Green Leader Polanski Calls For Horse Racing To Be Banned

Zack Polanski has been criticised for demanding that horse racing be banned on animal cruelty grounds.

As the country readies for the Grand National this weekend, the Green Party leader was accused of ranting ‘cranky nonsense’ about a sport worth £4 billion to the economy.

The vegan leftwinger is a long-standing critic of all forms of racing, moaning on social media in 2024 that the Aintree showpiece combined ‘gambling and animal cruelty’ as he criticised a Labour MP for placing a bet.

Three years earlier, on the eve of the 2021 Grand National, he wrote: ‘There’s something deeply wrong with society when this is considered a sport. 

‘We need to ban horse racing – and indeed all forms of animal cruelty.’

But it comes at a time when the party is less keen on banning things like hard drugs, with a policy of legalising cocaine and heroin. 

Tory Shadow Culture Secretary Nigel Huddleston said: ‘Zack Polanski’s call to ban our £4 billion horse racing industry is completely out of touch with a key pillar and economic driver of rural life.

‘This would put thousands of jobs at risk at a time when unemployment is rising thanks to this dreadful Labour Government.’

It also comes as Greens privately worry that Mr Polanski’s focus on matters like trans rights and Gaza is putting off longstanding members who want a focus on the environment. 

A source told the Times: ‘We’ve always recognised that we need to not come across as a single issue party to have a wide base of support.

‘But I think at a time when one of our the government’s many errors is the attacks on nature protections that we’re seeing, we could be being a lot more vocal about that.’ 

According to the British Horseracing Authority, the sport supports 85,000 jobs across the UK. 

The Grand National alone contributes £60 million to the Merseyside economy.

The Princess Royal, 75, was pictured in a VIP box, and other celebs in attendance on the first day of the meeting yesterday included former England footballers Michael Owen and Bryan Robson, and ex-Olympic hockey player Sam Quek. 

About eight million people are anticipated to have a flutter on the famous four-mile steeplechase, with many choosing to put money on a namesake horse or one named after a family member. 

Before Mr Polanski became leader last year, the Green Party campaigned at the 2024 General Election, saying it would ‘push for ending the exploitation of animals, including horses and greyhounds in racing’.

Because horse racing involves physical hazards, forced training, and the exploitation of horses for human amusement, it may be deemed a cruel sport. This applies to Greyhound racing as well.

Racehorses face a significant risk of injury and death, and studies show that in flat racing, approximately one horse dies per 1,000 starts, while jump races like the Grand National and Cheltenham Festival have higher fatality rates, with hundreds of horses dying annually in the UK alone.

Common injuries include bone fractures, soft tissue injury, and exercise-induced pulmonary haemorrhage, which can be deadly or necessitate euthanasia, and many horses also suffer from weariness and lameness owing to the very physical demands of racing.

Horses are often whipped during races to enhance performance, which causes pain and can lead to injury. Even padded whips are recognised to inflict suffering, but the rules on whips are frequently violated.

Horses are forced to run regardless of their physical or mental readiness, and they can start training them as early as one year old and racing at two, before their bodies are even fully developed.

It is inhumane to use any animal for amusement, but then I suppose in that context we shouldn’t slaughter animals; the only difference is we kill animals to survive, not for amusement.

During the war, my great-grandmother used to keep chickens in her yard because there was rationing. She used to do this by snapping its neck because they were told it was the most humane way to do it. I personally couldn’t kill anything – I would definitely go hungry! But yes, I do eat meat, but I couldn’t kill an animal, and I have been the owner of dogs and cats, but I would never dream of teaching them tricks for my amusement.

However, consuming meat for food has been part of human diets for at least 7 million years, with evidence of slaughter and meat consumption among early hominins dating back to 2.6 million years ago.

This dietary shift was probably influenced by the need for increased energy intake and the growth of larger brains, which is thought to have played a vital role in human development.

Of course, thoroughbred horses are born to run, but they also graze with other horses. Animals are not for entertainment, and they should be treated with respect.

The thing is, if you start putting prohibitions on things, then you have to put bans on a lot of things, like drugs, but then we could also argue that drugs have been used for over 13,000 years, with evidence of cannabis and opium use discovered in archaeological sites dating back to the 11th century BCE. This suggests that the use of various psychoactive substances has been part of human culture for a very long time, with the earliest signs of drug use discovered in a cave in Mount Carmel, Israel.

 

Michael J Fox Death Claims: CNN Apologises

Back To The Future legend Michael J Fox has addressed a recent “death scare” that emerged after US CNN posted a video claiming he had passed away. He decided to poke fun at the incident, but admitted that he was left baffled at where they got the information from.

The video, entitled “Remembering the life of actor Michael J Fox”, was uploaded on social media on Thursday (April 9). Snaps of the segment rapidly circulated across social media, with many believing the Stuart Little star had in fact died.

However, Fox − who suffers from Parkinson’s disease − was quick to try to suppress the rumours. It comes as Michael continues to desperately search for the guitar he played in the Back to the Future series.

Fox, who appears in the third series of the television hit Shrinking and attended its wrap party on Tuesday evening, questioned his supporters. “How do you react when you turn on the TV, and CNN is reporting your death?” he joked, according to the Mirror.

“Do you…A) switch to MNSBC [a rival to CNN] or whatever they are calling themselves these days, (B) Pour scolding hot water on your lap, if it hurts your fine, (C) Call your wife, hopefully she’s concerned but reassuring, (D) Relax, they do this once every year, (E) Ask yourself wtf?”

The television and cinema superstar, who has been forced to limit his acting commitments after his Parkinson’s symptoms worsened, concluded: “I thought the world was ending, but apparently it’s just me and I’m ok. Love, Mike.”

CNN has subsequently apologised, stating: “The package was published in error. We have removed it from our platforms and send our apologies to Michael J. Fox and his family.”

The tribute is thought to have begun: “He came into our living rooms on the small screen each week as Alex P Keaton and eventually onto the big screen as Marty McFly. But Michael J Fox had a compelling third act as a Parkinson’s sufferer and stem cell research advocate.”

It is reported to have added: “In the end, Fox came to understand that his battle against the disease brought out the best in him.” Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1991 and revealed it publicly in 1998.

He established the Michael J. Fox Foundation in 2000 to fund research into the neurodegenerative condition and has amassed an impressive £1.5 billion in charitable donations. He famously portrayed Marty McFly in Back To The Future, Ben Stone in Doc Hollywood and Mike Flaherty in the TV sitcom Spin City.

He also provided the voice for Stuart Little in the 90s and early 2000s mouse movies. Discussing his health last year, Fox remarked, “I keep getting new challenges physically, and I get through it.

“I roll around in a wheelchair a lot, and it took some getting used to.” He added: “You take the good, and you seize it.”

Before publishing something untrue, CNN should do a fact-check, and the same goes for any other media outlets, but the real question here is, where on earth did CNN get their information from?

Michael J Fox is a lovely man who life has dealt a cruel blow to, but he’s never given up, and he doesn’t need to be rubbished like this, but knowing Michael, he will probably laugh it off.

This man is an inspiration to everyone with Parkinson’s, and the rest of us as well. He’s a fantastic performer, both before and after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and may it continue for a very long time to come.

The Fading Horrors Of Nazi Camps

Germany has launched a £8.5 million drive to send more schoolchildren to visit former Nazi concentration camps like Auschwitz in a frantic endeavour to stop memories of the Holocaust fading.

The initial annual budget has now been doubled to £3 million after emergency backing was secured from a private foundation. The Bethe Foundation has also pledged an additional £8.5 million over five years, allowing the number of trips to the chilling sites to double.

Family Minister Karin Prien warned that as Holocaust survivors are dying, the horror of Nazi crimes is at risk of disappearing from public memory. She said that only direct exposure to Germany’s dark history, by visiting camps like Auschwitz, Treblinka and Sobibor, can truly convey the full scale of the atrocities.

She said: “It is particularly valuable when young people experience history directly and immediately at authentic sites of Nazi crimes and develop a sense of responsibility for our democracy from it. The programmes will be reviewed with regard to target achievement and impact.”

And she added: “Visiting a concentration camp alone doesn’t make someone an anti-fascist or a democrat.” It’s about understanding how such a thing could arise. The Nazi regime of terror and the murder of the Jews didn’t begin in Auschwitz. It began with a gradual process of disenfranchisement, dehumanisation, and expropriation.”

Since 2010, over 40,000 German students have participated in the programme. But officials now hope the expansion will prevent what they fear is a growing detachment from this crucial chapter in the country’s history.

During a visit to Israel in October 2025, Prien emphasised that the problem is also extremely personal for her, revealing that even members of her own family were murdered in Nazi concentration camps. Speaking at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, she described the experience as “always deeply moving”.

Prien is the first German federal minister to talk about her Jewish roots openly while in office. She said every visit to the Holocaust memorial triggers renewed shock, particularly as the number of living survivors continues to fall.

She is now backing plans to establish a Yad Vashem-linked education centre in Germany, with possible locations including the southern state of Bavaria, the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia or the eastern state of Saxony. A definitive decision is anticipated in 2026.

Prien also held talks with Israeli Education Minister Joav Kisch, striving to revitalise the youth exchange programmes which were disrupted by the ferocity of the Gaza conflict, arguing that direct international engagement is now more vital than ever to preserve historical truth.

More than 12,000 young people are expected to visit former Nazi execution camps each year.

It’s a place that everyone needs to go and see at some point in their life, to see it with your own eyes and to feel the essence of wickedness that thousands of Jews experienced; that feeling will stick with you forever, but atrocities happen everywhere, and they should be addressed as well, to show that people very easily forget, and still carry on causing more wars.

Attending these camps, particularly as a young child, undoubtedly sends a very direct message to our kids. No birds fly across the camps; you can hear them outside, but not inside. However, we must remember that what happened in the past does not justify what is happening today.

We have Remembrance Sunday in the UK, but there’s no point remembering if we don’t learn from it. Of course, there will always be Nazis around; they just look different now.

Nobody deserves to be killed in war, and nothing justifies extermination. Nothing justifies seeing mangled children being pulled from rubble, and we must remember that this war that is going on between the Israeli’s and Palestine, and which has been going on for a very long time, and is not justifiable, and the Jew’s should remember the atrocities that happened in the camps – Sobibor, Treblinka, Majdanek, Auschwitz-Birkenau to name a few.

Of course, there will always be Holocaust deniers, arguing that Nazi Germany and its collaborators did not perpetrate genocide against Jews during World War II, but these deniers are all willfully blind – it happened!

30,000 Jewish men were sent to Dachau, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen, and other concentration camps. During the Holocaust, over 100,000 women were imprisoned in Ravensbrück, and there were numerous more. Obviously, when the war ended, and people were liberated, many men and women survived the camps, among them children. Are the deniers trying to tell us that they all got together in one room to get their stories straight? Someone would have slipped up by now!

However, it doesn’t excuse the fact that war is still going on – I’d say Israel, but to me it’s Palestine and always will be!

There is a book that everyone should read called ‘The Freedom Writers Diary,’ by teacher Erin Gruwell. Her students compiled a book out of real diary entries about their lives that they wrote in their English class at Woodrow Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach, California.

The book covers segregation and division, and that is all that war is: segregation and division, and the sheer enjoyment of control by another person or faction. Division refers to the act of separating or splitting something into parts, while segregation involves the separation of people based on certain characteristics, such as race, gender, or religion.

There Was No Guilt In This Sex Murder

On September 14, 2020, 55-year-old Robert DuBoise was cleared of a 1983 killing in Tampa, Florida, almost 37 years after he was arrested for a crime he did not perpetrate.

At 8 a m on August 19, 1983, the body of 19-year-old Barbara Grams was found outside a dental office on North Boulevard in the Tampa Heights neighbourhood of Tampa, Florida.

She was naked except for a tube top that had been yanked below her chest. She had been beaten about her face, and she was clad in blood from scrapes and tears on her neck. She also had bruises on her limbs that appeared to have been made by the force of her attacker’s fingers.

Ms Grams worked at the Hot Potato Restaurant in a shopping centre approximately two miles from where her body was found.

A co-worker told police that she and Ms Grams had closed up just after 9 p m the night before. Ms Grams lived not far from where her body was discovered, and she frequently walked home along busy Buffalo Avenue. 

Two friends told investigators they saw Ms Grams walking along North Boulevard at 9:30 p m., just a few blocks from her house, but by then several blocks south of the dental office.

That led police to think that she might have decided to get a pack of cigarettes at one of the convenience stores clustered at the corner of Buffalo Avenue and North Boulevard. 

At the crime scene, the police discovered several pieces of two-by-four wood with blood and hair attached.

Police thought these were the murder weapons.

Detective Philip Saladino, the lead investigator, also noticed a white circle on a finger on Ms Grams’  left hand that appeared to be a ring mark.

No ring was discovered, and witnesses would later give inconsistent statements about what kind of ring Ms Grams wore and whether Ms Grams was wearing a ring on the night she was killed. Police also gathered fingerprints from a nearby air conditioner and from Ms Grams’ wallet.

Dr Lee Miller, the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner, conducted the autopsy on August 20. He concluded that Ms Grams had died from blunt force trauma to the head, most probably about 11:30 p m on August 18. 

He gathered materials for a rape kit, as well as hair, blood and fingernail scrapings. In addition, he collected vaginal samples of what he called a “white fluid.”

Dr Miller would later testify that he noticed what he believed to be a bite mark on Ms Grams’ left cheek as he was washing the blood from the young woman’s face. He stopped his washing and then swabbed the area with a saline solution to potentially collect saliva that might have been left by her attacker.

Dr Miller called Dr Richard Powell, a local dentist who had been listed as a forensic odontologist by Dr Miller’s office, although Dr Powell was not certified in this speciality.

This would be Dr Powell’s first consultation in a criminal case.

Dr Powell took a Polaroid photo of the mark and told Dr Miller that it might be from someone missing upper front teeth, specifically a left front incisor. Dr Powell said he could see tear marks in the skin. He opined that the six lower teeth of the person who left the bite mark had no gaps.

A few days later, Dr Miller removed a section of Ms Grams’ cheek and put it in formaldehyde, which caused the tissue to shrink by almost 10 per cent. 

Tampa police reached out to Dr Richard Souviron, a dentist in Coral Gables, Florida, who was a top forensic odontologist. Dr Souviron advised Detective Saladino to use beeswax to make bite mark impressions from possible suspects.

These moulds would then be filled with a composite to make a hard cast that could be compared against the photo of Ms Grams’ cheek.

As part of this process, the original beeswax mould was destroyed.

Detective Saladino had access to beeswax because a police captain was a beekeeper. One report would later say that Detective Saladino and other officers might have made as many as 100 beeswax moulds from possible suspects.

Dr Souviron came to Tampa on September 8, 1983, and examined the tissue that Dr Miller had preserved. Like Dr Powell, Dr Souviron said police should look for a suspect with a missing tooth, a large gap between his teeth or a tooth turned to the side.

Very early in the investigation, Detective Saladino spoke with a woman who had worked at a convenience store near the dental office for a few weeks in February 1983. She didn’t recognise Ms Grams, but she told Detective Saladino about several people who “caused problems” at the store. She knew their names only as “Ray, Robert and Bo,” but she led the police toward a nearby house. It was vacant, but there was mail in the mailbox addressed to several people named “DuBoise.”

A records check of that name turned up brothers Victor and Robert DuBoise. Robert was then 18 years old. He had two convictions for minor non-violent offences and was on probation.

On September 25, Detective Saladino met with Robert DuBoise. Mr DuBoise said he had heard Detective Saladino was trying to take bite mark impressions from everyone. He said he had “nothing to hide” and could prove that “he wasn’t the guy who bit that girl.”

Mr DuBoise’s parents told Detective Saladino that they believed both Robert and Victor were home on August 18, but that if they had gone out, it was to go look for their sister, who was reported missing on August 16. 

Mr DuBoise had no gaps in his upper or lower rows of teeth and agreed to give Detective Saladino a dental impression.

Dr Souviron received Mr DuBoise’s cast from a beeswax mould in mid-October, and he told Detective Saladino that Mr DuBoise made the bite mark found on Ms Grams. 

On October 22, 1983, an officer found Mr DuBoise at the Peter Pan Motel and told him that Detective Saladino needed to speak with him. Mr DuBoise arrived at the police station, was then arrested, and charged with murder and attempted sexual battery.

On October 23, Dr Powell made a second mould of Mr DuBoise’s teeth, this time using a sturdier substance than beeswax. It was sent to Dr Souviron, who again said it was his opinion that Mr DuBoise had bitten Ms Grams and left the mark on her cheek.

At the time of Mr DuBoise’s arrest, a man named Claude Butler was also in the Hillsborough County Jail, charged with kidnapping and armed robbery, plus other charges for probation violation and assault on a law enforcement officer. If convicted, he faced a possibility of two life sentences. Both Mr Butler and Mr DuBoise had psychiatric problems, and they were both placed in the area of the jail for prisoners with a mental illness. 

In November 1983, Mr Butler approached Detective John Counsman, to whom he had supplied information in the past.

Detective Counsman introduced Mr Butler to Detective Saladino, and in January 1984, Mr Butler told Detective Saladino that Mr DuBoise had confessed that he, his brother Victor DuBoise, and a friend named Raymond Garcia had raped and murdered Ms Grams after she resisted when they tried to rob her.

Victor and Mr Garcia were never charged. After giving a statement to an assistant prosecutor on April 19, 1984. Mr Butler pleaded guilty to his own charges on May 14. He was sentenced to five years in prison. 

A second witness, Joanne Suarez, told police that Mr DuBoise had said to her in August 1983 that he had killed someone. Ms Suarez also said that she might have seen Mr DuBoise with a ring similar to one worn by Ms Grams.

On February 25, 1985, Mr DuBoise went to trial in Hillsborough County Circuit Court. Just 12 days earlier, another prosecution witness had emerged.

Jack Andrusckiewiecz told police that he was living at the Peter Pan Motel at the time Mr DuBoise was arrested. A few days before the arrest, Mr Andrusckiewiecz said that he had seen Mr DuBoise at a party and that Mr DuBoise had said that he was wanted for murder.

Dr Souviron testified that Mr DuBoise made the bite mark to a “reasonable degree of dental certainty.” During cross-examination, Dr Souviron acknowledged that, at a police chief’s conference in November 1984, he had declared, “If you tell me that is the guy that did it, I will go into court and say that that is the guy that did it.”

Dr Norman Sperber, who was chairman of the bitemark guideline committee for the American Board of Forensic Odontology, testified for the defence that Mr DuBoise should be excluded as the source of the bite mark because there were too many inconsistencies between his teeth and the bite mark allegedly found on Ms Grams’ cheek.

No other forensic evidence linked Mr DuBoise to the crime scene. He, his brother, and Mr Garcia were all excluded as the source of the fingerprints collected from the air conditioner and Ms Grams’ wallet. 

Mr Butler swore that Mr DuBoise had admitted his involvement, saying that he, Mr Garcia and Victor were trying to rob Ms Grams, but she fought back and then yelled out Mr Garcia’s name. (A later investigation would show Ms Grams and Mr Garcia had no connection.)

Mr Butler said Mr DuBoise told him that they forced Ms Grams into a car, drove around, then raped her and killed her.

Mr DuBoise’s attorney tried to discredit Mr Butler, presenting evidence of a wide range of psychiatric medicines Mr Butler was taking while in jail.

Detective Saladino swore that he had never met Mr Butler before Detective Counsman made the introduction. That was not true. A year earlier, Detective Saladino had been part of a sting operation that arrested Mr Butler for burglary and related charges.

Mr Andrusckiewiecz testified about his conversation with Mr DuBoise. At the time of the trial, Mr Andrusckiewicz was also preparing to be a prosecution witness in another murder trial, a case where there was the possibility for him to be charged as an accessory.

He was working closely with the State Attorney’s Office on that case, and his emergence as a witness in Mr DuBoise’s trial came through prosecutors rather than a police investigation. This was not disclosed at trial, and he was never charged in connection with that separate murder.

Ms Suarez gave little testimony. She could not remember much of the events and said she suffered from a traumatic brain injury.

Mr DuBoise did not testify. His mother did and provided an alibi for the night of the murder.

During closing arguments, prosecutor Mark Alan Ober pointed to the strength of the forensic evidence and also vouched for Mr Butler’s credibility, telling jurors that Mr Butler had “received nothing” for his testimony. 

On March 7, 1985, Mr DuBoise was convicted of capital murder and attempted sexual battery. The jury recommended a life sentence, but Judge Harry Lee Coe III overrode that recommendation and sentenced Mr DuBoise to death. 

However, now, after 37 years in prison, Robert DuBoise is suing for his unlawful conviction, claiming that officers conspired with a forensic dentist to put him in jail using unreliable beeswax moulds.

Robert DuBoise, 56, was freed from prison in August 2020 after long-shelved, untested DNA evidence from a rape kit proved he was innocent of the killing of 19-year-old Barbara Grams in Tampa.

To be honest, the dentist and officers belong in prison because I can’t imagine what it must have been like for the poor guy – being charged with something that he didn’t do, and then to be given the death sentence.

The people who caused this man to lose his whole life should be held accountable for their actions. He was in jail for 37 years; no money in the world can buy him back that time, but now he should not have to stress about getting a job or a home to live in. Perhaps now, he can travel and have a life, even a family.

This man was well and truly fitted up, and whoever did this should be in prison because this is sad, and his family never actually got real justice, plus the monster or monsters that did this got away with the crime, and that is just devastating. I just hope that the actual killer is reading this, dreading the day when there is a knock on his door, and honestly, it can’t come soon enough.

I also suspect that after his experience in prison, his life will be permanently changed, and he will probably never view or experience life as a ‘normal’ human being, and what happened will torment him for the rest of his life, but sadly, this is what happens when investigators are more interested in closing a case than solving a case.

Imagine how scared this teenager must have been going to prison for a crime he did not commit – his life was over, and what’s even more tragic is that the public believed he did it and that he was some vile beast, and even though he has been exonerated, this will follow him for the rest of his life, because mud sticks. What they should be doing now is giving him a new name, a new passport, a new life somewhere of his choice so that he can get on with what is left of his life.

AND THIS IS WHY I DON’T AGREE WITH THE DEATH PENALTY, WHATEVER THE CRIME, because people get fitted up, and evidence vanishes – they say it’s an exact science, but it’s not!

Schoolgirl Dragged Across Changing Room By PE Teacher

A PE teacher who dragged a Year 8 girl across a changing room floor because she took ‘too long to tie her shoelaces’ has been spared a classroom ban.

Sports teacher Charlotte Venables grabbed the student by the ankle as she attempted to get her out of the girls’ changing room at Stewards Academy in Harlow, Essex.

The pupil had been sitting on a bench tying her shoelaces when Venables pulled at her, causing her to fall to the floor, a misconduct hearing was told.

She then grabbed the girl by the wrist and yanked her out into the corridor in front of other children.

The Teaching Regulation Agency watchdog heard how she then failed to report the incident to superiors at the secondary school.

Venables acknowledged acting in an improper manner and in a way that might damage the reputation of the profession.

However, she was spared being struck off the teaching register after the panel ruled she had acted ‘entirely out of character’.

Venables claimed she was trying to hurry children out of the changing rooms so lessons could begin.

She said she had been left to lock up both PE changing rooms and had counted down from sixty seconds for pupils to leave.

But when one girl, referred to as Child A, asked for an additional 20 seconds to finish tying her laces, Venables ‘grabbed her trainer and pulled her to the floor.’

Venables was suspended from duty when the girl’s mother complained to the school, saying her daughter had been manhandled ‘while doing nothing more than fastening her shoe.’

In evidence, the teacher accepted her behaviour had dropped far below the standards desired.

Venables said: ‘I recognise that I made an error in judgment in how I responded to the situation in September 2022. At the time of the initial investigation, I did not recall this action.

‘When I was shown the CCTV footage during the disciplinary process, I immediately accepted that it was me and that my conduct was inappropriate.

‘I deeply regret my actions, as they were not in line with the values I hold, nor the standards that were expected of me.

‘Please know that my intention was never to cause harm or distress to the child.

‘However, I fully understand that my approach was inappropriate, and I take responsibility for the negative impact it may have caused.’

The Teaching Regulation Agency concluded that Venables had used inappropriate and extreme force against Child A and had failed to follow safeguarding practices.

To be fair, in my day and age, if that had happened and I went home and told my parents that had happened to me, I would have got a backhander for winding the teacher up that much, but things have changed so much, and this sort of thing happened everyday when I was at school in the 1970s, but then that was when we did have teachers disciplining pupils, not the pupils discipling the teachers.

It’s high time these ‘woke’ organisations started to support their teachers.

The problem is that teenagers won’t learn much from this, other than they can do what they like. School is the coop that we live inside, but when they get out there into the big wide world and wind people up, they then wonder why they get arrested or launched by a bouncer. We all have kids in school like this, but it should be nipped in the bud before it’s too late.

When my parents were at school, blackboard rubbers would be hauled across the classroom at some pupil for doing something wrong. Generally, for being an idiot, and the teacher was at the end of their tether, did they behave afterwards? Normally, they did, problem solved, but there were some that were carted off to reform school.

Local Traders Forced Out By Tax Haven Landlord

Hackney’s iconic street market is under threat again, seven years after its last fight for survival.

There surrounded by bundles of linen packed in plastic cases was a woman sitting inside her market stall on Dalstons iconic Ridley Road market when a woman emerges in front of her to give her a letter and an apology from the indoor market’s landlord which said that she needed to leave by the end of March – she had been running her stall for nearly five years.

She wasn’t the only one to get a visit that day. Over a dozen market traders inside the market hall had received notices from their tax haven-based corporate landlord that their leases were going to end – what they are calling a de facto eviction, and now they are worried about their livelihoods.

There are 13 traders in question who all operate out of the indoor section of Ridley Road market, which was bought by its current landlord in 2016 for £6.5 million. It’s a special space for locals in this corner of Hackney, and lies next to the outdoor market (a different entity), which is managed by Hackney Council.

Since they have been there for years and help the local community, it is obvious that the traders are concerned.

This is not their first battle for these traders; the first endeavour to evict them was in 2018. Larochette tried to submit planning documents that sought to turn the indoor market into a block of offices and luxury flats, but after a spirited campaign with huge community protests, mass media coverage and hundreds of complaints, Larochette’s plans were rejected.

In 2022, an agreement was supposed to have been reached to safeguard its fate. Larochette would refurbish the indoor market, once called Ridley Road Shopping Village, which was suffering from leaks, damp and other extreme neglect after years of decay. 

When it was finished, which was supposed to take six months, Hackney council said it would take over the indoor market’s lease for the following fifteen years, protecting the vendors against further evictions. In addition to the fact that the renovation took three years instead of six months, Hackney Council never assumed the building’s lease as scheduled.

Less than a year after the traders moved into the remodelled building, their survival is once more in jeopardy.

In the letter sent to the traders on 17 February, lawyers representing landlord Larochette Real Estate Inc claimed that they had no choice but to end the leases due to a Met crackdown on worsening antisocial behaviour in the market. Traders would be forced to leave at the end of March, when their annual leases expired.

The Met police, however, contest this. In an email to local councillor Zoe Garbett, the force called the wording in Larochette’s letter “inaccurate”, and denied that they “requested the closure of the indoor market space or issued a closure order”.

“A Community Protection Warning (CPW) was issued, which is the lowest form of enforcement in an ASB and crime setting and was a joint decision between the council and the police,” the force explained. They added that it was “the continued failure of the building owner [to take] reasonable and necessary measures to address safety concerns” that led to the CPW being issued.

Garbett agrees, telling us that Larochette has “misrepresented the police’s position, who have not requested the closure of the building”. She accused the landlord of shirking their responsibilities towards the traders, particularly their promised redevelopment. “I am outraged at this action from Larochette — not only are they proposing to evict traders, again, the way they have communicated this to traders and the public has been totally unacceptable,” she told The Londoner. She called on the council to back the traders and save a central part of the century-old Ridley Road market.

When Rainbow Properties was approached for comment, the agent acting for Larochette, a spokesperson, challenged the Met and Garbett’s position. They claimed they had received two hand-delivered written warnings from the Met, dated 6 February 2026, and threatening “imminent Community Protection Orders as a result of the violence and drug dealing inside the market”.

For traders, who are usually the victims of those doing the antisocial behaviour on the market, being forced out felt like salt in the wound. “Do you know how many times I’ve complained about it?” says Asli Uygur, who’s been running her clothes store in the indoor market for almost a decade. “They’re punishing the victims.”

Larochette is registered in the offshore tax haven of the Virgin Islands, and its listed director is Guy Rafael Ziser. A London real estate developer and landlord, his most visible business is Ziser London, a company established by Guy’s father, Shmuel Ziser, a former Israeli professional footballer who moved to the UK in the early 1980s. But it’s almost impossible to quantify the exact size and value of Guy Rafael’s London real estate empire. He has some 44 different companies he’s listed as a director of, including Rainbow Properties, which manages the Ridley Road market. 

A spokesperson for Rainbow told The Londoner that “the building owner would like to stress that the market is to be closed solely for community safety reasons”. They added that they contested the description of the mass non-renewal of the traders’ leases as “evictions” and stressed that there were “no plans to sell the market for redevelopment”. 

The Trump Show – Breaking The News

I can’t say that I especially like Donald Trump, but I wouldn’t do him any harm either. However, he does like to score political points by calling people names, but then he is a bit of a ‘Dementia Don’, and he loves to stand before an attentive audience.

He enjoys shocking others with his remarks, but it is really a sign of weakness. But you know what the real insult is, when you close your heart off to those that suffer while preaching righteousness from a place of comfort.

He should keep in mind that the truth demands humility, empathy needs action, and love demands bravery. It’s not a performance for the camera. Instead of exchanging insults, he could completely reframe the debate and move the conversation away from politics and toward something far more universal.

We are not perfect, none of us are, but perfection is not the point; understanding is.   

The people want love, not division. Forgiveness, not judgment, and if we can’t reflect on how we treat one another, then we have misconstrued everything, and that’s how we should respond, not with anger, not with bluster, but with clarity and humanity. The loudest voice is not always the smartest, and real strength usually speaks the softest.

Donald Trump should be cautioned about challenging individuals who are far more knowledgeable than he is. The mere fact that he talks does not make him more brilliant.

We should be cautious of wolves in sheep’s clothing, even though Donald Trump appears to have a godlike mindset. He must first learn about acceptance, love, humility, respect, and empathy.

It’s time for everyone on this globe to learn to live in harmony and collaborate. To spend money on time and energy supporting the needy, starving, the sick, homeless and desolate – no more tyrants or dictators!

I’m not a religious person, but I know right from wrong, and I have no time for warmongers, but unfortunately, wars begin with greed and control of another person – they are called overlords, and we have had these people for centuries – it’s time for it to stop!

Peter Kyle Left Squirming

Labour’s Peter Kyle was today left squirming after it was revealed he didn’t know the number of people presently unemployed in Britain.

The Business and Trade Secretary was stumped during a car-crash radio interview on Wednesday morning, as he admitted: ‘I don’t know the exact figure.’

It came amid a discussion on LBC about high levels of youth unemployment, as well as the future of William Hill.

The bookmaker this week confirmed plans to close 200 betting shops, which has put at risk 1,500 jobs.

The parent firm of William Hill has attributed the move mostly to increases in gambling taxes that were announced during Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Budget.

Asked by LBC presenter Nick Ferrari whether he knew how many people were currently unemployed in the UK, Mr Kyle said: ‘Well, I know that there is a challenge with unemployment.’

Pressed again for an answer, the Cabinet minister added: ‘I don’t know the exact figure.’

Asked why, as the Business and Trade Secretary, he didn’t know how many people are unemployed, Mr Kyle replied: ‘My job is to make sure I support businesses in employing as much as possible.’

Ferrari then pointed out to Mr Kyle that 1.87 million people aged 16 and over in the UK are currently unemployed, with the unemployment rate at 5.2 per cent.

He challenged the Cabinet minister over ‘trite nonsense about Labour getting people into employment,’ adding: ‘It’s going completely the other way.’

Mr Kyle responded: ‘The way to get the people into employment is to get a healthy, growing economy. 

‘We have had 10 years that we inherited where there was no growth and high taxation.

‘We had this vice-like grip on the economy where the only way you got more money into public spending was to borrow more, which is what the Tories did. 

‘We had to raise money, invest it, but we also had to do the things that got growth into the economy.

‘We got a grip on the cost of living challenges, and we are investing in getting money into people’s pockets.

‘This is the only way that we will have a sustainable, growing economy that can hire more people in a sustainable way.

‘We cannot lower the unemployment figures unless we have an economy that is growing and businesses that are growing within a growing economy.’

Of course, Peter Kyle doesn’t know. It’s Labour we’re talking about; they don’t appear to know anything, but perhaps that’s not fair – they seem to know how to take money from the workers and give to the shirkers. Can we really sink any lower in incompetence? I’m confident Starmer will try.

Never has a government been so devoid of political talent – third-rate political chancers who know nothing, and you would think that ministers going onto a show would do some research before going in front of the cameras – how many other ministers have been asked questions that they couldn’t answer? I bet he doesn’t even know how many people are in the country. Or they do know how many people are in the country, but they simply haven’t reached their target yet.

Peter Kyle is just another socialist minister who wouldn’t last five minutes in the real world.

There are two common answers from Labour ministers – I don’t know, and it wasn’t my fault, but this is the calibre of fools running our country, so what chance do we have? Clearly, Peter Kyle didn’t read his briefing notes before opening his mouth.

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king, but in his case, he must have cataracts!

The UK’s Pill Panic

Sir Jim Mackey, the head of NHS England, said he and other health bosses were also “really worried” about supplies, which include syringes and gloves.

Iran’s blockage of the Strait of Hormuz and the subsequent need to reroute shipments around the globe have both directly impacted deliveries.

Earlier this month, pharmacy leaders and manufacturers sounded the alarm over the disruption and possible impact on existing medicine shortages.

So far this year, UK pharmacies have struggled to secure supplies of painkiller medication such as aspirin, codeine and co-codamol, as well as antidepressants and HRT.

Cancer medications, including Efudix, a topical chemotherapy cream used to target and kill cancerous and precancerous cells on the skin, have also been difficult to source.

Now, during a phone-in on LBC Radio, Sir Jim confessed: “We are really worried about this.

“We’ve already had a couple of supply shocks in the last 12 to 18 months of key supplies.”

He said there is a team in place to “focus on where the risks might be through the supply chains”.

But, asked what was at risk, he said: “Well, everything, honestly – everything’s at risk.” 

He added: “In every area, we’ve got enough to get through for a reasonable period… so generally, a few weeks.

“Because things perish and it costs money to store and various other things go out of out of use, you can’t hold years and years of supply, generally dependent on the product, we keep a reasonable period.

“Some of that is held centrally, some held locally.”

Asked whether in some instances it would be “weeks’ worth of supply”, Sir Jim replied: “Yeah, it could be days for some products”.

Health leaders are especially concerned about disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial commerce route that serves as a hub for the export of gas and oil.

Traffic through the waterway has plunged, with more than 1,000 cargo ships blocked from passing through the key maritime passage in recent weeks.

Any protracted blockage of the Strait might result in skyrocketing prices for products, energy bills, and inflation in the UK.

Henry Gregg, chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association, said: “We’re not currently seeing shortages of medicine directly linked to the conflict in the Middle East, but pharmacies are seeing disturbing spikes in prices, which can be an early indicator of challenges.

“The Department of Health have issued unprecedented numbers of price concessions designed to cope with price surges, which are likely exacerbated by this current situation.

“The NHS has driven down the price of medicines over many years, which leaves the UK vulnerable in a global market and contributes to the rising problem of medicine shortages, which are a daily reality for many years for our members.

“Pharmacies will always do everything they can to ensure patients get the medicines they need, but they must do this in an increasingly competitive global market.

“The Government needs to ensure both that physical supply routes are protected during this conflict, but also ensure that the NHS is providing sufficient funding to ensure that Britain is not left behind in the international market at a time when both supply and demand for medicines are very challenging.”

This is what happens when the UK becomes a consumer rather than a producer, and our politicians from the last 50 years are to blame, always looking at balance sheets and saying it’s more affordable to buy from abroad; they should bow their heads in shame.

If our government could charge for the air that we breathe, they would – anything for a profit and to put a chink in their pockets.

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