United Kingdom

Bob Vylan, the London punk-rap duo whose members go by Bobby Vylan and Bobbie Vylan, were at the center of controversy last summer after leading a "Death to the IDF!" chant at the UK's premier music festival, Glastonbury, in protest of Israel's genocidal war crimes in Palestine. At the time, the BBC, which livestreamed the festival, described the chant as "deeply offensive" and refused to make Bob Vylan's set viewable on demand.

The BBC have attempted to silence those that oppose the heinous crimes taking place in Palestine, instead labelling them as anti-semitic, editing their speeches, removing their content and even blocking the release of documentaries that challenge the desired narrative of The BBC and its top brass.

These responses are unacceptable. So seeing the opportunity to remind them the power of the people that they are attempting to silence, we had no choice but to take on this fight. In fact, we take great pleasure in serving them that reminder in court.

Free Palestine and Justice for the Filton 25.

After seven hours of jury deliberation, this was the second acquittal of Just Stop Oil supporters in relation to the Waterloo Bridge action.

Party had justified plan to hang flags in Nottinghamshire on basis that local businesses would foot £75,000 bill

Student union says investment policy change makes it 'easier to profit from companies connected to armed conflict'

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/onion/p/1237548/uk-extreme-heat-conference-canceled-by-extreme-heat

We regret that our event on Extreme Heat: Improving governance and strengthening action around the world has been cancelled due to the red extreme heat warning issued by the UK Met Office.

Our apologies to everyone who was planning to attend the event.

Sources:

• Bluesky;
• Event Home Page.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has announced she and her department are leaving Elon Musk's X platform.

Explaining her decision in what seemingly will be her last post on X, Nandy said the platform "isn't healthy for our democracy or our communities and I don't want to support it".

"A platform originally designed for free speech and expression now favours abuse and misinformation over meaningful debate," she wrote.

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The culture department becomes the second government department to stop using X after the attorney general's office, while several MPs also left the platform earlier this year over reports its AI tool was being used to create sexualised images.

Nandy said she would continue to use Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

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Attorney General Lord Hermer defended his decision to ban his office from posting on X last month, telling MPs it "constantly descends to racism and misogyny" and that his department "can do better".

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Chief prosecutor looks smug and proud that 2,450 people have been arrested as terrorists, many of which are pensioners. This is the epitome of the banality of evil.

• New ECFR [European Council on Foreign Relations] polling shows British voters see Brexit as a disaster. They are strikingly open to reintegration with the EU. Three quarters want a closer relationship.
• They see that as key to improvements on the economy, security and migration. Old red lines are falling away, with a majority open to freedom of movement and even a European nuclear deterrent.
• Brits much prefer EU states and even the EU itself over the US, sentiments that are reciprocated within the union.
• Leaving the 2016 politics of “leavers” and “remainers” far behind, they are now split into “Optimists” (for confident reintegration), “Realists” (for negotiated closer relations) and “Loners” (for continued distance).
• Politicians must build a broad consensus on UK-EU relations reflecting the Britain of 2026 rather than that of 2016.

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The Brexit divide may have represented an earthquake in British politics a decade ago, and even a useful category in the 2017 and 2019 general elections, but with each passing year it is becoming less relevant as new experiences and debates reconfigure an electorate that is itself evolving over time. Talk of “leavers” and “remainers” is on the way to resembling that of Roundheads and Cavaliers in the English Civil War, or of supporters and opponents of the 19th-century Corn Laws; the relic of a long-past historical clash rather than a guide to future political behaviour.

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British voters of all political hues have left the old leaver-remainer rift behind. They may well be divided on many other things, as the country’s party-political fragmentation suggests, but on the future of UK-EU relations there is a lot of common ground. Therein lies a chance to leave the old polarisation of the 2016 era behind. The referendum ten years ago sometimes seemed to turn colleagues, families, even places against themselves and each other (the BBC’s flagship documentary on the anniversary is called “Brexit: A Very British Civil War”). Today’s picture is actually more promising: more pro-European, yes, but also a more nuanced patchwork of opinion with a lot of common ground concerning the threats facing the country.

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Web Archive link

Activists warn that museum may have breached code of ethics following false claims about its removal of 'Palestine' from exhibits

David Anderson, a former UK independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, has warned that unless the bill is amended it could accidentally pull journalists working in danger-zone countries into prosecutions for terrorism.

The new anti-terror powers are designed to allow the UK government to label state-backed groups as terrorist organisations, enabling them to ban groups such as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

The legal change, which is expected to complete its final parliamentary stages this week, would also create new criminal offences for people who “support, assist and obtain material benefits” from groups formally listed as state-supported threats.

However, there are concerns that the national security (state threats) bill would in practice go beyond its main aim of targeting proxies, and could end up penalising foreign correspondents as well.