News Round-Up

• “Police should turn their zeal towards real criminals” – Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine’s absurd arrest is typical of how officers react when someone complains about being offended, according to yours truly in the Times.
• “The police have become the rent-a-goons of the easily offended” – A couple were arrested and held for eight hours after criticising their daughter’s school on WhatsApp, writes Tom Slater in Spiked. The police need to get a grip.
• “The Thought Police came for me and I fought my corner – free speech must be preserved at all cost” – the GB News website reports that Charlie Mullins, the founder of Pimlico Plumbers, has slammed the state’s attempt to silence him by stripping him of his OBE and joined the Free Speech Union.
• “JK Rowling wades in on trans toddler row: ‘totalitarian insanity’” – The Harry Potter author said that any adult who punishes a toddler for being able to recognise biological sex is a “dangerous zealot” and should not be allowed near children, reports the Mail.
• “The liberal state is going full Big Nanny” – After Le Pen’s ban, a Quakers raid and a transphobic toddler suspended from school, can MPs save us from authoritarianism? asks Tim Stanley in the Telegraph.
• “It is not an accident that the crime rate is on fire in Britain… it is deliberate” – Alex Story on the GB News website says taxpayers are being forced to pay for the destruction of their own country.
• “Sentencing Council ‘drops two-tier justice sentencing plan’” – The Sentencing Council has agreed to suspend the new guidelines due to come into effect tomorrow, according to the Mail.
• “‘Two-tier justice’ quango member attacked illegal migrant crackdown” – Johanna Robinson, a Sentencing Council adviser, spoke out against the Tories’ “Illegal” Migration Bill in 2023, reports the Telegraph.
• “‘Two-tier justice’ police chiefs criticised for saying ethnic minorities can be treated differently” – The Shadow Home Secretary has condemned police advice to treat ethnic minorities more leniently as “unacceptable social engineering”, says the Telegraph.
• “Starmer’s small boats record worst of any PM’s since crisis began” – More than 6,600 migrants have crossed the Channel in the first three months of this year, a record-breaking number, according to the Telegraph.
• “Labour has changed precisely nothing on illegal immigration” – Practical things not gimmicks, the Home Secretary advises when it comes to stopping illegal immigration. Yeah right, says a leading article in the Telegraph.
• “Alleged people smuggler can’t be sent to Belgium ‘because of mosquitos in prison there’” – Ziarmal Khan, 25, was arrested in Britain last year for people smuggling but is fighting extradition on the grounds that he cannot be imprisoned in Belgium because of the bugs in the jails, reports the Telegraph.
• “‘Smashing the gangs’ may prove to be an expensive waste of time” – We need to address the problem of people who come on short-term visas and then came asylum, writes Karl Williams in the Telegraph.
• “Britain’s sickness benefits claims surge at fastest rate in the West” – Britain’s ballooning welfare bill outpaces other developed nations despite Labour’s reforms, according to the Telegraph.
• “Private schools accuse Government of refusing to consult them over VAT raid” – The Independent Schools Council claims ministers refused to engage with private schools before storming ahead with their sweeping tax raid, writes Poppy Wood in the Telegraph.
• “All the Judges Presiding Over School Tax Court Case Went to Private School” – It isn’t just all the lawyers defending the Government’s VAT raid on independent schools that are privately educated, says Guido Fawkes. It’s also all the judges presiding in the case.
• “‘Rats gnawed through my sister’s car. Now there’s no escape’” – The horror of Birmingham’s bin strike has seen rodents grow to “the size of cats” leaving residents fed up and worried, reports the Telegraph.
• “Miliband urged to scrap windfall tax to avoid mass job losses in North Sea” – Britain’s declining production of North Sea oil and gas is dooming the UK to increasing reliance on US imports unless Milliband does a U-turn, says the Telegraph.
• “Prince Harry ‘sent unpleasant and imperious message’ to charity boss” – The Duke of Sussex allegedly demanded the Chair of Sentebale “explain herself” after she refused to issue a statement defending his wife, according to the Telegraph.
• “No free trade with US without free speech, Starmer warned” – The PM’s hopes of avoiding Donald Trump’s tariffs may hinge on the case of pro-life activist arrested for peaceful protest, reports the Telegraph.
• “The pro-lifer whose protest in Bournemouth triggered free speech row with Trump” – The US is ‘monitoring’ the court case of a retired medical scientist who’s on trial for holding up a placard outside an abortion clinic, says the Telegraph.
• “Trump’s tariffs will hit Britain as US rebuffs ‘carve-out’ deal” – Concessions on AI, tax and agriculture are “on the table” in US-UK trade talks, but a deal will not be signed in time to avoid import charges on British good of up to 20%, according to the Times.
• “Trump is plotting the biggest tax rise in global history” – The burden for paying the bulk of the president’s Liberation Day tariffs will fall on American consumers, potentially at some $600 billion a year, writes Matthew Lynn in the Telegraph.
• “US will not help Europe if Russia attacks: leaked Pentagon document” – Europe would be on its own if Russia attacks, according to leaked Pentagon documents, reports the Mail.
• “Mark Carney is another Justin Trudeau: a woke, broke, Net Zero fanatic” – Canada will not survive the green, elitist, doomsaying, central planners who will triumph with Mark Carney at the helm, writes Jordan Peterson in the Telegraph.
• “Marine Le Pen’s party calls on supporters to take to the streets” – The leader of France’s Right-wing party has called for a peaceful “mobilisation” after Marine Le Pen was banned from running for office following an embezzlement conviction, says the Mail.
• “Snow White suffers worst humiliation yet after woke remake tanked” – The woke Rachel Zegler-led remake of Snow White has reached a new low after after getting the lowest ever rating on IMDB, reports the Mail.
• “Tesla dealership goes up in flames in Italy with 17 cars destroyed” – Italy’s anti-terrorism police unit Digos is leading an investigation into an arson attack on a Tesla dealership in Rome, according to the Mail.
• “Billboard Chris vs. Australia: Court battle over censored trans social media post kicks off” – On her Substack, Rebakah Barnett writes about day one of the court battle between Canadian gender-critical activist Chris Elston and Australia’s online harms regulator.
• “White Lotus dropped trans child storyline after Trump won office” – Carrie Coon, an actress in White Lotus, says a decision was made to drop a trans character in response to the US President’s attacks on transgender rights, says the Telegraph.
• “Putin drafts 160,000 men into Russian army despite peace talks” – President Putin is drafting the largest number of men yet into the Russian Army, suggesting he’s not serious about peace talks, reports the Telegraph.
• “Labour faces a serious threat from Gaza independents and the Greens” – The Labour Party’s traditional white working class base has crumbled, writes Paul Goodman in the Telegraph. It is now losing votes to Muslim independents and Greens.
• “British Empire taught Muslims homophobia, claims historian” – A “horror of same-sex relationships” did not exist in Islamic culture before the 19th Century, says a woke Oxford professor, according to the Telegraph. It’s all the fault of the horrid homophobic British Empire. April Fool? Apparently not!
• “Adolescence director celebrates as episodes will be shown in schools” – Philip Barantini, the director of Adolescence, posted a celebratory story on Instagram saying “We did it” as Sir Keir Starmer announces the series will be shown for free in schools, reports the Mail.
• “Liberal Democrats can you please be a serious party of opposition and actually do something to hold this dreadful Labour government to account?” – CCHQ takes the Mickey out of Ed Davey’s launch of the Lib Dems’ local election campaign.

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