A refugee from Turkey was today stabbed at Speakers Corner in Hyde Park, London.

Hatun Tash, a regular speaker at London’s Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park was today stabbed in the middle of the Corner in broad daylight. On Sunday 25 July 2021, the Corner had been drenched in heavy rain for most of the day, the numbers present were therefore much lower than would normally be expected on a July Sunday afternoon. Whilst small groups huddled together trying to keep dry under the trees, at around 3:30pm an individual lunged at Hatun, punching and stabbing her with a knife…

I have attended most of the Covid-19 anti-lockdown protests in London over the last few months. This is because I am appalled at how the UK Government has continued to lock us down, based on out of date and dodgy data. They have locked us down for months on end, with little apparent care for the massive and disproportionate impacts project fear and lockdown has on people’s general health, whether it’s their physical health such as cancer diagnoses and treatments being halted, or their mental health with the lockdown directly deteriorating many people’s mental health with increased social isolation, anxiety…

Despite the Government’s £1.8 billion bail out of Transport for London, TfL’s financial crisis continues. The deal between TfL and the Department for Transport specifically states that TfL must “reach a financially sustainable position as soon as possible”. Crucially it specifies that position will not include money from central government and TfL must therefore find both “potential new sources of income” and significant efficiencies.

As with any service organisation, one of TfL’s most significant costs is that of its staff. …

At around 3:00pm on Sunday 25 October 2020, regular Christian speaker Hatun Tash, was punched in the face and knocked unconscious at Speakers Corner, London.

Hatun, a leading member of the Christian ministry ‘Defend Christ Critique Islam’ (DCCI), has been attending Speakers Corner for a number of years, preaching her Christian faith and boldly critiquing Islam. Throughout her time at the Corner, Hatun has suffered a litany of threats, aggression and sexual assaults. She has always responded calmly in the face of these attacks and continued in her strength of faith and message. …

The Metropolitan Police Service has in recent weeks been used to breakup political protests in the capital city. For the last two Saturdays, they have been sent into wholly peaceful and calm protests, not to “Engage, Explain and Encourage” as their Covid-19 public mantra states, but to wade in from the outset wearing full riot gear with batons at the ready. Wading into crowds of thousands, made up of a diverse mix of men, women, children and elderly. …

The Metropolitan Police are well versed in the management and policing of largescale public demonstrations. They have learnt over the years how to effectively monitor and use intelligence to predict the size and likely behaviour of demonstrations. They know how to effectively utilise their resources on the day, managing the delicate balance between having a visible presence and also having additional resources available and ready to call upon within the vicinity, usually parked up discretely on neighbouring side streets. They manage their different resources using appropriate combinations of routine officers with the riot trained Territorial Support Group.

Why then, have…

The United Kingdom’s political system has seesawed between two main political parties for two hundred years. Over the last hundred years the country has regularly alternated between Tory and Labour governments. Prior to the establishment of the Labour Party, the government similarly alternated between the Conservative and Liberal parties. At no point has a third party really got much of a look in, in this continual two horse race, governments and policies continually swinging between the two front riders.

Much is often said about the dangers of the UK based radical Islamic outfit al-Muhajiroun, its former leader Omar Bakri Mohammed the “Tottenham Ayatollah”, and its subsequent leader Anjem Choudary. However, a multitude of other murky and often radical Islamic organisations are still operating with impunity across the UK. Many of them closely linked in a hidden network of changing names, directorships and backers.