Free speech in the United Kingdom has long been in free fall, with expanding criminalization and regulation of speech. Much of this effort is carried out to combat disinformation or radicalism. The subjectivity of such “Prevent” standards is evident in a new media report that officers are being trained to look for “cultural nationalism,” including those people who are concerned that Western culture is under threat from mass migration. Such concerns are now viewed as indicative of “right-wing terrorist ideology.”
Europe, like the United States, is showing a surge in political support for politicians seeking to limit and reverse mass immigration into their countries. That includes Great Britain.
The material is part of an online training course for British hospitals, schools, universities, and other public institutions that are expected to identify and report extremists to the government.
The training would subject a large number of British citizens to potential investigation as right-wing extremists. In 2023, a government report by William Shawcross concluded “populist conservative voices who have nothing to do with violent extremism” are often identified by investigators even though the overwhelming number of attacks committed in the UK were “Islamist in nature.”
There have also been warnings that by classifying “cultural nationalism” as an indication of extremism, the anti-terror scheme could be used to stifle public debate.
A Home Office spokesman insisted, however, that “Prevent is not about restricting debate or free speech, but about protecting those susceptible to radicalisation.”
That is a rationale already used in the UK to arrest those with dangerous thoughts or viewpoints.
For years, I have been writing about the decline of free speech in the United Kingdom and the steady stream of arrests, including in my book, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.
A man was convicted of sending a tweet while drunk, referring to dead soldiers. Another was arrested for wearing an anti-police t-shirt. Another was arrested for calling the Irish boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend a “leprechaun.” Yet another was arrested for singing “Kung Fu Fighting.” A teenager was arrested for protesting outside of a Scientology center with a sign calling the religion a “cult.”
Nicholas Brock, 52, was convicted of a thought crime in Maidenhead, Berkshire. The neo-Nazi was given a four-year sentence for what the court called his “toxic ideology” based on the contents of the home he shared with his mother in Maidenhead, Berkshire. Judge Peter Lodder QC dismissed free speech or free thought concerns with a truly Orwellian statement:
“I do not sentence you for your political views, but the extremity of those views informs the assessment of dangerousness.”
Lodder lambasted Brock for holding Nazi and other hateful values:
“[i]t is clear that you are a right-wing extremist, your enthusiasm for this repulsive and toxic ideology is demonstrated by the graphic and racist iconography which you have studied and appeared to share with others…”
Recently, the UK effectively resumed blasphemy prosecutions and previously arrested a woman for silently praying to herself near an abortion clinic.
The training captures the potential chilling effect on speech where any publicly stated concerns over immigration and Western Civilization could lead to your being reported to the police. It reflects the cavalier approach to such speech regulations in not just the UK but throughout Europe. However, this European model is being promoted by many in the United States, including some who are calling on the European Union to challenge the United States over the regulation of speech.
The training captures the potential chilling effect on speech where any publicly stated concerns over immigration and Western Civilization could lead to your being reported to the police.
Meanwhile in other news vis a vis 1st Amendment, violence and left wing agitprop, LA is in turmoil, looting is in full swing, rent-a-mob and anarchists are attacking local and Federal law enforcement, LAPD is stating the protestors have increased in numbers and are more violent, and Democrats are practicing double speak like the Brits. Democrats like US Senators Adam Schiff, Amy Klobuchar, Cory Booker and US House Reps from the LA area like Nanette Barragán are calling the situation in LA peaceful protests.
CNN DANA BASH: “What is your message to people who are getting violent?”
BARRAGAN: “It’s, don’t get violent… We agree that, if you’re being violent, you should be arrested, you should be prosecuted. There is no disagreement on that… But this is not what’s happening. We are having an administration that’s targeting peaceful protests, people that are there to protest. The president is sending in the National Guard because he doesn’t like the scenes. He doesn’t like the scenes of people peacefully protesting.”
x.com/CNNSOTU/status/1931729761224515822
Adding fuel to the fire are the lies by news outlets like this clip where a car is in flames but the reporter states the cause of the car fire is unclear
Stunning denialism. These people have broken with reality aka psychosis. Their poll numbers should be in the single digits by Christmas
Exactly why sites like Turley’s and others are so important.
Corporate media lies. The same people who said Biden is sharp as a tack [which end?] Now say rioting isn’t rioting.
As long as you ignore Trump’s pathological lying, everything you say makes sense.
^ Paid DNC troll. Ignore. ^
You must be sharp as a tack.
You mean Biden. Right
https://x.com/Shawn_Farash/status/1931561299395190949
Where were Judge VilardoJudge, Alvin K. Hellerstein, Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., Judge Brian E. Murphy, and the rest of the “Trump Deportation Blockers” when President Dwight David Eisenhower deported Mexicans en masse in 1954 during Operation Wetback?
Was there no “fake” lawfare they could impose back then?
________________________________________________________________
Operation Wetback
In June, command teams of 12 Border Patrol agents, buses, planes, and temporary processing stations began locating, processing, and deporting Mexicans who had illegally entered the United States. A total of 750 immigration and border patrol officers and investigators; 300 jeeps, cars and buses; and seven airplanes were allocated for the operation.[34] Teams were focused on quick processing, as planes were able to coordinate with ground efforts and quickly deport people into Mexico.[35] Those deported were handed off to Mexican officials.[36] While the operation included the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago, its main targets were border areas in Texas and California.[35]
– Wiki
_________
The Eisenhower Administration launched a mass deportation in June of 1954; the government claimed it sent [millions of] people of Mexican decent to Mexico.
– Texas Tribune
“ The SoS found that his presence here is a detriment to US policy interests. PERIOD.”
Also wrong. Khalil can challenge that in court. Just saying he poses a detriment is not enough. He has to articulate exactly how he does. That’s why a court ultimately decides if Khalil challenges the SoS.
Based on what george. Just another opinion.
Khalil will get his day in Immigration Court.
Deporting Khalil will be trivial – he committed crimes, he attempted to extort Columbia University.
He was a leader in the group that illegally occupied campus buildings and he represented those groups in negotiating an end to violence with columbia.
He was NOT a lawyer representing these groups – and even a lawyer can NOT threaten continued or future violence of criminal conduct if their clients do not get what they want – that is called extortion and it is a crime.
John Say, that’s it? That’s your evidence?
You said crimes. What else besides the baseless claim you made about extortion?
You have zero evidence of what was discussed in those negotiations and hearing it from some alleged “reports” is pure hearsay. Your personal assumptions are nowhere near what a court would consider evidence. The government can’t produce evidence but they went ahead and arrested him because they didn’t like what he was saying and that he organized a protest.
The arrest was unlawful thus making any other charges moot. And any attempt to deport moot. Just like Ozturk. They detained her and wanted to deport her because she co-wrote an op-ed criticizing Israeli policies against Palestinians. Tell me that isn’t an attack on free speech.
“John Say, that’s it? That’s your evidence?
You said crimes. What else besides the baseless claim you made about extortion?
You have zero evidence of what was discussed in those negotiations and hearing it from some alleged “reports” is pure hearsay. ”
Columbia’s report is publicly available.
Nor do you know what hearsay is,
or when it is admissible.
“Your personal assumptions are nowhere near what a court would consider evidence. ”
Not assumptions.
The report is publicly available.
Further YOUR left wing nut MSM reported on Khalil’s role in organizing the groups that engaged in criminal protests.
YOUR left wing nut media reported on Khalil representing groups that he was a leader of in negotiations with Columbia.
All of this is WELL DOCUMENTED by YOUR left wing nut media – as well as columbia’s public report on the event.
“The government can’t produce evidence but they went ahead and arrested him because they didn’t like what he was saying and that he organized a protest.”
For the purposes of deportation organizing a protest that became violent is more than enough to get your visa revoked and get you deported.
But that is NOT all that he did.
When you use violence and threats of violence to try to get what you want – that is a CRIME – extortion.
It is the fundimental crime that the social contract and government exist to prevent.
You seem to be under the delusion that DOJ/DHS must prove at a criminal trial that Khalil incited violence or that he participated in occupying buildings or damaging them. And that it must be proven beyond a resonable doubt to deport him.
Khalil is NOT a US citizen, he is NOT at this time being charged with a crime. But he IS being ACCUSED of committing numerous crimes. He is accused of it is a civil deportation setting where the standard of proof is uite low.
Because the worst conseuence of the hearing is that he is returned to syria. That does not violate a single Right of Khalil.
“The arrest was unlawful thus making any other charges moot. And any attempt to deport moot.”
He was not arrested, he was detained. They are not the same thing.
“Just like Ozturk. They detained her and wanted to deport her because she co-wrote an op-ed criticizing Israeli policies against Palestinians.”
And you know that HOW ?
Your speculating that is all.
“Tell me that isn’t an attack on free speech.”
You do not seem to grasp that even if this is about speech, there is still no first amendment issue.
The US can legitimately refuse a VISA to foreigners for myriads of reasons. Including reasons that violate their rights if they were US citizens.
A VISA is not a right. Taking one away is NOT an infringement on your rights.
If Ozturk is being deported solely over her editorial I would prefer that were NOT the case.
But it is NOT a huge issue.
If you are a US citizen – you can not be deported. You have a right to be here.
Even committing crimes will not get you deported.
If you are NOT a US citizen – and you are in the US, you should be on your best behavior.
You were not given the priviledge of being in this country, attending our schools,
so that you can trash the schools, trash the country and advance your persona political causes with respect to the country you came from.
If you are not a US citizen – and you wish to involve yourself in peaceful protests really over pretty much anything. But especially issues like HAMA S terrorism, Then GO HOME to do so.
You were not allowed into this country to transform it.
You were especially not allowed in to violently transform it.
Go fix your own $hithole county.
Georgie, review of SOS’ determinations is limited to a finding (IF CHALLENGED) that only requires that SOS position has “a facially reasonable and bona fide basis,” and/or “is facially legitimate and bona fide” (see. e.g., Matter of Ruiz-Massieu)This has been explained to you multiple times by lawyers on this blog.
“We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.”
– Barack Hussein “Barry ‘I-Have-A-Statue-In-Jakarta’ Soetoro” Obama
To “impose abolition” means to force or establish the ending or doing away with something, especially by authoritative means.
Breaking it down:
Impose: To force or establish something by authority.
Abolition: The act of officially ending or doing away with something, particularly a law, practice, or institution. This can refer to the ending of slavery, the death penalty, or other systems.
Therefore, “impose abolition” implies the forceful or authoritative implementation of a decision to eliminate or cease a particular; practice, law, or system.
e.g.: The “impose abolition of Free Speech practices”
Well, Professor, how does it feel to be considered a “Right-Wing Terrorist” by our closest ally?
In Other News: “British Left Nominates Neville Chamberlain as Model Politician”
Anthony Eden selected Runner-Up for his foreign policy achievements
A jumped-up little nyaff is running the show there now . ..
WTF, OVER!!!
_________________
AI Overview
NO, foreigners cannot become voting citizens in Saudi Arabia.
____________________________________________________________________
AI Overview
NO, foreign nationals cannot become voting citizens in China.
____________________________________________________________________
AI Overview
NO, foreigners cannot become voting citizens in Iran.
___________________________________________________________
AI Overview
YES, foreigners can become voting citizens in Europe and America and seize control of the countries.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thanks a lot, Abe!
Winston Churchill could never have guessed in 1946 that the Iron Curtain he spoke of would in the 21st century surround and engulf the UK. Britons ARE slaves now.
As the British march as sheep or as lemmings, to the call of socialism and the primacy of government over the individual, I can say without any reservation or equivocation that I will not step on soil in Great Britain again. The British have allowed government to conclude that the enemy is “them”. Though I’ve been there many times, I will be satisfied with British food, goods and quaint practices, and not so much for their corrosive, anti-human cant. Orwell and Churchill and the hallmarks of Western Liberty and Freedom are gone. Good bye, Britain. Call me when the tail stops wagging the dog.
They chose to live under a king. They chose even today to fund a royal family, protect it and allow it to live tax free. Is that western culture?
@brian
They really are. So are the Germans, the French, the Scottish, the Australians, the you name it. There is nothing remaining that resembles freedom in Western Europe or its affiliations. Freedom to live and never speak out of turn or against a party line is pretty much the USSR or Mao’s China. I suppose it should be alarming that so many seem to think that’s just peachy, the ideal life.
Know them by their acts.
If the English don’t yet recognize the evil in their government they are no better than average German citizens in the Third Reich or Russians under Stalin. And they will get the same.
I suspect much of the somnolence in the face of grave peril is due to the infiltration of systems of education, both there and here. We are paying ‘educators’ to be the gravediggers of Western Civilization.
@Young
And they don’t, due in large part to the fact that the ‘educators’ are now young enough to have been cut from the same ideological cloth, replete with utter ignorance of where that will lead them when they are wiser than 25 years old. The elders that do know better are either MIA out of cowardice or simply silenced altogether.
Dear Prof Turley,
We must be talking cross-purposes .. . I thought immigration was a defining ‘western cultural’ value?
The USA, at least, was built on immigration, both voluntary and involuntary.
This is the 21st century. No nation is an island, and that includes the United Kingdom.
PM Sir Kier Starmer is polling at 12%, dropping faster than a tooty fruity at a football match. .. President Trump is hanging on to his Big Beautiful BS like it’s gold.
It’s not immigration that will be the downfall of the UK, the U.S. or ‘western culture’.
*it’s off to war we go .. .
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/off-to-war-we-go-starmer-s-strategic-defence-review/ar-AA1Ge98J?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=d4023673b3574095c7415d2dca811508&ei=13
That comment made little sense. George is that you?
I’m still waiting for the day when a liberal can be honest and admit there is an important difference between legal immigration and illegal immigration. Their arguments always fall flat because they fail to make that all-important distinction, even though we remind them of it at every step.
Immigration is a value of this country. We allow 1M legal immigrants into the country each year.
But just because we value immigration does not mean we are reuired to take all of the approx 3/4 of a billion people who have said they would come to the US if they could.
Immigration in the US is NET positive. It is NOT however entirely positive.
There are many losers.
There are far MORE losers with illegal immigration that is arguably NET negative.
WAIT 4 IT : The Muslim population within the UK will overtake the historical demography; so much so, it could easily be Sharia law that rules the countryside.
IN SHORT: Bye, bye Western culture.
The British need to stop resisting Allah and put on the shroud. Minarets at westminster
Our government is based completely on hate, retribution & fear and led by an angry paranoid convicted felon .
A drunk TV pundit runs the military.
An avowed white supremacist sends wannabe commandos to arrest dishwashers.
We vote with N. Korea & Russia at the UN.
Welcome to Amerika.
If it’s so horrible, why are you still here? One nice thing about America is that we don’t require you to stay here.
You can foresee that Belligerents in the UK will soon join up with the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) as this keeps up.
Wherein Catholics and Protestants will join to form a union against he foreign influences (Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Islam).
Censorship is not a cure-all, it just drives the sentiment underground (Dangerous and Good – Thoughts ). Keeping the peace will be hard to do with Judical conscript.
Belligerents:
1. : inclined to or exhibiting assertiveness, hostility, or combativeness. 2. : waging war. specifically : belonging to or recognized as a state at war and protected by and subject to the laws of war.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/belligerent
We’ll see what becomes of this soon enough. Civil War or Harmony?
It is neither virtue nor constitutional adherence that ostensibly promotes free speech while at the same time censors perceived “toxic ideology.”
It is fear.
So we snuff out and punish the little pyro-sparks- the little twits that we can handle, -like Nicholas Brock in his mother’s home, or the woman silently praying.
All the while we adamantly protect the speech rights of, (and accommodate, placate, appease) those who would do us REAL harm, -who are en masse capable of riotous violence, burning down, vandalizing, stealing, destroying our buildings, roads, -and each other. As smart as the human species is, it does manifest itself in inspired, copy-catted behaviors when they are deemed successful in getting what they wanted.
If I were king (queen just doesn’t sound as powerful!), I would have several helicopters drop a YUGE net over those protesters in Los Angeles and elsewhere who are dangerously interfering with ICE and vandalizing property, and lift and haul them off to one LARGE holding area for sorting/processing and prosecution.
The more we mute and muddle the clear words of the First Amendment, “…the right of the people PEACEABLY to assemble, and to PETITION the Government for a redress of grievances,” -the more we allow FEAR to control our responses.
They’re called Canon nets. Used with wild animal capture.
Evidently, His Majesty King Trump is working on the unruly malcontents in LA as we speak. .. although I expect his mandate to the throne is a lot thinner than he imagines (he’s already pissed off the Court Jester Musk).
The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1385, original at 20 Stat. 152) signed on June 18, 1878, by President Rutherford B. Hayes that limits the powers of the federal government in the use of federal military personnel to enforce domestic policies within the United States.
*what could go wrong .. . ‘habeas corpus is the constitutional right of the president to deport illegal aliens’ ~ Sec. of DHS Kristi Noam
You need to educate yourself on when the PCA is and is not prohibitive. Here, I’ll help you, bro. (Hint: Hegseth already stated from the start that the role would be only supportive and not duplicative of law enforcement functions)
https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/IF/PDF/IF11768/IF11768.1.pdf
Break the law…. be sorry
Trump and his close supporters are afraid of being overtaken by ethnic groups that are not like them. The great replacement theory seems to have taken hold on the administration. Stephen Miller is a big fan of the theory. Since he is pushing hard for arresting any immigrants around raids because they are not arresting 3,000 a day.
“. . . lift and haul them off to . . .”
Dump them in the Pacific. Near a herd of sea lions.
They want to behave like a wild animal, let them try to survive as one.
Amen, my man.
TY.
It is almost looking like European countries are more of a threat to America than the traditional adversaries of Russia & China.
The latter don’t presume to tell us what to do in our own country, whereas the Europeans fine our companies and try curtail our citizens speech.
@Anonymous
Almost? I think we are past, ‘almost’, in 2025. Modern Britain might as well be Russia or China.
JT, thank you for your insights. A car is set on fire in LA over ICE deporting people, JD vance calls that an insurrection, The President invokes a law last used in 1965, and you want to talk about the UK.
JT, the Chicken sh-t of former smart people.
@Anonymous
You are an idiot, and thank the gods for your paycheck, because nobody else cares.
Still looking for an example of the ‘diversity benefit.’ 1000s of years and still no evidence.
Right, mankind has proved once again in its evolving sociology its still instinct and not cerebral.
How Far Britain has fallen.
It is self evident that this nonsense being pushed is NOT an effort to improve order, reduce violence, or protect the vulnerable.
It is an effort to silence those the british left disagrees with.
Fortunately it does not work.
How is that different than what we do? We do the same thing when it comes to university students.
We stiffle student speech under the pretext of “civility rules” and “order.”
Ozturk was arrested for co-writing an op-ed critical of Israel. Trump threatens law firms and universities because they express dissent. Its an effort to silence the left because they have a different point of view.
George, the US is preparing for war. It’ll be full blown within 5 years. Gbye George.
@Anonymous
No, the U.S. is preparing to watch all of these sad countries fail in their own idiocy while insulating itself against it. If they insist on setting themselves on fire, we will let them, and watch them burn. Hopefully something sensible can be procured from the ashes.
No Georgie. We, like many other nations have laws YOU must follow if you are not part of that nation.
I’m guess you have never traveled.