Politics
Richard Tice is having a go at NHS workers
Reform stooge Richard Tice has taken to Twitter to complain about the number of NHS staff who called in sick over 2025. Apparently, health service workers took an average of 19 sick days last year.
And if that doesn’t get you all riled up and right-wingy, 5 of those days were for mental health reasons! The scandal!
Not that he’d want our advice, but Tice needs to be careful sharing anti-NHS-worker shit like that. After all, people might mistake him for a Labour MP.
Reform privatisation dogwhistle
Here’s some slop for you:
NHS staff took 28m sick days incl 8m for mental health in 2025:
Keen to hear from other businesses whose staff take:
Average 19 days sickness pa
Including:
5 days mental health issues pa
https://t.co/Q1Cild9fRE— Richard Tice MP 🇬🇧 (@TiceRichard) April 7, 2026
What a regrettably common treat – a Reform tweet with a Daily Mail source. You just know it’s going to contain some proper tripe.
First and foremost, why on earth are we framing the National Health Service as a business? Oh yeah, it’s because Tice and his Reform cronies desperately want to run it as a private business. The point is sustaining a healthy population, not turning a fucking profit – but of course, that’s lost on the likes of Tice.
Nobody mention the pay restoration
For the ‘context’ on Tice’s statistics, we can look to the Mail’s article itself:
Resident doctors will today cause more misery, cancellations and delays with another walkout in pursuit of a 26 per cent pay rise.
The number of sick days taken by NHS staff due to poor mental health has soared by 42 per cent since 2020 and comes amid wider concern about the nation’s approach to such issues.
The NHS in England lost 28million days to staff sickness in 2025, up from 21million in 2020 and higher than in any previous year, according to newly published data.
Of these, more than one in four – a record 7.9 million – were due to ‘anxiety/stress/depression/other psychiatric illnesses.’
Ah yeah, we’re having a bash at the British Medical Association (BMA) resident doctors’ strike. Cunning avoidance of mentioning the reason for that ‘26% raise’ goal, too.
The workers are striking in pursuit of pay restoration to match 2008 levels. Since then, they’ve suffered massive real-terms pay cuts – down to a low of -32% in 2022. Of course, they can’t let the government get away with that.
How do diseases spread again?
And then there’s the bit about all those lazy doctors taking sick days. I wonder why the people who work around sick people all the time are getting sick so often? Could it possibly be due to the communicable nature of disease? Someone should really start looking into this ‘germ theory’ I’ve been reading about.
Likewise, could the rising frequency of mental health leave have anything to do with the massive strain of NHS work?
Quite apart from the constant pressure of working with sick and dying people day-in and day-out, the NHS is also massively understaffed. As such, the workload of each individual NHS worker is massive – and it’s only getting worse. According to research from the BMA:
The average number of doctors per 1,000 people across the EU members of the OECD, for which data is available, is currently 3.9. Germany has 4.5. England, by comparison, has just 3.2 and would need an additional 40,000 doctors to reach the OECD EU average.
What’s more, those NHS staff are also working with lower resources compared to similar countries. Take hospital beds as an example – the BMA stated that:
Compared to other nations, the UK has a very low total number of hospital beds relative to its population. The average number of beds per 1,000 people in OECD EU nation js is 4.6, but the UK has just 2.4. Germany, by contrast, has 7.8.
Combined with staffing shortages, an insufficient core bed stock means that hospitals are less able to cope with large influxes of patients, for example during winter or periods of high demand.
Moral panic
The Mail goes on to make (or, at least, write) several points in quick succession – they may even be loosely related to one another:
The health service has lost 151.6million days to sickness since records began in their current form in mid-2019, meaning 6 per cent of all working days were lost to poor health – three times more than the average across all sectors.
Furthermore, the NHS lost 262,592 days to industrial action by resident doctors last year, with the British Medical Association marching its members out on strike in July, October and December.
From yesterday, new laws passed by the Government mean employees are entitled to sick pay from their first day in a job.
Only in the Daily Mail could you get what appears to be a staccato list of shit that sounds vaguely scary to right-wingers. Staff taking sick days! The unions are staging walkouts! Workers get sick pay! It’s like a fucking neo-Nazi Buzzfeed.
Not to beat a dead horse or anything, but again – NHS workers come into contact with sick people. Their absence rates are going to be higher than other sectors. Particularly, that is, given that we’re consistently cramming too many sick people into too little less space.
Sick leave – important, actually
On top of this, the NHS employment body also highlights that ‘presenteeism’ (turning up whilst sick) can negatively affect both the quality of your work, and the state of your mental health. Given that health workers often make life-or-death decisions, those negative impacts matter.
Likewise, NHS workers also have a duty to stay home if their illness could be transmitted to their patients. This is particularly true given that, by their nature, many of the patients in a hospital are at an increased risk of infection.
Of course, we can also expand that point out more broadly. If more workers across every in-person sector took sick leave to prevent the spread of infection, the workplace would be safer for everyone – and particularly for immunocompromised colleagues.
Oh would you look at that – we’ve reached the end of the article. I haven’t even made a single crack about Reform leader Nigel Farage never turning up to do his job, but you don’t hear Tice complaining. Never mind, I’m sure it won’t be long til Reform don’t bother turning up to work again.
Featured image via the Canary
Politics
DWP minister refuses to rule out scrapping LCWRA for under 22s
A Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) minister has refused to rule out scrapping the health element of Universal Credit for young disabled people under the age of 22.
Instead, minister of state for social security and disability Stephen Timms seemed to hint the government may already be treating it like it’s a foregone conclusion that it needs to implement the benefit cut.
DWP Universal Credit cut for under 22s: plans could still be afoot
In March 2025, then DWP boss Liz Kendall announced the plan as part of its sweeping £5bn programme in welfare cuts.
Specifically, the government floated the proposal that people under the age of 22 would no longer be eligible for the limited capability for work related activity (LCWRA) part of Universal Credit (UC).
This would have meant the DWP would strip young disabled people of £416.19 every month. Across a year, this would have resulted in a total £4,994.28 loss in the health benefit.
Of course, the DWP assesses claimants as LCWRA if they are too sick to work. Given this, there’s no conceivably justifiable reason why a disabled person under 22 should be any less eligible for this.
And plenty of respondents to the government’s own consultation published in October spelled this out in no uncertain terms. More than 3,300 people told the DWP that social security support:
should be based on need, not age.
Campaigners like Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) have previously lambasted the cut. The group has particularly highlighted its impact on disabled students and their future job prospects.
In November, DWP secretary Pat McFadden confirmed that the government had not yet decided whether to take its proposal forward. He told parliament that the department wouldn’t be making any firm decisions until after Alan Milburn publishes his review into young people and unemployment this “summer”.
The DWP commissioned Milburn to carry out the “independent investigation”. It aim is to explore why young people are not in employment, education, or training (so-called NEET).
Now however, Timms has kicked the can down the road further – and refused to rule out the callous cut.
Already decided? That seems likely
Speaking to parliament on Tuesday 28 April, Timms responded to a question on the plans from Labour MP Ben Coleman.
He told parliament that:
There is an urgent need to address the big rise in the number of young people not in work, education or training that took place before the last general election. We think that better support might help young people more than extra cash. Alan Milburn’s review on the NEET problem more broadly will report in September; we will wait until then to decide whether to delay access to the universal credit health element until the age of 22. If we did do that, there would need to be exceptions.
The first notable part of Timms’ reply is that he made the decision to couch his answer in the context of the supposed “big rise” in the number of young people not in work, studying, or training. That was likely a deliberate move – because straight away Timms’ was seeking to justify the government’s vile proposal.
The next part of his answer reinforces that the DWP seems to be putting the cart before the horse.
If the government is already beginning from the position that employment schemes are better than welfare, then it goes some way to confirming fears that the Milburn review will be another monumental stitch-up. It’s the DWP playbook in a nutshell. That is: manipulating disabled people’s input to back up the conclusions it has already made.
And obviously, that “summer” publication date has now morphed into “September”.
Milburn review: gearing up to manipulate results to the DWP’s advantage
And of course, this was another problem with Timms’ response more generally. Put simply, the fact that the fate of the health element for disabled people under 22 rests on the shoulders of Blairite former health secretary Alan Milburn.
As the Canary’s Rachel Charlton-Dailey pointed out, in 2024, Milburn:
authored a report which wanted disabled people to be pushed into work. The report called for the government to cut benefits except for those with “severe disabilities”. This was, of course, adopted as part of the Universal Credit Act last summer.
The same report also called for the DWP to sink its claws further into the NHS. This had the obvious aim to kick chronically ill and disabled people off their benefits and coerce them into work.
Disability News Service (DNS) noted how Milburn’s review specifically – and exclusively – targets young disabled claimants.
Timms also already tried to soften the blow with talk of “exceptions”. As such, this also hinted at a DWP that’s hell-bent on ramming through the vicious cut in one way or another.
DWP doing its usual: wrecking disabled people’s lives
To three separate written questions, Timms was similarly evasive on the DWP’s plans for the proposal.
Labour MP and a leading rebel against the benefit cuts Neil Duncan-Jordan and DUP MP Jim Shannon and probed the government on impact assessments.
Timms’ answers made apparent it hasn’t done any for the possible benefit cut. He also didn’t commit to carrying any out once the government has decided its plans.
Once again, he merely pointed to Milburn’s upcoming review. Of course, if it does introduce this, it will likely need to do an impact assessment. However, it’s probable it will be little more than a tick-box exercise. Because ultimately, the DWP will have already made up its mind.
What’s clear is that the government hasn’t given up on wrecking young disabled people’s lives just yet. Flashy-sounding youth employment schemes putting them at the mercy of profiteering corporations for paltry wages won’t level the playing field for young disabled people. And cutting financial support to young disabled claimants who can’t work to force them into these low-paying jobs is a one-way ticket to destroying their futures.
This Labour government neither wants to admit that, nor cares.
Featured image via the Canary
Politics
EU ready to sanction Israel over stolen grain after ignoring war crimes
The EU has warned that it is ready to sanction anyone in Israel who is “aiding and abetting” the trade of Ukrainian grain, which Russia stole.
The shipment of stolen grain arrived in Haifa on a Panama-flagged vessel. It is allegedly carrying over 6,200 tonnes of wheat and 19,000 tonnes of barley. However, the ship is yet to unload.
The European Union has warned Israel that it is ready to impose sanctions on those aiding and abetting the trade of Ukrainian grain stolen by Russia in the occupied territories, after a new ship loaded with the cereal arrived in the port of Haifa.https://t.co/tW6oNoCM8k pic.twitter.com/eRSsQyXLNm
— euronews (@euronews) April 28, 2026
Importantly, though, the EU has ignored all of Israel’s war crimes for years. It has refused to sanction Israel over the illegal attacks and mass murder of Palestinians, Iranians, and Lebanese people.
The EU may sanction Israel over a boatload of grain that was allegedly stolen from Ukraine, but it won’t sanction Israel over the mass murder of Palestinian children. https://t.co/X0gqq1N0BF
— Dimitri Lascaris (@dimitrilascaris) April 28, 2026
EU Silence is complicity
It says a lot about the collective values of Western countries when the hard red line is stolen grain.
But even Ukraine has been a staunch supporter of Israel — until this point.
Now, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian President, has urged Israel to turn the Russian vessel away. He said his government would start preparing “relevant sanctions”, in coordination with Europeans, against those:
attempting to profit from this criminal scheme.
The EU has already sanctioned several Russians over the theft of Ukrainian grain. Additionally, in 2024, it agreed to put tariffs on grain products from both Russia and Belarus in response to the thefts.
However, EU-level sanctions require unanimity among the 27 member states. Of course, when it comes to Israel, some EU countries, such as Germany and Italy, refuse to stand up to the genocidal terrorist state.
In response to the stolen grain arriving in Haifa, Ukraine’s foreign minister said Kyiv had summoned Israel’s ambassador.
The hard red line?
Occupation, colonisation and apartheid were not enough for the EU to take action against Israel.
So let’s get this right: apartheid Israel can commit genocide, bomb, kill, torture, starve, start wars, collectively punish, dehumanise Palestinians — war crime after war crime — and the European Union supports it all the way. But buy food from Russia, and they threaten to come… https://t.co/GwGMydJseo
— Martin L. Zinn (@MartinLZinn) April 29, 2026
Neither was a United Nations (UN) commission, which ruled that the settler-colonial state was committing genocide against Palestinians.
The EU today: “A genocide is ok but we draw the line at buying grain from Russia” https://t.co/fmxxT1JXIL
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) April 29, 2026
Or the evidence from Human Rights Watch, which verified that Israel had used White Phosphorous — an incendiary weapon that is illegal to deploy in civilian areas — over residential areas in both Southern Lebanon and Gaza.
Israel Deploys Banned White Phosphorus Bombs on Civilian Areas in South Lebanon
Israel has dropped white phosphorus munitions on civilian-populated areas in Al-Tiri, South Lebanon, in a move condemned as a violation of international law. pic.twitter.com/scW7l36raq
— Tasnim News Agency (@Tasnimnews_EN) April 26, 2026
And the ruling that Israel is deliberately depriving Gaza of food and water.
WOW! @EUCouncil finally grows a spine and threatens to sanction Israel (not for killing thousands of Palestinians, bombing Gaza to stone age, displacing and starving entire population, raping detainees etc) but for trading with Russia for some “stolen” Ukrainian grains. https://t.co/Nv5vAFcPWd
— Nusaybah (@hate_stopper) April 28, 2026
Yet the EU wants to take a stand now, over some stolen grain.
EU priorities on full display
Ready to threaten sanctions on Israel over stolen Ukrainian grain arriving in Haifa…
But months of devastation in Gaza? Total silence.
The selective outrage says it all.
Hypocrisy level: maximum.https://t.co/rnUbbFLfBN
— Sheikh Waqas Akram (@SheikhWaqqas) April 29, 2026
Does the EU really place more value on stolen grain than the lives of people in West Asia?
Decades of apartheid, ethnic cleansing and oppression and 2.5 years of genocide, war crimes and starvation weren’t enough for the EU to even issue a statement of concern.
One Russian vessel carrying grain: https://t.co/7gVB8CR38s
— Amir (@AmirAminiMD) April 28, 2026
Of course, we should now expect Israel to accuse both the EU and Ukraine of being antisemitic. And who knows, maybe the grain was also promised to Israel 3000 years ago?
Hypocrisy
In what world is it okay for the EU to greenlight Israel’s genocide but then draw the line at buying stolen grain?
The decisions by the EU are nothing short of racist.
How Palestinian lands, resources and lives stolen & annihilated by Israel?
Ultimately, Europe considers Ukrainians as human beings with rights, projecting on them an extension of itself. Palestinians are “the other”: for
they do not have the right to be protected by intl law. https://t.co/hAOcUftSYF
— Tara Riva (@tara_riva) April 29, 2026
The long and short of it is, nearly 95% of Ukrainians are white, unlike the majority of Palestinians, who are Arab.
When Russia launched its illegal invasion of Ukraine, the majority of European countries opened their doors to Ukrainian refugees.
However, Palestinians do not get the same treatment.
Both situations involve a colonial power. However, the West reacts completely differently when it’s Israel murdering brown people.
EU ready to sanction Israel on account of Ukraine, not Gaza… White lives matter more! https://t.co/NRxcmK8j9x
— Anckarström, Esq.
(@ibnkafka) April 28, 2026
Of course, the EU should sanction Israel. But it should have done that years ago.
It should not take grain being stolen by another violent and expansive country, which happens to also be a threat to Europe, for the EU to think about putting its foot down.
The EU should be prioritising human rights and international law. Instead, it places less importance on the lives of people in West Asia than it does on a boatload of grain.
Human rights are human rights — no matter the colour of someone’s skin, their religion, or where they were born.
Feature image via Al Jazeera English/YouTube
By HG
Politics
River Plate sets a new attendance record: 105 sold-out matches and 8 million fans at the Monumental
River Plate continue to cement one of the most remarkable fan phenomena in modern football, having reached 105 consecutive sold-out matches at the Monumental, a figure described as one of the longest-running in the world in terms of consistent attendance, according to reports by Football Ground Guide and Revista Deporte Mas.
Over 85,000 fans per match
River Plate’s home matches have become a fixture of consistent attendance, with an average of over 85,000 spectators per match – a figure repeated once again in the ‘Superclásico’ against Boca Juniors, according to Football Ground Guide.
This attendance figure reflects not just an exceptional match, but a consistent pattern of full capacity, following the expansion that increased the capacity of ‘El Monumental’ to over 85,000 seats, making it one of the world’s most consistently full stadiums.
River Plate — 8 million fans in 4 years
According to data published by Revista Deporte Mas, the total attendance for River Plate’s home matches since 2022 has surpassed the 8 million mark.
This figure reflects a sustained, uninterrupted level of match attendance, rather than merely seasonal peaks.
The Superclásico .. The pinnacle of the spectator experience
The Superclásico clash against Boca Juniors epitomised this phenomenon, with the stands completely full and the atmosphere reaching an exceptional level of fan engagement, in a match considered one of the most intense, well-attended and influential in world football, according to Football Ground Guide.
River Plate’s figures reveal that the club does not merely achieve high attendance figures, but creates a consistent pattern of full capacity, with the Monumental stadium becoming a venue where empty seats are unheard of.
Featured image via the Canary
By Alaa Shamali
Politics
A thousand school workers in Sheffield receive repayment offers in compensation milestone
Beginning on 23 April, around 1,000 school workers across Sheffield began to receive equal pay settlements from the city council.
The payouts follow a sustained campaign from unions GMB, Unite and Unison. They recognise years of systematically underpaid work in roles which have historically been dominated by women.
The unions first highlighted the injustice to the council back in September 2023. The council then announced that it had reached a landmark agreement on pay redress in September 2025. At the time, it stated that:
The agreement will see more than 3,600 employees in the Council in around 260 roles receive a redress payment to address the historical equal pay issues. The total offers to these employees are estimated to cost around £36m. The payments to eligible employees will be funded by reserves.
The Sheffield Role Review Programme
However, on 28 April 2026, Sheffield Council told local news outlet The Star that it’s carrying out the repayment work in stages. As such, it’s currently contacting only the staff in community-maintained schools.
As such, around 1,000 workers across 38 schools recieved their repayment offers on 23 and 24 April. The council stated that the number of recipients is lower than last year’s estimate because:
Schools that have not yet completed the data assurance process or have recently converted to an academy will be included later this year, once that work is finalised.
Community-maintained schools are being treated separately from other council services, because the process needed to be tailored to work for schools.
All of the institutions fell under the remit of the Sheffield Role Review Programme, which examined payment levels in jobs with a historic majority of women staff members.
The affected jobs include teaching assistants and office workers, but not teachers themselves. Likewise, the programme reviewed all roles in the schools, regardless of whether the unions submitted a claim relating to them.
George Ayre, Unison’s organiser for the region, said:
This will affect a significant number of low-paid support staff at community schools.
It’s the result of a lengthy negotiation process to help workers who’ve experienced pay inequality.
The union will continue to deal with pay injustice wherever it occurs.
‘A real and tangible difference’
The payments will be backdated to 2018, and are set to include pension top-ups. As such, some employees could be looking at five-figure offers, in redress for 8 years of underpayment.
All being well, the money should be with the workers — 90% of whom are women — by the summer. However, the money will still be subject to national insurance and tax contributions.
GMB characterised the milestone as a “significant moment in the ongoing process” of righting historic inequalities under the council. Peter Davies, head of the union’s Regional Equal Pay Unit, said:
This week marks a powerful moment for working people in Sheffield.
For many of these workers, this money will make a real and tangible difference to their lives.
This progress reflects the collective work between GMB and Sheffield City Council to address historic inequalities.
We need to ensure that pay injustice is never again something council employees in Sheffield are forced to experience.
The process of redressing the sexist pay imbalance will be a long one, and the unions will need to be vigilant that all of the workers receive their payments in full.
However, and for now, the first wave of offers marks the culmination of years of negotiation, and a significant victory for the workers and their hard-working representatives.
Featured image via the Canary
Politics
Norway presses FIFA to revoke the Peace Prize awarded to Trump
Criticism within European football circles of FIFA has intensified after the president of the Norwegian Football Association, Liz Klavenes, called for the cancellation of the ‘Peace Prize’ introduced by FIFA, which was awarded to US President Donald Trump, arguing that the move constitutes a clear breach of the principle of political neutrality.
Klavénes, who also sits on the Executive Committee of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), confirmed that she would raise this issue during the FIFA Congress, stressing the need for world football’s governing body to maintain a “distance” from political leaders.
FIFA ethics complaint and mounting pressure
In a notable escalation, Klavenis announced her support for an ethics complaint filed against FIFA President Gianni Infantino, over his role in awarding the trophy, amid accusations of breaching neutrality rules.
According to The Athletic, the complaint — filed by the human rights organisation Fair Square — alleges that Infantino politically promoted a public figure whilst in office, as well as awarding a politically charged prize without a clear institutional process and bypassing official structures within FIFA, including the Congress.
These findings suggest a possible breach of FIFA’s Code of Ethics, which requires its officials to maintain complete neutrality regarding political matters.
In November, FIFA announced the creation of a “Peace Prize” with the aim — according to its statement — of “honouring individuals who have performed exceptional acts to promote peace and unite peoples around the world”, without obtaining prior approval from the FIFA Council.
On 6 December, during the World Cup draw ceremony held in Washington DC, Infantino presented the award to Trump, in a move that sparked widespread controversy within sporting and political circles.
Fears of the politicisation of the game
Klavinis believes that introducing politically charged awards into the global football system threatens the independence of the game, stressing that such initiatives must be carried out within clear institutional frameworks and free from personalisation or political agendas.
She also stressed that FIFA’s credibility is linked to the extent of its commitment to the principles of transparency and governance, particularly in light of increasing international scrutiny of its decisions.
This crisis comes within a broader context of criticism directed at Infantino’s administration, which faces repeated accusations of closeness to political figures, raising questions about the international federation’s impartiality.
This issue is becoming increasingly sensitive as the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico approaches, placing the relationship between politics and football under the microscope.
Featured image via UEFA
By Alaa Shamali
Politics
Ukrainian arson trial: prosecution claims ‘Russian’ paid 3 men to burn Starmer property
The trial of three young Ukrainian men facing arson charges for allegedly setting fire to property belonging to Keir Starmer is underway. The prosecution is attempting to paint a picture of Russian involvement in the attacks. Allegedly, a Russian-speaker known as ‘El Money’ paid the men to set the fires and they accepted, even though Ukraine was already at war with Russia.
Not only is the issue of motive for a Russian paying Ukrainians to target a UK PM helping Ukraine not being addressed, prosecution barrister Duncan Atkinson has told the jury that it’s none of their business:
It is no part of your considerations to decide who ‘El Money’ is and what reason he might have had to co-ordinate the actions of these defendants against these properties and this car associated with the prime minister.
The court has heard that police extracted data from the defendants’ phones and searched it by key terms, contacts and locations. But although the information was put into a timeline for the case, Atkinson said that the timeline might not match exact timings of the events. He told jurors that the information extracted includes “images and video of the three locations” of the arson attacks.
The defendants were also said to have used the Telegram encrypted messaging app, which “in many cases” meant police could only recover half of the conversations because of automatic or manual deletions.
Starmer’s property that was attacked included a RAV4 car, a house in Ellington Street managed by a company of which Starmer had been a director and shareholder and a house in Countess Road that he still owns. Allegedly, the accused bought supplies from B&Q for the attacks.
All three deny the charges.
Featured image via the Canary
By Skwawkbox
Politics
Trump’s face to appear on US passports
In the latest sign that Donald Trump has a high opinion of himself, his face is set to appear in a set of commemorative American passports.
Patriot passport unlocked. Limited edition. Stamped for America 250. — The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 28, 2026
pic.twitter.com/86uxPS1FEk
Trump — Happy birthday
These passports will celebrate America’s 250th birthday. While a more moderate president might have seen fit to picture one of their predecessors, Trump has instead opted to plaster his pouting mush inside.
An administration official has confirmed to the BBC that the new designs will be available for “any American citizen” who applies for a passport when the rollout kicks off, and will continue for as long as there is availability.
The passports will also only be available at the Washington Passport Agency.
There is actually some confusion around this, with some thinking it will apply to all passports issued this year:
If you're renewing your passport or your National Parks pass this year, it will have Trump's face on it https://t.co/CV4ptRsQ4p pic.twitter.com/hRajGjGPnD
— Headquarters (@HQNewsNow) April 28, 2026
Attorney Mike Levin said:
You have got to be kidding me.
The State Department is putting Donald Trump’s scowling face on the U.S. passport.
His signature in gold. Superimposed over the Declaration of Independence, a document literally written to get away from this exact behavior.
No sitting president has ever done this. Coins, park passes, battleships, and now your passport. The man cannot find a surface he will not slap his name or face on.
This is not patriotism.
It is vanity.
Trump’s niece, meanwhile, said the following:
I've never been so relieved to have already renewed my passport. pic.twitter.com/tbnEEuyLgJ
— Mary L Trump (@MaryLTrump) April 28, 2026
Home of the vain
A White House spokesperson said:
President Trump’s new patriotic passport design provides yet another great way Americans can join in the spectacular celebrations for America’s 250th birthday.
Between the UFC250 Fight, the Great American State Fair, Freedom250 Grand Prix, and this new passport celebrating our freedom, President Trump continues to proudly lead a renewal of national pride and patriotism during our historic semiquincentennial celebration.
While it’s tempting to suggest Trump is doing a poor job celebrating the 250th anniversary, with his UFC fights and his vanity passports, let’s be real; these things encapsulate precisely what America is.
America is a violent and vainglorious nation, and while it could one day be something more than that, it certainly isn’t in the year of its 250th anniversary.
Featured image via White House
By Willem Moore
Politics
BREAKING: Gaza flotilla under attack, reportedly by Israel
The boats of the latest Global Sumud Flotilla en route to Gaza have come under attack from “self-identified” Israeli military fast attack boats.
Gaza flotilla under attack
The attackers pointed lasers and semi-automatic assault weapons at the boats and ordered participants to gather at the front of the boats on their hands and knees.
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According to flotilla organisers, an SOS was issued but the flotilla’s communications are now being jammed. Drones are circling and ‘buzzing’ the vessels:
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Following the pattern of previous Israeli piracy, the attackers are ordering the crews to surrender and allow their humanitarian cargos to be taken to Israeli ports:
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Israel is a terror state and the UK government its enablers. Solidarity with all its victims and those trying to help them.
Featured image via the Canary
By Skwawkbox
Politics
Zack Polanski says Farage is ‘running scared’ of him
On Wednesday 29 April, Nigel Farage spoke to the BBC. During the course of this interview, the interviewer asked Farage why he wasn’t talking to Green Party leader Zack Polanski. The Reform leader responded in predictably evasive fashion, prompting the following from Polanski:
Nigel Farage asked on BBC news this morning if he'd debate with me.
Says he's too busy with the local elections & it will just be a "big row."
I've been asking him for months. Someone's running scared? Vote Green.
— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) April 29, 2026
Zack Polanski — ‘someone running scared’
As Zack Polanski said, Farage has been ducking Polanski for some time. This is what Rose Cocker reported for the Canary on 4 February:
Reform leader Nigel Farage is running scared of Green leader Zack Polanski. And, in the run-up to the Gorton and Denton by-election, the clash between the two parties could well be a sign of things to come in the British political landscape.
Of course, Farage is refusing a challenge to a face-to-face debate with Polanski. After all, the far-right figurehead is far batter at manufacturing glib soundbites than he is at answering probing questions.
The Gorton & Denton by-election was widely seen as a pivotal moment in the history of British politics. Labour looked set to lose a safeseat that they’d held for decades, with the winner likely to be Reform UK or the Green Party. The winner would no doubt pick up considerable momentum, with the runner-up losing some of their sparkle.
In other words, any serious leader would have bent over backwards to secure a head-to-head debate.
Nigel Farage, meanwhile, responded like this:
"I generally find that if you pick a fight with a chimney sweep you get covered in soot, so I might just leave that alone"
"But he's got a fan club – all the heroin smokers and everything" pic.twitter.com/e5F6H80eV4
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) February 3, 2026
WATCH: Nigel Farage rejects Zack Polanski's request for a one-to-one debate
Absolute shitbag behaviour.
His fear of Polanski goes back further too, as we reported in January:
On 9 January, Green Party leader Zack Polanski challenged Reform Nigel Farage to a one-to-one debate. As you’d expect, Farage immediately accepted the offer, as he was keen to defend his well thought-out political ethos to an engaged audience.
Oh wait, that’s wrong isn’t it; we meant to say he completely blanked Polanski and went silent:
Has anyone seen Nigel Farage in the last 20 hours? — Harry Eccles (@Heccles94) January 10, 2026
https://t.co/qpoAFwtNHK
If you’re wondering why Farage is ducking Polanski, it’s because unlike Reform, the Green Party has actually identified who’s at fault for the problems this country faces:
Unlike Labour, we are serious about ending Rip Off Britain. That must mean measures like rent controls.
We aren't afraid to take on vested interests.
And we won't hesitate in taking practical action to reduce the cost of living. https://t.co/DXktDWDCil
— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) April 29, 2026
Smear and loathing
In other Farage news, Novara reported on 29 April:
Nigel Farage visited a social housing estate in Wales by helicopter, but pretended he had driven.
A Merthyr Tydfil resident told Novara Media that when the Reform leader visited the town as part of his general election campaign, he “landed in the next valley over so that nobody knew he’d come by helicopter”.
“This isn’t what people in Merthyr travel by,” she added.
While I was in Merthyr I had the most extraordinary conversation: while visiting south Wales Farage had allegedly come by helicopter – but then drove from the next valley, where the chopper was – to obscure how he travels.
Reform are welcome to correct! pic.twitter.com/yhckwYeBWO
— Aaron Bastani (@AaronBastani) April 29, 2026
Novara’s Bastani also had this to say on the smears being deployed against Polanski and the Green Party:
.@AaronBastani: "It's a bit like with Zack Polanski isn't it, all the antisemites are joining the party led by the Jewish guy, can't you see it? No I can't actually, you're crazy" pic.twitter.com/1RDtYoUTlY
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) April 28, 2026
It’s right to call these smears out — not least because the Green Party does sometimes back down to them.
We saw this in the past with the suspension of would-be candidates; we’ve seen it recently with the suspension of anti-Zionist Jewish activist Tony Greenstein, and with the stitch up around the ‘Zionism is Racism’ motion. At the same time, the party is making more of an effort to stand behind candidates smeared by the establishment, and that’s a positive development.
Standing up to Reform, Labour, and the billionaires is good, but you have to stand rigid. The second you show signs of buckling at the knees, the establishment will have you on the ground in an instant.
Polanski has mostly been steadfast on these issues, which is why Farage knows he’s going to struggle against him in a debate.
Featured image via Barold
By Willem Moore
Politics
‘British Jews are under siege’
The post ‘British Jews are under siege’ appeared first on spiked.
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they do not have the right to be protected by intl law. 

(@ibnkafka)
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