Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood during a tour of the Lambeth Central Communications Command Centre, south London, January 22, 2026
CIVIL liberty campaigners pledged to fight plans to roll out facial recognition technology to all police forces across England and Wales.
Overriding concerns, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood claimed that the technology would cut crime, despite often being entirely inaccurate.
Boosting camera vans from 10 to 50, Ms Mahmood claimed: “New technology has the ability to help us go after criminals and bring more people to justice.
…
Liberty slammed the government for announcing the rollout while supposedly still in the midst of a public consultation.
External relations director Ruth Ehrlich said that “rolling out powerful surveillance tools while a consultation is still under way undermines public trust and shows disregard for our fundamental rights,” adding: “The government must halt the rapid rollout of facial recognition technology, ensure safeguards are in place to protect each of us, and prioritise our rights.”
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UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini gives a speech in Ankara, Turkiye, on January 8, 2026. [Fatih Kurt – Anadolu Agency]
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on Sunday that the Gaza Strip has become the world’s most dangerous place for journalists and humanitarian workers, warning that continued restrictions and attacks are undermining efforts to document events and deliver aid.
In a press statement, Lazzarini said more than 230 journalists have been killed in Gaza, stressing the need to ensure freedom of access for the media and to protect journalists in line with international humanitarian law.
He argued that preventing international journalists from entering the Gaza Strip contributes to the spread of misinformation and extremist narratives, and weakens the ability of the international community to understand the scale of the humanitarian crisis on the ground.
Lazzarini also said that ongoing attacks on journalists and humanitarian personnel represent a serious violation of international law, calling for urgent measures to provide them with protection and to allow media organisations to operate freely and without restrictions.
Separately, Gaza’s government media office said last Wednesday that the number of journalists killed since the start of the Israeli war has risen to 260, following the killing of three journalists linked to an Egyptian committee.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir 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.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
FEARS mounted over the weekend about the health of the remaining Prisoner’s for Palestine hunger striker, 22-year-old Umer Khalid, held in Wormwood Scrubs.
Mr Khalid is the last remaining hunger striker to take part in the Prisoners for Palestine hunger strike campaign and is currently being held on remand at the London prison.
He has been charged in connection with an action that took place at RAF Brize Norton, where two military aircraft were spray-painted last June.
The Palestine activist is on day 17 of his hunger strike and day three of his thirst strike.
Mr Khalid suffers from a rare genetic disorder, limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, which severely increases the risks associated with his hunger strike.
He was initially on hunger strike for 12 days before becoming seriously unwell and unable to walk. It is understood he has asked prison staff not to intervene in the event that he becomes unconscious.
The Prisoners for Palestine group has written to the Home Secretary asking that the government meet Mr Khalid’s representatives to end the hunger strike safely.
Amnesty International also raised concerns about Mr Khalid’s welfare at the weekend after he escalated his hunger strike by refusing water.
The rights charity’s Kerry Moscogiuri said: “Umer Khalid is in a desperate situation and we urge representatives of the government to meet with his lawyers before it is too late.
“Amnesty International has long opposed the misuse of terrorism powers that have led to lengthy, oppressive and disproportionate detention conditions, contributing directly to this crisis.
“None of the people who have been involved in the hunger strikes have been found guilty of a crime, yet some have been held in prison for up to 18 months in restrictive conditions after anti-terrorism powers have been used against them.
Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir 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.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (left) and Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, during a meeting with English regional mayors, at No 10 Downing Street in Westminster, central London, July 9, 2024
IT’S a truism that the Labour right would rather see the party lose than win from the left.
But the Starmer clique’s decision to bar Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham from contesting the Gorton & Denton by-election shows paranoid factionalism on another level.
Burnham is not even on the socialist left of the party: this is an act of cowardice by a PM who fears a challenge to his leadership, and is prepared to risk a Labour seat falling to Reform UK rather than face him.
For Burnham was certainly the party’s best bet for winning the by-election, in a seat where the context of the last MP’s departure — Andrew Gwynne was embroiled in a scandal over expletive-laden text messages telling elderly constituents he hoped they would “croak” before long — can only add to the stench of out-of-touch arrogance that suffuses Labour.
Burnham is popular, a vanishingly rare quality among Labour politicians now. This fact will not be lost on MPs concluding that Starmer needs to go if the party is to have a hope of avoiding electoral annihilation.
The excuse given for his exclusion — that an early mayoral election to replace him would be inconvenient and costly — hardly matters. Not one person will believe it.
After all Starmer has form: stitch-ups are his stock in trade. Unlike former leaders of the Labour right like Tony Blair — or possible future ones like Wes Streeting — he has no political vision giving him confidence to seek to persuade people of his case. He lied his way to the leadership then excluded its left through expulsions and bans on debate.
He imposes candidates on local parties, and shows total indifference to the local standing of the candidates he blocks: another popular then Labour mayor, Jamie Driscoll, was barred from the shortlist for his own enlarged mayoralty when Labour were still in opposition.