News Round-Up

• “Labour opens door to tax raid on middle class” – The Transport Secretary says the Government will not put up taxes for “people on modest incomes”, reports GB News.
• “All the times Labour has changed the definition of ‘working people’” – The Telegraph unpacks how the meaning of “working people” has shifted since Sir Keir Starmer vowed last year not to raise their taxes.
• “Keir Starmer’s ratings plunge to new record low amid tax hike fears” – According to a poll, just 18% of Brits have a positive view of Keir Starmer’s performance in Downing Street, reports the Mail.
• “How Labour gave British pubs an almighty hangover” – As tax bills go through the roof, the pint glass looks decidedly half-empty for publicans, says the Telegraph’s Daniel Woolfson.
• “Donald Trump Jnr’s gunmaker accuses Labour of punishing entrepreneurs” – The boss of Britain’s oldest gunmaker warns that Labour is punishing successful entrepreneurs with tax rises and should show more “gratitude”, according to the Telegraph.
• “Reeves needs to take a leaf out of Gordon Brown’s book” – Today’s Chancellor would do well to remember the pragmatism and intellectual agility of her political hero, says Liam Halligan in the Telegraph.
• “Britain looks like Greece just before the debt crisis” – The warning signs are flashing on a 2009-style crisis in the UK, writes Matthew Lynn in the Telegraph.
• “Reform welfare or become a failed state: that is Britain’s only remaining choice” – From Labour to Reform, every other party is content to let the bills rise – this gives the Tories a political opportunity, says Daniel Hannan in the Telegraph.
• “Labour’s next hit to independent schools could be far more insidious” – Hot off the VAT raid, private education is under attack again – and this time it’s children with special needs who are at risk, writes Michael Mosbacher in the Telegraph.
• “Diversity and inclusion experts can come to Britain on skilled work visas” – Diversity consultants, poets and bloggers are officially “skilled workers” under UK visa rules, reveals the Telegraph.
• “Labour’s plan for ‘digital dashboard’ mission tracker falls flat” – Seven months on from its promised launch, the Government’s platform on which it promised to track its progress has failed to materialise, reports the Times.
• “Mandarins can now earn up to £174,000 without approval from ministers” – Mandarins have quietly paved the way for generous taxpayer-funded rises by removing a need for ministers to approve Whitehall salaries over £150,000, says the Mail.
• “July set to be busiest ever for Channel migrant arrivals amid ‘summer sale’” – July is on track to be the busiest on record for migrant arrivals as people smugglers offer them “summer deals” to cross the Channel, reports the Telegraph.
• “Calais police pose for selfie after slashing people smugglers’ dinghy” – French police failed to chase down 12 suspected people-smugglers after they abandoned their boat on a beach near Calais and sauntered away, according to the Mail.
• “Labour says small-boat arrivals ‘will get one shot at asylum’” – Home Office sources say that any boat migrant who has been returned to France and then made a crossing again will not be able to apply for asylum, reports the Mail.
• “Twenty years of failing to solve the migrant crisis” – Twenty years on, Britain’s migrant crisis is still fuelled by lax enforcement, legal loopholes and irresistible pull factors, says Andy Jones in the Spectator.
• “PM accuses Farage of wanting his ‘merry go round’ Channel deal to fail” – Keir Starmer has accused Nigel Farage of wanting his controversial “one in, one out” Channel deal to fail, reports the Mail.
• “Rough sleepers outside Oxford Street’s former John Lewis flagship” – Displaced rough sleepers have swiftly regrouped near Oxford Street after their migrant camp was cleared for the fourth time, says the Mail.
• “The elite are fleeing Knightsbridge! Locals say mansions are worthless” – Residents in one of London’s most exclusive neighbourhoods say their properties are “unsellable” and are fleeing the area due to Labour’s tax raids and out of control crime, reports the Mail.
• “2,000 schools where 50% of pupils don’t speak English as first language” – English is no longer the first language for the majority of pupils at more than 2,000 schools, reveals the Mail.
• “Reform is right to reject Liz Truss” – If too many Tories join Reform they will begin to look like a convenient vehicle for rats leaving the sinking Tory ship, warns Nigel Jones in the Spectator.
• “An institutional intifada is coming to crush a Reform government” – If Farage does become the next Prime Minister his greatest challenge may be the Blob, who will regard him as dangerous and illegitimate, says Paul Goodman in the Telegraph.
• “Lord Mandelson says Nigel Farage is ‘peaking too soon’ to become PM” – Lord Mandelson has predicted that Nigel Farage is “peaking too soon” to become PM despite acknowledging that Labour’s majority was down to a “sense of anger”, reports the Mail.
• “Farage beats Starmer in every respect except one, poll finds” – According to a new poll in the Telegraph, voters believe Nigel Farage is better than Sir Keir Starmer in almost every respect but one – honesty.
• “Reform UK selects 18 year-old to run £2 billion Warwickshire County Council” – Reform UK has selected 18 year-old George Finch to lead Warwickshire County Council on a permanent basis, reports the BBC.
• “‘Two-tier justice!’ Sarah Pochin fumes as father jailed for social media post ‘crushed’ by the system” – Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin has revealed that one of her constituents has been sentenced to 28-months in prison for a Facebook post, says GB News.
• “Please resist the threat to christian freedom of expression in pubs” – In an open letter published in Anglican Mainstream, Julian Mann urges the Bishop of Winchester to help block new speech laws that threaten free expression in pubs and risk outlawing Christian evangelism.
• “Ofcom decries BBC ‘own goals’ over Gaza doc and Glastonbury coverage” – The head of Ofcom Dame Melanie Dawes has criticised the BBC for a number of “own goals”, including its controversial Gaza documentary and Glastonbury coverage, reports the Mail.
• “How the Left abandoned freedom” – In the new age of anxiety, neo-progressives have committed philosophical suicide, jettisoning the hippie dream of freedom for a centralised vision of power, argues Sherelle Jacobs on her Substack.
• “‘Where are the Right-wing scientists? Everyone’s on the Left like me’” – Ella Al-Shamahi, presenter of the BBC’s new Human series, tells the Sunday Times that the pronounced Left-wing bias among scientists risks alienating anyone who thinks differently.
• “Michel Houellebecq: the prophet of Europe’s decay” – No other author has chronicled the nihilistic spirit of our times with such pitiless clarity as Michel Houellebecq, argues Hugo Timms in Spiked.
• “Transport Secretary admits she hasn’t been able to afford an EV” – Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander admits that she’s not been able to afford an electric car – as she prepares to unveil millions of pounds in new subsidies, according to the Mail.
• “Farmers are banned from watering their crops during Britain’s heatwave” – Farmers in East Anglia face a ban on watering crops amid Britain’s sweltering 33°C heatwave, despite other water uses continuing as normal, reports the Mail.
• “Hidden costs of renewables going up” – The costs of balancing, expanding and backing up the grid are set to double the price we pay for gas used to make electricity, warns David Turver on his Eigen Values Substack.
• “Netherlands rations electricity to ease power grid stresses” – Thousands of businesses and households are waiting to connect to the Dutch grid, forcing network operators to ration power, reports the FT.
• “Will the OBBB put an end to heavily subsidised wind and solar generation projects?” – President Trump’s Executive Order targeting loopholes in wind and solar subsidies will likely end the era of heavily subsidised renewable projects, writes Francis Menton on the Manhattan Contrarian blog.
• “Democrat Senator claims fossil fuel industry is undercutting weather forecasting” – In WUWT?, David Middleton slams a US senator’s baseless claim that Big Oil is sabotaging weather forecasts.
• “Is this 26 year-old America’s nuclear Prometheus?” – Isaiah Taylor, founder of Valar Atomics, sits down with the American Conservative to talk about the promise of nuclear energy under Trump 2.0.
• “Why the Lords doesn’t have to accept the Assisted Dying Bill” – The Lords has every right to scrutinise – and reject – an assisted dying Bill that lacks a mandate, government sponsorship and proper Commons scrutiny, says Nikki Da Costa in the Spectator.
• “Lucy Letby’s ‘confession’ notes” – As the case against nurse Lucy Letby dwindles from slam-dunk certainty to shifting doubt, it is surely time to look again at her supposed ‘confession’, writes Peter Hitchens in the Mail.
• “‘The harm caused by the Covid vaccine has been catastrophic’” – In the Telegraph, Tony Diver interviews British cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra on biased drug trials, his role advising RFK Jr. and why all vaccines should be reassessed for safety.
• “Anti-migrant violence erupts in Spanish town after pensioner attacked” – Anti-migrant protests have erupted for a second consecutive night in a sleepy Spanish town after a 68 year-old pensioner was assaulted by three Moroccan men, reports GB News.
• “Putin hit squad sent to kill a Ukrainian colonel has been ‘eliminated’” – A Russian hit squad sent to kill a Ukrainian secret services colonel in Kyiv have reportedly been “eliminated”, according to the Mail.
• “German comedian to go on trial for Trump assassination joke” – A German comedian will appear in court after being charged for making a joke about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump last year, reports Israel National News.
• “The six seconds of terror that changed history: the day Trump was shot” – In the Mail, Charlie Spiering and Jon Michael Raasch look back one year on from the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
• “Trump faces revolt on his social media platform over Jeffrey Epstein” – Supporters of President Trump have made it clear that they do not approve of how he and Attorney General Pam Bondi have handled the Jeffrey Epstein files, reports the Mail.
• “Why Elon Musk may have reached the end of the road at Tesla” – Concerns over the increasingly divisive Elon Musk have raised a once-unthinkable question, says James Titcomb in the Telegraph.
• “Divorcee told to pay her ex-husband half the cost of his trans surgery” – In what’s thought to be the first case of its kind, a judge has ordered a divorcee to pay half of her ex-husband’s £160,000 trans surgery bill, saying it was “reasonable” for the couple to split the cost, according to the Mail.
• “Church of England faces civil war over same-sex blessings” – The CofE is deeply divided over same-sex blessings, with junior clergy reportedly being undermined by vicars who backtrack on promises to perform them, reports the Telegraph.
• “This disastrous development could threaten every great building in Britain” – Proposals for a skyscraper make a mockery of Liverpool Street station’s Grade II listing, says Simon Heffer in the Telegraph.
• “Key piece of evidence shows interstellar object is an alien spacecraft” – A giant object from another star has just zipped through our solar system – and a top physicist claims it might be an alien spacecraft, according to the Mail.
• “Trump: the anime movie” – Raw Egg Nationalist has posted a short video purporting to be Hayao Miyazaki’s telling of the Trump assassination attempt one year ago.

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