News Round-Up

• “Charlie Kirk murder is assault on free speech… shame on those who ‘celebrate’ it” – We can be as unpleasant towards each other as we like in the political arena, but if we go beyond that and start engaging in violence, society will descend into civil war, warns Toby in the Sun.
• “Charlie Kirk believed in free speech. He died for it” – Charlie Kirk wanted to revive America, but now it is even less certain that the country can avoid a lurch into a fresh orgy of violence, writes Jacob Heilbrunn in the Spectator.
• “Charlie Kirk’s assassination serves as a chilling warning to Britain’s intolerant Left” – Sickening celebrations on social media demonstrate how many progressives have become the very fascists they claim to deplore, says Suzanne Moore in the Telegraph.
• “Charlie Kirk died doing what he did best” – It is grimly fitting that Charlie Kirk was killed doing what he did best: debating others in public, writes Freddy Gray in the Mail.
• “The killing of Charlie Kirk is an assault on America itself” – This is America’s Charlie Hebdo moment, says Brendan O’Neill in the Spectator.
• “Why Charlie Kirk’s assassination matters for all of us” – On Substack, Rebekah Barnett reflects on the assassination of Charlie Kirk, warning it could be a flashpoint for political violence or, if we choose, a turning point towards civility and genuine debate.
• “Free speech should never be fatal” – No civilised society can survive a situation in which public speech becomes a life-threatening act, writes Jonathan Sacerdoti in the Spectator.
• “Are we at a turning point?” – Can the murder of Charlie Kirk change the world? wonders Laura Dodsworth on her Substack.
• “Charlie Kirk, pivotal Maga influencer who took Trump’s message into college campuses” – A combative debater and popular podcaster, Charlie Kirk was able to translate disjointed Trumpian rhetoric into coherent soundbites, the Telegraph says in an obituary.
• “The murder of Charlie Kirk” – Charlie Kirk was, in conservative terms, a moderate, says Spaceman Spiff on Substack. No rational person would think him an extremist – except an actual extremist, of course.
• “What happened to Charlie Kirk could happen in Britain” – Politicians on both the Left and Right in this country have been proved equally vulnerable to violence from those who oppose them, warns Isabel Oakeshott in the Telegraph.
• “Hate not hope: the far-Left frenzy for political violence” – Charlie Kirk’s assassination has dramatically exposed, if that were still needed, the awful violence of the far-Left, says Niall McCrae on his Substack.
• “Councillor resigns after sparking fury over Charlie Kirk post” – Councillor Fiona Wild, an independent councillor in Burnley, has resigned just hours after claiming American conservative activist Charlie Kirk “made himself a target” and “brought his assassination upon himself”, reports the Mail.
• “Oxford Union President who debated Charlie Kirk appears to celebrate shooting” – The Oxford Union has condemned comments made by its incoming president about the shooting of Charlie Kirk, reports the Independent.
• “The killing of Iryna Zarutska shows the mainstream media’s total moral collapse” – The media is more interested in narrative control than in dealing with the issues laid bare by the murder of Iryna Zarutska – and that of Charlie Kirk, says Jacob Reynolds on the Academy of Ideas Substack.
• “Keir Starmer edited manual on interpreting human rights laws” – The PM edited a guide on the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights in 1999 when he was a human rights lawyer, reveals the Mail.
• “England fans’ chants cast Keir Starmer as first Prime Minister to become The Enemy” – British prime ministers have been pretty much invisible on the terraces… until now, says Barnay Ronay in the Guardian.
• “Mandelson should never have been appointed” – There is nothing wrong in principle with political ambassadors, but Starmer made a poor choice, writes David Frost in the Telegraph.
• “Starmer took too long to fire Mandelson and Britain’s reputation in Washington has suffered” – Days before Donald Trump’s state visit, Sir Keir once again appears weak and indecisive, says Gordon Rayner in the Telegraph.
• “Spotlight falls on Starmer’s political judgment after Mandelson sacking” – Keir Starmer is facing serious questions about his political judgment after he was forced to sack his US ambassador, Peter Mandelson, over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, reports the Guardian.
• “The misplaced sympathy for Angela Rayner” – It would not have surprised me if the BBC had organised a shrine to our former Deputy Prime Minister, writes Rod Liddle in the Spectator.
• “Emily Thornberry drops out of Labour’s deputy leadership race” – Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and former Commons leader Lucy Powell will go head-to-head for Labour’s deputy leadership after the other candidates failed to make it through the first round, reports Sky News.
• “Congratulations Labour, you could elect someone even worse than Rayner” –Bridget Phillipson is no working-class hero, says Ella Whelan in the Telegraph; she is merely a part of the party political machine.
• “The female-only leadership contest in the party that can’t define ‘woman’” – In TCW, Sean Walsh slams Labour’s deputy leadership farce, mocking a female-only contest in a party that still can’t say what a woman is.
• “Its biggest champion Lord Hermer has just demolished the case for the ECHR” – For the Attorney General to admit that British judges have been wrong, and Parliament should advise them, is sheer heresy, writes Peter Lilley in the Telegraph.
• “‘I do nothing and it’s breaking me’: civil service forum reveals culture of idleness” – In the Telegraph, Emily Smith lifts the lid on a Reddit forum where disillusioned civil servants confess to crippling boredom, mindless bureaucracy and managers who tell them to “pretend” they are working.
• “Labour MP’s constituency office ‘set on fire’” – The office of Labour MP for Washington and Gateshead South Sharon Hodgson has been hit by a suspected arson attack, reports GB News.
• “Reform wants to scrap neutral civil service and hire anti-ECHR staff” – Reform UK would create a new department for immigration staffed solely by people who agree with the party’s radical policies to leave the ECHR and implement mass deportations, says the Times.
• “The Left think the BBC is biased towards Reform. What planet are they on?” – An attempt to represent the views of Farage voters is being interpreted as a lurch to the Right, writes Michael Deacon in the Telegraph.
• “BBC censures staff for calling Hamas a ‘terror group’” – The BBC says that its rolling news channel broke editorial rules after a presenter described Hamas as a “terror group”, according to Deadline.
• “John Lewis boss urges reform as tax hikes widen retailer’s losses” – John Lewis Partnership saw its pre-tax losses widen to £88 million over the six months to July 27th, from £30 million over the same period last year, according to This is Money.
• “Teacher injured in Southport knife attack shunned in home town” – The teacher who organised the Southport dance class where three young girls were stabbed to death says that the attack has left her “excluded and ostracised” in her hometown, reports the Mail.
• “Eco tycoon urges Miliband to subsidise North Sea oil and gas” – Dale Vince has called on ministers to put fossil fuels “on an equal footing with renewables”, according to OGV Energy.
• “Ed Miliband’s lonely war on the North Sea” – When even green energy tycoons are telling him to embrace the North Sea oil and gas industries, Ed Miliband really is beginning to look somewhat isolated, says Ross Clark in the Spectator.
• “New research finds ‘no statistically significant acceleration’ in global sea level rise” – There has been no sea level acceleration consistent with the alarmist global warming narrative, reveals Kenneth Richard on NoTricksZone.
• “Belgian wind project vetoed; global total of renewable rejections hits 1,104” – On Substack, Robert Bryce reports that global opposition to wind, solar and battery projects is surging, with 1,104 rejections now tracked in his newly consolidated Renewable Rejection Database.
• “Meteorologist explains why climate change isn’t ruining Napa’s Pinot Noir grapes” – Claims that climate change is harming California’s Napa Pinot Noir grapes are false, says Anthony Watts in Climate Realism; yields, markets and natural cycles tell a more nuanced story.
• “Newsom’s ‘clean energy’ claims don’t match California’s reality” – Governor Newsom touts “clean energy” as California’s growth engine, but fact-checks reveal costly mandates, false claims and heavy reliance on gas, oil and nuclear to keep the lights on, writes Edward Ring for American Greatness.
• “Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to double gas turbine capacity” – On Substack, the Energy Bad Boys report that Mitsubishi is doubling its gas turbine output – proof that reliable gas, not wind or solar, will power America’s data centres.
• “Mending things and keeping things going” – In Climate Scepticism, Jit argues that fixing old electronics and cars is often greener and more practical than buying new “eco” models.
• “Wind turbine boss ‘destroyed flowerbed after planning dispute’” – A businessman dug up and destroyed a flowerbed that villagers had hoped would score highly in the Britain in Bloom competition after a council rejected his planning application, reports the Times.
• “Covid: the permanent pandemic” – In TCW, Dr Roger Watson slams the media’s bid to keep Covid alive as a “permanent pandemic”.
• “How an elite Ukrainian unit blew up the Nord Stream pipelines” – In the Telegraph, Colin Freeman reveals how a small Ukrainian team, allegedly led by retired sea captain, blew up the Nord Stream pipelines in 2022, sparking a global whodunnit.
• “Kamala Harris is still blaming everyone for her failures but herself” – Excerpts from the former VP’s memoirs paint her as the eternal victim, says Dan McLaughlin in the Telegraph, and they also suggest she lied about Biden’s capacity to do his job.
• “The Welsh Government should be ashamed of its minority grant scheme” – Just five days remain to apply for the Welsh Government’s Culture Grant Scheme for grassroots groups – but beware: it excludes organisations led by or serving white, heterosexual, able-bodied people, writes Dia Chakravarty in the Telegraph.
• “Just watch” – Matt Goodwin has posted a video of Charlie Kirk engaging with an opponent. Quite-eye-opening.

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