Politics
Peter Franklin: Does it matter if the Conservative Party becomes the Kemi Show?
Peter Franklin is an Associate Editor of UnHerd.
No one has benefitted more from the release of the Epstein Files than Kemi Badenoch.
Before the Mandelson scandal blew-up again, the political narrative was heading in the wrong direction for her. It wasn’t just the disruptive effect of the defections; it was also the botched response. Those uncalled for remarks about Suella Braverman’s mental health were quickly withdrawn and explained away as an isolated lapse of judgement. However, the mocking tone of Badenoch’s “drama queens” speech on the 28th of January spoke to a deeper problem: the apparent belief that we can convince the country we are the “party of serious people” by means of an unserious speech.
The Gorton and Denton by-election presented Badenoch with another impediment. Our vote in the constituency is already low and likely to be squeezed by Reform. So, again, a further drain on the momentum that she’d accumulated last year.
There’s more bad news to come with the May elections for the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Senedd and various councils. These are seats last contested four or five years ago and the results will reflect everything that Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak did to crash the Conservative Party when they were in charge. Unfortunately for Badenoch, she’ll be the one sweeping up the wreckage.
It’ll probably be worse for Labour.
If Starmer hasn’t already gone by that point, then coming third in Scotland and losing in Wales for the first time in a hundred years could be the last straw. And yet the choice of a new Labour leader — and, possibly, an acting prime minister, will extend the period in which the Conservative Party struggles for traction.
Or rather that would have been the case if the Epstein files hadn’t recontextualised the entire narrative.
Far from being sidelined, Badenoch has been handed a starring role. And last week, she played it perfectly.
Rather than using PMQs to grandstand, she got the Prime Minister to make a crucial matter-of-fact admission in front of his stony-faced colleagues. And instead of pushing for a vote of no confidence, which would have united the Labour Party, the use of the humble address procedure gave the whole House the space to extract maximum concessions from the government.
So if Keir Starmer does end up following Morgan McSweeney out the door, it won’t be the winning party in Gorton and Denton that gets the credit, nor the forthcoming triumphs for the SNP in Scotland and Plaid Cymru in Wales, nor Starmer’s enemies within the Labour Party. Rather, the clip that’s going to be played over-and-over again is Badenoch’s stiletto of a question: “Can the Prime Minister tell us: did the official security vetting that he received mention Mandelson’s ongoing relationship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein?” To which Starmer could only answer: “yes, it did.”
The significance of this moment wasn’t just the admission itself, but that it also focused all eyes on two areas of Conservative strength:
The first is the Conservative Party’s biggest advantage over Reform UK: our status as the Official Opposition. While Conservative shadow ministers face their Labour counterparts over the dispatch box, the eight Reform MPs are stuck at the back with the Corbynites for company. No wonder Nigel Farage prefers to address the nation from the studios of GB News.
The second strength overlaps with the first: Kemi Badenoch’s emergence as the star performer of this parliament. Comparisons are being made to William Hague’s legendary takedowns of Tony Blair in his pomp — but there’s a key difference. Like the jester in the court of a medieval monarch, Hague’s wit served as a safety valve at a time when Blair was otherwise conquering all before him. But Badenoch’s barbs are hitting home and drawing blood. Starmer (or it may be Rachel Reeves or some other minister) emerge diminished from every encounter.
If voters are ready to give the Conservative leader a hearing it is because no one else is better able to articulate the country’s contempt for this disgrace of a government.
This being our most powerful weapon, it makes perfect sense to deploy it at every opportunity. But in the process, we need to be aware that the Conservative Party is fast becoming the Kemi Show.
Of course, we’ve always expected our leaders to take a leading role — it’s right there in the job title. And yet, looking back, the limelight has usually been shared. In Hague’s case, Michael Portillo, Francis Maude and Ann Widdecombe also had starring roles. By the time we clawed our way back into power, the leadership was more of a double act — David Cameron and George Osborne. When Theresa May became Prime Minister, she had no choice but to concede a large slice of power to the leading Brexiteers — Boris Johnson and David Davis. Later, when it all went wrong, she summoned Michael Gove back from exile.
If any of our recent leaders could have hogged all the attention it was Boris Johnson, especially after the triumph of 2019. But even he felt the need to build up a major role for Rishi Sunak — and, subsequently, for Liz Truss too as a counterweight. Truss’s brief time as PM was also something of a partnership — with Kwasi Kwarteng and latterly Jeremy Hunt. When Sunak replaced Truss, he did not share the limelight — but only because there wasn’t any, just a lectern in the rain.
So am I suggesting that Badenoch is a rampant egotist, unwilling to allow other Conservatives their moment in the sun? No, there’s scant evidence of that — in fact she peppers her speeches with shout-outs to colleagues. Nor am I saying that the singular focus on our leader is the result of idleness on the part of shadow ministers. It’s just the attention naturally comes to her. She’s telegenic of course, but much more importantly she’s mastered the art of speaking normally despite the presence of a crowd. I’m afraid that too many of her colleagues still sound like Tory boys or PR persons.
Another reason for the Kemi-alone dynamic is that her backroom advisors are just about invisible. She has no equivalent to a Morgan McSweeney or a Dominic Cummings. Her first chief-of-staff, Lee Rowley, came and went without fanfare. And the current incumbent, Henry Newman, has a lower profile now than when he was serving in a more junior position under Boris Johnson. That’s not a criticism, by the way. Quite the opposite, in fact — backrooms should not be stages.
The final reason why it’s all about Kemi is that she’s all out of rivals. Of the potential alternative leaders, Robert Jenrick has quit for another party; James Cleverley, having accepted a shadow cabinet role is quietly getting on with that; and Tom Tugendhat appears to be fully focused on geopolitical issues. As for Boris Johnson, he’s failed to contend with his own record in office — and thus won’t be welcome back any time soon.
It’s always worth keeping an eye on future prospects like Katie Lam and Rebecca Paul — as long as one bears in mind just how early in the day it is for them. As for any challenge from the Left of the party — such as the recently launched Prosper UK movement — I’m afraid it’s rather too late. That much is made clear by the group’s list of seventy supporters — which is dominated by former ministers, former MPs and former mayors. If the group doesn’t advance bold new ideas and platform fresh thinkers it’ll be more a case of Remember Us? than Prosper UK.
So, does it matter if the Conservative Party does become the Kemi Show? Well, it’s preferable to be a party of many shining stars, but better one than none. What’s more, in an era of multi-party politics and limited attention spans, it’s an idea to give voters a face and a personality to focus on. After all, it works for Reform, it seems to be working for the Greens and even Ed Davey’s nonsense provides the Lib Dems with a degree of definition.
So unless anyone has any other ideas, Conservatives had better hope that the Kemi Show runs and runs.
Easter is coming, and that means chocolate.
I’m eagerly anticipating unwrapping my stash of eggs. But according to the dentist and founder of Dimples, Dr Pippa Nicholls, some methods of eating them might affect our teeth worse than others.
“Naturally, many people assume it’s healthier to nibble a corner of an Easter egg or grab a handful of mini eggs throughout the day,” she said.
But if you want to look after your teeth, she advised an approach similar to Sweden’s lördagsgodis.
What is lördagsgodis?
The Swedish tradition literally translates to “Saturday sweets”.
It limits the consumption of sweets to Saturday, when kids (and, presumably, sweet-toothed adults) can go to town on their favourite sugary snacks. The only catch is that they steer clear of candy for the rest of the week.
Designed to limit tooth decay, it seems to have had some benefits. Though a typical Swedish family of four consumes about a kilo of sweets a week, Swedish children have better dental health, on average, than their European counterparts.
What’s that got to do with my Easter eggs?
“When it comes to your teeth, it’s actually much better to enjoy sweet treats in one sitting,” Dr Nicholls said.
It doesn’t have to be on Saturday, though, so long as you’re not constantly grazing on sweets throughout the day, which can damage your enamel.
Adopting the more Swedish approach “Gives your teeth time to recover, rather than constantly exposing them to sugar, and can even help prevent the cycle of grazing that often leads to eating more overall, particularly in children.”
The dentist added, “I always recommend [eating Easter eggs] at the end of a meal. Not only will it help crush the sweet treat craving, it also is when the saliva flow is increased and will be the most protective to your teeth.”
Any other rules?
Yes. You might think that brushing your teeth immediately after consuming chocolate is the best way to flush the sugar away, but Dr Nicholls said that could actually backfire.
“Try to wait around 30 minutes before brushing your teeth after eating chocolate or sugary treats. Brushing immediately can actually strip minerals from the enamel while the mouth remains acidic, so giving your teeth time to rebalance helps protect them,” she explained.
Lastly, “Choosing dark chocolate or treats made with less refined sugars, such as unrefined cane or coconut sugar, can help reduce the amount of refined sugar available for bacteria in the mouth to feed on. Dark chocolate is also often more satisfying due to its rich flavour, which can naturally help limit how much we eat.”
Starting today, 1 April, MPs’ basic salary will rise to £98,599. For comparison, the average full-time worker in the UK made £39,039 a year, as of April 2025.
The pay bump marks a 5% increase in MPs’ basic wage. For comparison, average inflation stood at 3% as of January 2026.
Likewise, MPs’ salaries are expected to continue to rise to around the £110,000 by 2029, which marks the end of the current parliament. For comparison, even chancellor Rachel Reeves’ promise that people will be £1,000 better off by then is looking shaky at best.
However, the basic salary is only the beginning of the story. MPs also get an expenses allowance to cover absolute necessities like their second homes in London, their offices, and travel. Likewise, if an MP also sits on a committee or holds an additional role, they of course receive extra money.
Meanwhile, teachers in the UK are still buying classroom supplies out of their own pocket.
MPs pay rise has to be a joke
If all of this is setting your blood to boiling, please calm down. Don’t be like the the Taxpayers’ Alliance said, who rushed to state that people will be:
seething to see politicians receive an inflation-busting pay rise, all while they suffer a personal recession.
Likewise, take care not to follow the example of the group’s chair John O’Connell, who said that:
After years of broken promises, falling living standards and deteriorating public services, MPs are being rewarded for failure with a princely pay boost.
You see, it’s not like MPs are setting their own salaries or anything – that would be monstrously corrupt.
Instead, politicians’ wages are determined by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA). IPSA makes its decision based on a number of factors, including 3.5% cost-of-living increase, along with a 1.5% benchmarking adjustment.
The watchdog compares MPs’ salaries to other politicians in similar democracies, as well as senior figures in the public sector and the NHS. Public sector salaries are, in turn, set by review bodies and, ultimately, by MPs.
Fortunately, MPs’ salaries are not compared to lower-ranking public sector workers, as this would look less favorable. For example, most NHS staffers will receive a 3.3% pay rise this year. Similarly, Civil Service workers received pay awards of up to 3.25% on average for 2025/26.
‘The wider economic context’
The independent head of IPSA is Richard Lloyd. An interesting an unrelated fact about Richard Lloyd is that he worked as a special adviser to prime minister Gordon Brown.
Explaining his decision, Lloyd said:
The role of an MP has evolved. They are dealing with higher levels of complex casework, and abuse and intimidation towards MPs and their staff has been growing.
In reaching our decision for 2026-27 we have benchmarked MPs’ pay against other responsible, senior roles in civic society and similar worldwide democracies, as well as considering our own core principles and the wider economic context.
In future years we will continue to consider prevailing economic and fiscal conditions when confirming annual pay decisions taking into account the experience of people outside of parliament.
When more work has been added to my jobs for the same pay as before, managers have called it a ‘necessary adjustment’ and ‘good business sense’. It’s nice that this kind of good business doesn’t apply to MPs.
It’s also nice that, despite their increasing casework and full-time jobs as MPs, parliamentarians are still finding time to work other jobs like appearing on the news in exchange for hundreds of thousands of pounds. Some even work extra jobs like appearing in cameo videos saying hi to neo-Nazis.
Growing levels of abuse, often factually accurate
Likewise, it’s also completely true that MPs are facing ever increasing levels of abuse. I know this, because I’m one of the cunts writing the abuse, and I’m writing more and more of it by the day.
However, I’m calling snivelling toerags like Starmer ‘snivelling toerags’ because he sucks up to fascist dictators like Donald Trump. I call Kemi Badenoch a racist horror because she talks about slashing human rights so that she can attack migrants. And, of course, I call Farage a far-right neo-Nazi shill because of the video evidence that he is a far-right neo-Nazi shill.
If MPs would like to receive less abuse, many would benefit from considering whether this abuse is linked to their being contemptible scum.
Until that point, they can kindly go fuck themselves – I imagine it’s covered by expenses.
Featured image via the Canary
The first of April is a dreaded day for many journalists. Our inboxes become rammed with suspicious press releases and eyebrow-raising anecdotes (and yes, these have been published as fact by some outlets in the past).
It seems we’re not the holiday’s only haters. Slate called April Fools “universally either hated or ignored”; a YouGov poll found that about half of respondents found the day annoying.
But why did it start in the first place?
We’re not actually sure. But there are three leading theories:
1) The calendar theory
Some think April Fool’s Day dates to 1564 in France, when King Charles IX moved the official start of the year from Easter to January 1. Prior to this edict, most Christian countries’ calendar began from the movable date.
The date on which Easter falls is determined by the moon rather than preset schedules, but it usually falls in April. Those who clung to the old ways may have been called “April Fools”.
2) The fish theory
Another theory, also from France, suggests the tradition could come from the April 1 holiday of Poisson d’Avril (“April fish”). This centuries-old celebration now involves sticking a paper fish to people’s backs without them noticing and shouting “April fish” once they’ve been fooled.
A French poem dating to 1508 mentions an “April fish,” which might suggest that something similar to the trick has been happening for hundreds of years.
3) The King John theory
Then, there’s the English theory. A legend about King John says that when he tried to nab some of the land for Gotham in Nottinghamshire, the local residents came up with a plan to keep him out.
They played the “fool” when the king’s scouts came ahead of him to check the area out, pretending to do strange things like drowning fish to ensure the reports wouldn’t entice the King to stay.
But the event would have happened in the 13th century, while the first written reference to April fool’s day in the UK didn’t happen ’til 1686.
You couldn’t ask for a better state-of-the-nation snapshot than the one coming out of Clapham in south-west London right now. Those clips of young, dumbfounded cops trying and failing to stop a mob of masked TikTok twats from running riot is Britain summed up. The dystopic vision of families barricaded inside shops as entitled delinquents swarm the streets for sport speaks to our crisis of social order. To see what lunacies the corrosion of adult authority can unleash, look no further than Clapham.
For two nights now, feral youths have poured on to Clapham’s streets seemingly for nothing more than the fleeting thrill of causing annoyance to ordinary people. Their performative twattery is apparently part of an Easter holiday ‘link-up’ organised via TikTok. In their digital playpens, these bored juveniles plotted to assemble in public with that most anti-social of intentions: to vex people. In their black garb and daft masks, they menaced shoppers for larks. Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Boots were all forced to close, some allowing shoppers to stay inside until the irritants had dispersed.
There were serious incidents. Three girls were arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker. Mistreating public servants is proper lowlife behaviour. The same group were also arrested for shoplifting. In one video, smoke can be seen billowing from Clapham Common: the fires of asocial arrogance. The police lamented the ‘disorder’ and issued a dispersal order for the youths. But I won’t be the only one wondering if those clips of masked brats escaping the clutches of floundering officers tell a worrying story about the state in the 21st century.
This street explosion of gleeful spite feels simultaneously pathetic and sinister. It’s not the Brixton riots, when vast numbers of youths rose up in anger over social issues, in particular police brutality. This nonsense is far smaller, far dumber and far more likely to fizzle out quickly, possibly even by tonight. After all, they’ll need an evening to narcissistically search for vids of themselves on TikTok to give a big thumbs-up to. And yet it is a serious incident. We must not turn a blind eye to such a brazen display of contempt for social norms. It speaks to a simmering nihilism among sections of our youth, one likely emboldened by adult society’s wilful abandonment of its duty to discipline, reprimand and guide the next generation.
To me, the events in Clapham flow from the breakdown of adult authority. Everywhere now, discipline is frowned upon as a borderline fascistic pursuit. Parenting experts warn mums and dads not to scold their littl’uns. Schools long ago abandoned their core duty of admonishing bad behaviour, replacing the stern telling-off with a therapeutic hand on the shoulder. And out in the wild, in everyday society, you hardly ever see adults giving kids an earful. Teens yell and swear and play their tinny music, and few if any of their elders bark: ‘BEHAVE.’
Not to be an old fart about it, but it is worth noting how spectacularly different this is to the not-so-distant past. We were told off by strangers all the time. Daily we were told to pipe down, grow up, get out. Once an old duffer on a bus clocked our distinctive Roman Catholic school uniforms and ominously said: ‘You go to the convent on the hill?’ We shut up instantly, because bringing the school into disrepute had consequences, sometimes corporal ones. There was an infrastructure of discipline that extended from the home to the school to the world itself.
That’s gone now. It feels like adults have been decommissioned, subtly instructed by society that their wisdom and firmness are no longer wanted. This mad deactivation of yesteryear’s social custodians has let infantile antics flourish. Even petty crime is now pretty much permissible. Teens jump the barrier at Tube stations or nick crisps and chocolate and rarely face consequences. If they have got the message that they can do whatever they like, whose fault is that? A society that refuses to say ‘NO’, loudly and resolutely, has no right to be shocked when its members behave like entitled children, even after childhood. Whether it’s the boy in a skirt who thinks he has the right to waltz into the girls’ bathroom or the boy in a mask who shuts down Boots for a laugh, this is what happens when we fail to tell the young to get a fucking grip.
It has bizarrely become a ‘progressive’ virtue to be anti-discipline. So what if youths steal beer or don’t pay their Tube fare – it’s no biggie, say the hipster nihilists of the bourgeois left. Some of these leftists live in Clapham – who knows, maybe they’ll change their tune now that they’ve seen where such adult cowardice masquerading as liberal coolness can lead.
As Slavoj Žižek says, there is unquestionably a ‘growing decay of manners’, and it really matters. Such ‘everyday insecurity hurts the poor much more than the rich who live calmly in their gated communities’, Žižek says. Well, now one of London’s better-off boroughs has been targeted by the post-manners madness stoked by the faux-progressivism of the elites. Clapham confirms that when adults vacate the terrain of moral guidance, they normalise mob behaviour. We need to get a grip before we can tell the kids to.
Brendan O’Neill is spiked’s chief political writer and host of the spiked podcast, The Brendan O’Neill Show. Subscribe to the podcast here. His latest book – After the Pogrom: 7 October, Israel and the Crisis of Civilisation – is available to order on Amazon UK and Amazon US now. And find Brendan on Instagram: @burntoakboy.
Outside the US Embassy in London on 1 April, two activists were tied by fuel hoses to a life-sized petrol pump in response to Donald Trump’s war on Iran.
The protest criticised the increase in oil company profits in the wake of the war’s destruction and trade disruption. The pump carried the label: “Oil Profit$$$ for Oil Bosses”.
Campaigners from Fossil Free London held signs saying “Stop Trump Tying us Into Fossil Fuels”, “Break Free from Climate Crisis” and “Break Free from Big Oil”.
Thousands have died to date across the region following US and Israeli attacks on Iran. Trump has recently stated his intention to “take the oil in Iran” following major attacks on fossil fuel infrastructure.
Meanwhile, oil dependency is increasing the cost of living once again for families in the UK as petrol prices rise. Whilst fossil fuel companies stand to make a windfall of billions on the back of the price shock.
One of Reform’s major donors, Jeremy Hoskings, has seen his fossil fuel and energy hedge fund investments rise by more than $25m since the war began in Iran.
This comes as Trump and Reform are using the oil price spike to call for our government to approve new UK oil and gas projects, like the controversial Rosebank oil field. Despite the fact that drilling in the North Sea would not make the UK more energy secure. If production began, Rosebank’s oil would still go for export – like 80% of all UK oil.
Robin Wells, director of Fossil Free London said:
Right now we are seeing the horrors of Trump’s war on Iran in the faces of dead schoolgirls and facing skyrocketing energy costs at home. And Big Oil cashes out big, with bumper profits.
We’re protesting today to say that for as long as the UK stays tied up in fossil fuels, we’ll see more oil wars, more extreme weather deaths and more instability.
The UK needs to cut ties with Trump and Big Oil. We need to break free from this knot of violence.
That starts with scrapping new UK oil and gas and rejecting Rosebank. Until then, being tied into Big Oil’s big disaster leaves us paying the price.
Featured image via Fossil Free London
It turns out that tiny changes – minutes more exercise, a few grams more veggies – can make a surprisingly large difference to your longevity and heart attack risk.
And Dr Dominic Greenyer, a private GP at The Health Suite, said that those lifestyle changes become medically obvious in time.
“If you followed two twins over time, you would often see clear differences in their skin, body composition, energy levels and overall health depending on how they live,” Dr Greenyer said.
“Ageing is not just about time passing. It’s about how well the body is maintained.”
Here, he shared the five factors he feels make all the difference:
1) Building and maintaining muscle
As we age, our muscles begin to wane – a process called sarcopenia. If we do nothing to maintain or build it, some research says we’re expected to lose half our muscle mass by 80.
“One of the biggest predictors of healthy ageing is muscle mass,” Dr Greenyer said.
2) Prioritising sleep and recovery
“Chronic poor sleep can accelerate ageing at a cellular level,” Dr Greenyer said.
“It affects hormones, recovery, inflammation and even visible signs like skin quality.”
Experts think that following a “7-1” sleeping rule (getting at least seven hours of sleep a night, with no more than an hour’s variance between bedtimes and wake-up times) could add years to your life.
3) Reducing inflammation through lifestyle choices
In and of itself, inflammation isn’t a problem – it can help our bodies to heal and may be an important part of muscle growth.
But “inflammaging” can occur when inflammation is chronic, and might contribute to conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia, and frailty.
It “is influenced by diet, stress, alcohol intake and overall lifestyle,” Dr Greenyer said.
Those who eat whole foods, stay active, and manage stress well may have less unwanted inflammation, he added.
4) Maintaining “metabolic flexibility”
This is the ability to respond well to changing metabolic demands. It allows you to switch between burning carbohydrates and fat; a more flexible metabolism is linked to better ageing.
“When this is impaired, people are more prone to energy crashes, fat gain and insulin resistance,” Dr Greenyer said. Exercise, eating well, and avoiding constant snacking may help, he added.
5) Enjoying life, in moderation
There’s lots of research to support the idea that enjoying ourselves – be it through socialising or even eating some candy – might help us to live longer.
“There is good evidence that polyphenol-rich foods such as dark chocolate can support cardiovascular health when consumed in moderation,” Dr Greenyer added. “Just as important is maintaining strong social connections, which are consistently associated with longer lifespan and better mental wellbeing.”
He ended, “The difference comes from small choices repeated over years – but they should still allow you to enjoy life.”
On 30 March 2026, two activists from the group People Against Genocide (PAG) targeted the London headquarters of Chubb Insurance, as well as the offices of Sompo, owner of Aspen Insurance. They sprayed the front of the building with symbolic blood-red paint, before locking-on outside the front entrance.
This is the fourth recent action by PAG. They have previously targeted both the Manchester and London offices of Chubb.
UAV Engines
Chubb insures UAV Engines, a subsidiary of Israel’s biggest weapons company, Elbit Systems. Elbit produce 85% of the Israeli military’s killer drone fleet.
UAV produce engines for Israel’s drone fleet at their factory in Shenstone in Staffordshire. These include the R902(W) Wankel engine used in Elbit’s Hermes 450 drone, the same model used by Israel to kill seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen, including 3 British nationals.
Calls to action
One of the activists locked-on outside the Chubb offices called on fellow activists to join them with flags, banners, and whistles. They said:
We are here to shut down Chubb, the insurers of Elbit Systems, until they cut all ties.
In the last month, we have seen whole families obliterated, thousands killed, and over thirty thousand injured across Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, and the whole of West Asia. Israel announced its intention to ethnically cleanse almost one million people out of southern Lebanon, all operationally supported by Elbit Systems, who profit from every life lost.
Those profits are guaranteed by Chubb, who insure their Shenstone factory here in Britain. The responsibility to drive Elbit out of our communities has never been more urgent.” They then called on supporters to get trained in direct action tactics, and join the struggle to shut down Elbit.
Without the mandatory Employer Liability Insurance provided by Chubb and Aspen, neither UAV Engines, nor Elbit themselves, could operate in Britain.
Global campaign
Other actionists have targeted insurance companies in recent months, following the announcement of a global campaign to disrupt an international ‘economy of genocide’. Previously, insurers Allianz and Aviva have ended their cover of Elbit after sustained protest activity.
PAG has previously targeted HSBC branches across the UK over their investments in Elbit Systems, as well as protesting Elbit sites directly.
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Some holidays are purely for rest (chillmaxxing, if you will). Christmas? Yep. Beach holidays? Bingo. Easter weekend? Not one of them. Ending as soon as it arrives, the long weekend is just long enough for a quick getaway, more often than not surrounded by hundreds of family members.
If you’ve ever been responsible for leading hordes of people through the rainy English countryside, you’ll know there’s nothing that ruins a weekend faster than getting the route wrong. Just think: hungry, tired adults and children, and teasing fodder for years to come.
That shouldn’t stop you from getting outside this Easter, though. Jesus didn’t come back from the dead – or, rather, spring hasn’t sprung – for you to lounge around inside. And if that won’t convince you, you gotta work up an appetite for the copious amounts of food you’re about to consume.
To make sure you don’t get stuck in a bush somewhere rural, the trail guides app AllTrails is offering 50% off its membership tier from April 3 to April 7 with the code ’APRIL26’.
AllTrails Plus Membership Card
Yep, that makes it a whopping £1.50 per month, or £18 a year, which if you ask us is well worth the cost of avoiding a family-wide argument – or several.
As well as access to the literal hundreds of thousands of walking, biking, and running routes available with a free subscription to the app, AllTrails Plus also unlocks a whole range of extra features like offline maps, wrong turn alerts, and Live Share, so the rest of your crew can keep an eye on you.
My personal favourite feature is the 3D trail feature, which means you can see exactly how steep the incline is (because, if you’re anything like me, incline measurements mean essentially nothing).
I’ll also be gifting the membership to my elderly relatives, who have a habit of defiantly wandering off on their own walks and later end up inevitably needing to be rescued.
Thankfully, you can choose to either print it off – for the less digitally inclined (maybe help them to download the app and figure out how to use it) – or send the gift card via email. You’ll even have the option to customise how it looks by adding your own personalised picture and message.
Cue the hours-long conversations about what trail to choose!
We’ve already decoded the meanings of choppelganger, chopped and why kids keep saying lowkenuinely.
Now it’s time to shine a spotlight on another favourite term embraced by Generations Alpha and Z: mid.
The critical descriptor has been knocking around for a few years now, but teens and young adults are increasingly using it in everyday life.
While many of us know “mid” as a term to describe something that’s among, or in the middle of, something; for the younger generations (wow, I feel old writing that) it means something else entirely.
What does mid mean?
When Gen Alpha uses it, “mid” means mediocre or of disappointing quality. If you’re described as “mid” by a teenager then they’re basically saying you are… average.
Possibly even below average.
According to Merriam-Webster, “mid” serves to express that something falls short of expectations, or isn’t impressive.
It’s not bad, per se, but it’s not exactly good either. (In fact, the way it’s used nowadays is probably veering more towards bad than good.)
The dictionary notes that this slang term is thought to have come from a shortening of the term mid-grade, “a designation in cannabis culture of medium quality”.
Over time it’s evolved to be used as a descriptor of everything from people and food, to film and TV.
Some examples of how it could be used include:
- “That burger was mid.”
- “Did you enjoy the party? I thought it was mid.”
- “I liked their last album. Their new album’s mid.”
Want to learn more? There’s also been chat, clock it and glazing, as well as aura farming and crash out. Honestly, the kids have been busy.
The BBC has issued a fresh statement about the circumstances surrounding Scott Mills’ abrupt firing earlier this week.
On Monday, it was confirmed that Mills had been sacked by the BBC effective immediately, due to an allegation about his personal conduct.
Following this, it emerged that he’d previously been questioned by the police in 2018 as part of an investigation into “allegations of serious sexual offences against a teenage boy”, who was under 16 at the time.
The Mirror alleged on Monday that Mills’ firing came following a complaint made about this police investigation, though the BBC previously declined to comment on whether this was the case.
However, on Wednesday afternoon, the BBC offered more information about what led to Mills’ departure from the corporation, clarifying that bosses were already aware of the investigation surrounding the former Radio 2 host as far back as 2017.
“Scott Mills had a long career across the BBC, he was hugely popular and we know the news this week has come as a shock and surprise to many,” a spokesperson said.
“We also recognise there’s been much speculation in the media and online since Monday. We hope people understand that there is a limit to what we can say because we have to be mindful of the rights of those involved.”
The statement continued: “What we can confirm is that in recent weeks, we obtained new information relating to Scott and we spoke directly with him. As a result, the BBC acted decisively in line with our culture and values and terminated his contracts on Friday 27 March.
“Separately, we can confirm the BBC was made aware in 2017 of the existence of an ongoing police investigation, which was subsequently closed in 2019 with no arrest or charge being made. We are doing more work to understand the detail of what was known by the BBC at this time.”
Earlier this week, the BBC also shared an apology for failing to “follow up on” an additional allegation about Mills that was raised by a freelance journalist in 2015.
“We received a press query in 2025 which included limited information,” they said. “This should have been followed up and we should have asked further questions. We apologise for this and will look into why this did not happen.
“More broadly, we would always urge anyone who has concerns or information to raise it with us.”
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