Lloyds Cut Off The Canary’s Cash; Only The ‘Wrong’ Outlet Noticed

Lloyds Cut Off The Canary’s Cash; Only The ‘Wrong’ Outlet Noticed

Right, so Lloyds, one of the biggest banks in Britain, has cut off The Canary from its own cash. This isn’t demonetising a YouTube video. Not suspending a social media account. Not sending one of those cheery little “we’re updating our terms” emails that everyone deletes while making tea. A bank account. The thing a media outlet needs to pay staff, pay contractors, take donations, pay bills, and keep the lights on. The Canary says Lloyds cut off access to its funds. It says it was given no warning. It says it was given no explanation. And it says the damage was immediate. We do not know Lloyds’ reason. It seems no matter how often they are asked, they don’t want to answer. So it’s no good pretending we can read Lloyds’ mind through the vault door, but we will debate the matter and the longer they take to justify their action, the worse it still looks for them, social media full of comments in regards to boycotting them and their subsidiaries. A bank holds the money, a news outlet says it has been cut off from it – their own money - and Lloyds has still not publicly explained why, so functionally it looks like theft doesn’t it? They’ve got your cash, won’t give you access to it, won’t tell you why. But it isn’t just Lloyd’s we should be critical of here, because the only mainstream televised broadcaster to cover this story, actually treating this as a debanking story, is GB News. Yes. GBeebies. Covering The Canary. On debanking and why it should concern us.

Israeli Raid In Syria Left Something Behind; Now The Locals Have It

Right, so Israel invaded Syria and lost the phone. Not a metaphor. Not a joke. Well, it is a joke, unfortunately for the IDF, tiny violin time again, but it’s also the news. Israeli forces went into Abdin, in southern Syria’s Daraa province and the locals said to themselves we’re not having this. Residents blocked roads. Stones were thrown. Young men and boys were apparently among those throwing them and the IDF ran away. The soldiers had to pull back amid the confrontation, and then one classified military communications device somehow ended up exactly where a classified military communications device is not generally meant to end up: with Syrian civilians. So yes, they lost something. Boy did they lose something. Not a lunchbox. Not a water bottle. Not one of those little morale patches soldiers collect so they can look tactical on Instagram, the IDF equivalent of the boy scouts, if the scouts did a most amoral army badge. A classified military communications device, which basically amounts to a Samsung phone by the look of it. But it’s all encrypted, so I’m sure all the classified intelligence on it will be safe right? Right? A heavily armed force entered a Syrian village, hits local resistance, had to pull back amid the confrontation, and then Israeli sources themselves had to explain why a rather important bit of their kit had gone missing. So much for elite security doctrine. Mum I’ve lost my phone! Complete with state secrets on it perhaps? I wonder if the scouts do a most incompetent army badge instead?

Lebanon’s Parliament Does What Its Government Won’t; Israel’s Dodgy Deal Dead?

Right, so Israel has got itself a shiny new Lebanon deal. A ceasefire deal. A de-escalation deal. A Washington-backed framework, which means they don’t need to cease firing at all. Very serious people have apparently been very seriously working on this, which is always comforting, isn't it? Nothing says peace quite like a conference table full of people who won't be anywhere near the blast radius. But then of course this is what south Lebanon actually gets out of this isn’t it? Diplomatic breakthrough? Don't make me laugh. That is what a peace framework looks like when it hits the ground face-first. So before anyone starts wafting the word "calm" around like air freshener in a burning kitchen, let's be clear what this story actually is. Israel has a deal it wants to sell as security. Washington has a framework it wants to sell as diplomacy. Lebanon has smoke in the sky and explosions on the ground and too much of people’s everyday lives are in flames, a Parliament Speaker doing his best Ian McKellen impression and saying to this deal “you shall not pass!” And an annex full of terms and conditions and exceptions in the background. But the first thing that really matters after the explosions isn't another Israeli spokesman telling us how responsible they are and how moral their ceasefire busting army is. That particular circus horse has been doing that lap for years, it’s spent. What matters is what happens when this deal hits Lebanese politics, or more specifically when it comes to be debated, because it’s all well and good Joseph Aoun’s government signing southern Lebanon away in effect, Lebanon is a democracy, and that still has to get through their parliament.

Starmer Builds An Israel Trap; Then It Gets Awkward

Right, so this is one of those stories where the danger isn't wearing a helmet, waving a flag, or kicking someone's door in at six in the morning. It's sitting in a Bill. Nice and quiet. Grey paper, serious title, national security sprayed all over it, but not in a nice way, more like a skunk. Starmer seems to be thinking just how much authoritarian borderline fascist policy can I ram through before handing over to Andy Burnham, and so his government is pushing a State Threats Bill, and the sales pitch is exactly what you'd expect: Russia, China, Iran, hostile powers, urgent threats, but don't worry your little heads about the wording. Yeah you, let me decide what I’ll worry about thank you very much Keith. And it’s in the House of Lords that the nasty bit of this has been pointed out. Information. Not money. Not weapons. Not formal support. Information. The thing journalists ask for, the thing aid workers need, the thing war reporting is actually built out of. And then it gets even more awkward, because the government says this whole proscription-style state-threats machine comes from Jonathan Hall's recommendation, Jonathan Hall KC and for those of us familiar with Johnathan Hall KC, the alarm bells are very much ringing. His public record on Israel, protest and terrorism law is not exactly what I’d call neutral.

They Don’t Need To Ban The Canary If They Can Debank It

Right, so The Canary has just been debanked and this is something that should raise immediate alarm bells with all of us. An independent media outlet has just had its banking services withdrawn. A fundraiser is now being launched to help keep it going, and I’m covering this because when an independent media organisation is financially cut off like this, we are looking at something much bigger than one outlet having a bad week with a bank, because we’ve seen too much of this going on, certainly at individual levels, but this is a whole other ball game and as independent media as well, this could literally happen to any of us, hence the importance of those who support us and as such we support each other too. Obviously, facts matter here. The appeal process depends on them being known, but the democratic issue, much easier to talk about at this early stage ought to be obvious already. Debanking means a bank or payment provider withdraws financial services from you. That can mean an account closed. It can mean payments blocked. It can mean access disrupted. It can mean donation routes interrupted. It can mean the basic financial plumbing of an organisation suddenly stops working properly. Think what it would mean to you to find yourself in a position where you had no access to money. What would you do? And for a media outlet, that is the same only amplified. That is survival.