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Wuthering Heights: 19 Behind-The-Scenes Secrets About How The Film Was Made

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Emerald Fennell with Wuthering Heights stars Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie earlier this month

Whether it’s people swooning over Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi’s on-screen romance or critics furiously speaking out against the changes made from the original book, Wuthering Heights is the film the whole world is talking about right now.

Based on Emily Brontë’s iconic gothic novel, Emerald Fennell’s new movie follows the story of Cathy and Heathcliff, two childhood friends who become star-crossed lovers, only for their toxic bond to lead to their downfall.

Divisive though the film may be, Wuthering Heights has all the hallmarks of Emerald Fennell’s past work, from the elaborate costumes to the meticulous detail of the sets.

For those who’ve already seen it, we’ve pulled together some surprising facts on how this latest take on Wuthering Heights made its way to the big screen…

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Emerald Fennell chose to adapt Wuthering Heights because she was obsessed with the novel as a teenager – though that also came with its own issues.

Speaking at the Brontë Women’s Writing festival in September 2025, Emerald recounted how the iconic gothic novel had “cracked [her] open” when she first read it at the age of 14.

However, her reverence for the source material also made adapting it for the big screen all the more difficult.

Emerald Fennell with Wuthering Heights stars Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie earlier this month
Emerald Fennell with Wuthering Heights stars Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie earlier this month

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“[It is] an act of extreme masochism to try and make a film of something that means this much to you,” she shared. “There’s an enormous amount of sado-masochism in this book. There’s a reason people were deeply shocked by it.”

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During a subsequent appearance on the Penguin podcast, Emerald revealed she had re-read the book almost yearly since first discovering it as a teen, and was still impressed at how timeless the story was.

“The thing that strikes you [is] how humane and how timeless something is, and how much you feel that people have always sort of been the same,” she told interviewer Rhianna Dhillon.

Part of the appeal of the book for the filmmaker was the lack of consensus on whether it’s a toxic love story or a transcendental romance.

“Wuthering Heights is the ultimate book club book,” she told W Magazine, “because everyone can argue about it till the cows come home. And so I’m always just like, ‘You tell me’.”

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The film is actually called “Wuthering Heights” – with added quotation marks – because director Emerald Fennell penned her script from memory

Much has been said about the changes the Oscar-winning filmmaker has made to the beloved source material, with some critics even branding the movie a “mockery of a classic”.

Alongside chopping the entire second half of the novel, one of the biggest changes Emerald made to the book is removing several minor characters, so the film focuses entirely on Cathy and Heathcliff.

Emerald admitted this came about when she started writing the script for Wuthering Heights from memory, as she wanted her film to be a “response and interpretation to that book and to the feeling of it” rather than a faithful adaptation.

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“I think the things that I remembered were both real and not real,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “So there was a certain amount of wish fulfillment in there, and there were whole characters that I’d sort of forgotten or consolidated.”

During her chat on the Penguin podcast, Emerald admitted she loved adaptations that “exist as a response,” rather than a straight-up adaptation.

“For me, it was always about saying, ‘this is a sister or a cousin to the original text’,” she remarked. “It can’t be a twin.”

When the poster dropped, fans wanted to know why the film was called “Wuthering Heights” with quotation marks, which she explained was because the film is so different from the “untouchable” source material.

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“I wanted to say early on […] I can’t make a perfect thing out of this because it’s too difficult, but I can hopefully make some people feel the same way that I felt when I read it,” she told Penguin Penguin.

One very significant Wuthering Heights character is missing from the film

While numerous characters from the book are missing in Emerald’s movie, the absence that has drawn the most criticism is that of Hindley Earnshaw.

Emerald has explained that Cathy’s brother, Hindley, was not featured in her film so the narrative could focus more on the central romance. Hindley’s antagonist role within the story is instead replaced by Martin Clunes’ Mr. Earnshaw, whose character is tweaked considerably in this adaptation.

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Martin Clunes plays a reimagined version of Mr Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights
Martin Clunes plays a reimagined version of Mr Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights

“Hindley still exists, I believe, but in the form of Earnshaw,” Emerald told Entertainment Weekly.

“It’s such a complicated structure, the novel, that really it would have been very, very difficult to turn that into a coherent movie because it would just be much more time.”

Emerald Fennell wanted to make the story’s ending more dramatic, so she made some big structural changes to Wuthering Heights

Of all the changes Emerald made to the source material, one of the biggest is undoubtedly the ending. While in the film, Cathy dies of sepsis before she ever has the chance to see Heathcliff again, in the book, she does get to see her lover one last time.

Emerald explained to Entertainment Weekly that this edit was “partly structural” – but there was something else behind the decision.

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“We talk a lot about Romeo & Juliet,” she pointed out. “And, obviously, when we meet Isabella, she’s talking about that kind of story and about that missed thing, and I feel so much that Cathy and Heathcliff’s [romance] was about missing each other.”

In Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff does not get a chance to see Cathy again before she dies
In Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff does not get a chance to see Cathy again before she dies

Emerald Fennell had Jacob Elordi in mind to play Heathcliff from day one – for one very specific reason

Jacob Elordi’s casting as Heathcliff caused significant backlash, with many declaring it to be a case of “whitewashing” a character many believe was written as a person of colour in the novel.

Opening up about the controversial decision to cast Jacob in the role last year, Emerald claimed she first had the idea to cast Jacob while they were still working together on Saltburn, after noticing that he “looked exactly like the illustration of Heathcliff on the first [copy of Wuthering Heights] that I read”.

“It was so awful because I so wanted to scream,” she told the BBC. “[That would not have been] the professional thing to do, obviously.”

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She added: “I had been thinking about making [a film version of Wuthering Heights], and it seemed to me he had the thing… he’s a very surprising actor.”

Reacting more directly to the “whitewashing” accusations in January 2026, the Promising Young Woman director defended her choice, telling The Hollywood Reporter: “Everyone who loves this book has such a personal connection to it, and so, you can only ever kind of make the movie that you sort of imagined yourself when you read it.”

Jacob Elordi in Saltburn – his first collaboration with Wuthering Heights director Emerald Fennell
Jacob Elordi in Saltburn – his first collaboration with Wuthering Heights director Emerald Fennell

While Jacob has not yet addressed the controversy, he did tell Vogue Australia that playing Heathcliff caused him to doubt himself.

More recently, Jacob defended the changes Emerald made to the novel more generally, describing the film as “her vision”, and echoing her past claim that it was based on “the images that came to her head” when she read the book as a teen.

“Someone else’s interpretation of a great piece of art is what I am interested in,” he said.

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Margot Robbie suggested herself for the role of Cathy in Wuthering Heights

Margot and Emerald Fennell’s professional relationship began when the Once Upon A Time In Hollywood actor’s production company, LuckyChap Entertainment, became an early backer of the director, producing her films Promising Young Woman and Saltburn.

Jacob had already been cast in Wuthering Heights by the time Emerald’s script landed on Margot’s desk, and the Barbie star was instantly captivated and felt connected to Cathy.

“I both understood her and didn’t, in a way that drew me to her. It’s this puzzle you have to work out,” she told Vogue.

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So, Margot threw her hat in the ring to play the role, although she didn’t “want Emerald to feel like she had to say yes”.

“I’ve always wanted to be one of Emerald’s actors and fortunately, she felt the same way. It worked out wonderfully,” she mentioned on The Graham Norton show.

Emerald seemingly didn’t need too much convincing, instantly casting the Oscar-nominated actor.

“Margot comes with big dick energy. That’s what Cathy needs,” the British director told Vogue.

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Wuthering Heights star Alison Oliver was offered the role of Isabella by text

Wuthering Heights has been divisive among critics and audiences, but one thing that has been near-unanimously praised is Alison Oliver’s portrayal of Isabella.

The Irish actor previously worked with Emerald Fennell in Saltburn, where she played the spoilt-but-complicated sister of Jacob Elordi’s Felix.

Emerald was so impressed with Alison’s work in her previous film that she offered her the role of Isabella via text, to which Alison immediately replied with a “yes”.

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“I just love her so much that I would do anything she was doing,” Alison told Elle.

Alison Oliver at the premiere of Wuthering Heights earlier this month
Alison Oliver at the premiere of Wuthering Heights earlier this month

Charli XCX was sent the script after only meeting Emerald Fennell once

Alison Oliver wasn’t the only person involved in Wuthering Heights to be asked to participate over text.

Charli XCX, who soundtracked the gothic romance, got a message out of the blue from Emerald Fennell, despite only meeting the director once.

“I had heard through the grapevine that she was making an adaptation of Wuthering Heights, and so when she sent me the script to read, I devoured it instantly,” Charli wrote on her Substack in November 2025. “I was in London at the time, it was freezing and miserable and getting dark at around 4pm, which felt fitting.”

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The Grammy winner recalled: “I began to sink into this reimagined world of Wuthering Heights and I suddenly began to feel… inspired.”

While it was Emerald’s idea for Charli to contribute a song to the soundtrack, it was the singer who suggested a whole companion album could work, too.

“I wanted to dive into persona, into a world that felt undeniably raw, wild, sexual, gothic, British, tortured and full of actual real sentences, punctuation and grammar,” the Brat star explained.

Charli XCX

Jacob Elordi’s beard had to be tested to make sure it could handle the Yorkshire weather

When audiences first see Jacob Elordi in character as Heathcliff, he has long scruffy hair and a beard.

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Although Jacob was able to grow his own beard, Wuthering Heights was filmed out of order, meaning the makeup team had to recreate his real facial hair in some scenes by laying on every individual hair by hand. And because much of the film takes place on the wet, windy moors, the team had to test-run the fake beard to ensure it could handle the conditions.

“It was a very kind of nail-biting [experience],” hair and makeup department head, Sian Miller, told Variety. “And Emerald, outside the studio at Elstree, got the effects guys to hose him with, I likened it to a water cannon with a Rolls-Royce engine.”

Later, when Heathcliff returns in the film, he has had a glow-up, appearing clean-shaven with a new sleek haircut, prompting the nickname “Darcy Elordi” behind the scenes, in a nod to Pride & Prejudice.

“[Jacob] has great hair to work with and the sideburns. We just knew it was going to suit him, and he would look amazing,” Miller revealed to Variety.

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Because Wuthering Heights was not filmed in order, Jacob Elordi needed to don a fake beard for certain scenes
Because Wuthering Heights was not filmed in order, Jacob Elordi needed to don a fake beard for certain scenes

Jacob Elordi used poetry to help him master that Northern accent

Australian actor Jacob Elordi had already been praised for his accent work in both Saltburn and Frankenstein, but his impressive Yorkshire accent in Wuthering Heights still came as a surprise to many viewers.

Around the film’s release, he told the BBC how he religiously practiced the very specific Northern English accent in the bath.

“I like the ‘meks’ and the ‘teks’, instead of ‘take’. I like the ‘M-E-K’, ‘T-E-K’,” he explained of the Yorkshire dialect.

The former Euphoria actor teamed up with dialect coach William Conacher – who worked on Oppenheimer and Nosferatu – and listened to Ted Hughes’ poem Lovesong to help him work on the accent.

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“You don’t want the dialogue from the script to become dull by repetition, so you try to avoid getting too much into it,” Conacher told The Observer. “We went through the poem a lot, and there are patterns that you work out and there are rules.

“It’s easy to fall into the trap of doing a general wash of northernness… I think I pushed it in a direction that was stronger than Jacob was originally intending.”

Historical accuracy came second to emotion when it came to Wuthering Heights’ costumes

While some critics have called out Wuthering Heights’ costumes for not being accurate to its 1800s setting, Emerald has insisted that silhouette and overall vibe were more important factors to her than achieving realism.

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She pointed out to the V&A: “We’re not making a realistic costume. We’re referencing it as a costume. It’s only a period drama, to a point. The suspension of disbelief is why it’s so fun.”

The team behind Cathy’s elaborate costumes for Wuthering Heights say they made 45 to 50 looks for Margot to wear in the film, which were more inspired by 1950s melodrama, fairytales and paperback book covers than Brontë’s source novel.

“Our references ranged from Elizabethan through to Georgian and Victorian, and from paintings and historical dress to contemporary fashion and representations of period costume in 20th-century films,” Oscar-winning costume designer Jacqueline Durran told Vogue.

“The challenge was to distill that into looks that told the story that Emerald wanted to tell.”

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Emerald Fennell had an unusual inspiration for a certain period-inappropriate dress in Wuthering Heights

One look that has especially been called out for being anachronistic to the period is the so-called “cellophane dress”.

Margot Robbie's "cellophane dress" has proved divisive among Wuthering Heights viewers
Margot Robbie’s “cellophane dress” has proved divisive among Wuthering Heights viewers

Made from beautiful, iridescent fabric, it was criticised by many for being more Barbie than Cathy Earnshaw.

Emerald had a very specific vision in mind when speaking to Jacqueline Durran about creating the garment, which was worn on Cathy’s wedding night.

The gown was inspired by a 1950s photo Emerald had of a woman wrapped up in cellophane with a bow around the middle, with Durran telling Vogue: “It’s about Cathy being a gift on her wedding night, making herself a gift.”

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Cathy’s hair mimics the different stages of her life over the course of Wuthering Heights

Margot wore more than 35 styles of hair throughout Wuthering Heights, which help tell the story as much as the script and the performances.

“It’s really about trying to show as many emotions and as many stages of the story arc as possible, and hair really sings out, and says so much about people and where they’re at and what’s going on,” Miller explained to Variety.

At dinner, after she first marries Edgar, Cathy has a unique halo braid – but behind the scenes it had a much more colourful nickname.

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“I’d seen something reminiscent of this style in my search – this plait at the back of the head. I thought, ‘If I make it smaller and we dress the hair around it.’ We just called it a ‘Vagina plait’,” Miller revealed.

“That’s what’s great about working with Emerald, you show her things, ‘Oh, vagina plait. Yes, I love that.’ And we gave the hairstyles names. We really spur each other on.”

Margot Robbie's hairstyles in Wuthering Heights echo Cathy's character development
Margot Robbie’s hairstyles in Wuthering Heights echo Cathy’s character development

Another style Cathy wore in the film – which people are already recreating all over TikTok – is a braided look with a red ribbon entwined through the hair.

This look was softer and more subtle than the style Cathy wore previously, indicating she had grown up.

“There are ribbons in there, and they match the ribbons on the rose dress,” Davies added.

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Wuthering Heights’ opening scene was originally thought to be much more graphic

Wuthering Heights begins with a gallows scene, in which a young Cathy and Nelly watch a man being hanged. The unidentified man kicks his legs as he dies, with his thin robe failing to hide his erection.

It’s a pretty unusual way to start a period romance, but the director has made it clear she wanted to create a specific atmosphere early on in the film.

“With the first moments of a film, you need to set the tone and say what it is,” Emerald told USA Today. “This is a deeply felt romance. But I also wanted people to understand that it would be surprising and darkly funny and perhaps stranger than they would expect.”

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This opening sequence was allegedly much more shocking in the version shown at early test screenings, with one report claiming it included a shot of a nun masturbating and fondling the hanged man’s erection.

According to The Telegraph, this scene prompted some viewers to walk out in disgust. Emerald Fennell has not addressed these rumours about her opening scene, so it’s unclear whether she edited the final cut in light of these test screenings, or if these early reports were inaccurate or exaggerated.

Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights opens with a public hanging, in stark contrast to the original novel
Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights opens with a public hanging, in stark contrast to the original novel

Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights was filmed on the actual Yorkshire moors

Anyone who has read Brontë’s novel knows that the Yorkshire moors are almost as important to the story as Cathy and Heathcliff’s love. While the Wuthering Heights property is not a real location, the film was actually shot in Yorkshire.

Multiple scenes – including the opening, in which a horse-drawn carriage trundles through a narrow valley – were filmed at the remains of Yorkshire’s early 19th-century lead mining industry, known as Old Gang Smelt Mill.

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Other parts of the movie were also filmed in Bouldershaw Lane, Booze Moore and Melbecks Moor in Swaledale. You can see these locations in the external shots, where Cathy paces the fields in billowing gowns, surrounded by fog.

Much of Wuthering Heights was actually filmed in the Yorkshire moors
Much of Wuthering Heights was actually filmed in the Yorkshire moors

The rock where Cathy waits for Heathcliff is Healaugh Crag, a jutting formation found on the Reeth Estate in North Yorkshire.

However, there were some scenes not filmed in Yorkshire.

The hanging scene, for example, was filmed at Knole House in Kent, with the 500-year-old National Trust property appearing at the start of the adaptation and later doubling as Gretna Green when Heathcliff and Isabella elope.

Some interior shots – as well as select moments just outside Wuthering Heights – were filmed at Leavesden Studios and Sky Studios Elstree in Hertfordshire, home of projects like Harry Potter and Barbie.

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Wuthering Heights’ infamous ‘skin room’ is based on Margot Robbie’s actual complexion

One of the most memorable sets in this new adaptation is the “skin room” at Thurshcross Grange, where the walls and floor mimic Cathy’s complexion (veins, moles, and all). In fact, this design is based on Margot Robbie’s own skin.

“For that, we took photocopies of Margot’s arm, printed that onto stretchy fabric, padded it and laid latex over the top,” production designer Suzie Davies told Vogue.

Cathy's bedroom in Wuthering Heights is inspired by Margot Robbie's actual skintone
Cathy’s bedroom in Wuthering Heights is inspired by Margot Robbie’s actual skintone

In an interview with the V&A, Emerald said she saw the Lintons’ home as a body more than a building, where the walls could glisten, bulge and even host leeches.

She claimed: “If you look a bit closer, there are hairs growing out of the moles. That’s what the Gothic is to me, and that’s what interests me – pulling a hair out of a mole in a wall.”

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In a Variety interview, Davies added: “We had a go at doing her belly button as well, above the fireplace, but that looked a little bit too weird, believe it or not.”

In the closing scene of the film, there’s an overhead shot of Cathy lying on the bed, where you can see veins running across the entire room.

“We printed her veins and everything into the carpet as well, just for that top shot,” Davies explained.

Jacob Elordi improvised one of the film’s most low-key romantic moments

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During one romantic scene in which Heathcliff and Cathy get caught in the rain, he covers her face so they can speak without her getting water in her eyes. This scene was actually improvised by Jacob Elordi during rehearsals.

Heathcliff shields Cathy's eyes from the rain in Wuthering Heights, in a moment that was actually improvised by Jacob Elordi
Heathcliff shields Cathy’s eyes from the rain in Wuthering Heights, in a moment that was actually improvised by Jacob Elordi

In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Margot revealed that her co-star instinctively moved to cover her face from the spray of the rain machine, and the director loved the gesture so much that she asked him to do it in the film.

Margot described the moment as “one of the most romantic things I’ve ever experienced”, although Jacob admitted he didn’t see why the women were swooning over his actions – as he thought it was actually a “rude” gesture.

Emerald Fennell took inspiration from reality TV when making Wuthering Heights

When making an epic Gothic romance like Wuthering Heights, Emerald Fennell found inspiration in an unusual place.

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Alongside citing cinematic pioneers Powell and Pressburger, the legendary artist and filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, she name-checked one popular reality TV show as a major influence on her script.

“What I’m always reminded of when I watch shows like First Dates is how transparent we all are,” she said during the V&A panel.

“No matter how in our minds we think we’re really clever, – and not showing that we love someone, or that we’re angry – people aren’t good actors.”

Margot Robbie recreated Kate Bush’s iconic Wuthering Heights choreography behind the scenes – in full costume

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If you’ve had Kate Bush’s 1978 song, Wuthering Heights, stuck in your head since seeing the new film, you’re clearly not the only one.

In a clip shared by dialect coach William Conache, Margot recreated Kate’s iconic music video choreography, in full costume, in the Yorkshire moors.

“Cathy may not have a great time in the movie but we had a lovely time making it,” Conache wrote his social media caption. “Here is the joyous Margot on our last day of shooting.”

Wuthering Heights is in cinemas now.

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Shadow Cabinet League Table: Badenoch extends her lead, Timothy holds second

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Parliament is in recess, and MPs are once again scattered across the country, back in their constituencies. In North West Essex, Kemi Badenoch will be pleased: once again, she tops ConservativeHome’s Shadow Cabinet League Table, with a net satisfaction rating of +82.1 (up 0.5 points).

It is the third Shadow Cabinet League Table in a row in which she has come first. The first time she reached pole position was shortly before Robert Jenrick’s defection to Reform UK. It underlines the marked shift from her earlier performances in ConservativeHome’s polling, when there were times that she was languishing on zero.

But it also reflects the way her personal polling has improved dramatically in recent months. Badenoch is now the most popular of all the party leaders. According to the think tank More in Common, the Tory leader’s net approval rating has risen to -9. That may not sound like much, but it puts her ahead of the pack. Sir Keir Starmer is on -42, while Nigel Farage and Zack Polanski are both on -16, with Ed Davey on -11.

Behind Badenoch in ConservativeHome’s league table is shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy (+67.6), who retains second place since joining the shadow cabinet. He has recently been at the centre of controversy after describing a Ramadan prayer event in Trafalgar Square as “an act of domination” from an “Islamist playbook”.

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The Tory leader rowed in behind him, but some fellow Conservative MPs – including some in the shadow cabinet and the whips’ office – have privately raised concerns about Timothy’s comments and his subsequent doubling down, which one senior Tory described as “extremely unhelpful”. But it has done nothing to dent his standing with Conservative members.

This Shadow Cabinet poll was conducted after Timothy’s remarks, and he still sits above all his shadow cabinet colleagues bar the Tory leader herself. In fact, he has increased his rating from +56.9 to +67.6.

The rest of the top five is unchanged from our last league table: shadow chancellor Mel Stride remains in third (+60.7), followed by shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho (+56.3) and shadow home secretary Chris Philp (+56.2). Despite recent rumours – including in the Mail on Sunday – of a forthcoming reshuffle that would move Stride and Philp, both have held their positions since our last Conservative Home poll.

Another name that has surfaced in reports of a shadow cabinet refresh is shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel, who finds herself near the other end of the table, third from bottom on +16.6 — ahead only of shadow health secretary Stuart Andrew (+14.7) and shadow transport secretary Richard Holden (+10.4), who remains rooted to the foot.

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Talk of a reshuffle seemed to lose some of its sheen as Parliament headed into recess. But I understand that, at senior levels within CCHQ, discussions are still ongoing about using a refresh as part of a broader plan to get the Conservative Party back on the front foot after the local elections.

And speaking of those elections: in the run-up to the Scottish and Welsh contests in May, things are not looking especially rosy for either Tory leader. In Scotland, Russell Findlay has slipped from +17 to +15.2 since our last survey. In Wales, Darren Millar is on +7.4, down only fractionally from +7.5. Still, the polls that matter are the ones coming next month.

The post Shadow Cabinet League Table: Badenoch extends her lead, Timothy holds second appeared first on Conservative Home.

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Why so many children are now classified as ‘disabled’

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Why so many children are now classified as ‘disabled’

I should have felt shocked when I read that one in eight parents now report that their child has a disability. That means that 12 per cent of British children – around 1.7million young people – are classified as suffering from a long-term illness, disability or impairment, according to figures just released by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

These figures have almost doubled since 2015, when around seven per cent of parents reported that their child had a disability. This massive expansion in the number of children deemed to be disabled has been driven by a dramatic increase in the number of kids diagnosed with so-called behavioural issues, such as autism and ADHD. According to the DWP, ‘behavioural issues’ now account for two-thirds of childhood disabilities.

The reason I’m no longer surprised by the rise and rise of childhood disability is that I have been tracking this development for well over three decades. Back in 1996, I remember when UK government officials discovered that between 1985 and 1996, there had been a 40 per cent increase in the proportion of British people who consider themselves disabled. According to the survey, the increase was much higher among teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19. It seemed that the younger you were, the more likely it was that you would have a disability.

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The authors of that survey concluded that the difference between the 1985 and 1996 figures ‘appears too large to be explained by a real increase in the prevalence of disability’. This is hardly a surprise. After all, there had been no war or outbreak of serious disease in this period that would have rendered swathes of the population infirm. That the authors couldn’t explain this epidemiologically extraordinary figure in the 1990s is entirely understandable. Thirty or 40 years ago, society had a far more limited view of who was considered disabled.

The explanation for this unexpected rise in the number of young disabled people does not lie in the field of epidemiology, but in the realm of a culture that invites people to classify themselves as infirm. It is important to stress that how people cope with negative experiences is strongly influenced by the cultural and historical factors that shape the way people make sense of them. Such cultural factors may increase or reduce the ability of the individual to cope with adverse circumstances.

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In recent decades, the meaning of disability has undergone a dramatic semantic shift. This is part of a broader trend by which negative aspects of human experience and behaviour have become medicalised. In addition, an enormous disability lobby has emerged, which constantly demands that a variety of newly discovered disabilities be recognised with a formal diagnosis. The most important achievement of this lobby has been to alter public perceptions of the relationship between ability and disability. It has also succeeded in transforming what used to be characterised as children’s bad or problematic behaviour into medical issues.

Many of the ‘behavioural problems’ now designated to children have always been part of family life. Disobedience, aggression, disruptive and anti-social behaviour – now defined as ‘oppositional defiant disorder’ – have always posed a challenge to parents and schools. Yet these difficult patterns of behaviour are now often branded as psychological or medical issues. And so they become accepted, rather than something to be amended by adult guidance or firm discipline.

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Clearly, parents are now actively courting disability diagnoses for their children. After all, the discovery of newly invented childhood disorders provides a welcome explanation for their children’s bad behaviour or poor performance in school: ‘She isn’t naughty, she is ill.’ It is also undeniable that the many welfare benefits now offered to parents with disabled children have also played a role. Nor can we ignore the role of teachers, some of whom are promoting the diagnosis of ADHD as an alternative to managing bad behaviour in the classroom through discipline and authority. A pupil’s failure to finish homework, inability to focus on class discussion and boredom in school are now blamed on some ‘condition’.

Unsurprisingly, over the past 30 or so years, children have internalised the disability narrative. Today’s young people readily communicate their problems in a psychological vocabulary. They describe their feelings in terms of stress, trauma and depression.

One of the gravest consequences of the disability culture is that many children no longer attend school at all. Last year, it was reported that the number of children missing more than 50 per cent of the school year in Oxfordshire had increased by more than five times in 10 years. This has been put down to ‘emotionally based school avoidance’, in which a child cannot attend school due to anxiety or stress. Half of UK secondary pupils avoided school due to anxiety at some point in the past year.

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As a child, I can testify that my friends and I were more than happy to avoid going to school, and we had more than our share of anxiety. But we also knew that our parents and the rest of adult society had no sympathy for our predicament, and that not going to school was not an option. These days, adult society has become complicit in normalising truancy.

It is about time that society woke up to the fact that the current epidemic of childhood disability is not a medical problem. It is a cultural failure. Telling children that they are disabled, and unable to cope with the demands of life, is setting them up for a life of dependency and unfulfilled potential. Our children deserve better.

Frank Furedi is the executive director of the think-tank, MCC-Brussels.

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Nuclear rockets, moon bases and NASA’s Mars plan

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Nuclear rockets, moon bases and NASA’s Mars plan

Nuclear rockets, moon bases and NASA’s Mars plan

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East Jerusalem Palestinian families eviction orders

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East Jerusalem Palestinian families eviction orders

In the early hours of 25 March 2026, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) and police entered homes in Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem, escorting settlers as Palestinian families were forced out of their properties in the Batn al-Hawa neighbourhood.

East Jerusalem — evicted after 10 year legal battles with settler organisation

16 Palestinian families, approximately 100 people, who had lived in the area for decades, were forcibly evicted from their homes. Their apartments were then emptied of their possessions. In many of these cases, illegal settlers from the settler organisation Ateret Cohanim moved into the properties immediately after the families were removed.

These evictions come after Israeli occupation courts upheld ownership claims based on pre-1948 Jewish property rights, which had been fought by Palestinian residents since 2016. Since 7 October, 2023,  the Israeli occupation has forcibly displaced 28 Palestinian households from Batn al Hawa. Another 15 families are also expecting to be evicted from the neighbourhood imminently, by the same court order.

A law, known as the Legal and Administrative Matters Law of 1970, exclusively enables Jews to “reclaim” property in East Jerusalem. This is one of the many examples of the occupation’s discriminatory, apartheid policies. The many thousands of Palestinians who were forcibly displaced during the ethnic cleansing of the Nakba, in 1948, have not been allowed to return to their homes.

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Since “Israel” occupied East Jerusalem, in 1967, it has expanded its presence and control over East Jerusalem, and attempted to alter the city’s religious identity, history, and demography- to Judaise Jerusalem. It has done this by exploiting its discriminatory laws and policies And through a combination of evictions, demolitions and restrictive planning policies, such as in Silwan, “Israel” is able to dispossess Palestinians of their land and property. .

Israeli occupation demolishing homes in al Bustan for biblical park tourist attraction

Several days after the Batn al Hawa evictions, on 30 March, the occupation’s police, military and bulldozers stormed the al-Bustan neighbourhood of Silwan, to demolish four Palestinian properties. No prior warning was given before the homes belonging to the Awad, Abu Shafaa, and Al-Ruwaidi families were destroyed. Retaining walls, gates and fences were also destroyed, roads bulldozed, and nearby infrastructure damaged,

East Jerusalem

The demolition of homes in the al Bustan neighbourhood, has been driven by the occupation’s plans to transform the area into public gardens, Torah-related projects, and settlers’ parking. He also highlighted that this neighborhood, located near the Al-Aqsa Mosque, is one of the most affected by Judaization and settlement initiatives.Demolitions accelerated in 2024 and 2025, and by February 2026, the occupation had demolished 35 homes and issued 17 additional demolition orders in al-Bustan. A total of 1500 Palestinians in the area have demolition orders on their homes, so further ethnic cleansing is expected any day.

The Israeli occupation’s interest in Silwan is due to its location, against the southern walls of the Old City and close to al Aqsa, which would allow the zionist regime to cement control over East Jerusalem. Archaeological tourism projects, settlement expansion, and court-backed property claims are all being used to forcibly displace Palestinians, and ethnically cleanse occupied Jerusalem of Palestinians.

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Mazzucato schools Labour on public-private partnerships

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Mazzucato schools Labour on public-private partnerships

Mariana Mazzucato, professor at UCL, has shown how Labour should be less willing to simply hand out public money to corporations. Instead, she says that subsidies and grants should come with a guarantee of public benefit.

‘Conditionalities’ — types of public benefit

There are various possibilities for making the most out of public money when it comes to partnering with the private sector.

Mazzucato outlines them in four categories. The first, ‘access’, means requiring that the resulting products or services that the government puts money towards are affordable to the population. The second, ‘directionality’, means mandating that the company follows desirable goals such as green power. The third, ‘profit sharing’ means that the company returns some of the profits to the government. This could go further, with the government taking a stake in company. The fourth, ‘reinvestment’, means that some of the company’s profits are reinvested into socially desirable activities.

Of course, a government could use the mandate and popular support of a manifesto to at least take basic essentials into public ownership, to deliver common good without relying on corporations. But if large corporations still dominate some sectors, equitable partnerships could be the way forward.

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Mazzucato — No nonsense approach

The government can already use legislation to ensure companies act in a certain way. Failing that, public-private partnerships can be useful.

Direct subsidies are not the only way the government hands out money to corporations.

22% of The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers receive universal credit (UC). That means the public purse is essentially subsidising the profits of companies like Tesco, which makes £6,150 of profit per employee.

This parliament, the government is providing £2.5bn to the steel industry. And that’s without taking a stake or profit-sharing with steel companies.

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Although, the government has said that Tata Steel, which is receiving a £500m grant, will have to transition to Electric Arc Furnaces (EAFs) to address climate change or share its profits with the government. This is an example of a conditionality as Mazzucato outlines, but alone is quite the piecemeal approach to the neoliberal system.

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Prevent left the UK without recourse for non-ideological violence

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Prevent left the UK without recourse for non-ideological violence

Today, Thursday 2 April, the Guardian ran an exclusive based on comments from the Prevent assistant commissioner, Laurence Taylor. He claimed that counter-terrorism scheme was being overwhelmed by a massive influx of referrals.

Trends indicate that Prevent will receive over 10,000 referrals in 2026. That represents a 33% increase compared to 2024. However, Taylor asserts that this doesn’t necessarily represent an uptick in the radical ideologies that Prevent was (nominally) set up to combat.

In fact, the majority of these referrals are apparently unrelated to extremist ideologies. Instead, they’re issued over concerns about people becoming interested in violence. As such, Taylor claims that Prevent’s time is being wasted, leaving it less able to deal with actual threats.

We at the Canary might phrase this another way. That is, the UK has invested so much in the very idea that (Muslim) terrorism is the greatest threat to our safety that we’ve actively started to damage the capacity to respond to non-terror threats.

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‘Violence-fascinated individuals’

Back in July, interim independent Prevent reviewer David Anderson issued a report which responded, in part, to the scheme’s (mis)handling of the cases of Axel Rudakubana and Ali Harbi Ali.

The teenage Rudakubana murdered three young girls and wounded eight other people during his attack on a dance hall in Southport in 2022.

Ali was determined to have been motivated by Islamist ideology. However, Rudakubana displayed no clear motive, and was determined to have been driven by no fixed ideology. Anderson was appointed to:

identify remaining gaps or shortcomings that require further improvement and assure action to address them.

Released last July, the Anderson report stated that:

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Several years before the attacks, both the perpetrators had been referred by their schools to Prevent … Prevent’s Channel programme for early interventions had the capacity to address concerns of the kind that were raised in these referrals. But in neither case did it do so.

In fact, Prevent declined to take on Rudakubana’s case three times. As such, Anderson recommended that Prevent’s remit be expanded radically to include non-terror threats. Alternatively, he also suggested that the government create a separate scheme to deal with non-ideological ‘violence-fascinated individuals’ (VFIs).

Prevent — ‘Overwhelmed with referrals’

Another report into the Southport attack is scheduled for release later this month. It’s expected to provide a damning indictment of local authorities, health services, and of course, Prevent itself.

After the attack, Prevent referrals started to rise dramatically. However, more than 50% of the individuals concerned had no clear ideological motivation. Assistant commissioner Taylor pinned this on the fact that there’s simply nowhere else to report these kinds of concerns.

However, he also claimed that this volume of non-terror referrals:

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increases the risk of us not spotting somebody that is … because the system is overwhelmed with referrals.

He went on:

The challenge we have in the Prevent system is there is no triage that sits above it, so Prevent currently is the only bucket into which all of these referrals can sit.

We see people with material from Isis and neo-Nazis. We see people watching beheadings and school shootings. We see the gamification of that. So it’s people who are just absorbing horrible stuff that is creating concern for the people who refer them, but they’re not motivated by an ideology specifically, ie extreme rightwing or Islamist.

‘I wouldn’t like to say’

Taylor then rattled off increasing threat levels from states such as Iran and Russia, along with terror groups like Daesh. However, when faced with the question of whether Donald Trump and the American far-right was having a polarising effect, he suddenly became reticent to make a political statement.

Rather, per the Guardian, he characterised Trump as “one of several factors behind rising tensions”:

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We’ve seen for a number of years an increasing polarisation, without doubt. You only need to look at the level of protest in London and the diversity of protest in London to see how many different views there are …. Whether you could directly attribute that to the US and Trump, I wouldn’t like to say.

I think there are many, many things at play here, of which that is but one.

If that isn’t the UK justice system’s attitude to ‘ideology’ in a nutshell, we don’t know what is. Is a fascist in the White House causing an uptick in radical ideology? Who’s to say? But look over there at the protesters!

Prevent, despite ostensibly being set up to target all extremist ideology, has disproportionately targeted Muslims from its outset. In fact, hundreds of babies and toddlers have been referred to the scheme, overwhelmingly due to “Islamist concerns”.

In 2022, the Shawcross review even had the nerve to call for a renewed focus on Islamic extremism, calling the definition of neo-Nazism has “expanded too widely”.

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And now, we’re being told that non-ideological motivations are falling through the cracks precisely because of the state’s obsession with terrorist ideology? And, in fact, we have no real mechanisms in place for concerns of non-terrorist violence?

If the UK were any less Islamophobic, there’d be a lesson in all this. Pity, that.

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Corbyn has endorsed three ex-Tory councillors

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Corbyn has endorsed three ex-Tory councillors

Jeremy Corbyn-led Your Party won’t be fielding councillors in the upcoming local elections. They will, however, be backing various independents. Now, we’re learning such independents could include ex-Tory councillors:

“Endorsed by Jeremy Corbyn”

One thing to note is that the above flyer states “endorsed by Jeremy Corbyn” rather than ‘endorsed by Your Party‘. Corbyn is free to support whoever he likes, but as the party’s parliamentary leader, people will interpret his endorsement as the position of Your Party.

The endorsement was first highlighted by the Green Party’s Mish Rahman:

Rahman was a Labour NEC member between 2020 and 2024. When defecting to the Greens in January 2026, he said:

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Politics must be about clarity and courage.

We are facing a convergence of crises: the rise of the far right, a cost of living emergency pushing working-class people to the brink and civil liberties eroded by successive governments. These are not abstract threats, they are lived realities for millions.

Today I have joined The Green Party because it is prepared to confront these challenges honestly: to defend democracy, stand up for social justice, and recognise that economic fairness and environmental responsibility are inseparable.

Earlier today (2 April), we reported on Your Party’s plans for the local elections:

As party structures continue to develop, Your Party will support around 250 candidates across England. The vast majority of these will be standing as Independents or for allied local community parties.

Your Party targets
Key targets for allied groups include:

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  • Tower Hamlets, run by Lutfur Rahman’s Aspire since 2022.
  • Redbridge (see below).
  • Newham, where the Newham Independents Party has recently won multiple by-elections.
  • Bradford, where Labour’s support has been in massive decline.

Later in the day – and after the Mish Rahman tweet – New Statesman’s Ava-Santina posted that Walsall is in the mix too:

This could be ex-Tories highlighted above, or it could be the ex-Labour independents who joined Your Party last year.

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Stats for Lefties engaged in the following discussion on whether the endorsement is real (we’ve got to admit; we do keep rubbing our eyes and glancing back at it):

People outside Your Party have reacted as follows:

Independents

As reported by Birmingham Live, Gaz Ali and Amo Hussain were actually deselected by the Conservatives. In other words, if they didn’t go independent, they couldn’t have defended their council seats in the upcoming local elections.

In a statement on why the three men subsequently quit the Conservative Party, they said:

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Our decision is driven by a number of factors. First and foremost is the treatment of several of our colleagues within the Aldridge and Brownhills Conservative Association. The exclusion of good, hard-working councillors, individuals who have given years of loyal service, has been deeply troubling.

In particular, the failure to approve respected councillors such as Keith Sears, who has dedicated over 50 years of service to Walsall and to the Conservative Party, is something we cannot overlook.

We are also increasingly concerned about the direction of the national Conservative Party. The tone and rhetoric emerging from parliamentary leadership appear divisive and risk marginalising communities.

We have always believed that politics should bring people together, and that the party should be inclusive and unifying. Regrettably, this is no longer a position we feel able to align ourselves with.

Ah yes – the Conservative Party – those great unifiers of modern Britain.

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Who could forget how unified we felt when we suffered through the devastating austerity cuts of the 2010s – cuts which didn’t touch the rich even slightly.

It just doesn’t wash, does it?

The big question is this: would the trio have quit if not for being deselected?

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The answer is ‘we don’t know’.

Forgetting that, Corbyn and Your Party should have a policy of never endorsing anyone who’s ever had anything to do with the Tories.

And never in a million years did we think we’d need to explain that.

How did it come to this?

It’s not controversial to say Your Party has not turned out how many hoped it would.

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Despite attracting 800,000 signups upons its announcement, the party would go on to secure a fraction of that number once it opened up to members. Since then, the party has failed to place in most polls, while the Green Party has captured much of Your Party’s initial enthusiasm.

There are good people in the party, and we know that many of them are struggling to process this latest development.

Solidarity with all those who just wanted Your Party to be a clear alternative to Labour and the Tories.

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We contacted Your Party to confirm the endorsement, but had not heard back at the time of publication.

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UK airline cancels flights amid Iran war energy crisis

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UK airline cancels flights amid Iran war energy crisis

A UK airline has permanently cancelled a flight due to pressure from the energy crisis caused by the US attack on Iran. Skybus operated an internal flight between London and the Cornish town of Newquay. The firm’s cancellation could be the first of many as air travel is hit by increasing pressure.

The National reported on 2 April:

Skybus operates daily flights between London Gatwick and the seaside town of Newquay.

The service was due to end on May 31, however the airline has announced that it will be ending now – nearly two months earlier than planned.

Adding:

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The airline’s managing director Jonathon Hinkles said it was due to various reasons including the increase in fuel costs.

Hinkles said:

At a time of great economic uncertainty and steps being taken to conserve energy worldwide, it is neither environmentally nor economically sound for us to continue flying with vastly reduced passenger numbers.

It does beg a question: who the hell flies from London to Cornwall?

UK — Widespread price hikes

But bigger providers say they are under pressure too. Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said:

We don’t expect any disruption until early May, but if the war continues, we do run the risk of supply disruptions in Europe in May and June and obviously we hope the war will finish sooner than that and that the risk to supply will be eliminated.

The UK has been hit in other ways too. UK Pm Keir Starmer has tried to allay fears, but Brits are feeling the impact:

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Families with a 55-litre diesel car face paying more than £100 at the pump for the first time since December 2022.

LBC reported on 23 March:

The Prime Minister chaired the meeting on Monday afternoon, during which the Chancellor spoke about steps she will set out in a statement to Parliament tomorrow.

Ms Reeves, Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband gave updates on the situation and stressed that de-escalation and ending the Iran conflict was “the best thing we can do for the economy”, Downing Street said in a readout.

It is unclear when the war will end and on what terms.

US-Israel attacked Iran first on 28 February without provocation. Iran was offering unprecedented concessions in negotiations at the time. The Pentagon has since stated there was no imminent threat from Iran. And the UN’s atomic watchdog, the IAEA, has said there is no evidence Iran was developing a nuclear weapon.

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The US has achieved none of its original war aims. Iran predictably closed the Straits of Hormuz, a vital oil channel, once attacked – creating a global energy crisis. Far from being defeated, Iran has said the war will continue until “the enemy’s inevitable and permanent humiliation, disgrace, regret, and surrender”. Trump came to power on an anti-war ‘America First’ ticket. He now faces worldwide humiliation.

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Farage brands failed Reform candidates ‘liars’

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Farage brands failed Reform candidates ‘liars’

Reform are having an absolute nightmare in the runup to the local elections. As we’ve reported, they’ve been losing candidates left and right. If you think this means the party’s vetting procedures aren’t up to snuff, don’t worry. According to Farage himself, the problem is many of the eager Reform members signing up are actually just liars.

Farage — Liars, liars

We’ve covered the many woes that Reform have had in the runup to the local elections, with key calamities including:

As reported by the Independent, Farage defended Reform UK’s vetting process by saying:

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sometimes people lie

That’s true, Nigel, yes; this is what you’re supposed to uncover by vetting them.

The Independent also reported:

Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman, Zia Yusuf, also defended the process, stating that out of 8,000 candidates vetted, even a 99.9 per cent success rate means a handful of problematic individuals might still slip through.

If Reform had enjoyed a 99.9% success rate, they would have only had eight problem candidates. The truth is they’ve already had that many between Wales and Scotland alone, and we’re still a month out from the election:

All eyes on

When Yusuf was pressed on the number of candidates dropping out by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, Yusuf said:

Yes, of course it’s reasonable to hold Reform to account.

But what consistently happens is the BBC pounces on every single Reform mishap and gives it vastly disproportionate coverage in your news cycles – and completely ignores the far most voluminous misdemeanours and frankly egregious things from other parties do.

This is the problem Reform have.

They want to be the biggest party in the country, but they don’t want the inevitable scrutiny that comes with it.

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And as Kuenssberg pointed out:

proportionally, Reform has lost more candidates over this kind of thing happening than other political parties

Farage’s response to his party’s candidate crisis is to brand signups ‘liars’.

We can’t imagine that going down well with the Reform faithful, but we’ll see.

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Macron tells deranged Trump to ‘be serious’

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Macron tells deranged Trump to 'be serious'

French President Emmanuel Macron has bit back at Trump following his attempts to undermine NATO. Pointing to the US Presidents repeated attacks which he says has created “daily doubt about his commitment” to the North Atlantic alliance, Macron tells Trump to “be serious”.

Yesterday, the US President once again went to the media, making comments that appear designed to pressure the alliance into bending to his will.

However, it appears Macron is not for giving in — even going so far as to try to educate Trump on diplomacy:

We need to be serious, and if you want to be serious, you don’t go around saying the opposite of what you said the day before.

‘Perhaps we should not speak every day’ says Macron

The US and Israel began its illegal war on Iran at the end of February, and with typical Western duplicity, the bombs began falling whilst Iranian officials were at the negotiating table. Consequently, the Middle East has descended into chaos with Iran using its inalienable right to self-defence by targetting US bases and interests in their neighbouring states.

Unsurprisingly, Iran has also used its proximity and access to the Strait of Hormuz to make this egregious violation of international law as expensive as possible for the West. A pretty strong strategic move, really.

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Now the Western world is seeing consequences for its complicity in the US’ colonialist actions, Trump is changing his rhetoric daily in an attempt to seemingly save face.

Thankfully, Macron is no longer being backwards about coming forwards and has confronted the President’s ridiculous political gameplaying.

In an interview whilst on a state visit in Seoul in South Korea, Macron stated:

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I believe that organisations and alliances like Nato are defined by what is left unsaid – that is, the trust that underpins them, and that has often been the case, incidentally, with military and strategic matters.

If you cast doubt on your commitment every day, you erode its very substance.

We need to be serious, and if you want to be serious, you don’t go around saying the opposite of what you said the day before.

I think there is too much talk.

The French President then argued that the only way to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is through dialogue and diplomatic cooperation with Iran. Lambasting the tactic of US military might forcing it open as “unrealistic”, he says the risks are too great for navies involved and seeks peace rather than any involvement in the US/Israel war on Iran.

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China: Illegal war and US-Israeli strikes responsible for fall out

China has today declared the war to be illegal and positioned the blame for the impact to global energy costs solely at the feet of the tyrants who started dropping bombs in the first place:

A reminder that it is only complicit states who are being punished by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, which is responsible for the transit of roughly a quarter of global oil trade:

Like in previous aggressions, some have suggested the US’ main interest is to weaken China, who have long overshadowed the US in the size and health of its economy. Specifically, they depend on the Strait of Hormuz far more than Western countries.

Nevertheless, Iran has shown it values loyalty and a commitment to the rule of law over and above power plays and the instinct for collective punishment we so often see in the West.

Play by the rules or fuck off

It is undeniable that we currently live in a world order in which powerful white men seek to throw the rule book out the window, like in Iraq and other western invasions. Unlike in 2003 however, it appears world leaders are finally pushing back against sensationalist statements and war-baiting from politicians corrupted by billionaires and the military machine.

Spain has gone far further than most, banning use of its air space and its bases by the US military. Whilst France’s intervention is welcome, Macron could go a hell of a lot further and see a far greater impact.

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After all, this moment offers a chance to prioritise the rule of law, as the world receives yet another reminder of why an international rules-based system exists in the first place.

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