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Category: Analysis

  • The DWP has left unpaid carers in £357 million of debt thank to its own negligence

    At least £357 million has been wrongly demanded from unpaid carers over six years due to Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) systemic failures, prompting soaring debts, mental health struggles and calls for urgent reform of the carer’s allowance system.

    The DWP has systematically abused carers

    The revelation that at least £357 million in carer’s allowance payments have been made in error over the past six years highlights a devastating legacy of negligence from the DWP.

    This grim figure is not merely a number; it represents the mounting debt and distress inflicted on hundreds of thousands of dedicated, unpaid carers, many of whom are already navigating the difficult terrains of caring for loved ones amidst financial uncertainty.

    Carers UK, which unearthed this figure through newly released official data on fraud and error, has described the DWP’s handling of the situation as an “unacceptable failure”.

    Despite previous assurances about new technologies designed to prevent such overpayments, the stark reality is that minor breaches of earnings rules have led to massive repayment demands.

    The DWP had claimed that by 2019, such problems would be largely resolved. It suggested that their new earnings verification tool would “prevent overpayments in some cases before they happen.” It seems, however, that these assurances hold little weight against a background of systemic failures.

    Making criminals out of vulnerable families

    Many unpaid carers, like Guy Shahar, now find themselves beset by debts that can soar as high as £20,000 due to clerical oversight. Shahar expressed that the enormity of excessive charges appears both “shocking” and fundamentally unjust, given the DWP’s previous commitments to improve the system.

    “They are making criminals out of vulnerable families they are supposed to be helping,” he lamented. This sentiment echoes through the community of unpaid carers, who feel unfairly targeted and victimised by an unwavering bureaucratic system at the DWP.

    The DWP’s reliance on a policy that called for only half of all alerts from its earnings verification tool to be investigated meant that countless overpayments spiralled unchecked for months, if not years.

    In the five years following the introduction of the verification tool, over 262,000 repayment cases have emerged, collectively totalling more than £325 million. Alarmingly, around 600 carers have even faced criminal charges, burdening them—and their families—with criminal records as a consequence of administrative oversight.

    Moreover, the impact of these overpayments stretches beyond financial strain.

    An extraordinary toll

    According to a report by Carers UK, the emotional toll on unpaid carers has been extraordinary, with many experiencing deteriorating mental health and overwhelming anxiety. The average overpayment faced by carers hovers around £4,000, but the ramifications are far greater than mere finances; lives are disrupted, trust eroded, and mental wellbeing compromised.

    As Emily Holzhausen, director of policy and public affairs at Carers UK, pointed out:

    Given that unpaid carers were falsely assured that the problem would be largely resolved, they deserve better.

    In a somewhat reactive response, DWP ministers have finally pledged £800,000 to better staff the carer’s allowance division, with the aim of scrutinising 100% of alerts to stem the tide of overpayments at their source.

    However, this initiative raises the question of why, after years of warnings and clear evidence of failure, such fundamental changes only arrive after media scrutiny and persistent pressure from advocacy groups.

    State-sanctioned abuse from the DWP

    It is clear that the current system is broken, with a 71% spike in overpayment cases reported since 2018. This surge signals an urgent need for comprehensive reform within the carer’s allowance framework, not just to avert future financial crises but to support the critical role that carers play in our society.

    Advocacy groups are clamouring for not only an overhaul but also for increased earnings thresholds that reflect the reality of living costs, particularly when many carers are forced to juggle work and caregiving.

    Ultimately, the situation reflects a deep-seated issue within the DWP—a bureaucratic entity that targets chronically ill, disabled, and older people, and their carers, as criminals and scroungers rather than people deserving of support.

    Carers deserve a system that empowers them rather than burdens them with unnecessary debts and anxiety. The ongoing fallout from these overpayments serves as a stark reminder of the imperative for better governance, transparency, and, above all, compassion in the support of the invaluable role that unpaid carers play in our communities.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Uproar over Trump’s latest move which could bring about a 2008-style financial crash

    The US financial landscape stands on the brink of a major transformation – and potential collapse – as Donald Trump prepares to roll back some of the most significant banking regulations enacted in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Of course, Trump being Trump it goes against any sense of justice for most ordinary citizens – and will merely serve to line the pockets of the rich.

    Trump: slashing financial regulation

    As the Guardian reported:

    US watchdogs are reportedly planning to slash capital rules for banks designed to prevent another 2008-style crash, as Donald Trump’s deregulation drive opens the door to the biggest rollback of post-crisis protections in more than a decade.

    The move follows heavy lobbying by the banking industry, with lenders such as JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs having long complained that competition and lending have been hindered by burdensome rules governing the assets they must hold versus their liabilities.

    Regulators are expected to put forward the proposals this summer, aimed at cutting the supplementary leverage ratio that requires big banks to hold high-quality capital against risky assets including loans and derivatives

    Central to Trump’s proposed changes is a proposed reduction in capital requirements, particularly focusing on the supplementary leverage ratio—a key measure designed to ensure banks maintain adequate buffers against losses.

    The administration’s drive to ease these restrictions aims primarily to boost liquidity within the banking sector. Proponents argue that reducing the regulatory burden on banks will enable increased lending and economic growth.

    However, this approach has been met with significant criticism from experts and observers.

    What the hell just happened?

    People are warning that Trump’s drive for deregulation could amplify systemic risks within an already volatile financial system.

    Detractors of the policy highlight the dangers of encouraging potentially reckless practices reminiscent of those that contributed to the financial meltdown more than a decade ago.

    Critics contend that looser regulations could embolden banks to take on excessive risk, ultimately leaving ordinary people vulnerable to the fallout of another crisis. These concerns are particularly poignant given the historical precedent where such deregulation had devastating impacts on the broader economy and the lives of countless individuals.

    Adding complexity to the unfolding financial landscape is the use of Synthetic Risk Transfers (SRTs), practices employed by banks to shift credit risks onto external investors.

    By leveraging SRTs, financial institutions can reduce their apparent risk exposure, enabling them to present a healthier balance sheet while effectively transferring the underlying risk elsewhere. Analysts warn that this tactic may mask the true stability of banks, potentially obscuring vulnerabilities that could have far-reaching economic consequences.

    This financial recalibration in the US contrasts markedly with developments elsewhere.

    Trump could be laying the groundwork for another global shock

    The international reverberations of the Trump administration’s policies are significant. European actors have been actively engaging to influence US decisions, aware that shifts in American financial regulation can have profound impacts across transatlantic economic ties. These dynamics underscore the interconnected nature of global finance and the risks posed when key players adopt divergent strategies in overseeing their banking systems.

    Overall, as US congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said on X:

    After the Great Recession — which cost millions of jobs and destroyed countless lives — our government put regulations in place to make sure it never happened again.

    Now, Trump is getting rid of those rules. What could possibly go wrong?

    Ultimately, the rollback of regulatory measures by the Trump administration signals a fundamental shift in America’s approach to financial oversight—one that prioritises deregulation in the name of economic stimulus but which raises pressing questions about the resilience and integrity of the banking sector moving forward.

    We’ve been here before in the US, when the Clinton administration rolled back the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 – a move which directly led to the 2008 financial crash. Trump now looks set to do similar, but of course it won’t be him and his ilk who are affected when it all goes wrong.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Warning issued by dozens of experts that Labour’s DWP cuts will lead to premature deaths

    The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has come under fire from a group of experts over its proposed cuts to chronically ill and disabled people’s benefits. They have written an open letter to the government, telling it that these cuts will cause “disproportionate harm” to claimants – even to the point of causing “premature deaths”.

    DWP cuts: brutal

    As the Canary has documented, there has been uproar over plans DWP boss Liz Kendall laid out in March to ‘reform’, that is – cut – chronically ill and disabled people’s benefits. It set this out in its Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working green paper.

    Notably, the paper included a suite of regressive reforms to make it harder for people to claim disability benefits like Personal Independence Payment (PIP). The changes it’s proposing target neurodivergent, learning disabled, and those with mental health disorders. Moreover, disabled people who need help with things like cutting up food, supervision, prompting, or assistance to wash, dress, or monitor their health condition, will no longer be eligible.

    And revelations from a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has also shown that the changes will disproportionately hit PIP claimants over 50 as well. Specifically, the criteria goalpost shifts will deny 1.09 million (nearly 70% of those who could lose out) the Daily Living component of PIP. Part of this cohort is obviously also people Labour is already hammering with the Winter Fuel Payment cuts.

    Labour lies: time to call it out

    Overall, Labour and the DWP have already lied about the number of people its Green Paper plans will affect. Research keeps exposing the devastating scale of the governments planned cuts. While its impact assessment calculated 370,000 current claimants, and 420,000 future ones would lose their DWP PIP entitlement, it’s likely to be much higher than this.

    Another FOI made by a member of the public unearthed that around 209,000 people getting enhanced rate DWP PIP Daily Living will lose it. On top of this, around 1.1 million people getting the standard rate will lose it.

    In total then, nearly 1.4 million people could, on reassessment, lose their Daily Living element of DWP PIP. However, as the Canary’s Steve Topple previously noted, this doesn’t tell us how many could lose their full PIP altogether. This is because the data does not show how many of these people get standard or enhanced Mobility Element of DWP PIP.

    Nonetheless, it’s evident that the plans will be enormously detrimental for chronically ill and disabled people. And in early June, parliament is expected to vote on these plans.

    Now, Dr Jonathan Paul Jones from Cardiff University has written an open letter to the government and DWP. It has been signed by 37 other social scientists, who are experts in this field.

    The letter argues that these cuts will cause nothing but harm and should not be implemented. All of the professionals UK-based or with a strong history of UK-based research, many of whom are esteemed experts on disability, welfare, poverty and related topics. It includes a bibliography of supporting academic texts.

    The full text of the letter to the DWP

    We are writing to express our concern about the planned cuts to Personal Independence Payments and Universal Credit as outlined in the March 2025 Green Paper and Spring Statement. As social scientists we feel morally obligated to speak out against policy changes that evidence suggests will cause harm. It is our professional opinion that these cuts will cause disproportionate harm to disabled people and accomplish little or nothing in terms of helping the economy or balancing public finances.

    As demonstrated by the Bibliography attached to this letter, the existing literature indicates that previous similar cuts to welfare, especially those targeted at disabled people, were ineffective in getting people back into work and instead drove people into deeper poverty, damaged mental health and were associated with high numbers of preventable premature deaths.

    Furthermore, the problems caused or exacerbated by such cuts typically end up being even more costly to resolve as they increase the burden on various public services.

    Stop the cuts

    Policy-makers in the UK Government should already be aware of the social research that has proven the ineffectiveness and harms of such approaches, and have been warned by the UN that they must reverse the disability welfare cuts enacted by the preceding Conservative Government. We urge the government to comply with the UN rather than indulge in further ineffectual and harmful cuts targeting disabled people. These cuts will not help disabled people back into work, bring growth, or balance public finances. They are likely to increase rates of poverty, mental ill-health, and premature death.

    We call for all announced cuts to Personal Independence Payments and Universal Credit to be overturned. Should the UK Government proceed with current plans, we implore all MPs to vote against these cuts when they come before Parliament and speak out against continued austerity. Public finances can and should be improved via redistributive measures such as a wealth tax. As once promised, those with the broadest shoulders should bear the heavier burden.

    The full list of signatures, as well as the bibliography, can be read here.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Amazon is selling books saying bleach enemas can ‘cure’ autistic people – so, a protest will call them out

    Amazon is once again at the centre of controversy – this time for selling a book that promotes a pseudoscientific and abusive “treatment” for autism involving bleach enemas. A petition on change.org from Autistic Inclusive Meets (AIM) is calling on the company to remove the book from its marketplace, and the outcry is more than justified.

    It is shocking that in 2025, we still need to say this: autism is not a disease, it is not something that needs curing, and subjecting children to chemical abuse is both morally indefensible and medically dangerous.

    The pseudoscience of bleach “therapy”

    One of the autism books in question on Amazon, Spectrum Harmony Planner 5 Month Organiser, encourages parents to use chlorine dioxide—an industrial bleach—as an enema or oral solution to “treat” autism.

    This so-called “Miracle Mineral Solution” (MMS) has been condemned by numerous health authorities, including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which states that ingesting it can cause “severe vomiting, severe diarrhea, life-threatening low blood pressure caused by dehydration, and acute liver failure.”

    It is horrifying that Amazon, one of the world’s largest and most profitable corporations, continues to sell a book promoting these methods, despite years of warnings and widespread condemnation. By doing so, Amazon not only profits from abuse but also lends legitimacy to pseudoscience that harms autistic children.

    AIM previously managed to get several books taken down.

    But at the core of this controversy lies a fundamental lie about autism.

    Autism is NOT a ‘disease’

    Autism is not a disease (paging Amazon, here). It is a neurodevelopmental condition – a natural variation in how people think, perceive, and interact with the world. It is not a disease, nor a tragedy, nor something that needs to be “fixed.” In fact, many autistic people are proud of their identity and reject the notion that they should be “cured.”

    Scientific consensus supports this. There is no cure for autism, and importantly, no need for one. The concept of “curing” autism is not only scientifically unfounded but rooted in ableist thinking that views neurodivergency as inherently inferior.

    The majority of autistic people are clear—they do not want to be cured. They need acceptance, support, and accommodations that allow them to thrive on their own terms.

    Trying to “cure” autism sends a harmful message: that autistic people are broken. But they are not. What is broken is a society that refuses to accept difference and a corporation like Amazon that enables dangerous practices for profit.

    Amazon and its ethical failure on autism

    Amazon’s decision to continue selling Rivera’s shocking book on autism is a dereliction of its ethical and moral responsibility.

    It is unconscionable that a company with such immense resources and reach chooses to ignore the pleas of medical professionals and autistic people. However, it is just the tip of the iceberg.

    As Emma Dalmayne from AIM highlights, there are over 30 other books that claim to ‘cure’ autism, or present it as something that needs to be cured:

    @autisticinclusive

    Please come with me to serve my petition to Amazon offices in Shoreditch next Tuesday at 1pm to demand they remove not only Spectrum Harmony Planner but 30 other curist books.

    ♬ original sound – AutisticInclusiveM

    By hosting and profiting from books that promote child abuse, Amazon becomes complicit. So, on Tuesday 20 May at 1pm, AIM and its supporters will deliver their petition to the company’s offices in Shoreditch, London. The Canary will be there supporting them:

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by Nicola Jeffery (@nicolacjeffery)

    If Amazon wants to be seen as a socially responsible company (a challenge regardless of this one story), it must act immediately to remove the book and issue an apology to autistic communities.

    Autism doesn’t need a cure. But Amazon certainly needs a conscience.

    Featured image via screengrab

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • 500 DWP staff face losing their jobs – showing Kendall has no idea what she’s doing

    Hundreds of Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) staff are facing losing their jobs – just as the Labour Party government is claiming it wants to ‘support’ chronically ill, disabled, and non-working people into employment.

    The news flies in the face of the government’s claims – and shows that, far from a thought-out policy, the DWP is merely enacting cuts for the sake of cuts, while allowing the loss of countless departmental staff.

    500 DWP staff face losing their jobs

    As Civil Service World reported, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union warns that around 500 DWP employees could lose their jobs and their right to remain in the UK due to a peculiar quirk in how the department calculates hourly pay.

    While 35 members have already been forced out, the impact may escalate, undermining efforts at a time when the government is trying to force chronically ill and disabled people into work.

    One of those affected is Farouq Ahmed, an enforcement case manager for the Child Maintenance Service, who joined DWP in January 2024 on a graduate visa. His plan was to transition to a skilled-worker visa before the graduate visa expired.

    Ahmed’s starting salary of £29,500 was above the skilled-worker visa threshold at the time of his hire, but after the government raised salary requirements in April 2024, DWP’s pay policy prevented him from applying within the necessary timeframe.

    The complication arises because DWP pays its staff for lunch breaks, effectively spreading the salary over a 42-hour week rather than the standard 37 hours.

    Although Ahmed’s nominal salary met the threshold for “new entrant” visa rules, his hourly pay fell below the required level when calculated with DWP’s unusual methodology – £14.18 per hour instead of the £15.88 per hour required.

    Consequently, his application for leave to remain on a discretionary basis was refused, forcing him to leave his role and return to Nigeria.

    Exacerbating existing chaos

    PCS highlights that this pay policy is unique to DWP and exacerbates a recruitment crisis in a department already paying below civil service median salaries.

    The median DWP salary is £29,500 compared to a civil service-wide median of £33,980, and the Home Office – the only department with a lower median salary – stands at £29,400. This means DWP officials must earn significantly more than their average pay to meet visa thresholds, which is often unrealistic given current pay scales.

    Despite PCS proposing a contract variation to resolve the issue, DWP has reportedly rejected such changes, citing Home Office guidelines. In a letter to Keir Starmer, PCS called for urgent intervention to prevent the loss of experienced staff and the further deterioration of the department’s workforce.

    The letter said:

    Farouq is one of many of the human beings behind the statistics that, but for being in a low-paying department, and being paid for lunch breaks, would still be working in the DWP.”

    Amid a shortage of 2,100 work coaches, the letter noted that:

    It is therefore incredible that as DWP is facing a staffing crisis, government’s own rules are forcing five hundred or more experienced, highly qualified, university-educated staff that are delivering services to the most vulnerable people in the UK, out of the department.

    This staffing crisis is particularly dangerous given the government’s emphasis on encouraging benefit recipients back into employment, a process heavily reliant on work coaches and case managers.

    DWP cuts are cruel ideology – and nothing more

    The DWP has acknowledged a shortage of roughly 2,100 work coaches – yet the Labour government has not committed to employ any more.

    Losing skilled, trained workers due to administrative and policy issues threatens to deepen this shortfall and hinder efforts to reduce unemployment and support welfare recipients.

    Ahmed’s case reflects the personal toll of these policies. Having paid more than £22,000 in university fees to study in the UK and committed himself to public service, he describes feeling “used” and betrayed by the very institution he served. He fears the precariousness of his situation will impact not just him, but his family in Nigeria who depend on his support.

    A DWP spokesperson stated the department takes staff welfare seriously and continues to support those on time-limited visas but declined to comment on individual cases.

    Amid a major staffing shortfall, the DWP cannot afford to lose any more staff – yet here is the Labour government allowing exactly that to happen. It shows that Liz Kendall’s cuts to DWP benefits are purely ideological, not grounded in any form of labour market strategy.

    The loss of even more DWP staff will merely exacerbate the existing cruelty of a department not fit for purpose.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Protestors disrupt Africa Energy Summit demanding end to rampant neocolonialism

    On 15 May, campaigners from multiple groups disrupted the Africa Energy Summit. The elitist, secretive, high-security conference in the heart of London sparked outrage from all quarters as climate, human rights, and rainforest activists called it out for the racial capitalist and colonial event it is.

    Africa Energy Summit: climate colonialism and corporate capitalism on full display

    Calling for an end to the 29-year-old Africa Energy Summit, Extinction Rebellion, Fossil Free London, War on Want, Christian Climate Action, Rainforest Foundation, StopEACOP UK, and others were joined by Senegalese drummers. They also played videos from Extinction Rebellion Democratic Republic of Congo.

    The delegates – the vast majority of whom are white male executives of Western corporations – pay £4,730 to attend the three-day conference and its gala dinner. The summit assures them of secrecy, but no quarter of civil society in Africa support the summit.

    Not for the first time, this elitist conference comes into criticism for racist and colonial attitudes. In 2023, the summit deliberately removed Salome Nduta, Africa coordinator for OilWatch Africa, from the list of delegates, in a move that reeked of racism. Organisers told Nduta that it was “sold out” even as they continued to advertise tickets.

    The conference’s promotional video depicts white Western corporation leaders and a passive welcoming African continent. John Ardill, Exxon Mobil’s head of global exploration announces that:

    Angola is open for investment. Namibia is open for investment. That’s when you can achieve these new million barrel-a-day new countries.

    Gayle Meikle, founder and CEO of Frontier Communications Ltd, which organises the conference, states:

    Let’s get those deals done.’ Yet the only African speaker featured is unnamed, with no close ups and simply says, ‘Greetings from the smiling coasts of Africa.

    This dynamic is in line with accusations coming from the African continent. Speaking of EACOP, journalist Enoch Wanderema noted:

    Uganda, the country from which the oil originates, has been cast in the role of host, not owner. Tanzania, whose land will bear the pipeline’s longest stretch, fares no better…. this is not a partnership; it’s a palatable version of plunder.

    Groups call out corporate plunder of Big Oil

    Multiple groups gathered with banners and placards outside the Africa Energy Summit:

    Activists gather outside Africa Energy Summit with banners reading: "Stop the scramble for Africa", "Stop EACOP" and "Our Land Without Oil".

    Activists gather outside Africa Energy Summit with banners reading: "Stop the scramble for Africa".

    Fossil Free London were there to demand an end to Equinor’s fossil fuel expansion in Africa and the UK. Its activists called the summit a “neo-colonial horror show”:

    Naturally, security and police swiftly responded to shield the company from public criticism. They quickly dragged the protestors out:

    Security and police dragging protester out of the event.

    Fossil fuel companies profiteering in Africa

    This year, Equinor has halved its renewable investments to $5bn while dropping targets for renewable energy production, and increasing oil and gas production by 10% over the next 2 years.

    At its annual general meeting taking place in tandem this Thursday 15 May, minority owners pressed the oil giant on the “material inconsistencies” within their climate strategy and policy expectations. However, the motion is not expected to pass.

    Equinor has been accused of greenwashing due to its recent rebranding as a “broad energy company”, despite maintaining 95% of its energy production in fossil fuels. The oil giant is pressing on with the Rosebank oil field in the North Sea. This is despite the original consent for developing unlawfully ignoring downstream carbon emissions.

    Its latest $42bn LNG project in Tanzania could unlock 47.13 trillion cubic feet of natural gas deposits in the country for export. Across Africa, groups are campaigning against fossil fuel expansion in the continent, demanding a faster phase-out and increased support for African decarbonisation efforts. They are also calling for accountability for the damage companies like Equinor have caused through extraction operations.

    Other activists gathered outside the conference to protest Total’s East African crude oil pipeline (EACOP). This will generate over 34 million tons of CO2 emissions every single year and threatens to displace thousands of families and farmers from their land.

    Africa Energy Summit is ‘nothing more than a modern day scramble for Africa’

    The Africa Energy Summit comes amid renewed plans to develop oil and gas in regions such as Central Africa. Earlier this year, Swiss-based commodity trader Trafigura, an attendee at the summit, struck an agreement with the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to develop two blocks in the east of the country. The blocks could threaten the Virunga National Park, a refuge to some of the last remaining Mountain Gorillas, and could connect to the EACOP pipeline project in Uganda.

    UK-based climate and human rights activists have brought African voices of dissent to the protests outside and inside the conference for five consecutive years.

    Director of Fossil Free London Robin Wells said:

    Equinor unashamedly profits from climate collapse and human suffering. As they aggressively pursue new fossil fuel projects, they’re ensuring billions for themselves but only famines, droughts and heat–deaths for billions of us.

    Worse still, those in the Global South, who’ve benefitted the least from our oil-crazed economy, will face the worst effects of the crisis that oil giants like Equinor have fuelled. We need Equinor out. Out of Africa, out of the UK and out of the future we so desperately need to make fossil free. All new fossil fuel projects, like the Rosebank carbon bomb, must be stopped.

    Convenor of Africa Movement Building Space Omar Elmawi said:

    The Africa Energies Summit is nothing more than a modern day scramble for Africa, a colonial theatre where corporate interests auction off our resources, while our people, nature, and climate are treated as expendable collateral. This is not development, it is a sacrificial ground for 1.5 billion people that call Africa home.

    Coordinator of the StopEACOP Campaign Zaki Mamdoo said:

    The Africa Energies Summit is a modern-day Berlin Conference, where decisions about our land, our resources, and our future are made without us. Even still, this summit is racist and colonial not because of who is or isn’t at the table, but because of what the table is for: the continued plunder of Africa. A few complicit African elites might be present, but the agenda remains the same, treating our continent as a resource pit and our people as disposable labour.

    Featured image and additional images via Kirk Pritchard

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Kendall caught misleading parliament four times in 23 minutes over DWP PIP cuts

    Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) boss Liz Kendall has refused to apologise after being criticised for ‘misleading’ (or lying, if you prefer) to MPs four times in one parliamentary sitting – by linking planned cuts to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) with support for disabled people’s employment.

    DWP PIP: cuts and lies

    In a Commons session Kendall was questioned multiple times about the government’s plan to reduce PIP spending by £4.5 billion annually, as outlined in the March Pathways to Work green paper. However, rather than addressing the cuts directly, she repeatedly spoke about Labour’s approach to helping disabled people into work – even though DWP PIP is not an out-of-work benefit.

    Stephen Timms, Minister for Social Security and Disability, also faced questions on the cuts but similarly focused his answers on employment support rather than the direct impact of the reductions on disabled people.

    PIP is a benefit available to disabled people regardless of their employment status, intended to help cover the additional costs associated with disability. Experts and disability advocates have expressed concern that cutting DWP PIP risks damaging the financial security and independence of thousands of claimants.

    During the exchange, Labour MP Imran Hussain highlighted the fears of 41,000 disabled people in Bradford who face potential hardship from the PIP reductions. Yet, as Disability News Service (DNS) reported, Kendall responded by emphasising support for disabled people who can work and protection for those who cannot, without addressing the projected £4.5 billion in cuts. She said:

    We want to improve people’s chances and choices by supporting those who can work to do so and by protecting those who cannot.

    But that has nothing to do with the planned DWP PIP cuts.

    And more lies

    Similarly, when Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale and Labour’s Rachael Maskell raised concerns about the impact on disabled people and public services, Kendall spoke about expanding employment support programmes and the health benefits of work, avoiding direct answers about DWP PIP cuts and implying it was out-of-work related.

    To Gale, she said the government would be:

    Consulting with disabled people about how to build our £1 billion a year employment support programme, and we will make sure that those who can never work will be protected.

    Again, this is nothing to do with DWP PIP. To Maskell, Kendall said:

    We have clear evidence that being in work is good for people’s health: good work is good for people’s physical and mental health.

    We repeat, DWP PIP has nothing to do with this.

    Green Party MP Sian Berry labelled the cuts “cruel and wrong,” but Kendall again shifted the focus to employment statistics, saying:

    Disabled people who are out of work and economically inactive are more likely than non-disabled people to say they want to work, and if they are in work, they are half as likely to be poor.

    Once again, Kendall’s response wilfully misled parliament.

    DWP PIP cuts are NOT about work

    Timms was also criticised for conflating DWP PIP cuts with employment support. When asked about the 300,000+ disabled people expected to be pushed into poverty by the benefit cuts, he focused on the desire of disabled people out of work who want employment and the need for support measures.

    A spokesperson for the DWP declined to comment to DNS on why Kendall and Timms repeatedly misled MPs.

    Of course, Kendall and Timms responses are part of the Labour Party government’s agenda with DWP cuts. By reinvigorating the ‘work shy/scrounger/fraud‘ narrative that the state has always propagated about chronically ill and disabled people, they are hoping to get away with throwing countless people into poverty, and killing countless more.

    But when it is this obvious they are lying, it remains to be seen what portion of the public  – and MPs – will buy it.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Israel’s famine in Gaza: 93% of the population are now food insecure

    You can read the Arabic version of this article here.

    Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip is entering its nineteenth month, while the suffering of the civilian population continues and famine worsens as more than 2.1 million Palestinians face increasing difficulties in securing food due to the continued closure of crossings and the prevention of aid entry since the beginning of March.

    With warnings that the situation is heading towards an unprecedented humanitarian disaster, international reports indicate that 93% of the population suffers from food insecurity, while the Gaza Strip is expected to face a severe famine if the closure of crossings continues and the military operations continue.

    Israel’s blockade and closed crossings

    Since the beginning of March 2025, Israel has imposed a tight blockade on the Gaza Strip, resulting in the closure of key crossings that allow the entry of humanitarian aid and essential goods such as food and medicine. One of the main crossings, Kerem Shalom, which is used to supply essential items to the Strip, has remained closed for several months, further exacerbating the crisis.

    The closure of the crossings has not only affected the flow of commercial goods, but has also contributed to delays in the delivery of humanitarian aid, including medical supplies and basic foodstuffs that the population urgently needs.

    Famine and food security threats

    According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report of 14 May 2025, more than 93% of Gaza’s population is experiencing severe levels of food insecurity. Projections indicate that the food situation could worsen further if the blockade and restrictions on the Strip continue.

    More than 500,000 are now officially facing starvation, living in dire conditions without access to their basic needs.

    The blockade has led to a dramatic rise in the prices of basic food commodities, with food prices doubling in the markets, including cereals, oils and vegetables. This rise has made it difficult for many families in Gaza to secure adequate meals. At the same time, unemployment rates have continued to rise, reaching more than 60 per cent, further deepening poverty.

    Families in Gaza are forced to look for unconventional ways to obtain food, such as resorting to limited relief aid or rummaging through rubbish bins for food.

    A deteriorating health situation

    The health situation in Gaza is also in a state of collapse, with hospitals and health centres suffering from a severe shortage of medicines and basic medical supplies. Moreover, health conditions in Gaza have become worse as a result of the partial destruction of health sector infrastructure due to airstrikes and ongoing clashes.

    The Red Cross and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have indicated that there is a significant risk to the lives of patients, especially those suffering from chronic diseases or in need of urgent medical care. Due to the blockade, many patients have been unable to travel outside Gaza to receive the necessary treatment.

    Agricultural crisis and destruction of crops

    With the continued bombardment of the Gaza Strip, Gaza’s agricultural land has been severely damaged. Many Palestinian farmers have lost their crops due to shelling or lack of water and fuel to irrigate their crops. Wheat, barley and vegetable crops have been severely damaged, leading to a significant decline in local food production.

    Agriculture is one of the most important sources of income for the people of Gaza, but the current circumstances have led to the elimination of many crops. At the same time, many local food industries have shut down due to the blockade.

    UN and international warnings of famine

    The United Nations has issued repeated warnings that the situation in Gaza could reach the stage of famine if the blockade on the crossings continues. ‘The situation in Gaza is worsening,’ said UN spokesperson John Suit in a press release: ‘The situation in Gaza is rapidly worsening, and if the blockade is not lifted, we face a full-blown famine that could lead to the loss of the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.’

    The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the Red Cross and the World Health Organization (WHO) have all called for a cessation of fighting and unrestricted humanitarian access. ‘The agricultural sector in Gaza is in a state of total collapse, which means that the population will suffer severe food shortages in the coming months,’ said Hania Braz, spokesperson for the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

    Humanitarian efforts and attitudes of the international community

    Despite constant calls from humanitarian organisations and the international community to open the crossings and facilitate aid access, restrictions on humanitarian aid continue to increase, exacerbating the situation and the risk of famine.

    Many humanitarian organisations have launched fundraising campaigns, but they face significant challenges in delivering aid to Gaza due to the blockade and the ongoing clashes. Israel has rejected UN proposals to permanently open Gaza’s crossings for the distribution of aid, prompting many international parties to pressure Israel to end the blockade.

    The situation in Gaza is rapidly deteriorating, and with the ongoing war and restrictions on crossings, the Palestinian population is facing a real threat of famine. Famine is imminent if urgent action is not taken to lift the blockade and urgently provide humanitarian aid.

    The international community’s response to this humanitarian crisis will be crucial in preventing a new humanitarian catastrophe in the heart of the Middle East.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Alaa Shamali

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • المجاعة في غزة: 93% من السكان يعانون الآن من انعدام الأمن الغذائي

    تدخل الحرب في قطاع غزة شهرها التاسع عشر، في وقت تستمر معاناة السكان المدنيين وتفاقم المجاعة مع تزايد الصعوبات التي يواجهها أكثر من 2.1 مليون فلسطيني، في تأمين الغذاء بسبب استمرار إغلاق المعابر ومنع دخول المساعدات منذ مطلع شهر مارس الماضي.

    ومع وجود تحذيرات من أن الوضع يتجه نحو كارثة إنسانية غير مسبوقة، تشير التقارير الدولية إلى أن 93% من السكان يعانون من انعدام الأمن الغذائي، فيما يُتوقع أن يواجه القطاع مجاعة حادة في حال استمرار إغلاق المعابر واستمرار العمليات العسكرية.

    حصار ومعابر مغلقة

    منذ بداية مارس 2025، فرضت إسرائيل حصاراً مشدداً على قطاع غزة، مما أدى إلى إغلاق المعابر الأساسية التي تسمح بإدخال المساعدات الإنسانية والبضائع الأساسية مثل الغذاء والدواء، أحد المعابر الرئيسية، معبر “كرم أبو سالم”، الذي يستخدم لتوريد المواد الأساسية للقطاع، بقي مغلقًا لعدة أشهر، مما زاد من حدة الأزمة.

    إغلاق المعابر لم يؤثر فقط على تدفق السلع التجارية، بل أسهم أيضًا في تأخير وصول المساعدات الإنسانية، بما في ذلك المواد الطبية والمواد الغذائية الأساسية التي يحتاجها السكان بشكل عاجل.

    المجاعة وتهديدات الأمن الغذائي

    بحسب تقرير تصنيف مراحل الأمن الغذائي المتكامل (IPC) في 14 مايو 2025، أكثر من 93% من سكان غزة يعانون من مستويات حادة من انعدام الأمن الغذائي. وتشير التوقعات إلى أن الوضع الغذائي قد يتفاقم بشكل أكبر إذا استمر الحصار والقيود المفروضة على القطاع.

    ويعاني أكثر من 700,000 شخص من “الأمن الغذائي الطارئ”، حيث يعيشون في أوضاع مزرية بدون الحصول على احتياجاتهم الأساسية.

    وأدى الحصار إلى ارتفاع كبير في أسعار السلع الغذائية الأساسية، حيث تضاعفت أسعار المواد الغذائية في الأسواق، بما في ذلك الحبوب والزيوت والخضروات. هذا الارتفاع جعل من الصعب على العديد من الأسر في غزة تأمين وجبات غذائية كافية. في الوقت نفسه، استمرت معدلات البطالة في الارتفاع، حيث بلغت أكثر من 60%، مما يزيد من تعميق الفقر.

    وأصبحت العائلات في غزة تضطر للبحث عن طرق غير تقليدية للحصول على الغذاء، مثل اللجوء إلى المساعدات الإغاثية المحدودة أو البحث في صناديق القمامة للحصول على بعض الأطعمة.

    تدهور الوضع الصحي

    الوضع الصحي في غزة هو الآخر في حالة انهيار، حيث تعاني المستشفيات والمراكز الصحية من نقص حاد في الأدوية والمستلزمات الطبية الأساسية. علاوة على ذلك، أصبحت الظروف الصحية في غزة أسوأ نتيجة للتدمير الجزئي للبنية التحتية للقطاع الصحي بسبب الغارات الجوية والاشتباكات المستمرة.

    وقد أشار الصليب الأحمر ومنظمة الصحة العالمية إلى أن هناك خطرًا كبيرًا على حياة المرضى، خاصة أولئك الذين يعانون من الأمراض المزمنة أو الذين يحتاجون إلى الرعاية الطبية العاجلة. وبسبب الحصار، تعذر على العديد من المرضى السفر خارج القطاع للحصول على العلاج اللازم.

    الأزمة الزراعية وتدمير المحاصيل

    مع استمرار القصف المستمر على القطاع، تعرضت الأراضي الزراعية في غزة لأضرار جسيمة. فالكثير من المزارعين الفلسطينيين فقدوا محاصيلهم الزراعية بسبب القصف أو بسبب نقص المياه والوقود اللازمة لري المحاصيل. تضررت محاصيل القمح والشعير والخضروات بشكل كبير، مما أدى إلى تراجع كبير في إنتاج الغذاء المحلي.

    تعتبر الزراعة من أهم مصادر دخل سكان غزة، لكن الظروف الراهنة أدت إلى القضاء على العديد من المحاصيل. في الوقت نفسه، توقفت العديد من الصناعات الغذائية المحلية بسبب الحصار.

    التحذيرات الأممية والدولية

    أصدرت الأمم المتحدة تحذيرات متكررة من أن الوضع في غزة قد يصل إلى مرحلة المجاعة إذا استمر الحصار على المعابر. وقال “جون سوت”، المتحدث الرسمي باسم الأمم المتحدة، في بيان صحفي: “إن الوضع في غزة يزداد سوءًا بسرعة، وإذا لم يتم رفع الحصار، فإننا نواجه مجاعة شاملة قد تؤدي إلى فقدان حياة مئات الآلاف من الفلسطينيين”.

    منظمات الأغذية والزراعة (الفاو) والصليب الأحمر ومنظمة الصحة العالمية جميعها دعت إلى وقف القتال والسماح بمرور المساعدات الإنسانية بدون قيود. وقالت “هانيا براز”، الناطقة باسم منظمة الأغذية والزراعة، إن “القطاع الزراعي في غزة في حالة انهيار تام، مما يعني أن السكان سيعانون من نقص غذائي حاد في الأشهر المقبلة”.

    الجهود الإنسانية ومواقف المجتمع الدولي

    رغم النداءات المستمرة من المنظمات الإنسانية والمجتمع الدولي لفتح المعابر وتسهيل وصول المساعدات، ما زالت القيود على المساعدات الإنسانية تزداد، وهو ما يؤدي إلى تفاقم الأوضاع.

    من جانبها، أطلقت العديد من المنظمات الإنسانية حملات لجمع التبرعات، لكنها تواجه تحديات كبيرة في إيصال المساعدات إلى غزة بسبب الحصار والاشتباكات المستمرة. ورفضت إسرائيل مقترحات الأمم المتحدة لفتح معابر غزة بشكل دائم لتوزيع المساعدات، مما دفع العديد من الأطراف الدولية إلى الضغط على إسرائيل لإنهاء الحصار.

    الوضع في غزة يتدهور بشكل سريع، ومع استمرار الحرب والقيود المفروضة على المعابر، فإن السكان الفلسطينيين يواجهون تهديدًا حقيقيًا بالمجاعة. المجاعة وشيكة إذا لم يتم اتخاذ إجراءات عاجلة لرفع الحصار وتوفير المساعدات الإنسانية بشكل عاجل. إن استجابة المجتمع الدولي لهذه الأزمة الإنسانية ستكون حاسمة في منع حدوث كارثة إنسانية جديدة في قلب الشرق الأوسط.

     

    By Alaa Shamali

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Turkish regime should focus on peace at home rather than posturing about peace abroad

    NATO member Turkey has a repressive war-criminal regime. But it currently has an unprecedented chance for peace. And it should focus on taking that with both hands rather than posturing about peace abroad.

    The main opponent of Turkish state repression has unilaterally laid down its arms

    The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its allies in Syria were at the centre of the fight against Daesh (Isis/Isil), and were pivotal in defeating it. But because the Turkish state had repressed Kurdish people for many decades, the PKK began a campaign of armed resistance in the 1980s. There were increasing hopes for peace until Turkey’s war criminal leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ended peace talks in 2015. But in February this year, imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan unilaterally called for the organisation to lay down its arms. And now, the group has announced it will disband.

    The UN, the EU, and Turkish politicians have welcomed the PKK’s move. But Erdoğan is moving slowly, despite calls for his regime to show some good will by, at the very least, releasing prominent political prisoners. As Prison Insider reports:

    Türkiye has the highest incarceration rate and the largest prison population of all Council of Europe member States. Its prison population has grown significantly over the past two decades.

    Under two decades of Erdoğan’s increasingly authoritarian rule, the imprisonment of dissidents has increased significantly:

    Roughly 58,000 people were incarcerated in 2000. The country now holds more than 300,000 prisoners.

    In particular:

    Since the failed coup of 2016 and the subsequent declared state of emergency, a growing number of people have been sentenced under the Anti-Terror Law, originally introduced in 1991. These prisoners include outspoken critics of the government, political opponents, activists, journalists, lawyers and Kurdish advocates. More than 10% of the prison population are estimated to fall into this category.

    Peacemaking in Turkey for Ukraine and Russia. What about for Turkey itself?

    On 15 May, Turkey hosted Ukrainian and Russian representatives for peace talks. But the key question is, will the Turkish regime actually opt for peace at home as well? Now that the PKK has taken the first step, will there be reciprocation?

    There are numerous reasons why ending its own decades-long conflict once and for all would be beneficial for Turkey. And the PKK has firmly placed the ball in Erdoğan’s court. So will he keep posturing as a peacemaker internationally while repressing his own citizens? Or will he actually make a change himself? Because this is a massive opportunity for Turkey. But offering firm democratic guarantees and following through isn’t exactly what Erdoğan’s about.

    The international community must insist that the Turkish regime takes this chance. And if it doesn’t, there must be serious diplomatic consequences.

    By Ed Sykes

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Companies committing human rights abuses for renewable energy minerals have surged

    A human rights research group has linked major mining companies to a surge in human rights abuses, environmental harm, and community conflict. In its latest annual analysis, the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre has uncovered the staggering scale of these abuses that the global rush for transition minerals to power the clean energy transition is fanning.

    Transition minerals: linked to human rights abuses and environmental harms

    Notably, corporations including Glencore, Grupo México, Codelco, Georgian American Alloys, China MinMetals, Sinomine Resource Group, and South32 all crop up in numerous allegations.

    The Centre has recorded some 834 allegations since 2010. These involve environmental harm, water pollution, land grabs, unsafe working conditions, and attacks on Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

    It found a staggering 156 allegations of abuse connected with the mining of key minerals essential for electric vehicle batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines in 2024 alone. These included minerals like nickel, lithium and zinc.

    Despite the widespread allegations, less than half of companies involved have a human rights policy in place. It means they are missing the opportunity to create a just transition, rid their projects and supply chains of abuse, and build sustainable business models that are attractive to workers and investors alike.

    Mining giants meting out abuse in the Global South

    Key findings from the new research on transition minerals included:

    • The top three minerals it most frequently linked to abuses since 2010 were: copper (44% of cases); copper-cobalt (12%); zinc (10%)
    • The top three environmental impacts in 2024 were: impact on clean, healthy and sustainable environment; water pollution; violation of environmental standards.
    • Some 595 allegations caused at least 853 different impacts on local communities and their environment.
    • Just five firms – Georgian American Alloys, China Minmetals, Codelco, Grupo México, and Sinomine Resource Group – were linked to nearly a quarter of allegations.
    • South America was the region with the highest number of allegations (48) in 2024. Projects in Peru and Chile accounted for almost one in five allegations in 2024.
    • Europe and Central Asia’s emergence as a new hotspot for transition minerals extraction and supply coincides with a 50% rise in allegations in the region.
    • Hazardous working conditions led to 10 deaths in 2024.
    • Attacks on Human Rights Defenders in the mining sector accounted for just under 8% (12) of last year’s allegations and 20% since 2010.

    The Resource Centre calls on policymakers, business leaders, and investors to urgently embed human rights protections into the transition mineral supply chain. This would be in order to ensure they build an energy transition on a corporate duty of care for the rights of communities and workers. That means fair negotiations, and a commitment to shared prosperity.

    A transition built on exploitation is not just

    Head of just transition and natural resources at the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre Caroline Avan said:

    The urgency of the energy transition is real. But it cannot be used to justify an unprincipled scramble for transition minerals. This is driving widespread human rights abuse, environmental destruction and growing community conflict which slows the transition.

    A transition built on exploitative supply chains of minerals is not simply unjust – it is unstable, unpredictable, and ultimately unsustainable – and this should deeply concern investors, governments and downstream users of minerals in the renewable energy space.

    If companies and States continue to pursue minerals recklessly, they risk undermining the very future they claim to support. We urgently need a reset. One that seeks to curb global demand through mineral recycling and delivers shared prosperity in the necessary mining. In doing so, this will embed human rights at the centre of the clean energy economy, builds trust and shared prosperity with affected communities and protects the environment on which we all depend. The path to net zero cannot be paved with more injustice and global inequity. A just transition will be one that is fast but also fair.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Elton John attacks Labour’s ‘government of losers’ in furious tirade at Keir Starmer

    The past few years have seen an explosion in ‘generative’ AI products which use databases of creative work to generate writing, music, videos, and more. This has caused a stir, because the vast majority of tech giants behind these products have used people’s creative works without permission. If you stole a book or a CD, this would be recognised as theft, of course, but our system isn’t designed to recognise thievery when rich people do it. One person who’s fighting the good fight for artists to retain their copyright rights is Elton John.

    And he’s speaking out in much firmer tones than before, because like everyone else in this country, he’s feeling betrayed by Keir Starmer’s government of faux-Labour Party shysters:

    Another anti-worker policy from Labour

    The Labour Party was established to protect the rights of workers. While it wasn’t necessarily focussed on songwriters and novelists, those people are workers nonetheless. What big tech wants is the ability to use the fruits of others’ labour to churn out infinite content forever – slop content they’ll charge people to generate.

    Earlier this week, the House of Lords added an amendment to the government’s currently-progressing data bill. Said amendment would have meant big tech companies had to disclose the copyrighted material being used in their models, and as the Guardian reported, it “passed by 272 votes to 125”. The Guardian also noted:

    Ministers have used an arcane parliamentary procedure to block an amendment to the data bill that would require artificial intelligence companies to disclose their use of copyright-protected content.

    The government stripped the transparency amendment, which was backed by peers in the bill’s reading in the House of Lords last week, out of the draft text by invoking financial privilege, meaning there is no budget available for new regulations, during a Commons debate on Wednesday afternoon.

    Data protection minister Chris Bryant acknowledged that the rise of generative AI likely looks like an “apocalyptic moment” to the creative industries. Labour’s issue then? They apparently believe the amendment wouldn’t offer the ‘required solutions’, and yet they don’t seem to be offering any alternatives.

    Once more, Labour seems to have no idea what it’s doing besides reflexively siding with wealthy, robbing tech giants.

    Elton John: ‘losers’

    Elton John made his feelings clear in an interview with the BBC‘s Laura Kuenssberg – although his ableist slur left a lot to be desired. As reported by the BBC:

    Sir Elton warned the government was on course to “rob young people of their legacy and their income”, adding that he thought the government was “just being absolute losers, and I’m very angry about it”.

    The singer said that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer needed to “wise up” and described Technology Secretary Peter Kyle as “a bit of a m*ron”.

    He said if the government does not change its plans, he would be ready to take ministers to court, saying that “we’ll fight it all the way”.

    Since getting into power, Starmer has been openly hostile to old people, the LGBTQ+ community, and creatives. Elton John is all three; he’s also incredibly rich, popular, and happy to take on the government.

    It’s hard to see Labour winning the popularity contest in this instance given that Labour and Starmer have done nothing but lose popularity since they took power:

    Does Labour really want to strap itself to the mast of another sinking ship? Quite possibly.

    At this point, there are only three logical explanations for Starmer’s actions:

    1. He’s the worst at politics a person has ever been.
    2. He’s a deep state plant with the intent to destroy the Labour Party as a political organisation.
    3. He’s basing all his moves on ChatGPT suggestions.

    Elton John isn’t the only person speaking out either, as the BBC noted:

    Speaking alongside the 78-year-old, playwright James Graham said ministers “do understand the value of creativity… but what’s frustrating is either the complacency or the willingness to let Silicon Valley tech bros get it all their own way”.

    The chief executive of UK music, Tom Kiehl, told the BBC that the government is “on the brink” of offering up the country’s music industry “as a sacrificial lamb in its efforts to cosy up to American-based tech giants”.

    He added that the prime minister “must not sell” the next generation of singers, songwriters, musicians, and music creators “down the river and allow all that talent to be crushed by letting soulless AI bots plunder their work”.

    Ahead of the vote in the House of Lords, Sir Elton joined more than 400 British musicians, writers, and artists in signing a letter calling on the prime minister to update copyright laws in a way that protects them from artificial intelligence.

    Beatles singer Sir Paul McCartney, who also signed the letter, previously told the BBC there was a risk AI would create a “Wild West” in which artists’ copyright was not properly protected.

    Labour’s response is, as you might imagine, appalling, with a government spokesperson saying they want both creative industries and AI companies to “flourish”, adding:

    That is why we have committed to publishing a report and economic impact assessment – exploring the broad range of issues and options on all sides of the debate.

    It’s like saying they want to see banks and bank robbers flourish.

    The economic impact assessment is also a joke. Labour is essentially saying they’re going to put a figure on how much money American tech companies can leech from the UK creative industry. And let’s be real, however much money they decide is okay today, it will be ten times as much ten years from now.

    Public support for Elton John

    Many have spoken out in support of Elton John and his crusade against the thieving American oligarchs:

    Broader implications

    To be clear, we’re not saying all AI technology is bad (we also understand that many wildly different technologies are currently being described as ‘AI’). As an example, the potential for AI to drive medical breakthroughs is extraordinary, and that field will have astounding positives for the species as a whole. Moreover, AI as an accessibility aid for chronically ill and disabled people has endless possibilities.

    Letting an AI owner like Elon Musk rip off the works of emerging writers, however, will only have astounding positives for Elon Musk.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Two sets of figures just dropped. Together they show an alarming reality about the UK

    This year, the Sunday Times rich list came out on the same day as financial regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) revealed that 21% of UK people have less than £1,000 in their bank. The rich list shows that the 350 wealthiest families have maintained vast wealth at £773 billion, down only 3% from last year.

    Rich list: taking the piss

    The figures will heighten calls for a wealth tax. Deputy leader of the Green Party Zack Polanski is running for the leadership. He has called for a 1% wealth tax on the richest 1%, rebalancing the economy by £75 billion per year. Ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves budget, 30 MPs called on her to introduce a wealth tax.

    The FCA also found that one in ten people have no money in their bank whatsoever. They live entirely pay check to pay check. Meanwhile, the 14th richest family in the country is that of the Duke of Westminster. His own father said he was “born with the longest silver spoon anyone could ever have”.

    According to the Sunday Times rich list, his family fortune now stands at £10bn. It illustrates what people mean when they say the economy is ‘rigged’. The cash goes back to Norman times when his ancestor was gifted loads of land by the King, with the fortune also increasing after a marriage.

    Rigged economy

    Now the Duke has a property empire. He holds 300 acres of London as part of his global property ‘assets’. After inheriting his wealth, he is now profiteering on it through exploitation of the housing bubble, which successive governments have maintained. Despite housing being a common necessity to all that could be organised at cost price, Real Estate is the most profitable industry in the UK. Top companies average an astonishing £686,000 of profit per year per employee. That’s a private tax on homes at 23 times the UK average salary, per employee.

    On top of that, the Duke avoided the 40% inheritance tax on the £9bn estate. If he had been taxed, it would have rebalanced the economy by almost as much as the Treasury collected in inheritance tax in the entire year. That’s because the estate is registered as a trust. What a joke.

    Meanwhile, as the rich list dropped the FCA also found 12 million people in the UK feel overwhelmed or stressed because of their financial circumstance. We need to remove profit from our risk-free common essentials, while the private market can explore avenues in the rest of the economy.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By James Wright

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Disabled people set to take to parliament en masse to oppose DWP cuts

    On Wednesday 21 May, disabled people from across the UK will be travelling to Westminster to tell their MPs to vote against Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) welfare cuts.

    Disabled people have been requesting meetings with their MPs over Labour’s plans to cut DWP benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Universal Credit. Even for those without a pre-arranged meeting, you are within your rights to turn up at parliament on 21 May from 1pm and ask to see your MP.

    The mass lobby has been co-ordinated by disabled activists from groups including Disability Rights UK and, WellAdapt, to unite disabled people across the country.

    DWP cuts: brutal

    As the Canary has documented, there has been uproar over plans DWP boss Liz Kendall laid out in March to ‘reform’, that is – cut – chronically ill and disabled people’s benefits. It set this out in its Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working green paper.

    Notably, the paper included a suite of regressive reforms to make it harder for people to claim disability benefits like Personal Independence Payment (PIP). The changes it’s proposing target neurodivergent, learning disabled, and those with mental health disorders. Moreover, disabled people who need help with things like cutting up food, supervision, prompting, or assistance to wash, dress, or monitor their health condition, will no longer be eligible.

    And revelations from a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has also shown that the changes will disproportionately hit PIP claimants over 50 as well. Specifically, the criteria goalpost shifts will deny 1.09 million (nearly 70% of those who could lose out) the Daily Living component of PIP. Part of this cohort is obviously also people Labour is already hammering with the Winter Fuel Payment cuts.

    Labour lies: time to call it out

    Overall, Labour and the DWP have already lied about the number of people its Green Paper plans will affect. Research keeps exposing the devastating scale of the governments planned cuts. While its impact assessment calculated 370,000 current claimants, and 420,000 future ones would lose their DWP PIP entitlement, it’s likely to be much higher than this.

    Another FOI made by a member of the public unearthed that around 209,000 people getting enhanced rate DWP PIP Daily Living will lose it. On top of this, around 1.1 million people getting the standard rate will lose it.

    In total then, nearly 1.4 million people could, on reassessment, lose their Daily Living element of DWP PIP. However, as the Canary’s Steve Topple previously noted, this doesn’t tell us how many could lose their full PIP altogether. This is because the data does not show how many of these people get standard or enhanced Mobility Element of DWP PIP.

    Nonetheless, it’s evident that the plans will be enormously detrimental for chronically ill and disabled people. And in early June, parliament is expected to vote on these plans. So, disabled people’s groups are taking action.

    Lobby your MP

    Disabled people will be asking their MPs to vote against these cuts and stand against these poverty-creating policies, as cuts to PIP and changes to Universal Credit are not being consulted on, this is a vital opportunity for MPs to hear directly from their constituents.

    The lobby will be taking place in Westminster Hall on the 21st May 2025, between 1-4pm. As WellAdapt says on its website:

    On the day, you will arrive to Westminster where stewards will show you how to get to the lobby registration desk.

    We will provide you with a briefing of the proposals and some key messages. From here, you and potentially others from your constituency will meet with your MP wherever arranged.

    If your MP still hasn’t replied by the 21 May – we’d still love for you to join us, as we feel that this is an opportunity for us to show strength and solidarity in numbers…

    DWP cuts: time to take further action

    If your MP does not reply, WellAdapt says you can:

    Attend the mass lobby and “Green Card”.

    This is a time honored way of engaging with your MP, even if they have not replied to you.

    • Go through the Cromwell Green entrance to parliament and pass through security (This takes up to 20 minutes.)
    • Queue up at the information desk in the central lobby and you will need to collect and fill in a “green card.” This includes providing your name and address and the reason for your visit (to oppose the green paper and welfare reforms).
    • Hand the completed green card back to the information desk. The information desk will be able to let you know quite quickly if your MP is not at the House of Commons.
    • If your MP is unavailable the fact that you have handed in a green card will mean that your MP will know you have requested a meeting and your MP will have to write to you and it’s an opportunity for you to let them know your views. Sometimes your MP might send a staff member to meet you.

    If the information desk does manage to contact your MP be prepared to wait for a while.

    For more information, go to https://well-adapt.com/mass-lobby/

    Featured image via the Canary

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Southern Water are threatening a journalist with defamation for doing their job

    Southern Water are threatening a local journalist from independent magazine the Worthing Journal with defamation action over a matter of public interest:

    God forbid a journalist does their job – especially an independent, local one.

    But lets face it, Southern Water’s fury could be for myriad of different scandals. So, here are the top suspects.

    Scandal 1 – ‘we sold the reservoirs and got rich’

    A Southern waters boss told the public to ‘ration water’ after they sold off their reservoirs for profit.

    As the Canary previously reported, Tim McMahon, managing director of Southern Water, previously told the public to ration water in hot weather.

    Now, the buyers of the reservoirs have converted then into for-profit housing.

    A previously reported-on document from 2018 shows that:

    Southern Water will decommission 43 of 93 reservoirs between 2023 and 2030. Yet it only plans to build one more in the coming years with Thames Water. This suggests that for-profit companies are incapable of maintaining vital infrastructure that the country needs.

    Scandal 2 – Southern Water destroying marine life at Ryde

    As reported by Portsmouth News, Southern Water have also been accused of destroying marine life at Ryde on the Isle of Wight. Since January 2025, their sewage works at Appley have pumped raw sewage into the River Solent nearly 200 times, according to local councillor Michael Lilley.

    He said:

    The pipe has already burst in fields opposite Appley Manor this year because of the increasing flow and the pumping station looks an eyesore with fencing all round it.

    Previously, Southern Water reduced the discharges at Gurnard as the beach had been significantly affected. However, discharges have increased again in recent months.

    Scandal 3 – leaking pipe causes sinkhole

    In February, a damaged Southern Water pipe burst causing a sinkhole to appear at the end of a private driveway in West Sussex.

    Since then, Southern Water repaired the sinkhole. However, residents are concerned it will reappear, as the pipe has already burst again. According to local business owners, there is already a pool of water on top of the repair “so it is going to go again and it is going to affect us again”.

    Scandal 4 – Southern Water wants its debt writing off

    Southern Water have requested that their lenders write off around £370m in debt, which would allow “new equity to flow directly into the utility’s heavily-indebted operating company”.

    According to the Financial Times:

    Southern — which provides water and sewerage services to 4.7mn customers in the south-east of England — asked bondholders including Ares Management and Australian infrastructure investor Westbourne Capital to write off all of their debt, according to people familiar with the matter.

    The investors own debt at Southern’s holding company level, which has roughly £370mn of external bonds, according to the company’s most recent filings. The debt sits at the top of the capital structure and far away from the utility’s operating assets, making it risky for investors to hold.

    Macquarie took a majority stake in Southern in 2021. The Australian investor and the lenders are negotiating a compromise of a partial write down, but are yet to agree on terms. Macquarie’s demands are still too steep for lenders, according to people familiar with the discussions.

    Scandal 5 – payouts for water outages

    In December 2024, 58,000 people in Southampton, Eastleigh, Romsey, and the New Forest were affected by water supply outages in the lead up to Christmas.

    According to the BBC, a technical issue at Southern Waters Testwood supply works caused the outages. They began on December 18 and service was restored on December 20. The BBC reports seeing compensation offers varying from £100 to £150.

    Lawrence Gosden, Southern Waters CEO, said that it was “the single biggest supply incident in the company’s history”.

    In 2023, Mr Gosden pocketed over £700,000. The firms financial statements shows they paid him a baseline salary of £480,000, with a bonus of £183,000. Additionally, he received £28,600 in benefits and another £72,000 in pension contributions. This means his total remuneration was £764,000. Since then, in April 2024 his salary increased to £500,000.

    Something stinks

    Regulator Ofwat greenlit Southern Water hiking customer bills from April by a staggering 53%. However, company still isn’t content. It’s appealing this with Ofwat and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and wants to raise bills by 84%  – which it originally planned for.

    Will these hikes pay for upgrades to the crumbling water infrastructure it has underinvested in for decades? Yeah right. It’s more likely to line the pockets of its CEO and shareholders. Those ridiculous six figure bonuses stink of profiteering.

    Yet somehow, just somehow, it’s the journalist from the Worthing Journal that’s at fault for asking questions about Southern Water’s dire management and reputation. Well, the Canary says all power to local news for holding these corporate criminals to account.

    Make sure you check out the Worthing Journal at http://worthingjournal.co.uk/ 

    Feature image via the Canary

    By HG

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • FIFA face human rights questions over upcoming world cups in Saudi Arabia and the US

    FIFA, the governing body for world football, is facing serious allegations about human rights abuses. A group of lawyers have sent an official complaint to FIFA alleging that the organisation has breached its own human rights rules in allowing Saudi Arabia to host the 2034 men’s world cup. And, Human Rights Watch (HRW) have also written to FIFA to express concern over the US’ record on human rights with North American countries the US, Canada, and Mexico set to host.

    Both the 2018 world cup in Russia and the 2022 world cup in Qatar faced similar protests over human rights. However, the last world cup in 2022 saw racist and lazy journalism from Western outlets who were all too eager to sleepwalk into caricatures of Arab nations as backwards and uncivilised.

    It’s entirely possible – and, in fact, necessary – to criticise Arab nations for human rights violations without veering into racist reporting. And, in a similar vein, HRW’s attention on the US is an important part of the ongoing discussion over how FIFA allocates world cup hosting duties.

    Questions for FIFA

    In their letter to FIFA, HRW set out their assessment of the impact of Donald Trump’s horrific immigration policies. They write:

    Since its return to office, the administration of President Donald Trump has implemented or is planning policies that fundamentally undermine the inclusive spirit of the World Cup and the non-discrimination policies under FIFA’s Statutes.

    In a damning list of immigration concerns HRW explain that the US’ travel restrictions could affect people “from as many as 43 countries.” And, transphobic immigration policies mean that:

    New visa practices require applicants—including athletes and tourists—to disclose their sex assigned at birth and only recognize binary sex categories, discriminating against and erasing transgender identities and leaving gender non-binary individuals without appropriate options.

    HRW also cite the US’ detainment of international students, the wrongful deportation of legal US residents, and the hostile environment for refugees. HRW find that:

    These policies would directly affect the World Cup in ways that contravene FIFA’s human rights responsibilities.

    Crucially, even if people trying to enter the US for the world cup – including fans and players – they may still be stopped:

    Even with proper visa documentation and tickets to attend World Cup events, players and fans face potential detention, interrogation, and humiliation at US borders, including being screened for social media posts or even denied entry for expressing opinions on Trump administration policies in private messages. This would be a violation of the right to free expression.

    Migrants rights

    HRW have also set out damning evidence of the deterioration of migrant workers rights in Saudi Arabia, who are currently preparing to host the FIFA 2034 world cup. HRW found that:

    Scores of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia have died in gruesome yet avoidable workplace-related accidents, including falling from buildings, electrocution, and even decapitation.

    These workers are largely South Asian and African.

    The deputy Middle East director at HRW, Michael Page, said:

    The gruesome workplace accidents killing migrant workers in Saudi Arabia should be a huge red flag for businesses, football fans, and sports associations seeking to partner with FIFA on the 2034 Men’s World Cup and other Saudi ‘giga-projects.

    Page is referring to the huge number of migrant workers deaths in Saudi Arabia which are not investigated or categorised as ‘natural.’ So much so that Fairsquare, another rights organisation, have found that:

     there is a critical absence of effective policies and processes to determine the cause of migrant worker deaths in Saudi Arabia, and concluded that the surge of construction associated with projects such as NEOM and the 2034 men’s World Cup will in all likelihood lead to thousands of unexplained deaths of low-paid foreign workers in the country.

    Now, a group of layers have filed an official complaint which, as the Guardian reported, highlights five particular areas of concern:

    The five areas outlined relate to freedom of expression and association; arbitrary arrests, mistreatment and the death penalty; judicial independence; migrants’ rights; and women’s rights.

    The complaint also alleges that FIFA have already been warned about the degradation of human rights and have done nothing:

    To date there is no evidence that such steps have been initiated, let alone that FIFA has any intention of doing so. This complaint highlights these failings so that they can be rectified without delay.

    Dismissed

    Similarly, FIFA have not publicly responded to HRW’s letter on its concerns over rights in the US. However, POLITICO have seen descriptions of FIFA president Gianni Infantino addressing the claims. POLITICO report:

    In his remarks to FIFA’s top brass, described to POLITICO, Infantino went on to disparage the media for its coverage of a World Cup organizing summit in Washington this week attended by Trump and senior members of the U.S. government.

    Infantino said he was amused at press reports of the taskforce meeting that questioned whether the White House’s strict border rules would be eased for traveling supporters.

    Infantino’s response is typical of FIFA: dismissive and not concerned about rights as much as they are about money. In 2015 nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives were indicted by the US Department of Justice for:

    racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies, among other offenses.

    Football writer Martin Samuel had a blistering indictment of FIFA and Infantini’s greed:

    They do not care. That’s the nub of it. Not about the game, not about the consequences, not even about the show, given how they will corrupt it for money.
    Every now and then, FIFA conducts some public travesty like the supine award of the World Cup to Saudi Arabia and, momentarily, the world takes notice. Yet these sell-outs, this corruption, unfolds daily just as the order of business.
    FIFA has no concern for fan or player safety. Nor do they care about human rights concerns that place money and profit over people. As usual, it’s migrant workers and other people from the Global South who will be on the sharp end of FIFA and the host countries recklessness.
    Featured image via the Canary

    By Maryam Jameela

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Plaid Cymru Commons leader just hit a nerve with this biting question to Keir Starmer

    Plaid Cymru Westminster leader Liz Saville-Roberts MP remarked that she “clearly struck a nerve”, following her question to Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs). She also said the sombre faces of Labour MPs like Angela Rayner proved she was making a cutting point:

    Two-faced Starmer taken down by Plaid Cymru

    Saville-Roberts said:

    This prime minister once spoke of compassion and dignity for migrants and for defending free movement. Now he talks of ‘islands of strangers’ and ‘taking back control’. Someone here has to call this out Mr Speaker. It seems the only principle he consistently defends is whatever he last heard in a focus group. So I ask him: is there any belief he holds which survives a week in Downing Street?

    In response, Starmer resorted to a personal attack:

    Yes, the belief that she talks rubbish

    Hearing Starmer talk about migration while he was running to be Labour leader demonstrates Saville-Robert’s point. On Twitter, people have compared what he said then with his words now:


    Manipulating the democratic base of the Labour party to elevate himself to the leadership, Starmer said:

    We welcome migrants. We don’t scapegoat them. Low wages, poor housing, poor public services are not the fault of migrants and people who’ve come here. They’re political failure… So we have to make the case for the benefits of migration.

    When he’s actually in government, he does and says the opposite. In a speech on 12 May, Keir Starmer included the soundbite that the UK is becoming an “island of strangers” because of immigration. He was introducing an immigration white paper that would raise the skill level migrants need to enter the country, curtail overseas students coming to less prestigious universities and seek to inspire Britons to do menial jobs.

    At PMQs, Nigel Farage was delighted with Starmer’s capitulation:

    We at Reform, a party that is alive and kicking, very much enjoyed your speech on Monday. You seem to be learning a great deal from us.

    Instead of opposing Farage, Starmer is establishing fertile ground for the rise of the far right.

    The deceit continues

    What’s more, Starmer’s lies go beyond immigration and what he said to become Labour leader. Whether it’s living standards, energy bills, disabled people’s support, council tax, austerity or cronyism, the Labour leadership has done the opposite of what it has promised.

    No wonder Chancellor Rachel Reeves said “promise made, promise kept” on April Fool’s Day.

    Featured image via the House of Commons

    By James Wright

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • DWP failures have now led to hundreds of deaths – but these are still the tip of the iceberg

    This article contains content some people may find distressing

    Hundreds of deaths linked to failures by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have been exposed by a group of MPs. However, the story is likely just the tip of the iceberg – as the Canary has documented for years.

    DWP: blood on its hands in hundreds of cases

    A report released by the Work and Pensions Committee has concluded that the DWP could have prevented many of at least 240 of these fatalities, urging an urgent overhaul of procedures designed to protect the most vulnerable in society.

    While the committee acknowledges the department’s role as a “lifeline” for millions, it calls attention to the severe consequences that arise from bureaucratic mistakes and the lack of accountability.

    Among the heart-wrenching cases discussed is that of Errol Graham, who starved to death in 2018 after his disability benefits were abruptly halted. The ensuing inquest revealed a series of missed opportunities for communication between agencies. Had agencies shared critical information, it’s possible that support could have been delivered to prevent such a tragic outcome.

    This sentiment is echoed by the committee, which began conducting internal reviews in 2020-21 and has since initiated around 240 investigations into cases of serious harm or death linked to DWP actions.

    The report argues that the DWP’s negligence has led to hundreds of preventable deaths, emphasising a need for a new legal duty to protect vulnerable claimants. They recommend legislation that mandates referrals to appropriate support services whenever a claimant’s circumstances are clearly precarious.

    Paying the ultimate price

    Debbie Abrahams, the chair of the committee, highlighted the psychological toll that engaging with the DWP often inflicts on claimants, leading to further distress and, in some cases, fatal consequences. “Where this led to not being able to get financial support, many had paid the ultimate price,” she stated, underscoring the agency’s failure to fulfil its responsibilities effectively.

    The report also resonates with the tragic story of Jodey Whiting, whose mother, Joy Dove, has campaigned relentlessly for justice since her daughter’s suicide in 2017.

    Jodey lost her benefits after missing an assessment, a decision that was reversed six weeks later—a delay that ultimately proved too late. Joy expressed her hope that the committee’s findings would guide changes that save lives, noting, “If it helps others it will be a good thing,” but lamented the lack of recognition for vulnerable individuals within the DWP’s system. Her painful experience exemplifies the detrimental impact of a system that often fails to accommodate the needs of those it is meant to support.

    Critics have long argued that not enough has been done to address the inadequacies of the benefits assessment system. A previous report indicated that the psychological distress caused by assessments has contributed significantly to adverse outcomes for claimants. Despite repeated calls for a comprehensive review and training in safeguarding and suicide prevention for DWP staff, the government has faced accusations of inertia. The SNP’s Social Justice spokesperson pointed out that claimants have “paid the ultimate price” due to these flaws.

    Internal reviews conducted by the DWP have increased sharply as claimants face severe harm or death. 124 reviews, of which 97 concern deaths, occurred between 2019 and 2021 alone. As Disability News Service reported, there have been dozens more since then. Yet, many campaigners argue that these reviews do not go far enough in addressing systemic issues.

    The tip of the iceberg

    Moreover, they are just the tip of the iceberg – as the DWP only initiates them when someone takes their own life. As the Canary reported in 2021, there are many more deaths on the DWP’s watch that are not investigated.

    Thousands of people have died under the DWP. Among these are:

    • Around 90 people a month between December 2011 and February 2014. The DWP said these people were fit for work.
    • Roughly 10 people a day died between March 2014 and February 2017 – a period of almost three years. The DWP had put these people in the ESA Work Related Activity Group (WRAG). This meant it told them they were healthy enough to start moving towards work.
    • Nearly 12 people died daily over a period of five years – between April 2013 and April 2018. The DWP was making them wait for their Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims to be processed when they died.

    That’s over 34,000 people. They died either waiting for the DWP to sort their claims or after it said they were well enough to work or start moving towards work. Moreover, in 2018 alone there could have been 750 (if not more) people who took their own lives while claiming from the DWP.

    An academic analysis described such deaths as examples of ‘slow violence’, where delays and negligence compound the suffering of claimants. Despite various recommendations for reform, critics believe the DWP has failed to implement crucial changes and has often obscured the truth surrounding these tragic outcomes.

    The DWP is committing social murder

    As the cost of living crisis continues to exacerbate financial difficulties across the UK, calls for a public inquiry into the DWP’s handling of vulnerable claimants are becoming more urgent. A coalition of MPs from various parties has stressed the necessity for a safe and supportive benefits system, advocating for transparency and accountability in the face of increasing internal reviews and mounting evidence of failure.

    The DWP, meanwhile, gave a statement to the Mirror regarding this story. You can read it here.

    The grim reality is that behind every statistic is a life lost, a family devastated, and a tragedy that could have been avoided. Of course, it is arguable that this is the DWP functioning as it should do: targeting vulnerable people until they either submit or die. Either way, the department has been getting away with social murder for years – and may well continue to do so.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Steve Topple

  • Leadbeater’s Assisted Suicide Bill has been reported to a UN human rights committee

    Two disabled campaigners have challenged the proposed Assisted Suicide Bill, arguing it undermines disabled people’s rights under a UN Convention amid concerns over social care cuts and inadequate legislative engagement. They have reported the bill to the UN – just as it comes back to parliament to be debated once more.

    Assisted Suicide Bill reported to the UN

    A Cambridge woman, Nicki Myers, has joined forces with fellow advocate Nicola Waters to challenge the proposed Assisted Suicide Bill in Westminster, arguing that it grossly undermines the rights of disabled people as outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled People (UNCRPD).

    This legal complaint, made to the UNCRPD, has garnered backing from several influential disability rights organisations, including Disability Rights UK, highlighting a growing discontent amongst those who feel their voices are not being heard in this crucial debate.

    Myers, who has been living with pulmonary fibrosis—a condition that confines her largely to her bed—emphasised her commitment to life and the importance of quality support services, stating:

    I was motivated to be a complainant in this case because I believe the way this legislation has been introduced… has meant the voices of people in my position have been ignored.

    Her perspective is critical, especially given the current climate of cuts to social security, fuel allowances, and health services, which she argues makes it entirely inappropriate to present assisted suicide as a viable option.

    Waters, facing her own battle with Motor Neurone Disease, expressed similar concerns, pointing out that the Bill seems to favour offering assisted suicide over essential care and treatment that could significantly enhance the quality of life for people in her situation:

    This Bill will see those of us who live with terminal illness being offered suicide rather than the care and treatments we need to live.

    At best, shortcomings

    The complaint lays bare the vicious nature of the legislative process thus far, including a lack of accessible information and insufficient engagement with organisations run by and for disabled people. As Cambridgeshire Live reported, the complaint to the UNCRPD:

    Contains multiple arguments, including a claim there has been a lack of pre-legislative consultation or scrutiny; the Bill has been rushed; a failure to publish accessible formats of the Bill and related material; a failure to recognise the importance of engaging with organisations run and controlled by deaf and disabled people; and inadequate arrangements for hearing from these groups at committee stage.

    Critics of the Bill, like Liz Carr—a prominent actress and disability rights campaigner—have also condemned how disabled voices have been sidelined in the legislative process. Carr commented on the need for genuine engagement, noting:

    It is shocking… that the voices of disabled people’s organisations have not been adequately heard so far.

    She urged that the committee stage should have allowed for broader representation and more time for meaningful input from affected groups, particularly given that the Assisted Suicide Bill profoundly impacts those defined as disabled under the Equality Act.

    Cautionary examples from Canada

    Recent discussions surrounding similar Assisted Suicide Bills in countries like Canada serve as cautionary tales – with the UNCRPD slamming the laws there.

    Carr has pointed out how laws initially intended to assist terminally ill individuals have since expanded disproportionately, allowing those with chronic, non-life-threatening conditions access to assisted death. This has ignited fears that the UK could follow a similar path if adequate protections are not firmly established.

    Furthermore, MP Marie Tidball has highlighted the critical need for advocacy rights to be woven into the fabric of the Assisted Suicide Bill. She noted that individuals with learning disabilities must be equipped to engage in the discussions surrounding end-of-life options, ensuring that their rights are upheld and their needs properly addressed.

    Tidball’s call for a disability advisory board adds an essential layer of oversight that many feel should have been included from the outset.

    Assisted Suicide Bill: care not killing

    As the legal arguments mount and the parliamentary debate progresses, it is clear that the voices of those struggling with terminal illnesses and disabilities must not be overlooked. The trajectory of this Bill could have consequences far beyond the immediate debates, influencing public policy and opinion regarding the treatment of vulnerable individuals in society.

    The call for a robust palliative care framework, rather than euthanasia, resonates deeply among advocates who believe that the state should focus on improving the quality of life rather than facilitating an end to it, especially in a time when essential services face ongoing cuts and challenges.

    The fight for the rights of disabled individuals continues to be a pressing issue. It remains essential that their voices are amplified and that their concerns are taken seriously as the UK navigates this challenging moral landscape.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Labour sold more military equipment to Israel in the last 3 months of 2024 than the Tories did in 3 years

    New export licensing figures show that the UK Labour Party government approved licenses for £127.6 million worth of military equipment to Israel in single issue licenses between October to December 2024. This is a massive increase, with the figure in this three-month period totalling more than 2020-2023 combined.

    The majority of these licenses are for military radars, components and software as well as targeting equipment. The licenses were granted after the government’s announcement of a temporary arms suspension on 2 September 2024.

    Labour: defending the indefensible

    These new figures come as the Labour government attempts to defend its decision to exclude the open license for F-35 combat aircraft components from its temporary arms suspension in a legal case brought by GLAN and Al-Haq.

    UK industry makes 15% of every F-35 in contracts Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) estimates to be worth at least £500m since 2016, and is the most significant part of the UK arms industry with Israel. It is the only tier 1 partner with at least 79 companies involved in manufacturing components.  For example, BAE Systems makes every rear fuselage for the F-35 and also makes its active interceptor system. Leonardo makes its targeting lasers and L3 Harris makes the weapons release cables. Israel is using F-35s to drop 2000lb bombs on Palestinian people in Gaza.

    Despite the government admitting that there is a clear risk that F-35s could be used to violate International Humanitarian Law (IHL), and that Israel is not committed to upholding IHL, it refused to include F-35 components in its partial arms suspension.

    The Labour government is arguing that “the impact of suspending F-35 components on operations in Gaza is likely to be minimal” given the “IDF is one of the most significant and well-equipped militaries in the world”. Meanwhile, Defence Secretary John Healy claimed that suspending F-35 exports would cause a “profound impact on international peace and security”.

    Nonsense claims

    However, Labour claims that the impact of the suspension would be “minimal” is contradicted by the evidence. Israel is using its 39 F-35s at five times the normal rate which has led to a very high demand for spare parts.  According to Freedom of Information requests obtained by CAAT, the open license for spare parts was used 14 times more in 2023 than in any other year.

    The Labour government is also claiming that  “no evidence has been seen that Israel is deliberately targeting civilian women or children”. It further claims that “there is also evidence of Israel making efforts to limit incidental harm to civilians”.

    These claims come as the impact of Israel’s blockade of aid, imposed since March, deepens. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, “71,000 children and more than 17,000 mothers will need urgent treatment for acute malnutrition”.

    According to the UN, 57 children have died from malnutrition since the start of the blockade in March. It has also described the blockade as a “weapon of war”.

    Raza Husain KC told the court that

    On the first of this month, at least 1.9 million people, or about 90% of the population, have been displaced on 10 times or more.

    He continued:

    On 7 May the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that every single one of Gaza hospitals has been damaged or destroyed and, as of this month, only half were partially functional.

    Official reporting from the ministry of health, cited by UN agencies, indicated that between 23 October and 25 April over 50,000 Palestinians [were] killed, including at least 15,000 children and a further 214,000 injured.

    Labour: shameless

    Emily Apple, CAAT’s Media Coordinator, said:

    This is a truly shocking increase in military exports to Israel. This is the Labour government aiding and abetting Israel’s genocide in Gaza. It is sickening that instead of imposing a full two-way arms embargo, Keir Starmer’s government has massively increased the amount of military equipment the UK is sending to Israel.

    The government’s claim that stopping the export of F-35 components is a risk to peace and security is untenable, illegal and immoral. We are watching a genocide. We are seeing Palestinian children blown apart by bombs dropped by F35s. Everyday we see images of starving children, the victims of Israel’s deliberate policy to deny aid into Gaza. These are war crimes.

    Our government is complicit in the death of every Palestinian child. Our government is complicit in genocide. This cannot be allowed to continue. We hope the legal action is successful but these new figures show that we need to increase the pressure and take action to stop the UK’s genocide profiteers.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Trump just sparked another major national security row – not that he cares

    Concerns surrounding president Donald Trump’s acceptance of a lavish gift—a Boeing 747-8 from Qatar—raise profound questions about national security and ethics within the highest echelons of US governance.

    The jet, valued at approximately $400 million and previously owned by the Qatari royal family, is under scrutiny not only for its luxury but for the implications of accepting such a significant gift from a nation long accused of funding extremist groups.

    This potential acceptance exemplifies a troubling collusion between political elites in America and foreign interests that may undermine the core values of democracy and security.

    Donald Trump: here we go again…

    US senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, voiced grave concerns regarding the technology embedded in the aircraft. He noted that the nation could technically accept the gift, but he highlighted the imperative of safeguarding national secrets that might be compromised by this foreign asset.

    Grassley’s apprehensions are echoed by experts who assert that the aircraft lacks essential defensive capabilities, such as missile defence systems and electromagnetic pulse protection, which are critical for any aircraft serving as Air Force One. This retrofitting notion adds another layer of complexity, with significant questions about execution costs and feasibility amid ongoing complications in US security operations.

    The controversy is compounded by Trump’s history of prioritising personal gain over governmental integrity.

    Critics argue that the acceptance of such extravagant gifts goes against the very essence of his “America First” policy. Trump’s defenders have tried to downplay these concerns by likening the jet to France’s donation of the Statue of Liberty—an analogy that rings hollow for many.

    This incident lays bare a broader narrative of ‘soft corruption,’ where money is leveraged for influence, often at the expense of ethical governance.

    Moreover, Trump’s financial ties to Qatar raise serious ethical dilemmas.

    All in this together?

    Prominent figures within his administration, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and former FBI Director Kash Patel, have benefitted from financial relationships with Qatari interests. Institutions perceived to be reputable, such as Newsmax and think tanks like the Brookings Institution, have also accepted Qatari funding, further entrenching this web of influence.

    The deeper this relationship grows, the more transparency and accountability wane, spotlighting a disturbing pattern of entitlement and complicity that extends beyond individual actors.

    As discussions surrounding the legality of accepting foreign gifts swirl, it becomes clear that historical precedents, while allowing for certain exceptions, face scrutiny under modern ethical standards.

    Legal experts have pointed out that while past presidents received gifts without consequence, enforcement remains murky, creating a breeding ground for potential misuse of power. The emoluments clause in the US Constitution, meant to prevent foreign corruption, faces challenges in its interpretation, exposing vulnerabilities in oversight mechanisms intended to safeguard democracy.

    This situation is underscored by Trump’s strategic engagements in the Gulf.

    Good for Trump – but not anyone else

    During his presidency, Trump embraced a transactional relationship with Gulf monarchies, deriving mutual benefits from both national policy favour and personal business opportunities. Although this approach seemingly offers US political leverage, it risks alienating those in the Global South who perceive these dealings as self-serving rather than aligned with genuine support for democratic values.

    In response to such controversies, congressional Republicans find themselves torn. While some express cautious disapproval, there has been little initiative for a full investigation, reflecting a reluctance to confront the uncomfortable truths of their own leadership.

    This lack of accountability invites further normalisation of practices that prioritise wealth and influence over the public good, an erosion of standards that threatens the very fabric of US governance.

    Cronyism

    Ultimately, the proposed acceptance of the Qatari jet signals a troubling crossroads for America, as it balances pressing national security concerns against the seductive allure of wealth and foreign influence.

    If Trump is allowed to pursue this course unchecked, it could open the floodgates for a new era of political transactionalism, challenging the very ideals of democratic integrity and placing national safety at stake.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The far-right’s latest attack on Jeremy Corbyn is its most preposterous yet

    Reform MP Lee Anderson has called for Jeremy Corbyn to be deported in the Commons. Anderson, who has also been a Labour MP and a Conservative one, said:

    Today over 600 illegal migrants have entered this country. They could get up to all sorts of mischief, commit crimes and maybe even acts of terrorism. So does she agree with me that these young men crossing the channel should be immediately detained and deported, along with the member for Islington?


    In response, immigration minister Angela Eagle stood by Corbyn:

    The right honourable member for Islington has a complete right to his opinions and a complete right to express them… I have a great deal of respect for him. So I’m quite shocked that the honourable gentleman thinks that’s an appropriate thing to say

    Corbyn’s foreign policy

    What’s ironic is that there would likely be less terrorism if Jeremy Corbyn had become prime minister. This is the complete opposite of what Anderson suggests.

    At one of the biggest protests in UK history in 2003, Corbyn said:

    Thousands more deaths in Iraq will not make things right. It will set off a spiral of conflict, of hate, of misery, of desperation that will fuel the wars, the conflict, the terrorism, the depression, and the misery of future generations.

    Corbyn seems to be on the right side of history. The 2003 invasion of Iraq led to the death of around a million Iraqis, sowed destruction throughout the country, and gave the forerunners of Daesh (Isis/Isil) fertile ground to grow. It also paved the way for the terrorism we see today, and created the regional destabilisation that eventually led to today’s refugee crisis.

    The invasion was based on Tony Blair’s ‘dodgy dossier’ – a fabrication paraded as conclusive evidence across the media. And as even Blair would eventually acknowledge, the rise of Daesh was a direct consequence of the conflict he and the Conservatives voted through parliament.

    Libya

    As well as opposing the invasion of Iraq, Corbyn was one of just 13 MPs to vote against military action in Libya. A parliamentary report on the 2011 military intervention in Libya later vindicated Corbyn’s decision, concluding:

    The limited intervention to protect civilians had drifted into an opportunist policy of regime change. That policy was not underpinned by a strategy to support and shape post-Gaddafi Libya.

    Within its damning report, the foreign affairs committee concluded that the risk of extremist groups like Daesh benefiting from the rebellion should not have been “the preserve of hindsight”. Especially given the rise of terrorism following the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

    Anderson has got this completely backwards.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By James Wright

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Just when you thought Starmer couldn’t stoop any lower – he does this

    In yet another attempt to woo the far right, prime minister Keir Starmer has announced his government is “in talks with a number of countries about return hubs”. He called this a “really important innovation”, but even right-wingers can see it’s just a rehashing of the Conservatives’ failed Rwanda scheme.

    Rwanda failure (Starmer remix)

    As is now his routine, Starmer is boosting the far right by echoing their talking points, while offering no meaningful steps to address the immigration question.

    Let’s remember that the Tories’ Rwanda plan failed because: it threatened to violate international law and Britain’s human rights obligations; there were serious domestic legal concerns; it was expensive and wasteful; and because dodgy assessments meant the UK would send people in a vulnerable situation to a country with its own poor human rights record and defective asylum system (risking their return to home countries where they might be in significant danger), and with which they had no connection.

    Let’s also remember that this type of plan does absolutely nothing to deal with the fact that Britain desperately needs immigration, or with the actual root causes of people making the difficult choice to leave their countries behind.

    Racism and state propaganda

    Britain quickly welcomed reasonably well-off Ukrainians with open arms. Poor people from elsewhere who’ve risked their lives on long, tortuous trips to end their journey in a small, dangerously fragile boats – not so much.

    Why?

    Because the British state wanted people to sympathise more with Ukraine (to justify fanning the flames of war with Russia), so the mass media suddenly developed empathy they’d never shown to immigrants of colour. Racism and xenophobia against the latter, meanwhile, have long been an effective tool to distract people in Britain from the super-rich and their lackeys who are actually responsible for the country’s problems.

    Want to stop immigration? Try addressing these issues

    People in vulnerable situations around the world know that there’s significant demand for immigrant workers in Britain, though. So that’s a big pull factor. And the push factor away from their own countries is the poverty, war, and/or human rights abuses that the Global North – including the UK – has played a key role in fostering. Britain has faithfully backed the global campaign of death and destruction led by Washington for decades, fueling abuses abroad for economic benefit. The most common countries people on the small refugee boats came from last year were Afghanistan, Vietnam, and Iran – all of which have a long history of brutal Western meddling. Just this week, for example, we heard about the cover-up of British war crimes in Afghanistan.

    If British governments took responsibility for their global actions, they would welcome in civilians who suffer as a result. But they consistently hide from that responsibility.

    If they truly wanted to stop people seeking asylum in Britain, meanwhile, they could simply stop destructive meddling abroad and focus on investing at home instead. They could also stop blocking a global crackdown on tax avoidance and actually stand up to the small number of obscenely wealthy people (many in Britain) who accumulate extreme levels of wealth as a direct or indirect result of the poverty or suffering of ordinary people around the world.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Ed Sykes

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Jewish anti-Zionists IJAN respond to police ban on protest against Israeli ambassador

    Police have banned a regular protest by the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) from gathering near genocide–supporting Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely’s residence in London. A letter from the group and a comment from a holocaust survivor have responded to the ban and the misinformation surrounding it.

    IJAN: peaceful anti-genocide protests vs aggressive agitation from genocide-supporters

    IJAN insisted that:

    In almost 20 months of peaceful protesting, the International Jewish Antizionist Network has never “intimidated” anyone, Jewish or not, attending prayer services. As a Jewish organisation we would never do that. But the police have caved in to pressure from the Board of Deputies of British Jews who are well connected with Parliament and the Prime Minister. Any “hate speech” came from them.

    It explained that:

    As our outspoken, well-informed Jewish-led opposition to genocide grew in numbers, the Zionist establishment orchestrated provocative and threatening counter-demonstrations to shut us down. The Board of Deputies [BoD] called on Zionists to turn up and they did, shouting and dancing to loud music with banners claiming “There is no genocide in Gaza”! Holocaust denial would likely be prosecuted, but denying today’s genocide against Palestinians seems to be entirely acceptable. They are responsible for the police having to close the Finchley Road to move them away.

    It accused the police of consulting with local people who objected to the protest while ignoring those who supported it. And it added:

    The claim that Swiss Cottage is a Jewish area is also false. The most recent census shows: 27.7% Christian, 28.6% no religion, 16.4% Muslim and 8.5% Jewish.

    ‘Criminalising pro-Palestinian protest on behalf of the Zionist establishment’

    Criticising prime minister Keir Starmer’s regime for its genocide apologism, IJAN stressed that:

    This government, like the previous Tories, refuses to recognise the genocide in Gaza despite international pressure and court rulings so it can continue its lucrative arms sales and other support for Israel. They are determined to criminalise pro-Palestinian protest on behalf of the Zionist establishment. The BoD is even “investigating” dissent within its own ranks – 36 members objected to Israel’s slaughter of Palestinian children (after 18 months!) Financial Times (LINK).

    And it insisted:

    As Jews who remember the genocide against us, and like millions around the world, we will never be silenced about the genocide of Palestinians. Never.

    Holocaust survivor says BoD agitation “made me anti-Zionist”

    Jewish holocaust survivor Dr Agnes Kory, meanwhile, released a statement saying:

    Prior to the Friday 2nd May 2025 protest, the Board of Deputies [of British Jews] issued a call to their members, allegedly asserting that these IJAN protests were anti-semitic. As a result of the Board of Deputies call, the twenty or so IJAN protesters were confronted by about sixty or more BOD protesters who shouted abuse at the small IJAN gathering, blocked Finchley Road and played amplified loud music to drown out IJAN speeches.

    She argued that:

    The undue influence of the Board of Deputies over the British police is likely to increase antisemitism.

    And she said:

    As a Jewish Holocaust survivor, by default I have been a life-long Zionist although critical of some of Israel’s policies. The abusive behaviour of the 2nd May 2025 BOD counter-protesters tipped the balance and made me anti-Zionist.

    Featured image supplied

    By Ed Sykes

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Labour MP raises the epidemic of male suicide. Here’s how Finland halved its rate.

    This article contains discussion around suicide which some readers may find distressing

    At Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), Labour MP Jake Richards brought up the epidemic of male suicide. But one country has more than halved its suicide rate since the 1990s.

    Male suicide: the “biggest killer”

    Richards said:

    Male suicide is a tragic epidemic in our country. Each week almost 100 men take their own lives. And suicide is the biggest killer of men aged under 50. In my constituency I’m working with Andy’s Man Club in Maltby, the Learning Community in Dinnington and Better Today in Kiveton Park to try and raise awareness about the fantastic groups who offer support for men in the most difficult circumstances. Will the prime minister use this opportunity to support the campaign that we are undertaking in my constituency and also reassure those groups and my constituents that mental health services for men will be a priority for his government?
    While 25% of people in the UK (and the US and Canada) who die by suicide are women, 75% are men, showing there is a major male mentality or sex factor to the epidemic. 4,200 men die by suicide every year in the UK. One issue is that men are less likely to seek help for mental health issues, with a meta analysis showing 20% contacted mental health professionals in the year leading up to suicide compared to 35% of women.

    In response at PMQs, Keir Starmer said:

    Can I thank him for raising this crucial issue and across the house I know members will have their own personal and tragic experiences of suicide… We’ve launched a call for evidence on our men’s health strategy, which will improve men’s health in all parts of the country, including tackling devastatingly high suicide rates. We’re also investing 26 million pounds in new mental health crisis centers, funding talking therapies for 380,000 more people and recruiting 8,500 more mental health workers.

    One issue with the current approach is private companies using mental health as an opportunity for profiteering. The public purse forks out £286,000 per year per person for mental health patients to have secure accommodation in private facilities, where they do not even receive therapy from specialists. You could buy someone an entire house for that amount. And Starmer is only increasing private provision of NHS services (by 20%), rather than investing properly in the public health service.

    Finland has halved the suicide rate

    Meanwhile, a country that has had remarkable success through halving its suicide rate is Finland. At the end of the last century, the country’s suicide rate was high at around 30 people per 100,000. Now it’s reduced that by more than half to around 13 per 100,000.

    By contrast, the UK had its highest suicide rate in 2023 since 1999. The Finnish government launched a national strategy to carry out a comprehensive research project on the data surrounding suicide and educating healthcare workers through this. As part of this, the project taught the media to report on suicides in a neutral way, without glorifying or romanticising it.

    It’s an instance of the Finnish government finding what the best data is and standardising that across the board, rather than competing private interests offering varied services. Starmer should take note.

    Featured image via the House of Commons

    By James Wright

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • BREAKING: new DWP figures show PIP fraud is still virtually zero

    Whilst the Labour government is fighting a potential rebellion in its ranks due to their proposed benefits cuts, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has released more stats which prove why the benefits cuts aren’t needed – namely, the figures around fraud and error, especially PIP.

    DWP releases latest ‘benefit fraud’ figures

    The Fraud and Error in the Benefit System report is an annual report that is published every May and provides information on how much is overpaid in benefits each year.

    Whilst the government tends to focus on the fraud part of this report, it also breaks down how much was overpaid due to error, on both the part of the claimant and their own error. Not only this, but it also holds the department to account on how much is underpaid to claimants, but this part coincidentally usually receives very little press attention.

    The report found that the total amount of overpaid benefits across the whole system from April 2024 to April 2025 was £9.5 billion, or 3.3%. This is actually down from the previous year’s £9.7 billion (3.3%).

    The total rate of fraud in the system was 2.2%, or £6.5 billion, but again this is down from the previous financial year’s £7.3 billion (2.7%). The total amount underpaid to claimants was £1.1 billion. Add to this the total amount overpaid due to DWP error that was then taken back was £1 billion. That’s countless pensioners, disabled people, single parents, and working families, unduly stressed and struggling to get by even more because of the government.

    What the government are going to focus on is disability benefit fraud, despite it being such a small amount in the grand scheme of the report.

    An admission over DWP PIP

    It’s difficult to get a complete picture of all fraud and errors in disability benefits, due to Universal Credit now being the main unemployment benefit, and that includes all unemployed people and also those who work but need extra support.

    However, the rate of PIP fraud shows just how unserious disability benefit fraud is. In the last year, the rate of total amount of PIP overpayment was 1.3% or £330 million, which is up massively from £90 million in 23/24. However, the breakdown explains why.

    The total amount of fraud was £100 million, up from 0 in the last financial year, but this still only accounts for 0.4% of all PIP claimants. The amount of overpayment due to claimant error almost doubles this at £190 million, or 0.7%, compared with £60 million the year before (0.3%).

    However, a huge reason for this was that claimants didn’t know they had to report an improvement in health, something which isn’t made clear and considering the DWP backlog, probably isn’t easy to do. That accounted for 6 in every 10 pounds that were overpaid. There was also £40 million overpaid due to the department’s errors.

    The amount of underpaid PIP was £40 million (0.2%), compared with £80 million in 2024. Significantly, all underpayments were due to the DWP wrongly deciding claimants should be awarded less.

    So whilst there was £100 million in PIP fraud last year, this is also balanced out by the £290 million overpaid due to error and underpaid to claimants due to the government not believing disabled people.

    Errors upon errors

    Another significant part of the report is that Carer’s Allowance overpayment is included. This hasn’t been reported since 2020, the reason for this of course wasn’t given, but it’s interesting that it wasn’t reported during the pandemic.

    The overall overpayment rate of Carer’s allowance was £160 million in the financial year compared with £150 million in 2020. However. despite these figures being higher, as a percentage of the total claims the rate is now much lower than it was in 2020 at 3.9% now and 5.2% in 2020.

    There’s no huge significant change in the rate of fraud from 2020 to now, with it standing at 3% (£90 million) in 2020 and 2.5% (£100 million) now. Overpayment due to claimant error is 1% (£40 million), compared with 2.0% (£60 million) in 2020.

    It is interesting, though, that the DWP are choosing to publish these figures now – which makes it look like they’ve gotten fraud down since 2020 but not the previous four years.

    To compare this to other benefits, Universal Credit had an overpayment rate of 9.7% or £6.35 billion, which was a decrease from the previous year’s 12.4%. Of this £5.20 billion (8%) was down to fraud, down from £5.26 billion (10.8%) the year before.

    Claimant error accounted for £610 million (0.9%), and departmental error was £540 million. The underpayment rate increased significantly to £390 million (0.6%) from the previous year’s £180 million (0.3%). Whilst not all on Universal Credit are disabled, this will still have impacted a fair number of disabled people.

    DWP: robbing disabled people, robbing older people

    And finally, its not just disabled people the government are failing by underpaying, but of course older people too. Whilst the state pension was overpaid by £190 million, it was underpaid by a whopping £450 million. Though this was thankfully paid back, that’s a lot of scared, hungry, and cold older people.

    Overall, there hasn’t been a significant change in DWP fraud and error rates since last year, but it’s important that disabled people arm themselves with these stats and the fact that disabled people aren’t the ones robbing the humble taxpayer.

    At the end of the day, there’s far more unpaid tax from billionaires that the government fails to chase than there is from people who vitally need support.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Rachel Charlton-Dailey

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The DWP has now stripped nearly 400,000 people of their benefits under Universal Credit

    As the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) pushes forward with its Universal Credit managed migration plan, the latest figures reveal what the Canary warned about nearly two years ago: that 24% of people on legacy benefits end up losing their support entirely, thank to the Universal Credit regime.

    DWP chaos under Universal Credit managed migration

    This initiative, which commenced officially in July 2022 following a pilot programme in 2019, aims to shift all legacy benefit claimants to Universal Credit by March 2026. However, the rush to implement these changes has stirred concerns over the welfare and financial security of the claimants involved.

    Over 400,000 households on income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) are now being urged to migrate to Universal Credit, with the DWP increasing the number of migration notifications sent monthly to 83,000.

    Yet, the stark reality is that failure to act within the three-month timeline given upon receiving a letter may result in significant financial hardship. Recent data shows that 381,440 individuals have already lost their benefits. This is 24% of people the DWP has sent migration notices to.

    The Canary predicted in 2023 that this figure would be the case – a prediction the DWP dismissed at the time. We also predicted that it would be mostly women affected. Again, this is exactly what has happened.

    Compounding existing issues

    The urgency of the DWP’s managed migration method is underscored by the staggering figures: while 200,000 claimants have successfully made the switch to Universal Credit, approximately 400,000 remain at risk of losing their vital income if they do not comply with the migration process.

    The DWP previously aimed for a slow-paced migration, with a target completion date set for 2028, but this has now been moved up to just three years away.

    Compounding the issue, the DWP has recently ceased new claims for several legacy benefits, including Tax Credits and Income Support, further complicating the situation for those caught in the midst of this dramatic overhaul.

    Households on these benefits can currently opt to transition voluntarily; however, many fear that they may not be better off under Universal Credit. Once initiated, this move cannot be undone, leaving claimants in a precarious position should they find themselves worse off financially.

    Moreover, specific groups, especially those living with mental health issues, often face additional hurdles in this already complex scenario.

    Advocacy from the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute calls for tailored support, emphasising that the current processes do not adequately account for the unique challenges faced by these individuals. Improved communication from the DWP is essential to ensure that all claimants understand their rights and the vital steps required to safeguard their income.

    Universal Credit: still not fit for purpose

    The lived experiences of these claimants cannot be ignored. Many report feeling overwhelmed and confused, often exacerbated by the strict time limits imposed by the DWP. With the threat of losing their much-needed financial support hanging over their heads, the stress of adapting to a new benefits system can take a severe toll on their mental wellbeing.

    As the managed migration deadline looms, it becomes increasingly apparent that without significant improvements to the support structure, countless vulnerable individuals risk losing their financial safety net entirely.

    The DWP must step up to ensure that no one is left behind in this poorly managed transition. As the landscape of benefits shifts under the weight of bureaucracy, the voices of claimants must be amplified to demand accountability from the government.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Ben and Jerry’s co-founder arrested after pleas to save starving children in Gaza

    Ben and Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen has been arrested after disrupting a senate hearing alongside fellow protesters. The group disrupted proceedings at the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing. Speaking at the time was Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr (RKF Jr).

    Cohen himself posted footage of the incident:

    RFK Jr. jumps in fear as protesters jump and begin to shout. Outside the hearing, Cohen is shown handcuffed as he says:

    Congress kills poor kids in Gaza by buying bombs and pays for it by kicking kids off Medicaid in the US…Congress and the senators need to ease the siege. They need to let food into Gaza. They need to get food to starving kids.

    Ben and Jerry’s push back

    The two founders of the ice cream company, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, have previously advocated for various social justice issues. In November 2024, Ben and Jerry’s began legal action against their parent company, Unilever. As the Guardian reported, the lawsuit involves a claim that Unilever has not respected Ben and Jerry’s social mission:

    Ben & Jerry’s said in the lawsuit that it has tried to call for a ceasefire, support the safe passage of Palestinian refugees to Britain, back students protesting at US colleges against civilian deaths in Gaza and advocate a halt to US military aid to Israel.

    The ice cream makers said:

    Unilever has silenced each of these efforts.

    For their part, Unilever have said they will “defend their case.”

    Cohen’s latest actions demonstrate individual agency in stark contrast to his company’s ongoing battle to maintain their attention to social justice. Earlier this month, Cohen appeared on a US show and said:

    Right now, what it means to be American is that we are the world’s largest arms exporter, we have the largest military in the world, we support the slaughter of people in Gaza.

    If somebody protests the slaughter of people in Gaza, we arrest them. What does our country stand for?

    Starvation looms

    Several organisations, including the United Nations (UN) have issued grave warnings this week over a serious risk of starvation in Gaza. On 12 May 2025, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC Global Initiative), who are responsible for measuring the risk of famine, published a report which said:

    Over 60 days have passed since all humanitarian aid and commercial supplies were blocked from entering the territory. Goods indispensable for people’s survival are either depleted or expected to run out in the coming weeks. The entire population is facing high levels of acute food insecurity, with half a million people (one in five) facing starvation.

    The report laid out in stark detail that if Israel continues to block the entry of food into Gaza:

    there would be a critical lack of access to supplies and services that are essential to survival.

    The initiative predicted further mass displacement, the collapse of any health services that may have been able to address malnutrition, and further severe deterioration of other services essential to survival. They explained that:

    Only an immediate and sustained cessation of hostilities and the resumption of humanitarian aid delivery can prevent a descent into Famine.

    But:

    Food assistance alone will not prevent Famine.

    Instead, they explain that “unhindered” humanitarian access” must be put in place. In other words, Israel must stop attacking aid workers who are attempting to save lives.

    The World Food Programme’s head Cindy McCain, said:

    It’s imperative that the international community acts urgently to get aid flowing into Gaza again. If we wait until after a famine is confirmed, it will already be too late for many people.

    Ben and Jerry’s: optics

    If anyone should be advocating to stop Israel from starving people to death, it should be the US health secretary. However, because US government is little more than official sanctioning for Israel’s genocide, it’s down to the co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s to make sure famine in Palestine is on the news agenda.

    It should be an absolute disgrace that someone protesting against the starvation of children is arrested for doing so. But, it should also be a disgrace that Israel is purposefully putting Palestinians on the brink of famine and killing anyone who attempts to help.

    Featured image via screengrab

    By Maryam Jameela

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • DWP PIP cuts under further pressure as disabled people demand a say

    The national Campaign for Disability Justice is urging the public to sign an open letter to the Labour Party government. This demands that it to commit to including disabled people in the development of its future plans over welfare. In particular, the letter comes as Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) boss Liz Kendall announces work has begun to review Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Part of this also entails its plans to effectively scrap the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) by aligning it to the PIP application process.

    Specifically, the letter is calling on the Labour government to fully involve disabled people and their organisations in reviews of WCA, the PIP assessment process, and the Access to Work scheme.

    The open letter also calls for an urgent multi-discipline safeguarding review, and funding to develop a national strategy for local independent advice services.

    The group will send the letter to the prime minister and key MPs at the end of the current consultation period on the government’s controversial Pathways to Work Green Paper.

    DWP PIP review begins…

    This comes as Social Security and Disability minister Stephen Timms has now started work on reviewing DWP PIP.

    Notably, in March, the government’s flagship and controversial Green Paper set out its plans to both:

    • Change the PIP assessment rules – effectively tightening the criteria around eligibility. Notably, the DWP is targeting certain claimants in particular, namely, young, neurodivergent, learning disabled, and those with mental health disorders with this.
    • Roll the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) into one single assessment. The DWP would align this to PIP.

    Now, as Benefits and Work reported:

    In a desperate effort to distract attention from the growing anger over the proposed personal independence (PIP) cuts, Liz Kendall announced that work has begun on designing a new assessment which will combine the doomed work capability assessment (WCA) with the PIP assessment.

    On Monday 12 May, Kendall announced this review to parliament:

    Personal independence payments are a crucial benefit that makes a contribution towards the extra costs of living with a disability. I know how anxious many people are when there is talk about reform, but this Government want to ensure that PIP is there for people who need it now and into the future. In our Green Paper we promised to review the PIP assessment, working with disabled people, the organisations that represent them and other experts, and we are starting the first phase of that review today.

    In a nutshell, rolling the WCA into PIP assessments means that to get the health-related (LCWRA) component of Universal Credit or the ESA support group, applicants will have to also be awarded PIP.

    However, the Canary’s Steve Topple has previously pointed out a number of serious issues with this. Specifically, he noted how:

    The WCA and PIP criteria are completely different, as are the benefits. The DWP may be asking people for the same information about their illnesses or impairments. But the context is completely different. The WCA looks at what sick and disabled people can do regarding work. The PIP health assessment looks at what support people need. To combine both these assessments is simplifying people’s health. But more often than not, people’s health is not simple at all.

    In other words, currently, DWP PIP is about the extra costs chronically ill and disabled people need to live. Or more to the point, it’s completely separate from whether or not they are in work, or can work. However, Labour now seems set on blurring this line.

    PIP and the WCA: dangerous plans afoot

    What’s clear now is that Kendall is leaning into this to justify the move. In a response to Labour MP Imram Hussain, who challenged her over the DWP’s PIP cut plans, she said:

    I hear very clearly what my hon. Friend says, but I also want to be clear to the House: if people can never work, we want to protect them; if people can work, we want to support them. The truth is that a disabled person who is in work is half as likely to be poor as one who is out of work. We want to improve people’s chances and choices by supporting those who can work to do so and by protecting those who cannot.

    In short, Kendall was tying people claiming PIP to being out of work. She did so again in an interview over the DWP’s reforms with ITV. Listing off a range of the government’s plans to push people into work, she again justified the cuts to PIP and UC’s health element, and rolling the WCA into one. In one telling moment, she said:

    A life on benefits for so many people – it is not a good future.

    Overall, one thing that was notably absent from Kendall’s response to MPs and ITV, was an acknowledgement of how those plans are connected. Specifically, aligning the WCA with PIP right as the DWP tighten the criteria for claiming PIP will invariably deny many access to the health part of UC. Significantly, more than 600,000 chronically ill and disabled people could lose their health element of UC if this goes ahead. This is because they do not receive PIP or DLA, so would no longer qualify.

    In short, the DWP is both looking to change the PIP assessment process itself, and do-away with the WCA. And both have every potential to deny huge numbers of disabled people access to PIP, and UC’s health element.

    The government’s failure to involve them in shaping changes to these has been one part of the problem. So that’s what the Campaign for Disability Justice wants to now change.

    A call for the DWP to centre disabled people’s lived experience

    It calls on the public to support its open letter. This, it argues, will help show the strength of public feeling about the lack of consultation on key proposals and demonstrate a desire for genuine collaboration on workable solutions for everyone.

    As well as calling for the government to avoid making any cuts to benefits, the campaign is looking ahead to how the government can, and must, include disabled voices in conversations and reviews of key services, systems, and policies that impact them.

    The current consultation’s failure to properly consult on the key proposals highlights their lack of insight into safeguarding risks and undermines its claim to be about “helping people into work”.

    Notably, as the Canary previously reported, the government is not consulting on many of the most significant plans in its Green Paper. This includes its cuts to PIP, and the scrapping of the WCA.

    Plans to restrict DWP PIP, a non-employment-related benefit, that actually helps many disabled people to remain in their jobs, demonstrates this point perfectly.

    Pan-disability Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisation (DDPO) Inclusion Barnet is coordinating the campaign. Beyond being against cuts, it argues that groups must forge a pathway for collaboration in future.

    Campaign founder Caroline Collier said:

    Disabled people, who constitute nearly half of all low-income households in the UK, face disproportionate impacts from these Green Paper proposals. Despite this profound effect, the glaring lack of genuine engagement with Disabled people on these vital systems is deeply concerning. We must learn from the past and avoid the catastrophic consequences that can arise from ill-informed benefit changes. This Campaign is a crucial step toward centring lived experience in shaping the future of these crucial support systems.

    The campaign has until 29 June to collect signatures from the public. You can add your name to the open letter here.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • As Trump basks in Gulf Arab applause, Israel massacres children in Gaza

    Nakba Day today marks 15 May 1948 — the day after the declaration of the State of Israel — when the Palestinian society and homeland was destroyed and more than 750,000 people forced to leave and become refugees.  The day is known as the “Palestinian Catastrophe”. 

    By Soumaya Ghannoushi

    US President Donald Trump’s tour of Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Doha is not diplomacy. It is theatre — staged in gold, fuelled by greed, and underwritten by betrayal.

    A US president openly arming a genocide is welcomed with red carpets, handshakes and blank cheques. Trillions are pledged; personal gifts are exchanged. And Gaza continues to burn.

    Gulf regimes have power and wealth. They have Trump’s ear. Yet they use none of it — not to halt the slaughter, ease the siege or demand dignity.

    In return for their riches and deference, Trump grants Israel bombs and sets it loose upon the region.

    This is the real story. At the heart of Trump’s return lies a project he initiated during his first presidency: the erasure of Palestine, the elevation of autocracy, and the redrawing of the Middle East in Israel’s image.

    “See this pen? This wonderful pen on my desk is the Middle East, and the top of the pen — that’s Israel. That’s not good,” he once told reporters, lamenting Israel’s size compared to its neighbours.

    To Trump, the Middle East is not a region of history or humanity. It is a marketplace, a weapons depot, a geopolitical ATM.

    His worldview is forged in evangelical zeal and transactional instinct. In his rhetoric, Arabs are chaos incarnate: irrational, violent, in need of control. Israel alone is framed as civilised, democratic, divinely chosen. That binary is not accidental. It is ideology.

    Obedience for survival
    Trump calls the region “a rough neighbourhood” — code for endless militarism that casts the people of the Middle East not as lives to protect, but as threats to contain.

    His $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia in 2017 was marketed as peace through prosperity. Now, he wants trillions more in Gulf capital. As reported by The New York Times, Trump is demanding that Saudi Arabia invest its entire annual GDP — $1 trillion — into the US economy.

    Riyadh has already offered $600 billion. Trump wants it all. Economists call it absurd; Trump calls it a deal.

    This is not negotiation. It is tribute.

    And the pace is accelerating. After a recent meeting with Trump, the UAE announced a 10-year, $1.4 trillion investment framework with the US.

    This is not realpolitik. It is a grotesque spectacle of decadence, delusion and disgrace

    Across the Gulf, a race is underway — not to end the genocide in Gaza, but to outspend one another for Trump’s favour, showering him with wealth in return for nothing.

    The Gulf is no longer treated as a region. It is a vault. Sovereign wealth funds are the new ballot boxes. Sovereignty — just another asset to be traded.

    Trump’s offer is blunt: obedience for survival. For regimes still haunted by the Arab Spring, Western blessing is their last shield. And they will pay any price: wealth, independence, even dignity.

    To them, the true threat is not Israel, nor even Iran. It is their own people, restless, yearning, ungovernable.

    Democracy is danger; self-determination, the ticking bomb. So they make a pact with the devil.

    Doctrine of immunity
    That devil brings flags, frameworks, photo ops and deals. The new order demands normalisation with Israel, submission to its supremacy, and silence on Palestine.

    Once-defiant slogans are replaced by fintech expos and staged smiles beside Israeli ministers.

    In return, Trump offers impunity: political cover and arms. It is a doctrine of immunity, bought with gold and soaked in Arab blood.

    They bend. They hand him deals, honours, trillions. They believe submission buys respect. But Trump respects only power — and he makes that clear.

    He praises Russian President Vladimir Putin: “Is Putin smart? Yes . . .  that’s a hell of a way to negotiate.” He calls Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “a guy I like [and] respect”. Like them or not, they defend their nations. And Trump, ever the transactional mind, respects power.

    Arab rulers offer no such strength. They offer deference, not defiance. They don’t push; they pay.

    And Trump mocks them openly. King Salman “might not be there for two weeks without us”, he brags. They give him billions; he demands trillions.

    It is not just the US Treasury profiting. Gulf billions do not merely fuel policy; they enrich a family empire. Since returning to office, Trump and his sons have chased deals across the Gulf, cashing in on the loyalty they have cultivated.

    A hotel in Dubai, a tower in Jeddah, a golf resort in Qatar, crypto ventures in the US, a private club in Washington for Gulf elites — these are not strategic projects, but rather revenue streams for the Trump family.

    Reward for ethnic cleansing
    The precedent was set early. Former presidential adviser Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, secured $2 billion from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund shortly after leaving office, despite internal objections.

    The message was clear: access to the Trumps has a price, and Gulf rulers are eager to pay.

    Now, Trump is receiving a private jet from Qatar’s ruling family — a palace in the sky worth $400 million.

    This is not diplomacy. It is plunder.

    And how does Trump respond? With insult: “It was a great gesture,” he said of the jet, before adding: “We keep them safe. If it wasn’t for us, they probably wouldn’t exist right now.”

    That was his thank you to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar; lavish gifts answered with debasement.

    And what are they rewarding him for? For genocide. For 100,000 tonnes of bombs dropped on Gaza. For backing ethnic cleansing in plain sight. For empowering far-right Israeli politicians, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as they call for Gaza’s depopulation.

    For presiding over the most fanatically Zionist, most unapologetically Islamophobic administration in US history.

    Still, they ask nothing, while offering everything. They could have used their leverage. They did not.

    The Yemen precedent proves they can act. Trump halted the bombing under Saudi pressure, to Netanyahu’s visible dismay. When they wanted a deal, they struck one with the Houthis.

    And when they sought to bring Syria in from the cold, Trump complied. He agreed to meet former rebel leader turned President Ahmed al-Sharaa — a last-minute addition to his Riyadh schedule — and even spoke of lifting sanctions, once again at Saudi Arabia’s request, to “give them a chance of greatness”.

    No US president is beyond pressure. But for Gaza? Silence.

    Price of silence
    While Trump was being feted in Riyadh, Israel rained American-made bombs on two hospitals in Gaza. In Khan Younis, the European Hospital was reportedly struck by nine bunker-busting bombs, killing more than two dozen people and injuring scores more.

    Earlier that day, an air strike on Nasser Hospital killed journalist Hassan Islih as he lay wounded in treatment.

    As Trump basked in applause, Israel massacred children in Jabalia, where around 50 Palestinians were killed in just a few hours.

    This is the bloody price of Arab silence, buried beneath the roar of applause and the glitter of tributes.

    This week marks the anniversary of the Nakba — and here it is again, replayed not through tanks alone, but through Arab complicity.

    With every cheque signed, Arab rulers do not secure history’s respect. They seal their place in its sordid footnotes of shame

    The bombs fall. The Gaza Strip turns to dust. Two million people endure starvation. UN food is gone.

    Hospitals overflow with skeletal infants. Mothers collapse from hunger. Tens of thousands of children are severely malnourished, with more than 3500 on the edge of death.

    Meanwhile, Smotrich speaks of “third countries” for Gaza’s people. Netanyahu promises their removal.

    And Trump — the man enabling the annihilation? He is not condemned, but celebrated by Arab rulers. They eagerly kiss the hand that sends the bombs, grovel before the architect of their undoing, and drape him in splendour and finery.

    While much of the world stands firm — China, Europe, Canada, Mexico, even Greenland – refusing to bow to Trump’s bullying, Arab rulers kneel. They open wallets, bend spines, empty hands — still mistaking humiliation for diplomacy.

    They still believe that if they bow low enough, Trump might toss them a bone. Instead, he tosses them a bill.

    This is not realpolitik. It is a grotesque spectacle of decadence, delusion and disgrace.

    With every cheque signed, every jet offered, every photo op beside the butcher of a people, Arab rulers do not secure history’s respect. They seal their place in its sordid footnotes of shame.

    Soumaya Ghannoushi is a British Tunisian writer and expert in Middle East politics. Her journalistic work has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, Corriere della Sera, aljazeera.net and Al Quds. This article was first published by the Middle East Eye. A selection of her writings may be found at: soumayaghannoushi.com and she tweets @SMGhannoushi.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.