Dame Sara Khan DBE

Man arrested after 'axe carried into mosque' in Manchester Manchester Central Mosque said the

The current scale of attacks on mosques & Muslim institutions in the UK is unprecedented. This is not just an attack on Muslims, it is an attack on freedom of religion & our democratic values

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

How rightwing rhetoric has risen sharply in the UK parliament – an exclusive visual analysis In the past five years, MPs’ attitudes in the House of Commons towards immigration have swung harder to the right than at almost any other time in the last century

The Guardian/UCL have conducted an in-depth study of all of the immigration debates in parliament over a century. It shows sentiment more mixed, more negative today than in the past. (Though also that parliamentary sentiment historically is more pro than con)
www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...

How to stop a dictator I spent months studying how authoritarians like Trump lose. The answer is shockingly simple.

I have spent the past several months studying the cutting-edge research on modern democracies that have defeated authoritarian leaders.

I've learned that the conventional wisdom on the topic is wrong — in ways that have clear implications for the US going forward

THREAD www.vox.com/politics/479...

YouTube video by LBC 'A Christian nation is an inclusive nation'

When politicians & folk like Tommy Robinson talk about how UK is a 'Christian country' they often do so in opposition & hatred to a group eg Muslims/Islam. It's from a place of othering & weaponisation in contrast to actual Christian leadership who talk about an inclusive & loving Christianity.

Cartoon by Mike Luckovich.

I said come back to me when you actually know about my work rather than relying on others. You once again demonstrate a lack of fact & reality. You focus on your work & contribution to society & I will focus on mine. You to your way, me to mine & let's leave it to God to judge! Kind regards

Come back to me Ali when you are better informed about my work. I'm afraid what you've stated here is inaccurate and actually laughable. Kind regards

Sadly the Red-Green alliance has been alive and well for decades in the UK. I wrote about this in my book 10 years ago. 5 Pillars is an Islamist website who engage in antisemitism, attack Muslims countering extremism while hypocritically platforming neo-Nazis and anti-Muslim extremists. Peverse.

Robert Jenrick: Equality must be the 'guiding principle' Sky's Alexandra Rogers asks Reform UK's Treasury spokesperson Robert Jenrick if he could guarantee no one would lose their job because of their sex, ethnicity or disability under the party's plans to ...

Jenrick claims the Public Sector Equality Duty is used by GCHQ to discriminate against white working class boys. I could be wrong but there is no legal evidence that PSED has been used against white working class boys or to block employment at GCHQ. Can Jenrick share his evidence for such a claim?

As Matthew notes @thenewworldmag.bsky.social moral cowardice in defending these values is all too obvious. I officially reviewed the case of the RS Batley Grammar School teacher & the moral cowardice in that case was peverse. That culture I don't think has changed despite other egregious examples.

The case for a new Britishness The social contract must be revitalised or populists will replace it with something much worse. That means citizenship should involve allegiance to a shared way of life

'In 1968 Enoch Powell was sacked from shadow cabinet...today he would be touring podcast studios in UK & America raising money for a new party.' Depressingly true.
In a diverse society there have to be non-negotiable democratic norms citizens abide by & the state MUST defend & protect.

Disappointed w BBC for that Mandelson interview. A slap in the face to Epstein victims. He was part of the system of male power which enabled & dismissed abuse. The media went after Mandelson correctly in my view. Now the media is aiding his swift rehabilitation & PR. 1/2

Experience: I’m Britain’s best gravedigger People say my job must make me morbid, but I think the opposite is true, I truly appreciate life

What a wonderful and caring human being Jonny Yaxley is.

Monthly Twitter UK users since Musk 2022
May22: 26.8m
May23: 24.3m (-2.5m)
May24: 22.1m (-2.2m)
May25: 18.9m (-3.2m)
Loss of 8 million (30%) in 3 years

Daily users on Twiiter after Musk
2022:10.3 m
23: 9.5 (-0.8m)
24: 8.6 (-0.9m)
25: 6.9 (-1.7m)
Loss 3.4 million in 3 years (33%)
Ipsos/ Ofcom

Interesting how socio-economic issues are simply not a high concern for Reform voters.

Stripping citizenship with such ease tears at the moral f... The clamour to revoke Abd el-Fattah's British identity over past repugnant tweets poses profound questions about state power and individual rights

“Many who argue for revocation claim that it is necessary to preserve the integrity of citizenship. In fact... to allow the state to annul citizenship so easily is to take its meaning insufficiently seriously.“ My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...

Leading UK far-right activist spoke at Russian extreme nationalist event Exclusive: Patriotic Alternative’s Mark Collett addressed forum along with ideologue described as ‘Putin’s brain’

For years I've called for the proscription of Patriotic Alternative not under existing terrorisn proscription orders but with a new set of hateful extremism proscription orders. For years successive UK governments have instead allowed such dangerous groups to continue operating with impunity.

If Ofcom as regulator is allegedly reluctant to intervene over politically difficult issues of impartiality, then frankly who will? Ofcom as an independent body is there to provide checks & balances. Our institutions must reaffirm their commitment to this especially during these polarised times.

There are legal limitations/principles about freedom of expression. But that doesn't mean those shouting the loudest about these cases have a principled or consistent approach about free speech.That's the real issue.Ideologues using free speech as a culture war & weaponising it for political reasons

I (think?) we agree on the main issue that I originally raised - the call for his citizenship to be removed is extreme.

This is separate but related discussion about citizenship status of not only duel citizens but British citizens like myself who has no other citizenship could find myself stripped of my citizenship in a way Lucy Connelly couldn't.This in itself is inherently discriminatory, can be abused, weaponised

Whether angry or not, he apologised. Unequivocally.

Tbf he unequivocally apologised for the historic tweets, tweets I could never support. My issue is the extreme call for citizenship removal & the hypocritical approach to cancel culture & historical tweets from the same people who claim Lucy Connelly was a 'political martyr.' Did she ever apologise?

It is right el-Fattah apologised for those extreme tweets but to negate all his other pro-democracy activity is peverse. The UK populist right demanding he should lose his British citizenship is ironically peak cancel culture & extreme, the very thing they always complain about.

Very pleased to hear this. The attempt to censure those who counter hate, extremism & disinformation is dangerous & threatens us, our children, our freedoms & democracy. Following the US' Nat Sec Strategy,it's clear European countries are on a collision course with the US. This is a battle of values

Statement of the EU Commission. Full text in the link

EU Commission response to US sanctions imposed upon advocates of regulating social media ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

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This is a serious escalation of the supposed war against “censorship”: in the name of free speech, five people are now having their visas revoked and are facing deportation.

This is a narrative Bari Weiss’s Free Press was heavily involved in pushing, too.

Comedian's 'antisemitism' case thrown out as prosecution labelled 'abusive'

A summons against Reginald D Hunter by the Campaign Against Antisemitism has been quashed after a judge ruled the 'abusive' private prosecution was intended to get the comedian 'cancelled'

At the dark end of a brutal year, I’m grateful to these heroes for showing us the light | Jonathan Freedland From Palestinians standing up to Hamas to the Bondi beach rescuers, great acts of courage offer hope even in the bleakest times, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland

In the gloom, there are points of light - and what connects them is courage. Last column of 2025 offers some reasons to be hopeful www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...