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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has promised to not only meet but increase how many PIP applications they process — but they’ll only be able to do this by making it easier for themselves.

At the beginning of the year, the department was once again shamed by a parliamentary committee for its utter incompetence.  The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was so unimpressed that it expressed serious doubts about wheteher the DWP could actually support disabled people into work.

A big part of this was how badly they have handled the PIP backlog. The committee highlighted that the backlogs are so bad that they are having a seriously detrimental effect on claimants’ well-being.

The department was slammed by PAC as they couldn’t meet their own target of processing just 75% of new claims in 75 days. They were instead only managing to process 51%. The committee requested that the DWP update them on when this will be improved and how they expect to do this.

DWP moving the goalpost instead of admitting failures

In response to this, the DWP has announced it will be upping its target to 90%. However, they will be giving themselves 120 days to do this. That means they only have to process a fifth more claimants, but they’re giving themselves three-fifths more time.

The DWP, of course, gives absolutely no details as to how they will do this. However, they did say that so far they’ve made it easier to submit claims by introducing online applications, working to reduce postage time and apparently investing in ‘additional resource to support increased speed of clearance across the PIP
system.’ But naturally, they don’t say what this resource is.

The department also gave a more detailed breakdown of how many claims were processed within the 75-day target and beyond.

• 390,500 claims were processed within 75 working days, just 50.9% of all claims
• 287,500 claims were processed after 75 working days, but within six months, 37.5% of all claims
• 84,300 claims were processed after six months, but within twelve months, 11.0% of all claims
• 4,600 claims were processed after twelve months, 0.6% of all claims

Misleading

They try to make this sound like a good thing naturally, but 287,500 waiting for nearly six months is bad enough. Never mind the more than one in ten people who had to wait up to 12 months to get the vital support they need —  and the 4,600 people who wait far longer than that.

But of course, they couldn’t resist telling big fat fucking lies as well. As Hannah Sharland reported on Disability News Service, the DWP claimed the clearance time had not “exceeded” 16 weeks in more than three years. However, that same month, new departmental data showed the wait had hit 20 weeks.

The fact that the DWP has absolutely no shame in any of this shows just how much of a farce of an organisation they are. They know full well that they can’t hit these targets, but instead of admitting that they’d rather move the goalposts again.

Featured image via the Canary

By Rachel Charlton-Dailey

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The White House has soft-launched renaming ICE to NICE — in an attempt to whitewash the government-backed thugs’ crimes.

Trump is awake and he’s now demanding that ICE be renamed to NICE so the media has to say “NICE agents” everyday. This is what the president is focused on. Very weird stuff. pic.twitter.com/5zOuYTMCaA

— Harry Sisson (@harryjsisson) April 27, 2026

Trump reposted the suggestion, which was made by a MAGA ‘journalist’.

NICE supposedly stands for ‘National Immigration and Customs Enforcement.’ However, social media users have far more interesting suggestions.

the n stands for nazi https://t.co/RDiWNbr6d9

— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) April 28, 2026

NICE = Nazi Infantry for Clients of Epstein https://t.co/Bp4PkNXhQD

— Hassan Mafi ‏ (@thatdayin1992) April 29, 2026

Already this year, at least 15 people have died while in ICE custody.

Additionally, ICE agents murdered two people during anti-ICE protests in Minnesota.

A rebrand won’t distract us from the truth: this reprehensible agency murdered two Minnesotans in broad daylight.

Abolish ICE. https://t.co/4FwXNek8gF

— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) April 27, 2026

Changing it to “NICE Agents” will totally make Minneapolis residents forget about how ICE agents murdered two of our neighbors, great rebranding https://t.co/hWXe9SrW3v

— Mike Norton (@NortonMpls) April 28, 2026

Of course, no amount of name changes, rebrands or nazi-style propaganda can hide the crimes that ICE has committed.

when the pr so bad you have to change your @ https://t.co/DF22YpoDYk

— Leesi ☽ꨄ︎☾ (@LeesiBB) April 27, 2026

Similarly, no amount of government backing can make those crimes disappear.

https://t.co/8OCrYKdxK6 pic.twitter.com/GzlNUIvcWV

— Hassan Mafi ‏ (@thatdayin1992) April 28, 2026

Nice? Seriously?

It’s hard to know when Trump is being serious and when he’s not.

However, Mr Fake Tan has already attempted to rebrand the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and the Department of Defence as the Department of War.

Don’t tell Trump that not a single other country uses either of those phrases. He might threaten to blow something up.

On a serious note, I don’t know a single person who calls Twitter X. So what makes him or his government think anyone will actually care if they change the name?

we still call it twitter do you really think we give a fuck if you change the name https://t.co/nEWYf3tEzM

— Cal (@HoodlumCallum) April 27, 2026

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On Thursday, 23 April, Senate Republicans approved a budget resolution to fund ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The bill passed with a 50-48 vote.

The bill will allow the government to allocate up to $140bn to ICE and CBP.

However, the bill still has to be adopted by the House of Representatives. Only then can officials begin drafting legislation to hand the funding to the two agencies.

Inherently racist

ICE is inherently racist, which makes the soft-launch of ‘NICE’ even more fucked up.

The Supreme Court ruled that ICE may detain people without clear evidence. This means people can be detained based on the language they speak, their place of work, or even their physical appearance.

This means ICE can resume “roving” patrols in places such as Los Angeles without needing concrete evidence to target specific workplaces or areas.

ICE is targeting people who speak Spanish and those with accents, low-wage workers such as those in construction at car washes, even if they have not committed any crimes. 

Importantly, this is in direct contravention of the Fourth Amendment, which guarantees:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

This means the government must have probable cause that a person has committed a crime to arrest them. Plus, unlawful presence in the US isn’t actually illegal; it’s merely a civil offence.

Trump can rename ICE — but it won’t take away the fact that the institution under Trump is racist, violent, and in direct violation of the US Constitution.

Feature image via FOX 11 Los Angeles/YouTube

By HG

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The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) has issued letters to 12 UK universities in relation to a recent investigation by Al Jazeera and Liberty Investigates. This revealed them to have paid private intelligence and security firms to monitor, profile, and assess pro-Palestinian students and academic staff. The letters outline immediate and concrete steps that the universities must take to mitigate ongoing legal risks.

The security firm, Horus Security Consultancy Limited, undertook the systematic collection, analysis, and sharing of information relating to individuals’ political opinions, associations and lawful activism, including through social media monitoring, speaker vetting, and intelligence-style reporting.

Concerningly, these practices appear to have been undertaken without the knowledge or consent of affected individuals and, in some cases, may have informed institutional decision-making.

These revelations, which only came to light after an extensive investigation by Al Jazeera English and Liberty Investigates, expose the universities to serious and overlapping legal risks under data protection law, human rights law, higher education regulatory frameworks, and public law principles – which ICJP has outlined in our legal letters to the universities.

It is also an appalling, yet unsurprising, disclosure that speaks to the increasing patterns of hostility, aggression, and crackdown on pro-Palestine protests and organisers in the UK.

Horus, which describes itself as a “leading intelligence” firm, has received at least £440,000 from universities since 2022. The use of its surveillance and profiling tools in relation to political expression by some of the UK’s most respected academic institutions creates a clear chilling effect which not only discourages students and academics from participating in lawful debate, but also undermines institutional commitments to academic freedom.

ICJP makes it clear to universities

These revelations are even more troubling given the lack of public scrutiny faced by private companies such as Horus. This kind of Orwellian surveillance is proceeding largely unchecked, against a backdrop of increasing crackdowns on pro-Palestinian student activism in the UK, from universities, police forces and the national government. This forms part of a broader pattern of encroachment on civil liberties across the country.

In order to mitigate ongoing legal risks, ICJP has outlined immediate and concrete steps that the universities must take to ensure compliance with statutory and regulatory obligations. These steps include stopping surveillance, disposal of information collected and disclosure of contracts and policies relating to such practices, including handling, automation and GDPR compliance.

Órlaith Roe, ICJP’s public affairs and communications officer, said:

What we’re seeing here is a deeply troubling escalation in the monitoring of lawful pro-Palestinian advocacy on UK campuses. The outsourcing of surveillance to private intelligence firms, without transparency or consent, exposes these universities to legal risks, as well as undermining the principles of universities.

Universities should be places where open debate is encouraged, not environments that foster fear and self-censorship. There must now be urgent scrutiny of these practices, and clear accountability for those involved.

Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

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A British version of Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system will soon launch. Skyhammer, based on Israel’s advanced missile defences, is being made by Cambridge Aerospace. The idea, floated in November 2025 by an arms-firm linked ex-general, has quickly come to fruition.

Iron Dome shoots down missiles and drones launched at the settler-colonial state.

Manufacturing and tech website Evertiq reported the UK project was underway on 29 April. But the original government press release slipped under the radar on 10 April. Cambridge Aerospace is backed by Google billionaire Eric Schmidt and the only figure available for costing is a report that the firm raised:

more than $130m (£96m) to build low-cost interceptor rockets intended to knock out missiles and drones, with plans to develop a Skyhammer system for the UK’s Armed Forces.

The company’s website said on 10 April:

The UK Ministry of Defence has today (10 April 2026) announced that it is purchasing a significant number of Skyhammer air defence systems from UK-headquartered scale-up Cambridge Aerospace, with deliveries starting from May. The company has committed to delivering these units to the MOD over the next six months.

The firm, a relatively new kid on the arms trade block, said:

Founded in late 2024, Cambridge Aerospace develops advanced air defence systems designed to deliver high performance at significantly lower cost than traditional solutions.

Adding:

Its first product, Skyhammer, has a range of over 30 km and a top speed of 700 km/h, enabling it to intercept a wide range of aerial threats, including drones and low-speed missiles.

Skyhammer — Israeli thinking, British firm

The government statement makes no mention of Israel, yet the defence press has pointed out the obvious. Here is Global Defence News:

Britain does not operate a homeland ballistic missile defence system comparable to Israel’s Iron Dome, with the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers and their Sea Viper missiles providing the only ballistic missile defence-related capacity, albeit limited in homeland applications due to fleet size and radar coverage.

As of May 2026, if reports are correct, the UK will have a comparable system.

Defence secretary John Healey said in the 10 April press release celebrating the firm’s progress:

We are applying the approach for UK support to Ukraine and accelerating contracts with the most innovative British businesses to rapidly expand support to Gulf partners and equip our own forces with anti-drone tech.

Adding:

Our government backing for Cambridge Aerospace is a prime case of a veteran-founded UK defence start-up scaling at pace to deliver new interceptor missiles within weeks for our Armed Forces and Gulf partners, and good jobs and security here in the UK.

The firm’s website offers little detail on governance, but CEO Stephen Barrett lectured in engineering at elite universities like Cambridge and UCL.

The rise of drones and counter-drone warfare has written global defence strategy. The UK is part of this new proliferation In doing so they have recruited ideas from the battlefields of Ukraine and the genocidal actions of Israel. And, as ever, profit-seeking tech billionaires are tangled up in this radical shift too.

Featured image via EDRMagazine

By Joe Glenton

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Reform UK candidates have said some wild and violent things in the runup to the 2026 local elections. Comments from this next candidate may the wildest and most violent yet, although — to be fair — they are also the least likely to manifest:

Meet Steve Lewis, a Reform candidate in Wakefield. He wants to support local businesses and communities and… er… “bring holy fire down on those who mock God”. He also thinks the Rapture will happen in April 2026, so he may have a very short campaign.https://t.co/WRfUCLkH0p pic.twitter.com/Jky48tkwY8

— Parody Nigel Farage (@Parody_PM) April 28, 2026

Reform vs the good lord

Candidate Steve Lewis believes that the Rapture is coming. If you’re unfamiliar, the ‘Rapture’ is the time when God’s chosen are called up to heaven, with the sinners left behind. This could be a problem for Lewis, because we’re not convinced the Reform manifesto lines up with the teachings of Christ.

As Hope not Hate reported:

In his official candidate statement, Lewis stated that he is concerned with “cracking down on illegal migration, supporting local businesses, supporting local communities, tackling the cost of living crises”, all of which is standard Reform messaging.

To be fair, Jesus no doubt would have sought to tackle the Cost-of-Living Crisis; we’re just less sure he’d take a hardline stance on migration (or even consider human beings to be “illegal”).

Lewis gets considerably more hardline with his rhetoric too. Posting under the name ‘Stif Luis’, this is what he said on Facebook:

We suspect Lewis might not have made it to the New Testament yet, because this is all deeply un-Christ-like.

Jesus had a “spiritual team” too, we suppose, but his disciples weren’t out there ‘terrifying folks for eternity’. You could say the money lenders were terrified of Jesus, but the modern-day money people are all donating to Reform.

Cancelling Christmas

While some Reform supporters might be in favour of the violent Old Testament rhetoric, we doubt they’ll like this next bit.

This is what Lewis had to say about Christmas — Britain’s favourite holiday:

Christmas pagan holiday to worship the sun god Saturnalia. Santa spells Satan.

My brother in Christ, that is not how spelling works!

We doubt this will go down well with the GB News viewers, anyway. Those people freak out when they see a box of mince pies without the word ‘Christmas’ on it; imagine how they’ll react to being told candy canes are the Devil’s dingdong?

Reform’s blasphemy

Lewis is also something of a blasphemer too, having stated the following:

I will bring holy fire down on anyone who gets in my way […] I AM AN ANGEL OF THE MOST HIGH AND HE SPEAKS THROUGH ME LET GLORY BE TO GOD AND THE HOLY SPIRIT AMEN

Saying that, is it blasphemy to claim you’re an angel?

We know it’s blasphemy to claim you’re Jesus Christ, because Donald Trump did that recently, and all his Christian supporters got very mad.

It’s certainly an odd thing to do, anyway, and we’re pretty sure he’s not an angel. If nothing else, an angel wouldn’t be posting on Facebook:

Vetting failures

Honestly, it feels less than Christian to be making fun of this person, because Lewis guy clearly has something wrong with him. The reason we’re putting this out there is because once again it shows REFORM ISN’T VETTING ITS CANDIDATES.

Or, even worse, it is vetting them, and it just don’t care if a person is racist and/or delusional.

For further examples of this, see the following:

• Reform activist said ‘Hitler was right’.
• Reform candidate wants to ‘tear down’ the NHS.
• Reform candidate exposed as a horny nincompoop.
• Reform welcomes ‘shoot the p*kis’ scandal ex-Tory.
• Reform UK accused of ‘nil vetting’ as another racist candidate exposed.

Featured image via the Canary

By Willem Moore

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More than 60,000 people have now used My Election Map. It’s a new digital tool directing progressive activists to their nearest campaign events to support progressive candidates at the upcoming elections on 7 May.

Youth movement Green New Deal Rising has launched My Election Map. It features campaign events for cross party candidates who have pledged their support for wealth taxes on the super-rich, migrant and trans rights, bold climate action and liberation for Palestine.

Modelled on previous tools like My Nearest Marginal, My Election Map aims to maximise left victories at the May elections, applying pressure to the current government from its left flank and strengthening efforts to provide a radical left alternative to Reform UK.

By 29 April, more than 63,300 people had used My Election Map to find nearby events to campaign for cross-party progressive candidates and beat Reform. The group is hoping tens of thousands more will use the tool to find nearby events to support get out the vote efforts in the final days of the campaign, and on polling day on 7 May.

Polls show progressives Plaid Cymru could win power in Wales and the Greens may take control of several key London councils This would force the government to confront profound questions about the electoral threat it faces to its left.

My Election Map can mobilise volunteers

Hannah Martin, co-director of Green New Deal Rising, said:

Progressives like Hannah Spencer and Lindsay Whittle beat Reform not just because they were fantastic candidates, but also because hundreds if not thousands of volunteers refused to give in to pessimism and gave up their time to knock on doors, have real conversations and counter the far right’s dark vision with one of hope.

My Election Map offers people across the UK the chance to do the same at these crucial elections on Thursday 7 May. We can elect hundreds of inspiring cross-party progressives, limit Reform’s success and show this government that communities across the UK are crying out for a bold, hopeful alternative to the far right – not more pandering to their agenda.

My Election Map has benefitted from a number of high profile endorsements, including from Hannah Spencer MP, Nadia Sawahla, Owen Jones, Jen Brister, and more.

My Election Map forms one strand of Green New Deal Rising’s May election campaigning. The group has also conducted a number of high-profile disruptions of Nigel Farage, as well as Shabana Mahmood. The home secretary falsely described the disruptor, a person of colour with a migrant background, as a “white liberal” and told them to “fuck off”.

As part of the roll out of My Election Map, Green New Deal Rising has been coordinating mass youth canvasses for progressives in strategic target seats.

This weekend, more than 60 young people from across the UK travelled to Cardiff, campaigning for a ‘progressive alliance to stop Reform’. They campaigned for Plaid Cymru’s Zaynub Akbar in Caerdydd Ffynnon Taf and the Green Party’s Tessa Marshall in Caerdydd Penarth.

Green New Deal Rising is a youth movement which campaigns for a Green New Deal in the UK. You can sign up to their mailing list to get involved here.

Featured image via Green New Deal Rising

By The Canary

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One of the horrible sights of the year must be the Chancellor ‘gaily laughing’. She was doing it in full view there on the front bench, tossing her well-dressed hair for the bond markets and pressing her key election messages on wavering Labour. The government was strong, and so was she. Both were solid, confident…

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Rail union RMT has called for an end to outsourcing on Southeastern services, demanding that cleaners employed by private contractor Churchill be brought back in-house under public ownership.

The government took over running Southeastern in 2021. It’s due to be integrated into Great British Railways. However, an external company, Churchill, still employs the cleaning staff. The RMT says it offers inferior pay and conditions and little to no job security.

The union highlighted that Churchill has paid out more than £50m to shareholders in the last two years. It argues that the company is prioritising profits over the interests of frontline staff and the travelling public on Southeastern.

The RMT added that the Labour government had promised the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation but that so far it hadn’t followed through on that commitment.

Activists from the union will leaflet Ashford International station from 7am on Thursday 30 April. A short demonstration will follow from 9am, in order to highlight the campaign.

RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said:

There is no justification for keeping cleaners outsourced to a private contractor when Southeastern is in public hands.

Churchill has paid out tens of millions to shareholders at the same time as suppressing cleaners pay, denying them sick pay and leaving them without a proper pension.

Cutting corners on staffing and conditions inevitably impacts on cleanliness and standards across the railway which negatively impacts on passengers.

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We are calling on the government to end outsourcing on rail and bring these essential workers into Great British Railways where they belong.

John Parsons, RMT regional organiser, said:

Our members are being asked to keep trains and stations clean without even the basic tools to do the job properly, with reports of bin bags being rationed, a lack of PPE and serious safety concerns ignored by Churchill.

Staff who speak up are being managed out of the business, which our union finds totally unacceptable and is yet more evidence of the contempt outsourcing companies have for railway workers.

Featured image via YouTube / RMTtelevision

By The Canary

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The barrister representing Palestine Action told the Court of Appeal today that the Starmer government didn’t want to use other laws against activists because human rights would get in the way.

Home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, is appealing against the High Court’s finding that the regime’s ban on the protest group Palestine Action is unlawful.

The case is addressing Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which protect rights of free speech and protest.

Barrister Owen Greenhall said the government decided to use the Terrorism Act to impose the proscription because other measures would come with procedural obligations under the Human Rights Act.

Only two forms of behavioural orders are cited [in government discussions], Criminal Behaviour Orders and Serious Crime Prevention Orders…the objection taken to the use of those orders is that it would require the court to consider Article 10 and 11 rights before imposing such orders…but clearly proscription is a far greater infringement of Article 10 and 11 rights.

Yesterday, the government’s barrister told the court that proscription does not prevent people showing support for Palestine Action. This is untrue. The Terrorism Act 2000 makes support for a proscribed organisation a criminal offence with sentences of up to 14 years.

Some 3,300 people have been arrested to-date for showing support for Palestine Action, mostly older and disabled people. The Met Police continue to arrest more.

A government run by a supposed ‘human rights lawyer’ drips with contempt for those rights when they belong to opponents of Israel’s genocide, apartheid, wars of aggression and crimes against humanity.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

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