News Round-Up

• “Two-thirds of Brits say Reeves should cut spending and not raise taxes” – Two-thirds of Britons would rather Rachel Reeves fill her Budget black hole by cutting spending rather than raising taxes, according to the Mail.
• “Rachel Reeves’ ‘fiscal fandango’ has ‘paralysed’ UK economy” – An ex-Bank of England chief economist has warned the “fiscal fandango” around Rachel Reeves’ Budget has caused “paralysis” in the UK economy, reports the Mail.
• “Rachel Reeves warned against Budget raid on pensions” – The Chancellor is reportedly planning to limit the amount people can sacrifice from their salaries to put in their pension pots without paying National Insurance, says the Mail.
• “Rachel Reeves’s ‘mansion tax’ could be Labour’s poll tax moment” – Inventing a new tax can bring a premature end to your political career, warns Michael Mosbacher in the Telegraph.
• “Billionaire Lakshmi Mittal quits UK amid tax raid on the super-rich” – Billionaire former Labour donor Lakshmi Mittal has quit Britain after becoming disillusioned with changes to inheritance tax, which mean his assets overseas are now subject to the levy, reports the Mail.
• “Labour MPs say Starmer will quit in the New Year” – Labour MPs increasingly believe that Sir Keir Starmer could quit as PM in the New Year before facing a leadership challenge, says the Mail.
• “Greens’ Zack Polanski eyes up bid to oust Keir Starmer from Commons” – Self-described “eco-populist” Zack Polanski says it would be “very tempting” to “take Keir Starmer down” by challenging the Labour leader in his North London seat, according to the Mail.  
• “The real reason why Angela Rayner bought her £800,000 flat” – Angela Rayner’s thinly disguised ambition to succeed Sir Keir Starmer has become a matter of location, location, location, writes Glen Owen in the Mail.
• “Universal Credit couple trapped in poverty blast Labour over migrants” – In the Mail, families in Middlesbrough tell Sophie Carlin and John Siddle they’re sinking while Labour hands out perks to migrants, and their frustration is propelling people like them towards Reform.
• “How a Polish town boomed while its British twin fell behind” – Darlington’s change is sluggish compared with Gliwice’s transformation, writes Eir Nolsøe in the Telegraph.
• “Britain’s welfare trap: a nation bankrupted by the work-shy” – The welfare state, once a beacon, is now a burden we cannot carry, warns Roger Crawford in Free Speech Backlash.
• “Debunking the great welfare myth” – Higher taxes do not necessarily equate to better welfare, says Reem Ibrahim in CapX.
• “Hundreds protest against plans to house 600 asylum seekers in barracks” – Furious Crowborough residents have taken to the streets once again in a major backlash against Government plans to move hundreds of lone male asylum seekers into an army training camp on the edge of their town, reports the Mail.
• “Smuggling gangs teaching migrants simple trick to ‘100% guarantee’ asylum” – People smugglers are handing out a ‘cheat’ manual to migrants on how to lie to claim asylum in the UK, says the Sun.
• “Mahmood’s immigration plan is all smoke and mirrors” – It was an impressive performance, but the Home Secretary’s theatrics will not stop the boats, writes Suella Braverman in the Telegraph.
• “Shabana is like Elizabeth I – devoted to her job. She’s utterly unique” – In the Telegraph, Annabel Denham talks to Lord Glasman on Britain’s “blue-collar revolution”, his “glorious” Jewish freedom and why progressives make him shudder.
• “Police ‘used false intelligence’ to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans” – Dutch police claim that West Midlands Police used false intelligence to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending a Europa League match against Aston Villa, according to the Mail.
• “Jews airbrushed out of the Jewish war remembrance parade” – This year’s AJEX parade, which honours Jewish servicemen from WWII, banned Israeli flags and wiped Israel from the programme, showing how Jewish identity is being quietly whitewashed, warns Prof Norman Fenton in TCW.
• “Christian preacher arrested by thought police for ‘God bless you’” – A Christian street preacher arrested for saying “God bless you” to protesters at a Palestinian demonstration claims that police are trying to gag his freedom of speech after arresting him 16 times, reports the Mail.
• “Britain’s lawmakers who love censorship and hate freedom” – The people who think free speech is dangerous now get to decide what counts as a crime, says Cam Wakefield in Reclaim The Net.
• “Keir Starmer promises no ‘vexatious prosecutions’ of Troubles veterans” – Sir Keir Starmer says he is “absolutely confident” the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill will not lead to “vexatious prosecutions” of ex-soldiers amid a threat of legal action from veterans, according to the Sun.  
• “The gold-plated pension schemes university staff are preparing to strike over” – University staff are preparing to strike over plans to freeze their pay amid a row over their gold-plated pensions, reports the Telegraph.
• “More than 140,000 drivers fined for parking in EV bays” – More than 140,000 drivers have been fined for parking in or misusing spaces reserved for electric cars since 2020, according to GB News.
• “Expediting civil nuclear power in the UK” – Britain faces a looming power crunch and, as Dr Robert Craig argues in a new report from Policy Exchange, only sweeping reforms to our tortuous nuclear rules will keep the lights on.
• “Britain’s Net Zero nightmare is destroying heavy industry” – Labour is blind to the devastating consequences of its environmental zealotry, says Rob Lyons in Spiked.
• “Bovaer bovine stupidity” – Arla’s UK Bovaer trial is off after Danish cows got sick and milk yields tanked – proving this pricey methane fix is more BS than solution, writes David Turver on his Eigen Values Substack.
• “COP30: oil-rich nations scupper deal to phase out fossil fuels” – A deal for a ‘road map’ away from fossil fuels has been scuppered at COP30 after Saudi Arabia, Russia and China successfully blocked the proposal, reports the Sunday Times.
• “On that flood of fossil fuel lobbyists at COP30” – In Climate Scepticism, Jit casts a critical eye over claims that there were 1,600 fossil fuel lobbyists at COP30.
• “Rising electricity prices: the missing link” – As electricity costs take larger bites out of people’s wallets, policymakers must confront the physical and economic limitations of a ‘green’ electric grid, says Jonathan Lesser in Real Clear Energy.
• “The transition that never transitioned: fossil fuels still powered 86% of the world in 2024” – The era of fossil fuels is not ending, says Dr Matthew Wielicki on Clintel; it’s barely even bending.
• “Modern folk beliefs IV: ‘Climate change will lead to human extinction’” – On Substack, Will Solfiac traces the rise and decline of climate catastrophism.
• “Iran demands climate cash to reduce CO₂ emissions” – Iran is facing ecological catastrophe caused by drought and the misallocation of public resources – and apparently climate cash will fix the problem, says Eric Worrall in WUWT?
• “Covid Inquiry evidence which criticised MI6 censored by officials” – Security officials censored a Covid Inquiry submission that flagged intelligence failings over evidence the virus may have originated in a Wuhan lab, reports the Mail.
• “Reflections on the Covid Inquiry Module 2 Report” – On Substack, Dr Tom Jefferson calls out the Covid Inquiry for pretending to be certain about how the virus spread, when in fact we still don’t know.
• “Lady Hallett’s Whitewash” – In Free Speech Backlash, Steven Barnes brands Lady Hallett’s £192 million Covid Inquiry a whitewash that shields the Establishment, ignores lockdown harm and paves the way for future tyranny.
• “The Covid Inquiry whitewash” – The Covid Inquiry has delivered exactly what it was designed to deliver, says Dr Roger Watson in the New Conservative; the rest of us should treat its conclusions with the scepticism they richly deserve.
• “The guilty women behind the Covid scandal” – In TCW, Kathy Gyngell argues that women in public roles largely drove the oppressive Covid response and harmed democracy, while mainstream media women failed to hold power to account.
• “The two books, and a film, that could destroy the pandemic industry” – On Substack, Gary Sidley highlights two books and a film that expose the pandemic industry’s myths.
• “Our elites are so mediocre” – The venality, greed and lust in the Epstein files are the flip side of the cowardice they showed us during Covid, says Alex Berenson on his Substack.
• “The Chinese super embassy will be a symbol of Britain’s capitulation” – This Government is prioritising economic advantage over our national security, warns Jake Wallis Simons in the Telegraph.
• “Europe calls its censorship law ‘neutral’ but creators and diplomats see a clear grip on online speech” – The European Commission’s take on the Digital Services Act has sparked growing alarm on both sides of the Atlantic, with critics worried the EU is pushing state control over online speech in the name of ‘safety’, according Cindy Harper in Reclaim The Net.
• “Mass migration is existential threat to West” – The US State Department warns that mass migration threatens Western civilisation and key American allies, and has instructed embassies to report on policies that punish citizens for opposing immigration, reports Gript.
• “Donald Trump says Ukraine has shown ‘zero gratitude’ over peace plan” – A furious Donald Trump has accused Ukraine of showing “zero gratitude” over his peace plan to end the war with Russia, according to the Mail.  
• “Brussels must not let the ‘deeply, deeply corrupt’ Ukraine join the EU” – It is long past time for the country’s boosters in Brussels and Washington to take a hard look at some hard truths about Ukraine, says Anthony J. Constantini in Brussels Signal.
• “Israel threatens to ‘finish the job’ in Gaza after Hamas attacks” – Israel is threatening to “finish the job” in Gaza after a series of new ceasefire violations by Hamas, reports the Telegraph.
• “No end of woke in sight” – Social justice ideology has a firm grip on scientific research in the UK, warns Freddie Attenborough in Café Américain.
• “Micro-aggressions could give people of colour heart disease, Bank of England tells staff” – Bank of England staff have been warned that “micro-aggressions” in the workplace could give colleagues from ethnic minorities heart disease and diabetes, reports the Telegraph.
• “This is a disastrous plan to dispense with juries after 800 years” – Former Attorney General Sir Michael Ellis rails against the Government’s plans to dispense with jury trials in cases where the maximum sentence is less than three years.

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