Author: Grace

This author has written 48 articles

Ex-Foreign Office chief Olly Robbins mounts legal challenge over dismissal by Starmer

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  • Post last modified:13 July 2026
Ex-Foreign Office chief Olly Robbins mounts legal challenge over dismissal by Starmer

Olly Robbins, former permanent under-secretary of state for foreign affairs, has begun a legal challenge of Starmer’s decision to sack him over his supposed role in the appointment of Peter Mandelson, disgraced ambassador to the US. Starmer sacked Mandelson after details of his friendship and extensive communications with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein became public knowledge. The PM blamed Robbins for failing to let him know that concerns were raised during Mandelson’s security vetting for the ambassadorial position. Starmer sacked the then-head of the Foreign Office on 16 April. ‘Dismissive approach’ to vetting On 21 April, Robbins published a letter he wrote…

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Disability charities and campaigning organisations react to the interim Timms Review

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  • Post last modified:11 July 2026
Disability charities and campaigning organisations react to the interim Timms Review

Disabled people’s charities and advocacy organisations have been swift to respond following the publication of the interim Timms Review into the Department of Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Personal Independence Payment (PIP) system. The preliminary findings recognised the benefit as vitally important, but also criticised the “degrading” and “dehumanising” assessment process. Ultimately, it determined that PIP was “not fit for purpose”. Almost universally, the response from advocacy organisations was something along the lines of ‘That’s what we’ve been trying to tell you for years’. Likewise, most also welcomed the review’s initial findings, and echoed the vital necessity of PIP. In this article,…

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Responses from disabled people detail “soul-destroying” DWP PIP assessments

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  • Post last modified:10 July 2026
Responses from disabled people detail “soul-destroying” DWP PIP assessments

The 9 July interim report from the Timms Review of the Department for Work and Pension’s (DWP) Personal Independence Payment (PIP) system found that the benefit was both vitally necessary and deeply unfit for purpose. After putting out a call for responses back in March, the reviewers received over 38,000 responses. This was in spite of the fact that the response period was limited to 10 weeks, rather than the customary 12. Within these, the vast majority — around 90%  — of the responses were negative. Roughly half mentioned PIP’s financial inadequacy, and over a quarter referenced decisions or appeals that…

Continue ReadingResponses from disabled people detail “soul-destroying” DWP PIP assessments

Interim Timms Report brands DWP PIP system “not fit for purpose”

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  • Post last modified:10 July 2026
Interim Timms Report brands DWP PIP system “not fit for purpose”

On 9 July, social security and disability minister Stephen Timms published his interim report on the state of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) system. The initial findings were damning, recognising that the payments were vitally necessary for disabled recipients, but ultimately “not fit for purpose”. In large part, this failing was due to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)-managed assessment system. Participants branded those assessments as “dehumanising”, “soul destroying”, and “degrading”. The review also highlighted pressing concerns regarding: whether the functional assessment and descriptors fully reflect real-life impacts, particularly for fluctuating, multiple, and less visible conditions, as well as about…

Continue ReadingInterim Timms Report brands DWP PIP system “not fit for purpose”

The next PM must act on the interim Timms Report and scrap the DWP’s PIP assessment system

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  • Post last modified:9 July 2026
The next PM must act on the interim Timms Report and scrap the DWP’s PIP assessment system

On 9 July, the interim Timms Review branded Personal Independence Payments (PIP) “not fit for purpose”. The news comes as the Labour Party searches for a new leader, and a new UK prime minister, to boot. Right now, Andy Burnham looks like a shoo-in — and he’s got a golden opportunity to scrap PIP as we know it. Stephen Timms, the minister for social security and disability, began his investigation back in October. The interim report drew on well over 38,000 responses to the government’s call for evidence. It highlighted that PIP assessments were frequently “dehumanising”, “degrading” and “stressful” for claimants.…

Continue ReadingThe next PM must act on the interim Timms Report and scrap the DWP’s PIP assessment system

165 MPs have signed a motion to reject the EHRC transphobic Code of Practice

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  • Post last modified:9 July 2026
165 MPs have signed a motion to reject the EHRC transphobic Code of Practice

The Early Day Motion to reject the Equality and Human Rights Commissions (EHRC) transphobic Code of Practice has now hit 165 signatures. As such, the motion’s author — Nottingham East Labour MP Nadia Whittome — has called for equalities minister Bridget Phillipson to withdraw the code. The milestone means that over a quarter of all MPs have now signed the forlorn-hope statement. However, time is now running desperately short, as Whittome explained on social media on 8 July: The scrutiny period for the EHRC’s draft Code of Practice ends this week. This Code will enforce trans people’s segregation, out them to others,…

Continue Reading165 MPs have signed a motion to reject the EHRC transphobic Code of Practice

Campaigners react to damning report on Nottingham maternity care failures

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  • Post last modified:26 June 2026
Campaigners react to damning report on Nottingham maternity care failures

Charities and campaigning organisations have reacted with sadness and a damning lack of surprise to the findings of the Ockenden Report, which detailed extensive failings in maternity and neonatal care under Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust. The review’s leader, independent senior midwife Donna Ockenden, included a detailed 18-point framework of ‘Immediate and Essential Actions’ for improvement, both nationally and in Nottingham. A single overarching principle — ‘Martha’s Rule’ — underpinned every recommendation. NHS England explained that: Martha’s Rule is a patient safety initiative to support the early detection of deterioration by ensuring the concerns of patients, families, carers and staff…

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Creatively factual Telegraph article claims Miliband is being mean to the military

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  • Post last modified:27 June 2026
Creatively factual Telegraph article claims Miliband is being mean to the military

On 25 June, low-grade looroll manufacturer the Telegraph published a perfect right-wing, rage-baiting scoop: the hated net zero secretary has blocked oil drilling, depriving the poor military of more money. The shock! The horror! The outraged clicks! The only problem? Both the Treasury and the Department for Energy Security say it’s made-up. What’s more, they told the Telegraph as much, and it published anyway. God, we don’t know who to believe – it’s like being trapped between the devil and a rapidly rising sea. ‘Pure nonsense’ The Telegraph touted its article/Milifandom-fiction on social media, proclaiming that: Ed Miliband derailed a plan to fund Britain’s rearmament by…

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10 years on, what did (leaving) the EU ever do for the NHS?

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  • Post last modified:26 June 2026
10 years on, what did (leaving) the EU ever do for the NHS?

This week, as of 23 June, marks ten years since the UK public voted for Brexit — that is, to leave the European Union. Predictably, given that it was orchestrated by the likes of Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage, it’s been a proper shitshow – and there are few areas where that’s been more visible than the NHS. One of the many cheap slogans of the Leave campaign, which now seems seared into the national consciousness, was: We send the EU £350 million a week. Let’s fund our NHS instead – Vote Leave. Two loosely-connected statements — one factual, one speculative…

Continue Reading10 years on, what did (leaving) the EU ever do for the NHS?

Report into failures on Nottingham maternity wards highlights fatal impact of racism

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  • Post last modified:25 June 2026
Report into failures on Nottingham maternity wards highlights fatal impact of racism

Racism — Yesterday, 24 June, the Canary reported on the publication of the damning Ockenden report. It detailed extensive failures in maternity and neonatal care under Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS trust. In particular, the report highlighted staff’s refusal to listen to patients’ concerns. The failure was even more prominent for global majority patients, along with those from other marginalised backgrounds. Today, we’re going to take a closer look at those issues, including the patients’ own accounts of their experiences. We should also note that the report took measures to ensure that it included the perspectives of people from marginalised and disadvantaged…

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White House requests $67bn for Iran war — where it already declared victory

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  • Post last modified:25 June 2026
White House requests $67bn for Iran war — where it already declared victory

The White House house has now asked Congress to grant a funding request for $87.6bn, some $67bn of which will go straight to the US ‘War Department’. For the most part, the massive bill is directly related to “urgent needs” regarding the war in Iran. The news comes after the US Senate passed its symbolic War Powers Resolution on 23 June. Four Republicans supported the resolution, which nominally forbids Trump from continuing hostilities against Iran without congressional approval. However, it doesn’t carry the weight of law. Likewise, it also follows over a week after both Trump and Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkianset…

Continue ReadingWhite House requests $67bn for Iran war — where it already declared victory

Trump doesn’t like Burnham, and Burnham doesn’t like…..well TBD

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  • Post last modified:27 June 2026
Trump doesn’t like Burnham, and Burnham doesn’t like…..well TBD

According to Donald Trump, likely Labour leadership replacement Andy Burnham is a signal that “the UK is dying”. As far as we’re concerned, that’s the biggest vote of confidence the newly-minted Makerfield MP has gotten so far. The US dictator made his first public comments on Burnham on 24 June, during a meeting with NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte. When asked what he knew of the former Manchester mayor, Trump said: I don’t know, I think I see that he was, I guess, the mayor of a town. England’s second city, but we guess that doesn’t mean much when you consider yourself…

Continue ReadingTrump doesn’t like Burnham, and Burnham doesn’t like…..well TBD

New report details long-standing systematic failures in Nottingham’s maternity care

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  • Post last modified:24 June 2026
New report details long-standing systematic failures in Nottingham’s maternity care

On 24 June, independent senior midwife Donna Ockenden published her long-awaited review of failures in maternity care under Nottingham university hospitals (NUH) NHS trust. The report identified: long-standing and deeply embedded systemic failures across multiple areas of maternity and neonatal care. Then-health secretary Sajid Javid first commissioned the review after eight families came forward with accounts of the harm and loss they suffered. However, by the time the review closed in May 2025, almost 2,500 families had taken part. For the most part, their experiences covered just over 3 years, beginning in 2012. Likewise, over 800 members of NUH staff contacted…

Continue ReadingNew report details long-standing systematic failures in Nottingham’s maternity care

US Senate passes War Powers Resolution, heaping embarrassment on Trump’s Iran loss

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  • Post last modified:25 June 2026
US Senate passes War Powers Resolution, heaping embarrassment on Trump’s Iran loss

Trump’s war on Iran has finally gone too far even for the Republican-controlled US Senate — on 23 June, the upper house passed a War Powers Resolution nominally barring the president from continuing hostilities against Iran without congressional approval. Unfortunately, the resolution is primarily a symbolic gesture. Whilst the resolution passed the lower House of Representatives at the beginning of June, and has now passed through the Senate, it won’t be passed to Trump for his approval. Likewise, it won’t carry the weight of law. Meanwhile, Trump has called the act “poorly timed and meaningless”, and signalled his intent to ignore…

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Restore Britain candidate helped lead biased grooming gangs inquiry

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  • Post last modified:24 June 2026
Restore Britain candidate helped lead biased grooming gangs inquiry

The leader of Restore Britain has announced its candidate for the Greater Manchester mayoral elections: Marlon West, whose daughter is a victim of group-based child sexual exploitation. However, CSE survivor, Femi Mohammed, says West is one of the people who deliberately excluded her from Lowe’s intensely biased ‘Rape Gang Inquiry Report’. The goal? To reinforce the misinformation that only Pakistani Muslim men prey on white British girls. Restore Britain: Who is Marlon West? On 22 June, Rupert Lowe posted that he was “delighted” about the announcement. West is one of the most prominent campaigners against the rape gangs in the country…

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London Met Police expands facial recognition cams, sold as ‘public safety’

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  • Post last modified:23 June 2026
London Met Police expands facial recognition cams, sold as ‘public safety’

The Metropolitan Police has announced plans to expand its deployment of live facial recognition (LFR) technology in London. The Met Police force is planning on having the intrusive scanning technology set up in Soho and the West End by December 2026. Over the following year, six more areas across London are slated to follow. However, civil liberties organisation Big Brother Watch has called these plans: an alarming escalation of an intrusive technology which has already scanned the faces of millions of innocent Londoners. Likewise, the privacy campaigner also highlighted the recent high-profile case of Alvi Choudhury. The young British-Asian man was…

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Bosses at beleaguered Royal Mail’s parent company see doubled pay and bonuses

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  • Post last modified:23 June 2026
Bosses at beleaguered Royal Mail’s parent company see doubled pay and bonuses

In spite of profits for the Royal Mail’s parent company dropping by 20%, chief executive Martin Seidenberg has more than tripled his ‘earnings’ for the year. The International Distribution Services (IDS) boss took home £2.1m in the year to 31 March 2025, which shot up to £7m this year. Likewise, his fellow directors raked in a combined £9.8m this year, up from £4.2m the previous year. Meanwhile, the Royal Mail’s operating profits dropped from £198m to £96m in the same period. IDS blamed the rise in the minimum wage and national insurance contributions. Back in March, Parliament summoned Royal Mail bosses…

Continue ReadingBosses at beleaguered Royal Mail’s parent company see doubled pay and bonuses

The Lemkin Institute’s demolition of the EHRC’s anti-trans code was systematic

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  • Post last modified:22 June 2026
The Lemkin Institute’s demolition of the EHRC’s anti-trans code was systematic

As the Canary previously reported, on 20 June the Lemkin Institute — a major international genocide watchdog organisation — issued a condemnation of the EHRC’s anti-trans Code of Practice.  In our previous article, we covered why the institute was naming the anti-trans movement in the UK as genocidal. Here, we’ll take a look at the lengthy statement’s systematic demolition of key points from both the code itself and the assumptions behind it. If you can’t make it through the whole thing, don’t worry. It boils down to one simple point:  The EHRC was not required to make its guidance as trans exclusionary as possible,…

Continue ReadingThe Lemkin Institute’s demolition of the EHRC’s anti-trans code was systematic

Genocide prevention watchdog slams EHRC’s transphobic code with searing response

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  • Post last modified:23 June 2026
Genocide prevention watchdog slams EHRC’s transphobic code with searing response

On 20 June, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security issued a statement condemning the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) anti-trans Code of Practice, which is currently up for parliamentary scrutiny. For those unfamiliar, the Lemkin Institute is a multinational, non-governmental organisation which monitors for signs of genocide around the world. It was named for Raphael Lemkin, the Polish-Jewish lawyer who coined the term ‘genocide’, and campaigned to instate the UN’s convention on the crime. In the past year, the institute has issued red flag warnings for Israel’s genocidal actions in Palestine and Lebanon, Trump’s threats against…

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Starmer’s resignation speech is a list of his own failures

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  • Post last modified:22 June 2026
Starmer’s resignation speech is a list of his own failures

Keir Starmer announced his resignation as leader of the Labour Party this morning. As such, he’s also started the clock on stepping down as prime minister, once a new leader is decided. Of course, an impending leadership contest has been the worst kept secret in  Westminster for months now. In particular, leadership rival Andy Burnham’s victory in last week’s Makerfield by-election formed a very public blow to Starmer’s position. Likewise, though far less significantly, useless ex-health secretary, Wes Streeting, quit ahead of a leadership challenge back in May, with ex-armed forces minister, Al Carns, following in June. Nominations for the leadership…

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