Politics
Renewed calls for ban on fur imports ahead of any EU reset
Humane World for Animals UK , the Fur Free Britain coalition, 50 MPs, veterinary experts and celebrities are strengthening calls on the UK government to ban imports of fur.
This comes as new investigative footage shows mink in Chinese fur farms trembling in tiny wire cages before being brutally killed for fur that could end up sold in the UK. And there are concerns that a reset of the UK-EU relationship could make banning fur imports more difficult.
Despite banning fur farming in 2003, the UK continues to import millions of pounds worth of fur from overseas. It has imported more than £60m worth from China in the last decade (2016-2025 inclusive), making China the single biggest source of UK fur imports.
Humane World for Animals campaigners say the UK government is complicit in cruelty for as long as it keeps allowing fur from China and other countries to enter the UK market.
The cruelty of fur farming
The investigation at five farms in Qinhuangdao and Dandong, northern China, reveals thousands of mink, foxes and raccoon dogs kept in barren wire cages measuring one square metre or less.
Many of the animals exhibit signs of psychological distress, such as repetitive head bobbing and pacing, resulting from the lack of stimulation and chronic stress.
Evidence shows the lifeless bodies of mink and raccoon dogs littering the ground below the cages, and pools of blood around the minks’ heads. A mink is seen writhing on the floor where the animal was thrown by a farm worker after being bludgeoned.
In March 2026, the UK government’s animal welfare committee published a damning report condemning the animal suffering involved in the UK fur trade. MPs and campaigners are increasingly concerned that the UK’s sovereign right to ban fur imports could be sacrificed by the government.
In the letter, MPs and Peers state:
We are concerned by recent media reports indicating that the EU reset could compromise the UK government’s ability to ban fur imports and sales.
A handful of EU countries, including Finland and Greece, continue to permit cruel fur farming.
Ruth Jones, MP for Newport West and Islwyn, says:
It’s sickening to think that fur from these animals tormented in tiny cages and brutally killed could end up traded in the UK. We can’t call ourselves a ‘nation of animal lovers’ if we ban cruelty here but then keep shipping it in from overseas.
Reports that the UK-EU reset might remove the UK’s freedom to ban imports of fur are extremely concerning. Labour backed a Fur Free Britain when we were in opposition, and we must not now trade that promise away.
Claire Bass, senior director of campaigns and public affairs at Humane World for Animals UK, says:
Millions of animals are suffering on farms in countries including China, Finland and Greece so their fur can be shipped to the UK. The global fur trade causes immense animal suffering and virologists are ringing the alarm bell that it could be the source of another pandemic.
Our government must not sign any deals that keep the UK complicit in this cruel, reckless and unnecessary trade.
Former Defra minister Zac Goldsmith says:
One of the advantages of Brexit was that we could boost animal welfare in ways that were not previously possible. At the moment we don’t allow fur farming in the UK, but we do allow imports, which means we have simply exported cruelty.
We can now change that, unless the Brexit ‘reset’ closes that option off. It would be a terrible waste of a real and meaningful opportunity to stand up for animal welfare.
Potential for disease
Fur farm outbreaks of COVID-19, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, and Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus (SFTSV) have resulted in millions of animals dying or being killed. SFTSV is an emerging infectious disease that affects animals and humans, with symptoms including fever, respiratory and gastrointestinal issues and even death.
Virologists have voiced serious concerns about the fur industry’s potential to drive disease spread to humans and even trigger the next pandemic. A 2024 Nature paper focused on Chinese fur farms identified 39 viruses as high-risk for spillover potential, including 13 potentially high-risk novel viruses. It concluded that fur farming represents:
an important transmission hub for viral zoonoses.
Outbreaks of infectious SFTVS disease on six fox farms in China resulted in “tens to hundreds” of deaths per farm and virologists have warned that:
close contact between farmed foxes and farmers could facilitate the viral spillover from foxes to humans.
Veterinarian professor Alastair Macmillan, formerly head of animal health and welfare evidence base core team at Defra, says:
As a veterinary microbiologist, I am deeply concerned by the clear potential for disease transmission when highly stressed animals are confined in close proximity, while other species -including geese, ducks, and cats – roam between the cages.
We already know that fur farms can act as incubators for zoonotic diseases, and this footage perfectly illustrates that risk.
None of the animals on these fur farms is permitted a life that even remotely satisfies their natural behavioural instincts. These are wild, intelligent animals that belong in complex, stimulating environments. Instead, they are locked in barren wire cages, their lives reduced to a meaningless, repetitive loop of eating, sleeping, and wasting away, until the day they are finally killed and skinned.
Fur is a declining trade that needs stamping out
China’s fur trade has been in steep decline with a 90% reduction in animals kept and killed from 87 million animals in 2014 to 8 million in 2025, according to the China Leather Association.
The decline of the trade in China mirrors a similar downward trend worldwide. Globally there has been an 86% decline in the number of animals kept and killed for fur in the last decade, from 140 million in 2024 to 20.5 million in 2025.
You can read the letter from the MPs and Peers here.
Featured image via Humane World for Animals
By The Canary
Rosamund Pike is giving Saltburn co-star Jacob Elordi her seal of approval amid rumours that he’s in contention to play James Bond.
During a new interview with GQ Hype, the British actor was asked what she thought of the rumours that emerged last year indicating that Jacob was “at the top of” producers’ wish lists for the role of 007.
While the piece indicated Rosamund had “no preference for the next 007”, she did praise Jacob – who played her on-screen son in Saltburn – as a “fantastic” actor.
“He certainly looks like a great Bond,” she added. “I mean, why not?”
James Bond, of course, is a world Rosamund knows well.
The Oscar nominee previously shared the screen with Pierce Brosnan in 2002’s Die Another Day, which marked the Thursday Murder Club star’s last outing as 007.
She told GQ Hype that she’s not watched the film since it came out, remarking: “I know I’ll think, ’Oh, if only I could do that now, I would know exactly how to do that part’.”
Commenting on the film’s divisive special effects, she recalled: “It was the beginning of CGI. But it was kind of ridiculed, wasn’t it?”
Last week, Amazon MGM Studios – who officially took over at the helm of the James Bond franchise in 2025 – revealed that casting was only just beginning for the next 007.
“The search for the next James Bond is underway. While we don’t plan to comment on specific details during the casting process, we’re excited to share more news with 007 fans as soon as the time is right,” a studio representative said.
Over the weekend, Variety reported that Tom – who was previously nominated for a Tony and won an Olivier for his work in Sunset Boulevard, and has also appeared in the TV series You and the George Clooney movie Jay Kelly – had auditioned for the iconic spy role.
Denis Villeneuve will direct the long-awaited 26th Bond movie, for which Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight is writing the script.
The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) continues to press the Starmer government to release the entirety of the Peter Mandelson files.
The top security body asked an urgent question in the House of Commons to try and get access to the documents.
The row became public on 15 May when the Canary reported:
The top UK intelligence scrutiny body has warned that critical files on disgraced Labour politician Peter Mandelson are being withheld. The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) said key documents related to the case had not been made available by Keir Starmer’s government.
Keir Starmer is under pressure over alleged irregularities in vetting the appointment of Mandelson — an arch-Blairite and long-time friend of paedophile financier, Jeffrey Epstein — as UK ambassador to the US.
Mandelson is under investigation for misconduct in public office
Times journalist, Steve Swinford, called the step from the ISC “extraordinary” in an X post.
The ISC laid out serious concerns about the way the government has been conducting itself on Friday, effectively accusing it of censorship and putting national security at risk
It hasn’t had a response – so is going directly to the Commons to try to force the government’s hand. Jeremy Wright, the former AG, is expected to lead on the debate for the ISC when/ if it is granted.
The Intelligence and Security Committee is taking the extraordinary step of tabling a UQ in the Commons today amid concerns over redactions to the Lord Mandelson files
The ISC laid out serious concerns about the way the government has been conducting itself on Friday,… — Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) May 19, 2026
Swinford also presented what he said were the main ISC objections to government failure to produce the Mandelson documents:
-
The ISC says that it is applying the ‘personal information’ criteria ‘far too broadly’ and without any scrutiny. ‘We note that no body has been commissioned to review these redactions and assure Parliament they are within the spirit of the Humble Address’
- It also accuses the Cabinet Office of withholding documents, including Mandelson’s vetting file. While the ISC does not wish to see the vetting file – indeed it privately accepts that doing so would undermine the vetting system – it says the Government needs to return to Parliament and seek its agreement for withholding documents
- The ISC says that the level of government business conducted on WhatsApp is ‘extraordinary’. ‘Lengthy Whatsapp conversations between senior officials and ministers appear now to be the format by which Government policy is formulated’
- It says government departments – the FCDO in particular – are failing to keep proper records – agendas, minutes and records of conversations. ‘This is unacceptable in government’
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Sensitive exchanges are being conducted on ‘lower level’ security systems, putting the UK’s national security at risk. The ISC says it is ‘appalling’
Running down the clock
The ISC has since been told that the Mandelson files will not be released for at least a month.
The BBC reported:
Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, Darren Jones, said the papers would be released after Parliament’s upcoming recess to give MPs “sufficient time to review the material”.
Jones gave the update in the House of Commons after the committee of MPs reviewing the documents said some files were being withheld and redacted on new grounds.
Jones has denied allegations of a cover up.
In February, MPs voted that all files should be released.
The government initially opposed the motion, arguing that it did not want to publish material that could damage national security or diplomatic relations.
The government later agreed to the release but has not been in a rush to follow through. A first batch was released in March. The current disagreement is over a second batch of files.
ISC head, Lord Beamish, told the BBC:
The government still needed to explain why certain information connected to the security vetting of Lord Mandelson could not be published.
Starmer is on the ropes over Mandelson and recent election results, and is under threat by power-hungry rivals in his own party. It seems like a matter of time before the right wing influence operation to seize control of the dying party unravels — and hopefully the entire neo-Blairite project with it.
Featured image via Jon Rowley/ Getty Images
By Joe Glenton
Kids can suffer tummy ache for a whole host of reasons – from anxiety, to stomach bugs, to urinary tract infections (UTIs) and constipation.
But one underlying reason which always requires medical investigation is appendicitis, which is where the appendix, which forms part of the bowel, becomes swollen and infected.
If left untreated, it can burst, which can be very painful and life-threatening.
Appearing in a segment on This Morning, Dr Ana Alcock, a paediatric emergency medicine consultant, spoke of the “really worrying [appendicitis] sign” which would require a trip to A&E.
She said: “So, it’s normally part of three things: they normally have fever, they vomit, and they have tummy pain – and it’s often tummy pain that starts around the belly button and then moves down onto that right lower side.”
Rani Nurlaela Desandi via Getty Images
Typically this movement of pain happens over 24-48 hours. The pain “doesn’t move around, it’s not soft; it’s constant and it’s really painful”, said the expert.
If children have appendicitis, they won’t be able to jump, hop or twist as it will be too painful.
“They just want to lie still and not be touched,” she added. “So if you’re not sure whether to worry, get them to do a hop, or a jump, or a cough, because it just jiggles thing inside.”
Per the NHS, appendicitis can also cause symptoms such as constipation, diarrhoea, feeling nauseous, loss of appetite, or peeing more than usual.
If the appendix bursts, the pain may get better for a short time before returning at extremely severe levels and spreading to the rest of the abdomen. This is a medical emergency.
If a child’s stomach pain is gradually getting worse, doesn’t go away, or moves to the lower right side of their stomach, call NHS 111.
If they have severe pain in their stomach, become confused, have blotchy or paler than usual skin, or experience difficulty breathing, call 999 or go straight to A&E.
According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), appendicitis is one of the most common causes of acute abdominal pain in children and adults.
Around 50,000 appendicectomies (urgent surgery to remove an inflamed appendix) are performed each year in the UK.
We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about why some neurologists recommend avoiding GPS while driving and ensuring your kids don’t run around with toothbrushes in their mouths.
In a recent TikTok video, neurologist Dr Baibing Cheng (known online as Dr Bing) said: “I’ve seen strokes caused by things people do every day.”
These include your choice of drinks and the way you breathe while working out.
Here, he shared “three things I don’t do as a neurologist, because I’ve seen strokes happen this way”.
1) Drinking energy drinks
Stating that he prefers to stick to coffee to raise his energy levels, Dr Bing said energy drinks can contain very concentrated levels of caffeine.
The BBC previously reported that some supermarket energy drinks contain the maximum allowed caffeine dose in a single serving (200mg caffeine). In comparison, an average cup of brewed coffee has about 90-150mg caffeine.
Other stimulants included in energy drinks, like guarana – a plant which releases its high caffeine content more slowly than coffee – and taurine, which can amplify the effects of caffeine, make these riskier, Dr Bing continued.
The combination can “increase your risk of dangerous heart rhythms”, increasing your risk of clots, which may travel to your brain to cause a stroke.
One paper found that excessive energy drink consumption could significantly raise stroke risk after a stroke victim with very high blood pressure saw his levels return to normal after giving up his eight-can-a-day habit.
Speaking to HuffPost UK previously, Dr Arun Narayanan, a clinical electrophysiologist and an assistant professor of medicine, said: “In general, I would recommend limiting energy drinks to no more than one standard-sized can per day, and for many individuals, avoiding them altogether may be the safer choice.”
2) Lifting heavy weights while holding your breath
The doctor said that there’s a term linked to this risk: a “heavy lift stroke”.
One paper found that stroke risk was 2.6 times higher an hour after lifting a weight weighing about 23 kilos or more.
And doing so while holding your breath means you’re more likely to accidentally perform a Valsalva manoeuvre, Dr Bing continued. This increases the pressure in your chest and can affect your heart rate and blood pressure, too.
In fact, the neurologist said, it can spike systolic blood pressure to over 400, which is “a massive surge of force on the blood vessels in the brain”. This increased stress raises your risk of stroke.
He added that controlling your breathing while lifting and doing lighter weights for more reps can help you achieve your strength goals without raising your blood pressure quite so much.
3) Doing yoga poses that force your neck into extreme positions
Noting that. in general, yoga is great for our health, Dr Bing said that some positions may be dangerous in rare cases.
Those which make us flex or extend our neck too far can cause tears in our vessel walls (dissection), which can sometime lead to stroke.
These dissections have previously been noted in a pilot who had to crane his neck into an awkward position to rescue his dropped wedding ring, and a retiree who squeezed his neck into a small space while tinkering with his sink.
And a 2022 paper described a man who’d experienced torn arteries after a yoga class, adding that “yoga is a well-described cause of cervical [neck] arterial dissection, with stroke or TIA [transient ischemic attack, or “mini-stroke”] being the common chief complaint”.
So, Dr Bing said, “avoiding extreme [neck] strain is very important in yoga”.
Next stop on President Donald Trump’s revenge tour: Kentucky.
On the heels of ousting several Indiana state lawmakers early this month and Sen. Bill Cassidy just days ago, the White House is well-positioned to remove rebellious Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky’s GOP primary on Tuesday.
It’s one of the final checkpoints in Trump’s monthlong effort to punish Republicans for bucking him. And the list of Massie’s sins is long, from his opposition to the president’s signature tax-and-spending plan to his forceful stands against the war in Iran and successfully pushing for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
“Trump is coming in as the leader of the party and he has every right to flex his muscle,” said Shane Noem, who is neutral in the race as the chair of the Kenton County Republican Party in Massie’s district. “The question remains: Will the ‘Average Joe’ Republican lean into the party, or will they lean into an outsider who’s been in the party for 14 years?”
The Kentucky libertarian’s fate is the biggest in a slate of tests Tuesday of Trump’s grip on the GOP. In Georgia, the Trump-backed gubernatorial candidate seems likely to advance to a runoff, while Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — who refused to accept the president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results — is polling in third place. In Alabama, Trump’s endorsement of Rep. Barry Moore in the GOP Senate primary helped boost him to front-runner status.
The president’s endorsement has proven to be decisive in GOP primaries and a mobilizing force for his base. A POLITICO poll, conducted by Public First from May 9 to 11, found that nearly half of voters who plan to vote Republican in the midterms would choose a candidate officially endorsed by the president, compared with a candidate Trump hasn’t endorsed but isn’t opposed to (28 percent), or a candidate he’s actively trying to block (9 percent).
Trump and his allies have had some major recent successes in taking out the president’s foes. They spent more than $9 million to pick off five state lawmakers who opposed his redistricting push in Indiana. In Louisiana, Trump lent the influence of his social media account to boost Rep. Julia Letlow early on in the race and State Treasurer John Fleming in the final hours.
But no one has drawn the ire of Trump and his team quite like Massie. The president’s endorsement of former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein united local forces and various factions of the GOP in trying to sink the iconoclastic Kentucky conservative with a libertarian lean. Spending in the race has topped $32 million, making it the most expensive House primary in history, per tracking firm AdImpact. Trump’s political operation and pro-Israel groups who’ve long opposed the incumbent have unleashed more than $16 million against him. Trump rallied with Gallrein in March, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth promoted him at an event in the district on Monday.
Polling shows a tightening race down the home stretch after Massie led earlier on, with one survey showing Massie leading Gallrein by just over 1 percentage point and two others showing him trailing by 7 and 8 points, respectively.
Trump’s allies are growing bullish after his romps through other red states: “Got another one coming Tuesday,” Chris LaCivita, Trump’s former campaign manager who is running the anti-Massie super PAC MAGA KY, recently posted on X. in response to a meme of the president knocking out Cassidy with a golf ball.
Asked for comment, the White House pointed to Trump’s recent Truth Social post praising Gallrein as a “WINNER WHO WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN” and calling Massie “a totally ineffective LOSER who has failed us so badly.”
Massie is a tougher target than some of Trump’s other foes. His libertarian-conservative politics mirror those of his northern Kentucky district where many voters cheer his contrarian stances as principled stands. He has allies in some of the America First movement’s loudest voices, like Tucker Carlson, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who rallied with Massie over the weekend — and even drew a threat of a primary challenge from Trump over that decision, though the filing period has closed.
Massie is not only clear-eyed about the threat he faces, but leaning into the challenge. He has projected confidence down the home stretch, even as Trump’s foes continue to fall.
“I’m glad he’s in with both feet,” Massie told POLITICO on Friday as he left the Capitol for the campaign trail. “This will be his biggest loss ever as far as endorsements go.”
After felling Cassidy, Trump took to Truth Social to label Massie the“worst Republican Congressman in History.” Massie responded on ABC that he was leading and his foes were “desperate.”
In a race that revolves around Trump, Massie has been trying to make the case to voters that they can back him and back the president. He’s attempted to thread the needle on his dissent by arguing he’s with the president “nearly all of the time.” The times when he’s not — the Epstein files, spending, foreign interventions — he says, are because the administration has shifted on its core values, not him.
“Massie’s sitting to the right of Trump and Trump’s never really tried to take out somebody who’s to the right of him before,” said Tres Watson, a Kentucky-based GOP strategist who is not working for either campaign.
Massie’s opposition to Trump’s interventions in Iran and longstanding opposition to U.S. aid to Israel have turned the race into a tussle over the definition of “America First” and the base’s adherence to it as some Republicans, particularly younger ones, splinter over the wars in the Middle East.
“This is a congressional race, but it’s also somewhat of a national movement, and it would be bad for Republicans’ prospects in the midterms if I lose,” Massie said. “Not just because they’ve wasted $10 million of Republican mega donor money on a seat that’s going to be red anyway. It’s going to be because those people will be like ‘why am I even voting Republican?’ … they’ll stay home.”
A win on Tuesday, Massie said, gives him “antibodies” against the president and his political machine. In proving it is possible to withstand Trump’s wrath, it could provide a model for other Republicans who break with the president, though vanishingly few remain in Congress.
A Massie defeat — especially on the heels of Cassidy’s Louisiana loss — would signal a larger reality facing the GOP: There’s little room within the party anymore for politicians who disagree with Trump, even as he enters the back half of his presidency.
“There used to be room for effective, mild-mannered wonkish types because they got stuff done and industry and voters appreciated it,” said one Republican strategist working on the Alabama Senate race on behalf of a Moore opponent, granted anonymity to speak freely without fear of retribution. “Now it’s just different.”
Though drinking more than three or four cups of coffee a day might be bad for us, a growing body of research suggests that coffee drinkers might live longer and even age better.
This may be especially true if we opt for black coffee with no sugar.
And according to a 2020 paper in the British Journal Of Nutrition, when we drink our morning cup of Joe matters too.
Is it better to drink coffee before or after breakfast?
The scientists recorded participants’ blood responses to different consumption habits after a disrupted night’s sleep and a normal night’s sleep.
On one day, participants were given a glucose drink on waking from an uninterrupted sleep; on another, a glucose drink after a bad night’s kip; and on yet another day, a cup of coffee before the glucose drink (also after poor sleep).
The glucose drink was meant to mimic the nutritional content of a “normal” breakfast.
In this study, the researchers found that one night of bad sleep did not significantly negatively affect healthy participants’ metabolism.
But drinking coffee on an empty stomach before the glucose drink appeared to increase participants’ blood glucose response to the ‘breakfast’ by around 50%.
Harry Smith, the study’s lead researcher, told the University of Bath: “Starting a day after a poor night’s sleep with a strong coffee did have a negative effect on glucose metabolism by around 50%.
“As such, individuals should try to balance the potential stimulating benefits of caffeinated coffee in the morning with the potential for higher blood glucose levels, and it may be better to consume coffee following breakfast rather than before.”
Try breakfast first, then reach for coffee if you need it, the experts suggest
“We know that nearly half of us will wake in the morning and, before doing anything else, drink coffee – intuitively the more tired we feel, the stronger the coffee,” Professor James Betts, who oversaw the study, added.
“Put simply, our blood sugar control is impaired when the first thing our bodies come into contact with is coffee, especially after a night of disrupted sleep. We might improve this by eating first and then drinking coffee later if we feel we still… need it.”
Dietitians recommend eating whole grains and protein first thing for a sustainable energy boost.
Andy Burnham has been confirmed as Labour’s candidate in next month’s crucial Makerfield by-election.
The Greater Manchester mayor was the only person who put his name forward to stand for the party.
He said he was “proud and humbled” to have been selected as the Labour candidate.
“These proud working-class communities represent the very best values of our country and they deserve so much better,” Burnham said.
“It would be my honour to work for them every day, if elected as their MP, to achieve that.
“Many people here feel Westminster isn’t working for them and they are right. I am standing to change that and get the voice of these communities heard loud and clear.”
It comes after Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) confirmed that it would not block his attempts to return to parliament.
It sets up a titanic battle between Burnham and the Reform UK candidate, Robert Kenyon, a local plumber who stood in the seat at the 2024 general election.
He lost by 5,399 votes to Labour’s Josh Simons, who announced last week that he was resigning to let Burnham try to return to Westminster.
Reform leader Nigel Farage has vowed his party will “throw everything” at the campaign to block Burnham.
Farage said: “This by-election contest is now a David versus Goliath battle.
“This is the the Plucky Plumber taking on Open Borders Burnham’. Only Reform UK can beat Labour in this by-election.”
Robert Kenyon said: “Makerfield has never had a member of parliament who was actually born in Makerfield. This will be a tough fight but I am going to give this contest my best shot.”
The by-election could be the most consequential in British politics for decades, as Burnham is expected to immediately challenge Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership and the keys to 10 Downing Street if he wins.
If he loses, it will demonstrate that there are no no-go areas for Reform in Labour’s traditional heartlands.
A powerful new feature film aims to expose the sinister way ‘trans panic’ has been used across the US as a legal defence to justify the murder of transgender people.
Highlighting the long history of activism, resistance and solidarity within the trans community, the film, Trans Panic, follows two trans elders who fought back against deadly stigma and helped organise the first Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Nancy Nangeroni and Gordene Mackenzie played a vital role in securing long-overdue rights for trans people. This achievement came after a wave of hate crimes saw attackers — and murderers — receive lighter sentences by claiming ‘trans panic’ somehow excused or diminished their violent intent.
Now, as Trump fuels renewed hostility towards trans people, they are speaking out once again to remind the public that hate-fuelled violence can never be framed as “self-defence”. Horrifyingly, this defence continues to be available in most US jurisdictions.
But to help ensure this horrific chapter of history is neither forgotten nor repeated, they need public support to raise £15,000 to turn the project into a full feature film.
Trans Panic hopes to inspire generations of activists
Originally, the filmmakers planned to create a short film about the experiences of these two principled and inspiring trans elders. But after a successful fundraising campaign, they have now set their sights on turning it into a full feature film, giving this harrowing yet hopeful story the depth it deserves.
The film explores the painful experiences faced not only by partners Nancy and Gordene, but by the wider trans community, in the hope it can inspire a new generation of activism and stop history from repeating itself. As has happened time and time again, reactionary forces are already trying to roll back hard-won rights, leaving an already embattled community vulnerable to renewed hostility and violence.
Importantly, the film also challenges the false idea that trans rights are somehow new or “woke”. In reality, trans people have fought for dignity, safety and recognition for generations. Their struggle forms part of a much longer history of civil rights movements fighting for freedom and bodily autonomy.
It also reminds us never to take rights for granted. The far right actively works to erode the freedoms of LGBTQ+ people wherever it can, which means people must constantly defend those rights. Feminists should take notice too: attacks on bodily autonomy never stop with one group.
When reactionary movements target reproductive rights, trans rights, or queer rights, they attack the broader principle that people deserve control over their own bodies and lives.
We all deserve autonomy. None of us are truly free until all of us are free from that sinister oppression.
‘Trans panic’ as a legal defence
On their Kickstarter campaign, director Hester Morris spoke of the history which inspired this feature film.
She explained:
The term ‘Trans Panic’ is a legal defence that has been used all over the US to justify the brutal murders of many transgender people over the decades.
The idea is that perpetrators claim to be in such a state of shock after discovering their victims are transgender that their motivation towards extreme violence is somehow akin to self defence.
This legal argument meant that many people received minimal sentences for what were blatantly hate-filled killings.
And as if that wasn’t bad enough, the media and wider society failed to show outrage or even compassion for these victims.
As I’m sure many will agree, this sentiment is coming back with a vengeance across the West as the trans community face bigoted, derogatory attacks through the duplicitous veil of ‘women’s safety’. In reality, history proves that the rights of both groups are very much intertwined and face the same threats in our societies.
The film will consider the world-changing activism of the 90s, which fought back against the stigma endangering their lives, whilst seeking justice for their trans siblings.
The far right is actively eroding hard-fought civil rights
Speaking from their home in New Mexico, Nancy and Gordene recount “their story of love and struggle”. Sharing their memories and rarely seen archival footage, this film makes clear how the personal and political intersect.
Like protests for civil rights and freedoms today, the 90s saw TV appearances, street protests and legal battles to give rise to “the world’s first movement towards respect and rights for gender non-conforming people”.
Whilst many are aware of this day of remembrance, not many are aware of the personal stories behind it and the very people that had an instructive role in making it happen. An ignorance that this film seeks to redress as it refuses to allow trans people to live in that same horrifying fear for their own safety.
Battles for civil rights have always intersected across race, gender and sexuality, and they defined this era of history.
How can you continue this tradition of solidarity?
The film’s creators wish to revive this “fundamental moment in trans history” through documenting these activists’ achievements to help inspire more activism today. With history clearly in the throes of repeating itself, trans and queer people need strong allies.
On the Kickstarter campaign, they write:
We hope that the work of Nancy, Gordene and many others will provide guidance and inspiration for those brave enough to fight back against the transphobic, homophobic, racist regimes, growing in strength all over the world – but we need your help.
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We at the Canary hope our readers get behind this fundraising campaign and share it with their friends and family. History shows that when the establishment and far right target one marginalised group, others are never far behind.
That is why civil rights movements so often stand together and intersect with one another because when they come for one community, they eventually come for us all.
Featured image via Trans Panic Kickstarter
We’ve covered off mid, chat, chopped, choppelganger, tuff, six-seven (*takes a breath*) and dozens of other weird phrases kids come out with thanks to viral internet culture.
Now, some teachers in the US are reporting kids are saying “call your Uber” or “call yo Uber” in class. Uber is a popular ride-hailing company so it’s kind of like saying, “call yourself a taxi”. In short: you need to leave.
TikTok creator and teacher Philip Lindsay said: “‘Call your Uber’ is a phrase that I’ve heard kids starting to use in the last couple of weeks and it’s always directed at somebody who’s either being annoying or doing something unwanted.”
The phrase has likely come from a video, the educator explained, where two people are interacting and are “very obviously annoyed at each other” – then one of them tells the other to “call your Uber”.
Another teacher known online as Coach Philly noted he’s also heard the phrase and will be using it because it’s “hilarious”.
“I actually love this one and yes I’m going to use it,” he said in a TikTok video.
“So anytime you hear ‘call your Uber’ that just means: ‘please stop’, ‘shut up’, ‘you’re annoying’, ‘get out’, ‘leave’, ‘just quit’ … If you see somebody doing something you don’t like or they’re being annoying or they’re getting on your nerves or you want them to leave, you just say ‘call your Uber’.”
What else are kids saying?
Mid
When Gen Alpha uses it, “mid” means mediocre or of disappointing quality. If you’re described as “mid” by a teenager then they’re basically saying you are… average.
According to Merriam-Webster, “mid” serves to express that something falls short of expectations, or isn’t impressive.
The dictionary notes that this slang term is thought to have come from a shortening of the term mid-grade, “a designation in cannabis culture of medium quality”.
City boy
“City boy, city boy” is the call of Gen Alpha currently, with TikTok creator and teacher Philip Lindsay noting kids in his class have been saying it.
“It’s a meme from an old video clip that they’re just repeating,” explained the teacher, who is based in the US. The memes actually first did the rounds in 2022 and appear to be popular again.
From a Gen Alpha perspective, Mr Lindsay suggested the phrase doesn’t really mean anything and kids are just shouting it out at all opportunities – a bit like six-seven.
Unc
This is short for “uncle”. And, per Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, it’s “often used humorously to indicate old age” and may imply “someone is old, getting old, or acting older than their age”.
Unc status may also be awarded to someone who “exhibit[s] behaviours that are considered outdated or out of touch”.
Chopped
In Gen Z and Gen Alpha speak, it means “ugly”. In some cases, younger generations have been calling people, mainly girls, chuzz – a less-than-friendly portmanteau of “chopped” and “huzz”, which means “ugly hoes”.
If your child’s been called chopped at school, here’s some advice on handling it.
Some kids have also been using ‘chopped’ to describe anything they don’t like. (So basically, “that’s chopped” became the equivalent of “that sucks”.)
Choppelganger
Choppelganger is a portmanteau of ‘chopped’ (aka ugly), and ‘doppelganger’, which is a person who resembles someone else. In short, it’s calling someone a less-attractive lookalike of someone else.
Check out our ultimate guide to teen slang here.
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