lead imageThe union has stated that it will be meeting for further talks over the coming weeks. However, it remains to be seen whether
Underground bosses will listen to the drivers’ safety concerns ‚ both for themselves, and for passengers.
Politics
Labour Favoured To Win Next UK Election, Bookie Odds Show
Labour has been installed as the bookies’ favourites to win the next general election after 18 months out in the cold.
Keir Starmer’s party has been trailing in both the opinion polls and the betting odds for most of the prime minister’s time in office, but it looks like Labour are finally enjoying a stroke of luck.
Star Sports have narrowed Labour’s odds of winning the most seats at the next general election to13/8 from 15/8 last week.
Meanwhile Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has gone the other way as the party’s odds drifted from 13/8 to 15/8.
William Kedjanyi, political betting analyst at Star Sports, said Labour have been going up in the market after ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe unveiled his rival party: Restore Britain.
The right-wing party appears to have threatened Reform’s success, with 10/1 odds compared to 20/1 last week.
They’re getting closer to the Greens, who sit at 17/2 and the Conservatives at 6/1 as betters try to predict who will be most popular at the next general election.
Kedjanyi said: “It’s been 18 months since we saw Labour as favourites to win most seats at the next General Election, but Keir Starmer’s party have been in the ascendency in the market, shortening into 13/8 from 15/8 in the past week to supplant Reform at the head of the betting.
“That change has largely been driven by the introduction of Restore Britain to the growing number of political parties set to contest the next General Election, and they look likely to eat into the Reform vote.
“As a result, Nigel Farage’s party has drifted out to 15/8 from 13/8 and now have ground to make up on Starmer’s Labour in the betting.”
The odds looking at who might be the next permanent prime minister after Starmer also favour Labour, with former deputy PM Angela Rayner leading with 7/2 odds and health secretary Wes Streeting just behind her on 6/1.
Farage comes in third on 7/1 closely followed by energy secretary Ed Miliband on 8/1.
The bookmakers’ update will come as a relief to Labour, as the party has been struggled to connect with disillusioned voters frustrated with a series of government scandals and Starmer’s policy U-turns.
However, pollsters at YouGov have still put Labour on 19% in the opinion polls, trailing behind Reform who sit comfortably in the lead on 24%.
The Conservatives are snapping at Labour’s heels on 18% while the Greens are on 17% and the Lib Dems are on 13%.
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Donald Trump made a shocking joke during an Oval Office meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi that prompted his guest to stiffen in her seat as she glanced around the room.
The two leaders met on Thursday as Trump’s war in Iran continues to strain the global economy. Trump took the majority of questions from reporters before asking for one more from one of the “beautiful” Japanese correspondents.
He called on a man, who apparently seemed confused.
“He doesn’t think he’s beautiful,” Trump joked.
After the reporter asked Trump why he did not tell allies in Europe and Asia about his plan to attack Iran, saying it confused the Japanese people, Trump replied that he needed to count on the element of surprise.
“For one thing, you don’t want to signal too much, you know? When we went in, we went in very hard, and we didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise,” he said.
Then he went for another joke: “Who knows better about surprise than Japan? OK? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbour? OK? Right?”
Takaichi, who speaks some English but was using an interpreter at times, straightened in her seat and tilted her head slightly to glance at her aides upon mention of Pearl Harbour.
“Hmm,” said the prime minister, who was born two decades after Imperial Japan’s surprise attack on the US naval base in Hawaii.
Trump administration officials seated to the president’s left chuckled before silence gripped the room.
“No, you believe in surprise, I think much more so than us,” Trump went on.
“And we had a surprise,” he said. “We did.”
Thursday’s meeting marked Takaichi’s first visit to the White House since taking office last October.
Toward the beginning of the session, she heaped praise on her American counterpart, saying, “I firmly believe it is only you, Donald, who can achieve peace across the world.”
Despite Trump’s urging, Japan has not committed to sending its naval ships to escort commercial vessels traversing the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively shut down through threats to attack any ship that attempts a crossing.
Earlier this month, Takaichi pledged to have “candid talks” with Trump when they met.
Since the Green Party’s win in the Gorton and Denton by-election last month, the mainstream media have been hailing it as a left-wing ‘populist’ movement that can challenge the right-wing populists of Reform UK. In the excited words of Politico, the Greens ‘played Reform at its own game – and won’.
The Financial Times seemed similarly enamoured. One of its op-eds claimed that leader Zack Polanski had turned the Greens from a cuddly environmental campaign group ‘into a combative left-wing populist political vehicle that advocates for working people against the ultra-wealthy’. Even right-wing commentators have acceded to the characterisation of the Greens as left-wing populists.
The presentation of the Greens as a populist alternative to Reform, indeed as counter-populist movement, has been months in the making. Last September, The Times painted Polanski as a proponent of ‘left-wing populism’ who ‘hopes to hypnotise the electorate with his own brand of Faragism’. The following month, a commentator on UnHerd talked up the rise of the Greens’ counter-populism, as ‘the backlash to the backlash’ against the political establishment.
The argument commentators and politicos have been advancing over several months is simple enough. They claim that the Greens are peddling a populist politics to rival the appeal of Reform. They believe that Polanski’s counter-populists can beat conservative populists at their own game – that the Greens can neutralise Reform’s appeal
But there’s one big problem with all this. The Greens are anything but populist. Indeed, the very fact that significant parts of the mainstream media are so keen on the Greens is a sign of their elite appeal.
The programme and behaviour of the Greens show that they are best characterised as a radical centrist formation. Under Polanski, a former Lib Dem activist, the Greens have shown they have virtually no non-negotiable principles. During the recent Gorton and Denton by-election, they conspicuously avoided campaigning around the party’s long-held concerns about the environment. Even the party’s current embrace of ‘anti-austerity’ politics was pushed into the background. Instead, they focussed on identity politics, mobilising Muslim voters by playing the Islamic sectarian card.
This identitarian obsession is telling. One of the defining features of populists, whether of the left or right, is that they claim to speak for and represent the people – for all citizens of the nation. The Greens did not do that in Gorton and Denton. They opted to engage with one section of the community, even publishing election literature in languages that the vast majority of British people do not understand. Similarly, Green activists waved the flags of Palestine and Pakistan, rather than the flags of Britain or England. This was tribal politics – it was the very antithesis of populism.
This is hardly a surprise. Today’s Green Party is profoundly hostile towards a key element of any populist politics – namely, democratic citizenship. Its vision of a ‘world without borders’ negates the very idea of being a citizen of a national polity. Hence, it would happily extend voting rights to all migrants with visas, grant them access to the benefits system, and allow them to bring family members to join them.
In effect, the Greens would denude citizenship of its meaning. Voting, having been a privilege confined to citizens, would be extended to just about anyone entering the UK. And the social contract between citizens and the state, underwritten by access to social services and benefits, would be torn apart.
Historically, left-wing populists took defending citizenship rights very seriously. In the 19th century, the American People’s Party, one of the first radical populist movements, was committed to protecting the people from the ruling class’s attempts to lower living standards through the importing of cheap labour. Its platform called for a shorter working week, restrictions on immigration and public ownership of railways and communication lines.
Populists proper take the nation and national borders very seriously, because it is only within such boundaries that democracy can flourish. Popular sovereignty is intimately linked with the sovereignty of a nation. A people, a demos, can only exist within the confines of a clearly demarcated community.
But the Greens regard such a bounded community with contempt. They prefer a politics that privileges divisive ethnic affiliations over national citizenship.
Far from being a people’s party, the achingly middle-class Greens are the party of Britain’s cultural elites. They share the same worldview, the same luxury beliefs, the same obsessions. They are the party of identity politics, gender ideology and pseudo-bohemian lifestyles – hence the commitment to legalising hard drugs.
The Greens’ commitment to erase national borders and national citizenship put them firmly at odds with the British people and their interests.
Frank Furedi is the executive director of the think-tank, MCC-Brussels.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has refused to provide a time frame for ending Donald Trump’s war against Iran, which the former Fox News host earlier this month said could be over by Saturday.
Hegseth told reporters at a Pentagon briefing that while the United States’ largest war in two decades was “on track,” it would end only when Trump wanted it to end and that he could not set a date.
“It will be at the president’s choosing ultimately where we say, hey, we’ve achieved what we need to on behalf of the American people to ensure our security. So no, no time set on that, but we’re very much on track,” he said.
At a White House photo opportunity a few hours later with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Trump was not asked about the duration of the Iran war but claimed, yet again, that it was going better than planned. “I would say we are substantially ahead of schedule,” he said.
Trump at the outset of the attacks said the war was “projected” to last four to five weeks but that the United States had the “capability” to continue waging it for far longer.
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
On March 4, four days after the air assault began, Hegseth said the war could end even sooner. “You know, you can say four weeks, but it could be six, it could be eight, it could be three. Ultimately, we set the pace and the tempo,” he said in a briefing.
The three-week time frame would run through Friday, with week four starting in the overnight hours Saturday. There is no indication, however, that the US will end the attacks and withdraw the ships, planes and personnel deployed to the Middle East for what Trump calls “an excursion” in the near future.
Hegseth on Thursday confirmed that the White House will be seeking a large supplemental appropriations package to pay for the war, which officials have estimated is costing as much as $2 billion a day.
“As far as $200 billion, I think that number could move. Obviously, it takes money to kill bad guys. So we’re going back to Congress and folks there to ― to ensure that we’re properly funded for what’s been done, for what we may have to do in the future, ensure that our ammunition is ― everything’s refilled and not just refilled, but above and beyond,” Hegseth said.
Israt Sawda is the Conservative candidate for Mile End Ward in the Tower Hamlets Council elections in May
On 1st January 2010, I stepped off a plane at a British airport, alone, seventeen years old, and knowing nobody in this country. I had left Bangladesh against every expectation placed upon me. Where I grew up, a girl’s education had one stated purpose: to make her a more attractive prospect for marriage. I wanted more than that. I spent months working and persuading my parents — who loved me, but could not easily imagine sending their daughter alone to a country she had never visited — to let me go. When they finally said yes, it was one of the bravest things they ever did. The moment I landed, I breathed in the air and felt, for the first time, that I was somewhere I could become whoever I was capable of becoming.
In my first months in Britain, I studied an International Foundation programme. One subject was politics. It was there that I first encountered Conservatism — and first read seriously about Margaret Thatcher. Her journey spoke directly to me: a woman who refused to accept the limits others set for her, who believed in hard work and personal responsibility. Thatcher proved that where you start does not determine where you finish. She reminded me I was not alone. She reminded me that anything is possible.
I have built my life in Tower Hamlets since then, whilst working in the technology sector for over seven years: teaching coding to women; consulting on client projects and developing my skills. For example, I was nominated for the 2022 Tech Women 100 shortlist in recognition of my ability. Technology appeals to me as it innovates our lives – it is a key achievement of human ingenuity. Similarly, as a candidate I aspire to innovate so we can harness Tower Hamlets’ potential. I’m standing as a Conservative because I believe this community deserves the same thing Britain once gave me: the freedom to be more than others expect of you.
Mile End has enormous potential. It sits at the heart of a borough rich in ambition, cultural energy, and entrepreneurial spirit. But too many residents feel let down. Not by their community, but by a council that has consistently failed to turn that energy into practical results. Tower Hamlets has presided over waste, gross misconduct, and financial mismanagement for too long. Residents deserve a councillor who will scrutinise decisions properly and hold the council to account. My technology and finance background gives me exactly the tools to do that.
Housing pressure in Mile End is acute. Families are being priced out, properties are deteriorating, and the planning system has too often served developers over residents. I believe in housing policy that supports new homes without destroying neighbourhood character: that genuinely holds landlords and developers to account.
Crime and antisocial behaviour remain a persistent concern. Safe streets are not a luxury — they are the foundation on which everything else is built. I will advocate for proper resourcing of local police and a council that treats community safety as a real priority. My ambition does not end at tough talk; I want a safer borough.
Tower Hamlets should be one of London’s most attractive boroughs for business investment. Its location, talent pool, and diversity are genuine assets. Instead, local businesses tell me they feel ignored and unsupported. A thriving local economy creates jobs, sustains high streets, and funds the services residents depend on. I will champion it.
As a fiscal Conservative, I will also ensure every pound of public money is justified and honestly accounted for. That is not an ideological position. It is basic respect for hard-working taxpayers.
I have spent months on the doorsteps of Mile End, listening to residents. The concerns I hear most are consistent: councillors who disappear between elections, complaints that go unanswered, decisions made without consultation. Unfortunately, due to the other representatives in council, I cannot fix everything. However, I can promise to show up, to ask difficult questions, and to remain genuinely accountable to the people I represent.
I came to this country alone, with little, and built something here through hard work and the opportunities Britain provided me. I am a Conservative because I believe in the values that made that possible: personal responsibility, enterprise, strong communities, and the freedom to build a good life. Mile End deserves a councillor who holds those values — and who will fight to extend that same opportunity to every resident in this ward.
On 7th May, I am asking Mile End residents to vote for me not as a transaction, but as a partnership. Mile End deserves better. I intend to help deliver it.
In the latest “defensive” news from the UK’s role in the Anglo-American-Zionist illegal war on Iran, the UK held a meeting between 13 defence companies and Gulf diplomats to discuss providing “defensive” equipment against Iranian attacks. Defence Minister Luke Pollard hosted the session.
The UK is stepping up for our partners in the Gulf.
Defence Minister @LukePollard convened 13 UK defence companies alongside Gulf ambassadors and defence attachés to explore urgent defensive support against Iranian drone and missile attacks.
UK industry is ready to deliver. pic.twitter.com/uDJDClZTp4
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) March 18, 2026
People were quick to point out the greed of British arms companies.
Imagine seeing the illegal war in Iran as an opportunity to make money https://t.co/XeOsuGHWHO
— Harry Eccles (@Heccles94) March 18, 2026
The 13 defence companies present were ADS, MARSS, MSI, MBDA, Frankenberg, Leonardo UK, Thales, QinetiQ, OSL Ltd, BAE Systems, Ocean Infinity, Cambridge Aerospace, and Uforce, and they met Diplomats from seven Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Iraq and Jordan.
The UK is stepping up to warmonger in the Gulf. https://t.co/Dq0yFc9LNw
— GlumBird (@GlumBird) March 18, 2026
New opportunities galore for arms dealers and co
UK military planners have also been dispatched to US Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida to help plot a route to unblock the key shipping lane, according to The Times — more “defensive” acts by the UK.
British military helping US plan Strait of Hormuz reopening after Trump bemoaned Starmer’s response to fuel crisis https://t.co/HuEJBO5cbP
— LBC (@LBC) March 19, 2026
Labour MP Al Carns is beating the war drums particularly loudly. Earlier this week in Parliament, the Armed Forces minister said the government was not ruling out anything when asked if the UK saw “de-escalation is key.”
Defence Minister Al Carns has said the government ‘is not going to rule anything out’
Read more: https://t.co/t50o6L6V9b pic.twitter.com/rnShip7A9i
— The i Paper (@theipaper) March 16, 2026
He told Parliament:
We will continue to work in a comprehensive and calm manner with our allies and partners to ensure that we can come up with a solution to the strait of Hormuz, and we will not rule anything out, because we cannot guarantee where this war is going to go.
Carns also claimed in parliament that Iran’s support to Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis “has been killing British forces for 20 years”. Declassified was quick to reprimand the statement on the lack of evidence.
Defence minister Al Carns claims in parliament that Iran’s support to Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis “has been killing British forces for 20 years”.
Where is the evidence for this?#DCUKparliament pic.twitter.com/IWwgpzomEQ
— Declassified UK (@declassifiedUK) March 17, 2026
On Thursday, he told the Sun that any mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz would require a massive multinational coalition, warning that operating without allies would be far worse. He said: “We’re not anywhere near that at the moment, but I would say one thing: that there’s one thing worse than working with allies, and that’s working without them.”
He said:
In 1987 when this last happened, it took 30 warships to escort in the Strait of Hormuz. That gives you just an example of the resources required.
UK is relying on flimsy ‘defensive’ grounds
UK PM and other cabinet ministers have repeatedly used flimsy grounds of just being involved in “defensive actions against Iran.
Allowing the US to use British bases and commit war crimes in not “defensive actions”. pic.twitter.com/Y2Zfq2JMFj
— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) March 18, 2026
This use of UK bases for American bombers has been heavily criticised. Journalist and former UK diplomat Craig Murray said:
No other European state is prepared to let US bombing runs on Iran overfly their airspace. Starmer lets them actually load their bombs and take off from UK airfields. He calls it “defensive” bombing.
No other European state is prepared to let US bombing runs on Iran overfly their airspace.
Starmer lets them actually load their bombs and take off from UK airfields.
He calls it “defensive” bombing. https://t.co/LmSZwSy340
— Craig Murray (@CraigMurrayOrg) March 19, 2026
Electronic Intifada journalist Ali Abunimah argued that assisting an aggressor by protecting them from those attempting to halt their attack does not constitute a defensive act, but rather makes one an active accomplice in the original crime. He was responding to the Foreign Office’s statement that the UK is continuing defensive military support for partners against Iranian strikes, alongside diplomatic activity in the UK national interest.
Helping a mass killer carry out aggression by shielding them from those who are trying to stop the attack is not “defensive.” It’s being an active accomplice in the original crime. https://t.co/sgvVErGFnm
— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) March 18, 2026
UK bases, ships and aircraft are already central to the US-Israeli war effort. Starmer has tried vainly to frame British involvement as purely ‘defensive.’
Featured image via Campaign Against Arms Trade
The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) has called off its planned strikes on the London Underground this month.
The news comes following indications from tube bosses that they’ll negotiate on what RMT is calling the “imposition” of a “fake four-day week”.
However, whilst the March strike dates are off, RMT has stated that its industrial action in April and May will still go ahead. Beyond this, the union has also added two new strike dates on 16 and 18 June.
RMT — ‘Serious concerns around fatigue’
The planned strikes would have taken place from noon on 24 March til 11:59 on 25 March, and the same times on 26-27 March.
The dispute centers on Underground bosses’ proposals for a condensed-hours working week.
Under the proposal, the majority of drivers would work their 36 hours over four days rather than five. However, in the 4-day plan, the workers would receive paid meal breaks.
To put that another way, the workers would see their hours spent driving each day jump from just over 7 to just under 9.
The proposal is currently being tested on a voluntary basis on the Bakerloo line.
When RMT first called the strikes earlier this month, general secretary Eddie Dempsey explained that:
We are clear that these proposals raise serious concerns around fatigue, safety and work-life balance.
Despite our best efforts over many months, no satisfactory outcome has been reached so we have no choice but to call strike dates.
There is still time for London Underground to come up with a workable solution but we will take strike action if we cannot get a negotiated settlement.
Instead, the union is advocating for a 32-hour week over four days. This would see drivers working 3 hours less each week.
Negotiations
However, London Underground has now relented in its position. RMT announced that:
After a year of telling us their imposed plan is non-negotiable they have now agreed to negotiate with RMT.
The dispute over the imposition of a condensed hours four-day week on tube drivers is far from over but LU management have taken steps in the right direction and are now taking the matter seriously.
That being said, unless London Underground can reach a settlement with the union, more strikes are on the way.
RMT has previously announced action for four more 24-hour periods. These will take place on 21 and 23 April, and likewise on 19 and 21 May. Yesterday, 18 March, RMT also announced similar strikes on 16 and 18 June.
Dempsey said:
Through our show of industrial strength and unity, we have forced management into a position where they are now willing to seriously engage with the issues our members want addressing.
Further talks will take place and the dispute remains live.
Iranian retaliatory attacks on its Ras Laffan energy complex in Qatar on Wednesday and the early hours of Thursday have spiked gas prices globally. It has also caused Trump to put out an unhinged statement.
Statement from President Trump on South Pars Gas Field: pic.twitter.com/YrjhDdGTxP
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 19, 2026
Iran also struck Saudi energy facilities in retaliation for Israel’s bombing of Iran’s South Pars gas field.
Iran said it is planning to attack the energy infrastructure of the US and Israeli allies in the Gulf until its “complete destruction” if its own energy facilities are targeted further.
Trump claims the US “knew nothing about this particular attack” — the attack on Iran’s South Pars Gas Field on Wednesday — blaming it squarely on Israel.
The South Pars field is located in the Persian Gulf, between Iran and Qatar, and the field is shared between the two countries.
Trump then stated that there will be “NO MORE ATTACKS” by Israel on the South Pars Field unless Iran “unwisely decides” to attack Qatar again. If Qatar’s LNG facilities are attacked again, Trump says the US, “with or without the help or consent of Israel, will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field” with a level of force Iran has “never seen or witnessed before.”
Trump’s threat is characteristic of his hyperbolic and escalatory language. We shouldn’t forget that Trump FULLY destroyed the Iranian navy several times so far.
His core claim that the US “knew nothing about” the initial attack on Iran’s South Pars Field is probably another lie from the habitual liar. But who knows!
Qatar LNG — a weak spot?
Despite the use of hyperbolic and escalatory language, some think this is a de-escalatory effort by Trump. “Trump calls for de-escalation as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively shut and oil rises beyond $116 a barrel,” Bloomberg said.
Trump calls for de-escalation as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively shut and oil rises beyond $116 a barrel.
Get the latest news and analysis in our live blog: https://t.co/hVN6mGh31g
— Bloomberg (@business) March 19, 2026
Al Mayadeen reported that Trump and ‘Netanyahu’ hoped the attack on Iran’s gas fields would deter Iranian action in the Strait of Hormuz, but the plan backfired, prompting Trump to disavow it.
Netanyahu and Trump hoped that the attack on #Iran‘s gas fields would deter action in the Strait of #Hormuz. Evidently, the plan backfired, prompting the #US president to disavow the attack. https://t.co/Cjxi9V6qUA
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) March 19, 2026
Writer Philip Pilkington commented that Donald Trump has been drawn into a “suicidal energy war,” arguing that the president’s statement demonstrates the administration has “ZERO control over the situation.”
Trump has been sucked into a suicidal energy war. If you wanted evidence the administration has ZERO control over the situation, here it is. 🇺🇸🇮🇷 pic.twitter.com/NLcwjoX3kA
— Philip Pilkington (@philippilk) March 19, 2026
The undeniable truth
Since it is hard to take what Trump says about the war seriously, the real-world consequences are the best judges. Anglo-American-Zionist illegal war on Iran has escalated this week.
Israel claimed to have killed intelligence minister Ismail Khatib in Tehran Tuesday night, plus security chief Ali Larijani and Basij paramilitary leader Gholamreza Soleimani.
After more than three weeks of war in Iran, thousands of people have been killed, millions more displaced, and billions of dollars have been spent. Arms dealers are lining their pockets.
The only certainty is that the bloodshed and destruction continue while politicians argue over who knew what and the Anglo-American-Zionist axis presses on with its murderous campaign.
Featured image via the Canary
Israel has murdered Ali Larijani, Iran’s chief of security, who was a PhD holder who wrote philosophical papers on Immanuel Kant — a man famous for his ideas on unconditional moral obligation.
Ali Larijani was martyred along with his son, one of his deputies, and a number of bodyguards after being targeted by American and Israeli warplanes at his daughter’s home in the Pardis area, Tehran. pic.twitter.com/VdtaafxA80
— Arya Yadeghaar (@AryJeay) March 17, 2026
According to Azer News:
Larijani combined an aristocratic religious background with a rigorous secular education. He earned degrees in mathematics and computer science at Sharif University of Technology, Iran’s premier technical school, before turning to philosophy. His doctoral work, unusual among Iranian power‑brokers, focused on Immanuel Kant, and he later published extensively on Kant’s philosophy, exploring the relationship between mathematical proof, metaphysics and rational inquiry.
Larijani and negotiations
Larijani was also regarded as one of the Iranian officials most likely to compromise on a peace deal.
Ali Larijani: Fast facts
Negotiated nuclear deals with West
Belonged to dynasty that Time magazine described as “Kennedys of Iran”
Joined IRGC before transitioning to government
Was often regarded as pragmatic and someone inside Iranian system who may be willing to compromise
— Clauda Tanios (@ClaudaTanios) March 17, 2026
Azer News noted that Larijani’s death would mark the end of “Tehran’s strategic calculus”. He was pragmatic and pro-diplomacy. It added that he was a “measured intellectual”, and was:
a bridge between Iran’s revolutionary ethos and its efforts to navigate a hostile international landscape, a thinker at ease both with complex philosophy and the raw realities of geopolitics.
Which means that once again, Israel has purposefully blown up one of the few people it could negotiate with.
Even one Israeli journalist, Ehud Ya’ari, said publicly that Israel’s murder of Larijani was the wrong move.
Of course, Ya’ari doesn’t realise that Israel doesn’t really want negotiations. It wants blood and a Greater Israel.
International law???
Importantly, murdering state and political leaders is illegal under international law.
Of course, we have already established (repeatedly) that Israel has no regard for International law, from bombing schools and hospitals to murdering healthcare workers and illegally invading Lebanon.
Araghchi on Larijani’s death: “I don’t know why America and Israel still haven’t understood that Iran will not be impacted by such killings of individuals.”
They literally do not know how to handle a nation who’s first language isn’t blowing people uppic.twitter.com/FWHqjWml9r
— Pistachio 🇮🇷 🇵🇸 (@HarleyShah) March 18, 2026
But unlike Israeli’s, who politicians hide in bomb shelters and flee the country when things get hard, Iranians are not scared of a few bombs.
For people asking why isn’t the senior leadership in bunkers hiding…
You have to understand the Iranian ideology.
No one is more important than anyone else…ie leadership over ordinary civilians. Everyone is equal and the war is for all of the country…equally.
In the…
— Pathfindr 🕊️ (@pathfinder_tua) March 17, 2026
Israel has a long history of assassinating its political opponents. As Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, said:
In wars, you don’t start by killing political leaders, including elected leaders. That programme of assassination is gangster, it’s terrorism, it’s not the norm of war.
Furthermore, the United States and Israel have not yet realised that the Iranian government does not rely on a single individual. Meaning, one death, or even several, will not destabilise its political system.
Larijani’s death is a loss for everyone, not just Iranians.
But Shia religious doctrine relies heavily on martyrdom and sacrifice. So, to Larijani, Israel murdering him would have gained him the highest honour.
Feature image via Al Jazeera English/ YouTube
GB News recently gave Thomas Corbett-Dillon a platform to cynically claim that a genocide is being waged against white people in the UK. Subsequently, the Guardian reported that complaints have been made to Ofcom suggesting his comments even managed to cause offence among their right-wing viewers.
The offensive comments were made on GB News’ US-based Late Show Live last week, during a discussion on anti-extremism strategies in the UK.
Corbett-Dillon apparently advised Boris Johnson and worked on Penny Mordaunt’s failed leadership campaign, so this gross man is no stranger to far-right hateful views.
Showing a traditional lack of humility amongst racist, extremist pricks, Corbett-Dillon stated:
I hate this idea that England is just a no man’s land. No, there is an indigenous population that have lived on that island for thousands of years.
If this was happening in any other place around the world, everyone would be defending and saying: ‘Wow, there’s a genocide happening in this island because it is being taken over by different people that are not indigenous to that land.’
The abominable Thomas Corbett-Dillon appeared on GB News, insisting the channel isn’t extremist but “really impartial” — no one disagreed.@skwawkbox reports.https://t.co/kdxhmml6Oz
— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) March 10, 2026
White supremacists given uncritical airtime
Thomas Corbett-Dillon joined fellow white privileged wankers as they condescendingly judged UK policy to tackle extremism in the Muslim community. Basically, a bunch of far-right extremists came together on the far-right TV news show, coincidentally the broadcast arm of Reform UK, to stoke fears of the extremism of Brown people.
Standard arrogant Western behaviour with precious little self-awareness, obviously.
Our own Skwawkbox wrote at the time:
Former Boris Johnson adviser Thomas Corbett-Dillon has appeared on far-right broadcaster GB News insisting that the channel is nowhere near extremist but insteaad lovely, cuddly, and “really, really impartial.”
Barely a breath later, he was confidently telling his white, male GB News panellists that the UK is suffering a genocide from all the migrants coming in, especially the Muslims. Not a single one of them disagreed.
Corbett-Dillon apparently did a ‘Tommy Robinson’ and changed his original name Craig Dillon to something posher-sounding. He even went so far as to suggest, with horror, that if white people moved to the Pacific and became the majority there would be resistance in the UN.
Perhaps he’s never heard of Australia or New Zealand.
This sickening display of white supremacy on GB News has resulted in 24 complaints made to Ofcom, however the Guardian inform they are yet to decide whether an investigation is necessary. This is hardly surprising when the “regulator” itself allows biased coverage if it comes from Farage and co.
A blatant bias we wrote about earlier today:
GB News lives by its own rules and Ofcom is perfectly willing to throw the rule book out of the window for this billionaire-interested political party. It would even seem that the supposed regulator believes the hateful views espoused by the channel to be ‘accurate.’
This calls the regulator’s impartiality into question, since biased rule-makers cannot provide un-biased remedies. A functioning democracy does not silence political views. It should make space for diverse perspectives to shape better decisions.
Corbett-Dillon isn’t remotely bothered about the offence he’s caused, of course. Nevertheless, 24 complaints from an audience of far-right viewers in response to a racist comment is quite an achievement:
The Guardian are OUTRAGED that TWENTY FOUR people complained about my interview… 😂
The argument is NOT racist, if you believe that other countries have the right to maintain an indigenous majority, then England has that right too. 🏴 pic.twitter.com/rgK4k28Is4
— Thomas Corbett-Dillon (@TCorbettDillon) March 18, 2026
A reminder of very real genocides committed by White colonialists and how those horrific actions shape Western perceptions today:
Say this:
Australia is a colonial settler country.
That means white people came here and committed genocide to steal the land.
America is another colonial settler country.
Australia is loyal to America because they both committed the same crimes against humanity.— @Damodar (@GeneralJudah) March 19, 2026
GB News: Lies, lies, lies, and more lies
He’s just a racist idiot inciting hate. As the video below shows, he even seems to forget that the majority of benefit claimants are White British people. In fact, they appear slightly overrepresented among benefit claimants, making up 76.2% compared to 74.4% of the population.
Furthermore, white people do not face the same structural and societal barriers as Black and Brown communities, particularly in access to opportunity and gainful employment. Socio-economic conditions disproportionately affect minoritised groups, therefore we would expect Black and Brown communities to make up a larger share of claimants. Nevertheless, it is White people disproportionately claiming more ‘freebies’ from the state.
As a result, his claim that white “indigenous” people are “taxed brutally” to fund welfare for minoritised groups does not stand up to the faintest scrutiny.
Racist White men simply just need to feel superior with their fragile egos and lack of self-awareness.
GB News is just amplifying race-baiting, as usual:
Thomas Corbett-Dillon warns that England’s White population is subject to “genocide”, with only 10% of the world being White. Dillon warns that White people will have nowhere left to go.
Dillon uses the example of South Africa, where, after the White population became the… pic.twitter.com/V9OQEeSXiR
— AF Post (@AFpost) March 11, 2026
Featured image via the Canary
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