News Round-Up

• “Rachel Reeves’s dramatic fall from grace is 100% deserved” – At least Rachel Reeves can now put ‘Britain’s worst chancellor’ on her CV, says Ben Wilkinson in the Telegraph.
• “Farmers aren’t miners” – In the Spectator, Charles Moore argues that comparing today’s farmers to the miners of the 1980s is flawed – farmers aren’t striking, and their plight is rooted in socialist disdain for land ownership and eco-zealotry.
• “Cops must stop wasting time chasing petty tweets while real crimes go unsolved” – Free speech campaigners are demanding an overhaul of laws they say are stifling free speech and tying up overstretched forces, says the Sun.
• “Children in Need chairman quits over payments to scandal-hit LGBT charity” – Children In Need’s chairwoman has quit over £460,000 of grants awarded to a controversial transgender youth group hit by a series of child sex abuse scandals, reports the Mail. 
• “Government to relax noise restrictions on heat pumps for Net Zero” – Ministers are set to relax noise rules, enabling heat pumps to be installed closer to property boundaries in a bid to advance Net Zero goals, says the Telegraph. 
• “Elon Musk to be summoned by MPs to testify about X’s role in summer riots” – Elon Musk will be summoned by MPs to testify about the role of his social media platform X in spreading disinformation during the riots which rocked England and Northern Ireland over the summer, according to the Independent.
• “Why Elon Musk hates Starmer’s Britain” – Once a fan of Britain, Elon Musk now sees Starmer’s U.K. as a cautionary tale, writes Adam Luck in the Telegraph.
• “SNP makes business ‘virtually impossible’ in Scotland, says Trump son” – Eric Trump has lashed out at the Scottish Government insisting it is only his family’s “love” for the country that has kept them investing, reports the Mail.
• “Useless Europe is sleepwalking into oblivion” – The world is being remade in Silicon Valley’s image while the EU watches from the sidelines, writes Sam Ashworth-Hayes in the Telegraph.
• “If it’s a crime to call a politician stupid, we’re all in trouble” – If you think the muzzling of free speech in Britain is bad, just wait until you hear what’s been going on in Germany, says Michael Deacon in the Telegraph.
• “The absurdity of human rights law” – On Substack, Dr. David McGrogan argues that the absurd ambition of human rights law – to reconcile all rights for all – isn’t a flaw but the driving force behind the expanding power of the modern state.
• “Binyamin Netanyahu faces arrest if he flies into Britain” – Binyamin Netanyahu faces arrest if he enters Britain after Keir Starmer backed an International Criminal Court ruling for the Israeli leader to be put on trial for crimes against ­humanity, reports the Times.
• “Do no harm: the progressive case against assisted dying” – In the Spectator, Labour MP Gill Furniss explains why she’ll vote against the assisted dying bill, arguing it could harm the vulnerable and shift focus away from better palliative care.
• “Australian councils join call for action over DNA contamination in Covid mRNA vaccines” – Two Australian local governments have joined a grassroots campaign calling for state and federal officials to take precautionary action over Covid vaccine safety concerns, writes Rebekah Barnett on her Substack.
• “Et tu, John?” – On the WATN? Substack, Profs. Norman Fenton and Martin Neil dissect the Stanford professor John Ioannidis’s latest paper, exposing its circular assumptions about vaccine efficacy.
• “Covid vaccine boosters rejected by majority of Americans” – A Pew poll reveals 60% of Americans plan to skip their next Covid booster, according to the Telegraph.
• “The ‘experts’ who enabled RFK Jr.’s rise” – Anti-vax sentiment was a fringe concern until officials began misinforming us about the pandemic, says Matt Ridley in the Spectator.
• “Half of Ukrainians want quick, negotiated end to war” – Gallup’s latest surveys of Ukraine show 52% would like to see the war end as soon as possible.
• “Less than 24 hours to provide submissions on new social media age ban” – Why is the Australian Government rushing through its social media age ban? wonders Rebekah Barnett on her Substack.
• “Matt Gaetz withdraws nomination as Trump’s Attorney General” – Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration to serve as Trump’s Attorney General amid accusations he had sex with a 17 year-old girl, reports the BBC.
• “The Maga think tank masterminds shaping Trump’s second term” – Ideas by the influential America First Policy Institute give an insight into how the President-elect will govern, says Tony Diver in the Telegraph.
• “Ellen DeGeneres ‘leaves U.S.’ for Cotswolds following Trump win” – Disillusioned by Donald Trump’s election victory, Ellen DeGeneres has reportedly left the U.S. for her Cotswolds home, reports GB News.
• “‘MAGA cockroaches’: the Left-wing ‘echo chamber’ rivalling Elon Musk’s X” – Bluesky’s rise following the re-election of Donald Trump reveals an increasingly polarised social media landscape, says Matthew Field in the Telegraph.
• “The Trump dance is sweeping U.S. sport – and the Premier League could be next” – The “Trump dance” craze has hit U.K. sports, with Barnsley’s Stephen Humphrys leading the charge, notes Thom Gibbs in the Telegraph.
• “Don’t expect Democrats to give up on wokeness anytime soon” – There are deep structural reasons why it will be very hard for the Left to correct its woke course, says Yascha Mounk on his Substack.
• “Book review: Defend The West; The Culture of Freedom” – Dr. Kevin Donnelly’s new book is a clarion call to anyone who values the culture of freedom, writes Stephen Lacey in the Catholic Weekly.
• “The Emperor’s new ad” – Jaguar’s makeover is a fairytale of naked wokery, says Laura Dodsworth on her Free Mind Substack.
• “How did Wolf Hall escape the attentions of the BBC’s diversity commissars?” – Wolf Hall is one of the few remaining jewels in the BBC’s tarnished crown. Presumably that’s why it was allowed to get off relatively lightly from the attentions of the Beeb’s resident diversity commissars, writes James Delingpole in the Spectator.
• “BBC Royal Correspondent failed to declare extra pay” – BBC Royal Correspondent Jonny Damond has apologised for failing to declare outside earnings from corporate events, reports the Telegraph.
• “‘Strong Eagle Man’ quits Canadian Government after accusations he faked indigenous heritage” – After months of being under fire over his indigenous ancestry and his personal business dealings, scandal-plagued Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault has finally quit, writes Michael Higgins in the National Post.
• “Cormac McCarthy had relationship with 16 year-old ‘muse’ when he was in his 40s” – Cormac McCarthy, one of America’s greatest novelists, reportedly had a relationship with 16 year-old Augusta Britt in the 1970s when he was 42 and married, according to USA Today.

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