News Round-Up

• “Starmer’s Chagos deal to cost UK up to £30 billion” – Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of signing “one of the worst deals in the history of deals” by surrendering the Chagos islands for as much as £30 billion, reports the Mail.
• “What happened with the Chagos Islands deal? How announcement was nearly thwarted” – In the Times, Oliver Wright recounts how a last-minute legal ambush led by Chagossian exiles nearly derailed Sir Keir Starmer’s treaty to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
• “This Chagos ‘deal’ is Labour’s biggest humiliation since Monday” – We are run by politicians who never question the supremacy of international lawyers, laments Daniel Hannan in the Telegraph.
• “Starmer surrenders UK’s vital defence to a honeymoon resort” – Not only is Britain finished, we’re running out of people to surrender it to, says Tim Stanley in the Telegraph.
• “The Beta Prime Minister” – On Substack, Dr David McGrogan argues that Sir Keir Starmer’s weak and insecure leadership exemplifies how individual character remains crucial to national success.
• “Lucy Connolly case raised with White House” – The case of Lucy Connolly, a mother who was jailed for a social media post, has been raised in the White House following a landmark GB News interview.
• “‘Lucy Connolly is no racist – she helped me become a British citizen’” – The mother jailed over a tweet posted in the wake of the Southport murders sponsored a Nigerian family to help them get British citizenship, reveals the Telegraph.
• “Lucy Connolly deserves human rights too” – If foreign criminals and illegal immigrants can use the ECHR, a distressed mother should be able to, writes Isabel Oakeshott in the Telegraph.
• “Migrant can stay in UK to escape his wicked stepmother” – An African asylum seeker has been allowed to stay in Britain to escape the clutches of his wicked stepmother, reports the Mail.
• “Starmer owes Sunak for halving net migration” – In the Spectator, James Heale credits Rishi Sunak’s immigration reforms for halving net migration, leaving Labour poised to reap the political benefits without lifting a finger.
• “Britain really is becoming an island of strangers” – As things stand, by the time of the next census in 2031, almost a quarter of the population will be first generation migrants, writes Karl Williams in the Spectator.
• “Reform and the problem with the Overton window” – In the Spectator, Rod Liddle argues that Reform UK’s rise hasn’t moved the Overton window – it’s shattered the illusion that it ever reflected what voters really think about immigration.
• “Paedophiles and sex criminals ‘will be castrated’ under new plans” – Sex offenders face mandatory chemical castration and could be sectioned if they refuse under the biggest shake up of sentencing laws for 30 years, reports the Mail.
• “This shameful plan to cut prison sentences must not pass” – Labour’s plans could see the whole prison system descend into farce, warns Robert Jenrick in the Telegraph.
• “Uncontrolled crime is bankrupting Britain” – The Government’s fixation on regulation is putting us all in danger, says Sam Ashworth-Hayes in the Telegraph.
• “Is Britain heading for bankruptcy?” – Servicing debt is becoming a very significant part of the Government’s budget, notes Ross Clark in the Spectator.
• “Teachers and doctors in England given 4% pay rise” – Doctors and teachers in England have been handed a 4% pay rise after the Government accepted salary recommendations from pay review bodies, reports the BBC.
• “The true cost of Reeves’s capitulation on public sector pay” – The Government’s decision to back bumper public sector handouts will place fresh demands on taxpayers’ pockets, writes Tim Wallace in the Telegraph.
• “13,000 teachers face redundancy as schools forced to make savings” – According to the Conservatives, up to 13,000 teachers face redundancy because of Labour’s “jobs tax” and unfunded pay rises, reports the Express.
• “‘Our Education Secretary? A patronising, cultural marxist’” – In the Standard, Dylan Jones profiles Katharine Birbalsingh as she slams the Education Secretary as a “patronising, cultural Marxist”.
• “Labour’s trilemma: it only has bad choices left” – In the Telegraph, David Frost explains that Rachel Reeves faces a bleak fiscal trilemma – cut spending, delay hard choices or raise taxes – with none likely to avert an economic crisis.
• “Starmer vs the workers: the real Brexit betrayal” – This week’s agreement with the EU isn’t so much a reversal of Brexit as a refusal to see why it happened, says Michael Gove in the Spectator.
• “Angela Rayner ‘jockeying to take over from failing Starmer’” – Keir Starmer is struggling to quell chaos in his Cabinet amid claims Angela Rayner is jockeying to replace him, reports the Mail.
• “Angela Rayner’s leaked memo: read in full” – Angela Rayner’s secret push for tax hikes over spending cuts is revealed in full by the Telegraph.
• “Jeremy Corbyn can save Britain from Starmer” – Labour is closer to Tory-style polling than you might think, because of threats from the Left, says Aaron Bastani in the Telegraph.
• “Lord Frost won’t rule out running for Reform” – Lord Frost says that he is struggling to see what the Conservative Party’s unique selling point is, and has not ruled out running for Reform UK at a future general election, according to the Telegraph.
• “Abolish the speech laws” – “We need freedom of speech for all – and I mean all,” says Tom Slater in Spiked.
• “Censorship is the virus, free speech is the vaccine” – Free speech is far less dangerous than censorship, which empowers a self-appointed elite to enforce their biases on others, writes Paul Marshall in City A.M.
• “J.D. Vance is right: we do have a free-speech problem” – Our antiquated laws need to be updated to protect freedom of expression in the digital age, says Emma Duncan in the Times.
• “David Cameron banned from buying mobile phone” – Lord Cameron appears to have become the latest politician to find their personal lives affected by their work after he was prevented from buying a phone, reports the Times.
• “Patrick O’Flynn, Westminster journalist turned leading Eurosceptic and UKIP MEP” – The Telegraph pays tribute to former Daily Express journalist-turned-UKIP MEP, Patrick O’Flynn, who has died of cancer aged 59.
• “Highways bosses remove 140 miles of motorway lighting to reduce carbon emissions” – Highways bosses are set to permanently remove more than 140 miles of motorway lighting on some of the busiest sections in the UK – to cut carbon emissions, reports the Express.
• “Miliband’s 2030 clean power target looks increasingly impossible” – Reality is blowing the green agenda off course, says Ross Clark in the Spectator.
• “Maternity hospital evacuated after solar panel fire” – Pregnant women were evacuated from a hospital in Bristol after a solar panel fire broke out, reports the Telegraph.
• “Letby inquiry delays publishing report amid miscarriage of justice fears” – The Lucy Letby inquiry has delayed publishing its report amid ongoing fears of a miscarriage of justice, says Sky News.
• “Starmer signs treaty giving WHO power to recommend lockdowns” – Sir Keir Starmer has signed an international pandemic treaty that gives the WHO the power to recommend lockdowns, reports the Telegraph.
• “The horrifying FDA calculation on Covid boosters in the NEJM and the policy being proposed” – On Substack, Meryl Nass blasts a New England Journal of Medicine article by Drs Marty Makary and Vinay Prasad for pushing unsafe Covid boosters.
• “‘US Senate adds my refutation of huge Covid vaccine study to the record’” – On Substack, Dr Raphael Lataster announces that his peer-reviewed demolition of the vaunted Watson et al Covid vaccine study has been entered into the US Senate record – marking a major recognition of his challenge to the vaccine success narrative.
• “Covid vaccine ‘safe and effective’ narrative collapses on camera” – On Substack, the Vigilant Fox reveals how Senator Ron Johnson’s Senate hearing exposed deliberate government concealment of Covid vaccine harms.
• “The scientific community is still censoring Covid heretics” – In the Telegraph, Matt Ridley argues that the peer-review system is a politically biased, opaque racket that stifles dissent and innovation.
• “The UN’s claim about babies dying in Gaza is unravelling” – Israelophobia is the most dangerous bigotry of our times, warns Brendan O’Neill in the Spectator.
• “BBC accused of downplaying white farmer killings in South Africa” – South African businessman Robert Hersov has accused the BBC of “woke” bias for downplaying the killings of white farmers and dismissing Trump’s genocide claims, reports the Telegraph.
• “Suspected Washington gunman was BLM protester who flaunted support for Hamas” – The terror suspect accused of killing two Israeli embassy staff flaunted his support for Hamas online and attended Black Lives Matter protests, according to the NY Post.
• “Will Wall Street jitters stop Trump’s budget Bill?” – In the Telegraph, Matthew Lynn argues that Trump may be forced by jittery markets to rein in his “big, beautiful” budget Bill – or risk crashing Wall Street.
• “Trump ‘told Zelensky that he and Putin need to reach peace themselves’” – President Trump has reportedly told Zelensky and other European leaders they will have to find a solution to the invasion of Ukraine themselves, reports the Mail.
• “Trump says Putin ‘doesn’t want peace because he’s winning’” – Donald Trump has, for the first time, admitted in a phone call with European leaders that Putin is not ready to end the war, says the Telegraph.
• “Trump administration ends Harvard’s ability to enrol international students” – The Trump administration has moved to end Harvard’s ability to enrol international students, escalating a standoff with America’s oldest university, reports the BBC.
• “This 25 year-old Democrat tried to make way for the next generation, then they tried to oust him” – In the Telegraph, Benedict Smith charts the rise – and the attempted ousting – of 25 year-old David Hogg, the Parkland survivor turned DNC vice-chair, as party elders move to sideline him.
• “BT parts with HR chief in wake of DEI embarrassment” – BT has parted ways with its HR chief in the wake of an embarrassing about-turn over the company’s DEI strategies, reports the Mail. 
• “Trans children more likely to be ‘white and privileged’, says Katharine Birbalsingh” – Britain’s ‘strictest headteacher’ has suggested that young people are seeking victimhood narrative with gender status, according to the Standard.
• “Trans police officers banned from strip-searching women” – New police guidance states that strip searches and searches in custody should be carried out by officers of the same biological sex as those being searched, reports LBC.
• “Labour’s attempt to hide its cowardice over trans rights won’t work” – Rather than tackle the trans lobby and uphold the law, Sir Keir Starmer is opting to disadvantage women – again, says George Chesterton in the Telegraph.
• “Window display of Enoch Powell recorded as ‘non-crime hate incident’” – A grandmother’s shop window display has been recorded by police as a “non-crime hate incident” – because it features a picture of Enoch Powell, reports the Mail.
• “Don’t let the zealots ‘decolonise’ British history in our schools” – George Chesterton argues in the Telegraph that the claim Stonehenge was built by black Britons is just the latest sign of history being hijacked for activism.
• “Judge rejects arguments that AI chatbots have free speech rights” – A US federal judge has rejected arguments made by an AI company that its chatbots are protected by the First Amendment, according to AP.
• “‘At least three people in the Telford grooming gang got less time in prison than Lucy Connolly!’” – On the latest episode of the A Nation of Taxpayers podcast, Duncan Barkes and William Yarwood are joined by Toby to chat about freedom of speech and Lucy Connolly.

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