We conducted an extensive financial analysis of 32 of these anti-rights organisations. Here's what we uncovered:

• Anti-rights groups have dramatically increased their spending by over 33% between 2019 and 2023, reaching £106 million
• The largest spenders are UK branches of US organisations (£34 million), ultra-conservative Christian policy/advocacy groups (£31.5 million), and anti-abortion organisations (£28.5 million)
• Groups promoting so-called "conversion therapy" have increased their spending by an alarming 165%
• The growth in expenditure of ‘crisis pregnancy centres’ – which work to dissuade pregnant people from seeking an abortion – has risen 46% between 2019 and 2023

Big spenders from the US

The Alliance for Defending Freedom (ADF), a Christian group that was instrumental in decimating abortion rights in the USA through the reversal of Roe v Wade, set up a UK branch in 2015. The ADF works to advance laws and policies that oppose access to abortion and LGBTI rights. In the UK they have been defending individuals charged for breaching Safe Access Zones around abortion clinics.

The ADF is spending more and more in the UK and its expenditure increased by 187% between 2019 and 2023, for a total of 3.9 million.

Anti-abortion groups and crisis pregnancy centres

We identified 25 anti-abortion organisations, including 13 so-called "crisis pregnancy centres". These unregulated centres pretend to offer impartial advice, but actually actively discourage abortion by spreading misinformation and stigma. For 9 of these 13 centres their spending rose by 46% from £4.4 million to £6.4million between 2019 and 2023.

Alarmingly, some of these centres receive funding from the National Lottery and government grants.

So-called ‘Conversion Therapy’ – a violation of human rights

We mapped 12 groups promoting the harmful and abusive practice of so-called "conversion therapy," aiming to ‘change’ or suppress people’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The spending of 4 of these surged by nearly 165%, marking the fastest growth of all categories tracked.

Despite the UK government announcing plans ban on conversion therapy in July 2024, no legislation has yet materialised.

Unite has announced it has suspended Angela Rayner from her membership of the union, in an escalating row over the long-running bin strikes in Birmingham.

The deputy prime minister has been urging striking bin workers to accept a deal to end the dispute tabled by the Labour-run city council.

In an emergency motion at its conference in Brighton, the union said it would also re-examine its relationship with Labour if the council makes any of its members redundant.
[…]
A spokesperson for Rayner said she is no longer a member of the union - although Unite is insisting that she is on its membership system.

Unite is affiliated to Labour, and is the party's biggest union funder.

It did not donate to the party's election campaign last year, but made donations worth £10,000 towards Rayner's campaign, according to her register of interests.

Members of the union walked out in January over plans to downgrade some roles as part of the city council's attempts to sort out its equal pay liabilities.

An all-out indefinite strike was announced in March, and a deal to end industrial action has not yet been reached.

They also suspended Birmingham Council leader John Cotton.

Parliament's standards commissioner has launched an investigation into ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe.

The BBC understands it is for allegedly failing to register hundreds of thousands of pounds raised in donations to fund his independent "Rape Gang Inquiry".

Seems America is summoning us.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/32936322

Hosnieh Djafari-Marbini - Opinion
9 July 2025 10:42 BST
Last update: ~5:45 EDT

"Across the UK and around the world, the tide has turned. From musicians chanting at Glastonbury, to students occupying campuses, to doctors’ unions passing motions of solidarity, public opinion has shifted. People are demanding an end to active participation in genocide and ethnic cleansing.

The votes two weeks ago at the British Medical Association’s annual representative meeting - the largest gathering of doctors in the UK - are a powerful symbol of that shift."

On Monday, I gave what might have been my first ever fist pump for a House of Lords debate. Lord Watson of Invergowrie asked a question in the chamber about an investigation I published with Index on Censorship, where 53% of the school librarians I surveyed said they had been asked to remove books from their shelves. Even more worryingly, 56% of those librarians then felt forced to actually remove the books in question.

An overwhelming number of the books ripped off school library shelves had LGBTQ+ themes or authors, and the bans were usually in reaction to a single parent complaint – or even school leaders acting in anticipation of causing offence among particular communities. I spoke to librarians who feared for their jobs, and others have been in touch since, telling me about the pressure they are under.

The debate in the House of Lords showed overwhelming support for the freedom to read, and it was heartening to see the Lords sit up and listen.

Fast-forward to Wednesday evening. Just as I was thinking about which picture book to read to my son (which may or may not have had LGBTQ+ themes), a Reform councillor was making plans to raid library collections across Kent.
[…]
Whether books have indeed been banned, or a councillor is simply claiming that books have been banned, this is a dark moment for the freedom to read in the UK. Libraries in Kent have this week been a battleground for culture wars, and I fear they won’t be the last to become so.

There have been rumours of book ban demands happening in other Reform-led councils, but when I’ve asked the library services in question, they’ve denied having received such instructions. This is the first time it’s happened out in the open.

This is the kind of move we’ve already seen in the USA. Book censorship there has spiralled, with right-wing groups like Moms for Liberty and Republican politicians often leading the charge and calling for bans. Librarians have even received death threats and been investigated for holding LGBTQ+ content, as is very well-evidenced in a new film, The Librarians.

Up until this week, I could confidently say that library censorship in the UK was happening behind closed doors (not that that’s any better), and that incidents, whilst concerning, were not necessarily widespread. I can no longer say that. When a councillor publicly seeks to ban children’s books from a children’s section, something has shifted, there is a certain audacity to it. And now, I worry that the UK floodgates have opened. Others will feel emboldened to take similar actions.

French president addresses MPs on topical issues, from commitment to Ukraine, to European connection and US tariffs

Just look at her, you know she was planning something.

The Tony Blair Institute (TBI) has been linked to a project widely condemned for proposing the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, involving a sweeping postwar redevelopment of the besieged Strip.

Although TBI insists it neither endorsed nor authored the slide, two of its staff members participated in discussions related to the initiative.

The Tony Blair Institute was founded by the former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2016 to allegedly promote global policy reform and combat extremism.

Plans include a "Trump Riviera" and infrastructure named after wealthy Gulf monarchs, according to documents reviewed by the Financial Times (FT) and revealed on Sunday.

At least three Israeli Air Force (IAF) jets have landed at RAF Brize Norton since September 2024, Drop Site reports.

KC-707 “Re’em” jets, which refuel other planes in the air, are said to have landed at the Oxfordshire base on at least nine occasions during trips between Israel and the US.

Of these stops, eight reportedly lasted more between one to three hours potentially indicating that the planes were refuelling.

Re’em military planes have been spotted refuelling Israeli F-35 bombers and two of those which stopped in the UK had also been observed providing refuelling and logistics support to planes engaged in bombing raids, Drop Site reports.