News Round-Up

• “Israel has shown it can defeat terrorism. Now let’s give it a free hand to deal with Iran” – The killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is further evidence that Netanyahu was correct to disregard the advice of Western leaders who told Israel not to enter Rafa, argues Charles Moore in the Telegraph.
• “Benjamin Netanyahu has been vindicated” – The death of Yahya Sinwar, the military commander of Hamas, is a symbolic moment in Israel’s ongoing war against the terror group, says Jonathan Sacerdoti in the Spectator.
• “Passport of UNRWA teacher ‘found on body of Sinwar’” – Israeli media shows images of the passport of a UNRWA teacher found among the belongings of Yahya Sinwar, reports the Telegraph.
• “Iran, you have been warned” – Yesterday it was announced that the United States has dispatched B-2 Spirit stealth bombers to hit underground Houthi weapons stores, according to the Spectator.
• “Israel ‘plots strikes on Iran to topple regime’” – Although it is unlikely one round of missile strikes would topple the Iranian regime, it has been suggested by a Western official the strength of the attack could encourage opposition from within, says the Mail.
• “Reeves prepares tax raid triple whammy” – The Chancellor is planning to extend the freeze on income tax thresholds, raise inheritance tax and put up fuel duty, reports the Telegraph on its front page.
• “An exodus of millionaires is already under way. Britain will be poorer for it” – It is simply wrong to argue that high taxes do not stop the wealthy from investing and staying here in the U.K., argues Fraser Nelson in the Telegraph.
• “Red tape threatens to turn City into a ‘graveyard’, warns Bank of England official” – A senior Bank of England official has warned that the prospect of more financial rules could be catastrophic for Britain’s square mile, according to the Telegraph.
• “Obsessive safetyism will leave the country bankrupt” – The regulations the Government swaddles us in may be the very thing dragging us into a spiral of decline, warns Sam Dumitriu in the Telegraph.
• “Living standards improve at slowest rate in 50 years as immigration soars” – Real GDP per head has risen just 0.3% as the U.K.’s population grows faster than its economy, reports the Telegraph.
• “Private schools VAT raid will cost Foreign Office extra £1 million” – Labour admits the FCDO’s would be more than a £1 million out of pocket if Labour sticks VAT on school fees, given that it pays the fees of diplomats with children at boarding schools, says the Telegraph.
• “Labour activists campaigning for Kamala Harris in US ‘likely to break electoral law’” – Campaign donation rules could be breached if the travel expenses of Labour’s army of Harris volunteers exceed $1,000s, according to the Telegraph.
• “Labour backtracks on push for genocide ruling on China’s treatment of Uyghurs” – Labour has dropped its plan for formally designating China’s treatment of the Uyghurs as a genocide to coincide with David Lammy‘s visit to China, reports the Guardian.
• “China is winning in every imaginable way” – The West is de-industrialising in the quest for Net Zero, placing it at a huge competitive disadvantage with China, argues David Blackmon in the Telegraph.
• “Labour is making the Tories look good on immigration” – The last government’s record on tackling illegal crossings to the U.K. was abysmal, says Isabel Oakeshott in the Telegraph. But the new Government’s is even worse.
• “Starmer agrees Rwanda-style deal to deport migrants from Chagos Islands” – The Prime Minister has approved a plan whereby asylum seekers arriving on the Chagos Islands will be shipped to St Helena, another U.K. territory more than 5,000 miles away, reports the Telegraph.
• “How Britain became a ‘rundown and filthy’ dumping ground” – Our throwaway society has left Britain’s streets strewn with hazardous rubbish, says Rosa Silverman in the Telegraph.
• “Meet Argie president taking buzzsaw to big government” – In his Mail column, Boris says you have to admire the sheer cojones of Javier Milei, the libertarian President of Argentina. He could teach Rachel Reeves a thing or two about cutting government expenditure.
• “Nick Robinson sorry for getting Jeremy Hunt’s last name wrong” – Not for the first time, a Today presenter has referred to the former Chancellor as a “c***”, says the Mail. Once may be regarded as a misfortune…
• “I knew Thatcher and see echoes of her in Badenoch” – Andrew Roberts, who’s backing Kemi in the leadership contest, says in the Mail that she reminds him of his old friend Margaret Thatcher.
• “The next Tory leader must tack Right – and Left” – Robert Jenrick would ground his leadership in solid conservative values, while appealing to centrist voters, argues David Frost (a Jenrick-backer) in the Telegraph.
• “Who is backing Badenoch’s and Jenrick’s Tory leadership campaigns?” – The candidates both claim to have cross-party support despite claims they are rightwing populists, says the Guardian.
• “Why the mega-rich are bankrolling anti-woke education” – Concerns over censorship on campuses are encouraging billionaires to fund a new type of university, reports the Telegraph.
• “Woke theatre alerts audience their new pantomime might be ‘cheeky’” – The Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire says that some of the jokes in their Aladdin pantomime might offend some people, reports the Mail. Isn’t that the point?
• “Girl with suspected autism faces 12-match ban for asking transgender opponent: ‘Are you a man?’” – A 17 year-old girl with autism is under investigation by the FA for asking a bearded male playing for a girls’ football team whether he’s a man, according to the Telegraph.
• “NHS trans clinic ignores Cass report recommendations” – Fears are growing of ‘Tavistock version 2’ as the NHS’s new gender centre relies on discredited trans guidance, according to the Telegraph.
• “Wes Streeting wants to experiment on you” – In her UnHerd column, Kathleen Stock takes aim at the Health Secretary’s potty plan to make fat people take appetite suppressants to “save the NHS”.
• “Trans teachers must be allowed to use same showers as female colleagues, schools told” – The CEO of the human rights charity Sex Matters has branded the National Governance Association guidance on trans teachers “grossly irresponsible”, reports the Telegraph.
• “Asking a female colleague if she is pregnant is sex discrimination” – Former medic receives £6,000 compensation after the Tribunal rules a male employee would not have been asked same question, says the Telegraph.
• “Tackling misogyny is vital, London mayor tells primary schools” – Teachers are being offered training, courtesy of Sadiq Khan, on running classroom sessions for young children about inequality and sexism, according to the Guardian.
• “How long before I’m hauled before the court of political correctness?” – One after another over recent days, those brought up in the era of Benny Hill, the Carry On films and Till Death Us Do Part have fallen foul of today’s fashionable dogma, writes Tom Utley in the Mail.
• “The thin loo line” – The police have just solved the crime of the century – though it’s not the discovery of Jack the Ripper’s identity, says Jack Watson in the New Conservative. Leicester Police have caught one of their own stealing loo paper.
• “Giorgia Meloni is doing far more for women than her woke enemies” – She would never call herself a feminist, but Giorgia Meloni’s principled stance on deepfake pornography and other issues is turning her into a feminist icon, says Raquel Rosario Sánchez in the Telegraph.
• “Insulin tests used to convict Letby cannot be relied upon, scientists say” – Specialists argue the results of Insulin tests, which were used to convict Lucy Letby, are notoriously unreliable, reports the Telegraph.
• “New paper shows staff Covid vaccination was associated with increased mortality in nursing home residents!” – A new paper shows that vaccinating staff in care homes was associated with higher resident deaths, says Steve Kirsch on his Substack.
• “Free Speech Union offers to bring Braverman back ” – The FSU has offered to cover the security costs so Suella Braverman’s talk at Cambridge can be rescheduled, according to Varsity.
• “Rachel Reeves and her black hole” – Comedian Andrew Lawrence has produced an amusing animation on X of Rachel Reeves struggling to come up with ideas to fill the last Government’s “black hole” in her budget.

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