Tag: united kingdom

British committed ‘genocide’ against Aboriginal Australians – inquiry

British colonisers committed “genocide” against the Aboriginal people in the Australian state of Victoria after arriving in the area in the early 1830s, a commission investigating injustices against the indigenous population has said.

The colonization of Victoria, Australia’s second smallest state, located in the southeast of the country, took place between 1834 and 1851.

During that period, its indigenous population suffered “near-complete physical destruction,” falling from around 60,000 to 15,000, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Yoorrook Justice Commission.

The crimes by the British in Victoria included “mass killings, disease, sexual violence, exclusion, linguicide [the death of languages], cultural erasure, environmental degradation, child removal, absorption and assimilation,” it said.

“This was genocide,” the commission ruled after holding more than two months of public hearings and listening to accounts by over 1,300 Aboriginals.

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Britain’s Long History of Spying on Iran

As bombs fell on Iran last month, the U.K. government claimed it had “not participated” in the military action led by Israel and the U.S. 

But British spy agencies have a long history of meddling in Iran, with everything from covert influence operations, to secretly selling chemical weapons materials to the regime.

In one case, the U.K. spy agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) even created a network of fake Twitter accounts to secretly monitor Iranian opposition activists – the very people working to remove supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from power.

Coup

British spies have targeted Iran for decades, driven by commercial profit and regional control.

In 1951, when the country’s secular prime minister, Mohammed Mosaddeq, nationalised the British Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (later known as BP), the British ambassador wrote: “It is so important to prevent the Persians from destroying their main source of revenue … by trying to run it themselves.”

Two years later, the U.K. and U.S. secretly backed a coup to oust Mosaddeq and centralise power under a repressive “pro-Western” regime. 

Declassified files have since revealed the central role played by MI6, which recruited agents and bribed members of Iran’s Parliament. In doing so, one former spy claimed they spent “well over a million and a half pounds”. 

The U.K. and U.S. then supported Iran’s dictator, the shah, for the next 25 years. 

By 1979, the Iranian Revolution saw the establishment of the Islamic Republic led by another dictator, Ayatollah Khomeini. But this did not stop British spies from collaborating with the regime when it was in their interests.

For instance, in 1983, British intelligence provided Khomeini with a list of Iranians allegedly working for the Soviet Union. The intelligence was used to round up over 1,000 communists, as many as 200 of whom were executed. Meanwhile Iran’s communist party, the Tudeh, was banned and forced underground. 

Secret relations were again exploited in the early 1990s, when MI6 helped supply Iran with materials to make chemical weapons — despite its own ban on such sales. 

Britain’s aim was supposedly to use the deals as a way to insert operatives into the Iranian government and gather intelligence about its weapons programmes.

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Spying on Iran: How MI6 infiltrated the IAEA

Leaked confidential files indicate the International Atomic Energy Agency was infiltrated by a veteran British spy who has claimed credit for sanctions on Iran. The documents lend weight to the Islamic Republic’s accusation that the nuclear watchdog secretly colluded with its enemies.

A notorious British MI6 agent infiltrated the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on London’s behalf, according to leaked documents reviewed by The Grayzone. The agent, Nicholas Langman, is a veteran intelligence operative who claims credit for helping engineer the West’s economic war on Iran.

Langman’s identity first surfaced in journalistic accounts of his role in deflecting accusations that British intelligence played a role in the death of Princess Diana. He was later accused by Greek authorities of overseeing the abduction and torture of Pakistani migrants in Athens.

In both cases, UK authorities issued censorship orders forbidding the press from publishing his name. But Greek media, which was under no such obligation, confirmed that Langman was one of the MI6 assets withdrawn from Britain’s embassy in Athens.

The Grayzone discovered the résumé of the journeyman British operative in a trove of leaked papers detailing the activities of Torchlight, a prolific British intelligence cutout. The bio of the longtime MI6 officer reveals he “led large, inter-agency teams to identify and defeat the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons technology, including by innovative technical means and sanctions.” 

In particular, the MI6 agent says he “worked to prevent WMD proliferation through… support for the [IAEA] and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons [OPCW] and through high level international partnerships.”

Langman’s CV credits him with playing a major role in organizing the sanctions regime on Iran by “[building] highly effective and mutually supportive relations across government and with senior US, European, Middle and Far Eastern colleagues for strategy” between 2010 and 2012. He boasts in his bio that this achievement “enabled [the] major diplomatic success of [the] Iranian nuclear and sanctions agreement.” 

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VICTORY! After Four Years and Two Months British Nursing Council Drops Charges Against Dr. Niall McCrae for Publishing His Completely Factual Report on COVID Vaccine Risks on The Gateway Pundit in 2021

In the covid debacle, health professions played a major role in enforcing the official narrative. I can now reveal my experience with the UK Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC), who charged me with contradicting government guidance on vaccination and risking patients’ lives, after writing an entirely factual article on Gateway Pundit.

As a senior lecturer in psychiatric nursing at King’s College London, the NMC was my professional regulator.

When covid vaccines were introduced, I feared that blind faith and propaganda about an oxymoronic ‘miracle of science’ would lead to less impressive and harmful outcomes.

On 4th March 2021, Gateway Pundit published my article ‘British government study confirms Covid-19 vaccine risk’.  The article is linked below. This related to a Public Health England report showing increased infections soon after vaccination, which I attributed to a known phenomenon of temporary depletion in immunity.

Although factually accurate, a fact-check website labeled my article as ‘misleading’. On 8th March I was notified by the NMC of a referral by a ‘Dr Byrne’, who had seen my writing and found me on the register. The NMC began an investigation of my fitness to practise, alleging ‘failure to uphold your position as a registered nurse – in that you promoted health advice contrary to official health advice in the context of a global pandemic’.

From the outset, I was confident that the NMC had no reasonable case against me. I submitted my statement, supported by three experts (physician Helen Westwood, biostatistician Paul Cuddin, and nursing professor Roger Watson.  Cuddin wrote: ‘on the basis that there is consistent, increasing real-world and clinical evidence of increased infections in the two weeks after vaccination, the points raised by Dr Niall McCrae need to be addressed as a matter of urgency.’

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Silenced for Defending Colleagues: The Police Free Speech Fight Heating Up in the UK

Richard Cooke, the former chair of the UK’s West Midlands Police Federation, is preparing a legal challenge after being removed from office over comments he made defending his police force. Backed by the Free Speech Union, Cooke argues that his removal was an attack on his right to represent the views of officers.

The dispute began when Cooke responded on X to a Channel 4 News report that described racism and misogyny as widespread within West Midlands Police.

Cooke wrote: “I don’t recognize these attitudes. They do not represent us – we are an anti-racist organization.” In a separate post, he said: “Nonsense – and so was the report but these reporters rarely bother checking their sources.”

Following these posts, the Police Federation of England and Wales suspended Cooke.

The Federation barred him from seeking re-election for three years. According to the Federation, his comments risked alienating members who had experienced discrimination.

A spokesperson said: “Richard Cooke was removed from his role as Chair of the West Midlands Federation branch following an extensive process, which included an appeal. He was investigated following complaints from members about comments on social media which were judged by a panel of his peers to have been in breach of the Federation’s standards.”

The complaints came from two officers who appeared in the Channel 4 show. Cooke’s appeal was rejected after a hearing that he was not permitted to attend. His exclusion from the ballot led to a change in the Federation’s leadership.

Cooke had been elected chair three times since 2018. He describes his removal as a political decision intended to silence him.

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Pride group founder, 42, who raped a 12-year-old boy he met on dating app Grindr is jailed alongside his partner

The founder of a Pride group who raped an ‘extremely vulnerable’ boy who he met on Grindr has been jailed for 24 years.

Stephen Ireland, 42, who co-founded Pride in Surrey in 2018, raped the child at the flat he shared with his then partner and co-defendant David Sutton, 27, in Addlestone on April 19, 2024.

Ireland had arranged for the 12-year-old boy, referred to in court as Child A, to meet him at his flat after messaging on dating app Grindr, the court heard.

The boy, who had been reported missing at the time, told police they had sex in the flat.

The boy said they also smoked a bong which was later found to have contained methamphetamine, and that pornography was played on a laptop.

Judge Patricia Lees, sentencing at Guildford Crown Court on Monday, told the hearing Ireland ‘took advantage’ of a vulnerable child.

She said: ‘Stephen Ireland is a man who prided himself on being versed in and highly alive to the vulnerabilities of young people linked to the Surrey Pride organisation he was at the time pivotal to.

‘A was quite obviously to any adult an extremely vulnerable child who was highly sexualised.

The court heard the boy had initially told Ireland he was aged 17 – but when he later claimed to be aged 13, Ireland replied: ‘OK – we just have to keep it a secret.’

‘Your response was telling,’ Judge Lees told Ireland, who sat in the dock dressed in a large red T-shirt and showed no emotions throughout the hearing.

‘Far from finding that repugnant, you found that exciting, and sought to do it again.’

In a Telegram chat that took place after their encounter, Ireland sent Child A a message in which he described his age as ‘naughty and kinky’, the court heard.

On the same day, Ireland asked the boy if he would have a threesome and sent the child pictures of himself and Sutton.

Jurors heard that Ireland sent a picture of Child A to Sutton, describing him as a ’14-year-old baby’ who ‘wants to play with men’s bodies’, and the pair exchanged messages about the child.

Ireland along with Sutton, who was a volunteer for Surrey Pride, were found guilty of a string of sexual offences against children including voyeurism, arranging commission of a child sex offence, and possession of prohibited images of children, after a trial at Guildford Crown Court earlier this year.

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Police unveil ‘revolutionary’ new handheld gadget that captures even slightest bruising on domestic abuse victims for use as evidence

‘Groundbreaking’ new technology will allow police to properly capture bruising on domestic violence victims using a handheld gadget.

Britain’s biggest force is today unveiling the device which will allow frontline officers to gather forensic-grade material that can be used as evidence in court within minutes of first contact.

Project Archway uses cross-polarisation to eliminate glare on the skin and enhance visual contrasts to identify bruises invisible to the naked eye.

Previously, officers often faced challenges in capturing visible evidence of bruising – particularly on darker skin tones and during the early stages of injury.

But the technology, developed in-house by the Metropolitan Police, is closing this gap and the force said it is already improving outcomes for victims.

A 33-use pilot in south London resulted in charges for 45 per cent of the cases.

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The UK’s Crackdown On Pro-Palestine Activists Has Reached New Orwellian Levels.

For years, the UK government has attempted to crack down on the activist group “Palestine Action”, due to their disruption of the Israeli arms manufacturing plant Elbit Systems, which manufactures weapons used to slaughter civilians in Gaza.

The UK government has consistently coordinated with officials from Elbit Systems to assure them that it will crack down on pro-Palestine protests.

As the Guardian has reported , because many court cases have led to “Palestine Action” activists being “acquitted for in the past with human rights defenses” UK government officials met with representatives of Elbit Systems to “reassure” them that they would crack down harder on the protests.

As the independent outlet Declassified UK reported, in 2022, “then home secretary Priti Patel met privately with Martin Fausset, the CEO of Elbit Systems UK, to ‘discuss protests and security’, Home Office documents revealed that the purpose of the meeting was to ‘reassure… Fausset that the criminal protest acts against Elbit Systems UK are taken seriously by the Government’”.

As journalist Kit Klarenberg reported, soon after this meeting, a UK court “ruled that human rights defenses could only be relied on in cases of vandalism of public property, not in cases where criminal damage has been caused to private property. Because Elbit is a private company, the Attorney General’s Office used this determination to dramatically increase prosecutions of Palestine Action activists.”

The Guardian also reported that this meeting with Elbit Systems was “attended by a director from the Attorney General’s Office, said to be representing the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).”

Tim Crosland from the Defend Our Juries group said “These disclosures, despite the extensive redaction, are the smoking gun on what has been obvious for a while: the government has been trying to put a stop to juries acquitting those who expose and resist corporate complicity in violations of international law and mass loss of life. Such political interference is a national scandal that goes right to the top – the corruption of democracy and the rule of law by those with wealth and power”.

The UK federal government has also coordinated with local police in an attempt to crack down on Palestine Action protestors, even giving a direct line of communication between Elbit Systems and UK police.

As Declassified UK reported, after “Palestine Action” activists disrupted an Elbit Systems drone factory in Leicester in 2023, “Britain’s policing minister Chris Philp held a briefing with Leicestershire police’s deputy chief constable regarding the ‘ongoing protests’”.

Notes from the meeting state that there were “Pushes for remand of those arrested and supports proactive action, show of police and clear[ly] expects us to be taking action against those that commit crime. Focus not on peaceful protestors and facilitating that but on the company”.

Another police file showed that Elbit Systems even shares intelligence on protestors with UK police, as Declassified UK reported, “Elbit Systems UK has ‘its own intelligence cell and shares[s] information with the Police across the country on a two weekly basis’, a police file observes.”

Along with Elbit Systems, the Israeli embassy in the UK has pressured the UK government to crack down on Palestine Action protests.

As the Guardian reported in August of 2023, “Israeli embassy officials in London attempted to get the attorney general’s office to intervene in UK court cases relating to the prosecution of protesters”.

The Guardian found that “The papers, obtained through a freedom of information (FoI) request by Palestine Action, indicate that embassy officials pressed for the director general of the attorney general’s office (AGO), Douglas Wilson, to interfere in cases related to protests on UK soil.”

Since the genocide in Gaza began, the UK government has gone further with its crackdown on Palestine Action activists.

In August of 2024, UK police arrested and charged 10 Palestine Action activists for entering an Elbit Systems facility in Filton, Bristol.

Documents have strongly suggested that the Israeli embassy interfered in the investigation into the Filton activists arrested.

As the Guardian reported in early September of 2024, the head of international law at Britain’s Attorney General’s Office, Nicola Smith, sent the contact details of the CPS (Crown Prosecutorial Service) and Britain’s counter terrorism police (SO15) -who investigated the Filton case- to the deputy Israeli ambassador to the UK, Daniela Grudsky Ekstein.

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UK rap duo faces ‘hate crime’ probe over anti-genocide chants at Glastonbury

British authorities have launched a criminal investigation into the Glastonbury Music Festival performances of Kneecap and Bob Vylan, UK police announced on 30 June.

During their performance at the festival on Saturday, punk-rap duo Bob Vylan led tens of thousands in a chant of “Death, Death to the IDF,” in reference to the Israeli military that is committing genocide in Gaza, and “Free, Free Palestine.”

Avon and Somerset Police stated that a criminal investigation is now underway, citing hate crime laws.

“A senior detective has been appointed to lead this investigation,” a police spokesperson said. “This has been recorded as a public order incident at this time while our enquiries are at an early stage.”

The investigation will be “evidence-led and will closely consider all appropriate legislation, including relating to hate crimes,” the statement added.

Following the concert, US authorities revoked Boby Vylan’s US visas. The artists were also dropped by their agent at the US-based United Talent Agency.

Irish-language rap trio Kneecap took the stage next despite calls for them to be banned from performing. A member of the group, rapper Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, is facing a terror charge after displaying a flag in support of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah at a performance in London last November.

The criminal investigation comes as the UK continues to crack down on pro-Palestine speech, journalism, and activism.

On Monday, the UK campaign group Palestine Action announced that it had launched legal proceedings to block the British government’s move to proscribe the group under anti-terror laws, a step that would make membership a criminal offense.

The legal challenge follows Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s announcement that she plans to place Palestine Action on the UK’s list of banned organizations, citing what she called the group’s “long history of unacceptable criminal damage.” 

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Preventing ‘Grooming Gangs’ Requires Honest Data 

We need to talk about the failure to collect and provide data about the offenders connected to the grooming gangs—or what is more accurately described as child sexual slavery and enforced child trafficking. 

Despite having signed and ratified the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (‘the Istanbul Convention’) which, in article 11, requires the UK authorities to collect and make public such data, we have an intelligence picture that is so bad it suggests the truth is being deliberately obscured to hide the true scale and nature of these horrors.

As highlighted by Baroness Casey’s report of 16 June 2025, ‘the system has consistently failed to … collect accurate data so it can be examined effectively… [i]nstead flawed data is used repeatedly to dismiss claims about “Asian grooming gangs” as sensationalised, biased or untrue.’

It should not have taken Baroness Casey’s review to highlight this. Any intelligence professional worth their salt will tell you it is fundamental to tactical and strategic doctrine to understand the threat before acting. Given estimates of 250,000-1,000,000 children may have been targeted over several decades, this scandal undeniably represents the greatest domestic intelligence failure in our nation’s history.

Every year the Ministry of Justice releases criminal justice statistics. Unfortunately, they are inherently misleading. In 2010, the ethnicity of offenders was recorded 94% of the time for potentially relevant offences. Each year this number was reduced and by, 2023 ethnicity was only recorded in 67% of cases. The result? The data is meaningless and no professional intelligencer would allow confident assessments to be made. Baroness Casey said as much.

This has not stopped organisations like The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse, incidentally funded by the Home Office, from producing glossy yearly reports—including the 2023 edition that stated 90% of offenders were white—which then do the rounds to obfuscate and deny the scale and scope of abuse: see former MP Lucy Allan’s comments about Baroness Saida Warsi’s orders to bury the scandal. 

There are two fundamental issues with using this data: The first is that the raft of relevant offences, e.g., rape of a child under 13, could apply to child sexual abuse in any setting, which prevents any understanding of how many instances of child sexual slavery and enforced child trafficking occur and which ethnicities, if any, are over-represented.

The second is that, even if there were relevant offences, there appears to have been a deliberate policy shift to not collect ethnicity data—if not outright manipulation— and, even in the event that a particular offence could be identified, no confident assessments could be made. It is suspected that this stems from misguided legal counsel interpreting Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010—the implementation of which coincided with the sharp decline in ethnicity data collection—which requires the public sector to ‘foster good relations’ between different races, including the need to ‘tackle prejudice’.

Even the Police’s new ‘Hydrant Programme’s’ approach to data is bizarrely inept. Any remotely professional operation tasked with tackling and understanding this behaviour would have put data collection at its core as part of its intelligence function. Yet on June 3rd, 2025, we found out that only 31% of suspects had their ethnicity recorded. Despite this, Deputy Chief Constable Becky Riggs, who is, we were told, the police lead on grooming in England and Wales, went on BBC Newsnight telling the nation that ‘we can only go with the data’ and that it was ‘not true’ that these crimes were being committed by predominantly British Pakistani men. Even though Pakistani men were massively over-represented in that data, it was wrong of her to make her statement. The correct thing for her to say was ‘We simply cannot know because we are not collecting enough data’ and then to promise on national television to collect the data.

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