Free Republic

President Donald Trump has warned British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that a free trade deal between the U.S. and the United Kingdom hinges on the UK addressing concerns over free speech. Trump is specifically citing the prosecution of a 62-year-old pro-life grandmother as a sticking point. The U.S. State Department said it is “closely monitoring” the case of Livia Tossici-Bolt, who faces trial for holding a sign outside an abortion clinic in Bournemouth that read, “Here to talk if you want.” Trump’s administration has tied the resolution of Tossici-Bolt’s case to ongoing trade negotiations, with a source close to the...

A United Nations judge and former fellow at Columbia University, Lydia Mugambe, was recently convicted for the human trafficking of a young woman. According to a report from the Thames Valley Police, Mugambe was 'convicted of immigration and modern slavery offences in Oxfordshire' on March 13.

The rate of migrant Channel crossings under Sir Keir Starmer has been higher than under any of his Conservative predecessors, with more small boat arrivals this year than at any time since they began seven years ago.

A child between the ages of 3-4 was suspended from a British state school two years ago after being accused of being “transphobic.” “Department for Education (DfE) data show the child, aged either three or four, was suspended from a state school in the 2022-23 academic year for ‘abuse against sexual orientation and gender identity,’” The Telegraph reported. “It beggars belief that schools are suspending children as young as five for breaching their ‘transphobia’ policy. I would have thought that if your ideology is so rigid it justifies you punishing toddlers for not complying with it, that’s a powerful argument...

Shares of conservative news outlet Newsmax (NMAX.N), opens new tab soared more than 27% before the bell on Tuesday, extending their gains a day after a stunning debut on the New York Stock Exchange.The stock traded at $106, more than 10 times the IPO price of $10, valuing the cable news network at $12.8 billion.Newsmax's shares closed with a more-than-eight-fold gain at $83.51 on Monday, partly buoyed by retail interest. The stock remained the top trending ticker on retail investor-focused social media stocktwits.com.The cable news operator, which raised $75 million in its "mini IPO" last week, is looking to expand...

A series of essential household bills are rising at the start of April, with warnings that single parents are among the hardest hit. Water bills, energy prices and council tax are all going up in what has been dubbed "awful April", although the minimum wage is also increasing. The charity Citizens Advice said the finances of millions of people on the lowest incomes were "already stretched to breaking point". Many single parents in particular would struggle because a greater proportion of their money was taken up by essential spending, it said. Laura Roan, a single mother of two daughters from...

The makers of hit Netflix show Adolescence have sparked a conversation in Britain and beyond on how to protect children from violent misogyny and other harmful content on social media. Now they have the ear of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who welcomed the filmmakers to Downing Street on Monday for talks on child protection. Starmer’s office said he backed an initiative by Netflix to stream the drama series for free to secondary schools across the country, so that as many teens as possible can watch it.

Sir Keir Starmer’s attempts to strike a free trade deal with the US are at risk over a free speech row. In a highly unusual step, the US state department on Sunday night issued a statement saying it was “concerned about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom” in relation to the case of an anti-abortion campaigner. It said it was “monitoring” the case of Livia Tossici-Bolt, who was prosecuted for holding a sign near a Bournemouth abortion clinic reading: “Here to talk if you want.” The state department is responsible for America’s foreign policy, and would not usually comment...

Virginia Giuffre, the most prominent victim of Jeffrey Epstein who accused some of the world’s most powerful men of sex trafficking, says she had just days left to live after being hit by a bus. The mother-of-three, 41, who was sex trafficked by Epstein as a teenager, shared a battered picture of herself from a hospital bed covered in bruises. She said she was suffering from kidney failure after a bus crashed into her vehicle. -snip- “I’ve gone into kidney renal failure, they’ve given me four days to live, transferring me to a specialist hospital in urology. I’m ready to...

...the UK will introduce its Electronic Travel Authorisation system on January 8, 2025. It is a digital registration scheme for travelers who don’t need a visa to enter the UK...travelers will now need to get pre-travel authorization to fly to the UK. The pre-authorization clears you for entry to the country before travel. This is the UK equivalent of the United States’ ESTA — a mandatory, paid-for authorization to travel, with security clearance done in advance. The scheme debuted to Gulf Cooperation Council nationals in 2024, and will roll out to other non-European travelers — including the six million travelers...

"What this is all about is an attempt to change the face of our country..." The Irish government has frozen the bank account of an Irish teacher after his continued refusal to use gender-neutral pronouns for a student at Wilson’s Hospital School. Enoch Burke, who has spent more than 500 days in jail for refusing to comply with a court order, also had his salary payments halted. Burke attempted to withdraw funds from his Bank of Ireland account last week but found that he was unable to access his money. The account reportedly holds over €40,000—his personal savings from years...

Justin Welby has told the BBC he forgives a serial abuser at the heart of a scandal that led to his resignation as Archbishop of Canterbury. In his first interview since quitting in November last year, Welby said his forgiveness of John Smyth - arguably the most prolific abuser associated with the Church of England - was "irrelevant" and it was more important to help victims "rebuild their lives". Smyth, who died in 2018, attacked more than 100 boys and young men in the UK and Africa over decades. A damning 2024 review found Welby "could and should" have done...

As I listen in frustration to my liberal friends complain about encroaching authoritarianism in the United States and the danger of letting people express their opinions on X, I stand amazed at their admiration for allies in Europe, such as the UK or the European Union cracking down on people who aren't in lockstep with the ruling regimes. It is a testament to the power of groupthink and the power of propaganda and gives us a window into how otherwise civilized societies descend into barbarous madness that results in crimes against humanity. The analog isn't so much the rise of...

The parents of a nine-year-old girl have said they were held at a police station for 11 hours because they complained about their daughter’s primary school. . . Allen, a Times Radio producer, said six police officers turned up at his home on 29 January. He told Sky News: “When you watch the doorbell footage, you think, what are these six police officers doing? What is this operation? .. Allen had reportedly communicated to the school in May 2024 regarding the recruitment of a new headteacher but his queries were rejected. The school’s governors then reportedly wrote to the parent...

the new Liberal party leader and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has called for snap elections for April 28th, trying to fully capitalize on the Liberal’s latest surge in the polls after endless months badly trailing the Conservative opposition. But as the campaign begins, a reputational bomb has gone off on banker Carney’s lap, as an investigation by the National Post identified at least 10 instances of apparent plagiarism in his 1995 Oxford University doctorate thesis. Carney was found to use ‘full quotes, paraphrases, or slightly modified quotes from four previous works without proper acknowledgement or attribution’. Liberals are in...

Keir Starmer should fight back strongly against Donald Trump if he imposes punitive tariffs on British exports, senior UK and EU diplomats said on Saturday night, amid heightened fears that the US president could trigger a global trade war with devastating effects on the UK economy. British government officials in London and Washington are working frantically this weekend to try to persuade Trump not to slap duties on more key UK industries on what he is calling “liberation day” on Wednesday. The US president has already announced plans for 25% levies on imports of cars, steel and aluminium to the...

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was jokingly dubbed the "Prime Minister" by BBC Radio 4 host Nick Robinson following a surge in polling for the political party. In a new survey by Find Out Now, Reform came out on top at 26 per cent, down one point from the week before. Labour came in close second with 23 per cent, while the Conservatives took third place with 22 per cent in the poll of 2,745 people. Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Farage scoffed as Robinson greeted him as "Prime Minister". Robinson said: "The leader of Reform UK joins us on...

China-owned British Steel said it could close its two blast furnaces as soon as June with the potential loss of up to 2,700 jobs, as U.S. tariffs and environmental costs threaten to damage its already struggling operations. British Steel, owned by China's Jingye Group, has warned for years that steelmaking in Scunthorpe, north east England, is loss-making, and has been in talks with the government for months about securing funding to switch to a greener type of steel production. But the two sides have failed to reach a deal, and British Steel said on Thursday it was making the "difficult...

Retired New Jersey Superior Court Judge Andrew Napolitano told Newsmax on Friday that British foreign intelligence agency MI6 might have been involved in the Signal imbroglio that has vexed the Trump administration. "This has really produced an uproar in the intelligence community," Napolitano said on "National Report." "The Guardian of London says — are you ready for this? — it was MI-6. It was the British intelligence that doesn't like Donald Trump that wanted to embarrass him. "All of this is a reason why, in my view, it was wrong for Attorney General [Pam] Bondi to say there's not going...

There were new fears for King Charles’ health Thursday, after the king was briefly hospitalized after suffering “temporary side effects” following scheduled treatment for his cancer. A number of engagements on Thursday were cancelled, and the palace said that they were cancelling a raft of commitments scheduled for Friday “as a precautionary measure.” Sources sought to play down the severity of the incident and said that the king was working at his desk at his London home Thursday evening, with one saying, “This is simply the most minor bump in a road that’s very much heading in the right direction.”...