John O'Rourke

[Stop The Game @StopTheGameEire]

The israeli Ministry of Defence, literally calling for a terrorist attack in Ireland against the Irish, last night.

These people are not normal. They are terrorists.

#StopTheGame

[Daniel Lambert @dlLambo]

An Irish hero - full solidarity

[Harry Scoffin @HarryScoffin]

But they won’t own the home if it’s another leasehold flat, living under a freeholder landlord monetising service charges.

Ending the leasehold scam was in Labour’s manifesto. This wasn’t. It will protect developers’ superprofits and spread toxic new-builds.

[Harry Scoffin @HarryScoffin]

@andyburnham But they won’t own the home if it’s another leasehold flat, living under a freeholder landlord monetising service charges.

Ending the leasehold scam was in Labour’s manifesto. This wasn’t. It will protect developers’ superprofits and spread toxic new-builds.

[Paul Holden @pauleholden]

This video is very important and has much broader national relevance than it might first seem. This is for two reasons.

First, it is the first time we've had Sagal Abdi-Wali give a recorded answer to (justified) criticism that she did not speak out on Gaza while leader of Camden Council (or as a Cabinet member).

Second, and more importantly, she is giving a perfect illustration of a playbook being pushed by pro-Israel groups like the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Use this video as a lesson to arm yourself against these tactics in your own communities.

To be clear: the Board of Deputies has routinely defended Israel during the genocide and has been assiduous in trying to stigmatise protest against Israel to further protect the country as it commits war crimes. It has treated its own Deputies with disdain when they've crossed a line, suspending swathes of them when they signed a letter in the Financial Times criticising how Israel has conducted itself in Gaza.

Take a look at the Board of Deputies "Manifesto for Local Government" that was published in 2026 ahead of the May local elections.

It asks local governments and candidates to consider six pledges. Two of them are plainly about Israel if read in the proper context: "avoid importing conflict" and "promote community cohesion."

The first pledge tells councils not to take "polarising decisions" like passing motions calling for divestment of local pension funds (presumably from companies complicit in genocide); to not "take a side", just like Ed Sheeran. It tells them to "export peace" not "import conflict" - when it is clear that our government is literally exporting conflict by approving arms sales to Israel, and Councils are investing our Council taxes in the companies that profit from those weapons sales.

Guess what Camden did under Labour and with Sagal as a senior Cabinet member? Drag their heels and obfuscate on divestment, and then rewrite City Hall rules to ban protest in the Council Chamber.

As a result, and as I revealed this week, the value of Camden Pension Fund's investments in companies complicit in genocide have skyrocketed since October 2023: the value of shares held by Camden in Palantir have risen over 1200%.

The actual chapter on community cohesion is inoffensive enough... but then you go back and read the section on "importing conflict", where it explains that "community cohesion depends on local differences not being inflamed by international events."

This is the framework Abdi-Wali is mobilising to run cover for herself and to deflect from her silence and compliance in the face of genocide.

Anger and protest at genocide is subtly recoded as "division"; accountability is "pointing" at people unfairly. Putting her on the spot and demanding answers, in other words, threatens "community cohesion."

And so she wants to focus on the future, not the past.

Why?

Because if we scrutinise her actual record, not just submit to vibes, we will see that she and many of her fellow Labour councillors did everything they could to shut down and thwart local demands to end complicity in genocide.

Oh, and the only community hustings she has done?

The one organised by the Board of Deputies.

[Daniel Finn @DanFinn95]

Bizarre nonsense in the Irish Times article on Netanyahu's speech at the UN—the idea that Hasan Piker "has made virulently anti-Semitic remarks" was invented wholesale by a clique of Democrats who ardently support Netanyahu's genocidal regime. It has no place in a news report.

[Paul Holden @pauleholden]

Strong whiff of the Starmer method here.

Sagal she will push for Thames Water to be put into public hands and then refuses questions as to why the Labour government has not already done so, or give an indication as to whether this will actually happen under Burnham.

CNJ is rigorously (sometimes infuriatingly!) fair and even-handed, so this tone is striking.

https://t.co/in4y5MMiyM

[Declassified UK @declassifiedUK]

👉 NEW — Declassified journalists banned from Labour conference - again

By @martinrw

Labour MPs have condemned the ‘Trump-like’ decision, saying party is ‘bang out of order’

https://t.co/VcMw3XFQz2

[Macklemore @macklemore]

What happened to me is bigger than one artist or one stage. When the billionaire class can decide which voices are allowed on stage and which ones are too dangerous to hear, everyone should be paying attention.

So we're going on tour. All proceeds will benefit organizations supporting the Palestinian people and movement.

Sign up at https://t.co/2na35y8pQ5

[Dan Bruce @dannybster]

How out of touch can one be?

Just up York Way, a family-run chippy that served the community for decades is gone. Over 700 people fought to save it, but Labour-run Camden approved its conversion into a flat.

It was one of the last affordable places to eat this side of Camden.

[SHAC @SHAC_Action]

SHAC Article - Standing With Survivors:

SHAC Joins Grenfell United Demand That @BarnetHomes Sacks Laura Johnson

@BarnetCouncil shares responsibility for this wholly owned council company too.

https://t.co/0nVMlatfia

[Farrukh @implausibleblog]

BBC News report that despite there being 15 candidates for the Holborn & St Pancras by-election, it's really between Labour and The Greens.

My view: I want Zack Polanski to win the Holborn & St Pancras by-election. It was Keir Starmer’s seat, yet after using it as a stepping stone to the premiership, he has now abandoned it—despite previously saying he would not stand down.

A Polanski win would offer a clear alternative: a stronger voice on housing, the cost of living, climate action, public services and inequality, and one prepared to hold this Labour government to account when it fails its own supporters.

That matters because governments are at their weakest when they assume their core voters have nowhere else to go. A strong Green result would be a warning that Labour cannot take progressive voters for granted, water down its promises, or drift from the action needed on living standards, public services and the climate.

[Andrew Feinstein @andrewfeinstein]

While Camden residents were asking our Council to divest from companies complicit in genocide, the Council massively increased its investment in the most awful of them all, Palantir. We don’t want our money used for genocide.
#KickLabourOut
#VoteGreeninHStP

[The Ditch @wereontheditch]

🚨Israel’s war bonds forced out of EU

After a sustained popular movement first drove Israeli war bonds from Ireland, the bonds’ issuer had to go to Luxembourg. They were met with similar public oppositions there – which ultimately led to Luxembourg cutting ties.

Today Central Bank of Ireland governor Gabriel Makhlouf finally confirmed the bank hasn’t received a prospectus for an attempted renewal in Ireland.

Ireland Palestine Solidarity campaign chair Zoë Lawlor said:

“Together we have kicked Israel Bonds out of the EU! This is an historic victory and we salute all involved, especially the IPSC activists who have dedicated so much to this huge win. The campaign to end the complicity of state institutions in enabling Israel to raise funds for genocide, apartheid and atrocity crimes against the Palestinian people is helping to finally end Israel’s impunity. There can be no business-as-usual for the genocidal apartheid state of Israel.”

The Ditch first reported on the war bonds in late 2024

https://t.co/oDPUbdHO38

[Andrew Feinstein @andrewfeinstein]

The Labour government is not actually doing anything different about the genocide & their support for it. They’ve just changed the PR. Arms flows continue, supply flights continue. Don’t be fooled. The UK remains complicit in genocide in Gaza & will continue to provide weapons for Saudi’s resumption of war crimes in Yemen.

[Saul Staniforth @SaulStaniforth]

In his report from Holborn & St Pancras Nick Eardley spoke to several voters. This is what they said.

[Dan Bruce @dannybster]

Camden deserves better than another absent MP!

[Paul Holden @pauleholden]

If you live in Camden your Council tax is funding Palantir - and the Labour Council, now headed by Labour's by-election candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali, has allowed it to happen.

But they've not just allowed it to happen - over the last three years Camden Council's Pension Fund has massively INCREASED the value of its investments in Palantir.

Palantir, founded by billionaire tech oligarchs, is closely linked to the Israeli military. It is also alleged to be central to efforts by the US' ICE to terrorise immigrant communities in the US.

Here's how Camden has poured Council tax into Palantir.

In January 2025 thousands of Camden residents told Camden Council that they didn't want their council tax supporting companies complicit in Israeli war crimes and occupation. They delivered a petition of 4000 signatures to the Council demanding a debate on divestment.

The Labour Council responded by cracking down on protest.

But now we know that's not all they did - in the teeth of local outrage, Camden's INCREASED its investments in Palantir.

As I've revealed in DeClassified today (link below) based on new Freedom of Information requests given to the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, the value of Camden's shareholding in Palantir increased over 1200% between October 2023 and December 2025: from £270k in 2023 to an astonishing £3.65m today.

That's not all. The new disclosures show that the value of Camden's shareholding in companies complicit in Israel's occupation of Palestine has also increased - growing by £28m over the same period.

What did Camden Labour do when ordinary residents made their demands known?

Aside from banning protests in the Chamber, they voted to refer it to the Pension Committee, dominated by Labour councillors. That Committee spent close to a year getting an external company to audit the pension fund's holdings - as if you need an outside company to search a spreadsheet for Palantir.

While the Labour Group dithered and delayed, new rules were being put in place by the national Labour government to thwart divestment campaigns - explicitly to stop divestment from Israel.

And now? Camden Council have told me the new rules means that cannot control what they invest in.

So Camden residents must just accept that their money goes to fund and support war crimes and gross human rights abuses - and they can do nothing to stop it.

[Dan Bruce @dannybster]

Nobody should have to fight this hard for a safe home, let alone representation from their constituency MP!

[Paul Holden @pauleholden]

Camden Council's Local Government Pension fund has poured Council Tax money into Palantir between October 2023 and December 2025, massively increasing the value of its shareholdings in a company linked to the Israeli military and the reign of terror inflicted on immigrant communities by ICE in the US.

This increase came after thousands of local constituents sent petitions and deputations to the Labour-run Council to ask they divest from companies complicit in Israel's occupations and wars in Palestine.

What did Camden Labour do?

They kicked the issue into long grass, taking close to a year to get an external company to 'audit' their holdings - all while Camden's investment in Palantir and other complicit companies were skyrocketing.

By the time they presented their audit, plans were already afoot from the Starmer government to pass new laws that will thwart divestment campaigns throughout the country - to protect Israel. That story is coming soon.

The only meaningful action Camden's Labour Group took was to literally rewrite the Council's constitution to ban public protest in the Chamber. The public is now forbidden from even holding up signs, silently, in the public gallery during Council meetings.

This is what the Starmerite faction locally and nationally have done: they took away our power to choose where we invest our money, and they cracked down on protest.

What did the Greens do?

The sole Green on Labour Council, Lorna Russell, tried repeatedly to get motions heard on divestment, but could not get a single other councillor to second the motions. When a petition from 4000 residents finally forced a debate, she was the only Councillor to speak on the floor for immediate divestment.

Read more about this depressing story in my exclusive for DeClassified below.