Rob Groves: The MAGA Plot to Divide Britain & Europe

June 13, 2026 | The Vice President of the United States, Elon Musk and Marco Rubio's State Department have all decided that British policing, British crime and British grief are their business.

In this video, I look at how the murder of Henry Nowak in Southampton and a knife attack in Belfast have been seized on by MAGA's biggest names and amplified here at home by Nigel Farage and his even nastier rival Rupert Lowe — to import America's culture war straight onto Britain's streets.



Hillary Clinton would probably refer to these awful people as a “basket of deplorables”! And that is exactly what people like Farage and Rupert Lowe are: deplorable. That goes for those heartless and cruel swine across the Pond, too. — © Mark Alexander

Democracy Now! Hasan Piker on Being Banned from UK, Travelling to Cuba & Supporting Candidates Critical of Israel

Jun 5, 2026 | The British government earlier this week barred left-wing political commentators Hasan Piker and Cenk Uygur from entering the UK ahead of several speaking events. The Home Office said it was cancelling their travel permits because "their presence in the U.K. may not be conducive to the public good."

Piker and Uygur, who are related, are both outspoken in their criticism of Israel. While the government did not cite a specific reason for the ban, some lawmakers and pro-Israel groups had accused the two of promoting antisemitism, which they reject.

"I find what the British government did here to be objectionable. I find it to be disgusting. I also find it to be terrifying," Piker tells Democracy Now!_"I think it's a sign that we're … headed down a very different — dare I say, fascist — direction in the Western world."


Democracy Now! can be supported here.

This Week: Homosexuals (1964) – An Extract

This episode of acclaimed current affairs series This Week was the first British non-fiction programme about homosexuality, following reports on other ‘taboo’ subjects, such as abortion, suicide, and drug addiction.

This edition focuses on the problems encountered by gay men in British society, making comparisons with Holland, where homosexuality was not illegal and gay men could live freely without fear of arrest and imprisonment.

Bryan Magee, the presenter of This Week, interviewed over 200 gay men, getting in contact with many through the Albany Trust, before he chose several to take part in the programme.

The gay men were brave in facing the camera, although they remain anonymous, enabling them to talk frankly and honestly about their experiences and sexual matters.

Many of the interviews found their way into Magee’s book One in Twenty (1966). It was translated into eight languages and continued to sell well into the 1970s.

This ground-breaking programme undoubtedly contributed to the campaign to change the law and decriminalise homosexuality, which finally happened in 1967.

Hottest UK May Day Record Broken Again as Temperature Hits 35C in London | BBC News

May 26, 2026 | The record for the hottest May temperature in the UK has been broken for the second day in a row, with 35C recorded at Heathrow and Kew Gardens in London.

On Monday, 34.8C was recorded in Kew Gardens - beating the previous May record of 32.8C, which was set in 1922 and 1944. Much of England and Wales are now in an official heatwave, with amber heat health alerts across large parts of England.

UK Pitched Single Market for Goods with EU in Pursuit of Deeper Trade Ties

THE GUARDIAN: Exclusive: Top British official presented idea in Brussels but sources say it was rebuffed

This screenshot has been taken from this Guardian article. | UK government sources denied the EU had definitively rejected a single market for goods. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA
The UK government pitched the creation of a single market for goods with the EU as the cornerstone of an ambitious attempt to reintegrate British trade back into Europe, the Guardian can reveal.

During recent visits to Brussels, the Cabinet Office’s top official on EU relations, Michael Ellam, presented the idea to deepen the UK’s economic relationship with the bloc.

But in a sign of the challenge Keir Starmer’s government faces in securing growth through a closer relationship with Europe, sources told the Guardian that EU officials rejected the idea – and instead suggested a customs union or economic alignment through the European Economic Area.

Those ideas are impossible under Starmer’s red lines. He said in 2024 the UK would not rejoin the EU, the single market or customs union in his lifetime. The EEA – a single market of 30 mostly EU countries – would also mean accepting free movement of people, another Labour red line.

UK government sources however, denied that the EU had definitively rejected a single market for goods and said it was among a range of options being discussed before a summit tentatively pencilled in for 13 July. » | Jennifer Rankin in Brussels and Rowena Mason | Friday, May 22, 2026

You Can't 'Put Britain at the Heart of Europe' After Brexit

Michael Lambert explains why.
Our politicians are clueless. Hardline Brexiteers are too. — © Mark Alexander

The U.K. Banned Tobacco Products for Anyone Born after 2008. Here’s What Could Go Wrong.

MS NOW — OPINION: From black markets to an erosion of civil liberties, history shows how prohibition tends to go sideways.

In 1604, King James I of England wrote one of history’s most fervent anti-smoking tracts in response to the rising popularity of tobacco imported from the New World. Smoking, he concluded, was a “custome lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose, harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs, and in the blacke stinking fume thereof, neerest resembling the horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that is bottomelesse.” [sic]

King James would have loved the new law set to be approved by King Charles III establishing a new generation in the United Kingdom that will be forbidden from purchasing tobacco for their entire lives. Specifically, the law makes it an offense to sell cigarettes, cigars, pipe or chewing tobacco, as well as various other forms of tobacco leaf, to anyone born after Jan. 1, 2009. This, its proponents say, will eventually lead to a smoke-free society, as the legal age for buying cigarettes rises inexorably until the last living smoker in the U.K. joins the choir invisible.

It’s not hard to imagine how this neat solution may falter. While no one is against banning the sale of cigarettes to teenagers, the situation will become increasingly absurd as today’s 17-year-olds age into maturity, creating a permanent division between adults allowed to buy tobacco and those who are prohibited. Supposedly, the day will come when a 50-year-old can buy a cigar from the tobacconist, but their 49-year-old friend must be turned away. Can one really expect this prohibition to be durably respected?

The U.K.’s new law takes an ultimately infantilizing view of tobacco use.

“Children in the U.K. will be part of the first smoke-free generation, protected from a lifetime of addiction and harm,”U.K. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said. But these children will eventually become adults denied the right to make decisions for themselves. It’s grossly illiberal. » | Jacob Grier * | Sunday, April 26, 2026

* Jacob Grier is a freelance writer in Portland, Oregon. He is the author of several books, including The New Prohibition and The Rediscovery of Tobacco, and a founder of the link-sharing platform Seabird.

LISEZ ÉGALEMENT CET article.

READ ALSO:

United Kingdom’s Generational Tobacco Ban Officially Becomes Law: A drastic law prohibits anyone born after New Year’s Day, 2009 to buy tobacco »

Reform UK would scrap generational smoking ban, Farage says: Nigel Farage has pledged that a future Reform UK government would repeal the proposed “generational smoking ban”, arguing the policy would place an unworkable burden on retailers and fuel illicit trade. »

UK Arrested 12,000 People for Online Posts – China Just Called Them Out

Michael Lambert enlarges on this disgrace in Starmer’s Britain.

Trump Says He Will ‘Probably Put a Big Tariff on the UK’ If It Doesn’t Drop Digital Services Tax

THE GUARDIAN: US president accuses UK of thinking it can ‘make an easy buck’ from US tech companies, weeks after warning that UK–US trade deal can be changed

Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on the UK if it does not drop its digital services tax on US social media firms.

The digital services tax, introduced in 2020, imposes a 2% levy on the revenues of several major US tech companies.

Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office on Thursday, the US president said: “We’ve been looking at it and we can meet that very easily by just putting a big tariff on the UK, so they better be careful.

“If they don’t drop the tax, we’ll probably put a big tariff on the UK.”

The tax targets companies whose worldwide revenues from digital activities exceed £500m ($673m), with more than £25m of the revenues from UK users.

Trump argued the laws, which have long been a source of tension in US-UK relations, targeted “top companies in the world”. » | Press Association | Friday, April 24, 2026

Relationship with Trump May Be beyond Repair, Keir Starmer Told

THE GUARDIAN: PM gets widespread backing after president’s mocking impersonation takes US-UK relationship to new low

Keir Starmer has been warned his relationship with Donald Trump may be beyond repair after the US president derided the prime minister for consulting his team about military decisions, in a mocking impersonation.

In a new low for UK-US relations, Trump appeared to imitate Starmer in a weak voice during an Easter lunch speech at the White House, and said the UK was “not our best” ally.

The episode is Trump’s latest broadside at Starmer and the UK’s “old” aircraft carriers after the prime minister declined to let the US use British military bases for its initial strikes on Iran.

Following the latest attack on Starmer, diplomatic and political figures said he was right to brush off the criticism but added that the relationship was very damaged and he would need to redouble efforts to built [sic] international relations elsewhere. » | Rowena Mason | Whitehall editor | Friday, April 3, 2026

Trump Is Trying to Pull the UK into War | Michael Martins

Mar 17, 2026 | “I think [Trump's] going to want to save face in this, and I think that's where the landing zone is.”

The UK now has an opportunity to de-escalate tensions with the US by “finding the avenue” to abate Trump’s rhetoric toward Starmer, says former political and economic specialist at the US Embassy in the UK during Trump's first term, Michael Martins.


I am no Starmer fan, but Starmer is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT not to allow Britain to be dragged into this war by Goldilocks. Goldilocks should do his own DIRTY WORK. He got America into this war, so let him get America out of it. — © Mark Alexander

Trump’s Attitude Towards Britain ‘Cools’ | Sir Anthony Seldon

Mar 2, 2026 | “Donald Trump doesn’t have that close affiliation, emotional affiliation that many post-war presidents have had towards Britain.”

Trump’s attitude towards Britain is “cool,” and the UK has become a “poodle” in the special relationship says historian Sir Anthony Seldon.

Keir Starmer: Britain Agrees to Help Bomb Iran and Will Work with US after Strikes

Mar 1, 2026 | The UK has agreed to a US request to use British military bases to strike Iranian missile sites, Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed.

But the UK Prime Minister said the UK “will not join offensive action” in Iran, adding: “We all remember the mistakes of Iraq and we have learned those lessons.”

It comes as Iran continues its assault on the Middle East in revenge attacks for the joint US-Israeli operation yesterday which saw missiles rain down on Tehran.


This man is so weak and ineffectual. Why the hell are we getting involved? Let America and Israel do their own dirty work! This is so dumb and stupid. — © Mark Alexander

The UK Risks Facing Retaliation from Iran If They Stand by the US | Guto Harri

Feb 28, 2026 | “That would be what I would want to raise in the room, do we really want to say ‘hit me too’ rather than just say, blame this on Israel and America.”

The UK risks attacks from Iran on UK military bases and other assets if they become “cheerleaders” for the US’s current military campaign, says Guto Harri, former Downing Street director of communications.

UK Closes Iran Embassy and Withdraws Staff: ‘A Wise Precaution’

Feb 27, 2026 | “The British embassy in Tehran which, as I know from my personal experience there, is a lightning rod for popular anger against the United States.”

UK and US staff being withdrawn from the British embassy in Iran is “clearly a precaution” says former British ambassador to Iran Sir Richard Dalton.

Andrew Neil: I Don’t Want American ‘Ethno-Christian Nationalism’ In the UK

Feb 23, 2026 | “There is a kind of ethno-Christian nationalism abroad in America that I wouldn't like to see coming to the United Kingdom.”

Andrew Neil says he is “deeply suspicious” of attempts to align church and state, as Reform UK announce that they want to restore Britain’s Christian heritage.

State-sponsored Torture - The UK’s Shocking Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) Scandal

February 20, 2026

Is Fascism Coming to Britain?

Feb 18, 2026 | Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain paper on mass deportations is not just about migration, although that is its toxic superficial focus. It is also about power, law, and the kind of state we want to live in.

In this video, I explain why his proposals would require dismantling human rights law, rewriting the UK constitution, and creating a politics of hate that harms everyone and not just the millions of migrants he wants to expel from this country.

My suggestion is that we choose something else: a politics of care, investment, and social security that protects everyone's well-being. This is about the UK’s future.

What state do we want? Lowe's dystopian state of hate, or one where everyone can flourish?

White House Set to Accept Koran Burner as Refugee

THE TELEGRAPH: State department in talks to allow Turkish man to flee Britain if acquittal is overturned

The Trump administration is in talks to accept a man who burnt a Koran as a refugee from Britain.

State department officials are preparing to help Hamit Coskun flee the UK if he loses a “blasphemy case” this week.

The potential intervention is likely to escalate transatlantic tensions over free speech, which critics have claimed is being eroded under Sir Keir Starmer’s Government.

Mr Coskun overturned a conviction for a religiously aggravated public order offence after he burnt the Koran outside the Turkish embassy in London.

However, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is contesting that decision at a hearing in the High Court on Tuesday. A senior US administration official said his case was “one of several cases the administration has made note of”.

Mr Coskun sought asylum in the UK from his home country of Turkey, saying Islamic terrorists had destroyed his family’s life. He told The Telegraph that, if he did lose his case, he may be forced “to flee” and seek protection in the US.

“For me, as the victim of Islamic terrorism, I cannot remain silent. I may be forced to flee the UK and move to the USA, where President Trump has stood for free speech and against Islamic extremism,” he said.

“If I have to do so, then, to me, the UK will have effectively fallen to Islamism and the speech codes that it wishes to impose on the non-Muslim world.” » | Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter. Connor Stringer, Washington Correspondent. Will Bolton Crime correspondent | Sunday, Fenruary 15, 2026

Is Trump Destroying the Western Alliance? Will Europe Ally with China?

Feb 1, 2026 | As Donald Trump hits the EU with tariffs and threatens to colonize Greenland (an autonomous territory of NATO member Denmark), European leaders are improving relations with China and seeking new trade partners. Is this the end of the political West and the transatlantic alliance? Ben Norton explains.