Radical Flags

The UK goes after its own people:

The UK’s Prevent anti-terrorism program now classifies “cultural nationalism,” the idea that mass migration and lack of cultural integration are threatening British identity, as a gateway to terrorism. Yet, that’s not a fringe conspiracy theory. That’s in government training materials, which warn that citizens who believe Western culture is “under threat” should be treated as potential radical extremists requiring “intervention.” Welcome to the UK in 2025, where patriotism is now probable cause. “This is a matter of serious concern,” wrote Lord Toby Young, general secretary of the Free Speech Union, in a letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. Young slammed the government for expanding the definition of extremism to include perfectly lawful, mainstream views. And it’s not just hypothetical. Young noted that even former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, who warned against “excessive, uncontrolled migration,” and Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said immigration could turn Britain into “an island of strangers,” would now be flagged as radicals. Britain’s own government leaders would be deemed terrorist-adjacent under their own anti-radicalization rubric.

The law of unintended consequences strikes hard...