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New festival brings workers’ struggle and solidarity to Cornwall coast

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New festival brings workers’ struggle and solidarity to Cornwall coast

Trade unionists, families, and campaigners will gather on the Cornwall coast this June for Unite on the Hill. It’s a new festival that aims to combine culture, community, and class politics. Branch SW008 of the Unite union is organising the event.

It’ll take place from 19–21 June 2026 at Maker Heights (PL10 1LA) and bring together live music, food, and family activities. There’ll be a programme of political discussion addressing issues facing working people in Devon and Cornwall.

The festival comes at a time when the region is facing rising levels of insecure, low-paid work and some of the highest rates of child poverty in the UK. Alongside this, anger continues to grow over water privatisation and environmental damage affecting local communities.

Talks across the weekend will include:

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  • Workplace organising.
  • The campaign to bring South West Water into public ownership.
  • Tackling child poverty.
  • Confronting the power of big tech monopolies.

John Whitcher, Chair of Unite SW008, said:

Our members are often isolated – both geographically and because they work in workplaces too small to have their own branch.

But the need for collective action has never been greater. This event is about bringing people together — replacing despair with hope, and showing what’s possible when we unite.

SW008 is one of the largest Unite branches in the South West. It represents workers in small and fragmented workplaces, many without formal union structures. The festival is part of a broader effort to rebuild grassroots trade unionism in areas often overlooked by national organising.

Building working class culture in Cornwall

At the same time, Unite on the Hill continues a growing tradition of socialist festivals in the region, following earlier events such as Kernow Transformed and Devon Transformed. Organisers hope it will help establish Devon and Cornwall as a key centre for working-class culture and political organisation.

Tickets are available now, with free entry for Unite members and their families (first come, first served), alongside a limited number of tickets for non-members:

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🎟️ Free tickets for Unite members & their families (first come, first served)

🎟️ Guest tickets (for non-members)

In addition to political discussions, the festival will feature live bands and DJs, local food and drink, children’s activities, and opportunities to explore the surrounding coastline.

Organisers say the aim is simple: to create a space where working people can come together, share experiences, and build the confidence and organisation needed to challenge inequality – in Cornwall and beyond.

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Featured image via Maker Heights

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Education in Palestine ‘continues against all odds’ despite dangers

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Sundos Hammad stands with her hands folded and smiling

“In Palestine, as a student, you don’t live a normal life,” Sundos Hammad, coordinator of the Right to Education (R2E) campaign at Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank, told the Canary.

You go to university not knowing if there will be a raid of your campus, if you will be arrested or harassed at the checkpoint leading to your university, if one of your loved ones or friends will be imprisoned or killed.

The Israeli occupation has been systematically targeting education since the Nakba of 1948 because it plays an important role in helping Palestinians build their community and preserve their collective identity. This also means a strong student movement inside campuses, which helps resist the occupation.

Between 1972, when it was founded, and 1988, Birzeit University was closed 15 times by military orders. Many students and faculty members were imprisoned by the Israeli occupation during this time.

Birzeit University’s founder and first president, Dr Hanna Nasir, was expelled to Lebanon by the Israeli occupation in 1974, and then to Jordan with no charges. He was not permitted to return to Palestine until after the Oslo Agreement.

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But Hammad stresses that, despite all the odds, Palestinians continue their education because it is their “tool of existence”, their way out of occupation and towards liberation.

Sundos Hammad stands with her hands folded and smiling

Education in Palestine is fraught with risks

In the first uprising in 1988, all schools, universities and even nurseries were closed by military orders, and education was illegal for Palestinians.

When they went to school holding a book or backpack, they were threatened with being investigated or put in an Israeli occupation prison. But students and academics of Palestinian universities did not stop. Instead, they held an underground system of education, where they held classes in student houses, rented apartments, churches and mosques. There were even instances of lectures being held in cars.

During this time, Birzeit University campus was closed for 51 consecutive months.

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During the Second Intifada, there was a checkpoint on the Birzeit Ramallah road, which meant students had to walk 14km to reach Birzeit campus. They endured the walk so they could continue their education.

‘What if one of our students got killed…?’

The R2E campaign emerged in 1988. Its main aim back then was to break the isolation of higher education institutions, and document and monitor violations against students, staff and faculty members of Birzeit University.

Crimes against students are rampant and Hammad is fearful for their safety.

Israel is an occupying force. They carried out a genocide in Gaza and no one stopped them. Even the International Court of Justice said it is a genocide in Gaza and they must stop, but they haven’t. No one is holding them accountable so they can come to our campus and invade it anytime.

It is the students’ right to be educated in safety and it makes me really sad to see that the students have to live with this fear of being on campus. I sometimes think, ‘What if one of our students got killed in an invasion by live ammunition?’ Things would then go really terrible.

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It’s really dangerous. It’s only a matter of time.

Birzeit University became a ‘war zone’ in January 2026

Two people were seriously injured in the last raid on 6 January this year when more than 200 soldiers fired live ammunition at terrified students.

The Israeli occupation shot at students, threw stun grenades and sound bombs. About 8,000 students were on campus at the time — 40 were injured and 11 were hospitalised. Nine of them were shot with live ammunition.

Hammad said the university had been turned into a “war zone”.

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Some of the soldiers stayed at the door of the university’s health clinic, so the medical team couldn’t come out and help the injured students. They also didn’t let ambulances come in for half an hour.

There were terrible injuries in the bodies of the students. One student had a bullet come out from his abdomen. He has had four surgeries so far. The other bullet exploded in his elbow and he had to have metal in his arm, so he could move it. He was about to graduate but has had to stop his studies until he recovers and is able to return.

Birzeit University campus has been raided 26 times since 2002 and five times since October 2023. These raids often happen in the middle of the night and involve the invasion of the buildings of the student council.

January’s raid was similar to the one in March 2018, in that it took place in the middle of the day when students were on campus. In 2018, special forces of the Israeli occupation infiltrated campuses disguised as student journalists.

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They made their way to the student council room and kidnapped its president, who was then imprisoned for four-and-a-half years.

Aysar Safi: Shot in his neck then stood on until he died

There have been 40 martyrs from Birzeit University. The first was assassinated by an Israeli soldier in the old campus during a 1984 demonstration because he was holding a Palestinian flag.

In May 2024, during a demonstration on Nakba day, an occupation soldier shot 19-year-old student, Aysar Safi, in the neck. When his colleagues tried to take him to an ambulance, a soldier callously stood on his body until he died.

Remembering Safi, Hammad said:

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He was always smiling and full of life, it was so sad for the university students. Aysar was also helping his mother as his father and brother, who was also a student, were both in prison. His mother was dreaming of his graduation.

Aysar Safi was killed at Birzeit University in May 2024. He's photographed wearing an Adidas sports jacket with his hands in the pockets, looking young and cool

Nearly 160 students from Birzeit University are currently being held in Israeli occupation prisons. More than 75 of those, including two female students and two academics, are being held under administrative detention, with no charge or trial — some for three or four years.

Before 7 October 2023, the average annual number of arrests would be about 55 or 60, but numbers have escalated considerably.

Just since yesterday until today we have had six students from Birzeit University imprisoned — four yesterday and two today — so far.

The R2E campaign documents student detention and imprisonment and provides students who have been arrested with a free lawyer.

Before the Gaza genocide began, Hammad said that when students were released from prison, they were very open to speaking out. The campaign documented the violations they experienced during their imprisonment and wrote reports that went to the UN Human Rights Council.

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But now, most students refuse to speak about what happened to them. Not only do they not want to remember their time in prison, they are also afraid of speaking out and being re-arrested. They are traumatised from the abuse and neglect in the Israeli occupation’s prisons.

Unfortunately, this silence is what the occupation wants.

Students face threats of rearrest if they return to education

When these students leave prison, through the R2E campaign, the university helps them continue their education. They are able to return to their studies at the point they left off and sit any incomplete exams.

Although, since October 2023, there have been four instances of students who have wanted to continue their education but faced threats of being rearrested if they do. Afraid, those students are now trying to receive online teaching instead.

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Hammad explained that everything is censored by the Israeli occupation.

Our phones, our social media, everything. There’s even an Israeli Army captain who monitors Birzeit university. Students get threatening messages from him, saying to stay away from any activism inside campus.

When the university campus is invaded, multiple times we have found [his] card stuck in the walls or the places that were invaded. It’s really terrible because we live under military rule. Every university has someone like [him].

Students affiliated to political parties inside campus are the most targeted by the occupation. This is because the Israeli occupation considers Palestinian student political parties to be illegal, terrorist groups.

Believe me, sometimes students do not know about their history because the school textbooks are really monitored. But we believe it’s our job to raise awareness about this, and the role of students in changing the status quo regarding the right to education, and what it means to have your full rights and access to education.

The R2E campaign empowers its student volunteers by providing them with training and workshops, and engaging them in many events, locally and internationally. This knowledge helps raise their awareness and empowers them to speak out about what is happening in Palestine and their own experiences living under occupation and settler colonialism.

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They also speak about scholasticide, described by the UN as the “systemic obliteration of education through the arrest, detention or killing of teachers, students and staff, and the destruction of educational infrastructure”.

Activists globally give hope to students in Palestine

During the Campus Voices for Palestine events in both 2024 and 2025, organised by University and College Workers for Palestine (UCW4P) and the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP), Birzeit University’s Right to Education campaign delivered talks across the UK. These were a call to action for all British students and educators in solidarity with Palestine, to end the complicity of their universities in the oppression of Palestinians.

As a grassroots campaign, Hammad told us R2E believes change comes from the bottom up, so they work with the people to change the status quo. Although its work is driven by students, the impact is huge because the students believe in what they are doing.

Explaining the importance of the campaign and Palestinian education in general, she said:

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“It’s so much easier to control ignorant people so education has become a tool for resisting the status quo, of resisting the occupation of our knowledge. It’s what keeps us on the land and enables us to persist on our right to exist, to return, to be liberated, and all human rights.

It is also the main tool to preserve our Palestinian identity and a form of resistance, to say to our occupier that we exist and we are not going anywhere. We will not be ignorant about our own history or our land. It is part of our resilience and existence as Palestinians, and it is also about self-determination.

How are we going to have our own sovereignty if we aren’t educated? For all these reasons, the occupation will not succeed in demolishing our education system, although they are really trying to. Education will continue against all the odds!

Featured image via Global Campus of Human Rights

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Starmer orders British drone to circle region

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Starmer orders British drone to circle region

The UK military has told the Canary that British war drone circled Lebanon for 13 hours on 8 April 2026 was not there. This is despite is being visible on an aircraft tracking platform. The Cyprus-launched aircraft circled a key battlefield in Israel’s current air and ground assault on Lebanon. It was there despite the UK calling for a ceasefire.

Journalist Matt Kennard, who originally spotted the aircraft, reported that 18 people had been killed in Baalbek, in Lebanon’s east, at time of the flight:

The Canary understands the aircraft may be Protector drone, which was meant to supersede the Royal Air Force’s Reaper drones. However UK NGO Drone Wars said in 2025 that Reaper’s lifespan had been extended.

The Reaper drone and Protector drone can carry lethal munitions. RAF Akrotiri is one of two UK colonial bases in Cyprus. The Canary recently reported on efforts by local anti-genocide activists to reclaim Cypriot sovereignty.

And a British Reaper or Protector also overflew Lebanon on 9 April:

The Canary asked the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) for more details about why a British military aircraft was over Lebanon during the Israeli assault.

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MOD communications officer Luc Wilson told us:

The aircraft in question was not conducting operations over Lebanon.

‘Operations’? It was a military drone out on annual leave, was it?

Israel is currently attempting to cut off southern Lebanon by force. Israel’s intention has long been to colonise the region entirely.

The UK flew crewed spy flights over Gaza throughout the first years of the genocide. These also originated in Cyprus.  After those spy flights ended, it emerged that the UK government had decided to replace them with drone flights.

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Still hitting Lebanon

The Canary reported on 22 November 2025:

The Genocide-Free Cyprus (CFG) group has uncovered details of an extensive new mission involving the use of Reaper long-endurance drones – designated Protector RG1 for the RAF – that are already preparing for what is evidently a new surveillance mission over Gaza, with the drones already operating close to the Gaza coast.

Israeli is still hitting the region despite claiming to be on-board with ceasefire plans:

In theory, Hezbollah breached a US-brokered ‘ceasefire’ with Israel in early March which had held up since their last war in 2024. In practice, the US gave Israel carte blanche to strike Lebanon, which it has done constantly since the deal was struck. During the intervening period, Israel attacked southern Lebanon about 15,400 times.

Far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich said on 23 March that the current war:

needs to end with a different reality entirely, both with the Hezbollah decision but also with the change of Israel’s borders.

I say ​here definitively…in every room and in every discussion, too: the new Israeli border must be the Litani.

Keir Starmer has questions to answer about why a British military asset is operating over Lebanon. The British tried to excuse their Gaza overflight as part of hostage search and rescue operations. No such explanation will hold water for these Lebanon excursions.
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Reform, the Greens and the death of the uniparty

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Reform, the Greens and the death of the uniparty

The post Reform, the Greens and the death of the uniparty appeared first on spiked.

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Harris gives her clearest signal she is mounting a 2028 presidential bid

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Harris gives her clearest signal she is mounting a 2028 presidential bid

NEW YORK — Kamala Harris just gave the Democratic Party the most explicit sign yet she’ll run for president in 2028.

“Listen, I might, I might. I’m thinking about it,” Harris told the Rev. Al Sharpton at the National Action Network convention on Friday, when he asked her whether she will run again in 2028. “I’ll keep you posted,” she said as she walked off the stage, concluding a roughly 40-minute appearance that was peppered with cheers and a standing ovation from attendees.

The former vice president has toyed with the idea before, but her comments Friday took on a new meaning in front of an audience full of Black lawmakers, influential power brokers and voters at what amounted to the first major cattle-call for the potential 2028 Democratic field.

“I know what the job is and what it requires,” she told Sharpton on stage.

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Harris was the sixth possible 2028 contender to take the stage at the conference for a fireside chat with Sharpton, a tacit acknowledgement that whether the hopefuls ultimately decide to run or not, they know they can’t skip this room. But Harris was received with the most enthusiasm from the audience compared to any of the Democrats who spoke earlier this week, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).

The crowd in the packed ballroom chanted, “Run again! Run again!”

At one point, the cheers for Harris grew to such a tenor, Sharpton jokingly admonished the crowd: “This is a convention, not a revival.”

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ICE Watcher Stripped Of Global Entry

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ICE Watcher Stripped Of Global Entry

!function(n){if(!window.cnx){window.cnx={},window.cnx.cmd=[];var t=n.createElement(‘iframe’);t.display=’none’,t.onload=function(){var n=t.contentWindow.document,c=n.createElement(‘script’);c.src=”//cd.connatix.com/connatix.player.js”,c.setAttribute(‘async’,’1′),c.setAttribute(‘type’,’text/javascript’),n.body.appendChild(c)},n.head.appendChild(t)}}(document);(new Image()).src=”https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=19654b65-409c-4b38-90db-80cbdea02cf4″;cnx.cmd.push(function(){cnx({“playerId”:”19654b65-409c-4b38-90db-80cbdea02cf4″,”mediaId”:”26e0ae83-b283-4d9f-a6f7-fe67cdb6d0c3″}).render(“69d90605e4b00247ba9aeadd”);});

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Pakistan’s defence minister calls Israel ‘curse for humanity’ on X

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Pakistan's defence minister calls Israel 'curse for humanity' on X

A social media post from Pakistan’s defence minister criticising Israel’s genocidal violence on Lebanon amid ceasefire negotiations has been removed following pressure from Zionists.

Khawaja Asif called Israel a “curse for humanity” for killing innocent civilians in Gaza, Iran and Lebanon. He also implied Israel was sabotaging the “peace talks”.

Rather than addressing or taking accountability for the deadly strikes on Lebanon that killed more than 300 people and wounded nearly 1,200, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, claimed Lebanon was not part of the ceasefire agreement. He also hit back at Asif, calling his comments “outrageous”.

Pakistan should remain a ‘neutral arbiter for peace’ apparently

Asif’s tweet was also attacked by Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar.

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The deletion of one Pakistani minister’s tweet did not erase the 300 Lebanese dead, or the growing recognition across the Global South of Israel’s role as the wielder of western-backed violence in West Asia.

Featured image via Firstpost

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We Tamed Pigeons, Then Abandoned Them: 5 Ways To Help

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We Tamed Pigeons, Then Abandoned Them: 5 Ways To Help

David Attenborough’s new Secret Garden documentaries, which focus on the wildlife in our very own backyard, show just how important unremarkable-seeming species like damselflies and urban foxes are to the natural world.

Speaking to HuffPost UK, an ecologist at ecological consultancy firm Arbtech said that it’s time to rethink the role of much-maligned feral pigeons, too.

“Feral pigeons have filled an ecological hole caused by the decline and absence of many other species that cannot survive in an urban environment,” they said.

Given our history of domesticating, then abandoning, the birds, the ecologist added, we owe them more than our current disdain.

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We relied on pigeons for thousands of years

Pigeons “have been among the oldest domesticated species by humans, dating back thousands of years,” the spokesperson told us.

Feral species are descendants of the rock dove. That shows in their nesting habits: their wilder relatives “are cliff nesters, nesting in crevices, with poor nest construction, and the feral pigeon likes cities as the ledges and hiding places mimic those cliff top habitats their ancestors used”.

Historically, the ecologist continued, we’ve used pigeons for loads of tasks, including (famously) sending messages.

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“Even the ancient Egyptians and Romans used pigeons for this, and we did use them in WW1 and WW2. This ended with 32 pigeons receiving the Dickin medal (like a Victorian cross for animals) for their efforts.

“I even knew a friend’s grandfather who worked at the hospital and sent blood
samples to the lab via pigeon in the 60s and 70s, as it was still faster than getting there in a car.”

#OTD 1977: Plymouth hospitals trialed using carrier pigeons to transport blood samples to remote laboratories. Did this idea ever take off? pic.twitter.com/EO2djGuwR8

— BBC Archive (@BBCArchive) May 5, 2017

But with email, text, and better tech, that demand dramatically decreased.

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So, the spokesperson said, “While some still keep pigeons as pets, or more so now for pigeon racing, the majority were just abandoned and left to fend for themselves.

“Being a species domesticated by us for thousands of years, naturally, they still choose to be around humans, showing little fear of us.”

Now, they’re a key part of our urban ecosystem

Though they’re “not a favourite,” pigeons are uniquely adapted to urban environments. Because of their years of contact with us, humans don’t really bother them.

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They “can assist partially as a clean-up crew, cleaning up our crumbs and mess in the cities that we leave behind,” the ecologist said.

“They also fit into the ecosystem as food sources, with the return of peregrine falcons, a bird of prey almost made extinct in the UK. Cities are a favourite site for this bird.

“One reason is the abundance of feral pigeons. They can also be a food source for hawks and even foxes, who are able to sneak up on them.”

That’s not to say they pose no risk to humans: think of “dropping build-up and
nesting material build-up carrying disease,” said the expert.

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But the city isn’t always kind to its winged residents, either.

Problems “such as entanglement in nets, thin pieces wrapping around their legs,
eventually causing them to lose toes or feet,” which “can even be caused by something as thin as human hair,” are common.

“They can also receive infections due to the harsh urban environment, getting tiny scratches, which can lead to swollen or necrotic feet.”

How can I help pigeons?

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The ecologist said the following steps can help:

  1. Remove all hazards that could entangle or cut pigeons. “Don’t put out human hair thinking it is a good nesting material; it’s a risk to all birds with
    entanglement.”
  2. Capture distressed pigeons with gloved hands, put them in a dark box, and bring them to a vet or wildlife centre. “If the bird has been caught by a cat, even if there are no physical injuries, you must still get it to a rescue, as cat saliva is very dangerous, with the bacteria it contains and can often lead to the bird’s death from just being in contact with a cat’s mouth.”
  3. Don’t put out too much food. This “will just encourage more pigeons to gather in one location, leading to more dropping and build up, which can lead to complaints and methods to remove or disperse birds”.
  4. Provide a clean water source. “A shallow dish of water can be a lifeline in a concrete city and can help the birds keep clean.”
  5. Keep cats indoors, especially during nesting season. “Cats are a non-native introduced predator that has a large impact on bird species. Recently fledged pigeons often don’t fly to begin with, and on the ground, they are very vulnerable.”

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Animatronic pig to tour Scotland exposing ‘pregnancy cage cruelty’

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Animatronic pig to tour Scotland exposing ‘pregnancy cage cruelty’

Humane World for Animals UK will take its campaign to ban farrowing crates across Scotland from 11-14 April. The charity will bring a life-size animatronic pig named Penny to towns and cities to highlight the harsh reality faced by tens of thousands of mother pigs on farms.

Penny will appear inside a metal crate like those which confine sows while they give birth and nurse their piglets. The striking installation aims to show the severe restriction which mother pigs endure in these systems.

The tour will visit Aberdeenshire, Perthshire, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Campaigners will meet members of the public and raise awareness about pig welfare. The event will culminate at the Edinburgh City Chambers. Humane World for Animals experts will meet with politicians to urge stronger action to end the caging of mother pigs.

As of 2025, Scotland was home to 25,600 sows. About half of these live in indoor pig farms that routinely keep sows in farrowing crates. Under current laws, they can be confined for up to five weeks in the narrow metal cages every time they give birth, typically two or three times a year.

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The cages are so restrictive that the animals are unable to turn around. They have little opportunity to engage in natural behaviour such as nest-building or moving freely with their piglets. This badly compromises their physical and mental health.

Farrowing crates typically measure around 200cm in length and 45-65cm in width. Pigs have been selectively bred to be larger than ever, meaning that the relative space available to a sow is even more restricted than when crates were first introduced.

Scottish public rejects pig cages

Polling by the organisation revealed that 84% of the Scottish public rejects the use of farrowing crates for mother pigs. Over half of respondents (54%) stated they would be willing to pay more for meat produced from pigs kept in crate-free systems. This shows that farmers could benefit financially by embracing the highest welfare standards.

The UK government has indicated an intention to phase out conventional farrowing crates. But Humane World for Animals warns that some parts of the industry are shifting towards so-called “flexible” farrowing crates. The organisation says these systems still rely on confining mother pigs in cages and are the same kind of prison under another name.

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Claire Bass, senior director of campaigns and public affairs at Humane World for Animals UK, says:

Many people are shocked that such extreme, prolonged confinement is still legal in Scotland. Farmers must end cruel caging, not replace old cages with new ones that would condemn millions more pregnant and lactating pigs to future decades of misery.

A cage is a cage, and the public is clear: mother pigs don’t belong behind bars.

With the Scottish election fast approaching, our tour is turning public compassion into political pressure. Voters across Scotland are demanding change and joining our call for the next Scottish Government to support farmers as part of the effort to put an end to pregnancy cage cruelty.

By touring Scotland with Penny the pig, campaigners hope to spark conversations about the lives of farmed animals. And they’ll encourage parliamentary candidates to support farming systems that allow pigs the space and freedom to express natural behaviour.

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Featured image via Marcus Emmerson / Humane World for Animals UK

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Melania Trump’s speech has the media ignoring one big thing

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Melania Trump's speech has the media ignoring one big thing

The Guardian, along with other ‘mainstream’ media, have reported that press and analysts are “baffled” by Melania Trump’s sudden, supposedly unauthorised, and deeply self-justifying statement denying a relationship with serial child-rapist Jeffrey Epstein.

ITV News even wondered, in all-caps, “WHY DID SHE DO THIS?”:

Any kind of examination reveals it may not really be all that baffling, but the Guardian and others completely ignore the plural ‘elephants in the room’. Let’s take a look at them.

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The Wolff case

Melania Trump is being sued by writer Michael Wolff, himself no stranger to Epstein’s circle, who alleges that she threatened him with a $1bn lawsuit for his claims about her closeness to Epstein in an attempt to curtail his rights to free speech. Trump’s new denial speech boasts of her successes in using similar threats to force publishers and others to apologise.

This is an obvious parallel with the Wolff case. Yet she never followed through on her threat sue Wolff after he refused to back down. And she has been accused of hiding from Wolff’s attempts to serve her with notice of his own lawsuit – then tried to get the case thrown out because he hadn’t been able to ‘serve’ her at her guarded Mar a Lago residence in Florida.

But the Guardian’s article, despite the obvious lead-in, makes no mention of Wolff at all. Neither does ITV or other UK ‘msm’. Trump may have had notice that her attempt to kick out Wolff’s case will be rejected by the court and is trying to ‘get ahead’ of the fall-out and the fact that it will open the way for Wolff to ‘depose’ her and her husband and to demand full disclosures. Or another story about her and Epstein may be about to break and she wants to get her denials in early.

FBI files: “EPSTEIN introduced MELANIA TRUMP to DONALD TRUMP.”

In her speech yesterday, Trump referred to an email she sent to Epstein’s partner-in-paedophilia Ghislaine Maxwell – to whom Trump referred chummily as “dear G”. Trump denied the email, in which she gushed about ‘G’s appearance and how she couldn’t wait to go to Palm Beach – and asked ‘G’ to call her when she was in New York. Maxwell responds, calling Trump “Sweetpea” and regretting that she “sadly” probably wouldn’t see her on her current trip to New York:

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Despite this cosiness, in her speech, Melania Trump denied knowing Maxwell well and claimed that the exchange was merely “polite” and “tribal” – presumably meaning ‘trivial’. The Guardian and ITV do refer to this email. But, inexcusably, they don’t refer to an even more significant email – one that is directly relevant to Trump’s denial that she was introduced to her husband by Epstein.

Among the entities Melania Trump boasted that she has forced to apologise to her is US news website the Daily Beast. The site had streamed an interview with Michael Wolff in which he made claims noted above about Trump’s closeness to Epstein. But while the threat of a $1bn lawsuit might have cowed the site into backing down over that interview, it has not deleted a separate article about FBI evidence about how she met Donald Trump.

In that article, published in February 2026, the Daily Beast notes that among the evidence gathered by FBI agents on Epstein is a sworn statement (download here) from one of his employees. In that evidence, the employee claims directly that:

EPSTEIN introduced MELANIA TRUMP to DONALD TRUMP.

As the Daily Beast article notes, it is a criminal offence in the US to lie to the FBI. The sworn statement directly relates to Melania Trump’s denial in her speech and the Daily Beast has not deleted this article, evidently because quoting an official law enforcement document could not be defamation. But none of the ‘mainstream’ publications or broadcasters have bothered to refer to it, while streaming or quoting Trump’s denial.

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According to the Longman dictionary, the phrase “the elephant in the room” refers to “an important subject or problem that everyone knows about but no one mentions”. There are at least two in Melania Trump’s bizarre speech. Rather than address them, the UK ‘mainstream media’ prefer to wonder rhetorically what could possibly have prompted Trump to make her speech, while remaining conspicuously silent about obvious potential causes.

Featured image via the Canary

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Trump administration barrels toward clash with Vatican

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Trump administration barrels toward clash with Vatican

A Vatican official has stated that pope Leo may refuse to visit the US whilst Donald Trump remains in office. The news comes alongside reports of a widening divide between the Catholic church and US.

Pope Leo became the first pope to be born in the US after his appointment in 2025. Since then, he has been a vocal critic of Trump’s vicious warmongering and immigration policies. In particular, both his January and Easter addresses called for peace and criticized warlike states.

In response, the Trump administration has reportedly told the church that it has the military power to do “whatever it wants”. Reports also allege that one US official made reference to the use of force against the papacy itself.

Trump administration ‘the church had better take its side’

On 6 April, the Free Press broke a story on an unprecedented meeting between the Pentagon and a senior Vatican official. The US ‘department of war’ reportedly called for a meeting with Vatican diplomat cardinal Christophe Pierre, having taken offense at the pope’s calls for peace during a January address.

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Speaking to the Vatican’s diplomatic corps in the new year, the pope criticised states “completely undermining” world peace. Breaking from tradition by giving the speech in English, rather than Italian or French, he added that:

A diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force, by either individuals or groups of allies.

In spite of Leo naming no individual countries, the Trump administration reportedly took this as a direct attack. In a first-of-a-kind occurrence, the Pentagon requested an audience with cardinal Pierre. Anonymous Vatican sources characterised the meeting as a:

bitter lecture warning that the United States has the military power to do whatever it wants — and that the Church had better take its side.

Avignon Papacy

Further even than this, the Free Press stated that:

one U.S. official went so far as to invoke the Avignon Papacy, the period in the 1300s when the French Crown leveraged its military power to dominate the papal authority.

The Avignon Papacy is sometimes referred to as the ‘Babylonian Captivity’ within Catholic circles. Following military and political threats from king Philip VI of France, pope Clement V moved the seat of the church from Rome to Avignon. It remained there between the years 1309 and 1377.

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During that period, all seven elected popes were French. Likewise, 111 of the 134 new cardinals were also French. Although the level of Philip’s direct influence over the papacy during the Avignon residence is still hotly debated, critics hold that it was a time of unprecedented hegemony for the French crown.

As such, the force of this threat from a US official to the Vatican can hardly be underestimated. However, the Pentagon has flatly denied the Free Press’ characterisation of events. Instead, it issued a statement holding that:

In light of grossly false and distorted recent reporting, the Department of War repeats its statement: Recent reporting of the meeting is highly exaggerated and distorted. The meeting between Pentagon and Vatican officials was a respectful and reasonable discussion. We have nothing but the highest regard and welcome continued dialogue with the Holy See.

This take on the meeting is belied directly by a senior Vatican official, who told the Free Press that, following the meeting:

The Pope may well never visit the United States under this administration.

The pope has reportedly refused an invite from Trump to join him for the US 4 July celebrations. Instead, he will visit the Italian island of Lampedusa, a common entry point into Europe for North African asylum seekers.

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‘Light the signal fire in Iran’

Beyond this direct clash with Vatican envoys, the US  military has taken on increasingly apocalyptic evangelical Christian overtones under ‘secretary of war’ Pete Hegseth. The Washington Post described the situation:

Every month at the Pentagon, Hegseth hosts evangelical worship services that legal experts say are unprecedented. His social media profile and public comments routinely espouse his understanding of Christianity, which is one that would dominate American life and cast those who disagree with him as God’s enemies. He has brought clergy from his small Christian denomination to preach at the Pentagon, including a prominent pastor who says women shouldn’t have the right to vote.

By 4 March, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) had received over 200 complaints of increased sectarianism. One noncommissioned officer stated that their commander had:

urged us to tell our troops that this was ‘all part of God’s divine plan’ and he specifically referenced numerous citations out of the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ. […]

He said that ‘President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth’.

At a worship service held within the Pentagon on 25 March, Hegseth prayed for God to:

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Give [US soldiers] wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy. Preserve their lives, sharpen their resolve, and let justice be executed swiftly and without remorse that evil may be driven back and wicked souls delivered to the eternal damnation prepared for them….We ask these things with bold confidence in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ, King over all kings and amen.

It’s hard to find something new to say in the face of such openly bloodthirsty rhetoric and actions. The US military is controlled by zealots who claim belief in waging a holy war. They’re spurred on by an apparently genuine desire to bring about the end of the earth.

These aren’t things that you’re trained to write about. There’s no reasoning with this cocktail of religious hatred, white supremacy, and naked greed. Not even direct condemnation from arguably the most senior Christian on earth has given them pause.

Featured image via the Canary

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