News Round-Up

• “Iranian ‘sex toy smuggler’ wins right to remain in Britain” – An Iranian asylum seeker who argued that he could not be deported because he was a “sex toy smuggler” has won his legal battle to remain in Britain, reports the Mail.
• “Migrant Channel crossings hit 10,000 in record time under Labour” – Small boat crossings have passed 10,000 in 2025 at the earliest point in a year since records began, reveals Sky News.
• “Starmer plans migrant cuts to fight Reform” – Keir Starmer will lay out a new plan to cut legal migration following Thursday’s local elections, where Labour is bracing for a Reform UK surge across the country, according to GB News.
• “Sex offenders to be barred from gaining asylum” – Labour has unveiled plans to make it easier to deport foreigners convicted of offences such as sexual assault, reports the BBC.
• “Habib and Lowe have blown it – Reform under Nigel Farage is about to win big” – Time and again political rookies who get a bit of media attention start to believe they are far more important than they really are, writes Patrick O’Flynn on his Substack.
• “Pro-Gaza local election candidate refused to denounce Hamas” – Michael Lavalette, a pro-Gaza candidate standing at this week’s local elections, once refused to denounce Hamas, according to the Telegraph.
• “Three problems with a Tory-Reform pact” – A pact, of any kind, carries risks for either or both the Tories and Reform UK, warns James Heale in the Spectator.
• “Labour must refuse pay rises for teachers and nurses” – The pay review bodies which are supposed to provide independent advice to the government on public sector pay have become a menace, says Ross Clark in the Spectator.
• “Schools face cuts so teachers can have bigger pay rises” – Schools risk being forced to make sweeping cuts next year after the Treasury refused to hand over extra cash to fund pay rises for teachers, reports the Telegraph.
• “Has Rachel Reeves blown her shot at a US trade deal?” – Rachel Reeves has squandered a prime opportunity for a landmark US trade deal, argues Matthew Lynn in the Spectator.
• “We are already halfway to Labour’s 1970s nightmare” – Only the rats are rejoicing as our country barrels towards economic turmoil, says Brian Monteith in the Telegraph.
• “Reeves plans milkshake tax” – Rachel Reeves is preparing to tax milkshakes in an attempt to reduce obesity levels, reports the Express.
• “Taxing us dry” – On Substack, Laura Dodsworth vents her frustration with an overreaching, punitive tax system.
• “When Keir Starmer went to war on journalism” – Keir Starmer did not think twice before putting innocent journalists in the dock, yet he claims journalism “is the lifeblood of democracy”, says Trevor Kavanagh in the Spectator.
• “Starmer ‘sought to stifle free press on behalf of Labour’” – Sir Keir Starmer abused his role when he was Director of Public Prosecutions by launching a “blatant attempt to intimidate and silence the free press”, a veteran journalist has claimed, reports the Telegraph.
• “Censorship is far more dangerous than free speech” – Fara Dabhoiwala’s What Is Free Speech? reflects an alarming contempt for our most precious liberty, writes Davids Gelber in Spiked.
• “PwC threatens to sack staff who fail to come into the office” – PwC says it is prepared to take “disciplinary action” against employees who failed to comply with new rules requiring them to work from the office for at least three days a week, according to the Telegraph.
• “Panic grips blackout stricken Spain as residents told to stay indoors” – Panic buying has swept Spain and Portugal after nationwide blackouts paralysed both countries, reports the Mail.
• “What could be behind Europe’s power cut” – Investigators are racing to identify the cause of electricity blackouts in Spain, Portugal and France, says the Telegraph.
• “Over-reliance on renewables behind catastrophic blackouts in Spain” – On the Public Substack, Michael Shellenberger argues that it’s Spain’s over-reliance on renewable energy, particularly excess solar, that has led to catastrophic blackouts.
• “Blackout risk ‘made worse by Net Zero’” – Experts say that reliance on Net Zero energy left Spain and Portugal vulnerable to the mass blackouts engulfing the region, according to the Telegraph.
• “British troops in Ukraine could be prosecuted under ECHR” – British peacekeeping troops sent to Ukraine could face prosecution under human rights laws, says GB News.
• “Eurovision overturns ban on Palestinian flags” – The European Broadcasting Union has revised its flag policy ahead of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest and will now permit Palestinian flags to be displayed by audience members, reports the National.
• “Israel under fire over aid blockade as Gazans ‘starve’” – Israel has been accused of using its aid blockade on Gaza as a “weapon of war” as a week of hearings over its humanitarian obligations begins in The Hague, according to Sky News.
• “Macron has let an epidemic of violence grip France” – Violent crime is soaring in Macron’s France, says Gavin Mortimer in the Spectator.
• “German prosecutors charge woman for reproducing Nazi symbols after she publishes an image of Health Minister Karl Lauterbach raising his arm at suspicious angle” – On Substack, Eugyppius discusses probably the dumbest, most monumentally idiotic speech crime case Germany has had – which is really saying something.
• “Why Europe should accept Trump’s peace deal” – Victory isn’t an option for Ukraine, says Wolfgang Munchau in UnHerd.
• “BBC under fire for calling Kashmir terrorists ‘militants’” – The Indian Government has complained to the BBC for calling the attackers in last week’s Kashmir massacre “militants” rather than “terrorists”, reports the Telegraph.
• “China invades Taiwan: Japan steps in” – The Japanese air force is getting ready for a war with China, writes David Axe in the Telegraph.
• “Kemi Badenoch says firms should make trans staff use disabled toilets” – Kemi Badenoch has suggested that firms should make trans staff and customers use disabled toilets after a Supreme Court ruling, reports the Mail. 
• “Labour MPs sign pledge against ‘divisive’ Supreme Court trans ruling” – Four Labour MPs have signed a trans rights pledge that appears to brand the Supreme Court’s ruling on biological sex definitions as “divisive”, according to GB News.
• “Labour must stop talking nonsense about ‘diversity’” – In order to reconnect to working class voters and fend off Reform, Keir Starmer needs to slay some sacred cows, says Tom Harris in the Telegraph.
• “Is the BBC seeing sense on trans?” – The Supreme Court ruling has forced our captured institutions to respond, writes Lauren Smith in Spiked.
• “John Lithgow’s trans mom friend begged him not to star in Harry Potter” – Actor John Lithgow says he ignored a request from a friend with a trans child not to take a major role in the Harry Potter TV series over J.K. Rowling’s views, according to the Mail.
• “Cambridge University is embarrassingly stupid if it thinks exploring the Antarctic was ‘colonialism’” – Cambridge University has dutifully informed us of an egregious act of historical abuse – against the South Pole’s indigenous penguin population, writes Celia Walden in the Telegraph.
• “Cody Gakpo faces FA action over ‘I belong to Jesus’ shirt in Liverpool title party” – Cody Gakpo could be reprimanded by the Football Association for displaying a message of faith after scoring a goal to bring his team within touching distance of the Premier League title, according to Premier Christian News.
• “Channel 4 chief to quit amid advertising crisis” – The CEO of Channel 4 is set to step down as the broadcaster battles a slump in traditional TV viewing and an advertising crisis, reports the Telegraph.
• “Raven in the Edgelands” – In Paul Sutton’s latest Raven saga, Raven finds himself navigating a wild, tech-obsessed England.
• “How fatal mistakes caused Black Hawk to collide with jet in DC” – A new report has unveiled the failings that led to a collision between a US Army Black Hawk helicopter and a passenger jet over Washington DC that ended with all 67 passengers dead, reports the Mail.
• “The New York Times ‘investigates’ the DC jet crash – and buries the truth it finds” – On Substack, Alex Berenson slams the New York Times for obscuring a jet crash’s primary cause – female pilot Capt Rebecca Lobach’s failure to heed descent warnings.
• “‘It’s science, people!’” – On X, a trans activist meltdown gets the full rock treatment.

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