News Round-Up
- “Austria attacker swore allegiance to Islamic State before stabbing boy” – A Syrian asylum seeker who viciously stabbed a 14 year-old boy to death and knifed several others swore allegiance to Islamic State, according to the Mail.
- “Criminal had deportation blocked after claiming he was ‘father figure’” – A violent Polish criminal with a history of abuse has had his deportation blocked after claiming to be a “father figure” to his teenage nephew, reports the Mail.
- “Fresh Chagos deal chaos as ex-Mauritius PM ‘arrested’” – Keir Starmer is facing fresh chaos on the Chagos Islands deal after the former Mauritius PM who drew up the deal was arrested for money laundering, says the Mail.
- “JD Vance blasts Britain’s thought police in explosive Munich speech” – In TCW, Dr Frederick Attenborough reacts to JD Vance’s Munich speech, where the US Vice President accused Britain of leading a European assault on free speech.
- “JD Vance is wrong, says minister in first government attack on free speech comments” – Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds says JD Vance was wrong to claim that the “threat from within” to free speech poses a greater danger to Europe than Russia, according to the Telegraph.
- “Trump tells Europe they will not be part of Ukraine peace talks” – Donald Trump has praised his deputy JD Vance’s “brilliant” attack on Western allies as his envoy said European leaders would not be part of any Ukraine peace talks, reports the Mail.
- “‘I’m ready and willing to put British troops in Ukraine’” – Keir Starmer has announced he is “ready and willing” to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine to enforce any peace deal, says the Telegraph.
- “Badenoch says free speech is at risk after JD Vance attack on ‘values’” – Kemi Badenoch insists free speech is “under threat” after the extraordinary barbs launched by US Vice President JD Vance, according to the Mail.
- “Man denies religious aggravation after Koran is burned” – A 50 year-old man has denied religiously motivated harassment after a Koran was burned outside the Turkish consulate in London, reports the Telegraph.
- “When it’s illegal to cause distress to believers, call it for what it is: a secular version of blasphemy” – Language can ‘open eyes’, Salman Rushdie wrote, yet still ideas of profanity are being used to silence dissenting voices, says Kenan Malik in the Guardian.
- “Charging man over Koran burning risks creating ‘blasphemy law by the back door’” – Robert Jenrick says that “we must prize freedom of speech”, even if it is offensive to many Muslims, according to the Telegraph.
- “‘Labour forced my daughter out of private school – now taxpayers foot the £8,000 bill for taxis’” – A council is being forced to spend more than £8,000 a year for a schoolgirl’s taxis after she was forced out of her private school by Labour’s VAT raid, reports the Telegraph.
- “Labour’s private school tax humiliation is already complete” – Our leaders believe the myth that private school parents can effortlessly afford fees, says Michael Mosbacher in the Telegraph.
- “Yvette Cooper sets up Elon Musk-style DOGE unit” – Yvette Cooper has set up her own Elon Musk-style unit to root out Home Office waste, reports the Mail.
- “‘Britain desperately needs a DOGE… and I know exactly where to start the cutting’” – Many in the UK would welcome the ability to check under the rug of government departmental spending, writes Olympian and entrepreneur Alex Story for GB News.
- “Wes Streeting’s allies have ‘infiltrated’ No.10 ahead of leadership bid” – Allies of Wes Streeting have “infiltrated” Government and are ready to back him in a future leadership contest, reports the Mail.
- “Starmer warned his Premiership is heading for the ‘dustbin of history’” – Keir Starmer has been told he needs to increase UK defence spending dramatically to counter the threat of Putin – or face the prospect of his Premiership being consigned to the “dustbin of history”, says the Mail.
- “Poll reveals a third of 16 and 17-year-olds would back Reform party” – Labour’s plans to lower the voting age to 16 would be a boost for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Party, according to an exclusive poll for the Mail on Sunday.
- “How white identity politics has been incubated by Westminster’s generation of fools” – Reckless policies on immigration and favouring minorities have pushed us to the edge of a renaissance for ethno-nationalism, says Patrick O’Flynn on his Substack. Things could get very ugly very soon.
- “London’s most dangerous Tube stops and trainlines revealed” – The Mail names London’s most dangerous Tube and train stations.
- “How Leeds district became one of the worst places to bring up a child” – Residents of one of Britain’s most deprived areas say the area has descended into a whirlwind of drug use, violence and prostitution, according to the Mail.
- “Hospital ‘put into lockdown’ after boy, 16, was stabbed” – A hospital in Birmingham was put on “lockdown” after a group “ambushed” an A&E department following a stabbing on a city street, reports the Mail.
- “Vigilante fathers vow to patrol Birmingham and arrest ‘citizens’” – A group of vigilante fathers are getting together to “police” the area where teenager Leo Ross was murdered last month, says the Mail.
- “The next British boom could be in the offing – if Starmer abandons Net Zero” – The PM faces a choice that could determine Britain’s role in the ‘fifth industrial revolution’, writes Liam Halligan in the Telegraph.
- “Lucy Letby’s former boss: If she was lying she deserved an Oscar” – In the Sunday Times, a retired head of nursing at the Countess of Chester hospital speaks for the first time about why she believes Lucy Letby is innocent.
- “WFH parents make children think school ‘optional’, says Ofsted chief” – According to the head of Ofsted, parents who routinely work from home are driving persistent absence in schools, reports the Mail.
- “We needed a Covid Inquiry – but this isn’t it” – On the TTE Substack, Prof Carl Heneghan and Dr Tom Jefferson argue that the Covid Inquiry is failing to ask critical questions about vaccine safety and government response.
- “Nurse who challenged trans NHS doctor threatened with sack after ‘misgendering’” – A nurse who challenged a trans doctor for using women’s changing rooms is being threatened with the sack by the NHS after “misgendering” her colleague, reveals the Telegraph.
- “Waterloo Road ‘offensive’ trans storyline sparks fan fury at woke BBC” – The BBC has been accused of using an elderly character’s dementia to boost its woke trans agenda in its school drama Waterloo Road, reports the Mail.
- “Trump moves to have transgender discrimination cases dropped” – Donald Trump is dropping a series of transgender discrimination cases brought by the US Government against private companies, reports the Telegraph.
- “The university could be the last bastion of woke” – Matt Goodwin’s Bad Education paints a damning picture of life inside the academy, says Joanna Williams in Spiked.
- “Gone in 90 seconds” – The time is ripe for students and staff to re-expand the range of opinions it’s possible to express, writes Helen Joyce in the Critic.
- “Warwick Davis, Ricky Gervais and the big fight over Life’s Too Short” – The hilarious sitcom Life’s Too Short starred Warwick Davis as ‘the Martin Luther King of little people’, writes Tom Ford in the Telegraph. But not everyone saw the funny side.
- “Anti-British film wins Bafta for Best British debut film” – Kneecap, an Irish anti-British film, has won the Bafta for the best outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer, reports the Telegraph.
- “No borders, no merit, no justice: the bizarre philosophy of our intellectual elite” – In Minding The Campus, John Staddon exposes the bizarre worldview of our intellectual elite, where borders are obsolete, merit is unfair and criminals aren’t to blame.
- “Musk goes ‘offline’ after Maga influencer claims she gave birth to his 13th child” – Elon Musk has vowed to take a break from his social media site after a Maga influencer claimed to have given birth to his 13th child, reports the Telegraph.
- “Details of co-parenting deal between MAGA influencer and Elon Musk” – In the Mail, MAGA influencer Ashley St Clair has shared more details about her secret relationship with Elon Musk.
- “Sam Kerr the victim of white privilege? Pull the other one” – Sam Kerr’s behaviour is a case of celebrity entitlement disguised as the politics of grievance, says Oliver Brown in the Telegraph.
- “Trump would back legal action if Prince Harry lied about drug use” – Trump remains committed to Prince Harry facing a criminal prosecution if he is found to have lied about his drugs use in his visa application, according to the Mail.
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This is almost too delicious. Ash Sarkar has written a book and is now trying to distance herself from student identity politics. 24:42 for the icing on the cake.
https://youtu.be/ZS3UlB7aXmE
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‘Starmer warned his Premiership is heading for the ‘dustbin of history’ ‘…..find ways of producing more money well beyond 2.5 per cent towards 3 or 3.5 per cent for starters on our defence budget…..’ or ‘…..this Strategic Defence Review (SDR) is going to be hollow, it’s going to be a failure. And, frankly, it’ll consign Keir Starmer to the bin of history.’ History offers some perspective 1960 SDR What did it say? ‘…..regardless of the Treasury’s growth forecasts, the UK’s relative economic position vis-à-vis the US and western Europe would decline. “Anglo-American partnership is not a law of nature” and that the UK would sometimes have to subordinate its interests to US sensitivities. in order to maintain its external commitments, the Macmillan government could not reduce its defence spending global war would not happen, but that if a crisis arose in eastern Europe, the Russians would successfully suppress it the military struggle between the Soviet bloc and the West would not slacken, that Russian foreign policy would become more aggressive (not a bad call, given the Cuban missile crisis in 1962) and that the main US-Soviet struggle for influence would happen in areas such as south-east Asia’ https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2020/02/how-british-foreign-policy-lost-art-grand-strategy How does… Read more »
Why are we where we are today? ‘When I was coordinating the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review for the Cameron-Clegg government, I was told there was to be no drop in the UK’s ambitions, despite cuts to defence spending.’ That will no doubt resonate with those now engaged with the current SDR. What should the SDR concentrate on? ‘Rather than addressing legacy gaps, the SDR seeks to reshape the Armed Forces for the digital age.’ That sounds very much like ‘no drop in the UK’s ambitions, despite cuts to defence spending.’ There can be no prioritising of the value of strategic nuclear forces, naval forces and conventional land forces. They are all necessary parts of defence, deterrence, and strategic freedom of action. Why don’t we and other European powers specialise in different areas of defence spending? Because we left the EU after it demonstrated that it did not, does not, have our best interests at heart. That means that we must forge our own powerful defence. Britain’s defence spending in 1960? 7.9% No ‘reshaping of the Armed Forces for the digital age’ on 2.3% of GDP will provide for a powerful (hopefully forward!) defence. But defence forces represent only one element… Read more »
Our freedoms are being massively encroached upon by our own government, and that has nothing to do with our defence spending.
Just what does a Strategic Defence Review have to do with economics? Clearly, defence spending is a technological driver and the MIC a generally stable provider of employment and therefore taxable income. But UK’s relative economic position vis-à-vis the US and western Europe (and why not eastern Europe and the east?) is very much more dependent on innovative servicing and manufacturing industries, which are best served by (a) a government which supports innovation and entrepreneurship, (b) a government promoting good relationships with all countries in the world and (c) inexpensive and stable energy supply. The EU is a restrictive market so it was a good idea to leave it. As a small example, I recently learned that Japan imports its strawberries from Serbia, one of the few European – strawberry producing – countries not in the EU. Japan is a big market! There is no Soviet bloc anymore and the Cuban missile crisis should remind you how understandable it is that a country will not accept another country placing missiles aimed at its main cities directly on its border. This was the main reason for Russia first militarily approaching Kiev to convince the Ukrainian government that Russia was serious about… Read more »
Hear, hear. Not to forget the goading from Biden’s minders just prior to the first crossing of the border, preceded by the goading by Ukraine in its artillery attacks on the civilian population of Donbas.
‘Russia’s President Vladimir Putin favours nuclear threats as a tool of cognitive warfare to rattle Ukraine’s Western backers. At the start of his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he ordered Russia’s nuclear forces to be on heightened alert status. He followed that with nuclear exercises, a dirty bomb scare, deployments of nuclear weapons to Belarus, arms control suspensions, and plenty of bluster. Western governments have moderated their military aid to Ukraine to avoid crossing Russian “red lines” There is no magical switch to turn off Russia’s cognitive warfare. Robust military capabilities are necessary to deter the use of Oreshnik and other weapons against NATO countries and defeat Russian aggression, if necessary. International diplomacy can raise the political cost of deploying a nuclear-armed satellite or conducting a nuclear test for Russia. The Kremlin has long understood that NATO’s unity rests on the resolve of its leaders and publics. Russian attempts to target their minds are thus sure to continue. Having a better sense of the Kremin’s tactics will enhance European resilience to Russian cognitive warfare.’ The key to peace, as 1989 clearly demonstrated, is deterrence. That means nuclear near parity and a strong conventional deterrent on the ground. The U.S. has demonstrated Russia’s weakness and degraded Putin’s capacity to wage… Read more »
Vladimir Putin’s “threats” were to respond to a first strike by the West.
US isolation threatens global democracy, warns Major according to the BBC
Sir John Major (he gets to have his surname mentioned as he’s not the only Sir John in politics) rabbits on about how awful Trump is.
The intolerant right? Really? I suppose it depends on what you think ought to be tolerated. Tolerating ‘ever closer union’ within the EU springs to mind when I think of John Maastricht Major.
Yes. That’s the problem right there. It’s far too easy to spend our money. Far harder to say ‘Let’s not spend so much’ on this or that. It’s really hard to hold conservative values.
We have to spend less on other things if we need to spend more on defence.
Why would anyone listen to Major.
Know your enemy is the only reason.
There are some ‘Elder Statesmen’ I have time for – although I can’t think of any at the moment. Major was never on the list to start with.
I major’s case age does not bring wisdom, in fact, quite to opposite.
Spend, spend, spend is always easy. What really matters when government are allowed to spend taxpayers money is how it is spent. The concept of ‘value for money’ is a wholly alien concept where government is concerned. We only have to look at the cabinet – value for money? Really?
When you look at the article and those found guilty, there is a profile of people involved. Diversity is not our strength.
“Yvette Cooper sets up Elon Musk-style DOGE unit”
That’s not a DOGE unit. That’s just basic management.
Scrutiny is fine, but the key thing is action. There has been a lot of scrutiny and target setting since the election, but not a lot of action (except of course against those who do not have the power of the unions behind them like “far right” and “racist” on-line commenters, pensioners and farmers).
“JD Vance blasts Britain’s thought police in explosive Munich speech” – In TCW, Dr Frederick Attenborough reacts to JD Vance’s Munich speech, where the US Vice President accused Britain of leading a European assault on free speech.
From the TCW article: “Carl Bildt, the co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations and former Prime Minister of Sweden, condemned Vance’s remarks, dismissing them as politically motivated.”
Another finest five seconds for cognitive dissonance. As the most recent TCW commenter put it…
“…One could hardly expect the target to applaud the bullseye.”
“…dismissing them as politically motivated.”
I’m confused. It wasn’t a religious forum, or a scientific forum, or an artistic forum, or a commercial forum, but a political forum. What other motivation should a politician’s remarks have than a political one?
“When it’s illegal to cause distress to believers, call it for what it is: a secular version of blasphemy” – Language can ‘open eyes’, Salman Rushdie wrote, yet still ideas of profanity are being used to silence dissenting voices, says Kenan Malik in the Guardian.
For once, even the Guardian is on the right page. Well said, Kenan Malik.
It’s a bit like an arsonist that sets fire to his own house then remarks on it being a bit hot.
Burn baby, burn.
“How white identity politics has been incubated by Westminster’s generation of fools”
Another bullseye hit full on…
“…Think about it: many black boys having fallen into a knife culture and yet simultaneously being fed woke narratives at school about white privilege, white exploitation and white fragility: actually being taught to feel resentment or hostility towards their white contemporaries and having these prejudices legitimised by bogus pseudo-social theory.”
“…The idea of ‘white people bad, non-white people good’, fed to us for so long by elite media such as the BBC, is deservedly and belatedly dying on its arse.”
There’s hope yet.
“We needed a Covid Inquiry – but this isn’t it” – On the TTE Substack, Prof Carl Heneghan and Dr Tom Jefferson argue that the Covid Inquiry is failing to ask critical questions about vaccine safety and government response.
“Two old geezers with few certainties, unlike Hugo Keith KC,” still fighting the good fight…
“…The Inquiry has shut down those giving evidence mentioning troubling truths and prevented cross-examination of witnesses, allowing the cherry-picking of evidence and misinformation.”
Two Old Geezers called Carl and Tom will prevail over any number of shoddy Golaiths in the end. Might be a while yet.
“When it’s illegal to cause distress to believers, call it for what it is: a secular version of blasphemy”
It’s worse than that, of course. Under the old blasphemy laws, it was necessary to prove that the accused had objectively traduced the core doctrines of the national religion. Sometimes equivocal, sometimes abused, no doubt – but if you were within the 39 articles you had a defence – burning a Bible or calling St Paul a misogynist would not condemn you.
Now, though, we have a situation in which if an adherent of one minority religion simply feels offended that any tenet of his religion has been criticised (even if he ignorantly misinterprets his own religion), the accused is guilty by default.
Even the Spanish Inquisition offered more leeway than that… and remember the Spanish Inquisition was set up originally to catch closet Muslims engaging in Taqiyya to return Christian Spain to Islamic rule.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/02/16/keir-starmer-ready-to-put-british-troops-in-ukraine/
Ooh, he’s proper hard is Kneel.
Just for once I hope our troops have the sense to tell him to Foxtrot Oscar.
“Yvette Cooper sets up Elon Musk-style DOGE unit”
Ha hahaha 😆 She couldn’t root out a fresh carrot!
“Anti-British film wins Bafta for Best British debut film”
If they really want to help the Irish people it’s time to drop the ‘Hate the British’ crap and start fighting their own irish hating government!
Their government is not “their own irish hating government”.
Their government is the British government, along with the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Sorry, I was referring the the irish Republic who’s government hates its own people!
Belfast News Letter comment. https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/bafta-blow-for-kneecap-as-movie-loses-five-out-of-six-categories-only-win-for-republican-rappers-film-was-english-director-picking-up-best-british-newcomer-gong-4994971
Essentially saying that the film failed to win in 5 of the 6 categories nominated.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14401851/Yvette-Cooper-Elon-Musk-DOGE-unit-Home-Office-waste-away-days-banned.html
A unit set up by Pixie Balls to investigate waste can only result in more of the same.