‘There is nothing moral about cutting benefits’

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Keir Starmer explainst the moral case for cutting disability benefits. He says work will set you free.
Keir Starmer explains the moral case for cutting disability benefits. He says work will set you free.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/there-is-nothing-moral-about-cutting-benefits

Starmer under pressure over cruel plan to slash welfare budget

KEIR STARMER came under pressure from MPs across the Commons over his cruel plan to cut benefits today.

Labour announced on Tuesday that it will slash £5 billion from the welfare budget by the end of the decade.

In the Commons, Labour’s Diane Abbott told Sir Keir to stop pretending his cuts were moral.

“There is nothing moral about cutting benefits for what may be up to a million people,” she said.

“This is not about morality, this is about the Treasury’s wish to balance the country’s books on the back of the most vulnerable and poor people in this society.”

Colum Eastwood from the SDLP told the prime minister of a constituent “who needed help, she had a disability. It meant that her children have to cut up her food, they have to help her wash between the waist, they have to supervise her when she goes to the toilet.

“Under the Tory welfare system we were able to get that lady on PIP. Under the Prime Minister’s new proposed system she will get zero, nothing.

“And after 14 years of the Tory government — and many of us wanted to see the back of them — can the Prime Minister answer one question – what was the point if Labour are going to do this?”

Green co-leader Carla Denyer urged a wealth tax instead of cuts, a policy quietly supported by many Labour MPs.

“We have a deeply unfair, unequal economic system where vast numbers of people are struggling yet billionaires are getting richer and richer,” she told Sir Keir.

“Does the Prime Minister really think that the way to tackle this is to put the onus onto older people, children and now sick and disabled people rather than on the shoulders of the super-rich with a wealth tax, those people who could most easily afford to pay?”

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/there-is-nothing-moral-about-cutting-benefits

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.
Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Continue Reading‘There is nothing moral about cutting benefits’

Unicef: A million children in Gaza ‘are living without the very basics they need to survive’

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/unicef-million-children-gaza-are-living-without-very-basics-they-need-survive

A Palestinian girl struggles as she and others try to get donated food at a distribution centre in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, March 16, 2025

A MILLION children are living in Gaza without the basic means of survival, Unicef’s Middle East and North Africa (Mena) regional director Edouard Beigbeder warned today as Israel’s aid blockade entered its 16th day.

Having concluded a four-day visit to the devastated Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, Mr Beigbeder said in a statement that nearly all the 2.4 million children living in Palestinian territories have been affected by the recent conflict.

“Some children live with tremendous fear or anxiety; others face the real consequences of deprivation of humanitarian assistance and protection, displacement, destruction or death,” Mr Beigbeder said.

“Without aid entering the Gaza Strip, roughly one million children are living without the very basics they need to survive — yet again.

“Stalled just a few dozen kilometres outside the Gaza Strip sit more than 180,000 doses of essential childhood routine vaccines, enough to fully vaccinate and protect 60,000 children under two years of age, as well as 20 lifesaving ventilators for neonatal intensive care units.”

Approximately 4,000 newborn babies are unable to access essential lifesaving care, he said, due to Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid — an apparent war crime.

Lives are being lost every day, the Unicef Mena chief said, “especially among vulnerable, premature newborns in the northern Gaza Strip.

“In accordance with international humanitarian law, civilians’ essential needs must be met, and this requires facilitating the entry of life-saving assistance, whether or not there is a ceasefire in place.

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/unicef-million-children-gaza-are-living-without-very-basics-they-need-survive

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
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/O74hZCKKdpA
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
Continue ReadingUnicef: A million children in Gaza ‘are living without the very basics they need to survive’

Jeremy Corbyn: Keir Starmer says there’s no money – I don’t believe him

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https://metro.co.uk/2025/03/05/jeremy-corbyn-keir-starmer-says-no-money-dont-believe-22673792/

I said that I would praise Keir Starmer when I thought he was performing well (Picture: Getty Images)

‘There’s no money’. 


That always seems to be the current government’s response when asked to tackle the enormous crises affecting the UK. 

But as Keir Starmer announces he will ramp up military spending, and as Rachel Reeves plans to slash welfare budgets, we must never forget what impact government funding choices have on the most vulnerable people in society. 

As we speak, 4.3 million children in the UK are living in relative poverty. Over 350,000 people are homeless in England. 

Millions are worried about the cost of heating their home, braced for yet another hike in energy bills. Meanwhile, billionaires are richer than ever. 

So what is the government doing? 

They could lift children out of poverty, if they wanted to, by scrapping the two-child benefit cap. 

STEADFAST DART 25 (STDT25), the principal NATO exercise for 2025, will be the first large-scale deployment of NATO?s Allied Reaction Force (ARF) exercise conducted across various geographical locations within SACEUR?s area of responsibility. It is the largest NATO exercise in 2025, with approximately 10.000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines from 9 Allies, and it will be based on NATO?s new defence plans. NARRATIVE In response to an evolving and unpredictable security environment, NATO has implemented the biggest increase in collective defence since the Cold War. NATO has a new generation of defence plans, and is integrated with national military planning like never before. These defence plans make the Alliance stronger and better able to deter and, if necessary, defend against any potential adversary in any domain, and at any time. A critical component of NATO?s plans, which are designed to safeguard the Euro-Atlantic?s one billion inhabitants, is having high-readiness forces across all domains able to rapidly respond to any emerging or known threat. NATO?s new robust and agile Allied Reaction Force is central to this. Throughout January and February 2025, NATO will conduct Exercise Steadfast Dart in order to test and train the operational deployment of the Allied Reaction Force and rapid reinforcement of NATO assets located along its eastern flank. Steadfast Dart 25 is an alert and deployment exercise, and the first time the Allied Reaction Force will exercise an operational deployment since the Force?s establishment on July 1, 2024. The exercise will demonstrate NATO?s ability to activate the Allied Reaction Force, and coordinate its swift transit to where it can deliver strategic deterrence effects by bolstering forces already situated in location. Steadfast Dart 25 will showcase the Allied Reaction Force as a strategic, high-readiness, multi-domain and multinational capability that can be deployed and employed rapidly to strengthen deterrence in peacetime and crisis, and support the Alliance?s defence in conflict. NATO exercises such as this are defensive, transparent and proportionate, and conducted in full respect of our international obligations. Exercise aim: Exercise Steadfast Dart 2025 is the first large-scale deployment of NATO?s Allied Reaction Force (ARF). The aim is to test the deployable capabilities and procedures as well as the interoperability among the troop contributors and host nations. The NATO Allied Reaction Force (ARF) is a strategic, high-readiness, multi-domain capable force. It provides multi-domain forces from across the Alliance to produce effects at shorter notice than has previously been possible. STDT25 will demonstrate NATO's ability to rapidly deploy forces to reinforce NATO assets located along its eastern flank. This reinforcement will occur during a simulated emerging conflict scenario with a near-peer adversary. It will show that NATO Allied Reaction Force (ARF) can conduct and sustain complex operations across thousands of kilometers in the Eastern Europe, and in any condition. STDT25 will be a clear demonstration of NATO?s unity, strength and determination to continue to do all that is necessary to protect each other, our common values and the rules-based international order. NATO exercises are defensive, transparent, proportionate, and conducted in full respect of our international obligations.
Keir Starmer says that a changing world means we have to increase defence spending (Picture: Ministry of Defence)

They could help pensioners with energy bills, if they wanted to, by restoring universal winter fuel allowance. 

They could ensure nobody had to sleep rough on the streets, if they wanted to, by launching a massive council-house-building programme.  

Instead, they have signed off on a 13.4 billion increase in military spending. With that money, the government could scrap the two-child benefit cap 10 times over. 

Now, today, we’re told the government is preparing to cut billions from welfare budgets. 

GAZA CITY, GAZA - FEBRUARY 25: Palestinian Ismail Barud, whose house in Bureij Refugee Camp was completely destroyed in the Israeli attacks, tries to rebuild a house as his daily life, taking care of the 3 children of his brother who lost his life in the attack, and his family, continues in Gaza City, Gaza on February 25, 2025. Barud struggles to live under extremely difficult conditions in the midst of destruction. (Photo by Moiz Salhi/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Even David Lammy admits Gaza is in ‘rubble’ (Picture: Getty Images)

Put simply: there is never any money for the poor, but always enough money for war. I just wish the government was honest about that. 

Original article at https://metro.co.uk/2025/03/05/jeremy-corbyn-keir-starmer-says-no-money-dont-believe-22673792/

Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Keir Starmer justifies why he has to travel abroad so much
Keir Starmer justifies why he has to travel abroad so much

Continue ReadingJeremy Corbyn: Keir Starmer says there’s no money – I don’t believe him

‘We Are Governed by Children’: Disgust as Trump and Vance Bully Zelenskyy in Oval Office

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Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Oval Office of the White House on February 28, 2025. (Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

“An utter embarrassment for America. This whole sad scene,” wrote U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy.

A White House meeting on Friday between U.S. President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rapidly devolved into chaos as the two American leaders took turns berating Zelenskyy with television cameras rolling and the global public looking on.

Both Trump and Vance bizarrely demanded that Zelenskyy show more gratitude for the military aid the U.S. has provided Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 and pressured him to accept an as-yet-undefined deal to end the war.

Vance told Zelenskyy he must “say thank you” and chided him for “trying to fight it out in the American media when you’re wrong,” but Trump intervened to say, “I think it’s good for the American people to see what’s going on here… that’s why I kept this going so long.”

“You have to be thankful,” Trump told the Ukrainian president, who has repeatedly thanked the American public for the U.S. government’s military assistance.

“You don’t have the cards,” Trump continued as Zelenskyy tried in vain to interject. “You’re buried there, your people are dying, you’re running low on soldiers.”

Insisting that Russian President Vladimir Putin can’t be trusted to uphold a bilateral cease-fire, Zelenskyy is demanding security guarantees against a future Russian attack in any agreement to end the conflict—a demand that Trump has thus far rejected.

“Your country is in big trouble,” Trump, who falsely suggested last week that Ukraine started the war, told Zelenskyy during the Oval Office meeting, which was meant to kick off talks regarding U.S. access Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.

Zelenskyy left the White House on Friday without signing a minerals deal.

“You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out,” Trump told Zelenskyy during Friday’s meeting, a clear threat to withdraw U.S. support for Ukraine. “And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out and I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.”

Observers were aghast at Trump and Vance’s conduct during Friday’s meeting, which was likened to an ambush. At one point, as Trump responded dismissively to Zelenskyy’s call for security guarantees as part of any cease-fire deal, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States was seen with her head in her hands.

“Wow. Just wow,” said CNN‘s Dana Bash following the meeting.

Zeteo‘s Mehdi Hasan wrote on social media that it is “insane that this just happened.”

“We are governed by children,” he added.

Watch the full exchange:

U.S. lawmakers also voiced disgust over Trump and Vance’s behavior, with Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) writing that the meeting was “an utter embarrassment for America.”

Shortly after the meeting concluded, Trump took to his social media platform to accuse Zelenskyy of disrespecting the U.S. “in its cherished Oval Office.”

“He can come back when he is ready for peace,” Trump added as backlash over his treatment of Zelenskyy continued to pour in.

“Trump berates Zelensky, the leader of a democratic country courageously fighting Russian imperialism, while he allies himself with Putin, a dictator who started the bloodiest European war in 80 years,” U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote on social media.

“Sorry, President Trump,” Sanders added. “We believe in democracy, not authoritarianism.”

Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Continue Reading‘We Are Governed by Children’: Disgust as Trump and Vance Bully Zelenskyy in Oval Office

BBC urged not to bow to ‘cynical’ attacks on Gaza documentary

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/bbc-urged-not-bow-cynical-attacks-gaza-documentary

People take part in a pro-Palestine march in central London organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, July 6, 2024

THE BBC has been urged not to give in to “cynical” attacks on a documentary on the Israeli invasion of Gaza, which it has pulled from iPlayer after criticism of its child narrator’s father being a Hamas official.

Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone is narrated by 13-year-old Abdullah, whose father is deputy minister of agriculture in Gaza’s Hamas government.

Last week Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said she would raise this with the BBC’s director-general and chairman, “particularly around the way in which they sourced the people who were featured in the programme.”

petition signed by socialist Jews including film-maker Mike Leigh, comedian and writer Alexei Sayle and actor Miriam Margolyes calls on the BBC to resist “censorship.”

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/bbc-urged-not-bow-cynical-attacks-gaza-documentary

dizzy: It’s available at bitorrent sites, may be issues about legality.

Continue ReadingBBC urged not to bow to ‘cynical’ attacks on Gaza documentary