Arrested for silent prayer
Britain's first thoughtcrime prosecution this century
Hello all,
A few columns for you today—and thank you for reading!
First, I have an interview in The European Conservative with Isabel Vaughn-Spruce, a pro-life activist from the U.K. who has been arrested—twice—for the crime of praying in her head near an abortion clinic. When she was arrested for the first time, the police even searched her hair. The case attracted international attention and condemnation, and Vaughn-Spruce has received a payout from the police for her ill-treatment. However, there are two other pro-lifers currently facing similar charges:
Also in The European Conservative, I have a column on the recent riots in the UK after three little girls were stabbed to death at a dance studio in Southport. Angry mobs faced off with Muslims, and the resulting crackdown saw people being put in jail merely for social media posts. I discussed the issue with historian and columnist Ed West, who runs the Substack “Wrong Side of History”:
“You can’t taboo a group out of existence—even the English”: A Conversation with Ed West
At The Bridgehead, I have an article on the country music culture war, in which new LGBT artists are attempting to “queer” the once-traditional genre. This column was prompted by an interview I did for the Paris-based Society magazine: “The Country Music Culture War”
Also at The Bridgehead: “The pro-life movement’s post-Roe mistake.” An excerpt: "The entire country is talking about abortion right now. Pro-lifers must define that word in the minds of the American public, not attempt facile messaging that insists this is about clinic regulations, or parental consent, or laws that are merely 'too confusing.' Telling voters that they are too stupid or uninformed to understand what is being proposed is not, as it turns out, compelling messaging. Frankly, it also makes pro-lifers look disingenuous. Voters know that pro-life groups oppose abortion. To claim that we actually oppose these proposals for a laundry list of other issues is simply not believable."
Finally, I have a column on how artists have represented abortion around the world: “The visceral power of abortion memorials around the world.” An excerpt: “On the green lawn of Resurrection Cemetery in Madison, Wisconsin, surrounded by gravestones, stands a breathtaking sculpture. It depicts a translucent, ethereal little girl of perhaps four years old walking, arms outstretched, towards a man and a woman. They are on their knees; the woman’s head is bowed, and her hand clutches her face. The man has one arm around her and reaches longingly towards the little girl with the other, his face gaunt, haunted, and stricken with grief.”
As always, I’ve got plenty of other short, regular culture updates on The Bridgehead, and you can get a copy of Prairie Lion: The Life and Times of Ted Byfield here and here, and my other books here. You can also check out the podcast here:
On Apple Podcasts.
On Spotify.
On Rumble.
On YouTube (and on any other podcast player you might prefer!)
The abortion memorial reminded me of the hundred year old silent movie called "where are our children".
Thank you for this, there are some great reads here. The piece about abortion memorials is devastating.
I actually just waded into discussing abortion for the first time in my most recent essay, "The DNC and Feminism's War on Women." Using Abigail Favale's book "The Genesis of Gender" I explore how it came to be that modern feminism is beholden to a philosophy of dehumanization that pits women against their own bodies. Ultimately, this culminates in the gender paradigm, which relies on regressive stereotypes, pursues wholeness within a framework of fragmentation, and disguises self-harm as self-care.