UK politics

Photos from, and my report about the eight coordinated global vigils for the closure of Guantánamo that took place on May 3, 2023 in London, Washington, D.C., New York, Mexico City, Brussels, Copenhagen, Detroit and Los Angeles. 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 still held (out of 30 in total) who have been approved for release but, in 13 cases, cannot be repatriated because of US laws, and must be found new homes in third countries.

My report, with photos, of the inaugural meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Closing the Guantánamo Detention Facility, attended by former prisoner Mohamedou Ould Slahi and his former guard Steve Wood, and the three screenings of ‘The Mauritanian’ that followed, in Buckinghamshire and Brighton, at which I joined Mohamedou and Steve for Q&A sessions.

My report about what I describe as “the single most devastating condemnation by an international body that has ever been issued with regard to the US’s detention policies in the ‘war on terror’, both in CIA ‘black sites’ and at Guantánamo” — an opinion issued by the the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention about Abu Zubaydah, the first victim of the CIA’s post-9/11 torture program. The condemnation is not only of the US government, but also the governments of Pakistan, Thailand, Poland, Morocco, Lithuania, Afghanistan and the UK, although the most severe criticisms are directed at the US government, which is ordered to release him and to pay him compensation. The Working Group also expresses “grave concern” that the very basis of the detention system at Guantánamo — involving “widespread or systematic imprisonment or other severe deprivation of liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law” — “may constitute crimes against humanity.”

My photos of, and my report about the inspiring four-day protest, ‘The Big One’, in London on April 21-24, initiated by Extinction Rebellion but with the support of over 200 other organisations. I applaud the efforts to create a wider climate movement, whilst also recognising the impact that can be achieved through disruptive tactics, and I question on what basis mainstream media broadcasters thought it was appropriate to behave as though this astonishing gathering of climate activists wasn’t newsworthy.

Announcing the inaugural meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Closure of Guantánamo on Monday April 24, co-chaired by Layla Moran (Lib Dem) and Chris Law (SNP), and with members (MPs and peers) from the Labour Party, the Conservatives and the Green Party. Also attending will be former prisoner Mohamedou Ould Slahi, and his former guard Steve Wood, and Mohamedou, Steve and I will also be attending screenings of ‘The Mauritanian’, the feature film about Mohamedou’s imprisonment and torture, on April 25, 26 and 28.

The second of four articles marking my 60th birthday, looking at how awareness of the climate crisis has developed, and been supported, ignored or resisted over the last 60 years. This article focuses on the 1980s, when I went from school in Hull and university in Oxford to living in London under the ravages of Thatcherism, which largely drowned out the growing awareness of the climate crisis through the emission of greenhouse gases in the US, where NASA scientist James Hansen finally secured widespread media coverage and public interest after a Congressional hearing in 1988. I also look at the impact Bill McKibben’s book ‘The End of Nature’ had on me when it was published in 1989.

My reflections on David Attenborough’s ‘Wild Isles’ Series, and, in particular, the additional episode, ‘Saving the Wild Isles’, which was only made available online. While applauding his efforts to get people involved in climate action, and particular in ‘rewilding’, I also can’t help but note that urgent and concerted direct action is also required to overcome our government’s continued support for our sewage-spilling privatised water companies, and for new oil, gas and coal extraction, and urge people to join Extinction Rebellion’s ‘The Big One’ protest in London on April 21.

Examining the latest report issued by the IPCC (the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), which synthesises and updates the findings of previous report (since 2018), establishing that a future livable planet depends on us collectively making rapid, deep and immediate cuts to greenhouse gas emissions before 2030. I particularly focus on the failure of the mainstream media to prioritise this unprecedented crisis, and to report on it relentlessly, and I also urge anyone concerned to come to Parliament Square on April 21 for a protest initiated by Extinction Rebellion (and already supported by nearly 50 other organisations), which organisers are hoping will attract 100,000 people —too many, I hope, for it to be shut down.

On the 20th anniversary of the illegal invasion of Iraq, I look at the crimes committed by George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Tony Blair and others, and the many failures of the occupation, and contrast their ongoing freedom and lack of accountability with the decision by the International Criminal Court, just three days ago, to issue an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin.

The second of two articles looking at how the Tory government’s vile anti-immigration policies, pursued with such vigour by Priti Patel and Suella Braverman, have their origins in the dangerous isolationism of Brexit, and its unleashing of false and disturbing notions that, post-Brexit, the UK should no longer be constrained by international law. In this second article, I examine the Tory government’s increasingly lawless and heartless approach to immigration — and in particular the small boats crossing the Channel, which refugees are obliged to use because no safe routes exist whereby they can claim asylum — as demonstrated by Priti Patel’s Rwanda plan, and Suella Braverman’s ‘Illegal Migration Bill’, which seeks to criminalise refugees entirely, and which is currently making its way through Parliament.