Monday 27 April

Trump just fired all 24 members of the National Science Board – the independent body that oversees the National Science Foundation which distributes $9 billion in research grants every year – by email, with warning and no reason given. Its members are scientists and engineers from universities and industry, who serve six-year staggered terms specifically so they cross presidential administrations and stay independent of whoever is in power.

Dozens of experienced British public officials including the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and NHS’s AI chiefs have joined the controversial US tech firm Palantir since they left their government positions. Reporters also found that since 2021, Palantir has hired or contracted two former government ministers, a former MI6 chief, as well as other intelligence officials, a chief adviser to the prime minister and two generals. Four members of the House of Lords have also been on Palantir’s payroll, Tom Watson and John Woodcock have both offered their expertise.

Tuesday 28 April

The US Protocol Office has raised the Australian flag for King Charles state visit. A referendum to make Australia a republic was conducted after I left so he is still King of Australia as well as the United Kingdom. I doubt this was a mistake, more a petty insult to Cur Starmer who should never have allowed the state visit to take place.

It appears that Israel has now extended its right to defend itself against Palestinian ‘terrorists’ not yet born to those already dead! They’re bulldozing cemeteries because there are too many to drive a stake through each ones heart.

Wednesday 29 April

Cur Starmer is in hot water as back-bench MPs refuse to be whipped into opposing a Tory motion urging that his repeated claims that “full due process” was followed over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington should be scrutinised by the Commons privileges committee.

The 15 month in Birmingham bin strike has finally ended in victory for the workers, thanks to solidarity across the trade union movement ✊

Thousands of workers from right across the country, teachers and nurses, shopworkers and firefighters, postal workers and civil servants, joined them on their picket lines. People came from as far afield as Glasgow, Swansea and Cornwall to stand alongside the bin workers and repeatedly close the depots down.

Morning Star

For a third time over the last week the Met police have made arrests outside Woolwich Crown Court of people holding signs stating: “Jurors have an absolute right to acquit according to their conscience”. Five of the six defence barristers in Filton 6 trial walked out after a judicial ruling that left them with nothing to say in closing arguments, defendants will now be giving their own closing speeches.

The Speaker has supported a call by John McDonnell MP for an inquiry into Labour Together and APCO Worldwide. John, as a member of the National Union of Journalists working group, has been steadfast in calling out APCO’s despicable investigation into many journalists.

Thursday 30 April

Palestine Action activist Amu Gibi is standing in local elections in the north London borough of Islington, running their campaign from a cell in HMP Bronzefield where they are being held on remand

Saturday 2 May

The government and police are not the only ones to brand the Golders Green attack as antisemitic, the Morning Star editorial does so too and, for that reason, I didn’t share the article as I usually do. Morning Star did acknowledge that the attacker suffered from mental health issues and had recently been released from detention after previously attacks which included a police dog and its handler, but failed to mention that he also another person that day, who happened to be Muslim. Nobody seems to draw that the reason he attacked two Jews wasn’t because they were Jewish, which would be antisemitic, but because he violently insane! Nevertheless, Mark Rowley is lying through his teeth when he says that police didn’t use exercise force, we’ve all seen the video. Cur Starmer is weaponising the incident to justify further restrictions on protests, and Rowley is happy to go along with it – even writing an open letter criticising Zack Polanski for retweeting a tweet about the issue.

The Metropolitan police will not open an investigation into 10 British nationals accused of war crimes while fighting with the IDF in Gaza. Meanwhile, over 3,000 people face action under terrorism laws for holding placards opposing genocide. Not surprising when senior MPS officers, including Rowley and his last two immediate predecessors, have attended meetings and received hospitality from Israeli officials.

Seven member states will submit a formal request to the European Union to terminate the partnership agreement with Israel.

Sunday 3 May

Over 100 law professors, and 1,000 others, have submitted an open letter to the Court of Appeal in support of Palestine Action, as the court began hearing a government appeal to keep the group banned. The later consisted of only seven words: “We oppose genocide, we support Palestine Action.”

Monday 4 May

The London Underground is only accepting posters advertising Kneecap’s new album with with the words ‘Fenian’ and ‘Kier Starmer’ blanked out.

A newly married Irish couple took all the guests at their wedding to a march for Palestine. Erin go bragh ✊

Tuesday 5 May

If you need a reason to vote Green, or any party but Reform, consider Reform’s threat to prioritise Green constituencies and Green-controlled councils to locate immigration detention centres.

Trump has declared skilled Canadian workers ‘replaceable’, but they’re not. Several major projects will be cancelled, not delayed, if Canadians walk away leaving Americans they’ve trained to carry on the work

Wednesday 6 May

Andy Burnham has been diagnosed with Starmeroids, with Achehurts complications, for sharing a platform with Green politicians and campaigners at an event designed to show how progressives can work across party barriers.

Thursday 7 May

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley has been reported to the London Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime for falsely claiming that organisers of marches against the genocide in Gaza sought routes which went past synagogues.

Spain has awarded the Order of Civil Merit to Francesca Albanese, “a voice that upholds the conscience of the world”.

Friday 8 May

The Filton6 retrial judge who:

• Removed all defences
• Threatened defendants with contempt if they mention Israel, etc
• Lied to jurors about their rights
• Is to elevate sentences to include a “terrorist connection” (kept hidden from jury)

Receives a promotion… (via Defend Our Juries)

The tariffs that Trump imposed because the last lot were ruled unconstitutional have just been ruled unconstitutional!

After sustained direct action, HSBC has now ended all of its investments in Israel’s Elbit Systems. ✊

A letter has been sent to The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) by Hodge Jones & Allen Solicitors LLP, the first paragraph of which reads as follows:

1. On behalf of the Palestine Coalition1 (“our Client”), please treat this letter as a formal complaint against the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Mark Rowley, in relation to two media interviews that he gave on Friday 1 May 2026, concerning marches organised by our Client.

Zoë Garbett has been elected Mayor of Hackney, the first ever Green mayor to be elected ✊

Happy 100th birthday to Sir David Attenborough.

Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan has lost her seat.

Clive Lewis has an idealistic plan to pull Labour’s irons out of the fire and prevent reform coming to power: “I want to set out how genuine cooperation between Labour, the Greens and the Liberal Democrats, however imperfect, could stop the most reactionary government in a generation from taking power in 2029.” That might happen if Clive were leader of the party but he’s not. He’s arguably the best person they could elect, but his chances are 0%.

Ian Dunt’s summary of election results so far: “Reform is leading, the Greens are doing well, the Lib Dems are chugging along, the two main parties are bleeding out, and people want change.”

A prominent British-Palestinian activist, Professor Kamal Hawwash, has won a seat in the Birmingham City council elections as a candidate for the Green Party.

The Labour leader of Cur Starmer’s local council, Camden, was worried about losing his previous seat to the Lib Dem’s. He left it to stand in what he thought was a safer seat, only for the entire ward he stood in to be won by the Greens!

Alan Mendoza, president of the UK branch of the Jewish National Fund (JNF), an organisation involved in the displacement of Palestinians, has failed to be re-elected as a councillor for Reform UK.

In 2023, the Labour Party blocked Jamie Driscoll standing the Labour candidate for North of Tyne mayor. Today he won one of 78 Newcastle Council seats for the Greens. So far 61 have been called and the Labour Party have not won one of them.

Greens have won control of Waltham Forest council going from 0-32 seats, all won from Labour.

Saturday 9 May

Green members were elected to the Senedd for the first time, with Anthony Slaughter and Paul Rock being elected in Cardiff, and first two Green Mayors were elected – Zoë Garbett in Hackney and Liam Shrivastava in Lewisham.

Greens topped 1000 total councillors for the first time ever – 1,1186 as of 7pm on Friday. There are three new Majority Green Councils:

• Waltham Forest (winning 31 seats from none)
• Norwich (from 11 seats to 21)
• Hastings (doubling their number of 9 seats to 18 total – and winning 6 county council divisions at the same time)

Greens also made huge gains in several other local elections.

Labour is being squeezed from both sides, losing seats to Reform while losing votes to the Greens. Reform has taken control of four new councils so far: Essex, Havering Newcastle-under-Lyme and Suffolk.

Reform UK candidate Daniel Devaney, who was elected in Bradford with the highest number of votes, has already resigned saying he doesn’t want to be a councillor.

Your Party is reportedly “intensely frustrated” that Newham Independents came second in the Newham mayoral election, where they had recently done well, and blame the Greens for splitting the vote, allowing Labour to win. Greens came third and could argue that they might have won if Newham Independents had stepped down. This is what happens under FPTP.

French prosecutors are seeking charges against Elon Musk and his social media platform X over allegations involving child sexual abuse imagery, sexually explicit deepfakes, unlawful data collection, Holocaust denial content, and other issues tied to the platform’s AI chatbot, Grok.

Some good news: Shabak Israeli intelligence agency informed Adalah’s legal team that Global Sumud Flotilla activists and leaders Thiago Ávila and Saif Abukeshek would be released from Israeli detention today. Adalah is closely monitoring development to make sure that the release from detention, followed by their deportation, goes ahead.