3 min read7 min

This week, the charity Action Against Heartburn released data showing that the proportion of oesophageal cancer cases diagnosed at stage 4 has risen from around a quarter to just over a third of all cases over the course of a decade. Sadly, I know from personal experience that this rise in late-stage diagnosis is catastrophic for patient survival.

I lost both my wife and father to oesophageal cancer within just a few weeks of one another. It’s a devastating disease that claims too many lives because patients are often diagnosed too late for treatments to be effective. 

Action Against Heartburn, which aims to raise awareness of the connection between ongoing heartburn and oesophageal cancer, analysed the latest available data on the proportion of oesophageal cancers diagnosed at each stage in England and found that diagnosis at stage 4 increased from 25.1 per cent in 2013 to 36.6 per cent in 2022. 

Stage 4 cancer is an advanced stage of the disease, and it means it has spread from its original site. It is serious and often incurable at this stage. 

Thanks to improved treatments, all UK cancer survival rates have generally increased in recent years, but progress for oesophageal cancer has been much slower. 

There are around 9,200 new cases of oesophageal cancer in the UK each year, and fewer than 20 per cent of people diagnosed will survive for more than five years. It is one of the ‘less survivable cancers’ and is often forgotten when it comes to awareness campaigns and research funding. 

The poor life expectancy of oesophageal cancer is largely due to late diagnosis. One-year survival for oesophageal cancer is 89 pr cent if it’s diagnosed at stage 1, but this drops to 26 per cent if it’s diagnosed at stage 4. 

To improve survival rates, we must see increased public awareness of key symptoms as well as faster routes to diagnosis, better use of innovative screening technologies, such as capsule sponge technology and biomarker testing, and more research into oesophageal cancer.

We also need to back research and development of breath, saliva and blood tests to improve the diagnostic tests available. Pharmacists should be able to give advice, and even simple diagnostic tests, to regular consumers of over-the-counter heartburn medication who have not yet seen their GP. Equally, GPs should be given the tools to be able to give these relatively easy diagnostic tests at their surgeries.     

Oesophageal cancer may be difficult to diagnose and treat at the moment, but the same could have been said for other cancers a couple of decades ago that have shown remarkable improvements. It is now time that we also showed this same determination to reduce cancer deaths from oesophageal and other less survivable cancers.

I am pleased to see that improved access to diagnostic tests for oesophageal cancer was included in the National Cancer Plan, which was published on World Cancer Day. It’s a step towards hope for the thousands of people who will be diagnosed with this brutal disease.

Patrick Hurley is Labour MP for Southport

Dr Daniel Pitt is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Buckingham. 

Conservative statecraft is an old idea, the time for which has come again.

Taking a long view of our present discontents can help us understand them. Reflecting on historical events and great figures of our past can provide us with a map of sorts to move forward.

Deep reading and reflection were foundational to the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury’s political action. To be a bit more philosophical here, diving into our history can provide that metaphorical bridge between the generations. Indeed, building and restoring such a bridge is at the heart of conservative statecraft. This excavation of the past can build trust and form a type of social membership, and of course, the repudiation of it can and does create distrust and social alienation, which is why the woke left attacks our history.

The past is not a dead weight to be liberated from.

The Conservative Party’s history is a long and adventurous story that is punctuated by great success and, yes, failure. Or to quote a former Conservative Leader and Prime Minister, Arthur Balfour, history “is of blood and tears, of helpless blundering, of wild revolt, of stupid acquiescence, of empty aspirations.” This can be said about our party too. Conservative statecraft must draw from the party’s failures and successes. The late Joan Hall, a former Conservative MP for Keighley, said, “I can cope with failure and come back fighting.”

Indeed, Hall was a fighter and was nicknamed ‘the Yorkshire Valkyrie’; her sheer force of personality ensured that she came back fighting, but this can also be said of her party. The secret to the party’s success, I suggest, is its ability to come back fighting after failure. This is sometimes articulated as the party’s willingness to change and adapt to the times.

The party benefits greatly from the body of thought that shares its name. As the great Edmund Burke noted, in order to conserve, there needs to be some change. The dilemma for conservative intellectuals, as well as statesmen, is to discern the permanent from the transitory or the vital from the trivial. To assist in this dilemma, as Sir Winston Churchill suggested, we should ‘study history’ because ‘in history lie all the secrets of statecraft’. In my view, a conservative statesman is a person who has discernment on such matters and understands when the party needs to go through renewal and revitalisation. Now is such a time.

The core fundamental of conservative statecraft is about renewing the party whilst in Opposition to win elections and to be ready for government. Spending the party’s political capital on defending one’s record in Government, whether it is positive, negative or a mixed bag, is not the best way to spend it. Stephen Sherbourne, now Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury, in a letter to Maraget Thatcher, hit the nail on the head: “there is no gratitude in politics”.

People want to know what the party will do in the future. Conservative statecraft is about surveying the past to enable current and future prosperity.

A conservative statecraft of revival should focus on five key things:

1. Replenishing the party’s ideational stance;
2. Reorganising the party machinery;
3. Updating policy;
4. Rethinking presentation and party branding;
5. Updating personnel and recruiting new candidates

Kemi Badenoch is well on her way to achieving these five key areas of renewal, but there is still work to do. T.S. Eliot believed that we as a party “must have a political philosophy”. Badenoch, in her podcast phase, quoted conservative thinkers such as the American economist Thomas Sowell and the late Sir Roger Scruton, which revealed that she is more than willing to express ‘authentic’ conservatism and to replenish the party’s ideational stance. She does need to go that bit further and deeper in expressing this. There are useful examples of renewal to draw on from Sir Robert Peel’s Tamworth Manifesto, Benjamin Disraeli’s Crystal Palace speech, and David Cameron’s Big Society concept.

For inspiration for the reorganisation of the party machinery, one can look at successful reforms by Disraeli and John Eldon Gorst in the Victorian era to ensure the party was competitive in urban areas, Neville Chamberlain’s and Stanley Baldwin’s setting up of the Conservative Research Department in the interwar years, and the Earl of Woolton’s elimination of payments by parliamentary candidates in the post-World War II years, which widened and deepened the pool of talent available to the party.

We can learn lessons for updating party policy from Churchill, Ted Heath and Thatcher’s time as Opposition leaders. The stratagem here is to demonstrate to the public (and to the media) that the party has sound policies that answer current issues, but the policies cannot be too detailed, as they could be held hostage to events. Kemi and her team are doing an excellent job here, and they are also overcoming the dilemma that the Government might pinch the policies by actively saying the Government should pinch them.

We can learn about how to rethink presenting the party from the past, too. There are many examples of logo change, such as Cameron’s tree, change of the style and content of advertising, such as Saatchi & Saatchi during the Thatcher years, and image building such as Seldon Man during Heath’s leadership, even if your opponent assists you in creating that image.

Conservative statecraft and party renewal are old ideas that are now back in fashion, and there is much to learn from them

Keir Starmer’s Home Office has blown nearly £700,000 on court and lawyer fees to oppose Palestine Action co-founder, Huda Ammori’s judicial review to overturn the government’s ban on the anti-genocide direct action group. Starmer has used the ban to arrest thousands of mostly elderly and disabled protesters for opposing it.

Human rights groups have condemned Starmer’s police-state action, with Amnesty International describing it as a:

disproportionate misuse of the UK’s terrorism powers [that] should be overturned.

The court’s decision on the judicial review will be announced tomorrow, 13 February 2026.

This cost is nothing compared to the millions spent, since the ban began in July 2025, on arresting the activists who opposed the ban. Then-home secretary Yvette Coooper was caught in repeated lies to justify the ban, which UK security and intelligence experts had recommended against.

Featured image via the Canary

A High Court judge has ruled this morning, 13 February 2026, that the government’s ban on anti-genocide action group Palestine Action was “disproportionate” and breaches the human rights of UK people.

Palestine Action NOT a terrorist group (obviously)

However, the ‘proscription’ remains in place for at least another week while the government has a chance to prepare submissions on the court’s finding. It remains a criminal offence, for the time being, to express support for Palestine Action. Police should, of course, weigh whether it’s worth arresting people when no prosecutions are likely, but their record suggests they won’t.

Zack Polanski perhaps summed up the verdict the best:

A court has ruled that the government’s authoritarian ban on Palestine Action was unlawful.

Time to stop criminalising the people protesting a genocide – and start ending the UK’s complicity.

Advertisement

— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) February 13, 2026

Meanwhile, on the ground, supporters of Palestine Action were jubilant.

The decision was made by a panel of judges who all have strong links to Israel, underscoring just how far the Starmer regime overstepped human rights legislation. It is almost certain to try to appeal, despite the exposed web of lies it created to try to justify the ban.

Outside the court, supporters were holding signs saying “I support Palestine Action”. These were the exact same ones that saw police people in their 1000s last year. Yet on 13 February, as far as the Canary team on the ground could tell no one was today:

The full judgment is available here.

Featured image via the Canary

In recent decades, a huge wave of dental tourism has been expanding worldwide, driven by people seeking quick solutions to their dental problems. Today, social, professional, and personal approval play a significant role in how we are perceived, and a perfect smile is essential for fitting into a society where the growth of the internet and social media has increased the pressure to present a beautiful and confident image.

Taking care of your teeth, keeping them white, and so on has become just as important as any other cosmetic surgery on our bodies. People look for the best deals and the best dentists in a single clinic, dental tourism has become a great option in recent years, when patients cannot find what we mentioned in their countries of origin.

The most popular countries for dental tourism are:

●  Türkiye: Without a doubt, this wonderful country has become a great option in Europe because it offers packages for tourists not only to visit exotic and historical places but also to enjoy its dental services at an affordable price.

●  Mexico: In Latin America and the North, this country is a great option since dental procedures are very expensive in places like Canada and the United States.

●  Vietnam: This country is ideal in the Asian part because they train excellent professionals and are ideal for offering good prices without lowering quality standards.

There are also other ideal countries for dental tourism, such as Costa Rica, Colombia, Dubai, Poland, among others.

What are the most sought-after dental procedures in the world?

• ORTHODONTICS: Undoubtedly, crooked or gapped teeth are among the biggest factors that lower a person’s mood and dental aesthetics. Orthodontics is an ideal procedure to correct these types of problems, as well as bite malformations. It involves placing a series of metal appliances that, over the months, gradually tighten the teeth and move them into their correct position.
• TEETH WHITENING: It is one of the most used procedures since most people in the world suffer from tooth stains at least once in their lives for various reasons, whether the most common ones, such as not having proper oral hygiene or the consumption of tobacco, cigarettes, tea, or mate, among others. Sometimes it turns into tartar and this can only be removed by the doctor using special equipment.
• DENTAL IMPLANTS: When we lose one or more teeth, it’s possible to replace them through this procedure, which, although more complex, is a valid option. A screw is placed in the tooth root, and once the osseointegration process is complete, a custom-made prosthesis, matched to the natural tooth colour, is then attached.
• DENTAL CROWNS: They are used after the implant and act in place of the missing tooth, they are made of a biocompatible material with the mouth, they are made to measure for each patient, they are made with the natural color of the tooth and they are placed permanently, the patient automatically recovers the aesthetic and chewing function of the mouth.
• DENTAL VENEERS: These are “caps” so called because of their manufacturing method, which cover imperfections of natural teeth such as stains, cracks, crooked teeth, etc. They are made in the same color and help to make the smile beautiful and perfect.
• HOLLYWOOD SMILE: It is undoubtedly most sought after by those who practice dental tourism; its name is derived from the way famous people in film and television have a beautiful and enviable smile. The professionals provide individual assistance to each patient when it comes to this treatment, as each one is evaluated and given the procedures they need to achieve a Hollywood smile.

These are just some of the many dental procedures performed in various clinics, where patients go with the assurance of receiving top-quality care at competitive prices. Among the outstanding clinics, we must mention the dental clinic called Dentakay, located in Istanbul, Turkey, famous for its excellent price packages that include not only treatment but also pre- and post-treatment services, as well as the opportunity for patients to explore historical sites in the country, thus enhancing their dental tourism experience.

‘Lady’ Victoria Hervey — ex-partner to disgraced Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor — went on LBC to smear the late Virginia Giuffre, who serial child-rapist Jeffrey Epstein abused for years before she lost her life to suicide in 2025.

Unrepentant

Giuffre dedicated her life campaigning against sexual abuse. Despite that, Windsor, notwithstanding his position in the royal family, denied having had a relationship or contact with Giuffre. The release of the ‘Epstein files’ revealed the disgraced ex-royal to be the dishonest party. He did know her and the infamous image of them was not doctored as claimed.

Hervey’s interview charade mirrors Andrew’s unrepentant mindset. Hervey, dismisses these events as a storm-in-a-teacup of lies that were ‘unravelling.’

It gets worse, with Hervey claiming that:

just before [Virginia] passed away her lies were unravelling. ​Like, finally people were kind of realizing ‘okay, this girl is making up stories,’ and then she conveniently dies.

Challenged on who Giuffre’s death was convenient for, she said it was:

Convenient for her.

This is not her first defence of Andrew. But tolerance for anyone cheering for rapists or excusing statutory rape is wearing thin — even the insufferable Piers Morgan shut down Hervey in a recent interview, describing her theories as as “utter s***”.

It should be astounding, but isn’t, given the context of the contempt shown for Epstein’s countless victims by their abusers. Nor given the establishment’s ongoing contempt now for their lives, reputations and the justice they deserve. Nor indeed Hervey’s own history of responding to Giuffre’s death with “lies catch up with you”.

But Hervey wasn’t finished. She also wanted to pour scorn on the horror decent humanity feels at the string of revelations of the rich and powerful and their sick crimes. According to Hervey, being in the files isn’t shameful. Not being in the files is — it means you’re “a bit of a loser”:

To be honest, if you’re not in those files it would be an insult, because it just means that you were a bit of a loser.

And Hervey just doubled down when she was challenged. In an interview shortly after her vile comments, she told Piers Morgan subsequently that she meant anyone “in the upper echelons of society” would be in Epstein’s files:

More questions than answers

Certainly, there are a handful of people in the files who aren’t tainted by their appearance in the Epstein files. Anti-Zionist academic Norman Finkelstein came out shining, after the files showed him telling an academic who defended Epstein that Epstein and his lawyer Alan Dershowitz should be strangled.

But not the disgraced Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Not the string of sick billionaires and politicians who participated in Epstein’s crimes. And perhaps not Hervey either. She appears some thirty times in the latest Epstein release — and not in a ‘passing mention’ way either. None of it is proof of wrongdoing. None of it is incidental, either. All of it raises questions.

For example, in a frantic email to Giuffre’s lawyer David Boies last year, a redacted whistleblower correspondent accused an “OUT OF CONTROL” Hervey of running a ” serious gang of coordinated stalkers” to doxx and pursue them:

Or, in another example, seemingly from the same person:

Ward celebrated with HERVEY and KRAUS the night [redacted]’s death. They will not be satisfied until I am dead as well.

I have already served HERVEY and need to serve KRAUS. HERVEY uses the felon on parole, George B Tonks, to harass me full time since she no longer legally can. I had to hire a barrister in UK to serve Lady Victoria HERVEY, and did so [because] of the way [redacted] was being pummeled publicly by this gang. The guy was on parole as a convicted federal felon and I’m a federal whistleblower, so they did nothing. Vanity Fair gave a felon in prison my phone number and said felon NEVER STOPPED THREATENING AND HARASSING. The NYPD, Chicago PD, and FBI have failed us all and now I have been so beaten down the last five years without an ounce of support aside from fellow victims…

…HERVEY speaks to Maxwell in prison. Why is any of this harassment of witnesses legal and always overlooked?

One file includes an email with a redacted sender and no mention of the recipient’s identity:

You use ppl with no support systems and make them carry the weight of unimaginable power and retribution! I begged you and SIGRID YEARS to protect NM/me from LADY VICTORIA HERVEY, as you gaslighted having never heard of the royal stalkers! Fergie and Maxwell are behind all of the suffering. LAW ENFORCEMENT IS
NOT HERE FOR VICTIMS. They arc here for elites.

Another Epstein file shows Hervey being accused publicly of being an “MI6 honeypot operative” close to Trump’s FBI director Kash Patel. The image used shows a redacted Hervey with Patel, wearing a ‘MAGA’ cap. Patel is accused by senior US congresspeople of trying to cover up Trump’s involvement with Epstein.

Finger-pointing

Another DOJ file shows a chat between an unnamed sender and “Lisa Probation for Stalker”, accusing Hervey of participating in illegally-obtained medical information:

Another file:

[Redacted] needs to be restrained legally and once again, I wasn’t given enough compensation to even cover my
upcoming surgeries. I had to serve HERVEY in the UK, PREDMORE, etc…how am I to survive? BEDWARDS, you did ALL OF THIS to my tiny private life.

Another, to lawyer Ariel Mitchell, accused Hervey and others of working with the Trump administration, Ghislaine Maxwell’s family and the royal to destroy the sender:

Ariel,

He’s a felon on parole who was just released in NYC from his ankle monitor. His probation officer had promised
he would not go free, yet LV HERVEY used her “influence”, as they continue to try to kill me with threats/harassment/lies/smears/releasing my home address, sharing my ss#, sharing my [redacted] trauma journal!

They work in tandem with this current administration/Maxwell/Royal family.

Another, an email to Boies and others:

They gang stalk and HERVEY/Kraus have eyes set on attacking [musician P] Diddy victims next. FBI JUST WATCHES AS WE ARE EATEN ALIVE! Six full years.

Another, from a UK citizen to an unnamed Met Police detective, describes Hervey as “besotted” with Epstein’s enabler and fellow trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, and demands a ‘restraining order’ against her:

I would like it noted that LVH [Hervey] has many friends as politicians as per her Daily Mail interview.

Again I want a restraining order filed against her. She is NOT a journalist but someone whom is besotted with Maxwell a convicted pedophile charged with sex trafficking who participated in my OWN TRAFFICKING AND HER OWN EGO!!!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14511171/Samantha-Landry-Victoria-Secret-excitement-Trump-MAGA-influencer.html

I WANT ALL HER LETTERS TO MAXWELL CONFISCATED AND USED AS EVIDENCE. ALSO ALL CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN YOURSELF LUCIA AND LVH MUST BE SENT TO DC [redacted] INCLUDING ALL OF [redacted] EVIDENCE YOU STOLE!!

AGAIN MAY I REMIND YOU ALL THAT THIS IS AN INTERNATIONAL SEX TRAFFICKING RING!!!!

Advertisement

I also have have photos of Ghislaine with myself and others in Epstein Island.

See [redacted] email below. I expect you will also contact her because I want every single communication she had with Lucia Osbom and Lady Victoria Hervey!

An implicated Daily Mail

Another, heavily redacted file includes an email sent to Daily Mail owner Jonathan Harmsworth, Viscount Rothermere. The email, apparently sent by a trafficked Epstein victim, informs Harmsworth that s/he is adding him to the witness list in “litigation and investigations into Epstein and Co”, specifically, among other issues, because Hervey writes for his publication:

Jonathan Harmsworth,

I will be adding you to my witness list in the ongoing litigation and investigations into Epstein and Co where you personally will be held accountable for aiding and abetting Epstein’s sex trafficking ring, victim-blaming and discrediting Epstein’s victims to aid further those who committed and are committing heinous crimes of rape and sex trafficking accountable.

Advertisement

Seeming as Daniel Bates, Callahan, Lucia Osborne, Victoria Hervey, Alan Dershowitz, and Boris Johnson are enthusiastic journalists of your or in other z class stations, you to will be investigated along with Rupert Murdoch and The New York Post. Because of Callahan, I had to go into isolation and hiding for two years, and you all
put my life in danger when Epstein located me in Barcelona.

It was Sharon Churcher, a Daily Mail journalist who went down to see with a photographer and took her and her husband to the FBI in Sydney. It was the Daily Mail that Published the photo of Prince Andrew.

Over the years, how many millions/ billions have you made plugging the Prince Andrew story? I even made complaints directly to the Daily Mail many, many times at the unfair constant plugging of only one male being held accountable in an entire sex trafficking ring. Why has not one journalist held another man in the Epstein ring accountable?? NOT ONE???

Again, none of these appearances are proof of wrongdoing. But they certainly raise questions about Hervey’s evident contempt for rape victims and survivors, including Giuffre.

For more on the the Epstein Files, please read the Canary’s article on way that the media circus around Epstein is erasing the experiences of victims and survivors.

Featured image via the Canary

VICKIE FLORES/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Help and support: