News Round-Up

• “Cops must ends witch hunts on free speech and focus on real crime, MPs warn” – MPs have insisted that cops must end the “pathetic” witch hunts on free speech and focus on real crime, reports the Sun.
• “How Rachel Reeves undermined Angela Rayner’s building blitz” – Angela Rayner’s homebuilding targets are under threat from soaring inflation and the Chancellor’s National Insurance raid, says the Telegraph.
• “Fewer benefits claimants face sanctions for refusing to work” – Fewer claimants are having their benefits cut after refusing to work, according to official figures, despite Labour’s pledge to tackle Britain’s joblessness crisis and boost employment, reports the Telegraph.
• “Lord Hermer was forced to reduce bonus after biggest cost claim in legal history” – The Attorney General was ordered to reduce his “no win no fee bonus” after being part of the biggest cost claim in British legal history, reveals the Telegraph.
• “‘Dartford Disneyland’ theme park disaster lands taxpayer with £5 million bill” – The taxpayer lost £5 million on a doomed attempt to create a £3.5 billion Disneyland rival on the Thames Estuary, reports the Telegraph.
• “Nigel Farage hits back at Keir Starmer as he claims PM ‘getting desperate’ in bid to tackle Reform” – Nigel Farage has hit out at Sir Keir after the PM accused the Reform leader of perpetuating “dangerous policies” in a major warning over the populist party, according to GB News.
• “Ant Middleton redoubles vow to become Mayor of London” – SAS tough guy Ant Middleton is doubling down on his bid to oust Sadiq Khan, claiming the embattled Mayor “has to go” with the city now one of the world’s murder capitals, reports the Mail.
• “‘BBC exposes its own bias against Reform UK in coverage of major policy’” – The BBC’s recent coverage of Reform UK’s Net Zero policy announcement is nothing short of a masterclass in bias and misinformation, says Lois Perry in the Express.
• “Hydrogen boilers are a waste of time, climate committee to warn Miliband” – The Government’s independent climate advisers are poised to tell ministers that burning hydrogen to heat millions of homes would be a waste of Britain’s already stretched resources, reports the Telegraph.
• “Miliband quango changes logo after being mocked for copying” – Ed Miliband’s Great British Energy has ditched its logo in under a year after getting roasted for nicking the icon of an ad agency, says the Telegraph.
• “Miliband accused of playing into hands of Putin with plan to concrete over Britain’s last gas wells” – Ed Miliband has been accused of “playing into Vladimir Putin’s hands” as he waves through a plan to plug Britain’s only shale gas wells with cement, according to the Telegraph.
• “EPCs to be used as a stick to beat us” – David Turver’s latest warns that the Government’s new Energy Performance Certificates reforms are less about energy efficiency and more about using regulations as a stick to beat homeowners into Net Zero compliance.
• “Britain depends on Norway for energy. Some Norwegians want to cut us off” – Tensions in the Nordics are rising as residents begrudge the cost of keeping Europe’s lights on, writes Eir Nolsøe in the Telegraph.
• “It may be too late to save Germany from the economic abyss” – In the Telegraph, Liam Halligan warns that Germany’s economic collapse could cost Friedrich Merz the chancellorship unless he pulls off a major financial rebound.
• “CDU in driver’s seat after German election but coalition might be necessary” – Friedrich Merz is poised to become Germany’s next chancellor after exit polls predicted a convincing victory for his centre-Right Christian Democratic Union party, alongside a nationalist surge, according to BBC News.
• “Germany faces its worst nightmare – becoming France” – The German economy, the richest in the EU, has been the envy of Europe for decades. But things are now taking a turn for the worse, says James Crisp in the Telegraph.
• “How the humble heat pump pushed Germany to the far-Right” – The rigid Net Zero stance of Olaf Scholz’s coalition has proved to be electoral dynamite, says Mattie Brignal in the Telegraph.
• “BBC bosses to demand answers over Gaza film’s Hamas link” – Tim Davie and other BBC executives have demanded a meeting over the airing of a Gaza documentary presented by a Hamas minister’s son, reports the Telegraph. 
• “The BBC is turning into a megaphone for Hamas” – The entire BBC organisation needs a root and branch cleansing of this tendency to whitewash a murderous, rapist, Islamist terror group, says Nicole Lampert in Spiked.
• “Taliban arrest British couple in their 70s for teaching mothers” – A British couple in their seventies have been arrested by the Taliban, apparently for teaching parenting skills to mothers over 30, according to the Sunday Times.
• “Terrorist arrested over France attack is unmasked as extremist” – The terrorist arrested for the stabbing attack on police in France has been identified as an extremist who had been attempted to be deported 10 times, according to the Mail.
• “Zelensky offers to step down in exchange for peace” – Volodymyr Zelensky is willing to “immediately” step down as President of Ukraine in exchange for peace or the country being given membership of Nato, reports ABC News.
• “The war hero, the Putin stooge and the champion boxer: who could replace Zelensky?” – With Ukraine’s President indicating he is willing to leave office, the Telegraph profiles the contenders to replace him.
• “Bad peace is better than good war” – It is good news for peace that President Trump is setting the record straight on the West’s war in Ukraine, says Michael J. Sutton for the Brownstone Institute.
• “Why Russia wants Ukraine to join the EU” – Moscow has vetoed Nato membership and foreign troops, but has its own reasons for encouraging its foe’s European ambitions, writes Kieran Kelly in the Telegraph.
• “Elon Musk gives all federal workers 48 hours to explain what they did last week” – Elon Musk has told hundreds of thousands of US Government workers to explain what they accomplished over the past week or be forced to leave their jobs, reports ABC News.
• “Why we should worry about Tony Blair’s bromance with tech tycoon” – In the Mail, Mark Hookham warns that Tony Blair’s cozy connection with tech tycoon Larry Ellison could give Ellison the keys to a giant data empire – and your privacy.
• “‘Why should I let American AI pirates steal my work?’” – In the Mail, author Louis de Bernieres warns that AI is stealing creative work without consent, leaving writers’ livelihoods at risk.
• “Brazil judge orders suspension of Rumble platform amid censorship lawsuit” – Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has ordered the suspension of the video-sharing platform Rumble over the company’s failure to comply with court orders, reports NTD.
• “Seventy Christians beheaded in Congo” – Seventy Christians have been found beheaded in a church in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in what has been described as the latest devastating attack on believers in the north east of the country, according to Gript.
• “Slash benefits for those with ‘anxiety’ to boost defence cash – Tories” – The Tories have called for Britain’s “ballooning” welfare payments – such as benefits for those with anxiety – to be slashed to fund greater defence spending, reports the Mail.
• “Elderly struck down with flu at record rate after winter fuel raid” – Over-85s are being admitted to hospital at record rates with the Conservatives and Lib Dems blaming Labour’s winter fuel allowance cut, says the Telegraph.
• “Bird flu: owners ordered to keep birds indoors to stop spread” – All bird keepers in Northern Ireland are being ordered to keep their birds indoors from Monday in a bid to stop the spread of bird flu, reports BBC News.
• “#together Social Care campaign” – The Together Declaration Health and Social Care Campaign team is calling on the public, the scrutiny committee and MPs to take a hard look at the insights and warnings in their discussion paper on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.
• “Covid Inquiry Module 4 revisited” – On the HART Substack, Dr Lisa Hutchinson’s review of the Covid Inquiry Module 4 exposes a shocking whitewash – burying evidence of vaccine harm and gaslighting the injured.
• “Covid vaccine victims left disabled and blind after taking shots” – The Mail speaks with five Americans who claim they were injured by Covid jabs following a bombshell report from Yale researchers on post-vaccine harms.
• “Woody Harrelson tears apart Anthony Fauci on Joe Rogan’s show” – Actor Woody Harrelson has accused Dr Anthony Fauci of doing some “extraordinarily evil sh**” during a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, reports the Mail.
• “Schools could face Sandie Peggie-style legal dispute, group warns Swinney” – John Swinney has been warned that schools could face a Sandie Peggie-style legal dispute over gender self-ID policies, reports the Herald.
• “Trans sports mafia’s secret plan to infiltrate sports” – The ECB is taking advice from activists who claim it’s a “myth” that trans women are taller, heavier and stronger, says the Mail. 
• “Gender cannot be a get-out-of-jail card for violent men” – There’s a reason that some unstable narcissists choose to transition behind bars, writes Kathleen Stock in the Sunday Times.
• “The Queen of Woke just exposed the hypocrisy of the virtue-signalling Left” – Once a fierce advocate of identity politics, Ash Sarkar now seems to be repudiating the dogma, notes Rakib Ehsan in the Telegraph.
• “Jeff Bezos must not milk James Bond dry like Disney did with Star Wars” – Ian Fleming’s creation remains some of the best intellectual property in the world – it must treated with respect, says Matthew Lynn in the Telegraph.
• “‘In five years, scientists predict we will have the first ice-free Arctic summer’” – A video on X has resurfaced of John Kerry’s 2009 climate prophecy – spoiler: he got it completely wrong.

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