Very important. The National Education Union effectively rejects the key recommendations of the new Independent Antisemitism Review, rejecting the IHRA Definition and suggesting current approaches create a hierarchy of racism. Directly says the report "will not tackle antisemitism." This review looks like yet another Labour Together Project disgrace - the long tail of McSweeney-Starmerism - that will likely inflame rather than reduce tensions in schools. Exasperating, infuriating stuff. Imagine telling teachers - teachers! In it for the kids! - that they can't talk about or show opposition Israel's genocide against Palestinian children. Here's what NEU's Daniel Kebede says: "However, recommending the IHRA definition for schools risks deepening the problem rather than tackling it, and actively undermining efforts to confront antisemitism. It is the wrong approach. The IHRA’s contested framing risks blurring the line between antisemitism and legitimate criticism of the Israeli government and the genocide in Gaza, leaving teachers with uncertainty when they need clarity. A young person’s opposition to the Gaza genocide and scrutiny of the Israeli government are not, in themselves, antisemitic. Young people must have the space to understand and discuss world events. Schools must enable young people to confront difficult issues openly and develop empathy, not drive teachers into silence or leave pupils afraid to express their views. Recommending the IHRA definition risks tightening the chilling grip already stifling classroom discussion of the Gaza genocide. Schools need practical support to confront antisemitism, not a contested framework that risks shutting down legitimate discussion. The very real risk is that children who cannot critically explore issues through classroom discussion will instead seek their answers in online and unsafe groups. “This report will not tackle antisemitism. It wrongly calls into question the professionalism of teachers. The existing rules on impartiality in the classroom are very clear and teachers take that responsibility very seriously. For three years, teachers have been responding to concerned pupils’ questions about this conflict. These classroom discussions are familiar territory, not uncharted ground. In that time there have been vanishingly few examples of the Teacher Regulation Agency holding up a complaint of lack of impartiality in the classroom. "The NEU welcomes a strengthened focus on antisemitism in the statutory safeguarding guidance and we would encourage the Department for Education to go a step further by strengthening the guidance on all forms of racism. We are concerned that addressing antisemitism without an equally clear commitment to tackling all forms of racism risks creating a hierarchy of racism. No form of racism should be minimised, and no pupil or member of staff should receive less protection. Similarly, the NEU welcomes training for staff on recognising and challenging antisemitism, but we would like to see this in the context of wider antiracism training. The lack of training and time for staff development is a real barrier and almost two thirds of teachers (65 per cent) report that they have not received any antiracism training of any kind within the past year."

The chance to keep global warming below 1.5°C with no overshoot is gone. But urgent action can still limit the overshoot and bring warming back to 1.5°C by 2100. Current policies, however, put the 🌎 on course for up to 2.8°C this century. New #EmissionsGap Report: unep.org/en/news-and-stories…

🚨 NEW: The Government has accepted all 27 recommendations from the report to end antisemitism in schools and colleges 1. Recognise antisemitism as a distinct form of hatred, not just general racism 2. Strengthen political impartiality guidance, including limits on teachers wearing pro-Palestine badges 3. Establish a national hotline for school leaders dealing with antisemitism 4. Improve teaching about contemporary antisemitism and modern Jewish life 5. Teach pupils to recognise and challenge antisemitic conspiracy theories 6. Include antisemitism explicitly in school safeguarding policies 7. Train teachers to recognise and tackle antisemitism 8. Work with the Home Office and the Prevent programme to help schools identify when antisemitism may be linked to radicalisation 9. Encourage schools to adopt the IHRA working definition of antisemitism 10. Improve procedures for reporting antisemitic incidents, including signposting 11. Ensure antisemitic bullying and complaints are investigated and acted on consistently 12. Make clear in staff conduct policies that antisemitism is unacceptable 13. Strengthen Holocaust education, including antisemitism's role in the Holocaust, and encourage schools to mark Holocaust Memorial Day 14. Create more opportunities for pupils to engage with Jewish communities, including visits to synagogues 15. Make sure Judaism and modern Jewish life are properly represented in religious education 16. Improve media literacy so pupils can also identify online antisemitism 17. Provide better resources for teaching the Israel-Palestine conflict fairly and sensitively 18. Ensure schools have clear policies for dealing with antisemitism involving external speakers 19. Ensure education unions have clear antisemitism policies 20. Establish a dedicated support service to help schools, colleges and councils deal with antisemitism 21. Use some of the Government's security funding to help Jewish schools and colleges undertake educational visits safely 22. Run a campaign to tackle antisemitic behaviour at transport hubs near Jewish schools and colleges 23. Provide Jewish school and college leaders with mentoring and more security advice 24. Strengthen accountability for schools that fail to deal properly with antisemitism 25. Enable Ofsted and the Independent Schools Inspectorate to assess how schools tackle antisemitism 26. Make local councils identify local patterns of antisemitism and help schools respond 27. Share effective practice and guidance between schools and colleges

Our party has zero tolerance for racism. We welcome the announcement that the Liberal Democrats will not work with the Green Party nationally, and call on local government colleagues across the UK to show the same leadership to marginalise this fringe and extremist party.

As a Jew who escaped the Soviet Union while leaving everything behind. What's Mr Polanski would now call a refugee, I vehemently disagree with his statement in its entirety. Zionism is my inherent right for self determination in my historic Homeland, any other claim is racism.