Farage branded ‘free speech imposter’ in savage takedown by US Congressman

Nigel Farage was branded a “Putin-loving free speech imposter and Trump sycophant” by a US congressman on Wednesday who launched a severe critique of the Reform UK leader before the Briton gave evidence to a committee in Washington DC.

Democrat representative Jamie Raskin urged voters in Britain to “think twice” before voting for Mr Farage, accusing him of only protecting free speech he agrees with.

His comments came as Mr Farage, who has been heavily critical of free speech in the UK, with claims police are too heavy-handed with their arrests of people accused of hate speech, gave evidence on the subject to the US House judiciary committee.

Mr Raskin said: “To the people of the UK who think this Putin-loving free speech imposter and Trump sycophant will protect freedom in your country, come on over to America and see what Trump and Maga are doing to destroy our freedom … You might think twice before you let Mr Farage ‘make Britain great again’.”

Giving evidence later in the session, Mr Farage hit back, saying: “You can say what you like, I don’t care.”

In his stinging attack, Mr Raskin argued that Donald Trump and Mr Farage “both claim they’re protectors of free speech, but they only want to protect speech they agree with”.

“He [Mr Farage] complains that racist threats against immigrants are not protected free speech, while he proposes to strip migrants, tourists and perhaps even visiting American congresspeople of any free speech rights at all.

“I had my own close encounter with that when Mr Farage and his team presented for more than an hour in a conversation we had about free speech. And after three minutes of talking, he cut me off and terminated the meeting because he didn’t like what I was saying.

“That’s the kind of free speech he’s committed to,” Mr Raskin said.

Mr Farage has proposed replacing the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights – applying only to British citizens and those who have a legal right to live in the UK.

Mr Raskin argued that while there is a free speech crisis in America, “there’s no free speech crisis in Britain”.

He pointed out that “no one has stopped Mr Farage from parroting Putin’s absurd talking points”, a reference to the MP’s previous suggestion that Nato provoked the war in Ukraine, as well as pointing out that Sir Keir Starmer has not shut down news organisation GB News, where Mr Farage has his own show, which is critical of the government.

Giving evidence to the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, the Reform UK leader said: “I’m delighted to be acquainted with the charming Mr Raskin – delightful testimony you gave me earlier on with your speech.

“But hey, that’s fine. You can say what you like, I don’t care, because that’s what free speech is. In a sense, this has all been going wrong now for a couple of decades.”

Despite pitching themselves as champions of free speech, Reform UK has been criticised for impinging upon media freedom after the leader of a Reform council barred a local newspaper and website from interacting with the authority.

The ban imposed by Nottinghamshire County Council came after Nottinghamshire Live published a series of stories which council leader Mick Barton claimed “consistently misrepresented” the party.

Giving evidence, Mr Farage said he wanted to bring Lucy Connolly, who was jailed for stirring up racial hatred against asylum seekers in the aftermath of the Southport murders last year, to Washington as “living proof of what can go wrong” with free speech, as well as sensationally comparing Britain to North Korea.

“It doesn’t give me any great joy to be sitting in America and describing the really awful authoritarian situation that we have now sunk into”, he said.

He also raised the arrest of Irish comedy writer Graham Linehan for his comments on social media about transgender people, claiming that US tech chiefs could face arrest when entering the UK.

He said: “He [Linehan] put out some tweets months ago when he was in Arizona, and months later, he arrives at Heathrow airport to be met by five armed police.

“This could happen to any American man or woman that goes to Heathrow that has said things online that the British government and British police don’t like. It is a potentially big threat to tech bosses, to many, many others.”

Mr Farage also warned that the UK’s Online Safety Act “will damage trade between our countries, threaten free speech across the West because of the knock-on rollout effects of this legislation from us or from the European Union”.

The Online Safety Act came into effect this year, providing a new set of laws that protect children and adults online from harmful content.

The act has given providers new duties to implement systems and processes to reduce the risk that their services are used for illegal activity, and to take down illegal content when it does appear.

‘You’ll see things happen’: Trump issues threat if US unhappy with Putin decision

Donald Trump has warned “you’ll see things happen” if the US is unhappy with Vladimir Putin’s decisions over the war in Ukraine.

Speaking alongside the Polish president Karol Nawrocki on Wednesday, the US president said he was awaiting a decision from Putin, as he spoke of the ongoing loss of lives in the region due to the conflict.

Putin had earlier said he would be prepared to meet Volodymyr Zelensky in Moscow following weeks of apparent stalling on peace talks since the summit in Alaska.

“I have no message to President Putin,” Mr Trump told reporters at the White House.

“He knows where I stand and he’ll make a decision one way or another. Whatever his decision is, we’ll either be happy about it or unhappy about it and if we’re unhappy about it, you’ll see things happen.”

Putin said on Wednesday he believed “that if common sense prevails, it is possible to agree on an acceptable option for ending the conflict,” adding that Mr Trump has “a sincere desire” to find a settlement.

“It seems to me that there is a certain light at the end of the tunnel,” Putin said at a news conference in Beijing, wrapping up a four-day visit to China. “Let’s see how the situation develops. If not, then we will have to achieve our goal by military means.”

Rylan Clark’s immigrant rant sparks hundreds of Ofcom complaints

Rylan Clark’s controversial claims on This Morning about immigration to the UK sparked hundreds of Ofcom complaints.

The ITV programme received 576 complaints about Clark’s rant, which he made during the 27 August live show.

Critics accused the host of repeating false narratives about immigrants receiving free iPads and being accommodated in four-star hotels.

During the episode, the 36-year-old, who was standing in for regular hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard, noted how doctors and nurses from “other countries” saved his mother Linda’s life when she fell ill earlier this year.

“They’re living a great life, they’re paying into this tax system, they’re helping this country thrive,” he said.

But he added that there is “something wrong” with the way refugees are welcomed. “Here’s the iPad. Here’s the NHS in reception of your hotel. Here’s three meals a day. Here’s a games room in the hotel. Have a lovely time and welcome,” he said.

Clark continued: “How can it be that if I turn up at Heathrow Airport as a British citizen and I’ve left my passport in Spain, I’ve got to stand at that airport and won’t be let in. But if I arrive on a boat from Calais, I get taken to a four-star hotel?”

An Ofcom spokesperson told The Independent: “We’re assessing these complaints against our broadcasting rules, but are yet to decide whether or not to investigate.”

Following backlash to his rant, Clark told his critics you can be “pro immigration and against illegal routes” after he said it was “absolutely insane” that asylum seekers are risking their lives to come to the UK.

“Stop with this putting everyone in a box and maybe have conversations instead of shouting on Twitter,” Clark wrote on Instagram hours after his opinion was condemned online.

“You can be pro immigration and against illegal routes. You can support trans people and have the utmost respect for women. You can be heterosexual and still support gay rights. This list continues.”

On Tuesday (2 September), Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid stepped in when correspondent Kevin Maguire hit out at Clark for “regurgitating terrible myths” about migrants.

Interrupting Maguire, Reid replied: “Hang on. He pointed out that this country is built on immigration and he was grateful to all of the migrants who have come to the NHS for helping support his mum.

“He was actually concerned, though, that we’ve got a sort of welcome to the UK, and we don’t know who all of these people are.”

Reid said she thinks “it is the duty of the government, as the government itself would acknowledge, that we control borders and we do not just welcome everybody if we don’t know who they are”, adding that Clark did not want to share an anti-migration message.

Maguire replied: “He also regurgitated a load of myths and lies. Let’s not ignore that. Myths and lies have gone mainstream, and we’ve got to challenge that, we’ve got to push back on that.”

Clark rose to fame on the ninth series of The X Factor in 2012. The following year, he appeared on and won the 11th series of Celebrity Big Brother. He has gone on to present various television shows including This Morning and Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two.

Downton Abbey 3 is proof that this franchise simply must end

The Grand Finale is a farewell that’s intertwined with real, palpable grief. Last year, we lost Downton Abbey’s glorious pièce de résistance, Dame Maggie Smith, whose snake-bite wit as the Dowager Countess Violet Crawley was always the series’s purest pleasure. The Dowager Countess’s passing was the climactic event of the previous film – here, her portrait hangs reverently in the hall, watching over all with that sparkling gaze of hers.

Death has brought change to Downton Abbey. There’s money to be moved and managed, especially with the loss of Cora’s (Elizabeth McGovern) mother in America. It heralds the return of her brother Harold (Paul Giamatti) with some less than favourable news, alongside a new compatriot, the charismatic Gus Sambrook (Alessandro Nivola).

Gus is really here, it seems, for Mary (Michelle Dockery), who’s been afflicted by the other major absence in this film: Matthew Goode as her second husband Henry Talbot, who delivered (and all power to him) roughly four lines of dialogue in the previous films, and has now been officially written out via divorce.

Yet creator Julian Fellowes’s script uses that bit of behind-the-scenes reshuffling to finally add to these films what has been desperately needed all along: genuine drama, as Mary is frantically shooed out of the home of Lady Petersfield (Joely Richardson), because the royal family is on their way and to share a room with a divorcée is still an unquestionable taboo in 1930.

There’s no escaping the fact that this film, once again, feels like two episodes of the TV series have been smashed together. For one of the hours, we deal with Sambrook and Mary’s flirtations, with a trip to Ascot where everyone gets to show off their race day garb in slow motion (Anna Robbins’s costume designs are as beautiful as expected, especially now Mary can swan around in the era’s bias-cut gowns). Giamatti and Nivola are a kick of adrenaline, capturing the fond bemusement of Americans gallivanting through the Old World. Then Nivola departs, and you can almost feel the credits roll, before the film shifts focus to the throwing of a party for Noël Coward (Arty Froushan).

Within all that, though, Fellowes finds some surprising moments of self-reflection for the franchise. We’re post-Wall Street crash but before the Second World War, and the entire film rides on the tension of a held breath. The house’s staff – Mr Carson (Jim Carter), Daisy (Sophie McShera), Phyllis (Raquel Cassidy), et al – are still jubilant upholders of the upstairs/downstairs divide, yet the word “socialism” is being whispered like it’s a new coiffure trend, and the fact that the decline of aristocracy can’t be kept locked out of Downton’s gates forever seems to be slowly dawning on Robert (Hugh Bonneville).

“The system doesn’t work if people hold on too long,” Tom (Allen Leech) warns him. It’s a nice bit of advice. And, considering this is now the third film to be presented as the show’s definitive conclusion, I sincerely hope Downton Abbey heeds it. This is about as graceful and fitting an endnote as you could hope for.

Dir: Simon Curtis. Starring: Hugh Bonneville, Jim Carter, Michelle Dockery, Paul Giamatti, Elizabeth McGovern, Penelope Wilton. Cert PG, 124 minutes.

‘Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale’ is in cinemas from 12 September

‘Lost tribe’ living in Scottish woods ‘attacked by angry locals’

A self-proclaimed tribe who have set up camp in a Scottish forest say they have been attacked by locals throwing rocks and shouting abuse.

The so-called Kubala Kingdom established itself earlier this year in woodland near Jedburgh, about 41 miles south of Edinburgh, saying they were reclaiming land supposedly taken from their ancestors in the Highlands 400 years ago.

Jean Gasho, 43, who styles herself as Queen Nandi, posted footage online this week showing members of the public confronting her group.

She alleged that bricks were thrown, children hurled rocks, and adults shouted abuse and insults. One man in the videos is heard saying, “This is a… cult and I will always stick to that.”

The skirmishes have prompted a local official to call for calm despite saying that the claims of the tribe are “ludicrous”.

Ms Gasho, who is Zimbabwean, lives at the camp with her Ghanaian husband, Kofi Offeh, 36, a former opera singer who calls himself King Atehene, and their handmaiden, Kaura Taylor, an American who insists she joined voluntarily despite being reported missing by her family.

The group has puzzled locals for months. Last month, they were forced to relocate after being evicted from land owned by the Scottish Borders Council (SBC).

On Tuesday, Ms Gasho shared a further video, this time showing a woman entering the camp and attempting to tear down tents.

Ms Gasho said bystanders had phoned police as they watched the tribe being verbally attacked and harassed on TikTok Live. A separate video posted online showed police officers arriving at the camp and asking the group if they had been hurt or had property damaged.

Scott Hamilton, SBC member for Jedburgh, said the situation had become unacceptable. “Footage was shared with me throughout the course of [yesterday], which showed an unholy, inappropriate situation: where violence was threatened, where accusations were made and where tensions were on the rise. That will achieve nothing,” he said.

“This group will leave Jedburgh… by lawful means – but they are the only means that this will take place, not with mob mentality or threats or violence.”

He added: “Yes, the group may upset us with some of their ludicrous accusations of heritage and history – but we must rise above it.”

Ms Gasho said such hostility was nothing new for the Kubala. “This is not something new to Kubala – we have experienced it before,” she said. “In Jedburgh, it is just beginning. It is always traumatic to experience something like that, but we have faith in something that is bigger than the physical. We know that we do not have the help of the system – they will not rush to protect us, so we always remain steadfast in our God.”

The Kubala Kingdom’s leaders claim to be descendants of the “Lost Tribes of Hebrews,” asserting that black Jacobites once ruled Scotland and that Jerusalem was in fact located there. They describe themselves as the only true heirs to the land. There is no evidence to support these claims.

Make the most of London this summer with this stadium experience

Whether you’re experiencing London for the first time or you’re a family with kids keen to create unforgettable memories during the holidays, a visit to this world-famous stadium in North London is a must.

After 90 years at their beloved Highbury stadium, Arsenal’s ambitions outgrew their original home and in 2006, the club opened the Emirates. With a seating capacity of over 60,000, the Emirates stadium is one of the largest in England. The sheer scale of this field of dreams must be seen to believed — and thanks to its easy-to-reach location, you can hop on a bus or train and get there in no time.

Once there, Arsenal’s award-winning tours open the doors to parts of the stadium that are usually off-limits to the public. For sightseers who prefer to go at their own pace and for those with little ones who tire easily, the club’s self-guided audio-visual tour is a great option.

Fans and families can take their time to soak in the atmosphere and stroll in the footsteps of footballing legends, imagining the roar of the crowd as you step into the players’ tunnel. Afterwards, feel the tension rise in the dugout and experience the best seats in the house in the directors’ box.

It’s a rare opportunity to glimpse the inner workings of a prestigious football club and explore normally restricted areas that also include the home and away dressing rooms, the media lounge and the exclusive members-only Diamond Club.

Available in seven languages on a state-of-the-art handheld device, the tour is narrated by Arsenal presenter David Frimpong, otherwise known as ‘Frimmy’, as well as featuring commentary from Arsenal legends Alex Scott and David Seaman.

As well as audio, the tour recreates the electric atmosphere of matchday using 360-degree augmented footage and includes brand new interactive elements. You can also take souvenir photos with iconic Arsenal trophies, including that of the UEFA Women’s Champions League.

The Arsenal Legend Stadium Tour is a more bespoke alternative to the self-guided tour, where visitors can explore the stadium for 90 minutes alongside an Arsenal hero. Tour guides include Nigel Winterburn and Perry Groves, as well as former women’s captain Faye White MBE.

During the tour, the Arsenal legend will share memories, anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stories from their time on the pitch, offering a unique insider’s perspective on life at the club. Expect plenty of humour, fascinating insights and a chance to hear back-room gossip straight from the legends themselves. There’s also a chance for a Q&A and photo opportunity with your Arsenal legend of choice.

Included with every tour ticket is entry into Arsenal’s interactive museum situated right next door to the stadium. Chart the club’s evolution from humble origins in Woolwich in 1886 to its modern powerhouse status with a global following of over 100 million fans.

The museum features two impressive video theatres, showing highlights from the club’s origins to the present day as well as twenty major displays of Arsenal’s proud history. Feast your eyes on silverware from the club’s most successful eras, Michael Thomas’s boots from Anfield 1989 and Jens Lehmann’s goalkeeper gloves worn for every league match of the unbeaten Invincibles season in 2003/4.

For lifelong Gooners, it’s a trip down memory lane. For families and tourists, it’s an eye-opening lesson in why football matters so much to the UK and is the perfect outing to experience London at its most authentic.

This content is brought to you by Living360, a digital lifestyle destination keeping you up to date with health and fitness, food and drink, homes and gardens, beauty, travel, finance trends and more.

The £338m scheme helping sick and disabled people back into work

The government has pledged to invest £338 million to help thousands sick and disabled people support to get into work, the government has said.

It comes as its welfare reforms formally passed into law on Wednesday.

The Universal Credit Act was given royal assent after what Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has previously acknowledged was a “bumpy ride” which saw controversial wider reform plans watered down in the face of a Labour revolt.

Earlier this summer, the proposed legislation had elements to restrict eligibility to Pip scrapped, with any changes postponed until after a review which is being led by disability minister Sir Stephen Timms.

The government has insisted their welfare reforms have been driven by a desire to end a situation where people became dependent on benefits rather than working.

The Universal Credit Act will see the basic universal credit standard allowance rise at least in line with inflation until 2029/30.

But the health part of the benefit will be reduced for new claimants after April 2026, unless they have a severe or terminal condition, and the rate frozen until 2030.

On Thursday, the Department for Work and Pensions announced a £338 million investment into its so-called connect to work programme which it said will give 85,000 people – who are sick, disabled or face complex barriers to work – localised, tailored support in 15 areas across England.

People can be referred by healthcare professionals, local authorities and voluntary sector organisations – or by themselves – to get personalised help including coaching from employment specialists, job matching services and ongoing support when in work.

Areas covered by the funding include London, South Yorkshire and Greater Essex.

The government said around 300,000 people across all of England and Wales will benefit from the scheme over the next five years.

Ms Kendall said: “For too long, millions of people have been denied the support they need to get back to health and back to work.

“It’s bad for their living standards, it’s bad for their families, and it’s bad for the economy.

“That’s why we’re taking decisive action by investing millions of pounds so sick or disabled people can overcome the barriers they face and move out of poverty and into good, secure jobs as part of our Plan for Change.”

Thousands of new school nursery places to be rolled out

Up to 7,000 additional school nursery places are set to be created across England by September 2026, as the government unveils a new £45 million investment in early years education.

The Department for Education (DfE) has allocated the funding to establish a further 300 school-based nurseries, building on the 300 already supported in the initial phase of the programme.

Schools will be invited to bid for grants of up to £150,000 to either create new nursery facilities or expand existing ones.

Priority will be given to applications from schools serving some of the most disadvantaged communities, aiming to ensure equitable access to early education

Announcing the plans, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “School-based nurseries can offer a nurturing and stable environment for children that carries through into primary, and a helping hand for working parents tackling dual drop off.

“Delivering more school-based nurseries – under our Best Start umbrella – means more choice and convenience for parents, and more opportunities to target parts of the country where families are most in need of additional support.”

In October last year, schools were able to bid for a share of £15 million to deliver an initial 300 school-based nurseries. This was then increased to £37 million in April this year to help with the full rollout of the Government’s childcare offer for September 2025.

That first phase created an additional 4,000 school-based nursery places for this school year, the Government said. Of the 300 funded for September 2025, 189 are set to be up and running this month, the Government said.

This comes in the same week as the latest part of the Government’s funded childcare rollout. As of September 1, eligible working parents in England are able to access 30 hours a week of free childcare for children older than nine months.

Jane van Zyl, chief executive at Working Families, said: “Quality, affordable childcare is one of the biggest barriers to work, so steps that make it more accessible will boost labour market participation as well as family incomes.

“For parents with school-age children, co-located nursery provision can make daily logistics more manageable, which makes a real difference to working lives.”

Purnima Tanuku, executive chairwoman for the National Day Nurseries Association, welcomed the creation of more early education places, but said school nurseries still only offer a small minority of early years places.

“Nurseries have worked hard to meet the ambitious expansion by September, but due to workforce pressures, we know that around 70% of nurseries are not operating at full capacity as they are carrying an average of four vacancies,” she added.

Earlier this week, the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) warned that workforce challenges must be addressed to ensure the early years sector can recruit and retain staff to meet the demands of the full rollout of the childcare expansion.

While growth in staff numbers is currently “on track” to meet the Government’s estimated targets for the childcare expansion, the NFER report has warned that this “may not necessarily continue”.

Early years teachers in disadvantaged communities will be offered a £4,500 payment in an effort to attract staff to nurseries.