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Category: UK

  • Rishi Sunak ignores environment in speech as UK breaks another climate record

    The UK’s average temperature exceeded 10C last year for the first time since records began. According to the Met Office, without human-made climate change this would be a once-in-500 years event. However, amid the climate crisis, which is primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels, a 10C average could happen every three or four years.

    Despite 2022’s extreme weather, which informed this record-breaking average, and the impacts of the climate crisis now being apparent around the world, Rishi Sunak failed to mention the environment in his speech about the UK’s future on 4 January:

    Once-in-500-years event becoming common

    The Met Office confirmed on 5 January that 2022 was the country’s hottest year on record. The average temperature for the year was 10.03 degrees Celsius. The Met Office’s climate attribution scientist Nikos Christidis said its studies show that without steeper cuts to carbon emissions, by the end of the century:

    a UK average temperature of 10 degrees Celsius could occur almost every year

    Since records began in 1884, the 10 warmest years have occurred from 2003 onwards, the meteorological service said, confirming trends reported elsewhere in Europe this winter.

    The UK’s trajectory towards record-breaking temperature averages becoming the norm sits in a wider context. Overall, the Earth has warmed more than 1.1 degrees Celsius since the late 19th century, with roughly half of that increase occurring in the past 30 years, the World Meteorological Organization said in a report in November.

    Incremental figures, huge real-life impacts

    This seemingly incremental warming – along with less-than-headline-grabbing average temperatures – has huge real-life impacts. The UK is a case in point. Its 10C average temperature for 2022 doesn’t sound dramatic. But behind that figure were intense wildfires and unprecedented heat extremes during the year.

    Extreme weather is becoming increasingly common the world over. 2022 saw catastrophic floods in Pakistan and the continuation of record-shattering, years-long droughts in some countries in Africa, among other events. Global warming makes such extreme weather more likely, and oftentimes more severe.

    Already, the planet is proving unliveable for many people and other animals. The UK saw record excess deaths in the over-65s in 2022 due to the temperature extremes. Pakistan’s floods led to thousands of people dying or being injured. In Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, the number of children at risk of severe hunger and thirst, along with disease, doubled to over 20 million between July and December 2022. The climate crisis-fuelled drought is a leading factor in their plight.

    We must do more

    Meanwhile, a report from the National Trust indicated that 2022’s weather extremes were devastating for wildlife in the UK. With their homes razed by wildfires and habitats lacking water, many species struggled to survive.

    Africa’s drought is proving deadly for wildlife there, too. As Inside Climate News reported in December, in some cases it’s the lack of vegetation, not water, that’s causing casualties. The publication highlighted that a national park in Kenya has transformed from a “wildlife paradise” to a “wasteland” thanks to the drought, with thousands of animals dying in 2022.

    Climate crisis-fuelled extreme weather is one of many threats that the rapidly-diminishing wild world faces. Nearly all of these threats are human-led, such as habitat loss and direct exploitation. All combined, these have caused an extinction – or biodiversity – crisis. A UN report in 2019 warned that one million species are at risk of extinction.

    Moreover, as the National Trust’s climate crisis adviser Keith Jones has highlighted, extreme weather is likely to go from “bad to worse” unless things change. Referring to its impact on UK wildlife in 2022, he warned:

    It is a stark illustration of the sort of difficulties many of our species will face if we don’t do more to mitigate rising temperatures and help nature’s survival.

    UK lacks the necessary leadership

    Giving nature, including humans, the best chance of survival requires radical action to cut emissions and protect biodiversity. But, as Edie reported, Sunak failed to even mention the environment in a speech where he laid out the “foundations on which to build a better future”. His government is also facing legal action on multiple fronts for pushing forward with plans that threaten the environment further.

    Needless to say, it’s unlikely the UK will be leading the pack when it comes to providing the concerted action the climate and biodiversity crises demand.

    Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

    Featured image via Sky News / YouTube

    By Tracy Keeling

  • Yet another Black man has died following police contact

    It has been revealed that another Black man died during contact with the police – this time while experiencing severe psychological distress. The news will do nothing to dispel the idea that the police are institutionally racist across the country – given that it comes off the back of multiple police killings in 2022.

    Godrick Osei: another Black man dead

    As Nadine White reported for the Independent, Godrick Osei died “shortly after” an encounter with the police at a care home in Truro, Cornwall. As White wrote:

    Godrick Osei died on 3 July after police were called to a care home in Truro, Cornwall, where the 35-year-old was hiding in a cupboard in the early hours.

    The father of two had fled the flat he was sharing with his partner, experiencing a psychotic episode and expressing “paranoid thoughts”, his family said. Osei himself called the police while care home staff also rang 999.

    White reported that Godrick had a history of anxiety and depression and lived with addiction issues. Medical professionals also noted, just days before his killing, that he may have been living with a personality disorder. Still, it seems police treated Godrick as a suspected criminal when he called them. As White wrote:

    Up to seven officers from Devon and Cornwall Police arrived at about 2.30am and arrested Osei before paramedics were called at 2.49am. Osei died a short time afterwards.

    ‘He should not have died’

    Godrick’s sister Lewison Osei told White:

    Godrick meant no harm to anyone – he was a big, gentle giant; a caring guy who was always trying to do things for others, for his kids. In addition to his two children, he was a father figure to his girlfriend’s two-year-old daughter. That’s the kind of man he was.

    He needed help. Our brother should not have died that day.

    The Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) is investigating Godrick’s death. Devon and Cornwall Police said their thoughts were with Godrick’s family, and they were supporting the officers involved. However, as White noted, the force has not suspended any of them.

    Institutional failings

    However, Jodie Anderson from Inquest noted to White that:

    The circumstances of Godrick’s death raise serious questions about police use of force, at a time of increased public scrutiny. It also once again highlights the issues surrounding police responses to mental health crisis.

    In 2020/21, 54 people apparently took their own lives after being arrested – higher than the previous year. As Mental Health Cop noted, within an IOPC report into this:

    Of the 54 supposed suicides after police custody, two thirds of those people (38 in total) had known mental health concerns and all suicides took place within two days of release, over half happened within one day of release.

    Then, the website Police Professional noted that:

    12 of the 19 people who died in or following police custody had mental health concerns, and 14 had links to drugs and/or alcohol, over half (48) of those who died following other police contact were reported to be intoxicated with drugs and/or alcohol at the time of the incident, or it featured heavily in their lifestyle; and more than two-thirds (62) were reported to have mental health concerns.

    Police Professional also said that:

    12 of the 19 people who died in or following police custody had been restrained by the police (11) or others (1) before their deaths.

    The point being, there are clear institutionalised issues with how the police deal with people who experience enduring psychological distress and/or are having a mental health crisis. So Godrick’s death is another in a long line of mental-health-linked deaths at the hands of the police – and all this is without factoring in ethnicity or race.

    Racism

    The IOPC report also said that two of the 19 people who died in or following police custody were Black – that’s 10.5%. The Black population in the UK is 3.4%, making the figure disproportionately higher. Also, as Police Professional wrote:

    Of the nine other contact deaths involving use of force, four of the deceased were white, three were black, and two were Asian.

    That’s 33.3% of the deaths being Black people – a severely disproportionate figure, as is the Asian one. Of course, this isn’t news to the families of Black people killed by the police – such as Chris Kaba, shot dead by police while not carrying a weapon. As the Canary previously wrote:

    The death of Chris is in many respects like the killings of Oladeji Omishore, Mark Duggan, Dalian Atkinson, Trevor Smith, Joy Gardner and countless others, including when the victims were in contact with, or detained by, police. That is, the entrenched structural and institutional racism that pervades UK policing meant police killed them because they were Black and Brown people.

    Another avoidable death. How many more?

    Zita Holbourne, national chair of campaign group Black Activists Rising Against Cuts (BARAC) UK, told the Canary regarding Godrick’s death:

    This is yet another avoidable death of a Black man at the hands of the state. Mr Osei was experiencing mental ill health and as such his mental health team should have been involved by the police in ensuring that he was treated with the correct care and response he was entitled to. The police officers involved ought to be suspended pending a full investigation and held accountable for any failures and actions that led to or caused his death which they were responsible for.

    Mr Osei was having a mental health breakdown, he needed professional mental health support – not heavy handed police abusing their power.

    The fact that no lessons have been learned from past failures such as the death of Sean Rigg and the institutional racism which exists in policing means we can have no faith or trust in police to respond to Black people experiencing mental ill health.

    We send deepest condolences and offer our solidarity to Mr Osei’s family and loved ones and stand by them in their quest for answers justice and appropriate action.

    It is likely that the number of Black people, and those living with enduring psychological distress, who die at the hands of police will remain high in 2023. Until the proper defunding of this violent, racist, and institutionally prejudiced arm of the state is achieved, little will change.

    Featured image via Godrick Osei’s family 

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • NHS scraps long Covid treatment targets – but is it linked to forcing sick people back to work?

    A medical news website has revealed that NHS England has removed targets for the treatment of long Covid. This has rightly concerned many people living with the illness. However, there’s potentially more to this story than meets the eye.

    Ultimately, when other events are factored in, it seems that people with long Covid may end up at the sharp end of medical professionals psychologising their illness. They may also fall victim to successive governments’ obsession with forcing chronically ill and disabled people back to work. Moreover, this is worryingly reminiscent of the treatment of another group of patients with a similar illness – myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).

    Long Covid: NHS England cutting targets

    Long Covid is a post-viral illness. The British Heart Foundation says it is:

    a term to describe the effects of Covid-19 that continue for weeks or months beyond the initial illness.

    It notes that the most commonly reported symptoms include:

    • fatigue (54%)
    • shortness of breath (31%)
    • loss of smell (23%)
    • muscle ache (22%).

    Long Covid is similar to the disease myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). The onset of ME is often after a virus (like long Covid); a lot of the symptoms are similar in both illnesses and so far, there is not a full understanding of why some people get these diseases – nor no known cures for them, either.

    Now, leaked documents show the NHS’s plans for long Covid. As the Health Service Journal (HSJ) reported, NHS England has scrapped some targets for 2023-24 which were in place for 2022-23. HSJ said this included:

    a target to increase the number of patients referred to post-covid services, who are then seen within six weeks of their referral.

    Already failing patients

    In 2022-23, NHS England set its long Covid targets to:

    • increase the number of patients referred to post-COVID services and seen within six weeks of referral.
    • decrease the number of patients waiting longer than 15 weeks, to enable their timely placement on the appropriate management or rehabilitation pathway.

    NHS England also claimed it would spend £90m on this. However, as the Guardian reported in October 2022, England’s 90 post-Covid clinics were barely reaching the number of patients they needed to who were living with severe forms of the disease:

    More than 60,000 people in England had a first assessment for post-Covid syndrome in an NHS specialist service between July 2021 and August 2022.

    But the latest estimates released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) [in October 2022] show that about 277,000 long Covid sufferers in England report that the disease has limited their day-to-day activities “a lot”. These are the people that experts would expect to be referred for an assessment; however, the numbers who have been seen are far lower.

    Moreover, the Guardian also noted that:

    An average of 4,000 people have attended one of these clinics each month between July 2021 and August 2022 for a first review of the symptoms. A third of them had to wait more than 15 weeks before that first review

    So, long Covid services were already failing countless patients – even with NHS England setting targets, albeit vague ones. Now, it seems the health body has abandoned, as one Twitter user said, any “pretense” of trying to improve care for this group of patients.

    Sadly predictable

    Rowland Manthorpe is a Sky News journalist who lives with long Covid. He tweeted regarding the HSJ story that:

    I have confirmed independently. A source tells me long covid is being “deprioritised” by the NHS

    For people living with ME, this is sadly familiar. The Canary has documented these patients’ struggles to get medical professionals to believe their illnesses are real and not psychological – let alone receive appropriate treatment. As we previously reported:

    funding for this chronic disease has been scant.. between 2007 and 2015, UK funding (including government-based) per patient, per year was just £4.40 – compared to £82.20 for multiple sclerosis. The government itself directly funded a mere £558,333 a year between 2012 and 2017 for ME research. Meanwhile, people with ME are disbelieved, stigmatised, given incorrect treatment, or told it’s ‘all in their heads’.

    However, there are more warning signs for long Covid patients than just NHS England’s approach to long Covid targets.

    Here we go again?

    At the same time as it’s deprioritising long Covid services, NHS England has appointed three new non-executive directors to its board, one of whom is psychiatrist Simon Wessely. Some people believe these two events are not unconnected. One Twitter user quote tweeted Manthorpe’s comment about long Covid targets while also noting NHS England’s appointment of Wessely:

    Wessely has advocated for using cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET) to treat people living with ME. He was also linked to the now-discredited research that claimed these treatments worked when they didn’t. Wessely also, in the past, lobbied the government to try and stop ME from being classed as a neurological, not psychiatric, illness. He did the same with Gulf War syndrome. The point being that he has a history of psychologising what are physical illnesses.

    It’s currently unclear what influence Wessely will have as a non-executive director of NHS England. However, his psychiatric approach to physical illness, coupled with his new job, may indicate the path the NHS is heading further down – and not just regarding long Covid. Already, part of the treatment for long Covid is psychiatric, specifically aiming to:

    reduce the psychological impact of the condition on the patient by increasing their understanding of the impact of psychosocial factors (eg interpersonal factors, emotional dysregulation, fixed or limiting beliefs)

    “Limiting beliefs” essentially means that psychiatrists think chronically ill people’s state of mind regarding their illness stops them getting better. In the case of ME, this is not true – and could be the same for long Covid. However, Wessely has prevously pushed the idea that ME was based partly on “false illness beliefs“. Therefore, his appointment as an NHS non-executive director has concerned some people. There has already been evidence of medical professionals not believing people have long Covid – despite what NHS England guidelines state.

    Further to all this, something else ties into Wessely’s appointment and NHS England’s deprioritising of long Covid.

    Back to work

    NHS long Covid guidelines already have occupational health as a central part of treatment. They state:

    Occupational health support and vocational rehabilitation are a core component of rehabilitation to support individuals with long COVID to return to work sooner and remain in work. Employers need to make reasonable adjustments for people with long COVID to allow them to return to work safely.

    The potential with NHS England deprioritising long Covid treatment is that patients will end up with primary care practitioners offering CBT – which some trusts already do. Moreover, the cheaper version of this – called ‘behavioural activation‘, is already being trialled. As is the case with ME, CBT/talking therapies are cost-effective for the NHS, so it would be of little surprise if it pushed them for long Covid, too.

    Now, as the Canary has reported, the government is making a further drive to push chronically ill and disabled people back to work. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and NHS are, according to the Times, looking for:

    ways to incorporate “work incentives” into some mental health treatment, and looking at ways that those with low-level conditions who could work can be helped back into work via treatment.

    This is partly in response to 363,000 more chronically ill and disabled people being off work now than since before the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. As the Canary previously wrote, this could include people with long Covid.

    The end result?

    So, we have the NHS downgrading long Covid treatment and appointing a psychiatrist with a history of the psychologisation of neurological illness to a top job, and the DWP trying to get more chronically ill people back to work. It’s unlikely there’s a Machiavellian plan, direct from the government, to try and force people with long Covid into work by getting the NHS to deny them treatment. However, the situation shows how actors of the UK state view chronic illness: part-psychological, not that bad, and something that can be sorted by psychiatric treatment so these people can get back to work instead of costing the ‘hardworking taxpayer’ money in benefit payments. As one psychologist previously told the Canary:

    in recent years, policy has focused on returning as many patients to work as possible. This ‘back to work’ obsession places huge demand on patients to fulfil the neoliberal dream. One whereby health is linked to how much one can contribute to the public purse.

    It seems that people living with long Covid may be next in line for the ‘back to work’ treatment. Denied robust treatment by the NHS, their illnesses may be psychologised, and then the DWP would step in to “incentivise” them to stop being ill and get a job. If this seems far-fetched, it’s not without precedent. The clinical trial into CBT and exercise therapy for ME, now discredited but adopted by the NHS for nearly 15 years, was part-funded by the DWP – leading one MP to claim:

    One wonders why the DWP would fund such a trial, unless of course it was seen as a way of removing people on long-term benefits and reducing the welfare bill.

    Back in 2020, the Canary warned of long Covid patients eventually being treated like people living with ME. It seems that this might be rapidly becoming a reality.

    The Canary asked NHS England for comment. It had not responded at the time of publication.

    Featured image via NHS England – YouTube

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Take back control? Keir Starmer panned for adopting Brexit slogan

    Labour leader Keir Starmer is going to take back control of Britain – or so he tells us. In a major speech, the former lawyer said he would introduce a new bill to empower communities. He seemed to be talking about a form of devolution, or giving power to those outside Westminster.

    However, his phrasing already seems to have turned people off:

    The control people want is control of their lives and their communities.

    So we will embrace the take back control message – but we will turn it from a slogan into a solution, from a catchphrase into change.

    The Labour leader emphasised his commitment to the term on Twitter:

    Eerily familiar

    As a slogan, ‘Take Back Control’ is heavily associated with the campaign to leave the EU. This seems at odds with Starmer’s image and historical support for Remain. Twitter was quick to point out that there were some serious negative connotations.

    Migration scholar Tanja Bueltmann warned that it was heavily associated with toxic populism:

    ‘Take back control’, as journalist Samir Jeraj tweeted, was a slogan associated with anything but progressive change:

    While the Leave campaign had cross-party support, its association with the Tories is unmistakeable:

    One person said it showed that the Tories and Labour were basically the same:

    Backfiring Starmer

    Journalist and satirist David Osland suggested that if we’re going to take back control, we could start with public services – something which Starmer has shown little enthusiasm for:

    Catt Hobbs, director of campaign group We Own It, had a similar message:

    Meanwhile, broadcaster Krishnan Guru-Murthy said adopting the slogan left the question of Scottish independence unresolved:

    No ideas

    Keir Starmer has never been a particularly inspiring figure. However, by adopting a Tory slogan he has shown himself to be a man with very little new to offer.

    Perhaps the rationale is that wielding an old slogan will appeal to wavering Tories – but it remains to be seen if his strange mix of progressive ideas and Union Jack nationalism is likely to pay off at the polls.

    Featured image via the Telegraph – YouTube

    By Joe Glenton

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • As Extinction Rebellion halts disruption tactics, other groups vow to maintain radical methods

    As the Canary previously reported, Extinction Rebellion (XR) have announced a temporary halt to public disruption in the UK as they seek broader support, even as other activist groups vow to maintain radical tactics.

    A loosely linked network that originated in the UK in 2018, Extinction Rebellion has pushed businesses and the government to take action on the climate crisis with eye-catching – but non-violent – acts of civil disobedience that have led to mass arrests.

    XR has spawned more radical groups such as Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil, whose recent stunts include throwing soup at the glass covering Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ in London’s National Gallery.

    ‘We quit’

    In a surprise twist on New Year’s Eve, Extinction Rebellion announced in a post: “We quit”.

    It said it was trying a different approach and would:

    temporarily shift away from public disruption as a primary tactic.

    Spokeswoman Marijn van de Geer concurred with an interviewer’s suggestion on a television chat show that the “tactics have alienated the public”.

    We’ve listened to the public. They say over and over again, ‘We support what you stand for but we don’t like how you do it’.

    Solidarity

    Other related groups expressed solidarity but vowed to keep up disruptive tactics.

    Just Stop Oil, which has blocked busy roads for hours by climbing onto gantries, responded by saying:

    We must move from disobedience into civil resistance.

    Insulate Britain, which is pushing the government to fix draughty housing, said its supporters “remain committed to civil resistance”.

    Public disruption is vital to demand changes that governments are not willing or are too scared to address.

    ‘Brick wall’

    Oscar Berglund, a lecturer at the University of Bristol who researches climate change activism, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that XR’s shift in tactics appears to be:

    a way of trying to engage more people with less risky but still radical activism

    He said Extinction Rebellion has long sought to direct protests not against the general public but at specific organisations, such as Rupert Murdoch’s media empire due to its reporting on climate change.

    In recent years, XR activists in the UK have glued themselves to corporations’ doors, smashed windows, sprayed graffiti, blocked roads and bridges, and chained themselves to the gates of parliament.

    Draconian pushback

    James Ozden of the Social Change Lab research organisation said:

    My hunch is that after several years of trying a similar approach… they had seen their tactics hit a brick wall.

    He further suggested that by positioning themselves as more moderate than groups such as Just Stop Oil:

    it’s very possible they will see increased support, as well as higher mobilisation than (at) recent events.

    The government has responded to recent protests by toughening legislation to punish activists. However, Ozden stated that this was unlikely to be the driving factor in Extinction Rebellion’s shift.

    There certainly has been increasing government repression towards non-violent protestors but this probably isn’t the main cause for this change in strategy.

    Many activists are extremely committed, and willing to bear the legal consequences of their actions.

    ‘The Big One’

    Extinction Rebellion is now seeking a turnout of 100,000 for a protest outside parliament starting on 21 April, called ‘The Big One’.

    XR spokesperson Marijn van de Geer told ITV the shift in tactics was because the movement needs more people to demonstrate:

    We need more people. We need the people who perhaps aren’t comfortable getting arrested.

    You can read more about XR’s plan for ‘The Big One’ and how to get involved here.

    Additional Reporting via AFP

    Featured Image via Wikimedia Commons, resized to 770*403

    By Alex/Rose Cocker

  • Rishi Sunak’s new law to sack strikers is an affront to democracy

    Unelected British prime minister and billionaire Rishi Sunak wants to take away your right to strike. At least, that’s what he seemed to be getting at when he floated the idea of a new anti-worker law this week.

    The proposed legislation could see public sector workers who refuse to come in and provide a ‘minimum’ service during industrial action sacked. The laws may also allow employers to take legal action against trade unions.

    This is a clear attack on a core democratic right – and the Daily Mail reported that the laws could be brought to parliament by the end of the month.

    Undue disruption?

    In his first major speech since becoming PM, Sunak said that the right to strike:

    …has to be balanced with the right of the British public to go about their lives without suffering completely undue disruption in the way we’ve seen recently.

    ‘And that’s why I have said we will introduce new legislation that restores that balance and crucially protects people’s lives as well as their livelihoods.

    Resistance

    However, trade union leaders and even Labour politicians fired back. Trade unions are currently trying to overturn existing anti-trade union laws. ASLEF (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen) general secretary Mick Whelan told Sky News:

    We’re currently – with 11 other trade unions – taking legal action against the last set of laws they put in place, and we would look at doing that in future as well.

    And I think if the government gets away with what it’s doing, we’ll be left with an inherently unsafe railway system.

    Even Labour leader Keir Starmer, known for his complicated relationship with the unions, made some encouraging noises:

    I don’t think this legislation is going to work and I’m pretty sure they’ve had an assessment that tells them that. It’s likely to make a bad situation worse.

    Authoritarian shift

    These new proposals must be seen in their proper context. Under the Tories, a range of authoritarian bills have passed into law. And they have brought with them the sense of democratic space narrowing before our eyes.

    With the Spy Cops Bill, the Policing Bill, the Overseas Operations Bill, and the Snooper’s Charter, it is evident that many of the basic rights which have been won over many years are being stripped back by successive Tory administrations.

    Trade unions – already subject to severe restrictions from the Thatcher era – seem to be the next target.

    Featured image via Wikimedia Commons/Alarichall, cropped to 770 x 403, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    By Joe Glenton

  • BBC opens a can of worms for itself over anti-Corbyn Panorama doc

    The BBC has made an admission about its controversial Panorama documentary about antisemitism in the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn. It has released what it says is further “context” to a member’s claims in the programme about abuse within the party. However, the BBC‘s disclosure prompts further questions about the programme – and about the broadcaster more broadly.

    BBC Panorama: an admission

    The Canary previously reported on BBC Panorama‘s Is Labour Anti-Semitic? documentary. The BBC broadcast the programme on 10 July 2019. As the Canary‘s Joshua Funnell wrote nine days later, one of Panorama‘s claims about allegations of antisemitism in the party already appeared at that point to be incorrect. Now, the BBC has made a further admission.

    As SKWAWKBOX reported, the BBC has admitted it failed to apply context to comments made by one participant in the Panorama documentary. It made the admission on the Corrections and Clarifications page of its website on 14 December 2022.

    The BBC noted that Panorama showed a participant making the following comments:

    I’m Izzy Lenga, I joined the Labour Party in 2015… The antisemitic abuse I received was what I was subjected to every single day… Telling me Hitler was right, telling me Hitler did not go far enough…

    In Labour Party meetings… we’ve seen people engage in Holocaust denial… and that’s terrifying for Jewish members… It absolutely breaks my heart to say but I do not think the Labour Party is a safe space for Jewish people any more.

    You can watch Lenga’s comments from 8:11 below:

    Panorama presented the implication from Lenga’s statement as being that during her time in the Labour Party, people “subjected” her to “antisemitic abuse” “every single day” – including “telling” her “Hitler was right”. We now know this was not true.

    Decontextualising Lenga’s comments

    The BBC has admitted that it cut what Lenga said. It noted that if it was to “re-broadcast” the Panorama documentary now, it would include the following from Lenga’s testimony:

    I’m Izzy Lenga, I joined the Labour Party in 2015… When I was a student… being quite a high profile Jewish woman student, I was subjected to quite a lot of like nasty vitriol and abuse… The antisemitic abuse I received… was what I was subjected to every single day… Predictably a lot of it came from the far right… neo-Nazi abuse… telling me Hitler was right, telling me Hitler did not go far enough and even more… What absolutely baffled me, was at the same time, I was receiving… very similar and almost often the exact same tropes and anti-Semitic abuse… from the far left.

    Lenga was discussing her time on her university campus – not her time as a Labour Party member. This is something Al Jazeera‘s Labour Files series had previously claimed. When referencing “Hitler was right”, Lenga was talking about her experiences as a student in 2015.

    She was giving the example of people putting up posters with those words on them around her campus. However, the point is it had nothing to do with the Labour Party. The BBC has claimed Panorama did not alter the second part of Lenga’s statement surrounding Holocaust denial in Labour Party meetings.

    The BBC says…

    The Canary asked the BBC for comment. We specifically wanted to know why Panorama chose to edit Lenga’s comments in the way it did. A BBC spokesperson told the Canary:

    Following a recent discussion about any potential re-use of the programme it was decided that, if the programme were to be re-broadcast, we would include some additional comments from Ms Lenga’s original interview to give viewers further context around her experiences. We have published these on our clarifications page in the interests of full transparency.

    The Labour Party says…

    The Panorama programme was presented by John Ware. As Press Gazette reported:

    In July 2020, [the] Labour [Party] apologised and agreed to pay “substantial damages” to Ware after it falsely accused him of “deliberate and malicious misrepresentations designed to mislead the public”.

    The Canary asked the Labour Party for comment, specifically regarding whether, in light of the BBC‘s admission of the cutting of context from Lenga’s interview, the party still stands by its retraction and damages pay-out to Ware. The party had not responded at the time of publication.

    John Ware says…

    Meanwhile, on 15 December 2022, Ware commented on Lenga’s antisemitic “experience[s] on campus”. This was in an article about Al Jazeera‘s Labour Files for Jewish News. He also discussed Panorama‘s editing of her comments. Ware said that:

    At times, she was subjected daily to antisemitic abuse (on and offline) that included comments like “Hitler was right” and “Hitler didn’t go far enough” as well as Holocaust denial “with absolutely no sanctions and absolutely no repercussions”.

    Lenga’s Hitler comments referred to attacks from the right when they were targeting her on campus. However, she also recounted Holocaust denial as a feature of abusive comments from the left.

    As Lenga explained, the attacks from both left and right were “very similar… and almost often the exact same tropes”. Through no fault of her own, the fact they were similar meant these comments became mixed up in the editing and we should have made that distinction – Hitler from the Right and Holocaust denial from the Left – clearer.

    Ware’s recollection of Lenga’s comments, though, is not exactly the same as what the BBC claimed she said in its 14 December 2022 correction. Ware continued:

    A relatively minor slip, yet Corbynites have banged on and on about this, as if it invalidates the entire 59 minutes of Panorama. Presumably Al Jazeera knew that the Holocaust denial like that experienced by Lenga from the Left has led to expulsions of Labour members for neo-Nazi views. The antisemitism logs seen by Al Jazeera contain meticulous notes on such cases.

    Poor journalism or intentional manipulation?

    SKWAWKBOX called the BBC‘s actions “grossly-misleading edits“. Moreover, former Labour councillor John Edwards said on Twitter:

    Frighteningly, during the process of a general election @BBCPanorama broadcast significant lies which coincided with Tory government propaganda. Just think about that.

    Labour Files producer Richard Sanders wrote for Byline Times that:

    The Izzy Lenga story is so astonishing that it ought surely to have set alarm bells ringing at the BBC for anyone with even the remotest familiarity with the internal culture of the Labour Party. It certainly did with a number of viewers.

    The BBC‘s admission also begs the question: what, if any, context did Panorama remove from other participants’ comments, in addition to Lenga’s?

    At best, Panorama‘s editorial decision was a poor piece of journalism – and at worst it may have been an intentional misrepresentation of Lenga’s comments, in an attempt to manipulate the viewer. Either way, the broadcaster’s admission only strengthens the argument that the BBC is not fit for its stated purpose of rigorous, unbiased, public service broadcasting.

    Featured image via Peoples War – YouTube

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The DWP wants to get its claws further into our NHS

    The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is making plans to effectively harass social security claimants during NHS treatments. It comes on top of pre-existing co-working between the department and the NHS. And it also shows that the Tories are still pursuing the ‘back to work’ ideology used by successive governments against chronically ill and disabled people – despite the potential harm.

    DWP: infecting the NHS

    The Times reported that the DWP is considering:

    ways to incorporate “work incentives” into some mental health treatment, and looking at ways that those with low-level conditions who could work can be helped back into work via treatment.

    DWP boss Mel Stride had already mentioned this. In his evidence to the work and pensions select committee in November 2022, Stride said:

    For those who are long-term sick, we have to work with the Health Department and employers and look at occupational health and very different approaches.

    Further to this, the Times noted that the department is considering:

    One possibility… that people referred for certain mental health treatments could be incentivised to go to a work coach afterwards, though this work is understood to be less advanced.

    In other words, if the NHS refers you for something like cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for depression and you’re currently claiming sickness social security, a medical professional will push you to go and see a DWP work coach as part of your treatment.

    Co-working – nothing new

    This co-working between the NHS and the DWP isn’t new. As the Canary previously reported, the idea came from the last Labour government. However, it was the Tory-led government that properly rolled this co-working out in 2014. As the Canary wrote, it did this via:

    the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) scheme. This is where the DWP co-works with the NHS, by putting Jobcentre staff into therapy settings.

    The government also extended this to so-called Individual Placement and Support (IPS) services, with the aims of:

    • Offering job finding advice.
    • Supporting patients’ job interview preparation.
    • Speaking to potential employers about a patient’s mental health.

    Theses services now exist in NHS trusts across England. However, people are critical of the NHS being anywhere near the DWP.

    Tories: ‘fulfilling the neoliberal dream’?

    Clinical psychologist Dr Jay Watts previously told the Canary:

    Mental health services are chronically underfunded. By ring-fencing new money for employment specialists, we reinforce the message work is the central goal of a meaningful life. This increases the shame, guilt and anxiety disabled people already feel. Even more so under a welfare system that equates worklessness with worthlessness. It is exacerbating mental health problems…

    However, in recent years, policy has focused on returning as many patients to work as possible. This ‘back to work’ obsession places huge demand on patients to fulfil the neoliberal dream. One whereby health is linked to how much one can contribute to the public purse. But this is foreclosing the reality of long-term disability… So we must refuse the insistence that work is a meaningful health outcome in mental health services. We must instead recommit to patient (not government) centred care.

    Now, it seems that the DWP and government want to further exacerbate the erosion of patient-centred care in the NHS. Overall, as the Canary previously wrote:

    ultimately, what we’re seeing is a systematic plan by the DWP and the NHS. They’re tag-teaming, trying to get claimants/patients off benefits and into work… the DWP and NHS are also co-working in other areas already; for example, trying to “coerce” GPs into saying that their sick and disabled patients are fit-for-work.

    NHS workers and trade unions should oppose any plans to further integrate the health service with the DWP – and social security claimants should approach this with caution.

    Feature image via the DWP – YouTube and the NHS – Wikimedia 

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • UK government’s planet-harming plans face multiple legal fights in 2023

    Towards the end of 2022, the UK government gave the go-ahead for the country’s first new coalmine in decades. It issued the controversial decision despite championing a phaseout of coal by countries at the 2021 UN climate conference.

    The Times reported that campaigners are now on course to challenge the decision in the courts. Meanwhile, the government’s fossil fuel and energy plans face challenges elsewhere too.

    Consigning coal to history?

    The energy thinktank Ember describes coal power as “the single biggest threat to a safe climate”. As such, COP26 president Alok Sharma argued on Energy Action Day in 2021 that “we must consign coal power to history” to “avoid the worst effects of climate change”.

    Just over a year later, however, the levelling up secretary Michael Gove greenlit a Cumbria coalmine. According to Gove, and a report by the Planning Inspectorate, the mine will have an “overall neutral effect on climate change” and won’t stop the UK reaching its climate goals.

    However, the UK government’s own independent adviser on climate change – the Climate Change Committee – has calculated that the mine will create the equivalent of 220m tonnes of CO2 during its planned lifecycle. This includes emissions from burning the coal as well as producing it.

    Moreover, analysis by Ember suggests the mine could emit up to four times more methane than its planning documents indicate. Methane is a more potent and shorter-lived greenhouse gas than CO2, meaning it creates stronger near-term global warming. Following the government’s decision, Ember senior analyst Anatoli Launay-Smirnov commented:

    Fresh from signing the Global Methane Pledge last year, the UK government’s approval of a deep coal mine makes it look like a climate hypocrite on the world stage. Coal mine methane is a huge risk to climate. We don’t have time to waste on it being underestimated and under-addressed yet again.

    Dubious judgments and errors in law

    The Times reported that lawyers for South Lakes Action on Climate Change towards transition (SLACCtt) sent a pre-action letter to Gove before Christmas. They informed the levelling up secretary of their intention to potentially mount a legal challenge against the decision, laying out multiple grounds on which they may do so.

    This action is now imminent, with the charity expecting to lodge the necessary papers for this next week.

    The campaign group has crowdfunded over £27,000 for the legal action. SLACCtt’s Maggie Mason said:

    The planning inspector, supported by Gove, has made a number of dubious judgments and, we think, errors in law and the decision really must be challenged in court

    A major blind spot

    In December, three environmental groups – Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and Uplift – also sent pre-action letters to the business secretary Grant Shapps. These letters explained the grounds on which the groups may legally challenge the government’s latest licensing round for oil and gas exploration in the North Sea.

    One of the grounds is that the government doesn’t appear to consider the emissions from the burning of any extracted fossil fuels in its environmental assessment. This is a consistent issue across the board and the crux of a years-long legal battle against an onshore oil project in Surrey. The case is heading to the Supreme Court this year.

    As Greenpeace oil and gas campaigner Phil Evans explained:

    When it comes to carbon, our planning system has a major blind spot

    Ministers keep greenlighting new fossil fuel projects without fully considering the climate-wrecking emissions from burning those fuels. That’s completely irresponsible. It’s like giving an unlit cigarette a quick sniff and concluding that it can’t do much harm.

    More challenges

    Meanwhile, campaigners in Suffolk have applied for a judicial review of the government’s approval of the planned nuclear planet Sizewell C, which the energy giant EDF (Électricité de France) is behind. The High Court will determine whether to approve Together Against Sizewell C’s (TASC) application at an oral hearing.

    As the East Anglian Daily Times reported, a spokesperson for Sizewell C has said that the plant will “provide reliable homegrown electricity” and secure “generations of jobs”. Ministers approved the project in 2022, despite the Planning Inspectorate recommending it be rejected over concerns about water and environmental impact.

    Nature-focused groups have consistently raised concerns over the potential impact of the nuclear project on protected sites and species along the Suffolk coast. TASC has also warned that the plant “may not be adequately protected from the impacts of climate change”, a view shared by some experts. A TASC spokesperson said that they hope 2023 will:

    see the realisation that our future and that of the planet is best served by recognising that the apparent panic to produce more electricity must be balanced by continuing and encouraging the welcome reduction in demand: making what we have go further through efficiencies and conserving it is the quickest and most equitable and achievable route to net zero.

    In short, 2023 promises to be a year of stark legal action against the government’s planet-harming plans.

    Featured image via Guardian News / YouTube

    By Tracy Keeling

  • Climate activists face trial for painting Italian senate building

    An Italian judge ruled on 3 January that three environmental activists who sprayed the Senate building in Rome with washable paint must stand trial. The action, carried out on 2 January, had sparked anger from Italy’s far-right government.

    Laura, Davide, and Alessandro – who belong to the Last Generation group and go by their first names – are accused of criminal damage. They could spend up to three years behind bars.

    Grabbing attention

    They were among five climate activists who used fire extinguishers to spray the front of the upper house of the Italian parliament with washable orange paint. Police seized the fire extinguishers and detained all five activists, before releasing two.

    Laura said in a statement that they were responding to the:

    willingness of political and economic elites to deliberately choose to condemn much of the global population to drought, famine, war and death

    The group wants Italy to invest more in renewable energy and reduce carbon emissions.

    Last Generation said the arrests were:

    aimed at intimidating and criminalising those who are trying to bring attention to the real crime that this government is perpetrating.

    The trial for the three arrested will begin on 12 May, their lawyer – Ilaria Salamandra – told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

    “The defence hopes the court will change the offence,” reducing it to soiling rather than damage, she said. Soiling would be a lesser charge that carries a punishment of between six months to one year.

    Right-wing backlash

    Stefano Feltri, editor of the left-wing Domani, wrote on Monday 2 January that climate activists in Italy were:

    treated more harshly than hooligan leaders who collude with organised crime.

    True to form, far-right prime minister Giorgia Meloni called the spraying an “outrageous gesture”. Meanwhile, Senate speaker Ignazio La Russa, from Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, said it was “cowardly”.

    Last Generation began carrying out peaceful but disruptive protests in Italy last year ahead of the general election, urging politicians from all parties to make climate change their priority.

    Activists threw paint at Milan’s famed La Scala opera house last month and have targeted artworks in museums. These are forms of direct action designed not to damage the works, but rather to highlight the risk of environmental disaster.

    A broader scope

    The protests in Italy are part of a series of actions across Europe to focus attention on climate change.

    Activists have targeted masterpieces such as ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ by Johannes Vermeer at The Hague’s Mauritshuis museum, Klimt’s ‘Death and Life’ in Vienna’s Leopold Museum, and Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ at London’s National Gallery, hurling soup or other food at the paintings behind glass.

    Featured image via Unsplash, resized to 770×403 pixels

    Additional reporting via AFP News

    By Alex/Rose Cocker

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Extinction Rebellion suspends ‘public disruption’ tactics

    On 1 January, environmental campaign group Extinction Rebellion (XR) stated that it will no longer stage its well-known blockades of UK transport networks. Instead, it will hold a major demonstration against government policy in April.
    The activist network, formed in the UK in 2018, has regularly used civil disobedience to protest government inaction on climate change.
    Protesters linked to the group gained notoriety for blockading train lines, airports, and roads. At the end of August, they blockaded London’s iconic Tower Bridge.

    The statement

    A statement from XR read:

    As we ring in the new year, we make a controversial resolution to temporarily shift away from public disruption as a primary tactic.

    This year, we prioritise attendance over arrest and relationships over roadblocks, as we stand together and become impossible to ignore.

    While recognising “the power of disruption to raise the alarm”, the activists said the group would now focus on disrupting “the abuse of power and imbalance” by demanding politicians end fossil-fuel use.

    XR is calling for 100,000 people to demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament in London on 21 April.

    Draconian countermeasures

    The group’s actions have infuriated the Conservative government and much of the media, among others. Many activists have been arrested, and the government is pursuing plans to further outlaw XR’s protest tactics.

    However, in its latest statement, the group argued:

    The latest draconian attempt by the government to shut down and criminalise effective protest is only increasing public sympathy toward brave activists using their voices to stand up for justice and the loving protection of all humanity.

    XR has been joined in its fight by radical groups such as Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil. Activists from the latter group splashed soup on the glass covering Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘The Sunflowers’ at London’s National Gallery in October.

    Additional reporting via Agence France-Presse

    Featured image via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0, resized to 770*403 pixels 

    By Alex/Rose Cocker

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • If Tories treated your pets like they treat the NHS

    Alt text: image caption reads ‘If Tories treated your pets like they treat the NHS’. A man in a blue tie wearing a hat that says ‘Tory Pet Care’ is stood in front of a lady holding up the skeleton of a fish. The lady says, referring to the fish: “You stopped feeding it and then sold its bowl on eBay. Of course it’s dead.”

    By Ralph Underhill

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • When an ex-Tory minister supports Keir Starmer you know we’re screwed

    Former Tory minister Anna Soubry has come out in support of Keir Starmer. She’s said she’ll vote to get the Labour Party elected at the next general election. This sums up the state of politics in the UK – because if ex-Tories are supporting the opposition party, then it’s really no opposition at all.

    Soubry supporting Starmer

    Soubry was a minister under David Cameron, eventually leaving the Tories to form the ill-fated Change UK The Independent Group (for Change) party (consisting of centre-right Tory and Labour MPs). After losing her seat at the 2019 general election, Soubry returned to her old job of being a barrister – all while keeping herself in the public eye with media appearances. Now, during one such appearance on LBC, she has come out in support of Starmer.

    Soubry was interviewed by Matthew Wright on Monday 2 January. She told the host:

    I will vote to make sure we have Keir Starmer in No.10 and not have the Conservatives in government anymore, they are not fit to govern.

    This is despite her disagreeing with Starmer’s stance on the EU. Soubry claimed to be “disappointed” with his “stance on the EU and the single market”. However, she still said:

    I am a supporter of Keir Starmer because I think he is honest, he’s decent and I think he is competent and I think that is exactly what we need in No.10!

    Quite the turnaround from Soubry, whose anti-Brexit fervour partly led her to quit the Tory party. However, despite all her centrist overtones, she’s still right wing – with a voting record littered with support for social security cuts, authoritarian asylum policies, and not taxing the rich. Of course, the bigger point here is that a former Tory supporting the Labour Party is problematic for all of us.

    Full-fat or diet Tory: no choice at all

    As the Canary‘s Curtis Daly said on Twitter:

    He continued by saying:

    There was no debate that was won by Labour in order to change the hearts and minds of the electorate.

    They have simply moved into Tory territory. Fine, but when Labour ultimately disappoints after years in government, the cycle will continue.

    You don’t need to tell this to most people on the socialist left. As one Twitter user pointed out:

    The evidence against Starmer is clear – from not properly supporting striking workers to courting arms manufacturers via racist rhetoric over refugees to expelling Jewish socialist members from the party. So, expect the Labour leader to embrace Soubry’s support for his party. After all, Starmer’s track record on allowing Tory MPs to join his fold while expelling decent left-wing people speaks for itself. Meanwhile, the rest of us go into 2023 stuck with a choice of ‘full fat’ Tory in government and the ‘diet’ option in opposition. That is no choice at all.

    Featured image via LBC – YouTube

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • IWGB releases report on the hidden cost of living in the gig economy

    Radical trade union the Independent Workers’ union of Great Britain (IWGB) has released a report on the cost of living for those working in the gig economy.

    The union tweeted a statement from a private-hire driver called Helio:

    Helio is just one of the workers who have contributed evidence to the IWGB’s Real Cost of Living & the Gig Economy report.

    The report – published on 20 December 2022 – found that:

    • Platform workers report pay cuts of up to 50% at a time when 8 in 10 are being forced to cut back on household food and energy spending.
    • New survey of over 260 workers for platforms like Uber, Deliveroo and Amazon reveals triple-impact of the crisis on workers in the gig economy.
    • Most respondents are having to work longer hours or take up second jobs in the run up to Christmas.

    ‘Paid poverty wages by multinational corporations’

    According to IWGB:

    Many gig workers are paid poverty wages by multinational corporations like Amazon, Uber and Deliveroo. However, because they are categorised as self-employed, they are also liable for business costs such as fuel and insurance. As a result, platform workers are doubly impacted by the cost of living crisis, while also facing intensified exploitation in the form of pay cuts.

    Exploiting “families who can barely afford to keep warm”

    Shaf Hussain, a courier based in London, said:

    Gig platforms have this great reputation for finding innovative new ways to turn a profit in tough times but what they hide behind their algorithms is that our quality of life is being driven down at twice the rate those profits rise. This money is being squeezed from families who can barely afford to keep warm and fed this winter. But it can only continue until enough of us come together and say enough is enough

    Meanwhile, Alex Marshall – the IWGB president – argued:

    Gig workers are amongst the hardest hit because they are facing a double blow, not just from the economy but from their bosses, who are essentially cutting pay while the costs of the job, like fuel and insurance, skyrocket. The gig economy has always preyed on poverty and precarity, so the cost of living crisis creates a perfect climate for corporations to push down pay and conditions in the name of profit, whatever the cost to workers, their families and society as a whole.

    An economy preying on poverty and precarity

    IWGB represents many workers who are surviving on poverty wages paid in the gig economy. You can support them by donating to the union, or by joining its ‘solidarity squad’.

    A full copy of the report and its background data is available from IWGB on request.

    Featured image via Freestocks.org (cropped to 770x403px)

    By Tom Anderson

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Pressure mounts as UK decides whether to protect elephants from tourism abuse

    A petition calling for an end to elephant abuse linked to tourism has surpassed 1.1m signatures. The milestone comes as the UK parliament approaches the second reading of a bill that would prohibit the advertising and sale of tourism activities linked to such abuse.

    Elephant abuse for tourism

    As the Canary previously reported, many elephants in tourism endure a torturous existence. Some are snatched from the wild as youngsters, and most endure a brutal training regime known as ‘pajan’ to subdue their wild natures. The process can involve beating, crushing and starving the elephants, among other abuses.

    Once their trainers consider them obedient enough, they are put to work, with their continued subservience maintained through the threat of further violence. Commonly, for example, elephant keepers carry a bullhook. As the name suggests, this tool has a sharp hook that can be jabbed into elephants’ sensitive areas to subdue them.

    In 2020, Save the Asian Elephants (STAE) revealed that hundreds of travel companies sell or promote tourism to British holidaymakers that may involve such abuse. The organisation has since identified hundreds more. Many of the companies are members of the UK travel trade association ABTA.

    Advertising ban

    Despite public support for a ban on the promotion of unethical elephant tourism, the UK government shelved a bill in 2022 that would have cracked down on the trade. The Animals Abroad Bill would have also impacted the UK’s involvement in other non-human animal-related issues overseas, such as trophy hunting, the fur trade and the import of foie gras. But senior Conservatives like Jacob Rees-Mogg and Mark Spencer reportedly blocked it.

    Now, parliamentarians are seeking to salvage some of the provisions it contained through Private Members’ bills. The Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Bill is one of these. It would prohibit the advertising and sale of overseas activities that “involve low standards of welfare for animals”. Guildford MP Angela Richardson formally introduced the bill in June 2022.  Its second commons reading will take place on 3 February. This will be the first opportunity MPs have to debate it.

    In December, another Private Members’ bill passed its second reading with ease. The Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill would ban the import of trophies from many threatened animals into the country.

    STAE will hand the 1.1 m-signature-strong petition calling for an end to the abuse of elephants for tourism to Downing Street ahead of the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Bill’s next reading. The group is also urging UK citizens to contact their MPs and government ministers to demand they back the bill.

    A danger to humans as well as elephants

    STAE’s founder, Duncan McNair, has recently returned from a trip to Thailand for the campaign group. Speaking to the Canary, he said that he witnessed firsthand “the cruellest abuse of captive Asian elephants” for tourism during his travels. He argued that the government’s support for the bill at its next reading will be:

    a litmus test of its concern for animal welfare measures at large.

    McNair indicated that the government has remained tight-lipped on the bill so far, despite:

    endless promises of such new law by successive governments since 2015.

    He further highlighted why the bill’s passage is vital, commenting that:

    A ban will steer demand, and then supply, to ethical venues where elephants and humans are safe from abuse and fatalities.

    As these comments from the STAE founder suggest, the use of tormented elephants in tourism poses a risk to people too. A British woman, Andrea Taylor, died in 2000 after an elephant charged at the audience at a venue in Thailand. Provoked elephants can pose a “deadly danger” to tourists, McNair warned, which the “reckless, unrestrained market” in elephant tourism fails to make clear to people.

    Moreover, biologist Dr Clifford Warwick has asserted that the conditions elephants endure in captivity, and the close contact allowed between people and wildlife in unethical experiences, raises the risk of disease transmission.

    In other words, an end to unethical tourism is the best way forward. This is particularly true for endangered Asian elephants, the wild populations of which continue to dwindle thanks to numerous threats, including their use in tourism.

    Featured image via Carlos Delgado / Wikimedia, cropped to 770×403, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

    By Tracy Keeling

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • More Than 33% of Brits Will Reduce Meat and Dairy In 2023, Survey Finds

    british breakfast

    3 Mins Read

    A new survey from The Vegan Society shows environmental resolutions are top of mind among Brits, with more than 33 percent saying reducing or eliminating animal products is a priority in the new year.

    According to the survey’s findings, 50 percent of British consumers are increasing their environmental commitments in 2023, with reducing animal products playing a key role in their efforts. The findings come from a 2,000-participant survey conducted by The Vegan Society — the world’s oldest vegan charity.

    The findings

    According to the findings, at least half of participants said they’re making at least one resolution for the planet. Reducing animal products was the third most popular choice out of ten possible actions, with reducing energy use the first choice, followed by minimizing waste.

    Fifty-six percent of non-vegan participants said they would decrease animal product consumption. Other options on the list were flying less, exploring greener travel options to fossil fuel-powered vehicles, investing responsibly, donating to climate-related causes, and voting or engaging with their political representatives.

    Veganuary is coming in January | Courtesy

    Veganuary drove the bulk of the diet-related options, with 28 percent of non-vegans saying they were giving it a go in 2023. Seven percent of participants, largely falling in the 18 to 25 age group, said they plan to go vegan for good. Older participants, those over age 58, were most likely to say they would reduce meat and dairy without giving it up entirely.

    “It’s really encouraging to know that so many people are committing to doing their bit for the planet by reducing their intake of animal products,” Hannah Coyne, Campaign Manager at The Vegan Society, said in a statement. “Our Plate up for the Planet campaign aims to help people take this further and make one of the most effective changes possible to lower their carbon footprint.  

    New year, new habits

    “January is a prime time to get started, particularly with so many exciting Veganuary treats and menus on offer and, for those looking for a healthy new start, a well-planned vegan diet is the perfect tonic,” she said.

    burger
    The Vegan Society says January is the perfect time to eat less meat. Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash

     The Vegan Society says reducing or eliminating animal products is the most effective action to reduce one’s environmental footprint. The campaign points to an Oxford University study that found that if everybody followed a plant-based diet, food-related climate emissions would be cut by 70 percent.  

    The group says research by Health Psychology Research Associate Phillipa Lally shows that it takes an average of 66 days to form a new habit. The month-long Veganuary will get people about halfway there, The Vegan Society says. It is an official partner of the campaign.

    The post More Than 33% of Brits Will Reduce Meat and Dairy In 2023, Survey Finds appeared first on Green Queen.

  • European Far Right Saw Electoral Wins in 2022. Reversing Them Will Not Be Easy.

    With the defeat of Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, many of us hoped that the European far right would suffer a similar decline. In office, Trump had endorsed the post-fascist French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, sent U.S. diplomats to the U.K. to intercede on behalf of the jailed racist and far right activist Tommy Robinson, and inspired the growth outside the U.S.

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • The moral panic around drag makes even less sense in the UK’s pantomime season

    The moral panic around drag queens currently sweeping America has arrived in Britain. Conservative and homo/transphobic reactionaries are working themselves into a froth around the idea of (usually, not necessarily) a man in a dress entertaining children. The problem? It makes zero sense in a country with a proud tradition of… a man in a dress entertaining children. Of course, there’s no way a bigot would let a little cognitive dissonance stop them.

    An American malady

    The US is currently getting itself all het up about drag acts. Sometimes, the opposition is supposed to be specifically against children watching drag. Often, it’s simply about the idea of drag, full stop. Whatever the focus, it’s part of a much broader assault on the existence and rights of all LGBTQ+ people in America and elsewhere.

    The effects of the anti-drag movement have been wide-ranging. In Texas, legislator Bryan Slaton made moves to introduce legislation barring children from watching drag. Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, suggested that child protective services should be called on parents who allow children to attend a drag show. Meanwhile, in Canada, libraries were threatened simply for hosting drag queen storytellers.

    Increasing attacks

    However, the bigotry has by no means been confined to the idea of minors seeing drag. Individuals carrying Nazi banners gathered at a fundraiser for the non-profit Rose Dynasty, run by drag queen Momma Ashley Rose.  A donut shop in Oklahoma was firebombed after it hosted a drag-themed event. More recently, five people were killed in an attack on Club Q, Colorado, which was hosting a drag event. Since then, the attempts at intimidation have only intensified.

    A study by Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) stated that the US had seen:

    124 incidents in 2022 of anti-LGBTQ protests and threats targeting specific drag events.

    Reporting on the GLAAD study, Them noted that the attacks came:

    after encouragement from Republican politicians, far-right pundits, or social media feeds like Libs of TikTok, who have increasingly labeled transgender people and drag queens as “groomers” who are dangers to children.

    Panic in the UK

    With a depressing inevitability, the moral panic around drag has made its way to Britain. The Canary has previously reported on the fascist organisation Patriotic Alternative protesting outside a drag event in Cornwall. A homophobic mob have attempted to arrest a queen performing at a library in Reading. Multiple threads on the reactionary parenting site Mumsnet are calling for an end to drag events for young audiences.

    All of the protests above focus on an organisation called ‘Drag Queen Story Hour’, which provides family-friendly readings in local libraries and other venues. The Drag Queen Story Hour website gives the motivation for the concept:

    Drag Queen Story Hour UK wants to show the world that being different is not a bad thing, and by providing imaginative role models for children to look up to, we can change the world book by book!

    The events aim to increase the acceptance of LGBTQ+ identities in the next generation – and to prevent the perpetuation of exactly the kind of bigotry that is directed at them.

    A history lesson!

    As we gear up for Christmas, it’s high time to remember that the UK historically has been fine with the idea of men wearing dresses, big makeup, and wigs as children’s entertainment. In fact, we’ve built a whole bloody tradition around it. Oh yes we have!

    The origins of the pantomime tradition are murky, but it seems to stem from the much older c16th Italian Commedia dell’arte performances. The use of stock characters and elaborate costumes grew into a form of Victorian theatre. It’s use of stage magic, quick changes and trap doors delighted British audiences. In particular, the over-egged, melodramatic plots proved popular with working-class patrons.

    Today, children and families still crowd out theatres to join in with the traditional Christmas pantomime. And, as part of that, they’ll see the pantomime dame – usually played by a man wearing over-the-top makeup and feminine garb. The dame provides comic relief, and is arguably the most recognisable aspect of the panto. She’s also often played by a well-known celebrity – this year, Ian McKellen is taking to the stage as the titular Mother Goose.

    So what’s the difference?

    So, you might ask, what is it about a cross-cast dame on stage telling fairy stories that’s fine and dandy, when a drag queen telling fairy stories in a library has people up in arms?

    It couldn’t be the fact that drag is closely associated with queer culture, could it? It definitely couldn’t be that drag queens are most often queer men? Or even the fact that Drag Queen Story Hour is seeking to reduce bigotry against queer and gender-diverse children?

    Absolutely not! If that was the difference, it would mean that this whole moral panic is just a hastily repackaged homophobia. It even plays on exactly the same hateful tropes as every other moral panic around gayness. Like Section 28 before it, it is rooted in the fear that if children are shown that it is OK to be queer, they might grow to accept the queer people living in the world around them.

    But that couldn’t be it, right? Not a clumsy import from the American far right that makes absolutely no sense in the cultural context of the UK, no sir. But if you can think of a better difference between the drag queen and the dame, I’m all ears.

    Featured image by Wikimedia Commons/Roogi, via CC 2.0, resized to 770×403

    By Alex/Rose Cocker

  • Fascism rising: security committee warns of rise in right-wing terror threat

    UK lawmakers have warned of a growing threat from right-wing extremists. They’ve urged the military and police to tighten background checks.

    The parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) said in its annual report that the phenomenon had been steadily increasing since 2017, with tech-savvy young men driving the rise.

    ERWT ideology

    The report also stated that a growing number of young people under the age of 24 are now on the radar of the UK domestic security service MI5 investigating extreme right-wing terrorism (ERWT).

    Of the 25 attacks which the security services and counter-terrorism police prevented between March 2017 and January 2020, eight were motivated by an ERWT ideology.

    The report said:

    The new ERWT threat is fragmented and complex, increasingly driven by the internet and characterised by a technologically aware demographic of predominantly young men, many of them still in their teens, who are typically ‘Self-Initiated Terrorists’

    However, few of the individuals suspected belong to organised groups. MPs said:

    Their motivation can be highly individualistic, according to their particular personal circumstances, the nature of their grievances and perceptions of their own capabilities.

    Determining how, why and when they may choose to attack is therefore particularly challenging.

    Counter-extremism

    The ISC report may cast doubt on the effectiveness of government counter-extremism efforts. The centrepiece of these has been the highly questionable Prevent scheme. Prevent has been accused of being Islamophobic and disproportionally targeting Muslims in the UK.

    As long ago as 2017, when the reported rise in far-right extremism started, campaigners were warning:

    [Prevent] is broken, it’s counterproductive and I think there is a lack of accountability.

    They added:

    This strategy has been in place for over a decade and there’s been no discernable impact.

    Fascism ascendant?

    It seems clear that far-right sentiments are rising across the world. A coup attempt led by an aristocrat and involving veterans and police officers was foiled in Germany recently. We’ve seen a rise in the US following Donald Trump’s election loss in January 2021. It isn’t a huge stretch to imagine similar plots emerging in the UK – with its enduring climate of migrant-bashing and xenophobia.

    We must remain vigilant at all times about the danger of far-right radicalisation. As ever, we must also be wary of blaming the ‘other’ in these times of increased economic downturn and decline.

    Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse.

    Featured image via Wikimedia Commons/Lionheart Photography, cropped to 770 x 403, licenced under CC BY 2.0.

    By Joe Glenton

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Government announces SAS war crimes inquiry – but will it deliver justice?

    The UK government has finally announced an inquiry into allegations of war crimes committed by special forces troops in Afghanistan. The inquiry will be able to compel people to give evidence.

    It also appears that the scope of the inquiry has been expanded from its initial remit. It was reported in July 2022 that any investigation would be limited to looking at how allegations were handled.

    SAS reputation

    It now seems that the inquiry will include a deeper look at the allegations of murderous acts by SAS (Special Air Service) troops. The move was announced by defence minister Andrew Murrison. Strangely, his Labour counterpart – John Healy – seemed to see the inquiry as an opportunity to protect the reputation of the SAS:

    This special inquiry is welcome and must succeed. It is essential to protect the reputation of our British special forces, guarantee the integrity of military investigations and secure justice for any of those affected.

    Unmentioned in the BBC coverage is the spectre of the Overseas Operations Act. This controversial law has the effect of making war crimes prosecution of British troops virtually impossible. This is especially true if more than five years have elapsed between the crimes and their being brought to court.

    War crimes

    The scope of the allegations cover a roughly three-year period between 2010 and 2013. At this time, SAS troops were engaged in capture operations in Afghanistan. A BBC Panorama documentary aired in July 2022 suggests that in one six-month period 54 people may have been killed by the elite unit.

    The families of those allegedly murdered have campaigned for justice for many years. Members of the Noorzai and Saifullah families spoke to the BBC about the hardships they had faced trying to bring people to account.

    A representative of the Saifullah family said:

    I am extremely happy that there are people who value the loss of life of my family, of Afghans, enough to investigate.

    And a Noorzai family member said:

    My family has waited 10 years to find out why this happened. We are happy that finally, after so many years, someone is going to investigate this thoroughly.

    British justice

    With an inquiry announced, there may be a speck of hope for the bereaved families. But it is just a speck. Whatever the findings of the investigation, the path to accountability has been severely narrowed – if not shut entirely.

    With the Overseas Operations Act now law, any allegations over five years old are unlikely to ever see the inside of a courtroom. As such, even if wrongdoing is uncovered, Britain’s alleged war criminals seem very likely to escape punishment in the long term.

    Featured image via Wikimedia Commons/Sgt Peter Thibodeau, cropped to 770 x 403.

    By Joe Glenton

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • 41% of the public being racist should be no surprise to anyone

    According to a new report, 4 in 10 English and Scottish people still “hold racist beliefs” – for example, that some ethnic groups are “naturally more hard working than others”. That’s one of the headline findings of a new study into racism in England and Scotland.

    Telling Black and Brown people what they already know?

    A study in 2014 found that 30% of people said they were “very” or “a little” race prejudiced. In a more recent study, 84% of Black and Brown people said they still think racism exists in the UK, and “very or somewhat” so. What this new research looked into is whether people’s minds can be changed from holding racist beliefs. Research organisation Reframing Race, which conducted the study, described it as the “largest, most comprehensive study of its kind”. It conducted its research in two waves. Reframing Race said in a press release that:

    The baseline findings of this research… collected by leading research agency Savanta, relate to a control group of 1,000 people and reveal widespread racist beliefs and assumptions.

    Meanwhile, other sample groups (which together add up to a participant list of 19,990 people) were shown various different messages before answering the same questions, which has allowed us to understand what type of language and information can move audiences towards a more anti-racist position.

    The Paul Hamlyn Foundation and think tank the Joseph Rowntree Foundation funded the research. Overall, Reframing Race’s findings were mixed. Some findings showed that racism is still prevalent. For example:

    • 41% of people in England and 38% of people in Scotland think that “some ethnic groups are naturally harder working than others”.
    • 29% of people in England and 19% of people in Scotland think that “someone’s race tells you something about their character”.
    • 19% of people in England and 11% of people in Scotland think that “some races are born less intelligent than others”.

    Reframing Race noted how this:

    demonstrates the strong roots of bogus ‘racial science.’

    However, the report claims that when it showed participants facts about how racism is institutionalised and systemic, some people’s views changed.

    The possible

    The report’s authors took a positive approach towards their findings. Report author and director of Reframing Race Sanjiv Lingayah said:

    If we want to end racism and entrench anti-racism it is critical to build public demand for deep and irreversible progress. Testing Times shows there is still a way to go. The data shows significant attachment to deep-seated and debunked myths about ‘race’.

    More positively, the findings show that the public can understand systemic racism and that they can be rallied around far-reaching anti-racist solutions that will help to make it possible for all people to live well.

    Associate director of public engagement at Joseph Rowntree Foundation Husna Mortuza said:

    As this report highlights, the public’s understanding of race and racism is complicated and inconsistent. Many people hold contradictory positions – for example believing in racial hierarchies while simultaneously supporting action to tackle racial inequality.

    In a period of heightened polarisation, finding ways to overcome these contradictions and build support for anti-racism is increasingly important. This research provides much-needed tools to understand and shape the public conversation on race and racism and we are proud to support it.

    Nina Kelly, co-author and director of content and communications at Reframing Race, said:

    To see these statistics, which reveal that so many among us make deeply racist assumptions, is meaningful beyond the potentially racist behaviours of a few.

    Racism is fundamentally about structures and institutions, but those structures are made by design, and those institutions are run by people. So, what people think and believe matters, and has a real-world impact on how our society is organised.

    The good news – and there is plenty – is that we have some strong indications of how we might speak to people and bring more of them with us.

    Kelly has also recently spoken about the intricacies of how to successfully convey a message of anti-racism that proves effective:

    Featured image via Ardfern under CC 3.0 – image cropped to 770 x 403

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • DWP wasted £66m that was supposed to help prevent claimant suicides

    CONTENT WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS REFERENCES TO SUICIDE 

    The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has effectively admitted it has not made progress on a plan that was supposed to reduce the number of claimants taking their own lives. In the process, the department has also failed to account for the £66m it had assigned to the programme. Moreover, it is using the pandemic as an excuse – and only admitted to all of this because an independent media outlet forced it to.

    DWP: countless claimants taking their own lives

    For many years, countless claimants have taken their own lives on the DWP’s watch. It’s hard to put a number on the exact figure. However, for example, in 2018 alone there may have been 750 people who took their own lives while claiming from the DWP. The department is supposed to review these deaths using Internal Process Reviews (IPRs). However, across five years the DWP only carried out 69 of these.

    One such person who took their own life was Jodey Whiting. As the Canary previously reported:

    Jodey Whiting was a 42-year old mother. She took her own life after the DWP stopped her social security. Because the DWP stopped Whiting’s ESA, she also lost her Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction. Whiting lived with various health conditions and mental health issues. These included a brain cyst, curvature of the spine, and bipolar disorder. Whiting was taking 23 tablets a day for her illnesses and conditions.

    She took her own life on 21 February 2017, three days after the DWP made her last Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) payment. This was because she missed a Work Capability Assessment (WCA).

    Whiting’s case is not isolated. In 2019, the then-DWP boss Amber Rudd launched the DWP Excellence Plan. It was supposed to improve how the department operates, seeking to reduce the number of claimants taking their own lives. However, we now know that – over three years and £108m later – the DWP has barely done any work around this.

    Watering down a plan

    John Pring from Disability News Service (DNS) has been reporting on the DWP Excellence Plan. As he noted in October, under former boss Thérèse Coffey, the department took a:

    series of decisions… to weaken the plan, which was supposed to cut the number of claimant deaths, improve support for “the most vulnerable” and provide a “more compassionate” culture within the department.

    The plan aimed to help create an environment where DWP’s services were “safe” and assist in “avoiding harm” to benefit claimants “as they interact with our services”.

    But DNS has so far confirmed at least six ways in which the DWP Excellence Plan was watered down under Coffey’s leadership

    Now, DNS has reported the DWP’s Excellence Plan has effectively stalled. Pring submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the department over the scheme. Pring wrote that:

    since February 2020, DWP has not produced a single report on progress made in delivering the plan.

    It has also failed to adopt any “critical success factors” (CSFs) that would have been used to measure progress, and it has failed to report to the Treasury on how the £66 million on supporting “vulnerable people” was spent in a way that maximised value for money, a “specific caveat” that was applied to the use of the funding.

    Somewhat predictably, in its response to Pring in the FOI, the DWP blamed the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. It said:

    It is worth highlighting, the reason we do not hold the information you are requesting, is because the Department’s activities and processes during this period were heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Pring asked the DWP for comment. DNS reported that:

    A DWP spokesperson refused to comment on the FoI response this week or to say if the Excellence Plan had been abandoned and how the department justified that decision, other than referring to a statement given seven weeks ago for the report of Coffey watering down the plan.

    Anger

    DNS also reported that campaigners and people affected reacted angrily to the DWP’s lack of action on the plan. Whiting’s mother, Joy Dove, told Pring:

    It’s disgusting that they had all these things to make a better system and they seem to have abandoned it…

    Of course, we only know all this because of Pring. It is unlikely the DWP would have released any of this information of its own accord. That in itself is a damning indictment of the department’s callous, wilful disregard for claimants. But the very fact it was having to put in place measures because so many people were taking their own lives on its watch is the most horrific part of this story. No government department charged with the ‘welfare’ of chronically ill, disabled, and non-working people should have to take measures because so many people are killing themselves – because that should not be happening in a civilised society in the first place.

    Featured image via Wikimedia/UK Government

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Labour has expelled a Jewish NEC member from the party

    The Labour Party has expelled one of its most prominent Jewish members – by telling a right-wing newspaper first, and allowing a journalist to leak it.

    Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi: gone

    As SKWAWKBOX reported:

    Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, the only elected Jewish member of Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) and a leading member of left-wing Jewish group JVL [Jewish Voice for Labour], has been expelled by the Labour party.

    Wimborne-Idrissi revealed the expulsion via Twitter early on Friday 16 December. However, this was over 12 hours after Labour had leaked the news to the right-wing Jewish Chronicle. She claimed the party had told journalist at the Chronicle Lee Harpin:

    Harpin did claim on Twitter that Wimborne-Idrissi had been expelled. The timestamp on his tweet was 9:29pm – with an earlier tweet where he hinted at a “significant Labour expulsion” stamped at 8:06pm.

    Wimborne-Idrissi expanded on what happened in a Twitter thread:

    Confidential email to me says my “membership of the Party stands terminated”. An NEC panel concluded I had “in its opinion, demonstrated the type of support for REIST (sic) [Resist], LIEN [Labour In Exile Network] and LAW [Labour Against the Witchhunt] prohibited by Chapter 2, Clause I.5.B.v of the Rules.”

    So, details of internal disciplinary cases continue to be leaked to external media in breach of @UKLabour rules. Factional abuses highlighted by Forde Report continue unchecked. Action Plan supposedly overseen by @EHRC to ensure independence/transparency is a sham.

    My treatment demonstrates the hostile campaign to which LW Labour Party members are being subjected, including disproportionate numbers of Jewish members. Expulsion follows my suspension in September, within weeks of being elected to Labour’s National Executive Committee.

    Charge was, by taking part in discussion a year earlier organised by proscribed groups, I had demonstrated support for them – a “prohibited act”. I dispute this interpretation and will appeal my expulsion. It disenfranchises 1000s of members who voted to put me on the NEC.

    The Labour purge continues

    As the Canary previously reported, Labour proscribed (banned) several groups involved in the party back in July 2021. These were:

    • Socialist Appeal.
    • Labour in Exile Network (LIEN).
    • Labour against the Witchhunt.
    • Resist (the Chris Williamson-founded group).

    Labour has since been expelling people who were members of the groups, or had associated with them. Victims of this included award-winning film director Ken Loach, Jewish member and organiser with JVL Graham Bash, and countless other people, too. Now, it seems even a democratically elected NEC member is not immune to Labour’s authoritarian purge. As Electronic Intifada journalist Asa Winstanley tweeted:

    As Bash previously told the Canary:

    For years and years, I was saying this witch-hunt[s]… real target is Jeremy Corbyn… And of course, I underestimated it. They’ve got rid of him, and it’s continued. And why is it continuing? Because [of] the Corbyn legacy… members, most of whom are on the left, are still here. And they want to gut the party of a vital part of its membership. So it will not stop, I’m quite convinced, unless and until they manage to do that.

    However, it shows a new level of malice from the Labour machinery that it would unceremoniously dump one of its most prominent Jewish members. It remains to be seen what the point of the Labour Party is any more.

    Featured image via Double Down News – YouTube

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • UK Nurses Kick Off Largest-Ever Strike by NHS Workers After Negotiations Fail

    Tens of thousands of nurses across the United Kingdom are set to walk off the job Thursday in what’s been described as the largest-ever strike by National Health Service workers, who said they were forced to act after the government refused to negotiate over pay amid painfully high inflation. The walkout represents NHS nurses’ first national strike, and it comes as U.K. rail and postal workers are…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • New developments may prove a game-changer for Julian Assange

    Recent revelations have possibly thrown a huge spanner into the prosecution of publisher Julian Assange. Arguably, the entire case now appears prejudiced against him. The revelations involve a celebrated whistleblower, a leaks publisher, and several major newspapers.

    Cryptome declares its hand

    Cryptome is a website that specialises in the publication of leaks in the form of raw data. It explains:

    Cryptome welcomes documents for publication that are prohibited by governments worldwide, in particular material on freedom of expression, privacy, cryptology, dual-use technologies, national security, intelligence, and secret governance — open, secret and classified documents — but not limited to those.

    On 29 November, Cryptome founder John Young offered to be a co-defendant with Assange:

    In a message sent via web form to the US Department of Justice (DoJ), Young identified leaked documents – known as US cables – published by Cryptome. He stated they were the same ones leaked by Chelsea Manning. Young, who is a US citizen, included the URL for the leaked documents in his communication. He also copied in a senior judge.

    Young had previously testified at Assange’s extradition hearings. Crucially, he stated that he’d published the documents before WikiLeaks.

    Moreover, another witness at the UK extradition hearings was Christopher Butler of the Wayback Machine, a US-based archive. He testified that the archive still makes available to this day all of WikiLeaks’ publications.

    Biden urged to end prosecution

    Young published the unredacted US government files on the Cryptome website on 1 September 2011. And another site, PirateBay, published those files before Cryptome.

    In November 2011, WikiLeaks published the same files. That was in conjunction with some of its many media partners – El Pais, Der Spiegel, the New York Times, Le Monde and the Guardian. However, no charges have ever been raised against those newspapers, or Young, or Piratebay.

    On 28 November 2022, the editors and publishers of the newspapers named above published an open letter to the US president. They requested that all charges raised against Assange be dropped.

    Ellsberg joins Young

    In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg was responsible for leaking the top-secret History of U.S. Decision-making in Vietnam 1945-68 (which became known as the ‘Pentagon Papers’). He leaked copies to the New York Times and the Washington Post. The 7,000-page document provided an insight into top-secret US decision-making in the Vietnam War. Ellsberg declared that the publication of the papers showed the war had:

    been started and continued by the US Government in the knowledge that it could not be won, and that President Johnson and his administration had lied to Congress and to the public in relation to its origins, costs and prospects

    Ellsberg was subsequently prosecuted, but the trial was halted. This followed revelations that burglars sent by president Richard Nixon broke into Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office. They were hoping to find evidence to discredit Ellsberg. Moreover, Nixon also organised the illegal wiretapping of Ellsberg.

    In Assange’s case, there was a similar breach of confidentiality. Surveillance company UC Global secretly filmed Assange with his lawyers inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Ellsberg told the UK courts that the surveillance of Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy was comparable with what happened to him.

    Like Young, Ellsberg has also now come forward to urge the US government to indict him on espionage charges alongside Assange:

    More revelations

    On 5 December, Ellsberg told the BBC that Assange gave him copies of all the files leaked by Manning as a “back up”. He also stated that the US Espionage Act, if applied against whistleblowers, is unconstitutional:

    A longer version of that interview is available here.

    Sham prosecution

    The espionage-related charges against Assange include 17 counts for receiving and disclosure of national defense documents. He’s also charged with one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion (hacking).

    None of the WikiLeaks media partners, nor John Young, nor Daniel Ellsberg, have been indicted on espionage-related charges. That suggests the prosecution is prejudiced against Assange.

    On their grounds, the prosecution’s case looks increasingly shaky. It should be clear to anyone with a sense of justice that the charges against Assange must be dropped without further delay.

    Featured image via Wikimedia Commons / David G. Silvers, Cancillería del Ecuador cropped 770×403 pixels

    By Tom Coburg

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Four people dead and dozens rescued in tragedy of capsized boat in Channel

    Four people died when a small boat packed with migrants capsized in the Channel overnight, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP). Dozens of other people were rescued from the waters of one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes by UK and French emergency services.

    The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, which counts Border Force and Coastguard staff involved in the rescue as members, said Suella Braverman “should resign in disgrace”. Paul O’Connor of the PCS explained:

    Suella Braverman says her heartfelt thoughts are with all those involved. Those words ring utterly hollow when she has spent her time as home secretary vilifying and demonising the very people she now feigns sympathy with. She should resign in disgrace.

    Braverman is the current Home Secretary. As the Canary’s Sophia Purdy-Moore reported, has shown a relish for deportations:

    Braverman proudly told Tory Party Conference attendees that it is her ‘dream‘ and ‘obsession’ to see a flight traffic asylum seekers to offshore detention sites in Rwanda.

    The charity Refugee Action said the deaths were “predictable and avoidable”. Meanwhile, the Care4Calais group called the UK’s failure to make safe routes available “utterly shameful”. Government sources said earlier that 43 people were rescued, including more than 30 who had fallen overboard, with fears the death toll will rise.

    Screams

    A fisherman told Sky News he was awoken by his crew reporting screams for help from migrants in the near-freezing water next to their trawler. The crew spent several hours helping dozens of people to safety, sharing footage with the UK broadcaster. One fisherman said:

    Adrenaline kicks in and you find the strength to get these guys safe.

    Nikolai Posner, from the Utopia 56 group helping migrants in Northern France, said it received a voice message and location notification from a boat in distress at 2:53 am local time (01:53 GMT). Posner told AFP:

    We forwarded it to the French and British coastguard by phone. At 3:40 am (0240 GMT), the French coastguard told us the British were handling it.

    The location that was sent to us was in French waters. At 2:59 am the person who contacted us was no longer receiving messages on WhatsApp.

    Utopia 56 later stated:

    Although it is impossible to state with certainty that the messages came from the sunken boat, all the elements… tend to suggest they did.

    The organisation said it received five calls overnight from boats attempting the Channel crossing.

    The message suspected to have been made from the stricken boat said children and families were onboard and it was taking on water from the stern, submerging its occupants. “Please help us,” it said. “We’re in the water.”

    Pressure

    These deaths have piled political pressure on the UK government, which promised to “take back control” of immigration after its Brexit departure from the European Union. Opponents have criticised the government’s attempts to tighten entry rules, and called its proposals to deport failed asylum seekers to Rwanda unlawful. They have also accused ministers, including Braverman, of demonising asylum seekers and fuelling hostility towards people seeking sanctuary with inflammatory rhetoric.

    Clare Moseley, founder of refugee charity Care4Calais, said:

    There are no words to express our horror and grief at today’s tragedy. A full year on from 32 people losing their lives in the Channel, our Government has done nothing to prevent further deaths and so has failed both the refugees who need our help and our country.

    Last year, in November, most of the 34 people on a dinghy in the Channel died.

    Moseley blamed the government for their inaction:

    Both then and now, these deaths are wholly unnecessary and preventable. By failing to act, our government has blood on their hands.

    Refugee Action agreed with these sentiments, as chief executive Tim Naor Hilton stated:

    Let’s be clear, today’s tragedy and those on previous days are predictable and inevitable, and caused by hostile Government policies – such as those announced yesterday by the Prime Minister – which are designed to keep people out, and not keep people safe.

    Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Sky News

    Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

    By Maryam Jameela

  • As heroic nurses go out on strike, one hospital trust promises scabs a 50% pay enhancement

    Up and down the country, nurses are striking for fair conditions. The very future of the NHS is at stake. The Royal College of Nurses (RCN), one of several unions which organises healthcare workers, is saying it is the biggest strike in their history. It is also being reported that it is the first mass strike of nurses in a century.

    Yet wherever workers organise and strike, there are always those who side with the bosses over their colleagues. The Canary has seen a text message that a striking nurse in the West Country received from her local trust. The text shows that this hospital trust has gone so far as to offer a 50% pay enhancement for ‘bank’ nurses to cover the day shift for the strike. In effect, this is a substantial scab bonus for working on 15 December:

    Hospital trust text

    Exact budgets available for scab labour are hard to pin down. But, the 50% bonus does beg a question. If they can afford to offer huge payouts like this, why aren’t they paying nurses properly in the first place?

    On the pickets

    Meanwhile, RCN general secretary Pat Cullen said in a statement:

    For many of us, this is our first time striking and our emotions are really mixed. The NHS is in crisis, the nursing profession can’t take any more, our loved ones are already suffering.

    It is not unreasonable to demand better. This is not something that can wait. We are committed to our patients and always will be.

    Speaking from a picket herself, Cullen said people should come and visit the strikers:

    Striking nurses tweeted videos of their pickets, saying the experience was already proving uplifting:

    In Northampton, nurses braved the coldest strike some of them had ever experienced to fight for better conditions:

    Beep for victory

    In South Wales, as elsewhere, drivers beeped their support to the strikers as they passed the pickets:

    Similar scenes played out across the North of England, to cheers from appreciative nurses:

    And in Liverpool, it was the same story as motorists tooted their support:

    Solidarity

    The nurses aren’t just fighting for pay and conditions. They’re fighting for a functioning healthcare service for us all. One which can look after us from the cradle to the grave, as it was meant to do before Labour and Tory governments hollowed it out with privatisation.

    Their fight is our fight. So if you can, get out and show your appreciation to those on the frontline.

    Featured image via Wikimedia Commons/Jim Linwood, cropped to 770 x 403, licenced under CC BY 2.0.

    By Joe Glenton

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Jeremy Corbyn has amplified the Shelter worker’s strike brilliantly

    Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was out on a Shelter picket line on Wednesday 14 December – and he highlighted just why the charity’s staff are striking.

    Shelter: everybody out

    As Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported, Shelter staff have been on strike since Monday 5 December. More than 600 workers at the housing and homeless charity are taking industrial action. The strike by Shelter staff, to last until December 16, will affect the charity’s offices in London and around the UK. Unite the Union describes the situation as “a bitter dispute over pay”. Unite said Shelter’s management had imposed a 3% pay rise, which it claimed “has left many of its own staff being unable to pay their rent” and struck with the possibility of being made homeless themselves. As the Canary reported, inflation is still running at over 10% – so Shelter’s 3% pay offer is effectively a pay cut. One of the staff striking, who wished to remain anonymous, told AFP:

    At the very base level… those working for a housing charity shouldn’t be experiencing housing insecurity as a result of being unable to pay rent.

    Another Shelter employee who is a single parent said they had been forced to use an overdraft on their bank account and ration energy use to curb rising bills:

    I get stressed when the kids’ school wants me to pay for another school trip. The best acknowledgement my employer can give me for all my hard work is decent pay.

    Now, Corbyn has come out in support of Shelter workers.

    Corbyn: ‘you will win’

    On 14 December, the former Labour leader joined a picket line and shared a quick, one-minute video on social media. He spoke to Bronya, who works for Shelter. She said:

    We’ve found that our staff are facing the threat of homelessness, too, because we’re not being paid fairly. So, we’re here on the picket line demanding fair pay for our staff so they don’t have to face the things that we’re there to help people with.

    As usual, Corbyn was unflappable about workers’ striking. He said of the action:

    Do you know what? You’re going to win – and you’re going to win not just for yourselves but for decency in our society, and all the homeless people as well. Thank you.

    Meanwhile, AFP reported that Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said it was:

    unforgivable that workers at Shelter find themselves actually being haunted by the prospect of being made homeless.

    Shelter has sufficient reserves to pay its hardworking and dedicated staff a decent pay rise but it has chosen not to.

    Our members at Shelter will receive Unite’s complete and unyielding support in their fight for a better deal.

    Enough is enough

    Part of Shelter’s spiel on its website says:

    Home is a human right. It’s our foundation and it’s where we thrive. Yet, every day millions of people are being devastated by the housing emergency.

    We exist to defend the right to a safe home. Because home is everything.

    It is perverse that a charity claiming to have this as a mantra is leaving its own workers in housing insecurity. Enough is enough – Shelter needs to fix this, and fast.

    Featured image via Jeremy Corbyn – screengrab

    Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • A shop’s Christmas window display is a damning look at the cost of living crisis

    A shop in West Sussex has used its Christmas window display to take aim at the Tory government over the ongoing cost of living crisis.

    Eco2Home: the circular economy

    Lee Barnett owns Eco2Home, a shop in Burgess Hill, West Sussex. The outlet describes itself as a ‘circular economy’ shop. This means it sells items usually destined for landfill. As the website Circular wrote:

    The circular economy is based on a fundamentally different concept to the linear model of economic activity with which we are all familiar.

    The circular economy is, essentially, a production and consumption system that relies on recycling, reuse, repair, remanufacturing and sharing of products – so, by definition, it demands a change in consumption patterns, new business models, and circular systems of production and resource allocation.

    As a result, our usual ways of judging national economic performance in a linear system – with indicators such as gross domestic product, productivity and inflation rates – are not sufficient or adequate for measuring circular activity.

    At the moment, estimates suggest that only 8.6 per cent of the world’s economy is circular.

    Open two days a week, the shop has several values, and states that it will:

    plant 45 trees for every 1 ton of waste we are unable to recycle or reuse.

    Eco2Home won Burgess Hill’s best Christmas window competition in 2020 for a genuinely festive display. However, this year Barnett has chosen to make a political point – and it’s a massive departure from what Eco2Home usually does.

    Taking aim at the Tories

    Barnett used his shop window frontage to create ‘The reality of Christmas in 2022’. One window features Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson and Mims Davies (MP for Mid Sussex) in a decadent living room setting:

    Tories in Eco2Home's shop window in a lavish setting

    The Tories dining table with a book called "Destroying Burgess Hill for Dummies", aimed at the local Tory MP

    A second window has a child wrapped in blankets, sitting at a table with a pot noodle and a letter to Santa describing the bleak reality of the cost of living crisis. An electric fire has a ‘do not turn on’ note on it:

    A depiction of a poor family at Christmas

    There’s a note from a child asking Santa:

    could my mum be home for Christmas, she always has to be at work.

    A note which reads "Dear santa, can my mum please be at home for Christmas, she always has to work"

    Eco2Home has made pertinent points about the current cost of living crisis: how the Tories are sitting pretty, while the rest of us suffer to varying degrees. Barnett should be applauded for this, and in a just world would win the best shop window display again – though perhaps for different reasons this year.

    Featured image and additional images via Eco2Home

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Tory minister says strikes play into Putin’s hands – here’s why that’s ahistorical nonsense

    Tory minister Nadhim Zahawi has stated that by not accepting an effective reduction in pay, British nurses are only aiding Russia’s war against Ukraine. Zahawi said:

    Energy use by Putin means we have had very high inflation rates and we’ve got to try and bring down inflation…We have to come together, this is not a time to be divided, [but] to, I hope, send a very clear message to Mr Putin that he can’t use energy as a weapon in this way and we will remain united.

    He’s making the play of linking disquiet at home (the threat of strike action in the UK) to an aggressor abroad (Vladimir Putin). His argument, however, is complete nonsense – industrial action in Britain is a tradition that stretches back decades.

    Responses

    Nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are due to go on strike on 15 and 20 December. LBC journalist James O’Brien wasn’t having any of Zahawi’s comments. O’Brien said:

    If that’s not an example of utter intellectual and moral bankruptcy, I don’t know, frankly, what is.

    Labour’s John McDonnell pointed out that Zahawi is a multi-millionaire, whose expenses claim to heat his stables was more than a nurse’s starting pay:

    Satire followed Zahawi’s statement:

    Similarly, satirical news website Newsthump published a ‘response’ from Putin, and skewered the remarks from Zahawi (a minister without portfolio):

    Nadhim Zahawi’s controversial statement, that NHS staff should accept a drop in living standards to defy Putin, was validated by the Kremlin after it explained how the key obstacle to Russia’s winter offensive was a midwife in Poole forced to take out a payday loan to fix her boiler.

    Colonel Semyon Vilyamov, a spokesperson for the FSB, admitted that the chair of the UK Conservative Party had accurately highlighted how the personal finances of British medical staff was the driving factor in all Russian military planning.

    He went on, ”Your minister without a job is correct. Should English nurses and paramedics refuse to accept an effective 6% pay cut, then we are confident that we can seize Kyiv within a fortnight.

    Zahawi threatens to replace nurses with the army

    Zahawi told Sky News:

    It is the right and responsible thing to do to have contingency plans in place…We are looking at the military, we are looking at a specialist response force which we have actually set up a number of years ago.

    Around 2,000 civil servants and military personnel are being readied to provide support, should strikes by nurses proceed. It’s reported that they include:

    up to 600 armed forces personnel and 700 staff from the Government’s specialist Surge and Rapid Response Team, as well as other parts of the Civil Service.

    The Tories are evidently trying whatever they can to break up the strikes. In fact, in June, then-chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced how the law had been changed to allow temporary workers to strike-break:

    According to Rail, Maritime and Transport Union’s (RMT) Mick Lynch, the Tories are intent on making:

    effective trade unionism illegal in Britain and to rob working people of a key democratic right. If these proposals become law, there will be the biggest resistance mounted by the entire trade union movement, rivalling the General Strike of 1926, the Suffragettes and Chartism.

    De facto general strike

    Lynch’s prediction of a general strike is in line with the views of others. As the Canary previously published, what we are now witnessing, says Communications Workers Union (CWU) head Dave Ward, is a de facto general strike.

    Strike Map has tweeted a calendar of known strikes for December:

    Strike Map has also provided an interactive map, giving the locations of strikes across the UK.

    If you mention a general strike, people think of the 1926 general strike, organised by the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

    But there was another general strike which can shed some light on current events. In the summer of 1842, riots occurred across much of Northwest England. These coincided with strikes, commonly known as the ‘Plug Plot’ as strikers sabotaged mill boilers by removing their plugs.

    In July 1842, walkouts by workers took place in Preston, Blackburn, Burnley, Chorley, Bacup, Todmorden, Oldham, Wigan, St Helens, and Bolton, as well as by weavers in Stalybridge. During the following month, the strikers were joined by workers in Hyde, Denton, Dukinfield, and Ashton-under-Lyne. Similar walkouts took place in Tintwistle, Glossop, Stockport, Congleton, Macclesfield, and the Potteries (Stoke-on-Trent).

    The Potteries insurrection

    Regarding events at the Potteries, a detailed eyewitness account survives. According to a biography by Charles Shaw, on 14 August 1842 Chartist orator Thomas Cooper spoke at a rally in the Potteries town of Hanley. Between 8,000 and 10,000 gathered. This followed weeks of strikes by local miners, many of whom were starving.

    The next day, Cooper spoke again at Hanley. But after he finished speaking, the crowd headed for the local police office to release prisoners before ransacking a court. A second meeting was held in Longton, another Potteries town, where looting took place. A clergyman’s home was attacked and set on fire. There were arrests after the military intervened. Back in Hanley, another clergyman’s home was attacked, along with the home of a local lawyer and a magistrate.

    On 16 August, thousands converged on the Potteries town of Burslem. However, this time they were met by dragoons. After the Riot Act was proclaimed, the demonstrators were brutally attacked. But something unexpected happened: weavers from the nearby towns of Leek, Macclesfield, and Congleton, together with farm workers, rose up to join with their Potteries comrades.

    The dragoons opened fire. Several demonstrators at this ‘Potteries Peterloo‘ were hit. One young man, shoemaker Josiah Heapy from Leek, was killed.

    The strikes spread

    But that’s not the end of what happened.

    Historian Katrina Navickas explained how the strikes in Stalybridge and Hanley served as triggers:

    for a much larger and political form of collective action. Overall, thirty-two counties were hit with strikes, with the turnouts most extensive in the industrial districts of Lancashire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, the West Riding, Cumberland and Lanarkshire. Two elements of the agitation distinguished it from previous turnouts and the previous ‘national holiday’ of 1839. First, this was a strike constantly on the move: it was spread by large bodies of strikers (a precursor to flying pickets) moving from one town to the next, turning out mills, factories and mines en route by pulling out the plugs from the steam engine boilers.

    She went on to explain that:

    the impetus originated from the unions in a syndicalist-type form of organisation aimed firstly against their employers, but then aimed more widely at forcing the government to concede to the Charter.

    Today

    In Stalybridge a plaque commemorates Britain’s “First General Strike”, involving nearly half a million workers. At its height, the strikes covered an area which stretched from Dundee and the Scottish coalfields to South Wales and Cornwall. That General Strike was organised through word of mouth, via what these days we call flying pickets.

    Currently, we may be witnessing a general strike of similar form and without recourse to approval by a single body – in this case the TUC. As for Zahawi’s clumsy attempt to link nurses’ demands for improved pay and shorter hours with events abroad, that clearly backfired. That’s because what Zahawi said was nonsense. It also demonstrated his complete ignorance of the centuries old British tradition of workers’ solidarity. But we cannot expect anything more from a Tory.

    Featured image via Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona/Unsplash

    By Tom Coburg

    This post was originally published on Canary.