News Round-Up

• “Labour thinks it’s lost Runcorn to Reform – these charts show why” – Keir Starmer’s unprecedented absence from the campaign trail – driven by his record-low -29% approval rating – signals a potential historic defeat in Runcorn, says Ben Butcher in the Telegraph.
• “I have been called racist since standing for Reform, says 2012 Olympic boxing champion” – In the Telegraph, Ben Rumsby profiles Olympic boxing champion Luke Campbell, who is running as Reform UK’s candidate for Mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire.
• “How Reform UK is winning over middle-aged women” – Farage’s party is attracting a surprising new ally: women – particularly those aged 45–54, writes Rosa Silverman in the Telegraph.
• “Voters backing Reform because of immigration, poll finds” – A survey of areas where county council ballots are taking place shows Nigel Farage’s party ahead of both Labour and the Tories, reports the Telegraph.
• “Britain needs a plan, not a protest. Think twice before voting Reform” – Raising, and then dashing, the hopes of the British people would be simply unforgivable, says ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe in the Telegraph.
• “Labour MPs turn on Starmer over migration” – Labour MPs have turned on Keir Starmer over immigration ahead of the local elections, says the Express.
• “‘I won’t rent to Channel migrants – it’s immoral’” – Landlords say that Labour’s drive to house asylum seekers in their properties is “immoral”, according to the Telegraph.
• “Britain and EU to sign anti-Trump political declaration” – Downing Street has drafted a proposed joint statement with the EU that commits the UK and EU to rejecting Donald Trump’s most controversial policies, reports LBC.
• “EU pact could scupper Britain’s hopes of free trade deal, US warns” – The US has warned that Keir Starmer’s Brexit reset with the European Union could scupper a future trade deal with Washington, says the Telegraph.
• “Department store holds ‘Rachel Reeves closing down sale’” – Beales, one of Britain’s oldest department stores, is holding a “Rachel Reeves closing down sale”, reports the Sun.
• “Rachel Reeves ‘deeply unpopular’ with entrepreneurs” – According to a new survey, Rachel Reeves is the least popular political figure for people hoping to start a new business, says the Telegraph.
• “Bridget Phillipson’s Ofsted reforms are a mess” – Teachers are no longer expected to just be subject specialists, but disciplinarians, mental health champions, surrogate social workers, pastoral role models, PSHE experts and parents by proxy, writes Kristina Murkett in the Spectator.
• “GMB viewers blast ‘uncomfortable’ interview ‘with no code of conduct’” – Good Morning Britain viewers have slammed an “uncomfortable and unacceptable” interview with Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, conducted by Susanna Reid while Cooper’s husband, Ed Balls, sat silently on the show.
• “M&S cyber attack linked to gang of teenage hackers” – A devastating cyber attack on Marks & Spencer that has forced it to halt online sales for five days has been linked to a notorious teenage hacking gang, reports the Mail.
• “Making a good example” – Winning back higher education for free speech has to start somewhere, writes Helen Joyce in the Critic.
• “Anas Sarwar’s toxic sectarianism is the future of multicultural Britain” – The Scottish Labour leader embodies the worst elements of identity politics, says Rakib Ehsan in the Telegraph.
• “Kneecap’s phoney punk act has been unmasked” – Kneecap expect us to believe that even though they’ve waved the Hezbollah flag, they don’t actually support Hezbollah, writes Brendan O’Neill in the Spectator.
• “What the Tories must learn from Mark Carney’s comeback” – Donald Trump is only part of the reason for why the Right is losing in Canada, says Paul Goodman in the Telegraph.
• “Mark Carney won’t change Canada for the better” – Canadians can count their blessings in that Carney only got a minority, writes Jane Stannus in the Spectator.
• “‘Carney was disastrous for the UK and he will be for Canada too’” – The ‘architect of Project Fear’ has won a stunning victory – but critics of his Bank of England tenure say voters will regret their choice, according to Iain Hollingshead in the Telegraph.
• “Sorry but woke isn’t dead. Carney just proved it” – The Right shouldn’t allow recent victories to blind them to the future battles needed to defeat wokeness, warns Annabel Denham in the Telegraph.
• “Mark Carney’s house of cards” – The new Canadian parliament won’t survive Trump, predicts Michael Cuenco in UnHerd.
• “How will Mark Carney govern?” – Carney may be forced to cobble together a wild and woolly coalition to keep this minority parliament around for maybe a year or two, says Michael Taube in the Spectator.
• “Canada’s Liberals can thank Trump for election win” – Canada is entering yet another period of uncertainty, warns Yuan Yi Zhu in UnHerd.
• “How Mark Carney’s activism has been shaped by his ‘eco warrior’ family” – Canada’s new Prime Minister is, much like his predecessor, known for his tough-on-Trump stance and passionate climate activism, says Elmira Tanatarova in the Mail.
• “If Miliband doesn’t U-turn, Britain could face power cuts in months” – Lack of ‘grid inertia’ took out Spain and Portugal – we are headed down the very same renewable route, warns Philip Johnston in the Telegraph.
• “The closure of Grangemouth’s refinery sums up Labour’s Net Zero muddle” – Nothing could better expose the contradictory state of British energy policy than the closure of the refinery at Grangemouth, says Iain Macwhirter in the Spectator.
• “Trump is bungling the explosive truth about COVID-19’s origins” – The case for the Wuhan lab leak theory – and against Anthony Fauci – is too important to be sensationalised, says Matt Ridley in the Telegraph.
• “Five reasons why the COVID-19 vaccine needs clinical trials before approval” – On Substack, Vinay Prasad insists COVID-19 vaccines need clinical trials to ensure safety, slamming untested boosters as risky and anti-science.
• “DOJ launches investigation into top medical journals over bias, fraud and corruption” – On the Focal Points Substack, Nicolas Hulscher reports that the US Department of Justice is investigating major medical journals like CHEST and NEJM for bias, fraud and corruption, alleging they suppressed critical COVID-19 vaccine safety data and prioritised the interests of Big Pharma.
• “Why Merz’s free US-EU trade idea is a non-starter” – Unless the German Chancellor is willing to dismantle the Brussels bureaucracy, his grand plan for free trade with America is dead on arrival, says Matthew Lynn in the Spectator.
• “Trump declares war on Amazon for ‘hostile and political’ tariffs move” – A very angry President Trump has phoned Jeff Bezos to declare war after Amazon announced it will include the cost of tariffs on the price tag for products, reports the Mail.
• “One hundred days in, Donald Trump is still winning” – The New York Times is desperate for us to believe that the administration is imploding, says Roger Kimball in the Telegraph. They couldn’t be more wrong.
• “Is the global Right giving up on Trump?” – Trump’s supporters are getting harder to find, notes Mary Harrington in UnHerd.
• “The truth about the Joe Biden cover-up is finally starting to emerge” – A top reporter now admits that the US media failed to give proper scrutiny to the former President’s cognitive decline. But why? wonders Michael Deacon in the Telegraph.
• “Royal Marines in DEI row over women on front line” – A serving member of the Royal Marines has publicly raised concerns about the possible lowering of standards for female trainees – and claimed that lives could be at risk if Britain goes to war, reports the Telegraph.
• “UK’s first trans judge plans ECHR challenge to Supreme Court ruling” – Britain’s first transgender judge is planning to take the Government to the European Court of Human Rights over the Supreme Court’s landmark biological sex ruling, says the Mail.
• “Majority of Labour voters support trans ruling, poll reveals” – According to a new survey, the Supreme Court ruling that trans women are not legally women under the Equality Act has been backed by a majority of Labour voters, reports the Telegraph.
• “HR industry in crisis as trans ruling deepens rifts” – A fixation on political debates risks drawing attention away from Britain’s productivity crisis, says Lucy Burton in the Telegraph.
• “How Ian Hislop failed the gender test” – In the Spectator, Gareth Roberts slams Ian Hislop and Have I Got News For You for attacking the Supreme Court’s gender ruling.
• “Why won’t UK newspapers review Douglas Murray’s book?” – Is the mainstream media trying to cancel Douglas Murray? wonders Katie Law in UnHerd.
• “Political asylum for British citizens?” – Listen to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s response after Winston Marshall asks whether the Trump administration would consider political asylum for British citizens persecuted for exercising their right to free speech.

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