News Round-Up: Starmer Calls for Spyware on All Phones, Politicians Blame Musk for Belfast Riots, BP Scraps Net Zero Division
Twice a week, the editorial team of Freedom Research compiles a round-up of news that caught our eye – or what felt like under-reported aspects of news deserving more attention.
Over the past few days, the following topics attracted our attention:
Starmer Calls for Spyware on All Phones
Belfast Riots: British Politicians Blame Elon Musk
BP Scraps Net Zero division
Starmer Calls for Spyware on All Phones
In a speech at London Tech Week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer issued a request to tech companies operating in the UK - introduce device controls that prevent children from sending and receiving explicit images or face punishment, the BBC reports.
The government says Britain will become the first country in the world to stop children taking, sharing, or viewing naked pictures on their devices.
Companies have three months to make changes or the government will bring forward legislation to force them, the PM said.
This is yet another measure being introduced in the name of the ‘protection of children,’ but it will, in practice, undermine everyone’s privacy. As Reclaim The Net puts it, Starmer is essentially calling for spyware to be installed on all phones. “The trouble is the two innocent-looking words tucked into the speech like a wasp in a picnic basket, the words “device-level.” Here is what “device-level” means once you peel off the cuddly branding. To catch one naughty photo on your phone, something has to inspect every photo on your phone. All of them,” they wrote.
Starmer’s announcement was also met with criticism by Big Brother Watch, which called it “extreme technological censorship”.
Belfast Riots: British Politicians Blame Elon Musk
Street riots that escalated from protests against serious crimes committed by immigrants erupted this week in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland. The immediate trigger was a particularly brutal attempted murder allegedly committed by an immigrant from Sudan.
Hadi Alodid, a 30-year-old man from Sudan, attacked his victim with a knife in the Kinnaird Avenue area of north Belfast on Monday evening. Video footage circulating on social media appears to show an exceptionally brutal attack: a dark-skinned man repeatedly stabs his victim in the face and neck. According to some accounts, he even attempted to decapitate him. The video also shows several bystanders intervening, pushing the attacker away and restraining him until police arrived.
The victim, Stephen Olgivie, suffered very serious injuries, lost his left eye, and remained in critical condition in hospital.
Alodid appeared in court on Wednesday, where he was charged with attempted murder and denied bail.
Alodid, who is of Sudanese origin, is a recent immigrant to Northern Ireland. He arrived in February 2023 after flying from Paris to Dublin. Upon arrival, he applied for asylum and, in September 2023, was granted permission to remain in the United Kingdom until 2028.
Mass immigration and its associated costs to taxpayers – many asylum seekers are housed in hotels funded by the state – are already pressing issues in the United Kingdom. Crime statistics have also drawn attention to concerns regarding immigrant crime, particularly violent offenses and sexual assaults.
In this social and political context, it is not surprising that the brutal attempted murder committed by Alodidi sparked another wave of anti-immigration protests. By the evening and into the night, however, the demonstrations escalated into riots. Hotels housing asylum seekers were reportedly targeted, although they were protected by police.
This led to clashes between police and protesters. Police deployed rubber bullets and water cannons, while protesters threw objects at officers and set cars on fire.
British politicians have meanwhile found a scapegoat for all of this: once again, it is Elon Musk. On Wednesday, Musk wrote on his social media platform X: “Murderous migrants beheading innocent people in their home town is what’s making people angry, not “social media”!”.
He also reposted a post by another user that stated: “Keir Starmer clearly hates white people.”
“It’s appalling,” Labour Party Chair Anna Turley said of Musk’s interventions, speaking to Britain’s LBC radio station Thursday. “Anyone that is seeking to drive and exploit a situation like this to drive their own political agenda is grievously wrong and doing damage. We’ve seen children, families having to flee their homes on the streets of Belfast last night.” Michelle O’Neill, the first minister of Northern Ireland, had earlier condemned “the Elon Musks of this world,” who she said “are sitting right comfy in their homes, orchestrating hate and tension.”
Starmer did not mention Musk by name, but called out “those who encouraged it, online or elsewhere.” He also criticized people “trying to interfere in our democracy and seeking to stir up division on our streets.”
His official spokesperson added Thursday that the government “will not tolerate platforms being used to spread violence.”
Belfast is already the second major British city this June to witness anti-immigration protests and clashes with police. A similar wave of unrest erupted in Southampton in early June. The protests there were fueled not only by a brutal murder committed by an immigrant but also by the conduct of the police.
Specifically, 23-year-old Vickrum Digwa, who is of Indian origin, stabbed 18-year-old student Henry Nowak in early December last year. According to body-camera footage released during the trial, the police officers who arrived at the scene did not believe Nowak when he said he had been stabbed and could not breathe. Instead of providing assistance, they treated the injured young man as a suspect, arresting and handcuffing him while he lay on the ground.
In doing so, the officers relied solely on claims made by Digwa and his brother that Nowak had previously behaved in a racist manner and that Digwa had therefore been acting in self- The UK police have announced that they are now preparing for summer riots in the wake of the incident.
BP Scraps Net Zero division
BP has pared back its Net Zero division as it pivots back towards oil and gas, GB News reports.
The company has confirmed that it will be split into two divisions – upstream and downstream. It currently operates with three divisions, with one focused on “gas and low carbon energy”. Renewables fall under this division, but will next year come under a separate “Other Businesses” segment.
The shift marks a return to the company structure BP abandoned six years ago, when it attempted to pursue a greener agenda. Then chief executive Bernard Looney introduced the gas and low carbon energy division as part of this green drive. But under current chief executive, Meg O’Neill, BP has rowed back.
The company announced last year that it would be cutting renewable energy investments to focus on increasing oil and gas production.
It had come under increasing pressure from investors unhappy that its profits and share price were lower than its rivals.
Democracy is a fine word, that spills off politicians lips with ease, unfortunately by not listening to the general public, politicians demonstrate it is no more than a word, there is no action to show democracy.
Starmer wants pics of naked children sent to him and only him.