More On UK Press And Policing

Carl Benjamin, a UK YouTuber who posts as Sargon of Akkad, raises a question that exposes another puzzling difference between both the press and the criminal justice systems in the US and the UK. But before I get to that, I have a problem with UK pronunciation. Benjamin attended Birkbeck College at the University of London, which is mid-ranked, and he seems to have a more or less standard university-level pronunciation, but he mumbles. I find him so hard to follow that, as with many UK and Australian YouTubers, I have to turn on closed captioning to be sure of what tbey're saying.

And frankly, I think that with surprising frequency, it's because these people mumble, not because of their usage. There's an enormous tolerance for mumbling in both Australia and the UK, and that includes people like politicians and broadcast professionals who shouldn't be mumbling, at least in the US. I'm more and more convinced I wouldn't be happy anywhere in the British Commonwealth, but the fact that everyone mumbles is just the least of it.

Mumbling or not, Benjamin points to a story in the Guardian that I haven't been able to locate, but I did find an equivalent version here: UK Police Arrest 12 in Far-Right Terror Plot.

This story has rapidly evolved into one of the most scrutinized incidents related to national security in the UK for the week. This is not only due to the size of the crowd that was supposedly planned to be attacked but also due to the bigger picture in relation to the overall threat level of terrorism in the country. The police stated that the case involves “right-wing terrorism.”

The central gathering in relation to this investigation was the UK Ijtima, which is an important Islamic conference organized at the Shrubland Hall in Suffolk. This was one of the biggest Muslim religious gatherings in the nation and featured an estimated attendance of 15,000 individuals over the weekend. While the sheer size of the event made it important from a public perspective, it is the claim that a group with far right tendencies planned to launch an attack against the event that led to the heightened security concerns. Counter terrorism authorities claimed that the event was brought to an end prematurely following the discovery of what they termed as credible and serious threat. This ensured that thousands of individuals attending the event were able to leave safely without any incident, since there were no reports of anyone getting injured.

The incident also fits a wider pattern in which extremist actors target public events for maximum impact and visibility. In this case, the symbolic value of a major Islamic event would have made it an especially potent target for anti-Muslim violence, which is why the police response was so urgent and heavily coordinated.

Farther down, there's a subhead, "What Police Have Said So Far":

Police have stressed that the investigation is ongoing and that searches are still being carried out. They have not released a detailed operational timeline, nor have they named the suspects publicly. That is consistent with the early stages of a counter-terrorism case, where disclosure is limited to avoid compromising further arrests, evidence gathering, or eventual prosecutions.

By now, the established facts are obvious – 12 arrests, a potential plot by far-right terrorists, a Muslim rally that attracted some 15,000 people, an early shutdown of the event and search operations in England. The rest of the story depends on what information police and prosecution get in the course of their investigation. Should there be any charges brought, the criminal process would help to understand whether those suspects had been working within the larger organization or not. It is especially significant how the authorities have labeled the incident as terrorism and not just a hate crime. It means that police considers the accused activities to be the ones that went beyond extreme statements and reached the point of a planned mass murder.

So, all police are saying is that this plot has gone beyond just crazy talk and reached the stage of a "planned mass murder" -- but because this is just preliminary, this is all they'll say. As far as I can see, this just isn't how these things are done in the US. I asked Chrome AI mode, "What type of substantiating information does US law enforcement provide when announcing an investigation into a terrorist conspiracy?" It answered,

When U.S. law enforcement agencies—primarily the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ)—announce an investigation, arrest, or indictment involving a terrorist conspiracy, they substantiate their claims using specific types of evidence detailed in public press releases, press conferences, and unsealed court affidavits. Because a legal "conspiracy" requires proving an agreement and an "overt act" taken toward committing the crime, the information focuses heavily on intent and pre-operational activity.

The primary categories of substantiating information provided include:

Encrypted Messaging Chats: Explicit discussions of targets, timing, and tactics extracted from platforms like Signal, WhatsApp, or Telegram.

Undercover Operations: Statements, audio, or video captured by undercover FBI employees or confidential informants who posed as fellow extremists or arms dealers to document the suspect's intent.

To establish that the plot moved beyond mere talk, law enforcement details the "overt steps" the suspects took:

Seized Blueprints and Manifestos: Handwritten or typed operational guides outlining targets, bomb-making instructions, and strategic objectives (e.g., specific target logs like "Operation Midnight Sun").

Proving "material support to terrorism" involves tracing the flow of goods and money.

Weapons and Ammunition Stockpiles: Detailed manifests of seized equipment, including firearms, body armor, and specialized equipment like armed drones.

Benjamin notices the game the UK police are playing here. At 4:22:

I would think this is a massive terror cell spread across the country of right-wing extremists, I guess. Just far-right terror, extreme right-wing terror, as they call it, and 12 of them have been arrested 'cause they were gonna do what? to one of the largest gatherings of Muslims in the country? Do we not want more information about this? I'm surprised Keir Starmer hasn't mentioned this. I can't believe that the mainstream, Keir Starmer, Ed Davey, you know, the Greens, they're not all condemning this. I thought Muslims were the face of modern Britain, guys,and you found this 12-person terror cell across the country that I assume was going to do something terrible at this event, and yet we don't have any real information on this.

And not only that, but, at the link above,

Counter terrorism authorities claimed that the event was brought to an end prematurely following the discovery of what they termed as credible and serious threat. This ensured that thousands of individuals attending the event were able to leave safely without any incident, since there were no reports of anyone getting injured.

So "authorities" learned of this terrible, terrible threat, but all they needed to do was suggest the Muslims go home early, and no bomb exploded, there was no mass shooting, everyone was fine. Well, I'm the coordinator of our neighborhood rhinoceros patrol. Rhinoceroses are very dangerous creatures. The fact that we have no rhinoceroses in our neighborhood is due entirely to my effective coordination of the rhinoceros patrol. The link above concludes,

At the political level, the case may feed discussions about online hate networks, extremist forums, and the need for stronger prevention measures. Far-right violence often grows in environments where anti-Muslim ideas are normalized, repeated, and escalated. If the allegation in this case is substantiated in court, it will likely become another example of how ideological radicalization can move from rhetoric to concrete operational planning.

The strongest immediate conclusion is that British police acted in time to disrupt a potentially devastating attack on a major Muslim gathering. The deeper consequence is that the case once again places far-right extremism at the center of Britain’s security debate, where it belongs as a live and serious threat.

The only thing I can conclude from a US perspective is that this UK investigation has been at best half-baked. It sounds as thougn just a little more work -- that is, if there's any substance at all to these allegations -- would have brought up just a small fraction of the kind of evidence that US law enforcement would bring to the announcement of any such conspiracy. The US attorney would be standing beside tables of guns, ammunition, homemade bombs, tapped phone coversations, on and on. In the UK, nothing remotely like this.

Hey, I'm sorry, all this chatter about how the US and UK are so similar is just baloney. The whole UK system has enabled this for hundreds of years. A lot of work that was done by the US Founders just never got done in the UK, and we're seeing the result.