News Round-Up

• “BBC double-checked if NatWest was happy with Nigel Farage bank story” – In the latest twist to the Coutts banking scandal, the Telegraph reveals that the BBC double-checked whether a “senior source” at NatWest was happy for it to publish private information about Nigel Farage’s finances.
• “Pressure mounts on NatWest Chairman over Farage bank scandal” – NatWest’s Chairman, Sir Howard Davies, is under pressure to determine whether Dame Alison Rose, the bank’s Chief Executive, played a role in the leaking of Nigel Farage’s private information, reports the Telegraph.
• “Minister summons banking chiefs over ‘de-banking’ scandal” – Treasury Minister Andrew Griffith is set to send letters to 19 banks and financial services firms, cautioning them about the “significant concern in both Houses of Parliament” stemming from the Nigel Farage banking scandal, reports the Mail.
• “Nigel Farage finally gets an apology from the BBC ‘incomplete and inaccurate’ Coutts story” – The BBC has belatedly apologised to Nigel Farage after the broadcaster was forced to amend a story suggesting his Coutts accounts were closed due to insufficient funds, reports GB News.
• “Major banks’ privacy policies allow them to monitor customers’ social media accounts” – High street lenders are under increasing pressure to reveal the checks they carry out on customers, reports the Telegraph.
• “Experts call for investigation as excess deaths spark ‘dangerous’ theories” – The death toll in 2023 is nearing pandemic levels and the absence of an explanation is leading to “wild theories”, says the Express.
• “CDC changed definition of breakthrough COVID-19 after emails about ‘vaccine failure’” – The Epoch Times has acquired documents revealing that the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention modified its definition of COVID-19 cases for vaccinated individuals, resulting in a decrease in the tally of breakthrough infections.
• “This is not the apocalypse” – The fear-mongering over the Rhodes wildfires is irrational and dangerous, writes Fraser Myers in Spiked.
• “Heat pump warning: Homeowners face eye-watering £10,000 bill under SNP gas boiler ban” – Plans outlined by the SNP could force homeowners to replace their gas boilers with controversial heat pumps before they can sell their properties, reports the Express.
• “Rishi Sunak casts doubt on 2030 petrol and diesel car ban” – Rishi Sunak says he will tackle the climate crisis in a “proportionate and pragmatic” way without unnecessarily affecting people’s lives, says the Telegraph.
• “Just Stop Oil counter group crashes banquet with rape alarms” – Just Stop Oil’s ‘Beyond F***ed Banquet’ was derailed by counter-protestors, who set off alarms suspended in balloons, reports the Mail.
• “Environmentalists ‘ignore the winter’ while ‘hyping up’ summers to maintain climate narrative, expert claims” – Daniel Turner, the founder of advocacy group Power the Future, says that environmental activists are exaggerating heat events, according to the Epoch Times.
• “Cut Net Zero rhetoric and start listening to voters” – If Rishi isn’t ruthless enough to nail Sir Keir for ramming greenery down the voters’ throats, then the Conservatives will find their challenge at the ballot box even harder, says Daniel Johnson in the Mail.
• “Greenery is today’s established church” – Michael Gove is right, environmentalism has become a religion. It is the only one the young don’t rebel against, says Ella Whelan in the Telegraph.
• “Spain’s hard Right poised to share power in election twist” – Spain is facing further political uncertainty after its conservative Popular Party won the most seats in the country’s general election but failed to get the majority it needed to topple the incumbent socialist Government, reports the Mail.
• “The populist Right are fake revolutionaries” – Spain’s Right-wing party, Vox, is part of the EU establishment, says Thomas Fazi in UnHerd.
• “Sadiq Khan’s campaign will not stop sexual violence” – Rather than pushing window-dressing adverts, Khan should be highlighting the connection between graphic sex videos and the objectification of women and girls, says Julie Bindel in the Mail.
• “‘It’s only £130m ffs’” – In typically irreverent fashion, Frank Haviland, in the New Conservative, gives his take on Sadiq Khan’s response to criticism of his £130m free school meals policy.
• “Labour still can’t be trusted on trans rights” – If you value biological reality, women’s rights, child wellbeing and free speech at all, Labour is not for you, says James Esses in the Spectator.
• “The sexual holy war is coming for you” – Our therapeutic state smothers the human spirit, says Matthew Crawford in UnHerd.
• “The Muslim revolt against Justin Trudeau” – Canada’s Muslim communities are rising up against gender ideology, says Spiked.
• “New atheism and the demand for dogma” – The notion that we abandoned our old faiths and replaced them with new ones is too tidy and simplistic, says Matt Johnson in Quillette.
• “Beheading Leviathan” – Curbing censorship will require a full-scale assault on the surveillance state, says Aaron Kheriaty in the American Mind.
• “Elon Musk rebrands Twitter with crowdsourced X logo” – Elon Musk has begun rebranding Twitter as X using a new logo crowdsourced from one of his followers, says the Telegraph.
• “‘Nothing has done more damage to Coutts’ reputation than this decision!’” – Talking to Nigel Farage on GB News, Toby labels the individual responsible for de-banking Farage a “halfwit” due to the reputational damage the company has suffered as a result.

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