News Round-Up

• “Covid lockdown bombshell: Devastating cost of U.K. shutdown laid bare – new report” – Lucy Johnston of the Sunday Express delves into a new report published by the Department of Health and Social Care and the Office of National Statistics setting out the cost of lockdowns
• “‘Covid is over’ idea may threaten booster uptake in England, scientists warn” – The booster campaign is due to start on September 5th but, the Guardian reports, scientists are concerned that many of those who are eligible might not come forward
• “Taking a puff on a new inhaler could stop you getting Covid” – The Telegraph heralds the arrival of a new inhaler that alters genetic data in the lungs to stop coronavirus taking hold
• “Jill Biden ending isolation after negative Covid tests” – The first lady is out of self-isolation after two negative Covid tests, according to NBC
• “Hong Kong Reports Most Daily Covid Cases in Over Four Months” – Bloomberg reports that Hong Kong has registered 6,513 new Covid cases, the highest number since March. There were three virus-related deaths and eight new coronavirus patients are in critical condition
• “How We Lost Agency and Acquiesced to Power” – “Keeping the peace at all costs has become a sacred and unquestionable goal among large parts of our society,” writes Thomas Harrington at the Brownstone Institute
• “Pentagon Mandates Monkeypox Vaccine, But Only For Navy” – The Babylon Bee reports on the Pentagon’s latest vaccine mandate for U.S. armed forces
• “Gates Foundation Grants Support Faculty-Led Initiative to Encourage Masking and COVID-19 Vaccines in the Developing World” – The Yale School of Management celebrates the support it received last year from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for projects promoting mask wearing and vaccine delivery in Asia and Latin America
• “Ex-NHS chief resorted to paying for his own cancer care in lockdown” – Rob McMahon, a former CEO of Leicester City West Primary Care Trust who spent thousands on private cancer treatment, says he has lost faith in Britain’s healthcare system, the Telegraph reports
• “GPs could prescribe money off energy bills under Treasury plan” – According to the Guardian, the Treasury has drawn up proposals which would see people consult their GP for an assessment on whether they are struggling enough to require help with their energy bills
• “Boris Johnson secretly approves funding for £30 billion nuclear power station” – Boris Johnson and Nadhim Zahawi have given the go ahead for financing the construction of the £30 billion Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk, reports MailOnline
• “Debunked: Europe’s claimed ‘worst drought in 500 years’” – Peer-reviewed studies, data and the IPCC reveal that “drought has not increased” and “cannot be attributed to human-caused climate change”, according to Watts Up With That
• “Prince William charity uses bank that is one of world’s biggest fossil fuel backers” – The Royal Foundation kept more than £1.1 million with J.P. Morgan Chase, the Guardian says, and it has investments in a trust that owns shares in firms that buy palm oil
• “Parents launch legal fight over gender classes for three year-olds” – A group of parents has launched legal action against compulsory ‘sexuality and gender’ classes for children as young as three, the Daily Mail reports. Ministers in the Labour-run Cardiff Government insist the new curriculum will embed sex and gender themes into day-to-day teaching
• “Female RAF recruitment chief quit over diversity targets” – A leaked email shows the female RAF chief telling her boss that allocating slots on a training course based only on gender or ethnicity was ‘unlawful’, according to the Daily Mail. She resigned the same day
• “Electoral watchdog slammed as No.10 call out ‘wokeness’ in voter fraud” – The Government has highlighted concerns that the Electoral Commission has “turned a blind eye” to “difficult” types of electoral fraud due to “woke” and politically correct sensitivities, the Daily Mail reports
• “Ineptitude and institutional wokery is the tragic legacy of Tory rule” – “The first task for the new PM must be to answer why – after 12 years in office – a left-wing agenda continues unabated,” says Douglas Murray in the Telegraph
• “The fatwa and the birth of Muslim identity politics” – “The Rushdie affair transformed Islam from a private religion into a global, politicised identity,” writes Tim Black in Spiked  
• “Digital ID in Canada. Is the U.S. Next?” – Should Americans be concerned that Canada is preparing to roll out digital IDs? Writing for the Brownstone Institute, John Mac Ghlionn says the “answer is yes”
• “Facebook bans New Zealand anti-vaccine mandate campaigner Chantelle Baker” – Baker, one of New Zealand’s most vocal anti-vaccine mandate commentators, has had her page permanently banned on Facebook, according to Reclaim the Net
• “This evil ‘queering’ of St Joan” – Over in the Conservative Woman, Simon Caldwell weighs in on the Globe’s portrayal of Joan of Arc as non-binary
• “Lecturer ‘sacked for suggesting drag acts are a gross caricature’” – Cathy Boardman, a former lecturer in cultural studies at a Brighton music college, claims she has been forced out of her job after she suggested that drag acts could be viewed as sexist, the Mail On Sunday reports
• “Knowing your singular ‘theys’” – A primer on progressive pronoun usage, courtesy of Andy Lambeth
• “It wasn’t Brexit or capitalism that got us into this mess – but try telling that to the new Puritans” – “It’s clear that Britain is hitting the skids,” writes Zoe Strimpel in the Telegraph. “What is needed are solutions, not the further embrace of punitive finger-wagging”
• “A new immigration surge for social care is a Brexit betrayal” –  Writing for the Telegraph, David Goodhart takes issue with the Government‘s plan for an ‘overseas hiring spree’ for social care
• “The Frank Report XXXII” – Frank Haviland offers another healthy injection of scepticism in the New Conservative. “This week’s theme appears to be ‘Mastermind’, as the powers that be amaze us with their insight into the bleeding obvious”
• “I don’t suppose the Chinese and Russian airforces are thinking about diversity?” – Diversity, equity and inclusion “has replaced the public service ethic”, says Toby as he reacts to the resignation of the RAF recruitment chief on GB News

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