Kernow Damo

Right, so the Israeli military has paused its regularly scheduled bombing program of Gaza to moonlight as a film studio, churning out a propaganda reel with Piers Morgan as their surprise villain, amongst others it has to be said. Eylon Levy, ex-Israeli government mouthpiece sacked for getting too big for his britches, but still laying it on thick anyway, decided to take to X and in a sign that he might not have learned very much from his sacking, that Morgan and three other Western journalists were now officially in the IDF's 'crosshairs.' When Morgan replied that foreign journalists should be allowed into Gaza to establish the facts independently, Levy said he would be quite happy to let Piers in. letting him back out, though? He wasn’t so keen to promise that. All in all, it’s very threatening stuff, especially with Israel’s track record against journalists in Gaza already very well documented, so has Israel formally announced that it intends to kill Piers Morgan? Probably not. He has been so helpful to them in other ways and it is far more likely this is just Eylon Levy punching beyond his capacity and yet this threat hasn’t just come from him and threats against journalists from Israel must be taken seriously too. Palestinian reporters have been branded militants or Hamas-linked, then killed, with the evidence produced afterwards by the same army accused of killing them. Hossam Shabat is one such grim example: publicly accused in 2024, killed in a targeted strike months later, with Reporters Without Borders saying the supposed proof of a military role severely lacked substance. Never stops Israel, never stops their defenders leaping to their defence. So no, this is not proof that Piers Morgan is about to be harmed. But it does mean "crosshairs" is harmless banter from people with no record behind them either.

Right, so Camden Labour has built 650 council homes between 2010 and 2025. And in that same timeframe it demolished 500. Net result: 150 additional council homes in fifteen years of Labour rule there. Just ten a year then. Perhaps you think this is the norm for the overly built up London perhaps? Well for comparison, Southwark boasts over 3,000 council houses completed or under construction. In Hackney, 543 council houses for social rent have been built since 2011, and a further 972 council homes are in delivery. Now these figures might not be directly equivalent for one reason or another, but even so, it is still a pathetically small gain isn’t it? This is the housing situation at present. Yet that is the record on which former housing portfolio holder, now leader of Camden Council, Sagal Abdi-Wali is counting on to put her into Parliament. Is that a winning record worthy of advancement to you? Well, she’s not quite selling it that way of course. Her campaign has a rather grander version of events. A gigantic investment figure, thrown next to some new, shiny flats. Now, investing in council housing is obviously important and necessary, we all appreciate the housing crisis we are in. Existing homes also need repairs and maintenance, rewiring, new kitchens, better insulation, and so on and so forth. But improving existing homes isn't the same as increasing the number of council homes. You can’t simply slap a new front door on, wave your bills about and claim that you’ve given birth to another house. That’s not building.

Right, so Donald Trump, in his usual reality-optional style, claims Iran is breaking. The war between America and Iran is still ongoing, a war which Trump claims is about to reach its climax, and Washington has thrown Tehran's latest ceasefire proposal straight in the bin because they hold all the cards. Little Donnie’s business cards, not the ones that actually matter here, but again, reality optional. At the same time though, Tehran now holding pretty much the full deck, is not ready to accept a ceasefire without real guarantees, and commercial ships are still being attacked in the Strait of Hormuz. But the truly unmistakable sign that Iran is going to surrender and they really will this time, is the news that the great orange one is now sending a third aircraft carrier, along with 9,00 Americans air-mailed in for dramatic effect on top, plus the promise of more bombs and the explosion of a supertanker the likes of which even Michael Bay might consider over the top and well, you might be forgiven for thinking that actually the Donald is getting an awful lot more desperate. If this is surrender, I can hardly wait to taste victory. I expect the fourth carrier and a couple of burning oil rigs in party bags will seal it for certain. Most surrenders don't come with a full naval parade from San Diego, or frantic hunting for the last can of diesel all over Europe. But maybe it is the platinum grade surrender, collect all three carrier groups for a free airstrike. Trump wants this to be seen as a glorious triumph. To literally everyone else on the planet who’s brains are not sloshing around behind those squinty eyes, this is a war on steroids. So what is the non-Donnie delusional truth then Damo? Well…

Right, so finally the Greens have gone and done it. Sound the alarm, hide the children, and brace yourself for the tabloid conniption fits, because we all know they’re coming, but so bit it. Bring it on. Zionism is Racism has been passed at Green party Autumn Conference with a majority of 209 votes; 1,022 to 813. Ten votes spoilt. Three amendments that would have weakened the resolution or wrapped it in cotton wool were rejected; the only amendment accepted was the one needed to remove the party's former, incompatible stance on the two-state solution. So this is the way things stand now. The Greens are now officially anti-Zionist. The first major Western political party to be explicitly anti-Zionist. Zionism very much has its own special place in the world of racisms. Now the Green party has taken a lead on this, so that now their right of entry is withdrawn at the door. Now as a Green Party member, I sat through this morning's debate and this afternoons and took part in the votes throughout; it was very emotional, sometimes thoughtful, at times frustratingly bureaucratic. Amongst the debate there were real fears that demanded a real answer and then, of course, there were the usual warnings: lawyers, newspapers, elections, and when that did utterly fail, the old "If you go to a synagogue, better start packing" routine. Members heard the lot. They passed it anyway and decisively. So lets pick the days events apart, because no doubt fearmongering is currently taking over in the usual circles of the Spectator, the Torygraph and those reaching for the tissues around Jonathan Freedland’s desk at the Guardian.

Right, so while Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to make settler violence disappear as fast as possible because the consequences of it are clear to see, an inconvenient truth for him as that is in the eyes of the world, and notably here as the latest attacks see a Palestinian family in Salfit burying Mashhour Shaher Yassin, who was 51 and whom Palestinian officials say settlers shot dead in Yasuf. And as the olive harvest begins, farmers across the West Bank are reporting attacks, stolen crops and being shut out of land their families have worked for generations. That is why Netanyahu’s settler claims right now have disintegrated as hard as they have. It is a family burying a man. It is farmers losing the one harvest they rely on. It is the same pressure and oppression and racism showing up across different villages, all with the same effect: Palestinian life on the land becomes harder, poorer and more dangerous. Olives are food, income and inheritance. Drive a farmer away at harvest time and you don’t just steal a crop. You tell that family their future on that land can be stolen too. Netanyahu is heading towards an election while Israel’s image is being battered by evidence he can’t make disappear nor dismiss out of hand, and his answer to all of it is about to make the whole thing so much worse for him and for Israel, because his answer is not that this isn’t happening. His answer is that it doesn’t mean anything. That it is not settlers. Not a system. Not a political problem he owns. Just a few bad boys. The West Bank's hottest new youth club: BYOG-bring your own gun, leave your conscience at home. That’s who is to blame apparently.