News Round-Up
- “Trump threatens to blow up Reeves’s Spring Statement days after it’s delivered” – In the Telegraph, Melissa Lawford warns that Rachel Reeves’s austerity gamble may be wrecked within days, as Trump’s tariff blitz threatens to blow a £24 billion hole in Britain’s fragile recovery.
- “Reeves was wrong to accept free Sabrina Carpenter tickets, says Rayner ally” – Housing minister Matthew Pennycook says he does not “personally think it’s appropriate” to accept free concert tickets, after the Chancellor took a family member to see pop star Sabrina Carpenter without paying, reports BBC News.
- “Brits see Reeves as ‘incompetent’ ahead of Spring Statement” – Brits view Rachel Reeves as “incompetent” as she prepares to deliver a make-or-break Spring Statement, according to the Mail.
- “Rachel Reeves will be lucky to survive” – Thatcher/Lawson, Blair/Brown, Johnson/Sunak – the history of Downing St relations is not a happy one, notes Philip Johnston in the Telegraph.
- “272 year-old independent school closes in Reeves’ constituency after Labour VAT raid” – Another day, another independent school forced to close its doors thanks to Labour’s punitive VAT raid on private education, says Guido Fawkes. This time it’s historic.
- “If Bailey won’t call for radical growth reforms, no one will” – In the Spectator, Matthew Lynn slams Andrew Bailey for warning of grim economic prospects without championing radical reforms – like planning deregulation, lower taxes and scrapping Net Zero.
- “New workers’ rights Bill allows officers to go into homes” – Officers enforcing Labour’s workers’ rights overhaul will have the power to enter people’s homes and seize documents and laptops while investigating potential breaches of the new laws, reports the Times.
- “The Lords should kick out the harmful Employment Rights Bill” – In a leading article, the Times urges the Lords to reject the Employment Rights Bill, warning that it would punish businesses, stifle hiring and sabotage the economy.
- “Farage heckled by pro-Palestine protesters at Reform event” – Nigel Farage was heckled by at least half a dozen pro-Palestinian protesters ahead of unveiling Reform UK’s mayoral candidate for Doncaster, reports the Telegraph.
- “‘Credible evidence’ ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe harassed women” – A lawyer investigating former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe has found “credible evidence” he and his staff mistreated two female team members in ways that “seem to amount to harassment”, says BBC News.
- “Lowe failed to tackle ‘toxic’ office culture, report finds” – The Spectator’s Steerpike reacts to the latest round of political infighting involving Reform UK and its former MP Rupert Lowe.
- “Blame Heathrow’s faceless foreign owners for airport’s meltdown” – The recent chaos at Heathrow shows what happens when Britain’s critical infrastructure is flogged to absentee investors, says Ben Marlow in the Telegraph.
- “‘Labour peer left us trapped and unable to sell our homes’” – Homeowners in a London residential block have been left “trapped” in unsellable flats because of “punitive” ground rent clauses imposed by their freeholder, Labour peer Lord Carter of Coles, reports the Telegraph.
- “England’s university regulator issues record fine in Sussex free speech case” – An English university is set to be fined a record £585,000 over allegations it failed to uphold free speech and academic freedom, says the FT.
- “The treatment of Charlie Mullins proves that there’s no free speech if you’re Right-wing” – The forfeiture committee should be ashamed of itself for bringing the honours system into disrepute, says Toby in the Telegraph.
- “The ‘Islamophobia’ working group is unbalanced and opaque” – In the Telegraph, Hardeep Singh blasts Angela Rayner’s opaque ‘Islamophobia’ group as a threat to free speech.
- “Badenoch opens door to return of fracking” – Kemi Badenoch has suggested that the Tories could support lifting the ban on fracking, reports the Telegraph.
- “Why won’t Labour oppose solar panel slavery?” – Net Zero has become such a religion that it has created a moral blindspot among many of those who advocate it, writes Ross Clark in the Spectator.
- “Isle of Man passes assisted dying bill” – The Isle of Man has become the first place in the UK to pass legislation that would permit assisted dying, reports the Mail.
- “Four viruses already in UK could trigger new pandemic” – UK health chiefs have issued a stark warning about 24 deadly viruses that could trigger the next ‘Disease X’ – a term used to describe the culprit behind the next pandemic, says the Mail.
- “Never let a (fake) public health crisis go to waste” – On Substack, Alex Berenson criticises the New York Times for fanning baseless hysteria over measles.
- “In which the cartel parties of Germany make a literal communist and alleged Stasi collaborator the Senior President of the Bundestag to keep the office away from Alternative für Deutschland” – On Substack, Eugyppius blasts Germany’s political elite for bending rules to block the AfD, handing a former communist and Stasi informant the Bundestag’s top ceremonial role in the name of ‘defending democracy’.
- “Putin wants a ceasefire where he’s losing” – In the Telegraph, Tom Sharpe argues that Ukraine has already beaten Russia in the Black Sea, so a ceasefire now risks handing Putin a reprieve he hasn’t earned.
- “How White House insiders reacted to Trump war plan leak” – White House insiders have vented their anger at National Security Advisor Michael Waltz after it emerged that he added a prominent journalist to a secret group chat revealing highly sensitive war plans, reports the Mail.
- “If meritocracy is now ‘racist’, Britain truly is doomed” – In the Telegraph, Michael Deacon slams a taxpayer-funded “inclusivity” guide given to British scientists in Antarctica which claims that believing the most qualified person should get the job is a “racist microaggression”.
- “Laurence Fox charged with sexual offence after ‘sharing upskirting photo’ on social media” – Laurence Fox has been charged with a sexual offence after he “shared an upskirting photo” on social media, reports LBC.
- “UK cinemas remain virtually empty in disaster for Disney’s Snow White” – MailOnline looked at a selection of daytime and evening viewings of Disney’s Snow White in five major UK cities and, on average, found the movie saw just 12 viewers per night.
- “Children’s books are too depressing” – The Carnegie Medal shortlist is losing young readers with social realism and bleak themes, warns Melanie McDonagh in the Spectator. Children just want storytelling and escapism.
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Putin wants a ceasefire where he’s losing ‘The Russians, defeated in the naval sphere by the Ukrainians, would appear to have more to gain from a ceasefire.’ ‘….since early 2024 exports and imports to and from Ukraine have been at near pre-war levels anyway. Strikes in 2023 using a well planned and executed mix of special forces, missiles and drones effectively drove the Black Sea Fleet out of Sevastopol and into a state of near hiding in the Eastern part of the sea……Freedom of Navigation had largely been restored for the Ukrainians.’ ‘UK intelligence noted that on the night of March 20, the Ukrainian Defense Forces used an unmanned aerial vehicle to attack an ammunition depot at the Engels-2 strategic aviation airbase. It is almost certain that the targeted site stored aviation munitions used in strikes against Ukraine, British intelligence reported. The analysis suggests that the losses were significant and are likely to disrupt airstrike operations from the base in the short term.’ So the Ukrainians have also, already, effectively imposed an energy sector ceasefire by force of arms. ‘Russia dedicated staggering amounts of manpower and equipment to several major offensive efforts in Ukraine in 2024, intending to degrade Ukrainian… Read more »
The introduction of drones into modern warfare has indeed resulted in significant changes to military thinking – which the West has still to assimilate. It is, for example, interesting that Iran apparently considers the idea of an Air Force composed of incredibly expensive modern fighters to be outdated, preferring a huge fleet of inexpensive drones. Drones result in massive casualties to both armoured vehicles and military personnel, which explains the slow and careful advance of Russian forces. Russia has certainly suffered significant manpower and equipment losses but so has Ukraine: the morbid count of bodies exchanged by both sides was last well in excess of 10:1, if I remember correctly. The US strategy of weakening Russia has failed completely since Russia is now militarily and economically significantly stronger than before the SMO, despite – or one could argue – because of the sanctions from both USA and Europe. “Neither the world nor Ukraine trusts Russia” is absolutely not true. Russia has always kept its word in agreements with Ukraine, including the recent agreement not to attack energy infrastructure (which was immediately broken by Ukraine). And the world outside the West is very happy to place its trust in economic relationships… Read more »
Tuesday Morning Bagshot Rd
& Nightingale Crescent Bracknell
Credible evidence’ ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe harassed women Or not really….. ‘I gave the Daily Mail interview on the 25th of February, Farage’s team was made aware of that interview on the 26th. These complaints were raised to the Party Chairman the day after, on the 27th. Their complaints were submitted to the independent parliamentary body on the 28th of January, and the 2nd of February. Why did it take almost a month for these to be raised within Reform? The day after the Reform leadership was made aware of my mildly critical interview?’ https://x.com/RupertLowe10/status/1904543048853237911?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet Expensive….. ‘I have spoken to my team – they are horrified that they have been publicly named by Reform. Separate to my own action, they are now in touch with a legal team. By Reform putting their names in the public domain, they have been libelled and endangered.’ Still, no doubt old ‘Crypto Cotters’ in Montenegro will foot the bill…..potentially with laundered Russian money…….. ‘Cottrell is set to launch a political strategy and polling firm, Geostrategy International Unlimited, at a time when Reform is in the midst of a major fundraising push. The party hopes to raise millions of pounds to fund its rapid expansion,… Read more »
The Conservative Party should make every effort to get Rupert Lowe and Ben Habib onboard.
British politics requires individuals of character, stature, commercial experience, common sense, all of which these two have in spades.
So you think Rupert Lowe and Ben Habib are going to suddenly pretend that they didn’t really mean all their criticisms of the Conservative Party and ask their supporters to now vote Conservative?
They might do if they were asked to write the next Conservative manifesto.
Feel free to sign and share
Signed.
More in hope than expectation…!
Signed and passed on.
Signed.
Regarding the dreadful Beeb article above about Rupert Lowe, he’s put out this lengthy post yesterday, so here’s just an excerpt; ”A statement from my entire current team: “These two women have vexatiously complained in an attempt to smear Rupert, and the entire team. And we are a team. We work together well. The only issues raised within the office have been from these two individuals, who only did so after they committed serious offences. This whole ordeal has been difficult on all of us. We don’t want any of this – we just want to get on with our jobs, and support Rupert who has been a fantastic boss. There has never been any bullying – we will all go on the record to say so, and have done so already.” I have heard nothing from the relevant body in Parliament, nor have my team. Of course, I will cooperate fully with that investigation, if it ever comes. This is not bullying. There was no bullying. There never has been any bullying. Using such claims to damage me through my staff is shameful, and I will be urging Parliament to take action alongside my own legal teams. They have… Read more »
“Four viruses already in UK could trigger new pandemic”
=
Itching for excuses to lockdown and vax up! In other words more CONTROL!
Yes, it was inevitable.
And the response is… FRO.
Too right👍
“New workers’ rights Bill allows officers to go into homes” – Officers enforcing Labour’s workers’ rights overhaul will have the power to enter people’s homes and seize documents and laptops while investigating potential breaches of the new laws…
…In accord with the 1984 playbook, Workers Rights means Government Wrongs.
Book-Burners of the Dis-Civil Service Unite.
Will these enforcement officers be wearing brown shirts?
“Four viruses already in UK could trigger new pandemic” – UK health chiefs have issued a stark warning about 24 deadly viruses that could trigger the next ‘Disease X’ – a term used to describe the culprit behind the next pandemic…
…No pandemic in the developed world since 1918, and there won’t be until Kommissar Miliband completes the Great Leap Backward and we all live in filth and squalor, desperate in our 15-minute ghettos for our next two-hour ration of electricity.
A box office disaster for Disney’s Snow White.
Jolly good. They really, really do need to learn that if you go woke, you go broke and to “leave those kids alone.”
“Brits see Reeves as ‘incompetent’ ahead of Spring Statement”
Rachel Reeves announces £4.8bn in welfare cuts by DWP
” Rachel Reeves set to slash benefits further to plug £1.6 BILLION BUDGET BLACK HOLE”
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There’s one very easy way for her to raise that money:
UK foreign aid spending on asylum seekers rises again – BBC News
“More than a quarter of all UK overseas aid was spent on ASYLUM COSTS AT HOME last year, new figures show.”
“The Foreign Office statistics reveal £4.3 BILLION of its Foreign Aid Budget went on supporting refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.”
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Trump Admin Ends Taxpayer-Funded Housing For Illegal Immigrants
“If meritocracy is now ‘racist’, Britain truly is doomed”
This article in The Expose shows where DEI came from:
DEI began as a tool used by Lenin and Stalin – it ended in disaster. So too will today’s DEI – The Expose
Stalin’s Soviet DEI Program – New Discourses