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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.”
“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.
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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.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 rotting brain. Front Orca says “Wish someone would lock him up”.
When Rotting Brain comes for you, you’re inconsistent not as a strategy but because your brain has rotted away. You can’t remember what you had for lunch. You’re vulnerable to manipulation of course and I would be concerned about such manipulation being illegal, unlawful. Even done by relatives, such manipulation can’t be legal can it?
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”. Starmer said it here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
And then there’s Starmer. By supporting Trump, isn’t he also supporting Trump’s Fascism at home and abroad? Covering-up – participation and complicity really – Fascist murders in the States, human rights abuses, mass-murders on the sea, amassing wealth in secret, hidden, obscure accounts, Fascist genocide for Israel – there’s no doubt that Starmer fully supports that at least. Ed: plutocracy, the filthy rich … Starmer is supporting it all.
Later Ed: Climate? While we need action urgently Trump, Farage and other right-wing denialists are doing the opposite. By supporting Trump, isn’t Starmer also supporting climate crime? In many ways, it’s the ultimate genocide through destroying the climate, the planet, everything.
Starmer, Mahmood and the UK Labour Party are doing their own version of neo-Fascism of course relentlessly prosecuting protesters and the latest one arresting someone for being polite while Iranian.
An Iranian man has been arrested with a woman after trying to enter the Faslane naval base, home to the UK’s nuclear-armed submarines.
Police Scotland said a 34-year-old man and 31-year-old woman were arrested at HM Naval Base Clyde at about 17:00 on Thursday.
The woman’s nationality is unknown, but it is understood she is not Iranian.
The Royal Navy said the suspects “unsuccessfully attempted” to enter the base, near Helensburgh in Argyll and Bute.
A spokesperson added: “As the matter is subject to an ongoing investigation, we will not comment further.”
It is understood that the pair did not try to force their way into the base.
They asked if they could enter but were refused permission and were arrested shortly afterwards. Police Scotland said its inquiries were ongoing.
…
The woman is reported to be Romanian in later news reports. So there you are, an Iranian man asks to enter the base, was refused and they were arrested. Iranian man arrested for being polite. Such nonsense. I wonder if it happened at all or is just total war BS like what comes out of Trump, Netanyahu and Starmer’s holes.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump during a press conference at Chequers, near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, on day two of the president’s second state visit to the UK, September 18, 2025
The media present Starmer as staying out of Trump’s war — but we’re already deeply involved in a conflict that sees the US and Israel kill civilians on a huge scale, argues IAN SINCLAIR
WE are all being taken for mugs.
Over the last couple of weeks the mainstream liberal media has been gaslighting the British public about Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the war on Iran.
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Starmer has given permission for the US, which is involved in an ongoing illegal, aggressive attack on Iran, to use British bases to bomb Iran — which is certainly a strange way of opposing the war.
As the media has shown little interest in seriously investigating the legality of the Starmer government’s position, it’s worth highlighting the analyses of several scholars of international law.
For example, Alexander Orakhelashvili, Professor of International Law at the University of Birmingham, describes the British government’s position of targeting missile facilities in Iran “which were involved” in attacks on Britain’s regional allies as “plainly beyond what the right to self-defence allows any state to do in such circumstances.”
He describes it as “more akin to collective reprisal,” and therefore not in line with the United Nations Charter or “customary international law.”
Writing on March 11, Thomas Obel Hansen, a senior research fellow with the School of Law at Ulster University, argues that “by permitting US heavy bombers to use its bases to launch strikes on Iran, the UK would not only make a significant contribution to the military campaign against Iran, but also one that is essentially offensive” making Britain “a party that actively supports a war of aggression on Iran.”
Adil Haque, Distinguished Professor of Law at Rutgers Law School, concurs, noting the British agreement with the US “would appear to be unlawful.” Why? “The United States is committing an unlawful act of aggression, and the United Kingdom cannot aid or assist in its commission. Air strikes against missile facilities in Iran have been, and will continue to be, an important component of the composite act of aggression. It is not possible to facilitate such air strikes without facilitating the act of aggression of which they are a part of.”
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A March 9 YouGov survey found 59 per cent of respondents opposed the military action that the United States has taken against Iran, with 25 per cent in support (polls done by Survation and Opinium have had similar results). On Starmer’s specific decision to allow the US to use British air bases specifically to launch attacks against missile bases in Iran, a March 2 YouGov poll found 50 per cent of respondents were opposed, with 32 per cent in support.
It seems one can only think Starmer is “with public opinion” if you ignore the not unimportant fact that Starmer is actively helping the US to bomb Iran.
As investigative journalist Matt Kennard recently noted on X about the media’s inversion of reality: the “level of obedience and servitude within elite UK journalist circles — with no gulags — is genuinely incredible.”
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”. Starmer said it here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/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.Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …
Tony Blair’s think tank and consulting firm is proving to be highly influential with Labour in government | (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Exclusive: Tech firms such as TBI are embedding staff in government, sparking fears AI policy is being ‘outsourced’
The Tony Blair Institute and the Ellison Institute of Technology sent senior staff members to work in the government department tasked with developing AI policy, openDemocracy can reveal.
UK tech firm Faculty, which has links to the TBI, also embedded a member of staff in the Department of Science, Information and Technology (DSIT).
In one case, the TBI hired a senior civil servant tasked with leading the government’s AI programme, then seconded them straight back to their old job in the department – a potential loophole in rules intended to stop former civil servants from using their connections to lobby old colleagues.
In another, a different TBI staffer wrote on LinkedIn that he had played a key role in drafting the government’s flagship AI Opportunities Action Plan, its far-reaching blueprint for AI policy, during an 11-month secondment to DSIT.
The government is not required to declare secondments, meaning there is no public record of the companies that gain significant access and influence through these arrangements – nor the policies their secondees advocate for.
But openDemocracy has found that arms firms Thales and Qinetiq, tech consultancy Capgemini, and pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca have also sent staff members to work in DSIT.
Responding to our findings, Kamila Kingstone, programme lead at said: “When individuals with close ties to vested commercial interests are embedded at the heart of policymaking, it creates real risks of conflicts of interest. It enables Big Tech to capture and help set the very rules that should regulate it.
“At a minimum, the government should publish annually a list of who has been brought in on secondment, their conflicts of interest, and any mitigations in place. At a time when public trust in politics is at rock bottom, the government should be going the extra mile to be sure it is transparent about who is influencing policy behind the scenes”
Green Party deputy leader Rachel Millward told openDemocracy: “Starmer’s Labour Party has no values or vision, so it has outsourced its policy development process to corporate interests. Unethical companies have funnelled dirty money through ‘think tanks’ and agencies to shape the government’s positions in favour of Big Tech.”
A government spokesperson told openDemocracy: “We make no apologies for bringing cutting-edge expertise from UK academia and industry into the heart of Government.”
‘Smooth transition’
Dr Laura Gilbert left her position as the director of the UK government’s Incubator for Artificial Intelligence programme in December 2024, ending a four-year career in the heart of government.
Less than four weeks later, she was back in the Department of Science, Information and Technology – the department tasked not only with developing the regulation of AI tech in the wider economy but also with its rollout across government.
This time, though, Gilbert was not on the civil service payroll, but working for the Tony Blair Institute, a consultancy founded by the former Labour prime minister to advise governments on various policy areas – particularly tech – and the Ellison Institute of Technology, an organisation founded by US billionaire tech mogul Larry Ellison, reportedly the world’s second-richest man.
The two firms had recruited her to run their joint AI for Government project before immediately seconding her back to her old office.
Gilbert’s secondment suggests a loophole in the business appointment rules, which state that senior civil servants leaving government to work in the private sector should “not become personally involved in lobbying the UK government on behalf of your new employer and/or its clients” for two years.
But there is no rule preventing their new employers from sending them straight back to work in government, where they can directly influence policy.
Gilbert told openDemocracy she was sent back to the department “to support the smooth transition of my dedicated and talented technical AI team into DSIT… working with my (interim) replacement to hand over for a short period via a secondment from the Ellison Institute”.
The TBI said Gilbert had “agreed to help oversee the transfer of her team into DSIT”, while the Ellison Institute did not respond to a request for comment.
After four months, Gilbert left DSIT again to take up her current role as head of AI in the TBI. But openDemocracy has uncovered that her secondment is part of a broader pattern of tech firms sending staff to shape Labour’s tech policy – a pattern that began when the party was still seen as the government-in-waiting.
In 2023, the Tony Blair Institute paid for Labour’s shadow tech secretary, Peter Kyle, to travel to Brussels to attend its programme on science and tech policy. The following year, he visited the US on a trip paid for by Lord Sainsbury, a Labour donor, and consulting firm Hakluyt & Company, which has interests in AI through an investment fund. There, Kyle met with tech giants, including Ellison’s Oracle.
Kyle also benefited from tech companies seconding staff to him. During the 2024 election campaign, Faculty, a company that provides software and consultancy on AI, sent a staff member to support his work.
While Labour reported that the staffer was in Kyle’s office on one day a week for two months, it valued the arrangement – a donation-in-kind – at £36,000. Based on a standard seven or eight-hour working day, this suggests their hourly salary was around £600.
Tech consulting firm Public Digital also seconded a senior member of staff to work for Kyle before the election. Emily Middleton, the staffer in question, was later brought into DSIT as a senior civil servant on a salary of between £125,000 and £208,000 after Kyle was appointed to lead it. She had previously been seconded to Labour Together.
In October 2024, Faculty sent a mid-level staffer to Kyle’s Department of Science, Innovation and Technology on a four-month secondment. It is not clear whether this was the same person who had been seconded to Kyle’s office earlier in the year.
Faculty has grown its government business since Labour took office, including winning its two largest ever public contracts: a £6m deal with the Department for Education and another worth £4.5m with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
The government declined to answer openDemocracy’s questions on the nature of the Faculty staffer’s work, while the firm did not respond to our request for comment.
The following month, in November 2024, the Tony Blair Institute paid for its senior policy adviser, Tom Westgarth, to be installed in DSIT.
Westgarth remained in the department for 11 months, with his LinkedIn page suggesting he held significant influence over public AI policy. It says he advised the government “on delivering the AI [Opportunities] Action Plan” and provided “strategic steer across a range of AI Action Plan priorities”.
“Labour are currently doing everything they possibly can to bring predatory Big Tech into the UK economy, on Big Tech’s terms,” said Jim Killock, the executive director at Open Rights Group. “They have collapsed competition regulation, shifted data protection to favour business needs over personal data, and promised Big Tech all the help they need to establish themselves at every level of government.
“Adding in senior officials who know how to do Big Tech’s bidding is just one more sign that the UK is being asset-stripped and locked into a future of permanent rent extraction by Big Tech. There is an alternative – a strategy for digital sovereignty that prioritises UK open source. We won’t get that by asking staff from the TBI and Ellison Institute to help write UK tech policy.”
A government spokesperson said: “We make no apologies for bringing cutting-edge expertise from UK academia and industry into the heart of government. We are determined to drive momentum on policies supporting some of the most important research and technologies of the future, by drawing on Britain’s wealth of science and tech expertise, and our secondment schemes are a key part of this.
“This government is a champion for our science and technology sectors across the board – not individual companies. The usual propriety and ethics rules apply for all of our secondees.”
The TBI said: “Tom Westgarth’s secondment is public knowledge, he announced it at the time.”
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”. Starmer said it here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/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 explains that he feels no shame or guilt benefiting personally from gifts from the rich and powerful while insisting on policies of severe austerity.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (right) and then British ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson during a welcome reception at the ambassador’s residence in Washington, DC, February 27, 2025
LABOUR MP Ian Byrne got to the heart of the Mandelson crisis in the Commons on Wednesday. Namely, he made the point that it is in fact a Mandelson-McSweeney-Labour Together scandal and the measures taken by the government in the wake of the New Labour grandee’s disgrace only scratch the surface of what is needed.
Byrne told MPs that the row over Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to Washington in December 2024 “was not just a catastrophic error of judgment that has caused profound damage to this government’s reputation.
“It was the result of a clique at the top of the party, as we have seen with the Morgan McSweeney and Labour Together scandal, which I and colleagues … have called on the Prime Minister and the general secretary of the Labour Party to launch an independent investigation into.”
Socialist Campaign Group secretary Richard Burgon underlined the point, asking how Mandelson was even considered for the Washington job.
“It is because it suited the interests of a tiny faction in the Labour Party, funded by big business, which wanted Mandelson at the heart of things in order to shift a Labour government away from the agenda that a real Labour government should have.
“That is why Mandelson was popular with these people … and that is why, despite his despicable character, despite his greed and his avarice, he was put in that position.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump during a press conference at Chequers, near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, on day two of the president’s second state visit to the UK, September 18, 2025
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (right) and then British ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson during a welcome reception at the ambassador’s residence in Washington, DC, February 27, 2025