Helene Knight

Starmer and Hermer Built the Machine Together. Now They Run the Country. In 2007, two barristers worked without pay on a case that would change the legal landscape for every British soldier who had served in Iraq. Keir Starmer and Richard Hermer appeared as interveners in Al-Skeini v Secretary of State for Defence, representing eleven human rights organisations including Amnesty International and Liberty. Their argument was that the European Convention on Human Rights should apply to British forces operating overseas. They lost in the Court of Appeal. They appealed to the House of Lords. They lost again. But the legal principle they had argued for eventually prevailed at the European Court of Human Rights, and what followed was the Iraq Historic Allegations Team, sixty million pounds of public money, seven years of investigations, and not a single prosecution. The soldiers it pursued were, in almost every case, found to have acted properly. Starmer believed in it enough to do it for free. Johnny Mercer, who spent years dismantling the consequences, put it plainly. Starmer had insisted on doing it for free. That is not the behaviour of a barrister following the cab rank rule. That is ideological conviction. Hermer's conviction, it subsequently emerged, was not without financial reward once the machinery was running. Documents obtained by the Daily Telegraph show that having helped establish the legal architecture pro bono in 2007, Hermer then used that same architecture to pursue Iraqi claims against British soldiers at £450 an hour, fifty percent higher than the only other KC involved in the group action. He set his success fee at the maximum level permitted, one hundred percent of his normal rate. The MoD's own lawyers challenged his fees as excessive and said he was too junior to command that rate. He is thought to have earned around six figures from the broader group action. The claims he was pursuing were eventually ruled to be deliberate lies. The soldiers were fully exonerated. Sergeant Richie Catterall had been cleared of wrongdoing by the British Army in 2003 for a fatal shooting in Basra. The Army found he had acted in self-defence. The legal precedent Starmer and Hermer established triggered two further investigations spanning thirteen years. A 2016 inquiry again concluded he had acted in self-defence and found a false document had been created to shift blame onto the military. Catterall was finally exonerated. He told the Telegraph he was gutted that Starmer had helped bring the case against him and that the Prime Minister owed him an apology. Starmer is now Prime Minister. Hermer is now Attorney General, appointed by Starmer personally, elevated to the House of Lords specifically for the role, chosen over Emily Thornberry who had held the shadow brief. The former head of the Army, General Sir Peter Wall, has said Hermer's role in the Al-Sweady claims was tantamount to treason. A former commanding officer of 22 SAS said Hermer must step down. The Bar Standards Board has been asked to investigate. Nigel Farage has reported Hermer to the House of Lords standards commissioner. The Troubles Bill that is now subjecting Northern Ireland veterans to the same lawfare is not an accident of policy. The process that drove Fred, a special forces veteran, to attempt suicide after his medical records were handed to terrorists' families was not an oversight. The machine that cost sixty million pounds and produced no prosecutions was not a mistake. Starmer and Hermer built it together, one working for free out of conviction, the other later working for maximum fees out of the same conviction, and now both occupy the positions from which they can ensure the machine keeps running.

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@kevinbonavia I have a young girl in need in Stevenage that has a young baby that has been made homeless and @NorthHertsDC have washed their hands of them. Social services have her a place at Hitchin mother and baby unit but she can’t go there immediately. I paid to put her in a hotel last night so that her and her baby were not walking the streets. The baby is on child protection plan and is under social services. Stevenage social services are and have been beyond negligent along with North Hertfordshire council. She’s a vulnerable young girl with a young child and has been quite literally left on the streets. I have gone above and beyond for them since she was released from prison in December but I’m at a loss. Can you please help. She is all out of options. Please also share this, I need to get this girl the help she needs.

❗💥KRANKENSCHWESTER IN DEUTSCHLAND SENDET BOTSCHAFT AN DIE WELT💥❗ (Ein offener Brief– ein Augenöffner 👀) Aktuelle Zustände in Münchener Krankenhaus ' 👇👇👇👇👇 Gestern hatten wir im Krankenhaus eine Besprechung darüber,wie unhaltbar die Situation hier und in den anderen Münchner Krankenhäusern ist. Die Kliniken können die Zahl der medizinischen Notfälle von Migranten nicht bewältigen und beginnen daher, alles an die Hauptkrankenhäuser zu schicken. Viele Muslime lehnen die Behandlung durch weibliches Personal ab, und wir Frauen weigern uns nun, uns unter diese Migranten zu mischen. Die Beziehungen zwischen dem Personal u.den Migranten werden immer schlimmer. Seit dem letzten Wochenende müssen Migranten, die in die Krankenhäuser gehen, von der Polizei mit Spürhunden begleitet werden. *Viele Migranten haben ADS, Syphilis, offene Tuberkulose und viele exotische Krankheiten, die wir in Europa nicht zu behandeln wissen.* Wenn sie in der Apotheke ein Rezept bekommen und erfahren, dass sie bar bezahlen müssen, führt das zu unglaublichen Ausbrüchen, besonders wenn es um Medikamente für Kinder geht. *Sie überlassen die Kinder dem Apothekenpersonal mit den Worten: Also heilt sie selbst.* Die Polizei bewacht also nicht nur Kliniken und Krankenhäuser, sondern auch die großen Apotheken. *Wir fragen offen, wo all diejenigen sind, die die Migranten vor laufenden Fernsehkameras mit Schildern an Bahnhöfen begrüßt haben? Ja, vorerst ist die Grenze geschlossen, aber eine Million von ihnen sind bereits hier und wir werden sie bestimmt nicht los.* Bisher betrug die Zahl der Arbeitslosen in Deutschland 2,2 Millionen. Jetzt werden es mindestens 3,5 Millionen sein. *Die meisten dieser Menschen sind völlig arbeitslos.* Nur ein Minimum von ihnen hat eine Ausbildung. *Außerdem arbeiten ihre Frauen normalerweise überhaupt nicht.* Ich schätze, dass eine von zehn schwanger ist. *Hunderttausende von ihnen haben Säuglinge und Kleinkinder unter sechs Jahren mitgebracht, viele abgemagert und sehr bedürftig.* Wenn das so weitergeht und Deutschland seine Grenzen wieder öffnet, gehe ich nach Hause in die Tschechische Republik.Niemand kann mich in dieser Situation hier halten, nicht einmal für das Doppelte des Gehalts in der Heimat. Ich bin nach Deutschland gekommen, um zu arbeiten, nicht nach Afrika oder in den Nahen Osten! Sogar der Professor, der unseren Fachbereich leitet, hat uns gesagt, wie traurig es ihn macht, das zu sehen,aber es lohnt sich, das zu lesen... vor allem die Putzfrau, die jahrelang jeden Tag für 800 Euro geputzt hat *und dann in den Fluren auf Horden junger Männer trifft, die einfach mit ausgestreckten Händen warten, auf etwas umsonst warten, und wenn sie es nicht bekommen, kriegen sie einen Wutanfall.* Ich brauche das wirklich nicht, aber ich habe Angst, dass es, wenn ich nach Hause zurückkehre, irgendwann in der Tschechischen Republik genauso sein wird. *Wenn die Deutschen mit ihren Systemen das nicht in den Griff bekommen, dann herrscht zu Hause garantiert das totale Chaos...* *Sie – die Sie noch nie mit diesen Leuten in Kontakt gekommen sind – haben absolut keine Ahnung, was für schlecht erzogene Desperados diese Leute sind und wie sich Muslime unserem Personal in Bezug auf ihre religiöse Unterordnung überlegen verhalten.* *Bis jetzt ist das örtliche Krankenhauspersonal nicht an den Krankheiten erkrankt, die diese Leute hierhergebracht haben, aber bei so vielen Hunderten von Patienten jeden Tag ist das nur eine Frage der Zeit.* *In einem Krankenhaus in der Nähe des Rheins griffen Migranten das Personal mit Messern an, nachdem sie ihm ein 8 Monate altes, dem Tode nahes Baby übergeben hatten, das sie drei Monate lang durch halb Europa schleppten. Das Kind starb zwei Tage später, obwohl es in einer der besten Kinderkliniken Deutschlands erstklassig versorgt worden war. Der Kinderarzt musste operiert werden und die beiden Krankenschwestern erholen sich auf der Intensivstation. Niemand wurde bestraft.🤕 😢🤬

We have warned you!

@LizKershawDJ @android_dogma ❤️💐

Thank you for all your messages of affection for Our Andtew and kindness today. I’ve lost my best friend

@BethRigby He knew. No doubt about it. That man has too many skeletons in his closet to be PM.

NEW: Anger in No 10 tonight - am told by a source that neither the PM nor his advisors were told, over a series of months, that Mandelson had been granted security clearance against the recommendation of UK security vetting. That suggests this information was held in foreign office and not shared. Big Qs now about the PM misleading the House. I am told the PM had been asking Qs about vetting and not been told this information while giving statements to parliament. Told this week PM had been trying to get answers about what happened since Tues night - Guardian got ahead of story. The critical point is that the minister has to have ‘knowingly misled’ the House, and clearly No 10 saying tonight the PM was not aware. I understand the PM had been intending to update the HoC as soon as No 10 had established facts, which they have been doing since Tues. So expect to see the PM come to HoC on Monday to correct the record I asked PM on March 16 whether he has misled the House when he said due process was followed. This is what he told me BETH RIGBY: On the Mandelson files, your national security adviser said the process was quote, weirdly rushed, and Mandelson was appointed before developed vetting had been complete. You told MPs in the House of Commons that due process was followed. Is there a possibility that you have misled the House when you said that? KEIR STARMER: No, and the independent adviser looked at that very question. I think on Thursday or Friday of last week, and answered it very robustly, that the process had been followed. The process wasn't strong enough. And amongst the changes that I intend to put into place is the fact that you can't announce someone until the vetting is finished. It wasn't an individual decision in the Mandelson case, that was the process. Well, you only have to look at that. in the light of the appointment, to realise that that needs to change. But on due process, the process that was there was followed, the problem was the process wasn't strong enough, but ultimately, it was my mistake and I have apologised for that and quite right to.

@MarieTidball Yet they aren’t being deported, are they? They’re taking up the social and private housing and continue to present a danger to our people.

You won't hear a peep about this from Farage, Tice or Jenrick. Under the Tories, up to 400 hotels were being used to house asylum seekers. With Labour, there are now just 185, with 11 more hotels re-opening to the public, saving the taxpayer £65 million a year.

@DesmondSwayne Misleading. I was born in 1956 and claimed no benefits. Raise the SP to the minimum wage and you can forget the triple lock. The old suffer the same living costs as the young, apart from travel expenses. Stop funding illegals and take better care of our own!

If, like me, you were born in 1956, you’ll receive almost £300,000 more in benefits than you’ll pay in taxes in your lifetime State Pensions make up a huge chunk of that Long term, we simply can’t afford to sustain the Triple Lock’s generosity Blog: desmondswaynemp.com/ds-blog/1956/?…

@BarackObama …Something that failed to happen under your administration.

The victory of the opposition in Hungary yesterday, like the Polish election in 2023, is a victory for democracy, not just in Europe but around the world. Most of all, it’s a testament to the resilience and determination of the Hungarian people – and a reminder to all of us to keep striving for fairness, equality and the rule of law.

@ukhomeoffice They throw their ID away, so this is another word salad from the most incompetent Home Office in history.

Coming to the UK from overseas is a privilege, not a right. Any foreign national with a history of crime and violence is not welcome. If you pose a risk to our country, you will be refused entry or removed.

@Keir_Starmer Yet Ireland has no peace.

28 years ago today, the Good Friday Agreement was signed, one of Labour’s proudest achievements. Working in Northern Ireland, I saw first-hand the transformation peace brought to communities. At a time of global instability, it reminds us that peace must be built and protected.

@johnmcdonnellMP Why commemorate the Nakba in this country? It’s irrelevant. If people miss their own country they are free to leave. It’s a privilege to live here. Act accordingly.

The Met had a choice. Allow the annual march, commemorating the Nakba, when Palestinians were forced out of their homeland, to proceed on its usual route or give preference to the far right. It chose to give preference to the far right. Appalling decision. theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/a…

@annaellis_net @HollyJo71543420 @miriam_cates Superb post Anna. Thank you.

Nice try. Let's start with the BSP shall we? The BSP is £9164.80 per year, it's the new State Pension (NSP) that's £12457.60 p.a. Women who don't get enough NI credits don't even get those amounts (carers, stay at home mums, disabled etc.) Two thirds of pensioners are on BSP atm. Then there's the reliance on the SP. That "majority" who have other incomes include many whose workplace pensions net them a cool £50-100 per month. Not exactly going to get them out of penury. But they will have to pay tax on that monthly pittance if it pushes them over the threshold. 9 million imminent retirees have private pensions that don't reach the BSP limit, btw. Not to mention the pensioners who have to find work as shelf-stackers or stock pickers to make ends meet. They're not wholly reliant on a SP either, so it's OK to demonise them? That's how it works? Those on the NSP won't get pension credits. Council tax support is a postcode lottery, is not guaranteed and is means tested. A pensioner couple on NSP may not get any reduction, e.g a couple in Warwickshire need a maximum income of £175 per week to get the full rebate. If both are on NSP? They get no help. Housing benefit is another postcode lottery and also dependent on whether the pensioner's on NSP or BSP. Free travel? Only on buses outside London. Winter fuel payments? Not guaranteed. Senior citizen discounts? Often less than family discounts and entirely in the gift of businesses, who could offer discounts to everybody if they wanted. 75% of pensioners are not millionaires. Not even close. You want to cut government spending. Good. The devolved governments cost £95 billion a year, we could stop that. Let Scotland fund its own free tuition & prescriptions. Give Wales the chance to fund its own UBI pilots. Quangos cost at least £3 billion a year, get rid of their funding. Drastically reduce the spending on government departments (Cabinet Office spends £1.4bn, HMRC spends £6.9bn, DEFRA spends £7.6bn) - got to be at least a £2bn saving across departments. NHS trusts account for £132bn government spending. Perhaps if they stopped rejecting the return of medical equipment and reduced medical malpractice payments, a mere £10bn could be saved? Public sector pension schemes get a £22bn top up annually. Stop that. Private schemes don't get that support. Environmental levies cost £15bn annually. Stop those. Renegotiate any older higher prices. All told, that would save the government £147bn. The pension bill is £163bn. Bit of a shortfall, but it might buy you some breathing space. But no, you'd rather tell granny to shove off, sell the home she's lived in all her life and form an orderly queue out of society. The fact that you'd rather bully the elderly than sort out other government over-spending speaks volumes.

Is the state pension really so 'meagre'? Let's take a look... The basic state pension is just £12,547 a year. But... Only around 15% of pensioners rely on the state pension alone. The vast majority have other income from private pensions etc., which is exactly how our system is designed to work (and why the UK has generous tax breaks for pension contributions). The small proportion of pensioners whose only source of income is the state pension are entitled to other benefits in addition, including pension credit, housing benefit and council tax support. A pensioner with no other income, no savings, no disabilities, no care responsibilities and rent of £800 per month is entitled to £401.55 a week in benefits including state pension, which is £20,881 a year. For comparison, a full time minimum wage worker has an after tax income of £21,364. Unlike a pensioner, a full time minimum wage worker is not entitled to free travel, free prescriptions, a winter fuel payment or senior citizens discounts. £21,000 a year is not a lot of money. But the very poorest pensioners have similar incomes to low-wage workers. Given the greater costs faced by those who are working, it's perhaps not surprising that working age adults are now more likely to live in poverty than pensioners. And at the other end of the scale, one in four pensioners are millionaires and still receive the basic state pension, paid for by current tax payers (including those on minimum wage). No one (definitely not me) is suggesting that the state pension should be reduced for the poorest pensioners. But pension spending now accounts for half of the UK's social security budget and, given the urgent need to cut government spending, we must consider reforms like means-testing and scrapping the triple lock.

@miriam_cates Shame on you for your lack of knowledge on real lived experiences. 🙄

@unkleAde Leukoplakia.

Video of a fishbone being removed, but what is the secondary diagnosis here?

🚨THE POLICE CONTACTED TWO TOWING COMPANIES TO HAVE THEM ON STANDBY TO REMOVE VEHICLES FROM THE FUEL PROTEST - BOTH COMPANIES REFUSED TO DO IT🚨 éiReGoBragh🙌🤝🇮🇪

THE PEOPLE ARE LOCKING IT DOWN AMAZING 🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪👏🏻 Galway port is FULLY LOCKED DOWN!

Please, if you do not live in Ireland, keep sharing posts about the situation on the ground. The Irish Government have deployed the Military to break up protests today, and they might “temporarily” shut down the Internet to stop footage from getting out. It’s getting bad. 🙏

@CrooksDebo28970 @Moonlight_myths My brother,parents and baby niece share one grave plot. The ashes of my sister are also there, with space for one other set of ashes. It was originally leased for 3 burials. It’s very common.

@Moonlight_myths Why was there a grave if she was cremated? lol

My daughter lost her battle to cancer and what my Sister did was unforgivable. My daughter was just 2 years old when she was diagnosed with a rare cancer, this absolutely broke me, I was heartbroken. The doctors told me that she had about a year left to live her life as the cancer was taking over her body. After countless hospital appointments, back and forth my daughter passed away, She was strong and beat it for an extra 7 months. I've never truly got over her passing I think of my little girl every second of the day, she was so little and fragile. I decided to get her cremated and kept some of her ashes as I wanted to put them in a necklace, that way she would be with me everyday. I put the rest on her little grave, but specifically in a little glass jar with a pink ribbon tied around it. I visited my daughter's grave that night when my sister called asking to meet up for coffee and a walk.