News Round-Up

• “Riot thugs torch bus and wreck police car on night of shame in Leeds” – Violence has erupted in Leeds with rioters setting a double-decker bus on fire and overturning a police car, reports the Mail.
• “Did the Covid Inquiry report just admit lockdown was a mistake?” – Though it’s long been an article of faith that earlier and harder lockdowns were the solution to the Covid pandemic, this is not the conclusion that Baroness Hallett has come to, says Toby Green in UnHerd.
• “U.K. banks told to treat politicians more fairly after Farage debanking row” – The U.K.’s biggest banks have been told by the City watchdog to do more to ensure parliamentarians, senior public servants and their families are treated fairly in the wake of the Nigel Farage debanking row, reports the Guardian.
• “Tories can’t agree how or when to hold leadership contest” – The Conservative Party leadership contest has been left in disarray after senior party executives failed to agree a timetable for the race to replace Rishi Sunak, says the Times.
• “Labour announces early release for 5,500 prisoners” – Around 1,700 prisoners serving sentences of more than five years will be let out early as part of a scheme that the Government admits may increase crime, reports the Mail.
• “Businesses and Tories warn on workers’ rights overhaul” – Keir Starmer has been warned that his radical overhaul of employment rights risks mass job losses and firms going bust, says the Mail. 
• “Labour’s bills” – On Substack, Jack Watson provides a summary of the most important Labour bills.
• “Proof Labour’s plan to shift power out of Parliament is not about ‘local people control’” – Starmer’s Government is using flowery language to disguise its true intentions, says Michael Curzon in the European Conservative.
• “Small boat migrants returned to France for first time” – A British Border Force vessel has returned a migrant boat back to France for the first time in history, according to LBC.
• “The Irish elite would rather destroy their country than reduce immigration” – The Irish people have voiced their opposition to migrants for months, but their Government isn’t listening, says Michael Murphy in the Telegraph.
• “Lammy refuses to say he was wrong to call Trump ‘neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath’” – David Lammy has refused to say whether he was wrong about Donald Trump, after previously calling the former U.S. President a “neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath”, according to the Express.
• “David Lammy’s Trump problem” – David Lammy’s lack of judgment is not just a matter of record. It is likely to prove a serious problem at some stage, says Douglas Murray in the Spectator.
• “The 12 David Lammy tweets that he doesn’t want Trump to see” – The Telegraph’s Genevieve Holl-Allen has compiled a list of the Foreign Secretary’s historic insults directed at the former U.S. President.
• “Parts of our cities are Islamist, says Nigel Farage as he backs J.D. Vance” – Nigel Farage has declared that “parts of” British cities are Islamist after backing Donald Trump’s choice of J.D. Vance as his running mate, according to the Telegraph.
• “The intellectual journey of J.D. Vance” – J.D. Vance represents a clear and present danger to the very same people who elevated him to the Vice Presidency, writes Ben Domenech in the Spectator.
• “Joe Biden tests positive for Covid and cancels Las Vegas speech” – Joe Biden has withdrawn from a speech after contracting COVID-19, amid increasing calls for him to withdraw from the Presidential race, reports Sky News.
• “Obama is doubtful Biden can win Presidential race, new report says” – Former President Barack Obama has told allies that Joe Biden should seriously consider whether he should stay in the race, as speculation grows he could drop out within days, says the Mail.
• “The Biden house of cards is collapsing” – Is Biden’s precarious pyramid of power on the verge of collapse? It is starting to look inevitable, writes Jake Wallis Simons in the Telegraph.
• “Is Donald Trump now unstoppable?” – Trump’s recent display of strength was a perfect contrast to the stumbling and bumbling of Joe Biden, says Freddy Gray in the Spectator.
• “Cock-ups, conspiracies and the failed Trump assassination” – On Substack, Eugyppius explains why he defaults to systemic, distributed explanations unless he is given extremely good reasons not to.
• “During the crisis, free speech worked brilliantly” – There is only one major social media platform that is relatively free of censorship: X, says Jeffrey A. Tucker for the Brownstone Institute.
• “Adidas backlash after Bella Hadid models Munich Olympics shoes” – Adidas has provoked fury after choosing pro-Palestinian model Bella Hadid to model a revamped line of trainers first worn at the 1972 Olympics where 11 Israelis were killed, reports the Mail.
• “Scientists discover anti-ageing holy grail that can stop cancer – and grey hair – in its tracks” – A new drug has increased the lifespans of mice by nearly 25% – and scientists hope it can have the same effect on humans, says the Sun.
• “Legacy projects are costing us a fortune” – Britain has a long history of politicians sinking billions into projects that don’t work, writes Harry Phibb’s in CapX.
• “The war on the family home” – On his Uncibal Substack, Dr. David McGrogan takes aim at modern economic policies that undermine personal freedom and property rights.
• “GPs have no right to lecture their patients about climate change” – The Telegraph’s Michael Deacon would prefer doctors to inform him of his own ailments rather than those of the planet.
• “Just Stop Oil co-founder Roger Hallam is jailed for five years” – Five Just Stop Oil protesters, including one of its co-founders, have been jailed for conspiring to organise protests that blocked the M25 motorway, reports the Mail.
• “U.K. off track for Net Zero, say country’s climate advisors” – The Climate Change Committee says that only a third of the emissions reductions required to achieve the U.K.’s 2030 target are currently covered by credible plans. 
• “Italy bans solar panels on farm land” – Italy is prioritising the food supply over its Net Zero agenda, says Peter Imanuelsen on his Substack.
• “How the West’s big bet on hydrogen fell apart” – Hopes of a seamless transition to hydrogen are crashing into economic reality, writes Matt Oliver in the Telegraph.
• “ESG and DEI policies were always luxury goods” – The end of the low interest-rate era has coincided with both the public and corporate sectors pulling back on efforts to be virtuous, says Merryn Somerset Webb in Bloomberg.
• “Male sex predator visited ‘trans-inclusive’ female rape crisis centre” – A male sexual predator who harboured “hostility towards women” accessed services at a “trans-inclusive” female rape crisis centre, reports the Telegraph. 
• “The violent misogyny of the trans movement” – Cameron Downing’s behaviour is extreme, but the views he expressed are depressingly widespread within self-identified ‘progressive’ circles, says Jo Bartosch in Spiked.
• “Klaus Schwab’s co-author turns against the WEF, pens novel on Davos racket” – On the Dossier Substack, Jordan Schachtel reviews Thierry Malleret’s new novella, Deaths at Davos.
• “Are the Rees-Moggs ready for their new reality?” – Half the fun of Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg’s new reality show will be watching the posh Rees-Moggs trying not to say anything snobbish, says Toby Young in the Spectator.
• “‘Do you think he’s having a tough time right now?’” – Nigel Farage is left wondering why he bothers, after being repeatedly asked by Emily Maitlis whether he thinks Trump is having “a tough time right now” following his narrow escape from death.

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