Over the past few months, the TaxPayers’ Alliance sent hundreds of freedom of information requests while researching Prevent, the Government’s counter-terrorism programme designed to stop people becoming terrorists. FOI requests to local councils, questions to the Home Office, requests for the most basic financial breakdowns – where the money went, who received it and what […]
‘How good is our military?’ Donald Trump asked rhetorically when he addressed a group of Republican members of Congress recently. The answer – judging from the first 10 days of Operation Epic Fury – is, in many ways, exceptionally good. The joint American and Israeli air and missile strikes which began on 28 February have […]
The United States’ decision to intervene in Venezuela and bring a foreign leader before its courts reflects a wider shift in the character of the international order. Western power is no longer exercised solely through deterrence or diplomacy, but through increasingly direct forms of intervention. Yet behind this display of strength lies a more troubling […]
Children gather in a school courtyard for their morning assembly. The sun beams on their young faces, as they form orderly rows. They are resplendent in their crisp, white uniforms. That’s where their innocence ends. It was stripped from them by Shia extremists. ‘We wait for you, Oh Imam, come back to us again,’ the […]
How far away are we from another wave of mass violence in Britain? The answer, it seems, is closer than is comfortable. We live in a more febrile climate than even the oldest can remember, and even the best-read can find no precedent for. We are seeing ever-increasing amounts of open & outright ethnic and […]
At the start of March, a 51-year-old man was stabbed in Belfast, in what investigators are considering might be Northern Ireland’s first Islamist terror attack. What is new for Northern Ireland is only the latest in a string of near-weekly stabbings and other ‘low tech’ attacks inflicted on Western European targets, most notably in Germany, […]
Shortly after Israel assassinated Hassan Nasrallah, the former leader of Hezbollah, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, revealed that Nasrallah’s bunker, located under a hospital in Beirut, held half a billion dollars in cash and gold. Over the past year and a half, Israel has gone to great efforts to significantly […]
The statement by Security Minister Dan Jarvis on Tuesday, that Iran, a state sponsor of international terrorism, will be placed on the enhanced tier of the new Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, is welcome – but it is not nearly comprehensive enough to tackle the Iranian threat in its entirety. Placing Iran, including the Iranian Revolutionary […]
For a government to ignore the unanimous will of an elected local council is a snub to the autonomy of local government, shows disdain for the will of the people and represents an insult to democracy. For a government to ignore the advice of its intelligence agencies represents a threat to national security. And for […]
A strange thing happened in the Baltic Sea last month. In the early hours of Monday November 18, the undersea telecommunications cable linking Finland and Germany was cut. This occurred just a day after another cable, this time linking Lithuania and Sweden, was also damaged, reducing Lithuania’s internet capacity by a fifth. What caused this […]
Direct exchanges of fire between Israel and Iran. Long-range Russian missiles hitting Ukraine. Drones over our airbases. Official warnings of a cyberattack on Britain that might ‘turn out the lights for millions’. China preparing to take Taiwan. Are we spiralling into a new global conflagration? Can anything prevent it? All our options are fraught with […]
Last week, former MI6 chief Sir John Sawers gave a stark warning. He cautioned that Hamas and Hezbollah could shift their focus from fighting Israel, to international acts of terrorism, therefore increasing threat levels in the UK. The ability of both terror groups to threaten Israel has been greatly diminished by effective Israeli warfare. Frustrated […]
Peter Mandelson’s intervention on China policy this week is profoundly wrong – and potentially very dangerous. During a visit to Hong Kong in which he met government officials, top businessmen and bankers, and gave a speech at the University of Hong Kong, Lord Mandelson claimed that the rule of law and the independence of the […]
It would not be unreasonable to say that the last Labour government had a chequered history on civil liberties. What started with a Human Rights Act, designed to protect our rights and freedoms, ended with ID cards, the mass rollout of CCTV cameras, the introduction of new and punitive civil orders like ASBOs, attempts to […]
Many casual observers of British politics will only just be being introduced to the probable next Vice President of the US. And in keeping with Donald Trump’s penchant for the bizarre, JD Vance has begun his tenure as presidential running mate with some unusual musings on Islamists and nuclear weapons. Speaking at the National Conservatism […]
If Labour wins this Thursday, the implications for the UK’s foreign policy and security could be profound. The following week, Keir Starmer will fly to the Nato summit in Washington DC, marking his first significant moment on the world stage as the UK’s Prime Minister. Despite this, election debates on the UK’s foreign policy and […]
