@drbenwhitham.bsky.social
Senior Policy and Research Officer at Refugee Action | Research Associate at SOAS | Assistant Instructor at Tiger Crane Kung Fu, London | Trade unionist, martial artist, antifascist. Views my own. https://www.soas.ac.uk/about/ben-whitham
“Under the cover of an existential war against the Palestinians, Israel is accelerating measures that alter Jerusalem’s demographic composition, religious character and legal status” - UN experts warn against the irreversible ‘de-Palestinisation’ of Jerusalem www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...
Dear Shabana,
Let's clear some things up around migration and remember we're talking about people's lives.
But you mustn't call them racist, apparently...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Whether they call it a "difficult system", as Shabana Mahmood does today, or a "hostile environment", as Theresa May did in 2012, Labour and the Conservatives are equally committed to regressive, reactionary, and racist immigration policies that do nothing but harm to the UK and its communities.
Today is a dark day for anyone who believes in sanctuary in the UK.
People who've fled war and torture should be able to rebuild their lives in peace and security - not live under a constant threat of removal.
We must not stop fighting these appalling anti-refugee laws.
"Everything is politics...You don't get to make art in a fascist state"
CMAT delivering, mar is gnách. 👏
(Same goes for sport btw)
#Speirgorm
I was at the count in Gorton and Denton last night and we all saw Matt Goodwin eat ballot papers. His girlfriend and team begged him to stop but he kept stuffing it into his mouth and making grunting sounds like the Cookie Monster
A month later, a resounding Green victory in Gorton and Denton, and the same media are acting like this was completely unpredictable and can only mean pure chaos is coming for us all (bc people couldn't possibly actually *want* something other than more racism and poverty)
should be bigger news that the campaign manager for matt "black + brown ppl aren't brits even when born and raised here" goodwin has been suspended by his racist party for posts too explicitly racist for them. but it's a minor, buried story presumably bc most media are ok with reform winning gorton
Thanks to extreme process-as-punishment measures, many people have suffered greatly for defying this ban, even if they have not been convicted, or will now have their convictions quashed.
It all points to a very grim conclusion: democracy in the UK is being stifled.
By a Labour government.
Nearly 3,000 peaceful people have been arrested under this outrageous ban.
It was brought in after lobbying by arms companies and Netanyahu's government.
It has been condemned by UN rapporteurs and many other experts.
All the while, our government has been collaborating in real state terrorism.
such democracy! so liberal!
Well, that's pretty certain to violate a number of international laws. What it isn't going to do is stop people seeking asylum in Europe, just as the EUs latest spectacularly inhumane "offshoring" proposals won't. All it does is shift routes, likely to even more dangerous ones which cost more lives.
I just completed this consultation. I’m disgusted at the extreme and punitive changes being proposed and I am also incensed at the grossly punitive and divisive way the consultation itself is structured /-/ questions focus either on how much should we further punish migrants,
Israel is a top 10 global arms exporter. In 2024 arms exports rose to $14.9 billion, with 54% of those purchases made by Europe (MOD data). The UK spends millions of pounds each year on “battle-tested” arms from Israeli companies.
This 👇 is what "battle-tested means".
Good to see some Labour MPs showing a backbone, but the problems with these proposals on settlement aren't limited to being applied retrospectively: they also favour the well-off, discriminate vs disabled people, women & people with caring responsibilities and are probably unworkable
"The proposals would extend insecurity for families, with damaging consequences for integration, educational opportunities and child poverty." @ippr.org
Pushing more people onto this punishing route will only entrench the hardship people in our community already face. This is not the answer.
The Cranston Inquiry into the deaths of at least 30 people in the Channel in November 2021 today reported that "There was a widely held belief among HM Coastguard personnel that callers from small boats regularly exaggerated their level of distress". This is evident in emergency call transcripts.
“Half a million people we live with every day, at the market, on the bus, at our children’s school. People who care for our parents, work in the fields, who have built, hand in hand with us, the progress of our country”.
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...
The way he stresses that people protesting the genocide of Palestinians joining the Green party will change its "complexion" is... well, "dog-whistle" would imply a level of subtlety that's just not there.
"I'm coming to Boston and I'm bringing hell with me."
--Homan in February
"Do I expect violence to escalate? Absolutely."
-- Tom Homan in March
"I actually thought about getting up and throwing that man a beating right there in the middle of the room"
-- Homan in July, referring to a D congressman
Couldn’t access? That’s a baby with a stuffie.
She was denied access — killed — by agents of the US government who hold babies in detention & torture them to death. Sickle cell is horribly painful.
If this is what passes for decency among politicians there really is no hope for us.
SHAME.
The newly announced Reform candidate for Gorton and Denton, echoing Enoch Powell's explicit racism a couple of months ago. For these white supremacists, UK citizenship is merely a "piece of paper", and Black and Brown people will never be *truly* British.
the Greens are the clear favourite with all bookies to win Gorton and Denton, but the story everywhere is Labour "gifting" the seat to Reform by blocking Burnham - apparently it doesn't matter that this is not a reflection of reality, since it better fits the established media line
"Up to 380 people may have drowned attempting to cross the Mediterranean last week". The West's normalisation of the mass death of black Africans (because that is predominantly who these people are) will never be less than devastating.
This would not happen in a democracy, which is why, if we are serious about our commitment to it, we must accept we do not currently live in democracies and that moving towards such a system would require radical change rather than faith in the status quo
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
According to IOM Libya, 394 people were intercepted and returned to Libya from 11 to 17 January 2026.
📣A reminder that people pushed back to Libya by EU-funded Libyan authorities are sent to detention centres, where they face exploitation, trafficking, forced labour, and sexual violence.
ICYMI over the weekend @hebagowayed.bsky.social and I made the case for abolishing ICE in @us.theguardian.com.
It’s not controversial to say an out of control agency that tear-gasses kids and shoots moms in the head shouldn’t exist. It’s basic decency.
"Mr Prime Minister, the President of the US is continuing to threaten a NATO ally, what do you say?"
"Zack Polanski and Ed Davey should stop posting on social media and be more like Kemi Badenoch"