British commentators have a habit of looking at both Britain and the United States through the same distorted lens, which needs a good clean: that they are “poor societies with a few very rich people.” It is a comforting story for those who want to emphasize inequality over prosperity. But it does not survive contact with the data, and it certainly does not describe the United States. If anything, it more closely describes Britain itself.
The uncomfortable truth is that many British observers struggle to grasp just how wealthy even working-class Americans are in material terms. This is not about billionaire comparisons or Silicon Valley extremes. It is about the baseline standard of living: income, consumption, housing space, and access to goods and services that define everyday life. When asked where they rank in terms of wealth with their American counterparts, Brits said they would be the 7th wealthiest state. In reality, we rank 51st and yes, even below Mississippi.
On almost every measure of disposable income and consumption, American households, including those in the middle and working classes, are significantly better off than their British counterparts. Homes are larger. Car ownership is higher. Access to goods is broader. Energy use, appliance use, and overall consumption levels reflect a society with far greater purchasing power. Anecdotally, I was stunned when I landed at JFK Airport by how huge Uber cars were. You would never have a Cadillac as an Uber in Britain.
And yet, much of the British commentary ecosystem continues to assume the opposite. Part of the confusion comes from how wealth is perceived rather than measured. Britain, especially in its post-industrial form, has developed a narrative of relative restraint: smaller homes, denser cities, and a strong emphasis on public provision. That creates an impression of fairness and stability, but it can also obscure stagnation.
The United States, by contrast, is often misread as a society defined only by extremes, billionaires at the top and insecurity everywhere else. But this misses the scale of American middle-class affluence, which remains unusually high by global standards despite real challenges like healthcare costs and housing pressures.
The reality is that neither country fits the simplistic “rich and poor extremes” model. But the balance of misperception is asymmetric. Britain increasingly underestimates American prosperity while quietly struggling with its own long-term growth constraints.
This debate is not happening in isolation. It comes at a moment when His Majesty’s state visit and broader efforts to reaffirm the U.K.–U.S. “special relationship” are drawing attention to what still binds the two countries together: a shared commitment to liberal democracy, open markets, and the idea that free societies generate prosperity through competition and innovation.
That shared tradition matters more in the post-Brexit era than it may have in decades. Outside the European Union, Britain must increasingly define its economic identity on its own terms. That means competing for investment, talent, and growth in a global system where the United States remains the dominant engine of innovation and wealth creation.
The comparison is therefore unavoidable, not as a cultural insult, but as an economic reality check. The United States continues to demonstrate the extraordinary capacity of a large, open economy to generate wealth at scale. It does so unevenly and often imperfectly, but the outcome is still clear: high levels of consumption, strong productivity in key sectors, and a middle class that, despite pressure, remains materially affluent by international standards.
Britain, meanwhile, faces a different trajectory. Wage growth has been sluggish, productivity growth has been weak, housing has become increasingly constrained, and infrastructure investment has been uneven. The result is a society where perceptions of middle-class comfort often mask underlying economic stagnation.
This divergence is not just about policy. It is about philosophy. Both Britain and the United States are heirs to a liberal tradition built on the idea that economic and political freedom is the foundation of prosperity. Markets, property rights, entrepreneurship, and institutional stability are not abstract ideals; they are mechanisms for generating sustained growth.
But that philosophy only works if it is actively maintained. In the post-Brexit era, Britain has an opportunity to reassert that tradition, not by imitating America, but by recognizing what actually drives prosperity in free societies. That requires moving beyond narratives of managed decline or moralized inequality and focusing instead on growth, productivity, and competitiveness.
The UK–US relationship, symbolized in part by royal diplomacy and state visits, is often described in sentimental terms. But its real significance lies in something more practical: two of the world’s most influential liberal democracies demonstrating that open societies can still outperform closed or centrally managed ones.
That example is increasingly important in a world where authoritarian models present themselves as efficient alternatives to democratic capitalism. If Britain and America are to continue offering a meaningful model, they must first be honest about what prosperity looks like. It is not defined solely by equality, nor by headline inequality figures, nor by isolated measures like healthcare access or housing costs. It is defined by the overall capacity of a society to generate wealth and improve living standards over time.
On that measure, the United States remains far wealthier than it is often given credit for, including among working-class households, while Britain faces the more difficult challenge of reversing long-term stagnation.
The point is not that one country “wins” and the other “loses.” It is that both countries are shaped by tradeoffs that they often misunderstand in each other. But if Britain continues to view itself and the United States through the same flattened narrative of inequality without prosperity, it risks misreading both its ally and itself. And in an era defined by global competition, economic uncertainty, and shifting geopolitical alliances, misreading is not just an intellectual mistake; it is a strategic one.
***
Mike Salem is the UK Country Associate at the Consumer Choice Center, an independent, non-partisan consumer advocacy group promoting innovation, consumer choice, and competitive markets. His analysis has appeared across British media, including GB News, LBC, the Telegraph, the Mirror, City AM, and BBC Arabic.

USA and Britain flag together. USA UK relations

Why A Prosperous America Is Hard For The British To Grasp

America

Britain

DW Opinion

Economics

Free Market

Prosperity

wealth

The internet pulled up its bootstraps, took to the streets of X, and started dragging the United Kingdom for being abysmal on pretty much every front: immigration, food, housing, the deletion of their culture in exchange for burqa shops, and now… their economy.
A new report from the <a href="https://x.com/iealondon/status/2044309863468093756?s=20">U.K.-based Institute of Economic Affairs</a> revealed that Brits thought the UK ranked 7th against U.S. states in income per person, when in reality it ranks 51st. Worse yet, Mississippi, the poorest state in the United States, is richer than the United Kingdom. If they joined our great nation, they&#8217;d be the poorest state in the entire union.
Absolutely bloody news there, mate.
The beatdown didn&#8217;t stop there. <a href="https://x.com/tatereeves/status/2044809466885939212">Mississippi</a> Governor Tate Reeves posted to X: &#8220;As we say in Mississippi, &#8216;Bless Your Heart.&#8217; Or as you say in the U.K., &#8216;As-Salamu Alaykum.'&#8221; Phenomenal clapback.
I must say, this feels good. This was the rush of patriotism we all needed this week, amid war with terrorists, high-profile doxxing threats, Pope scuffles, and rape scandals. Despite our flaws as a nation, by golly, at least our weakest link (fiscally speaking) is more economically sound than the entirety of the United Kingdom.
The mockery is the easy part. The harder question is how the country that gave us the Magna Carta, Winston Churchill, and the Industrial Revolution ended up here. The answer is a masterclass in what happens when a government prioritizes the feelings of newcomers over the well-being of its own citizens for decades without correction.
Put the kettle on, because there is more tea to be spilled.
The U.K.’s GDP technically has grown since 2008. That’s because the population grew, mostly from immigration. <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.KD.ZG?locations=GB">Real GDP per capita</a> — the number that tells you whether individual Brits are actually better off — crawled just 7.8% over 16 years. Productivity has flatlined at its slowest rate in 200 years. <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/bulletins/longterminternationalmigrationprovisional/yearendingjune2025">Net migratio</a>n hit a record 944,000 in 2023, with large portions being low-skilled migrants who consumed public housing, the National Health Service, and welfare faster than the infrastructure could absorb them. NHS waiting lists are catastrophic. Housing costs are suffocating. And on top of all of it, <a href="https://www.henleyglobal.com/publications/henley-private-wealth-migration-report-2025/what-driving-uks-millionaire-exodus">Britain&#8217;s punishing tax burden</a> on its most productive citizens sent wealth, investment, and talent straight out the door. You cannot bleed your earners dry and wonder why the engine stalled. The country hasn&#8217;t collapsed, but it&#8217;s buckled badly, and everyone can see it and feel it.
Their pocketbooks aren&#8217;t the only things threatened. Take the <a href="https://www.rotherham.gov.uk/downloads/file/279/independent-inquiry-into-child-sexual-exploitation-in-rotherham">grooming gang</a> scandal that rocked the U.K. over the past several years. Rotherham, Rochdale, Oxford. It is one of the most documented and most deliberately suppressed institutional failures in modern Western history. Multiple official inquiries confirmed that networks of predominantly Pakistani-heritage men systematically targeted and sexually exploited vulnerable young British girls. Authorities knew. Police knew. Social workers knew. For years, they did nothing for fear of being called racist. Children were abused. Officials had the evidence. They chose institutional cowardice over the safety of British girls.
This is the rot. Open borders without assimilation requirements created the conditions that allowed it to fester. Europe wasn&#8217;t only deluding itself over crime policy. It was deluding itself about everything.
The problem was a government that imported millions of people over two decades, refused to enforce meaningful assimilation standards, and then labeled anyone who raised concerns a bigot. When you grow your population faster than your housing, your hospitals, and your schools, without requiring newcomers to adopt the legal and civic norms of the country they&#8217;re entering, you don&#8217;t get a multicultural utopia. You get broken public services, Muhammad as the number one baby name, and a GDP per capita that loses to Mississippi.
We don’t get to enjoy this schadenfreude for long. The same ideological forces that hollowed out Britain — open borders dressed as compassion, multicultural paralysis dressed as tolerance, debilitating taxes on the most productive members of society — have not left our politics. They’re knocking on the door.
Net migration in America is now negative for the first time in 50 years. That&#8217;s an absolute win. But <a href="https://x.com/i/status/2044780352586055994">Elmo</a> is already out here celebrating National Arab American Heritage Month, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is one green light away from unleashing rent control and a tax regime that would gut the financial capital of the world, and a sizable chunk of the progressive coalition openly sympathizes with terror. The U.K. didn&#8217;t fall in a day. It made a thousand small policy decisions, each defended as the humane choice, each quietly making things worse for the people who were already there.
Don’t be Britain, but Bless Their Hearts.

Political Crisis Concept: Mud Cracks With UK Flag

The Poor State Of The United Kingdom And What It Says About The Culture

Culture

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer shared a statement declaring his intention to protect women and girls from &#8220;misogyny&#8221; — and was immediately met with a virtual thrashing from women and girls who say he&#8217;s already failed them with policies that protect grooming and rape gangs and give trans-identifying men access to their spaces.
Starmer addressed the issue in an X post, in which he suggested that the greatest threat facing women and girls was the misogyny being cultivated in young men by social media influencers.
&#8220;I want my daughter to grow up in a Britain where she feels safe in school, online, and in relationships. Every young girl deserves that, and every young boy should be protected from harmful misogynistic influences,&#8221; he posted. &#8220;My government is making that happen, by backing teachers, calling out misogyny, and intervening early. We can stop harm before it starts and save a generation of young men from the influence of online misogynists.&#8221;
A number quickly pointed out that Starmer&#8217;s failure to tighten immigration laws was putting more girls in immediate danger than any toxic internet culture.
&#8220;How about deporting Pakistani grooming gang members?&#8221; Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) <a href="https://x.com/RepFine/status/2001778910770458695">suggested</a>.
&#8220;Your government bends the knee to terrorists in the name of equity. You don&#8217;t care about girls or women; if you did, you&#8217;d do something about the terrorists in your country,&#8221; Twitchy&#8217;s Sam Janney <a href="https://x.com/PolitiBunny/status/2001656302703964316">added</a>.
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&#8220;Stop lecturing schoolboys while refusing to secure the border or enforce the law,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/TheBritishIntel/status/2001613317144527171">another said</a>. &#8220;British lads aren’t the problem — importing violence and then blaming our sons is cowardice, not leadership.&#8221;
One victim of an alleged grooming gang called Starmer out directly, saying, &#8220;I wanted to grow up in a Britain where CSE detectives didn’t ask me if I &#8216;consented to sexual activity&#8217; after I was abused from the age of 5. I wanted to grow up in a Britain where the police didn’t show up at my door to threaten me after I exposed their failings on TV.&#8221;
&#8220;I wanted to grow up in a Britain that didn’t prioritise &#8216;community cohesion&#8217; and &#8216;race relations&#8217; over protecting little girls from being raped and killed. I wanted to grow up in a Britain where Labour politicians like you didn’t turn a blind eye to the systemic abuse of little girls,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;I wanted to grow up in a Britain that didn’t refuse to prosecute 98.6% of rape cases. I wanted to grow up in a Britain that didn’t trade little girls for votes.&#8221;
&#8220;How dare you try and lecture us on the importance of protecting women and girls after you and your party spent decades betraying us? You are a hypocrite and a liar, Keir Starmer,&#8221; she declared.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I wanted to grow up in a Britain where CSE detectives didn’t ask me if I “consented to sexual activity” after I was abused from the age of 5.
I wanted to grow up in a Britain where the police didn’t show up at my door to threaten me after I exposed their failings on TV.
I… <a href="https://t.co/jUwvMJEo4U">https://t.co/jUwvMJEo4U</a> <a href="https://t.co/LkXp1I1qBW">pic.twitter.com/LkXp1I1qBW</a>
— Samantha Smith (@SamanthaTaghoy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SamanthaTaghoy/status/2002096846613746146?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 19, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Britain will turn itself into a dystopian police state before it admits that its problems stem from mass Muslim immigration,&#8221; The Federalist&#8217;s John Daniel Davidson <a href="https://x.com/johnddavidson/status/2001689563388125326">concluded</a>.
Author J.K. Rowling took the argument in another direction, <a href="https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/2002090766223462862">registering her disgust</a> with Starmer&#8217;s position on trans issues: &#8220;I want my daughters to live in a country where their right to single-sex spaces isn’t under attack from their own government.&#8221;
&#8220;Despite being married to a woman and the father to a daughter, you still required the Supreme Court to tell you what a woman is. That makes you one of two things; stupid, or a coward. In either circumstance, to think you can be trusted with the safety of women and girls in this country is laughable,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/FFS_WhatNow/status/2001718390919254290">another said</a>.
Carla Lockhart, MP, <a href="https://x.com/carlalockhart/status/2001996714069139801">added</a>, &#8220;Perhaps you can begin by ensuring that your daughter can have female only toilets, changing rooms and spaces. The Supreme Court was clear. Because of Labour a court had to rule on something so plain and obvious to us all. Now act on the Supreme Court ruling and stop your Ministers stalling.&#8221;
Even Santa Claus weighed in with just one week to go before Christmas, declaring Starmer to be &#8220;on the naughty list.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Keir Starmer is on the naughty list. <a href="https://t.co/rinxugGAGN">pic.twitter.com/rinxugGAGN</a>
— Santa Decides (@SantaDecides) <a href="https://twitter.com/SantaDecides/status/2001738922288910344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

NATO Leaders Attend 2025 Summit In The Hague

Keir Starmer Claims He Protects Women, Gets Absolutely Thrashed By Women Who Say He’s Failed Them

Keir Starmer Claims He Protects Women, Gets Absolutely Thrashed By Women Who Say He's Failed Them

Keir Starmer

Politics

United Kingdom

Women

Britain, France, and Germany — the E3 — plan to hit Iran with reimposed United Nations sanctions as early as Thursday.
Following high-level talks with Iranian officials on Tuesday, multiple European and Western diplomats <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/europeans-likely-initiate-un-sanctions-process-iran-thursday-sources-say-2025-08-27/">told Reuters</a> the E3 will trigger a “snapback” of sanctions this week, signaling a significant setback for Tehran amid ongoing nuclear and security concerns.
“The U.N. process takes 30 days before sanctions that would cover Iran&#8217;s financial, banking, hydrocarbons and defence sectors were restored,” Reuters noted, adding, “The E3 have offered to delay the snapback for as much as six months to enable serious negotiations if Iran resumes full U.N. inspections.”
“In a letter dated August 8, the E3 warned Iran it would proceed with ‘snapback’ if Tehran didn&#8217;t reach a ‘satisfactory solution’ to the nuclear issues. A deadline was set for August 31,” <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20250822-iran-european-powers-to-resume-nuclear-talks-as-snapback-sanctions-loom">France 24</a> noted, adding, “Under ‘snapback,’ any party to the deal can find Iran in noncompliance, reimposing the sanctions. After it expires, any sanctions effort could face a veto from UN Security Council members China and Russia, two nations that have provided some support to Iran in the past but stayed out of the June war.”
In July, a <a href="https://isc.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Intelligence-and-Security-Committee-of-Parliament-Iran.pdf">report</a> from Great Britain’s Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament stated clearly that they saw Iran as a “significant threat to the UK.”
“The Iran threat should not be underestimated: it is persistent and  — crucially  — unpredictable,” the report — which was completed before the October 7 Hamas massacre of Israelis and subsequent events occurred — declared. “Iran has a high appetite for risk when conducting offensive activity, which means it poses a dynamic and erratic threat. &#8230; it can escalate action sharply with little warning. This was seen following the 2022 protests in Iran, when there was a significant increase in the threat of a physical attack to individuals in the UK and the Middle East whom Iran perceives to be a threat to the regime.”
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In June, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations nuclear watchdog, found that Iran had breached its non-proliferation obligations. It was the first time in almost two decades that the IAEA had taken that stance. The <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/west-plans-push-iaea-board-find-iran-breach-duties-diplomats-say-2025-05-30/">last time</a> the IAEA adopted that position was in September 2005, when clandestine nuclear activities in Iran were discovered.
“The Board of Governors&#8230; finds that Iran&#8217;s many failures to uphold its obligations since 2019 to provide the Agency with full and timely cooperation regarding undeclared nuclear material and activities at multiple undeclared locations in Iran &#8230; constitutes non-compliance with its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement with the Agency,” the resolution stated.

Israel Launches Strikes Against Iran

European Powers Poised To Reimpose U.N. Sanctions On Iran This Week

France

Germany

Global Politics

Iran

snapback sanctions

World

The U.K. Labour government unveiled a controversial plan this week to lower the voting age to 16 ahead of the next general election, in what many conservatives are calling a blatant attempt to sway the next election in their favor.
Nigel Farage, leader of Reform U.K., called the move “an attempt to rig the political system,” but warned they “intend to give them a nasty surprise.” While Labour currently <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/2083204/nigel-farage-votes-16-Labour">leads</a> among 16-17-year-olds with approximately 33% support, Reform U.K.’s strong 20% showing suggests the plan could backfire on Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner defended the controversial proposal, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c628ep4j5kno">saying</a>, “I was a mum at 16, you can go to work, you can pay your taxes and I think that people should have a vote at 16,” according to the BBC.
The voting age change would affect approximately 3% of the U.K. population aged 16 and over. Labour insists the reform isn’t designed to benefit their party, with Rayner claiming, “This isn’t about trying to rig votes for a particular party. This is about democracy and giving young people an opportunity to have a say.”
Speaking in a video posted to X, Farage expanded on his criticism of the proposal.
“The problem with this is, not only do half of youngsters not want the vote, but they have to stay at school now until they’re 18,” Farage said in a video shared to X. “The educational establishment is full of left-wing prejudice, is full of anti-reform bias, and frankly, if 16- to 18-year-olds at school are going to be able to vote, we’re going to have to make sure that our education system is teaching kids to make their own minds up and not indoctrinating them.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Giving 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote is an attempt to rig the political system. 
If this goes ahead, Labour could be in for a shock. <a href="https://t.co/CF9GYfRfFP">pic.twitter.com/CF9GYfRfFP</a>
&mdash; Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) <a href="https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1945837816727908842?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 17, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Conservative shadow minister Paul Holmes slammed the policy in the House of Commons, questioning why the “hopelessly confused” government believes “a 16-year-old can vote, but not be allowed to buy a lottery ticket, an alcoholic drink, marry, or go to war, or even stand in the elections they’re voting in?”
Reform U.K. already maintains significant influence among younger demographics on social media, with Farage commanding 1.3 million TikTok followers compared to Labour’s official account, which has just 231,300 followers.
According to Ofcom, 44% of British TikTok users who get news from the platform rely more on “other people they follow” than traditional news outlets.
YouGov polling from June showed that Labour support among 18 to 24-year-olds has dropped by 11% since last year’s general election, while Reform U.K. has seen corresponding gains in the same demographic, <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2083263/keir-starmer-voting-age-nigel-farage">per</a> Lotti O’Brien of Express U.K.
The voting age change is part of a broader elections reform package introduced by Starmer’s government.
Other measures include expanding acceptable voter ID to include U.K.-issued bank cards and implementing an automated voter registration system that would share data between government agencies — policies the Conservative Party warns could “undermine the security of the ballot box.”
The government, if the legislation passes through parliament, as anticipated, expects to implement these changes before the next general election, which must take place by 2029, but could be called earlier.

Guests Arrive For The Andrew Marr Show

Nigel Farage Slams U.K. Labour Push For 16-Year-Old Voters, Plans A ‘Nasty Surprise’ For Starmer

Elections

Labour Party

Nigel Farage

Parliament

U.K.

Voting

NORTHWOOD (Reuters) — France and Britain on Thursday agreed to reinforce cooperation over their respective nuclear arsenals as the two European powerhouses seek to respond to growing threats to the continent and uncertainty over their U.S. ally.
The announcement came after French President Emmanuel Macron concluded a three-day state visit to Britain, where the two allies sought to turn the page on years of turbulence following Britain&#8217;s decision to withdraw from the European Union.
&#8220;This morning, we signed the Northward declaration, confirming for the first time that we are coordinating our independent nuclear deterrence,&#8221; British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told a news conference alongside Macron.
&#8220;From today, our adversaries will know that any extreme threat to this continent would prompt a response from our two nations. There is no greater demonstration of the importance of this relationship.&#8221;
U.S. President Donald Trump&#8217;s questioning of burden-sharing in NATO and his overtures to Russia have led to existential questions in Europe about the trans-Atlantic relationship and Washington&#8217;s commitment to helping defend its European allies.
Europe&#8217;s primary nuclear deterrence comes from the United States and is a decades-old symbol of trans-Atlantic solidarity.
Macron said the two countries had created an oversight committee to coordinate their cooperation, a task he said was vital.
&#8220;The decision is that we don&#8217;t exclude the coordination of our respective deterrents. It&#8217;s a message that our partners and adversaries must hear,&#8221; Macron said.
The closer cooperation had nothing to do with their efforts to create a coalition of the willing to support Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire with Russia, he added.
While both sides will keep their own decision-making processes and strategic ambiguity, the move does suggest further protection for the continent at a time when the United States&#8217; commitment to Europe is under scrutiny.
Macron has previously said he will launch a strategic dialogue on extending the protection offered by France&#8217;s nuclear arsenal to its European partners.
The U.S. has nuclear arms in Europe and tens of thousands of troops deployed in bases across the continent with military capabilities that Europe cannot match.
France spends about 5.6 billion euros ($6.04 billion) annually on maintaining its stockpile of 290 submarine- and air-launched nuclear weapons, the world&#8217;s fourth largest.
Britain describes its nuclear programme as &#8220;operationally independent,&#8221; but sources missile technology from the U.S. and depends on the U.S. for acquisition and maintenance support.
&#8220;On the nuclear agreement that we&#8217;ve reached today &#8230; it is truly historic,&#8221; Starmer said.
(Additional reporting by Sam Tabahriti; Writing by John Irish; Editing by Aidan Lewis)

France’s President Macron State visit to the UK

France, Britain Unveil Nuclear Weapons Cooperation To Counter Threat To Europe

Emmanuel Macron

Europe

Nuclear Weapons

U.S.

The United Kingdom&#8217;s highest court ruled Wednesday that the legal definition of &#8220;woman&#8221; is based on biology and does not include trans-identifying men who say they are women.
In the landmark <a href="https://supremecourt.uk/uploads/uksc_2024_0042_judgment_aea6c48cee.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">judgment</a>, the British Supreme Court ruled that the meaning of &#8220;woman&#8221; in equality legislation is a &#8220;biological woman and biological sex,&#8221; and the &#8220;concept of sex is binary, a person is either a woman or a man.&#8221;
The ruling is a watershed moment in Britain&#8217;s shift on gender ideology, which has faced a referendum in Europe in recent years, especially as the harms of transgender drugs and procedures on children have come to light and sparked legal challenges.
The court case was about whether trans-identifying men with a &#8220;gender recognition certificate&#8221; that legally recognizes them as female are protected from discrimination as a woman under the 2010 Equality Act.
The court ultimately ruled that interpreting sex as simply as what someone&#8217;s gender certificate says would be &#8220;incoherent,&#8221; according to a summary of the ruling.
“The terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex,” Lord Patrick Hodge, one of the court&#8217;s senior judges, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/16/uk/uk-supreme-court-ruling-definition-woman-intl/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the court. “The provisions relating to sex discrimination can only be interpreted as referring to biological sex.”
The five judges cautioned that they were not ruling broadly on whether trans-identifying men were women, saying that was beyond the role of the court.
Lord Hodge said the ruling should not be seen as “a triumph for one or more groups in our society at the expense of another – it is not.”
Critics of gender ideology were ecstatic nonetheless.
A group called For Women Scotland filed a challenge in 2018, butting heads with the Scottish government, which argued that trans-identifying men were legally women.
For Women Scotland celebrated with tears and hugs in the courtroom before a victorious exit, where they cracked open a bottle of champagne outside with other campaigners against gender ideology.
Other groups celebrated as well.
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cm9js9dgx000c3b6oni5n6mv7@published" data-editable="text" data-component-name="paragraph" data-article-gutter="true" data-analytics-observe="off">“The court has given the right answer: the protected characteristic of sex – male and female – refers to reality, not paperwork,” the group Sex Matters said.
The LGB Alliance, which presented arguments in court, called the ruling a “watershed for women.”
In response to the ruling, the British government said it supports &#8220;single-sex spaces.&#8221;
“This ruling brings clarity and confidence, for women and service providers such as hospitals, refuges, and sports clubs,” a British government spokesperson <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/16/uk/uk-supreme-court-ruling-definition-woman-intl/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. “Single-sex spaces are protected in law and will always be protected by this Government.”

Womens’ Rights Supreme Court Judgement In London

UK Supreme Court Rules Trans-Identifying Men Are Not Women

UK Supreme Court Rules Legal Definition Of 'Woman' Is Biological

Gender

Gender Identity

gender ideology

Social Issues

Transgender

Transgenders

A lawyer representing two brothers alleging police brutality has “stepped aside” from representing them right after additional footage of the incident was released showing the brothers attacking police.
Akhmed Yakoob, an attorney with a large TikTok following, was representing brothers Mohammed Fahir Khan, 19, and Amaad Khan, 25, after <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/police-officer-kicks-and-stamps-on-mans-head-at-manchester-airport-13184378" target="_blank" rel="noopener">footage</a> from the Manchester Airport showed a police officer stomping on Fahir’s head while he was lying face down on the floor. The police officer seen in the footage has since been “removed from operational duties,” Sky News reported.
Assistant Chief Constable Wasim Chaudhry of the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) made the announcement following the incident.
&#8220;We know that a film of an incident at Manchester Airport that is circulating widely shows an event that is truly shocking, and that people are rightly extremely concerned about,” he said. &#8220;The use of such force in an arrest is an unusual occurrence and one that we understand creates alarm.&#8221;
The incident occurred on July 23, when officers received a report of an assault in Terminal 2.
&#8220;The alleged suspect was seen on CCTV at a ticket machine in the car park and officers attended the location to arrest him,&#8221; Chaudhry said of the incident.
Police said at the time that three officers were assaulted, with a female officer suffering a broken nose and other officers receiving injuries that required hospital treatment.
In a statement at the time, the GMP said, “As the attending officers were firearms officers, there was a clear risk during this assault of their firearms being taken from them.” The department also acknowledged “the concerns of the conduct within the video.&#8221;
Days after the initial footage was released, footage from another camera and from earlier during the event showed the two brothers attacking police officers, the Independent <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/manchester-airport-police-officer-footage-andy-burnham-b2587155.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The footage shows multiple people standing around a ticket machine as police approach. The officers attempt to arrest a man wearing a light blue shirt and shorts. A second man, wearing a black T-shirt, starts to attack a police officer before the other man starts to punch another officer. The men repeatedly punch the officers until the man in the black T-shirt is tased by a male police officer. The man in the blue shirt knocks down the other two officers and punches the male officer in the back of the head. This officer then wrestles the man to the ground, and he is tased by one of the female officers.
This is when the male officer gets back up and kicks one of the men in the head.
The original footage, which only showed the police officer kicking Fahir in the head, led to massive protests calling the GMP racist.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has since urged people “not to rush to judgment” after the second video was released.
“Following incidents in the run-up to the footage people have seen, four individuals were arrested and are now on police bail. It is frustrating that we have not been able to put more video into the public domain but that is because this is a live investigation,” he said, according to the Independent.
After the second video was released, Yakoob, the attorney for the brothers, released a video saying he was “stepping aside” from representing the brothers but has recommended a new lawyer for them.
&#8220;The media have tried to sabotage me, it&#8217;s not the first time they&#8217;ve done this,&#8221; he said without presenting evidence. &#8220;They&#8217;ve made this whole situation about me and not police misconduct,” The Guardian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jul/29/teenagers-lawyer-steps-aside-after-manchester-airport-assassination-remarks">reported</a>.
“So, after consulting with the family, I have decided for now to step aside and I have recommended the family to a lawyer. But, I will be keeping a close eye on this,” he added. “I&#8217;d like to say that I am not for violence, whether it&#8217;s from police officers or whether it&#8217;s from civilians. Always remember that.&#8221;

Two British Policemen

Brothers Claimed To Be Victims Of Police Brutality. Footage Shows Them Attacking Police First.

Crime

Manchester

Police

Police Brutality

A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/united-kingdom">British</a> high court on Monday upheld Britain&#8217;s ban on puberty blockers, hormonal drugs frequently given to pubescent children who express discomfort with their biological gender.
The judge noted puberty blockers were found to have “very substantial risks and very narrow benefits” by the Cass review, the landmark <a href="https://cass.independent-review.uk/home/publications/final-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> commissioned by England&#8217;s National Health Service (NHS).
Transgender medical interventions on children are based on “remarkably weak evidence,” and young people have been caught up in a “stormy social discourse,” Justice Beverley Lang said in her ruling.
Last summer, the NHS issued an emergency ban on puberty blockers after the Cass review recommended halting the powerful drugs due to their effects on brain development and bone health.
“Outside of a research setting, puberty-suppressing hormones should not be routinely commissioned for children and adolescents,” the NHS said at the time.
A group called TransActual, along with an unnamed youth, sued over the government&#8217;s decision, <a href="https://transactual.org.uk/blog/2024/03/12/transactual-statement-on-nhs-englands-decision-to-stop-commissioning-puberty-blockers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">calling</a> it a &#8220;cruel new element of the war on trans youth.&#8221;
With Monday&#8217;s decision, however, the ban will remain in place.
“Children’s healthcare must be evidence-led,” said Health Secretary Wes Streeting, welcoming the ruling. “We must therefore act cautiously and with care when it comes to this vulnerable group of young people.”
However, Streeting added that he is setting up a clinical trial to establish the evidence on puberty blockers.
&#8220;I want trans people in our country to feel safe, accepted, and able to live with freedom and dignity,&#8221; he said.
Both puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones come with serious health risks. Puberty blockers can <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gender-dysphoria/in-depth/pubertal-blockers/art-20459075">affect</a> bone growth and density and cause sexual dysfunction, voice damage, and infertility, among other issues. Cross-sex hormones, which can be estrogen or testosterone can <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/transgender-young-people-in-u-s-have-nearly-doubled-recently-report-shows" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cause</a> infertility, deadly blood clots, heart attacks, increased cancer risks of the breasts and ovaries, liver dysfunction, worsening psychological illness, and other serious conditions.
The Cass review also warned that children who are referred to gender services come with high rates of abuse and neglect, including sexual abuse and parental substance abuse.
England and several other European countries, such as Finland and Sweden, have pumped the brakes on transgender medical interventions for children.
In April, the Tavistock clinic, England’s only youth gender identity clinic, officially closed its doors after being dogged by controversy for years.
The clinic, the biggest in the world, <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/health/2024/03/inside-the-collapse-of-the-tavistock-centre" target="_blank" rel="noopener">referred</a> thousands of children for puberty blockers. In its last years, Tavistock began to see an increasing flood of young girls with gender-related distress asking for drugs despite having other mental issues like depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and histories of abuse.
At least 25 U.S. states have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nebraska-supreme-court-upholds-bans-on-abortion-transgender-surgeries-for-minors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed</a> restrictions on transgender surgeries and hormone treatments for minors.

Pediatrician doing development medical exam with little girl, checking posture.

Puberty Blockers Ban Upheld By British Court

Courts

England

Puberty blockers

transgender surgery

Authorities knew a British man was wrongly convicted of rape five years after he was sentenced to life, but failed to release the evidence, a new report has found.
Andrew Malkinson spent 17 years in jail for a 2003 rape he didn’t commit, but has only now learned that authorities knew he was innocent five years after he was sentenced, the BBC <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2q0gdd9v04o.amp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. He should have been released from prison and exonerated at that time, a report looking into the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) concluded.
The report found that the CCRC failed to look into evidence of Malkinson’s innocence all the way up until 2022. Malkinson is now calling for top-to-bottom reforms of the commission and the resignation or firing of its chair, Helen Pitcher.
Malkinson said the report “lays bare how the CCRC obstructed my fight for justice and cost me an extra decade wrongly imprisoned.”
“If Helen Pitcher and her leadership team won&#8217;t resign after a scathing report like this, they should be sacked,” he added, <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/justice-secretary-seeks-removal-of-chair-of-criminal-cases-review-commission-over-andrew-malkinson-case-13180364" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to Sky News</a>.
Pitcher apologized to Malkinson, saying it was “clear the commission failed” him.
&#8220;Nobody can begin to imagine the devastating impact that this wrongful conviction has had on Mr Malkinson&#8217;s life, and I am deeply sorry for the additional harm caused by our handling of the case,” she added. &#8220;On behalf of the commission, I offer my deepest regret.&#8221;
The CCRC, in its own response to the report, said it would “learn from the mistakes that were made,” adding that the reform recommendations from Chris Henley, the lawyer appointed by the government to review Malkinson’s case, “will be acted upon, and work to address them has already started.&#8221;
In 2003, Malkinson was accused of raping a woman in Greater Manchester, the BBC reported. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison even though there was no DNA to link him to the crime. His conviction relied on contested eyewitness accounts from people who placed him near the scene, even though he didn’t match the description of the rapist or have a deep scratch on his face, which the victim said she had inflicted on her attacker during the rape.
Three years after he went to prison, forensic scientists were able to find DNA from the victim’s clothing that pointed to a different, then-unknown man. By 2009, the Greater Manchester Police, the Crown Prosecution Service, and the CCRC knew about this evidence, but rejected Malkinson’s pleas to overturn his conviction. In 2013, the CCRC again failed to review Malkinson’s file, even though the Court of Appeal exonerated a different man of a rape in nearly identical circumstances. The CCRC again dismissed Malkinson’s attempt at exoneration in 2019. It also considered rejecting his third plea in 2022.
The damning report found that the CCRC only referred the case back to judges after a legal charity helped Malkinson win a motion to have new DNA analysis conducted.
Henley, the lawyer in charge of the report, said he didn’t believe the CCRC would have ever done the work to exonerate Malkinson on its own.
“It had taken 20 years to put this appalling miscarriage of justice right,” Henley said, according to the BBC. “This case demonstrates a deep-seated, system-wide cultural reluctance, which starts right at the top in the Court of Appeal, to acknowledge our criminal justice system will on occasion make mistakes. It is not by any standard a success, or a demonstration that things are working properly, that Mr. Malkinson had to wait 20 years to be exonerated.”

Prisoner Holding Bars of Cell

A British Man Spent 17 Years In Prison For A Rape He Didn’t Commit. Authorities Knew He Was Innocent After 5, Report Finds.

A British Man Spent 17 Years In Prison For A Rape He Didn't Commit. Authorities Knew He Was Innocent After 5, Report Finds.

Rape

Wrongful Conviction

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chinese</a> hackers gained access to personal data about thousands of British soldiers, sailors, and air force members, <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/china-hacked-ministry-of-defence-sky-news-learns-13130757" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to a new report.
The data breach exposed the bank details of up to 272,000 soldiers and veterans, including some home addresses, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/uk-defense-ministry-data-breach-china-49899b429f138bb2075d9fd6703ac7b0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">through</a> a hack of a third-party payroll system, the Associated Press reported. The British government confirmed on Tuesday that the Ministry of Defense had been hacked by a “malign” actor, but did not specifically name China. However, Sky News <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/china-hacked-ministry-of-defence-sky-news-learns-13130757" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> on Monday that the hacking had been instigated by China.
British Prime Minister <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/rishi-sunak" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rishi Sunak</a> said Tuesday that a &#8220;malign actor has compromised the armed forces payment network,” before turning to directly criticizing China.
&#8220;I set out a very robust policy towards China, which means that we need to take the powers which we have done to protect ourselves against the risk that China and other countries pose to us,&#8221; he <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/china-calls-accusations-it-hacked-mod-completely-fabricated-and-malicious-slanders-13130985" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;They are a country with fundamentally different values to ours that are acting in a way that is more authoritarian and assertive abroad.&#8221;
During a briefing on the hack on Tuesday, U.K. Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said that “state involvement” could not be ruled out, but said that he couldn’t reveal more information about who the government suspected to be behind the hack.
“For reasons of national security, we can’t release further details of the suspected cyber activity behind this incident,” he said, adding that once the hack was discovered, the system was immediately taken offline.
Conservative Member of Parliament Tobias Ellwood <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/china-hacked-ministry-of-defence-sky-news-learns-13130757" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Sky News that the hack may have been an effort to compromise soldiers struggling financially. He said China &#8220;was probably looking at the financially vulnerable with a view that they may be coerced in exchange for cash.&#8221;
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The Chinese Embassy in London <a href="http://gb.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/PressandMedia/Spokepersons/202405/t20240507_11300683.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a> by asserting that any claims of Chinese government involvement are false.
“The said accusation made by the UK side is nothing but a fabricated and malicious slander. It is extremely absurd and despicable. We strongly condemn it,” the embassy said. “China has all along been fighting cyberattacks according to law. We firmly oppose any groundless accusations against China out of political motives. We urge the UK side to stop spreading disinformation, and stop such self-staged political farces.”

Freedom Parade For Soldiers Returning From Afghanistan

‘Malign Actor’: China Accused Of Hacking Data Of Thousands Of British Soldiers

China

Cyberattack

Cybersecurity

Hackers

Rishi Sunak

Dr. Hilary Cass, who authored the long-awaited British report criticizing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/transgender" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transgender</a> medical procedures for children, said she is not taking public transportation due to safety concerns.
The Cass Review was <a href="https://cass.independent-review.uk/home/publications/final-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> earlier this month. It is the result of a major independent <a href="https://cass.independent-review.uk/publications/interim-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">review</a> on children and gender identity <a href="https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/gender-dysphoria-clinical-programme/implementing-advice-from-the-cass-review/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commissioned</a> by Britain&#8217;s National Health Service (NHS) in 2020.
Cass herself is a pediatrician and former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
“The reality is that we have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress,” Cass stated in her report.
In an <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hilary-cass-i-cant-travel-on-public-transport-any-more-35pt0mvnh" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with The Times of London published Friday, Cass, 66, said she has received “vile” abusive emails and been warned to stay away from public transportation in the wake of her report.
“There are some pretty vile emails coming in at the moment. Most of which my team is protecting me from, so I’m not getting to see them,” she told the paper.
“I’m not going on public transport at the moment, following security advice, which is inconvenient,” Cass said.
What bothers her more, however, is the &#8220;disinformation&#8221; surrounding her report.
“I have been really frustrated by the criticisms, because it is straight disinformation. It is completely inaccurate,&#8221; she said.
“What dismays me is just how childish the debate can become. If I don’t agree with somebody then I’m called transphobic or a TERF [trans-exclusionary radical feminist].”
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Just before the Cass Review came out, accusations circulated that the report had wrongly excluded dozens of transgender studies, a claim Cass said is false.
Labour MP Dawn Butler claimed there were about 100 studies that were not included in the Cass Review, and &#8220;we need to know why.”
&#8220;You don’t get up in parliament with an intent to spread misinformation,&#8221; Cass said.
“If you deliberately try to undermine a report that has looked at the evidence of children’s healthcare, then that’s unforgivable. You are putting children at risk by doing that,” she said.
Asked whether the attacks bother her, Cass said, &#8220;No.&#8221;
“It’s personal, but these people don’t know me,&#8221; she said. “I’m much, much more upset and frustrated about all this disinformation than I am about the abuse. The thing that makes me seethe is the misinformation.”
Cass&#8217; much anticipated report <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/weak-evidence-britains-nhs-to-review-all-transgender-treatment-after-major-report">sharply criticized</a> the transgender medicine industry targeting youth, saying the evidence for gender medicine is built on “shaky foundations.”
Cross-sex hormones — estrogen and testosterone — should be prescribed to trans-identifying 16 and 17-year-olds only with an “extremely cautious” approach, and there should be a “clear clinical rationale” for not waiting until the teen is 18, the report says.
Waiting would preserve fertility and manage any other conditions. The report also warns that children who are referred to gender services present with high rates of abuse and neglect, including sexual abuse and parental substance abuse.
Cass cautioned that she has also spoken to detransitioners who “deeply regret” their earlier transitions.
After the report&#8217;s release, the NHS responded saying it will review all transgender treatment it provides, including to adults, and all new treatment for 16 and 17-year-olds will be paused immediately.
Scotland also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/scotland-pauses-transgender-medications-for-minors">said</a> it would pause all new prescriptions of transgender medications for minors.

Doctor With bottles for Testosterone and Estrogen hormonal balance therapy

Author Of Cass Review, Which Criticized Child Transgender Procedures, Says She’s Avoiding Public Transportation

Author Of Cass Review, Which Criticized Child Transgender Procedures, Says She's Avoiding Public Transportation

Health Care

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