Assisted Suicide?

Polling expert: No 'public consent' for assisted suicide.

 (Photo: Getty/iStock)

Polling expert James Johnson has said that the British public has turned against legalising medically assisted suicide, all in the space of just five years.

Writing for The Telegraph, Johnson recalled polling conducted in 2021 by his own organisation, JL Partners, that suggested 72 per cent of the country supported the controversial practice, with just nine per cent opposing.

That research also suggested greater support for the policy among supporters of the Conservative Party and a high degree of faith in safeguards aimed at preventing abuses of any assisted suicide law.

Fast forward to 2026 and Johnson says there is no “public consent” for an assisted suicide law. This, he argues, is not due to a fundamental shift in values, but due to the loss of faith that people have in any potential safeguards.

While the British public remain sympathetic to the idea that a terminally ill person should be able to end their own life, there are huge concerns about Kim Leadbeater's bill that recently stalled in the House of Lords. 

More recent polling by JL Partners suggests that two thirds of those who support assisted suicide in principle want more safeguards in place for any potential bill, 72 per cent say eligibility for assisted suicide must be strictly defined, and 78 per cent say that those seeking assisted suicide should be actively offered alternatives, such as hospice care.

Just 18 per cent said that a person who has only just received a terminal diagnosis should be able to request assisted suicide without first undergoing an extensive assessment.

The polling also suggests concern about the wide scope of eligibility as proposed by the bill in Westminster. The bill would have allowed pregnant women, people with eating disorders, mental health problems, suicidal thoughts, and homeless people, to seek assisted suicide, something the vast majority of people oppose.

Johnson said, “The only version of assisted dying with anything near the levels of support seen in 2021 is one limited to those terminally ill people experiencing unbearable physical pain – not a requirement of the bill. The public only support a bill unrecognisable from its current state.”

CT.

Please Pardon My Being Extremely Lukewarm On This Matter.

 

CoE bishop chosen to co-chair parliamentary group on safeguarding.

Birdie.

 

Well Stated, Troy.

America’s real crisis is biblical illiteracy: A civilizational problem.

By Troy Miller

Thursday, April 23, 2026

As America approaches its 250th anniversary, the nation finds itself preoccupied with familiar concerns: political polarization, civic deterioration, institutional distrust, and cultural fragmentation. These are serious realities, but they are not ultimate ones. They are symptoms of a deeper disorder—biblical illiteracy.

I have become increasingly convinced that the central problem confronting both church and culture is not merely moral rebellion against biblical truth, but widespread unfamiliarity with it. We see this in public officials who invoke God in the language of prosperity, national sentiment, or self-affirmation rather than repentance, moral accountability, and divine authority. We see it in podcasters, influencers, and media personalities who handle Scripture with confidence but little theological discipline. We see it in Christian audiences so uninitiated that charisma, sentiment, and ideology are often mistaken for sound doctrine. The issue is no longer simply that Scripture is denied. It is that Scripture is often no longer known with sufficient depth to be interpreted responsibly, rejected intelligently, or applied coherently.

This is a more profound crisis than open opposition. A society that consciously rejects truth still acknowledges its existence. A society that has lost the categories necessary to understand truth has entered a far more precarious condition.

Biblical illiteracy, therefore, is not a peripheral church problem. It is a civilizational one. The American experiment did not arise in a moral vacuum, nor was it sustained by constitutional procedure alone. While the Founders did not establish a confessional state, they operated within a moral framework deeply shaped by biblical assumptions about human nature, justice, sin, restraint, authority, duty, and accountability. Scripture furnished not only private devotion, but also a shared moral vocabulary through which public life could be understood.

That vocabulary once supplied a grammar for ordered liberty. Concepts such as freedom, responsibility, virtue, truth, and judgment were grounded in a larger moral order. John Adams captured this principle clearly when he wrote, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” His point was structural: constitutional self-government requires a citizenry formed by moral conviction, and such conviction cannot be sustained where Scripture has become unknown.

The erosion of biblical literacy carries consequences well beyond the Church. When a people lose familiarity with the biblical world of meaning, they do not merely lose theological competence. They lose the conceptual architecture that once made moral reasoning intelligible. They may continue to invoke the language of liberty while severing it from the moral restraints and transcendent obligations that gave it coherence. What remains is freedom emptied of purpose, rights detached from responsibility, and public discourse increasingly incapable of distinguishing justice from sentiment or authority from will.

This helps explain the magnitude of the present confusion. We are not simply witnessing cultural change. We are witnessing moral and theological disintegration. Data from the State of Theology and similar studies suggest that large numbers of self-identified Christians now affirm claims fundamentally at odds with historic Christian orthodoxy. This is not a marginal anomaly. It is evidence of doctrinal erosion significant enough to shape both ecclesial life and public witness.

Where biblical literacy declines, confusion does not remain theoretical. It becomes formative.

Its effects are visible throughout the public square. Questions of justice, human dignity, freedom, sexuality, authority, and national purpose are increasingly debated in terms detached from any stable moral ontology. Competing ideologies rush to occupy the vacuum—moral relativism, expressive individualism, and therapeutic visions of the self that offer counterfeit meaning while rejecting the theological foundations that once ordered moral judgment. In such a climate, the Church is hardly immune. Shallow preaching, weak catechesis, and the prioritization of relevance over doctrinal seriousness have left many Christians without the framework necessary to recognize error, much less refute it.

More concerning still is the fact that Scripture is now routinely conscripted into public argument by voices who handle it without theological fidelity, historical awareness, or interpretive rigor. Passages are abstracted from context, repurposed to ratify contemporary moral intuitions, and presented as though sentiment were an adequate substitute for exegesis. In this environment, biblical language remains publicly useful even as biblical meaning is steadily evacuated from it.

For that reason, the answer to the present crisis is a recovery of Scripture as Scripture: not as civil religion, partisan ornament, or a reservoir of selectively quoted affirmations, but as the authoritative Word of God, rightly handled and faithfully taught. The Church must recover the whole counsel of God. Christians must once again become a people formed by the text, governed by its categories, and trained in theological discernment. Those of us in Christian media bear a particular obligation here. What we platform and normalize will either clarify biblical truth or contribute to its further confusion.

As the nation approaches this historic anniversary, the central question is whether the country still possesses the theological and moral vocabulary necessary to sustain the freedoms it so confidently celebrates. For when a people forget Scripture, they do not merely lose a religious inheritance. They lose the interpretive framework by which truth, liberty, virtue, and judgment can be rightly understood.

Troy A. Miller is the President & CEO of NRB.

 

Persevere!

Dewsbury.

 Regional Supporter Event, 

Dewsbury, Sat April 25, 9.30 am – 12.30 pm

with news, prayer, resources, and key 

updates from the field.

Join us for an inspiring morning of fellowship to hear more about the important work of Release International loving and serving persecuted Christians. 

The Great Sycamore Question.

 Which type of tree did Zacchaeus actually climb?

 (Photo: Getty/iStock)

20 April is the feast day of Zacchaeus of Jericho. We all know the account of Zacchaeus climbing a tree to see Jesus. However, it turns out not to have been a sycamore tree at all. This is the story …

Story of Zacchaeus

Zacchaeus is the Greek version of the Jewish name ‘Zaccai’ found in Ezra 2:9 and Nehemiah 7:14. The story of Zacchaeus is only recorded in Luke 19:1–10 and is well known to Sunday School children. The story relates to an encounter when Jesus visited the town of Jericho. While Jesus was in Jericho, a local tax collector called Zacchaeus wanted to meet him. Being a short man, Zacchaeus could not see Jesus through the crowd, so he climbed a tree. Jesus spotted him and then invited himself to Zacchaeus’s house for tea. This event horrified many of the Jewish people because tax collectors were disliked for collaborating with the occupying Roman authorities, and they were considered corrupt. However, in this story, Zacchaeus repented of exploiting the people. He became a reformed man and offered to pay back more than he had defrauded people of.

Source

The detail in this story, such as using the name of the man and describing the exact type of tree, indicates that this is one of the eyewitness accounts collected by Luke (Luke 1:2). Luke seems to have either got this story from Zacchaeus himself or, if not, from someone who was there at the time.

Jericho

Jericho was a town of Judea on the west bank of the River Jordan and is claimed to be the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the world. Jericho is on the edge of the Dead Sea valley, over eight hundred feet below sea level. It is an oasis, where spring water has irrigated the area for thousands of years. Jericho was known for its orchards, which grew trees such as fig trees, date palms, and olive trees. In Deuteronomy 34:3, Jericho was called the ‘city of palms’, so for Luke to note the exact type of tree which Zacchaeus climbed is significant.

Gathering under trees

In the warm climate of the Middle East, trees also provided shade. Trees lined roads for shade, and people would gather under some large ones. The idea of gathering under a tree for a meeting is found in many cultures.

In the village of Tolpuddle near Dorchester in Dorset, in southern England, there is an ancient sycamore tree where, in 1833, local farm workers met to discuss conditions and agreed to go on strike. These men are now known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs. They are considered the start of the British trade union movement. The Tolpuddle sycamore tree is now managed by the National Trust and has a plaque on it to tell the story. Something similar happened in Jericho. People gathered under a large tree - not a cultivated one in an orchard, but one in the town.

Sycamore trees

The word ‘sycamore’ has been applied to several types of trees which have similar leaf forms. The name derives from the ancient Greek συκόμορος (sūkomoros). In fact, there are many distinct species of trees known as ‘sycamore’ around the world.

The type of sycamore known in the British Isles is called in Latin ‘Acer pseudoplatanus’. It is also called the Eurasian maple or the great maple and is a type of maple tree which grows natively in central Europe and southwestern Asia. It has been known in the British Isles for at least five centuries, and British settlers have taken it to North America, Australia, and New Zealand. In the USA, it is known as the sycamore maple. It is not found natively in the Middle East. Rather, it seems to have got the name ‘sycamore’ by analogy to the Bible story, and not because it was the type of tree Zacchaeus went up.

More confusingly, in North America, the tree usually known as a ‘sycamore’, or American sycamore, is another tree called in Latin ‘Platanus occidentalis’, also called the eastern sycamore, which is a type of plane tree native to the eastern USA. Another type of tree, ‘Platanus racemosa’, found in the western USA, is known as the western sycamore. There are also trees known as sycamore in Australia, where there is the silver sycamore, the white sycamore, the satin sycamore, the pink sycamore, and the mountain sycamore.

None of these sycamore trees grew in the Middle East at the time of Jesus.

Fig trees in the Bible

The type of tree referred to in the story of Zacchaeus is not a maple tree, nor a plane tree, but instead a type of fig tree.

There are two types of fig tree which appear in the Bible. The fig gets an early mention when Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves as their first garments (Genesis 3:7), where the purpose is suggested by the shape of the leaf. The fig tree is also mentioned in Song of Solomon 2:13 and Matthew 24:32.

The Good News Study Bible explains that the cultivated fig, called in Latin ‘Ficus carica’, or the true fig, “is grown for its fruit, not to be confused with the ‘Ficus sycomorus’, or sycomore-fig … grown for its hard wood.”

The wild fig is found in the Middle East, Ethiopia, and much of eastern Africa. In East Africa, it is known by its Swahili name, the mukuyu tree. The wild fig's extensive root system helps to prevent soil erosion and maintains soil fertility. It provides shade for people and animals. It has clustered, button-like fruit which are edible, but it is not the type of fig which is usually cultivated; rather, it grows wild and was quite common.

In Hebrew, it is called שקמה (shikmah), which was rendered in Greek as συκόμορος (sūkomoros). King Solomon tried to make cedars as common as wild figs (1 Kings 10:27), and Isaiah contrasts cedars and wild figs (Isaiah 9:10). Psalm 78:47 explains that wild figs and vines were destroyed in the Egyptian plagues. The prophet Amos refers to his secondary occupation as a dresser of fig trees (Amos 7:14). In the New Testament, in Luke 19:4, this is the type of tree which Zacchaeus goes up. This type of tree has a sturdy trunk, a broad canopy, strong wood, and low, wide-spreading branches, making it relatively easy to climb, even for a short person like Zacchaeus.

Jericho today

To this day, there is a house in Jericho which, by tradition, was Zacchaeus’s house. There is even a tree in Jericho reputed to be the very one which Zacchaeus climbed - in fact, there are two of them. They have both been places of pilgrimage for centuries, and both trees are of the type ‘Ficus sycomorus’, which is the wild fig. Whether either of these is the exact tree is unprovable, but it does show which type of tree the locals have understood it to be since the early centuries of the Christian era.

Bible translations

The tree is only mentioned in Luke 19:4. The New King James Version (NKJV), the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), the Contemporary English Version (CEV), the English Standard Version (ESV), the NET Bible, and some other translations misleadingly have “sycamore tree”. In most readers’ minds, this will conjure up an image of a maple tree for British people, or a plane tree for Americans. The tradition of it being a sycamore tree comes from the King James Version (KJV), which had “sicomore tree” in the 1611 edition and “sycomore tree” in the 1769 edition, being a transliteration of the Greek rather than a translation of the tree type.

Some translations, like the Revised English Bible (REB), follow the KJV and spell it “sycomore” as a transliteration of the Greek, which is slightly better than “sycamore”—but only just. Even spelling it “sycomore tree” (with an o), instead of “sycamore” (with an a), is a subtlety lost on most readers. In any case, the spelling difference is lost when the verse is heard when read aloud in church or listened to on audio.

A few translations do call it a fig tree. The latest version of the New International Version (NIV) and the New Living Translation (NLT) are slightly more helpful with “sycamore-fig”.

Translations into German, starting with Luther, tend to call it a Maulbeerbaum (mulberry tree) or a Maulbeerfeigenbaum (mulberry-fig tree). Some European languages which followed Luther’s translation use the equivalent of “mulberry”. In English, the 1903 New Testament in Modern Speech by R. F. Weymouth had “mulberry tree”, as did the Translators’ New Testament produced by the Bible Society in 1973.

The first man to translate the New Testament from Greek into English was William Tyndale in 1526. In his 1526 translation, he had “sicomore tree”, but later he learnt Hebrew and wrote that he could “consider the Hebrew phrase or manner of speech left in the Greek words”. When he revised his New Testament, published in 1534, he wrote that Zacchaeus ascended “into a wilde fygge tree”. This became “a wilde figge tree” in the Geneva Bible, or “wild fig” in modern spelling. Almost five hundred years later, “wild fig” still seems like the most helpful translation of them all and shows Tyndale’s genius.

Very few modern English Bibles render it as a fig tree, but a few have broken away from the tradition of calling it a sycamore tree. The 1989 Jewish New Testament by David H. Stern has “fig tree”, as does the EasyEnglish version from MissionAssist, and the Passion Translation has “blossoming fig tree”.

Conclusion

People have grown up with the image of Zacchaeus climbing a sycamore tree. Children’s books and stained-glass windows feature him in a sycamore tree, looking down from a high branch, and this is the image most people have. The problem is that sycamore trees do not grow in the Middle East. Instead, Zacchaeus was sitting on a lower branch of a wild fig tree.

This misunderstanding has been fuelled by centuries of misleading Bible translations in Luke 19:4, which created a tradition. It is so fixed in people’s minds that they are surprised to find it is wrong.

Does it matter? On one hand, it does not really matter what type of tree Zacchaeus went up. However, on the other hand, this is just one of many examples in the Scriptures where people have false assumptions or misunderstandings based upon tradition, often without realising it. When catalogued together, these can distort the view of the story. It is one of many examples of how false ideas can become fixed in our minds about what is in the Bible, especially if they are commonly repeated and form part of our tradition.

CT.

Vannida.

 

How Vannida is seeing change Vannida* in South East Asia was left heartbroken and hopeless by persecution after her husband was murdered for this faith. Today, helped by you, she feels ‘reborn’, with a renewed resilience to follow Jesus no matter the cost. She’s one of the many women whose lives you’re impacting though the See.Change campaign. Thank you! Meet Vannida

Protect her rights Across the world, people who convert to Christianity face persecution – but some are even more at risk. Women and girls face multiple layers of vulnerability. Today, will you speak out for our sisters and ask your MP to call for greater religious freedom around the globe? Speak out Syria church attack foiled Praise God: a bomb attack close to the Mariamite Cathedral of Damascus (pictured above) was foiled earlier in April. Since Mar Elias Church was attacked by a church bomber in June 2025, local Christians have feared a repeat tragedy. Please join them in thanking God for His protection. Read more

Pray for Iran: as conflict continues in the Middle East, please keep praying for peace and unity Yemen arrests: three more Christians arrested in Yemen as crackdown continues – please pray Arise Africa update: Netsebraq* shares what trauma care looks like in the Horn of Africa for Christians experiencing the long-term impact of persecution Activists: do you know anybody aged 18-30 who would value a special course to learn more from the persecuted church? Find out more. Every blessing, Simon, Email Editor *Name changed for security reasons

Merry St George's Day.

Worship Yes BUT Growing Cultural Pressure.

Christians in UK feel free to worship but sense growing cultural pressure - report.

 (Photo: Getty/iStock)

Christians in the UK can largely practise their faith openly and without legal restriction, but many are increasingly concerned about a cultural shift affecting these freedoms, according to a new report by the Evangelical Alliance. 

The study titled, Confident Faith, Contested Culture, is based on a survey of 884 evangelical Christians across the UK conducted in late 2025, alongside additional polling of nearly 1,500 respondents.

It paints a nuanced picture of religious life in modern Britain, noting that Christians continue to worship, pray, read scripture and share their faith openly in churches, schools, workplaces, universities, homes and online, with freedoms described as “real, meaningful and worthy of gratitude".

The report highlights that while rights remain enshrined, many Christians feel the cultural climate is shifting.

As the report states: “This tension – between objective freedoms and subjective experience – sits at the heart of this report.”

Survey data shows that more than 88% of evangelicals believe they can openly practise their faith in the UK. Yet nearly half (48%) report that expressing those beliefs in public has become more difficult over the past five years. This perceived difficulty is not primarily linked to legal changes, but to cultural shifts.

Respondents pointed to increasing sensitivity around social issues such as sexuality and gender, increasing social polarisation, and the amplifying effect of social media.

The findings suggest a gap between formal rights and "perceptions of pressure, marginalisation and misunderstanding are increasing".

While most Christians acknowledge their freedoms, many (41%) approach public expressions of faith more cautiously.

Over three quarters (79%) said they felt able to speak out publicly on issues in line with their faith, but a notable minority said they feel unable to do so, often citing worries about being misunderstood, harming relationships, or not knowing how to voice their views without being perceived negatively.

The report frames this as a discipleship issue, finding that many Christians want to speak but feel “ill-equipped to navigate complex cultural conversations”.

The report also explores how Christians experience public life and employment.

Almost half of respondents believe there are greater difficulties for Christians in visible roles such as politics, education and media, where scrutiny of beliefs - particularly around marriage and sexuality - can be intense.

Simultaneously, 16% of respondents saw visibility as bringing greater opportunities to speak about faith, with the report noting that “visibility increases both opportunity and vulnerability.”

Some respondents pointed to disadvantages, including “negative stereotypes and media portrayals,” while others highlighted the continued influence of Christianity on UK institutions and culture as a source of “familiarity and legitimacy".

In the workplace, a majority – 60% - report that they are comfortable being open about their faith, often describing it as shaping qualities such as “integrity, compassion, patience and perseverance".

However, a significant minority (24%) report hesitation, with some experiencing criticism or social exclusion.

Although fewer than 5% reported hate crime, around 35% said they had encountered non-criminal hostility, including verbal abuse, social pressure and negative assumptions about their beliefs.

The report emphasises that hostility is usually “relational, cultural and reputational”, not legal.

At the same time, the report suggests there are strong relational opportunities for sharing faith.

Many respondents said they feel equipped to speak about their beliefs, particularly with atheists, agnostics, Muslims and Jews, and the majority anticipate a favourable response from friends (80%) and family, though workplace reactions are seen as more uncertain (30%).

Many respondents described positive relationships and a general openness to conversations about faith.

The study also highlights concern among evangelicals about the rise of Christian nationalism.

Awareness is high, with 92% familiar with the concept, and more than 64% expressing concern about its influence in the UK.

While many affirmed Christianity’s historic role in shaping the nation - with around 85% recognising its influence on political culture - the report notes “significant caution about merging national identity too closely with religious identity". 

Evangelical political engagement remains varied, with voting patterns described as “politically diverse and volatile". 

Almost half of respondents said they had changed their voting preference since the 2024 general election.

In its conclusion, the report states: “For many evangelical Christians, the challenge is less about what the law says and more about how their conviction is perceived and received in an increasingly contested cultural landscape.”

This environment, the report suggests, can lead some believers to “self-censor or withdraw” from public conversations out of concern for relationships or professional consequences.

Despite these pressures, the report points to ongoing opportunities, highlighting openness, curiosity and spiritual searching among the public.

It ultimately calls for a shift away from simply defending religious freedom towards building confidence - “confidence to live faithfully, to speak respectfully and to contribute constructively to a diverse and democratic society.” 

CT.

Nearly Half of All Violent Crime Suspects in Germany are Foreign Nationals. Kurt Zindulka. Breitbart.

Will it be a great deal different here, I wonder?

Birdie.

 

Wings Like Eagles.

It Seems That 'Two Tier' Is Expanding.

London landlords illegally advertise ‘Muslim only’ flat rentals. DT.

Exciting, Isn't It?

 Starmer ‘pressured Foreign Office into Mandelson appointment.’

Sir Olly Robbins will use his appearance before the foreign affairs select committee on Tuesday to hit back at the prime minister after he was sacked.

2 Peter 3 - WARNING!

 10) But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

Racism of The Left.

Annabel Denham.

Shabana Mahmood has exposed the racism of the Left.

Ethnic minorities who stray from progressive narratives on immigration face swift and punitive responses from supposed allies

Annabel DenhamSenior Political Commentator

Annabel Denham is a Columnist and Senior Political Commentator at The Telegraph. See more 

Published 22 April 2026 7:00am BST

The Home Secretary has hit back at white liberals who try to put her ‘in a box’  Credit: Anadolu

The Home Secretary has hit back at white liberals who try to put her ‘in a box’  Credit: Anadolu

Shabana Mahmood has said the quiet part out loud. For months the Home Secretary has endured the insinuation she is betraying the Left-wing cause, not simply by calling for some control over our dysfunctional and widely abused immigration system but for doing so as a member of an ethnic minority.

Heckled this week for apparently attempting to “out-Reform Reform”, the Home Secretary finally snapped back. “I do think there is that element of [this criticism] which is: ‘How dare you, a brown woman, say a thing we white liberals think you’re not allowed to say?’”

Mahmood’s predecessor but three, Suella Braverman, recently told me that when she famously warned of an “invasion of the southern coast”, her Tory colleagues responded in Westminster’s usual fashion – by averting eyes and pretending not to hear. What Mahmood faces, as a Labour politician, might well be worse. In modern progressive politics there are approved positions, and approved people to hold them. Step outside your lane and the reaction will be both swift and unforgiving.

We’ve seen this dynamic before. When minorities stray from the prescribed narrative of oppression and disadvantage the response is rarely measured; it is immediate, and almost always punitive.

Suella Braverman said the country faced an ‘invasion’ from people travelling in small boats crossing the English Channel Credit: Paul Grover

Sir Trevor Phillips, former head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission and a veteran voice for reason in racial matters, raised concerns about integration and community cohesion, only to be suspended from the Labour Party. As chair of the Race and Ethnic Disparities Commission, the courageous Lord Sewell oversaw a report that concluded Britain was not structurally racist and was met with accusations ranging from naivety to something very like treason.

I spoke to Tony Sewell earlier this month. Unfazed, he made a point that would propel some of the progressive commentariat into orbit: that many British Muslims would probably have voted for Margaret Thatcher. Family, aspiration, community, responsibility – these are not values held dear by white Britons alone. Yet parts of the Left still behave as though ethnic minorities must, by default, belong on “their side”.

Implicit in this is the patronising assumption that minorities are defined by disadvantage – and an intellectual laziness that reduces individuals to an often unwished-for group identity. The same shoddy group-think is now trying to impose the term “global majority”, lumping together Chinese, Bangladeshis, West Africans, Latin Americans and other wildly disparate individuals defined only by being non-white, and therefore having some form of victimhood in common.

But here’s the thing. If the country is no longer institutionally racist – though racism and racial disparities plainly still persist – what happens to the politics built around exposing it? Parts of the Left appear trapped in a kind of nostalgia, living in some romantic fantasy of structural oppression – a playground of goodies and baddies which bears little resemblance to the complexity of contemporary Britain.

Lord Sewell was criticised following his oversight of a report that concluded Britain was not structurally racist Credit: Rii Schroer

The result is distortion and caricature. Hence we’re warned that astrophysics is racist, along with the countryside and even niceness (“Black academics told being ‘nice’ perpetuates ‘white supremacy’”, read one recent headline).

This isn’t the only consequence. Judging by the number of times he’s labelled me a “fascist”, Zack Polanski appears to believe anyone who thinks annual net migration of 906,000 might be a tad high holds “extreme” views. The Left does this to silence dissent, yet remain curiously silent when genuinely offensive, conspiratorial opinions are expressed.

One Green Party candidate called David Lammy a “coconut”; another claimed that 9/11 “was done by the Zionists with Dick Cheney as their executing authority”. A third once posted on Instagram a picture of the Earth entangled in a giant, fang-toothed serpent with the Star of David printed on its skin. The caption? “It’s time to cut the head off this snake.”

MORE FROM ANNABEL DENHAM

Meanwhile, we regularly have to put up with anti-white language that would, if it were directed at other groups, be treated as “hate speech”. Think of the NHS trusts allegedly discriminating against white job applicants and our hopelessly depleted Armed Forces halting recruitment of white men in pursuit of “diversity” targets.

Worryingly, this re-racialisation of public life, and the slow erosion of our meritocracy, is being reframed as “progress”. Those who object are met with accusations of extremism, or the familiar charge of “out-Faraging Farage”. Yet such labels carry diminishing force in a political landscape where Reform consistently leads the polls. Britain’s “debates” about race and identity seem to be drifting ever further from reality.

DT.