Filton to the Ballot Box: The Line the Greens Won't Draw.
A policewoman's fractured spine, a party leader's tweet, and what the Green surge means for every council they now control.
[The Line the Greens Won't Draw — Filton, Bristol, 2024. © 2026 John Langley / The Almighty Gob. All rights reserved. thealmightygob.com]
Tomorrow the Green Party will win council seats across England in the 2026 local elections.
Hundreds of them.
Most people voting Green tomorrow won’t know what happened at Filton. Won’t know that Zack Polanski — their party leader — celebrated the outcome of a trial in which a policewoman was struck with a sledgehammer. Won’t know what his deputy leader was doing in a private meeting last week. Won’t know about the Green Party candidates suspended over antisemitism in the days before polling.
It’s worth knowing before the polls close.
There’s a line.
They won’t draw it.
Filton, Bristol. The early hours. August 6, 2024.
A white former prison van rams the gates of Elbit Systems’ research and development facility.
Sledgehammers. Military drone equipment. One million pounds of damage.
A police sergeant, Kate Evans, responds.
A sledgehammer connects with her lower back.
Her spine fractures.
She can’t drive. She can’t dress herself. She can’t shower without assistance. She doesn’t return to work for three months.
That is a woman who went to work and came home broken.
“People protesting against a genocide are not the criminals here.”
— Zack Polanski, Green Party leader, February 2026.
Zack Polanski. Leader of the Green Party. When the first jury failed to reach a verdict.
He said he was pleased.
He then retweeted a post by former British ambassador Craig Murray claiming it was a lie that a policewoman had been attacked with a sledgehammer.
The defendant admitted striking Sergeant Evans. It was on bodycam footage. Her injuries were medically documented. It was never disputed.
At retrial, four were convicted. One was found guilty of striking Sergeant Evans.
Polanski never apologised for the pleased statement.
Polanski never apologised for retweeting Craig Murray.
The Police Federation wrote to him anyway. They reminded him — and there is something quietly devastating about the fact that the leader of a major political party needed reminding of this — that police officers are not responsible for foreign policy or defence contracts. That basic empathy should transcend political positions.
“Basic empathy and recognition should transcend political positions.”
— Police Federation, letter to Zack Polanski, February 2026.
Two months later, when two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green, Polanski retweeted a post questioning the police response to the terrorist suspect’s arrest.
He apologised for that one.
Not for the substance.
For sharing the tweet in haste.
Same instinct. Same pattern. Different victim.
He apologised for one of them.
Not the one where a policewoman’s spine was fractured.
Polanski looked at footage of a policewoman struck with a sledgehammer, looked at the medical evidence of a fractured spine, and called it a lie.
That is a values system in plain sight.
The story of the Green Party in 2026 isn’t one man’s bad tweet.
It’s what happens when a movement grows faster than its conscience.
The party tripled its membership in months. Polanski admitted vetting had become a real challenge — then expressed confidence in ninety-nine per cent of candidates.
That confidence was not universally earned.
Every party has bad candidates. Not every party has a deputy leader coaching suspended antisemites on how to keep campaigning.
In Newcastle, a Green candidate had been posting under the handle “thereal.anne.frank” — calling for every single Zionist to be killed.
In Lambeth, two Green candidates were arrested over antisemitic comments the day before polling.
In Hackney, the Green mayoral candidate compared the borough’s stand for Palestinians to its stand against South African apartheid — while Jewish residents processed the news of two Jewish men stabbed in Golders Green.
One week before the polls opened.
Polanski’s response was to question whether British Jews’ fear was a perception of unsafety.
Or actual unsafety.
That’s not a question. That’s an answer.
The pattern is consistent. Events 3,000 miles away command the leader’s immediate public response. Two Jewish men stabbed on a London street prompt a question about whether the fear is real.
British Jews have no more control over the Israeli government than British Muslims have over what happens in Gaza. Neither community is responsible for the actions of a state they don’t govern. The Green Party’s leadership applies collective attribution selectively.
That’s not solidarity. That’s a hierarchy of victims.
You know exactly what you would have said if those supporters had been outside a court chanting “Sam you make us proud” for the man who fractured a Muslim woman’s spine.
You would have been right.
Remember that.
The Corbyn comparison is largely correct. But this version is worse.
Labour had decades of institutional infrastructure — trade unions, factional counterweights, disciplinary machinery. Sabotaged, but present.
The Greens have none of that.
What they have is Mothin Ali.
Ali is the party’s deputy leader. He is also an active organiser against its own disciplinary process.
In leaked recordings from a private Greens for Palestine meeting, Ali advised suspended candidates on how to campaign covertly.
Leave the party logo off the leaflet.
Put your name on a sheet with no Green Party logo.
His words. His advice. Days before a national election.
He called for a class action against the party he co-leads.
When the recordings became public, the party called it an appeal for members to participate in internal democracy.
This is what Transmorphing looks like at the leadership level. A legitimate solidarity movement has been transmorphed — by activist capture, by platform acceleration — into a formation whose deputy leader coaches suspended candidates on evading discipline in the days before a national election.
It goes further than Gaza.
When the Supreme Court ruled in 2025 that the definition of woman under the Equality Act is biological — settled law, handed down by the highest court in the land — Polanski called the ruling and its implications “thinly veiled transphobia.”
The institution was the Supreme Court.
The cause won again.
A party that can’t tell you what a woman is, can’t acknowledge a policewoman’s fractured spine, and questions whether Jewish fear is real, is not applying principles.
It is applying a hierarchy.
A feelings-based ranking system of whose pain counts and whose doesn’t.
That hierarchy is the through-line. Not Gaza. Not trans rights. Not antisemitism as isolated incidents. All of it. One pattern. One answer to every question — which identity sits highest in the order today.
Bristol’s Green administration is the longest-running evidence of what follows. Carla Denyer — co-leader of Bristol’s Greens before becoming a national MP — ran campaigns to boycott Israeli goods while Bristol’s planning department was placed in special measures for chronic delays, the council admitted it “didn’t know quite how bad” a £22 million deficit was, and plans for 2,000 new council homes were quietly cancelled. Placards where policy should be. Already in the record.
The pattern from Bristol to Hackney to Newcastle is not isolated incidents.
It is one organism.
Palestine Action carried out the Filton raid. The Green Party did not. What the Green Party did was respond to it — and the response is documented, on record, and tells you everything the membership card doesn’t.
The Polanski tweet. The Craig Murray retweet. The Golders Green question. Mothin Ali’s private meeting. The Anne Frank account. The Bristol chamber placards.
Not the raid. The response to it.
The cause always defeats the institution.
Every time.
Ask Sergeant Kate Evans if you don’t believe it.
The movement comes first. The policewoman comes second. If she comes at all.
Every Green councillor elected tonight walks into their first committee meeting carrying all of this.
They didn’t create it. Many of them will be decent people, as troubled by their leadership’s record as anyone reading this.
But they are now the local face of a party whose leader called a fractured spine a lie, whose deputy leader coaches suspended antisemites, and whose response to Jewish men being stabbed on a London street was to question whether the fear was real.
When their constituents ask about Filton, what will they say?
That’s the question the ballot paper can’t answer.
Only they can.
Sergeant Kate Evans went to work.
She came home with a fractured spine.
He said he was pleased.
He called it a lie.
He apologised for the haste.
He is asking for your vote today.
The line is still where it was.
Undrawn.
The Almighty Gob is a Bristol-based satirical and political publication with over 500 published pieces. John Langley is its founder and publisher — former independent Bristol mayoral candidate, forensic observer of institutional power, and blogger with no party allegiance and no press accreditation. Find us on Substack and across seven social media platforms.
© 2026 John Langley / The Almighty Gob. All rights reserved.
Sources and Citations.
The Filton Raid — August 6, 2024
2024 Filton Elbit Systems break-in — Wikipedia. Confirmed date, van, damage estimate, charges. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Filton_Elbit_Systems_break-in
Palestine Action activists guilty of sledgehammer attack on Elbit factory — The National, May 5, 2026. Confirmed convictions, Samuel Corner’s GBH conviction, Charlotte Head driving the van, £1 million damage, Sergeant Kate Evans’ injuries. https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/uk/2026/05/05/palestine-action-activists-guilty-of-sledgehammer-attack-on-elbit-factory/
UK convicts four Palestine Action activists over break-in at Israeli firm — Al Jazeera, May 5, 2026. Confirmed retrial convictions and damage figure. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/5/uk-convicts-four-palestine-action-activists-over-break-in-at-israeli-firm/
Palestine Action activists found guilty of criminal damage over factory raid — UKPOL.CO.UK. Confirmed names and verdict — Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio, Fatema Zainab Rajwani convicted; Zoe Rogers and Jordan Devlin acquitted. https://www.ukpol.co.uk/news-story-palestine-action-activists-found-guilty-after-elbit-raid-and-physical-assault-on-police-officer/
Sergeant Kate Evans — Injuries and Court Testimony
Police Federation rebukes Polanski over celebratory Palestine Action trial tweet — Jewish News, February 5, 2026. Confirmed Evans told court spine felt “shattered,” struck in lower back while on knees, off work three months. Confirmed Polanski said “pleased,” confirmed Craig Murray retweet, confirmed Police Federation rebuke. https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/police-federation-rebukes-polanski-over-silence-on-sledgehammer-attack-at-elbit-protest/
Zack Polanski — Filton Response
Police Federation rebukes Polanski — Jewish News, February 5, 2026. (See above.) Confirmed exact quote: “people protesting against a genocide are not the criminals here.” Confirmed apology for sharing tweet “in haste.”
Palestine Action — Wikipedia. Confirmed Police Federation letter content and Polanski’s response. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_Action
Zack Polanski — Green Party Leader, Biography
Zack Polanski — Wikipedia. Confirmed: studied drama at Aberystwyth, worked as actor, hypnotherapist. Elected leader September 2, 2025 with 85% of vote. Membership tripled to over 220,000 under his leadership. Confirmed “thinly veiled transphobia” quote regarding Supreme Court ruling. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zack_Polanski
Where does new Green Party leader Zack Polanski stand on trans rights? — PinkNews, September 2, 2025. Confirmed “thinly veiled transphobia” quote and context. https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/09/02/zack-polanski-trans-green-party/
Supreme Court Ruling — Definition of Woman
For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers — UK Supreme Court, April 2025. Confirmed unanimous ruling that “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological sex.
Green Party splashes out ‘£190,000 on legal battles’ — GB News, December 12, 2025. Confirmed Polanski dismissed ruling as “thinly veiled transphobia” and confirmed legal fee figures. https://www.gbnews.com/politics/green-party-trans-row-legal-fees
Mothin Ali — Private Meeting and Leaked Recordings
Green Deputy leader Mothin Ali: people suspended from the Party should seek legal advice — Jewish News, April 30, 2026. Confirmed Ali’s exact words on covert campaigning: “you campaign with maybe just a blank Green-headed leaflet, a leaflet that has a Green banner with just your name.” Confirmed class action call and “They’re coming after more and more people.” https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/green-deputy-leader-mothin-ali-people-suspended-from-the-party-should-seek-legal-advice/
Green deputy leader urged legal action against own party over suspensions — British Brief. Confirmed meeting attended by three suspended Green council candidates including Mark Adderley, husband of Nadia Sawalha. Confirmed party response describing comments as “an appeal for people to stay in the party and continue to participate in its internal democracy.” https://britbrief.co.uk/politics/scandals/green-deputy-leader-urged-legal-action-over-suspensions.html
Green Deputy Leader Encourages Members to Take Legal Action Over Suspensions — Internewscast Journal. Cross-reference confirmation of Ali’s recorded words and party response. https://internewscast.com/news/green-deputy-leader-encourages-members-to-take-legal-action-over-suspensions/
Bristol City Council — Governance Record
Bristol’s planning department placed in special measures by the Secretary of State — March 2024. Confirmed designation for chronic delays. https://www.uknewsgroup.co.uk/bristol-city-council-planning-department-placed-into-special-measures-by-the-secretary-of-state/
Government rejects requests to take planning department out of special measures — Bristol24/7, February 2025. Confirmed government twice rejected requests to lift designation. https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/government-rejects-requests-take-planning-department-special-measures/
Greens called ‘clueless’ for not knowing about perilous state of council finances — Bristol24/7, August 2024. Confirmed Green deputy leader Heather Mack’s exact words: “Until we actually saw the books, we didn’t know quite how bad it was.” Confirmed £22 million deficit. https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/greens-called-clueless-not-knowing-perilous-state-council-finances/
Green-led council quietly scraps affordable housing requirements — Bristol Labour, February 13, 2026. Confirmed Greens scrapped plans for 2,000 new council homes. https://www.labourbristol.co.uk/2026/02/13/green-led-council-quietly-scraps-affordable-housing-requirements/
Letter laying out ‘chaos’ in Bristol under Greens delivered to voters in London — Bristol24/7, April 2026. Cross-reference confirmation of 2,000 council homes cancellation. https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/letter-laying-out-chaos-bristol-under-greens-delivered-voters-london/
Golders Green Stabbings and Polanski Response
Jewish News reporting on Polanski’s Golders Green response — February 2026. Confirmed Polanski questioned whether British Jews’ fear was “a perception of unsafety” or “actual unsafety” in the week of the Golders Green attack. Source confirmed in research session.
Green Party Candidate Suspensions — Antisemitism
Multiple sources confirmed: Newcastle candidate running spoof Anne Frank account; Lambeth candidates arrested; Hackney mayoral candidate’s apartheid comparison. Sources: Jewish News, The Times, PinkNews — all confirmed April/May 2026.
Carla Denyer
Zack Polanski — Wikipedia. Confirmed Denyer served as Green Party co-leader until succeeded by Polanski in September 2025. Bristol Green co-leader before becoming MP. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zack_Polanski
All sources accessed and verified May 6–7, 2026. All URLs active at time of publication.