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We've been tracking culture war attitudes in the UK in a major series of studies with Ipsos since 2020 - and our latest survey shows a frightening increase in the sense of national division and decline in the UK.

Two-thirds of those surveyed think the UK is now divided by culture wars, up from just 46% five years ago. Half now say that we're changing too fast and would like the country to be the way it used to be, both up from around a third in 2020. This comes together in 84% of Brits thinking the country is divided, the highest level we've ever measured.

These are big shifts in a short time, and they have accelerated markedly in the last couple of years. In our previous studies, perhaps the most surprising, and heartening, element was that we weren't seeing increased tension, despite increasingly divisive politics, media and social media.

That's now changed - but why?

First, the fact this is a recent change points to it not being only about the economic situation. We haven't had great economic or living standards news for years, so it won't account for the shift. Of course, economic realities and our own finances are definitely vitally important factors - where if people felt better off, there would be less cause for resentment and sense that it's a zero-sum game, where others are taking your share.

But too much focus on these drivers echoes the Brexit debate, where the Remain side emphasised the economic case, which talked past a large proportion of the public who were more concerned about how the country was changing, with immigration levels at its heart.

The BBC's Attempts to Appease the 'Right-Wing Coup' Against It Are Now Seeding Its Own Destruction

By attempting to appease those forces seeking to destroy them, the BBC has helped trigger a crisis that now threatens its very future, argues Adam Bienkov

Adam Bienkov

The net migration figures did spike to extremely high levels in 2022 and 2023, so there has been a real change that coincides with increased concern: our study shows the highest sense of tension between immigrants and people born in the UK that we've measured.

But this does raise the question of whether this increasing sense of division is a bottom-up expression of genuine concern from the public, or whether it's created or encouraged top-down, through increasingly extreme rhetoric in the media, social media and politics. This echoes a long debate among US academics on whether their culture wars were started and cemented from the bottom or the top - and the end conclusion is that it's a bit of both.

So, rhetoric does seem to matter - and it's very clear that it has become more extreme. Views that would have been moderated and taken down from social media platforms a year or two ago no longer are. There is increasingly solid academic evidence for what we can all see in our own experience of platforms and politics - that our information environment has become more extreme and divisive. And there is very solid evidence that exposure to those extreme views does shift individual attitudes and moves the social norm.

Within this overall increased sense of division, we're also now seeing incredibly different perspectives across party lines and age groups. Three-quarters of Reform supporters say there is a "great deal" of tension between immigrants and people born in the UK, twice the level of Labour, Lib Dem and Green supporters. Six in ten young women say that transgender rights have gone as far as they should or have not gone far enough, while six in 10 older men say transgender rights have gone too far.

We now have a political structure that gives a clear home to views that were less clearly defined previously, with the rise of Reform a particularly vital shift. Again, the impact of Reform is not unlike our experience of the EU referendum, where the Brexi...

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We surely all have our own thoughts and feelings about the BBC during its current hour of need. However, here in the UK there are very few who would agree with Donald Trump's spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, that the BBC is "100% fake news" and a "propaganda machine."

Indeed when last surveyed by pollsters IPSOS, 57% of respondents said they would turn to the BBC as the one news outlet they trust the most, albeit this figure appears to be on the slide.

And yet Leavitt and her boss have clearly now played a significant part in bringing about the removal of the Corporation's Director General Tim Davie and its News CEO Deborah Turness.

Davie had no real feel for news and current affairs but was irritated and eventually worn out by it. The ex-Procter & Gamble, plus Pepsi, brand guy would have been instrumental in creating a brand statement which proclaims: "The BBC is a bridge between us. A common ground. A reflection of who we are. It belongs to every one of us." Now that may sometimes work with programmes like The Archers, Celebrity Traitors or the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games.

But BBC News and Current Affairs is necessarily not about cuddly togetherness and consensus. It can never be a televised speaker's corner, however many phone-ins or episodes of Any Answers it airs. The audience cannot control the message, even when they don't like hearing it.

The BBC's Attempts to Appease the 'Right-Wing Coup' Against It Are Now Seeding Its Own Destruction

By attempting to appease those forces seeking to destroy them, the BBC has helped trigger a crisis that now threatens its very future, argues Adam Bienkov

Adam Bienkov

Nowadays, hundreds of pressure groups with their own individual axes to grind believe they are justified in relentless shelling of the BBC.

It's the softest of targets and loves agonised navel-gazing. Has any media organisation ever spent so many thousands of hours in masochistic self-analysis? It lacks the will and the mentality to fight back. Has it ever tried to sue anyone? A rare exception to this is the extraordinary writ for libel taken out against the journalist Owen Jones by its Middle East Online editor Raffi Berg.

In my small way, I found myself on the receiving end of this a number of years ago when presenting the BBC Radio 4 show In Business as a freelance journalist. I made the schoolboy error of tangling with Conserative to UKIP defector MP Douglas Carswell over Brexit on Twitter.

Quick as a flash, he made a formal complaint and I was hauled up in front of my producer, told my opinion had no place and given the door-stopper Editorial Guidelines to read for my homework. Carswell, incidentally, who currently resides in Mississippi, in September of this year posted "let's make England Abdul-free" as his response to the migration debate.

It's been forced over recent years to offer an impartial, "unbiased" line on everything. This can sometimes reach ludicrous levels, to the point where if someone appears on air and declares the world is round, you half expect the presenter of the programme to chip in with "of course there are many who believe the world is flat." Whether it's the genocide in Gaza, or Climate Change, this approach has led to some absurd journalistic gymnastics.

It is the job of the journalist to cut through influence-peddling and disinformation and present truths. However, we now live in a world where no longer do we hold truths to be self-evident; we hold all truths to be self-evident. Even the ones that aren't.

The producers of The Panorama programme may have made an error by splicing together Trump's January 6th speech, but the fact remains that he was indicted for incitement. And he's been guilty of far worse things since. It's also worth noting that Trump's ratings, while low in the US, plumb the depths here in Britain ...

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When Boris Johnson was Prime Minister one of his senior advisers confided to me that one of the only things in politics his boss actually cared about was "killing off the BBC".

Five years on, and it is a campaign that appears to be finally coming to fruition.

Just last week, as the corporation came under sustained attack by the combined forces of Donald Trump's White House and the Conservative-supporting press in the UK, over its clumsy editing of a speech by the President, the former Prime Minister appeared to smell blood.

Taking to X, Johnson tweeted that "Until BBC boss Tim Davie either comes clean on how Panorama doctored Trump's speech - or resigns - I won't be paying my licence fee."

He wouldn't have long to wait.

Within days of Johnson's ultimatum, the BBC's Director General Tim Davie and its CEO of News Deborah Turness had announced their resignations.

EXCLUSIVE

BBC Bosses Draw Up Plans to Win Over Reform Voters by Changing News and Drama Output

The Director General Tim Davie and other executives discussed altering BBC "story selection" in order to secure the "trust" of supporters of Nigel Farage's party

Adam Bienkov

For some insiders at the BBC, their departure was a direct result of the "coup" set in trail by Johnson in Government.

"It was a coup, and worse than that, it was an inside job," former Sun Editor David Yelland told Radio 4's Today Programme, on Monday, reflecting the view of many inside the corporation.

"There were people inside the BBC, very close to the board … on the board, who have systematically undermined Tim Davie and his senior team over a period of [time] and this has been going on for a long time. What happened yesterday didn't just happen in isolation" he told the programme.

One of the key figures in this internal "coup" was the former Conservative Communications Director and GB News executive, Robbie Gibb, who was appointed by Johnson to the BBC board in 2021, shortly after describing the corporation as having been "culturally captured by… woke-dominated group think".

Although not formally in an executive role, journalists at the corporation report that Gibb became hugely involved in scrutinising those he perceived as being "biased" against the Conservative party and Brexit, leading to what some insiders described as a "culture of fear" within the corporation.

"There was a period which coincided with the aftermath of the 2019 General Election and the Covid pandemic when BBC bosses were absolutely terrified of Downing Street," one former BBC political journalist told Byline Times last year.

"It got into the heads of a lot of bosses up to and including the Director-General himself - that we were all basically 'metropolitan liberals' who weren't representative of anyone and that we needed to be bloody careful because, if we stepped out of line, then we knew what was going to happen."

Other figures shoehorned into the corporation during this period included its former chair Richard Sharp, who was later forced to resign, after being exposed for facilitating a large secret loan for Johnson, while also funding third party lobby groups set up to undermine the BBC.

Another key figure in this story is the public relations executive Michael Prescott, who was reportedly appointed as an external advisor to the BBC following lobbying by Gibb, before penning the memo accusing the corporation of being anti-Trump, pro-Hamas and biased in favour of pro-Trans voices, which was then leaked to the Telegraph and found its ways into Trump's feed last week.

A Policy of Appeasement

Of course at any point throughout this period, the BBC could have chosen to stand up against those forces trying to undermine them both from within and without.

Instead, under Davie, the corporation has become increasingly timid, second guessing every right-wing attack against the...

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Reform UK's leader Nigel Farage has repeatedly attacked what he calls "globalist" figures getting involved in British politics.

However, it now emerges that one of the principal funders of Farage's anti-migrant, anti-EU, anti-human-rights, anti-drugs and anti-globalist party, is a Nigerian-Lebanese billionaire with Irish citizenship who once advised both Amnesty International and the World Economic Forum, and whose overseas fortune stems partly from a cannabis enterprise in South Africa.

Bassim Haidar, a telecoms and fintech magnate whose wealth spans Africa, the Gulf and Europe, is now one of Reform UK's biggest donors. Between January and April 2025, Electoral Commission filings record four cash donations from him totalling £225,000. These are the first tranches of a £1 million pledge trumpeted from Haidar by the party earlier this year.

His gifts have made him central to Reform's finances but also emblematic of its contradictions.

Haidar's public life seems to be a series of sizeable pivots. In November 2024 he told The Telegraph that he had "left" Britain, lamenting that Labour's abolition of the non-dom tax regime had made the country "no longer interesting" for wealthy investors. "I leave with a very heavy heart," he said. "It is home in many ways."

The paper described him selling off his £80 million London property portfolio and relocating to Greece and Dubai. If he had have left, this would be a concern under Electoral Commission rules given his subsequent payments to Reform UK. Foreign political donations are banned in the UK.

There is no suggestion that his donations breach electoral law, however. The Electoral Commission told Byline Times that an individual remains a permissible donor while on the UK electoral register, and Haidar remains so listed. It seems that either Haidar or The Telegraph had trumpeted his imminent departure prematurely.

Nigel Farage Says Minimum Wage Should Be Cut for Young People

The Reform leader said cutting the minimum wage for young people would boost business, as he attacked plans to raise taxes on the wealthy

Adam Bienkov

Asked for further clarification on some of these points, Haidar responded that "any inaccuracies published about me will be referred to my legal counsel." Yet the inconsistencies Byline Times sought to resolve originated not in this paper's reporting but in The Telegraph's own interview, in which Haidar reportedly claimed to have "left" Britain. The Telegraph also did not respond to this paper's request for comment.

What we do know is that, almost a year later, Haidar is still listed at his One Hyde Park flat address and so can legally fund Reform UK. Haidar told Byline Times that he remained a UK resident, that his donations were "100 per cent legal and comply with electoral law," and that he merely "plans to leave sometime in the future, not determined yet." In other words, the exile had not quite departed.

He has, however, reportedly cancelled plans to list his billion-dollar fintech company, Optasia, on the London Stock Exchange, opting instead for South Africa.

These discrepancies between his public statements prompts questions. Companies House lists his nationality as Irish, yet he was born in Nigeria to Lebanese parents. When Byline Times asked how and when he acquired Irish citizenship (by descent, naturalisation or investment) he declined to comment.

Haidar's ideological route maps his business trajectory: global in practice, nationalist in political donation. Once a Conservative donor under Rishi Sunak, he later declared that the Conservatives had "lost their way" and shifted allegiance to Farage's insurgent right, hailing him as the man to restore Britain's "glory."

Reform UK has built its identity rejecting the kind of world Haidar represents. It rails against "globalist elites," calls for the wit...

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When it comes to housing, I appreciate that I have the basics: a roof over my head and heating (although, these days, that is not a given due to the extortionate rise in costs). These things should never be considered a privilege for any human being - but the most basic of rights.

Yet, in the dark labyrinth of this hypocritical capitalist world in which we are all trapped, there is no equity or equality in housing. And it hasn't been this bad in a very long time.

It was in my late teens that I knew I did not want to stay at home with my mum forever. I loved her and everything she had done for me, which included reinforcing my defiance, but I knew I had to get out. It was not merely a rejection of the old, tired 'triumph over tragedy' model that is imposed on disabled people - it was more simple and more human. I wanted freedom, something I was told I could never have as a wheelchair user - at least not something near that which non-disabled people take for granted.

In 1981, I started with small efforts to determine what was out there. I sent hand-typed letters by post - as this was before the internet, mobile phones, Independent Living. Before housing for disabled people was a reality.

There were a few specialist housing associations - John Grooms Housing Association (of he who invented the 'Crippleage') and the more progressive Habinteg - but there was a lack of appropriate buildings.

I will never forget the shock I felt when the main option put forward for living outside of my family home was to go into a care facility.

So I took on the long challenge to ensure this would not be the direction of my life, aided along the way by writing a letter to Ken Livingstone.

Oedipus and the 'Other' Within Us All

In our theatre of social media, the modern chorus has become a cacophony of competing rights and opposing certainties where the contemporary curse is that of othering, writes Jake Arnott

Jake Arnott

I now live in a beautiful social housing flat, adapted from a large Victorian property built in the 1870s.

The repurposing is clunky and I'm doubtful that any disabled person was involved in the redesign. There is mould in my bedroom, there have been leaks through the ceiling, and there is poor insulation. The ramp to my property is not appropriate and seen as a fire risk. I have no other exit, apart from a narrow hallway in which my wheelchair cannot turn.

Sometimes issues are resolved within a reasonable timescale, but often not. The space is tiny, so this flat is all about ceiling height - not much use when you're a wheelchair user.

I moved here in a house swap from London - a gargantuan effort of constant communication and the familiar pattern of having to prove who you are and why you qualify for such a 'right'. While it is hard for humble tenants to prove anything, I believe the home swapping system is deeply flawed and suspect - another get-out clause to fob off tenants stuck in dreadful and inappropriate properties. In such situations of desperation, people may lie and complications will occur.

While housing associations need to give you permission to go on home swap sites, there is very little checking, which leads to more confusion and disappointment for many.

At my age, I know the system and what we're up against. Naturally, it's usually about money. Yet again we are merely numbers on spreadsheets, seen as costing too much with little opportunity for profit.

I marvel at the sheer audacity of housing associations (as with many older charities), with their big fundraising junkets, expense accounts, team-building weekends in nice little hotels - while another ageing disabled tenant is stuck on the third floor because steps are no longer viable for them and the lift keeps failing. No nice little hotel for her - while others use her as a statistic in another posh pres...

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On Wednesday David Lammy said at Prime Minister's Questions that the Scottish National Party was a threat to the UK's national security, in what amounts to a drastic escalation of Labour's anti-independence rhetoric.

To be clear he - and in fact, two other cabinet ministers before him - didn't just say that SNP policies risked national security, which would have been a normal part of the cut and thrust of political debate. He said that the SNP Government in Scotland - a Government elected in 2021 by Scottish voters - was, itself, a threat.

This all started on Monday, when the Scottish Conservative MP John Lamont asked at Defence questions if the Defence Secretary, John Healy agreed "that Scottish independence would be a gift to Britain's enemies and would put at risk the hard work of our armed forces in keeping us safe at home?"

Healy didn't only agree, but went further, declaring that "the continuation of the Scottish Nationalist Government in Scotland is a threat to our security".

Later, he refused to use the same language about the Chinese Government.

On Wednesday morning, the Secretary of State for Scotland, Douglas Alexander, was asked at Scottish Questions if he agreed with this assessment. He said that he did, giving an additional reason, alongside its support for independence.

"Scottish businesses," he said, meaning global arms manufacturers with factories in Scotland, were "deeply perplexed by the [first minister's] statement in relation to the Middle East and Gaza".

The statement he was referring to was the Scottish Government's decision to stop subsidising companies selling weapons to Israel.

Adding in the SNP's opposition to nuclear weapons, he said "I find myself as usual in agreement with the Defence Secretary."

EXCLUSIVE

Conservative Councillor Accused of 'Old-Fashioned Racism' After Saying 'Young Black Males' Are 'Flooding' the UK

EXCLUSIVE: Pauline Giles defended her comments to Byline Times, saying that "we cannot sustain the volume of young black males" that "jeopardises the security of our country"

Josiah Mortimer

At Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday afternoon, the SNP MP Pete Wishart asked the Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy (who was filling in while Starmer is away) whether he agreed.

Lammy - bizarrely - responded by saying that a DNA test had told him he is 5% Scot, and that "the people of Scotland are not a threat to national security, it's the SNP, and their desire to get rid of the nuclear deterrent, that's the threat to national security".

So, across three days, three Labour cabinet ministers agreed that Scotland's SNP Government is a threat to national security, giving between them three reasons: its desire for Scottish independence (implicitly, when Healy agreed with Lamont's original question); its eventual decision to stop subsidising arms companies producing weapons for Israel for use in the genocide in Gaza, and its opposition to nuclear weapons.

This posturing is politically telling. 1.3 million people in Scotland voted for the SNP Government in 2021. If Labour thought it could reach out to sway any of those people in May's Holyrood election, then it wouldn't be using a line which these voters see as preposterous. If Labour had an expansive strategy in Scotland, then Douglas Alexander - who will be in charge of overseeing the campaign - would be picking messages to reach out to the roughly half of Scots who support independence. Instead, this messaging appears to be an attempt to shore-up the hardline unionist vote in Scotland, which is currently haemorrhaging to Reform.

And, of course, this doesn't just cover Scotland. Labour just took a drubbing from Plaid Cymru in the Caerphilly by-election in Wales, with the pro-Welsh independence, anti-nuclear party in poll position to come first in the Welsh elections next year. The Nor...

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A Conservative councillor and the party's former Chair in Cornwall has been accused of "old-fashioned racism" after suggesting that Britain cannot sustain the "volume of young black males" she claimed was "flooding" the country and "jeopardising" safety.

Cornwall Conservative Councillor Pauline Giles backed a petition for "mass deportations" on Wednesday by expelled Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe. Cllr Giles is also a previous chair of Cornwall Council.

In her Facebook post endorsing his petition, she wrote: "If you want mass deportation of illegals in dinghies sign this petition! We cannot sustain the volume of young black males flooding our country. It jeopardises the security of our country and is slowly bankrupting us!"

Asked why their skin colour mattered, Cllr Giles stood by the comments and told Byline Times: "Because they are [black], aren't they? I mean, they are coming over in boats, and I've seen the boats. I'm not making a big thing of this. I'm not prejudiced because I have friends of many colours. You see what's coming across on the boats, and that's what I am sort of registering." However, shortly after Byline Times called, the Facebook post was deleted.

She went on: "I have helped a lot of people in my past. When there was the Ukrainian war [sic], I was one of the ones that spearheaded helping them and everything else. This is not about being prejudiced. This is about my concern for what is happening. And I really worry about young girls. If you have a look, it looks like these girls are being attacked by people from these boats."

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Asked if there were any 'small boats' coming into Cornwall or if it was an issue in her ward of St Blazey, she said: "No, it's not a problem for Cornwall at the moment. But the thing is, they're coming in at such a rate that at some point they're going to get put here somewhere, aren't they?"

And asked if she'd commented on recent cases of sexual assault and rape by white people in Cornwall itself, she replied: "No."

Presented with several such cases of assaults by white people in Cornwall itself, she said: "Anybody that gets assaulted is bad, and I'm not going to make a big issue with this [post]. The fact remains, they are coming over in masses and in totals, and that is my main concern - that we don't have any background checks on these people. They're just appearing and they're not adhering to our laws or systems or beliefs."

She added that the post was from her "personal" page, though it is public. "What I put on there is my belief and nothing to do with any other members of the Conservative group in Cornwall," Cllr Giles said.

But she also said that her Facebook feed was full of stories of assaults by black people, as was the news.

"Whilst you say that, you know, there are white people and yellow people and everybody else [doing crimes], on Facebook and on social media, it is pushed all the time in front of us, isn't it?"

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"A lot of the newspapers are the ones that are putting these stories up. And foolishly, I believe them, because they are a national institution in our country and they should be reporting the truth," she said. The Conservative politician added that she had not seen the reported cases of assaults in Cornwall by white people

Noah Law, the local Labour MP for St Austell and Newquay, told Byline Times: "In the 1960s a young black male ca...

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Reform UK's candidate for Mayor in Doncaster this May has been accused of making "openly racist comments" following the train stabbings over the weekend.

In posts on Sunday, responding to Saturday's mass stabbing attack on the Doncaster to London King's Cross train, Reform councillor Alexander Jones explicitly attributed the crime to "individuals" who were "not English" and instead "Black and of Caribbean descent" - despite the alleged killer being British.

When a commenter noted that fact, Cllr Jones replied that being "English" is tied to racial "lineage" and "Anglo-Saxon heritage", appearing to imply that people of colour born in Britain cannot be English:

The remarks came in now-deleted Facebook posts from Cllr Jones, who represents Edenthorpe and Kirk Sandall in the Yorkshire borough. He was the candidate feted by Reform leader Nigel Farage MP as the city's next mayor, and who just missed out on the top job to Labour earlier this year.

Introducing Cllr Jones as Reform's Doncaster mayoral candidate in March, Farage said: "Alexander understands the challenges faced by local people having lived here all his life. He is young, energetic and exactly what's needed to get Doncaster back on track," adding in a separate interview that Reform would bring "entrepreneurial flair and spirit" to the Yorkshire city. While Jones lost out on the mayoralty, he was elected as a councillor and Reform went on to win control of the city council.

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A Doncaster Labour spokesperson told Byline Times: "In a moment of national shock following the horrific attack, former Doncaster Mayoral candidate for Reform UK chose to spread misinformation in an attempt to stoke racial hatred and division.

"Sadly, this is the behaviour that we are coming to expect from Reform UK."

The "deeply offensive and discriminatory" remarks in the words of one resident "use the tragedy to promote racist generalisations about immigration and so-called 'third world cultures' a local told Byline Times.

One resident told this outlet the rhetoric was "outrageous, inflammatory, and wholly incompatible with public office."

"It promotes racial division, undermines community cohesion, and perpetuates harmful stereotypes. It is vital that such racism from elected representatives is called out and held to account."

A Doncaster resident, Andy, who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, said: "I find these comments deeply unacceptable because they stoke division and undermine the sense of unity in our City. Statements like this make valued members of our community - many of whom were born here and are proud British citizens - feel targeted and unwelcome. That's not what Doncaster stands for."

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Shortly after Byline Times contacted Reform HQ with the story, Jones posted on Facebook saying that his Sunday post was "open to interpretations" and that he "apologise[d] for any offence caused."

But the Doncaster African Caribbean Support Group wrote that his comments suggested "racism is normalised in the City of Doncaster."

"[There's an] urgent need to address systemic racism…"Othering" is distasteful and is undermining community cohesion," adding that Doncaster was: "One people, one city, one love."

Reform UK and Alexander Jones were contacted for comment but did not respond directly.

Nigel Farage has himself been accused of racism. In 2014, Farage ...

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Sadiq Khan wants New Yorkers to "see through the politics of hatred and fear" and back the Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York, while rejecting those seeking to "weaponise" his Muslim faith against him.

A source close to the London Mayor told Byline Times that Khan wants New Yorkers to reject the "divisive and desperate" tactics of Mamdani's political opponents and embrace Mamdani's "positive vision" for the city.

Highlighting the "uncanny" similarities between the failed attempts by the UK Conservatives to target Khan's religion during his first bid for London mayor and the current campaigns being run being run against Mamdani, the source said the London Mayor hoped New Yorkers would "see through" such tactics.

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"The similarities between the attacks Mamdani has faced and what Sadiq has faced in elections, particularly in 2016 are uncanny.

"Weaponising Mamdani's faith and linking him to terrorism and extremism is an old campaigning tactic, and one we're all too familiar with here in London."

Khan's first campaign for London mayor was met by repeated attempts by the then Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith and his supporters to smear Khan as a "radical" associated with Islamic extremists, with then Cabinet minister Michael Gove even suggesting that Khan would implement Sharia law if elected Mayor.

An article written by Goldsmith for the Mail on Sunday on the eve of the election was accompanied by a large photo of a blown-up London bus, with a headline suggesting that a vote for Khan would put the city into the hands of a party that "thinks terrorists are its friends".

Mamdani's opponents have also sought to smear him as being supportive of terrorists. His main rival Andrew Cuomo suggested last month that his main rival would "be cheering" if the 9/11 attacks happened again.

Responding to the comments Mamdani described them as "disgusting."

"This is Andrew Cuomo's final moments in public life and he's choosing to spend them making racist attacks on the person who would be the first Muslim to lead this city," he said.

The source close to Khan accused Mamdani's opponents of a "desperate" attempt to use his faith to prevent him from winning Tuesday's election.

"The closer we get to the election, and the more his positive vision has connected with voters in New York City, the more divisive and desperate Mamdani's opponents have become.

"The Mayor hopes that like in London, New Yorkers see through the politics of hatred and fear, and embrace Mamdani's hopeful and optimistic vision for the future."

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A left-wing challenger to lead the UK's largest trade union is pledging to ramp up industrial action and overhaul its relationship with Labour if she wins.

Andrea Egan, a socialist social worker from Bolton, is challenging the re-standing General Secretary of Unison for the leadership, and is convinced she will win.

Andrea Egan is standing for Unison General Secretary after 37 years working in the public sector. She joined the union movement just as the 'closed shop' guaranteeing high trade union membership was being dismantled by Margaret Thatcher's Government.

But Unison still has significant power and potential, representing hundreds of thousands of care workers, NHS staff, local Government employees and more.

Former care worker and registered children's social worker Egan believes the 1.3 million strong union is punching well below its weight - both in the workplace and in Government. Unison is affiliated to the Labour Party and is currently a key institutional ally of Keir Starmer. Egan wants to transform that relationship.

She wants her organisation to be far more "activist" focused, and her call for a radical revamp of the union has seen her pick up 207 branch nominations around the UK - effectively neck and neck with incumbent Christina McAnea.

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Socialist groups believe the election is a chance to "defeat Starmer's most important union backer" and secure a senior ally to the likes of the RMT's Eddy Dempsey, the PCS union's Fran Heathcote or Bakers' Union leader Sarah Woolley.

Speaking to Byline Times, Egan is incredibly confident, claiming she's "going to win" the election.

The race is an unprecedented straight choice between her and incumbent McAnea, seen as a 'moderate' in union circles.

Egan claims McAnea "hasn't delivered for the members" after five years as General Secretary, and is "too worried about upsetting the Labour Party". McAnea, however, this weekend condemned "own goals" by Labour since coming to power last July, and called for a "reset".

The UK's largest union has around £200 million income a year but is "not exerting the power" it should, Egan claims.

In short, it means Egan wants to ramp up industrial action in the majority-female, public-sector workforce.

The approach strongly echoes Sharon Graham's approach at the Unite union, which has distanced itself from Labour and instead pumped millions into strike pay and escalating workplace disputes.

Egan led the first-ever Unison branch strike alongside teacher unions against schools' conversions to academies under the last Labour Government, in 2008.

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But she has accused the union Unison of being - until recently - only focused on recruitment for revenue - growing the membership numbers but not the "power" of Unison.

In 2022, the then-left led NEC majority, backed by Egan, implemented an "Organising to Win", to shift from a union "servicing" members to one which is more focused on industrial organising.

The union subsequently increased strike pay from £25 from day four of industrial action, to £50 from day one.

Egan, currently the secretary of Unison's Bolton Local Government Branch, also claims discrimination in the workplace has reached a "crisis point" for black members - but that the union's current legal support is "too risk-averse" on bringing forward race discrimination cases. She has pledged to "stamp out" racism in...