Politics
Peter Mandelson Documents Reveal: 8 Key Insights
The first batch of documents related to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as the UK’s ambassador to the US has been released by the government.
The highly-anticipated drop is one of at least two volumes expected to cause major embarrassment for ministers. Here’s what you need to know.
Why Is This A Big Deal?
The former Labour peer was sacked from his position in September after the depth of his friendship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was revealed.
Further details about their extensive relationship emerged in the US Department of Justice’s Epstein files in late January, including suggestions that Mandelson passed sensitive information to the disgraced financier when in cabinet.
The former minister has denied any allegations of wrongdoing, including misconduct in public office.
The saga has raised questions about how much the government knew prior to appointing Mandelson to the plum job and how thorough the vetting process was.
While Starmer insisted Mandelson “lied” to him about his Epstein friendship, ministers have since been forced by the Conservatives to release their internal documents related to his appointment.
But some of the requested information has been held back to avoid prejudicing the ongoing police investigation into Mandelson over misconduct in public office.
Other files are still being reviewed by the Cabinet Office because the government wants to redact them for national security or diplomatic reasons.
A separate committee of MPs then gets to decide which redactions to honour.
Here’s what we know after the first tranche of information dropped…
What The First Batch Of Documents Revealed
1. Mandelson Received £75,000 Payout
Mandelson received a hefty severance payment of £75,000 when he was sacked last autumn.
The documents show the Foreign Office came to that number by combining £40,330 “in lieu of three months’ notice plus a termination payment of £34,670”.
The US ambassador role typically has a baseline salary of £152,000, but he received £157,000 per annum. He then had a further bump, taking his pay to £161,318 per year.
2. Mandelson Asked For More Than £500,000 As A Pay-Off
He initially requested a sum more than six times the final amount granted to him.
An email exchange shows Mandelson began payout negotiations by asking for the Foreign Office to pay out his four-year contract – which would have been a sum over £500,000.
“The government found that to be inappropriate and unacceptable,” chief secretary to the prime minister Darren Jones told MPs today. “The sum that was agreed was to avoid a drawn-out process at an employment tribunal.”
3. Due Diligence Did Flag The Epstein Friendship
Official advice sent to the prime minister from December 2024 warns of the “general reputational risk” that comes with Mandelson.
The document pointed to a 2019 report which showed Epstein appeared to “maintain a particularly close relationship” with Mandelson after the financier spent time behind bars.
The advice noted that they remained in contact from 2002 and throughout the 2000s. Epstein was convicted of procuring an underage girl in 2008, but he maintained a friendship with Mandelson “across 2009-2011”.
It also pointed out that friendship began when Mandelson was business minister and continued “after the end of the Labour government”.
It notes Mandelson agreed to be a “founding citizen” of an ocean conservation group funded by Epstein and founded by his associate Ghislaine Maxwell in 2014.
The advice notes that these links to Epstein were widely reported in January 2024, too.
4. Mandelson Once Suggested Introducing Blair To Epstein
The documents include an email from May 2002 between then-MP Mandelson and Tony Blair’s chief of staff Jonathan Powell.
Mandelson suggests introducing the prime minister to Epstein – whom he described as a “young and vibrant” entrepreneur and “friend of mine”.
“He is safe (whatever that means),” Mandelson wrote. “And [Bill] Clinton is doing a lot of travelling with him.”
It is not clear when this meeting took place.
5. Mandelson Proposed Starmer Use Farage To Connect With Trump
Mandelson said the prime minister could use the MP for Clacton to “better UK connections with the Trump administration”.
A due diligence checklist sent to Starmer in December 2024 noted that Mandelson “has suggested using Nigel Farage”.
It adds: “Mandelson quoted saying of Farage, contrary to UKG (UK government) policy: ’You can’t ignore him, he’s an elected member of parliament. He’s a public figure. He’s a bridgehead, both to President Trump and to Elon Musk and others…
″‘National interest is served in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways.’”
6. National Security Adviser Said The Mandelson Appointment Was ‘Rushed’
The documents show the summary of a call between the general counsel to the prime minster, Mike Ostheimer and Jonathan Powell, the national security adviser in September.
Speaking after the ambassador had already been sacked, Powell said the appointment process “unusual of Lord Mandelson” was “weirdly rushed”.
Powell also raised concerns “about the individual and reputation to Morgan McSweeney”, Starmer’s then-chief of staff who was known to have a close relationship with Mandelson.
McSweeney supposedly said these issues “had been addressed”.
McSweeney has since stepped down from his post.
7. Mandelson Expected To Be Treated With ‘Maximum Dignity’
In an email to the Foreign Office organising his return to the UK after he was sacked, Mandelson demanded to be treated well.
He said: “My chief concern is leaving the US and arriving in the UK with the maximum dignity and minimum media intrusion which I think is to the advantage of all concerned, not least because I remain a crown/civil servant and expect to be treated as such. How is the FCDO assisting in this ?”
8. No.10 Suggested A Daily Welfare Check On Mandelson
Officials in No.10 proposed carrying out a “welfare check” on the ex-ambassador in early February, shortly after the US Department of Justice released all of its own documents around Epstein.
Queen Camilla has sent a message to survivors of sexual abuse to mark International Women’s Day to address the ‘culture of silence’ around abuse. This striking message comes weeks after her disgraced brother-in-law Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested following revelations in the Epstein Files.
It has previously been reported that Camilla played a key role in sealing Andrew’s fate as she feared his ties to an elite sex ring might demolish her work in violence against women and girls. However, refusing to fully acknowledge the seriousness of the Epstein files and failing to use her influential platform to demand justice for the victims does not reflect well on someone who claims to advocate against violence toward women and girls.
Nevertheless, it appears Camilla is trying to repair the damage done to public trust. Although, her advocacy could go a lot further and potentially make an actual difference for victims and survivors of abuse inflicted by powerful men.
In her speech, Camilla said:
To every survivor of every kind of violence, many of whom have not been able to tell their stories or who have not been believed, please know that you are not alone. We stand with you and alongside you, today and every day, in solidarity, sorrow and sympathy.
We hope this is more than dishing out empty platitudes, which the Royal Family are renowned for.
🔴 Camilla sends message to mark International Women’s Day weeks after former prince’s arrest over Epstein ties
Read the full story below 🖇️https://t.co/qIqeYCcSs7 pic.twitter.com/FvSmYG36CY
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) March 11, 2026
If you truly care, use your pedestal, queen Camilla
The Epstein Files have revealed a deeply sinister and horrifying web of abuse against young girls inflicted by powerful men. A picture even surfaced of the disgraced ‘prince’ playing with a toddler, passing a ball shaped like a female breast. This has sparked terror across British society, especially women. As Camilla said in her speech, women often live in silence with their trauma as society does not actually protect the vulnerable. Instead, it only protects the powerful.
This has bred a culture of silence around the abuse that powerful men perpetrate. Grooming gangs rightly resulted in disgust and condemnation, with a dogged insistence that all involved be held to the full weight of the law. After all, we apparently care about our women and girls in Western society.
Why do investigations and society consistently fail to hold elite networks of powerful white men accountable?
Camilla SILENT when asked about Epstein’s victims.
She’s an “ambassador” for domestic abuse – empty pointless branding when she chooses silence….
“Never complain, never explain” ?? Silence isn’t dignity when Epstein’s victims are involved Camilla. pic.twitter.com/Z3DUkklkli— Narinder Kaur (@narindertweets) February 4, 2026
Referring to her own experience of abuse, Camilla spoke to this silence in her speech, saying:
Every woman has a story. And these stories must be told. Because when we live in a culture of silence, we empower violence against women and girls. It is for this reason that, for 15 years, WOW has been sharing women’s experiences through their festivals, inspiring thousands of people across six continents to take action.
It should not be overlooked that authorities arrested Andrew on suspicion of misconduct in public office, not on suspicion of sexually abusing minors. If Camilla genuinely cared about victims, she would ensure that investigators fully examine all suspects tied to Epstein and hold them accountable for their actions.
However, that demand was notably absent from her speech.
Education: not accountability for suspected elite abusers
Instead, queen Camilla pointed to sexual abuse being ‘everyone’s problem’ stating that it is “unjust and untrue” to label this as a “woman problem”. She says that “this scourge” can be “eradicated for good” if all citizens take responsibility to tackle the root cause of rising misogyny and abuse amongst men and boys.
Pointing to schools and playgrounds, she says that boys:
should be taught to manage and to express their feelings healthily.
and:
all children must learn what constitutes consent – and what is assault.
Yet, the queen’s remarks appear to imply that men and boys who commit abuse lack guidance rather than responsibility. She does this by implying that men and boys who commit abuse have not learned the rules or how to regulate their emotions. This framing may deeply trigger many victims, because perpetrators often reinforce the ‘culture of silence’ by claiming they could not control their behaviour, while victims sometimes feel pressured to rationalise their trauma as something they must simply endure.
Once again, victims experience a deep sense of injustice, and society undermines women’s right to anger. To make matters worse, people place the burden on these victims to teach the next generation how not to repeat the abuses of the past. Ordinary people will have to fix the attitude problem in men and boys; powerful women clearly will do precious little.
This is why men put in so much effort to frame their domestic violence & sexual assaults as a loss of control. They don’t “lose control” with unsafe targets like cops, bosses, & other men who will kill them. Only safe targets then cry they’re animals who can’t control themselves. https://t.co/TgPFcpOr2G
— The Road Jess Travelled (@JessPected) May 12, 2025
Excuses for men; par for the course for women and girls
Furthermore, this speech came after a meeting with Gisèle Pelicot, whose memoire of a decade of sexual abuse left queen Camilla ‘speechless’. Nonetheless, it’s striking that Pelicot chose to sacrifice her privacy and comfort where the queen holds back.
Pelicot showed tremendous courage in pursuing transparent justice against the web of abusers orchestrated by her husband. Contrary to the Queen, she didn’t choose to take preventative action through educating children to remedy her trauma, she pursued accountability for abusive men. Don’t get us wrong, education is critical, but so too is bringing offenders to justice.
We wrote:
However, the hypocrisy at play is difficult to ignore. Camilla has made little effort to centre the victims connected to the so-called Epstein files or to address the role powerful men played in perpetrating such traumatic abuse against young girls and women. Perhaps she will draw inspiration from the courage of Gisèle Pelicot and begin speaking truth to powerful men while prioritising the suffering of their victims.
After all, both cases involve networks of men who believed they had the right to do whatever they wanted to their victims. The case draws clear parallels with the thousands of pages connected to the Epstein network of elites, which included her brother-in-law, the disgraced former prince Andrew.
We can only hope that Camilla, who has expressed concern about the silence surrounding violence against women and girls, goes further in her advocacy. Victims and survivors deserve to see justice, rather than being told once again that “he couldn’t help it”.
Featured image via the Canary
The US / Israeli attack on Iran has had serious knock-on effects across the region. There are also many global consequences. The spike in oil and gas prices is relatively predictable. But there’s also a very direct impact on global food prices.
Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz is disrupting global fertiliser supply chains. And this in turn could lead to a surge in global food prices. Amanda Larsson is Global Big Ag project lead at Greenpeace Aotearoa. She said:
The crisis brought on by this illegal attack by the US and Israeli militaries reveals a systemic failure at the heart of our global food system.
Almost half of global food production now depends on synthetic fertilisers produced by a small number of fossil fuel and agrochemical giants, leaving families and farmers to pay the price the moment fragile supply chains break.
While the human cost of the conflict continues to mount, the geopolitical shock is hitting farmers at the peak of the spring application, threatening harvests across the Northern Hemisphere and knock-on effects on food prices.
The solution to food sovereignty, independence, and local resilience is the same as that needed to solve the climate and biodiversity crises: ecological farming. By working with nature to fix nutrients naturally in the soil, farmers can break the cycle of chemical dependence, slash costs, protect our rivers from toxic run-off, and ensure healthy, affordable food for generations to come.
Governments must stop propping up this fragile corporate model and redirect financial support away from resource-heavy, industrial agriculture. Food security cannot be bought on a volatile global chemical market; it must be grown from the ground up through healthy soil and local resilience.
It is time to fund the transition to self-sufficient, ecological practices that serve communities, not billionaires.
Featured image via the Canary
We regularly hear the refrain that schools need to get back to ‘old-fashioned’ methods of teaching. But how far back should they go? And, while we’re at it, to which society? Labour councils in the north of England have attempted to clear up this confusion for us. Seventh-century Arabia, at the dawn of Islam, is their answer.
In a document titled ‘Sharing the Journey’, multiple Labour-run councils have told schools that drawing pictures of humans could be ‘idolatrous’ to ‘some Muslim’ pupils. Music lessons could also conflict with the religious injunctions of Islam, on the grounds that ‘music is traditionally limited to the human voice and non-tunable percussion instruments as in the days of the prophet, when they were only used in marriage ceremonies and on the battlefield’. Dancing and physical activities also need to be carefully policed so as to ensure there is no ‘physical contact between male and females’, nor ‘performing in a manner that might encourage immodesty or sexual feelings’.
This is, to put it mildly, disturbing. These councils – they include Leeds, Oldham, Tameside and Kirklees – are effectively advising schools to look to the Taliban for educational inspiration. They are also denying pupils the joys of drawing, music and dancing. Any adult who isn’t chronically maladjusted knows that these expressions of creativity and affection are vital to a human’s development – indeed, they are among the most important aspects of any child’s education.
Critics might point out that drawing attention to this advice is just ‘fearmongering’ from the usual right-wing suspects. They will say that schools are simply being ‘mindful’ of the multicultural nature of 21st-century England. Of course, no student would be punished for his blasphemous doodlings, they insist.
But this would be to ignore the ways in which blaspheming against Islam is already severely punished in Britain today. In recent years, we have seen just how seriously schools take the concerns of Islamic fundamentalists when rumours of blasphemy get about. Most notoriously, there was the teacher from Batley Grammar School in Yorkshire in 2021, which happens to be located in the Kirklees council boundary. After showing pupils a cartoon of the Muhammed in a religious-studies lesson, he was first suspended by his school and then forced into hiding following death threats from Islamists. In 2023, four students at Kettlethorpe High School in West Yorkshire were suspended for ‘desecrating’ the Koran. One of them had read passages from the holy book before a friend knocked it out of his hands on to the ground, where it got scuffed.
The response to both of these incidents was telling. If you removed the name and location of the schools, you would assume these events happened in Iran or Afghanistan. The schools immediately acted on the demands of those demanding ‘punishment’ for the teacher and the students. That Britain is supposed to be a secular country, where blasphemy laws were abolished long ago, didn’t cross school leaders’ minds. One of the parents of the Kettlethorpe children was even forced into a humiliating public apology, where she pleaded with Islamists not to harm her son. The police ignored the death threats sent to the child, but made sure to record his scuffing of the Islamic holy text as a non-crime hate incident.
The new guidance confirms that the Islamic bigots have won. Their rules – their censorious worldview – now reigns supreme in the classroom.
And this same spirit of appeasement now permeates public life, too. Indeed, just this week, the Labour government formally adopted its definition of ‘anti-Muslim hostility’. As has been pointed out on spiked, hostility can basically mean any form of disagreement with Islam. There is every reason to think, therefore, the definition will only embolden the forces of sectarianism that are throwing their weight around British society with increasing confidence.
This has to stop. Muslims are perfectly entitled to raise their children in accordance with their religion. They are also entitled to send their children to one of the many Islamic schools in the UK, where any bans on singing, dancing and drawing they might want to impose can be enforced uniformly. But to pressure all schools to police children in accordance with Islamic doctrine is an intolerable attack on secular principles and freedom of speech. This can go on no longer.
Hugo Timms is a staff writer at spiked.
Fascist Israeli security minister and would-be executer of Palestinian abductees Itamar Ben-Gvir has reportedly removed remaining constraints on Israeli settlers carrying guns in Jerusalem as part of his incitement to violence against indigenous Palestinians. But only Jewish Israelis, of course. Any Jewish residents can have a gun even if they have no experience or training. And just in case anyone was in doubt that the idea is to shoot Muslims, Ben-Gvir said the change is to:
[save] lives, especially during wartime and Ramadan.
What could possibly go wrong?
Ben-Gvir rumours
But where is Ben-Gvir? The racist horror has not been seen in a public setting for several days. Unfounded claims have since circulated on social media that his settler-colony home had been hit by an Iranian drone.
State-aligned ‘fact-checkers’ say the claims of his wounding or death are false.
And now, ‘his’ X account has released a video with the message:
I’m alive, blessed be the Lord. Go fuck yourselves.
אני חי ברוך השם. תתפוצצו pic.twitter.com/WcjAi9KPCQ
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) March 10, 2026
However, the video raises more questions than it answers. Ben Gvir appears for only five seconds in total, split into three sections of only one or two seconds each. The audio also shows tell-tale modulation markers of artificially-constructed speech. It is embedded below so readers can select their preferred speed and more easily scrub back and forth:
A clip of the sections only showing Ben-Gvir:
So where is murderous ethno-fascist land-thief Itamar Ben-Gvir? Did the Iranians wound or kill him in retaliation for Israel’s murder of its leader Ali Khamenei?
Arming Zionist settlers is exactly what such a figure can be expected to do. After all, this is the same man who has been banned by multiple countries for his naked genocidal ambitions for Gaza. Famously, he said:
there are no uninvolved civilians in Gaza.
Featured image via the Canary
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Keir Starmer was given every excuse he needed not to make Peter Mandelson the UK’s ambassador to Washington, but did it anyway.
There are few fresh revelations contained within the 137 pages of documents released by the government about Mandelson’s appointment.
The biggest one – that the disgraced peer wanted a pay-off of more than half a million pounds for a job that he was sacked from – simply confirms what we already knew about his character.
In the end, he received £75,000 – a third of which was tax free.
However, it is the confirmation of what the prime minister was told by his own civil servants before appointing him which is most damning of all.
The Cabinet Office due diligence report presented to the PM on December 11, 2024, shortly before Mandelson’s appointment, is clear about the extent of his relationship with the convicted paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein.
It shows that a report commissioned by JP Morgan in 2019 found that Epstein “appeared to maintain a particularly close relationship” with Mandelson and the now-equally disgraced Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Most shockingly, that report found that Epstein and Mandelson relationship continued between 2009 and 2011, after the billionaire financier’s conviction for procuring an underage girl in 2008.
Mandelson also stayed at Epstein’s house in New York when he was still in jail.
In addition, Mandelson went on to become a “founding citizen” of an ocean conservation group funded by Epstein and founded by his close associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
The document says that Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein represented a “general reputational risk” for the government.
What more evidence did the PM need that he should give Mandelson a very wide berth?
However, on the advice of his chief of staff, Mandelson ally Morgan McSweeney, Starmer opted to ignore this warning and appoint him anyway.
The political decision was taken that Mandelson’s ability to curry favour with Donald Trump was more important than standing with Epstein’s victims.
McSweeney ultimately paid for that calculation with his job.
For now at least, Starmer remains in place. But his reputation as a cautious politician who, for all his faults, at least does things by the book, is in tatters.
By no means coincidentally, the Mandelson documents were not released until after prime minister’s questions, meaning Starmer could not be personally grilled about their contents.
Instead, chief secretary to the PM Darren Jones was sent out to face the music.
He claimed that the “due diligence process fell short of what is required”, which is undoubtedly true.
It is also the case that Mandelson was less than forthcoming about his links to Epstein when personally asked about them by the prime minister.
Nevertheless, this does not change the fact that the details which were already in the public domain should have been sufficient to bar him from the plum diplomatic role.
Jones told MPs that Epstein “was a despicable criminal who committed the most horrifying and disgusting crime that destroyed the lives of countless women and girls”.
And yet, knowing this, Starmer still opted to make his friend Mandelson the UK’s ambassador to Washington.
It is a decision which should haunt him for the remainder of his time in office, and beyond.
Labour MP Charlotte Nichols spoke in the House of Commons in opposition to the government’s planned cuts to jury trials. The government have insisted these cuts are essential for swifter justice for victims of rape. On the contrary, Nichols suggests they have pressured MPs to support the bill by implying that those who oppose it have either never experienced rape or simply do not care about victims.
This appears to have pressured Nichols into doing what no woman should be compelled to do: revealing her own experience of rape and its lasting trauma to the public, at the cost of her anonymity and privacy.
Consequently, Nichols’ courageous speech has struck a chord with many across the country. It also highlights how the current government don’t grasp the scale of sexual violence and abuse in British society. Many, many women have either experienced abuse or has supported a loved one through their own deep pain and trauma. It would be harder to find someone who hasn’t.
Therefore, it appears that Starmer’s government have used the very serious issue of rape and ineffective, underfunded justice as a cynical ploy to push through systemic cuts to the human rights of British citizens.
🚨 WATCH: Labour MP Charlotte Nichols reveals she was raped as an MP as she opposes the jury trial reforms
“I waited 1,088 days to go to court. We’ve been told [by the Government] that if we have concerns about this Bill, it’s because we’ve not been raped” pic.twitter.com/0mYy3T2Tk7
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) March 10, 2026
Labour MP: “I waited 1,088 days to go to court”
Nichols heartbreaking speech has run a ram rod through the cabinet’s argument that these ‘reforms’ are essential for rape victims. In fact, her speech underscores how the government is using the failings of a sluggish and ineffective justice system for rape survivors to push through harmful cuts. As she astutely pointed out, this can only work to turn victims’ experiences into a political weapon.
This will surely lead to inferences that there is an imbalance in our justice system between defendants and victims, which will simply breed more resentment amongst men towards women and girls. Subsequently, the government’s policy to cut juries further victimises women whilst taking human rights away from defendants.
Nichols said:
I have spoken before in this place about having PTSD as the result of being the victim of a crime, but I have never specified the nature of that crime and in doing so I am aware that I am waiving my right to anonymity and the personal consequences that come along with that.
I care profoundly about rape victims facing intolerable delays for their day in court. I know only too well what that feels like, as after being raped at an event that I attended in my capacity as a Member of Parliament, I waited 1,088 days to go to court.
Every single one of those days was agony, made worse by having a role in public life that meant that the mental health consequences of my trauma were played out in public, with the event that led to my eventual sectioning for my own safety still being something that I receive regular social media abuse from strangers about to this day.
Sometimes there are moments in the House of Commons that take your breath away.
An extraordinarily brave performance from Charlotte Nichols. https://t.co/A0CEfMh711— Jonathan Pie (@JonathanPieNews) March 10, 2026
Government being ‘deeply damaging’
Nichols then spoke to how the government’s actions are impacting survivors and defendants:
But here’s the kicker. In this debate, experiences like mine feel like they’ve been weaponised and are being used for rhetorical misdirection for what this Bill actually is. The violence against women and girls sector haven’t had the opportunity to come together to discuss it, and the Government’s framing and narrative has been to pit survivors and defendants against each other in a way I think is deeply damaging.
The Labour MP for Warrington North then exposed the harsh realities of clashing with the cabinet government on this matter, and “abusive” only begins to describe it:
We have been told that if we have concerns about this bill, it is because we have not been raped or because we don’t care enough for rape victims. The opposite is true in my case. It is because I have been raped that I’m as passionate as I am about what it means for a justice system to be truly victim focused. It is because I have endured every indignity that our broken criminal justice system could mete out that I care what kind of reform will actually deliver justice for survivors and victims of crime more widely.
Nichols finished by reminding us what had actually been promised by Labour but has yet to be delivered:
We promised in our manifesto specialist rape courts – this bill isn’t that.
Every word of what Charlotte Nichols said in her speech against restrictions to jury trials is bang on.
She spoke today for many victims who feel that their voices have been erased and their experiences instrumentalised.
If you haven’t watched it, you must.
— Nadia Whittome MP (@NadiaWhittomeMP) March 10, 2026
Charlotte Nichols has spoken out in the past about the challenges facing people working in Westminster in reporting sexual assault in Parliament:
“These aren’t punishments that fit the crime.”
Labour MP Charlotte Nichols, who has been a victim of improper conduct in Westminster, says the system for reporting sexual assault in parliament needs to change.
@charlotte2153 | @JPonPolitics pic.twitter.com/r1rOf95dsP
— Times Radio (@TimesRadio) June 1, 2023
Victims deserve better than being used as shields for a failing government
It must be said: Charlotte should never have had to bear her soul in this way. By choosing to do so, she showed that she has clear red lines she refuses to cross. In this case, she refused to allow anyone to weaponise the very real and traumatic experiences that women and girls endure.
It also underscores how little professionalism and decency exists in our cabinet government for them to bully women into compliance.
After all, survivors of rape and sexual violence gain nothing from framing justice in a way that makes men feel their rights are being restricted for women’s advantage.
Likewise, they should not have to watch powerful men use our trauma for their own abuse of power.
Featured image via X
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Travelling with a locked-in beauty routine is not for the weak, let me tell you.
When it comes to curl care, getting your perfect hair routine down pat is enough to make you feel like a Nobel-prize-worthy scientist.
It can take years of effort to get it right – trust me, mine did. And now, you’d have to pry my favourite products away from my cold, dead hands before I give them up.
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Nipper Nest Quick Overview
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Cons:
- More expensive than other travel cots
A parent’s honest review of Out’n’About’s Nipper Nest
I’m all for the easy life these days, so when Out’n’About’s Nipper Nest landed on my doorstep for a trial period, I was intrigued to see how the travel cot-playpen would fare.
Over the years we’ve relied on a Joie travel cot which I panic-bought from Argos about three years ago when we were going away with our little one and had nowhere for her to sleep.
I’ve spent many an hour trying to put said cot up and down since then, as you have to lock the frame in place – sometimes this happens smoothly, other times not so much. The cot frame part-collapses, resulting in numerous meltdowns on my part.
I’ve had the same experience with other travel cots, usually when we’re staying in Airbnbs or with my parents. Sometimes the frames can be quite hard too, which resulted in a split lip for my toddler when she decided to throw herself at it during a tantrum one evening. And don’t get me started on those rock solid mattresses…
Anyway, I digress. Out’n’About’s Nipper Nest is a travel cot and playpen which is built for families who are always on the move. And let me tell you now, it’s the easiest travel cot I’ve ever put together (well, I didn’t even technically put it together).
You simply pull it out of the bag, and then stretch the legs outwards, and they quietly click into place. Unroll the mattress, pop it in the bottom (it sticks with velcro securely to the base so there’s no movement), and that’s it.
I love that the cot comes in a handy bag, so you can lug it around (but also store it) easily, and it’s also super lightweight – which makes travelling with it hassle-free, whether you’re carrying it through an airport or moving it around your living room fully-assembled.
The edges are well-padded (a must with babies when they start trying to stand) and the mattress, while still pretty thin, is much comfier than other travel cot mattresses which are like sleeping on cardboard.
The travel cot packed away in its bag
The Nipper Nest has plenty of space to play/sleep inside, and also comes with a handy UPF50 blackout cover so your kids can nap on holiday or sit in there to stay protected from the sun.
The base is also waterproof so you can stick it on the beach or in the garden without worrying any damp will seep up to where your child is sleeping or sitting.
The Nipper Nest in action on the beach.
With the travel cot doubling up as a playpen too, there’s a side zip so crawlers can easily get in and out (once you’ve unzipped it for them).
There’s also an optional bassinet attachment so the cot can be used from birth – accommodating newborn naps right up to toddler playtime. The recommended age is 0-24 months, but once they’ve outgrown it I reckon parents could get away with using it for older children who simply want a bit of shade, or somewhere sheltered to sit, in the garden or on the beach.
On the topic of putting the cot away – again, it’s an easy job. You simply squeeze two handle-bar-like buttons on the frame and then fold it into a Z shape. The legs can then be folded in on themselves. You wrap it in the mattress, put it in the bag, and you’re good to travel somewhere new!
At £195 it’s certainly not a budget buy (the materials and construct of this are certainly premium), but if you’re using it everyday as a playpen and then taking it travelling (or to the grandparents) for trips away, you’ll soon get your money’s worth.
Nipper Nest with UV canopy over the top
What other parents are saying about it…
- “We love our Nipper Nest! It’s compact to carry and extremely easy to put up and pack away. We can take it to the beach or use it in the garden in the summer. The girls also love it as a cosy spot to read their books.”
- “So easy to put up and fold away! Cabin approved luggage bag and takes up so little room. Great travel cot and fun for the children with the zipped side entry and ability to make into a ‘tent’ with the UV cover. The perfect safe space for little ones to play in or sleep in.”
- “Our toddler has been enjoying using it during hide and seek and as a little den, the shade is both great for UV cover and for creating a dark space for our baby/ toddler to sleep during lighter evenings, or when sharing a hotel room and we require the light left on but the children need to sleep. The mattress bottom is incredibly padded and comfy. Really love this product, highly recommend.”
- “Super impressed with this Nipper nest! I’ve tried a variety of different travel cots and this is by far my favourite, and it’s so versatile. It takes seconds to pop up and down, and comes in a perfect compact carry bag. You can also use it as a playpen or take it to the beach, thanks to the zip side entrance, and it comes with a UPF50 blackout cover, so perfect for the summer and to provide some much needed shade. The base is waterproof, so wet sand isn’t a problem.”
As the illegal US-Israeli war against Iran drags on, it seems clearer and clearer that Donald Trump either miscalculated or fell for the lies warhawk allies sold him. And it’s spreading the stocks of US forces and their allies thin. As a result, they’ve had to get backup from South Korea.
Trump has depleted military resources
Amid Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and rampage through the Middle East in 2025, the US army had already:
redeployed two MIM-104 Patriot systems and approximately 500 personnel from South Korea to the Middle East, which reinforced defences at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
The US also took “over 1,000 guided bomb kits” from facilities in South Korea in December 2025, along with “AH-64 Apache attack helicopters” in January 2026.
But now, there are signs that the unprovoked US-Israeli assault on Iran has been seriously depleting the aggressors’ resources in the Middle East. For example, after around a decade in South Korea, the US has apparently started to move out parts of:
the US-made terminal high-altitude area defense (THAAD) missile-defence system
There are also reportedly discussions about:
the possible redeployment of some US Patriot missile defence systems to the Middle East. South Korean media carried unconfirmed reports that some missile batteries were likely to be redeployed to US bases in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates [UAE].
The UAE’s increasing understanding that its alliance with the US puts a real target on its back, meanwhile, has made future planning more important. And South Korea will soon help the Gulf regime:
build computing power and energy infrastructure for the world’s largest set of AI data centres outside the United States… [as part of the] U.S.-backed Stargate project
South Korea has conducted an emergency airlift of surface-to-air missiles… from the Cheongung-II air defence system to the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
South Korea took about “30 interceptor missiles” from its own operational reserves to send to the UAE after an urgent request. As Military Watch Magazine highlighted:
This is critical not only to… sustaining the U.S. Armed Forces’ and French Armed Forces ability to continue to wage war on Iran using military bases in the country, most notably Al Dhafra Air Base.
It added that:
It is notable that South Korea is the only country that is able to [deliver] high performing NATO-compatible air defences on such short notice, with European states’ own systems having very limited capabilities, while U.S. systems have seen stockpiles severely depleted primarily due to operations in the Middle East, but also due to large scale donations to Ukraine in preceding years.
South Korea and its increasingly unreliable superpower ally
Under Donald Trump, the US has increasingly been showing its allies how much of an unreliable partner it is. And while South Korea still has one of the highest defence budgets in the world, the flailing commitment of the US – whose presence has been at the centre of South Korean military policy for decades – has sparked concern.
South Korea has tried to navigate Trump’s tariff threats carefully. But liberal president Lee Jae Myung has signalled the importance of a “more self-reliant South Korean defence posture” that doesn’t depend so much on a volatile US government and can help to avoid “entanglement in international disputes”.
South Korea’s government is also ramping up efforts to shield itself from the energy crisis that the US-Israeli war on Iran has created.
The US isn’t abandoning South Korea, though. Because it’s too strategically important in Washington’s efforts to ‘contain’ China. And US-South Korean forces are currently undertaking:
their annual 10-day joint military exercises on the Korean Peninsula… [involving] 18,000 South Korean and US military personnel.
There will, however, be “fewer than half” the number of field training drills (22) that took place last year.
That doesn’t make North Korea feel any better. The dark history of US war crimes during the Korean War (1950-1953) regularly reminds the North that the superpower “killed as much as 20%” of its population (some believe one million people), before backing numerous “right-wing dictatorships in the South in the decades afterward”.
North Korea, which developed nuclear weapons as a deterrent in the wake of the devastating war, still condemns the “clear confrontational nature” of US-South Korean drills, routinely responding with weapons tests of its own.
If less US involvement in the Korean Peninsula reduces the likelihood of conflict there, that will be a good thing. The bad thing, however, seems to be that arms are shifting to the Middle East instead, fuelling a devastating mess that the US seemingly doesn’t plan to end any time soon.
Featured image via the Canary
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