News Round-Up

• “Police drop ‘terrifying’ hate crime investigation into Maya Forstater” – Police have dropped a “terrifying” investigation into a gender critical activist over a tweet she posted, reports GB News.
• “‘Incompetent’ Essex Police set up terror-style incident group for single Allison Pearson tweet” – Essex Police has set up a “gold group” usually reserved for dealing with major crimes to handle the investigation into a Telegraph journalist’s social media post, says the Telegraph.
• “Allison Pearson’s ‘racist’ tweet is at centre of Telegraph’s row with police” – The Guardian believes it has found the post at the centre of the Allison Pearson row.
• “Keir Starmer told to ‘police streets, not tweets’” – Keir Starmer has been told to “police the streets, not tweets” after he backed the controversial investigation of ‘non-crime hate incidents’, reports the Mail.
• “Non-crime hate reports can ruin your chance of getting a job, says former chief prosecutor” – A former director of public prosecutions says that non-crime hate reports can ruin people’s job prospects and police should avoid using names when recording them, according to the Telegraph.
• “Chagos handover will get ‘messy’ now Trump is in power, warns Ed Balls” – Ed Balls has warned that the U.K.’s decision to give away the Chagos Islands to Mauritius will “get messy” with Donald Trump in the White House, reports the Telegraph.
• “It’s official: Reeves did deliver biggest tax-raising Budget on record” – Rachel Reeves has been handed an unwanted historical distinction – as official figures showed her Budget was the biggest tax-raiser on record, says the Mail.
• “Reeves hits City with Net Zero rules despite pledge to cut red tape” – Rachel Reeves is to impose Net Zero mandates on the City despite pledging to rip up red tape and relax rules she believes are holding back the economy, reports the Telegraph.
• “Britain needs a radical new growth strategy, but Reeves won’t deliver it” – In her Mansion House speech, the Chancellor needed to wow the crowd, but she did not find the words and deeds to enthuse investors, says John Redwood in the Telegraph.
• “Why Britain needs its own Elon Musk to trim down Whitehall waste” – Britain’s bloated Civil Service could benefit from Musk’s cut-throat approach to public spending, writes Melissa Lawford in the Telegraph.
• “U.K. must treat Trump like a ‘best mate’ who needs correcting, says Sadiq Khan” – Sadiq Khan has vowed to give Trump “the benefit of the doubt”, despite previous criticisms stretching back to the President-elect’s first term in office, reports LBC.
• “Khan’s Trump derangement is punishing London” – The only thing that the Mayor of London knows less about than American politics is the grim state of our crumbling capital, says Rakib Ehsan in the Telegraph.
• “No.10 apologises for serving meat and alcohol at Diwali party” – Downing Street has issued a grovelling apology to British Hindus after serving meat and alcohol at a Diwali celebration, reports the Mail.
• “Electric car drivers face new £2,000 luxury tax” – Electric car drivers have been warned they will face a new £2,125 luxury vehicle tax from April next year, in a move that conflicts with the U.K.’s Net Zero ambitions, reports GB News.
• “Energy operator tells Miliband: Your plans cannot work” – In TCW, Paul Homewood roasts Miliband’s zero-carbon fantasy as unworkable and Starmer’s COP29 speech as pointless.
• “Boy dies in Great Ormond Street after judge rules his care stop” – A one year-old boy, who had a severe and irreversible neuromuscular disease, has died after a High Court judge ruled his treatment should end, despite his mother’s plea, reports the Mail.
• “‘I asked for an ambulance and the midwife wanted to try oils instead’” – A mother says she will suffer with PTSD for the rest of her life after the loss of her newborn daughter who died because of the ineptitude of “dishonest“ midwives, according to the Mail.
• “The new faces of cancer, as fit women in their 20s and 30s fall ill” – While cancer has long been considered a disease of old age, a surge in cases among Gen Z and millennials is gradually turning that trend on its head, reports the Mail. 
• “Trump, RFK and the autism dilemma” – Kennedy and the President-elect are asking why more kids are disabled by autism. They have the power to find real answers – and it’s not due to vaccines, writes Jill Escher in the Free Press.
• “RFK Jr. pledged to declare Covid-style health emergency ‘on day one’” – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he will declare a Covid-style public health emergency on his first day in office ahead of his appointment as Trump’s health secretary, reports the Telegraph.  
• “‘Repent! My call to Church leaders over their Covid sin’” – Divisive Covid rhetoric, policies and the Church’s complicity have wreaked havoc on societal cohesion and church communities, writes Dr. Elizabeth Evans in TCW.
• “Mural honouring Holocaust victims defaced in Milan” – A mural honouring two of Italy’s most prominent Holocaust survivors has been defaced in Milan, reports the Jewish Chronicle.
• “Scholz holds first call with Putin in two years in bid to ‘end Ukraine war’” – Ukraine accused Olaf Scholz of opening a “Pandora’s box” after he held a phone call with Putin in an effort to bring about an end to the war, says the Telegraph.
• “Independent senators to block misinformation Bill” – The Australian Government lacks the crossbench support needed to pass its controversial misinformation Bill, says Rebekah Barnett on Substack.
• “Banker who sued Barclays after boss called women ‘birds’ wins £50,000” – A female investment banker who sued Barclays for sex discrimination after her boss kept calling women “birds” has won £50,000, reports the Mail.
• “ECB under pressure over ‘unsafe’ transgender policy in cricket” – The England and Wales Cricket Board has been warned its policy on transgender cricketers in the recreational game is “unsafe, unfair and discriminatory”, says the Telegraph.
• “How universities teach students to shame” – Claustrophobic colleges breed discontent, and Alexander Rogers’s death is a tragic example, writes Kathleen Stock in UnHerd.
• “Doctors migrating to bluesky is like Harris declining to speak with Joe Rogan” – Doctors flocking to Bluesky is like Kamala Harris dodging Joe Rogan: a self-sabotaging aversion to open dialogue, says Prof. Vinay Prasad on his Substack.
• “Martian orders” – In Takimag, Theodore Dalrymple returns to the curiously disturbing rise in ugliness – from fashion to rap to architecture and art – in our modern and economically prosperous world.
• “Trump jokes he ‘can’t get Elon Musk out of Mar-a-Lago’” – Donald Trump teased Elon Musk that he can’t get him to leave Mar-a-Lago following reports the Tesla billionaire has spent days hanging out at the President-elect’s Florida resort, according to Newsweek.

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