News Round-Up

• “The farmers remain polite – but they are furious” – In the Telegraph, Madeline Grant captures the simmering rage of Britain’s farmers.
• “First Labour MPs raise concerns over impact of IHT raid on farmers” – Labour MPs have raised concerns over the effect of the Treasury’s tax raid on family farms for the first time amid a growing backlash, reports the Telegraph.
• “BBC Verify confuses acres for hectares in farm tax ‘fact-check’” – BBC Verify’s £3.2 million crack squad just had to correct their farm tax “fact-check” after confusing hectares with acres, notes Guido Fawkes.
• “Starmer claims BBC has backed him over inheritance tax raid on farmers” – Keir Starmer’s claim that the BBC backs his inheritance tax raid on farmers has sparked accusations of bias, reports the Telegraph.
• “Labour fantasists want us to believe it’s the farmers who are imagining things” – At this point we’re used to make-believe from a party whose chancellor thinks she ran a bank when she actually manned the tills, says Tim Stanley in the Telegraph.
• “How retail chiefs turned on Rachel Reeves” – Labour’s relationship with high street bosses has started to sour after a brutal Budget for business, write Hannah Boland and Lucy Burton in the Telegraph.
• “Fibbing Reeves has taken us for fools – and it’s backfiring spectacularly” – Despite her CV inexactitudes, the Chancellor might still cling on because of Labour’s paucity of alternative talent, writes Annabel Denham in the Telegraph.
• “Reeves claimed she was economist on official form – despite removing it from LinkedIn” – Rachel Reeves is under pressure to come clean about her employment history after appearing to have exaggerated her experience, reports the Telegraph.
• “Policing chief under fire for defending force’s handling of Allison Pearson row” – The policing chief at the centre of the Allison Pearson row is facing a backlash after defending his force’s decision to investigate the Telegraph journalist, says the Telegraph. 
• “Police force records 1,500 non-crime hate incidents in just two years” – Essex Police have recorded 1,500 non-crime hate incidents in just two years while failing to answer non-emergency calls “swiftly enough”, reports the Mail.
• “Police force at centre of Allison Pearson row did not investigate controversial imam” – Essex Police, the force at the centre of the Allison Pearson row, has not investigated a controversial imam who called for “Zionists” to be destroyed, says the Telegraph.
• “‘My week from hell shows that the Britain we love and trust is gone’” – This must once again be a fair and free country with a police force that solves actual crimes instead of imaginary ones, writes Allison Pearson in the Telegraph.
• “The police must not be censors – it’s time to scrap NCHIs for good” – The existence of NCHIs has created a dangerous precedent: that expressing a view, even in good faith, can lead to a police record if someone, somewhere, decides to take offence, says Suella Braverman in the Telegraph.
• “Top prosecutor: I had no idea what non-crime hate incidents were” – According to the Times, Britain’s top prosecutor “had no idea” what non-crime hate incidents were and “had to look them up”, as he cast doubt on their usefulness.
• “Welcome to thought-police Britain” – Kafka predicted our age of petty tyranny, writes Mary Harrington in UnHerd.
• “Winter fuel raid will push up to 100,000 pensioners into poverty, Government admits” – The Labour Government has admitted that an extra 100,00 pensioners will be plunged into poverty following Rachel Reeves’s decision to cut the Winter Fuel Payment for millions, reports GB News.
• “Scottish Labour pledges to bring back winter fuel payments” – Scottish Labour have promised to go against the national party and reintroduce the universal winter fuel payment for pensioners, says Sky News.
• “Guardian staff vote in favour of strike action over Observer sale” – The Guardian is braced for strike action after journalists voted overwhelmingly in favour of a walkout in protest over plans to sell the Observer to a loss-making startup, reports the Telegraph.
• “Migrant who defied several attempts to deport him raped 15 year-old girl” – An asylum seeker who defied numerous attempts to deport him has admitted raping a 15 year-old girl, says GB News.
• “Nigel Farage is right to talk about British Muslims” – Nigel Farage claims that British Muslims are just as concerned, if not more, by the threat of Islamist extremism, writes Rakib Ehsan in the Spectator.
• “Jews and gay people should hide identity in ‘Arab neighbourhoods’, says Berlin police chief” – Berlin’s police chief has warned that Jews and gays should avoid disclosing their identities in “Arab neighbourhoods”, where there are “sympathies for terrorist groups”, reports GB News.
• “Now even Justin Trudeau knows that immigration has broken Canada” – Migration has spiralled under Trudeau’s leadership, and the political backlash has been immense, writes Michael Taube in the Telegraph.
• “Ukraine uses U.S. missile in Russia, Kremlin warns of ‘nuclear response’” – Ukraine has carried out its first strike on Russian territory with U.S.-supplied long-range missiles just days after the Biden administration gave Kyiv the green light despite fears it could escalate the conflict beyond control, according to the Mail.
• “Moment freed Hamas hostage confronts UCLA student behind protests” – A former Hamas hostage has confronted the leader of a university protest camp, sharing how she was beaten and sexually assaulted by her captors, reports the Mail.
• “Australia’s misinformation Bill dead in the water” – Critical support from independent senators for the Australian Government’s controversial misinformation Bill has collapsed completely, writes Rebekah Barnett on her Substack.
• “Britain is eating itself to death” – If you are going to pick out one reason why Britons have shorter lives than others in Europe, it does seem that diet is the place to start, says Ross Clark in the Spectator.
• “Why e-scooters could be legalised (even though they’re a road traffic nightmare)” – In the Telegraph, Ben East argues that the Government must legislate e-scooters swiftly and strictly, or risk chaos on roads and pavements.
• “Starling Bank staff resign after new chief executive calls for more time in-office” – Staff have resigned at Starling Bank after its new chief executive demanded thousands of workers attend its offices more frequently, despite lacking enough space to host them, reports the Guardian.
• “Government ignored senior scientist over lockdown assessment” – A senior architect of the original British pandemic plans revealed how the Government ignored his request to see its lockdown risk assessment – until eventually admitting it hadn’t done one, according to Collateral Global.
• “The billions upon billions wasted on useless face masks” – How were unaccountable civil servants and posturing politicians able to pour billions of pounds of our cash down the PPE drain? asks Paul Stevens in TCW.
• “The MHRA and Covid vaccines surveillance” – On the TTE Substack, Dr. Tom Jefferson and Prof. Carl Heneghan expose glaring inconsistencies in MHRA’s vaccine safety monitoring for pregnant women.
• “Huw Edwards ‘tried to groom’ pupil and gave him tour of BBC newsroom” – According to a new documentary, shamed newsreader Huw Edwards tried to groom a teenage musician after seeing him perform in his school uniform and offered him a personal tour of the BBC, reports the Mail.
• “Everything is racist nowadays… and here’s an A-Z to prove it” – In the Telegraph, Michael Deacon has compiled a list of the many, many unlikely things that have been accused of promoting white supremacy.
• “Why Band Aid could be cancelled: stars distance themselves from single” – Bob Geldof has defended the revival of Band Aid 40 after backlash from critics who claim the “colonial” Christmas single perpetuates harmful stereotypes about Africa, reports the Mail.
• “The missing investigative report at Pretoria Girls” – On his School Capture blog, Richard Wilkinson exposes a flawed inquiry into Pretoria Girls, sparked by allegations of racism, where dubious claims and a secretive process raise serious questions about the Gauteng Education Department’s true agenda.
• “‘I want to watch people who know what they are talking about, not influencers’” – In the Telegraph, the doyen of football broadcasting Jeff Stelling discusses why he had to leave Sky and who should replace Gary Lineker on Match of the Day.
• “The 80s: Photographing Britain review — a drab show ruined by jargon” – In the Times, Laura Freeman skewers ‘The 80s: Photographing Britain’ as a dreary Tate Britain show bogged down by sociology jargon.
• “Republicans move to ban first trans congresswoman from using female bathrooms” – A House Republican has moved to ban the first transgender congresswoman from using female bathrooms in the U.S. Capitol, according to NPR.
• “Trump’s latest pick vows to ‘dismantle’ the ‘censorship TV network cartel’” – Donald Trump has appointed an author of the controversial “Project 2025” blueprint and critic of broadcaster “bias” as the head of the communications regulator, reports the BBC. 
• “‘Trump dance’ sweeps worlds of golf, soccer and MMA” – The President-elect’s signature dance moves have been taken up by sports stars celebrating on the field, reports Cameron Henderson in the Telegraph.
• “CBS ‘edits out’ NFL player’s Trump dance celebration” – CBS has come under fire after furious NFL fans accused the network of editing out a player’s Donald Trump-inspired celebration, according to the Mail.
• “‘I’m not your mate!… I think you’re a lefty, liberal, woke idiot!’” – On X, the arrogant leftist James O’Brien gets utterly destroyed by a farmer named Charlie on his LBC show.

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