News Round-Up

• “Donald Trump indicted over efforts to overturn 2020 U.S. election” – Donald Trump has been criminally indicted in a federal investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, reports the Telegraph.
• “De-banking inquiry under consideration by Treasury committee” – Parliament is poised to launch an inquiry into the Coutts de-banking scandal, which could see bosses, including Sir Howard Davies, hauled before MPs, reports the Telegraph.
• “Sex workers have struggled with financial exclusion for years” – For people working in commercial sex, the often unexplained closure or denial of bank accounts is an all too frequent occurrence, writes Isabel Crowhurst in the Conversation.
• “Staff at bank which refused Jeremy Hunt an account called Conservatives ‘evil’” – The Telegraph can reveal that employees at Monzo bank said that Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg “could do the human race a favour” by leaving politics.
• “The Covid Inquiry has already cost the taxpayer £40 million” – The COVID-19 inquiry has already cost the taxpayer nearly £40 million, despite only lasting 23 days so far, reports the Mail.
• “Margaret Ferrier: Covid breach MP loses seat after recall petition” – An MP who was suspended for breaking Covid lockdown rules has lost her seat after a vote by constituents, according to the BBC.
• “Lockdown was our generation’s greatest error” – Those who kept children out of school must accept responsibility for the harm they continue to cause, says Karol Sikora in the Telegraph.
• “How did remdesivir obtain approval for kidney disease?” – Experts claimed remdesivir would stop Covid; instead, it stopped kidney function, says Stella Paul in American Thinker.
• “Pfizer ad spreads misinformation” – Dr. David Zweig fact checks Pfizer’s latest ad.
• “Conservative academics more likely to self-censor” – A new study has found that conservative academics are much more likely to self-censor than their liberal counterparts, but only in Western countries, reports UnHerd.
• “Rishi Sunak stands by oil drilling expansion as critics warn of climate consequences” – The Prime Minister insists plans to grant over 100 new oil and gas drilling licences off the coast of Scotland are “entirely consistent” with the Government’s Net Zero goals, says Sky News.
• “Rishi Sunak should ignore the National Trust’s empty voter threats” – Sunak can smile at the irony of the National Trust demanding the environment cease to be used as a political football, writes Andrew Tettenborn in the Spectator.
• “Why oil and gas are here to stay” – The clean-energy transition is based on magical thinking, says James Woudhuysen in Spiked.
• “Residents fury as camera catches bin men mixing carefully separated recycling” – Residents in Canterbury are refusing to separate their recycling as video footage shows bin men dumping their carefully sorted rubbish into one giant bin, reports the Mirror.
• “Tory row over Khan’s hated Ulez plans with ministers urged to over-rule them” – The Express has learnt that Department for Transport officials are stopping ministers from over-ruling Sadiq Khan’s £12.50 daily driver tax.
• “Five point plan to protect drivers from a rush to Net Zero is backed by MPs” – MPs, peers and motoring campaigners last night backed the Sun’s five-point manifesto calling for drivers to be protected from a rush to Net Zero before the country is ready.
• “No, Rishi Sunak isn’t on the side of British motorists” – The anti-car schemes ordered the Prime Minister is reviewing will only affect a fraction of British car drivers, says Ben Wright in the Telegraph. What about reviewing the rest?
• “Why is PM banning new petrol cars from 2030 when own advisers say it’s wrong?” – As so often on green issues, common sense has gone out the window, and virtue-signalling has taken its place when it comes to the ban on the sale of new petrol- and diesel-powered cars, writes Ross Clark in the Sun.
• “The Prime Minister is finding out it’s not easy being green” – Even if he wanted to, Sunak would face substantial opposition to any attempt to “get rid of all the green crap”, writes William Atkinson in CapX.
• “Electric cars will cost more to make, BMW warns” – BMW has warned investors that it is suffering higher costs in developing electric vehicles, sending its shares down by more than 6%, reports the Telegraph.
• “E-bike battery blew up and killed a mother of four” – Another family is grieving the loss of loved ones due to a preventable battery vehicle fire, according to the Mail.
• “Fire service staff to help stop speeding motorists in Wales ahead of new 20mph speed limit” – The Welsh Conservatives have called a new default 20mph speed limit on restricted roads a “madcap policy”, reports Sky News.
• “The grim truth about low traffic neighbourhoods” – These green traffic schemes are making life miserable for ordinary people, writes Lauren Smith in Spiked.
• “Paying £12.50 a day is not what bothers me about Ulez – it’s the principle” – Another journey in his ancient Rover means another Ulez charge, but what about those who can’t afford it, asks John Humphrys in the Telegraph.
• “The sinister truth about the war on cars” – If you want your children to have far more boring and limited lives than yours, carry on demonising the car, writes Julie Burchill in the Spectator.
• “Council effectively bankrupt after losing millions to solar farm cheat” – Thurrock Council was effectively made bankrupt in December after investing more than half a billion pounds in a solar farm business, reports the Mail.
• “Could Britain’s green debate become the new Brexit?” – There is every chance that the green debate will plug the gap in the political market left by Brexit, writes Philip Pilkington in UnHerd.
• “One simple energy question devastates Net Zero pipe dreams” – Wind, solar and other green energy sources require massive amounts of land compared to traditional power plants, says Steve Graham in an op-ed for the Western Journal.
• “Climate change hasn’t set the world on fire” – It turns out the percentage of the globe that burns each year has been declining since 2001, writes Bjorn Lomborg in the WSJ.
• “Vegan influencer ‘dies of starvation’ after trying to live with all fruit diet” – A vegan influencer has died of starvation after attempting to live on a fruit only diet, reports the Sun.
• “Anti-alcohol elites are blind to the benefits of drinking” – Too much booze isn’t particularly good for you, but we cast aside this knowledge in pursuit of something called fun, says William Sitwell in the Telegraph.
• “Primary pupils given U.S.-style lessons about ‘white privilege’” – Thousands of British schools are being told to teach controversial theories about race to children as young as five, reports the Times.
• “CEO of £30m firm the Key distributing material on ‘white supremacy’” – The Mail has an exposé on the CEO of The Key, a £30 million firm promoting controversial race theories to over 13,000 U.K. schools and educational trusts.
• “Give parents the credit they deserve to support young children” – ‘Family Credit’ would give parents the option of front-loading their Child Benefit payments into the crucial early years, writes Cara Usher-Smith in the Express.
• “Andrew Neil: Why I’m proud to be join J.K. Rowling in the gender wars” – Andrew Neil responds in the Mail to the backlash he’s faced for his critical tweet on gender reassignment.
• “Detransitioner Chloe Cole rips Neil DeGrasse Tyson claims that biology is insufficient at explaining gender ideology” – Famous ‘detransitioner’ and activist Chloe Cole slammed Neil Degrasse Tyson after he posted a TikTok insisting sex is on a spectrum, reports the Mail.
• “Costa’s trans mastectomy advert is an insult to women” – Cutting off a girl’s healthy breasts is an act of mutilation. Using a cartoon version of the scars to advertise a coffee chain, is a new low, says Joan Smith in UnHerd.
• “Why is Costa celebrating top surgery?” – The corporate world has been captured by trans ideology, says James Esses in Spiked.
• “Bring back normies!” – It’s hard to hold on to individuality when strangeness is the prevailing ideal, says Gareth Roberts in the Spectator.
• “Hold the censors accountable” – Bureaucrats who stifle free speech should face consequences, says Eric Schmitt in the WSJ.
• “Elon Musk sues anti-hate group after calling boss a ‘rat’” – Elon Musk is suing pro-censorship organisation the Center For Countering Digital Hate, weeks after he called its British chief executive “a rat”, reports the Times.
• “Bartender claims he’s tricking customers into drinking Bud Light by removing the tap handle” – Bud Light goes from bad to worse as each week ticks by since its Dylan Mulvaney mess, and now they can’t even give it away, says Warner Todd Huston in the Western Journal.
• “‘We should celebrate healthy young women cutting off their breasts?’”– TalkTV host Julia Hartley-Brewer grills Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle on his support for Costa Coffee advertising itself with a cartoon of a transman with mastectomy scars.

If you have any tips for inclusion in the round-up, email us here.