Reform – the UK media’s darling – is currently being given a platform to air cruel statements about slavery and reparation demands on most UK news channels and platforms.

A resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly declared the transatlantic slave trade and the associated system of racialised chattel enslavement to be the gravest crime against humanity, a text that saw the UK and Ukraine abstain, as the measure passed with 123 votes in favour and only three countries, Argentina, Israel, and the United States, voting against.

Reform have corporate media in the palm of their hand

Zia Yusuf’s face has been on various videos this morning, expressing how aghast he is!

‘For countries to be turning up and demanding reparations now is a racket’

Reform UK Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf slams the ‘insane’ demands of nations requesting reparations from the slave trade.

‘We will not allow this country to be slapped around on the world stage’… pic.twitter.com/BDnhXRbowQ

— Talk (@TalkTV) April 7, 2026

‘We’re not going to allow Britain to be slapped around. British taxpayers will no longer be an ATM for ethnic grievances around the world.’

Reform UK’s Home Affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf discusses Reform UK’s plan to ban visas from countries demanding reparations from Britain. pic.twitter.com/Cj3P5MQ5XH

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— GB News (@GBNEWS) April 7, 2026

🔴 Zia Yusuf says ‘enough is enough’ after Britain paid £6.6bn in foreign aid over two decades to countries demanding compensation

🔗: https://t.co/ecHX1keSjM pic.twitter.com/ySgyr5KlvW

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) April 6, 2026

Darren Grimes is also at hand to indulge Yusuf’s xenophobia.

Reform will reject the global grifters pic.twitter.com/EM8yOH6hIe

— Darren Grimes (@darrengrimes) April 7, 2026

What opposition?

The mainstream media is doing exactly what it is supposed to be doing. It is lending credence to voices talking about a symbolic vote by the UN General Assembly, to channel the indignation that people are feeling at the state of the world.

For fuck sake, Trump is literally threatening nuclear armageddon – but let’s please give a mic to Farage and his fan boys, Yusuf and Grimes, to see how they feel about the UN’s PR.

As Professor Kehinde Andrews pointed out on his podcast Make It Plain, the UN resolution is useless. It is not legally binding. The General Assembly has no power. The Security Council – with its five permanent members who have veto power, including the UK and US – is where real decisions are made. This resolution changes nothing.

Andrews notes that when Britain abolished slavery, it gave the largest payment in history, about 5% of GDP, to slave owners. The enslaved got nothing.

Britain’s industrial revolution was because of slavery. As Professor Kehinde Andrews put it: gold, silver, indigo, tobacco, sugar, cotton.

Those six commodities make the industrial revolution happen. Without those commodities, there is no Industrial Revolution. It is that simple.

Outright lie

So when Reform UK talks about the “bank being closed” and threatens to ban visas over a UN press release, they are defending a lie. Full stop. The lie that Britain’s wealth is clean.

The media run Reform’s theatre of indignation because that is their job.

As Professor Michael Parenti documented in Inventing Reality, the media treat mass atrocity as if the victims were just unfortunate figures in a “tragedy ordained by destiny”, never naming the perpetrators, never counting the debt, never asking who still profits.

Parenti wrote:

The most effective propaganda is that which relies on framing rather than on falsehood. By bending the truth rather than breaking it,using emphasis, nuance, innuendo, and peripheral embellishments,communicators can create a desired impression without resorting to explicit advocacy and without departing too far from the appearance of objectivity.

How apt is this analysis to the Gaza genocide, slavery, austerity deaths – the list is long and bloody.

Featured image via the Canary

14 peace campaigners were arrested during a 6 hour blockade of the main gates at RAF Lakenheath on 7 April. RAF Lakenheath is used exclusively by the United States Air Force and is sending fighter jets to the Iran war.

The peace protesters used heavy-duty locks to attach themselves to a car, a large multi-coloured peace symbol and each other. They completely blocked the main gates of RAF Lakenheath from 6am. Peace campaigners also shut down a second gate into RAF Lakenheath for 4 hours from 6am to 10am.

This non-violent direct action follows a week-long International Peace Camp at the base that ended yesterday, Monday 6 April. Although the RAF is the official owner, the US Air Force has exclusive use of the airbase. And it’s using it to send fighter jets to the war in Iran.

RAF bases Lakenheath and nearby Mildenhall have also supported Israel’s genocide in Gaza and nuclear bombs returned to Lakenheath last summer. Marie Walsh, a retired teacher from Didcot said:

We are here to interrupt business as usual, and to say in the name of humanity ‘STOP’.

One of the lock-on protesters, Rajan Naidu from Birmingham said:

Though being on British sovereign territory, this base is used by the US to pursue an illegal war of aggression, raining death and misery on the people of Iran. The base is also being used to aid and abet Israeli war crimes and genocide against the Palestinian people. Britain, by allowing these crimes against humanity is complicit in them, and therefore culpable for them.

RAF Lakenheath and Trump’s war on Iran

Well over 100 fighter jets and bombers have deployed from RAF Lakenheath for the attack on Iran. RAF Mildenhall has also had active involvement in the illegal war of aggression by providing refuelling for bombers deploying to West Asia.

Lakenheath Alliance For Peace has kept a list of warplanes deploying from Lakenheath and other airbases.

The Military Aviation YouTube channel filmed and published three Israeli F-35I arriving at RAF Mildenhall on 16 February and then departing for Israel on 18 February. The Israeli media had reported the delivery of the new aircraft on 20 January. Israel has used the F-35I in attacks against Gaza, Yemen and Iran.

LAP believes US nuclear B61-12 bombs have already arrived at RAF Lakenheath.

Nukewatch UK collected evidence of US B61-12 nuclear bombs coming to Lakenheath. Nukewatch is a network of volunteers that monitors and tracks movements of weapons of mass destruction in order to break the secrecy and inform the public about nuclear weapons in the UK.

Featured image via Lakenheath Alliance For Peace

Pink News have run an article penned by Labour’s Wes Streeting. The health secretary ostensibly addressed young people who are worried about the fact that his party has gutted both health and social support for trans people.

Pink News describes itself as the “world’s largest and most influential LGBTQ+ led media brand”. Of course, to anyone who has followed Pink News‘ rapidly falling quality of content and shift towards a “reporter free newsroom” will be unsurprised that it’s scraping the barrel for articles now.

However, even for the Daily-Mail-but-Pink, platforming a transphobe like Streeting is lower than low. This is a man who lied through his teeth about the number of trans kids who took their own lives because of the puberty blocker ban. Worse still, he called reporting on those statistics “dangerous”.

And now we’re meant to listen to him lying through his teeth about caring?

Streeting – ‘about you, rather than to you’

The health secretary begins his article by stating that:

If you are a young person questioning your gender, or a parent watching your child struggle with who they are, this moment of reassessing how NHS gender services are accessed and deployed may feel frightening.

You might be worried about what comes next. You might feel uncertain, unheard, or invisible in a debate that too often talks about you, rather than to you.

So let me begin here: you matter. Your feelings are real. And you deserve care, dignity and understanding.

Not once, in this entire piece, does Streeting refer to the trans kids he’s talking to as ‘trans kids’. He calls them young people “questioning” their gender.

He says [trans kids] deserve dignity, but he won’t even acknowledge their identity. The closest he manages is “every trans person, every child deserves to feel safe”.

‘I remember what it felt like’

This refusal of acknowledgement makes his subsequent speech about his own sexuality particularly two-faced:

I know, from my own life, how powerful and sometimes overwhelming questions of identity can be.

Growing up gay, I remember what it felt like to wonder if I would be accepted, whether I would be safe, and whether the world would make space for me as I was.

Streeting grew up gay, fearing that he wouldn’t be accepted. I wonder if he is capable of the empathy to imagine himself in trans kids’ place now?

To the trans kids who have had their medication pathways ripped away from them on blatantly ideological grounds, Streeting isn’t showing the “love, acceptance and support” of his “amazing family and friends”.

To those trans kids he calls “questioning”, is Streeting meaningfully different from the politicians who talked about gay people as “a pretended family relationship” when he was growing up?

Is his government’s guidance urging a “very careful approach” when a child “asks” to socially transition in schools closer to championing LGBTQ+ rights, or to Section 28’s ban on teaching materials that “intentionally promote homosexuality”?

‘Support is not on hold’

Streeting goes on to talk about the pause on the PATHWAYS puberty blocker trial for a review of “aspects of its design and safety”. Of course, he fails to mention that the review was proposed by a man who happened to be recused due to his openly transphobic social media posting immediately afterwards.

The health secretary also states that:

At the same time, there is a proposal to stop routinely offering puberty blockers and hormone treatments to under-18s while more evidence is gathered about long-term effects.

A masterclass in the use of the passive voice there. Likewise, Streeting also masterfully neglected to mention that the proposal was based on a study that used a bizarre set of inclusion criteria that just happened to rule out almost all positive evidence for said treatments. Funny that, isn’t it?

In spite of these pauses and halts on treatment, the health secretary nevertheless tries to insist that:

Support is not on hold.

Young people referred to services are being seen by mental health and paediatric teams, with help available while you wait for specialist care.

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What use is mental health care to the trans boy who is being forced to undergo puberty because of his government’s transphobic ideology? Counseling doesn’t stop his hips from widening or his chest from growing.

What use is mental health care to the trans girl whose voice breaks because the blocker trial is on hold? Every time she speaks in a tenor from now on, as the dysphoria bites, she’ll know whose fault that is. Will she take solace in the fact that some sniveling prick of a health secretary said her feelings are valid?

‘Questioning the government’s commitment’

At the end of his marathon of hypocrisy, omissions, and outright lies, Streeting widens his address:

I also want to speak to the wider LGBTQ+ community, and to anyone questioning the government’s commitment.

I hear those concerns. I understand why trust feels fragile right now.

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But let me say this clearly: every trans person, every child deserves to feel safe, respected, and included in our society and in the health system that serves them. That is not up for debate.

There will be disagreements of course. This is a deeply complex area, and people come to it with different perspectives and experiences.

People are questioning this government’s commitment because, among many other reasons, every LGBTQ+ individual in the country watched the prime minister go from saying ‘trans women are women’ to saying the exact opposite, overnight.

We’re questioning your commitment because we watched you, Wes Streeting, call for the segregation of trans people. We watched you lie about the suicides caused by policies that you inherited and endorsed.

Social murder

There’s something uniquely loathsome about the sucking moral vacuum in the shape of a man that is Wesley Paul William Streeting.

There’s a level of open lying in his dealing that speaks to his utter contempt for other people. This is a health secretary who claims to hate NHS privatisation. However, he takes tens of thousands in donations from the private providers his party is selling the service to.

Likewise, this is a health secretary who tries to tell the public to hate the doctors for striking. Meanwhile, he bleats to the doctors that they should undermine their union. And, of course, who could forget his taking a massive MPs’ pay rise whilst threatening to rip training positions away from doctors?

Streeting is a politician who uses being gay as part of his justification for the blatantly transphobic things he does. And yes, calling for trans segregation and removing our healthcare is transphobic, even if Pink News platforms his claims to care.

In sociology and political theory, the concept of ‘social murder’ refers to an unnatural death caused by the structure of society itself, and by the politicians that help shape that structure.

There’s a part of me that wonders if Streeting is ever kept awake at night by the thought of the kids who died at his far-removed hand. I doubt it.

Featured image via the Canary

An MPs’ debate on the sale of fireworks was held in Westminster Hall in January (Alamy)

4 min read24 min

PoliticsHome understands that it will look at whether to update the list of banned fireworks, review the requirements for the broad category of lower-risk fireworks to ensure they are proportionate to the risks they pose, and reduce the noise limit for consumer fireworks.

The consultation, which is part of the Labour government’s ‘Safer Streets’ policy, is expected to seek input on how the British public can balance the enjoyment of fireworks with reducing harm and distress to vulnerable people and animals.

Some types of pyrotechnics have also been linked to anti-social behaviour, which has been subject to increasing concern from MPs in recent years.

In December, two petitions – one calling for reducing the maximum noise level for consumer fireworks from 120 to 90 decibels, and the other in support of limiting the sale of fireworks to those running local council-approved events only – reached more than 376,000 signatures taken together.

Both petitions were debated by MPs in January, in which business and trade minister Kate Dearden said she would be “working at pace” in the department on “building the evidence base” and “speaking to as many people as possible”.

A survey by the Social Market Foundation think tank in 2024 found that only 15 per cent of the public were satisfied with the existing regulatory framework for the use of traditional fireworks, while 91 per cent of respondents were open to partial replacement of traditional fireworks with ‘alternative’ displays like lasers, drones, or silent fireworks.

Labour MP for Luton North, Sarah Owen, introduced a Private Members’ Bill in 2024 to ban the sale of the loudest fireworks to the public and ensure fireworks can only be purchased from licensed shops. 

Although the bill did not pass, it received cross-party support, and she has continued to campaign for tougher laws on firework sales.

Responding to the government consultation, Owen told PoliticsHome: “This is a huge step forward for the thousands of people and many brilliant charities who have campaigned for a change in the noise limits on fireworks. 

“From veterans to pet owners to parents to children with SEND and older people, we know the havoc nuisance fireworks cause. In towns and cities, this anti-social behaviour isn’t limited to festive periods any more, but all year round and round the clock. It erodes trust both within neighbourhoods and their local authorities. This is therefore very welcome news from the government. 

“It is so welcome that finally a government has been brave enough to take note and now people have a chance to really be heard in this consultation.”

Conservative MP Simon Hoare, who supported Owen’s latest bill on the issue, said: “This is great and welcome news. The days around 5 November have, for too many communities, become a nightmare, particularly for pet and livestock owners.

“Anything that can be done to improve the situation has my unqualified support “

The consultation will seek public and business views on the impact of fireworks and the potential consequences of tighter regulations, with some industry opposition expected.

In a letter responding to a previous Westminster Hall debate in January 2025, representations of the British Fireworks Association (BFA) described fireworks as a “cherished British tradition” that millions of people use to “celebrate responsibly and considerately”.

“Further restrictions would unfairly penalise this law-abiding majority for the actions of a criminal minority,” it said.

The group argued that reducing the noise limit for fireworks from 120dB to 90dB – roughly equivalent to the sound of a lawnmower – would “remove almost all legal products from the market, effectively ending the trade by stealth”.

The BFA has also argued that tougher restrictions would lead to the development of a black market in fireworks that would make it more difficult for the police to monitor and would introduce more dangerous, non-compliant explosives into communities.

Additional reporting by Adam Payne

Parents and volunteers have spoken out about the impact of a recent ban on trans women and girls from participating in Guide groups.

It follows an announcement in late 2025 that “trans girls and young women will no longer be able to join Girlguiding.”

Now, the organisation has said that existing Guides will also have to leave when new policies come into effect in September 2026.

Parents devastated

Speaking to the Guardian, parents and volunteers have described the change in policy as ‘deeply distressing’. They are also concerned it will have a ‘catastrophic impact’ on their children.

One mother, who has two daughters in the Guides, commented on her eldest’s indecision, knowing her younger sister can no longer participate in their local group:

It’s a very tricky position for her to be in … Girlguiding has taught her values of kindness and compassion, and now she’s being told those values have limits and that limit is your younger sister. It’s very difficult.

In a statement released last year, Girlguiding claimed to have made decision ‘with a heavy heart’. One volunteer responded:

We know Girlguiding didn’t want to do this but we still want to hold them to account for the decisions they’ve made and make it really clear they are hurting people.

Principles contradicted

Pressure from the government, the Supreme Court and TERF groups has left Girlguiding struggling to maintain its own principles. Last year’s statement concluded with the claim:

For over 100 years, we have been a welcoming space for all girls to have new experiences, support their communities, build friendships and grow their confidence.

While Girlguiding may feel a little different going forward, these core aims and principles will always endure and we remain committed to treating everyone with dignity and respect, particularly those from marginalised groups that have felt the biggest impact of this decision.

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Unfortunately, solidarity with a marginalised group counts for little in an announcement that they are to be excluded. The Canary‘s Maddison Wheeldon wrote in March 2026:

One of the Girlguiding mottos is: ‘We help girls know they can do anything’. As long as they’re the right kind of girls.

Protests organised

On 12 April, Guiders Against Trans Exclusion (GATE) are organising protests in six cities across the UK. So far, protests have been confirmed in London and Edinburgh, with more expected to follow.

4 min read1 hr

The British people have a proud history when it comes to inventing and embracing new technologies. With support of the great people, towns and villages of Lanarkshire, we led the way in the industrial revolution by harnessing the power of steam.

We transformed the way people around the world communicate with the electric telegraph, the telephone and the fax machine. And we helped rewire the planet through Tim Berners-Lee’s brilliant conception of the world wide web.

Now we are in the age of a new general purpose technology: artificial intelligence. AI is in its infancy, but it is already transforming how we live, earn and learn.

It is leading to the faster diagnosis of medical conditions; enabling scientists to accelerate the development of new drugs; and helping to speed up planning, reduce red tape and free up the time of public servants so they can focus more on delivering for people and less on administrative duties.

Nobody denies that AI also poses challenges.

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There are concerns, for instance, about security, the energy and water consumption required for data centres, the impact on some areas of the labour market and the ethics of agentic AI where computers act without human supervision.

These concerns should not be dismissed but nor should they be used as reasons to turn our back on AI and decide we want to opt out of the future. Indeed, to take such a course would be a disservice to this country, our communities and our workforce. It would be to deny constituencies such as Airdrie and Shotts the opportunity to benefit from the jobs, prosperity and enterprise that AI can bring.

Colleagues in Parliament who are sceptical about AI should visit Lanarkshire to see the work that has already started on the new AI growth zone. They will see an area that was at the heart of the industrial revolution now proud to be at the centre of the technological revolution. They will see this investment has also brought hope to a region whose potential, ignored for so long under the Tories, has finally been recognised by this government.

The Lanarkshire AI growth zone will create 3,400 jobs, bring £8bn of investment and comes with a £500m community fund.

AI offers the potential to reindustrialise the areas where deindustrialisation hurt most. It unlocks the skills and potential of companies like DataVita in my constituency, encourages clusters of firms in areas such as medical research to innovate, and supports local economic growth by bringing local young people into secure employment and investing in local community projects.

This is far more than just a large black box. By working with local leaders, businesses, colleges and universities, we can create a tech eco-system built around the powerful resource of computing power.

Data centres are the foundation on which we build the businesses and jobs of the future. And it is no accident that many of the new AI growth zones, such as Blyth in the North East, South Wales and Lanarkshire, are in former industrial areas. Like the mills and furnaces, data centres rely on two major commodities: power and water.

There are legitimate questions to ask about the amount of energy use and the impact on the environment. The ambition is for the Lanarkshire growth zone to be primarily powered by renewables by 2030, while surplus heat from the data centre could be used to heat a new local hospital and agricultural greenhouses.

Anyone who is ambitious about the future of the UK should share the government’s ambition to remain at the forefront of the AI revolution.

Without the computational power provided by data centres, we will not be able to seize the innovation, jobs and wealth that flow from this new technology. We would not just be turning our backs on the future – we would be rejecting hope and opportunity. 

Kenneth Stevenson is Labour MP for Aidrie and Shotts

(Alamy)

4 min read53 min

The cap will be applied to Plan 2 and Plan 3 loans. The former has been the subject of growing debate in recent weeks, with the government facing calls to ease the financial burden it is putting on graduates.

Minister for Skills, Jacqui Smith, said on Tuesday that while “the risk of global shocks” from the war is “beyond our control, protecting people here is not.”

The move means that no graduate faces an interest rate above six per cent from September for the 2026-27 academic year. The interest applied to student loans is fixed by academic year, using the Retail Prices Index (RPI) value for the year to March of the first year (in this case, March 2026).

It comes after the student loan system has faced fresh scrutiny in recent months, following the government’s decision to freeze the threshold at which graduates start to repay their loans.

Under the current system, those who began university between 2012 and 2022 were placed on a Plan 2 loan and are now charged interest on their loan repayments equal to RPI plus up to 3 percentage points.

Plan 3 loans, also known as postgraduate loans, are those taken out for master’s or doctoral courses by borrowers in England and Wales.

However, monthly repayments often do not meet interest, leaving many graduates with debt larger than what they originally borrowed, years after leaving university.

PoliticsHome reported earlier this year that opposition parties were all looking at how the system can be changed as part of their policy work, while Labour MPs have had discussions with sympathetic ministers about what can be done to address the perceived unfairness.

Smith said today: “We know that the conflict in the Middle East is causing anxiety at home, and while the risk of global shocks is beyond our control, protecting people here is not.

“Capping the maximum interest rate on Plan 2 and Plan 3 student loans will provide immediate protection for borrowers, supporting those who are most exposed within this already unfair system.

“We’re acting now to defend against the consequences of faraway conflicts in an uncertain world. More broadly, we’re bringing back maintenance grants and continuing to look at the broken Plan 2 system we inherited, and the wider student finance system, to make it fairer for students, graduates and taxpayers.” 

Prices have soared across the world due to severe disruption to the Strait of Hormuz, a vital trade route, impacting energy and food prices. 

The volume of maritime traffic using the route, which is responsible for large amounts of the world’s oil and gas, has plummeted since the US and Israel first attacked Iran, with Tehran threatening to attack ships attempting to pass through it.

The disruption is expected to result in rising inflation in the UK later this year, which would affect a range of areas, including student loans.

US President Donald Trump has warned that Iran must reopen the strait by 1am Tuesday UK time or face increased attacks.

Amira Campbell, National Union of Students President, said: “This government have woken up to the unfairness of student loans, and are taking action to prevent our debts from spiralling further out of control.”

But Campbell said the change “cannot come alone”.

“For most graduates, the impact on their day-to-day lives is felt through the repayment thresholds, which are being frozen for three years and will get very close to the minimum wage by 2030. We still need to see the Chancellor stick by the terms we signed at 17 years old, and raise the threshold in line with our incomes. 

“The government have said they will look into the unfairness of the student loan system, and we will continue to hold them to that.”

Maritime union RMT has congratulated members in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA). Seafarers are taking strike action after overwhelmingly rejecting the latest pay offer.

The union has tried hard to reach a settlement through negotiation. But despite this, RFA managers have continued to table proposals that fall short of members’ expectations.

The sticking point has been how seafarers’ shift patterns stack up against minimum wage legislation.

Strike action is taking place today, Tuesday 7 April, with a further day of action happening on Thursday 16 April.

During strike action, members will continue to ensure the safety of vessels at all times. This includes the management of moorings and gangways.

Seafarers can routinely work up to 12 hours a day. But there remains no clear or transparent formula setting out how pay is calculated against those hours.

RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said:

Our members in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary are taking a principled stand today and I congratulate them.

They have made their position clear. They will not accept substandard pay offers and are prepared to take further strike action if necessary to get the pay rise they deserve.

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Our members play a vital role in supporting the Navy, often in some of the most demanding and dangerous working conditions.

But they have faced years of below par pay and unresolved concerns about conditions.

The MOD and the employer now need to come forward with a serious, long-term commitment to improving pay and conditions, including ensuring they comply with National Minimum Wage legislation, if they are serious about retaining staff.

Featured image via the Canary