“Despite these acts of aggression, the flotilla continues its course with determination. Our mission remains clear: to challenge Israel's illegal siege on Gaza, stand with the Palestinian people, and deliver aid to a besieged population facing starvation and genocide.”

Launching our new publication by Ben Crawford & Jamie Houghton: Shareholders' Rights v Workers' Rights! The ERB is a big step for workers - but can it succeed without tackling corporate law & shareholder power? Blog: www.ier.org.uk/comments/emp...

Assembly point: Side, on the way down to the Quayside. #NoPasaran

This, by Darren McGarvey, is well worth reading on Your Party: “The answer isn’t to become less radical. It’s to become less self-absorbed.” … “The organisers who have proximity to working class communities should be the faces and voices of the left.” open.substack.com/pub/darrenmc...

[🧵thread] Parties are always coalitions, no matter how unified they seem to be. Parties-in-formation even more so, because they haven’t had time to forge a sense of unity. (1/7)

The centre left, having stayed silent throughout nearly 2 years of genocide, is desperate to whitewash the UK’s role so we can all get back to business as usual - but what that buries is the 77 yr history of bombing, occupation, blockade, land theft, settler violence, apartheid, ethnic cleansing etc

Malcolm X wasn’t known for being a soft touch, but he understood this. Yes, we’re in politics. Some of us have celebrity and / or notoriety because of it, but we’re all human, all make mistakes, and all have feelings.

The death toll in Gaza has now reached 65,000. In reality, it is likely to be much higher, due to the difficulty of recording data in bombed out residential areas out & the fact that thousands will be buried under the rubble. 1/4

I’ve written a piece for Red Pepper on Reform in County Durham & the challenges it represents for the way we do our politics on the left. www.redpepper.org.uk/political-pa...

There’s no place for any Israeli teams in UEFA competitions, but esp Maccabi Tel Aviv. Their fans are almost entirely genocide-supporting racists, always vocal about it & often violent, so when the game comes, I hope they’re met with opposition by Villa fans & anti-racists in Birmingham.

🧵 I realise that many people get frustrated talking about past events (‘old history’), especially when we are supposed to be ‘moving on’. The past is the past, right? Why stir things up? But I’m afraid that isn’t the way it works. (1/2)

I’ve been contacted about Palestinian students unable to take up their studies in Durham due to strict rules around biometric data which cannot be produced in Gaza.The students, who have lost everything, have achieved scholarships to study so that they may return to rebuild 🇵🇸 for the future.

Just to be clear, there was absolutely no way that UEFA would have done this without enormous public pressure. Speaking up, in any way, no matter how small, works. #FreePalestine

What’s incredible is that, after 22 months of lie after lie after lie, there are still gullible fools who believe them.

These people are not supporting terrorism, because Palestine Action is not a terrorist organisation. Everyone knows. Their proscription was based on a lie - a cynical abuse of anti-terrorism legislation by this Labour govt to silence & stigmatise anyone telling the truth about the genocide in Gaza.

This is such a disgrace, it’s almost beyond belief. The Met & other police forces are willing accomplices, sure, but the blame lies principally with Keir Starmer, Yvette Cooper & this utterly shameful Labour government. They are digging their own grave.

Starmer talking about the occupation of Gaza being “wrong” as if it was some teenagers playing on a swing. After 22 months of a genocide, after countless war crimes, after months of forced removals & ethnic cleansing. After 77 years plus of the same. He’s a disgrace.

We are delighted to be working in tandem with the @gftu.org.uk to deliver a brand new course, 'Empowering Workers: a Trade Union Certificate in Labour Law and the Labour Movement', accredited by Birbeck University, London. Details & registration here: gftuet.org.uk/courses/empo...

No doubt he thinks he’s ’exposing the truth’, but this is really poisonous by Darren Grimes. If you want to see the whole grubby little post, it’s here: www.facebook.com/share/v/1A2W... (1/3)

Very sad to say that we lost Lotta early this morning. In the end it was very peaceful, just like they say. She was the best dog we could have hoped for, when the kids were little, right through to today - even managing a little wag of her tail as she got some attention at the vets. Farewell, cutie.

🤯 Lucy Bronze played the tournament with a fractured tibia & a fair bit of the final with a badly damaged knee. Hard as nails. I’m not recommending it, but it symbolises the never-say-die attitude we’ve seen from England all tournament. 👊

A couple of summers ago, I spent a few weeks researching the formation of parties of the left, mostly in Europe but also from around the world. (1/8)

On holiday, so will just make this a quick 🧵. Apparently the new (temporarily named) ‘Your Party’ has had 140,000 sign ups in the first 24 hours. (1/10)

Well done to everyone involved in the @orgreavejustice.bsky.social campaign in winning a public inquiry into the events at Orgreave in June 1984. It’s been a long hard road, and their absolute determination is to be massively applauded. (1/3)

Great to see this big, vibrant opposition to the Reform Council yesterday morning in #Durham. Flags, banners & placards from Climate Action, LGBTQ, unions, Palestine Solidarity, anti-racists & more - coming together to challenge their Thatcherite, culture war nonsense.

All of this was so predictable. This is the way politics works. Wishful thinking has it that we can separate these issues, and chip away at one while ignoring another. It’s just not true - Starmer is anti-democratic, dishonest & spiteful, across the board. Realism, people.

I can’t tell you how proud I am of my lad, Jude, who graduated today from @Edinburgh University. The thing about Jude is, which makes me especially proud, is that he never takes the easy way out. Always stretching himself. Congratulations lad & good luck for the next stage.

Fantastic to be in Redhills again. Had a bit of a tour today - thanks Andy, and I have to say, what they’ve done is brilliant - preserving the old while building the new (like an old Miners slogans). It is perfect & I just can’t wait to see the Pitman’s Parliament full.

I’m always a bit suspicious of people who don’t see themselves as activists. Whether you’re an MP, a representative, an advisor, a writer, a strategist, a union official, a think tanker, or a legend in your own lifetime, there is always time to do some grassroots organising. 1/4

Stop Starving Gaza! Newcastle PSC march through Newcastle & rally outside the Baltic on the Quayside. Good to see so many people out. They’ll stop at nothing to silence us, so we just need to make our voices heard, louder. Well done to everyone who organised this & came along today.

Our friend Lord Walney (John Woodcock) pops up in the Palestine Action story, doing the spade work for the blurring of the boundaries between direct action & terrorism. Of course he does. Good piece by three academics - worth a read: www.opendemocracy.net/en/palestine...

Statement from Palestine Action.

Palestine Action is to be banned after a High Court judge refused to temporarily block it from being designated as a terror group. If Wednesday was a shameful day for Parliament, our MPs & British democracy, today was an equally shameful day for the judiciary. It’s not over, clearly.

Politics, like life, is never going to be perfect.

Excellent from @jeremycorbyn.bsky.social. He’s right to say that there is work to be done, and that it won’t be a case of a pre-formed party being ‘delivered’ to us, it will be done together. The work will be shared, and the rewards too, as someone once said.

One important thing that people are missing in the statement from @zarahsultana.bsky.social is the difference between co-leading “the founding of a new party” and co-leading a new party. (1/5)

Pleased to see this from @zarahsultana.bsky.social. Most of all I’m pleased that, rather wait for this disaster to unfold, someone’s been proactive & left the rotting carcass that is Starmer’s Labour. Now the hard work starts, because we have to build differently & be brave about it. 👊

It’s quite likely that Parliament has just voted for something illegal, something that will be challenged & overturned in court. Even if it’s not, the proscription of Palestine Action is one of the most flagrant abuses of anti-terrorism law possible & morally repugnant. (1/6)

For the thickies at the back: “We are not for the death of Jews, Arabs or any other race or group of people. We are for the dismantling of a violent military machine." - Bob Vylan

The Israeli Military (IDF) has killed at least 410 people trying to get food at Israeli-run aid sites in Gaza in the past month. Israeli soldiers have killed aid-seekers with bullets, tank shells, and drone-mounted weapons. (1/2) theintercept.com/2025/06/27/i...

Arsehole.

Just (another) reminder that the Campaign Against Antisemitism is nothing of the sort. It’s a fake organisation, which exists to serve a factional, rightwing agenda. Media, civil society organisations & trade unions should now be aware of this, if they’ve done their research.

Just a reminder of the death visited upon #Gaza by the IDF this weekend: - Four people, including a child and two women were killed by Israeli drone fire that targeted a tent housing displaced people in the west of Khan Younis. (1/6)

There don’t need to be any ‘tougher rules’. That’s a pernicious fabrication, led by the rightwing press, hard right Tories, Reform & the idiots around Starmer. The opposite is needed. A compassionate system - i.e a safety net, co-operatively designed alongside disabled people.

The amount of pressure / leverage that can be applied to the Parliamentary Labour Party is limited, I have to say. In the past I’ve absolutely advocated for this strategy & I can understand why people think it might work again, but we have to understand the recent history of the party.

“This is an abuse of anti-terrorist legislation which was passed to apply to terrorist activities, not non-violent protest. There is a full armoury of criminal laws to deal with unlawful non-violent protest, as the PM knows better than most.” - John Hendy KC www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Underlying the proscription of Palestine Action is the expansion of the use of anti-terrorism legislation to stop legitimate direct action & political protests. This is one if the key signs of an authoritarian society, but it’s been going on for decades in the UK almost unnoticed. 1/8

Just reflecting on the need I’ve had to always say what I think, and the consequences it’s had for me & my life.

This is interesting. It’s always been clear that Trump acts not as a democratic representative or even a politician, but as a casino capitalist, gambling for quick wins. Iran has very quickly showed its hand & understands that’s where the leverage lies.

“Palestine Action is not an armed group. It has never been responsible for any fatalities & does not pose any risk to the public. Its methods do involve property sabotage, which is, obviously, illegal. But if killing 23 civilians at an aid distribution site is not terrorism …”