Laura’s Substack

I’m going to keep this simple. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) advises against all travel to Sudan. FCDO “advises against all travel to Sudan because of the ongoing military conflict in Khartoum and other parts of the country. This does not include the Hala’ib Triangle and the Bir Tawil Trapezoid where FCDO advises against all but essential travel.” The Irish equivalent, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, gives the same advice.

The first hint that the Irish Times editorial on the Henry Nowak murder and treatment by the police was going to be a stinker was the headline. It read: The Irish Times view on the Nowak killing: a rallying cry for the far-right. The Trump administration has weighed in, including an extraordinary post from JD Vance. First of all, Henry Nowak was murdered, not killed. You don’t have to be a barrister qualified in both jurisdictions (as I am) to understand this is a very important distinction.

So I have taken to going to my local library. It’s fantastic. A reader elsewhere shamed me for purchasing books on Amazon, which I admit was an expensive habit and very much not Against the Machine behaviour. Therefore I have taken to the library. When the children were small I spent a lot of my time in East Dulwich library, which is a true gem. I always turned left into the children’s section and never really had the opportunity to turn right into the adult section.

This week on the podcast I spoke with David Quinn commentator and head of the Iona Institute. David explains how the national curriculum is trying to make your 4 year old into a 'global citizen', how the history curriculum is left-wing indoctrination that views nationalism as an extreme political movement, the Pope's challenge to AI and the problem of falling global birth rates. David also explains how he wants people to have more sex.

There were three pieces on AI that caught my eye over the weekend. One was in the Sunday Times on how a well-qualified graduate had a job offer withdrawn from him at the last minute. The second was by former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and what changes should be made to the tax system in the face of AI and the third was in Slate and it’s take on the Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity) on AI. Continue reading this post for free, courtesy of Laura Perrins.

“This video constrains distressing content.” Yes, it does. The video of Henry Nowak being handcuffed while lying on the ground dying, telling the attending police officers that he has been stabbed and that he can’t breathe is one of the worst things I have watched.

There was a line in former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s excellent piece on AI in the Sunday Times that really stuck with me. I intend on addressing the truly terrifying implications of AI again but before we get to that, Mr Varadkar disclosed the big problem with AI – it is often wrong. Varadkar, “AI is also often wrong. Both ChatGPT and Gemini were certain my hotel had an underground gym.

The ink had barely dried on my piece ‘Against Political Instability’ where I warned that getting rid of the current government in Ireland to have it replaced by a left-wing coalition is a plan for the foolish, when the results of two by-elections came in. Two weeks ago, Fine Gael’s Seán Kyne took the seat in Galway West. Kyne had been trailing behind Independent Ireland’s candidate Noel Thomas by 277 votes, then dramatically overtook him on the 11th and final count on Sunday evening.

On Monday, the trial of the murder and serious abuse against baby Preston Davey continued at Preston Crown Court. Mr Jamie Varley is accused of murder; sexual assault of a child under 13; inflicting grievous bodily harm; five counts of child cruelty; and further counts of making, taking and distributing indecent images. Mr John McGowan-Fazackerley is accused of causing or allowing the death of a child; two counts of child cruelty; and sexual assault of a child under 13. Both men deny all charges.

It’s the adults that are the problem. Another day, another story about falling fertility rates. In news to absolutely no one the UK remains on a downward slide. In 2025, births in England and Wales fell for the fourth year in a row to their lowest level in nearly half a century, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). They have been falling steadily since 2010. There were 585,000 live births in 2025, a fall of 10,000 on the year before and the lowest overall figure since 1977.