Politics
Responses from disabled people detail “soul-destroying” DWP PIP assessments
The 9 July interim report from the Timms Review of the Department for Work and Pension’s (DWP) Personal Independence Payment (PIP) system found that the benefit was both vitally necessary and deeply unfit for purpose.
After putting out a call for responses back in March, the reviewers received over 38,000 responses. This was in spite of the fact that the response period was limited to 10 weeks, rather than the customary 12.
Within these, the vast majority — around 90% — of the responses were negative. Roughly half mentioned PIP’s financial inadequacy, and over a quarter referenced decisions or appeals that “changed later in the process. Notably:
Multiple and interacting health conditions are referenced in around 83% of responses – less-visible, cognitive, neurodivergence, and mental health conditions appear in around 70% of responses
The participants included the D/deaf and disabled people who receive PIP, along with disability advocacy groups, clinicians and leading academics. This article will take a closer look at those responses, including key quotes from the participants themselves.
The purpose of PIP
The interim report noted that the extra costs associated with recipients’ disabilities can vary wildly. However, the PIP system often fails to recognise that fact or “offer appropriate support”. One respondent stated that:
Even at the enhanced rate, PIP does not provide a good quality of life. It is a minimal contribution towards the additional costs of disability.
Meanwhile, PIP’s public reputation has declined, and support for cuts has risen. As the Canary has previously reported, this was fueled in large part by negative media coverage. This has, understandably, caused a great deal of anxiety for disabled people who rely on PIP.
Beyond this, respondents frequently highlighted the ways in which PIP works against its stated aim to enable independence. In particular, the assessment process can punish people for working or showing improvement, even when the underlying support requirements remain the same.
One participant stated that:
You are punished for coping. If you manage to do anything, it is used as evidence that you don’t need support.
Another added:
People with impairments and disabilities cannot feel like they can’t exercise for fear they will lose their PIP – it’s creating a trap of compounding [sic] reduction in physical health.
Eligibility, fairness and equity
Given these issues, it’s unsurprising that many of the responses highlighted that the PIP assessment doesn’t reflect people’s actual needs. Likewise, participants frequently felt that PIP may not work equitably for everyone, particularly for individuals with “multiple and fluctuating conditions”:
This is particularly acute for neurodivergent and Deaf claimants, for whom communication barriers, sensory overload and inaccessible formats (such as lack of online forms and reliance on telephones) add further layers of distress and exclusion.
In particular, the assessment process often focuses on whether a claimant can perform a task at all. This ignores whether they can carry it out safely and repeatedly. One response held that:
I was told several times during my in-person assessment that it didn’t matter if I would be in pain during an activity, they just needed a yes or no on if I could technically do it.
Likewise, the claimants often felt that they were judged on short interactions with the assessors. As such, the assessments seemed to rely on outward appearances, creating a bias against invisible conditions. A participant stated that:
They focus heavily on physical, observable difficulties, whereas many mental health conditions are internal, fluctuating, and not always visible.
As such, whether or not somebody receives the appropriate level of payment can depend heavily on their ability to navigate the system. This involves a claimant’s ability to explain their conditions in a way that matches the DWP’s tick-box criteria, and persisting through the often-lengthy review process.
As one participant mentioned, getting the right assessor can also strongly affect the result:
Outcomes can vary depending on assessor knowledge, the quality of supporting evidence, whether someone has advocacy, and whether they are able to challenge a decision. This means the system can reward confidence, literacy, stamina and support networks rather than need. People with the same functional difficulties may receive different outcomes.
Needless to say, this assessment lottery is the exact opposite of equity and fairness.
The experience of claiming PIP
Alongside this distinct unfairness, participants described the assessment process itself as a “dehumanising”, “soul destroying” and “degrading” ordeal. One participant said that this was the case regardless of the outcome:
The process completely dehumanises the individual and makes them feel like garbage regardless of the outcome.
In particular, the assessment involves describing intimate personal details to a complete stranger, which is often demeaning. These range from personal trauma and mental distress to personal hygiene and how one goes to the toilet.
These issues, in turn, led to a low level of trust in the system altogether. Respondents often highlighted that they felt their responses could be weaponised against them:
I felt like I was being cross‑examined, not supported. Every answer I gave felt like it was being used against me.
Meanwhile, assessors treat adjustments as “optional or exceptional”:
I asked for extra time and different communication methods but was told they did not have time for reasonable adjustments.
We shouldn’t need to say it, but hey ho: this is meant to be a disability assessment. Reasonable adjustments are key to a fair process, not a nice-to-have bonus.
As we’ve been saying…
Of course, none of these responses are new information. They reflect precisely what disabled people and advocacy organisations have been saying about the PIP system and the DWP for years. However, the fact that they’ve now been collated into a formal review is a positive step.
As always when it comes to inquiries like this, the report is a description of the problem, not a solution. Now, the government must listen to and act on the findings – kicking the can down the road and claiming ignorance will no longer cut it.
Featured image via the Canary
By Grace
In the past decade, Moana has become one of Disney’s hottest properties, and its popularity with younger viewers means the film has become the most-streamed in movie history (which probably won’t come as a surprise to anyone with a child and a Disney+ account at home).
Since its release 10 years ago, the animated musical has spawned a 2024 sequel (which received a lukewarm response) and its own live-action remake (which was even less well-received) – but it’s the animated original that keeps audiences coming back time and time again,
However, even if you’ve heard How Far I’ll Go and You’re Welcome so many times that you’re singing them in your sleep, there are still certain things about the modern Disney classic you’re probably not aware of.
Namely, what Moana gets called overseas.
In the lead-up to Moana’s release in 2016, it was revealed that the film would receive a very different title in Italy, where it’s known as Oceania.
Moana herself is also renamed to Vaiana in Italy, and while Disney has never actually confirmed why, it’s been widely speculated this was to avoid comparisons with the late Italian porn star and media personality Moana Pozzi.
According to Variety, Disney Italy’s head of theatrical marketing did say that the subject of Moana Pozzi had been an “issue” that the company was “thinking about” while considering the film’s release in Italy.
In other European countries – including France, Spain, Germany, Portugal, The Netherlands and across Scandinavia – the film is also known as Vaiana, but this is mostly due to the fact that Moana is a registered trademark in many territories.
Moana (or Vaiana, depending on who you ask) made her second voyage into cinemas in November last year, following an announcement about a sequel that was made just months earlier.
The project originally began life as a TV series, which was eventually switched to a feature-length film during production.
Her live-action remake is now in cinemas, with newcomer Catherine Laga’aia taking over as the title character, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson reprising the role of Maui.
Trump is synonymous with the grift. He is grifting on critical minerals deals too, unsurprisingly. Incoming reports show that the administration’s push to secure these resources has become a family-and-friends cash cow.
Trump’s sons and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s children are especially positioned to profit from billion dollar deals. Cantor Fitzgerald — led by Lutnick for more than 30 years before he handed ownership to his children after becoming Trump’s Commerce Secretary — is all over these deals.
Critical minerals: Hottest cash cow
The New York Times (NYT) reported that the Trump administration has provided, or is considering providing more than $8.9 billion in federal funding to 14 companies with financial ties to the Trump or Lutnick families. All of these firms are in lockstep with the US government, supporting its critical minerals and mining projects.
Critical minerals, according to the NYT, are the “hottest” ticket in town. Financial services firm BMO Capital Markets has counted 60 critical minerals projects worldwide. These have cumulatively received conditional and final approval from the federal government, backed by $18.6 billion in federal loans and other financial support since Trump returned to office. This is the largest amount in US history.
The BMO’s vice president has said:
The level of activity compared to, say, 2023 is like night and day.
The Trump administration has provided or is considering providing $8.9B+ in funding to 14 firms with ties to the Trump &/or Lutnick families that are actively working with the US government on mining deals, @PaulSonne & @EricLiptonNYT report. @nytimes
https://t.co/zz1rINQwh0
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) June 28, 2026
According to the report:
This emboldened mixing of federal policymaking and personal business began shortly after Mr. Trump returned to office last year, when the Trump and Lutnick sons played a role in billions of dollars of cryptocurrency deals as the fathers helped set policies that supercharged the crypto industry.
Now, the families’ ethically tangled pursuit of profits is extending to the new arms race for critical minerals.
Kaz Resources
The most striking example is the Kazakhstan tungsten deal. According to the NYT, the US offered $1.6 billion in financing for a Kazakh tungsten venture led by Cove Kaz Capital — a mining investment and development firm working with US clients — in 2025. Trump personally negotiated the deal with Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and Lutnick was heavily involved throughout the process.
On 31 October, six days before the agreement was signed, Trump’s sons took a 20 percent stake in Skyline Builders through Dominari Securities. Skyline Builders later merged with Cove Kaz Capital and was renamed Kaz Resources, the company now developing the tungsten project.
Lutnick’s sons helped to raise $210 million for the deal through Cantor Fitzgerald. The developer has since asked the Pentagon for another $400 million.
Vulcan Elements
Vulcan Elements offers another case study in how this network operates. The NYT also reported that in August 2025, Donald Trump Jr.’s venture capital firm, 1789 Capital, took an undisclosed stake in Vulcan Elements, a North Carolina rare-earth magnet startup.
Three months later, the Pentagon granted Vulcan a $620 million loan. The company’s valuation jumped from around $200 million to nearly $2 billion.
The deal was initiated by Peter Navarro, a White House adviser and close friend of Trump Jr. Of the dozens of companies the Pentagon was considering, Vulcan’s was the only one pushed by a top presidential aide.
USA Rare Earth
Then there is the USA Rare Earth deal.
USA Rare Earth raised $1.5 billion from private investors in a capital raise overseen by none other than Cantor Fitzgerald
The NYT reported that this month, the Trump administration committed an eyewatering $1.6 billion in financial support to USA Rare Earth.
The potential Greenland heist
Nor is this pattern confined to a single continent.
Just this week, Trump revived his bid for the US to acquire Greenland, threatening to pull all American armed forces out of Europe after the continent repeatedly pushed back.
Trump is eyeing Greenland for its mining opportunities. According to Global Witness, his cronies are ready to cash in on Trump’s Greenland policy.
Critical Metals Corp has become the majority stakeholder in Tanbreez Mining Greenland, which owns one of the world’s largest rare earth deposits, and has received a $120 million letter of interest from the US Export-Import Bank.
The company has also received investment from Cantor Fitzgerald (of course), and an agreement to supply rare earths to a Louisiana refinery. Governor Jeff Landry, who announced the refinery, was later appointed Trump’s Special Envoy to Greenland.
The robbery of DRC critical minerals
The resource grab extends to Africa too, where the Trump administration has secured a strategic partnership with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The deal, signed at the White House in December 2025, grants the US special access to vast reserves of copper, cobalt, and lithium — metals essential for the production of microchips, EV batteries, and weapons systems.
The US Development Finance Corporation invested $600 million in Orion Resource Partners, which secured a 40 percent stake in Glencore’s operations, despite Progressive International documenting Orion’s bribery and environmental cover-ups in Guinea.
Trump ally Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater, is positioning for security contracts through his company Vectus Global, Progressive International noted.
The Canary recently profiled the profile of Prince by the FT, where his bloodthirsty mercenary activities are normalised.
The FT just bigged up warlord Erik Prince without blinking an eye
Erik Prince built Blackwater, the mercenary firm that made a fortune off the Iraq War. But now suddenly, the FT thinks he’s redeemed.https://t.co/DDVm0StGbDhttps://t.co/DDVm0StGbD
— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) June 29, 2026
Trump seems to be running his presidency like a family-and-friends enrichment scheme, to put it mildly.
Featured image via the Canary
By Nandita Lal
Presumptive new PM Andy Burnham has indicated that he will not undo any of his defunct predecessor’s war on UK rights and freedoms in support of Israel. In fact, he has made clear that he doesn’t think it’s tough enough and intends to take it further.
Burnham picks up where Starmer left off
For example, Burnham has said that he wants the under-16s ban to be delivered with urgency and reinforced the lies about doing it to ‘protect children’. But he thinks it is only a starting point: a “critical first step”.
Burnham made a milksop apology yesterday for Labour’s ‘stance’ on Palestine, but he still hasn’t called the Gaza genocide a genocide. And he stopped a long way short of flagging even an interest in any significant change to the UK’s slavish support for Israel and its crimes.
Instead, he waffled absolute nonsense about “ensur[ing] the Israeli government adheres to international law” – something the terror colony will never do. He even threw in his hope “to keep the prospect of a two-state solution alive”. The ‘two-state solution’ has always been a complete con, but never more than now when Israel has stolen most of Gaza and has broken the West Bank into fragments it continues to consume brutally.
Zionist horror show
None of this will come as any surprise to those who have watched as Burnham was first manoeuvred into place by, then surrounded himself with, an array of the usual pro-Israel horrors of the Labour right. These have included some of the same handlers around the disgraced Starmer — and will include Starmer’s Zionist ‘national security’ adviser, who will stay in post.
Nor is the ‘more of the same’ approach limited to Israel’s crimes in Palestine and its illegal wars on Lebanon and Iran. Burnham has refused to give the Scots an independence referendum their politics merits. He has said nothing about reversing Starmer’s dangerous, unconstitutional block on the Irish reunification referendum required by the Good Friday Agreement. He has shrugged off questions about renationalising energy and other strategic sectors. He has said he will follow Starmer’s counterproductive ‘fiscal rules‘ and carry out Starmer’s planned massive increases in weapons spending.
Backdoor mandatory ID
Burnham’s support for the under-16s social media ban shows he is just as committed to the backdoor introduction of mandatory ‘Digital ID’. In fact, Starmeroid horror Liz Kendall said she has spoken to Burnham and obtained his agreement for further such measures. Those ‘further measures’ appear to include a “massive crackdown” on VPNs – virtual private networks – that internet users can deploy to protect their security and hide their geolocation.
All of this is designed to repress and restrict the freedoms of UK citizens to oppose UK government crimes, especially its collaboration in Israel’s endless crimes. Anyone thinking Burnham will represent a more substantial change than ‘same old, same old with a more amiable face’ is indulging in forlorn hope and ignoring the evidence.
Featured image via the Canary
By Skwawkbox
Early on 9 July, 3 action-takers from People Against Genocide successfully evaded security to enter the Tring facility of military tech and cyber warfare company Ultra Intelligence & Communications (Ultra I&C) in Tring, Hertfordshire.
Once inside the building, the PAG team began dismantling military equipment, to close the facility down, and stop production.
Ultra I&C is a key supplier to UAV Tactical Systems, the Leicester subsidiary of Elbit Systems, Israel’s biggest weapons maker. Elbit produces 85% of the Israeli military’s killer drone fleet, and 80% of their other weaponry and equipment. Elbit boasts that its deadly products are “battle-tested” on Palestinians. And they have been used against civilian populations across West Asia.
Ultra I&C claims to specialise in “AI mission solutions” and “secure battlefield communications systems”. And in a major step, in October 2024, it entered into a collaboration agreement with the US arm of South-Korean weapons giant Hanwha. The collaboration focuses on integrating Ultra I&C’s Command and Control (C2) gateway with Hanwha’s missile systems, specifically the K239 Chunmoo rocket launcher.
Job listings for Ultra I&C’s Tring site, clearly show that it’s a manufacturing facility, making and developing physical products. A data breach in 2024 confirmed that besides working with Elbit, Ultra I&C works with the Israeli military directly.
People Against Genocide has previously targeted Ultra I&C, blockading its Maidenhead site in June. In that action, activists used specially-modified suitcases containing lock-on devices to successfully prevent access to the facility.
In a statement released by the direct action group, a spokesperson said:
We are taking direct action against Ultra I&C’s Tring facility today to prevent the production of more deadly weapons systems, which are being used to enable the genocide in Gaza.
Rather than attempt to appeal to governments, we are going straight to the source, the weapons factories, to shut them down.
Featured image supplied
By The Canary
Hamish Falconer told MPs that UK permissions for US use of British air bases “remain in place,” even as Trump unilaterally declared the ceasefire “over” and resumed airstrikes against Iranian targets.
UK play’s Trump’s poodle
Falconer, the Labour MP for the Middle East, said in Parliament:
In relation to the question about military support, I want to be clear: the UK stands with our Gulf allies in a defensive capacity. As the shadow Foreign Secretary alluded to, we do provide capability to our friends and partners in the Gulf to protect themselves against these attacks. We do also continue to provide permissions to the United States to use our airbases, where they are taking defensive action on behalf of our partners and allies. Those arrangements have been discussed by the relevant Ministers from the Ministry of Defence on a number of occasions, and they remain in place.
He was responding to Labour backbencher Apsana Begum, who pressed Falconer on the extent of British military involvement, asking whether the UK is conducting case-by-case authorisation for each US strike. He avoided a direct answer to that.
Falconer is a pro at avoidance, see story below:
Falconer’s cheap platitudes on abducted Gazan doctor Abu Safiya have sparked public backlash over Britain’s complicity in Israeli war crimes, and his brazen attacks on critics.https://t.co/XGP9UZf3jP
— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) July 6, 2026
Multilateral maritime mission
Falconer’s colleague, Yvette Cooper meanwhile, has also been boasting about UK’s role in this war of choice on Iran.
Yvette Cooper also confirmed to MPs in Parliament that the UK and France stand ready to deploy the wider Multinational Military Mission to support freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
Cooper said the UK strongly condemns Iran’s recent attacks on commercial ships, including those from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. She said no country has the right to hijack international shipping.
She said:
We stand in solidarity with our partners across the region. Iran must halt these attacks on international shipping, support the reopening of the strait and return to de-escalation and diplomacy.
The UK stands ready to support a return to talks, because Iran must never be able to develop a nuclear weapon and we need the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. That is why, alongside France, the UK has established a multilateral maritime mission to support the de-mining of the strait, verification and reassurance to shipping, and ultimately to support the global economy, and ease the cost of living back home.
UK lectures Iran while ignoring its own imperial history
Cooper says no country has the right to hold the global economy hostage.
But as Ferdinand Mount notes in the London Review of Books, Britain spent the 19th century doing exactly that, its admirals “steaming into faraway rivers to bombard inoffensive foreign capitals” with impunity.
Mount describes how British admirals acted with impunity, burning Washington in 1814, bombarding Canton (now Guangzhou) and Peking (now Beijing) in the Opium Wars, and bombarding Alexandria in 1882, all while claiming the moral high ground.
Cooper needs a history lesson, doesn’t she.
Featured image via the Canary
By The Canary
Politics
Maysa Daw unites with global artists on music track to ‘break silence’ on world’s hidden crises
Four artists from South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Palestine have released (No More) Radio Silence, a new collaboration with music producer Kensaye, in partnership with Oxfam.
The track features Congolese-born artist Espoir Dekin, South Sudanese rapper Gatkuoth Wan, Palestinian musician and member of hip-hop group DAM, Maysa Daw, and London-based Palestinian composer and oud player Saied Silbak.
Together, they blend afro/Arab hip-hop, industrial and electronica to turn lived experiences of conflict into a piece of sound and protest, calling for unity, visibility and resistance.
Artists share their experiences
The artists’ stories and experiences are woven into every note on the track. Wan raps:
I speak for those who cannot speak…stop the war.
Meanwhile Maysa’s verse, delivered in Arabic, carries lines about silence and speaking out:
With your silence, nothing is innocent…We’ll keep repeating. I don’t surrender – I overflow.
Espoir’s chorus and Saied’s oud complete a piece of music built from grief, defiance and solidarity.
For the artists involved, the track is more than a musical collaboration. Espoir, who now mentors young refugees through Music Action, grew up during war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has faced intense violent conflict for over three decades and is now facing a new Ebola outbreak:
People are dying every single day. But no one is talking about that.
Wan wants the track to reach people with no knowledge of what is happening in South Sudan:
Maybe someone’s never heard of South Sudan before – but they will.
For Maysa, the track is an act of moral necessity: “Silence only benefits the oppressor.”
The track launched on 8 July at an event at 160DL, a recording studio in east London, bringing together music industry specialists, journalists, influencers and activists. Guests heard the artists in conversation about the humanitarian crises behind the track, before a live performance connected the music to the stories that shaped it.
Kensaye Russell, Lead Producer of (No More) Radio Silence, commented:
Radio is silent on these crises, but we are not. We want this track to touch people in a way that makes their ears prick up – because music can be a powerful weapon to change things. Listen to us.
Oxfam’s No More Radio Silence campaign
The track release forms part of Oxfam’s No More Radio Silence campaign, which calls on people to turn up, tune in and speak out about hidden and ignored humanitarian crises in Sudan and South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Yemen, and in Palestine, where people continue to endure violent occupation and Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
The collaboration began at Glastonbury 2025, where refugee DJ collective Our Heartbeats performed with Oxfam, and visitors to Oxfam’s festival space recorded lines for a solidarity poem. The opening line of the track: ‘You. Me. Us. We…Loudest in our unity’ comes from one festival-goer, before more voices are woven into the finished track alongside vocals from Maysa, Espoir and Wan, and Saied’s oud.
Joe Goodman, of Oxfam said:
This track started as a poem recited in a festival field and now it’s a powerful piece of sound and protest carrying the stories of Palestine, DRC and South Sudan further than we ever could alone.
Now it’s your turn. Our humanity should be seen and our voices should be heard, so bring the noise. Everyone who turns up the track, tunes in, and speaks out becomes part of the answer. Make enough noise, together, and no crisis stays impossible to hear.
(No More) Radio Silence is available now on Bandcamp, Spotify and Apple Music.
People can also listen to the track and join the the People’s Frequency, Oxfam’s pirate radio-inspired digital platform which brings together music, audio and updates from communities affected by humanitarian crises around the world, alongside opportunities to learn more and take action.
Featured image via Oxfam / Guy Bell
By The Canary
Olivia and Muhammad remain the top baby names in England and Wales, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data released this week.
Lily, Amelia and Isla also proved popular girls’ names, while Noah, Leo and Luca surged in demand for boys.
But if you’re after a name that’s less likely to crop up on school registers, take inspiration from some of the celebrity babies born this year.
From Rock-Anthony, Midas and Nautas, to Alanis, Mikey and Ozzy; here are the meanings behind the names actors, singers and reality stars chose for their newest arrivals in 2026.
Milo Ventimiglia and Jarah Mariano
The couple welcomed their second child in July 2026 and named him Rock-Anthony Makoa Ventimiglia.
The name Rock is of Anglo-Saxon origins, according to Ancestry, and it means “a solid, strong foundation”. It’s a moniker which reflects strength, stability and resilience.
Molly-Mae Hague and Tommy Fury
The reality stars welcomed their second child, Midas Fury, in June this year.
Midas has Greek origins and while the meaning has been lost over time, it’s typically associated with wealth and prosperity, according to The Bump.
Nowadays, if someone is described as having the ‘Midas touch’ it describes an ability to generate wealth or success in whatever they do.
Cameron Diaz and Benji Madden
The couple welcomed their third child, a baby boy called Nautas Madden, in May.
At the time, Benji shared an Instagram post celebrating their son’s birth, suggesting the name stems from the Latin root word Nauta. It means “sailor, navigator, voyager. One who embarks on a journey and fears not the unknown”, he shared.
Rebel Wilson and Ramona Agruma
Rebel announced the birth of the couple’s second daughter, Rose Estelle, in May this year.
The meaning is fairly self-explanatory. “Rose is a girl’s name of Latin origins, meaning ‘rose’ and ‘flower’,” reads the Bump’s site.
Estelle, meanwhile, has similar Latin roots and means “star”.
Hailee Steinfeld and Josh Allen
In April, the Sinners star shared on her Beau Society substack that she’d welcomed a baby girl, Harper Haize Allen.
Harper is thought to be of English origin and means ‘harp player’. While it was traditionally used as a second name, in recent decades it’s become popular as a first name, too. In fact, ONS baby names data from 2025 listed Harper as the 23rd most popular girls’ name.
Haize, meanwhile, is a gender-neutral baby name of Basque origin. According to babynames.com, it means ‘wind’.
Ellie Goulding and Beau Minniear
The Starry Eyed singer and her boyfriend welcomed a baby girl back in March, who they reportedly named Iris Edaline.
Iris featured in the top 100 girls’ baby names last year (position 57) and means “rainbow” or “messenger”. An iris is also a flower. Edaline, meanwhile, is likely a variant of Adeline, which has German roots and means “noble”.
Jack Osbourne and Aree Gearhart Osbourne
The couple shared the arrival of their baby daughter in March 2026, revealing they’d named her after Jack’s late father, Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne.
An Instagram post earlier this year introduced the tiny newborn as Ozzy Matilda Osbourne.
The name Ozzy has English and Old Norse roots, The Bump suggests, “with translations including ‘God’s power,’ ‘God’s protection,’ and ‘bear god’”. (Ozzy Osbourne was given the nickname in primary school, presumably because of his surname.)
Matilda meanwhile has German origins and means “strength in battle” or “mighty in battle”.
Meghan Trainor and Daryl Sabara
Back in January, the All About That Bass singer revealed she’d welcomed a daughter called Mikey Moon Trainor.
Mikey, which is a diminuitive form of the name Michael or Michaela, means ‘who is like God?’, according to Ancestry.
Perrie Edwards and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
The Little Mix singer and footballer welcomed a baby girl called Alanis Valentine back in January.
Alanis, according to Nameberry, is the female variation of Alan and means “handsome, cheerful”, while Valentine has Latin origins and means “strength” and “health”.
Former staff of at least two Labour government cabinet ministers, including outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, are now working for 411 Communications, a firm led by a former Israeli intelligence officer.
Unit 2800
Oketa Zogi Shala is a former Labour Party intern who personally shadowed Keir Starmer and David Lammy. In February, she was recruited by 411 Communications. The director of 411 is Assaf Kaplan, a former Israeli spy from the infamous Unit 8200.
In 2021, the intelligence officer was hired by Labour as a “social listening and organizing manager”. Asa Winstanley reported on the tactics of his former employer:
Unit 8200 specializes in spying, hacking and encryption. It carries out blackmail [and] mass surveillance.
Unit 8200 whistleblowers confirmed that they would engage in blackmail and extortion, but Starmer was happy to hire one of their agents. Chris Mullin, a former Labour foreign office minister, said about the appointment:
I am not sure if this is a good idea. Is he still working for the Israelis or for the Labour Party?
At the 2024 conference of the Jewish Labour Movement, Kaplan spoke alongside Josh Simons at an event on “how to run a good campaign”. Simons is the former Labour Together director who generously “gave up” his parliamentary seat for newly-crowned Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Labour MP Damien Egan is another Labour figure with links to the unit. He is married to a former IOF soldier, Yossi Felberbaum, who used to recruit former Unit 8200 officers. After being exposed, Felberbaum wiped the records from his LinkedIn profile.
In the past, Unit 8200 officers have boasted about “blood on the headsets” – a reference to X’s marked on after assassinations of Palestinians.
411’s other recruits from Labour
Jonah Gregory became a 411 Junior Executive in February 2026, after having spent four months as a social media intern for the firm. In August 2025, Gregory worked as a parliamentary assistant for Labour MP Mike Tapp. Like the Unit 8200-linked Damien Egan, Tapp is a vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel (LFI).
In August 2025, Ellie Banks was made a Senior Executive at 411. Previously, she spent just over a year as Communications Officer for Labour MP Keir Mather. Mather has previously been documented as a parliamentary supporter of Labour Friends of Israel, although he does not list it on his most recent ministerial register of interests.
Mather previously worked as a researcher for ex-Health Secretary Wes Streeting. In the past, Streeting has received financial support from pro-Israeli lobbyists Trevor Chinn and Jonathan Mendelsohn. He was also the first member of Starmer’s shadow cabinet to accept a LFI-funded trip to Israel.
Before working for Mather, Ellie Banks worked for just over a year as a parliamentary intern for now Chancellor Rachel Reeves. In December, she gave the keynote speech at Labour Friends of Israel’s annual lunch. Reeves has previously received £150,000 for staffing costs from Victor Blank, who has also funded three groups linked to the Israeli military.
As well as being a major Labour Party donor, Blank is an ex-chair of Lloyds, which inexplicably “debanked” the Canary last month. According to veteran political journalist Peter Oborne, he has supported both Labour and Conservative Friends of Israel lobby groups, which “work closely” with the Israeli embassy in London.
Also in February, Molly Bibby announced that she would be joining 411 Communications as a Digital Content and Communications Officer for Labour MP Josh Simons. By the end of the same month, Simons was forced to resign from Starmer’s cabinet after revelations that he spied on journalists investigating Labour Together and Morgan McSweeney. Now, he is aiming for a dramatic comeback in Andy Burnham’s administration.
Starmer’s legacy
Failed Prime Minister Starmer has been waxing lyrical about his legacy in recent days, but his premiership saw an entrenchment of pro-Israeli lobbyists’ influence over the Labour Party.
Yesterday, Burnham offered a mealy-mouthed criticism of his party’s support for the Gaza genocide, which he still refuses to call a genocide. Burnham was congratulated by Labour Friends of Israel upon his victory in Makerfield, and has appointed ex-LFI chair James Purnell as his chief of staff. What will be more telling is if he moves against the donors and lobbyists who emboldened Starmer to act in the way he did.
Based on early indications, that seems unlikely.
Featured image via the Canary
Dutch Deputy Prime Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius on Friday lambasted Moroccan football fans who clashed with police across the Netherlands following their team’s World Cup defeat to France.
“One by one, countries are knocked out. That’s what a football tournament is all about. We’re disappointed, but we move on with our lives. Except for these ‘supporters.’ Whether they win or lose, they act like madmen,” the leader of the center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) wrote on X.
“Don’t you feel ashamed that this is how the world sees you?” Yeşilgöz asked.
Dutch media reported several incidents after Moroccan fans took to the streets in multiple cities Thursday night, following their team’s 2-0 loss to France in the World Cup quarterfinal.
Fans threw glass bottles at the police, prompting anti-riot officers to disperse crowds, according to the daily newspaper De Telegraaf.
In Rotterdam, police were pelted with eggs, while in Amsterdam rioters reportedly fired fireworks at law enforcement and behaved aggressively toward journalists.
Yeşilgöz is known for her tough stance on migration. “There are too many people coming into our country,” she wrote on X last year, prior to becoming minister. “This has to be different. And fast too.”
Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders also weighed in, accusing Yeşilgöz’s VVD party — which is part of the governing coalition, alongside Prime Minister Rob Jetten’s liberal D66 party and the center-right Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) — of having let “scum” into the country.
This is not the first time disturbances have occurred in the aftermath of a Morocco match. Following Morocco’s victory over the Netherlands in the Round of 32, police in The Hague arrested 13 people on suspicion of public violence or disrupting public order. Earlier in the year, after unrest linked to the Africa Cup of Nations final, authorities in The Hague detained a further 14 individuals.
It took just seconds for a gesture from Hossam Hassan, manager of the Egyptian national team, to become one of the most debated moments of the 2026 World Cup.
After raising his arms to form an ‘X’ while protesting the decisions of French referee François Loutixier, Hassan’s gesture quickly came under international scrutiny. Some interpreted it as FIFA’s official anti-racism symbol. Meanwhile, others saw it as a familiar football protest against refereeing decisions.
The controversy was not just about the gesture itself, but the context around it. It came during a furious reaction to the referee’s decisions. As a result, it sparked a wider debate over what message Hassan was actually trying to send.
Misunderstood gesture
Since FIFA introduced its protocol to combat racism, forming an ‘X’ with the arms has become an official gesture. Players, coaches and referees can use it to report racist incidents during matches.
Because of that association, some international media outlets suggested Hassan may have been using the gesture as a signal of discrimination. However, there was no official confirmation that a racist incident had taken place. Moreover, Hassan himself did not say that this was the meaning behind his action.
Others interpreted Hassan’s action through a different lens: the long history of managers using gestures to protest refereeing decisions.
The most famous example came from José Mourinho, who used a similar gesture after a match to suggest that referees had “handcuffed” his team and prevented them from competing fairly. The incident became one of football’s most recognisable protests against officiating.
Seen in that context, Hassan’s gesture appeared to fit a familiar pattern. It came alongside his visible anger at the referee’s decisions and was followed by criticism of the official after the match.
A controversy without a clear answer
The reason Hassan’s gesture attracted so much attention is that it now carries two very different meanings.
For some, the ‘X’ represents FIFA’s fight against racism. For others, it remains linked to football’s long tradition of protesting refereeing decisions.
That overlap created a split in media coverage. Some focused on the gesture’s official meaning. In contrast, others looked at the circumstances in which it was made.
Despite the debate, no interpretation has been confirmed as the official one.
Hassan has not clarified what he meant, and FIFA has not announced that its anti-racism protocol was activated during the match.
A gesture lasting only seconds became an international talking point because it sat at the centre of two very different debates: one about tackling racism in football, and another about the sport’s long-running battles with refereeing decisions.
Featured image via the Canary
By Alaa Shamali
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