Weasel words have abounded since the arrest of Graham Linehan. It seems a tad ‘heavy-handed’ for five armed cops to collar a man over his tweets, said Index on Censorship. It feels ‘disproportionate’, some say. Perhaps the police should be focussing on more serious crimes, said that supposed devotee of the liberty to speak, Sir Keir Starmer. What wet, weak protestations. What puny complaints. What spineless bluster. The rest of us must speak more plainly: the armed interrogation of a...

Graham Linehan once had all the makings of an international treasure. The 57-year-old Irish writer is the creator of Father Ted, The IT Crowd and Black Books. On top of this, he had a hand in writing episodes of Little Britain, Motherland and Count Arthur Strong. His work has shaped many of the in-jokes and references that have become shorthand in the British and Irish vernacular today, from “down with that sort of thing” to calling football a “ludicrous display”. He has been the recipient of...

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo said Wednesday that the state will work to eliminate all vaccine mandates. “All of them. All of them,” he said during a news conference as the crowd stood and erupted in applause. “Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery." He said the Florida Department of Health will work in partnership with the governor. He said forcing vaccine mandates is “wrong” and “immoral.”

Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) discussed how to downplay concerns about COVID-19 vaccine efficacy and avoid “too precise” comparisons between the benefits of the jab and natural immunity, according to explosive emails obtained by The Post Tuesday. The messages reveal agency leaders frequently met to discuss public relations strategies that failed to communicate full information about the safety and efficacy of vaccines combatting SARS-CoV-2. In...

European leaders said Wednesday that they would formally propose a landmark trade deal with a cluster of South American nations, boosting Europe’s economic partnerships at a time when relations with the U.S. remain strained. The European Commission in Brussels unveiled its formal pact with the Mercosur nations of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay that has been under discussion for more than 25 years, sending the final text for ratification by the European Union’s 27 member states and...

Victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein appeared at a news conference on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, offering at times emotional stories about the abuse they endured as they advocated for legislation to compel the Justice Department to release more documents related to its investigation. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) and Ro Khanna (D-California) are collecting signatures to try to force a floor vote on the measure. On Tuesday night, the House Oversight and Government Reform...

American progressivism has long understood itself as a project of political liberation. From liberalizing restrictions on pornography to legalizing drugs and prostitution to broader efforts to reconceptualize the family and religion as institutions of oppression and privilege, the left’s track record is one of favoring individual autonomy over older values of community, social norms, and civic order.  Yet there is a tradition of communitarianism on the political left...

Chinese regime leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed their deepening partnership during a bilateral meeting on Sept. 2, as Moscow’s energy giant Gazprom announced a new agreement to build a major natural gas pipeline linking the two nations.  Addressing Xi as a “dear friend,” Putin said that Moscow’s relationship with Beijing has attained “an unprecedentedly high level,” according to a transcript of the meeting released by the Kremlin.

Russia and China gave their blessing to the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline but have yet to agree on pricing, Gazprom said on Tuesday, underscoring President Xi Jinping's disregard for Western demands that he row back from a deepening partnership with Moscow. The pipeline, which could one day deliver an additional 50 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year to China through Mongolia from the Arctic gas fields of Yamal, hands the world's largest energy consumer greater options to hedge against...

Russia and China on Tuesday signed a legally binding deal to build the long-delayed Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline, deepening commercial ties in what is likely to be seen as a defiant signal to the West. Alexei Miller, the chief executive of Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom, told Russian news agencies that a memorandum of understanding had been signed on the construction of the new gas pipeline, following talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi...