Connect with us

Politics

Majority Of Voters Want Starmer To Resign Over Mandelson Scandal

Published

on

Majority Of Voters Want Starmer To Resign Over Mandelson Scandal

More than half of voters believe Keir Starmer should resign as prime minister, a new poll has revealed.

The damning findings pile fresh pressure on the PM amid the ongoing scandal over his decision to appoint disgraced Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to Washington.

The former Labour peer faces a criminal investigation into allegations he passed market-sensitive information to the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein when he was business secretary between 2008 and 2010.

Starmer has accused Mandelson of “betraying” Britain and lying to him when he was being considered for the ambassador’s job.

Advertisement

According to the Opinium survey, 55% of British adults think Starmer should stand down, compared to just 23% who think he should stay in post.

Some 56% believe Starmer should have anticipated the controversy surrounding Mandelson and not made ambassador, with just 15% thinking the decision was reasonable based on what was known at the time.

More than one-third (37%) of people who voted Labour at the 2024 general election believe he needs to go, with 48% want him to stay in post.

Starmer’s overall approval rating has also plunged to an all-time low of minus 44, the poll found.

Advertisement

Opinium’s James Crouch said: The deepening fallout from the Mandelson appointment has pushed Starmer’s rating even lower, with most voters now questioning his judgement on the appointment and placing equal blame on the prime minister and his advisers.”

The findings are even worse for the PM than a separate poll by YouGov, which found that 50% of the public want him to resign.

One senior Labour source told HuffPost UK that he believed Starmer would quit if the release of government documents into Mandelson’s appointment show he ignored warnings about his suitability for the role.

The source said: “If the report shows he ignored advice, I’m sure he’ll resign. That’s the honourable way and he still has that notion within him.”

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Politics

Lord Ashcroft: Who is most trusted on the economy, preferred coalitions, the pensions triple lock, should Starmer resign, and are Reform like the Tories?

Published

on

Lord Ashcroft: Who is most trusted on the economy, preferred coalitions, the pensions triple lock, should Starmer resign, and are Reform like the Tories?

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC is an international businessman, philanthropist, author and pollster. For more information on his work, visit lordashcroft.com

My latest polling looks at preferred coalitions and tactical voting, which parties have momentum, whether Reform UK are like the Conservatives (and in a good or bad way), whether Keir Starmer should resign, and which Labour leadership contender would make the best prime minister. Ahead of International Women’s Day, we also look at favourability towards current and recent female politicians.

Preferred coalitions

 

Advertisement

Overall, voters were more likely to say they would prefer a Labour-Lib Dem-Green coalition (43 per cent) than a Conservative-Reform coalition (33 per cent), with just under a quarter saying they didn’t know.

Those currently intending to vote Labour, Green and Lib Dem overwhelmingly preferred a coalition of their parties.  On the other side, nearly nine in ten of those leaning towards Reform said they would prefer a coalition of their party and the Conservatives. However, only just over seven in ten of those intending to vote Conservative said they would prefer a coalition with Reform; more than one fifth of current Tories said they didn’t know which coalition they would prefer.

 The Labour government

Only 7 per cent of voters overall (including only around one in six 2024 Labour voters) said they thought the current Labour government believed in the right things and was getting them done. A further one in five (including 40 per cent of 2024 Labour voters) thought the government believed in the rights things but were not getting them done. Nearly half of all voters, including nearly three in ten 2024 Labour voters, said the government did not seem to know what it believed in.

Advertisement

 

Among those spoken of as potential future Labour leadership contenders, Andy Burnham was comfortably ahead both among voters as a whole and among current and 2024 Labour voters. While there was little to choose between Rayner, Streeting and Miliband in the country as a whole, Labour supporters put Rayner in second place, with Streeting a distant fourth.

When we asked people to name without prompting what they remembered that the Labour government had done since being elected, the two most common answers were lifting the two-child benefit cap and means testing the winter fuel allowance. U-turns and raising employers’ National Insurance were next on the list.

 

Advertisement

Our political map shows what kind of voters have noticed which government actions. Means testing the winter fuel allowance and lifting the two-child benefit cap both appear close to the centre of the map, showing they were recalled across the electorate rather than by any particular group. The Chagos Islands deal, U-turns and tax rises were most likely to be mentioned by those on Conservative and Reform-supporting side of the map, while the minimum wage, NHS waiting lists, rail renationalisation, workers’ rights and school breakfast clubs were more likely to be recalled in Labour, Lib Dem and Green territory.

Nearly a quarter of voters said Keir Starmer should resign if Labour lose the Gorton & Denton by-election, while just over one third said he should not. However, a further 21 per cent said he should resign whatever the result of the by-election.

Slightly more said Starmer should resign if Labour badly in the council elections in May, with 28 per cent saying he should not. Again, just over one in five said he should resign whatever the local election results.

The pension triple lock

 

Advertisement

More than six in ten voters, including majorities of all parties’ supporters, said the pension triple lock should be kept. Nearly 90 per cent of those aged sixty-five or over said it should be kept, compared to four in ten of those aged 18-24.

Are Reform UK like the Conservatives?

 

Just under half of all voters, including around three quarters of current Labour, Lib Dem and Green voters, said they thought of Reform UK as being a bit like the Conservatives, in a bad way. Just over half of those currently intending to vote Reform said they thought of the party as being a bit like the Conservatives in a good way, while just over one third of them thought Reform were not like the Conservatives.

Advertisement

Party momentum

Reform UK were the party most likely to be considered “on the way up”, followed by the Greens. Nearly seven in ten said they thought Labour were on their way down, including a majority of those who voted Labour in 2024.

Female politicians

 

Advertisement

In advance of International Women’s Day, we asked how favourable people felt towards various current and recent living female politicians. Ranked in order of the proportion saying they had a favourable view, Kemi Badnoch topped the list, followed by Theresa May, Angela Rayner and Jess Phillips. Next were Nicola Sturgeon, Harriet Harman, Caroline Lucas and Yvette Cooper. Below, our political map shows how favourability towards these individuals is distributed across the population:

Trust on the economy

Asked who would do the better job running the economy, voters chose Kemi Badenoch and Mel Stride over Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves by a 4-point margin, with 40 per cent saying, “don’t know”. Only just over half of 2024 Labour voters named the Labour team; more than seven in ten 2024 Conservatives chose the Tory team.

Best (and most likely) prime minister

Advertisement

 

In a head-to-head question, Badenoch led Starmer by one point with just over one third saying “don’t know”. Just over six in ten 2024 Labour voters say Starmer would make the better PM, while nearly three quarters of 2024 Conservatives named Badenoch. Those who voted Reform UK in 2024 said they preferred Badenoch to Starmer by a 61-point margin, with one in three saying “don’t know”.

Given a choice between Starmer and Farage, voters as a whole chose Starmer by 13 points. 2024 Conservatives chose Farage over Starmer by 53 per cent to 15 per cent, while 2024 Labour voters chose Starmer by 75 per cent to 8 per cent. Lib Dems chose Starmer by a 58-point margin, and Green voters did so by 57 points.

 

Offered a choice between Starmer, Badenoch and Farage, voters chose Starmer over Farage by a 12-point margin, with Badenoch in third place on 18 per cent. 2024 Conservative voters preferred Badenoch over Farage by a 19-point margin (up from 6 points in November), and 2024 Labour voters preferred Starmer over Badenoch by 58 points.

Advertisement

Nigel Farage was thought the most likely person to be PM after the next election, with 29 per cent naming him as the most likely candidate. Only one in ten thought Starmer would still be in the job and 7 per cent named Badenoch. More than one fifth thought someone other than these three would be PM. More than eight in ten of those currently intending to vote Reform thought Farage would be PM, compared to fewer than four in ten current Labour leaners who thought Starmer would be PM and just over a quarter of current Conservative supporters who thought Badenoch would have the job.

When we asked how likely people were to end up voting for each party at the next election on a scale from zero to 100, those who voted Labour in 2024 put their chances of doing so again at the next election at an average of 43/100. Those who switched to Labour in 2024 put their chances of voting for the party again next time at 34/100, and those who switched from the Conservatives to Labour in 2024 put their chances of voting Labour again next time at an average of 27/100.  Looking at those more likely than not to vote for a particular party (those whose highest likelihood of voting for one party was at least 50/100), this implies current vote shares of Reform UK 22 per cent, Conservative 20 per cent, Green 19 per cent, Labour 17% per cent, Lib Dems 11 per cent, Others 10 per cent.

As above, our political map shows how different issues, attributes, personalities and opinions interact with one another. Each point shows where we are most likely to find people with that characteristic or opinion; the closer the plot points are to each other the more closely related they are. Here we see the distribution of opinion on the Labour government, the pensions triple lock, most likely prime minister and whether or not Reform are like the Conservatives.

Full data tables available at LordAshcroftPolls.com

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

Politics

David Willetts: Apprenticeships and the ‘New Deal’ for young people

Published

on

David Willetts: Apprenticeships and the 'New Deal' for young people

David Willetts is President of the Resolution Foundation and is a member of the House of Lords.

One of the strong themes on Conservative Home is the importance of the Conservative Party reaching out to younger voters.

So it is great to see the Conservative Party launching its New Deal for Young People which is a bold attempt to plug this gap. Any evidence of the party thinking beyond its core vote of pensioners is to be welcomed.

There are three particular proposals.

Advertisement

First Kemi caught the mood with her proposal to get rid of interest rates on graduate debt. That is certainly a hot topic at the moment. The terms of graduate repayment for the cost of their education should be open to change with proper political debate about the trade-offs. The interest rates have always been the most unpopular feature of the model so it is understandable to try to do something about them. Hitting RPI + 3 per cent when earnings go above £51,000 is a painful blow, especially after the replacement of maintenance grants with loans and then periods of high inflation mean that total graduate debt can now be much bigger than originally envisaged.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has just done a useful analysis of this and other options and estimate that:

For those who started courses in 2022/23, this proposal would on average reduce lifetime loan repayments by £11,000 in today’s prices on average. The 30% of graduates with the highest lifetime earnings could expect to save upwards of £20,000. Many low-earning graduates would never repay any less as a result of the Conservative proposal – with almost no change in lifetime repayments amongst the fifth of graduates with the lowest lifetime earnings.

That is a significant boost for higher earning graduates. Once all graduates in Stage 2 are included the IFS estimate a “low-single-digit billions hit to government receipts each year, for the next 30 years.”

Advertisement

However this change does not affect monthly repayments – the gain comes in paying back sooner.

It you really want to help boost living standards of younger graduates you raise the repayment threshold, so their fixed monthly out-goings are cut. And it was of course the freeze of the repayment threshold which was the original trigger for the current political row.

There are tricky trade-offs here between size of debt, monthly repayment, and length of repayment period.  I continue to believe that every five years we should have a proper informed open assessment of the best way to make these trade-offs. Governments should then set the repayment terms in ways which make intuitive sense such as graduates only start paying back when their incomes are close to the average pay of non-graduates.

The Tory leadership have in their sights degrees leading to low salaries – and after long battles it is great that data is available. If those courses close then prospective students may choose a different university course instead rather than head to an apprenticeship instead. It would be wrong to stop them going to courses which appear to offer better value and I understand it is not Conservative policy to erect such barriers. Such a shift to a different course could however reduce loan write-offs which yields a type of expenditure saving.

Advertisement

Apprenticeships are always popular. But numbers of apprenticeship starts are falling.  The second proposal in the New Deal is to boost apprenticeships for 18–21-year-olds. This is well targeted. During the last years of Conservative Government apprenticeships moved a long way from their original purpose. They became predominantly higher-level qualifications for people aged over 25 (who are now half of all apprentices starts). It is right to refocus them on 18–21-year-olds.

There is a levy on employers to pay from apprenticeships though the intention is that these extra places should be financed differently. Nevertheless reform of the Apprenticeship levy should be on the agenda. Each employer gets first claim on the levy they have paid and understandably tend to use it on extra training for their current employees rather than new recruits. That is why the growth in apprenticeships has been in degree level apprenticeships for older employees whereas places for younger people at lower educational levels have been falling. There needs to be a strong financial incentive to get them to shift to younger people, new recruits, and perhaps a qualification at a lower education level such as A level equivalent rather than full honours degree. This could be delivered out of existing resources if degree apprenticeships were financed out of fees and loans like other higher-level qualifications.

The third proposal is a “£5,000 First Job Bonus, allowing young people to keep the first £5,000 of National Insurance they would have paid and placing it into a savings account for a first home or future security

When we at Resolution Foundation looked at how best to help younger people we proposed a capital grant of £10,000. These types of schemes are in the tradition of council house sales and privatisation share sales as opportunities to spread ownership. But they are if anything more widely accessible.  It is a great way of helping young people build up assets. It has a cost of perhaps about £3b a year. We are entering an inheritocracy where building up assets out of income has got harder.

Advertisement

The real opportunity agenda is to spread property ownership and this proposal is an important part of that.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Politics

Why Is Trump Attacking Iran? He’s Still Figuring It Out.

Published

on

Donald Trump discusses combat operations in Iran on Sunday in Palm Beach, Florida.

The United States began a war with Iran to re-obliterate Iran’s nuclear weapons programme, which purportedly was originally obliterated just eight months ago.

Or maybe it’s because Iran refused to make a “deal.” Or perhaps to replace the hard-line Islamic regime with democracy and freedom. Or replace the current ruler of the hard-line Islamic regime with a different hard-line Islamic ruler.

According to President Donald Trump, it is all of these reasons. Or some mix of them. Or something completely different.

As the biggest US military build-up in two decades and its resultant massive air attack on Iran winds up its third day, the rationale for it still appears to be a work in progress. Trump, after a brief video early on Saturday morning announcing that the attack had started, still has not given Congress or the American people a detailed explanation of why he is doing so.

Advertisement

“The decision to put American service members in harm’s way demands clarity, consistency, and honesty with Congress and the public,” said Virginia Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. “So far, we’ve got none of those things.”

In remarks before a White House ceremony for Congressional Medal of Honour recipients, Trump claimed on Monday the attack was to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons programme — a programme he repeatedly insisted he had “obliterated” last June.

“We warned Iran not to make any attempt to rebuild at a different location because they were unable to use the ones we so powerfully blew up,” he said. “But they ignored those warnings and refused to cease their pursuit of nuclear weapons.”

Donald Trump discusses combat operations in Iran on Sunday in Palm Beach, Florida.
Donald Trump discusses combat operations in Iran on Sunday in Palm Beach, Florida.

President Trump Via Truth Social/Anadolu via Getty Images

Prior to those brief comments, Trump had spent two and a half days floating a variety of different explanations with a number of short interviews with nearly a dozen different print and television outlets.

Advertisement

To The Washington Post, just three hours after the attack began in the pre-dawn hours Saturday, Trump said he did it for the Iranians themselves: “All I want is freedom for the people.”

He told The New York Times the following day that he hoped Iran’s military and security forces would simply give up and give their weapons to protesters. “They would really surrender to the people, if you think about it,” he said.

Yet he told both the Times and Fox News that the attack on Venezuela’s capital in January and arrest of its dictator could serve as a “template” for Iran, in which Trump could install a new leader who was more accommodating to his demands without altering the nature of the regime.

But he told ABC News that he couldn’t do that because the air strikes killed too many of Iran’s top officials, including those he might have installed in power. “The attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates,” Trump told ABC. “It’s not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because they are all dead. Second or third place is dead.”

Advertisement

And to The Atlantic, Trump blamed Iran for not agreeing to one of his favourite words, a “deal.”

“They could have made a deal. They should’ve done it sooner. They played too cute,” he said before bragging that presidents for half a century had wanted to do what he just did, but that only he had the guts to do so. “People have wanted to do it for 47 years.”

Trump expanded on that in an interview with CNN on Monday morning: “We don’t know who the leadership is. We don’t know who they’ll pick. Maybe they’ll get lucky and get someone who knows what they’re doing … we don’t know who’s leading the country now. They don’t know who’s leading. It’s a little like the unemployment line.”

Trump’s lack of a focused message on why he has put service members in harm’s way ― four have been killed to date, with four more seriously wounded ― has also left Americans confused. According to a new CNN poll, 60% of respondents said Trump lacked a plan for his attacks, including 70% of self-described independents.

Advertisement

The conflicting explanations were not restricted to Trump personally. On Saturday, a group of hand-picked reporters received a “background” briefing from Trump administration officials who said the attack happened because of intelligence reports that Iran was about to attack US air bases in the region. That, though, was contradicted the following day when congressional staffers were told there was no intelligence that Iranian strikes were imminent.

“His team has suggested in the media that this action was necessary because of a planned preemptive attack by Iran – a fiction totally unsupported by any intelligence that I’ve seen or been presented as a member of the ‘Gang of Eight,’” Senator Mark Warner said.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Politics

Elliot Keck: Councils are spending more and more on taking children to school in taxis

Published

on

Elliot Keck: Councils are spending more and more on taking children to school in taxis

Elliott Keck is the Campaigns Director for the Taxpayers’ Alliance.

Source link

Continue Reading

Politics

Centrist Dems met to plot 2028. Then Iran happened.

Published

on

At a gathering of top consultants and strategists, center-left Democrats pitched how to talk about foreign policy in 2028.

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Hours after the American military strikes in Iran started, Third Way co-founder Matt Bennett scrambled to write up a presentation on how centrist Democrats should talk about foreign policy in 2028.

On stage during Third Way’s “Winning the Middle” conference, Bennett described focus groups before the war in Iran started, where “the appetite for ongoing war among the voters we talked to was zero.”

Even though Americans usually default to Republicans on national security, they’re concerned about President Donald Trump’s “erratic” and “unstable” foreign policy, he told a crowd of early-state strategists, Democratic consultants and aides for prominent moderates and 2028 contenders. That, he added, gives Democrats the opening they need to win.

“Voters are going to ask, ‘who can steady the ship? Who’s going to avoid another endless war? Will we demand fairness from our allies?’” Bennett said during his presentation. “You must be decisive and you must be clear that American self-interest will drive your foreign policy.”

Advertisement

The American strikes in Iran reverberated through what was meant to be a domestic-focused conference on Monday, as the party starts to grapple with how to respond to a military maneuver that could become a flashpoint in the midterms. So far, Democrats have been largely united in attacking Trump for authorizing the attacks without Congress’ approval — or a clear exit strategy.

It’s a notable departure for moderates, some of whom backed the Iraq War in 2003, including then-Sen. Hillary Clinton. Her vote, and then-Sen. Barack Obama’s vote against it, would define much of the 2008 presidential primary.

“Democrats don’t want a replay of the Iraq War and they are heeding the calls of the American people to focus on issues here at home,” Doug Thornell, a Democratic strategist who advised Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s campaign, said at the conference in an interview. “This administration has done very little to make the case that this is something worth the blood and treasure of the United States.”

At a gathering of top consultants and strategists, center-left Democrats pitched how to talk about foreign policy in 2028.

There’s early evidence voters broadly disapprove of the Iran strikes: A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that only one in four Americans support Trump’s decision — a data point that zinged around Democrats’ group chats during the afternoon’s presentations.

Advertisement

Mentions of Iran were limited during the conference’s panels, which drilled in on domestic issues: “‘Affordability’: Buzzword or Breakthrough,” and “Elevating Moderate Voices Online.” But within minutes of kicking off the event Sunday night, Third Way president Jon Cowan addressed the war.

“You can hate the regime in Iran and you can celebrate their downfall, but you can also have legitimate skepticism about the war because you can have doubts about Trump’s truthiness,” he said.

Online and in TV interviews, some fractures have begun to emerge.

Several progressives, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have pushed for an immediate end to the war. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who is running for governor, called for “values-based arguments against war with Iran,” and “NOT process (‘Come to Congress’) ones,” in an X post on Saturday. That’s an apparent reference to Democrats like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffriees and battleground lawmakers who’ve taken a more measured response.

Advertisement

Jeffries, in his initial statement, condemned Trump for failing to seek congressional authorization and called for Iran to be “aggressively confronted.” Jeffries said Monday morning on CNN that “nothing has been presented to justify what’s taken place up until this point.”

“The crutch that the moderate, corporate wing of the party is using is a process argument,” said Usamah Andrabi, Justice Democrats’ communications director. “It’s not just that Trump didn’t come to Congress first, we need to oppose this war no matter the process and Democratic leadership has not done that clearly enough.”

One adviser to a potential 2028 candidate, granted anonymity to speak candidly, defended the more nuanced approach from moderate Democrats as a reflection of “people’s understanding that just opposing every single thing that [Trump] does, from a foreign policy standpoint, just because it was him doing it, is not a sufficient approach.”

The two-day confab was primarily focused on doling out tough-love guidance to allies, consultants and early-state strategists, some of whom are aligned with centrist potential 2028 presidential candidates, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Advertisement

With an eye toward 2028, Third Way’s senior vice president Lanae Erickson presented polling dataon Democratic primary voters. She said three-quarters prefer a candidate who compromises to achieve their goals and two-thirds worry that nominating someone too far left risks losing the general election.

“If we’re going to be the ‘abolish police,’ ‘abolish ICE,’ virtue-signaling party, I don’t care who they nominate, we’re going to lose,” said Jim Messina, who served as Barack Obama’s campaign manager. “We continue to want to be ideological purists at exactly the wrong time to do that.”

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Politics

When will racism end in football?

Published

on

There is no 'liberal' Zionism: Polanski criticised over fluffed LBC interview

Football is a universal language. Yet today it seems powerless to protect one of its brightest stars, Vinicius Junior, from racist abuse.

Sport’s oldest disgrace

Since his arrival at Real Madrid in 2018, he has been subjected to relentless racist chants and abuse, both in Spain and abroad. This raises an embarrassing question for football itself. Why does one player remain a constant target of discrimination based on skin colour?

The latest incident occurred during the first leg of the Champions League playoff between Real Madrid and Benfica in Lisbon. The match ended in a 1-0 victory for Real Madrid thanks to a goal by Vinicius.

However, the sporting result was overshadowed by a shocking incident – racist abuse directed at the Brazilian player by Argentinian Gianluca Brestiani. French referee François Letissier halted the match for ten minutes to investigate. Meanwhile, Portuguese coach José Mourinho intervened to defuse the situation. In addition, football authorities looked on.

Advertisement

Racism on the pitch

The attacks did not stop there. After his goal, Vinicius was subjected to further racist chants and had bottles thrown at him by some fans, marking another dark moment for football.

The European Union opened a formal investigation, and Prisciani was provisionally suspended for one match pending a final decision. Furthermore, the penalty could be increased to several matches. This would be similar to the 2021 incident between Ondré Kodéla and Glenn Camara. That case resulted in lengthy suspensions.

It is noteworthy that Real Madrid boasts other Black stars such as Eduardo Camavinga, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Antonio Rüdiger, Kylian Mbappé, and David Alaba.

Yet Vinicius remains the most targeted. Is it his flamboyant style and unrivalled dribbling skills that irk his opponents? Or his celebrations, which combine dancing and gestures of silence in front of the fans? The problem is worryingly far deeper. It is rooted in a stadium culture that tolerates racist abuse across football clubs.

Calls for stricter penalties

In 2023, Rio de Janeiro state authorities attempted to send a powerful symbolic message by naming an anti-racism law in stadiums after the player. But symbolism alone is not enough for the football community.

The demand today is clear. Football fans are urging FIFA and UEFA to implement strict penalties, including hefty fines, point deductions for clubs, fan bans, lengthy suspensions, and potentially match cancellations for repeated offences.

Advertisement

Additionally, they must establish rigorous protocols for referees to immediately stop any racist abuse and reinforce football’s integrity at every opportunity.

Sticking points

Racism in stadiums is not just fleeting chants. It threatens the very essence of football, which is built on fair competition, equality, and mutual respect.

The Vinicius case today transcends a single player; it is a true test of the football system’s ability to protect its core values. Either stadiums become spaces of justice and respect, or they become a mirror reflecting the worst aspects of society.

With all these recurring incidents, the question always remains: When will racism in football finally end?

Advertisement

Featured image via the Canary

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Politics

Food bank use surges among UK students

Published

on

Food bank use surges among UK students

Holly Dougan, a student, told the BBC that food bank use is now ‘essential’ for many students. Meanwhile, the wealth accumulated by the richest 50 households exceeds that of the bottom 50 percent of the country.

Crippling consequences

The cost of living crisis and lack of student funding – both a consequence of economic inequality – have crippled students and driven greater reliance on food banks.

Meanwhile, if the super-rich continue to accumulate wealth at the rate of recent years, 200 families will have more wealth than the entire country’s GDP by 2035, according to the Equality Trust.

One student union has seen a 20% rise in students using The Pantry, a university food bank. The president of the union in Belfast said:

Advertisement

It is unbelievable the amount of students that use The Pantry, we have over 200 students visiting every day

She continued:

A lot of our students would struggle to eat and have meals, and have three meals a day let alone one so it’s really something for our students to not have to choose between heating or eating… A lot of this comes from students not having enough money within loans, rent prices are increasing a lot and I think that’s very much a contributing factor.

Ben Friel, the National Union of Students NI president, added:

Maybe 10 or 15 years ago a students’ union would just be a place that people went on nights out, had a fun time, but now we’re in a situation where students’ unions have had to step up to the plate… Students aren’t just here for a night out, students get degrees, they come and contribute to the economy… Fundamentally we need to rethink how we look at students as a whole.

Wider food bank use

It’s not just students using food banks. From 2010-2025, their use in the UK surged by 5000 percent.

Moreover, 15 percent of UK households are living in food insecurity, effecting eight million adults and three million children. In September, union leaders called on Keir Starmer to put a stop to the issue:

Advertisement

We simply cannot allow food banks to be seen as a normal part of life in the 21st Century. People are already at breaking point. You must tackle food insecurity and end food bank Britain.

With obscene levels of inequality, there’s no place for food bank use in modern Britain.

Featured image via Unsplash/the Canary

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Politics

The Canary-sponsored football club defying all odds

Published

on

A group of four of the Great Western FC team getting ready to play a game on an outdoor pitch at night time

I fucking hate football. Overpaid players, over-the-top glamour and an industry detached from its local roots – a major turnoff. To me, football feels like a soulless corporate product, carried out by lads who couldn’t even point to their team’s hometown on a map.

But then on 24 February, I went to Swindon to see Great Western FC. I expected the same spectacle, but instead, I found myself part of a warming community experience. Without warning, football brought together strangers as friends.

Great Western FC is the club the Canary sponsors. Why you might be thinking? It much more than a football squad – it’s a vital support network for the men the state has abandoned. They hail from a town whose social fabric has been shredded by government negligence. For it’s players, the club, and pitch, are their sanctuary. While our government manages our social decline, the lads I met are busy saving one another.

Sanctuary from the streets

Standing on the touchline, these players have defied the very system that failed them. Great Western FC is the only thing standing between them and a prison cell. Or worse, a fucking morgue.

Advertisement

One player, fierce on the pitch, was caught up in gang violence. Before he found the club, his life was defined by poor decisions, including shotgun related incidents. Another lad told me how he’d been shot in the foot and stabbed before. Speaking to them, I saw how football had changed their lives; one sees courteous young men – some of loveliest lads.

A group of four of the Great Western FC team getting ready to play a game on an outdoor pitch at night time

And that’s the fucking point. These lads aren’t bad people. When our state shutters community centres and youth services, bad behaviour fills that vacuum and struggling lads turn to crime. Research shows that for every £1 we save by closing youth clubs, the taxpayer coughs up £3 in societal damage.

Watching the ‘shotgun lad’ weaving through the crowd with such ease, celebrating with his team mates, I felt something about a team I haven’t felt in years – genuine interest. And it is so hard not to like Great Western FC when you see the pastoral care they invest in their players. They nurture raw talent that our state lets rot every single day. At Great Western, that potential is reclaimed and put to outstanding use, all through football.

Processing emotions through the game

The trauma on the pitch isn’t always physical. One 17-year-old player lost his best friend to a hit and run driver and Great Western FC helped with his healing journey. Rather than sinking deeper into grief, he found solace in a group of rowdy lads and a game he loves – football offering him hope.

Advertisement

In a country where suicide is the leading cause of death in men under the age of 50, community-driven care can save lives. Men are three times more likely than women to die of suicide, with those living in deprived areas being twice as likely to take their own lives.

The Great Western FC squad stood in front of a goal, wearing Canary branded blue kits

For this teenager, that 90 minutes on the pitch provides therapy not even the NHS can offer – least not in its current state. Research shows that men often reject the clinical, “sitting-on-a-sofa” kind of therapy, but thrive in community-led environments.

Every goal I witnessed, celebrated with raw emotion, was a moment when the silent struggles of these working-class men were finally given a voice, thanks to football.

Fuck the egos

The atmosphere on the pitch was riveting. The lads were laughing and playfully shoving each other. But don’t get me wrong, there was no messing around on that pitch. The second those lads were told it was time to play, they all snapped into focus.

Advertisement

The owners have worked tirelessly to eliminate the ‘bully’ culture common in sports. They have tried to cultivate a family atmosphere and have fucking succeeded. There were no egos on that pitch, none whatsoever.  What I saw was a variety of skill levels in these young men. The stronger players didn’t ridicule those who weren’t as good, instead choosing to encourage one another to keep pushing.

When the final whistle blew, this “family” didn’t just disappear into the night. They stayed and tidied up the pitch together. I watched as they hopped over fences and into the night to find stray balls they had lost. And there wasn’t a sense of “that’s not my job.” In a community that has been stripped of so much, they protect what they have, and football is at the heart of those bonds.

The meaning of a working class family

This solidarity goes so much further than the pitch. Walking through the car park, the reality of working class mutual aid was on show in full force. Every single vehicle I saw was crammed to the brim as players shared lifts, splitting the cost to ensure every player could make it to the football game.

The Canary chose to sponsor this team because we believe in this kind of solidarity to our core. We didn’t just put our name on a (very stylish) shirt. The Canary is investing in a community that refuses to let its young men fall behind.

Advertisement

A Canary UK branded football shirt hung up in a changing room

Great Western FC is the true meaning of “working class.” They are united by the trials and tribulations they’ve lived, beyond the pitch. In the professional leagues, “local” clubs are just massive global corporations. At Great Western FC, the communal, collectivist spirit is real and it provides a lifeline for  many young men, with football at its core.

They don’t have private jets or glamour. They have each other and a dark pitch with a broken floodlight. And what I’ve found to love about the game of football is embodied by Great Western FC – community, solidarity and mutual aid and nothing less.

Featured image via Great Western FC

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

Politics

DNC scraps midterm convention plans

Published

on

DNC scraps midterm convention plans

The Democratic National Committee is canceling plans to host a midterm convention, as the party faces a fundraising crunch.

The DNC also announced Monday that it would hold the 2028 presidential convention from Aug. 7 to Aug. 10, 2028. Five cities — Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver and Philadelphia — are under consideration to host it, officials said.

The committee announced its decisions to DNC members during a phone call Monday afternoon, according to two people who participated and were granted anonymity to describe a private meeting. DNC Chair Ken Martin said he’d received feedback from Democrats, urging the party committee to focus its resources on campaign work in states, one of those people said.

The DNC is facing a staggering fundraising problem, with the Republican National Committee holding a $100 million cash edge over them at the start of 2026. Last fall, the DNC took out a $15 million loan to invest in the Virginia and New Jersey elections, a move that raised concerns among Democrats about the party’s financial health.

Advertisement

In a statement on the decision to cancel the midterm convention, DNC’s executive director Roger Lau said they’d “baited” Republicans “into wasting time and money on a midterm convention,” while the DNC has “put resources where they’re needed most.”

Jessica Piper contributed to this report. 

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Politics

Hunt Saboteurs pledge to end illegal hare hunts

Published

on

A Hunt Saboteur Association logo with an image of a running hare in the middle

The Hunt Saboteur Association (HSA) is broadening its visual identity. Alongside its traditional running fox, a new logo now features a running hare. This isn’t just a snazzy design choice, this is a direct message to illegal hunters who think they can hide in the shadows of the countryside.

A Hunt Saboteur Association logo with an image of a running hare in the middle
The Hunt Saboteurs unveil their new hare logo

Brown hares are stunning creatures, but they’ve faced centuries of persecution. Despite a documented decline in their population, hunters continue chasing and killing them for leisure. Most of these hunts sit under the British Hound Sports Association. They use the same tired ‘trail hunting’ smokescreen they use for foxes. Or, in order to bypass the 2005 ban, they often hunt hares under the guise of hunting rabbits.

Stopping the cruelty, once and for all

Hare hunting is particularly vicious, as we have previously reported. And it involves three main types of hunt, all of which are incredibly cruel.

These are harriers in which the hares are hunted by staff on horseback. Then there’s hunts with beagles and basset hounds, where the canines will hunt them through scent and the huntsmen are on foot. Lastly, we have with greyhounds and lurchers where the dogs are used for illegal coursing and gambling.

A greyhound in a field with a hare in its mouth. A huntsman follows behind.
Waterloo Cup Hare coursing, 1983

The HSA has a long and bloody history of standing between these bloodthirsty huntsmen and their prey. The first sab of a hare hunt took place during the 1965/66 season against the Eton College Beagles. Since then, sabs have faced arrest and serious injury to shut down events like the Waterloo Cup.

The tide is turning on these illegal hare hunts. The HSA has already sabbed the Alston Hare Week and the Northumberland Beagling festival out of existence. Hunts are folding or merging in an attempt to save themselves from oblivion. They are an ever-shrinking group, driven underground by the tireless work of the HSA.

Advertisement

You guys really need to read more about what the HSA has done to save many lives. I suggest you get your hands on “Sabotage – The Story of the Hunt Saboteurs Association.”

The fight continues, for all

The HSA has worked tirelessly for foxes. We have seen them leading the fight against fox hunting, and this new logo sends a clear and concise message to hare hunter: We are coming for you next.

The HSA won’t stop until every single hunt is consigned to history. As long as there are hunters in the field, the sabs will be there to stop them.

The new logo symbolises a new pledge, that no species is forgotten, and no hunt will go unchallenged.

Advertisement

And if you want to help them achieve this, whether through donations or wildlife advocacy, visit their website. 

Featured image via the Canary

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2025