News Round-Up

• “The BMA is using this inquiry to peddle ‘austerity’ myths” – Much of the U.K.’s response to COVID-19 was shambolic – but this had nothing to do with underfunding, writes Christopher Snowdon in the Telegraph. This piece starts well, but then Snowdon goes off the rails, claiming “the biggest mistakes were locking down too late”.
• “Lockdowns were never part of U.K.’s pandemic plan, Covid Inquiry told” – Sir Chris Wormald, the Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health, told the Inquiry that the Government’s widely-criticised strategy was based on a flu outbreak, reports the Mail.
• “Covid Inquiry chief demands all of Johnson’s WhatsApp messages” – The head of the Covid Inquiry has rejected a Government compromise offer of some of the WhatsApp messages sent by Boris and Rishi, reports the Times. She wants the lot.
• “I fear we’ll never admit lockdowns were wrong” – Denouncing rule-breakers is easier than questioning our choices and risking our collective sanity, argues Tim Stanley in the Telegraph.
• “The mRNA fanatics are nervous” – And they should be. Joe Rogan exposed them this weekend as the cowards they are, says Alex Berenson.
• “Did side effects from the Covid shots cause any excess mortality?” –  PANDA continues its inquiry into the links between the Covid vaccines and excess deaths.
• “Switzerland votes to keep Covid laws and vaccine passes” – Switzerland has just voted in a referendum to retain various Covid restrictions until 2024, giving the lie to the claim that these measures were ‘imposed’ on European populations. The Naked Emperor has the details.
• “Chile returns to the mandatory use of masks” – Faced with an RSV outbreak, Chile is bringing back masks for kids and encouraging remote work. Euro ES Euro has the story.
• “Keir Starmer: I’ll scrap ban on new onshore wind farms” – Energy security is being put on the back burner as the Labour leader vows to “throw everything” at Net Zero. The Telegraph has the story.
• “Labour’s hydrogen bus breaks down on way to green event, replaced by diesel” – Sir Keir’s green power revolution launch hit a snag when the eco-friendly bus broke down and had to be replaced by a diesel bus. Then, the replacement bus got lost. Gaia Fawkes revels in the chaos.
• “Climate authoritarianism: WEF wants 75% fewer private car owners by 2050” – The climate change boondoggle acts as a mechanism for all kinds of social, economic and political changes that will greatly diminish the freedom and financial survival of the average person. Zerohedge has the story.
• “How parents are kept in the dark about sex education” – Sex and Relationship Education classes are becoming more sexually explicit and ideological, warns Joanna Williams in Spiked.
• “‘They meow rather than answer a question’: The school children now identifying as animals” – The recent episode at a Sussex school in which a girl was described as ‘despicable’ by her teacher for refusing to ‘respect’ a classmate who identified as a cat has shed light on the growing trend of pupils insisting on being addressed as animals. The Telegraph has the story.
• “Auckland surgeons must now consider ethnicity in prioritising patients for operations” – Health officials say ethnicity is an important consideration in reducing historical health inequalities. Some surgeons are calling it medically indefensible. The New Zealand Herald has the story.
• “I was sacked for writing about trans censorship” – The Australian media has been taken over by activists, laments Julie Sego in UnHerd.
• “Is the Great Awokening really winding down? Part II: Evidence from news media” – David Rozado says the news media is using fewer woke words in 2022 than in 2021, but cautions against celebrating the demise of the woke movement just yet.
• “We may have won some battles but we are still losing the culture war” – Judging from the global momentum of the trans cult, woke aint going nowhere, warns Zoe Strimpel in the Telegraph.
• “Deconstructing Marianna in Conspiracyland” – Iain Davis explores the BBC’s Conspiracyland podcast series in OffGuardian, uncovering a disinformation campaign aimed at misleading audiences and promoting dictatorship – which no doubt Marianno would say is a conspiracy theory.
• “King Charles could face pressure to apologise for slavery” – Royal biographer Richard Fitzwilliams tells the Mail that the Dutch King’s expected apology for Holland’s involvement in the slave trade will “influence the way that others respond in European monarchies where there are former empires involved”.
• “In conversation with Laura Dodsworth and Patrick Fagan” – Join Laura Dodsworth and Patrick Fagan for a live discussion about their new book on October 26th.
• “Why Japan doesn’t do Pride” – Pride celebrations in Japan – even in the capital Tokyo – are often low-key affairs compared to their Western counterparts, says Philip Patrick in the Spectator.
• “The SNP’s fall could be as rapid as its rise” – Scottish Nationalists are downplaying a recent poll showing Labour in the lead. “Support for independence is now significantly more resilient than support for the SNP,” writes Ian Macwhirter in the Spectator.
• “The uncivil service” – In this week’s Critic podcast, Graham Stewart and Dr. Radomir Tylecote discuss the extent to which the Civil Service has been politicised in Britain.
• “Great unseen state machine called for Boris’s head, and got it on a plate” – The power of the unseen agents of the state – woke, self-interested, and against the people – has never been stronger or more sinister, writes Alex Story in the Express.
• “Trump and Boris have both been treated unjustly” – This is not how things should be done in an Anglo-American democracy, says Douglas Carswell in the Telegraph.
• “Why do Right-wingers prefer Trump to DeSantis? Because of the vibes” – DeSantis claims he’s more likely to win than Trump, and he’s right. But that won’t stop Trump becoming the Republican nominee, says Dan Hannan in the Washington Examiner.
• “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tops Biden and Trump in new favourability poll” – Forbes has news of a new poll showing Democrat RFK Jr. soaring above other 2024 presidential candidates in terms of favourability, although Biden and Trump still lead their respective fields.
• “Complex systems won’t survive the competence crisis” – America’s interconnected systems are collapsing due to a decline in competence caused by prioritising diversity over meritocracy, argues Harold Robertson in Palladium. Compelling.
• “Mark Zuckerberg goes in for the kill as Elon Musk’s Twitter bleeds ad dollars” – Brands fed up with the instability at Twitter may flock to Meta’s new sanitised version, reports the Telegraph.
• “Best-selling newspaper in Germany to replace editors with AI” – Bild plans a radical overhaul amid declining circulation and a string of sex scandals, reports the Telegraph.
• “What’s that got to do with him performing at a Pride festival?” – Julia Harley-Brewer asks the Free Speech Union’s Ben Jones why Take That’s Howard Donald was dropped from a Pride event for ‘liking’ tweets that were so innocuous.

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