Politics
UK Rejects Social Media Ban For Children: What Happens Next
Conversations around social media (and how kids use it) are only going to heat up in the coming months.
Just this week, MPs voted against a social media ban for under-16s in the UK.
The ban, which would’ve been similar to one implemented in Australia at the start of this year, had originally been backed by the House of Lords, but was later defeated in the Commons.
That said, it could still technically happen. The government is currently looking at children’s digital wellbeing (and how social media plays into that) as part of a consultation running until May.
While we all know the myriad arguments for banning social media (addictive design; disruption to sleep, attention and mental health; exposure to harmful or distressing content; and opening kids up to bullying or abuse), campaigners and charities have warned a social media ban could drive teens to murkier, less regulated parts of the internet.
It could also leave them “unprepared” for navigating the online world when they do eventually reach adulthood.
Nova Eden, founder of One Power Collective and a children’s digital wellbeing expert, believes a ban would have offered children much-needed, urgent protection.
“Ministers are already floating half-measures such as time limits and curfews [in their consultation], yet voting for the ban would have been immediate action,” she told HuffPost UK.
“We cannot afford to waste any more time, children need protection now.”
Similarly Dr John Allan, head of impact and breakthrough learning, at PGL Beyond, believes the latest vote against a social media ban is a “missed opportunity to reset children’s relationships with screens”.
There’s no social media ban. So, what needs to happen now?
Well, there are a few ideas.
Rather than adopting a blanket ban, Lee Chambers, founder of Male Allies UK, is of the belief that tech giants should be facing more pressure to make the internet safer for children,
He also wants the government to “take accountability for the ever-escalating risk and bad behaviour that is infiltrating our, and our children’s, phones”.
“We need to invest in digital literacy, and we need to make the companies that are letting harm seep across social platforms accountable for their negligence,” he told HuffPost UK.
“We need to tackle the root cause, not just switch the lights off.”
For Geoffrey Williams and Jenny Garrett, co-founders of Rocking Ur Teens, a UK social enterprise supporting teenagers, there’s a lot more work that needs to be done.
Geoffrey wants to see more education on ethical usage [of social media] and creation of spaces that reinforce positive messages, “rather than the negative content that currently dominates most platforms”.
Jenny added that while a ban “would have been a wise move”, it’s “possibly too little, too late”.
While regulation has an important role to play, both experts say real-world exposure, mentorship, and hands-on experiences are what help teenagers navigate social media pressures, develop confidence, and build resilience.
Jenny’s daughter Leah struggled with low self-esteem as a teenager, which inspired the mum to create Rocking Ur Teens.
“We have been running a live experiment on children with platforms that were never designed with their psychological safety in mind.”
– Leah Garrett, Dawn Intelligence
Leah now runs Dawn Intelligence, which helps schools, workplaces and local authorities track and prevent gender-based violence using AI insights and real-time data.
She thinks a social media ban alone wouldn’t solve the problem. Instead, stronger boundaries surrounding social media use are key.
“We have been running a live experiment on children with platforms that were never designed with their psychological safety in mind,” she said.
“I work in AI now. I understand how systems are built. Most of these systems are not built to protect the most vulnerable user in the room. They are built to retain attention.”
Leah thinks a ban on its own is a “blunt instrument” and it should instead sit alongside education about how algorithms shape perception, amplify extremes, and how online identity can distort self image.
“Otherwise we simply delay exposure rather than prepare young people for it,” she added.
Wider context around social class is also often missing from the debate, she noted, and this needs to be addressed. “Some young people are parented through their devices because families are stretched, underfunded and exhausted,” she said.
“We cannot moralise individual parenting decisions while ignoring structural pressure. If we want healthier digital environments for teenagers, we need investment in youth spaces, extracurricular access, community programmes and safe physical spaces to belong.
“Technology is not going away. The real work is governance, literacy and accountability.”
Noting that parents “have lost trust in tech firms’ ability to keep their children safe”, Ofcom recently announced it’s cracking down on major sites and apps that kids use the most.
The regulator has given a number of major social media sites one month to implement effective minimum-age policies, strict grooming protections, safer feeds for children, and put an end to “product testing” new features on children.
Politics
All 4 Living Ex-Presidents Deny Trump Iran Conversation
Donald Trump claimed twice on Monday that he had spoken directly to one of his presidential predecessors who had expressed approval for his bombing of Iran.
The only trouble is representatives for all four of the living former presidents said they had not spoken to Trump about the war in the Middle East.
An aide for George W Bush said he has not “been in touch” with Trump.
A spokesperson for Bill Clinton said the current president was not referring to him in the anecdote.
An aide for Barack Obama said he has had “no recent conversations” with Trump while an insider close to Joe Biden said the current president was not talking about him either, according to NBC News.
On Monday, Trump told Kennedy Centre board members: “I’ve spoken to a certain president – who I like, actually.
“A past president, former president, he said: ‘I wish I did it. I wish I did.’
“But they didn’t do it. I’m doing it. Yeah?”
He made the same claim later in the day, telling the media from the Oval Office: “I spoke to one of the former presidents who I actually like.”
He added: “I actually speak to some. And he said, ‘I wish I did what you did.’”
Trump did not tell the media exactly who he was referring to, only saying it was not Bush.
“I spoke to one of the former presidents who I actually like. I actually speak to some. And he said, ‘I wish I did what you did,’” the president claimed.
Trump continued: “I don’t want to say because a member of a party, a member of a party, they have Trump derangement syndrome, but it’s somebody that happens to like me, and I like that person, who’s a smart person, but that person said, ‘I wish I did it.’
“OK, but I don’t want to get into who. I don’t want to get him into trouble. You know it’s interesting. And maybe he’d be proud.
“And I could even ask him that: ‘Would you like me to reveal your name?’”
Trump’s decision to bomb Iran at the end of February has been widely criticised for being unlawful and poorly planned.
International allies have also refused Trump’s call for them to send warships to the region.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer insisted on Monday that Britain “will not be drawn into the wider war”.
Politics
Sarah Michelle Gellar Says Buffy Reboot Was Staked By Executive Who Didn’t Think The Show Was ‘For Him’
After Sarah Michelle Gellar revealed over the weekend that the planned Buffy The Vampire Slayer reboot was no longer going ahead, the actor has now shared her take on why the series didn’t get picked up.
Directed by Chloé Zhao – who was Oscar-nominated this year for Hamnet – the revival would have brought viewers back to Sunnydale, introducing a new slayer played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong, as well as featuring Sarah’s Buffy in more of a mentoring role.
Sarah Michelle told People magazine in an interview published on Monday that she blames the cancellation on one unnamed executive.
“We had an executive on our show who was not only not a fan of the original, but was proud to constantly remind us that he had never seen the entirety of the series and how it wasn’t for him,” she claimed.
“So, that tells you the uphill battle that we had been fighting since day one, when your executive is literally proud to tell you that he didn’t watch it.”

Getty Images via Getty Images
The Cruel Intentions star also insisted that she felt the Buffy reboot not being picked up for a full series was not due to the quality of the show, declaring that the script’s “dialogue flew off the tongue.
She also praised the “duality” of having a younger slayer, who was the same age Buffy was when the first show started, alongside the original grown-up character.
“I’d like to use this moment also to say that Ryan Kiera Armstrong is a superstar,” she added. “I’m gutted that no one will see her as a slayer.”
Sarah Michelle announced the “disappointing” news on her Instagram over the weekend, explaining that the streaming service Disney+ had chosen not to pick up the pilot.
“I want to thank Chloé Zhao because I never thought I would find myself back in Buffy’s stylish, yet affordable boots,” she said. “And thanks to Chloe, I was reminded how much I love her and how much she means not only to me, but to all of you. And this doesn’t change any of that.”
Buffy The Vampire Slayer originally ran for seven series between 1997 and 2003.
The series followed Buffy and her friends as they navigated the trials and tribulations of high school and college, while also fighting vampires, demons and other supernatural creatures.
Politics
Badenoch: Trump’s Attacks on Starmer “Quite Shocking” and “Childish”
ICYMI…
Politics
Three Cancers Are On The Rise In The UK
Some good news: in the UK, cancer death rates have reached their lowest-ever levels on record, Cancer UK reported. They’re down 29% from their 1989 peak.
Cervical cancer is an especially notable example. There’s been a 75% decrease in death rates in the last 50 years, thanks in part to the HSV vaccine.
Reacting to that news, Dr Jiri Kubes, radiation oncologist and medical director at the Proton Therapy Centre, said, “Overall cancer survival has improved significantly over recent decades, which is extremely encouraging.
“However, we are also seeing concerning increases in certain cancers, and in some cases these are appearing more frequently in younger adults.”
1) Bowel cancer
Recent research found that 45% of bowel cancer cases are in under-65s. England has experienced a 3.6% yearly rise in early-onset bowel cancer, the highest in Europe.
Some scientists have noticed that younger people’s bowels might be more “stiff” than older people’s, which could increase their risk.
Dr Kubes added that envirionmental and lifestyle changes might have a role to play, too.
“Modern diets that are high in processed foods and low in fibre can influence gut health and long-term inflammation, which may increase cancer risk,” he said.
“At the same time, many people are spending more time sitting and less time being physically active than previous generations.”
2) Pancreatic cancer
In the UK, pancreatic cancer rates have risen by 20% since the ’90s. We’re projected to see 5% more cases between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040.
It’s still relatively rare, however – it’s the 10th most common cancer in the UK, and accounts for 3% of all new cancer cases.
“Symptoms often appear late, which makes early diagnosis challenging,” Dr Kubes explained.
“That is why awareness of persistent symptoms such as unexplained weight loss, abdominal pain or ongoing digestive problems is so important.”
Pancreatic cancer can also make the whites of your eyes or your skin turn yellow (jaundice).
3) Liver cancer
Since the early ’90s, liver cancer incidence has increased by a remarkable 180% in the UK. This is slightly higher for men than it is for women.
Rates are expected to rise by 6% between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040.
Liver cancer is strongly linked to deprivation: rates among women are 78% higher in the most deprived areas than the least deprived ones, and for men, it’s 89%.
Dr Kubes added, “Conditions such as obesity, diabetes and fatty liver disease have become more common, and these can significantly increase the risk of certain cancers.”
Still, cancer treatment has progressed overall
None of this is to say cancer outcomes have not improved – they have.
“Earlier diagnosis, more precise radiotherapy techniques and improved systemic treatments are helping many more patients live longer,” Dr Kubes said.
“But prevention and early detection remain some of the most powerful tools we have to reduce cancer risk in the future.”
Politics
UEFA could lose its tax privileges for failing to sanction Israel
UEFA is facing mounting political pressure in Switzerland following a parliamentary move that could threaten its tax privileges after failing to impose any sanctions on Israel.
The French newspaper L’Équipe revealed that a group of left-wing members of parliament in the Swiss canton of Vaud submitted a draft resolution questioning whether the conditions for UEFA’s tax exemption are still met.
If the draft resolution passes, UEFA will be summoned to justify why it hasn’t sanctioned Israel, especially since the Swiss federal government has previously linked tax privileges for international sports federations to their role in promoting peace through sport.
The initiators of the proposal believe UEFA is no longer fulfilling its role, which could open the door to a review of its tax status in Switzerland, where its headquarters are located.
According to internal estimates within UEFA, canceling the tax exemption could cost the organisation about €30 million annually (£26 million). Tax authorities may also demand clarification on how its annual revenues, estimated at about €5 billion (£4 billion), are distributed.
The cantonal parliament is scheduled to debate the draft resolution on 24 March. A close vote is expected in the 150-member assembly, where left-wing parties hold only 64 seats, leaving the outcome uncertain.
UEFA’s president must call for a vote
This pressure comes at a time of escalating international campaign led by the campaign group, Game Over Israel, which wants global sports organisations to boycott Israel, similarly to what happened with Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
Former Manchester United player, Eric Cantona, reignited the debate when he highlighted the disparity in treatment of both countries at a solidarity event in London last year.
According to sources within UEFA, communications and pressure from federations, sponsors and sports media have continued unabated in recent months, indicating how prominent this issue has become within European football.
Any decision to suspend Israel’s participation in European competitions requires a vote within UEFA’s 21-member executive committee, including its president, Aleksander Čeferin, who is the only person authorised to call for such a vote.
Internal sources indicate a number of committee members are inclined to support a ban. However, Čeferin —known for his meticulous calculations — only calls for a vote when he is certain of a clear majority.
The Israeli Football Association, on the other hand, categorically denied the existence of any upcoming vote to suspend its membership, describing the circulating reports as “fake news” and affirming its commitment to all FIFA and UEFA regulations.
Mounting pressure
But the pressure is no longer solely political or moral; it has also extended to the financial sphere. Several European federations have incurred significant losses during matches played by their national teams against Israel due to the stringent security measures and low attendance.
For example, the 2024 France-Israel match at the 80,000 capacity Stade de France attracted only about 16,000 spectators. Security costs for the Europa League match between VfB Stuttgart and Maccabi Tel Aviv last December were estimated at about €10 million (£9 million).
As pressure mounts from parliaments, players and national federations, European football appears to be facing a new political test that could determine not only Israel’s participation in continental tournaments but also the boundaries of the relationship between sport and politics in Europe.
Featured image via the Canary
Politics
Andrew Gilligan: The problems Cameron and Osborne made for Conservatives by being the ‘heirs to Blair’
Andrew Gilligan is a writer and former No10 adviser.
Since I wrote last month that our failure in government has deep roots in the Cameron/Osborne era as well as in the nine years which followed it, a couple of people have asked me to expand on what I meant.
One aspect of the last Conservative government’s failure was, of course, that it failed in most ways to make Britain more conservative. And the main reason for that was that many of its most important members didn’t want to. Yes, the blob was also partly to blame; and yes, latterly our own disorganisation and incompetence, in tackling the blob and in other ways, were partly to blame.
But the fact is that Osborne and Cameron positioned themselves as the “heirs to Blair.” Cameron never said this publicly, but did say words to that effect at private events with journalists, including one with me, before he became PM. As shadow chancellor, Osborne publicly criticised Gordon Brown for “challenging the key elements of the Blair settlement.”
He meant on the reform of public services, but it also extended into full support for the Blairite social settlement and way of doing politics. I remember a senior Tory strategist complaining to me at the time that Osborne was slavishly following the Blair playbook.
There were many areas of policy failure.
Some were explicitly meant to show continuity Blairism, such as spending 0.7 per cent of gross national income on aid. (As they ran out of things to spend it on, they found themselves subsidising holidays for British teenagers.) Domestically, much larger amounts of money were moved to the wrong people. The triple lock, one of the things we most need to dismantle, was created by George Osborne.
Austerity is the left’s biggest criticism of Cameron/Osborne.
But aid and the triple lock show the true, rather different, problem with the policy: that the money was spent in many of the wrong places and the cuts were made in many of the wrong places. The cuts to the courts, prisons and police took a few years to work through, but are now manifest in the effective impunity in many places for crimes such as shoplifting; in the victims waiting four years for a trial; and in the decline of the prisons towards American levels of decency and safety.
The state of the armed forces, and the disastrous defence review of 2010, is probably the single most dangerous legacy of the Cameron/Osborne austerity cuts, though to be fair this collapse has been underway for decades. Capital spending followed the same approach: what money there was (arguably too little in an era of low interest rates) often went on the wrong things, such as HS2.
Cameron’s successors also had mixed views about conservatism. May was personally more socially conservative, but ended up trying to impress activists with policies like transgender self-identification. Boris was at base a metropolitan liberal estranged from his tribe by Brexit (it was quite a job to get him off self-ID, for instance.)
All three also fell into a trap, which I might write about more in future, of accepting the centrist answer to a challenge as the challenge. So if you question HS2 – by any objective measure, a very poor way to help the North – you’re branded an enemy of helping the North.
If you question net zero, you’re deemed to question the very existence of man-made climate change, or the importance of tackling it. Actually, however, many net zero policies have almost no chance of tackling climate change. Because even in the most willing parts of the world, broadly Western Europe, there will never be enough political willingness to implement them. The lightbulb moment for me on this was when the then co-leader of the Green Party, Adrian Ramsay MP, opposed new electricity pylons through his Suffolk constituency, needed to carry the electricity produced by North Sea windfarms to London.
If even the leader of the Green Party won’t support even one of the less politically difficult aspects of net zero, then much of net zero is surely dead. We need to start thinking quite urgently about doing other things to stop climate change, or to dampen its effects, such as mitigation or geoengineering – as well as carrying on with the bits of net zero which are politically tenable.
The reason I say all this is that I slightly feel that Tory centrism might at some point be due a comeback. It is the obvious gap in the market. But unless it learns from these and its other mistakes, it ain’t happening.
Politics
Sultana slams Telegraph writers Israel lobby links
Your Party MP Zarah Sultana has slapped down Telegraph political editor Camilla Turner for a scurrilous smear by appearing to link Turner’s position – and political views – to “mummy and daddy” being directors of notorious Israel lobby group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI).
Turner wrote an article claiming that Sultana “could” – emphasis on the ‘could’:
face an investigation by the parliamentary watchdog after being accused of peddling an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.
At the very end of the article, Turner admits that the Standards Authority doesn’t actually seem to be investigating the nonsense:
Ms Sultana’s spokesman said on Saturday that she had not heard from the commissioner on this matter.
Sultana’s supposed “anti-Semitic [sic] conspiracy theory” was a comment on X that:
Zionism is one of the greatest threats to humanity.
and:
[Israeli soldiers] love killing kids.
Where’s the lie?
Sultana speaks out
Supposedly, a complaint has been submitted to Parliament alleging these comments are antisemitic “blood libel” – hardly the first time the Israel lobby has wheeled out that tired claim to deflect from its crimes. The complaint was submitted by the disgraced Israel lobby group ‘Labour against Antisemitism’ (LAAS). You know, the LAAS whose non-Jewish director made up a Jewish-sounding name to submit complaints of ‘Labour antisemitism’.
But a comment has to be untrue to be libel – and both of Sultana’s are reality, not theory.
Since their illegal occupation of a land that doesn’t belong to them by violently expelling 700,000 Palestinians, Zionists have:
∙ bombed a US ship to try to trigger a war
∙ bombed their own people in Egypt to try to force them to go to Israel
∙ constantly slaughtered more Palestinians and stolen more land
∙ stolen US secrets and uranium to build illegal atomic weapons
∙ broken every ceasefire they’ve ever agreed
∙ blown up their own buildings in London to trigger persecution of Palestinians
∙ maimed and killed Palestinians attempting peaceful resistance in the ‘First Intifada’
∙ killed journalists trying to report on peaceful resistance
∙ tried to get the US to invade Iran every year for more than three decades by claiming Iranian nuclear weapons were imminent
∙ armed and treated ISIS fighters to ruin Syria.
And all that’s from way before they started their ongoing genocide in Gaza (which has killed hundreds of thousands of children), their terrorist pager-bomb attacks and ongoing bombings in Lebanon (which killed and maimed children), and their murders of peace negotiators and civilian scientists.
And, of course, their two disastrous wars on Iran that have murdered more children, seen Israeli cities devastated in retaliation, and brought the world to the brink of global economic collapse.
It’s not theory, it’s empirical: Zionism and its adherents – many of whom are not Jewish – are indeed one of the “greatest threats to humanity”.
So Zarah Sultana hit back:
Maybe Camilla Turner should declare that mummy and daddy are directors of UK Lawyers for Israel, a pro-Israel lobby group currently under investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority?
UKLFI’s track record includes demanding the removal of Gaza children’s artwork at… https://t.co/woQEBqztcb
— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) March 15, 2026
UKLFI
So, back to ‘mummy and daddy’. Jonathan Turner is CEO of UKFLI. He appalled the decent world in 2025 by suggesting that Israel’s starvation blockade of Gaza was a good thing, as it would help Palestinians lose weight. He didn’t use that word, of course, since to Zionists the Palestinians don’t exist:
The [Lancet] letter also ignored factors that may increase average life expectancy in Gaza, bearing in mind that one of the biggest health issues in Gaza prior to the current war was obesity.
Mummy Caroline Turner is a fellow UKLFI director. She is currently the subject of a complaint from the European Legal Support Centre (ELSC) for her and UKLFI’s:
(alleged) breaches of the SRA’s Principles and Code of Conduct, including the use of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP), which are lawsuits intended to limit freedom of expression on matters of public interest. Additionally, we are calling for an investigation into whether UKLFI is operating as an unregulated law firm…
…UKLFI, established in 2011, describes its mission as countering the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and what it calls the “delegitimisation of Israel”.
The complaint includes eight threatening letters sent by UKLFI to individuals and organisations between January 2022 and May 2025 which demonstrate a seeming pattern of vexatious and legally baseless correspondence aimed at silencing and intimidating Palestine solidarity efforts.
UKLFI is being investigated by the solicitors’ regulator for repeated “vexatious” actions. Among its most notorious, it has:
∙ tried eleven times so far to strip British-Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu-Sittah of his medical licence after Abu-Sittah exposed Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
∙ bullied a hospital into removing a display of plates painted by Palestinian children
∙ tried to browbeat the British Museum into removing the words ‘Palestine’ and ‘Palestinian’ from displays
∙ forced a gallery to terminate an artist’s hit exhibition, and
∙ even attacked Netflix for not being pro-Israel enough.
Small wonder that human rights group CAGE describes it and fellow Israel lobby group CAA as Britain’s “apartheid apologists”.
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree
But the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Whether or not she owes her position and politics to ma and pa, Camilla Turner’s own views are no less appalling. One social media user points out a few recent examples:
Going a bit further back, she condemned British Muslims for not believing that Palestinian resistance groups “committed murder and rape”. They are right and she is wrong: the UN and even Israel’s chief prosecutor found no evidence of rapes. Israel killed hundreds of its own people on 7 October 2023 in repeated, day-long ‘Hannibal’ attacks – a fact admitted by Israeli media, the IDF and former defence minister Yoav Gallant. Gallant even wished his forces had killed more.
And the Islamic Human Rights Commission felt compelled to respond to her attempts to smear it for condemning fascist rioters. It also felt it had to correct her smearing of UK Jews as uniformly supporting Israel’s crimes.
Sultana is right. At the very least, Turner should be declaring her links to mummy and daddy and their Israel-lobby attack vehicle. After all, a judge recently ordered one lobby group to declare its activities every time it tries a bit of “SLAAP” or lawfare.
But since the Telegraph is now owned by ultra-Zionists, she’s unlikely to get into trouble for not mentioning it.
Featured image via the Canary
Politics
Tina Fey To Front Saturday Night Live UK As First Guest Hosts Are Confirmed
Saturday Night Live UK will finally be hitting our screens this weekend – with the show’s first guest hosts and musical performers having now been announced.
Ahead of the series’ premiere on Saturday night, Sky has confirmed that SNL legend Tina Fey will be the UK spin-off’s very first presenter.
The premiere is in safe hands, as Tina worked as the head writer on the American version of SNL between 1997 and 2006. She has since gone on to host the US show six more times.
She will be joined by Brit Award winners Wet Leg as SNL UK’s inaugural musical guest.
Following Tina’s appearance as host, Fifty Shades Of Grey actor Jamie Dornan will be hosting the second episode, with Brit Award winners Wolf Alice joining him as the musical act.
Episode three will then be hosted by Oscar-nominated actor Riz Ahmed, with Kasabian serving as musical guests.
Lorne Michaels, who created SNL in 1975, will also work as the UK show’s executive producer, along with a team of 20 writers and a regular cast of 11 comedians, which includes Taskmaster alum Emma Sidi and Ania Magliano, Black Ops star Hammed Animashaun and TikTok fave Jack Shep.
SNL UK will follow the same format as the long-running American version, in which a new host each week performs sketches alongside the regular cast in front of a live studio audience.
Written the week of the filming, all 75-minute episodes will feature an opening monologue from the host, sketches, live performances from the musical act and a British take on SNL’s satirical news segment, Weekend Update.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today Show, one of the show’s producers, James Longman, said he hoped to offer some joy to viewers during “rough times”.
“It’s a perfect time for this kind of show. The world is rough out there at the moment, so it’s a really good time to laugh,” James said this morning, hinting that the show would feature plenty of topical and satirical laughs. “There’s so many things to be funny about, and so it’s just finding the right angle for us. The key for us is to be funny.”
SNL UK is due to begin this Saturday (March 21) on Sky and Now TV, and will run for six episodes.
Politics
Bob Vylan call out Met police for nonsense investigation
Duo Bob Vylan have mocked Metropolitan police chief Mark Rowley for the force’s decision to ‘investigate’ them – again – for repeating the now infamous death, death to the IDF” chant at the Al Quds Day 2026 protest.
Rowley and co already looked at the chant by Vylan rapper, real name Pascal Robinson-Foster – in 2025 when it was first made. It decided no further action was appropriate. So did the Avon and Somerset force, which has jurisdiction in Glastonbury, where the rap duo first used the chant.
In a widely liked and shared X post that drew hundreds of supportive comments, Bob Vylan took to social media to say:
They’re a disgrace, the harassment to British nationals for calling out genocide is ridiculous….Will the met investigate @lfi or the 2000 soldiers that killed kids in gaza returning to Britain?
— Paul (@giggsy69) March 16, 2026
But the ‘investigation’ will not be binned with the contempt it deserves, at least not yet. No self-humiliation or spinelessness is too great for the UK state apparatus when Israel demands action to intensify the ‘lawfare’ war against anti-genocide speech.
Featured image via the Canary
Politics
BBC dodging questions on Israel broke the law, regulator finds
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has ruled that the BBC’s decision to dodge a Freedom of Information Act (FOI) request for details of calls between top executives and the Israeli embassy broke the law.
The broadcaster was asked to provide records of any calls that then-director-general Tim Davie, board member Robbie Gibb, then-News CEO Deborah Turness, and chair Samir Shah placed to the embassy or any of its personnel – or come up with a lawful reason not to do so. So far, the BBC has farcically told the unnamed civil servant who placed the FOI request – because he was concerned at the BBC’s outrageously biased coverage of Israel’s genocide in Gaza – that it didn’t hold any relevant records.
That bias has been so extreme that even BBC staff have written publicly to bosses to condemn it and the culture of intimidation that keeps journalists in line. Davie and Furness were subsequently toppled from their BBC roles – for not being biased enough in favour of Israel.
BBC breached rules
The ICO found that the BBC breached Section 10 of the FOI Act by failing to provide a substantive response and has ordered the broadcaster to provide one within thirty days or be in contempt. The problem is that the ICO is generally toothless. While it has the power to impose huge fines, it almost never does so – especially when politics and Israel is involved.
If these calls exist, they represent a serious breakdown of the BBC’s Charter of Impartiality and a potential violation by the Israeli embassy of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
The BBC’s management is known to dread calls from a displeased Israeli embassy, so there is no realistic doubt that its executives consult routinely with the Israeli embassy on how to avoid its displeasure. Nor is that spineless collusion limited to the BBC. The Crown Prosecution Service is known to have consulted with the embassy about which anti-genocide activists it should prosecute in its war on pro-Palestine speech.
The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations bans diplomats from interfering in the internal affairs of their host nation – a ban that Israel ignores with impunity, expecting and receiving farcical cover-ups from UK governments.
While the BBC’s failure to respond properly is unlawful, for it to destroy, conceal or edit the evidence of the calls would be a much graver offence.
Featured image via the Canary
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