... on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing - A UK Socialist's blog

… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

‘We must respond to the Palestinian people’s call for action’
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/We-must-respond-to-the-Palestinian-people-call-for-action
An injured child is treated at the Al-Aqsa Hospital, following an Israeli military strike in eastern Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, November 13, 2026
Unions to plan nationwide workplace boycotts of Israeli goods at major Palestine Solidarity Campaign conference in London
UNIONS will plan nationwide workplace boycotts of Israeli goods at a major conference in London on Saturday, ahead of a day of action later this month.
This follows the TUC Congress voting in September to support the Palestinian-led movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) and co-ordinated workplace campaigns for the first time.
Today the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) vowed to turn the “hugely important milestone” into practice at its trade union conference in central London.
International guest speakers and key trade union representatives from across the union movement will discuss how to plan, network and organise BDS campaigns in workplaces.
“The conference will provide the tools necessary for practical and meaningful action, to grow divestment and boycotts campaigns and deliver wins across our sectors,” said PSC.
The campaign group’s trade union officer Martial Kurtz told the Morning Star that Israel’s continuing three-year-long genocide against the people of Gaza has seen “many trade unions increasingly active in mobilising their members, speaking out and demonstrating the power of collective solidarity.
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Continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/We-must-respond-to-the-Palestinian-people-call-for-action
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel’s genocide.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister. He asks who could possibly object to the IDF starving people to death, conducting forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing all Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He says they’ve got a genocide to do for Israel and to stop objecting.
Ed Miliband claims that he and Andy Burnham have reformulated Blair’s triangulation strategy. Their new formulation entails acknowledging that they were wrong on Israel and Palestine but entails doing absolutely nothing about it and continuing exactly the same policies hoping that you’re too stupid to notice.
14 November 2026
Thousands to take to the streets demanding climate justice at Cop31
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/thousands-take-part-global-day-action-amid-cop31
Activist Teresa Anderson leads a demonstration for climate justice at the Cop31 UN Climate Summit in Antalya, Turkey, November 13, 2026
THOUSANDS are expected to take to the streets of Antalya on Saturday as part of a global day of action demanding climate justice as the UN Cop31 climate talks take place in the Turkish city.
Climate organisations, supported by youth groups, communities, workers and Indigenous peoples, are mobilising to tell governments at the summit that the crisis “cannot be solved through empty promises, corporate greenwashing or market-based false solutions.”
Organisers are calling for an end to new fossil fuel projects and a rapid, fair and fully funded transition to 100 per cent renewable energy.
They are also demanding public, non-debt-creating climate finance for the Global South, full reparations for loss and damage, food sovereignty, and protection of the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities.
The demands also include an end to wars, occupation and militarisation as well as standing in solidarity with people facing violence and displacement in Palestine, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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Continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/thousands-take-part-global-day-action-amid-cop31
Greenpeace activists display a billboard during a protest outside Shell headquarters on July 27, 2023 in London. (Photo: Handout/Chris J. Ratcliffe for Greenpeace via Getty Images)
Experienced climbers scale a rock face near the historic Dumbarton castle in Glasgow, releasing a banner that reads “Climate on a Cliff Edge.” One activist, dressed as a globe, symbolically looms near the edge, while another plays the bagpipes on the shores below. | Photo courtesy of Extinction Rebellion and Mark Richards
14 November 2026
UK tells blind Nigerian pensioner to go to India for medical treatment
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/nov/14/uk-tells-blind-nigerian-pensioner-to-go-home-to-india
Comfort said: ‘I don’t know why the Home Office said I could go back to India. It’s a country I have never visited and have no connection with.’ Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian
Woman who has lived in UK for 26 years refused indefinite leave to remain under Home Office’s new settlement rules
A blind Nigerian pensioner who has lived in the UK for 26 years has been told by the Home Office she can safely go to India, a country she has never visited, for medical treatment.
Comfort*, 67, arrived in the UK in 2000, and shortly after suddenly went blind due to acute glaucoma.
After living here for 20 years, she was granted leave to remain under long residence rules. Those allowed to stay on this route have to renew their visa every 30 months for 10 years and after that can apply for indefinite leave to remain. Under the new settlement rules announced by Shabana Mahmood this week, it is likely Comfort will now have to keep renewing her visa for the next 20 years before she will finally, when she reaches her 80s, be eligible for indefinite leave to remain.
Due to her age and disability, lawyers at Refugee and Migrant Justice applied to the Home Office for her to be granted indefinite leave to remain now rather than having to wait two more decades before becoming eligible. There is a provision to fast-track indefinite leave to remain applications in exceptional circumstances.
However, the Home Office rejected this application, telling her in the first part of the letter that she could return to Nigeria because there are services there for blind people. But the refusal letter concluded: “Your circumstances are not so severe or lacking in potential treatment in India that it would warrant indefinite leave to remain in this case.”
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Continues at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/nov/14/uk-tells-blind-nigerian-pensioner-to-go-home-to-india
14 November 2026
The planet ‘is being killed’, Greta Thunberg tells Cop31 climate summit
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/nov/12/greta-thunberg-cop31-climate-summit
Greta Thunberg is escorted by police officers after the press conference on day four at Cop31. Photograph: Burak Kara/Getty Images
Swedish activist criticised world governments for their failure to prevent environmental breakdown
The planet is “not dying, it is being killed and we know by who”, said Greta Thunberg, who excoriated world governments for their failure to prevent environmental breakdown in her first appearance at the annual UN climate talks in five years.
Thunberg, 23, the Swedish activist who became famous for heading the school climate strike movement, delivered her stark message to those gathered at the Cop31 summit in Antalya, Turkey, amid the ongoing failure by countries to adequately address the climate crisis.
“It [Earth] is being killed by the very same people thought to come to our rescue,” Thunberg said.
“No one is coming to our rescue. When our human rights are being threatened by states and other institutions, it’s our duty to stand up and be the adult in the room and fight for everyone’s human rights.”
Thunberg, who in recent years has shifted her focus towards other areas such as the conflict in Gaza, linked worsening global heating to other calamities such as war in an appearance alongside activists from Nepal, Canada and Australia.
“We are heading towards a future of more genocides and more ecocides and the complete compromise of our basic rights and where basic necessities become luxuries,” she said.
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Continues at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/nov/12/greta-thunberg-cop31-climate-summit
Greenpeace activists display a billboard during a protest outside Shell headquarters on July 27, 2023 in London. (Photo: Handout/Chris J. Ratcliffe for Greenpeace via Getty Images)
Experienced climbers scale a rock face near the historic Dumbarton castle in Glasgow, releasing a banner that reads “Climate on a Cliff Edge.” One activist, dressed as a globe, symbolically looms near the edge, while another plays the bagpipes on the shores below. | Photo courtesy of Extinction Rebellion and Mark Richards
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham says ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him. He says that he’s delayed the go-ahead for Jackdaw and Rosebank North Sea oil and gas extraction until after the Holborn and St. Pancras by-election – don’t want democracy interfering with Capitalism.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
14 November 2026
No 10 considering expanding under-25s benefits overhaul to older age groups
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/nov/13/no-10-considering-expanding-under-25s-benefits-overhaul-to-older-age-groups
Exclusive: Plans to replace key disability benefits for young people with work and training could affect adults
Downing Street is considering whether plans to replace key disability benefits with work and training for people under-25 should be expanded to older age groups, the Guardian has learned, in a move that risks reigniting Labour tensions over welfare changes.
Andy Burnham and other cabinet ministers are looking at applying the idea of “participation first” to all people of working age, meaning spending billions more on support to enter the workplace while cutting or removing some disability benefits.
The move would be politically risky given the difficulties that Keir Starmer faced in getting changes to health and disability benefits past the Labour parliamentary party last year, with a rebellion leading to a major U-turn.
The government is preparing to accept recommendations from its adviser, Alan Milburn, next week on overhauling the benefits system for young people.
In his report, Milburn will propose that under-25s should get training and support instead of the universal credit health element. Under the plans, young people with disabilities will also lose their personal independence payment (Pip) but will be able to apply to a local fund for specific short-term expenses and equipment, rather than an ongoing payment. Those with the most extreme needs who cannot work will have their entitlements protected.
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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/nov/13/no-10-considering-expanding-under-25s-benefits-overhaul-to-older-age-groups
dizzy: It’s bad enough that Burnham & Co discriminate against young people, now it’s a generalised assault on benefits. It will be enforced unpaid labour to benefit business. There’s nothing new about that, a return to Thatcher-Blairism.
Andy Burnham brings absurd comedy to politics
14 November 2026