News Round-Up

• “‘Hate’ and the Islamic onslaught on British values: Part one” – Two hammer blows were delivered to British values in Batley in 2021 and Wakefield in 2023, writes Ayan Hirsi Ali on her Substack in the first instalment of a three-part investigation into the rape gangs scandal. You can read part two here and part three here.
• “The grooming gangs are rapists from sub-communities – Kemi is right to say so” – Too many self-declared defenders of women’s rights remain silent about sex crimes when committed by ‘disadvantaged’ groups, writers Camilla Tominey in the Telegraph.
• “Labour’s grooming gang plan doesn’t go far enough” – Victims and survivors of street-based grooming which has taken place over decades, deserve to be treated with greater respect and dignity, writes Rakib Ehsan in the Spectator.
• “As grooming rapists leave jail, Oxford fears the abuse will resume” – A decade on from Operation Bullfinch and its 24 convictions, one victim’s mother believes the organised abuse of young girls in the city never truly stopped, reports the Times.
• “Labour’s tax plans trigger exodus of millionaires from U.K.” – Since the General Election, one dollar millionaire has left Britain every 45 minutes, according to the Times.
• “IMF cuts Britain’s growth rate after record tax raid” – The U.K.’s end-of-year stagnation caused by the Chancellor’s historic tax raid has led the IMF downgrade its estimate of the U.K.’s economic output in 2024 by 0.2%, according to the Telegraph.
• “Reeves: I won’t let them get me down” – Defiant Chancellor likens herself to Thatcher as critics call for her to quit over poor growth, reports the Telegraph.
• “Sadiq Khan has just demonstrated why people are turning to Reform” – The London Mayor’s arrogant dismissal of a plan to tackle knife crime was politics at its worst, says Tom Harris in the Telegraph.
• “Sadiq Khan under investigation over free Taylor Swift tickets” – Sir Sadiq Khan is under investigation by the City Hall standards watchdog after accepting free tickets to a Taylor Swift concert, according to the Telegraph.
• “Britain is institutionally ‘anti-racist’” – Magersterial piece by Ed West on his Substack about how Britain became institutionally ‘anti-racist’.
• “Kemi Badenoch: ‘We’re going be honest about mistakes we made’” – Voters are still in the mood to punish the Tories, according to the party’s new leader. It’s time the party owned its mistakes. The Times has more.
• “Tory voters are split on Reform merger, but Nigel Farage smells blood” – Polling shows the main parties cannot afford to ignore those snapping at their heels — especially not Reform U.K., says the Times.
• “What problem is the Education Secretary trying to solve?” – “As a headteacher at Michaela Community School in Wembley, North London, I’m baffled by Labour’s shake-up of education,” writes Katharine Birbalsingh in the Spectator.
• “Labour’s education bill catastrophic for children, Birbalsingh warns” – Britain’s “strictest head teacher” says Labour’s proposed education reforms are “Marxist” and that threaten progress for disadvantaged children, according to the Times.
• “Labour’s disregard for Katherine Birbalsingh shows they care nothing for children’s success” – Education evidence that aligns with Labour’s dogma is gospel; evidence that doesn’t is discarded, writes Lola Salem in the Telegraph. Pupils will all pay the price for this folly.
• “High Court fast-tracks legal challenge against Labour’s VAT raid on private schools” – Yesterday, the High Court ruled that two legal challenges of the Government’s decision to impose VAT on independent school fees should be fast-tracked, reports the Telegraph.
• “Private schools face Chinese buyouts, experts warn” – Following Labour’s VAT raid on school fees, Chinese investors are circling a host of independent schools across the U.K., seeing them as potential investment opportunities, says the Mail.
• “Phillipson faces pressure to revive free speech law before next academic year” – The High Court hearing of the Free Speech Union’s legal challenge against Bridget Phillipson has been adjourned until July 1st, putting pressure on the Education Secretary to implement the Free Speech Act before the next academic year, according to the Telegraph.
• “We’re run by a cabal of Starmer’s Lefty legal chums” – Most readers remember the horror inflicted on this country by the IRA, writes Boris Johnson in the Mail. But not the Prime Minister and his Lefty lawyer chums, writes Boris Johnson in the Mail.
• “The Attorney General must come clean about his past clients – or resign” – If Lord Hermer is to remain in office he must be transparent about his dealings with Gerry Adams and those suing the army, writes Suella Braverman in the Telegraph.
• “Starmer must decide, is he politician or lawyer?” – Only by taking back the power given to judges will the PM have any hope of effecting change such as benefit reforms, writes Fraser Nelson in the Times.
• “I am proud to be British, not part of the ‘global majority’” – The new term for non-white people – “the global majority” – is divisive, writes Dia Chakravarty in the Telegraph.
• “Criminals’ ethnicity ‘covered up’ amid racism fears” – Senior Tory MPs claim the growing failure to record the ethnicity of criminals amounts to institutional hiding of “the costs of migration”, says the Telegraph.
• “Polish PM Donald Tusk says he dreams of a ‘Breturn’ to EU” – In a meeting between Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Tusk, the Polish Prime Minister, the latter said a “dream” of his was for a “Breturn” instead of Brexit and said he “missed” the U.K. being in the EU, reports the Mail.
• “Dale Vince’s ex-wife awarded more than £40 million in divorce ruling” – Kate Vince, the ex-wife of green energy mogul Dale Vince, has been awarded more than £40 million by a High Court judge following the pair’s divorce, reports the Mail. Vince has hailed this as a tremendous victory.
• “‘Devastating’ £10 airport charge scrapped after Heathrow loses 90,000 passengers” – The Home Secretary has rowed back on plans to extend ETA charges to transit flyers, according to the Telegraph.
• “Apple drops AI news summary feature that wrongly claimed Rafael Nadal had come out as gay” – Apple has suspended an AI tool after it kept creating fake stories, reports the Telegraph.
• “Zuckerberg accuses Sandberg of masterminding Facebook diversity push” – Tech billionaire Mark Zuckerberg is trying to rebuild ties with Trump by distancing himself from his former mentor’s policies, says the Telegraph.
• “Supreme Court allows TikTok to be banned in the U.S.” – The Supreme Court has ruled that banning TikTok isn’t a breach of the First Amendment, according to the Mail.
• “TikTok may avoid US ban despite Supreme Court ruling” – Trump’s promise to save the Chinese social media app has raised the prospect that the platform may remain online, reports the Telegraph.
• “How I fell foul of YouTube’s fact-checkers” – In the Spectator, Matt Ridley recounts his run-in with YouTube’s fact-checkers.
• “Newsom’s fatal mistake condemned his state and future to absolute ruin” – California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has never seen a camera he didn’t hog or a bottle of hair gel he didn’t like, bears a rather suspicious physical resemblance to a superhero movie villain, writes Josh Hammer in the Mail.
• “Israel ministers vote on ceasefire deal — as it happened” – The Israeli Cabinet has voted in favour of the ceasefire deal, despite threats by far-Right ministers to bring down Netanyahu’s coalition, reports the Times.
• “Piers Morgan interview: ‘Trump will win the Nobel Peace Prize in two years’” – In an interview in the Telegraph, Piers Morgan predicts that the President-elect will win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2027 by bringing an end to the war in Ukraine.
• “Trump to rule on Starmer’s Chagos deal” – Sir Keir Starmer has put the future of the Chagos islands on hold in response to the President-elect’s concerns that his proposed deal could boost China’s influence, says the Telegraph.
• “Rise of the Right: Milei, Meloni, Trump, Musk, Farage – it’s our world now” – The President-elect’s victory coincides with the rise of an international group of Right-wing political leaders who share his hostility toward migrants and wokery, writes James Crisp in the Telegraph.
• “Is the tide turning on restitution? ” – When passions are aroused, all of us are liable to overstate our case, says David Abulafia in the Spectator. But the case for returning the Benin Bronzes has surely collapsed.
• “The Free-Speech war inside the ACLU” – In New York magazine, Jordan Heller documents the fall of a once-great American institution, which has now been captured by woke activists.
• “Podcast staff needed therapy after working with Meghan, reports claim” – Vanity Fair magazine alleges workers on Meghan Markle’s podcast show sought counselling after being put under “very painful” strain, according to the Telegraph.
• “Fez-wearing Tesco worker sues over ‘being compared to Tommy Cooper’” – Tesco worker Kester Charles Bey, who wears a Fez and describes himself as Moorish, is suing Tesco for race discrimination after he was compared to Tommy Cooper, reports the Mail.
• “The ‘self-cancellation’ trend taking over the literary world” – Four authors have de-platformed themselves from the Oxford Literary Festival because Helen Joyce is due to be interviewed on the main stage by Julie Bindel, writes Jenny Lindsay in the Spectator.
• “Guardian staff ‘deeply disturbed’ over AI use during strike” – the Guardian’s journalists aren’t happy about the fact that the paper replaced them with AIs when they went on strike over the sale of the Observer, reports the Times.
• “After a message from author Neil Gaiman’s babysitter, horror unfolded” – Rachel Johnson in the Mail recalls being contacted by Neil Gaiman’s 22 year-old nanny via Instagram and being told some hair-raising stories.
• “Neil Gaiman and the perils of BDSM” – In UnHerd, Kathleen Stock wonders if there’s any such thing as acceptable BDSM in the wake of the Neil Gaiman scandal.
• “We have touchdown!” – On X, Il Donaldo Trumpo shares an amusing AI video of Trump being caught by Elon Musk’s giant rocket tongs.

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