Alec Penstone, a 100-year-old Royal Navy veteran who swept the seas for mines during the D-Day landings, has issued a blistering indictment of modern Britain, saying flatly that winning the Second World War “wasn’t worth the result.” Appearing on “Good Morning Britain,” Penstone’s voice carried the weight of a century — and the heartbreak of a man who watched his comrades die for a freedom he now believes has been squandered.
<div>
“My message is,” Penstone told the hosts, “I can see in my mind’s eye those rows and rows of white stones — all the hundreds of my friends who gave their lives. For what? The country of today? No, I’m sorry, but the sacrifice wasn’t worth the result of what it is now.”
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This was no casual complaint from a disillusioned pensioner. It was the lament of a man who, at fifteen, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/07/winning-second-world-war-not-worth-it-d-day-veteran/#:~:text=A%20100%2Dyear%2Dold%20veteran,Good%20Morning%20Britain%20on%20Friday.">joined the war effort,</a> later serving on the HMS Campania, searching for U-boats and mines under constant threat of torpedo fire. He called himself “one of the lucky ones” simply for surviving. Yet after returning home, marrying his sweetheart Gladys, and watching Britain rebuild, he now looks upon a nation that no longer resembles the country that once stood defiantly against tyranny.
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<div>
“What we fought for was our freedom,” he said. “But now it’s a darn sight worse than when I fought for it.”
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&#39;What we fought for was our freedom, even now [the country] is worse than it was when I fought for it,&#39; says 100-year-old World War II Veteran Alec Penstone. <a href="https://t.co/M9HSsS5sIW">pic.twitter.com/M9HSsS5sIW</a>
&mdash; Good Morning Britain (@GMB) <a href="https://twitter.com/GMB/status/1986715254869332096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Penstone’s comments land in a Britain that appears almost determined to erase the very memory of the heroes who saved it. Earlier this year, under the Labour government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, portraits of Winston Churchill and the Duke of Wellington — the men who defeated Adolf Hitler and Napoleon — were quietly <a href="https://www.gbnews.com/politics/keir-starmer-winston-churchill-portrait-parliament-labour-party-history">removed</a> from Parliament. GB News reported that the purge extended across Westminster, with Churchill’s image even taken down from Portcullis House, where he was once photographed standing at the Cenotaph in 1945.
</div>
<div>
The Cenotaph, that sacred monument to the fallen, now stands in stark contrast to a political class eager to distance itself from the nation’s own history. To Penstone’s generation, Churchill embodied courage, conviction, and the defense of liberty. To today’s ruling elite, he is an embarrassment — an inconvenient reminder of British greatness.
</div>
<div>
The moral decay goes deeper still. This year, Starmer dismissed calls to investigate the widespread rapes of young girls by Pakistani grooming gangs, smearing those who demanded justice as “jumping on a far-right bandwagon.” When Elon Musk called out the cover-up to his 210 million followers, Starmer called it “misinformation.” Musk <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1876245946348208601">shot back</a>: “What an insane thing to say!” accusing Starmer of ignoring “vast numbers of little girls and their parents” for political gain.
</div>
<div>
For a man like Alec Penstone, who risked his life so that truth and freedom might endure, such cowardice and corruption cut deep. His sorrow is not nostalgia — it is recognition. The Britain he fought for has traded courage for cowardice, truth for propaganda, and honor for convenience.
</div>
<div>
The white stones still stand in silent rows. But the nation they represent, Penstone fears, has forgotten why they are there.
</div>

The Mayor Of Arromanches Leads A Parade of British Veterans With A Royal Guard Of Honour

100-Year-Old D-Day Vet Condemns The Britain He Sees Today: ‘The Sacrifice Wasn’t Worth The Result’

General

Great Britain

World

World War II

In a dramatic courtroom rebuke of politicized policing in Britain, journalist and activist Tommy Robinson won a decisive legal victory this week when Judge Sam Goozee ruled that law enforcement officials unlawfully targeted him because of his political beliefs. Robinson credited Elon Musk for financing his defense, declaring that “free speech won.” He <a href="https://x.com/TRobinsonNewEra/status/1985663828378464466">added</a> that without Musk’s intervention, “I’d probably be in jail.”
The case stemmed from Robinson’s July 2024 arrest at the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone, where he was charged under the Terrorism Act after refusing to give police the passcode to his phone. Officers claimed suspicion after observing him driving a friend’s Bentley to Spain. Robinson countered that the phone contained confidential sources and the identities of victims tied to his reporting.
Judge Goozee dismissed the charge outright, ruling that the stop and subsequent prosecution were politically motivated. “I cannot put out of my mind that it was actually what you stood for and your beliefs that acted as the principal reason for the stop,” Goozee <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2025/11/tommy-robinson-cleared-of-terror-charge">said</a> from the bench. The verdict underscored that political belief is recognized as a protected characteristic under the U.K.’s Equality Act, making discrimination on that basis illegal.
The judge eviscerated the police testimony, finding it riddled with inconsistencies and evasions. Officers admitted destroying key notes, contradicting each other on major details, and issuing confused or deceptive statements. Goozee <a href="https://www.rebelnews.com/tommy_robinson_reports">described</a> police witnesses as unreliable and lacking credibility. The ruling affirms that Robinson was not suspected of terrorism; instead, the police appeared to have used counterterrorism powers as a pretext to harass a high-profile critic of the establishment.
Video statements released by Robinson afterward showed him both grateful and angry. “I should be happy, but I’m not,” he said. “It shouldn’t take an American billionaire to defend British free speech.” His comments echoed a recurring theme: that the British state, aided by a complicit media, has sought for years to silence dissent by blurring the lines between journalism and extremism.
Robinson highlighted how major British outlets sat through the trial and failed to report that the police admitted wrongdoing. “They all knew the evidence was corrupt and unlawful,” he said. “They just hoped I’d get another bent judge.” His frustration grew from the financial and emotional toll of years of legal battles — cases costing tens of thousands of pounds, only to end with him repeatedly exonerated.
Musk, now openly positioning himself as a defender of free expression worldwide, became a central player in turning the tide. His support for Robinson’s case has reignited debate over the role of private citizens in defending rights the state itself seeks to erode.
For many observers, the verdict represents far more than one man’s acquittal. It stands as an indictment of Britain’s weaponized bureaucracy and its two-tier justice system — one that has pursued a single journalist with ferocity while ignoring the crimes he has exposed. As Robinson put it, “I was arrested and prosecuted under counterterrorism legislation for being Tommy Robinson.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I WAS TARGETED BECAUSE OF MY POLITICAL BELIEFS!!
Thank you <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@elonmusk</a> for fighting in my corner, you&#8217;re an absolute legend!!! <a href="https://t.co/vx405cCP6d">pic.twitter.com/vx405cCP6d</a>
— Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) <a href="https://twitter.com/TRobinsonNewEra/status/1985661754131530134?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
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WOW!!!
I am so humbled, and I can&#8217;t thank all of you enough for your support and engagement.
And not forgetting the main man himself <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@elonmusk</a> who gave me back my voice and saved freedom of speech in the west.
I am eternally grateful to all of you. <a href="https://t.co/37EYpaJZzB">pic.twitter.com/37EYpaJZzB</a>
— Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) <a href="https://twitter.com/TRobinsonNewEra/status/1985336721546821743?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Tommy Robinson Appears In Court Charged Under Terrorism Act

Tommy Robinson Acquitted – Bogus Terror Charge Crushed In Court

Courts

Elon Musk

Police

Tommy Robinson

The British Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, — a member of the ruling Labour Party that has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/29/labour-party-conference-vote-israel-genocide-gaza?utm_source=chatgpt.com">falsely </a><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/29/labour-party-conference-vote-israel-genocide-gaza?utm_source=chatgpt.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accused </a>Israel of genocide — was criticized after offering a statement on the killings of two Jews at a Manchester synagogue by a reputed Islamic terrorist.
On Thursday — as Jews started to mark Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, by fasting for 25 hours and praying at synagogues— a British citizen of Syrian descent named Jihad Al-Shamie rammed people with his vehicle and then attacked one person with a knife, killing two Jews and wounding others. Three other people were arrested in connection with the attack.
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“I am horrified by the antisemitic terrorist attack at a synagogue on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar,” Mahmood wrote on X. “The government has stepped up security at synagogues across the whole of the country, and we will do whatever is required to keep our Jewish community safe. To those who seek to divide us: they will fail.”
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I am horrified by the antisemitic terrorist attack at a synagogue on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. 
The government has stepped up security at synagogues across the whole of the country, and we will do whatever is required to keep our Jewish community safe.
To those… <a href="https://t.co/sdf0ZcKW6N">pic.twitter.com/sdf0ZcKW6N</a>
&mdash; Shabana Mahmood MP (@ShabanaMahmood) <a href="https://twitter.com/ShabanaMahmood/status/1973824171299012725?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
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In response to claims that the toxic antisemitic atmosphere in Britain was a contributor to the attack, Mahmood <a href="https://x.com/Basil_TGMD/status/1974009919159337118">replied</a>, “The only person responsible for this devastating attack is the attacker himself. He is the one who bears the responsibility for what has happened. &#8220;
 Mahmood was taken to task by critics:
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The Labour rats are running around pretending to care about the Jewish community. 
This attack is on you. <a href="https://t.co/tPhvwS8g7Z">https://t.co/tPhvwS8g7Z</a> <a href="https://t.co/5tPcHdbFOk">pic.twitter.com/5tPcHdbFOk</a>
&mdash; Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) <a href="https://twitter.com/TRobinsonNewEra/status/1973724604851237106?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Don’t you dare come out acting like you give a fuck about the Jewish community <a href="https://twitter.com/UKLabour?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UKLabour</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Keir_Starmer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Keir_Starmer</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ShabanaMahmood?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ShabanaMahmood</a> you chose the side of the jihadists
&mdash; Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) <a href="https://twitter.com/TRobinsonNewEra/status/1973740839605289441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
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You’re full of it. <a href="https://t.co/kXyizfNRgp">pic.twitter.com/kXyizfNRgp</a>
&mdash; Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) <a href="https://twitter.com/LauraLoomer/status/1973890018361160182?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
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No you&#39;re not. You CALLED for this by validating the &quot;Free Palestine&quot; death cult. <a href="https://t.co/qu5c92cutX">pic.twitter.com/qu5c92cutX</a>
&mdash; StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) <a href="https://twitter.com/StopAntisemites/status/1973763631545463219?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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YOU. ARE. THE. PROBLEM. <a href="https://t.co/btGHL11uzA">pic.twitter.com/btGHL11uzA</a>
&mdash; Avi Yemini (@OzraeliAvi) <a href="https://twitter.com/OzraeliAvi/status/1973728747171070015?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
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You&#39;re not &#39;horrified&#39;. 
You incited this. 
You&#39;ve said that &#39;Islamophobia&#39; is the biggest threat to Britain. 
It&#39;s obvious to all rational people that Islam is the biggest threat to Britain.
&mdash; Geoffrey Miller (@primalpoly) <a href="https://twitter.com/primalpoly/status/1973765657742410127?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;
In 2014, Mahmood <a href="https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/watch-birmingham-mp-shabana-mahmood-7643691?utm_source=chatgpt.com">joined</a> a pro-Palestinian demonstration and later uploaded a YouTube video in which she appeared to boast about forcing a store to shut down for selling products from Judea and Samaria. “There’s been a huge response today just here in central Birmingham, incredible to see, and the passion here of all of the people campaigning is incredible to see,” she said.
Just last week, Mahmood <a href="https://x.com/TRobinsonNewEra/status/1972762598253981725">ripped</a> into the &#8220;Unite the Kingdom&#8221; rally held in central London on September 13, declaring, “On the 13th of September, 150,000 people marched through London. They did so under the banner of a convicted criminal and a former BNP member. While not everyone was violent, some were. &#8230; While not everyone chanted racist slogans, some did, clear in their view of this country, I have no place. It would be easy to dismiss this as nothing but an angry minority, heirs to the skinheads and Paki-bashers of old.”
It might be instructive to note Mahmood’s comments on “Paki-bashers,” as many Pakistani men have been involved in the massive numbers of the raping of British young girls. As AP <a href="https://apnews.com/article/britain-grooming-gangs-child-sex-abuse-da6b9f3d9dea41530dfb017c9f3bde62">noted</a> in June:
<blockquote>
In a statement to Parliament, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said a new review of data from three police forces found “clear evidence of over-representation among suspects of Asian and Pakistani heritage men” who prey on often young and vulnerable girls and women. But the review, published Monday, found that ethnicity data was “shied away from” and not recorded for two-thirds of perpetrators in crimes involving ”grooming gangs” — those involving multiple perpetrators coercing, manipulating and deceiving children into sex, the review said.
</blockquote>

BRITAIN-CRIME-RELIGION

‘This Attack Is On You’: Fury At Britain’s Security Boss After Synagogue Bloodshed

Labour Party

Manchester

Synagogue Attack

Holding Hands

Public Health ‘Experts’ Want To Legitimize A Barbaric Practice In The Name Of Multiculturalism

Public Health 'Experts' Want To Legitimize A Barbaric Practice In The Name Of Multiculturalism

Children

Disease

family

Illegal Immigation

Marriage

Matt Walsh

Opinion

Pakistan

Earlier this summer, the House of Commons narrowly endorsed the legalization of physician-assisted suicide. The ensuing debate in the House of Lords, however, was both lopsided and fierce. Two days of impassioned speeches saw the lords oppose the measure by a two-to-one ratio. The surprisingly contested debate over the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in Parliament’s Upper Chamber keeps hope alive. 
The Lords, it seems, are awake to the great menace of assisted suicide, a menace unleashed in Westminster this summer when the House of Commons approved euthanasia after decades of hitherto failed attempts.
 Alas, the Lords are now the last line of defense against assisted suicide, and this cold, hard fact did not seem lost on them.
We all have a stake in their cause and their courage. 
“When a nation adopts assisted suicide, it is as a neat procedure to tidy up some sad, messy cases,” Dan Hitchens recently <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-is-canada-euthanising-the-poor/">wrote</a>. “Later on they discover it is not a procedure but a living thing, a sea-monster devouring the shipwrecked — the disabled, the mentally ill, the guilt-ridden, the poor.”
Such were arguments from the floor of the House of Lords last week.
Baroness Claire Regina Fox tweeted her <a href="https://www.parallelparliament.co.uk/lord/baroness-fox-of-buckley/bill/2024-26/terminallyilladultsendoflife">own speech</a> and said her hands <a href="https://x.com/RightToLifeUK/status/1969004265252311147">were trembling</a> as she spoke: “Our task is formidable because of how many norms the bill will overturn…The bill unsettles century old medical ethics. It rebrands assisting someone to die as a medical treatment.” 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
👀MUST WATCH! In a tour de force, Baroness Fox (<a href="https://twitter.com/Fox_Claire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Fox_Claire</a>) laments “how many norms the Bill will overturn”.
Legalising assisted suicide will overturn our understanding of medical ethics and “shakes the foundations of society’s attitude to suicide”. Peers must not proceed. <a href="https://t.co/NwB7DPJGG3">pic.twitter.com/NwB7DPJGG3</a>
— Right To Life UK (@RightToLifeUK) <a href="https://twitter.com/RightToLifeUK/status/1969004265252311147?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 19, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Credit: @RightToLifeUK/X.com
But she went on to note that the proposal also rebrands our understanding of suicide by giving it state sanction and labeling it “compassionate.” Up to now, we have always tried to restrain the man or woman in despair on the bridge with all our might: “All this reflects our deep humanistic intention that when a person acts to end their life it should be resisted with all the energy we can muster.”
“But what happens,” she asked, “when the state shouts, ‘Jump’?&#8221;
Some, like Baroness Victoria Prentis, spoke from a personal place. She <a href="https://x.com/VictoriaPrentis/status/1966903842848862469">tearfully</a> recalled her parents&#8217; “good deaths” in the peace of palliative care. Baroness Prentis also announced her own cancer diagnosis and her fear of becoming a “burden” to her family, even with all the support and comforts she enjoys. What pressures will all those without such support experience in a world of government-sanctioned assisted suicide?
 “I watched that final debate in the Commons,” she said, “and what struck me was that woman after woman, ethnic minority after ethnic minority, disabled people stood up and said, ‘[T]his bill is not good enough for my vulnerable community.’”
Others spoke from a professional point of view. Baroness Sheila Hollins, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z6AI-PEAxo">for example</a>, cited her 40-year career at the NHS as a general practitioner and psychiatrist. “Hospices should be our pride and joy, we are world leaders in palliative care,” she said. Yet, the “evidence from the association of palliative care shows slows in countries with assisted dying services.”
One lord was so passionate in his opposition to the proposal that he <a href="https://x.com/RightToLifeUK/status/1968744597200232627">delivered his speech from his home</a>, where he was recovering from a serious accident. Lord David Alton labelled the legislation a “bill of death” and said that the practice, while heinous, is “not a new one.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
📺MUST SEE: Much-loved peer <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidAltonHL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DavidAltonHL</a> is unable to speak at Second Reading of the assisted suicide Bill in the House of Lords after sustaining spinal injuries in a bus crash.
Watch the speech he would have given: a passionate plea to reject the Bill &amp; protect the vulnerable. <a href="https://t.co/5LJfb94R3H">pic.twitter.com/5LJfb94R3H</a>
— Right To Life UK (@RightToLifeUK) <a href="https://twitter.com/RightToLifeUK/status/1968744597200232627?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Credit: @RightToLifeUK/X.com
“Euthanasia of the weak was practiced in the ancient world but was rejected as we became more civilized and recognized the equal and inherent worth of every person.” It reemerged in the 20th century with the advent of eugenics. Alton warned of the movement’s “pattern of creeping incrementalism” that threatens to ensnare everyone from infants to anorexics to diabetics.
Sad to say, he&#8217;s right.
We need not resort to dystopian fantasies of what would happen in states where suicide is legally sanctioned for some — or even for all. We need only look to Canada. As reported in <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/09/canada-euthanasia-demand-maid-policy/683562/">The Atlantic</a> last month, it’s now a world leader in euthanasia. Assisted suicide accounts for <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0j1z14p57po">one</a> in 20 Canadian deaths and is available to even more categories of people. In fact, it will be available to the mentally ill beginning in two years, and the Canadian parliament has recommended it for children.
In parts of Europe, the mentally ill and children are already eligible for state-sanctioned assisted suicide. It isn’t just a slippery slope; a death march seems to be sweeping across parts of the West.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=fall40&amp;utm_content=fallsale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial">Get 40% off new DailyWire+ annual memberships with code FALL40 at checkout!</a>
The House of Lords has the power to prevent Parliament from enacting what one of its members called a “legislative embodiment of a suicide influencer.” They’re defending all of us – and especially the most vulnerable – in fighting this battle.
In an earlier battle for the survival of Western civilization, one of Westminster&#8217;s most famous alumni, Winston Churchill, <a href="https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/never-give-in-never-never-never.html">once said</a>, &#8220;Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never — in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.&#8221;
* * *
Ashley McGuire is a senior fellow at The Catholic Association.
Leigh Fitzpatrick Snead is a fellow at The Catholic Association.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Vote On Terminally Ill Adults Bill Is Held In UK Parliament

Canada Lost Over 15,000 Citizens To Assisted Suicide In 2023. Now Britain Wants In On The Action.

Canada Lost Over 15,000 Citizens To Assisted Suicide in 2023. Now Britain Wants In On the Action.

Assisted Suicide

Canada

Euthanasia

Parliament

Over the past few years, free speech in my country has declined significantly. The nation that gave the world George Orwell and John Stuart Mill now faces an existential crisis over liberty. Figures such as Lucy Connolly — <a href="https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/who-lucy-connolly-what-she-said-that-put-her-behind-bars-revealed-1743361">jailed</a> last year for an offensive tweet about illegal immigration — face the heavy hand of the law, while petty crime goes unchecked. Meanwhile, Britain’s Labour Party looks set to implement religious blasphemy laws, which could criminalise criticism or ridicule of religious beliefs or symbols. The situation has become so dire that Parliament member Nigel Farage felt <a href="https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&amp;&amp;p=ca585c1516192a5c1981875b985b08e6a44732385a7c316a16ca6a619e2c5c3cJmltdHM9MTc1NzQ2MjQwMA&amp;ptn=3&amp;ver=2&amp;hsh=4&amp;fclid=3b299e56-e98e-6003-1500-8c90e8bd6195&amp;psq=nigel+farage+goes+to+DC&amp;u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmJjLmNvLnVrL25ld3MvYXJ0aWNsZXMvY2U5cnpuZ2Q5azJv">compelled</a> to travel to Washington, D.C. to testify before Congress on Britain’s crisis of free expression.
Britain&#8217;s free speech crisis has led to <a href="https://fullfact.org/technology/government-learned-lessons-from-southport-riots/">riots</a> and political violence as ordinary citizens no longer feel they have a voice. The right to free speech is fundamental and not one to be tampered with. In the aftermath of the shootings of President Trump and, more recently, Charlie Kirk at a Utah university event, Americans should ask themselves: do they really want to follow Britain’s path and see what their country might look like without the First Amendment?
Just months after Britain’s Supreme Court ruled that transgender women are not legally considered female under the Equality Act, comedy writer Graham Linehan was arrested upon returning from the U.S. over allegedly transphobic posts on X. The writer of one of Britain’s most beloved sitcoms now says he is considering leaving permanently because there is “<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15071827/Graham-Linehan-never-return-Britain-arrest-anti-trans-tweets.html">no freedom of speech</a>” in Britain.
For any country to drive out its comedians because they fear speaking freely is a tragedy. For the birthplace of liberal democracy, it is nothing short of catastrophic.
Britain’s erosion of speech has been decades in the making. In 1986, the state <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/64/contents">passed</a> the Public Order Act, criminalising hate speech inciting violence. In 2003, came the Communications Act, <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/21/contents">banning</a> “grossly offensive” online speech. This year, Britain has <a href="https://www.cityam.com/peter-kyle-defends-uk-free-speech-record-after-us-report-attacks-online-safety-act/">passed</a> the Online Safety Act, handing sweeping powers to a government-approved regulator over “legal but harmful” content. Slowly, my country has chipped away at free speech rights. America cannot afford to follow.
The United States cannot allow itself to politicize free speech in such a divided time. As political discourse is shutting down, especially on college campuses, the government and the American people must be the ones to stand firm to defend liberty. We are all aware of what happens after sensible debate is shut down, and that is actions, replacing words. The assassination of Charlie Kirk now serves as a prime example of the elimination of discord happening in America, and we must all make it our duty to ensure free discussion is indeed kept free. A knee-jerk reaction to being offended is not to hear it; however, to call out for certain speech to be banned only opens the door for the disenfranchised to lash out in the form of political violence.
Today in Britain, the police can investigate you for social media posts that aren’t even as criminal as ‘Non-Crime Hate Incidents’ (NCHIs). Anything that has the potential to offend could come back to harm you and <a href="https://www.slaterheelis.co.uk/articles/crime-category/non-crime-hate-incidents-how-they-can-affect-your-dbs-check/">your record</a> in the future. In practice, you either pretend that ‘<a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/banned-coinbase-ad-portrays-a-dystopian-britain-with-only-crypto-as-an-exit-f203ffda">everything is just fine</a>’, or risk state retribution for speaking your mind.
By comparison, America remains far freer, but even the “Land of the Free” has its faults. Consider flag-burning laws: though the Supreme Court rightly struck them down, many Americans still support restrictions when speech provokes or offends. That is precisely how the anti-speech lobby wins. Rolling back First Amendment rights, whoever the target, should be against every American’s interests. The same logic plays out with protests: the Left seeks bans on anti-immigration rallies as “racist,” while the Right campaigns to shut down pro-Palestine marches as “antisemitic.” But when peaceful protest is curtailed, political violence becomes far more likely.
Government regulation of speech carries disastrous consequences. It impacts institutions, which are fearful that hosting political speakers on campus might face retribution from the state. Ordinary citizens self-censor, silencing urgent debates in the name of “offence.” Once parties, not people, get to define ‘harm,’ the boundaries inevitably expand to serve partisan interests.
To avoid Britain’s fate, America must defend First Amendment rights without compromise. The cancellations of comedians like Dave Chappelle or Joe Rogan, for example, by private platforms should serve as a warning against normalizing censorship. The state must never follow suit. Britain’s ‘legal but harmful’ rules on speech should teach Americans that when regulation begins, free speech is never safe again. And once speech regulation is normalized, there is no going back. The only true safeguard is a culture of open debate, which begins in schools and extends across society.
Few today grasp just how precious freedom of speech is to the world. Silencing criticism, comedy, or art halts progress. Authors like Salman Rushdie and Richard Dawkins have been attacked or shouted down for presenting their arguments. Across Europe, cultural and religious hardliners insist that certain critiques should be banned, and too many journalists and academics are now afraid to speak out. To side with the aggressors is to let them win.
Only by championing freedom of speech and resisting every attempt to curtail it can democracy endure. Complacency breeds decline. If America wants to avoid Britain’s mistakes, it must show strength in the face of every demand to scale back the First Amendment.
* * *
Ted Newson is a Political Commentator with Young Voices UK.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

“Unite The Kingdom” Rally And Counter Rally By Stand Up To Racism Takes Place In Central London

Britain’s Free Speech Collapse Offers A Warning For America

Comedy

Freedom of Speech

Hate Speech

Leftists

Prison

Social Media Censorship

In one of the most obscene juxtapositions in modern diplomatic history, on the very day Hamas terrorists dragged three blindfolded Palestinian men into the street and <a href="https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/politics/terrorist-group-hamas-publicly-executes-three-men-in-gaza-as-prime-minister-anthony-albanese-recognises-palestinian-statehood/news-story/fbb5f6031300cd6260e0df5a74c3d5c9">executed them</a> before a cheering crowd in Gaza, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Australia — joined by Canada and the United Kingdom — formally recognized a Palestinian state, led by the very terrorists pulling the trigger.
On Sunday, Hamas — classified as a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union — brazenly carried out public executions in central Gaza City. The three men, accused of “collaborating with Israel,” were blindfolded, hands tied, and forced to kneel before being kicked to the ground and shot in the head while a mob chanted in support of Hamas’ military wing. The scene was filmed by onlookers and gleefully spread across Hamas-run Telegram channels.
If that weren’t grotesque enough, the killers placed a written threat on the victims’ corpses: “To all mercenaries of the occupation and collaborators – the time has come to cut off your heads.”
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As the blood dried on the pavement, Prime Minister Albanese defended his government’s recognition of a Palestinian state led by Hamas, calling it a step to “end the cycle of violence.” Let that sink in: the same day a Western government rewards a terrorist regime with statehood, that regime celebrates by executing unarmed men in the street like animals — with children watching.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rightly <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/huge-reward-terrorism-netanyahu-lashes-165341367.html">called the move</a> a “huge reward” for terrorism.
This wasn’t an isolated act of savagery. Hamas has a long and bloody record of executing Palestinians — many of them fellow Muslims — on thin accusations of “collaboration.” In 2014, during the Gaza conflict, Hamas <a href="https://www.amnestyusa.org/reports/strangling-necks-abduction-torture-and-summary-killings-of-palestinians-by-hamas-forces-during-the-2014-gazaisrael-conflict/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">tortured and killed </a>at least 23 Palestinians, some in the streets, some dragged from prisons and shot without trial. In 2017, three men were <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20220904-gaza-s-hamas-executes-five-palestinians-including-two-for-collaboration?utm_source=chatgpt.com">publicly executed</a> in front of hundreds for allegedly helping Israel kill a Hamas commander. In 2022, five Palestinians were <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20220904-gaza-s-hamas-executes-five-palestinians-including-two-for-collaboration?utm_source=chatgpt.com">executed</a>, two for “collaboration,” three for “criminal cases” — though what Hamas considers “criminal” often amounts to opposition or dissent.
And yet, Australia, Canada, and the UK have decided now is the time to hand the Palestinian leadership the ultimate political legitimacy — statehood.
This is the same Hamas whose so-called “judicial system” includes military tribunals, secret detentions, and zero due process. Victims are regularly tortured, confessions are coerced, and executions often carried out in secret — unless, of course, they’re being used for public spectacle and fearmongering.
Meanwhile, leftist governments in the West, desperate to virtue-signal their moral superiority and commitment to “peace,” hand international legitimacy to a terrorist cabal that proudly executes its own people without trial and boasts about it online.
Albanese’s defense? He wants a ceasefire. He wants peace.
Hamas doesn’t want peace. It wants power through terror.
And now it has statehood recognition handed to it on a silver platter by Western leaders too blinded by ideology to see blood on their own hands.

Hamas prepares to hand over 6 Israeli captives in Gaza

As Hamas Publicly Executes Palestinians, Leftist Governments Reward Them

Australia

Hamas

Palestinians

After Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his left-wing Labour Party announced the U.K. would recognize a Palestinian state, effectively giving the Palestinians all of the Biblical lands of Judea and Samaria, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch slammed the decision as “absolutely disastrous.”
On Sunday, Starmer <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-statement-on-the-recognition-of-palestine-21-september-2025?utm_source=chatgpt.com">declared</a>, “We are acting to keep alive the possibility of peace and a Two State Solution. &#8230; I set out in July the terms on which we would act –In line with our Manifesto – To recognise Palestinian statehood. That moment has now arrived. So today – To revive the hope of peace and a Two State Solution… I state clearly, as Prime Minister of this great country… That the United Kingdom… Formally recognises the State of Palestine.”
Having ceded the very lands where much of the Bible took place to a people bent on eradicating the Jewish state—responsible for decades of terrorist attacks against Jews, including the barbaric October 7, 2023 massacre—Starmer then had the gall to say, “Not only must we reject hate &#8230; We must redouble our efforts to combat hatred, in all its forms.”
“Disastrous. Absolutely disastrous,” Badenoch responded on X. “We will all rue the day this decision was made. Rewarding terrorism with no conditions whatsoever put in place for Hamas. It leaves hostages languishing in Gaza and does nothing to stop the suffering of innocent people caught in this war.”
“It is because Labour cannot fix the big problems in our society that they focus on discredited student union campaigns to appease the hard left,” she continued. “They cannot fix the NHS, so they push assisted suicide. They cannot create jobs for young people so they give them votes at 16. They cannot sort out immigration but they will recognise Palestine instead. And so on.”
“This is the same man who paid £35bn of reparations to Mauritius along with the surrender of the Chagos islands. Everything we are seeing is a consequence of a Prime Minister has no plan for the country and no judgement. He will spend the next four years delivering the hobby horses of the Labour left to stay in power and leave a HUGE mess for us to clean up,” she concluded.
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Disastrous. Absolutely disastrous. We will all rue the day this decision was made. Rewarding terrorism with no conditions whatsoever put in place for Hamas.
It leaves hostages languishing in Gaza and does nothing to stop the suffering of innocent people caught in this war.
It… <a href="https://t.co/7K0GH3VbQp">https://t.co/7K0GH3VbQp</a>
&mdash; Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) <a href="https://twitter.com/KemiBadenoch/status/1969764775283314795?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa&#8217;ar echoed on X, “Just spoke with the leader of the Conservative Party in the UK <a class="css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1loqt21" dir="ltr" role="link" href="https://x.com/KemiBadenoch">@KemiBadenoch</a>. I emphasized the moral severity and diplomatic error in the British government&#8217;s decision to recognize a &#8216;Palestinian state.&#8217; She expressed, as she had publicly done before, her fierce opposition to the British government&#8217;s decision. I expressed our appreciation for her position. I also said that we know we have more friends in the UK and we know how to distinguish between the English people and the English government. We agreed to remain in contact and I invited her to visit Israel.” 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Just spoke with the leader of the Conservative Party in the UK <a href="https://twitter.com/KemiBadenoch?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KemiBadenoch</a>. I emphasized the moral severity and diplomatic error in the British government&#39;s decision to recognize a &quot;Palestinian state&quot;. She expressed, as she had publicly done before, her fierce opposition to the… <a href="https://t.co/KK3UEtJKsm">pic.twitter.com/KK3UEtJKsm</a>
&mdash; Gideon Sa&#39;ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) <a href="https://twitter.com/gidonsaar/status/1969803617814327685?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The anti-Israel British Labour Party is the same party that was headed by the virulently anti-Israel leader Jeremy Corbyn from 2015 to 2020. Corbyn, who came close to becoming the Prime Minister of Great Britain in 2017, had a <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/document-lists-9-instances-of-anti-semitism-by-corbyn-among-thousands-in-labour/">history of anti-Israel rhetoric</a>. Additionally, he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQLKpY3NdeA">called</a> Hamas and Hezbollah “friends” in 2009. “It will be my pleasure and honor to host an event in parliament where our friends from Hezbollah will be speaking,&#8221; he said, adding, &#8220;I’ve also invited our friends from Hamas to come and speak as well.” In 2009, Corbyn <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/03/revealed-jeremy-corbyn-called-hamas-removed-banned-terror-list/">stated</a> Hamas should be removed from a list of terror groups, telling Al Jazeera on April 16, 2009, “At some point, Hamas should be removed from this list because contacts with Hamas by politicians are increasing day after day.”

MixCollage-22-Sep-2025-09-55-AM-6068

‘Absolutely Disastrous’: British Conservative Leader Rips Starmer Recognizing ‘Palestinian State’

Keir Starmer

Kemi Badenoch

President Trump became the first American president to be hosted at a second state visit to Great Britain this week. The President was greeted with a parade of British soldiers wearing dress red uniforms and marching in perfect unison while ragtag American soldiers popped up from behind rocks and trees and shot at them until they surrendered.
Trump and his wife Melania were given a lavish state dinner at Windsor Castle. Trump told the other guests that he was astounded by the beauty of the castle, and said it was absolutely amazing what you could do with Legos.
The dinner was attended by many British dignitaries including Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who gave a brief toast in which he pledged to continue lowering the British voting age until the electorate was ignorant enough to keep the Labour party in power. 
Also at the Dinner was Education Minister Mohammed Fatwa Fatwa Mohammed Fatwa, the founder of the Fatwa Pre-School for the Grooming of Naughty but Strangely Alluring Little White Girls. The Education Minister presented Trump with a ceremonial scimitar which, luckily, just missed when the president turned his head at the last minute to point at a chart showing just how many Islamists he plans to deport after meeting Mohammed Fatwa Fatwa Mohammed Fatwa.
The dinner was also attended by the mayors of several major British cities, including Mayor Fatwa Mohammed Mohammed Fatwa, the mayor of Birming-al-hambra, and, of course, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan Mohammed Fatwa Fatwa followed by several more Fatwas and Mohammeds.
The dinner began with a grace said by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was then arrested for praying within 300 miles of an abortion clinic. Kemi Badenoch, the leader of Britain’s Conservative Party, called the arrest absurd, saying Britain was a Christian nation, after which she was arrested for violating the blasphemy laws. Keir Starmer explained that the U.K. absolutely has free speech but only as long as you talk silently to yourself and are not within 750 miles of an abortion clinic, where such talk could be mistaken for praying to the God of love and life, which would be offensive to the nation’s terrorists. Fortunately Mohammed Fatwa Fatwa Mohammed Fatwa did not hear Kemi Badenoch’s offensive remark because he was busy on the phone, arranging the sale of some of his pre-school students.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974739 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/d8cec229c8de40eca355910d6e114663-1024x171.webp" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/d8cec229c8de40eca355910d6e114663-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/d8cec229c8de40eca355910d6e114663-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/d8cec229c8de40eca355910d6e114663-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/d8cec229c8de40eca355910d6e114663-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/d8cec229c8de40eca355910d6e114663-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
King Charles III then gave a speech, in which he spoke warmly of the special relationship between the U.S. and the U.K., saying that the two nations shared many values, although he couldn’t name them for fear of being arrested. President Trump then rose and also gave a speech, saying that Great Britain was one of his favorite places in the middle east, even though he’d gotten a much nicer present from Qatar, who gave him a jet, while the British only gave him some cheap oil painting of Winston Churchill, which was then confiscated for spreading imperialist ideas that were offensive to the Muslims who were conquering the country.
The affair ended with Princess Kate and Melania Trump trying to decide who was more glamorous with an arm wrestling match. Princess Kate managed to pin the First Lady, but Melania responded by taking off that gigantic circular hat she wears and spinning it at Kate as if it were Oddjob’s derby in &#8220;Goldfinger.&#8221; Fortunately for relations between the two nations, Kate managed to duck, and the hat sailed past her and beheaded Mohammed Fatwa Fatwa Mohammed Fatwa, who congratulated the First Lady on mastering the essentials of sharia law.
After the dinner, Trump accompanied Prime Minister Starmer on a tour of factories and businesses that Labour has destroyed by their socialist policies. Trump said he was delighted to make the state visit, but said next time he had to come to one of these crap-hole countries, he hoped it would be someplace like Haiti, so at least he could get some sun.
* * *
This excerpt is taken from the opening satirical monologue of “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Andrew Klavan Show</a>.”
Andrew Klavan is the host of “The Andrew Klavan Show” at The Daily Wire. Klavan is the bestselling author of numerous books, including the Cameron Winter Mystery series. The fifth installment, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/After-That-Cameron-Winter-Mysteries/dp/1613166869/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3EGZUC370LG46&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Y_NI0mDOKeowShheDQTVx5NH-fAeimJoCD56_T0Acpl8C0mup7uJf-nGGSRLEItaaekoDnvS2vWLMa4Zd2UBXQ8Y-g-P502jOWz-Y8IX3ZQsdlO7WMLrg1xIhNoKmjCorSWUR4C2l_RbiZ7apJ1MfPzGOrrEf7AdAXX6xwnJRVP_XqUfWuMuVthTWscaU3P4vgmS86-96n-721enHfX12CFQWTajqFbVnrsDkexfUf4.6_gTH6h1Bb9Pn375QdF_VAVZSayDvjQBBKGXE-MTiFo&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=klavan&amp;qid=1754049918&amp;sprefix=%2Caps%2C80&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">After That, The Dark,</a> is now available for Pre-Order. Follow him on X: <a href="https://x.com/andrewklavan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@andrewklavan</a>
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

UK Hosts President Trump And First Lady Melania Trump For State Visit – Day Two

Trump Visits Great Britain, His Favorite Place In The Middle East

Andrew Klavan

England

Humor

King Charles III

President Trump

Satire

Closing arguments were finally <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/27/asia/jimmy-lai-hong-kong-trial-intl-hnk">completed</a> at the end of August in the National Security Law trial of Hong Kong businessman Jimmy Lai. Mr. Lai stands accused of colluding with foreign powers and faces life in prison. In all likelihood, the court will find Jimmy Lai guilty and sentence him to prison. 
While we await the final verdict, the West should make a plan to help free Jimmy Lai.
To say Jimmy Lai has lived a remarkable life is an understatement. Born in mainland China, the now 77-year-old Lai moved to British Hong Kong when he was 12, where he believed he would have a better future. Starting out working in a factory, Lai worked his way up, eventually owning his own factory before starting the world-famous fashion brand, Giordano. As a billionaire with homes in London, Paris, and New York, Lai could have easily rested on his laurels and enjoyed a quiet retirement. However, Lai had a great appreciation for the political and economic system that allowed him to build his wealth.
As a British colony, Hong Kong enjoyed the rule of law and free market economics that allowed it to thrive. However, the handover of the city back to communist China loomed large. In an effort to fight for the values that made Hong Kong great, Jimmy Lai founded the Apple Daily newspaper. Becoming one of the largest pro-democracy newspapers in Hong Kong, Apple Daily and its founder fell in the crosshairs of the communists in mainland China through its pro-liberty content. Lai himself drew attention through his annual commemoration of the Tiananmen Massacre, a huge sore spot for Beijing.
While <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/hong-kong-freedoms-democracy-protests-china-crackdown">promised</a> a degree of autonomy for 50 years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has gradually encroached on the freedoms of Hong Kong, a city of 7.4 million people. The Basic Law, Hong Kong’s constitution, promises freedom of speech and rule of law; the past few decades, however, have seen a gradual erosion of these rights. For example, millions of Hong Kongers took to the streets to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-49340717">protest</a> a proposed law that would allow Hong Kongers to be extradited for trials in mainland China. While this law was retracted, it wasn’t long before something similar was implemented to take its place.
That brings us to the <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/03/what-is-hong-kongs-article-23-law-10-things-you-need-to-know/">National Security Law</a> (NSL), which came into effect in 2020. Essentially, the NSL criminalizes any speech or behavior that the government sees as threatening its authority. For Jimmy Lai and other pro-democracy activists, this put them in danger. As was feared, the NSL has resulted in the arrest of hundreds of people. In a city once famous for its independent courts, the NSL has seen a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/29/china/hong-kong-47-verdict-intl-hnk">conviction rate</a> near 100%.
It was shortly after the implementation of the NSL that Jimmy Lai found himself in legal trouble. In August 2020, Lai was <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/08/10/900758905/prominent-hong-kong-publisher-arrested-under-new-national-security-law">arrested</a> and paraded through Apple Daily’s office, allegedly for colluding with foreign powers. The truth, however, was that Lai objects to the authoritarianism of the CCP and wants to fight to preserve the freedoms that made Hong Kong great.
<div id="attachment_971739" style="width: 876px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-971739" class="size-large wp-image-971739" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1227987205-866x576.jpg" alt="HONG KONG, CHINA - AUGUST 10: A handout photo from Apple Daily showing Hong Kong business tycoon Jimmy Lai led by police officers during a search at the headquarters of Apple Daily after Lai, was arrested at his home on August 10, 2020 in Hong Kong, China. Hong Kong police arrested seven people, including business tycoon Jimmy Lai on Monday on charges of violating the territory's new national security law. Police officers raided the pro-democracy newspapers headquarter while leading Mr. Lai and the company's chief executive, Cheung Kim-hung, through the offices in handcuffs. (Photo by Handout/Getty Images)" width="866" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1227987205-866x576.jpg 866w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1227987205-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1227987205-768x511.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1227987205.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 866px) 100vw, 866px" />Handout/Getty Images</div>
It isn’t just the cause that makes Jimmy Lai a hero: Lai didn’t need to face the risk of arrest. In addition to his various homes around the world, Lai is a British passport holder. He could have fled Hong Kong at any time after the NSL became law. Many Hong Kongers already have. Running, however, is not in Jimmy Lai’s nature. As he <a href="https://www.hoover.org/research/jimmy-lai-and-fight-freedom-hong-kong-1">put it</a>, “I am one of the troublemakers. I cannot cause trouble and then leave.” Lai risked everything by fighting for liberty and again risked it by staying when he could have left.
Even while he waits for a verdict, Lai faces terrible <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewelinaochab/2025/09/04/jimmy-lais-life-at-serious-and-immediate-risk-in-detention/">prison conditions</a>. He is being held in solitary confinement, 23 hours a day. He has significant health problems but is being denied proper care. There is a good possibility that Lai could die in prison simply due to the conditions of his imprisonment, which is why the West must act quickly.
What can be done? For starters, political figures across the West should continue calling for Lai’s release. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/13/china/trump-jimmy-lai-closing-arguments-intl-hnk">President Trump</a> has joined the chorus of <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/the-dissident-beijing-cant-break-jimmy-lai-hong-kong">international voices</a> calling for Lai’s freedom. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer needs to fulfill his country’s obligation to stand up for Hong Kong’s autonomy. Lai is a British passport holder and therefore he is Starmer’s responsibility. In addition to public pressure, Starmer must also pause the construction of a new <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c864w2942vdo">Chinese mega embassy</a> in London. China should not be allowed a larger presence in the British capital while it actively persecutes dissidents.
Western governments can also sanction those involved in the administration of NSL trials. The U.S. has already <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-sanctions-six-individuals-for-undermining-hong-kongs-autonomy">sanctioned</a> several Hong Kong officials, but it can expand them to include senior HK officials such as Chief Executive John Lee, as well as the judges involved in these trials. The “One Country, Two Systems” framework promises Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy, something the NSL interferes with.
Finally, other economic tools can also be applied. Legislatures should consider efforts such as tariffs on Chinese goods as a way to put pressure on Beijing. Restricting the flow of advanced microchips into China would hit the Chinese government where it hurts and impose a cost for its oppression of Hong Kongers like Jimmy Lai.
The Chinese will, of course, counter by saying this is foreign interference in an internal matter. The problem with that argument is that China’s promises to Hong Kong are recorded in a legally binding international treaty, the <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8616/">Sino-British Joint Declaration</a>. Sanctions are an appropriate response to breaking that treaty.
So, why should the West care about what happens to Jimmy Lai? First, what happens in Hong Kong doesn’t necessarily stay there. The Chinese government already has an extensive network set up to threaten dissidents living abroad. The construction of the mega embassy means these efforts will only continue and affect more British citizens. Second, Lai represents a voice for liberty in Hong Kong and China as a whole. If we want freedom to thrive, the world needs people like Jimmy Lai.
The clock is ticking for Jimmy Lai. Any day now, the judges hearing his case could sentence him to life in prison. His health and prison conditions mean his stay behind bars could quickly lead to his death. If the West wants to preserve its own freedom and that of Hong Kong’s, it needs to act to save Jimmy Lai.
* * *
<a href="https://www.joinyv.org/talent/matthew-cookson">Matt Cookson</a> is an alumnus of the Young Voices Contributor Program and was a Middle East History and Policy Fellow with Young Voices. He also works in the supply chain for a U.S. Defense Contractor. His commentary has appeared in the Mises Institute, Real Clear Politics, the National Interest, Providence Magazine, China Source, and the Idaho Freedom Foundation. You can follow him on X @<a href="https://x.com/MattCookson95">MattCookson95</a> and Substack @<a href="https://substack.com/@thewaythecookiecrumbles?utm_source=user-menu">thewaythecookiecrumbles</a>. 
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

China Imposes National Security Law In Hong Kong

The Clock Is Ticking For Jimmy Lai. Time For The West To Act.

China

Democracy

Free Speech

Hong Kong

Jimmy Lai

Graham Linehan Appears In Court Charged With Harassment

A Comedian Was Jailed In The UK For Jokes. Is Britain Now North Korea?

Thank God we fought a revolution in this country so that we are not ruled by the idiotic rules of the modern United Kingdom.
Graham Linehan is a comedian and comedy writer who was just arrested in the UK — for his tweets.
Unfortunately, this is not uncommon in the UK. In mid-August, the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/19/world-news/uk-free-speech-struggle-30-arrests-a-day-censorship/">titled an article</a>, “UK free speech crackdown sees up to 30 people a day arrested for petty offenses such as retweets and cartoons.” The Post wrote:
<blockquote>Bernadette Spofforth lay in jail on a blue gym mattress in a daze, finding it difficult to move, even breathe. “I just closed down. But the other half of my brain went into Jack Reacher mode,” she said, referring to the fictional action hero. “Every single detail was in this very vivid, bright, sharp focus.”
She remembers noticing that you can’t drown yourself in the toilet, because there’s no standing water in it and the flush button is too far to reach if your head were in the bowl. She’d end up being detained for 36 hours in July 2024. Three girls had just been <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/01/20/world-news/uk-teen-pleads-guilty-to-murder-of-three-girls-at-taylor-swift-themed-dance-party/">murdered in Southport</a>, England, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party. But Spofforth was not under suspicion for the crime.
Instead, horrified, and in the fog of a developing tragedy, she’d reposted on X another user’s content blaming newly arrived migrants for the ghastly crime — clarifying in her retweet, “If this is true.” Hours later she realized she may have received bad information and deleted the post — but it had already been seen thousands of times. &#8230;
Her story is one repeated almost hourly in the UK, where data suggests <a href="https://freespeechunion.org/police-make-30-arrests-a-day-for-offensive-online-messages/">over 30 people a day are arrested</a> for speech crimes, about 12,000 a year, under laws written well before the age of social media that make crimes of sending “grossly offensive” messages or sharing content of an “indecent, obscene or menacing character.”</blockquote>
Four police vehicles arrived at her home days later.
Linehan <a href="https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/i-just-got-arrested-again">wrote on</a> Substack:
<blockquote>The moment I stepped off the plane at Heathrow, five armed police officers were waiting. Not one, not two—five. They escorted me to a private area and told me I was under arrest for three tweets. In a country where paedophiles escape sentencing, where knife crime is out of control, where women are assaulted and harassed every time they gather to speak, the state had mobilised five armed officers to arrest a comedy writer for this tweet (and no, I promise you, I am not making this up.)</blockquote>
The tweet read: “If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the ba**s.”
Linehan was arrested for that tweet. He was also arrested for another tweet in which there was a gigantic trans protest in London, of which he tweeted a photo, captioned, “A photo you can smell,” followed by a tweet in which he wrote, “I hate them. Misogynists and homophobes. F*** em.”
“At Heathrow police station, my belt, bag, and devices were confiscated,” he wrote. “Then I was shown into a small green-tiled cell with a bunk, a silver toilet in the corner and a message from Crimestoppers on the ceiling next to a concave mirror that was presumably there to make you reflect on your life choices. &#8230; At one point, I said ‘I bet I know who made this complaint. Lindsay Watson’ (demented ex-copper troon who was fired for his online conduct). Then, lo-and-behold, one of my lawyers sent me this reply to the ‘bollocks’ tweet.”
The reply stated, “That weird ex-copper claims he has reported this to police and is trying to get other troons to do so. Just FYI.”
Welcome to England, the birthplace of the Magna Carta, where they are tearing down the institutions that make a functional society.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2272-the-uk-s-free-speech-crackdown?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=The+Ben+Shapiro+Show&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
It&#8217;s not just that these folks in the UK are interested in tearing away free speech and saying you’re not allowed to tweet a bad thing, that bad tweets might land you in jail: They are importing people from parts of the planet who hate and despise all of the centralizing Western principles, such as free speech.
I write in “Lions And Scavengers” about the coalition of scavengers, about the idea that you have barbarians — the people from outside who hate our civilization — who join forces with the lechers inside our civilization who believe that they are marginalized by our traditional institutions and values, and then they make common cause together. 
That&#8217;s the UK in a nutshell.
It is no coincidence that on Tuesday, the Home Secretary of the UK, Yvette Cooper, said that the UK is going to take in refugees from Gaza. She stated:
<blockquote>I confirm that the Home Office has put in place systems to issue expedited visas with biometric checks conducted prior to arrival for children and their immediate accompanying family members. We have done the same for all the Chevening scholars and are now in the process of doing so for the next group of students from Gaza who have been awarded fully funded scholarships and places at UK universities so that they can start their studies in autumn this year.
Later this year, we will set out plans to establish a permanent framework for refugee students to come and study in the UK so that we can help more talented young people fleeing war and persecution to find a better future, alongside capped and managed ways for refugees to work here in the UK.</blockquote>
Congrats to the people of Great Britain. They don&#8217;t just have to contend with the insanity inside their borders, but out of some sort of misplaced sympathy, they are going to be importing people who almost certainly do not share their values.
There are plenty of other countries on planet Earth that are more akin ideologically and culturally to the people of Gaza, but according to the wonderful folks in the UK, those countries don’t exist.
There&#8217;s been some opposition within Westminster to taking in refugees from Gaza.
Conservative shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick expressed apprehension at the idea of resettling Palestinians in the UK. He wrote in The Telegraph, “The truth is that Gaza&#8217;s Arab neighbors are prepared to offer humanitarian support, but consider the idea of inviting Gazans into the country at any scale a risk only a fool would take.”
Which, of course, is true.
This is a misapplied sense of guilt directed at the Third World by the Labor Party in the UK, a belief that in the oppressor/oppressed matrix, the UK is an oppressor; Israel is an oppressor; the people of Gaza are the oppressed, and therefore the people of the UK must accept people who believe that Western civilization is in and of itself wrong and terrible.
As a side note, we should point out at this point here that Qatar — which is essentially Hamas with nicer suits — owns much of London.
“A cursory look at Property Week shows that the Qatari Investment Authority, Qatari Holding and Qatari Diar own 23,253,699 square feet of London, making Qatar the largest owner of London property. Reports vary about the sum invested, alleged to be £35 billion. Qatar’s square footage is more than HM The Queen’s Crown Estate,” Sunday Guardian Live <a href="https://latest.sundayguardianlive.com/world/10394-qatar-largest-owner-london-property?utm_source=chatgpt.com">reported</a>.
If you ever wonder why Europe is so warm toward importing people who truly hate their civilization, a big part of the reason is this — money.

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