When the Online Safety Act was introduced, the government sold it as a child-protection measure. Ministers promised it would clean up the internet, tackle grooming gangs, and shield children from harmful material. Yet tucked away in the final legislation is a reference that has little to do with child safety: Section 25 of the Immigration Act […]

Britain’s Online Safety Act is being sold as a domestic solution to a domestic problem. Ministers insist it won’t be watered down under American pressure—Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has explicitly ruled out altering the law as part of US‑UK trade talks. But critics warn its impact reaches much further. Digital Regulation with Global Reach Because […]

Free Speech is under attack. When the Online Safety Act was first pitched, the message was simple: it would protect children from predators, scammers, and harmful content. Few objected to the goal of shielding minors from the darker corners of the internet. Successive governments had been criticised for not doing enough to keep children safe […]

A transgender woman has sexually assaulted a man by hiding her gender status, a jury at Teesside Crown Court has ruled. Ciara Watkin, 21, of Stockton-on-Tees, deceived a 21-year-old man in June 2022 and engaged in sexual activity without telling him she was transgender. The two first connected on Snapchat, where they exchanged messages for weeks. When they […]

There is no shortage of laws on the books to protect children. What Britain does not need is a censorship regime dressed up as one. The Online Safety Act was trumpeted as the answer to every parent’s fears about the internet. Ministers promised it would tackle bullying, grooming, self-harm forums, and the darkest forms of criminal content. […]

The Online Safety Act: Now More Than Just Child Protection As of 25 July 2025, UK platforms were required to introduce robust age-verification systems to keep harmful content away from children. This is the current phase of the Online Safety Act 2023, now being actively enforced by Ofcom with penalties as severe as £18 million or 10% of global […]

What do you get when you cross a career lawyer with a wet lettuce? Apparently, the current Prime Minister. Sir Keir Starmer’s government is barely out of the honeymoon suite, yet it’s already tripping over itself like a drunk uncle at a wedding. U-turn after U-turn — on winter fuel payments, grooming gang inquiries, welfare […]

Keir Starmer’s reversal—from dismissing calls for a national inquiry into the grooming gang scandal as a “far‑right bandwagon” to now establishing a full statutory investigation—marks not just a political recalibration but a moral reckoning. On one hand, it’s a textbook U‑turn; on the other, it signals a government finally taking victims seriously. 🔍 Grooming Gang […]

11 June 2025 When Rachel Reeves unveiled Labour’s much-hyped spending review, the headlines were full of buzzwords: “discipline,” “growth,” “stability.” But beneath the polished delivery lies a fiscal strategy teetering on the edge of collapse. Economists have warned that Reeves is just a “gnat’s whisker” away from triggering autumn tax hikes, and for good reason. This isn’t economic […]