News Round-Up

• “‘I don’t believe I broke rules over Lord Alli holiday’” – Angela Rayner says she doesn’t think she broke parliamentary rules over a “personal holiday” in New York with another Labour MP funded by a multimillionaire Labour peer, according to the BBC.
• “Rayner faces investigation over Lord Alli New York apartment stay” – Angela Rayner faces an investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner over the use of a $2.5 million New York apartment lent by Lord Alli, reports the Telegraph.
• “Labour’s handling of freebies scandal has been appalling” – It was only once the waves of sleaze over the freebies scandal began to lap at the doors of the Treasury that any clear and decisive action seemed to come from the Government, notes Harry Cole in the Sun.
• “Keir is already in meltdown at first Labour conference in power” – Keir Starmer admits he needs to stabilise his Government as he struggles to contain fury over ‘freebies’, a wave of bitter briefings about his chief aide and the winter fuel backlash, writes James Tapsfield in the Mail.
• “Labour is either shameless or stupid – close inspection at party conference suggests both” – Amid the usual gaggle of weirdos at the Labour Party conference, the faithful at the annual gathering are simultaneously completely mad and unbelievably dull, says Madeline Grant in the Telegraph.
• “80,000 could be forced to leave private schools over Labour’s VAT raid” – According to a survey of parents, some 80,000 children could be forced to leave private schools due to Labour’s tax raid on fees, reports the Mail.
• “How much fees are rising at Britain’s best-known private schools after Labour’s VAT raid” – The Telegraph lists some of Britain’s best-known private schools and how much their fees are going up by as a result of Labour’s private school VAT raid.
• “Starmer’s gloom is depressing the public and the economy” – Labour desperately needs growth to kick into gear – the public mood is about to turn nasty, warns Liam Halligan in the Telegraph.
• “Politicians who think the public support tax rises do so at their peril” – Polling over the decades clearly shows that tax rises are always unpopular and fatal to parties in the long run, writes James Frayne in the Telegraph.
• “The first-time Labour voters with buyers’ remorse” – After decades of Conservative MPs, Hitchin voted red – but residents are already frustrated with Keir Starmer, says Rosa Silverman in the Telegraph.
• “Red tape is so rampant it’s no wonder entrepreneurs are put off retail” – The news that an award-winning winemaker has decided not to monetise his crop tells you all you need to know about regulation in Britain, writes William Sitwell in the Telegraph.
• “Why is Britain poor?” – ‘Foundations’ by Ben Southwood, Samuel Hughes and Sam Bowman offers a diagnosis of Britain’s red tape culture that stifles investment and drives up housing and energy costs, says Ed West on his Substack.
• “Christian preacher paid £10,000 damages by Met for second time accuses force of two-tier policing” – Hatun Tash, a Christian preacher, has won £10,000 in damages for a second time from the Met Police after being arrested, strip searched and unlawfully imprisoned for wearing a Charlie Hebdo T-shirt at Speakers’ Corner, reports the Telegraph.
• “Terror attacks will be the result of going soft on illegal migrants” – Sir Keir’s scrapping of the Rwanda deterrent will lead to terrorists slipping into Britain via small boats, says Robert Jenrick in the Telegraph.
• “‘The piece I’m proudest to have written’” – Free Speech Backlash has republished Paul Sutton’s powerful poem about the Rotherham grooming gangs.
• “Enemies of free speech have been felled but the U.K. is still going in the wrong direction under Keir Starmer” – While some of the enemies of free speech have been vanquished, the U.K. under Keir Starmer seems to be marching in the opposite direction, says Jeff Dudgeon in News Letter.
• “Labour set to bring back ‘boiler tax’, say industry sources” – According to industry sources, ministers are preparing to enforce heat pump sales targets next year, potentially leading to a “boiler tax” on households, reports Share Talk.
• “JSO priest accused of vandalising Magna Carta barred from preaching” – An Anglican priest accused of attacking the Magna Carta with chisels during a Just Stop Oil stunt has been barred from preaching by the Church of England, says the Mail.
• “Lack of Net Zero clarity ‘puts future of British manufacturing at risk’” – In the Telegraph, one of the country’s biggest manufacturers warns that soaring power costs and a lack of clarity around Net Zero are threatening the future of British industry.
• “‘Lab grown meat could contribute to the health of the nation’” – Despite having a reading age of eight, Peter Kyle is now the Science Secretary and tells the Telegraph’s Nick Gutteridge that technology will make the U.K. richer and happier, starting with lab grown meat.
• “Up to one million people wrongly classed as too sick to work” – A study by the Centre for Social Justice reveals that joblessness in Britain is nearly twice as high as official figures suggest, owing to a surge in so-called hidden unemployment, reports the Telegraph.
• “Critical baby monitor at Lucy Letby hospital was broken during infant death spike” – A leaked document shows that a critical machine to monitor babies in the neonatal unit at Lucy Letby’s hospital was broken during the time when infant deaths spiked, according to the Telegraph.
• “Woman died from cancer after two-year wait for NHS to contact her” – A coroner has ruled that a woman died from cancer after waiting two years for the NHS to call or email her with her ultrasound scan results, reports the Telegraph.
• “Unmasking Lady Hallett” – Judges should be impartial – even with mask flip floppers, say Prof. Carl Heneghan and Dr. Tom Jefferson on the TTE Substack.
• “Brandenburg election post: SPD leading AfD in early projections, Greens facing their worst result since 2004” – The last of the East German local elections has come to an end, and it looks as if the SPD will cling on in Brandenburg, writes Eugyppius on Substack.
• “No, Lord Mandelson, we don’t need to cosy up to Xi’s China” – The blame for the deterioration in the U.K.’s relationship with China lies in Beijing not London, says Benedict Rogers in CapX.
• “Kamala Harris was ‘joking’ about shooting an intruder, insist aides in latest U-turn” – Vice President Kamala Harris, after saying that she would shoot someone if they broke into her house, is backtracking, according to the Post Millennial.
• “Pablo Marçal: a new standard-bearer for Brazil’s far-Right?” – As the São Paulo mayoral race heats up, Pablo Marçal is positioning himself as Jair Bolsonaro’s political heir and a potential Presidential contender, writes Brasília Alta Frequência in the Brazilian Report.
• “Far-Right life coach taking Brazil by storm after rival smashes chair over his head in TV debate” – Pablo Marcal’s televised chair-smashing incident during a TV debate has prompted political analysts to call the influencer the political heir to Jair Bolsonaro, says Simeon Tegel in the Telegraph.
• “Conversion therapy ban for trans people could backfire and put girls at risk, UN expert warns” – A UN expert has warned that plans to impose ‘trans inclusive’ bans on conversion therapy could backfire by preventing doctors from analysing the root causes of patients’ suffering, reports the Mail.
• “‘I blew up my lucrative public-service career (and so can you)’” – In Quillette, a former public servant in British Columbia’s explains how EDI fanatics forced him to choose between his job and his values.
• “If you think we’re past peak woke, we may not even be halfway up that hill” – Unconscious bias training and cancellation are mainstream for the young. Just wait until they’re in charge, warns Matthew Syed in the Sunday Times.
• “‘I’m fed up of hearing Gen-Z are ‘victims’ – they are the luckiest in human history’” – Despite their woes, young people are still vastly rich compared to the 20-somethings of their grandparents’ generation, says Zoe Strimpel in the Telegraph.
• “No Brainer with Angela Rayner” – In a satirical video on X, Intel Lady nails down her impression of Angela Rayner, who provides a staunch defence of ‘Free Gear’ Keir in the Labour gifts controversy.

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