Image by Alisdare Hickson As the Prisoners for Palestine hunger strike enters its 48th day, the eight political prisoners in British jails are now at risk of death. The ongoing "Prisoners for Palestine" hunger strike in British prisons, now exceeding 46 days is the largest protest in UK prisons since the 1981 Irish republican strike. Eight political prisoners, remanded without bail for direct action against Israel-linked arms manufacturer Elbit Systems and a Royal Air Force

QueerAF December 2025 TL;DR: Within one day of each other, the Women's Institute and Girl Guiding both announced they would reverse their trans-inclusive approaches with the “utmost regret and sadness”, citing communications with "references to legal challenge" as one of the reasons as their response to the Supreme Court decision on the definition of a woman under the Equality Act 2010. Two culturally significant women's organisations have reversed long-standing trans-inclusi

Exposing the truth: The real children behind the headlines and the outrage Photograph: Medium 2025 Whenever trans inclusion in Girlguiding comes up, social media fills with dramatic claims about “masses” of trans girls joining, supposedly threatening the very fabric of the organisation. As a parent who has actually looked at the numbers, I wanted to understand the basic question: how many trans girls are we really talking about? The short answer: very few . The long answer: e

These stories come in the aftermath of allegations that a small but mighty cabal of “LGBT reporters” had somehow seized control of the BBC and “censored” right-wing views. BBC // Creative Commons Following a contentious newsroom battle at the BBC over allegations of political bias, it seems the media empire has given way to transphobic rhetoric—canonizing anti-trans talking points in one of the world’s most influential news outlets. This week, the BBC published an article a

The time, energy and money spent protecting the definition of “woman” would be better spent advocating for the vital and crumbling network of organisations that actually protect women, says Herald columnist Marissa MacWhirter Police speak with a protester at a For Women Scotland demonstration outside the Scottish Parliament (Image: Jane Barlow/PA) Scotland doesn’t care about women. The thought travels like heat along a fuse, exploding in a burst of sparks like a firecracker i

Intersex Pride Flag – Morgan Carpenter / Wikimedia Commons A step forward for intersex rights  The UK is one of the 46 member States of the Council of Europe, which has adopted a new Recommendation to member states on equal rights for intersex persons (Recommendation CM/Rec(2025)7). Organisation Intersex International Europe (OII Europe)  have described this as a watershed moment for intersex equality, as "the most comprehensive framework to date for protecting the human ri

MEE can reveal new intelligence which led to ban on Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from Aston Villa game this week Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters at a Uefa Europa League match between their club and FC Midtjylland in Backa Topola, Serbia, on 23 October 2025 (Andrej Isakovic/AFP) Dutch police told their British counterparts that over 200 Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans who wreaked havoc in Amsterdam in November 2024 were "linked to the Israel  Defense Forces [IDF]", and that hund

YouGov poll reveals a large proportion of UK trans people are looking to emigrate within the next 10 years, with almost 40% of younger people considering a move abroad. Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images A YouGov survey has revealed a devastating consequence of the UK’s hostile environment for trans people: an ongoing brain drain of trans talent. A startling 26% of trans adults living in the UK said they were either fairly likely or very likely to be living abroad within the n

Laura Murphy | Professor Laura Murphy says her academic freedom was traded for access to the Chinese student market China waged a campaign of harassment and intimidation directed at a UK university to get it to shut down sensitive research into alleged human rights abuses, documents seen by the BBC show. Sh effield Hallam University staff in China were threatened by individuals described by them as being from China's National Security Service who demanded the research being d

David Lammy seemingly believes Israel and its supporters will always be able to act with impunity – but the status quo surely cannot hold A displaced Palestinian in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, July 2025. Photograph: Hatem Khaled/Reuters A terrible tipping point in Gaza has been reached. The number of people admitted to hospital or dying from starvation has surged . The journalists’ union for Agence France-Presse  (AFP) has issued a statement warning that “withou