Sunday 18 October

Journalist and author Sarah Helm has remained defiant after pro-Israel groups urged the Metropolitan Police to investigate her over a post on X backing Sally Rooney. She will face no charges, which is as it should be, but there appear to be different standards for the wife of national security advisor and a pensioner holding up a placard.

Sarah Helm is speaking absolute common sense and should be commended for her bravery. In a week when the Labour government’s ludicrous and authoritarian proscription of Palestine Action has led to the banning of one of the most influential authors from our bookshelves and pensioners continue to be arrested for opposing a genocide, it is obvious to everyone apart from this Labour government that Palestine Action must be de-proscribed immediately.

Zack Polanski

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has said that government was “looking at” whether the ban on Palestine Action was politically sensible, arguing that the government had not intended the proscription to lead to mass arrests.

I don’t think anyone’s intent was to have those people criminalised, but obviously the Supreme Court has got to look at this issue, and obviously it’s something we keep looking at as government.

The overwhelming consensus of the world’s roughly 500 genocide scholars and leading human rights groups is that the Netanyahu government is committing genocide. Yet all US Senators except Bernie Sanders refuse to use the word.   Chris Van Hollen, John Ossoff, Ed Markey, Elizabeth Warren, Elise Slotkin and every other Senate Democrat refuse to use it. It gets worse. 

Not a single one of the 50 US governors uses the word. That includes potential Democratic presidential candidates Gavin Newsom (California), JB Pritzker (Illinois), and Wes Moore(Maryland). One potential major presidential candidate, Congressman Ro Khanna, uses the word. Via Steven Donziger

Monday 19 October

Anthropic has proposed regulations the tech giant would be willing to accept in the name of public safety. It would only allow the government block the release or use of a new AI model “if it poses a foreseeable, imminent risk of more than $1 billion in damages, or of killing or seriously injuring more than 50 people. The risk must stem from the creation or release of a biological weapon, the model evading its developer’s controls or a cyberattack.”

We also learn from this proposed legislation that Anthropic places a monetary value on 50 human lives equivalent to one billion US dollars, or twenty million dollars per individual. Under Anthropic’s valuing system, the lives of your children are each worth less than a McLaren F1 sports car.

Caitlin Johnstone

New research by the Fabian Society has found that Britain’s reliance on supply chains linked to serious labour exploitation and environmental harm costs 10 times more than preventing it.

A clearer duty to prevent harm, backed by proper enforcement, would give responsible businesses greater certainty, protect workers and the environment, and reduce the larger costs created when harm is allowed to happen.

Marcus Johns, Fabian Society senior researcher

The far right might stop their vile attacks on the RNLI for rescuing migrants in small boats. I’ve said many times that the RNLI will rescue anyone whose life is in danger at sea, including Tommy Robinson, and I have proof. Stephen Yaxley-Lennon has been rescued from the sea by the RNLI after falling from a boat & getting into difficulty.

Trump has been ordered to put up or shut up by a Florida judge in his lawsuit against the BBC. He’s refusing to sit for a deposition stating why he should be awarded $10 billion for reputational damage due to their reporting about January 6.

As of today the Canary will be closed indefinitely. Multiple attacks, from Lloyds debanking them to former employees spreading malicious lies on social media, have made the situation unsustainable, both financially and operationally. However, it is not over. “We may be down, but we’re not out yet.”

Tuesday 20 October

Andy Burnham has officially rejected Jeremy Corbyn’s call for a Chilcot-style inquiry into “British complicity” in Gaza, which would look at any UK military, economic or political cooperation with Israel since October 2023.

The government has officially blocked my call for a public inquiry into Britain’s role in Gaza. Delaying scrutiny will not make questions about British complicity in genocide disappear – and we will never give up until we have brought about justice for the Palestinian people.

Jeremy Corbyn

Saturday 24 October

An AI data centre in New Jersey spilled out thousands of gallons of diesel fuel into a nearby creek and river tributary.

Monday 26 October

Storm Boels’s heavy rain and winds did not deter anti-war campaigners from protesting outside a US spy base in Yorkshire over the weekend and demanding its closure. RAF Menwith Hill is “one of the most strategically significant US overseas bases and is at the heart of making the world more dangerous,” according to the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). Via Morning Star Online

Good news for the Brazilian Amazon: Lula, the incumbent Brazilian president, has won a historic fourth term in office, securing 51.79% of the vote against far-right candidate Flávio Bolsonaro’s 48.21% – despite efforts by Trump and Meta to swing  in favour of Bolsonaro. Already Flávio appears to be following the Bolsonaro family tradition of refusing to recognise elections they don’t win, calling for the result to be annulled. Via openDemocracy

Tuesday 27 October

The youngest House of Lords peer, Baroness (Carmen) Smith of Llanfaes, is proposing a new bill to overhaul the second chamber – and abolish her own role. Via Byline Times

Wednesday 28 October

Exit polls in the Israeli election leave no clear winner with the highest voter turnout in 25 years. This leaves Arab-Israeli parties holding the balance of power, and Netenyahu has previously ruled out working with them. Meanwhile Flavio Bolsonaro, having failed to persuade the Brazilian Supreme Court to overturn the result of the presidential elections, has fled to the USA. He claimed the election was rigged in Lula’s favour, having attempted unsuccessfully to rig it in his own favour.

SNP MP Lara Bird, Labour MP Clive Lewis and Scottish Greens MSP Kate Nevens were detained by Israeli authorities for eight hours while trying to enter the West Bank on Monday before being questioned and eventually turned away. Via BBC

Thursday 29 October

WIN 🚨 | Trade unions have campaigned to tax banks to bring down energy bills – and today the government have done it. More still needs to be done to tax wealth fairly, but today’s announcement is a great start.

TUC

Patrick Stewart has passed away at the age of 86 RIP

Friday 30 October

An international coalition of dockworkers unions are striking together today — a coordinated strike across 111 ports, 22 countries, and 5 continents — to disrupt the flow of weapons to Israel.

Saturday 31 October

The Met Police are not only arresting protesters holding up placards in support of Palestine Action, in fact they’re arresting people before a single placard has been displayed, they’re also threatening to arrest anyone offering ‘logistical support’ such as transport or handing out bottles of water. If told to leave the area or face arrest I’ld choose the latter option. Police know that the protesters expect to be arrested, which is why they’re mostly pensioners for whom there are fewer long term consequences, but they complain that it diverts resources from other policing operations. That’s a matter of operational priorities, and the Met continue to make the wrong decisions!

Met issues update ahead of planned Defend Our Juries activity this weekend https://news.met.police.uk/news/met-issues-update-ahead-of-planned-defend-our-juries-activity-this-weekend-514526

Police can’t explain what counts as criminal behaviour because they’re making it up as they go along. They’re making up secret laws, threatening you with arrest if you break them, and refusing to tell you what those laws are, or what you can do to stay within them! This is textbook fascism.

Ricky, Council Estate Media

I Oppose Genocide

I Support Palestine Action

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