News Round-Up

• “When will local election results be announced? Timings and battlegrounds” – The Times lists the key declaration timings for the local elections on Friday.
• “Reform pressure Labour and Tories as election polls close” – Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is expected to be the major winner in the local elections as disaffected voters hammer Labour and the Conservatives, reports the Mail.
• “Winning big might become Reform’s worst nightmare” – As Labour found out after winning an election last July, it is difficult to do things in power, says Stephen Pollard in the Telegraph.
• “Backlash grows against Ipso’s undermining of press freedom” – The press regulator has come under fresh pressure over a ruling against the Telegraph that puts “unreasonable restrictions” on the press’s ability to report parliamentary proceedings, according to the Telegraph.
• “Parliament urged to investigate press regulator in free speech row” – Parliament has been urged to investigate claims that IPSO undermined free speech by censuring the Telegraph for reporting MPs’ comments in the Commons about the Muslim Association of Britain, reports the Telegraph.
• “Allison Pearson cleared by press regulator after police complaint” – Essex Police are facing criticism after the press regulator threw out its complaint about the Telegraph’s reporting of its investigation of Allison Pearson, according to the Telegraph.
• “It shouldn’t take Peter Tatchell to tell us our asylum system is broken” – When a gay rights activist is warning about foreigners gaming the system, we know how serious things are, says Brendan O’Neill in the Telegraph.
• “Has Keir Starmer watched Groomed: A National Scandal yet?” – In the Spectator, Brendan O’Neill looks forward to Keir Starmer hosting a special summit on the Channel 4 documentary, Groomed: A National Scandal.
• “Axed Cabinet Office staff to get payoffs averaging £50,000 each” – Around 500 civil servants being axed by the Cabinet Office are set to get payoffs averaging £50,000 each, reports the Mail.
• “A massive council tax raid is now inevitable” – Rising spending obligations and restricted funding have put local authorities in an impossible bind, says Sam Ashworth-Hayes in the Telegraph.
• “Civil servants threaten to strike as fears grow of summer of discontent” – As the Birmingham bin strike rolls into its eighth week, over 700 Ofgem civil servants are being balloted over potential strike action, reports Guido Fawkes.
• “The radical barristers who really lay down the law in Britain” – In the Spectator, Ross Clark exposes how Garden Court Chambers has become a radical Left-wing legal powerhouse.
• “BBC’s Annie Mac backs Kneecap in freedom of expression row” – Pulp, Paul Weller and Primal Scream are among the music names who’ve defended Kneecap after one of the rap group’s members called for Tory MPs to be killed, reports the Standard.
• “‘Anti-British’ rappers Kneecap receive nearly £2 million in taxpayer cash” – The amount of taxpayers’ money spent on a film about Kneecap – who urged fans to “kill your local MP” – has soared to almost £2 million, says the Mail.
• “Solar panels on all new homes as part of Labour’s Net Zero push” – Almost every new home in England will be fitted with solar panels as standard within two years, with Sir Keir Starmer rejecting Tony Blair’s criticism of Labour’s Net Zero policies, reports the Mail.
• “Miliband and Rayner join forces to save Net Zero” – Gas boilers in new homes will be banned as soon as next year under plans being spearheaded by Ed Miliband and Angela Rayner, says the Telegraph.
• “National Grid chief raised alarm over speed of Net Zero” – The incoming boss of National Grid has raised concerns about the pace of Net Zero and says that oil will still be needed for decades, according to the Telegraph.
• “The glory days of Net Zero are thankfully over” – The public will no longer put up with higher energy costs and the destruction of the British steel industry, writes David Frost in the Telegraph.
• “What caused Spain and Portugal’s massive power outage?” – The Institute for Energy Research links Spain and Portugal’s massive blackout to an over-reliance on renewables.
• “‘I’m a power engineer. The Iberian grid collapse makes me very afraid for Britain’” – In the Mail, power engineer Capell Aris warns that Britain’s shift to renewables risks catastrophic blackouts like Iberia’s.
• “The home-working civil servants ‘taking taxpayers for a ride’” – Holding down a second job on the sly has never been easier, says Lucy Burton in the Telegraph.
• “Children rescued from four-year Covid lockdown in ‘horror house’” – Three German children have been rescued from a “horror house” in Spain where they spent years living under a Covid lockdown imposed by their parents, reports the Daily Record.
• “Civilisation in decline: trans; teaching; Turkish barbers” – On Greg Moffitt’s Legalise Freedom podcast, Paul Sutton argues that society’s post-Covid chaos isn’t just cyclical decline but potentially a calculated collapse driven by sinister motives.
• “Ramesh Thakur on judicial ‘adventurism’ and growing tyranny across the world” – On The Leighton Smith Podcast, Ramesh Thakur offers broad commentary on judicial “adventurism”, India, Pakistan, China, the UN and the WHO.
• “Europe should be thanking Trump for taking Ukraine’s rare earth minerals” – In the Telegraph, Robert Clark says Europe should quit whining and thank Trump for locking in Ukraine’s future – by tying American interests to its rare earth riches.
• “Trump’s plundering of Ukraine will fuel a nationalist backlash” – America is betting that there will even be a sovereign country to invest in after the war ends, writes Samuel Ramani in the Telegraph.
• “Trump sends $50 million of military aid to Ukraine after minerals deal” – President Trump has approved the first export of military supplies to Ukraine since taking office, after a long-awaited minerals deal was signed between Kyiv and Washington, reports London Business News.
• “Trump’s National Security Adviser ousted” – President Trump is replacing his National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz, and nominating him to be Ambassador to the United Nations, according to Time.
• “Tesla’s bombshell move to oust Elon Musk as CEO” – The Mail reports that Tesla made a brutal move to oust Elon Musk amid a cratering stock price and negative press from his time in the Trump administration.
• “How Pakistan-India tensions could spiral into nuclear conflict” – The slaughter of more than two dozen Indian tourists by Pakistani Islamist gunmen has left two nuclear-armed powers edging closer to the brink of a potentially cataclysmic conflict, warns David Averre in the Mail.
• “NHS puberty blocker trial ‘not ethical’, finds Trump-backed review” – According to a Donald Trump-ordered review of children’s gender medicine, an NHS puberty blocker trial is “not ethical”, reports the Times.
• “Equality watchdog warns critics of Supreme Court ruling on women” – Baroness Falkner says it is unacceptable to “question the integrity of the judiciary” over its finding that sex is biological, according to the Times.
• “Spell of trans cult has been broken” – The national game has had to be dragged kicking and screaming to a position of upholding fairness for half the population, but at long last it has seen the light, writes Oliver Brown in the Telegraph.
• “Trans ideology still has a dangerous grip on our elites – and here’s the shocking proof” – In the Telegraph, Michael Deacon slams the medical establishment for embracing gender ideology over basic biology.
• “Russell Brand accused of ‘dragging woman towards men’s lavatory’” – Russell Brand has been accused of dragging a woman toward a male toilet and for touching another woman’s breasts, reports the Daily Star.
• “‘For the sake of our children, I would urge the Government to be guided by evidence, not ideology’” – Toby speaks at the second reading of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill in the House of Lords, pointing out how successful the education reforms the Government wants to reverse have been and urging it to be guided by evidence, not ideology.

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