With the top 10 songs this year containing two pretty avant-garde songs, I thought I'd ask people on this sub to share their favourites from past editions. By avant-garde, I don't mean wacky, I mean the kind of songs that make you think "what the hell was that?" the first time you hear them, or even "did that really happen at Eurovision?"
I will talk about my favourites, although I admit some recency bias. It would be good if people could point me to some older entries that fit the brief.
First, there's Lock Me In by Circus Mircus. It might not be the most shocking thing outside of a Eurovision context, but imo it is very different to any Eurovision song I can think of. It's fairly often brought up as a 'robbed' entry, but I've played it to people before and they've said "what the hell was that?" The band's manifesto includes the statement 'Genre is for the weak'. I think it counts as avant-garde.
Next, there's Finland's entry from 2015 Aina mun pitää by Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät. It's a hardcore punk song by a band who all have developmental disabilities protesting against the conditions of their residential care. I don't think I need to say any more to show that the song is avant-garde.
Then there's Let 3 from last year. The BBC commentary described it as 'Croatian Monty Python', which I don't think quite does it justice, but it is subversive in a similar way to Monty Python. I love it.
I will also count Sébastien Tellier's 2008 entry for France, Divine simply because it did stop people in their tracks at the time. I don't know if it still sounds as weird now, but it has that quality of being an enjoyable song to listen to, even if you don't know why. I think it might get nul points if it was done today, with the quality of entries and the polish that's expected, but oh well.
The most avant-garde (though I would never say it's the best) of the 4 songs Serge Gainsbourg wrote for Eurovision, is this one for Monaco in 1967. It's deliberately terrible. It's barely even a song, more like a racket. The lyrics seem to be about living it up before we all die in a nuclear war. It somehow managed to come in 5th place.
I wanted to include Hatari (Iceland 2019) because I think what they did was very avant-garde. I got downvoted to oblivion once when I said I loved the song but didn't especially care about their political opinions. I can't leave them out though because the whole thing was so clever as well as being great EBM.
Other songs that I think are pretty avant-garde are: Serbia from 2022, Portugal from 2019 and arguably Telex for Belgium in 1980. That last one wasn't really musically innovative despite what some people say, but that level of sarcasm and the fact that it's meta was unique at the time, I think?

Erik Ten Hag

Erik ten Hag: "Absolutely the club wants to keep Bruno, no question about that. As far as I know, he loves to play for ManUtd."
https://x.com/sistoney67/status/1790862893933596916
Ten Hag on Bruno Fernandes: "He loves Manchester United, he loves to play for Manchester United. Especially with the injuries around him, he has to carry the team, he keeps a high level."
https://x.com/RichFay/status/1790863092248670231
Erik ten Hag: "After the season we have had so far, I don’t talk about pride. We are all disappointed with the season."
https://x.com/sistoney67/status/1790863597142216977

'I promise you those players will give everything'

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag addressing the Old Trafford crowd:
"On behalf of the players, staff and myself I want to thank you all for the brilliant support during this season.
"As you know it wasn’t an easy season, but one thing remained constant and that was the backing of you for the team.
"This season is not over yet. First we go to Brighton where we travel for three points and then we go to Wembley. And I promise you those players will give everything to get that cup and bring it to Old Trafford.
"We are sure you will be there supporting us - thank you, you are the best supporters in the world."
​

'We found the really good balance'

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag told BBC Sport:
"It's always nice to win any game. It's important to win the last game at Old Trafford this season. The fans deserve this because they've had difficult times and always stayed with us.
"We are here together. We wanted to pay the fans back.
"Fantastic. Great goals. But it was a team effort how we made the goals. But I'm always happy at young players who are progressing very good and scored some brilliant goals.
"Newcastle have a lot of physical power and you have to match that but you also have to play football. We had found the really good balance in this.
"I think he [Hojlund] needs some rest so he's fresh. Strikers live for goals. It's very important for his confidence so I'm really pleased he scored."
On the FA Cup final: "We don't think about this yet. First we have Brighton in the last game which is important in the ranking. We don't have it in our hands but we have to do our job."
____________________________

Bruno Fernandes

Bruno Fernandes on his future: “I will be here till when the club wants me and the club wants me to be a part of the future”. “If for some reason they don’t want me, then I will go”.
https://x.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1790857608057733261

'The job isn’t finished yet'

Manchester United skipper Bruno Fernandes, speaking to Sky Sports:
“Obviously the job isn’t finished yet. We still have one game in the Premier League then the biggest game of the season, the FA Cup final.
“It has been a tough season. The table shows that and we are all aware of that. The fans have been amazing and behind us all season. We all appreciate what they have been doing for us.
“We want to do better and do differently and they [fans] deserve that.
“They have been amazing for us and we had to do something, we have been trying but results don’t show that. We have been working hard and everyone has been giving their best it is not enough and we have to do more.
“We still have two games to go and we have to finish in the best way.
“It doesn’t exist, a captain's performance, it is a team performance.
"I am no different from anyone just because I have the armband. I always try my best and we always do the best we can for the club – nobody hides that we play for a big club and we have to lift our standards every game.”
On his future: “I will be here till when the club wants me and the club wants me to be a part of the future. If for some reason they don’t want me, then I will go.”
____________________________

Eddie Howe

Eddie Howe on first-half incident: "It was an absolute stonewall penalty."
https://x.com/RichFay/status/1790858968459342013
Eddie Howe: "We had chances & I felt we could score at any moment. But we have lost the game because of how we defended their goals. We should hang our heads really. The game got away from us in key moments"
https://x.com/CraigHope\_DM/status/1790859629389332521

'We were let down by some of our defending'

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe to BBC Sport: "Frustrating for us. Away from home this year our record hasn't been good enough. Familiar scene for us. We conceded poor goals and ultimately that has cost us the game.
"It was a decent performance. We looked a good team but were let down by some of our defending.
"Attacking-wise we were good and had a threat all game. We took our goals well. Frustrated we didn't get more.
"There's a chance and while there's a chance we'll give it everything we can.
"Anthony Gordon has been excellent for us. He took his goal well. He should have had a penalty as well."
​

'It was an opportunity to grab Europe'

Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe, speaking to Sky Sports:
“We had chances to do more, but the way we defended the three goals wasn’t good enough - this season compared to last we have conceded goals.
“It's something we have to change longer term."
On Kieran Trippier's position for the opening goal: ”Reluctant to focus on one player.
“When you look back through the goals we have conceded today there are multiple errors in all three goals.
“I don’t think Man Utd hurt us a great deal but we conceded three goals. We looked good going forward, we did create chances but didn’t get enough bodies in the key chances, but we scored two goals and it should be enough to get something from the game.
“You feel momentum is with us and there is a much better feel with us in the second half. Then a second goal from a set-play. It is a combination of errors and we know we have to do better."
On Anthony Gordon’s penalty call: “I thought it was a penalty. You have to see it one to three times to see where the contact is. I thought that’s what VAR was good at.”
On scrapping VAR: “I have always been in an era where the referee makes a decision and I back it.
“I would possibly keep it [VAR] with offsides, but I want more power with referees.”
On Europe: “I don’t know. In this moment we are disappointed to not win today. It was an opportunity to grab Europe instead of looking around at other results.”
____________________________

Anthony Gordon

'Either get rid of it or get better' - Gordon on VAR

Newcastle forward Anthony Gordon, speaking to Sky Sports: "I thought we played alright.
"Defensively away from home we have been poor - we have to fix that.
"We created a lot, but we didn't take our chances. We cannot blame anything else but ourselves.
"But, today wasn't our day."
On a potential ankle injury and penalty call: "Really sore. Not too sure how good my ankle will be.
"I have watched it back and it is a clear penalty. I don't mind the referee getting it wrong on the pitch, but I don't understand the point of VAR.
"He [Sofyan Amrabat] goes down my Achilles and pushes me in the back.
"I knew straight away, that is why I didn't appeal. I waited for the VAR to check, I told my team-mates 'it was a clear penalty'. I don't understand the point of it, either get rid of it or get better - it's that simple.
"I think I am quite fond of it. Fond of the idea and it should work, but there are too many mistakes."
On his hopes of Euro 2024: "I won't let a sore ankle get in the way of that.
​
Quotes via BBC

I am posting this very cautiously having not put anything on this forum for over two years. This will be a lengthy post and I don’t make it with any claim of cure, or as a recommendation. However, I feel almost duty-bound to share my experience given the impact PSSD has had on my life and the impact it so clearly has had on so many others. I know some people will have had very negative experiences with trazodone and completely respect that. I can only talk about my own recent experience. The headline is that I briefly took trazodone a few weeks ago and have experienced significant benefits. I can’t say strongly enough I am not recommending trying it. I am just relating my own experience. I am happy to reply to comments, but please be aware that I am not prepared to get into any kind of heated debate about the whys and wherefores of this, or any other medication or treatment. At times people can be very confrontational on these forms and I’m not interested in that kind of conversation. Thank you in advance.
Just for context I am a mental health nurse myself although I don’t work in acute mental health and tend to work in more niche areas. However, my employment has been sporadic in the last couple of years in part due to PSSD.
I have had PSSD without out any real improvement (until very recently) since taking sertraline in summer 2019. This manifested itself as lack of sensation, pleasure and associated ED as well as generalised anhedonia. Prior to this, although I had experienced some episodes of anxiety and depression I had no sexual dysfunction whatsoever. I was aware my testosterone level was low as had started to investigate this as a possible cause for my problems with mood. As I say I had no sexual problems so at this point it was not something I had ever really thought about. Over time I tried to accept it and not focus on it as I found this definitely impacted on my quality of life. Like many people I initially spent a lot of time investigating PSSD but found myself becoming increasingly anxious and hopeless doing so.
I have made attempts to find solutions to PSSD. I have been on TRT at points during this time and have also been seen at Imperial College and UCL for the past couple of years. I’ve tried a couple of medications that have been suggested within this community, such as yohimbine and cyproheptadine but did not experience any benefit though equally they did not make things worse. I attempted some lifestyle changes but have struggled to eat as well as I should and, reduce alcohol and caffeine, increase exercise, et cetera due to low mood. Since developing PSSD the existing anxiety and depression which I have managed pretty well for most of my life have become much more prevalent. I have avoided psychotropic medication since the short courses of sertraline in 2019 and mirtazapine in 2020 that in the first case caused PSSD, and in the second case made it worse (after a brief initial improvement). The only PSSD related medication I take is tadalafil 5mg which was prescribed to me by Dr Mears at Imperial to hopefully improve general vascular blood flow.
Last summer my 27 year relationship ended. Before becoming unwell in 2019 and taking sertraline and subsequently developing PSSD, my relationship was solid though of course it had the usual ups and downs. The impact of PSSD was massive and caused many problems. After the first year where I maintained hope that things would improve, the impact on our physical relationship and my mental state began to really caused problems. Associated anxiety resulted in issues with work and increased alcohol consumption. To cut a very long story short in summer last year my wife told me she wanted to divorce and I lost my marriage, my comfortable home and really everything that had kept me together for the past nearly three decades. After initially coping well inevitably my mood deteriorated and I became increasingly depressed and suicidal and found myself sectioned briefly for a couple of weeks in spring this year. Crisis a surprise has a mental health nurse and not an altogether positive experience!
As I say, I’m very reluctant to take psychotropic medication but I did start agomelatine in hospital. On reflection this was somewhat unwise given my history of alcohol use but I asked for it, they prescribed it, and I wasn’t really in a place to logically think it through. In terms of PSSD it wasn’t beneficial but it had a lot of other side-effects that meant I came off it shortly after discharge from hospital whilst under a Crisis Team.
I then started on trazodone 150 mg at night. Like agomelatine it is used as a third line treatment and suggested for people with sexual dysfunction. It is referred to as pro-sexual and is used at times as a treatment for ED. I was given the warnings about priapism when using it. On the first night I took it I woke up with very strong erections on a couple occasions during the night. They were not painful and after a while receded and I returned to sleep so did not take any action. At this point I had had pretty severe ED for months (I think due to poor mental state). This actually wasn’t a significant problem for much of the time I had PSSD, however, the lack of sensation meant that this was somewhat academic. My general health at this time was in a pretty bad way so although concerned about the side effects of psychotropic medication didn’t worry unduly. The same thing happened for the next couple of nights. Of course given this I attempted masturbation and found that I could achieve orgasm and the intensity increased. There was no huge improvement in sensation but the actual orgasm itself was more like normal. The nocturnal erections continued and I started to find that I was having them throughout the day. As I say there was no pain or discomfort and they resolved so I didn’t take any action. However, as I have said I am very reluctant to take psychotropic medication and given this I decided to stop it after a few days. My worry was I would develop full-blown priapism and this can have extremely serious consequences. You are supposed to get immediate medical attention if you have a painful erection that exceeds four hours. I’m not sure what your chances are of being seen the moment you walk through the door in A&E are – it’s more likely you would be there for several hours so I decided this risk was too high as I had started to experience these erections. I have to add I did this without discussing it with the very good Crisis Team I was under. I did discuss this with them subsequently, and they were understanding and supportive but would of course not recommend stopping any medication without seeking advice first. Even though I am a nurse, this isn’t wise.
However, I have now been off trazodone for about three weeks. I have continued to experience strong nocturnal erections but less so, and have some seemingly random erections during the day. After developing PSSD I lost all sense of myself as a sexual being. I wouldn’t experience interest or arousal when seeing someone who was attractive that as did throughout my life beforehand (I was married a long time-don’t judge me!) but this has returned. I have not had sex with anyone since separating from my wife, so can only judge it based on masturbation but as I said above this is easier with much more powerful orgasms. Like I say, there is still a lack of sensation, but it is a vast improvement on how I was before. It may also be coincidence, or possibly a result of this improvement, but over the past couple of weeks my mental state has improved dramatically and in fact I find myself feeling better than I have done in many years. I would give anything to be able to go back in time and not have taken sertraline and not have developed PSSD. Without it I think I would still be in the long and loving marriage I was but I’m on the road to accepting that. That is difficult and it hurts but I have to accept it to move on.
Anyway, I hope this is of help. I’m certainly not advocating taking trazodone and generally speaking feel that the dangers of psychotropic medication outweigh the benefits unless they are absolutely necessary. I would not have taken medication unless if I haven’t found myself in a situation I did. To put it bluntly, I wasn’t going to survive as my suicidal drive was so high had to do something. I appreciate it must seem ironic saying this as a mental health nurse but I am far from alone in this and I have spoken to many nurses and workers, both on a professional and personal level who say the same thing. Something I have noticed in recent time is the huge increase in the knowledge of PSSD in services. The Panorama program broadcast on the BBC last summer seems have made a significant impact. All the best to you all and keep and do your best to remain hopeful though I know how difficult this is.

1. Repetition. There was a strong narrative building attempt from Fiona by using repetition. An example is the constant references to BBC Breaking News. Felt like she was using it to legitimise her behaviour, habits and credibility.
   
2. The water. She had a glass of water in front of her. She drank from it on multiple occasions, however… she never actually swallowed the water; the level in the glass never dropped.
   
3. The responses. All through the interview she was making affirmative sounds, agreeing or sounding surprised. “Huh?”, “Hmmm-mmm” etc… but it didn’t match what was being said to her. It felt like she was playing at paying attention and instead working out her next topic or answer.
   
4. Going ‘inward’. During the section where an excerpt of the show, specifically the court room scene, was being shown, she was not actually watching it, she was doing what she thought was expected of her during the video, but you can see in her eyes she had detached and gone ‘inward’. Again maybe to use the time to work out her next message or avenue.
   

I don’t hold a lot of faith in the body language analysis that’s been mooted, but I did find these specific examples of behaviour interesting.

Edit: If you are going to comment on the length of this post, please don't. This is not a simple snark but rather an actual critical think piece about feminism and Taylor Swift.

Introduction

Pertaining to Taylor Swift, "Female Rage" has deviated from its intended meaning after Swift debuted a new performance of The Tortured Poets Department during the Eras Tour. Now, according to Swift's use of the phrase, female rage is interpreted as public backlash against Swift's dating choices rather than as a response to the broader injustices against women and women's rights. This post examines Taylor Swift's flawed feminism, philanthropy, branding, and the controversial trademark petition for the phrase "Female Rage: The Musical". Swift's background as an entertainer, indeterminate politics, and alignment with capitalism over feminism pervades her legacy, again threatening her public tolerance as not just an individual but as a brand.

Once Upon a Female Rage...

If you were cognizant in the early 2010's, you've heard countless jabs at Taylor Swift in the media. Magazines, radio, or online. Music critics did not take her seriously as a songwriter; parents put a woman on an unrealistic pedestal as the ideal role model for their children; she dated too much and used men as lyrical fodder. No matter the story, it inevitably spread, conjoined with everyone's respective opinions, and you'd be left to wonder, "Why does everyone hate this girl so much?"
Taylor's target demographic has always been young or adolescent girls, more so when Swift herself was one. She made music that spoke to the awkward misfit, cultivating a para-social relationship with fans on MySpace, then later twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, where Taylor posted relatable vlogs showcasing the life of a homegrown American girl. Taylor had a delayed public "growing up" and, compared to her female pop contemporaries, Swift never "gratuitously sexualized her image and seems pathologically averse to controversy" (and, apparently, never even had a sip of alcohol until she turned 21). She was more than happy to spin this narrative to allude to an inherent moral superiority above other women in the industry (Better Than Revenge, heard of it?), engaging in the very slut-shaming that she herself endured (the Madonna and Whore archetypes). The victim complex arose with the need to prove Taylor as a different type of pop girl. Based upon her holy and clean image, Swift had been dubbed "a feminist's nightmare", and that "[To Swift] other girls are obstacles; undeserving enemies who steal Taylor’s soulmates with their bewitching good looks and sexual availability." Feminism and Tennessee-Christian country values don't exactly mix, it seems.
Years later, Swift befriended Lena Dunham and thus experienced white feminism osmosis, where Dunham taught Swift that real feminists defend rapists, makes insensitive jokes about rape and abortion, and prioritize all-white casts. Swift then declared herself a feminist in 2014, saying,

"Becoming friends with Lena – without her preaching to me, but just seeing why she believes what she believes, why she says what she says, why she stands for what she stands for – has made me realize that I’ve been taking a feminist stance without actually saying so."

I suppose the male-centric songwriting subject that permeates Swift's discography contained covert feminism and that we just didn't see that. Perhaps, the "Bad Blood" song and music video were written only in jest and not about poor Katy Perry, for Swift, as a feminist, would "never make it a girl fight" or tear other women down (though all Katy did was date your terrible ex-boyfriend and allegedly steal three backup dancers from your tour). In 2013, Swift said, in response to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's joke towards her serial dating, "There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women."
There was that time in 2015 Taylor said that Nicki Minaj was "invited to any stage [she is] on" (as if Taylor expects to have access to every stage, award, and platform that Nicki might not otherwise have as a black female artist...yikes!) in response to Nicki's criticism of the white + thin VMA nominations. Later, Nicki responded with confusion, as Swift continued, "It’s unlike you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot..". Of course, this 'beef' was 'squashed' when Nicki performed with Taylor at the VMAs, with Nicki quite literally only having 38 seconds of stage time without Taylor. Maybe all that parading around with a legion of famous white women - similar to the way Taylor might've done with her numerous 1989-era handbags - was in fact a stance against gender inequality, and that this display of "girl power" should be enough to constitute Swift as a feminist icon.
Even while Swift says that Dunham informed her feminist outlook, she dances around the exact contents of those beliefs: "what she believes, what she says, what she stands for" is not exactly insightful towards what beliefs Swift might have inherited. Taylor never broaches women's rights topics such femicide, FGM, forced pregnancy & marriage, sex trafficking, women in slavery, women's financial and political oppression, women's educational rights, women's health, or women's autonomy, so we can assume she only gives a fuck about "girls supporting girls" (whatever that fucking means).
Despite some questionable (and sometimes vindictive) behavior, Taylor as a young woman did not deserve every media lashing that she received. We cannot deny that most headlines and criticisms perpetuated a misogynistic rhetoric which has plagued Swift for a majority of her career. Acknowledging events such as the development of her ED, her sexual assault trial, "Famous" lyric and MV depiction of Taylor, and the explicit Twitter deepfakes, for example, as both disgusting and unfortunate things that happened to a young woman in Hollywood does not negate the fact that Taylor is mostly a performative feminist.

Get Your Fucking Ass Up and Be a Philanthropist, It Seems Like Nobody Wants to Be a Philanthropist These Days

In 2013, Taylor Swift cut the ribbon at the grand opening of the Taylor Swift Education Center at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee. The donation amount - $4 million - was the largest individual artist gift ever donated to the Country Music Hall of Fame, which is, of course, mentioned on Swift's website. The two-story facility features three classrooms, an instrument room, and an interactive children's exhibit gallery. Swift also performed at "All for the Hall" charity shows and has donated numerous artifacts from her career (such as notable guitars, tour costumes, etc) to the museum.
This was over 11 years ago, and it is still the only notable philanthropic contribution Taylor Swift has made.
For a woman of her net worth and stature, and a woman who recognizes the difficulties for women in film and music, you would think that Taylor Swift might establish a scholarship program for women to study the arts or something. Perhaps Swift might even consider becoming a member of organizations that support female artists, or one that supports LGBTQ+ causes (since she is now proudly an ally), yet she remains superficial with her graces. Broader philanthropy, such as donating relief aid to Palestinian women or women impacted by violence and discrimination will probably never receive any financial support from Miss Swift because then she'd be using her money towards philanthropies involving anyone but white entertainers.
She even says herself in Miss Americana, "My entire moral code as a kid and now is a need to be thought of as 'good'." Well, she's certainly thought of as good, though her actions say otherwise. She's more than happy to do a vaguely altruistic song and dance for a clip-worthy interview quote and mass appeasement, then fuck off to one of her mansions on a 20 minute private jet flight, rather than actually contribute to anything pertaining to the causes she has endorsed. Yet, far too many people continue to give a woman such as her their money, time, and energy, and she hoards these resources to herself.

I Like Some of the Taylor's Songs, But What the Fuck Does She Know About Feminism?

Swift continued with her self-proclaimed feminist campaign, positioning herself as a political activist and LGBTQ+ ally in the Miss Americana documentary. The primary focus of the documentary consists of the sexual assault trial, Andrea Swift's cancer diagnosis, Taylor's ED and body dysmorphia, media scrutiny, and, largely, finally speaking up about her politics publicly, mostly her opposition to the 2018 Tennessee Republican senate candidate, Marsha Blackburn, and Blackburn's beliefs. Swift says, following a scene discussing her experience during the trial,

"I just couldn't really stop thinking about it. And I just thought to myself, next time there is any opportunity to change anything, you had better know what you stand for and what you want to say."

We must ask ourselves, though: when has Swift ever spoken up to change anything? Okay, pulling her entire catalogue from Spotify because they didn't pay their artists enough and similarly pulling her catalogue from Apple Music are changes that she leveraged due to her revenue potential and power, but they are not pertinent to the average woman's rights. Moreover, these are issues that directly impacted Taylor's income, which was enough reason for her to protest in the first place. Swift has sold the most units for a female artist in first week sales, is the first female artist with 100k monthly Spotify listeners, is the first female artist to win the Album of the Year Grammy 4 times, and is the first female artist to do X, Y, and Z, all while being inoffensive and family-friendly to boot. The actual Taylor Swift seems unwilling to compromise the brand of Taylor Swift by contributing in meaningful ways to feminist causes, especially if it is for women outside of America and Hollywood.
The reason political anthems such as "The Man" and "Only the Young" of the Lover era feel disingenuous and corporate is because, well, it is. Taylor has taken every opportunity to advance her career or public image at the expense of other women. What is truly genuine to Taylor's outlook on other women is vying for male attention, taking down female competition, and vocalizing feminist injustices only if they directly impact her and her money. Some will argue that it's satisfactory for a woman with such a huge platform to even TALK about feminism, but that just isn't enough. It's even less impressive when you candidly look at the scope of her feminist lens: "If I was the man, then I'd be THE MAN", or "I really resent the ‘Be careful, buddy, she’s going to write a song about you’ angle, because it trivialises what I do", and, of course, "We all got crowns". Feminism, but only when it happens to me. It gets worse when you look at Taylor's track record of copying other famous women and removing other female artists as potential threats to her pop prowess.
It's good for PR to align yourself with certain blanket feminist and political beliefs, therefore good for branding, therefore good for ticketing and merchandise sales, therefore good for business. And Taylor Swift is a business.
She's not a feminist. Taylor Swift is a capitalist.

I Can't Pay Those Sweatshop Workers a Livable Wage or Benefits! How Else Would I Make My Billions?

Recently, Taylor's team filed to trademark the phrase "Female Rage: The Musical" after Taylor said during Paris N1 of the Eras Tour,

"So you were the first ones to see The Tortured Poets at the Eras Tour...or as I like to call it, 'Female Rage: The Musical'."

This trademark petition was filed last week on Saturday, and news comes about just as numerous unofficial fan-made merch designs have cropped up with this phrase plastered on Fruit of the Loom basics. I'm of the opinion Swift's team motioned for a trademark so that they can send out cease & desists to all those that make knockoff merch, which disrupts potential sales for Bravado, UMG's choice merchandising company; however, since it was filed earlier, perhaps Swift has bigger plans with the bizarre use of the gendered phrase. One Swiftie referred to the phrase "female rage" as "a funny Eras Tour joke". Could it be a possible fourth version of the Eras Tour Movie? Whatever the reason, the motion to capitalize off of such a concept is disgusting, but not unsurprising, for a woman that profits on her vain feminism.
Swift, through her company, TAS Rights Managements, has also trademarked over 200 phrases, including "1989", where she owns the property rights to this calendar year on keychains, phone cases, sunglasses, stationary, bags, beverage ware, clothing, entertainment services, your subconscious, and, of course, Christmas ornaments.
The vapid consumerism in Swiftie culture is, frankly, disgusting. Bravado's sustainability statement is non-existent, the quality control is abysmal, and the materials they use are horrible. The materials, such as acrylic and polyester, are made from petrochemicals. This means they are non-renewable, shed microplastics, and are quite toxic in production. The manufacturing process to make all of those lazy-rushed Eras Tour logo graphic tees is a huge blow to environmental well-being. Apparently, though, Swifties don't give a fuck. They sell out products in seconds and either have to face the manufactured scarcity or buy from a scalper that resells for 200% of the already ridiculous retail price. This doesn't include the environmental impact of vinyl records, CD, and cassette production, of which Taylor produces many variants that sell unsustainable amounts.
If we're talking about women's rights violations, why is no one acknowledging the women that work in the inhumane sweatshop conditions that have to pump out fugly t-shirts and hats? The millions of plastic microfiber dander they are inhaling, or the toxic dyes that touch their bare skin? Are they being compensated fairly for their skilled labour and are they in safe working environments? Do these women have minimal bargaining power, and do they have authority over their worker's rights? Is Taylor Swift female raging at their injustices? Does Taylor Swift ever feels bad that her wealth was built on the backs of women of color, disadvantaged by the demands of the global economy and garment industry? Do you think she ever says a little white feminist prayer for them before she goes to sleep at night?
What's even crazier is not that Taylor herself doesn't care, it's that Swifties don't care. There CANNOT BE ethical billionaires. You only make a billion dollars if you are exploiting other human beings for capital gain. Based on public perception of the possible "Female Rage: The Musical" trademark, it seems like Swifties are already asking for merch with this phrase. "If Taylor made it, I'd buy it." Oh, cool. So not only do you champion Miss Swift's avarice and billionaire status, but you also are unashamed to admit to your blind consumption of her music and merchandise, no matter where they might originate in production or sincerity. Just as Swift takes and takes and takes, Swifties' consumerism of Taylor Swift cannot be quelled.
The tortured artist's most vulnerable and sincere poetry...available now in 21 different versions!

I Am Tortured Poet, Hear Me Whinge

Look - even if Taylor's intention is to characterize TTPD as more "tortured" and "angry", the main thread of the album is "I was ghosted by my decade-long situationship with a controversial indie boy and my fucking stupid fans wrote a 'Speak Up Now' open letter prompting me to drop him" anger, which is adequately expressed in the lyrics and performances. The extent of Taylor's "female rage" on TTPD is on tracks such as "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?", which contends with relentless media scrutiny; "But Daddy I Love Him", where Swift firmly states she'll date whoever she likes no matter how "Sarahs and Hannahs" may react; and "The Albatross", a track mythologizing her reputation and the consequences of dating her. Of course, these coincide with deep psychological wounds that formed during Swift's early years in the media, and so, from her feminist perspective, these subjects tackle the misogyny and double standards that she faced.
Yet Taylor Swift still has no grounds to be claiming that TTPD best exemplifies female rage and therefore she, in the context of this album, is female rage incarnate. As the daughter of a stock broker and mutual fund marketing executive, Taylor was born into wealth and allowed privileges like trips and subsequent relocation to Nashville all so that she might get a record deal. Her father even invested at least $120,000 into the then-fledgling label, Big Machine Records, which ensured Taylor's place with Borchetta after leaving her dead-end development deal with Sony. The fact that her parents were able to buy her a fucking brand new guitar for Christmas and pay for music lessons says so much about the financial security and safety of her childhood.
Money is privilege and protection, and despite Swift's experiences with misogyny and loser boyfriends, she does not know what female rage is.
Her rage is derived from her frustrations with her obsessive fans pulling the moral superiority card on Taylor in response to her rebound with Matty Healy. That's literally it. She's just pissed that the monster she created is no longer obediant, it's become a feral, sovereign entity that depletes the world of its natural resources and thinks it is more intelligent than it actually is because it's mommy has started to talk to it with big words. Apparently, 'illicit', 'elegy', 'nonchalant', and 'precocious' are considerably big words for the oafish monster, and I find it strange that this level of literacy is present in a group of fans that allegedly have GPAs of 3.5 or higher, but I digress.
Taylor Swift has never been one paycheck away from destitution. Taylor Swift has never experienced racial discrimination. She may have instances of gender discrimination, but she possesses the ideal white, blonde American beauty standard and therefore reaps the benefits of being a conventionally attractive woman. Taylor Swift has sufficient social capital. Taylor Swift is a billionaire woman prolonging her victimhood though she, as a woman, has mostly had control over her image and music (unlike her contemporaries). Taylor Swift is NOT entitled to be championed for her "female rage", nor should she be. Taylor Swift has never even been the struggling artist, for fuck's sake. I don't give a fuck if she's trying to fill the empty lunch tables of her past. Taylor Swift purporting herself, her unpolished album, and her lukewarm feminism as a musical bleeding with female rage is asinine.

Sigh Try and Come For My Job, Poors

Out there in the world right now is a 23-year-old woman, a recent college grad, who works as a barista. She has to wake up and get ready to go into a minimum wage job because she cannot get a job in her field. She doesn't have healthcare benefits or sick time, so she has to go into work no matter how she's feeling. All day long she is berated by vicious customers and creepy men, and, exhausted from being on her feet, she knows she has to go home to her shitty roommate that never does the dishes and her roommate's shitty dog. To comfort herself, she considers getting a treat, but thinks against it when she remembers that matcha lattes cost $15 and they taste like milky dirt. She knows that she needs to buy groceries this week, and so the woman resolves to go home, but notices that her gas tank is low. She goes to put gas in the car, but the pump stops at $27.86 because that's all that she has in her checking account. The woman, bereft and reeling, sinks into the driver's seat. "Well," she thinks, her head in her hands, "at least I don't have Taylor Swift's job. I just couldn't imagine."
Fame is somewhat of a choice. If at any moment Taylor feels that she is misunderstood, misconstrued, or overwhelmed by public opinion, she can LEAVE the public eye - Lord knows she has the retirement fund and residuals to do so. In "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart", the TTPD song about meeting the demands of your career-zenith mega-tour while in the relationship trenches, Taylor ends the song by rambling,

"You know you're good when you can even do it with a broken heart...you know you're good...and I'm good, cause I'm miserable, and no one even knows!...try and come for my job."

Yeah, obviously we wouldn't know, you recently passed the billionaire threshold and are the most famous and in-demand performer in the world right now. Taylor Swift makes an estimated $10 to $13 million dollars A NIGHT on the Eras Tour. Furthermore, the Eras Tour movie grossed $261.6 million globally, (which, as the producer, Taylor takes home 57% of the ticket sales) not counting the streaming revenue from Amazon Prime Video and the estimated $75 million deal that Disney paid to have it on Disney+. We're not even considering the income from cheap plastic popcorn buckets and drink cups plastered with colored squares in her Era-specific likeness.
It's funny. Taylor Swift often said that being famous wasn't hard, that she "isn't complaining". I'm sure it is difficult to always have to present in a good mood, else you'll end up misrepresented in the media, and I'm sure it's invasive to virtually have no privacy or semblance of anonymity. Still, Taylor Swift shows up each night of tour and performs. For a majority of her career, she has penned her sad songs while on the road. Most of "Red", her breakup album, was written in the thick of the Speak Now World tour. Now, some Swifties say they almost "feel bad" for attending the Eras Tour with Swift's revelations in this song, that they have had a 'dimmed experience' upon hearing Taylor's misery whilst performing. Despite the fact that Taylor said that "this was the happiest she's ever been" at Gilette Stadium in May, the lyrics "boohoo, woe is me, smile for the cameras and make the fans happy!!!" are jarring for Eras attendees.
While Taylor Swift was making double-digit millions a night in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and feeling miserable, Ana Clara Benevides Machado passed away due to heat exposure. The concert promoters, Time For Fun, are now the subject of a criminal investigation due to their lack of adequate hydration and safety. Taylor Swift cancelled the Sunday show that was to follow and offered VIP tent tickets to Benevides Marchado's family, which was a kind gesture, but perhaps incongruous to the incident of which they were offered as consolation. Everyone grieves differently, of course, but I'm not sure attending the very show at the very same venue that my daughter or sister passed away in two days prior, where the singer CONTINUED the show despite her death, would be healthy for closure.
There was no female rage at the show as Swift never saw Benevides Machado pass out. There was no female rage towards the disregard for fans as humans while Swift elected to proceed with her Brazil tour dates despite the country being in historic heatwaves (at risk of overheatting herself). If Taylor Swift was so shaken by touring with a broken heart or a fan's passing, she wouldn't have added an additional North American leg of Eras just two months after the Matty breakup. She's brokenhearted but willing to mend the cracks with your money and move onward with her worldwide female rage induced pillaging.
No matter what happens, even if you die at a Taylor Swift concert, Taylor collects a big fat check and flies away. She doesn't know you as anything other than a conversion rate or earning potential despite what her nearly 20-year long parasocial relationship with fans might otherwise indicate. She knows that, while some Swifties are without disposable income, they feel obligated to spend on a "48 Hours Only!" exclusive vinyl variant instead of necessities because they are so entrenched in Taylor Swift's intoxicating celebrity, they'll prioritize materialistic fandom before their needs. This is good enough for her because this means she can expand her real estate portfolio and finance her cat's lavish lifestyles. They're worth an estimated $100 million dollars. Her three cats could pool their net worth and solve world hunger.
While you and I might be denied bereavement leave and barely surviving the current political and economic climate, Taylor Swift has to, instead of gets to, perform for stadiums at full attendance for three nights in a row across the globe. You and I might be replaced by AI at our longtime jobs, but Taylor Swift is threatened with losing more and more money each time you listen to a "Stolen Version" of her songs. If we don't buy every variant of all of her albums, then who is going to pay for the fucking cats?
It is tone deaf to spend as she spends and lives as she lives in this economy, but this is her reality. She was able to donate $100,000 to all of her tour truck drivers, and that's wonderful, but it leads me to wonder about the ethos of the 2020s where one woman can hoard such life-changing amounts of money. Remember in 2014 when she gave a fan $90 ($120 in today's money) to get Chipotle because she had no fucking clue how much it cost? This is a 34-year-old woman who is increasingly out of touch with the reality for working class people and women in general. Normal everyday adults must wake up and go to their thankless jobs, and yet Taylor Swift, despite all her riches, incessantly references the lows of her life and career as a public figure and entertainer to farm sympathy and drive sales. And still, the corporate women have latched onto "I cry a lot, but I am so productive! It's an art!" as their cubicle battle cry.
Do you think that, from up in her private jet, Taylor Swift gazes at the world through her poetic, tortured eyes, and thinks, "All the little people, in their cars, walking, going about their lives...all those girls that don't support girls...do they know that I've made an album about female rage?"

Conclusion/TLDR

Thank you for reading. I would love to hear your critical insights towards this entire ordeal: TTPD, the trademark, the implications of it all.
TLDR: Taylor Swift is a bad feminist and is delusional to think that the TTPD eras set exemplifies female rage at women's injustice.

In spanish, there are some "feminists" channels that are talking about women who don't want to pay half of the bills and call themselves "High value women", they criticize them and say that they are sexists, that "you should not choose your partner because you have fear" and that they should not generalize men (yes lmao). Even some of them said that High Value Women are femcels and put those women at the same level of RedPillers.
I have talked and read RedPillers for years. The heart of the ideology are fake stats and the goal is controlling women and convince men that they should meet certain standard to be happy.
I also followed High Value Women communities (FDS, for example) and I have seen that the heart of it is reality. Most women who live 50/50 still do most of the child care and domestic labor. Women are working more than ever and they are still picking socks more. If you provide as a woman and your husband stays at home, he is more likely to cheat. Orgasm gap exists. Birth control fails and can make you pregnant of a man that doesn't care about you nor your kid. STDs exist and they are raising. Abortion doesn't exist in most countries.
In short ¿What men have to bring to the table?
Not great sex
STDs
Not a clean tidy house
Not children
Not well behaved children
Not fidelity
If hes poor: more bills to pay.
If he has money: money and a stable lifestyle.
I get that they have some points in common with the redpill; if you don't agree with them you are a "beta" or an "Average Frustrated Chump" or a "PickMe". But in general I see them are extremely different or sometimes, opposites.
The argument of "you should not choose your partners because you have fear" makes me ick. If you are an adult, you should be making informed choices and B plans in the case something goes wrong. You should not choose people based on ideals or only because you think that doing it "is fair" or "virtuous". Women have a lot to loose if they choose wrong, they even can get killed by a man who told them that he loved them.
Another thing that people who agrees with them says is that High Value Women are sexists and it is "masked patriarchy". I agree with the idea that in fact, they are promoting patriarchy and feeding it. But hear me out: men are sexist; this world is sexist. If you play equality with men, most of the time you will end up paying the bills to a sexist man who think that his house cleans itself. If you acknowledge that men will not see you as their equal ever (even if they say so) and you, even then, decide to be with them, you will be playing knowing what the outcome will be and take advantage of it.
The thing that makes me mad is that one of the women who made videos criticizing, suffered domestic violence. She paid all the bills and the man (who claimed to be a feminist) abused her. And even then she doesn't get the point. Imagine loosing money, time and mental health in the name of equality, progress and feminism, see that it doesn't work and still believing that "there are good men out there" who will be fair.
Female socialization is a thing; but most of the time women themselves promote being naive and delusional to other women as a good strategy to survive.
In reality, I don't think women should have relationships with men. But if they have them anyway, is better if they are smart about it and assure they are winning something.
What do you think about it? What is the lesser evil here? Playing equality with men and play the russian roulette or making men pay for shit?

So new data today shows that UK unemployment is increasing.
Considering I would be included in these figures (as I was made redundant from a job of 10 years in March), and have yet to find alternative employment at a similar level (and not for a lack of trying, 500+ applications, and reducing my annual pay by about 40% of what I was on to try to get back into work), what do you propose Labour could do when they get into power to help with this?

This post is part of a series of reviews. To see them all, click here.

Season Information

• Airdates: 30th August 1980 - 21st March 1981
• Doctor: 4th (Tom Baker)
• Companions: K-9 (V/A: John Leeson, S18E01-20), Romana II (Lalla Ward, S18E01-20), Adric (Matthew Waterhouse, S18E09-28), Nyssa (Sarah Sutton, S18E21-28), Tegan (Janet Fielding, S18E25-28)
• Other Notable Characters: The Decayed Master (Geoffrey Beevers, S18E21-24), The Tremas Master (Anthony Ainley, S18E24-28)
• Producer: John Nathan-Turner
• Script Editors: Christopher H. Bidmead

Review

In retrospect I really shouldn't have called Season 15 "The Transitional Season". Because, well, Season 18 is obviously the Doctor Who season most clearly transitioning between eras. So much so that by the end of the season the only thing left of the 4th Doctor era is the 4th Doctor himself. Through this season, the 4th Doctor, Romana and K-9 become the 5th Doctor, Adric, Nyssa and Tegan. And it leads to kind of an odd feeling.
It's also notable that there's a serious tonal change that happens this season. While Graham Williams never quite got to make the comedy era of Doctor Who that he wanted to, he did give it a more relaxed and free-flowing atmosphere. Under new Producer John Nathan-Turner, as well as new Script Editor Christopher H. Bidmead, the story veers right back into being a more serious show. And for the first time, there was real effort being put into grounding a lot of the stories in real science. And while the actual science involved isn't really accurate, I do think it has a positive impact on the season as a whole. The science on Doctor Who is always made up, but at least this way it feels like we're pointing in the vague direction of something real.
It's certainly a refreshing change of pace from the rest of the 4th Doctor era. The 4th Doctor era, at least from Season 13 onwards had a tendency to feel very gimmicky. During the Hinchcliffe era it was taking popular horror stories like Frankenstein or The Mummy and adapting them for Doctor Who. During the Williams era, that shifted more towards genre parodies, with some journeys in to Greek mythology. Season 18 feels kind of refreshing in large part because…there's not really any obvious influences. Sure we're pulling from real science, both in individual episodes and in a more general sense with the broad theme of entropy, but that feels a lot less invasive than pulling from more famous media.
Which leads us nicely to the entropy thing. Season 18, at least in theory, has an overarching theme of "entropy". Or more accurately it has an overarching theme of "decay" that sometimes takes on the form of entropy. Because look, there's nothing especially entropic about the vampires in State of Decay or the way the Argolins are dying out in The Leisure Hive, but it still falls into the larger umbrella of decay. Which gives this season a fairly melancholic tone to it on the whole. Throughout the entire season, things seem to be falling apart, especially once we get to E-Space. Warriors' Gate is full of all of this imagery of past riches fading into nothing, Keeper of Traken is literally about an entirely way of life nearly falling apart, and Logopolis is where we, really and truly, get the entropy theme, for real this time. But also…
Logopolis, in which the Doctor dies, briefly turns into a man with white cracked skin only to sit up looking about a decade younger, is probably the best indication of the other half of our decay theme. Because Doctor Who is a show where things generally work out for the best, this is a season that is as much about rebirth as it is about decay. The Argolins from Leisure Hive are given a chance at new life for their civilization. The peoples with meet in the E-Space Trilogy all ultimately get delivered from their decaying societies and given a chance to build back up to something new. In Meglos…I guess at the end there the people of Tigella do ultimately get to live on the surface of their planet…somehow. Even in Keeper of Traken the story leaves the Trakenite people on something of a hopeful note, with a new Keeper installed to look after it. Sure, in Logopolis we learn that the Master apparently blew up Traken off screen (if I had a nickel for every time the Master blew up a planet off screen…) along with its entire solar system, but at least at the end of Keeper things are looking hopeful.
And that idea of renewal kind of extends to the show itself right? Like this is clearly a season that's transitioning into a new, renewed version of itself, at least in theory. That's why we lose Romana and the robot dog, and replace them with a couple of kids and a fairly young flight attendant. John Nathan-Turner felt that the trio of Romana, K-9 and the Doctor were too invulnerable, which is why he decided to write out the two surplus geniuses. You can see this in how stories are structured. Generally speaking in the five stories that Romana and K-9 are in this season, Romana is either confined to her own subplot or taken out of commission, while K-9 is so constantly dismantled or on very low power, it begins to feel like a running gag by the time he leaves.
And at the same time, this season shows us Romana at the absolute height of her competence. She's basically the Doctor's equal by the time we enter E-Space. I think that's why I feel like it was the right time for Romana to leave: she'd done all the developing she needed to. There was nowhere to take the character without making the show just as much about her as it was about the Doctor. So while losing Romana, and Lalla Ward with her, is a shame, it was the right time to drop her. Losing K-9 on the other hand…look the TARDIS is already about to get exceptionally crowded and unless you don't bring Nyssa back in Logopolis there really isn't time for the robot dog, but I'd argue that there was no need to drop K-9 from the show. His presence making the TARDIS team "unassailable" just doesn't hold up, as him continually being dismantled throughout this season proves. And, as Tom Baker once observed in one of the funniest outtakes in Doctor Who history "you [K-9] never fucking know the answer when it's important".
But we do eventually have to introduce the younger folks. It starts out with Alzarian teenager turned TARDIS stowaway Adric. Adric has a reputation as an awful companion, though personally I've never been that down on him. I don't love the character, but he's perfectly acceptable in small doses. The biggest issue I take with him is that he plays into the sullen teenager a bit too much. The moody teenage genius is just not an enjoyable character to follow along with, and it's only going to get worse next season. However, there are moments, particularly in Keeper of Traken where the student/pupil dynamic with the Doctor makes him genuinely likable. Also, his obvious crush on Nyssa, more seen in Logopolis is fairly endearing. But a lot of the time he's just, and I've used this phrase before, an arrogant little shit. And I think it is fair to point out that Matthew Waterhouse, inexperienced as he was, often gives a very wooden performance.
Nyssa is introduced in Keeper of Traken. There we see her interacting on her own homeworld. She takes initiative a number of times in that story, mostly during the jailbreak section which she organizes. In Logopolis she's out searching for her father and that's when she has the rug pulled out from under her. She learns that, in short order, the Master killed her father and then that he destroyed her home system. Between the two stories we get a really solid setup for Nyssa, and Sarah Sutton is really solid in the role, though whether the show will follow through on any of this in the next couple seasons…is a story for another time. And speaking of characters whose somewhat tragic first couple stories often get overlooked, in her first story Tegan learns that the Master has killed her aunt, who she was clearly quite close to. Sure, it's not on the level of Nyssa's loss, but it's not a competition. Tegan, like Nyssa, gets a strong introduction, and like Nyssa we'll see in the future how successful the followup to that introduction is.
And then, there's the Doctor. Amidst all of this change, he's the one thing that stays constant from the prior era, and he ends up feeling a bit out of place by the end of season as a result. Some of this is in retrospect of course. It's only weird seeing the 4th Doctor with Nyssa and Tegan because we think of these two as 5th Doctor companions. But I do think that there's something to the idea that the 4th Doctor belonged to the 1970s. We've now reached the 1980s and the scarf man has somewhat been left behind. Or that may be because Tom Baker just seems tired this season. He's not putting in bad work, because he knows the character too well to do that, but he does seem more disconnected than ever. Of course if I'm going to mention this, I should mention that Baker was getting over an illness during the filming of the E-Space trilogy. And he has his moments of higher energy, particularly in Keeper of Traken for whatever reason. But there are also times, even before the illness, where Tom looks like he's sleepwalking through all of this. I think it's fair to say it was time for him to leave.
On a technical level there are some changes. The Doctor's costume changed substantially, and the rest of the cast will be wearing the same clothes they were introduced in for the rest of next season (well okay, Nyssa's outfit will undergo some minor alterations). It's one of the less well-handled elements of the JNT era: people stop dressing like people, but end up stuck in costumes. This will somewhat ameliorate as time goes on, but it's something worth noting: it starts early, and was very intentional. JNT explicitly wanted all of his main cast to be wearing "uniforms". Musically we've undergone a big change as well. Dudley Simpson is gone and he's been replaced by a rotating cast of composers from the BBC Radiophonics workshop. These are all solid at bare minimum, with my favorite probably being Paddy Kingsland. As a result of this change, the style has changed considerably. Over the course of Simpson's time as composer, the show became more and more orchestral, whereas under the Radiophonics composers we've gone in a more electronic direction. It's a big shift, but by the end of the season it feels natural, and I think Doctor Who does well with a synth sound.
Season 18 begins the reign of Doctor Who's final producer. Eventually JNT will stay on too long, as even he would admit, but at this point all of his ideas feel new and fresh. They aren't all improvements, though some are, but Season 18 does feel entirely different from what came before it, and there's value in that. More than that though, other than enforcing a more serious tone than the Graham Williams era, Season 18 ends up feeling like it's going back to basics. Sure it's got an arc (two of them in fact) but all of the stories feel a lot less constrained by a style than earlier 4th Doctor era stories, which works to it's advantage. Genuinely, this is a strong season, a strong start to John Nathan-Turner's run as producer, and a strong end to the 4th Doctor era.
Even if, you know, it already felt like the show had left him behind well before he regenerated.

Awards

Best Story: State of Decay
What can I say, I like it when old Uncle Terry does horror. It's odd, I'll admit, to have talked up so much how refreshing it felt to have a season that didn't rely so much on gimmicks and then to say that my favorite story from said season to be the vampire pastiche but…I'm allowed to be self contradictory if I like. And genuinely, State of Decay works so well that it's worth highlighting my own inconsistency to highlight the story.
Worst Story: Meglos
Meglos (the character) has no motivation, the stuff on Tigella is the most boring version of a conflict we've done…probably dozens of times at this point, none of the characters are at all memorable…what a waste of the return of Jacqueline Hill.
Most Important: The Keeper of Traken
Logopolis has the regeneration and introduction of block-transfer computation, so this was a closely run thing. But Keeper introduces the version of the Master that will be sticking around for the remainder of the show, sets up a lot about Logopolis, and introduces a new companion. Like I said it's close, but this feels like the right call to me. I also could have gone with Warriors' Gate, but Keeper and Logopolis both feel much more significant to me.
Funniest Story: N/A
Often times when there's not really a comedy in a season, I go for the strangest story as a sort of proxy for the funniest story. But the strangest story this season was Warriors' Gate, and it's not the right kind of strange to qualify for this award. So we're leaving this space blank, as JNT intentionally tries to move the show away from what Graham Williams was doing with it.
Scariest Story: State of Decay
I had to chose which was scarier between the destruction of the universe via entropy or vampires and went with vampires. I think my sense of scale might be borked.

Rankings

1. State of Decay (8/10)
2. Warriors' Gate (8/10)
3. The Leisure Hive (7/10)
4. The Keeper of Traken (7/10)
5. Logopolis (7/10)
6. Full Circle (7/10)
7. Meglos (1/10)

Season Rankings
These are based on weighted averages that take into account the length of each story. Take this ranking with a grain of salt however. No average can properly reflect a full season's quality and nuance, and the scores for each story are, ultimately, highly subjective and a bit arbitrary.

1. Season 7 (8.1/10)
2. Season 10 (7.5/10)
3. Season 4 (7.0/10)
4. Season 11 (6.5/10)
5. Season 18 (6.4/10)
6. Season 12 (6.3/10)
7. Season 6 (6.3/10)
8. Season 1 (6.2/10)
9. Season 14 (6.2/10)
10. Season 13 (6.1/10)
11. Season 3 (6.0/10)
12. Season 5 (6.0/10)
13. Season 15 (5.9/10)
14. Season 2 (5.8/10)
15. Season 9 (5.8/10)
16. Season 8 (5.8/10)
17. Season 17 (5.8/10) *
18. Season 16 – The Key to Time (5.6/10)

* Includes originally unmade serial Shada
I'm genuinely considering abandoning the season/doctor era rankings portion of these posts. Do I think that Season 18 was good…absolutely. The 5th best season of the first 18 though?
What's happened here is that a lot of very solid scores (4 sevens…) have skewed the results up higher than they would otherwise have gone to the point that, even me giving Meglos a 1/10 hasn't affected it that much. The end result is a season going much higher than I would otherwise put it. Granted if I were as high on Warriors' Gate as some, I'd probably feel better about this, but if I were as high on that story as some it probably gets a perfect score and borks these rankings even further. I don't know, I guess the rankings serve their purpose as a snapshot of how good I felt any given season was on average, but I less and less feel like they're a reflection of my actual rankings of the seasons
Next Time: Somehow, I've reached the end of the 4th Doctor era. Now I just have to write about him. That's…going to be a lot.

Following on from the BBC article posted recently “explaining” the 115 charges laid at Man City’s feet, I decided to look properly at what the charges are, given that the article barely went further than rehashing that Man City cheated over and over again without any attempt at critical analysis.

What are the breaches?

There are 5 main areas that the breaches fall into:

• Accuracy of financial information
• Manager and player remuneration
• Compliance with UEFA regulations
• Compliance with PSR
• Cooperation with the investigation

The actual text of the Premier League’s statement can be seen here: https://www.premierleague.com/news/3045970

Where did the breaches come from?

The original source of the allegations were leaked emails from Portuguese hacker Rui Pinto. Rui Pinto was handed a 4 year suspended sentence last year for attempted extortion, illegal access to data and breach of correspondence with relation to the leaks, which were posted via his Football Leaks website in 2015. Emails from Manchester City were not the only things leaked - players like Messi and Neymar were also caught up in some leaks related to their salaries. In total there were millions of documents.
These leaked emails surfaced via Der Spiegel in 2018 as part of an expose feature which they ran, and spanned 4 articles at the time. You can read the first here: https://www.spiegel.de/international/manchester-city-exposed-bending-the-rules-to-the-tune-of-millions-a-1236346.html
On the back of these leaks UEFA, after launching an investigation in March 2019, charged Manchester City with breaches of their regulations which led, in 2020, to the club being banned from European football for 2 seasons alongside a 30m euro fine.
Alongside that UEFA investigation, the Premier League also opened an investigation. It took until 2023 for them to present their charges - the statement linked above. The case is ongoing.

What about those UEFA breaches?

The club denied any wrongdoing and appealed to CAS, the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Upon hearing the case CAS found no evidence to support UEFA’s conclusions with regards to the allegations. As a result the club’s ban from European football was overturned with immediate effect. CAS sided with UEFA on their non-cooperation charges and stated that the club could have done more to provide UEFA with documents when requested. CAS therefore issued a 10m Euro fine.
You can read the verdict here: https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CAS_Award_6785___internet__.pdf
This was the second time that the club had a run-in with UEFA. They first had a disagreement over potential breaches in 2014 related to the club spending more than the allowed amount in the previous season - the club contested that this was the result of UEFA not allowing deductibles for existing contracts started before FFP was introduced. There were no charges laid at City for this - the club entered a settlement with UEFA and a subsequent monitoring period with specific break even requirements and squad restrictions. That period ended in 2017 with UEFA declaring that the club had complied with all of the agreements within the settlement.

Didn’t City get away with it because everything was time barred?

The CAS verdict did find that the first 2 years of alleged breaches related to the club’s financial statements (the bits referred to as inflated sponsorships) were time barred (a process whereby the time permitted to bring forward the issue has passed and it is no longer possible to pursue the case - 5 years in UEFA’s rules), and so could not be considered. The rest of the years questioned were considered, and ultimately no evidence was found of financial irregularities.

Onto the 115

The Premier League statement lists 5 key areas of breaches, outlined earlier, which I will dive into more now. In total, the number of rules that the Premier League have accused Manchester City of breaching is 130. That is broken down into:

• Accuracy of financial information: 50 rules (2009/10 to 2017/18)
• Manager and player remuneration: 20 rules (2009/10 to 2015/16)
• Compliance with UEFA regulations: 5 rules (2013/14 to 2017/18)
• PSR compliance: 25 rules (2015/16 to 2017/18)
• Non-cooperation: 30 rules (2018/19 to 2022/23)

No matter how I try to recalculate it, I never get 115. I'm unsure of the exact place that the 115 number came from, and it certainly doesn't match the numbers when broken down in the BBC article.
I have broken down the list of breaches and cross referenced them with the Premier League’s handbooks for each season from 2009/10 through to 2022/23. With all five areas of breaches I have provided the text of the rule that the League included in their statement, plus a summarised version that tries to give a less legalese or technical reading. The tables are presented for reference and I won’t go into the specifics of them.

Accuracy of financial information

The Premier League stated:

In respect of each of Seasons 2009/10 to 2017/18 inclusive, the Premier League Rules applicable in those seasons that required provision by a member club to the Premier League, in the utmost good faith, of accurate financial information that gives a true and fair view of the club’s financial position, in particular with respect to its revenue (including sponsorship revenue), its related parties and its operating costs.

Below is the list of breaches taken from the league’s statement, grouped and translated into easier language.

Rules	Season	Text	Summarised
B13, B15, B16	09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18	In all matters and transactions relating to the League each Club shall behave towards each other Club and the League with the utmost good faith	Act honestly and fairly towards other clubs and the league itself
C78, E3	09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18	Each Club shall by 1st March in each Season submit to the Secretary a copy of its annual accounts in respect of its most recent financial year or if the Club considers it appropriate or the Secretary so requests the Group Accounts of the Group of which it is a member (in either case such accounts to be prepared and audited in accordance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements) together with a copy of the directors’ report for that year and a copy of the auditors’ report on those accounts	Clubs must submit their latest audited financial statements, along with directors' and auditors' reports, to the league by March 1st each year.
C79, E4	09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18	The accounts referred to in previous rule shall: 1. include separate disclosure within the balance sheet or notes to the accounts, or by way of supplementary information separately reported on by its auditors by way of procedures specified by the Board, of the total sums payable and receivable in respect of Compensation Fees, Contingent Sums and Loan Fees; 2. include a breakdown within the profit and loss account or the notes to the accounts, or by way of supplementary information separately reported on by its auditors by way of procedures specified by the Board, of revenue in appropriate categories such as gate receipts, sponsorship and advertising, broadcasting rights, commercial income and other income.	Clubs must include detailed and specific disclosures in their financial statements about various types of payments and revenues. These details must be clearly audited and reported
C86, E11	09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18	By 31st March in each Season, each Club shall submit to the Secretary in respect of itself (or if the Club considers it appropriate or the Secretary so requests in respect of the Group of which it is a member) future financial information (“Future Financial Information”) comprising projected profit and loss accounts, cash flow, balance sheets and relevant explanatory notes commencing from its accounting reference date or, if it has submitted interim accounts pursuant to Rule E.6, from the date to which those interim accounts were prepared and expiring on the next accounting reference date after the end of the following Season. The projected profit and loss accounts, cash flow and balance sheets shall be prepared at a maximum of quarterly intervals	Each club needs to provide the league with projected (or expected) financial statements for the future. These projections include profit and loss statements, cash flow details, and balance sheets.
C87, E12	09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18	The Future Financial Information shall: 1. be prepared in accordance with the accounting principles adopted in the preparation of the Club’s annual accounts (except where the accounting principles and policies are to be changed in the subsequent annual accounts, in which case the new accounting principles and polices should be followed); 2. be approved in writing by the board of directors of the company to which they relate; 3. to include in the explanatory notes thereto principal assumptions and risks; and 4. include for comparison profit and loss accounts for the period covered by the annual accounts and interim accounts submitted pursuant to Rules E.3 and E.6, a forecast for the current financial year and a balance sheet as at the date of the interim accounts submitted pursuant to Rule E.6.	Clubs must:1. Use the same accounting principles as in their last annual report, unless planning changes for the upcoming year. 2. Get these forecasts approved in writing by the club's board of directors. 3. Include notes that explain the main assumptions and risks involved. 4. Add comparative profit and loss accounts and a balance sheet from their most recent financial reports for clear reference.
E49, E50, E51	13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18	Each Club shall notify the League forthwith of any circumstances which may materially and adversely affect any of the information or representations submitted to the League pursuant to this Section E, and on consideration of those circumstances the Board may, if it considers it appropriate, amend any decision or determination that it made based on such information or representations.	Clubs must immediately inform the league if there are any changes that could significantly impact the accuracy of the financial or other information they have previously submitted

Effectively the Premier League are stating that, for the period of 2009 until 2018, the club have not been filing accurate financial statements. This relates directly to the leaked emails that are presented to show members of staff discussing payment amounts and sources of monies that are paid to the club for sponsorship, namely for the two main sponsors, Etihad and Etisalat, that are referenced in the UEFA trial. As can be seen from the rules above, some of them are more obviously related than others. There has been some criticism of the Premier League for going for such a wide number of charges, as they have not focused on one area.
With regards to this section of breaches, the club claims that the leaked emails are not evidence of wrongdoing, and are not admissible as evidence. CAS found in favour of UEFA’s assertion that the emails were in fact admissible in their case, so the club is unlikely to be able to contest this point further. This section will essentially boil down to whether the leaked emails show enough evidence of wrongdoing, and whether any further context that has been provided by the club (something that was mentioned in the CAS trial as being helpful towards Man City’s case) is sufficient to prove guilt. It is likely that only 1 or 2 of these 50 rules above are actually key. Others, like B13, B15, and B16 which relate to clubs acting in good faith, would not be enough to charge a club without being bundled in with something else.

Manager and Player Remuneration

This section is broken down further into 2 key areas: manager remuneration, and player remuneration.
The Premier League statement:

In respect of each of Seasons 2009/10 to 2012/13 inclusive, the Premier League Rules applicable in those Seasons requiring a member club to include full details of manager remuneration in its relevant contracts with its manager

And;

In respect of each of Seasons 2010/11 to 2015/16 inclusive, the Premier League Rules applicable in those Seasons requiring a member club to include full details of player remuneration in its relevant contracts with its players

Grouped and summarised below:

Rules	Season	Text	Summarised
Q7, P7	09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13	No Club shall employ any person as a Manager unless and until: 1 the terms of the Manager’s employment have been evidenced in a written contract of employment between the Club and the Manager 2 the Manager’s contract of employment has been registered with the Secretary.	Clubs must not hire a manager unless the manager's employment terms are clearly stated in a written contract, and this contract is officially registered with the league's Secretary.
Q8, P8	09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13	Contracts of employment between a Club and a Manager shall: 1 include the standard clauses set out in Appendix 8; 2 clearly set out the circumstances in which the contract of employment may be determined by either party.	Employment contracts between a club and a manager must include mandatory standard clauses and specify the conditions under which either party can terminate the contract. Appendix 8 outlines that the manager must follow the rules of relevant football organisations, obey reasonable instructions related to commercial agreements, and resolve any disputes through arbitration or mediation.
K12, T12, T13	10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16	Full details of a Player’s remuneration including all benefits to which he is entitled whether in cash or in kind shall be set out in his contract.	A player's contract must clearly list all the payment and benefits they receive
K20, T29, T18, T20	10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16	Particulars of any Image Contract Payment in respect of the Player shall be set out in the contract with his Club	Any payments related to a player’s image rights must be clearly detailed in their contract with the club

The first two key rules relate to manager remuneration, and this is specific to the contract of Roberto Mancini. Mancini was the club’s manager from 2009 until 2013, and the allegations center around leaked emails that suggest he was paid £1.75 million annually as a consultancy fee for UAE based club Al Jazira on top of his £1.45 million salary at City.
For his part, Mancini has stated “I have paid my taxes, it's all above board. So I don't think anyone will be in touch” when asked about the case.
The second two rules are player remuneration and relate to Yaya Toure. The League alleges, again based on the leaked emails, that the club did not disclose all payments to the player, and that payments were made via his agent, Dimitri Seluk, during his contract with the club.
Seluk has stated “I know what has been said about Yaya's contract with City - and what I can tell you is that absolutely everything was done very cleanly, very honestly and with full transparency. Nothing was done under the table.”
Toure was at the club from 2010 until 2018. He originally signed a five year deal, before signing a new contract in 2013 taking him up to 2017. He signed his final 1 year deal in 2017. These allegations relate to his first 6 seasons.

Compliance with UEFA regulations

This section simply relates to the wording of the Premier League rules which state that clubs competing in European competitions must comply with UEFA’s rules in addition to the Premier League’s.
The league states:

In respect of each of Seasons 2013/14 to 2017/18 inclusive, the Premier League Rules applicable in those Seasons requiring a member club to comply with UEFA’s regulations, including UEFA’s Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations

Once again I’ve presented them grouped and summarised below:

Rules	Season	Text	Summarised
B14.6, B15.6	13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18	Membership of the League shall constitute an agreement between the League and Clubs and between each Club to be bound by and comply with: - the statutes and regulations of UEFA	Each club agrees to follow the rules and regulations set by UEFA.

This rule breach seemingly relates to the period of time that was not ruled as time barred within UEFA’s case, and is not related to the original settlement between the club and UEFA, but does include the 3 years of the settlement agreement up until UEFA declared City to be compliant. Presumably the Premier League have included these to link to UEFA’s allegations of financial discrepancies related to the Etihad deal. It is unclear how much this could stick, given that CAS ruled that there was insufficient evidence of wrongdoing.
It feels amiss of the Premier League to charge the club with breaches of a rule that had already been thrown out by CAS, so I can only assume that they feel that the club have either breached other rules related to financial fair play, which doesn’t seem to be the case, or they are using the non-cooperation fine handed out by CAS to bring these charges forward.

Compliance with PSR

The Premier League have also charged Man City with breaching profit and sustainability rules. These are the rules that Everton and Nottingham Forest have been docked points for recently and relate to the annual accounts clubs must file to prove their compliance.
The league states:

In respect of each of the Seasons 2015/16 to 2017/18 inclusive, the Premier League Rules applicable in those Seasons on Profitability and Sustainability

I’ve laid these out below, grouped again, and summarised. It should be noted in the below that any reference to T, T-1 and T-2 refers to the current season, previous and 2 seasons before.

Rules	Season	Text	Summarised
E52	15/16	Rules E.53 to E.59 shall apply with effect from Season 2015/16.	The following rules will apply
E53	15/16 16/17 17/18	Each Club shall by 1 March in each Season submit to the Board: 1. copies of its Annual Accounts for T-1 (and T-2 if these have not previously been submitted to the Board) together with copies of the directors’ report(s) and auditors’ report(s) on those accounts; 2. its estimated profit and loss account and balance sheet for T which shall: 2.1. be prepared in all material respects in a format similar to the Club’s Annual Accounts; and 2.2. be based on the latest information available to the Club and be, to the best of the Club’s knowledge and belief, an accurate estimate as at the time of preparation of future financial performance; and 3. if Rule E.56 applies to the Club, the calculation of its aggregated Adjusted Earnings Before Tax for T, T-1 and T-2 in Form 4A	By March 1st each season, each club must submit to the League's Board: Their financial accounts for the previous two years, along with reports from directors and auditors. A forecast of their profit and loss and balance sheet for the current year, ensuring it is up-to-date and accurately reflects expected financial performance. If required, a detailed calculation of their earnings before tax for the current and previous two years
E54	15/16 16/17 17/18	The Board shall determine whether consideration included in the Club’s Earnings Before Tax arising from a Related Party Transaction is recorded in the Club’s Annual Accounts at a Fair Market Value. If it is not, the Board shall restate it to Fair Market Value.	The Board will check if earnings before tax reported in a club's annual accounts from transactions with related parties are valued fairly according to market standards. If they aren't, the Board will adjust these values to reflect the fair market value.
E55	15/16 16/17 17/18	The Board shall not exercise its power set out in Rule E.54 without first having given the Club reasonable opportunity to make submissions as to: 1. whether the said consideration should be restated; and/or 2. what constitutes its Fair Market Value.	Before the Board can adjust any values in a club's financial statements, they must give the club a chance to present their case regarding whether adjustments are necessary and what the fair market value should be.
E56	15/16 16/17 17/18	If the aggregation of a Club’s Earnings Before Tax for T-1 and T-2 results in a loss, any consideration from Related Party Transactions having been adjusted (if appropriate) pursuant to Rule E.54, then the Club must submit to the Board the calculation of its Adjusted Earnings Before Tax for each of T, T-1 and T-2.	If a club's combined earnings before tax for the past two years show a loss, after adjusting any related party transaction values as necessary, the club must then provide the Board with a detailed calculation of its adjusted earnings before tax for each of the three years
E57	15/16 16/17 17/18	If the aggregation of a Club’s Adjusted Earnings Before Tax for T, T-1 and T-2 results in a loss of up to £15m, then the Board shall determine whether the Club will, until the end of T+1, be able to pay its liabilities described in Rule E.14.7.1 and fulfil the obligations set out in Rules E.14.7.2 and E.14.7.3.	If a club's adjusted earnings before tax for the current year and the previous two years total a loss of up to £15 million, the Board will assess whether the club can pay its debts and meet its obligations through the end of the next season as specified in other rules.
E58	15/16 16/17 17/18	If the aggregation of a Club’s Adjusted Earnings Before Tax for T, T-1 and T-2 results in a loss of in excess of £15m then the following shall apply: 1. the Club shall provide, by 31 March in the relevant Season, Future Financial Information to cover the period commencing from its last accounting reference date (as defined in section 391 of the Act) until the end of T+2 and a calculation of estimated aggregated Adjusted Earnings Before Tax until the end of T+2 based on that Future Financial Information; 2. the Club shall provide such evidence of Secure Funding as the Board considers sufficient; and 3. if the Club is unable to provide evidence of Secure Funding as set out in Rule E.58.2, the Board may exercise its powers set out in Rule E.15.	If a club's total adjusted earnings before tax for the current year and the previous two years show a loss greater than £15 million, then the club must: Submit future financial plans and estimated earnings up to two years beyond the current season by March 31st. Provide proof of secure funding as the Board requires. If the club can't show they have secure funding, the Board may take action as outlined in another rule.
E59	15/16 16/17 17/18	If the aggregation of a Club’s Adjusted Earnings Before Tax for T, T-1 and T-2 results in losses of in excess of £105m: 1. the Board may exercise its powers set out in Rule E.15; and 2. the Club shall be treated as being in breach of these Rules and accordingly the Board shall refer the breach to a Commission constituted pursuant to Section W of these Rules.	If a club's total adjusted earnings before tax for the current year and the previous two years show a loss greater than £105 million, then: The Board may use its authority as outlined in Rule E.15. The club will be considered as having broken the rules, and the Board will report this violation to a special Commission as per Section W of the rules.
E60	15/16 16/17 17/18	The sum set out in Rule E.59 shall be reduced by £22m for each Season covered by T-1 and T-2 in which the Club was in membership of The Football League.	If a club was a member of The Football League in the previous two seasons (T-1 and T-2), the amount mentioned in Rule E.59 will be decreased by £22 million for each of those seasons

A lot of this is not specific to anything the club will have breached, and is again a criticism that has been levelled at the Premier League for not being focused enough on charging the club and instead trying to go for as much as possible. Eg rule E52 in the 2015/16 season isn’t really something that would be up for debate, and rule E60, which refers to seasons spent outside the Premier League for adjusting the £105m 3 season PSR limit.
I don’t believe that the club has breached a lot of these rules specifically, and that the Premier League has just grouped PSR as a category together to hit the club with multiple charges. It is likely that the key rule in this section is E54, which discusses related party income and fair market value. This is an important one for City, as the leaked emails have been presented to show the club receiving money from sponsors with funds that have come directly from ADUG, Abu Dhabi United Group, owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan and with an 81% stake in the CFG (City Football Group) that comprises the club.
City have always argued that these sponsorships are not related parties, something that has been previously accepted by both the Premier League and UEFA in separate agreements related to PSR and FFP under their rules. It is likely that the key here is whether the emails imply that they should in fact be counted as related parties, and therefore whether they represent fair market value.
For the other rules in this section, it is unlikely that anything of substance will be proven or even sought.

Cooperation with the investigation

In addition to the above 4 sections, which all covered rule breaches related to the hacked emails, the Premier League charged the club with non-cooperation with their investigation. This does not relate to the breaches themselves, and so you will notice that the seasons are all after the Der Spiegel investigation.
The charges are:

In respect of the period from December 2018 to date, the Premier League Rules applicable in the relevant Seasons requiring a member club to cooperate with, and assist, the Premier League in its investigations, including by providing documents and information to the Premier League in the utmost good faith

Grouped and summarised:

Rules	Season	Text	Summarised
B16, B15	18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 22/23	In all matters and transactions relating to the League each Club shall behave towards each other Club and the League with the utmost good faith.	Act honestly and fairly towards other clubs and the league itself
B19, B18	18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 22/23	Without prejudice to the League’s powers of inquiry under Rule W.1, each Club shall comply promptly and in full with any request for information made by the League (including, for the avoidance of doubt, any such request made pursuant to a demand from a statutory or regulatory authority).	Clubs must quickly and fully respond to any information requests from the League, even if these are prompted by a government or regulatory body's demands
W1	18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 22/23	The Board shall have power to inquire into any suspected or alleged breach of these Rules and for that purpose may require: 1. any Manager, Match Official, Official or Player to appear before it; and 2. any such person or any Club to produce documents.	The Board has the authority to investigate any suspected or confirmed rule violations. For this, they can: Require managers, match officials, other officials, or players to appear before them. Ask these individuals or any club to provide relevant documents.
W2	18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 22/23	Any Manager, Match Official, Official or Player who fails to appear before or to produce documents to the Board when required to do so under Rule W.1 shall be in breach of these Rules.	Anybody who does not comply with Rule W.1 is in breach
W12, W15	18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 22/23	It shall be no answer to a request from the Board to disclose documents or information pursuant to Rule W.1 that such documents or information requested are confidential. All Clubs and Persons subject to these Rules must ensure that any other obligations of confidentiality assumed are made expressly subject to the League’s right of inquiry under these Rules. No Club or Person shall be under an obligation to disclose any documents rendered confidential by either the order of a court of competent jurisdiction or by statute or statutory instrument.	The Board can request documents or information even if they are confidential. However, clubs and individuals are not required to disclose anything that is legally confidential due to a court order or by law. Clubs and individuals should ensure any confidentiality agreements acknowledge the League's right to inquire.
W13, W16	18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 22/23	All persons who are requested to assist pursuant to Rule W.1 shall provide full, complete and prompt assistance to the Board in its exercise of its power of Inquiry	Anyone asked to help must fully, quickly, and completely help the Board with its investigations.

Three of these are your meat and potatoes non-cooperation charges, which the Premier League will have charged City with for not providing documents when requested. A couple relate specifically to individuals within a club, but otherwise these breaches will be the most likely to stick, similar to how they did at CAS.
Man City have maintained that they do not need to cooperate with the investigation which they state as being based on illegally obtained material and have stated that they do not trust the investigation.
Rules B15, B16 make another appearance relating to acting with the utmost good faith.

When will this hearing take place?

We don’t really know. The panel has been chosen and are presumably deliberating, but as with cases of this size and with so many documents, they take time.
League CEO Richard Masters has recently stated that the case will “Resolve itself soon”, which is badly worded and has led to speculation that the club and league are seeking a way out of the case following the charges being thrown out. This is unlikely, as it would be in the interest of both to end proceedings as quickly as possible.
There have been criticisms towards the Premier League regarding the secrecy around these hearings - it is actually within the Premier League’s rules that these occur in private:
Rules W70 and X25 state: The proceedings of an arbitration convened under this Section (W/X) shall be confidential and shall be conducted in private.

Aren’t Man City just stalling?

Not really, no. The club have been charged with non-cooperation by the Premier League for their initial investigation, but there is nothing the club can do to further postpone the hearing taking place. The time required is simply because of the magnitude and seriousness of the allegations put forward by the league.
The original BBC article alleged that City were “dragging their feet” - but this is not something that stops the league handing out charges, and isn’t something that will change the timeline of the independent panel’s investigation.

Punishments

So let's say that City is found guilty - what are the likely punishments to be? The answer is complicated, as it completely depends on what charges are ultimately determined to be warranted. Talk of points deductions amounting to the thousands are pure hyperbole. The specific breaches agreed by the independent panel will influence the size of any punishment.
Given the seriousness of the allegations - essentially fraud across multiple years involving the club, sponsors, auditors and governing bodies - there must be a high bar of proof. With such a high bar also comes a high punishment if the club is deemed to be guilty. It is entirely possible that a proportionate punishment to such deceit would be expulsion from the league. This would however be the least of the club’s worries, as it brings into question the legality of the breaches with regards to individuals, HMRC and other organisations from which payments may or may not have been withheld or deliberately reported incorrectly.
Some of the above charges do not risk carrying any sort of point based punishment. The non-cooperation charges, for example, would be a monetary fine. It is also very unlikely that the league would seek to remove past titles. The scope and burden of proof that specific breaches directly correlated to titles would be too complicated.
Expulsion from the Premier League would require the club to apply to join another league, the EFL the most likely candidate. It would be at the discretion of the EFL whether they accepted the club into their league structure. Given the size of the club and the need to replace the 20th team in the Premier League, it would be likely that they would agree to include the club in their league system as a space would open up in the Championship.

Can the club appeal a decision?

Yes, there are avenues for appeal. That appeal will not go through CAS, as correctly reported, but would go to another panel. Sections W through to Z of the Premier League rulebook detail different types of appeals and tribunals for varying reasons. Section W is the section specifically referred to in the PSR rules (within section E of the Premier League handbook).

There is no Time Bar though in the Premier League

Well, kind of. There is no time bar specifically mentioned in the rules. The Premier League handbook, which you can read at https://www.premierleague.com/about/publications,does state (Rule A7) that “these Rules shall be governed by and shall be construed in accordance with English law. Strictly without prejudice to the arbitration and other dispute resolution provisions of these Rules, disputes relating to these Rules shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.”.
Essentially this means that any rules follow English Law, which itself does state a time bar for cases. This is typically 6 years for most cases, with some differences based on specific situations.
In the case of fraud this can vary, and may be the avenue that the Premier League tries to go down (which itself makes the evidence required to prove the case more stringent). For fraud cases, English Law states:

Time bar of 6 years from the date cause of action accrued
Or, if the cause of action is deliberately concealed, 6 years from when the fraud is, or with reasonable diligence would have been, discovered.
Should this be the route the Premier League has chosen then there will have to be a discussion to determine what period of time the charges can be applied to.

What about the length of grass?

There was never a charge about the length of grass. Such narrative about what the charges were came from initial analysis by people using incorrect versions of the Premier League handbook (as the rules change from year to year slightly, and those rules shift in their assignment. This is is why I have grouped them as such in the above tables). All charges relate to financial issues and non-cooperation in the league's subsequent investigation.

What about the Cease and Desist?

Rumours began last week that the club had issued cease and desist letters to individuals and organisations within the public domain related to the charges. As of yet there has been no evidence that anybody has received such a letter (although you’d question why they would publicise receiving one in the first place). It should be made clear that any cease and desist that may have been received by anybody would not prevent them from discussing the charges with which the league have brought on City. Any cease and desist letter is a demand that the recipient stops any activity considered to be unlawful - eg. in the case of this case it would be accusations levelled at the club that are not true. Examples would be the club being called cheats because they’ve done specific things that have not been proven to be true like a false statement or libel.

Can’t we just dock points now like Everton and Nottingham Forest?

Not really, no. Cases of this magnitude take time to deliberate and cross examine. There is no quick way of dealing with such a large case. The Everton and Nottingham Forest cases, by comparison, are simple breaches that can be quantified by simply looking at the submitted accounts, which for both clubs show losses that are above the agreed amount in Rule E53 of the Premier League handbook (and Rule E54 in Nottingham Forest’s case due to their recent promotion that reduced their allowable losses).
Neither club claimed to have not breached these rules, but merely tried to argue the case that their losses were due to mitigating circumstances, which the Premier League did not agree with.
Anybody questioning why analysis of so many historical charges takes longer than clear individual breaches shown on a balance sheet needs to consider whether they want a case to be resolved quickly, or whether they want it to be resolved properly, as the two are mutually exclusive.

Who wins?

Ultimately nobody wins. Reputational damage is guaranteed for either Manchester City or the Premier League depending on the outcome. It can also be argued that enough reputational damage has already been dealt to both organisations. This is often why a settlement is seen as a preferred option, as there is no long drawn out saga. The club have remained steadfast and stubborn insisting that there is no grounds for the charges and that they are innocent on all accounts. The league have been criticised for their handling of the matter and for other PSR breaches recently and don’t seem to be keen to back down in this case either.
There was also the accusation that the league had rushed through presenting the charges in order to disrupt the introduction of an independent regulator by the Government and to prove that it can govern itself. That has largely failed as the IFR (Independent football regulator) looks likely to be going ahead.
The best case scenario for the club is being cleared of all charges - unlikely due to the presence of those non-cooperation charges - a win for the club, but there will be large question marks over the Premier League’s handling, the time taken, the accuracy of the verdict and the secrecy involved. The club will also have suffered reputational damage up to this point, particularly from sections of the football fraternity who have already made their mind up.
The best case scenario for the league is trickier - it doesn’t want to be seen to be a light touch, but conversely it doesn’t want to be triggering the sort of chaos that points deductions and league expulsions might have on one of its most successful clubs of the last decade. In some ways, the league has already lost.

Closing Thoughts

There will be details that I have glossed over for brevity - there is a lot more information in some of the linked documents plus the Premier League handbooks that provides a lot more important context.
I hope the above proves useful to anybody interested in the finer details of the situation, but appreciate that it is probably beyond the scope of the kind of person who posts 115 memes and gets agitated by the lack of discussion around the charges.
There may be inaccuracies. If you spot anything then please let me know and I will make a quick amendment.
TL;DR
Shits complicated Bro

Click here to join more than 5,000 people and get this in your email inbox for free every Sunday.
The Criminal Justice Bill makes a return to the Commons this week.
It's reportedly been in limbo amid backlash from Tory MPs over the part that would 'criminalise' homelessness. Former ministers are among those who have tabled amendments to counter this part of the bill.
Elsewhere, Rishi Sunak will make his pitch to voters ahead of the next election.
He'll say the UK "stands at a crossroads" ahead of "some of the most dangerous years".
And Friday brings private members' bills.
It's a long list, but as ever only a small handful will be heard in the time alotted.

MONDAY 13 MAY

No votes scheduled

TUESDAY 14 MAY

Bathing Waters (Monitoring and Reporting) Bill Requires local authorities to test the quality of bathing waters all year round. Currently they only have to test between May and September. Ten minute rule motion presented by Selaine Saxby.

WEDNESDAY 15 MAY

Child Sexual Abuse Material (Digital Devices) Bill Requires people to grant access to their digital devices when entering the UK where there is a reasonable suspicion that the device may contain child sexual abuse material. Ten minute rule motion presented by Pauline Latham.
Criminal Justice Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland (part), Northern Ireland (part) A wide-ranging bill giving the police more powers and introducing tougher sentencing for sexual and violent criminals. Among other things, it creates a new criminal offence of possessing a bladed article with the intent to cause harm, allows police to drug test more suspects on arrest, and tackles nuisance begging and rough sleeping. Draft bill (PDF)

THURSDAY 16 MAY

No votes scheduled

FRIDAY 17 MAY

Licensing Hours Extensions Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England and Wales Makes it easier for pubs and bars to extend their opening hours during national events like the World Cup by allowing the government to grant a temporary easing of restrictions. Usually this would be done by Parliament but can't happen if Parliament is in recess. Private members' bill presented by Emma Lewell-Buck. Draft bill (PDF)
Pensions (Special Rules for End of Life) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland The Pension Protection Fund and The Financial Assistance Scheme are two bodies that provide financial help to members who lose some or all of their defined benefit pension, incuding people who are terminally ill. This bill extends the definition of terminally ill to people with a life expectency of 12 months, up from six months. Private members' bill presented by Laurence Robertson. Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing
Special Envoy for International Freedom of Religion or Belief Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires the government to appoint a Special Envoy for International Freedom of Religion or Belief. Private members' bill presented by Fiona Bruce. Draft bill (PDF)
Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Requires dog owners to pay full compensation to farmers if livestock are killed in dog attacks. Currently a convicted dog owner can only be fined £1,000. Also requires police to record dog attacks on livestock, and allows them to obtain DNA from suspect dogs. Private members' bill presented by Therese Coffey. Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing
Secure 16 to 19 Academies Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Enables local authorities to run secure 16 to 19 Academies – institutions principally concerned with the education of young people above compulsory school age and below 19 – and prevents them from being run for profit. Private members' bill presented by Caroline Johnson. Draft bill (PDF)
School Attendance (Duties of Local Authorities and Proprietors of Schools) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Requires schools and local authorities to follow best practice guidelines to support families and help get persistently absent children back into the classroom. Private members' bill presented by Vicky Ford. Draft bill (PDF)
Space Industry (Indemnities) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires spaceflight licences to include details of the holder's indemnity limit – the maximum amount their insurer will pay out on a claim. Private members' bill presented by Jonathan Lord. Draft bill (PDF)
Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill – 2nd reading Regulates the import of dogs, cats, and ferrets, aiming to ensure their health and safety during transportation and deter illegal trade practices. Private members' bill presented by Selaine Saxby. Bill not yet published
Benefit Sanctions (Warnings) Bill – 2nd reading Requires benefit claimants to be given warnings before they are sanctioned. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Arm’s-Length Bodies (Accountability to Parliament) Bill – 2nd reading Makes arm’s-length bodies (ALBs) directly accountable to Parliament. ALBs include executive agencies like the Met Office, non-departmental public bodies like the Environment Agency, and non-ministerial departments like HMRC. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Anonymity of Suspects Bill – 2nd reading Creates an offence of disclosing the identity of a person who is the subject of an investigation. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Government of Wales (Referendum on Devolution) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: Wales Legislates for a referendum on devolution in Wales. Provides that another such referendum can't happend for another 25 years. Private members' bill presented by Rob Roberts. Draft bill (PDF)
Immigration and Nationality Fees (Exemption for NHS Clinical Staff) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Exempts NHS clinical staff from paying fees related to immigration, such as applying for indefinite leave to remain. Private members' bill presented by Rob Roberts. Draft bill (PDF)
Welfare Benefits (Adequacy, Debt and Deductions) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report to Parliament on the potential benefits of banning deductions on certain benefits in the first six months, restricting deductions where a claimant is at risk of hardship, reducing the maximum amount of a claim that can be deducted, and changing the priority order in which debt repayments are recovered by deductions. Private members’ bill presented by David Linden. Bill not yet published
Public Sector Websites (Data Charges) Bill – 2nd reading Requires providers of electronic communications networks to allow customers to access certain public sector websites for free. Private members' bill presented by Simon Lightwood. Bill not yet published
Pets (Microchips) Bill – 2nd reading Requires local authorities to scan a deceased cat's microchip and try to return it to its owner before disposing of it. Requires vets to confirm the person presenting a healthy animal to be euthanised is its registered owner. They must also check the microchip for details of previous owners and offer the animal to them before proceeding. Also known as Gizmo's law and Tuk's law. Private members' bill presented by James Daly. Bill not yet published
Climate and Nature Bill – 2nd reading Requires the UK to achieve climate and nature targets. The government must implement a strategy with help from a new Climate and Nature Assembly. Private members' bill presented by Alex Sobel. Bill not yet published
Disposal of Waste (Advertising and Penalty Provision) Bill – 2nd reading Requires social media and other advertising platforms to ensure waste collection companies posting adverts are registered with the Environment Agency. Requires councils to fine or prosecute anyone who fly tips or uses a rogue trader who fly tips. Private members' bill presented by Paul Bristow. Bill not yet published
Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity (Ratification of Treaty) Bill – 2nd reading Concerns the UK’s ratification of the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Private members’ bill presented by Kevin Foster. More information not currently available. Bill not yet published
State Pension Age (Compensation) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish proposals for a compensation scheme for 'WASPI women' – those born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1960 who have been affected by increases in the state pension age. Private members' bill presented by Alan Brown. Bill not yet published
Arms Trade (Inquiry and Suspension) Bill – 2nd reading Starts an inquiry into how arms sold to foreign states are used, to determine whether they have been used to break international law. Suspends the sale of arms to foreign states where it can't be shown that those arms won't be used to break international law. Private members' bill presented by Zarah Sultana. Bill not yet published
Off-Road Vehicles (Registration) Bill – 2nd reading Requires off-road vehicles like quadbikes to be registered and have a registration plate. Private members' bill presented by Anne McLaughlin. Bill not yet published
Horticultural Peat (Prohibition of Sale) Bill – 2nd reading Bans the sale of horticultural peat in England by the end of 2024. This would follow through on a long-standing government commitment, because of the environmental impact of peat mining. Private members' bill presented by Theresa Villiers Bill not yet published
Workers (Rights and Definition) Bill – 2nd reading Establishes a legal definition of employment, which includes zero-hours contracts and agency workers. The aim is to prevent abuse of people working under these arrangements. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Health and Safety at Work Bill – 2nd reading Amend the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 to make provision about civil liability for breaches of health and safety duties. More information not yet available. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Asylum Seekers (Accommodation Eviction Procedures) Bill – 2nd reading Allows asylum seekers to challenge a proposed eviction in an independent court or tribunal. Establishes asylum seeker accommodation eviction procedures for public authorities. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (Powers) Bill – 2nd reading Allows the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to identify and investigate systemic problems in the benefits system and make relevant recommendations to the government. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens.
Asylum Seekers (Permission to Work) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Grants asylum seekers permission to work if they have waited six months for a decision on their asylum application. Private members' bill presented by Carol Monaghan. Draft bill (PDF)
Corporate Homicide Bill – 2nd reading Makes changes to the criminal offence of corporate homicide. More information not yet published. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens.
Deductions from Universal Credit (Report) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report to Parliament on the impact of deductions from Universal Credit on the levels of destitution among claimants. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Evictions (Universal Credit) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to prevent the evictions of Universal Credit claimants who are behind on rent. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Food Poverty Strategy Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish a strategy for ending the need for food banks by 2030. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Under-Occupancy Penalty (Report) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report on the merits of repealing the so-called "bedroom tax" (a cut in benefits for those living in a council or housing association property deemed to have one or more spare bedrooms). Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Devolution (Employment) (Scotland) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: Scotland Devolves employment matters in Scotland. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill (PDF)
Social Security Benefits (Healthy Eating) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish annual calculations of the benefit and tax credit rates needed for a representative household to afford to buy meals in accordance with the Eatwell Guide to eating healthily. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Universal Credit Sanctions (Zero Hours Contracts) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland Prevents a Universal Credit claimant from being sanctioned for refusing work on a zero-hours contract. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill
Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Amends the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 to change the law around parliamentary scrutiny of lockdowns. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope.
BBC Licence Fee Non-Payment (Decriminalisation for Over-75s) Bill – 2nd reading Decriminalises non-payment of the licence fee by over-75s. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope.
Public Sector Exit Payments (Limitation) Bill - 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Caps exit payments made to outgoing employees of public sector organisations. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill
Green Belt (Protection) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England and Wales Establishes a national register of green belt land in England. Restricts the ability of local authorities to de-designate green belt land. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill
Greater London Low Emission Zone Charging (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Reverses the expansion of London's ultra-low emission zone (Ulez), the tax on driving more polluting vehicles that was expanded to all London boroughs in August 2023. Private members' bill presented by Gareth Johnson. Bill not yet published
Highways Act 1980 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Limits the legal defences available to highway authorities when they're sued for non-repair of a highway. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Covid-19 Vaccine Damage Payments Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires the government to improve the diagnosis and treatment of people who have suffered ill effects from Covid-19 vaccines. Provides for financial assistance to people who have become disabled after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine, and to the next of kin of people who have died shortly after, among other things. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill (PDF)
Statutory Instruments Act 1946 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Allows MPs or Lords to amend most statutory instruments – secondary legislation that is used to make changes to existing laws – before they are approved. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Extends the offence of having a dog dangerously out of control to cover private property as well as public places. Private members' bill presented by Angela Smith. Draft bill
Exemption from Value Added Tax (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill – 2nd reading Exempts goods or services from VAT if they are beneficial to the environment, health and safety, education, or for charitable purposes. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Covid-19 Vaccine Diagnosis and Treatment Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to improve the diagnosis and treatment of people who have suffered ill effects from Covid-19 vaccines. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Caravan Site Licensing (Exemption of Motor Homes) Bill – 2nd reading Exempts motor homes from caravan site licensing requirements. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
NHS England (Alternative Treatment) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales Gives patients access to alternative non-NHS England treatment if they've waited for more than one year for hospital treatment. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill (PDF)
British Broadcasting Corporation (Privatisation) Bill – 2nd reading Privatises the BBC and distributes shares in the corporation to all licence fee payers. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Children’s Clothing (Value Added Tax) Bill – 2nd reading Expands the definition of children's clothing, including school uniforms, so more of it is VAT exempt. Currently clothes and shoes for "young children" are VAT exempt, but there is no legal definition of that term. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Regulatory Impact Assessments Bill – 2nd reading Requires a Regulatory Impact Assessment (a specific method for analysing policy) to be published for all primary and secondary legislation introduced by the government. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Barnett Formula (Replacement) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report on proposals to replace the Barnett Formula (the formula used to decide how much public money is given to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) with a scheme based on an assessment of relative needs. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Rule of Law (Enforcement by Public Authorities) Bill – 2nd reading Requires public authorities to investigate breaches of the law, and take enforcement action. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Illegal Immigration (Offences) Bill – 2nd reading Creates new offences for people who have entered the UK illegally, or have overstayed their visas. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
National Health Service Co-Funding and Co-Payment Bill – 2nd reading Extends co-payment (paying for treatment at the point of service like going to the dentist) to more NHS services in England. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Caravan Sites Bill – 2nd reading Removes the requirement for planning permission when applying for a caravan site licence. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Domestic Energy (Value Added Tax) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Removes VAT on domestic electricity and oil and gas. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill (PDF)
Child Criminal Exploitation Bill – 2nd reading Makes involvement in child criminal exploitation an aggravating factor in sentencing for some drugs money launding offences, among other things. Private members' bill presented by Paul Beresford. Bill not yet published
Click here to join more than 5,000 people and get this in your email inbox for free every Sunday.

Click here to join more than 5,000 people and get this in your email inbox for free every Sunday.
The Criminal Justice Bill makes a return to the Commons this week.
It's reportedly been in limbo amid backlash from Tory MPs over the part that would 'criminalise' homelessness. Former ministers are among those who have tabled amendments to counter this part of the bill.
Elsewhere, Rishi Sunak will make his pitch to voters ahead of the next election.
He'll say the UK "stands at a crossroads" ahead of "some of the most dangerous years".
And Friday brings private members' bills.
It's a long list, but as ever only a small handful will be heard in the time alotted.

MONDAY 13 MAY

No votes scheduled

TUESDAY 14 MAY

Bathing Waters (Monitoring and Reporting) Bill Requires local authorities to test the quality of bathing waters all year round. Currently they only have to test between May and September. Ten minute rule motion presented by Selaine Saxby.

WEDNESDAY 15 MAY

Child Sexual Abuse Material (Digital Devices) Bill Requires people to grant access to their digital devices when entering the UK where there is a reasonable suspicion that the device may contain child sexual abuse material. Ten minute rule motion presented by Pauline Latham.
Criminal Justice Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland (part), Northern Ireland (part) A wide-ranging bill giving the police more powers and introducing tougher sentencing for sexual and violent criminals. Among other things, it creates a new criminal offence of possessing a bladed article with the intent to cause harm, allows police to drug test more suspects on arrest, and tackles nuisance begging and rough sleeping. Draft bill (PDF)

THURSDAY 16 MAY

No votes scheduled

FRIDAY 17 MAY

Licensing Hours Extensions Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England and Wales Makes it easier for pubs and bars to extend their opening hours during national events like the World Cup by allowing the government to grant a temporary easing of restrictions. Usually this would be done by Parliament but can't happen if Parliament is in recess. Private members' bill presented by Emma Lewell-Buck. Draft bill (PDF)
Pensions (Special Rules for End of Life) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland The Pension Protection Fund and The Financial Assistance Scheme are two bodies that provide financial help to members who lose some or all of their defined benefit pension, incuding people who are terminally ill. This bill extends the definition of terminally ill to people with a life expectency of 12 months, up from six months. Private members' bill presented by Laurence Robertson. Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing
Special Envoy for International Freedom of Religion or Belief Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires the government to appoint a Special Envoy for International Freedom of Religion or Belief. Private members' bill presented by Fiona Bruce. Draft bill (PDF)
Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Requires dog owners to pay full compensation to farmers if livestock are killed in dog attacks. Currently a convicted dog owner can only be fined £1,000. Also requires police to record dog attacks on livestock, and allows them to obtain DNA from suspect dogs. Private members' bill presented by Therese Coffey. Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing
Secure 16 to 19 Academies Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Enables local authorities to run secure 16 to 19 Academies – institutions principally concerned with the education of young people above compulsory school age and below 19 – and prevents them from being run for profit. Private members' bill presented by Caroline Johnson. Draft bill (PDF)
School Attendance (Duties of Local Authorities and Proprietors of Schools) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Requires schools and local authorities to follow best practice guidelines to support families and help get persistently absent children back into the classroom. Private members' bill presented by Vicky Ford. Draft bill (PDF)
Space Industry (Indemnities) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires spaceflight licences to include details of the holder's indemnity limit – the maximum amount their insurer will pay out on a claim. Private members' bill presented by Jonathan Lord. Draft bill (PDF)
Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill – 2nd reading Regulates the import of dogs, cats, and ferrets, aiming to ensure their health and safety during transportation and deter illegal trade practices. Private members' bill presented by Selaine Saxby. Bill not yet published
Benefit Sanctions (Warnings) Bill – 2nd reading Requires benefit claimants to be given warnings before they are sanctioned. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Arm’s-Length Bodies (Accountability to Parliament) Bill – 2nd reading Makes arm’s-length bodies (ALBs) directly accountable to Parliament. ALBs include executive agencies like the Met Office, non-departmental public bodies like the Environment Agency, and non-ministerial departments like HMRC. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Anonymity of Suspects Bill – 2nd reading Creates an offence of disclosing the identity of a person who is the subject of an investigation. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Government of Wales (Referendum on Devolution) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: Wales Legislates for a referendum on devolution in Wales. Provides that another such referendum can't happend for another 25 years. Private members' bill presented by Rob Roberts. Draft bill (PDF)
Immigration and Nationality Fees (Exemption for NHS Clinical Staff) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Exempts NHS clinical staff from paying fees related to immigration, such as applying for indefinite leave to remain. Private members' bill presented by Rob Roberts. Draft bill (PDF)
Welfare Benefits (Adequacy, Debt and Deductions) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report to Parliament on the potential benefits of banning deductions on certain benefits in the first six months, restricting deductions where a claimant is at risk of hardship, reducing the maximum amount of a claim that can be deducted, and changing the priority order in which debt repayments are recovered by deductions. Private members’ bill presented by David Linden. Bill not yet published
Public Sector Websites (Data Charges) Bill – 2nd reading Requires providers of electronic communications networks to allow customers to access certain public sector websites for free. Private members' bill presented by Simon Lightwood. Bill not yet published
Pets (Microchips) Bill – 2nd reading Requires local authorities to scan a deceased cat's microchip and try to return it to its owner before disposing of it. Requires vets to confirm the person presenting a healthy animal to be euthanised is its registered owner. They must also check the microchip for details of previous owners and offer the animal to them before proceeding. Also known as Gizmo's law and Tuk's law. Private members' bill presented by James Daly. Bill not yet published
Climate and Nature Bill – 2nd reading Requires the UK to achieve climate and nature targets. The government must implement a strategy with help from a new Climate and Nature Assembly. Private members' bill presented by Alex Sobel. Bill not yet published
Disposal of Waste (Advertising and Penalty Provision) Bill – 2nd reading Requires social media and other advertising platforms to ensure waste collection companies posting adverts are registered with the Environment Agency. Requires councils to fine or prosecute anyone who fly tips or uses a rogue trader who fly tips. Private members' bill presented by Paul Bristow. Bill not yet published
Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity (Ratification of Treaty) Bill – 2nd reading Concerns the UK’s ratification of the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Private members’ bill presented by Kevin Foster. More information not currently available. Bill not yet published
State Pension Age (Compensation) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish proposals for a compensation scheme for 'WASPI women' – those born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1960 who have been affected by increases in the state pension age. Private members' bill presented by Alan Brown. Bill not yet published
Arms Trade (Inquiry and Suspension) Bill – 2nd reading Starts an inquiry into how arms sold to foreign states are used, to determine whether they have been used to break international law. Suspends the sale of arms to foreign states where it can't be shown that those arms won't be used to break international law. Private members' bill presented by Zarah Sultana. Bill not yet published
Off-Road Vehicles (Registration) Bill – 2nd reading Requires off-road vehicles like quadbikes to be registered and have a registration plate. Private members' bill presented by Anne McLaughlin. Bill not yet published
Horticultural Peat (Prohibition of Sale) Bill – 2nd reading Bans the sale of horticultural peat in England by the end of 2024. This would follow through on a long-standing government commitment, because of the environmental impact of peat mining. Private members' bill presented by Theresa Villiers Bill not yet published
Workers (Rights and Definition) Bill – 2nd reading Establishes a legal definition of employment, which includes zero-hours contracts and agency workers. The aim is to prevent abuse of people working under these arrangements. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Health and Safety at Work Bill – 2nd reading Amend the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 to make provision about civil liability for breaches of health and safety duties. More information not yet available. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Asylum Seekers (Accommodation Eviction Procedures) Bill – 2nd reading Allows asylum seekers to challenge a proposed eviction in an independent court or tribunal. Establishes asylum seeker accommodation eviction procedures for public authorities. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (Powers) Bill – 2nd reading Allows the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to identify and investigate systemic problems in the benefits system and make relevant recommendations to the government. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens.
Asylum Seekers (Permission to Work) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Grants asylum seekers permission to work if they have waited six months for a decision on their asylum application. Private members' bill presented by Carol Monaghan. Draft bill (PDF)
Corporate Homicide Bill – 2nd reading Makes changes to the criminal offence of corporate homicide. More information not yet published. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens.
Deductions from Universal Credit (Report) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report to Parliament on the impact of deductions from Universal Credit on the levels of destitution among claimants. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Evictions (Universal Credit) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to prevent the evictions of Universal Credit claimants who are behind on rent. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Food Poverty Strategy Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish a strategy for ending the need for food banks by 2030. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Under-Occupancy Penalty (Report) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report on the merits of repealing the so-called "bedroom tax" (a cut in benefits for those living in a council or housing association property deemed to have one or more spare bedrooms). Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Devolution (Employment) (Scotland) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: Scotland Devolves employment matters in Scotland. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill (PDF)
Social Security Benefits (Healthy Eating) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish annual calculations of the benefit and tax credit rates needed for a representative household to afford to buy meals in accordance with the Eatwell Guide to eating healthily. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Universal Credit Sanctions (Zero Hours Contracts) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland Prevents a Universal Credit claimant from being sanctioned for refusing work on a zero-hours contract. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill
Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Amends the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 to change the law around parliamentary scrutiny of lockdowns. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope.
BBC Licence Fee Non-Payment (Decriminalisation for Over-75s) Bill – 2nd reading Decriminalises non-payment of the licence fee by over-75s. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope.
Public Sector Exit Payments (Limitation) Bill - 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Caps exit payments made to outgoing employees of public sector organisations. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill
Green Belt (Protection) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England and Wales Establishes a national register of green belt land in England. Restricts the ability of local authorities to de-designate green belt land. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill
Greater London Low Emission Zone Charging (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Reverses the expansion of London's ultra-low emission zone (Ulez), the tax on driving more polluting vehicles that was expanded to all London boroughs in August 2023. Private members' bill presented by Gareth Johnson. Bill not yet published
Highways Act 1980 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Limits the legal defences available to highway authorities when they're sued for non-repair of a highway. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Covid-19 Vaccine Damage Payments Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires the government to improve the diagnosis and treatment of people who have suffered ill effects from Covid-19 vaccines. Provides for financial assistance to people who have become disabled after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine, and to the next of kin of people who have died shortly after, among other things. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill (PDF)
Statutory Instruments Act 1946 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Allows MPs or Lords to amend most statutory instruments – secondary legislation that is used to make changes to existing laws – before they are approved. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Extends the offence of having a dog dangerously out of control to cover private property as well as public places. Private members' bill presented by Angela Smith. Draft bill
Exemption from Value Added Tax (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill – 2nd reading Exempts goods or services from VAT if they are beneficial to the environment, health and safety, education, or for charitable purposes. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Covid-19 Vaccine Diagnosis and Treatment Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to improve the diagnosis and treatment of people who have suffered ill effects from Covid-19 vaccines. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Caravan Site Licensing (Exemption of Motor Homes) Bill – 2nd reading Exempts motor homes from caravan site licensing requirements. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
NHS England (Alternative Treatment) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales Gives patients access to alternative non-NHS England treatment if they've waited for more than one year for hospital treatment. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill (PDF)
British Broadcasting Corporation (Privatisation) Bill – 2nd reading Privatises the BBC and distributes shares in the corporation to all licence fee payers. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Children’s Clothing (Value Added Tax) Bill – 2nd reading Expands the definition of children's clothing, including school uniforms, so more of it is VAT exempt. Currently clothes and shoes for "young children" are VAT exempt, but there is no legal definition of that term. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Regulatory Impact Assessments Bill – 2nd reading Requires a Regulatory Impact Assessment (a specific method for analysing policy) to be published for all primary and secondary legislation introduced by the government. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Barnett Formula (Replacement) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report on proposals to replace the Barnett Formula (the formula used to decide how much public money is given to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) with a scheme based on an assessment of relative needs. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Rule of Law (Enforcement by Public Authorities) Bill – 2nd reading Requires public authorities to investigate breaches of the law, and take enforcement action. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Illegal Immigration (Offences) Bill – 2nd reading Creates new offences for people who have entered the UK illegally, or have overstayed their visas. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
National Health Service Co-Funding and Co-Payment Bill – 2nd reading Extends co-payment (paying for treatment at the point of service like going to the dentist) to more NHS services in England. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Caravan Sites Bill – 2nd reading Removes the requirement for planning permission when applying for a caravan site licence. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Domestic Energy (Value Added Tax) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Removes VAT on domestic electricity and oil and gas. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill (PDF)
Child Criminal Exploitation Bill – 2nd reading Makes involvement in child criminal exploitation an aggravating factor in sentencing for some drugs money launding offences, among other things. Private members' bill presented by Paul Beresford. Bill not yet published
Click here to join more than 5,000 people and get this in your email inbox for free every Sunday.

Click here to join more than 5,000 people and get this in your email inbox for free every Sunday.
The Criminal Justice Bill makes a return to the Commons this week.
It's reportedly been in limbo amid backlash from Tory MPs over the part that would 'criminalise' homelessness. Former ministers are among those who have tabled amendments to counter this part of the bill.
Elsewhere, Rishi Sunak will make his pitch to voters ahead of the next election.
He'll say the UK "stands at a crossroads" ahead of "some of the most dangerous years".
And Friday brings private members' bills.
It's a long list, but as ever only a small handful will be heard in the time alotted.

MONDAY 13 MAY

No votes scheduled

TUESDAY 14 MAY

Bathing Waters (Monitoring and Reporting) Bill Requires local authorities to test the quality of bathing waters all year round. Currently they only have to test between May and September. Ten minute rule motion presented by Selaine Saxby.

WEDNESDAY 15 MAY

Child Sexual Abuse Material (Digital Devices) Bill Requires people to grant access to their digital devices when entering the UK where there is a reasonable suspicion that the device may contain child sexual abuse material. Ten minute rule motion presented by Pauline Latham.
Criminal Justice Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland (part), Northern Ireland (part) A wide-ranging bill giving the police more powers and introducing tougher sentencing for sexual and violent criminals. Among other things, it creates a new criminal offence of possessing a bladed article with the intent to cause harm, allows police to drug test more suspects on arrest, and tackles nuisance begging and rough sleeping. Draft bill (PDF)

THURSDAY 16 MAY

No votes scheduled

FRIDAY 17 MAY

Licensing Hours Extensions Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England and Wales Makes it easier for pubs and bars to extend their opening hours during national events like the World Cup by allowing the government to grant a temporary easing of restrictions. Usually this would be done by Parliament but can't happen if Parliament is in recess. Private members' bill presented by Emma Lewell-Buck. Draft bill (PDF)
Pensions (Special Rules for End of Life) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland The Pension Protection Fund and The Financial Assistance Scheme are two bodies that provide financial help to members who lose some or all of their defined benefit pension, incuding people who are terminally ill. This bill extends the definition of terminally ill to people with a life expectency of 12 months, up from six months. Private members' bill presented by Laurence Robertson. Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing
Special Envoy for International Freedom of Religion or Belief Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires the government to appoint a Special Envoy for International Freedom of Religion or Belief. Private members' bill presented by Fiona Bruce. Draft bill (PDF)
Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Requires dog owners to pay full compensation to farmers if livestock are killed in dog attacks. Currently a convicted dog owner can only be fined £1,000. Also requires police to record dog attacks on livestock, and allows them to obtain DNA from suspect dogs. Private members' bill presented by Therese Coffey. Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing
Secure 16 to 19 Academies Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Enables local authorities to run secure 16 to 19 Academies – institutions principally concerned with the education of young people above compulsory school age and below 19 – and prevents them from being run for profit. Private members' bill presented by Caroline Johnson. Draft bill (PDF)
School Attendance (Duties of Local Authorities and Proprietors of Schools) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Requires schools and local authorities to follow best practice guidelines to support families and help get persistently absent children back into the classroom. Private members' bill presented by Vicky Ford. Draft bill (PDF)
Space Industry (Indemnities) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires spaceflight licences to include details of the holder's indemnity limit – the maximum amount their insurer will pay out on a claim. Private members' bill presented by Jonathan Lord. Draft bill (PDF)
Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill – 2nd reading Regulates the import of dogs, cats, and ferrets, aiming to ensure their health and safety during transportation and deter illegal trade practices. Private members' bill presented by Selaine Saxby. Bill not yet published
Benefit Sanctions (Warnings) Bill – 2nd reading Requires benefit claimants to be given warnings before they are sanctioned. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Arm’s-Length Bodies (Accountability to Parliament) Bill – 2nd reading Makes arm’s-length bodies (ALBs) directly accountable to Parliament. ALBs include executive agencies like the Met Office, non-departmental public bodies like the Environment Agency, and non-ministerial departments like HMRC. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Anonymity of Suspects Bill – 2nd reading Creates an offence of disclosing the identity of a person who is the subject of an investigation. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Government of Wales (Referendum on Devolution) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: Wales Legislates for a referendum on devolution in Wales. Provides that another such referendum can't happend for another 25 years. Private members' bill presented by Rob Roberts. Draft bill (PDF)
Immigration and Nationality Fees (Exemption for NHS Clinical Staff) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Exempts NHS clinical staff from paying fees related to immigration, such as applying for indefinite leave to remain. Private members' bill presented by Rob Roberts. Draft bill (PDF)
Welfare Benefits (Adequacy, Debt and Deductions) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report to Parliament on the potential benefits of banning deductions on certain benefits in the first six months, restricting deductions where a claimant is at risk of hardship, reducing the maximum amount of a claim that can be deducted, and changing the priority order in which debt repayments are recovered by deductions. Private members’ bill presented by David Linden. Bill not yet published
Public Sector Websites (Data Charges) Bill – 2nd reading Requires providers of electronic communications networks to allow customers to access certain public sector websites for free. Private members' bill presented by Simon Lightwood. Bill not yet published
Pets (Microchips) Bill – 2nd reading Requires local authorities to scan a deceased cat's microchip and try to return it to its owner before disposing of it. Requires vets to confirm the person presenting a healthy animal to be euthanised is its registered owner. They must also check the microchip for details of previous owners and offer the animal to them before proceeding. Also known as Gizmo's law and Tuk's law. Private members' bill presented by James Daly. Bill not yet published
Climate and Nature Bill – 2nd reading Requires the UK to achieve climate and nature targets. The government must implement a strategy with help from a new Climate and Nature Assembly. Private members' bill presented by Alex Sobel. Bill not yet published
Disposal of Waste (Advertising and Penalty Provision) Bill – 2nd reading Requires social media and other advertising platforms to ensure waste collection companies posting adverts are registered with the Environment Agency. Requires councils to fine or prosecute anyone who fly tips or uses a rogue trader who fly tips. Private members' bill presented by Paul Bristow. Bill not yet published
Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity (Ratification of Treaty) Bill – 2nd reading Concerns the UK’s ratification of the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Private members’ bill presented by Kevin Foster. More information not currently available. Bill not yet published
State Pension Age (Compensation) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish proposals for a compensation scheme for 'WASPI women' – those born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1960 who have been affected by increases in the state pension age. Private members' bill presented by Alan Brown. Bill not yet published
Arms Trade (Inquiry and Suspension) Bill – 2nd reading Starts an inquiry into how arms sold to foreign states are used, to determine whether they have been used to break international law. Suspends the sale of arms to foreign states where it can't be shown that those arms won't be used to break international law. Private members' bill presented by Zarah Sultana. Bill not yet published
Off-Road Vehicles (Registration) Bill – 2nd reading Requires off-road vehicles like quadbikes to be registered and have a registration plate. Private members' bill presented by Anne McLaughlin. Bill not yet published
Horticultural Peat (Prohibition of Sale) Bill – 2nd reading Bans the sale of horticultural peat in England by the end of 2024. This would follow through on a long-standing government commitment, because of the environmental impact of peat mining. Private members' bill presented by Theresa Villiers Bill not yet published
Workers (Rights and Definition) Bill – 2nd reading Establishes a legal definition of employment, which includes zero-hours contracts and agency workers. The aim is to prevent abuse of people working under these arrangements. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Health and Safety at Work Bill – 2nd reading Amend the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 to make provision about civil liability for breaches of health and safety duties. More information not yet available. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Asylum Seekers (Accommodation Eviction Procedures) Bill – 2nd reading Allows asylum seekers to challenge a proposed eviction in an independent court or tribunal. Establishes asylum seeker accommodation eviction procedures for public authorities. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (Powers) Bill – 2nd reading Allows the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to identify and investigate systemic problems in the benefits system and make relevant recommendations to the government. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens.
Asylum Seekers (Permission to Work) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Grants asylum seekers permission to work if they have waited six months for a decision on their asylum application. Private members' bill presented by Carol Monaghan. Draft bill (PDF)
Corporate Homicide Bill – 2nd reading Makes changes to the criminal offence of corporate homicide. More information not yet published. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens.
Deductions from Universal Credit (Report) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report to Parliament on the impact of deductions from Universal Credit on the levels of destitution among claimants. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Evictions (Universal Credit) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to prevent the evictions of Universal Credit claimants who are behind on rent. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Food Poverty Strategy Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish a strategy for ending the need for food banks by 2030. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Under-Occupancy Penalty (Report) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report on the merits of repealing the so-called "bedroom tax" (a cut in benefits for those living in a council or housing association property deemed to have one or more spare bedrooms). Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Devolution (Employment) (Scotland) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: Scotland Devolves employment matters in Scotland. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill (PDF)
Social Security Benefits (Healthy Eating) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish annual calculations of the benefit and tax credit rates needed for a representative household to afford to buy meals in accordance with the Eatwell Guide to eating healthily. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Universal Credit Sanctions (Zero Hours Contracts) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland Prevents a Universal Credit claimant from being sanctioned for refusing work on a zero-hours contract. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill
Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Amends the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 to change the law around parliamentary scrutiny of lockdowns. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope.
BBC Licence Fee Non-Payment (Decriminalisation for Over-75s) Bill – 2nd reading Decriminalises non-payment of the licence fee by over-75s. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope.
Public Sector Exit Payments (Limitation) Bill - 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Caps exit payments made to outgoing employees of public sector organisations. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill
Green Belt (Protection) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England and Wales Establishes a national register of green belt land in England. Restricts the ability of local authorities to de-designate green belt land. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill
Greater London Low Emission Zone Charging (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Reverses the expansion of London's ultra-low emission zone (Ulez), the tax on driving more polluting vehicles that was expanded to all London boroughs in August 2023. Private members' bill presented by Gareth Johnson. Bill not yet published
Highways Act 1980 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Limits the legal defences available to highway authorities when they're sued for non-repair of a highway. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Covid-19 Vaccine Damage Payments Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires the government to improve the diagnosis and treatment of people who have suffered ill effects from Covid-19 vaccines. Provides for financial assistance to people who have become disabled after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine, and to the next of kin of people who have died shortly after, among other things. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill (PDF)
Statutory Instruments Act 1946 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Allows MPs or Lords to amend most statutory instruments – secondary legislation that is used to make changes to existing laws – before they are approved. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Extends the offence of having a dog dangerously out of control to cover private property as well as public places. Private members' bill presented by Angela Smith. Draft bill
Exemption from Value Added Tax (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill – 2nd reading Exempts goods or services from VAT if they are beneficial to the environment, health and safety, education, or for charitable purposes. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Covid-19 Vaccine Diagnosis and Treatment Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to improve the diagnosis and treatment of people who have suffered ill effects from Covid-19 vaccines. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Caravan Site Licensing (Exemption of Motor Homes) Bill – 2nd reading Exempts motor homes from caravan site licensing requirements. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
NHS England (Alternative Treatment) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales Gives patients access to alternative non-NHS England treatment if they've waited for more than one year for hospital treatment. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill (PDF)
British Broadcasting Corporation (Privatisation) Bill – 2nd reading Privatises the BBC and distributes shares in the corporation to all licence fee payers. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Children’s Clothing (Value Added Tax) Bill – 2nd reading Expands the definition of children's clothing, including school uniforms, so more of it is VAT exempt. Currently clothes and shoes for "young children" are VAT exempt, but there is no legal definition of that term. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Regulatory Impact Assessments Bill – 2nd reading Requires a Regulatory Impact Assessment (a specific method for analysing policy) to be published for all primary and secondary legislation introduced by the government. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Barnett Formula (Replacement) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report on proposals to replace the Barnett Formula (the formula used to decide how much public money is given to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) with a scheme based on an assessment of relative needs. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Rule of Law (Enforcement by Public Authorities) Bill – 2nd reading Requires public authorities to investigate breaches of the law, and take enforcement action. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Illegal Immigration (Offences) Bill – 2nd reading Creates new offences for people who have entered the UK illegally, or have overstayed their visas. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
National Health Service Co-Funding and Co-Payment Bill – 2nd reading Extends co-payment (paying for treatment at the point of service like going to the dentist) to more NHS services in England. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Caravan Sites Bill – 2nd reading Removes the requirement for planning permission when applying for a caravan site licence. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Domestic Energy (Value Added Tax) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Removes VAT on domestic electricity and oil and gas. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill (PDF)
Child Criminal Exploitation Bill – 2nd reading Makes involvement in child criminal exploitation an aggravating factor in sentencing for some drugs money launding offences, among other things. Private members' bill presented by Paul Beresford. Bill not yet published
Click here to join more than 5,000 people and get this in your email inbox for free every Sunday.

Click here to join more than 5,000 people and get this in your email inbox for free every Sunday.
The Criminal Justice Bill makes a return to the Commons this week.
It's reportedly been in limbo amid backlash from Tory MPs over the part that would 'criminalise' homelessness. Former ministers are among those who have tabled amendments to counter this part of the bill.
Elsewhere, Rishi Sunak will make his pitch to voters ahead of the next election.
He'll say the UK "stands at a crossroads" ahead of "some of the most dangerous years".
And Friday brings private members' bills.
It's a long list, but as ever only a small handful will be heard in the time alotted.

MONDAY 13 MAY

No votes scheduled

TUESDAY 14 MAY

Bathing Waters (Monitoring and Reporting) Bill Requires local authorities to test the quality of bathing waters all year round. Currently they only have to test between May and September. Ten minute rule motion presented by Selaine Saxby.

WEDNESDAY 15 MAY

Child Sexual Abuse Material (Digital Devices) Bill Requires people to grant access to their digital devices when entering the UK where there is a reasonable suspicion that the device may contain child sexual abuse material. Ten minute rule motion presented by Pauline Latham.
Criminal Justice Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland (part), Northern Ireland (part) A wide-ranging bill giving the police more powers and introducing tougher sentencing for sexual and violent criminals. Among other things, it creates a new criminal offence of possessing a bladed article with the intent to cause harm, allows police to drug test more suspects on arrest, and tackles nuisance begging and rough sleeping. Draft bill (PDF)

THURSDAY 16 MAY

No votes scheduled

FRIDAY 17 MAY

Licensing Hours Extensions Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England and Wales Makes it easier for pubs and bars to extend their opening hours during national events like the World Cup by allowing the government to grant a temporary easing of restrictions. Usually this would be done by Parliament but can't happen if Parliament is in recess. Private members' bill presented by Emma Lewell-Buck. Draft bill (PDF)
Pensions (Special Rules for End of Life) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland The Pension Protection Fund and The Financial Assistance Scheme are two bodies that provide financial help to members who lose some or all of their defined benefit pension, incuding people who are terminally ill. This bill extends the definition of terminally ill to people with a life expectency of 12 months, up from six months. Private members' bill presented by Laurence Robertson. Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing
Special Envoy for International Freedom of Religion or Belief Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires the government to appoint a Special Envoy for International Freedom of Religion or Belief. Private members' bill presented by Fiona Bruce. Draft bill (PDF)
Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Requires dog owners to pay full compensation to farmers if livestock are killed in dog attacks. Currently a convicted dog owner can only be fined £1,000. Also requires police to record dog attacks on livestock, and allows them to obtain DNA from suspect dogs. Private members' bill presented by Therese Coffey. Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing
Secure 16 to 19 Academies Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Enables local authorities to run secure 16 to 19 Academies – institutions principally concerned with the education of young people above compulsory school age and below 19 – and prevents them from being run for profit. Private members' bill presented by Caroline Johnson. Draft bill (PDF)
School Attendance (Duties of Local Authorities and Proprietors of Schools) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Requires schools and local authorities to follow best practice guidelines to support families and help get persistently absent children back into the classroom. Private members' bill presented by Vicky Ford. Draft bill (PDF)
Space Industry (Indemnities) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires spaceflight licences to include details of the holder's indemnity limit – the maximum amount their insurer will pay out on a claim. Private members' bill presented by Jonathan Lord. Draft bill (PDF)
Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill – 2nd reading Regulates the import of dogs, cats, and ferrets, aiming to ensure their health and safety during transportation and deter illegal trade practices. Private members' bill presented by Selaine Saxby. Bill not yet published
Benefit Sanctions (Warnings) Bill – 2nd reading Requires benefit claimants to be given warnings before they are sanctioned. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Arm’s-Length Bodies (Accountability to Parliament) Bill – 2nd reading Makes arm’s-length bodies (ALBs) directly accountable to Parliament. ALBs include executive agencies like the Met Office, non-departmental public bodies like the Environment Agency, and non-ministerial departments like HMRC. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Anonymity of Suspects Bill – 2nd reading Creates an offence of disclosing the identity of a person who is the subject of an investigation. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Government of Wales (Referendum on Devolution) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: Wales Legislates for a referendum on devolution in Wales. Provides that another such referendum can't happend for another 25 years. Private members' bill presented by Rob Roberts. Draft bill (PDF)
Immigration and Nationality Fees (Exemption for NHS Clinical Staff) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Exempts NHS clinical staff from paying fees related to immigration, such as applying for indefinite leave to remain. Private members' bill presented by Rob Roberts. Draft bill (PDF)
Welfare Benefits (Adequacy, Debt and Deductions) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report to Parliament on the potential benefits of banning deductions on certain benefits in the first six months, restricting deductions where a claimant is at risk of hardship, reducing the maximum amount of a claim that can be deducted, and changing the priority order in which debt repayments are recovered by deductions. Private members’ bill presented by David Linden. Bill not yet published
Public Sector Websites (Data Charges) Bill – 2nd reading Requires providers of electronic communications networks to allow customers to access certain public sector websites for free. Private members' bill presented by Simon Lightwood. Bill not yet published
Pets (Microchips) Bill – 2nd reading Requires local authorities to scan a deceased cat's microchip and try to return it to its owner before disposing of it. Requires vets to confirm the person presenting a healthy animal to be euthanised is its registered owner. They must also check the microchip for details of previous owners and offer the animal to them before proceeding. Also known as Gizmo's law and Tuk's law. Private members' bill presented by James Daly. Bill not yet published
Climate and Nature Bill – 2nd reading Requires the UK to achieve climate and nature targets. The government must implement a strategy with help from a new Climate and Nature Assembly. Private members' bill presented by Alex Sobel. Bill not yet published
Disposal of Waste (Advertising and Penalty Provision) Bill – 2nd reading Requires social media and other advertising platforms to ensure waste collection companies posting adverts are registered with the Environment Agency. Requires councils to fine or prosecute anyone who fly tips or uses a rogue trader who fly tips. Private members' bill presented by Paul Bristow. Bill not yet published
Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity (Ratification of Treaty) Bill – 2nd reading Concerns the UK’s ratification of the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Private members’ bill presented by Kevin Foster. More information not currently available. Bill not yet published
State Pension Age (Compensation) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish proposals for a compensation scheme for 'WASPI women' – those born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1960 who have been affected by increases in the state pension age. Private members' bill presented by Alan Brown. Bill not yet published
Arms Trade (Inquiry and Suspension) Bill – 2nd reading Starts an inquiry into how arms sold to foreign states are used, to determine whether they have been used to break international law. Suspends the sale of arms to foreign states where it can't be shown that those arms won't be used to break international law. Private members' bill presented by Zarah Sultana. Bill not yet published
Off-Road Vehicles (Registration) Bill – 2nd reading Requires off-road vehicles like quadbikes to be registered and have a registration plate. Private members' bill presented by Anne McLaughlin. Bill not yet published
Horticultural Peat (Prohibition of Sale) Bill – 2nd reading Bans the sale of horticultural peat in England by the end of 2024. This would follow through on a long-standing government commitment, because of the environmental impact of peat mining. Private members' bill presented by Theresa Villiers Bill not yet published
Workers (Rights and Definition) Bill – 2nd reading Establishes a legal definition of employment, which includes zero-hours contracts and agency workers. The aim is to prevent abuse of people working under these arrangements. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Health and Safety at Work Bill – 2nd reading Amend the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 to make provision about civil liability for breaches of health and safety duties. More information not yet available. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Asylum Seekers (Accommodation Eviction Procedures) Bill – 2nd reading Allows asylum seekers to challenge a proposed eviction in an independent court or tribunal. Establishes asylum seeker accommodation eviction procedures for public authorities. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (Powers) Bill – 2nd reading Allows the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to identify and investigate systemic problems in the benefits system and make relevant recommendations to the government. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens.
Asylum Seekers (Permission to Work) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Grants asylum seekers permission to work if they have waited six months for a decision on their asylum application. Private members' bill presented by Carol Monaghan. Draft bill (PDF)
Corporate Homicide Bill – 2nd reading Makes changes to the criminal offence of corporate homicide. More information not yet published. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens.
Deductions from Universal Credit (Report) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report to Parliament on the impact of deductions from Universal Credit on the levels of destitution among claimants. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Evictions (Universal Credit) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to prevent the evictions of Universal Credit claimants who are behind on rent. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Food Poverty Strategy Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish a strategy for ending the need for food banks by 2030. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Under-Occupancy Penalty (Report) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report on the merits of repealing the so-called "bedroom tax" (a cut in benefits for those living in a council or housing association property deemed to have one or more spare bedrooms). Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Devolution (Employment) (Scotland) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: Scotland Devolves employment matters in Scotland. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill (PDF)
Social Security Benefits (Healthy Eating) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish annual calculations of the benefit and tax credit rates needed for a representative household to afford to buy meals in accordance with the Eatwell Guide to eating healthily. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Universal Credit Sanctions (Zero Hours Contracts) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland Prevents a Universal Credit claimant from being sanctioned for refusing work on a zero-hours contract. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill
Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Amends the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 to change the law around parliamentary scrutiny of lockdowns. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope.
BBC Licence Fee Non-Payment (Decriminalisation for Over-75s) Bill – 2nd reading Decriminalises non-payment of the licence fee by over-75s. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope.
Public Sector Exit Payments (Limitation) Bill - 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Caps exit payments made to outgoing employees of public sector organisations. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill
Green Belt (Protection) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England and Wales Establishes a national register of green belt land in England. Restricts the ability of local authorities to de-designate green belt land. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill
Greater London Low Emission Zone Charging (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Reverses the expansion of London's ultra-low emission zone (Ulez), the tax on driving more polluting vehicles that was expanded to all London boroughs in August 2023. Private members' bill presented by Gareth Johnson. Bill not yet published
Highways Act 1980 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Limits the legal defences available to highway authorities when they're sued for non-repair of a highway. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Covid-19 Vaccine Damage Payments Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires the government to improve the diagnosis and treatment of people who have suffered ill effects from Covid-19 vaccines. Provides for financial assistance to people who have become disabled after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine, and to the next of kin of people who have died shortly after, among other things. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill (PDF)
Statutory Instruments Act 1946 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Allows MPs or Lords to amend most statutory instruments – secondary legislation that is used to make changes to existing laws – before they are approved. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Extends the offence of having a dog dangerously out of control to cover private property as well as public places. Private members' bill presented by Angela Smith. Draft bill
Exemption from Value Added Tax (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill – 2nd reading Exempts goods or services from VAT if they are beneficial to the environment, health and safety, education, or for charitable purposes. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Covid-19 Vaccine Diagnosis and Treatment Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to improve the diagnosis and treatment of people who have suffered ill effects from Covid-19 vaccines. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Caravan Site Licensing (Exemption of Motor Homes) Bill – 2nd reading Exempts motor homes from caravan site licensing requirements. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
NHS England (Alternative Treatment) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales Gives patients access to alternative non-NHS England treatment if they've waited for more than one year for hospital treatment. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill (PDF)
British Broadcasting Corporation (Privatisation) Bill – 2nd reading Privatises the BBC and distributes shares in the corporation to all licence fee payers. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Children’s Clothing (Value Added Tax) Bill – 2nd reading Expands the definition of children's clothing, including school uniforms, so more of it is VAT exempt. Currently clothes and shoes for "young children" are VAT exempt, but there is no legal definition of that term. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Regulatory Impact Assessments Bill – 2nd reading Requires a Regulatory Impact Assessment (a specific method for analysing policy) to be published for all primary and secondary legislation introduced by the government. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Barnett Formula (Replacement) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report on proposals to replace the Barnett Formula (the formula used to decide how much public money is given to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) with a scheme based on an assessment of relative needs. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Rule of Law (Enforcement by Public Authorities) Bill – 2nd reading Requires public authorities to investigate breaches of the law, and take enforcement action. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Illegal Immigration (Offences) Bill – 2nd reading Creates new offences for people who have entered the UK illegally, or have overstayed their visas. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
National Health Service Co-Funding and Co-Payment Bill – 2nd reading Extends co-payment (paying for treatment at the point of service like going to the dentist) to more NHS services in England. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Caravan Sites Bill – 2nd reading Removes the requirement for planning permission when applying for a caravan site licence. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Domestic Energy (Value Added Tax) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Removes VAT on domestic electricity and oil and gas. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill (PDF)
Child Criminal Exploitation Bill – 2nd reading Makes involvement in child criminal exploitation an aggravating factor in sentencing for some drugs money launding offences, among other things. Private members' bill presented by Paul Beresford. Bill not yet published
Click here to join more than 5,000 people and get this in your email inbox for free every Sunday.

Click here to join more than 5,000 people and get this in your email inbox for free every Sunday.
The Criminal Justice Bill makes a return to the Commons this week.
It's reportedly been in limbo amid backlash from Tory MPs over the part that would 'criminalise' homelessness. Former ministers are among those who have tabled amendments to counter this part of the bill.
Elsewhere, Rishi Sunak will make his pitch to voters ahead of the next election.
He'll say the UK "stands at a crossroads" ahead of "some of the most dangerous years".
And Friday brings private members' bills.
It's a long list, but as ever only a small handful will be heard in the time alotted.

MONDAY 13 MAY

No votes scheduled

TUESDAY 14 MAY

Bathing Waters (Monitoring and Reporting) Bill Requires local authorities to test the quality of bathing waters all year round. Currently they only have to test between May and September. Ten minute rule motion presented by Selaine Saxby.

WEDNESDAY 15 MAY

Child Sexual Abuse Material (Digital Devices) Bill Requires people to grant access to their digital devices when entering the UK where there is a reasonable suspicion that the device may contain child sexual abuse material. Ten minute rule motion presented by Pauline Latham.
Criminal Justice Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland (part), Northern Ireland (part) A wide-ranging bill giving the police more powers and introducing tougher sentencing for sexual and violent criminals. Among other things, it creates a new criminal offence of possessing a bladed article with the intent to cause harm, allows police to drug test more suspects on arrest, and tackles nuisance begging and rough sleeping. Draft bill (PDF)

THURSDAY 16 MAY

No votes scheduled

FRIDAY 17 MAY

Licensing Hours Extensions Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England and Wales Makes it easier for pubs and bars to extend their opening hours during national events like the World Cup by allowing the government to grant a temporary easing of restrictions. Usually this would be done by Parliament but can't happen if Parliament is in recess. Private members' bill presented by Emma Lewell-Buck. Draft bill (PDF)
Pensions (Special Rules for End of Life) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland The Pension Protection Fund and The Financial Assistance Scheme are two bodies that provide financial help to members who lose some or all of their defined benefit pension, incuding people who are terminally ill. This bill extends the definition of terminally ill to people with a life expectency of 12 months, up from six months. Private members' bill presented by Laurence Robertson. Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing
Special Envoy for International Freedom of Religion or Belief Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires the government to appoint a Special Envoy for International Freedom of Religion or Belief. Private members' bill presented by Fiona Bruce. Draft bill (PDF)
Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Requires dog owners to pay full compensation to farmers if livestock are killed in dog attacks. Currently a convicted dog owner can only be fined £1,000. Also requires police to record dog attacks on livestock, and allows them to obtain DNA from suspect dogs. Private members' bill presented by Therese Coffey. Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing
Secure 16 to 19 Academies Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Enables local authorities to run secure 16 to 19 Academies – institutions principally concerned with the education of young people above compulsory school age and below 19 – and prevents them from being run for profit. Private members' bill presented by Caroline Johnson. Draft bill (PDF)
School Attendance (Duties of Local Authorities and Proprietors of Schools) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Requires schools and local authorities to follow best practice guidelines to support families and help get persistently absent children back into the classroom. Private members' bill presented by Vicky Ford. Draft bill (PDF)
Space Industry (Indemnities) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires spaceflight licences to include details of the holder's indemnity limit – the maximum amount their insurer will pay out on a claim. Private members' bill presented by Jonathan Lord. Draft bill (PDF)
Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill – 2nd reading Regulates the import of dogs, cats, and ferrets, aiming to ensure their health and safety during transportation and deter illegal trade practices. Private members' bill presented by Selaine Saxby. Bill not yet published
Benefit Sanctions (Warnings) Bill – 2nd reading Requires benefit claimants to be given warnings before they are sanctioned. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Arm’s-Length Bodies (Accountability to Parliament) Bill – 2nd reading Makes arm’s-length bodies (ALBs) directly accountable to Parliament. ALBs include executive agencies like the Met Office, non-departmental public bodies like the Environment Agency, and non-ministerial departments like HMRC. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Anonymity of Suspects Bill – 2nd reading Creates an offence of disclosing the identity of a person who is the subject of an investigation. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Government of Wales (Referendum on Devolution) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: Wales Legislates for a referendum on devolution in Wales. Provides that another such referendum can't happend for another 25 years. Private members' bill presented by Rob Roberts. Draft bill (PDF)
Immigration and Nationality Fees (Exemption for NHS Clinical Staff) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Exempts NHS clinical staff from paying fees related to immigration, such as applying for indefinite leave to remain. Private members' bill presented by Rob Roberts. Draft bill (PDF)
Welfare Benefits (Adequacy, Debt and Deductions) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report to Parliament on the potential benefits of banning deductions on certain benefits in the first six months, restricting deductions where a claimant is at risk of hardship, reducing the maximum amount of a claim that can be deducted, and changing the priority order in which debt repayments are recovered by deductions. Private members’ bill presented by David Linden. Bill not yet published
Public Sector Websites (Data Charges) Bill – 2nd reading Requires providers of electronic communications networks to allow customers to access certain public sector websites for free. Private members' bill presented by Simon Lightwood. Bill not yet published
Pets (Microchips) Bill – 2nd reading Requires local authorities to scan a deceased cat's microchip and try to return it to its owner before disposing of it. Requires vets to confirm the person presenting a healthy animal to be euthanised is its registered owner. They must also check the microchip for details of previous owners and offer the animal to them before proceeding. Also known as Gizmo's law and Tuk's law. Private members' bill presented by James Daly. Bill not yet published
Climate and Nature Bill – 2nd reading Requires the UK to achieve climate and nature targets. The government must implement a strategy with help from a new Climate and Nature Assembly. Private members' bill presented by Alex Sobel. Bill not yet published
Disposal of Waste (Advertising and Penalty Provision) Bill – 2nd reading Requires social media and other advertising platforms to ensure waste collection companies posting adverts are registered with the Environment Agency. Requires councils to fine or prosecute anyone who fly tips or uses a rogue trader who fly tips. Private members' bill presented by Paul Bristow. Bill not yet published
Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity (Ratification of Treaty) Bill – 2nd reading Concerns the UK’s ratification of the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Private members’ bill presented by Kevin Foster. More information not currently available. Bill not yet published
State Pension Age (Compensation) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish proposals for a compensation scheme for 'WASPI women' – those born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1960 who have been affected by increases in the state pension age. Private members' bill presented by Alan Brown. Bill not yet published
Arms Trade (Inquiry and Suspension) Bill – 2nd reading Starts an inquiry into how arms sold to foreign states are used, to determine whether they have been used to break international law. Suspends the sale of arms to foreign states where it can't be shown that those arms won't be used to break international law. Private members' bill presented by Zarah Sultana. Bill not yet published
Off-Road Vehicles (Registration) Bill – 2nd reading Requires off-road vehicles like quadbikes to be registered and have a registration plate. Private members' bill presented by Anne McLaughlin. Bill not yet published
Horticultural Peat (Prohibition of Sale) Bill – 2nd reading Bans the sale of horticultural peat in England by the end of 2024. This would follow through on a long-standing government commitment, because of the environmental impact of peat mining. Private members' bill presented by Theresa Villiers Bill not yet published
Workers (Rights and Definition) Bill – 2nd reading Establishes a legal definition of employment, which includes zero-hours contracts and agency workers. The aim is to prevent abuse of people working under these arrangements. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Health and Safety at Work Bill – 2nd reading Amend the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 to make provision about civil liability for breaches of health and safety duties. More information not yet available. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Asylum Seekers (Accommodation Eviction Procedures) Bill – 2nd reading Allows asylum seekers to challenge a proposed eviction in an independent court or tribunal. Establishes asylum seeker accommodation eviction procedures for public authorities. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (Powers) Bill – 2nd reading Allows the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to identify and investigate systemic problems in the benefits system and make relevant recommendations to the government. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens.
Asylum Seekers (Permission to Work) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Grants asylum seekers permission to work if they have waited six months for a decision on their asylum application. Private members' bill presented by Carol Monaghan. Draft bill (PDF)
Corporate Homicide Bill – 2nd reading Makes changes to the criminal offence of corporate homicide. More information not yet published. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens.
Deductions from Universal Credit (Report) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report to Parliament on the impact of deductions from Universal Credit on the levels of destitution among claimants. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Evictions (Universal Credit) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to prevent the evictions of Universal Credit claimants who are behind on rent. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Food Poverty Strategy Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish a strategy for ending the need for food banks by 2030. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Under-Occupancy Penalty (Report) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report on the merits of repealing the so-called "bedroom tax" (a cut in benefits for those living in a council or housing association property deemed to have one or more spare bedrooms). Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Devolution (Employment) (Scotland) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: Scotland Devolves employment matters in Scotland. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill (PDF)
Social Security Benefits (Healthy Eating) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish annual calculations of the benefit and tax credit rates needed for a representative household to afford to buy meals in accordance with the Eatwell Guide to eating healthily. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Universal Credit Sanctions (Zero Hours Contracts) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland Prevents a Universal Credit claimant from being sanctioned for refusing work on a zero-hours contract. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill
Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Amends the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 to change the law around parliamentary scrutiny of lockdowns. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope.
BBC Licence Fee Non-Payment (Decriminalisation for Over-75s) Bill – 2nd reading Decriminalises non-payment of the licence fee by over-75s. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope.
Public Sector Exit Payments (Limitation) Bill - 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Caps exit payments made to outgoing employees of public sector organisations. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill
Green Belt (Protection) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England and Wales Establishes a national register of green belt land in England. Restricts the ability of local authorities to de-designate green belt land. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill
Greater London Low Emission Zone Charging (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Reverses the expansion of London's ultra-low emission zone (Ulez), the tax on driving more polluting vehicles that was expanded to all London boroughs in August 2023. Private members' bill presented by Gareth Johnson. Bill not yet published
Highways Act 1980 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Limits the legal defences available to highway authorities when they're sued for non-repair of a highway. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Covid-19 Vaccine Damage Payments Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires the government to improve the diagnosis and treatment of people who have suffered ill effects from Covid-19 vaccines. Provides for financial assistance to people who have become disabled after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine, and to the next of kin of people who have died shortly after, among other things. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill (PDF)
Statutory Instruments Act 1946 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Allows MPs or Lords to amend most statutory instruments – secondary legislation that is used to make changes to existing laws – before they are approved. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Extends the offence of having a dog dangerously out of control to cover private property as well as public places. Private members' bill presented by Angela Smith. Draft bill
Exemption from Value Added Tax (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill – 2nd reading Exempts goods or services from VAT if they are beneficial to the environment, health and safety, education, or for charitable purposes. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Covid-19 Vaccine Diagnosis and Treatment Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to improve the diagnosis and treatment of people who have suffered ill effects from Covid-19 vaccines. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Caravan Site Licensing (Exemption of Motor Homes) Bill – 2nd reading Exempts motor homes from caravan site licensing requirements. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
NHS England (Alternative Treatment) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales Gives patients access to alternative non-NHS England treatment if they've waited for more than one year for hospital treatment. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill (PDF)
British Broadcasting Corporation (Privatisation) Bill – 2nd reading Privatises the BBC and distributes shares in the corporation to all licence fee payers. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Children’s Clothing (Value Added Tax) Bill – 2nd reading Expands the definition of children's clothing, including school uniforms, so more of it is VAT exempt. Currently clothes and shoes for "young children" are VAT exempt, but there is no legal definition of that term. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Regulatory Impact Assessments Bill – 2nd reading Requires a Regulatory Impact Assessment (a specific method for analysing policy) to be published for all primary and secondary legislation introduced by the government. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Barnett Formula (Replacement) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report on proposals to replace the Barnett Formula (the formula used to decide how much public money is given to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) with a scheme based on an assessment of relative needs. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Rule of Law (Enforcement by Public Authorities) Bill – 2nd reading Requires public authorities to investigate breaches of the law, and take enforcement action. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Illegal Immigration (Offences) Bill – 2nd reading Creates new offences for people who have entered the UK illegally, or have overstayed their visas. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
National Health Service Co-Funding and Co-Payment Bill – 2nd reading Extends co-payment (paying for treatment at the point of service like going to the dentist) to more NHS services in England. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Caravan Sites Bill – 2nd reading Removes the requirement for planning permission when applying for a caravan site licence. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Domestic Energy (Value Added Tax) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Removes VAT on domestic electricity and oil and gas. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill (PDF)
Child Criminal Exploitation Bill – 2nd reading Makes involvement in child criminal exploitation an aggravating factor in sentencing for some drugs money launding offences, among other things. Private members' bill presented by Paul Beresford. Bill not yet published
Click here to join more than 5,000 people and get this in your email inbox for free every Sunday.

Click here to join more than 5,000 people and get this in your email inbox for free every Sunday.
The Criminal Justice Bill makes a return to the Commons this week.
It's reportedly been in limbo amid backlash from Tory MPs over the part that would 'criminalise' homelessness. Former ministers are among those who have tabled amendments to counter this part of the bill.
Elsewhere, Rishi Sunak will make his pitch to voters ahead of the next election.
He'll say the UK "stands at a crossroads" ahead of "some of the most dangerous years".
And Friday brings private members' bills.
It's a long list, but as ever only a small handful will be heard in the time alotted.

MONDAY 13 MAY

No votes scheduled

TUESDAY 14 MAY

Bathing Waters (Monitoring and Reporting) Bill Requires local authorities to test the quality of bathing waters all year round. Currently they only have to test between May and September. Ten minute rule motion presented by Selaine Saxby.

WEDNESDAY 15 MAY

Child Sexual Abuse Material (Digital Devices) Bill Requires people to grant access to their digital devices when entering the UK where there is a reasonable suspicion that the device may contain child sexual abuse material. Ten minute rule motion presented by Pauline Latham.
Criminal Justice Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland (part), Northern Ireland (part) A wide-ranging bill giving the police more powers and introducing tougher sentencing for sexual and violent criminals. Among other things, it creates a new criminal offence of possessing a bladed article with the intent to cause harm, allows police to drug test more suspects on arrest, and tackles nuisance begging and rough sleeping. Draft bill (PDF)

THURSDAY 16 MAY

No votes scheduled

FRIDAY 17 MAY

Licensing Hours Extensions Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England and Wales Makes it easier for pubs and bars to extend their opening hours during national events like the World Cup by allowing the government to grant a temporary easing of restrictions. Usually this would be done by Parliament but can't happen if Parliament is in recess. Private members' bill presented by Emma Lewell-Buck. Draft bill (PDF)
Pensions (Special Rules for End of Life) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland The Pension Protection Fund and The Financial Assistance Scheme are two bodies that provide financial help to members who lose some or all of their defined benefit pension, incuding people who are terminally ill. This bill extends the definition of terminally ill to people with a life expectency of 12 months, up from six months. Private members' bill presented by Laurence Robertson. Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing
Special Envoy for International Freedom of Religion or Belief Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires the government to appoint a Special Envoy for International Freedom of Religion or Belief. Private members' bill presented by Fiona Bruce. Draft bill (PDF)
Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Requires dog owners to pay full compensation to farmers if livestock are killed in dog attacks. Currently a convicted dog owner can only be fined £1,000. Also requires police to record dog attacks on livestock, and allows them to obtain DNA from suspect dogs. Private members' bill presented by Therese Coffey. Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing
Secure 16 to 19 Academies Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Enables local authorities to run secure 16 to 19 Academies – institutions principally concerned with the education of young people above compulsory school age and below 19 – and prevents them from being run for profit. Private members' bill presented by Caroline Johnson. Draft bill (PDF)
School Attendance (Duties of Local Authorities and Proprietors of Schools) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Requires schools and local authorities to follow best practice guidelines to support families and help get persistently absent children back into the classroom. Private members' bill presented by Vicky Ford. Draft bill (PDF)
Space Industry (Indemnities) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires spaceflight licences to include details of the holder's indemnity limit – the maximum amount their insurer will pay out on a claim. Private members' bill presented by Jonathan Lord. Draft bill (PDF)
Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill – 2nd reading Regulates the import of dogs, cats, and ferrets, aiming to ensure their health and safety during transportation and deter illegal trade practices. Private members' bill presented by Selaine Saxby. Bill not yet published
Benefit Sanctions (Warnings) Bill – 2nd reading Requires benefit claimants to be given warnings before they are sanctioned. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Arm’s-Length Bodies (Accountability to Parliament) Bill – 2nd reading Makes arm’s-length bodies (ALBs) directly accountable to Parliament. ALBs include executive agencies like the Met Office, non-departmental public bodies like the Environment Agency, and non-ministerial departments like HMRC. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Anonymity of Suspects Bill – 2nd reading Creates an offence of disclosing the identity of a person who is the subject of an investigation. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Government of Wales (Referendum on Devolution) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: Wales Legislates for a referendum on devolution in Wales. Provides that another such referendum can't happend for another 25 years. Private members' bill presented by Rob Roberts. Draft bill (PDF)
Immigration and Nationality Fees (Exemption for NHS Clinical Staff) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Exempts NHS clinical staff from paying fees related to immigration, such as applying for indefinite leave to remain. Private members' bill presented by Rob Roberts. Draft bill (PDF)
Welfare Benefits (Adequacy, Debt and Deductions) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report to Parliament on the potential benefits of banning deductions on certain benefits in the first six months, restricting deductions where a claimant is at risk of hardship, reducing the maximum amount of a claim that can be deducted, and changing the priority order in which debt repayments are recovered by deductions. Private members’ bill presented by David Linden. Bill not yet published
Public Sector Websites (Data Charges) Bill – 2nd reading Requires providers of electronic communications networks to allow customers to access certain public sector websites for free. Private members' bill presented by Simon Lightwood. Bill not yet published
Pets (Microchips) Bill – 2nd reading Requires local authorities to scan a deceased cat's microchip and try to return it to its owner before disposing of it. Requires vets to confirm the person presenting a healthy animal to be euthanised is its registered owner. They must also check the microchip for details of previous owners and offer the animal to them before proceeding. Also known as Gizmo's law and Tuk's law. Private members' bill presented by James Daly. Bill not yet published
Climate and Nature Bill – 2nd reading Requires the UK to achieve climate and nature targets. The government must implement a strategy with help from a new Climate and Nature Assembly. Private members' bill presented by Alex Sobel. Bill not yet published
Disposal of Waste (Advertising and Penalty Provision) Bill – 2nd reading Requires social media and other advertising platforms to ensure waste collection companies posting adverts are registered with the Environment Agency. Requires councils to fine or prosecute anyone who fly tips or uses a rogue trader who fly tips. Private members' bill presented by Paul Bristow. Bill not yet published
Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity (Ratification of Treaty) Bill – 2nd reading Concerns the UK’s ratification of the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Private members’ bill presented by Kevin Foster. More information not currently available. Bill not yet published
State Pension Age (Compensation) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish proposals for a compensation scheme for 'WASPI women' – those born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1960 who have been affected by increases in the state pension age. Private members' bill presented by Alan Brown. Bill not yet published
Arms Trade (Inquiry and Suspension) Bill – 2nd reading Starts an inquiry into how arms sold to foreign states are used, to determine whether they have been used to break international law. Suspends the sale of arms to foreign states where it can't be shown that those arms won't be used to break international law. Private members' bill presented by Zarah Sultana. Bill not yet published
Off-Road Vehicles (Registration) Bill – 2nd reading Requires off-road vehicles like quadbikes to be registered and have a registration plate. Private members' bill presented by Anne McLaughlin. Bill not yet published
Horticultural Peat (Prohibition of Sale) Bill – 2nd reading Bans the sale of horticultural peat in England by the end of 2024. This would follow through on a long-standing government commitment, because of the environmental impact of peat mining. Private members' bill presented by Theresa Villiers Bill not yet published
Workers (Rights and Definition) Bill – 2nd reading Establishes a legal definition of employment, which includes zero-hours contracts and agency workers. The aim is to prevent abuse of people working under these arrangements. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Health and Safety at Work Bill – 2nd reading Amend the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 to make provision about civil liability for breaches of health and safety duties. More information not yet available. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Asylum Seekers (Accommodation Eviction Procedures) Bill – 2nd reading Allows asylum seekers to challenge a proposed eviction in an independent court or tribunal. Establishes asylum seeker accommodation eviction procedures for public authorities. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (Powers) Bill – 2nd reading Allows the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to identify and investigate systemic problems in the benefits system and make relevant recommendations to the government. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens.
Asylum Seekers (Permission to Work) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Grants asylum seekers permission to work if they have waited six months for a decision on their asylum application. Private members' bill presented by Carol Monaghan. Draft bill (PDF)
Corporate Homicide Bill – 2nd reading Makes changes to the criminal offence of corporate homicide. More information not yet published. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens.
Deductions from Universal Credit (Report) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report to Parliament on the impact of deductions from Universal Credit on the levels of destitution among claimants. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Evictions (Universal Credit) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to prevent the evictions of Universal Credit claimants who are behind on rent. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Food Poverty Strategy Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish a strategy for ending the need for food banks by 2030. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Under-Occupancy Penalty (Report) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report on the merits of repealing the so-called "bedroom tax" (a cut in benefits for those living in a council or housing association property deemed to have one or more spare bedrooms). Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Devolution (Employment) (Scotland) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: Scotland Devolves employment matters in Scotland. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill (PDF)
Social Security Benefits (Healthy Eating) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish annual calculations of the benefit and tax credit rates needed for a representative household to afford to buy meals in accordance with the Eatwell Guide to eating healthily. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Universal Credit Sanctions (Zero Hours Contracts) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland Prevents a Universal Credit claimant from being sanctioned for refusing work on a zero-hours contract. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill
Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Amends the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 to change the law around parliamentary scrutiny of lockdowns. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope.
BBC Licence Fee Non-Payment (Decriminalisation for Over-75s) Bill – 2nd reading Decriminalises non-payment of the licence fee by over-75s. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope.
Public Sector Exit Payments (Limitation) Bill - 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Caps exit payments made to outgoing employees of public sector organisations. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill
Green Belt (Protection) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England and Wales Establishes a national register of green belt land in England. Restricts the ability of local authorities to de-designate green belt land. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill
Greater London Low Emission Zone Charging (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Reverses the expansion of London's ultra-low emission zone (Ulez), the tax on driving more polluting vehicles that was expanded to all London boroughs in August 2023. Private members' bill presented by Gareth Johnson. Bill not yet published
Highways Act 1980 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Limits the legal defences available to highway authorities when they're sued for non-repair of a highway. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Covid-19 Vaccine Damage Payments Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires the government to improve the diagnosis and treatment of people who have suffered ill effects from Covid-19 vaccines. Provides for financial assistance to people who have become disabled after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine, and to the next of kin of people who have died shortly after, among other things. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill (PDF)
Statutory Instruments Act 1946 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Allows MPs or Lords to amend most statutory instruments – secondary legislation that is used to make changes to existing laws – before they are approved. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Extends the offence of having a dog dangerously out of control to cover private property as well as public places. Private members' bill presented by Angela Smith. Draft bill
Exemption from Value Added Tax (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill – 2nd reading Exempts goods or services from VAT if they are beneficial to the environment, health and safety, education, or for charitable purposes. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Covid-19 Vaccine Diagnosis and Treatment Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to improve the diagnosis and treatment of people who have suffered ill effects from Covid-19 vaccines. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Caravan Site Licensing (Exemption of Motor Homes) Bill – 2nd reading Exempts motor homes from caravan site licensing requirements. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
NHS England (Alternative Treatment) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales Gives patients access to alternative non-NHS England treatment if they've waited for more than one year for hospital treatment. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill (PDF)
British Broadcasting Corporation (Privatisation) Bill – 2nd reading Privatises the BBC and distributes shares in the corporation to all licence fee payers. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Children’s Clothing (Value Added Tax) Bill – 2nd reading Expands the definition of children's clothing, including school uniforms, so more of it is VAT exempt. Currently clothes and shoes for "young children" are VAT exempt, but there is no legal definition of that term. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Regulatory Impact Assessments Bill – 2nd reading Requires a Regulatory Impact Assessment (a specific method for analysing policy) to be published for all primary and secondary legislation introduced by the government. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Barnett Formula (Replacement) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report on proposals to replace the Barnett Formula (the formula used to decide how much public money is given to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) with a scheme based on an assessment of relative needs. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Rule of Law (Enforcement by Public Authorities) Bill – 2nd reading Requires public authorities to investigate breaches of the law, and take enforcement action. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Illegal Immigration (Offences) Bill – 2nd reading Creates new offences for people who have entered the UK illegally, or have overstayed their visas. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
National Health Service Co-Funding and Co-Payment Bill – 2nd reading Extends co-payment (paying for treatment at the point of service like going to the dentist) to more NHS services in England. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Caravan Sites Bill – 2nd reading Removes the requirement for planning permission when applying for a caravan site licence. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Domestic Energy (Value Added Tax) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Removes VAT on domestic electricity and oil and gas. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill (PDF)
Child Criminal Exploitation Bill – 2nd reading Makes involvement in child criminal exploitation an aggravating factor in sentencing for some drugs money launding offences, among other things. Private members' bill presented by Paul Beresford. Bill not yet published
Click here to join more than 5,000 people and get this in your email inbox for free every Sunday.

Click here to join more than 5,000 people and get this in your email inbox for free every Sunday.
The Criminal Justice Bill makes a return to the Commons this week.
It's reportedly been in limbo amid backlash from Tory MPs over the part that would 'criminalise' homelessness. Former ministers are among those who have tabled amendments to counter this part of the bill.
Elsewhere, Rishi Sunak will make his pitch to voters ahead of the next election.
He'll say the UK "stands at a crossroads" ahead of "some of the most dangerous years".
And Friday brings private members' bills.
It's a long list, but as ever only a small handful will be heard in the time alotted.

MONDAY 13 MAY

No votes scheduled

TUESDAY 14 MAY

Bathing Waters (Monitoring and Reporting) Bill Requires local authorities to test the quality of bathing waters all year round. Currently they only have to test between May and September. Ten minute rule motion presented by Selaine Saxby.

WEDNESDAY 15 MAY

Child Sexual Abuse Material (Digital Devices) Bill Requires people to grant access to their digital devices when entering the UK where there is a reasonable suspicion that the device may contain child sexual abuse material. Ten minute rule motion presented by Pauline Latham.
Criminal Justice Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland (part), Northern Ireland (part) A wide-ranging bill giving the police more powers and introducing tougher sentencing for sexual and violent criminals. Among other things, it creates a new criminal offence of possessing a bladed article with the intent to cause harm, allows police to drug test more suspects on arrest, and tackles nuisance begging and rough sleeping. Draft bill (PDF)

THURSDAY 16 MAY

No votes scheduled

FRIDAY 17 MAY

Licensing Hours Extensions Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England and Wales Makes it easier for pubs and bars to extend their opening hours during national events like the World Cup by allowing the government to grant a temporary easing of restrictions. Usually this would be done by Parliament but can't happen if Parliament is in recess. Private members' bill presented by Emma Lewell-Buck. Draft bill (PDF)
Pensions (Special Rules for End of Life) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland The Pension Protection Fund and The Financial Assistance Scheme are two bodies that provide financial help to members who lose some or all of their defined benefit pension, incuding people who are terminally ill. This bill extends the definition of terminally ill to people with a life expectency of 12 months, up from six months. Private members' bill presented by Laurence Robertson. Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing
Special Envoy for International Freedom of Religion or Belief Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires the government to appoint a Special Envoy for International Freedom of Religion or Belief. Private members' bill presented by Fiona Bruce. Draft bill (PDF)
Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Requires dog owners to pay full compensation to farmers if livestock are killed in dog attacks. Currently a convicted dog owner can only be fined £1,000. Also requires police to record dog attacks on livestock, and allows them to obtain DNA from suspect dogs. Private members' bill presented by Therese Coffey. Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing
Secure 16 to 19 Academies Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Enables local authorities to run secure 16 to 19 Academies – institutions principally concerned with the education of young people above compulsory school age and below 19 – and prevents them from being run for profit. Private members' bill presented by Caroline Johnson. Draft bill (PDF)
School Attendance (Duties of Local Authorities and Proprietors of Schools) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Requires schools and local authorities to follow best practice guidelines to support families and help get persistently absent children back into the classroom. Private members' bill presented by Vicky Ford. Draft bill (PDF)
Space Industry (Indemnities) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires spaceflight licences to include details of the holder's indemnity limit – the maximum amount their insurer will pay out on a claim. Private members' bill presented by Jonathan Lord. Draft bill (PDF)
Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill – 2nd reading Regulates the import of dogs, cats, and ferrets, aiming to ensure their health and safety during transportation and deter illegal trade practices. Private members' bill presented by Selaine Saxby. Bill not yet published
Benefit Sanctions (Warnings) Bill – 2nd reading Requires benefit claimants to be given warnings before they are sanctioned. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Arm’s-Length Bodies (Accountability to Parliament) Bill – 2nd reading Makes arm’s-length bodies (ALBs) directly accountable to Parliament. ALBs include executive agencies like the Met Office, non-departmental public bodies like the Environment Agency, and non-ministerial departments like HMRC. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Anonymity of Suspects Bill – 2nd reading Creates an offence of disclosing the identity of a person who is the subject of an investigation. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Government of Wales (Referendum on Devolution) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: Wales Legislates for a referendum on devolution in Wales. Provides that another such referendum can't happend for another 25 years. Private members' bill presented by Rob Roberts. Draft bill (PDF)
Immigration and Nationality Fees (Exemption for NHS Clinical Staff) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Exempts NHS clinical staff from paying fees related to immigration, such as applying for indefinite leave to remain. Private members' bill presented by Rob Roberts. Draft bill (PDF)
Welfare Benefits (Adequacy, Debt and Deductions) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report to Parliament on the potential benefits of banning deductions on certain benefits in the first six months, restricting deductions where a claimant is at risk of hardship, reducing the maximum amount of a claim that can be deducted, and changing the priority order in which debt repayments are recovered by deductions. Private members’ bill presented by David Linden. Bill not yet published
Public Sector Websites (Data Charges) Bill – 2nd reading Requires providers of electronic communications networks to allow customers to access certain public sector websites for free. Private members' bill presented by Simon Lightwood. Bill not yet published
Pets (Microchips) Bill – 2nd reading Requires local authorities to scan a deceased cat's microchip and try to return it to its owner before disposing of it. Requires vets to confirm the person presenting a healthy animal to be euthanised is its registered owner. They must also check the microchip for details of previous owners and offer the animal to them before proceeding. Also known as Gizmo's law and Tuk's law. Private members' bill presented by James Daly. Bill not yet published
Climate and Nature Bill – 2nd reading Requires the UK to achieve climate and nature targets. The government must implement a strategy with help from a new Climate and Nature Assembly. Private members' bill presented by Alex Sobel. Bill not yet published
Disposal of Waste (Advertising and Penalty Provision) Bill – 2nd reading Requires social media and other advertising platforms to ensure waste collection companies posting adverts are registered with the Environment Agency. Requires councils to fine or prosecute anyone who fly tips or uses a rogue trader who fly tips. Private members' bill presented by Paul Bristow. Bill not yet published
Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity (Ratification of Treaty) Bill – 2nd reading Concerns the UK’s ratification of the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Private members’ bill presented by Kevin Foster. More information not currently available. Bill not yet published
State Pension Age (Compensation) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish proposals for a compensation scheme for 'WASPI women' – those born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1960 who have been affected by increases in the state pension age. Private members' bill presented by Alan Brown. Bill not yet published
Arms Trade (Inquiry and Suspension) Bill – 2nd reading Starts an inquiry into how arms sold to foreign states are used, to determine whether they have been used to break international law. Suspends the sale of arms to foreign states where it can't be shown that those arms won't be used to break international law. Private members' bill presented by Zarah Sultana. Bill not yet published
Off-Road Vehicles (Registration) Bill – 2nd reading Requires off-road vehicles like quadbikes to be registered and have a registration plate. Private members' bill presented by Anne McLaughlin. Bill not yet published
Horticultural Peat (Prohibition of Sale) Bill – 2nd reading Bans the sale of horticultural peat in England by the end of 2024. This would follow through on a long-standing government commitment, because of the environmental impact of peat mining. Private members' bill presented by Theresa Villiers Bill not yet published
Workers (Rights and Definition) Bill – 2nd reading Establishes a legal definition of employment, which includes zero-hours contracts and agency workers. The aim is to prevent abuse of people working under these arrangements. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Health and Safety at Work Bill – 2nd reading Amend the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 to make provision about civil liability for breaches of health and safety duties. More information not yet available. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Asylum Seekers (Accommodation Eviction Procedures) Bill – 2nd reading Allows asylum seekers to challenge a proposed eviction in an independent court or tribunal. Establishes asylum seeker accommodation eviction procedures for public authorities. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (Powers) Bill – 2nd reading Allows the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to identify and investigate systemic problems in the benefits system and make relevant recommendations to the government. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens.
Asylum Seekers (Permission to Work) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Grants asylum seekers permission to work if they have waited six months for a decision on their asylum application. Private members' bill presented by Carol Monaghan. Draft bill (PDF)
Corporate Homicide Bill – 2nd reading Makes changes to the criminal offence of corporate homicide. More information not yet published. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens.
Deductions from Universal Credit (Report) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report to Parliament on the impact of deductions from Universal Credit on the levels of destitution among claimants. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Evictions (Universal Credit) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to prevent the evictions of Universal Credit claimants who are behind on rent. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Food Poverty Strategy Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish a strategy for ending the need for food banks by 2030. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Under-Occupancy Penalty (Report) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report on the merits of repealing the so-called "bedroom tax" (a cut in benefits for those living in a council or housing association property deemed to have one or more spare bedrooms). Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Devolution (Employment) (Scotland) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: Scotland Devolves employment matters in Scotland. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill (PDF)
Social Security Benefits (Healthy Eating) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish annual calculations of the benefit and tax credit rates needed for a representative household to afford to buy meals in accordance with the Eatwell Guide to eating healthily. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Universal Credit Sanctions (Zero Hours Contracts) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland Prevents a Universal Credit claimant from being sanctioned for refusing work on a zero-hours contract. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill
Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Amends the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 to change the law around parliamentary scrutiny of lockdowns. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope.
BBC Licence Fee Non-Payment (Decriminalisation for Over-75s) Bill – 2nd reading Decriminalises non-payment of the licence fee by over-75s. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope.
Public Sector Exit Payments (Limitation) Bill - 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Caps exit payments made to outgoing employees of public sector organisations. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill
Green Belt (Protection) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England and Wales Establishes a national register of green belt land in England. Restricts the ability of local authorities to de-designate green belt land. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill
Greater London Low Emission Zone Charging (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Reverses the expansion of London's ultra-low emission zone (Ulez), the tax on driving more polluting vehicles that was expanded to all London boroughs in August 2023. Private members' bill presented by Gareth Johnson. Bill not yet published
Highways Act 1980 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Limits the legal defences available to highway authorities when they're sued for non-repair of a highway. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Covid-19 Vaccine Damage Payments Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires the government to improve the diagnosis and treatment of people who have suffered ill effects from Covid-19 vaccines. Provides for financial assistance to people who have become disabled after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine, and to the next of kin of people who have died shortly after, among other things. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill (PDF)
Statutory Instruments Act 1946 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Allows MPs or Lords to amend most statutory instruments – secondary legislation that is used to make changes to existing laws – before they are approved. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Extends the offence of having a dog dangerously out of control to cover private property as well as public places. Private members' bill presented by Angela Smith. Draft bill
Exemption from Value Added Tax (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill – 2nd reading Exempts goods or services from VAT if they are beneficial to the environment, health and safety, education, or for charitable purposes. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Covid-19 Vaccine Diagnosis and Treatment Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to improve the diagnosis and treatment of people who have suffered ill effects from Covid-19 vaccines. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Caravan Site Licensing (Exemption of Motor Homes) Bill – 2nd reading Exempts motor homes from caravan site licensing requirements. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
NHS England (Alternative Treatment) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales Gives patients access to alternative non-NHS England treatment if they've waited for more than one year for hospital treatment. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill (PDF)
British Broadcasting Corporation (Privatisation) Bill – 2nd reading Privatises the BBC and distributes shares in the corporation to all licence fee payers. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Children’s Clothing (Value Added Tax) Bill – 2nd reading Expands the definition of children's clothing, including school uniforms, so more of it is VAT exempt. Currently clothes and shoes for "young children" are VAT exempt, but there is no legal definition of that term. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Regulatory Impact Assessments Bill – 2nd reading Requires a Regulatory Impact Assessment (a specific method for analysing policy) to be published for all primary and secondary legislation introduced by the government. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Barnett Formula (Replacement) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report on proposals to replace the Barnett Formula (the formula used to decide how much public money is given to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) with a scheme based on an assessment of relative needs. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Rule of Law (Enforcement by Public Authorities) Bill – 2nd reading Requires public authorities to investigate breaches of the law, and take enforcement action. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Illegal Immigration (Offences) Bill – 2nd reading Creates new offences for people who have entered the UK illegally, or have overstayed their visas. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
National Health Service Co-Funding and Co-Payment Bill – 2nd reading Extends co-payment (paying for treatment at the point of service like going to the dentist) to more NHS services in England. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Caravan Sites Bill – 2nd reading Removes the requirement for planning permission when applying for a caravan site licence. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Domestic Energy (Value Added Tax) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Removes VAT on domestic electricity and oil and gas. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill (PDF)
Child Criminal Exploitation Bill – 2nd reading Makes involvement in child criminal exploitation an aggravating factor in sentencing for some drugs money launding offences, among other things. Private members' bill presented by Paul Beresford. Bill not yet published
Click here to join more than 5,000 people and get this in your email inbox for free every Sunday.

Click here to join more than 5,000 people and get this in your email inbox for free every Sunday.
The Criminal Justice Bill makes a return to the Commons this week.
It's reportedly been in limbo amid backlash from Tory MPs over the part that would 'criminalise' homelessness. Former ministers are among those who have tabled amendments to counter this part of the bill.
Elsewhere, Rishi Sunak will make his pitch to voters ahead of the next election.
He'll say the UK "stands at a crossroads" ahead of "some of the most dangerous years".
And Friday brings private members' bills.
It's a long list, but as ever only a small handful will be heard in the time alotted.

MONDAY 13 MAY

No votes scheduled

TUESDAY 14 MAY

Bathing Waters (Monitoring and Reporting) Bill Requires local authorities to test the quality of bathing waters all year round. Currently they only have to test between May and September. Ten minute rule motion presented by Selaine Saxby.

WEDNESDAY 15 MAY

Child Sexual Abuse Material (Digital Devices) Bill Requires people to grant access to their digital devices when entering the UK where there is a reasonable suspicion that the device may contain child sexual abuse material. Ten minute rule motion presented by Pauline Latham.
Criminal Justice Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland (part), Northern Ireland (part) A wide-ranging bill giving the police more powers and introducing tougher sentencing for sexual and violent criminals. Among other things, it creates a new criminal offence of possessing a bladed article with the intent to cause harm, allows police to drug test more suspects on arrest, and tackles nuisance begging and rough sleeping. Draft bill (PDF)

THURSDAY 16 MAY

No votes scheduled

FRIDAY 17 MAY

Licensing Hours Extensions Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England and Wales Makes it easier for pubs and bars to extend their opening hours during national events like the World Cup by allowing the government to grant a temporary easing of restrictions. Usually this would be done by Parliament but can't happen if Parliament is in recess. Private members' bill presented by Emma Lewell-Buck. Draft bill (PDF)
Pensions (Special Rules for End of Life) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland The Pension Protection Fund and The Financial Assistance Scheme are two bodies that provide financial help to members who lose some or all of their defined benefit pension, incuding people who are terminally ill. This bill extends the definition of terminally ill to people with a life expectency of 12 months, up from six months. Private members' bill presented by Laurence Robertson. Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing
Special Envoy for International Freedom of Religion or Belief Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires the government to appoint a Special Envoy for International Freedom of Religion or Belief. Private members' bill presented by Fiona Bruce. Draft bill (PDF)
Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Requires dog owners to pay full compensation to farmers if livestock are killed in dog attacks. Currently a convicted dog owner can only be fined £1,000. Also requires police to record dog attacks on livestock, and allows them to obtain DNA from suspect dogs. Private members' bill presented by Therese Coffey. Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing
Secure 16 to 19 Academies Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Enables local authorities to run secure 16 to 19 Academies – institutions principally concerned with the education of young people above compulsory school age and below 19 – and prevents them from being run for profit. Private members' bill presented by Caroline Johnson. Draft bill (PDF)
School Attendance (Duties of Local Authorities and Proprietors of Schools) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales Requires schools and local authorities to follow best practice guidelines to support families and help get persistently absent children back into the classroom. Private members' bill presented by Vicky Ford. Draft bill (PDF)
Space Industry (Indemnities) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires spaceflight licences to include details of the holder's indemnity limit – the maximum amount their insurer will pay out on a claim. Private members' bill presented by Jonathan Lord. Draft bill (PDF)
Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill – 2nd reading Regulates the import of dogs, cats, and ferrets, aiming to ensure their health and safety during transportation and deter illegal trade practices. Private members' bill presented by Selaine Saxby. Bill not yet published
Benefit Sanctions (Warnings) Bill – 2nd reading Requires benefit claimants to be given warnings before they are sanctioned. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Arm’s-Length Bodies (Accountability to Parliament) Bill – 2nd reading Makes arm’s-length bodies (ALBs) directly accountable to Parliament. ALBs include executive agencies like the Met Office, non-departmental public bodies like the Environment Agency, and non-ministerial departments like HMRC. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Anonymity of Suspects Bill – 2nd reading Creates an offence of disclosing the identity of a person who is the subject of an investigation. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Government of Wales (Referendum on Devolution) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: Wales Legislates for a referendum on devolution in Wales. Provides that another such referendum can't happend for another 25 years. Private members' bill presented by Rob Roberts. Draft bill (PDF)
Immigration and Nationality Fees (Exemption for NHS Clinical Staff) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Exempts NHS clinical staff from paying fees related to immigration, such as applying for indefinite leave to remain. Private members' bill presented by Rob Roberts. Draft bill (PDF)
Welfare Benefits (Adequacy, Debt and Deductions) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report to Parliament on the potential benefits of banning deductions on certain benefits in the first six months, restricting deductions where a claimant is at risk of hardship, reducing the maximum amount of a claim that can be deducted, and changing the priority order in which debt repayments are recovered by deductions. Private members’ bill presented by David Linden. Bill not yet published
Public Sector Websites (Data Charges) Bill – 2nd reading Requires providers of electronic communications networks to allow customers to access certain public sector websites for free. Private members' bill presented by Simon Lightwood. Bill not yet published
Pets (Microchips) Bill – 2nd reading Requires local authorities to scan a deceased cat's microchip and try to return it to its owner before disposing of it. Requires vets to confirm the person presenting a healthy animal to be euthanised is its registered owner. They must also check the microchip for details of previous owners and offer the animal to them before proceeding. Also known as Gizmo's law and Tuk's law. Private members' bill presented by James Daly. Bill not yet published
Climate and Nature Bill – 2nd reading Requires the UK to achieve climate and nature targets. The government must implement a strategy with help from a new Climate and Nature Assembly. Private members' bill presented by Alex Sobel. Bill not yet published
Disposal of Waste (Advertising and Penalty Provision) Bill – 2nd reading Requires social media and other advertising platforms to ensure waste collection companies posting adverts are registered with the Environment Agency. Requires councils to fine or prosecute anyone who fly tips or uses a rogue trader who fly tips. Private members' bill presented by Paul Bristow. Bill not yet published
Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity (Ratification of Treaty) Bill – 2nd reading Concerns the UK’s ratification of the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Private members’ bill presented by Kevin Foster. More information not currently available. Bill not yet published
State Pension Age (Compensation) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish proposals for a compensation scheme for 'WASPI women' – those born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1960 who have been affected by increases in the state pension age. Private members' bill presented by Alan Brown. Bill not yet published
Arms Trade (Inquiry and Suspension) Bill – 2nd reading Starts an inquiry into how arms sold to foreign states are used, to determine whether they have been used to break international law. Suspends the sale of arms to foreign states where it can't be shown that those arms won't be used to break international law. Private members' bill presented by Zarah Sultana. Bill not yet published
Off-Road Vehicles (Registration) Bill – 2nd reading Requires off-road vehicles like quadbikes to be registered and have a registration plate. Private members' bill presented by Anne McLaughlin. Bill not yet published
Horticultural Peat (Prohibition of Sale) Bill – 2nd reading Bans the sale of horticultural peat in England by the end of 2024. This would follow through on a long-standing government commitment, because of the environmental impact of peat mining. Private members' bill presented by Theresa Villiers Bill not yet published
Workers (Rights and Definition) Bill – 2nd reading Establishes a legal definition of employment, which includes zero-hours contracts and agency workers. The aim is to prevent abuse of people working under these arrangements. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Health and Safety at Work Bill – 2nd reading Amend the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 to make provision about civil liability for breaches of health and safety duties. More information not yet available. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Asylum Seekers (Accommodation Eviction Procedures) Bill – 2nd reading Allows asylum seekers to challenge a proposed eviction in an independent court or tribunal. Establishes asylum seeker accommodation eviction procedures for public authorities. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (Powers) Bill – 2nd reading Allows the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to identify and investigate systemic problems in the benefits system and make relevant recommendations to the government. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens.
Asylum Seekers (Permission to Work) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Grants asylum seekers permission to work if they have waited six months for a decision on their asylum application. Private members' bill presented by Carol Monaghan. Draft bill (PDF)
Corporate Homicide Bill – 2nd reading Makes changes to the criminal offence of corporate homicide. More information not yet published. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens.
Deductions from Universal Credit (Report) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report to Parliament on the impact of deductions from Universal Credit on the levels of destitution among claimants. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Evictions (Universal Credit) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to prevent the evictions of Universal Credit claimants who are behind on rent. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Food Poverty Strategy Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish a strategy for ending the need for food banks by 2030. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Under-Occupancy Penalty (Report) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report on the merits of repealing the so-called "bedroom tax" (a cut in benefits for those living in a council or housing association property deemed to have one or more spare bedrooms). Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Devolution (Employment) (Scotland) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: Scotland Devolves employment matters in Scotland. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill (PDF)
Social Security Benefits (Healthy Eating) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to publish annual calculations of the benefit and tax credit rates needed for a representative household to afford to buy meals in accordance with the Eatwell Guide to eating healthily. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Bill not yet published
Universal Credit Sanctions (Zero Hours Contracts) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland Prevents a Universal Credit claimant from being sanctioned for refusing work on a zero-hours contract. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill
Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Amends the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 to change the law around parliamentary scrutiny of lockdowns. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope.
BBC Licence Fee Non-Payment (Decriminalisation for Over-75s) Bill – 2nd reading Decriminalises non-payment of the licence fee by over-75s. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope.
Public Sector Exit Payments (Limitation) Bill - 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Caps exit payments made to outgoing employees of public sector organisations. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill
Green Belt (Protection) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England and Wales Establishes a national register of green belt land in England. Restricts the ability of local authorities to de-designate green belt land. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill
Greater London Low Emission Zone Charging (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Reverses the expansion of London's ultra-low emission zone (Ulez), the tax on driving more polluting vehicles that was expanded to all London boroughs in August 2023. Private members' bill presented by Gareth Johnson. Bill not yet published
Highways Act 1980 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Limits the legal defences available to highway authorities when they're sued for non-repair of a highway. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Covid-19 Vaccine Damage Payments Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Requires the government to improve the diagnosis and treatment of people who have suffered ill effects from Covid-19 vaccines. Provides for financial assistance to people who have become disabled after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine, and to the next of kin of people who have died shortly after, among other things. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill (PDF)
Statutory Instruments Act 1946 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Allows MPs or Lords to amend most statutory instruments – secondary legislation that is used to make changes to existing laws – before they are approved. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading Extends the offence of having a dog dangerously out of control to cover private property as well as public places. Private members' bill presented by Angela Smith. Draft bill
Exemption from Value Added Tax (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill – 2nd reading Exempts goods or services from VAT if they are beneficial to the environment, health and safety, education, or for charitable purposes. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Covid-19 Vaccine Diagnosis and Treatment Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to improve the diagnosis and treatment of people who have suffered ill effects from Covid-19 vaccines. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Caravan Site Licensing (Exemption of Motor Homes) Bill – 2nd reading Exempts motor homes from caravan site licensing requirements. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
NHS England (Alternative Treatment) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales Gives patients access to alternative non-NHS England treatment if they've waited for more than one year for hospital treatment. Private members' bill presented by Chris Stephens. Draft bill (PDF)
British Broadcasting Corporation (Privatisation) Bill – 2nd reading Privatises the BBC and distributes shares in the corporation to all licence fee payers. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Children’s Clothing (Value Added Tax) Bill – 2nd reading Expands the definition of children's clothing, including school uniforms, so more of it is VAT exempt. Currently clothes and shoes for "young children" are VAT exempt, but there is no legal definition of that term. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Regulatory Impact Assessments Bill – 2nd reading Requires a Regulatory Impact Assessment (a specific method for analysing policy) to be published for all primary and secondary legislation introduced by the government. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Barnett Formula (Replacement) Bill – 2nd reading Requires the government to report on proposals to replace the Barnett Formula (the formula used to decide how much public money is given to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) with a scheme based on an assessment of relative needs. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Rule of Law (Enforcement by Public Authorities) Bill – 2nd reading Requires public authorities to investigate breaches of the law, and take enforcement action. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Illegal Immigration (Offences) Bill – 2nd reading Creates new offences for people who have entered the UK illegally, or have overstayed their visas. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
National Health Service Co-Funding and Co-Payment Bill – 2nd reading Extends co-payment (paying for treatment at the point of service like going to the dentist) to more NHS services in England. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Caravan Sites Bill – 2nd reading Removes the requirement for planning permission when applying for a caravan site licence. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Bill not yet published
Domestic Energy (Value Added Tax) Bill – 2nd reading Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland Removes VAT on domestic electricity and oil and gas. Private members' bill presented by Christopher Chope. Draft bill (PDF)
Child Criminal Exploitation Bill – 2nd reading Makes involvement in child criminal exploitation an aggravating factor in sentencing for some drugs money launding offences, among other things. Private members' bill presented by Paul Beresford. Bill not yet published
Click here to join more than 5,000 people and get this in your email inbox for free every Sunday.

Erik ten Hag

Ten Hag: “When you're missing seven starting players… we are competitive with one of the best teams in the Premier League”, told Sky.
https://x.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1789723600926171147

'The fans understand where we are'

Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag, speaking to Sky Sports, on his team's key improvements:
"The attitude, it starts always with the right attitude during the week and on matchday you have to be spot on.
"When we missing seven starting 11 potential players we are still competitive with one of the best teams in the league.
"When you don’t have the right attitude to find the moments to press or you don’t make the recovery’s then you make it very simple for every opponent."
On Casemiro's error for goal:
“In that situation he is a midfielder playing in that position and making a small mistake, but it has hard consequences.
"I think for United players every game is a final and you have to perform and win every game - we should realise this.”
On the fans:
“They understand where we are and where this club is. We have so many injuries in key areas they [fans] don’t get what deserve, but they understand this and that is why they are behind the team.
“I think that is why they are with us we are united and hopefully we can pay them back in the future.”

We have the right spirit - Ten Hag

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag on being able to influence the team and turn things around: "I have no doubt about this.
"As human beings and my experience that will always happen once in three months when you are not in the right attitude.
"But, mostly this team has the right spirit and they execute the rules and principles of the game even if they have to adapt in their positions.
“I can only be happy and it is a big compliment for this team that they executed all that they could and they were fighting."

'Playing out of position leads to mistakes'

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag, speaking to BBC Sport, on injuries to his defence:
"We've talked all season about this. To have a backline who play together regularly and have routines is obviously better.
"You need players who have confidence to play there, we have players playing in positions who are not used to them and then you make mistakes.
"At a high level you are punished. Or you have to play players who are not fit. That's the situation we are in."

'We have to win every game'

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag, speaking to BBC Sport, on whether there were more positives to take than from Monday's defeat at Crystal Palace:
"Yes, but it's still disappointing. I want to win, it doesn't matter who we face on the pitch. We have to win every game and give everything.
On Casemiro's mistake which led to the goal: "It's small detail, one layer makes a mistake and it opens up. Before that in possession we could have done better in better positions and better options. It's details."
____________________________

Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney speaks out on injured Utd players: 'Some of them players can play, 100 per cent. Because they’re getting a little bit of stick it’s easy for players to stay out and come back towards the FA Cup final and get themselves right for the Euros.'
https://x.com/ChrisWheelerDM/status/1789726070628921376
'I’ve seen it myself over the years. The players who have been injured are not filling themselves with any credit at the minute, and the manager is taking all the stick for it.'
https://x.com/ChrisWheelerDM/status/1789726143924330727
Rooney on Casemiro for the Arsenal goal: 'It’s lazy. He’s lazy. Whether you’re a midfield player or cb, you have to be ready to push out with the rest of the team. If not, you play everyone onside and you get punished.'
https://x.com/ChrisWheelerDM/status/1789726535764652357

'Players have to want to be out on the pitch'

I don't think the Casemiro experiment in midfield has worked. But who else have United got to put in? They've got so many players injured, centre backs, midfielders, strikers, so many players unavailable.
Players get injuries but as a manager you need to be ruthless and take that option away from them. Unless you have a bad injury you have to want to be on the pitch and to me that doesn't seem to be the case.

'United is a team of individuals'

With Manchester United they are so open at times it is incredible. The space and the chances they are giving away is incredible.Any player in that defence I feel sorry for because it is such a difficult position to play in within that side.
The team looks disjointed. It is a team of individuals, and that is a concern. You look even at the middle and bottom end of the table and there is a togetherness and compactness to them.
​
____________________________

Roy Keane

'It is not a good sign if players aren't wanting to come back'

It is not a good sign if players do not want to come back from injury and play. You will always have those that are carrying injuries but you'd hope they would be desperate to get back playing football.
There are always a few players at a club that drag their heels with injuries, but generally and thinking of players I played with, if you give them a length of time they'll be out for, they will look to knock a week or two off that.
Sometimes when it is a certain time of the season or players are lacking confidence they are not in a hurry to get back in the team.

'United were so bad'

I think Arsenal will be thinking how lucky they were to play such a poor Manchester United team today.
The end product, the lack of quality, the decision making, people making mistakes and not putting demands on each other.
No one digging each other out for mistakes. That United team out there today, particularly in the last half an hour, were so bad.
​
____________________________
​

Mikel Arteta

'We started to play too safe after the goal'

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, speaking to BBC Sport:
"We needed a result today in a really difficult place. Our history was not in favour of a result today, there was so much at stake and we're happy with the result.
"We started the game really well and were dominant. We scored the goal and I think the goal led to slightly bad things because we started to play too safe, too sideways, too backwards with not enough structure.
"We started to give the ball away in good areas and that is a danger against them. But we defended well and didn't concede too much."
​

'Players are doing a phenomenal thing'

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, speaking to BBC Sport:
"Today we weren't composed, clean enough, consistent enough and doing the simple things right. That doesn't give you control of the game.
"Some of the players have not been in this position, they don't know what is at stake and how you feel emotionally to have to win and win and win from December or January.
"It is a phenomenal thing they are doing."
____________________________

Kai Havertz

'I'm going to be the biggest fan of Tottenham'

Kai Havertz, speaking to Sky Sports, on watching Spurs v Man City on Tuesday:
"I am going to be the biggest fan of Tottenham ever! Let’s hope for the best."
Havertz: "We prepared for the game very well, we didn’t have our best game but we needed the three points and we have it now so we can be happy.
"We have to win every single game as City are always keeping the pressure on.
"It is so nice to be in the [title] race and every week you have to play at your best.
"When you do it, it feels even better. We have one game and we need the whole club behind us – anything is possible."
​
____________________________

Leandro Trossard

'It wasn't the prettiest game'

​
Arsenal goalscorer Leandro Trossard, speaking to BBC Sport:
"Maybe it wasn't the prettiest game but credit to the guys, we defended so well.
"We kept another clean sheet and one goal is enough to win the game.
"We were struggling a little bit so it was so nice to get the win.
"When you're only 1-0 up it is always a bit tricky. We were trying to score a second but they are dangerous on the counter attack.
"It is a great run for us and now we take it to the final game. You never know what is going to happen."
Trossard: "Man Utd are still a good team and they can hurt you in different ways so credit to the boys - we defended really well.
"Obviously we only have one objective to win the league. We have done our job today and it will be up to the last game and that is what we are aiming for.
"Hopefully next week we can celebrate something, you never know it could be. We can only hope. We have done our job and that is the only thing we could have done."
​
Quotes via BBC

The Short Version can be found here.

Part 1 can be found here.

Example 5 - There's more to a BBC YouTube title

Returning to this dastardly subreddit, for my next example, points 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 are relevant. OP provided a screenshot of a BBC YouTube title, stating: "Israeli hit squad dressed as doctors kill Palestinians in hospital." Per point 2, by failing to immediately link to the video, or immediately mention what the video contains, folk could come away with the conclusion that the BBC never reports that these were militants. In other words, some might believe that the misreporting here extends past the video title, when it does not, and this could be avoided by providing salient details sooner rather than later. This submission was made during the temporary ban, and I thought it was interesting enough as a case study to come back to.

Example 6 - Oxfam's full position

For this submission/meme, points 1, 2, and 6 are relevant. I saw that we weren’t going to get good-faith engagement with the entirety of Oxfam’s position here on why they initially opposed airdrops, and I attempted to outline the full extent of their views so that it can be critiqued appropriately. This meme is not too dissimilar from some Twitter leftist fixating on one short clip of Destiny during one of his heated gamer moments; his actual positions aren’t being engaged with, and it’s intellectually dull. There’s more to Destiny’s positions than a twenty-second clip; there’s more to Oxfam’s position than the one tweet. The fact of the matter is that there’s a long series of tweets here, and while the tweet OP chose to highlight is risible, is dumb, and is insufferable, we are more than capable on this subreddit in being more nuanced and fair when it comes to our criticism.
As I highlight, there were some concerns here that were not entirely unreasonable. At the time of my comment, there weren’t yet any reports on injuries due to airdrops. These reports appeared in the following days and weeks, where Gazans were killed when a parachute in an airdrop failed to deploy, and some drowned in their attempts to retrieve parcels that landed in the sea. Retrospectively, I wouldn't say that aid should not have been airdropped merely because it would result in these deaths, but a fair assessment of Oxfam here at the time should have taken these concerns into account.
Oxfam’s associate director also endorses a Twitter thread where some prescriptions are given on how ought this aid delivery be facilitated. He recommends that the Gaza port be reopened, and to open more crossings. The Biden administration recognized that airdrops would not sufficiently alleviate the problem of being unable to get sufficient quantities of aid distributed, and while the port was not reopened, Biden did announce that a temporary port would be built. Further, Israel approved the reopening of the Erez crossing.
The misinformation in OP’s post stems from the fact that folk will be disinterested in reading the twitter thread or any additional threads where they might have elaborated on views. Out of the thousands that interact with the post, a significant chunk will come away with the incorrect belief that Oxfam’s opposition to airdrops was merely due to what was stated in the meme. That is misinformation being propagated — not the most egregious, Hamas-esqe level of misinformation in the world, but misinformation nonetheless.

Example 7 - NYT: Bananas, or Cool as a Cucumber?

For our final example points 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are relevant; it’s the whole shebang. To give a quick recounting here, Hobbitfollower isn’t the only masochist that might, occasionally, choose to exclusively sort by new. When I saw the submission, I read the article, and I was a bit annoyed that the Jerusalem Post article doesn’t even link to the mission report that I was interested in reading. I searched for it, posted a link to the report in the very first comment of the thread as surely my fellow dggas would also like to read the report, and then I, well, read the report.
When I returned back to the thread, I quoted favourably from the mission report to support another individual's comment. (I would again quote from it in another thread the next day to highlight why Israel struggled to acquire forensic evidence.)
But as I scrolled down the thread I came across the subject of our example; 50 upvotes, no article linked, and clearly a charged comment. Consider the steps involved to truly engage with this comment; one would need to:

• Click and read the article.
• Search for the mission report.
• Read the mission report (as some folk probably won’t wanna read 20 pages right off the bat).
• Search for the NYT article; bypass the paywall (which is trivially easy nowadays but is still a barrier, and people are lazy); and read the article.

This is a very charged thread: there are going to be a large group of pro-Israel folk browsing this thread, frustrated and irate as bad memories are invoked of all the times they’ve had to deal with or seen pro-Hamas folk engaging in rape denialism. In much the same way a leftist sub is not going to be interested in a dispassionate analysis of an Israeli strike with high civilian collateral damage, this sub — at times — will struggle to calmly assess the subject matter. An expected behaviour isn’t necessarily the correct behaviour — the actions we believe one ought to take.
When a misleading tweet goes viral, the damage has already been done, as a considerable amount of people won’t see the subsequent Community Notes that might be slapped on it. Likewise, some of the thousands who see OP’s highly upvoted comment will think, “Oh, this has a lot of upvotes, I guess it must be true. How horrible of the NYT to frame this as a both sides issue”, and thus misinformation has spread. This incorrect belief will mold their perceptions of the NYT. When they encounter more reporting by the NYT on I-P in the future, they might even think back to this moment: “Ah, I remember when these bozos tried to say that the Israeli accusations were the same as the Palestinian accusations.”
I also referred to OP’s comment as disinformation. In every example discussed so far, I don't assume malicious intent. I just begin with the foundation that a mistake was made, and I don’t enmesh myself by throwing out accusations of lying. In this case, however, OP has indirectly acknowledged that I was correct, but they still haven’t bothered to edit their original comment. Once again, this comment is a really good example of point 1. I obviously also disagree with their conclusion, and the process by which they’re arriving at their conclusion is still very flawed — and other people are simply going to adopt their conclusion while not even attempting to reach there by their own independent assessment. If you see someone quote from an article, and they don’t even link it, and the comment is very charged, I would encourage y’all to seek out the article yourself; you may come away with a different interpretation.
I'm sure you've seen this meme before: "I'm just waiting for Destiny to comment on this so that I know what to think 😎." We meme about it, but there is, of course, an undercurrent of truth here, as we have confidence in Destiny's ability to research, and thus we feel comfortable adopting his beliefs and opinions. It's nice not having to do the research ourselves. Lazy fucks.
This applies to Reddit comments you see as well. Don't just adopt the conclusion of someone else because their beliefs align with yours and they're speaking with authority. Do the legwork yourself; be mindful of The Six Points; and you might find that someone on your own side is actually spreading misinformation, or is espousing an opinion that you disagree with.

Purgatory

I was perma-banned some time after my previous comment for a comment I made in a different thread. Before I get to that in the next fuck-me-who-knows-how-I'm-gonna-write-that-I'm-so-fucked section, I did want to bring up two final examples.

Example A - Haaretz and Amputations

For Example A, points 1, 3, 4, and 5 are relevant. Obviously, I can’t attempt point 6 because I was banned. Now, I actually agree with OP as I share their skepticism towards the notion that these amputations are “routine”, but referring to the article as a "fake story" is too strong, and, as always, their process here is flawed. The claims they make here about the Haaretz article and CNN article are misleading, but it is immediately upvoted because it feels right, particularly because the first reply just poisons the well. Haaretz did not speak to an anonymous person, they are reporting on a letter they have seen written by a doctor and sent to senior Israeli officials; the doctor did not justify the claim that the event is routine based on having seen only two amputations, that's merely the amputations they saw in the week they wrote the letter (but the phrasing here is ambiguous, as the doctor could be referring to the handcuff injuries as being the "routine" event); and the IDF did not confirm or deny all the claims, but gave a fairly standard, boilerplate response instead. The misleading claims in this comment was eventually addressed — and, as I’m sure you’re irritated by the repetition by now, the goal of this post is to turn this “eventually” into an “immediately.”

Example B - Wikipedia and Devious Editing

For Example B, points 1 and 5 are relevant. I want to be very careful with this one as I don't want to be misconstrued. Similar to the previous example, I mostly agree with their conclusion that these Wikipedia pages can be very flawed, and partisan editors can tarnish the objectivity that we wish could be maintained across all articles. However, you know the drill by now, point 1. There’s much to be said about the infamous “24-hour window” debacle, and I made a submission a while ago on this. I think there are parts of this story that both the pro-Palestine and pro-Israel crowd get wrong — but the latter is generally more correct, and I would agree with OP here that the information here is, at the very least, incomplete.
However, per point 5, the articles they are critiquing are not linked. How many people here actually sought out the two articles referenced here? As I’ve already demonstrated, we know how many misleading or false claims you can get away with before they’re finally addressed. A user in that thread made some edits to the contentious lines in question in the Wikipedia article. This was the Wikipedia article at the time OP’s comment was made. OP quotes this section:

Prior to the raids, Israel had called for the more than a million people living in the north half of the Gaza Strip to evacuate during a 24-hour window, while Hamas instructed those residents to stay put.

The two citations here are a Reuters article and a Politico article. The Politico article is arguably redundant, but it’s not being cited because it’s supposed to make a statement about a 24-hour window; it’s being cited to support the statement about Hamas:

Hamas is complicating the situation, urging residents to stay in their homes.

The Reuters article also mentions this:

“We tell the people of northern Gaza and from Gaza City, stay put in your homes, and your places," Eyad Al-Bozom, spokesman for the Hamas Interior Ministry, told a news conference.

Contrary to what OP said, both articles use the word “evacuation” at some point. The first part of the quote from the Wikipedia page is supported by this statement in the Reuters article:

On Friday Israel gave more than a million residents of the northern half of Gaza 24 hours to flee to the south to avoid an onslaught.

In a follow-up comment OP claims that the archived link, which pulled the earliest version of the Reuters article available, does not support the line. This seems to have been an error on the part of whoever chose this hyperlink. When the Wikipedia article first mentions calls for evacuation, this was how the Reuters article cited looked like at the time; regardless of the veracity of the claim, the article did support what the Wikipedia page mentions.
To reiterate, OP is completely correct about this pernicious problem with Wikipedia. It’s just that in this example, I don’t think it qualifies as a case of those darn pro-Palestine editors back at it again. The nuanced position here is pretty difficult to get to, and I don’t think the editors wrote this line in the interest of distorting the truth to serve their own side.

Example B.5: A better yet slightly flawed post on Wikipedia and Euro-Med Monitor

This post about how Hamas supporters are influencing Wikipedia does better in terms of substantiating their claims — but there are issues here that I would have loved to address, and there is a good critique on OP’s prescriptions that was buried at the bottom. Unfortunately, OP has been suspended from Reddit. If you’re reading this mate, call me 🥺.
There are a lot of hyperlinks in OP’s post (lol, sez fucking me), and it’s completely reasonable that someone won’t feel inclined to click every single one; that’s not an expectation I would ever demand. From going through the post, there are several small critiques I would have made (e.g., while I don’t believe the Mondo article should have been cited, OP claims that in the article, “The only people criticizing Wiesel here is the author of the opinion piece.” FWIW, the article does reference and cite a Haaretz article, and a Foreign policy article, both of which levy criticism against Wiesel), but I’m just going to focus on this line:

In fact, it is owned by a man named Ramy Abdu, who is a literal Hamas lobbyist.

If you’re going to call someone a literal Hamas lobbyist, that is definitely a link I’m clicking. What I know about Abdu is simply what I can assume about his beliefs from various tweets I’ve seen by him over the past several months; but I’ve never looked into their background other than being aware of their position at EMM. Upon opening the link I see… a 2013 article about Clare Short. From reading the article, it looks like OP missed some steps in outlining how they arrived at their conclusion, and I saw only a few people inquiring about this. To fill in the steps on what I presume OP wanted to say, from the article they linked:

Moshe Ya’alon, former IDF chief of staff, outlawed the Council for European Palestinian Relations (CEPR) – a Belgian non-profit organisation that lobbies on behalf of the Hamas-led Gaza Government – using emergency defence regulations.

I haven’t looked into CEPR, and they obviously disputed the lobbying charge; I’m just going to take the claim at face-value. In 2011, Abdu was assistant director of the CEPR, and still held a position there for several years. They've since left the organization, but per point 1, if this is how OP arrived at the conclusion that Abdu is a “literal Hamas lobbyist”, I think it could use a bit more work, with additional clarification on what they mean by lobbyist here. I’m sure they can do it, it just happened to not be in this post.
I'm not going to harp on about point 5 here as I only apply that to incidents where a claim is made; one or two articles are linked; and then no one reads them, assuming the claim must be true as long as articles are provided. I would literally never make the prescription that if someone writes an effort-post, we must click every hyperlink to fact-check. I mean, it's not like I would have any other motivation for saying that... sweats profusely 🙄
Just to make one final point on EMM, it is a rubbish outlet, and any time I encounter one of their articles, I roll my eyes knowing I’m going to get some outlandish claim where I can find fuck-all for corroboration from other outlets. However, sometimes there is corroboration, where EMM was the first to notice that the IDF labelled a bicycle as an RPG in the drone footage they published, and then the NYT confirmed the finding (except for the other stupid claim made in the tweet.) But anyways, these moments are astronomically rare.

Example C - A Mysterious Royal Website (What a weaselly little --)

Okay, I lied, one final example as it’s interesting to see how people here parse articles and headlines, but before I address the example, let me talk about Reuters headlines.

Reuters headlines

They’re not always consistent on this front, but I generally like how Reuters writes their headlines. A Reuters headline will often contain the phrase “US says”. [30] [31] [32] What I’m expecting in the article when I see a headline containing this phrase is some official representing the Biden administration outlining what their particular policy, position, belief, etc., is on whatever the subject matter may be, or some action they took which makes it clear what their position is. In the given examples, we have statements from Biden, Blinken, the US military, and so on. Sometimes the US officials remain anonymous, sharing information in private briefings.
If there isn’t an official statement by the US available on a matter, the headline might use the phrase “source says” to talk about ongoing developments. [33] [34] “Reuters will use unnamed sources where necessary when they provide information of market or public interest that is not available on the record. We alone are responsible for the accuracy of such information.” [35]
Relevant to Example C, Reuters uses the same guidelines for “Saudi Arabia says” [36] [37] and “sources say” for information relevant to Saudi Arabia. [38]

Israeli outlets, A royal family website, and Saudi sources: An amusing chain of events

Keeping the previous section in mind, when I came across this version of a Jerusalem Post article posted to this subreddit, you can imagine what I’m expecting here — particularly because this would be momentous news to see Saudi Arabia make a public statement that they helped defend Israel. Instead, we get reporting on what Saudi Arabia’s royal family said on their website, and what a source connected to the Saudi royal family told KAN, another Israeli outlet — and we don’t get links to either of them. If there was no statement on the royal family’s website, this would have been a bad headline to write based on what this source said. Unfortunately for the JP, there is no official website for Saudi Arabia’s royal family. You’ll see in the current version, they remove the reference to that website, and also add the following line:

The Al Arabiya news site said sources had informed it that Saudi Arabia had not participated in the interception of Iranian drones and missiles.

Here’s the article by the Saudi state-owned outlet, which is essentially their mouthpiece to deny the ongoing report. I24news, however, didn’t get the memo:

Saudi Arabia publicly acknowledges role in defending Israel against Iranian attack
While Jordan had openly disclosed its role in the defensive maneuver, Saudi Arabia's acknowledgment came in the form of a summary on its official website

When I first saw the JP submission on this subreddit, I bookmarked it for later to come back to and find the sources, as it’s not the first time I’ve seen dubious reporting from KAN news. I was also curious if anyone in the thread was going to highlight some of the discrepancies in the article, and, well, shoutout to this keen reader! Fact-checking the JP article slipped my mind, but thanks to a comment I saw on another subreddit, they correctly pointed out that the website referenced was not affiliated with the Saudi royal family, and thus the article the JP and other Israeli outlets had presumably read should not have been taken as an official statement. Christ, this is obvious from the very first line:

A source from the Saudi royal family, who prefers anonymity, converses with the Kan public broadcaster. The individual subtly acknowledges Saudi Arabia’s supposed involvement in thwarting Iranian attack drones bound for Israel the previous evening, citing that Saudi Arabian airspace automatically intercepts “any suspicious entity”.
The same figure takes a swing at Iran, accusing them of instigating a conflict in Gaza. This, they suggest, is a deliberate attempt to unravel the progress established towards normalizing relations with Israel, as per Kan’s report.
In the words of the official, as put forth by Kan, “Iran is a nation that endorses terrorism, and the world should have curtailed it much earlier.”

Why would the official Saudi royal website use an anonymous source within the royal family to make their public announcement, and why would they quote what the official said to an Israeli outlet?!
It’s fascinating to see this play out: the supposed source spoke to Kan News; Houseofsaud presumably sees this and makes an article on the Kan segment; the JP sees this article and the segment, poorly reads it, and then cites it and the original Kan segment; outlets like the Daily Wire pick up on the story from the JP; and then on it goes, spreading like wildefire, before the Saudis take note (“oh fuck, oh fuck, where are these reports coming from?”) and disseminate a message denying that any “official” website publicly confirmed their involvement. The Saudis are involved, and they’re keeping tight-lipped about the extent of their involvement.
Just to quote one more line from the i24news article because it’s shockingly poor:

The post subtly hinted at Saudi Arabia's involvement in intercepting suspicious entities in its airspace, highlighting the kingdom's proactive stance in safeguarding regional stability.

This is written based on this line from the HouseofSaud article:

A source from the Saudi royal family, who prefers anonymity, converses with the Kan public broadcaster. The individual subtly acknowledges Saudi Arabia’s supposed involvement in thwarting Iranian attack drones bound for Israel the previous evening, citing that Saudi Arabian airspace automatically intercepts “any suspicious entity”.

It’s the individual/source who is being subtle, not the post itself as i24 news mentions.
Anyways, this is not a case of misinformation by the subreddit. There's nothing wrong with posting a JP article, and this is easily the least offensive Example, but point 5 is nicely relevant here. I thought y'all might find this to be interesting, particularly because some people probably still believe that Saudi Arabia has publicly acknowledged their involvement, and maybe that could be someone reading this section. It's also another example where, because I’m banned, I can’t offer a bit of nuance. stares intently at 4THOT
It’s a shame Destiny didn’t finish reading the article, I’m curious what he would have said. He speculates that the report was from intelligence or monitoring, but moves on before finishing the article; it’s also the updated version of the article, without the tidbit about the Saudi royal family website.

Finito

I'm going to close out this section here. There's always more to include, more examples that demonstrate the aforementioned points, but I'd rather focus on my own comments instead of threads where I was unable to contribute my thoughts. There's been a plethora of discourse here surrounding the campus protests, and maybe those are still ongoing if I manage to post this at a sooner date. For completely legitimate and fair justifications, all of these threads are going to be very charged; and maybe upon reading this post some of y'all might feel more inclined to analyze these situations dispassionately, mindful of cases where the reporting might not be the greatest.

Example D - A Late Fact-check (Still lying, dude!)

I fucking lied again, there’s more. Literally the day after I finished writing the above paragraph, a new example popped up that I can’t resist the temptation to include. Stop giving me material! As I spoke of above, the campus protests have resulted in a charged atmosphere on the subreddit, which means that this post stating that a “Jewish-Israeli family’s restaurant was targeted in a hate crime” is immediately catapulted to the front page. The biggest problem here is that, per point 2, the presentation of the post led folk to believe that this was a recent event because OP had omitted the date this took place, and this led to one user to thoughtfully suggest that it might be worth setting up a GoFundMe to help the owners with the repairs.
To reemphasize the point I’ve made throughout this post, I’m looking to incentivise better behaviour to occur sooner. It took nearly 10 hours before one jolly chap came along to do the fact-check. Naturally, had I seen this post while browsing arnew, I would have done the same, and so would a couple other users here as well who are good for this sort of thing — and that's unfortunate that I’m saying a “couple” instead of “many.” There is no curiosity amongst everyone who interacted with this post to inquire into the event; not even something simple as requesting OP for an article. So folks, always ask for a source if OP doesn’t provide one just so you have a bit more context. (Also, I am fascinated with the anecdote OP attached to this post. Did they just make up their credentials?)

Example E - Hebrew Sources and False Confidence

This is a wonderful example to close out this section because it exemplifies so many of the problematic behaviours that I have demonstrated in this post. I was only made aware of this thread because a user here DM'd me a link to the thread. I will refer to the individual posting misinformation in the comments as "OP", and I'll refer to the submitter of the post by their username, Sylmd. The rebuttals to OP are excellent, and I will focus more on the behaviour here.
Sylmd posted a submission doing a quick lil' fact-check on a Destiny tweet, noting the fact that he seemed to have misread or misremembered a particular report. I say "seemed" here in case Destiny was referring to some other report or article he had read, but that seems unlikely as he has referenced this report in several of his debates, and the report was the subject of his previous tweets. Regardless, it was a small mistake, and apart from failing to immediately link the tweet and the report (link your sources you silly goose), Sylmd's post is civil, calm, and makes no accusations of malicious intent.
According to OP, Destiny was actually right, and 300+ IDF soldiers were in fact injured. Now, there's so much that is astonishingly problematic with OP's comment, and I gotta... mention it all! Sorry!
Naturally, they don't ever quote from their sources, which means it's on us to try and find the relevant sections. OP claims that the articles linked will demonstrate that 380 Israelis were injured -- despite the fact that Sylmd is obviously doing a fact-check on how many Israeli soldiers were injured, and that's literally the subject of Destiny's tweet.
Whatever, I'm sure the articles at least "discusses around 380 injuries"? Fuck no they don't! There's no mention of this figure anywhere, and OP somehow racks up 50 upvotes when they accuse Sylmd of lying after they correctly point this out. Did these people actually read the articles, find this magical 380 figure, and think, "Grrr, Sylmd you mendacious scumbag, I see through your Hamas propaganda." Sylmd was sitting at -31, one hour after the thread was made. (If you refer back to Example 2, you'll see that I felt compelled to make a submission when I saw a user was being downvoted for correctly pointing out that an article did not prove a particular claim.)
It gets worse. Apparently, you have to "click through all the links in these articles buddy." Well, okay, that's pretty elaborate, how silly of us not to realize this. OP wants us to open up nine Hebrew articles, translate them, and then tally up the number of casualties. Problem? Surely we get to the 380 figure if we click through all the hyperlinks in the article? Fuck no we don't! And even if we did, this is the most blisteringly cumbersome way to prove a claim. The sheer condescension in OP's comment is equivalent to that of a Twitter leftist: "It's not my job to educate you honey, you must read the literature."
So where does this mysterious figure come from? Well, as Sylmd correctly pointed out (before OP mentioned it), they are grabbing this figure from Hebrew Wikipedia. Sylmd doesn't provide a link to the article in question, so I will provide it here, and as you can see, the two articles that OP linked came from this Wikipedia page. I'm not convinced OP actually read either of these articles.
That's not all. They then linked a report in Hebrew in their edit. Where did they get this report from? It's not on the Wikipedia page, maybe this is something they have bookmarked? Nope, they got it from another user in the thread! After all is said and done, they still somehow racked up 270 upvotes for this awful rebuttal, and they were, "Proud to take a blast for defending the truth."
Do I even need to mention the points here? It's an authoritative comment; the linked articles give an "aura" of being correct; and there's confidence in all their comments.
To quote from Example 1:

Anyways, since I began this post it looks like the upvotes and downvotes on the original comment have since shifted. Mashallah. It's the behaviour I was describing before: all the low-effort garbage gets upvoted first, and then other people break the circlejerk and try to add nuance. But it would be nice if the nuance was added first and foremost without the need for tedious fact-checks.

That still holds true today.

Consistency and Principles

Do I only address misinformation from the pro-Israel side? Not that it should matter, but no, I will address misinformation from the pro-Palestine on this subreddit if I see it and I feel like addressing it. I was irritated to see muppets like Rob Rousseau spread conspiracies about a "suspicious link" between ISIS and Mossad, and I encountered a user here who was sprouting similar conspiratorial nonsense. You’ll notice that (1) I was blessed to be called a “Reddit pseudo intellectual libtard” (not wrong, not false, this hurts bro); and (2) I apply the exact same methodology here as I do for the examples of misinformation I've addressed elsewhere — which isn’t to say I’m doing anything commendable here. I just read the articles, trying to find the primary sources where relevant, and then see if the “reporting” accurately conveys what was said or written.
However, digging up the original source can be a time-consuming endeavour, and compounded by the fact that I might not speak the relevant language — which means that there was a case where I inadvertently made a comment containing misinformation. A couple months ago someone requested a steelman of the argument that Israel is conducting a genocide against Gazans; I offered one, and to support the case I used a misquote taken from a Bloomberg video which omitted a crucial part of Yoev Gallant’s statement: the reference to Hamas, and thus radically changing the context of the statement. I hold myself to the same principle when it comes to curbing misinformation, and I was more than content to edit my comment to ensure it did not propagate further than it already had.
Some of you eagle-eyed readers might recognize this Gallant quote, as it made a very marked appearance within… South Africa's genocide case against Israel. Here, that salient reference to Hamas is also omitted, and the accompanying footnote cites the same Bloomberg video that I did. As I wished in another reply, Bloomberg did indeed take the video down eventually. Now, I can be excused for my mistake as I’m not making the positive case outside of my steelman. For South Africa, this is unbelievably shoddy work when you're officially bringing a genocide case against another state.
Anyways, I've gone through many examples in this schizo-post, and it's entirely possible that I've made an error at some point; the irony is not lost on me. Feel free to point these errors out. I might not agree with your assessment, but I'm always willing to hear the arguments.

Prescriptions: The Six Points (Déjà vu)

I'm going to end with The Six Points because that's the focus of Part 1 and Part 2. As previously mentioned, this post is not intended to demonstrate that the misinformation the pro-Israel crowd spreads is as egregious as the misinformation the pro-Palestine spreads, whether in general or on this subreddit. While misinformation from the pro-Palestine crowd slips by every now and then on the subreddit, I would make the case that, generally speaking, it is quickly addressed. In my experience, however, I was finding quite a few cases of misinformation from the pro-Israel crowd were taking a concerning amount of time to be addressed; and in the interest of ensuring that it does get addressed in a more timely manner, I believe the following prescriptions would be helpful to keep in mind when browsing the subreddit:

1. Value the process just as much — if not, more — than the conclusion.
2. Be wary of how the presentation of information or the omission of pertinent information can lead to the inadvertent spread of misinformation.
3. Be aware of how “charged” topics/threads lead to poor reasoning that lacks dispassionate analysis.
4. Be aware of how pre-existing beliefs about an individual or organization alongside the usual biases leads to a reluctance to fact-check, where claims are taken at face-value because they feel right.
5. Link the article. Read the article. (Thoroughly.)
6. Redirect criticism to areas where it will be the strongest.

Click here for Part 3. Warning: you might get stung by a bee 🐝