News Round-Up

• “The Damage of Covid Lockdowns” – Empirical evidence demonstrates that shutting down economies and schools brought little benefit and much harm, writes Brendan Patrick Purdy in City Journal.
• “Did we really sacrifice our children on the altar of Covid extremism?” – Warm review in the Telegraph of UsForThem’s new book which details how the young were failed by society at large during the pandemic.
• “All Hail Elon Musk, Techno King and Philosopher King” – A leaked video shows Musk is committed to free speech, open source algorithms, meritocracy and improving civilisation, writes Laura Dodsworth on her Substack page.
• “President Macron fails to secure majority in French parliament” – Mail report that President Emmanuel Macron failed to win a majority in the French Parliament today as the Marine LePen’s National Rally was expected to fill a record 89 seats, according to early projections.
• “How the Media Fuelled the Lockdowns” – It’s crucial that history remembers the lockdowns as the most harmful, ineffective public policy America and the world had ever seen, writes Michael Betrus in Brownstone.
• “COVID-19 vaccination BNT162b2 temporarily impairs semen concentration and total motile count among semen donors” – A study in scientific journal Andrology concludes that a systemic immune response after a Pfizer Covid vaccine is a reasonable cause for transient semen concentration and sperm count decline.
• “Britain’s offer to train Ukrainian troops: a reality check” – The training programme and Boris Johnson’s visit to Kiev were far more likely to have been part of Britain’s efforts to exert soft power than a realistic attempt to affect the military outcome in the country, argues Collingwood in Bournbrook.
• “The Democrats’ Energy Disaster” – Why, if we’re on the precipice of this apocalypse, if saving the planet trumps every other concern, is President Biden begging everyone to drill, asks Paul Homewood in Watts up With That?
• “Johnson urged to cut energy tax as Germany turns to coal” – Germany is to reopen mothballed coal power plants to combat high gas prices, piling pressure on Boris Johnson to cut taxes on household energy bills, the Telegraph reports.
• “Civil servants imagine ‘Japanese gay grandfather’ during diversity training” – The exercise, conducted for lawyers and other officials in the Government Legal Department, was blasted as a waste of money, according to the Telegraph.
• “Bristol: Women’s rights activists ‘silenced’ by trans rights mob” – The mob dressed all in black was heard shouting out “trans rights are human rights” while women’s rights activists held a talk outside in honour of Father’s Day in Bristol, reports the Mail.
• “Trans activist is judging Christian ‘axed over gender views’” – Mail+ reports that a trans rights campaigner who led calls to scrap women-only toilets is on a judging panel hearing the case of a Christian teaching assistant sacked for speaking out against lessons in which primary school children learn they can change gender.
• “Bishop strips school’s Catholic status for flying Black Lives Matter flag” – The Nativity School in Massachusetts is banned from performing mass as the Bishop says the BLM movement is a threat to the church’s values, the Telegraph reports.
• “Lia Thomas banned from competing against women as swimming cracks down on transgender athletes” – Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries welcomes the “right and sensible decision” as pressure mounts on British governing bodies to follow Fina’s lead, the Telegraph reports.
• “Racialism is a blight on the Left” – Treating all people of colour as ‘victims’ is patronising and wrong, writes David Swift in Spiked.

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