News Round-Up

• “Watchdog investigates 70 charities over ‘anti-Semitism and extremism’” – The Charity Commission is investigating 70 organisations for alleged extremism or antisemitism relating to the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Telegraph reports.
• “Hamas forced Mia Schem to say on camera how ‘kind’ they were” – Released hostage Mia Schem was compelled to parrot Hamas propaganda praising her captors before she was released, reveals the Mail.
• “Jewish students ‘faced Hitler jokes’ at London university” – Jewish students at London’s Queen Mary University reportedly faced Hitler jokes and threats from fellow students, according to the Times.
• “Trans refugee who waved sign reading ‘Israel burn in hell’ fined £100” – A court has heard that a trans refugee from Saudi Arabia, who waved a sign at a pro-Palestine rally calling for Israel to “burn in hell”, found the placard at a bus stop and didn’t understand what it said, reports the Mail.
• “U-turn for London Council that cancelled lighting Hanukkah candles” – Havering Council has backtracked on its decision not to erect a menorah outside its town hall after a meeting between council leaders and Jewish groups, says the Mail.
• “Can the media trust this doctor in Gaza?” – Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah’s impartiality is in question, argues Nicole Lampert in UnHerd.
• “The West must not prevent Israel from crushing Hamas” – The terrorists will repeat the pogroms of October 7th if they are not stopped, says the Telegraph in a leading article.
• “United Nations of hypocrites” – In the Spectator Australia, Ramesh Thakur throws shade on the UN for its shameful silence on the rape and murder of Jewish women.
• “Gaza and the asymmetry trap” – The defeat of Hamas is a moral necessity, but that does not obviate Israel’s responsibility to minimise civilian suffering, writes Michael Walzer in Quillette.
• “Why the far Left sides with Hamas” – The global Left ‘fellow travels’ with radical Islam rather than supports it, says Nick Cohen in the Spectator.
• “‘There’s nothing mystical about the idea that ideas change history’” – Quillette’s Matt Johnson sits down with Steven Pinker to discuss international politics, AI, religion and the October 7th atrocities.
• “The New Zealand vaccine data” – There is now no doubt the Covid vaccine is increasing the mortality rate in older people, says Prof. Norman Fenton on Substack.
• “The Covid Inquiry is asking the wrong questions” – If most politicians broke their own lockdown rules, was it really the right approach, asks Kevin Bardosh in UnHerd.
• “The Hallett Inquiry: Eminence-based medicine Part 7” – Dr. Tom Jefferson and Prof. Carl Heneghan present the seventh in their series of posts focussing on the evidence given to the Covid Inquiry by the Chief Scientific Advisor Prof. Dame Angela McLean.
• “The WHO is attempting to become a global health dictatorship ” – On Wide Awake Media, Dr. Meryl Nass explains how the WHO’s proposed pandemic treaty is a totalitarian power grab by unelected globalists.
• “Foreign criminals will serve shorter sentences than Britons under emergency plan” – Foreign prisoners will serve shorter sentences than Britons under an emergency Government measure to cut prison overcrowding, reports the Telegraph.
• “How Nigel Farage’s I’m a Celebrity run is making the Tories nervous” – Nigel Farage’s Reform Party is now polling higher than it was before he went into the jungle, says the Times.
• “Nigel Farage’s plan for power” – Reform U.K. wants to crush the Tories, writes Tom McTague in UnHerd.
• “A misogynist foreign state must not be allowed to own the Telegraph” – The Telegraph has a proud history of promoting women’s voices, says Camilla Tominey. It has to continue in that vein.
• “Ireland has descended into anarcho-tyranny, and we’re following suit” – When the public senses a double standard in policing and justice, the social order is at stake, warns Louise Perry in the Telegraph.
• “Irish Justice Minister To Grant Police Sweeping Powers To Intercept Private Conversations on Social Media Sites Under New Legislation” – The Irish police is about to get new, wide-ranging powers to spy on people’s private online conversations happening via chat apps to “crack down on crime” after last week’s events in Dublin, reports Reclaim the Net.
• “Bild newspaper sounds startling warning about Germany’s migrant crisis” – Under the front-page headline: ‘Germany, we have a problem!’, Europe’s best-selling tabloid has published a highly controversial 50-point manifesto telling migrants how to behave, reports the Mail.
• “New Zealand’s Right-wing Government scraps major Jacinda Ardern policies” – New Zealand’s new Right-wing Government has unveiled plans to scrap scores of Jacinda Ardern’s policies as it turns the page on her time in office, says the Telegraph.
• “Democrats defend censorship and push Hunter Biden conspiracy theory” – On the Public Substack, Michael Shellenberger shares highlights from another congressional hearing on censorship.
• “MPs will be helped to spot conspiracy theories” – The House of Commons Library is offering to help MPs spot conspiracy theories at the behest of Penny Mordaunt, according to the Telegraph.
• “Britain will lead push to triple nuclear power with 22 signatories” – Britain will look to “lead a pledge” to triple nuclear power output as part of a push to reach Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, says the Mail.
• “Fair COP? Or will the latest climate summit be another festival of eco-extremism?” – COP28 looks set to introduce further bizarre eco-zealotry into the climate conversation, writes Tom Ryan in CapX.
• “The problem with climate protesting clergy” – The Spectator’s Fergus Butler-Gallie questions the motives of the climate activists who disrupted Evensong in Chichester.
• “NAS study raises concern over offshore wind harming endangered whales” – The National Academy of Sciences has warned that offshore wind turbines are harming the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale, according to CFACT.
• “Digital pound plans should proceed with caution, say MPs” – According to MPs, the benefits of a digital pound are currently unclear but the Government should keep exploring it, reports the BBC.
• “Fox’s tweet would not ‘lead anyone to think he’s racist’, trial hears” – A libel trial has heard that nothing in Laurence Fox’s tweet criticising Sainsbury’s celebrating Black History Month would lead anyone to the honest opinion that he was racist, says the Mail.
• “When did publishers stop caring what their readers actually want?” – Publishers seem to care more about pandering to their ‘woke’ staff than the literary merit of the books they publish, writes Joanna Williams in the Spectator.
• “‘Deadnaming’ a trans person using their birth name is a ‘violent act’” – MIT professors were told during sexual harassment training that calling a transgender person by their birth name is a “violent act”, according to the Mail.
• “Allison Pearson reveals what she would call her book now” – Careers are great, writes Allison Pearson in the Mail, but babies are the best.
• “Sam Altman appears to admit he was ousted over fears about doomsday AI” – Sam Altman lends credence to the theory that he was fired from OpenAI over his company’s super powerful, secret new AI system that he helped to build, reports the Mail.
• “I’d wave a wand and give everyone the First Amendment if I could” – Philosopher Sam Harris talks about free speech, Islam and the future of the media with Evening Standard proprietor Evgeny Lebedev.
• “Freezing weather halts flights bound for COP28” – Heavy snow and ice has frozen private jets in Munich bound for Dubai’s ‘global warming’ conference. From the ‘You couldn’t make it up’ department.

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