United Kingdom
May 24, 2025 — John Hinderaker
It was from England that we got our tradition of free speech, but across the pond, those days are gone. There has been a succession of horrific cases in which Britons–always, conservative or pro-Israel Britons–have been arrested for controversial social media posts or supposedly inappropriate demonstrations. The most recent case is that of a Jewish protester who is not being named in the press, for his own safety. The background
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May 17, 2025 — John Hinderaker
The National Education Union is the largest teachers’ union in the United Kingdom, and in Europe. The NEU has now set out to teach British children to side with the Palestinians in their efforts to extinguish Israel: The National Education Union (NEU) is holding a workshop next month to train members in how to “advocate for Palestine in our schools”. At the same time, the union encouraged teachers to hold
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May 8, 2025 — John Hinderaker
The administration has agreed on a trade deal with the United Kingdom: President Trump confirmed early Thursday that the US has reached a major trade deal with Britain, saying the agreement marked a “very big and exciting day” for the key allies. “The agreement with the United Kingdom is a full and comprehensive one that will cement the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom for many years
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April 28, 2025 — John Hinderaker
This story comes from the Telegraph and relates to the U.K. under its new Labour government, which has raised taxes, but you could write the same thing about pretty much any time and place. Capital was mobile 600 years ago, and it is still mobile today: Fresh figures this week showed that the British Government is having to borrow more than expected, as tax income typically paid by the wealthiest
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April 16, 2025 — John Hinderaker
Certain U.S. Supreme Court justices may be unable to answer that question, but the Supreme Court of the U.K. has concluded that a woman is–well, you know–a woman. The London Times reports: Every organisation in Britain has been told to revisit their equality policies after the country’s highest court ruled that trans women were not legally women. Women’s rights campaigners celebrated as the Supreme Court declared on Wednesday that the
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April 13, 2025 — John Hinderaker
We have been writing about the Rotherham scandal since 2014, more than a decade ago. At that time, I summarized the scandal this way: Rotherham is a city of around 250,000 in Yorkshire, where at least 1,400 girls were raped, and in many instances prostituted, by gangs consisting mostly or entirely of Pakistani men. It seems to be generally acknowledged that the local authorities had a good idea what was
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April 3, 2025 — Bill Glahn
The report from the BBC begins, A woman who was attacked on a Tube train in central London has said she was then left standing on a platform for a “harrowing” 30 minutes because no one answered the emergency calls she made from a help point. It doesn’t sound like she was seriously hurt. It’s not the biggest news story of the day. But it looms large in my mind
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March 31, 2025 — Bill Glahn
In a last-minute reprieve, the two-tiered prison sentence scheme set to be introduced tomorrow in Britain has been delayed. What was this all about? I’ll quote from the UK tabloid The Sun, as they mince fewer words on the matter, It could have seen ethnic minority, religious and transgender criminals handed softer punishments by prioritising them for pre-sentence reports. But the Sentencing Council leadership has backed down at the eleventh-hour and
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March 25, 2025 — John Hinderaker
Liberals love to talk about the slavery of 400 years ago, which the Republican Party successfully abolished in this country, but when it comes to slavery today, it is a different story. And there is quite a bit of slavery today–mostly in Islamic countries, which for many centuries have been the prime centers of slave owning and slave trading, and in China. Some years ago, I wrote about a report
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March 23, 2025 — John Hinderaker
This story is so dumb it makes my head hurt: “Cambridge causes bitter row by linking Stephen Hawking to slavery.” Cambridge University has become embroiled in a row over claims that scientists including the late Professor Stephen Hawking benefited from slavery. The university’s Fitzwilliam Museum is holding an exhibition titled Rise Up, which covers abolition movements, rebellions and modern-day “racist injustices”. *** A catalogue that accompanies the exhibition also states
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March 3, 2025 — John Hinderaker
The notoriously anti-Semitic BBC has stepped in it again. It produced a documentary titled “Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone” that was intended to stimulate sympathy for the Gazans who had the misfortune to start a war, and then lose it. The documentary featured, and was narrated by, a young boy supposedly named Abdullah. Reportedly, BBC employees at some point asked their Gazan contacts whether the production had anything
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March 2, 2025 — John Hinderaker
As an amateur student of history, I have often been struck by how many countries have lost wars, have even seemingly been ruined, and yet have bounced back. What ultimately destroys a country? Suicide. A loss of national will, national pride, national identity. Which brings us to the current depressed state of the United Kingdom. From the Telegraph: “Nelson makes way for Yvette Cooper portrait in Parliament’s diversity drive.” Nelson,
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February 27, 2025 — John Hinderaker
It is interesting to see how the foreign press covers President Trump and American foreign policy. With respect, I would say, and with trepidation. Thus, today’s London Times, on Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Oval Office meeting with President Trump: “Analysis: Special relationship looks back on track.” Trump and Starmer seem to have gotten along well: The president complimented the prime minister’s love of his country, and said Britain was a
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February 26, 2025 — John Hinderaker
This story from London illustrates the far-reaching effects of the Trump administration’s cutbacks at USAID: Stonewall could be forced to cut up to half of its staff after President Trump’s decision to freeze foreign aid, The Times understands. Workers at the LGBTQ+ charity were told on Thursday that restructuring would take place, and that only roles with dedicated funding would be safe. I guess “dedicated funding” means funding by someone
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February 15, 2025 — John Hinderaker
What is the purpose of a mug shot? I am not sure, but the practice of taking mug shots is universal, so there must be a reason for it. Whatever the purpose is, it no doubt requires that the person under arrest be visible in the photograph. Which brings us to the case of Farishta Jami, born in Afghanistan but now resident in the U.K., who was convicted of terrorism
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January 26, 2025 — John Hinderaker
The impact of Donald Trump’s resounding win at the polls, and his whirlwind first days in office, is not limited to the U.S. In the United Kingdom, politicians are trying to learn from his example. Thus, Suella Braverman, who represents the right wing of the Conservative Party, writes in the Telegraph, after attending Trump’s inauguration. Her piece is headlined: “Trump’s triumph offers a new blueprint for Britain”: Sitting mere feet
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January 13, 2025 — John Hinderaker
The lights are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime. Energy costs are de-industrializing one former economic power after another. This Telegraph article is mostly about the U.K.: Sir Jim Ratcliffe has warned that Britain’s multibillion-pound chemicals industry is facing “extinction” because of soaring energy costs and the shift to net zero. *** Sir Jim, the co-owner of Manchester United and one
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