SA Asks: What happens if the Medicare Hospital Insurance fund runs dry?
SA Asks: What happens if the Medicare Hospital Insurance fund runs dry?
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The award-winning festival ‘just for dads’ which runs at a UK holiday park every year
MUMS have their mothers’ meet-ups and Facebook community groups, but did you know the dads have their very own festival?
Every year, DadFest – the only festival in the country for just fathers and their kids – takes place in Yorkshire.
During the festival at South Cliff Holiday Park, you can create your own campfire with your little ones or stargaze together.
For active families, there’s the opportunity to have a go at archery, bouncing on trampolines, crazy golf and high ropes.
Dads who want to take a seat and watch their kids play can head to the disco or a Forest School.
And if you love exploring the wilderness, there are even bat walks to head off on.
Read more on travel inspo
Of course, you can expect arts and crafts sessions too and children’s entertainment.
For a laugh, make sure to catch the Regional Dad Dancing Championships at the festival, which will pick one dad as Yorkshire Dad Dancing Champion.
It’s not just dads though – other male figures including step-fathers, uncles and grandparents are welcome.
All of the activities are included in a festival ticket, as well as access to The Edge Aerial Adventure (high-ropes course), camping and parking.
There is food for purchase on site too but you can bring your own camp stove and prepare your own food.
Guests can use the holiday park’s facilities whilst staying, which include the Conservatory Restaurant and two bars.
There is also a fish and chip shop if you prefer a salty takeaway and a small shop.
The holiday park also boasts an outdoor playground, with nest swings, zip lines, climbing walls and a giant tower with slides.
And whilst you stay at the park and enjoy the festival, make the most of the coastal location as well.
The holiday park sits right by Bridlington South Beach, which is a huge stretch of golden sand, is dog-friendly, ideal for watersports and has fascinating low clay cliffs.
The festival was created by The Dads’ Network CIC which is for dads, father figures, male carers and their children and last year, it won the award for the ‘Best Small Event in the UK’ by the National Outdoor Events Association.
Councillor Nick Coultish, cabinet member for culture, leisure and tourism at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: “This unique festival gives dads and children the chance to connect with nature while enjoying fun activities that help develop new skills and strengthen family bonds.
“I had the privilege of taking part in the last DadFest and was hugely impressed by how well organised it was and by the wide variety of activities on offer.
“My daughter and I had a fantastic time, and I’m delighted to see the event return.”
DadFest organiser and founder of The Dads’ Network, Ian Blackwell, said: “DadFest started in Devon in 2014 and we ran our first DadFest in Bridlington in 2025.
“We are really pleased to be bringing our small, award-winning festival to East Yorkshire in partnership with East Riding Council and Rewilding Youth.
“The festival will also be bringing the renowned ‘Yorkshire Dad Dancing Championship’ – a hotly contested dance off by grooving dads, much to the sheer embarrassment of their kids.
“The winning dad in Yorkshire will take home the bragging rights as the Yorkshire Champ and will get free tickets to The World Dad Dancing Championships in Devon in September, along with a fetching trophy for the mantlepiece.”
DadFest will take place from 3pm on May 15 to May 17.
Tickets cost £112 per dad and one child, £122.50 per dad and two children or £132.50 per dad and three children.
For more family days out, here are the best UK family days out from £10 to completely free this Easter holidays.
Plus, the UK’s best campsite your kids will love – you get free theme park access and it’s just £25 to stay.
Western Gangster Journalism Runs Cover for Trump’s ‘Donroe Doctrine’ in Venezuela
The corporate media has endorsed and whitewashed US attacks against the Venezuelan oil industry. (US European Command)
US forces launched a military attack against Venezuela on January 3, reportedly killing over 100 people and kidnapping Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores, who also serves as a National Assembly deputy.
Western corporate media have played an active role in recent years in legitimizing escalated US aggression against the Venezuelan people, from whitewashing economic sanctions that killed tens of thousands (FAIR.org, 6/4/21, 6/13/22) to outright calling for a military intervention (FAIR.org, 2/12/25, 11/19/25). They also exposed themselves once again as the fourth branch of the US national security state, opting not to publish information they had prior to the January 3 operation in order to “avoid endangering US troops” (FAIR.org, 1/13/26).
The brazen act of war has elicited zero dissent from the Western media establishment, no urge to challenge Trump’s return to early 20th century “gunboat diplomacy.” Worse, with the White House pushing to impose a semi-colonial protectorate and plunder Venezuela’s wealth, corporate outlets continue working overtime to normalize US imperialist predations.
Damage control
In the weeks since the attack, Western media have made a point of referring to Maduro as “arrested” (NBC, 1/5/26), “captured” (PBS, 2/10/26) or “ousted” (ABC, 1/5/26). The choice is far from innocent. By not stating that the Venezuelan leader was “kidnapped” or “abducted,” in a blatant violation of international law, establishment journalists are normalizing the US’s rogue actions, denying Maduro the proper protections of prisoner of war status (FAIR.org, 1/20/26).
But it is not just through semantic distortion that corporate outlets have quarantined any critique of the administration’s lawlessness. Another common feature has been a certain “damage control” in covering up Trump’s most outlandish statements.
After the January 3 military operation, Trump stated in a press conference that “many Americans, hundreds of thousands over the years…died because of [Maduro].” No corporate outlets reported the outrageously false statement. (A couple of factchecking pieces—CBS, 1/6/26; New York Times, 1/8/26—addressed his adjacent, essentially unfalsifiable claim that “countless Americans” died due to Maduro.)
The attempts to make Trump’s Venezuela policy claims appear more rational are not new. For instance, in presidential press conferences, he constantly said that Venezuela had “emptied” its mental institutions into the US (X, 10/15/25, 11/2/25, 12/3/25, 1/3/26). But throughout 2025, the New York Times (11/4/25) mentioned this absurd statement just once, and the Washington Post (10/22/25, 12/21/25) did so twice.
On the domestic policy front, corporate journalists have had fewer qualms labeling Trump claims as “false,” when it comes to ending wars (CNN, 1/20/26), immigration (NBC, 2/4/26) or the 2020 US election (Guardian, 1/12/26). But they seem happy to carefully conceal or openly parrot false accusations that build the case for wars of aggression, whether in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Iran and now Venezuela (FAIR.org, 8/1/05).
The vanishing cartel
In recent years, and especially in the second half of 2025, US officials justified escalating attacks against Venezuela on the grounds that Maduro and associates ran a drug trafficking operation, the so-called Cartel of the Suns. Trump himself, during his January 3 press conference, claimed Maduro “personally oversaw the vicious cartel known as Cartel de los Soles.”
While experts consistently questioned the cartel’s existence, and specialized agencies, including the DEA, found Venezuela to play a marginal role in drug trafficking, media outlets reproduced the warmongering claims without scrutiny, citing only the denials from the Venezuelan president they have systematically demonized for over a decade (e.g., New York Times, 10/06/25; NPR, 11/12/25; CNN, 11/14/25).
But the biggest rebuff came from the Justice Department itself. When the time came to indict Maduro, US prosecutors dropped the accusation that the Venezuelan leader headed an actual drug cartel, and downgraded the Cartel of the Suns to a “patronage system.” In other words, the Justice Department was aware that the cartel charge had no substance, and instead accused Maduro of a much looser “drug trafficking conspiracy.”
But this remarkable about-face brought no accountability for the media establishment. Having spent years echoing claims that US prosecutors admitted would not hold in court, corporate outlets chose to ignore the new development, rather than exposing their shameful stenography over the years and taking responsibility for its deadly consequences. FAIR used Google to search for reporting on this crucial about-face in outlets including the Washington Post, Reuters, CNN, NBC and NPR, and found no results.
The one notable exception in this quasi-state corporate media circus was the New York Times‘ Charlie Savage (1/5/26), reporting on the administration’s quiet dropping of its casus belli. Savage wrote that this “called into greater question the legitimacy” of the administration’s designation of the Cartel of the Suns as a foreign terrorist organization. However, the piece stopped short of challenging the US military operation and illegal kidnapping of Maduro, referring to the Venezuelan leader as “captured” and “removed from power.”
The paper of record was quick to compensate for the vanishing of a flimsy regime-change trope by bringing up another one, focusing on a tried and tested dishonest narrative: Venezuela’s alleged ties with Hezbollah, one of the main opponents of the US and Israel in West Asia (FAIR.org, 5/24/19). Under the headline, “What to Know about Hezbollah’s Ties to Venezuela,” Times reporter Christina Goldbaum (1/19/26) offered nothing but a laundry list of unsubstantiated claims from anonymous officials.
Media connivance with Washington’s official narratives to justify imperialist attacks only pave the way for new iterations. Recently, in tightening the murderous blockade against Cuba, the Trump administration proffered the totally baseless claim of the Cuban government “providing a safe haven” for Hamas and Hezbollah. While the New York Times (1/30/26) uncharacteristically reminded readers that Trump offered no evidence, other outlets (NBC, 1/29/26; CNN, 1/30/26) were happy to echo the accusation uncritically.
Holding a country hostage
The media establishment’s support for US foreign policy did not end with the January 3 act of war. Since the attacks and presidential kidnapping, the Trump administration has taken control of Venezuelan oil exports at gunpoint after a month-long naval blockade that involved seizing tankers in the high seas for allegedly transporting Venezuelan crude in violation of unilateral US sanctions.
Under an initial agreement, Venezuela surrendered 30–50 million barrels for White House–picked intermediaries to transport and sell. Proceeds were deposited in bank accounts in Qatar, with a portion being returned to Carácas at the administration’s discretion (Venezuelanalysis, 1/21/26, 1/29/26). Analysts have argued that this arrangement explicitly violates the Venezuelan constitution.
Some articles have given space for Democrats to oppose the Trump deal, but mostly on the grounds of lack of transparency or opportunities for corruption (CNN, 1/15/26; Politico, 2/11/26; New York Times, 2/11/26). Readers will find no opposition on principle to the Trump administration’s Mafia-esque extortion of a sovereign nation’s natural resources, from the president himself saying the US will “keep some” of the hijacked Venezuelan oil (CNBC, 1/22/26) to Secretary of State Marco Rubio announcing that the administration is “prepared to use force to ensure maximum cooperation” (New York Times, 1/28/26).
It is hard to find double standards, because no other nation on Earth unleashes this kind of gangster imperialism. But concerning Russia, Western media did not hold back from denouncing its “stealing,” “robbing” or “plundering” of Ukrainian minerals or grain, despite these resources being in territory that Russia occupies and claims sovereignty over (Washington Post, 8/10/22; Guardian, 12/11/23; DW, 8/28/23; New York Times, 6/5/22).
In a nutshell, when Washington imposed deadly sanctions against Venezuela, corporate pundits said these only targeted Maduro and were meant to promote democracy (FAIR.org, 6/14/19, 6/4/21, 6/13/22, 6/22/23). When the White House ramped up military threats, mainstream journalists parroted drug trafficking allegations (FAIR.org, 2/12/25, 11/19/25). When the drug trafficking charges were exposed, Western outlets reheated baseless stories about Hezbollah. And when Trump seized Venezuelan oil at gunpoint, the only mild concern was whether he would use it to enrich himself.
True to its roots in the “yellow journalism” of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, the liberal media establishment is fully on board with Trump’s “Donroe Doctrine.” They have undoubtedly earned the title, to paraphrase Gen. Smedley Butler, of “gangster journalists for capitalism.”
Source: FAIR