News Round-Up

• “Emmanuel Macron calls shock snap national election after being hit by disaster in European Parliament vote” – Emmanuel Macron has called a snap national vote and dissolved parliament after his party was projected to come a distant second to Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in the European elections, according to GB News.
• “The European elections and the ascent of the Right” – The Right is winning. In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally will win twice as many votes as President Macron’s Renaissance, says Freddy Gray in the Spectator.
• “Scholz’s party faces defeat at EU elections in Germany” – The Mail reports that Germany’s leading party has suffered losses, while French hardliner Marine Le Pen is set for a massive win in the European elections.
• “German Right triumphs on bloodbath night for ruling coalition” – Members of Germany’s traditional parties in Germany will not sleep well following the results of elections to the EU Parliament, says Ralph Schoellhammer in UnHerd.
• “The European election revolt is real, but is it sustainable?” – The emerging picture from the 2024 EU Parliament elections seems to confirm earlier predictions of significant but not decisive “hard Right” gains, writes Gabriel Elefteriu in Brussels Signal.
• “Private school VAT may swell state school class sizes, admits Thornberry” – Emily Thornberry admits that Labour’s plan to charge VAT on private school fees risks increasing class sizes in the state sector, reports the Telegraph.
• “Suella Braverman urges Tories to embrace Nigel Farage” – The former Home Secretary Suella Braverman says there is “not much difference” between Reform’s policies and those of the Conservatives, according to the Times.
• “Starmer’s history of Left-wing views revealed” – Questions remain over the extent to which Keir Starmer has abandoned his Trotskyist beliefs, writes Gordon Rayner in the Telegraph.
• “Rishi Sunak losing will be a blessed relief” – The Conservatives should be put out of their misery, says Tim Dawson in the Critic.
• “Nigel Farage is wrong: if the Tories move Right, they will be out for 20 years” – The Conservatives cannot afford to turn ‘Faragiste’. As Labour learnt to its cost, elections are won from the centre, writes Kamal Ahmed in the Telegraph.
• “‘Why I’ll be voting Reform (reluctantly)’” – “I won’t be voting for Reform with any of the sense of joy that I did when I switched parties in 2019 to back Boris Johnson,” says Julie Burchill in the Spectator.
• “Meta to focus on censoring ‘misinformation’ and ‘hate speech’ ahead of U.K. election” – As the U.K. prepares for its General Election, Meta has announced a series of measures aimed at combating “misinformation” and “hate speech” on its platforms, writes Cindy Harper in Reclaim The Net.
• “The Observer view on Baillie Gifford sponsorship row: writing is on the wall for book lovers” – Now the investment fund Baillie Gifford is pulling out of literary festivals, what other sponsors will dare expose themselves to the scrutiny of Fossil Free Books? asks the Observer.
• “Spain is now Europe’s most despicable nation” – Madrid’s anti-Israel stance is shameful, rewarding Hamas and tying the hands of the Jewish state. Britain under Labour would follow suit, warns Richard Kemp in the Telegraph.
• “In the very best of hands” – On SteynOnline, Mark Steyn comments on the D-Day debacle and Europe’s looming demographic crisis.
• “How Sweden became a ‘haven’ for mafia gangs” – Over the course of one night last year, three people were killed in separate attacks in Sweden. The violence made global headlines, but to many in the country, it was no surprise, writes Chris Jewers in the Mail.
• “Narendra Modi is sworn in for a third time as India’s Prime Minister” – Narendra Modi has been sworn in for a third term as India’s PM after worse-than-expected election results left him reliant on coalition partners to govern, reports the Mail.
• “Starmer risks losing support for fighting climate change” – Labour’s plan for ‘cheap renewables’ means more pain for squeezed households, says Liam Halligan in the Telegraph.
• “New Zealand to lift oil drilling ban amid blackout fears in blow to Starmer” – New Zealand is expected to revoke a ban on drilling for oil and gas amid fears of blackouts, as Labour plans to impose a similar crackdown on the North Sea, reports Reuters.
• “Did the Aussie opposition leader just call for cancelling the Paris Agreement?” – Does “there’s no sense in signing up to targets you don’t have any prospect of achieving” translate to a commitment to dump Australia’s Paris obligations? wonders Eric Worrall in WUWT?
• “Reclaim the rainbow!” – Christians and social conservatives have been too slow in defending the ideas, traditions and culture which created the society we know and value, says Dr. Campbell Campbell-Jack in TCW.
• “The average age of my staff is 61 – they are dependable and trusting” – In the Mail, a businessman reveals that all the staff at his firm are above the age of 50, as he believes older workers have more “sense” and know how to get things done.
• “The radical Left website sabotaging research” – Aporia takes aim at the radical Left-wing website RationalWiki, which exploits its suspiciously high Google ranking to demean anybody who researches controversial topics and gets the “wrong” answers.
• “The EU is over-regulating AI” – In the Critic, Pieter Cleppe warns against prioritising caution and control over the economic and technological opportunities presented by AI.
• “David Boaz (1953-2024) – Champion of liberty” – The Cato Institute pays tribute to David Boaz, who turned Cato from a small organisation with a handful of employees, to a leading think tank in Washington with a global presence.
• “Green leader’s nuclear disaster” – On LBC, co-leader of the Green Party Carla Denyer gets mauled by host Lewis Goodall defending her party’s position on nukes.

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