Campaigner and singer Feargal Sharkey has, once again, dressed down the privatised water companies.

Water companies: taking the p*ss

On social media, Sharkey said:

You’ll want to be sitting down for this bit. Water companies are currently £82.7 billion in debt, have paid themselves £85 billion in dividends, leak over a trillion of litres of water per year, dump sewage for almost 4 million hours per year, have been convicted of over 1,200 criminal acts since 1989 and an average of 35% of your bill goes on nothing but paying more interest and yet more dividends. And not a single company has ever lost their operating licence.

When the water companies were privatised in 1989 under Margaret Thatcher, they were debt free. Since then, they have accumulated £82.7 billion in debt, as Sharkey notes. At the same time, they have failed to invest in infrastructure to fix our dated sewage system. Instead, they dump sewage in our rivers and the ocean for millions of hours a year. And they haven’t just creamed cash rather than investing. Water companies sold off 35 reservoirs in just five years, making £26 million from flogging what were public assets.

On top of that, as Sharkey points out, a University of Greenwich study for We Own It found a “privatisation tax” of 35% on our water bills. In other words, we’re spending over one-third more than we need to every time we turn on the taps.

Privatisation: 140 years into the past

Water was brought into public ownership in the late 1800s. Even back then, people knew it was a natural monopoly and a daily essential for all humans. Selling it off just means one then rents it at higher cost.

Thatcher’s government and then the neoliberals in Labour, Reform and the Tories maintaining privatisation of water, have brought us 140 years into the past.

Sharkey is spot on to take down the polluting profiteers.

Featured image via the Canary

The number of children who are homeless and in temporary accommodation in Scotland has passed 10,000.

The latest figures from the Scottish Government show that, in the six months to 30 September 2025, 10,480 children were in temporary accommodation.

People experiencing homelessness increasing

In total, there were 18,092 households in temporary accommodation, a 9% increase from 16,634 in 2024. This is also a new record high. Households spent an average of 237 days in temporary accommodation.

There was also a 4% increase in the total open homeless applications. The figure now stands at 33,006.

The number of people sleeping rough has also reached its highest in over a decade – at 1,083. This means that one in 10 applicants was sleeping outside.

One notably higher figure is the number of households not being offered temporary accommodation. The number has risen from 7,565 in 2024 to 10,710 in 2025. Most of these were in Glasgow (6,815 out of 10,710). The local authority also reported high numbers in Edinburgh – with 3,585 instances over the six months.

A figure that has improved is the number of breaches of the unsuitable accommodation order. This states that:

the maximum number of days that local authorities can use unsuitable accommodation for any homeless person is 7 days and has the effect of ending stays in unsuitable accommodation, such as B&Bs, apart from in emergency situations.

In the last 6 months, there were 3,635 breaches, which is a 12% improvement.

Changing characteristics

Of the homeless applicants, 16% were from households that had been granted either refugee status or leave to remain. This allows non-UK nationals to stay lawfully in the UK following an application made from within the country.

In total, 2% of all applications cited “left asylum accommodation” as the reason for them being homeless.

There was also a decrease in the number of white applicants, specifically white Scottish applicants. Conversely, there was an increase in the number of African, Caribbean, Black, Asian, and Arab applicants.

This comes as the number of refugees experiencing homelessness across the UK has more than doubled in the last two years. In total, 4,434 refugees and migrants were accommodated from 2024-25, the largest number on record. Of these, 2,008 were refugees — a 106% increase on the previous year.

In September, Màiri McAllan, Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Housing, pledged funding for affordable housing, along with measures to support people in moving out of temporary housing.

Additionally, the Scottish government said it planned to invest up to £4.9bn over the next four years. This would help it achieve its target of delivering 36,000 affordable homes by 2030.

In a statement, McAllan said:

The figures do speak to the severe pressure that services are under due to the Home Office’s mismanagement of the asylum system, particularly in Glasgow.

Featured image via Centre for Homelessness Impact

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) paramilitaries are leaving custom-made ace of spades ‘death cards’ at the scene of migrant snatch operations. The ghoulish practice has imperial origins. US troops used to stuff cards into the mouths of the Vietnamese dead. The practice – consider yourself trigger warned here, please – was even filmed for use in official military propaganda.

The truth is this isn’t the first example of long-ago wars inflecting US immigration policy. America’s imperial past and present is so deeply interwoven into Trumpian policy that we don’t always see it. Yet these cards are one of several crystal-clear examples lately.

ICE leave death cards

The Intercept’s Nick Turse picked up the story on 3 February. It appears to have originally been reported on 22 January 2025 by Latino community organisation Voces Unidas. After a snatch mission in Eagle Country, Colorado, relatives searching for their kidnapped family members found the cards at the scene:

After detaining 10 Latino community members, ICE agents left ace of spades cards—widely known as the “death card”—inside the abandoned vehicles. The cards, later found by family members, clearly identify ICE’s Denver Field Office.

The US used the ace of spades design because it supposedly had particular cultural power in Vietnam.

As Turse explained:

During the Vietnam War, U.S. troops regularly adorned Vietnamese corpses with “death cards” — either an ace of spades or a custom-printed business card claiming credit for their kills.

Adding:

A 1966 entry in the Congressional Record noted that due to supposed Vietnamese superstitions regarding the ace of spades, “the U.S. Playing Card Co. had been furnishing thousands of these cards free to U.S. servicemen in Vietnam who requested them.”

After Vietnam, as Voces Unidas pointed out, the cards were adopted:

by white supremacist groups to demean people of color.

On the face of it, this makes a lot of sense. ICE’s recruiting strategy is less about nods to racism and more about openly using fascist imagery, mottosm and even songs to attract recruits who align with a mission to ethnically purify the US.

Long history of racial violence

Alex Sánchez, president and CEO of Voces Unidas said:

We are disgusted by ICE’s actions in Eagle County. Leaving a racist death card behind after targeting Latino workers is deliberate intimidation rooted in a long history of racial violence.

He added:

This is an abuse of power, and it has no place in any society that claims to value human dignity.

Sanchez said family members of the disappeared had the cards in their possession. He confirmed they appeared custom-made and meant to terrify ICE’s targets:

These were not from a doctored deck of cards. These were designed with this legacy in mind. They were printed on some sort of stock paper and cut in the dimensions of a card.

Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security deigned to explain the cards.

The term ‘imperial boomerang’ has used liberally to describe what is happening in the US – and correctly so. Trump’s war on immigration is a cover for a war on the left and on migrant labour. He seeks to both create an enemy and eliminate rivals, not just at home but also abroad, as we’ve seen with Venezuela and Iran.

But there is more to it. Let’s not forget that a senior Border Patrol official invoked the Confederacy – the slave-owning losers of the Civil War – in a recently discovered email chain.

In truth, the whole spectacle is alive with fascist nostalgia about lost wars. It feels like fascists – many of whom are clearly now in ICE – are trying to correct various imperial and colonial emasculations through racist violence. Trump has given them the permission, the weapons and the authority to do so. At the very least, they are drawing on those vengeful energies.

From the War on Terror to the Confederate fantasy of a ‘lost cause’ and, now, Vietnam, the ghosts of America’s violent past are restless.

Featured image via Voces Unidas

Evil tech giant and NHS leech Palantir has links with wealthy sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. And Labour MP Dawn Butler has rightly called for scrutiny.

Butler insisted we should “not ignore” the connection between Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel and Epstein, particularly because it has infiltrated our public health system:

We can not ignore the fact that Peter Thiel co-founder of Palantir is featured numerous times in the Epstein files https://t.co/QXoz6C94D1

— Dawn Butler ✊🏾💙 (@DawnButlerBrent) February 3, 2026

She had previously highlighted how the Conservatives let dodgy tech giants Palantir, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon get their grubby hands during the Covid-19 pandemic on our health data. In 2021, she expressed concern over the lack of transparency and the consequences for our data privacy.

Palantir embeds within the US, the UK, and Israel

As the Canary has reported, Palantir:

• Is staunchly pro-Israel.
• Has “deep ties to British and American security agencies”.
• Has gained lots of experience helping to smear progressives, back right-wing causes, and mistreat vulnerable people.
• Had links to the dodgy campaigning surrounding Brexit.
• Is already deep within the UK’s military and police establishment.
• Received investments from the shady multimillionaire donor behind Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.
• Has just got a £240m deal to give services to the British military, as Starmer has cosied up even further to the company (with help from Epstein friend and general prince of darkness Peter Mandelson).
• Had Epstein in its corner, encouraging close friend and Israeli war criminal Ehud Barak to learn more about the company. It later ended up profiting from Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
• Is getting deeper and deeper into the US government, and is a key part of Donald Trump’s dystopian domestic terror campaign.
• Co-founder Thiel powered US vice-president JD Vance’s rise to prominence.
• CEO and co-founder Alex Karp is a vile warmonger, arrogant gaslighter, and misanthropic authoritarian. He seems to think war crimes are fine, that the West has “obvious, innate superiority”, and that violence (rather than ideas) is the path to dominance.

Neocolonialism

Palantir has latched onto the US imperial project and is now a prominent part of it. By extension, this means entering junior partners in the UK and Israel too. And apparent intelligence assets like Epstein helped to ensure companies like Palantir become part of this system of racist brutality and dominance.

Journalist Whitney Webb has written about:

The Sordid Union Between Intelligence and Organized Crime That Gave Rise to Jeffrey Epstein

And because of developments like artificial intelligence, mass surveillance, and drones, the baton has passed from people like Epstein to companies like Palantir. As Webb said in 2025:

you don’t really need Epstein in the Surveillance Era…

[Israel and others] don’t really need blackmail anymore…

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Palantir, Peter Thiel’s company… that’s the new Jeffrey Epstein…

“They don’t…need blackmail anymore…Palantir…[is] the new Jeffrey Epstein…if they want to blackmail [you]…they…access…your finances, tweets you’ve liked…[&] the disturbing thing about Palantir is…it’s…about pre-crime. [They’re] pioneers of predictive policing”… pic.twitter.com/3Il0l3IhuR

— Sense Receptor (@SenseReceptor) August 1, 2025

Countries around the world have already started to realise the importance of technological independence from the US and its dystopian corporations like Palantir. And if UK politicians don’t heed calls to do the same, they need to lose their jobs.

Because for the sake of humanity and our future, we should not only “not ignore” all of this, as Dawn Butler rightly said. We also need to actively campaign to kick companies like Palantir out once and for all.

Featured image via the Canary

A pack of hounds from the Middleton fox hunt has run amok through a woodland burial site in North Yorkshire. The incident happened during the last week of January 2026.

Footage captured by national animal welfare charity the League Against Cruel Sports shows the hounds marauding through the Mowthorpe Garden of Rest within the Howardian Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The hounds ran across graves with the hunt failing to stop or divert them.

This is the same Middleton Hunt that the Canary witnessed a couple of weeks earlier. On that occasion, the hunt was behaving violently and showing no sign of laying a trail. Unless the law changes, and it may do before long, fox hunts can still ride out. But, legally, they can only ‘trail hunt’. This means following a scent trail, rather than actual foxes.

However, until the government moves decisively to ban them for good, fox hunts are continuing to cause havoc across the countryside.

The League’s chief executive Emma Slawinksi has slammed the hunt for its actions:

It beggars belief that the hunt would have laid a trail through a burial site so either the Middleton Hunt has no regard for the sanctity of this site or, as is more likely, the hounds were on the trail of a fox.

They have desecrated this burial site in a bid to carry on with a blood sport that was banned 20 years ago.

Hunts are behaving in an appalling way, intent on chasing and killing foxes and not caring about their anti-social behaviour and the impact they are having on local communities and the people who live in the countryside.

The hounds were also caught terrorising local wildlife with two deer filmed fleeing for their lives.

‘Trail hunting a smokescreen for fox hunts’

The footage of the Middleton Hunt is being released the day after Channel 4 News aired footage gathered by the League of the same hunt’s hounds chasing a fox on Christmas Eve 2025.

The League released figures ahead of Boxing Day showing an increase in the number of reports of hunts chasing foxes and wreaking havoc on rural communities.

Chief superintendent Matt Longman, the national lead on fox hunting crime, has described trail hunting as a “smokescreen for illegal fox hunting”. He also described illegal hunting as “prolific”.

The government has announced it will launch a consultation to ban trail hunting, though this has suffered delays.

Slawinksi added:

I would urge the public who are sick and tired of the behaviour of fox hunts to take part in the government’s hunting consultation.

The time for change is now. We want to see trail hunting banned, the loopholes in the law removed, the end of so-called ‘accidental’ hunting, and jail sentences introduced to act as a deterrent for those who would break new stronger fox hunting laws.

Find out more about how to take part in the consultation, and how people can make their voice heard, here.

Featured image via the Canary

Reform leader Nigel Farage is running scared of Green leader Zack Polanski. And, in the run-up to the Gorton and Denton by-election, the clash between the two parties could well be a sign of things to come in the British political landscape.

Of course, Farage is refusing a challenge to a face-to-face debate with Polanski. After all, the far-right figurehead is far batter at manufacturing glib soundbites than he is at answering probing questions.

Politics UK posted on social media:

🚨 WATCH: Nigel Farage rejects Zack Polanski’s request for a one-to-one debate

“I generally find that if you pick a fight with a chimney sweep you get covered in soot, so I might just leave that alone”

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“But he’s got a fan club – all the heroin smokers and everything” pic.twitter.com/e5F6H80eV4

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) February 3, 2026

Farage is a glutton for punishment

In the clip, the interviewer reminded Farage that Polanski had expressed interest in a debate with him. However, that’s not the whole story.

Rather, Reform had previously challenged the Green leader to debate Zia Yusuf, the party’s head of policy. However, that’s not exactly an even matchup, is it?

Yusuf is an unelected benchwarmer for the far-right party who’ll get ditched as soon as another ex-Tory shows up to replace him. Meanwhile, Polanski is a serving member of the London Assembly.

Likewise, Polanski is the leader of his party, rather than being ‘head of policy’ for a party that only has one real policy.

Then, of course, there’s the fact that Yusuf has already debated Polanski. The two both appeared on BBC’s Question Time in December of last year. As I recall, Yusuf got booed for being a slimy little tosser.

The fact Yusuf appears eager to repeat the experience is his own business. However, Polanski was eager to debate – but against a fellow party leader:

Dear @ZiaYusufUK,

As I keep saying, I would be more than happy to debate, leader to leader, with Nigel Farage.

I’m starting to get the impression he might not be keen?

Maybe you could be kind enough to pass this message on?

Hugs, Zack.

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— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) February 2, 2026

‘Hugs, Zack’

Addressing Yusuf on social media, the Green leader wrote:

As I keep saying, I would be more than happy to debate, leader to leader, with Nigel Farage.

I’m starting to get the impression he might not be keen?

Maybe you could be kind enough to pass this message on?

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Polanski then signed off with a cheeky little “Hugs, Zack”.

However, Farage was far less willing to face Polanski in a head-to-head debate. When he was reminded of the Green leader’s challenge, Farage tried to brush it off, stating:

No, I generally find that if you pick a fight with a chimney sweep you get covered in soot, so I might just leave that alone for now.

And that’s the nearest to an insult I’ll ever come, alright?

But you know, he’s got a fan club – all the heroin smokers and everything think he’s absolutely marvelous.

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Apparently, calling a fellow schoolmate a “stupid Yid” doesn’t count as an insult. But anyway.

Running scared

Of course, it’s not surprising that Farage is running scared from a debate – he’s shite at them. In 2024, the Reform leader threw a tantrum and announced that he was boycotting the BBC after getting thrashed on Question Time himself.

Attendees grilled the party leader on immigration, health care, and his campaign activists’ racist and homophobic remarks. In return, Farage accused the BBC of rigging the audience.

As a side note, Farage seems to love boycotting the BBC – especially when people point out that he’s a racist sack of shit. Likewise, he’s also made a habit of accusing debate audiences of being left-wing plants whenever he starts losing.

You see, like most members of the far right, Farage can’t hold up in a debate he can’t control. He pulls stunts and generates headlines, but his ideas fall down under basic scrutiny.

Given his obvious ambition to install himself as the UK’s prime minister, Farage had better get comfortable in the hot seat pretty sharpish. Otherwise, the public might start to notice that he’s a hollow, bigoted authoritarian with no real answers. And we’d hate to see that now, wouldn’t we?

Featured image via the Canary

In the aftermath of the acquittal of six of the Filton 24, pressure groups and the families of the vindicated prisoners have spoken about what the verdict could mean.

Pressure group CAGE responds

The refusal to convict any of the six defendants of any charges, including on the most serious of charges, is a powerful affirmation of jury equity and brings to a humiliating end one of the most politically charged trials of this year thus far.

The decision made by the jury critically undermines the rationale used to proscribe Palestine Action, and underscores the urgent need for that ban to be lifted. This case was the most significant test of the government’s claim that acts of conscience against arms companies constitute a threat to public safety.

An independent jury, guided by conscience and moral clarity, rejected that narrative despite extraordinary political pressure, ministerial intervention, and an environment shaped to shield Israeli state-aligned interests from scrutiny.

The verdict echoes a wider public rejection of Zionist impunity, and growing support for direct action against companies complicit in genocide.

The trial has exposed how pre-trial detention and public spectacle were used to punish the defendants in advance and to deter others from challenging Israel’s largest arms manufacturer. The proscription of Palestine Action must now be lifted, and all those held as a result of this political process in prison should be released immediately.

The trial demonstrated that counter-terrorism and national security frameworks are being used in line with their established purpose: to silence dissent and shield state complicity in crimes from accountability. Context was excluded, and scrutiny of Elbit systems – Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer – supplying an ongoing genocide was treated as a matter to be suppressed rather than examined.

Naila Ahmed, Head of Campaigns at CAGE, said:

This is a huge victory for the movement but nationally and abroad who campaigned on behalf of the defendants, and a powerful affirmation of jury independence and moral courage in the face of extraordinary political pressure.

Though they cannot get back the 17 months of their life taken from them unlawfully, they should all be compensated and the remaining 18 defendants of the Filton 24 should also be released on bail. This case was used to justify the ban against Palestine Action, a decision that should now be overturned.

CAGE calls for full compensation for those acquitted, a lifting of the ban on Palestine Action, an independent review into the political handling of the case, and the abolition of terror laws. The acquittal should prompt serious reflection on how easily due process can be eroded when political interests are at stake.

Filton24 Defence Committee

lisa minerva luxx, a representative of the Filton24 Defence Committee said:

Today’s significant victory delivered by the jury has vindicated the six defendants, who are the first six on trial from the Filton 24.

There are still 18 more defendants imprisoned across the UK in connection with this case. They are being held under joint enterprise which means they each have the same 3 charges whether they are accused of being present at the action or not. Now that the first 6 have been liberated of the most serious charge, Aggravated Burglary, and none were convicted of a single offence, it follows that the rest must immediately have this charge dropped against them, and be granted bail.

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This was a trial by media. Yvette Cooper and Keir Starmer took evidence in this case out of context and broadcast it on televisions and tabloids across the country in order to justify proscribing Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, despite forewarning that this will prejudice the trial.

By acquitting the defendants of aggravated burglary, the Jury aligned with the defence case that the items taken in to the warehouse were not weapons, but were tools used to dismantle and neutralise Israeli weapons.

Now that a court of law have vindicated the first six of the Filton 24 of the exaggerated charges against them [and found that the actions against Elbit Systems that night were reasonable], we should all expect Shabana Mahmood to do the reasonable thing herself and lift the ban on Palestine Action.

It’s time for the British state to accept that the movement for a liberated Palestine has been, and will continue to be, justified.

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Filton 24 relatives respond

Clare Rogers, mother of Zoe Rogers said:

Our loved one’s action against Elbit Systems and the state’s brutal response have exposed the true values of the government. The government is determined to do business with Israel and protect its weapons industry at any cost. Our loved ones dared to poke this beast – and no expense has been spared in policing prosecuting and imprisoning them without trial. Imagine if the government had put the same amount of money, resources and political will into preventing a genocide.

As the court heard, these are six young people of conscience and compassion. They took action against Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems in Filton, Bristol, because they could not sit by and do nothing while their country armed Israel’s genocide. They had tried everything else – marches, petitions, writing to MPs, encampments – and they could see that the government was not only breaking international law but was ignoring the will of its own people. They felt they had no option but to take action themselves, to try to save as many lives as they could.

Inside the Elbit facility, they found deadly quadcopter drones packed up ready for export, and were able to destroy some of them with crowbars and sledgehammers. These are the type of drones the Israeli military uses in Gaza to drop explosives, typically after a bomb has been dropped, to target survivors.

Emma Kamio, mother of Leona (Ellie) Kamio said:

The police strategically released selected clips of footage during the trial, including the incident where Sam had struck a police officer. This was devoid of all context. The public were not told that Sam had just been blinded by PAVA spray and acted to protect my daughter while unable to see.

Ellie had been tasered twice at this point, the second time by accident, and the police officer who did so was dragging her up off the ground in one handcuff while standing on her abdomen and screaming at her to stay down. The whole time she had painful tazor barbs still in her arm and thigh as he dragged her around.

So she was screaming in pain, and was never resisting arrest. At this point, Samuel Corner had witnessed a security guard strike his co-defendant with a sledgehammer, and had witnessed excessive force repeatedly by the security. Whilst blinded by PAVA spray, and hearing screams from Ellie, screams which even the police described as “blood curdling”, he could only make out what he thought was a security guard, causing more pain, and did what he could to make it stop.

Striking the police officer was a terrible mistake that I’m sure Sam deeply regrets, but he simply reacted to protect Ellie when he heard the blood curdling scream that came from the second electrical current passing through her body, and all this after having witnessed the violence they experienced from the security guards that night.

Sukaina Rajwani, mother of Fatema Zainab Rajwani said:

‘When they are told, “Do not spread corruption in the land”, they reply, “We are only peace-makers”. Indeed it is they who are the corruptors, but they fail to perceive it.’ (Holy Quran 2:11-12)

I am grateful for every heart that has turned towards this movement, for every hand that has raised in prayer for us, and for every word that has amplified our voice in seeking justice for the Filton 24. Despite the state’s best efforts to silence us and oppress our loved ones; we stand united in strength and power against a corrupt government and an unjust legal system.

Our fight does not end here. We will continue to expose Elbit Systems and British complicity in genocide.

Brogan Devlin, sister of Jordan Devlin said:

Despite having all the odds stacked against them, I can now say with the biggest smile that Jordan has been acquitted of aggravated burglary and violent disorder, and none of the defendants have been convicted of a single offence. The jury could see through the state lies, the political interference and the corruption.

Today we celebrate, tomorrow we rest, but this is not over – Angelo Volante is the name of the Elbit Systems security guard who assaulted my brother multiple times. My heart sank watching the footage of my brother unarmed, being attacked by Volante with a sledgehammer. Jordan was attempting to deescalate the situation when Angelo Volante kicked, choked, struck and even attempted to bit my brother.

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The jury was shown Jordan’s black eye, bruised body and sledgehammer marks. Why was this never released to the media? Throughout the trial we have been silenced by reporting restrictions in a bid to protect Elbit Systems and its violent employees.

Angelo Volante and Elbit Systems should be the ones on trial, not my brother. Thankfully ordinary citizens of the jury could see that and so we leave today with our heads held high and our loved ones by our side.

Featured image supplied