FREE THE CHRISTMAS FIVE!

It is rare for the US Department of State to amuse the rest of the world for Christmas, but in 2025 they unveiled the funniest Doublespeak announcement ever. It currently leads the all-time entries for the “No Thought Involved Here” prize by announcing the cancellation of visas for five Europeans who lead ‘organized (sic) efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize (sic), and suppress American viewpoints they oppose.”

Clare Melford, CEO of the Global Disinformation Index,
Josephine Ballon, Head of Legal Affairs at Germany’s HateAid,
Imran Ahmed, head of the UK’s Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH),
Anna-Lena von Hodenberg OM, a journalist and co-founder of Germany’s HateAid,
Thierry Breton, ex-EU commissioner for Internal Markets and thorn in Frau von der Leyen’s side.

Their common denominator: they are all advocates for the restriction of hate speech. So, for clarity, the US State Department is banning five individuals from visiting the USA because of their involvement in constraining hate speech, but pretending that these peoples’ objective is to restrict free speech in the USA. [Hollow laugh.]

Let that just sink in for a moment…

Not so amusing for the five people involved, but really absurdly Orwellian and a new moment in the ongoing MAGA redefinition of Free Speech as “Freedom to Agree with Us.”

Splendid.

We will omit our weekly round-up of UK politics that we would normally produce on Sunday (28th December) on the grounds that Westminster is in recess, journos are all on hols and the public are focused on the King’s Speech and the saga of Sandringham church service attendance. And that we are dealing with the eternal questions: beef Wellington or turkey, etc… so

HAPPY CHRISTMAS FROM TWOP

and we will see you with a wrap-up of youth-related UK politics on 31st December and re-start our weekly review on 4th January.

Thanks for reading!