News Round-Up

• “Reeves at risk of breaching spending rules she set just two months ago” – Rachel Reeves risks breaking the spending rules she set just two months ago as her record tax raid drives up Britain’s borrowing costs and stokes inflation fears, reports the Telegraph.
• “Reeves-ageddon risks crashing the stock market” – Chancellor Rachel Reeves has turned into a one-woman wealth destruction machine, and investors are next in line, warns Matthew Lynn in the Telegraph.
• “The Times view on Labour’s education strategy: must do better” – The end of year prize for the minister promoting the most destructive policies goes to Bridget Phillipson, an education secretary who appears to disdain real education, says the Times in a leading article.
• “Starmer’s Chagos plan in peril as Mauritius PM proposes alternative deal” – Keir Starmer’s deal with the Mauritian Government for the Chagos Islands may be about to hit the buffers after the country’s Deputy PM suggested that the U.K. may need to pay more to lease the territory, reports the Express.
• “‘I’m willing to help Mandelson secure free trade deals with Trump’” – Nigel Farage says he could help Lord Mandelson in his attempts to secure free trade deals with Donald Trump’s administration, according to GB News.
• “Labour axes doctor apprenticeships for underprivileged students” – Labour has scrapped a doctor apprenticeship scheme that helps underprivileged students train without taking on debt, reports the Telegraph. 
• “Tory to Labour switchers feel they were ‘lied to’ by Starmer” – A focus group organised by More in Common has found that both Red Wall and Blue Wall voters are disappointed by Government’s record so far, says the Telegraph.
• “Southport rioter hit in groin by bricks jailed for two and a half years” – A Southport rioter who became an internet sensation after being struck by bricks in the head and groin during the summer unrest has been jailed for two years and six months, reports GB News.
• “One fifth of armed forces not fit to fight, admits MoD” – More than 10,000 serving sailors, soldiers and aviators cannot go to war because they have been declared medically unfit, says GB News.
• “Carbon credit schemes ‘uprooting Maasai tribes’” – Activists say that Maasai tribespeople are being uprooted in Tanzania to make way for lucrative carbon credit and conservation schemes, according to the Telegraph.
• “‘Smithfield market is British history – but we’re being kicked out to make way for cafes’” – Smithfield Market, which has been at the heart of London for over 800 years, is set to close due to rising costs, including the congestion charge and Ulez, reports Judith Woods in the Telegraph.
• “‘My children have left it too late to have babies – and I’m bitterly disappointed’” – Britain’s birth rate is at an all-time low, which means a growing number of older people are falling into the ‘grandparent gap’, writes Polly Dunbar in the Telegraph.
• “‘Superfit’ man, 30, left disabled by stroke as cases soar in under-50s” – A “superfit healthy eater” is facing a life of paralysis after suffering a shock stroke at just 30 years old, with cases of strokes among Brits under 50 continuing to soar, reports the Mail.
• “Children will be damaged by Covid school closures later in life, warns committee chairman” – Lib Dem MP Layla Moran says that remote learning during the pandemic has highlighted a “stark” gap in pupils’ progress in the classroom, according to the Telegraph.
• “The true story of the Samoa measles outbreak” – On Substack, Prof. Vinay Prasad takes a hard look at the complex factors behind the tragic Samoa measles outbreak.
• “Christmas market killer was ‘undercover jihadist’ claims AfD leader” – The Alternative for Germany party claims that the Magdeburg Christmas market killer is “a closet jihadist and undercover Islamist”, despite his avowed anti-Muslim views, according to the Mail.
• “Austria possesses something Britain doesn’t: the courage of its traditions” – Unlike our blind capitulation to minorities, Austria is a country with honesty, culture and, above all, pride in its heritage, says Petronella Wyatt in the Telegraph.
• “Christmas tree set on fire triggers protests in Syria” – Protests have broken out in Syria over the burning of a Christmas tree, prompting calls for the new Islamist authorities to take steps to protect minorities, reports the BBC.
• “Hearing the language of Christ on the road to Damascus” – On Substack, Ed West transports readers to the ancient hills of Maaloula, a Christian village in Syria.
• “Church’s gay marriage opponents could get their own archbishop” – The Church of England could be forced to create a second archbishop to cater to conservatives if efforts to prevent a split over the blessing of same-sex partnerships fails, reports the Times.
• “Woke carols are the latest sign of a church that’s lost faith in its convictions” – Church of England clergy have been urged to avoid ‘problematic’ hymns – no wonder the pews are empty, says Celia Walden in the Telegraph.
• “Terrorists and taverns” – In the New Conservative, Dr. Roger Watson takes aim at the absurdities of a convicted terrorist’s crusade against pub names, issuing a no-nonsense call to resist creeping cultural capitulation.
• “The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail” – On Substack, Richard Lyon draws inspiration from poet Henry Longfellow’s enduring hope to remind us that Britain’s values of freedom, tolerance and reason are not dead – but alive and worth fighting for.
• “Gay Georgia couple learn their fate for abusing their adopted sons” – Two Georgia men who were convicted in the sickening sex abuse of their two adopted sons, aged nine and 11, are headed to prison for the rest of their lives, reports the Mail. 
• “Tom Holland on how Christianity remade the world” – In the Free Press, Bari Weiss interviews Tom Holland, who explains how one “radical message” came to define the Western world.
• “Dickens at Christmas” – On his Substack, Andrew Doyle provides some thoughts on A Christmas Carol and why sentimentality is forgivable during the festive season.
• “Scientists pinpoint just how fast Santa would have to travel tonight” – With around two billion children waiting for presents last night, scientists say Santa would need to make a journey equivalent to flying to the sun in just one evening, reports the Mail.
• “I should have got an Oscar for this” – Il Donaldo Trumpo posts a clip of Trump’s cameo in Home Alone 2 on X.

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