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US vice president JD Vance is right… Europe is heading towards a dictatorship of ‘liberals’ who are not liberal at all
FOR all the attention paid to them, political speeches rarely leave any lasting impact.
Most are just bundles of platitudes which have been forgotten even before the applause has died down.
But in Germany last Friday we heard a stunning exception — and from a relative newcomer to politics.
The address to the Munich Security Conference by US vice president JD Vance will be remembered in years to come as a pivotal moment in US- European relations.
The fact that it has caused so much upset to so many European bigwigs is testament to what it set out to achieve — to tell painful home truths to cherished allies.
These were no off-the-cuff comments in the style of Donald Trump, a man who often likes to say outrageous things as an opening gambit in negotiations.
This was a carefully-crafted speech with a devastatingly simple point at its heart — that if you are going to defend a country or a continent you first have to be sure about what you are defending.
Europe’s problem, as Vance made clear, is that it has itself been lax in defending the values that it professes to uphold.
It is no use calling on your citizens to defend freedom and democracy from external threats if you are not yourself standing up for those things.
Vance cited several instances in which Europe is failing in this regard.
First and foremost was last year’s Romanian presidential elections, which were cancelled at the last moment by the country’s constitutional court on the grounds that a number of TikTok accounts used in the campaign appeared to have emanated from Russia.
Neutered forever
This has become standard practice for Putin’s regime. Russian bots have been implicated in US and UK elections.
But for a court to use that as an excuse to annul an election is chilling — as well as being an insult to the intelligence of the people.
Yet it is all too symptomatic of what is wrong with European democracy. The EU, as well as many individual member states, have constitutions which are based on a fundamental distrust of the people.
They have powerful legal institutions which see their role as defending the people from themselves.
Take Germany, where the right-wing party AfD looks likely to make striking gains in the upcoming elections.
Europe’s problem, as Vance made clear, is that it has itself been lax in defending the values which it professes to uphold
Ross Clark
Already, the political establishment is gearing up to refuse to accept the possibility of the party leading or even forming part of the next government.
Ever since World War Two, the prevailing attitude among Europe’s elite has been that democracy gave Germany Hitler and therefore it must be neutered forever after.
Europe’s elite outraged
The people should be given a choice, but only within narrowly defined parameters which ensure the perpetual survival of social democracy.
It has led in some cases to the same parties pursuing the same economic policies being in power for the past eight decades.
Now that those policies are failing to deliver the bacon, it is hardly any wonder voters are rebelling by backing “populist” parties.
What does “populist” mean other than policies that are popular but which those currently in power wish were not?
The difference between the US European attitudes to democracy can be summed up in the wording of the European Convention on Human Rights, which was written by European lawyers and the UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which was influenced more by American lawyers.
While the latter states that the basis of government “shall be the will of the people”, the former contains no such phrase.
Vance also drew attention to the numerous ways in which European courts are suppressing free speech, such as in the case of Adam Smith-Connor, who was prosecuted for silently praying outside an abortion clinic in Bournemouth, thus infringing a public spaces protection order.
Some people might reasonably ask what that case has to do with an international security conference but Vance is quite right to be shocked by the case.
It is alien to Americans because free speech is written into the US constitution.
In Britain and in other European countries, on the other hand, the freedom to express your views seems increasingly to be treated as a privilege rather than a right, and one that can be withdrawn at whim if some special interest group is offended by what you say.
Where, by the way, are Britain’s left when it comes to defending the right of anti- abortion activists to protest?
Europe is drifting towards becoming a dictatorship of ‘liberals’ who are not really liberal at all
Ross Clark
They wail to high heaven when climate activists are prosecuted for criminal damage or obstructing roads (never for protesting in itself), yet when it came to criminalising silent prayer outside abortion clinics almost every Labour MP, as well as many from other parties, happily voted in favour.
Vance is right. Europe is drifting towards becoming a dictatorship of “liberals” who are not really liberal at all.
On the contrary, on some issues they are positively Putinesque in their desperation to silence dissent. They treat dogma on trans rights, diversity, Net Zero and so on as unchallengeable.
Europe’s elite is so outraged because the US vice president has done just that — and challenged them.
Sorry to disabuse them, but to many of us there was not the remotest thing objectionable or “unacceptable” about Vance’s speech.
On the contrary, I wish we had more politicians of our own who were so frank.
Kelly Brook, 45, wows fans as she strips off for rare bikini snaps on romantic holiday
KELLY Brook wowed fans as she stripped off for rare bikini pics on a romantic holiday with her husband Jeremy Parisi.
Model Kelly, 45, looked incredible in a pink floral two-piece while posing within the five-star Sandals Saint Vincent and The Grenadines in the Eastern Caribbean.
The TV personality was joined by actor Jeremy, 39, who flashed a smile for the camera while snapping a selfie by the pool.
Kelly flashed a series of poses, holding up two peace signs before placing her hands on her hips and gasping in the establishment’s grounds, where rooms begin at £1,000 per night.
Taking to Instagram with the shots, Kelly wrote in her caption: “Ultimate Recovery Carry On Cold Plunge #redlanespa.”
Last year, it was reported the couple had landed a huge ITV deal after their successful stint on Race Across The World.
The three-part mini series will see the couple travel to rural Italy where Jeremy’s family live.
Kelly and Jeremy gained a legion of fans during their appearance on BBC‘s Race Across the World earlier this year.
It was the first time that fans got to see a peek inside their marriage with one another as they faced off against their fellow celebs throughout South America.
Now, the pair are set to return to our screens with their brand new show, Kelly and Jeremy: La Vita Italiana.
The couple will return to the Arpino countryside, where they tied the knot in 2022.
“With Kelly’s trademark sense of humour, and Jeremy’s passion for his heritage, This Morning viewers will become immersed in the couple’s journey of discovery in deciding whether Italian life really is right for them,” a source told the Daily Mail.
“The barn is an interesting talking point too as it could potentially become their dream home… if they can get the goats to move out first!”
Viewers will see the pair weigh up pros and cons on whether they should move to Italy, while also embracing the culture and life in the countryside.
The series, which kicks off on Wednesday, sees them face challenges when they’re thrown into farming life on Jeremy’s family’s olive farm.
Fans can expect to see brunette beauty Kelly get hands on as she mucks in with looking after the livestock and harvest.
In an interview with OK Magazine, Kelly previously opened up on the real reason she and Jeremy have not discussed children – and it could be because of their time on the reality TV show.
Kelly revealed that she and her husband had yet to decide where they wanted to live in the world and, as such, couldn’t think about having children.
The Heart FM star told the publication: “We have our little fur baby dog, Teddy, but I’m not sure about having children yet.
“At the moment we are focused on work and where we want to live in the world.
“It’s very hard to think about children when you don’t know where you might be living.
“We need to be more settled before we think about children.”
Mark Selby reveals he almost RETIRED from snooker after suffering crippling mental health issues
MARK SELBY came close to quitting snooker last summer as he battled with crippling mental health issues.
Eight months on, the four-time world champion has won two ranking titles and will head to the Crucible in April as one of the favourites.
The Jester from Leicester — who has suffered with depression all through his career — had a sit-down chat with his wife, Vikki, and pals and considered hanging up his cue after losing to Joe O’Connor in the first round at Sheffield last year.
After winning the Welsh Open on Sunday, Selby revealed: “If you’d asked me after that game at the Crucible would I carry on, I’d have probably said no.
“If you had put me on the spot, there and then, I’d have probably never played again.
“I spoke to friends and family and said, ‘I’m not really enjoying it . . . I cannot keep putting myself through it’ because it was making me even more ill.
“They were saying, ‘Why don’t you have a bit of time out? Don’t go anywhere near the table.’
“I spoke to my doctor and he said to me, ‘Whenever you feel like that, just pick and choose. I know you want to play in everything but you need to start putting yourself first.’
“That’s what I thought I would do and after the summer, I seemed to be in a better place.
“That’s not to say that from now until the end of the season, I might play in everything — that could easily turn.
“But if I’m in that position again like I was a couple of weeks before the last Worlds, I definitely won’t compete. It’s not healthy.”
Selby, 41, beat Stephen Maguire 9-6 in the Llandudno final to claim a 24th ranking success, following his British Open win in September.
Part of his £100,000 prize pot will go towards a Kindle book reader for his ten-year-old daughter Sofia — though he has little time to get one.
Tomorrow, he flies to the World Open in China, where he faces Liu Hongyu on Sunday.
The world No 3 added: “Confidence-wise, this win is great. But confidence is only good if you’re in a good place.
“If you aren’t in a great place mentally then that confidence is irrelevant because you won’t perform to a good level.
“At the moment, if I can maintain where I am, then of course I’ll go to the Crucible very confident.
“I’m enjoying the challenge out there — hence why I’m probably playing a bit better.”
Bizarre moment MAFS UK’s Luke proposes to ‘mystery woman’ in Dubai as he jokes ‘she said no’
MARRIED At First Sight star Luke Worley has been caught on camera proposing to a ‘mystery woman’ – but he claims she “said no”.
Luke, 32, was snapped on bended knee in front of a huge display of red roses with Dubai‘s Burj Khalifa in the background.
Luke cryptically covered the ‘person’ he was popping the question to with a slew of red heart emojis and, even more bizarrely, captioned the photo on Instagram: “She said no 
.”
The former EE store manager also posted a shot of himself on the terrace of a fancy restaurant that was taken late at night.
He is grinning in the picture and is holding a half-drunk glass of champagne. Luke captioned it: “Dinner with a view.”
Fans have been left scratching their heads as they try to understand what has gone on.
Some quick-thinkers have suggested he might have signed up to another series of the Married At First Sight global franchise, while others have branded the proposal ‘fake’.
One of his followers commented: “No box, no ring, no person…”
Another added: “She is very short and no shadow but whatever rocks your boat.”
A third said: “I propose to myself too sometimes 
.”
While someone else wondered: “I reckon his going back on MAFS.”
Replying, another follower agreed: “MAFS Australia 
.”
Luke appeared on the 2023 series of Married At First Sight and tied the knot with Jay Howard.
The pair appeared to hit it off, but cracks soon began to appear.
The couple were later forced to make an early exit from the E4 show after Luke had a huge bust up with his co-star, Jordan Gayle.
Fans had high hopes for Luke and Jay’s relationship but unfortunately they were quick to split.
Returning later in the series for the MAFS Reunion show, Jay confirmed they had gone their separate ways.
Jay admitted to her co-stars: “He literally basically just said, like, we are better off just being friends.
Mafs couples that have stood the test of time
Loved-up Tayah Victoria and Adam Aveling of series six fame had the first Mafs baby.
The pair couldn’t keep their hands off each other on the programme and quickly found their feet in the outside world, moving into Adam’s Doncaster home.
Just 18 months after meeting, the couple welcomed their daughter Beau.
Season five couple Michelle Walder and Owen Jenkins also managed to make their marriage work away from the cameras and had their first child in December.
Teacher Michelle, 29, has no regrets about taking part in the experiment. She told us: “I just feel very lucky and thankful that it has worked out – and excited for everything to come.”
Michelle and Owen were both sick of dating apps when they applied in 2019.
Owen recalled: “I had been out for some drinks with a friend after work.
“While he was out for a cigarette I was scrolling on Instagram waiting for him to come back in.
“The MAFS advert was the last thing I saw, and I joked, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if I signed up?’
“A few beers later when I was back at home I sent in the application, and the rest is history.”
Another couple to make Mafs UK history is Zoe Clifton and Jenna Robinson.
Despite a slight rocky start, where they clashed over Jenna’s vegan lifestyle, the show’s first same sex pairing are still going strong.
They even have a successful podcast together called Life With a Pod.
Jenna shed light on being involved in the show earlier this year when she told us: “We’re not legally married, and I never felt like we were. I definitely feel the process makes you take the relationship a lot more seriously and having the help of the experts… if you can survive that process it sets a firm foundation for a long-lasting relationship.”
“I asked him what he wanted, but he couldn’t answer the question.”
Luke soon moved on and went Instagram official with a new girlfriend in February 2024.
The reality star introduced his then-girlfriend Hannah Lynch to his followers by calling her his “rocket”.
But Luke and Hannah split six months later.
During a fan Q&A, Luke was asked: “Are you still with somebody?”
Luke replied with a screen shot of the dating site Hinge and said: “Nope, back to the drawing board.”
He has not been pictured publicly with any potential girlfriends since.
