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PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: British Foreign Secretary David Lammy is accused of assaulting a taxi driver after refusing to pay a massive bill on a 360-mile trip from Italy to France.
👥 Who’s Involved: David Lammy, of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, an unnamed French taxi driver, and the French authorities.
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📍 Where & When: The alleged attack took place on April 10 in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
💬 Key Quote: “On the night of April 10-11, I was the victim of assault and violence by members of a British embassy during an international transfer, where they refused to pay me.” — Taxi driver.
⚠️ Impact: The incident could be the latest embarrassment for Lammy, who previously referred to President Donald J. Trump as a “neo-Nazi sympathizing sociopath.”
IN FULL:
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, known for calling President Donald J. Trump a “neo-Nazi sympathizing sociopath” in the past, has been accused of assaulting a European taxi driver over a bill costing over $780. Lammy and his wife used a taxi service to take them on a 360-mile trip from Italy to a French ski resort on April 10.
The trip followed King Charles III‘s three-day trip to Italy, during which Lammy and his wife Nicola Green were also present. The taxi driver alleges that Lammy became aggressive over payment for the ride, totaling over $1,700, though most of the cost was paid by the transfer service Lammy booked the nearly seven-hour trip with.
Lammy was expected to pay the remaining $782 but allegedly refused, “became aggressive,” and ultimately swiped a receipt from the driver’s hands. The driver left the pair at the destination in Haute Savoie in the French Alps and reported the incident to local police. The authorities found diplomatic material in the car, including a briefcase, two diplomatic passports, and diplomatic license plates.
“On the night of April 10-11, I was the victim of assault and violence by members of a British embassy during an international transfer, where they refused to pay me,” the driver told French media.
The Bonneville prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into the incident, but Lammy and his wife have denied the allegations and claimed the man fraudulently removed their luggage, along with cash, saying they will sue him.
The driver says he did not know who Lammy was at the time of the incident but joked that if he had, he would have charged “much more.”
PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa criticized white Afrikaner refugees for leaving the country, labeling their departure as “cowardly.”
👥 Who’s Involved: President Cyril Ramaphosa, Afrikaner refugees, U.S. President Donald J. Trump, Afriforum CEO Kallie Kriel.
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📍 Where & When: South Africa; comments made at an agricultural convention following the arrival of 49 Afrikaner refugees in Washington, D.C., on May 13.
💬 Key Quote: “When you run away, you’re a coward, and that’s a real cowardly act, and I expect every South African to stay here, and we work together, and we solve our problems.” — President Cyril Ramaphosa.
⚠️ Impact: The remarks highlight tensions over South Africa’s racist land redistribution policies and the U.S. granting refugee status to Afrikaners.
IN FULL:
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has denounced white Afrikaner refugees who recently emigrated to the United States, describing their departure as an act of cowardice. His comments came after the first group of 49 Afrikaners, granted refugee status by the U.S., landed in Washington, D.C. Reports suggest up to 70,000 additional Afrikaners have applied for refugee status under the policy.
Speaking at a surprise appearance at an agricultural convention on Tuesday, Ramaphosa addressed the issue, stating that those leaving South Africa were unwilling to accept the government’s “transformation” policies. New “expropriation without compensation” laws aim to forcibly redistribute land and wealth along racial lines.
“They may be feeling excited they’ve left the country, they’ve got somebody like President Trump, but in the end, it’s a group of South Africans demonstrating that the changes and transformation that we are embarking upon here, they are not favourably disposed to it, and that’s why they are running away.”
He continued, “When you run away, you’re a coward, and that’s a real cowardly act. I expect every South African to stay here, and we work together, and we solve our problems.”
Afriforum, a group representing Afrikaners, pushed back against Ramaphosa’s statements. CEO Kallie Kriel issued a strong response on social media, accusing the South African government of fostering an unsafe environment for Afrikaners. The group often highlights threats and violence, including deadly violence, targeting white farmers in the country, even before the government’s moves to seize their land.
President Donald J. Trump has accused the South African government of presiding over a “genocide” against Afrikaners. Tensions between the governments of the two countries have been high in recent months over the mistreatment of white Afrikaner people, who have been in southern Africa since the 1600s—which is as long as some of its black African ethnic groups, with roots in tribes that migrated to the territory from further north, at least in some areas.
South Africa is a country where the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) political party, led by extremist Julius Malema regularly sing a song calling for the killing of Afrikaner farmers. Malema himself has not ruled out murdering white South Africans if his extremist party—already the fourth-largest in the South African legislature, out of 18 with representation there—ever comes to power.
“We’ve not called for the killing of white people, at least for now. I can’t guarantee the future,” he said in an interview in 2018.
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