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The post The absurdity of banning Hasan Piker and Cenk Uygur from the UK appeared first on spiked.

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Ariana Grande has leaned into her dark sense of humour in the music video for her new single Hate That I Made You Love Me.

Merging elements of horror and comedy – two genres of which the Grammy winner is a well-documented fan – the tongue-in-cheek music video was released on Monday, featuring Justin Long as a man who’s haunted by a figure from his past, played by Ariana.

The clip opens with Justin digging what appears to be a grave, before it’s revealed that the No Tears Left To Cry is living in an abandoned room underneath it all, reading over her past diary entries.

Following this, the Weapons actor is seen trying to rid himself of visions of Ariana, culminating in him crashing his car, setting himself on fire and eventually revisiting the “resting place” – only for her to turn the tables on him in its final moments.

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If all of that sounds like a lot, that’s probably because it is, but the five-minute clip is sure to get people talking.

Check out Ariana Grande’s latest video for yourself – also featuring what appears to be a cameo from a true Broadway legend – below:

Hate That I Made You Love Me was released last week, and while on the surface it seems like a straightforward break-up song, fans have been speculating that its lyrics see Ariana reflecting on her relationship with fame and celebrity.

The Wicked star previously described Hate That I Made You Love Me as “one of my favourite songs i’ll ever give to you, the greatest fans in the entire world”.

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“I’m so grateful for all of the art, moments, songs we have shared,” she told her fans. “I can’t wait for this next chapter and all of the surprises I have for you.”

Hate That I Made You Love Me is the lead single from Ariana’s upcoming eighth album Petal, which is due for release on Friday 31 July.

The track is currently on track to give Ariana her eighth UK number one, which will be her first since 2020’s Positions.

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As a sometimes gym girl, I do care about my protein intake. But for me, the priority is usually fibre.

Don’t get me wrong: protein helps us to feel fuller and keeps our muscles healthy (especially crucial as we age). But many of us are actually getting too much of it.

Meanwhile, only 10% of us eat the recommended 30g of fibre a day. That’s a shame, because it’s linked to lower heart disease, cancer, and dementia risk.

Whatever your health goals, though, one struggle remains constant: eating healthily throughout the week without feeling either exhausted by endless cooking or bored by bland meal prep.

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I’m not saying my picks are the perfect answer: no meal is thrilling on day three. But I have found a mostly make-ahead breakfast and dinner combo that requires next to no effort to cook and means I can enjoy 22g fibre and 50g protein by 2pm, leaving my evenings more flexible for CBA dinners.

Here are the recipes if you want to give them a go:

1) Mango Skyr chia pudding

While writing an article about Icelandic yoghurt Skyr, I realised I should probably try the low-fat, high-protein, creamy option. I used to make this meal with coconut milk, which was delicious, but I’ve found Skyr keeps me fuller longer.

Ingredients:

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• 2 ripe mangoes (this is a good way to use up overripe ones)
• 500g Skyr
• 150g chia seeds
• Cardamom spice (optional)
• Tablespoon maple syrup (optional)

Method:

1. Peel and slice the mangoes over a large plastic or metal mixing bowl or blending jug to catch all of their juices. The liquid is important here, because it makes the pudding softer.
2. Add the yoghurt and, if you want, cardamom spice and maple syrup. Either use a stick blender or blend in a jug until smooth. If you don’t want to blend it – I don’t always – chop the mangoes finely right over the pudding container, making sure again to catch the juices.
3. Add the chia seeds and stir, pushing every last seed you can under the mix.
4. Store in the fridge in an airtight container or containers. I find it’s good for the work week, but follow the yoghurt’s best before date if you’re not sure.

2) Harissa butter beans with eggs

I was going to call this a shakshouka, but it’s really not – it’s just a sort of beany, tomato-ey, eggy mix that feels vaguely related. It takes about three minutes to heat up on my stove, but it’s important that your pan has a lid. This helps to finish the whites before the yolks get chalky, and the steam also helps to prevent food from sticking to the bottom of my pan.

Ingredients:

• 3 cans butter beans (any other white bean will do)
• 90g jar harissa (I like mine spicy: if you don’t, try less, or use tomato puree)
• Sprinkle paprika
• Small onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• Tablespoon olive oil
• 8 eggs
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• (Optional) lemon, for its juice
• (Optional) 80g feta, for crumbling on top

Method for the make-ahead part:

1. Warm the pan to a low or medium heat and add the oil once hot.
2. Add the onions and a pinch of salt and heat until softened: I waited about 10 minutes for a sweet, soft base.
3. Add the garlic and paprika and cook ’til fragrant. This takes about 30 seconds.
4. Add the tomatoes and cook until it’s become thicker, 3-5 minutes.
5. Add the beans and harissa and stir. Cook for 1-2 minutes more.
6. Cool a little before placing in an airtight container or containers and placing in the fridge.

Method for cooking on the day:

1. Put a quarter of the prepared bean mix per person in a pan on medium heat.
2. Make little holes with a spatula and crack two eggs per person into them.
3. Put a lid over the pan (this is crucial) and leave it for about three to five minutes, depending on how “done” you like your yolks.
4. Lift the eggs out of the pan first so as not to break their yolks and spoon the bean mix around them.
5. Top with 20g crumbled feta, if using. It’s also great with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice if you have it.

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New Labour’s enemies on the left have often accused the Blairites of being ‘red Tories’: figures like like Peter Mandelson disputed this accusation, and yet we now know he advised Keir Starmer to take advice from John Major.

Mandelson, w e’ve heard this Tory before

The latest revelation emerged in the new release of messages from Mandelson’s time in government. The reason the government is releasing his correspondence is another email tranche – specifically that which the US released in relation to the dead paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

As it turned out, Mandelson was bosom buddies with Epstein, and he was secretly talking to him about British state secrets. We say ‘as it turns out’, but we did warn the government Mandelson was friends with Epstein before Starmer made him the ambassador to the US.

The latest release of messages contains the following exchange between Mandelson and Starmer. As you can see, it took place not long after Starmer became PM:

[17/07/2024, 21:41] Peter Mandelson: Keir, hope you are well, you have got off to a flying start. I was at a dinner with John Major this evening and if you don’t know him I think good idea to invite him for a chat. As well as being a very nice person, he is interesting and thoughtful. Just a thought. No need to reply.

[25/07/2024, 13:25] Keir Starmer: Thanks Peter. Its so good to be getting on with the job of governing. A million times better than opposition – you know that! I’ll reach out to John M, he’s a very thoughtful man. See you soon I hope.

Who could have guessed that Starmer was taking his cues from a Tory ex-prime minister?

The wrong track

As you may or may not know, Starmer recently re-nationalised the railways. Major was the one to privatise them, and as Tom Nicholas recently covered, this ended up being a long and winding disaster:

Before you think we’re praising Starmer, there’s something else to point out. Namely, that Starmer performed a typical half measure by failing to renationalise the companies which own the actual trains. As James Wright wrote for the Canary:

the party will not nationalise the rolling stock companies – Eversholt, Porterbrook, and Angel Trains. These companies own the majority of the trains that we rent. That’s despite the company shareholders making over £2bn in the past decade in dividends.

So basically, Conservative prime minister John Major sold off the trains when he privatised the railways in 1993. Now we rent them back at higher costs and still will under Labour’s plans.

So yeah – consider us unsurprised to learn that Mandelson, Starmer, and Major may have been chatting it up behind closed doors.

Featured image via Carl Court (Getty Images) / Dimitrios Kambouris (Getty Images) / Carl Court (Getty Images)

By Willem Moore

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Critics of Israel have long faced repression for speaking out in defence of Palestinians. In the latest example of this, the UK has now banned US streamer Hasan Piker from entering the country:

the uk has revoked my visa as well. all at the behest of israel. the west is betraying "liberal values" for a genocidal fascist foreign government. soon we will all become israel. https://t.co/UqQG1dogOI

— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) May 31, 2026

Israel influence

Hasan Piker is a streamer on Twitch. He also uploads videos to YouTube, and is famous for content like the following:

As Piker notes in the following video, he was set to interview Jeremy Corbyn, Zack Polanski, and Yanis Varoufakis before speaking at the Oxford Student Union:

Piker has spoken at the Oxford Student Union before, where he said the following:

ironic because a year ago, i delivered a speech at oxford union about the dangers of conflating judaism and zionism & how this foments antisemitism. since then the government has arrested pensioners for protesting against israel and let iof war criminals roam free! https://t.co/C6f9poXFR3

— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) June 1, 2026

Here’s one of the pensioners in question:

British police arrest a blind man with a walking cane in Trafalgar Square, London, under the Terrorism Act, for holding a sign reading: ‘I oppose genocide – I support Palestine Action,’ as part of a wave of arrests targeting hundreds of protesters. pic.twitter.com/CgcBKLXNRB

— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) October 4, 2025

In a video he posted after having his visa revoked, Piker said:

Listen, I’m going to say something. This is a warning. I hope you guys understand the Western world and liberal democracy is a sham. And all of the supposed things that they claim to care about, they do not actually care about.

We are moving into a very different timeline. This is why I constantly reiterate that fascism is here, right? Like the administration trying to deploy subpoenas against political dissident in the United States of America or the UK, that’s like completely captive to the interests of of pro-Israel advocacy organizations. …

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The Labor government is supposed to be the liberal government… and the American government is the right-wing government… We are we are in the 1930s era ,where I think that the administrations in both the UK and the United States of America – regardless of their supposed ideological differences – are absolutely moving as a uni party.

And things are going to get even worse from here on out.

Genocide-denying stooge VS Hasan Piker

One of the most prominent voices calling for Hasan’s ban was Labour MP David Taylor. We’ve reported on Taylor before, noting that he seemingly denied Israel’s genocide in Palestine as a vector to attack the Green Party:

Do you remember when the Green Party used to profess to care about environmental issues, rather than spout baseless antisemitic conspiracy theories? https://t.co/nGv0zFdB8k

— David Taylor MP (@DavidTaylor85) February 24, 2026

Taylor wouldn’t be the first to describe the genocide as an ‘antisemitic conspiracy theory’, and no doubt he won’t be the last.

Israel’s defenders have repeatedly insisted that you can’t call out the state’s crimes if they resemble historic antisemitic conspiracies. It’s a ‘get-out-of-jail’ free card, and we’ve seen it deployed in the most heinous ways imaginable since the genocide began:

BREAKING: Israel dismisses IDF top lawyer Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi for leaking video of Israeli soldiers raping Palestinian.

Minister of Defense of Israel Israel Katz threatens her with 'imprisonment for many years" & calls her actions "a grave blood libel against heroic IDF… pic.twitter.com/YpPpdlYSs7

— Double Down News (@DoubleDownNews) May 26, 2026

Before Piker’s ban, Taylor said:

It’s shocking that SXSW would invite someone who has openly supported a proscribed terrorist organisation and spouted these kinds of vile antisemitic rants to speak at their festival.

With the unacceptable rise in antisemitism on our streets leaving British Jews in a constant state of anxiety, Hasan Piker is clearly not conducive to the public good.

The “vile antisemitic rants” are criticisms of Israel. While we’re told its antisemitic to blame all Jews for the actions of Israel, the state’s defenders are happy to label all criticism of Israel ‘antisemitism’.

On ‘support for a proscribed terrorist organisation’, Taylor is referencing comments like the following (as reported by the Independent):

Last month, Mr Piker publicly stood by remarks made during an episode of Pod Save America, where he asserted that Hamas was “1,000 times better” than Israel and that he “would vote for Hamas over Israel every single time.”

Given that Gaza is in rubble and Israel is not, it’s hard to disagree with the maths here.

Also, do you know who supported Hamas in a more material fashion than Piker? That’s right – Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu – who notoriously said the following:

Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas … This is part of our strategy – to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank.”

Israeli politicians made it impossible for the Palestinians to peacefully pursue liberation; the inevitable result of this was Hamas.

Establishment protection

As we’ve reported previously:

There are obvious reasons why the British establishment has sought to defend Israel at the expense of its own citizens:

• The UK profits from Israel’s actions through arms deals and partnerships.
• Israel is a key ally of America, and the UK is America’s foremost lapdog.
• The Israel lobby has proven to be very effective at influencing British politicians – particularly through the ‘Labour Friends of Israel‘ and ‘Conservative Friends of Israel‘ groups.
• Once enough people within the establishment hold an opinion, mirroring that opinion becomes the price of entry.

Here’s what scumbag MP David Taylor said when it was pointed out how weird it is for senior British politicians take hundreds of thousands of pounds from donors whose primary interest is the betterment of a genocidal foreign power:

Absolutely vile. This person shouldn't be a member of any political party, yet alone it's deputy leader. https://t.co/TQ11164qLC

— David Taylor MP (@DavidTaylor85) February 23, 2026

Is there any way Israel can interfere in our politics that wouldn’t be considered antisemitism?

Oh, and to give a further idea of how preposterous this all is, look at how Fox News covered the Piker ban:

Fox News says Hasan Piker used a antisemitic trope by saying Israel advocacy groups pushed for his ban. And then in the following sentence details how said groups pushed for his ban. pic.twitter.com/skJb1os8pz

— Noot Noot (@PunishedPingu) June 1, 2026

Zionist advocacy groups

Zionism is the ideology of Israel existing as an expansionist colonial state that serves as America’s foothold in the Middle East. While many advocacy groups in the UK and the US pose as being against ‘antisemitism’, the reality is they spend more time defending the rights of Zionists.

One of the Zionist advocacy groups calling out Hasan was Community Security Trust (CST). The group said:

Hasan Piker has a record of promoting rhetoric that includes antisemitic themes, denial of well documented atrocities and apparent support for extremist groups.

Once again, they’re talking about criticism of Israel. And CST has form on this, as Fréa Lockley reported for the Canary in 2019 after Labour revoked the press pass of journalist Asa Winstanley:

The Community Security Trust (CST) is a charity, initially set up to protect “British Jews from antisemitism and related threats”. On 4 August, it published a report called Engine of Hate: the online networks behind the Labour Party’s antisemitism crisis. This report stated:

the single most popular website for article shares about the subject of antisemitism, the Labour Party and Israel/Palestine was Electronic Intifada, a radical anti-Zionist website which has consistently promoted the idea that allegations of antisemitism in the Labour Party are false, and are part of a smear campaign against Jeremy Corbyn that is orchestrated by the Israeli government.

The campaign against the Canary

Here at the Canary, we’ve also faced attacks from pro-Zionist advocacy groups. As Paul Holden noted in his book The Fraud:

In 2021, Impress launched an investigation into the Canary alongside Skwawkbox, another independent, pro-Corbyn political website. Impress acted pursuant to a report published by Lord Mann, a vehement Corbyn critic and former Labour MP who was promoted to the House of Lords by the Tories. Mann’s report had accused both online publications of antisemitism.

The accusation was based, in part, on the research of Daniel Allington, an academic based at King’s College London. Allington was also ‘Head of Online Monitoring’ for the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) between June 2016 and September 2018.

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As Holden also reported, IMPRESS cleared us, and:

It felt moved to add that those who:

disagree with the Publisher’s views on subjects such as Zionism may find these views offensive, adversarial or provocative but this in itself does not rise to the level of threat to, or targeting of, persons or groups on the basis of their protected characteristics.

Over in the US, Piker has faced a campaign which is nearly identical to what we’ve endured here in the UK.

The campaign against Hasan Piker

Piker has faced numerous attacks from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). As people have noted, the ADL seems to be much more concerned about anti-Zionism than antisemitism:

The ADL, which defended Elon Musk’s salute, and has never made videos like this about rightwing actual antisemites, is obsessed with Hasan Piker. https://t.co/IjQCxw9sCT

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) April 17, 2026

Piker himself has also observed this discrepancy:

asmongold is the largest right wing political content creator in the us. his view counts eclipse the daily wire. here he is, openly admitting that he’s a funnel for nick fuentes & his repulsive neonazi worldview & strangely enough the adl never tries to deplatform him. perhaps… pic.twitter.com/zxQ7vCrpTF

— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) May 29, 2026

Explaining itself, the ADL said the following:

ADL has seen firsthand how extreme and demonizing rhetoric and ugly expressions of anti-Zionism can be the driving force behind antisemitic discrimination against Jews

Even if the above is true, maybe the solution isn’t to police anti-Zionism; maybe it’s to stop supporting a political project which necessitates the ethnic cleansing and murder of Israel’s neighbours in the Middle East?

White supremacy certainly gives white people a bad reputation, but the correct response isn’t to suggest anti-Nazis are the real problem.

In the past, the ADL has nominated Hasan for the position of ‘Antisemite of the Year’ alongside Greta Thunberg (!):

The ADL and donor group AIPAC have also worked with US politicians to try to deplatform Piker:

i mean they did this by way of adl and ritchie torres for like 2 years, now they got higher profile dems and republicans to lean into it because theyre desperate

— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) May 4, 2026

After reading out a headline titled “Jewish groups call on UK to bar dangerous Hasan amid antisemitic attacks”, Piker said the following in his latest video:

[the UK government] did because Israel advocacy organizations have unbelievable amounts of power over what even the United Kingdom has to say and do. Yeah. If you’re an avowed anti-Zionist, your travel will be restricted. It’s totally ridiculous, dude.

Connections

Canary reporter Ranjan Balakumaran noted this is all happening on the same day that more Peter Mandelson files come out:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Canary (@thecanaryuk)

Another way of looking at this is that these are not separate stories.

Peter Mandelson is the godfather of Labour Together – the group which maneuvered Keir Starmer into power. As we, Paul Holden, and others reported, this included fabricating smears of antisemitism (including against the Canary specifically). Now, the government which Mandelson helped create isn’t just smearing its opponents with bogus antisemitism accusations; it’s barring them from the country.

Point any of this out, however, and figures like David Taylor MP will accuse you of being an antisemite. And in future, you may face consequences far graver than reputational damage.

Featured image via Amy Sussman (Getty Images) / WPA Pool (Getty Images) / Joe Raedle (Getty Images)

By Willem Moore

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Cormac McAlinden as Harry and Rosamund Pike as Jessica | Photo (c): Manuel Harlan

3 min read1 hr

With its commanding lead performance by Rosamund Pike, I challenge you not to be enthralled and provoked by this urgent legal drama

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Light and humorous moments aside, Australian lawyer-turned-writer Suzie Miller’s Inter Alia (“among other things”) is a very serious play. As with Miller’s 2019 stage work Prima Facie, a legal professional woman protagonist becomes the device for exploring wider, urgent societal issues. In the earlier work, it was a criminal defence barrister whose worldview is rocked by her own rape. That piece garnered international plaudits for both Miller and the phenomenon that is Jodie Comer in the starring role in the UK.

This time, the equally glittering and formidable Rosamund Pike plays Jessica Parks, a Crown Court judge and unabashed feminist who has sent many a sex offender to the slammer. Her work-life balance is non-existent, or at least impossibly demanding, thanks to the oblivious entitlement or passive-aggressive resentment of her hapless, less obviously successful criminal silk husband Michael. He is portrayed with understated aplomb by Jamie Glover. Jess’ life of juggling plates, cases, family duties and domestic dinner parties is sent into shock after an incident involving her only child, 18-year-old Harry. In this West End Wyndham’s Theatre transfer from the National Theatre, the darling boy is played with sensitivity and flair by Cormac McAlinden.

Pike delivers what we expect of a cinema star returning to the stage after many years. She commands the space, audience and material in a performance which combines physical energy and dexterity with charisma, empathy and warmth. Would any politicians reading this please take note? Pike’s own discipline and stamina in essentially carrying the one hour and 45 minutes, without interval and at a rate of knots, is well worthy of her character. Crucially, she is completely believable as an obviously class-privileged senior woman who has given her life to public service, towards the less glamorous end of our very precious and much-maligned UK judiciary. I have met and admired a great many Jesses over the years. Some are lawyers and judges, but others are senior doctors, journalists and, dare I say it, even parliamentarians.

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Rosamond Pike delivers what we expect of a cinema star returning to the stage after many years

While the energy and pace are impressive, and at times almost mesmerising, there were moments when I did not need quite so much rock guitar and well-choreographed but dizzying actor-driven prop movement, as clothes and dishes are disposed into the well-placed magic doors and cupboards, worthy of legendary National set-design.

Ultimately, however, while the screen is – for me at least – unrivalled as the medium for transcending worlds and developing three-dimensional characters, this production is a case study in what the stage does better or even best. That is providing challenge. While many of us applauded Adolescence, and welcomed all its well-deserved accolades, the parents in the last episode of that Netflix drama let themselves too very easily off the hook. This piece does the opposite.

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I loved it, of course, for humanising lawyers and judges, who are fast becoming a demonised minority, but mostly for doing so with critical honesty, integrity and intelligence. Readers might expect this review of me, but I challenge anyone not to be enthralled and provoked.

Baroness Chakrabarti is a Labour peer

Inter Alia

Written by: Suzie Miller

Directed by: Justin Martin

Venue: Wyndham’s Theatre, WC2 – until 20 June

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