A man is being prosecuted for causing distress to the religion of Islam by burning a copy of the Quran. From the Times: Prosecutors have been accused of resurrecting the offence of blasphemy through “the back door” after charging a man for burning a copy of the Quran. Hamit Coskun, 50, has denied religiously motivated…

From @PinkNews right across to @GBNEWS the reluctance to say ‘male’ is overwhelming. It’s a mindset. ‘But the whole point is that they’re trans!’ No, the point is that they’re men. Replace the word ‘trans’ with ‘men’ in these headlines and any argument dies on its feet. pic.twitter.com/ygCimKVF0y — SEEN in Journalism (@JournalismSEEN) April 9,…

Abhishek Saha has a lengthy piece in Quillette on The Fight for Academic Freedom in the UK. He explores the complex progress of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, from its inception under the Tories and its advance under Claire Coutinho, the minister responsible for the bill’s passage through parliament, to the subsequent –…

Revealed in the NYT – A Pattern of Lavish Spending at a Leading L.G.B.T.Q. Nonprofit. 1./ How Corrupt is the LGBTQ+ Lobby?@glaad is an ex-gay group like Stonewall that now pushes a homophobic, misogynistic, child-harm agenda. They're so trans-obsessed they monitor @jk_rowling. 🤪They do all this to fund their lifestyles. How do we know?👉https://t.co/DVu9TuUHQX —…

Much Twitter talk on John Oliver's risible defence of men in women's sport on his US show at the weekend. Oliver Brown in the Telegraph takes it apart: John Oliver, the British comedian whose viral rants have made him an unlikely standard-bearer for liberal America, broadcast his latest sophomoric skit on transgender athletes late on…

Letter from Saqib Bhatti, Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities.  

A letter in the Times today from a number of leading academics: Sir, As long-time advocates of academic freedom and freedom of speech in higher education, we support the clear and proportionate sanctions imposed by the Office for Students on the University of Sussex (“Universities review trans policies after big fine”, news, Apr 5) .…

The North Koreans know how to do this properly. Tariffs? Bah! For weak people! A total ban is the only way. From the Daily NK: North Korea has implemented legal prohibitions against importing American cigarettes, Coca-Cola, and other U.S. products. Daily NK recently obtained the full text of the “Customs Law Implementation Regulations” enacted in…

Free Palestine or Pride, which is it going to be? pic.twitter.com/vgy67tMzw4 — TaraBull (@TaraBull808) April 6, 2025 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Brutalism in Washington, from architectural photographer Ty Cole. Largely built in the 1960s and 70s as the federal government expanded, Washington DC has numerous brutalist buildings built by leading architects including Marcel Breuer. Cole photographed the most prominent ones as part of the Capital Brutalism exhibition at the National Building Museum in Washington DC, which he co-curated with University…