News Round-Up

• “Starmer to move asylum hotel migrants to military barracks” – Migrants in asylum-seeker hotels will be moved into barracks on former military bases as the PM aims to close ‘luxury’ accommodation and agree to a ‘one in, one out’ (don’t laugh) deal with Germany, reports the Telegraph.
• “Ministers plan human rights overhaul to head off Farage” – Sir Keir Starmer’s new Cabinet is prepared to overhaul human rights laws to tackle immigration — even if it makes his MPs feel “queasy” — as it seeks to counter Reform UK and win voters’ trust, reports the Times.
• “‘I’m going to f*** him up!’ MPs tell Dan Hodges they ‘hate’ Starmer” – The problem for Starmer – as he looks out across the smouldering wreckage of Angela Rayner’s resignation – is many MPs ‘hate’ the PM and look set to ‘knife’ him, according to Dan Hodges in the Mail.
• “Starmer ‘to push Shabana Mahmood for deputy party leader’ to see off Left” – Sir Keir Starmer will encourage Shabana Mahmood to run for election as his deputy within Labour to see off Left-wing pro-Palestine candidates, reports the Telegraph.
• “This reshuffle is Labour’s last gasp – but can the Tories and Reform work together?” – What separates the two parties of the Right is not policies but vibes, according to Dan Hannan in the Telegraph.
• “Rachel Reeves’s sister is sacked by Starmer from cabinet” – Rachel Reeves’s younger sister Ellie has become the latest casualty as Sir Keir Starmer swung the axe through his junior ministers to frantically get his Government back on track, says the Mail.
• “Starmer is the anti-Metternich – none of his moves have any meaning” – The Prime Minister has shuffled the deck, but all the key players who have brought about this woeful mess are still present, says David Frost in the Telegraph.
• “Keir Starmer’s a w—–, sing England fans in abusive chants at Villa Park” – Some Three Lions supporters at Aston Villa’s ground have added a new chant to their repertoire of songs insulting the Prime Minister, says the Telegraph.
• “Welcome to Starmerstan, where authoritarianism reigns supreme” – Our freedoms are no longer inherently our own, but granted begrudgingly by the establishment, says Jake Wallis Simons in the Telegraph.
• “Rayner to get £17,000 redundancy weeks before new rules for disgraced MPs take effect” – Angela Rayner will benefit from a golden goodbye of close to £17,000 after losing her job – just weeks before new rules that block disgraced MPs from being awarded severance pay take effect, as the ex-deputy PM is urged to waive the payout.
• “Reeves considering £2 billion NI raid that would devastate GPs” – Rachel Reeves is considering proposals for a tax raid on GPs and other professionals that would impact 190,000 workers and is predicted to raise £2 billion a year, reports the Telegraph.
• “Housebuilding slumps to near-decade low despite Labour’s grand plan” – Housebuilding in England has slumped to its lowest level in almost a decade despite Labour’s pledge to build 1.5 million homes by 2029, with only 361 homes completed each day. Higher material costs and uncertainty over landfill taxes are blamed, according to the Telegraph.
• “Taxpayers to be billed millions for asylum seeker snacks and sandwiches” – The Home Office is to spend millions of pounds to feed asylum seekers with ready meals, snacks and crisps over the next three years, with the annual cost of providing catering services during the initial screening process as much as £2.4 million, reports the Telegraph.
• “Majority predicted for Reform for the first time – but can they keep it up?” – As Labour reels from the Rayner scandal, Nigel Farage’s Downing Street odds look better than ever, says the Telegraph.
• “Johnson and Farage must unite to save Britain, urges Nadine Dorries” – Nadine Dorries, who this week defected to Reform UK, has appealed to Farage and Johnson to work together, according to the Mail. Has she not heard of the Boriswave? Net Zero?
• “Rees-Mogg: ‘My daughter has joined Reform UK… but I won’t defect’” – The former Tory minister was seen being mobbed for ‘selfies’ by Reform members at the party’s conference in Birmingham on Saturday, reports the Mail.
• “Man and woman charged after police charge Dundee ‘axe and knife’ schoolgirl” – Police Scotland has charged the couple who filmed the viral video of the axe-wielding Dundee schoolgirl “following extensive enquiries”, reports the Scottish Daily Express – though no word on what the charge is.
• “‘Sugar tax’ will push up prices by 5%” – Sir Keir Starmer is being urged to overrule Rachel Reeves and cancel her sugar tax raid ahead of the Budget in a plea from drinks giants including Coca-Cola and Irn Bru, reports the Telegraph.
• “Solar farms are taking over Britain’s countryside” – In the Spectator, Alex Klaushofer says the ‘green’ push is mass-industrialising rural Britain.
• “Miliband’s heat pump rollout costs taxpayers nearly £700 million a year” – Ed Miliband blew almost £700 million of taxpayers’ cash on grants for heat pumps during his first year in office – more than the savings from cutting the winter fuel payment, says the Telegraph.
• “Octopus boss: Let’s restart drilling in the North Sea” – Octopus CEO Greg Jackson has suggested that using domestic gas reserves would be cleaner than costly foreign imports, reports the Telegraph.
• “It’s time Labour made a screeching U-turn on the North Sea” – North Sea oil and gas will not solve Britain’s fiscal crisis, but it could help fill the black hole, says Kathryn Porter in the Telegraph.
• “Civil servants refuse to use AI because of Net Zero concerns” – A report has found that civil servants are reluctant to use AI due to environmental concerns, casting doubt on Sir Keir Starmer’s plans to restructure Whitehall with it, reports the Telegraph.
• “Lionel Shriver: I’m scared to visit Britain after Graham Linehan arrest” – US author Lionel Shriver has said she is scared to travel to the UK following the arrest of Graham Linehan, asking “Will I be next?”
• “The passion of Graham Linehan” – Down with this sort of thing (arresting people for tweets), says Ed West on his Substack.
• “Ofcom to be summoned for grilling over censorship of Americans” – American lawyers will serve Ofcom with a summons to answer questions about its attempts to censor social media users in the United States within weeks, reports the Telegraph.
• “The anti-lockdown imposters of the New Right” – Today’s MAGA intellectuals rail against Covid restrictions, but in 2020 many cheered them on — or demanded even harsher crackdowns, says Phillip W. Magness in Reason.
• “Reform distances itself from speaker’s ‘Covid jab caused King’s cancer’ claim” – Reform UK has distanced itself from one of its conference speakers, Dr Aseem Malhotra, who quoted Professor Angus Dalgleish saying the Covid vaccines could have given the King cancer, reports the Telegraph.
• “President Trump is right to demand proof of the safety and efficacy of Covid vaccines” – In TCW, Professor Roger Watson is glad to see Trump asking for evidence on the novel vaccines.
• “The concept of ‘care’ was missing completely in my hospital hell” – In TCW, Dr Frank Palmer recounts a recent stay in the tyrannical imprisonment that is an NHS hospital.
• “Blob Lords and the Left” – In the Japan Journal of Research, Ariane Loening looks at whether the authoritarian ideology of globalist elites should really be called ‘Left wing’.
• “BBC uses journalist who called for ‘Jews to be burned like Hitler did’… again” – Journalist Samer Elzaenen, who called for Jews to be burned “as Hitler did”, has been used by the BBC as an expert commentator on the Gaza conflict once again, despite the corporation having once accepted he was unsuitable, reports the Telegraph.
• “Buckingham University to oust ‘anti-woke’ vice-chancellor” – Professor James Tooley is thought to be considering legal action after the council that runs the university voted not to renew his contract, reports the Times.
• “Why Gay Times hit the buffers” – Gay Times‘s troubles show, once again, that if you go woke, you risk going broke, says Gareth Roberts in the Spectator.
• “Did Nobody Think to Tell Starmer that the Sequel’s Always Worse?” – Sean Walsh is unimpressed with Starmer’s reset in Country Squire Magazine.
• “Ban the Burqa” – On the beach in Turkey this summer, Laura Dodsworth was struck by how much burqinis resemble condoms.
• “Theatre slaps trigger warning on Sherlock as it ‘contains crime’ ” – The Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire has warned audiences that Sherlock Holmes: The Hunt for Moriarty contains scenes about crime which may distress, reports the Mail.
• “Former superintendent reported to police for using trans woman’s male name” – A retired police officer was visited by her former force over social media posts ‘dead-naming’ a transgender activist, reports the Telegraph.
• “Shocker of a first full day in office for new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood after more than 1,000 small boat migrants crossed the Channel illegally on Saturday” – It’s a sobering insight into the scale of the challenge Mahmood faces, as 2025’s total surpasses 30,000, says Mark White on X.

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