In 2026, High Street chains are continuing to close due to a lack of consumer spending power and the move to online shopping. River Island plans to shut 32 of its stores this year. And there were 30% less High Street stores in 2024 then there were in 2014.

But maybe that’s a good thing? Arts venues, independent outlets and community spaces could replace Big Brand consumerism, turning the centrepiece of towns from dull shopping centres to vibrant creative development.

The number of grassroots music venues (GMVs) is still shrinking, but they are making a comeback – unlike High Street chains. That perhaps shows an appetite for the move away from such consumerism and towards creative nourishment. In 2025, the number of GMVs shrank by just nine, the lowest since 2018. Half of GMVs make no profit.

Questionable losses

The thing is, charity shops and stores like Poundland are also closing. Low income people rely on these places for basic goods. While the existence of charity is a sign the system isn’t working, it’s better than nothing. Cancer Research UK plans to close around 90 of its shops by May. At the same time, the government can always take a stake in such necessary outfits, lowering prices and reducing inflation. It can also provide more funding towards cancer research, a disease responsible for over a quarter of all deaths in the UK.

Your town, your choice?

The direction of the town centre could be delivered through people’s engagement with the city council, making each town different rather than endless boring chains in every part of the UK. While Neighbourhood Planning is already a thing, big capital often takes priority under the current system. Another issue is people are too busy working long hours on low salaries.

We can do better than our town centres consisting of people working retail hours on the minimum wage in grey, lifeless buildings. They should be places of excitement, varied education and community, but spaces that still recognise the individual. Pubs and cafes, definitely – but also arts venues, independent stores, and grassroots spaces.

Featured image via the Canary

On Tuesday 17 March, Quakers will hold a silent Meeting for Worship outside New Scotland Yard. They’ll then join a mass lobby of parliament to defend the right to protest.

The meeting follows two police raids on Quaker premises. On 5 March the Metropolitan Police raided Westminster Meeting House, arresting 15 people attending a nonviolent direct action training session.

No one has yet been charged. No one from the first raid, less than a year ago, was ever charged either.

The Quaker meeting takes place at 11.45am at the southern end of Embankment Gardens, with supporters invited to meet from 11.15am. There will also be a livestream.

Quakers – 350 years of resisting oppression

Caroline Nursey, clerk of Westminster Quaker Meeting, said:

Quakers have been accustomed to oppression by the state for over 350 years. We will continue to hire space to explicitly nonviolent groups, just as we always have.

After the meeting for worship, participants will join a mass lobby of parliament from 2pm. Amnesty International UK, Greenpeace, Liberty, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Quakers in Britain, and major trade unions have organised the lobby.

At meetings in Westminster Hall, they will urge MPs to reject the “cumulative disruption” clause in the Crime and Policing Bill. This clause is dangerously broad and undermines human rights. In particular it threatens the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.

Though its primary target is Palestine marches, it could sweep up campaigns on peace, climate justice, and much more.

Police could ban an anti-racist march from Whitehall because of a previous farmers’ protest. Or they could restrict a pride march because a far-right demonstration recently happened in the same town.

The Crime and Policing Bill is part of a broader trend in the UK of cracking down on those who disagree with the government.

The UK is already the only western European country which Civicus has rated “obstructed” for civic freedoms. And a United Nations Special Rapporteur has criticised the UK’s approach.

Gina Romero, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, will attend the mass lobby and hold separate meetings with MPs.

Find full details of the Quakers’ event here.

Featured image via the Canary

Why might “7/10 effort” help runners?

Does the 7/10 rule always help runners?

Israel’s assault on Lebanon saw the settler-colonial state hit 30 locations across the country’s south and in the Beqaa valley. Israel said on 16 March ‘limited’ ground operations were underway.

In theory, Hezbollah breached a US-brokered ‘ceasefire’ with Israel which had held since their last war in 2024. In practice, the US had given Israel carte blanche to strike Lebanon ever since. Israel has done so constantly since the deal was struck.

You can read about the secretive Israel-US ‘side letter’ pact here. And our extensive coverage of Israel’s ceasefire breaches here.

Lebanon hammered

Journalist Courtney Bonneau reported on 15 March:

🔴Summary of Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory on 15/3/2026:

🟠Airstrikes:
🔅South:
Zebdine
Hanin
Yatir
Toul
Haniyah
Mifdoun
Qalila
Taybeh
Wadi al-Hujair
Majdal Selm
Touline
Nabatieh al-Fouqa
Khiam
Sinai
Ali al-Taher
Naqoura
Jabour
Aitat
Sharqiyah
Adchit Nabatieh
Kfar… https://t.co/3z9cxWuq55

— courtneybonneauimages (@cbonneauimages) March 16, 2026

Drop Site News said Israel used a mix of airstrikes, drones, and artillery. On 16 March, Bonneau and her cameraman showed fighting between the Israeli and resistance forces underway – alleging Israel was using chemical weapons:

Americans, your tax dollars are paying for illegal chemical warfare.

Cameraman: @aliezzedine7 pic.twitter.com/E25Pb6VT7C

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— courtneybonneauimages (@cbonneauimages) March 16, 2026

Smoke was visible over the town of Khaim, roughly 6km north the the Israeli border.

Intense fighting now in Khiam, Lebanon pic.twitter.com/dHqlBQP7vy

— courtneybonneauimages (@cbonneauimages) March 16, 2026

Analysts told Al Jazeera on 16 March that Israel was using military occupation as a tool to enforce potential ceasefire terms:

By holding Lebanese territory, Israel is forcing Lebanon to negotiate over its sovereignty, with a question mark over whether Israeli troops will eventually withdraw or if currently occupied areas will be permanently transformed into an unpopulated buffer zone.

The Guardian’s Will Cristou reported Israel had killed three first responders on 16 March, bringing the total to 35 in the last two weeks:

An Israeli strike killed 3 first responders in Kafr Seer, south Lebanon this morning.

At least 35 medical workers have been killed by Israel in Lebanon in under two weeks. pic.twitter.com/YVO6bRiW37

— Will Christou (@will_christou) March 16, 2026

Death and defiance in the south

Sky News reported that mourners in the south have defied Israeli evacuation orders to bury their dead. And France 24 reported that Israel was still hitting densely populated areas of the capital Beirut with airstrikes:

On 12 March Israel bombed the tents of displaced people who’d fled rom the south to Beirut. One observer described the scenes as:

An outrageous war crime reminiscent of the massacres carried out in Gaza.

Israel also bombed a university, killing two academics:

BREAKING:

Israel just bombed the Lebanese National Public University in Beirut.

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They murdered the Director of the Faculty of Science, Dr. Hussein Bazzi, and Dr. Murtada Srour.

They are not just killing people — they are erasing knowledge and attacking the future of Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/OoSSow5zJ3

— sarah (@sahouraxo) March 12, 2026

Reuters reported on 15 March:

Israel and Lebanon are expected to ​hold talks in the coming days aimed at securing a durable ceasefire that ‌would see Hezbollah disarmed, two Israeli officials said on Sunday, though the timing and terms have yet to be agreed.

The outlet said three sources had claimed:

Beirut is forming a delegation for talks but no date has been set. Lebanon needed clarity on whether ​Israel would abide by President Joseph Aoun’s first point — a demand for a ​full ceasefire to allow negotiations to take place.

Israel’s aggression is taking place in the context of its ongoing genocide in Gaza and now a regional war with Iran. Its ambitions in Lebanon are deeply linked with the Greater Israel project, an ethnonationalist fever-dream which subjects the region and its indigenous people to a decades-old cycle of war, occupation and extermination.

Featured image via the Canary

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced that employers will receive £3,000 for every 18-24-year-old they employ. They will also give small and medium businesses £2,000 for every apprentice they take on.

But, as usual, the approach they’re taking is totally wrong.

DWP pushing kids into shit jobs

Pat McFadden, the Secretary of State for the DWP, has announced the Youth Jobs Grant. This will work alongside the Youth Guarantee. As the Canary has reported, this will push young people into low paid and low skilled work, regardless of whether they’re well enough to work.

McFadden said:

These measures will give life-changing opportunities to young people and significantly reverse the increase we inherited in those not in education, employment or training.

We are focusing funding where it’s needed most and giving employers the flexibility and support they’ve asked for.

The press release, bizarrely, includes a staggering thirty-two quotes ranging everyone from the prime minister to the CEO of B&M.

This gives us a flavour of the sort of employers who will be involved in the scheme. It includes Lloyds Banking Group, Severn Trent, B&M and Amazon. As the Canary previously reported, McFadden’s first Youth Guarantee jobs fair was packed to the teeth with military and weapons companies.

The grant is being touted as incredible reforms, but nobody is looking at the big picture. Yes, it’s great that more jobs are being created for young people, but why do big conglomerates like Amazon need a financial incentive to employ someone? While no doubt some of them will be good jobs, it’s looking more like it will just trap working-class kids in crap jobs with no way out.

Apprenticeships instead of fully paid work

The DWP has also announced £2.5 billion in funding for training and apprenticeships. But then you have to look at what the apprenticeships are. As part of the scheme, the DWP will introduce short apprentice units in:

• AI Leadership – developing AI strategy
• Electric vehicle charging point installation and maintenance
• Electrical fitting and assembly
• Mechanical fitting and assembly
• Permanent modular building assembly
• Solar PV installation and maintenance welding

While some of these are useful and practical, a lot seem like babysitting the robots, don’t they?

The department is also ‘streamlining’ many ‘apprenticeship standards’. But again, looking at the list, these are low-skilled jobs for which people will be paid even less than usual. The jobs involve ‘cleaning hygiene operative’, which lets be honest, is a cleaning job. And “custody and detention professional’, which is a prison officer.

What support for work?

While this grand announcement was made, there were, of course, no specifics published. So we don’t know who will be able to apply for the grants and how many they will be able to claim. It goes without saying that this will be wide open to abuse from greedy companies. It’s ironic that the DWP are going to seemingly allow this after accusing employers of abusing the Access to Work scheme just last week.

With each announcement, it becomes clearer just how little the DWP actually cares about supporting young people into work. It’s time the DWP stopped pretending and instead owned up to the fact that they only care about how much money they can exploit from people.

Featured image via the Canary

Academic and author Professor Keon West is a social scientist and expert in the psychology of racism – and, he appeared on Green party leader Zack Polanski’s Bold Politics podcast to discuss the UK’s burgeoning racism problem.

Professor West was asked why the phrase “unconscious bias” has become so common.

West’s answer will challenge many. West told Polanski that the phrase is a way of spreading and universalising guilt and responsibility as a way of avoiding taking responsibility ourselves for our own attitudes. And he said that it is helping racists excuse their racism while simultaneously spouting and touting it:

It’s incredibly comfortable. In the UK it’s so hard to have a conversation about racism or sexism.

You won’t hear people say: I did that and that was a racist thing to do. You can go on TV and say you hate seeing a bunch of black and brown faces – like Reform UK’s Sarah Pochin – and say you cannot be racist, it must be a misunderstanding.

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Similarly men will say all sorts of things but not say that was sexist.

Instead, West explained how added buffers make those making racist or sexist statements feel better:

I think that it is considered so impolite and so hurtful, to own up to that bias, that we sneak in a word in front of that, ‘unconscious’, and suddenly we don’t have to feel quite so bad. And everybody has it.That focus that makes us calmer about the bias, that’s really for the benefit of the people being biased. It’s not at all for the benefit of the people on the receiving end of the bias.

Featured image via X

Nigel Farage has incurred the internet’s wrath after promoting English Tourism Week with a trip to his own constituency of Clacton-on-Sea.

The Reform UK leader posted a video on Sunday evening showing hims out and about in the coastal town, mingling with his constituents.

In the short clip, the politician says: “This week marks English Tourism Week, and where better to come for a day out, rain or shine, than Clacton.

“Miles of sandy beaches and this six and a half acres, the biggest pier space in the whole of Europe. Things for people of all ages to do.

“I promise you, come to Clacton, it’s a great day out – and there’s lots of hospitality, too.”

Since winning his seat at the eighth attempt at the last election, Farage has been accused of rarely visiting his constituency, although he insists he spends a “couple of days a week” there.

Farage’s clip may prove that he is definitely visiting his own town – but doing so to promote tourism seemed to take the biscuit among many of his online critics…

(alamy)

3 min read1 hr

Speaking at a press conference in north London on Monday, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions said he was confident that Labour MPs would support the government on a plan that puts “work and opportunity at its heart”.

McFadden set out proposals to incentivise companies to hire young people as part of the government’s bid to tackle rising rates of youth unemployment. Around one in eight 16 to 24-year-olds are not in employment, education of training. 

Under the plans, businesses will receive £3,000 for every 18-24-year-old hired who has been on Universal Credit or looking for work for six months. Businesses that take part in the scheme will be paid in two instalments, with the first expected to be a substantial amount to make the scheme worthwhile. The jobs given to young people must be at least 25 hours per week and paid minimum wage. 

Additionally, an apprenticeship incentive of £2,000 will be given to SME’s for each new employee aged between 16 and 24, and a scheme subsidising minimum wage work for benefits claimants who have been looking for work for 18 months will be raised to include those aged up to 24 from its current limit of 21.

McFadden defended young people trying to find work and hit back at claims that young people were “shirkers” and “snowflakes”. He said there was a moral case for helping people get into work, describing it as fundamentally “good for pride, purpose and identity”.

The cabinet minister said: “Two years ago, I had the honour of co-ordinating the general election campaign that led to the first Labour victory for 19 years, and only the fourth majority Labour victory from opposition for 100 years. 

“The reason I say this is because, historically speaking, Labour governments don’t come along too often. I want us to use our time in office well, to understand that every day in office is precious. 

“We are not here to keep things ticking over. We have both a responsibility and an opportunity to take on the challenges facing the country, to change things for the better.”

McFadden said he was confident that a new government bid to reduce spending on benefits would be supported by Labour MPs. 

Keir Starmer was forced to abandon planned reforms to Personal Independence Payments last year after more than 120 Labour backbenchers threatened to rebel in a House of Commons vote.

“Welfare reform should be about opportunity and work, and that’s what I mean by a working state. This is an approach that puts work at its heart,” said McFadden.

“I don’t believe that the best way to do reform is to pluck a figure out of air, and retrofit a policy next to it. I think the best way to approach reform is to give people a chance.”

He added: “I see no reason why Labour MPs should not support welfare reform [with] work and opportunity at its heart.”

Earlier this month, the Office for Budget Responsibility estimated that welfare spending will rise by nearly 6 per cent to £330bn this year, driven by health-related benefits as well as pensions. It is expected to hit £407bn in 2030-31.

The Starmer government has previously warned that current levels of welfare spending are not sustainable and must be reduced in the long-term.

A new report has shown crucial solutions to limit mineral demand for a green transition. These include public transportation, improved recycling programmes, and advanced battery technologies.

Greenpeace International commissioned the report: Beyond Extraction: Pathways for a 1.5°C-aligned Energy Transition with Less Minerals. The authors are academics from the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology, Sydney in Australia.

The report uses different 1.5°C-compatible energy scenarios to explore pathways toward mineral sufficiency and efficiency. And it shows how Earth’s minerals can be administered for a clean renewable energy transformation. One that protects vital Earth support systems from terrestrial or deep sea mining of so-called ‘critical minerals’.

Elsa Lee, co-head of biodiversity at Greenpeace International, said:

Mining often brings environmental destruction and social harm. It is reportedly linked to child labour, workers’ rights violations, land grabs from Indigenous Peoples, ecosystem damage, and threats to communities.

Around the world, the minerals ‘rush’ repeats extractivist and colonial patterns, disregards the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and threatens to undermine the very possibility of a just and green energy transition.

We all want a just world where energy is clean, affordable and available to everyone, rights are respected, peoples’ land access and livelihoods are protected, and our planet has a stable climate and rich biodiversity.

With this report we underline that it is incumbent upon our governments who regulate the extractive industry to power an ambitious energy transition without mining critical ecosystems on land or at sea.

A key recommendation of the report is that decision makers must prioritise mineral use for essential energy transition purposes. We’re in an era of eroding international cooperation and intensifying conflict. And this underscores the importance of coordinated action to protect people and nature, and achieve climate objectives.

Greenpeace International deep sea mining campaigner Ruth Ramos said:

Lines have been crossed on the land that need never be crossed in the deep ocean. Now we know: not only does deep sea mining run against science, ethics, people and the planet, it’s not even needed for a renewable transition.

What is needed is for the nations of the world to unite against rogue actors like The Metals Company and Donald Trump and their affronts to international law and cooperation, and instead keep moving towards a moratorium on deep sea mining.

Imagine if humans could have protected the world from the harms of the fossil fuel industry before it even started. That is the opportunity when it comes to deep sea mining: it is a historic privilege, and one we must now embrace wholeheartedly.

The report compared potential mineral reserves areas with areas that, due to their exceptional environmental, ecological, and social importance, must be out of bounds to mining. The analysis finds that there is no need to mine these fragile areas, including, amongst others, the global ocean and protected areas on land, for an ambitious energy transition.

Report author Professor Sven Teske said:

This research highlights how sound policies and innovative technologies can limit mineral demand in a 1.5°C-aligned energy transition. Realising this potential, however, requires responsible political leadership and decisive action today.

Featured image via the Canary