Politics
Palestine child right’s NGO forced to close because Israel made its future untenable
After 35 years defending Palestinian children’s rights, Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCIP) has ceased operations, following years of threats and criminalisation by “Israel”.
Its general director described the moment he announced the NGO would close as the “saddest moment” of his time here.
Khaled Quzmar joined the organisation in 1995 as a lawyer representing Palestinian children in the Israeli occupation’s military courts.
He said:
I always used to be proud to talk about DCI work, the achievements we had, and the support we gave to our community. When I announced stopping the work of DCIP it was the saddest moment for me during my more than 30 years here. It hasn’t been an easy decision for me, for the staff, the beneficiaries, or the board of directors, but I was forced to do that due to Israeli restrictions and attacks.
Palestine loses one of its human rights defenders
DCIP started in 1991 as an initiative by activists who had been in prison. They saw firsthand how the Israeli occupation treated Palestinian children when they were detained.
Not only had their childhood ended there and then, but they were also subjected to torture and ill treatment while no lawyer visits took place.
Once released, the problems often continued for these children. They expected to be received as heroes in their communities and so commonly experienced difficulties when it came to spending time with their families or reintegrating back into their schools.
DCIP provided support not just for the children but also for their families and communities. Through DCIP, a lawyer began visiting children in prison and detention centres, and represented them in court.
Meanwhile, psychosocial workers helped them avoid isolation by engaging them with their local community. They also worked with families, showing them how to provide much needed support, something the Israeli occupation prison services have never done for any Palestinian.
But in order to tackle the ills of the system, DCIP needed evidence, Quzmar explained.
Instead of talking about the illegal Israeli military court system, we needed to prove this so we started to collect evidence. We began to document all the violations, such as no fair trial standards and no lawyer visits during interrogations. We concluded that the system was so far from the fair trial standards and illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
DCIP collected evidence and became increasingly vocal about the injustices Palestinian children face at the hands of the Israeli occupation. It was then DCIP started receiving attacks from right-wing Zionist NGOs, which are supported by the occupation’s government.
They never challenged our narrative because the narrative is well documented according to the UN standards. They just kept lying, lying, lying, and constantly attacked us.
In 2010, they started accusing us of being a terrorist organisation. When they failed to silence us, they started targeting our partners and donors, one by one, threatening to stop their support for us or be prosecuted. But none of the donors accepted such allegations or threats, and continued working with us.
DCIP vs UK Lawyers for Israel
One of the organisations that targeted and tried to delegitimise DCIP was the “Israel” lobby group, UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI). Founded in 2011, UKLFI defends the genocidal state of Israel and says it aims to “mobilise members and supporters to use their skills pro bono to combat the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement and the delegitimisation of Israel”.
When UKLFI failed to have the desired effect, a complaint followed against DCIP’s audit company, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). But after a two-year investigation, the complaint was dismissed.
UKLFI targeted Defense for Children International-Palestine and led a misinformation campaign against the organisation since 2018, claiming it was a “terror linked” charity. It sought to harm the reputation of DCIP, isolate the organisation, and prevent it from receiving charitable donations.
In 2019, DCIP sued UKLFI for libel. The case was settled out of court and UKLFI was forced to apologise and issue a public retraction acknowledging that DCIP did not have links to terrorism.
We issued libel proceedings against UK Lawyers for Israel in UK courts in June 2019. Yesterday, as part of legal settlement, UKLFI recanted allegations that @DCIPalestine provides material support to any designated terror group.
Read our statement » https://t.co/biyqZgnIPX pic.twitter.com/ZCUn17oY2E
— Defense for Children (@DCIPalestine) March 10, 2020
Quzmar said:
I was not looking for money. I was looking to silence them, and this silenced them. But not long after this, we shared with Josh Paul, the case of a 13-year-old child arrested by Israeli police and subjected to sexual assault in an Israeli prison.
Josh Paul: ‘We believed [allegations] were credible’
Then, Josh Paul was a director of the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, an agency within the US Department of State responsible for US defence diplomacy, security assistance and arms transfers.
He resigned from that position in October 2023 over Biden’s arms transfers to Gaza and explained why in a candid LinkedIn post.
During an interview with CNN shortly after, Paul discussed the information DCIP shared with him.
He said:
We examined these allegations. We believed they were credible. We put them to the government of Israel, and you know what happened the next day? The IDF went into the DCIP offices and removed all their computers and declared them a terrorist entity.
Quzmar was shocked, not because the Israeli occupation had failed to open an investigation, but because his offices were raided.
He added:
There was no reason to raid the office. They broke the door, stole equipment, including computers. They just wanted to damage and destroy. I found tens of files in the stairway and they overturned the coffee machine.
I filed a complaint against them in the Israeli military court, claiming thieves in Israeli army uniform raided the office and stole equipment, on 27 July 2021. After a week they said yes, the Israeli army had raided the office because they had received information that there were materials used in the military operation against Israel, or will be used.
Quzmar asked to see the evidence but received nothing. Three months after this raid, DCIP was designated as a “terrorist organisation”. Although he says he never trusts the Israeli occupation’s “legal system”, Quzmar appealed the case and hired a lawyer.
He said:
There is no due process in Israel when it comes to Palestinians, and I lost a huge amount of money to pay the lawyer. The lawyer asked for discussion with the Israeli defense minister, who issued the designation against my organisation. We had one session, three years ago. There have been no other sessions or discussions, and they kept us designated.
The Israeli occupation controls everything in Palestine. It forced the banks not to work with DCIP so eventually, it could not operate, and it threatened the communities and donors that worked with the NGO. Many donors lost their presence in Palestine due to working with DCIP.
Being labelled as a terrorist organisation worried Quzmar greatly. According to “Israeli” military law, as the director of such an organisation, he could be subject to up to 20 years in prison. Meanwhile, medium-level staff could get 10 years and junior staff could be imprisoned for five years without any discussion.
Quzmar said:
Continuing the work was very high risk for me. Anyone who worked with me could be subject to prosecution, for working with a so-called terrorist, and so violating the Israeli law designating me as a terrorist. Also, a child represented by a lawyer from our side could be prosecuted because they have benefited from a terrorist organisation.
‘Today UAWC was raided, tomorrow it could be DCIP’
DCIP was forced to seriously consider the impacts such a designation would have on its organisation and staff after the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) raided the offices of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC).
The occupation designated UAWC as a terrorist organisation in December 2025. The raid, unlike any of the previous ones, was not at night but at 10am, and was accompanied by a media mission. The raid came one week after right-wing journalists from “Israel” wrote complaining that the Israeli army had done nothing about organisations in Palestine it had designated as terrorist organisations.
During the raid, UAWC staff were blindfolded, handcuffed and interrogated, kneeling down, or with their faces down on the floor for several hours. Eight were detained.
Quzmar told the Canary:
For me, in the position of managing DCIP, it got me thinking about the impact of such a raid. It was like a message to me. We had also been designated, so we’re in the same position. Today UAWC was raided, tomorrow it could be DCIP.
We had two mothers working for us, who both gave birth five or six months ago. If they were arrested, who would take care of their children? Eventually, to save the lives and security of the staff and children, and to save the assets of the organisation, we decided to end our work, and the office is now closed.
Palestine’s children need protection
Although DCIP has been forced to stop its work, Quzmar will continue to focus on children. They are now in even more need than any time previously.
He believes the situation faced by Palestinian children is unique in the world. Their rights are ignored and while the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is applied everywhere, Palestine is the exception.
These children just want to live like other children. They can’t understand why they are excluded.
I’ve tried to convince them that we’re working to hold [Israel] accountable, to stop the crimes. But we failed to convince them, in 35 years, that there is a possibility of ending this struggle. This is not because there is no political will in the international community.
There are also those who are complicit and partners in the crimes. They talk about human rights while providing Israel with more arms. What kind of human rights are these they talk about while killing people?
He argues that while the Israeli occupation is now denying many thousands of human rights activists entry into Palestine, to prevent them witnessing zionist crimes against Palestinians, Europe is still allowing Israeli occupation terrorist settlers, politicians and other criminals to travel freely.
“This is the hypocrisy we live in, the absence of political will,” Quzmar said.
Our message to the international community is to stop hypocrisy and complicity, and hold the criminals accountable in order to ensure that human rights will be respected, and people not just in Palestine but around the world, can live in peace.
Featured image via the Canary
By Charlie Jaay
On 20 April, Unite the Union announced that more than 1,100 workers at five Scottish universities will stage a 24-hour strike. The industrial action is scheduled for 24 April to dispute an imposed real-terms pay cut.
Unite members at Glasgow, Strathclyde, Glasgow School of Art, Edinburgh Napier and Heriot Watt universities will take part.
At 12:30pm on the same day, 24 April, Unite will also hold a Pay and Fair Funding Rally. The assembly will take place at the top of Buchanan Street, next to the Concert Hall and Donald Dewar statue.
The announcement marks an escalation of previous Unite action at Glasgow, Strathclyde and Edinburgh Napier universities on 10 April. Likewise, staff members at Strathclyde also staged a strike from 16 to 22 March over proposed job cuts.
‘No option but to fight back’ says Unite
As the Canary previously reported, the higher education (HE) sector across the country has already suffered under 15 years of substandard pay awards. Compared to 2010, the below-inflation ‘rises’ have left most staff with a real-terms cut of around 30%.
The current dispute centers on the fact that the universities are imposing a pay offer of just 1.4% for 2025/26 on the Scottish workforce. For context, retail price index (RPI) inflation currently stands at 3.6%. However, it looks set to climb far higher due to the repercussions of Trump/Netanyahu’s illegal war on Iran.
Alison MacLean, Unite’s lead officer for higher education, said:
Thousands of Unite members working in higher education have faced years of real-terms pay cuts. Our members have no option but to fight back against repeated threats of compulsory redundancies, and cuts to their terms and conditions. This funding crisis has also come about as a result of gross financial mismanagement and incompetence at some universities.
The latest round of strikes is part of Unite’s campaign to ensure that higher education is fully funded, and its workers are fairly rewarded. We can no longer accept more cuts and derisory pay awards which is why our members are fighting back.
‘Workers are facing another cost of living crisis’
Trade unions across the HE sector are already engaged in negotiations for the 2026/27 pay award. The next meeting is scheduled for 13 May.
The unions are demanding either a pay offer of RPI + 3%, or a £3,000 increase – whichever is higher. On top of that, they’re also arguing for a £15/hr minimum basic pay. These changes would impact 138 higher education institutions across the UK.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said:
University workers deserve far better from higher education institutions. For years they have had real terms pay cuts imposed on them which is unacceptable. Inflation throughout this time has soared and now workers are facing another cost of living crisis.
Unite will fully support our higher education members. We won’t tolerate them having to face attack upon attack on their jobs, pay and conditions.
Time and again, we’ve watched as the lowest-paid in our society have been forced to absorb the greatest impacts of inflation and financial crisis.
The fact that UK universities are imposing yet another below-inflation pay offer, with full knowledge that worse is round the corner, is simply intolerable. However, as the escalation of industrial action at these five Scottish universities has shown, the workers will not take these imposed cuts without a fight.
Featured image via the Canary
White House Energy Secretary Chris Wright called President Donald Trump a “creative negotiator” when asked about his threats to “knock out every single” power plant and bridge in Iran.
As peace talks between the United States and Iran appear to be at a stalemate amid a tenuous ceasefire agreement and continued jockeying over control of the Strait of Hormuz, the president demanded Iran accept America’s terms or face his full wrath in a Sunday morning Truth Social post.
“NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!” Trump declared, calling the US’s diplomatic offer “very fair and reasonable.”
Asked if the president’s intimidation tactics could “complicate” negotiations with Iran during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” just hours later, Wright said he had full confidence in Trump.
“The president is using every way he can to get leverage over the regime and bring this conflict to an end,” he told host Shannon Bream. “He’s a creative negotiator, he uses pressure in different ways.”
“He uses uncertainty in different ways and I think as you’ve seen in the last 16 months, generally it leads to good results,” the cabinet member went on. “I don’t think we’ll see any surprises here.”
Wright envisioned reaching a “nice end to this conflict,” which he said would rescue Iran’s regional neighbors from “constant terror” and also guarantee a free “flow of goods” through the Strait of Hormuz.
“Imagine a nuclear armed Iran, not far away from that reality,” he said. “This is going to put an end to it.”
Wright stuck by his support for Trump’s strategy in a separate Sunday interview on CNN, where host Jake Tapper asked the secretary if he was worried strikes on civilian infrastructure could “constitute a war crime.”
“The president is looking for maximum leverage,” he said, later adding, “No, I’m not worried about that.”
Earlier this month, Trump triggered international panic with a near-identical ultimatum, telling Iran to “open the fuckin’ Strait” of Hormuz within two days or find themselves “living in hell” via Truth Social.
After upping the ante with a post warning “a whole civilization will die tonight” just hours before his 8pm April 7 deadline, a two-week ceasefire was announced.
There are two startling stories coming out of Argentina right now. The first is that under far-right libertarian president Javier Milei, Argentines have had to start eating donkey meat. The second is that Milei is meeting Israeli war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu:
Argentinian President Javier Milei gets emotional while meeting his hero, Benjamin Netanyahu.
This took place after he finished kissing the Western Wall in Israel. pic.twitter.com/5pvTCMQZSb
— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) April 19, 2026
Milei
Milei is the South American leader you see wielding a chainsaw:
Inflation in Argentina is 32.6%.
Javier Milei's chainsaw was always for Argentinians. pic.twitter.com/hX5NGZ2lLt — BladeoftheSun (@BladeoftheS) April 17, 2026
As we reported on 15 February:
Javier Milei is the libertarian leader of Argentina. If you’re unfamiliar with ‘libertarianism’, it’s the childlike belief that everyone can just get their own way all the time, and that people shouldn’t look out for one another – just for themselves.
In practice, libertarianism means cutting ‘red tape’ for businesses so they face no restrictions on how poorly they can treat their workers. This is how that’s currently working out in Argentina (complete with quotes from the UK leaders who wish to emulate this chaos):
Nigel Farage on Milei "Doing all the things he’s done, that’s leadership, he is amazing"
Kemi Badenoch "Javier Milei would be ‘template’ for my government"
He just cut holiday days to 0, employers can pay in food and 12 hour work days. The result: pic.twitter.com/WgoFxN9EX9
— Jake
(@ToryWipeout) February 14, 2026
A country can create short-term prosperity by selling off its assets.
Milei, it seems, is failing to create short-term anything.
Anything besides chaos, anyway.
Milei: let them eat donkey
According to reports, Argentines have switched to donkey because beef is too expensive.
On the one hand, you could ask if the donkey meat thing matters. We’ve never eaten it, but we can see more than one source describing it as a delicacy.
We’ve seen commentary like the following, but the commenter is probably reading a lot into this (it could also just be poorly cooked):
Argentina’s beef under Milei has become so expensive that people are turning to donkey meat. Here you see a reporter from a right wing news channel attempting to eat it, struggling to chew it, & pretending to enjoy it as cope. What Milei’s government has reduced our country to. https://t.co/jJZ1VeUYUa
— Thomas Kennedy (@tomaskenn) April 19, 2026
Beyond the taste, WebMD report:
Compared to other types of meat that might otherwise be regarded as suitable for human consumption, such as sheep or cow, previous studies have indicated that donkey meat contains a higher percentage of protein and essential amino acids. Additionally, it is lower in fat, cholesterol, and calorie content. Much more tender than beef, donkey meat contains the same levels of protein and is rich in iron, calcium, and phosphorous.
Given this, it’s not unrealistic to think we could one day live in a world in which health influencers describe donkey as a ‘supermeat’ (unless the lab grown alternatives take off, anyway).
Besides the taste and benefits, there’s obviously a cultural element to this. If people are used to eating certain meats, they’ll consider alternatives outside their consumption habits odd.
We’re sure many of you eat chicken, but would you eat seagull?
For all you know, seagull could be the most delicious and nutritious bird there is, but if you saw it on the menu at KFC, you’d probably think ‘Kentucky fuck that‘.
All this is to say that although Argentines aren’t suffering by switching from beef to donkey, that doesn’t mean they won’t feel like they’re experiencing a downgrade. And this is a problem. Because Milei was supposed to fire up the economy and make everyone rich.
Under certain political projects, you can make a case that people need to endure hardships to secure a better future for their children. You can’t make that argument under a hyper-libertarian project like Milei’s, in which the mission is to sell everything that isn’t nailed down for short-term gains.
Where are the short-term gains, Javier?
And worse than that, why are you parading around with genocidal monster Benjamin Netanyahu?
As Argentines eat donkey meat and dumpster dive to survive, their demonic market fundamentalist schizo-president snuggles up to modern day Hitler Satanyahu https://t.co/lHAktzjIFv
— Secular Talk (KyleKulinskiShow@bsky.social) (@KyleKulinski) April 19, 2026
Netanyahu
Under Milei, Argentina has become part of what you might call the All New Axis of Evil:
Today the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution to condemn the trafficking of Africans in bondage and the transatlantic slave trade.
Only three states voted against it. The USA, Argentina and Israel.
— Lowkey (@Lowkey0nline) March 25, 2026
As a reminder, Israel has perpetrated a genocide against the Palestinian people since 2003, with backing from the US and countries like Britain. Recently, Israel launched a war on Iran, and has extended its ethnic cleansing mission into Lebanon. This is part of an expansionist policy the nation refers to as the ‘Greater Israel’ project.
In other words, you cannot support Israel in this moment without supporting the worst crimes imaginable.
As part of his visit, Milei posted a picture of himself at Israel’s Wailing wall:
En el Muro… pic.twitter.com/AD3cLUoYY4
— Javier Milei (@JMilei) April 19, 2026
Pressed up against the wall, he looks like a flattened cowpat.
Netanyahu, meanwhile, posted the following:
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) April 19, 2026
Much like the rest of him, Netanyahu’s thumbs are crooked and bent.
Milei, meanwhile, is posed as if imagining the handcuffs he may one day be wearing.
All for what?
Milei is delivering none of the gains he promised while swanning around with a genocidal monster. In other words, he never had his people’s interests in mind, and he never will.
Eventually, the Argentines will wake up to this reality. And when they do, they’re going to make donkey meat out of the guy.
Featured image via X/Twitter
By Willem Moore
“It’s not a nice watch,” Ant McPartlin claimed, citing the way David “just kind of picks and picks at” his fellow contestants.
Ant continued: “Adam has had a bit of a tough time and he’s not coping well. Clearly, the banter has got too much. But David won’t stop.”
Declan Donnelly agreed: “It’s kind of crossed the line from banter. I don’t find it comfortable to watch.”
“He broke me in there, he pushed me to my limits, and I’ve told David this and he’s apologised and that’s that!” the Emmerdale star wrote. “I’ve moved on now, am not one to hold a grudge.
“But thank you for all your lovely messages and all the kind words. We all face people and situations that try to break us, but sometimes those moments are what rebuild you stronger than ever. Be kind.”
Earlier this month, it was announced that Ye – formerly known as Kanye West – would headline all three nights at Wireless in London’s Finsbury Park this coming July.
Since then, it’s been revealed that Ye’s upcoming gigs in Poland and Switzerland have now been axed, too.
“FCB received an enquiry and considered it,” they said in a statement. “However, after thorough review, we have decided not to proceed with the project, as we cannot, in accordance with our values, provide a platform for the artist in question within this context.”
In January 2026, Ye – who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder a decade ago – issued a public apology for his behaviour in a full-page magazine ad, addressed “to those I’ve hurt” with his antisemitic outbursts, claiming they occurred during a months-long manic episode in which he had “lost touch with reality”.
Last week, he also announced he was postponing a show in Paris following reports that the French government was considering options to block him from performing in the city.
London Underground is now over 150 years old and stretches over 250 miles of track, but what lays beneath those rails is said to be more sinister indeed.
For our beloved Tube network is said to house an endless array of ghosts, spectres, spirits and phantoms dating back to its grand opening in 1863.
These are the most haunted, complied in a graphic made by Brilliantly British…
LIVERPOOL STREET
Spooky tales of Liverpool Street have emerged, which is unsurprising considering it is built on top of a burial site, with an estimated eight bodies per cubic meter laying underneath its foundations.
In 2000, a man was reportedly spotted on CCTV after hours, dressed in white overalls and patrolling the deserted platforms, as if waiting for a train. When a member of station staff went to go search for the man, he was no where to be found. His colleague, watching the scenes on camera, claims to have seen the man standing next to the station worker. When the pair returned to the scene, they allegedly found a pair of white overalls.
BETHNAL GREEN
Horrifying screams can be heard echoing in the corridors of Bethnal Green, station staff report. The haunting sounds said to have emerged after 173 people died in a crush at the station during an air raid test in the Second World War.
The station became a safe haven for civilians during the blitz, with room for 5,000 bunks with full capacity stretching up to 7,000 people. Tragically the station also became the site of a huge disaster, as people were crushed whilst attempting to flee from the impending bombing, after hearing sirens.
Women and children’s cries of terror allegedly haunt the chambers of the underground network to this day. One of the first reports of the sounds came from a worker who had finished his shift, locked up the station and went down into the underground to finish some paperwork.
Sat alone in the dark, he then reportedly heard children’s cries, followed by screams and sounds of suffocation and struggle. He said the ordeal lasted from ten to 15 minutes.
BANK
The legend of ‘the Black Nun’ haunts the chambers of Bank station. Historically dating back to 1811, the mysterious circumstances are enough to frighten even the hardest of souls.
It all began back in the 1800′s when Philip Whitehead, who was reportedly the ‘Black Nun’s’ brother, was executed for committing forgery. Legend has it that the Nun waited outside of where Bank station now sits for his return, but he never came. She was rumored to have spent 40 years, dressed in black, waiting to see him again.
Her myth arose when Bank station was being built and some workers reportedly disturbed her sleeping spirit. She is still said to be roaming the platforms in search of her brother, dressed all in black.
COVENT GARDEN
Opened back in April of 1907, Covent Garden tube station serves the Piccadilly Line but according to myths that’s not all that lies beneath its tracks.
The station is said to be haunted by the apparition of a tall man wearing white gloves, a top hat and a frock coat and grey suit. According to ghostly lore, his figure has been reported many times since the 1950’s although more recent sightings are uncommon.
He is believed to be the ghost of a murdered actor who used to frequent the baker which was knocked down to make way for the station.
SEE ALSO:
KING’S CROSS
The infamous fire of King’s Cross in 1987 is believed to be the cause of a supernatural incident, featuring a supposed victim of the great tragedy.
Sightings of a frightening apparition, described as a cosmopolitan young woman with brown hair, is said to haunt the corridors of one of London’s busiest stations. Reports say that the lady screams loudly with her arms outstretched – but when people come to her aid, she disappears into thin air.
The supposed first sighting the woman was back in 1988, when a commuter saw a woman appearing distressed and walked over to comfort her – only to pass right through her when he reached her.
ELEPHANT AND CASTLE
Home to it’s fair share of paranormal activity, Elephant and Castle station might be one of London’s most haunted. Reports of footfalls and rapping have been often heard in the station when it is closed – but on investigation, no source can be found.
Another myth attached to the historic station claims the last train of the night is haunted by a lone girl who walks from the last carriage to the tip of the train, vanishing as she reaches the engine.
The sighting of the woman in the station has so far been unexplainable, with no obvious clues to the appearance in the station built on 18 December 1890.
SOUTH KENSINGTON
A spooky scenario at South Kensington was first witnessed by a passenger on the last train of the evening, who claimed to have heard an unnerving high-pitched whistle, followed shortly by the arrival of another train with an unexpected passenger.
A spectral figure in a peaked hat and coat hanging from the side of the train was claimed to have last been seen in 1928, almost a century ago.
FARRINGDON
Known locally as ‘the Screaming Spectre of Farringdon’, this unseen apparition has been terrifying passengers for years, her piercing screams sending shivers down the spine or anyone unfortunate enough to be within hearing distance.
Dating back to the early days of the Tube, this supernatural phenomena is reported as often now as it’s ever been, with hundreds of witnesses confirming the horrific sounds.
Some believe that this phantom is the ghost of young Anne Naylor, an 18th Century orphan who was killed by her employer at a London workhouse aged just 12. Her body was dumped where the station now stands, explaining the pained screams which continue to pass through Farringdon’s corridors.
A woman tests the shutters at Liverpool Street Underground Station
ALDGATE
Built on the site of a plague pit that was the final resting place for an estimated thousand victims of the Bubonic Plague in 1665, Aldgate Station was opened in 1876. Since its construction, the station has had so many reports of ghostly sightings that there is now an official log book for paranormal sightings at the station.
One of the most known of the appellations comes from the story of an electrician, who slipped onto a live rail knocking himself unconscious and sending over 20,000 volts through his body. Much to everyone’s amazement, he emerged unscathed.
Colleagues of the man insist that prior to his fall they saw a luminous figure of an old lady kneeling next to the stricken worker, stroking his hair. The tale of the ‘Elderly Angel’ goes back over a century, although a precise date has never been confirmed.
BRITISH MUSEUM STATION
The British Museum Station has been abandoned since the 1930s, so it isn’t really much of a surprise that its played host to a plethora of reported supernatural happenings.
Legend has it that the disused station is haunted by the ghost of Amun-ra, an Ancient Egyptian God, dressed in traditional Egyptian loincloth and headdress – and a couple of years after the station’s closure, two women vanished from nearby Holborn station, with witnesses claiming they heard ghostly moaning around the time of their disappearance.
To explain the mysterious situation, It has long been rumoured that there is a secret tunnel stretching from Holborn station to the British Museum’s famous ‘Egyptian Room’.
HIGHGATE
In scenes of a more bizarre scenario, Highgate station happenings have left locals perplexed for years. A disused extension of the Northern line left one section of the railway disused, with the rails removed. However it hasn’t stopped the the sound of trains passing through the night.
The Northern line extension project was shelved at the end of the 1940s following the renovation of Highgate station, with the unexplained train noises occurring ever since.
I am pretty fussy about cookies. I like them to have that bakery-level softness while maintaining a satisfyingly crisp exterior; I want thick, gooey cookies, ideally eaten warm with melted chocolate and sea flakes.
There are, of course, steps you can take to ensure these features. Resting cookie dough overnight helps to prevent the biscuits from spreading in the oven, which I find leaves them too thin.
And adding some inverted sugars, like golden or maple syrup, alongside granulated kinds goes a long way to keeping them sumptuously soft.
Personally, I swear by the New York Times’ recipe, though I replace about 10g of the brown sugar with maple syrup.
I’ve been making a batch on the weekend, freezing the dough, and baking one in the oven nightly for the past couple of weeks. But recently, partly because baking takes so long and partly because I hated using that much energy on a single biscuit, I switched appliances.
The results were gooier, crisper, faster, and easier to make; I haven’t gone back since.
An air fryer gave me much better results
Though I was happy with the results from my oven, I found that the air fryer left a much crisper top layer on the brownies with a truly gooey underneath. It makes them a little like a very good brownie.
When I bake them in the oven, meanwhile, they often end up getting a little caught and chewy on the ends. My oven probably heats up too slowly, which would explain the thin, lacy edges, where sugar melts into a slightly too hard layer, and the heat doesn’t blast the fat quickly enough to prevent spreading.
Not so with the air fryer, which cooks the cookie much faster (I put a frozen cookie in at 150°C for about 11 minutes, vs the oven’s 20 minutes plus preheating time).
And because air circulates in a much smaller area in my air fryer than it does in the oven, I feel it makes the craggy parts of my cookie crunchier and more golden while still maintaining a fudgy middle.
Perhaps it’s no wonder that baking legend Jane’s Patisserie likes the trick, too.
Are air fryers always a better choice?
I wouldn’t go that far. I’m in a specific situation here: I cook one or two cookies at a time, and I much prefer warm cookies to cooled ones. I also make taller cookies, and I think a thinner one could run a little too crisp quite quickly.
If you’re less interested in gooeiness and/or are cooking a lot of cookies at once, an oven will almost certainly be your best bet. I would not, for instance, use this for a bake sale.
But I probably would lob a huge scoop of cookie dough into my air fryer for something like a movie night dessert or a post-dinner cookie cake for friends (just be sure to carefully line your basket with baking paper: this is mandatory, of course, no matter what size cookie you’re making).
And I have stuck to the appliance every night since I first tried it. It’s faster, easier to clean, makes it much easier to check the doneness of your cookies, and makes mine taller, gooier, crisper, and more delicious.
It may have been one of the worst-kept secrets in pop, but Madonna still definitely managed to make a big impression when she made an unannounced guest appearance during Sabrina Carpenter’s Coachella set.
On Friday night, Sabrina headlined the second week of the US music festival, whizzing through her biggest hits in an elaborate show that really pulled out all the stops.
Towards the end of her set, the Grammy winner performed a rendition of fan-favourite track Juno, teasing fans with the line: “Wanna try out some freaky positions? Have you ever tried this one?”
At that moment, the stage went dark, with Madonna entering the stage as her signature hit Vogue played, after which she and Sabrina gave their new duet – thought to be taken from the Hung Up singer’s upcoming album Confessions II – its debut.
Madonna being Madonna, she wasn’t going to let the moment pass without some unscheduled chaos, launching into a slightly meandering speech that included her giving the crowd an Astrology lesson (including pointing out that Sabrina is a “stubborn” Taurus), giving an impromptu blast of her criminally underrated single Get Together and pointing out she was wearing much of the same outfit she first wore on the Coachella stage almost 20 years ago to the day.
She and Sabrina then ended the moment with a performance of Like A Prayer, after which Madonna disappeared under the stage, declaring: “You guys didn’t know this but she’s a magician. She’s going to make me disappear!”
Immediately after the performance, Madonna released the opening song from Confessions II, I Feel So Free, to streaming services, after first teasing it last week.
Confessions II will serve as a spiritual sequel to Madonna’s hit album Confessions On A Dance Floor, featuring production from her frequent collaborator Stuart Price.
As well as being her first studio album since 2019’s Madame X, it is her 15th studio album overall, and is scheduled for release on 3 July.
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Politics
Gentle Partnering: The New Trend That Can Make Your Relationship Happier, Healthier, And More Intimate
Chances are you’ve heard of “gentle parenting,” a method of raising children which avoids taking an overly authoritarian or possessive approach.
What is “gentle partnering”?
It involves approaching each other’s emotions and problems with empathy and curiosity, as a team.
“Gentle partnering is not about one person agreeing all the time or being submissive, it is about recognising our individuality,” said Rogers.
“It is not about power and control but being part of a team and a united front… Having differences of opinion can strengthen a relationship; it is how these differences are communicated to each other that is the key.”
Toxavidi described the approach as one which centres “open communication, emotional regulation, dealing with conflict and feeling loved and supported”.
It aims to “eliminate power and control [and set]… clear and consistent boundaries, which is another essential element that needs to be present and cultivated within healthy relationships.”
How can I try “gentle partnering”?
Try using “I” statements, try listening to their concerns rather than trying ot immediately fix them, accept your differences with respect, and accept each other’s individuality, Rogers told us.
Apologise, genuinely, when needed, recognise and own your feelings, and show affection regularly.
“All it involves is truly hearing and seeing your partner respectfully communicating your needs and feelings, but also considering and validating your partner’s needs and feelings, even if you do not agree. It is being firm, fair, respectful and maintaining your boundaries.”
Toxavidi said, “When partners can see their differences as opportunities for growth rather than as sources of conflict and disagreement and their different emotional tantrums around different relational issues with compassion and understanding, then a deeper bond and authentic connection can be built.”
Like Rogers, she said it’s important to focus on active listening, “acknowledging and validating someone’s behaviours or efforts,” setting boundaries that can “foster self-respect, safety and open communication,” and extending empathy.
“When someone is actively listening to their partner in order to understand where they are coming from with a deep curiosity of what is all about the other person opposite of them, and listens in order to respond and not to react from an ego place, creates a safe space for the other where defensive behaviour is eliminated and open expression and true intimacy and connection can take place,” she ended.
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