News Round-Up

• “Labour unrest mounts over immigration and benefits cuts” – Sir Keir Starmer said his critics are talking rubbish about Labour‘s new immigration policy at a stormy PMQs, reports the Mail.
• “Keir Starmer humiliated as new poll reveals just how many people ‘regret’ voting Labour” – Almost a third of Labour voters (29%) say they now believe they made the wrong choice at the General Election, says the Express.
• “Migration minister pledged to not report undocumented migrants and called for amnesty” – Sir Keir’s Minister for Migration said in 2021 it should be easier for undocumented migrants to get visas, according to the Express.
• “Starmer’s migration turn shows how even the elite now can’t defend multiculturalism” – The PM’s words are a welcome start, but they must be matched by real action if we are to restore a shared sense of nationhood, writes Suella Braverman in the Telegraph.
• “What Starmer’s immigration critics don’t get” – There may be a simple reason why some of Starmer’s critics will never see eye to eye with him on migration, says Patrick West in the Spectator.
• “The Left’s meltdown over Starmer’s ‘Enoch Powell’ speech shows why Reform will win the next election” – For once, the PM has said something in tune with the average Briton – and those who are supposedly on his side are punishing him for it, writes Michael Deacon in the Telegraph.
• “Starmer learning a very great deal from Reform on immigration, claims Farage” – Nigel Farage has hailed the PM’s speech cracking down on migration, claiming Sir Keir is “learning a great deal” from Reform UK, according to the Standard.
• “The thick blue line” – In the Critic, Ben Sixsmith blasts the overzealous and humourless policing of free speech in the UK.
• “How Britain’s police went from being the most revered to most despised” – Plodding officers are allowing themselves to be exploited by individuals and organisations with obvious political agendas, says Isabel Oakeshott in the Telegraph.
• “The good and the bad of the sentencing reforms” – Public opinion is being softened up, not very subtly, for a dramatic change in penal policy, writes Ian Acheson in the Spectator
• “Britain is heading the way of France” – A growing number of French believe civil war is inevitable, says Gavin Mortimer in the Spectator. Britain has not yet reached that point, but it is heading in that direction.
• “Police drop case against ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe” – Former Reform MP Rupert Lowe has branded Nigel Farage “a coward and a viper” after learning he will face no criminal charges over claims he made “verbal threats” towards party Chairman Zia Yusuf, reports the Mail.
• “An alternative to rotten Reform is coming soon” – There will, very soon, be an alternative to the rotten leadership of Reform, says Rupert Lowe in the Telegraph.
• “London second home owners should pay ‘much more’ than double tax, says Khan” – Sadiq Khan has warned that second home owners in London could soon be forced to pay more than double council tax, reports the Standard.
•  “Is it any surprise junior doctors want more money?” – Can the Government continue to award bigger pay rises to junior doctors than to nurses? wonders Ross Clark in the Spectator. They may come to regret it.
• “Taxi driver faces theft charges after Lammy ‘refused to pay £590 fare’” – A French taxi driver faces charges that he stole luggage and cash from the Foreign Secretary during a trip from Italy to the French Alps, reports the Telegraph. The driver claims Lammy short-changed him to the tune of £590.
• “The nimby row engulfing the ‘two-faced’ Milibands” – In the Telegraph, Eleanor Steafel highlights the irony of Dame Justine Thornton, wife of Labour’s housing crusader Ed Miliband, opposing a new block of flats on her own doorstep.
• “Deafening silence proves they were never serious about climate change” – On the Public podcast, narcissism expert Sam Vaknin argues that the Left’s eerie silence on Trump’s abandonment of Biden’s climate change agenda reveals their crusade was less about the planet and more about performative narcissism.
• “Professor Henrik Svensmark: Sun and cosmic rays, not CO₂, drive climate” – On the Freedom Research Substack, astrophysicist Henrik Svensmark explains that solar activity and cosmic rays influence our climate by regulating cloud cover.
• “The assisted dying Bill appeared to have unstoppable momentum. Now it’s on shaky ground” – With Parliament set to debate the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill next Tuesday, some MPs are said to be considering changing course, reports Abigail Buchanan in the Telegraph.
• “Royal College of Psychiatrists voices opposition to assisted dying” – In the Spectator, Steerpike reacts to the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ opposition to Kim Leadbeater’s euthanasia Bill.
• “The convictions of Lucy Letby: should they be overturned?” – In the Guardian, David Conn reveals how Lucy Letby’s convictions may hinge on flawed medical evidence – now discredited by the very scientist whose paper helped jail her.
• “Debbie Lerman – The Deep State Goes Viral” – On Substack, the Naked Emperor reviews Debbie Lerman’s The Deep State Goes Viral, showing how Covid was treated as a security threat rather than a health crisis – and why that should worry us all.
• “Von der Leyen’s texts with Pfizer boss can be shared, says EU’s highest court” – The European Court of Justice has overturned a decision to withhold Ursula von der Leyen’s text messages with a pharmaceutical executive during the pandemic, reports the Guardian.
• “The unravelling of the King of Davos” – A stunning fall from grace for WEF founder Klaus Schwab has come amid threats against board members and allegations of financial impropriety, writes Jenny Strasburg in the WSJ.
• “EU offers Britain truce in ‘sausage war’ – but it comes at a cost” – The EU has offered a truce in its ‘sausage war’ with Britain so it can clinch a “fish for food” Brexit reset deal set to be announced on Monday, reports the Telegraph.
• “China warns Starmer over terms of US trade deal” – China has warned the UK that it “will need to respond” after Sir Keir’s trade deal with the US could lead to Chinese products being removed from British supply chains, says the Express.
• “Gary Lineker apologises unreservedly for antisemitic post” – Gary Lineker has apologised after sharing an Instagram story depicting Jews as rats, reports GB News.
• “Ex-Premier League boss: Gary Lineker is ‘not a nice man’” – Gary Lineker is accused of being disrespectful and “not a nice man” in a new memoir published by a former Premier League boss, says the Mail.
• “Who is representing Israel at Eurovision 2025?” – Yuval Raphael is to represent Israel with her song ‘New Day Will Rise’ at this year’s Eurovision contest, after surviving the horrific October 7th attacks just seven months ago, says the Mail.
• “The repugnant campaign against Israel’s Eurovision star” – There is nothing ‘progressive’ about the attempts to silence a survivor of the October 7th pogrom, writes Andrea Seaman in Spiked.
• “Palestine and the truth about the Nakba” – For groups like Hamas, the establishment of Israel is akin to the Crusader states of the Middle Ages, says Jonathan Sacerdoti in the Spectator.
• “Trump has a ‘really nasty’ shock in store for Ireland” – In the Telegraph, Hans van Leeuwen warns that Donald Trump’s protectionist push to repatriate US pharma and tech jobs could deliver a devastating blow to Ireland’s economic model.
• “Carney criticises Starmer over Trump state visit” – Mark Carney has criticised Sir Keir for offering Donald Trump an unprecedented second state visit to Britain, reports the Express.
• “NHS trust locked in trans row is paying out millions in compensation to patients” – In the Telegraph, Dia Chakravarty highlights how NHS Fife’s costly legal battles over gender policies and compensation claims have drained over £10 million from taxpayers.
• “Prince Harry’s popularity sinks after BBC interview attacking King” – The Duke of Sussex’s popularity in the UK has plunged after a BBC interview in which he claimed the King refused to speak to him, reports GB News.
• “The UK Tonight with Sarah-Jane Mee” – On X, Intel Lady presents her latest sketch ahead of Angela Rayner’s Employment Rights Bill being debated in the House of Lords, with a focus on the ludicrous ‘Banter Ban’.

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