News Round-Up

• “Keir Starmer warned he could cost Britain a new US trade deal” – Keir Starmer has been warned that his obsession with unpicking Brexit could cost the UK a “golden opportunity” for a lucrative new trade deal with the US, reports the Mail.
• “Lammy says Palestinians ‘must be able to live in homelands in Gaza’” – Keir Starmer has insisted that Palestinians “must be allowed home” after Donald Trump unveiled an extraordinary plan for the US to take control of Gaza, according to the Mail.
• “The audacity of Trump’s Gaza plan” – The Trump-Netanyahu press conference was a disruption of long-entrenched, failed orthodoxies and the unveiling of a vision that dares to reimagine the Middle East in starkly different terms, writes Jonathan Sacerdoti in the Spectator.
• “Trump’s Gaza plan has exposed the craven West’s moral cowardice” – The US President’s vision is the best chance of ensuring that Hamas’s genocidal hatred is defeated for all time, says Allister Heath in the Telegraph.
• “Starmer and Danish PM put on show of unity over Greenland ‘security’” – Sir Keir Starmer and his Danish counterpart have put on a show of unity over Greenland’s “security” amid Donald Trump’s bid to take control of the Arctic territory, reports the Mail.
• “Starmer is the worst negotiator in British history” – The Prime Minister wants to play off the US against the EU – but he is not skilful enough to do it, says Con Coughlin in the Telegraph.
• “Lord Hermer called Trump ‘the most brazen liar in political history’” – Speaking on a podcast, the Attorney General described Trump’s untruths as being “on a different scale” and “of a different nature” from other politicians, according to the Telegraph.
• “Southport killer should have been seen as terror threat, Home Office admits” – A Government review has found that the Prevent counter-terrorism scheme “prematurely” closed its case on Axel Rudakubana three years before he went on his murderous rampage, reports BBC News.
• “Time limit for child sex abuse claims to be removed” – All victims of grooming gangs will be able to sue their abusers for damages under a law change that will remove a time limit on claims, says BBC News.
• “Why did police name man who burned the Koran and put his life in danger?” – In TCW, Dr Frederick Attenborough asks why police exposed the identity of a man who burned the Koran, risking his life.
• “Angela Rayner’s Islamophobia council is a threat to free speech” – Is the Deputy PM giving the green light to blasphemy laws? asks Rakib Ehsan in UnHerd.
• “Asylum seekers trained to report hate crimes by Labour councils” – Taxpayers’ money has been spent teaching asylum seekers how to report hate crimes in areas run by Labour councils, reports the Mail.
• “The persecution of Jamie Michael” – Jamie Michael’s acquittal, with the help of the Free Speech Union, is a rare victory for free speech in the wake of Southport, says Luke Gittos in Spiked.
• “Tories would kick out low-paid migrants” – Jobless and low-paid migrants would be barred from settling indefinitely in the UK under the first major Conservative policy announcement by Kemi Badenoch, reports the Telegraph.
• “Give Kemi time – her plan is starting to work” – Mrs Badenoch, like Mrs Thatcher before her, is the kind of leader who emerges only once in a generation, says Daniel Johnson in the Telegraph.
• “Police won’t investigate Starmer’s lockdown meeting with voice coach” – The Met Police won’t probe Keir Starmer’s lockdown meeting with his voice coach, as they’re barred from investigating breaches over three years old, according to GB News.
• “Starmer’s lockdown meet with voice coach ‘had to be in person’” – Downing Street has insisted that Keir Starmer’s meeting with his voice coach at the height of Covid restrictions had to be in person, reports the Mail.
• “Keir Starmer is a man without shame” – In the Mail, Dan Hodges explains why it matters that Keir Starmer had a meeting with his voice coach, as London was locked down under stringent Covid restrictions.
• “Labour panic on Reform threat as MPs demand tougher immigration action” – Labour infighting has erupted over immigration, with panicking MPs demanding action to counter the Reform surge, reports the Mail.
• “Labour MPs form anti-Reform pressure group” – In the Spectator, Steerpike reacts to Labour MPs forming a pressure group to push Starmer harder on immigration and crime as they scramble to counter Reform.
• “Albanian burglar who cannot be deported taunts Home Office by driving Rolls-Royce in London” – An Albanian convicted burglar who cannot be deported has taunted the Home Office by filming himself driving around London in a Rolls-Royce, according to GB News.
• “Council that lost £30 million through ‘accounting errors’ hits residents with a 9% tax rise” – With residents across England bracing themselves for a dramatic rise in their council tax bills, the Telegraph’s Dia Chakravarty looks at some of those local authorities’ track record at spending taxpayers’ money.
• “Britain still acts as if it has money to burn” – No politician has yet been honest about what it would take to reverse our economic decline, says Jon Moynihan in the Times.
• “‘I left the UK because I didn’t want my son to grow up in daycare’” – The state of our country’s childcare is a national disaster, writes Annabel Fenwick Elliott in the Telegraph.
• “Keir Starmer sets up North Sea oil clash with Ed Miliband” – Sir Keir Starmer is expected to back one of Britain’s biggest offshore oil field developments despite fierce opposition from Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, reports the FT.
• “Keir Starmer vows to power past nimbys and build nuclear stations” – Keir Starmer says that he will “push past the nimbyism” to ensure that a new generation of mini nuclear power stations are built, says the Times.
• “Miliband scraps ‘incorrect’ advert after online ridicule” – Ed Miliband’s Energy Department has scrapped a £70,000 job post for an office attendance monitor amid mockery online, reports the Telegraph.
• “An urgent review of the Lucy Letby case is needed” – Even a retrial of Lucy Letby, which some campaigners want, would be unjust, says the Telegraph in a leading article.
• “There’s no time to delay. The Letby case needs an urgent review” – In the Telegraph, David Davis demands an urgent review of the Letby case, warning that justice must not repeat the CCRC’s sluggishness of the past.
• “This is how Lucy Letby can walk free” – In the Telegraph, legal experts rate the chances of a successful appeal for Lucy Letby – and how long the process could take.
• “Mentally ill people may be able to access assisted dying if they have six months to live” – Terminally ill people with mental disorders with a prognosis of six months or less, would have the ability to request medical assistance to end their lives under Kim Leadbeater’s proposed amendment to the assisted dying Bill, reports the Telegraph.
• “Pandemic censorship spurs Trump research nominees and others to create Journal of the Academy of Public Health” – On Substack, Paul D Thacker discusses the launch of the Journal of the Academy of Public Health to combat censorship, speed up publishing and end establishment gatekeeping.
• “Germany’s conservatives can’t solve the AfD conundrum” – The CDU leader Friedrich Merz is laying the groundwork for future defeats, warns Ralph Schoellhammer in UnHerd.
• “DOGE cancels $8.2 million government payments to Politico” – Politico has become the latest casualty of Elon Musk’s clampdown on public spending after it emerged taxpayers were footing the bill for pricey subscriptions to the outlet, reports the Mail.
• “NHS accused of ignoring Streeting as it advertises diversity role” – An NHS trust has been accused of defying Wes Streeting’s orders to stop “misguided” equality, diversity and inclusion practices by advertising a £50,000 dedicated job, says the Telegraph.
• “Why should the NHS employ any diversity officers?” – Wes Streeting should take note of what Donald Trump did upon taking office and get rid of all the NHS’s diversitycrats, writes Ross Clark in the Spectator.
• “Donald Trump bans transgender athletes from women’s sport at Olympics” – President Trump has signed an executive order banning trans women athletes from competing in female sports, according to Sky News.
• “Only one in four people ‘view Church of England favourably’ after abuse scandal” – Only a quarter of adults in England, Scotland and Wales polled by YouGov said they had a positive opinion of the CofE, down from 32% in November.
• “The New Zealander who aims to undo 185 years of Maori rights” – In the Times, Bernard Lagan profiles New Zealand’s next Deputy PM who is pushing to reinterpret the Waitangi Treaty and end race-based privileges for Maori people.
• “Barack and Michelle Obama’s biggest supporters abandon them” – Some of former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama’s largest donors for their presidential library have abandoned them amid rumours the couple’s marriage is on the rocks, reports the Mail.
• “Meghan Markle’s tone-deaf wildfire video is hard to stomach” – It is easier for the sake of our collective mental health to think as little about Meghan Markle as possible, says Alexander Larman in the Spectator.
• “‘If this definition is embodied in law, countless journalists and academics will end up in Wormwood Scrubs’” – On GB News, Toby explains to Matt Goodwin how Labour’s ‘Islamophobia’ council could bypass Parliament and criminalise Islamophobia.

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