Emma Barnard

So humbled and encouraged by the fantastic feedback from the participants of the ACE supported ‘Life Through the Lens’ workshops at @ProjectZeroWF1 It was such a pleasure to meet these talented young people and facilitate ways of expressing their creativity through photography.

If you're accused of 'hate speech', you're nearly twice as likely to be found innocent by a jury than if your case is just heard by a judge. The British people know right from wrong. It's a disgrace that this Government wants to cut them out of the justice system.

My initial inclination was to scoff, point at & mock the utter absurdity of this situation, but I quickly realised this is actually no laughing matter… WTF is going on???

These are the 304 MPs who voted to end the right to jury trials. All of them are Labour. Today is the day that justice died in Britain. Name and shame them. Never forget their betrayal. Jack Abbott (Labour) Zubir Ahmed (Labour) Luke Akehurst (Labour) Sadik Al-Hassan (Labour) Bayo Alaba (Labour) Dan Aldridge (Labour) Heidi Alexander (Labour) Douglas Alexander (Labour) Rushanara Ali (Labour) Callum Anderson (Labour) Scott Arthur (Labour) James Asser (Labour) Jas Athwal (Labour) Catherine Atkinson (Labour) Lewis Atkinson (Labour) Calvin Bailey (Labour) Olivia Bailey (Labour) Alex Baker (Labour) Alex Ballinger (Labour) Antonia Bance (Labour) Lee Barron (Labour) Alex Barros-Curtis (Labour) Johanna Baxter (Labour) Danny Beales (Labour) Torsten Bell (Labour) Hilary Benn (Labour) Polly Billington (Labour) Matt Bishop (Labour) Olivia Blake (Labour) Rachel Blake (Labour) Elsie Blundell (Labour) Kevin Bonavia (Labour) Jade Botterill (Labour) Sureena Brackenridge (Labour) Phil Brickell (Labour) Chris Bryant (Labour) Julia Buckley (Labour) David Burton-Sampson (Labour) Ruth Cadbury (Labour) Nesil Caliskan (Labour) Markus Campbell-Savours (Labour) Irene Campbell (Labour) Juliet Campbell (Labour) Sam Carling (Labour) Al Carns (Labour) Bambos Charalambous (Labour) Luke Charters (Labour) Feryal Clark (Labour) Jacob Collier (Labour) Lizzi Collinge (Labour) Tom Collins (Labour) Liam Conlon (Labour) Sarah Coombes (Labour) Andrew Cooper (Labour) Deirdre Costigan (Labour) Pam Cox (Labour) Jen Craft (Labour) Mary Creagh (Labour) Torcuil Crichton (Labour) Chris Curtis (Labour) Janet Daby (Labour) Ashley Dalton (Labour) Emily Darlington (Labour) Jonathan Davies (Labour) Paul Davies (Labour) Shaun Davies (Labour) Josh Dean (Labour) Kate Dearden (Labour) Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour) Jim Dickson (Labour) Anna Dixon (Labour) Samantha Dixon (Labour) Anneliese Dodds (Labour) Helena Dollimore (Labour) Stephen Doughty (Labour) Graeme Downie (Labour) Angela Eagle (Labour) Maria Eagle (Labour) Lauren Edwards (Labour) Sarah Edwards (Labour) Damien Egan (Labour) Maya Ellis (Labour) Kirith Entwistle (Labour) Chris Evans (Labour) Miatta Fahnbulleh (Labour) Hamish Falconer (Labour) Linsey Farnsworth (Labour) Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour) Mark Ferguson (Labour) Natalie Fleet (Labour) Emma Foody (Labour) Catherine Fookes (Labour) Paul Foster (Labour) Vicky Foxcroft (Labour) Daniel Francis (Labour) James Frith (Labour) Allison Gardner (Labour) Anna Gelderd (Labour) Alan Gemmell (Labour) Gill German (Labour) Tracy Gilbert (Labour) Preet Kaur Gill (Labour) Becky Gittins (Labour) Mary Glindon (Labour) Ben Goldsborough (Labour) Jodie Gosling (Labour) John Grady (Labour) Lilian Greenwood (Labour) Nia Griffith (Labour) Amanda Hack (Labour) Louise Haigh (Labour) Fabian Hamilton (Labour) Paulette Hamilton (Labour) Carolyn Harris (Labour) Lloyd Hatton (Labour) Tom Hayes (Labour) Claire Hazelgrove (Labour) Meg Hillier (Labour) Jonathan Hinder (Labour) Sharon Hodgson (Labour) Rachel Hopkins (Labour) Claire Hughes (Labour) Alison Hume (Labour) Rupa Huq (Labour) Natasha Irons (Labour) Sally Jameson (Labour) Dan Jarvis (Labour) Terry Jermy (Labour) Adam Jogee (Labour) Diana Johnson (Labour) Darren Jones (Labour) Gerald Jones (Labour) Ruth Jones (Labour) Sarah Jones (Labour) Gurinder Singh Josan (Labour) Sojan Joseph (Labour) Warinder Juss (Labour) Chris Kane (Labour) Mike Kane (Labour) Satvir Kaur (Labour) Liz Kendall (Labour) Afzal Khan (Labour) Naushabah Khan (Labour) Stephen Kinnock (Labour) Jayne Kirkham (Labour) Gen Kitchen (Labour) Sonia Kumar (Labour) Peter Kyle (Labour) Laura Kyrke-Smith (Labour) Peter Lamb (Labour) David Lammy (Labour) Noah Law (Labour) Kim Leadbeater (Labour) Andrew Lewin (Labour) Simon Lightwood (Labour) Josh MacAlister (Labour) Alice Macdonald (Labour) Justin Madders (Labour) Shabana Mahmood (Labour) Seema Malhotra (Labour) Amanda Martin (Labour) Keir Mather (Labour) Alex Mayer (Labour) Douglas McAllister (Labour)

On the eve of #IWD2026 at UN Secretariat in NYC, @Malala Yousafzai said that after Taliban takeover, women and girls in Afghanistan have been erased from public life, no schools, no sports, no singing, no poetry, and called on world to recognize it as gender apartheid and act.

Having a debate about Islam must not become taboo. In a free society, citizens must be free to criticise any religion. Parliament voted to scrap our blasphemy laws back in 2002. While the Communities Secretary says the social definition of Islamophobia — now repackaged as “anti-Muslim hostility” — will not stifle free speech, it is clear that it will. It is increasingly clear that, in the wake of the Gorton and Denton by-election result, the Government is willing to sell out our right to free speech to pacify some Muslim voters in traditionally safe Labour seats it now looks set to lose. The decision to ditch the word “Islamophobia” from the definition and replace it with “anti-Muslim hostility” is a weak attempt to address free speech concerns. In reality, it has made the definition even broader and therefore an even greater threat to free speech. It is disingenuous. While the definition is non-statutory, we all know that public bodies — schools, universities, the NHS and local authorities — as well as many businesses, will adopt it zealously. We will see people sacked, books removed from shelves, contracts cancelled, and statues and paintings taken down. This is a Muslim blasphemy law via the back door.

This MP said our work to expose West Midlands Police was “Islamophobic”. If he thinks he can silence me when I tell the truth, he will be in for a rude awakening. As for this definition, I will ignore it and advise the whole country to do the same.

📣🚨 The Free Speech Union is mounting a legal challenge against the Government over its official definition of Islamophobia — now repackaged as 'anti-Muslim hatred' — and its appointment of a new 'tsar' to punish people who fall foul of it. This amounts to a Muslim blasphemy law via the back door. The definition is vague and subjective, and will be weaponised to silence legitimate criticism and debate about Islam, Muslims, and Islamic practices and history. The FSU’s General Secretary, Lord Young of Acton, said: “This is the most serious threat to free speech the Government has come up with so far — the only area in which it’s achieving any success. “If we don’t win this fight, tens of thousands of people a year could lose their jobs at the say-so of a Labour-appointed ‘tsar’. It’s dystopian.” Public bodies will adopt this definition — despite it being non-statutory — with the same zeal the police have shown in investigating and recording non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs). It is predicted by one of the drafters of the definition that it could lead to around 20,000 reports of 'anti-Muslim hostility' a year. At present, the number of recorded anti-Muslim hate crimes is around 4,000. In a free society, no religion should be shielded from legitimate criticism. This proposal places one faith above the rest. The Free Speech Union is bringing a legal challenge on two grounds. First, the definition relies on nebulous, legally undefined terms such as “negative and prejudicial stereotyping of Muslims”, making it incoherent and irrational — and ripe for weaponisation. Second, adopting such a definition cuts across legislation already enacted by Parliament and therefore breaches the public law principle known as “occupying the field”. Under this established public law doctrine, new regulations, put in place by ministers, must not replace existing legislation. It is constitutionally unlawful. In this case, the body responsible for protecting Muslims from discrimination is the Equality and Human Rights Commission, not an anti-Muslim hostility 'tsar'. Parliament voted to abolish blasphemy laws 18 years ago. We can't let this Government resurrect them via the back door. This is one of the biggest battles the Free Speech Union has ever taken on in its six years — and we need your help. Judicial reviews are expensive, but this is a fight we felt we had to take on. Donate to our crowdfunder below👇

I’ve put down an offer on this Church that was about to be converted by developers! I’m sick and tired of seeing derelict and aban but anyway Church is shutting down all across the UK. If a building was built on a God and to be worship for generations upon generations, it does not need to be sold off to make profit. When the revival happens, we need churches like this prime and ready! Comment below if you agree with this idea! #christian #developer #propertyinvestor #church

@samuel_leeds It’s a brilliant idea, thank you so much for doing this!

I'm buying a church. I’ve made a cash offer of £225,000 to purchase this church, which was about to close and be sold off to developers. I'm fed up with driving past all these churches in the UK that used to thrive, support the community, and feed the homeless. Now, just look at these beautiful church buildings. So many are boarded up, closed down, with developers queueing up to profit from converting them into flats. I simply can't accept that a building built to glorify Jesus for generations can be turned into something solely for profit. So I've placed an offer on a church in my hometown. My plan is to buy it and offer it completely free of charge, with zero rent, to a church willing to worship Jesus here and serve others. What do you think of this idea?

Hero!

It’s not just that they were white. It was BECAUSE they were white. In the eyes of Pakistani-Muslim grooming gangs, little working-class white girls were not just vulnerable. They were less than human. Easy targets. Disposable. “White slags,” as local authorities and social workers dismissed them. “Paki shaggers” as politicians turned a blind eye while these predators operated in plain sight. “Child prostitutes” as police officers arrested them mid-rape then handed them back to their rapists. I grew up in Telford. I was abused in Telford, under Operation Chalice, and grew up with the “cautionary tales” of Pakistani-Muslim grooming gangs. I know the failures firsthand. The same powerful people and organisations that turned a blind eye to my abuse are now orchestrating the greatest cover-up in British history through this so-called “National Grooming Gangs Inquiry.” Let us be clear: This was not random child abuse. It was racially motivated sexual terrorism, deliberately targeting girls outside their own community because they saw them as infidels, as unworthy of protection or respect. In their eyes, shaped by a rigid interpretation of Islam and cultural attitudes within the Pakistani Orthodox, white girls were outsiders, devoid of the honour and purity afforded to their own. “Kuffar” means unbeliever. And, in this toxic mix of culture and faith, it justified everything: the grooming, the rape, the trafficking. They would quote twisted religious justifications, claiming non-Muslims deserved no mercy, no humanity. A perversion, thriving in communities where patriarchal honour codes protected their own daughters while marking outsiders as prey. White, British, and poor: the perfect storm for exploitation in towns like Rotherham, Rochdale, and Telford. Pakistani-Muslim men knew the system would shield them. Why? Because for decades, Labour councils, police forces, and social services buried their heads in the sand. They feared being called “racist” more than they feared for those girls’ lives. I saw how “cultural sensitivity” became a shield for inaction. Social workers were trained to overlook the taxis circling schools, the men handing out booze to white kids, and the flats full of middle-aged Muslim men welcoming in little girls at all hours of the day. Political correctness trumped child protection, and cultivating “community cohesion” meant leaving little white girls at the mercy of their abusers. We grew up knowing which neighbourhoods in Wellington to avoid, which takeaways were run by pedos, and which taxi companies employed most of the predators. It was an open secret. A ‘hazard’ of being a girl growing up in a town where child sexual exploitation was the norm. The gangs enforced a cultural double standard: protect your own daughters, but exploit the infidels’. And local authorities fell in line. I will never forget being asked by a detective from the CSE team whether I had “consented” to sexual activity. My abuse started at age 5. The implication was clear. Those familiar attitudes echoed loudly: non-Muslim victims were lesser, asking for it, or simply deviant. It was up to us to protect ourselves, because everyone also grew up knowing that the people in charge wouldn’t lift a finger. Labour politicians. Labour-led councils. Labour localities. They traded girls for votes. And they are still doing it. We are witnessing the greatest cover-up in British history. The Inquiry has been gutted from the start. No deep dive into the role of religion or ethnicity. No examination of cultural factors. No holding powerful figures accountable for criminal liability. Just “select case studies” to paper over the cracks. It is a whitewash, plain and simple. A farce. They blocked it, voted against it, stripped it back to vague “local model” enquiries, then U-turned to claim credit. This is not accountability; it is choreography designed to shut up critics, control the narrative, and cover up their own failures.

Please, PLEASE... Read what Trevor Phillips has to say

PRESS RELEASE: HIGH COURT GRANTS HISTORIC PERMISSION FOR @TMOFCharity The Maggie Oliver Foundation TO CHALLENGE GOVERNMENT ON FAILURE TO ACT ON CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION This morning the High Court granted permission for charity, The Maggie Oliver Foundation, to challenge the Government on its failure to implement the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). The judgement is a moment of profound significance for survivors of child sexual abuse and for every child in this country whose safety depends on the Government honouring its commitments to reform. The Court found that following promises from consecutive governments, over the last almost four years, to learn lessons from IICSA to drive improvement in the policy and legislation protecting children, there is a legitimate expectation for them to deliver the inquiry’s twenty recommendations. The judge specifically highlighted the continued permission of use of pain inducing restraint techniques on children, a practice described as amounting to torture by IICSA, as an area where the Government has not justified its failure to act. The case will now proceed to a full substantive hearing. Maggie Oliver (former Detective and founder of the Maggie Oliver Foundation) will say: “Today is a historic day, not just for the Foundation, but for every survivor who has testified, waited and hoped. And it is for every child now and in the future, and for everyone who believes the state’s primary duty is to protect its citizens, especially the most vulnerable. When governments make promises to act and then walk away, children pay the price. Today the court has said, those promises matter.”

Repost!🙌🏼

This is what England looked like in 1903 The fact that we are able to watch this over 120 years later is insane

‘We’re not racist, we just want to be looked after!’ Caller Billie, who’s being evicted with her three children, chokes up telling @NickFerrariLBC that it’s not fair failed asylum seekers will be paid £40k to leave when her council can’t help her ‘in any way, shape or form’.

Honestly which planet does the government come from? “Hey let’s offer more of an incentive to come to the Uk illegally”. It’s genuinely extraordinary mad..

You cannot look at this and think God does not exist

The Case for Childhood Boredom. A strange thing has quietly disappeared from childhood. Boredom. For most of human history, boredom was unavoidable. Childhood unfolded in long, uneven stretches of time that nobody bothered to organize. Summer afternoons drifted by without a schedule, car rides lasted hours with nothing but the passing landscape, and children spent entire days outside with only a loose instruction to be home before dinner. And something curious tended to happen in those empty spaces. Children invented things. A stick became a sword, and then a fishing rod, and then, without warning, a wand capable of defeating imaginary monsters. A patch of grass became a battlefield. A cardboard box became a spaceship. Entire worlds emerged out of nothing more than idle time and a restless mind. Neuroscientists now understand that the brain behaves differently in those moments. When external stimulation fades, a network deep in the brain called the default mode network begins to activate. It is the circuitry associated with imagination, memory integration, and abstract thinking. When the mind has nowhere specific to go, it begins to wander, and while it wanders it starts connecting dots that rarely meet during structured activity. Creativity often lives in that wandering. Modern childhood, however, has undergone a quiet redesign. Empty time has been steadily replaced with organized activity. Sports leagues, tutoring sessions, music lessons, enrichment programs. Even the small gaps between activities tend to be filled with screens engineered with extraordinary precision to eliminate boredom the moment it begins to appear. Parents worry when boredom surfaces. A child announcing “there’s nothing to do” can feel like a problem waiting to be solved, a signal that the environment lacks sufficient stimulation. But boredom is simply the brain beginning a different mode of operation. The mind starts generating its own stimulation instead of consuming someone else’s. Look closely at the childhoods of unusually creative people and a pattern emerges. Steve Jobs spent long stretches wandering the neighborhoods of Silicon Valley, exploring electronics shops and experimenting in garages. Albert Einstein famously described hours of quiet daydreaming as a child, staring out windows and imagining physical problems in his head. J.K. Rowling began inventing elaborate stories long before she had any audience for them. Each of them had something that has become surprisingly rare. Psychological whitespace. Modern childhood often resembles a corporate calendar. Every hour accounted for. Every activity supervised. Every quiet moment quickly filled by a glowing rectangle designed by teams of behavioral scientists whose job is to make sure attention never drifts into silence. And yet many of the qualities parents hope their children will develop—creativity, resilience, independence—tend to emerge from precisely the conditions we have learned to eliminate. Unstructured time confronts a child with a deceptively simple problem. What should I do next? That question trains the brain in powerful ways. It forces the mind to generate ideas, to tolerate the mild discomfort of inactivity, and eventually to invent something interesting enough to fill the gap. Children who rarely encounter boredom often struggle to resolve it on their own. They wait. They look outward for stimulation rather than inward for possibility. Childhood boredom, in that sense, becomes a kind of workshop. It is the place where imagination practices building things from nothing, where the mind experiments freely without instruction, and where curiosity slowly learns how to entertain itself. Left alone long enough, the mind begins to wander. And wandering minds have a peculiar habit of discovering entirely new worlds.

So true. We also had one tv, radio one at breakfast, one static phone. One pair of jeans, one pair of trainers, one best outfit & waited till birthdays for a gift which my goodness did we look after. A milk man, a bread man, the coal man, a window cleaner & twice daily post man. Visits to the butchers & homemade food. Satsumas as a treat at Christmas. Yet we were so much happier …