Three years of war has devastated Ukraine’s children. Now Lush is trying to help them heal.

A soap born from hope

Lush’s new ‘There Will Be Sun’ soap launches in Ukraine on February first, then hits the UK shelves on March 2. This stunning bar sends 75% of sales (minus tax) directly to children’s mental health services in the Ukraine.

The design comes from Mila Bannerman who was born in Ukraine and has worked for Lush since 2005. Bannerman said she wanted to create something that shared her hopeful vision for peace.

‘There Will Be Sun’ is shaped like a sunflower, reflecting that the Ukraine is one of the biggest producers of sunflowers in the world. The wheat bran it contains represents Ukraine’s role as Europe’s breadbasket. And the charcoal centre represents the Donetsk region where Mila is from, an area that has been illegally occupied since 2014.

Lush — a history of solidarity

We know this isn’t Lush’s first giving product. The company has a long history of creating limited edition products to support so many causes. In 2015 they launched the #GAYISOK campaign to raise money for LGBTQ+ rights organisations in countries where it is illegal to be gay.

In 2018 they raised nearly half a million pounds for Trans Rights with the ‘Inner Truth’ bath melt (which was an absolutely stunning product by the way, trust me).

Then in 2023 they released the ‘Proud to love you’ wash card to help to fight against conversion therapy. Lush has raised over £100m for grassroots organisations since 2007, directly supporting LGBTQ+ peoples and over 800 campaigns supporting migrants and refugees.

I fucking love Lush.

Why this matters

Lena from the Lush Ukraine team knows the reality. She says:

People in Ukraine continue to live under uncertainty, everyday stress and fear caused by the ongoing war. This especially affects children, who are growing up surrounded by air raid sirens, displacement, separation from loved ones and instability.

The emotional burden remains heavy, even when life looks normal. Access to mental health for these children is limited or inconsistent. So Lush has decided to change that.

The soap goes on sale in the UK and Ireland on 2 March.

And I know I will be buying one.

Will you?

Featured image via Lush

The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) has announced what it described as a “historic” partnership agreement with the Peace Council to launch a comprehensive programme to rebuild football infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, which suffered widespread destruction during the recent war.

The agreement comes amid a catastrophic sporting reality. All football stadiums and facilities in the Strip were destroyed by Israeli bombing. Local sports estimates indicate that nearly 1,000 athletes, including hundreds of football players, were killed during the two-year war, which ended with a ceasefire that came into effect last October.

FIFA plan to rebuild the football system

According to a FIFA statement, obtained by the Canary, the agreement aims to “harness the power of football to support recovery, stability and long-term development.” It plans to mobilise international investment to build an integrated football system, including modern infrastructure and sustainable community programmes.

The first phase, lasting three to six months, will see the creation of 50 mini-stadiums near schools and residential neighbourhoods as part of the FIFA Arena initiative. It will also include a school football programme and equipment for younger age groups.

The second phase, lasting one year, includes the construction of five full-size pitches. This is intended to support the re-establishment of organised local clubs and the revival of official competitions.

The third phase, spanning 18 to 36 months, plans to establish a modern academy within the FIFA Academy Network. The academy will focus on discovering talent and providing professional pathways that combine education and sports training.

The fourth phase includes constructing a new national stadium with a capacity of 20,000 spectators. It is intended to host sporting and cultural events and generate income and employment opportunities.

Sport at the heart of recovery

The statement emphasised that the programme prioritises job creation for young people, training local talent, launching organised leagues for girls and boys, and stimulating economic activity linked to sport. FIFA noted that implementation will remain contingent on ongoing security assessments, with a monitoring mechanism to measure progress and ensure transparency.

The partnership is being presented as an effort to revive sporting life in a region that has lost its stadiums, players and infrastructure. It forms part of broader reconstruction efforts following a war that left widespread destruction across multiple sectors, including sport.

What is common between the billionaire Murdoch family (Australia/US/UK), Larry Ellison (US), Paul Marshall (UK), Pier Silvio Berlusconi (Italy), Lőrinc Mészáros (Hungary), Gautam Adani (India), Yildirim Demirören (Turkey), Vincent Bolloré (France), Miriam Adelson (Israel/US), and Edir Macedo (Brazil)?

Apart from being billionaires and sharing a similar right-wing ideology, they own a significant portion of the world’s media. Ellison’s TikTok recently banned the Canary’s account.

A recent report from think tank Transnational Institute, called ‘Mapping Fascism: Global networks, power, and the rise of the far right,’ shows how a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals with far-right affiliations have systematically acquired newspapers, television networks, and digital platforms across multiple countries — concentrating media ownership to a degree that shapes public debate.

Their “Pulling the Narrative” infographic shows the transnational web spreading right-wing propaganda and undermining democracy.

Other research has shown that media concentration enables an oppressive and undemocratic status quo.

But media failure is not limited to the overtly right-wing press. In fact, the Gaza genocide shows that even the centrist and liberal-leaning Western legacy media like the BBC, the New York Times, and the Guardian’s coverage of the war on Palestinians consistently breached core journalistic principles of accuracy, impartiality, balance, and context.

Big Tech fuels fascism

As Transnational Institute’s report documents, Elon Musk‘s growing involvement in politics illustrates how concentrated private power in the tech sector is fuelling fascism.

Elon Musk’s platform and money is growing extremist parties and causes worldwide. Algorithmic manipulation. Meeting with far-right leaders. Public support for far-right causes.

As we’ve reported before, Elon Musk is not the free speech absolutist he claims to be. He does like using ‘free speech’ as a defence, however. Instead, it’s a convenient shield for platform owners. Their algorithm changes consistently boost right-wing voices. Meanwhile, independent outlets like the Canary find themselves banned.

In the UK, Musk has thrown his weight behind the Reform splinter party, Restore party and its leader, Rupert Lowe having abandoned Nigel Farage.

Join Rupert Lowe in Restore Britain, because he is the only one who will actually do it! https://t.co/sa5VkSRWXD

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 14, 2026

Media serving the billionaire status quo

The Epstein affair proves the Transnational Institute’s report right.

As Jeremy Corbyn told the House of Commons, the Epstein affair exposes a “gilded, friendly web” of power where favours are done, contracts are awarded, and influence traded by insiders like Peter Mandelson. These actors move seamlessly between government, business, and the media elite.

Mandelson was Epstein’s friend and associate. And Epstein’s client list included some of the world’s wealthiest men—names that overlap with TNI’s list of billionaires hoarding media.

For instance, one email in the files implies that Epstein stayed at Rupert Murdoch’s house, four years after being legally required to register as a sex offender. Murdoch, whose family tops the Transnational Institute’s list, owns Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the Sun, the Times, and hundreds of other outlets worldwide.

This email seems to imply that Epstein stayed at Rupert Murdoch’s house four years after being legally required to register as a sex offender. https://t.co/XgeROg5RVX pic.twitter.com/xU5aUT0Tmm

— Lowkey (@Lowkey0nline) February 3, 2026

Corbyn is calling for a full, independent, judge-led public inquiry – on the scale of Chilcot – into the Mandelson web, including his influence over the media.

The Public Interest Law Centre (PILC), with the support of Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), has today submitted a detailed complaint to the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) concerning Israeli arms company Elbit Systems.

The case against Elbit Systems

The complaint asks SO15 to open a criminal investigation into four current and former British directors of Elbit Systems UK Ltd for possible complicity in war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Gaza, under the International Criminal Court Act 2001 (ICCA) and related domestic offences of aiding and abetting.

Drawing on extensive evidence and findings from UN bodies, international courts, human rights organisations and open-source investigations, the complaint sets out the relevant legal framework, Elbit Systems’ corporate structure and UK operations, and the publicly available evidence linking the company to attacks in Gaza.

PILC is bringing the complaint on behalf of a Palestinian national living in the UK whose close family remain in Gaza. It asks SO15’s War Crimes Unit to investigate whether decisions taken by Elbit Systems UK and its UK-based subsidiaries, including the export of drone engines, targeting equipment and other military systems to Israel, may amount to aiding, abetting or otherwise assisting grave breaches of international humanitarian law.

The complaint comes amid growing recognition that serious crimes under international law are taking place in Gaza. The UK secretary of state for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, stated in private messages last year that Israel was “committing war crimes before our eyes” in Gaza.

Amnesty International UK has now warned the government not to row back from that assessment and reiterated its call for an immediate suspension of UK arms transfers to Israel.

CAAT has long documented Elbit Systems’ role in Israeli military operations and its UK-based subsidiaries. For more background, see CAAT’s factsheets.

Key points from the complaint

The complaint argues that the facts clearly meet SO15’s own ‘scoping criteria’ for opening a war-crimes investigation. In particular, it highlights that:

• There is serious, independent evidence that core international crimes have been committed in Gaza since October 2023. This includes findings and reports from the International Court of Justice, UN special procedures and human rights offices, the International Criminal Court, and major NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which describe patterns of unlawful attacks, starvation as a method of warfare, forced displacement and, according to several authorities, acts of genocide.
• Elbit Systems Ltd (Israel) is a central supplier of weapons and technologies used in Gaza. Open-source research shows that Elbit produces attack drones, guided munitions and targeting systems that have seen use in repeated military operations in Gaza, including during the current offensive.
• Elbit Systems UK and its UK subsidiaries form part of that supply chain. Evidence from NGOs and investigative journalists indicates that UK-based companies within the Elbit group have received multiple export licences for drone engines, targeting systems and other military equipment to Israel, and that shipments from UK sites to Elbit facilities in Israel continued during the current conflict.
• Four UK-national directors held oversight roles at Elbit Systems UK during the relevant period. As British nationals or UK-resident directors of a UK registered company, they fall clearly within the personal jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales under the ICCA.

The complaint argues that there is now sufficient credible information about these offences having been committed in Gaza, and about the potential contribution of UK based executives, to justify the opening of a formal SO15 investigation using the specialist powers available under the ICCA and domestic criminal law.

PILC said:

Our client has watched from the UK as her community in Gaza was destroyed. She has witnessed her loved ones and countless others subjected to mass killings, displacement, starvation, and devastation on an unimaginable scale.

The complaint submitted on her behalf today to the Metropolitan Police War Crimes Unit highlights the role of UK companies and their directors in acts that constitute war crimes and genocide.

Whether the Met chooses to investigate this complaint will show whether the ICC Act 2001 is worth the paper it’s written on. A proper investigation, using all powers to obtain evidence and determining whether prosecutions are possible, is the bare minimum required of a state that purports to respect international law and the Genocide Convention.

CAAT said:

Israel’s genocide in Gaza would not be possible without Elbit Systems. Elbit Systems is Israel’s largest arms producer, and Israel is the single largest market for Elbit’s products. It provides 85% of the combat drones used by the Israeli military.

Responsibility for the immeasurable horror and suffering that has been inflicted upon the people of Gaza lies not only with the Israeli regime, but with a globally sanctioned system of militarised corporatism that facilitates – if not outright encourages – impunity for the most serious violations of international law.

Individuals directing this profit-making arms company and its subsidiaries, including Elbit Systems UK, must be held accountable for their role in perpetrating and facilitating war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Featured image via the Canary

Former PM, genocide supporter, and on-the-loose war criminal Tony Blair’s full support of Donald Trump’s vision for Palestinians was slammed for its cruel irony: the man who helped destroy Iraq wants you to believe he and Trump have Gaza’s best interests at heart.

In Washington, the first session of what has been dubbed Donald Trump’s Board of Peace was held. NBC reported that “representatives of at least 40 countries” attended, including heads of state. The recent House of Commons Library briefing lists specific members: Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Israel, Hungary, Belarus, Bulgaria, Argentina, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Cambodia.

The UK Government officially declined to join, citing concerns about Russia’s potential membership and the board’s remit going beyond Gaza.

Tony Blair front and centre

Yet there was Blair — front and centre on the executive board alongside Kushner, Trump, Rubio and the other board members. Maybe sitting with them is just irresistible to him.

Blair gave his war criminal seal of approval to Trump’s 20-point plan, calling it the “only hope for Gaza, the region, and the wider world.”

Having Tony Blair a member of the so-called Board of Peace is like having Prince Andrew chair an inquiry into Jeffrey Epstein https://t.co/79nG85Xc1H

— Socialist Voice (@SocialistVoice) February 20, 2026

Kieran Andrieu, a British-Palestinian contributor at Novara Media, shared the clip of Blair singing Trump’s praises, saying:

My Palestinian ancestors could never – in a thousand nights of nightmares – have dreamt-up a future so bleak and dystopian for their descendants. But paedophiles and cannibals in charge of Gaza, know this: Palestinians will NEVER submit to you. We will NEVER go away. We WILL return home, however long it takes

My Palestinian ancestors could never – in a thousand nights of nightmares – have dreamt-up a future so bleak and dystopian for their descendants.

But paedophiles and cannibals in charge of Gaza, know this:

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Palestinians will NEVER submit to you.

We will NEVER go away.

We WILL… https://t.co/TxtS5Qo1ww

— Kieran Andrieu (@kieran_andrieu) February 20, 2026

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Chris Doyle of the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) attacked Blair’s colonial mindset and his grovelling praise of Trump.

Blair showing why he has been a serial failure in Palestine. He has scant understanding of the issues, a colonial mindet, (he knows best for other peoples) and is addicted to cosying up to power and money, in this case Trump. https://t.co/YtFwZxMJoK

— Chris Doyle (@Doylech) February 20, 2026

Howard Beckett called soulless Blair “repulsive” — and contextualised what the Board of Peace actually represents.

Blair on Trump 🇺🇸 plans for Gaza 🇵🇸

‘You can rise on you own efforts’
‘Not feel a government on your back’
‘On your side’

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20,000 murdered children
70,000 murdered Palestinians 🇵🇸

Land illegally stolen

This man lost his soul a long time ago

Repulsive.pic.twitter.com/i8VNoEkvpz

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— Howard Beckett (@BeckettUnite) February 19, 2026

Mike Wallace, former Irish MEP, put it bluntly: listening to war criminal Tony Blair lie about Israel’s apartheid regime, which has been ethnically cleansing Palestinians since 1948, is sickening.

Is there anything more sickening than listening to the War Criminal Tony Blair telling Lies about the Apartheid Israeli Regime who’ve been carrying out the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians since 1948… https://t.co/d9eTm56QOJ

— Mick Wallace (@wallacemick) February 20, 2026

Arnaud Bertrand laid out everything that repugnant Blair happily omitted.

How, he asked, do you build “effective institutions” when your airport is destroyed, your ports blockaded, your universities bombed, your civil servants trapped, your economy strangled, and your people killed on a routine basis?

Looks like Tony Blair is very determined to confirm his status as one of the worst persons alive.

His speech is pure 19th century colonialism: he frames the Gaza issue as one of “ineffective governance” on the part of the Palestinians, without as much as mentioning the 17-year… https://t.co/QOTQtWxgXJ

— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) February 20, 2026

Andrew Feinstein pointed out Blair’s bloody war profiteering record.

Tony Blair’s Commission on Africa reported that the continent needed better governance & less corruption, at the time he was negotiating corrupt arms deals on behalf of BAE Systems in Tanzania & South Africa. He is a repulsive, corrupt war profiteer! https://t.co/krnrLFFgiD

— Andrew Feinstein (@andrewfeinstein) February 20, 2026

Blair’s insistence on standing shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the most grotesque people on earth, like Trump, Milei and Rubio, is a perfect illustration of the saying: birds of a feather flock together.

The so-called Board of Peace should be more accurately described as the Board of Occupation, which is hungry to strip Gaza for political gain.

But then again, the question that begs an answer is: Why is this criminal not in jail?

Featured image via RTHK

Wasn’t rightly facing derision for awarding the warmonger Donald Trump a made-up ‘peace prize’ enough? Football’s governing body FIFA has announced that it will collaborate with Trump in his and Israel’s forced annexation of Gaza.

FIFA boss Gianni Infantino said that FIFA will ‘partner’ with Trump’s Orwellian scam ‘Board of Peace’ in Gaza to bring “the greatest stars in the world” to the occupied and soon to be stolen territory. FIFA promised to raise $75m to spend in Gaza on ‘football-related projects’ — very, very expensive genocide-‘sportswash’.

Further key details of the collaboration are:

• $50m on a new ‘national stadium’ with a capacity of 20,000. Quite which ‘nation’ the stadium will be for is not clear. But it’s clearly not Gaza, since Israeli war criminal Netanyahu has said Israel will never accept Palestinian statehood.
• a $15m ‘FIFA Academy’
• $7.5m on new ‘FIFA Arena’ football pitches – analogous to the nazi ‘sport facilities’ constructed for show in Auschwitz, Birkenau and other death camps.
• Bringing “the greatest stars in the world” to whitewash the land theft and attract ‘international investment’.

Israel has destroyed 98% of arable land in Gaza and almost all its buildings, while slaughtering hundreds of thousands of civilians by bombing, starvation and disease. The craven FIFA management is helping sanitise Israel’s crimes and Trump’s arrogant take-over of land that none of them belong in.

Featured image via SwissInfo

Israel has bombed a refugee camp in Lebanon killing two Palestinian refugees. The air raid struck Ain Al-Hilwe camp in the south of the country. Mehr news agency initially said at least three others may have been injured:

Meanwhile, other local media reported that the Israeli regime, also in violation of the ceasefire agreement targeted the “Al-Shu’ara” district in the suburb of the town of “Nabi Sheith” in the Bekaa in eastern Lebanon with an airstrike.

Mehr said Israel also used artillery:

The occupying army also targeted a house in the “Al-Zaqaq” District in the suburb of the town of “Aytroun” and two towns of “Yarun” and “Marun al-Ras” in southern Lebanon with artillery fire.

Further artillery fire:

targeted the “Sahl al-Khayyam” district in southern Lebanon with artillery shelling.

Anadolu Agency said three missiles were used:

An Israeli drone fired three missiles at the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon on Friday.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported that the strike hit the Hittin neighborhood inside the densely populated camp, located near the southern city of Sidon.

Israel claims it hit Hamas

The Israeli military appeared to confirm they’d hit the camp – with the usual unevidenced caveats about terrorism:

The IDF says it carried out an airstrike against a Hamas command center where members of the terror group were gathered in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near the Lebanese coastal city of Sidon.

Lebanon Debate posted footage said to be of the strike’s aftermath:

مشاهدٌ من الغارة الاسرائيلية التي استهدفت عين الحلوة pic.twitter.com/tf1mkcIHnp

— Lebanon Debate (@lebanondebate) February 20, 2026

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The strike came a day after Israel forces threatened and then killed a man in the southern Lebanon village of Tallouseh.

They gave him an ultimatum: die alone or with your family. He left his home. Then they killed him.

Israel drone-bombed Ahmed Turmus in his stationary car. His death was reported on X and by Lebanese citizen news agencies.

Al Mayadeen reported Israeli drones were still operating in the area.

Featured image via X

The US Supreme Court has ruled against most of Donald Trump’s global tariffs – one of the White House’s main priorities.

Finally, SCOTUS reaffirms what we’ve known all along, Trump’s tariffs are an unconstitutional tax on the American people.

Over the last year, working people paid an average of $1,000 more because of these tariffs. And Trump has no plan to put that money back in your wallet.… pic.twitter.com/zUa9nLQZHK

— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) February 20, 2026

The ruling won 6-3. It states that Trump cannot use the excuse of a national emergency to legally impose sweeping, country-specific import taxes.

It immediately invalidates the broad tariffs that Trump imposed last year on nearly all imports. This included so-called “reciprocal tariffs” on many countries, and many additional levies which Trump claimed were due to the fentanyl crisis.

A loss for Trump is a win for working Americans

Remember when Trump lied (yes, again!) to the American people and said it would be exporters who paid the tariffs, not US citizens?

Instead, the tariffs quickly screwed over working people and small businesses.

Wait. I thought we were told time after time the exporting country paid the tariff. Could he have been lying??? pic.twitter.com/ML9kIvUUr1

— Lee Finishen 🇨🇦 (@5150Inprogress) February 20, 2026

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There is no doubt that this ruling is a win for the American people. Cue a Truth Social meltdown in 3,2,1…

This is a win for working Americans.

The folks struggling to put food on the table.⁰The small business owners trying to keep their doors open.⁰The farmers caught in the middle of reckless trade wars.

Trump promised to lower costs on day one — yet his reckless, illegal tariffs… https://t.co/8PzCNR8XQq

— Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (@RepJasmine) February 20, 2026

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Of course, the House of Representatives should impeach Mr Tangerine, then throw him into a prison cell to rot with the rest of his nonce pals.

The world is healing.

Impeach next https://t.co/0VoHx9nT0O

— wei2high (@wei2high) February 20, 2026

The ruling could also be good for the Democrats as we approach the midterm elections in November.

This Supreme court ruling shakes things up for the midterms.

Trump can’t lean on tariffs as a big win, and Democrats will now have something new to criticize.

This might weakens a key message in his midterm campaign.

— Mimi (@Mimi_yakigar) February 20, 2026

However, Trump is already attempting to repress that vote using voter ID.

“there will be Voter I.D. for the Midterm Elections, whether approved by Congress or not!”

Trump’s authoritarian takeover and interference in the midterm elections under the guise of “election integrity” has begun. pic.twitter.com/FHYYKQ3u3h

— Melanie D’Arrigo (@DarrigoMelanie) February 13, 2026

He has also threatened to deploy his masked ICE goons to disrupt voting – talk about a dictatorship.

Trump doesn’t like being told no – by anyone, let alone the legal system. Before the judgment, Trump said, “We’ll figure something out”. Of course, he will have no intention of following the ruling. When has he ever followed the law? He’s been accused of being a child rapist and is named thousands of times in the Epstein files. He’s hardly going to care about a few import taxes.

Featured image via HG

Two Just Stop Oil supporters received suspended sentences on 20 February after pleading guilty to criminal damage by spraying paint on a number of high end car dealerships in 2022. They took the action to demand an end to new oil and gas licensing.

Posh car dealerships targeted

On 26 October 2022, Emma Brown and Carmen Lean sprayed orange paint from a fire extinguisher over the premises of several high end car dealerships on Berkeley Square and Bruton Street, in London’s swanky Mayfair district. These included HR Owen, Jack Barclay and Ferrari Mayfair. They had previously pleaded guilty to the charge of criminal damage and have now been sentenced at Southwark Crown Court.

Judge Tomlinson gave both defendants a 10 month sentence (suspended for 18 months) and ordered them to complete 100 hours of unpaid work within 12 months. In addition they’ll have to pay victim compensation of £1,500 each to the car dealerships. The Judge has recommended a schedule of £50 a month.

A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said:

Politicians and the media may be distracted by the rising threat of war, but we know that this is nothing compared with the threat posed by the planetary heating equivalent of 365 million Hiroshima bombs being absorbed by our oceans and atmosphere every year.

And yet nearly two years after our demand to end new oil and gas became government policy, three people are in prison right now for doing all they can to limit climate catastrophe and hundreds of our supporters continue to face the legal consequences of standing up to the fossil fuel death cult.

The prosecution initially accused the defendants of drilling a hole in the Jack Barkley Bentley showroom window. Although it later admitted that they might not have done so. However it argued that they had nonetheless caused paint to spatter inside the premises. The repair costs for clearing up the paint were said to total £13,538 and the window replacement was £19,925.

The Judge concluded it was unlikely that the defendants had made the hole in the window and so did not include window replacement costs in the calculation of compensation. He told the defendants that:

the building looked all pretty ugly after your work.

If convicted on this charge, the defendants would have likely faced sentences of 12 months in prison, not necessarily suspended.

In 2024 Just Stop Oil successfully won its original demand of ‘no new oil and gas’. And on 27 March 2025 it announced an end to the campaign of action. However, supporters promise to continue telling the truth in court, speaking out for political prisoners and helping build what comes next.

Featured image via Just Stop Oil