Laura Dodsworth

The paperback edition of ‘Free Your Mind’ is out today. There is a war on for your mind. Learn how to recognise the nudges, dispel efforts to brainwash you and always question those who say the choice is yours. If you don’t control your mind, someone else will. lnk.to/freeyourmind_b…

Noa Argamani, prayer, mindfulness and choosing life. thefreemind.co.uk/p/noa-argamani…

Takedown of the day. 🤣 And nobody deserves it more than the odious Stadlen.

Shariaville or Stabbington?

@EdwardJDavey, you have misread the argument so comprehensively that one has to wonder whether it is deliberate. Nobody is objecting to freedom of worship. Nick Timothy did not say Muslims should not be allowed to pray. He said mass ritual prayer in a shared national civic space is an act of domination, and cited the former extremist turned scholar Ed Husain, who has spent his career documenting exactly this phenomenon. The Adhan, the call to prayer, declares there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger. That is by definition a theological repudiation of every other faith. When projected into Trafalgar Square, a national memorial to British sovereignty and independence, it is not equivalent to a celebration. It is a declaration. The distinction is theological, not political, and it is precise. You invoke freedom of worship as though Timothy had called for mosques to be closed. He did not. You invoke British values as though observing that the domination of public spaces is straight from the Islamist playbook is somehow un-British. It is not. It is documented, sourced and supported by scholars who have spent decades inside Islamist movements. This week, thousands of people gathered on the Embankment chanting death to America and death to Israel. Bobby Vylan led chants of death death death to the IDF, cleared by the CPS last year and back on a London stage doing it again. The Islamic Human Rights Commission, named in a Lords report as part of Iran's soft power network in Britain, addressed the crowd. Thirty six Labour MPs wrote to the Parliamentary Commissioner demanding the investigation of a man for pointing out what every serious student of Islamism already knows. The Attorney General deployed his Jewish identity to defend a declaration that, by its own theological logic, repudiates Judaism. And your contribution to all of it is a tweet accusing people who raise these questions of stoking fear, hatred and division. You lead a party that voted consistently to keep Britain in the European Union against the democratic will of the British people. A party that has positioned itself as the political home of progressive appeasement, that has never met an Islamist grievance it would not accommodate, and whose response to every act of cultural intimidation is to accuse those who name it of bigotry. The Liberal Democrats have no record of defending British values under pressure. They have a record of redefining British values to mean whatever is least likely to cause offence to the most vocal pressure group in the room. Freedom of worship is indeed a fundamental British value. So is freedom of speech. So is the freedom to observe, without being accused of racism, that a theological declaration of exclusive truth projected into a national monument is not the same as lighting a menorah or performing a Passion play. Nick Timothy exercised that freedom. The full weight of the parliamentary and political establishment descended on him within twenty four hours. That is the state of British politics today, Ed. And you are part of the problem, not the solution. "Nick Timothy didn't say Muslims shouldn't be allowed to pray. He said mass ritual prayer in a shared national civic space is an act of domination, and cited the former extremist turned scholar Ed Husain, who has spent his career documenting exactly this phenomenon."

I can't believe this needs saying, but it's not "anti-women" to be against the decriminalisation of late-term abortion spectator.com/article/decrim…

An icon ⭐️ I loved listening to her. And being interviewed by Jenni Murray was one of my career highlights. Woman’s Hour was never the same without her. RIP.

🤷‍♀️

Quality control, not cowardice. You need a certain level of intellect to know the difference.

I am deeply disturbed by last night’s debate and vote to decriminalise abortion. The biggest change to abortion law in fifty years passes the Commons after a two hour debate. It is a profound change that leaves the unborn child and women themselves extraordinarily vulnerable. I worry intensely about the unintended consequences of this. The combination of rushed amendments on decriminalisation and pills by post is very dangerous. A woman will now be able to end her pregnancy herself - at any stage including up to birth - without legal consequence. She will also have the means to do it - with tablets that should only be taken before a baby in the womb is at ten weeks gestation, available after a phone or video call with a medic. Dr Caroline Johnson tabled a perfectly sensible amendment, which I supported, to say that abortion pills should only be prescribed after a woman has seen a medic at a clinic - to verify that she is pregnant, at the correct stage and not being coerced (none of which can be established online). She set out the medical reality of an abortion. We should not underplay how extraordinarily distressing a thing it is to lose a baby for a woman - whether wanted or not - and the amplified risk now of that happening at home, alone, with the delivery of a viable child, exposes her to serious medical complications and psychological trauma. The law does not exist simply to punish but to deter. And in deterring, it protects the vulnerable. It being a criminal act for a mother to abort her child at any stage has for decades protected the unborn child but also the woman herself. With that gone, the ability to prosecute coercive or abusive partners is also undermined because the termination being encouraged by them no longer amounts to a criminal offence. All this is aside from any moral duty to the unborn child - something that was skirted over yesterday. Only six people got to speak on our benches. I was lucky that I even got three minutes to have a say. Others did not get called at all. I am grateful that there were some on the Labour benches with the courage to express their worries. Abortion votes are unwhipped so each MP votes according to their conscience not party policy. But Labour MPs - with their huge majority - voted overwhelmingly to decriminalise (291 to 25). 92 Conservatives voted against, with 4 in favour. 2 Lib Dems voted against, 63 in favour. Reform were 4 against and their leader didn’t vote. It is now over to the House of Lords, where I hope this proposal receives the scrutiny it failed to get in the Commons.

Grateful for this clear pronouncement. Sad that @churchofengland has not issued a statement.

In a devastating moment for our country, the House of Lords has voted for an amendment which would legalise abortion up to birth. In reaction to this tragic news, Archbishop John Wilson said: "This is a truly tragic moment for our nation. How can this frightening legislation, which, following Royal Assent, will permit the abortion of children right up until the moment of birth for any reason, have any place in a civilised society? We can never underestimate the challenges that women and men facing difficult decisions. There is, however, another life involved which is now to be ignored and silenced. There are also serious concerns for the safety of women. While there is an even more difficult journey now to protect the unborn child, we must continue to speak up for the voiceless and work to protect the most vulnerable who are no longer protected by the law. “As Christians, we affirm that each of us is loved by God and each of us is made in God’s image and likeness. Our innate human dignity is not something granted at birth, but exists from the moment of conception. The increasing advances that allow babies born prematurely to live full and happy lives stands in stark contrast to this legislation. This is fundamentally a matter of justice and this legislation, which favours some lives over others, increases inequality in our society.” St Joseph, protector of expecting mothers and unborn children, pray for us

Horrific.

Our “tolerant and diverse” country: Arrests Christians for silent prayer Arrests Christian street preachers Tells Jewish fans not to attend football matches Detains Jews for wearing Star of David at pro‑Pal protest

@DrHoenderkamp @AllisonPearson I think one effect of this bill is to bring some people to the conclusion that abortion laws are too permissive as it is.

@AllisonPearson I agree totally, but the vote is not to legalise abortion to term, she could do it via the NHS already and most of the public don't realise this. And the reasons are not defined. Remeber the 37 weeker with cleft palate...

I don’t use the word “evil” lightly but abortion up till birth…? My column: Britain is about to make a sickening change to the abortion law telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/1…

I wonder if Lucy Powell and other Labour MPs will join Christian friends on Easter Sunday and post about it?

Remarkable speech from Pam Duncan-Glancy (Independent): “There will be countless disabled people in our constituencies who haven’t had the choice to have a shower in weeks. People who can’t choose when they go to bed. Some who will already be in bed. “People who can’t choose what to eat. People who can’t choose to go out of their house, because it isn’t accessible. People tonight who can’t choose the care or the healthcare they need, including at the end, because it simply isn’t available for them. “And crucially, there will be disabled people whose struggle is so hard that they’ve given up hope, given up fighting, and will be considering tonight taking their own lives. “I know this, because I have been all of these people I’ve described. They live in fear every single day, worrying about what new limit someone else will put on their lives, and what little power they will have to change it. They live every single day without choice at all… “In a world where so many have little or no choice, we can’t risk making death the only choice they ever have.”

We live in a death cult.

@WalkerMarcus I think there would have been less outrage if she had been clearer and more vocal about her stance on two very controversial bills - assisted dying and abortion.

I have to say, the reaction on here to Archbishop Sarah’s pilgrimage is very disappointing. First of all, the facts: she is breaking her pilgrimage to attend the Lords to vote on the abortion amendments, which obviously took some organisation because the pilgrimage was long planned and the date of the Lords debate only announced on Friday.