CHEQUERS: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Thursday that Britain protects freedom of speech “jealously” and “fiercely” after US criticism and several cases have focused attention on British laws.
“Free speech, it’s one of the founding values of the United Kingdom, and we protect it jealously and fiercely and always will,” Starmer told a press conference with US President Donald Trump at the end of a state visit to the UK.
“We will bear down on any limits of free speech,” Starmer vowed, but warned that “I draw a limit between free speech and the speech of those that want to peddle paedophilia and suicide (on) social media to children.”
The British leader added the killing of US conservative influencer Charlie Kirk last week was “shocking ... to everybody who believes in free speech and in democracy.”
Free speech has recently hit the headlines in the UK over various cases, which have drawn criticism from US figures.
Debate also swirled around last year’s sentencing of a woman to 31 months in prison for writing on X “Set fire to all the... hotels (housing asylum seekers)... for all I care,” as anti-immigration, far-right riots spread across England.
US Vice President JD Vance has been particularly vocal about the issue, raising it with Starmer during a White House meeting in February.
Vance previously claimed free speech is “in retreat” across Europe, and doubled down on the remarks during Starmer’s visit, claiming that “infringements on free speech” had affected British people.
British politician and leader of the hard-right Reform party Nigel Farage asked before a US congressional committee: “At what point did we become North Korea?“
He was speaking after award-winning comedy writer Graham Linehan was arrested and charged earlier in September over three social media posts against a transgender person.
Tech billionaire and X owner Elon Musk has also accused Britain of being a “police state.”
When asked by a reporter whether the cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show over the comedian’s comments about Kirk on Wednesday was a case of free speech being threatened, Trump replied: “Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings... so you can call that free speech, or not, he was fired for lack of talent.”
Starmer says UK protects free speech ‘jealously’ and ‘fiercely’
https://arab.news/c5j23
Starmer says UK protects free speech ‘jealously’ and ‘fiercely’
- The British leader said the killing of US conservative influencer Charlie Kirk last week was “shocking”
- US Vice President JD Vance claimed free speech is “in retreat” across Europe
‘Unofficial’ talks on plastic pollution treaty to begin in Japan
- “Plastic pollution is a planetary problem that affects everyone: every country, every community and every individual,” Cordano warned after being elected
TOKYO: Delegates from around 20 countries will hold three days of “informal” talks in Japan from Sunday aimed at salvaging efforts toward a landmark global treaty on plastic pollution.
Supposedly final talks in South Korea in 2024 toward an agreement failed, and a renewed effort in Geneva last August likewise collapsed in overtime.
A Japanese Environment Ministry official said that the “informal” closed-door meeting among “working-level officials” through Tuesday was not expected to result in any official announcement.
If we don’t take concerted action, it will get much worse in the coming decades. A treaty is urgently needed.
Julio Cordano, Chile’s chief climate negotiator
“Japan is in a position of pushing for progress on the issue, and so is hosting the meeting,” the official told AFP without wishing to be named.
She added that “little progress” has been made since August, other than the election in early February of Chile’s chief climate negotiator Julio Cordano as chairman.
“Plastic pollution is a planetary problem that affects everyone: every country, every community and every individual,” Cordano warned after being elected.
“If we don’t take concerted action, it will get much worse in the coming decades. A treaty is urgently needed,” he said.
More than 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced globally each year, with half for single-use items.
A large bloc of states wants bold action such as curbing plastic production, while a smaller clutch of oil-producing states wants to focus more narrowly on waste management.
Countries expected to be present in Tokyo include big oil producers like Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United States as well as islands states Antigua and Barbuda and Palau, plus China, India and the European Union.
The UN’s environment chief told AFP in an interview in October that a global treaty remains “totally doable.”
“No one has walked away and said, ‘this is just too hopeless, we’re giving up’,” United Nations Environment Programme executive director Inger Andersen said.
