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Politics Home | Keir Starmer Says Greens Won By-Election Off Back Of George Galloway Endorsement
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Keir Starmer has accused the Green Party of embracing “sectarian” politics and claimed that its historic victory in the Gorton and Denton by-election was driven by support from George Galloway.
The Prime Minister said Zack Polanski’s party was no longer comprised of “harmless environmentalists” in a letter to all Labour MPs following their defeat in Greater Manchester.
Labour is reeling after finishing third in a constituency it had controlled for over 100 years and where it won with an absolute majority at the 2024 general election.
Green candidate Hannah Spencer won with 40 per cent of the vote, in the clearest sign yet of the threat posed to Labour’s left flank by Polanski’s “eco-populist” left-wing party.
Reform UK candidate, former academic Matt Goodwin, came second.
In a letter to Labour MPs on Friday, seen by PoliticsHome, the PM said: “We’ve seen the true colours of Zack Polanski’s Greens in this campaign. The Greens were able to capitalise on an endorsement from George Galloway to win over enough voters to push them over the line.
“Their willingness to welcome Galloway’s divisive, sectarian politics is a sign that the Greens are not the harmless environmentalists they pretend to be, and their position on legalising all drugs shows how unstable this electoral coalition is. It cannot survive a general election campaign.”
Galloway, a former MP for Labour and the Respect parties, is a controversial figure in British politics, accused of running divisive campaigns in areas with significant Muslim populations.
His Workers Party of Britain decided not to stand a candidate in Gorton and Denton.
In his letter, Starmer said he would continue to “warn of the risk the Greens pose” to the country, including “extreme policies like legalising all drugs and pulling out of NATO”.
He also sought to assure Labour backbenchers that Polanki’s party would not be able to replicate its by-election success on Thursday at a nationwide general election.
“The Greens may have won here, but they simply do not have the resources, the activist base or the local knowledge to replicate this victory across the country. We’ve seen that before.
“We’ve seen it with the Lib Dems, who have often won mid-term by-elections against both the Conservatives and Labour, but never been able to come close to winning nationally. We’ve seen it with George Galloway, who won two mid-term by-elections but held neither of those seats in a general election.”
Some Labour MPs have privately expressed concern that the lettercould further alienate progressive voters who supported the Greens on Thursday, with one calling it “appalling”.
One Labour backbencher complained to PoliticsHome: “That letter is what the Greens will use to raise the money. Slow clap.”
Additional reporting by Zoe Crowther
Here is the letter in full:
Dear Colleagues,
The result in Gorton and Denton is deeply disappointing.
Instead of a Labour MP who can be a local champion delivering for Gorton and Denton alongside a Labour Government and a Labour mayor, the people of Gorton and Denton now have a representative who is more interested in dividing people than uniting them. We have to learn lessons from that, and we will.
I know this is a tough result for our movement but I still want to thank you for everything you did to support our brilliant candidate Angeliki Stogia. She did a fantastic job and Gorton and Denton deserved to have her as their MP.
We’ve seen the true colours of Zack Polanski’s Greens in this campaign. The Greens were able to capitalise on an endorsement from George Galloway to win over enough voters to push them over the line. Their willingness to welcome Galloway’s divisive, sectarian politics is a sign that the Greens are not the harmless environmentalists they pretend to be, and their position on legalising all drugs shows how unstable this electoral coalition is. It cannot survive a general election campaign.
It hurts, but this is the kind of result that we have often seen parties of government face. In by-elections people can make their voice heard without risking a change of government. I get it: people are rightly impatient to see the change they voted for.
It’s my job to make sure that happens. And I’m working day in, day out to see it through.
Over the coming months, people will feel the benefit of the long-term decisions this government is taking. Look at the good economic news we’ve had in the past week: inflation and borrowing coming down, retail sales and business confidence rising, energy bills falling. And look at the policies that are going to make a difference in people’s lives in the coming months: the landmark Employment Rights Act, money off energy bills, the cruel two-child limit scrapped, more free breakfast clubs opening, Pride in Place funding coming through, NHS waiting lists continuing to fall. It will show what we’ve been saying from the outset of this year: the country is turning a corner. These are all Labour policies, putting Labour values into action – policies no other party would or could deliver.
The Greens may have won here, but they simply do not have the resources, the activist base or the local knowledge to replicate this victory across the country. We’ve seen that before. We’ve seen it with the Lib Dems, who have often won mid-term by-elections against both the Conservatives and Labour, but never been able to come close to winning nationally. We’ve seen it with George Galloway, who won two mid-term by elections but held neither of those seats in a general election.
We will continue to warn of the risk the Greens pose: the risk of extreme policies like legalising all drugs and pulling out of NATO that most voters strongly reject, and the risk of splitting the progressive vote so that Reform come through the middle.
The next election is too important to let that happen. It’s a fight we can win, and we’re going to win it.
Best,
Keir
This time 15 years ago, some sceptics were seriously still carrying on that tiresome debate about whether a female-led comedy would actually be funny when Bridesmaids arrived on the scene.
Naysayers were more than proven wrong when the comedy came out, and not only made audiences around the world howl with laughter, but became producer Judd Apatow’s highest-grossing film, taking more than £220 million at the box office.
Viewers immediately fell in love with Kristen Wiig’s Annie, a maid of honour who is helping her best friend Lillian, played Maya Rudolph, prepare for her wedding, while also trying to keep a group of unruly bridesmaids (the incomparable Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Ellie Kemper) in check.
But it wasn’t just the audiences that were won over by the tale of enduring female friendship (and bodily functions). Bridesmaids was also nominated for the Best Musical Or Comedy prize at the Golden Globes, and even earned two Oscar nods, for Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo’s writing and Melissa McCarthy’s performance.
To mark the movie’s 15th anniversary, the cast (minus Wendy McLendon-Covey, sadly) reunited at the 2026 Academy Awards, giving Bridesmaids fans the world over the urge to rewatch our favourite messy comedy – and sing along to Hold On with Annie and pals.
As many of us revisit the hit movie, we’re taking a peek behind the scenes, and it sounds like it was about as much fun to make as it is to watch.
Here are 23 facts you might not have known about how Bridesmaids came together…
It took five years for Bridesmaids to make it off the page and onto the screen
Suzanne Hanover/Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock
Getting Bridesmaids to the big screen was certainly not a quick and easy task.
The first table read took place in 2007, with Bridesmaids finally appearing on director Paul Feig’s desk five years after he first heard about it. As he put it, the film saved his career.
“In 2010, I was at a low point,” he told Luxury London. “I was directing internet commercials for Macy’s. I was thinking ‘what am I doing with my career?’. Then I got a call out of the blue saying ‘that wedding movie’ is going to happen.”
Paul cites the film as a “game changer” in terms of his filmmaking, because it took him out of movie jail after the commercial failures of I Am David and Unaccompanied Minors.
Bridesmaids almost had a very different title
Producer Judd Apatow wasn’t originally sold on the film’s title, worried it would put off male cinemagoers.
“To get guys in, we were just going to call it Naked Boobs And Guns, but we didn’t have either one of those things, so we changed it,” Kristen joked to Collider. “We actually had a really hard time, trying to think of the title, to be honest. It was hard.”
In fact, it was nearly called Maid Of Honour, until one of the producers’ friends named his own film that title.
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Several comedy actors almost played Megan, the character who propelled Melissa McCarthy to international fame
It’s almost impossible to imagine anyone else in the role of Melissa McCarthy’s boisterous Megan, but a few different people were also in the frame to take on the character, with Paul Feig even claiming that Megan was the most auditioned-for role in the cast.
Speaking to BuzzFeed in 2012, Busy Phillips revealed she was considered for the role, having previously worked with Judd Apatow on the short-lived show Freaks And Geeks.
“The part wasn’t defined necessarily as one thing [when I auditioned],” she recalled. “I was doing a very specific take on it, and they really liked it. But I think, ultimately, Miss McCarthy is perfect in that movie.”
As well as Busy, Rebel Wilson also auditioned for the part, although she ultimately landed the role of Annie’s roommate, Brynn.
It was actually Kristen Wiig who pointed Bridesmaids’ director towards her friend Melissa McCarthy, who at the time was still best known for Gilmore Girls and Mike & Molly
Suzanne Hanover/Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock
Paul Feig told Glamour in 2020: “[Megan] came in and her take on the character was so different than anyone else that it took me a good 10 seconds to even realise what she was doing.”
In a 2011 interview, Paul admitted he was initially unsure why she was playing the character as a “lesbian” doing “weird sex stuff”, before realising he was actually watching a genius at work.
“The mistake a lot of people make in casting is they get so tied to the words and the character they wrote that they don’t see when somebody is better than what they have on the page,” he claimed.
Melissa McCarthy drew inspiration from an unexpected source when putting together her characterisation of Megan in Bridesmaids
In an interview with Conan O’Brien, Melissa admitted that when she read the script, the first person she thought of was the chef, Guy Fieri.
She said: “I wanted to do the shirt, the Kangol. Every scene, I would have my glasses on the back of my head.”
Unfortunately for the actor (and maybe the audience), the production team reined her in, and stopped her from looking too much like the Food Network star.
“I tried for a long time to convince them to let me wear short, white, spiky hair, and they were like, ‘You can’t actually be Guy Fieri’,” she laughed.
Oh, and if you didn’t know – Melissa McCarthy shares the screen with her real-life husband in Bridesmaids
“Air Marshall Jon” is played by Ben Falcone, with whom Melissa has been married since 2005.
He has also made cameos in almost all of Melissa’s films, including Identity Thief, Spy, The Heat and Can You Ever Forgive Me?.
Bridesmaids was largely improvised by the cast
While Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo put together a hilarious script, with six Groundlings alum on set, there was always going to be some improvisation in the mix, too.
“I’ll be honest, I can’t remember what was scripted and what came out in improv anymore,” Maya Rudolph told Entertainment Weekly. “It all sort of bled together.”
Melissa McCarthy agreed: “In the rehearsal process, you really got to know everyone’s characters before you’re shooting. Even if you didn’t use the specific information, you’d start to build this backstory.
“We had this history as the characters. You’d get more and more comfortable with how [you were] going to play off of each other. I just remember thinking, ‘If this is what making movies is, this is mind-blowing’.”
Maya added that the director gave the cast “free rein to play”, so that by the time they started filming, they all knew each other’s creative processes.
“There was a stenographer who was typing everything that we were improvising. Then we’d come back, and there’d be new pages,” she recalled.
Rose Byrne learnt a new language for that hilarious toast scene
Suzanne Hanover/Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock
During those engagement party toasts, Paul Feig let Kristen and Rose improvise one-upping each other, with hilarious results.
“It went on forever. I just kept laughing. I remember thinking, “Oh, I’m going to have a hard time getting through this movie without ruining takes,” Melissa remembered.
Rose even pretended to speak Thai in one rehearsal, and the producers loved it so much that they made her learn a portion of Thai for real in the final cut.
Helen shares a home with a superhero
Bridesmaids is set between Milwaukee and Chicago, but it was actually filmed in Los Angeles – and film and TV fans may recognise one of the sets from an iconic series.
The comedy was filmed in part at the same location used for the 1960s Batman TV series and film.
Helen’s lavish home, where Annie spectacularly flips out at the Parisian-themed bridal show, famously doubled as Wayne Manor in the retro show.
It’s also Eddie Murphy’s palatial home in Bowfinger and the estate of Kenneth Branagh’s conductor character in Dead Again.
Matt Lucas and Rebel Wilson actually became roommates after appearing as siblings in Bridesmaids
Suzanne Hanover/Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock
Matt Lucas and Rebel Wilson play Annie’s roommates in Bridesmaids, and reality ended up mirroring fiction for the funny duo.
“We played roommates so well in Bridesmaids, we thought, ‘Yeah, we’ll do it for real’,” Rebel explained on Conan O’Brien’s talk show in September 2012. “Except instead of annoying Kristen Wiig, we’re now annoying all the neighbours nearby.”
After the film came out, fans suspected they were siblings, or married, because their chemistry was so effortless.
“When we met it was like complete synchronicity,” Matt told the BBC in September 2015. “We’re both very laid back and we’re also quite driven professionally and I see that in her and she sees that in me but we’re not competitive because we just enjoy each other’s work.”
The pair lived together in Los Angeles for three years, until Rebel moved out after making the “decision to become a huge movie star and buy a house”.
The film’s co-writer Annie Mumolo originally wanted to play a main role in Bridesmaids, but it didn’t work out in the end
The lengthy wait for the movie to get made meant that co-writer Annie Mumolo couldn’t RSVP for her role as a bridesmaid.
By the time the movie started filming, Annie was seven months pregnant, and her character was redeveloped for a new actor.
“I was like, I’m living my life and I was having a family,” she told The New York Times in 2021. “So, I got pregnant. [The film] had gotten sort of shelved, and then they called like two weeks later and said, ‘We’re back on!’ And it was like, ‘I’m pregnant. So that’s going to be great’.”
Annie eventually gave birth to her son a week and a half after filming wrapped on Bridesmaids.
Although Annie couldn’t take centre stage in the film, she does appear in the infamous plane scene, playing the woman sitting next to Annie on that turbulent flight to Las Vegas.
Suzanne Hanover/Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock
That flight scene was actually created as a substitute for another chaotic scene that was axed so Bridesmaids wouldn’t be compared to The Hangover
What happens in Vegas stays on the cutting room floor with Bridesmaids.
The release of 2009’s The Hangover forced the team to scrap a messy Sin City bachelorette party adventure that featured in Bridesmaids’ original script.
“We did not want to be compared to The Hangover,” Paul told Insider in 2021. “We did not want to hear, ’This is the female Hangover. That was our kryptonite.”
He later told Glamour: ”[The Hangover] was so big and successful and had done Vegas so well that we were kind of like, ‘Why would we do it again?’. I said, ‘They should just not get to Vegas. It should all fall apart on the plane’.”
This Vegas sequence would have included a visit to a male strip club, where Annie would have been pulled up on stage by a dancer dressed as a cowboy.
There was also a scene where the bridal party went to a male strip club and Annie gets pulled on stage by a cowboy stripper.
Recalling what the scene entailed, Paul told Business Insider: “He has her lie down on the dance floor and dances over the top of her, but ball sweat drips into her open mouth as she’s screaming.”
Suzanne Hanover/Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock
Jon Hamm is uncredited for his work in Bridesmaids
Jon Hamm plays Ted, Annie’s selfish love interest, in Bridesmaids – a role that was both uncredited and mostly improvised.
The Mad Men star’s lack of poster credit was his own request because, at the time, he was better known for his dramatic work, and he worried that his name being attached to the project would mislead audiences into thinking Bridesmaids was not actually a comedy.
He appeared in the film as a favour to Kristen Wiig, with whom he became friends after guest hosting an episode of SNL.
“I did that movie before there was a part, before there was a script, I said ‘yes’ to it. And [my] agents went, ‘Oh, well, shit. How do we, you know, ask for money?’,” Jon said on SiriusXM in 2022. “And I was like, ‘Don’t worry about it. Just let me let go and have fun with friends’.”
Jon’s most famous moment in Bridesmaids – his sex scene with Kristen – was approached more like a fight sequence than a love scene
Suzanne Hanover/Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock
Paul Feig told Glamour that he thought it would be funnier to make the scene look less like romance, and more like “a professional wrestling scene”.
“It was like this big action scene,” he explained. “There’s nothing sexy about that scene at all, and that’s what made it so fun.”
A minor Bridesmaids storyline featuring Paul Rudd was left on the cutting room floor
Ant-Man actor Paul Rudd was originally supposed to appear in a scene with Annie, where his and Kristen’s characters go on an ice-skating blind date together.
The date, of course, goes horribly wrong, with Paul’s character falling to the ground and yelling expletives at children.
Paul Feig told Entertainment Weekly that the scene was “one of the funniest things I’ve ever been a witness to,” and was written to highlight Annie’s bad luck with guys. Unfortunately, this moment is cut from the final edit, but the seven-minute sequence was included on the DVD extras, and has since made its way to YouTube.
Bridesmaids nearly featured another famous cameo – from Matt Damon
Paul Rudd wasn’t the only A-lister who was robbed of an appearance in Bridesmaids. Speaking to Business Insider, Paul Feig revealed in 2021 that Matt Damon was supposed to play himself in a fantasy cameo.
Describing the scene, the director said: “Annie goes in the dressing room to try on this really expensive dress, and suddenly she has a fantasy of what her life could be in this dress.
“It’s this romance feel with her running through the woods and Matt Damon is shirtless chopping wood.”
This romantic fantasy sequence was totally scrapped from the film by Paul and producer Judd Apatow, because “there needed to be a consequence to Annie’s actions”, and she also needed “to be humiliated in front of Helen and the other bridesmaids”.
“So,” he added. “We came up with the food poisoning from being at a shitty restaurant.”
Certain jokes were edited out of Bridesmaids following the death of Jill Clayburgh
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Bridesmaids, sadly, was Jill Clayburgh’s last performance before her death.
Jill died between filming and the film’s release, which affected some of the jokes that made it into the final cut.
“We took some dirty Jill Clayburgh jokes out because I just thought, ‘that can’t be the last thing she says’,” Judd Apatow told The Playlist, admitting that even if the quips were still “funny” they could be perceived as “questionable”.
Some of these raunchier gags did make the DVD outtake reel, though.
Paul Feig recalled telling the late performer: “I can’t believe we’re making you say this.”
Her response? “Oh I love it.”
“She was so sincerely happy to be doing this kind of comedy that it’s a special memory for me,” he added.
Chris O’Dowd’s Bridesmaids character wasn’t written as Irish in the script
Chris O’Dowd told HuffPost in 2013 that he originally auditioned for Bridesmaids with an American accent – but Paul Feig suggested he try it in his own.
“Paul Feig is a huge Anglophile and knew [The IT Crowd] really well and was a big fan of it,” Chris explained. “He said, ‘Hey, why don’t you try it in your own accent?’. And it just kind of went well and we improvised for a good while like that with Kristen – yeah, and it played well.”
Judd Apatow also approved of having an Irish love interest, believing it would make the love story a little less formulaic and, in Chris’ words, “odd”.
Kristen Wiig is actually not a fan of the infamous food poisoning sequence
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast in 2017, Kristen admitted that all the gross-out humour was added into her script by Judd Apatow.
“When people say, ‘Oh, we’re gonna give more female-centered movies a chance,’ you’re not reading the fine print, which is, ‘Oh, but, they have to be like this’,” she claimed. “They want to see women acting like guys.
“The scene was not our idea and it was not in the original script and we didn’t love it. It was strongly suggested for us to put that in there. I didn’t want to see people shitting and puking.”
Apparently, all that fake vomit tasted better than it looked
Another of the most memorable scenes in Bridesmaids is the moment when the women get food poisoning while trying on wedding outfits.
It looked gross, but Paul Feig told Glamour that the “concoction” that made up the faux vomit actually consisted of oatmeal (“for a little bit of texture”), “some chopped up vegetables” and almond milk”.
That food poisoning scene might feel extreme – but it originally went even further
Paul added that he and the crew made use of a “vomit cannon” at one point.
“There’s a scene that we didn’t put in the movie where Ellie’s character runs in, and Wendi’s like, ‘Get away from me’,” he noted.
“And so she runs down the hall and opens the door and projectile vomits across the room. But when we got in the editing room everyone was immediately like, ‘That’s just too much, we have to take that out.’ We do have some class.”
Kristen Wiig had no idea how big Bridesmaids would go on to become
Suzanne Hanover/Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock
Kristen Wiig admitted recently that she was fairly sure the film would be a box-office failure.
“I remember after opening weekend, they were like, ‘Well, we tried,’” she said on a 2025 episode of Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast.
“We just thought, like, that was it. And then I think just more and more people kept seeing it and then it kind of happened later.”
Paul Feig also admitted on Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Dinner’s On Me podcast that he felt pressure for the film to succeed, even though it was “predicted to not do well right up until the day of release”.
And no, there’s definitely not going to be a Bridesmaids sequel
Suzanne Hanover/Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock
As the case with almost all hit films, people have been desperate for a sequel. Although many key players – including Paul Feig – are open to the idea, Kristen Wiig has explicitly said she has no interest in revisiting Annie and her friends.
During a 2021 appearance on Andy Cohen’s Sirius XM show, she explained, “I just don’t want it to be translated as a negative thing, because we obviously love the movie [but] we feel like we told that story and we were just so excited to do other things.”
Bridesmaids is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video in the UK.
For the first Peaky Blinders movie, The Immortal Man, Netflix went suitably large for Cillian Murphy’s first feature-length outing as Tommy Shelby.
The big-budget movie, which picks up the story in the Birmingham Blitz of World War Two, seems to have paid off, with the film picking up an increasingly rare box office success as well as critical acclaim.
After a short run in cinemas, the film has landed on Netflix, with new legions of fans streaming the next chapter.
With six seasons and a film now part of the Peaky Blinders’ legacy, you might be wondering where that leaves the franchise and what’s next for the gang (if anything).
Here’s a quick guide to everything we know so far…
Will there be another Peaky Blinders film after The Immortal Man?
So far, there’s been no confirmation of a The Immortal Man sequel, or indeed another film set in the Peaky Blinders universe.
Back in 2021 show creator Steven Knight told Deadline the “plan from the beginning” had been to “end Peaky with a movie”.
Based on how the movie ended, fans can probably agree it’s the last we’ll see of Tommy Shelby – so it would be a surprise if we did see another Peaky Blinders film, at least for the time being.
What about a new series of Peaky Blinders in the future?
That’s where the good news starts.
In October 2025, Netflix and the BBC confirmed two new six-part sequel series of Peaky Blinders, with original writer and creator Steven Knight behind the wheel once again.
What will the new Peaky Blinders sequel series be about?
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man acts as a bridge between the initial six series of the show and the new ones.
The sequel series will jump further forward in time and take place after the events of the film, picking the story up in the 1950s.
An official synopsis for the follow-up reads: “Britain, 1953. After being heavily bombed in World War II, Birmingham is building a better future out of concrete and steel.
“In a new era of Steven Knight’s Peaky Blinders, the race to own Birmingham’s massive reconstruction project becomes a brutal contest of mythical dimensions. This is a city of unprecedented opportunity and danger, with the Shelby family right at its blood-soaked heart.”
Meanwhile Knight has promised new characters and adventures, teasing: “The new generation of Shelbys have taken the wheel, and it will be a hell of a ride.”
When can we see the new episodes of Peaky Blinders?
Netflix hasn’t confirmed a release date yet, however we might not have to wait too long according to What’s On Netflix.
The online outlet has reported that filming began in Stoke-on-Trent in early March 2026, suggesting a possible mid-to-late 2027 release date.
Who will star in the new Peaky Blinders seasons?
So far, Netflix and the BBC haven’t officially announced any cast members.
We do know that Cillian Murphy is on board as a producer, so perhaps we could see Tommy Shelby in some flashback scenes.
Reports have suggested that it could be a cast of relative newcomers, with Video Nasty star Cal O’Driscoll spotted on set along with How To Get To Heaven From Belfast star Fintan Shevlin and Atomic actor Jacob Wright.
The first six seasons of Peaky Blinders are now streaming on BBC iPlayer, with the film The Immortal Man available to watch on Netflix.
President Donald Trump gave a predictably heartless response to the death of former FBI director and special prosecutor Robert Mueller, who died on Saturday aged 81.
“Robert Mueller just died,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!”
Mueller served as special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, and became a target for Trump and his MAGA base. His family announced last August that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2021.
While Mueller’s investigation uncovered contacts between the Trump campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 election, Mueller declined to charge Trump with obstruction, saying that while he had sufficient evidence to charge Trump, he was prohibited because Trump was the sitting president at the time.
Despite this, Trump spent years attacking Mueller for an investigation that ultimately let him off the hook.
Less than an hour after expressing glee at the death of Mueller, Trump was back to his usual attacks on Truth Social.
“The Fascist Democrats will never protect America, but the Republicans will,” Trump said in a post threatening to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to patrol airports across the US.
Democratic lawmakers and pundits are unleashing on President Donald Trump for his social media post celebrating the death of Robert Mueller, the former FBI director and special counsel who oversaw the 2016 investigation into Russian election interference, calling it “disgusting” and “insane.”
Mueller died on Friday night aged 81, his family said in a statement to the Associated Press on Saturday.
A cause of death has not yet been disclosed, though two people familiar with the situation told MS NOW that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Hours after Mueller’s family asked in the statement that their “privacy be respected,” the president wrote on his Truth Social platform, “Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!”
The post drew fiery responses from legions of Democratic politicians and media personalities, who decried its callousness and mourned Trump’s ongoing indifference to the presidential decorum of the past.
“I expect every Republican who was outraged at people for celebrating Charlie Kirk’s death to immediately condemn Trump for saying, ‘I’m glad he’s dead’ about Robert Mueller,” wrote liberal political influencer Harry Sisson on X. “This is disgusting.”
Many Trump supporters are defending him, however, arguing that Mueller spread “the most destructive lies of the 21st Century” and was “a piece of garbage” for his so-called “persecution” of Trump. Other conservatives condemned the post.
“This is the kind of stuff Trump does that makes people not just oppose him but hate him,” wrote Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume. “There was no need to say anything.”
Susan Walsh/Associated Press
Democratic Representative Dan Goldman called Mueller “a true public servant” in his social media tribute, writing: “Yet the President of the United States disgustingly celebrates Mueller’s death simply because he exposed Trump’s efforts to steal the 2016 election.”
Former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan argued that far too many journalists are reporting on Trump’s post without any detraction, writing, “Very few acknowledgments of how insane and inappropriate it is for the president to respond like this.”
He added, “Imagine their response if it was [former President Joe] Biden.”
Below are more responses to Trump’s Mueller post:
Afroman has won his legal battle after Ohio police attempted to sue him for defamation.
In 2022, Ohio police broke down Afroman’s door as part of a drug and kidnapping investigation. The raid did not lead to any charges.
Hilariously, he then released an album in 2023, titled Lemon Pound Cake. It was a piss-take of the CCTV footage captured from his house during the raid.
The deputies lawsuit came right after and requested $3.9m (£2.9m) damages for:
humiliation, ridicule, mental distress, embarrassment and loss of reputation.
However, the officers stole money, broke down his door, and trashed his house. It should have been Afroman suing them.
Afroman — because he got high
One song took aim at an officer who stopped mid raid to eye up a lemon pound cake on his kitchen counter. The song says the officer:
got the munchies because he got high.
Another was titled “Will you help me repair my door”, and needs no explanation. So far, it has over 11 million views.
During the trial, the Afroman said:
he had a constitutional right to make artistic and critical content about government officials.
His lawyer added that public officials:
could not use the courts to silence criticism simply because it hurt their feelings.
His lawyer also asked if any reasonable person would think a man wearing a flag suit in court “should be taken seriously”.
If you haven’t been following this, Afroman’s lawyers have also had some incredible moments — including asking if any reasonable person would think that a man wearing a flag suit in court should be taken seriously https://t.co/fb9R7EOja6
— Tracy Alloway (@tracyalloway) March 19, 2026
Afromans’ only defence witness during the trial was the ex-wife of one of the deputies.
Imagine that.
Playing the victim
Another deputy broke down in court — after trashing his house and stealing his money. Meanwhile, Afroman was vibing to his tune.
Officer Lisa broke down in court when they played the diss track about her. The camera cut to Afroman, and he’s just vibing to his song.
America is not a real place. https://t.co/Fq9hc7lrkr pic.twitter.com/DNPL1NCaKT
— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) March 19, 2026
The lyrics of one track read:
Randy Walters son of a bitch /That’s why I f–ked his wife and got filthy rich
But in court, Randy Walters testified that he “wasn’t sure” if his wife was fucking afroman.
Having a cop testify under oath that he isn’t sure if his wife is fucking Afroman is a level of fucking with the police previously unknown. https://t.co/8WM6kbHfSv
— Kristi Yamaguccimane (@TheWapplehouse) March 18, 2026
He caused himself more humiliation than Afroman could have dreamed of, and we’re here for it.
This has been the only light in a very dark month of news. https://t.co/rUrDWL1qIE
— Amity (@amitylee13) March 20, 2026
The more you look into this the more hilarious it gets.
Not only are the songs making fun of the cops, but during the trial he said he made them to pay for the damages the cops did to his house.
One of the songs is about the officer’s wife asking him to sign her titties. 🤣 https://t.co/KjcMjArKEy pic.twitter.com/b4tM215bWp
— Walter Curt (@wcdispatch) March 19, 2026
I bet the Ohio police force didn’t think their trial would turn into a free promo for Afromans album. That one really backfired.
But at least Ohio is finally on the map…
Feature image via ogafroman/ YouTube
DES MOINES — Rob Sand got a hero’s welcome at a state deer hunting expo at the Iowa Events Center on a recent March weekend.
The state’s lone Democratic statewide elected official, and Democrats’ hope for flipping the governor’s mansion for the first time in 16 years, could barely make it through the Sunday morning sea of camo-wearing, venison jerky-chomping, Busch Light tallboy-nursing fellow hunters as more than a dozen people stopped and congratulated him.
But it wasn’t because of his politics. If anything, it was in spite of them.
“Rob, heckuva buck!” said one passerby.
Sand was at the annual Iowa Deer Classic to enter a Green gross-scoring 209-inch buck he’d tagged earlier this season. Photos of the deer have proliferated on Trophy Bucks of Iowa and other Facebook hunting groups across the state.
“Mr. 200!” said Levi Schmitz, a Trump-voting Republican who nonetheless plans to back Sand.
“You got me,” the 43-year-old state auditor responded with a grin.
As Democrats across the map continue to hunt for paths out of the metaphorical wilderness, Sand is betting that his own path to the governor’s mansion runs through his familiarity in the literal wilderness.
Sand represents the kind of candidate Democrats have long sought to win on tough red terrain: an inarguably of-the-place contender whose persona and bio can help sell political views that have become a tough pitch in places where many hear “Democrat” and picture coastal elites. Iowa, a swing state through 2012, moved hard right in the Trump years as Democrats increasingly struggled to connect.
Here, Republicans have taken advantage of the culture wars in a big way for years. Retiring Sen. Joni Ernst first won in 2014 by running hard on her pig-farming, military vet bio and painting her attorney opponent as an effete outsider.
Sand doesn’t run from some of his more liberal views. But like many other Democrats running this year, he’s banking that his local cultural cred will make him tougher for Republicans to caricature as a not-like-us coastal outsider.The day the expo kicked off, the avid bow hunter and fisherman’s campaign launched a “Hunting With Rob” microsite that extolls the rugged Iowa way of life. “For the first time in Iowa history, hunters, sportsmen, conservationists, and outdoor enthusiasts alike will finally have an ally in the governor’s office,” it reads.
In a state where the first day of deer season is an unofficial holiday, Sand’s strategy to center his culturally midwestern hobby rather than his Democratic brand was on full display. He dropped $30 on a glove for removing burrs, $35 on a tool that keeps hunting bows level and $69 on MAXX Step Aiders for climbing trees. And the branding appeared to be working.
“I’m super-Republican, but you got my vote,” said Tom Buckroyd, a hunter from a small community near Marshalltown wearing a “Crossbows Are Gay” T-shirt who spent roughly 20 minutes talking to Sand about hunting.
As he picked at a free sample of barbecue venison jerky on a toothpick, Sand said he wasn’t surprised by his warm reception.
“Number one, it just means I shot a huge buck this year,” he told POLITICO. “But number two, I go back to culture. And we have this stupid, broken, two-choice political system. … And we are told stories about who can be right in either party. And when you find someone that’s in a party, but then also doesn’t fit that story, I think for a lot of people that is a sign of realness or a sign of authenticity about who they are.”
Since their bruising losses in 2024, Democrats have tried all manner of ways to rehabilitate their brand, from cursing more to growing beards to talking about sports. This cycle, they’ve redoubled their efforts to find authentically local candidates — and in some races, those candidates have emerged and caught lightning as they challenge status-quo Democratic candidates. Many are leaning hard into local culture signals.
Sand has hunting. Maine’s Senate candidate Graham Platner has his oystering and his Second Amendment creds. Texas’ Bobby Pulido has his guitar; James Talarico has the Good Book. Alaska’s Mary Peltola has fish. Democratic candidates who can win in tough places often get national buzz. And Sand happens to be from a state that — at least for now — still plays an outsized role in the presidential process. Could Sand be a surprise 2028 contender?
“If Rob wins, he will instantly be part of that conversation,” said Tommy Vietor, President Barack Obama’s former Iowa press secretary and a host of Pod Save America.
Sand is running as a hunting-loving, churchgoing, Casey’s gas station pizza-loving state auditor who has spent the past five years positioning himself as a fiscally responsible friend to the Iowa taxpayer.
There’s been little public polling of the race; the only public survey, released back in October, found Sand beating GOP Rep. Randy Feenstra by two points, 45 percent to 43 percent. But national operatives in both parties see it as one of a handful of governor’s races that could flip. Sand is unopposed in the state’s June 2 primary, though five Republicans will be on the ballot for their party’s nomination.
He entered the show room at the EMC Expo Center after attending a chapel service for expo-goers where he quietly scrolled a Contemporary English Version of the Bible on his phone, listening dutifully to the sermon about Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000. “What sort of kingdom work is He asking you to do?” the pastor asked
And what does Sand see as his kingdom work? “Talking about the evils of the two-choice system and trying to break down a system that inherently divides us and leads our leaders into the temptation of being lazy, and leads our leaders into the temptation of lying, bearing false witness against their opponents, because they know that they don’t actually have to solve our problems,” he said.
“In order to get reelected, all they got to do is convince us that they’re the lesser of two evils,” Sand continued. “And they win because we only have two realistic options on the ballot — and that entire system, to me, is just such a temptation to not serve people, to not do good, to actively lie, to spread false information.”
You’d be forgiven if you forgot Sand was running as a Democrat. That, of course, is part of the point of his campaign. Sometimes to salvage the Democratic brand in a red state you have to first savage it.
But Republicans will be sure to remind voters a few times between now and November.
“He hasn’t really had to take very many positions,” said David Kochel, a longtime Iowa Republican operative who has guided multiple presidential campaigns. ”He’s going to be forced at some point to either disavow the Democratic Party platform, which is going to piss off progressives, or he’s going to have to accept the label of being a Democrat in Iowa and defend it. And it’s gonna be hard for him to do.”
Republicans will paint some images of Sand of their own. As much as he would like to cut the figure of a rugged outdoorsman, they say, he also spent some time in college modeling in Milan and Paris — photos that may well pop up in GOP ads. “I mean, it was a part-time job I had in college,” Sand said. “Catching chickens was my first one.” Catching chickens? “Castrated male chickens,” he clarifies.
There is also the matter of his election financing: His wealthy in-laws have dumped $7 million into his campaign. “Hardworking Iowans know the value of a dollar, and don’t have the luxury of having a silver spoon feeding them their career,” Iowa Republican Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said in a statement.
Iowa Republicans are taking Sand’s candidacy seriously. In an interview, Bob Vander Plaats, the influential West Des Moines evangelical leader, called Sand “dangerous” and the “best candidate” Democrats could run.
“He’s trying to come off as a more folksy, more accomplished Tim Walz. ‘I go to church every Sunday. I hunt. I’m the taxpayers’ watchdog. I’m gonna hit all the Republican talking points, basically, that I can,’” Vander Plaats said before stressing that Sand “would be way outside of where Iowans are.”
On the Republican side, Vander Plaats endorsed Adam Steen over Rep. Randy Feenstra, the GOP establishment pick and primary frontrunner. “I just haven’t been impressed with Randy’s campaign. I don’t think he has the campaign to win a general election.”
Sand practices a judge-not-lest-ye-be-judge approach with would-be voters. When he was speaking to the man wearing a “Crossbows Are Gay” shirt, Sand didn’t bat an eye.
“I know what that shirt says, but I’m not going to assume that he literally is anti-homosexual because his T-shirt says that,” Sand said. “I’m not a believer that lecturing people is an effective way to get them to not do a thing. Now, I’m open about my support for gay marriage, for the gay community. He’s probably seen me say that. … And he’s not going to hear me back away from that. So to me, there’s probably room for someone to wear a shirt that they mean as a joke they don’t actually mean to be negative.”
Sand didn’t win the Big Buck contest he’d entered. But as he took selfies with the men who had beat him, an onlooker from Exira named Jeremy brought up a possible consolation prize.
“You’re the next governor of Iowa!” he told Sand.
As the day wrapped, the lanky state auditor pulled his buck head down off the wall and, carrying it by an antler, walked out of the convention center — its taxidermied eyes fixed in a frozen stare at Sand’s potential new voters.
The Earthquake Faction has set fire to Elbit’s Israeli weapons manufacturing centre in the Czech Republic.
The blaze marks the launch of the group.
BREAKING: ‘The Earthquake Faction’ launches by setting ablaze Elbit’s Israeli weapons manufacturing centre in the Czech Republic.
The site was built to “service the global expansion of Israel’s biggest weapons producer”.
No one was harmed, but photos show the site destroyed. pic.twitter.com/uU31RdFQUZ
— The Aftershock (@The_Aftershock_) March 20, 2026
The group said:
the site was built to service the global expansion of Israel’s biggest weapons producer.
The group did not harm anyone, which is a thought far too implausible for the Western elite to even imagine.
However, images from the site suggest that the fire destroyed it.
Photos showing extensive damage from the action were shared on the group’s telegram channel: https://t.co/XF4dbqlGvJ pic.twitter.com/2OWcvQo1zX
— The Aftershock (@The_Aftershock_) March 20, 2026
In true Western colonial fashion, Czech authorities are investigating it as a “possible terrorist attack” after the group claimed responsibility and linked it to the war in Gaza.
Because anyone standing up against Genocide and murdering innocent people is a terrorist, whilst the global superpowers dropping the bombs are completely innocent?
Cue the worldwide proscription of Earthquake Faction in 3, 2, 1…
Czech govt is already calling this a terror attack.
Not a single person was hurt nor did the group aim to hurt people. Their stated goal was to “quash their means to kill”. To save lives not take them.
Following the UK govt’s lead.
Welcome to the era of nonviolent terrorism. https://t.co/8L9NF6iqSE— Vivian (@MxVivianWulf) March 21, 2026
But this is the ridiculous example that the British government has set. Vandalise equipment used to murder innocent brown people, and you’re on a terrorist watch list.
Arming genocide
According to Who Profits:
Elbit Systems Ltd. is an Israeli defense company engaged in the development and production of weapons and combat systems for land, air and sea combat forces, in the fields of electronics, electro-optics, artillery, aviation, lasers and more.
The company is Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer and has a tightly knit relationship with the Israeli security apparatus for which it provides a wide range of services and develops extensive weapon technology, equipment and platforms deployed in varying fields.
As the Canary previously reported, Elbit Systems is Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, which markets its products as “battle-tested” on the Palestinian people. They provide 85% of Israel’s military drone fleet and land-based equipment, as well as bullets, missiles, and digital warfare.
Elbit’s Israel-based CEO, Bezhalel Machlis, who also sits on the board of Elbit Systems UK, explained how the company has “ramped up production” to meet the demand of the Israeli military’s genocidal campaign in Gaza and across the wider region.
The International Court of Justice has ruled it’s plausible Israel is committing genocide – and Elbit is arming that genocide.
Elbit Switzerland
Activists have also vandalised the offices of Elbit Systems in Bern, Switzerland.
Sent in to me for publishing:
“At 8pm local time on March 20 the Elbit Systems Switzerland office in Bern, Switzerland has been vandalized.
Elbit needs to close” pic.twitter.com/1GYni2oVHZ
— maia arson crimew🐈🐾🏴 (@awawawhoami) March 20, 2026
The same Elbit that is running UK government contracts, supplying the Swiss government with reconnaissance drones, and delivering an advanced SPYDER air defence system to the Czech Republic.
All three countries are complicit in Elbit’s war crimes.
I don’t see why you’d go and smash up some-
Ah, I see, never mind have a great day pic.twitter.com/n9QCjounRu— Tubbymcwubby (@Tubbymcwub) March 20, 2026
How does Elbit feel now that one of its factories resembles Gaza? Your own medicine doesn’t taste so nice, does it?
Does international law exist, or does it not? Because when the war crimes being livestreamed on phones are completely unchallenged, it seems that maybe it doesn’t.
Elected officials stand and watch while their pals carpet bomb innocent people. Yet they cry “terrorist” when people take direct action, and it messes up their other pals’ profits.
Ordinary people should be allowed to resist the genocide that their governments are actively involved in. Because let’s face it, the majority of our governments will not. If we’re not allowed to resist genocide, then what the fuck can we do?
And as Stokely Carmichael said:
In order for non-violence to work, your opponent must have a conscience.
Feature image via the Earthquake Faction
Keir Starmer is allowing the US to use UK military bases to bomb Iran. This is an explicit deviation from his line that they should be used only for “defensive purposes”.
Specifically, Starmer has said that UK bases can be used to
strike Iranian sites targeting Strait of Hormuz
His previous comments meant that the US could only use UK bases for actions that would stop Iran from firing missiles that put British interests or lives at risk.
However, despite this, we have still repeatedly seen photos and videos on social media showing large bombs being loaded into US warplanes, on UK soil.
So Starmer may only be publicly changing his mind now, but it appears that US forces were already doing it.
The BBC have decided to report on a thing that’s been happening for two weeks https://t.co/YSA1cmiBvC
— Nate Bear (@NateB_Panic) March 20, 2026
Starmer — war criminal
Human rights groups are warning that the UK allowing the US to use its military bases could violate international law.
Yasmine Ahmed, Human Rights Watch UK director, has demanded “urgent clarification” from the government to ensure that US military strikes conducted from its bases are “compliant with international humanitarian law”.
But how can any strikes in a war that started due to Israel and the US’s unprovoked attacks possibly be “compliant with international law”?
There have been more international law violations in the last three weeks than even Ai Neyanyahu has fingers to count.
International law only works if everyone abides by it.
Starmer is proving over and over that he is a war criminal.
I truly hope Starmer will one day be tried and jailed for his complicity in countless war crimes. https://t.co/84FRFoV6sq
— Red Collective (@RedCollectiveUK) March 20, 2026
You’d have thought a former prosecutor might have reflected on the lessons from the illegal Iraq war.
This war isn’t about nukes, it’s about power. Trump‑Netanyahu’s moves against Iran ignore international law. Global energy suffers, ordinary people pay, while big powers play dangerous games. #EndTheWar #USIsraelExposed #IranWar https://t.co/FFHR9UWQZT
— Lenin Ravi (@leninravi) March 20, 2026
Especially when neither parliament nor the British public have voted on the country going to war.
Britain should block the US from using our bases
British people want no part in this illegal war! https://t.co/F7Sz4XsfL3
— Manchester Green Party 🐝 (@McrGreenParty) March 21, 2026
Consequences
Like usual, British households will pay the price for the government’s inability to engage their brains and face the consequences of their actions.
Keir Starmer is taking Britain into an illegal war AGAINST the wishes of the majority of British people
And putting us in danger
Starmer is a disgrace https://t.co/MxBEGqhoqr
— Stop The Bollocks with Mirabel (@MirabelTweets1) March 20, 2026
No discussion.
No vote.
No accountability.Call it what it is: escalating participation in an illegal war of aggression. https://t.co/sX0OCcnnMo
— Jonathan Bartley (@jon_bartley) March 20, 2026
Just as Starmer has participated in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, he is now also participating in murdering innocent Iranians.
We can count on Starmer playing the victim when Iran bombs UK bases.
Watch them spin it like they’ve done nothing wrong when Iran bombs UK bases https://t.co/ObjSybLpg1
— Leah Dionne (@leahdionne__) March 20, 2026
Iran warned him that anyone assisting Israel and the US’s illegal and unprovoked attacks would be fair game.
Similarly, it warned the world that it would retaliate for strikes on oil and natural gas facilities. It even issued evacuation orders, which is far more than the US or Israel did when they blew up Iran’s South Pars gas field.
Yet still, Starmer blames Iran and “condemns in the strongest terms“. Meanwhile, he allows the US and Israel to blow up Iran’s facilities.
So much for standing up to Trump. Starmer is a pussy. And he couldn’t be further up Trump and Netanyahu’s arses if he tried.
This is a universally un-fucking-popular war here. It’s a public easy win to simply not involve us in another war in the middle-east.
Instead, we are prioritising licking the boot of a foreign leader who is quite candid about doing this illegal war for his own oil gains. https://t.co/F2TlWMRZ4l
— Ryan T. Brown 🎮🩷 on holiday! 🌞 (@Toadsanime) March 20, 2026
Starmer is nothing but a Temu Tony Blair. But we have to ask why Labour love war so much? Supposedly, the party of the working class, yet more concerned with blowing up black and brown people in the Middle East than making sure British people can afford their energy bills. All while lying about their involvement.
Starmer’s blind allegiance to the US and Israel is dangerous and will make the UK a direct target for retaliatory attacks. But he can’t say no one warned him.
Feature image via HG
A pack of hounds from the Heythrop Hunt rampaged through a private garden and killed a fox on Wednesday 11 March 2026. Blood stains remained on a resident’s lawn in Condicote after approximately 30 hounds chased the terrified animal through the village.
Footage taken by Three Counties Hunt Saboteurs shows the pack running wild on driveways and through gardens in the scenic village. Hounds appear with blood on their coats whilst drinking from plant pots and buckets.
The hunt staff allegedly entered the property without permission to remove the poor creature’s body. Joint masters Ollie Dale and Vanessa Chanter were filmed attempting to remove a camerawoman from the garden. The hunt broke the garden fence during the altercation.
Another member of the hunt, Josh Tierney, was seen with bloodstains on his trousers after removing the body of the poor fox away from the crime scene. Whilst the homeowner allowed activists to film the site, the hunt forcibly escorted them out once the owner went inside.
Systematically wreaking havoc in the countryside
This incident is just part of a wider pattern of hunting-induced havoc across the UK. The League Against Cruel Sports recorded 1,117 reports of hunt havoc during the 2024/25 season. These reports include (PAGE 5):
- 319 incidents of trespass on private property.
- 423 incidents of out of control or lost hounds.
- 367 reports of road havoc caused by the hunt.
Rowan Hughes, a spokesperson for the Hunt Saboteurs Association said this shows why hunting needs a total ban. Hughes stated that hunts have no respect for private property and ‘shout trespass’ only when they are being exposed.
Broken fences, trashed properties, ruined lawns and injured animals are one side of the hunt that these ruthless riders are desperate to hide. The law is catching up with them, and public hostility toward the hunt has never been higher. At this critical moment, we must call them to account for every small infraction.
A history of the Heythrop Hunt controversy
The Heythrop Hunt are no strangers to controversy or press attention. In February 2026, Channel 4 News released footage of the hunt dumping dead chickens in woodlands. Activists claim this “feeding station” was used to lure foxes into areas so they can be hunted in the future. In the 24/25 season, monitors recorded 332 cases ((PAGE 8)) of hunt trespass nationally. So it isn’t just when these wankers are actively hunting, it’s also to lay the dirty groundwork to draw in their innocent prey.
The HSA reported that covert cameras captured the terrierman of the Heythrop Hunt. He was recorded dumping black bin-bags full of dead chickens between June and August 2025.
By October, the same cameras picked up the hunt pursuing the very foxes they had drawn in. This premeditated approach contradicts the claim that the hunts are simply following a pre-laid ‘trail. Unless these fucking dickheads are actively laying trails through peoples’ gardens, we can see the obvious lie.
Heythrop Hunt — Closing the trail hunting loopholes
Gloucestershire Police received a report of the kill but, as per usual, officers did not attend the scene. Police have not charged any members of the hunt at this stage.
In January 2025, this same hunt apologised after hounds ran through an industrial estate. The chairman previously told Bourton Parish Council that such incidents were “isolated”. But how can that be the case when once again we are seeing private property being used as the hunt’s personal playground?
Three Counties Hunt Sabs filmed this new footage after the Labour Party announced the plans to ban trail hunting. This reform was part of the Animal Welfare Strategy for England announcement on Monday 22 December 2025. A spokesperson for Three Counties Hunt Sabs noted that the kill happened whilst vixens are pregnant. And this is happening within half a mile of where staff dumped the chicken corpses.
The spokesperson urged the government to close the loopholes in the Hunting Act 2004. And urgently. This latest incident in Condicote suggests that trail hunting remains a smokescreen and is nothing but a thin veil to hide the hunt’s illegal activity.
The human cost of hunt trespass
The owner of the garden in Condicote was visibly shocked by the ruthless intrusion. He gave the hunt sabs permission to film the evidence before re-entering his property. Yet once the owner was out of sight, the hunt members used force against the activists. Despite them having no permission to be on the private land.
This lack of respect for residents is a common theme in rural communities. The League Against Cruel Sports reported that 76% of the public support strengthening the ban. Yet the current legislation allows hunts to claim they are following a scent trail. However, in a case like this when a fox is killed in a garden, that excuse becomes impossible to justify.
We reached out to Simon Russell, chair of the HSA who said:
“The current Hunting Act 2004 has so many holes, you could drive a van through it. Although Hunt Sabs have achieved more hunting convictions than any other organisation, the 99% of times we see illegal hunting, there is no chance of a conviction. The government needs to do a lot more than just ban trail hunting, which seems to be its only focus.”
So as the Labour Party moves towards a total ban, incidents like this should be increasing public pressure. The sight of blood-stained trousers and dead foxes in gardens is a stark reminder of the reality of a government and a police force that don’t give a fuck.
Featured Image via The Three Counties Hunt Sabs
Byline Times has linked the components used in the Tomahawk missiles which hit a girls’ school in Mibab, to two defence companies with a strong presence in the UK.
The US missiles murdered around 165 school girls on February 28 in a double-tap attack. The second missile killed sheltering survivors, two first responders, and the parent of a murdered child.
Tomahawk cruise missile
Byline Times has revealed that analysis by Action on Armed Violence, combined with US Government procurement data, strongly suggests that the British defence industry — namely BAE Systems and Raytheon — produced parts for the Tomahawk missiles used in these attacks.
At first, there was speculation about the origins of the missile used in the attack and who was responsible. However:
independent analysis of video, satellite imagery and debris has consistently identified the munition as a Tomahawk cruise missile, a system used by the United States and its allies in this conflict, and no credible source has contested the origin of the recovered fragments.
One of the recovered components is marked “SDL ANTENNA”. This is:
part of the satellite data link system that allows the missile to receive mid-flight guidance updates.
The markings on the part identify its manufacturer as Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. This is a US-based contractor. However, BAE Systems, a UK corporation, owns Ball Aerospace, having acquired it in February 2024.
The weapon fragment contains the code 13993, issued by the US Commercial and Government Entity. This code makes it clear that the company owned by British BAE Systems manufactured the missile’s satellite communications antenna.
Of course, detailed information on current subsystems is partly classified. However, there is no evidence of any recent changes to the UK’s supply of core components, such as those used in these strikes.
Byline Times added:
Since acquiring Ball Aerospace in 2024, BAE Systems has retained its capabilities in Radio frequency (RF) and phased-array (multiple antennas) technologies, making it likely that similar components remain in production under UK ownership.
It is often hard to attribute weapons components to a single strike, as Byline Times has done in this case. However, UK-linked components are a consistent feature of the Tomahawk system.
Additionally, the recovered fragment contains a contract number: N00019-14-C-0075.
According to Byline Times, US Naval Air Systems Command records show that Raytheon won this contract in 2014 to produce Tomahawk Block IV missiles, with “subsequent modifications expanding the order”.
This means that we can directly link the recovered component to that production programme.
The UK’s wider role
Byline Times has also seen wider procurement data that points to “continuity” in the UK’s role in the Tomahawk programme.
Around 4% of the production of the US Tactical Tomahawk programme is based in the UK — at Raytheon UK’s Glenrothes facility in Scotland. It manufactures “electronic and guidance components” for missiles.
According to Byline Times:
Raytheon UK received more than $15 million for its contribution to this production lot according to public financial records (contract N00019-14-C-0075). UK parliamentary records have also previously confirmed that components produced at the Glenrothes site are exported to the United States for integration into Tomahawk missiles, indicating a sustained role in the programme.
An unclassified US Selective Acquisition Report (SAR) also shows that the UK plays an official role in the Tactical Tomahawk programme.
It states:
The FY 2014 procurement includes 196 surface and subsurface launched AURs, 20 torpedo tube launched AURs as part of the United Kingdom Foreign Military Sales case, and 15 surface AURs (FY 2013 funded through Buy-to-Budget).
The UK government doesn’t usually disclose which British-made components are included in weapons used by allied forces, or how these systems are deployed. However, the US does provide detailed procurement data. This means we can trace which company produced specific components.
UK complicity in war crimes
Even before this latest revelation, the UK was already complicit in Israel and the US’s war crimes.
Previously, Keir Starmer claimed the UK was “playing no role” in the illegal attacks on Iran. Then he stated the UK was only taking part in “regional defensive operations”. Now, Starmer is allowing the US to load massive bombs into planes to bomb Iran.
And to make matters worse, it now turns out that the US and Israel are using weapons with British-made parts to blow up little school girls.
You’d have thought a former prosecutor might have had a hard red line when it comes to war crimes. But apparently not. Starmer has even more blood on his hands.
Feature image via HG
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