News Round-Up

• “BBC staff’s anger after Lineker shares Israel-Gaza ‘genocide’ video” – BBC staff are said to be “furious” after Gary Lineker endorsed comments from an academic who described Israel’s actions in Gaza as “textbook genocide”, reports the Times.
• “Gary Lineker must be out to destroy the BBC” – Every time Lineker opens his mouth he gives ammunition to the BBC’s enemies, says Robin Aitken in the Telegraph.
• “Accusing Israel of genocide is despicable doublethink” – Gary Lineker’s Israel-bashing has exposed the moral rot of the metropolitan elite, writes Brendan O’Neill in Spiked.
• “Celtic fined for fans display of Palestinian flags in UCL draw” – Celtic have been fined by UEFA over pro-Palestine displays led by the Green Brigade fan during their Champions League fixture against Atletico Madrid, according to ESPN.
• “Gaza ceasefire: Israel and Hamas agree deal to release at least 50 hostages” – The Israeli Cabinet has approved a deal with Hamas to release the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and a pause in hostilities in the Gaza Strip, reports the Times.
• “The Democratic oligarchs funding pro-Hamas nonprofits” – The pro-Hamas, antisemitic Left is bankrolled by the same nexus of progressive oligarchs and dark-money slush funds that finance the Democrat party establishment, writes Park MacDougald in UnHerd.
• “Second lockdown could have been avoided, says Prof Chris Whitty” – Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty says that the second lockdown could have been avoided if ministers had made different decisions over the summer of 2020, reports the Telegraph.
• “I first heard about ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ on TV, says Van-Tam” – Former Deputy Chief Medical Officer Prof. Sir Jonathan Van-Tam says that the first he heard of the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme was on TV, says the Telegraph.
• “The Covid Inquiry gets worse by the day – can no one take responsibility for anything?” – Scientists are throwing Boris under the bus in the Covid Inquiry, but their focus on flattening the curve ended up flattening a whole society, writes Allison Pearson in the Telegraph.
• “Boris may be one of the few politicians to come out of the Covid Inquiry with any credit” – Boris was right to challenge his scientific advisors, say Prof. Carl Heneghan and Dr. Tom Jefferson in the Telegraph.
• “Transparency and financial conflicts of interest in science and medicine” – Policymakers must intervene and develop rules to avoid future scandals and continued loss of confidence in science and medicine, writes Paul D. Thacker on Substack.
• “Quarantine doesn’t work: Japanese survey finds lower earnings for close-contacts” – On Substack, Guy Gin delves into Japan’s slavish adherence to Covid measures, shedding light on the societal fear of self-isolation and its social consequences. And they’re still wearing masks!
• “Reasonable for protesters to call Iain Duncan Smith ‘Tory scum’, court rules” – The High Court has ruled that two protesters were “reasonable” in calling Iain Duncan Smith “Tory scum” outside the Conservative party conference, reports the Guardian.
• “Culture Secretary minded to intervene in Abu Dhabi’s Telegraph takeover” – According to the Telegraph, the Culture Secretary has told Lloyds that she will intervene to safeguard press freedom as it seeks to complete a £1.2 billion debt repayment deal that would hand control of the Telegraph to a fund backed by Abu Dhabi.
• “Once again, Truss is being proven right” – Liz Truss understood that growth was our ticket to prosperity. But Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement is unlikely to revive our ailing economy, writes Mark Littlewood in the Telegraph.
• “The EU’s shameful smear campaign against Hungary” – Even the most innocent and well-meaning of initiatives by Hungarian lawmakers is now portrayed by Brussels as tainted by far-Right extremism, says Frank Furedi in Spiked.
• “Once more on the managerial menace, its rise and its causes” – On Substack, Eugyppius explores the tendency of organisations as they grow to allocate increased resources to bureaucratic expansion rather than improving their core purpose.
• “Toyota SUV adverts banned in U.K. on environmental grounds” – The U.K. advertising watchdog has banned two Toyota adverts for condoning driving that disregards its environmental impact in a landmark ruling, reports the Guardian.
• “Scottish Government ‘asleep at the wheel’ over Grangemouth closure” – Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s energy and chemicals empire is to shut Scotland’s only oil refinery amid surging energy costs and fears that a Labour crackdown on the North Sea will make it unviable, says the Herald.
• “Offshore wind farms, dead whales and the row that’s started a green-on-green civil war” – Clean energy crusaders are at loggerheads with conservationists over claims wind turbines are killing cetaceans, according to the Telegraph.
• “Schools are discouraged from letting pupils change their pronouns” – Long overdue transgender guidance will establish a “presumption against” young people changing their names, pronouns and uniforms in classrooms, reveals the Mail. But does it go far enough?
• “English football must stop dithering over transgender players and take action” – The national game has fallen behind other major sports in ensuring fairness and safety for women – now the FA must show some gumption, writes Oliver Brown in the Telegraph.
• “Teacher who threw a pen at pupil may be prosecuted” – A teacher who is at risk of prosecution for throwing a pen at a pupil is being held up as a symbol of the malaise in French education, reports the Times.
• “Laurence Fox arrives at High Court with girlfriend for libel trial” – Laurence Fox is facing a lawsuit from former Stonewall trustee Simon Blake and drag artist Crystal over a row on social media in October 2020, according to the Mail.
• “BBC declares ‘Black women most likely to die in medieval plague’” – The internet is presently having a laugh at the BBC for their declaration that “black women” were “mostly likely to die” in the 14th-century plague, says Eugyppius on Substack. Turns out the ‘researchers’ have based their findings on a sample of… three.
• “How religious belief can strengthen British society” – Spirituality can be a source of optimism, self-discipline and resilience in British life, says Rakib Ehsan in CapX.
• “Government disinformation unit rebrands following accusations it suppressed free speech” – The Government has rebranded its Counter-Disinformation Unit following accusations that it sought to suppress free speech, reports the Telegraph. It is now called the National Security Online Information Team.
• “New documentary: The Censorship Files” – The team at Public present The Censorship Files, a new documentary delving into the Twitter Files and the race to the Supreme Court, which will hear the Missouri v. Biden censorship case early next year.
• “Miss Universe collapses on itself” – City Journal’s Paul du Quenoy tries to suppress a smile as the Miss Universe pageant implodes following a disastrsous woke turn.
• “Canadian Human Rights Commission claims Christmas is rooted in ‘identity as a settler colonial state’” – A recent paper from the Canadian Human Rights Commission argues that Christianity in Canada essentially constitutes discrimination, reports PM.
• “‘I wouldn’t worry about the bloody boats, look at what’s happening at the airports!’” – On GB News, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Kelvin MacKenzie and Tessa Dunlop discuss reports suggesting net migration could hit a record 700,000 people.

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