Phil England

"No fracking, drilling or digging: it’s the only way to save life on Earth" theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Excellent front page against the war profiteers

... @Keir_Starmer, will British air bases be used for this?

Ed Miliband has sold us all out. The climate movement, the environmental sector - and most importantly - our future generations. No longer can Labour claim to have the odd minister who "gets it." They're bought and paid for.

Did @BBCr4today really just do a whole package about drilling in the N Sea without once even mentioning #climate change? And not having anyone challenging the one-sided claims of former BP boss? So irresponsible #bbcr4today

It's time to see past our differences and remember what connects us. When we realise where our strength lies - in each other - that's when change happens. Join us - join.greenparty.org.uk

We cannot allow political subservience to Trump and Netanyahu to lead Britain into a dangerous, illegal, expensive war. It's time for Starmer to show some genuine backbone on the international stage.

It’s time to read the room, @DavidLammy. Nobody supports this plan. It will not reduce the backlog. It is not cost-effective. Worse still, it diminishes the long-held and much-celebrated democratic principle of trial by jury. It will destroy access to fair justice. Drop it.

Crackdowns on peaceful protest Support for Conservative benefit cuts Blaming migrants for failing public services As Labour keeps moving right. The question is: How low do they want to go?

List of 28 civilian sites in Iran hit by US-Israeli strikes: Schools, kindergartens and parks: • Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school, Minab, 28 March, 165 killed. • Sports Hall, Lamerd, Fars Province, 28 February, 18 killed. • Narmak school, Tehran, 2 killed • Kindergarten, Narmak neighbourhood, Tehran • Children's park, Tehran • Shahid Bahonar Middle School, Parand, 5 March • Arian Pouya Elementary School, Parand, 5 March Hospitals and medical facilities: • Gandhi Hospital, 1 March, Tehran • Hospitals near Red Crescent building, Tehran • Abuzar Hospital, Ahvaz, 1 March, 2 wounded • Emergency centres, Sarab and Hamedan, at least 2 wounded • Baqaei Hospital, Ahvaz • Amneh Neonatal Care Center, Tehran • Shahid Rajaee Heart Hospital, Tehran • Hazrat Abolfazl Hospital, Minab Residential areas: • Niloofar Square, Tehran, 1 March, 20 killed • Three-story building at Third Circle, Tehranpars, Tehran • Residential complex, Sanandaj • Residential homes around Sepah Square, Tehran • Residential areas in Maragheh, Tehran, 27 killed • Residential homes in Narmak, Iraaghi Street • Marzdaran Boulevard, Tehran • Shahid Falahi residential buildings, Tehran, 5 March • Residential buildings, Mir Damad Boulevard, Tehran Historical and cultural sites: • Golestan Palace, Tehran, 2 March • Tehran Grand Bazaar • Ba'ath Stadium, Tehran • Azadi sports complex, Tehran, 5 March

Israel is waging war after war against the people of an entire region. The US is its partner in crime. I implore Member States who still have some decency to stop this. Together we can!

Iran’s regime is illiberal and brutal, and the Iranian people deserve the freedom they have long fought for. This gives no right to the US or Israel -whose own policies in Palestine are also illiberal and brutal- to bomb Iran, nor to EU leaders to cloak escalation in hypocrisy.

STATEMENT BY PAUL HOLDEN IN RESPONSE TO RESIGNATION OF JOSH SIMONS Josh Simons doesn’t deserve to be an MP, let alone a Cabinet Minister. I will now work to make sure Parliamentary authorities hold him to account if our weak and supine Prime Minister will not. Simons, while a director of Labour Together, hired a reputation firm, APCO Worldwide, that used a series of invasive techniques to investigate me, my colleagues and my family, and a range of other British and American journalists. They found out where I lived and with whom. Simons made entirely false, defamatory and conspiratorial claims about me, my colleagues and my family. His actions threatened my livelihood and reputation as was well as that of my colleagues. It risked undermining ongoing work we were doing tackling grand corruption around the world, including in collaboration with multiple law enforcement agencies. It has caused me and my young family significant distress. It is appalling that Simons cannot bring himself to apologise to me and my family after his conduct towards us has been exposed. Let’s be clear: the contract signed with APCO by Simons sought to ‘proactively undermine’ factually accurate public interest stories that dealt with serious unlawful conduct by the most senior people in the incoming Labour administration, many of whom were Simons’ personal friends and political allies. This was intended to undermine not just my work, but the work of all of the journalists – including Gabriel Pogrund and Harry Yorke of the Sunday Times and Matt Taibbi – working with me on these stories. My investigations sought to expose the rot at the heart of the political project that has since brought “Petie” Mandelson into the centre of government. They were motivated by serious concerns about this project’s approach to good governance, civil liberties and basic decency – all of which have been entirely vindicated. Sir Laurie Magnus’ investigation must also be criticised. I wrote to Sir Laurie this past week asking for an opportunity to give evidence. I had matters about which only I knew and which should have been considered. It is deeply unfortunate that Sir Laurie has not sought the evidence or opinions of the victims of Simons’ unacceptable behaviour. I believe Simons’ statements about my book and its treatment of the very serious issue of antisemitism in the Labour Party are defamatory and wrong. I am instructing lawyers with a view to bringing defamation proceedings in this respect.

🚨 The final number of dead at the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab, southern Iran, is 108 school girls, a spokesperson for the Iranian Red Crescent Society said — more than half of the roughly 170 students who attend the school. It remains unclear whether the strike was carried out by the U.S. or Israel. A CENTCOM spokesperson said they were “looking into” the reports. Drop Site reported from the site of the massacre, speaking with families who lost their daughters. The school was reduced to rubble, and dozens of girls were trapped beneath collapsed concrete, with residents digging with their bare hands. Parents wandered through the debris in shock, calling out their children’s names. The full report is below.

🚨 ISRAEL REIMPOSES TOTAL SIEGE ON GAZA Israel has closed all crossings into Gaza, including Rafah, “until further notice.” COGAT says humanitarian staff rotations are postponed, meaning no aid personnel can enter or leave. Israel falsely claimed: “The substantial quantities of food that have entered since the beginning of the ceasefire amount to four times the nutritional needs of the population… Therefore, the existing stock is expected to suffice for an extended period.” UN says less than 170 of the daily 600 trucks have been entering Gaza drive the ceasefire began.

I would like to join in demanding that the country that is being bombed indiscriminately, doesn’t engage in the unforgivable practice of bombing indiscriminately, which is never justified which is why we must stand by our allies as they bomb indiscriminately.

US-Israeli strikes ‘undoubtedly an illegal aggression’ – former British Ambassador to Iran channel4.com/news/us-israel…

Tomorrow's front page: Josh Simons has been cleared by an investigation – but a journalist at the heart of the Labour Together spying scandal said his requests to give evidence were ignored

“Josh Simons should have resigned weeks ago. Failing that, he should have been dismissed. That he wasn’t speaks volumes. A Prime Minister who is serious about standards doesnt wait for an ethics adviser to state the obvious. Sir Laurie Magnus has now concluded what many could see from the start: that a minister attempted to undermine and smear journalists for doing their job. Asking questions. Holding power to account. That is not a grey area. It is a basic test of democratic instinct. Instead of acting decisively, the Prime Minister chose to wait. He chose process over principle. And in doing so, he projected weakness where clarity was required. History rarely remembers the technicalities or the delays. It remembers whether leaders were prepared to make simple moral decisions when they mattered. The question now is why the Prime Minister felt unable to act himself, and why he needed cover to do what should have been done from the outset.”

Labour’s attack on jury trials is met with widespread opposition covering all areas within our society. Nobody wants this, except our increasingly authoritarian government. It does not serve justice, is not cost-effective, and won’t reduce the backlog. Cartoon: Allan Cavanagh

“The Labour government’s refusal even to acknowledge that Israel is committing war crimes… Has turned Labour into the party of atrocity denial” ✍️ Opinion by Peter Oborne middleeasteye.pulse.ly/wstq9xzq3l