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The Church of England’s woke crusade is driving away the faithful

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The Church of England’s woke crusade is driving away the faithful

Who remembers Beilby Porteus? He doesn’t quite win the competition for Church of England cleric with the silliest name in history – the reverend Nutcombe Nutcombe, 19th-century chancellor of Exeter Cathedral, easily walks away with that prize. But Porteus was certainly one of the Church of England’s most outstanding campaigners for the abolition of slavery and, what we might call today, racial justice.

From the pulpit of St Mary-Le-Bow in 1783, he gave a seminal sermon. It condemned the inhumane treatment of slaves in the Caribbean, and in particular those on the Codrington Plantations – then owned by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, a Church of England body. Despite this fulminating critique of his own church, in 1787, Porteus was appointed as Bishop of London and thus also to the House of Lords, a position he used tirelessly to support William Wilberforce’s campaign to extirpate the slave trade. He was also committed to improving the lot of the poor, and making sure that as many people around the world had access to the Bible in their own languages.

Unfortunately, it seems that the Diocese of London has forgotten what it itself did to fight slavery. It is now engaged in a ‘Racial Justice Priority’ project. Clergy will be encouraged to promote ‘anti-racism in sermons’ in order to correct what the diocese claims is its own ‘systemic racism’. The project will also engage in ‘truth-telling’ to challenge the ‘historical heritage of slavery’, which, the Church of England seems to believe, haunts its every move. The cost of this project is £730,000 over three years, funded by the Church Commissioners – whose money, it is worth pointing out, was originally laid down for the support of poor clergy and cathedrals.

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Who could possibly object to the Diocese of London acting against racism? It would be following not only in the footsteps of Porteus, but also the prompting of scripture itself, which reminds us that: ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek… for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.’ The problem is that such anti-racism initiatives are more apt to exacerbate racial division than to heal it, and to lead far beyond the bounds of what may be sanctioned by theology and scripture into the world of partisan political dogma.

Very far, in some cases. The racial-justice plan includes targets for percentages of ethnic-minoirty membership among clergy, administrative staff and even churchgoers. It also proposes ‘unconscious bias training’ for volunteers – something many of them will almost certainly view as the final straw after hours of safeguarding training and the day-to-day challenges of fundraising.

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Perhaps more damaging than all of this is the ideological crusade inherent in the project. The previous Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, regularly insisted that the Church of England was ‘institutionally racist’. Nearly all of the evidence in support of this claim amounted to a reluctance of ethnic minorities to follow the norms of Anglicanism – something Welby chalked down to the ‘racism’ of the Church of England and its members. So it has drawn from scripture to justify an approach which effectively calls for the historic culture of the majority to adapt itself to the new minorities, rather than for minorities to assimilate.

This approach to scripture – based primarily on the most famous biblical lessons of loving one’s neighbour, the Good Samaritan and St Paul’s statement of there being neither Jew nor Greek – informs not only this Racial Justice Project within the Diocese of London, but also the approach of the Church of England at a higher level. It is from this that there is a general insistence on the good of open borders, a deep reluctance to speak out about any reasonable concerns people might have about wide-scale migration – even when its impact on the most vulnerable in society has been, as in the case of the rape gangs, at the deepest level of seriousness.

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One of the practical impacts of this likely to be seen in London churches will be physical. An innocuous paragraph in the Racial Justice Strategy calls for ‘partnerships that can assist the Diocese of London in reviewing the legacy of statues and monuments exploring historical links and their relevance in today’s culture’. This refers to a desire expressed in the Church of England’s wider racial-justice reports for a move from ‘retaining and explaining’ monuments to a presumption that they should be removed if they have connections to slavery, despite any heritage or educational value they might have.

Another is in the idea of ‘truth telling’ to highlight ‘the historic injustices and the role played by the wider church’. The problem is that nowhere in the literature can one find calls to celebrate the courageous and world-leading actions of Porteus and his many Anglican colleagues to end the slave trade and help the disadvantaged. Everything is pointed towards calling for the majority in the church to lament their wickedness, but to forget anything good they might have done. This one-sided approach is hardly just or ‘truth telling’.

Congregations will be alienated by this injustice, but also they will know that this approach is not properly based on scripture. Christ calls for one to love the neighbour and the stranger, but the Bible, both in Old and New Testament, calls for the stranger and guest to be respectful to their hosts and society, respecting their customs and laws. One is hard-pressed to find, either in the CofE’s racial-justice documents, or in its public pronouncements, this huge part of scriptural guidance repeated. This absence is an unfortunate sign that the racial-justice agenda is driven more by politics than theology.

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One injunction of scripture is ‘let us now praise famous men’. Perhaps if the Diocese of London spent more time honouring the legacies and examples of those like Porteus, rather than flagellating itself for imagined sins, they would be more likely to inspire its congregations to practical work against real racism and oppression, rather than driving them away in despair.

Bijan Omrani is the author of God is an Englishman: Christianity and the Creation of England.

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Rupert Lowe forms breakaway party, woos Tory fans

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14 February 2026

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Rupert Lowe forms breakaway party, woos Tory fans

One of the biggest criticisms of Reform is that it’s just a rebrand of the Tory Party. Now, ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe has created his own spinoff party, and it’s shaping up to be…a rebrand of a rebrand:

And as Lowe himself has said, he’s open to attracting talent from the Tories, Reform, Advance — basically any reactionary party you can think of. Furthermore, Rupert Lowe seems intent on expanding his political circle.

Rupert Lowe: From Reform to Restore

The timeline of Lowe leaving Reform is messy. The TLDR is:

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  • Lowe began criticising Farage (seemingly in coordination with Elon Musk).
  • Farage suggested Lowe wouldn’t be anywhere near office without Nigel’s cult of personality (a.k.a. Reform).
  • Reform suspended Lowe and reported him to the police for ‘verbal threats’ and “serious bullying” of female staffers.
  • Lowe described the accusations as “vexatious”.
  • Several months of back and forth ensued.

With someone like Lowe, it’s better to have them on the inside pissing out than on the outside pissing in. Now, Farage is going to learn why that saying exists.

Lowe announced his new party in a SEVEN MINUTE LONG video on Twitter/X:

We’re not watching all that, but we’re glad for him, or sorry that happened.

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Remember when Twitter used to be about brevity? This is how long the average Rupert Lowe tweet is now:

By the way, we can’t ignore the fact that Lowe’s ‘Reform’ rival is going to be called ‘Restore’.

Does he not understand his main weakness is going to be voters literally just getting the names mixed up?

Some of what Lowe says in the announcement video is worth being aware of – particularly this section:

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I’m now going to dedicate my life to finding, organising, funding and providing hundreds of qualified candidates to present to the British people at the next general election. This process has already started. with invitations being issued to patriots in aligned political parties: Reform, the Conservatives, the SDP, Advance, and more.

In local politics, we will work in partnership with localised political parties such as Great Yarmouth First that have the best interests of their residents at heart, combining our forces at the next general election.

The men and women standing for Restore in that election will not be politicians. I promise you that.

They will not be failed ministers.

They will not be tainted by failures of the past.

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They will be from business, from the military, from science, from medicine, from education, from industry, representing real communities up and down the country. Every single one will be from well outside the existing political establishment and every single one will understand the difficult decisions that need to be taken.

While we can’t say who Restore will run for office, we can say the party is already attracting the dregs of British politics.

Rejects

Firstly, we should note it’s not just British dregs; the South Yank-frican billionaire Elon Musk is also behind the project:

If you spend any time on Musk’s platform, you’ll know Lowe gets boosted six ways from Sunday on there. This, of course, is because Nigel Farage is not extreme enough for Musk, so instead he supports Lowe, Tommy Robinson, and Advance UK:

Notoriously, Lowe defended Musk after his site started generating deepfake imagery (what you might call ‘revenge pornography’):

Said deepfakes included Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). And Musk spat his dummy out when governments of the world demanded that he turn off the paedophile taps. We thought they should have arrested him, but apparently if you’re the world’s richest man, you can facilitate the creation of CSAM without getting in trouble.

Another one supporting Lowe’s new party is the human migraine Katie Hopkins:

The less said about Hopkins the better, but she’s definitely someone who’s ‘tainted by the failures of the past‘. We’d say Lowe probably has the sense not to run her as a candidate, but he supported Musk despite all of the above, so who knows?

Carl Benjamin — a.k.a. ‘Sargon of Akkad’ — has also joined Restore.

Benjamin got in trouble in 2019 because he couldn’t stop ‘joking’ about raping Jess Phillips. Here’s a picture of the guy covered in milkshake from the time he ran as a UKIP candidate:

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A serious force?

Lowe’s supporters are claiming the party is off to a flying start. Nevertheless, Rupert Lowe has plenty of critics as well.

While this isn’t hard confirmation, previous polling has shown there’s a potential voter base for Lowe — especially in his own constituency:

While it’s tempting to think Restore will split the Reform vote, there is another possibility. The spurned Lowe could use Restore as a weapon to damage Reform’s electability, and he could then use that to force Farage out and take control of both parties. This wouldn’t surprise us, as Lowe has already merged with Advance UK — a party formed by Ben Habib — i.e. another of the politicians Farage kicked out of Reform:

Reform and Restore could also just enter into an electoral alliance. This shouldn’t be difficult, of course, because they already have the exact same name.

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Inside Israel’s army of dual-nationals

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26 minutes ago

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14 February 2026

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Inside Israel’s army of dual-nationals

Data published by the Israeli army shows that 50,632 servicemen fighting in the ranks of the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) hold two or more nationalities (listed below).The data does not indicate how many were reservists versus active-duty soldiers — fighting for Israel.

As reported by the Canary’s Joe Glenton, the data was obtained by Declassified UK obtained through a Freedom of Information request.

Americans rank first (12,135), French second (6,100), and Russians third (5,000). Nationals from Germany, Ukraine, Britain, Romania, Poland, Canada, and Latin America also feature on the list. Of these, 4,440 soldiers hold two foreign nationalities, while 162 hold three or more — serving in military operations in Gaza, waged by Israel.

Less expected are Arab nationals from Yemen, Tunisia, Lebanon, Syria, and Algeria, who appear in the data — albeit in noticeably smaller numbers.

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  1. United States: 12,135 soldiers
  2. France: 6,127 soldiers
  3. Russia: 5,067 soldiers
  4. Germany: 3,901 soldiers
  5. Ukraine: 3,210 soldiers
  6. Britain: 1,686 soldiers
  7. Romania: 1,675 soldiers
  8. Poland: 1,668 soldiers
  9. Ethiopia: 1,387 soldiers
  10. Canada: 1,185 soldiers
  11. Hungary: 885 soldiers
  12. Italy: 828 soldiers
  13. Argentina: 609 soldiers
  14. Netherlands: 559 soldiers
  15. Brazil: 505 soldiers
  16. Australia: 502 soldiers
  17. South Africa: 415 soldiers
  18. Belgium: 406 soldiers
  19. Austria: 390 soldiers
  20. Switzerland: 373 soldiers
  21. Spain: 372 soldiers
  22. Czech Republic: 309 soldiers

Conflicting jurisdictional obligations

The presence of dual-national IDF servicemen has raised questions about their legal obligations — in other words, when serving in Israel, whose laws are they answerable to.

These concerns have also culminated in criminal investigations into the conduct of soldiers deployed in Gaza since 2023.

In the UK, human rights groups collaborating with the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights submitted a report to the Metropolitan Police war crimes unit. Their findings highlight the participation of British nationals in Gaza and their possible involvement in suspected war crimes.

In June 2025, Canadian authorities, responding to complaints, launched preliminary investigations into Canadian nationals serving in the IDF suspected of war crimes.

Meanwhile, Belgium is investigating a Belgian soldier fighting for an elite IDF unit deployed in Gaza. That said, Belgium imposes no restrictions on dual nationals serving in foreign militaries.

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Suspected Gaza war crimes

International organisations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have long called for independent investigations to ensure that dual citizens are acting in compliance with international humanitarian law. A recent investigation by Al Jazeera Arabic found that six Israeli snipers hold dual nationalities and were implicated in attacks targeting civilians in Gaza.

According to local estimates, the war in Gaza, now in its third year, has resulted in more than 72,000 deaths and approximately 171,000 injuries. In addition, there has been widespread destruction of infrastructure, with humanitarian and legal repercussions extending far beyond the battlefield.

Featured image via the Canary

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How Brick Helped Me Stop Wasting Time On Social Media

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48 minutes ago

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14 February 2026

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I stuck my Brick device on my fridge. Needing to walk 10 steps from my couch to unlock Instagram has curbed my scrolling habits.

When this year started, I knew I had to make drastic changes… because my phone had taken over my life.

Screen time had skyrocketed. Humour circled around TikTok reactions. I found myself scrolling through waves of news horrors and memes before I was fully awake each day.

Enter the Brick, which has emerged as the go-to app for people looking to reset their relationships with their phones.

“Bricking” your phone has now become a verb for people to share the news that they are logging off and to tell others. I actually learned about “bricking” and “unbricking” myself through the loud declarations of other writers and influencers.

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I was skeptical at first about whether an app blocker that costs over $50 could be worth it. But I had tried free ways of deleting social media apps and blocking them from my phone through features like Apple’s Screen Time or Android Digital Wellbeing, and they hadn’t worked because they are easy to bypass.

However, the Brick is a little square device that pairs with an app you download on your phone through a QR code. Once you connect your phone to your Brick, you can select which apps you need to block and for which hours of the day.

Then, the real test begins. You tap the physical Brick device with your phone to activate its app-blocking features – you need to touch the Brick again if you want to regain access to your blocked apps.

I was struck by how hard it was to leave the house for a whole day with a bricked phone. I even delayed using it at first because of this anxiety, which only strengthened my resolve that I probably needed to go through with this experiment.

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So, after a day of too much scrolling, I put myself to the test and put my Brick on my fridge. Now, I would have to get up from the couch or get back home from work if I wanted to access that tantalising Reddit post.

I am happy to report that after more than a month of use, my brain feels different. I expected the strict enforcement of a Brick to change me – but even I was surprised by how much it did.

What you should know before you try a Brick

I stuck my Brick device on my fridge. Needing to walk 10 steps from my couch to unlock Instagram has curbed my scrolling habits.
I stuck my Brick device on my fridge. Needing to walk 10 steps from my couch to unlock Instagram has curbed my scrolling habits.

The Brick, available for iOS and Android, lets you set modes for “deep work” and “family time” hours, so bricking automatically happens during the natural rhythm of your day. It also keeps a running tally of how many hours you have been bricked each day, and on average, presumably to encourage you to stay strong and go a little longer without unbricking.

If you forget to use the Brick on your phone in your rush out the door, you can also Brick your device by pressing the Brick icon on the app’s homepage from where you are, but you will still need to go back to where your actual Brick is to unlock what you want to unlock.

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What I loved about it

The first week I used it, I was surprised and embarrassed by how often my fingers would automatically tap the social media apps my Brick blocked me from accessing. My Brick bouncer would gently scold me whenever I tried to instinctively check Instagram or TikTok.

The app gives you five “emergency” unbricking workarounds if you really need to access an app you have blocked and you’re not near your Brick device, but I have yet to use one. Needing to use “emergency” unbricking to make an Instagram story about the Galentine’s party I attended really put into perspective what exactly I was doing with my one precious life.

The Brick challenged my belief that real-time social media feedback was necessary to stay connected with my friends or to be good at my job. In my opinion, this forced reflection is the Brick’s best benefit. I’ve missed a few direct messages from my friends, I’m not seeing as many funny TikTok memes anymore, and I’m out of the loop on some social media trends, but I feel more in control of what I am consuming. At the very least, I am paying more attention to how I spend my time on my phone.

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What I think could be better — and why I’m sticking with my Brick

The Brick costs around $59 for one device. Though I find this little plastic box to be prohibitively expensive for what it is, I like that more than one person can use the same Brick, so you could theoretically get your roommate or partner to split the costs, too. I also like that once you buy it, you don’t need to pay a subscription fee to keep using it, unlike many other apps.

However, bricking yourself is not going to transform you completely.

Catherine Pearlman, a licensed clinical social worker and author of First Phone: A Child’s Guide to Digital Responsibility, Safety, and Etiquette, said the Brick is “a wonderful device,” but can’t be a long-term solution to endless social media scrolling on its own.

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“Once you’re home [where your Brick is], the impulse still exists,” she told me. “So it doesn’t actually teach you how to work through that impulse to say…‘How do I really want to spend my time? How do I work through this emotion that I’m trying to avoid by scrolling?’”

Answering those questions is a bigger journey only you can answer. For Pearlman, it meant finding other ways to use her screen-free time.

“I knew I wasn’t going to stop using my phone, but I wanted to have an alternative,” she said as an example. “And then when the newspapers got too upsetting, I went to Kindle. So now I just read books in my Kindle, and I read eight books in January.”

If you want to get serious about blocking social media not just on your phone but on your computer as well (which your Brick cannot access), Pearlman suggested the free website blocker Cold Turkey.

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As for me, I’m continuing to brick myself in the evenings, so that I can learn a new screen-free hobby of crochet. Just this past week, my phone screen time dropped 62% compared to the week before. Making loops of crochet rows with my hands feels more satisfying than the loops of TikToks I watched each night, but I don’t think I would have stuck with my new hobby without the Brick’s admonishments.

I’ve gone from my high of nine hours of daily screen time to a more reasonable five or six hours during a workday. I still have lapses where I will go a night without Bricking, but I feel much calmer when I do. When my head is not cluttered with the pulls of social media notifications and enticing Reels, I have time to figure out what I really want to do. And that’s a gift that I think is worth keeping.

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The Cognitive Impacts Of Menopause Revealed In New Study

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14 February 2026

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The Cognitive Impacts Of Menopause Revealed In New Study

While menopause is a stage in every woman’s life, there is still so much we don’t know about the transitional period and the impacts it has on the body beyond the stereotypical symptoms such as hot flashes and mood swings.

In fact, there are 62 possible symptoms of menopause, which range from histamine sensitivities to hair loss and currently, 1 in 7 menopausal women are on Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) to mitigate these often debilitating symptoms, according to the pharmacy experts at Chemist 4 U.

Now, Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian, a Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology, and Christelle Langley, a Postdoctoral Research Associate, Cognitive Neuroscience, both from the University of Cambridge have delved into just how cognitively impactful menopause can be for women and produced an eye-opening study.

The cognitive impacts of menopause

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The researchers analysed data from nearly 125,000 women from the UK Biobank (a large database containing genetic and health data from about 500,000 people).

They placed participants into three groups: pre-menopausal, post-menopausal and post-menopausal with HRT. The average age of menopause was around 49 years old. Women who used HRT typically began treatment around the same age.

They found that menopause was associated with poorer sleep, increased mental health problems and even changes within the brain itself.

Writing for The Conversation, the researchers said: “Post-menopausal women were more likely than pre-menopausal women to report symptoms of anxiety and depression. They were also more likely to seek help from a GP or psychiatrist and to be prescribed antidepressants.

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“Sleep disturbances were more common after menopause, as well. Post-menopausal women reported higher rates of insomnia, shorter sleep duration and increased fatigue.”

While HRT is the treatment prescribed for more difficult symptoms of menopause, the researchers believe that lifestyle changes could play a crucial role in improving symptoms.

“Our work and that of other research groups shows that a number of lifestyle habits can improve brain health, cognition and wellbeing, thereby reducing the risk of cognitive decline associated with ageing and dementia.

“This includes regular exercise, engaging in cognitively challenging activities (such as learning a new language or playing chess), having a nutritious and balanced diet, getting the right amount of good-quality sleep and having strong social connections.”

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If you are struggling with menopause symptoms, speak to your GP.

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Irish calls to boycott Israel in UEFA Nations League

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14 February 2026

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Irish calls to boycott Israel in UEFA Nations League

Activists and politicians are urging the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) to boycott upcoming Nations League fixtures against the illegitimate settler-colony ‘Israel’. In a remarkable twist of fate, the Republic of Ireland has ended up in the same group as the land thieves for the 2026-2027 UEFA Nations League. This means Europe’s most pro-Palestine nation will potentially face-off against the world’s most anti-Palestine band of genocidal thugs.

Kosovo and Austria are the other teams in the group. Ireland are due to play Israel in September and October 2026.

However, the likes of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) have demanded things don’t even get that far. The pro-Palestine campaign group said:

The apartheid state should have been expelled from UEFA for its crimes against Palestinians, long before its genocidal war on Gaza. We demand that the FAI refuse to play these fixtures. We need a national sporting body to stand up and call the bluff of the governing organisations. Boycott apartheid Israel all day, every day until freedom for Palestine.

Boycott is the essential tool to prevent Zionist sportwashing

Unlike in the case of Russia, UEFA and FIFA — the administrative bodies for football in Europe and worldwide respectively — have pissed about endlessly when it comes to getting rid of the genocidaires squatting illegally on historic Palestine. They banned Russia almost immediately after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Yet nearly two and a half years into the world’s first live-streamed genocide, perpetrated by the Netanyahu regime, they have dodged removing ‘Israel’.

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Richard Boyd Barrett of People Before Profit (PBP) also called for refusing to play the fixtures:

The Government should stop trying to normalise the Israeli regime. Israel is not a normal state, it is a regime based entirely on ethnic cleansing, apartheid and barbaric genocide of Palestinians. Like apartheid South Africa, boycott can help dismantle this cruel regime.

Sporting and cultural boycotts were indeed crucial to ostracising that racist regime. The likes of Eurovision and the Nations League are crucial to maintaining the Zionist charade of straddling two continents. ‘Israel’ is Schrödinger‘s Colony, existing in two (terror) states simultaneously: both a ‘nice, normal white European country’ just like us, as it supposedly shows by competing in the above contests. Yet we are asked to believe its inhabitants are indigenous to the land they’ve been stealing for the past 100 years, despite largely arriving from overseas to steal the territory from its rightful owners — the Palestinians.

Boyd Barrett was referring to comments from the pathetic Micheál Martin. The treacherous Taoiseach once again showed his fealty to Ireland’s masters by declaring:

It [the matches against ‘Israel’] should go ahead, and I think the FAI has taken the correct decision to fulfil the fixture.

RTE say Martin has said there is “no official boycott of Israel in Ireland”. The question is why, especially when the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is calling for it. There is no prospect of the Zionist entity changing of its own accord. It can only be shifted by external pressure and that means boycott — wreck its economy, and cut all ties with it culturally and in the sporting realm.

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Others must join Ireland to force UEFA’s hand

Previous calls by activists to boycott athletic contests with the terrorist pseudo-state have been unsuccessful. Some members of the Irish women’s basketball team refused to travel for a fixture in Riga against the Zionist entity. Irish players then refused to shake hands with the land thieves on the other side. The match ultimately went ahead, however.

The FAI did pass a vote in November 2025 calling for the illegal settler-colony to be banned from international football. However, it seems the heads of Irish football are less keen when it actually comes to putting this into practice themselves. The FAI is adamant that the Nations League games will go ahead. They say they have consulted with UEFA, who are threatening disqualification if Ireland refuse to play.

The means of solving this problem is much like that faced by workers at their place of employment. If only one threatens to rebel, it’s trivial for the employer to say “fine, piss off — I’ll have no trouble replacing just you”. The task for the boss becomes much harder if everyone gets in a union and threatens to walk out.

That’s what’s needed here — with sufficient pressure from local activists in a country where the vast majority of people will oppose playing ‘Israel’, Ireland can provide the credible threat of withdrawal.

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The trick will be working with other nations to get them to join this threat, forming a united front that the craven bosses at UEFA can’t ignore. If successful, it could be the beginning of the end for the Zionist fake-state’s continued sport-washing of its disgusting atrocities.

Featured image via the Canary

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9 Stylish Lampshades To Make Your Big Light Infinitely Better

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3 hours ago

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14 February 2026

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9 Stylish Lampshades To Make Your Big Light Infinitely Better

We hope you love the products we recommend! All of them were independently selected by our editors. Just so you know, HuffPost UK may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page if you decide to shop from them. Oh, and FYI – prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication.

If you’re a big-time hater of the big light, you’re certainly not alone.

Reviled for being too bright and unflattering, the big light isn’t beyond saving. Sometimes, all you need is the right shade to dim it down a bit and give it a healthy dose of style.

From the smooth and elegant to the bold and maximalist, here’s a range of lampshades to choose from that would make any big light 10x better.

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Northern Irish police caution Palestine Action activist, despite High Court victory

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14 February 2026

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13 arrested at huge national Palestine march

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) on Friday morning detained and cautioned a pro-Palestine activist under anti-terror law. This happened despite a judicial review that very morning ruling the group’s ban is unlawful. Máire Mhic an Fhailí was held by police for around 30 minutes at Laganside Courts in Belfast. This was for wearing a t-shirt with the words “I support Palestine Action”.

Earlier that morning, the High Court in London had ruled that the British government had been wrong to ban the direct action group. They determined the proscription amounted to:

…very significant interference with the right to freedom of speech and the right to freedom of assembly.

When activists conveyed this information to PSNI officers, they seemed unaware of the ruling. The officers scrambled to confirm it for themselves.

Mhic an Fhailí was previously arrested in August 2025 for what the police claimed was also Palestine Action support. However, this essentially amounted to punishment for speaking Irish. The PSNI were admonished by the police ombudsman on that occasion. This was for their failure to adequately cater to the activist exercising her right to use a language. Notably, this is a language that supposedly now has parity under the law.

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Police again discriminate for speaking Irish

Despite this, Mhic an Fhailí was again held on Friday for far longer than necessary due to police not being able to properly translate her answers. Speaking outside court, she said:

Although we heard today in the courts that the proscription of Palestine action has been declared illegal, I was still detained in the courts for wearing the Palestine action t-shirt. Furthermore, I gave my name and address in Irish, which caused another difficulty.

They said they couldn’t provide an interpreter and I refused to back down by giving my name in English. And so they checked my name in Irish and found my name and address on their police files. And so, they let me go eventually.

It remains to be seen whether the PSNI will follow the course of London’s Met Police. The Met have said they will hold off on arrests in the aftermath of the High Court verdict. In a statement on Friday, they said:

The High Court has found that the decision to proscribe Palestine Action was unlawful.

However, the group remains proscribed pending the outcome of any Government appeal, which means expressing support is still a criminal offence.

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We recognise these are unusual circumstances.

From a Metropolitan Police perspective, officers will continue to identify offences where support for Palestine Action is being expressed, but they will focus on gathering evidence of those offences and the people involved to provide opportunities for enforcement at a later date, rather than making arrests at the time.

This is the most proportionate approach we can take, acknowledging the decision reached by the court while recognising that proceedings are not yet fully concluded.

The Six Counties police have recently pledged to ratchet up a clampdown on support for proscribed groups. They have been heavily criticised for going after anti-genocide protesters showing support for Palestine Action, while turning a blind eye to support for actual terrorist groups like the Ulster Volunteer Force.

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However, they still emphasised that direct police involvement in removing material such as banners would be minimal. Land owners are still expected to be the ones taking primary responsibility. This is for ensuring their property isn’t used for unlawful displays.

A win for Palestine Action, but British state still criminalising anti-genocide protest

Mhic an Fhailí was at the courts supporting the for four activists being dragged through the so-called justice system for peaceful opposition to Zionist starvation policies. The charges relate to two protests held in July and October 2025, in which roads were blocked near Belfast City Hall. In addition, Mhic an Fhailí herself is among 9 activists currently under threat of prosecution for the demonstrations.

The activists come from a range of Palestine solidarity groups, including BDS Belfast, Belfast Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Mothers Against Genocide and Queerde. The group’s campaign is entitled No Crime in Opposing Genocide.

In an update on today’s court session on the BDS Belfast page, they state that Friday’s hearing was largely a formality. The actual contest on their charges will likely take place in April. All activists intend to plead not guilty. Indeed, they have the right under international law to oppose their government’s involvement in genocide.

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Speaking outside court, BDS Belfast activist Damian Quinn said:

Those peaceful activists went to a protest and then stood on those roads because the British government and the North of Ireland government and the Irish government are doing nothing for the Palestinian people.

He continued:

It’s our right under international law and under the Genocide Convention to oppose genocide, to prevent and oppose genocide. We don’t wait until the [International Court of Justice] ICJ say it’s genocide, we already know it’s genocide.

The fact that the trial is still proceeding shows the success of Palestine Action at the High Court is just one step in a long road to stop the criminalisation of anti-genocide protest. Zionist influence on British politics is enormous, and removing its harmful effect on democracy will be a long struggle.

Featured image via Barold/the Canary 

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Was Jim Ratcliffe right about immigration?

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Was Jim Ratcliffe right about immigration?

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Ultra-Endurance Athletes Reveal What They Eat During A Race

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Meaghan Hackinen shows off a couple of her favorite race foods: Cheetos and a Boston cream doughnut.

Let’s say you’ve completed a marathon or two, and you’ve decided that you want to take your running to the next level. You decide to try an ultramarathon, such as a 50-mile race or 100-mile one.

Or perhaps you’ve enjoyed long bicycle rides and are now considering ultra-distance cycling, races of 125 miles or longer that last six hours or more.

Now you’ve got to start training your body to handle those kinds of races. But it’s not just about training your muscles. Training for an ultra-endurance sport, which includes ultramarathons and ultra-cycling, means training your stomach, as well. That means training yourself to eat – and to eat frequently.

Meaghan Hackinen shows off a couple of her favorite race foods: Cheetos and a Boston cream doughnut.

Courtesy of Meaghan Hackinen

Meaghan Hackinen shows off a couple of her favorite race foods: Cheetos and a Boston cream doughnut.

And it’s not just a matter of eating some food during the races (while staying hydrated), it’s also about finding the right food for you while training, during the race and afterward.

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The science of fuelling your body

There’s a common refrain from ultra-endurance competitors: food is fuel.

“If you want to be able to perform during a training run or race, [food is] your body’s fuel. So think of your body like a car. You’re not going to go on this long-distance journey with your gas tank on E. You’re going to start the road trip off with the fuel tank full,” explained Amy Goblirsch, a registered dietitian at the Running Dietitian and an ultramarathon runner.

While that may be true for regular sporting events, even a marathon, it’s especially true with ultra-endurance sports.

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You can probably run a marathon without eating during the race itself; similarly, you can probably do a weight-training session without fuelling up during sets.

But ultra-endurance competitions mean that you have to eat regularly and eat enough calories to get you through it. That may mean eating every 30 minutes to an hour for the length of the event, which can last eight to 36 hours.

Ashley Paulson, an iFit trainer and professional ultrarunner, explained: “You can be in the best shape of your life. You could have dialled in every bit of your training. But if your fuel goes out the window, so does your competition.”

But food is more than fuel, noted Supatra Tovar, a clinical psychologist, registered dietitian and fitness expert. She said: “It directly affects physiology, mental clarity, emotional regulation and overall safety. These events place enormous stress on the body through long hours of sustained effort, elevated stress hormones, fluid and electrolyte loss, gastrointestinal strain and nervous system fatigue. What you eat and drink can determine whether you finish strong, struggle through the final miles, or end up injured or unwell.”

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Paulson noted that without the fuel, recovery time can take longer if you are depleted. And more importantly, there’s a risk of hurting yourself.

“Guess what happens when you’re tired? You start running sloppy. What happens when you run sloppy? You get injured,” she noted. She always knows when her fuelling is off during training because she can feel it the next day.

Carbs are king

Carbohydrates are key for ultra-endurance athletes during training and during competitions.

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“Carbohydrates are going to be your body’s preferred source of energy, and what it’s going to be most efficient at breaking down for energy,” Goblirsch said. Goblirsch recommended carbohydrates like fruit snacks, Rice Krispies treats, and Uncrustables peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Amy Goblirsch (left) is an ultramarathoner and nutritionist, and Rob Verhelst competes in Ironmans wearing his full firefighter gear.

Courtesy of Amy Goblirsch and Rob Verhelst

Amy Goblirsch (left) is an ultramarathoner and nutritionist, and Rob Verhelst competes in Ironmans wearing his full firefighter gear.

Paulson goes for simpler food during training, like white rice, pasta, potatoes and pancakes, which are popular foods for many ultrarunners.

While Paulson loves a bag of Cheetos during a race, she prefers wetter food during the competition since she often deals with a dry mouth.

At aid stations set up five to eight hours apart (depending on the ultramarathon), she’ll choose ramen, which is wet, has carbs in the noodles and sodium in the broth, as well as bananas, apple sauce and even oatmeal if it’s liquified enough.

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Meaghan Hackinen, a pro ultracyclist, typically eats easy-to-prepare foods at home like scrambled eggs or pasta during training. But as a pro ultracyclist, she’s often competing in 2,700-mile races – like the Tour Divide that goes from Banff, Canada, to Antelope Wells, New Mexico – so she often has to rely on whatever food is available at places along the way.

“You are fuelling mostly at gas stations, and so the quality of nutrition is terrible,” Hackinen noted. At petrol stations, she’ll get chocolate bars, iced coffee drinks, hand pies and frozen burritos.

Hackinen noted that people are often appalled by her diet during races, but she noted that what she eats on the road during these races is not what she regularly has at home. She’s at the mercy of what is available and the need to compete.

Other nutrients are important too, such as fats, sodium and protein.

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Firefighter Rob Verhelst, who is a veteran and Ironman record holder, competes wearing full firefighter gear. He chooses peanut butter pretzels, beef sticks, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and even burgers during races.

His favourite post-race food is chicken broth. It’s warm and is full of sodium, which is important since these races deplete the body’s sodium stores.

But carbs are really crucial for these types of sports. Tovar said: “Carbohydrates remain the most efficient fuel for sustained output, especially during higher intensity segments. Even athletes who train low-carb typically perform better when they include carbohydrates during long or hard efforts.”

You have to train your gut, not just your muscles

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While eating is natural, eating a large quantity of food over a short period of time is not.

“That was one of my challenges when I first started doing endurance sports,” Hackinen said. Getting enough food and exercise was tough, “because it just upsets your stomach if you are not used to eating that much,” she noted.

During training, she has to think about how many calories she’s burning and find a way to balance that out. “There’s a saying that ultracycling is as much an eating contest as it is a physical endeavour,” explained Hackinen.

Goblirsch noted that ultra-athletes often aim to consume 60 to 120 grams of carbohydrates per hour. Most people are not used to eating that much in an hour, much less repeatedly over several hours.

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So part of the training regime is working to get yourself used to eating. Some people may start with 30 grams per hour, but it depends on the individual. (Many factors play a role in how many calories an athlete consumes, but by Goblirsch’s estimates, an athlete might consume anywhere upwards of 10,000 calories over the course of a 36-hour, 100-mile race.)

For some people, they have to force themselves to eat, even if they don’t want to. Paulson recalled that her crew has to remind her to eat, even if she doesn’t feel like it. “Because you get to the point that everything is tired, even your digestive tract is tired of that,” she said.

Packing enough food on the go is key

Given the long distance of these competitions, ultra-endurance athletes have to think about food they can carry. There are aid stations for ultramarathons, but they can be five to eight miles apart. Paulson carries 500 extra calories in a big vest just in case she needs to rest or gets lost.

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Hackinen also tries to pack enough food for 12-24 hours since she may find herself in very remote areas. She often packs gummies and Twizzlers, which can be easily chewed, peanut M&Ms and salted nuts. If it’s not too hot, she’ll bring chocolate bars. She may also add an apple or a peach.

Eating the wrong foods can be disastrous

The foods to avoid often depend on the individual. Some people may be fine with sports nutrition, like energy gels and chews; while others may not tolerate them and need naturally made food.

But there are some general categories to think about if you are fuelling for an ultra-endurance race. Part of training will be figuring out what works and what does not.

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Tovar noted: “During long efforts or immediately before competition, many athletes do better limiting very high-fibre foods such as large salads or raw vegetables, extremely greasy or heavy foods if they are not accustomed to them, very spicy foods or anything unfamiliar.” For instance, Verhelst noted he avoids citrus since the acidity will cause issues in his stomach.

Hackinen noted the danger of overeating since food can be hard to find during these longer races. She may find herself drinking a full litre of chocolate milk, in part because she cannot store it and she desires it so much. Hackinen also tries to avoid any food that might be suspicious, like meat in very hot areas, since she wants to avoid food poisoning.

At the end of the day, your diet really depends on what works for you during these ultra-endurance races. Verhelst noted that one of the biggest things he wished he knew about starting his ultra-endurance training and competing was not to follow other people when it came to nutrition. He needed to find his own nutrition path to give his best in these ultra-endurance competitions.

CORRECTION: This story has been updated to accurately reflect the distance between aid stations.

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Will we ever kick trans activists out of the classroom?

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Will we ever kick trans activists out of the classroom?

After eight years of dithering, the UK government has at last begun to rein in trans-activist teachers. A draft update issued this week to Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) – the statutory safeguarding guidance for schools in England – draws some firmer lines. It says children should not be ushered into opposite-sex facilities, and indulging every identity claim is not automatically in a child’s best interests. It may finally end the surreal scenario in which parents drop off Brian and are told to collect Briony (she / her).

Bridget Phillipson, who is both education secretary and equalities minister, is still dragging her feet on implementing guidance for single-sex spaces more broadly, following the Supreme Court’s ruling last year. But she has at last discovered an important principle when it comes to children. ‘Parents send their children to school and college trusting that they’ll be protected’, she said this week. ‘That’s why we’re following the evidence, including Dr Hilary Cass’s expert review, to give teachers the clarity they need to ensure the safeguarding and wellbeing of gender-questioning children and young people.’

This nod to the Cass Review sounds promising. Her review of children’s gender-identity services found only weak evidence in favour of letting children socially transition – that is, adopting the clothing, names and pronouns of the opposite sex. On the surface, the new guidance seems to reflect that caution.

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However, former Ofsted chief Amanda Spielman has an eye on some of the ‘big buts’ in the guidance: she doesn’t like them and she cannot lie. She told Justin Webb on Friday’s Today programme: ‘There is far too much leeway for schools to decide unilaterally to permit a child to transition while keeping it secret from their parents… a child who does not want to wait may then be encouraged by peers, activists, campaign groups or influencers to tell the school they feel unsafe at home in order to put pressure on the school to allow them to transition.’ ‘The guidance’, she said, ‘should make clear that this is a decision that should never be taken without parents’ knowledge and agreement’.

On the plus side, schools are at least being urged to abandon a one-size-fits-all approach, where all gender identities are affirmed. They are now expected to treat these cases as serious welfare matters, not lifestyle choices. Thanks largely to parental pushback, activist language, including the fiction of the ‘trans child’, has been scrubbed from official communications. But gender ideology is now so deep rooted in parts of the education system that it will take more than a policy tweak to dislodge it.

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For Spielman, the principle is straightforward. Social transition is serious and should not happen without parental agreement. If a school believes it would be impossible to have a conversation with parents, if that might make the child unsafe, then the proper step is a referral to social services. Anything else risks activists inside and outside schools exploiting loopholes in the guidance.

This concern is well founded. One mother told me what happened when her 12-year-old daughter, Sarah (not her real name), joined the school Pride club. Sarah said she was happy to respect people’s identities, but did not believe people could change sex.

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The reaction was swift. Classmates called her a ‘transphobic bitch’ in school corridors and she was ostracised. When she later told a librarian that ‘no one can change sex’, she was issued a behaviour point for ‘transphobic language’, which stayed on her record for the rest of the year. Her mother wrote to the school asking what, precisely, her daughter had said that counted as transphobic. ‘Of course they couldn’t answer’, she says.

‘I don’t think that just a change in guidance in itself is going to have much effect on changing the culture in schools’, Sarah’s mother tells me. ‘I think it’s going to take positive intervention to course correct and make sure that schools can focus appropriately on safeguarding, rather than paying lip service to these fashionable mantras.’ Schools, she says, are hostile environments for any child who wants to express any sex-realist views.

In her landmark report, Cass wrote that ‘social transition is not a neutral act’. In this she is quite correct. Public debate often fixates on the so called ‘Munchausen mums’, the ghastly parents who parade their ‘trans children’ for social clout and online applause. They exist, and any teacher dealing with them has my sympathy. But they are not the whole story.

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Some children are drawn into the trans fad online. Teen forums on Discord and Reddit are awash with ‘egg chasers’, typically older men who identify as transwomen and take a prurient interest in adolescents questioning their sex. The excitement some show about puberty blockers as a way to halt maturation should itself ring safeguarding alarm bells.

Others, particularly girls, are swept up in social contagions. The wave of Tourette’s-like tics among teenage girls copying social-media influencers showed how readily adolescent distress can take culturally shaped forms.

For some children, the roots are more personal and painful. Exposure to pornography or a history of sexual abuse can distort a young person’s sense of self. The Cass Review noted that the degradation of women in pornography can be so frightening that some girls seek refuge in a male identity. Hannah Barnes, in Time to Think, also found that children presenting with gender distress disproportionately come from troubled backgrounds, including higher rates of parental sexual offending.

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If this new schools’ guidance is to mean anything, it must be the start, not the end, of reform. Teachers are not therapists and classrooms are not clinics. A child declaring a new identity should prompt adult curiosity about what is happening in their life, at home, at school and, crucially, online.

Progress will be measured by whether girls like Sarah can speak without punishment and whether parents are treated as partners, not obstacles. When schools recognise cross-sex identification as a sign of vulnerability, then we might say that common sense is back in the classroom. Until then, new rules risk sitting on top of old habits.

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Jo Bartosch is co-author of Pornocracy. Order it here.

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