News Round-Up

• “U.K. decision on Covid jabs for children expected imminently” – The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation held a long discussion on the issue followed by a vote earlier this week, reports the Guardian.
• “Children not showing symptoms of Covid should stay at school, says Oxford professor” – On the latest Planet Normal podcast, Professor Carl Heneghan tells listeners why it may be time to stop mass testing schoolchildren.
• “Bring back self-isolation for children if cases rise in schools, says teaching union” – NASUWT urges ministers to not be complacent and to reintroduce regular onsite testing, reports the Telegraph.
• “Covid cases fell in four-fifths of areas in England” – Public Health England’s weekly report said 117 out of 149 councils saw their ‘cases’ drop in the week to August 29th compared to the previous seven-day spell, reports MailOnline.
• “In England, the Covid epidemic has de facto ended. Here’s what that means” – The exponential growth we saw in the 2020 waves, with more and more hospitalisations each week for an extended period, is no longer possible, writes Andrew Lilico in the Telegraph.
• “Treasury civil servants to work from home forever in blow to Rishi Sunak” – Job adverts for roles at HM Treasury reveal that staff will be allowed to work from home in a hybrid pattern on a permanent basis, reports City AM.
• “Get a grip: why are we still afraid of handshakes?” – Covid paranoia has seen us jettison life’s simple pleasures, with the traditional greeting going the same way as tea at the hairdresser’s, writes Hannah Betts in the Telegraph.
• “The Mail’s shameful witch-hunt of ‘selfish’ vaccine refusers” – “The Mail has shamefully led the charge along this road with vicious personal attacks on those who deviate from the vaccine narrative,” writes Mary McGreechin in TCW Defending Freedom.
• “More than 32,000 Scottish school pupils absent this week” – The figures for this week included those who had the virus and those self-isolating due to a close contact, reports BBC News.
• “ACLU slammed for claiming mandatory Covid vaccination ‘furthers civil liberties’ and saying right to bodily autonomy not ‘absolute’” – The American Civil Liberties Union has been publicly condemned after arguing that mandatory Covid vaccination actually advances civil liberties instead of compromising them, reports Russia Today.
• “Israel is now the world’s Covid hotspot despite leading jab charge” – The country recorded 1,892 cases per million people on Wednesday – nearly 0.2% of the entire population in a single day, reports MailOnline.
• “PCR testing is a ‘criminal offence’ under Canadian law, expert lawyer says” – A constitutional rights lawyer says that PCR tests being used to identify individuals with Covid are illegal to require and/or administer per Canadian law, reports Life Site.
• “Mainland Portugal lifts 14-day quarantine rule for unvaccinated Britons” – Fully jabbed travellers will still have to show a negative test result on arrival and the rules will remain unchanged for the unvaccinated, reports the Telegraph.
• “‘Enough’: Australian newspaper The Age comes out against extended lockdown in fiery editorial” – Australia’s The Age newspaper has published an extensive editorial article harshly criticising the state Government’s handling of Covid and recent lockdown extensions, reports Russia Today.
• “Boris promised not to raise taxes. So why betray his manifesto now?” – The PM is hoping that higher spending will result in better services. That’s a very big gamble, writes Fraser Nelson in the Telegraph.
• “Top A-level exam pupils could be given new A** grade” – A new grade of A** could be introduced at A level, reports the Times.
• “So now it is child exploitation? Nevermind!” – “According to Spencer Elden’s lawyers, the image used on Nirvana’s album cover has resulted in ‘his widespread sexual exploitation and image trafficking’. As a result, he is seeking $2.5million in damages,” writes Frederick Edward in Bounrbrook Magazine.
• “Why I gave up on Extinction Rebellion” – Performative anti-capitalism won’t change anything, writes Poppy Coburn in UnHerd.
• “We commend Ofcom for backing free speech in Piers Morgan’s landmark case” – “This was a landmark case – and Ofcom reached the only proper and sane conclusion,” writes the Sun.
• “Geoff Norcott on The Mash Report, Right-wing comedy and the farce of moral certainty” – Back on our screens, the satirical comedy show is one of the few shows to take on the woke orthodoxy, argues the conservative comedian in the Telegraph.
• “Professor of Evidence Based Medicine criticises media scaremongering over Covid data following the Bank Holiday” – “Their headlines drive the clickbait of what’s happening. It’s unhelpful and having impacts on society and how they behave,” says Professor Carl Heneghan on talkRADIO.