News Round-Up

• “Why the unseemly rush to give our children a vaccine they don’t need?” – If even the experts can’t agree, heaven help a 12 year-old trying to make an ‘informed’ decision, writes Allison Pearson in the Telegraph.
• “Bill Gates finally realises that lockdown hurts children” – “Nearly 18 months since the catastrophic global policy response to Covid began, the evidence of the appalling harms caused to children and their education is staggering,” writes Toby Green in UnHerd.
• “Why I’m boycotting a festival of ideas” – “What’s the one idea that can’t be debated at a festival of ideas? The answer, it turns out, is the Covid Pass,” writes Laura Dodsworth in the Spectator.
• “MPs approve biggest personal tax rise in two decades” – MPs have approved the creation of a new tax to fund a £12 billion-per-year package for social care despite a significant Tory rebellion, reports the Times.
• “Boris Johnson hints insurance might be needed to pay for care home fees” – Here, the Telegraph examines the hidden costs and catches of the Prime Minister’s social care reforms.
• “Bank of England Governor says U.K.’s economic recovery is slowing” – Andrew Bailey sees evidence of “levelling off” amid supply chain disruption and staff shortages, reports the Guardian.
• “Nurse shortage ‘delaying treatment for 21% of U.K. cancer patients’” – One in five people living with cancer lack dedicated support due to a “shocking” shortfall of specialist care, reports the Guardian.
• “The Last Post” – “Here are the key points one has to understand to be able to capture the never-ending discussion on whether or not mass vaccination campaigns work,” writes GeertVandenBossche in TrialSite.
• “Vaccines saved 100,000 lives? Er, no, Minister” – “Officially approved scientists often get away with espousing similar absurdities unchallenged,” writes Harry Dougherty in TCW Defending Freedom.
• “Errors in Covid reporting tarnish a tame and toothless press” – A truthful and accurate use of Covid statistics matters. It is literally a matter of life and death, writes Alex Starling in Reaction.
• “Birmingham bomb campaigner breaks down in court” – A Birmingham pub bombings campaigner who is accused of breaking lockdown to attend a memorial for the victims broke down in court as she denied any wrongdoing, reports MailOnline.
• “Scotland’s school outbreak ‘has already peaked’” – Covid ‘cases’ among children in Scotland may already be falling just weeks after schools went back and sparked a fresh wave of infections, reports MailOnline.
• “White House Signals New Covid Measures Coming for People Who Are Unvaccinated” – White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki says new measures may be imposed on unvaccinated people, reports the Epoch Times.
• “‘Hunger was something we read about’: lockdown leaves Vietnam’s poor without food” – The latest lockdown in Vietnam left many people unable to leave the house even for food and is leaving tens of thousands hungry, reports the Guardian.
• “Covid response disrupts fight against TB and AIDS, may cause more deaths in some countries than the pandemic, Global Fund says” – The shift in healthcare resources to battling Covid has led to many people in poor countries going untreated for other diseases, portending thousands of excess deaths, reports Russia Today.
• “The West’s Islamist capitulation” – Forget foreign wars – intervention is needed at home, writes Gavin Mortimer in the Spectator.
• “Yankees doing dandy” – “The darkened skies of the American Empire are more likely to have been caused by the passing clouds than a setting sun,” writes Collingwood in Bournbrook Magazine.
• “TikTok’s algorithm is promoting sexual content to children” – As part of an investigation, a ’13 year-old user’ searched for “onlyfans” and watched a handful of videos including two selling pornography on the China-based social media app, reports MailOnline.
• “E.V. Battery Fires do not bode well for projected sales” – “Recent news about E.V. battery fires does not bode well for California Governor Newsom’s executive order to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035,” writes Ronald Stein in Watts Up With That.
• “Portland State University Professor Resigns, Says School Is a ‘Social Justice Factory’” – Professor Peter Boghossian says he’s resigned from his position in an open letter and accuses the college administration of creating an environment that imperils dissent, reports the Epoch Times.
• “Is Hollywood’s kow-towing to China all in vain?” – China has snubbed Marvel’s latest superhero movie, despite efforts to placate Beijing’s censors by erasing the controversial Fu Manchu character from the script, reports MailOnline.
• “Jay Leno’s surrender to cancel culture” – I wouldn’t do his dodgy “Asians eat dogs” gags, but I’ll defend his right to tell them, writes Nick Dixon in Spiked.
• “The BBC is so worried about everyone else’s privilege, it forgot to check its own” – Auntie’s diversity quiz may mean well but it’s full of issues – not least that it overlooks possibly the most important form of disadvantage, writes Michael Deacon in the Telegraph.
• “Telegraph cartoon for Thursday 9th September, 2021” – Bob Moran is back! Here’s his first cartoon after coming back from paternity leave.