Charlie Alford

Government ‘community power’ hypocrisy exposed over Brick Lane data centre

Post author:Cameron Baillie
Post published:12 August 2026
Post last modified:12 August 2026

Brick Lane — One supposed fundamental political message has resonated through the entire ‘Burnhamism’ transition. It’s been repeated endlessly that this government’s core mission is to devolve power to “every postcode”. In keeping with that message, local government and housing minster Angela Rayner shared online: We’re putting powers in the hands of communities to crackdown on everyday eyesores that blight town centres. However, it wasn’t long before everybody with eyes and a brain called it what it was: blatant hypocrisy. “We’re putting powers in the hands of communities to crackdown on everyday eyesores that blight town centres.” https://t.co/eZioZT0A7z pic.twitter.com/yXRV3a3KCI — Philip…

Green Party slams Labour’s ‘energy guzzling’ data centre decision

Post author:Willem Moore
Post published:12 August 2026
Post last modified:12 August 2026

On 7 August, we reported that Labour was forcing an unwanted data centre on the people of Brick Lane. Now, the Green Party has described the plan as follows: Why has Andy Burnham’s Labour approved a water and energy guzzling data centre in Brick Lane when: 30,000 people in Tower Hamlets are currently awaiting housing London is in a period of extreme drought and residents in Tower Hamlets have already been left without water… pic.twitter.com/Zj9nndQcJo — The Green Party (@TheGreenParty) August 11, 2026 Labour’s “Market Stalinism” The local council wanted to redevelop the Truman Brewery into a site with 800 homes.…

The Brick Lane data centre is Labour’s ‘market Stalinism’ in action

Post author:Hugo Harvey
Post published:7 August 2026
Post last modified:7 August 2026

Plans to build data centres have been controversial across the UK, but the latest example comes from Brick Lane. Housing Secretary Angela Rayner approved a £500 million redevelopment of the Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, which will include a data centre. This is despite unanimous opposition to the development from Tower Hamlets council, the local mayor and campaigners. In a borough with over 30,000 households on the social housing waiting list, the council wanted 800 homes on the same site instead. The government’s decision letter gives that plan “no more than limited weight.” Meanwhile, it gives the data centre “significant weight”…

Green mayoral candidate says wildfires require AI data centre rethink

Post author:Willem Moore
Post published:28 July 2026
Post last modified:28 July 2026

The rapid expansion of generative AI technology has been tremendously worrying for many. There are good reasons for this too, whether it be the threat to jobs, the environmental impact of data centres, or the fact that AI barons keep suggesting their technology may one day kill us all. In response to this, the Greens’ Greater Manchester mayor candidate Geraldine Coggins is calling for “an end to the folly of rushing headlong into AI development without public debate and environmental protections”. Environmental impacts Coggins said: The world is on fire. A quarter of a million people have been evacuated from the paths…

This under the radar benefits cut reminds us why disability justice must centre migrants’ rights

Post author:Hannah Sharland
Post published:28 July 2026
Post last modified:28 July 2026

The Labour government is floating another vicious programme of sweeping cuts to disabled people’s welfare. However, the public could be forgiven for not knowing about these because nowhere in the media or wider sociopolitical disability discourse is anyone talking about them like this is what they are. Notably, while the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has meted out devastating cuts to Universal Credit’s health element, and gears up to once again target personal independence payments (PIP), it has also been colluding with the Home Office to strip hundreds of thousands of migrants of access to welfare. This includes those very same…

Kennard: New book places America at the centre of global wars and fascism

Post author:Skwawkbox
Post published:17 July 2026
Post last modified:17 July 2026

In an interview with the Canary, author Matt Kennard has said that to understand geopolitics the US must be understood as the global centre of war and fascism. And he dates the current wildness of the world’s biggest terror state to the so-called ‘war on terror‘. The Bush administration removed barriers that had prevented right-wing extremists entering the US military. Now they are running it – and at the top of both sides of US two-party politics: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Canary (@thecanaryuk) Kennard: “Extremists are at the wheel” Kennard’s newly-updated book, Irregular Army, “shows how…

Iran claims US aircraft support centre strike amid wave of retaliatory attacks

Post author:Skwawkbox
Post published:13 July 2026
Post last modified:13 July 2026

The Iran government claims to have inflicted the “full destruction” of US carrier-support and refuelling facilities in the Gulf. Other reportedly-destroyed targets include a command centre and US drone facility in the Gulf. BREAKING: Iran’s IRGC announces the full destruction of logistical support centers for US aircraft carriers and refueling platforms at Duqm port in Oman with ballistic missiles, in the third phase of its response to the US strikes, per Tasnim. This is the first Iranian strike on… — The Hormuz Letter (@HormuzLetter) July 12, 2026 Some facilities had been at least partially re-populated by the US military after widespread…

Scottish SNP government announces popular AI data centre moratorium

Post author:Cameron Baillie
Post published:7 July 2026
Post last modified:7 July 2026

The Scottish National Party (SNP) has announced plans to support a pause on all new AI data centre developments, the National has revealed. The move comes after many months of community protests against proposed sites across the country. There has been both grassroots and political pushback, including from several MSPs from various parties. The SNP-run government of Scotland will join calls from the Scottish Greens to support a moratorium on AI data centre developments. The moratorium will be accepted following a vote by the SNP’s National Council, a key decision-making body in the party’s organisation. The two parties hold a clear…

UK Government lied about ‘renewable’ Scottish data centre plans

Post author:Cameron Baillie
Post published:6 July 2026
Post last modified:6 July 2026

Plans for a supposedly “renewable” multi-billion pound data centre project in Lanarkshire entirely misrepresented their actual environmental and economic impacts. The Guardian‘s recent investigation reveals that the £8.2bn-valued data complex, touted as being energy self-sufficient, was unfeasible from the start. The centre and adjoining power-plant in Scotland’s central belt was supposed to be powered by on-site renewables and nuclear energy. In theory, anyway. Built jointly by US corporation CoreWeave and Scottish data firm DataVita, the complex was supposed to power itself entirely by 2030. However, internal correspondence documents obtained through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests show that the site had an…

Mosque targeted in a suspected arson attack in Dublin city centre as anti-Muslim hate rises

Post author:Maddison Wheeldon
Post published:30 June 2026
Post last modified:1 July 2026

A suspected arson attack set a mosque in Dublin city centre ablaze in broad daylight on Monday 29 June at 3:35pm. Police subsequently arrested a man in his 40s in connection with the fire. In video footage, the man shouted: Go back to your country. We don’t want Islam in this country. People have repeatedly targeted the mosque by walking in during prayers, confronting worshippers, and filming videos to post on social media in an attempt to demonise Muslims in Ireland. Now, this suspected arson attack marks a dangerous escalation. It shows just how far anti-Muslim hate has spread and how…

Ireland’s explosive data centre growth triggers shocking rise in electricity bills

Post author:Robert Freeman
Post published:31 May 2026
Post last modified:8 June 2026

A new report has revealed the whopping tax levied on households in Ireland due to runaway data centre expansion — a massive €715 million extra on electricity bills from 2015-2023. Not only that, the document published by Friends of the Earth Ireland (FOTEI) projects that between 2025-2034, bill payers are: …set to face an additional €1.43 billion in electricity bills linked to data centre growth. It also highlights how those least able to pay are hit, stating that: …the poorest households in Ireland paid an extra €209 on electricity bills between 2021 and 2023 due to data centre growth. The cost…