United Kingdom

cross-posted from: https://feddit.online/c/uk@feddit.online/p/1816309/last-woman-to-be-hanged-in-the-uk-pardoned-70-years-on-ruth-ellis-the-last-woman-to-be

The establishment want you to believe the problem with Farage is he didn't declare his £5m gift correctly; the Greens say the issue is big money in politics.

When Lloyds Bank suddenly terminated Canary’s business banking facility without a clear explanation, this wasn’t just some sort of bureaucratic inconvenience. It was a direct, calculated assault on press freedom, political dissent, and the very idea of a democratic public sphere.

Without a bank account, a media outlet cannot pay staff, process subscriptions, receive donations, or pay its bills. De-banking is not just closing an account — it is the power to destroy an organisation financially, to starve it of oxygen, and to silence its voice without ever having to win an argument.

The hypocrisy is astounding. When billionaire plaything Nigel Farage had his Coutts account questioned, the political and media establishment erupted in outrage. Heads rolled, inquiries were launched, and protections were promised.

Yet when socialist, anti-war, or pro-justice outlets face the same fate, there is barely a murmur in Westminster or the BBC.

Muslim communities, Palestine campaigners, and left-wing grassroots groups have been de-banked for years with little recourse or public sympathy.

The message is unambiguous: right-wing dissent is treated as a civil liberty, left-wing critique is treated as a risk to be eliminated.

Israel has faced UK sanctions before which did nothing. Dozens of cross-party MPs and peers have renewed their calls and told the Canary why

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/9997729

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A coalition of Hong Kong Watch Patrons in the UK and Canada have written to their respective governments – Dame Angela Eagle, UK Minister of State for Security, and the Honorable Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Public Safety Canada – urging them to use the INTERPOL General Assembly in Hong Kong this November to demand transparency from INTERPOL and coordinate with allied nations.

Both letters highlight troubling trends in the misuse of Red Notices, including a 26 percent rise in Red Notices in 2025 and evidence that dissidents are targeted by China-issued requests, in contravention of Article 3 of INTERPOL’s Constitution, which bars politically motivated notices.

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Both letters also point to Britain’s recent conviction of two men for spying on UK-based Hong Kong pro-democracy activists from within the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in London. These activists had already been subject to HK$1 million (£100,000) bounties, with INTERPOL offering no assurance it has not received Red Notice requests against them since their imposition in 2023.

The Canadian letter adds a local concern: the RCMP’s undisclosed policing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China’s Ministry of Public Security, and the presence of HKETOs in Toronto and Vancouver.

...

Here is the letter to the UK government (pdf) and the letter to the Canadian government (pdf).

Both letters call on their governments to:

• Press INTERPOL to publish data on rejected Red Notices by requesting state;

• Push for a clear, auditable process for screening politically motivated requests;

• Secure public assurance that Red Notices will not target recognised victims of transnational repression;

• Coordinate this ask with Five Eyes and G7 partners ahead of the General Assembly.

...

Five-million Farage has flounced out of parliament in order to pause the investigations into his alleged corruption, but other major parties are refusing to contest the resulting by-election, potentially leaving him facing Count Binface as his biggest rival. With the British public's love of the underdog and refusing to do what's expected - remember Boaty McBoatface? - I wouldn't bet against it being Count Binface MP soon.

The £5m gift to Nigel Farage by a cryptocurrency billionaire was reported to the National Crime Agency by bankers who were concerned it may have been laundered money, the Guardian can reveal.

The disclosure will put further pressure on the Reform UK leader, who is awaiting a decision by the standards commissioner over whether his failure to declare the money breached parliamentary rules.

Farage was given a deadline of 1pm on Tuesday to respond to the Guardian about this article. He gave a video address at 2pm announcing he would force a byelection in his seat of Clacton-on-Sea.

That attempt to shake off the deepening scandal over his finances appeared to have backfired on Tuesday night as the Conservatives, Labour, Restore Britain and the Lib Dems all announced that they would not stand candidates in a contest described as a “media circus” and “vanity project”.

This is what you get when you cater to the far right. Meaningless cruelty.

Trying to boast big numbers and seem tough on crime without looking at things on a case-by-case basis. Echoes of US fascism.

Ankara and Downing Street are not expected to release the text of the document, underscoring the sensitivity of its provisions, the sources said.

Turkey and the UK signed a Strategic Partnership Framework in April aimed at “strengthening dialogue and cooperation between the two countries as NATO allies and strategic partners”.

Relations between Turkey and the UK have strengthened following Ankara’s decision last July to purchase Eurofighter Typhoon jets in a multibillion-dollar deal.

A year and a day ago, octogenarian priest Sue Parfitt told Novara Media, “we cannot be bystanders”. Moments later, she became one of the first people in the country to be arrested under a draconian new law that many didn’t believe could be enforced.

Parfitt had, of course, defied the proscription of direct action group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, after a ban came into effect at 00.01 the night before.

Onlookers, who surrounded the group and chanted “free, free Palestine”, said they were shocked to see her and 28 other mostly elderly protesters bundled into police vans simply for holding up paper signs. Parfitt said she hoped “common sense would prevail” and that the new law would be immediately overturned.