Politics
Trump’s Only Got One Thing On His Mind These Days — And It Ain’t You
We’re in a war of choice with Iran, gas prices are 43% higher than they were a year ago and inflation is the highest its been since May 2023.
Meanwhile, here’s what’s going on inside President Donald Trump’s brain:
Ballroom ballroom ballroom ballroom ballroom ballroom ballroom ballroom ballroom ballroom ballroom ballroom ballroom ballroom ballroom.
Ballroom?
Ballroom!
Ballroom ballroom — ballroom ballroom. Ball. Room.
Trump’s obsessing over a lavish $200,000,000 — nope, sorry, $400,000,000 — ope, wrong again, $1,000,000,000-plus ballroom that he destroyed the entire East Wing of the White House for, without permission, having initially claimed it would be “substantially separated from the main building of the White House.”
But don’t worry, folks: It’s six stories deep, 90,000 square feet in size, and has “a drone port” on its roof.
For even more ballroom, see the video above.
Scotland looks set for an AI data centre crisis after plans were revealed detailing a massive number of data centres planned for construction on Scotland’s Central Belt.
ARPS, Scotland’s countryside charity, published an interactive map illustrating where the data centres are earmarked for.
The charity compiled the data over growing concerns about the impact of the data units on electricity prices, communities and the environment.
So far, at least 18 such data warehouse projects are seeking planning permission, the National reported, with a further six in the pipeline.
ARPS is calling for the Scottish government to implement a moratorium on these centres until it does a “proper “assessment of the impacts on the electricity grid, climate emissions and communities”.
A spokesperson for the charity, Kat Jones, said:
Hyperscale data centres are some of the biggest buildings in the world and this is why we are seeing them being proposed mainly on greenbelt and Greenfield sites.
Their main requirements are large quantities of land and access to huge amounts of electricity and water. These buildings are huge, but the amount of energy they use is absolutely off the scale.
AI data centres: How might they impact you?
Kat Jones stated that the total demand for energy from the data centres in Scotland’s planning system is now 6,200 megawatts (MW).
Combined with the requirement for the six sites that haven’t completed all the planning stages yet, this would take the total to more than 11,000MW. That’s nearly three-times Scotland’s peak winter demand.
Jones didn’t hold back on stating the case clearly.
This is an inconceivable amount of energy that Scotland is being asked to divert to the use of hyperscale AI data centres, which will enrich a few billionaires in Silicon valley at the expense of the Scottish consumer.
No discussion on energy in Scotland can ignore the impact that these data centres would have on our electricity grid and energy prices.
We are calling for a moratorium to get some proper planning and policies in place.
Campaigners are rightly concerned about rising energy prices. In the US, areas with data centres have soared up to 267% according to Bloomberg data.
Communities must be consulted
Scottish communities are rallying against plans near them and have been encouraged by a recent UN report.
The report details the environmental impacts of AI and says communities must be included in discussions about data centres.
It also estimates that global data centres have used 448 Terawatt-hour (TWh) of electricity. If aggregated as a country, Scotland would rank an astonishing 11th globally for consumption. This is beyond unsustainable — it’s suicidal.
AI-sceptic, pro-democracy campaign group, Pull the Plug, told the Canary:
Data centres have become a key issue in our political conversation. They contribute to climate change, impact the wellbeing of our communities, undermine public services, and push up household bills and our general cost of living.
The public increasingly stomachs the costs of data centres without agreeing to them. That has to change.
Scotland resists the Datageddon
Scottish people are not taking the matter lightly. Hyper-local campaigns are emerging across the nation to resist the ugly, thirsty, energy-hungry monstrosities. Remember when wind turbines were “eyesores”?
Last week, more than 200 people attended a public meeting to oppose a data centre near Auchtertool village in Fife. The community council said it was “appalled” by Fife Council’s decision not to request even an environmental impact assessment.
Another campaign has been launched to halt a similar development in the Borders. They’ll hope to achieve a similar result as that in Edinburgh earlier this year.
Edinburgh councillors voted unanimously to refuse a proposed hyperscale centre at the former Royal Bank of Scotland headquarters in South Gyle.
One spokesperson for Save the Lammermuirs – Stop the Data Centre said afterwards that worries remained about the environmental impact.
We weren’t able to get any solid information and there is also the question of the local benefits – the numbers didn’t really hold up under scrutiny at this stage.
Sunlaws Development Company wants to build the Southside Data Centre on land near the village of Longformacus. The planned development on Roxburghe Estate is for three large, two-storey data centre buildings, each with a height up to 24m and ground footprint circa 27,000m².
Campaigners allege that it will lead to the “industrialisation” of the Lammermuir Hills, and are sceptical of the job and economic benefit estimates. About 100 members of the public attended an initial consultation at Longformacus Village Hall this week.
The SNP is already criticising the “great renewables robbery” where Scottish energy firms are forced to pay £1 billion to access the national grid. Companies in England and Wales get paid to do so.
But this massive, anti-worker construction madness — done entirely on the SNP’s watch — must be counted as further theft of the people’s energy needs by unaccountable tech companies.
Featured image via the National
As Zack Polanski said this week, after wearing a t-shirt in support of the convicted Palestinian terrorist, ‘let’s talk about Marwan Barghouti’. In the Green leader’s version of events, the murderer-cum-revolutionary icon and leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades was imprisoned for 25 years in Israel without a ‘fair trial’. Polanski also cited an internet quote attributed to Nelson Mandela – ‘What is happening to Barghouti is exactly the same as what happened to me’ – which has, of course, never been substantiated.
Barghouti, who is relatively popular with the Palestinian street on account of his charisma, has long been a cause célèbre among Western activists, who have found it most convenient to overlook his crimes. If anything, the way he has been cast in the mould of Mandela is testament to how, for these activists, everything is always about them and their worldview. After all, unlike Barghouti, Mandela was never convicted of directing attacks on civilians.
Let’s stick to the facts. Polanski’s claim that Barghouti did not receive a fair trial was based on a 2004 report produced by a French lawyer, Simon Foreman, on behalf of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. While it is true that the report criticised the trial, mainly on procedural grounds, it did not exonerate Barghouti, and no international court has vacated the conviction. As such, the Israeli judgment remains legally in force.
Now to the case itself. In 2004, an impartial Israeli court convicted Barghouti of five counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, membership of a terror group and conspiracy to commit acts of terror. He was sentenced to five life sentences, plus 40 years.
Among his victims was a Greek Orthodox monk called Georgios Tsibouktzakis, abbot of the ancient St George Monastery near Jerusalem, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in 2001. He is understood to have been mistaken for a Jew on account of his beard.
The deadliest attack for which the Palestinian leader was convicted took place in March 2002. Gunman Ibrahim Hasouna opened fire with an M16 on the Seafood Market restaurant in Tel Aviv, where a hen party was taking place. He also lobbed grenades into the crowd (one rolled on to the dancefloor but thankfully failed to detonate). Two Jewish men, Eli Dahan and Yosef Habi, were killed in the atrocity, as well as a Druze policeman called Salim Barakat, who had bravely confronted the assailant. Thirty-five others were wounded.
Despite refusing to recognise the authority of the court and refusing to defend himself, Barghouti was acquitted of 21 murders for which the evidence was not deemed to be sufficient. Clearly, this was not the behaviour of a court that was simply rubber-stamping the case for the prosecution, whatever the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union might say.
At the time, the trial was both high-profile and traumatic. The cramped public benches of Court 602 in Tel Aviv were filled with parents of Israelis killed in the ambushes directed by Barghouti, some of whom openly wept as they clutched pictures of their loved ones.
Defiant to the last, Barghouti twisted the emotional knife by informing the court that he stood for peace and liberty and describing himself as a freedom fighter. The judge sternly pointed out: ‘A soldier does not kill civilians with bombs and kill children.’
To compare the Palestinian killer to Nelson Mandela, in other words, is a grave disservice to the South African leader. Nevertheless, Barghouti is undoubtedly an interesting character. He was never a raving jihadi like the late Yahya Sinwar or Mohammed Deif of Hamas. He is a nationalist rather than an Islamist. He began his political life in the 1990s as a relatively pragmatic Palestinian leader who supported peace in exchange for Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank.
However, that had changed by the time of the Second Intifada in the early 2000s, when 140 suicide bombs killed more than 1,000 Israelis – some of them schoolchildren on buses. Barghouti was often spotted on street corners in Ramallah during disturbances, issuing orders by phone, earning him the nickname ‘Little Napoleon’. Then came the evidence connecting him to murders.
Barghouti knows how to play a Western audience. Even in 2002, while directing savagery against innocent civilians, he struck a relatively moderate tone in English. In a column for the Washington Post, he wrote: ‘while I, and the Fatah movement to which I belong, strongly oppose attacks and the targeting of civilians inside Israel, our future neighbour, I reserve the right to protect myself… and to fight for my freedom.’
What to make of all this? Here’s my take. Like other performative Palestinian firebrands, Barghouti knows that doe-eyed Western activists and journalists want to believe that he is a saint. So deep-rooted is hatred of Israel that liberals will lap up the most blatant lies and false comparisons, just to confect a Palestinian hero where they are otherwise lacking. Barghouti knows this; I know this; chances are, reader, that you know this. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the gullible left. Which brings us back to Zack Polanski.
Look, I get it. It must be frustrating to support a cause that has nothing to show for itself in terms of democracy, human rights, respect for women and minorities, the protection of homosexuals and the rejection of terror. To take as your tribune a people who spit upon all your values is a tricky position to maintain. But don’t expect the rest of us to join you in your circle jerk. Wishful thinking, in other words, does not a freedom-fighter make.
Jake Wallis Simons is co-host of The Brink, with former parachute-regiment officer Andrew Fox. It is available on all platforms now.
Belfast was in flames last night. Cars and buses were set ablaze. Flaming rubbish bins were used to create roadblocks. And most horrifying of all, masked men went door to door in the Northern Irish capital, demanding to know if ‘foreigners’ lived inside. Emergency services had to escort immigrant families from their burning homes.
These scenes of terror and carnage unfolded on the day that Hadi Alodid, a Sudanese migrant, was charged on suspicion of attempted murder, and, in a separate incident on the same day, threatening to kill an NHS radiologist. Viral footage from Monday night appears to show him swiping a knife at the victim, later identified as Stephen Ogilvie, seemingly attempting to behead him and gouge his eyes out. Alodid appeared in court this morning to hear his charges. Police are not seeking anyone else in connection with their investigation.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer has called the disorder ‘totally unjustified’. Northern Ireland’s first minister, Michelle O’Neill, has described it as ‘disgusting cowardice’. These condemnations are necessary and well merited. What we saw last night was racist mob violence. Innocent people – migrants, asylum seekers, anyone who looked sufficiently foreign or non-white – had their homes attacked and their cars destroyed. The suspect alone should have to answer for his actions through the justice system. No group should ever face collective punishment. And no mob should ever have the right to dispense justice through wanton violence.
These condemnations may be necessary, but by now they are utterly insufficient. After all, we are now familiar with the grim pattern. We see a horrific crime – usually committed by an illegal migrant (or suspected illegal migrant) – followed by protests that turn ugly or by thugs looking to kick off. Ballymena in County Antrim, Dublin in the Republic of Ireland, Knowsley in Merseyside – all have exploded in rioting in recent years, as longstanding tensions are brought to the boil by an unspeakable act.
Our leaders usually condemn the disorder and violence that follows, but will refuse to discuss the triggers in any depth. Anyone who asks what can be done about horrors like that inflicted on Stephen Ogilvie will be accused of stoking division, exploiting a tragedy and courting the far right.
But something can and must be done. It is simply no longer sustainable to force working-class communities to endure such levels of terror, to bear the brunt of the elites’ open-door experiment – to pay the ‘blood price’, as Brendan O’Neill describes it, of the establishment’s virtue-signalling. Practically every day brings new horrors that ordinary folk are simply expected to put up with. On the very same day as the Sudanese suspect was charged with attempted murder, four Afghan nationals appeared in court, all charged with the alleged rape of a Bristol schoolgirl. From gang rapes in Brighton and grooming gangs in Norwich to child rape in Warwickshire, countless British citizens continue to suffer at the hands of men who shouldn’t be here. Yet this barely seems to trouble our cloistered political class.
None of this is to defend those violent scenes in Belfast. Rioting is always nihilistic and self-destructive. Far from putting people’s concerns and anger over immigration on the political agenda, it provides the ideal excuse for them to be ignored once again. I can’t have been alone in detecting a palpable sigh of relief emanating from Westminster as soon as the first Belfast bus was set alight. Now the political class can move on from discussing the barbarism they have enabled and get back on to safer territory – railing against the ‘far right’, issuing calls to tackle ‘misinformation’, and posturing against ‘agitators’ who seek to ‘divide’ our otherwise peaceful, harmonious society. But these deflections cannot and will not work forever.
The rioting in Belfast will pass. Politicians’ attention will drift and the news cycle will move on. But the conditions that helped to fuel last night’s violence – the abandonment of working-class communities, the broken asylum system, the elite culture of denial and deflection – will persist. Until they are addressed openly and honestly, there will almost certainly be another Belfast.
Fraser Myers is deputy editor at spiked and host of the spiked podcast. Follow him on X: @FraserMyers
Politicians and social commentators from across the UK have taken to social media to condemn the racist riots that have swept Belfast – and the shameless far-right agitators who helped fan the flames.
As the Canary previously reported, rioters carried out a wave of pogroms in Belfast and nearby towns over the last two days, carrying out arson attacks on homes belonging to people of colour. The racists also attacked businesses they perceived as the property of ‘foreigners’, blocked roads, and set fire to vehicles.
The hate crimes followed a knife attack, reportedly perpetrated by a Sudanese man, on the evening of 8 June in North Belfast. Police charged the suspect, Hadi Alodid, with attempted murder. The victim suffered injuries to his neck, back and both eyes, losing use of the left eye.
In response, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) politicians, along with English race-baiters like Nigel Farage and Rupert Lowe carried out varying degrees of the familiar song and dance: condemning the violence whilst also using dogwhistles and whipping up further racial hatred.
Belfast: shameless exploitation
However, Green leader Zack Polanski condemned the ministers stoking the riots for political gain:
Politicians who fanned these flames should hang their heads in shame.
Time and again we've seen this story play out. Single incidents used to fuel a far right narrative – and communities across the nation paying the price. https://t.co/kyDQWoE9EB
— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) June 10, 2026
North Herefordshire Green MP Ellie Chowns also echoed similar sentiments:
Horrified by the attempts of bad-faith actors to use Monday's brutal attack as justification to enact violence, disorder, and the targeting of immigrants and people of colour across Belfast.
Hatred has no place in the UK – nor should politicians who seek to incite it. — Dr Ellie Chowns MP (@EllieChowns) June 10, 2026
The Lib Dems’ Ed Davey voiced his shock, whilst also pointing out the far-right’s shameless weaponisation of fear:
I am horrified by the disorder and racist violence in Belfast last night.
Far too often now, we see extremists exploiting people’s anger and grief to spread hatred and violence – with the help of divisive algorithms on social media.
This has to stop.
— Ed Davey (@EdwardJDavey) June 10, 2026
A ‘chilling display of racist violence’
Labour’s Nadia Whittome, meanwhile, didn’t mince words:
The attempted murder in Belfast was an appalling act of brutality by one individual. It has been universally condemned and the perpetrator has been arrested and charged.
Torching the homes of innocent people because they’re not white is a truly chilling display of racist…
— Nadia Whittome MP (@NadiaWhittomeMP) June 10, 2026
A “chilling display of racist violence by organised fascists” – if only half our MPs were so willing to call these riots what they are.
Your Party co-leader Jeremy Corbyn posted a statement on the “utterly sickening” violence on display. He also called out Nigel Farage’s dogwhistle for bringing us to this point:
When politicians demonise migrants and call for "pure, cold rage", people listen.
My statement on the sickening far-right violence in Belfast. pic.twitter.com/KLAuXR7XN1
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) June 10, 2026
Likewise, the Alliance Party’s Sorcha Eastwood turned her rage against Farage’s counterparts in Northern Ireland:
A child being rushed from a burning building by a riot police officer into a police landrover as everything goes up in flames.
I hope those who fanned the flames are content with themselves. Because they knew this violence was coming. You can't light the touch paper and expect… pic.twitter.com/kCOEQ5rnEH
— Sorcha Eastwood MP (@SorchaEastwood) June 10, 2026
Divided we fall
Meanwhile, outside the halls of Parliament, campaigning researcher Zoe Gardner set up a stark dichotomy:
Dress it up however you like – this racist violence has been deliberately whipped up by far right politicians & their cowardly wannabes in the supposed mainstream.
You are either fighting against the anti-migrant narrative or you are with these thugs. https://t.co/OOMmuvDU2W
— Zoe Gardner (@ZoeJardiniere) June 9, 2026
Turn Left Media editor Ben Mclaine pointed out the actual “two tier policing” at play:
Strange to think that the far right probably did more criminal damage in a single night than Palestine Solidarity movements have done in the past three years.
Two tier policing, indeed. — Ben Mclaine (@BenMclaine) June 10, 2026
It seems that several commentators had it in for Farage’s talking points, at that. He threatened more riots, and now we’re seeing arson attacks on the streets of Belfast.
Journalist Owen Jones also pointed out the hypocrisy of the far-right’s reaction. However, his thread (and it is a thread) focused on the lack of riots following similar crimes by white extremists:
In 2024, a white neo-Nazi tried to behead a Kurdish barber.
Did Patrick Christys say:
"I preferred our country before white men started trying to behead people in the street"?
No. He said zilch. Both the perpetrator and the victim had the wrong skin colour for condemnation https://t.co/ljKO6vwXxI pic.twitter.com/R1EFts9TFW
— Owen Jones (@owenjonesjourno) June 9, 2026
Last but not least, the Good Law Project hit several of the same notes we’ve seen so far:
An isolated tragedy in Belfast is being used as an excuse for racist thuggery, all in the name of patriotism.
Musk, Farage and their cronies are spreading hate, and trying to divide our communities.
But we won't let them. We know the truth: there's many, many more of us than… pic.twitter.com/Gw3pgJ3xGw
— Good Law Project (@GoodLawProject) June 10, 2026
The UK is currently speeding along head-first in its descent into fascism. The far-right is using any and every excuse they can to stir up white-supremacist violence and racial hatred.
We cannot fight this tide by offering watered-down versions of Reform’s talking points, packaged up as the ‘moderate alternative.’ Those of us who oppose these racist riots must stand with immigrants and people of colour in the UK.
Divided, none of us can hope to win out.
Featured image via Getty/Charles McQuillan
By The Canary
On 9 June, we reported that ex-Reform councillor Charlotte Kelly had defected to the Tories. Kelly blamed the move on sexism and bullying from her former colleagues. And since then, she’s come forwards to provide more information on what went down:
Ex-Reform UK councillor Charlotte Kelly admits she’s embarrassed to have ever joined the party.
She defected to the Conservatives yesterday – claiming she was bullied and faced sexism.
Reform UK says she was the source of ‘disharmony’ within the Staffordshire group. pic.twitter.com/kAtcvcVHfR — Lewis Warner (@LewisJWarner) June 9, 2026
Former Reform councillor feels ’embarrassed’
In the video above, Kelly says:
I feel really sad and I feel embarrassed that I believed everything that they said because I fully bought in. I did. Now I just feel very let down.
It should be pointed out that the things Reform promises publicly are also very bad. And given the party’s hostility towards various minority groups – and women – Kelly shouldn’t be all that surprised to have discovered they were hostile towards her.
At the same time, this obviously doesn’t excuse the alleged bullying she had to put up with. We just hope Kelly’s experience helps others to avoid what she describes having experienced.
When asked how the last few days have been, Kelly said:
Stressful.
ITV’s Lewis Warner then explained:
Charlotte Kelly joined Reform UK hoping to make Leek a better place. But she says her time in the party has only made her own life worse. She alleges bullying, sexism and a culture that left her feeling isolated and ignored.
It would be interesting to know which Reform policies Kelly thought would improve her area, but the interview doesn’t get into that. Kelly responded:
It just seems to always be targeted at me. It’s not the men, it’s always me.
Kelly claims a female colleague told her the male Reform councillors couldn’t help themselves because of their age. We’re not sure how old they all are, but if this statement is true, they’re too old to be in the workplace.
Freeing
Kelly claims Reform does not tolerate any dissent whatsoever, and when asked how the party treats councillors, she answered:
I would say that as long as you do as you’re told, they’re fine, and as long as you don’t expect anything from head office, you just pretty much get left.
Kelly added that she had no freedom to express opinions, and that:
They want you to vote and say and just do as you’re told and whether or not you think it’s right, which isn’t… And I started to ask questions and speak out. And when I did, I was, especially from one particular person, reacted with swearing, abuse and… are really awful behaviour.
Kelly isn’t the first Reform councillor to make such claims, as we reported in this piece:
Defector Rob Parsonage said of the party:
He added: “We were being sent orders from above – they wanted us to vote down everything net zero and fight DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] – but in the end it turned into a conflict between the national agenda and the role of a councillor.”
Councillor Nick Brown, meanwhile, said:
When we took control [of Durham Council], I believed the messages from Nigel Farage that we would make big changes for people living locally.
But really, whenever we had a local issue, we were told to follow the party line. Not to rock the boat, bring press attention on the council. We all turned into Nigel’s yes-men – ordered to be on best behaviour to help him get to power.
Vetting issues?
Seemingly talking about the systemic issue of sexism, Kelly said:
they are not vetting correctly to see whether or not people have these views. When you present these issues and say that they’re there, that they’re not doing anything about it.
Reform definitely has an issue with sexism, much like it has an issue with every other form of bigotry. We don’t think the issue is that the party’s vetting is ‘failing’, however; we think Reform simply doesn’t care if its politicians hate women or people from minority groups.
Featured image via Leon Neal (Getty Images)
By Willem Moore
4 min read
We were promised a statutory register of lobbyists.
“We were promised a statutory register of lobbyists. Instead, we have a skeleton register of only consultant lobbyists, exempting 80 per cent of the industry. The word ‘transparency’ in the title is a misnomer. It misses most lobbyists.”
Those were my words in 2013, as the shadow cabinet office minister, in the Second Reading of the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill (now the 2014 Lobbying Act) because, by failing to include in-house lobbyists on the register, the legislation was doomed to fail. The law would fail to provide a sufficient level of transparency for a healthy democracy, and also fail to prevent lobbying scandals, thus fuelling public suspicions about the cosy relationship between business and government.
In the 13 years that followed, I have regrettably been proved right. Lobbying scandals continue to make the front pages while public trust in our political institutions further declines.
The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) – the professional body for lobbyists – said something similar in 2013, that “the lack of engagement with the industry is reflected in a poorly drafted and narrow definition which does not accurately reflect the work undertaken by lobbyists”. It has therefore campaigned to strengthen Westminster’s lobbying laws and for greater transparency, its own polling finding that over two-thirds of lobbyists would welcome greater scrutiny of their work. When an industry body and its members are calling for greater regulation, you know things need to change.
Working closely with the CIPR over the last few months, I’ve seen how scandals like the Greensill affair damage the public’s view of politicians but importantly also undermines organisations which need to engage with government, as well as individuals who work for them. We all benefit from our politics being informed by real-world experience but done in a way that is transparent and accountable. As a parliamentarian and a former lobbyist, I understand that better than most. My own scrutiny of legislation has been greatly enhanced by hearing directly from those it impacts. Such dialogue, however, should be in the open and not under the radar.
This is why I was delighted to introduce my Private Members’ Bill in the Lords to expand the register of lobbyists to include in-house lobbyists. It is extraordinary that the present legislation only captures four per cent of lobbying of government, according to Transparency International, since only consultant lobbyists have to register, ignoring those employed in-house whose work is completely opaque. Adding this more significant (in size and scope) activity will give the public, journalists, academics and other interested parties, a truer picture of who is seeking to inform and influence government.
It’s embarrassing – and wrong – that anyone can find out more information about who is lobbying in Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Canada, the EU, the USA, Australia and France than about who is lobbying in Westminster, the so-called Mother of Parliaments. We should demand better. Those democracies have more records on their lobbying registers than ours. The UK register has 291 records, the Scottish one 1,754.
In opposition, Labour pressed amendments to the-then bill to ensure in-house lobbyists were included on the register, and before the election Labour promised a different kind of politics, with the-then deputy leader, Angela Rayner, promising movement on lobbying. However, we’ve yet to see tangible action on this. Successive high-profile scandals led the Prime Minister to ask the Ethics and Integrity Commission to review lobbying, disclosure and access to government. We should hear its recommendations next month.
What is clear to Parliament, the public and lobbying professionals is that the status quo is unsustainable, and can’t be solved by tinkering or better enforcement. It needs legislation that is fit for purpose to help ensure we have no more scandals to undermine trust in politics. My bill, which will have its Second Reading on 3 July, is the first, but important step, in this arena.
David Flippo, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who earned President Donald Trump’s support, won the GOP primary to replace retiring Nevada Rep. Mark Amodei.
The race in Nevada’s 2nd District was a proxy war between Trump and prominent state Republicans, many of whom backed former state Sen. James Settelmeyer, including Amodei and GOP Gov. Joe Lombardo. Flippo ended up emerging victorious on Wednesday from a crowded, 13-person Republican field.
The victory continues Trump’s 2026 hot streak in GOP primary endorsements, marred only by a hiccup in last week’s Iowa gubernatorial primary. Trump backed Flippo in a Truth Social post in late May, less than two weeks before Election Day.
Flippo campaigned as a hardliner on immigration and transgender issues, and he slammed Settelmeyer as a “woke liberal” in ads. But Settelmeyer’s opponents took issue with Flippo, a longtime Las Vegas resident who only recently purchased property in Reno, attempting to run the state’s lone safely Republican district.
Amodei went as far as saying Trump “made a mistake” in a post on X.
But Flippo prevailed, riding support from Trump and Turning Point Action. He will enter November’s election as the heavy favorite in a district Trump won by 14 points in 2024.
Gwyneth Paltrow has joined fellow wealthy opportunists eager to support Israel in its settler-colonialist ambitions to exploit and profit off of stolen land taken from Palestinians.
Becoming the face of the 51 Park Herzliya luxury apartment settler-project in Israel, Zionist Paltrow has sought to upsell the new-built apartments with the creative direction of Israeli agency aptly named ‘Why Worry’.
However, Israel’s existence itself has demanded the displacement, death and destruction of the Palestinians who have been indigenous to the land for centuries. They are also currently waging a genocide against the indigenous population, with a clear stated aim to settle – steal – further territory.
Gwyneth Paltrow props up Zionist genocide
Paltrow’s move to make these illegal development projects more attractive to foreigners signals the scary fact that wealthy and powerful people simply do not care about the horrific human cost of Zionist occupation.
Moreover, this comes ahead of a planned event on Sunday 14th June called the ‘Great Israeli Real Estate Event’ which MP Richard Burgon has rightfully labelled “disgraceful”.
American actress gwyneth paltrow faces huge backlash after she promoted for $10M penthouses in Israel while Israel is committing genocide in Palestine pic.twitter.com/Pjcw4NsSTu
— LPC (@landpalestine) June 9, 2026
From one colonialist project to another
Paltrow filmed the advert in New York, showing the privilege of super-wealthy individuals in the US whilst grossly acting as if they are ‘normal’ – when the reality is most would never possibly be able to relate to her lifestyle. She then had a cheesy, and implausible, line when getting into a NY cab asking the driver to take her to Herzliya in Zionist ‘Israel.’
However, from its very inception, Israel has seen fit to murder, terrorise, displace and disavow Palestinians in order to establish its own ethnonationalist state. Dating back to the Nakba, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been forced out of their homes, one brutal way or another, for Zionists to build luxury properties on stolen land.
Moving into Lebanon, that bloodstained expansionist project to build “Greater Israel” is ongoing with little getting in its way.
Coincidentally, the US’ rise as a ‘global superpower’ is inseparable from a history of violent expansion, indigenous displacement, and mass destruction across the territory. This lends a pretty sinister and gross irony in Paltrow doing videos in one colonialist state to upsell properties in yet another settler, occupying state.
This latest development is built by Aviv Melisron and the name of its chosen creative agency speaks volumes – ‘Why Worry’. After all, it is increasingly clear that these elitists genuinely have no worries or concerns about the murderous projects they champion, empower and embolden.
Thus, ‘Why Worry’ about the deaths of hundreds of thousands if there’s a tidy profit to be made by Western capitalists like Paltrow.
UK hosting settler-colonialist real estate event in London
This sickening advertisement from Gwyneth Paltrow comes ahead of an event in London on Sunday which is seeking to sell homes in these illegal developments to pro-Zionist investors and potential homeowners. This, in turn, will increase British people’s involvement, and complicity, in the genocide continuing in Gaza and the settler-terrorism in the occupied territories.
Thankfully, Richard Burgon has taken the government to task over allowing such a bloodstained real estate event to go ahead in our capital city:
The ‘Great Israeli Real Estate Event’ is to be held in London this Sunday.
This disgraceful event will involve the sale of land stolen from Palestinians in illegal Israeli settlements.
Today, I called for the Government to ban this event. pic.twitter.com/QoFSFNIxCn
— Richard Burgon MP (@RichardBurgon) June 9, 2026
Burgon: “Ban this event selling off land illegally in Palestine”
Richard Burgon has consistently opposed Israel’s genocide in Gaza and consistently backed Palestinian claims to their stolen land, as settlement building in the West Bank continues to expand with absolute impunity.
Calling for stronger action by the government, he stated in the House of Commons:
Let’s just imagine, if this weekend in our capital city there was a great Russian real estate event, selling off Ukrainian land – Quite rightly, without hesitation, the Government would move to ban such an illegal event.
This weekend, in London, there is the great Israeli real estate event. Openly advertising the illegal sale of land in illegally occupied Palestinian territories. The government has rightly recognised the state of Palestine, surely given that, we should now move to ban this event selling off land illegally in Palestine in our capital city this weekend.
Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper responded by agreeing that these are illegal settlements, however refrains from any real action to block the event:
Well, we are pursuing this particular event and also if there are any cases where we find that there are breaches of UK law we will also pursue those issues as well.
But look, there is a wider issue here which is that nobody should be advertising, in the UK, illegal settlements. Nobody should be pursuing those illegal settlements. No businesses, no organisations should be getting involved in them and we have shown our willingness and determination to impose sanctions on organisations that do, just as we have set out today.
We will continue to do further sanctions, where we have the opportunity to do so, because support for illegal settlements is wrong.
Happy enough to ban left-wingers from UK, but never against Zionists
It is worth noting, though, that the government had no issue blocking entry of pro-Palestine Cenk Ugur and Hasan Piker so they couldn’t physically attend an Oxford Union lecture. Thankfully, the union welcomed them remotely, but the state had no trouble using its ‘might’ against advocates for Palestine.
Therefore, it stands to reason that Cooper could indeed do far more to actually stop this real estate event in London – it just requires a motivated political will to actually stand up to murderous Zionist Israel.
However, that political – or frankly, moral – will seems completely out of reach for this Israeli-captured and billionaire-corrupted former party of the working class.
Featured image via Getty/Theo Wargo
Politics
West Ham co-owner, nicknamed ‘Sultan of Sleaze’, banned from being alone with women and girls
Content warning: This article contains descriptions of sexual abuse and harrassment
The billionaire co-owner of West Ham Football Club, David Sullivan, resigned on Saturday ahead of a joint BBC and Times investigation alleging he’s a sexual predator.
The Panorama documentary broadcasts allegations made by several women that Sullivan abused his position of power and influence to prey on women for sex.
Since 2023, officials have banned Sullivan from being alone with members of the women’s and youth teams. An investigation uncovered concerns serious enough to prompt safeguarding restrictions around female players.
The porn tycoon has insisted this was not a “disciplinary ban”, but it’s increasingly evident that it was a preventative ban to protect women and girls from harm.
However, like most sexually abusive men, Sullivan refutes the allegations as having “never happened”.
His resignation letter from West Ham read:
After a lifetime spent building businesses in the adult industry, in which I have met thousands of women, it is sadly inevitable that a small number of improper conduct claims are being made against me.
As a result, we find ourselves wondering how many women may have endured such abuse in their youth but stayed silent over fears they’d be disbelieved due to Sullivan’s status.
David Sullivan was branded the ‘Sultan of Sleaze’ after building an empire of 150 sex shops and cornering the adult entertainment market before taking joint control of West Ham United in January 2010.
“I am not embarrassed by what I have done,” Sullivan told The Times in 2007.… pic.twitter.com/scPpQDGd4K
— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) June 9, 2026
West Ham co-owner always been a sexual predator
The BBC and Times investigation into Sullivan’s alleged abuses unearthed allegations made by eight women. Each had spoken to the police about Sullivan’s inappropriate behaviour, but no charges have been levelled against the billionaire.
However, it isn’t hard to see merit in the victims’ claims. Sullivan’s resignation before the documentary aired arguably signals a guilty conscience and once again, an attempt by an abusive man to slink into the background to evade consequences for his lurid behaviour.
Once branded the ‘Sultan of Sleaze’, Sullivan grew his wealth through sex shops and pornography before becoming co-owner of West Ham in 2010.
The sexual misconduct allegations span decades, coming from women who were in their late teens and early 20s. They were aspiring young models seeking opportunities in the adult entertainment industry.
People, especially men, will undoubtedly try to blame the women for seeking work in an industry many view as exploitative and harmful. I disagree. Women cannot be blamed for pursuing opportunities to earn money.
It’s also incredibly hypocritical of men when they built, shaped and continue to profit from these industries.
West Ham and FA have some explaining to do
The former minister for victims and violence against women and girls, Alex Davies-Jones, expressed her horror at the allegations, while saying she wasn’t surprised by them.
The Labour MP also called for a review of how police handled disclosures made by potential victims of sexual abuse, raising fresh questions about whether authorities took those claims seriously enough.
Culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, joined this call.
She said:
If it is the case that an investigation concluded that there were sufficiently serious allegations to warrant a ban on contact with the youth and women’s teams, then the FA must explain this decision and why no further action was taken.
I expect a full and urgent explanation from the FA and West Ham as to how these incredibly serious allegations have been handled.
Apparently David Sullivan was known as “blowjob or no job”.
Wayne Couzens was known as “The Rapist”.
Peter Mandelson was known as “The Prince of Darkness”.
Maybe when someone tells you who they are via a ‘nickname’ you believe them.
— Alex Davies-Jones MP (@AlexDaviesJones) June 9, 2026
Survivor recalls frightening ‘audition’
An ex-model described the terror she felt during an ‘audition’ when she realised she was locked in the room with Sullivan.
He lured her with promises of securing national press, but said she would need to be “one of his special friends”.
She told the BBC:
[To Sullivan] If you think I’m going to sleep with you to get in the paper, you’ve got another thing coming. He looked very shocked as I said that. And then said, “What, not even a blowjob?”.
***
I go to the door and realise it’s locked. At that point, I was like, “Open the fucking door, open the fucking door now”.
This horrifying story will undoubtedly trigger traumatic experiences for many women and girls. It also reiterates the importance of a serious conversation about why society places the burden of safety on women and girls and ‘preventative measures’, rather than holding abusive men accountable.
The failing of the football industry
The FA and West Ham believed introducing preventative measures were sufficient — but can they honestly say they went far enough?
After all, Sullivan said:
I saw it as a meaningless restriction, as it didn’t impact on my work in any way, therefore I accepted it for a quiet life.
Some men are now attempting to make out that Sullivan, the alleged perpetrator, is a victim of defamation.
The @BBC would face serious legal action if they repeat disgraceful lies about David Sullivan. He is a brilliant self-made entrepreneur who has done a wonderful job for West Ham & does huge unsung work in the community. You have to question the motivation of any defamatory smears pic.twitter.com/sWfQhHtXVC
— William Storey (@richenergyceo) June 6, 2026
It’s time rich, powerful men face accountability
Back in 2008, this wannabe-Playboy billionaire lauded his behaviour.
I have given an awful lot of people a lot of pleasure and I have never hurt anyone.
Needless to say, plenty of the people named in the Epstein files would no doubt offer the same defence of their behaviour. But that’s part of the problem: powerful men always seem to have a ready-made excuse.
What accountability have these men actually faced? A few bad headlines? Some uncomfortable interviews? Maybe an angry opinion piece or two. Beyond that, very little. No serious consequences. No meaningful punishment.
The men responsible carry on with little disruption to their lives while women bear the consequences. Too often, those responsible evade accountability while survivors bear the consequences for years to come. When that pattern repeats itself time and again, talk of justice begins to ring hollow for many female victims.
Therefore, we hope to see greater pressure placed on the police. Authorities must start to intently listen to victims of sexual abuse and take their allegations seriously. For too long, there has been a reluctance to confront perpetrators head-on, often out of fear of causing offence or attracting controversy.
Victims deserve better than that. They deserve to be heard and they deserve a genuine effort to deliver justice.
Featured image via Justin Setterfield/ Getty Images
The US has bombed two reservoirs in Sirik, Iran, leaving over 20,000 people without access to fresh drinking water.
The strikes heavily damaged both reservoirs, which supply the Bemani and Kouhestak areas of Sirik town.
20,000 people in Iran’s Hormozgan province are now without drinking water after strikes reportedly destroyed water infrastructure in Sirik.
Two concrete storage tanks, 500 and 2,000 cubic meters, plus all mechanical installations supplying Kohstak city and 10 surrounding… pic.twitter.com/lpFSHT24ra
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) June 10, 2026
Trump’s army illegally bombed around 20 sites, including the southern cities of Jask, Sirik, Goruk, Bandar Abbas and on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.
This was supposedly ‘retaliation’ for Iran downing a US Apache Helicopter, which was patrolling the Strait of Hormuz. A US official said an Iranian drone collided with the Apache, causing it to crash.
Several US airstrikes were reported on the coastal cities of Sirik, Qeshm, Minab & Bandar Abbas.
In my opinion, this looks like a disproportionate attack, considering the Apache was violating Iranian airspace and the ceasefire. Iran will defo respond. https://t.co/aQOteTnPNr pic.twitter.com/vYe2Wpforw
— MenchOsint (@MenchOsint) June 9, 2026
But of course, the US was already striking targets near the Strait of Hormuz, and Israel never stopped bombing Lebanon, meaning Iran’s shooting down of the helicopter was merely self-defence.
Trump also said that Iran had:
taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!
In response, Iran hit US targets across Gulf countries, including Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait.
IRGC launched a retaliation attack around 2h30, targeting:
U.S. Fifth Fleet Base, Bahrain
U.S. Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, Jordan, F-35 Hangars and the command control center.
They also shot down an MQ-9 Reaper.
Drones & Ballistic Missiles were launched. https://t.co/t2n3cZJOxT pic.twitter.com/J04M3tQqo6
— MenchOsint (@MenchOsint) June 10, 2026
Iran face more war crimes from unaccountable US
Obviously, targeting civilian infrastructure such as reservoirs and water distribution centres is a war crime.
More war crimes against humanity and civilians by Israel & the United States https://t.co/3f0Iaw8rel
— Name (@NNAAM3E) June 10, 2026
The Geneva Conventions [1949] state that:
2. It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for the production of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance value to the civilian population or to the adverse Party, whatever the motive, whether in order to starve out civilians, to cause them to move away, or for any other motive.
But when has international law ever stopped the US?
Why the hell you target civilians and civilian infrastructure? This
is a war crime any you Bas*dards know ithttps://t.co/TlakrVRtyL
— Majef F. (@RezaFroehlich) June 10, 2026
A local water company told Iranian state television that the destruction of the reservoirs had created a “major problem” for the region’s water supply network, as it had insufficient groundwater to replace the damaged reservoirs. It added:
Unfortunately, following this attack, 20,000 residents of the region have lost access to safe drinking water, and with temperatures ranging between 45 (113 degrees Fahrenheit) and 50 degrees Celsius, conditions have become extremely difficult and critical for local inhabitants.
Make no mistake – the US knows exactly what it’s doing, hitting vital water supplies during the hottest part of the year.
This is very bad. Water equals life in that part of the world. https://t.co/wU9T85GncG
— Clare K (@AucklandIsland) June 10, 2026
Of course, Iran would now be completely justified in hitting water plants that US troops or Israel rely on – seen as though Trump is fighting Netanyahu’s illegal battles for him.
Congratulations. Trump just justified Iran hitting all water desalination plants in the region to include ISRAEL’s.
— Mr. Gerald Wayne (@geraldwayne) June 10, 2026
Once again, this is US and Israeli colonialism on full display. What is even the point in international law anymore? Trump and Netanyahu get away with bombing schools, hospitals, and apartment blocks without a single consequence. So why would they think twice before bombing freshwater facilities?
The bottom line is, they don’t care about the lives of Iranians. And taking away access to fresh drinking water in 45-degree heat is just another tool to try to force Iran into submission.
Featured image via Tasnim News /X
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