Nobody Cares about Britain

[Innula Zenovka]

I'm disappointed but not done with Putin, Trump tells BBC

Trump says he trusts "almost nobody" in exclusive interview discussing the war in Ukraine, Nato and the UK.

www.bbc.co.uk

Nevertheless,

President Trump was also asked about the UK's future in the world and said he thought it was a "great place - you know I own property there".

Asked if he thought the UK had made the most of Brexit, he said "no", adding: "I think it's been on the sloppy side but I think it's getting straightened out."

The president also said of Sir Keir Starmer: "I really like the prime minister a lot, even though he is a liberal", and praised the UK-US trade deal. He said he had a "special bond" with the UK and that was why he had made a deal with the country - "for the most part, in terms of your competitors and in terms of the European Union I haven't made a deal".

Entertainingly, in the light of the fact Nigel Farage has been making a great fuss about the visit apparently being scheduled so Trump can't be invited to address a joint session of parliament (which would be boycotted by many MPs and would mean Trump and his motorcade had to negotiate large and hostile demonstrations around the Palace of Westminster with the baby blimp hovering over them)

He said he would not want the UK parliament, which is not sitting during his September visit, to be recalled so he could give a speech there, saying instead that MPs should enjoy their time away: "I think let them go and have a good time."

The president also said he had not been concerned by Charles's speech at the opening of Canada's parliament, in which the British monarch - who is Canada's head of state - stressed its sovereignty after Trump had suggested the US could annex the country.

"They're wrapped up with Canada so what's he gonna do, you know, he has no choice," the president said, adding: "I thought he was very good, very respectful."

He said the US was "negotiating with Canada right now" and it was going to "work out very well".

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Link to Guardian article

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Link to Guardian article

I investigated the Afghan data leak. Ministers were gambling with death

Our defence editor recounts how she informed the government that she knew thousands of lives were at risk. Its response was to silence her

www.thetimes.com

Evernote Link

Evernote link to detailed Times background

And another account by one of the journalists involved

My two years in secret court: How UK governments hid a national scandal

The government put 100,000 Afghans at risk of death. Then used the force of law in a constitutionally unprecedented way to prevent anyone finding out.

goodallandgoodluck.substack.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I don't know if this trial has received much attention in the US, but it's one of the most extraordinary trials in the UK I've ever heard of

I've never seen a case like Constance Marten and Mark Gordon's - it was jaw-dropping

Now the case is over, the BBC can report some of the remarkable moments when jurors weren't in court.

www.bbc.co.uk

Persecuted by the state? No, Constance Marten was in thrall to conspiracy culture

In court I watched the heiress and her partner, Mark Gordon, claim to be victims. But they prized freedom above their baby’s life

www.thetimes.com

Evernote Link

Link to Guardian article

 

[Soen Eber]

A YouGov poll: most people in Germany, Italy, France and Spain support the UK rejoining the EU. But most people also oppose to give the UK the old opt-out treatments it had before.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jul/13/most-people-in-france-germany-italy-and-spain-would-support-uk-rejoining-eu-poll-finds

But what would Victor Orban have to say about it to get his vote? Britain is broke!

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Link to Guardian article

 

[Free]

WuTangIsForTheChildren (@wutangforchildren.bsky.social)

London is getting ready for Trump’s visit

bsky.app

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Link to Guardian article

Yvette Cooper said an offence that would give police the power to apprehend the former long before they acted was needed in the wake of the Southport attack last year. Terrorism suspects can be jailed for life even if their plans are not fully formed.


Axel Rudakubana, then 17, stabbed three young girls to death at a summer holiday dance class in July last year and attempted to murder eight other children and two adults who tried to protect them.

Cooper told BBC Radio 4’s State of Terror series: “There is a gap in the law around the planning of mass attacks that can be just as serious [as terrorism] in their implications for communities, their impact, the devastation that they can cause and the seriousness of the crime.

“We will tighten legislation so that that is taken as seriously as terrorism.”

She said police would get the power to prevent such individuals who did not have a clear ideology, in the same way they can with terrorism suspects.

I'd question, though, the assertion that "Terrorism suspects can be jailed for life even if their plans are not fully formed," and not only because they have to be convicted of something, not just suspected, before they can be imprisoned.

The article goes on to explain

Under section 5 of the Terrorism Act, a person who engages in any conduct in preparation of a terrorist act is guilty of the offence, with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

At the bottom end of the scale, the offence includes engaging in very limited preparation for terrorist activity but there must be a link to an ideological cause.

Cooper said: “We’ve seen cases of growing numbers of teenagers potentially radicalising themselves online and seeing all kinds of extremist material online in their bedrooms.

The point is not to imprison teenagers for life but to bring planning for terrorist-type attacks (such as the Southport attack) within the ambit of legislation intended to divert juveniles from becoming involved in such activities, without the need to show the planned or contemplated attacks were ideologically motivated.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

How the right abandoned law and order

The Sunday column on the incendiary power of the “fascisphere”

nickcohen.substack.com

(Free to view -- it's about the UK, but is also relevant to the US, I think)

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Link to Guardian article

DeGeneres moved with her wife, Portia de Rossi, to a house in the Cotswolds in 2024 after her long-running talkshow ended and she embarked on a “final comedy tour” around the US.

While I'm glad she and her partner like it here, I think her views are coloured by the fact they're reasonably well-off. If they were trying to survive on benefits or on minimum wage, zero-hours, contracts while trying to bring up a family, or care for a disabled relative, I'm not sure they'd be so enthusiastic.

It's still better than having Trump as Head of Government, of course, and no one's trying to reverse same-sex marriage, but she and her partner are nevertheless cushioned from some of the less pleasant aspects of life here. So am I, of course, but at least I'm aware of it (and I certainly couldn't afford a house in the Cotswolds -- even my cousin, who has more money than God, has a Cotswolds-adjacent house rather than actually living in that picture-postcard, charming English village, enclave).

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Confusion surrounds Jeremy Corbyn’s launch of ‘Your Party’

The former Labour leader unveils the name of the new movement, but Zarah Sultana, a fellow ex-Labour MP, says the name is not settled

www.thetimes.com

Evernote Link

Because of the confusion over the new party's name -- not a good look, I think, to launch a party without knowing what it's called -- people are suggesting that, because of Jeremy Corbyn's support for Hezbollah, it should be called Jezbollah.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

UK to see 6,000 porn sites verifying user age, Ofcom says

Despite the law some remain sceptical about the effectiveness of porn age checks.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Free]

people are suggesting that, because of Jeremy Corbyn's support for Hezbollah, it should be called Jezbollah.

You can double up on the name like what was done when the Perseverance rover landed at Jezero crater on Mars. For a long time, a number of "science influencers," when referencing Jezero, would report it as "Jezero, or Hezero crater."

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Link to Guardian article

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Link to Guardian article

Police data released under freedom of information (FoI) laws shows that 41% of 899 people arrested for taking part in the violent disorder last July and August had been reported for crimes associated with intimate partner violence.

For those arrested by one police force, this figure was as high as 68%.

Previous offences include actual bodily harm, grievous bodily harm, stalking, breach of restraint and non-molestation orders, controlling coercive behaviour and criminal damage.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Corbyn may help bring the far right to power

The Sunday column: Muslim communalist politics will backfire

nickcohen.substack.com

Evernote Link

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Bishop in dressing gown interrupts church concert - and asks crowd to 'leave my house'

"This work deserves respect, not to be disparaged as a terrible racket," an audience member told Sky News. "They put their heart and soul into it."

news.sky.com

Bishop stops church concert and tells choir to get out of ‘my house’

The Right Rev Jonathan Baker, who appeared at the event wearing a dressing gown, described it as a ‘terrible racket’ and told the singers and audience to leave

www.thetimes.com

Evernote Link

 

[Ellie]

Anyone else suspect Starmer's handing to Rump that letter from the King was a carefully calculated and typically Brit attempt at making Rump as uncomfortable as possible, considering his (lack of) fluent reading skills?

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Anyone else suspect Starmer's handing to Rump that letter from the King was a carefully calculated and typically Brit attempt at making Rump as uncomfortable as possible, considering his (lack of) fluent reading skills?

I would imagine that both HMG and HM himself are feeling somewhat uncomfortable about what Trump might do during his state visit in September. His press conference on Monday was bad enough, giving Starmer (and his wife Victoria) the benefit of his views on what the UK should do about, among other things, immigration, wind farms and North Sea oil, and also what he thinks of the Mayor of London.

During his state visit, however, he'll be appearing not alongside the PM but at formal occasions alongside the king himself. For example, at the state banquet, he'll be replying to the king's speech and toast, and proposing a toast of his own.

The speeches are supposed to be non-contentious, but that's never stopped Trump before, and if he gets bored with his prepared speech and starts free associating to Charles about immigration to the UK and about wind farms with the cameras running, it's going to be pretty painful.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Police seek Tommy Robinson after alleged assault at London station

British Transport Police said they were called just after 8.40pm on Monday to reports of an assault. They said the injured man was in hospital “with serious injuries, which are not thought to be life-threatening”.

The force said: “Following a report of an assault at St Pancras station last night (28 July), officers have confirmed that the suspect, a 42-year-old man from Bedfordshire, boarded a flight out of the country in the early hours of this morning.

“Detectives are continuing to work closely to progress the investigation and bring him into custody for questioning.”

It is not known to where the man flew.

In the video, a man can be seen lying face down and motionless, with Robinson pacing nearby. Robinson can be heard saying: “He come at me bruv.”

Since he's currently on bail awaiting trial for harassing two Daily Mail journalists, he's in danger of being remanded in custody if he's charged with assault as a result of this incident.