Almost every time we glance at the news these days, there appear to be fresh reasons for gloom. Still, we mustn’t let ourselves become too downcast. Because we do have at least one piece of good news to celebrate.
Labour politicians have suddenly realised the importance of free speech.
This miraculous conversion appears to have taken place over the weekend, after Israel denied entry to two Labour MPs. The Israeli immigration ministry accused Abtisam Mohamed (the MP for Sheffield Central) and Yuan Yang (the MP for Earley & Woodley) of planning to “spread anti-Israel hatred”. Ms Mohamed has previously accused Israel of “war crimes”, “crimes against humanity” and “ethnic cleansing”, and called for a UK ban on Israeli goods. As for Ms Yang, in January she called for sanctions against Israeli ministers.
In response to Israel’s decision, senior Labour figures are united in outrage. They simply can’t believe that a Western nation would deny entry to democratically elected politicians, purely for expressing opinions of which its government disapproves.
Take, for example, the veteran Labour MP and former Foreign Office minister Sir Chris Bryant. On Sunday, he indignantly tweeted: “What price free speech? What price democracy?”
Excellent questions. I only wonder whether he paused to consider them in 2017, before he wrote to Theresa May, the then prime minister, calling on her to ban Donald Trump from entering Britain. Trump was then, as now, the democratically elected president of the USA. Yet Sir Chris believed that he should be denied entry to our country, because on Twitter the president had shared three videos which Sir Chris deemed to be “Islamophobic”.
Perhaps these videos were indeed offensive. But even if so, would it really have been right to block a visit from the elected leader of a Western ally, just for retweeting them? What price free speech? What price democracy?
Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch party PVV, might ask the same thing. In February 2009, the then Labour government blocked him from entering the UK, because it objected to comments he’d made about Islam. Jacqui Smith, the home secretary at the time, said she believed that his “statements about Muslims and their beliefs” would “threaten community harmony”. The fact that Mr Wilders was then, as now, a democratically elected politician from a friendly Western nation made no difference. The Labour government disapproved of his opinions, so it kept him out.
Still, times have clearly changed. In 2025, Labour evidently believes that elected politicians must be free to enter any country they choose, even if that country’s government considers their opinions to be hateful. David Lammy, our Foreign Secretary, has said that Israel’s refusal to admit the two Labour MPs is “unacceptable”, and sternly declared: “I have made clear to my counterparts in the Israeli government that this is no way to treat British parliamentarians.”
I wonder if he and his colleagues recall what Mr Wilders, the Dutch parliamentarian, said in February 2009. Asked whether he had a message for the Labour government that had just barred him from entering Britain, Mr Wilders said it was “a very sad day when the UK bans an elected parliamentarian”, and added: “Even if you don’t like me and don’t like the things I say, then you should let me in for freedom of speech. If you don’t, you are looking like cowards.”
Perhaps Labour would now like to prove that it’s changed, by inviting Mr Wilders to visit our country, as the Government’s honoured guest.
A woke history of the world
To parents, it may seem absurd for schoolchildren to be taught that Joan of Arc was “non-binary”. For one thing, she lived around 600 years before this exciting term was coined. In any case, evidence to support the assertion is thin on the ground. If, as Joan was led to the stake, she loudly reminded her executioners to refer to her as elles rather than elle, witnesses appear to have taken no note of it.
Even so, I’m not going to criticise Collins, the publisher, for promoting this questionable claim in an anthology of school teaching materials. Because it’s given me an idea. I’m going to write a school history textbook of my own.
On every page, I’m going to ensure that it rigorously reflects all of today’s most fashionable progressive views. So not only will Joan of Arc be non-binary, but Emmeline Pankhurst will be trans, Einstein will be a sex worker, and Mozart will be a disabled woman of colour. Meanwhile, the row over the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays will at last be resolved: they were actually written by an Eritrean asylum seeker.
In addition, my book will finally dare to reveal the truth about some of history’s greatest villains. Osama bin Laden was actually an evangelical Christian, Pol Pot was a capitalist, and Idi Amin was white.
In no time, I feel sure, my book will be stocked by every school in the land.
Way of the World is a twice-weekly satirical look at the headlines aiming to mock the absurdities of the modern world. It is published at 6am every Tuesday and Saturday
Almost every time we glance at the news these days, there appear to be fresh reasons for gloom. Still, we mustn’t let ourselves become too downcast. Because we do have at least one piece of good news to celebrate.
Labour politicians have suddenly realised the importance of free speech.
This miraculous conversion appears to have taken place over the weekend, after Israel denied entry to two Labour MPs. The Israeli immigration ministry accused Abtisam Mohamed (the MP for Sheffield Central) and Yuan Yang (the MP for Earley & Woodley) of planning to “spread anti-Israel hatred”. Ms Mohamed has previously accused Israel of “war crimes”, “crimes against humanity” and “ethnic cleansing”, and called for a UK ban on Israeli goods. As for Ms Yang, in January she called for sanctions against Israeli ministers.
In response to Israel’s decision, senior Labour figures are united in outrage. They simply can’t believe that a Western nation would deny entry to democratically elected politicians, purely for expressing opinions of which its government disapproves.
Take, for example, the veteran Labour MP and former Foreign Office minister Sir Chris Bryant. On Sunday, he indignantly tweeted: “What price free speech? What price democracy?”
Excellent questions. I only wonder whether he paused to consider them in 2017, before he wrote to Theresa May, the then prime minister, calling on her to ban Donald Trump from entering Britain. Trump was then, as now, the democratically elected president of the USA. Yet Sir Chris believed that he should be denied entry to our country, because on Twitter the president had shared three videos which Sir Chris deemed to be “Islamophobic”.
Perhaps these videos were indeed offensive. But even if so, would it really have been right to block a visit from the elected leader of a Western ally, just for retweeting them? What price free speech? What price democracy?
Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch party PVV, might ask the same thing. In February 2009, the then Labour government blocked him from entering the UK, because it objected to comments he’d made about Islam. Jacqui Smith, the home secretary at the time, said she believed that his “statements about Muslims and their beliefs” would “threaten community harmony”. The fact that Mr Wilders was then, as now, a democratically elected politician from a friendly Western nation made no difference. The Labour government disapproved of his opinions, so it kept him out.
Still, times have clearly changed. In 2025, Labour evidently believes that elected politicians must be free to enter any country they choose, even if that country’s government considers their opinions to be hateful. David Lammy, our Foreign Secretary, has said that Israel’s refusal to admit the two Labour MPs is “unacceptable”, and sternly declared: “I have made clear to my counterparts in the Israeli government that this is no way to treat British parliamentarians.”
I wonder if he and his colleagues recall what Mr Wilders, the Dutch parliamentarian, said in February 2009. Asked whether he had a message for the Labour government that had just barred him from entering Britain, Mr Wilders said it was “a very sad day when the UK bans an elected parliamentarian”, and added: “Even if you don’t like me and don’t like the things I say, then you should let me in for freedom of speech. If you don’t, you are looking like cowards.”
Perhaps Labour would now like to prove that it’s changed, by inviting Mr Wilders to visit our country, as the Government’s honoured guest.
A woke history of the world
To parents, it may seem absurd for schoolchildren to be taught that Joan of Arc was “non-binary”. For one thing, she lived around 600 years before this exciting term was coined. In any case, evidence to support the assertion is thin on the ground. If, as Joan was led to the stake, she loudly reminded her executioners to refer to her as elles rather than elle, witnesses appear to have taken no note of it.
Even so, I’m not going to criticise Collins, the publisher, for promoting this questionable claim in an anthology of school teaching materials. Because it’s given me an idea. I’m going to write a school history textbook of my own.
On every page, I’m going to ensure that it rigorously reflects all of today’s most fashionable progressive views. So not only will Joan of Arc be non-binary, but Emmeline Pankhurst will be trans, Einstein will be a sex worker, and Mozart will be a disabled woman of colour. Meanwhile, the row over the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays will at last be resolved: they were actually written by an Eritrean asylum seeker.
In addition, my book will finally dare to reveal the truth about some of history’s greatest villains. Osama bin Laden was actually an evangelical Christian, Pol Pot was a capitalist, and Idi Amin was white.
In no time, I feel sure, my book will be stocked by every school in the land.
Way of the World is a twice-weekly satirical look at the headlines aiming to mock the absurdities of the modern world. It is published at 6am every Tuesday and Saturday