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Politics Home Article | Nation’s sunbed operators welcome tougher action on illegal use
The Department of Health and Social Care recently announced plans to consult on tougher enforcement against illegal sunbed use as part of the forthcoming National Cancer Plan. Responsible operators have welcomed the consultation, saying that focus is both right and overdue.
In January, the Department of Health and Social Care confirmed it would launch a public consultation on strengthening enforcement against illegal sunbed use, including measures to clamp down on under-18 access and ensure that all salons are supervised. The proposals form part of the Government’s wider National Cancer Plan and reflect a renewed emphasis on prevention and avoidable risk.
For professional sunbed operators, the announcement was not met with resistance but with broad support. Under-age use is already illegal, and those who operate responsibly argue that tougher, more consistent enforcement is essential, not only to protect young people, but to maintain public confidence in a sector that already works within clear legal boundaries.
That stance may surprise some observers. Yet for responsible businesses, illegal use by under-18s is not just a public health concern. It is corrosive to trust, damaging to livelihoods, and unfair to the vast majority of businesses that invest time and money in compliance.
“No responsible business wants to see underage use,” says Gary Lipman, Chairman of The Sunbed Association (TSA). “It puts young people at risk, and it undermines the reputation of an entire professional sector that operates within clear rules.”
Operating within the rules is certainly nothing new for the UK’s tanning salon industry. Commercial sunbed use in England has been heavily regulated for more than a decade. Under the Sunbeds (Regulation) Act 2010, under-18 use is illegal, and operators must take active steps to prevent access by children. Professional salons also operate within strict technical standards governing UV outputon sunbeds, equipment maintenance, hygiene, and staff training.
For the vast majority of operators, compliance is not an optional extra. It is absolutely fundamental to the way that professional salons function on a daily basis.
“Illegal operators damage every business that plays by the rules,” Lipman says. “When breaches occur, they are not simply individual failings. They create headlines that obscure the reality of a responsible sector and erode confidence among customers, regulators, and policymakers alike.”
It is important to remember that behind the industry headlines are thousands of small, local businesses, many of them family-run, embedded in high streets and communities across the country. Owners know and care about their customers, understand and communicate the risks of UV over-exposure, and have a strong incentive to ensure sessions are controlled and appropriate.
“People come here because they want structure and reassurance,” one salon owner told us. “We talk about skin type, exposure time, and breaks between sessions. We’re not here to push people to overdo it. Quite the opposite.”
For operators like this, the idea that under-18 use is somehow widespread within professional salons feels deeply frustrating. Not because the issue should be minimised but because it reflects a failure of enforcement by authorities, not a failure of standards. Equally, figures claiming 34% of 16-17 year olds using sunbeds is based on a sample of 100 across the whole of the UK, simply not statistically viable to present as a national picture.
TSA and its members are unambiguous in their support for measures that strengthen enforcement against those who flout the law. They believe the major gap that the consultation must address is less about standards and more about how to tackle the patchwork of enforcement that enables rogue operators to continue unchecked.
“The rules are already there,” Lipman explains. “Where they are enforced properly, they work. What’s needed is consistency and focus on the small number of operators who ignore them.”
That approach matters not only for public health but also for policy effectiveness. Experience across many regulated sectors shows that when local authority enforcement is patchy, responsible operators bear the reputational cost while the minority continues unchecked.
There is also a wider risk to measures that damage the compliant majority. Removing regulated, supervised provision does not eliminate demand. It displaces it. In the tanning space, that can mean unregulated home devices, illegal nasal sprays or injectables, or prolonged, unsupervised exposure outdoors, all of which lack the safeguards professional salons provide.
The sector’s response is not defensive. TSA has consistently supported strong safeguards for young people and has worked with regulators, Trading Standards, and local authorities to improve guidance and compliance. Rather than resisting scrutiny, responsible operators regard regulation and enforcement as essential tools for maintaining standards and public confidence.
“We share the goal of reducing avoidable harm,” Lipman says. “That’s not something imposed on us; it’s something that each one of our members already works towards every single day.”
The Government has been clear that the consultation will consider impacts on small and medium-sized businesses alongside public health objectives. That balance is important. Many professional salons employ young people, train staff, and contribute to local economies while operating within a tightly controlled framework. Lipman says that any MP interested in finding out more about how modern salons work should contact TSA or simply visit a TSA member salon in their constituency.
“There are professional, TSA member tanning salons on highstreets across the UK,” he tells us. “MPs should take the time to visit one in their constituency, talk to the people who run them, and see how checks, supervision, and customer education work in practice.”
Connecting policy to practice is critical. Effective policy and regulation, operators believe, must recognise the reality of how businesses operate on the ground. It can then strengthen enforcement where the law is being broken, support clarity and consistency, and avoid measures that inadvertently penalise those who are already compliant.
As the consultation develops, the sunbed sector’s message is clear. Under-age use is always unacceptable, rogue operators should be firmly dealt with, and responsible businesses should not be penalised. In a debate often dominated by extremes, that position may surprise some, but it is precisely the kind of grounded, evidence-led stance that effective public health policy depends upon.
Ryan Gosling has admitted there were certain sacrifices he was unwilling to make for his part as a living Ken doll.
Last week, the Canadian star was asked about his role in the 2023 movie Barbie during an interview with Radio 1, where he said that he “didn’t even shave my legs” to help him get into character as Ken.
“There was a shave room on Barbie that I never went in,” he claimed, noting that while co-stars Simu Liu and Ncuti Gatwa were among its patrons, he never partook himself.
Ryan recalled: “Oh my god, you could hear the screaming down the hall. It was like a torture chamber. It was just like… howling!”
“I went the other way,” he continued. “I just never went in the shave room. What a name! And the sounds that came out of it I’ll never unhear.”
Despite his reluctance to suffer for his art, Ryan won widespread acclaim for his performance as Ken in Greta Gerwig’s movie.
He racked up nominations at the Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice Awards, Baftas and Screen Actors Guild Awards (as they were then still known) before being shortlisted in the Best Supporting Actor category at the Oscars, one of eight nods for the movie which notably didn’t include Best Actress recognition for its lead, Margot Robbie.
As well as his acting work in the film, Ryan also led Barbie’s grand musical number I’m Just Ken, which earned a Best Original Song nod at the Oscars that year, with the La La Land star also performing the track live at that year’s Academy Awards ceremony.
Ryan can currently be seen as the lead in the new sci-fi adventure Project Hail Mary, which has so far proved to be a glowing hit with both viewers and critics.
This article contains spoilers for the latest season of The Comeback.
It turns out Lisa Kudrow found inspiration in some unlikely places while putting together the third and final season of her Emmy-nominated comedy The Comeback.
While promoting the latest iteration of The Comeback, Lisa previously disclosed that one episode would see her character taking part in a fictitious series of The Traitors US, alongside RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Trixie Mattel.
During the latest episode, this scene finally aired, with Valerie struggling every bit as much to hide the fact she was a Traitor as you might expect.
However, during an interview on Traitors UK host Claudia Winkleman’s talk show before this episode aired, Lisa disclosed that watching Linda on the infamous third season of the British reality show had given her the idea for how Valerie’s stint in the castle would pan out.
“Linda was the person who, when I said, ‘Traitors you’ll meet each other later’, looked at me and nodded,” Claudia reminded viewers, before asking Lisa: “There was a bit of Linda in [your performance], wasn’t there?”
“A bit?!” the Friends alum responded. “Oh my god! Yeah, we had Valerie going, ‘oh I can tell you 100% he’s a Faithful’, ‘how do you know?’, ‘just… I have a feeling’.”
Claudia then surprised Lisa with a visit from the woman herself, with Linda admitting it was “absolutely crazy” to have inspired a scene in The Comeback.
“On our show, she was voted out that night,” Lisa pointed out. “What was wrong with your group?! They took a very long time!”
Watch the moment for yourself in the video below:
The third season of The Comeback comes more than a decade after the second instalment.
In the years since, viewers have so far seen Valerie trying her hand at playing Roxie Hart on Broadway and half-heartedly taking part in the 2023 Hollywood strikes, while future episodes will see her grappling with the surge of AI in the entertainment industry and promoting a project on Hot Ones.
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If you have a period, you’ll know the struggle. You wait all year for summer, craving that first refreshing dip. And then the dreaded thing happens: that time of the month rolls around. End scene on all hopes of being cute and care-free by the pool.
As someone who seems to somehow always have her period on holiday, I’ve shouldered the hard truth that I’ll have to spend the rest of my menstruating life thinking about being near a toilet and asking for hourly tampon string checks when I should be relaxing.
Add to that the fact that all my pedantically-picked bikinis end up blood-stained, and it’s no wonder I’ve developed an avoidance of being near a body of water.
I’m not the only one plagued by this predicament: a survey by WUKA found that 71% of women have taken a contraceptive pill before jumping on a plane in efforts to avoid having their period on holiday.
I’m not stranger to these kinds of attempts myself. Many an evening has seen me thinking there must be a way around the holiday period blues, and attempting to restrict or put off my flow (read: gulping down as much water as humanly possible).
So, naturally, when I heard about WUKA’s period swimwear line, a ray of hope shone over my conscience. Formed of an aquaphobic outer layer and an absorbent inner gusset, the collection is designed to keep water out and your flow in. Need we mention they’re made from recycled nylon so they’re eco-friendly, and UV50+ resistant, too?
While splashing out on period-specific swimwear might seem like a lot, the peace of mind is, in my opinion, priceless. With 20% off all swimwear until 13 April (repeat: this is not a drill) and 20% off select pieces from 14 April, it’s time to be out with the old, in with the new: goodbye tampon strings, hello contained flow.
As Keir Starmer takes the Labour Party further and further right, a group of councillors in the London borough of Hackney finally left in May 2024. They became Hackney Independent Socialists. And almost two years later, they’re actively collaborating with the local Green Party to defeat Labour and the far right in May’s local elections.
The Canary spoke to Heather Mendick and Claudia Turbet-Delof from the Hackney Independent Socialist Collective (HISC) to find out more about their campaign alongside the Greens, which Mendick said:
should be a model for red-green collaboration all across the country
Excitement in Hackney as “people power” grows outside Labour
Hackney councillor Turbet-Delof said that seeing an increase in “anti-migrant rhetoric” from Starmer’s Labour meant she had “one foot out” of the party already. It felt like an “irreversible” shift. And then, Labour’s position on Israel’s genocide in Gaza “really clarified things”, as the party suspended her and others for backing ceasefire calls.
For Turbet-Delof, leaving Labour was about staying true to her principles. And HISC is unapologetic about where it stands. Mendick added that there’s a lot in common between HISC and the Greens, but the differences are still important:
The possibility of having a different agenda that’s explicitly socialist, and that comes from a small group that’s very locally based, I think is really powerful.
HISC is very much about “people power”, Mendick stressed, with huge turnouts among the membership for meetings. There’s a lot of interest and “nearly everyone is doing something”.
The fact that HISC councillors have scrutinised the council effectively and “brought things to light”, Turbet-Delof said, has helped to make “headline news”. And this in turn got residents’ attention and support, because:
they now finally feel that there is an alternative
“Making history” with a Green–Independent alliance
HISC members’ positive relationships with Greens on the council and in local campaigns have helped to foster organic collaboration. Turbet-Delof says they were “really keen to work together” in the local election campaign as a result:
it is something that benefits both, and it’s something that residents also like to hear, that it’s a collaboration.
And as Mendick insisted, this isn’t just about a “non-aggression pact”, but an “active collaboration” with “joint canvassing”. She explained that:
We have leaflets, posters, calling cards, all with two logos on…
We’re doing something new… and people are super enthusiastic. When you say to people, look, we’re making history in Hackney, here are two logos on the same piece of literature, people are like ‘wow’…
I don’t think anywhere in the country is doing what we’re doing.
At its heart, Mendick said, HISC wants to help:
to get the left working constructively together as far as that is possible
Turbet-Delof agreed, adding:
We have to stand and speak and respect one another.
Thanks to everyone who’s put up our ❤️💚 posters in Homerton #localelections pic.twitter.com/zLRfsvcG9y
— Hackney Independent Socialist Collective (@HackneyIndSG) March 22, 2026
Your Party has also reached out to HISC with an invitation to collaborate. HISC members will make a “collective decision” about that.
Green-HISC councillors will try to ‘shift the power relationship’
Turbet-Delof believes “a lot of councillors” in Hackney are currently “quite detached” from community work. And on some big local estates, she said, some people have told her:
no one has ever knocked on my door. It’s the first time I’ve seen a councillor.
Mendick added:
The question I ask on doorsteps is… what do you want to change in Hackney? …
We’ve learned from knocking on doors and talking to people, and our positions have changed in response to that.
And this is a key way HISC wants the council to change. As Mendick explained:
We want to shift that power relationship between residents and the council. And we’ve got a very explicit commitment that, if we are in power with the Greens, you can’t simply do a consultation and then just be like, ‘tick the box, then we’ll go on and do what we were planning to do anyway’. If you have an engagement process, whatever comes out of it, you have to commit to implementing it.
This is important, she stressed, because:
If you really want to build a movement, you have to start with that stuff. You have to make a difference in people’s lives. You have to show that the damp on their wall can get sorted, that their light can work again, that their lift can work again.
As HISC’s manifesto says, it is already:
collaborating with residents and campaign groups, by:
Holding regular People’s Forums where we can learn from residents about the issues that matter to them.
And both Turbet-Delof and Mendick asserted that this connection with the community will continue after the election.
HISC candidates in Hackney’s local election
Alongside all the Green candidates in Hackney, the HISC candidates in the joint campaign will be:
- Fliss Premru (standing for re-election in Clissold Ward).
- Claudia Turbet-Delof and Penny Wrout (both standing for re-election in Victoria Ward).
- Alana Heaney and Heather Mendick (standing for the first time in Homerton).
- Sarah Byrne (standing for the first time in London Fields).
You can see HISC’s campaign videos here and manifesto here. The nine areas of focus in the manifesto are:
- Democracy and Workers’ Rights
- Community Wealth Building
- Human Rights and International Solidarity
- A Cultural and Creative Hackney
- Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing
- Transport
- Low-cost Safe Secure Housing for All
- Migrants’ Rights and Anti-racism
- Ageing and Living Well
New candidate photo for @HackneyIndSG and @hackneygreens in Homerton ward. pic.twitter.com/FWWFy8nz9L
— Heather Mendick (@helensclegel) March 15, 2026
All six of our council candidates have signed the pledge for Palestine 🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/XVEE8FLUYO
— Hackney Independent Socialist Collective (@HackneyIndSG) March 19, 2026
Some photos from our three canvassing sessions yesterday ❤️💚
🙏🙏🏾 to everyone who took the time for a chat when we knocked on your door pic.twitter.com/8XNidaezPF— Hackney Independent Socialist Collective (@HackneyIndSG) February 23, 2026
Featured image via the Canary
Veteran star of the silver screen Kim Novak is evidently not a fan of the decision to have Sydney Sweeney play her in a new movie.
Last year, it was announced that a biopic about Kim’s romance with Sammy Davis Jr was in the works, with the White Lotus actor and David Jonsson in the lead roles, while fellow Euphoria alum Colman Domingo was attached to direct.
During a new interview with The Times, the Vertigo star made it clear that she’d “never” have approved the decision for Sydney to play her on screen.
“[She] sticks out so much above the waist,” Kim suggested, before voicing her concern that the film would focus too much on sex rather than the fact she and Sammy Davis Jr had “so much in common”, which was the basis of their relationship.
“There’s no way it wouldn’t be a sexual relationship because Sydney Sweeney looks sexy all the time,” she added. “She was totally wrong to play me.”
In The Times’ piece, it was suggested that progress on the movie had “stalled” in recent history.
Back in October, Sydney told People magazine: “I’m incredibly honored to be bringing Kim to life. I mean, she is such an amazing actress.
“I think her story is still very relevant today in that she dealt with Hollywood and scrutiny with her relationships and her own private life and the control of her image. And I think that for me, I relate to it in a lot of different ways.”
Around this time, Sydney was gearing up for the release of another biopic, Christy, in which the two-time Emmy nominee played boxing legend Christy Martin.
The film bombed at the box office, with its release coming after a string of controversies involving its lead actor, most notably reports that she had registered as a Republican in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election and an ill-fated jeans ad for the US fashion brand American Eagle.
Natalie Brooks is the founder of Dyslexia in Adults, and author of Dyslexia Unlocked (available 23 April 2026).
After making the same mistake twice in relatively quick succession at my former workplace, a manager said to me “are you lazy, or are you stupid?”. The mistake itself was small. I had sent a quote in pounds instead of dollars. But it happened twice, and what my manager saw as carelessness, was actually my dyslexia.
I didn’t admit this to my manager, because like many adults with dyslexia, I had learned to cope with it – and hide it. Until situations like this continued to crop up, which triggered a spiral of fear that people would notice how much by dyslexia impacted me.
For years, I had also been told that dyslexia is a superpower. It’s a phrase that appears with neurodivergence narratives a lot – in workplaces, motivational talks, even on LinkedIn posts. I understand the intention is positive, to empower people with dyslexia. But it never matched my reality, and I suspect I’m not alone. If dyslexia is a superpower, why does it so often feel like we’re working twice as hard just to keep up?
What tends to get lost in these superpower narratives is the effort involved. While I do not doubt that my dyslexia brings me an amazing set of strengths, skills and ways of thinking, the day-to-day lived experience of dyslexia is often far less glamorous.
What’s more, these supposed strengths or ‘superpowers’ can feel vague and hard to recognise in real life. Terms like ‘big-picture thinking’ and ‘creativity’ sound impressive, but are difficult to translate into everyday situations. The list of struggles can feel far longer than the moments where the supposed ‘gift’ shows up. Too often we often gloss over the reality of how little support people are given to access strengths or support challenges. I remember calling my partner after a tough conversation with my manager about a small error. Trying to comfort me, he said “But it really is a gift”. I snapped back: “how the hell is big-picture thinking helping me with my emails?!”
One of the most common challenges for dyslexic adults is working memory, which is the ability to hold and manipulate information in your mind. Imagine trying to follow instructions while holding several pieces of information at once – for some people this might be an okay thing to do, but for me it feels like trying to juggle too many balls in the air at once, and to make it worse, knowing that if one drops, people may think you’re not paying attention, or worse, can’t do your job.
I often describe dyslexia as carrying a backpack full of bricks. Everyone else may be walking the same path, but you’re carrying extra weight – working memory challenges, organisation difficulties, constant misunderstandings and, over time, a loss of confidence. The journey might look the same from the outside, but the load is very different.
It’s not just a few of us with this heavy load, dyslexia is common. Around 1 in 5 people (20%) are dyslexic, making it the largest neurodiversity group globally, and approximately 25-40 per cent of individuals with dyslexia also meet diagnostic criteria for ADHD. Many of the adults I work with are professionals, managers, business owners and parents. The common thread isn’t a lack of ability, it’s frustration. They know they are capable, but they lack the tools or understanding that would help them work with their brains rather than against them.
One client once told me that when she decided to break up with her boyfriend, she was so worried she wouldn’t be able to articulate her thoughts clearly that she wrote everything out first, filmed herself saying it, and watched it back repeatedly to make sure it made sense.
This is the kind of invisible effort that many dyslexic and neurodivergent adults put in everyday, not because they lack intelligence, but because we care about getting it right.
I learned those lessons early. The only way to cope was to work harder, constantly, and often without support.
When I was choosing my school subjects, every teacher told me the same thing: “Natalie, you’re smart, but this subject isn’t for you.” History involved too much reading. Science meant spelling complicated words. Maths was difficult because of my dyscalculia. Room after room, teacher after teacher, I heard the same message. Eventually I realised it wasn’t the subjects that were the problem, it was that no one wanted the dyslexic kid in their classroom.
The truth is, this stayed with me for years. It taught me that my dyslexia was something to hide, something people tolerated rather than supported.
The emotional toll of dyslexia is rarely talked about, while most think about it affecting reading and writing, but it can also shape how you see yourself. When mistakes are misunderstood as lazy or a lack of ability, these messages or judgement can internalise and ruminate. There have been periods where I’ve felt disorganised, careless or simply not good enough, and it’s awful.
I’ve worked with adults who have avoided promotions because they were afraid, they wouldn’t be able to keep up with the demands of the role. Others have stayed silent in meetings despite having brilliant ideas, because they worry they won’t be able to explain them clearly enough. Many, including myself, spent years feeling like they are constantly failing at things that seem to be easy for everyone else.
Dyslexia doesn’t need to be romanticised to be understood. What it needs is practical support.
Dyslexia doesn’t disappear when you leave school. But support often does. Many adults are left navigating their careers believing their struggles are personal failures, rather than the result of systems that were never designed with neurodivergent minds in mind.
We don’t need more inspirational posts telling us dyslexia is a superpower. What we need is understanding, practical tools and workplaces that recognise how differently our brains work.
Because when the weight of those “bricks” is lifted, something remarkable happens. The energy that once went into simply keeping up can finally be used to move forward.
Hello and welcome back to Canary Catch Up, your one-stop shop for must-watch TV. That’s along with a healthy dose of hate watching and my favourite thing – gossip about people I don’t actually care about.
I’m fully refreshed after a weekend in the Scottish Highlands, where I watched zero tv. But I have been getting stuck into the Fourth Wing book series. I tore through the first book, and I’m fully immersed in Iron Flame now. If you’re looking for a book series with incredible disability representation, this is the one for you.
Anyway, on to the telly!
SNL UK is actually good
When SNL UK was announced, there was a collective, country-wide eye roll. ‘We don’t need that American excuse for comedy over here’, we all cried. But boy, were we fucking wrong. SNL UK is sharp, witty and most importantly, silly. We’ve only had two episodes so far, but we’ve already seen sketches that will be quoted and sung for years. Jack Shep’s Diana impression will be one for the ages, along with George Fouracres’ What Kind of Irish is Your Grandad? song.
It turns out, when you give comedians who haven’t been plastered all over panel shows free rein with good writing and let them play, it’s actually funny. Who knew?!
MomTok might not actually survive this
The wheels have fallen off The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. In the last couple of weeks, Momtok and Dadtok have been embroiled in many a scandal. Now I’m not going to get into the abuse allegations and Taylor and Dakota. But one thing I will say is that the incident is literally in the first series of the show. It’s only after it’s all come out in the press that producers cancelled filming, ABC have axed her series of The Bachelorette, sponsors have pulled out, and her co-stars are denouncing her.
This really says a lot about how much those involved in reality TV are willing to ignore, as long as it makes them money.
Not wanting to miss out on the limelight, Jessi’s cunt of a husband, Jordan, publicly filed for divorce. Sick of the little controlling weasel blaming their marriage troubles on her, Jessi went on the podcast Call Her Daddy and fully exposed him. THEN when we thought that was enough Momtok drama, it turns out Jessi went and snogged Miranda’s ex Chase, who’s also been with Taylor and Layla. And I might be too obsessed with these people’s lives to be honest.
A charming slice of Regency escapism
One thing you need to know about me is that I am a slag for a Pride and Prejudice reimagining. The same story but told via a YouTube series, yes! With zombies? Gobbling that up. And now there’s another brilliant adaptation to add to the fold. The Other Bennet Sister tells the story from the often-forgotten Mary’s POV.
Mary is the ‘bookish’ sister who doesn’t give a shit about marriage, who has always been portrayed as boring, but she’s so much more, as the series shows. This absolutely charming 10-part piece of Regency escapism is just what we need at the minute.
Strictly pro dancers are dropping like flies
This time of year, there are usually a few rumours around who will stay on and who will leave Strictly Come Dancing. But this year, it seemed every single fucking pro has been rumoured to be leaving. But there’s something to be said for leaving a sinking ship, as apparently a lot of them were right. So far Karen, who’s been with the show the longest, Luba and Nadiya have all been confirmed by the BBC.
Last year, Karen was paired with Harry and his incredible dancing pecs. My favourite moment of Nadiya’s last year was when she said pro men usually can’t lift her, dead in the face of her ex Kai.
However, one of the newer pros, Michelle, has been speaking out to the press about being axed. In fairness, Michelle isn’t exactly memorable and has only had one celeb partner in four years on the show. But if my show was facing brand new hosts and a raft of pros leaving, I’d be clinging onto any dancers I could keep.
Now, if you don’t mind, the second half of The Other Bennet Sister has just dropped on iPlayer!
Featured image via YouTube/SNL UK
A protest has been scheduled outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 1 April at 9am. Supporters are expecting to hear the verdict in the trial of two leaders of the Palestine movement.
Ben Jamal, director of Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), and Chris Nineham, vice chair of Stop the War Coalition (SWC), were both charged with public order offences in 2025.
A test case for new police powers
The charges relate to a protest organised outside BBC Portland Place on 18 January 2025. It was scheduled to be the 22nd march for Palestine after 15 months of sustained demonstrations. All of the previous protests had be peaceful and lawful.
The march to BBC Portland Place was no exception. Demonstrators intended to lay flowers outside the building in memory of those killed in Gaza or, if stopped by police, to lay flowers at their feet.
Police originally allowed the protest to take place, after making a request to postpone it, which the organisers agreed too. However, following complaints submitted by various representatives within the Jewish community – including the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC), Central London Synagogue and the Chief Rabbi – permission was withdrawn on the grounds of ‘cumulative disruption’.
The use of such powers was not formalised by the government until October 2025. Nevertheless, they were tested haphazardly on those marching that day.
The Metropolitan Police alleged the breach of protest conditions was ‘coordinated’ and deliberate. The Canary previously reported on various ‘inaccuracies’ in the Met’s version of events.
‘Ludicrous’ criminalisation
During Jamal and Nineham’s trial, which spanned three weeks, the court heard all about the chaotic policing operation on the day of the protest. This included the claim that police officers on the ground had no knowledge that a small delegation wanted to walk to the BBC to lay flowers.
The defence argued that there was no case to answer, but this rejected by the judge without giving reasons. The defence barrister described the Crown’s case as a
ludicrous invitation to criminalise legitimate protected political speech about the misuse of state power against people’s civil liberties.
As Jamal and Nineham await the verdict in their case, Stop the War Coalition are now inviting supporters to gather outside the court. Speakers at the protest on Wednesday include RMT union general secretary Eddie Dempsey, PCS union president Martin Cavanagh and Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos.
Labour’s Angela Rayner seems to be preparing for a leadership race once Keir Starmer’s gone and she apparently thinks she can emulate Green Party leader Zack Polanski’s successes. But if she really wanted to convince left-wingers to stop leaving Labour, she really shouldn’t have prioritised a chat with far-right racist Michael Gove.
As political editor at the Times, Steven Swinford, explained:
Angela Rayner is preparing to launch a podcast called Beyond the Bubble as she seeks to broaden her appeal before a potential Labour leadership contest.
The former deputy prime minister has interviewed Lord [Michael] Gove, the former Tory cabinet minister, as the star guest on the pilot, which is focused on housing.
The two apparently “get on well”, Swinford said.
Rayner: “I need to replicate the success that Zack has seen creating and contributing to the left wing media ecosphere, reaching out to voters rather than the establishment.”
also Rayner: “My first guest will be Michael Gove.” https://t.co/0AMfz0IwRX
— Gareth Dennis (@GarethDennis) March 27, 2026
Gove is editor at the Spectator and a proud Zionist, who has repeatedly denied Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. He’s said that Israeli influence in Britain should grow even further, despite the significant influence the pro-Israel lobby wields over UK politics.
This guy? https://t.co/XRYwoJ2oWb pic.twitter.com/IC3KM0vG3O
— Barry Malone (@malonebarry) March 26, 2026
The Spectator has long been a dishonest, racist, far-right rag and has openly normalised hate.
In particular, the hateful, divisive magazine reserves a special disdain for Muslim communities. Indeed, it has been a leading media source for Islamophobic content. And its racist propaganda regularly gives Nazi media a run for its money.
It might seem like a strange choice for Rayner to have Gove as her first guest if she’s trying to get left-wing votes, but it makes complete sense when you consider just how comfortable Rayner is with the political and economic establishment.
Angela Rayner offers more of the same right-wing Labour decay
Labour Together — the shady right-wing group with millionaire backers that helped undermine Jeremy Corbyn and crown Keir Starmer as his successor — knows Starmer’s time is up. It sees Rayner as a potential successor.
The influence of Labour Together in the current Labour government is massive. Rayner is very much a part of its network of influence, so she’s clearly comfortable getting corporate money while pretending in public to be progressive.
Her voting record, meanwhile, shows how happy she is to play along and vote against ordinary people’s interests.
Despite everything Keir Starmer’s government has put the country through since 2024, Rayner has stuck by him and called for party unity, insisting:
The Prime Minister has my full support in leading us to that end.
And despite reality, she repeatedly tried to convince people ahead of the recent Gorton and Denton by-election that “only Labour” could stop Reform. After Labour predictably didn’t beat Reform, she said:
It’s time to really listen – and to reflect.
She just didn’t say how she was going to reflect and who she was going to listen to: one of the most influential hate-mongers in the UK.
That is unfortunately completely typical for the right-wing forces dominating Labour today and it should serve as a clear reminder that Rayner just offers more of the same.
Featured image via Getty Images/ Christopher Furlong
In the UK, the clocks have just sprung forward (meaning it feels like we’ve lost an hour’s sleep).
That shift has consequences. It’s been linked to higher heart attack risk, “social jet lag”, and misaligned body clocks. The British Sleep Society has previously called for clock changes to be dismissed altogether because of how much they mess up our circadian rhythms, which can take weeks to reset.
And no matter what time of year it happens, longer-lasting “chronic circadian misalignment” is linked to a higher risk of diabetes and heart disease.
But some research has found that “zeitgebers” can help to get your body clock back on track.
What are “zeitgebers”?
The term comes from two German words: “Zeit,” meaning “time,” and “geber,” meaning “giver”.
It’s any part of your environment, be it morning light or mealtimes, that acts as a way to “set” or give cues to your body clock.
These are important because our natural circadian rhythm doesn’t run on an exact 24-hour schedule. We need zeitgebers to help match our body clocks to the demands of our social and professional schedules, and to prevent “social jet lag” and other body clock misalignments.
Why do zeitgebers help with our circadian rhythm?
One paper found that mealtimes, physical activity, and light exposure seemed to influence our body clocks the most.
Those who got up later (after 6:30-7:45am) and saw later light (after 11pm), as well as eating later (having their first meal after 7:45-9:45am and last meal after 8-9pm) tended to go to bed anywhere from half an hour to about an hour and 20 minutes later.
And those who didn’t get outside light until after 9:30am seemed to sleep about half an hour longer.
Meanwhile, those who did over a third of their physical activity in the morning tended to fall asleep and wake up earlier. That stood regardless of how much physical activity people did.
This might suggest that doing your workout in the mornings, getting some morning light, and having your latest meal before 8pm could make the post-clock change period (which demands earlier wake-ups) a little easier to manage.
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