News Round-Up

• “EU plans to overhaul policy forcing nations to take in asylum seekers” – The EU is planning to overhaul the 1951 Refugee Convention that forces nations to take in asylum seekers, reports the Mail.
• “Burning a Quran shouldn’t be a crime” – A man has been arrested on suspicion of a “racially aggravated public order offence”. That’s a lot of words to say “blasphemy”, says Brendan O’Neill in the Spectator.
• “Man admits burning the Koran in Manchester, ‘triggered’ by his daughter’s death in the Middle East” – A man has admitted a racially and religiously aggravated public order offence after setting fire to a Koran which was live-streamed on social media, according to Rayo. He’s been released on bail is due to be sentenced in April.
• “Angela Rayner to set rules on Islam and free speech” – Angela Rayner is planning to create a council on Islamophobia and is lining up a former Tory minister to lead it, reveals the Telegraph.
• “Donald Trump hints UK might escape US trade tariffs” – The US President has fuelled fears of a global trade war, vowing levies on the “atrocious” EU and forcing Starmer to choose between Washington and Brussels, reports the Mail.
• “Starmer refuses to side with Europe after Trump trade war threat” – The PM says choosing between Brussels or Washington is not an “either/or” question in the wake of a US threat to impose tariffs on EU, reports the Telegraph.
• “Reeves to review £700 million tech tax as trade war looms” – Rachel Reeves is gearing up to review a £700 million tax on American tech giants as Trump escalates a global trade war, says the Telegraph.
• “Jaguar Land Rover EU factory move backfires as tariffs loom” – Jaguar Land Rover’s decision to build its Defender model in the EU after Brexit is at risk of backfiring as Trump threatens Brussels with sweeping tariffs, reports the Telegraph.
• “The era of free trade is well and truly over. We must look out for Britain first” – Trump’s tariffs may backfire domestically, but in the meantime we must do everything in our power to protect ourselves, says Robert Tombs in the Telegraph.
• “Britain’s growth forecast slashed after tax rises shatter business confidence” – Britain’s growth outlook has been slashed for 2025 as the economy struggles with tax rises, high borrowing costs and a slump in business confidence, reports the Telegraph.
• “Starmer voice coach travelled between lockdown tiers in new rule-breaking row” – Keir Starmer’s personal voice coach appears to have travelled more than 50 miles between lockdown tiers to meet him while Stay at Home orders were in place, says the Sun.
• “Pity poor Leonie Mellinger, voice coach to Keir Starmer” – Some jobs are from Hell. Voice coach to Sir Keir Starmer is one of them, writes Quentin Letts in the Mail.
• “Starmer hands prisoners pay rise at cost of £4.4 million” – Labour has handed prisoners their first pay rise in eight years at a cost of £4.4 million, according to the Telegraph.
• “Angela Rayner signs off on council tax rises of up to 10%” – The Deputy PM has given six councils permission to raise bills beyond the ‘maximum’ 5% and without the need for a local referendum, reports the Express.
• “Reform UK leads Labour in YouGov poll for first time” – For the first time, Reform UK leads Labour in a YouGov poll, hitting 25% as Labour drops to 24% and the Tories to 21%, according to GB News.
• “Turn the clock back and scrap the Supreme Court” – In the Telegraph, Charles Moore argues that Britain should reverse Blair’s reforms by restoring the Lord Chancellor to power and abolishing the Supreme Court’s constitutional role.
• “Ed Miliband will crucify your savings along with the economy” – The ‘high priest of Net Zero’ is importing hardship and poverty – and doing nothing to ameliorate climate change, says Brian Monteith in the Telegraph.
• “CDC holds no evidence for claim that Covid vaccines do not alter DNA” – The CDC and Australia’s TGA claim Covid vaccines don’t alter DNA – but they have no evidence, and internal emails show they knew it was possible but stayed silent, writes Rebekah Barnett on her Substack.
• “Vaccine injury groups – Anna Morris KC’s closing statement” – The UK Medical Freedom Alliance highlights Anna Morris KC’s fierce closing statement at the Covid Inquiry, slamming the broken social contract and demanding justice, compensation and care for the vaccine-injured.
• “Dirty deeds done dirt cheap” – On the WATN? Substack, Profs Martin Neil, Norman Fenton and Mr Law expose the rejection of their paper on the “cheap trick” – a long-standing statistical sleight-of-hand misclassifying the vaccinated as unvaccinated – as proof that peer review remains as captured as ever.
• “Surrogacy is a huge business – and an exploitative one” – Surrogacy is a booming $18 billion baby trade where the rich buy, the poor sell and mothers are mere waste products in a world where every part of a woman is up for grabs, says Suzanne Moore in the Telegraph.
• “Take Trump’s plan to relocate Gazans seriously, not literally” – The US President is trying to force Middle Eastern leaders to take more responsibility for the Palestinians, writes David Christopher Kaufman in the Telegraph. And that’s a good thing.
• “Canada folds to Trump’s demands and strikes $1.3 billion border deal” – Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has announced a 30-day pause on swingeing tit-for-tat tariffs and said he would push ahead with a massive round of border security measures after crisis talks with President Trump, reports the Mail.
• “Trump’s tariffs are already bearing fruit” – The US President seems to be using the tariffs for coercive rather than revenue-raising purposes, notes Tim Stanley in the Telegraph.
• “All the shocking ways USAID spent your money” – The Mail breaks down some of the most shocking ways the Agency for International Development has spent US taxpayer money. 
• “Trump sets Government dark with web pages stripped from internet” – More than 8,000 web pages from across the Government have been taken down as President Trump demands the federal workforce comply with new orders destroying DEI, reports the Mail.
• “The railway blob has taken virtue-signalling to extremes” – Rather than fix abysmal service failures, Network Rail is putting on a spectacular display of navel-gazing nonsense, says Ben Marlow in the Telegraph.
• “This ruin reveals everything that’s wrong with the National Trust” – After it was gutted by a fire ten years ago, Clandon Park has been left half-destroyed. Why has the National Trust refused to rebuild it? asks Simon Heffer in the Telegraph.
• “Even the Green party is shunning Stonewall” – At long last, Stonewall’s toxic influence on free speech, equality law and government policy is coming to an end, says Julie Bindel in the Spectator.
• “Ibram Kendi moves from Boston University to Howard University” – The Why Evolution Is True blog tracks Ibram X Kendi’s move from his struggling Antiracist Center at Boston University to Howard University, where he will lead a new institute, despite questions over his leadership.
• “The BBC always knew that Russell Brand was a lout” – If you regret having sex with Russell Brand in a disabled lavatory, then perhaps don’t go into a disabled lavatory with Russell Brand and take all your clothes off, says Rod Liddle in the Spectator.
• “SNP drops idea of cat ban after mockery” – John Swinney has insisted that the Scottish Government “is not going to be banning cats or restricting cats”, according to the Herald.
• “Columnist Sarah Vine’s car ‘rammed by Porsche in road rage attack’” – Sarah Vine says her car was rammed by another driver in a road rage incident while driving through South West London with her daughter, reports the Standard.
• “This one is for you” – Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria dutifully clapped at the height of the pandemic. But were they clapping for ‘essential workers’ such as voice coaches?

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