News Round-Up

• “Alex Salmond, former First Minister of Scotland, dies aged 69” – “Shocked” Nicola Sturgeon pays tribute to her “mentor” who was the First Minister of Scotland between 2007 and 2014, after he died suddenly of a suspected heart attack, the Telegraph reports.
• “Alex Salmond utterly transformed British politics” – He came tantalisingly close to breaking up Britain, but he could still be generous to those who opposed him, says Fraser Nelson in the Telegraph.
• “Starmer’s first 100 days of chaos are slammed by Blair-era official” – Officials from the New Labour era have been observing from the sidelines in horror as their successors bounce from crisis to crisis, according to the Mail.
• “Keir Starmer’s Bafflingly Bad Start as the U.K.’s Prime Minister” – The Labour Government’s first hundred days in power have been characterised by mistakes, infighting and drift, says Sam Knight in the New Yorker.
• “Starmer’s first 100 days have been an unmitigated disaster” – As Starmer reaches his 100-day milestone, Richard Tice in the Telegraph warns that his Government could leave us with irreversible damage.
• “Labour’s pursuit of power has left it impotent” – The Chancellor tied her hands with manifesto pledges and has few options available for raising revenue in a country still reeling from the stratospheric costs of lockdown, says the Telegraph‘s Jeremy Warner.
• “Starmer’s first 100 days have been unprecedented shambles” – Many new governments undergo a baptism by fire but none in modern memory has emerged as badly burned as Keir Starmer’s, says Andrew Neil in the Mail.
• “Labour peer tipped to be next ambassador to the U.S. is friend of Lord Alli” – The long-standing partnership between Baroness Amos and Lord Alli shows his extended influence in Labour circles, says the Telegraph.
• “Taylor Swift’s police escort was approved after pressure from Attorney-General” – The Government’s top lawyer was called in to pressure the Met into providing Taylor Swift with a taxpayer-funded escort to her Wembley concerts, reports the Times.
• “P&O owner to attend investment summit after Starmer disowns minister’s ‘boycott’ comments” – The firm’s £1bn investment in the U.K. is thought to be back on track after No 10 made an effort to patch up relations, the Telegraph reports.
• “Labour is haemorrhaging seats and voter trust, figures show” – The party lost a further four seats in a wave of 20 council by-elections this week, pushing the total to 11 since September, the Telegraph reports.
• “Labour has no vision for this country – but I do” – Writing in the Telegraph, Kemi Badenoch says if she is elected Tory leader, she will create a real plan to fix the British state and the economy without speaking in platitudes.
• “Can Kemi win?” – Toby, Tom Slater and Fraser Myers discuss what’s at stake in the Tory leadership race in the latest episode of the Spiked podcast.
• “We will return the Conservative Party to the service of its members” – Robert Jenrick joins forces with Jacob Rees-Mogg in the Telegraph to set out an agenda for giving more power to Tory party members and ending the micromanagement by CCHQ.
• “I know who I’m backing for party leader – the candidate who grasps the scale of the crisis” – In the Telegraph, Daniel Hannan backs Robert Jenrick, saying only he has shown the necessary energy to make the Tories an invigorated Government in waiting.
• “Boris Johnson: Where did Tories go wrong? Thinking they didn’t need me” – The former PM tells the Times‘s Chief Political Commentator Tim Shipman what he thinks about Brexit, Donald Trump and the comeback rumours that won’t go away.
• “Why does Have I Got News For You barely criticise Starmer and take endless potshots at the Tories as if they’re still in power?” – In the Mail, Leo McKinstry says too many so-called ­comedians act like the guardians of the progressive orthodoxy and ­endlessly take pathetic potshots at the Conservatives as if they were still in Government.
• “Hundreds gather in Belfast to protest against new Public Health Bill” – Hundreds of people gathered in Belfast city centre to protest against a new Public Health Bill for Northern Ireland which includes mandatory vaccination and other causes of concern, reports Irish News.
• “The Endless Cycle Of Insanity Continues: Mask Mandates Are Back Again” – You thought we were done with masks? We’re never going to be done with masks, says Ian Miller on Substack.
• “Nurse who nearly died from Covid sues NHS for negligence” – Rebecca Firth, 42, is seeking damages from Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust for allegedly failing to provide her with adequate PPE, reports the Telegraph.
• “The NHS: Where does all the money go?” – On Trust the Evidence, Jefferson and Heneghan turn their attention to NHS England and its exorbitant costs and worsening outcomes.
• “Norman Fenton and Martin Neil – Fighting Goliath” – The Naked Emperor’s book recommendation today is Fenton and Neil’s collected Covid writings.
• “Ed Miliband to roll out pylons despite official report showing burying cables can be cheaper” – Ed Miliband’s plan to erect thousands of pylons across Britain has been criticised after an official report found that burying electricity cables underground can be cheaper, reports the Telegraph.
• “Pictured: Range Rover that sparked devastating Luton Airport fire” – The full report on the Luton Airport fire has been published, and the Mail has a picture of the vehicle responsible – a (diesel) 2014 Range Rover Sport. The report finds no evidence EVs had “a detrimental impact on the outcome of the fire”. Seems this is one blaze they can’t be blamed for.
• “Labour council to install cycle lane on one of U.K.’s most congested roads” – Locals are unhappy with a plan to halve capacity of the A103 in Haringey, which has an average speed of 5.9mph, to make way for a cycle lane, says the Telegraph.
• “A Message from the Countryside” – In the European Conservative, Roger Watson reviews Dear Townies by Dominic Wightman and John Nash: “An exasperated letter to green activists whose ideology could destroy the countryside.”
• “Hamas wanted Iran to join in October 7th attack, secret minutes reveal” – Documents show that the terror group hoped for regional allies, including Hezbollah, to take part in the massacre, reports the Telegraph.
• “Comedian accused of ‘mocking’ victims of October 7th attacks” – Eshaan Akbar, a former BBC presenter, wrote on social media that the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust was something “involving hummus and sausages at a music festival that resulted in the self-defence against children and their families resulting in over 45,000 deaths”, reports the Mail.
• “BBC star Clive Myrie calls pro-Palestinian protestor a ‘f***ing idiot’” – Footage has emerged of Clive Myrie , who is a regular BBC newsreader, slamming the “f****** idiot” who heckled him during a Q&A event last month, the Mail reports.
• “The creepy thought experiments of Ta-Nehisi Coates” – Why the hell is Coates wondering if he would have joined in Hamas’s pogrom of October 7th, asks Spiked‘s Brendan O’Neill.
• “Starmer removes portrait of Gladstone from No 10 in wake of slave trade accusations” – The Prime Minister has taken down a painting of his Liberal predecessor William Gladstone from Downing Street, the Telegraph has learned, following controversy over his family’s slave trade links.
• “Britain doesn’t need Rayner’s divisive diversity rules” – Businesses and consumers will have to foot the bill for Labour’s identitarian excesses, says Rakib Ehsan in the Telegraph.
• “Women like me despair of Strictly’s Amanda Abbington” – Why do so many women find it difficult to warm to Amanda Abbington, asks the Mail‘s Amanda Platell, who after she wrote last week that all the actress seems to do is “cry, panic and play the victim”, expected a barrage of abuse. What she found instead was a chorus of agreement.
• “Glimpse of what happened when a city abandons war on drugs” – The Mail warns that Glasgow could go the way of Portland, Oregon, if it continues down the drug liberalisation line.
• “Pub landlords to be turned into ‘banter police’ under reforms to workers’ rights” – There are once again fears free speech could come under attack, not just in bars but also universities, as the Government plans to extend employment laws in a draconian direction, reports the Telegraph.
• “Reverse Sexism in Australian Research” – In Quillette, Andrew Glover argues that grant applications should be assessed on their scientific merits, not on the sex or political leanings of the applicant.
• “Poland suspends right to asylum in challenge to EU” – Donald Tusk, the Polish Prime Minister, says the move is needed to counter Belarus and Russia trying to destabilise the bloc, but also frames it as part of a general strengthening of border security, the Telegraph reports.
• “Reign of Error” – On Substack, the New Considerist takes a look at political lying and wonders where incompetence ends and evil begins.
• “The week Kamala’s campaign collapsed” – The Mail‘s Maureen Callahan slams Harris’s “humiliating media blitzkrieg that’s left top Dems terrified – and even Biden turning to stab her in the back”.
• “The Accent Switch Kamala Doll” – Watch on X the ad for the latest election toy sensation, courtesy of Benny Johnson.

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