News Round-Up

• “Tory fury at ‘outrageous’ £2.2m bonuses for DVLA staff” – The Mail reports that figures slipped out by the Department for Transport this week reveal that staff were handed nearly £2.2million in “performance payments” for the last financial year.
• “Health chiefs declare two new ‘variants of concern’” – Only a small number of cases of Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 have been identified so far, but analysis of the available data suggests they are likely to have a “growth advantage” over BA.2, the Mail reports. Erm, the BA.2 wave is over, so of course a new variant would have a ‘growth advantage’ over it. When do you think the scientists will work out that Covid comes in waves?
• “England’s Covid outbreak shrinks to its lowest size since mid-December” – Covid cases have continued to collapse with the outbreak now reaching its lowest level since mid-December last year, with just a million people infected in England last week, the latest ONS data show, reports the Mail.
• “Spain will allow unvaccinated Brit holidaymakers to enter ‘within days’ – but they still have to have a negative Covid test” – Spain’s tourism minister this week made the unexpected announcement of an imminent change to the current rules for all holidaymakers from outside the EU, reports the Mail.
• “First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tests positive for COVID-19” – Ms. Sturgeon will work from home over the next few days and told followers she would “hopefully” be back out and about later next week, the Mail reports.
• “Thousands wait months for powers of attorney to care for loved ones as civil servants work from home” – A huge backlog of a third of a million applications are still pending as staff at the Government agency stay away from the office, reports the Telegraph.
• “U.K. CV Family A Letter to my MP” – Watch the stories of members of U.K. CV Family, a support group for vaccine injured people who did what they were told was the right thing to do. They were injured as a result and now they are being ignored.
• “Conference of Conscience – Australian Doctors Finally Speak Out!” – Watch Australian doctors speak about their pandemic experience and how they have been threatened with suspension or deregistration if they dare voice their genuine concerns as physicians.
• “Don’t let the Government scapegoat others over impending food shortages” – It’s all well and good blaming Putin for impending food shortages, but the idiocy of our own politicians should not be overlooked, says Frederick Edward in Bournbrook.
• “A Primer on the WHO, the Treaty, and its Plans for Pandemic Preparedness” – These proposed rules and structures, if adopted, would fundamentally change international public health, moving the center of gravity from common endemic diseases to relatively rare outbreaks of new pathogens, and building an industry around it that will potentially be self-perpetuating, writes ex-WHO malaria chief Dr. David Bell at the Brownstone Institute.
• “Politicians should not manage drug and vaccine regulation” – Their horizon is too short; they will screw it up, says Dr. Vinay Prasad.
• “Covid Vaccine Blood Clot Issue ‘May Be in the Hundreds,’ but ‘Heart Issue Is in the Thousands’: Cardiologist” – Dr. Sanjay Verma, an adult cardiologist practising in Coachella Valley, California, has seen many more cases of heart inflammation since the Covid vaccine rollout, reports the Epoch Times.
• “Monkeypox: The Next Big Scare” – Health authorities in the two continents have thus far identified only a few dozen cases, and while there’s no reason for concern at the moment, here’s what Jordan Schachtel at the Brownstone Institute says convinced him to put this on the radar: the U.S. Government decided to order millions of doses of monkeypox vaccine.
• “Why won’t you ‘do whatever it takes’ now, Mr Johnson?” – Johnson can hardly expect the public to understand that there are limits to Government power when for the last two years his Government has wielded unprecedented draconian powers on our liberties never before used in peacetime, writes Laura Perrin in TCW Defending Freedom.
• “A call for an independent inquiry into the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus” – Even without China’s cooperation there is much important information that can be gleaned from U.S.-based research institutions, information not yet made available for independent, transparent, and scientific scrutiny, argue Neil Harrison and Jeffrey Sachs in PNAS.
• “Finland Loses Main Gas Supply After Refusing Payment in Rubles” – Russia is cutting Finland off from its natural gas supplies as relations between the two neighbours sour over the Nordic nation’s decision to join defense alliance NATO, reports Bloomberg.
• “Wimbledon stripped of ranking points over Russian player ban” – The decision effectively reduces Wimbledon to an exhibition tournament, the Telegraph reports – but with the Government backing the tournament organisers, the stand-off over penalising tennis players for their country of origin is set to continue.
• “World has just ten weeks’ worth of wheat left after Ukraine war” – Food supplies are being rocked by Russia’s invasion of the ‘breadbasket of Europe’, reports the Telegraph.
• “Dr. Pavel Podvig: How likely is a nuclear war?” – With Finland and Sweden seeking to join NATO, is nuclear war more likely now that it was three months ago? By trying to push Vladimir Putin to the brink, is the West actually increasing the chance of a nuclear incident? What actually is the sequence of events that would lead to nuclear conflict? UnHerd‘s Freddie Sayers speaks to Dr. Podvig, who runs a website dedicated to analysing Putin’s nuclear capability.
• “Germany prepares for gas rationing as Schröder quits Rosneft” – German regulators are drawing up plans to ration gas to the country’s businesses in the event of Russia cutting off supplies, the Telegraph reports.
• “France’s big bet on hydrogen is doomed to fail” – Emmanuel Macron’s ambitions to make the country a leader in green hydrogen technology have likely put Renault on the wrong track, argues Matthew Lynn in the Telegraph.
• “If food prices are on the rise, why ‘lose’ 1,000,000 livestock?” – Ciarán McCollum on Scaled also isn’t sure how you go about ‘losing’ farm animals.
• “HSBC faces calls to sack financier over anti-climate change tirade” – The Mail reports that Stuart Kirk, the Global Head of Responsible Investing at HSBC Asset Management, made an anti-climate change speech at a conference this week. Courageous.
• “Idrissa Gueye and the problem with Pride” – Pride is no longer about celebrating gay freedom but rather has become a globalised orgy of virtue-signalling, writes Brendan O’Neill in the Spectator.
• “Michaela’s unspeakable truths ” – ‘Progressive’ teaching methods ruin lives to make middle class people feel good about themselves, says Marie K. Daouda in the Critic.
• “Biden’s ‘Ministry of Truth’ in disarray as chief quits after death threats” – President Biden’s plans for a Disinformation Governance Board have been put on ice after its head resigned amid an outcry that it was a ‘Ministry of Truth’ designed to fight information his administration did not like, the Times reports.
• “Twitter To Hide Tweets Share False Information Crisis” – Potentially risking Elon’s wrath over free speech, Twitter says it will hide tweets spreading misinformation during a crisis, reports Silicon U.K. Tech News. And of course, there is always a crisis.
• “Netflix axes woke Antiracist Baby show aimed at preschoolers before it airs as it slashes projects and fires 2% of staff after 200,000 subscribers fled” – The struggling streaming service is pulling the plug on the show based on the work of Critical Race Theory scholar Ibram X. Kendi, as well as several other shows, reports the Mail.
• “Reclaim Party Livestream on the Online Safety Bill” – Watch Toby discuss the proposed legislation with Laurence Fox, Dominique Samuels and others.

If you have any tips for inclusion in the round-up, email us here.