Best Of

"I was horrified to hear about what happened to Vanessa Brown last month. In March, Ms Brown, 50, was arrested on suspicion of theft and then detained, searched and banged up by Surrey Police for nearly eight hours after she took her daughters’ iPads away in an effort to get her 16-year-old eldest daughter to focus on revision. She went to visit her mother in Cobham for a coffee, took the tablets with her and a couple of hours later had the plod knocking on the door to conduct a “welfare check”, before arresting her. There but for the grace of God, etc. Surrey Police has since apologised, and acknowledged its error."

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/14/police-overreach-vanessa-brown-parenting/

Weird case. I’d like to know who the man in his forties who reported the iPads as stolen is. And why he did that. Did the girls claim that they had been stolen? Hence the police action?

Am I correct in thinking that this arrest is now something that has to be reported to the US authorities for travel, and the existence of such an arrest may become a reason for detention for say a fortnight without legal representation, and rendition again without legal representation or any process to Louisiana or Texas or El Salvador?

I hope she does not have any tattoos.

I have not looked at either the Telegrunt, or Mumsnet.

It’s not fully clear what’s gone on, but I think the fact that they were reported as stolen and that she initially denied having them have inflated a family squabble into something bigger. I have some sympathy for the police. We constantly complain that they do not investigate thefts and then when they do we complain again. If she hadn’t lied it might not have been 7 hours in a cell.

I think today was an inflection point - maybe small, but real.

The President, having launched a global trade war, feted in the Oval Office a Central American dictator who runs a mega-prison known for starvation and torture - a prison to which our government has, by its own admission, sent at least one person "in error."

They disappeared a man without a single criminal charge who's lived and worked here for 15 years - who was alleged to be a member of a gang based in a state he never lived by one anonymous informant. No other evidence. No trial. No conviction. Nothing but a legal order that he not be deported to El Salvador, where he's now serving a life sentence.

The Supreme Court just ruled, without any noted dissent, that the government must facilitate the man's release.

But Trump and his dictator friend said no. They laughed. They mocked the journalist who asked whether they'd abide by the Court's order. The Attorney General, the Secretary of State, and the White House Deputy Chief all lied about the facts of the case. Then the President repeated his proposal to send American citizens to the dictator's prison, and asked him to build five more.

The same day we found out that the government knowingly disappeared a PhD student for nothing but an op-ed, a man's 19-year old son who agents admitted was the wrong kid, and a visa-holding Russian scientist at Harvard who forgot to declare frog embryos at the border.

But: it's all breaking through. It's getting more coverage. More people are paying attention. More elected Democrats are speaking up. More conservative pundits and legal scholars are speaking up. Even Joe Rogan thinks it's bullshit.

Now we have to keep pushing. This is much bigger than immigration or deportation policy - this is about whether we live in a free country or a police state. It's the whole ballgame.
https://x.com/jonfavs/status/1911995867407827204

Apparently Mr Trump's dictator friend wasn't wearing a suit for his visit, but nobody objected this time.

Good morning, everybody.

He was wearing a suit, but not a shirt and tie under it. Looks like some kind of woolly pullover.

The whole effect made him look like a refugee from a charity shop.

It's the Andrew Tate look, with spray on beard too.

Over tight suit, with deliberate undersizing in an attempt to emphasise the torso.

One thing he got right was the black* shirt, as the prime function of a suit is to direct the gaze to the wearers face and with a high contrast face this works.

*right in so many ways...

Black shorts would have been more appropriate.

He appears to be serious about the unilateral imposition of reparations.

https://x.com/JayinKyiv/status/1911784481465245987
Trump is apparently considering sanctioning Ukrainian government officials to force them to sign over Ukraine's oil, gas, minerals and infrastructure.

Time for the EU to reconstruct adding the UK and Ukraine. Then we can tell Trump what to do with his mineral grab

I suspect any timescale for the remission of the UK would be similar to that for Ukraine - ie almost certainly not in the near term.

Remission makes Brexit sound like cancer.

Autocorrect becoming more intelligent ?

I think today was an inflection point - maybe small, but real.

The President, having launched a global trade war, feted in the Oval Office a Central American dictator who runs a mega-prison known for starvation and torture - a prison to which our government has, by its own admission, sent at least one person "in error."

They disappeared a man without a single criminal charge who's lived and worked here for 15 years - who was alleged to be a member of a gang based in a state he never lived by one anonymous informant. No other evidence. No trial. No conviction. Nothing but a legal order that he not be deported to El Salvador, where he's now serving a life sentence.

The Supreme Court just ruled, without any noted dissent, that the government must facilitate the man's release.

But Trump and his dictator friend said no. They laughed. They mocked the journalist who asked whether they'd abide by the Court's order. The Attorney General, the Secretary of State, and the White House Deputy Chief all lied about the facts of the case. Then the President repeated his proposal to send American citizens to the dictator's prison, and asked him to build five more.

The same day we found out that the government knowingly disappeared a PhD student for nothing but an op-ed, a man's 19-year old son who agents admitted was the wrong kid, and a visa-holding Russian scientist at Harvard who forgot to declare frog embryos at the border.

But: it's all breaking through. It's getting more coverage. More people are paying attention. More elected Democrats are speaking up. More conservative pundits and legal scholars are speaking up. Even Joe Rogan thinks it's bullshit.

Now we have to keep pushing. This is much bigger than immigration or deportation policy - this is about whether we live in a free country or a police state. It's the whole ballgame.
https://x.com/jonfavs/status/1911995867407827204

I hope we never hear the words 'special relationship' while this bunch of spivs are in office. It'll be repellent to most British and European voters. If we're lucky the world order will never be the same again.

Since we are all a bit grumpy tonight, some news that will bring unalloyed joy, and not upset anybody on this forum...

@EllenAMilligan

Scoop: The UK has signaled to the EU that it's open to accept the dynamic alignment of rules on agrifood products + supervision of the ECJ over the SPS deal it wants to negotiate. Big shift in UK position.

https://x.com/EllenAMilligan/status/1911821425520062592

Woo, ECJ jurisdiction is a reversal of Brexit, at least narrowly and in part

https://x.com/pritipatel/status/1911853742502326408

Oh yes those marvellous Brexit freedoms which mean we have to beg for scraps from Trump .

Funny how these Brexit Tories are so obsessed with sovereignty but seem happy to hand that over to Trump .