This post was first published on Christian Today….it is an edited version. The unedited version is published on my Substack here....(in future I will be putting only the edited versions of published articles here – the unedited will be put on my Substack – feel free to subscribe)…
The video footage was horrific – a man telling a police officer who was in the process of arresting him that he could not breath. The killing of George Floyd in 2020 sparked the biggest protests in US history and condemnation throughout the world. And then in an uncanny parallel last December in the UK an 18-year-old student, Henry Novak, was being arrested by police for racism – after his accuser had stabbed him several times.
Last week the video footage of his arrest was released and if anything, was even more horrific than the George Floyd video. Henry told the police that he had been stabbed and that he couldn’t breathe. He said this at least seven times. His murderer stepped in and told the police that he was the one who had been assaulted and racially abused. The response to Henry’s claim of being stabbed was chilling. One officer stated, “I don’t think you have mate.” Someone else could be heard saying, “He hasn’t been stabbed.” Another police officer says that they need to check. Police handcuffed Henry as he was lying bleeding to death and the last thing he heard was them reading him his rights.
It is an astonishing video. And one that I suspect will be a key image of this decade. The responses to it have been deeply revealing.
The Family
Firstly the response of Henry’s family was deeply moving. They spoke so well of their grief, of their blaming the killer Digwa and asking people not to politicise the murder, or to blame the Sikh community. Would that their plea be heard. Also, their plea for the government to deal with knife crime.
The Killer and his Family
It astounded me that the killer filmed the murder and Novak as he was dying. It is voyeurism of the sickest kind. Furthermore, his mother was arrested and found guilty of assisting an offender by removing and concealing the murder weapon.
The Sikh community
The Sikh community has acted responsibly and with clarity. They called the murder “a horrific and senseless crime with no excuses” and “a disgrace to the Sikh community”. It is unspeakably sad and senseless that some have sought to blame the whole Sikh community, all 535,000 of them – who in general have shown themselves to be a law-abiding and well-integrated part of multi-cultural Britain.
The Police
There is no doubt that most police forces have been taken over by a DEI ideology which creates the very opposite of diversity, equality and inclusion. Many police officers have testified how they feel that their training pressurises them into particular prejudices. There is clearly two-tier policing.
The police are now schooled in anti-racism ideology – which is itself racist and which certainly does not lead to all people being treated the same, despite the colour of their skin. For example, the National Police Chiefs Council’s anti-racism policy explicitly disavows treating all people as being the same:
“Our commitment to racial equity means producing equality of policing outcomes for people from different ethnic groups by responding to individuals and communities according to their specific needs, circumstances and experiences, with understanding that these will be racialised and with the aim of reducing harm.
“It does not mean treating everyone ‘the same’ or being ‘colour blind’ (racial equality).”
How this two-tier policing works was seen in another case where Luke Salmons was suspended by North Yorkshire Police for daring to question Islam in a training day on race, religion and culture. Undoubtedly no one would suffer the same treatment for expressing the same doubts about Christianity.
The Politicians
The hypocrisy has been stunning. Ed Davey and Keir Starmer have been making solemn pronouncements about not politicising the tragedy. They blamed Farage for speaking about ‘anger’. Yet they were lightning quick in politicising the George Floyd tragedy. Starmer said on 3 June 2020 in Parliament: “May I start by expressing shock and anger at the death of George Floyd? This has shone a light on racism and hatred experienced by many in the US and beyond. I am surprised the Prime Minister has not said anything about this yet, but I hope that the next time he speaks to President Trump he will convey to him the UK’s abhorrence about his response to the events.” Yet this week he has solemnly been proclaiming that those who ask for anger are divisive.
I think of the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood who condemned the protests in Southampton. Yet she was on a pro-Palestinian protest that forced a supermarket to close. If angry protests are permitted or excused in some circumstances but not others, then we do have two-tier justice.
Or the London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who said that the death of Novak should not be used for engaging in political disputes. This is the same mayor who talked about how the death of Floyd has “rightly ignited fury and anguish, not just in the US but around the world”.
Starmer complained about the US Vice President JD Vance “interfering” in UK politics by making a statement. Yet in October 2024 the Labour party sent more than 100 volunteers to work with the Kamala Harris campaign.
But there are also politicians on the right who demonstrate a degree of hypocrisy. Having argued that the death of George Floyd should not have been politicised, they cannot legitimately argue that the death of Henry Novak should.
It is also fair to point out when politicians strike the right tone. For example, Kemi Badenoch has been impressive (despite being misquoted by a Reform attack campaign as saying that ‘white lives don’t matter’. She had actually said that all lives matter). Her refusal to use Prime Minister’s Question time in Parliament to score political points on the issue was wise and measured.
The Media
The contrast in coverage by the BBC and others of the two cases is sharp and clear. The BBC was even forced to apologise to Nigel Farage for misquoting him. They quoted him several times as saying that people should respond to the killing with ‘white, cold rage’. What he actually said was ‘pure, cold rage’ which, as he explained, meant not ‘hot rage’ i.e. not with rioting or violence.
Much of the media regarded chanting ‘I can’t breathe’ at the Southampton demonstration as crass and ignorant. But this was the same media who applauded the crowds chanting ‘I can’t breathe’ at the BLM protests.
Consider how the BBC reported the Southampton riots on June 2, 2026 – “violent, violent disorder, community shocked by violence”. Eleven police officers were hurt. Contrast that with the reporting of the BLM riots in London on June 8, 2020. Despite 27 officers being hurt the BBC’s description was that “the protests were largely peaceful”. This is what we call two-tier reporting.
The University of Southampton
After the Floyd killing in the US, Southampton University set up scholarships for black students only. Other than express shock and horror at the killing of their own student, it is unlikely that they will do anything else in memory of Henry Nowak. Why? It’s two-tier diversity.
The Church
Church leaders in the UK have called for prayer, peace and rejecting rage. But when George Floyd died the response was somewhat different – many called for racial justice and protest, and endorsed the violent protests of the Black Lives Matter movement.
One leading evangelical has argued that the video cam footage of Nowak’s final moments showed that the police action was understandable in the light of the phone call they had received and that it did not constitute that there is an overall problem with policing. I have no doubt whatsoever that this same evangelical would be claiming the opposite if this was a young Asian boy who had been left to bleed to death by the police. Two-tier Christian commentary, reflecting the culture, is alive and well.
Two-tier is another way of saying unjust. The UK has moved towards a two-tier system, if we are not already there. There are so many examples of this. Just last year, the Sentencing Council tried to push through guidelines that would have instructed judges to give ethnic minorities more lenient treatment than whites. Thankfully this was stopped by the government, but the fact that our best legal minds could think this was justified is chilling.
Two-tier is perhaps best summed up by Konstantin Kisin’s excellent article on what happened, “You will not see Henry’s words stencilled on a mural. No politician will quote them in the Commons. No corporation will change its logo. The same establishment that made four words immortal when spoken by a black man in Minneapolis has met the same four words, spoken by a white boy dying on a Southampton street, with what can only be described as a determined, institutional silence.”
Two-tier occurs when political leaders use the phrase ‘causing division’ for their political opponents, while those who agree with them are expressing the justified anger of a community.
The Bible has an interesting take on all of this. We are not to shop partiality to any group in justice – including the poor. “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favouritism to the great but judge your neighbour fairly” (Leviticus 19:15).
When we believe in a just God who demands justice for all those made in his image, we have a much more solid basis for a just society. When we abandon God and his Word – and base justice on identitarian politics – we end up with the madness we are seeing in the UK today. It’s not even two-tier justice; it’s multi-tier injustice where privileged groups, indoctrinated elites, and the powerful and wealthy combine to create a society where injustice flourishes. Lord, have mercy on us.
Beauty for Ashes 34 – Henry Nowak, Cambodia, Pregnant Men in Australia; the Pope and AI
What Should Christians Make of Tommy Robinson?- CT
I wonder who did the editing? “…he could not breath.”
‘breath’ = noun, should have been ‘breathe’ verb.
Apart from this, an excellent summation of the situation and a helpful conclusion for those who love the Word. Thank you.
There are many tiers in British society – the main tier being class. Everyone seems to see colour/religion – rather I see unaddressed service breakdown with little or no mental health, nor social service provision.
Thank you for this David.
Excellent again David and so very few speaking out on it! This woke ideology is literally killing us now and many are beginning to awake, but is it too late? Even if a more sensible government get in and try to enact common sense policies, there will be protests, riots and uproar from the wokarati. This liberal, progressive wickedness is so entrenched now, only a truly cataclysmic event will begin to awaken people and uproot it. Maybe that is why such an event is just around the corner, whether it is an actual war or some huge terrorist event etc? This horrible tragedy had nothing to do with the Sikh community and they are one of the most peaceful and well integrated communities in the UK. This has EVERYTHING to do with the liberal, woke rubbish and spirit of Greece that has bewitched the nation. It is a direct consequence of abandoning God and replacing Him with this nonsensical ideology. The Lord have mercy indeed, because if not, we will lose the nation. So very tragic, much of the church is fast asleep and completely unaware of the danger we are in.
This course looks interesting – https://www.buckingham.ac.uk/courses/occasional/woke/
Hi Guy – could you please expand on what you mean by the “spirit of Greece that has bewitched the nation”? Thank you
Sikh background people have often impressed me. After my sudden adult life conversion, a Sikh family were very kind and supportive. They were interested to hear about my mystical journey to belief. They shared some of their own beliefs and traditions. They were more sensitive towards me than a lot of nominal Church members. I guess the question of carrying any form of knife in the UK could be problematic. Sikh people strike me as generally very reasonable. It would not totally surprise me if they are already thinking through their best response to the-‘ceremonial knife wearing in the modern UK’-issue. Watch this space for their response in due course.
I clicked on your link regarding the leading evangelical’s comments. I have never read any of his previous comments, so I cannot judge the extent to which he reflects two tier Christian commentary. However, his article left me feeling I was simply seeing the current culture reflected back at me. It would be less of a worry if Guy was correct and this was just the Church being fast asleep. But we all know this is a fully conscious choice that is made. I am reminded of the BBC’s version of Christianity, when the character of a Nun in a popular drama was given the line “we should not judge because God does not judge.” God will make his judgment and he has warned us that it will be harsher on Christian leaders than it will be on actors.
I hesitate to write, and will probably regret it, because I am not comfortable with the value of an online forum to discuss these matters. However I am concerned with this article David, and particularly some of the unintended consequences that flow from this kind of language. I think it is nine times the phrase ‘two-tier’ is used in the article and this has become a stock phrase that is bandied about on social media that often stirs up unrest.
Today in Scotland is an example of where this kind of public rhetoric leads. A man is brutally attacked in Belfast, by someone who has been identified as being originally from Sudan, and it acts as a trigger for all manner of protests in Scotland a couple of nights later, by people covering up their faces, including attacks on Glaswegians, property and police. Many of those protesting are shouting angrily about ‘two-tier policing’. I know this because I know some of those demonstrating. And in their minds that is enough of an excuse to engage in this kind of mindless vandalism.
Just 5 days ago 3 teenage boys were convicted of the murder of another teenage boy at a beach park in Ayrshire last year. And a few days before that another teenage boy was convicted of the murder of a young man in Leith last year. There has been no public outcry about these killings. In days when we should be grieving about young people in our society using knives to end the lives of other young people (after many years of progress in reducing knife crime and homicide in Scotland through the work of the Violence Reduction Unit) there is silence on these issues, and instead we have people engaged in vandalism in Glasgow because they believe an incident in Belfast is a sign of two-tier policing.
The police have a very difficult job to do. I don’t always think they get it right. Of course I don’t – I work in support of people seeking rehabilitation after conviction and imprisonment, with support from the Christian community, and I know the police don’t always get it right. I am also aware that bias of different kinds can take root in institutions and shape behaviours. Absolutely.
But its a huge jump from that to describing society as suffering from two-tier policing. Police are stretched. Police are under-resourced. Police are human. Police are highly skilled. There is a place and time to challenge how we are policed, but public rhetoric that undermines confidence in the police, suggests the police may be our enemies, or that we are better policing our own streets through lawless vigilantes led be the loudest voices, often with dubious criminal records themselves, is not helpful in building peaceful neighbourhoods, solution orientated community conversations, or justice directed law enforcement.
Thanks David – that is a thoughtful and helpful contribution….just a few responses.
1) The number of times a phrase is used does not negate its truth or otherwise. When I speak about racism that does not mean that just because racism may be misused in other contexts, it does not exist. Likewise with two-tier. In the article I presented plenty evidence that two-tier policing does exist.
2) The world is not a simple binary. Just because some people who are rioting use the phrase ‘two tier’ that does not mean that everyone who uses the phrase two-tier supports the rioters or is encouraging them. In the same way as if I complain about racism that does not mean that I necessarily support or encourage the BLM riots. Of course there are people who will use excuses for mindless vandalism – but stating that you either are opposed to the riots, or if you use the term two tier, you are supporting them is illogical and dangerous. To ignore people’s concerns is to run the risk of driving people into extremism.
3) To complain about two tier policing is not to attack all police officers or to deny that the police are undermanned etc. I would suggest that the police’s job is made much more difficult by the legislation passed by politicians (for example on non crime hate crime incidents). To point that out is not to support rioting.
Finally I note that you have nothing to say about the attempted beheading of an innocent person in the midst of Belfast by a Sudanese immigrant. Nor the seven Afghans who have been accused of over 40 cases of child rape yesterday. Or, in the context of the article, the fact that a young man lost his life and was handcuffed by the police as he bled to death, just because he was accused of being a rapist. Might I suggest that such actions do not help in building peaceful neighbourhoods, solution orientated community conversations, or justice directed law enforcement. The fact is that Britain is descending into lawless anarchy or progressive authoritarianism. To call that out is not to encourage rioting….
Hi Iain, think we covered the Spirit of Greece in a previous post discussion? Basically it’s the Spirit/ideology of humanism. And it’s this foundational ideology that has birthed liberalism, political correctness and the woke. It stands in direct opposition to Christianity and walks around as if it’s an Angel of light but is in reality the devil himself in disguise! We have reached the point now though, that if a believer does not see this or recognise this, then they are pretty much on the road to be “a foolish virgin” spoken of by Jesus. It will be too late soon to awake and the Master will be at the door, but by then it will be past midnight. Although they went to church and were very nice people, they will hear “I never knew you, depart from me” And all who follow this Spirit of Greece will hear those words! Time for the church to know the real Jesus and follow His way, His truth and then have His life.
Thank you for this explanation Guy