News Round-Up
- “Lord Hermer won £750,000 for heroin-addicted prisoners” – AG Lord Hermer helped secure a £750,000 payout for almost 200 prisoners who had been stopped from taking heroin substitutes behind bars, reports the Telegraph.
- “Investors bet against Starmer’s Britain as economy falters” – A survey of global fund managers has revealed that Britain is not only the least attractive nation to invest in but is also less popular than bonds, cash, energy and utilities, says the Telegraph.
- “Farmers attack ‘arrogant Treasury ideology’ behind tractor tax” – Farmers have accused the Treasury of being motivated by ideology and arrogance in its pursuit of the “tractor tax”, reports the Telegraph.
- “The public sector workers whose salaries are ‘bleeding taxpayers dry’” – Public sector workers in Scotland have been awarded bigger pay rises than anywhere else in the UK, according to the Telegraph.
- “Rachel Reeves’s lies are an insult to high-achieving women” –Let’s go back to a truly radical idea, suggests Annabel Denham in the Telegraph: appointing the best person for the job, regardless of who they are.
- “Man jailed for sending ‘utterly deplorable’ email to Jess Phillips” – A 38 year-old man has been jailed for 28 weeks for sending an offensive email to Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips, reports Sky News.
- “JD Vance’s courageous lecture on migration has shamed our gutless elites” – The Vice-President’s speech in Munich was a devastating indictment of the Davos-smooching class – and made Keir Starmer look inept, says Allison Pearson in the Telegraph.
- “Khan to take new swipe at Trump despite Government slapdown” – Sadiq Khan is set to double down on his criticism of Donald Trump despite a slapdown from the Government, reports the Telegraph.
- “‘Net Zero is a complete and utter disaster’” – In an edited Spectator transcript from the 2025 Arc Conference, Jordan Peterson and Nigel Farage call Net Zero a disaster, slam carbon hysteria and urge Britain to reclaim energy independence.
- “Net Zero will mean higher bills, admit Miliband’s officials” – Britain’s push towards Net Zero will temporarily push energy bills higher, Ed Miliband’s officials have admitted in a contradiction of the Energy Secretary’s own claims, according to the Telegraph.
- “Gen Z’s hypocrisy on climate change has made Greta Thunberg look a fool” – In the Telegraph, Michael Deacon slams Gen Z’s climate hypocrisy, revealing that Greta Thunberg’s own generation flies more, recycles less and wastes more energy than their elders.
- “The Grand Solar Minimum is here” – In Free Speech Backlash, Iain Hunter warns that the Grand Solar Minimum is upon us, bringing a mini ice age with freezing rivers, crop failures and energy shortages.
- “REMAgate: the tangled web at the heart of REMA” – Inaccurate Government figures, conflicts of interest and a shady network of activists have corrupted the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements, says David Turner on his Eigen Values Substack.
- “The British Army’s armoured division does not really exist” – In the Telegraph, Dr Jack Watling warns that Britain’s armoured division is a hollow shell, leaving the Army ill-equipped for modern war.
- “Peacekeeping in Ukraine would require all our depleted resources” – Keir Starmer’s plan to send British peacekeepers to Ukraine would leave us with no capability, writes Daniel Hannan in the Mail.
- “We must not forget Russia’s aggression” – President Trump’s determination to see the Ukraine war end has essentially handed Moscow a blank cheque, says the Telegraph in a leading article.
- “Trump demands Zelensky holds elections” – Trump is demanding Zelensky hold elections that could oust him from office as the price of peace, reports the Telegraph.
- “What Russia really wants out of the talks with America” – The talks in Saudi Arabia will enable Putin to serve up his list of demands in a bid to negotiate an end to the Ukraine war, writes Connor Stringer in the Telegraph.
- “Rubio says Trump is ‘only’ leader to make Russia-Ukraine peace deal” – According to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Donald Trump is the “only leader” who can bring about peace between Russia and Ukraine, reports the Mail.
- “BBC accused of using Hamas official’s son in documentary about ‘ordinary Palestinians’” – The BBC faces claims that it failed to disclose that a teenager who appeared as the main narrator in a harrowing film on the impact of Israel’s war in Gaza is the son of a senior Hamas minister, according to Jewish News.
- “It’s women who will pay the price for assisted dying” – Throughout history women have borne the brunt of failed healthcare policies, from lobotomy to euthanasia, says Hannah Shewan Stevens in the Telegraph.
- “The flawed assessment of VDPS claims” – HART exposes the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme as a rigged system that denies claims, ignores evidence and fails the injured.
- “More misinformation about myocarditis and the Covid vaccines” – Why did the charity Myocarditis UK recommend the vaccine to children and then ignore the warnings about it? ask Profs Norman Fenton and Martin Neil on the WATN? Substack.
- “Dear US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention” – On the TTE Substack, Dr Tom Jefferson and Prof Carl Heneghan tear into the US CDC’s inflated influenza data and misleading public health interventions.
- “USDA has spent $1.25 billion on mass culling for H5N1 bird flu – with disastrous consequences” – On the Courageous Discourse Substack, Nicolas Hulscher reveals how the USDA’s $1.25 billion mass culling scheme for H5N1 has not only failed to stop the virus but has also driven egg prices to a 45-year high, wasted taxpayer money and even increased the risk of human infection.
- “Why would any woman work for the NHS after this nurse’s experience?” – Sandie Peggie’s failure to stop a trans doctor sharing a changing room with her proves the service is no longer a safe place for women, says Suzanne Moore in the Telegraph.
- “Scottish Labour admit they should not have backed SNP trans self-ID” – The Scottish Labour leader has admitted that his MSPs should not have supported Nicola Sturgeon’s self-ID gender laws, reports the Telegraph.
- “Diversity jobs die out as Britain passes ‘peak woke’” – Private and public sector employers are turning their backs on progressive hiring policies, says the Telegraph.
- “We’re infested with diversity grifters” – On Substack, Paul Sutton reveals that his old college has hired a DEI officer who once pushed woke ideology at his former school.
- “Will the President’s ‘war on woke’ reach British arts too?” – Prompted by Trump’s anti-DEI stance, Disney has toned down the ‘content guidance’ on older films, writes Liam Kelly in the Telegraph. Is this the end of the trigger warning?
- “‘Transgender vegan cult leader’ arrested in US over six deaths” – The leader of a radical “transgender vegan cult” linked to six deaths across the US has been arrested in Maryland, reports the Post Millennial.
- “How Star Trek invented DEI” – The Star Trek franchise has been on both TV and film for nearly 60 years, says Gareth Roberts in the Spectator. But the values it espouses are now entirely out of date.
- “Cynthia Erivo divides fans as she’s cast as Jesus in new stage show” – Cynthia Erivo will star as Jesus in a new production of Jesus Christ Superstar this summer in LA – sparking an avalanche of reaction from fans, according to the Mail.
- “Tom Hanks blasted by ex SNL star over portrayal of MAGA supporter” – SNL alum Victoria Jackson has slammed Tom Hank’s MAGA sketch after the actor reprised his role as a Trump supporter for Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary special, reports the Mail.
- “It‘s a crisis of confidence!” – Toby on TalkTV praises Kemi Badenoch’s speech at the opening of Arc.
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Tuesday Morning Mill Lane & South Hill Road Bracknell
Free Speech Enemy of the State
“The Grand Solar Minimum is here” – In Free Speech Backlash, Iain Hunter warns that the Grand Solar Minimum is upon us, bringing a mini ice age with freezing rivers, crop failures and energy shortages.
If half of this comes to pass, should keep this old geezer on his toes in declining years. Someone please pass the LED lights, back-up battery, a bloody great pile of logs and the zimmer frame.
Looking on the bright side, they say appetite for food can decline markedly, as the neurone count declines too. Do not under any circumstance, Bring It On.
(Incredible String Band, 1967)
“REMAgate: the tangled web at the heart of REMA” – Inaccurate Government figures, conflicts of interest and a shady network of activists have corrupted the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements, says David Turver on his Eigen Values Substack.
David Turver does fantastic work, but I for one don’t any more have the neurones for the devil in the detail.
Suffice to say Ofgem, Octopus, and hangers-on from any number of external consultancies, are duplicitous green twerps, beavering away WFH on the laptop in the home-office next to the gas boiler, telling the Dept of Energy Insecurity what it wants to hear.
Oh for a DOGE in Downing Street.
“More misinformation about myocarditis and the Covid vaccines” – Why did the charity Myocarditis UK recommend the vaccine to children and then ignore the warnings about it? ask Profs Norman Fenton and Martin Neil on the WATN? Substack.
Over to that old-school American wise guy, Upton Sinclair, for the old-school answer:
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
“Dear US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention” – On the TTE Substack, Dr Tom Jefferson and Prof Carl Heneghan tear into the US CDC’s inflated influenza data and misleading public health interventions.
The two old geezers on the rampage in Washington DC with the six-shooters. Meanwhile Sheriff Kennedy is loading the deringer.
I hope Kennedy is loading the Deringer.
“USDA has spent $1.25 billion on mass culling for H5N1 bird flu – with disastrous consequences” –
As observed by a commenter on the linked Substack article:
“Chairman Mao decided that sparrows were an agricultural menace and gave bounties to farmers for killing them. First, millions of sparrows died. Then, when the insect population boomed (since sparrows could not keep the insects in check anymore), the grain crops failed. Roughly forty million people died of starvation in the subsequent two years. This is about more than chickens.”
Rubio says Trump is ‘only’ leader to make Russia-Ukraine peace deal There isn’t going to be any peace, only a pregnant pause. This is why: ‘Today we are witnessing an almost uncontained hyper use of force – military force – in international relations, force that is plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts. There is no reason to doubt that the economic potential of the new centres of global economic growth will inevitably be converted into political influence the question arises of whether we should be indifferent and aloof to various internal conflicts inside countries, I will try to answer your question as well: of course not.’ This man has been indicted at the ICC ‘Allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute). The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, (i) for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others (article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute), and (ii) for his failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who… Read more »
Allegedly.
‘The evidence compiled by the Humanitarian Research Lab researchers could lead to additional charges against Russian President Vladimir Putin; Maria Lvova-Belova, presidential commissioner for children’s rights; and other officials involved in the extensive forced relocation program in the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Oona Hathaway, a professor of international law at Yale Law School, told the News. Yale HRL found at least 314 Ukrainian children, primarily from the Eastern Donbas region, who since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have been forcibly deported and listed in Russian adoption databases. The program aimed to assimilate these children into Russian society, erasing their Ukrainian identities. Many of these children were nationalized as Russian citizens and placed with families under a program ordered and directed by Putin. “This whole program is an act of deception by Russia,” Nathaniel Raymond, the executive director of the HRL, explained. “Underlying it was the placement of children in a database where it looked as if they came from places in Russia … when in fact, they were from Ukraine.” The deception extended beyond databases. According to the HRL, Russia had altered personally identifiable information, or PII, and even… Read more »
There is no reason to doubt that the economic potential of the new centres of global economic growth will inevitably be converted into political influence. Welcome again to the real world. And what do you want to do to change normal human behaviour? Incite war, which I suppose would indeed be perfectly normal human behaviour? And you published the same nonsense about the (Yale) Humanitarian Research Lab a month ago (on 27th January, to be precise) to which I responded at the time (and yesterday). The very clever and certainly unbiased Yale lab may have discovered 314 discrepancies in a database but the Russian Children’s Rights Commission processed 12,000 requests for assistance in 2024. A case in July 2024 provides a good example of just how much work is involved for even a single child (http://en.kremlin.ru/events/administration/74518): With the assistance of Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova and mediation of the State of Qatar, another girl [was] reunited with her mother from Ukraine, who now lives with three other children in Poland. The reunification took place in Belarus, where the child was accompanied by an authorised person and a member of the Commissioner’s staff. Lyudmila is the 71st child among other children who reunited with their families in Ukraine or other countries with the direct involvement of Maria Lvova-Belova and officials from the Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Office. This… Read more »
We only have Hamas’ say so at the moment, but the four murdered hostages whose bodies are to be returned to Israel tomorrow are said to include the two little boys and their mother. So we will await confirmation once Israel have identified these poor people. I believe the fourth body is that of an elderly chap Hamas executed. I still cling to a glimmer of hope but that poor father, what he must be going through, I just can’t imagine;
”A Hamas official has announced that the terror group will return the bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday, among them the Bibas family.
Hamas is also due to release six hostages on Saturday, the final captives who are expected to come back alive during the initial phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
The return of the bodies of Shiri, Kfir and Ariel Bibas would mark a tragic end to 16 months of activism, protest and prayer on behalf of the family, who more than anyone else became symbols of the Israeli hostages’ plight. Kfir and Ariel’s father, Shiri’s husband Yarden, was also taken hostage and held separately. He was released earlier this month.”
https://www.jta.org/2025/02/18/israel/hamas-official-says-bodies-of-bibas-family-will-return-to-israel-on-thursday
Do you suppose the kind Hamas will attach goody bags to the bodies for the griveing families? Nothing would surprise me about these horrors of demons disguising themselves as human,
Any personal loss can of course be devastating and the loss of a whole family unquestionably so. But 16 months have passed since the hostages were taken and one must ask why Netanyahu made no attempt, at least at first, to simply negotiate with the kidnappers instead of carpet bombing Gaza. The only initial contacts resulted in Israel twice assassinating the lead Hamas negotiators. It took USA to force Netanyahu to at last negotiate. In the meantime, tens or hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces (and US bombs), each one also possessing a name, a family, a history, the vast majority of whom played no role whatsoever on 7th October. And Israel continues the devastation (antiwar.com): Israel has killed 132 Gazan Palestinians and wounded hundreds since the Gaza ceasefire. At the same time, Israel continues to murder (55 in one month) and force mass displacements in the West Bank under its “Iron Wall” offensive. Again, every one of the 132 and 55 killed had a name and a history. How can anyone expect peace to ever reign under such conditions? And that is not to mention Israel’s killing, destruction and occupation in Lebanon, nor the… Read more »
As I recall there was a 3 week delay when the world community and especially neighbouring Arab countries had the opportunity to put proper pressure on Hamas to return the hostages and cease sending rockets over.
So you are saying the neighbouring countries are to blame for the mass killing of Palestinians, not Israel? Perhaps if the surrounding countries had not all been subjected to Israeli aggressions in the past, there might have been more willingness to help Israel.
The question, however, remains: when does all this killing stop? In my opinion, the only solution is for Israel to finally accept UN resolution 181 (II), and the numerous subsequent associated resolutions, requiring Palestine to be partitioned into two states, one Arab and one Jewish (with Jerusalem placed under a special international regime), i.e. a State of Palestine existing in parallel to the State of Israel.
159 countries voted once again in support of a Palestinian state at the UN in December 2024, with only 7 countries voting against it: Israel and USA (of course), with support from Argentina, Canada, Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru and Palau. (https://docs.un.org/en/A/RES/79/229 and https://www.un.org/unispal/document/report-of-the-second-committee-permanent-sovereignty-of-the-palestinian-people-in-the-occupied-palestinian-territory-including-east-jerusalem-and-of-the-arab-population-in-the-occupied-syrian-gola)
In other words, the vast majority of countries around the world have demanded for the umpteenth time that there must be a protected State of Palestine existing in parallel to Israel.
It is about time someone put their foot down, and I do not mean Israel.
I don’t subscribe to the Telegraph, they lost me during the plandemic with writers like Judith Woods writing that those children who refused to wear masks should rightly be isolated as they need to learn to conform, this one example.
It appear that the Sceptic is becoming a promoter of the Telegraph by linking so many stories that unless you are a subscriber cannot be read.
It’s a bit frustrating but I think it’s mainly due to lack of budget – DS cannot afford to generate enough original content to fill the pages, and I suppose of the mainstream/legacy media which DS feels might have “credibility”, the DT is the least bad. Alternative media is a crowded space and DS is hampered by the lack of advertising made worse by being blacklisted by some body the name of which currently escapes me, on the basis that DS is a promoter of dis- or mis- information.
It is valuable to have a summary of what the press has said, even if we cannot access the full article.
What surprises me is the limited reading range of DS. Nothing in other organs is of interest?
The continual promotion of the Telegraph here BTL is frankly an insult to subscribers particularly when so much good journalism is available from better sources. Not much credit in pushing Alt Media of which DS is very much a part while at the same time promoting organisations that are funded by Billy. Hypocrisy at its finest.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/02/18/zelensky-will-be-forced-hold-elections-under-us-russia-plan/
Is the chronically bad actor Zelensky going to exit, stage left? What will his next role be?
Perhaps Trump should have a word with Sir Kneel,too? Isn’t Two-tier stopping some people exercising democratic choice by delaying some local elections this year?
Here’s a few worthwhile articles from today’s TCW:
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/bravo-jd-vance-speaking-up-for-real-europeans/
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/fix-britain-first-before-lavishing-our-cash-on-these-bonkers-projects-around-the-world/
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/power-without-responsibility-the-disgrace-of-our-elected-dictatorship/
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/rfk-has-the-vaccine-cultists-in-a-spin/
The British Army’s armoured division does not really exist
Hard to believe….or not really?
‘The MoD has said it will not be able to field a full warfighting division, universally understood to be made up of about 10,000 troops, until the 2030s and has changed the accepted understanding of the size of such a force.’
‘The new division was set to be up and running by 2025 and include troops and equipment “optimised for high intensity combat operations”.
But in a statement to the Commons Defence Select Committee the MoD said it will only be able to field one armoured infantry brigade, of about 3,000 troops, equipped with tanks and armoured vehicles at that time.
This force will fight alongside a new “Interim Manoeuvre Support Brigade” of reconnaissance units and Light Infantry equipped with much older vehicles.
The last defence review, in 2015, called for the army to field a division of three brigades.’
It’s almost as though Britain is completely undefended…..
Oh! Hang on…..
‘Almost 37,000 people crossed the English Channel in small boats in 2024.’
We are!
If budgets keep being reduced and/or wasted, and more and more management added, this is what happens… always had the fallback of NATO. Trouble is, then you need the fallback, you find everyone wants it, and no one wants to pay for it
“A migrant couple whose two children crossed the Channel alone on a small boat are now seeking to come to the UK to join them under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)”
Great! Open the floodgates to another great idea for getting the whole family into Britain
Mummy and daddy fell out the boat so they’ve got to be allowed to come to us in the uk, prepare for a massive increase in parental accidental swimming lessons close to the French shore!
How about send the kids back to france?