks on corners must correct only obvious errors and not delay restarts. VAR will not invent bookings, it will only intervene where a second yellow was wrongly awarded on the pitch. The balance is tighter oversight with a clear line on what counts as reviewable.

Tactical time wasting banned

FIFA and IFAB have moved to stamp out the growing tactic of using injuries as a pretext for bench coaching. Referees will be proactive in preventing mass departures to the bench while a player receives treatment.

Teams will not be allowed to turn an injury stoppage into a tactical time-out. There are no new on-field sanctions yet, but officials have been warned to act and coaches have been put on notice.  

The message is blunt: an injury is for the player to be treated not a pause button for tactics. Expect referees to manage the touchline more assertively and to penalise teams that try to exploit stoppages for coaching advantages.  

IFAB has introduced visible five-second countdowns for throw-ins and goal-kicks. If a team fails to restart play before the countdown ends, possession is handed to the opponent or a corner is awarded. The goal is to remove the grey area around deliberate delays and force a faster tempo.

Substitutions are now a sprint. Players must leave the field within 10 seconds after the board is shown and exit via the nearest boundary point. If they linger, the replacement can only enter at the next stoppage after one minute of play. That rule turns substitutions into a tactical risk: delay and you lose the immediate change.

Medical rules and hydration breaks

Outfield players treated on the pitch must now remain off the field for at least one minute after play restarts, with exceptions for goalkeepers, head injuries, penalties and collisions that demand immediate return. The change should prevent teams from using treatment as a deliberate delay tactic.

For the World Cup specifically, there will be a three-minute hydration break in each half, with referees given discretion on timing to fit the flow of the match. The breaks are short, controlled and designed to protect player welfare without opening the door to tactical manipulation.

This package is surgical: speed up play, punish theatricality and make VAR fix the big mistakes. The rules hand referees clearer tools and give coaches fewer loopholes to exploit.

At the 2026 World Cup, matches should feel brisker, substitutions sharper and time wasting harder to hide. Expect a tournament where the clock matters again and the referee’s whistle carries more bite.

Featured image via Luke Hales/Getty Images

By Faz Ali

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