Politics
There's a new wedge issue playing out in Senate Dem primaries
Democrats in competitive primaries keep fighting about corporate PAC money. It has opened up a muddy and sometimes performative debate.
The issue has played out in contested Senate primaries, where Democrats have pledged not to accept corporate PAC money to signal their support for campaign finance reform and show voters that they are not beholden to special interests. Among the Democrats seeking to distinguish themselves: Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton in Illinois, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota, and both state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and former public health official Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan.
Corporate PACs, which raise money from their employees and distribute it to candidates, usually give in similar amounts to Republicans and Democrats. For several cycles, a growing number of Democratic candidates have sworn off the money, citing the outsized influence of business interests on politics.
But for many, the pledges not to take the money are mostly symbolic. Candidates who aren’t currently in office receive almost no corporate PAC donations anyway, as more than 99 percent of those funds have gone to sitting senators or representatives this cycle, according to a POLITICO analysis of data from the Federal Election Commission. And rejecting one specific type of donation doesn’t actually mean candidates can’t receive support from outside interests — often in much larger amounts than corporate PACs are allowed to send.
Corporate PAC money can also still end up indirectly supporting new candidates: A majority of Democratic senators receive the funding, as do official party groups, both of which donate to and otherwise help Senate hopefuls.
As a result, the escalating debate over corporate PAC money has comparatively little impact on Democratic candidates’ ability to raise money — but it has created an opening for heated attacks from all sides.
Stratton rejected donations from corporate PACs, but millions of dollars in support she has received from a super PAC has been the focus of a flurry of attack ads from Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), one of her top rivals who himself has received millions in super PAC support. Flanagan and McMorrow have both faced criticism for accepting corporate money in past roles, despite their pledges not to do so in their respective Senate races now.
While the push by some Democrats to reject corporate money goes back several cycles, even emerging as a point of contention in the party’s 2020 presidential primary, the focus in Senate primaries is newer.
For Democrats looking for any advantage in crowded races, rejecting the money carries potential electoral benefits. Polling shows the issue resonates not only with a Democratic base interested in money-in-politics reform but also with independent and Republican voters.
“Pledging to forego corporate PAC money is one way that candidates signal to voters that they reject business as usual in Washington and want to work to fix our broken campaign finance system,” said Michael Beckel, director of money in politics reform at Issue One, a nonprofit advocacy group.
Still, “even when a candidate rejects a PAC check, there are still ways for corporate interests to curry favor,” Beckel said.
The debate among Democrats comes at a time when corporate PACs account for a smaller share of funds influencing races. Corporate PACs face strict limits for their political giving, $5,000 per cycle, a number that has not changed in decades, even as individual giving limits are indexed to inflation. Far more funds now flow through super PACs — which candidates are free to criticize but don’t have to reject.
And the questions are unlikely to fade: The Democratic National Committee has sought to explore how it could limit corporate money, along with harder-to-trace “dark money” that flows through nonprofit groups, in the party’s 2028 presidential primary.
“I think it just shows this fundamental shift even inside the Democratic Party, that running on anti-corruption is no longer a niche position,” said Tiffany Mueller, president of End Citizens United, which backs Democrats supportive of campaign finance reform and has, since 2018, had candidates sign pledges that include a promise to reject corporate PAC money.
The group’s pledge this cycle, which includes several money-in-politics reforms, has gotten signers quicker than past pledges, Mueller said.
In Illinois, where early voting is already underway ahead of Tuesday’s primary, Stratton has made rejecting corporate PAC money a key component of her campaign in a three-way primary against Krishnamoorthi and Rep. Robin Kelly. The lieutenant governor, who was endorsed by End Citizens United, accused both opponents of benefiting from a “broken” campaign finance system.
“I’m the only candidate rejecting corporate PAC money, because my campaign is about the people of Illinois, not special interests,” she said in a statement.
Kelly, in an interview, defended her own record of accepting some donations from corporate PACs, saying that the funds over the years supported Democrats and never influenced her voting record. She noted the much greater flow of super PAC money supporting both of her opponents.
“When I came to Congress, I didn’t know my dues were going to be the level that they were. I didn’t know that I was expected to give money to my other colleagues, or people that wanted to be my colleagues,” Kelly said. “And frankly, the money I collect, that’s where a lot of it has gone through the years, paying dues to the DCCC.”
While Stratton has sought to carve out a lane as the reformer, Krishnamoorthi’s campaign has gone after her finances, with ads running on both television and digital accusing her of taking “corporate and MAGA money” and calling attention to a super PAC backing her. Krishnamoorthi’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Stratton has benefited from $11.8 million from a super PAC linked to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, with additional support from the Democratic Lieutenant Governor’s Association. Meanwhile Fairshake, backed by major cryptocurrency interests, has spent nearly $10 million attacking her to help Krishnamoorthi.
The scrutiny on corporate PAC money in primaries comes as a majority of sitting Democratic senators continue to take those donations for their campaigns and leadership PACs. That includes several senators who have actively been endorsing in the primaries, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Ct.), who has endorsed Flanagan in Minnesota, and Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), who has endorsed both Flanagan and McMorrow.
Corporate PACs can — and do — give larger donations to party committees. That has been a point of conflict in Minnesota, where opponent Rep. Angie Craig has hit Flanagan for corporate PAC donations accepted by the DLGA while she was its chair. The group is now backing her campaign along with Stratton’s.
Flanagan’s campaign has said she did not have sole decision-making power over the DLGA’s donors. In a statement to POLITICO, a spokesperson for Flanagan accused Craig of “trying to distract from the fact that she’s taken millions of dollars from corporations and special interests.”
“Peggy is the only candidate in this race to reject corporate PAC money,” the spokesperson said. Craig’s campaign declined to comment.
The divide extends from safe-seat races to the most competitive. In the Michigan Senate primary, which sets up a must-win open seat for Democrats looking to take back control of the upper chamber, the issue has already arisen in candidate forums. El-Sayed, who previously ran for governor, has sought to distinguish himself on the basis that he has never taken corporate PAC money.
“There’s only one candidate in this race who’s understood corporate money to be the central disease of our politics from day one when they ran in 2018,” said Sophie Pollock, a spokesperson for El-Sayed’s campaign, in a statement.
Rep. Haley Stevens, meanwhile, received donations from corporate PACs as a representative and has continued to for her Senate campaign. Her campaign spokesperson, Arik Wolk, noted she repeatedly voted for campaign finance reform and recently received an “A” grade from End Citizens United on its anti-corruption scorecard.
And although McMorrow previously accepted corporate PAC money for her state legislative campaign and leadership PAC, she has rejected it for her Senate campaign.
“As a first-time candidate, there were people who said, ‘We need to fight like the Republicans fight. If we don’t, we will lose,’” McMorrow said in an interview. “And I’ve learned through my time in the legislature that, you can’t talk out of both sides of your mouth, that people won’t trust you. And also, not only can we fund campaigns without corporate PAC dollars, but frankly, we need to.”
American political scientist and professor John Mearsheimer warned in an interview that if Israel starts losing its war on Iran, it will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons.
He described Israel as the most ruthless state on the planet and warned that its influence in Washington has dragged the US into a war it never should have fought.
Professor Mearsheimer warns that “no country on the planet is more cruel and deadly than Israel,” and cautions that if Israel begins to lose its war against Iran, it would not hesitate to consider using nuclear weapons. pic.twitter.com/TAFN9YiAxm
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) March 12, 2026
Israel have Trump in the palm of their hand
On the one hand – Mearsheimer describes Trump as a unilateralist who rejects international law and treats allies with contempt in the interview.
However, Mearsheimer suggests that Netanyahu has such a powerful hold on him that Trump’s unilateralist, deal-making persona can’t stand up to the pressure from the Israel lobby.
His damning judgement on Israel was shared by social media users.
“There is no state on the planet more ruthless, more murderous than Israel.”
Professor John Mearsheimer warns that if Israel starts losing the war against Iran, they will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons. pic.twitter.com/m3Re0fsp2Z
— DOAM (@doamuslims) March 12, 2026
American professor John Mearsheimer:
“This is a remarkably dangerous situation.
There is no state on the planet more ruthless, more murderous than Israel.
The idea that they would use nuclear weapons against Iran is certainly plausible. And I really worry about this scenario.” pic.twitter.com/1dASTInqMU
— sarah (@sahouraxo) March 12, 2026
Furkan Gözükara described it as the “ultimate nightmare scenario” to emphasize that, according to Mearsheimer, a nuclear strike represents the absolute worst outcome.
Wow Mearsheimer warns of the ultimate nightmare scenario: Israel using nuclear weapons against Iran. Since conventional weapons cannot stop Iran’s nuclear program, Israel is highly likely to launch a nuclear strike. pic.twitter.com/0XiYvJni24
— Furkan Gözükara (@FurkanGozukara) March 12, 2026
Iran won’t back down
In the interview, Mearsheimer stated that Israel’s goal is to “wreck” Iran.
He also pointed out that last year’s 12-day war ended because the Israelis and Americans decided to stop—not the Iranians.
In the current conflict, because the war poses an existential threat to the Iranian state, Mearsheimer argued that Iran can play the “long game.” He noted that they have enough short-range missiles and drones to sustain a prolonged conflict.
Other Mearsheimer clips are gaining traction on X, including his reference to a Lancet report stating that between 1971 and 2021, the U.S. murdered 38 million people through sanctions.
Prof. John Mearsheimer: Between 1971 and 2021, the US murdered 38 million people pic.twitter.com/QqzcVx8vHv
— Glenn Diesen (@Glenn_Diesen) March 9, 2026
As damning as Mearsheimer’s critique of Trump is, his judgment on Israel cuts far deeper.
Featured image via the Canary
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has insinuated that employers are abusing Access to Work. All so they don’t have to employ further staff or pay for reasonable adjustments.
Top DWP civil servants gave evidence at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and National Audit Office’s (NAO) joint inquiry into Access to Work. The department has rightly come under scrutiny for completely fucking up the scheme, which is supposed to help disabled people stay in work.
The department came under fire for not only horrendous delays to accessing the scheme, but how much they’re completely stripping away previously agreed support.
DWP blames employers for Access to Work failures
However, this is the DWP, so they had an excuse. And as expected it’s complete fucking bollocks. Instead of admitting that they’re cutting support to save a few quid, they blamed employers.
DWP permanent secretary Peter Schofield said one of the problems was employers expecting Access to Work to provide things that should be covered under reasonable adjustments such as “ergonomic chairs”. Which to be fair, big employers should pay for, but it could also be a hindrance to employ a disabled person for smaller employers.
But then he also made an even worse claim:
The support worker plays a massively important role for so many customers, but we were seeing job aides whose role was not to help level the playing field up for customers with disabilities, but more to do a task that would be something that actually an employer would normally take on an additional employer to do.
So it was sort of misusing the scheme in a way that was inappropriate.
To put it clearly, the DWP is accusing employers of getting government-funded support workers instead of paying an extra employee.
He then explained this more explicitly
You can just imagine in a busy office environment what exactly is your role? I mean, are you doing this really important support work that was described by this customer in this case study, or are you doing something that is actually enabling the employer to avoid having to employ an extra person on the taxpayer’s expense?
And there it is, the reminder that disabled people are scrounging off the taxpayer. This, coupled with comments on the “changing nature of disability” and eligiblity reminds you what the DWP truly thinks of disabled people.
Neil Couling proving he’s still the worst person at the DWP
Of course, Neil Couling couldn’t resist getting in on this. Couling is most recently known for saying the carers allowance was carers own fault, actually.
He made an even wilder claim about employers abusing the system:
I’ve seen applications coming from big employers who, they literally have an access to work department, their job is in funnelling claims to DWP, I mean, at one level, I don’t mind that, if they also have a bigger reasonable adjustments team, they’re looking at what they can do in their own department under the Equalities Act, to do what they should be doing already.
He also attempted to justify why so many are now seeing their funding cut. Couling said:
We were making mistakes on cases in 23, 24, as we attempted to clear that backlog, as Peter suggested, in too much of a hurry,
So those cases are coming up now for renewal, and they are producing lower awards, and people are saying, ‘Why have I got a lower award? Nothing has changed in my life.’
But we’d wrongly gave them a job aide, normally for 100% of the time, and we should have given them about 20% of the time. Because the job aides are not designed to do the work, they’re meant to support, lift the disabled person to the same level of… an employee.
The end of this part here was truly bizarre to watch. Couling seemingly meant ‘nondisabled person’, not employee, but struggled to find the word. I’ve edited it out for clarity in the quote, but he actually said
lift the disabled person to the same level of a, of a, umm yknow, of an an employee.
I can only speculate, but it appeared like his internal monologue was going ‘don’t say normal person, don’t say normal person!’
They just doesn’t care about disabled people
They also couldn’t resist a sly dig at neurodivergent and mental health conditions. Speaking on the subject, Bill Thorpe, DWP director for disability and health support said:
It’s a kind of societal phenomenon that is very challenging. The Department for Health and Social Care are looking at this in their review into prevalence and what’s the best approach to support people.
The review he’s referring to here is Streeting’s obsession with overdiagnosis, which was disproven last week by thirty-two experts. It’s also happening at the same time that the DWP is working to tighten eligibility criteria for PIP.
It’s clear from the DWP’s evidence that they still don’t hold the tiniest shred of guilt or shame over the way they treat disabled people. The DWP don’t actually care about fixing their problems to best support disabled people, they’d much rather make it everyone else’s fault. But they’d especially rather use any way they can to tear down the very people they’re supposed to support
Featured image via the Canary
Indicted war criminal Yoav Gallant has issued a new call for genocide in Lebanon during an appearance on Israeli TV.
“We need to strike and eliminate everything that’s in Dahiya, Baalbek, Tyre, Sidon, Nabatieh, everywhere”
Yesterday, Channel 12: Wanted war criminal Yoav Gallant calls for genocidal measures in Lebanon and Iran, and says that for “every bomb Israel drops, the Americans drop 2-3” https://t.co/GwA5ceGz1u pic.twitter.com/g8Q84IzNNH
— B.M. (@ireallyhateyou) March 12, 2026
He said that, in Lebanon, Israel needed to:
Eliminate everything that exists in Dahiya, Baalbek, Tyre, Sidon, Nabatieh, everywhere.
Israel is telling the world exactly what it is going to do to Lebanon.
It sounds a little bit like, erm, war crimes?
The war criminal wanted by the ICC is as it again.
More innocent civilians will die, thanks to Israel. https://t.co/2lXWS9TBg4
— Ayesha Bagus 🇿🇦🇵🇸🇨🇩🇸🇩 (@Ayesha_Bagus) March 1, 2026
And it’s exactly what it did to Gaza.
International arrest warrant for man threatening Lebanon
Yoav Gallant is the former Minister of Defence of Israel, and the International Criminal Court currently has a warrant out for his arrest – along with one for Benjamin Netanyahu.
The charges against him are that he is:
Allegedly responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024.
In other words, genocide.
He also described Israel’s three goals against Iran. Importantly, the third goal is “command and control” because powerful white men love nothing more than controlling black and brown people.
Reminding us why Yoav Gallant has an international arrest warrant on his head for genocide https://t.co/4GT2icT4Gy
— Cuniculus Villas (@CuniculusV15634) March 13, 2026
This is the same war criminal who threatened Palestinians during Ramadan in 2024.
Can anyone watch this video of Yoav Gallant congratulating/threatening Palestinians for Ramadan, and honestly say that he doesn’t think this guy is a psychopath? Seriously, it seems like he could just blow up any second. pic.twitter.com/5xSCoLKkHr
— B.M. (@ireallyhateyou) March 11, 2024
On October 9, 2023, Gallant said publicly:
I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly.
He made his genocidal intentions for Gaza clear from the start – and still, the world stood idly by.
He is nothing but a war criminal.
Yoav Gallant is a genocidal war criminal who told the world – at the start – Israel’s intent to starve the people of Gaza.
He is also regarded as too moderate by Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabal.
His firing means an escalation of Israel’s genocidal mayhem. https://t.co/LmTEatZO6P pic.twitter.com/QgMO0zIFMc
— Owen Jones (@owenjonesjourno) November 5, 2024
Now, Gallant is making public statements about Israel’s intentions for Lebanon. Once again, the world is siding with Israel, despite watching the settler-colonial terrorist state indiscriminately kill for years.
Again and again they tell us exactly what they are going to do and our media tells us they’re not. Millions of people displaced, losing everything because this tiny country’s messianic supremacist government tells them to. Why can’t they be stopped? https://t.co/7uuhSCBhAE
— Gus Sproul (@AngusSproul) March 13, 2026
The Dahiya doctrine
Israel is no stranger to using disproportionate force.
The Dahiya Doctrine is an Israeli military doctrine that calls for the use of massive, disproportionate force and the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure. Genocide is literally written into Israeli military doctrine.
Who the hell do these people think they are? The Yoav Gallants, the Lindsey Grahams, the Benjamin Netanyahus & Donald Trumps.
They’re ignorant, arrogant, entitled old men – yet they seem to have most of the world trembling before them.
Stop trembling & take the bastards out https://t.co/Oidlm4Zu6y
— Karyn Taylor-Moore (@TaylorMooreK) March 2, 2026
Would any other state (except the US!) get away with such a violent military policy?
The policy of the Israeli state is explicitly to target family and children, which is part of “The Dahiya Doctrine”. Name another state that has such an explicit policy. https://t.co/688GBsjNri
— Ashok Kumar | 🇵🇸 (@broseph_stalin) February 20, 2026
It seems the more Israel gets a taste of its own medicine, the more it tries to prove a point by eliminating innocent people.
The more Israel gets its ass kicked by Iran, the more it is desperate for a “victory” by genociding its neighbors. Israel is a sadistic, racist threat to millions of human lives and needs to be promptly legally dismantled. https://t.co/VWpwAMkrGO
— Heidi N. Moore (@moorehn) March 12, 2026
Yet still, Western governments want us to believe that Hamas and Hezbollah are the bad guys. Meanwhile, Trump and his pals are getting away with raping children:
Western governments are supporting delusional, genocidal monsters in Israel. Yet the Epstein Class waonts you to blame Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas. Think about that. #GMB #BBCBreakfast #r4today #EpsteinFury #KeirStarmer #Trump #Macron #Merz #No2NATO #IranWar #Lebanon #Iraq #US https://t.co/G1C2umT7Ex
— Penforjustice (@Penforjustice) March 13, 2026
But the biggest terror cell is Israel – and it’s using the same genocidal rhetoric we’ve seen for years in Gaza.
Over and over again, Israeli politicians tell the world what they are going to do. The media ignores it, refuses to use the word genocide and then watches as Israel exterminates thousands of people and displaces even more.
Israel does not want to free Lebanon from Hezbollah, or women from the Iranian regime. It wants genocide, blood, and death.
And let’s not forget they’re doing all of this during Ramadan – showing once again how little regard Israel has for Muslim lives.
Featured image via Sky News/YouTube
We spoke to the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man cast about the new film! Join Cillian Murphy, Rebecca Ferguson, Tim Roth and Steven Knight as they discuss Tommy Shelby’s legacy, how amazing the film set was and having input on the soundtrack.
So, our government says it doesn’t want war with Iran, yet backs the warhawks attacking Iran, and tells the British public that flying sorties ‘saves’ British lives.
British MPs are still straddling the fence over Trump’s Iran war. But, even the Zionist-leaning Telegraph warned that these developments could plunge the country into a recession as the world braces for stratospheric jumps in food and oil prices.
But, with oil prices soaring, many countries are having to rethink their relationship to Russia.
Iran war pushes Western re-consideration of Russia
On 12 March, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on X that the US Treasury will temporarily permit countries “to purchase Russian oil currently stranded at sea.”
Bessent spoke of the need to “promote stability in global energy.” However, considering the 10 plus years of US sanctions on Russia, America has just dealt itself a hard backhand slap. The waiver will run until 11 April and is reportedly limited to cargoes “in transit.”
However, UK MP Michael Shanks, told Sky News this morning that UK sanctions on Russia would stay in place.
Minister Michael Shanks is asked about the US lifting some sanctions on Russian oil. He says it’ll help Russia & thats a shame.
Maybe the UK govt should be putting pressure on the US & Israel to end their illegal war? But instead of doing that you’re helping the US to bomb Iran! pic.twitter.com/Z8HnpGSYu3
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) March 13, 2026
Shanks said that the UK will do anything possible not to grease the wheels of the Russian war machine.
What about the US war machine “mowing the lawn” in Iran Mr Shanks?
There has been no pressure from Labour to get the US to draw back. Instead, there is plenty of pressure coming from Washington to Starmer for more support. But, Starmer has insisted the UK will not ease sanctions on Russia:
All partners should maintain pressure on Russia and its war chest.
Yes to encroaching war with Iran, then, but no to oil via Russia.
Trump’s causes confusion by lifting Russian sanctions
LBC host, James O’Brien, much like the British government, is appalled by Trump’s sanctions waiver on Russian oil.
‘How do you make sense of this madness?’
James O’Brien can’t believe Donald Trump is fighting a war with Iran whilst relaxing sanctions on their ally, Russia. pic.twitter.com/tqCi6w2vK6
— LBC (@LBC) March 13, 2026
The enraged LBC host appears confused as to why Vladimir Putin – accused by UK Defence Secretary John Healey of supporting Iran “using methods learned on Ukraine battlefield” – is receiving relaxed sanctions from Trump’s administration.
He isn’t the one one who’s confused.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the US decision to ease sanctions was “wrong” as he warned over the Kremlin profiting from the war on Iran. Adding Russia may stand to benefits from the oil price surge to fund its ongoing war with Kiev.
#BREAKING Germany’s Merz calls US decision to lift sanctions on Russian oil ‘wrong,’ vows to continue support for Ukraine pic.twitter.com/Sxnarvglk6
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) March 13, 2026
For now, the UK is walking a tightrope—neither fully standing up to the Americans nor wholeheartedly fighting their war. Perhaps not out of moral righteousness, but because the myth of invincibility has always been just that as long argued by our very own Joe Glenton:
by its lack of foresight and strategic blundering, the US and Israel have handed effective control of a big chunk of the world’s economy to Iran. The US looks to have completely underestimated Iran: a country which seems to grow more determined, angry and defiant by the hour.
Featured image via the Canary
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Politics
The House | To prepare for national emergencies, we must build resilience into our mental healthcare system
(John Eveson / Alamy)
3 min read
The mental health impacts of the pandemic finally got a proper airing at the last module of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry. But the struggle to get mental health onto the inquiry’s agenda mirrors the fight for mental health to be taken seriously at the start of the pandemic and the broader ongoing fight for mental health.
A fight in which mental health, despite progress, does not have parity of esteem with physical health – mental health makes up around 20 per cent of NHS cases but receives less than 10 per cent of funding; and a fight in which the policy response is still lacking. Had Mind and others not campaigned hard for its inclusion in the inquiry, mental health would have been an afterthought again.
It’s true the Covid-19 pandemic created a mental health crisis in several different ways. But it’s also true that in many ways it simply turned up the heat on what was a slow burning crisis already in motion – overstretched services already unable to meet growing demand.
As the pandemic hit, thousands who were already receiving support saw that help delayed, disrupted or moved out of reach just when they needed it most.
Module 10 of the inquiry mattered because it finally took mental health seriously on its own terms. But if this moment is to mean anything, we must confront an uncomfortable truth: the UK’s mental health system was vulnerable long before the pandemic, and in many respects it is more vulnerable now.
We must also be honest about who paid the highest price. Racialised communities, people in poverty and disabled people faced disproportionate risks and poorer outcomes. Women and girls were exposed to higher levels of abuse at home. Young people missed key milestones, saw their education disrupted, and were isolated from their friends. Inequality isn’t a footnote; it is the central story of the pandemic.
It’s also an uncomfortable truth that people with severe mental illness were more likely to find themselves in situations that exposed them to the virus, which they were also more likely to die from.
Why did the system bend so quickly under pressure? The mismatch between the burden on the NHS and funding meant services were already stretched before the first lockdown, and the shock of Covid-19 pushed a fragile system closer to the edge.
The result was longer waits, higher thresholds, exhausted staff and inconsistent quality at the very moment demand surged. Funding alone will not fix this. We need both spending and structural reform for the mental health system to work.
We must design for the inevitable surge in mental health problems during national emergencies in the same way we plan for acute bed capacity in winter. This means ensuring that every base is covered, including infection control guidance for mental health; building social connection into public health planning; and equipping health systems to deliver hybrid mental health care.
We need to embed voluntary and community sector partners, like the federation of local Minds, into local and national planning. These organisations are rooted in communities, understand the unique needs of the people they serve and know how to respond effectively.
It is essential we protect the people we know are at higher risk. The data was there before the pandemic. We need mandatory equality impact assessments built into national emergency planning to ensure that all groups receive the appropriate support.
This needs to form part of a shift towards building trusting therapeutic relationships between patients and professionals and delivering holistic care and support. Getting this right will allow us to build a resilient system for crises we will inevitably face in the future, and also help to create a mental health system that provides accessible and high-quality care right now.
Module 10 was a moment of national reckoning with what happened, what went wrong, and how we avoid the mistakes of the past. The inquiry’s recommendations can shape a lasting legacy: a resilient, compassionate and effective mental health system that delivers the support people need, in calm and in crisis alike. That is the least we owe people.
Dr Sarah Hughes is CEO of the charity Mind
If you’re a gardener, chances are you have a tense relationship with slugs.
Even though only nine of the 44 species in the UK actually eat your veggies. , and while they’re key to feeding our dwindling bird population, it can be hard to give unwanted visitors grace if they’re making your garden suffer.
Still, there are lots of reasons – like the fact that biodiverse gardens fare better – not to kill them. Some turn to repellants over pesticides, some of which are illegal in the UK anyway.
That can include placing “barriers,” like crushed eggshells, around your plants. But that might not work.
There’s not much evidence to suggest eggshells repel slugs
The idea is simple: when you place crushed eggshells on the ground, the theory goes, it makes an uncomfortable carpet for slugs.
So, they turn away from your budding blooms rather than face the sharp, stabbing sensations of crawling over broken shells.
But McGill University’s (MU) Office for Science and Society, as well as the staff at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) put that theory to the test, and both of them found the same thing.
The MU team placed crushed eggshells around some lettuce (which slugs love), and found it didn’t stop them at all.
And the RHS research, which took place over six weeks, found that plants “protected” by crushed eggshells didn’t fare any better than those with the smashed-up shells.
Side note – in the RHS investigation, no “barrier” methods, including copper tape, pine bark mulch, sharp horticultural grit, and wool pellets, worked.
So, how should I keep slugs away from my garden?
Speaking to HuffPost UK previously, the RHS’ senior wildlife specialist, Helen Bostock, said: “A vibrant garden ecosystem is one that requires [fewer] inputs from gardeners,” including sprays, because “natural predators” will help yo manage slugs, aphids, snails, and more.
So, trying to attract more birds to your garden can be a great first step.
And when you water your garden matters, too.
In one study, researchers found that watering your garden in the morning, rather than later on, is “as good as metaldehyde pellets” for keeping slugs away (metaldehyde pellets were banned in the UK in 2022).
Ferric phosphate pellets are still allowed, but, the RHS said, “slug pellets (even organic ones) have been shown to have negative effects on wildlife in the garden”.
Social media company Meta appears to have shadow-banned the pro-Palestine ‘Wear the Peace’ clothing brand. This happened after it shared previously unseen footage of Israeli soldiers gleefully shooting at displaced Palestinians. The firm’s Instagram page has amassed 2.3m followers.
The footage – which can only be described as resembling a sniper safari – had been shared by David McIntosh. He previously worked for Gaza aid sites in 2025.
Wear the Peace makes Palestine-branded clothing and donates profits to Palestinian causes. Israel killed Palestinian social media personality, Grandpa’ Nabhan, in 2024 on the first morning he wore one of the firm’s new t-shirts. The item was made in honour of his granddaughter, Reem, who he called “soul of my soul.” The two were inseparably close. Reem was also murdered by occupation forces early on during the Gaza genocide.
The footage shared by the page published by Mcintosh, also referred to a security contractor, shows one of the sites operated by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The organisation was shutdown after months of outrage at Israeli forces massacring and starving Palestinians.
But it appears Mcintosh has a conscience, though he claims to be “blessed” by having served with the GHF. He posted the footage with a comment that Israeli forces shoot Palestinians “for fun.”
Earlier today, Skwawkbox copied the link to this post. But then later attempts to follow it to the post opened completely different Instagram posts. Even obtaining an ’embed code’ to show the post above was only possible by manually accessing the company’s profile page directly and opening it from there.
Mcintosh’s full comment with his own post makes clear he considers the Israeli military to be war criminals:
*Hard watch* I was blessed to assist in Gaza and work with some of America’s finest soldiers…. can’t fault my American comrades in the work we did there, highly skilled top tier operators….albeit the IDF surrounding our sites, are another level of wicked they openly fire on civilians for fun and even on us (standard procedure)! I Won’t go into detail here… but have faith that there are real warriors still out there ….. These videos are of the infamous gaza aid sites and the strong willed palestinians refusing to bend the knee to fear and let their family’s starve. At the sites I managed the men/women did nothing but their best to help the people of gaza, unfortunately the IDF had sinister motives and would try and sabotage the work we would do… They freely commit war crimes with ease, Ive truly never come in contact with such warped sycophantic minds like this!
He posted his video in a wider format, giving a better view of Israel’s barbarity and the panic of emaciated Palestinians as they fled:
New evidence continues to emerge of the appalling, inhuman crimes of the ethnostate’s colonial occupation.
Social media companies, like ‘mainstream’ media in print and digital, appear to be doing everything they can to shield the apartheid state from scrutiny for its continuing crimes.
Featured image via the Canary
All six crewmembers of the US military tanker which crashed on 12 March 2026 are dead, after Trump carried out an unprovoked attack on Iran and brought severe unrest to the region. That brings the overall US death toll thirteen – officially, at least. The cause of the crash is unclear, as the Canary reported here.
Needless to say the number of innocent civilians killed across the region are still being counted and are unlikely to have anything like the same sort of news value in the Western legacy media.
For me, the crash summons an acute memory. Twenty years ago, I personally delivered the coffins meant for 14 dead airmen across Kandahar Airfield in Southern Afghanistan to the base’s medical centre where their remains were held.
Their Nimrod spy plane had crashed days earlier. Some reports blamed a fuel leak on the ageing aircraft.
Then as now, the airmen concerned died in a war of choice they were sent to because of the remote, hubristic ambitions of politicians thousand of miles away. Then as now, such deaths were useful to the political class at home.
Trump will fall for the sacrifice trap
One way of understanding how the deaths of these crew members will be received is to look at the ‘sacrifice trap’. I first heard the term in a 2018 report authored by scholar and anti-militarist writer professor Paul Dixon. He describes the trap as one of:
a range of rhetorical devices are identified to justify war.
This device was regularly used back then to head off public opposition to the failing Afghanistan war.
Here’s Dixon:
The Sacrifice Trap – refers to the situation in which the deaths of military personnel creates a
reason to prolong war in order to justify these sacrifices. As more die this creates further
reasons to justify their deaths by defeating the enemy.
You can almost hear a Trump or a Blair saying it now. ‘If we stop fighting, the previous deaths will have been for nothing’.
In this way, the last death becomes the justification for the next one.
Dixon again:
There is an incentive to put military personnel in harm’s way so that their sacrifice leads to the justification of war. The state escalates or continues to fight in order to justify prior sacrifices.
I haven’t heard this rhetorical device employed fully yet. The US leadership doesn’t seem to care much about public opposition… But in my opinion it is only a matter of time as the death toll mounts. And what I do know for sure is that Trump – whose rise to power is so deeply entangled with the War on Terror – won’t hesitate to wield its devices, narratives, and vocabulary for his own ends.
Featured image via the Canary
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