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New polling has come out for the Greater Manchester mayor race, and it’s showing some significant movements:

A new poll has just dropped for Greater Manchester.

Labour – 25%
Greens – 15%
Reform – fighting a bin in Clacton

Sign up to our actions days to help get Geraldine Coggins elected Mayor of Greater Manchester. pic.twitter.com/DolJ8JKpxo

— The Green Party (@TheGreenParty) July 13, 2026

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Does this show that the Greens are on a path to victory?

Greater Manchester mayor race

Admittedly, Zack Polanski is being a bit cheeky by not showing the overall polling, which looks like this:

POLL | Greater Manchester Mayor:

Lab: 38% ( -25 )
Grn: 22% ( +15 )
Ref: 19% ( +12 )
Res: 9% ( +9 )
Con: 8% ( -2 )
Lib: 3% ( -1 )

Result after 2nd votes:

Lab: 64%
Grn: 36%

Poll: FindOutNow, 7 – 13 July
—
( +/- vs 2024 Mayoral election ) pic.twitter.com/CyGaevSzUL

— Stats for Lefties (@LeftieStats) July 13, 2026

Clearly, the Labour Party has a significant lead. What the pluses and minuses show is the difference between polling today and the results in the last mayoral election. This highlights that Labour has lost 25 whole percentage points (a quarter of all possible voters).

What the Greens are hoping is that this decrease is just the beginning, and that the party will continue to lose ground over the coming weeks – much like how the Tories shed voters in the 2017 general election.

Here’s what Polanski said in the video above:

I’m in Camden right now, Holborn and St Pancras, but I’m actually thinking about Greater Manchester, because a new poll just dropped.

The Labour Party down 25 [percentage points]; the Green Party up 15 [percentage points], and Reform totally out of it, because they’ve all run off to Clacton to fight a bin.

As we know, Reform has seemingly abandoned the Greater Manchester race, having summoned its minions to defend Farage in his pointless Clacton by-election:

To be fair to Reform, pulling out of Manchester was the smart choice. They would have lost anyway. Now they have a tactical excuse. “We were fighting the bin” isn’t the best. But it’s something. https://t.co/015RIm3nPx

— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) July 13, 2026

Polanski ended:

Look, what this poll shows is the Green Party and Geraldine Coggins can be the next mayor of Greater Manchester. So if you support the Green Party, sign up to an Action Day, get involved, and let’s make sure we win this election.

This is how the Greens’ national polling looks right now by the way:

Support for the Greens with YouGov is now back up to where it was just before the May elections (15%), after briefly plunging to 13% following Starmer's resignation.

With everyone fully aware that Burnham is set to become Prime Minister, voters seem unenthused thus far.

— Stats for Lefties (@LeftieStats) July 14, 2026

Disappointment with Burnham could be the Green Party’s secret weapon. It could also explain why Burnham is keeping a pretty low profile right now. As the former Greater Manchester mayor, you’d think he’d be all over this race – encouraging Mancunians to embrace his successor. Instead, he’s slithering around doing stuff like this:

Andy Burnham, Britain's next prime minister, voted in favour of home secretary Shabana Mahmood’s authoritarian immigration bill last night.

He did so even after more than 80 Labour backbenchers wrote to warn him that the party is “losing progressive voters” due to Mahmood’s… pic.twitter.com/CPmDoFfvBd

— Novara Media (@novaramedia) July 14, 2026

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The above elicited the following response from the Greens’ mayoral candidate Geraldine Coggins:

She said Craig should "stand up for what is right", celebrate immigration and "treat some of the most vulnerable people in our communities with dignity and humanity."

"We are so much better than this in Manchester," she added

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— Kate Nicholson (@nicholson_kate1) July 14, 2026

Voter migration

Burnham is shaping up to be Starmer 2.0. This is bad news for Labour, because Starmer drove away voters in droves:

Top five reasons for abandoning Labour, among those who’ve switched to the Greens

Labour has been too right-wing: 44%
Cost of living not improved: 29%
Not delivered on promises: 25%
Labour’s stance on Gaza: 23%
Lack any sense of direction: 22%https://t.co/CaMjALwCHs pic.twitter.com/fNeWK7nSBK

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— YouGov (@YouGov) July 13, 2026

No doubt many of the voters who left Labour live in Greater Manchester; the question is how many more will abandon the party before the votes are in?

Featured image via the Canary

By Willem Moore

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Richard Coyle as Atticus Finch and Aaron Shosanya as Tom Robinson | Photo by: Johan Persson

4 min read5 min

Aaron Sorkin’s empathetic stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s timeless story is an obvious must-see for all admirers of the work of these two great American writers

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A staple of GCSE English literature since the exams were first introduced nearly 40 years ago, both the book and the seminal 1962 film starring Gregory Peck have been seared into  a generation of 15-year-old brains, including mine.

Central to the book’s plot is the wrongful accusation of rape made against Black cotton picker Tom Robinson and his subsequent trial. An intertwining sub-plot involves the reclusive Boo Radley who moves next door to the main characters, the Finch family.

To Kill a Mockingbird’s stark representation of racial injustice in the Deep South and the American legal system led me to read and watch many other cultural classics on the same theme, including Mississippi Burning, The Color Purple and In the Heat of the Night.

A few years later, the American TV phenomenon The West Wing explored many of the same themes as To Kill a Mockingbird. From race – such as the wrongful arrest of the president’s Latino Supreme Court nominee, Judge Roberto Mendoza – to my personal favourite episode, ‘Two Cathedrals’, where President Bartlet faces a challenging moral choice of whether to run again, much like lawyer Atticus Finch when deciding on whether to take Tom Robinson’s case.

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A scripted version of To Kill a Mockingbird written by The West Wing’s creator Aaron Sorkin is an obvious must-see for all admirers of these two great American works of fiction. The play has undoubtedly been ‘Sorkinised’ but more in the way the characters are portrayed than the dialogue. There is also a sense of the Shakespearean levity of Hamlet or The Tempest in some of the interplay between the child characters Jem Finch (Gabriel Scott) and his friend Dill (Dylan Malyn), which is reminiscent of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Sorkin’s modern political subtext reflects the book’s timeless nature

The first difference between the book and this play is that all three children – Jem, his sister Scout (Anna Munden), and Dill – take a role in the narration, reaching out to the audience through the ‘fourth wall’, giving the story a new viewpoint compared to Scout’s singular perspective in the book.

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Sorkin injects some of his own Jewishness into the tale, albeit in a more subtle way than The West Wing. Accuser Bob Ewell (Oscar Pearce) is transformed into not just a racist Klan member but also an antisemite. Ewell’s statement to Atticus Finch that “I detect something a little Hebraic in you” is reminiscent of the pilot scene of The West Wing where conservative lobbyist Mary Marsh accuses Josh Lyman of having a “New York sense of humour”.

The story arc will be familiar to everyone who has read the book or watched the film. In the first half of the play, prior to the start of the trial, there is considerable levity – but once the trial starts, that is almost completely subsumed by the tense atmosphere and the burning sense of injustice that flows from the treatment of Robinson (Aaron Shosanya).

Sorkin’s modern political subtext reflects the book’s timeless nature, with the Klan characters using the language of the ‘Great Replacement Theory’ as justification for their actions, and the townspeople perceiving the Finch family as “race traitors”.

The portrayals are superb. All three actors playing the children excel, and the performances of some of the minor characters like Link Deas (Simon Hepworth) and Judge Taylor (Stephen Boxer) show incredible pathos. The character of the Finchs’ housekeeper Calpurnia (Andrea Davy) exposes some of Atticus’ own flaws, which are barely explored in either the book or the film. Richard Coyle’s performance as Atticus must be a career high (and bears no resemblance to the first time I experienced his acting in the BBC sitcom Coupling!)

Sorkin’s To Kill a Mockingbird isn’t a faithful retelling, but it still holds fast to all the story’s central tenets – and leaves the theatregoer with all the same feelings of empathy for Robinson and his family, anger at Bob Ewell, pity for his daughter Mayella Ewell and pride in the moral fortitude of the Finchs.

A must-see.

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Alex Sobel is Labour MP for Leeds Central and Headingley

To Kill a Mockingbird

Adapted by/playwright: Aaron Sorkin

Director: Bartlett Sher

Venue: Wyndham’s Theatre, London WC2 – until 12 September

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Despite what the corporate media and MP’s are always spreading, a new study has shown that it’s actually harder to get disability benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) if you have ADHD.

For months now the rags have pushed the narrative that too many people with ADHD are cheating the system and claiming Personal Independence Payments (PIP).

The latest was from The Times:

More than 100,000 get benefits for ADHD with no need to seek work

As the Canary reported at the time, this was days before the DWP released the Timms Review into PIP. This was a clear attempt to by the DWP to control the narrative before the report revealed that PIP was “not fit for purpose”.

Despite the report being sympathetic to how inhumane a system PIP is, the press are still churning out slop about how it’s too easy to claim. This is helped by MPs who spread this utter waffle.

The likes of GB News had a field day when Labour MP Sojan Joseph told the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on mental health that he was chairing that people with ‘mild’ ADHD shouldn’t get benefits.

Joseph said:

You can’t just say all ADHDs or all autism can’t work or should be on benefits. [The system] should distinguish between the severity of the illness.

He continued:

Once you start claiming benefits, it’s hard to get people out of that benefit system.

Putting aside that this is a gross oversimplification, it also isn’t accurate.

PIP is harder for people with ADHD to keep

Benefits and Work researched the varying outcomes of change of circumstances for the 50 most common conditions that people get PIP for within the DWP’s own data.

Of the over 10,000 claimants a month requesting a change of circumstances review in the last year to April 2026 5.5% failed the assessment and 3.2% had their award decreased.  Meanwhile 38.6% had their award increased and 49.6% saw their benefits stay the same.

On the whole, changes of circumstance didn’t make that much difference, but for some conditions it was much harder to keep a hold of PIP when they requested a change of circumstances review.

Autism and ADHD in particular had worse outcomes.

16.3% of people with ADHD failed the assessment while 5.5% saw their PIP decreased. 28.7% had their money increased and 44.9% saw no change.

Meanwhile 17% of autistic people failed the assessment and 9.8% had their money decreased. This also meant that 26.8% of awards increased and 42.5% stayed the same.

It’s not just ADHD and autism, the study found that on the whole claimants with neurodivergent and mental health conditions were more likely to fail reassessment or lose money.

This goes hand in hand with them also trying to prove neurodivergent and mental health conditions are overdiagnosed. Though this was another case where they’ve had to be hot on the press propaganda because their own report is saying different to their foregone conclusion.

DWP demonising vulnerable people even further

It’s clear from the amount of hate levelled at people with ADHD that the DWP wants to make it harder for them to claim PIP. But despite what the press and the government wants us all to think, it’s already hard enough for those with ADHD to get support.

Making it harder to neurodivergent people to claim PIP won’t make the system “fairer”, but it will put a lot of vulnerable people in danger.

Featured image via the Canary

By Rachel Charlton-Dailey

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Reform UK has beaten Labour to a manifesto launch in the Greater Manchester mayoral election race. Both parties are, of course, going through by-election-related leadership dramas.

The latter saw former Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, unseat its historically unpopular leader, Keir Starmer, in Makerfield. Reform now faces the not insignificant prospect of its leader being challenged by Count Binface. And Nigel Farage’s popularity is tanking too, thanks to his repeated corruption.

With all this going on, Reform reportedly sent internal WhatsApp messages to party activists telling them to get themselves down to Clacton and abandon Manchester’s mayoralty. (Reform denied this in Manchester Mill.) All because Reform is worried it can’t take on a character almost as unserious as Farage.

But it hasn’t stopped Reform putting out a mishmash of ideas for Manchester, many seemingly borrowed. (The Canary hasn’t been able to confirm whether its manifesto is properly costed either.)

Given all their competitors’ furore, the Green Party must be laughing. The Greens are celebrating their ability to out-match Labour by beating them to a proper manifesto.

Green Party mayoral candidate, Geraldine Coggins, said:

Labour need to get serious…You can’t hope to run a 3 billion budget based on a cartoon bus.

Greens slam ‘unserious’ Labour in Manchester mayoral election

Reform: Is this Manchester’s great Reformation?

Reform’s candidate, landlord Sian Astley, is in fact promising to “go to war” with vape shops and “dodgy” barbers. Meanwhile, Reform promises to:

Cut waste, slash spending on little-used cycle lanes, reverse the increase in the Mayor’s tax and end spending on DEI projects such as equality panels and funding for greener future programmes.

This is despite every elected Reform-controlled council promising to do similar, failing to find the phantom woke DEI “waste”, and instead raising taxes. Anyone who cycles around Manchester — an activity that’s not party political — knows that the idea that bike lanes are somehow overfunded is nonsense.

Reform pledges to “shut down every migrant hotel” with no mention of where asylum seekers are intended to go after.

However, councillor Astley, previously pledged to build immigrant prisons in non-Reform-voting areas. This viciously punitive — not to mention likely illegal plan — is part of Reform’s national policy. Astley doubled down on it, but the general public hated those plans when announced.

Astley also pledges to create the “toughest police force in Britain” if elected. This is despite the fact that Greater Manchester Police was recently found to have used “disproportionate and unnecessary force” against anti-fascist demonstrators in April. The question, then, is: tough on who, exactly?

Not fascists, presumably. Just drugs, knives and shoplifters, according to the manifesto.

Poll shows public hate Reform’s plan to punish voters

Is Reform just pinching policies?

This rhetoric is perhaps standard Tory-esque stuff. “Tough on crime”, yada yada yada. Maybe a little bit more of a fascist flavour when the time comes, we’ll see…

Reform is in lockstep with the Tories and both parties’ fossil fuel donors, railing against “Net Zero measures” and pledging to scrap all of them in Greater Manchester Combined Authority. You couldn’t publish this at a worse time as Manchester and much of the lower North West is covered in smoke from a raging wildfire burning near Oldham.

But Reform has also pinched policy ideas from its further right, with a pledge to launch an inquiry into “grooming gangs”. The party has alleged to pursue every perpetrator and “publicly expose the officials who enabled them”. This language is a clear imitation of Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain party, which is likely eating into Reform’s vote again as we saw in Makerfield.

Lowe calls Farage a “coward” for not launching an inquiry, which Lowe did himself. He claims it found 250,000 cases of child rape — a figure seemingly plucked from thin air, in a biased document clearly targeted against Muslims.

The inquiry was truly hateful and dangerous and led to stabbings against five people in Edinburgh mere days after its launch. Right-wingers are farming racist mass psychosis.

This is standard fare for Reform now, who time and again has been caught with racist councillors, hateful spads and vicious MPs. From racist dog whistles to overt hate, we know its direction of travel.

Reform UK sees its sixth councillor suspended over racist rhetoric

Vague unaccountability and watered-down policy

There’s also a commitment to “proportional” funding for regeneration across the boroughs and plans to build on all brownfield sites. Not bad ideas, in theory. The latter is certainly something that many could get behind, including greens.

But surely Astley, whose business is property sales, will be a boon for the unaccountable development interests that have dominated this city under Burnham.

Reform seems to have some consciousness about Burnham’s shocking legacy. That legacy was fully overseen and enabled by Labour candidate, Bev Craig, as city council Leader.

Reform has promised:

For luxury developer contracts in the region, Reform UK say they will publish every loan agreement, decision record and contract above £1million held by TfGM and the GMCA, commission an independent audit of the Housing Investment Loan Fund and Renaker loans, impose a conflict of interest regime, enforce terms of existing deals and refer evidence of wrongdoing by developers, officials or contractors to relevant authorities.

The question is whether it’s purely political vengeance, or whether the party will hold itself accountable too. Reform offers very vague plans for housing, without even bothering so much as to put a target on building homes. Instead it only promises “affordable homes where they need to go”.

The thing about not having targets, like the Greens’ 20,000 homes plan, is that you don’t have to be accountable. That seems to be Reform’s underlying plan. Accountability and apology is not its game.

Lastly, in a policy blatantly pinched from the Greens, only measurably shitter, Reform pledge free bus travel… for 16-18s only. Hardly as ambitious or crucial as the Green pledge of free for under-22s.

It’s just more evidence that Reform grifters are short on ideas and lack real substance.

Featured image via Manchester Gazette

Reform’s Manchester mayor candidate is a landlord, because of course

By Cameron Baillie

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A new report from a group of renowned paediatricians has raised huge alarm as poverty and inequality mean that child health outcomes have either stalled or declined so much that this generation has the poorest health in decades.

Inequality and poverty are significant factors in this critical issue hurting the UK’s children, with those living in more deprived areas seeing rates of infant deaths and childhood obesity that are twice as high as the least deprived.

Dr Helen Stewart, officer for health improvement at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), has powerfully stated:

The UK’s record on children’s health should be a national embarrassment.

UK children will be one of unhealthiest generations in decades.

Reduced vaccination rates, rising asthma, mental health disorders; high infant mortality rates, oral health, obesity.

Poverty a major factor. Significant health inequalities across the UK.https://t.co/yrMDETPLPO

— Prem Sikka (@premnsikka) July 14, 2026

Children’s health stagnating by every metric

The report examined 12 internationally recognised indicators used to measure child health and wellbeing. These indicators include infant mortality, oral health, obesity, vaccination uptake, mental health disorders, and asthma. Its analysis found that children’s health has stagnated across every indicator, with the UK now lagging behind many countries in western Europe and ranking among the least healthy for children.

Examples given refer to the uptake of the MMR vaccination which stands at 84% by the age of five, despite the World Health Organisation (WHO) setting a target of 95%. The report says this makes the UK the worst amongst G7 countries.

The picture gets even bleaker: the UK records one of the highest rates of asthma-related deaths among children anywhere in Europe. Looking at infant deaths, there has been little improvement since 2023, and the UK’s rate of deaths remains higher compared to other European countries.

It also raises concerns about rising obesity, with almost 1/4 of boys being obese and almost 1/5 of girls. Given how expensive extra-curricular clubs are in schools, the cost-of-greed crisis squeezing the pockets of lower-income families, and a lack of accessible green spaces in more deprived areas, this is hardly a surprise.

Poverty wake-up call

But it should be a wake-up call for our leaders if they truly cared about improving the chances of the next generation.

Dr Helen Stewart from the RCPCH says we are “failing children” in the UK:

Across western Europe, many other countries are achieving better outcomes for children, yet too many children here are being left behind. The State of Child Health report shows that we are categorically failing children in the UK, but especially those from ethnic minorities and poorer backgrounds.

The new government has a chance to be bold on child health. Without action, more children will grow up in poor health, entering adulthood at a disadvantage and putting even greater pressure on families and public services.

She then challenged the incoming Burnham government:

In its first 100 days, the new government should set out how it will make children’s health a priority through sustained investment, better use of data and clear national targets.

Paediatricians have provided the blueprint, now policymakers must listen.

Poverty: class war is hurting life chances of children

Deprivation brought on by rising poverty and widening inequality have a huge impact on the life chances of children, which is emphasised by the findings of this crucial report.

For instance, the prevalence of obesity and infant mortality is twice as high as children from wealthier families revealing further how the class war we are currently living in is having very real, and potentially fatal, impacts on young children today.

As a result of this inequality the report urges the government to implement a variety of measures, such as more investment in children’s health services and in the workforce looking after our children.

The report also calls for better collection and sharing of child health data, alongside legally binding national targets to close the health gap between children from the richest and poorest families.

Stop blaming parents

Efforts to blame this on parents are already coming in on X. This is despite the fact that parents on low incomes have little power over the exorbitant costs they are having to cover through high rents, the ever-increasing cost of food, and trouble accessing healthy food being a significant challenge for those on tighter budgets.

In fact, some are attempting to offload state responsibility for children’s health entirely:

Kids in the UK will grow up to be one of the unhealthiest generations in decades according to a new report.

Who should take responsibility for children’s health in the UK? pic.twitter.com/GmGEfWcNof

— BBC Radio Scotland (@BBCRadioScot) July 14, 2026

Children growing up in social housing have far greater challenges. They are more likely to live alongside industrial sites, breathe polluted air, and have limited access to safe green spaces because of years of underinvestment. Many families are also priced out of clubs, sports, and other extracurricular activities.

Even the most determined parents can only do so much when the places around them deny their children the opportunities to thrive.

I, like many, know this from personal experience. I lived briefly in social housing with my eldest daughter in Salford in an incredibly deprived area with high levels of antisocial behaviour. We were surrounded by lorries, plastic recycling factories kicking out fumes, and industrial businesses. My car was covered in an orange dust every morning and my daughter had a cough every single day.

Chief exec of health charity the King’s Fund, Sarah Woolnough, insists this must be a “wake-up call” for the government and that without sustained and urgent remedial action, children will be left to pay the price for the failure of the generations who came before them.

This, alongside the climate crisis, has become a consistent pattern, it must be said.

She said:

This report paints a deeply worrying picture of children’s health across the UK. It is a stark reminder that health inequalities begin early in life and can shape health, wellbeing and opportunities for years to come. Whether it is infant mortality, obesity, mental health or vaccination uptake, the evidence is clear that children from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to experience worse outcomes.

Will the government listen?

The government has spoken out in response to the report’s concerning findings with an apparent lack of humility and showing just how out of touch with reality they truly are. They have been in power for two years, yet little has changed, in fact poverty and inequality have risen.

Nevertheless, they have said they are:

expanding mental health support in schools and colleges, opening family hubs and local health centres, and protecting children through tougher rules on smoking, vapes and junk food ads.

We’re also giving primary pupils a healthier start to the day with free breakfast clubs and providing free school meals to every single child from a household in receipt of universal credit.

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However, tackling the concentration of wealth and power that is driving inequality, pushing up living costs and making life harder for most families would do far more to improve children’s lives.

Without addressing the root causes of inequality, its damaging impact on children’s health and wellbeing will continue.

Featured image via the Canary

By Maddison Wheeldon

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Rich’s Monday Morning View

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Another 12 July commemoration has now passed in the north of Ireland, leaving behind a trail of bile, death, pollution and charred remains of homes.

The yearly knuckle-dragging is a sectarian festival marking the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, in which Protestant king, William III, defeated Catholic king, James II.

The hate-fest lasted longer than usual, with bonfire groups lighting some pyres on 9 July, and parades not taking place until 13 July due to 12 July falling on a Sunday this year. The first major disgrace was the Moygashel Bonfire Association’s torching of a replica mosque.

Deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, Diana Armstrong, claimed the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) scaled back its presence prior to the hate crime, in response to her requesting they do so. The PSNI has contradicted this.

Nonetheless, the pattern across the Six Counties is one of near-ubiquitous criminality across the long 12th weekend, almost entirely allowed to proceed by police. That includes incitement to violence through loyalists displaying threatening messages at bonfire sites, to property destruction, including homes burnt to the ground.

The X account, Kulture Watch, conveyed plenty of evidence for that.

12 July bonfires blaze message of sectarian and Islamophobic hate

A bonfire in South Belfast featured both sectarian and anti-migrant hate. The pyre’s creators placed a sign with ‘KAT’ written on it, which is an acronym for “Kill all Taigs”, a slur referring to Catholics.

Others were saying, “Stop illegals” and “Stop the boats”.  An Irish tricolour flag was placed for burning at the top of the pile of pallets.

Elsewhere in Belfast, bonfire builders burned effigies of republican rap group Kneecap, alongside a Palestine flag. Islamophobia was a common theme, with another bonfire featuring a placard reading, “F*ck Islam”.

In a sign of the absurd leeway authorities grant to the toxic festival, a massive fire featuring a tricolour collapsed as firefighters hosed down nearby properties. At an enormous cost, the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service (NIFRS), attended.

The service logged 303 emergency calls between 6pm on 11 July and 2am on 12 July.

This resulted in firefighters attending 151 operational incidents. 54 of these were bonfire-related.

The NIFRS reported how:

In an isolated incident, firefighters withdrew from a bonfire in the Cookstown area as a result of a hostile crowd.

Such events sometimes occur when firefighters try to intervene early to stop a dangerous blaze, but attendees block the bonfire being extinguished. It’s not uncommon for the heat to melt windows.

Councils, again, effectively subsidise the destructive pyres by paying for boards that people can use to prevent their houses suffering this fate. What they can’t prevent are the inevitable worst case scenarios, like the homes completely destroyed by embers spiralling off the vast blazes.

The Belfast Telegraph reported:

A row of terraced homes caught fire near the bonfire in the Knockleigh Walk area of Greenisland.

David Haighton recounted how in the incident he “lost everything”. He’d lived in his home for more than 50 years.

Tragically, a man also died while helping to construct a bonfire in East Belfast. Warren Lyttle, a father-of-one, fell from the structure in Braniel housing estate. John Steele died in similar circumstances in Larne in 2022.

Time to move beyond toxic ‘culture’ of destruction

Bonfires are a health hazard in other ways, with organisers burning toxic material, harming air quality and contributing needlessly to climate breakdown. Another form of pollution are the piles of rubbish revellers leave in the streets, which sometimes look like an attempt rival the size of bonfires themselves. Taxpayers, again, have to foot the bill for cleaning this up.

All this mess is left by people apparently expressing pride and fondness for their community by littering it, burning it and disgracing it with a torrent of hate. There are increasing calls to “move beyond bonfire sectarianism”, in the words of People Before Profit MLA, Gerry Carroll.

Carroll has called for:

…a movement of working class people, drawn from every background, ready to stand together and challenge sectarianism head on.

Working class Protestants are failed by being perennially dragged into sectarian and racial hate. Such sentiments are a convenient misdirection away from justified hatred for the policies of the British ruling class that impoverish them, alongside working class Catholics, Muslims and migrants.

The grand secretary of the Orange Order, Mervyn Gibson, had some pleasant words about reaching out to those outside unionism. But that means little while his organisation does the minimum to clamp down on mass displays of hate by its own adherents.

He also conjured up a fictitious notion of embracing “true Britishness”, apparently symbolised by “Civil and Religious Liberty for all”. Britain has never represented such a thing, and today the Union Jack unquestionably stands for diminishing freedom and increasing impoverishment.

At some point maybe bonfire revellers and sash-wearing marchers will realise the folly of identifying in a bigoted, exclusivist way with a sinking ship that harbours largely disdain for them. They might then appreciate that the 12th is an act of mass self-harm — from the smouldering homes to the corpses at the foot of stacked pallets, to the toxic bonfire embers that poison the body and entrench a ‘culture’ that poisons the soul.

Featured image via Jason Cairnduff/ Reuters

By Robert Freeman

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Before we start, let’s note that this took 37 days.

As you’re about to read, it says almost nothing other than “Please go away now”.

It takes quite a long time to say it, but nevertheless those four words are pretty much the sum total of the actual content. It does not in any way whatsoever address the contents of our letter of 6 June, of which the below is an extract.

DCC Houston does say one intriguing thing, though.

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Now, we can’t be certain of exactly what he means by “the comments made recently”, since he refers to “various individuals”. But the comments OUR letter referred to were those made by the First Minister of Scotland.

So we must reasonably assume that DCC Houston is talking about those. Which means he’s saying Police Scotland already KNEW that the SNP had misappropriated the fundraiser money and spent it on another purpose.

The Dean of the Faculty Of Advocates, one of Scotland’s most distinguished lawyers, and one who’s been employed by the Scottish Government itself, is unequivocally of the professional opinion that that constitutes the crime of embezzlement, as indeed almost any lay observer would be.

37 days of holding our breath later, we’re none the wiser as to why the Deputy Chief Constable of Police Scotland apparently disagrees with both the First Minister and the Dean Of Faculty that donors to the fund were the victims of criminal embezzlement.

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We will now consider our next steps, and keep you updated.

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