News Round-Up

• “The terrible blunder that exposed Hezbollah’s fighters to audacious pager attack” – Hezbollah’s pagers were meant to be safety measures, secure from Israeli eavesdropping. Instead, they were a deadly Trojan horse, says Roland Oliphant in the Telegraph.
• “British-educated entrepreneur denies manufacturing explosive pagers” – A British-educated entrepreneur has denied manufacturing the pagers that wounded hundreds of Hezbollah fighters in a simultaneous explosion, according to the Mail.
• “After humiliating pager attack, what is Hezbollah’s next move?” – Hezbollah, long feared for its technological savvy, has vowed revenge on Israel after the “biggest security breach yet” led to thousands of co-ordinated explosions in Lebanon, reports the Times.
• “Mossad’s history of unlikely explosives” – From remote-controlled machine guns to viruses, the Israeli intelligence service has a track record of using technology to kill its enemies, writes Richard Spencer in the Times.
• “Pager bombs won’t stop Hezbollah” – Israel’s capabilities have not enabled Jerusalem to decisively alter the strategic picture, says Jonathan Spyer in the Spectator.
• “How near are Hezbollah and Israel to full war? A conflict explained” – Lebanon and Israel have so far avoided anything like the 2006 war, but Hezbollah’s latest attack has increased tensions, warns Samer Al-Atrush in the Times.
• “UN votes 124-14 to strip Israel of right to self-defense in Gaza, West Bank” – The UN has voted not to sell arms or military equipment to Israel that could be used in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to the Jerusalem Post.
• “Netanyahu says Starmer’s Labour party has ‘undermined’ his country” – In an interview with the Mail, Israel’s PM attacked Keir Starmer’s “misguided” administration and accused him of “sending a horrible message” to Hamas.
• “Palestine Action co-founder urged activists to ‘smash Israeli weapons factories’, court told” – The co-founder of Palestine Action Richard Barnard has appeared in court on charges of encouraging criminal damage and expressing support for Hamas at two pro-Palestinian rallies last October, according to the Telegraph.
• “Busting the gangs not enough to stop boats, says new border chief” – Keir Starmer’s new border chief warns that Britain needs to do more than just crack down on smuggling gangs to combat the small boats crisis, says GB News.
• “Train drivers accept pay deal as Starmer caves in to union’s demands” – Train drivers have voted overwhelmingly to accept a multi-year pay offer in the latest climbdown to the unions by Keir Starmer, reports the Express.
• “Lady Starmer saw Taylor Swift twice – and did not pay a penny” – Lady Victoria Starmer saw Taylor Swift for free twice this summer, as the ‘wardrobegate’ row over undeclared luxury gifts from Lord Alli rumbles on, reports the Mail.
• “Now it’s official: the Left aren’t morally superior” – The Starmers’ love of a freebie confirms that avarice is not confined to those on the political Right, says Madeline Grant in the Telegraph.
• “Now we know how Keir Starmer will fall” – Keir Starmer’s premiership has got off to a pretty cursed start, notes Stephen Daisley in the Spectator.
• “Sue Gray paid more than Keir Starmer” – Keir Starmer’s chief of staff is facing a backlash after accepting a salary of £170,000 – meaning she earns £3,000 more than the Prime Minister, reports the Express.
• “Keir Starmer is on course for the biggest humiliation in political history” – Perhaps Starmer is so miserable because he’s noticed how screamingly unpopular he is, says Michael Deacon in the Telegraph.
• “Keir Starmer accused of appointing a dozen cronies to civil service” – The Tories are demanding that the appointment of 12 Labour “cronies” to the Civil Service be fully investigated, reports the Telegraph.
• “Labour not enforcing three-day office week for civil servants” – It seems ministers are “quietly ignoring” the Conservatives’ rule that civil servants should be in the office three days a week, says Melanie McDonagh in the Standard.
• “The advantages of being a Left-liberal” – Huw Edwards escaped jail because he’s a progressive celebrity, writes Paul Sutton on his Substack.
• “Reform voters are ‘our people’, insists Badenoch” – Kemi Badenoch has offered something of an olive branch to those Right-wingers who abandoned her party at the election, says Steerpike in the Spectator.
• “Fragile and morally questionable” – On Substack, Dr. David McGrogan explores the U.K.’s ‘totalitarian drift’.
• “The problem with Labour’s green energy plan” – Does David Lammy seriously think that climate change deserves more of his attention as Foreign Secretary than the threat from terrorism? asks Ross Clark in the Spectator.
• “Junior doctors rebrand themselves as ‘residents’ instead of ‘demeaning’ job title” – The British Medical Association has secured a new job title and a 22% pay rise for junior doctors in negotiations with the Government, reports the Telegraph.
• “GPs use ChatGPT to help them treat patients, Harvard study warns” – Researchers at Harvard University found one in five family doctors in the U.K. had used artificial intelligence tools while treating patients, says inews.
• “Childhood vaccination rates fall to lowest level in 14 years” – Vaccination rates are falling across England – despite campaigns amid outbreaks of measles and whooping cough, which have claimed the lives of nine babies, according to the Mail.
• “Forced to get three vaccines to receive medical care, 23 year-old Alexis Lorenze is now fighting for her life” –On Substack, Steve Kirsch shares one of the most horrific vaccine injury stories he’s ever heard.
• “The NHS: where does all the money go?” – On the TTE Substack, Prof. Carl Heneghan and Dr. Tom Jefferson delve into the NHS spending figures.
• “Silent prayer outside abortion clinics faces ban” – Buffer zones outside abortion clinics in England and Wales will come into force at the end of October – including a ban on people holding silent prayer vigils outside, reports the Mail. 
• “Teachers call on Education Secretary to stop ‘dithering’ and urgently bring forward guidance on trans issues” – Over 100 education professionals have signed a letter to Bridget Phillipson calling on her to urgently implement the draft trans and safeguarding guidance for schools, according to the Christian Institute.
• “Anger as David Lammy hangs bisexual pride flag outside Foreign Office” – The Foreign Office is flying the Bisexual Awareness Week flag, prompting fresh calls for David Lammy to rethink his priorities, reports the Mail.
• “‘My remarks over a ‘dog in a frock’ plunged me into a Kafkaesque nightmare’” – In the Telegraph, Kate Wills reveals how Elizabeth Pitt, a lesbian social worker, scored a win against Cambridgeshire County Council after a 10-month battle over harassment and transphobia claims.
• “Why Labour will not back down on its conversion therapy ban” – The Government’s refusal to back down on banning conversion therapy, including a comprehensive trans-inclusive ban, is a testament to its ideological rigidity, says Julian Mann in Christian Today.
• “Should the Fourth Plinth be a soapbox for trans politics?” – Why did the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group think that what London needed for the next two years was a public sculpture reflecting the experiences of trans women on the other side of the world? asks Alastair Sooke in the Telegraph.
• “Survival skills save hiker, 67, missing for a week” – An army veteran who survived days in the Highlands was airlifted to safety after getting lost while attempting to reach Britain’s most remote pub, reports the Mail.
• “Is this the ‘vibes’ election?” – On the latest episode of Free Speech Nation, Andrew Doyle speaks to Spiked’s Brendan O’Neill about the U.S. Presidential campaigns.
• “Idiotic regime media interview totally crazy man because his rants flatter their geopolitical preconceptions, have awkward moment as he turns out to be a convicted felon and would-be Trump assassin” – Western reporting on the Ukraine war has been a propagandised travesty from the start, and it’s highly likely Ryan Routh isn’t the only self-promoter flooding our papers with utter nonsense, says Eugyppius on Substack.
• “Wall Street will try to make Donald Trump suffer a fate like Liz Truss’s, warns J.D. Vance” – Vice Presidential hopeful J.D. Vance says investors “who are getting rich off globalisation” would spike the U.S. bond markets if Trump wins a second term, in an attempt to bring down his government, according to the Telegraph.
• “How Wikipedia became a propaganda site” – In the age of Trump, a few powerful editors have turned Wikipedia into Democratic agitprop, says Ashley Rindsberg in the Free Press.
• “‘It’s little wonder the police can’t solve burglaries… they’re too busy policing our tweets’” – On GB News, Toby reacts to the ordeal of Bernadette Spofforth, who has arrested and held in custody for 36 hours because she misidentified the Southport attacker.

If you have any tips for inclusion in the round-up, email us here.