When Donald Trump touches down in London subsequent week, he will probably be greeted by the very best of Britain.
Dinner with the king, a golden carriage and all of the unimaginable pomp that the royal household make look so easy.
A far cry from the welcome Graham Linehan acquired final week when the comic stepped off a flight from Texas.
Seized by 5 closely armed cops, the Irishman was banged up in a cell over a joke he had posted on X whereas 5,100 miles away again in Arizona.
Linehan’s thought crime? Recommendation on what to do if transwomen refuse to depart feminine altering rooms: “punch him within the balls.”
Chillingly this was not a joke cracked on British soil nor hosted on a British server, but in some way throughout the scope of Britain’s Courageous New World because the self-appointed international web policeman.
‘Let’s see what occurs’
The sorry episode made a mockery of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who advised President Trump in Scotland in July: “We’ve had free speech for a really, very very long time within the UK — and it’ll final for a really, very very long time.”
In the meantime, the UK on-line regulator Ofcom is on a authorized collision course with US corporations it claims — with imperious however impractical bluster — fall underneath its remit to prosecute.
So it comes as no shock that Linehan is contemplating claiming asylum right here within the US.
The web is suffering from movies of busybody cops up and down Britain knocking on doorways over social media posts.
Even journalists have been snared by the sinister unfold of “Non Crime Hate Incidents,” as poorly drafted legal guidelines just like the On-line Security Act create a tangled internet ripe for lawfare. It’s been a present to the political left.
Some 13,000 of those NCHIs have been dished out in 2023 alone, prompting firebrand Nigel Farage to inform Congress final week Britain is on a slippery slope to North Korea.
However the chief of the surging Reform UK social gathering is much from alone in hoping a essential good friend would possibly level out that Keir Starmer’s phrases ring hole when doorways are kicked not for muggers, rapists and thieves however keyboard warriors.
Fortunately, it has not gone unnoticed by an administration with a real fondness for the previous nation, with Trump warning “unusual issues are occurring over there, they’re cracking down and surprisingly so.” He advised a tech dinner final week: “I’ve spoken to the PM and, let’s see what occurs.”
However it seems like that dialog might must be repeated subsequent week in London.
And lots of Brits will probably be hoping it’s removed from the one merchandise on the agenda behind the scenes.
Whereas issues will look spectacular for subsequent week’s unprecedented second state go to, as troops line the festooned streets, all shouldn’t be effectively in Britain.
Elected inside months of one another with thumping victories, Liberal Starmer and hardliner Trump have reduce an unlikely alliance with the invitation brandished with nice fanfare within the Oval Workplace.
However their information in workplace inform a really completely different story.
Whereas Trump floor unlawful immigration on the southern border to a halt, one other 1,097 migrants crossed the English Channel on Saturday in small boats.
About 30,000 principally fighting-age males have now landed this yr, up 37% and nearly half the dimensions of the British Military.
Good motels and preloaded debit playing cards await new arrivals, who flout black market guidelines, some taking jobs inside hours of touchdown.
The US economic system is rising nearly thrice the speed of Britain’s, the place inflation is ticking again up and taxes are already on the highest stage in peacetime historical past.
Oil wells and fracking websites are being concreted over in a quasi-religious drive to internet zero by 2050, whereas legal guidelines on constructing onshore wind farms have been relaxed as Starmer appeases his left flank.
Hapless efforts to kick-start progress are hampered by an ever-growing mountain of purple tape straight linked to this arbitrary carbon impartial goal.
Harsh comparability
Bonds are rising throughout the West, however Britain is at all times the outlier as markets nervously eye Starmer’s lack of ability to cross even the smallest reductions in spending and profit handouts regardless of what on paper needs to be a commanding majority in Parliament.
Debt curiosity funds are twice the whole protection finances.
In the meantime, conventional allies like Israel are squeezed, and Starmer is to acknowledge a Palestinian state on the United Nations as hundreds of thousands of Muslim voters desert his electoral coalition.
Tourism has been hit by overspilling avenue crime in London, whereas the White Home is no less than making an attempt to do one thing about it in Washington, DC.
So no shock to see Starmer sink to a brand new scores low of -59% final weekend, whereas President Trump topped +55%.
The pair have loads to debate in London, and except he’s cautious, Sir Keir might effectively see Britain somewhat than Canada because the president’s new 51st state goal . . .
“Harry Cole Saves the West” launches this week on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.
