Andrew Gilligan is a writer and former No10 adviser.

Kemi Badenoch’s Conservative Party likes to see itself as the hard-headed teller of difficult truths, the fearless critic of bad ideas and the maker of tough decisions. That’s exactly what it should be, what the country needs it to be, and what it sometimes actually is.

Not always, though. The Tory front bench’s first response to several seismically bad Labour ideas has been either fence-sitting (for instance, on digital ID) or feeble acquiescence (on the “Hillsborough law,” which risks making Whitehall ungovernable.)

The periodic woolly-mindedness of our time in government lingers. As we did then, we’re still backing some stupid policies because they “look good,” because some lobby group or celebrity wants them, or because opposing them might make us “look bad.”

The frontbench toughened up on rejecting digital ID – helping cause a swift government U-turn – but it now seems to be embracing a new stupid policy, a new politicians’ magic answer: “Northern Powerhouse Rail” (NPR). This project achieves the difficult feat of making HS2 seem quite sensible. It will be a high-speed line, from Liverpool to Manchester and possibly Leeds, on which trains can never reach high speeds, because the stations are too close together.

The Liverpool-Manchester stretch  – Labour’s priority – will cost at least £17bn, almost certainly closer to £30bn, but journeys between the two cities will actually take longer than the existing service. That’s because it runs via Manchester Airport – sort of. The “airport” station will actually be a mile from the airport; you’d have to transfer by bus.

Yet in last month’s Commons debate on carrying over the bill to build NPR – or part of it, at least – Jerome Mayhew, the shadow rail minister, criticised the Government for the “lack of progress” it was making on the scheme and asked accusingly: “What cuts will [the Transport Secretary] be forced to make, and are they to the high-speed section?”

Maybe we’re worried that opposing NPR would look anti-North. But NPR – though understandably beloved of the profit-scenting construction lobby, and the Labour mayors it has captured – is in fact a huge obstacle to giving the North the better transport it badly needs.

Public transport is a network. Creating better public transport does not mean grafting one new high-speed line, serving a handful of places, onto an otherwise still decrepit system. It means creating a better network, through hundreds of small and medium improvements as well as some large ones: bus, tram and local rail, not just inter-city.

The North’s main rail capacity problem is not on links – lines between cities – but at nodes: places where the trains converge, above all central Manchester. NPR would do little to fix this.

Most importantly, NPR is a fantasy: there will never be enough money, perhaps £70-100bn, to build the whole thing (Labour has just cancelled the northern half of the Midland Main Line electrification to save £1bn). It is described as “unachievable” by the Government’s own infrastructure watchdog. Every pound and every month wasted on a scheme that will never happen is time and money not spent on the things that will help more passengers, in more places, more quickly – and that have a chance of actually coming to pass.

Yes, I know – Boris Johnson, the PM I worked for, supported NPR. His view was that we could do that and all the other things as well. I opposed it, then and since, because I knew that at high-speed prices, you simply can’t. You have to choose, or at least to sequence – which is, in fact, what France and Germany did do, fixing their urban services before turning to the comparative luxury item of high-speed rail. On our current path, we’ll end up with neither.

And yes, I know – my other PM employer, Rishi Sunak, though he cancelled the northern section of HS2, said he would fund a new Liverpool-Manchester line and let the metro mayors decide the route. That was intended to give them scope to choose something better – such as a Manchester version of the “Elizabeth Line” to fix the city’s rail congestion – but they went for the lobbyist option instead.

Reform has come out against NPR. Maybe that’s another reason (an equally bad one) why the Tories appear for it. But if you think it’s a votewinner, you’re mistaken. The North has never wanted high-speed rail. It is transport for the few, not the many. As Richard Tice has said, the political elites’ obsession with high-speed schemes – rather than the services that most people actually use – is another symbol of how mainstream British politics became estranged, in so many ways, from ordinary voters’ real wishes and needs.

There’s still time for the party to get this right – and for Northern England to get more than a Labour press release.

The government of Cyprus has slammed the UK for failing to respect its humanitarian commitments. Iran – or one of its allies – allegedly hit RAF Akrotiri with a drone on 2 March 2026.

There no casualties. Yet the UK is clearly being pulled deeper into the illegal US-Israeli war against Iran – and Cyprus with it.

Government spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on 3 March:

Despite the assurances given in yesterday’s address by the prime minister of the United Kingdom, there was no clear clarification that the British bases in Cyprus would not under any circumstances be used for any reason other than humanitarian.

Adding:

The information we had, through many communications and at various levels, was clear, that the British bases would have a strictly humanitarian role.

Cyprus shows Britain is at war

UK PM Keir Starmer effectively announced to parliament on 2 March that the UK would be a party to the war. He tried to insist the UK’s role would be defensive – but said the US would use British bases to hit Iran.

The UK has two bases in Cyprus at Akrotiri and Dhekelia. Britain has used the bases to launch hundreds of spy flights over Gaza over the course of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians.

Letymbiotis said the UK had failed to take into account Cyprus’s wish to be a humanitarian hub. He added that the UK had communicated poorly:

The message we send in every direction, not only rhetorically but through our actions over decades, is that the Republic of Cyprus is a humanitarian hub.

There was no timely information residing in the areas adjacent to the bases.

Advertisement

Middle East Eye reported:

Letymbiotis refused to rule out Cyprus requesting a renegotiation of the status and operating conditions of British bases.

Meanwhile, a former UK ambassador to Iran has said the UK has made itself a legitimate target.

Legitimate targets

Sir Richard Dalton told Declassified UK that British assets in the region were now legitimate targets of Iran.

The regional power:

will not distinguish [between] attacks to its missiles and other wider attacks on its political, military and economic institutions and leaders.

They will say that these are attacks facilitated by Britain on Iran as part of the United States campaign to destroy the Islamic Republic.

You can watch the full interview here:

The UK is pulling itself deeper into the mire of a Middle East war. And in doing so its colonial relationship with Cyprus – already badly shaken by the UK’s role in Israel genocide – has become even more precarious. As the war intensifies across the region, things are likely to get even worse for the eternally flip-flopping UK PM.

Featured image via the Canary

British journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who is famous for her hateful content against migrants and refugees, has been documenting her life in Dubai amid Iran’s retaliatory strikes on the UAE , and people have little sympathy.

Oakeshott shared a bilingual emergency alert from Dubai during the strikes. It was in Arabic first, then English, telling residents to take shelter. The internet immediately laughed at her for enjoying the kind of accommodation she’d never offer migrants.

Outrageous that Dubai has to send these out in a foreign language because immigrants won’t learn Arabic. https://t.co/i9VIx8duFc

— Lord Protector Will Wartsandall (@LewensWill) March 1, 2026

Influencers were getting roasted for suddenly caring about British embassies after spending years clout-chasing in a country with zero tax and infinite irony.

Me when people who’ve spent years boasting about not paying any UK taxes say they want the British embassy to help evacuate them from Dubai. pic.twitter.com/6hie1D8U1D

— Brendan May (@bmay) February 28, 2026

Some of those Brits in Dubai might want to try coming back in a small boat, I’ve heard it’s well easy

— Jasinya 💞 (@bougieluxebabe) March 1, 2026

Should Dubai tax-dodgers get tax help?

Even mainstream British media wasn’t holding back. Susanna Reid straight-up asked: if Brits move to Dubai to avoid paying tax, then need rescuing, shouldn’t they pay for it themselves?

Susanna Reid: “Brits have moved to places like Dubai, potentially.. to avoid paying tax.. if they need rescuing.. should they pay for their own evacuation, because if they’re avoiding paying tax then they’re avoiding paying into public services, like the govt coming to get you” pic.twitter.com/5Z0Qkf8N19

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) March 3, 2026

Advertisement

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey rightly pointed this out in the Parliament on Monday. He called out “tax exiles and washed-up old footballers” in Dubai who “mock ordinary Brits” but now expect the UK military to rescue them. He said:

..we rightly expect our brave armed forces to protect British citizens around the world in crises like this, but that includes tax exiles like Isabel Oakeshott and washed-up old footballers who mock ordinary people who stay in the UK and pay our taxes here. As we protect them, does the Prime Minister agree that it is only right for tax exiles to start paying taxes to fund our armed forces, just like the rest of us do?

Oakeshott’s fiancé and “patriotic” Reform MP Richard Tice is definitely not keen on this frankly patriotic measure. He criticised Davey for being “obsessed” with Oakeshott for this suggestion.

Dear old @EdwardJDavey

Back off my fiancée …. !

You seem obsessed with her….! https://t.co/F2P6M7wXmD

Advertisement

— Richard Tice MP 🇬🇧 (@TiceRichard) March 2, 2026

Imagine fleeing the UK to avoid taxes, then asking your MP fiancé to cover for your tax-dodging behaviour, Embarrassing, really.

Featured image via the Canary

How might menopause affect mental health?

Davina McCall has spoken on the topic

Keir Starmer has said that his duty is to “keep British people safe“. Anyone who knows him by now knows to assume he means the opposite. And so it is in this case – Starmer is knowingly putting British people in direct danger while telling them he has to keep them safe.

During Commons questions, Starmer again claimed that the UK is not involved in attacking Iran. Every single person in that chamber – including Starmer – knew that was a lie. Enabling US attacks on Iran by allowing them to use British air bases in the UK and Cyprus does involve the UK in attacks on Iran. In case that wasn’t clear enough, he added that the aim of this enablement is the destruction of Iran’s missile capability – as direct an involvement as it gets.

Starmer is deluded

That this makes the UK a legitimate target for Iran under international law is clear. And Iran and its allies weren’t slow to let us all know they know this – attacking RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus within hours of Starmer announcing last night that US planes can use UK bases. Starmer knows this, but is quite prepared to ignore, for propaganda purposes, the reality of UK involvement in a war, bleating that:

On Saturday, Iran hit a military base in Bahrain with missiles and drones. There were 300 British personnel on the base, some within a few hundred yards of the strike.

Yes – a US military base, after the US attacked Iran. By having British personnel there, you put them in harm’s way, Brylcreem. Pull them out now and stop UK involvement and assistance.

Starmer also claimed, laughably, that his “principles” mean that he will only participate in war on Iran if it’s “lawful” and “thought through”. Well, it isn’t and he still is – but given the trail of broken promises littering his wake for years, that’s no surprise. Starmer also claimed that “our bases in Cyprus are not being used by US bombers”. The careful wording of this means that even if it’s not an outright lie – 30/70 chance – the UK’s bases are used by US fighters, transport and troop transport planes that are essential to keeping US bombers in the air and bombing.

Labour are rotten

Defence secretary John Healey is no better. He parroted his boss’s claim that his “first priority” is keeping British people safe, including military personnel. Right. Same applies – stop putting them in the firing line, then.

Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper is as dishonest as the day is long. She showed this by the lies she told and still tells to justify her ban on Palestine Action. So it was no surprise at all to see her out trying to amplify Starmer’s lies. To achieve this, she tried to claim that Starmer’s government wants to keep its focus on the “300,000 estimated British citizens in other Gulf countries that are being targeted by Iranian missiles and drones“.

But again, the easiest way to keep them safe – and all the rest of us – is to stop being Trump’s poodle and enabling his illegal war. Keeping them safe is clearly only of interest as far as it can be used to excuse continuing to assist Trump’s illegal war on Iran.

Starmer’s lies are so transparent, and his delivery so awful, that it’s almost as if he’s relying on the public tuning out after three seconds and not really registering what he drones on about. Then the collaborator ‘mainstream’ press and broadcasters can sanitise and spin it for him.

Since Skwawkbox and the Canary are very happy not to be members of that club, here’s the unvarnished truth: Starmer has brought the UK into another illegal war and he knows it. This puts British service people and civilians in danger, and he knows that too.

He is unfit to clean Downing Street, let alone govern from it.

Featured image via the Canary

Why do total solar eclipses make the moon look red?

Where can I see the blood moon?

There will be partial lunar eclipses long before 2028, however

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced Sunday evening the postponement of the first leg matches of the AFC Champions League Round of 16 and the first leg matches of the AFC Champions League 2 (West Zone), which were scheduled to be played in several Middle Eastern countries during the first week of March. This decision comes amidst the escalating security and military conflict in the Middle East.

According to a statement issued by the AFC the matches scheduled for March 2nd and 3rd in the UAE and Qatar, involving clubs from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, and Iran, have been postponed to a later date “due to the rapidly changing situation in the region.” The statement emphasized that matches in the eastern regions of the continent will proceed as originally scheduled.

The AFC indicated that it is closely monitoring the security situation and remains committed to ensuring the safety of players, teams, and fans above all other sporting considerations. It confirmed that the new match dates will be announced later through official channels.

Arab countries affected by sporting suspensions

In the same context, some Arab countries witnessed modifications or partial suspensions of their local sporting schedules and public events due to the ongoing security tensions:

• Qatar: The Qatar Stars League announced the postponement of two matches from the Doha Bank Stars League until further notice, in an effort to ensure public safety amid escalating regional tensions. • The UAE and Saudi Arabia: Local club matches and sporting events scheduled for early March were postponed due to travel and security concerns, with some clubs temporarily suspending their competitive activities pending a more stable situation.

• Kuwait announced the suspension of all local sporting competitions until further notice, including football tournaments and other popular sports, amid the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran, in order to protect athletes and fans.

Teams and athletes in countries such as Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon also faced difficulties in organizing sporting activities or traveling during the escalation, especially with some airlines suspending or withdrawing their services over the region. This led to the postponement or rescheduling of some local matches for logistical and security reasons.

Uncertainty and resumption dates

With the security situation continuing to deteriorate in the Middle East, football and other sports in the region remain in a state of uncertainty regarding the resumption of normal activities. Reports indicate that sports federations are considering alternative options, such as holding matches in a centralized location in a neutral country or rescheduling them for a later week if the security situation improves.

Sports in Asia and the Arab region continue to face unprecedented challenges due to the current situation. The scheduling of major competitions remains contingent on improved stability in the region and a return to safer levels of travel and security, so that the sporting events calendar is not disrupted seasonally.

Featured image via the Canary