You’ve had a few pretty gruelling pieces to get through in the last week or so, readers, so here’s something a little more light-hearted.

It’s from an episode of Broadcasting Scotland on 27 November 2020, a month after we confirmed our big story about the SNP accounts and the missing fundraiser money. In it, snug-toed SNP MP Pete Wishart opines that there really is nothing to worry about, and we should all just put our trust in the party.

We’ll leave you to judge whose opinion stood the test of time.

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On 2 June, the Department of Health and Social Care announced a £200m boost to the Transform prostate cancer treatment trial. However, Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf has chosen to get himself in a tizz about the fact that the potentially life-saving trial is targeting Black people.

You know, because Black people suffer from a far higher risk of prostate cancer than white people. But the far-right home affairs spokesperson isn’t letting that little fact stop him.

Following party leader Nigel Farage’s current talking point, Yusuf branded the trial as evidence of a “two-tier system” creating a systematic disadvantage for white people. Farage recently used the line to stoke racial hatred following the mistreatment of murder victim Henry Nowak at the hands of police.

‘Black men face a higher risk of prostate cancer’

The Transform study is a landmark prostate cancer screening trial. Prostate Cancer UK and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) are funding the current expansion. Together, they’re seeking to improve the early detection and treatment of prostate cancer.

The £20m expansion means that the researchers can now invite “all eligible Black men” to take part. Of course, it’s not just men who can fall victim to prostate cancer, but we’re hardly surprised by the trans — and interphobic Labour Party’s use of language here.

The Health Department announcement stated that:

The move recognises that Black men face a higher risk of prostate cancer and aims to build the evidence needed to find the best screening strategy and tackle long-standing inequalities.

Regarding that disproportionate prevalence, one recent study had a potential explanation. Dr Greg Brooke — the lead researcher on a 2024 pilot study — explained that:

Black men are twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer compared to White men and 2.5 times more likely to die from the disease.

Part of the reason for this is because androgen receptor levels are higher in Black men but until now, no one has known why.

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The androgen receptor protein is strongly involved in the growth and spread of prostate cancer. Brooke’s study identified novel genetic mutations which may explain the higher prevalence of the protein among Black people.

Yusuf: And where are the WHITE drugs??

Given that prostate cancer is both more common and far more deadly for Black people, the targeted expansion of the study seems like common sense. Beyond that, it’s a sensible use of public money, to boot.

Unfortunately, Reform UK are well known for lacking in both common sense and fiscal responsibility. As such, and with painful inevitability, Yusuf took to Twitter to say:

On the day the whole political establishment claims we do not live in a two tier country, they announce this.

Note, the NHS makes NO drugs exclusively available to white people.

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You watch, he’ll be in a flap about the NHS hardly treating any white people for sickle cell disease next.

First, the country’s only het up about a ‘two-tier system’ because of Farage using the phrase to whip up a race riot. You know, just like he did back in 2024, the last time he whipped up a race riot using the same attack line.

Second, Yusuf apparently missed the government memo here. Transform is a screening trial, not a drug. Unless, you know, he’s joining his party leader in trying to stir up racial hatred in the hopes of winning a few cheap votes.

Reform — ‘They don’t understand basic evidence’

On that note, and in reply to Yusuf, Green leader Zack Polanski wrote:

The prospect of Reform in charge of our NHS is truly terrifying.

Not only do they want to introduce a US style charging system, they don’t understand basic evidence.

Of course, we’re not going to rule out that possibility. Maybe Yusuf genuinely doesn’t understand statistics, evidence, or basic fact.

He is, after all, a second-generation immigrant from a Sri Lankan family who hangs about with Reform UK. That’s a party for which 22% of voters believe he should be forced or ‘encouraged’ to leave the country.

Not the best mastery of statistics there at all.

However, on balance, our money’s on the alternative. Yusuf knows full well that he’s bent the truth well past breaking point. He knows why the study is targeting the Black community, that it’s a trial, that it’s not a drug at all. Likewise, he probably knows that most of his followers know all that too.

Hell, he almost certainly knows that he’s not living in a two-tier system that exists to privilege Black and brown people. Even growing up with a silver spoon shoved up both ends, he must have noticed the UK’s vehement racism.

The problem is that Reform UK and their ilk don’t concern themselves with facts. Rather, they’ll try to obscure them at every chance they get, because what they need is their followers’ unquestioning, subservient rage. Rage makes people so much easier to manipulate.

Featured image via Carl Court/Getty Images

By Alex/Rose Cocker

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Keir Starmer’s government, true to its deeply shady form, has filled the Department for Education (DfE) with people close to both corporate and pro-Israel lobbyists. And the overlapping right-wing network flows from old Blairites like Peter Mandelson and Jim Murphy to the more recent Starmerites at Labour Together.

Electoral Commission statistics show us just how much influence dodgy lobbyists have in the DfE today.

The rot of Blair, Mandelson, Murphy, and Labour Together

New Labour corporate cronies — from Tony Blair to Mandelson and Murphy — just refuse to go away. But it’s the shadowy lobbying and fundraising networks around them that we really need to pay more attention to. Because they have increasingly engulfed and captured our political system — particularly under Starmer’s rule.

The sleaze surrounding Mandelson isn’t just newsworthy because of his friendship with infamous paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and the Starmer government’s indifferent insistence on bringing him back into frontline politics anyway. We need to talk about him because of the misanthropic rot in UK politics that he represents.

Mandelson rose in the 1980s and 1990s to become a “central architect” of the New Labour project. He embodied its cosy relationship with capitalism. And despite numerous scandals, party elites kept bringing him back. Only Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of Labour consigned him to the sidelines, where he proudly schemed against him.

As Margaret Thatcher said, Tony Blair‘s corruption of traditional Labour values was her greatest achievement. She had shifted the political goalposts, normalising the corporate capture of UK politics that Blair and Mandelson would happily embrace. “Uber-Blairite” Jim Murphy also joined that mission.

Mandelson may not have openly overseen Labour Together’s efforts to destroy Corbyn and force the “empty vessel” of Keir Starmer on the country. But his protege Morgan McSweeney proudly took on the New Labour cause of hollowing out the party so billionaire interests could take centre stage.

As Murphy pledged at a 2023 event, Starmer’s Labour would usher in:

The first private sector government in Labour’s history

The Israel connection

A key part of the billionaire class’s cause in the West is backing colonial brutality and exploitation, with Israel as a prime example. This explains the overlap between dodgy politicians getting money from both corporate and pro-Israel sources. And Starmer was prominent among them, just as people like Mandelson had been before him.

Mandelson’s Global Counsel lobbying firm had prominent pro-Israel clients like Palantir, and lobbied Israel via an event of major Israel lobby group ELNET.

Murphy’s Arden Strategies, meanwhile, has represented arms giant Northrop Grumman — one of many arms suppliers to Israel.

Labour Together has clear pro-Israel links, and several pro-Israel lobbyists have funded the group.

After Labour had basically been “a lobbyist-free zone” under Jeremy Corbyn, Starmer (essentially a creation of lobby power) opened the floodgates back up. This helped Arden in particular to grow massively under Starmer’s Labour leadership.

Labour Together, Mandelson, and Arden have overlapped. Mandelson appeared at Arden events. And Wes Streeting (who got money from Labour Together funders) passed information on from Murphy to Mandelson. Arden has faced particular scrutiny for offering corporate access to people in Starmer’s regime.

Lobbyists and Starmer’s Department for Education

Ruling classes logically understand the importance of controlling education systems. And at a time when young people have been particularly vocal opponents of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, there has unsurprisingly been a strong institutional effort to suppress the resistance of both educators and students.

Lobbyists for both corporations and genocidal apartheid states, meanwhile, clearly have the ear of politicians working in the DfE.

1) Education secretary Bridget Phillipson’s close relationship with the lobbyists

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson, for example, is a prominent voice on the Labour right. She helped to “coordinate Labour Together projects“, and got money from key Labour Together funders David Sainsbury and Francesca Perrin. She also got money from Murphy, and has happily linked up with Arden.

Phillipson is a proud Friend of Israel and its backers, including Luke Akehurst and his Labour First group. Lobby group ELNET even funded Phillipson’s staffers to travel to Israel. (She’s one of the only Labour MPs to get so much money from ELNET.)

Phillipson has unsurprisingly backed lobby efforts to politicise schools in favour of Israel. And the government has given Israel lobbyist Natascha Engel’s Palace Yard Events the task of ‘tackling antisemitism in education’.

Palace Yard donated £32,000 to Labour Friends of Israel vice-chair Jo White (also the wife of pro-Israel agitator John Mann) in 2025. Other pro-Israel lobbyists have also donated to White, including several funders of Labour Together.

2) Children and families minister Josh MacAlister

Josh MacAlister became an MP in 2024. And that was seemingly because a large number of powerful backers wanted him in parliament.

MacAlister received, for example, donations from:

• Lord Roger Liddle, who had previously donated to Progressive Britain (the only organisation the Electoral Commission shows Peter Mandelson donating to). Other Progressive Britain backers included Labour Together’s Lord David Sainsbury, the Policy Network (also linked to Mandelson), Lord Matthew Oakeshott, Tony Blair, and other backers of the Labour right.
• Labour Together, along with its funders David Sainsbury and Danny Luhde-Thompson.
• Matthew Oakeshott.
• David Claydon (another backer of prominent Labour right figures).

Additionally, MacAlister hosted a fundraising event which had Arden Strategies as a sponsor. Numerous MPs got donations from Arden under the amount of £1,500 which meant they didn’t have to officially declare it. And as Open Democracy has explained:

Fundraisers [like Arden ones] are a key site for lobbyists to build connections not just with these potential future MPs and ministers, but also with senior party figures.

In 2025, MacAlister also became a trade envoy to Brazil, the biggest economy in Latin America.

His partner Matthew Hood, who advised the Tories and got government funds during the pandemic for his online teaching academy, got a job from ex-health secretary Wes Streeting in 2025. This was despite having no experience in the health sector.

3) Other education ministers

School standards minister Georgia Gould:

• Is a member of Progressive Britain and pro-Israel lobby group the Jewish Labour Movement.
• Has a partner who’s a lobbyist.
• Got money from Labour Together funder and Israel lobbyist Trevor Chinn.
• Got a donation from Starmer supporter Gail Rebuck.

“Veteran Blairite” and ‘skills minister‘ Jacqui Smith has strong links to the corporate lobby, having worked at Flint Global (which is part of the revolving door business for people who’ve been close to the likes of Starmer).

Early education minister Olivia Bailey has received donations from:

• Labour Together funders Trevor Chinn and Fiona MacTaggart.
• Former Labour right-winger turned banking lobbyist Chuka Umunna.
• Wes Streeting backer Linda Riley.
• Streeting and Labour First backer Kevin Craig.

Get lobbyists out of our education system!

The UK education system has had many years now of underfunding and backdoor privatisation. But our politicians, with the help of the dodgy lobbyists behind them, are making it clear that the billionaire class is in control.

If we want the interests of our future generations to matter more than the interests of the billionaire class, we need to overturn the current situation completely. We need to get lobbyists out of the education department — and government — for good.

Featured image via Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

By Ed Sykes

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Two US universities are selling dead bodies, which are meant for ‘scientific purposes’, to the US Navy, which uses them to train the Israeli military.

Back in 2025, student journalists revealed the links between bodies donated by the University of Southern California (USC) for scientific research and training provided to Israeli soldiers by the US military.

At the end of 2017, the US Navy filed a notice of intent to start purchasing cadavers from USC. The purpose was to use dead bodies in trauma surgery for the IOF.

The notice of intent states:

The Naval Medical Logistics Command (NMLC) intends to negotiate on a sole source basis (IAW FAR Part 13.106-1(b)(1)(i)). The proposed source is the University of Southern California (USC) Surgical Skills and Education Center, 2250 Alcazar St., Los Angeles, CA, 90033.

Based on a signed agreement between the U.S. Navy Surgeon General and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Surgeon General, the Navy Expeditionary Medicine Training Institute (NEMTI) has been tasked to provide Fresh Tissue Dissection training courses for the IDF personnel registered at the Navy Trauma Training Center (NTTC).

After that notice, the Navy paid USC over $860,000 for at least 89 “fresh cadaver bodies”. Of these, it used 32 specifically to train the IOF at Los Angeles General Medical Center.

At least one contract was still ongoing in October 2025. This was for the Navy to purchase an additional $225,000 worth of cadavers, at its discretion. This would bring the total that USC has earned in the last seven years to nearly $1.1m.

In recent years, the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) has also helped USC deliver cadavers. Between 2024 and early 2026, UCSD transferred around 124 bodies to USC.

UCSD denied that the military was using its cadavers for training. It said that the term “military training” mischaracterises the course.

US universities — Training military surgeons

Since October 2023, when Israel launched its full-scale genocide in Gaza, the Israeli military has been embedding more doctors on the front lines of Gaza.

Whilst there is not much publicly available information about the training, one research paper from 2020 described a four-day “combat trauma surgery skills course”. The US offered the training to “forward surgical teams” in the Israeli military. These are units that operate close to the front lines.

During the training, the military “reanimated” the donated bodies using a method called perfusion.

According to Al Jazeera:

That process involves pumping fake blood through the body to make the cadavers as lifelike as possible, mimicking the active bleeding of wounded soldiers on the battlefield.

The paper details participants’ training on simulated combat injuries, including gunshot wounds to the chest and legs, and blasts to the face and torso from improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

The US Navy told AJ+ that they simulated injuries using “surgical” techniques. In a statement, it said:

During this training, experienced Trauma Surgeons recreate complex injury patterns with surgical tools to deliver a high-fidelity, hyper-realistic training environment.

However, several trauma surgeons told AJ+ that:

using perfused cadavers is typically for highly specialised training. It is not common across most surgical programmes.

Where’s the consent?

Now, fresh reporting from AJ+ has revealed that those who donated their bodies may not have consented.

Donor documents did not indicate that the cadavers would be used for military training, either for the US or Israel.

Physicians are also questioning whether anyone would willingly sign up if they knew their body might be used by foreign militaries, or for procedures such as perfusion.

One example is 101-year-old Jeanette Volpin. When she died, she donated her body to USC’s Anatomical Gift Program. However, the program did not inform her that it could use it to teach Israeli soldiers.

Previously, the L.A. County Office of Decedent Affairs had also provided cadavers to the US Navy for Israeli military training. Crucially, these cadavers were unclaimed bodies. This means individuals did not consent to anyone using their body for any reason after their death.

At least two people have changed their minds about donating their bodies after death since the original story broke. Wendy Smith told AJ+:

I don’t want to support genocide and starvation, and I don’t want to support Israeli policies even in the smallest way.

Just before AJ+ published its documentary last month, University of California Health — the network that UCSD Health is part of — added new information to its FAQ page. It has now acknowledged that it may “share” bodies with other institutions or use them to train military medical personnel.

However, neither of the two universities implicated had updated its FAQ page.

The US Navy has also issued a “notice of intent” to renew contracts for the programme with USC until at least 2029.

Feature image via Quique Kierszenbaum/ Getty Images

By HG

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In a new BBC documentary, Boris Johnson revealed that David Cameron offered him a “top five job” during a tennis match to secure his support for remaining in the EU. Cameron, PM at the time, apparently wanted Boris to know that he:

valued his contribution, that he would be a major party of the government going forward.

Apparently, Cameron returned from the tennis match feeling “doubly good” after beating Johnson and believing he had appealed to his career ambitions.

Nevertheless, Cameron was quickly outmanoeuvred when the then-London Mayor announced — “after a huge amount of heartache” — that he would support leaving the EU. Johnson went on to help deliver victory in the referendum and later became PM, while the UK has since grappled with the consequences of the hard Brexit that followed.

The reality, in fact, was that Johnson saw himself as PM regardless of which side of the toxic debate he chose to back.

Brexit: It didn’t matter whether I backed Leave or Remain – I would have become PM anyway, Boris Johnson claims
Former PM David Cameron says he doesn’t believe Boris Johnson thought Britain would vote to Leave the EU in new BBC documentary on Brexithttps://t.co/TzFfo1PmMD

— dave lawrence (@dave43law) June 2, 2026

10 years on from Brexit — and we can all feel its cost

This BBC two-part documentary airs on 8 June, marking a decade since the Brexit referendum, which exposed deep divisions across the country, split families, and emboldened nationalist sentiment across the UK. Both sides of the campaign deployed highly emotive and often inflammatory rhetoric in a calculated effort to secure victory, advance their positions, and protect or enhance their political and financial interests.

The realities since have seen a worsening quality of life, massively increased cost-of-living caused by the cost-of-greed crisis affecting the lives of millions of ordinary Brits.

In this documentary, however, we see how Cameron sought to instrumentalise that toxic ambition, appealing to Johnson’s career interests in an attempt to secure his support.

He then said: ‘Look, would you consider joining us on the remain campaign? It’d be much better if … I’d love to have you in the cabinet. You should have a top five job,’

And I wasn’t sure what the exact hierarchy was. I obviously thought about it out of pure curiosity – what was this job?

There’s prime minister, chancellor, home secretary, foreign secretary. That’s four. What is the fifth? A mystery.”

On the other hand, Boris Johnson told the BBC that he saw a route to the premiership regardless of which side he chose. Nonetheless, this documentary seems to be attempting to glorify the period, and it must not be used as a ploy to rehabilitate political monsters who have harmed the UK in countless ways.

No-deal Brexit only a win for political elite and their cronies

However, the Brexit that was delivered to the public took a hardline form, producing a pretty limited and contested agreement with the EU that delivered precious few clear benefits. Newly appointed officials later claimed this harsh outcome had always been likely, despite it never having been clearly set out to voters during the referendum campaign.

Raab, then foreign secretary in 2019, told Radio 4 that the government was “turbo charging” towards a no-deal Brexit. Host Mishal Husain pointed out that the British public did not anticipate a no-deal outcome at the referendum, pointing out that the government subsequently pursued a path that conflicted with the interests of those it supposedly represents.

Other than their own egos, of course, which western politicians show they will never forget to serve.

Raab said at the time:

The mandate certainly wasn’t to leave the EU if the EU let us. It was an ‘in / out’ referendum and we made clear… that we should strive for a good deal, but if that wasn’t available that we should go on and make a success of Brexit and so that was discussed…

adding:

I was questioned on it by the BBC almost every time I appeared and so was Michael Gove… There’s all sorts of interviews which said that of course we’d prefer a deal, but that there would be a risk.

This was then fact checked — and found to be a lie — by Channel 4 who stated:

Mr Raab appears to be wrong about his colleague Michael Gove warning about the risk of a no-deal Brexit during the EU referendum campaign…

We can’t find any evidence of Mr Raab talking about the dangers of leaving without a deal before the vote either.

Brexit failed the British public — Boris and politicians used it for their careers

This BBC documentary highlights how senior politicians prioritised political manoeuvring, personal ambition, and career advancement over and above the interests of the public they were meant to serve. Rather than focusing on the long-term consequences of their decisions, they appeared far more concerned with securing influence and strengthening their own positions.

Whether it was Cameron attempting to bring Johnson into his ‘camp’ and neutralise a political rival, or Johnson calculating which side of the debate would best serve his ambitions, neither man appears to have placed the interests of ordinary Britons at the centre of his decision-making. Instead, both seem to have viewed the political turmoil as an opportunity to advance their own objectives.

The consequences of those choices continue to shape the country today. Many people struggle with rising living costs, overstretched public services, and declining trust in political institutions, while the political class continues to avoid the hardships experienced by the wider population.

Ultimately, the clearest beneficiaries of this long and divisive saga were the political elites who exploited public frustration, deepened divisions, and fuelled political hysteria to secure their own advantage.

While the country absorbed the costs, many of those at the centre of the drama emerged with enhanced careers, greater influence, and lucrative opportunities.

Featured image via Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Fortune Media

By Maddison Wheeldon

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On May 18th, Trump’s Justice Department announced a nearly $1.8 billion fund called the Anti-Weaponization Fund; however, on Tuesday, the acting Attorney General of the USA said that they were no longer moving forward with it amid a backlash from both Democrats and Republicans.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Trump administration will drop plans for a $1.8 billion fund to pay victims of alleged government “weaponization” following a backlash from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers https://t.co/KinO8jVESL

— Bloomberg (@business) June 2, 2026

Trump said the purpose was to reimburse people who had been “horribly treated, horribly treated” by the government under the Biden administration.

However, lawsuits against the fund had piled up despite the relatively short time its been in place, including from police officers who had been on the receiving end of the January 6 rioters and were now suing Trump against the fund.

The total amount was set at exactly $1.776 billion, a symbolic nod to the nation’s founding year of 1776. This number has long been embraced by white nationalist circles as well as the Trump administration.

Trump’s Proud Boys and co

Forbes magazine published a list of the people who planned to apply for the money.

It included Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader; George Santos, the disgraced former congressman; Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer; Roger Stone, the longtime Trump advisor; Mike Lindell, the MyPillow CEO; Tina Peters, the convicted Colorado election clerk; more than 1,500 January 6 defendants; anti-abortion activists; and Moms for Liberty.

Sorry, Proud Boys — your sugar daddy just closed his chequebook. But Trump is TACO, fellas. You should have known.

Featured image via David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

By The Canary

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FIRST UP: Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s commitment to back Rep. Adriano Espaillat was initially so ironclad they shook hands on it last summer. But Mamdani broke that promise last week when he endorsed Espaillat’s primary opponent, democratic socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier — and the fallout is mounting. Rep. Nydia Velázquez, an early supporter of Mamdani’s 2025 mayoral run, said she’s not sure she can trust the mayor anymore after the Espaillat snub and won’t take just his word on anything going forward. “I will say I want it in writing,” Velázquez said.

Read more from POLITICO’s Chris Sommerfeldt and Madison Fernandez here.

MANNY ADDRESSES: Francesca Castellanos has run for state and city office in Upper Manhattan eight times, and lost every single time.

In her ninth bid for public office, she’s going to even greater lengths to oust her local assemblyman, Manny De Los Santos.

Castellanos has spent $8,000 of her own money on private investigators to surveil him at his wife’s Rockland County home and to stake out the Washington Heights apartment where De Los Santos says he lives, and she’s circulated thousands of flyers that question his residency and include a photo of his young child.

De Los Santos says Castellanos, a Spanish-language interpreter, is harassing him and his family. Castellanos says she’s applying well-intentioned scrutiny to a public official who, she claims, lives way outside the district he represents. And election law says the residency requirement for state legislative candidates actually isn’t that strict.

“I understand that public service comes with scrutiny. But this opponent has crossed a line,” De Los Santos said in a statement. “My opponent has spent thousands of dollars on private investigators to follow me and even my children.”

On Monday, Castellanos filed a complaint with Attorney General Letitia James alleging her opponent “moved out of Northern Manhattan, moved to the suburbs, cashed his taxpayer paycheck, and continues to hold a political seat he abandoned.”

“Mr. De Los Santos receives an annual salary of $142,000 as an Assemblymember. He has chosen suburban life for his own children, who attend well-funded Rockland County schools, while families in Northern Manhattan struggle with overcrowded classrooms and insufficient resources,” the complaint reads.

James’ office would not comment on the allegations but said they’ve received Castellanos’ letter.

Castellanos’ call for the state’s top prosecutor to investigate her opponent’s residency is the latest act from a perennial candidate and local politics junkie who has spent the last two decades trying to oust the army of elected officials allied with Rep. Adriano Espaillat. This time, her opponent says, she’s gone too far.

“That is not politics. It is wrong,” De Los Santos said. “I am an Assemblymember, but I am a father first. My children should not be dragged into a political campaign. This needs to stop.”

Castellanos’ complaint includes images from a grainy video recorded on April 12 by R.Q. Investigations outside a home owned by De Los Santos’ wife, Josenia Dominguez, who serves as the chief administrative officer for Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. The images show a man who appears to be De Los Santos entering a two-car garage home in the Hudson Valley. Other photographs from the following day show a man again identified as De Los Santos raking leaves at the property. A different private investigator hired by Castellanos stood watch inside the Washington Heights apartment building where De Los Santos says he lives on two April mornings. That private eye, Michael Cotto, said in a signed affidavit that he never spotted De Los Santos or anyone else enter or exit the unit.

“He’s a public figure, and he’s lying,” Castellanos claimed to Playbook, adding that her scrutiny of him is completely within bounds. “If he doesn’t want it, then he shouldn’t run for public office.”

She denied De Los Santos’ claim that she assigned an investigator to watch his children and said she only told the shamus to surveil the Assemblymember.

Dominguez told Playbook she and De Los Santos are separated and co-parent their children, and that De Los Santos has lived in his Manhattan apartment “literally his entire life — since he arrived from the Dominican Republic at the age of 12 years old.”

“I hope this clarifies whatever narrative that crazy woman wants to spread,” she said.

Castellanos’ complaint includes records showing that De Los Santos’ Washington Heights apartment was placed under receivership in 2024. She says building staff told her they weren’t aware of De Los Santos living there and pointed to a 2014 Daily News article describing allegations that his apartment was “warehousing” voters, with six different people registered to vote out of the unit, including two with the same name born a month apart.

“His relatives live there, but he does not live there,” she asserted.

In 2024, when Castellanos was mounting her second Assembly bid, she and an ally, Michael Hano, began gathering evidence to try to prove De Los Santos lived outside the city. Two years prior, Hano himself had launched a quixotic primary challenge against Espaillat.

According to Hano and Castellanos, the pair noticed that scholastic athletic records indicated at least one of De Los Santos’ children was enrolled in Rockland County public schools and that property records showed his wife owning a home in Clarkstown.

So Hano said he and Castellanos drove there in May 2024 and saw Dominguez and the couple’s kids from afar. A week or two later, Hano claims he “swung by” the house again around 11 p.m. because it was on the way home from a karaoke night he attended in Haverstraw.

“I just drove past to see for instance if a car was in the driveway, you know, and as I’m driving past, there he is in the window,” Hano said. “It’s not like I was sitting there, scoping the place out. In fact I had a friend with me, I was coming home from karaoke that night. These people, when they take public office, they’re giving up a little bit of privacy.”

That year, Castellanos says she mailed about 4,000 Spanish-language flyers telling residents De Los Santos “resides in the suburbs.” The flyer included a photo of one of De Los Santos’ children, which she pulled from his Instagram account, and the address of his wife’s Rockland County home. (Hano says he told Castellanos at the time he thought this was wrong, and stopped talking to her after this happened, though the two have resumed communication.)

By the time 2026 rolled around, Castellanos was again running for the De Los Santos seat after losing a City Council race to Carmen De La Rosa last year. In April, she sued to knock De Los Santos off the ballot on the grounds that he doesn’t live in the district, but she says the case was tossed out on a technicality when the judge asserted Castellanos didn’t serve her opponent before the deadline. De Los Santos, for his part, also sued unsuccessfully to knock Castellanos off the ballot, but Castellanos represented herself and won.

She’s also printing more flyers about his residency — this time up to 10,000. Last month, she says a city health inspector came to her door because someone filed a complaint that a foul odor was coming from her apartment, where she lives with six cats. Without evidence, Castellanos suspects De Los Santos was behind it, so she says she’s sending flyers to neighbors of the Rockland County home. De Los Santos says he has no idea what she’s talking about.

The state constitution says any state legislative candidate must reside in their district in the 12 months before their election. But a 2016 Court of Appeals decision reaffirmed previous rulings that a candidate can legally claim residence anywhere they have “legitimate, significant and continuing attachments,” as long as there’s no fraud, deception or “reason to assume that a residence has been asserted merely for the purposes of voting.”

De Los Santos said his Assembly district “has been my home for decades” and “remains my home today.”

“I am a proud resident of District 72,” he said. “I continue to live in and represent the community that raised me and that I have spent my life serving.”

From the Capitol

GO NEW YORK: The Uber-funded group that spent heavily on Gov. Kathy Hochul’s push to overhaul car insurance regulations is unveiling a final TV ad today with a Knicks theme.

The ad features delirious Knicks fans celebrating the team’s success while the “Hallelujah” chorus plays.

“Every once in a while New Yorkers stand united, celebrating as one, overcome with joy and reveling in an unexpected and remarkable achievement: Yeah, Governor Hochul’s lowered New York’s sky-high car insurance,” the ad’s narrator says.

That claim is an exaggeration: The governor herself has said New Yorkers won’t see a difference in car insurance premiums immediately.

Just in time for the NBA Finals, the basketball-themed spot will bring the advertising blitz full circle after it launched with a Buffalo Bills-centric ad at the start of the year. — Nick Reisman

HELPING NONTRADITIONAL STUDENTS: The State University of New York is launching two new initiatives aimed at boosting supports for adult learners and students with kids.

The university system intends to work with community colleges to increase the number of in-person courses offered on evenings and weekends. And the final state budget included $12 million in additional operating dollars for community colleges.

SUNY is also establishing a grant program to help campuses better support student parents, including the addition of child-friendly lounges and study areas.

“Because one in five college students across the country are parents, we’re boosting support for student-parents,” SUNY Chancellor John King said during his annual “State of the University” address in Albany today.

The state has also been taking steps to help college students with kids.

Earlier this year, Hochul moved to extend child care hours on community college campuses to align with the schedules of students enrolled in high-demand programs. SUNY has also used $10.4 million in state funding to open additional child care centers and increase the number of spots.

The state kicked off a program this school year that offers free tuition to older students seeking associate degrees in high-demand fields at SUNY and the City University of New York. — Madina Touré

FROM CITY HALL

HIGH HOPES: Mamdani offered a bold prediction this morning for the NBA Finals.

“Knicks in four — inshallah,” Mamdani said with a chuckle on Hot 97 radio.

For their first finals since 1999, the Knicks are playing the San Antonio Spurs tonight in Texas. The Knicks have been on a red-hot run in this year’s playoffs, winning 11 straight games, but it’d no doubt be a steep feat for the hometown team to sweep the Spurs as the mayor prophesies.

Mamdani’s office wouldn’t immediately say if the mayor will attend any of the games the Knicks are playing at Madison Square Garden (the first home game is Monday night).

“I’m going to be at a lot of different watch parties tonight — I can’t wait,” Mamdani told Playbook at City Hall this morning when asked if he planned on attending the watch party hosted inside MSG tonight for Game 1.

Mamdani spokesperson Sam Raskin declined to immediately provide more details on where the mayor will be. Raskin did tout that the mayor’s office played a role in securing a permit for a separate watch party to be held outside the Garden tonight. (The NYPD previously suggested no more such bashes would be permitted after one turned especially chaotic during the Eastern Conference Finals last month.)

“As a Knicks fan and a New Yorker, the mayor feels the energy and excitement this team has brought to the city,” Raskin said. “This is a special moment for all five boroughs, and we’re thrilled these celebrations are moving forward. Let’s go Knicks.”

Politics have already loomed heavy over the finals. On Sunday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott posted an AI-generated image on X of himself dunking over a Knicks jersey-clad Hochul, as President Donald Trump can be seen sitting courtside laughing.

Speaking of Trump: The president, who’s widely reviled in his native New York, said last week he will likely attend one of the Knicks’ home games at the Garden after being invited by team owner James Dolan. — Chris Sommerfeldt 

IN OTHER NEWS

— LONE STAR BACKING: A pro-Palestinian Texas businessman has poured major funding into American Prioirties, an anti-Israel super PAC that’s backing Brad Lander, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez’s congressional campaigns. (New York Post)

— SOUND THE ALARMS: Major fires have more than doubled in the Bronx and are being linked to deteriorating electrical infrastructure in older buildings. (Gothamist)

— ALL ABOARD: Mamdani has tapped former Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and former budget chief Melanie Hartzog to represent New York City on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board. (New York Daily News)

Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.

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51 nations armed Israel during the settler-colonial state’s genocide against Palestinians. Some states gave the regime hundreds of millions of dollars in arms. Others just a few hundred dollars worth of equipment. All bear the mark of shame.

Al Jazeera reported on 24 May:

military-related goods originating from at least 51 countries and self-governing territories continued entering Israel after the ICJ’s warning of a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza.

The outlet used Israel tax authority data, customs records and freedom of information requests from “between 2022 and 2025” to trace:

military supply chains linked to countries across Europe, Asia, North America and South America.

Al Jazeera said:

All named countries are signatories to the Genocide Convention.

Adding:

In some cases, the military-related goods originated from countries that had formally imposed arms embargoes on Israel or had partially suspended arms supplies to the country.

A large part of the equipment was lethal:

In fact, according to the ITA data, arms imports increased after the ICJ ruling, with the largest share falling under the category of munitions.

The five biggest countries of origin all increased arms shipments during the period:

The United States, India, Romania, Taiwan and the Czech Republic – all recorded increased shipments during the war.

Legal experts and NGOs condemned the nations involved for contributing to the generational horrors of Gaza.

Israel — Ample evidence of war crimes

Stephen Humphreys is a professor of international law at the London School of Economics (LSE). He told Al Jazeera that even prior to the ICC ruling that a plausible genocide was underway there was:

ample evidence that countries arming Israel may be complicit in international crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Gerhard Kemp is a professor of criminal law at the University of the West of England (UWE). He told Al Jazeera:

Some states have a very narrow understanding of the duty to prevent genocide and are waiting for a judicial determination that there is a genocide in Gaza.

But warned that the obligation was triggered by the risk of genocide – not the final findings of an international court:

The better view is to look at domestic legal obligations … and international legal obligations and legal tools triggered by available evidence.

Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) director Iain Overton, executive director of AOAV, said:

This investigation reinforces growing concerns about the continued transfer of explosive weapons and military components into a conflict where civilians have borne the overwhelming burden of harm.

He said AOAV’s research:

has consistently shown that the use of explosive weapons in populated areas causes catastrophic civilian suffering, destroys vital infrastructure and leaves lasting humanitarian consequences long after the fighting ends.

Adding:

The scale of imports identified by Al Jazeera raises urgent questions about international obligations, transparency and accountability in global arms transfers.

The US sent more than £368mn of arms to Israel in the period concerned, the Al Jazeera report claims. While Japan’s contribution was just $161. ‘Anti-imperialist’ China provided $19mn worth of arms to the genocide state. The UK sent over $1.8mn. All of these countries bear a mark of shame which will never be erased. And all should be held accountable.

Featured image via Maja Hitij/Getty Images

By Joe Glenton

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This is a statement from the Cambridge & South Cambridgeshire Green Party

The Green group on Cambridge city council has confirmed that it will not be entering a proposed rainbow coalition with Labour or the Liberal Democrats. Instead, it put forward and voted for its deputy leader Sefira Davison to lead the city council.

Sadly the Lib Dems chose to abstain on the vote, lending their tacit support to enable a continuation of the Labour run administration, rather than agreeing to collaborate with Green councillors to bring about the change that residents voted for.

Despite constructive efforts from the Green group, the demands put forward by the Lib Dems made a stable, collaborative agreement impossible.

For all their rhetoric of progressive collaborations, the Lib Dems failed to take our Green Group seriously, and instead demanded to take the leadership as well as finance, housing development & planning cabinet roles and rejected any discussion of compromise on this.

They speak publicly about collaboration and cooperation, but behind closed doors there is little to choose from between Lib Dems and Labour. Both seem to have failed to grasp the reality of residents’ increasing trust in Green councillors to deliver for their city.

Over recent years, Cambridge has seen the consequences of one‑party dominance and stitched‑up deals: poor transparency, weak opposition, lack of scrutiny, and decisions that have too often sidelined residents, from planning, to green space protection, to the future of public services.

Voters sent a clear message at the ballot box: they want change, independent voices, and real accountability.

Greens won the popular vote on Thursday 7 May with 33% of votes across Cambridge, but due to the current council model with elections happening in thirds, Greens did not win control of the council.

Sefira Davison, city Green croup deputy leader, said:

We heard from the Lib Dems today that Labour being in power wasn’t what they wanted, but it’s what they chose.

We’ve spent weeks offering fair, reasonable compromises, including a proportionate split of cabinet posts and balanced leadership arrangements, and they told us they wouldn’t accept any offer that didn’t give them immediate leadership of the council.

We look forward to holding this new Lib Dem-enabled Labour administration to account, and making sure the council delivers the best results for the city.

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Naomi Bennett, Green group leader, said:

On housing, development, transport, climate action, inequality, and democratic reform, the Greens have consistently taken strong, principled positions.

My Green colleagues and I will spend this year working hard for residents across our city, and challenging Labour and the Lib Dems in the council chamber, and when the time comes for the next election, we will continue to challenge them at the polls and we will win.

Our priority is the people of Cambridge. We will work to ensure that council services run more smoothly, that marginalised voices are heard, and that communities across the city are supported.

As the official opposition, we will bring strong scrutiny, practical solutions, and a renewed commitment to democracy at the Guildhall, based on honesty, evidence, transparency, and genuine public involvement.

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Featured image via Cambridge & South Cambridgeshire Green Party

By The Canary

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22 May 2026. Andy Burnham launches his campaign as Labour’s candidate for the Makerfield by-election. (Alamy)

3 min read44 min

Exclusive: A number of Labour MPs who oppose replacing Keir Starmer are refusing to campaign for Andy Burnham in the Makerfield by-election.

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Multiple Labour backbenchers who remain loyal to the Prime Minister have told PoliticsHome that they will defy instructions to visit the constituency in the northwest of England at least twice before polls close on 18 June.

A Labour MP who has decided not to campaign in Makerfield told PoliticsHome: “There’s great confusion about the by-election. People feel like they are being asked to take part in an act of self-harm and so aren’t happy about campaigning. 

“There’s real upset that at a time when we need to be tackling some big national issues, we are creating an unnecessary diversion.”

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The by-election is widely described as one of the most consequential in British political history.

Burnham, the Greater Manchester Mayor, is expected to launch a bid to replace Starmer in No 10 if he secures his return to the House of Commons later this month. Reform UK candidate Robert Kenyon is expected to be Burnham’s closest rival, with a Survation poll last week putting Burnham three per cent ahead of Kenyon (43 per cent to 40 per cent). 

The by-election was triggered when Josh Simons resigned as the constituency’s MP as part of the wider Labour revolt against Starmer’s leadership following a disastrous set of local elections last month.

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Labour MPs and campaigners “from every corner of the country and every corner of the party” are travelling to Makerfield to campaign for Burnham, a party source recently told The House magazine. Party chair Anna Turley has asked all Labour MPs to canvass in the by-election twice during the campaign, plus polling day. 

However, Labour MPs who oppose a leadership contest are deeply unhappy about being asked to campaign for Burnham, with some refusing to travel to the constituency altogether.

Some backbenchers have agreed to make phone calls instead of campaigning on the ground in Makerfield. Some MPs are still deciding whether or not to go up, while others have told PoliticsHome they would “reluctantly” make a single visit to “show their face”. 

Some Labour MPs who don’t plan to visit the constituency cite the practical difficulty of getting there, insisting the issue is “distance, not personalities”. But others were more candid, pointing to the awkwardness of effectively being asked to campaign against their own PM.

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The Labour MP quoted above added: “We have to win the by-election, but does that mean we are coronating him (Burnham)? Most of us don’t even know the guy; he’s not the reason why we are here.

“If he wins, are we all then expected to have a much harder fight for the (Manchester) mayoralty, which will give us a bigger, bloodier nose than this.”

The Greater Manchester mayor is running his by-election campaign on a pledge to “Change Labour”, saying the party “needs to change if we are to regain people’s trust”. 

Former health secretary Wes Streeting, who resigned from the government last month out of protest against Starmer’s leadership, has already gone up to Makerfield to campaign for Burnham, despite being expected to run in a future leadership contest. 

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A Labour source told PoliticsHome: “Thousands of party activists, supporters, councillors and MPs have been campaigning every day in Makerfield to make sure we win this by-election.

 

“The vast majority of the PLP will have been up by next week – everyone is pulling together to make sure we get Andy over the line on Thursday 18 June and win this for Labour. It’s vital that we send Reform packing.”

 

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