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Politics

Mamdani fights for renters with transformative ‘Block by Block’ NY housing plan

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New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani arrives for a press conference at Staten Island University Hospital Community Park on April 27, 2026 in New York City.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani arrives for a press conference at Staten Island University Hospital Community Park on April 27, 2026 in New York City.

New York mayor, Zohran Mamdani, unveiled his groundbreaking ‘Block by Block’ housing plan yesterday, which will see 400,000 affordable homes with stabilised rents.

This restoring news follows a successful collection of more than $9 million in unpaid fines from billionaire Bezos’ Amazon.

Mamdani has long made clear that he grasps the scale of the financial crisis facing ordinary people, who find themselves increasingly priced out of housing and have an uphill battle to achieve financial security.

The New York mayor will also target rogue, exploitative landlords, and create tens of thousands of jobs needed to build new homes. In turn, he will help make home ownership genuinely possible for working-class people.

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Announcing this “ambitious housing plan”, Mamdani refreshingly declared:

New York is facing a historic housing crisis. We’re pursuing a historic solution.

We can only hope that politicians in the UK take heed of this policy because this housing crisis is something millions of Brits recognise in their own lives.

Mamdani: ‘Publicly owned and publicly operated’

In an incredible reprioritisation of the state’s role in ensuring workers have the ability to own their own homes, Mamdani highlighted how 70% of New Yorkers don’t own their properties. Home ownership has a massive impact on social mobility, with more and more people pushed into paying extortionate rents.

This has, of course, been a boon for private landlords, whilst hard-working people find themselves increasingly entrenched under ever-rising living costs.

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Powerfully, and bang on the money, Mamdani stated:

When New Yorkers can afford a home, they can afford to dream.

He added:

For centuries, New York City built enough housing to keep pace with our population growth, until the 1960s.

Over the past 60 years, however, government helped create the housing crisis we now face through a series of choices.

If the absence of good government created the conditions we now face, the presence of good government can build the solutions we now need.

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In contrast to British MPs who continue to pander to the richest in society whilst disavowing, disenfranchising and frankly, abandoning those without hoardes of cash, Mamdani makes clear that he is working for the masses.

Pledging to build 200,000 new homes over the next decade, whilst preserving and applying rent controls in New York, Mamdani said:

This historic production push will increase the number of homes for homeless New Yorkers by nearly 45%.

In order to make this pretty incredible policy work, New York will receive a capital investment of $22 billion in just five years.

Mamdani emphasised that “no plan of this scale has ever been imagined by a past mayor, let alone proposed”.

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Private tenants to receive greater protection

Recognising that home ownership won’t be instant, and that renters are long overdue adequate protections from exploitative landlords, he also revealed extensive protections for private tenants.

It appears the NY mayor is finally making it so that rich people face real consequences for their profiteering whilst providing no value for money.

However, these positive, progressive, people-first policy commitments don’t stop there: Mamdani will also require the city to investigate every heat complaint made through New York’s 311 system and send inspectors to each reported case.

In a remarkable change of direction to typical neoliberal politics, Mamdani will transfer ownership for buildings which have long been neglected to “responsible stewards”.

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He said:

Stewards that include community land trusts, non-profits, or even the tenants themselves.

Going further, Mamdani has equally committed to the “largest capital commitment” to New York City’s Housing Authority (NYCHA).

Promising to invest $5.6 billion over five years and, in a move that highlights how corrupted our own politicians are, he has refused to sell out publicly owned assets.

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And we will do all this while ensuring NYCHA remains publicly owned and publicly operated.

Therefore, it’s apparent that Mamdani plans to maintain this landmark investment in the prospects and futures of ordinary families, rather than allowing it to be steadily eroded in favour of rising profits, as seen in the increasingly privatised state in the UK.

Nevertheless, the ‘Block by Block’ plan does commit to including private developers, so it will be essential to maintain public pressure to ensure that long-forgotten people remain the priority over the profits of developers and their shareholders.

Will British MPs take heed of Mamdani’s courage?

Mamdani’s politics have been popular amongst voters, particularly in New York where nearly a fifth of children under 18 live in poverty. With increasing poverty in the UK, and a widening chasm of inequality, British MPs and commentators would do well to remember that all human life has value regardless of how bottomless their bank accounts are.

In a society where ordinary people are waking up to the abuses of corporate interests and billionaires, there is a pretty stark absence of any real meaningful efforts to address the cost of greed crisis in the UK.

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Housing associations have taken over much of the responsibility for social housing, and this shift reduces value for money for both taxpayers and renters alike.

Thankfully, Mamdani’s ‘Block by Block’ policy underscores the reality that having the political will to stand up for the masses is all that is required to make sure actual change is delivered.

As Mamdani makes clear, public ownership is the way forward to lift the country off its knees, not endless privatisation which fleeces us all.

Featured image via Michael M. Santiago/ Getty Images

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By Maddison Wheeldon

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Why is Zack Polanski championing a convicted terrorist?

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Why is Zack Polanski championing a convicted terrorist?

As Zack Polanski said this week, after wearing a t-shirt in support of the convicted Palestinian terrorist, ‘let’s talk about Marwan Barghouti’. In the Green leader’s version of events, the murderer-cum-revolutionary icon and leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades was imprisoned for 25 years in Israel without a ‘fair trial’. Polanski also cited an internet quote attributed to Nelson Mandela – ‘What is happening to Barghouti is exactly the same as what happened to me’ – which has, of course, never been substantiated.

Barghouti, who is relatively popular with the Palestinian street on account of his charisma, has long been a cause célèbre among Western activists, who have found it most convenient to overlook his crimes. If anything, the way he has been cast in the mould of Mandela is testament to how, for these activists, everything is always about them and their worldview. After all, unlike Barghouti, Mandela was never convicted of directing attacks on civilians.

Let’s stick to the facts. Polanski’s claim that Barghouti did not receive a fair trial was based on a 2004 report produced by a French lawyer, Simon Foreman, on behalf of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. While it is true that the report criticised the trial, mainly on procedural grounds, it did not exonerate Barghouti, and no international court has vacated the conviction. As such, the Israeli judgment remains legally in force.

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Now to the case itself. In 2004, an impartial Israeli court convicted Barghouti of five counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, membership of a terror group and conspiracy to commit acts of terror. He was sentenced to five life sentences, plus 40 years.

Among his victims was a Greek Orthodox monk called Georgios Tsibouktzakis, abbot of the ancient St George Monastery near Jerusalem, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in 2001. He is understood to have been mistaken for a Jew on account of his beard.

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The deadliest attack for which the Palestinian leader was convicted took place in March 2002. Gunman Ibrahim Hasouna opened fire with an M16 on the Seafood Market restaurant in Tel Aviv, where a hen party was taking place. He also lobbed grenades into the crowd (one rolled on to the dancefloor but thankfully failed to detonate). Two Jewish men, Eli Dahan and Yosef Habi, were killed in the atrocity, as well as a Druze policeman called Salim Barakat, who had bravely confronted the assailant. Thirty-five others were wounded.

Despite refusing to recognise the authority of the court and refusing to defend himself, Barghouti was acquitted of 21 murders for which the evidence was not deemed to be sufficient. Clearly, this was not the behaviour of a court that was simply rubber-stamping the case for the prosecution, whatever the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union might say.

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At the time, the trial was both high-profile and traumatic. The cramped public benches of Court 602 in Tel Aviv were filled with parents of Israelis killed in the ambushes directed by Barghouti, some of whom openly wept as they clutched pictures of their loved ones.

Defiant to the last, Barghouti twisted the emotional knife by informing the court that he stood for peace and liberty and describing himself as a freedom fighter. The judge sternly pointed out: ‘A soldier does not kill civilians with bombs and kill children.’

To compare the Palestinian killer to Nelson Mandela, in other words, is a grave disservice to the South African leader. Nevertheless, Barghouti is undoubtedly an interesting character. He was never a raving jihadi like the late Yahya Sinwar or Mohammed Deif of Hamas. He is a nationalist rather than an Islamist. He began his political life in the 1990s as a relatively pragmatic Palestinian leader who supported peace in exchange for Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank.

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However, that had changed by the time of the Second Intifada in the early 2000s, when 140 suicide bombs killed more than 1,000 Israelis – some of them schoolchildren on buses. Barghouti was often spotted on street corners in Ramallah during disturbances, issuing orders by phone, earning him the nickname ‘Little Napoleon’. Then came the evidence connecting him to murders.

Barghouti knows how to play a Western audience. Even in 2002, while directing savagery against innocent civilians, he struck a relatively moderate tone in English. In a column for the Washington Post, he wrote: ‘while I, and the Fatah movement to which I belong, strongly oppose attacks and the targeting of civilians inside Israel, our future neighbour, I reserve the right to protect myself… and to fight for my freedom.’

What to make of all this? Here’s my take. Like other performative Palestinian firebrands, Barghouti knows that doe-eyed Western activists and journalists want to believe that he is a saint. So deep-rooted is hatred of Israel that liberals will lap up the most blatant lies and false comparisons, just to confect a Palestinian hero where they are otherwise lacking. Barghouti knows this; I know this; chances are, reader, that you know this. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the gullible left. Which brings us back to Zack Polanski.

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Look, I get it. It must be frustrating to support a cause that has nothing to show for itself in terms of democracy, human rights, respect for women and minorities, the protection of homosexuals and the rejection of terror. To take as your tribune a people who spit upon all your values is a tricky position to maintain. But don’t expect the rest of us to join you in your circle jerk. Wishful thinking, in other words, does not a freedom-fighter make.

Jake Wallis Simons is co-host of The Brink, with former parachute-regiment officer Andrew Fox. It is available on all platforms now.

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Why Belfast is burning – spiked

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Why Belfast is burning

Belfast was in flames last night. Cars and buses were set ablaze. Flaming rubbish bins were used to create roadblocks. And most horrifying of all, masked men went door to door in the Northern Irish capital, demanding to know if ‘foreigners’ lived inside. Emergency services had to escort immigrant families from their burning homes.

These scenes of terror and carnage unfolded on the day that Hadi Alodid, a Sudanese migrant, was charged on suspicion of attempted murder, and, in a separate incident on the same day, threatening to kill an NHS radiologist. Viral footage from Monday night appears to show him swiping a knife at the victim, later identified as Stephen Ogilvie, seemingly attempting to behead him and gouge his eyes out. Alodid appeared in court this morning to hear his charges. Police are not seeking anyone else in connection with their investigation.

UK prime minister Keir Starmer has called the disorder ‘totally unjustified’. Northern Ireland’s first minister, Michelle O’Neill, has described it as ‘disgusting cowardice’. These condemnations are necessary and well merited. What we saw last night was racist mob violence. Innocent people – migrants, asylum seekers, anyone who looked sufficiently foreign or non-white – had their homes attacked and their cars destroyed. The suspect alone should have to answer for his actions through the justice system. No group should ever face collective punishment. And no mob should ever have the right to dispense justice through wanton violence.

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These condemnations may be necessary, but by now they are utterly insufficient. After all, we are now familiar with the grim pattern. We see a horrific crime – usually committed by an illegal migrant (or suspected illegal migrant) – followed by protests that turn ugly or by thugs looking to kick off. Ballymena in County Antrim, Dublin in the Republic of Ireland, Knowsley in Merseyside – all have exploded in rioting in recent years, as longstanding tensions are brought to the boil by an unspeakable act.

Our leaders usually condemn the disorder and violence that follows, but will refuse to discuss the triggers in any depth. Anyone who asks what can be done about horrors like that inflicted on Stephen Ogilvie will be accused of stoking division, exploiting a tragedy and courting the far right.

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But something can and must be done. It is simply no longer sustainable to force working-class communities to endure such levels of terror, to bear the brunt of the elites’ open-door experiment – to pay the ‘blood price’, as Brendan O’Neill describes it, of the establishment’s virtue-signalling. Practically every day brings new horrors that ordinary folk are simply expected to put up with. On the very same day as the Sudanese suspect was charged with attempted murder, four Afghan nationals appeared in court, all charged with the alleged rape of a Bristol schoolgirl. From gang rapes in Brighton and grooming gangs in Norwich to child rape in Warwickshire, countless British citizens continue to suffer at the hands of men who shouldn’t be here. Yet this barely seems to trouble our cloistered political class.

None of this is to defend those violent scenes in Belfast. Rioting is always nihilistic and self-destructive. Far from putting people’s concerns and anger over immigration on the political agenda, it provides the ideal excuse for them to be ignored once again. I can’t have been alone in detecting a palpable sigh of relief emanating from Westminster as soon as the first Belfast bus was set alight. Now the political class can move on from discussing the barbarism they have enabled and get back on to safer territory – railing against the ‘far right’, issuing calls to tackle ‘misinformation’, and posturing against ‘agitators’ who seek to ‘divide’ our otherwise peaceful, harmonious society. But these deflections cannot and will not work forever.

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The rioting in Belfast will pass. Politicians’ attention will drift and the news cycle will move on. But the conditions that helped to fuel last night’s violence – the abandonment of working-class communities, the broken asylum system, the elite culture of denial and deflection – will persist. Until they are addressed openly and honestly, there will almost certainly be another Belfast.

Fraser Myers is deputy editor at spiked and host of the spiked podcast. Follow him on X: @FraserMyers

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Politicians and commenters condemn white riots following Belfast stabbing

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belfast

belfast

Politicians and social commentators from across the UK have taken to social media to condemn the racist riots that have swept Belfast – and the shameless far-right agitators who helped fan the flames.

As the Canary previously reported, rioters carried out a wave of pogroms in Belfast and nearby towns over the last two days, carrying out arson attacks on homes belonging to people of colour. The racists also attacked businesses they perceived as the property of ‘foreigners’, blocked roads, and set fire to vehicles.

The hate crimes followed a knife attack, reportedly perpetrated by a Sudanese man, on the evening of 8 June in North Belfast. Police charged the suspect, Hadi Alodid, with attempted murder. The victim suffered injuries to his neck, back and both eyes, losing use of the left eye.

In response, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) politicians, along with English race-baiters like Nigel Farage and Rupert Lowe carried out varying degrees of the familiar song and dance: condemning the violence whilst also using dogwhistles and whipping up further racial hatred.

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Belfast: shameless exploitation

However, Green leader Zack Polanski condemned the ministers stoking the riots for political gain:

North Herefordshire Green MP Ellie Chowns also echoed similar sentiments:

The Lib Dems’ Ed Davey voiced his shock, whilst also pointing out the far-right’s shameless weaponisation of fear:

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A ‘chilling display of racist violence’

Labour’s Nadia Whittome, meanwhile, didn’t mince words:

A “chilling display of racist violence by organised fascists” – if only half our MPs were so willing to call these riots what they are. 

Your Party co-leader Jeremy Corbyn posted a statement on the “utterly sickening” violence on display. He also called out Nigel Farage’s dogwhistle for bringing us to this point:

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Likewise, the Alliance Party’s Sorcha Eastwood turned her rage against Farage’s counterparts in Northern Ireland:

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Divided we fall

Meanwhile, outside the halls of Parliament, campaigning researcher Zoe Gardner set up a stark dichotomy:

Turn Left Media editor Ben Mclaine pointed out the actual “two tier policing” at play:

It seems that several commentators had it in for Farage’s talking points, at that. He threatened more riots, and now we’re seeing arson attacks on the streets of Belfast.

Journalist Owen Jones also pointed out the hypocrisy of the far-right’s reaction. However, his thread (and it is a thread) focused on the lack of riots following similar crimes by white extremists:

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Last but not least, the Good Law Project hit several of the same notes we’ve seen so far:

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The UK is currently speeding along head-first in its descent into fascism. The far-right is using any and every excuse they can to stir up white-supremacist violence and racial hatred.

We cannot fight this tide by offering watered-down versions of Reform’s talking points, packaged up as the ‘moderate alternative.’ Those of us who oppose these racist riots must stand with immigrants and people of colour in the UK.

Divided, none of us can hope to win out.

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Featured image via Getty/Charles McQuillan

By The Canary

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Ex-Reform councillor details sexism from former colleagues

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Nigel Farage and Charlotte Kelly of Reform UK

Nigel Farage and Charlotte Kelly of Reform UK

On 9 June, we reported that ex-Reform councillor Charlotte Kelly had defected to the Tories. Kelly blamed the move on sexism and bullying from her former colleagues. And since then, she’s come forwards to provide more information on what went down:

Former Reform councillor feels ’embarrassed’

In the video above, Kelly says:

I feel really sad and I feel embarrassed that I believed everything that they said because I fully bought in. I did. Now I just feel very let down.

It should be pointed out that the things Reform promises publicly are also very bad. And given the party’s hostility towards various minority groups – and women – Kelly shouldn’t be all that surprised to have discovered they were hostile towards her.

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At the same time, this obviously doesn’t excuse the alleged bullying she had to put up with. We just hope Kelly’s experience helps others to avoid what she describes having experienced.

When asked how the last few days have been, Kelly said:

Stressful.

ITV’s Lewis Warner then explained:

Charlotte Kelly joined Reform UK hoping to make Leek a better place. But she says her time in the party has only made her own life worse. She alleges bullying, sexism and a culture that left her feeling isolated and ignored.

It would be interesting to know which Reform policies Kelly thought would improve her area, but the interview doesn’t get into that. Kelly responded:

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It just seems to always be targeted at me. It’s not the men, it’s always me.

Kelly claims a female colleague told her the male Reform councillors couldn’t help themselves because of their age. We’re not sure how old they all are, but if this statement is true, they’re too old to be in the workplace.

Freeing

Kelly claims Reform does not tolerate any dissent whatsoever, and when asked how the party treats councillors, she answered:

I would say that as long as you do as you’re told, they’re fine, and as long as you don’t expect anything from head office, you just pretty much get left.

Kelly added that she had no freedom to express opinions, and that:

They want you to vote and say and just do as you’re told and whether or not you think it’s right, which isn’t… And I started to ask questions and speak out. And when I did, I was, especially from one particular person, reacted with swearing, abuse and… are really awful behaviour.

Kelly isn’t the first Reform councillor to make such claims, as we reported in this piece:

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Defector Rob Parsonage said of the party:

He added: “We were being sent orders from above – they wanted us to vote down everything net zero and fight DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] – but in the end it turned into a conflict between the national agenda and the role of a councillor.”

Councillor Nick Brown, meanwhile, said:

When we took control [of Durham Council], I believed the messages from Nigel Farage that we would make big changes for people living locally.

But really, whenever we had a local issue, we were told to follow the party line. Not to rock the boat, bring press attention on the council. We all turned into Nigel’s yes-men – ordered to be on best behaviour to help him get to power.

Vetting issues?

Seemingly talking about the systemic issue of sexism, Kelly said:

they are not vetting correctly to see whether or not people have these views. When you present these issues and say that they’re there, that they’re not doing anything about it.

Reform definitely has an issue with sexism, much like it has an issue with every other form of bigotry. We don’t think the issue is that the party’s vetting is ‘failing’, however; we think Reform simply doesn’t care if its politicians hate women or people from minority groups.

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Featured image via Leon Neal (Getty Images)

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The House | I hope my Private Members’ Bill is a critical step towards lobbying reform

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I hope my Private Members’ Bill is a critical step towards lobbying reform
I hope my Private Members’ Bill is a critical step towards lobbying reform


4 min read

We were promised a statutory register of lobbyists.

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“We were promised a statutory register of lobbyists. Instead, we have a skeleton register of only consultant lobbyists, exempting 80 per cent of the industry. The word ‘transparency’ in the title is a misnomer. It misses most lobbyists.”

Those were my words in 2013, as the shadow cabinet office minister, in the Second Reading of the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill (now the 2014 Lobbying Act) because, by failing to include in-house lobbyists on the register, the legislation was doomed to fail. The law would fail to provide a sufficient level of transparency for a healthy democracy, and also fail to prevent lobbying scandals, thus fuelling public suspicions about the cosy relationship between business and government. 

In the 13 years that followed, I have regrettably been proved right. Lobbying scandals continue to make the front pages while public trust in our political institutions further declines.

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) – the professional body for lobbyists – said something similar in 2013, that “the lack of engagement with the industry is reflected in a poorly drafted and narrow definition which does not accurately reflect the work undertaken by lobbyists”. It has therefore campaigned to strengthen Westminster’s lobbying laws and for greater transparency, its own polling finding that over two-thirds of lobbyists would welcome greater scrutiny of their work. When an industry body and its members are calling for greater regulation, you know things need to change.

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Working closely with the CIPR over the last few months, I’ve seen how scandals like the Greensill affair damage the public’s view of politicians but importantly also undermines organisations which need to engage with government, as well as individuals who work for them. We all benefit from our politics being informed by real-world experience but done in a way that is transparent and accountable. As a parliamentarian and a former lobbyist, I understand that better than most. My own scrutiny of legislation has been greatly enhanced by hearing directly from those it impacts. Such dialogue, however, should be in the open and not under the radar.

This is why I was delighted to introduce my Private Members’ Bill in the Lords to expand the register of lobbyists to include in-house lobbyists. It is extraordinary that the present legislation only captures four per cent of lobbying of government, according to Transparency International, since only consultant lobbyists have to register, ignoring those employed in-house whose work is completely opaque. Adding this more significant (in size and scope) activity will give the public, journalists, academics and other interested parties, a truer picture of who is seeking to inform and influence government.

It’s embarrassing – and wrong – that anyone can find out more information about who is lobbying in Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Canada, the EU, the USA, Australia and France than about who is lobbying in Westminster, the so-called Mother of Parliaments. We should demand better. Those democracies have more records on their lobbying registers than ours. The UK register has 291 records, the Scottish one 1,754.

In opposition, Labour pressed amendments to the-then bill to ensure in-house lobbyists were included on the register, and before the election Labour promised a different kind of politics, with the-then deputy leader, Angela Rayner, promising movement on lobbying. However, we’ve yet to see tangible action on this. Successive high-profile scandals led the Prime Minister to ask the Ethics and Integrity Commission to review lobbying, disclosure and access to government. We should hear its recommendations next month. 

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What is clear to Parliament, the public and lobbying professionals is that the status quo is unsustainable, and can’t be solved by tinkering or better enforcement. It needs legislation that is fit for purpose to help ensure we have no more scandals to undermine trust in politics. My bill, which will have its Second Reading on 3 July, is the first, but important step, in this arena. 

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Trump-backed candidate wins GOP primary to replace Nevada Rep. Mark Amodei

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Trump-backed candidate wins GOP primary to replace Nevada Rep. Mark Amodei

David Flippo, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who earned President Donald Trump’s support, won the GOP primary to replace retiring Nevada Rep. Mark Amodei.

The race in Nevada’s 2nd District was a proxy war between Trump and prominent state Republicans, many of whom backed former state Sen. James Settelmeyer, including Amodei and GOP Gov. Joe Lombardo. Flippo ended up emerging victorious on Wednesday from a crowded, 13-person Republican field.

The victory continues Trump’s 2026 hot streak in GOP primary endorsements, marred only by a hiccup in last week’s Iowa gubernatorial primary. Trump backed Flippo in a Truth Social post in late May, less than two weeks before Election Day.

Flippo campaigned as a hardliner on immigration and transgender issues, and he slammed Settelmeyer as a “woke liberal” in ads. But Settelmeyer’s opponents took issue with Flippo, a longtime Las Vegas resident who only recently purchased property in Reno, attempting to run the state’s lone safely Republican district.

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Amodei went as far as saying Trump “made a mistake” in a post on X.

But Flippo prevailed, riding support from Trump and Turning Point Action. He will enter November’s election as the heavy favorite in a district Trump won by 14 points in 2024.

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Gwyneth Paltrow turns to real estate as she helps sell illegal Israeli developments

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gwyneth paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow has joined fellow wealthy opportunists eager to support Israel in its settler-colonialist ambitions to exploit and profit off of stolen land taken from Palestinians.

Becoming the face of the 51 Park Herzliya luxury apartment settler-project in Israel, Zionist Paltrow has sought to upsell the new-built apartments with the creative direction of Israeli agency aptly named ‘Why Worry’.

However, Israel’s existence itself has demanded the displacement, death and destruction of the Palestinians who have been indigenous to the land for centuries. They are also currently waging a genocide against the indigenous population, with a clear stated aim to settle – steal – further territory.

Gwyneth Paltrow props up Zionist genocide

Paltrow’s move to make these illegal development projects more attractive to foreigners signals the scary fact that wealthy and powerful people simply do not care about the horrific human cost of Zionist occupation.

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Moreover, this comes ahead of a planned event on Sunday 14th June called the ‘Great Israeli Real Estate Event’ which MP Richard Burgon has rightfully labelled “disgraceful”.

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From one colonialist project to another

Paltrow filmed the advert in New York, showing the privilege of super-wealthy individuals in the US whilst grossly acting as if they are ‘normal’ – when the reality is most would never possibly be able to relate to her lifestyle. She then had a cheesy, and implausible, line when getting into a NY cab asking the driver to take her to Herzliya in Zionist ‘Israel.’

However, from its very inception, Israel has seen fit to murder, terrorise, displace and disavow Palestinians in order to establish its own ethnonationalist state. Dating back to the Nakba, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been forced out of their homes, one brutal way or another, for Zionists to build luxury properties on stolen land.

Moving into Lebanon, that bloodstained expansionist project to build “Greater Israel” is ongoing with little getting in its way.

Coincidentally, the US’ rise as a ‘global superpower’ is inseparable from a history of violent expansion, indigenous displacement, and mass destruction across the territory. This lends a pretty sinister and gross irony in Paltrow doing videos in one colonialist state to upsell properties in yet another settler, occupying state.

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This latest development is built by Aviv Melisron and the name of its chosen creative agency speaks volumes – ‘Why Worry’. After all, it is increasingly clear that these elitists genuinely have no worries or concerns about the murderous projects they champion, empower and embolden.

Thus, ‘Why Worry’ about the deaths of hundreds of thousands if there’s a tidy profit to be made by Western capitalists like Paltrow.

UK hosting settler-colonialist real estate event in London

This sickening advertisement from Gwyneth Paltrow comes ahead of an event in London on Sunday which is seeking to sell homes in these illegal developments to pro-Zionist investors and potential homeowners. This, in turn, will increase British people’s involvement, and complicity, in the genocide continuing in Gaza and the settler-terrorism in the occupied territories.

Thankfully, Richard Burgon has taken the government to task over allowing such a bloodstained real estate event to go ahead in our capital city:

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Burgon: “Ban this event selling off land illegally in Palestine”

Richard Burgon has consistently opposed Israel’s genocide in Gaza and consistently backed Palestinian claims to their stolen land, as settlement building in the West Bank continues to expand with absolute impunity.

Calling for stronger action by the government, he stated in the House of Commons:

Let’s just imagine, if this weekend in our capital city there was a great Russian real estate event, selling off Ukrainian land – Quite rightly, without hesitation, the Government would move to ban such an illegal event.

This weekend, in London, there is the great Israeli real estate event. Openly advertising the illegal sale of land in illegally occupied Palestinian territories. The government has rightly recognised the state of Palestine, surely given that, we should now move to ban this event selling off land illegally in Palestine in our capital city this weekend.

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Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper responded by agreeing that these are illegal settlements, however refrains from any real action to block the event:

Well, we are pursuing this particular event and also if there are any cases where we find that there are breaches of UK law we will also pursue those issues as well.

But look, there is a wider issue here which is that nobody should be advertising, in the UK, illegal settlements. Nobody should be pursuing those illegal settlements. No businesses, no organisations should be getting involved in them and we have shown our willingness and determination to impose sanctions on organisations that do, just as we have set out today.

We will continue to do further sanctions, where we have the opportunity to do so, because support for illegal settlements is wrong.

Happy enough to ban left-wingers from UK, but never against Zionists

It is worth noting, though, that the government had no issue blocking entry of pro-Palestine Cenk Ugur and Hasan Piker so they couldn’t physically attend an Oxford Union lecture. Thankfully, the union welcomed them remotely, but the state had no trouble using its ‘might’ against advocates for Palestine.

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Therefore, it stands to reason that Cooper could indeed do far more to actually stop this real estate event in London – it just requires a motivated political will to actually stand up to murderous Zionist Israel.

However, that political – or frankly, moral – will seems completely out of reach for this Israeli-captured and billionaire-corrupted former party of the working class.

Featured image via Getty/Theo Wargo

By Maddison Wheeldon

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West Ham co-owner, nicknamed ‘Sultan of Sleaze’, banned from being alone with women and girls

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David Sullivan, Joint-Chair of West Ham United, in attendance prior to the Premier League match between West Ham United and Crystal Palace at London Stadium on 20 September 2025 in London

David Sullivan, Joint-Chair of West Ham United, in attendance prior to the Premier League match between West Ham United and Crystal Palace at London Stadium on 20 September 2025 in London

Content warning: This article contains descriptions of sexual abuse and harrassment 

The billionaire co-owner of West Ham Football Club, David Sullivan, resigned on Saturday ahead of a joint BBC and Times investigation alleging he’s a sexual predator.

The Panorama documentary broadcasts allegations made by several women that Sullivan abused his position of power and influence to prey on women for sex.

Since 2023, officials have banned Sullivan from being alone with members of the women’s and youth teams.  An investigation uncovered concerns serious enough to prompt safeguarding restrictions around female players.

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The porn tycoon has insisted this was not a “disciplinary ban”, but it’s increasingly evident that it was a preventative ban to protect women and girls from harm.

However, like most sexually abusive men, Sullivan refutes the allegations as having “never happened”.

His resignation letter from West Ham read:

After a lifetime spent building businesses in the adult industry, in which I have met thousands of women, it is sadly inevitable that a small number of improper conduct claims are being made against me.

As a result, we find ourselves wondering how many women may have endured such abuse in their youth but stayed silent over fears they’d be disbelieved due to Sullivan’s status

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West Ham co-owner always been a sexual predator

The BBC and Times investigation into Sullivan’s alleged abuses unearthed allegations made by eight women. Each had spoken to the police about Sullivan’s inappropriate behaviour, but no charges have been levelled against the billionaire.

However, it isn’t hard to see merit in the victims’ claims. Sullivan’s resignation before the documentary aired arguably signals a guilty conscience and once again, an attempt by an abusive man to slink into the background to evade consequences for his lurid behaviour.

Once branded the ‘Sultan of Sleaze’, Sullivan grew his wealth through sex shops and pornography before becoming co-owner of West Ham in 2010.

The sexual misconduct allegations span decades, coming from women who were in their late teens and early 20s. They were aspiring young models seeking opportunities in the adult entertainment industry.

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People, especially men, will undoubtedly try to blame the women for seeking work in an industry many view as exploitative and harmful. I disagree. Women cannot be blamed for pursuing opportunities to earn money.

It’s also incredibly hypocritical of men when they built, shaped and continue to profit from these industries.

West Ham and FA have some explaining to do

The former minister for victims and violence against women and girls, Alex Davies-Jones, expressed her horror at the allegations, while saying she wasn’t surprised by them.

The Labour MP also called for a review of how police handled disclosures made by potential victims of sexual abuse, raising fresh questions about whether authorities took those claims seriously enough.

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Culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, joined this call.

She said:

If it is the case that an investigation concluded that there were sufficiently serious allegations to warrant a ban on contact with the youth and women’s teams, then the FA must explain this decision and why no further action was taken.

I expect a full and urgent explanation from the FA and West Ham as to how these incredibly serious allegations have been handled.

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Survivor recalls frightening ‘audition’

An ex-model described the terror she felt during an ‘audition’ when she realised she was locked in the room with Sullivan.

He lured her with promises of securing national press, but said she would need to be “one of his special friends”.

She told the BBC:

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[To Sullivan] If you think I’m going to sleep with you to get in the paper, you’ve got another thing coming. He looked very shocked as I said that. And then said, “What, not even a blowjob?”.

***

I go to the door and realise it’s locked. At that point, I was like, “Open the fucking door, open the fucking door now”.

This horrifying story will undoubtedly trigger traumatic experiences for many women and girls. It also reiterates the importance of a serious conversation about why society places the burden of safety on women and girls and ‘preventative measures’, rather than holding abusive men accountable.

The failing of the football industry

The FA and West Ham believed introducing preventative measures were sufficient — but can they honestly say they went far enough?

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After all, Sullivan said:

I saw it as a meaningless restriction, as it didn’t impact on my work in any way, therefore I accepted it for a quiet life.

Some men are now attempting to make out that Sullivan, the alleged perpetrator, is a victim of defamation.

It’s time rich, powerful men face accountability

Back in 2008, this wannabe-Playboy billionaire lauded his behaviour.

I have given an awful lot of people a lot of pleasure and I have never hurt anyone.

Needless to say, plenty of the people named in the Epstein files would no doubt offer the same defence of their behaviour. But that’s part of the problem: powerful men always seem to have a ready-made excuse.

What accountability have these men actually faced? A few bad headlines? Some uncomfortable interviews? Maybe an angry opinion piece or two. Beyond that, very little. No serious consequences. No meaningful punishment.

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The men responsible carry on with little disruption to their lives while women bear the consequences. Too often, those responsible evade accountability while survivors bear the consequences for years to come. When that pattern repeats itself time and again, talk of justice begins to ring hollow for many female victims.

Therefore, we hope to see greater pressure placed on the police. Authorities must start to intently listen to victims of sexual abuse and take their allegations seriously. For too long, there has been a reluctance to confront perpetrators head-on, often out of fear of causing offence or attracting controversy.

Victims deserve better than that. They deserve to be heard and they deserve a genuine effort to deliver justice.

Featured image via Justin Setterfield/ Getty Images

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By Maddison Wheeldon

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US strikes two reservoirs in Iran cutting off drinking water to 20,000 people

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iran

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The US has bombed two reservoirs in Sirik, Iran, leaving over 20,000 people without access to fresh drinking water.

The strikes heavily damaged both reservoirs, which supply the Bemani and Kouhestak areas of Sirik town.

Trump’s army illegally bombed around 20 sites, including the southern cities of Jask, Sirik, Goruk, Bandar Abbas and on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.

This was supposedly ‘retaliation’ for Iran downing a US Apache Helicopter, which was patrolling the Strait of Hormuz. A US official said an Iranian drone collided with the Apache, causing it to crash.

But of course, the US was already striking targets near the Strait of Hormuz, and Israel never stopped bombing Lebanon, meaning Iran’s shooting down of the helicopter was merely self-defence.

Trump also said that Iran had:

taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!

In response, Iran hit US targets across Gulf countries, including Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait.

Iran face more war crimes from unaccountable US

Obviously, targeting civilian infrastructure such as reservoirs and water distribution centres is a war crime.

The Geneva Conventions [1949] state that:

2. It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for the production of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance value to the civilian population or to the adverse Party, whatever the motive, whether in order to starve out civilians, to cause them to move away, or for any other motive.

But when has international law ever stopped the US?

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A local water company told Iranian state television that the destruction of the reservoirs had created a “major problem” for the region’s water supply network, as it had insufficient groundwater to replace the damaged reservoirs. It added:

Unfortunately, following this attack, 20,000 residents of the region have lost access to safe drinking water, and with temperatures ranging between 45 (113 degrees Fahrenheit) and 50 degrees Celsius, conditions have become extremely difficult and critical for local inhabitants.

Make no mistake – the US knows exactly what it’s doing, hitting vital water supplies during the hottest part of the year.

Of course, Iran would now be completely justified in hitting water plants that US troops or Israel rely on – seen as though Trump is fighting Netanyahu’s illegal battles for him.

Once again, this is US and Israeli colonialism on full display. What is even the point in international law anymore? Trump and Netanyahu get away with bombing schools, hospitals, and apartment blocks without a single consequence. So why would they think twice before bombing freshwater facilities?

The bottom line is, they don’t care about the lives of Iranians. And taking away access to fresh drinking water in 45-degree heat is just another tool to try to force Iran into submission.

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Featured image via Tasnim News /X

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Burnham calls for ‘safe routes’ then agrees with Farage in muddled interview

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Image of Andy Burnham smiling, image of Andy Burnham frowning, and a small boat crossing the English channel

Image of Andy Burnham smiling, image of Andy Burnham frowning, and a small boat crossing the English channel

In an interview with BBC Radio Manchester, Andy Burnham has made his thoughts clear on the topic of irregular migration. And by ‘clear’, we once again mean ‘less clear’.

The degree to which he was unclear is obvious in the fact that people are saying he agrees with Nigel Farage despite the fact that he also called for the creation of “safe routes”:

The UK desperately needs to introduce safe routes, as we’ve argued for some time. In now-trademark fashion, however, Burnham has given us just as much to worry about as to hope for.

Burnham bluster

Firstly, we should cover what safe routes are. As Amnesty explained:

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A ‘safe and legal route’ to the UK means a journey that is formally approved by the UK Government. That generally means that Home Office immigration rules permit the journey without a visa; or the journey is made with a visa granted for the purpose of making it.

Amnesty additionally lays out the following four ‘truths’:

  • TRUTH 1: The Government allows nobody to make a claim for asylum in the UK unless they are physically present in the UK
  • TRUTH 2: It is impossible to come to the UK for the purpose of seeking asylum in any way permitted by the Government’s immigration rules
  • TRUTH 3: The Government makes almost no safe and legal route available to any refugee other than someone from Ukraine
  • TRUTH 4: Seeking asylum from persecution is lawful – refugees don’t need anyone’s permission to do so

Refugees can’t claim asylum until they get here, but they also can’t come here to claim asylum (not unless they’re Ukrainian, anyway). In other words, the UK is using its geographical nature as an island get out of our international responsibilities to protect displaced and persecuted people.

Will Burnham fix this?

As usual, we have no idea what he has planned. And as we’ve covered elsewhere:

‘I do agree with Nigel Farage’

Getting to the interview itself, the following section is what people are reacting to (emphasis added):

What I am calling for is the reform of these Home Office contracts. I do agree with what [Nigel] Farage is saying. What we’ve got to do is get back to a sense of order.

There should be safe routes for people. What people don’t want to see is the chaos of the small boat crossings. I think the government is getting some order back into the system but there is definitely more to be done.

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It’s not wrong to state that the introduction of safe routes would help end “the chaos of small boat crossings”. As the Green Party wrote in a policy paper on the matter:

If safe routes existed, people would take them. Instead, we have taken away their ability to arrive within permissible routes and thus force them to take more and more dangerous routes. Not only are we causing these risks and ensuring the growth of smuggling networks

The problem with what Burnham said is that the collection of sentences he wrangled together don’t make sense in proximity to one another.

He says ‘I agree with Farage’, and then he says ‘we’ve got get a sense of order’, and then he says ‘there should be safe routes’. This is confusing, because Farage definitely isn’t calling for the creation of safe routes. And if we’re being real, Farage loves the status quo of small boats, because he’s able to capitalise on it politically.

Really, then, who is Burnham trying to appeal to?

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Left-wing voters will rightfully recoil at ‘I agree with Nigel Farage’. Some right-wing voters might nod along, but they won’t be nodding when the right-wing commentators start explaining what ‘safe routes’ are. At this point, these voters don’t want anyone coming here – safely or not.

A politician can present a moral and rational case for migration and asylum, or they can fearmonger. Burnham seems to be doing both.

‘Increased detention’

This is the other bit that people are taking Burnham to task over:

It’s this thing about control, isn’t it? It feels like the country isn’t functioning properly, running things properly and the small boats issue completely speaks to that. People want it to be dealt with. We do need to go further.

We need to make greater use of detention so that people who have got no basis for a claim are not actually admitted into the country.

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Burnham apparently wants to create safe routes, which would mean asylum seekers are able to enter the country legally. He also wants to detain more asylum seekers – specifically the ones who continue to enter the country irregularly.

So how is he doing the maths on this?

Is he predicting that after we create safe routes, this will immediately be followed by an even greater influx of asylum seekers, and that said asylum seekers will opt to cross by boat despite the existence of safe routes?

Or is he planning to introduce so few safe routes that small boat crossings happen regardless?

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Here we go again

As ever with Burnham, it seems like he’s trying to give everyone what they want. In other words, he’s doing radical centrism.

It’s similar to when he hints at nationalisation, but then you read his actual words, and you notice he’s promising “stronger public control” of private utilities – not public ownership.

We do hope he expands the UK’s available safe routes, anyway. We just don’t know which Burnham will show up if he becomes prime minister.

Maybe we need a safe route for the left-leaning version of Burnham to enter Downing Street?

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Featured image via Anthony Devlin (Getty Images) / Anthony Devlin (Getty Images) / Carl Court (Getty Images)

By Willem Moore

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