Tag: united kingdom

UK Ambassador to US Peter Mandelson Fired over Jeffrey Epstein Ties Amid Emerging Emails

Prime Minister Keir Starmer requested Mandelson’s withdrawal, citing newly uncovered communications that showed Mandelson describing Epstein as “my best pal” and expressing support for Epstein even after his 2008 conviction. The emails reveal Mandelson encouraged Epstein to challenge the conviction and offered steadfast support despite the severity of Epstein’s crimes.

Mandelson, a senior Labour Party politician and former European Commissioner for Trade, expressed regret over his association with Epstein, calling the financier a “charismatic criminal liar” and showing sympathy toward Epstein’s victims.

The Foreign Ministry stated the revelation of Mandelson’s emails constituted new information that materially changed the understanding of his relationship with Epstein at the time of his appointment. Mandelson was immediately withdrawn from his ambassadorial post.

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US Cancer Patient Calls UK Police Visit a “Bullying Tactic” to Force Self-Censorship

A US citizen undergoing cancer treatment in Britain says she was left feeling like a criminal after being confronted at her home by police over a social media post.

Deborah Anderson, who has lived in the UK for years and is a member of the Free Speech Union, believes the encounter was not about enforcing the law but about silencing dissent through intimidation.

As we reported, Anderson was visited by Thames Valley Police after someone filed a complaint about a Facebook post they found offensive.

The officer who turned up at her door, she said, made it clear the incident wasn’t criminal and no arrest would be made. Yet, she was encouraged to apologize for the post, despite the fact that even the officer couldn’t recall what the alleged offense was when questioned months later.

“I’ve never been arrested in my life. I live a very quiet life,” Anderson said, in an interview with Harry Cole. “I think it’s a bullying tactic to just get us to go, oh, gee, I’m an old woman. I’m no harm to anybody.”

The incident comes during an uptick in so-called “offense policing” in the UK, where complaints over online expression have increasingly led to home visits from law enforcement.

One high-profile case involved the arrest of writer Graham Linehan at Heathrow Airport after he expressed views on transgender issues online.

Anderson’s account points to deeper concerns about vague and selectively enforced speech standards.

The officer, she said, arrived unannounced early one morning and spoke to her about “malicious communication.” Initially thinking it was a delivery, she was shocked to be confronted by police over something she posted online, though no one would later be able to tell her exactly what the complaint was about.

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Starmer’s Chief of Staff and £700k ‘admin error’: Bombshell leaked email shows top Labour lawyer advised PM’s aide Morgan McSweeney to describe £700,000 in ‘hidden’ donations as a ‘mistake’

A top Labour lawyer advised Keir Starmer‘s chief of staff to describe £740,000 in ‘hidden’ donations as an ‘admin error’, a leaked email reveals.

The crisis engulfing Morgan McSweeney deepened after the bombshell email shed new light on a notorious episode in which his think-tank was fined in 2021 for 20 breaches of electoral law involving undeclared donations.

The email from the lawyer advised Mr McSweeney to drop his unsubstantiated claim that he had been told donations totalling £739,492 to Labour Together did not have to be declared. It warned him that unless he could back up the claim with evidence, it risked antagonising the Electoral Commission, which was investigating the scandal.

It told him instead to try to pass the episode off as a simple ‘admin error’.

The email, seen by the Daily Mail, was published in full on Tuesday night by the Conservatives, who stepped up calls for the police to investigate the affair.

Tory Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: ‘The evidence is clear – Morgan McSweeney has been caught red-handed hiding hundreds of thousands of pounds which helped install Keir Starmer as Labour leader.

‘This latest scandal at the very heart of government is incredibly serious – and potentially criminal – yet Keir Starmer has expressed his full confidence in his chief of staff, once again demonstrating his poor judgment and raising serious questions about his integrity and honesty.

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Katie Hopkins Interviewed “Under Caution” By UK Police After Comedy Night for ‘Online Communications, Crime of Speech’

Conservative U.K. media personality Katie Hopkins has been interviewed by British police and may face prison for ‘thought crimes’ following an online comedy night.

According to reports, Devon and Cornwall Police conducted a voluntary interview ‘under caution’ with Hopkins in August at Exeter Police Station. The interview was initiated following comments during her Instagram live show, ‘Katie’s Arms.’

To date, no official charges have been filed.

Media Commentator Steve Miller shared on X, “BREAKING: Katie Hopkins arrested and may face prison. Katie Hopkins has been interviewed under caution in relation to her Live Broadcast of ‘Katie’s Arms’. She explains she was arrested for ‘online communications, crime of speech’ and is ‘waiting to be charged’.”

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UK Police Show Up at Cancer Patient’s Door Demanding an Apology For Social Media Post

Just when you thought British speech policing had reached the bottom of the absurdity barrel, they bring a jackhammer.

In June, Thames Valley Police managed to dispatch one of their elite to investigate a grave national threat: an American cancer patient who may have written something a bit spicy on social media.

Yes. That’s not a joke. That is, in fact, the plot of a low-budget dystopian sitcom that the real world seems hell-bent on adapting in full.

Deborah Anderson, a mother of two, a member of the Free Speech Union, a cancer patient, and, as she put it herself, “an elderly woman,” was enjoying the blissful serenity of not being in prison when a Thames Valley Police officer showed up at her front door.

Why? Because “something that we believe you’ve written on Facebook has upset someone.”

Let’s pause here.

We are no longer talking about crime. We are no longer talking about justice. We are now fully submerged in the soggy underworld of “upset someone.”

This is what policing has become in Britain; knocking on doors to gently scold the sick and the elderly because someone got their feelings hurt.

“I’m a member of the Free Speech Union, and I’m an American citizen. I’ll have Elon Musk on you so quick your feet won’t touch,” Anderson told the officer, who probably realized at that exact moment that his day’s mission had veered into Monty Python territory.

The officer, in all his taxpayer-funded wisdom, suggested that Deborah Anderson could simply apologize and make the whole thing go away, as if groveling before the offended masses had suddenly become a formal step in police procedure.

It was less “serve and protect” and more “say sorry and maybe we won’t waste more of your time.”

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Now British ‘thought police’ order Trump-supporting pensioner to apologise for ‘upsetting’ Facebook post or face investigation

British police have been accused of a ‘dystopian’ attack on free speech after an American woman was threatened with investigation – over her posts online. 

Footage of the encounter has been seen more 1.3million times since it was posted last night and has sparked a furious response from campaigners. 

It shows a woman, named as American cancer patient and Donald Trump supporter Deborah Anderson, being confronted in her home in Slough, Berkshire, by Thames Valley Police.

The MAGA-backing mother-of-two was accused of ‘upsetting’ a person following an alleged ‘threatening’ post she made on Facebook, which was reported to police. 

The officer declined to say which of the alleged posts had been complained about.   

In the video, ‘elderly’ Ms Anderson then flatly refuses to apologise for her comments online before she is threatened with the potential of a formal interview at a police station. 

The incident, filmed in June, prompted an intervention by the Free Speech Union (FSU), who last night claimed Thames Valley Police had since dropped the case. The force today confirmed no further action was taken over the allegations.

It comes as Britain faces fierce criticism over a recent clampdown on free speech, which has seen people being arrested, convicted or jailed over posts made online. 

The issue has prompted concern from US President Donald Trump – who is in the UK on his state visit – and warned earlier this month ‘strange things are happening over there, they are cracking down… I’m very surprised to see what’s happening’.

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UK, US Sign $42 Billion Tech Deal To Boost AI Partnership

The United Kingdom and the United States struck a technology pact on Sept. 16 that would bring $42 billion in investments from U.S. tech giants into the UK’s AI infrastructure.

The deal was reached as President Donald Trump arrived in the UK for a two-day state visit, during which he is expected to meet King Charles and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Under the “Tech Prosperity Deal,” the two nations agreed to cooperate in advancing AI, quantum computing, and nuclear technology, according to a statement issued by the UK government.

Major U.S. tech companies—Microsoft, Nvidia, Google, OpenAI, and CoreWeave—will invest in the UK’s AI infrastructure, including data centers and computer chips, as part of the agreement.

The deal is expected to generate more than 5,000 jobs in the northeast of England, which the UK government said will become a new AI growth zone.

The two countries will collaborate on research schemes to further the use of AI to allow for “targeted treatments and other shared priorities like fusion energy,” according to the statement.

This could lead to “life-changing breakthroughs like developing targeted treatments for those suffering with cancer or rare and chronic diseases,” the UK government said.

“This Tech Prosperity Deal marks a generational step change in our relationship with the U.S., shaping the futures of millions of people on both sides of the Atlantic, and delivering growth, security and opportunity up and down the country,” Starmer said.

The deal includes a $30 billion investment from Microsoft over four years, its largest commitment in the UK.

The company stated in a blog post that the funding will help develop the country’s “largest supercomputer,” which will be equipped with more than 23,000 advanced AI chips.

Under the U.S.–UK tech pact, Nvidia will partner with UK companies to deploy 120,000 advanced GPU chips across the country, marking its largest rollout in Europe to date, according to the statement.

“Today marks a historic chapter in U.S. – United Kingdom technology collaboration,” Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang said.

OpenAI said it will team up with British company Nscale and Nvidia to launch a Stargate UK project to boost the UK’s sovereign computing capabilities, as part of the tech pact.

The UK and the United States signed a trade agreement in June on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada. The deal still left UK steel and aluminum subject to 25 percent tariffs, rates that the UK government is working to reduce.

Speaking to reporters before departing for the UK on Sept. 16, Trump indicated that he was willing to further negotiate trade with the UK government.

“They want to see if they can refine the trade deal a little bit. We made a deal, and it’s a great deal. And I’m into helping them,” the president told reporters.

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BBC Media Action: Britain’s overseas info warfare unit

Leaked documents reveal how a shadowy BBC unit is “embedding” staff in foreign media outlets to “contest the information space” and generate “behaviour change” in favor of London’s geopolitical objectives.

Though BBC Media Action (BBCMA) portrays itself as the “international charity” of the British state broadcaster, files show the group frequently carries out politically-charged projects overseas with government funding. Furthermore, the group consistently trades upon the BBC’s reputation and its intimate “links” with the British state broadcaster when pitching for contracts with donors, including the Foreign Office, which operates in tandem with MI6.

The leaks reveal that BBCMA’s work is explicitly “driven by a social and behaviour change communication approach.” The organization’s “project design” is informed by “psychology, social psychology, sociology, education and communication,” and consideration of “the specific factors that can be influenced by media and communication that could lead to changes in behaviours, social norms and systems” in foreign countries. Which is to say, BBCMA is concerned with psychological warfare, warping perceptions and driving action among target audiences.

“We recognise that different formats achieve different things when it comes to change… and consider audience needs, objectives and operational context when deciding which format to use,” BBCMA asserts in one file. In another, the organization crows, “people exposed to our programming are more likely to: have higher levels of knowledge on governance issues; to discuss politics more; to have higher internal efficacy (the feeling that they are able to do something); and participate frequently in politics.”

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Britain Bans Israelis From Prestigious Military Academy

Israelis have been barred from one of Britain’s top defence academies because of the war in Gaza. The Telegraph has the story.

The Royal College of Defence Studies will not accept students from Israel from next year, the Government confirmed.

Amir Baram, the Director General of Israel’s Defence ministry, who studied at the college, said the decision was “a profoundly dishonourable act of disloyalty to an ally at war”.

In a letter to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), shared with the Telegraph, he called it a “discriminatory act” that amounted to a “disgraceful break with Britain’s proud tradition of tolerance – and plain decency”.

It is the first time that the college has excluded Israelis.

Maj Gen Baram said the decision came at a time when Israel was “defending international shipping from Houthi aggression, preventing nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of an Islamist regime that chants ‘Death to England’, and fighting to bring home 48 hostages from Hamas captivity”. …

An MoD spokesman said British military educational courses had long been open to personnel from a “wide range of countries, with all UK military courses emphasising compliance with international humanitarian law”.

He added: “However, the Israeli Government’s decision to further escalate its military operation in Gaza is wrong.” …

The Israeli Ministry of Defence said that the ban was on all Israeli citizens enrolling, not just soldiers. …

The exclusion of Israelis from the college is the latest in a string of punitive actions against Israel taken by Downing Street.

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Protest as 200-year-old oak trees face chop to save house built in 1980s… with villagers accusing insurance giant of ‘eco-terrorism’

Planted in George III’s reign, the three oaks have stood side by side for more than two centuries.

But now two of the trio – known as the Billingshurst Sisters – could be felled over claims they have damaged a nearby house built in the 1980s.

Insurance giant AXA said their roots have caused cracks and subsidence in the home in the West Sussex village and that the 90ft-high trees must be axed.

The firm has overturned a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) and has sought permission to chop them down from the landowner, Billingshurst Parish Council.

However, furious villagers branded the move ‘eco-terrorism’ and urged the council to oppose the application. Their fate will be decided at a meeting tomorrow.

Campaigners accuse AXA of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut – and failing to properly investigate the subsidence.

They say that shallow foundations or other factors may instead be to blame. More than 2,500 villagers have now signed a petition to save the oaks.

Gabi Barrett, who launched the petition, said the trees are ‘vital to the community’s ecosystem’.

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