In a startling interview, Donald Trump has suggested the US is done with NATO. As NATO is little more than a US protection racket, this would effectively mean that NATO is over:

Massive geopolitical shift. Trump announces the US is abandoning NATO because European nations refused to join his illegal and disastrous war against Iran. The American empire is completely isolating itself on the world stage.

By the way Israel didn’t send a single soldier. pic.twitter.com/JOvEuLEMkZ

— Furkan Gözükara (@FurkanGozukara) March 27, 2026

In the same clip, he seemed to suggest that the US has lost its war with Iran. In other words, things aren’t going well for the American Empire.

Trump — tired of losing

In the clip above, Trump says:

I think that NATO made a terrible mistake when they wouldn’t send a small amount of military armament, when they wouldn’t… just even acknowledge what we were doing for the world… taking on Iran.

It’s true NATO countries didn’t provide their full support for the US and Israel’s unprovoked war on Iran. The illegality of the action meant NATO countries had no obligation to support the US, and yet many supported Trump anyway by allowing him to use their bases (the UK included).

In the section which suggests Trump thinks he’s lost the Iran War, the president said:

I never considered it very risky. But war is always risk. You know, a lot of strange… things happen in war that very bad. But I didn’t consider it… we have the greatest military by far anywhere. There was nobody close. I didn’t think there was a big risk, but there’s always surprises with war. They could be very bad surprises.

I mean, wars are lost that should be won. Many wars are lost. You think a country is going to wipe somebody out and they end up getting wiped out themselves. So it’s always risky.

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Wait, am I dreaming or is Trump here admitting the U.S. lost in Iran?

“I didn’t think there was a big risk but there’s always surprises with war. There could be very bad surprises. I mean wars are lost that should be won. Many wars are lost… You think a country is going to… https://t.co/kJHMorOhqt

— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) March 28, 2026

Getting back to NATO, Trump said:

But I think a tremendous mistake was when NATO just wasn’t there. They just weren’t there.

It’s going to make a lot of money for the United States, because we spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year on NATO – hundreds protecting them. And we would have always been there for them. But now, based on their actions, I guess we don’t have to be, do we?

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Seeming to confirm he was serious, he added:

That sounds like a breaking story. Yes, sir. Is that breaking news?

Talk

Of course, you can’t always trust what Trump says, because the man is a habitual liar. At the same time, the NATO relationship is clearly not what it was, and Iran has given the US a bloody nose in the Gulf. As such, it wouldn’t be that surprising if this ended up being one of his periodic moments of honesty.

Featured image via Wikimedia

Journalists Ali Shuaib (Al-Manar) and Fatima Ftouni (Al-Mayadeen), along with Fatima’s brother, camera operator Mohamad Ftouni, join a long list of Lebanese journalists killed by Israel. An Israeli warplane fired five missiles at their car, travelling in the countryside next to the city of Jezzine, around 30 Km north of the border with occupied Palestine. The last two missiles were fired at 2 civilians, one of them from the Lebanese Civil Defence, who were trying to save the targeted journalists.

#Breaking | Journalists Ali Shuaib (Al-Manar) and Fatima Fattouni (Al-Mayadeen) were killed in a direct Israeli strike while covering the war in Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/bwnhXCrcp5

— غزة 24 | التغطية مستمرة (@Gaza24Live) March 28, 2026

The three journalists join a long list of (now) 28 Lebanese journalists assassinated by Israel commencing on October 13, 2023 when an Israeli Merkava tank fired on a clearly marked group of journalists in Alma Al-Shaab killing Reuters videographer and close friend Issam Abdalla.

These 28 journalists lie side by side with over 234 of their fellow Palestinian journalists also killed by Israel since October of 2023, most of them in Gaza. And lest we forget Shireen Abu Akleh, and others.

If those war crimes tell us anything, it is that:

1. Israel intentionally targets journalists everywhere they can
2. Journalism is as important as taking up arms on the path of resisting colonialism

Israel assassinates Fatima Ftouni

Fatima Ftouni, Al-Mayadeen’s correspondent to south Lebanon, recently reported on her own family members being killed by Israel around 25 days ago.

Al Mayadeen correspondent Fatima Ftouni reports that seven members of her own family were killed by Israeli forces in the assault on southern Lebanon, continuing her coverage amid her loss. https://t.co/C02upR5JIo

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) March 2, 2026

She says:

This is the status of the building that contains 4 residential apartments full off people, and in fact they are members of my family.

Fatima never fled, never shied away from a confrontation. In war zones but also by speaking truth to power:

المراسلة فاطمة فتوني في مواجهة صحافية مع الرئيس نواف سلام:
فتوني: أنا أهلي عايشين بالخطوط الأمامية
نواف سلام: شايف صحتك منيحة
فتوني: أهلي منهم مناح
نواف سلام: في معنا حكيم

الآن : فاطمة فتوني شهيدة 💔 pic.twitter.com/0kNJcu3LTd

— Christina Natasha El-Hage (@Christina_Hage) March 28, 2026

Fatima interrupts allegedly US-Backed Prime Minister Nawaf Salam who was trying to talk about how good the Lebanese government has been during this war:

Fatima: My family are still living in the south, they’re in danger

Salam: You look fine, I see your quite healthy

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Fatima: My family isn’t fine

Salam: Well we have a doctor with us if you need

Nawaf Salam, ever so sarcastic. Ever so unfunny. He tarnishes comedy every time he jokes.

Fatima Ftouni, your courage and determination will never be forgotten.

Rest in power!

Ali Shuaib — An absolute legend

رح يجوا يعطوك أوسمة وألقاب.
بس بدك ياها من الأخير؟
إنتَ الوسام واللقب.
روح الله معك.
وأمانة لما تشوف السيد والشهداء عطيهن كمشة من تراب الجنوب!#علي_شعيب pic.twitter.com/ES4f3Rt7xW

— Abbas Fneich| عبَّاس (@AbbassFneich) March 28, 2026

I remember 20 years ago, I was a 16 year old kid living in Lebanon during the 2006 war. I used to wait for Ali Shuaib’s messages from the battlefield on the radio. He used to do a quick news story every time there’s a clash somewhere in the south. Sometimes his voice would be obscured by the sounds of clashes near by.

All the TV stations and correspondents were covering the war from a distance. Ali Shuaib didn’t believe in long distance relationships.

Then from 2006 up until 2024, there was no war officially but Shuaib still clashed with Israeli soldiers:

There was an alleged assassination attempt on Ali Shuaib during the 66 day war last year, but he survived. This time unfortunately, he didn’t.

Rest in power you absolute legend!

Featured image via author

The Green Party held its Spring Conference on Saturday 28 March, with members meeting online to debate and vote on the party’s future direction. At the centre of attention is a highly poignant and emotionally charged motion: Zionism is Racism.

Zionism is Racism

After members overwhelmingly backed bringing the motion forward – despite earlier attempts to block it entirely – pro-Palestinian Greens are now watching closely to see if the party will formally break with Zionism.

This embattled call for principled leadership has been led by Lubna Speitan, who referred to her Palestinian heritage and her people’s immeasurable suffering at the hands of their occupier, genocidal Israel.

After years of watching powerful leaders offer diplomatic cover while hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children have been murdered, with those surviving left to endure constant bombardment and sheer deprivation, socialists are now demanding far more from those in power.

Pro-Israel saboteurs running rampant in the Greens – still.

However, as mentioned previously, the motion has faced no end of pressure, whether from pro-Zionist Greens or typical hateful attacks from pro-Israeli lobby groups. Just today, another member proposed to rule “Zionism is Racism” out of order by arguing they already have a policy for two state solution.

On the other hand, if any policy should be thrown out, it is the two-state solution. Palestinians should have an inherent right to define what justice looks like for their people, and many argue that the prospect of two states is no longer viable on land that is rightfully theirs.

Nonetheless, sabotage or delay tactics have clearly been at play in the Greens today, with two votes of no confidence were brought in the very last twenty minutes. Each time, hundreds of Greens told them where to go by throwing the vote of no confidence out.

One member in the last 10 minutes bravely pointed out the very clear tactic at play to subvert the democratic vote on whether Zionism is indeed racism.

Which, obviously, it bloody well is.

Unwilling to be deterred, Lubna Speitan spoke powerfully defending her motion in the morning, saying:

Okay, as you know, I am Palestinian. This party says it stands with Palestinians and is one of the supporters for its stance. And I’m here today for those Palestinian and bringing forward this motion drafted by Palestinians. And with support from our Jewish allies with legal input on our motion.

adding:

Zionism is racism has had a record-breaking number of over 332 proposals.

Poignantly, she highlighted the clear attempts to subvert democracy by some members:

.. this attempt being made to rule out order is an attempt, an attack at democracy. To silence me, a Palestinian Muslim woman, confronting the racist reality of Zionism and its erasure of my family and people.

There are a huge number of people here who want to hear this motion.

Acknowledging the attacks they have received for this motion, Speitan reminded that taking action would be in line with international law and the Geneva Convention.

We are so sorry, Lubna – you deserved justice and true democracy

Ahead of the planned Zionism is Racism vote, Lubna became emotional and teary as she reminded of the impact of Zionism on her loved ones. She powerfully argued that Zionism has been the dispossession of her mother, the scars across her father’s body and emotionally added:

it’s the 56 of our relatives slaughtered in this genocide.

She finished:

A vote for this motion is a vote for clarity and equality. Zionism is racism and must be truly confronted… We reject all amendments to this motion. Free Palestine.

Subsequently, the chair said they could no longer proceed straight after Lubna powerfully spoke – and ended the conference. Frankly, it was incredibly painful and heartbreaking to witness the cold way in which this highly anticipated and emotionally charged motion ended up unheard.

So, the saboteurs won out, once again. And one thing is for sure; democracy, compassion and frankly, basic human decency, lost out once more.

Shame on all those who worked against such a crucial and landmark motion – history will not look kindly on you.

Featured image via the Canary

Tom Skinner is famous for three things:

1. Not being political.
2. Being a member of Reform UK (a political party).
3. “Bosh”.

Thomas Skinner used to post long ChatGPT paragraphs about how he’s not political, and he’s just a normal guy grafting. pic.twitter.com/WjcwjD3ZUn

— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) January 20, 2026

In his efforts to explain how un-political he is, Skinner appeared on the politics show Question Time on 26 March. When asked why he did it, Skinner told everyone he was paid £2,000. Now, the BBC has thrown this claim into question:

Question Time can confirm that panellists who are not politicians are offered an appearance fee of £150.

— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) March 27, 2026

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Bosh!

As Mukhtar highlighted, this is what Skinner brought to the table on Question Time:

This is the same guy who called Zack Polanski a bell end because he didn’t agree with his politics. pic.twitter.com/lRXvDy0efs

— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) March 27, 2026

In the above clip, Skinner says:

what I don’t like about social media is it’s always about dividing people. It’s always about people screaming and shouting – ‘if you don’t agree with me, if you don’t agree with what I stand for, or if you don’t agree with my politics, I hate you, this, that, the other. You’re a gammon or you’re a snowflake’.

Why are we not… I try and spread a bit of positivity and a bit of love, do you know what I mean?

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‘People should be nicer to each other‘ – wow – with pearls of wisdom like this, you can see why they’d pay him thirteen times the going rate.

Politics has to be about more than professional politicians. But Tom Skinner is hardly adding anything to the sum total of human wisdom with his ‘I am a bit of a geezer’ which he has monetised to punt his right-wing pro-Farage views. #bbcqt https://t.co/okG6dWvxUV

— Gerry Hassan (@GerryHassan) March 26, 2026

Because Skinner is linked to Reform UK (and also to US vice president JD Vance), people have argued the BBC should have made his political affiliations known:

Right-wing influencer and Reform UK member Tom Skinner was on Question Time last night – but the BBC just ignored his political links 👀 https://t.co/GFsjMi8uKI

— The National (@ScotNational) March 27, 2026

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Let’s be right, Tom Skinner isn’t on #bbcqt tonight due to his political insight but instead because he’s a vocal supporter of Reform

If Reform have put him forward over any one of their 8 actual MPs, it’s a shocking indictment of the sheer lack of talent within their party pic.twitter.com/AVWoYcAARb

— David (@Zero_4) March 26, 2026

Skinner claimed he wasn’t there to represent a political party; he was simply there to make a tidy £2k:

Isn’t it suspicious that a guy who kept saying “I ain’t political, I really ain’t” then meets JD Vance, suddenly claims he’s joined Reform, urges people to back Nigel Farage as the next PM, and is now being paid £2k by the BBC?

I’m actually not hating on him for taking the 2k. pic.twitter.com/TmV8taAIp3

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— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) March 27, 2026

Tom Skinner — Grand

At this point, it’s clear that someone is lying, and we’re inclined to believe it could be either party.

For some in depth analysis of Question Time, be sure to follow us on social media (links at the top of the page):

The Canary has been analysing #bbcqt every week this year to look for evidence of systemic bias. Here’s what we found in last week’s episode… #QuestionTime pic.twitter.com/JHZayR5eva

— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) March 26, 2026

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Featured image via BBC

The Green Party is having its first conference since the major uptick in membership numbers in recent months. But the first day didn’t go smoothly. Because while it showed the party’s internal democracy in full swing, it also showed how easily cynical efforts can undermine it.

Green Party — The workings of a democratic process

First of all, there were reports of an attack on the party’s online voting system. This led to a suggestion of carrying out a ‘hands up’ voting strategy instead. But members quickly raised concerns about this because it could seriously affect the integrity of the voting. So the focus returned to resolving the online voting issues.

The amount of items on the agenda for the day already seemed very ambitious. But with the setbacks, the time available to get through all the agenda items shrank very quickly.

When the tech team had fixed the online voting system, members could promptly progress with votes. And one in particular sought to ensure there was sufficient democratic accountability for the Standing Orders Committee. While this caused another big delay, it seemed to be in the interest of fostering greater democracy.

Through all of this, meanwhile, equal numbers of members could speak for or against all decisions. This allowed people to justify themselves before members voted. That was the same in the case of several no-confidence votes in the chair (which also caused delays to the conference agenda).

In the end, members had a chance to raise and explain concerns, vote, and then keep moving forwards.

It would, however, have been good to see more of the massive membership present (only around 700-900 members attended). And it would also have been good if delays and time limits hadn’t prevented members from getting to vote on all motions in front of them.

The hindering of progress and the blocking of a key vote

It’s very clear that Green members present cared deeply about issues and wanted a fair hearing. And legitimate challenges always arise when interacting with other people, especially online. But it’s fair to think that some interventions were not in good faith.

The Zionism is Racism motion lingered over the day. And efforts inside and outside the party absolutely tried to delay or prevent a vote on it. The excessive use of no-confidence votes in particular seemed intent on pushing the motion back.

Whether or not the delays of the day sought to prevent the Zionism is Racism vote or not, they did. And while the conference followed democratic procedures, these also worked to prevent Green Party members from voting on the important motion.

Featured image via the GreenParty

The Green Party conference has voted in favour of a motion opposing nationalisation of “the five largest energy supply companies”.

Despite the party currently having over 215,000 members, the motion passed with just 478 members voting in favour of it. 192 opposed it, and 15 didn’t vote.

Polls have consistently shown that the vast majority of the UK agrees with public ownership of energy companies, and that this opinion has increased in recent years. This is in no small part because of the devastation of the cost of living crisis.

No nationalisation of ‘electricity retail’ or ‘electricity generation and storage’

The motion called for the deletion of a previous commitment that:

The five largest energy supply companies will be nationalised.

Instead, it called for the insertion of:

As natural monopolies with, at present, high profit margins, electricity national transmission and regional distribution will be brought into public ownership.

And it wanted to insert a position that “electricity generation and storage” are not natural monopolies and should therefore:

have diversity of ownership including private, public, municipal and community schemes

Likewise, it argued that “electricity retail” has “low profit margins” and is not a natural monopoly. Therefore, it sought to add a statement that:

electricity retail will not be nationalised and consumers will have a choice between diverse retailers operating with fair competition.

In reality, as one speaker at the conference insisted, people in vulnerable positions often find it very difficult to find the best deal when choosing between “diverse retailers”.

An amendment that didn’t pass sought to add “as a first priority”, so the new motion would read:

electricity retail will not be nationalised as a first priority

And accompanying this was a note that:

Electricity retail will be more effectively regulated, ensuring fair treatment of vulnerable customers.

What do Green Party members think?

Nuance and policy decisions relating to careful investigation of evidence absolutely matter.

But would the 215,000+ Green members really agree that removing a pledge to nationalise energy giants is the right way to go?

If they disagree, involvement in conference procedures will need to increase in the future.

Featured image via BestforBritain

In a new moment of escalation, the Houthis of Yemen have joined Israel’s war on the side of Iran:

JUST IN: 🇾🇪🇮🇷 Yemeni Houthis officially enter war against US & Israel in support of Iran.

“Our operations will continue until the objectives are achieved.” pic.twitter.com/1TmQcRRrHz

— BRICS News (@BRICSinfo) March 28, 2026

Houthis escalation

The Houthis entered the war by launching a military attack on Israel (who themselves began the conflict by attacking Iran):

BREAKING: Yemen’s Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group has carried out its first military attack against Israel. pic.twitter.com/N8cbNVu6aq

— Al Jazeera Breaking News (@AJENews) March 28, 2026

al Jazeera reported:

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have attacked Israel with a barrage of ballistic missiles – their first such strikes since the United States-Israeli war on Iran began.

Brigadier-General Yahya Saree, a military spokesperson for the Houthis, announced the attack on Saturday on the rebels’ Al Masirah satellite television.

Strikes “will continue until the declared objectives are achieved, as stated in the previous statement by the armed forces, and until the aggression against all fronts of the resistance ceases”, Saree said.

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The Israeli military said it intercepted one missile.

The U.S. gives Israel billions of dollars in military aid, why don’t you ever say “Israel’s U.S.-backed military” launches strikes? https://t.co/f7aXD5kvc7

— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) March 28, 2026

As of right now, the Houthis have only declared hostilities against Israel — not the US:

Very interesting: Ansarallah, also known as the Houthis, are saying they will continue to respect the ceasefire they negotiated with Trump, which allows them to strike Israel but not US forces https://t.co/VMGQY6HytZ

— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) March 28, 2026

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A new opponent entering the war could prove to be a real problem for Israel. As we reported on 27 March, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid:

shared a post—viewed by 1 million users— warning that Israel is facing a security disaster and that the military is “on the verge of collapse.”

He cited Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, who sounded the same alarm to political-security cabinet. In a veiled message to Netanyahu, he Lapid said:

“Anyone who heard him yesterday will not be able to say, “I didn’t know.””

The IDF could soon collapse if there is no solution to the shortage of manpower, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir warned in remarks during a security cabinet meeting held on Wednesday.
Reporting by: @keshet_neev @Jeremybob1 https://t.co/DZ4TN6nDzv

— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) March 26, 2026

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The war on Iran has led to the partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz. As we’ve all learned, this has proven disastrous, because vast percentages of the world’s fuel, fertiliser, gas, and other resources pass through this narrow passage. What people may learn next is that the Houthis are positioned to close an entirely different strait.

Terrifying warning for the global economy. An expert details Iran’s ultimate masterplan: a coordinated multi-strait blockade choking off Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab, plus targeting the Suez Canal and Saudi pipelines. They have the power to completely paralyze Western trade. pic.twitter.com/HplfBdOmal

— Furkan Gözükara (@FurkanGozukara) March 28, 2026

The Bab-al Mandab Strait leads to Egypt’s Suez Canal. This passage allows ships to travel through the Mediterranean, facilitating shipping between Europe and Asia without a need to travel around Africa.

Capital markets commenters the Kobeissi Letter noted the following:

In a major escalation, Yemen’s Houthi Group has officially joined the war with a ballistic missle launch at Israel, just as the war hit its one-month mark.

All eyes are now on the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

If closed, the world loses another ~6 million barrels of daily oil supply

War

The Houthis entering the conflict is another sign that things could continue to escalate. It’s also another moment of grim vindication for those who warned that launching a war in the Middle East would be chaotic, costly, and futile.

Featured image via Al Jazeera

Leasehold properties are a national scandal, and these properties are causing misery for millions of people. Labour promised to end this issue, but in government they’ve instead opted to kick the can down the road. The problem is they want voters to believe they’re solving the problem even as they refuse to do so.

As an example of this in action, please see the following from Labour’s minister of state for housing and planning:

Oh… right. https://t.co/orvrBLe28D pic.twitter.com/lYnHBtjJmV

— cladtrap (@cladtrap) March 27, 2026

Leasing the truth

The problem with leasehold properties is they combine the cost of purchasing a house with the downsides of not actually owning one, as HG wrote for the Canary in January this year:

Most flats in the UK are leasehold, along with some shared ownership houses.

Freehold means a resident owning their property and the land it is built on. On the other hand, leasehold means owning the property for a fixed period, while still paying ground rent to the landlord, who either owns the building (such as a block of flats) or the land.

When the lease ends, ownership returns to the landlord.

In comparison, commonhold provides freehold ownership for flats or other interdependent buildings.

Pennycook said he’d ‘end’ leasehold in parliament:

This Labour government is ending the feudal leasehold system and easing cost of living pressures for millions of leaseholders across the country. pic.twitter.com/6A1RTvQQHS

— Matthew Pennycook MP (@mtpennycook) January 27, 2026

He also made it clear it would happen “over the course of this Parliament” — i.e. that it would happen before the next elections in 2029:

Imagine being an MP and this is how you find out Hansard exists… https://t.co/65qOS3hU7I pic.twitter.com/VolmXi12nV

— HutchOnline (@Hutch_Online) March 27, 2026

Do ‘abolish’ and ‘end’ mean the same thing in every context?

No.

But they both clearly give the impression that leasehold would no longer exist under Labour — i.e. that it would ‘end’.

Demonstrating that this position is unpopular with the party’s own members, Labour Party activist Matt Lismore said the following:

I don’t think people realise that creating a 2 tier flats market with leasehold (existing) and commonhold (new) could crush leasehold property values further.

That would place leading UK banks in the position of holding huge volumes of mortgages where the borrower is in negative equity.

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This wouldn’t be an issue if defaults stay low, but should a significant number of leaseholders start defaulting, banks could be in considerable bother, causing significant harm to the UK economy.

Further, if leasehold flat values fall after commonhold comes in, even more properties will fall into the service charge > 1% of value bracket, making them largely unmortgageable.

Matt Pennycook, it is vital that we don’t create a 2 tier market in flats – it has the capacity to have significant knock on consequences.

Labour — collapse in real-time

Lismore isn’t voicing a niche opinion or unwarranted concern. If you want to see what’s happening to leasehold properties in the UK, simply look at the property market:

had a quick look through this account and bascially every example is a leasehold lol https://t.co/K1JetQtxal

— sonny (@SonnyTLoughran) March 23, 2026

To be fair, houses should be cheaper. At the same time, these houses aren’t cheaper because we’ve fixed the housing problem; they’re cheaper because no one wants to live in them them.

Labour aren’t fixing a problem in a sensible and incremental way; they’re allowing an entirely new problem to fester to keep property developers happy. And it’s going to result in misery for anyone who owns one of the nearly 5 million leasehold properties in the UK.

Featured image via author

If events in Edinburgh today are anything to go by – when a march and rally announced with great fanfare seven months ago, backed by both the “independence” parties in the Scottish Parliament and featuring the First Minister as main speaker, attracted perhaps 1,500 people at the most to Calton Hill on a bright and sunny day – the independence movement faces an imminent final apocalypse.

So here’s how to prepare yourself for when the SNP win a landslide with 35%, Keir Starmer says “So what?” and then a deathly silence descends for another five years.

?

Even Kelly Given and Iona Fyfe didn’t show up for this one. That’s how bad it is.

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The Co-Deputy Leader of the Green Party Mothin Ali has released a beautiful and moving video about his upbringing in Sheffield, conveying some vital truths about the class unity needed to take on Britain’s establishment.

It starts with Ali on a bus talking about a recent encounter in London:

So, I was in London the other day and this bloke, he comes right up to me. He says, “Why don’t you eff off back to where you came from?” And you know what? I thought I will. So, I came back here to Sheffield.

From there, we hear about Ali’s upbringing amidst the heavy industry of the 1980s, and the working class unity that existed across racial groups, even if prejudice wasn’t entirely absent from British life at the time. He recalls how the community was shattered by the policies of Margaret Thatcher. Now 40 years later in a deindustrialised society, the social fragmentation caused by those neoliberal policies has seen racist attitudes skyrocket.

Ali: we must work “side by side” to shatter chains of capitalism

As Ali says:

That man in London, when he saw me, all he saw was my beard, my topi, my brown skin. Like it was me. Like it was me to blame. All he saw was our differences. So I get why we had to come back here to remember what we’d lost. It wasn’t just the work or the factories, it was something else.

In the past, Ali points out, when two such people met:

We saw those chains, chains of hardship and debt. And we knew that the only way we’d ever lift them was together, side by side.

Thatcher knew that sites of industry — coal mines, steel mills, factories — were crucial locations for building class consciousness. Where people of different ethnicities and religions met and saw a common cause with one another, and where trade unions provided a political education on class realities. The employer was the enemy, not the person with a different skin colour beside you on the job. It was your employer who was underpaying you, overworking you, disregarding your safety, and taking most of the profit for themselves.

Thatcher referred to the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) as “the enemy within“. However, in reality it was all trade unions, and all sites of working class organisation that she wanted to crush. That she surely did, and instituted massive waves of privatisation that saw vital national assets sold off to corporations.

Green Party — strong left-wing communicators key to beating back the right

After four decades, the results of this project are clear. Sky high energy prices, a barely functional health service, rivers overflowing with shit and a society where it seems nothing works any more. In the vacuum filled by the fading of trade unions, racist demagogues like those of Reform and Restore have been able to sell fictions about the causes of these problems, blaming migrants and Muslims. Overt racism thought to be virtually extinct has returned in appalling fashion. Mothin Ali is no stranger to this, having been the victim himself on more than one occasion.

George Monbiot has often cited the importance of story telling in political projects, and bemoaned the left’s inability to match the right in this regard. Fortunately, the Green Party have now proven themselves to be effective tellers of simple truths, delivered in an emotionally powerful way. Similarly, leader Zack Polanski is an outstanding communicator, rarely caught flat-footed in an interview.

In a social media age, these are essential skills for beating back racist snake oil salesmen intent on distracting us from our true enemies — bosses, landlords and the craven politicians that back them.

Featured image via the Canary