News Round-Up

• “Mauritius rejects Chagos deal in blow to Starmer” – Keir Starmer’s deal to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is under threat after the island nation’s new Government said the agreement wasn’t good enough, reports LBC.
• “Labour rules out compensation for 3.8 million Waspi women” – Women hit by changes to the pension age have pledged to continue their campaign despite the Government saying they won’t be paid billions in compensation, according to LBC.
• “Families donate record £1.1 billion to charities to beat inheritance tax raid” – Families donated a record £1.1 billion to charities between 2021 and 2022 as experts predict more will use charitable donations to offset inheritance tax after Rachel Reeves’s Budget, says the Telegraph.
• “Labour’s socialist attack on private schools is born out of pure spite” – Unlike Ebenezer, Scrooge Starmer has no conscience and his spiteful VAT raid on private schools will force 35,000 students to leave their schools this Christmas, writes Allison Pearson in the Telegraph.
• “Starmer admits he needs to give business certainty on taxes” – In an interview with the Telegraph, Keir Starmer admitted that he needs to give businesses assurance that there will be no more tax rises.
• “Starmer’s migration plan ‘may not lead to large drop in numbers’” – According to the Mail, government advisers have warned that Keir Starmer’s plans to boost the skills of British workers are unlikely to generate significant cuts in net migration.
• “Like a dog returning to eat its own vomit, PM looks set on deal with EU” – The EU is a basket case ­economy. And thanks to Rachel Reeves’ budget and Starmer’s so-called “reset”, Britain is becoming ever more closely aligned, says Trevor Kavanagh in the Sun.
• “Humiliation for Labour as ‘Sir Starmer and the Granny Harmers’ song surges in charts” – ‘Freezing This Christmas’ by Sir Keir Starmer and the Granny Harmers is destined to be the Christmas No.1, reports the Telegraph.
• “Postponing local elections might just guarantee a Reform victory” – In the Telegraph, Tom Harris warns that Labour’s bid to postpone local elections could backfire spectacularly, handing Nigel Farage and Reform the perfect grievance to exploit.
• “Nigel Farage and Reform U.K. aren’t a ‘threat to democracy’ – but Labour is” – Harriet Harman is wrong. If any party is “increasing people’s distrust” in politics, it’s the one that’s currently in power, says Michael Deacon in the Telegraph.
• “Musk backs Reform U.K. after meeting Farage at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago” – Nigel Farage has revealed what was really said in his recent high-profile meeting with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk in the U.S., reports the Express – but the money’s not yet in the bank.
• “Former Archbishop of Canterbury quits amid claims he mishandled abuse cases” – The former Archbishop of Canterbury has quit as a priest after an investigation into the Church of England’s handling of a sexual abuse case, says Sky News.
• “The CofE can’t afford to lose another Archbishop” – There cannot be a bishop of the Church of England who has not made delicate judgments about safeguarding issues, writes Charles Moore in the Telegraph.
• “Church’s real scandal is its spiritual collapse” – Abuse cover-ups must be addressed, but above all, the CofE needs to safeguard religious observance, says Melanie Phillips in the Times.
• “All EARS” – On Substack, Dr. David McGrogan lays bare how “infodemic management” transforms science into a priesthood and the State into its enforcer.
• “America is about to expose how authoritarian Britain really is” – The cost of our free speech crackdown will be immense, yet our political class is pressing ahead regardless, writes Annabel Denham in the Telegraph.
• “The WHO Academy heralds the dawn of a bold vision for global health” – In the Telegraph, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus unveils the WHO Academy as a game-changing hub to equip global health workers with the skills needed to combat evolving health threats and deliver “health for all”.
• “Baby steps: back in my office” – On Substack, Dr. Byram W. Bridle recounts his long-awaited return to his office after 3.5 years of exile for daring to speak the truth about COVID-19 vaccines.
• “Israel is right to cut ties with Ireland” – Everything that has gone wrong in modern Ireland is summed up in the fact that it is winning praise from Hamas and criticism from Israel, says Brendan O’Neill in the Spectator.
• “Mass migration brought the German government to its knees – the rest of Europe will follow” – Leaving the ECHR is the only option for countries who wish to regain sovereignty over their borders, writes Guy Dampier in the Telegraph.
• “In latest effort to keep AfD out of government and save German democracy, ex-Stasi officer is appointed to a cabinet minister post in Thüringen” – Keeping the AfD out of power is worth any alliance, no matter how absurd, says Eugyppius on Substack.
• “Man filmed by CNN ‘being rescued’ from Assad jail was ‘regime torturer’” – The Syrian prisoner rescued by CNN has turned out to be a former intelligence officer in the Bashar al-Assad Government, reports Al Jazeera.
• “The last lie?” – On Substack, Thomas Buckley uncovers the Biden administration’s latest absurd drone lies.
• “Argentina is responding to shock therapy” – He comes across like a madman, but Javier Milei is fast becoming the man of the moment, says Quico Toro on the Persuasion Substack.
• “Baroness suspended over ‘Lord Poppadom’ comments denied natural justice, peers suggest” – A group of peers are protesting against a proposed suspension from the House of Lords for a baroness who stands accused of calling a British-Asian colleague “Lord Poppadom”, reports the Mail.
• “Time wasted on trans ideology has meant more pregnant women dying under the NHS” – One of the most galling effects of a preoccupation with inclusion or the gender wars or trans ideology over the last few years has been the actual neglect of women’s lives, writes Suzanne Moore in the Telegraph.
• “Africa crowns Barbra Banda best female player despite failing its own sex eligibility rules” – Barbra Banda has been crowned Women’s Player of the Year by the Confederation of African Football, 2.5 years after failing to meet its own sex eligibility rules, reports the Telegraph.
• “BBC Sports Personality of the Year fans ‘switch off’ within minutes” – Within minutes of the BBC’s 2024 Sports Personality of the Year broadcast, viewers took to social media to complain about the all-women presenters, says the Express.
• “Mufasa: The Lion King – Disney’s hero gets a craven woke makeover” – It’s hard to recall a recent prequel that works harder than Mufasa to undermine everything that made its predecessor great, remarks Robbie Collin in the Telegraph.
• “Cloudy skies at Bluesky” – More and more journalists have joined Bluesky – including Jesse Singal, who is routinely getting death threats in the ‘safe space’, says Ben Smith in Semafor.
• “‘You don’t know what you’re bloody doing’” – On X, Humza Yousaf’s SNP receives the hairdryer treatment from Lord Sugar in a parody video, which features the former First Minster as a contestant on The Apprentice.

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