Police chiefs face questions over decades of political policing as Spycops Inquiry resumes

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  • Post last modified:15 June 2026
Police chiefs face questions over decades of political policing as Spycops Inquiry resumes

On Monday 15 June, the Spycops inquiry resumes and campaigners will be looking for answers. Tranche 3 Phase 3 of the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI) is beginning. And it’ll be a crucial stage in the investigation into the Metropolitan police’s Special Demonstration Squad (SDS). The Inquiry has heard evidence from former undercover officers and many of those whose groups, campaigns and personal lives they infiltrated. It’s now turning its attention to the senior officers and government departments who authorised, supervised and oversaw these operations. For many of those affected, this phase goes to the heart of the Inquiry. The key question…

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Australia: Public inquiry overdue for secretive, expensive AUKUS pact

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  • Post last modified:9 June 2026
Australia: Public inquiry overdue for secretive, expensive AUKUS pact

The AUKUS war pact between the US, UK and Australia is expensive, secretive, and the “worst defence decision” since WWII. That’s according to a respected Australian expert, who says a proper inquiry is long overdue. Ian Lowe, an emeritus professor at Griffith University, Queensland, published a recent critique of the deal, saying it was: Negotiated rapidly and in secret [and that] the AUKUS pact to produce new nuclear-powered submarines is among the most expensive, consequential and opaque deals in British and Australian military history. Australia probes shadowy defence deal Australians are holding a public inquiry, a move that Lowe welcomes. The scholar…

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Student loans inquiry into ‘mountain’ of degree debts begins

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  • Post last modified:9 June 2026
Student loans inquiry into ‘mountain’ of degree debts begins

Student organisations and experts are launching an inquiry into the defunct debt-bondage system of student loans across England. In particular, the National Union of Students (NUS) wants the inquiry to look at the interest rates. Additionally, it will examine threshold repayment mechanisms. The loans inquiry can’t come soon enough for many students or graduates on the sharp end of our privatised, financialised education model. Studies show that one in three people now think that a degree: just isn’t worth the amount of time and money. The structurally defunct student loans system Much of Europe and the developed world, more broadly, receives…

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Pro-Israel influence inquiry petition to be debated on June 22

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  • Post last modified:8 June 2026
Pro-Israel influence inquiry petition to be debated on June 22

A petition demanding a public inquiry into pro-Israel influence on UK politics and democracy will be debated in Parliament on 22 June 2026, according to an update published on the Petitions Committee’s page on 21 May 2026. The petition reads: We feel that the horrific devastation in Gaza, the ongoing suppression of Palestinians in the West Bank, and the UK’s political response underline the urgent need to scrutinise how pro-Israel organisations, networks, and lobbying efforts may shape government decisions, party policy, and public debate. Petition debates cannot change the law or force a vote, but they can raise awareness and put…

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