News Round-Up

• “Keir Starmer mulls sealing U-turn hat-trick over disability benefits” – Keir Starmer is on course to complete a hat-trick of U-turns as he mulls watering down £5 billion worth of disability benefit cuts in order to see off attacks from Labour backbenchers and Nigel Farage, reports the Mail.
• “Starmer’s benefits U-turn to blow £5 billion hole in budget” – Sir Keir Starmer has been warned he risks creating a £5 billion hole in the public finances as he considers U-turning on benefit cuts following backbench pressure, says GB News.
• “Reeves needs to find at least £5 billion. These are the tax rises she will target” – Sir Keir’s welfare decisions are setting the Chancellor up to break some of her key promises, writes Adam Smith in the Telegraph.
• “Rayner’s tax plans would ‘accelerate exodus of Britain’s wealthy’” – A leading global wealth adviser has warned that Angela Rayner’s proposed tax raid on savers and high earners would accelerate the exodus of Britain’s wealthy, reports the Telegraph. 
• “Britain to ask Kosovo to take UK’s small boat migrants” – Britain wants Kosovo to take migrants who arrive in Britain in small boats under a ‘return hub’ deal, says the Mail.
• “What happened to Labour’s racial equality agenda?” – Labour is betting on continued loyalty from ethnic minority voters while quietly shelving its bold racial equality promises, writes John Power in the Spectator.
• “Tories would be fools to fall for Boris Johnson again” – Kemi Badenoch is in deep trouble but the idea that Boris is the route to Conservative recovery is preposterous, says Jenni Russell in the Times.
• “‘Only have the babies you can afford…’” – Kemi Badenoch has thrown down the gauntlet to Nigel Farage over Britain’s bloated welfare bill by saying it was right and fair to keep the two-child benefit cap, according to the Mail.
• “It isn’t Right-wing to worry about our falling birthrates” – The real crisis is unplanned childlessness, not shrinking families, says Stephen J. Shaw in the Spectator.
• “Reform is now a Left-wing party” – It is an odd kind of Right-wing party that proposes to reinstate welfare benefits that even Labour has decided are too expensive, writes Ross Clark in the Spectator.
• “Reform is anything but reformist on welfare” – What Britain needs is a complete rethink of the benefits system, says the Telegraph in a leading article, but few politicians seem ready to contemplate this.
• “‘Pub ‘banter’ might just be chat or it might be offensive – but penalising the landlord for it is a joke’” – Who will bother to pop into their local for a drink if there are ‘banter bouncers’ in every beer garden, a ‘pronoun policy’ on every wall and the need to produce proof you’ve had DEI training before you can get served? asks Toby in Conservative Home.
• “‘If Keir Starmer prevails, it won’t just be Arsenal that’s a library’” – The Labour Party is proving itself intent upon meddling in the lives of ordinary people, says Toby in the Express.
• “British schools are teaching young boys to aim low” – The behaviour of young men is “a defining issue of our time”, says Lucy Burton in the Telegraph. Solving it starts in the classroom.
• “Free speech essential to university life, Cambridge chancellor candidate says” – Lord Browne, former BP chief and a leading contender for Cambridge’s chancellorship, insists universities must stay unwavering in their commitment to free speech, according to the Telegraph.
• “Lucy Connolly is in prison where she belongs. But free speech truly is under attack elsewhere” – In the Telegraph, Lord Sumption defends Lucy Connolly’s imprisonment for inciting violence.
• “Travellers win right to stay at park after human rights were breached” – A family of travellers, who have won a landmark case to stay at a car park, have insisted they will “never stop fighting” for permanent residency, reports the Mail.
• “Gary Lineker breaks down in tears for final MOTD appearance” – Gary Lineker’s final BBC appearance on Match of the Day saw him break down in tears and say “it wasn’t meant to end this way” as he said goodbye following an antisemitism row, according to the Mail.
• “Patrick O’Flynn obituary: Eurosceptic journalist and politician” – The Times pays tribute to Patrick O’Flynn’s fiercely patriotic and sociable character following his death aged 59.
• “‘Recycling tax threatens to drive us out of business’, warn pubs and restaurants” – Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to delay the introduction of a controversial eco levy amid fears that the tax raid will push struggling pubs, hotels and restaurants out of business, reports the Telegraph.
• “‘What a farce! Labour imports Norway’s oil and bans our drills’” – In the Mail, Dominic Lawson slams Labour for banning UK drilling while importing Norwegian oil, calling it a reckless green delusion.
• “Hold the insect burger: eating bugs is bad for the climate” – In the Times, Tom Whipple reports that, contrary to popular belief, insect protein has a higher environmental cost than soya.
• “Britain named work from home capital of Europe” – A new report from King’s College London reveals that workers in the UK spend an average of 1.8 days working from home each week, according to the Telegraph.
• “WFH Brits are now being spied on by bosses to stop them skiving” – A growing number of companies are trialling a new system called “body doubling” to ensure staff stay glued to their desks – by keeping them on constant video calls all day long, says the Mail.
• “How the war of the sexes is changing politics forever” – Education, income and media habits are pulling men and women’s votes in different directions, writes Tim Wigmore in the Telegraph – and the impact goes far beyond the ballot box.
• “FDA recommends more mRNA shots despite new study showing booster failure – and major public outcry” – On the Focal Points Substack, Nicolas Hulscher slams the FDA’s decision to endorse new mRNA boosters despite a damning 1.9-million-person study showing their failure and a tidal wave of public opposition.
• “Russia denies links to Keir Starmer ‘arson attacks’” – Russia has denied any role in a series of arson attacks on property linked to Sir Keir Starmer, after three men were charged over the incidents, reports the Mail.
• “Danes are baffled by Britain’s hatred of second-home owners” – In the Spectator, James Lewisohn contrasts Denmark’s love affair with summerhouses and permissive planning laws with Britain’s punitive stance on second-home ownership.
• “The ECHR is not Churchill’s court” – In the Spectator, Richard Ekins dismantles the myth that Churchill championed the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that its modern incarnation bears little resemblance to what post-war Britain tentatively supported.
• “Tomorrow, Canadians will be glad to have the King on their side” – In the Telegraph, Charles Moore argues that King Charles III’s dramatic show of Canadian sovereignty delivers a regal slapdown to Trump’s 51st state fantasies.
• “Trump makes major U-Turn on tariffs just days after threat” – President Trump has backed down on his threat to speed up his 50% tariff on imports from the EU following a “very nice call”, reports the Mail.
• “Hamas ‘agrees to US proposal for ceasefire’” – Hamas has reportedly accepted a US ceasefire proposal involving a 70-day truce, ten hostages released and a partial Israeli withdrawal, according to the Mail.
• “Israel plans to capture 75% of Gaza” – The IDF says that it aims to occupy 75% of the Gaza Strip’s territory within two months as part of its new offensive against the Hamas terror group, reports the Times of Israel.
• “Trump wants to declare a Gaza ceasefire ‘as quickly as possible’” – Donald Trump wants to end the war in Gaza “as quickly as possible”, with sources reportedly saying he could announce a ceasefire “within the coming days”, says the Mail.
• “Trump calls Putin ‘absolutely crazy’ after Russia’s largest air attack on Ukraine” – Donald Trump has threatened Russia with more sanctions after its biggest drone attack on Ukraine since the start of the war, reports Sky News.
• “Civil servants banned from buying Pride-flag lanyards” – Whitehall has banned civil servants from buying Pride-flag lanyards unless they “promote growth or overseas trade and diplomacy”, says the Mail.
• “Feud between J.K. Rowling and Jolyon Maugham KC fires up social media” – J.K. Rowling is locked in a social media feud with a high-profile KC over revelations that she is to fund legal claims around trans issues, reports the Times.
• “‘Offensive language shouldn’t be removed from books’” – Historian David Olusoga says that racist or offensive language should not be removed from classic books or TV shows and that young people should just “toughen up”, according to the Mail.
• “Christian prayer rally attacked by mob of woke trans activists” – Dozens have been arrested after violence broke out between woke protesters and police at a religious rally in Seattle, reports the Mail. 
• “Mom of trans high school track star confronted by furious parents” – The mother of a trans high school track athlete who keeps dominating biological females is branded a “coward” by rival parents in footage circulating online, says the Mail.
• “Bizarre moment Emmanuel Macron is slapped by his wife Brigitte” – Unbelievable video taken by the Associated Press shows Brigitte Macron giving President Macron a face-shove as they stepped off the plane in Hanoi.

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