News Round-Up

• “Covid can no longer be an excuse for chaos” – Across the board there is a sense that one of the after-effects of the pandemic has been poorer customer service at higher cost, says the Telegraph in a leading article.
• “One-in-12 teachers are off for Covid-related reasons” – The Mail reports that one-in-12 teachers in the U.K. are off sick for coronavirus-related reasons, according to newly released Government data, with unions warning that removing free tests is “reckless”.
• “For the work-shy, Covid is the gift that keeps on giving” – Thanks to the NHS‘s new wide-ranging list of “symptoms”, absenteeism is the only epidemic that threatens the health of this country now, writes Allison Pearson in the Telegraph.
• “CDC Survey: 44% of U.S. High School Students Felt Persistently ‘Sad or Hopeless’ in 2021” – More than four in ten U.S. high school students felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2021, according to a CDC field survey released last week, reports the Epoch Times.
• “‘Boozy’ leaving do for woman who wrote Covid rules leads to ‘partygate’ fines” – Fixed penalty notices are handed to attendees at Christmas 2020 farewell event for Kate Josephs, who led the COVID-19 Taskforce which wrote the rules everyone (else) had to follow, reports the Telegraph.
• “U.K.’s ‘completely irrelevant’ daily Covid cases plunge by 38% in a week to lowest level in a month… after No.10 scrapped free testing” – Another 50,202 positive tests were logged by U.K. Health Security Agency bosses Tuesday, down 38% on last week’s tally, making it the smallest daily tally since March 4th – but the end of free testing may have something to do with it, reports the Mail.
• “Is now finally the time to ditch the daily Covid stats?” – Experts say the daily Covid statistics are meaningless following No.10’s decision to axe free testing and should now be ditched, according to the Mail.
• “Why you don’t need to panic about new Covid variant ‘XE’” – The ‘XE variant’ is a combination of the BA.1 and BA.2 Omicron variants, and experts say there’s no need to panic, reports the Mail.
• “Chaos in Shanghai as Covid patients fight for food and water amid extended lockdown” – Authorities have broadened curbs to cover all 26 million residents, resulting in challenges to accessing basic supplies, reports the Telegraph.
• “Fracking ‘unlikely’ to be a major earthquake risk for U.K.” – Support for the industry has been reignited as it could provide greater energy security in the wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine, reports the Telegraph.
• “Net Zero is one Big Thing Boris has got wrong” – Favouring expensive and unreliable energy over pragmatic alternatives is impoverishment in the name of idealism, says Charles Moore in the Telegraph.
• “Jane Austen dropped from university’s English course to ‘decolonise the curriculum’” – The Telegraph reports that Stirling University has ditched the Regency author in favour of works by the African-American writer Toni Morrison – which I’m sure we’ll still be reading in 200 years.
• “Face to face with Bumbling Cabbage Patch” – Roger Watson for TCW Defending Freedom managed to catch up with the famous actor Bumbling Cabbage Patch after the recent Oscars in Los Angeles, and discuss COVID-19, Ukraine, the recent awards and his beliefs about many things such as toxic masculinity and equal pay for female actors.
• “Black Lives Matter leaders accused of using $6m of donations to buy luxury mansion” – The ‘anti-racism’ group allegedly tried to keep the existence of the property secret, amid questions of how it manages its finances, reports the Telegraph.
• “New York City’s desperate attempt to lure Floridians” – Mayor Eric Adams is branding New York City as a bastion of free speech, when multiple instances prove it’s the very opposite, says Paul du Quenoy in Spectator World.
• “Elon Musk to Join Twitter Board of Directors” – Elon Musk, who recently became the single biggest shareholder of Twitter, will be joining the social media company’s board of directors, reports the Epoch Times, which should make for some interesting meetings.
• “Joe Biden’s gender agenda” – The President has misjudged the public mood over trans issues, writes Park MacDougald in UnHerd.
• “‘Women’s sport has been thrown under the bus’” – Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies is interviewed in Spiked on why male-bodied athletes should not compete in women’s sports.
• “NHS equality chief leads mutiny against ‘transphobic’ watchdog ruling” – New guidance from the EHRC states transgender ‘women’ can be lawfully excluded from female-only spaces, but Tara Hewitt, the Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Northern Care Alliance NHS Group, described the guidance as “transphobic” and said that NHS bosses should put it in the “bin”.

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