News Round-Up

• “Starmer’s plan to stop small boats won’t work, says Labour MP” – Graham Stringer says he does not have confidence that Government’s measures will tackle Channel crossings, reports the Telegraph.
• “Starmer accused of ‘fudging the facts’ over his education” – Former Blair adviser and Sutton Trust founder Sir Peter Lampl criticises the Prime Minister for “pretending” he went to state school, says the Telegraph.
• “Lord Hermer KC’s legal guidance has led to ‘freeze on government’” – The Attorney-General has been criticised by Labour ministers for being too stringent and ‘finickity’, telling them to defer to government lawyers, according to the Times.
• “I have absolute confidence in Attorney-General, says Starmer” – Questions have been raised about whether Lord Hermer’s previous work could result in conflicts of interest when advising the Government, reports the Telegraph.
• “Labour asks if Keir Starmer is the problem as Reform closes in” – The Prime Minister is facing claims that he is out of touch with voters but his party believes he can take on the populists by emphasising his working-class roots, says the Times.
• “Keir Starmer’s summer of flying cost taxpayers almost £700,000” – Transparency data published by the Cabinet Office shows the total price tag for the PM’s first three trips was £697,198, putting the cost per hour at more than £11,000, according to the Mail.
• “Tenth of British farmland under threat in Labour’s push for Net Zero” – Plans to build over swathes of land to help to meet green targets are set to further infuriate farmers already outraged by the Government’s inheritance tax raid, reports the Mail.
• “My money-saving tips for Rachel Reeves” – In the Spectator, Rod Liddle suggests some novel ways Rachel Reeves might cut public expenditure.
• “Ed Miliband ‘objected to Heathrow expansion at Cabinet’” – The Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary is reported to have argued against expanding Europe’s busiest airport at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, according to the Mail.
• “Miliband will ramp up Net Zero drive to ‘compensate’ for third Heathrow runway, says Harman” – Miliband will “put his shoulder to wheel” despite his “uncomfortable” clash with Reeves, Labour veteran suggests, reports the Telegraph.
• “UK’s last two fracking sites ordered to close” – Cuadrilla, the owner of Britain’s last two fracking sites, will begin plugging the two exploration wells next month, says the Telegraph.
• “Norway is a cautionary tale: our worst Net Zero fears are being realised” – If Britain is to avoid leading the world on sitting in the dark, we need to immediately course correct, writes Andy Mayer in the Telegraph.
• “Blackout Britain threat rises on collapse of Norwegian government” – Miliband’s Net Zero future will leave the U.K. dangerously reliant on energy imports, Tories warn, according to the Telegraph.
• “Long-term sick will need to look for jobs in benefits overhaul” – Claimants could face cuts of £5,000 a year as the Government prepares for rows with backbenchers and campaigners over bringing down the country’s £65 billion sickness bill, reports the Times.
• “A ‘ruined’ Northern town, disillusioned voters… and Reform’s master plan to topple Ed Miliband” – If Nigel Farage’s party secures a victory in the Labour stronghold of Doncaster, it will put a rocket under Labour, says the Telegraph.
• “When mainstream parties all agree, they are surely conspiring against the public” – Political ‘firewalls’ are bad for democracy – excluding ‘far-Right’ parties only further alienates voters, writes Charles Moore in the Telegraph.
• “Kemi Badenoch dismisses Reform U.K. as a ‘protest party’” – Yesterday’s rally in Quendon, North West Essex (Kemi Badenoch’s constituency), saw speeches from all five Reform MPs with the party identifying it as a “target seat”, reports the Mail.
• “Priti Patel’s migration defence was a serious misstep” – Priti Patel’s attempt to defend the Tories’ record on immigration was a bad mistake, says James Heale in the Spectator.
• “The day Dominic Cummings offered to make Jeremy Corbyn PM” – In their inside story of Starmer’s rise, serialised in the Times, Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund reveal how Cummings courted Corbyn to save Brexit.
• “Lib Dem council executive’s ‘WFH’… in Kyrgyzstan!” – It’s a long way from the cobbled streets of Windsor to the Central Asian Republic of Kyrgyzstan, yet that is where a council executive is ‘working from home’, writes Guy Adams in the Mail.
• “The state can now defy your dying wishes – and spend your money how it sees fit” – We live in a country where the only way to avoid a scrap over our money is to dish it out, says Ben Wilkinson in the Telegraph.
• “Parliament: where uncomfortable truths are ushered into a Leadbeater suicide pod” – The “Satisfying the Whims of Esther Rantzen” Bill continues to doublespeak its way through committee, writes Madeline Grant in the Telegraph.
• “NHS offers speech therapy to lockdown children… on WhatsApp” – Parents welcome ‘life-changing’ programme but professionals warn technology cannot replace human experts, says the Telegraph.
• “Is Islam to blame for the grooming gangs?” – In Restoration, Ayan Hirsi Ali’s Substack, Connor Tomlinson asks if the grooming gangs inquiries, supported by the British public, will examine the racial and religious motives of the rapists?
• “Russian threat to arrest Sun journalist is ‘desperate rhetoric’” – Downing Street has condemned the Kremlin’s calls for the arrest of Jerome Starkey, the Sun’s defence editor, reports the Times.
• “‘Diversity hiring cost me job at FAA, a crash was inevitable,’ claims whistleblower after accident” – An aspiring air traffic controller has spoken out following the deadly collision between American Airlines flight 5342 and a helicopter in Washington, according to the Telegraph.
• “Could the Washington DC air disaster happen in Britain?” – Inevitably, air traffic control authorities around the world – including within the U.K. – will be carefully analysing Wednesday night’s disaster to see if a ‘diversity hire’ was to blame, reports the Mail.
• “JD Vance mocks Rory Stewart for ‘IQ of 110’” – U.S. vice-president accuses Rory Stewart of having an IQ of 110 but thinking he’s got one of 130 in a feisty exchange on X that Vance won easily, according to the Telegraph.
• “JD Vance’s triumph over Rory Stewart is a humiliation for centrist Dads everywhere” – This was a battle for the ages, between populism and elitism – and it was a joy to watch, writes Brendan O’Neill in the Telegraph.
• “Lord Mandelson met Chinese official who oversaw ‘transnational repression’” – The Labour grandee, who is set to serve as the British Ambassador to Washington, met a Chinese Communist Party official who oversaw alleged global attacks, reports the Times.
• “Analysis: Early flurry of executive orders a mixed bag for free speech” – Since taking office, President Trump has issued a flurry of executive orders implicating the First Amendment and freedom of expression. FIRE gives it’s verdict.
• “Trump’s New Deal: 100 days to reverse the legacy of FDR” – In the first of his monthly essays for the Times, Niall Ferguson compares the latest executive orders with a similar blizzard from FDR in 1933.
• “FBI Nominee Kash Patel vows to end censorship collusion, slams wiretaps, and pledges Section 230 work” – Kash Patel, whom Trump has nominated to run the FBI, has promised to end the FBI’s role in online censorship, according to Reclaim the Net.
• “Anti-racism is a Trojan horse for anti-Semitism” – Quite how a display about Jewish persecution can be viewed as political remains to be explained, writes Jake Wallis Simons in the Telegraph.
• “British hostage Emily Damari ‘was held in UN building and denied medical treatment’” – The newly released British hostage tells Starmer in a phone call how Hamas kept her confined in United Nations Relief and Works Agency facilities in Gaza, says the Telegraph.
• “One teacher’s suicide should not lead to a loss of standards in education” – We should not cover up for a poorly-performing school in case one or more school leaders cannot cope, says Henry Hill in the Telegraph.
• “The BBC’s blind spot on vaccine hesitancy” – The BBC thinks vaccine hesitancy is a ‘paradox’. In reality, it’s the result of nudging, coercion, censorship and broken trust, writes Laura Dodsworth on her Free Minds Substack.
• “Medicines watchdog must be reformed after Covid jab deaths” – In the Telegraph, Esther McVey warns “critical” information was missing from early warnings about AstraZeneca vaccine’s side effects.
• “Anti-migration bill fails German Bundestag after Merkel denounces CDU cooperation with AfD and the left break out in widespread protests” – Latest dispatch from Germany by the always reliable Eugyppius on his Substack.
• “Whistleblower ‘saw Archbishop of York bully colleagues into approving sex harassment bishop’” – Woman claims she was pressured into changing her vote on the appointment of Rt Rev Dr John Perumbalath by the Archbishop of York, reports the Telegraph.
• “Islamism cannot be allowed to trounce on what remains of our free speech” – Freedom of expression is more important than the electoral prospects of any single party, writes Tom Harris in the Telegraph.
• “Here’s how DeepSeek censorship actually works – and how to get around it” – A Wired investigation shows that the popular Chinese AI is censored on both the application and training level and tells readers how to get the uncensored version.
• “EU Updates ‘hate speech’ code under censorship law, Big Tech signs on” – Tech giants face increasing scrutiny as the EU demands deeper transparency on hate speech regulation under the Digital Services Act, according to Reclaim the Net.
• “EU strengthens code of conduct for Facebook, X and Google to fight online hate speech” – Facebook, X and YouTube are among the tech giants that have agreed to step up their efforts to tackle online hate speech in Europe through an updated code of conduct, says National Technology News.
• “Keir Starmer’s Government has declared all out war on free speech!” – Catch my interview on TalkRadio yesterday about the threat this Government poses to free speech.
• “Beware the slippery slope” – In the Critic, Helen Joyce cautions against passing the assisted dying bill, pointing out that legislators often make the mistake of thinking people will behave better than they do.
• “Cancer latest: my prostate is bang on trend” – I only asked for a test because of the good work of others. Now I’ve joined the largest group of patients in the country, writes Giles Coren in the Times, revealing he’s been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
• “Seventeen million fuck offs” – Yesterday, on the fifth anniversary of Brexit Day, Dominic Frisby posted a video of him performing his famous song commemorating the victory.

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