By Rachel Stewart

I thought I was done with the UK’s free speech problem last week, but this week sees further fodder that just has to shared – if only to wise Kiwis up to an modus operandi already afoot in our own nation.

But mainly because it’s just so wrong.

But before I launch into that, here’s a sobering reveal from Russian-born UK citizen Konstantin Kisin.

Childminder Lucy Connolly was caring for infants at her home in Northampton on July 29 last year when she heard on the news about the murder of three young girls in Southport.

Seventeen-year-old Axel Rudakubana stabbed 13 people at a Taylor Swift–themed yoga and dance workshop attended by 26 children. Two girls died at the scene, six injured children and two adults were taken to hospital in a critical condition, and a third girl died the following day.

Connolly was deeply upset – like most people – and had seen rumours that an illegal immigrant was responsible. So, she went online and posted an ill-advised tweet.

‘Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f**king hotels full of the bastards for all I care, while you’re at it take the treacherous government and politicians with them. I feel physically sick knowing what these families will now have to endure. If that makes me racist so be it.’

Having taken the family dog for a walk and had time to think better of it, she deleted her tweet the same evening – about 4 hours later – not because she was scared of any repercussions – who would be? – but because she is obviously a basically decent person.

Added to that Connolly was vulnerable to stories about infant suffering. She and husband Ray, a Conservative local town councillor, had lost their 19-month-old son Harry 12 years earlier, a tragedy made more painful by catastrophic failures within the NHS.

Despite the deletion, Connolly’s tweet had already been viewed 310,000 times and screenshotted. A ‘twitterstorm’ ensued, with some working on getting her husband sacked and others busy tagging in the police.

By the end of the week Connolly had deleted her account, her last tweet asking: ‘Why are people more concerned by my political views than by the actual murder of three little girls?’

Meanwhile riots are breaking out all over England in response to the stabbings, and PM Keir Starmer is flat out calling any dissenters ‘far-right thugs’, and saying the violence was “clearly whipped up online” – all while he himself was effectively whipping up the police, the courts, and Crown Prosecution Service by demanding convictions.

Days later, Lucy found herself in a police station, then a courtroom and jail. She was charged under Section 19 of the Public Order Act 1986, with distributing material intending to stir up racial hatred, and with intending to incite serious violence.

Her sentence was handed down at Birmingham Crown Court on October 17, 2024, following her guilty plea, which appears to have been extorted when she was warned that she could remain on remand for months, if the case was to go to trial.

Despite diverse character references from many of the parents whose children she cared for, a 12-year-old daughter at home, and no previous trouble with the law she was sentenced to 31 months in jail.

Fast forward to this week and her appeal was dismissed, and her original sentence remained. In a written judgment, Lord Justice Holroyde, said: “There is no arguable basis on which it could be said that the sentence imposed by the judge was manifestly excessive.”

Here’s a look at some of the media reaction to this latest turn of events.

It’s very clear that across the country people are shocked, outraged, and upset about what’s happened to Lucy Conolly – although she is simply the most prominent case among so many from the Southport fallout.

But when you attract the attention of the rest of the world – and particularly the United States – due to totalitarian moves, well, you may have bitten off more than you can chew.

Here’s Keir Starmer a couple of months ago in the Oval Office being taken to task by JD Vance over his riding roughshod over free speech.

Slimy, duplicitous snake. I hope he’s seriously shamed by saying he’s proud of Britain’s record on free speech. He bloody shouldn’t be.

Here’s good friend of the Trump administration Charlie Kirk who was in the UK this week letting loose on his view of the Lucy Connolly case.

Two things strike me.

One is that the media and the general public in the UK show a strong moral compass around injustice and free speech that I haven’t seen even a spark of in our NZ mainstream media for years.

The other is how utterly disconnected from the reality of public sentiment Keir Starmer and Labour is. Whether it’s free speech, the Muslim takeover, or what the definition of a woman is, they seem utterly deluded and downright treacherous. The populace must be beyond scared.

Where to from here for the UK? That’s anyone’s guess, but I’m certain it’s not going to be good.