UK politics

Promoting the second meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Closing the Guantánamo Detention Facility in the Houses of Parliament on Monday June 26, attended by former prisoners Mohamedou Ould Slahi and Mansoor Adayfi (on his first UK visit), followed by an event at Amnesty International’s UK headquarters in London on Wednesday June 28, at which Mohamedou and Mansoor will discuss writing in prison, and I will be moderating.

Reflecting on the toxic orange skies that recently engulfed New York City and Washington, D.C., caused by ferocious wildfires in Canada, I ask whether they were alarming enough to effect significant political change, or whether the endless cycle of distraction in the mainstream media, and the entrenched and corrupt power of the fossil fuel companies will continue to prevent urgent action to curb their homicidal and ecocidal activities. I look at the Paris Agreement, C40 Cities (featuring the Mayors of nearly 100 cities worldwide), and the governments involved in BOGA (the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance), with particular reference to the need for all new fossil fuel extraction to be stopped, and how we might meet our commitments to cut fossil fuel emissions by 50% by 2030, and I call on the media, in particular, to start discussing the gravity of the climate crisis, educating people about what cuts are needed, and which are possible, to start the urgent national and transnational conversations that are required.

Remembering the Grenfell Tower Fire on its sixth anniversary, and noting how it led to the deaths of 72 residents, who were failed by everyone responsible for their safety. As well as explaining that no one has yet been held accountable, I also look at the ongoing cladding scandal across the country, and the always shocking reality that cladding as flammable as petrol has ever been allowed to be used at all.

Photos from, and my report about the eleven coordinated global vigils for the closure of Guantánamo that took place on June 7, 2023 in locations including London, Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, Detroit, Brussels, Copenhagen, Mexico City, Morocco, Serbia and the Netherlands. The ongoing vigils take place on the first Wednesday of every month, and, as well as calling for the closure of the prison, also highlight the plight of the 16 men (out of the 30 still imprisoned) who have been approved for release but are still held — as of June 7, between 257 and 4,884 days since the US authorities first decided that they no longer wanted to hold them.

My call for England’s water companies to be re-nationalised, as the mostly foreign and largely unaccountable private companies running them (since their privatisation in 1989) have presided over persistent sewage spills, killing our rivers and polluting our beaches. This is because their purpose is to make profits for their shareholders (and their overpaid CEOs) rather than investing in their infrastructure to provide clean water and to prevent sewage spills.

My review of four decades of repressive public order legislation by the Tories, marking the 38th anniversary of the Battle the Beanfield, running from the 1986 Public Order Act to the 1994 Criminal Justice Act, and on to the 2022 Police, Crime Sentencing and Court Act and the latest version of the Public Order Act. Aimed at criminalising the way of life of Gypsies and Travellers, the legislation is also aimed at criminalising any form of even mildly disruptive protest, of the kind currently being undertaken by climate protestors, whose actions would chime with the beleaguered travellers, festival-goers and environmental activists of 38 years ago.

Promoting the next monthly coordinated global vigils for the closure of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, taking place next Wednesday, June 7, in London, across the US, and at other locations around the world. Hoping you can join us!

Linking to and discussing my interview with Chris Cook for Gorilla Radio, about the Coronation of King Charles III, the suppression of protest and the criminalization of refugees under home secretary Suella Braverman, as well as a discussion about Guantánamo.

Marking the 11th anniversary of ‘The State of London’, my ongoing photo-journalism project recording the changing face of the capital, with a fundraiser seeking your support for what is an entirely reader-funded project. Over the years, I have particularly focused on the blight of ‘regeneration’ programmes, whilst also celebrating London’s astonishing history of buildings, its nature and its history of protest, although the latter is now being challenged in an unprecedented manner.

The text of ‘We Can’t Trust the Weather Any More’, my first ever public speech about the climate crisis, which I made during Extinction Rebellion’s ‘The Big One’, on April 21, outside 55-57 Tufton Street, the home of opaquely-funded right-wing ‘libertarian’ think-tanks that are actively committed to maintaining the murderous status quo, including denying the reality of catastrophic climate change.