Politics
Met police arrest pensioner for ‘jury crime’ already ruled not a crime
Met police officers have arrested pensioner and activist Trudi Warner, handcuffing and forcing her into a police van.
Shrinking legal rights
Her supposed offence? Holding a placard citing the law outside Woolwich Crown Court. The placard told jurors of their legal right — and legal right it is — to choose to acquit defendants because of conscience.
The judge in the Woolwich retrial of anti-genocide activists has ordered that jurors should not be reminded of their legal rights. Presumably this is because they might be tempted to exercise it and acquit the defendants. The same defendant has already been acquitted once before — evidently not the first time a judge tries this tactic.
Ms Warner knows all about that law — having been prosecuted for doing the same outside another trial. At her own trial, the judge threw out the charges and derided the Crown Prosecution Service for bringing the case at all, intimating that it can’t be contempt of court to remind jurors of their legal rights.
Yet here we are again, watching the same activist handcuffed and hauled off for holding the same sign that can’t possibly be illegal:
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The right to a fair trial
Defend Our Juries commented:
“There’s a High Court Ruling about this law” – Trudi ought to know, because the case was “the Secretary General vs Trudi Warner”. She was arrested in 2023 for holding this exact sign outside the trial of Insulate Britain protesters in 2023, and she DEFEATED the accusation in the High Court, much to the embarrassment of the government.
Just as with Insulate Britain activists who took action to prevent unneccesary deaths in the face of a fuel crisis, calling on the UK government to take action to retrofit homes in order to save lives, the Filton 24 activists facing re-trial today in Woolwich Crown Court are being denied the chance to tell jurors the whole truth under threat of charges of contempt. The Filton 24 took action to prevent UK-produced weapons being used to commit the worst crimes against humanity.
It was this type of corrupting of the right to a fair trial that lead Trudi to hold her sign in 2023, which replicates a 1670 placard situated inside the Old Bailey. After a year-long ordeal being pursued by the highest legal authority in the UK government, she won her case and proved that it is not unlawful to hold a sign outside a court reminding jurors of their rights.
Jurors have an absolute right to acquit a defendant according to their conscience.
Jurors deserve to hear the whole truth.
Damn right. The Starmer police state is a rogue state.
Featured image via the Canary
By Skwawkbox
Politics
Three Palestinians have been murdered, in just over 24 hours, by illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank
Early on Tuesday afternoon, 21 April, settlers were spotted near the school and houses in the Western area of al Mughayyir village, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Shortly afterwards, an urgent appeal was put out on the residents’ WhatsApp groups for people to make their way to the boys’ school as settlers were gathering there and had started shooting.
School children in the West Bank
13 year old Aws Hamdi al-Naasan was fatally shot in the head outside his school, while he and others were trying to get out of harm’s way.
In 2019, Aws said farewell to his father, Hamdi al Naasan, also martyred by settlers bullets.
“Open the road.”
Palestinian children protest at barbed wire erected by Israeli settlers in occupied West Bank village of Um al-Khair—calling for their basic right to access their school, move freely, & live without occupation.
Imagine your child facing this on the way to class pic.twitter.com/UEYzUWQUbU
— PM of Palestine (@PalestinePMO) April 23, 2026
As 33 year old Jihad Marzouk Abu Naim was leading the schoolchildren to safety he too was shot, this time in the chest. He was also martyred. Abu Naim, whose wife is eight months pregnant, was about to become a father for the first time.
Settler colonialist murderers
Local residents say they have identified the murderer as illegal settler Shmuel Wendy, head of the Homesh Yeshiva “religious school”, a figure who is familiar to the community of al Mughayyir and the nearby al Khalil Valley (Hebron).
Unsurprisingly, Wendy, who calls for the “full normalisation of the settlement enterprise”, denies even being in al Mughayyir on that day. He’s said to be planning to file a “massive lawsuit” against the Arab-Jewish grassroots movement known as Standing Together which claimed, along with many others, that Wendy was responsible for the killing.
Here, a previous video shows an armed Wendy, who can be seen intimidating and assaulting Palestinians in the al Khaleel Valley, along with other young thugs. Abu Hammam, the uncle of the martyr Jihad Marzouk Abu Naim, is one of these Palestinians. Not long ago he was forcibly displaced from his land because of violence and threats from settlers and the occupation army,
Homesh Yeshiva, in the Northern West Bank, was established in May 2023 on the site of the formerly evacuated illegal West Bank outpost of Homesh. It is situated on stolen Palestinian land.
Covering the tracks
The same afternoon as Abu Naim and al Naasan were martyred, residents of the village witnessed the occupation’s military and intelligence walking around al Mughayyir, trying to tamper with evidence of the crime.
They can be seen here searching for spent bullet casings.
The following day, the IOF gave al Mughayyir residents no time to mourn their loss.
When the funeral procession was taking place, they fired tear gas at the crowds, and later let off toxic gas bombs throughout the village.
Then around two in the morning the house raids began.
On 22 April, settlers also murdered 26 year old Odeh Awawda, in Deir Dibwan, East of Ramallah. He saw settlers coming towards his house, on the outskirts of the village.
He went outside to protect his family, but was shot in the pelvis by one of the illegal colonists and died of an internal hemorrage.
Residents were responding to Awawda’s call for help, on the village’s WhatsApp group. But as they made their way to his house to help him, Israeli occupation forces turned up and arrested the residents.
Justice!
Of course, there is no hope of justice or accountability for Palestinians, as the Israeli occupation is again investigating its own crimes.This is nothing more than for show — to silence any international criticism there may be to the cold-blooded killings of yet more Palestinians. Instead, there is only a continuation of the endless cycle of violence Palestinians endure 24 hours of every day, with no hope of any protection from anyone, anywhere.
Shmuel Wendy actually the murderer of al Mughayyir’s most recent martyrs, true, but the occupation’s police, military, illegal settlers, legal system and government are all part of the same crime-ridden society.
The IOF account of the shooting spree in al Mughayyir on 21 April differs greatly from that of the local residents. The occupation’s story is that a reserve soldier on active duty left the vehicle he was driving and started shooting at suspects who supposedly threw stones at him. But footage from residents shows something completely different. Gunfire was in the area of the school, somewhere where there are no settler roads. There is also video footage of children taking cover in their school, to try and avoid the settler’s bullets.
Settlers and soldiers in the West Bank now indistinguishable
Settler attacks are well organised and coordinated. Very often the IOF are full participants in the violence, which has the full backing of the so-called “Israeli” state. Since 7 October 2023, there has been a huge intensification of the militarisation of the illegal terrorist settler movement — including the formation of armed regional settler reservist militias, known as Hagmar, to which thousands of settlers have already enlisted. There are also settlements’ “emergency response” squads known as Kitat Konenut, who are trained by the IOF and are given weapons by the occupation military as well. It is often impossible to tell the difference between illegal settler and the occupation’s military, as often both now wear uniform.
Since its creation in 1948, “Israel” has been treated by the West as something special. It is not. It is just another settler colony that systematically violates every law, with total impunity. But this terrorist state is only able to continue its genocide, forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians because no meaningful action is ever taken against it.
It is time to end the hollow words of condemnation and do something. The Israeli occupation must face the consequences of its complete disregard for humanity, and so too must the governments who have aided and abetted its decades of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
‘They want to kill us by any means possible’
According to the Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission, as of 22 April, 49 Palestinians have been murdered by illegal settlers in the West Bank since 7 October, 2023. 14 of these Palestinians lost their lives in 2025, while since 1 January, 2026, 15 Palestinians have been murdered by these colonists as of 22 April.
A resident of al Mughayyir told the Canary, “They want to kill us by any means or method possible”. Yet despite all the, harassment, violence, killing and trauma, Palestinians refuse to leave their land. Instead, they say the blood of their martyrs will not be in vain. It will only make their resistance stronger.
Featured image via the Canary
By Charlie Jaay
Politics
Politics Home | No 10 Has Created A Very Bad Relationship With Civil Service, Says Former Cabinet Secretary
The sacking of Olly Robbins has deepened the row between Downing Street and the civil service (Alamy)
3 min read
Downing Street has created a “very bad relationship” with Whitehall, which is making government “dysfunctional”, according to a former cabinet secretary.
Lord Robin Butler, who led the civil service for a decade until 1998, said the row between No 10 and Olly Robbins over the security vetting of Lord Mandelson had made him “very sad” about the state of the relationship between politicians and civil servants.
Last week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer sacked Robbins as the most senior civil servant in the Foreign Office, arguing that Robbins should have told him that UK Security Vetting (UKSV) had raised issues with Mandelson’s appointment as UK ambassador to the US.
Appearing before MPs earlier this week, Robbins confirmed that UKSV considered the case “borderline”, but stressed that Mandelson did not fail vetting. He went on to say that the Foreign Office faced “constant pressure” from No 10 to formalise Mandelson’s appointment quickly, and accused Downing Street of a “dismissive attitude” towards the vetting process.
The saga will continue next week, with both Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s former chief of staff, and Philip Barton, Robbins’ predecessor at the Foreign Office, both due to give evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee about Mandelson’s appointment.
Speaking to this week’s episode of PoliticsHome podcast, The Rundown, Butler said the row “just made me very sad, actually”, adding: “Because what I remember was the civil service and the political advisors working harmoniously and with mutual respect, each doing their job but working together in the national interest, and that clearly hasn’t happened.”
He said the ongoing Mandelson row had exposed “very poor” communications between Starmer and Robbins, and described the relationship between Downing Street and Whitehall as “very ruptured”.
“The Prime Minister, and particularly No 10 and the political wing of No 10, have created a very bad relationship with the civil servants in No 10, with the Cabinet Office and with departments like the FCDO, and that, I would go so far as to say, makes the government dysfunctional.”
The former head of the civil service did strike a note of optimism, telling PoliticsHome that once the Mandelson affair subsides, the new Cabinet Secretary Antonia Romeo “has got an opportunity to make a fresh start”.
“It’s a question of leadership, and I think Antonia has got the qualities to give that leadership.
“I’m really hopeful that she’s going to make a difference.”
He added: “I’m sure she’ll be working on improving the relationships between the Cabinet Secretary and those in No 10 on the political side and with the Prime Minister, I think she’s going to be very good at that — and that needs to be done.”
Butler appeared on The Rundown alongside Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA, Hannah Keenan, associate director at the Institute for Government think tank, and Suzannah Brecknell, co-editor of Civil Service World.
The Rundown is presented by Alain Tolhurst, and is produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot
- Click here to listen to the latest episode of The Rundown, or search for ‘PoliticsHome’ wherever you get your podcasts.
Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler gunning for glory
Luke Littler walked into Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena on Thursday night knowing exactly what was coming. The jeers arrived on cue – loud, sharp, and predictable.
But the 17‑year‑old was unaffected by the noise. He has heard much worse recently, and especially after Rotterdam, everything else feels like background static.
He told Sky Sports afterwards:
It is what it is. I’ve won and we move on to next week.
If anything, the boos now seem to sharpen him.
Littler didn’t just survive the noise in Liverpool; he thrived in it, beating Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen, and Jonny Clayton to claim his fifth nightly win of the Premier League season.
It was a performance that felt less like defiance and more like inevitability. It was another reminder that the teenager who stunned the world at the World Championship is no fleeting phenomenon.
But to understand why Liverpool barely registered, you have to go back to Rotterdam.
Rotterdam: the cauldron
Littler has been booed before. Darts crowds are tribal, emotional, and often unforgiving. But Rotterdam was different. He said:
Rotterdam was way louder than this tonight. This week was nothing compared to last week.
The hostility stemmed from his now‑infamous spat with Dutch No. 1 Gian van Veen on Night Nine in Manchester, a match that ended with Littler bristling after Van Veen turned towards him while throwing match darts.
Van Veen later said Littler was “out of order” for celebrating toward the crowd.
That single moment ignited something. By the time the Premier League caravan rolled into Rotterdam, the Dutch crowd had made up its mind. Every walk‑on, every dart, every pause was met with a wall of noise.
Littler didn’t crumble. He didn’t even flinch. He reached the final.
This is perhaps his greatest asset: the boos don’t break his focus; they don’t breach his ability to win. They push him onwards.
Liverpool: a different kind of test
Liverpool’s reception was hostile, but not venomous. The boos were loud, but not personal.
After Rotterdam, Littler seemed almost amused by the idea that this was supposed to rattle him. He said:
I even proved to people last week that I can win games under those circumstances and I’ve done it again. There is no anxiety there. I just expect the worst.
Against Humphries, he was clinical. Against Van Gerwen, he was electric, roaring after pinning the final two legs.
Against Clayton, he was ruthless. By the end of the night, he had closed the gap at the top of the table to just three points.
The Van Veen question
Three weeks on from the original flashpoint, Littler and Van Veen still haven’t spoken. Littler admitted:
I’m not the type of person to go up and talk to him. Maybe he is waiting for me to go and talk to him, but I’m not [that] type of person.
Adding:
We can obviously settle it on the dartboard.
That quiet yet loud confidence will ensure the atmosphere will be electric when they next meet.
A teenager learning that’s here to stay
What’s striking about Littler’s rise is not just his talent – although it is extraordinary – but his temperament.
Most 17‑year‑olds struggle with exam stress, not 10,000 people booing them in unison. Littler seems to draw energy from it.
He doesn’t chase the crowd. He doesn’t try to win them back. He simply plays.
The road ahead
Littler is already a world champion. He is already a Premier League contender. He is already a threat to the established order. Crowds don’t boo irrelevance; they boo danger.
With four regular weeks remaining, Littler is within striking distance of top spot. He insists he won’t settle for a playoff place. He wants Clayton. He wants the summit. He wants to prove that Rotterdam wasn’t a fluke and Liverpool wasn’t a reprieve.
He wants to win everything.
Even if the boos follow him from city to city, Littler has already survived the worst. The rest is just noise.
By Faz Ali
Politics
Politics Home Article | Greens Hopeful Of Taking On Reform To Make First Gains In Outer London
Green Party leader Zack Polanski (centre) with Lewisham mayoral candidate Liam Shrivastava and Hackney mayoral candidate Zoe Garbett (second right), at the launch of the party’s campaign for the May local elections, 9 April 2026 (PA Images / Alamy)
3 min read
The Greens are so optimistic about their prospects in the upcoming local elections that they are now diverting campaigning resources to outer London, where senior sources believe the party could make gains for the first time, PoliticsHome can reveal.
With two weeks to go until voting day, the Green Party, led by “eco-populist” London Assembly Member Zack Polanski, is increasing its activity in the outer London borough of Bromley.
Bromley has traditionally been safe ground for the Conservative Party, which currently controls the council. The borough is seen as a major target for Reform UK, with a YouGov poll published this week giving Nigel Farage’s party a narrow lead over the Tories.
However, while inner London is seen as more natural territory for the Polanski’s party, Green sources believe they can also make a breakthrough in outer areas like Bromley.
Their hope is based on party canvassing data that insiders claim shows undecideds and non-voters viewing the election there as a choice between Reform UK and the Greens. They have concluded that the Greens could take their first council seats in what would usually be considered a Tory or Reform stronghold.
A campaign source told PoliticsHome that in Bromley, as well as coastal areas and parts of the North East, swing voters, including those who typically do not vote, are “seeing the Greens as part of that anti-establishment choice that had been Reform’s original driver”.
Green insiders are calling it “the Hannah Spencer effect”, referring to the Green MP’s seismic victory in the recent Gorton and Denton by-election. Labour, which had controlled the Greater Manchester seat for over a century, was pushed into third place. Spencer is being credited with “helping to refresh the image of the Green Party”.
A Green source said: “They [voters] are not even talking about Mandelson anymore – they’re not talking about Labour at all.”
A campaign insider added: “For the best part of the last two years, Reform have owned the electoral narrative – it’s been about small boats and immigration. The Greens have fought back and placed the cost of living right up there, and it’s cutting through.
“For voters who want change, but also veer left on many issues, like economic injustice, the Greens are fighting Farage’s insurgency and creating one of our own.”
Scarlett Maguire, founder and director of polling firm Merlin Strategy, said: “The Greens are feeling increasingly confident in London. That they are now looking to areas like Bromley is telling. They are not just looking to take on progressive Labour voters but attempting to vie with Reform for disenfranchised working-class voters.
“Their win in Gorton and Denton points to some success with this demographic already. They could do well if they don’t focus on cultural issues and instead tap into the deep distrust of politicians and the widespread anxiety the cost of living crisis is causing to voters.”
A Reform UK spokesman said: “Councils across London have been run into the ground by decades of Labour and Conservative mismanagement. They simply cannot afford the Green Party.”
The same YouGov survey forecast that Labour would lose six of its 21 councils next month, with the Greens taking over four councils in the capital for the first time: Hackney, Lambeth, Lewisham and Waltham Forest.
PoliticsHome understands the Greens are also confident that they can help end Labour’s control of Newham, and win seats in the north London councils, Brent and Camden, the latter of which the Prime Minister’s parliamentary constituency is based, though they are not expecting to take overall control of those councils.
On Tuesday, PoliticsHome revealed that Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, widely seen as a leading candidate to succeed Starmer, will be campaigning in several London boroughs this week as the party tries to limit its losses on 7 May.
The European Council’s latest conclusions on Cyprus warrant close attention in Westminster.
In signalling its readiness to support Cyprus in discussions with the United Kingdom over the Sovereign Base Areas, the European Union has moved beyond observation into active involvement. That is not a neutral step. It is an attempt by an external bloc to insert itself into a matter of British sovereignty.
We should be clear about the facts. The Sovereign Base Areas at Akrotiri and Dhekelia are not leased, conditional, or subject to periodic review. They are sovereign British territory, established by treaty at independence in 1960, and they remain integral to the United Kingdom’s strategic posture.
They are not a bargaining chip.
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Northern Ireland RE curriculum is ‘indoctrination’ – Supreme Court
Recent commentary from within Cyprus suggests a hardening of position, with the bases increasingly characterised as “colonial remnants” and calls growing for discussions about their future. With the European Union now lending its weight to that direction of travel, this is no longer routine diplomatic noise. It is the early stage of a more coordinated effort to reopen a settled question.
The United Kingdom should approach this with caution. Experience shows how quickly issues framed as “dialogue” can evolve into expectation, and expectation into pressure. The trajectory is familiar: once a position is treated as open to discussion, it becomes vulnerable to incremental concession.
We have seen elements of this dynamic before. The recent history of the Chagos Islands illustrates how long-standing arrangements can come under sustained challenge once their permanence is called into question. Cyprus is not the same case, but the lesson is relevant: ambiguity invites pressure.
There is also a question of impartiality. In 2004, Turkish Cypriots supported the United Nations-backed Annan Plan for reunification, while it was rejected by the Greek Cypriot electorate. Yet Cyprus acceded to the European Union in a manner that entrenched division and left Turkish Cypriots effectively isolated. That episode raised legitimate doubts about the EU’s ability to act as a neutral actor in matters relating to the island.
Those doubts matter now.
The Sovereign Base Areas are not relics of a bygone era. They are a critical asset for the United Kingdom and its allies, supporting operations across the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East at a time of heightened geopolitical instability. Their value is strategic, operational and enduring.
Against that backdrop, the Government should not allow informal or exploratory discussions to evolve into a process that implicitly questions the United Kingdom’s legal position. Nor should it accept the premise that external actors have any standing in determining the future of British territory.
Clarity is essential. The UK’s position should be stated plainly: the Sovereign Base Areas are British; their status is settled; and their future is not open to negotiation with third parties.
Anything less risks ceding control of the process – and, ultimately, the outcome.
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lead imagePolitics
Widespread political and sporting opposition in Italy to the proposal to replace Iran in the 2026 World Cup
The proposal put forward by Paolo Zamboli, an envoy linked to US President Donald Trump, to replace the Iranian national team with their Italian counterparts in the 2026 World Cup finals, has been met with widespread rejection and clear mockery within Italian political and sporting circles, amid assurances that qualification is not granted by political decisions.
The idea emerged against a backdrop of escalating political tensions resulting from the US-Israeli war on Iran, but it quickly met with a united Italian stance rejecting the politicisation of football and emphasising that participation in the World Cup is determined exclusively by on-pitch performance, according to Reuters.
Official rejection: ‘Qualification is decided on the pitch’
Italian Sports Minister Andrea Abodi confirmed in comments reported by The Guardian that the proposal was “completely inappropriate”, stressing that the qualification rules cannot be bypassed and that World Cup places must be decided solely on sporting results, not through external decisions.
The President of the Italian Olympic Committee, Giovanni Malagò, stressed his categorical rejection of the idea, arguing that accepting it would be “an insult to sport” and that World Cup qualification must come solely through merit on the pitch, according to Anadolu Agency.
Shameful proposal from Trump
On the political front, Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti described the proposal as “shameful”, referring to the Italian government’s rejection of any attempt to inject politics into international sporting competitions, according to Euronews.
The Associated Press reported that the proposal was met with derision within Italy, particularly as Zamboli holds no official position within FIFA or the football hierarchy, which rendered the proposal meaningless from the outset.
The Italian stance reflects a consensus among politicians and sports fans to reject the American proposal, stressing that the integrity of competition in the World Cup must remain free from any political interference, whilst clearly upholding the principle of sporting merit as the sole criterion for qualification.
Featured image via the Canary
By Alaa Shamali
THE ISLAMAPHOBE & BLAKEMAN: As Nassau County Executive, Republican Bruce Blakeman has welcomed Muslim residents with open arms.
He’s eaten at their Ramadan Iftar dinners, appointed the first Muslim chaplain to the county’s police force and talked about the value of Muslims as Nassau County county residents and Americans.
But as he tries to win a statewide race for governor, Blakeman is now aligning himself with a leader of the anti-Muslim faction of the national GOP — and he’s not responding to questions about it.
On Friday night, Blakeman will appear with Rep. Andy Ogles — the Tennessee Republican who has led the effort in Washington to “denaturalize” and “deport” Mayor Zohran Mamdani — at the Metropolitan Republican Club’s annual gala.
“Muslims don’t belong in American society,” Ogles has said. He’s also called Mamdani “Little Muhammad” and claimed that “denaturalizations and deportations are the only way to save the Big Apple.”
Blakeman’s team declined to comment on Ogles’ past statements or the gubernatorial candidate’s upcoming appearance with the House member.
Blakeman will deliver the gala’s keynote speech, and Ogles will be honored with the club’s Ronald Reagan Award for the Advancement of Individual Liberty. Also on the list of featured attendees are former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Council Member Vickie Paladino and former Nassau County Bridge Authority Commissioner and pro-Israel influencer Emily Austin. Tickets start at $321.
The event’s host, the Metropolitan Republican Club, is often seen as the more mainstream counterpart to the city’s far-right New York Young Republican Club. The statewide New York State Young Republicans disbanded last year after POLITICO uncovered a trove of racist, homophobic and antisemitic chats involving members of the organization and other Young Republican groups around the country.
Ogles spoke at the New York Young Republican Club’s gala in December, where he said “naturalized illegal immigrants are polluting our politics” and “the new right must have courage to deport them,” a reference to his call for Mamdani’s deportation.
Husein Yatabarry, executive director of the Muslim Community Network, told Playbook remarks like Ogles’ can have a “huge impact” on the state’s roughly 1.7 million Muslim residents as they consider whether to engage in state politics.
“It’s sad to see that a lot of politicians are leaning into xenophobia and Islamaphobia and not looking at Muslims as part of their community’s fabric, but looking at Muslims as a way to get the most rude and heinous people behind you as a candidate,” Yatabarry said.
Ogles, who wrote a letter to the Department of Justice in October asking for Mamdani to be denaturalized, did not respond to a request for comment. He faces his own political battle this year, as a Democratic mayor has found fundraising success while hoping to topple Ogles in his deep-red district. Federal authorities are also reportedly investigating Ogles for potential campaign finance violations.
On the campaign trail, Blakeman often touts his strong electoral performances in purple Nassau County when speaking of his electability statewide. He easily won reelection last year in what was otherwise a bleak year for Republicans in New York.
But his Friday night appearance won’t be the first time he’ll find himself alongside figures from the extreme corners of the GOP. Blakeman was the keynote speaker at an event honoring John Eastman, an attorney who was disbarred in California last week for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. When Blakeman’s running mate, Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood, spoke at a Buffalo-area political club led by a man who called Mamdani “vermin,” the Nassau County executive didn’t seem to mind.
“Mayor Mamdani is a disgrace,” Blakeman said in a statement at the time. “He is anti-American, antisemitic, and anti-Cop.” — Jason Beeferman
FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
PAC IT UP: House Democrats’ biggest super PAC touted its “largest early investment” in the organization’s history, with a notable omission — New York.
House Majority PAC’s announcement earlier today of an initial $272 million spend on advertisements includes zilch in the notoriously expensive New York City media market, where Democrats are protecting Reps. Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen on Long Island and attempting to flip Rep. Mike Lawler’s seat just north of the city in NY-17.
Democrats, fear not. Money is on the way, according to HMP.
“Today’s initial reservations prioritize markets where rates increase significantly and there will be more reservations to come,” the super PAC’s communications director CJ Warnke said in a statement. “HMP plans to invest heavily to flip districts like NJ-07 and NY-17.” (The NYC media market covers Republican Rep. Tom Kean in New Jersey’s 7th District as well.)
National Democratic groups are working from a much smaller electoral map in New York after flipping four seats two years ago. Last cycle, HMP’s initial reserve included $16 million in New York City and $5 million in markets further upstate.
Meanwhile, the Congressional Leadership Fund — the House GOP’s main super PAC — on Thursday also released its initial advertising reservations, which the group similarly described as its “largest ever.” That $153 million investment includes $18.6 million in New York City. CLF also said it is putting money into Albany ($2.1 million), Binghamton ($1.8 million) and Syracuse ($658,000), markets that cover Democratic Rep. Josh Riley’s district — another seat that Republicans have their eye on.
Last cycle, CLF’s initial reservation included $20 million in New York City and $8 million in markets elsewhere in the state.
“House Majority PAC isn’t even spending one dollar to defend vulnerable Dem members Tom Suozzi, Laura Gillen, Josh Riley & [New Jersey Rep.] Nellie Pou,” CLF spokesperson Lydia Hall said in a statement. “They’ve given up on these incumbents while funding other offensive fantasies across the country.” — Madison Fernandez
From the Capitol
SCHRÖDINGER’S CANNABIS: New York’s beleaguered medical cannabis program can breathe a sigh of relief today after the Trump administration rescheduled medical cannabis through an executive order. Overnight, they went from dealing in a Schedule I, federally illegal substance to one that has a pathway to federal regulation under Schedule III.
What does this do for New York’s medical cannabis producers? First off, they will no longer be subject to an onerous federal tax code that barred them from taking typical business deductions like employee salaries. And starting next week, they’ll be able to register with the Drug Enforcement Administration — a dramatic shift for an industry that was viewed by the federal government as illegal drug traffickers.
The cannabis industry in New York and beyond is cheering the move as normalizing medical use of the substance. While the order doesn’t immediately change the status of the state’s adult-use market, where anyone at least 21 years old can legally shop, it does signal that the administration will likely take steps to do so this summer.
Beyond that is where things get a little murky. “There are a lot more questions coming out of this order than there are answers,” said Katie Neer, a cannabis regulatory lawyer who represents the New York Medical Cannabis Industry Association.
It could make it easier for the cannabis industry to access financial services, though that remains to be seen. And it could draw more capital to New York’s medical cannabis operators, where there are 10 licensees that are not yet operational. It could also enable New York’s medical cannabis operators, who are under one of the strictest programs in the nation, to export their products.
“It creates a market across the world for New York’s pharmaceutical [cannabis] products … to be exported internationally,” said Adam Goers, senior vice president of corporate affairs for New York medical cannabis operator Columbia Care. In terms of interstate commerce? “We’ll see how that plays out.”
New York’s medical cannabis program launched in January 2016 with 10 licensed operators. Eight of those are still operational, and the state issued licenses to 11 new medical operators more recently.
For now, even as they welcome the federal shift, cannabis companies will be tasked with figuring out the confusing legal complexities moving forward. Some of New York’s medical marijuana businesses also sell products in the adult-use market, which creates a quandary when it comes to figuring out their taxes, and more.
“It’s Schrödinger’s cannabis, right?” said Mike Feldman, general counsel of Nabis, a cannabis distributor in New York. “It is sitting in a warehouse, and it is both Schedule I and Schedule III at the same time.” — Mona Zhang
TRAIN TROUBLES — A dispute between Amtrak and New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority threatens the full rollout of new Acela trains, Amtrak said in a lawsuit that represents the latest transit dispute between President Donald Trump’s and Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administrations.
The suit, filed in Manhattan federal court, asks a judge to order Metro-North to give Amtrak access to the tracks, POLITICO Pro reports.
Amtrak said Metro-North is blocking its ability to test new trains because of a dispute between the two railways over liability for damage to an overhead power line that Metro-North blames on one of Amtrak’s NextGen Acela trains.
In a statement, MTA suggested Amtrak is trying to distract from another ongoing dispute where MTA says Amtrak is holding up expansion of commuter service to Penn Station.
In the lawsuit, Amtrak reveals an issue with its new Acela trains tangling with MTA infrastructure near a bridge in Westport, Connecticut during previous tests. Similar infrastructure problems — involving the interaction between overhead power lines and a train pole that draws energy from them — caused massive delays for commuters in New Jersey two summers ago. The Garden State and Amtrak were able to work through their issues; this lawsuit against New York suggests a broken relationship between Amtrak and Empire State officials. — Ry Rivard
IN OTHER NEWS
— BILLIONAIRE BLUES: Citadel CEO Ken Griffin suggested the hedge fund might halt its planned New York City expansion after Mamdani filmed a video at his Manhattan penthouse to announce a new tax on second-homes worth over $5 million. (The Wall Street Journal)
— DELAY NOW, PAY LATER: Mamdani’s team presented Hochul’s administration with a plan to delay pension fund payments in an effort to save at least $1 billion as New York City faces a multibillion-dollar budget gap. (The New York Times)
— ZONE OF INTEREST: Unions are meeting with Mamdani’s administration to push for a veto of the buffer zone bill, which keeps protesters away from schools and educational facilities, as the mayor’s decision deadline nears. (THE CITY)
Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.
Pro-Palestine students have hit back at elite universities that paid a military intelligence firm hundreds of thousands of pounds to spy on them. The angry students blasted the unis for undermining their right to free speech — and their right to organise against Israeli genocide.
A joint Al Jazeera/Liberty Investigates report published on 21 April exposed 12 universities for having students spied on. Horus Security made a small fortune by spying on Palestine solidarity activists and anti-genocide academics.
Horus CEO Jonathon Whiteley served in the British Army’s Intelligence Corps. Tim Collins, a major Horus shareholder, is an ex-special forces colonel. Collins is also a founding signatory of the Henry Jackson Society (HJS), a hard-right ‘thinktank’. You can read the full details in our piece from 21 April here.
Now students from University College London (UCL) — an elite university targeted by the spy operation — have hit back. UCL Action for Palestine told the Canary they had been subject to an “egregious violation”:
We have completely lost trust in our university. This is an egregious violation of UCL’s duty of care to its students, and it infringes not only on our right to protest but also further exposes UCL as an institution that cares more about the well-being of its ties to an apartheid regime than about its own students.
The group even slammed UCL’s marketing schtick about creating “change-makers”:
While UCL supposedly nurtures “change-makers”, enacting “change” at UCL is actively surveilled and discouraged. Perhaps this is by design. After all, UCL was founded on the principles of Jeremy Bentham – designer of the panopticon.
They also said their commitment to opposing Israeli genocide was, if anything, stronger because of UCL’s assault on their rights:
We know that it is our moral obligation to stand against genocide and this will not deter us. If anything, this shows that our movement is working, that they are scared of us, and that we should carry on steadfast.
Universities spying on their students ‘is beyond chilling’
The Canary asked London School of Economics (LSE) Students for Justice For Palestine (SJP) group how they felt about having their democratic rights infringed upon by their university:
Universities should be championing the freedoms of expression and assembly. They should be protecting their students at all costs. They could have engaged meaningfully with the simple demand of a global student movement – to do their small bit in preventing a genocide.
Instead, they hired a private firm led by ex-military intelligence officers to spy and gather data on their own students? It is beyond chilling.
We asked if the revelations made them afraid to be politically active in the future. LSE SJP said it was “deeply concerning” that universities would “spy on their students”:
but student organisers won’t be intimidated. The encampments showed us that. Students have, and always will be, at the forefront of radical demands for social and political change.
But added that the universities and their “privately hired spies” had underestimated:
how seriously student encampments across the country took matters of security. It was rooted in care, community and collective safety.
Adding:
Universities on the other hand, no doubt informed by some of this spying, suspended and disciplined their students, leveraged the full force [of the] law against them in court cases and evictions, and even called the police onto campuses.
They have a lot to answer for.
The operation used online artificial intelligence (AI) espionage methods and has netted the firm at least £440,000 ($594,000) since 2022. As we reported, the universities involved generally tried to argue that their spy operations were a matter of safety and security. But it seems that the groups they targeted aren’t buying that explanation.
Featured image via the Canary
By Joe Glenton
Scarborough residents will gather tomorrow, 24 April 2026, in a last-ditch attempt to prevent a drilling company from installing a fracking rig in a picturesque area of North Yorkshire. They will be fighting an industry that has been given access to government ministers almost a hundred times since the 2024 general election.
Councillors will decide the planning application for the drilling rig in Burniston, a village on the edge of the North York Moors National Park, tomorrow.
The firm, Europa Oil and Gas, has been trying to install the rig since 2024 and accused of trying to bypass emissions limits set by the council. Despite this and the opposition of residents, North Yorkshire Council has recommended the planning committee to approve it.
Residents will lobby councillors outside Scarborough Town Hall ahead of the planning meeting, from midday tomorrow.
Fracking in Scarborough
The firm plans to use a ‘proppant squeeze’ extraction method — considered a form of fracking. The method creates the same risk of earthquakes and other environmental damage as any other form of fracking. University of Edinburgh Professor Stuart Haszeldine said his research on fracking-related tremors indicated that earthquakes from any fracking method are “equally large and equally unpredictable”.
Frack Free Coastal Communities’ Professor Chris Garforth said:
Councillors have a clear choice: reject this reckless scheme – or ignore the voices of the more than 1,600 objectors who refuse to let our community become a testing ground for the serious risks to health, homes, environment and climate that fracking brings.
Friends of the Earth campaigner, Tony Bosworth added:
The government has rightly committed to banning fracking for good. It blights our countryside, won’t lower UK energy bills, and is deeply unpopular.
With significant parts of England already covered by oil and gas licences, the UK government must reassure communities by banning all forms of hydraulic fracturing for fossil fuels.
The determination of council officers to push through a dangerous scheme opposed by local people is reminiscent of Liverpool council’s sabotaging of its own legal case to allow the building a huge storage depot in south Liverpool. That depot is right next to a highly explosive chemical processing plant, also opposed by residents and pushed through by the council, similar to one that caused one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions in human history. Both are in the heart of the community, only metres from a school.
Featured image via Facebook
By Skwawkbox
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