News Round-Up

• “Is the fifth Covid wave already peaking? Virus NHS admissions and cases slow despite calls for masks and social distancing to return – as deaths creep up by just six per day” – Analysis by the Mail finds the rate of growth may be slowing down.
• “Hong Kong to electronically tag Covid patients as it adopts China’s health code system” – Those in home isolation will be forced to wear a bracelet tracking their movements as the territory introduces a China-style QR code system, reports the Guardian.
• “Experts: Why you don’t need to worry about ‘Centaurus’” – The Mail reports that the BA.2.75 subvariant nicknamed “Centaurus” appears to be outcompeting all other variants in India, but experts say it may not be more deadly than other strains.
• “New Zealand to announce new Covid restrictions” – Kiwis could be in for stricter Covid restrictions and will get more free masks and tests as the country battles an outbreak that is seeing 11,000 new cases in the community a day, reports the Mail.
• “U.K. weather: Events cancelled across Britain as ‘extreme heat’ warning extended” – The Met Office has cautioned that ‘high temperatures’ could pose a risk of serious illness or danger to life, reports the Telegraph.
• “Australian Human Rights Commission failed to perform its statutory function during COVID-19” – Read the letter from lawyer Peter Fam to the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) setting out how State and Federal Governments as well as many private companies have habitually breached Australia’s international human rights obligations.
• “Bavarian Health Ministry plans propaganda cartoons featuring ‘Secret Agent 00-Vax’ to ‘explain’ vaccination to children, enters talks with computer game industry to feature more masked characters” – The Bavarian Health Ministry, dismayed by the paralysis of the Federal Government, has decided to take the autumn vaccination campaign into its own hands, writes Eugyppius.
• “The unspoken cause of the Sri Lanka crisis: lockdowns” – Two years of lockdowns are being felt around the world, says Toby Green in UnHerd.
• “Higher vaccine rates associated with greater rise in hospitalisation” – El Gato Malo asks if vaccines work to stop severe outcomes, then why aren’t they working?
• “Hypocritical Germany is being brought to its knees” – Daniel Johnson writes for the Telegraph that Berlin loved to preach the virtues of Net Zero but now it is being forced to confront its own policy failures.
• “Brace for winter lockdowns” – Covid may not be the only justification for more restrictions, writes Izabella Kaminska in UnHerd.
• “Putin Preparing for a “Total Cut off” of Europe’s Gas Supply” – Europe is doubling down on its renewable energy insanity, despite Russia’s President Putin threatening at any moment to permanently shut down Europe’s gas supply, writes Eric Worrall in WUWT.
• “Protect children from harmful internet content without overregulating the free press” – The Telegraph in a leading article says the Online Safety Bill needs to be amended to restore its original worthy purpose.
• “English students given trigger warning over ‘racism’ and ‘domestic violence’ in Othello” – The University of Winchester said Shakespeare’s 420-year-old tragedy “may be difficult” for some to discuss, reports the Telegraph.
• “What do Tory voters want?” – Matthew Goodwin writes up exclusive polling for UnHerd that shows addressing wokery and cancel culture are high up on voters’ agendas.
• “Very strongly Kemi Badenoch, she seems to be the only one that is capable of thinking” – Watch Dr. David Starkey on GB News share his thoughts on the final contenders of the Tory leadership contest.

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