Charlie Alford

‘Scandal within a scandal’: DWP fails to begin Post Office convictions review

Post author:Cameron Baillie
Post published:30 July 2026
Post last modified:31 July 2026

The UK government’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is still failing families affected by the potentially wrongful Post Office convictions scandal. It’s now almost 12 months since the DWP first announced its review into its infamous handling of prosecutions against Post Office staff. Yet no review has begun and still no reviewer is even appointed. The widow of a sub-postmaster told Sky News she is “extremely” frustrated at the stalling of the review. It is supposed to investigate the (mis)handled prosecutions of multiple Post Office staff. The DWP was involved in bringing prosecutions against roughly 100 Post Office staff from…

Human Rights Network blasts Home Office plan to use racist AI on asylum-seeking children

Post author:Grace
Post published:29 July 2026
Post last modified:30 July 2026

The Human Rights Network has added its voice to the growing number of advocacy organisations and watchdogs which have denounced Home Office plans to use AI facial-recognition software to assess the age of asylum-seeking children. The charity has already worked with hundreds of minors whom the state has wrongfully categorised as adults. Back in April, the Human Rights Network exposed the fact that the Home Office frequently detains so-called “age-disputed children” as adults. Of the 76 age-disputed detainees at the time, Social Services had reassessed (or were reassessing) 26 as children. Less than a month later, the Helen Bamber Foundation revealed…

Survivors of Spycops abuses fear Home Office ‘consultation’ is an attempt to shut down inquiry

Post author:The Canary
Post published:17 July 2026
Post last modified:17 July 2026

This is a statement from Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance regarding the Undercover Policing Inquiry Following elation at the progress of the Hillsborough law, victims of spycops were confronted on 16 July with a Home Office ‘consultation’ into the future of the Undercover Policing Inquiry. We are shocked and surprised by the announcement and deeply concerned that this is an attempt to shut this Inquiry down. We have been requesting a meeting with the Sponsor Department of the Home Office for more than a year and have been stonewalled. Now, we are presented with this multiple choice survey which clearly demonstrates that…

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

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

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…

The Office Chair Features That Actually Matter When You Sit at a Desk All Day

Post author:Nathan Spears
Post published:22 June 2026
Post last modified:22 June 2026

A bad office chair does not usually feel bad straight away. At first, it looks like any other chair: it fits under the desk, rolls around easily enough and seems comfortable for the first hour or two. The problems tend to show up later, when the back support feels slightly off, the arms keep catching the desk, or the seat that felt fine in the morning starts to feel less forgiving by mid-afternoon. That is why colour, price and style only get you so far. The chair still has to work after someone has been sitting in it for hours. Start…

Belfast human rights activist could be deported due to Home Office incompetence

Post author:Robert Freeman
Post published:5 June 2026
Post last modified:9 June 2026

Never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence. In Belfast, Home Office incompetence is threatening Nina Briggs, head of the Migrant Workers’ Union Northern Ireland, with deportation. They insist that Briggs’ active appeal against the unfair Home Office decision does not exist. That is despite an immigration tribunal confirming the department submitted documents in her case in December 2025. Briggs has spent the last 14 years living in Britain or the North of Ireland. Born in the US, she came to Britain to study at St Andrews University in Scotland back in 2012, at age 16. She subsequently entered…