buddenbrooks wrote:

We seem to be rapidly entering an era that can lead to another drift into
totalatarianism.

"Seem to be"? Good heavens have you been asleep? The entire history of
the Blair (now Brown) government has been the ruthless suppression of
free speech and the persecution of muslims.

Both America and the UK are putting into place laws that would prove very
useful to a party not wishing to put up with opposition.

"Putting into place"?

The US and UK have enacted draconian laws that remove the right to free
speech and permit detention without trial on a flimsy pretext.