London: Riverwalk apartment building, Millbank | Image by: PjrTravel / Alamy

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Patrick Radden Keefe’s powerful investigation into the death of a teenage boy is also a thoughtful examination of organised crime, dirty money and tax avoidance in contemporary London

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It takes less than 20 minutes to walk the 0.8 miles from Parliament to the Riverwalk development by Vauxhall Bridge, where 19-year-old Zac Brettler died after jumping off a balcony from one of the luxury flats in late 2019 into the Thames.

London Falling tells Zac’s story through the prism of a shadowy underworld of serious organised crime, dirty money and the international networks brought to fame in the McMafia television series. Successive governments have committed to addressing London’s role as the “dirty money capital of the world”, and London Falling provides a powerful reminder that the victims are not faceless.

Patrick Radden Keefe reconstructs Zac’s life with remarkable care. Beginning with his family’s history, as the grandchild of two Holocaust survivors, he traces the years, months and final hours leading to Zac’s death. This culminates in a fifth-floor apartment apparently owned by Verinder Sharma – better known as “Indian Dave”, a convicted gangster. Sharma was introduced to Zac by Akbar Shamji – an elusive businessman whose interests span property, cryptocurrency and carefully cultivated self-promotion – who claimed he had no idea who Zac really was.

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Keefe’s portrait of Zac himself, and his parents Rachelle and Matthew, is compelling and sensitive. He reinvented himself as “Zac Ismailov”, the son of a Russian oligarch destined to inherit vast wealth. Keefe resists treating these fabrications simply as personal deception. Instead, he also presents them as an exaggerated response to a culture that prizes status, money and proximity to power. Educated alongside the children of oligarchs and immersed in an online world promising extraordinary wealth through foreign investment, cryptocurrency and entrepreneurial ambition, Zac is less an isolated fantasist than a product of values surrounding him.

Keefe resists treating these fabrications simply as personal deception

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Property is at the heart of the story. Zac pretends to live in One Hyde Park, the Candy brothers development that is underpinned by an extensive network of shell companies. These corporate structures have helped ensure the individual owners remain anonymous, and sparked extensive Private Eye coverage on the brothers’ tax arrangements. Nick Candy famously once described London as the “best tax haven in the world”. He is now the treasurer of Reform UK.

Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the previous government introduced a Register of Overseas Entities, requiring foreign legal entities owning or buying UK property to declare their beneficial owners to Companies House. However, they left a huge loophole by exempting property owned in secretive trusts. A consultation on requiring trust transparency closed in February 2024, and should be high on the in-tray of any minister seeking to ensure we have basic information about who owns and controls property in this country.

As Tom Burgis in Kleptopia and Oliver Bullough in Butler to the World have brilliantly argued, the policy response must go far beyond transparency of property. The UK anti-corruption champion Margaret Hodge is currently conducting a review into asset ownership in Britain. At the height of the Londongrad years our private schools, art, sports clubs, universities, cultural institutions and much more, were far too easily brought up with risky overseas cash

Baroness Hodge will no doubt have far-reaching recommendations that any government should take seriously. Politics is not immune, and the Representation of the People Bill currently moving through Parliament is an essential tool to tighten up the rules and enforcement to prevent dirty money corrupting our democratic system further.

The book ultimately asks a larger question than how Zac Brettler died. Keefe is less interested in resolving the mystery than in explaining how a city could produce the circumstances that led to Zac’s death. In doing so, he offers not only a compelling true-crime investigation but also a thoughtful examination of contemporary London and the human cost of allowing serious organised crime, dirty money and corruption to flourish.

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Joe Powell is Labour MP for Kensington and Bayswater

London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth

By: Patrick Radden Keefe

Publisher: Picador

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In an absolutely wild clip, an individual has recorded the US Blue Angels performing a recklessly low fly by over a beach full of people. And when we say low, we mean low. When we say ‘reckless’, we mean the subsequent air currents caused chaos:

There's a reason the FAA banned jets from flying over crowds at airshows.

Pete Hegseth's tiny dick is going to get someone killed. pic.twitter.com/3haZj5oXWW

— Cuckturd (@CattardSlim) July 15, 2026

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Blue Angels: Sonic BOOM

In the clip above, a fighter jet is seen passing over the sea in the distance. Moments later, a second jet shoots over head, passing mere metres away from a nearby hut. Seconds after, the wind currents catch up, and people begin to cover their ears — dust blowing everywhere as beach furniture gets knocked down and blown away.

Watching the clip, it’s easy to imagine an older or disabled person being seriously injured. Unsurprisingly, then, the Blue Angels (equivalent to the UK Red Arrows) are reviewing what happened, stating:

During an arrival maneuver, an aircraft flew lower than standard profiles, resulting in a disturbance on the beach that affected civilian chairs and umbrellas

The US Navy group added:

The safety of our hometown community, spectators, and our pilots is our highest priority. Team leadership is reviewing the circumstances surrounding the maneuver and conducting a thorough safety review to ensure all operations adhere to strict Navy and FAA safety standards.

Confirming this pass was out of the ordinary, one of the beach goers said:

I’ve been coming for 10 years and I’ve never seen a pass like that in my life

High T

As the commenter at the top noted, this could be linked to the tendencies of US war secretary Pete Hegseth. Giving you an idea of how insecure the guy is, Maddison Wheeldon reported the following on Hegseth in March this year:

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in an address to US citizens that “dumb, politically correct wars of the past” are the “opposite” of the intentions of the US administration.

That’s right; the guy thinks the invasion of Iraq was ‘woke’. And he presumably he thinks this to excuse the years of failures the US suffered as a result of its foolish and illegal decision to overthrow a sovereign government.

In a further sign of his insecurity, Hegseth is currently urging his soldiers to pump themselves full of testosterone. Apparently, you’re not a real man unless the hormone is literally dripping from your knuckles:

Once you realize people like Hegseth are losers who only dream of warmongering and abject cruelty, everything they do makes sense. Everything being done is to just maximize how of a perceived threat we can be, even though America is the biggest threat already to the entire world https://t.co/fPkTbPMN7l

— song (@song0fmidnight) July 15, 2026

Hegseth struggling with a low weight for a man his size, but he has some pecs when he's shirtless to boast his NSDAP tats.

Does he just have cosmetic pec implants for gender affirmation?

And wtf @ the uncontrolled leg spasm–damage from gym cocktails interacting with liquor? https://t.co/rGHR0o67Jr

— S.A. Barton (@Tao23) July 15, 2026

This won’t come as a surprise, but Mr Testerone has a horrible record when it comes to his interactions with women, with his own mother writing the following to him:

You are an abuser of women – that is the ugly truth and I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego

She also said:

You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth

Blown away

Hegseth is someone who constantly needs to prove his masculinity. And now, his macho, anti-woke nonsense is spreading.

Expect things to get even more embarrassing from here on out.

Featured image via the Canary 

By Willem Moore

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On 15 July, Labour MP Nadia Whittome posted an impassioned plea to social media, urging the UK government to establish safe, legal routes for Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers to come to the UK. Currently, and in contrast to similarly war-torn Ukraine, no specific refugee initiatives target those fleeing the two countries.

Whittome accompanied the post with a video of herself speaking during the second reading of Labour’s Immigration and Asylum Bill. Voting against the racist policy, she argued that the bill would “punish those seeking sanctuary” and “weaken vital protections” for people fleeing persecution.

‘Safe and legal routes’?

On 15 July, Whittome posted to social media:

When 94% of Eritrean and 99% of Sudanese asylum seekers are ultimately granted refugee status, the government should establish safe and legal routes for these countries, or at the very least, fast-track their asylum applications.

These high rates of asylum acceptance are unsurprising, given the turmoil that grips the two African states.

Sudan is currently locked in a viscous civil war with a genocidal UAE-backed Sudanese militia, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The Northeast African country recently convicted the head of the RSF, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (aka Hemedti) guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Meanwhile, Eritrea teeters on the brink of war with neighbouring Ethiopia. The UK’s Foreign Office currently advises against all travel to Eritrea, or even within 25km of its land borders.

Whittome continued on to state that:

Student refugee visas and community-support/business-support schemes cannot be the only safe routes for refugees. We should not be offering asylum protection based on qualifications, but on the level of need for sanctuary. A person fleeing war is not more deserving of safety because they can “contribute” more.

Asylum-seeking and small boats

Of course, the generic global resettlement scheme and the (recently diminished) family reunion route are also available to all refugees. In fact, the government acknowledges Sudan as one of the primary beneficiaries of the former, along with Eritrea for the latter.

However, the resettlement scheme involves long periods of dangerous waiting in one’s own country or nearby. Likewise, whilst asylum seekers with family in the UK can seek reunion, this doesn’t solve the problem of getting to the UK in the first place.

As such, asylum seekers frequently have to brave the deadly crossing to the UK via small boat. These small boats have dominated recent debate on immigration — being mentioned no less than 36 times in the 13 July Immigration Bill reading alone.

Ukraine and Sudan — contrasting reactions

Speaking during that debate, Labour’s Catherine West mentioned the Homes for Ukraine scheme, which home secretary Shabana Mahmood seized on as an example of a ‘safe and legal’ route for asylum seekers. However, as Whittome pointed out:

The reason we do not see Ukrainians crossing the channel on small boats is because, rightly, we have a safe and legal route. Why not expand those safe and legal routes to places like Sudan and Eritrea, because obviously if an asylum claim comes from those countries, at the very least they should be fast-tracked? That would help to clear up the backlog, so would she support that?

Today, 16 July, happens to mark Keir Starmer’s final visit to Ukraine as the departing PM. Back in 2022, then-PM Boris Johnson announced the creation of a Ukraine-specific refugee scheme within one month of the outbreak of Russia’s war on the Eastern European country.

Whilst this reaction from the UK is right in itself, it’s hard not to notice the difference in the treatment of Ukraine and Sudan. Likewise, we can’t ignore the fact that Sudan’s population is made up predominantly of Black Muslims, rather than the white-European Christians of Ukraine.

The war in Sudan broke out in 2023. In February 2026, the UN declared that the RSF’s actions bore the “hallmarks of genocide”. However, to date, the UK has created no scheme targeting asylum seekers from Sudan.

‘Needlessly cruel’

Ultimately, Whittome voted against Labour’s Immigration and Asylum Bill. She explained that it was:

needlessly cruel and will divert resources into an unfair, unsafe and unworkable system. Not only will the government’s proposals punish people for seeking sanctuary and lock out many refugees from obtaining settled status by charging them for the support they receive, but they will also weaken vital protections for those who have fled war, torture and persecution. We need an immigration and asylum system rooted in compassion and human rights.

Increasingly, Labour’s immigration policies have resembled a watered-down version of far-right Reform UK. Whittome has long been a voice of reason and fairness within her party — but, gradually, she’s looking more and more lonely in that regard.

Featured image via the Canary

By Grace

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Amidst the third heat storm of this year, campaigners demanded an end to London venues hosting events for fossil fuel companies.

Fossil Free London campaigners disrupted inside the QEII Centre in Westminster while the venue hosted its annual Summer Showcase. This is an invitation-only event marketed to the events industry where companies can find suitable locations for their corporate events.

In protest over London venues hosting oil and gas events, five campaigners entered the 40th birthday party event at the QEII Centre and disrupted the event. They requested to give a birthday speech within the DJ booth when they said:

Did you know the QEII Centre is one of the biggest hosts of the fossil fuel companies in London? They line the pockets of the oil and gas industry. They have blood on their hands and their pockets are lined with oily money.

This is a climate crisis. people are dying. They host Shell, Exxon, as well as the weapons manufacturing companies. Their pockets are lined with oily money. Shame on them… Shame on you!

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They were dragged out by security while chanting:

London’s calling, London’s burning! Don’t host oil!

The QEII Centre hosts a variety of fossil fuel events. In February 2026, it hosted International Energy Week, a three-day oil and gas conference organised by the Energy Institute and attended by companies including Shell, BP, Equinor and TotalEnergies.

London consistently brings together oil majors, national oil companies, commodity traders, financiers, consultancies, law firms, diplomats, regulators and policymakers at global conferences. These include Energy Intelligence Forum, World Energy Capital Assembly and Africa Energies Summit.

And the capital’s role in these conference circles is growing: the Middle East Petroleum & Gas Conference relocated from Dubai to London in June.

Campaign highlights fossil fuel – far right link

The protest comes as the start of a new campaign by the climate justice group, that demands London venues stop hosting ‘oil and hate’. The group intends to draw attention to the city’s enabling of the fossil fuel industry and the far right. And it will disrupt venues that host the fossil fuel industry event including when the venue is not currently hosting an oil or gas event.

In June, Kensington Olympia in London hosted the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference. This brought together climate deniers, far-right figures including Nigel Farage and Big Oil executives. Between 2019 and 2024, Reform UK received more than £2.3m from fossil fuel interests, polluters and climate deniers. That made up 92% of the party’s donations in that period.

The campaign emerges as a growing number of venues have already refused to host such events. In February 2025, the London venue OMEARA cancelled an unofficial afterparty for the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference following a Fossil Free London campaign.

In July 2026, the Powerscourt Hotel in County Wicklow, Ireland, cancelled a conference by Dialog, an invitation-only group co-founded by tech billionaire Peter Thiel, after a public campaign.

Robin Wells, director for Fossil Free London, said:

London is cooking and this is London calling, and we’re calling time on the venues that host oil and hate.

Every day in our city, Big Oil meets and colludes behind closed doors in air conditioned rooms, to cause fossil-fuelled heat storms like this one, the third of this year.

They meet in hidden conferences, private ballrooms and exclusive drinks receptions, plotting to set fire to our safety and security and collude with the politicians, thinktanks and far-right forces to strip back our rights.

Venues hand fossil fuel actors the space and the secrecy to burn our house down, while lining their own pockets. And the screams of those who live in that burning house are only getting louder right now.

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From North London, where we personally know four people who died in a fire in the last heat storm, to China and Taiwan, as millions face a super typhoon tearing through their windows and tearing up their lives.

The people are sweating: in this fossil-fuelled extreme heat, and in fear of the avalanche of racism and climate denial currently being perpetuated inside our city’s private venues. It’s time for these city’s spaces need to make the moral choice. Venues have already kicked out far-right actors, proving it can be done.

This city belongs to all of us. We are resolving to make it impossible for destruction and violence on a mass scale to continue to thrive here in London. No room for oil. No room for hate.

Featured image via Fossil Free London

By The Canary

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As we’ve reported, several establishment outlets have put an enhanced focus on Reform UK and Nigel Farage. Perhaps most notably, this has seen the investigations team at Rupert Murdoch’s Times newspaper revealing all sorts of financial scandals. It’s not just the investigative reporters who are diving in two feet first, though; the columnists are also at it:

Reform can’t have it both ways on ‘hurty words’ https://t.co/nR0dR8tiHE

— Times Politics (@timespolitics) July 15, 2026

Security

Because his father was a minister in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, Rifkind has some experience of the security politicians receive. This is relevant right now, because Reform politicians have made some wild and false claims about the security they receive from parliament.

In his piece, Rifkind notes:

Yesterday, Reform’s party chairman, Zia Yusuf, demanded round-the-clock protection for all 650 MPs. Aside from the expense, the obvious flaw here is that this wouldn’t have helped Widdecombe, who wasn’t one, any more than it would Yusuf himself, who isn’t either. It also only deals with a symptom of the real problem.

Elsewhere, Rifkind described Yusuf as “increasingly wild”. It’s a fair thing to note, especially because Yusuf keeps making false claims, and making costly and unworkable proposals which won’t fix the problems he’s identifying. This is also why people are accusing Reform of using this event and others (especially the Clacton by-election) to distract from Farage’s ongoing financial scandals:

As I said yesterday. Reform’s supporters are moving from trying to suppress any scrutiny of Nigel Farage’s £5m donation to trying to suppress any scrutiny or criticism of Reform at all. https://t.co/C39dbG4z5N

— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) July 16, 2026

Reform are now piling in on Kemi Badenoch because they say it was bad taste for her to make a quip about Count Binface whilst the party are in mourning. But apparently the death of a dear colleague wasn’t enough to cancel your summer party 48 hours later?

The usual selective… pic.twitter.com/tXL9CaJPeS

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— Sam (@SamCKx) July 16, 2026

Political blowback for Reform

The key argument Rifkind makes is that Reform is being hypocritical in how it expects others to treat them. It’s a point others have made too:

https://t.co/DvdMy4HL5Z pic.twitter.com/Q5Xfbishcm

— NJ (@NoJusticeMTG) July 15, 2026

Rifkind wrote:

Here, though, Reform is on tricky ground. Yesterday Yusuf also hit out at rival politicians for “equating us to murderous regimes that butchered tens of millions of people”, on the basis that it might incite violence. I agree with him. I’m not sure he agrees with himself.

Reform, remember, is also the party that put Lucy Connolly on stage, introducing her as “Britain’s favourite political prisoner” after she called for asylum hotels to be firebombed. For two years they led, with sneers, the argument that mere “hurty words” hurt nobody. Meanwhile, Farage has accused Richard Hermer, the attorney-general, of “hating our history and our country” and accused plenty more of plenty more. This very week, Yusuf himself, who seems to be growing increasingly wild, hit back at the former Tory MP Harvey Proctor — who mildly chided Farage for politicising Widdecombe’s death — by publicly denouncing him as “depraved” for a historic gay sex offence that today wouldn’t be illegal. He is also still telling his followers that the Tories “destroyed Britain” and that Andy Burnham is about to destroy it even more. And on, and on.

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As Rifkind notes, Reform UK politicians are relentlessly inflammatory in their rhetoric. At the same time, they’re incredibly comfortable with bad things happening to other politicians:

Given Reform's Press Conference today about MP safety, worth revisiting this clip of sitting Reform MP Sarah Pochin, and Reform supporter Jeremy Kyle laughing on TV at the firebombing of the Prime Minister's house… https://t.co/9Fi3PbWehH

— andy twelves (@andytwelves) July 15, 2026

All so very predictable, Reform…

In closing, Rifkind noted that Reform would have called him a “snowflake” in the past for suggesting political rhetoric can have consequences. He also said:

Either this matters, or it doesn’t. Either maniacs are inspired by incendiary language or they are not. Personally, I think the link is diffuse, but I also think it pretty damn obvious that the more violent and condemnatory our discourse, the more likely it becomes that various maniacs will find focus for their mania.

We made similar points on 13 July, writing:

If you’re going to label people ‘traitors’ — as Zia Yusuf has — then people are going to get angry. If you’re going to claim successive governments have overseen an ‘invasion’ — as he has — then tensions are going to rise.

Politicians who stoke fear and division think they can ride the wave, but hatred is more like a fire than a sea. And people who play with fire get burned.

Scrutiny

The alleged murder of Ann Widdecombe is a grave event that needs to be taken seriously. It’s questionable if Reform politicians are treating it seriously, though, because they’re using it to argue we should treat them with kids gloves while donning knuckle dusters themselves.

Voters see through this sort of stuff. And Reform politicians aren’t going to make themselves popular by constantly attacking everyone for sometimes attacking them.

Featured image via the Canary

By Willem Moore

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According to a statement from the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture Israel has inflicted “unprecedented devastation” on Gaza. In the almost three years since the genocide began Israel have repeatedly carried out damage to Palestinian infrastructure.

Gaza: agricultural losses estimated in the billions

Damage exceeded 85 percent across most agricultural sub-sectors, resulting in a near-total collapse of the agricultural production system. Losses were estimated to be worth around £2.6 billion.

More than 87 percent of agricultural land used for growing crops was damaged, so local food production severely declined, Around 8,700 agricultural water wells were also rendered inoperable. The agricultural irrigation system was hard hit too, with approximately 8,700 wells completely inoperable. Around 3,820 agricultural reservoirs were also damaged, and more than 1370 km of water transmission networks destroyed.

Overall losses in  Gaza’s livestock sector reached more than 90 percent. A total of 5450 cattle, sheep, and goat farms were damaged, and 70,000 died. While about 2,300 poultry farms were damaged and nearly 2.8 million birds died during this time. 28,400 beehives were also damaged.

Gaza’s fishing sector was also severely affected by the genocide. The Strip’s only fish hatchery was destroyed, while almost 1,675 fishing vessels and fishing assets, seven aquaculture farms, and around 450 dual-use ponds were damaged.

‘Catastrophic damage’

The genocide also caused “catastrophic damage” to agricultural infrastructure. More than 90 agricultural nurseries, nearly 20 hatcheries, and almost 135 agricultural cold storage facilities were destroyed. Alongside this was the widespread destruction of government agricultural facilities, experimental stations, water treatment facilities, and veterinary laboratories.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture, this unprecedented devastation has had severe consequences. The agricultural production system is almost at a complete standstill. There has been a sharp deterioration in food security across the Gaza Strip. And, at the same time, thousands of families have also lost livestock. These factors have led to a dramatic increase in the number of Palestinians in Gaza depending on humanitarian aid.

The Ministry is calling for urgent and immediate action to be taken, and is calling on donor institutions, UN agencies, and the international community to show their support. The recovery, rehabilitation, and reconstruction of the agricultural sector need to be supported, to enable farmers and fishermen to resume production.

Israel have purposely attacked any means that support Palestinian life. That includes water supplies, energy supplies, and the ability for Palestinians to feed themselves. If — or when — the international community continues to ignore, the longer Israel’s genocide on Gaza will continue.

Featured image via the Canary

By Charlie Jaay

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A petition has been launched calling on Newcastle City Council, Northumbria Police and social media platforms to do more to protect vulnerable people from being exploited by content creators in the city.

Petition calls out public humiliation for clicks

The petition explains:

Recently, content creators such as ‘Tin Tin’ and ‘Michael Ballymore’ have been repeatedly recording people who are homeless, struggling with addiction, or otherwise vulnerable (often without consent) for the purpose of online attention and engagement. This behaviour is harassing, dehumanising, and dangerous.

One look at these social media channels shows videos people with mental health problems, learning disabilities and homeless people being made fun of without their knowledge. In others, homeless and disabled people are accused of being frauds. Others show rough sleepers blamed for the “state” of the city centre.

Some of these videos have hundreds of thousands of views, and all are posted without the consent of the subject.

The petition continues:

No one should be filmed while in distress, intoxicated, sleeping rough, or experiencing a mental health crisis. These individuals deserve safeguarding, privacy, and dignity. Not public humiliation for entertainment.

Meta AI enabling harassment and exploitation

The videos appear to be filmed on AI glasses, meaning those involved don’t even know they’re being filmed. There have been concerns raised recently about how the rise in tech like Meta Glasses in enabling harassment and indecent filming without consent. This comes after Meta partnered with Kylie Jenner in an attempt to girlboss the glasses, ignoring the fact that they can be used to film women without their consent.

Last year, a Reform Councillor in Essex, Sam Journet was arrested for stalking and harassing other elected officials and council staff.  This came after he used Meta Glasses to film all interactions with staff, councillors and members of the public. Journet also received backlash after he filmed a disabled man and alleged he was ‘dangerous’.

Campaigners replaced billboards near Meta’s London HQ with ‘honest ads’ of Jenner wearing the glasses, declaring:

Meta: We’re always watching

And it’s not just the glasses we have to worry about with Meta’s insidious use of AI. Just this week, 26 Meta employees filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging that they used AI against those on sick leave to target them for redundancy.

How you can help

The petition asks for stronger enforcement of existing laws around harassment and non-consensual filming, as well as ‘clear public guidance’ from the council about filming vulnerable people in public.

It also wants Community Protection Notices assessments to be carried out on those who continue to film others in public to exploit them. The petition also suggests that there should be better collaboration with outreach teams to support those being exploited.

Lastly, it calls on social media platforms to remove content that encourages harassment, exploits vulnerable people or violates privacy.

As the petition concludes:

Newcastle is a city known for compassion, community, and solidarity. Exploitative filming does not represent us. We urge local authorities and online platforms to act now to protect those who cannot easily protect themselves.

You can sign the petition here.

Featured image via the Canary

By Rachel Charlton-Dailey

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Argentina booked their place in the 2026 World Cup final with a dramatic 2–1 comeback win over England on 15 July at Atlanta Stadium, keeping their hopes of defending the title alive. They will now face Spain in Sunday’s final in what promises to be a blockbuster showdown.

It was another unforgettable night for football fans, with Lionel Messi once again proving why he’s one of the greatest players of all time. The Argentina captain inspired his side to a second consecutive World Cup final, playing a decisive role as they turned the match around in the closing stages of one of the tournament’s most gripping semi-finals.

Argentina fight back to reach the final

England looked on course for a place in the final after taking the lead, but Messi stepped up when it mattered most. The veteran playmaker produced two brilliant assists to complete Argentina’s comeback.

His first pass found Enzo Fernández, who fired home the equaliser, before Lautaro Martínez finished off another Messi setup to score the winner and send Argentina into the final. The dramatic victory sparked huge celebrations among the Argentine players and supporters.

The reigning champions are now just one win away from defending their crown as they prepare for a mouth-watering final against Spain.

Messi adds more records to his incredible legacy

As if leading Argentina to another World Cup final wasn’t enough, Messi also added several more milestones to his remarkable career.

His two assists against England took his total to 12 World Cup assists, extending his record as the tournament’s all-time leading assist provider.

The Argentine superstar also became the player with the most goal contributions in World Cup knockout matches, adding yet another record to his already extraordinary legacy.

Featured image via the Canary

By Alaa Shamali

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