new authoritarianism

Compassion out of the window as government escalates sanctions regime

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/compassion-out-window-government-escalates-sanctions-regime

 STARK REALITIES: Crips Against Cuts Portsmouth protest, in April 2025, as benefits applications are bureaucratic and often unfairly denied / Pic: Tim Sheerman-Chase/CC

DYLAN MURPHY looks at how Labour is breaking its pledge to protect the disabled and vulnerable

… The latest quarterly statistics from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) paint a grim picture. As of November 2025, the sanction rate for Universal Credit (UC) claimants had risen to 5.9 per cent, an increase over the past year.

With 2.1 million claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied, this means approximately 123,900 people were undergoing a sanction in November 2025 alone. In October 2025, 63,000 sanction decisions were made, peaking at 65,000 in January 2025.

This is not just a continuation of previous policy; it is an escalation. Before Labour took office on July 5 2024, the previous high for monthly sanctions was 57,276 in January 2024 under the Conservative government. Labour has now well exceeded this figure, reaching 65,000 in January 2025.

…

What makes this even more troubling is the severity and duration of these sanctions. According to the latest DWP statistics, there were 26,000 completed sanctions lasting between four and 13 weeks, and 2,800 sanctions lasting over 26 weeks — effectively six months or more.

A six-month sanction means six months without income, six months of choosing between heating and eating, six months of mounting debt and desperation.

This is not modern welfare policy; it is a Victorian attitude towards the “undeserving poor,” dressed up in 21st-century bureaucratic language. It reflects a punitive ideology that views poverty as a moral failing rather than a structural problem.

The human cost is catastrophic. The loss of income from a sanction can trigger a spiral into crisis. People are left unable to pay for rent, food, and heating. For those already struggling with a disability or illness, the stress and anxiety of a sanction can have a devastating impact on their mental and physical health.

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/compassion-out-window-government-escalates-sanctions-regime

Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves - the very poorest and most vulnerable.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves – the very poorest and most vulnerable.
Continue ReadingCompassion out of the window as government escalates sanctions regime

Morning Star Editorial: McSweeney’s missing phone reeks of Establishment cover-up

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/mcsweeneys-missing-phone-reeks-establishment-cover

 Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) and then British ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson during a welcome reception at the ambassador’s residence in Washington, DC., February 26, 2025

… Parliament determined last month that all government communications relating to Peter Mandelson’s disastrous appointment as ambassador to Washington in December 2024 be made public.

That is to allow voters to understand how this first-order misjudgement, naming to the country’s most prestigious diplomatic post a man famous for his overaffection for the rich, twice dismissed from government amid scandal, and most importantly known for his prolonged intimacy with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

…

No communications are likely to have been more relevant to the appointment than those from and to McSweeney, then Downing Street chief of staff, effectively running the government as top aide to the ineffectual Keir Starmer.

McSweeney was mentored by Mandelson as a close associate in Labour’s unending factional wars, with the younger man carrying forward the latter’s obsessive hatred of the left and socialism.

It is clear that he was instrumental in pushing Keir Starmer to name Mandelson to Washington. It is believed that he was charged with asking the now-disgraced New Labour grandee about his relationship with Epstein.

While the Prime Minister bears the responsibility, it appears that this was a calamity engineered largely by McSweeney, whose messages on the subject would therefore be central to any understanding of it.

Yet it is now unclear if we will ever read them. Now, McSweeney announces that his mobile phone was stolen in London last year, a month after Mandelson’s enforced departure from Washington and when it was already highly likely that some form of public accounting for the misjudgement would follow.

The police concur that McSweeney reported the theft at the time it apparently occurred. Giving an incorrect location, and then asserting that he was near a park in east London when he was in fact miles away in Westminster may perhaps be attributable to the stress of the moment.

Failing to advise the police that he was the No 10 chief of staff, and that his device held any number of secret communications of state significance is far less comprehensible, since that omission must have downgraded the police response.

Still odder, No 10 is unable to confirm that the contents of McSweeney’s phone have been fully backed up in line with government regulations for handling official business.

So on this occasion, the stench of cover-up is powerful, however much Starmer may deny it.

…

Read the original article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/mcsweeneys-missing-phone-reeks-establishment-cover

Keir Starmer discusses Peter Mandelson, Jeffrey Epstein and the UK Labour Party's tradition of excusing and protecting child rapists.
Keir Starmer discusses Peter Mandelson, Jeffrey Epstein and the UK Labour Party’s tradition of excusing and protecting child rapists.
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.
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.
Keir Starmer confirms that he's proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: McSweeney’s missing phone reeks of Establishment cover-up

Israel is being ‘dismantled’ by practicing apartheid says Tzipi Livni

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Tzipi Livni. [Photo by AWAD / AFP via Getty Images]

Former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni has said Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is “dismantling the State of Israel”, accusing it of allowing armed settler militias, parallel legal systems and indefinite occupation to undermine the basic foundations of statehood. 

In remarks shared on X, Livni wrote in full: “A sovereign state has territory, one law for all, and a monopoly on weapons. Israel has no agreed-upon borders, there is no longer one law and justice for all but a religious system of law and justice in parallel to the state’s laws, and there are armed and violent militias that run rampant as they please. The government of Israel is dismantling the State of Israel.”

The comments by Livni come amid mounting evidence of escalating settler attacks across the occupied West Bank and growing international condemnation of Israel’s system of rule over Palestinians. 

The growing consensus of the global human rights community is that Israel is committing the crime of apartheid.  B’Tselem says Israel operates “a regime of apartheid” across the territory under its control, while Human Rights Watch has said Israeli authorities are committing the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.

READ: Volkswagen considers move into Iron Dome production at German site

In recent weeks, illegal Israeli settlers have carried out a series of fresh attacks on Palestinian communities across the occupied West Bank, amid mounting evidence that the violence is becoming more organised and more brazen. 

Earlier this month, settlers intensified assaults on Palestinian villages and towns while exploiting movement restrictions imposed by the Israeli army, with rights groups and medical teams saying road closures and checkpoints delayed ambulances from reaching the wounded. 

Settler violence has taken the form of coordinated raids on multiple Palestinian areas at once. Settlers have raided Palestinians in 13 locations across the occupied West Bank over two days, setting fire to homes and vehicles, smashing windows, throwing stones at Palestinian cars and beating residents. 

Some of the worst attacks targeted villages near Jenin, Nablus and Salfit, leaving several Palestinians injured and causing widespread property damage. 

More than 1,100 attacks by settlers have been carried in the West Bank this year, including assaults on villages, farmland and Palestinian property, often under the protection of Israeli forces. Nearly 19,000 attacks by Israeli forces and settlers had been recorded since the start of the year, underlining the broader climate of repression facing Palestinians across the country.

BLOG: Torture, genocide and erasure

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don't need people to join wars after they've already won.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won.
Keir Starmer explains that UK is participating defensively in Trump and Israel's criminal war for Israel's genocidal expansion in Iran and states that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said "I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is participating defensively in Trump and Israel’s criminal war for Israel’s genocidal expansion in Iran and states that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Continue ReadingIsrael is being ‘dismantled’ by practicing apartheid says Tzipi Livni

Yemen’s Houthis say to intervene militarily if needed amid Iran-US war

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

People listen to Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi as he speaks via video conference, in Sana’a, Yemen on March 17, 2023 [Mohammed Hamoud – Anadolu Agency]

The leader of Yemen’s Houthi group said Thursday that his movement “is not neutral” in the ongoing war between Iran, the US and Israel, warning that his group will intervene militarily if regional developments dictate it, Anadolu reports.

“We are not neutral, but our position stems from belonging to Islam and the Islamic nation,” Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said in a televised speech cited by the group’s Al-Masirah television.

“Any field developments will be met with military stance if needed, as in previous rounds.”

He said the US-Israeli strikes on Iran have harmed the economic interests of the world’s countries and regional security and stability, calling the assault “unjustified.”

READ: Yemen’s Houthis warns of action as regional tensions escalate

“Developments in the region over the past years show that the US and Israel are working to implement a Zionist plot that targets all countries of the region with a view to changing the Middle East and creating the Greater Israel,” he said.

Backed by Iran, the Houthis control most of Yemeni provinces, including the capital Sanaa, since 2014.

The group carried out missile and drone attacks against Israel and ships passing in the Red Sea in retaliation for Israel’s deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 72,000 people since October 2023.

The US and Israel have maintained airstrikes on Iran since Feb. 28, killing so far over 1,340 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, along with Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries hosting US military assets, causing casualties and damage to infrastructure while disrupting global markets and aviation.

READ: Trump prefers peace but ready to ‘unleash hell’ in Iran: White House

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Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don't need people to join wars after they've already won.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won.
Keir Starmer explains that UK is participating defensively in Trump and Israel's criminal war for Israel's genocidal expansion in Iran and states that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said "I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is participating defensively in Trump and Israel’s criminal war for Israel’s genocidal expansion in Iran and states that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Continue ReadingYemen’s Houthis say to intervene militarily if needed amid Iran-US war

French students announce legal action over universities’ ties with Israel

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

Hundreds of demonstrators gather in central Paris to protest the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and ongoing Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank, as participants wave Palestinian flags and hold banners calling for international action and solidarity with Palestine, on December 20, 2025. [Ümit Dönmez – Anadolu Agency]

Several organizations, including Student Solidarity and the French Jewish Union for Peace, have filed a complaint with a French administrative court challenging ties between French universities, two ministries and Israeli academic institutions, Anadolu reports.

In a statement published Wednesday, the groups said they are seeking “the disclosure, reassessment and termination of links between French and Israeli universities, due to the active participation of the latter in repeated and blatant violations of international law by the Israeli state.”

The French universities cited include Sciences Po Paris, Sorbonne University, Aix-Marseille University, the University of Strasbourg, Grenoble University and others.

France’s Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs are also named in the complaint.

READ: French far-right leader Le Pen says US made ‘mistake’ by attacking Iran

“Amid escalating violence worldwide, universities have an ethical duty to set an example and uphold strict respect for international law,” the statement said.

In 2025, the University of Lausanne and the University of Geneva ended their partnerships with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

In a landmark opinion in July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The International Criminal Court has also issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza war.

READ: After months of delay, British Government finally face Hamas in court

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

Keir Starmer explains that UK is participating defensively in Trump and Israel's criminal war for Israel's genocidal expansion in Iran and states that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said "I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is participating defensively in Trump and Israel’s criminal war for Israel’s genocidal expansion in Iran and states that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it's easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel's genocidal expansion.
Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it’s easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Continue ReadingFrench students announce legal action over universities’ ties with Israel