News Round-Up

• “Farage is telling uncomfortable truths on Ukraine” – Vladimir Putin is obviously responsible for the war. That doesn’t mean we can’t debate what happens next, says Tony Brenton in the Telegraph.
• “Nigel Farage is a Putin appeaser, says Sunak” – In an interview with the Telegraph, Rishi Sunak tells voters only the Tories can prevent potentially “decades” of Labour rule.
• “The plain-speaking appeal of Nigel Farage” – Voters are turning to the Reform leader because he tells a story that chimes with their lives, says John Gray in the New Statesman in a piece about why populist parties are thriving across the Western world and technocratic elites are floundering.
• “How Nigel Farage became the Left’s greatest weapon” – Nigel Farage is about to turn British politics upside-down for a third time, writes Fraser Nelson in the Spectator.
• “Let’s be clear where blame for this Tory disaster really lies” – In the Telegraph, David Frost says the real reason for the Tories’ impending defeat is their failure to pursue genuinely conservative policies.
• “Donor who gave Tories £500,000 tells them to ‘get stuffed’ and backs Farage” – Sir John Hall, a former Newcastle United owner, says he is voting Reform because he fears English culture is being “destroyed”, according to the Telegraph. 
• “Labour to shut loophole in VAT raid on private school fees” – Labour will prevent parents paying private school fees in advance to avoid VAT, reveals the Telegraph.
• “Pro-Palestinian protesters vandalise Barclays and JP Morgan buildings” – The Leeds offices of JP Morgan and a branch of Barclays in the city have been vandalised by pro-Palestinian activists, reports the Telegraph.
• “Plumbing company vets customers and won’t serve Zionists” – A London plumbing company has refused to provide its services to anyone supporting Israel and has a policy of blackballing customers if they sympathise with Israel, according to UKLFI.
• “1/200 chance of death in context of new bird flu injection – five times higher than placebo according to clinical trial” – The new H5N1 bird flu vaccine Audenz poses serious risks, warns Jessica Rose on her Substack.
• “First death linked to E.coli outbreak” – A patient in England has died in a case linked to the ongoing E.coli outbreak, the U.K. Health Security Agency has said, reports the Telegraph.
• “During the Covid pandemic, the BMJ massively published Zero Covid zealot views and seldom the other side” – The BMJ failed to live up to the role of a scientific journal during the Covid pandemic and revealed the bias of its editor, says Prof. Vinay Prasad.
• “‘USA Today published our op-ed calling for the questioning of Trump/Biden Covid policies in debate’” – Disastrous pandemic policies straddled two presidencies and left a legacy of unnecessary death, disability and poverty. The candidates need to answer for their actions, says Dr. Pierre Kory on his Substack.
• “The youth vote is turning Right” – Across the Western world, young voters are turning conservative, writes Yascha Mounk in the Spectator.
• “The Muslim Vote campaign is poisoning democracy” – The cranks and conspiracy theorists that The Muslim Vote has endorsed do not speak for British Muslims, says Rakib Ehsan in Spiked.
• “How the German Foreign Office collaborated with asylum NGOs and pressured foreign embassy officials to grant entry visas to thousands of fake refugees with forged passports” – Germany’s borders aren’t just open by accident, writes Eugyppius on Substack.
• “Le Pen threatens Britain’s economy, Bank of England warns” – The Bank of England has warned that the French election poses a threat to Britain’s financial stability if Macron loses to Le Pen, reports the Mail.
• “France’s ‘Somewheres’ want revenge” – The French ‘Somewheres’ have suffered this century, but on Sunday they hope to take their revenge, says Gavin Mortimer in the Spectator.
• “Labour considers ‘Office for Net Zero’” – Labour is planning to create a new office for Net Zero to push through the green transition, writes Eric Worrall in WUWT? Never has a proposed Whitehall taskforce been so aptly named.
• “The true cost of Labour’s Net Zero plans is slowly being revealed – and the sums are staggering” – Electricity bills would have to double by 2030 to achieve Labour’s goal of decarbonising our grid, says Gordon Hughes in the Telegraph.
• “The problem with Reform’s plan to scrap Net Zero money” – In the Spectator, Ross Clark has spotted flaws in Reform’s energy proposals.
• “Europe’s largest renewable producer scales back plans for wind and solar plants” – Statkraft has cut its wind, solar and battery storage targets as part of a strategy update under its new CEO, reports Forbes.
• “Denmark imposes world’s first carbon tax on flatulent farm animals” – Denmark is to start taxing livestock farmers for the greenhouse gases emitted by their cows, sheep and pigs, according to Fox News.
• “David Tennant’s pride and prejudice” – Pride has gone far too far, and most of us are thoroughly bored of it, says Douglas Murray in the Spectator.
• “Why won’t Dawn Butler show solidarity with Kemi Badenoch?” – Labour MP Dawn Butler has weighed in with her usual tact to the Tennant-Badenoch showdown, writes Brendan O’Neill in the Spectator.
• “Gender-critical social media accounts on X are temporarily suspended” – Hundreds of accounts on social media giant X have been temporarily suspended in a new twist to the trans debate, reports the Mail, although some of them have now been restored.
• “‘A transwoman with a penis would use which lavatory?…’” – On LBC, the Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson can’t tell Nick Ferrari which toilet a transwoman with a penis should use, the Ladies or the Gents.

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