News Round-Up

• “New Orleans attack: Terrorist with suspected links to Islamic State rams into New Year’s Day revellers” – A terrorist with suspected links to Islamic State (IS) drove a pick-up truck into crowds of people celebrating the new year on one of America’s most famous party streets, reports the Telegraph.
• “Who is Shamsud Din Jabbar? The man behind the New Orleans terror attack with possible ISIS links” – The driver who massacred pedestrians celebrating the New Year on a New Orleans street and died in a shootout with police has been identified, according to the Mail.
• “Former college football star and high schooler killed in terror attack” – A former college football star, high school senior, father-of -two and young mother are among 15 victims killed in the horrific New Orleans terror attack, says the Mail.
• “Trump blames illegal migrant for ‘evil’ terror attack in New Orleans” – President-elect Donald Trump has slammed the New Orleans terror attack as a “pure act of evil” and claimed an illegal migrant is to blame, reports the Mail.
• “Tesla Cybertruck bursts into flames outside of Trump Hotel in Vegas” – Elon Musk has claimed that “a bomb or very large fireworks” caused the explosion outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, with Wednesday’s Cybertruck blast now under investigation as a potential act of terrorism, according to the Mail.
• “Lying about migration” – The country was lied to about immigration, however it is dressed up now, according to the Telegraph in a leading article.
• “VAT on private schools ‘won’t raise enough to hit new teacher target’” – A Labour pledge to recruit 6,500 extra teachers could cost £5 billion a year, research has found, amid warnings the Government could fail to meet its target by the end of the current Parliament, reports the Times.
• “Private school fees rise by more than Labour predicted” – The VAT hike in private school fees will increase the bills charged to parents by more than predicted by Labour, says the Express.
• “Treasury attacked over ‘tax break’ claim in private school VAT ads” – MPs and education leaders have accused the Treasury of breaching impartiality rules for saying in adverts that VAT on private school fees ends a “tax break”, reports the Times.
• “‘I earn £12k and scrimp to send my child to private school – Labour’s tax raid is sickening’” – Parents who are far from wealthy face a stark choice as private school fees rise, says Pieter Snepvangers in the Telegraph.
• “Private school fee rises after VAT raid don’t matter to parents, suggests BBC Verify” – BBC Verify has suggested that private school fee increases after the Government’s VAT raid will not significantly reduce the number of parents educating their children privately, reports the Telegraph.
• “Welcome to 2025 where taxing education is seen as moral” – Labour’s bone-headed raid on private schools only entrenches elitism and vanquishes choice, writes Sam Brodbeck in the Telegraph.
• “The problem with ‘diversifying’ the curriculum ” – Curriculums should be about imparting knowledge, not advancing social justice, says Kristina Murkett in the Spectator.
• “Make lessons fun to keep children in school, ministers told” – Ministers are facing union pressure to make the curriculum more enjoyable for disadvantaged pupils after figures showed that school suspensions and expulsions have reached a record high, reports the Times.
• “Is academia killing capitalism?” – Austrian political economist Joseph Schumpeter may have been right to fear academia, but it was for the wrong reasons, argues Joseph Francis on his Substack.
• “Labour rejects Oldham’s call for Government inquiry into grooming gangs scandal” – The Government has formally rejected repeated requests for a Home Office-led inquiry into historic child abuse in Oldham after the town’s council voted on the matter earlier this year, reports GB News.
• “Elon Musk wades into explosive grooming gangs row after GB News exclusive” – Elon Musk has turned up the temperature on an explosive row over grooming gangs after GB News revealed that Labour’s Jess Phillips had shut down calls for a public inquiry into the scandal.
• “Why Rotherham happened” – Rotherham is a story of catastrophic elite failure, writes Louise Perry on her Substack.
• “Labour loses string of council by-elections as voters turn on Starmer” – Labour has lost five times as many council seats as it has won since the General Election, reports the Express.
• “Fewer than half of Labour voters optimistic about 2025, poll reveals” – A new poll has revealed that fewer than half of Labour voters are optimistic about the year ahead, says the Mail.
• “Kemi Badenoch can make 2025 the year of the Conservative comeback” – There is a war against the West, says Daniel Johnson in the Telegraph. Kemi Badenoch’s challenge is to prove that only she has the strategy, the statesmanship and the steeliness to win it.
• “Britain’s driveway divide is killing the case for electric cars” – It doesn’t make sense to buy an EV when they cost more to run as well as to buy, says James Titcomb in the Telegraph.
• “‘Labour are supposed to help working class people’: the city ravaged by the war on oil” – While the Government ploughs ahead with its push for renewable energy, the future hangs in the balance for Aberdeen’s offshore workers, writes Rosa Silverman in the Telegraph.
• “Esther Rantzen fought for ‘assisted dying’. Now she’s surely killed it off” – The good news about the miracle drug that will be able to treat Esther Rantzen’s lung cancer ought to help her see the folly of her campaigning for assisted dying, says Michael Deacon in the Telegraph. Had the law been in place, she’d probably be dead.
• “‘I treat children with life-limiting conditions from cousin marriages – but we can’t talk about it’” – Medics say that cousin marriages cause degenerative diseases in offspring, but concerns over cultural sensitivity mean that few are willing to tackle the issue, writes Jill Foster in the Telegraph.
• “GPs failed to pick up phone to 1.1 million people in December” – More than a million sick patients – accounting for one in 20 who tried – were unable to contact their GP last month, reports the Mail.
• “Hungary grants political asylum to Polish opposition MP” – Hungary has granted political asylum to a former Polish minister, stating that the current Tusk Government in Warsaw uses criminal law as a weapon against its political opponents, according to the European Conservative.
• “Here’s why Elon Musk changed his name on X to ‘Kekius Maximus’ — and what it means” – Elon Musk changed his name on X to Kekius Maximus on New Year’s Eve, reports the NY Post.
• “Watchdog sues State Department for records on censorship efforts, funding for ad ‘blacklist’ that included the Post” – The State Department is facing a lawsuit over its now-defunct Global Engagement Centre, accused of pressuring social media giants to curb free speech while using taxpayer funds to back groups that even attempted to blacklist the Post, says the NY Post.
• “How Milei’s chainsaw economics proved his Left-wing critics wrong” – Javier Milei’s brand of ‘shock therapy’ has Argentina finally living within its means, writes Szu Ping Chan in the Telegraph.
• “Tech firm’s fate shows Trump is right on China” – Imagination, a U.K. company, was meant to be evidence that it’s worth doing business with Beijing — it hasn’t turned out that way, says Juliet Samuel in the Times.
• “Sadiq Khan’s knighthood branded insult to knife crime victims’ families” – Sir Sadiq Khan’s knighthood has been described as “an insult” to the families of knife crime victims, with violent crime in London having risen sharply during his tenure as Mayor, reports the Telegraph. 
• “‘My children think I’ve sold out by accepting knighthood’” – Sadiq Khan says his children think he has “sold out” by accepting a knighthood, according to the Express. They’re not the only ones.
• “Mayor Sadiq Khan ‘politicises’ fireworks with hidden message in music” – Viewers have claimed that Sir Sadiq Khan used part of his 11-minute display in London to poke fun at Rishi Sunak’s rain-soaked General Election announcement in May, reports the Mail.
• “Neil Young pulls out of Glastonbury over BBC involvement” – Neil Young has pulled out of Glastonbury in protest at the BBC exerting “corporate control” over the festival, says the Express.
• “Alastair Campbell’s son faces questions over failed betting syndicate” – Alastair Campbell’s son has been threatened with bankruptcy and police action over a £5 million loss from his failed football betting syndicate, reveals the Times.
• “The Drenching Arms – part two” – In part two of Paul Sutton’s tale, Raven reflects on a changing world in The Drenching Arms.
• “Our current elite must be removed and their values completely replaced” – On X, Nick Dixon shows a clip of Andrew Norfolk, Chief Investigative Reporter for the Times, sharing harrowing details from his four year investigation into “the lost girls of Rotherham”.

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