Christopher Hitchens — the late polemicist and, along with Richard Dawkins, the most famous of the so-called “new atheists” — will never be remembered as a stout Christian apologist. However, in 2010, he managed to sum up the sorry state of the Church of England in one brilliantly incontestable lede:
“This is what you get when you found a political system on the family values of Henry VIII.”
No matter how many double Johnnie Walker Blacks on the rocks Hitchens had consumed before he penned that open, or no matter how facile he was on most other matters religious, he wasn’t wrong on this occasion. The Church of England — an offshoot of the Roman Catholic Church that developed not due to serious doctrinal differences but because Henry VIII desired a divorce — has taken on, in modern times, a more loosy-goosey approach to theology.
In the same essay in which Hitchens opened with that inimitable shot across the royal family bow, Hitchens expressed concern — in his own way — that then-Prince Charles might not be up to maintaining the vestigial advantages of the national faith. (He was a bit more blunt than that; the piece was titled “Charles, Prince of Piffle,” and he lamented that, as king, “the prospect of a morose bat-eared and chinless man, prematurely aged, and with the most abysmal taste in royal consorts, is a distinctly lowering one.”)
We’re certainly working very hard with Keir Starmer’s government. The president really loves the UK. He loved the queen. He admires and loves the king. It is a very important relationship. And he’s a businessman and has a number of important business relationships in [the UK].
But I think it’s much deeper than that. There’s a real cultural affinity. And of course, fundamentally America is an Anglo country. I think there’s a good chance that, yes, we’ll come to a great agreement that’s in the best interest of both countries.
The Labour Party government has called upon the military to help clear garbage from the streets of Birmingham as a continuing union strike has left tens of thousands of tonnes of trash lining the streets of Britain’s second-largest city.
Communities Secretary Angela Rayner has reportedly invoked Military Aid to the Civil Authorities (Maca) powers to draft British Army experts to coordinate efforts to clear up to 21,000 tonnes of trash left rotting on the streets of Birmingham after the city’s garbage collectors went on strike, the Times of Londonreported.
The left-wing trade Unite union went on strike after the local Labour-run council scrapped the waste recycling and collection officer position to supposedly promote gender equality, after government lawyers argued that the position was created to increase the salary of men.
In 2023, the city went effectively bankrupt after losing a legal dispute which found it was gender discrimination to pay people in male dominated roles like refuse collection more than people in women-dominated ones, like cooking. The £760 million cost and bids to adjust pay scales of heavily unionised workers to respect this court ruling had led to the now weeks-long bin strike.
The only Jewish bakery in Strasbourg, France, was surrounded by a coalition of far-left activists and Muslims, who attempted to storm in and lynch the owners and employees.
The horror of it all. On Passover, no less. And Macron’s response? Give ’em a state!
UK confident of keeping British Steel going after taking control– www.channelnewsasia.com Source Link Excerpt:
SCUNTHORPE, England: Britain expressed confidence on Monday (Apr 14) that it could secure enough raw materials to keep the blast furnaces at its last maker of virgin steel burning, after the government seized operational control from its Chinese owners.
Ministers said British Steel’s owners, China’s Jingye Group, had wanted to shut the furnaces at the Scunthorpe plant after they rejected a government funding proposal, which would have forced Britain to import steel instead.
The government recalled parliament at the weekend – the first Saturday recall since the 1982 Falklands War – to give it powers to direct the company’s board and workforce and to order raw materials.
By Monday morning, it had approved the appointment of an interim chief executive and chief commercial officer – both long-term employees of the plant – and said it had established that enough raw materials were in the country.
“We need to make sure we get it into the blast furnaces,” Treasury department minister James Murray said.
Police arrest U.K. parents for criticizing school leaders in private social media group – Standing for Freedom Center– www.standingforfreedom.com Source Link Excerpt:
The increasingly authoritarian nature of the British government is back in the spotlight this week after news broke that police arrested, interrogated, and jailed parents in Hertfordshire, England, for complaining about school policy and criticizing school leaders in a private group chat.
All this comes as the town’s new constable is set to release a report on the incident.
It all started in May 2024, when Maxie Allen, whose daughter Sascha, 9, was attending Cowley Hill Primary School, contacted the chair of governors of the school to question the hiring process of its new head teacher. Allen noted that despite the former head teacher having retired six months earlier, the school had not publicly posted the job and had instead given it to the former deputy head teacher.
Allen says that the chair’s response was “evasive,” so he sent a letter to all the school governors asking about the decision not to open recruitment to other candidates.
Allen posted the letter in a private WhatsApp parents’ group.
The next month, Jackie Spriggs, who is the chair of governors, wrote a letter to parents claiming that parents were using WhatsApp “to make inflammatory and defamatory comments about senior leaders in the school.”
Starmer dismisses claims he’s been ‘played’ by Trump, and says future trade deal could lessen impact of tariffs – UK politics live | Politics– www.theguardian.com Source Link Excerpt:
Keir Starmer has dismissed claims that he has been “played” by President Trump over tariffs.
In an interview with Sky News this morning, echoing what Jonathan Reynolds said in his morning interview round (see 8.58am), Starmer said that a future trade deal with the US might lead to the UK getting some exemptions from the tariffs coming tomorrow. He said:
We are of course negotiating an economic deal which will, I hope … mitigate the tariffs.
Asked if he had been “played” by US President Donald Trump, Starmer replied:
The US is our closest ally. Our defence, our security, our intelligence are bound up in a way that no two other countries are.
So it’s obviously in our national interest to have a close working relationship with the US, which we’ve had for decades, and I want to ensure we have for decades to come.
He said talks on an economic deal would normally take “months or years” but “in a matter of weeks we have got well advanced in those discussions”.
Starmer also confirmed that it was likely the UK would be affected by the tariffs being announced tomorrow.
We are obviously working with the sectors most impacted at pace on that.
Nobody wants to see a trade war but I have to act in the national interests.
London Goes from 97% White Citizens to 37% as City Degenerates into Chaos– lidblog.com Source Link Excerpt:
The city of London, England, was once 97 percent white. It is now 37 percent white as the town continues to devolve into chaos and degradation.
As the Gateway Pundit reported, Harrison Pitt, a prominent writer and thinker in Britain’s national conservative sphere, and Peter Whittle, founder of New Culture Forum, sat down recently for a discussion about the disintegration of the United Kingdom.
During the far-reaching discussion, Whittle noted that “London has stopped being my city.”
As Gateway notes:
[Whittle ] also discusses the failure of political leaders to address these issues and the need for more radical reform.
Whittle argues that London—a city that he says is now increasingly transactional and disconnected from its historical roots—has lost its cultural soul due to the demographic shift.
He observes that many of today’s London residents lack the collective memories and shared experiences that once shaped the city’s identity and served as a unifying cultural and social fabric.
Foreign donations to UK political parties set to be restricted, amid rumours Elon Musk is planning to give £80m to Reform – Sky News Source Link Excerpt:
Ministers are drawing up plans restricting foreign donors from giving unlimited funds to UK political parties, Sky News understands.
Currently, political parties can accept donations from any company registered in the UK – and foreign donors can and have used these companies to make indirect contributions.
Brit spyplane buzzes Russian convoy packed with weapons stalking in Channel as UK to draw up Ukraine ‘peacekeeper’ plan– www.thesun.co.uk Source Link Excerpt:
A ROYAL Air Force spy plane roared over a Russian warship in a dramatic Channel showdown – as Europe’s top generals “swoop into London” to discuss putting troops in Ukraine.
The Poseidon P-8A patrol plane buzzed the destroyer Severomorsk as it led a Russian convoy retreating past the cliffs of Dover.
British PM faces criticism over blocking legislation banning first-cousin marriage– www.foxnews.com Source Link Excerpt:
A former British Conservative minister and current MP renewed his push in Parliament last week for legislation that bans first-cousin marriage, prompting opposition from the ruling Labour party, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and a British-Muslim MP.
The Conservative MP Richard Holden said during a parliamentary debate, “A marriage between first cousins carries significant health issues, many of which aren’t even knowable until post-birth.” He added, “When practiced generation after generation, there is a significant multiplier effect.”
Adverse health effects on the children of first cousin marriages have been established in medical research. Holden added that “the real impacts on the openness of our society and women’s rights in our country are significant. After all, there are significant dynamics in sharing the same set of grandparents.”
Holden urged Starmer to “think again” about blocking his legislation from moving forward. Starmer responded to Holden, stating “We’ve taken our position on that Bill, thank you.”
Elon Musk floats drastic measure against Ukraine that would ‘immediately’ end war with Russia – Daily Mail Source Link Excerpt:
Tech titan Elon Musk has suggested crippling sanctions on Ukraine’s oligarchs is the key to halting the nation’s bloody conflict with Russia
Musk, 53, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, called for sanctions targeting Ukraine’s wealthiest elite in a post on X Sunday morning.
The stunning intervention was a radical departure from the current strategy focused on punishing Russia for its unprovoked invasion of the country.
‘Place sanctions on the top 10 Ukrainian oligarchs, especially the ones with mansions in Monaco, and this will stop immediately. That is the key to the puzzle,’ Musk wrote bluntly.
The remark comes at the end of a week of intensive debate in Washington over whether continued US financial and military aid to Kyiv is sustainable as the war drags on with no clear end in sight.
Republican Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) recently argued that the US shouldn’t offer ‘another penny’ to Ukraine – a view echoed by growing segments of the American public weary of the seemingly endless bloodshed and multibillion-dollar aid packages.