The Canary UK

Hundreds of people complain to the BBC about ‘Sickness and Lies’

Support us and go ad-freeA BBC ‘documentary‘ called Sickness and Lies sparked hundreds of complaints from people. It revealed the figures in a fortnightly bulletin. And it’s no wonder that so many people kicked off. Because the show was nothing short of toxic. Sickness and Lies: an ironic title As The Canary previously reported, Sickness and Lies is about chronically ill people who other people accuse of faking or exaggerating their conditions. It looks at a Reddit group which accuses chronic illness influencers of these things. But the show was riddled with problems. It presented incorrect assumptions about illnesses. The documentary showed that sometimes the Reddit group didn’t…

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20 August 2021

The Canary UK

Plymouth gunman Jake Davison kept shotgun after admitting assault

Support us and go ad-freePolice did not seize Plymouth gunman Jake Davison’s shotgun and licence after he admitted assaulting two youths in a park, it has emerged. Shotgun The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said the 22-year-old’s shotgun and licence were only seized in December last year when concerns were raised directly with Devon and Cornwall Police. Davison had been taking part in a voluntary intervention programme – an alternative to being charged or cautioned – after admitting assaulting two youths in a park in Plymouth last September. The IOPC said Devon and Cornwall Police had offered the apprentice crane operator a place on its Pathfinder scheme.…

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20 August 2021

The Canary UK

Kill the Bill: protests happening again across the country

People will be back protesting to ‘Kill the Bill’ this weekend. It’s over Priti Patel’s authoritarian and regressive Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (the Police Bill). The demos come against a backdrop of imprisonments and growing anger. So, boots on the ground over this noxious legislation are needed more than ever. “Unprecedented” The Police Bill has caused uproar. Many see it as racist against Black people and the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) community. It will also clamp down on our rights to protest, to roam, and to take strike action. Amnesty said of the bill: In its current form, the bill represents an enormous and unprecedented extension of policing powers…

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20 August 2021

The Canary UK

MPs demand urgent safety review of refugee accommodation after boy’s death

Support us and go ad-freeMPs have called on Priti Patel to launch an “urgent investigation” into how a five-year-old Afghan refugee fell to his death from a hotel window in Sheffield. Tragic South Yorkshire Police said Mohammed Munib Majeedi fell from the window of the Sheffield Metropolitan Hotel in Blonk Street at around 2.30pm on 18 August. The youngster, who is understood to have arrived in the UK with his family this summer, fell on to a car park behind the hotel. The force confirmed the boy was from Afghanistan and referred reporters to the Home Office for more details. As Labour MPs in Sheffield, we have sent…

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20 August 2021

The Canary UK

Greens must continue to support £15 care worker wage, says union

Support us and go ad-freeA trade union has urged the Scottish Greens to continue their support for an increased wage for care workers despite their agreement with the SNP. The two parties have been locked in talks over the summer, with a deal expected to be announced on Friday that will put at least one Green MSP into a ministerial position. But the GMB trade union has already urged the party to continue its support for a £15 per hour minimum wage for care workers, as was made clear in the party’s manifesto. Calls for an increase The Scottish Government this year spent almost £65m to ensure all…

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20 August 2021

The Canary UK

What’s the story with Afghanistan?

Support us and go ad-freeThere is a lot of conflicting information about Afghanistan but, as Curtis Daly explains, to understand the current situation we need to understand decades of interventionist policies and the ideological and corporate interests behind them. Video transcript In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in order to prop up the existing government. However, the Soviets were met with huge backlash from resistant fighters known as the mujahidin. The mujahidin were supported by the US as essentially a proxy war against the USSR. The mujahidin were religious fundamentalists, it’s not known whether the US knew that or not, or even if they cared. The Soviet…

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19 August 2021

The Canary UK

It’s not a war – it’s a colonial occupation

Support us and go ad-freeThe war on Afghanistan has been anything but. It’s actually been a money grab for private security firms and arms traders. There’s been a grab at resources and infrastructure. Most importantly of all, it’s been a decimation of Afghan people. And, really, there’s no reason to assume that these things won’t continue on the part of the West. Understanding the war on terror You can’t really understand Afghanistan without having, at the very least, the context of the last 20 years of the so-called ‘war on terror.’ 9/11 started a concerted campaign headed by the US that’s been the latest breeding ground of suspicion…

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19 August 2021

The Canary UK

This Labour MP’s embarrassing ISIS/Taliban claim tells us politicians are out of their depth

Support us and go ad-freeA Labour MP’s ISIS claim during the Commons Afghanistan debate has led to questions about her knowledge of the region. Stella Creasy, who is on the right of the party, was roundly attacked on social media. She’d played up the risk of the Taliban providing a “safe haven” for the militant group ISIS. The debate followed the rapid collapse of the Afghan government in the face of a rapid Taliban advance. This collapse followed the withdrawal of the US military occupation which had held the regime together. In her speech, Creasy said: President Biden may not have spoken to other world leaders since the…

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19 August 2021

The Canary UK

Divisive rhetoric about which refugees and asylum seekers deserve safety must stop

Support us and go ad-freeThe UK government has announced its resettlement scheme for 20,000 Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban’s sudden takeover of the country. The government will only allow 5,000 Afghan refugees to enter the country in the first year, with more to follow over the coming years. Many have raised concerns that this proposal is insufficient, particularly given the UK government’s significant contributions to the crisis in Afghanistan. Others have highlighted the resurgence of dehumanising rhetoric about ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ refugees and asylum seekers. A far from generous proposal The government has heralded its plans to welcome up to 20,000 Afghan refugees over a number of years as…

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19 August 2021

The Canary UK

One of the polluting industries’ favoured climate ‘solutions’ is literally going up in flames

Support us and go ad-freeAs numerous NGOs laid out in a recent report titled The Big Con, big polluters are promoting lots of climate crisis ‘solutions’ that don’t threaten their bottom lines. For many years, they’ve championed the idea that their polluting activities can be ‘offset’ by investing in forests and spaces that suck up carbon. As the climate crisis intensifies, however, this fix is quite literally going up in flames. “Welp” National Science Foundation fellow at Berkeley Bodie Cabiyo tweeted on 17 August: Welp, one of the biggest carbon offset projects is burning. The Colville IFM project represents over 14M tons of carbon offsets, or ~6% of…

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19 August 2021