Uncensored Free Speech Platform

Liam Downer-Sanderson: Labour don’t want to reopen Hammersmith Bridge. Local Conservatives will.
This feels like a quiet policy shift.

Cllr Liam Downer-Sanderson is a councillor for Fulham Town Ward on Hammersmith and Fulham Council.

“Keeping Hammersmith Bridge closed is something we may have to look at.”

Those were the words of a Labour Hammersmith and Fulham Cabinet Member at a council committee meeting on 2 February 2026. After seven years of disruption, delay and evasion, it was a moment of rare honesty.

Labour finally said out loud what many residents have long suspected. They are comfortable with the bridge staying closed to traffic permanently.

That position is wrong for Hammersmith and Fulham, wrong for London and wrong for the country.

Hammersmith Bridge was closed in 2019 after serious cracks were discovered in its foundations. The bridge is more than a century old and decades of heavy goods vehicles had taken their toll. Closure was unavoidable to prevent the risk of collapse.

The consequences were immediate and severe. Six key bus routes were diverted overnight. Emergency vehicles were forced onto longer, slower routes. Journeys to hospitals, schools and workplaces became harder, longer and more expensive. A vital transport link between Barnes, Richmond, Wimbledon, Hammersmith, Fulham and Chiswick was severed.

At that moment, the council’s task should have been obvious. Restore public transport and emergency access across the Thames as quickly and safely as possible.

Instead, Labour chose a different path.

Rather than pursuing interim or staged solutions to reopen the bridge to traffic, several of which were put forward at the time, the Labour Administration fixated on a single option. A full, gold-plated restoration costing around £250 million, with no credible timetable for reopening.

Years passed. Progress was minimal.

Recognising the scale of the problem, the Conservative Government stepped in with a pragmatic offer. To split the cost three ways between central government, Transport for London and the council. A deal was on the table. The route to reopening was clear.

Labour walked away, claiming the council could not afford it.

That argument simply does not stand up.

Because during the same period, Labour somehow found the money for something else. A brand new Town Hall. The Civic Campus project now exceeds £200 million. It was meant to be completed in 2023. It is opening three years late. And even now, Labour has allocated a further £38.5 million of capital funding in 2025/26, on top of tens of millions committed in earlier years.

This was never about affordability. It was about priorities.

Labour chose to prioritise a prestige building over restoring public transport, emergency access and everyday vehicle crossings across the Thames.

That choice tells you everything you need to know.

But the problem goes deeper than mismanagement or poor …

Two dead in shooting at South Carolina State University
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.

Two people were killed and one other injured in a shooting on Thursday night at South Carolina University. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division was still investigating the shooting as of early Friday morning, according to reports. No information has been provided about the victims or suspect as of yet.

The shooting happened at a student residential complex on South Carolina State University’s Orangeburg campus, reported ABC News. The school issued a lockdown around 9:15 p.m. and remained in place hours after the shooting. It was still in effect at the time of publication of this news story. 

Students received lockdown orders via text messages. A social media post appeared to show the orders given in a screenshot as the messages were sent out.

“SHELTER-IN-PLACE Move inside, lock doors and continue with class activities,” read the first message allegedly sent to students. “Monitor mobile devices for updates. If you are not on campus remain off site until the all clear is given.”

A second message sent appeared to inform students of the lockdown. 

“LOCKDOWN, LOCKDOWN, LOCKDOWN Move inside, lock doors, lights out and remain out of sight,” read the message. “Monitor mobile devices for updates. If you are not on campus remain off site until the all clear is given.”

South Carolina State University canceled classes on Friday due to the shooting and announced it would provide counseling services to students, multiple sources confirmed. 

The Washington Examiner contacted the South Carolina State University Department of Public Safety early Friday morning seeking information about the shooting. However, the department declined to comment.

NINE PEOPLE DEAD AND 25 INJURED IN SCHOOL SHOOTING IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) called for prayers on Thursday night after the shooting. 

“Stop what you’re doing and pray,” Mace posted on X.  “South Carolina State University is on lockdown tonight following reports of a possible shooting incident.”

“Join us in prayer for the students, staff and their families,” she said. “God bless our brave law enforcement responding tonight.”

Conor Boyle: If we want Britain to be better, we need a radically different Civil Service
We're watching the same failure loop.

Conor Boyle is a young conservative and unionist from Northern Ireland, an Oxford graduate, and now works in the financial services sector.

Civil service reform used to be a topic reserved for genuine political anoraks, and A-Level politics teachers, but if we want the country to succeed, it’s going to have to become an issue on all our lips.

The permanent system of government in the United Kingdom is often heralded as a model of good administration.

We’re told that the British model is the ‘Rolls Royce” Civil Service, capable of governing a vast global Empire and achieving some heroic feats. This is all very much in the past. And the issues with today’s civil service are the major roadblocks to a building a more successful, prosperous, efficient Britain. The are, to my mind, two serious problems. The first is the mentality and culture of our bureaucracy, and the second is the inability to do anything about it.

On the civil service themselves, without being impolite to our public servants, but I highly doubt many of the current crop would have made it in the days when Wellington or Disraeli were running the British Government. I have heard commentators from Tony Young to Dominic Cummings lay the decline in calibre of our public servants at the feet of the push to remove the aristocracy (who they argue felt a mitral burden of duty and service to the country) in favour of a merit-based system unveiled after the Northcote-Trevelyan reforms.

I’m not sure how much there is to this theory, I don’t propose to explore it further. My initial gripe is that, at the moment, we don’t have a meritocratic civil service, and culture turns away good, able, energetic young people before they reach senior positions. This is undoubtedly true. Seventy years ago, let’s say, the top graduates of our great universities would bite your hand off for a job in the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Defence, and many more government departments and agencies alike.

While may talented youngsters are, of course, still applying to become diplomats and what-not, it is no longer the case that the civil service attracts talent on a scale even close to the private sector. Consider that, a century ago, the type of young person being recruited for the likes of Stripe or SpaceX, seen a career in the Home Civil Service as having a greater level attractiveness to a private venture.

Now, it’s not even close.

Never-mind the super and futuristic companies mentioned above, the Civil Service can’t even compete with the relatively run-of-the-mill private sector jobs in London and the South-east. Part of this is money, of course (although, not if you subscribe to the argument about aristocrats and their love of service) but it’s also something deeper; the feeling that you’ll achieve …

David Rose: Are those working on an Islamophobia definition too close to the subject?
Temporary powers never stay temporary.

David Rose is Policy and Research Director of the Free Speech Union.

 The Free Speech Union has long been concerned that the Government’s plan to issue an official definition of Islamophobia – or ‘anti-Muslim hostility’, as leaks suggest it has been re-named – will, if adopted, gravely threaten freedom of expression.

Announcing her appointment of a five person “Working Group” tasked to produce it in February last year, the then-Communities Secretary Angela Rayner insisted it would be non-statutory, and hence “compatible” with free speech rights. Our Director, Lord Young, disagreed, arguing it would lead to self-censorship and the restriction of lawful discourse by both private and public bodies. He also pointed out that discrimination and hate crimes against Muslims are already sanctioned by the civil and criminal law. Any definition would thus either be pointless, or it would threaten freedom of speech.

Such a definition is a longstanding demand made by Islamist organisations with which successive UK governments have had a policy of non-engagement, such as the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) and Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND), thanks to the extremist views expressed by some of their leaders, such as support for Hamas and other militant groups.

However, as I point out in Anti-Free Speech Hostility: The Islamist Links of the Government’s Working Group on Islamophobia, an investigative FSU briefing published today, it turns out that all the Working Group members have had close links to Islamist individuals or organisations, including the Group’s Chair, the former Tory attorney-general Dominic Grieve KC.

In a letter to Angela Rayner in June, Young raised a further, worrisome issue: that although Rayner claimed that the Group had been chosen to reflect  “a wide range of perspectives”, four of its members had already expressed strong support for an earlier definition, that issued by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2018. Its somewhat indigestible text  – that Islamophobia is “rooted in racism and a type of racism that targets expressions of  or perceived Muslimness” – was widely condemned by liberal and feminist Muslims, who said it would be weaponised by authoritarians to prevent both criticism of Islam and the highlighting of issues such as the disproportionately Muslim heritage of members of child sex grooming gangs. No one on Rayner’s Group shares that view.

Grieve, the only member of the Group who is not a Muslim, wrote a supportive Foreword to the APPG’s 2018 report. In coming to favour an official definition, he appears to have changed his views to a significant extent, although he denies this.

Yet until 2013, Grieve made a series of strong statements about Muslims’ religious and political attitudes, …

Why Ford Motors inspires Badenoch’s Tory blueprint
This affects the entire country.

At the end of 2008, Ford Motor Company was only months from running out of cash. It had a lackluster product lineup and a dys­functional culture of infighting, backstabbing, and excuses. Sound familiar? Kemi Badenoch has been reading about how under the leadership of a bold new CEO, Alan Mulally, the company came back from the brink and returned it to one of the world’s most successful carmakers.

That, she has told her MPs, is inspiring her model for the Conservative Party.

After another strong outing at PMQs – skewering Sir Keir Starmer for “stuffing government with paedophile apologists” – Badenoch headed to her office for lunch. Unusually for her, one that included sandwiches (though she opted for a ham and cheese croissant). She has been hosting a series of these meetings with her MPs, and this week it was the first of two sessions with members of the 2024 intake.

Badenoch explained that Mulally’s insight at Ford Motors was realising the company had become distracted by its luxury brands like Aston Martin, rather than focusing on Ford itself and what it originally did so well. Her own lesson was similar: invest in the party’s “stakeholder products” — the core Tory vote, what it wants, and what the Conservatives can credibly offer.

And she wants a “fresh” Conservative Party to do so, with a Tory insider saying “Kemi told them she wanted these new MPs to be the future face of the Tory party”. It went down well with the group, some of whom have recently been getting their first outings at the despatch box like Peter Fortune.

He understood Badenoch’s Ford comparison, I’m told, likening the Conservative Party to a failing business: first stop the crisis, then stabilise, and then rebuild. Right now, he suggested, the party is still in the early stages. 

As discussion ranged around the Leader of the Opposition’s office, MPs aired familiar frustrations and enecuragements. John Cooper urged the party to “get onto talking about the economy” as the route back to power, while still addressing the wound of immigration. Joe Robertson argued for a “more optimistic tone in how the party communicates” and “not just criticising the government”. Inevitably, the conversation drifted to the question that always arises when talk turns to renewal and making Badenoch’s New Conservatives: what to do about the past.

Both Lewis Cocking and Greg Stafford, I’m told, commented about the shadow cabinet. There were “too many faces reminding people of the last government”, and it being “frankly not very good”, with some not pulling their weight.

They are not alone. One LOTO figure told me: “Real surgery is needed at the top of the shadow cabinet – we’re talking the three great offices of state: Treasury, Foreign and Home.” That would mean shadow chancellor Mel Stride, …

Newlinks for Friday 13th February 2026
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.

Rayner turns on Starmer over pubs as union chief calls for her to replace PM

“Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham have called for more tax support for pubs in a fresh challenge to Sir Keir Starmer’s authority. The two Labour figures, tipped as potential rivals in a future leadership contest, suggested the Prime Minister should cut VAT to ease pressure on struggling businesses. On Thursday, Ms Rayner was also backed by a trade union leader who told The Telegraph she should replace Sir Keir if Labour finish third in the upcoming Gorton and Denton by-election. The Prime Minister is also facing pressure to soften his immigration clampdown, with 35 Labour MPs, largely on the Left, signing a letter calling the approach “deeply unfair”. Meanwhile, Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, described the scandals that have dogged the party in recent weeks as “unforgivable”. The moves are all signs of the Left pressuring the Prime Minister to change his policy agenda as he tries to cling on to power. Sir Keir’s position remains severely weakened following the fallout from the Lord Mandelson scandal.” – Daily Telegraph

Angela Rayner urges Keir Starmer to ‘do better’ on hospitality – The Times

Union chief calls for Angela Rayner to replace Keir Starmer or risk Labour defeat to Reform UK – The Guardian

Trade union chief calls for Rayner to replace Starmer as they ‘want someone who can stand up to Trump’ – Daily Mail

Will Starmer’s women problem hand Rayner the keys to No 10? – Daily Telegraph

Comment:

Survival for Keir Starmer means a new set of captors – Patrick Maguire, The Times

I must be hallucinating, DJ Rayner just questioned the minimum wage – Ed Cumming, Daily Telegraph

Lurch to the left won’t get us out of this state – Emma Duncan, The Times

Under Labour, Britain is heading for its John Galt moment – Lord Frost, Daily Telegraph

This Manchester by-election will prove why Starmer has lost the working class – Sherelle Jacobs, Daily Telegraph

> Yesterday:

John Oxley: Are we in a new phase for all Prime Ministers? The era of ‘two year Keir’

Callum Price: Why, when it comes to markets, does Andy want to burn’em to the ground?

PM ousts top civil servant in attempt to relaunch his leadership with No 10 shake-up

“Keir Starmer was on Thursday night accused of throwing another member of his top team under the bus to save his own skin. As the turmoil in his floundering government deepened, the Prime Minister forced out Sir Chris Wormald barely a year after appointing him as head of Britain’s civil service. His dramatic move came hours after an extraordinary farce in which Downing Street would not say who held the Cabinet Secretary job. In a sign of the chaos in No 10, the role was last night split between a trio of temporary incumbents. And it means that, in …

Two Pakistani nationals indicted in $10 million Medicare fraud scheme
Law enforcement shouldn't be political.

Two Pakistani nationals were indicted on Thursday for their roles in defrauding Medicare in a scheme conducted in Chicago, Illinois. The duo allegedly regularly billed “Medicare and private insurers” in excess of $10 million for “nonexistent healthcare services,” according to the Department of Justice.

Kashif Iqbal and Burhan Mirza, and several other unnamed participants, “used nominee-owned laboratories and durable medical equipment providers to submit fraudulent claims to Medicare and private healthcare benefit programs for items and services not rendered. Mirza illegally obtained private identification information of individuals and providers as part of the fraud. He then used this data to file bogus claims and receive payment, according to the Justice Department. Meanwhile, Iqbal was “associated with a number of durable medical equipment providers that submitted fraudulent claims to insurers.”

Mirza resided in Pakistan during these fraudulent operations while Iqbal lived in Texas and laundered money “obtained through the scheme” to Pakistan, according to the Justice Department.

“The indictment charges Mirza, 31, with 12 counts of healthcare fraud and five counts of money laundering,” read a release by the Department of Justice. “Iqbal, 48, is charged with 12 counts of healthcare fraud, six counts of money laundering, and one count of making a false statement to U.S. law enforcement. Arraignments in federal court in Chicago have not yet been scheduled.”

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche scolded the indicted Pakistani nationals for their fraudulent schemes, claiming that their efforts were an affront to millions of cash-strapped elderly and disabled U.S. citizens who are reliant on Medicare services.

“Rooting out fraud is a priority for this Justice Department, and these defendants allegedly billed millions of dollars from Medicare and laundered the proceeds to Pakistan,” said Blanche. “These alleged criminals stole from a program designed to provide health care benefits to American seniors and the disabled, not line the pockets of foreign fraudsters. We will not tolerate these schemes that divert taxpayer dollars to criminals.” 

“Every fraudulent submission in this case was a hand in the pocket of a senior citizen or disabled person who relies on Medicare to fund critically important care,” said U.S. Attorney Andrew S. Boutros for the Northern District of Illinois, who was one of the people who announced the indictment. “The defendants didn’t …

Walz proposes $10M business relief package as Republicans cry 'new avenue for fraud' in Minnesota
This affects the entire country.

Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz was slammed online by Republicans after proposing a $10 million emergency relief package for small businesses across the state impacted by the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
Walz unveiled the proposal Thursday after Border Czar Tom Homan announced that Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota would be ending. The proposal calls for forgivable loans ranging from $2,500 to $25,000 to be distributed to eligible businesses that are able to demonstrate "substantial revenue loss" during "specified dates" tied to the operation.
"The campaign of retribution by the federal administration has been more than a short-term disruption; it has inflicted long-term damage on Minnesota communities," Walz said in a statement. "Recovery will not happen overnight. Families, workers, and business owners are feeling the effects, and our responsibility is clear: we will help rebuild, stabilize these businesses, protect jobs, and ensure Minnesota’s economy can recover and thrive."
Republicans quickly criticized the proposal as Minnesota continues to face extensive fraud allegations.
CONVICTED MINNESOTA FRAUDSTER ALLEGES WALZ, ELLISON WERE AWARE OF WIDESPREAD FRAUD
President Donald Trump previously claimed that fraud in Minnesota exceeded $19 billion.
Dozens of people have been prosecuted in Minnesota in recent years for alleged large-scale welfare fraud schemes involving food assistance and autism services. Federal prosecutors have alleged the schemes stole hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayer-funded programs, with separate investigations also examining alleged fraud in the state’s daycare system.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn. reacted to the governor's proposal on X, saying, "BREAKING: Tim Walz opens up a new avenue for fraud in Minnesota."
NOEM HAMMERS WALZ, FREY FOR IGNORING 1,360 ICE DETAINERS FOR CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIENS
Minnesota Republican state Sen. Michael Holmstrom said on X that the proposal would be an "immediate NO from me," adding that Minnesota taxpayers "do not deserve to have more money stolen from them."
Others referenced fraud related to Minnesota's daycare system, including Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., who responded to the proposal on X, "Does that include learing centers?"
His post referenced a typo that read "Quality Learing Center," which was eventually corrected. The Quality Learning Center was infamously featured in a video by YouTuber Nick Shirley, who visited multiple daycare centers across Minnesota that allegedly received public funds but were not providing any services.
SCOOP: THOUSANDS OF …

Liam Downer-Sanderson: Labour don’t want to reopen Hammersmith Bridge. Local Conservatives will
Who benefits from this decision?

Cllr Liam Downer-Sanderson is a councillor for Fulham Town Ward on Hammersmith and Fulham Council.

“Keeping Hammersmith Bridge closed is something we may have to look at.”

Those were the words of a Labour Hammersmith and Fulham Cabinet Member at a council committee meeting on 2 February 2026. After seven years of disruption, delay and evasion, it was a moment of rare honesty.

Labour finally said out loud what many residents have long suspected. They are comfortable with the bridge staying closed to traffic permanently.

That position is wrong for Hammersmith and Fulham, wrong for London and wrong for the country.

Hammersmith Bridge was closed in 2019 after serious cracks were discovered in its foundations. The bridge is more than a century old and decades of heavy goods vehicles had taken their toll. Closure was unavoidable to prevent the risk of collapse.

The consequences were immediate and severe. Six key bus routes were diverted overnight. Emergency vehicles were forced onto longer, slower routes. Journeys to hospitals, schools and workplaces became harder, longer and more expensive. A vital transport link between Barnes, Richmond, Wimbledon, Hammersmith, Fulham and Chiswick was severed.

At that moment, the council’s task should have been obvious. Restore public transport and emergency access across the Thames as quickly and safely as possible.

Instead, Labour chose a different path.

Rather than pursuing interim or staged solutions to reopen the bridge to traffic, several of which were put forward at the time, the Labour Administration fixated on a single option. A full, gold-plated restoration costing around £250 million, with no credible timetable for reopening.

Years passed. Progress was minimal.

Recognising the scale of the problem, the Conservative Government stepped in with a pragmatic offer. To split the cost three ways between central government, Transport for London and the council. A deal was on the table. The route to reopening was clear.

Labour walked away, claiming the council could not afford it.

That argument simply does not stand up.

Because during the same period, Labour somehow found the money for something else. A brand new Town Hall. The Civic Campus project now exceeds £200 million. It was meant to be completed in 2023. It is opening three years late. And even now, Labour has allocated a further £38.5 million of capital funding in 2025/26, on top of tens of millions committed in earlier years.

This was never about affordability. It was about priorities.

Labour chose to prioritise a prestige building over restoring public transport, emergency access and everyday vehicle crossings across the Thames.

That choice tells you everything you need to know.

But the problem goes deeper than mismanagement or poor …