Politics
Taoiseach Martin’s weak response to his predecessor’s vile racism
Taoiseach (prime minister) Micheál Martin has responded tepidly to appallingly bigoted remarks by his predecessor Bertie Ahern on a voter’s doorstep. The voter recorded the ex-Fianna Fáil leader saying he didn’t approve of Africans entering Ireland, and vilifying the next generation of Muslims who he said were set to cause “problems.”
Instead of condemning Ahern’s overt racism and Islamophobia, Martin said the remarks were “not appropriate,” “correct, or proper” — a slap on the wrist at best.
Ahern vomited out the racist sentiments while canvassing for Fianna Fáil in the run-up to a Dublin Central bye-election, scheduled for 22 May. The woman recording wasn’t trying to catch out the former Taoiseach. If anything, she can be heard muttering comically incoherent xenophobic beliefs in a lengthy rant. She said:
I’m really disappointed in you and your party and all the other parties on the globalism, hordes of foreigners coming into our country. Can we not close our borders?
Can we not be like Poland and have safe clean streets. Can we not have that, Bertie?
She then swiftly changed her mind, and decided that Ireland did in fact have:
…lovely streets now with bicycle lanes. That’s great for the homeless to sleep on.
This will be a boon to urban planners, who may not have realised that cycle lanes apparently make great dormitories for people without shelter. We can seemingly achieve greener transportation and solve the housing crisis all at once, using a narrow strip of tarmac. More fool them for not realising there’s no better place for a kip than a spot which might see you becoming an impromptu speed bump for a 30kg piece of metal on wheels.
Backing Ukrainian but not African migration
Ahern made it clear he had no issue with immigration, as long as those coming in are the right colour:
I have no problem with the Ukrainians. Because, you know, in fairness, Russia moved in and war in their country.
He wasn’t so keen on people with more melanin, however:
The ones I worry about are the Africans. I agree with you on the Africans. We can’t be taking in people from the Congo and all these places. I think there’s too many from those places.
Now, one might say old Bertie cited the Ukraine war as the reason for the discrepancy. That might sound fine until we remember there’s a hardly discussed war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). One driven by resource conflict over the minerals that power technology such as smartphones. Wealthier nations that extensively consuming this technology bear a large responsibility — including Ireland. When people flee the DRC as a result of the violence, we have a responsibility to take in those seeking refuge.
Ahern’s ugly views of Muslims were also clear, with him saying:
The Muslims…I don’t worry about this generation. The next generation when the kids start growing up, that’s when I think the problem would be. I said this to Jim O’Callaghan. That’s when the problem comes.
It’s bad enough that the former leader of the Irish government holds these views. It’s more concerning that he appears to be trying to influence policy by speaking to minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration Jim O’Callaghan.
Doorstep conversation exposes Irish politics
The discussion was quite revealing of the current zeitgeist in Irish politics, as the woman’s rant took in republican elements, the citing of genuine issues, alongside the confused racist shite with which she sought to apportion blame.
She referenced how Ireland had “only been free for 100 years,” and now supposedly overrun by foreigners again. Later she cited 1916 revolutionary Patrick Pearse, executed by Britain, as saying “Ireland belongs to the Irish”. This is an anti-colonial quote aimed at the British, now being repurposed by the Irish far right for anti-migrant purposes. This disingenuous leveraging of Irish freedom fighters is apparently achieving some cut-through among voters.
The genuine issues she identified were housing:
I’m worried about my kids because they’re never going to be able to buy a house…
Emigration due to the cost of living:
…our taxpayers are paying for the education of the youth and they’re having to leave.
Finally, inequality. As Ahern walked away, she said:
God forgive you. God forgive you. You never spoke up for us. You’re walking around here lying to everyone. You’re a liar. You’re a liar. We never do that. And you have all your money. When you die you can’t bring your money with you.
Ahern was of course forced to leave Fianna Fáil in 2012 as a result of:
…failing to truthfully explain the source of large sums of money that passed through his bank accounts.
People Before Profit hammer Martin
These funds were linked to property developers, bringing us full circle back to the disaster of housing in Ireland. People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy pointed this out to Martin’s face in the Dáil, saying it’s:
…very blatant what the agenda is. Scapegoat immigrants, divide ordinary people. Why? So nobody blames Bertie Ahern, Fianna Fáil and the landlords and developers you have allowed to profit from the housing crisis.
People from the Congo didn’t take corrupt payments from developers to blow up the property bubble. They were never found by a tribunal to have been untruthful in explaining how 400,000 euros in today’s money pass through their bank accounts.
Muslim children didn’t crash the economy causing years of misery and austerity for ordinary people. Unlike Fianna Fáil and Fianna Gael, they never rolled out the red carpet for developers and vulture funds.
They weren’t the ones who sowed the seeds of the current housing disaster and they weren’t the ones who refused to maintain council flats and then voted to increase council rents.
This is the straightforward message that needs to get out to voters like the woman confronting Ahern beside the flaking paint of her front door.
It isn’t “Sharia law” and Congolese people harming Ireland. It’s the likes of greedy developers and landlords, alongside politicians such as Ahern and Martin who are only too happy to do their bidding.
Featured image via the Canary
Mu Sochua speaking in Tokyo in Feb. 2024 (Newscom/Alamy)
7 min read
Mu Sochua is on an international mission to rid Cambodia of its industrial-scale ‘scam centres’. Noah Vickers speaks to her as she brings her message to Westminster
It’s become a reality of daily life in the West. Messages on social media from anonymous profiles urging you to invest in crypto. Phone calls from someone claiming to work for your bank or software provider, warning that your account is about to be compromised.
For most of those at the receiving end, scams are simply a nuisance to be ignored. For the minority who fall for them, they can have devastating consequences. But little thought is usually given to those on the other side of the phone – hundreds of thousands of whom have been trafficked, abused and imprisoned in vast, multi-storey facilities across south-east Asia.
In Cambodia alone, roughly 100,000 people are estimated by the United Nations to be forcibly involved in online scams.
Leading the charge to shut them down is Mu Sochua, a 71-year-old Cambodian opposition activist and former MP who since 2017 has been living in self-exile in the United States.
Mu argues that the scam centres are only able to operate because the country’s government tolerates them. There is no path to permanently closing all of them, she suggests, without restoring democracy in Cambodia.
“There would not be scam centres on this scale – with torture and human rights abuses – if it was in a country with the rule of law, a government elected by the people in a free and fair manner, where there is civil society, independent judiciary and independent media,” she says.
The UK government, she argues, should say loudly and clearly that the Cambodian regime is complicit in allowing the centres to remain open.
In October 2025, the UK and US announced sanctions on Chen Zhi, chairman of the Prince Group conglomerate that built some of the scam centres and was implicated in laundering their proceeds, along with a network of associated companies. Further sanctions against other groups and individuals linked to the scam centres were announced in March.
Some of those sanctioned had incorporated their businesses in the British Virgin Islands and invested in the London property market, including a £12m mansion on Avenue Road, a £100m office building on Fenchurch Street and several flats.
All of these assets were frozen by the sanctions, but Mu argues that “freezing alone is not enough”. Ministers should ensure, she says, that the money raised from them is used to support the victims of human rights abuses in Cambodia, just as immobilised Russian assets have been used to support the Ukrainian war effort.
Mu also points out that no sanctions have been levelled against members of the Cambodian government. Close family members of deputy prime minister Neth Savoeun, for example, reportedly own luxurious London properties.
While the Foreign Office expressed “regret” that Cambodia’s most recent election, in 2023, was “neither free nor fair” – due to the disqualification of the main opposition party – the regime’s ruling family continued to enjoy access to the UK’s education system.
Just last month, the son of one of Cambodia’s other deputy prime ministers, Hun Many – who is himself a son of the country’s former prime minister Hun Sen – graduated from Sandhurst military academy.
“Look how well-prepared they are to give the top education to their children,” says Mu. “To groom their children to take over. Where? In the UK. In the US.”
Mu, who served as a minister in the Cambodian government from 1998 to 2004, was in 2005 nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize along with 999 other women around the world working to advance peace and human rights. But in 2017, her party leader was arrested on treason charges, and Mu was forced to flee after being tipped off that she would be next.
“I only had, overnight, less than 10 hours to pack up,” she remembers. “I never even had a chance to say goodbye to my family, and since then, I’ve not been able to go back.”
When The House meets Mu, she is visiting the UK Parliament in her role as president of the Khmer Movement for Democracy (KMD) – a global campaign to restore Cambodia’s democratic freedoms.
Over the last year, she has made similar visits to speak with parliamentarians and officials in Japan, South Korea, the US, Canada, Australia, Belgium and Germany.
This is a moment where you have Cambodia down on its knees – don’t let go
Mu says she is “banging on the door” of each of these governments, particularly as many of them were signatories to the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements intended to guarantee Cambodia’s democracy in perpetuity. As long as the accords are being violated, Mu argues that the UK and others should cease trading with Cambodia.
“The UK, the EU, the US – where there is a huge market for the Cambodian garments sector – have to use that leverage that they have,” she says, adding that it does not make sense to condemn the scam centres while continuing to import clothing from a country rife with labour exploitation.
“On the one hand, you go after the scam centres. On the other hand, the UK closes its eyes to other kinds of violations, like workers’ rights.”
The Cambodian economy, she points out, is in a precarious state and further pressure, instead of what she calls “soft diplomacy”, may help break the regime’s resolve: “This is a moment where you have Cambodia down on its knees – don’t let go.”
Not only are the scam centres destroying lives, she adds, but they are part of a wider network of criminality that is “putting global security in jeopardy”. Until it was closed in December last year, the Cambodian digital payment platform Huione Pay was being used not only to launder money from the scams but also to launder cryptocurrency stolen by North Korean hackers, which may in turn be helping to fund Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.
Mu’s multiple attempts to return to her home country have been blocked by the authorities, who have cancelled her Cambodian passport. But she takes courage from her work leading KMD, which is currently setting up an elected overseas citizens assembly to speak for Cambodians inside and outside the country.
“We are for national reconciliation,” says Mu. “I want to go home – I have tried so hard to go home.
“Right now, we are building this platform so that the Cambodian people are united, so that we can represent ourselves as an alternative, democratic Cambodia. That will be feasible if the international community starts coming back to Cambodia in the context of the Paris Peace Accords.”
The Foreign Office declined to comment in response to Mu’s remarks, instead pointing The House back to the press releases announcing their sanctions on those connected to the scam centres. The Cambodian government did not respond to a request for comment.
Following the UK’s sanctions in March, Cambodia’s parliament passed its first law targeting the scam centres in April. Under the legislation, scams conducted by gangs or against many victims can be punished by up to 10 years in prison and as much as $250,000 in fines. The law also outlines penalties for those convicted of money laundering, gathering victims’ data, or recruiting scammers.
Justice minister Koeut Rith told reporters at the time: “This law is strict like the fishing net, strict to ensure we don’t have the online scams anymore in Cambodia, strict in order to serve the interest of the Cambodian nation and people.”
There was an opinion piece published in Metro earlier this week, trumpeting the headline, ‘Zack Polanski, not Wes Streeting, should be Britain’s first gay prime minister’. The article began like a moronic Pink News scoop: ‘Like many LGBT+ people, I’ve spent my whole life hoping I’d live to see the day an openly gay prime minister moved into 10 Downing Street.’ I was tempted to ask why, but I’m pretty sure that Streeting or Polanski would give an equally on fleek rendition of ‘Tear down those curtains and make him a dress’ upon entry, so what difference would it really make?
I jest, of course. The sad reality is that there are those among us who appear to believe that one’s sexuality or identity is the most interesting and important component to doing a job. That certainly seems to be the case with the LGBTQIA+ crowd, who think that having an actual gay person in charge would be the most groundbreaking event since Eddie Izzard said, ‘Call me Suzy’.
The fact is that neither Labour’s Streeting nor the Greens’ Polanski would ever ‘identify’ as gay. Both would likely talk in terms of being LGBTQIA+. Which is quite a different entity altogether. Ultimately, both terms are meaningless and irrelevant to the task at hand. Had a prime minister come out, say, in 1981, when the tennis legend Martina Navratilova did, it would have been a different matter entirely. Although, if my recollections are correct, it would have been distinctly unlikely, considering the constant mixture of fear and loathing levelled against lesbian, gay and bisexual people at the time. To do so would have been not only courageous, but most likely a fool’s errand, too. Your career would have been over and out before you could say, ‘I could crush a grape’.
Homosexuality is so unremarkable now that I’m surprised more politicians haven’t latched on to the Hollywood craze and declared themselves ‘nonbinary’. This, apparently, carries far more cachet, and – most excitingly – a smashing new wardrobe filled with assorted dungarees.
Which brings me onto the reaction to this Dual of The Divas between Streeting and Polanski. Of course, the bona fide members of the all-or-nothing LGBTQIA+ mob were outraged at the suggestion that Streeting could take the crown. Some septum-pierced, grammarless hack said he was ‘Getting out ahead of this right now’, before declaring: ‘We simply do not claim Wes Streeting as the first gay PM. A man who has thrown trans people under the bus, who backs attacks on LGBTQ migrants, on POC [people of colour], on [the] working class… is not emblematic of our movement and is certainly no trailblazer.’
I had no idea a group could ‘claim’ anyone for themselves, but as this particular individual’s X bio proudly proclaims he’s ‘Your dad’s favourite lay’ (followed by a glittery long fingernail emoji), I think we may safely dismiss this rant as the ravings of an online omnicause onanist.
Trouble is, there seems to be rather a lot of these people about. Polanski is being touted as the champion of LGBTQIA+ politics, but it does not seem to me that this particular individual will concern himself with the first three letters of this increasingly foolish acronym, whose rights are in direct opposition to the TQIA+. Most gay people who want nothing to do with gender ideology call themselves LGB. That is because we do not want to see women’s hard-won rights demolished, we do not want to see lesbian-only spaces invaded by men, and we most certainly do not want to see gender theory in action – especially when it comes to influencing other people’s children.
In practice, neither Streeting nor Polanski would be any good. In fact, I believe they’d be rotten. Gay, straight, multicoloured or hexagonal, their sexual preferences are utterly irrelevant. Especially now. What is of vital importance is what these men really believe and whether they are to be trusted. It’s not enough to say, ‘Well, I’ve always voted “X” and I’m not changing now.’ It’s not enough to say, ‘Yay! They’re LGBTQIA+! That’s what matters!’
It is worth heeding these words from the estimable Douglas Murray: ‘It doesn’t matter what your sexuality is. You should simply be concentrating on doing what you should be doing in your life and doing it well.’
I wonder if that’s ever going to be a possibility for people ever again?
James Dreyfus is an actor who has starred in Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, Absolutely Fabulous and The Thin Blue Line.
On Wednesday morning, Labour’s Health Secretary Wesley Streeting met with ailing Prime Minister Keir Starmer for approximately 16 minutes. Perhaps a longer rendezvous was unnecessary. Streeting, a long-time favourite of pro-Israeli lobbyists and private healthcare interests, has certainly made his intentions clear.
By lunchtime on Wednesday, Streeting’s camp confirmed what the rest of the country already knew: he is going for Starmer’s throne. The Streeting coup was underway.
By Tuesday evening, a string of Streeting allies had resigned from Starmer’s cabinet in an attempt to force him out before Andy Burnham had time to get back into Parliament.
Zubir Ahmed
First, Zubir Ahmed, a junior minister in the Department of Health and former Personal Parliamentary Secretary (PPS) to Streeting.
Ahmed, the Labour MP for Glasgow South West, was also one of several Scottish parliamentary candidates to receive £10,000 from Labour Together in the run-up to the 2024 general election. The controversial think tank has been beset by scandal, and it was recently revealed that current board member Jonathan Kestenbaum, a Labour peer, previously served with the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank.
Jess Phillips
Then, Labour’s Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips stood down from the cabinet, praising Starmer in her resignation letter as:
a good man fundamentally, who cares about the right things.
She was referring to the same person who once said that the Israeli state “had the right” to cut off water and electricity to Gaza.
Like Streeting in Ilford North, Phillips now sits on a wafer-thin majority in Birmingham Yardley. Furthermore, the disastrous local elections last week left Labour with a grand total of zero councillors in the constituency.
In 2020, Streeting endorsed Phillips for Labour leader and served as her “campaign chair”, saying:
Jess is the person to bring our party and our country together.
Just days after Labour’s defeat in 2019, Phillips and Streeting spoke together at the Limmud Festival at an event titled “Should the Jewish community (still) be worried about the Labour Party?” Limmud’s executive director at the time was Eli Ovits, a reserve captain in the Israeli military and IDF spokesman.
Streeting, Friend of Mandelson and Israel
In 2022, Streeting became the first member of Starmer’s shadow cabinet to join a Labour Friends of Israel-funded delegation to occupied Palestine. LFI also paid for Sarah Harrison, one of Streeting’s staffers, to accompany him on the trip. Anna Wilson, another Streeting aide, had a similar trip in July 2023 paid for by ELNET, the lobby group which organised a Peter Mandelson-led delegation in 2024 and is headed by former LFI chair Joan Ryan.
Funders of Streeting include:
- Jonathan Mendelsohn (through his company, Red Capital Ltd.), a director at private healthcare firm the Europa Healthcare Group;
- David Menton, a business associate of Israeli arms beneficiary Chaim “Poju” Zabludowicz, who is also a donor to and director of BICOM, a pro-Israeli lobby group that flourished under the leadership of former Labour MP Lorna Fitzsimons; and
- Trevor Chinn, who was a director, key funder, and central figure in Morgan McSweeney’s Labour Together operation.
Streeting once opined that “there wouldn’t be a Labour government” without McSweeney’s contribution. He has also been eager to defend Peter Mandelson in the past. Last September, he said that Mandelson should not be considered “guilty by association” for his close ties to notorious paedophile and likely Israeli intelligence asset Jeffrey Epstein.
Mandelson, who Streeting has described as a “legend”, personally campaigned for Streeting in both his 2015 and 2019 election campaigns. In 2024, sans-Mandelson, Streeting’s vote collapsed. He now holds his seat by just 528 votes.
A choice between two lightweights?
Keir Starmer’s remaining allies say that he will stand against Streeting if he launches a leadership challenge. With a cost of living crisis, curtailment of civil liberties, and genocide in Gaza, the British public are to be treated to a showdown between two Israel lobby-backed political lightweights as they fight over the rotting carcass of the Labour Party.
Featured image via the Canary
Manchester City moved the title race on for at least another week with a composed 3-0 win over a much changed Crystal Palace at the Etihad.
Phil Foden, given a rare start, was the standout figure, producing two first half assists that set the tone and handed City a commanding lead they never surrendered.
Guardiola made six changes to his regular starting XI, resting big names and bringing Gvardiol back from injury, while Palace manager Oliver Glasner shuffled his side too.
The changes mattered less in this game than City’s efficiency, they created three big chances. All converted into goals and a performance that felt measured.
Manchester City clinical
The opener was a moment of instinct. Foden’s clever back heel found Antoine Semenyo, who finished into the bottom corner to break the deadlock.
The second arrived Foden again found space, touching a cross into Omar Marmoush’s path. Marmoush swivelled and finished with composure to double the lead.
A late third was Savinho, set up by Rayan Cherki after the interval, wrapped up the scoring and a statement win.
City’s finishing was clinical as it has been these past few games, yet their approach was simple; control possession and probe patiently. Punishing when Palace provided opportunities to do so.
This win moves City to within two points of leaders Arsenal. With both teams having played the same number of games. That gap keeps the title race alive, but the margin for error is tiny, Arsenal are still in control of this title charge.
City will bemoan the draw away at Everton that handed Arsenal the advantage, yet Guardiola’s team have shown in recent matches they will not give up until the final whistle has been blown.
History suggests a comeback from five points behind so late in May is unprecedented, but City’s back-to-back wins hint at belief rather than resignation. Guardiola’s body language at full time, was pure energy, fist pumps which underlined the winning mindset.
Final Word
Phil Foden was the standout player of the match, his movement and decision making unlocking Palace’s low block. Guardiola praised Foden’s ability to create in tight spaces and highlighted the midfielders adaptability in a deeper role.
Palace boss Oliver Glasner admitted his team failed to execute their plan and were beaten by a superior side.
City’s rotation showed that Pep had one eye on the FA Cup final against Chelsea in the coming days.
Guardiola managed minutes carefully, as did Palace with their own European final on the horizon.
This was not a Premier League classic, not an end to end thriller. for the neutrals the result keeps the title race interesting. For City, they must now maintain that pressure for 1st place. For Arsenal, it was a prompt to finish the job. The final days. of the season promises to be tense, with every slip and spark magnified at the top.
Featured image via the Canary
By Faz Ali
(Alamy)
3 min read
Wes Streeting is set to leave government today, according to allies, and launch a campaign for Number 10 as the Labour Party plunges into civil war.
Streeting, the health secretary, is scrambling to find the required 81 MPs to mount a leadership challenge against the prime minister. It will likely set off a three-way contest between Streeting, Keir Starmer and one of Angela Rayner, Ed Miliband or Andy Burnham – if the latter can find a seat and win a by-election.
The health secretary is expected to resign this afternoon and plot the next steps to fight the Prime Minister. Streeting’s supporters have been praising his talents and urging Starmer to step aside and set out a timetable for his departure.
Chris Curtis, Labour MP for Milton Keynes North, and a Streeting ally, said the health secretary was a “generational talent”. He added on Thursday morning that he would be announcing his preferred contender to replace the Prime Minister this afternoon.
Meanwhile, a junior minister and Streeting ally called for Starmer to step down and set out a departure timetable in a private meeting on Wednesday afternoon. Josh MacAlister, Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington, told the Prime Minister to set out a timetable for his departure during a meeting with ministers, PoliticsHome revealed. Starmer told the meeting that if there was a challenge, the NEC would set out an appropriate timetable.
Angela Rayner’s position was strengthened this morning after she was cleared in an investigation over whether she deliberately avoided paying stamp duty tax, making it easier for her to launch a leadership bid.
The former housing secretary and deputy prime minister told The Guardian the probe into whether she paid the correct amount of tax on her flat in Hove had “clipped her wings”.
Allies of Rayner have been quick to back her and claim she has been exonerated. Chris Webb, Labour MP for Blackpool North, who has known Rayner for two decades, said she had “always been a woman of integrity, honesty, and decency.”
It is understood that Rayner’s preferred outcome, however, would be backing Burnham in a potential leadership contest. She told a union conference this week that it was a mistake to block the Manchester mayor from running for Parliament in the Gorton and Denton by-election.
Burnham is finding it more difficult to pin down a seat and persuade a sitting MP to step down so he can run for it.
Allies of the Manchester mayor told PoliticsHome the seat he has found is in Greater Manchester and are confident of winning it. But several MPs in the region have denied stepping aside for the so-called King of the North.
They include Afzal Khan, MP for Manchester Rusholme; Connor Rand, MP for Altrincham and Sale West; Phil Brickell, MP for Bolton West; Josh Simons, MP for Makerfield; and Graham Stringer, Labour MP for Blackley and Middleton South.
“How many MPs has Burnham humiliated by suggesting they might stand down now? 8? 9?,” one Burnham critic told PoliticsHome.
“Afzal, Carden, Dowd, Nichols, Rimmer, Simons, Barker – now Smith. Plus the nonsense with Lewis. It’s half an alphabet.”
Burnham pulled out of a regular radio slot with BBC Manchester at 10am as speculation about his future continues.
PoliticsHome revealed he was in London on Tuesday to hold meetings with MPs. Burnham is said to have met with Rayner and Jim McMahon, MP for Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton.
Sarah Taylor’s appointment to the England cricket men’s Test squad is hugely significant.
The former wicket keeper will join the men’s setup as fielding coach for the upcoming Test series against New Zealand, a signal that elite coaching roles in the men’s game are opening to women on merit.
England cricket coach is vastly experienced
This is not a token gesture. Taylor arrives with a track record inside the England coaching structure and recent experience with the Lions in Australia. Her selection is being framed by the board as a performance-first decision.
She has been trusted to work with the senior men’s group because she brings specialist expertise that improves results, not because of optics. The move from symbolic hires to performance-driven inclusion is the real watershed.
Taylor’s credentials shine as her CV is compelling. A 2017 World Cup winner and one of the most decorated wicket keepers of her generation. She has already coached at county level and with England development pathways.
She has worked alongside high profile coaches on the Lions tour, gaining direct experience in male professional environments. These credentials remove any lingering doubts for this appointment.
There is a practical case for more women coaches in the men’s game, they’d add different perspectives, same high standards, the fresh angles on techniques, preparation and the level of communication.
The key is in the culture of a team, or a group of players. Diverse coaching teams challenge groupthink, raise standards, improve player behaviour but also adds accountability. These are all standards that success chasing teams need to win.
Breaking barriers but not making headlines
Taylor’s appointment follows a history of boundary-pushing moments in her career, from being lauded as one of the best wicketkeepers in the world to becoming the first woman to play first grade cricket in Australia.
Those milestones matter because they show capability in mixed environments, not just symbolic firsts.
The next step in normalising appointments like this so they stop being news and start being routine.
Selectors and boards should now look to increase the pool from which they select coaches, all roles should be visible to qualified candidates. Real investment into developing more female coaches into leading roles, providing the same exposure to professional environments.
These are some practical steps that can turn a single appointment into a systemic change for the betterment of the sport of cricket.
Sarah Taylor’s move is one with high expectations and pressure. If she improves England’s fielding and helps younger players, the argument for more women in the men’s game becomes self-evident.
Opening the door wider in sports doesn’t dilute standards, it lifts them.
Featured image via The Independent
By Faz Ali
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin at dinner in Tehran on 30 November 1943 (piemags/ww2archive/Alamy)
4 min read
Politicians making a meal of it. This week: the limits of banquet diplomacy
Over the course of the Second World War, Winston Churchill would have a series of meals with Joseph Stalin. They were potentially difficult affairs, encounters between an empire-supporting Tory from aristocratic British stock and a Soviet revolutionary from a peasant family, conducted through a translator. Both men had huge egos and were prickly and sensitive to insults.
The meals, among other things, are charted by Giles Milton in his book The Stalin Affair. The first, in August 1942 in Moscow, was a 19-course Kremlin banquet. Relations between the two men were frosty: earlier in the visit, Stalin had complained that he wasn’t getting enough support and that the US and Britain were leaving the USSR to fight the Nazis alone. Churchill had replied that Britain had been fighting the Nazis when Stalin had been sucking up to them.
Now Stalin gave a toast to Churchill referring to the Gallipoli campaign of the previous war, a brainchild of Churchill’s, as suffering from “gross stupidities in concept and execution”. It took all the skill of the British ambassador to Moscow, Archibald Clark Kerr, to stop the prime minister from leaving Moscow immediately.
A year later, there was another dinner in Tehran, marking Churchill’s 69th birthday. The British were hosting and, according to Milton, they wanted to intimidate Stalin, “They thought that the best way to do that was to pull out the full array of British etiquette.” The table was laid with an array of cutlery for the multiple courses. When the Soviet leader took his place at the table, he anxiously asked the British interpreter for advice on etiquette. But if Stalin was worried he would embarrass himself, the good news was that another member of his team would suffer far worse at the meal.
The dessert was a ‘Persian lantern’, a huge tower of ice cream, several feet high. It arrived as the speeches began, and the staff were reluctant to interrupt the great men in order to serve.
But in the heat of the evening, the pudding had begun to melt. The British general Hastings Ismay recorded what followed with some delight. “The laws of gravity could be denied no longer,” he wrote. “The pudding descended like an avalanche.” The man caught in this was Stalin’s interpreter, Pavlov. “In a moment, ice cream was oozing out of his hair, his ears, his shirt, even his shoes.” Knowing that there were worse things that could befall someone in Stalin’s service, Pavlov continued interpreting his master’s words without missing a beat.
They wanted to intimidate Stalin. ‘They thought that the best way to do that was to pull out the full array of British etiquette’
In 1944, Churchill was back in Moscow, and invited Stalin to a banquet at the British embassy. Clark Kerr pulled out all the stops: there was white fish poached in wine and cold suckling pig with mayonnaise. For this trip, Churchill had a secret mission: he had brought with him what he called his “naughty document”, a plan to divide up eastern Europe and the Balkan states into British and Soviet spheres of influence: the USSR would get Romania and Bulgaria, Britain would get Greece, and Hungary and Yugoslavia would be split evenly.
The evening was a huge success, culminating in the guests gathering on the balcony to watch a gun salute marking a recent Soviet victory. Churchill was delighted. Stalin had agreed to his plan. But that gun salute told the real story: the USSR was happy to let the British believe what they wanted, because the Red Army was in eastern Europe, and wouldn’t be sharing it with anyone. It would be some months before Churchill realised that there are limits to the powers of banquet diplomacy.
For decades, the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda have been engaged in multiple wars revolving around security, sovereignty and survival. A crucial part of this is how the West benefits and uses all three countries to generate a state of near-permanent insecurity in order to cheaply extract minerals and resources from the region.
Behind this, both Rwanda and Uganda have attempted to position themselves as partners for the West in Central and East Africa, with the intention of benefitting from being strategically useful in a vulnerable region. It is a pattern similar to other client states in the past, such as Israel, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and West Germany. However, there is a structural ceiling for African client states; Rwanda and Uganda will likely never industrialise in the same way as previous proxies of Western imperialism, despite their best efforts to exploit the DRC.
What is the Role of Rwanda and Uganda in the DRC?
Both Rwanda and Uganda have been accused of violating the sovereignty of the DRC, plundering the country of its resources and committing war crimes over the last three decades.
Since the First Congo War of 1996–97, the Second Congo War of 1998–2003, and the intermittent conflicts that have erupted since, over 6 million people have died, with millions more being displaced in the conflict.
Over the course of these conflicts, war crimes and financial incentives developed between Rwanda and Uganda, causing them to have a near permanent presence in the eastern Congo. More recently, the European Commission signed a minerals deal with Rwanda in 2024, even as the Rwandan backed March 23rd Movement (M23) extended control over North Kivu.
Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi denounced the EU/Rwanda deal as a provocation, arguing that:
It was as if the European Union were making war against us by proxy.
It was during the Second Congo war that the first reports of mineral siphoning surfaced. Now it has evolved and grown further as many analysts have argued that the territorial influence that Rwanda and Uganda exercise over the eastern provinces outstrips the level of security threat that their governments claim to be concerned about. Evidence suggests that up to 90% of Rwanda’s coltan exports were illegally stolen from the DRC.
Some estimates put the losses from mineral smuggling out of the DRC at almost $1 billion a year.
Intervention in the Congo
Both governments of Rwanda and Uganda argue that, due to the porous nature of the Congo’s borders and the inability of the Congolese army to maintain control over the remote eastern provinces, it is necessary for them to intervene militarily in order to protect their own security and stability.
For Rwanda, interventionism goes back to the 1990s following the catastrophe of the Rwandan genocide. Uganda has had similar security concerns on the basis of combating the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) – a Ugandan Islamist rebel group that moves between the Ugandan and Congolese borders in terrorist attacks that seeks to overthrow the Ugandan Government and establish an Islamic State.
For the Congo’s part, it has historically struggled to protect its remote provinces and has constantly battled secessionist movements since independence in 1960. Over 120 armed groups are currently active in the DRC, often driven by the huge global demand for Congolese minerals, which incentivises them to secure and control land and people for exploitation.
The lack of a strong centralised force across the country has made many regions easy to exploit. Since the Belgian invasion and brutal colonisation of the Congo in 1885, the valuable mineral resources have been a significant source of continuous conflict and destabilisation by outsiders.
Western Support
Both the United States and the European Union have asserted that they have laws and binding agreements in place that regulate and limit the export of mineral resources from conflict zones such as the DRC.
However, according to the UN Security Council report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of DR Congo, Western companies were quick to strike deals with Rwandan and Ugandan proxies operating in the Congo since the First Congo War.
Moreover, it is almost impossible for most electronic devices – from laptops to your mobile phone – to not contain minerals plundered from the DRC. This is due to the depth of “artisanal mining” that is present in the Congo, where the most vulnerable people and communities – especially children – are either pushed into working in forms of indentured servitude due to poverty or are forced to work by militias in mining.
This is done with little to no industrial equipment and without health-and-safety regulations. Pay is also extremely low. The minerals from these mines are then passed on to processing plants like those in Rwanda in order to be sold to the West.
On paper, this is illegal in the DRC, but there is no enforcement against these practices. As demand grows for rare-earth minerals, so do the incentives to keep conditions in the DRC the way that they are.
This is what capitalism in Africa looks like. The DRC holds almost half of all known reserves of cobalt in the world and is responsible for supplying 70-73% of all mined cobalt globally. Similarly, the DRC is responsible for 45% of all tantalum mined in the world, along with 11% of all the copper. And yet, it remains one of the poorest and most insecure countries in the world. This is not an accident.
The “Peace” Deal
Both the United States and EU see the DRC as a vital node in the procurement of rare-earth minerals and the production of green industrial technology. However, China dominates trade and production in this area in the DRC, controlling a number of key mines and 80% in cobalt production.
Chinese firms have established agreements with the Congolese Government and various armed groups across the country. As a result, the West has been using Rwanda and Uganda to get around and break the Chinese monopoly in the DRC, in order to secure the rare-earth minerals it needs to maintain their industrial edge in the 21st century.
As such, Rwanda and Uganda’s own security, economic and imperial interests over the last thirty years have found a convenient synergy with Western desperation to regain a foothold in the DRC. The recent “peace” deal that the United States brokered between the DRC and Rwanda in June 2025 served to further entrench the exploitation of the Congo only through diplomacy, while doing little to reverse Rwanda’s long-term goal of subordinating the DRC to Rwandan economic and security interests.
The deal is designed to give the United States – a country that was already benefitting from stolen Congolese minerals entering the global market from Rwanda – access to Congolese minerals with dubious private companies and billionaire investors with questionable human rights records, which US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated will:
bring good governance and ensure responsible, reliable supply chains for things like critical minerals.
Firms such as KoBold Metals, Rio Tinto, Ivanhoe Mines, America First Global, Tesla, Glencore & Dan Gertler, and many more US companies, have exclusive access to mines and sites for exploitation.
The peace deal, while limiting Rwandan and Ugandan expansionist ambitions for now, has essentially formalised the illegal extraction networks that both countries had already established informally in the Congo and doesn’t bring any benefit to the Congolese people. What it does is deepen the DRC further into a cycle of exploitation.
Why Rwanda and Uganda will Ultimately Fail to Develop from this
It is clear that the Governments of Rwanda and Uganda have adopted a strategy of positioning themselves as useful states in a vulnerable region. They have done this in the hope of obtaining some degree of technology transfer, economic growth and diplomatic cover from the West.
Some of these have materialised, as in the case of diplomatic cover for both countries when it comes to human rights violations. For instance, even when the US decided to later sanction Rwanda over the M23 in 2012, this was a paltry cut of $200,000 out of $200 million in US funding. Similar funding and aid has flowed into Uganda, which the West sees as a critical partner in maintaining regional security.
As such, for both countries, aid is heavily tied to a form of securitised developmental assistance., While not directly coordinating Rwanda and Uganda’s foreign policy to the DRC, the US has given both countries significant resources, military training and capacity to overwhelm the Congo when needed.
Despite this, Rwanda is unlikely to become the next “Singapore”, nor will Uganda develop into the next “West Germany”. This is because the industrialised proxy states mentioned developed at a specific time when the West needed them to develop.
During the Cold War, East Asian countries had to develop as a barrier to the spread of Communism in the East. This was a strategic necessity as the West poured billions into technology transfers, training, preferential access to Western markets and permission to use industrial policy tools that were later restricted to African countries, such as infant industry protectionist policies.
Moreover, these countries initially built their development on manufacturing in the 1950s and 1960s, before it became saturated. After this, countries like Japan and Singapore were able to quickly transition to more advanced industries. Today, it is structurally harder to expand since China dominates manufacturing globally. Additionally, there is a globalised racial hierarchy that developed from the colonial period, which still shapes how African states interact with the rest of the world.
Fundamentally, African states are still seen as sites of raw material extraction, not developmental states like East Asian proxies, and certainly not as potential competitors for the West. This perception affects everything from why a country like South Korea can ignore IMF industrial policy recommendations in the 1980s and be “rewarded” for discipline, while Uganda would be punished with structural adjustment programmes in the late 1980s for similar practices. African proxies exist to maintain security in the region; Asian proxies exist as an ideological buffer against Communism and are “allowed” to develop.
Conclusion
Perhaps this is what in part drives Rwanda and Uganda’s exploitation of the DRC: the political and economic ceiling put in place by the current global order desperately pushes African countries downwards and against each other, generating more conflict and insecurity that ultimately forces the DRC to grant foreign powers even more access to their resources.
What this demonstrates is that the conflict between Rwanda, Uganda and the DRC is not simply a regional war. It is a conflict created from and embedded deep within the global system.
Featured image via the Canary
Manchester United are ready to open formal talks with Michael Carrick about becoming the club’s permanent head coach. Discussions are expected to begin before the final Premier League game of the season at Brighton on May 24th.
The club’s hierarchy has not ruled out other candidates but Carrick has been identified as the first person they want to negotiate with.
Carrick’s short spell in charge has been effective and tidy. In 15 games as interim boss, he has recorded 10 wins and three draws, steering United back into the Champions League. A result that brings both prestige and a potential revenue boost of around £100 million. That run of form is the clearest reason the club feel compelled to open talks now.
One of Carrick’s strongest assets is his relationship with this squad. Players have publicly expressed support for him and credited the coaching staff with improving team spirit and resilience.
That unity matters at a club where dressing-room harmony has been fragile in recent years.
Carrick a safe pair of hands
United’s owners and senior staff value Carrick’s understanding of the club’s history and identity. He is seen as a safe pair of hands who can provide stability after a turbulent managerial period.
The argument is straightforward. He has delivered the immediate objective and earned the right to be considered for the long term.
There are many counter arguments against this appointment, one of the main points sceptics point to is Carrick’s limited managerial resume. Managing a full season with Champions League commitments will be a step up in scrutiny and workload.
United have explored other names, including high-profile managers, and while some options have become unavailable, the club is trying to stick to a rigorous recruitment process.
There is a risk that sentiment could trump strategic planning. Carrick is a club legend and that emotional pull is powerful, but United must not be nostalgic rather aim for a return to sustained success. The choice is between a familiar figure who has already galvanised the squad and an external candidate with a proven trophy-winning track record.
Next steps
Formal negotiations are expected imminently. Sources suggest there should be no major legal obstacles to reaching an agreement and an announcement could come before the season ends.
United will keep their options open, but the momentum is clearly with Carrick.
If Carrick signs for the long term, the real verdict will come in the summer transfer window and next seasons results. Champions league football raises expectations and fixture congestion.
The intent is clear, Manchester United are moving from interim to permanent. Michael Carrick has earned the conversation through results, rapport and a clear upholding of the club’s values and culture.
How he navigates recruitment, rotation and fixture congestion, injuries, and European nights will determine whether this becomes a smart, long term appointment or another failed attempt to get back to the top.
Featured image courtesy of Manchester Evening News
By Faz Ali
The Royal British Legion (RBL) not only receive large sums from merchants of death (like BAE Systems), they also get public funds. However, RBL internal documents have shown extensive misuse of that money across three branches in the north of Ireland. A BBC report names these branches:
…Antrim, Tandragee, and Finaghy, as well as at district committee level.
Back in April, the BBC, reporting on the Tandragee branch, found that:
…£100,000 of public money intended to provide activities for veterans, like craft, drama, and social meals to tackle loneliness, was spent on refurbishing a branch building…
The branch had received £140,000 in three grants from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust (AFCF) — a charity and non-departmental government body attached to the Ministry of Defence and allocated GBP 10 million annually to support veterans.
Funds paid for a bar — despite no alcohol license
The money was earmarked for the three listed veteran support initiatives:
£35,000 for A Golden Stitch in Time, which aimed to enable veterans with mental health issues to learn embroidering and design
£35,000 for Stages of War, which would give veterans skills to put together a play and then stage a performance at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast
£70,000 for Tackling Loneliness, which would provide a hot food delivery service to vulnerable veterans and provide other schemes such as a drop-in breakfast club and cookery classes
RBL headquarters found that grant funds had been handed to Tandragee Veterans Support Centre, the partner charity. Their investigation determined that they spent most of the funds on “building contractors and building material suppliers”. Inside the branch, they also found a:
…fully serviced bar with stock had been installed, although neither organisation had a license to sell alcohol.
Similar sums have been mishandled at the RBL’s Antrim branch.
In 2022 RBL head offices began looking into Antrim which had not submitted financial disclosures over a five year period. Following the investigation, they alleged that the branch sold off part of their property for £155,781, then transferred the funds to the bank account of the local RBL club. However, RBL clubs are not part of the Royal British Legion charity. They merely license the name through payment of a fee.
The RBL’s senior investigations auditor said that:
…there is a view that this failure to communicate results from the property sale not being in accordance with the requirements of Northern Ireland charity law.
Finally, a Finaghy branch managed to lose £19,801.31 of RBL money due to paying the costs of a local gospel church who were leasing part of the property.
This collection of shitshows prompted Royal British Legion HQ into:
…carrying out an internal investigation into the working practices of the Northern Ireland District Committee.
That turned up cases such as members who:
…”colluded in a plan to divert £1,000 intended for the Poppy Appeal” for two members to attend a remembrance concert but ultimately the money was found from elsewhere.
Cynicism surrounds veterans’ issues
The £1100 intended for a minibus disappeared, and another £500 was deposited in “an appropriate fund”. The RBL took the Northern Ireland District Committee under central administrative control as a result. They have replaced its staff members and appointed a new chair.
Our own Joe Glenton has previously criticised the RBL’s work in general, saying:
…what arms firms and these big charities really do is re-write, obscure, and mythologise as noble what is, in fact, the UK’s violent, counter-productive, imperialist foreign policy. Lipstick on the pig, if you like? They limit the space to critique those policies, to make them harder to challenge and to conflate criticism with disrespect for ‘the troops’.
Meanwhile, in the north of Ireland it’s hardly surprising to see a veterans cause misused for ulterior purposes. Instead of the simple act of remembrance, iconography from the World Wars is often hijacked for sectarian purposes.
Remembrance would ideally mean a pledge to move away from violence. However, you’re a long way from that idea when memorials to the fallen are paired with tributes to the most bloodthirsty nation on earth — so-called ‘Israel’. An upcoming parade seemingly intended to block an already arranged pro-Palestine march also makes heavy use of remembrance imagery.
Likewise, British politicians continue to use veterans from the ‘Troubles’ as pawns in a political game, with the right intent on covering up the past in a way that harms both victims of British army violence and veterans themselves.
With a Labour government seemingly intent on getting involved in every war going, expect the litany of grifts to continue.
Featured image via the Royal British Legion
Off Campus Loses Main Character Before Season 2 in Surprise Exit
Will F1 go back to the future with V8 engines?
Changes to PIP payments
Manchester United reach agreement with Casemiro over contract clause amid transfer speculation
US brings back mandatory military draft registration
Steven Gerrard disagrees with Gary Neville over ‘shock’ Chelsea and Arsenal claim | Football
-
Crypto World6 days agoHarrisX Poll Found 52% of Registered Voters Support the CLARITY Act
-
Fashion6 days agoWeekend Open Thread: Marianne Dress
-
Fashion3 days agoCoffee Break: Travel Steam Iron
-
Fashion3 days agoWhat to Know Before Buying a Curling Wand or Curling Iron
-
Tech4 days agoAuto Enthusiast Carves Functional Two-Stroke Engine from Solid Metal
-
Politics3 days agoWhat to expect when you’re expecting a budget
-
Business5 days agoIgnore market noise, India’s long-term story intact, say D-Street bulls Ramesh Damani and Sunil Singhania
-
Politics5 days agoPolitics Home Article | Starmer Enters The Danger Zone
-
Tech3 days agoGM Agrees To Pay $12.75 Million To Settle California Lawsuit Over Misuse Of Customers’ Driving Data
-
Politics7 days agoSimon Cowell Says He Was ‘Horrible’ To Susan Boyle During BGT Audition
-
Entertainment7 days agoGeneral Hospital: Ric & Ava Bombshell – Ric’s Massive Secret Exposed!
-
Entertainment7 days agoWhy David Letterman Called CBS ‘Lying Weasels’
-
Crypto World4 days agoCZ says US crypto rivals tried to block Trump pardon
-
Sports6 days agoBayern Munich vs PSG UEFA Champions League SF2 live match time, streaming | Football News
-
Entertainment6 days agoYNW Melly Denied Bond Again Ahead Of Double Murder Retrial
-
Tech3 days agoGM agrees to $12.75M California settlement over sale of drivers’ data
-
Politics7 days agoEuphoria Creator Praises Sydney Sweeney Amid Season 3 Scenes Backlash
-
Entertainment7 days ago
Hantavirus — cause of death for Gene Hackman's wife — at the center of Dutch cruise outbreak
-
Crypto World5 days agoPROS explodes 48% as Upbit and Bithumb listings ignite demand
-
Crypto World6 days ago
The Hantavirus Danger: Can a Potential Outbreak Spark a New Meme Coin Frenzy?
You must be logged in to post a comment Login