News Round-Up

• “Half of Tory voters want to quit European Convention on Human Rights” – An opinion poll for the Telegraph reveals that half of Conservative voters believe the U.K. should leave the European Convention on Human Rights.
• “The Tories deserve our contempt” – A party can leap over disappointment and rage; contempt is a much higher hurdle to clear, writes Gareth Roberts in the Spectator.
• “Angela Rayner is getting a taste of her own medicine” – Politicians’ tax arrangements are now treated as a window into their souls, says Lauren Smith in Spiked.
• “Demographics are destiny. Britain must reform public services – or face catastrophe” – An ageing population demands honesty. From benefits reform to foreign aid, it’s time to abandon the old consensus, writes Neil O’Brien in the Telegraph.
• “Homeowners face unsellable properties threat from rise of ‘desktop surveyors’” – The rise in banks using property surveyors who are working from home risks leaving homeowners trapped in homes they cannot sell, reports the Telegraph.
• “Town hall fat cats are bursting at the seams” – Given how much council tax we pay, we have a right to know how that cash is being spent, says Joanna Marchong in CapX.
  “Sale of mobile phones to under-16s may be banned” – Ministers are considering banning the sale of mobile phones for all under 16 year-olds, reports the Express.
• “Bring back the culture of debate!” – The Guernica debacle shows how far removed we are from robust disagreement, writes Ross Barkan in Persuasion.
• “U.K. pharma companies told to make fewer drugs in draft Net Zero guidelines” – In recent draft guidelines for businesses, pharmaceuticals companies were told to make fewer drugs for the sake of the environment, reports the Telegraph.
• “Millions paid out for mandated Covid vax injuries just the tip of the iceberg?” – On Substack, Rebekah Barnett comments on a rise in compensation claims for vaccine injuries in Australia.
• “RFK Jr. leaves Chris Cuomo speechless for two minutes straight” – Independent presidential hopeful Robert Kennedy Jr. appeared on NewsNation and dropped a shocking truth bomb live on air that everyone needed to hear, says the Vigilant Fox on Substack.
• “How Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could doom Joe Biden” – RFK Jr.’s popularity appears to be a function of name recognition and a general lack of enthusiasm for President Joe Biden, writes Adrian Carrasquillo in Politico.
• “Poland pushes ahead with hardline hate speech law” – Only a year ago, it would have been unthinkable for Poland to propose a law that would imprison people for hate speech against LGBT people. Yet that’s exactly what happened, says Michal Kranz in UnHerd.
• “Why Justin Trudeau is turning against immigration” – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is getting desperate, writes Michael Taube in the Spectator.
• “The truth about the Rwandan genocide” – It has now been 30 years since the Rwandan genocide, and an opportunity to assess the tenure of one of Africa’s most controversial leaders, says Michela Wrong in the Spectator.
• “Why humanity is good for the natural world” – Greens are suppressing the good news about the effect of humans on the environment, writes Matt Ridley in Spiked.
• “Children must not be rushed to change gender, report warns” – A new report says that children who say they’re transgender may actually have mental health issues, according to the European Conservative.
• “‘Tickle v. Giggle’: the case forcing Australian courts to decide ‘what is a woman?’” – A landmark case underway in Australia could set a legal precedent for the resolution of conflicts between gender identity claims and sex-based rights, reports Jason Osborne in Gript.
• “Four-day week could be racist, report suggests” – A Welsh Government report suggests that four-day weeks could be racist because they discriminate against ‘frontline’ public sector workers, according to the Telegraph.
• “No, ethnic minorities are not put off by the Union flag” – Labourites are woefully out of touch with ethnic-minority Brits, says Rakib Ehsan in Spiked.
• “Wolf Hall is back – but casting a mixed-race British-Egyptian as my ancestor Thomas Wyatt is absurd” – Diverse casting must have a logical grounding; in an adaptation of a novel like Wolf Hall, which prides itself on historical authenticity, it makes no sense, argues Petronella Wyatt in the Telegraph.
• “Psychiatrist warning as physically healthy woman seeks assisted suicide in Dutch case” – A leading Irish psychiatrist warns against legalising assisted suicide in Ireland, in light of a high-profile case from the Netherlands involving a physically healthy 28 year-old woman, according to Gript.
• “Women could be sued if they divulge ‘red flags’ about men on Facebook” – Female members of a Facebook group, where women expose red flags about men they’ve dated, face potential lawsuits for posts containing false and damaging allegations, reports the Mail.
• “Hollywood producers wanted a female James Bond before Sean Connery was cast” – A new Ian Fleming biography reveals that producers wanted a woman to play 007 before Sean Connery was cast, in order to make the character less “unbelievable” and “stupid”, according to GB News.
• “‘I’ve been at NPR for 25 years. Here’s how we lost America’s trust’” – In the Free Press, Uri Berliner, a veteran staffer at NPR, says the network lost its way when it started telling listeners what to think.
• “‘Pulling down statues is national, moral suicide’” – On Triggernometry, historian Andrew Roberts gives his frank opinion on the pulling down of statues of America’s Founding Fathers.

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