News Round-Up

• “Israel ‘kills Iranian commander with strike on consulate in Damascus’” – Tehran has promised a “decisive response” after blaming Israel for the missile attack which flattened a building near the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital, reports the Times.
• “Serious questions for the Met after Swastika row at Palestine protest” – The Met Police has been accused of “losing control of the streets” after an officer was caught on video telling a Jewish woman that swastikas “need to be taken into context” when they are displayed at pro-Palestine protests, according to the Mail.
• “‘It‘s not about context, it’s about antisemitism’: David Lammy says police should have known swastika is hate symbol” – David Lammy says that the swastika is a symbol of “vile antisemitism” and the police should bear down hard on those who display it during protests, reports LBC.
• “Labour cuts ties with organisation named as Islamist by Gove” – According to the Telegraph, Labour has severed ties with Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND), which is in the frame to be labelled an ‘extremist’ organisation according to the Communities Secretary’s new guidance.
• “Emotional Braverman offers support to October 7th survivors” – Suella Braverman broke down in tears amid the ruins of burnt-out houses in Kfar Aza as she surveyed the carnage wrought by Hamas on October 7th, reports the Telegraph.
• “Braverman accuses U.K. of ‘backsliding’ on support for Israel” – The former Home Secretary says she is “ashamed” by the levels of antisemitism in Britain and that “Hamas must be eliminated”, according to the Telegraph.
• “Teacher banned for saying Islam would take over and Westernised girls were ‘lunatics’” – A Muslim teacher who suggested Islam was going to take over and claimed Westernised girls were “lunatics” has been banned, reports the Telegraph.
• “Simple arithmetic” – The very minimum that citizens of the West should demand is an end to the sentimentalisation and psychologically unhealthy fetishisation of ‘diversity’, says Mark Steyn.
• “The unbearable sanctimony of the ‘pro-Palestine’ set” – Palestine activism has become a way for the graduate elites to lord their moral supremacy over the rest of us, writes Brendan O’Neill in Spiked.
• “When Hatred of the Left Becomes Love for Putin” – In Persuasion, Cathy Young explains why some conservatives have a blind spot about Putin.
• “Fear that new Scottish hate crime law may be used to gag free speech” – Scottish police say they expect to be bombarded with a “huge uplift” in reports of alleged hate crimes, including from people trying to use the SNP legislation to silence anyone they disagree with, according to the Mail.
• “J.K. Rowling could be arrested for misgendering trans people, says SNP minister” – Siobhian Brown admits police could investigate complaints against J.K. Rowling under Scotland’s new hate crime law, reports the Telegraph.
• “J.K. Rowling’s ‘come and get me’ retort to Hate Crime Act is direct challenge to Yousaf” – Any thought that J.K. Rowling would sit back quietly and wait to be arrested under the SNP’s latest legislative foul-up was too daft for words, says Alan Cochrane in the Telegraph.
• “‘Why aren’t I more afraid of Scotland’s Hate Crime Act?’” – In Spiked, Graham Linehan explains how Humza Yousaf’s authoritarian overreach could soon come back to bite him.
• “Thousands of Scottish police still not trained on new hate crime law” – More than a third of Scotland’s police officers have not received training on Humza Yousaf’s “confusing” new hate crime law, reports the Telegraph.
• “How Scotland ended up with the Hate Crime Act” – If there was no Scottish parliament there would be no Hate Crime Act, remarks Stephen Daisley in the Spectator.
• “Scotland’s hateful hate-crime law” – In UnHerd, Kathleen Stock says the Hate Crime Act is a frivolous distraction from the country’s real problems.
• “Labour to throw hereditary peers out of the Lords – but not the bar” – Sir Keir Starmer intends to abolish all hereditary peers in the first term of a Labour government if he wins the election this year, reports the Telegraph. But they will still be allowed to enjoy Parliament’s subsidised bars and restaurants.
• “Labour is accused of being ‘ashamed’ of the Union Flag” – Labour has been accused of being “ashamed” of the Union Flag after backbench MPs warned Keir Starmer over using it too much in campaign literature, reports the Mail.
• “Keir Starmer’s tax on private schools to hit the poor” – Some 18% of parents who send their children to private schools say they would ‘definitely’ take their child out school under Keir Starmer’s VAT proposals, while 21% would ‘probably’ do so, says the Mail.
• “Huw Edwards expected to be named BBC’s highest-paid newsreader despite scandal” – Huw Edwards is the BBC’s highest-earning newsreader this year even though he hasn’t appeared on the channel for more than 12 months following a seedy sex scandal, reports the Telegraph.
• “Farage at 60: there’s more to come” – We approach the 2024 General Election with Farage’s name back on everyone’s lips, writes Patrick O’Flynn in the Spectator.
• “Nearly 800 migrants cross the Channel over Easter weekend” – The Prime Minister’s pledge to “stop the boats” has come under increasing scrutiny with record numbers making the journey in dinghies in the first three months of this year, reports the Mail.
• “Britain is now irrationally terrified of freedom. It should just rejoin the EU” – The reason that Brexit has failed is because Britain is terrified of freedom, says Sherelle Jacobs in the Telegraph.
• “The fury of Europe’s farmers” – The continent-wide revolt against the green agenda has shaken the EU elites to their core, writes Fraser Myers in Spiked.
• “Germany becomes biggest EU country to legalise recreational cannabis” – Germany has legalised recreational cannabis, with thousands flocking to Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate to light up joints in celebration, according to France24.
• “More than 250 deaths occur each week due to agonising waits in A&E” – A study suggests that soaring waits in A&E for hospital beds led to more than 250 needless deaths a week in England last year, reports the Mail.
• “NHS dentists offer Botox amid Britain’s dental crisis” – MailOnline has found multiple NHS dentists are now offering aesthetic treatments like lip fillers for up to £400 a pop amid the long-running dental appointments crisis.
• “U.S. physicians received billions from pharmaceutical and medical device industry, new research finds” – Despite potential conflicts of interest, U.S. physicians received more than $12 billion in payments from the pharmaceutical and medical device industry over a 10-year period, reports the Epoch Times.
• “Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg reveals losing her job at U.C. Davis over polarising vaccine myocarditis research” – On The Illusion of Consensus podcast, Prof. Jay Bhattacharya talks to Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg about how conducting honest research on vaccine myocarditis cost her her position at U.C. Davis.
• “The WHO’s power grab” – The last thing we need is a new and unaccountable global pandemic tsar, says John Tierney in City Journal.
• “Reform pledges Net Zero referendum in fresh challenge to Sunak” – Reform U.K. has pledged to hold a referendum on Net Zero in a fresh challenge to Rishi Sunak, reports the Telegraph.
• “Net Zero now threatens our national security” – The Energy Secretary has warned Labour is moving too quickly on Net Zero. But Tory plans are hardly much better, says Ross Clark in the Telegraph.
• “Welcome to Britain – where energy rationing risks becoming the norm” – Unfortunately for consumers, smart meter surge pricing is not the greatest of their concerns, writes Andrew Orlowski in the Telegraph.
• “Can ‘clean energy’ schemes get any crazier?” – The materials, costs and viability of Team Biden’s wind turbines on massive floating platforms defy reality, says Paul Driessen in WUWT.
• “It’s no joke! National Trust secretly makes all its scones vegan” – The National Trust, which has 280 cafes, is facing the ire of diners after admitting its scones have gone vegan – and that they “may taste different to the traditional version”, according to the Mail.
• “An age that rejects God ends up killing its old” – When we stop believing that life is sacred, we head down the utilitarian path to extinguishing the infirm, warns Tim Stanley in the Telegraph.
• “We need more cultural Christians like Richard Dawkins” – Cultural Christians understand – as many do not – what exactly makes our inheritance unique and special, says Niall Gooch in UnHerd.
• “Shakira says Barbie film is ‘emasculating’ for men” – Shakira has criticised the Barbie movie as “emasculating”, adding men and women both have a “purpose” in society and one shouldn’t be at the expense of the other, according to Sky News.
• “Bye ‘Lenna’! Iconic Playboy pic banned from research papers” – A photograph of a Playboy model that has been used by engineers in image processing tests since the 1970s has been dropped because it is not ‘inclusive’, says Interesting Engineering.
• “Fleming told my father that James Bond was never a gentleman – his Lefty portrayal now is a betrayal” – 007 was intended by Fleming to be a sexist cad and a libertine – he should either revert to type, or be retired, writes Petronella Wyatt in the Telegraph.
• “Untrue believers” – In Taki’s Magazine, Theodore Dalrymple calls attention to the latest absurd, woke nonsense emanating from England.
• “Social networks could quit Britain under online safety laws, Reddit claims” – Reddit says that incoming online safety laws could force social networks to quit Britain because of the burden of complying with the new rules, according to the Telegraph.
• “Why Elon Musk thinks Earth will have more robots than humans” – Elon Musk says that the number of two-legged robots on earth will one day surpass the eight billion humans on the planet, reports the Telegraph.
• “It’s an attack on ordinary people” – On Headliners, the GB News regulars take aim at the new Team GB flag which looks nothing like the Union Jack.

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