News Round-Up

• “Toby Young spearheads efforts against Starmer’s free speech clampdown just 24 hours after entering Parliament” – The Daily Sceptic’s Lord Toby Young has joined a cross-party parliamentary group dedicated to protecting free speech, just 24 hours after taking his seat in the House of Lords, reports GB News.
• “Christian Iraqi who burnt Koran shot dead ‘in live stream’” – An anti-Islam activist who sparked outrage across Muslim countries for burning the Koran has been shot dead in Sweden, reports the Mail.
• “Who killed Salwan Momika, the Iraqi who burned a Quran?” – In the Spectator, Kunwar Khuldune Shahid details how Salwan Momika joins a tragic line of critics of Islam slain in Europe.
• “It’s time we all stood up for the right to ridicule Islam” – The killing of the ‘blasphemer’ Salwan Momika is an intolerable assault on liberty, says Brendan O’Neill in Spiked.
• “Is Islam to blame for the grooming gangs? Part one” – Will the grooming gangs inquiry examine the racial and religious motives of the rapists? wonders Connor Tomlinson on the Restoration Substack.
• “Holocaust exhibition ‘too political’ to be displayed in Parliament” – A Holocaust memorial exhibition has been banned from Parliament for being too political even though the authorities have allowed pro-Palestinian activists to campaign in the same space, reports the Times.
• “Migrants who delay rescues until they reach British waters to face five years in jail” – Migrants who prevent rescues in the Channel taking place until they reach U.K. waters face up to five years in jail under Labour’s new law to tackle the small boats crisis, says the Mail.
• “Shameless Conservatives are rewriting the history of their immigration disaster” – Priti Patel’s excuses for record immigration numbers in an interview with the Sun’s Harry Cole are an insult to the intelligence of voters, writes William Atkinson in the Telegraph.
• “Badenoch rebukes Priti Patel for defending soaring immigration under Tories” – Priti Patel has been rebuked by her party leader after she defended sky-high immigration during the Conservative Party’s last years in office, reports the Express.
• “Reeves denies rift with Miliband over Heathrow expansion” – Rachel Reeves has denied a rift with Ed Miliband over her decision to support the building of a third runway at Heathrow Airport, says the Mail. 
• “‘Reeves’ growth plan isn’t a patch on my mini-Budget’” – Liz Truss has branded Rachel Reeves’ plan for growth “thin gruel” and insisted that her mini-Budget contained much better plans to revive the economy, reports the Telegraph.
• “‘As a businessman, this is how I’d save Brexit’” – We have the freedom we need to make Brexit work, says Luke Johnson in the Telegraph. We just need to use it.
• “The hard truth about Britain’s soft power” – If you have to go on about ‘soft power’, the chances are you don’t have it – or that you are losing it, writes Douglas Murray in the Spectator.
• “Will those who put only anti-woke VC through a witch-hunt pay a price?” – In the Mail, Guy Adams reveals how Buckingham University’s anti-woke Vice Chancellor James Tooley was suspended in a shameless political hit job. But will the failed plotters pay?
• “Private school head accuses Reeves of ‘politically motivated tax on education’” – A private school headteacher has accused Rachel Reeves of imposing a “politically motivated education tax” on British students, after it emerged U.S. military personnel would be exempt, according to the Telegraph.
• “Richard Madeley grills Rachel Reeves on CV” – The Spectator’s Steerpike dishes out the latest drama on Rachel Reeves as Richard Madeley slams the Chancellor on Good Morning Britain, calling out her CV embellishments.
• “Keir Starmer isn’t the problem – the whole Westminster edifice is rotten” – What’s unfolding in Britain today seems less like a crisis of politics, but a crisis of legitimacy, says Sam Ashworth-Hayes in the Telegraph.
• “Labour can’t understand why Trump hates snivelling Mandy” – To any MAGA fanatic googling our forthcoming ambassador, he’ll sound like globalism incarnate, writes Tim Stanley in the Telegraph.
• “Reform U.K. surge ahead of the Tories in new polling” – A poll by Survation shows that Reform U.K. is ahead of the Tories and is now just three points behind Labour, according to the Mail.
• “Why don’t we know how many people are in Britain?” – The question of how many people live in Britain eludes some of the nation’s brightest statistical minds, writes Sam Bidwell in the Spectator.
• “British car production tumbles as drivers shun EVs” – Car production saw a massive drop last year as the sector faced difficulties in keeping up with Government targets and a lack of consumer appetite for electric vehicles, reports GB News.
• “Tesla profits slide as Musk battles to boost EV demand” – Tesla’s latest earnings report paints a grim picture for the EV giant, as net income in the fourth quarter of 2024 dropped over 70% year-over-year, according to Wonderful Engineering.
• “Why is the assisted dying bill being rushed through Parliament?” – In the Spectator, Andrew Tettenborn slams Kim Leadbeater’s rushed assisted dying bill, calling it a thinly veiled attempt to bypass opposition and stifle proper debate.
• “Terminally ill ‘do not have free choice’ on assisted dying” – A Marie Curie boss has warned that the terminally ill do not have “free choice” on assisted dying because palliative care is so poor, reports the Telegraph. 
• “NHS to cut thousands of managers and free up millions for front line” – The NHS will cut 2,000 central manager jobs under plans to divert funds to the front line, says the Telegraph.
• “The avian influenza trilogy – more scratch and sniff” – On the TTE Substack, Dr. Tom Jefferson and Prof. Carl Heneghan probe the UKHSA’s first reported human H5N1 case in England, questioning whether it’s genuine transmission or just another wild goose chase.
• “Official Czech record level data shows Moderna recipients had up to a 50% higher death rate than Pfizer recipients” – On Substack, Steve Kirsch reveals Czech data showing Moderna’s 50% higher mortality rate than Pfizer, but authorities remain silent.
• “U.S. withdrawal from the WHO shines spotlight on need for reform” – On Substack, Rebekah Barnett argues that Trump’s WHO withdrawal exposes deep flaws in the organisation, forcing a reckoning that could spark long-overdue reform.
• “Canada should follow Trump’s lead and withdraw from the WHO” – Captured by authoritarian regimes, the WHO bungled its response to Covid and is pushing unscientific health policies on its members, says David Clement in the National Post.
• “Fake papers are contaminating the world’s scientific literature, fuelling a corrupt industry and slowing legitimate lifesaving medical research” – Shady global firms have turned fake research into an industry, corrupting the literature doctors and engineers depend on, says Frederik Joelving in the Conversation.
• “Scots think their country was a victim of the British Empire, poll finds” – Scots are more likely to see Scotland as having been a subject, rather than a partner, in the British Empire, reveals YouGov in a new poll. They were a partner, obviously.
• “The many questions of the Washington plane crash” – It surely won’t be long before a public figure tries to blame the new Trump administration’s militaristic streak for the Washington plane disaster, says Freddy Gray in the Spectator.
• “What caused the American Airlines plane crash in Washington DC?” – A failure by pilots to perform the time-honoured method of “seeing and avoiding” other aircraft appears to lie behind the Washington crash, reports the Times.
• “Trump administration offers two million federal workers payouts to resign” – Trump’s administration is offering federal workers the chance to take a “deferred resignation” which would mean they agree now to resign but get paid through September, says NBC News.
• “Trump’s first 10 days have overwhelmed the Democrats – and the liberal media” – Trump’s second term has thus far been more productive and energetic than that of any president in history, writes Charles Lipson in the Telegraph.
• “Former Obama administration adviser flew to Britain to rape nine year-old girl” – A former senior adviser to Barack Obama’s administration has been jailed for 11-and-a-half years after flying to the U.K. to rape what he believed was a nine year-old girl, reports GB News.
• “Trump vs Marvel: how the new Captain America film became a patriotic battleground” – The star of Captain America: Brave New World has irked the Right with seemingly un-American remarks, writes Alexander Larman in the Telegraph – but that isn’t the film’s only problem…
• “How the gender fever finally broke” – Loving, naive parents believed medical science was above politics and beyond question, says Abigail Shrier in the Free Press. Now, with the stroke of a pen, a destructive ideology has been eliminated.
• “How IPSO surrendered to the trans lobby” – In the Spectator, Conrad Roeber exposes how IPSO’s commitment to accuracy was undermined by trans lobby groups.
• “When will the NHS admit DEI is dead?” – In UnHerd, Josephine Bartosch slams NHS leadership for throwing taxpayers’ money at unnecessary DEI roles.
• “Sadiq Khan blasted for spending £2 million on statues and ‘woke’ plaques” – Sadiq Khan has been slammed for spending £2 million of taxpayers’ money on “woke nonsense”, reports GB News.
• “Policing chief drops diversity guide telling officers not to say ‘black sheep’” – A policing chief has torn up a diversity guide that told officers not to use the term “black sheep”, saying the public want crime solved not “virtue signalling”, says the Telegraph.
• “Bishop of Liverpool quits over sex harassment claims” – The Bishop of Warrington has revealed that she made a sexual harassment allegation against the Bishop of Liverpool, according to the Liverpool Echo.
• “Don’t believe the ‘Believe Her’ movement” – In the Spectator, Mary Wakefield slams the hypocrisy of the German Greens, turning Stefan Gelbhaar’s downfall – fuelled by a fictional accusation – into a cautionary tale of the ‘Believe Her’ movement.
• “Heaven is a ‘trad dad’” – In the Spectator, Arabella Byrne embraces her role as a “tradwife” to a “trad dad”, where his breadwinning funds her writing, and despite the economic gap, she finds satisfaction in the old-school balance of their partnership.
• “Women still need to be married to be taken seriously – and that’s no bad thing” – As Kirstie Allsopp proved this week, you really need to be a Mrs. rather than a Ms. to achieve ultimate power status, says Angela Epstein in the Telegraph.
• “Brian and Maggie, review” – By mistake, Channel Four has made a sympathetic drama about Margaret Thatcher, writes Anita Singh in the Telegraph.
• “Harry and Meghan are ridiculed by comedian at Netflix event in LA” – Harry and Meghan were barely mentioned at Netflix’s recent LA event, underscoring their waning influence with the streaming giant, says the Mail.
• “DeepSeek fails truth test by repeating Beijing talking points” – Analysis shows that the Chinese chatbot that has disrupted the world of AI responds to queries with fake news and Beijing’s talking points, reports the Times.
• “It’s not just DeepSeek, all AI is censored” – All AI bots reflect the biases of their creators, says Sean Thomas in the Spectator.
• “Newly discovered ‘Christmas asteroid’ could collide with Earth” – A newly discovered asteroid wider than a football pitch could smash into Earth in less than a decade – and carries the highest risk of impact ever recorded by the European Space Agency, reports GB News.
• “The Drenching Arms: part four” – In Paul Sutton’s Raven in Oxford, an exiled man forced into Orwellian re-education in a decaying Britain finds rare solace in a filthy stranger’s D-Day watch.
• “‘I became wrongly censorious’” – In conversation with Tucker Carlson, Piers Morgan admits he was “completely wrong” for pushing the Covid vaccine.

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