Thursday, September 18, 2025
The politics of UK policing
The paper says that prior to Trump's arrival at the castle on Tuesday, protesters unfurled a massive banner featuring a photograph of Trump and Epstein near Windsor Castle, and later projected several images of the two on to one of the castle’s towers.
As a result, according to the police statement, four adults were arrested on suspicion of malicious communications after an “unauthorised projection” at Windsor Castle, which they described as a “public stunt” and remain in custody:
Democrats in the US House of Representatives last week made public a birthday letter Trump allegedly wrote to Epstein more than 20 years ago, though the White House has denied its authenticity.
The release of the letter has brought renewed attention to an issue that has become a political thorn in the president’s side.
Though he has urged his supporters to move on from the topic, appetite for details about Epstein’s crimes and who else may have known about them or been involved with him has remained high.
Trump was friends with Epstein before becoming president but had a falling out with the former financier years before his 2019 death in prison.
The birthday letter contained text of a purported dialogue between Trump and Epstein in which Trump calls him a “pal” and says, “May every day be another wonderful secret.” The text sits within a crude sketch of the silhouette of a naked woman.
Astonishingly, the police have also confiscated a poster van sporting a picture of Donald Trump with Epstein. That could hardly be classed as a malicious communication, so on what grounds did they act?
The latest arrests come after hundreds of people were taken into custody for holding up a placard showing their opposition to the proscription of Palestine Action, and are part of disturbing trend where we are seeing the politicisation of policing in this country.
If expressing a view, albeit one that might offend others, is a criminal offence, then where does it end? Will the government use the police to suppress views that they don't agree with or find offensive? Is this the end of non-state-sponsored free speech in this country?
If expressing a view, albeit one that might offend others, is a criminal offence, then where does it end? Will the government use the police to suppress views that they don't agree with or find offensive? Is this the end of non-state-sponsored free speech in this country?
